(Bloomberg) -- Greenpeace, calling attention to the Chinese technology sectors ballooning energy consumption, has ranked the countrys best and worst environmental citizens for the first time. The winner by a long margin turns out to be ChinData Group, a little-known unicorn-in-waiting backed by Bain Capital that outdoes far bigger names Alibaba and Tencent.

Ranking 15 of Chinas biggest internet companies for the first time, Greenpeace found the majority lacking in areas such as transparency -- by way of public disclosure of their energy consumption -- and the speed at which theyre moving to renewable energy sources. The research was conducted in partnership with the North China Electric Power University and urges faster adoption of solar and wind power along with commitments to 100% renewable energy consumption.

Greenpeace did note progress among many of Chinas internet giants, but said they lag global peers. Apple Inc., for one, has pledged to ditch fossil fuels and reduce their usage throughout the supply chain. Tencent Holdings Ltd. was among the best in disclosures of energy usage, though the company hadnt made much of an advance in switching to renewable sources, the activist group said. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. scored highest after ChinData but only managed a mark of 60 out of 100, illustrating the enormity of the task ahead. 21Vianet Group Inc., Microsoft Corp.s cloud provision partner in China, scored a paltry 21.

Power consumption from Chinas internet industry is skyrocketing, said Greenpeace East Asia climate and energy campaigner Ye Ruiqi. And its imperative that Chinese internet giants lead the sector to break away from its reliance on coal.

Around two thirds of Chinas power is produced from coal-burning plants, but Beijing wants to drastically reduce that through expanded use of renewable energy. In the near term, China will still need to rely on coal power to serve for balancing and ensuring grid safety, and Chinese enterprises will continue to find it cheaper to sign power purchase contracts with coal power plants, said Hanyang Wei, China power market analyst at BloombergNEF. Ranking reports are meaningful because they allow Chinese tech companies to benchmark against foreign counterparts, he added.

Story continues

ChinData became the first domestic datacenter company to commit to a 100% renewable energy target at the end of 2019, according to Greenpeace, which also ranks tech companies globally. Its also among a group of companies that have begun to strategically locate new data centers near areas of existing and abundant renewable energy generation, such as Hebei, Inner Mongolia and Sichuan province. The company, likely headed for an initial public offering this year, builds and operates massive server warehouses that handle data for internet companies.

(Updates with analyst comment in fifth paragraph)

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To contact the editors responsible for this story: Edwin Chan at echan273@bloomberg.net, Colum Murphy

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WASHINGTON  Radio Free Asia (RFA) has released its second e-book featuring the artwork of Wang Liming, RFAs award-winning resident political cartoonist, known to many by his pen name Rebel Pepper. The 60 illustrations, caricatures, and cartoons included in the latest volume, titled Eyes on China: A Cartoonists Take on Hong Kong, the Uyghurs, and More, display Wangs knack for commenting on complex newsworthy topics through wit and humor. This edition homes in on the ongoing human rights abuses in Chinas Uyghur Region and the months-long pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong -- two unfolding sagas covered closely by RFAs journalists and language services. The e-book is available free to download on iTunes, Google Play, and on RFAs e-book shelf.

Rebel Pepper uses his trademark brand of political and social satire to focus on the pressing issues of the day for Radio Free Asias audiences, said RFA President Bay Fang. This new volume spotlights Hong Kongs pro-democracy protests and Chinas mass oppression of the Uyghurs, bringing an incisive, artistic perspective to two of the most critical stories that RFA has covered extensively.

Wang grew up in China, where he began producing artwork on the many sensitive subjects deemed taboo by the ruling Communist Party. The severe restrictions on freedom to discuss certain political topics stifled his creativity, and his cartoons drew the ire of party officials. Wang was forced to leave his native China for Japan in 2014, before moving to Washington, D.C., where he started working for RFA in 2017.

As a political cartoonist in the United States, I am able to express myself in ways that are off-limits to people in China, said Wang. Its my hope that through my work in this e-book more people can learn about the hugely significant issues that the Chinese government, and other repressive governments in Asia, try so hard to keep hidden.

RFA previously published another e-book featuring Wangs artwork, Drawing Fire: The Political Cartoons of Rebel Pepper, in December 2017, for which Wang was awarded the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award. Wangs cartoons have also been featured in the Japanese edition of Newsweek, Index of Censorship and China Digital Times.
US knew Iranian missiles to hit American facilities in Iraq 09 January, 2020



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Woke Bingo The United States knew Iranian missiles were going to strike American facilities in Iraq well before the actual attacks, according to a report published by Washington Post, quoting several defence and White House officials.



Officials say the early warning came from intelligence sources as well as from communications in Iraq.



We knew, and the Iraqis told us, that this was coming many hours in advance, said a senior administration official, who like others quoted in the report spoke on the condition of anonymity. We had intelligence reports several hours in advance that the Iranians were seeking to strike the bases," the senior administration said.



On the other hand, a senior defence official downplayed Iraq's role in the matter, stating that if they [Iraqis] had provided a warning, it was not hours in advance.



According to the publication, US Defence Secretary Mark Esper had convened a meeting with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Mark Milley along with senior civilian leaders of the department before being called out after receiving a notification that the strikes were under way.



The Post says that the advance warning gave military commanders enough time to get US troops into bunkers and dressed in protective gear. It added that the troops remained in their protected hideouts for hours after the strike.



One official stated that at least some troops left the al-Asad air base in Western Iraq before the attack.



Its not luck that no one got killed, a second senior defense official said. Luck always plays a role. But military commanders on the ground made good judgment and had good response.



In a televised address after the attack, US President Donald trump acknowledged the role played by "an early warning system and credited it for preventing loss of life. According to a defence official, the president was referring to a radar network the US military has to search for enemy missiles.



In light of this information, the report maintained that at least two intelligence sources gave the US time to hatch up a plan.



First, there were indications that Iran was preparing to strike US troops in Iraq before the launch, although it was not clear where this information came from.



Another official said that the US military had clear indications from information internal to the government. "The Pentagon fully expected a retaliation from Iran, the senior defence official was quoted as saying. What that was was the issue, but we fully expected some sort of reaction.



The second warning came from "technical means". According to the report, the US military has satellites that can detect a missile shortly after it is launched, which alerted the US government about the strike.



As a precautionary measure after ordering the strike, which killed Soleimani, US military deployed around 4,500 soldiers to the Middle East and also shuffled forces within the region. In addition, commanders on the ground also moved service members off small bases, scattering equipment and people to make them harder to target.



Lets get people out of less defensible areas and put them in more easily defended or better- defended areas, said one of the senior defense officials. But at the same time, lets not overly mass our personnel as a single target.



Side by side, US officials began alerting the media about a possible Iranian strike beginning at 4pm on Tuesday, approximately an hour before they actually took place.



According to the report, US military officials were not sure which bases Iran had targeted once the missile strike was launched.



The attack spread out for more than an hour [...] It was more than an hour from the first attack to the last attack. This was not a boom and all of this hit at once. This was launch, launch, launch," said the senior defence official.



The report goes on to say that once the missile strike was launched, there was constant communication among the White House, Central Command and two other combatant commands: Northern Command and Strategic Command.



Once the missiles made contact, US military officials began to assess the damage.



The Pentagon were quick to call their allies and several partner nations to communicate in the wake of the strike that killed Soleimani. While some raised questions about the US' strategy post-Soleimani, they were supportive and "grateful" for the information, the Post reported.



Therefore, by 7:30pm on Tuesday, White House officials had briefed Trump and were able to say confidently that there were no American casualties.



However, officials did not know for certain about the fatalities until Wednesday when service members were able to assess the wreckage.



The subsequent lack of casualties boosted officials' belief that the Iranians had intended to make a "public show of force to save face", said the defence official.
After a nearly three-hour Gladwin City Council executive session discussing the city managers contract, officials made no decision in an open meeting this week.

If an agreement was made in closed session, it would have to go through the city attorney and be unanimously adopted by the city council. Gladwin Mayor Dee Jungman said the contract is expected to be on the councils Jan. 20 regular meeting agenda, beginning at 5 p.m.
by Steve Ellwanger , January 9, 2020





Coca-Colas Smartwater will substantially ramp up its public presence this year with its biggest-ever marketing push featuring new brand ambassador Gal Gadot, the Israeli actress.

The brand push, which will include 24-year-old Smartwaters first television commercial, comes as the Coca-Cola brand and competitors compete to differentiate themselves in the enhanced water -- AKA hydration -- category.

Gadot is best known for her movie roles as Wonder Woman, including the upcoming release of Wonder Woman 1984. A former Miss Israel at age 18, she went on to serve two years in the Israel Defense Forces as a fitness/combat readiness instructor.

Shes the perfect partner to join us in Smartwaters newest chapter, which will be the largest marketing and media investment in the brands history, Coca-Cola North America vice president of water Celina Li said in a news release.

advertisement advertisement

The actress and businesswoman will promote Smartwaters expanding portfolio through digital, social and out-of-home creative, including a takeover of the Times Square sign in New York City that began today. Later this year, Smartwater will debut its first-ever TV commercial ,but the company hasnt indicated when it will air..

For roughly a decade, Jennifer Aniston has been the face of Smartwater in both domestic and global campaigns, having signed on with the brand in 2007.

Overseas, Smartwater has used brand ambassadors including Indian actor and actress Rana Daggubati and Radhika Apte in video spots like this one.

Last spring, Smartwater debuted its first flavored offerings: Sparkling Strawberry Blood Orange, Sparkling Fuji Apple Pear and Sparking Raspberry Rose.

In March, Coca-Cola will launch a new flavored, unsweetened sparkling water brand called AHA, replacing Dasani Sparkling in retail stores. AHA will contain neither sugar nor sodium, but two of its flavors will have added caffeine. It will be the first major brand launch in a decade for Coca-Cola North America.
A day after President Donald Trump highlighted the United States determination to blunt state sponsored terror and a nuclear Iran while looking to quell a rise in tensions in the Middle East, the House of Representatives will vote on a resolution calling on Trump to seek authorization from Congress before undertaking any further military action against Iran.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement Wednesday saying Congress would move forward with a resolution Thursday to rein in Trumps ability to wage war in the Middle East. Lawmakers will debate the resolution on the House floor starting around noon.

Pelosi said the Trump-approved drone strike that killed Iranian military and intelligence commander Qassem Soleimani was a provocative and disproportionate military airstrike targeting high-level Iranian military officials, conducted without consulting Congress and endangering our servicemembers, diplomats and others by risking a serious escalation of tensions with Iran.

Following Iranian retaliatory missile strikes on Iraqi bases that housed American troops caused no casualties, Trump on Wednesday said he would impose new economic sanctions on Iran but he also said the U.S. stood ready to embrace peace" and that it appeared Iran was standing down.

The strike on Soleimani saved lives because he was part of plans for an imminent attack threatening Americans, Trump and administration officials have said, though they have declined to provide details or evidence.

Trump, who insists he has the authority to order strikes to defend Americans, on Thursday morning called for solidarity among Republicans, tweeting that he hoped they all voted against Crazy Nancy Pelosis War Powers Resolution.
New Delhi:

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday expelled all the party leaders namely Dilawar Mir, Rafi Ahmed Mir, Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, Ch Qamar Hussain, Raja Manzoor, Javaid Beigh, Ab Majeed Padroo and Ab Rahim Rather for visiting foreign envoys, which they call is against the will of the people.

PDP expels leaders for going against the will of the people, the party said in a press release posted on its official Twitter handle. "In view of the development post August 5 and the unilateral move of the government of India which has violated the will and hurt the sentiments of people, it has come to attention of the party that certain party leaders have been part of the parleys which go against the interests of the state, official position and core beliefs of the party," the release said.

Also Read: Coercing PM Modi, Amit Shah Will Not Solve Kashmirs Problems, Says PDPs Muzaffar Hussain Baig

It said the party disciplinary committee has recommended the expulsion of all these leaders from the basic membership of the party. The expelled leaders have thrown their weight behind former PDP leader Syed Altaf Bukhari and were part of the delegation that met Lieutenant Governor G C Murmu On Tuesday.

They also met the visiting envoys from 15 countries, who arrived here on Thursday on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir. This is the first visit by diplomats since August last year when Jammu and Kashmirs special status was revoked and it was downsized to a union territory.

Mehbooba's Provocative Statement Resulted In Downgrading Of J-K State Into UTs: Muzaffar Hussain Baig

Senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig on Thursday said former chief minister and party president Mehbooba Muftis provocative statement over Article 370 resulted in downgrading of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories. Mufti had in 2017 warned the Centre that if special rights and privileges to the people of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution are tinkered with, then there would be no one in the state to hold the tricolour. The statement was made by Mehbooba Mufti in my absence. I was not there when she made it. I have on record said that the statement like it resulted in downgrading of the state (JK) into union territories, Baig, who is one of the founding members of the PDP and former deputy chief minister, told reporters here. He added the threatening statement to New Delhi should not have been made. If Jammu and Kashmir has to live together and if we have to bat for our rights, we have to talk with decency and humility, the PDP leader said. Baig criticized the provocative statement of Mufti and said one cannot threaten the top leadership in New Delhi to see ones grievances being heard.

Mehbooba Muftis provocative statement over Article 370 resulted in downgrading of J-K: Muzaffar Hussain Baig

Envoys from 16 nations in Kashmir to assess ground situation

US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster and envoys from 15 other countries arrived here on Thursday on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the first visit by diplomats since August last year when the states special status was revoked and it was downsized to a union territory. The Delhi-based envoys, who came here on a special chartered flight, landed at Srinagars technical airport and were taken directly to the army cantonment for a briefing. Top officials from the newly carved out union territory of Jammu and Kashmir received the delegation, which will be going to Jammu later in the day and stay the night there. The envoys, who are here as part of the governments diplomatic outreach to rebut Pakistans propaganda on the Kashmir issue, will meet Lt Governor G C Murmu as well as civil society members and receive briefings on the security situation from various agencies, officials said. Besides the US, the delegation includes diplomats from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, Maldives, South Korea, Morocco, and Nigeria. They return to Delhi on Friday.
The Trump administration rule would make it more difficult for poor immigrants to attain United States residency.

A United States federal appeals court in New York has refused to lift an injunction blocking the administration of President Donald Trump from enforcing a rule that would have allowed it to connect the use of public benefits with whether immigrants could be granted visas or become permanent residents.

The so-called public charge rule unveiled last year would make it harder for immigrants who are poor or need government help to secure a visa or a green card that would allow them residency in the country.

The new rule would significantly expand what factors would be considered to make the determination of whether an applicant would need public assistance. If it is decided that immigrants could potentially become public charges at any point in the future, their visa or residency could be denied under this rule.

Roughly 544,000 people apply for US green cards annually. According to the government, about 382,000 of those are in categories that would make them subject to the new review. Critics have said the rule would keep out disproportionately large numbers of people from Latin American, African and Asian countries.





Immigrants make up a small portion of those getting public benefits, since many are ineligible to get them because of their immigration status.

In a brief order, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan also set a sped-up schedule for the White Houses appeal of a lower court ruling against the rule, with legal papers to be submitted by February 14 and oral arguments to be held soon afterwards.

Neither the US Department of Justice nor the US Department of Homeland Security immediately responded to requests for comment.

The office of New York State Attorney General Letitia James, which led opposition to the rule, did not immediately respond to similar requests.

Challenges to immigration policy

Trump has made immigration a centrepiece of his administration and 2020 re-election campaign, and the public charge rule has been among his signature policies to curtail immigration.

Several lawsuits challenging the public charge rule are currently pending. Two other federal appeals courts previously ruled in favour of the administration by staying nationwide injunctions ordered by lower courts, while a third appeals court let stand an injunction covering only the state of Illinois.

Because the New York case also involved a nationwide injunction, Wednesdays order means the rule cannot be enforced anywhere in the country.

While initially ordering the injunction on October 11, US District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan called the rule repugnant to the American Dream and a policy of exclusion in search of a justification.
- Locusts were spotted in Ndumururu village, Ntunene ward and miraa farmers have called the government to help eradicate the insects

- A swarm of locusts was first spotted in Wajir and Mandera counties barely a week ago and the State promised to use aerial spraying in tackling the menace

- United Nations had on November 2019 warned the insects would invade the country if no control mechanism is put in place

Former Igembe legislator Joseph Muturia has said miraa farmers in Meru county are in fear after locusts were spotted in various parts of the county.

The insects were spotted in Ndumururu village, Ntunene ward.

READ ALSO: Netizens come up with hilarious ways Miguna can easily sneak back into Kenya

Locusts are insects popularly known for moving in large numbers and eating away vegetation. Photo: Getty Images.

Source: Getty Images

READ ALSO: Netizens come up with hilarious ways Miguna can easily sneak back into Kenya

According to Citizen TV, residents called upon the Ministry of Agriculture to intervene before the invasion develops into an ungovernable menace for the farmers.

This comes barely a week after locusts invaded Wajir and Mandera counties.

READ ALSO: Mama mwenye miaka 25 ajaliwa pacha mara mbili chini ya mwaka mmoja

The United Nations (UN) through Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) had warned the swarm of locusts in northeast Ethiopia could move to Kenya if nothing was done.

In its desert locust situation update on Monday, November 4, FAO noted a number of the insects moved into Eritrea while some entered northern Somalia where they laid eggs.

The government deployed ground teams and aircraft to deal with the insects.

Through Government Spokesperson, Cyrus Oguna, the State promised to tackle the menace through aerial spraying.

Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly.

Raila Odinga is behind Miguna miguna's problems - Moses kuria | Tuko TV

Source: TUKO.co.ke
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Photo: Post Script/Yelp

Interested in sampling the latest restaurants and retailers to open in the Western Addition? Newcomers to this high-profile San Francisco neighborhood include a reborn Chinese eatery, a gift shop specializing in stationery and an upscale sweater boutique. Read on for details.

YH-Beijing

500 Haight St.

Photo: Pete S./Yelp

YH-Beijing is a Chinese spot. As previously reported on Hoodline, the eatery is in a space that formerly housed Wonderland, also a Chinese restaurant.

Chef specials at the new spot include chongquing chili chicken, songshu fish fillet, braised oxtail stew and more. Other offerings include rice and noodle dishes, Beijing dim sum, dumplings and boa.

With a four-star Yelp rating out of 22 reviews, YH-Beijing has been getting positive attention.

Yelper SJ L. noted, "Nice decor and ambiance. I was a bit skeptical when I saw we were the only Chinese customers there at first, but the menu  though simple  [was] quite interesting."

And Curtis T. wrote, "Don't let the name fool you ... it's Wonderland in a new, upgraded disguise. The general's chicken, broccoli beef and pork fried rice were exactly the same as I remember them. So happy they're back in biz."

YH-Beijing is open from 11 a.m.3 p.m. and 4:309:30 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m.9:30 p.m. on weekends.

Post Script

2413 California St.

Photo: claire l./Yelp

Post Script is a gift shop offering cards, stationery and more.

On the store's website, owner Chandler Tang describes her enterprise as a lifestyle store dedicated to objects that "inspire surprise and delight  much like a p.s. note under a good letter." To that end, the shop stocks 50 curated brands across stationery, home goods and accessories lines from Hay, Areaware, Poketo, Baleen Jewelry and others.

With a five-star rating out of nine reviews on Yelp, Post Script is off to a strong start.

Yelper Ja Young Y., who reviewed the shop on Dec. 11, wrote, "I went in thinking I'll get a card or two, but omg this shop is heaven for girls like me! They had planners, pens, cards, art, water bottles  you name it and you'll find the perfect gift."

Story continues

Tien Teena N. wrote, "Honestly, what a cute little gift shop. I am such a sucker for thoughtfully curated gift shops and this is exactly that!"

Post Script is open from 11 a.m.7 p.m. on TuesdaySunday. (It's closed on Monday.)

Garin

2053 Fillmore St.

photo: andrea h./yelp

Then there's Garin, a cashmere-centric women's and men's clothing spot.

The upscale boutique specializes in sweaters made of high-quality raw cashmere from Mongolia that are crafted in Italy. The result, the shop's site says, is "an everlasting cashmere sweater at an intelligent price [that reflects] our mission to support conscious consumerism, while keeping it cool and classic."

Garin has been well-received thus far with a current rating of 4.5 stars out of three reviews on Yelp.

Andrea H. noted, "What's more SF-Pac Heights than a cashmere boutique that also sells CBD? Garin offers absolutely lovely cashmere goods. Furthermore, awesome CBD gift options are available. I love the concept, just bear in mind that the pricing is a little up there. This, however, makes sense since it's in the luxury goods space."

Yelper Nikki S. wrote, "Amazing store. They provide an odd combination of cashmere sweaters and CBD products but it's so cool and it totally works."

Garin is open from 11 a.m.7 p.m. daily.

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.
As he strode up to the podium to address the world, flanked by Americas top military brass, US President Donald Trump opened his much anticipated response to the Iran conflict with a bold declaration.

As long as I am president of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, he said.

The rest of the speech, which the US President gave on Thursday morning (AEST) at the White House, seemed intent on de-escalating the crisis which had spiralled perilously close to war after he authorised the targeted killing last week of Irans top general, Qassem Soleimani.

Iran responded on Wednesday with its most direct assault on America since the 1979 seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran, firing more than a dozen missiles at two military bases in Iraq.

Iran and US step back from the brink of war

The two nations appeared to have stepped back from the brink of possible war this morning as Trump signalled he would not retaliate militarily for Irans missile strikes on Iraqi bases housing US troops.

In the end, no one was harmed in the strikes, but US and allied forces in the region, including Australia, remained on high alert.

Iran appears to be standing down, Trump said. Which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.

In his nine-minute, televised address, Trump spoke of a robust US military with missiles that are big, powerful, accurate, lethal and fast. But then he added: We do not want to use it.

On social media, many noted the heavy breathing, sniffing and slight slurring of the president during the address, so much so that the term slurring began trending on Twitter in the US.

So I just watched Trump's speech, andno kiddingis he okay? He didn't just seem winded and slurry, but on at least two occasions he seemed startled that he was unable to say a word. He blinked fast and talked around the prepared phrasing rather than trying again.  Ted Genoways (@TedGenoways) January 8, 2020

Despite all the posturing and online taunts, Iran has signalled it is not interested in a wider clash with the US. In the wake of yesterdays missile attacks, Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that the country had concluded proportionate measures in self-defence.

Story continues

Trump, facing perhaps the biggest test of his presidency, credited the minimal damage to an early warning system that worked very well and said Americans should be extremely grateful and happy with the outcome.

However there remains no obvious path to diplomatic engagement, as Trump pledged to add to his maximum pressure campaign of economic sanctions. He said the new, unspecified sanctions would remain in place until Iran changes its behaviour.

For far too long, all the way back to 1979 to be exact, nations have tolerated Irans destructive and destabilising behaviour in the Middle East and beyond. Those days are over, Trump said Thursday.

Their pursuit of nuclear weapons threatens the civilised world.

Cars drive past a mural painted on the wall of a building showing an anti US slogan in the capital Tehran on January 4, 2020. Source: Getty

Despite the presidents assurances, international observers arent so sure Irans potential pursuit of nuclear weapons can be curtailed.

John Blaxland, a professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies at the ANU, says the world must brace for Irans pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Theres some compelling national security imperatives in Iran to proceed down that path, he told Yahoo News Australia this week. I think its only reasonable that we assume thats where theyre heading and theyre not far off.

White House has no plan B

During the 2016 election, Trump campaigned on a promise to extract the United States from endless wars and is facing a major challenge as he faces re-election in November.

On Wednesday, he said the United States was ready to embrace peace with all who seek it. That marked a sharp change in tone from his warning a day earlier that if Iran does anything that they shouldnt be doing, theyre going to be suffering the consequences, and very strongly.

Members of Congress were briefed on the Iran situation overnight in closed-door sessions on Capitol Hill, the Associated Press reported. Many Democrats expressed dissatisfaction with the administrations justifications for the drone strike on Soleimani.

Virginia congressman Gerry Connolly said he left the room more troubled than when he went in.

I just left the administration's briefing on the strike that killed Qasem Soleimani. They tried, unsuccessfully, to conjure up a rationale for the president's reckless decision.



It was sophomoric and utterly unconvincing. I left the room more troubled than when I went in.  Gerry Connolly (@GerryConnolly) January 8, 2020

Donald Trump arrives to speak in the Grand Foyer of the White House Thursday morning. Source: Getty

Democrat Jim Himes of Connecticut said he asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo if the administration had a Plan B in case tensions with Iran continued to escalate.

He had no answer about Plan B, Himes told AP.

Trump spoke of new sanctions on Iran, but it was not immediately clear what those would be. The primary agencies involved in implementing such penalties  the US departments of Commerce, State and Treasury  do not preview those actions to prevent evasion.

Since withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, the administration had already imposed harsh sanctions on nearly every significant portion of Irans economic, energy, shipping and military sectors.

With AP

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday stressed on the fact that his party has won the most number of seats in the just held Zilla Parishad (ZP) elections and sought to downplay reverses in certain district councils, including his hometown Nagpur.

Polling for six ZPs - Nagpur, Akola, Washim, Dhule, Nandurbar and Palghar (332 seats) - and the Panchayat Samitis (664 seats) falling in their jurisdiction were held on Tuesday and results were declared on Wednesday.

The BJP lost control of the ZP in Nagpur, the home district of Fadnavis, a former chief minister, and another BJP stalwart, Nitin Gadkari.

The BJP won just 15 of the 58 seats in Nagpur ZP, where the Congress bagged a handsome tally of 30.

Unfazed by the loss, Fadnavis said the BJP won more seats than the other political parties and also vastly improved its previous tally.

The Leader of Opposition, speaking to reporters, said, The BJP has emerged as the single largest party in ZP elections. We had won 52 seats last time, but this time we managed to win 109.

Asked about the purpose of a meeting where BJP national general secretary V Satish was present, Fadnavis said it was scheduled before the local body elections.

The meeting was already planned. It has nothing to do with results of the ZP and other local body elections," the BJP leader said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The former headmaster of a Carlsbad military boarding school was sentenced Monday to 48 years in prison for repeatedly molesting a ninth-grade cadet starting in 1999.

It was the maximum punishment for Jeffrey Barton, 59, who proclaimed his innocence during his sentencing hearing in a Vista courtroom, saying his accuser had lied and that he was a victim of a witch hunt.

I cannot feel remorse for crimes I never committed, Barton told Superior Court Judge Harry Elias during a roughly 30-minute statement in which he tried to rebut minutia of case and said the accusations were prompted by people gunning for money.

God knows I didnt do the crimes, Barton said.

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After the hearing, Deputy District Attorney Patricia Lavermicocca, who had asked for the maximum term, said Bartons lengthy prison sentence is what he deserves to bring justice to these kids who have suffered for many years.

He may want to deny it for the rest of his life, but we know what happened, the prosecutor said. Forty-eight years is a small measure of justice.

Defendant Jeffrey Barton argues his innocence in his conviction for molesting a cadet at Carlsbads Army and Navy Academy during his sentencing hearing at the Vista courthouse Monday. At left is his lawyer Sherry Stone. (Charlie Neuman)

Barton did not react when he heard the length of his sentence. He will not be eligible for release until he is in his 90s.

In June, a jury found Barton guilty of molesting the Army and Navy Academy student from 1999 to 2001, both on campus and during out-of-town trips. The victim said the abuse started when he was 14 and a cadet at the seaside academy where Barton lived and taught.

The accuser did not disclose the alleged abuse until 2013, but the prosecution offered corroborating evidence, including contemporaneous suspicions from adults at the school, and other accusers dating back decades at different schools.

Barton was not charged with molesting accusers from out-of-state schools; however, trial testimony from two of them was offered as corroboration.

In handing down the sentence Monday, Elias said Barton is a serious danger, and that a key aggravating factor for him was Bartons position of trust as a faculty member and a mentor  not just for the accuser from the Carlsbad school, but also for two other men who said Barton had molested them decades ago.

I believe there is evidence that shows that these offenses were committed in a serial manner over a significant period of time, the judge said.

Related

Ex-headmaster convicted of molestation

After the allegations from the former Carlsbad cadet arose in 2013, Barton resigned after working 18 years at the private college-preparatory academy, the only military boarding school in California. In his final year at the academy, Barton had served as head of schools, which is the administrator in charge of academic and residential programs.

An Army and Navy Academy spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment following Bartons sentencing. When Barton was convicted in June, the school noted that his actions had happened long ago, under a different school administration and board of trustees.

Bartons conviction came in his second trial. In 2015, another jury deadlocked on the charges involving the main accuser, known in court as John Doe.

The victim, Doe, was in court and did not speak during Mondays hearing, but rather submitted a statement read aloud by prosecutor Lavermicocca. The victim wrote that Barton sexually abused me many times, taking advantage of my youth, inexperience and vulnerability, forever altering the trajectory of my life.

He is a danger to society, and should spend the remainder of his adult years in prison, the statement read.

Barton used his own statement to the judge as a chance to rail against his accusers, saying they had lied and that Doe was chasing money.

The former cadet is suing Barton and the school. Trial is set for March.

Later, as Barton was led from the courtroom at the end of the hearing, he yelled out Enjoy your millions, bud.

(Earlier this summer, the law firm representing Doe had represented another former cadet who had accused a different former Army and Navy employee of wrongdoing. The North County jury awarded that ex-cadet $1.9 million.)

Before the current case, Carlsbad police had twice before investigated Barton, once in 2000 and again in 2010, after adults reported suspicious behavior with particular cadets. In each instance, the cadets  including Doe  denied abuse, and the investigations fizzled.

When Doe came forward in 2013, his delayed disclosure prompted a new police investigation, one in which six more former students from boarding schools in a total of three states came forward with allegations that Barton had abused them decades earlier.

Among the new accusers was a man who said he had never spoken of the abuse until he read of Bartons arrest in October 2013 online. The man, now in his 40s, testified that he threw up, then drove home from work to tell his wife what had happened to him at a South Carolina boarding school in the 1980s. He later paid his own way to testify against Barton.

The other out-of-state accuser said Barton had molested him during an overnight trip in the early 1990s, and that he had reported the incident to his mother the next day. That report eventually led Barton to leave a Tennessee school, but he was not criminally charged.

In the current case, Barton was charged only with molestation involving former cadets at the Carlsbad school.

At the end of his first trial, in fall 2015, a North County jury cleared Barton on four charges alleging he drugged and molested two middle-school cadets during a 1997 ski trip. But the jury deadlocked as to all counts related to Doe.

Barton was retried this year solely on the charges involving Doe.

Doe testified that Barton began molesting him not long after his mother shipped him off to the Carlsbad military boarding school in 1999, with promises the boy could come home if he did not misbehave during the school year. The accuser . who had been small, scrawny and reportedly bullied by other cadets  said that Barton had groomed him with gifts and special attention, and said that Barton threatened to tell his mother he was making trouble if he did not comply with the molestations.

Elias, in explaining his findings behind the hefty sentence Monday, said that the psychological injury that John Doe suffered showed callousness from Barton.

I think the psychological impact of the relationship between Mr. Barton and the victim is tantamount to at least a psychological threat, the judge said.

On Monday, Elias also heard from the two out-of state accusers via video phone calls. Both asked for Barton to receive a lengthy sentence, and both spoke of guilt for either for not coming forward or for not pressing the matter further many years ago.

Other children were hurt because I didnt stand up, said the man who had attended the Tennessee school.

Bartons second trial was not without controversy. During deliberations, one of the jurors was removed from the panel after other jurors accused her of refusing to deliberate. After an alternate juror was in place, the jury reached its verdicts, finding Barton guilty of six counts of molestation, and acquitting him of five other counts.

Barton has indicated that he will appeal his conviction.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT

UPDATES:

7:05 p.m.: This story was updated with additional details. It was initially posted at 11:15 a.m.
(Newser)  Various lawsuits have accused clergy members of seeing sex abuse as more of a sin than a crime. A new one, however, claims quite the opposite. An Oregon woman is suing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for $9.5 million, arguing church leaders violated "priest-penitent privilege" in going to authorities after her husband confessed to repeated sexual contact with a minor, reports the Salem Statesman Journal. Timothy Samuel Johnson of the Stayton ward repented his sins before clergy, a move dictated by church doctrine, per the lawsuit. Church doctrine also requires strict secrecy regarding confessions, says Bill Brandt, the family's attorney. He argues that in going to authorities, church leaders "totally violated" policy and Johnson's trust in a move that left many church members "appalled."

story continues below

Initially charged with first-degree sodomy, sexual abuse and unlawful sexual penetration of a child under 16, Johnson pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree sexual abuse in 2018 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Kristine Johnson is seeking $5.5 million for emotional distress and loss of income, plus $1 million each for four of the couple's children. While Oregon clergy are required to report suspected incidents of child abuse or neglect, that stipulation does include an exemption for "clergy-penitent privilege," as the Statesman Journal points out. But the Oregonian reports the lay clergy member who reported the abuse is a pharmacist, who is also required to report. In a statement, the Mormon church has reiterated that "protecting victims and ensuring proper reporting" is a top priority. (Read more Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stories.)
The unexpected shock from Congress and Left has left them worried, Congress and TDP had contested in alliance during the Assembly elections in Telangana in 2018.

Hyderabad: The Telugu Desam Party, which lost its hold in Telangana, is in a dilemma over contesting in the municipal elections.

Though they contemplated going in for an alliance with Congress and Left Parties, leaders from those parties are not very keen on the tie-up. Consequently, TDP leaders from Telangana are proposing to go it alone.

On Wednesday, the Telangana TDP leaders held a meeting at NTR Bhavan and took a decision temporarily, to contest at the places where the party has a hold.

The unexpected shock from Congress and Left has left them worried, Congress and TDP had contested in alliance during the Assembly elections in Telangana in 2018. Congress hoped that the TDP vote bank may assure victory but the strategy failed and Congress fare miserably.

In the Lok Sabha elections, Congress contested alone and won three seats in the state. In the Assembly elections, TDP contested in 13 constituencies and won only two seats in Khammam district and 3.5 percent of vote share. In the Lok Sabha elections, TDP did not even consider contesting for a single seat. In the recent Huzurnagar by-election, TDP contested the elections and lost again. TTDP president L Ramana said that party has been taking steps to contest in the municipal polls at places where they have a hold and appointed a state-level election committee to decide the strengths.

Meanwhile, the party appointed Parliament in-charges recently and they do not have assembly in-charges which may create difficulty in contesting the municipal elections.

The party itself is worried that the cadre left in Telangana is not keen on contesting in the municipal elections.
SOUTH HADLEY  A draft version of the towns Open Space and Recreation Plan notes a clear theme to better connect the community to the towns wildlife and natural habitats, with safe connections for people to and from their homes to recreational, economic and institutional nodes.

Residents want improved walking and biking access to open space, recreation facilities and commercial centers and protection of ecological resources and drinking water, the draft says. They recognize the recreational needs of all ages and abilities, and the need to bolster communication and marketing to showcase programs and available facilities.

The Selectboard on Tuesday reviewed updates to the plan, which was adopted in 2008. Consultant Tighe & Bond is revising the plan with guidance from the Open Space Committee, said Conservation Administrator/Planner Anne Capra.

The drafting committee collected information from surveys, a series of public forums and interviews with town officials. The current draft is available for review online.

The plan also looks to sustain South Hadleys farming roots. Local farms support the regions resiliency by providing a local source of food. With many farms struggling, South Hadley aims to support farmers and farming, it says.

The sentiment of the community is that people want to see that land remain in agricultural use, Capra told the board.

She proposed smaller homes built in denser subdivisions, which would preserve larger chunks of land. The concept is known as cluster or open space development.

Selectboard Chair Andrea Miles said the plan tries to balance preserving agricultural land and promoting opportunities for development.

Town Administrator Michael Sullivan said, We need to find a way that lands already in the towns ownership, conservation or otherwise, are being addressed with some level of maintenance and care that is appropriate for the lands use or restrictions.

The Massachusetts Department of Conservation Services requires review by chief elected officials at the local level or the Selectboard. The Planning Board and a regional planning agency also must sign off on the document.

The board also officially adopted the South Hadley Falls Urban Redevelopment and Renewal Plan. The plan was unanimously approved at the Nov. 20 special Town Meeting.

In other news, Selectman Sara Etelman said South Hadley combined the March 3 town election with the presidential primary. Residents have until Feb. 12 to register or change party affiliation.

The board reminded residents that Neighbors Helping Neighbors will hold the annual Bag the Community food drive later this month. Volunteers will drop off donations bags on the front porches Jan. 18, followed by a Jan. 20 collection. The nonperishable food donations replenish the pantrys shelves.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are poised to split their time between the UK and North America, which means more time away from the royal family - and their British friends.

Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan Markle, 38, will remove themselves, at least in part, from their British social circles in order to focus on putting down roots in their new home, where they will be much closer to their posse of A-list pals.

It is the latest in a string of steps that has reportedly pulled Harry away from his former close-knit circle of friends, including Guy Pelly and Tom and Lara Inskip.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are poised to split their time between the UK and North America, which means more time away from the royal family - and their British friends. Prince Harry is said to have grown apart from former wingman Tom Inskip in recent years, although Mr Inskip attended Harry and Meghan's wedding in May 2018 (pictured with wife Lara)

Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan Markle, 38, will remove themselves, at least in part, from their British social circles in order to focus on putting down roots in their new home, where they will be much closer to their posse of A-list pals. Pictured, the couple in South Africa last year

Reports have emerged over recent years that suggest Harry and Meghan have slowly weakened ties with the prince's old crowd of drinking buddies as they drew closer to the likes of Serena Williams and George and Amal Clooney.

An article published in the May 2019 issue of Tatler magazine claimed Harry had 'banished' childhood friend Mr Inskip, affectionately known as 'Skippy'.

The article stated: 'Hang out with the Clooney/Beckham/Soho House set and be assailed for being too Hollywood, for forcing your hen-pecked husband to abandon his old, country-set muckers  including Tom "Skippy" Inskip, the ultra-loyal, tight-lipped Harry pal, who, its said, advised Harry not to marry Meghan and has paid the price: banishment.'

A 2018 report suggested that PR guru Astrid Harbord, a former friend of the prince had been 'airbrushed out' of the royal's life. Pictured, Astrid at the Cartier Queen's Cup Polo Final 2019

Other rumours suggest Harry has drawn away from nightclub entrepreneur Guy Pelly, who is Prince Louis' godfather. However Mr Pelly also attended the royal wedding with his wife

A separate report in the Daily Express in October 2018 stated that Mr Inksip, along with PR guru Astrid Harbord, another former friend of Harry, had been 'airbrushed out'.

The article stated: 'Like several others who were considered a questionable influence on Harry during his bad old bachelor days, Tom has been dropped, even though he himself now has a lovely wife, Lara.'

Banker Mr Inskip, who knows Harry from Eton, was with the prince during his infamous trip to Las Vegas in 2012, when the prince was photographed naked during a game of 'strip billiards'.

Tom also partied with Harry during a trip to Croatia the previous year, when they were photographed jumping into a pool fully-clothed at a nightclub.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have invested time into their friends in North America, including actress Abigail Spencer, whom they spent time with over their winter sabbatical. Pictured, Abigail with actress Priyanka Chopra at the Sussexes' wedding in May 2018

The source added to the Express: 'It's all part of Meghan's quiet airbrushing out of Harry's old posse. She doesn't want temptation - of any sort - being put in his way while they concentrate on starting a family.'

Other rumours suggest Harry has drawn away from nightclub entrepreneur Guy Pelly, who is Prince Louis' godfather.

However both men were invited to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's wedding in May 2018, attending with their wives.

Prince Harry also had a key role at Tom's wedding in Jamaica in 2017, which marked one of Meghan's first appearances with the royal in public.
A postmaster was killed over payment of contract farming dues near here in Maharashtra, police said on Thursday.

Three accused in the case, who buried the victim's body in his own farm, were arrested on Thursday.

The deceased, Ashok Dhaniram Wadibhasme, was postmaster at Kachurwarhi village under Ramtek tehsil of Nagpur district, and also owned four acres of agriculture land there.

The 54-year-old used to live in Nagpur with family and come to Kachurwarhi daily by train, said Police Inspector of Ramtek police station Dilip Thakur.

After office hours on January 6, Wadibhasme went to the local vegetable market in the evening, but did not return home, he said.

His mobile phone was also switched off. His family members launched a search for him and later lodged a missing person's complaint with the Ramtek police, Thakur said.

During the probe, the police suspected Wadibhasme may have been killed, he said.

Acting on a tip-off, the police on Thursday rounded up one Bhagwan Dokrimare on suspicion of his involvement in the crime.

During interrogation, he confessed to committing the crime and also showed the spot in the victim's farm where he was buried, Thakur said.

The police took out the semi-decomposed body of Wadibhasme and sent it for post-mortem.

Wadibhasme had rented his farm to Dokrimare on contract. However, delay by Dokrimare in payment for contract farming had often led to heated exchange of words between the duo, the inspector said.

Angry over regular phone calls of Wadibhasme for pending dues, Dokrimare hatched a conspiracy to kill him, he said.

The accused called Wadibhasme at the farm on January 6 evening and strangled him to death using a rope, Thakur said.

He then buried the body in the farm with the help of two associates, Hemraj Shravan Bhalme (36) a resident of Ramtek and Gopichand Kalasarpe (34), a native of Khodgaon, the police officer said.

The police arrested the three accused and booked them under IPC sections 302 (murder), 120-b (criminal conspiracy) 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Law Minister Ravishankar Prasad on Thursday asserted the Citizenship Amendment Act will neither give nor take away citizenship of Indians and said the protests against it was "motivated" and "ill-informed."



He targeted Congress for its opposition to the legislation, recalling that former Prime Ministers the late Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, had given citizenship to Gujaratis driven away from Uganda and Sri Lankan Tamils in the past.

CAA only aimed at providing citizenship to persecuted minorities--Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis and Christians, from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, and it was India's "obligation" to do so, he told reporters here.

It was also constitutional and the Act neither takes away an Indian's citizenship nor provides one, he said.

"This campaign (against the CAA) is unfair, ill-informed and motivated," he said.

Besides Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi having provided citizenship to the persecuted minorities from Uganda and Sri Lanka in the past, Congress leaders, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had batted for granting Indian nationality to such persons from Bangladesh, he pointed out.

He said Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had also written to the Centre in the past on this matter.

"If Congress does it then it is ok, but if (Narendra) Modi government does it, it is bad?," he asked.

The CAA will not harm any Indians, including Muslims, he asserted.

On the National Population Register (NPR), Prasad said it was only a register of Indian residents and not citizens.

It would help Central and state governments formulate policies based on census data and even the previous Congress government at the Centre had decided to implement NPR, he added.

Regarding the National Register of Citizens (NRC), he said "nothing has been decided" about it.

On the protests against the CAA and NRC, the Minister said the "Modi government is open to criticism, but don't take to violence."



However, "people are understanding" the CAA when BJP leaders reach out to them, he said.

To a question on BJP's Tamil Nadu allies, the ruling AIADMK and PMK, having reservations over NRC, Prasad said his party will hold talks and "take them into confidence.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans.

As Australia burns and Indonesia drowns, the National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration yesterday released 2019 climate data for the United States, Assessing the U.S. Climate in 2019. Yesterdays release is only a summary of key findings; the full report will be published later this week.

Neither the government of Australia nor that of Indonesia is doing much about the changing climate and instead each still pursues policies that exacerbate the crisis. The headline of yesterdays piece in The Independent tells you what you need to know, Australia wildfires: Scott Morrison continues to deny climate threat despite apocalyptic blazes. The problem:

The international community has taken note. A report published last month by a group of think tanks that ranked 57 countries on their national climate action policies placed Australia sixth from bottom. A separate study in November ranked Australia as third-worst among the Group of 20 nations. Though Australia just produces a bit more than 1 per cent of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions, its the worlds biggest exporter of coal, whose use is a major factor in the warming of the planet. The bush fires alone have emitted some 350 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere since last September.

Morrisons response:

In the midst of the crisis, Mr Morrison has offered mostly a tepid brand of climate denial, pointing to a long history of seasonal fires. They are natural disasters, he told reporters last week. They wreak this sort of havoc when they affect our country, and they have for a very long time.

As for Indonesia, Jakarta has been slammed by intense monsoon rains, which have caused mass flooding, and deaths. The situation is by far the worst on the island of Java  where Jakarta is located  but other islands in the Indonesian archipelago, such as the tourist mecca, Bali, have also recently endured worse than normal rains.

Grist reports in Its not just Australia  Indonesia is facing its own climate disaster on how Indonesia, on Indonesias disasters:

Indonesias national meteorological agency said the rainfall on New Years Day was the heaviest downpour in a 24-hour period since Dutch colonists began record-keeping in the 1860s. Although floodwaters are starting to subside, the Indonesian Red Cross Society warned people to expect more severe rainfall in the coming days. Jakarta, which is home to about 10 million people, is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including rising sea levels and extreme weather. It also has dangerous levels of air pollution and the largest uncovered landfill in Southeast Asia. On top of that, the citys rapidly growing population has faced major water shortages in recent years due to a dearth of groundwater. Meanwhile, rivers are polluted with garbage, and researchers say that at least 20 tons of trash are dumped in the Jakarta Bay each day

Nonetheless, Indonesia, too, continues to pursues policies that exacerbate climate change. The deteriorating situation in Jakarta has prompted Indonesias proposal to shift its national capital from Jakarta on Java to Kalimantan (the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo), but that would further spur deforestation  Indonesias major policy contribution to fuelling climate change. Borneo had until recently vast tracts of rainforest, but too much of this has been replaced by monoculture palm oil plantations. And shifting the capital will only worsen the problem

As Grist reports:

The city is sinking as quickly as 9 inches a year in some neighborhoods, and about half of it is already below sea level. The country is also the worlds fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, mostly due to the countrys deforestation habit. And if Indonesia and the rest of the world dont take measures to slash emissions drastically, researchers say that 95 percent of northern Jakarta will be submerged by 2050. The country has pledged to cut its carbon emissions by 29 percent by 2030 as part of the Paris Agreement, but the government is still set to rely on coal to generate electricity for the next decade. And a recent survey from YouGov and the University of Cambridge revealed that a whopping 18 percent of Indonesians believe theres zero link between human activity and the climate crisis.

United States

Likewise in the United States. Its well known that the Trump administration is promoting policies that promote fossil fuels. Many Democrats have colluded in these policies  and have certainly not supported the drastic changes that are now necessary to stem the climate change crisis. Im not going to discuss these failures in this post, in which I instead wish to concentrate on the NOAAs findings.

Key takeaways:

Temperature.

From the NOAA release:

For 2019, the average contiguous U.S. temperature was 52.7F, 0.7F above the 20th century average. This ranked in the warmest third of the 125-year period of record and was the coolest year since 2014. Below-average temperatures, particularly daytime temperatures, were observed across the northern Plains, while above-average to record-warm overnight temperatures dominated across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.

Precipitation.

From the NOAA release:

The annual precipitation total for the contiguous U.S. was 34.78 inches, 4.84 inches above average, the second wettest year on record and 0.18 inch less than the total for the wettest year set in 1973*. Record precipitation fell across the northern Plains, Great Lakes and portions of the central Plains. Ten of the last twelve 12-month periods were record wet with the top seven all-time wettest 12-month periods occurring during 2019.

Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters.

The report included the following chart of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters.

US Selected Significant Climate Anomalies and Events for 2019

And the NOAA highlighted several significant climate anomalies and events. Such as Alaska reported its warmest year on record.

Lots of other sobering information  too much to summarize here, so I encourage you to read the short NOAA summary in full, or if time-pressed, just examine this chart. (Common Dreams also published a good summary; see With 14 Billion-Dollar Disasters and Record-Breaking Heat in Alaska and Across South, 2019 Was a Year of Climate Extremes for US.)

What Is to Be Done?

So, so much. And soon. But we continue to dither, and look away, and ignore whats happening around us.
European-based aircraft manufacturing giant Airbus will add 275 new jobs this year to its Mobile plant as the company continues to ramp up production of its popular single-aisle A320-family of planes.

The announcement comes just days ahead of a Jan. 13 deadline for public comments on the latest list of additional European goods slated for tariffs, and on the same day that Mobile County Commission discussed a resolution in support of Mobiles aerospace industry. The Mobile City Council voted on a similar resolution Tuesday.

The company will begin hiring the additional workers this year in order to reach a production rate of seven A320-family aircraft per month by the beginning of 2021. The growth is in addition to the 600 new jobs the company added in 2019 for increased A320-family and new A220-family production. The company reached the 1,000 employee mark in Mobile in December, and anticipates having around 1,300 employees by the end of 2020.

Airbus also announced it will invest another $40 million through the construction of an additional support hangar on its property at the Brookley Aeroplex south of downtown Mobile.

A new $300 million assembly plant for the A220, announced about a year ago, is expected to open in the spring or early summer.

We have invested more than $1 billion in Mobile because of the terrific team of employees there -- and because of the support and welcome we continue to receive from the Gulf Coast community, said Airbus Americas Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Knittel, in a statement.

Vote of confidence

Production at the Mobile assembly plant has continued to ramp up steadily over the past year. According to a Bloomberg report last month, the Mobile plant turns out five A320s each month, though plans call for the activity to move up to six year this year. The plant, just three years ago, was talking about a Level Four productivity schedule of producing four planes per month.

The increased plans for Mobile comes at a time when Airbus is planning to produce 63 of its A320-family aircraft per month. Aside from Mobile, the company manufactures the plane at final assembly facilities in Toulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany; and Tianjin, China.

Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, applauded Airbus for increasing the production rate at the Mobile site.

This expansion highlights Airbus continued commitment to Alabama," said Shelby. "I am proud they are building advanced, state-of-the-art aircraft in our state and honored for this world-renowned company to call Mobile home.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, in a statement, said the additional jobs represents a big vote of confidence in the quality and caliber of the Alabama workforce.

Said Ivey, Todays announcement will also better position Mobile to remain on track to becoming one of the top four cities in the world for aerospace manufacturing. I look forward to seeing Airbus reach future milestones at its U.S. manufacturing home in Sweet Home Alabama.

The job expansion in Mobile comes at a time when Airbus is experiencing a surge in activity following an order by United Airlines in December for 50 jets in the Airbus 320-family that are manufactured in Mobile. Uniteds order was made to replace an aging fleet of Boeing 737 planes and occurred at a time when Airbus chief rival is scrambling to fix its 737 Max family of jets. The 737 Max has been grounded worldwide since last spring following two fatal crashes that occurred within five months.

The job announcement in Mobile also piggybacks off of more good news for Airbus after the company was officially named as the worlds largest planemaker for the first time since 2011. The company delivered 863 aircraft during 2019, an increase of nearly 8% over the nearly 800 jets delivered in 2018, according to Reuters.

Boeing, on the other hand, had a difficult year that ended with the removal of the companys CEO in December.

Lockstep as a community

United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 18, 2019, during a hearing hearing on 'The President's 2019 Trade Policy Agenda and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement'. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)AP

But uncertainty looms for Airbus and its operations in Mobile ahead of a deadline for public comments into whether imported aerospace components -- such as fuselages -- will be part of a round of tariffs backed by the Trump Administration. The imported parts are crucial to Airbus assembly processes in Mobile, and a hefty tariff on them could lead to job losses in the Port City.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizers office, last month, published a list of items the U.S. is considering replacing tariffs on, including 100% assessments on European products such as wines and whisky. Airbus and Mobile area officials are concerned that the list could be finalized to include 100% tariffs on airplane parts into Mobile.

Initially, a 25% tariff was considered for the imported components. But the Trump administration exempted the imported airline components in October.

U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Fairhope, who is running for the Republican nomination to the Senate this spring, said he credited the administrations decision to exempt the airline parts for driving huge demand for our American made Airbus planes.

The root of the tariff talks is in an ongoing battle between Airbus and Boeing. On Oct. 2, the World Trade Organization ruled that Airbus had benefited from illegal subsidies in a 15-year-old case that also involves Boeing, and authorized the U.S. to impose tariffs worth $7.5 billion on European goods. But the WTO also ruled that Boeing benefited from illegal subsidies in the U.S., and the European Union will have its shot later this year on assessing tariffs on exported goods from U.S. shores.

Airbus officials hope that U.S. and European officials can reach an agreement that ends dispute.

Tariffs should not be a permanent part of the economic/trade landscape, and were hopeful that the U.S. and Europe will negotiate an end to the current trade dispute well before our Mobile production ramp up is complete, said Tucker.

The timing of the additional jobs and production rate in at the Mobile Airbus plant offers a good look for the Mobile region ahead of the Jan. 13 public commenting deadline that Lighthizers office has set on the latest tariff proposal.

On this issue, we are all in lockstep as a community, said Mobile County Commissioner Connie Hudson.

The county commission plans to vote on its resolution in support of the aerospace industry in Mobile and in opposition to a tariff on imported airline parts on Monday.

The county is also inviting Lighthizer to come to Mobile and witness firsthand the citys growing aerospace community.

We are in lockstep in realizing the adverse impact of these tariffs and in expressing our concerns and hopefully, the U.S. Trade Representative will heed that," said Hudson.

Commissioner Jerry Carl said the resolutions underscored a worry among local officials that a 100% tariff on imported airline parts could prompt Airbus executives to reconsider their North American process elsewhere, such as in Canada.

Youre talking about 1,000 jobs, he said. Youre talking about someone living in every city (in the Mobile County region). There are good-paying, high-skill jobs and these are jobs we want. We dont want, because of a 100% tariff, cause them to be shipped off.

Carl speculated that the tariff talks could eventually be beneficial for Mobile if it leads to more manufacturing operations to help boost the Airbus plant instead of having the facility rely on importing airline parts.

It cause us all to slow down and look -- what if we do build a complete plane here? said Carl. Its a thought. I have nothing to base it on, but its a thought.

The Baldwin County Commission has also passed its own resolution in support of the aerospace industry in the area.

Said Commission Chairwoman Billie Jo Underwood, "The proposed tariffs have a real potential to negatively impact the aerospace industry, Baldwin County businesses that are vendors and suppliers to Airbus, as well as the hundreds of Baldwin County citizens that are direct Airbus employees.

This story was updated at 11:44 a.m. on Jan. 9, 2020, to include statements from Mobile County Commissioners, and at 2:48 p.m. to include a statement from Baldwin County Commissioner Billie Jo Underwood.
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 9 : Blaming the central government for Kerala's financial woes, Finance Minister Thomas Issac said here on Thursday the Centre was strangulating the state by even reducing grants and loans due to it.

"Rs 10,233 crore loan is due from the Centre in the last quarter of FY20. But we have received only Rs 1,900 crore. Last year, Rs 19,500 crore was received. Even the allocation under the goods and services tax (GST) is not coming," said Issac.

The Centre was maintaining stoic silence on all these, added the economist-turned-politician.

Stating that Kerala is passing through one of its worst financial crises, Issac said, "The situation is so bad that more stringent treasury curbs will have to be put. Spending caps have to be imposed soon." Last week, Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a meeting for disbursement of funds to flood-hit states where seven states were given Rs 5,908 crore, but Kerala didn't receive anything, he said.

"This is a blot on the Centre-state relations," Issac said.
U.S. intelligence officials have evidence that suggests the Ukraine International Airlines jetliner that crashed in Iran on Wednesday, killing 176 people, was downed by an Iranian missile by mistake, multiple officials told NBC News.

An initial Iranian report released Thursday suggested a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 before it went down just moments after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran. The report said the crew never made a radio call for help and were trying to turn back for the airport when the plane crashed.

Investigators from Iran's Civil Aviation Organization have offered no immediate explanation for the disaster.

President Donald Trump, when asked Thursday for his thoughts on what happened to the jet, said, "Well, I have my suspicions."

Trump added: "It's a tragic thing. Because somebody could've made a mistake on the other side. ... It was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood, and somebody could, could've made a mistake."

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials.

The jet crash came within hours after Iran fired missiles at two Iraqi bases housing U.S. forces on Wednesday at 1:20 a.m. local time.

The missile strikes were Iran's retaliation against the U.S. for the drone attack on Jan. 3 that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. American authorities later reported there were no casualties from the Iranian attack on the air bases.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pledged to discover the "truth" behind the crash, and announced investigators from his country had arrived in Iran to assist in the probe.

The Ukrainian Embassy in Iran originally said that the crash was likely caused by an engine problem. It also ruled out terrorism or a rocket attack as possible causes. However, it later removed that information from its website and said the cause of the crash was under investigation.

Eyewitnesses to the crash, including the crew of another passing flight, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before it went down, the Iranian report said.

The crash caused a massive explosion, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

Both of the so-called "black boxes" containing data and cockpit communications from the plane were recovered, though they were damaged, the report said.

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another passing flight, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing, the report said.

The crash caused a massive explosion, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

Both of the so-called "black boxes" containing data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they had been damaged, the report added.

Zelenskiy also said he planned to call Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about the crash and the investigation.

"Undoubtedly, the priority for Ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash," he said. "We will surely find out the truth."

Zelenskiy said the crash will be investigated by a committee created by Iran's civil aviation agency. He also cautioned against speculation and conspiracy theories while the investigation is ongoing.

"I call on the international community, including Canada, to join the investigation," he added.

Ukrainian officials, for their part, initially agreed with Iranian suspicions that the 3-year-old plane was brought down by mechanical trouble, but later backed away from that and declined to offer a cause while the investigation is ongoing.

A top Ukrainian security official said in a Facebook post Thursday that four main scenarios of what could have happened are being looked into, including an anti-aircraft missile strike, a collision with a UAV or unmanned aerial vehicle, an engine failure and an explosion inside the aircraft as the result of a terrorist act.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials.

The crash just before dawn scattered flaming debris and passengers' belongings across a wide stretch of farmland. It also came shortly after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over the killing of a top Iranian general in a drone strike last week.

Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Kyiv after visiting their families during the winter break.

The flight also included a family of four and newlyweds. The passenger list included several teenagers and children, some as young as 1 or 2.

"Know that all Canadians are grieving with you," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, addressing the victims' families.

Jan. 9 was declared a national day of mourning in Ukraine.

The disaster could further damage Boeing's reputation, which has been battered by the furor over two deadly crashes involving a different model of the Boeing jet, the much-newer 737 Max, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months.

Boeing extended condolences to the victims' families and said it stands ready to assist.

Senior U.S. investigative sources said Wednesday Boeing and U.S. government investigators likely won't be able to investigate the crash.
Job announcements from Facebook and Salesforce pushed employment among multinationals in Ireland 6% higher last year but the state agency competing to win foreign business said it saw significant risks to future growth.

Foreign firms account for one in 10 jobs in Ireland's fast growing economy and they added a net 13,867 roles in 2019, just shy of the record 14,000 gains in 2018, IDA Ireland said in its annual labor force survey on Wednesday.

While IDA CEO Martin Shanahan said he expected the strong performance to continue in the first half of 2020, the state agency said subdued global economic growth, continued trade tensions and capacity constraints in the Irish economy posed significant downside risks over the next five years.

The list of risks in the IDA's report omitted new global rules under consideration on how and where big internet companies pay tax that could test multinationals' commitment to Ireland where they pay a low 12.5% corporate tax rate.

"Tax is permanently with us, it is part of the puzzle but I don't think we've any reason to be fearful (from the planned global changes)," Shanahan told a news conference.

"It's too early for them (companies) or us to say what exactly the impacts are likely to be and they might be very different from company to company. At the moment there is no indication that companies are thinking differently about Ireland based on anything that may be coming down the line."

Shanahan said the clearest evidence of that commitment could be seen in the 2019 jobs figures, led at the start of the year by Facebook's hiring of 1,000 more people in Dublin where its new 14 acre European headquarters is under construction.

The 1,500 jobs U.S. cloud software maker Salesforce announced it would add over the next five years was one of the largest job commitments in the IDA's 70-year history.

Half of the 250 companies that invested in Ireland last year did so for the first time, the IDA said.

However, competition for investment was strong with Shanahan identifying some countries in Eastern Europe as doing "extraordinarily well" in the race to attract multinational jobs.

He added that he found it difficult to see how neighboring Britain - already a "formidable competitor" - could become much more competitive if its exit from the European Union reduces its access to the bloc's single market.

Uncertainties around Britain's EU departure has seen close to 90 firms making Brexit-related investments in Ireland since 2016, with over 5,500 associated jobs, the IDA said. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
When I went out there and I attended a lot of events, my ear was listening to him but my eyes were on the audience, Brown said. How are people reacting to this midsized city mayor who is fairly new to the American electorate but is attracting a lot of attention because of his ideas and because of his openness?
Ways to make an ever-popular New Year's resolution a reality

Getting started on a healthy program can be easy with some professional help.
Agnes Keleti, former Olympic gold medal winning gymnast, waves from a window of her apartment in Budapest, Hungary (Laszlo Balogh/AP)

The oldest living Olympic champion has turned 99 years old.

Agnes Keleti won 10 Olympic medals as a gymnast at the 1952 Helsinki Games and the 1956 Melbourne Games and is also a Holocaust survivor.

She was aged 31 and 35 during her two Olympics and won five gold medals.

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Keletis father and uncles were killed in the Nazis Auschwitz death camp.

She trails only American swimmers Mark Spitz and Dara Torres among Jewish athletes in having the most Olympic medals.

Keleti lived for decades in Israel teaching gymnastics before returning a few years ago to Budapest, Hungary.

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She said the most important thing children should learn is the joy of life.
In theory, our presence there now, 17 years after the Iraq War began, is primarily about countering the Islamic State (which joined the insurgency against the U.S. occupation in 2004, about a year after President George W. Bush declared that our first mission there was accomplished). When Donald Trump was campaigning against Hillary Clinton in 2016, he even claimed to have a secret plan to defeat the group. But Id seen insurgent groups defeated before, and so when I had a chance, at NBCs 2016 Commander-in-Chief Forum, to ask Trump a question, I didnt ask about that plan. I asked what would happen next, after he sent troops to bleed and die and kill securing towns and villages overseas. What would he do to ensure that the insurgents didnt just come back? He gave a rambling answer, criticizing Barack Obamas pullout from Iraq and blaming it for the Islamic States rise, before declaring we should have taken the oil.
OnePlus has scheduled a display-related event for January 13. A detailed description of this event is the OnePlus 2020 Screen Technology Communication Meeting, reports GizmoChina. All in all, it seems like OnePlus will reveal new display technology, or something like that.

This event has been scheduled in China, by the way. Media invites have been sent out, and the event will kick off at 2 PM local time. It will be hosted in Shenzhen.

New display technology could be revealed by OnePlus

OnePlus really did not reveal much info when it comes to this event. The company shared an image via social media, and thats it. We can see a slab of glass in that image, and sketches of that same glass behind it.

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This does not really reveal much, or anything at all. All it confirms is that this event will have something to do with display tech, so thats what were expecting from OnePlus.

Now, if we had to guess, wed say that the company will talk about refresh rates. To be more specific, the company may unveil its plans for the OnePlus 8s display.

Both the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro are expected to ship with 120Hz displays. That means that their refresh rates will be higher than those of the OnePlus 7 Pro and 7T. Those two phones are refreshing their displays at 90Hz.

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OnePlus does not have a habit of talking about its displays before a phone gets announced, but the company may make an exception this time.

Quite a few companies will announce smartphones with 120Hz displays in 2020

Why? you may ask. Well, because quite a few smartphone manufacturers will announce smartphones with 120Hz displays this year. OnePlus may simply want to jump the gun, and hype it up before anyone else does.

The Galaxy S20 series that is coming in February is expected to include 120Hz displays. The Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra, at least, the Galaxy S20 will include a 90Hz one, if rumors are accurate.

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That is just one example. The Galaxy S20 will arrive before the OnePlus 8, so OnePlus may want to attract some attention to its tech and phones ahead of time.

That actually makes sense. OnePlus was the company that popularized high refresh rate displays, pretty much. Ever since the OnePlus 7 Pro came to market, high refresh rate displays have been the talk of the town.

There is a chance OnePlus is planning something else, either in addition to this, or instead of it. When it comes to displays, theres much to talk about. Perhaps the company has some new features in tow, or a new in-display fingerprint scanner. An under-display camera tech is also an option, so who knows. Well know more on January 13.
Washington: It's no secret that US President Donald Trump isn't a fan of former president Barack Obama's policy toward Iran; he has made that clear since before he was a presidential candidate. But even as he was claiming success in the ongoing standoff with Iran, Trump used the occasion to lodge a very serious charge against Obama: that his administration effectively funded the attacks that were aimed at US forces Wednesday.

"Iran's hostilities substantially increased after the foolish Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2013, and they were given US$150 billion ($218 billion), not to mention US$1.8 billion in cash," Trump said at the White House.

"Instead of saying thank you to the United States, they chanted 'Death to America.' ... Then Iran went on a terror spree funded by the money from the deal and created hell in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq."

Trump used what could have been a unifying moment to take aim at his predecessor over Iran. Credit:AP

Then Trump turned to Obama again: "The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration."
If I will die, let it ...
A Illinois man says he may never return to see his extended family in his native Mexico after a gang beat and shot him three times while he was there on a Christmas vacation.

Jose Luis Gutierrez spoke out for the first time this week about his nightmarish road trip in the western state of Jalisco, where he was celebrating with his relatives.

The married father-of-three was driving with his 19-year-old daughter, Sofia Gutierrez, and his 81-year-old father, Jose de Jesus Gutierrez, when they stopped on the side the road in the north-central state of Zacatecas to rest on the night of December 23.

They were then attacked by a group of about five or six men.

One of the suspects forced him out of the car at gunpoint and placed the gun over his ear and then led him inside the gang's vehicle, where another man aimed his weapon.

'They told me to get down and I got down and I went around the car and then one of them placed a weapon behind my ear,' Jose Luis said in an interview with NBC 5 Chicago via Skype from Texas.

Illinois resident Jose Luis Gutierrez spoke out for the first time this week after a group of men attacked him and shot him three times on a remote road in Zacatecas, Mexico, on December 23

Jose Luis Gutierrez took a gun away from one of his captors and used another as a shield before he was shot during an ambush in Mexico on December 23

Jose Luis Gutierrez was severely beaten and shot in the hip and twice in the leg during a violent ambush in the state of Zacatecas on December 23. Mexican authorities later found him in the middle of the road (above)

The suspects then drove Jose Luis, who lives in the Chicago suburb of Aurora, about 200 feet down the road and contemplated killing him while he tried to bargain with his captors.

'Tell me what you want, I can help you,' he said he begged them.

One the kidnappers then ordered him 'to the floor.'

He then heard one chant 'kill him, kill him', while another disagreed saying, 'I won't kill him here because it will stain the car with blood and then how are we going to clean it?'

Jose Luis, who works as a landscaper, put up a struggle with the kidnappers. He gained control of a gun that was placed on his head and threw it to the ground.

The victim then grabbed one of the abductors and used him for cover. The gunman fired, hitting him in the hip and twice in the leg.

Mexican authorities later found Jose Luis Gutierrez in the middle of the road in Zacatecas on December 23. He was airlifted to a nearby hospital for treatment and then transferred to a hospital in Laredo, Texas, on January 2

The gang also attacked 19-year-old daughter Sofia Gutierrez and her 81-year-old grandfather, Jose de Jesus Gutierrez

His family say Jose Luis was driving slowly because he was getting tired when the SUV with the group of assailants cut them off and cornered them.

They opened the doors and started hitting Jose Luis's daughter and father.

He was attacked when he tried to protect his family in the remote road.

All of their possessions, including their American passports, were stolen in the ambush.

Mexican authorities later found Jose Luis in the middle of the road.

Jose Luis Gutierrez is now recuperating in Dallas, Texas, before he can return to his home in Aurora, a suburb of Chicago

Gutierrez, who lives in the Chicago suburb of Aurora, where he works as a landscaper, was en route to the western state of Jalisco to spend Christmas with relatives when he was nearly killed by a gang during a roadside ambush in the north-central state of Zacatecas

He was airlifted to a nearby hospital for treatment.

According to NBC affiliate KGNS TV, the League of United Latin American Citizens assisted the family with the necessary paperwork to transfer Jose Luis to a medical facility Laredo, Texas, on January 2.

He is now in Dallas receiving treatment before he is permitted to return to his home.

Guiterrez's daughter and father didn't suffer any serious injuries in the ambush.

'My daughter had a nervous shock, she got really scared. And my father-in-law is older,' then said Alejandra Gutierrez, Jose Luis' wife.

'I am worried about the three of them.'
Britain will find it basically impossible to negotiate all aspects of its future relationship with the European Union by the end of this year, the head of the European Commission said on Wednesday, adding that both sides must pick priorities.

Speaking at the London School of Economics before meeting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Ursula von der Leyen cast doubt on his timetable for an agreement defining the long-term post-Brexit relationship by the end of 2020.

The transition time is very, very tight  so it is basically impossible to negotiate all that I have been mentioning, so we will have to prioritize, she said.

Johnson has said Britain will not extend the transition period and will not seek a deal based on close alignment with EU rules, although his spokesman said trade talks did not need to be completed all at once.

Von der Leyens views are widely shared in the EU. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, whose country holds the rotating six-month presidency of the bloc, told reporters that Britain had to be sensible.

We should adopt a negotiating framework which is inclusive but to approach the negotiations in a realistic manner, he said in Zagreb. That means not to put on a plate too many dossiers which we might not be able to deal with in the allotted time.

Von der Leyen said the first topics that would need to be addressed were the areas where there were no international trade treaties to fall back on, adding that there could be no compromise on the EU priority to uphold the integrity of the blocs single market and its customs union.

She suggested that progress in the talks should be reviewed in the middle of the year, or before summer ideally, with a view to deciding then whether or not more time was needed.

Johnsons office said an initial meeting between the British leader and von der Leyen had been positive, but said he restated that there could be no extension of the end-2020 deadline for a deal.

Britain would retain high labor and environmental standards after Brexit but would not accept alignment with EU rules or any jurisdiction by the European Court of Justice, a spokesperson for Johnson added.

Transition Period

Britain leaves the EU on Jan. 31 but, while no longer an EU member, an agreed transition phase means it will remain bound by all the blocs rules and pay into the EUs budget until the end of the year.

Unless London asks for an extension of the transition period beyond 2020, trade relations between the EU and Britain from the start of 2021 will either be governed by whatever agreement can be hammered out by the end of this year, or World Trade Organization rules.

The British government does not want an extension of the transition period and is in the process of writing that promise  made during an election campaign last month  into law, making it illegal for Johnson to ask for more time.

Without an extension of the transition period beyond 2020, you cannot expect to agree on every single aspect of our new partnership, von der Leyen said.

She noted that the further Britain diverges from the EU, the less access it will have to the blocs single market.

Without the free movement of people, you cannot have the free movement of capital, goods and services, von der Leyen said.

She reiterated the EU wanted a new partnership with Britain under which there would be zero tariffs, zero quotas and zero dumping and that would address everything from climate action to data protection, fisheries to energy, transport to space, financial services to security.

She also stressed the need for a comprehensive security partnership to fight cross-border threats ranging from terrorism to cyber security and counterintelligence.

(Additional reporting by John Chalmers in Zagreb; writing by Jan Strupczewski and David Milliken, editing by Estelle Shirbon and Nick Macfie)

Topics Europe Uk
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:

Uzbekistan took 85th place in the world Henley & Partners Passport Index for 2019, maintaining the same position as last year, Trend reports citing Henley & Partners rating.

As of the end of 2019, citizens of Uzbekistan can visit 57 countries without having to apply for a visa (or obtain it upon arrival).

The World Passport Index is published quarterly by Swiss Henley & Partners consulting company.

The citizens of Japan lead the index, who can visit 191 destinations without a visa.

In spring of 2019, Japan shared the first place with Singapore and South Korea (189 destinations). The new index sees the rise of Japan's position (191), as well as for Singapore (190), while South Korea settled for the third spot (189).

According to the rating indicators, Azerbaijani citizens can visit 67 countries of the world without a visa, an increase of one position since last year.

During the year, Azerbaijan received visa-free access to Pakistan, Senegal and Serbia.

---

Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri
The Cambodian government will have to enact substantial political reforms if it wants to retain a preferential trade agreement with the European Union, a Swedish lawmaker has warned. Under the agreement, known as Everything But Arms, Cambodia can export goods to the EU duty-free, but that arrangement is contingent on the nation complying with international conventions regarding human and labor rights.

Cambodia needs to enact genuine democratic reforms, Asa Eriksson told Voice of America in an interview shortly after meeting opposition leader Kem Sokha at his house in Phnom Penh.

"I haven't seen any progress. We did see small, small things happening in late autumn. But it's not enough at all. And I would say that  to me, at least, it looks more like cosmetics: things that should tell us that the process is going in the right way, but I'm not sure that the government is willing to do the changes that are needed," she said.

Eriksson is a member of the governing Social Democrats in Sweden and serves as their international trade spokesperson. She last visited Cambodia in 2017. That same year, Kem Sokha was arrested and his party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP, was forcibly dissolved.

Kem Sokha was released in November 2019 but remains banned from politics.

The European Union has initiated an investigation into Cambodia's human rights record that could lead to potential suspension of its Everything But Arms trade privileges. With the loss of EU assistance to reach European markets, some experts are concerned that key sectors in Cambodia such as garments and footwear could become smaller. The EU is expected to make a formal announcement in mid-February.

Reaction from Cambodia

While EBA was "necessary" and "critical" to Cambodia, government spokesman Phay Siphan said that officials prioritized "peace, stability, and sovereignty."

Phay Siphan added that withdrawing the trade agreement would be a blow to the Cambodian government, but could be mitigated.

"We understand that it is a short period of impact  but the government [will] do our most critical thing to settle the crisis  such as finding a new market in the world," he told VOA in a phone interview.

Upcoming trial

Meanwhile, Kem Sokha's trial on charges of treason  which many views as unfounded  is scheduled to begin next week, two months after investigations closed.

Eriksson expressed hope for Kem Sokha's acquittal.

"Of course, what Mr. Sokha hopes for is that he will be released and I hope so too," she said. "[But] most people and organizations we have met with so far think that he will not be released, but maybe pardoned by the king later."

Eriksson has said, in addition to releasing Kem Sokha, the government needs to reinstate his political rights, allow the CNRP to organize again and release all political prisoners.

Spokesman Phay Siphan said the matter rested entirely in the hands of the court, and that the government could not influence its decisions.

The spokesman was asked about a recent case in which Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had ordered the release of dozens of CNRP activists who had been arrested between August and November in anticipation of acting opposition leader Sam Rainsy's announced return. Phay Siphan repeated that the courts were independent from the government. When pressed on the matter, the spokesman suggested the reporter lacked knowledge about the country.

"I understand the buffalo, you understand the cow," he said. "Go back to school, my friend. ... You're not smart."

The spokesman declined to elaborate.

Even if Kem Sokha received a pardon, more substantial reforms were necessary to maintain the agreement, Eriksson said. They would include allowing for viable competition in an open democratic space, she said.

The decision on whether to withdraw the EBA privileges was a sensitive issue and bore risks not only for Cambodia, the Swedish politician said.

"What would be a disaster, I think, is that the EU doesn't do anything when it's so obvious that the Cambodian government breaks the rules for EBA, because the EBA is a privilege, something that developing countries can have if they commit the work for democracy and human rights," she said.

"From an EU perspective, there are very few countries who have the favor of EBA, and there are very clear rules to have the favor of EBA," Eriksson added. "And if a country so clearly breaks those rules as Cambodia is doing, and if the EU doesn't respond to that, well, then we will be irrelevant  then anyone can break any rules."


(Newser)  Kevin J. Rosenberg borrowed about $116,500 between 1993 and 2004 to get him through the University of Arizona, where he earned a history degree, and Cardozo Law School. With interest, that debt grew to $221,400, the Wall Street Journal reports. In 2018, Rosenberg filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy, unable to repay the loans. A bankruptcy judge this week told him not to worry about it. In wiping out Rosenberg's debt, Judge Cecelia G. Morris said that paying back the money would be an undue hardship for the Navy veteran. Educational Credit Management had argued that Rosenberg didn't meet that standard because he has no disability, isn't unemployable, and isn't using his law school educationhe hasn't worked much as a lawyer. The company is a nonprofit that handles the government's Federal Family Education Loans. "I'm thankful that I get to recover from a crushing financial blow and have a chance to get up, dust myself off, and keep going," Rosenberg said.

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Judges are becoming more willing to help borrowers awash in student debt, per the Journal, and Morris said she was acting to dispel the myth that it's "impossible to discharge student loans." She applied a different standard, the Brunner test, that's based on whether the borrower has tried to repay their loan but can't do that and keep a decent standard of living. The New York judge's ruling doesn't establish a precedent, but reflects the trend of rethinking how to apply bankruptcy standards. "If the district court affirms Chief Morris' order," a bankruptcy lawyer told the Times-Union, "there will be a lot more filers for bankruptcy all over the country." (Read more student loans stories.)
The mother of an Irishman who died in a one-punch attack in New York has said she "couldn't believe the outpouring of support" following her son's death.

Danny McGee, 21, from Drumlish, Co. Longford, was found unresponsive outside a pub in Queens on November 22 last year.

He was taken to hospital but later pronounced dead.

Dubliner Steven O'Brien pleaded guilty to the assault at Queens County Criminal Court, New York in November.

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Prosecutors told the court he punched Mr McGee once to the side of the head during an argument.

The 26-year-old, with an address at 42nd Street in Queens, will now serve six months in prison after agreeing a plea deal.

He apologised to Mr McGee's family and his lawyer told the court that he is remorseful and sad over the tragedy.

Danny's mother, Colleen McGee, told RTE Radio One's Morning Ireland that she received numerous letters from his friends in the wake of his death.

"I got a lot of letters from people I didn't know," Ms McGee said.

"I couldn't believe the outpouring of support, for people to write a letter when they didn't know me. I think it shows the kind of person he was. "

She continued; "Whatever I had to say [to his attacker] I said it in that statement. The main thing was how it was dragged out. The continuing on for another year was really not necessary.

"He pleaded not guilty from the start, for a full year. It was an added burden we did not need.

"To hear that statement made at every court date, that plea of not guilty.

"I was thinking my son has died, somebody is guilty of something."
The arrest of three suspects in the death of Jennifer Farber Dulos on Tuesday inspired a rush to judgment on social media that extended to community leaders.

New Canaan Police Department summed up the flood of zeal best by tweeting the single word Justice!

Even Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence Chief Executive Officer Karen Jarmoc jumped straight to verdict.

Jennifer Farber Dulos was one of 14 individuals killed by an intimate partner in Connecticut in 2019, Jarmoc said in a statement.

Its somewhat understandable that emotions that have been percolating since Dulos vanished May 24 would boil over with the arrest of her estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, and two others.

Fotis Dulos, 52, was arrested at his Farmington home and charged in Bridgeport with capital murder, murder and kidnapping. His former girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, and former civil attorney, Kent Mawhinney, face charges of conspiracy to commit murder.

The players serving as judge and jury in what is sure to be an exhausting legal drama, of course, will need to be considerably more dispassionate than tweeting pundits. But that doesnt diminish the goals of police seeking to deliver justice and Jarmoc and peers coping daily with a sobering epidemic of domestic violence.

Jarmoc points to statistics that would be horrifying even without the backdrop of a case that has drawn national media attention. That 14, which includes Jennifer Dulos, is not an anomaly. Jarmoc says it is consistent with the number of people killed in Connecticut by a partner each year.

The 2019 tally includes just one female perpetrator and three male victims. The weapons used included four firearms and six knives.

Those are just the cases of domestic violence that ended in death. Any number is too many, but the frequency of reported cases is chilling. If thats too much to process, consider how many incidents go unreported every day.

On a broader scale, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence documents that about 20 people per minute are physically abused by a partner in the country.

Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence strives to draw victims forward, working with the 18 domestic violence agencies throughout the state. Victims can reach out around the clock every day at CTSafeConnect.org or by texting or calling 888-774-2900.

Before her disappearance, Jennifer Dulos expressed fear of her husband. Her case has, without question, drawn sensational interest because she was a white woman in an enclave of Connecticut wealth. Other victims, and the crime itself, continue to beg for more attention.

Progress has  slowly  been made. Domestic violence agencies have helped transform standard police procedures from bygone days of officers breaking up fights and departing households while dangerous issues fester. Since the passage of the 1986 Thurman Law, domestic violence has been an instantly arrestable offense.

More progress is needed. Police need more training, the public needs more awareness and potential victims need more support.

Justice must be pursued for potential victims of the future.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex feel they are being driven out of the royal family after they were told they would not have major roles in a slimmed-down monarchy, a friend has claimed.

ITV news anchor Tom Bradby said Prince Harry and Meghan were made aware, while away in Canada for six weeks, that the royal households focus in the future would be on those at the top of the line of succession.

Buckingham Palace moved quickly to shrug off suggestions it had shown the door to the couple, insisting the Sussexes had been very much at the heart of plans for the royal familys future before a shock announcement they were stepping back from public life.

Harry and Meghans plans were announced in a statement on Wednesday that rocked the royal family and is said to have left the Queen and other senior royals hurt.

Mr Bradby, who is friends with the couple, told an ITV news programme: It had been made clear to them in their absence there was going to be a slimmed-down monarchy and they werent really a part of it.

He added: Certainly the rest of the family find Harry and Meghan very difficult and, from Harry and Meghans point of view, theyre just being driven out as they see it.

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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

But The Times reported that palace officials had stressed Harry and Meghan had always been central to the monarchys plans, with one aide quoted as saying: It is strongly disputed that the Sussexes are not at the centre of any future slimmed-down monarchy.

The aide added: I dont think you could point to any evidence of them being forced out, or made to feel unwelcome.

The future of the monarchy always had the Sussexes very much at the heart of it, and perhaps still will, depending on what structures they arrive at.

Talks on the Duke and Duchesses future roles in the royal household began in earnest on Friday at the urging of the Queen  following reports she had pressed officials to ensure a remedy to the situation was found in days, as opposed to weeks.

The couple hope talks over their future roles can be concluded sooner rather than later, a source said, adding: It is in everyones interest for this to be figured out, and figured out quickly, but not at the expense of the outcome.

Recommended Meghan and Prince Harry receive job offers following announcement

An opinion poll for the Daily Mail found 76 per cent of the British public believes Harry and Meghan should sacrifice their Metropolitan Police protection after they step back from their senior royal roles. Some 73 per cent said the same for taxpayer funded security measures.

Donald Trump also waded into the debate on Friday, with the US president saying he was sad for the Queen.

In an interview with Fox News, he said: I think its sad. She is a great woman. She has never made a mistake. If you look she has had like a flawless time.

I just have such respect for the Queen, I dont think this should be happening to her.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 15:10:08|Editor: xuxin

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that no casualties resulted from Iran's missiles strikes in Iraq on Tuesday, sending signals of de-escalation while threatening Tehran with fresh sanctions.

"No Americans were harmed in last night's attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties," Trump said in a televised White House address after Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, along with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, told reporters later in the day at the Pentagon that Iran launched 16 short-range ballistic missiles from three locations within Iran in Tuesday's attack.

Esper said that of the 16 missiles, 11 hit the Ayn al-Asad air base and at least one landed at a base near Erbil, adding that the missiles damaged tents, taxiways, parking lots and a helicopter.

Milley said that Iran's missiles "were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and aircraft, and to kill personnel."

Trump attributed the absence of casualties to precautionary measures, dispersal of forces, and effective early warning systems.

"The United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime. These powerful sanctions will remain until Iran changes its behavior," Trump said.

Trump showed his restraint in his remarks, saying that "Iran appears to be standing down," which is "a good thing" for all parties concerned.

The president highlighted the military strength of his country, mentioning that military might serves as the "best deterrent."

In an even rarer scene, Trump hinted at a potential cooperation between Washington and Tehran. "The destruction of ISIS (the Islamic State) is good for Iran, and we should work together on this and other shared priorities," he said as he concluded his speech.

The already strained U.S.-Iran tensions have escalated sharply since Qassem Soleimani, former commander the Quds Force of Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), was killed near Baghdad International Airport by U.S. drone strikes.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed "severe revenge", and IRGC said Tuesday's missile attacks targeting U.S. forces in Iraq were direct revenge against the killing of Soleimani.

Following the missile attack, leaders in Tehran and Washington attempted to convey de-escalation messages to each other via social media.

Hours after the missile attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that "Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter," adding that Iran did not seek an escalation.

Trump also used Twitter to respond, saying "All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good!"

While the two countries' leaders seem to be downplaying any tension, experts have cautioned that risks are still lingering.

Avery Goldstein, a professor of international relations at the University of Pennsylvania, told Xinhua that the Iran-U.S. situation is still "fluid and unresolved."

"It's tempting to hope that both sides can now declare victory and go home. Yet, it's unlikely that we've now seen the full measure of Iran's retaliation for the Suleimani killing," tweeted Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based think tank.

"The most acute phase may have passed, but the crisis goes on," he added.
Sources said that law and order issues across the country as well as security matters linked to Jammu and Kashmir were discussed in the meeting, chaired by Shah, against the backdrop of recent violent protests in various states against Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday held a high-level meeting with National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and top officials in the Ministry of Home Affairs on internal security issues.

Over 2,000 people have been arrested and around 5,000 detained while protesting against the CAA since the Parliament passed the law on December 11, 2019. Hundreds of security personnel have also been injured in anti-CAA protests across India, the strongest dissent against Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came into power in 2014.

The Act provides Indian citizenship to six non-Muslim communities -- Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian -- who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 after facing religious persecution.

The government has clarified that the law has nothing to do with the citizens of India, including Muslims.

In the meeting, sources said, intelligence inputs regarding role of the Popular Front of India (PFI) behind the CAA protests were discussed among other points mentioned.

The meeting was held a day after a seven-member inter-faith delegation comprising prominent spiritual leaders and social reformers from different faiths and sects, including Jain Acharya Lokesh, meditation guru Swami Deepankar, Mufti Shamoon Qasmi, Sardar Sant Singh, Veer Chakra Awardee Col T.P. Tyagi, Vineet Kumar and Gautam, met Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy to express solidarity with the government, saying the law "concerns foreigners and no Indian has anything to fear".

rak/vd
After months of investigation, the House of Representatives has impeached President Donald Trump for abusing the powers of his office for personal gain and obstructing Congress in the investigation of those matters. As my colleagues return from the holiday recess, one question looms before the Senate: Will we now fulfill our duty to conduct a fair impeachment trial of the president and properly consider these extremely serious charges?

A fair trial is one that examines all the relevant facts and allows senators to make an informed decision based on those facts. And central to getting at the facts is summoning witnesses and a specific set of documents. Both presidential impeachment trials in our nations history featured witnesses. In fact, witnesses were called in almost every impeachment trial of any official in Senate history, according to information provided by the Senate Historical Office.

That is why I have called for the Senate to issue subpoenas for relevant documents and testimony from four current and former senior members of the administration with firsthand knowledge of the delay of military assistance to Ukraine and the efforts to pressure Ukraine to announce investigations of the presidents political rival. The witnesses are John Bolton, the president's former national security adviser; Mick Mulvaney, the president's acting chief of staff; Robert Blair, senior adviser to the chief of staff; and Michael Duffey, associate director for national security at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Witnesses needed more than ever

Since Congress recessed for the holidays, several events have significantly bolstered the need to hear from these witnesses and obtain the related documents:

On Dec. 20, the Center for Public Integrity obtained emails through a Freedom of Information Act request that showed that 91 minutes after President Trumps July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Duffey asked the Defense Department to hold off on sending military aid to Ukraine.

Story continues

On Dec. 29, a New York Times report included several revelations about Mulvaneys involvement in the delayed military assistance; about the effort by lawyers at the OMB, the Department of Justice and the White House to justify the delay; and about the alarm that the delay caused within the administration, particularly the Pentagon.

President Donald Trump and national security adviser John Bolton at the White House on April 9, 2018.

Last Thursday, the Just Security blog cited a trove of newly unredacted emails that further exposed the serious concerns raised by Trump administration officials about the propriety and legality of the presidents decision to delay military assistance to Ukraine. One of those emails was from Duffey to the Pentagon comptroller: Clear direction from POTUS (the president) to continue to hold.

Senate and its conscience: Trump impeachment trial could be a partisan sham or a master class in civic duty

On Friday, despite a court order mandating that the White House comply with a FOIA request by The Times, the White House announced that it was withholding in full 20 emails between Blair and Duffey, in which they presumably discuss the freezing of military aid to Ukraine.

And just this week, Bolton announced that he would comply with a Senate subpoena compelling his testimony. Given that his lawyers have stated he has new relevant information to share, we must hear his side of the story along with the other three witnesses.

Senate must shed light on the truth

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is very clear that he has no intention of conducting a fair trial that examines all of the evidence. But thankfully, the rules of the impeachment trial will be determined by a majority of all senators, not by the Republican leader alone. Right now, there are 47 Democrats and 53 Republicans in the Senate, which means four Republicans will make the difference between a trial that is fair, and a trial that serves as little more than a cover-up for the presidents misconduct.

Sen. Tim Kaine: My colleagues must be impartial in Donald Trump's impeachment trial

We are not asking for critics of the president to serve as witnesses in a trial. We are asking that the presidents men  his top advisers  tell their story, and for the Senate to have access to the documents that will shed light on the truth.

The bottom line is simple: There was an exceedingly strong case to call witnesses and request documents before the Senate recessed for the Christmas break. Since then, that case has gotten even stronger.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., is the Senate minority leader. Follow him on Twitter: @SenSchumer

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump Senate impeachment trial has growing need for witnesses: Schumer
The on Thursday ruled out the removal of JNU Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar amid demands from students and a section of teachers saying sacking him is not the solution and the government's focus is to address the main issues that have cropped up on campus.

Ministry officials, however, asserted that the "formula" decided during consultations with students and administration needs to be implemented.

The varsity officials including the Vice Chancellor have been called at the Ministry on Friday over students' claims that the revised fees as decided during HRD intervention are not being implemented.

HRD Secretary Amit Khare met a delegation of representatives from JNU Students Union and Teachers Association where they put forward the demand of VC's removal.

"Removing the VC is not the solution. The basic issue on which the whole problem has arisen needs to be addressed first. Changing X, Y or Z is not as important as resolving the issues that have come up. The basic bone of contention needs to be resolved," Khare said.

On the issue raised by students of their union not being officially notified by the university, he said, "the ministry's focus is on academic issues on campus and not political".

The has called the students again on Friday after the meeting with Vice Chancellor and his team.

"We will talk to the university administration that the fees changes which were decided last month are implemented. We are working on resolving the issues and restoring normalcy. It is a prestigious university and should remain that way," Khare said.

VC Kumar, however, denied claims that the formula arrived at the ministry is being fully implemented and there is no deviation from it.

"As far as the fee issue is concerned, there has been no deviation from the formula arrived at the last month. As decided, students are not being charged any services or utility fees," Kumar told PTI.

"We have also written to UGC to release funds for covering the utility and service charges as decided," he added.

The HRD ministry had in November formed a three-member panel to mediate between the agitating students and administration and restore normalcy in the campus.

According to the formula proposed by the ministry, the JNU administration would charge only the increased room rent and the service and utility charges were to be borne by the University Grants Commission.

In return, the students would call off their agitation and engage in dialogue with the university administration.

To compensate for the lost academic period, JNU was asked to extend the semester by two weeks. The university was also advised to notify the students' union and withdraw police complaints against students.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
On August 5, 2019, India had scrapped Article 370 of the Constitution which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir. (Photo Credit: PTI File)

New Delhi:

Fifteen foreign envoys visited Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday where they met civil society members and got the briefings on the security situation in the Union territory. Envoys from 15 countries which include US, South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Maldives, Morocco, Fiji, Norway, Philippines, Argentina, Peru, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, and Guyana are on a visit to Kashmir to assess the situation there.

Heres one to one analysis of how some of these nations reacted on the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

United States: The US had called for restraint and appealed to both India and Pakistan to maintain calm in the region. The US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus had said that there was no change in the country's policy on Kashmir.

Bangladesh: Bangladesh had called revocation of Art 370 for Jammu and Kashmir as an internal matter of India.

Zambia: Zambia was the first African nation to react after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. The Zambian president had said, Jammu and Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan.

Maldives: An official statement issued by the Government of the Maldives had referred the revocation of Article 370 as, The decision taken by the Government of India regarding Article 370 of the Indian Constitution as an internal matter".

Moreover, India had got unequivocal support from Russia as the old-ally stood with India against Pakistan's resolution against India over Jammu and Kashmir.

Russia had called India-Pakistan to exercise restraint and added that it expects India-Pakistan to not aggravate situation. (File Photo)

Poland-which was having presidency of United Nations Security Council in August 2019- made it clear that Kashmir dispute should be solved bilaterally.

In South Korea, protests were held by people beloging to Pakistani origin over the abrogation of Article 370. An Indian delegation, which included BJP leader Shazia Ilmi, had confronted with the protesters.

On August 5, 2019, India had scrapped Article 370 of the Constitution which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir. The resolution was passed in the Lok Sabha by division of votes with 351 members in support and 72 voting against it. One member abstained from voting. The House also cleared the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019, by 370 "AYES" and 70 "NO".

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Investigators are studying material evidence from the crash site and documentation, while plane wreckage was collected and moved to a safe place.

Iran has officially invited representatives of other countries to investigate the circumstances and causes of the crash of a Ukraine International Airlines plane crash in Tehran, Iran.

"Abedzadeh said the investigation team, in accordance with the standards provided for in Annex 13 to the Chicago Convention invites all countries that are recognized as beneficiaries of this document to authorize their representatives to participate in the crash investigation and appoint their own special groups," as reported on the website of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran, citing a statement by its head Ali Abedzadeh.

Abedzadeh also said both "black box" flight recorders had been handed over to the investigators today. The Commission is studying material evidence from the crash site and documentation, while plane wreckage was collected and moved to a safe location.

Read alsoIran releases preliminary accident report on PS752 crash

Both recorders have sustained physical damage in the crash and part of the memory could not be restored, Iran says.

Abedzadeh said the preliminary accident report was immediately sent to Ukraine, which is a country where the aircraft is registered, to the United States (manufacturer state), as well as Sweden and Canada, as countries whose citizens died in the crash.

He added that Ukraine had requested that its experts join the observation to learn about the steps Iran is taking as part of the investigation.
Deteriorating service quality. The quality of AT&T and Frontier voice services has steadily declined over the eight year period, with the number of outages increasing and the service restoration times getting longer.

Persistent disinvestment. The depreciation in the value of the AT&T and Frontier networks was greater than the companies capital investments. This was most pronounced in rural and low-income service areas.

Degradation of landline service and support. AT&T no longer actively markets Plain Old Telephone Service, or POTS and is instead promoting broadband service to grow revenues.

Failure to improve the network infrastructure to withstand bad weather or fire events. The companies engineering, design and construction, and maintenance practices are not as robust as they need to be.

Preferential focus on higher income communities. There is an inverse relationship between household income and wire center service quality performance. For instance, AT&T wire centers that have been upgraded with fiber optic disproportionately serve richer communities. Areas with the lowest household incomes have the highest trouble report rates, the longest out-of-service durations, and the lowest percentages of outages cleared within 24 hours.

Increased focus on the most competitive communities. AT&T and Frontier offer the greatest service in regions of the state where competition  and potential loss of customers  is greatest.

A single downed Internet cable was to blame for the massive holiday havoc at the Sacramento International Airport in the hectic days before Christmas, canceling flights, stranding passengers and forcing airline employees to check luggage and write out boarding passes by hand.But the real culprit, said California Governors Office of Emergency Services Director Mark Ghilarducci , is telecoms failure to create a more resilient communications network.Two days of chaos  triggered when a drunk driver on a rural road, three miles from the airport, crashed into a utility pole holding an AT&T fiber-optic bundle on Dec. 23  shows the networks vulnerability, Ghilarducci said in testimony before state lawmakers on Wednesday about telecommunications outages and ways to prevent them.An unprotected single fiber line to critical infrastructure is unacceptable, he said. The reliability of these systems are inconsistent, or simply absent, with whats necessary to ensure the delivery of the essential lifeline capabilities.The incident follows public outcry over communication service failures during October wildfires and PG&E power shut-offs designed to reduce risk of downed utility lines during high-fire weather. Hundreds of thousands of Californians were without phone or internet service, according to federal reports. Residents feared they couldnt call 911, reach family members or get evacuation warnings or escape routes.Hospitals and 911 centers were unable to process critical data or pull up important records, said Ghilarducci.Because the telecommunications companies did not have adequate backup plans, extra generators had to be rushed in from out of state, he said.These generators, carried on trucks, were stopped at the border because they did not meet the states emissions standards  and required special exemptions.Lack of service is not a mere inconvenience  it endangers lives, California Public Utilities Commission President Marybel Batjer told the lawmakers.Also on Wednesday, some Democratic lawmakers revealed legislation to force telecommunication companies to have at least 72 hours of back-up power for all cellphone towers in high-risk fire areas. Telecom companies would have to pay for it, but the bill would not stop companies from passing along those costs to their customers.At the hearing, the CPUC released startling findings from an investigation of AT&T and Frontier/ Verizon s wireline reliability. A summary of the 2010-2017 report, released earlier this year but not publicized, found:State law requires carriers to restore 90 percent of service outages for regular telephone service within 24 hours or less, on statewide average.Yet the largest service providers routinely fail to meet these requirements, said CPUC commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen The problems identified for traditional phone service are being found in broadband and other types of service, as well, he said.While AT&T has the financial resources to maintain and upgrade its wireline network in California, it has not done so, according to the CPUC. Frontier, in contrast, said it wants to invest in upgrades, but lacks the financial capacity.These findings are troubling, said Rechtschaffen. Consistent with our statutory mandates, we will continue with our investigations and our work to ensure that all Californians have fair access to essential services.
Tyson Foods shares rallied hard in 2019 and the stock has more in the tank thanks to a boost from trade, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Thursday.

"Thanks to the African swine fever epidemic in China, I think Tyson Foods is poised to be the biggest winner from the phase one trade deal, or at least in the wake of it," the "Mad Money" host said of a breakthrough in U.S.-China trade relations.

"This is the mother of all catalysts, people, and while the stock had a big move last year, I'm betting it's still got a lot more room to run," he said.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will visit Washington, D.C., next week to sign the phase one agreement between the two countries, according to The Wall Street Journal. The nations have engaged in a trade war for almost two years. As part of the deal, Beijing would boost its agricultural buys.

China is facing a pork shortage due to African swine fever, which has depleted supply. Pork is a staple in the country, and the American market is the only one that can fulfill the looming demand. Tyson Foods is the largest U.S. meat processor and China is a big opportunity for the company, Cramer said.
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The global next generation memory market is expected to reach USD 3.43 billion by 2020, according to a new study by Grand View Research, Inc. Increasing need for fast and economical storage solutions across diverse applications is estimated to drive market growth over the forecast period. Next generation memory is used for various applications such as enterprise, industrial and automotive to store and manage information, which is expected to augment market growth over the next six years.

Increasing use of next generation memory in mobile phones to enhance customer experience is expected to fuel market growth. Increasing demand for wearable electronics and replacement of flash memory storage may provide new growth avenues to the next generation memory market. Low environment stability and high design cost may act as a restraint to market growth over the forecast period.

Further key findings from the report suggest:

Non-volatile memory storage is expected to remain the key product segment over the forecast period; it accounted for over 90% of the market in 2013. This technology is used for economical storage and fast processing of data and sustains the stored information even when the power is turned off. Volatile memory storage is estimated to witness considerable growth over the forecast period. In this technology, information fades when the power supply is turned off unless the storage device is periodically refreshed.

Mobile phones were a major application segment in 2013 and accounted over 55% of the overall market in the same year. All common computing platforms from handheld devices to supercomputers use storage systems to store data permanently or temporarily. Smart cards store a few bytes of data and are expected to grow at a significant rate over the forecast period.

North America was estimated to be the key regional market in 2013. The Asia Pacific market is expected to grow at a considerable rate owing to increasing demand for smartphones and tablets. Additionally, presence of key market players in countries such as China, India, Japan and South Korea is also expected to positively impact the regional market over the forecast period.

Key industry participants include Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., IBM Corp, Adesto Technologies, Crossbar Inc, Fujitsu Ltd, Toshiba Corporation, Intel Corporation etc. Toshiba along with SK Hynix are working on production of next generation memory chips, which is expected to decrease power consumption and increase data transfer speed. Economical and efficient solution development is expected to be a critical success factor for market players.

Request a Sample Copy of the Global Next Generation Memory Market Research Report @

www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/next-generation-memory-market/request/rs1

Grand View Research has segmented the global next generation memory market on the basis of product, application and region:

Next Generation Memory Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2020)

Volatile

Non-Volatile

Next Generation Memory Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2020)

Mass Storage

Mobile Phones

Industrial & Automotive

Embedded MCU & Smart Cards

Cache Memory & Enterprise Storage

Next Generation Memory Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2020)

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

RoW

Access full research report on global next generation memory market:

www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/next-generation-memory-market
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Two years after being named a NASA astronaut candidate, a Purdue University alumna is preparing to drop candidate from her title.

Loral OHara of Sugar Land, Texas, and a 2009 Purdue graduate, is one of 11 NASA candidates who will graduate during ceremonies Friday (Jan. 10) morning at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

OHara is the third Purdue alumna to earn the honor, following Janice E. Voss and Mary Ellen Weber. She was selected in 2017 as a NASA astronaut candidate, chosen from more than 18,000 applicants.

Fridays ceremony signifies the completion of two years of training by OHara. Candidates are trained in spacewalking, robotics and the systems used on the International Space Station.

She will now be eligible for missions to the space station as well as including spaceflight to the moon and Mars.

OHara will receive an astronaut pin during the graduation ceremony. The ceremony will air live on NASA Television and the agencys website.

OHara earned her masters degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Purdues College of Engineering. She previously worked as a research engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, where she designed, built, tested and operated underwater vehicles focused on scientific research and exploration.

As a student at Purdue, OHara said she loved spaceflight for as long as she could remember. She was part of the first all-female team in the rocket propulsion facilities at Purdues Maurice Zucrow Laboratory.

Writer: Brian Huchel, 765-494-2084, bhuchel@purdue.edu
By IANS

NEW DELHI: Amid escalated tensions between Iran and the US, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday held talks with US counterpart Mark Esper to discuss the developments in the Gulf and shared "India's stakes, interests and concerns".

Esper, who called the Indian Defence Minister to discuss the prevailing situation in the Gulf region, briefed him about the recent developments in the region. Rajnath Singh also resolved to strengthen bilateral defence cooperation.

Rajnath Singh also had discussions with his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono over the regional security situation.

ALSO READ: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh holds telephonic conversation with Japanese defence minister

"The two Defence Ministers had discussions on enhancing the bilateral security cooperation under the framework of the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership. They also exchanged views on regional security situation," Defence Ministry spokesperson, Bharat Bhushan Babu, told IANS.

On Wednesday, Iranian Ambassador to India, Ali Chegeni to India, said that Iran will welcome any peace initiative from India for de-escalating tensions in West Asia following the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani.

"India usually plays a very good role in peace in the world. At the same time India belongs to this region. We welcome all initiatives from all countries, especially India as a good friend for us, to not allow escalation (of tensions)," Chegeni told media persons.

ALSO READ: China rejects Donald Trump's call to break away from Iran nuclear deal

He made a statement after Iran launched missile strikes against two US military bases in Iraq in retaliation.

Iran had pledged retaliatory attacks against the US for killing Soleimani, the country's most powerful and revered military leader, whom Washington accused of plotting imminent attacks against US forces in the region.

Iran had launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles at the Ain al-Assad airbase in Iraq's Anbar province and a facility in Erbil which has US Army facilities. To this, US President Donald Trump had said on Wednesday there had been no US casualties and damage was minimal. Trump had also given no indication that the US will respond militarily to Iran's attacks on Iraqi bases hosting US troops.
This is the biggest equity-raising exercise by an Indian corporate within a financial year.

The fundraising - led by Citibank, Goldman, Kotak and Axis Capital as bankers - will see participation by foreign and domestic institutional investors.

Indias second-biggest wireless telephony major, Bharti Airtel, has begun marketing its $2-billion (Rs 14,350 crore) equity issuance to institutional investors on Wednesday to pay the AGR (adjusted gross revenues) dues to the central government within the January 23 deadline set by the Supreme Court.

The company will also raise an additional $1 billion (Rs 7,155 crore) as convertible bonds due in 2025, accoring to the terms of the transaction.

The equity offering comes within months of Bharti Airtel raising Rs 25,000 crore ($3.5 billion) from shareholders through a rights issue, making the combined exercise of Rs 40,000 crore ($5.5 billion) the biggest ever equity raising by any Indian corporate within a financial year.

In May, Bharti Airtel had raised funds from its shareholders at Rs 220 a share through a rights issue.

On Wednesday, the companys stock closed at Rs 459 a share, giving more than 100 per cent returns since the rights issue.

With this latest sale, Bharti Airtel will cumulatively raise around Rs 1.35 trillion since April 2014 either by way of equity or debt.

A little over half of the fresh funds have come through the equity route thanks to the companys higher market capitalisation compared to industry peers.

As on Wednesday, Bhartis market cap was Rs 2.35 trillion, compared to Rs 18,700 crore of Vodafone Idea Ltd.

In all, Bharti Airtel has raised about Rs 65,000 crore through fresh share sale or equity issuances since April 2014.

In the same period, the company made fresh borrowings worth around Rs 70,000 crore.

The numbers are based on changes in the companys balance sheet since the financial year 2014-15 (FY15) and upto September 2019.

The companys balance sheet also suggests that it made fresh borrowings worth around Rs 10,000 crore during the six months ending September 2019.

This makes Bharti Airtel one of the biggest fund raiser in the past five years, which has otherwise been a tepid period for capital mop-up by corporate India.

Bharti Airtel refused to comment on its fundraising plans on Wednesday.

The company had taken shareholders' approval to raise $2 billion by way of equity at an extraordinary general meeting last week.

The fundraising - led by Citibank, Goldman, Kotak and Axis Capital as bankers - will see participation by foreign and domestic institutional investors, who are betting on Bharti Airtels future in spite of the massive Rs 35,500 crore AGR dues the company needs to pay before January 23.

Vodafone Idea Ltd, too, is expected to pay Rs 53,000 crore worth of dues to the Indian government, according to the apex court judgment.

The promoters currently own a 62.7 per cent stake in the company, which fell by four percentage points in the rights issue after Bharti Telecom, one of the promoter entities, had renounced a part of its share in the rights subscription in favour of GIC of Singapore.

Analysts say frequently raising capital has allowed Bharti Airtel to fund new capex to keep pace with the deep pocketed Reliance Jio without straining its balance sheet, unlike its peers such as Vodafone Idea.

The fresh equity issue and the resulting rise in its equity base and networth also allowed Bharti Airtel to easily absorb the AGR liability and maintain key balance sheet ratios such as debt to equity and debt to ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) ratio within reasonable limits, raising investors confidence in the stock.

Bharti Airtel reported debt to equity ratio of around 1.8x at the end of September, against Vodafone Ideas 4x. Analysts expect Bharti Airtel leverage ratio to improve to around 1.55x after the fundraising.

Photograph: Sivaram V/Reuters
Washington DC: Hollywood star Chris Hemsworth on Wednesday pledged one million dollars towards relief efforts for the bushfire ravaged regions in Australia.

In a short Instagram video, the 36-year-old Aussie native updated followers that with the weather continuing to remain dry, the fires continue to burn and inflict massive damage.

He then pledged a million dollars towards disaster relief and urged people to donate money to the several charity links he posted on his profile bio.

Hemsworth captioned the post: "Hi everyone. Like you, I want to support the fight against the bushfires here in Australia. My family and I are contributing a million dollars. Hopefully, you guys can chip in too. Every penny counts so whatever you can muster up is greatly appreciated.

"In my bio, I've added links to support the firefighters, organisations and charities who are working flat out to provide support and relief during this devastating and challenging time. Beyond appreciative to everyone around the world for their well wishes and donations. It really does make a difference, so dig deep! Love ya."

Celebrities and fans welcomed the 'Star Trek' actor's gesture with appreciative comments on his post.

The Australian Red Cross too expressed its gratitude towards Hemsworth's kind gesture. "We are blown away by your support. We cannot thank you enough @chrishemsworth !" the organisation responded.
Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - The latest accusations that Rwanda has been involved in any attack on Burundian soil are "totally unfounded", Rwanda's minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr
Today is a day for us to honour how far weve come and how much weve endured to get here, but it is not the end, so said actress Rose McGowan at the start of the trial that marks the beginning of the #MeToo Movement. On Monday, Jan 6, 2020, Hollywood power broker and financier, Harvey Weinstein, appeared in court. The day marked the start of Weinsteins trial, a procedure that is expected to last two months.

While Weinstein is not the first person accused of sexual misconduct to be tried (Bill Cosby has already been tried and convicted), the outcome of the trial is likely to have a tremendous bearing on the #MeToo movement in the United States and worldwide. One crucial issue is whether the allegations made against various men, including Weinstein, are able to stand scrutiny in the justice system. As is well known, many of the allegations made in the #MeToo movement have been tried in the court of public opinion but not as many have translated into actual charges.

The Weinstein case itself is an example. A total of 80 women have accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct since the first accusations came to light in October 2017. The allegations ranged from sexual assault to rape to lesser charges. Most of the accusations, however, fell outside the statute of limitations or the period of time in which charges can be bought. The translation of accusations into charges was so difficult, in fact, that of the 80 women who have made accusations only two womens cases are being heard at this current trial.

Weinstein faces charges of predatory sexual assault, criminal sexual assault, first-degree rape and third-degree rape. According to reports published in CNN, Weinstein insists that he is innocent, and hence, is not sorry for any of his alleged actions.

Even before the trial got under way, Weinstein, who now complains of severe back trouble and ill health (he walks with a cane), has managed to evade justice in the large number of cases in which he was accused. Others accused as part of the #MeToo movement have been luckier. Actor Kevin Spacey was accused of sexual misconduct by 15 people.

Not only have none of these accusations resulted in actual charges being filed against the actor, two of the accusers have died in the past year. The actor also settled a case brought by an unnamed accuser following the latters death. The latest death is of author Ari Behn who committed suicide on Christmas Day 2019. Despite the concerning event, Spacey released a video on Christmas in which he slips back into the Frank Underwood character of his once hit show House of Cards.

As the testaments of the women who accused Weinstein and the recent suicide of Kevin Spaceys accuser show, the pressure placed on individuals making complaints and calling out the behaviour of their abusers places tremendous stress on their lives. In many cases, accusers report having their lives completely ravaged and transformed because they chose to come forward against a powerful person. At the same time, the evidentiary requirements imposed by the justice system in the United States are understandably more stringent than those that indict in the court of public opinion.

The chasm between the two, the demands of actual evidence and the indictments and convictions that take place within the public sphere is likely to be the next big challenge confronted by the #MeToo movement. Everywhere that cases have been brought, be it Pakistan or India or the US, plaintiffs face tremendous costs and evidentiary requirements that are difficult and in some cases impossible to meet. This has meant that a good number of the people who have been accused have not faced any actual legal consequences.

A case in point is that of US comedian Louis C.K who admitted to being involved in misconduct, then proceeded to keep a low profile. His once cancelled show has since been resumed.

As the Weinstein trial progresses and more details come to light, similar conundrums are likely to emerge. One way to understand the phenomenon would be to think of the #MeToo movement as a moral rather than a legal effort. In this sense, the naming and shaming of perpetrators by victims can be understood not necessarily to obtain legal redress but to change the moral dynamics of society. The goal of #MeToo then is a worldwide changing of norms in favour of the victim, in any interaction such that they are more likely to be believed than the more powerful. It is also the change of norms, such that the abuse of women in particular by powerful men becomes such a despicable act that those who would otherwise indulge in it would be deterred by the shame that a mere accusation would bring upon them.

By arrangement with Dawn
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's foreign policy is looking dangerously erratic -- and that's being charitable.

He threatens to bomb Iranian cultural sites, but aides say he still wants to negotiate with the mullahs in Tehran.

He's announced several times that he's withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan, only to reverse himself and leave the troops in place.

He demands that North Korea's Kim Jong Un dismantle his nuclear weapons, then says it doesn't really matter that Kim has continued to build more.

No wonder allies and adversaries alike can't figure out what our red lines are.

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Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian general killed by a U.S. drone strike last week, had been plotting against American interests in the Middle East for decades, including the first three years of the Trump administration -- but no president gave the order to take him out until last week.

There were several versions of how and why Trump ordered Soleimani's death, with slightly different details. But the stories agreed on one thing: The president was especially angry that an Iraqi militia apparently directed by Soleimani had staged violent protests outside the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Trump publicly compared the protests to the 2012 attack by armed militants on the U.S. mission and CIA post in Benghazi, Libya, leaving four Americans dead.

"The Anti-Benghazi!" Trump crowed on Twitter after the Baghdad incident ended without casualties.

There's an underlying consistency in Trump's goals, even if his messages are contradictory and his methods chaotic.

He wants to withdraw U.S. troops from the Middle East -- but only if he can portray the exit as a victory march.

He wants to make deals with American's adversaries, including Iran and North Korea -- but only if he can claim the deal was an unalloyed win for the United States.

He believes applying "maximum pressure" will force his adversaries to back down -- whether the adversary is China on trade or Iran in the Middle East's proxy wars. So far, the tactic hasn't worked.

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"Trump arrived in the White House with a set of strong visceral beliefs, but no idea how to convert them into policy," says Thomas Wright, a foreign policy scholar at the nonpartisan Brookings Institution.

In his first months in office, Trump relied mostly on generals to guide him through the unfamiliar terrain of foreign policy: retired Marine Gen. James N. Mattis as secretary of Defense, Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as national security advisor and a former oil executive, Rex Tillerson, as secretary of State.

The so-called "axis of adults" managed to restrain Trump -- convincing him not to withdraw from NATO, not to scrap trade pacts with South Korea and other countries, and at least for a while, not to tear up the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran -- even though that had been one of Trump's clearest campaign promises.

Not surprisingly, Trump bridled under those restraints. He really did want trade wars, because he believed they were "good, and easy to win." He really wanted to abandon the Iran nuclear deal. He really wanted to get out of NATO, or at least renegotiate the terms of the alliance.

So in 2018, the president cut his shackles. He fired Tillerson, then McMaster. He announced he was pulling out of the Iran deal. He launched trade wars against China and Canada, among other countries. At year's end, he said he was withdrawing U.S. troops immediately from Syria, an abrupt decision that prompted Mattis to resign.

Trump appointed successors to the generals who seemed more in tune with his instincts: Michael R. Pompeo at State, John N. Bolton as national security advisor, Mark Esper at Defense.

But Bolton later resigned after he tangled with Trump over the North Korea negotiations and the president's desire to pull out of Syria.

The result is Trump Unbound.

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In 2019, he began seeking big, dramatic deals to provide showy success stories for his 2020 re-election campaign: an ambitious trade agreement with China, another nuclear agreement with Iran and a deal with Taliban rebels in Afghanistan to allow U.S. forces to withdraw.

But the deals were harder to land than he expected -- or, at least, harder than Trump claimed they would be.

He repeatedly promised that a big trade pact with China was coming. "They want to make a deal very badly," he said in September. It still hasn't happened; a modest, interim deal was announced in December.

His slow-motion nuclear talks with North Korea are at an impasse. Last week, Kim Jong Un said he no longer felt bound by his self-imposed halt on testing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

And Trump spent much of the year seeking vainly for a way to open negotiations with Iran. But Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stonily rebuffed every overture. "I do not consider Trump as a person worth exchanging any message with," he said.

Now, with Iran's missile attacks on two bases used by U.S. forces in Iraq, we are at risk of full-scale war with Iran.

The result, Wright told me, is that Trump faces "a reckoning. Now he has to deal with the consequences of his choices in North Korea and Iran."

Trump says he wants to de-escalate the conflict with Tehran, and his record suggests that his desire is genuine.

"He doesn't want a major war," Wright said. "He'll try to get back to the deal-making side. He'll try to put the genie back in the bottle."

And what if Trump wins a second term?

Then the restraint on his actions imposed by voters would disappear. Trump could pursue the goals he's believed in for decades: an end to multilateral trade agreements, withdrawal of U.S. troops from overseas, an exit from NATO -- a modern version of isolationism.

That's when we and the world will learn what Trump Unbound is really like.
The agency is likely to recommend that people who can consistently wear N95 or KN95 masks, rather than cloth masks, should do so.

Coming Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. ET
The Prime Minister of Pakistan has directed his Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to undertake visits to Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States as part of his efforts to seek de-escalation in tensions in the Middle East.

Pakistan has close relations with Saudi Arabia and good ties with both Iran and the United States.

In October, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Iran and Saudi Arabia to mediate between Tehran and Riyadh. Following his visit Saudi Arabia expressed an interest in improving relations with Iran.

The decision by Pakistan to renew mediation efforts comes after the targeted killing of top Iranian military commander, Qassem Soleimani and subsequent retaliation by Iran targeting U.S. military bases in Iraq.

Imran Khan in his tweet on January 8 also asked the countrys military chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to contact relevant military authorities to convey a clear message that Pakistan is ready to play its role for peace but can never again be part of any war.

Khan's statement comes a day after General Bajwa received a telephone call from the U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper on January 7. Bajwa had offered him "sound counsel." Esper said in a tweet that he always "appreciates" talking to U.S. partners and allies in the region, and repeated that everyone seeks de-escalation of tensions with Iran.

The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs on January 5 had issued a statement saying that Pakistan will not "let its soil be used against any other state," and will not become part of "any regional conflict."
New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on Friday the Centres plea seeking the transfer of all cases across the country challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act that are pending in various high courts.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde agreed to hear the matter on Friday after solicitor-general Tushar Mehta urged the court to transfer all cases challenging the CAA that are pending before various high courts.

We are of the prima facie view that high courts should hear petitions challenging the CAA and in case there is a conflict then we may look into it, the CJI said at first.

Mehta sought to justify the transfer of cases pending before various high courts, including Karna-taka and Kerala, contending that the Supreme Court was already seized of the matter as 60 petitioners have challenged the law that has sparked protests across the country.

As the court initially did not appear inclined to transfer the cases to itself, Mehta said the high courts may pronounce conflicting order, leading to confusion.

The Supreme Court had on December 18, 2019 sought a response from the Centre on petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the CAA which provides for the granting of Indian citizenship to illegal migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan from the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Christian and Parsi faiths, that is all barring Muslims.

The Supreme Court will hold a further hearing on January 22, when it will also consider a plea for the stay of the CAA, which has been described by the petitioner as contrary to the provisions of the Constitution.

The Centre has opposed any stay of the controversial law contending that the statute could not be stalled as there is an assumption of constitutionality in favour of the statute passed by Parliament.

Broadly, the petitioners opposed to the CAA have said it was contrary to secularism, as mandated in the Preamble of the Constitution, violative of the fundamental rights guaranteeing equality before the law (Article 14), prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of religion, caste, language, colour (Article 15) and the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

It has also been contended that the law under challenge is violative of the basic structure of the Constitution as secularism, equality before the law, prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth and the protection of life and personal liberty are part of the basic structure of the Constitution.

The Lok Sabha had passed the CAA on December 2 and the Rajya Sabha had passed it on December 11.

The gazette notification of the Citizenship Amendment Act was issued on December 12, which said it would come into force from the date notified by the Centre at a later date.
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San Francisco, 9 January 2020: The Report Intrapartum Monitoring Devices Market Analysis Report, By Product (Monitors, Electrodes (Fetal Scalp Electrodes, Intrauterine Pressure Catheter, Transducer for Fetal Heart Rate)), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2018  2025

The global intrapartum monitoring devices market is expected to reach USD 2.83 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The rising occurrences of preterm birth are resulting in increased infant mortality. The mortality rates differ across the globe, owing to the disparities of income, and lack of access to appropriate maternal care facilities in different regions. The regions with larger lower income groups face the highest infant mortality rates due to inadequate availability of obstetric monitoring and other infant care facilities. Effective maternal and postnatal care can help save more than 3 quarters of the premature babies.

According to the reports of WHO, annually 15.0 million infants are born premature. This number has been observed to be on a rise in the past few years. There are multiple causes for premature deliveries, such as high blood pressure, chronic conditions, infections, multiple pregnancies, early induction of labor. Hence, propelling the need for obstetric devices across the globe.

Rising awareness regarding availability of screening and monitoring procedures, growing prevalence of obesity & Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) and increasing demand for improved intrapartum devices are expected to propel the market over the forecast period.

Access Research Report of Intrapartum Monitoring Devices Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/intrapartum-monitors-market

Further key findings from the study suggest:

The growing prevalence of obesity, rising preterm birth rate and increasing need for critical obstetric care is primarily driving the market growth

The electrodes dominated the market, owing to their affordability, higher adoption volume and repeat purchase.

The monitors segment is expected to exhibit fastest growth over the forecast period owing to the technological advancements.

North America dominated the market in 2016, owing to rising prevalence of obesity and diabetes, various government initiatives creating awareness regarding rising incidences of preterm births, availability of monitoring test options, and highly developed healthcare infrastructure.

Constant rise in the cases of preterm births and infant mortality rates are observed in Asia Pacific. Thus, this region is expected to witness a rapid growth during the forecast period.

The key players of the market include Analogic Corporation, GE Healthcare, Koninklijke Philips N.V.; Medtronic plc; CooperSurgical, Inc.; Stryker, and Olympus Corporation.

These players hold a strong position in market with their strategic initiatives such as mergers and acquisitions, partnerships with small/local players to expand their geographic foothold and widening of product portfolio by sharing the technology and products.

Browse more reports of this category by Grand View Research at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry/medical-devices

Grand View Research has segmented the intrapartum monitoring devices market report on the basis of device type and region:

Device Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025)

Monitors

Electrodes Fetal Scalp Electrodes Intrauterine Pressure Catheter Transducer for FHR Transducer for Uterine Contractions



Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025)

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

MEA

Access Press Release of Intrapartum Monitoring Devices Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-intrapartum-monitoring-devices-market

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.

For More Information: www.grandviewresearch.com
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A key member of the Egyptian parliament has tabled a proposal calling for institutional boycott of Turkish products, in response to Ankaras policy in neighboring Libya that Egypt views as threats to its interests.

Tension has recently flared up between Cairo and Ankara after Turkey concluded in November a maritime and security agreement with the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA).

Egypt and regional neighbors including Cyprus, Greece and Israel have taken aim at the agreement under which Ankara has begun deployment of military forces in crisis-hit Libya.

Egypt accused the GNA of being controlled by Islamists, mainly Muslim Brotherhood. The organization is outlawed by President Fattah al-Sisis regime but has found a safe haven in Turkey and Qatar.

Wednesday, Hala Abu al-Saad, the deputy head of the Small and Medium Projects Committee in the Egyptian legislature called the government to boycott Turkish exports to Egypt as she accused Ankara of threatening Egypts interest in the region and fomenting militancy against Egypt in Libya, Egyptian media reported.

Abu al-Saad argued that there is evidence of Turkeys hostility towards Egyptian interests, with Turkey working to threaten Egypts stability and spread terrorism on its borders.

Despite this, Turkish products are still circulating in the Egyptian market in a large way, which can be considered support to the Turkish state, and there are also many tourist trips that are directed to Turkey.

The lawmaker citing statistics of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) indicated that he volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Turkey reached about $1.68 billion, of which $1.24 billion were imports, compared to $448.3 million exports to Turkey during the fiscal year 2018-2019.

Turkey is practicing clear aggression against Egypt and the entire Arab region. It is hostile to Egypts interests and is working to sow terrorism in our countries, and we must move economically against Turkey by boycotting Turkish products and stopping economic agreements with them, Abu al-Saad added.

Last week, the parliament said Egypt will stand idle in front of Turkeys military deployment in Libya.
Carlaw kicks off Scottish Conservative leadership contest

Jackson Carlaw, the interim leader of the Scottish Tories, has launched his bid to win the position full-time with a warning to members about the extent to which the Party might need to change to win power.

The Daily Telegraph reports his saying that even some well-established policy areas might need to be jettisoned ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections in 2021. Plans to set out a blue-collar agenda could include dropping the Conservatives long-standing opposition to free tuition fees in Scotland, despite the s

Although Carlaw does not support radical change to the Partys structures, especially the link to the British Tories, he has won the backing of MSPs sympathetic to such ideas such as Murdo Fraser and Adam Tomkins.

Senior party figures were reportedly hoping crown Carlaw in order to avoid spending three of the remaining 15 months before the Holyrood elections focusing inwards. However Michelle Ballantyne, the partys shadow social security minister and a former nurse, has declared her intention to run if she can get the requisite 100 nominations from the membership. Writing in the Telegraph, she set out how her life experience gives her the very blue-collar credibility which Carlaw intends to strive for.

He remains the overwhelming favourite to win. The real question is how he intends to fight the 2021 elections, and whether any candidates who have kept their powder dry this time might push for the leadership in the event of a disappointing result.

as Scotland makes its present felt in the Labour leadership battle

The launch of the Labour leadership contest was remarkable, in part, for the almost complete absence of Scotland from analysis about the partys election defeat and its path back to power.

Happily this is no longer the case, but the resultant debate has put a spotlight on a long-standing but growing division within the party about  or indeed, whether  to combat Scottish nationalism.

In an interview on Good Morning Scotland Jess Phillips set out her opposition both to Scottish independence and to another referendum on the question. She added that, in her view, Labour has suffered for not having clear stances on key issues such as independence and Brexit  and is probably aware that the partys remaining Scottish vote leans heavily towards the Union.

Another strongly pro-UK candidate, this time for the deputy position, is Ian Murray, the MP for Edinburgh South. He has held his seat amidst two Scottish Labour wipe-outs in part by distancing himself from the wider party  at least one of his leaflets apparently featured endorsements from the Spectator and the Daily Telegraph but not the Labour logo.

Murray has actually refused to rule out creating a separate Scottish party, although he has not ruled it in either. This idea has been more forcefully advocated by Monica Lennon, the Scottish Labour health spokesperson, who believes that the reason for the partys poor performance is that it is a branch office of the UK party. There is frankly not much evidence for this, but an external scapegoat for political woes is not normally a difficult sell.

Clive Lewis has gone even further. Writing in the pro-independence National newspaper, he backed not only a separate Scottish party but also argued that the UK party should not stand in the way of another independence referendum should the Scottish Government seek one. Meanwhile a Scottish trades union leader has urged Labour to go so far as backing independence.

Johnson stands firm against Sturgeons referendum demand

The Prime Minister has hit out at the Scottish Nationalists, accusing them of fixating on independence in order to distract from their abundant failures in government north of the border. Boris Johnson highlighted critical areas such as schools and education where the Scottish Parliament has overseen falling standards.

Meanwhile Alister Jack, the Scottish Secretary, has confirmed that he has received a request for a second referendum from Nicola Sturgeon.

However he has reportedly said that it would be completely wrong to give the Scottish Parliament authority to hold binding votes on separation whenever it wishes, arguing that this would lead to a series of neverendums wherein the SNP simply re-staged the vote until they finally won.

This is correct, but the case against actually runs deeper than that. As I have written previously, granting Holyrood the power to quit the Union whenever it wishes actually undermines what even the most mercenary federalist deems one of the UKs core functions: the pooling and sharing of resources. The fate of the British State must always ultimately rest in the hands of the British Parliament.
London (AFP) - Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was hailed as a breath of fresh air for the royal family when she married Prince Harry, but the fairytale quickly turned sour.

The shock announcement that she and her husband will be stepping back from being senior royals confirmed fears that she was struggling to cope with royal life, especially since the birth of their son Archie in May.

Since entering the family, the 38-year-old former television star appeared determined to do things her own way.

But in the end, the strictures and scrutiny that comes with the monarchy appeared too much, spurring her and Harry to take a step back.

Meghan made her name as savvy paralegal Rachel Zane in the US legal drama series "Suits", but cultivated a high profile for herself outside the show.

She became a United Nations advocate for women's empowerment and a global ambassador for the World Vision Canada relief agency.

The Los Angeles-born actress had more than two million followers on her personal Instagram account and ran a successful lifestyle blog, The Tig, but closed them both.

Meghan was also revealed as the anonymous blogger behind The Working Actress, which chronicled the struggles of hustling for parts in Hollywood.

"She's very focused and someone who has been very ambitious," said royal writer Andrew Morton, who has penned a biography of Meghan.

"Her great phrase is 'make the change'," he told AFP.

- Ancestors royals and slaves -

Rachel Meghan Markle was born on August 4, 1981 to Thomas Markle, a white, Emmy Award-winning television lighting director who worked on top US shows like "Married With Children", and Doria Ragland, a black social worker and yoga instructor.

On her mother's side, her ancestors were slaves on cotton plantations in Georgia. Her mother's surname is taken from a slave owner.

Meghan's parents split when she was two and divorced five years later. She is now estranged from her father and his other children, her older half-sister and half-brother.

Story continues

Ahead of the wedding in May 2018, her father set himself up for staged paparazzi photos which backfired, then suffered chest pains and needed heart surgery, causing him to miss her big day.

His leaking to the press of a handwritten letter from Meghan pleading with him to stop serially leaking to journalists seems to have done irreparable damage to their relationship.

His actions had, it said, already "broken my heart into a million pieces".

Meghan went to a private Catholic girls' school where she is remembered for her strong sense of right and wrong.

Aged 11, her letter-writing campaign got the consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble to change a washing-up commercial, referring to people rather than just women.

Determined to give herself options, she studied theatre and international relations at Northwestern University.

The future duchess graduated in 2003, after which she landed a six-week internship as a press officer at the US embassy in Argentina.

- 'Suits' springboard -

Returning to Los Angeles, in 2004 she fell in love with go-getting film producer Trevor Engelson, who helped her get on the acting ladder as she struggled for bit parts.

They married in Jamaica in 2011.

Soon after their engagement, Meghan had landed her signature role in "Suits".

While she filmed in Toronto, her relationship with her then husband became a long-distance one. A series of flops followed for Engelson while the struggling actress became a star, and the marriage collapsed in 2013.

Through a mutual friend, she met Queen Elizabeth II's grandson Harry in July 2016 while visiting London. Their romance quickly blossomed on a whirlwind camping trip to Botswana.

After their engagement was announced in November 2017, Markle immediately began accompanying Harry on public events, with a focus on women, youth empowerment and the Commonwealth.

Since their glittering wedding, seen as a moment of renewal for the royal family, media coverage had become increasingly negative.

Reports appeared of a rift with her sister-in-law Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, of her staff quitting in droves, and a new nickname "Me-Gain" to reflect her allegedly pushy style.

A vastly expensive, celebrity-laden New York baby shower also attracted criticism.

Surviving in the royal spotlight has proved to be her toughest role yet.
The federal government of Nigeria has revealed that it would move swiftly in the new year to move at least 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.

This was made known by Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning while speaking on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), PM News reports.

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that we must pull 100 million Nigerians out of poverty and that is our major focus. Based on the presidents directives, we want to move fast to make the kind of change the president wanted in the country.

In 2020, we want to move very fast because we realized that going at the steady rate we are doing is not going to make the kind of change that the president has directed must happen.

Read Also: 2023: Buharis Achievement Enough For Whoever Gets APC Ticket; Uche Nwosu

So, we have to make sure that we are creating more jobs and reducing unemployment, and pulling as many Nigerians as possible out of poverty.

And that is the reason why when we did the finance bill, you will find that the bill was largely targeted at making businesses easy for small and very small businesses.

This is because we believe that is where the economy needs to really grow and stabilize from.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday expressed concern on the tragic deaths of tigers in the state and said that the government will investigate and take stern action against the perpetrators.

"The tragic incidents of tiger deaths are shocking and saddening. We will investigate and take stern action against the perpetrators. State authorities are working round the clock, and three arrests have been made in this connection", Sawant said.

He also informed that a committee has been constituted to investigate the matter.

"The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change have constituted a committee to investigate the matter", the statement added.

Meanwhile, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar has expressed shock over the loss of tigers and blamed the state government over the same.

"This is shocking and distressing that we have lost three tigers during BJP rule in this state and two in just the past week alone. While Goa's government is trying to destroy forests and mangroves, its central minister is insensitive to ecological concerns per se", Chodankar said in a statement.

"Goa has just 6 Tigers recorded and with two deaths in less than a week that also includes a tiger cub, there is something sinister happening here", he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The architect who first proposed the idea of a bridge linking Northern Ireland and Scotland has said an alternative plan for a tunnel would not be as inspirational.

Professor Alan Dunlop - a fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland - also said the idea which would link Northern Ireland to England instead, would see Scotland lose out on any economic benefit.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has championed the plan to bridge Northern Ireland and Scotland as a means to "strengthen the union".

However, this week a second proposal was made.

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) produced an imaginative plan to physically link Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK with two tunnels with one from England to the Isle of Man, and a second from the Isle of Man to Co Down.

ICE argues that although it would be longer than the bridge, it would be cheaper and it would not be at the mercy of bad weather.

It would also avoid the problems in spanning Beaufort Dyke, a deep sea trench in the North Channel containing a million tonnes of dumped wartime munitions.

The plan is part of a broader list of tunnel projects put forward by the society.

Another tunnel has been proposed linking Dublin to Wales - avoiding Northern Ireland and Scotland altogether.

Professor Dunlop's bridge plan was inspired by the Oresund Bridge which links Sweden and Denmark  two countries that have a shared Nordic cultural heritage and population size similar to Scotland and Ireland.

He said a bridge to Scotland would "demonstrate confidence and ambition in our shared futures".

The bridge proposal was originally titled the Celtic Crossing, sparked by the idea of a Celtic Powerhouse in Scotland and Ireland," he told the Scottish National newspaper.

The notion was to address the continuing centralisation of infrastructure in London and the south of England and to balance the Northern Powerhouse initiative being promoted by the Westminster government at that time, which focused on Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield."

Professor Dunlop said the tunnel proposition was "interesting" although argued it could cost the same as building the bridge.

I contend that it would not bring economic benefit to Scotland and, in my view, would be much less inspiring."

He again urged Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to set aside her differences with Boris Johnson and consider a bridge project.

The Scottish Government has said it would "initiate discussions to explore improving connectivity" between the island of Ireland and Scotland, adding it was important "that all options are fully considered".

The distance from England to the Isle of Man is around 50 miles, and from the Isle of Man to Northern Ireland is just over 30 miles.

Professor Dunlop first proposed the idea of a bridge in early 2018 which has been championed by Boris Johnson.

He has proposed two potential routes - one from Larne and Portpatrick or a crossing between the Mull of Kintyrne and Torr Head.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he wouldn't dismiss the idea but insisted the UK had to foot the costs. He said "at the very least" a high-level engineering assessment could be carried out into if it was possible.

The DUP has also backed the plan while Sinn Fein rejected the idea as "fantasy politics".
On Thursday, Minister of State for Home Affairs (MoS) G Kishan Reddy alleged that some people from the country were spreading "misinformation" regarding the situation in Jammu and Kashmir internationally. The MoS slammed the Congress party for "echoing Pakistan's voice", saying that Rahul Gandhi was speaking the lies that Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks on Kashmir. A group of around 15 foreign envoys based in New Delhi will be taken to Jammu and Kashmir on January 9-10 to assess first-hand the efforts taken by the government in the region. Speaking on this G Kishan Reddy stated that the government welcomes tourists and people from across the country into Kashmir as long as they don't "provoke people or disrupt peace."

Read: Envoys of 16 countries visit Jammu and Kashmir to assess on-ground situation

"The only place in the country that is peaceful right now is Jammu and Kashmir. I request all the tourists from the world and Indians to come and see the situation if they promise to not provoke the people and disrupt peace. This kind of propagation is being done to speak Pakistan's language. Congress party and Rahul Gandhi speak the language that Imran Khan speaks," he said.

Read: Newly appointed advisor meets J-K LG in Jammu

Read: 'Tried to persuade him to surrender but he refused': Kashmir I-G on Awantipora encounter

15 convoys to visit Jammu & Kashmir

The decision was taken after some envoys based in the national capital requested to visit the region. According to sources, a group of around 15 envoys -- from the United States, Maldives, Norway, Argentina, Niger, Togo, Vietnam, Bangladesh, South Korea, Peru, Morocco, among others -- who are based in Delhi, are being taken to the Union Territory. They will meet civil society leaders and will be briefed on the security situation by the Army and intelligence services. Last year, a delegation comprising members of the European Parliament had visited the Valley after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution which accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Read: Jammu and Kashmir: Internet services restored in 80 govt-run hospitals

Read: 'Jammu & Kashmir is now corruption free' claims Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
It is a balancing act, said Anthony Millican, spokesman for the Chula Vista district. What we try to convey is that, keep in mind, these are elementary students.

The issue of how to properly assess school threats has become an increasingly common job for schools in recent years, even in elementary-only school districts like Chula Vista. The district of about 23,000 students hired an emergency preparedness and security manager, Sherry Stone, three years ago specifically to help schools write safety plans and conduct safety drills and training.

Schools in Chula Vista and elsewhere say they are dealing with more threats partly because the range of what is considered a threat has expanded in recent years, as more school shootings have made the public more wary and sensitive to possible school violence. Comments or incidents that may not have been taken so seriously years ago are now treated as potential threats, Millican said.

Things that we now report as a threat, we wouldve dismissed rightly or wrongly several years ago, Millican said. In quote unquote old days, we wouldnt have given it another look other than say, Dont use that word. Now, it becomes documented.
Gov. Tony Evers and fellow Democratic lawmakers have introduced a package of bills aimed at taking the first step toward criminal justice reform in the states crowded adult prison system.

The bills would set incarceration limits for non-criminal supervision violations, expand earned release eligibility to include vocational or educational programs, and expand on a compliance credit to allow for shortened community supervision options.

In an interview with the Wisconsin State Journal, Evers said the bill package likely would only move the needle slightly on the states rising adult prison population, which is expected to reach 25,000 inmates by 2021. He said it could, however, open the door to more bipartisan discussion on the topic  something that could prove challenging in an era where Republican and Democratic lawmakers have clashed more than theyve come together over high-profile issues.

At the end of the day, this has to be something that is embraced by both parties, Evers said. This is an issue that I think transcends Republicans and Democrats.  If we dont take this first step we could be the last state that embraces criminal justice reform, and I just cant imagine why we want to be in that position.

There are some things that we can do moving forward that will make a difference, but we do need legislation as part of that conversation, he said.

Evers, who campaigned on a pledge to halve the states prison population, said it was too early to estimate how much the proposed legislation would impact the growing number of inmates across Wisconsin.

The bills

The bill package, introduced by Milwaukee Democratic lawmakers Rep. Evan Goyke and Sen. Lena Taylor, applies only to nonviolent offenders. Goyke said he will begin circulating the bill for co-sponsorship this week.

Under one bill, an individual would become eligible for parole or extended supervision if, while incarcerated, he or she completes an educational, vocational, treatment, or other qualifying training program that is evidence-based to reduce recidivism. It would expand on existing earned release options already available to individuals who complete alcohol or drug addiction treatment while incarcerated.

The bill also would require the Department of Corrections to evaluate and provide possible alternatives to prison for those in the states elderly inmate population.

Another proposed bill would flesh out conditions for revocation of an inmates probation, parole or extended supervision and allow for short-term sanctions as an alternative to revocation. The bill does not apply to individuals who are required to report as a registered sex offender or those who have allegedly committed a new crime.

A third bill would create a compliance credit to incentivize the completion of programming by creating avenues toward an early discharge from supervision for some offenders.

There are approximately 66,000 individuals on supervision across the state, including probation, extended supervision and parole.

Goyke said all three bills include a reform, report and reinvest structure and require annual reports on the effectiveness and savings, with stipulations that any cost savings be reinvested back into the programs.

The Department of Corrections annual budget has surpassed $1.3 billion following a 5% increase in the 2019-21 state budget.

There is not yet a fiscal estimate on the financial impact of the bill package, but Goyke said transitioning eligible non-violent offenders out of the state prison system would save money.

Corrections Secretary Kevin Carr said the annual cost of keeping an adult in custody for a year is about $34,000, while it costs less than $6,000 if that same individual is under supervision.

If we can produce citizens that work, contribute to the tax base, contribute to supporting their families, contribute to supporting their communities, why wouldnt we do that and save money at the same time? Carr said. Even if your only motivation for supporting criminal justice reform is reducing the property tax levy, if thats what turns you on, great.

Started bipartisan

While no Republican lawmakers authored the bills, Goyke said the legislation was crafted following months of bipartisan collaboration that included Rep. Michael Schraa, R-Oshkosh, and Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, as well as former GOP Gov. Tommy Thompson.

Unfortunately, we dont have majority party leaders on these bills, but I think as we go through the halls and knock on their doors were going to get a lot more Republican support than we had in previous sessions, Goyke said.

Were in divided government, but just because a Democrat is introducing a bill doesnt mean that Republicans cant or shouldnt support it. Those elected representatives and their offices had major input into these bills.

Darling and Schraa had not responded to requests seeking comment Wednesday.

Goyke and Schraa were prominent figures behind 2018 legislation to shutter the states embattled Lincoln Hills youth prison by 2021, replacing it with a less-centralized system for youth offenders. Evers last month told the State Journal that closing Lincoln Hills by the July 2021 deadline would be difficult without a major increase in funding.

Goyke said the latest bill package began in early conversations over the Lincoln Hills bill.

In September, Darling, Goyke, Schraa and Taylor sent a letter to the Legislature emphasizing the importance of criminal justice reform  specifically noting successful supervision and revocation systems in Texas and Michigan that could be replicated in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin is an outlier in many ways when it comes to the criminal justice system. Three areas that are ripe for reform and will be the focal point of our agenda this session are crimeless revocations, earned release, and extended supervision, the letter states. Our bills will continue the trend of previous reforms backed by policies that have seen positive outcomes throughout our nation.

An Evers spokeswoman said the bipartisan group had a meeting as recently as late October.

However, Evers and Goyke said Republican participation in the meetings stalled late last year.

I thought the conversations were good, Evers said. I just think at the end of the day, the Republicans that were there had just decided that at this point in time they didnt feel they could make this go forward.

Carr said his department this spring plans to implement modifications to increase efficiencies and equity among supervision revocations. Efforts also are underway to reduce segregation within the states prison system.

Carr also described criminal justice reform as a bipartisan topic, but said the key will be finding middle ground between both parties.

Ive talked to every single senator in the legislature in 2019 and without exception, every single one of those individuals, regardless of their side of the aisle, have expressed a desire to see some form of criminal justice reform accomplished, Carr said. We just have to generate the will and the momentum to get started in the right direction in order to achieve those goals.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The states top official has his sights set on barring sexual offenders from New York Citys trains and buses.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced the 33rd proposal in his annual State of the State agenda, seeking to ban repeat and high-risk sexual offenders from the MTAs subway, bus and rail systems.

MTA riders deserve to feel safe, and we have an obligation to ensure they will not be targeted by sex offenders. Enough is enough, Cuomo said.

In the coming year, the governor will advance legislation that would allow the MTA to issue orders that prohibit those who repeat sex-related violations of the MTA code of conduct, or who are legally-deemed high-risk sex offenders, from using the MTA system for three years.

If we want our public transit system to improve, we need balance between someones right to access public transit and the riders right to safety, which is why I am proposing a three-year ban from the MTA transit systems as a penalty for individuals who repeatedly engage in this abhorrent behavior," Cuomo said.

Additionally, the proposal would create a new law for transit-related sex crimes, where judges may issue a prohibition order to ensure public safety, if the accused is convicted. Judges may also issue a temporary prohibition order as a condition of pre-trial release. Failure to adhere to the prohibition order would result in a Transit Trespass charge, a Class A misdemeanor.

It currently remains unclear how exactly the three-year bans would be enforced.

The MTA emphasized its customers right to safety while using public transit, claiming repeat offenders have given up the privilege of using the system.

Our customers have the right to feel and be safe, and we have to be able to protect riders from perpetrators who would prey upon them. Recidivist sex offenders forfeit their privilege of being able to victimize people again," said NYC Transit President Andy Byford.

Recently-appointed NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea has openly supported the proposal, welcoming any and all efforts to improve public safety in the citys transit system.

We embrace every effort to exclude from our subway system this small number of serious offenders who are doing a lot of damage. They are repeat criminals who ride the trains to hunt for victims among the millions of New Yorkers who deserve safe, daily transportation, Shea said.

However, not everyone is onboard with the proposal.

No one supports unwanted sexual touching on the subway, but this wrongheaded proposal from Governor Cuomo will do far more harm than good," according to a statement from the The Legal Aid Society, a law firm for low-income families and individuals.

It will further marginalize this group of New Yorkers -- many of whom are New Yorkers of color -- who are profiled by police when they use mass transit. It will sever their access to jobs, critical services, educational opportunities, and treatment programs. Albany should spend less time finding new ways to demonize our already over-policed clients and more time creating opportunities for treatment and necessary services. Finally, we question the constitutionality of this misguided proposal and we are prepared to challenge it in court should it become law, the statement continued.

PRIOR ACTION ON THE MATTER

In June, the MTA Board approved a resolution to ban recidivist criminals from the agencys transit system. However, state legislation, like Cuomos proposal, is required to pass before any such action can be enforced.

The resolution stated that there is a shared responsibility among the legislature, law enforcement and the MTA to protect MTA workers and the riding public, and that responsibility is greater than our responsibility to provide access to public transportation to those who seek to rob, sexually or otherwise assault members of the public using the public transportation system.

At the time, MTA board member David Jones voiced concerns regarding the potential violation of the constitutional right to transportation, cautioning that banning individuals from public transit could increase recidivism rates.

The difficulty is, unless we characterize this extraordinarily narrowly, were going to end up sweeping in people and making it almost certain that theyre going to have to return to a life of crime, because they wont have transportation options, said Jones.

MORE TRANSIT COPS ON THE WAY

Other efforts to reduce the rate of criminal activity in the citys transit system include last months approval of the agencys $17 billion 2020 budget, which included the controversial hiring of 500 new MTA police officers to combat fare evasion, address the systems homeless issues and deter assaults against transit workers.

Jones, one of the three members to vote against the plan, expressed concerns with the decision to increase enforcement that has historically targeted minority communities.

In 2016 when I joined the board, I was presented with MTA documents that indicated that more than 90% of the stops and arrests in the subway were people of color. Since then, it has become pretty evident that fare evasion enforcement in our transit system is deliberately concentrated in poor communities, and targets black and Latino customers, said Jones.

In good conscience, I cannot support a budget that would allocate scarce public funds for more police when the argument for adding more law enforcement resources is so dubious," he added. If fare evasion is indeed on the rise -- which is not obvious given the lack of credibility of the MTAs survey methods -- any viable solution must address the economic need that often drives people to do it."

SAVINO PLEASED, WANTS EVEN STRICTER LAWS

State Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn), who has spent years pushing for stricter penalties for sexual offenders in the citys transit system, said she is pleased with the governors proposal, but would like to see even stricter measures put in place.

Im very happy that the governor is going to focus on this issue. The bill that we passed in the Senate goes even further than what hes proposing and thats what were going to push him to do, Savino said.

Savinos bill elevates the crimes and increases the penalties for transit-based sexual offenses, changing the definition of sexual abuse in the first degree, which is currently defined by forcible touching, to sexual contact with a victim without the victims consent.

Currently, forcible touching is considered a class A misdemeanor and carries up to one year imprisonment and up to $1,000 in civil penalties.

Under Savinos bill, the offense would be a class D felony and punishable by up to seven years imprisonment and up to $5,000 in civil penalties.

The bill also amends the law related to public lewdness in the first degree to include within the offense of a person who commits the act while being a passenger on public transportation.

In 2017, Savino released Perverted Justice: How Subway Grinders Continue to Victimize New Yorkers, a report that outlines subway sex crimes since 2014 and how theyre reported.

According to the report, more than 600 women are victims of sex crimes on the citys transit system each year: 40% of which go unsolved.

The report also outlines the increasing rate at which these crimes are being committed.

There were 620 reported sex crimes in 2014, 738 in 2015, and 941 in 2016  a 51.77% increase over three years, the report states.

Additionally, it states: Statistics this year [2017] also indicate that the NYPD has a 44.7% arrest ratio of sex crimes reported in the subway, meaning that more than half of cases will remain unsolved, and based on the one-third percentage of repeat offenders, many of these unsolved cases are likely caused by repeat offenders.

Despite Savinos bill passing the Senate each year for more than half a decade, the legislation has routinely stalled in the Assembly  failing to be signed into law.

Were going to push to make his [Cuomos] proposal as strong as the one the State Senate has passed six years in a row, Savino added.
SoftBank Group Corp is in talks to sell a majority stake in its renewables joint venture in India as it aims to raise cash amid global investment setbacks, India's Economic Times daily reported on Thursday.

The Japanese technology and investment giant has held talks with sovereign wealth and pension funds from the Far East and Gulf regions, besides some Silicon Valley technology giants, the ET reported, citing people in the know of the matter.

A representative for SoftBank in India did not immediately respond to an email request from Reuters for comment.

SoftBank is considering options ranging from an outright sale of its 70% stake in SBG Cleantech, a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises and Foxconn Technology Group, to a majority stake sale, the report said.

It is looking at a partner which can provide equity commitments of $1.5 billion to $2 billion to execute and complete a pipeline of 7 gigawatts of renewable projects around the world, the report added.
Reynhard Sinaga

Greater Manchester Police

Investigators say that all but one of the victims of Reynhard Sinaga were unaware they were assaulted until police identified them in video footage, according to The Independent.

According to Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable Mabs Hussain, many of the men Sinaga assaulted "did not know for certain what had happened to them until they received a visit from the police, after they had been identified from the videos taken by Sinaga."

Sexual assault counsel lor Lisa Waters, who worked with detectives on the case, told the BBC that when many of the victims woke up they had no recollection of what had happened to them.

Sinaga was convicted of 159 sexual offences across four separate trials, a number that led to the Crown Prosecution Service calling him the "most prolific rapist ever to be brought to justice" in the UK.

36-year-old Sinaga was arrested in June 2017 and was found guilty of 136 counts of rape, eight counts of attempted rape, 14 counts of sexual assault, and one of assault by penetration

Sinaga's victims were all men who he lured to his flat from nightclubs in Manchester, where he would then drug them and film the assaults, according to the BBC.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Investigators said that many of the victims of Reynhard Sinaga were unaware that they had been assaulted until being informed by police of their assault.

Sinaga was convicted of 159 sexual offences across four separate trials, a number that led British prosecutors to call him the "most prolific rapist to ever be brought to justice."

Investigators believe his victims would have likely woken up in the morning without realizing they had been drugged or assaulted.

According to Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable Mabs Hussain, many of the men Sinaga assaulted "did not know for certain what had happened to them until they received a visit from the police, after they had been identified from the videos taken by Sinaga."

Story continues

Sexual assault counsellor Lisa Waters who worked with detectives on the case told the BBC that when many of the victims woke up they had no memory of what happened.

"Usually, when people have been sexually assaulted they know what's happened and are empowered to report it to the police or not," Waters told the BBC.

"In this instance, the men involved had no idea that they had been sexually assaulted. So, they were just visited, out of the blue, by detectives to inform them," she said.

The Independent reported that all but one of his victims was unaware of their assault until contacted by police.

Reynhard Sinaga room

Greater Manchester Police

Business Insider contacted the Greater Manchester Police for additional comment by phone and email, but no one was immediately available to comment.

The Crown Prosecution Service also said in a statement that the vast majority of victims did not know what happened to them until one woke up mid-rape and fought Sinaga off, and led to the investigation that found him guilty of attacking many more men.

36-year-old Sinaga was arrested in June 2017 and was found guilty of 136 counts of rape, eight counts of attempted rape, and 14 counts of sexual assault, according to the CPS.

Ian Rushton, CPS North West Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor said Sinaga had "an extreme sense of sexual entitlement" and it was his "un-threatening demeanor" that made his victims trust him.

Sinaga's victims were all men who he lured to his flat from nightclubs in Manchester, where he would then drug them and film the assaults, according to the BBC.

He was given a life sentence with a minimum of 30 years in jail.

Read the original article on Insider
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

Claims of radical opposition in Azerbaijan that the EU allegedly refuses to send observers to Azerbaijan for the upcoming early parliamentary elections - are complete lies, the Chairman of the Committee of the Azerbaijani Parliament on International and Inter-Parliamentary Relations, the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE Samad Seyidov told Trend.

"They again raise issues that completely do not reflect reality, because the organizations and countries to which Azerbaijan has sent invitations in connection with the observation of the elections have given their consent and will observe the elections. The elections will be observed by PACE, OSCE PA, OSCE ODIHR, as well as other international organizations and groups," Seyidov said.

According to him, there is a sensitive issue that the radical opposition is trying to take maximum advantage of.

"The fact is that the observation mission arrives when there is an official written invitation from the state. However, Azerbaijan is not a member of the EU and does not have a delegation to the European Parliament. Therefore, Azerbaijan did not send an invitation to either the EU or the European Parliament. Naturally, without an invitation, the EU and the European Parliament cannot send a delegation to observe the elections," Seyidov noted.

The official added that the EU's decision should not be misinterpreted.

"The structure simply says that if someone wants to participate as an observer from the EU, then this is his/her personal business," Seyidov said.

"However, to present it as if the European Parliament refuses to observe the elections in Azerbaijan is a provocation, and it is deliberately presented in this form. Because the radical opposition is trying to create the impression that if the EU does not participate in the elections as an observer, then no one else is going to participate either. On the contrary, all structures and states to which Azerbaijan has sent invitations are interested in attending and want to send an observation mission to Azerbaijan. Therefore, the allegations of the radical opposition are nothing more than lies."

Early parliamentary elections will be held in Azerbaijan on Feb. 9, 2020.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 21:20:53|Editor: xuxin

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BISHKEK, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov signed a decree declaring 2020 the year of regional development, digitalization of the country and child support, his press service has said.

In 2018, Kyrgyzstan identified the development of regions as a key priority of the Central Asian country's state policy. The plan continued in 2019, which was declared the year of regional development and digitalization of the country, the report said on Wednesday.

In addition, the press service said that the state would do more to support children, especially orphans, children in difficult situations and children with disabilities.

The state policy on the development of the country's regions covers a set of measures aimed at boosting the domestic economy. In particular, one goal is to reduce internal migration, which impacts families and weakens the social protection of children.
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Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) has got in-principle nod from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for sale of Delhi-Agra toll road to Cube Highways and Infrastructure for Rs 3,600 crore, an RInfra official said on Thursday.

RInfra will utilise the proceeds to reduce debt.

"Reliance Infrastructure has received the in-principle approval for Harmonious Substitution in the Delhi-Agra (DA) toll road project on January 7 from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)... Reliance Infrastructure will receive an enterprise value of Rs 3,600 crore including equity of up to Rs 1,700 crore," the RInfra official said.

This approval paves the way to close the sale of the 180-km 6-lane Delhi-Agra toll road to Cube Highways and Infrastructure III Pte Ltd, which is owned by a Singapore-based Global Infrastructure Fund, I Squared Capital, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the official said.

The entire proceeds will be used by Reliance Infrastructure to pay lenders and reduce the debt of the company, the official said.

This is in line with the commitment made by Reliance Infrastructure to its 16 lenders on July 6, 2019, when lenders signed an inter-creditor agreement for resolution of debt and granted moratorium to the company on the interest and principal payments.

Reliance Infrastructure, which has a total debt of Rs 6,000 crore, is on track to reduce leverage even further as it focuses to be an asset- and capital-light entity, the company had said in September last year.

Addressing the shareholders at the company's annual general meeting, its Chairman Anil Ambani had said, "Our intent is to reduce the debt further. At present, we have around Rs 6,000 crore of debt but with a large networth," adding that the company will focus on the domestic market and take up more complex infrastructure and transportation projects.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Florida man has pleaded guilty in connection with a trafficking scheme to smuggle live water monitor lizards into the US from the Philippines using socks and electronics.

Akbar Akram, 44, pleaded guilty in federal court in Tampa on Wednesday to one count of wildlife trafficking in a plan, which involved stuffing lizards into socks and concealing them inside electronics in order to avoid detection.

Akbar Akram, 44, pleaded guilty to one count of wildlife trafficking for smuggling live water monitor lizards from the Philippines to the US

According to a US Justice Department statement, Akram admitted to importing more than 20 live water monitor lizards from the Philippines in 2016, a violation of the Lacey Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species Treaty.

He reportedly sought to elude customs authorities by putting the lizards inside socks that were were sealed with closed with tape. The socks were then placed inside electronics equipment.

The equipment, which was falsely labeled, was transported through commercial carriers to Akrams associate in Massachusetts.

In the statement, Akram acknowledge he was aware that taking the lizards and shipping them violated both Philippine and US laws.

Some of the lizards that were received by Akram were sold to customers located in Colorado, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

A large species of monitor lizard, the water monitor is native to South and Southeastern Asia. The yellow-headed water monitor, the white-headed water monitor and the marbled water monitor are found in the Philippines.

Akbar is pictured on his Facebook page holding some of the water monitor lizards

Water monitor lizards are native to South and Southeastern Asia
IF THERE'S one thing thats sure to unfold in the next decade  its the full digital transformation, or the deliberate and purposeful steps by societys most important institutions to do so. Its been happening since the turn of the millennium. Governments, schools, and more evidently, companies, have been hell-bent in adopting advanced technologies that would make them fully digital, so as to keep pace with the times.

Its no longer surprising to find students in private schools with tablets in class, or to pay for taxes through a mobile app. This push for digital transformation has pushed leaders, both in the public and private sectors, to apply tech-driven solutions to simplify processes and better the lives of people, in the hopes of staying relevant. Thats been achieved in some ways.

But in every pursuit of change comes the ramifications, big and small. The worlds race to technological advancement has also invited unwanted and malicious individuals to take advantage of all thats vulnerable.

For the third year in a row, data fraud and theft have been named in the top five most pressing risks faced in the world today by the members of the World Economic Forum. In the last two years, thats also closely followed by cyberattacks, showing the critical importance in securing technological infrastructure in keeping societies safe.

So how can the worlds drivers of changefrom small enterprises to big companiesprotect their customers, including employees, from some of the most critical risks faced in the world today?

Audit your companys security measures

According to market research firm Frost & Sullivan, Philippine organizations may potentially lose $3.5 billion worth of productivity and sales, once hit by cybersecurity threats. The study conducted by the firm came up with the estimate by computing for the potential fines to be incurred by an organization that will be hit by a security breach, including a potential drop in spending as the public fears for the security of their transactions.

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Its a glaring number that shows the critical factor that tech security plays in ensuring economic activities run like a well-oiled machine. If youre a small to medium enterprise that shows little to no regard in ensuring you safe keep the data you collect from customers for example, or even just your passwords, then now is the time do so. Its a wake-up call, that no one, not even the smallest, or the biggest players may be spared from malicious intent.

Set up an online standard security measure for your employees. Its time to inform them of basic security measures in safekeeping their data online, and the data they collect or get across in, in the office.

Install proper and efficient anti-malware software for your websites and other databases that are kept online. These solutions may be costly, but these are well worth the investment, especially when one thinks of the worst that could happen. Remember, part of the computation of Frost & Sullivan includes the potential losses businesses incur from lost customers due to reputation damage by cyber breaches.

Install extra security steps

Sadly, its come to a point that when industry names share data breaches, it isnt even surprising anymore. From global giants like Facebook to local ones like Jollibee, companies have continued to struggle in keeping the data they collect safe. Not that it will stop wrongdoers from infiltrating your system, but installing extra measures to protect the accounts of your customers may make hacking an even harder task.

Recently, FSS, a global finance tech solutions provider, launched in the Philippines its Voice Commerce product, which allows banking clients, for example, to access their accounts online through their voice. This enables a multi-factor authentication model, decreasing the chances of fraud further. According to the company, it has already been deployed in one of the largest state banks in India.

At this day and age when hackers can get into the systems of even the biggest names in the industry, employing another security step, like voice authentication wouldnt hurt. Aside from voice biometrics, other banks in the region, like the Unionbank of the Philippines, have also employed facial recognition tools, to double authenticate the identity of account holders. The companys EON product lets users to open the mobile app through a selfie.

These solutions may sound like a novelty, even gimmicky for some. But at a time when malware is smarter and more sophisticated, security measures need to level up too.

Educate the market

Still, the most basic prevention to cyber threats may be proper education. Let your customers know the most common threats to their data privacy. Some platforms now demand their users to update passwords every three months. The countrys central bank has consistently deployed infomercials about phishing scams. A smarter client base coupled with a stronger security infrastructure will be a hard market to crack for hackers.

To be sure, these are no silver bullet solutions to cyber threats. They are initial steps any organization that handles client data can take to better protect the welfare of their company. (Contributed by Andrea Francheska Hicap)
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The images are horrific. His left eyeball seemed to float in the bloody, mangled mass that used to be his face.

A bomb tore through the front of U.S. Army sniper Robert Bartletts head as he rode in a Humvee in Iraq in 2005. The device was traced to the Iranian Quds Force led by Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

So when President Donald Trump ordered the killing of the general last week, it wasn't exactly an unwelcome development for Bartlett.

Bartlett, who's now a motivational speaker and veterans' advocate, and other veterans who have served in the Middle East agree on that much. They differ on what should happen next.

But their years patrolling in Humvees, enduring stinging sandstorms and dealing with extreme temperatures have given them important perspective as the nation  again  focuses its attention on conflict in the Middle East.

Some say the face-off with Iran, which retaliated with a missile strike on Iraq bases Tuesday night, has reminded the American public of the uncertainty service members and their families have faced for nearly two decades since the U.S. military first invaded Afghanistan.

Some say its time for Americans to cut our losses and bring U.S. troops home. Others say we need to keep our armed forces in place if it prevents another 9/11.

One message is clear: Wars cost, said Sherman Gillums Jr., a Marine veteran who was paralyzed as he prepared to ship out to Afghanistan in 2002.

If you want it or believe its necessary but cant fight it yourself, at least be prepared to pay in some other way, Gillums said.

He is now chief strategy officer at American Veterans, or AMVETS, a nonprofit veterans' advocacy organization with more than 250,000 members.

Make no mistake, Bartlett said: The United States is at war with Iran.

We can keep lying to ourselves and say, Hey, were not at war with them, we dont want to be at war with them, he said. Well, theyre at war with us, so you are at war with them."

Ending the 'forever war'

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Americans may have pushed Iraq to the back of their minds as American forces there dwindled and Trump declared ISIS had been defeated. But veterans interviewed by USA TODAY said the recent hostilities with Iran are an escalation of a conflict that has been going on for years.

In 2001, when U.S. forces prepared to take a crucial airport in Afghanistan during the initial U.S. invasion, one of the first things they did was destroy the runways, said Joe Chenelly, a Marine veteran who took part. So that the Iranians could stop bringing stuff in to them, he said.

That's why Bartlett reacted to Soleimani's death the way he did.

"I just got overcome with emotion," he said. "Reluctantly, I prayed for his soul and the others who were killed. ... Then I went and celebrated with a 12-year-old Scotch and a cigar."

Chenelly, who is now national executive director of AMVETS, said the organization has been in favor of ending the forever war for years. What happened in the past week, however, obviously complicates things.

Now, he said, the most important consideration should be ensuring the security of U.S. forces and the nation. But today's highly charged political environment makes it hard, he said, for Americans to talk about how to achieve that.

Its hard to talk about this and not be labeled as taking one side or the other  the political side, which really isnt fair when were talking about life and death, Chenelly said. Its a lot deeper than Rs versus Ds or vice versa.

National Executive Director of AMVETS Joe Chenelly poses for a photograph Thursday, March 29, 2018, in Washington.

Navy veteran Jeremy Butler said images of troops being deployed to the Middle East recently have returned to the national spotlight the realities of military life: what its like to be on call, what its like to have family members quickly deployed, what its like to have the uncertainty of not knowing when youre going to see your spouse or your parents again.

Butler deployed in 2003 in support of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and is now chief executive officer of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, which advocates for post-9/11 veterans.

In addition to the 5,000 U.S. troops killed in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than 50,000 have been wounded. Years later, those veterans require care by their families and American taxpayers.

Some veterans question what the U.S. is fighting for

Iraq combat veteran Paul Rieckhoff, the founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said whats missing from the national conversation about recent hostilities with Iran is a strategy.

Rieckhoff, who unabashedly refers to Trump as President Mayhem on his podcast, said the White House and Pentagon need to articulate a clear strategy for the region beyond economic sanctions meant to pressure Iran into dropping its nuclear ambitions.

Trump on Wednesday pledged to impose more of those sanctions in response to Iran's missile strikes.

Rieckhoff called Trumps remarks nebulous. Felt all over the place, he tweeted.

Trump's address signaled a de-escalation from his earlier rhetoric, in which he pledged to strike Iranian cultural sites "VERY FAST AND VERY HARD" if Iran retaliated for Soleimani's killing.

Veteran Army Special Forces officer Joe Kent wants the president to go further and pull U.S. troops out of Iraq  and away from Iran. That's what Trump campaigned on.

I would get all of our forces out of ... striking distance, he said. Kent deployed several times to Iraq. His wife was killed in Syria last year during her fifth combat deployment.

If we do decide to stay in Iraq, either against the will of the Iraqi parliament or at the blessing of the Iraqi government, the question is, what are we fighting for?" he asked. "Are we fighting for the Iraqi government?

Marine veteran Dan Caldwell agrees. He said keeping troops in Iraq is insane. Caldwell is senior adviser to Concerned Veterans for America, a Koch-backed group that has supported Trump.

U.S. missions to eradicate ISIS and train and equip Iraqi forces are now complete, Caldwell said.

"The only mission our troops have in Iraq is guarding bases that no longer serve a purpose, he said. Theres no pressing national security need to have them there.

Middle East experts have said a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq could be disastrous, creating a power vacuum for both Iran and the Islamic State terrorist group to fill.

And Bartlett, who was disfigured by the Iranian-made bomb in 2005, warned against such sweeping judgments without knowing what intelligence is guiding U.S. leaders decision-making.

The lessons of 9/11 are worth remembering, Bartlett said: A small group of terrorists can kill thousands of people. So weve got to keep that in mind. When we dont deal with it, then we lose a lot of civilians.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Wars cost': Iraq veterans speak out amid U.S. tensions with Iran
Iraqis Want De-escalation and Dialogue, Chaldean Archbishop Says

Chaldean Archbishop Yousif Mirkis of Kirkuk, Iraq, speaks to reporters in Paris, Jan. 17, 2017. ( L. Bryant/VOA) (VOA) -- Iraqis are fearful about the continued use of their territory as a battleground, especially between the U.S. and Iran, says Iraq's Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Yousif Thomas Mirkis, who serves the faithful in the fractious northern city of Kirkuk. He says Iraqis would like to see the U.S. and Iran stop their war of words as well as missiles, and begin a dialogue.

"Maybe it can stop here -- the revenge," Mirkis said. "The revenge was in all the speeches of yesterday. Those five days were very excited about revenge. Now, that it is done, let us go to negotiate. We have enough of wars. Since I am born, I see only wars, rebellion, revenge. Without peace. These completely destroyed our country."

Mirkis says Iraqis want political and military leaders to listen to ordinary people's demands to address their country's severe unemployment and infrastructural problems and end action that divides Iraqis along sectarian and ethnic lines.

He and others point out that military action taken by Iran and the U.S. in recent days on Iraqi soil further destabilizes an already fragile country reeling from Islamic State militant occupation and sectarian conflict. Protesters at recent demonstrations in Baghdad and in the south, which he calls manifestations, were demanding the end of pervasive Iranian influence in the country.

"We are fed up with all kinds of troubles and war," Mirkis said. "We don't want this anymore. Especially, the manifestations in Baghdad are telling those who are with Iran or with America: 'Let us live in peace!'"

Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, is also appealing for a de-escalation of tensions between Tehran and Washington. He says the discord threatens humanitarian services to millions of people across the Middle East.

Tens of millions of people in the region need vital aid, as most are "already devastated or displaced by conflict," Egeland said in a statement. "Another confrontation among international and regional powers would be deadly for aid lifelines on the brink of collapse."

Egeland urged the "de-escalation of this confrontation and direct talks among diplomats to find solutions," adding, "Do not make a difficult situation impossible."
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(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. said its Ring subsidiary fired at least four employees for improperly seeking access to customer data over the last four years, the latest privacy headache for the video doorbell maker it acquired in 2018.

Although each of the individuals involved in these incidents was authorized to view video data, the attempted access to that data exceeded what was necessary for their job functions, Brian Huseman, Amazons vice president of public policy, wrote in response to an inquiry from five Democratic senators about the companys privacy and data security practices.

The letter doesnt specify what customer data the employees involved in four separate incidents sought, how many employees were involved, or how many of them successfully gained access to it. In addition to investigating and firing the employees, Ring has taken multiple actions to limit data access to a smaller pool of employees, Huseman said.

Ring has been beset by allegations of privacy flubs in the last year, from a report that employees had previously passed around unencrypted footage captured by doorbells, to claims from civil liberties groups that Rings partnerships with law enforcement, which allow police departments to ask that doorbell owners turn over footage to aid investigations, risk enabling a government surveillance network.

The company also faces a lawsuit brought by a man who claims someone took control of a video camera installed on his garage and spoke to his children, one among a set of similar incidents that reportedly relied on stolen passwords.

In an interview with CNET, Ring founder and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Siminoff said watching a widely shared video of a similar experience made me cry. And every time I think about it makes me sad.

In November, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon and four colleagues wrote to Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos to express concern about reports of vulnerabilities to systems holding a vast amount of deeply sensitive data and video footage detailing the lives of millions of Americans in and near their homes.

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The senators asked about policies on deleting users footage, security policies and ambitions on facial recognition. In addition, they focused on reports that developers in Ukraine had unrestricted access to Rings entire camera database in unencrypted form, with each video file reportedly linked to a specific Ring user.

If hackers or foreign actors were to gain access to this data, it would not only threaten the privacy and safety of the impacted Americans; it could also threaten U.S. national security, the lawmakers wrote.

Husemans response said that no Ring employees or contractors, including those in the companys Ukrainian research and development offices, have unrestricted access to customer camera data.

On Monday, in an announcement timed to coincide with the massive CES technology trade show, Ring announced a new feature of its smartphone app designed to centralize privacy and security settings. A Ring spokeswoman said the company planned to enable two-factor authentication, a more secure password protocol, on customer accounts by default.

Senator Edward Markey, of Massachusetts, said Rings privacy tools announced this week dont go far enough. Rings privacy and security problems wont be solved with a new privacy dashboard, he said in a statement.

The Ring spokeswoman declined to comment on the terminated employees beyond the details in the letter, which was provided by Wydens office. Privacy, security and user control will always be paramount as we pursue and improve technologies that help achieve our mission of helping to make neighborhoods safer, she said in an emailed statement. We take the protection of customer data very seriously and are always looking for ways to improve our security measures.

(Updates with additional details in the third paragraph.)

To contact the reporters on this story: Matt Day in Seattle at mday63@bloomberg.net;Ben Brody in Washington, D.C. at btenerellabr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Robin Ajello at rajello@bloomberg.net, Mark Milian

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

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When Hialeah dentist Carmen Ramirez had her identity stolen, and credit cards opened falsely in her name, it seemed just another aggravating everyday economic crime.

Years later, Ramirez was preparing to testify against an Orlando man accused of swiping her identity but whom she had never met or seen. She never got to explain the headaches the ID thief had created. Instead, she became the victim of a much more savage crime  gunned down at close range as she walked into her office.

A Miami-Dade grand jury on Wednesday indicted two men suspected of her murder, one of them the brother of the man she was supposed to testify against in Orlando. Investigators believe Ramirez was gunned down because of her role as the star witness against Jose Ledesma, who has not been charged in the killing but is still awaiting trial for identity theft in Orlando.

Indicted for first-degree murder in Miami-Dade were his brother, Hector Ledesma, and Ralph Benjamin, both from the U.S. Virgin Islands. The two will likely return to court Friday for an arraignment on the upgraded charges, for which they could face the death penalty.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, in a statement on Wednesday night, said the grand jurys indictment represents their repugnance at this attempt to disrupt an ongoing criminal case in Orlando.

I and my prosecutors stand with our citizen jurors as we all loudly proclaim that intimidation of any kind will not work and will not be tolerated, she said in a statement.

Investigators are working to build a murder or conspiracy case against Jose Ledesma, 34, who remains free on bond while waiting for his trial in an Orlando court.

Orange County prosecutors wont say whether they will seek to revoke his bond, or even if trial will continue next month as planned; a spokeswoman did not return repeated requests for comment on Wednesday.

Orlandos Public Defenders Office, which represents Jose Ledesma, declined to comment on Wednesday. His brother and Benjamin remain in a Miami-Dade jail.

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Hector Ledesmas lawyer could not be reached for comment. A lawyer for Benjamin, 39, declined to comment.

Police in Central Florida say Jose Ledesma, also a native of the U.S. Virgin Islands, is a longtime swindler who has racked up over a dozen arrests over the past decade. He served two years in prison for identity theft and illegal use of credit cards in Orange County, getting out in 2017.

Most recently, Orlando police honed in on Ledesma in February 2018, after detectives said they identified him as a suspect possibly behind a series of identities being stolen to open fraudulent credit card accounts.

Jose Ledesma

In one case, Orlando police said, a victim drove to Ledesmas house to confront him. Ledesma pointed a black handgun at the man saying he would kill him, according to an arrest report.

Ledesma was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm. Detectives investigated further  sifting through trash outside Ledesmas home. They found envelopes addressed to Ramirez, the Hialeah dentist, as well as another South Florida victim.

An Orlando detective called Ramirez, who told him that somebody had used her identity to start at least four credit card accounts. The hacker even managed to gain control of her cellphone line, police said. Police identified Ledesma on surveillance cameras using the fraudulent credit cards to make purchases at stores, according to court documents.

He was charged in 2018, and had been awaiting trial ever since. It was supposed to start Dec. 9.

But on Nov. 19, police say, Ramirez was gunned down on a staircase outside her office. Witnesses said the attackers sped off in a dark-colored 4-door BMW.

Hialeah police detectives pulled surveillance video that they say shows Benjamin and Hector Ledesma casing the dentists office the day before the shooting, even buying drinks at the Las 4 Hermanas supermarket next door.

On the day of the shooting, video showed Benjamin getting dropped off at the same market, where he bought a Heineken beer and Marlboro cigarettes just before Ramirez was shot. As Ramirez walked up the stairs, Hialeah police said, Benjamin approached the victim and shot her numerous times.

He then ran back toward the BMW, which zoomed off. Hialeah homicide detectives quickly identified the Ledesmas as people of interest in the case.

They learned Hector Ledesma, hours after the shooting, showed up to a state sex-offender registry office in Orlando saying he needed to return to the U.S. Virgin Islands for an emergency. Hector Ledesma had been convicted of a rape in St. Croix and was required to register with officials in Orlando, where he lived with his brother.

Hialeah police tailed Hector and Benjamin on a plane from Orlando. They were arrested when they arrived for a connecting flight at Miami International Airport on Nov. 21, according to court documents.

At police headquarters, Hector Ledesma told detectives he dropped Benjamin off to buy marijuana and observed defendant Benjamin with both arms up in a shooting stance, and saw muzzle flash as numerous shots were fired, according to a police report.

Benjamin refused to speak to detectives, according to an arrest report by Hialeah Detective Magy Montalvo..

Ramirez clung to life for weeks, even as doctors were forced to amputate her arms. On Dec. 19, however, she died of her injuries.
As reporter Jeffrey Brown visited the headquarters of the Agency of Artists in Exile, an Ethiopian man belted out a traditional song with accompaniment from this phone. Across the hall, a Yemeni woman used her vast trail of official asylum-seeking papers, accumulated over two years of navigating Frances legal process, to create an art installation.  And a Kurdish actor who fled Turkey practiced a monologue about his first days in Paris. (video)  PBS NewsHour
(TNS)  Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was in southwest Georgia on Monday to observe the first day of early voting for a special election to fill a Georgia House seat.The new voting system and machines previously have been used in six Georgia counties in elections ahead of the statewide rollout in February.The new machines, which provide a paper printout, will be used in all 159 counties for the first time during the March 24 presidential preference primary election.The first day of early voting, I wanted to make sure everything is working smoothly, Raffensperger said during a telephone interview after he left the Colquitt County Courthouse Annex building, site of early voting in the county. Everything is going smoothly.The new machines have a touchscreen, as did the aging models theyre replacing. Voters make their selections on the screen and print out a paper copy they can review to ensure they selected the candidates for which they want to cast ballots.We (also) can do physical recounts and they can do audits, the secretary of state said.The first use of the machines in fall 2019 included six counties, including Decatur and Lowndes. Decatur County residents are among those voting in the House District 171 special election to replace state Rep. Jay Powell, R-Camilla, who died in November.The district also includes Mitchell County and a portion of Colquitt County.The special election will be held on Jan. 28, and the winner will serve out the remaining year of Powells term. A runoff, if necessary, would be held on Feb. 25.In August 2019, a federal judge ruled that Georgias aging voting machines could not be used beyond the fall elections due to concerns about security. Raffensperger said that the new system provides assurances of security and that his office has worked with cybersecurity experts to make sure those assurances are valid.The new voting machines will be ready to go statewide by the spring, he said.By early February, every county will have 100 percent of their equipment, he said.Each county has models of the new machines, and elections officials are being encouraged to give demonstrations to the public on the use of the machines.State lawmakers budgeted $150 million for the new system, which came in at a cost of less than $110 million, Raffensperger said.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 16:59:21|Editor: ZX

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Palestinian Mohammad Hussein works at his home in the village of A'nin, close to the northern West Bank town of Jenin, Jan. 14, 2020. The main job of Mohammad Hussein, a Palestinian elder man from the West Bank, is to carve wood into simple farming tools and other wooden artworks to protect the ancient Palestinian heritage from disappearance. (Photo by Nidal Eshtayeh/Xinhua)

by Saud Abu Ramadan, Mohammed Abu Alrob

RAMALLAH, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The main job of Mohammad Hussein, a Palestinian elder man from the West Bank, is to carve wood into simple farming tools and other wooden artworks to protect the ancient Palestinian heritage from disappearance.

At his home in the village of A'nin, close to the northern West Bank town of Jenin, Hussein, who is over 90 years old, carves wood into beautiful masterpieces with a short metal woodcarving tool and a hammer.

Hussein, suffering from trembling hands due to his old age, manages to carve wood with his small hammer and a sculpting tool. He gently and slowly hammers on his metal carving tool to avoid breaking the piece of wood.

The elder man makes his own designs and then carves the wood into primitive wooden tools that Palestinian farmers had used so many years ago, such as plows and pitchforks.

He carves and sculpts the wood, which he gets from various kinds of trees in the village, and spends all his daytime turning it into primitive agricultural tools, flowers vases and other wooden masterpieces.

"My father and grandfather had worked as carpenters a long time ago, so I developed my skills in carpentry and invested it into carving and sculpturing. I learned how to turn wood into beautiful wooden masterpieces and old farming tools," Hussein told Xinhua.

The elder man has himself produced around 100 different wooden pieces, including artworks and old farming tools. He has turned his humble home into a workshop, where he plans, designs and implements his ideas.

He does this job alone without the help of anyone and refuses to sell what he carves, except some tools that haven't taken him a long time to make, especially sticks for axes, shovels and hammers.

"I don't sell my special wooden products that had taken me a long time to carve such as special wooden masterpieces, mainly wooden statues, vases and more," said Hussein, who collects wood from a nearby farm.

The farm in the village of A'nin is around 70 dunums (70,000 square meters) and it is full of various kinds of trees, mainly olives. Hussein selects and collects certain kinds of dry wood that fit for carving his wooden products.

"I usually carve something related to the ancient Palestinian heritage, mainly farming tools that our ancestors had used in farming a long time ago, such as plows, wooden stoves, pitchforks, and flower vases," said the old man.

After finishing his carving, Hussein paints his products with a special kind of colorful painting that protects them from being damaged or spoiled by water or humidity. He makes it looking attractive and beautiful.

He uses simple and primitive tools in carving, which are neither modern nor electric, except an electric digger that he uses sometimes in carving into rigid wooden pieces.

Hussein has 12 children. However, none of them are practicing their father's career. They are married, have children and have jobs that are different from their father's job.

Hussein's handmade products have attracted several local institutions and organizations in the village, which helped Hussein to organize an exhibition for his products at one of the village's schools.

His exhibition attracted so many people who were impressed by the kind of art he is making, mainly by his principle of preserving the ancient Palestinian heritage for the young Palestinian generations.

Hussein is not the only one who carves wood into various shapes, masterpieces and ancient agricultural tools, there are so many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza producing artworks, masterpieces and statues made of wood, metal and clay with various kinds of raw materials.

Atef Abu Saif, culture minister of the Palestinian Authority, told Xinhua that Palestinian handmade products have been always linked to true history and to the fact that the Palestinian people are sticking to their identity, their land and their true heritage.

"The handmade products, which are made of wood, glass, cloths or clay in various geographical areas in Palestine, always reflect the Palestinians sticking to their land," he said.

Abu Saif said that his ministry encourages people like Hussein and so many other artists to carry on producing their handmade products.

"I believe it is a holy mission of the ministry to keep our loyalty to our homemade products," he added.

"The conflict between the Palestinian people and the occupation (Israel) is related to land, identity and history. So all our heritage is an interpretation of the relationship between our people and their land that they belong to," the minister noted.
(Newser)  Iran says it's confident that some kind of mechanical failure brought down a Ukrainian passenger jet near Tehran this week. Ukraine, however, isn't so sure. Its investigators are looking into the possibility that a missile or perhaps an explosion inside the jet as part of a terrorist attack might be responsible, reports the Wall Street Journal. "Too many things are unclear at the moment," said a Ukraine security official, cautioning that no conclusions have been reached. The crew of the Boeing 737 made no distress call before the crash and was turning back toward the airport in Tehran when the plane went down, according to an initial Iranian investigation, per the AP.

story continues below

Eyewitnesses say they saw the plane on fire in the air before hearing an explosion, reports the Washington Post. All 176 people aboard were killed. "Rumors about the incident being a terrorist attack, explosion, or shooting at the plane ... are not true," said Iran's minister of roads and urban development, Mohammad Eslami. But a Ukrainian official, Oleksiy Danylov, said he wants investigators to search for remnants of a Russian missile, per Reuters. It's not clear which nation will receive the plane's black boxes. (In 2014, a missile brought down a commercial jet over Ukraine, and pro-Russian separatists were blamed.)
The importance of silk in the cloth-making industry cannot be exaggerated. Textiles made of silk fiber are common throughout the world, especially in China where silk production was started. Clothes made from silk are particularly popular because of their texture. Such material has a shimmering appearance and is able to refract the light from different angles, thus producing different colors. Silk fiber can be obtained from several insects but the most popular one is silkmoth. Important to note is that the fiber is only produced by the larvae of the insect. Silk can also be obtained from other insects such as wasps, bees, ants, beetle, flies, and fleas.

Brief History Of Silk Production

According to historians, silk production originated in China during the Neolithic period of the Stone Age. Production of silk was confined to the region of China until the opening of Silk Road in the late half of the first millennium BC. However, even with the opening of the trade route, China still maintained a monopoly over the production of silk for thousands of years. Silk was not only used for making clothes but also used for several other applications such as writing. From around 300 AD, the cultivation of silk reached Japan and by 552 AD, the Byzantines had managed to cultivate silkworm eggs and were able to begin its cultivation. Around the same time, the Arabs began manufacturing silk. The spread of sericulture rendered Chinese silk export less important although they still dominated the luxury silk market. Silk found its way into Western Europe via the Crusades. From the Italian states, silk was exported to the rest of Europe. Europes silk industry was completely transformed during the Industrial Revolution. New weaving techniques improved the efficiency of production. However, it was during this period that the silk industry faced stiff competition from the cotton industry.

About The Silkworm

Domestic silkmoth, scientifically referred to as Bombyx mori, is a moth belonging to the family Bombycidae. It is an economically important insect and the chief producer of silk. Silk is mainly produced by silkworm which is the larva of the silkmoth. Silkworms mainly feed on mulberry leaves as well as other mulberry species. There are four main species of silkworms, namely Mulberry silkworm, Muga silkworm, Tasar silkworm, and Eri silkworm. The mulberry silkworm is divided into three groups; univoltine (mainly found in greater Europe) and bivoltine (found in China, Korea, and Japan). The univoltine type generates silk only once a year while the bivoltine type generates it twice a year. The third type is polyvoltine which is only found in the tropics and can have up to 8 separate lifecycles in a year.

Process Of Producing Silk

The process of silk production is known as sericulture. This process is divided into several stages but typically starts from cultivating silkworms on mulberry leaves. The female silkworm lays 300-400 eggs and insulates them on the leaves of the mulberry tree. In about 10-14 days each of the eggs hatches and produces a larva which is also known as a caterpillar. The larvae are covered in tiny dark hair. The larva begins molting when the head turns darker and may molt about four times after which the body turns slightly yellow and skin becomes tighter. As the larva prepares to enter the pupal stage, it encloses itself in a cocoon which is made of raw silk produced by the salivary gland. The final molt from larva to pupa takes place in the cocoon.

Harvesting of silk begins at the stage when the worm starts pupating in their cocoons. If the worm is left to survive after spinning its cocoon, the enzymes produced may be destructive to the silk and may cause the fiber to break down. To ensure that quality fiber is produced, the silkworm cocoons are dissolved in boiling water. The worms are killed by the heat and the hot water enables the extraction of long fibers. For 1 kg of silk to be produced, 3,000 silkworms must feed on 104 kg of mulberry leaves. The cocoon is made of raw silk thread of about 1,000-3,000 feet long and 0.0004 inches in diameter. It requires about 3,000 cocoons to produce one pound of silk.

Because the process of extracting silk from the cocoon involves the killing of the larva, sericulture has attracted criticism from animal rights activists. It is for this reason that the majority of the activists promote cotton spinning. Mahatma Gandhi is known for among other things criticizing silk production based on Ahimsa's philosophy of not hurting any living thing.

Silkworm Domestication And Breeding

Unlike the wild silkworm, the domestic silkworm has an increased cocoon size, higher growth rate, and an efficient digestion system. It has also adapted to living around humans and in crowded conditions. A domesticated male silkworm cannot fly and needs assistance to find a mate. Since its first domestication about 5,000 years ago in China, the production capacity has increased nearly tenfold. The principle of genetic breeding has been applied to silkworms for maximum output and is now only second to maize in exploiting the principle of crossbreeding and heterosis.

The aim of silkworm breeding is to improve output and maximize income. The main area of focus is improving the egg-laying capacity, disease resistance, health of the larva, and quality of the cocoon. It is a common understanding that a healthy larva leads to a healthy cocoon. However, the health of larva is dependent on pupation rate, shorter larval duration, and few dead larvae during molting. The healthy larva has a high pupation rate and cocoon weight.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday urged young entrepreneurs to take advantage of forward looking industry-friendly policies, infrastructure facility and upcoming opportunities to set up new enterprises.

Inaugurating the five-day MSME international trade fair, Naveen said riding on its rich natural resources Odisha continues to witness rapid industrial development for the last few years.

The Make-in-Odisha conclaves in 2016 and 2018 have been able to attract huge investments to the tune of Rs 5 lakh crore. The upcoming industrial projects will provide ample new opportunities for MSMEs to grow, he said.

People in the State, Naveen said, have made a name for themselves in handicraft, textiles, food processing and information technology.

MSMEs in these sectors contribute immensely to the State GDP and create employment opportunities, he said. The Chief Minister welcomed 20 entrepreneurs from Iran and 12 from Bangladesh, participating in the international trade fair.

Organised by MSME department in association with National Small Industries Corporation, the fair provides entrepreneurs a platform to showcase their products and services before national and international visitors.

While 350 MSMEs are participating in the event, special arrangements have been made for women entrepreneurs and MSMEs from Kalahandi, Nuapada, Malkangiri, Gajapati and Kandhamal that are known as backward districts of the State.

The CM felicitated business delegations from Iran and Bangladesh with filigree work mementoes. Industries Minister Dibya Shankar Mishra and Secretary Hemant Sharma also spoke.

Several buyer-seller meets, technology demonstration, marketing avenues for women entrepreneurs, sectoral seminars and business networking have been planned during the fair themed Focus MSME @ 2020.
Stafford named Creative Director, deepening Aimclears credentials as a lauded integrated digital marketing firm

DULUTH, Minn., Jan. 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Duluth-based Aimclear has pioneered key aspects of data-driven digital marketing over 12+ years, while maintaining deep creative roots. Today Aimclear announced longstanding marketing professional Erik Stafford has joined the company as Creative Director. In this role, Stafford will work closely with agency founder Marty Weintraub, who also serves as Creative Director. Stafford will help guide vision and execution of all aspects of agency creative, while collaborating with and mentoring team members.

Staffords new role extends Aimclears alignment of the science and art of marketing, furthering its ability to provide holistic, integrated marketing services. With more than two decades of experience, Stafford has extensive in-house marketing experience and has operated his own successful marketing firm for more than 13 years.

Too many marketing agencies get lost because they only fixate on the latest marketing channels or hot trends, Weintraub noted about Staffords new role. While the channels and technology of digital marketing are vital, great marketing still hinges on one timeless cornerstone - the human capacity for creativity. With Erik joining our team, well further set Aimclear apart from the pack by mashing up marketing art and science.

Ive long held to a deep philosophy that effective marketing hinges on utilizing data to tell great stories to the right people, Stafford noted. With the team at Aimclear, well go even further to ensure consistent, powerful storytelling that inspires and engages. Aimclear has a long history of developing innovative, ground-breaking creative, and Im looking forward to working with the team to extend this legacy.

Stafford formally joined Aimclear January 1, 2020. He will be based out of South Florida, extending the agencys geographic presence. Aimclear is based in Duluth, Minnesota, and has additional locations in St. Paul, Minnesota; Richmond, Virgina; Los Angeles, California; and Durham, North Carolina.

Story continues

More About Aimclear

Aimclear is a 6x Inc. 500/5000 digital marketing agency dominant in audience targeting and customer acquisition. Our differentiator is the Tao of holistic creative brand-builds and integrated psychographic performance marketing attribution.

As Aimclear also distributes segmented messages to influencers for buzz, links and earned-media, the agency has evolved to be the missing link unifying search, social, PR, influencers and psychographic display. More information is available at http://www.aimclear.com.

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JoeT@aimclear.com


Democrats in the state Senate made a package of voting reforms the first issue they addressed this year, just like in 2019 when they took over the chamber for the first time in a decade. Before passing legislation that would allow for automatic voter registration and various tweaks to the new early voting system, Democrats made a point on Thursday of using the action to show their willingness to improve on high-profile legislation they passed last year.

We understand that our work is never done, State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins of Westchester, said at a Jan. 9 press conference. Were not a set it and forget it majority. And, unlike controversial bail reforms and a new system for publicly financed elections, her conference is undoubtedly revising voting reforms.

The voting reforms that Democrats passed this week were in some ways a redo of last years efforts to address the issue. Theyve passed a new version of a bill that will allow automatic voting registration, after a drafting error that would have allowed ineligible residents to register caused them to drop it at the last minute last year. Other bills passed on Thursday were drafted in response to a November public hearing that featured numerous complaints about how early voting had been implemented for the first time weeks before.

If the state Assembly also passes the voting reforms package in the coming months and Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs the bills into law, at least some of the changes would go into effect in time for the 2020 elections.

Democratic state senators said their top goal for the package as a whole is to increase participation in the democratic process. They say that automatic voter registration aims to add another million voters to 12.7 million people who are already on the rolls. It would not take effect for another two years, unless the state Board of Elections determines that adequate information technology infrastructure exists to implement it. A bill that would require poll sites on college campuses would not take effect until 2022, but seven other bills take effect much faster if they get the blessing of the Assembly and the governor.

Many of the newly approved bills aim to alter the location of early voting sites. One measure would allow counties to deploy pop-up voting sites for periods as short as three days, as opposed to the nine-day periods for fixed polling sites. This would take effect immediately, alongside other changes aimed at increasing the number of polling sites in cities and towns and requiring them to be more accessible by public transportation on Long Island and in Westchester. Schools will no longer be sites for early voting, following complaints that classroom learning had suffered because of their use during the 2019 elections.

More time will be needed for other changes. This includes a bill that would require that the largest municipality in each county have at least one early voting site would take effect 30 days after becoming law. Municipalities and the state would be able to display messages on highways reminding people to vote, under another proposal that takes 60 days to go into effect.

The first round of early voting held in 2019 occured during an off-year election with few high-profile races. Just 1.3% of voters in New York City, for example, cast ballots before Election Day. It is hard to determine just how many of those 60,000 people would have skipped voting entirely if early voting had not been available. However, Democratic lawmakers say that the first real test of whether their reforms will substantially improve voter turnout will be the 2020 elections. We are putting our best foot forward on election reform issues, said State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris of Queens in a press conference. Our work is ongoing.

Critics of voting reforms have said that they place too much of a financial burden on local governments that have to implement the changes without additional funding from the state.

Stewart-Cousins suggested that savings garnered by changes made last year that consolidated state and federal primaries into a single date would allow local governments to pay for early voting. She said the Senate could reexamine the issue at a later time.

While Democrats touted voting reforms as an issue where they could improve on their past work, Stewart-Cousins signalled on Jan. 9 thats not an attitude that necessarily extends in the near term to other controversial issues. She told reporters Thursday that the state Senate has no plans at present to change a much-criticized new system for publicly financed political campaigns. Though she and other members of the state Senate have said they are open to changing new limits on cash bail that went into effect on Jan. 1, there was no timeline to do so at this point. We're on day nine, she said. We are paying attention as it continues to see if there are any necessary tweaks  but again, we're not responding right now.

Democrats last year passed sweeping changes to state criminal justice laws, including eliminating cash bail for most non-violent felonies and misdemeanors. Proponents said the changes would afford poor defendants, who are overwhelmingly people of color, the same chance to stay out of jail before their trials as higher-income people. Critics have recently seized on news stories highlighting the crimes allegedly committed by people after they were released for earlier charges.

Divisions over bail reform have proven especially hard to resolve among Democrats in the state Senate. The partys majority in the chamber depends in part on moderate lawmakers from Long Island and the Hudson Valley who have called for changes that would allow judges to evaluate a defendants dangerousness while deciding whether to release them before their trial. That idea is opposed by more liberal lawmaker from New York City like Gianaris, who have said it is too early to consider legislation that would alter the current bail laws.

Republicans in the state Senate are looking to take political advantage of this situation by attacking Democrats for their emphasis on voting rights in the first week of the session. The release of some criminal defendants who then allegedly committed other offenses underscores the need to resolve concerns over criminal justice reforms early on in the session said state Senate Minority Leader John Flanagan of Long Island, who unsuccessfully tried to repeal bail reform by amending a Democratic voting reform bill. Were going to hammer this, he told reporters on Jan. 9. This should be the number one priority  and theyre doing election reforms?
NIAMEY, Niger  Suspected Islamic militants killed at least 25 soldiers on Thursday in an attack that came just a month after the worst jihadist assault on the military in years, officials said.

The attack, which also left dozens of militants dead, was waged in the town of Chinagodrar, on Nigers troubled border with Mali. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the assault bore the hallmarks of an Islamic State-linked group that said it was behind a December ambush at a military outpost near the town of Inates.

This week, the United Nations envoy for West Africa and the Sahel described a devastating surge in terrorist attacks against civilian and military targets in the region. The attacks include the ambush last month that killed 71 soldiers.

The envoy, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, told the United Nations Security Council that terrorist attacks have increased fivefold in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger since 2016. More than 4,000 deaths were reported in 2019 compared with an estimated 770 deaths in 2016, he said.
Zhang Yuan from Tsinghua University [For Women of China]

Four Chinese women students have been selected for the Class of 2020 Rhodes Scholars, who will arrive at Rhodes House at the University of Oxford in autumn 2020, the Rhodes Trust announced recently.

The four women Chinese students receiving the Rhodes Scholarships are: Zhang Yuan and Gao Jun from Tsinghua University, Yan Yan from Nanjing University, and Zhou Xiaorui from the National University of Singapore and the Institut D'Etudes Politiques de Paris.

Zhang Yuan is currently a Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University. She received a bachelor's degree from Tsinghua's School of Architecture and Xinya College, graduating first in her department. She has twice won national scholarships and received the special scholarship for undergraduates of the university in 2018.

Zhang led a team that proposed a redesign of the Piazzale Loreto metro station in Milan that provided refuge for transient populations.

Always with an attention to people, her other design projects have focused on the redesign of old communities and suburban areas to improve living conditions for the elderly, newcomers, and migrant workers.

Zhang plans to study for a master's degree in social anthropology at Oxford University. She hopes to use architecture as a tool to bridge theories, policies and real life, and do her best for the development of Chinese urban and rural areas.

Gao Jun from Tsinghua University [For Women of China]

Gao Jun is studying in Tsinghua University's Global Environment Program, ranking first in her class. She was selected as one of 10 2018 Yinghua Scholars to study at Oxford.

Gao is dedicated to pursuing a career as an environmental researcher and advocate in China. She has conducted research on photovoltaic practices in nine provinces in China and presented the results at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP24). She is studying air quality and transportation as a visiting researcher at MIT China Future City Lab.

Gao will pursue her master's degree in economics at Oxford University. She hopes to better understand people's awareness of environmental issues and human behaviors, learn about policy analysis methods, and work out solutions to environmental problems through effective policy design in the future. "I hope to conduct some randomized control experiments on environmental policies in Oxford," she said.

Yan Yan from Nanjing University [For Women of China]

Yan Yan is studying applied psychology at Nanjing University, being the top student in her class. She was a visiting student in experimental psychology at St. Anne's College, Oxford. She has also investigated the interplay between sleep and emotion regulation at the Stanford Psychophysiology Lab.

Yan aims to study clinical and therapeutic neuroscience for her master's degree in the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford University, and hopes to investigate the basic psychology of emotional and anxiety disorders and improve the current diagnostic standards based on cognitive mechanisms and neurological indicators.

She hopes to become a clinical psychologist dedicated to psychopathology research that is socially informative.

Zhou Xiaorui from National University of Singapore and the Institut D'Etudes Politiques de Paris [For Women of China]

Zhou Xiaorui is currently studying history and Middle Eastern studies in a double degree program at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Institut D'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po).

While studying at the Institut D'Etudes Politiques de Paris, she ranked first place in terms of academic performance in 13 subjects. At NUS, she was awarded the Tin Ka Ping Foundation Scholarship twice and the George E. Bogaars Memorial Prize for the top student majoring in history.

Zhou, who focuses on gender studies, aspires to pursue a master's degree in contemporary Chinese studies and women's studies at Oxford University. "I realized that identity and women status are topics that cannot be bypassed in the study of modern society: it is both a product and a promoter of modern society," she said.

After the results of the selection were announced, Dr Elizabeth Kiss, Warden and CEO of the Rhodes Trust, said she was pleased to see many more Chinese scholars join in the Rhodes Trust family. She looks forward to the contributions of the four Chinese Rhodes Scholars to the Rhodes community.

Ten years ago, the number of young Chinese women enrolled at colleges and universities exceeded that of men for the first time. Today, young Chinese women are at the forefront of promoting social change in China and the world at large, according to Diana Fu, National Co-Secretary of the Rhodes Scholarships for China.

She said she was proud of each one of these scholars and that the selected scholars are making their own contributions to a more equal and just world.

(Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China)
A request by a convict behind bars for life is testing Switzerland's support for assisted suicide, raising complex questions over whether ill prisoners can seek help to end their own lives.

The unprecedented case has exposed a legal vacuum in the country which has long been at the forefront of the global right-to-die debate and an official decision is due in the coming months.

"It is natural that one would rather commit suicide than be buried alive for years to come," prisoner Peter Vogt said, in a written response to questions submitted by AFP.

The 69-year-old, convicted for sexual assault and rape against multiple girls and women ranging in age from 10 to 56, says he is suffering from serious kidney and heart conditions, among other ailments.

He has also been diagnosed with several psychological disorders.

Although Vogt's most recent sentence was a 10-year term handed down in 1996, he is imprisoned for life at Bostadel prison in northern Switzerland as he is still considered dangerous.

This follows a decision in 2004 when Swiss voters approved a popular initiative allowing the indefinite detention of people with established sexual delinquencies who posed a public risk.

The authorities have repeatedly determined that Vogt remains a threat despite years of treatment.

"It would be better to be dead than to be left to vegetate behind these walls," he said.

In July 2018, Vogt contacted Exit Switzerland, an organisation that supports assisted suicide under specific conditions. He argues that he should be able to benefit from Switzerland's liberal assisted suicide laws too.

"We told him that his particular case needed to be clarified," Juerg Wiler, its vice president, told AFP.

Swiss law generally allows assisted suicide if the person commits the lethal act themselves -- meaning doctors cannot administer deadly injections, for example -- and the person consistently and independently articulates a wish to die.

Organisations that support assisted suicide also apply their own procedures, which are more robust than the legal requirements.

The authorities, aiming to take a position on the matter in the coming months, have asked the Swiss Centre of Expertise in Prison and Probation, a publicly funded foundation, to provide guidance following Vogt's request.

In October, the experts at the foundation advised that assisted suicide rights should apply to prisoners under certain conditions, noting that in cases of mental illness two independent specialists should be consulted.

Any detainee possessing discernment should, in principle, have assisted suicide rights if they have "a physical or mental illness resulting in unbearable suffering," Barbara Rohner, lead author of the foundation's report, told AFP.

The foundation also recommended that authorities responsible for the prisoner's welfare must ensure the suicide request is not the result of a short-term emotional crisis.

Vogt insisted that he wanted to die because of the "unbearable" deterioration in his quality of life, along with the fact that he can no longer see his gravely ill mother, who lives in Austria.

He told the Blick newspaper that he wants to end his life on August 13, his 70th birthday.

Rohner said that while Vogt's case may be exceptional, similar situations could increasingly arise.

"There will be more and more elderly and sick prisoners in detention because of the ageing of the prison population," she said.

According to the Swiss National Science Foundation, a research institute, the number of prisoners over 50 years old doubled to 600 between 2005 and 2016.

Vogt told AFP that he knows of another inmate interested in assisted suicide, adding: "Nobody should have to commit suicide in his cell alone."

Some have raised concern that assisted suicide requests could be used by convicts as a negotiating tactic to demand better conditions in prison.

For Christine Bussat, founder of the Swiss chapter of the Marche Blanche victims' rights groups, decisions on a convict's right to die should rest with their victims.

That, she added, "is unfortunately not possible" under the current law.

But most legal and criminal justice experts in Switzerland believe that assisted suicide rights do extend to convicts.

Celine Ehrwein, an ethics professor at Heig-VD University, told public broadcaster RTS that depriving a suffering person of the right-to-die could be considered "a form of torture".
Australian video game retailer EB Games has announced 19 stores around the country will close its doors within weeks.

The outlets are expected to shut by the end of January, including in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra.

All stores affected will have a massive clearance sale, with 20 to 60 per cent slashed off popular brands such as Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and PC.

'After careful consideration we will be closing 19 unprofitable stores at the end of January. Where possible, staff were offered the opportunity to work in surrounding stores,' an EB Games spokesman told Daily Mail Australia in a statement.

Australian video game retailer EB Games has announced 19 'unprofitable' stores around the country are closing its doors (file image)

All stores affected will have a massive clearance sale, with 20 to 60 per cent slashed off popular brands such as Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and PC

The stores to close ACT: Majura Park NSW: Blacktown, Rockdale, Winston Hills, Inverell, Tamworth and Birkenhead Point Queensland: Inala, Bribie Island, Underwood and Cleveland South Australia: Adelaide City Cross, Brickworks Marketplace, Hallet Cove and Harbourtown Adelaide Victoria: Dandenong and Hamilton Western Australia: Dianella and Kalamunda Advertisement

'Like all businesses, we are constantly evaluating our property portfolio to ensure that our stores mix is in-line with the ever changing retail landscape

'In exciting news, 2020 will see EB Games continue to open more large format stores that combine the power of both the EB Games and Zing Pop Culture.

'These hybrid stores, combined with our strong omni-channel offering, six million loyalty members and 300+ locations across Australia, will see EB Games continue to be one of Australias largest specialty retailers.'

Loyal fans have been bombarding the retailer on Facebook about the sudden closures of the stores.

'Store openings, closures and relocations are a normal part of retail,' an EB Games spokesperson said in response to fans.

'We aim to continue providing the best shopping experience for our customers in 2020, including opening more of our awesome mega stores.'

Following its shock announcement of 19 shop closures, the affected stores are offering huge savings across its video games, consoles and accessories.

Customers have spotted great deals around the stores, including Xbox One and PS4 games selling from as little as $2 each.
S everal figures have called for Meghan and Harry to lose their royal titles after the couple announced they were quitting as senior royals.

Piers Morgan urged the Queen to unceremoniously strip the pair of their HRH address and dispatch them back into civilian life,

In a strongly worded article for the Daily Mail, the Good Morning Britain host said the very future of the Monarchy may be in serious jeopardy if these two renegades have their way.

His damning assessment came as former Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker issued his own warnings against the royals having their cake and eating it.

It also came bookmakers slashed the odds on the pair relinquishing their titles from 5/1 to 5/6.

Harry and Meghan: A timeline

Ex-Home Office minister Mr Baker told the Express: You can't be one foot in, one foot out. You are either a member of the royal family or you are not.

And while he believes Harry is entitled to absent himself and become a private citizen, he said the duke cant just drop royal duties and expect the state to continue paying for him.

Mr Baker, who remains a member of the Privy Council, also demanded that the couple pay back the public money spent on refurbishing their Windsor home, Frogmore Cottage.

Harry and Meghan said in their bombshell statement that they would work to become "financially independent".

He (Harry) should give the money back spent on Frogmore Cottage and pay himself for the jets between the UK and America. And pay for his security, he said.

Norman Baker said the couple should repay the 2.4m spent on Frogmore Cottage

Morgan, meanwhile, was less measured in his condemnation of the duke and his wife.

He said their astonishingly brazen and selfish antics left the Queen no choice but to cut them loose and fire them both from the Royal Family.

TODO: define component type apester

They want to be super-woke celebrities (...) who get to keep all the trappings of royal life without any of the hard, boring bits and the right to cash in on their status however they choose, he wrote in his comment piece.

So, they want the glitz, the glamour, the splendour and the stupendous wealth.they just don't want to have to actually earn it.

Morgan wrote 'Deluded Meghan and Harry should be stripped of their titles before this pair of grasping, selfish, scheming Kardashian-wannabes bring down the Monarchy' / Rex Features

Harry has been an HRH since birth and was given the title the Duke of Sussex on the morning of his wedding in 2018.

Former actress Meghan Markle became an HRH and the Duchess of Sussex after saying her vows.

He and Meghan were handed the Scottish titles the Earl and Countess of Dumbarton at the same time.

Their statement on Wednesday made no mention of them losing their HRH titles, nor of Harry being removed from the line of succession.

Graham Smith, chief executive of anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, said: My own view is that they should not be hanging on to all their titles if they don't want to do the job.

They can't have it both ways - keeping the perks but not wanting to stay and do the work. There's a long history of royals taking titles and doing nothing else with them.

If I lived in Dumbarton I would be pretty miffed they had taken the title but not supported the community they claim to represent.

Republic later posted on Twitter: Harrymeghan would have had more sympathy, and our full support, if they had renounced their titles, immediately given up any claim to public funding and said they wanted to live private lives in North America.

Ladbrokes said it was now 5/6, from 5/1, that the pair will give up their royal titles.
As the Long Beach Unified School District commits to keeping classes in-person, the city a new testing site opens for LBUSD employees and students only. The city is also ramping up its own testing efforts with a new 3,000-person per...
Ukrainian airplane crashes near Tehran due to engine failure, 176 dead

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Wed / 8 January 2020 / 08:46

Tehran (ISNA)  A Ukrainian passenger plane carrying 176 passengers and crew has crashed a few minutes after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport due to engine failure.

The Boeing 737-800 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines took off from Imam Khomeini international airport at 6.12am Tehran time and went down about six minutes later.

Spokesman for Imam Khomeini International Airport, Ali Kashani said that the plane bound for Kiev and carrying 167 passengers and 9 crew crashed around Parand, about 60 kilometres south-west of Tehran.

According to the reports, technical problems caused the accident.

"An investigation team was at the site of the crash," Iran's civil aviation spokesman, Reza Jafarzadeh told the Associated Press.

"After taking off from Imam Khomeini international airport it crashed between Parand and Shahriar," Jafarzadeh said. "An investigation team from the national aviation department was dispatched to the location after the news was announced and rescuers are trying to collect the dead".

Hassan Rezaeifar, general director of Iran Civil Aviation Organization's panel to investigate aircraft accidents said that the Ukrainian airplane did not declare an emergency.

Most of the passengers were Iranian nationals but there were also foreign nationals on board.

All 144 Iranians and 32 foreigners on board died in the incident.

Flight data from the airport showed a Ukrainian 737-800 flown by Ukraine International Airlines took off Wednesday morning, then stopped sending data almost immediately afterward, according to website FlightRadar24. The plane burning in the sky before crashing in a huge explosion.

Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky offered condolences to the families of the victims and said his government was working to understand the causes of the crash.

He said in a Facebook post earlier that the country has set up a commission to "work through all possible versions."

Ukraine's embassy in Iran that previously said that engine failure caused the plane to crash and denied that it was terror-related replaced its initial assessment with a new statement, saying, "Information on the causes of the plane crash is being clarified by the commission. Any statements regarding the causes of the accident prior to the decision of said commission are not official".

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Linkedin Fiachra Gibbons and Aurelie Mayembo (Agence France-Presse) Paris  Thu, January 9, 2020 10:05 733 48be62e941b44f04afae568c3217cb7a 2 Books France,Book,rape,author,writer,Gabriel-Matzneff,Gallimard Free

French publisher Gallimard said on Tuesday it was halting the sale of books by a writer accused of raping children.

France's most prestigious publishing house told AFP it was the first time in its 140-year history that it had taken such a radical step.

Award-winning essayist Gabriel Matzneff is under investigation after a leading French editor detailed in print how he abused her when she was 14.

Gallimard said they would recall all the works the 83-year-old had written under its imprint since 1990.

The last, "The Lover at the Arsenal", came out in November.

The author dismissed Gallimard's move saying it would "calm the excited ones" and denounced a "wave of neo-puritanism".

"I find it stupid, extravagant that in 2020 I am facing grief for books I wrote more than 40 years ago," he said.

Amazon has also reportedly withdrawn the Kindle version of one Matzneff's most notorious works "Les Moins de Seize Ans" ("The Under 16s") after sales rocketed online.

French Culture Minister Franck Riester has waded into the debate this week, saying the writer should lose his special state pension.

Riester told reporters Matzneff could also be stripped of his two major state honors as officer of Arts and Letters and knight of the Order of National Merit.

The weekly magazine Le Point has also dropped him as a columnist.

Explicit accounts

Matzneff has never made any secret of his sexual preference for adolescent girls and boys and it did not stop him winning the Renaudot prize in 2013.

In "Les Moins de Seize Ans", which was published in 1974 and reissued in 2005, he was frank about indulging his obsession for underage partners and sex tourism.

He was even more explicit in his 1990 book "Mes Amours Decomposes" (My Loves Deconstructed), which describes sexual relationships with teenagers aged between 14 and 16 -- it is illegal in France for an adult to have sex with anyone under 15.

He told French television at the time that he preferred "to have people in my life who are not hardened and who are still kind".

"A very young girl is rather sweeter, even if she becomes very quickly hysterical and just as crazy as she will be when she is older," he added.

The case has again shone a light on what many see as an overly permissive attitude towards sexual harassment and sexual abuse of children in France.

'Exceptional measure'

The French film establishment has been rocked by rape accusations against directors Roman Polanski and Luc Besson, while star Adele Haenel said she was sexually harassed by the director of her first film when she was 12.

All three men deny the claims.

Police opened a formal investigation into Matzneff last week after publisher Vanessa Springora described her tortured relationship with the writer in a book titled "Consent".

In it she described how Matzneff, then in his fifties, would wait for her outside school and then take her to his home for sex.

"At 14 you are not supposed to be picked up from school by a man of 50 and find yourself in his bed with his penis in your mouth (instead of a biscuit) at teatime," Springora wrote.

Matzneff denies any wrongdoing, insisting there was an "exceptional love" between him and Springora.

He claimed she tried to portray him as "a pervert, a manipulator and a predator".

Springora said in a television interview on Tuesday that she was freed of Matzneff only after reading his books detailing his sexual escapades in Asia.

Gallimard said it felt impelled to act after Springora's book was published.

"The exceptional measure which we have taken is justified to make sure the suffering that Vanessa Springora recounts" in her book is heard, it added in a statement.
Newsfrom Japan

Hanoi, Jan. 9 (Jiji Press)--Visiting Japanese Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Sanae Takaichi agreed with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Thursday to strengthen the two countries' cooperation to promote the development of fifth-generation, or 5G, ultrahigh-speed wireless communications networks.

They also agreed to work more closely in the field of cybersecurity.

At a time when security concerns are growing over 5G-related products made by Chinese companies, such as Huawei Technologies Co., Takaichi told Phuc that it is important to build reliable 5G networks.

Phuc said that he wants Japanese companies to launch businesses in high-technology and other areas in Vietnam.

Takaichi also said that Japan will support Vietnam's plan to launch an electronic government system. Japan will offer information technology equipment worth 500 million yen in total for the development of the system through its official development assistance program.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
SALEM, Ore.  An Oregon woman is suing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for $9.54 million after her husband's confession to church leaders led to his arrest, conviction and imprisonment on child sexual abuse charges.

The lawsuit, which accuses local church leaders of violating confidentiality and the "priest-penitent privilege," contrasts sharply with other cases accusing the church claiming the exact opposite  failing to report abuse to authorities and treating sex abuse like a sin instead of a crime.

The lawsuit, filed in Marion County Circuit Court, involves a Turner, Oregon, man convicted of abuse after he confessed to clergy that he had repeated sexual contact with a minor.

Church officials did not respond Tuesday to requests for comment on whether the actions of local leaders were sanctioned by the church.

Related Video: Church Boards Examining Sex Abuse Fail Victims

The man's confession was meant to be confidential, said the family's attorney Bill Brandt. He said local clergy's actions "totally violated church policy."

"It's been devastating on the family," Brandt said. "They lost a husband and a father."

Nick Sandmann: CNN confirms a settlement has been reached with Covington Catholic student

The Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has about 16.3 million members worldwide and about 153,300 members and 300 congregations, also known as wards, in Oregon. The wards are led by unpaid, laymen clergy.

Timothy Samuel Johnson and his wife Kristine Johnson were members of a ward when his wife learned he had "engaged in inappropriate conduct" with a minor known to him, according to the lawsuit.

Timothy Samuel Johnson, 47, of Turner





After learning of the sexual abuse, the couple followed church doctrine by having Johnson confess and repent of his sins before church clergy and the official church court.

The clergy portrayed that such a confession and repentance was dictated by church doctrine, and church doctrine required strict confidence of such confessions, according to the lawsuit.

Story continues

Brandt also said church leaders represented "that whatever the scope of Mr. Johnson's evil transgressions, the Church and its clergy will spiritually counsel Mr. Johnson to bring peace within his life and family."

More: Boy Scouts face a 'flood of litigation' over child sexual abuse

Johnson confessed to local leaders and members of the church court that he had sexually abused a minor.

But what leaders failed to advise Johnson of is that if he confessed to the abuse, they would report his actions to local law enforcement, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit filed in Oregon singled out a man who served as a counselor to Johnson's bishop, claiming the church failed to properly supervise him and train him of his obligations as a member of the clergy.

Guilty plea, 15-year sentence

Johnson, 47, was arrested in 2017 on charges of first-degree sodomy, sexual abuse and unlawful sexual penetration for sexually abusing a girl under the age of 16.

He later pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree sexual abuse and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Two years later, his wife filed the lawsuit against the church accusing the clergy of breach of fiduciary duty, negligence and interference with prospective economic advantage. Four of his children are also named as plaintiffs.

The exterior of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Stayton, Ore., on Jan. 7, 2020.





Church leaders' actions deprived Johnson's wife and children of his companionship, society, love and income, according to the lawsuit.

"(Clergy) knew or should have known that violating the doctrine of confidentiality under the circumstances alleged in this complaint would most certainly injure (his wife and children) financially," Brandt said.

Before being arrested, Johnson had a successful career as a sculptor.

The lawsuit requests $5.5 million for his wife for loss of his income and for extreme emotional distress and $1 million for each of his four children.

The lawsuit also requests $40,000 to pay for Johnson's criminal defense attorney.

Church doctrine requires disclosure and repentance. The lawsuit quoted Latter-day Saints' scripture Doctrine and Covenants 58:42-43:

"Behold he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more. By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins-behold, he will confess them and forsake them."

Brandt said church leaders violated Johnson's trust when they failed to "disclose that despite the express doctrine of confidentially intended to assist the family through difficult times," leaders would report the abuse to law enforcement.

Brandt said he's not aware of any other case in Oregon involving the breach of clergy confidentiality. He added that many members of the church were "appalled" by the actions of the church leader who allegedly violated this confidentiality and reported the abuse.

Mandatory reporting laws change

Oregon is one of the 28 states that specifically includes clergy on its list of mandatory reporters required to report known or suspected incidents of child abuse or neglect. But what is sometimes referred to as a confessional-style "clergy-penitent privilege" is an exemption to mandatory reporting laws.

Such laws are constantly evolving. In Utah, a bill proposed in the state's 2020 session would require clergy to report all allegations of child abuse  even those made during religious confessional, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

Recent lawsuits and reports have brought to light previous church practices of handling abuse within the church and not reporting sexual abuse to law enforcement.

A lawyer for a woman who reported being abused as child by her Latter-day Saint father to her bishop only to have the matter go unreported to law enforcement told NPR-affiliate KUER that the main problem was that the church treated the abuse as simply a sin, not a crime.

Law enforcement in other cases accused leaders of being uncooperative with investigators.

Church officials in Utah did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit and did not reply to inquiries on how church leaders are instructed to respond to sexual abuse disclosures.

The official church website instructs leaders to "fulfill all legal obligations to report abuse to civil authorities."

Leaders are told to call the church's ecclesiastical helpline immediately after learning of abuse for assistance in helping victims and meeting reporting requirements.

Reporting laws vary from state to state.

The first responsibility of the church in abuse cases is to help those who have been abused and to protect those who may be vulnerable to future abuse, officials said.

The Salt Lake Temple, in Salt Lake City.





A 2018 letter from top church leadership  the First Presidency  stated:

This global issue continues to be of great concern to us today. Our hearts and prayers go out to all those who are affected by this serious problem.

To help ensure the safety and protection of children, youth, and adults, we ask that all priesthood and auxiliary leaders become familiar with existing Church policies and guidelines on preventing and responding to abuse."

Follow reporter Whitney Woodworth on Twitter @wmwoodworth

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This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon wife sues Mormon church for revealing husband's child sex abuse
WASHINGTON, Jan. 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On December 23, 2019, Celgene backed out of a settlement in which it had agreed to pay $55 million to end payors (consumers, insurers, union health and welfare funds, municipalities, and others) that had accused Celgene of illegally blocking generic versions of life-saving cancer drugs from coming to market. (In re Thalomid and Revlimid Antitrust Litigation, 14-cv-6997, United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.)



Co-Lead Counsel are from Hausfeld (Melinda Coolidge, Walter Kelley, Brent Landau, Katie Beran, and Tamara Freilich), Block & Leviton LLP (Whitney Street and Stephen Teti), and Hach Rose Schirripa & Cheverie LLP (Frank Schirripa and Daniel Rehns).

Celgene had agreed to settle the long-running class action litigation back in July. Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) completed its acquisition of Celgene in November 2019 (NYSE:BMYRT).

The provisions of the settlement allowed Celgene to rescind the agreement if certain class members decided not to participate in the class settlement and instead pursue their own claims.

More than 8,000 individuals and more than 800 third party payors (e.g., insurers, companies that self-insure) filed claims to participate in the settlement. Another 80 entities filed an opt out form seeking to be excluded from the settlement and preserve their right to bring a separate lawsuit against Celgene. Citing the exclusion of these class members, Celgene withdrew from the settlement agreement.

It is very disappointing that Celgene has elected to back out of a deal that would have provided restitution to as many as 8,000 individual patients who filed claims to share in the settlement, said class representative David Mitchell, a cancer patient who took Revlimid for more than five years. It is my hope that this action by Celgene leads to a much larger total payout by Celgene after all is said and done.

Hausfeld partner Melinda Coolidge added: These kinds of rescission provisions are common in class settlements, but I have never heard of a defendant ever actually rescinding an agreement. The settlement had received widespread support from the class, based on the claims rate and the fact that no class members objected to the settlement.

Story continues

According to the plaintiffs experts, Celgenes actions caused patients and entities in California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Tennessee to pay $3 billion more than they would have if a generic version had been available. Revlimid, for example, costs more than $15,000 a month for treatment.

By backing out of the class settlement, Celgene returns to litigation against the putative class, including the 9,000 class members that would have released their claims in exchange for a part of the $55 million settlement, facing total exposure of greater than $3 billion.

Hach Rose partner Frank Schirripa stated: All settlements are a compromise, but I am astounded that after limiting its exposure by paying $55 million into an escrow account in 2019, Celgene chose to return to a world in which it faces exposure of more than $3 billion. It seems fiscally irresponsible to me.

For further information or to arrange interviews please contact:

Deborah Schwartz

Media Relations

240 355-8838

deborah@mediarelationsinc.com




A shocking video shows the moment a Michigan man wanted on multiple warrants jumped from a moving car during a high-speed chase.

On Tuesday, Michigan State Police released footage of the incident that occurred along Interstate 94.

In the dashcam footage, a black Impala is seen speeding out in front of troopers during the chase as the car zig-zags between other vehicles.

A shocking video shows the moment a Michigan man (pictured, hanging out of the car) wanted on multiple warrants jumped from a moving car during a high-speed chase

The clip then cuts to the moment when officers caught up to the vehicle that is seen with one door open.

With the door still open, the suspect drives onto an embankment before crossing over three lanes. The man is then seen trying to jump out of the vehicle.

That's when the car smashed into a barrier. A few moments later, he jumped out of the car and over the barrier while the vehicle continued to drive slowly until it came to a stop.

The suspect crossed into oncoming traffic before being arrested by two troopers.

'Working as a state trooper means every shift is something new,' police tweeted when sharing the footage.

'This driver had some warrants and didnt want to stop. Lucky no one was hurt, and the bad guy went to jail,' they added.

With the door still open, the suspect drives onto an embankment before crossing over three lanes. The man is then seen trying to jump out of the vehicle. That's when the car smashed into a barrier (pictured)
Fossil fuel political giving outdistances renewables 13 to one

Posted on 9 January 2020 by Guest Author

This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk

Corporations, special interest groups, and individuals inject billions of dollars into the American political system every year. Much of the financial support in politics is concealed from public view, as some rules  and loopholes  allow dark money and undisclosed donors to remain behind a wall. But some of those contributions can be traced via the Federal Election Commission, the IRS, congressional public records offices, and other resources.

The Open Secrets database, for instance, shines a light on this often murky process. The website is the work of the Center for Responsive Politics, whose stated mission is to improve transparency and citizen engagement around the influences of money in public policy. The website uses existing transparency laws to track the finances of candidates, political parties, lobbyists, and outside groups, and it describes ways cash is funneled through the system.

Few seriously question whether fossil fuel money in politics has played a substantial role in climate change and energy policy, and some researchers say its the single most important reason climate action has been stalled for decades in the U.S. Investigative reporting by InsideClimate News showed that Exxon and other oil companies have spent more than $5 billion undermining climate science and fighting clean energy policies. It reported in a 2017 article on how money circulated through multiple channels:

The industry sowed doubt for decades about climate science, spending $2.9 billion on advocacy advertising alone in a 10-year period ending in 2015. It spent $1.3 billion more lobbying to shape public policy on energy issues during the same period and has pumped out $827.9 million in campaign contributions since 2000 to elect sympathetic officials at the local, state and federal levels.

While the breadth of fossil fuel spending on climate policy and political issues is not surprising, the scope and scale is perhaps best understood when hard numbers are brought out to daylight.

Fossil fuel interests outspend renewable energy by more than 13 to 1

During the 2017-2018 midterm election cycle, corporations, individuals, and trade groups in the fossil fuel industry spent $265,773,915 in lobbying and $93,392,002 in contributions to national-level candidates, parties, and outside groups, bringing the total spending by the industry to more than $359 million in two years. Thats nearly $500,000 per day.

During the same period, renewable energy companies spent $26 million. So for every dollar spent on behalf of wind, solar, or hydroelectric energy interests, approximately $13.70 was spent by fossil fuel interests on energy and climate-related issues.

Those figures do not include all lobbying spending because of complex rules, and the Open Secrets database reflects only money circulating at the federal level, but the same things are at work in state-level offices. For instance, on recent statewide ballot initiatives the oil, gas, and coal industries spent $31 million in Arizona and $30 million in Washington to defeat clean energy measures. And at the same time, fossil fuel companies spend to directly influence the public via the airwaves, mailings, astroturf organizations, and social media campaigns.

Koch, ExxonMobil, and Chevron top 3 in political spending

The leading campaign donors and lobbyists are power houses in the fossil fuel industry, led by Koch Industries, which gave more than $10 million to campaign coffers in the 2018 midterms and used another $20 million for lobbying efforts in 2017 through 2018. ExxonMobil and Chevron ranked second and third in spending, and ExxonMobil was the largest energy lobbyist in that two-year period, spending more than $22 million on strategic messaging with political leaders.

Fossil fuel campaign donations go mostly to Republicans

U.S. senators representing principal fossil fuel-producing states, not surprisingly, have accumulated the largest sums from the industry. Those who have made presidential bids received the largest corporate donations. For example, Mitt Romney has received more fossil fuel money than any other U.S. senator, with a career total $8.5 million from oil, gas, and coal interests. About $6.9 million of this money was received during his 2012 presidential race. All told, Romneys fossil fuel funding is more than double that of any other federal lawmaker; a typical family in Romneys adopted home state of Utah would have to work for 125 years to earn the money he has been given by these industries.

Fossil fuel money in politics tilts overwhelmingly toward Republicans. Oil and gas companies give 87% of their donations to Republicans, coal companies 95% of their campaign funds to GOP politicians. In listing currently serving U.S. senators with the most backing from fossil fuel interests, its not until the 17th slot that a Democrat appears, Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Current Senators with over $1 million in campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry:

Romney, Mitt (R-UT)  $8,577,658

Cornyn, John (R-TX)  $3,790,755

Cruz, Ted (R-TX)  $3,684,350

McConnell, Mitch (R-KY)  $3,230,078

Inhofe, James M (R-OK)  $2,239,385

Murkowski, Lisa (R-AK)  $1,628,230

Gardner, Cory (R-CO)  $1,624,820

Cassidy, Bill (R-LA)  $1,571,345

Blunt, Roy (R-MO)  $1,519,341

Capito, Shelley Moore (R-WV)  $1,452,354

Barrasso, John A (R-WY)  $1,330,372

Cramer, Kevin (R-ND)  $1,302,846

Rubio, Marco (R-FL)  $1,298,887

Toomey, Pat (R-PA)  $1,284,979

Portman, Rob (R-OH)  $1,279,355

Lankford, James (R-OK)  $1,255,270

Manchin, Joe (D-WV)  $1,008,268

But Democrats have also received fossil fuel financial backing. Barack Obama ranks No. 7 and Hillary Clinton No. 11 on the list of current and former senators with the most funding from the oil and gas industry, with over $2 million of campaign donations to Obama and $1.5 million to Clinton. As with Romney, most of these donations were made during their presidential campaigns.

How do your U.S. senators and others stack up?

The Open Secrets website is fairly intuitive to search, and a few minutes searching on a candidate, elected official, PAC, or corporation will likely yield rewarding results. For example, the database makes it easy to check on ones own senators by looking at their funding from oil and gas and coal mining corporations. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives can be similarly tracked to show their oil and gas and coal mining funding connections.

Other avenues for exploration are the donors, recipients, and lobbying activities in specific industries. Useful starting points are oil and gas, coal mining, or alternative energy. Note that the alternative energy sector includes biofuels, nuclear energy, and a few natural gas companies, along with renewable energy companies. In order to tally the financial involvement of the renewable energy sector, one needs to evaluate each specific company within the alternate energy category and winnow out those related to wind, solar, hydropower, batteries, and grid management.

Those interested can also explore the involvement of a specific corporation, such as Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, or Chevron. The database shows the recipients of corporate donations and discloses lobbying activity on specific pieces of legislation.

For state and local offices, the Follow the Money database allows a detailed drill-down into candidates and public officials. With a little digging, its not hard to locate campaign contributions for ones governor or state legislators.

Sleuthing through these records reveals an expansive breadth and depth of corporate funding of elected office holders. Some of them pledge to serve the public interest rather than uphold partisan interests: Its up to the electorate to evaluate how theyre measuring up to those pledges.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 13:12:56|Editor: ZD

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SYDNEY, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Crippled with drought and ravaged by fire, it's no surprise that 2019 will go down as Australia's warmest and driest year on record.

The official figures in the Annual Climate Statement released by the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) on Thursday showed Australia's average mean temperature in 2019 was 1.52 degrees Celsius above average, while the national average rainfall total fell to just 277 mm.

"2019 was consistently warm, but it was book-ended by periods of extreme heat," BoM head of climate monitoring Karl Braganza said.

"January last year was the warmest month Australia has ever recorded, while just a few weeks ago in December, we saw the Australia-wide record hottest daily average maximum temperature broken multiple days in a row."

"At the same time, rainfall deficiencies across large parts of eastern Australia have continued to increase, unfortunately exacerbating both drought conditions and the current bushfires."

With consistent record-keeping beginning in 1900, Braganza explained that Australia's extreme weather in 2019 was being driven by a range of factors.

"Most of this year, Australia's climate has been dominated by a very strong positive Indian Ocean Dipole, which acted to both warm and dry Australia's landscape, particularly from around the middle of the year," he said.

"We also saw the influence of a rare Sudden Stratospheric Warming event high above the south pole, which acted to push our weather systems northward and compound the warmer and drier than average conditions over southern Queensland and New South Wales during spring, amplifying the fire weather.

"The other key factor at play is that Australia's climate has warmed by more than a degree since 1910, which means very warm years like 2019 are now more likely to occur."

But as well as bushfires and extreme heat, in some parts of Australia there was another danger -- flooding.

"In January and February, we saw exceptional rainfall have a major impact on communities in northern Queensland, particularly around Townsville," Braganza said.

"The flood waters were so significant they eventually made their way to South Australia, where we saw one of the largest fillings of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre in many years."

When it comes to the forecast for 2020, Braganza said unfortunately the outlook is not indicating a widespread return to wetter-than-average conditions over drought and fire affected parts of eastern Australia.

"But with the likely return of the monsoon by mid-January for northern Australia, it raises the chances that we could see some periods of higher rainfall move south in the coming months," he said.

"It's important the community remains vigilant to the risk of more heat and fire days this summer, particularly given how dry the country has been over the past 12 months."
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with the economists and experts in a meeting at the NITI Aayog, in New Delhi on Jan 9, 2020. (Photo: IANS/PIB) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with the economists and experts in a meeting at the NITI Aayog, in New Delhi on Jan 9, 2020. (Photo: IANS/PIB) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Jan 9 : Ahead of Budget 2020-21, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday met here with around 40 economists, industry heads, experts, bankers and entrepreneurs where he addressed them on India's target of achieving a $5 trillion economy, according to official sources.

The meeting discussed ways of boosting growth and job creation, apart from a host of other issues raised by the participants, including investment climate, credit growth and structural reforms.

The meeting, seen as a pre-Budget discussion, is expected to lead to the incorporation of some of the suggestions in the Finance Minister's presentation on February 1, sources said. Modi has already met industry captains recently to seek their suggestions.

"The Prime Minister addressed the gathering of industry, economists, experts and entrepreneurs on the $5 trillion dollar target and their role in helping the economy achieve it. The meeting discussed the consumption slowdown, investment climate , exports, credit growth, governance of PSBs (public sector banks), asset monetisation, real estate, external commercial borrowings, the MGNREGA rural emplyment scheme, textiles , start-ups and cluster developmentm" among others", one source said.

Another source said some participants sought lower income taxes to boost consumption.

"The PM took suggestions on boosting consumption and generating demand in economy. There were some short-term and long-term suggestions as well. The government will consider the structural reform proposals, some of the suggestions may make it into the Budget," he said.

Modi welcomed the criticisms of the meeting participants and said it was a "free and frank" discussion, he added.

A wide range of industry sectors were present at the Prime Minister's meeting, including auto, apparel, education, analytics, travel, private equity, venture capital, rating agencies, health, real estate and domestic private banks.

All the Secretaries in the Finance Ministry were present at the meeting, besides the Commerce Secretary, Cabinet secretary, the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and the Principal Advisor.

The Ministers present at the meeting were Home Minister Amit Shah, Commerce minister Piyush Goyal, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

The sources said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman could not be present at the meeting owing to party work assigned to her.

Others present included Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar and Chief Executive Amitabh Kant, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman Bibek Debroy, Punjab and Sind Bank non-executive Chairman Charanjit Singh Sanjay Nair, and the Bandhan Bank CEO Chandra Shekhar Ghosh.

The economists at the meeting included Arjun G. Nagarajan, Farazana Afridi, Illa Patnaik, Laveesh Bhandari, Pranjul Bhandari and Sachidanad Shukla, among others.

As economic growth slips for lack of demand and consumption, global agencies and the National Statistical Office (NSO) itself have scaled down the current fiscal's GDP projections to an 11-year low of 5 per cent, mainly due to poor showing by the manufacturing and construction sectors.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also lowered its growth estimate to 5 per cent.

On Thursday, the World Bank too lowered its India GDP growth projection to 5 per cent.

As per the official advance estimates for 2019-20, manufacturing sector output growth will decelerate to 2 per cent, down from 6.9 per cent in the previous fiscal. Likewise, the construction sector growth is estimated at 3.2 per cent, as against 8.7 per cent in 2018-19.

The previous low in economic growth was recorded at 3.1 per cent in 2008-09. The dismal performance of the current fiscal was anticipated as the gross domestic product (GDP) growth registered in the first quarter was 5 per cent and 4.5 per cent in the subsequent one.

(Anjana Das can be contacted at anjan.d@ians.in)
Luke Kreitner, Vice President of Sales, Incentive Solutions Rewards are certainly an important component of what we offer, but the core of what we do is providing marketing strategy and a software platform to help B2B companies stand out in a crowded market.  Luke Kreitner, Vice President of Sales, Incentive Solutions

Many manufacturers and distributors rely on collaborative relationships with partners in their sales channel in order to go to market. Incentive Magazine hosted Luke Kreitner, Vice President of Sales at Incentive Solutions, to explore how businesses can structure channel incentive programs to engage channel partners, collect more complete data, and inspire sales growth in their channel.

Rewards are certainly an important component of what we offer, but the core of what we do is providing marketing strategy and a software platform to help B2B companies stand out in a crowded market, said Luke Kreitner.

The podcast, entitled Dos and Donts of Channel Sales Incentives, runs 17 minutes. A recording and full transcript can be found on Incentive Solutions blog. Incentive Magazine published an article about the podcast, which can be read here.

About Incentive Solutions

Incentive Solutions, Inc., founded in 1994 and based in Atlanta, GA, offers online rewards, travel incentives, and gift card rewards. From the beginning, ISI has focused on delivering more than just reward fulfillment, setting out to innovate the incentive industry by utilizing and developing emerging online technologies. Acting as valued partner and trusted advisor to clients, ISI helps organizations increase sales, motivate employees, build customer loyalty, create positive work environments, and improve channel sales relationships. For more information, visit - http://www.incentivesolutions.com.
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BMW introduces concept vehicle that can change colors
This can only be described as an abdication. Meghan and Harry have in effect withdrawn from their royal duties and will spend a large part of their future lives in North America.

It is hard not to feel history repeating itself. Even the wedding car that drove the future Duchess of Sussex to be married to Prince Harry in St George's Chapel, Windsor, was the very car that drove Wallis Simpson to attend the funeral of her husband, the former Edward VIII.

In 1936, the immensely popular, lovable new king had renounced the throne because he wanted to marry Mrs Simpson, an American divorcee.

That event is seared into the consciousness of the Royal Family: it has obsessed them ever since.

The explanation given at the time was that Edward was to be the head of the Church of England, which forbade divorce.

But behind this convenient excuse, the Establishment wanted rid of Edward VIII. They found his fascist-sympathising politics dodgy and they feared his outspoken, witty wife.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during their engagement announcement at Kensington Palace in November 2017

They felt much safer with the shy, stammering Duke of York and his homely, aristocratic Scottish wife, who became our beloved Queen Mum.

Harry and Meghan's 'abdication' is of course nowhere near as dramatic as Edward VIII's was 84 years ago.

Yet there seems little doubt that their decision has shocked Buckingham Palace and the wider Royal Family as it has shocked the country.

It has been suggested that Meghan and Harry made their bombshell announcement without consulting the Queen.

If true, that is, in my view, an atrocious lapse of judgment. The wording from the Palace last night, that 'these are complicated issues that will take time to work through', hints that the decision to abandon their royal duties is perhaps not as final as Meghan and Harry might wish it to be.

Yet, for all that, I believe that this may prove to be for the best.

Unlike the Abdication of 1936, which really was an existential crisis for the Royal Family and which led to the entirely unexpected ascension of George VI to the throne, this 'abdication' will strengthen the institution of the monarchy.

When Harry and Meghan had their very public wedding  Meghan, like Wallis, was 34 when she met her future royal husband  many of us felt that a new chapter had been opened in the history of the Windsors.

Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex visit to Cape Town, South Africa, last September (right) and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor standing on stone steps in an undated photo (left)

Here was a breath of fresh air: a feminist, mixed-race American who had established a career for herself as an actress, joining a slightly stuffy English family. Yet the love affair between Meghan and the British press was doomed to be short-lived.

The truth is that this charming, intelligent, beautiful woman hadn't a clue what the monarchy really is, or what role minor members of the Royal Family have to play in public life.

For his part, Harry perhaps didn't fully understand his own role as a younger son. Both seemed oblivious to the fact that the British monarchy is a delicate constitutional miracle, not a vehicle for its members to press home their views on the subjects that interest them, however noble.

A minor royal such as Harry or Meghan (Harry is now sixth in line to the throne) essentially exists to be on standby for public engagements that senior royals are too busy to fulfil. They must also keep their views private.

Yet Meghan, as befitting her role as a socially conscious and ambitious career woman, wanted her views on everything from climate change to women's rights to be centre stage.

Meghan Markle and mother Doria Ragland leaving Cliveden House Hotel en route to St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for her wedding in 2018

Sooner or later, this lovable pair  the playboy prince with heroic war service behind him and the glamorous Californian  were perhaps always going to come a cropper.

This sort-of abdication, this sort-of exile, allows Harry and Meghan to continue supporting their favourite charities and promoting the causes in which they so passionately believe.

Their millions of fans around the world will go on adoring them wherever they appear. Meanwhile, on this side of the Atlantic, the Windsor show goes on.

As the Queen's prodigiously long reign comes slowly to an end, it has become ever clearer that the monarchy is a central part of our constitution and our life as a nation.

But, as Prince Andrew's disgrace last year made plain, we do not want that treasured institution to be confused by the low  or indeed high  view we might have, as readers of newspapers and followers of the media, of individual minor royals. There are now very many minor royals, living sensible lives away from the glare of the media.

That is how it should be. All that matters for the monarchy to flourish is for the succession to work.

The wedding car that drove the future Duchess of Sussex to be married to Prince Harry in St George's Chapel, Windsor, was the very car (above) that drove Wallis Simpson to attend the funeral of her husband, the former Edward VIII

One day the Queen will be succeeded. King Charles III will presumably have a short reign, but few people now doubt his suitability for the role; objections to the marital status of the Duchess of Cornwall are nowadays few.

Next come Prince William and Kate Middleton, who have been exemplary, behaving with good humour, loyalty and dignity on all occasions, and providing us with an heir to this wonderful institution.

That's enough. We do not need 'the Royal Family', that rather bogus concept invented by Prince Albert, with all its extended members compelled to feel as if they are on parade.

We in turn  especially we of the Press  have felt it was our right to pry into their personal affairs, for the very good reason that, until recently, so many of them were living on the Civil List, paid for by you and me.

Only a pared-down royal family will allow this institution to survive long into this century. Only Princes Charles, William and George are preparing for  and being groomed to  wear the crown. All the other figures are walk-on parts in the royal soap opera.

So, farewell, Harry and Meghan. And good luck. Your departure will give you the chance to live your lives without the awkward sense that you have no clear role to play in British public life.

And  as you would surely wish  it will strengthen the institution from which you have so dramatically stepped down.
Waiting to go on a ride at SeaWorld, a child was inappropriately touched by a Cocoa man on Monday, authorities say.

Near closing time, the girl was waiting in line for Manta, a fast-paced roller coaster, when she noticed a suspicious man behind her looking at her the entire time  the Orange County Sheriffs Office said.

Kyle Graham

When she got off the ride and exited through a gift shop, she told deputies she noticed the man, Kyle Graham, 20, following close behind her. He started walking more quickly toward her and then grabbed her butt and held it for a moment as he passed her, according to the sheriffs office report.

She screamed, You grabbed my butt.

She said Graham looked around and continued walking. She reported the incident to SeaWorld.

Disney visitor groped a princess in the Magic Kingdom, deputies say

When a SeaWorld security officer spoke with the girl, whom the sheriffs office did not identify, and Graham, the officer recognized him from an earlier incident at the park where his girlfriend and her friend were caught shoplifting. No charges were filed in that incident.

Graham told the security officer, Yeah, I touched her butt. Im sorry. Im lost looking for my family.

The security guard noticed the girl was very upset, so she told her to wait outside. When the girl left, Graham began cursing at the security guard, police said.

Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck were fondled at Disney World this season

He then ran toward the front entrance of the park, where he was apprehended by an Orange County sheriffs deputy.

As deputies put Graham in the back of a patrol car they smelled alcohol. At 20, Graham is under the states drinking age of 21.

Graham was charged with child abuse, battery and disorderly intoxication.
Iran has some surprising weapons at its disposal. In a 2002 U.S. military exercise that pitted Iran against an invasion from an American task force, the general in command of the opposition was retired Lt. Gen. Paul Van Riper. He used motorcycles, small fast-attack boats, land-based missile batteries and even suicide attacks against the Americans.

But he apparently forgot to use Iran's killer dolphin units.

In 2000, the Islamic Republic acquired a number of dolphins from Russia, ones specially trained to attack enemy ships, according to the BBC. The dolphins had originally been trained by the Soviet Union. When funding for the project ran out, the dolphins were acquired by their former trainer, who moved them to a dolphinarium.

But public interest waned, and their caretaker was forced to sell them when he ran out of food.

"If I were a sadist, then I could have remained in Sevastopol," Boris Zhurid, their trainer, told the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. "But I cannot bear to see my animals starve. ... We're out of medicine, which costs thousands of dollars, and have no more fish or food supplements."

The face of a killer.

In 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the dolphin unit was sent to the Crimean Peninsula from a base in the Russian Pacific area. There, the dolphins were trained to kill enemy frogmen using harpoons mounted on their backs. They would also swim at enemy ships in suicide attacks while carrying explosive sea mines, as they were able to distinguish between Russian and American submarines by the sounds their propulsion systems make underwater.

The highly trained killer dolphins were moved from the Black Sea to the Persian Gulf after Iran purchased them -- for reasons unknown. According to the Russian newspaper, Zhurid's work, which supposedly continued in Iran after the 2000 sale, was solely of a military nature.

Depending on the types of dolphins used by Zhurid, the original animals could still be alive, as dolphins have a lifespan of 50 years or more. He could also have trained more killer dolphins for use against Western shipping.

While the United States protested the sales of arms (or, in this case, killer dolphins) to Iran, Zhurid cared only about his dolphins.

"I am prepared to go to Allah, or even to the devil, as long as my animals will be OK there," he said.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com.

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Bangladeshs ready-made garments exports slow down. The Asian country cut its fashion exports by 7.7% in the last five months, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau.

Concretely, the country exported fashion goods worth 13 billion dollars in its period. Foreign sales of knitwear dropped 6.7%, while woven garments fell 8.7% to 6.3 billion dollars in comparison to last year at the same period.

The Asian country is the worlds second-largest clothing exporter, moreover, the textile and the apparel sector weighs heavily on the countys economy. More than 6% of world apparel exports originate from Bangladesh.

Presently, the European Union is the largest customer of the fashion industry in Bangladesh as it represents 50% of the countrys fashion imports. However, Bangladesh is expected to slow its fashion exports to Europe in the upcoming four years.

In parallel, the Asian country is expected to enter the list of less developed regions in 2024, which will entail endangering the tariff benefits established with the European Union, Canada and Japan, among others.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 15:28:09|Editor: huaxia

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SANTIAGO, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Chilean children and their parents burst into enthusiastic applause after watching a rousing theater performance of the ancient Chinese fable "Three Monks."

The tale of three young monks-in-the-making and how they learn about the benefits of cooperation and unity was staged by the China National Theater for Children (CNTC) in Santiago's west-side commune of Cerrillos on Tuesday night.

Nine-year-old Amanda was among the approximately 400 people who attended the show, one of seven CNTC performances taking place as part of the city's Santiago a Mil International Theater Festival running through Jan. 26.

She said she was "delighted" by her very first Chinese production, which combines theater, martial arts and elements of classical Chinese opera, and can be universally understood as it has no dialogue.

Feng Li, deputy director of the CNTC, said the play has been staged in 30 cities in 19 countries on five continents since its debut in 2014, but had never been presented in Latin America before.

"This play ... arouses the interest, affection and curiosity of audiences in different countries towards China, the remote and millenary country in the East," said Feng.

"They understand the play perfectly ... art has no borders," Feng added.

Cerrillos Mayor Arturo Aguirre said that "you could see it was full of people, full of youngsters, many children; many were left outside (due to a lack of seating capacity) ... such a beautiful and age-old play from China."

The adult audience members were as enchanted with the play as the children, he noted.

"Only great artists can communicate those emotions, those feelings, the harmony between the public and the actors when there is no dialogue," said Aguirre.

The festival will tour 24 communes in the Santiago metropolitan region, as well as cities around the country.
"To commemorate the victims, the President orders that the state flags of Ukraine be flown at half-mast on the headquarters and offices of state authorities, local governments, state-owned enterprises, institutions and organisations," President Vladimir Zelenski said in a statement, Efe news reported.

Kiev, Jan 9 (IANS) Ukraine on Thursday declared a day of national mourning to honour the victims of a plane crash near Iran capital Tehran.

On Wednesday, a Kiev-bound Boeing 737 of Ukraine International Airlines carrying 179 people, mainly Ukrainian and Canadian passengers, crashed near the Iranian capital after take-off, killing all on-board.

"Of course, the priority for Ukraine is to establish the causes of the crash," the President said, adding: "We will certainly find out the truth."

"To this end, a detailed and independent investigation will be carried out in accordance with the international law," he added

The President hoped that the Ukrainian specialists who arrived in Iran on Thursday will join the team looking into the accident by analysing the black boxes of the plane.

Experts will also carry out the work of identification and repatriation of the mortal remains of Ukrainian passengers.

The President called on Ukrainian citizens to avoid trips to the region and not to speculate on the reasons for the accident until the official results of the investigation were announced.

"This is not a topic for hype, likes in social networks, sensationalism and conspiracy theories. We need patience, endurance, and wisdom.

"And also this terrible story should teach us all, every citizen of Ukraine, and every world leader, to value human lives. It should be done before they are taken so quickly and painfully," Zelensky said.

Minutes after take-off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport, it crashed while attempting to return to the airport, according to investigators.

The reasons for the sudden crash remain unknown.

The plane was manufactured in 2016 and passed its last technical review two days before the fateful flight.

pgh/
The Texas state Capitol in Austin, Texas on May 30, 2005. (ricraider via Wikimedia Commons)

Democratic Party Sues Texas Over Digital Voter Registration

The Texas Democratic Party and the partys campaign arms in the U.S. House and Senate are suing Texas, claiming the state is violating the U.S. Constitution and federal and state law by rejecting voter registration applications that lack an original signature.

Once ruby-red Republican, there are signs that Democrats are making electoral inroads in the state and that it will be an important battleground in this years presidential election. President Donald Trump beat Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in Texas in 2016, winning 52.2 percent of the popular vote there.

The Lone Star State has 38 out of the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency.

This is the third lawsuit filed by the party, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) in the past few months, The Texas Tribune reports. In October 2019, the groups sued to challenge the states move to shut down temporary or mobile early voting sites, and the following month, they sued to challenge a state law that gives preferential ballot placement to candidates in the same political party as the sitting governor.

This challenge and the series of others weve taken to end burdens in our voting process reflect our commitment to making sure Texans can make their voices heard, U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, head of the DSCC, said in a statement.

As part of a larger push by left-leaning organizations to change the electoral playing field, the super PAC Forward Majority Action is spending $10 million this year in an effort to turn Republican-dominated legislatures in Texas and three other states blue before the electoral redistricting process begins in 2021, as The Epoch Times previously reported.

The National Redistricting Foundation, founded by Obama-era U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, also is filing lawsuits in hopes of changing state electoral maps to favor Democrats.

The legal complaint in the case, cited as Texas Democratic Party v. Hughs, was filed Jan. 6 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

According to the complaint, five days before the voter registration deadline for the 2018 midterm election, the Texas Secretary of State instructed county registrars to reject more than 2,400 voter registration applications that were collected and submitted by Vote.org, a third-party organization, in connection with its efforts to expand voter participation and increase turnout in Texas.

Vote.org is a left-wing 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Oakland, California. Its founder is San Francisco-based electoral strategist Debra Cleaver.

The secretary claimed the applications were incomplete because they lacked an original, so-called wet signature, even though Texas law makes no reference to wet signatures and permits voters to register by faxing, and then mailing, a copy of their voter registration application to their county registrar, the complaint states.

Texas is reportedly one of 13 states that dont offer online registration to voters. Republicans and electoral integrity activists say online registration opens the door to voter fraud.

At the time, a spokesman for the secretarys office said voter registration applications submitted through Vote.org werent valid in Texas, because state law requires that registrants physically sign their applications before filing them.

There are very specific codes in the Texas Election Code that authorize digital signatures, the spokesman told The Rivard Report, a San Antonio-based independent media outlet. But these instances dont include online registration.

At a [Department of Public Safety] office when renewing your driver license, the DPS has to inform you the digital signature is used for voter registration, the spokesman said. Military and overseas voters also have that option in specific circumstances.

According to the legal complaint, the decision by the secretary to reject the applications left thousands of Texas voters scrambling to register to vote before the midterm elections, and many were unable to do so, violated the Texas Election Code, and contradicts the States longstanding recognition that electronic signatures carry the force of law.

The Secretary of States office already accepts electronic signatures on some voter registration applications submitted through state agencies, the complaint states.

This unconstitutional ban does not make an ounce of sense, and it is the kind of arbitrary voter suppression that were working to tear down right now before even more harm is done to our Democracy, said U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos of Illinois, who chairs the DCCC, in a statement.

As of press time, the office of Texas Secretary of State Ruth R. Hughs, a Republican who is named as defendant in the legal proceeding, didnt reply to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
The Chao Phraya River is so low that it cannot keep tidal seawater out. In a nation where about 11 million people work in agriculture, the drought threatens harvests and the economy. Thailands prime minister urges people to save water.

Bangkok (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Bangkok is suffering from its worst drought in 40 years with tap water turning saltier in some parts of the city. The level of Chao Phraya River is in fact so low that it cannot keep tidal seawater out, this according to Thailands Meteorological Department.

Drought has come earlier this year, said Surapong Sarapa, head of forecasting at the agency. This is affecting both water for agriculture as well as for drinking, and More parts of the country than in the past could be impacted.

The dry spell represents a threat to crop production and rural needs in a nation where about 11 million people work in agriculture. The problem could also cause a downward economic spiral, the Bank of Ayudhya Pcl noted.

Half of all major reservoirs are operating at less than 50 per cent of capacity, the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) reported.

The latter began releasing more water today from two reservoirs, the Chao Phraya in Chai Nat and the Pasak Jolasid in Lop Buri province, to stop the intrusion of seawater in Bangkok and its vicinity.

Last night, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha urged the population to save water.

The government also set up a command centre to deal with the emergency and allocated six billion baht (US$ 198 million) to prevent interruptions to water supplies.
The decision from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to push through rules governing President Donald Trump's impeachment trial that meet none of Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's, D-N.Y., demands has been harshly criticized. McConnell is right, and his critics are wrong.

This impeachment has been a purely political affair from the start. A majority of Democratic voters and most elite pundits and commentators have wanted Trump gone from day one. Their relentless - often vitriolic - 24/7 campaign to persuade Americans to remove the hated interloper from office before the next election is unprecedented in modern politics. The House Democrats' decision to pursue formal impeachment proceedings after the disclosure of Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was simply the fire that set off the explosion many had long clamored for.

The political challenge for impeachment advocates was that this never-ending barrage had hardened Trump supporters' resolve. These people interpret the past three years as an unsubtle attempt to coerce their unconditional surrender on matters of policy and culture that they deeply care about. Cornered dogs fight fiercely rather than submit. Trump voters are no different.

House Democratic leaders, then, faced a serious choice when they decided to take up impeachment. They would need 20 GOP votes to convict Trump in the Senate. That was not going to happen so long as supermajorities of Trump voters opposed impeachment. Changing that calculus would have required a reversal in tactics, from never-ending assaults to calmer efforts to persuade. That would require GOP cooperation and take time.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., would have none of that. We can't know another's mind, but her actions were entirely consistent with those of someone who wanted to simultaneously gratify her party base and put Republicans on the defensive. The House process was designed to accomplish those goals.

Democrats conducted closed-door proceedings, but their findings were always mysteriously leaked to friendly media each afternoon, ensuring that they controlled the flow of information. The public hearings chaired by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., were a mockery of an evenhanded inquiry. As his daily opening and closing statements showed, this was the political equivalent of a grand jury hearing where a prosecutor controls the information to get an indictment from jurors on his or her terms. House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler's, D-N.Y., hearings were less competently run, but equally imbalanced and outcome-driven. Unlike the successful Watergate hearings, the final outcome was never in doubt.

Impeachment advocates seem to have never fully grasped, however, that they would have no influence over how McConnell would run the Senate trial. So long as McConnell could get 51 votes behind him, he could set the rules for the trial every bit as much to his political advantage as Pelosi did in the House. With Trump voters unswayed by the hearings, McConnell would be doing his party a disservice to do anything other than what he's doing.

McConnell is widely acknowledged as one of the Senate's shrewdest leaders ever. He knew that it ultimately wouldn't matter whether the handful of politically conflicted Republican senators such as Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Cory Gardner of Colorado voted against Trump in impeachment, so long as he had their loyalty on the rules. And it was always in their interest to give him that commitment.

Democrats and their elite pundit allies are furious that McConnell held his ground rather than meekly surrender. But that's always been McConnell's way. He is a consummate political animal and tactician whose behavior tracks the Oakland Raiders' unofficial motto, "Just win, baby." Unconditional surrender, or even a negotiated truce, was never going to be in the cards.

McConnell's decision should remind impeachment advocates, who constantly bray about their devotion to democracy, of two democratic principles. The first is that in our federalist, bicameral system, you need more than simply narrow majorities to rule. The leaders of the Senate are every bit as constitutionally empowered to fight for their interests, and those of their voters, as leaders of the House or the president are to fight for theirs.

The second is that Trump voters are Americans, too. There's a reason it's hard to impeach and remove someone: The Founders set high hurdles to ensure that narrow partisan majorities could not take power away from people whose power flows from elections. That means some Trump voters needed to be convinced to defect, and that required treating their views and opinions compassionately. Anti-Trumpers have never done that.

This impeachment has always been an exercise in bare-knuckle politics. McConnell excels at winning this type of fight. It's no surprise he's ruthlessly exercising the power he has. It will also be no surprise that Republicans will praise him for doing this.
Vermilion City Council approved an ordinance Jan. 6 with emergency on an agreement made with the Fraternal Order of Police.

The agreement first was ratified by the Fraternal Order on Dec. 30, with bargaining having occurred over the last few months, said Mayor Jim Forthofer.

The three-year agreement will begin this year and increase wages two percent in the first year, two and a half in 2021 and another two in 2022, Forthofer said.

It mirrors the contract agreement that we signed on with the Ohio Patrolmens Benevolent Association, he said, which he added was signed onto prior to the Fraternal Orders agreement.

These two unions are those which the city of Vermilion mainly has worked with, in addition to the Joint Health Committee, which comprises members of the citys administration and unions, Forthofer said.

The committee had met Dec. 17 regarding an issue concerning health care coverage application for employees hired mid-year.

Finance director Amy Hendricks resolved the issue, Forthofer said.

Last year, we did a health care-only agreement, so health care has been taken care of and was able to simplify this year, he said. This year, weve focused on wages and benefits, and we reached an agreement in short order.

The administration came out of its comfort zone, and the union came out of its comfort zone.

Forthofer said the city was eager to come to an agreement with the Fraternal Order.

Thats what negotiation is all about, he said. We have a lot of respect for our FOP workers, and I hope they know that.
Revenue officers have seized 2.2kg of canabis and 14,600 cigarettes in three separate searches.

At Dublin Mail Centre, Revenue officers seized almost 1.2kg of herbal cannabis with an estimated street value of 23,580.

They were assisted by detector dog Bailey.

The herbal cannabis was discovered in six separate parcels which originated in the United States, the UK and Spain.

Revenue said the concealed drugs were declared as Dog Toys, Disney Frozen Figure, Childrens Toys and Dried Honeycomb.

Detector dog Bailey

They were destined for addresses in Dublin, Sligo and North Kildare.

At Portlaoise Mail Centre, Revenue officers seized around 1kg of herbal cannabis with an estimated street value of 10,000.

The seizure was as a result of routine profiling. The illegal drugs were discovered in two parcels which originated in the United States.

The concealed drugs were declared as Toys and were destined for addresses in Dublin.

Yestreday, officers in Cork Airport seized 14,600 cigarettes of various brands including Marlboro Gold, Lucky Strike, Camel Blue and Winston Xspression.

Detector dog Eva.

This seizure was also as a result of routine profiling.

The unstamped cigarettes were discovered following a positive indication by detector dog Eva and a subsequent search by Revenue Officers of the checked luggage of a male passenger arriving on a flight from Kiev, Ukraine via Amsterdam.

Revenue said that investigations are ongoing in relation to all seizures.
A sessions court at Panvel in neighbouring Raigad district of Maharashtra on Thursday refused to grant pre-arrest bail to a senior police official accused of molesting a girl.

The court rejected the anticipatory bail application filed by Nishikant More, Deputy Inspector General (Motor Transport), Pune, who has been booked under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The 17-year-old had on December 25 filed the case against More alleging that he had molested her at her home during her birthday party.

More had then approached the sessions court seeking anticipatory bail.

The Taloja police opposed the bail plea arguing the victim was missing and under these circumstances it would not be appropriate to grant bail to the accused.

The court rejected the bail plea on Thursday and also refused to grant any interim protection.

More will now have to approach the Bombay High Court for protection from arrest.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Assisted Living Locators has announced they've been named a top franchise for 2020 by Franchise Business Review. This is the first award the company has been honored with for the 2020 year, and is a multi-year winner of this national recognition.

In 2019, Assisted Living Locators was ranked in Entrepreneur's "Franchise500" issue, Franchise Dictionary Magazine's "Top 100 Game Changers" as well as Franchise Business Review's "2019 Top Franchises Report" and "Top Senior Care Franchises." They were also named as one of Arizona Business Magazine's Most Admired Companies and on the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of the nation's fastest growing private companies.

Assisted Living Locators offers a no-cost placement and referral service for seniors and their families providing expert advice on short-term and long-term care options including in-home care, assisted living, memory care and retirement apartments. As the first senior placement and referral franchise business in the U.S., the company has pioneered its way to a national presence with 130 franchisees in 36 states and the District of Columbia.

"It's such an honor to again be recognized by Franchise Business Review as a Top Franchise," said Angela Olea, RN, CEO of Assisted Living Locators. "Our franchisees are a testimony to the foundation that we have for a successful business model. The systems, strategies, training and support that we provide for them all goes together with their success."

Franchise Business Review , a franchise market research firm that performs independent surveys of franchisee satisfaction, provides the only rankings and awards for franchise companies based solely on actual franchisee satisfaction and performance. Franchise Business Review publishes its rankings of the top 200 franchises in its annual Guide to Today's Top Franchises .

Assisted Living Locators was among over 307 franchise brands, representing more than 27,500 franchise owners, that participated in Franchise Business Review's research. Assisted Living Locators' franchisees were surveyed on 33 benchmark questions about their experience and satisfaction regarding critical areas of their franchise systems, including training & support, operations, franchisor/franchisee relations, and financial opportunity. Visit FranchiseBusinessReview.com to see the full description of the 2020 Top Franchises .

For more information on Assisted Living Locators, call 800-267-7816 or visit: www.assistedlivinglocatorsfranchise.com.

SOURCE Assisted Living Locators

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Parrots are considered extraordinarily clever animals. Alex, the famous Harvard-based African grey parrot, communicated with a vocabulary of more than 500 human words, could answer questions and classify objects spontaneously. Scientists from the Max-Planck-Institute for Ornithology based at the research station outpost for parrot comparative cognition in the Loro Parque in Tenerife, Spain, have shown that parrots exhibit a high level of social intelligence and cooperativeness. They readily help others, even when there is no immediate opportunity for reciprocation. Moreover, they reciprocate received favours and do not appear jealous, if conspecifics obtain a better reward than themselves. This further supports that they have evolved a level of intelligence comparable to that of great apes, crows and dolphins.

In the laboratory in the Max-Planck-outpost research station for comparative cognition run in collaboration with the Loro Parque Fundacion, in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, the African grey parrot Bella obtains a few metal tokens from a human experimenter. She has learnt to exchange those tokens with one of the scientist against her favorite food. But there is a problem - the exchange hole in her testing chamber through which the exchange occurs has been blocked.

In the neighboring test chamber there is her friend Kimmi waiting. Her exchange hole for the token exchange is open. However, Bella notices that Kimmi is lacking any tokens. What is he going to do?

Indeed, the parrot female picks up token after token and passes them over to Kimmi though an opening in the wall separating the two neighbouring chambers. The latter, seemingly pleased, accepts those gifts and readily exchanges them against treats. Bella in the meantime, rather relaxed, observes how Kimmi benefits from her generosity, without knowing that at a later point in time, the other may return the favor.

Helping partners

According to the most recent scientific findings, other than humans, only some great apes species behave similarly selfless towards unrelated individuals in comparable studies. In contrast, all other species tested so far in did not seem to pay attention to the wellbeing of conspecifics. They either behaved indifferently or even selfishly in comparable test situations. Our parrots indeed seem to have grasped that another individual requires their help in order to achieve a goal", says Desiree Brucks, first author of the study. If Kimmi's exchange hole was blocked too however, Bella did not bother to pass over tokens. The African grey parrots therefore appear to recognize exactly when a conspecific actually benefits from their help and when it would not.

In a second study, the same parrots proved their general "prosocial attitude", i.e. their willingness to help and capacity to attend to the wellbeing of others. Besides, they showed the ability to reciprocate the other's previous actions, following a "tit-for-tat" strategy, which is seen as an important prerequisite for the evolution of cooperation. In the experiment, the birds had to decide between two types of tokens. One of them rewarded just the subject, whereas the other token provided food to both the subject and its neighbor. "Initially the parrots chose randomly, without paying any attention to the wellbeing of their neighbor", explains Anastasia Krasheninnikova, first author of this study. As soon as the parrots were tested alternatingly with their neighbor, they very rapidly learned to choose the token that benefitted both birds."

No jealousy if others get better treatments

Further more, the research team has shown in a third recent study that parrots apparently are not jealous if a conspecific receives a better payoff for the same work performance than themselves, or has to work less hard for the same payoff. At first, this finding came as a surprise, given that a sense of fairness" is considered a prerequisite for the evolution of cooperation", says Auguste von Bayern, the leader of the comparative cognition research group. If you are able to detect when somebody is cheating upon you, you can react and switch to a fairer and thus better cooperation partner.

Whereas the parrots remained easygoing, primates, for example, do not put up with such an unequal treatment but show clear signs of anger and at some point boycott the unfair game. Possibly, the explanation for this is that parrots tend to be life-long monogamous, i.e. they remain pair-bonded with a single partner throughout their lives, whereas primates typically maintain affiliative relationships and/or coalitions with several partners in parallel and switch partners often as new opportunities arise. Given that parrots are so closely bonded with a single individual and thus so mutually interdependent, it does not make any difference if one of them gets a better pay-off once in a while. What counts is that together, they function as a unit that can achieve much more than each of them on their own (in addition to raising their joint offspring). This is probably why parrots are much more tolerant towards unequal treatment than species that are not long-term monogamous, while still being excellent cooperators", explains Auguste von Bayern.

###

Original publication

Desiree Brucks & Auguste von Bayern

Parrots voluntarily help each other to obtain food rewards.

Current Biology; 03 January, 2020
SAN ANTONIO -- Jan. 9, 2020 -- Less than two years before launch, scientists associated with NASA's Lucy mission, led by Southwest Research Institute, have discovered an additional small asteroid that will be visited by the Lucy spacecraft. Set to launch in 2021, its 12-year journey of almost 4 billion miles will explore the Trojan asteroids, a population of ancient small bodies that share an orbit with Jupiter.

This first-ever mission to the Trojans was already going to break records by visiting seven asteroids during a single mission. Now, using data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the Lucy team discovered that the first Trojan target, Eurybates, has a satellite. This discovery provides an additional object for Lucy to study.

"If I had to bet that one of our destinations had a satellite, it would have been this one," said SwRI's Hal Levison, principal investigator of the mission. "Eurybates is considered the largest remnant of a giant collision that occurred billions of years ago. Simulations show that asteroid collisions like the one that made Eurybates and its family often produce small satellites."

This correlates with big Kuiper Belt objects thought to be cousins to the Trojans, which show evidence of both massive collisions and small satellites.

"At the Lucy science team meeting last November, my colleague Keith Noll pointed out a suspicious-looking spot next to an image of Eurybates. I quickly downloaded the next set of data and realized that the spot was still there, but it had moved, just like a satellite would," said Caltech's Mike Brown, a Lucy science team member.

"We asked for more HST time to confirm the existence of the satellite, and we were given three tries," said Noll, Goddard Spaceflight Center's project scientist for the mission. "In the first two observations, we didn't see anything, so we began to think we might be unlucky. But on the third orbit, there it was!"

The small object was difficult to spot, in part, because Eurybates is 6,000 times brighter than its satellite. This implies that it's less than 1 km (0.5 miles) across, which, if correct, would make it among the smallest objects ever visited by a spacecraft.

"Before we believed that it was actually real, we had to make sure that a single satellite could actually fit all of the data," said SwRI's Cathy Olkin, deputy principal investigator of the Lucy mission. "Using computer simulations, we demonstrated many possible satellite orbits that match both the observations where we can see the satellite, as well as the times when we don't."

While the current data are enough to confirm the existence of the satellite, the Lucy team will collect more HST data later this year to better understand the object's orbit.

###

SwRI is the Lucy mission principal investigator institution and leads the science investigation. Goddard Spaceflight Center provides overall mission management, systems engineering, and safety and mission assurance.

To see a video about the Lucy mission, visit: https://youtu.be/4ZHCwSaBzd8.

For more information, visit https://www.swri.org/planetary-science or http://lucy.swri.edu.
For months now, Venezuelan politics has been trapped in toxic stalemate. Two men claim the same job - congressionally-appointed interim president Juan Guaido, with all the street cred, and de facto head of state Nicolas Maduro, with all the guns.

Anti-government forces ostensibly control the legislature, but thanks to palace maneuvers their decisions don't count. Each side is backed by rival global superpowers who play diplomatic chicken instead of encouraging conciliation.

What else could possibly go wrong? Silly question. On January 5, Maduro's loyalists, with help from the National Guard, thwarted Guaido's re-election as head of congress by blocking opposition lawmakers from the legislative assembly. As Guaido tried to scale the National Assembly fence, the governistas seized the day to name an opposition turncoat to preside over the legislature.

Opposition stalwarts held their own assembly at a local newspaper office and voted to extend Guaido's mandate. On Tuesday, Guaido forced his way back into the National Assembly to open a new legislative session. Now Venezuela has two presidents, three legislatures (two congresses, one overarching constituent assembly) and no clue as to how to proceed.

The government's strong-arm tactics are hardly surprising. In mid-2017, Maduro ginned up a constitutional assembly to override the parliament, which in late 2015 had fallen to opposition parties in a historic midterm vote. In 2018, Maduro claimed to have won re-election after banning the main competition in a contest that fooled no one. The opposition boycotted the race.

Last year was also mostly a year to forget for Maduro's foes, a time of Washington-fueled hype over imminent regime change, inconclusive Norwegian-sponsored political negotiations and brutal repression of street demonstrations.

So why did Maduro bother with heavies at the congressional gates? From his perspective, the brazenness of last Sunday's lockout would seem both unnecessary and out of sync.

Perhaps therein lies an air pocket for Venezuela's gasping democratic challengers. Maduro and his Bolivarian loyalists were "actually doing pretty well nibbling away at the opposition and letting it burn out," David Smilde, a Venezuela expert and professor of politics at Tulane University, told me. "Now they have drawn attention to just how undemocratic they are and just how far away Venezuela is from anything that could be recognized as the rule of law."

The show of muscle has drawn renewed backlash from the U.S. and Europe, where Guaido enjoys solid support. Latin American countries in the Lima Group monitoring the Venezuela crisis piled on. Even the government's fastest regional friends - officials in Argentina, Mexico and Uruguay - were apparently taken aback and scolded Maduro. (Argentina later hedged its anti-Maduro bets by withdrawing credentials from Guaido's appointed ambassador.)

What this outpouring will amount to is unclear. Indignation plays well in headlines and on the street, but doesn't augur well for a cornered opposition. "This just about closes the last door to negotiate any agreement with government," said Georgia State University political scientist Jennifer McCoy, a former director of The Carter Center's Americas Program.

As the rogue legislature spars with the real one, what's to become of the National Electoral Council, with a mandate to set the ground rules and a date for this year's parliamentary election? Until recently, even Maduro had a stake in holding a seemingly credible race - if only to veil official shenanigans and keep international monitors quiet.

Indications now are that Maduro is beyond caring. "The government showed its true colors by physically stopping lawmakers from entering parliament. That's costly for Maduro, but apparently he felt it was important for him to go for it all while the opposition was weak and the U.S. distracted with the Iran crisis," said Francisco Rodriguez, a Venezuelan economist and visiting scholar at Tulane.

Has Maduro gone too far? "It might have been overconfidence, but I can't see there's much appetite in the international community for increased sanctions against Venezuela, given how much they're already hurting the people," said McCoy. "It's a calculated risk."

Moving forward, the political onus will be heaviest on Maduro's foes, who after a year of false starts and hype are facing internal dissent and losing traction among voters. Rodriguez reckons that while Guaido outpolls other Venezuelan leaders, his approval ratings have slipped to an underwhelming 39%. More problematically, several wavering lawmakers, who like all the opposition serve the coalition unpaid, have been warming to dialogue with the government, which returned the favor by backing former Guaido ally-turned-apostate Luis Parra as head of the new bastard assembly.

Maduro's grip on the levers of power makes any effective challenge that much harder. "Remember that a very large number of Venezuelans still get information only through official channels. So they might well think that it was the opposition who decided to get rid of Guaido," said Rodriguez. Another obstacle: the disenfranchisement of nearly five million Venezuelan refugees who have fled misery at home and presumably share the opposition's revolt.

Facing such a tilted playing field, what can democratically-minded Venezuelan politicians do? Rodriguez believes that Maduro's power grab may be a bid to push Guaido into boycotting this year's parliamentary elections. The opposition did just that in the 2018 presidential race, scoring a moral victory but little more.

The best hope of peeling away support for a toxic authoritarian regime still lies in returning to the internationally stewarded negotiating table. "I don't think Maduro's resilience has anything to do with ideological commitment or personal loyalties. It's all about individual security and fear of what would come next," McCoy said. Hence the imperative of assuring loyalists that the official political party will survive the regime, that today's collaborators are offered alternative sentences, even that corrupt officials might get to keep some of their ill-gotten gains.

That means the opposition will have to hold its nose, as will ordinary Venezuelans. Their neighbors know what that's like. Many Colombians revile their 2016 peace pact with former guerrilla insurgents for giving a pass to criminals and thugs. But reaching a deal is less futile than hoping the guys with the guns let you inside.

- - -

Mac Margolis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Latin and South America. He was a reporter for Newsweek and is the author of "The Last New World: The Conquest of the Amazon Frontier."
Nare Mphela, who won a landmark transgender discrimination case against her Limpopo high school in 2017, has been murdered in her home.

It was learned that Mphelas body was discovered with numerous stab wounds this week in her rented house in the Makopane area. Its understood that the home was also set on fire.

No arrests have been made. While additional details are unclear, news of Mphelas death has been met with shock.

The 27-year-old made LGBTIQ+ history when she took her former high school principal and the Limpopo Department of Education to the Equality Court. She claimed she suffered ongoing discrimination from 2013 to 2014 because of her gender identity.



The principal of Raselete Secondary School was accused of encouraging learners to physically harass and humiliate Mphela, including asking them to check her genitals in the bathrooms. The abuse was so severe that it led to her failing matric at the end of 2014.

Represented by the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), she won the case in 2017 and was awarded R60,000 for pain and suffering and R40,000 for education and counselling costs. The principal was also ordered to attend sensitisation training.

When people read about my story they will understand how much pain I went through, Mphela told Iranti.org in a video (see below). They will learn that if they have children like me, they mustnt hide but be visible. We have the right to live our lives how we see fit.

SAHRC Provincial Manager Victor Mavhidula told MambaOnline that he and his office were deeply saddened by the news of Mphelas murder.

He praised her for having stood her ground and defending the rights of LGBTIQ people, especially those of LGBTIQ learners. He described Mphela as a strong soul and strong personality; somebody who would not be pushed around.

The group Capricorn Ignited LGBTI wrote on Facebook that Mphelas death was a painful loss to the Limpopo LGBTIQ+ community and society as a whole.

Lorraine Klaas, a close school friend, has been devastated by Mphelas death. She was selfless. She would go all out to make others happy. She loved gospel and when she set a goal for herself, she always saw it through. She never backed out of a challenge, Klaas said.

She added: I cant even imagine being murdered like that. She didnt go down without a fight  that I know for a fact. She saved me from trouble over the past years but she couldnt save herself.

Nare Mphela will be laid to rest on Saturday 11 January at Prospect Village in Ga-Matlala.

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PHILADELPHIA  Following an hourlong standoff, a shooter who barricaded himself inside a building and fired multiple shots at Philadelphia police officers in the citys Frankford section Thursday is dead, officials said.

After the gunman, who had been on the second floor of a row house in the 4600 block of Hawthorne Street, shot at the officers, a SWAT team returned fire, striking the man, officials said.

No other injuries were reported in the standoff, which began about 1:05 p.m. local time.

Deputy Commissioner Robin Wimberly said state parole officers were serving an arrest warrant when the man began firing.

Around 2 p.m., police fired a round of beanbags at the building in attempts to break its windows.

Police units set up a secure zone around the scene and redirected traffic from the area, cautioning the public to stay away.

Everene Williams, who lives on the block where the standoff occurred, was not home when the shooting broke out, but she said her 21-year-old son was home at the time. She spoke to him a few times since the standoff began.

He said our neighbor shot out the window a few times and police are trying to negotiate with him, she said.

Five schools were put on lock-in status during the shooting, as was a Head Start, officials said. Those lockdowns were lifted after the shooter was killed.

Meanwhile, parents in the area were frantic nearing the end of the school day as they tried to reach their children, some of whom attend the nearby Allen M. Stearne School.

Lekeisha Cleveland, 29, said she heard what sounded like more than 10 gunshots while inside her home on Mulberry Street, a block away from the scene. She walked out to find two of her children who attend Stearne, and was less than a block from the school when police told her to run.

My kids are stuck inside the school without their parents, Cleveland said of her 9-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter. I just want my babies back.

Delilah Moses was trying to walk around the block to get closer to her 5-year-old, whos in first grade at Stearne.

If anything happens, Moses, 40, said, I cant get to my daughter.

Frankford Library was also closed due to the incident.

Further details about the circumstances behind the standoff were not immediately known.



(Philadelphia Inquirer staff writers Maddie Hanna, Anna Orso and Claudia Vargas contributed to this report.)
ALBANY  Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo wants to raise the eligibility threshold for the state's Excelsior Scholarship, extending the free-tuition program to households earning up to $150,000 annually.

The scholarship, announced in 2017, was phased in over three years, becoming available to families making $125,000 in the 2019-2020 academic year.

The proposal, announced Wednesday during the governor's 2020 State of the State address, is projected to enable an additional 230,000 New York-residents to attend a SUNY or CUNY school tuition-free.

"A college education is today what high school education was 60 years ago. You need it," Cuomo said. "It is essential to optimize one's talent and one's opportunity in life."

Enrollment in the scholarship has grown steadily as the eligibility threshold rose from $100,000 to $110,000 in 2018-19 and then to $125,000 this year, but some restrictive features have drawn criticism, such as a requirement that recipients take 30 credits per year to remain in the program and commit to staying in New York for five years post-graduation.

Critics say the program targets higher-income earners while doing little to ease the strain on low-income college students, who have few resources beyond tuition relief to help pay for other expenses like books, food, and housing.

The expansion of the Excelsior program makes SUNY and CUNY schools a more attractive choice for some middle-class and upper-middle-class families, drawing students away from private colleges that have been struggling with declining enrollments.

Mary Beth Labate, president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU), said the state should invest in the state Tuition Assistance Program, known as TAP, before expanding Excelsior. She noted that New Yorks private, not-for-profit institutions enroll 40 percent of all college students across the state and confer almost 50 percent of all bachelors and graduate degrees to African-American and Hispanic students.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

At a time of significant fiscal constraint, the Executives proposal to expand the Excelsior Scholarship benefits higher-income New Yorkers rather than investing in programs such as TAP, which support the neediest New Yorkers," Labate said. "In addition, the proposal continues to shut out the nearly 300,000 students from New York tax-paying families who choose to attend an independent college or university in our state."

Students attending non-profit colleges in New York are eligible for up to $6,000 from the state through a combination of TAP, Enhanced Tuition Award and a match from the private college.

The governor also proposed loosening eligibility guidelines for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to make college students eligible for food stamps. This includes taking administrative action to exempt community college students enrolled at least half-time in career and technical education courses of study from the requirement of working 20 hours a week to qualify for SNAP, according to Cuomo's agenda.

Cuomo also proposed a for-profit college accountability program "to ensure that our students are being well served by these schools" and new regulations to crack down on deceptive student lending practices.
Oil explorer Apache Corp. will close its San Antonio office and lay off 272 employees, a document filed with the Texas Workforce Commission states.

The Jan. 6 notice said the company will begin shutting its local operation, located in an office building at 17802 Interstate 10, on March 6.

The job cuts are part of Houston-based Apaches plan to reduce expenses by $150 million, company spokesman Phil West said. The energy company announced the cost reductions in October, saying it was centralizing operations.

Apache is undertaking a comprehensive redesign of our organizational structure and operations that will position us to be competitive for the long term, West said in a written statement. A 10 to 15 percent average staff reduction is anticipated globally, including attrition and retirements.

As part of this effort, the San Antonio office will close; those jobs will no longer be in San Antonio, he said. Some of the individuals in San Antonio will transition to other locations, including Houston and our field offices.

It wasnt clear how many employees will be offered transfers.

The San Antonio office supervised part of Apaches oil exploration in an area of West Texas Permian Basin called Alpine High.

In September 2016, Apache said it had discovered new oil and natural gas resource in the Alpine High. The area extends more than 60 miles, stretching across the southern half of Reeves County.

West said the San Antonio closure will allow the company to optimize Permian Basin operations. Its operations will be transferred to company headquarters in Houston and field offices in Midland and other locations.

Like other oil companies, Apache has struggled as low petroleum prices have hit the bottom line and investors have run out of patience.

In a partnership with energy company Total S.A., Apache has bet on an oil play off the coast of the South American country of Suriname. Tests from an exploratory well in early December were inconclusive, but Apache reported Monday that new tests resulted in a significant oil discovery.

Apaches stock jumped 26 percent Tuesday, closing at $32.41 a share, its biggest one-day gain in a half-century. The stock closed at $32.54 on Thursday.

The company also is involved in the Eagle Ford Shale, but recently has been one of the smaller players in the region.

On ExpressNews.com: Fracking slump is hitting home in S.A.

Turmoil in the oil market has hurt energy companies big and small.

Two months ago, oil-field services company Cudd Energy Services, laid off all 117 employees at its San Antonio facility due to a slowdown in fracking activity. San Antonio-based Pioneer Energy Services has suffered major financial losses and been delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.

Another San Antonio oil explorer, Abraxas Petroleum Co., is in danger of being de-listed from the NASDAQ exchange because it has been unable to keep its share price above a $1.00 a share.

Apache is one of the larger companies that has struggled.

EP Energy of Houston, one of the largest fracking companies in the Eagle Ford, filed for bankruptcy protection in October.

Occidental Petroleum, also based in Houston, announced layoffs on Wednesday after its debt mounted to close to $40 billion after it outbid Chevron last year to buy Anadarko, another Houston rival.

randy.diamond@express-news.net
The Esquerra Unida (United Left) yesterday expressed their opposition to the presence of the Canadian warship HMCS Halifax in Palma.

The party criticised the fact that the ship will be in Palma until tomorrow and reiterated a previously made rejection of warships being in Balearics waters.

We want the Balearic Islands to be considered places of peace in the Mediterranean. Only with the absence of military forces can we approach being a society that is firmly committed to peace.

The United Lefts coordinator in the Balearics, Juanjo Martinez, observed that no military component has been designed in order to bring about peace, only to make war.

The Canadian frigate HMCS Halifax docked in Palma on Tuesday for a 3 day stopover.

The frigates keel was laid down on 19 March 1987 by Saint John Shipbuilding Ltd. at Saint John, New Brunswick. The first warship constructed in Canada since 1971, the vessel was launched on 30 April 1988.

HMCS Halifax is currently taking part in Operation Reassurance. Started in 2014, Operation Reassurance is a NATO initiative that is part of their defence strategy focusing on deterrence. The Canadian Armed Forces is one of the Allied countries that participate in this operation, which takes place on land, sea and air.
ST. LOUIS, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- 4 Hands Brewing Co. today announced that its 2020 Madagascar release will be available for public sale beginning on January 12 at 11AM at the 4 Hands brewery in downtown St. Louis. The Madagascar release, an Imperial Milk Stout aged in bourbon barrels with whole Madagascar vanilla beans (9.3% ABV), is a full-bodied stout with strong notes of vanilla, marshmallow, chocolate and coffee.

4 Hands will also offer six variants of the Madagascar release for purchase, including the third installment of 4 Hands' Single Barrel Series  Madagascar Imperial Milk Stout with whole vanilla beans aged in Papa's Pilar Marquesas Blend Rum Barrels (10% ABV). Additional Madagascar variants that will be available include re-releases of Madagascar Coconut & Cacao (9.3% ABV, $24) and Madagascar Maple (10% ABV, $24), as well as brand new releases for 2020 including Madagascar Zambia Single Origin Coffee in collaboration with Sump Coffee (9.3% ABV, $24), Madagascar Cobbler (9.5% ABV, $26) and Madagascar NITRO (9.3% ABV, $10). More information about the 2020 Madagascar lineup can be found on the 4 Hands event page .

4 Hands will also be offering an exclusive gift set featuring the Papa's Pilar Madagascar release along with a bottle of Papa's Pilar Marquesas Blend Rum Finished in Whiskey Barrels ($75). Papa's Pilar Marquesas Blend, a limited-edition rum launched in Fall 2019, is comprised of seven hand-selected rums that are aged between five and 24 years and sourced from countries spanning the Caribbean, U.S. and Central America, then finished in #4 Char Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Barrels.

Due to high demand for Madagascar Stout and variants, the releases and gift set will be offered on an allocated basis. The event is not ticketed and will run until it is sold out.

About 4 Hands Brewing Company

4 Hands Brewing Company, located in St. Louis Missouri, will provide the craft beer enthusiast a handcrafted portfolio inspired by the American Craft movement as well as Traditional Belgian and French style Farmhouse ales.

The Barrel Aged Program will produce a truly unique line of beers. The use of Wine And Spirit Barrels containing an array of adjuncts (fruit, herbs, spices) in conjunction with wild yeast strains will enhance the flavors to produce a one of a kind beer.

The 4 Hands Tasting Room is open seven days a week. Open Monday-Thursday 12PM-10PM, Friday and Saturday 12PM-12AM, and Sunday 12PM-9PM.

1220 S. 8th Street, St. Louis, MO 63104, 314-436-1559 www.4handsbrewery.com

About Papa's Pilar Rum

Papa's Pilar Rum  in both Dark and Blonde expressions  is an ultra-premium, artisan-crafted rum inspired by Ernest "Papa" Hemingway, an author, explorer, story-teller, conservationist, bon vivant and Key West local who is celebrated for what he was not: a spectator. Papa's Pilar's expressions are born of hand-selected, multi-sourced rums and are artfully blended by Master Blender, Ron Call.

For more information and where to 'find rum,' please visit www.papaspilar.com, "like" Papa's Pilar on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/PapasPilarRum

LIVE COURAGEOUSLY. DRINK RESPONSIBLY.

Hemingway, Papa's Pilar and Never a Spectator are trademarks of and used under license of Hemingway, Ltd. New York, NY 10001.  2019. All Rights Reserved

SOURCE Papa's Pilar Rum; 4 Hands Brewing Co.

Related Links

http://www.4handsbrewery.com


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The Duke and Duchess of Sussexs unprecedented decision to step back from senior royal duties split opinion among the royal fans and tourists outside Buckingham Palace.

Supporters and visitors, including from the US and Commonwealth countries such as Australia, gathered outside the gates of the Queens residence in central London the morning after the surprise announcement on Wednesday evening.

Some voiced their shock, sadness and disappointment over what tabloids have dubbed Megxit, while others commended the royal couples move to part with tradition.

Among a group of five staunch royal supporters dressed in union flags, hats and t-shirts, was super-fan John Loughrey, a 64-year-old from Stretham in Cambridgeshire.

He said they were standing in the cold to support the Queen against the disrespectful decision made by her grandson and his wife.

Mr Loughrey, a retired assistant chef, said: They have been disrespectful to the Queen, their grandmother.

Theyre putting a lot of stress on her, so were here to support the Queen.

Theyre doing their own announcements before the Queen knows  thats unheard of.

This is the monarchy  its the Queen.

He added: Its a crisis in the royal family at the moment, and everyones talking about it, not just here, in Britain, but all over the world.

Its looking bad for the rest of the world, it looks like we have a problem in the royal family.

The whole world is unhappy with them.

Michelle Gregory, a charity volunteer from Hampshire now living in Australia, said the couples decision to step down as senior royals is a big loss for England.

Ms Gregory, 55, who was visiting family in the UK, said: Harry is so popular, everyone loves him.

Hes a fabulous member of the royal family, and his heart should be here, she added.

Expand Close The usual throng of sightseers gathered outside the palace on Thursday (Yui Mok/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp The usual throng of sightseers gathered outside the palace on Thursday (Yui Mok/PA)

John Henry, a 65-year-old retired teacher from Skegness in Lincolnshire, said: I felt some sympathy for them, because they are under some pressure from the media.

I think everyone will get used to the idea eventually.

And Adam Duell, a 45-year-old IT research consultant from Newcastle, said Harry and Meghans announcement was an excellent response to how they felt about their royal responsibilities.

Mr Duell said: It shows they want to have a personal life and pursue their own things rather than just pursue their royal obligations.

I dont see any reason why they shouldnt be able to do that.

Harry has been in the Army, hes served in the armed forces, hes worked with charities, and still has been fulfilling his royal obligations up until the announcement, he added.

Natha Kone, an American tourist, said she was shocked to hear the announcement.

The 31-year-old restaurant manager from Marilyn, Washington, said: Its kind of sad because we know them as part of the British royal family.

They are family, and theyre separating  its pretty new and we are still digesting it.

But other tourists supported the royal couples decision to part with custom for a range of reasons.

Diana Maglieri, 47, from Adelaide, Australia, who is on a family holiday to the UK with her husband and three children, also supported their decision.

Mrs Maglieri, who owns a winery, said: I think they (Harry and Meghan) get a lot of flack from the palace family, and I think its good they are going to leave and do their own thing, and show the Queen that theyre standing their ground, and not to follow protocol all the time.

Expand Close Diana Maglieri, from Adelaide in Australia, was sightseeing outside the palace (Yui Mok/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Diana Maglieri, from Adelaide in Australia, was sightseeing outside the palace (Yui Mok/PA)

South African couple Jade Joubert and Jarryd Lavery, who are currently living in Australia, said the couples departure from antiquated custom was exciting.

Ms Joubert, a 31-year-old teacher, said: Not to be offensive, but I think the whole royal system is a bit outdated.

I know traditionally you guys (the UK) want to hold on to your values, but I think times are changing, and its quite exciting for an outsider looking in.

And I think them breaking away and doing their own thing is quite exciting.

They are humanitarians at heart and maybe they want to focus more on that.

Mr Lavery, a 33-year-old environmental scientist, said: If theyre not relying on the crown for money, then they can do what they want, sink or swim. I think thats the best way to do it, so good for them.
OTTAWAA Ukrainian jet that crashed in Iran killing more than 100 passengers headed for Canada was likely downed by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday, a shocking development that is fuelling international calls for a transparent investigation.

The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. This may well have been unintentional, Trudeau said Thursday.

It is now more important than ever that we know exactly how such a tragedy could have happened. The families of the victims and all Canadians want answers. I want answers, Trudeau said.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada confirmed later Thursday that it had accepted an invitation by Irans accident investigation branch to attend the crash scene. We are making arrangements to travel to the site. The board will be working with other groups and organizations already on site, the safety board said in a statement.

At a news conference in Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to discuss the ongoing investigation into the crash of a Ukraine International Airlines passenger aircraft in Tehran, Iran. Sixty-three Canadians were among the 176 people killed in the crash.

All 176 people on board Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, a Boeing 737-800 NG bound for Kyiv, were killed, including 63 Canadians, among the 138 passengers headed to Canada.

The crash came just hours after Iran had fired missiles at two Iraqi military bases housing U.S. and coalition troops and its certain Iranian forces would have been on high alert for any military response by the Americans.

The prime minister said intelligence from multiple sources, including allies and Canadas own data, came through Wednesday night and into Thursday. He declined to disclose more details but said the preliminary conclusions  are clear enough for me to share them with Canadians right now.

Iran later called on Canada to share that information with its investigators, according to a Reuters report.

The New York Times said it had verified video that appears to show a missile streaking skyward and striking a plane in the skies over Tehran.

Dominic Raab, the U.K. secretary of state, says his country agrees with Canadas assessment of a missile strike, and that it may have been unintentional. The Iranian regime must open up to the international community, including by allowing access to the crash site so we can get the truth as quickly as possible, Raab said during a meeting in Montreal with Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne.

Trudeau said it was too soon to discuss Canadas response, saying such decisions had to await the results of the investigation. I think anything in the range of responses would need to start from a clear understanding and a credible confirmation of what actually happened, he said.

He also sidestepped answering whether Washington shared any responsibility in the crash, given that it was the U.S. airstrike last week that killed a prominent general that set in motion Irans retaliatory missile strikes on Iraqi sites and the resulting heightened tensions. I think it is too soon to be drawing conclusions or assigning blame or responsibility in whatever proportions, he said.

With heartbreaking vigils being held across the country for the victims, Trudeau  who attended one vigil on Parliament Hill Thursday evening  acknowledged that the disturbing development would only add to the anguish.

The news will undoubtedly come as a further shock to the families that are already grieving, Trudeau said.

Trudeau made the announcement after U.S. officials in Washington said it was highly likely that a missile downed the plane, backed by President Donald Trump, who raised doubts that the crash was caused by a mechanical problem.

Someone could have made a mistake on the other side  it has nothing to do with us, Trump said Thursday morning. It was flying in a pretty rough neighbourhood and somebody could have made a mistake.

Some people say it was mechanical. I personally dont think thats even a question, he said.

Ukraines national security and defence council chief, Oleksiy Danilov, said several scenarios were being considered, including the possibility that the plane was struck by an anti-aircraft missile. Other theories include a collision with a drone or other flying object, an explosive failure of an engine and an explosion inside the plane as a result of terrorist act, Danilov said in a Facebook post.

If verified, Flight 752 would join a tragic list of other commercial flights that have been shot down, including Korean Air Lines Flight 007 by a Soviet fighter in 1983; the downing of an Iran Air flight in 1988 by a U.S. guided missile cruiser; and a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 struck by a Russian missile in Ukrainian airspace in 2014.

Indeed, Trudeau said Thursday he had reached to Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands, for advice on handling the aftermath and investigation. The Netherlands led the investigation into the Malaysian crash that killed 196 Dutch citizens.

Trudeau spoke as well with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who said that the Iranians intended to keep the jets black boxes  containing a potential treasure trove of data  but would provide access to Ukrainian investigators.

According to a preliminary report issued by Iranian civil aviation officials Thursday, the Ukrainian plane was on fire and appeared to be turning back to the airport before it hit the ground. The pilots made no distress call before Iranian air traffic controllers lost contact while the plane was still in the air, the report stated.

According to witnesses  a fire appeared on the aircraft which was intensifying, then impacted the ground causing an explosion, the Iranian report said.

The jet was initially headed west but turned right following a technical report and had a track showing returning to the airport, the report said. Yet that change in track could have been because the pilots were having trouble controlling the aircraft after the missile strike.

Canada has had no formal diplomatic ties with Iran since 2012, complicating the response to this weeks air disaster.

Champagne spoke with Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Wednesday night seeking Canadian participation in the investigation. Champagne said Irans foreign minister demonstrated an openness for Canada to assist with the crash investigation.

A Canadian consular team was headed to Turkey and efforts were underway to arrange visas to allow them to enter Iran to assist with the investigation and the repatriation of the bodies of the Canadian victims.

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Michigan's 2018 law cleared the way for homegrown pot for recreational use, which has brought a big challenge to a small town - and it stinks.

Bessemer City residents have since been plagued by the unpleasant smell of blooming marijuana plants leading officials to employ an odor-detection device and draft an ordinance to crack down on the foul scent.

The town is purchasing a $3,400 Nasal Ranger device, which measures the concentration of stinky particulate matter in the air to determine the strength of a given odor.

The odor problem in Bessemer, which is home to 1,905 people, occurs when marijuana plants are in bloom, especially during warmer months.

Scroll down for video

Bessemer City residents have since been plagued by the unpleasant smell of blooming marijuana plants leading officials to employ a Nasal Ranger (pictured) and draft an ordinance to crack down on the foul scent

The town's manager Charly Loper said the Nasal Ranger could be used to check a variety of bad-air complaints, but she acknowledged that marijuana appears to be the key target.

Council member Linda Nelson said Monday as the council voted to buy the device: 'The city of Bessemer stinks.

'You can smell marijuana everywhere. We've got people who can't sit in their backyard because the smell from their neighbor is so bad.'

'The bloom period lasts six to eight weeks,' Loper said Thursday.

The odor problem in Bessemer (pictured), which is home to 1,905 people, occurs when marijuana plants are in bloom, especially during warmer months

Michigan's 2018 law cleared the way for homegrown pot for recreational use, which has brought a big challenge to a small town - and it stinks

'A lot of people describe it as a skunk-like odor. It can be strong.

'We're treading very softly in this area.

'People have a right to grow marijuana in their house, but everyone needs to be considerate of their neighbors so the odor isn't affecting their enjoyment of the outdoors.'

Bessemer is 6 miles (9.5 kilometers ) from the Wisconsin border.

The Michigan law that legalized growing of marijuana has attracted people from Wisconsin and Minnesota, who are buying houses and growing marijuana indoors, Loper said.

The town's Manager Charly Loper (pictured) said the Nasal Ranger could be used to check a variety of bad-air complaints, but she acknowledged that marijuana appears to be the key target. She said the bloom period lasts for six to eight months

'It's possible that some Bessemer residents might require an air-filtration system in their homes, she said.

'Somebody's got to take a stand. This is a piece of equipment we need,' council member Terry Kryshak said.

The council voted 4-1 in favor of the device, the Daily Globe reported.
Max Verstappen has "every confidence" in Red Bull-Honda after signing on for the next four seasons, according to his father and co-manager Jos.

The Verstappen camp, earlier linked with a move to Mercedes, surprised the F1 world when it was announced a long time in advance this week that the 22-year-old Dutchman will in fact be staying until the end of 2023.

"Red Bull gave Max the opportunity to go to Formula 1 in 2015, so how great would it be to be successful with that team?" Jos Verstappen, himself a former F1 driver, told De Telegraaf newspaper.

Jos, 47, said one of the biggest benefits of the new deal is that it allows his son to now be fully involved in preparations for the sweeping new rules of 2021.

"We know what the team is doing, not only for the coming season, but also for the new cars for 2021," he said.

"It is very good to be involved in that, but the most important thing is that Max feels at home at Red Bull. He has every confidence in them for the coming years."

A key part of the new deal will be the continuing involvement of Honda, even though the Japanese manufacturer is in fact yet to commit to F1 beyond 2021.

"The contact with Honda is very good," Jos Verstappen said. "You can also tell how they regard Max.

"That combination together with Red Bull and Honda is simply very positive."

(GMM)
Mr. Rini will be formally sentenced at a future date that has not been set, Ms. Thornton said.

Last April, a bruised and disheveled Mr. Rini told Newport, Ky., police officers that his name was Timmothy Pitzen and that he had been abducted when he was 6. He also told officers that he had been sexually and physically abused while he was held captive for years, according to court records.

Image Timmothy Pitzen of Aurora, Ill., has been missing since May 11, 2011, when he was 6 years old. Credit... National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, via EPA, via Shutterstock

Detectives were almost immediately skeptical of Mr. Rini, according to Timmothys maternal grandmother, Alana Anderson, 74. Ms. Anderson said she had called the detective who opened the initial investigation in Aurora, Ill., where Timmothy went missing in 2011, who told her to temper her expectations.

He told me, dont get your hopes up because he was much older, Ms. Anderson said referring to Mr. Rinis age, which was 23 at the time, far from the 14 years of age that Timmothy would have been.

I hoped that wasnt him because what he said he went through sounded awful, she added.

Mr. Rini had refused to be fingerprinted, but he allowed the authorities to administer a DNA test, according to court documents. The results proved that he was not Timmothy, but a felon who had been released from an Ohio prison two months before.

Forced to come clean, Mr. Rini told federal agents that he had recently watched an episode of 20/20 about Timmothys case, according to a criminal complaint. Mr. Rini told them that he hoped to get away from his own family.
Weather Alert

...The Flood Warning continues for the following rivers in Kentucky...Illinois...Missouri... Ohio River at Paducah. Ohio River at Cairo. Ohio River at Olmsted Lock and Dam. .Recent heavy rainfall and snow melt will continue to keep water levels on the lower Ohio River in or near minor flood this week. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Motorists should not attempt to drive around barricades or drive cars through flooded areas. Caution is urged when walking near riverbanks. Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Additional information is available at www.weather.gov. && ...FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING... * WHAT...Minor flooding is forecast. * WHERE...Ohio River at Paducah. * WHEN...Until early tomorrow afternoon. * IMPACTS...At 39.0 feet, Minor flooding occurs affecting mainly bottomland and surrounding low lying areas. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - At 7:00 PM CST Monday the stage was 38.6 feet. - Forecast...The river is expected to rise to a crest of 39.0 feet tomorrow morning. - Flood stage is 39.0 feet. - http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood &&
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020 15:15 732 48be62e941b44f04afae568c3218a9d4 1 National Garuda,Middle-East,air-strikes,travel,Iran,US,trump,Rouhani,Europe,flight Free

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has decided to divert its European routes from Middle East airspace to ensure the safety of all flights passing the region, following a retaliatory air strike on United States assets in Iraq ordered by Iran on Tuesday.

The airline's acting director of operations, Tumpal M. Hutapea, said Garuda would divert the routes from Iranian and Bucharest airspace to northwest Egypt and Greece after a flight ban issued by the United States Federal Aviation Authority (FAA).

"We will continue to monitor the situation and adjust routes accordingly," Tumpal said, adding that all Garuda Indonesia flights to Europe were operating as normal with the rerouting.

Furthermore, the Transportation Ministry's air transportation director general, Polana B. Pramesti, issued a letter on Wednesday as a warning to all Indonesian planes to stay on alert should they pass through Middle Eastern airspace, particularly over Iran, Iraq, as well as the Persian Gulf and Oman.

Airlines from other countries, including Singapore Airlines (SIA), have purportedly avoided the region for safety reasons.

"All SIA flight routes are being diverted from Iranian airspace," Singapore Air said previously as quoted by Bloomberg.

Iranian military forces reportedly launched a ballistic missile attack on a US-affiliated airbase in Ayn al-Asad, more than a 1,000 kilometers southwest of Tehran, the Iranian capital.

The attack is considered an act of revenge against Washington's assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani last week in Iraq.
An Army general has denied a request by an officer pardoned in an open murder case by President Donald Trump to have his Special Forces tab reinstated, setting up a potential showdown between senior defence officials and the White House.

The decoration for retired Army Maj. Mathew Golsteyn was denied in December by Lt. Gen. Francis M. Beaudette, the commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command, two defence officials said on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. The Army followed by asking an administrative board that reviews personnel decisions to consider several involving Golsteyn, the officials said.

Also up for consideration is whether a board will allow Golsteyn to receive a Distinguished Service Cross  considered one step down from the Medal of Honor  that had been approved before he came under investigation in the 2010 death of a suspected Taliban bomb maker in Afghanistan, the officials said.

The administrative board of corrections will also consider expunging a letter of reprimand issued to Golsteyn by a general.

The Armys action follows Trumps decision in November to pardon Golsteyn, who faced court-martial this year, along with another Army officer who had been convicted of murder. Trump also decided to reinstate the rank of a Navy SEAL, Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, who was acquitted of murder last year but convicted of posing with an Islamic State corpse in Iraq.

After Trumps announcement, the Navy decided it would consider whether to seize Gallaghers SEAL Trident pin, effectively kicking him out of the elite force. Trump responded angrily by saying they would not, setting up a showdown that eventually led to the ouster of Navy Secretary Richard Spencer.

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WASHINGTON - District Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, D, waded into Virginia politics Wednesday as she urged fellow Democratic leaders, newly in control of the state legislature, to follow through on promises to pass gun control measures to help her city combat surging violent crime.

In a letter to Virginia House Speaker Del. Eileen Filler-Corn and Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, Bowser named Virginia as a primary source state for guns used in city crimes. Last year, D.C. police reported 166 homicides, the highest death toll in a decade.

Bowser said that according to statistics from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, about 41 percent of guns recovered from crimes in the District in 2018 have been traced to Virginia. In 2018, law enforcement agencies recovered 2,095 guns, and ATF traced 599 that were purchased in Virginia, according to ATF statistics the mayor cited in her letter.

"As a neighboring jurisdiction, Washington, DC is directly impacted by Virginia gun control," Bowser wrote in the letter she sent at the launch of Virginia's 2020 legislative session. "I am concerned that the traffic in guns across the District's borders continues to devastate our communities."

Law enforcement officials throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Interstate 95 corridor, especially in New York City, have long cited Virginia as a source state for firearms used in illegal activity in their jurisdictions.

Gov. Ralph Northam, D, has promised to deliver gun reforms as Democrats consolidated power in both chambers, which has fueled fears and action from gun rights activists and gun owners around the state and nationwide.

Several counties declared themselves "Second Amendment sanctuaries" and national gun rights advocates are organizing armed protests to demonstrate in Richmond later this month.

Bowser sent a similar letter to Northam in the summer, when the governor convened a special session of the legislature on July 9 in response to a mass killing in Virginia Beach that left 12 dead in May. But the session ended abruptly, without debate of any bill, as Republican leaders adjourned after 90 minutes.

In both instances, Bowser pushed for what she called "common-sense steps" by Virginia to hinder straw purchases and gun trafficking by introducing stronger licensing requirements and increasing inspections for gun dealers. She also asked that the state require background checks for all sales at gun shows.

In addition, Bowser seeks requirements by gun owners to report lost or stolen guns and to enhance state penalties for those convicted of possessing, receiving or selling illegal guns.

"Americans are looking for bold action to stop the gun violence plaguing our nation, and I congratulate you again on being in a position to take just such action during the 2020 Virginia General Assembly Session," Bowser said. "I have faith that you will succeed."
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

This updated version of this story includes comments from former Santa Fe City Councilor Steven Farber.

SANTA FE  A prominent member of Temple Beth Shalom says former CIA operative Valerie Plame, contrary to what she recently told an Israeli journalist, is not a member of the Jewish congregation in Santa Fe.

Plame, now a New Mexico congressional candidate, continues to draw criticism for retweeting an anti-Semitic article headlined Jews are driving Americas wars in 2017. But she said in the recent interview that shes drawn to her own Jewish heritage and that she has joined Temple Beth Shalom.

One of her opponents in the race for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House seat in New Mexicos 3rd Congressional District has repeatedly called attention to the 2017 tweet, for which Plame has apologized. The campaign of District Attorney Marco Serna of Santa Fe says Plame shared anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

As the Journal reported on Sunday, Plame said during the recent videotaped interview that shed discovered that her great-grandfather was a rabbi in Ukraine, that she had always been drawn to that aspect of my Jewish heritage and that this interest led her to Temple Beth Shalom in Santa Fe.

She said she is a member of the temple. Israeli journalist Tal Schneider, who interviewed Plame, reported confirming with members of the local Jewish community that Plame had attended some services.

But Daniel Yohalem, a Santa Fe attorney who is a member of Temple Beth Shalom and has served on the temple board, said Wednesday that Plame has never been a member of the congregation, at least as of earlier this week.

He said he checked the temples membership list and also confirmed with the congregations staff that Plame is not a member.

I am deeply concerned about Miss Plames repeated apparent lack of candor on these issues, Yohalem said.

He said he has donated twice to the campaign of one of Plames Democratic opponents in the congressional race, attorney Teresa Leger Fernandez. Federal Election Commission records show one $250 contribution by Yohalem to the Leger campaign.

Alex Koren of the Plame campaign said Wednesday night, Valerie has attended services at Temple Beth Shalom for years. Its unfortunate that someone would try to question another persons faith for political gain.

Steven Farber, a former city councilor who is lawyer for Temple Beth Shalom, said Thursday that Plame has attended services there.

I have sat next to Valerie during High Holiday services and have appreciated her sensitivity and concerns, he said. Farber said he spoke with her another time before the services and assumed that Plame had paid the required High Holiday rates both times, in 2018 and 2019.

Temple Beth Shalom Rabbi Neil Amswych, responding via email to Journal questions, said he couldnt say whether Plame has joined the congregation because our membership information is not public. I can say that Temple Beth Shalom is a welcoming, inclusive community that is open to all.

When Plame is asked during Schneiders interview if she is a member of the temple, Plame nods her head yes.

Plame had said in a popular James Bond-style campaign video from last year that she came from Ukrainian Jewish immigrants.

In 2017, after tweeting out the Jews are driving Americas wars article, which said Jews should be labeled as such when serving as TV commentators, Plame briefly defended the article, then apologized and said she had only skimmed it. She told Twitter followers, Im not perfect and make mistakes. This was a doozy. All I can do is admit them, try to be better, and read more thoroughly next time. Ugh.

Plame, who has lived in Santa Fe for several years, became a national figure in 2003 when she was outed as a CIA operative, effectively ending her career with the spy agency, by people inside then-President George W. Bushs administration. The outing was retaliation for a New York Times opinion piece written by her then-husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, that challenged intelligence put forth by the Bush administration to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Albania's leaders have responded angrily to an implicit accusation by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that their country is "a small and sinister country," which was instrumental in a Western plot to effect violent unrest and "foment war" in Iran.



The Iranian allegation reportedly came during a televised address on January 8 eulogizing slain Major General Qasem Soleimani and condemning the U.S. air strike last week that killed Soleimani and a senior Iran-backed Iraqi militia leader, along with several others at Baghdad's international airport.



The Iranian leader did not mention Albania specifically, but reportedly referred to a meeting that included "an American and a number of Iranians" in the "days before" unrest that swept Iran after gas rationing was imposed in November, according to the remarks, which were quoted by a French-based group with ties to Iranian exiles critical of Tehran's government.



It was a possible reference to a meeting at a compound in Albania that houses the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), an Iranian exile group that Tehran regards as terrorists.



Khamenei's own website makes no mention of the accusation in an account of the speech posted on January 8.



But President Ilir Meta issued a statement on January 8 countering that "Albania is not an evil country, but a democratic country that has suffered from an evil dictatorship...and therefore considers human rights sacred."



Albanians fell under fascist Italian and Nazi German protectorates before spending decades after World War II under oppressive communist rule until the early 1990s. Their country joined NATO in 2009.



Meta added that Tirana "remains firm in its commitments alongside the U.S. and NATO countries in the fight against international terrorism and any act that endangers world stability and peace."

Prime Minister Edi Rama said he was "not surprised" by Khamenei's comments and noted in a reference to the MEK relocation that Tirana had taken "an action that honors Albania and is part of the strategic alliance with the U.S., and open[ed] the doors to a group of people whose lives were in danger."

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the drone strike on Soleimani following more than a year of rising tensions with Iran and amid reports of attacks in Iraq by Iran-backed militias that included an assault on the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad.



The Baghdad airport attack has sparked outrage from Iranian and Iraqi officials and pledges by Tehran to retaliate, as well as statements from governments around the world warning of the risks to all sides of escalation.

Secretive Group



The MEK is a secretive and socially isolated group that Iran and Iraq call terrorists, but Western governments and the United Nations have sought to protect them with their relocation from Iraqi exile six years ago.



Tirana's government agreed to U.S. and UN requests in 2013 to accept around 3,000 disarmed MEK members who were being relocated from a sequestered compound in Iraq dubbed Camp Ashraf.



Once led by the husband and wife team of Masoud and Maryam Rajavi, the MEK adherents now live with Maryam Rajavi in a compound in northwestern Albania dubbed Ashraf 3. Masoud Rajavi's whereabouts have been unknown since 2003.



Multiple reports have alleged meddling in the restive Balkans by the Quds Force, a foreign unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), or other arms of Iranian foreign policy, particularly in places such as Albania where there are majority Muslim populations.



Albanian police announced in October that they had thwarted a 2018 plot involving a "terrorist cell" of Iran's elite Quds Force that was targeting Tehran's perceived enemies at a gathering in Albania that included MEK members.

Tirana said it expelled Iran's ambassador and another diplomat in December 2018 for "damaging its national security" in a move that was applauded in Washington as a further signal "to Iran's leaders that their support for terrorism will not be tolerated."



Washington and Tehran have been engaged in a high-stakes diplomatic and economic standoff since Trump withdrew the United States in 2018 from a multilateral nuclear deal that traded nuclear limitations for sanctions relief.



But the military confrontations had mostly been limited to drone shootdowns or incidents between presumed proxies until the January 3 assassination of Soleimani, head of the Quds Force and one of Iran's most-powerful figures.



Waves of reimposed U.S. sanctions have dealt heavy blows to Iran's economy and its currency.



Iranian social woes boiled over in November with public protests in over 100 Iranian towns and cities that in some cases included calls for an end to the clerical leadership that has ruled Iran for four decades.

Tehran blamed Western saboteurs and "thugs" and officials have acknowledged that its crackdown killed more than 100 protesters (outsiders' estimates of the death toll are higher).

'Provocative Act'



Albanian President Meta called Iran's missile attack on two Iraqi bases that housed U.S. and coalition troops on January 8 "a provocative act with dangerous consequences for the region and its stability."

The MEK was created in the 1960s by Marxist-Islamist urban guerrillas who later participated in the 1979 Iranian Revolution. But the group soon turned on Iran's clerical regime and violently opposed it from Iraqi territory during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. Its armed resistance from exile included bombings and attacks that killed civilians.



The MEK in Iraq was disarmed and thousands of its members isolated at Camp Ashraf, near the Iranian border in eastern Iraq, as "protected persons" under the Geneva Conventions by the U.S.-led coalition after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.



It waged what Human Rights Watch (HRW) described as "an extensive campaign aimed at winning support from Western politicians" before the European Union and United States removed their designations of the MEK as a "terrorist organization" in 2009 and 2012, respectively.



An MEK gathering in June reportedly drew notable current and former U.S. officials, including Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who has attended other MEK events and described the MEK as a "government in exile."

Giuliani reportedly suggested to attendees at the MEK compound in Albania that foes might "entrust the transition of Iran to a very responsible group of people" after the "overthrow [of] that horrible regime."
The Daily Beast

Fox News White House correspondent and perpetual nemesis of Jen Psaki thought he had Joe Bidens press secretary cornered on Monday when he asked her why the president is still referring to COVID-19 as a pandemic of the unvaccinated when so many people are getting breakthrough infections. He was wrong.I understand that the science says that vaccines prevent death, Doocy began, before undercutting that basic truth. But Im triple-vaxxed, still got COVID. Youre triple-vaxxed, still got COVI
Ten people have submitted applications to contest presidential elections in Togo on February 22, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) announced on Thursday

Lome, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Jan, 2020 ) :Ten people have submitted applications to contest presidential elections in Togo on February 22, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) announced on Thursday.

President Faure Gnassingbe will seek a fourth elected term, sources close to the commission said.

He first became head of state in 2005, succeeding his father Gnassingbe Eyadema, an authoritarian who ruled the small West African state for 38 years.

CENI chairman Tchambakou Ayassor told a press briefing that the commission had "in all registered 10 candidate applications" by the deadline of midnight January 8.

The definitive list of eligible candidates should be published by the Constitutional Court by January 28 at the latest.

Ayassor did not give any Names, but sources close to CENI said Jean-Pierre Fabre, veteran opposition leader and president of the National Alliance for Change (ANC), was registered.

Another was Kodjo Agbeyome, head of the Patriotic Movement for Democracy and Development (MPDD).

Fabre was defeated by Gnassingbe in the last election in 2015, but he rejected the official outcome, alleging massive fraud.

Togo plunged into political crisis in 2017 and 2018, when tens of thousands of people repeatedly took to the streets to demand that Gnassingbe step down and to call for a limit on the number of legal presidential terms.

The protests were violently put down by security forces.

Around 15 people died and hundreds were arrested, according to unofficial figures.

In May 2019, parliament voted for a constitutional change that allowed Gnassingbe to run for office in 2020 and 2025.

The revised article also granted him immunity for life against prosecution "for acts committed during presidential mandates".
Vice President Mike Pence has claimed that the US has received some "encouraging intelligence" that Iran has asked its militia not to move against American targets or civilians after the assassination of a top commander of its powerful Revolutionary Guards.

Pence's remarks came after US President Donald Trump said in an address on Wednesday that no Americans were harmed in the attack by Iran on US bases in Iraq.

Iran launched 22 ballistic missiles in a pre-dawn attack on Wednesday targeting at least two bases where US military and coalition forces are stationed in Iraq, which Tehran said was a "slap in the face" of America.

"We are receiving some encouraging intelligence that Iran is sending messages to those very same militias not to move against American targets or civilians. And we hope that that message continues to echo, Pence told CBS News in an interview on Wednesday night.

Pence stood alongside President Trump when the latter addressed the nation from the White House wherein, he did not announce any fresh military action in response to Iran's ballistic missiles hitting US military base in Iraq.

In his first interview, Pence said that the US is safer today after the killing of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards General Qasem Soleimani, which was ordered by Trump.

"I think the American people can rest easier tonight thanks to the leadership that President Donald Trump provided and the extraordinary and courageous professionalism that our military demonstrated over the last several weeks. Despite missile attacks yesterday, again because of the professionalism of our military personnel and their preparedness there were no American casualties, no Iraqi casualties, and our information as of this afternoon continues to be that Iran is standing down," he said.

The Trump administration, he said, does not seek regime change in Iran, but wants to see the regime change its behaviour.

"We are dealing with a country that's been the leading state sponsor of terrorism for more than 20 years. And so we'll continue to be prepared. We'll continue to confront Iran in the way that President Trump has done since early in this administration," he said in response to a question.

Pence said following assassination of Soleimani on Friday in a US air strike, the US has received intelligence over the previous several days that there may be attacks coming.

According to the Iranian state TV, the missile attacks by Iran on Wednesday were in revenge for the killing of General Soleimani.

The Iranian state television claimed that "at least 80 terrorist US soldiers" were killed in the strikes. Some 5,000 US soldiers are in Iraq as part of the international coalition against the IS terror group.

"We heard the threats. The world heard the threats from Iran. We moved forces. We provided a level of force protection at the president's direction. And in a very real sense, we had the early warning systems that allowed us to move Americans and our allies out of harm's way," he said.

"Let me say that the fact that no American lives were lost was a great relief I know to the president, to myself, to our entire national security team, as it is to every American," he asserted.

The United States, he said, is safer today than before Trump ordered military to take out Soleimani.

"This was a man who had been leading a terrorist state-sponsored organisation in the region sowing violence. But what President Trump, our commander in chief, demonstrated was we have a president who's also willing to use American military might to protect American lives," he said.
EDWARDSVILLE  On Jan. 1, the implementation of the Retention of Illinois Students & Equity (RISE) Act became effective. This new law impacts students, including but not limited to, qualifying undocumented and transgender students, making them eligible to apply for Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) administered aid programs.

These Illinois students will now be able to apply for any student aid or benefit funded or administered by the state of Illinois, any state agency, or any public institution of higher learning. These funds include, but are not limited to, scholarships, grants, awards, stipends, room and board assistance, tuition waivers, or other financial or in-kind assistance.
Senegals government has given the go-ahead to the development at its first oil project, the Sangomar offshore field, operated by Australias Woodside Petroleum.

The start of production from the $4.2-billion field, however, is still in the future. The members of the consortium that runs the project have yet to settle some differences.

These, more specifically, center on FARs claims that it was denied the right to pre-empt the sale of Conocos 35-percent stake in Sangomar to Woodside. FAR is a small Australian player and now a minority shareholder in the Senegalese project. Woodside bought the 35 percent from Conoco for $350 million in 2016. The resolution of the dispute is expected this year, Reuters notes.

Senegal is a relatively minor producer of oil but it could become a larger one once its offshore projects begin producing, which, according to the countrys oil minister, should happen between 2022 and 2026.

While oil was first discovered in the West African country in the early 1960s, in just three years, between 2014 and 2017, explorers tapped about 1 billion barrels of crude and 40 trillion cubic meters of gas. Most of these resources, however, are shared by Senegal and Mauritania.

The IMF, which released the new discovery data, said Discoveries are important but will not lead to a major transformation of the economy, with hydrocarbons expected to make up not more than 5 percent of GDP.

Currently, there are two large offshore projects under development in Senegal: the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim gas field, which is operated by BP and Kosmos Energy, and the Sangomar field, previously called SNE. Sangomar should produce some 100,000 bpd once it reaches its full capacity, according to the consortium.

In 2017, FAR, which was conducting seismic exploration at the SNE block reported it may have discovered reserves of up to 1.5 billion barrels of crude, revising an earlier estimate of 641 million barrels. At the time, production was slated to begin in 2022 at a maximum daily rate of 140,000 bpd.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Prosecutors had asked Johnson for 40 years in prison for Daoud, who also pleaded guilty to trying to solicit the murder of the undercover FBI agent leading the terrorism investigation and viciously attacking another inmate while awaiting trial at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. At the time he was arrested in the bombing plot, Daoud was just 18.
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Latest Construction Company Labor Posts Saudi Arabia 2022 A large and well established Construction Company requires the services of experienced, strong and energetic persons for the posts of Labors in Saudi Arabia 2020.

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Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online.

Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If an employer asks to pay money for any purpose, do not pay at all and report us at contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. Govt jobs may not be applied online here. Human typing error is possible. Error & omissions excepted.
Donald Trump making a statement on Iran at the White House: AFP via Getty Images

Two Republican senators historically loyal to Donald Trump have condemned a classified briefing on Iran as insulting and demeaning.

Utah senator Mike Lee claimed Wednesdays meeting on the airstrike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani was probably the worst briefing Ive seen, at least on military issues, while Kentucky senator Rand Paul described the information as nothing I hadnt seen in a newspaper already.

In the briefing and in public, this administration has argued that the vote to topple Saddam Hussein in 2002 applies to military action in Iraq. That is absurd, Mr Paul said in an interview with CNNs Wolf Blitzer.

Nobody in their right mind, with a straight face, with an ounce of honesty, can argue when Congress voted to go after Saddam Hussein in 2002, that authorised military force against an Iranian general 18 years later.

Both allies of the president, Mr Paul and Mr Lee joined Democrat senators in dismissing the closed-door briefing as unsatisfactory, and questioning the justification for the attack .

"It was probably the worst briefing I've seen at least on a military issue in the nine years I've served in the United States Senate," Mr Lee told reporters following the briefing, given by the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Mark Milley, CIA director, Gina Haspel; the defense secretary Mark Esper; secretary of state, Mike Pompeo; and acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire.

I find this insulting and demeaning. They had to leave after 75 minutes while theyre in the process of telling us that we need to be good little boys and girls and run along and not debate this in public. I find that absolutely insane. I think it's unacceptable.

The briefing prompted both Mr Lee and Mr Paul to publicly announce their plans to back a Democrat proposal to invoke the War Powers Resolution, which would limit Mr Trumps ability to launch military action against Iran without signoff from Congress.

Story continues

However, the Republican senators stopped short of breaking with the president entirely, both praising his decision to dial down further threats to Iran  in a Wednesday address that aimed to deescalate the situation.

American strength, the president said , was the best deterrent. The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it," he added, also announcing increased economic sanctions that would be removed only when Iran changed its behaviour.

Read more

Trumps slurred Iran speech raises concern, 2020 poll predicts defeat
WILLIAMSPORT  The federal government has asked a judge to dismiss a suit against it stemming from a 2015 airplane crash that killed a Sunbury attorney, his wife and her father.

In a brief filed in U.S. Middle District Court, the government rejects the allegation action taken by flight controllers caused the crash that killed Michael M. Apflebaum, his wife Christine and Clarence Imgrund.

It argues pilot negligence caused the Sept. 4, 2015, crash of the single engine Beach A36 Bonanza near Kernersville, North Carolina.

The government contends Apfelbaum did not have sufficient training to fly the plane in instrument weather conditions, made the flight despite being advised not to by his flight instructor and then lost control when the autopilot unexpectedly disengaged.

Apflebaum was instrument-rated but the government points out Bonanza was larger, more powerful and faster than what he had flown previously.

The estates of the three victims in November 2017 filed a wrongful death suit claiming controllers did not recognize Apfelbaums disorientation as an emergency or correct his navigational reading.

Apfelbaum was attempting an instrument landing at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro when the plane went into stall/spin and crashed after a controller told him to climb.

The National Transportation Safety Board found the cause of the crash was a deficiency of Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control training on recognition and handling of emergencies in addition to Apfelbaums spatial disorientation.

Spatial disorientation is the inability to correctly determine position in space.

Even if the controllers instructions somehow exacerbated Apfelbaums pre-existing disorientation, his negligence set this accident in motion, the government argues. He was trained to recover from spatial disorientation, it contends.

Controllers had the time and means to assist Apfelbaum by telling him to level the wings and then climb out of the clouds, the suit claims.

The three victims and Paul Gilbert, a friend who owned a similar type plane, left Shamokin on Sept. 4, 2015, two days after a flight instructor signed off on a solo flight to Florida for Apflebaum.

The instructor cautioned Apfelbaum to fly in only visual weather conditions until he gained more experience with the plane, the governments brief states.

On Sept. 7, Apfelbaum and his wife left St. Petersburg, Florida, stopped in Sarasota to pick up Imgrund and the headed north to Greensboro despite being advised of weather issues, the document states.

Transcripts of conversations between Apfelbaum and flight controllers before the crash are contained in court documents. Gilbert did not make the return trip.
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The Member of Parliament for Bantama Daniel Okyem Aboagye who has been mocked for kneeling before the Ashanti regional chairman of the NPP Chairman Wontumi has justified his actions.

The MP at a meeting with the constituency, polling station executives and the electoral area coordinators reportedly knelt down before Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, otherwise known as Chairman Wontumi, to declare his constituency as one of the areas where parliamentary primaries should not be held.

The action comes in the wake of claims by chairman Wontumi that he would prevent a challenge to some sitting MPs in the Ashanti region as the party prepares to hold primaries in constituencies where the party has sitting MPs.

Speaking to Starr News over the action, the legislator said President Akufo-Addo while seeking power begged Ghanaians so there is nothing wrong with him kneeling and asking for more years in parliament.

The chairman knelt down and begged them to give president Akufo-Addo four more years.

The president when he was coming to power, he begged Ghanaians for the power so if I also do it, there is nothing wrong with it. I asked them to consider me for four more years, he told Starr News.

The Bantama MP, is uncomfortable with the prospects Francis Asenso Boakye, the Deputy Chief of Staff, contesting in the Bantama parliamentary primary when nominations are opened.

It is believed that his plea is to prevent the Deputy Chief of Staff contesting him in the primaries slated for the end of April, 2020.

---Starrfm.com.gh
Congratulations, taktatv.com got a very good Social Media Impact Score! Show it by adding this HTML code on your site:

Taktatv.com scored 70 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 3.5/5.0 Stars by Social Team

This CoolSocial report was updated on 3 Apr 2014, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.

taktatv.com is very popular in Facebook. Furthermore its facebook page has 5678 likes.

This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared the taktatv homepage on Twitter + the total number of taktatv followers (if taktatv has a Twitter account). The total number of people who shared the taktatv homepage on StumbleUpon. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared, liked or recommended the taktatv homepage on Facebook + the total number of page likes (if taktatv has a Facebook fan page). The total number of people who shared the taktatv homepage on Google Plus by a google +1 button. The total number of people who shared the taktatv homepage on Delicious.

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PAGE TITLE     |       DESCRIPTION KEYWORDS OTHER KEYWORDS update, update your, taktatv, taktatv , taktatv , taktatv , taktatv



The keywords meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The title found in the head section of the homepage. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of the site. CoolSocial advanced keyword analysis tool is able to detect and analyze every keyword on each page of a site. The description meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage.

Domain and Server

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Operative System running on the server. Character set and language of the site. Represents HTML declared type (e.g.: XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.0, the new HTML 5.0) The language of taktatv.com as detected by CoolSocial algorithms. Type of server and offered services.

Site Traffic trend during the last year. Only available for sites ranked <= 100000 in the world.

Referring domains for taktatv.com by MajesticSeo. High values are a sign of site importance over the web and on web engines.

Facebook link

FACEBOOK PAGE LINK FOUND FACEBOOK PAGE www.facebook.com/TaktaTV DESCRIPTION     www.TaktaTV.Us  LIKES 5678 PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT 17 PAGE TYPE Tv network TIMELINE PAGE TIMELINE

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Twitter account link

TWITTER PAGE LINK NOT FOUND
Medical companies that develop tests to diagnose neurological disorders, heart disease risk and fetal abnormalities have been in legal limbo since a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that limited the patenting of such tests, finding they occurred in nature and were not invented.

The high court may signal as soon as Friday whether it will revisit the subject as such tests become critical to the burgeoning field of personalized medicine, in which doctors determine whether a patient is genetically susceptible to a particular disease or would respond to certain treatments.

The court may decide to hear a petition by Quest Diagnostics Inc.'s Athena unit to restore its patent for a test to detect the presence of an autoimmune disease. The nonprofit Mayo Clinic won an appeals court ruling that the test merely covered a natural law -- the correlation between the presence of an antibody and the disease -- and so wasn't eligible for a patent.

"There's been so much confusion about this area of the law," said Hans Sauer, deputy general counsel for BIO, the biotechnology industry's trade group.

The Athena case, and another involving Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s patent for a way to set drug dosage based on the level of certain enzymes, could go a long way in clarifying what types of medical diagnostics are eligible for patent protection.

They are among five appeals seeking Supreme Court review on a debate on patent-eligibility that's raged in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Congress and the courts for more than seven years. The other three petitions relate to software patents. The justices will consider whether to take any of the cases at a private conference Friday.

In 2012, as part of a series of rulings on eligibility, the Supreme Court threw out a patent for a test that looked at the link between metabolites in the body and the amount of drug needed for a stomach medicine. The test, owned by Nestle's Prometheus unit, covered a "law of nature" that can't be patented, the court said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which handles all patent appeals, in July split 7-5 over whether the Prometheus ruling blocks patents on any medical diagnostics absent additional steps, such as a new method of treatment. The majority said it had no choice but to declare that Athena and its partners didn't have the right to a patent.

Diabetes prediction, detection of heart disease and tests for transplant recipients and donors are a small portion of the $69 billion market for diagnostics but are key growth areas, according to Arlington, Virginia-based research firm Kalorama Information.

The patents give their developers the right to demand royalties or limit who can conduct the tests. Supporters of diagnostic patents say that helps cover the cost of research and conducting clinical trials to determine whether the tests work.

"A lot of new tests are being offered on the market, but often these new tests are not very well validated," Sauer said. "They may show up in a catalog, but it's not clear what it means clinically or whether it would be reimbursed. It costs a lot of money to prove what a test means."

Funding costs aren't enough to justify the need for patents on the tests, said Joshua Sarnoff, a law professor at DePaul University in Chicago who submitted legal arguments urging the Supreme Court to take the Vanda case and rule that Vanda isn't entitled to a patent either.

"There are many ways to fund innovation and discovery. Historically, we haven't done it by granting patents on natural discoveries," Sarnoff said. "One can hope that the court will take one of these cases to clarify what is an inventive concept."

Athena's patent comes from a discovery by Oxford University and Germany's Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science of a link between antibodies to a specific protein and an autoimmune disease called myasthenia gravis that causes muscle weakness. Until the discovery of the diagnostic method, 20% of patients suffering from the disorder couldn't be diagnosed.

Athena, which has the license to the patent, sued Mayo for royalties and lost. It was a repeat of the 2012 case, in which Mayo persuaded the Supreme Court to invalidate the Prometheus patent. The Athena patent, Mayo contends, covers "observing a natural law using known techniques." Any policy concerns are up to Congress, not the courts, Mayo told the court.

Vanda said its drug, Fanapt, never would have been allowed on the market without its patented test. The patent is for a way to adjust the dosing of a schizophrenia treatment depending on the level of a specific enzyme in a patient.

The Federal Circuit, in upholding that patent, said it was directed to a "novel method of treating a disease," and not just the relationship between the enzyme levels and the drug's effectiveness. Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc, which seeks to make a generic version of Fanapt, is asking the high court to overturn that ruling.

In the drug field, critics say companies already obtain too many patents so they can block competition and charge higher prices. Patents like Vanda's just add to the number, and concerns that no patents can be issued are overblown, according to Association for Accessible Medicines, the trade group for generic-drug makers.

"We're in a situation where brand companies have larger and larger patent portfolios," said Karin Hessler, assistant general counsel for the group.

In addition to laws of nature, patents can't be issued for natural phenomena or abstract ideas. A year after the Prometheus decision, the high court ruled that isolated DNA fell under the natural phenomenon exception to patent law. The following year it waded into the never-defined area of "abstract" ideas in a case that's led to the invalidation of thousands of software patents and made it hard to get legal protection for inventions related to artificial intelligence and the use of data to detect new medical correlations.

Patent owners say the rulings have thrown out too many good patents, while critics of the patent system -- and companies sued for infringement -- have argued that they helped weed out ones that never should have been issued.

"It's made it more difficult for patent owners to achieve their goals using the patent system and to encourage people to invent and invest and research," said Kirk Hartung, a patent lawyer with McKee, Voorhees & Sease in Des Moines, Iowa. He argued in a Supreme Court filing that other parts of the law are the better option to determine if something qualifies for a patent.

The Trump administration, in court filings for two of the cases, said the high court had "fostered uncertainty" as to what is eligible for a patent. It recommended that the high court decline to hear the Vanda case and one of the software disputes, where the Federal Circuit had ruled in favor of the patent owner. Instead, Solicitor General Noel Francisco suggested that the Athena dispute may be the better case for the high court to consider.

"We can't figure it out, the Federal Circuit can't figure it out, and the inventors can't figure it out, either," Sauer said. The question for the Supreme Court, he said, is "Do we need to go back in and, if we do, do we know better what to do than we did last time?"

The cases are Athena Diagnostics Inc. v. Mayo Collaborative Services, 19-430, and Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. v. Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc., 19-817.
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Frenchman, 75, dies at Patong Beach

PHUKET: Police have yet to confirm the cause of death of a 75-year- old Frenchman who died after being found floating unconscious in the water at Patong Beach yesterday afternoon (Jan 8).

patongtourismdeathpolice

By The Phuket News

Thursday 9 January 2020, 05:08PM

Lifeguards perform CPR on the beach, but to no avail. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Lt Col Sanit Budnongsaeng of the Patong Police said he was informed of the death at 4pm.

The Frenchman, Raphael Skynazi, was pulled from the water by lifeguards, who performed CPR, but failed to revive him, Lt Col Sanit said.

Mr Skynazi was rushed to Patong Hospital, but was pronounced dead, he added.

An initial examination of the body showed small wounds around Mr Skynazis eyebrows and on his chest, but I am still waiting for doctors at Patong Hospital to provide confirmation of the cause of death, Lt Col Sanit said.

Mr Skynazi traveled to Phuket with his wife, who was the person who raised the alarm about her husband. Both of them arrived in Thailand in Bangkok on Tuesday and were staying at a hotel in Patong, he added.

Mrs Skynazi also explained that her husband had diabetes and high blood pressure, he said.

The French embassy has already been informed of this case. Mrs Skynazi has informed us that she wants to take her husband back to their home country, Lt Col Sanit added.

Additional Reporting by Eakkapop Thongtub
North Chinas Tianjin and the city of Anyang in Central Chinas Henan province both reported two new cases of the highly transmissible omicron variant over the weekend. Both cities have launched new rounds of mass testing and designated more Covid-19 risk areas to control the spread of the virus

Jan 10, 2022 06:18 PM
US stands 'ready' as threat from Iran 'continues to be very real,' Pence says originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Vice President Mike Pence says the threat from Iran "continues to be very real," but so far the regime appears to be standing down.

"We're ready. We're making it very clear we're not going to tolerate violence," Pence said in an interview Thursday with ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America."

(MORE: Trump addresses nation, de-escalates crisis over Iran's missile attacks)

President Donald Trump took "decisive action," according to Pence when he ordered the airstrike that killed Iran's top military general, Qassam Soleimani, near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq on Jan. 2.

Soleimani had led the elite Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in operations throughout the region over the past 20 years, backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and supporting Shiite militia groups in Iraq, including against U.S. troops during the Iraq War. The U.S. Department of State said Soleimani's forces are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops because of the kind of explosive devices they helped bring to Iraq. The United States designated Soleimani a terrorist in 2011 under then-President Barack Obama.

PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump delivers a statement about Iran flanked by U.S. Army Chief of Staff General James McConville, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army General Mark Milley and Vice President Mike Pence in Washington DC, Jan. 8, 2020. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Pence argued that Trump's directive not only "took the world's most dangerous terrorist off the battlefield," but also "sent a very clear message that the United States will defend our people, will defend our interests."

He was right to act, he had a duty to act, the vice president said, noting that the Trump administration had compelling intelligence that Soleimani was planning imminent attacks on U.S. forces and personnel in the region. The administration, however, has provided no evidence of those plans.

The danger of not acting was greater than the danger posed by acting, Pence added.

Story continues

PHOTO: This Jan. 8, 2020, satellite image released by Planet Labs Inc., reportedly shows damage to the Ain al-Asad airbase housing U.S. forces in western Iraq, after being hit by rockets from Iran. (Ho/Planet Labs Inc. /AFP via Getty )

Iran called Soleimani's killing an "act of war" and retaliated early Wednesday morning by firing more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases housing American troops and coalition forces.

(MORE: Iranian foreign minister says US 'will pay' for its 'act of war')

There were no causalities from the strikes, according to Pence.

"And I'm pleased to report that Iran continues to appear to stand down," he noted. "But we'll remain very vigilant."

PHOTO: People participate in a protest in New York City's Times Square against U.S. military conflict with Iran on Jan. 08, 2020. The 'No War With Iran' protest follows the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani by the Trump administration. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

In the days after the U.S. airstrike, the Iranian government announced it will no longer abide by any of the operational restraints on its nuclear program under the 2015 deal with the international community, which the Trump administration withdrew the United States from in May 2018. Meanwhile, Iraq's parliament voted on Sunday to expel American troops from the country.

Dozens of people took to the streets in New York City's Times Square on Wednesday night to protest the escalating tensions with Iran. Demonstrators held signs that read, "No more war" and "Peace with Iran." Protests have taken place elsewhere across the country and abroad as people speak out against further military action between the two nations.

When asked whether U.S. troops will be pulled from the region, Pence said, We have no plans to change our military posture in Iraq or in the region.

We want to bring an end to endless wars, he continued. Well wait and see what the Iraqi government chooses to do.
As half of Australia continues to burn, millions of innocent animals have been killed and thousands of houses have been destroyed. To add to that, the disturbing and terrifying posts circulating on social media are proof that things there are far worse than what any of us can ever imagine.

Amidst the worsening situation, the brave firefighters and volunteers are putting their lives on line, to rescue as many lives as possible and many have even lost their lives in the rescue mission. Two such brave firefighters were 36-year-old Andrew O'Dwyer and Geoffry Keaton who were tragically killed when their fire truck reportedly rolled off the road, while fighting the Green Wattle Fire near Buxton.

The daughter of volunteer firefighter Andrew O'Dwyer at his funeral today. Heartbreaking. : @DeanLewinsPhoto pic.twitter.com/iU58HmtN3o  Tim Rose (@tp_rose) January 7, 2020

Recently, according to reports, the NWS Rural Fire Service volunteers honoured their valour and paid their last respects to the brave firefighters. During his funeral, Andrew's 19-month-old daughter was presented with his helmet and medal of honour and the heartbreaking moment has left people around the world in tears.

Andrew was posthumously awarded the Commissioner's commendation for extraordinary service and bravery.

The young daughter of RFS volunteer Andrew O'Dwyer wears her father's helmet and service medal at his funeral. O'Dwyer and his fellow volunteer were killed when the truck they were travelling in rolled off the road in the town of Buxton, south-west of Sydney. #9News pic.twitter.com/nvUsfKqe6k  Nine News Melbourne (@9NewsMelb) January 7, 2020

According to reports, volunteers of NWS Rural Fire Service and from other emergency services formed a guard of honour and stood with their hands on their hearts to bid him farewell. Australia PM Scott Morrison was among the mourners in attendance.

"Charlotte should know her father was a selfless and special man, who only left because he was a hero," the commissioner said in one of his interviews.

Charlotte is probably too young to understand what is happening around her or why her father won't be with her anymore, but she will surely remember her father as one of the bravest men who lost his life while saving people. And that he's not only her hero but will be remembered as the nation's 'hero' forever.
Houston oilfield service company Enterprise Offshore Drilling is laying off more than five dozen oil-rig workers in the Gulf of Mexico.

In a letter filed with the Texas Workforce Commission, Enterprise reported that the company is laying off 61 people working aboard Enven Energy's DD 202 offshore drilling rig about 100 miles off shore. Enven is shutting down the rig Jan. 31, Enterprise Offshore Drilling Vice President of Human Resources Amy Warner wrote in her letter.
1 big thing: Democrats show more cards on climate

We can already draw some conclusions from yesterday's rollout of the "framework" for big climate legislation House Democrats are crafting through the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee.

Driving the news: I'll get to some takeaways in a moment, but first: The planned bill aims to achieve net-zero U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Pillars include...

A "clean electricity standard" that forces utilities to provide 100% zero-carbon power, with escalating requirements beginning almost immediately.

utilities to provide 100% zero-carbon power, with escalating requirements beginning almost immediately. New requirements for states to submit plans showing how they will meet net-zero emissions targets.

showing how they will meet net-zero emissions targets. Requirements for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to deeply weave climate into natural gas-related decisions.

to deeply weave climate into natural gas-related decisions. New financial support and requirements for low-carbon buildings codes and infrastructure.

for low-carbon buildings codes and infrastructure. Vastly stronger vehicle emissions rules and support for EV infrastructure.

and support for EV infrastructure. A "buy clean program" aimed at spurring decarbonization of energy-intensive manufacturing.

decarbonization of energy-intensive manufacturing. Mandates for the oil-and-gas industry to deeply cut methane emissions.

methane emissions. A "National Climate Bank" to spur more investment in low-carbon tech deployment.

The intrigue: Here are a few takeaways...

1. Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone signaled how Democrats are seeking to lay the groundwork now for legislation if the party gains control of Washington in the 2020 elections.

He's pessimistic about GOP support for an aggressive bill. Theres a fundamental problem here which I would be crazy not to acknowledge, which is most of them are climate deniers, he said at yesterday's announcement. (Democrats might put something on the floor this year but it's DOA beyond the House.)

Yesterday's unveiling showed how lawmakers are working with outside groups to get on the same page now. My inbox started filling up with pre-cooked supportive statements from groups including the Center for American Progress to coincide with the release.

2. Carbon pricing is de-emphasized but it's there if you squint. There's no explicit tax or fee in the framework, and it's not a big federal cap-and-trade system. We think we can get there and achieve this goal without it," Pallone said of pricing.

But, but, but: The plan notes that power companies, under the "clean electricity standard," could "buy and trade clean energy credits from one another or purchase them via auction."

And lawmakers name-checked the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the existing cap-and-trade program among northeastern states when discussing state options.

Elsewhere, it says that states who don't submit or get approval for net-zero plans are "automatically subject to a backstop carbon fee."

3. Leadership-aligned Democrats will face struggles on their left.
Press Release

9 January 2020

HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee - The U.S. hotel industry reported positive year-over-year results in the three key performance metrics during the week of 29 December 2019 through 4 January 2020, according to data from STR.

Advertisements

In comparison with the week of 30 December 2018 through 5 January 2019, the industry recorded the following:

Occupancy: +0.3% to 49.0%

Average daily rate (ADR): +4.0% to US$136.46

Revenue per available room (RevPAR): +4.3% to US$66.84

Oahu Island, Hawaii, recorded the largest increase in RevPAR (+22.4% to US$369.64), driven by the only double-digit lift in ADR (+16.0% to US$405.95).

Miami/Hialeah, Florida, experienced the only double-digit rise in occupancy (+11.1% to 86.2%) and the second-largest jump in RevPAR (+16.3% to US$290.06).

Nashville, Tennessee, saw the second-largest increase in occupancy (+9.9% to 57.8%) and the third-highest jump in RevPAR (+13.8% to US$74.64).

New Orleans, Louisiana, registered the steepest drop in RevPAR (-10.8% to US$106.86), due primarily to the largest decline in ADR (-8.0% to US$159.35).

Atlanta, Georgia, reported the largest decrease in occupancy (-6.6% to 49.8%).

Download a PDF of STR's weekly U.S. hotel review.
Aprio, LLP, a top 100, CPA-led business advisory firm, announced today that the firm has promoted six professionals to partner and five team members to director, effective Jan. 1, 2020.

This new partner class includes professionals across Aprio practices and specialty services including Assurance, Business Valuation Services, International Tax, R&D Tax Credit Services and Wealth Management. New directors represent Aprios Forensic Accounting and Litigation Support Services, Information Assurance Services, Transaction Advisory Services, Aprio Wealth Management and Aprios Channel Partner Program.

Half of Aprios new partners and directors are women, demonstrating the firms commitment to diversity and inclusion and the importance of women in leadership roles. Many of the newly promoted team members participated in Aprios Sponsor Program which recognizes and prepares future firm leaders, as well as other leadership development programs such as the Emerging Leaders Academy and Rainmaker Development Program.

Aprios newest professionals admitted to the partner group, include:



Mike Callahan, Chief Financial and Operations Officer

Justin Elanjian, Assurance Services with focus on Non-Profit & Education and Real Estate

Meredith Kowal, R&D Tax Credit Services

Davi Kutner, Wealth Management

Wendy Lu, International Tax - Chinese Practice Leader

Carrie Zhou, Business Valuation Services

The Aprio professionals named engagement director, include:



Theodore Brown, Forensic Accounting and Litigation Support Services

Bill Dupee, Transaction Advisory Services

Sonali Vaidya, Information Assurance Services

Professionals named director, include:



Carolyn Cope, Director of Operations, Private Client Services

Adam Klein, Director, Channel Partner Program

We are very excited to welcome this new class of partners and directors. Since 2013, Aprio has promoted 25 new partners and 12 new directors to support our tremendous growth, demonstrating the firms commitment to the development and advancement of our team members careers, said Richard Kopelman, Managing Partner and CEO of Aprio. Each of these individuals live the Aprio Way and consistently deliver client satisfaction, while being proven leaders that positively impact the clients we serve, the profession we represent and the communities we call home.

For more information about Aprio, visit http://www.aprio.com.

About Aprio

Aprio is a premier full-service, CPA-led business advisory firm based in Atlanta, Georgia, that advises clients and associates on how to achieve whats next. Aprios associates work as integrated teams across advisory, assurance, tax, outsourced accounting solutions and private client services, bringing the best thinking and personal commitment to each client. Across practices, Aprio brings together proven expertise, deep understanding and strategic foresight for industries including Manufacturing and Distribution; Non-Profit and Education; Professional Services; Real Estate and Construction; Retail, Franchise and Hospitality; and Technology and Biosciences. In 65 years, Aprio has grown to over 500 employees. To serve clients wherever life or business may take them, Aprios teams speak more than 30 languages and work with clients in over 40 countries. In addition to its Atlanta headquarters, Aprio also operates in Birmingham, Ala. and Sarasota, Fla. and across the Carolinas. For more, visit https://www.aprio.com.
BRIDGEPORT  A Naugatuck man was ordered Wednesday held in lieu of $500,000 bond after police said he shot his girlfriend rather than pay her child support.

Termane Smith, 40, of School Street, Naugatuck, was charged with first-degree assault, criminal possession of a gun and illegally firing a gun.

Police said on Nov. 3, officers were called to St. Vincents Medical Center for a gunshot victim.

A local woman was being treated for a gunshot in her left upper arm that lodged in her shoulder, police said.

Police said the victim told them she had answered a knock at her apartment door and when she opened it, a man entered and shot her. She claimed she didnt know the man or why he shot her.

However, police said, when detectives later reinterviewed the woman, she admitted that she had been shot by Smith, her former boyfriend.

She said she had broken up with Smith but needed to talk to him about paying support for their two minor children, police said. However, when she brought up him paying child support, Smith flipped out, police said.

He just pulled a gun out and just shot me, it happened so fast, police said the woman told them.
A detective wrote in one search warrant that Mouzon was one of five people a witness identified as being at the scene of the shooting in the 7900 block of Sausalito Place. An Instagram video tagged Big guns ina trap showed the same group posing with guns at what appeared to be the condominium where the shooting occurred, according to a search warrant. Its unclear whether the video was recorded on the same day as the double shooting.
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Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020 08:02 733 48be62e941b44f04afae568c32170fd0 1 Editorial #Editorial,insurance,Insurance-agents,insurance-companies,Jiwasraya,AGO,finance Free

Very few, if any, of the houses and vehicles ruined in the recent floods were insured. For those who can afford them, basic insurance policies do not cover risks from flood. Indonesians generally do not even trust insurers.

Indonesias insurance industry is struggling to achieve higher growth amid low awareness among people who are unable or reluctant to read between the policies lines. Those willing to insure their assets, lives and families turn to seemingly credible insurers. But that, again, does not guarantee assurance.

The shock of the fiasco suffered by state-owned insurance company Asuransi Jiwasraya has spread beyond its customers. The 160-year-old insurer failed to pay out holders of maturing policies under the JS Saving Plan, a product that integrates life insurance and investment. The policies that matured in December 2019 were worth Rp 12.4 trillion (US$891 million).

Jiwasrayas mismanagement was blamed for the failure, which was first announced in October 2018 when matured policies reached Rp 802 billion in value. Jiwasraya recorded a loss of Rp 15.89 trillion in 2018 and Rp 13.74 trillion during the first nine months of 2019.

The Attorney Generals Office (AGO) announced on Wednesday that its corruption investigation into Jiwasraya found indications of legal violations. Despite travel bans on 10 unidentified individuals at Jiwasraya and 98 witnesses and 13 mutual fund managers questioned, no suspects have been announced. The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) estimates that state losses from Jiwasrayas bad investments exceed Rp 10 trillion.

We appreciate the AGOs initiative to launch the investigation to shed light on the insurers vague investments and financial management. However, the public, mainly customers, will wait for the government to realize its commitment to ensuring full payouts to Jiwasraya customers as it has decided against granting the insurer a bailout. This is important to restore public trust in the industry.

To ensure customers receive their payout, the government is weighing several options. These include establishing an insurance holding company to provide a cash flow for the disbursement and selling parts of Jiwasrayas low-performing stock portfolio.

Whatever the decision, the customers rights must be priority. The government should provide a clear timeline for the planned payouts for public supervision.

Furthermore, a supervision overhaul is needed in the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry and the Financial Services Authority (OJK), which supervises the financial industry, including insurance companies.

Jiwasrayas problems had been known since 2006, yet strangely, no stern actions were taken by the government as its shareholder.

Without public trust, the life insurance sector will find it hard to attract more customers, which stood at barely 60 million in mid-2019. The government and the OJK must strengthen their supervision and management of the financial sector. No country can achieve stable growth and resilience without a clean, strong and inclusive financial industry.
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The fire is violent and fast-moving. It's rushing uphill and tearing through the dense, dry chaparral that covers some of the 100,000 acres of Vandenberg Airforce Base.

"Let's go! Go!" screams a firefighter as waves of embers blast his truck. Day turns to night as black smoke covers the sun, engulfing him and his colleagues as they hurry back to their safe zone roughly 600 yards away.

It's Sept. 19, 2016, two days into the Canyon Fire.

California is suffering through one of its worst droughts in recorded history, with record high temperatures to boot. And the fire offers a clear view of the state's climate future: hot, dry and ready to burn.

What was happening on Vandenberg wasn't much different than elsewhere across the state that summer, but it was complicated by the fact that it was taking place on a military base.

Ordnance, chemical storage, and buildings crucial to national security weren't far from the blaze. In fact, a little over a mile away there was an Atlas V rocket ready to launch.

"Having a rocket fully loaded on a pad, fully fueled, that's a pucker factor," said Chief Mark Farias, a 20-year veteran of the Vandenberg Fire Department.

A GROWING CONCERN

Wildfires exacerbated by climate change are a growing concern for the Department of Defense as they pose a threat to military installations around the world.

A 2019 document titled, "Report on Effects of a Changing Climate to the Department of Defense," doesn't mince words.

"The effects of a changing climate are a national security issue," it begins.

"DOD must be able to adapt current and future operations to address the impacts of a variety of threats and conditions, including those from weather and natural events. To that end, DOD factors in the effects of the environment into its mission planning and execution to build resilience."

The Pentagon report looked at 72 bases around the world and assessed the sorts of climate change-related threats they're exposed to, be it droughts, flooding, desertification and wildfires.

It said that half of the bases should consider wildfires an issue. And that's a number that is expected to grow by seven more bases over the next 20 years. Why? Because the climate is continuing to change.

Officials note they already are seeing the effects.

"You know we just had a huge fire this summer in Alaska ... which was really problematic," said Maureen Sullivan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Environment. "You wouldn't think of Alaska as a wildfire risk, but that tells you how the wildfire situation is changing."

Talking about the bases, she said "they have to take into consideration a changing climate."

FIRST STEP: ASSESSING RISK

To take those changes into consideration, Sullivan said the Defense Department has provided tools for each base to:

Determine the degree of exposure to changing climate conditions

Determine the capacity to adapt

Draft what are known as integrated natural resources management plans

For instance -- the DOD has developed a series of guidelines that can help bases figure out proper wildfire monitoring, how to address fuel management and how to determine if certain parts of the base might be vulnerable to smoke or fire.

There are practical things that bases are doing right now, including clearing vegetation, especially with controlled burns, though some bases are limited by local laws.

They're also partnering with local, state and national fire agencies.

The Canyon Fire burns on Sept. 18, 2016 at Vandenberg Air Force Base. (Col. Michael Wulfestieg/U.S. Air Force via AP)

That 2016 fire at Vandenberg? Farias said when the fire was burning out of control, outside resources made the difference.

The fire chief, whose department has won Air Force awards for excellence, said getting help from other fire departments marked the turning point.

In the end, the Canyon Fire only burned 12,500 acres, relatively reasonable for a California wildfire. But Farias said it showed why his base needs better brush management, more people and more money.

"We haven't gained resources even though... it's drier, even though things have gotten worse, we're actually less people, less resourced. And so that has an impact. That means that things are going to get worse before they get better sometimes," he said.

Like other folks in California and much of the country, he knows the next big fire is right around the corner.

This story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans. Funding comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly said the rocket that was delayed was Delta II. It was an Atlas V rocket. LAist regrets the error.
Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State has emphasized the need for the Executive arm of government to work in synergy with other arms of government so as to fast track the development of the state.

Governor Sani Bello stated this when he received members of the Niger State House of Assembly who paid him a congratulatory visit following Wednesday's Supreme Court verdict that affirmed his victory at the 2019 poll.

The governor says the affirmation of his victory by the Supreme Court will enable his administration to focus more on the administrative activities, promising to work with all arms of government.

"We have a lot to do and we are working closely with State Assembly to change the narratives and strategies with a view to seeing that in the next two years we achieve a lot in terms of development and capacity building.

"I believe we have a good team in the State Assembly and at the Local Government level and I believe working together will bring about relative development in the state, he said"

According to him, "we have so many projects ongoing, most of which started from the last tenure. This is time to consolidate and ensure we complete most of them", he added.

In the area of security, Governor Sani Bello assured that focus will be more on combatting the challenges faced in the local government areas as the State government has been working tirelessly to ensure adequate security is provided for the people.

"The local government will focus more on security especially in Rafi, Munya, Shiroro, Paikoro, Rijau and Mariga, those are the areas we are having challenges with bandits", he said.

He said the state government is working in conjunction with the local government councils to ensure that they provide security for them.

"I hope in the next coming weeks we will see reasonable improvement when it comes to security", he added.

Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello however described his landmark victory at the Supreme Court as the will of God and reaffirmation of the people's mandate.

Earlier, Speaker, Niger State House of Assembly, Barrister Abdullahi Bawa who led the members of the State House of Assembly to the Government House said the aim of their visit was to congratulate the Governor on the affirmation of his victory at the Supreme Court.

The Speaker expressed the legislators' determination to work with the executive arm of government in order to bring about meaningful development in the State.

He described the Supreme Court verdict as well deserved, saying it will further strengthen the existing cordial working relationship between the executive and the legislature.

Prayer was offered by the members for more wisdom for the Governor to pilot the affairs of the State to greater height.
Experts have explained the devastating loss of ancient indigenous rock art destroyed in a bushfire a year ago.

Baloon Cave in Carnarvon National Park sustained extensive damage after a recycled plastic walkway erected to protect the historic site exploded and burnt to the ground during the blaze in Queensland's Central Highlands in late 2018.

Smoke blackened the cave and parts of the rock, which also wiped out hand-stenciled artwork and hafted stone axes aged thousands of years old.

The site's Aboriginal custodians were so distraught over the irreplaceable loss that the damage hasn't been publicly spoken about until now to give the grieving community enough time to mourn.

Baloon Cave today, more than a year on after the historic site was ravaged by bushfires

Griffith University anthropologist and archaeologist Paul Tacon, who has seen the damage first-hand, says he's never seen anything like it.

'It was like a huge bomb had gone off and in effect, that's exactly what happened,' he told the Brisbane Times.

'I've never seen any rock-hard site so badly damaged where all the walls are blackened, a whole lot of it shattered and spoilt off into the ground and cracks through some of the most significant rock art designs.'

'[Community members] were so distraught about what occurred that they felt depressed and mortified for months.'

He believes the ancient rock art would still be there today for everyone to enjoy if it wasn't for the erected walkway.

The walkway (pictured) made from recyclable plastic was burnt to the ground in the 2018 blaze , wiping out ancient indigenous rock art at Baloon Cave

The blaze burnt an estimated 24,000 hectares in Carnarvon National Park.

Baloon Cave working group member Dale Harding likened the loss to the destruction of Notre Dame Cathedral for Parisians.

'My elders describe the rock art panels, but also the whole network, as being a cathedral, a university, a hospital,' he told the ABC.

'We've lost one of the key sites of our cultural story.'

The Baloon Cave was an entry point to the gorge used by Aboriginal people for thousands of years, according to an Australian bushwalking website.

'This short walk among the fan palms and cycads leads to a small sandstone overhang featuring a fine example of stencilled Aboriginal rock art,' it states.

Local custodians have been too upset to talk about the ancient indigenous rock art (pictured before) at Queensland's Baloon Cave wiped out by bushfires until now

The local community now wants the devastation caused to serve as an important lesson for authorities.

Queensland Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch demanded a statewide audit of cultural heritage sites and remove all flammable materials.

The Carnarvon Gorge Aboriginal working group was also established to ensure the site sn't damaged further.

The minister is a First Nations herself and was shattered when she saw the damage first-hand.

'I know how significant these sites are and, for me personally, I felt every bit of the pain that everybody else felt and there was a lot of tears shed that day,' Ms Enoch told the ABC.
President Donald Trump hosts a roundtable discussion with small business owners and members of his administration in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington on Dec. 6, 2019. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

US Government Limits Exports of Artificial Intelligence Software

WASHINGTONThe Trump administration took measures on Friday to crimp exports of artificial intelligence software as part of a bid to keep sensitive technologies out of the hands of rival powers like China.

Under a new rule which goes into effect on Monday, companies that export certain types of geospatial imagery software from the United States must apply for a license to send it overseas except when it is being shipped to Canada.

They want to keep American companies from helping the Chinese make better AI products that can help their military, said James Lewis, a technology expert with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

The rule will likely be welcomed by industry, Lewis said, because it had feared a much broader crackdown on exports of most artificial intelligence hardware and software

The measure covers software that could be used by sensors, drones, and satellites to automate the process of identifying targets for both military and civilian ends, Lewis said, noting it was a boon for industry, which feared a much broader crackdown on exports of AI hardware and software.

The measure is the first to be finalized by the Commerce Department under a mandate from a 2018 law, which tasked the agency with writing rules to boost oversight of exports of sensitive technology to adversaries like China, for economic and security reasons.

Reuters first reported that the agency was finalizing a set of narrow rules to limit such exports in a boon to U.S. industry that feared a much tougher crackdown on sales abroad.

The rule will go into effect in the United States alone, but U.S. authorities could later submit it to international bodies to try to create a level playing field globally.

It comes amid growing frustration from Republican and Democratic lawmakers over the slow roll-out of rules toughening up export controls, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, urging the Commerce Department to speed up the process.

While the government believes that it is in the national security interests of the United States to immediately implement these controls, it also wants to provide the interested public with an opportunity to comment on the control of new items, the rule release said.

By Alexandra Alper
An undertrial died on the way to a hospital after his health deteriorated at the Kotputli sub-jail in Jaipur on Thursday, police said.

Kamlendra (26), alias Monu, was shifted to Kotputli from Sikar on September 28 last year.

He was rushed to the hospital after he complained of pain in the chest. Doctors at the hospital declared him brought dead, police said.

He was an accused in a rape case and was booked under Section 376 of the IPC and the POCSO Act.

The body was handed over to family members after a post-mortem.

The death of the undertrial will be investigated by a judicial magistrate, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hyderabad: If the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) adversely affects any one of the 130 crore Indians, the Centre will make changes, said minister of state for home affair G. Kishan Reddy.

Participating in a Meet the Press programme organised by the Telangana Union of Working Journalists in the city, Reddy said, the Centre had enacted the CAA with full responsibility as a special drive to provide citizen status to refugees from the neighbourhood who had faced religious persecution.

Replying a question with regard to the massive protests across the nation and even in BJP-ruled states, he said that the Centre had not expected such a vicious false propaganda against the CAA.

He reiterated that Muslim citizens had no ground to fear. He assured that even in the Census operations about to commence for the National Population Register (NPR), no document need be shown. He urged Muslims not to believe wrong stories being circulated on social media.

Reddy said, there is no need to furnish any birth certificate. This is my assurance as Union minister. Ultimately, the people of the country would decide who is right.

He made it clear that although the BJP did mention the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in its manifesto, the Centre had not taken it up and there has been no discussion in the Union Cabinet. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the final word on the NRC, it does not matter what anyone else has said, he said.

Reddy stated that the Centre was still framing rules and regulations for the CAA, and it does not have any precise figure on the number of refugees.

He made it clear that the Centre had taken note of the apprehensions in some states about the CAA, including those in the Northeast. The Centres intent is not to bulldoze them into accepting it, the minister said.

He said the Centre would engage in talks with various state governments which have been opposing the implementation of the CAA in their states.
AUTO LAB TALK RADIO LIVE FROM NYC, Saturday January 11, 2020; WNYM Radio AM 970 7-9 AM





Auto Lab Talk Radio on New York City's WNYM Radio AM 970 Is Streamed Worldwide On TheAutoChannel.Com

Car Question or Concern? Automotive Career Opportunity, Call Toll Free 888-692-7234 To Speak With An Auto Lab Expert











Auto Lab is also about the automotive industry, its history, and its culture, presenting the ideas and advice of leading college faculty, authors, and automotive practitioners in a relaxed, conversational interactive format.

Listeners can find audio recordings of the past 20 years of archived Auto Lab shows as simulcast on The Auto Channel; The Auto Lab Index Page includes; Audio-on-Demand Archives, Community College Auto Program Database, Guests Pictures

This Weeks Show: January 11, 2020

In Studio Expert Automotive Panel

Harold Bendell, Major World

Tim Cacace- Master Mechanix

David Goldsmith-Urban Classics

Jerry Pastore- D & J Diagnostics

Johanna Pastore-D & J Diagnostics

Joanne Porcelli, Esq.

Michael Porcelli, Bronx Community College, City University of New York

Nicholas Prague, MTA

Interviews

Robert Erskine, Senior European Correspondent

"CES DAILY : STUDY FINDS LUKEWARM CONSUMER INTEREST IN AVS, EVS"

Sharon Sudol , John Russell Senior Correspondents

"LEXUS LS500"

Russ Rader Senior Vice President Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

"FORD EXPLORER TEST RESULTS"

Robert Sinclair AAA Northeast

"FUNDING FOR ROAD IMPROVEMENTS
Despite being indicted on felony charges of abuse of power and suspended from work, Limestone County District Judge Doug Patterson remains on the state payroll.

That, state prosecutors say, is among the reasons Pattersons criminal trial should be scheduled as quickly as possible.

Patterson has been suspended from the bench since at least September of 2019, yet the Alabama state checkbook shows he has continued to draw his monthly gross salary of $10,808.84.

He received his paycheck last month, AL.com has reported, even after he was indicted on Dec. 11 on charges of using his position for personal gain, financial exploitation of the elderly and theft. State employees havent yet received paychecks for January, online records indicate.

Patterson, 37, will continue receiving his salary unless he is convicted or resigns. During his suspension, Pattersons cases have been reassigned to other judges in Limestone County.

The Limestone County Public deserves to know whether one of its local public officials is guilty or innocent, said Kyle Beckman, an Alabama assistant attorney general, in a court filing this week. the charges in this case raise serious questions as to whether the Defendant flagrantly abused his position as a lawyer and a public official.

Patterson is accused of using his position as a judge to steal about $47,000 from a juvenile court fund. During his previous work as a lawyer, Patterson is accused of stealing thousands from two clients: one who was incapacitated and living in a nursing home for veterans and a second who died.

AL.coms efforts to reach Patterson and an attorney for comment were unsuccessful.

if the Defendant is innocent of these charges, then his name should be cleared as soon as possible, the prosecutor wrote in court records. Likewise, if the Defendant is guilty, then he should be formally removed as a judge and stripped of all benefits, including his salary.

[Read the court filling here or at the bottom of this story.]

The prosecutor asked that court proceedings begin at the earliest practicable date. The next step in the process is an arraignment hearing, at which Patterson would enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. A trial date could then be scheduled.

Retired Circuit Judge Steven Haddock, of neighboring Morgan County, has been appointed to preside over Pattersons case. Haddock retired in January of 2019 after 24 years on the bench. Its common for a judge from another county to be appointed to a case involving a high-profile defendant who works in the legal system.

Similarly, an out-of-town judge has been appointed in the unrelated case of Limestone Countys 10-term sheriff, Mike Blakely, who was indicted in August on charges of abuse of power and theft. Retired Colbert County Circuit Judge N. Pride Tompkins is presiding over Blakelys case. The sheriff has pleaded not guilty to the 13 charges, which include a dozen felonies.

Blakely, however, is continuing to serve in his elected position while fighting the charges. His trial is scheduled for March 9.

Patterson first became a district judge in 2016. He was appointed by then-Gov. Robert Bentley to complete the term of retiring Judge Jeanne Anderson. Patterson was later elected and took office for a full term in 2017. He was born in Athens and attended the local high school. He attended Athens State University before going on to the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, according to his bio on the county website.

Pattersons criminal charges are punishable by up to 40 years in prison.
Last weekend, the phrase World War Three started trending on social media around the world. With attention in Australia understandably focussed intently on the deadly bushfires roaring through communities, youd be forgiven for missing the events that started such an ominous hashtag. Much of what gets circulated on Twitter should probably be taken with a grain of salt. But that trending topic is definitely one to watch. So heres a rundown of what is driving fears the US could be about to lead its allies into war with the Middle East. And some background on how we got to a situation where a sea of enraged Iranians is flooding the streets of Tehran in mourning while US President Donald Trump taps out Twitter posts threatening disproportionate violence.

The New Daily reports in its article Iran-US crisis: Why the killing of Qassem Soleimani triggered WWIII fears that whatever happens next, one things almost certain: The assassination of a powerful military commander last Friday is not the end of the bloodshed. In the latest attack on January 3, a US drone fired a pair of missiles near Baghdad airport in Iraq that killed Irans Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani. General Soleimani was a big deal. He was the head of Irans elite Quds military force and was regarded as the second most powerful person in Iran, behind Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. US President Donald Trump wanted him dead for killing American troops in Iraq. The US said it ordered the assassination to stop a war.

In a mass public funeral on Tuesday, millions of Iranians gathered in the capital Tehran to mourn the generals death and demand revenge. Iran has since designated all US forces terrorists over the assassination and abandoned the remaining limits of its 2015 nuclear deal. Now, the nation is free to speed up its nuclear program, including its ability to build nuclear weapons. In a show of support for its neighbour, the Iraqi parliament has also voted to kick out US troops from the country which could allow Islamic State militants to seize power again. When news of the assassination broke on January 3, Mr Trump fired off a series of threatening tweets. He even singled out 52 sites of cultural significance in Iran he said the US military would specifically target to represent each American held hostage by Iran over the years.

Dr Bryce Wakefield, national executive director of the Australian Institute of International Affairs, conceded the situation was serious but dismissed as hysterical the suggestions we were entering World War III. At the moment, Iran is not in possession of nuclear weapons, Dr Wakefield told The New Daily. Iran is smart and it will probably seek some form of retaliation but I dont think we can expect that to be an overt military strike against the US  it wouldnt be in their best interests to do so. He said Iran would likely reach out to its allies in the Middle East and elsewhere to strike against US citizens, as well as figures in the US foreign policy or defence communities. "Theres a strong possibility of a terrorist attack, he said. Assassinating international figures was always going to lead to retaliation and anger in Iran.

Dr Wakefield added: Iran is not Iraq in 2003  its people are relatively unified, its leadership is relatively competent and its military is stronger than Iraqs was during the US invasion. The outrage that the generals assassination has provoked in Iran will turn even more people against the United States and allow the Iranian government to take a much more hard-line path of foreign policy, he said.
Investor J.D. Vance has raised $93 million to start a venture capital firm, Narya Capital, based in his home state of Ohio, with fund backing from major names including Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Eric Schmidt and Scott Dorsey.

Why it matters: Vance's 2017 bestselling memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," gave voice to rural, working-class resentment in left-behind America that helped Trump win the White House, and he has been a strong proponent of investing in often-overlooked places.

His firm, headquartered in Cincinnati, will invest in startups in under-served cities such as Salt Lake City, Atlanta and Raleigh-Durham, according to a source familiar with the strategy.

The big picture: The majority of U.S. venture capital funding goes to California, New York and Massachusetts.

While such investment can play a crucial role in building fast-growing, tech-based economies like Silicon Valley, VC investors don't typically stray outside those markets to look for the next big thing.

Until recently, Vance was managing partner of the first Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, a $150 million early-stage fund as part of AOL Co-Founder Steve Case's Revolution LLC, a Washington, D.C. venture capital firm. His resume also includes working for Thiel's fund Mithril Capital in San Francisco.

Colin Greenspon, who was partner at Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and former managing director at Mithril, is joining Vance as co-founder and partner of Narya Capital, according to Wednesday's SEC filing.

Vance and Greenspon will continue as advisers to Rise of the Rest, which raised its second fund of $150 million in October.

Details: The fund, with a total target of $125 million, will essentially be a Series A fund, according to a source familiar with the strategy, focusing on writing first checks in the $5 to $10 million range.

The fund's leadership will likely spend a lot of time on life sciences, aerospace and defense and robotics, as well as commercializing technologies developed at research institutions, according to the source.

Battelle, a science and technology R&D organization based in Columbus, is one of the fund's LPs. Tech investor Ram Shiram and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are also LPs.

The approach doesn't rule out investments in established tech hubs, but will focus primarily on underserved markets, per the source.

Falon Donahue, who has been CEO of VentureOhio, is joining as partner. The Columbus Business Journal reported her departure from VentureOhio on Wednesday.

Between the lines: The fact that other influential tech investors signed up as limited partners suggests Vance isn't the only one who's bullish about disruption happening between the coasts.

Go deeper: Ohio's venture capital boom lures startup founders
The Delhi High Court Thursday observed that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's bribery related remarks during the Goa Assembly election campaign in 2017 had made "specific imputations" which were "not appropriate" and suggested that he make generic statements in the upcoming polls here.

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva declined to endorse a draft statement placed before him on behalf of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor and said no court can say what would be a correct statement to be made during election campaigns.

Justice Sachdeva said a court can only opine whether a statement was wrong after it has been made.

"There cannot be an endorsement from the court that on what you can say," the judge said.

"Don't make a statement as specific as you made last time. There were some specific imputations in the statement which were not appropriate. Make a general statement which does not point a finger. Make a generic statement," the court said.

However, no orders were passed in the matter as Kejriwal's lawyers sought an adjournment in the post lunch session and the court listed the matter for further hearing on April 24.

The court was hearing the AAP leader's plea challenging the Election Commission's two orders of 2017, one censuring him for his remarks with a warning that a repeat of the same would lead to action against him and his party and the second directing lodging of an FIR against him for his comments.

During a series of rallies in Goa on January 7-8, 2017, Kejriwal had asked voters to "accept money from the Congress and BJP candidates but vote for the AAP".

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had filed two complaints against the AAP supremo, seeking his prosecution under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for asking voters to accept money. The Congress too had condemned the Delhi chief minister's statement.

The poll panel had, thereafter, directed that a complaint be lodged against Kejriwal under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act dealing with bribing voters and the relevant sections of the IPC.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Chinese father has reportedly tried to sell his young son for 2,200 on social media to help cover his gambling debts owed to online loan sharks.

The parent this week shared a short video of his child in a chatting group as he was heard saying 'who wants him' in the footage.

After being condemned by participants of the group, the man expressed regret over his action, adding he shared the post because of bad mood.

The unnamed father posted footage of his young child (above) to a chatting group in southern China. 'I now decide to sell my child for the price of 20,000 yuan (2,205),' he wrote in a post

The father, unidentified, lives in the southern province of Guangdong in southern China and made the shocking claims on Monday on popular Chinese messaging platform, WeChat, according to Chinese news site Sina, citing Star Video.

In the short clip, he appeared to be playing with his child.

Speaking from behind the camera, he repeatedly said 'who wants him' and 'I will give him to you'.

In an accompanying post, the man claimed that he had run into huge debts because of gambling and had no other ways to pay back the money to online loan sharks.

'I now decide to sell my child for the price of 20,000 yuan (2,205),' the post read.

'If any of you bosses likes the child, please contact me immediately,' it went on.

The man claimed in a social media post that he had run into huge debts because of gambling and had no other ways to pay back the money to online loan sharks but to trade his own child

The messages quickly went viral, causing an outcry. Some web users pointed out to the father that his action was illegal while others said they would alert the police.

In a follow-up post the next day, the man said he wrote the messages because 'I was troubled by something and in a bad mood'.

He said he had realised the wrongfulness of his behaviour and begged the public for their forgiveness.

It is reported that authorities have launched an investigation into the matter.

Under Chinese law, anyone who is found guilty of trafficking and selling children can be jailed for five to 10 years, but life sentences or death penalties can also be issued.
NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A Place for Mom, Inc. (APFM), the largest senior living referral service in North America, announced a new advertising campaign focused on the service A Place for Mom provides to help guide families through the process of making senior living decisions for a loved one. In the new campaign, longtime APFM partner Joan Lunden speaks directly to caregivers, offering the message that A Place for Mom is a strong resource having helped hundreds of thousands of families at no cost. Lunden started working with APFM in 2012 after going through the process of finding a suitable living solution for her own mother and wanting to make a positive impact for those going through the same experience.

The new campaign rolled out following the holidays, a time when families come together, and some may be seeing loved ones for the first time in a while. The holidays are also the first time some may see signs of troubling changes in their older family members. The campaign brings to light that caregivers are not alone and have a trusted resource in A Place for Mom, which offers professional assistance at no cost as they search for senior living and other care services.

"I am excited to be launching this campaign to reach more families with the message that A Place for Mom can provide the support and guidance needed during the emotional time of finding senior living options for loved ones," said Larry Kutscher, Chief Executive Officer, A Place for Mom. "Joan Lunden continues to be a great partner, helping to educate about the support and service A Place for Mom offers to hundreds of thousands of families each year."

"Years ago, as my mother's caregiver, I went through the process of finding senior housing when I knew she needed more care than I could provide," said Joan Lunden. "I'm very proud of the partnership I've had with A Place for Mom over the years, as I truly believe in raising awareness about the resources available as families navigate this complex process."

The campaign's message is based on feedback and learning from customers around their own personal experiences searching for senior living options. There are families with urgent needs because a family member is in the hospital and needs a solution immediately. There are some families who are realizing that a family member is in decline and will eventually not be able to live on their own. There are also families who have a loved one with memory issues and A Place for Mom has helped thousands sort through the options to find the right memory care solution for their loved one's unique needs.

The campaign consists of four 30-second television spots that debuted right before the New Year. The spots are accompanied by 15-second spots, a radio and digital campaign, including billboards and mobile display banners.

The new campaign encourages caregivers to reach out for support. A Place for Mom has helped hundreds of thousands of families with free services including:

A dedicated Senior Living Advisor with local expertise to provide resources and information

Customized suggestions of communities to consider to meet each family's unique needs

Expertise with all different types of facilities available, including memory care

Assistance scheduling tours and understanding the different pricing structures

Help ensuring the move-in process is as seamless as possible

Resources and information such as Veterans Aid and Assistance and State resources

To connect with one of A Place for Mom's Senior Living Advisors or learn more about the resources and tools available in finding the right living situation for your loved one visit aplaceformom.com .

About A Place for Mom

A Place for Mom is an online platform connecting families searching for senior care services with a team of experienced advisors providing insight-driven and personalized solutions. Our mission, as the leader in senior care advisory, is to be a trusted destination for families and our community customers. We are a quickly growing organization with over 500 senior living experts connecting hundreds of thousands of families every year to one of our community customers. For more information, visit www.aplaceformom.com .

About Joan Lunden

Joan Lunden is an award-winning journalist, bestselling author, motivational speaker, and a proud advocate for families seeking quality senior living and care options for their parent or loved one. Joan Lunden has been a trusted voice in American homes for more than 30 years. For nearly two decades, Lunden greeted viewers each morning on Good Morning America bringing insight to the day's top stories. She is a special correspondent on the TODAY Show.

Lunden is a mother of seven including two sets of teen twins. She has juggled being a working mom while caring for an aging parent and brings this experience to her role as the spokesperson for the nation's leading senior referral service, A Place for Mom , a company helping caregivers and families find the right care and resources for their loved one.

SOURCE A Place for Mom, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.aplaceformom.com


HARTFORD  The state of Connecticut has awarded $9.1 million in grants to help purchase and preserve parcels of land across Connecticut as open space, including in Hamden, Madison and Middletown, according to the office of Gov. Ned Lamont.

According to a release, the grants are being administered through the Department of Energy and Environmental Protections Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition Grant Program, which is intended to protect wildlife habitats, offer recreational opportunities, and serve as a buffer and adaptation to climate change by helping actors and organizations buy and preserve land.

The state bequeathed $480,000 to the Madison Land Conservation Trust to help purchase the Dowd Hollow Preserve, a 144.47 acre piece of land that abuts property owned by the South Central Regional Water Authority.

The parcel hosts numerous habitats including vernal pools, open fields, shrub meadows, forested wetlands, and a cranberry bog. A large portion of the property lies within a Natural Diversity Database Area. Acquisition of this property will protect one of the largest forested tracts in southern Connecticut, officials said. The MLCT will create a new public parking area and new hiking trails linking to RWAs Genesee Recreation Area and Ironwoods Preserve.

For the Hamden area, the state awarded $44,600 to help the South Central Regional Water Authority purchase two properties, according to the release.

The state awarded a $19,600 grant to help buy the Hendrickson property, a 7.53 acre piece of land that stretches into Bethany, according to the release.

The property will connect to 164 acres of RWA land that abuts the property. Two streams on the property drain into Lake Watrous, a public water supply reservoir. The parcel is part of the West Rock Ridge and harbors species of special concern, officials said. Ninety percent of the property is made up of prime farmland soils. The RWA will allow for passive recreation, timber and cord wood harvesting, and environmental education and research. The 19-mile Quinnipiac Trail crosses the property.

For the DePodesta property, a 14 acre piece of land behind Forest Street, the state awarded $25,000.

There are 2 unnamed streams on site that flow into Lake Whitney, a public water supply reservoir. More than half of the property contains designated prime farmland soils or additional statewide important farmland soils, officials said. The Farmington Canal Trail abuts the property to the west. The RWA will evaluate the property to determine if additional recreational uses are permitted.

The state awarded $63,450 to the Berlin Land Trust toward the purchase of the Tighe-Baldyga property, a 47 acre piece of land at the north end of Lamentation Mountain in Middletown currently surrounded by protected and undeveloped land, officials said.

This parcel is part of the 330.15 acres watershed of the eastern-most, north-flowing tributary of Spruce Brook. Forestry resources include a swamp cottonwood grove and an abundance of sugar maple, hop hornbeam, red cedar, chestnut oak, hickory and slippery elm, officials said. High crests and ridgelines create suitable habitat for raptors, hawks and owls. The property can be accessed from Lamentation Drive in Berlin via the Mattabesset Trail or from Stantack Road, which can accommodate parking for ten vehicles.

For purchases in the Northwest Corner, among other efforts, the state awarded $225,000 to the Cornwall Conservation Trust toward the purchase of 72.5 acres of core forest off Johnson Road; and $240,000 to buy 70 acres of land on West Woods Road in Sharon, according to the release.

A complete list of the grants awarded Wednesday is available on the states website.

With the grants awarded Wednesday, Lamonts office announced that the state had designated 500,000 acres of land as open space in Connecticut. The goal is to eventually preserve 673,210 acres in the state, according to the release.

Open space is vital to environmental protection and a bright economic future for our state, Lamont said in the release. This program is an important component of preserving some of our states best and most beautiful land, and by partnering with our municipalities and nonprofits we can ensure that these valuable resources are preserved in perpetuity for generations to come.

Governor Lamonts administration has prioritized initiatives that mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change, while ensuring that DEEP implements policies that better preserve our air, water, and natural resources, DEEP Commissioner Katie S. Dykes said. This open space grant round represents an important investment and continued partnership with land trusts, our towns and cities, water companies, and conservation-minded citizens in preserving open space that makes progress toward climate response and provides greater opportunities for people to connect to our natural lands.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com
(TNS)  The electrical grid may likely represent a prime target after Iran has vowed "crushing revenge" on the United States following a drone strike that killed its top general, Qassem Soleimani.But the former director of the organization that oversees the power system for the bulk of California says he's not overly worried about a major disruption."We spend a lot of time, money and energy to harden the system so this doesn't happen," said Jim McIntosh , who was director of grid operations from 2000 to 2009 at the California Independent System Operator . "And the system is broken up into a lot of pieces. We can isolate areas very readily and keep control of the system. So it's a very difficult task to take the grid down  very difficult."Based in Folsom, the California ISO manages the flow of electricity across the high-voltage and long-distance power lines that make up 80 percent of California's grid, as well as a small part of Nevada's power system. The ISO not only balances the flow of electricity in the state but also makes power purchases to match demand and avoid power outages."I would say we are adequately protected against anything Iran has done in the past and could do at this point," said McIntosh, who spent 13 years at the ISO. "They have proven over time that they can't break through the firewalls" put in place to protect the system.Critical infrastructure such as the power grid has come under more intense focus since tensions between the U.S. and Iran have escalated.On Saturday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued an updated threat bulletin that warned "Iran maintains a robust cyber program" and "is capable, at a minimum, of carrying out attacks with temporary disruptive effects against critical infrastructure in the United States."But attempts to disrupt California's power grid are not new.Last summer, the manager in charge of ensuring the state's power system remains safe from cyberattacks told the Union-Tribune the ISO fends off "several millions" of hacking attempts each month.Spokeswoman Vonette Fontaine said in a statement the California ISO's systems "have not experienced any major cyber incidents" since the Iranian government promised to retaliate and the ISO coordinates "diligently and proactively with federal and state law enforcement agencies to stay in front of potential issues."Fontaine would not say whether the ISO has stepped up its efforts in recent days to prevent any potential attacks on its information technology systems or physical assets.Similarly, a spokeswoman for San Diego Gas & Electric did not go into specifics."We are aware of the recent events involving Iran and the heightened concerns of a cybersecurity threat," said SDG&E communications manager Sara Prince in an email. "Our cyber and physical security operations teams are in routine contact with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to stay informed about the latest potential threats and respond quickly to evolving situations."McIntosh said unless a specific threat shows up, "I don't think (the state's investor-owned utilities) would be doing much more than they always do ... They have a large group of folks that watch this stuff on a daily basis and would be able to protect their systems. (Southern California) Edison, San Diego (Gas & Electric) and (Pacific Gas & Electric) each have staffs that do this for a living, all the time."At the same time, McIntosh recalled how the ISO had to interrupt electrical loads 13 times during the California energy crisis in 2000 and 2001 that led to rolling blackouts across the state."One of the things that people realized real quick was that if you don't have energy, things go downhill rapidly," McIntosh said in a telephone interview. "So if anybody would go and successfully knock out the grid, it would create havoc for California."In 2013, snipers opened fire at a PG&E substation in San Jose and knocked out 17 transformers that supplied electricity to the Silicon Valley. Grid officials avoided a blackout by rerouting power but as the Wall Street Journal reported , it took 27 days to make the necessary repairs to bring the substation back online. No arrests have ever been made.McIntosh said utilities have increased security at physical sites since then."They used to concentrate on 'inside the fence' and now they actually look out and have the same type of ground detection movement (technology) that (the government has) put on the border, so that anybody approaching is detected and alarms go off," McIntosh said. "They've spent millions and millions of dollars."Nationally, the energy sector has become a prime target for cyberattacks in the past decade, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Energy detailing its multiyear security plans.Energy infrastructure and sites experienced more cyber incidents than any other sector between 2013 and 2015, accounting for 35 percent of the 796 incidents reported by sectors accounting for critical infrastructure, according to the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team at the Department of Homeland Security.Attempts to penetrate the U.S. grid have been attributed to Russia and China , and hackers from Iran also targeted at least one American billionaire who is politically active.In October 2013, casino magnate and conservative political donor Sheldon Adelson said while appearing on a panel in New York that the U.S. could counter Iran's nuclear ambitions by exploding a warhead in a deserted area of the country.The comments enraged Iran's Supreme Leader and four months later, hackers disabled the IT systems of one of Adelson's casinos in Las Vegas and caused $40 million in damages. U.S. intelligence officials traced the attack to Iran
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 06:49:19|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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PRAGUE, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Top Czech parliamentary officials called on diplomacy to prevail on Wednesday after escalating tension between the United States and Iran, local media reported.

"It is certainly not in the interests of either Iran, the U.S., the European Union (EU), or us that violence continues to escalate. If both countries continue to reciprocate, violence will escalate," Czech News Agency (CTK) quoted Ondrej Vesely, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament, as saying.

Vesely said that the NATO alliance should follow the wishes of the Iraqi government to withdraw troops, but that the withdrawal of Czech troops should fall in line with the other NATO alliance members. Currently no withdrawal plans have been announced.

Meanwhile, Jana Cernochova, who chairs the Committee on Defense of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament, said the war between the United States and Iran would not only have tragic consequences for Iran and Iraq, but also for other countries in the region, including Israel, and also in Europe.

Calling the killing of Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), by a U.S. drone attack last Friday "an act of war," Vojtech Filip, the Deputy Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, and also leader of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM), said the international community should return to the UN Security Council and condemn this "brutal act of war" and to "make the U.S. President respect international law".

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Tuesday launched a dozen ballistic missiles against U.S. military and coalition forces in Iraq.

U.S. President Trump vowed on Wednesday to impose powerful economic sanctions against Iran.
Newly minted San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin admits he has his work cut out for him.

"Theres an awful lot about our criminal justice system that is dysfunctional. Everyone who sets foot in a criminal courtroom will see myriad ways the system is dysfunctional," Boudin told SFGATE in an interview ahead of his swearing-in Wednesday evening.

Boudin, a former public defender, ran on a platform of progressive issues: ending the money bail system, protecting San Francisco's status as a sanctuary city, ending mass incarceration, among other issues. His candidacy even won Fox News' attention  though that had more to do with his family background than his policy priorities.

ALSO: 10 things you might not know about Chesa Boudin, San Francisco's new District Attorney

"In any campaign you make a lot of promises and you talk about a wide range of issues. When youre elected, the work of accomplishing those goals has to be sequenced. You cant do everything at once," he said.

So where does he plan to begin?

Boudin outlined five things he plans to implement immediately as the new DA. See them in the gallery above.

Of course, the DA's office is far from omnipotent. We asked, "What's one thing the district attorney's office doesn't have control over in San Francisco that you'd like to see change?"

Here's what he had to say:

"Homelessness, open air drug use and mental illness  which we all see in this city  are things weve been relying on the DA's office and the jails to deal with. That's really expensive, inhumane and ineffective. ... Right now the jail system is the No. 1 administrator of mental health services in the city, and so were waiting for people to commit a crime to get them help.

"Seventy-five percent of people arrested are drug addicted or mentally ill. We should focus on criminals that are in their right mind."

Alix Martichoux is an SFGATE digital editor. Read her latest stories and send her news tips at alix.martichoux@sfgate.com.
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We enjoy meat, seldom thinking about the conditions animals are bred in, kept in and what they go through before they are slaughtered. A heartbreaking video that is going viral shows a cow kneeling in front of a butcher, pleading to spare it.

The female cow that was reportedly pregnant, bent both her front legs and refused to walk, apparently with tears in her eyes.

Peer Video

The cow has been saved from the butcher after footage captured the animal apparently kneeling in front of slaughterhouse workers begging them to spare it.

The cow was marked to be killed by an abattoir in Shantou in Guangdong Province in China on Sunday, according to The Paper. The video of the pleading cow went viral on the countrys social media network where people came together to donate more than  2,700 (Rs 2.5 lakh, approximately) to buy the cows release.

Lin Wangbo told The Paper that the cow kept kneeling while being transport to the business by its owner.

After it arrived at the slaughterhouse and when the butcher tried to drag it off the truck and into the house to be butchered, it knelt and kept crying, Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

According to Guangdong TV, the cows pregnancy prompted a strong desire to live. After looking at the video, many animal lovers called the head of the slaughterhouse to request him to let the cow live.

Peer Video

Many good samaritans donated CNY 24,950 to buy the animals freedom and for it to be released to a local Buddhist temple. After being saved, another clip reportedly shows the cow kneeling in front of its saviours this time to express its gratitude.

The cow has now been adopted by the Golden Lion Temple in Jieyang. Donors have given a further CNY 4,000 ( 438 or Rs 41,000, approximately) to cover the cows expenses.
(ANSA) - Vatican City, January 9 - The European Union continues to be a guarantee for development and opportunities for peace, Pope Francis said Thursday.

"The European project continues to be a fundamental guarantee of development for those who are members of it, and an opportunity for peace, after turbulent conflicts and lacerations, for those countries who are aiming to join it," Francis said.

The pope voiced the hope that the EU "should not lose, therefore, the sense of solidarity that for centuries has characterised it, also in the most difficult moments of its history.

"May it not lose that spirit which is rooted, among other things, in Roman 'pietas' and Christian charity, which well describe the soul of European peoples".

"Since the first years," the pope said, "the Holy See has looked with interest to the European project, and this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Holy See's presence at the Council of Europe, as well as the establishment of diplomatic relations with the then European Communities".

"This is an interest that means to underscore an idea of inclusive construction, animated by a participatory and solidarity-based spirit, able to make Europe an example of welcoming and social equity reflecting those common values that underlie it.

"The fire at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris showed how fragile and easy it is to destroy even that which seems solid.

"The damage suffered by a building, not only dear to Catholics but significant for the whole of France and the whole of humanity, rekindled the issue of the historical and cultural values of Europe and the roots it is founded on.

"In a context in which reference values are lacking, it becomes easier to find elements of division rather than those of cohesion.


Donkeys braying in unison have more kick. Photo: James Hager/Getty Images

As the voting phase of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary gets underway next month, fears about conflicts between candidates (and their supporters) weakening the party will begin to multiply. If no single dominant candidate emerges from the early voting states, Democrats run the risk of an extended nomination battle in which the need for regaining unity may become more and more pressing.

So aside from perpetual (and, in some respects, futile) efforts to assess each candidates electability, it makes sense to begin examining the most viable candidates in terms of their ability to unite Democratic voters for the mega-intense drive to November. Here are some strategies to consider.

Determine Which Groups Need to Come Together

The first step for any candidate hoping to unify the party is determining which factions are most essential for a 2020 win. Is it average voters? Certain demographic groups? Some combination of activists, opinion leaders, donors, and elected officials?

At this point, most Democratic primary voters dont seem terribly inclined toward internecine conflict. An Economist-YouGov survey taken at the end of 2019 asks registered voters who say they plan to participate in Democratic primaries or caucuses: Are there any presidential candidates that you would be disappointed if they became the Democratic nominee? Multiple answers are allowed. Ex-Republican Mike Bloomberg attracted the most disappointment, at 34 percent, with Joe Biden coming in at 23 percent, Bernie Sanders at 20 percent, Andrew Yang at 18 percent, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar at 17 percent, and Elizabeth Warren at 14 percent. Some findings dont exactly match what youd expect. Buttigieg is thought by some to have fatally alienated African-American voters. Yet in this survey, only 14 percent of black voters say theyd be disappointed if Mayor Pete is the nominee, less than the 17 percent who said the same of Sanders, whose African-American support levels (mostly among young black voters) are notably stronger this year than in 2016.

Among party elites, youd get a different picture. Big donors are famously hostile to both Sanders and, perhaps even more particularly, to the Wall Streetfocused Warren, despite her generally high ratings among rank-and-file Democrats. Elected officials are more prone to support Biden, and to fear Sanders, so far. The Twitter Left of typically young, typically ideological activists is hostile to Biden, as you might expect, but also arguably even more hostile to Buttigieg, whose combination of youth and centrism seems to annoy millennial progressives in a particularly intense way.

In a piece presenting the argument for Sanderss nomination, Matthew Yglesias suggests that lefty elites are potentially more troublesome in a general election than their less ideological counterparts, and thus need placating:

Lots of moderate Democrats  find it annoying that Sanders and some of his followers are so committed to painting mainstream Democrats in such dark hues. And it is annoying! But annoying people wont stop being annoying if he loses the nomination. If anything, they will be more annoying than ever as some refuse to get enthusiastic about the prospect of beating Trump. But if Sanders wins, partisan Democrats who just want to beat Trump will magically stop finding Bernie superfans annoying  the causes will be aligned, and the vast majority of people who want Trump out of the White House can collaborate in peace.

If you are focused on the small factors that might make a difference in Democratic esprit de corps in a general election, eliminating the fights between Bernie-or-Bust folk and regular Democrats on social media that persisted in 2016 would make sense. But there is also the possibility that a Sanders (or Warren) nomination could give impetus to some sort of centrist third-party campaign like the one Howard Schultz threatened to wage earlier in the cycle, which for all its lack of natural voter appeal could serve as a lightning rod for Democratic-donor unhappiness. In other words, the target of each candidates unity effort will depend on identifying which voters are most put off by them.

Find Candidates With the Most Unity Potential

There are at least two traditional ways of assessing a candidates capacity to unify a potentially divided party that we can apply to the 2020 field: ideological positioning and second-choice support.

On the former point, being perceived as at the center of the party with respect to ideology can be a real asset. A new CBS-YouGov poll of Iowa asks if the various candidates are too progressive, not progressive enough, or about right. The rankings for about right are as follows: Buttigieg (65 percent); Biden (63 percent); Klobuchar (54 percent); Warren (44 percent); and Sanders (42 percent). Two candidates are far above average in the too progressive column: Sanders (50 percent) and Warren (41 percent). Two others stand out as not progressive enough: Klobuchar (35 percent) and Biden (31 percent).

But there are other respects in which candidates may or may not have the kind of broad appeal youd want heading into a general election. Per the Morning Consult tracking poll, for example, Sanders is vastly more popular among younger voters and struggles toward the higher end of the age spectrum; to a less extreme extent, that is true of Yang as well. Biden and Buttigieg have the opposite problem. Warren displays fairly even levels of support by age. Biden, Sanders, Warren, and Yang have support spread reasonably well among white as well as nonwhite voters, while Buttigieg famously struggles with nonwhite voters.

Morning Consult regularly asks its large tracking-poll sample about second-choice candidates. In the latest poll, Sanders is the top second choice of Biden supporters (at 29 percent), followed by Warren (19 percent), Buttigieg (12 percent), and Bloomberg (11 percent). For Sanders supporters, the second choice is Warren (at 32 percent), followed by Biden (28 percent). Among Warren voters, the second preference is Sanders (33 percent) and Biden (24 percent). The runners-up for Buttigieg backers are Biden (27 percent) and Warren (20 percent).

More than anything else, these findings suggest that Biden and Sanders are both stronger unity figures than you might think. But candidates like Buttigieg, who are perceived as ideologically near the partys center, have some strengths to build on as well.

Endorsements and Running Mates Can Help

As the nomination contest winds down, candidates will have other opportunities to broaden their appeal. First, they can seek endorsements from defeated candidates. Julian Castros endorsement of Warren shortly after he withdrew from the race may not bring her that much tangible help, given his own poor standing in the polls, but if others join him, that could burnish her reputation as a unity candidate. Conversely, in 2016, Sanderss reluctance to endorse Hillary Clinton as soon as he might have (he waited until mid-July) contributed to a persistent sense of a divided party, even though Sanders energetically campaigned for the nominee later on.

Once a candidate has secured the nomination, they can reach out to disappointed party factions of identity groups via their choice of running mate. It is generally expected that any male nominee in 2020 will seek a woman as a running mate, and vice versa; the days of two white men forming a ticket are probably over for the time being among Democrats. But trans-ideological and multigenerational ticket-making could be a factor as well, if the nomination contest is close and tensions have developed.

The late-septuagenarians Biden and Sanders could have a particularly rich opportunity to promote unity in their veep selection, as either might be limited to a single term. Running with a younger, perhaps ideologically distinctive veep could essentially signal to Democrats jittery about them that their nomination wouldnt necessarily represent some sort of definitive settlement on the partys direction.

One unity tool that has never been tried by a Democrat (though Ronald Reagan briefly and unsuccessfully attempted it in 1976) is the choice of a coalition-building running mate before the nomination is secured. Hints were dropped by Bidens campaign that he might try that gambit in 2020, with former Georgia gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams being the putative veep whose name was most mentioned. Abrams ruled it out for the time being, but not for good, and Biden (or some other candidate) could come back around to the idea between now and the convention.

Surviving Contested Conventions and Other Late Threats to Solidarity

The need for party unity could skyrocket if certain events threaten to further divide Democrats. A contested convention is unlikely but possible, and would certainly make unity gestures very important in restoring normalcy before the sprint to November began. Or if the primaries produce a nominee (Sanders? Biden? Buttigieg?) who provokes threats of defections to a third-party candidate or to the living-room couch on Election Day, then deploying opinion leaders with credibility among disaffected voters would be important. In general, the closer the ultimate contest looks, the more essential it will be to convey the impression that all hands must be on deck.

There Could Be Several Unity Candidates

A unified Democratic Party is within the grasp of any nominee, mostly thanks to the Great Unifier in the Oval Office, whose sins make those of any competitor pale by comparison, and whose second term could represent a veritable hellscape for the party and the country. But the need for unity should cross the minds of eager Democrats every time they speak to a reporter or post on Twitter about the unacceptable characteristics of candidates other than their own. Its not just that the infernal forces of MAGA will repeat, amplify, and exaggerate any such negative talk no matter how hypocritical it may be to do so; its also that it may not take much to convince low-information voters that theyre all just lying politicians  so why not stay home, or vote for the devil that you know?
Most of us are familiar with the physical health effects of smoking, but can the habit also affect our mental and emotional well-being? A new study suggests that it can, after finding a link between smoking cigarettes and depression.

Share on Pinterest A new study examines the link between mental health and smoking among students.

The new study now appears in the journal PLOS ONE .

Prof. Hagai Levine  from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine in Jerusalem, Israel  is the senior and corresponding author of the study paper.

In it, Prof. Levine and colleagues explain that there are clues in existing research that point to smoking as a predisposing factor to depression.

For instance, depression tends to be twice as likely among people who smoke than those who do not, but it is not yet clear which causes which. Some researchers, however, believe that smoking may lead to depression, not vice versa.

What is more, other studies have found that people who had never smoked generally have a better health-related quality of life (HRQoL), as well as less anxiety and depression.

So, to help shed some light on the matter, Prof. Levine and team decided to study the association between HRQoL and smoking among students in Serbia. Few studies have looked into this association in low- and middle-income countries.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday met with leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The ASUU leadership was led by its President, Biodun Ogunyemi, a professor.

NAN reliably learnt that the meeting was at the instance of the university lecturers who have been resisting enrolling on the federal government`s Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

Mr Buhari had ordered the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning to stop the payment of salaries of federal government workers, including members of ASUU, who failed to enrol on the IPPIS platform by October 31, 2019.

The government later extended the deadline to November 30.

Meanwhile, ASUU threatened to embark on a nationwide strike if the federal government stopped the payment of salaries of its members who refused to enrol.

While expressing its readiness for dialogue with the government, ASUU proposed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution as an alternative to the governments centralised payroll system of IPPIS.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that ASUU leadership would use the opportunity of the meeting to seek the presidents intervention in the matter.

The outcome of the meeting was still being awaited at the time of filing this report.

(NAN)
An Instagram comment left by comedian George Lopez has caught the attention of the U.S. Secret Service after being publicized by and infuriating a group of vocal conservatives on Twitter.

Lopez left the remark Sunday on a post by Chicano Worldstar. The pop culture account posted about an unsubstantiated claim that an $80 million bounty had been set for President Donald Trump (something apparently proposed by one eulogist at the funeral for Iranian Quds Force commander, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani).

Lopez commented on the post: "We'll do it for half." A representative for Lopez said it was a joke.

The Secret Service "is aware of the Tweet made by Mr. Lopez," a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement Tuesday. "The Secret Service takes all threats against the President and or any of our protectees seriously, and as a matter of practice, we do not comment on matters involving protective intelligence."

No one from the Secret Service has yet contacted Lopez, the comedian's representative said.

The agency routinely investigates threats made against presidents, and rarely says anything beyond being aware of such comments. (It's a violation of federal law to "knowingly and willfully" make "any threats to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States" or a successor.)

The Secret Service has released similar statements when other entertainers have made allusions to threatening Trump, such as when a Snoop Dogg music video released in March 2017 featured a clown that was a clear parody of the president being shot with a toy gun that released glitter and a banner that read "Bang!." In that case, Trump tweeted his outrage, drawing further attention to the depiction.

In May 2017, comedian Kathy Griffin posed for a photo shoot while holding a mask depicting Trump's bloody, severed head. Trump and his family forcefully denounced the image and CNN cut ties with Griffin, who faced wide and bipartisan condemnation. The comedian made a tearful apology, which she later retracted.

Actor Tom Arnold said two Secret Service agents visited him in 2018 after he challenged Trump on Twitter to a body-slamming contest. (He had also tweeted, "Next time Kathy won't be holding his fake head!")

Arnold, a former Trump friend turned foe, recorded the interview, and Mother Jones magazine viewed the videotapes. "You're a public figure," one agent said, according to the magazine. "But what we have to worry about is your type of audience and you say something inciting those that follow you."

Ted Nugent, a musician and conservative activist, sat with the Secret Service after comments he made at a 2012 National Rifle Association meeting, where he said "we need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November," referring to the Obama administration, and that "if Barack Obama becomes the next president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year." Nugent said he found the complaints "silly."

Lopez has attracted the ire of conservative media before. A prominent Mexican American comedian who grapples with identity in his material, Lopez has taken to criticizing Trump and his policies in his act. His 2017 HBO stand-up special is titled "The Wall," referring to the U.S.-Mexico border wall Trump promised to build on Mexico's dime.

In 2017, Lopez posted this joke on social media: "The Trump administration is deporting Latinos to make the streets safer. You wanna make the streets safer? Deport the police."

Fox News and other conservative outlets featured the joke, which helped stir up a backlash. The comedian deleted the post and followed it up with one joking about the rock band Police.

In the aftermath, Lopez and his family received numerous threats, he told NPR in 2017. And while he stood by the joke, Lopez emphasized that he supported law enforcement: "There are good cops and bad cops."

He also said there were lines of decency when it comes to comedy.

"Police brutality is not off-limits. You know? It can't be," he told the outlet. "Holding up a severed head of the president, would I do that? No. Would anybody that worked with me allow me to do that? No way."
WASHINGTON  Your pastor can park at his special space again without having to pay the federal church tax.

And your local charity can spend more time helping people rather than trying to figure out how to navigate federal tax forms.

Congress has conceded it made a mistake when it slipped the tax into a 2017 bill that was supposed to cut taxes. So as part of the fiscal 2020 budget agreement, the tax is gone.

In 2018 and 2019, the government imposed a 21% tax on parking benefits provided to employees by nonprofit and religious institutions, creating a financial and logistical nightmare for churches, schools and others across the country.

Some eliminated parking and transit pass benefits. Others had to add tens of thousands of dollars to their annual budgets, said Jan Masaoka, chief executive officer of the California Association of Nonprofits.

Some had to get creative. When one Los Angeles area nonprofit stopped reserving a space in its parking lot for its lead staff, a woman would put flower pots around the parking space to save it.

Some found they were spending more money to comply than they were paying in tax.

The Mississippi Alliance of Nonprofits and Philanthropy reported that it cost $400 in accountant fees to determine a tax liability of $17.

The repeal will mean refunds to those who have paid the tax. But it still has meant a huge burden for nonprofits.

Every nonprofit with employees who park at their place of work had to analyze this. They probably had to spend hundreds of dollars and hours of someones time to see if it applied, said Mike Batts, whose Orlando-based accounting firm specializes in nonprofits.

The repeal creates a potential new burden: Assessing how much of a refund is due. Batts figured that it could be costly again to figure that out, so many firms may just forget about it.

Religious institutions and nonprofits usually pay no income tax since they have no taxable income. And what made little sense to many was that the income tax was on an expense.

For some churches, synagogues, and mosques, this tax filing may have been their very first communication with the IRS, David Thompson, vice president of public policy at the National Council of Nonprofits, told a congressional hearing last year. He called the tax a raw nerve.

Nonprofits were stung particularly hard, because religious institutions could get a break if a majority of their parking spaces were for public use, a common practice. But nonprofits usually dont fit that requirement.

The typical charity is not geared for large audiences, Batts said.

The tax was created quietly as a way to partly offset the massive 2017 tax cuts. The church tax not only was poised to raise considerable revenue  an estimated $1.8 billion over 10 years, according to Congress Joint Committee on Taxation  but also fit snugly into the bills purpose: To cut reliance on smaller tax breaks while simplifying how businesses and individuals are taxed. Theres no estimate of how much has been paid in such taxes so far.

Republicans, who wrote the 2017 tax bill, wanted to curb the break businesses received for giving employees fringe benefits such as parking. Doing the same for nonprofits seemed reasonable.

But few in Congress, or anywhere else, seemed to notice during the writing of the legislation what was happening. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told McClatchy nonprofits were included because the bills authors were scraping together a million here and a billion there.

Once it became clear what was happening, nonprofits and their congressional allies mobilized. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, led an effort to repeal the tax.

Besides the expense, what was concerning is that requiring churches to file these forms was seen by money as the camels nose under the tent of government intrusion, said Galen Carey, vice president of government relations at the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents 40 denominations and 45,000 congregations.

A broad coalition of religious and nonprofit groups pushed hard for repeal. By congressional standards, it didnt take long.

You dont often see legislatures say they made a mistake, Masaoka said.



David Lightman of the McClatchy Washington Bureau wrote this story.

2020 McClatchy Washington Bureau

Visit the McClatchy Washington Bureau at www.mcclatchydc.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Democratic presidential hopeful former Vice President Joe Biden (L) and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders participate of the sixth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season co-hosted by PBS NewsHour & Politico at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California on December 19, 2019.

As 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls swarm early primary and caucus states, polls suggest at least four candidates have a real shot to claim the race's first two prizes.

Nominating contests start in Iowa on Feb. 3. New Hampshire votes about a week later, followed by Nevada and South Carolina in late February.

Iowa and New Hampshire, at least, appear unpredictable with just under a month to go. Polling averages in both states show Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., with an edge but in a virtual tie with former Vice President Joe Biden and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, according to RealClearPolitics. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sits not far behind the leaders in both contests.
After a 25-year-old man was allegedly beaten to death by a mob on suspicion of theft in Kabaiya village under Patarghat police station of Saharsa district on Monday, the police arrested one accused in the case on Wednesday.

The incident took place on late Monday evening, when the victim, identified as Sudhir Yadav, was returning to his village, Jirba. He was passing through Kabaiya village when some of the villagers spotted him and raised an alarm. Soon dozens of villagers gathered, tied him to a bamboo pole and thrashed him with rods and sticks till he died.

On Tuesday morning, someone informed the police about the incident and police rushed to the spot and sent the body to Saharsa district hospital for autopsy. We were informed about the incident on Tuesday, station house officer (SHO) Ajeet Kumar said. Police have lodged an FIR under relevant sections of Indian Panel Code (IPC) against nine persons of the village (Kabaiya), where incident took place on the basis of the complaint of victims wife.

He informed one person out of nine named in the FIR had already been arrested and police had launched a manhunt to nab the rest as all of them are at absconding.
No direct gas supplies from Russia discussed, but Ukraine has no legal restrictions for this  Naftogaz top manager

No agreements on direct supplies of natural gas from the Russian Federation to Ukraine exist today, Executive Officer of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy Yuriy Vitrenko said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine in Kyiv on Thursday.

"There are no new contracts, no new agreements, and even no process at present, at least on the part of Naftogaz. But on the other hand, I would say that, in principle, now there are no legislative restrictions for anyone to come to the operator and reserve entry capacities from the Russian Federation and thus begin to receive direct deliveries from the Russian Federation," he said.

The relevant information was also confirmed by the head of Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine LLC Serhiy Makogon.

"We have officially reserved capacities for Naftogaz to meet transit obligations to Gazprom. We have no other reservations. Moreover, no one has come up with such ideas," Makogon said.
A detective reviewed video of the robbery and noted that the suspect looked similar to Higgins' friend, whom The Times is not naming. The victim in the robbery also identified the suspect as Higgins' friend in a photo lineup.

When police presented a photo lineup to a witness in the Peluyera homicide, he also identified Higgins' friend as the shooter, the motion states.

Police relied on information from the Merrillville robbery case; the witness in the Peluyera homicide; Dukes, who told police he ran away as Higgins shot Peluyera; and the man identified as a possible suspect when they sought a search warrant for Higgins' home and charges against Higgins, records state.

However, in both cases, detectives omitted information that Higgins' friend  and not Higgins himself  had been identified as a possible suspect by a police detective and victim in the Merrillville robbery and by a witness in the Peluyera homicide, the motion states.

"No reasonably prudent person armed with the facts omitted here would believe there to be probable cause Garry Higgins had committed the crimes of murder and robbery," Woods wrote.
JNU protest LIVE updates: It has been four days since the JNU violence on Sunday unfolded, yet the authorities are nowhere close to nabbing the attackers. On Thursday, protests continued at the varsity and heavy police were deployed outside the main gate. Section 144 has been imposed outside Mandi House. Hundreds of demonstrators, including students and members of civil society organisations, hit the streets on Thursday demanding resignation of the varsity vice-chancellor. The protesters, carrying placards and banners, started a march from Mandi House towards the HRD Ministry. They shouted slogans demanding strict action against those involved in the campus violence of January 5 that left around 35 injured.

Protests across the nation have surged in the wake of the violence. Former minister Yashwant Sinha is planning to take out a march from Mumbai to New Delhi to condemn the several recent attacks on university students. Moreover, Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik will appear before the parliamentary standing committee for home affairs on January 13 over the violence at JNU and Jamia Millia Islamia.

Follow the latest updates on JNU protests here:

3:23pm: Protestors reach ministry of HRD's office

We have reached MHRD. We will sit peacefully. A delegation will go inside with our demands. Our first demand is clear - #VCHatao, JNU Bachao. pic.twitter.com/yI7Fpa8Joc JNUSU (@JNUSUofficial) January 9, 2020

3:20pm: Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik are scheduled to appear before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs on January 13 over the recent violence in JNU. The committee will be chaired by senior Congress leader Anand Sharma.

3:15pm: Delhi Police stops protesters near Shashtri Bhawan : The Delhi Police has stopped the march by students and members of civil society organisations near Shashtri Bhawan. CPI(M) leaders Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat and LJD leader Sharad Yadav also joined the march.

3:12pm: JNU violence 'officially sponsored goondaism', those behind it must be identified and arrested immediately: Congress

3:10pm: Deepika Padukone visited JNU for publicity, limelight, said Himanta Biswa Sarma, reported India Today.

3:05pm: JNU Vice Chancellor has set up a committee of 5 members to inquire into the whole incident of violence that took place on the campus on 5th January.

3:00pm: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal blamed the Centre for January 5 attack by masked mobs. Kejriwal defended Delhi Police saying that they did not get orders to stop violence on Sunday.

2:55pm: JNUSU raises slogan against VC

2:50pm: Manoj Tiwari takes out bike rally in Delhi: Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari flagged off a mega bike rally from the party office against the violence in JNU and "misuse" of youth by opposition political parties to push their agenda. BJP MPs Harsh Vardhan, Gautam Gambhir, Parvesh Verma and Meenakshi Lekhi likely to participate in the bike rally.

The bike rally was diverted to bypass Mandi House owing to a march by students and teachers in the area.

2:45pm: Congress' fact finding team to submit report of violence at JNU campus to interim chief Sonia Gandhi, according to IANS.

A day after the #Congress fact finding team visited #JawaharlalNehruUniversity (#JNU) campus, the four-member team will submit its report to party interim chief #SoniaGandhi. The report will also be discussed during the party's top decision making body #CWC meeting on Friday. pic.twitter.com/a51LpZvqyZ IANS Tweets (@ians_india) January 9, 2020

2:40pm: Delhi traffic updates:

Traffic was thrown out of gear in central Delhi due to vehicular restrictions owing to a protest march by students. Traffic was also affected as vehicles were diverted on Sansad Marg where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was attending a meeting at Niti Aayog.

Buses plying on the Rakabganj Road and Pant Marg were also re-routed.

Officials said both carriageways of Baba Gang Nath Marg from Nelson Mandela Marg and Aruna Asaf Ali Marg will remain shut till 8 pm due to students' demonstration.

Traffic Alert



Baba Gang Nath Marg is closed (both carriageways) by local police from Nelson Mandela Marg and Aruna Asaf Ali Marg due to demonstration. Delhi Traffic Police (@dtptraffic) January 9, 2020

2:33pm: JNU's student union tweeted saying that there president has reached Mandi House.

2:23pm: Hundreds march from Mandi House to HRD Ministry demanding removal of JNU VC: Several students and members of civil society organisations, hit the streets on Thursday protesting the recent violence at JNU and demanding resignation of the varsity vice-chancellor.

2:19pm: Against the backdrop of JNU violence, NCP chief Sharad Pawar says BJP-led central government is using "dictatorial" policies which need to be answered through the non-violent way of Mahatma Gandhi.

2:10pm: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal blamed the Centre on Thursday for not giving orders to Delhi Police to intervene.

2:02pm: According to a report in India Today, Delhi Police was informed of mob at 3pm but there was no additional force deployed till 7:45pm. Delhi Police said that there were forces stationed at JNU admin block as per the Supreme Court's order that said that there can't be any demonstration within its 100 metres. They said they were not authorised to intervene while students were being attacked at Periyar and Sabarmati hostels for two hours.

2:00pm: "JNU has formed a five-member committee to probe lapses in security, if any, during Sunday's violence," said university VC Jagadesh Kumar.

1:54pm: March begins from Mandi House to MHRD

1:50pm: JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh leads the protest march along with Sitaram Yechury.

1:47pm: More visuals from the protests.

Delhi: Protests continue in Jawaharlal Nehru University against the January 5 violence in the campus. pic.twitter.com/ReFcw4TxZn ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

1:45pm: CPI (M) leaders Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat have reached Mandi House to protest.

1:40pm: Protests outside JNU.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg delivers a speech during a press conference at the end of the North Atlantic Council meeting focused on the situation concerning Iran, at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on Jan. 6, 2020. (Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images)

NATO Announces Temporary Suspension of Training Mission in Iraq After Soleimani Death

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) announced Monday that it has temporarily suspended its training operations in Iraq to ensure the safety of its personnel, amid tensions in the Middle East after the Jan. 2 killing of Qassem Soleimani.

In everything that we do, the safety of our personnel is paramount, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels after a meeting of the North Atlantic Council. As such, we have for the time being suspended our training on the ground, and we are taking all precautions necessary to protect our people. We are keeping the situation under close review.

Stoltenberg noted that NATOs mission in Iraq is an important contribution to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, of which NATO and all NATO allies are a part.

We have suspended our training mission now because of the security situation on the ground. But we are ready to restart the training when the situation on the ground makes that possible, he said.

At the Iraqi governments request, NATO scaled up its training and advising efforts in Iraq after ISIS was hugely stamped out of the country in late 2017. NATO Mission Iraq (NMI) was later established in October 2018, after three years of war against ISIS.

NMI is a non-combat train-and-advise and capacity-building mission that seeks to strengthen Iraqi security forces and Iraqi military training institutions so that Iraqi forces can independently prevent the return of the ISIS terrorist group and help to stabilize the country. NMI includes up to several hundred trainers, advisers, and support staff from the 29 Allied countries as well as non-NATO partners such as Australia, Sweden, and Finland.

Stoltenberg said that the meeting of the North Atlantic Council involved the United States briefing allies on the regional situation after recent attacks on the United States and Iraqi troops in Iraq and Soleimanis death.

He said that NATO allies continue to express concern about Irans activities in the Middle East.

All Allies have, several times, expressed their concerns about Irans destabilizing activities in the region, including Irans support for different terrorist groups, he said. And, of course, all Allies agree that Iran should never be able to develop nuclear weapons. We have also expressed again and again our concerns about Irans missile program: missiles which can also reach many European Allied countries.

A new conflict would be in no ones interest, so Iran must refrain from further violence and provocations, Stoltenberg also said.

Separately, the German military said on Friday, Jan. 3, that the United States and its allies have suspended training of Iraqi forces under the U.S.led counter-terrorism mission known as Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) due to the increased threat in the Middle East region.

OIR, commanded by U.S. Lieutenant General Pat White, was set up in 2014 to counter the threat posed by ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and its mandate now includes operations to stabilize the region.

In a letter to German lawmakers seen by Reuters, Lieutenant-General Erich Pfeffer said White had decided to increase the level of protection for forces with OIR in Iraq. Germany has deployed around 120 troops to that mission.

Reuters contributed to this report.
The "Europe Automotive Polycarbonate Glazing Market 2019-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Market Outlook

This report has determined the Europe market for automotive polycarbonate glazing to proliferate at 7.79% of compound annual growth rate during the forecast years of 2019-2027.

The market for automotive polycarbonate glazing in France by the stringent regulations in the automotive industry with respect to carbon emissions. The French government introduced the Air Quality Emission Certificate in its efforts to decrease vehicular emission. The growing concerns related to the environment have generated pressure on automotive manufacturers to build lightweight, fuel-efficient vehicles. Thus, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have been focusing largely on technologies to facilitate the reduction in weight of automotives and reducing their carbon footprint, among others. The effects and standards set by the government encourage automotive manufacturers to adopt plans that would help reduce harmful emissions from the automotive sector.

Statistics from the International Organization of Motor Manufacturers suggest that 1.45 million new vehicles were sold in Spain in the year 2017, as compared to 0.93 million in 2011. The growing automotive sales in the country are expected to create a growth in demand for polycarbonate glazing. Polycarbonates in glazing are a popular choice as they help in reducing vehicular weight and improving fuel efficiency. The growing demand for polycarbonate glazing, thereby, fuels the growth of the automotive polycarbonate glazing market.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Automotive Polycarbonate Glazing Market Summary

2. Industry Outlook

2.1. Market Definition

2.2. Key Insights

2.2.1. Side Window Is A Rapidly Growing Application Of The Automotive Polycarbonate Glazing Market

2.2.2. Passenger Vehicle Has The Most Prominent Share In The Automotive Polycarbonate Glazing Market

2.2.3. Front Windshield Is The Largest Application

2.3. Porter'S Five Forces Analysis

2.3.1. Threat Of New Entrants

2.3.2. Threat Of Substitute

2.3.3. Bargaining Power Of Suppliers

2.3.4. Bargaining Power Of Buyers

2.3.5. Intensity Of Competitive Rivalry

2.4. Market Attractiveness Index

2.5. Vendor Scorecard

2.6. Key Buying Criteria

2.7. Market Drivers

2.7.1. Rising Popularity Of Lightweight Glazing

2.7.2. Strict Carbon Emission Rules Regulations Due To Climate Change

2.7.3. Increasing Application Of Sunroofs In Cars

2.8. Market Restraints

2.8.1. Regulations Related To The Use Of Polycarbonate For Windscreens

2.8.2. Increasing Cost Of Automotive Polycarbonate Glazing

2.9. Market Opportunities

2.9.1. Rising Trend Of The Electric Vehicle Market

2.9.2. Advancement In Automotive Designs

2.10. Market Challenges

2.10.1. Unstable Political And Territorial Situation

3. Automotive Polycarbonate Glazing Market Outlook By Vehicle Type

3.1. Passenger Vehicle

3.2. Commercial Vehicle

4. Automotive Polycarbonate Glazing Market Outlook By Application

4.1. Side Window

4.2. Front Windshield

4.3. Sunroof

4.4. Rear Windshield

4.5. Large Windscreen

4.6. Hydrophobic Glazing

4.7. Head-Up Display

4.8. Switchable Glazing

5. Automotive Polycarbonate Glazing Market Europe

5.1. United Kingdom

5.2. Germany

5.3. France

5.4. Spain

5.5. Italy

5.6. Russia

5.7. Rest Of Europe

6. Competitive Landscape

6.1. Chi Mei Corporation

6.2. Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.

6.3. Sabic

6.4. Engel Austria Gmbh

6.5. Teijin Ltd.

6.6. Webasto Se

6.7. Renias Co., Ltd.

6.8. Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.

6.9. Trinseo S.A.

6.10. Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation

6.11. Covestro Ag

6.12. Krd Sicherheitstechnik Gmbh

7. Research Methodology Scope

7.1. Research Scope Deliverables

7.1.1. Objectives Of Study

7.1.2. Scope Of Study

7.2. Sources Of Data

7.2.1. Primary Data Sources

7.2.2. Secondary Data Sources

7.3. Research Methodology

7.3.1. Evaluation Of Proposed Market

7.3.2. Identification Of Data Sources

7.3.3. Assessment Of Market Determinants

7.3.4. Data Collection

7.3.5. Data Validation Analysis

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ho4ex7

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005394/en/

Contacts:

ResearchAndMarkets.com

Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 10:28:40|Editor: ZX

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SYDNEY, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- An additional 1 billion Australian dollars (687 million U.S. dollars) was committed by the Australian state government of New South Wales (NSW) on Wednesday to help rebuild communities and infrastructure in the wake of devastating bushfires.

NSW has been the most badly affected by fires in Australia, with 20 people killed and close to 2,000 homes destroyed this season, representing the vast majority of nationwide losses.

State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that the funds would prioritise repairing and rebuilding key infrastructure such as roads, rail-lines, bridges, schools, health facilities and communications.

"This money will provide an immediate source of funding to ensure key infrastructure is restored so that communities can get back on their feet as soon as possible," she said.

Earlier this week the federal government allocated 2 billion Australian dollars (1.37 billion U.S. dollars) for fire relief across the country.

Berejiklian said that NSW's portion of that money would go directly to individuals, families businesses and local councils affected by the fires.

"The bushfire season is far from over but we know how important it is for communities to start the recovery process where possible," she said.

NSW officials had previously committed an additional 231 million Australian dollars (158 million U.S. dollars) in direct disaster assistance, including extra funding for firefighters, support for agriculture and small businesses, and mental health services.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Some MTA express buses are delayed because of a traffic jam on the Staten Island Expressway, Brooklyn-bound, during the Thursday morning rush hour.

Delays also are reported on the Outerbridge Crossing to Staten Island due to a crash, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Affected lines include the SIM2, SIM3, SIM4, SIM4X, SIM32, SIM33, SIM34, and SIM35, according to the MTA.

Early in the morning rush hour, traffic was backed up on both the West Shore Expressway, northbound, and Staten Island Expressway, Brooklyn bound.
Killoe / Newtownforbes Community Employment Project CLG wishes to recruit a Community Employment (CE) Scheme Supervisor on a full-time basis.



The closing date for applications for the role is Thursday, January 23, 2020 and here are all the details you need:

The duties of the post will include the planning and day to day running of the project objectives which comprises general maintenance of parklands, GAA Pitches, Community Centres landscaping horticultural and general works of an environmental nature and includes the following:

 Managing the accounting/administration requirements of the Scheme in line with Financial and Operation Guidelines issued by the Department of Employment Affairs & Social Protection (DEASP);

 Implementation of a structured on the job supervision and mentoring programme to ensure progression of CE participants;

 Maximising CE participants opportunities for employment, training and

development.

 Liaison with the DEASP, sub-sponsors as appointed from time to time to deliver an agreed work plan, public and private training providers and employers.

Essential requirements for the position:

1. A major third level qualification at National Framework of Qualification (NFQ)

Level 6 or higher in Business/ Financial Administration, Training, Human Resources, Project Management or related disciplines. Evidence of the award / qualification must be included with the application (i.e. photocopy of award or results).

2. At least 3 year's work experience in a supervisory capacity. Two employment

references will be sought from a successful applicant who is under consideration for appointment.

3. Own transport and a full valid B driving licence.

In assessing suitability for the post candidates must demonstrate that they have:

 The ability to prepare and implement a training programme for participants and knowledge of Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) and the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ);

 Knowledge of accounting/administration procedures;

 Knowledge and understanding of Health & Safety Regulations.

 Proficiency in the use of Information Technology (I.T.) software packages (e.g. MS Office).

The successful candidate will be required to obtain Garda vetting clearance.



The Salary will be in accordance with the grant funding set for the position by the DEASP.

Detailed Curriculum Vitae for the post including a copy of your Major Level 6 or higher award should be addressed to;

Po Box 55N, Longford Leader, Dublin Road, Longford

Closing date for Applications is Thursday, January 23 2020.

Candidates may be shortlisted for interview on the basis of information contained in the submitted C.V. Killoe/ Newtownforbes Community Employment Project CE Clg is an equal opportunities employer. Canvassing in any form will automatically disqualify. Appointment is subject to the approval by the DEASP which is funded by the Irish Government.
In a significant move to decongest city roads, Punjab governor and UT administrator VP Singh Badnore on Thursday approved UT administrations plan to restrict timings for heavy vehicles.

The restrictions (see box), already shared with the Punjab and Haryana governments, are planned to come into effect from February 1. A final notification from UT administration is awaited.

With all major traffic decongestion plans like metro, monorail, skybus and outer ring roads failing to take-off, the administrations move to restrict the movement of heavy vehicles will be its first major attempt to bring relief to city residents from traffic congestion, said a senior UT official, privy to the development.

The initial plan submitted by the Chandigarh traffic police in September last year only recommended the restriction of heavy vehicle movement to and from Zirakpur barrier and the Tribune Chowk during peak traffic hours.

But, the UT transport department insisted on preparation of a comprehensive traffic plan for all major city entry and exit points and even for the internal roads. It also asked the UT urban planning department to be involved in the traffic management plan, the official said.

The approved plan has two major components  one for heavy vehicles plying within the city, and another for heavy vehicles on inter-state routes entering and exiting the city.

Heavy vehicles on the inter-state routes will be banned on four major city entry and exit points from 8.30am to 10.30am and 5pm to 8pm, which are peak traffic hours.

Within the city, there will be a ban on heavy vehicle movement from 6am to 11pm on all internal roads (V-2, V-3, V-4, V-5, V-6) within Sectors 1 to 56.

The senior superintendent of police (traffic), all sub-divisonal magistrates and deputy superintendents of police (traffic) will have the authority to accord permission to ply any vehicles during the restricted hours to meet any emergent and special need and for household goods.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Associated Press.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle said in a surprise statement on January 8 that they intended to step back as senior members of Britains royal family. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced this on Instagram page.

After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. We intend to step back as senior members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen. It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment, the message says.

They also said that they plan to live in two houses - in Britain and the United States, continuing to support Queen Elizabeth.

We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages. This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity. We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support, the text says.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle did not give a reason for their decision. However, in September they talked about how difficult it is for them to be in the center of constant attention.

As it was reported earlier, Prince Harry filed a lawsuit against the owners of the tabloids Sun, Daily Mirror and News of the World now nonexistent over the alleged wiretapping.
Stopping Somalia's pirates by building a fishing industry

by Stephanie Bailey

January 09,2020 | Source: CNN

At the peak of the problem, in 2011, there were 237 incidents of piracy off Somalia and the Gulf of Aden (the sea separating Somalia and Yemen), accounting for more than half of all such incidents worldwide. The pirates would often hold shipping crews hostage for ransom. Somali piracy cost an estimated $6.6 billion in 2011 in international naval activities, maritime security, insurance and other costs. A couple of years earlier, a group of Danish businessmen and journalists decided they might be able to help. They founded an NGO called FairFishing to "turn Somali pirates into fishermen" and improve lives on the Horn of Africa by building up local businesses and creating jobs in sustainable fishing. They weren't alone in seeing the potential of Somalia's fishing industry. The country has the longest coastline in Africa and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates it has the potential to sustainably catch 200,000 tons of fish per year, over six times more than the most recent catch estimates.



'Why aren't they fishermen?'



"The idea was created 10 years ago when there was a lot of piracy out of Africa's Horn," said Claus Bindslev, co-founder and chairman of FairFishing. "We were some guys in Denmark talking about why are they pirates? Why aren't they fishermen?" The outbreak of civil war in 1991, a tsunami in 2004 and severe droughts led to unemployment, criminal activity and food insecurity around the Horn of Africa, Bindslev explained. "All the men who had been at sea went to the civil war," said Bindslev. "Therefore, all the experience and all the know-how about catching fish in the local communities disappeared. So, we have a whole new generation and older people who don't know anything about fish." The UN estimates exports of fishery products earned Somalia $15 million in 1989, but "the civil war arrested the steady growth of this trade." The collapse in the rule of law also opened up Somali waters to unregulated fishing from foreign vessels, which many Somali fishermen blamed for reducing their catch and driving them towards piracy.



The FairFishing model



FairFishing operates in two semi-autonomous regions of Somalia, Somaliland and Puntland. The first step it takes is to sell ice to fishermen, so that they can keep their fish fresh, says Bindslev. "Then the price for a fish rises from around 50 cents to $2 from the station and between $4 and $6 from the market because it is cool and clean," he said. The NGO says it now works with more than 25 fishing businesses, which collectively own more than 50 boats and 20 shops. One business that buys ice from FairFishing is Berbera Tannery, which has 10 boats and more than 70 employees. Its daily catch ranges between 850 kilograms (1,874 pounds) and 1,300 kilograms (2,866 pounds) and the ice allows it to keep fish fresh long enough to sell in the neighboring country of Djibouti, says the company. "FairFishing is very important," said Mohammed Yusuf, Berbera Tannery's managing director. "Fishing helps Somaliland to create jobs. All of our boats are registered in Somaliland and all our fishermen are from Somaliland."



As well as ice, FairFishing provides equipment and runs educational programs for local chefs, fish vendors, fishermen and women householders. A $3.3 million grant from the European Union in 2016 helped the NGO fund four coastal fishery stations, three fish markets and a boat workshop, the first of its kind in Somaliland. A report by Nordic Consulting Group published in January 2019 found the NGO helps support the livelihoods of around 2,000 to 3,000 people in the fishing industry. It says the average monthly income for boat owners has increased from $264 in 2012 to $1,288 in 2018. Crew members have seen their salaries increase more than 300% in the same period.



A decline in piracy



The number of pirate attacks off the Horn of Africa has fallen dramatically since 2011, with eight reported attacks in 2017 and just three in 2018. The International Maritime Bureau says Somali pirates have been deterred by a combination of factors, including an increased presence of international navies, the use of private armed security teams, and "the stabilizing influence of Somalia's central government." Last year, for the first time in two decades, offshore fishing licenses were issued by the Somali government for foreign and domestic vessels. Over $1 million was collected and the funds are expected to be reinvested into the domestic fishing sector, according to the World Bank. Bindslev believes a growing fishing industry has also made piracy less attractive. By 2021, FairFishing is hoping that turnover among Somali fishers, chefs and street kitchen owners will have grown to $10 million, says Bindslev. "My vision is to create peace and business with fish," he said. "Then show the world we can do good things in very fragile places."

Theme(s): Post Harvest Technology and Trade, Coastal Ecosystems and Threats, Fisheries Resources, Fisheries Development and Aquaculture, Landing Centres, Others, Communities and Organisations, Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods, Freshwater ecosystems and threats.
Shares in NMC Health plunged in trading on Wednesday after some of the companys biggest shareholders sold a major stake in the under-fire hospital builder.

The companys value on the London stock exchange dropped by 15% on the news that Saeed Mohamed Butti Mohamed Khalfan Al Qebaisi, and Khaleefa Butti Omair Yousif Ahmed Al Muhairi have sold 15% of the companys shares.

After the sale Mr Al Qebaisi will still own 4.7% in NMC Health directly, and Mr Al Muhairi will keep a 12.5% shareholding.

The two investors also jointly own a 7% stake in the business through an investment company.

The sale was run by Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank.

It comes after a turbulent time for the company which builds and operates hospitals in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Late last year Muddy Waters, a short seller, issued a stinging report into the company.

NMC denies the allegations thrown at it by Muddy Waters, but has not been able to avoid a reaction from shareholders, who have sent the companys value down by more than half since the report came out less than a month ago.

Muddy Waters accused NMC of understating its debt by around 320 million dollars (244 million), and questioned the independence of independent board members.

We are unsure how deep the rot at NMC goes, but we do not believe that its insiders or financials can be trusted, the short seller said in December.

The company has started an independent review into its finances.

Between them Mr Al Qebaisi and Mr Al Muhairi have also sold a 6% stake in Finablr.

The payments and foreign exchange company, which was set up by NMC founder and billionaire Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, has also faced serious trouble at its subsidiary Travelex.

The company is being held to ransom by hackers who got into its systems on New Years Eve.

The hackers are demanding six million dollars (4.6 million).
Teams have until noon Friday to exchange salary numbers with players eligible for arbitration. This includes New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge, who could become the fifth player to earn at least $10 million in his first year of eligibility.

According to MLB.com, Judge would join Kris Bryant ($10.85 million in 2018), Francisco Lindor ($10.55 million, 19), Mookie Betts ($10.5 million, 17) and Ryan Howard ($10 million, 08). Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Cody Bellinger also is expected to crack the $10 million plateau this winter.

However Judge reaching an arbitration is no sure thing. Per MLB.com:

Given his importance to the Yankees, it would be strange to see the club take Judge to a hearing. The last time the Yankees took a player to a hearing was 2017, when the club beat Dellin Betances, who received $3 million rather than the $5 million he sought. The aftermath of that hearing turned ugly when team president Randy Levine made public comments that called out the reliever for what he felt was an unreasonable ask.

Buy Yankees tickets: StubHub, SeatGeek, PrimeSport

Here are the projected numbers for notable Yankees eligible for arbitration, as well as their 2019 salaries, per Spotrac:

Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rosenstein73. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Some BJP workers created ruckus on Wednesday at a college here while seeking support for the amended Citizenship Act by raising slogans like 'Go back to Pakistan' outside the campus on Wednesday, as girl students opposed a pro-CAA banner on the wall of their institution.

A video of the incident went viral on the social media.

A group of BJP workers, supporters of local party leader M M Govindaraj, had put up a poster "India Supports CAA" on the wall of Jyothi Nivas College near Koramangala.

This was opposed by girl students, who said they would not allow any such poster to be put up on the college property.

The BJP workers then tried to shout down the students.

"You are not concernedabout the citizenship, you are concerned about yourself. You should be concerned about India first. You are not an Indian then," a BJP worker is heard screaming at the girls in the video.

They also questioned the students if they had valid reasons to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Act and sought to know whether they wanted an argument or a debate.

The BJP workers purportedly told the girls that they were only the students of the college and not the owner.

"What's your problem madam with the CAA? Are you the owner of the college?" they asked.

Amid the heated argument, the BJP workers resorted to sloganeering like 'We want CAA' and "Go back to Pakistan', as seen in another video shot by the students.

BTM Layout Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy visited the college on Thursday after learning about the incident and spoke to its management.

Later, he told reporters that the campus should not be allowed for any political activities.

"Any signature campaign whether in favour or against it (CAA) should be done outside the campus," Reddy said.

He cautioned the pro-CAA protesters he will not let any violent incidents like the one at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi happen at the city college.

Reddy's daughter Sowmya Reddy, who is the Jayanagar MLA, tweeted, "A few videos & photos of outside #JyotiNivascollege are being circulated on social media."



"MLA Ramalinga Reddy & I have spoken to cops and the Prinicipal about this incident. Spoke to DCP South East Bengaluru and she said that Koramangala cops went there immediately & they are picketing even now," she added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The bills to extend the retirement age from 60 to 64 years for the chiefs of army, navy and air force, and the chairman of the joint chief of staff committee sailed through the Senate or the upper house despite protests from minor parties, Geo News said. Under the banner of the South Asians Against Terrorism and For Human Rights (SAATH) Forum, the group on Wednesday voiced concern at the manner in which the ...

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U.S. Supreme Court associate justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke at the National Museum of American Jewish History in December. Read more

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has declared that she is "cancer-free," beating the disease for the fourth time after undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer in the summer.

The 86-year-old justice, one of the oldest to serve on the Supreme Court, offered the health update to CNN in an interview in her chambers Tuesday evening.

Im cancer-free. Thats good, Ginsburg said, with CNN reporting that she was sounding energized and speaking animatedly.

Ginsburgs intensive radiation treatment for a malignant tumor on her pancreas in August had followed a diagnosis of lung cancer at the end of 2018 that resulted in the removal of part of her left lung and forced her to miss oral arguments for the first time in 25 years on the bench.

The feminist icon appeared in public shortly after her August treatment, telling a rapturous crowd at the National Book Festival in Washington that "this audience can see that I am alive."

But the back-to-back health scares worried Democrats who don't want her voice replaced on the nation's highest court with a conservative one nominated by President Donald Trump.

The court is split 5-4 in favor of Republican-appointed justices. If Trump were to fill another open seat, it would cement the Supreme Court as right-leaning for generations.

Ginsburg's fans, many of whom call her the "Notorious RBG" and have her likeness as action figures, tattoos and on ugly Christmas sweaters, celebrated the news of her clean bill of health on social media.

"I swear, this woman is made of some magical stuff! #RBG," @dr_seminnis wrote on Twitter.

"A rare piece of good news in this day & age! #RBG," @PettyBettyBB tweeted.

Ginsburg beat cancer for the first time in 1999 when she was diagnosed with colon cancer and again in 2009 when she was treated for pancreatic cancer.

She told CNN in 2018 that she believed she had at least five more years on the court.


Norwich priest sees climate devastation in Ethiopia Norwich priest sees climate devastation in Ethiopia

Thanks to Christian Aid, a Norwich priest has seen first-hand how climate change is already devastating lives in Ethiopia. Rev Dr Fiona Haworth reports.

Like many others this year, I have been impressed and encouraged by the school strikes and the passion and urgency of young people raising awareness of the climate emergency. The climate emergency can seem remote; I am aware that our climate is changing, but it has little impact on my day-to-day life. I am grateful to Christian Aid for enabling me to see first-hand the way in which climate change is already devastating lives in Ethiopia.



We travelled to Ethiopia at the beginning of October, where we met the dedicated and impressive staff of Christian Aid Ethiopia. Our time was spent in some of the most remote and isolated areas in the South Eastern Peoples Region, close to the border with Kenya. My chief impressions of the journey south were the numbers of people, mostly women and children, spending large parts of each day collecting water from rivers.



At every stage of our journey we passed children of around nine or older carrying the ubiquitous 20-litre yellow jerrycans. Collecting water requires significant amounts of time, often meaning children cannot attend school. More shocking still were the people digging down into dried riverbeds to find their daily water. Eighty per cent of people in Ethiopia have no access to safe, clean drinking water.



One day saw us journeying out into a desert region. The people were tribal and kept herds of cattle and goats which provided food and an income. Historically the people lived with a 10-year cycle of drought, but now the droughts come every two to three years. A particularly severe drought lasting one and a half years exacerbated by the El Nino effect occurred in 2016/17.



To provide water, Christian Aid and their partner Action For Development have worked with local groups to provide water collection systems. Villages set up Water Management groups and built a large catchment area to catch rain in the rainy season. Water drains down the slope of the catchment area into a 250,000-litre cistern, from where it can be hand-pumped into jerrycans for use in homes. The pumps are restricted to those in the village.



Close by, a large barn has been constructed by the villagers to store fodder for the cattle. As the rains become more and more unpredictable, the grazing is scarce, and a new invasive weed unpalatable to livestock smothers the growth of grass when the rains come. It is harder and harder to find grazing, and men and boys are taking their cattle further away to feed.



Competition for the scarce grazing inevitably leads to conflict. The fodder is used for the milking cows and ploughing oxen which are left in the villages with the women and children to provide food. The government is providing drought-resistant Sudan grass seed which is planted in hand-cleared areas and harvested for fodder.



Life is very hard. The 2016/17 drought saw hundreds of thousands of animals lost, forcing their owners to survive on government handouts. People are immensely grateful for the support offered by Christian Aid and AFD, but also very concerned for the communities that have not yet benefited. Good practice is already spreading though, with other communities storing fodder to provide for their animals when there is no grass.



We asked what the farmers would say to the people causing climate change, and they responded: "We are human beings. We are dying due to your impact. Our children are dying. Our livestock are dying. While we wait for the irrigation system we are dying. We are human beings. Please consider your impact on us pastoralists."



Fiona will be sharing more about her trip at a Christian Aid Climate Justice event at St Lukes in Norwich on Saturday 14 March. Please book a free ticket here.





The pictures show Rev Dr Fiona Haworth, and Christian Aid's Julian Bryant meeting pastoralists in Ethiopia

Rev Fiona Haworth is Associate Priest at St Peter Mancroft and Coordinator of the Diocese of Norwich Ministry Experience Scheme


The Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths on Tuesday arrested a 37-year-old Cameroon national for trying to cheat people with currency doubling scheme.

The accused has been identified as Jaquas Deva Louis Kit, a resident of Shakti Nagar in Hennur.

The Cameroonian national came under the scanner of the police through Andhra Pradesh resident Vinay Kumar, who went to the CCB office and informed AP Kumar, police inspector of the Special Enquiry squad, about Kit's money doubling offer.

Kit contacted Vinay, who was deep in debt, over the phone a month ago and offered to provide him twice the amount of fake currency in exchange for genuine Indian currency notes.

After the two met, Kit told Vinay to get him Rs 1 lakh worth genuine currency in exchange for Rs 2.5 lakh of fake notes. To convince Vinay, Kit gave Vinay a Rs 2000 fake note almost resembling a genuine note.

Kit told Vinay that he was getting notes worth around Rs 2 crore from his country and asked Vinay to arrange Rs 50 lakh to get Rs 1 crore in return.

The police made Vinay call Kit to arrange the meet following which a team of officials went with Vinay to Hennur.

Vinay gave Rs 10,000 to Kit as told by the police but Kit refused to give the fake notes, asking Vinay to get Rs 1 lakh more if he wanted to conclude the deal. Vinay returned empty-handed and told Kumar about the details of the meet.

Subsequently, CCB officials detained Kit in his house. A senior officer of the CCB said Kit had 300 pieces of white paper cut according to the size of Rs 2000 Indian currency note. The police also recovered the Rs 10,000 which Vinay had given to Kit earlier.

Kit told the police that he had come to India on a tourist visa two years back but had lost his passport and his visa had also expired.

The accused also revealed that he randomly contacted people over the phone and baited them with the money doubling offer.

"We have registered a case against him in Hennur police station under the Foreigners Act and IPC section 420  cheating. He will be further booked for overstaying," the officer added.

According to the police, Vinay wanted the fake currency as he had lost all his money and property on horse race betting. He was under a debt of Rs 40 lakh.

So in order to make quick money and clear his debts, Vinay showed interest in Kit's offer, the police said.

The police said that Kit had given Vinay a genuine Rs 2000 note, saying it was fake to make Vinay believe him and later con him.
Actor Ishaan Khatter has claimed that he isnt a kleptomaniac but has confessed stealing a pillow for his Dhadak co-star Janhvi Kapoor on her request. Ishaan appeared on Neha Dhupias radio show No Filter Neha and made the revelation about his bond with Janhvi. The two have been rumoured to be in relationship ever since they shot for their film, Dhadak. Ishaan said, I stole a pillow for Janhvi Kapoor in Oman as she couldnt do it.

Ishaan also participated in a quiz on the show which required him to make a choice. He chose Janhvi as a better actor than her counterpart Sara Ali Khan. On being asked if he would like to chose a promising future for either himself or Janhvi, he chose her and said, I wish a more promising future for her and she can chose a more promising future for me.

While Ishaan made it clear that he was single, he didnt shy away from expressing his love for best friend Siddhant Chaturvedi. The actor also took part in a game where he was asked to name a gift he would like to give his industry friends on Christmas. He said he would like to give Janhvi a Polaroid camera and wants to gift Siddhant a parachute so he doesnt fall too hard for anyone.

Ishaan, however, went on to name Sonam Kapoor as more stylish than Janhvi. He also chose Tabu as a better co-actor than the Dhadak actor. Ishaan will be seen sharing the screen space with Tabu in Mira Nairs adaption of Vikram Seths novel, A Suitable Boy.

Also read: Ishaan Khatter on how he enters Shahid Kapoors house: Remove shoes then go in real quiet, usually you do a headstand

Ishaan and Janhvi made their Bollywood debut with Dhadak in 2018. Ishaan had earlier starred in Majid Majidis Beyond The Clouds and will now be seen in a film on the book, A Suitable Boy. He will also be seen opposite Ananya Panday in the film, Khaali Peeli.

Janhvi also has a bouquet of big projects in her kitty. She has wrapped up the shooting of Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, in which she plays the title role. She is currently working on Roohi Afzana with Rajkummar Rao and has been chosen to play the female lead in Kartik Aaryan starrer, Dostana 2. She is also part of an ensemble cast in Karan Johars period drama, Takht.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
UK retailers Christmas sales were hit by brutal price pressure and the shift to e-commerce, rounding out their worst year on record.

Marks & Spencer, Tesco, and John Lewis Partnership provided further evidence of the tough climate facing the UKs department stores and supermarkets with generally downbeat Christmas sales updates.

The latest reports confirm fears that UK retailers would suffer as discounters, the rise of online shopping, and political turmoil took their toll.

The British Retail Consortium, a trade group, said the 0.1% drop in the industrys revenue in 2019 was the worst performance it has recorded.

It compared with a 1.2% increase in 2018, while sales at stores operating for at least a year declined 0.5%, the business group said.

M&S shares fell as much as 11% after it said gross margins will be around the lower end of its guidance for the year after Christmas holiday sales at the long-struggling clothing and home unit were weaker than the consensus.

The shares closed 9% lower on the day.

Tescos revenue dropped on a comparable basis as a weaker performance in central Europe masked growth in the UK that came ahead of expectations.

John Lewis warned that it might not pay a bonus to its employee-owners after a drop in revenue.

And Paula Nickolds, the managing director of its department store division, is leaving.

Marks & Spencer stock has lost more than half its value after dropping in each of the past five years. Menswear and lower gift sales held back the companys clothing unit.

M&S has been trying to turn around its business for the past decade, and its latest efforts are being led by chairman Archie Norman and chief executive Steve Rowe.

Mr Rowe said the weakness in Christmas sales was largely due to one-time issues such as the menswear performance and waste in the food unit.

The changes we made earlier in the year in clothing have arrested the worst of the issues of the first six months and we are progressively building a much stronger team for the future, he said in a statement.

Food performed better at Marks & Spencer, helped by investments in the product range and price cuts.

Morrison Supermarkets and Sainsbury gave trading updates earlier this week. While Morrison acknowledged that its lacklustre sales were partly its own fault  it failed to take part in Black Friday sales this year  Sainsburys performance was fairly robust.

Next, the first UK retailer to update the market last week, also beat market expectations.

The departure of Mr Nickolds at John Lewis follows that retailers decision announced in June to name UK former telecom regulator Sharon White as its next chairman. The companys department-store operations have been hit especially hard by the growth of Amazon and other online retailers.

Paula and I have discussed where we are and we have agreed this is the right time for her to move on and we have reached that decision together, departing chairman Charlie Mayfield said

Profit for the year will be substantially lower, Mr Mayfield said. Scrapping the vaunted staff bonus would be an important symbolic blow after the company had clung to small payouts in recent years even as earnings weakened.

Tesco shares rose as much as 2.1% and closed around 1% higher in the session.

Bruno Monteyne, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein, called the chains UK results a material outperformance compared to rivals.

Still, the company only eked out 0.1% growth in Britain over Christmas.

In a subdued UK market, we performed well, delivering our fifth consecutive Christmas of growth, said Tesco chief Dave Lewis, who will be leaving the grocer this year.

Bloomberg
"Memorist" will particularly mark the reunion of both actors Yoo Seung Ho and Lee Se Young, who had previously worked together way back 2012 on the drama titled "I Miss You."

This January 9, tvN has revealed the photos of stars Yoo Seung Ho, Lee Se Young, Jo Sung Ha, Go Chang Suk, Jun Hyosung, Yoon Ji On, and more that are present at the drama's first script reading.

The producers of "Memorist" stated that everyone can safely look forward to the skillful acting and chemistry displayed by the cast. And to add they are the ones who are making the unique characters of the tightly-written original webtoon even more exciting as they bring them to life.

We are all very excited to watch the drama "Memorist". It is currently scheduled to air this March 2020.

The story of this drama is based on the hit webtoon with the same title "Memorist". This drama is a mystery thriller that centers on the life of Dong Baek. His character is a detective gifted with supernatural powers. He gained this power when he was still in high school. This gift is whenever he touches a person, he can read their memory. Soon he reveals his memory reading ability to other people and used it as he became a detective. His goal is to catch as many criminals as possible.

On the other hand, Han Sun Mi is a genius profiler in this drama. Together they will join forces to fight crime and hunt down dangerous serial killers.

Dong Baek's character is not like other fictional heroes who try their best to hide their identities, Dong Baek's who has the ability to scan memories openly makes his powers know to everybody around him as fights crimes and evil.

Here's some additional info about the drama "Memorist"

Memorist" takes over tvN's Wed. & Thu. 21:30 time slot previously taken by the drama "Money Game." The story is based on webcomic "Memorist" by Jae Hoo (published from October 15, 2016, to January 20, 2018, by Daum Webtoon Company). The first script reading of this drama took place on December 2, 2019, in South Korea.

Cast

Yoo Seung-Ho as Dong Baek

Lee Se-Young as Han Sun-Mi

Cho Seong-Ha as Lee Shin-Woong

Ko Chang-Seok as Koo Kyung-Tan

Jun Hyo-Seong as Kang Ji-Eun

Yun Ji-On as Oh Se-Hoon

Son Kwang-Eop as Byeon Young-Soo

Kim Yun-Hee as Jung Mi-Ja

Lim Se-Joo as Lee Seul-Bi

Jung Ha-Joon as Hwang Bong-Kook

Kim Seo-Kyung as Im Chil-Kyu

Mung Jung-Ki as Kwon Won-Jang

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Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force, spoke today about Irans retaliation for the killing of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani.

Hajizadeh first addressed a topic under debate by many analysts and Iran observers: whether Iran intended to kill American troops stationed at Ain al-Asad base in Iraq in the missile attack. We could have targeted their lodging, Hajizadeh said of US troops stationed at the base. But we were not after killing individuals. We were determined to damage the war machine and their command and control center. He claimed that the main control center at the base was destroyed in the attack.

A number of Iranian media outlets also have reported US dead and wounded, though the United States denies suffering casualties. An article for the Tasnim News Agency claims that the number of those killed and injured will soon be revealed. Hajizadeh reiterated the claim that tens were killed and injured but added, We could have designed the operation such that in the first step there could have been 500 deaths.

Hajizadeh said, Damaging American air bases or downing their airplanes or even killing [President Donald] Trump do not have that much value. The real value of the blood of martyrs is  as the supreme leader said  the complete expulsion of America from the region.

Hinting that the transnational groups that Iran supports would be involved in expelling the United States from the region, Hajizadeh encouraged regional governments to pressure the United States to leave. It is natural that people and resistance groups will work to expel the Americans, he said. I hope that governments are proactive, just as the government of Iraq and its parliament passed a bill to expel American forces. Otherwise, the people will expel the Americans through force.

Hajizadeh gave the speech standing in front of the flags of Iran, the IRGC and various transnational groups they support, including Lebanons Hezbollah, Yemens Ansar Allah (the Houthis), Iraqs Popular Mobilization Units, Palestinian Hamas, the Afghan Fatemiyoun and the Pakistani Zainabiyoun. The last two groups are involved in fighting in Syria.

Hajizadeh said that Iran had expected retaliation after its missile strike. Comparing it to previous attacks on Islamic State bases, Hajizadeh said, In previous operations against terrorist bases like Daesh we did not expect a confrontation, but Operation Martyr Soleimani was against the Americans. He continued, After World War II not even a bullet was fired in their direction, saying that Iran had prepared for war and a much more widespread attack once the United States retaliates. He added that though Iran launched 13 missiles, it has prepared hundreds more in case of US retaliation.

Hajizadeh also claimed that immediately after the missile attack began, Iran conducted a cyber attack against the navigation systems of American aircrafts and drones. Fifteen minutes after the operation a large electronic operation was done and [the United States] lost control of its drones for moments, he said. This action was a psychological blow to them.
San Antonio police arrested a man who they accuse of trafficking his wife for several years.

Jose Sanchez Davila, 39, was charged Thursday with human trafficking for allegedly transporting his then-wife to various locations and forcing her into sex acts.

Davila advertised the victim on websites with a price for prostitution, according to Chief William McManus.

Davila was very abusive to his wife, McManus said, doing things to her that are just unimaginable.

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His wife, 34, has since divorced Davila, with whom she has children.

San Antonio police were first made aware of the case when the woman reported the trafficking in August, McManus said. They were unable to find corroborating evidence at the time, but recently located someone willing to testify against Davila.

It took us this long to find someone who would corroborate the human trafficking charges, McManus said.

The investigation, conducted by the Special Victims Unit, involved the woman taking police to one of the places where she said she was trafficked. There, police found an individual involved in the crime.

As we locate other people who participated in this crime, we will bring further charges, McManus said. Not only against Mr. Davila but also the individuals who engaged in sex with the victim.

The chief noted it was appropriate that SAPD had made the arrest during Human Trafficking Month.

Victims of sex trafficking are subject to controlling behavior by their traffickers, McManus said, to the point where they dont speak or make eye contact.

The husband threatened her in a variety of ways which made her fearful  fearful enough not to leave the situation, he added.

McManus acknowledged that a person unaware of the dynamics involved may question why the victims dont simply leave their traffickers.

Its not that easy, he said.

Mark Dunphy is a breaking news reporter and general assignment writer. Read him on our breaking news site, MySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | mark.dunphy@express-news.net | @m_b_dunphy
The corporation will now be spending Rs 60 lakh on each flyover to increase the size of crash barriers, to lay rumble strips, signages and signboards

HYDERABAD: The GHMC has yet again resorted to wasting public money for rectification of flawed flyovers got designed by it for the city.

The corporation will now be spending Rs 60 lakh on each flyover to increase the size of crash barriers, to lay rumble strips, signages and signboards.

The engineering wing blames citizens for the additional expenditure. Its officials claim that changes on existing 37 flyovers and 20 others to be constructed under the Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP) will now need to be carried out in accordance with recommendations made by the expert committee, which has been constituted after a series of accidents on the Biodiversity flyover.

A senior engineering official said rubber rumble strips and view blockers have been set up. Speed guns to detect overspeeding have been placed and a speed limit of 40 km per hour set for drivers and motorists. There will be fines for stopping on the flyover for taking selfies and also for overspeeding. The official said following the committees recommendations, the GHMC placed curtain view cutters on either side to block views. He said that the various additions and changes made have cost `60 lakh on the single flyover. The same will be applicable to all 37 flyovers in the city.

Since citizens have been creating ruckus over the design flaws and safety on the flyover on social media platforms and various other mediums, the corporation has decided to address them. This is despite all flyovers being constructed in accordance with standards.
MOSCOW - Western leaders sketched out Thursday what they say was the fate of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 - apparently downed by an Iranian missile, possibly fired by mistake, as the plane with 176 people aboard climbed above Tehran's outskirts.

The assessments - based on intelligence reports from the United States, Canada and elsewhere - were met with quick dismissals from Iran and suggested deepening divides over the unfolding investigation of Wednesday's crash, which killed all aboard.

In Ottawa, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said intelligence analyses indicated that a surface-to-air missile hit the plane in what could have been an "unintentional" act.

In Washington, U.S. officials expressed "high confidence" that the Boeing 737-800, bound for the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was targeted by air-defense systems as Iranian forces were on high alert. President Donald Trump said the downing of the aircraft was probably a "mistake."

Trudeau's comments - as his nation mourned 63 Canadians on the flight and dozens of others with links to the country - came after U.S. officials said the plane was apparently hit by a SA-15 surface-to-air missile, part of a Russian-made air defense system also known as a Tor system.

The U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, offered no other details on the circumstances that led to the possible missile firing Wednesday, which came about four hours after Iran launched ballistic missiles into Iraq against U.S. targets in retaliation for the killing of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.

Iran has repeatedly rejected theories of a missile strike. A military spokesman on Wednesday called it "ridiculous." Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency labeled the claims Thursday a "psychological operation" waged by the Pentagon.

As Western officials built their case, it was unclear whether Iran would publicly acknowledge the direction of the probe or offer further details on the minutes after the flight left the runway, rose toward 8,000 feet, then burst into flames without a distress call.

And with the region on edge, Iranian military leaders could be put in a difficult spot, with commanders left to face possible questions about procedures or even the locations of antiaircraft sites.

Trudeau, speaking to reporters, said the missile-strike conclusion was based on "intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence."

"The evidence indicates the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. This may well have been unintentional," he said, without giving further details.

Trump, speaking Thursday at the White House, also said the passenger jet could have been downed in error. "Well, I have my suspicions," he said. "I don't want to say that, because other people have those suspicions also. . . . Somebody could've made a mistake on the other side."

"Some people say it was mechanical," Trump added. "Personally, I don't think that's even a question."

In London, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson joined the growing consensus around the missile strike. He cited a "body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile."

The Washington Post obtained a video that allegedly shows the moment the airliner is struck in midair. The video, first published by the New York Times, purportedly shows a missile intercepting the aircraft, followed by a loud boom.

Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 showed the Ukrainian airliner taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport in a northwesterly direction before losing contact near the suburb of Parand.

Michael Elleman, director of the Non-proliferation and Nuclear Policy Program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the general area about 12 miles northwest of Tehran's airport is known to be filled with Iranian missile facilities, which could have been protected by antiaircraft systems. The Iranian government may have suspected the missile sites could be targets for a retaliation by the United States.

The Tor system dates to the Cold War and can target planes, helicopters, drones or incoming missiles. Russia has exported the system to a number of countries, including Iran in 2005. It is designed to hit targets in the short-to-medium range.

- - -

A team of 45 experts and search-and-rescue personnel from Ukraine arrived in Tehran early Thursday to participate in the probe, as well as to identify and repatriate the bodies of the 11 Ukrainians aboard, including all nine crew members.

Before the U.S. and Canadian statements, Ukrainian investigators had said they were also looking at a range of theories - including the possibility of antiaircraft fire.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, wrote on Facebook that his team wants to search for possible debris of the Tor air-defense missile, after seeing online reports about the discovery of possible fragments of one near the crash site.

Ukraine is familiar with the risks that antiaircraft weapons can pose to civilian aircraft in times of conflict.

In July 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was downed by a missile shot from a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile system from rebel territory in Ukraine's east. The attack on the Boeing 777, which was passing over the conflict zone while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killed all 298 people aboard.

A joint investigative team from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine identified a Russian military unit in charge of the antiaircraft missile system and has pursued prosecution of Russian and Ukrainian citizens allegedly involved. Russia has denied any involvement in the incident.

Danilov said that Ukraine's investigative commission for the Tehran crash includes specialists who helped investigate the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash site. The government in Kyiv has also suspended all Ukrainian flights over Iranian and Iraqi airspace.

- - -

The responsibility for air defense traditionally falls to Iran's Air Defense Force command, said Saeid Golkar, a political science professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga who has studied Iranian security forces for 20 years.

Orders to mobilize the country's air defense are given by a central command center, which includes air-defense batteries controlled by Iran's two armed forces: the regular military and the more elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC. Within this system, the Revolutionary Guard is also in control of its own air-defense systems and has the capability of acting without authorization, Golkar said.

"It is possible that the IRGC acted alone?" Golkar asked.

"If you asked me if its possible if someone mistakenly shot it down, I'd say yes, because of the whole informality of the system," Golkar 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.

A preliminary report from Iran's Civil Aviation Organization said witnesses - on the ground and among the crew of another flight in the vicinity - reported seeing a fire while the Boeing 737-800 was still in the air, followed by an explosion when it slammed into a field near an amusement park.

A video from a closed-circuit television camera posted on Twitter by Iran's state broadcaster showed the predawn darkness suddenly lit in a fiery orange glow and then flaming debris scattering over a wide area.

"The trajectory of the collision indicated that the plane was initially moving toward the west, but after encountering a problem, it turned to the right and was approaching the airport again at the time of the crash," Ali Abedzadeh, head of the Civil Aviation Organization, said in the report.

Iranian officials said immediately after the crash that the plane had encountered technical problems, but that did not appear in the report, which also noted that there was no distress call from the aircraft.

The passengers on the plane were mostly Iranians, but also included Europeans and 63 Canadians.

The Iranian report said the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were recovered but were damaged. Abedzadeh has said Iran will not share those "black boxes" with Boeing, but other countries have been invited to participate in the investigation in accordance with international guidelines.

John Cox, a leading airline safety consultant and former pilot, said Iranian officials have indicated they will conduct their probe in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization Annex 13, which outlines the process by which international crashes are investigated. Under the protocols, the United States has a right to participate in the probe because the jet was built and certified in the country.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday declined to say whether it will participate in the investigation. However, two people with knowledge of the investigation but not authorized to speak publicly, said the safety body has been asked by the ICAO to take part in the probe.

Still, U.S. sanctions against Iran, which include limits on travel and information sharing, will complicate any U.S. involvement.

NTSB officials would have to seek a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control to travel to Iran, a process can take months or even years, experts say. And even if they secure a license, U.S. officials may still be limited in what information they can share with Iranian officials.

Canada cut diplomatic ties with Iran about a decade ago. Trudeau said that while there has been "openness" from Iranian officials to involve Canada in the investigation, access has not yet been given to them. Iran wants to keep the black boxes there, but has told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Ukrainian investigators will have access to them, Trudeau said.

At his news conference, Trudeau dodged questions about whether the United States should bear some responsibility since its killing of Soleimani last week escalated tensions in the region.

"I think that's one of the many questions that people will be thinking about and trying to find answers to," he said. "But for the moment, I just want to underline the importance of having a full and credible investigation so that we can get those facts and then we can continue to analyze based on these facts."

- - -

Lamothe, Ryan and Sonne reported from Washington. The Washington Post's Amanda Coletta in Toronto, Erin Cunningham in Istanbul and Lori Aratani, Dalton Bennett, Shane Harris, Michael Laris and Souad Mekhennet in Washington contributed to this report.
'There are around 400 Lok Sabha constituencies where Dalits and Muslims combined constitute 30% of the electorate.'

'Also, 90% to 95% of Dalits and Muslims go out and vote.'

'So, if they are come together, they become significant electorally.'

Aditi Phadnis reports.

IMAGE: Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad 'Ravan', surrounded by other demonstrators at a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 at the Jama Masjid in New Delhi, December 20, 2019. Photograph: Supreet Sapkal/ANI Photo

For one, the man who played footsie with the police when Delhi was raging against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizenship.

Chandrashekhar or Ravan, the name he has given to himself, is fighting everyone.

He was born in Saharanpur, in Dhadkauli village, in a Chamar family, studied at a Thakur-owned and run college in nearby Chhutmalpur, saw the discrimination against Dalit students and vowed to fight it.

Being an Ambedkarite and an admirer of Kanshi Ram (but not of Mayawati) he tried to follow the same principles of organising the Dalits as Kanshi Ram: Via education, through the bureaucracy and in self defence.

He founded the Bhim Army and set up 400 Bhim Army schools in Saharanpur district which provides free-of-cost primary education to children irrespective of caste and gender.

He started self defence classes and led bike rides through villages -- including upper caste Thakur villages -- as symbolic self assertion.

This is important.

Uma Bharti, a sadhvi from the Lodh caste who rose to become a Union minister, once recalled how, in her village Tikampur, others from her caste could not cycle past the homes of Thakur families.

They had to dismount and walk past on foot -- because the Thakurs saw this assertion as an affront.

That was 25 years ago.

Nothing has changed.

The Bhim Army asks Dalits over 18 to join them.

Most of the members belong to the Chamar community or its sub-caste Jatav.

But the Bhim Army also welcomes Muslims.

It lacks a formal structure and is an unregistered body, but claims to have over 20,000 members in and around Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh.

Its stress is on direct action based on confrontation to preserve, protect or restore the dignity of Dalits.

'Through the Bhim Army, the Dalit youth become aware that they can struggle for their Constitutional rights and they will no longer tolerate oppression. The Bhim Army is not to scare off anybody, but for the security of Dalits,' Azad said in a recent interview.

Ravan's troubles started in 2015 when he put up a board outside his village which proclaimed: 'The Great Chamars of Dhadkauli Welcome You'.

In a village that also had Thakurs, how could this be tolerated? The Thakurs defaced this with black ink.

This began a phase of direct confrontation that peaked when the BJP took out a 'Shobha Yatra' in Saharanpur without permission through communally sensitive areas.

Dalit-Thakur clashes broke out a few weeks later in the same district on the birth anniversary of Rajput king Maharana Pratap.

The state government held the Bhim Army responsible for inciting violence.

Ravan claimed that the government was targeting it to malign the movement and shield upper caste offenders.

The state administration arrested Ravan.

The matter went to court and the high court acquitted him.

But within hours, the Adityanath government ordered his re-arrest under the National Security Act.

He was incarcerated amid massive protests from civil rights groups and was released partially as a result of that pressure.

Priyanka Gandhi called on him when he was in jail (and hospital). Thence began a dalliance with the Congress.

Saharanpur is well-known for Dalit mobilisation and the unity among Muslims and Dalits.

This project has been endorsed by many activists.

According to Chandra Bhan Prasad, noted writer and Dalit thinker: "There are around 400 Lok Sabha constituencies where Dalits and Muslims combined constitute 30% of the electorate. Also bear in mind, that 90% to 95% of Dalits and Muslims go out and vote. So, if they are able to come together, they become significant electorally. And I feel that there is a great desire among Dalits and Muslims -- particularly the youth -- to come together."

Ravan has emerged as a face of this unity, even though he is not that well known in the rest of India.

At a time when the Bahujan Samaj Party has lost ground electorally and the BJP has begun mobilising Dalits, the Bhim Army is a symbol of resistance from within Dalit society.

Noted Dalit scholar Anand Teltumbde writes that its emergence 'may be likened to the Dalit Panthers in Maharashtra in 1972, which in turn was the by-product of the bankrupt politics of the erstwhile Republican Party of India'.

Little wonder then that Mayawati and others scowl when his name is mentioned.

The current agitation has raised Ravan's profile.

The question is what he -- and other parties -- do with it.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang's Regular Press Conference on January 9, 2020

2020/01/09

Q: US President Trump said yesterday that the US will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon, that the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China need to recognize this reality and break away from the JCPOA, and that parties must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place. I wonder what is your opinion on that?

A: Escalating tensions in the Middle East is posing grave challenges to the Iranian nuclear issue. The US has unilaterally withdrawn from the JCPOA, ignored international law and its international obligations, imposed maximum pressure on Iran, and obstructed other parties in keeping their commitments. Such practices are the root cause of current tensions and should be the first thing for all parties to consider if we want to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue objectively and fairly.

The hard-won JCPOA, endorsed and adopted by the UN Security Council, is an important outcome of multilateral diplomacy, an important pillar for the international non-proliferation system and peace and stability in the Middle East, and a significant part of the international order based on international law. The international community should have the bigger, long-term picture in mind, firmly uphold the JCPOA, and work for amelioration in the Iranian nuclear issue and in the Middle East. China will stay in close communication and coordination with relevant parties and make tireless efforts to this end.

Q: The situation in the Middle East is very strained now. Yesterday Russian President Putin concluded his visit to Turkey and Syria. How close are the positions of Russia and China to the peaceful settlement in this region?

A: China has been closely following the situation in the Middle East and been in close contact with Russia and other relevant sides. As you may recall, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Foreign Minister Lavrov discussed this on the phone just recently. They exchanged views and coordinated positions on the current situation in the Gulf region and collaboration in the UN Security Council.

As comprehensive strategic partners of coordination and permanent members of the Security Council, China and Russia share the same or highly similar views and positions on major regional and international issues. We keep frequent talks and coordination between us, which has been adding positive energy and stability to the international landscape that's complex and fluid.

China is ready to strengthen strategic communication and coordination with Russia, jointly uphold international justice and regional peace and stability, and play a responsible and constructive role in de-escalating tensions in the Gulf region and properly dealing with the current situation.

Q: State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi has just concluded his visit to Egypt. Can you give us more details about the outcomes of this visit?

A: Egypt was State Councilor Wang Yi's first stop during his visit to Africa this time, which shows how much we value China-Egypt relations. During this visit, State Councilor Wang Yi met with President Abdul Fatah Al-Sisi and Prime Minister Mostafa Kemal Madbouly, had talks with Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and held a new round of strategic dialogue between the two foreign ministries. The two sides reached important consensus during this successful visit.

First, to bring bilateral relations to a new height. Under the guidance of Chinese and Egyptian leaders in recent years, bilateral relations have achieved leapfrog development, becoming an exemplar of South-South cooperation. The two sides agreed to elevate the China-Egypt comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level while working towards building a community with a shared future in a new era, and to make bilateral relations a pilot example for China-Africa and China-Arab communities with a shared future.

Second, to deepen bilateral practical cooperation. Belt and Road cooperation between China and Egypt has delivered fruitful outcomes. The two sides will seek greater synergies between the BRI and Egypt's Vision 2030 and broaden all-round connectivity cooperation. A new inter-governmental cooperation committee will be set up to coordinate and advance cooperation. Both sides agreed to make sure that FOCAC Beijing Summit outcomes will take root in Egypt and other African countries with faster implementation efforts. We will also explore and expand third-party cooperation in Africa.

Third, to fight terrorism and extremism together. During the visit, the two sides agreed to deepen exchange in counter-terrorism and de-radicalization, enhance communication and coordination in international cooperation, and make new contributions to regional and global counter-terrorism cause.

And finally, I'd like to stress the importance China attaches to Egypt in its overall relations with Africa and Arab countries. Egypt was the first African country and the first Arab state that established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. It was also the first stop of our leader's first visit to Africa after the PRC was founded. No matter how far we've come, we will never forget where we began. Amid the current international situation fraught with uncertainty, China stands ready to work with Egypt through deeper strategic coordination to uphold regional peace and stability, multilateralism, equity and justice, defend the common interests of developing countries, and add more stability and positive energy to the world.

Q: US lawmakers called on Wednesday for the Trump administration to impose sanctions on China because of what they describe as "crimes against humanity" against Uighur minority. Is China concerned by this move? Do you have any contact with the US side on this matter?

A: You were talking about a CECC report, right? This so-called commission, which never fails to observe China through a distorted perspective, has long been engaging in groundless accusations against China out of political agenda. In this commission you'll find no objectivity or credibility whatsoever.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to protecting and promoting human rights. No one is in a better position to evaluate China's human rights condition than the Chinese people. We urge those in the US to spend more time reflecting on their human rights issues at home, and stop smearing China or jeopardizing mutual trust and cooperation through their words and deeds.

Q: Two Chinese nationals were arrested for illegally taking photos at a US Navy base in Florida last weekend. Can you confirm it and do you have more information on that?

A: As far as I know, the Chinese diplomatic missions in the US have been informed by the US side of the arrest of two Chinese citizens on January 4. The Chinese Consulate-General in Houston has got in touch with them. We ask the US side to carry out fair investigations in accordance with law, properly handle this case, and ensure the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese nationals involved.

I offered some reminder over a similar case on December 31 last year. Now that the Chinese Lunar New Year is around the corner, once again we want to remind our citizens overseas to raise awareness of law and self-protection, not to linger in or photograph restricted military areas or other sensitive places, and to strictly follow the signs and warnings nearby.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to protecting the safety and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens overseas. We ask them to observe laws and regulations of host countries and not to engage in any form of illegal activities. Chinese diplomatic missions will continue to provide necessary assistance to our citizens within their scope of duties.

Q: On January 8, US President Trump said in a televised speech that as the US continues to evaluate options in response to Iranian aggression, it will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on Iran. He also said, "The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it." I wonder what is China's comment on that?

A: We are closely following the situation in the Middle East and calling on relevant parties to exercise restraint. Peace and stability in the Gulf region and the Middle East must be ensured as it serves the interests of all countries and is of vital importance to the whole world.

China holds that in state-to-state relations, all countries should earnestly observe the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and the basic norms governing international relations, and resolve disputes properly through dialogue, negotiation and other peaceful means. We call on all sides to judge issues on their own merits, stick to political settlement, take concrete actions to cool off tensions, and make joint efforts to safeguard peace and stability in the Gulf region.

China will continue to uphold an objective and fair position and play a responsible and constructive role in ameliorating the situation and properly dealing with the situation. China has been and will continue to be a builder of peace, a promoter of stability and a contributor to the development in the Middle East.
Head of Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine Serhiy Makogon, commenting on the official launch of Turkish Stream on Facebook, announced plans for gas supplies to Ukraine from Bulgaria and Turkey, suggesting that Ukraine will eventually be connected to the Turkish Stream and will receive Russian gas not directly, but through a chain of intermediaries.

"We have already felt its influence. But we are looking for new opportunities of using the existing infrastructure (of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline) and have achieved the creation of a new corridor for gas supplies to Ukraine from Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece in the amount of up to 15.8 million cubic meters per day on its basis," he said.

Gas through Ukraine in the Balkan direction from January 1, 2020 is transited only for the needs of Romania and Moldova. Bulgaria, Turkey and other countries in this region no longer receive gas through Ukraine," the head of Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine said.

As a result, the decrease in transit through Ukraine this year will be about 15 billion cubic meters.

The announced daily volume means deliveries of 5.77 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Ukraine. The only route via which such a volume of gas can be delivered to Ukraine from the south is the Turkish Stream. "We are counting on test deliveries already in January," Makogon said.

Vestnik Kavkaza expert Igor Yushkov confirmed that given the drop in Russian gas transit through Ukraine, such a complicated supply route through the Turkish Stream and the reverse of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline seems to be very realistic for Ukrainian gas imports.
VANDERCOOK LAKE., MI  A Vandercook Lake Public Schools student is being detained by police after allegedly making a threat against the middle/high school on Wednesday.

Administrators learned of the possible threat after school was dismissed for the day on Jan. 8, Superintendent Scott Leach said in a statement. They immediately notified the Jackson County Sheriffs Office and an investigation was begun, he said.

The student was identified and remains under the supervision of police while an investigation continues, Leach said. Since the student is in custody, school was in session Thursday, Jan. 9, with additional police presence at the school, Leach said.

The nature of the threat has not been disclosed.

I want to assure our community that we take these types of threats seriously and that the safety of our students and staff is our highest priority, Leach said.

This is the seventh reported school threat since the start of the school year.

A social media threat targeting a Napoleon High School student did not cancel classes on the first day back from winter break on Monday, Jan. 6.

There were five school threats at Jackson County schools in a two-week span last September.

The da Vinci Institute closed Sept. 26 after middle school students reported hearing another student threaten to shoot up the school.

The Columbia School District reported a 13-year-old made threats against the district on Sept. 24.

Concord Community Schools closed Sept. 17 after four students used Snapchat to threaten to shoot people at the high school.

Northwest Community Schools canceled classes Sept. 19 due to a threat from a middle school student. High school students made separate threats later that day.
If you use Google Play Movies, you might be aware that its not missing much in terms of available content.

What it does lack though is HDR10+ content as its not currently something you can find in the service. Whether it be for rented titles or those you purchase in full.

Thats all about to change though as Samsung yesterday discussed the future of the HDR10+ ecosystem, and the platforms that would support it. One of those platforms is Google Play Movies, which is readily available on really any Android-powered device.

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This means soon enough, youll have access to HDR10+ content on anything from smartphones to smart displays that have access to Googles streaming movie service.

Google Play Movies will support HDR10+ for UHD content only

HDR10+ support is great, but before you go expecting it to be on just about anything, its worth noting that it will be limited.

According to Samsung the HDR10+ content will only be supported on the UHD content within the service. This means any HD or SD content wont offer the improved visuals.

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Samsung does note that content will begin showing up in 2020, but it doesnt give out specific dates. It does however talk about some of the films that will be expected.

This includes IT: Chapter 2, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw, and others.

Content will come from major studios

Although Samsung only mentions a few different films and studios, it also points out that major studios will make this sort of content available on the platform.

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The only studios it mentions are Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and Universal. There are more than just those three when it comes to major studios though. So users who access movies from Google Play Movies should expect many more films to be available.

The only questions that really remain are when exactly this content will pop up within the app. As well as what itll cost, and if itll be different from UHD content that doesnt support the HDR10+ format.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the device youre actually watching the content on will need to support HDR10+ as well. If it doesnt, then it wont make much of a difference if you have access to it through Google Play Movies.

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Samsung announced this advancement of content at CES 2020, so expect more information about it to pop up in the weeks and months ahead.
I think thats one of the many questions that people will be thinking about and trying to find answers to, he said. But for the moment, I just want to underline the importance of having a full and credible investigation so that we can get those facts, and then we can continue to analyze based on these facts.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House on January 07, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex on their tour of Southern Africa (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex in Tembisa township, Johannesburg (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Harry and Meghan have announced they are stepping back as senior members of the royal family.

But the shock move raises many questions about their future, not least of all whether Harry and Meghan's attempt to redefine their royal lives is sustainable.

- What did Harry and Meghan's statement say?

The couple said in a "personal message" they intend to step back as senior members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to support the Queen.

- Where will they live?

They said they now plan to balance their time between the UK and North America.

- What about their home Frogmore Cottage in Windsor?

They will continue to base themselves at Frogmore Cottage when in the UK.

Taxpayers paid 2.4 million to renovate Harry and Meghan's official residence, which the couple moved into just nine months ago.

- Where will they live in North America and will they buy a home there?

Expand Close Britain's Prince Harry (R) sits with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle to watch a wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Mark Blinch / Facebook

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Whatsapp Britain's Prince Harry (R) sits with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle to watch a wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

This is not yet known. The couple have just spent six weeks in Canada so are expected to base themselves there for part of the year.

- How will they become financially independent?

Their new official website Sussexroyal.com said the couple will no longer receive funding through the Sovereign Grant from the taxpayer for their official office expenses - which it said accounted for 5% of their office costs.

The Prince of Wales currently pays for the remaining cost of their public duties and some of their private costs from his Duchy of Cornwall income.

But it is not clear cut. The Sovereign Grant is also used to pay for Harry and Meghan's official royal travel, and their website said they "proudly" carry out official overseas visits in support of the Queen, suggesting they will still continue to do so.

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- Will they be getting paid jobs?

It looks like it in some form. Sussexroyal.com said the couple "value the ability to earn a professional income, which in the current structure they are prohibited from doing.

"For this reason they have made the choice to become members of the Royal Family with financial independence."

Harry is a former soldier and Meghan is a former actress but the pair are about to launch their new SussexRoyal foundation.

- Will the British taxpayers still pay for their security?

They seem to think so. Sussexroyal.com, referring to armed security by the Metropolitan Police mandated by the Home Office, said: "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are classified as internationally protected people which mandates this level of security."

- But they are no longer senior royals?

Expand Close Horse Racing - Royal Ascot - Ascot Racecourse, Ascot, Britain - June 18, 2019 Britain's Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice arrive at Ascot / Facebook

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Yes this creates a problem. Non-senior royals generally don't have full-time royal protection officers.

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie previously faced criticism over the use of taxpayers' funding for police protection, but the Duke of York now pays for their security himself.

The undisclosed cost of guarding the royal family as a whole is estimated to be more than 100 million a year.

- What about the cost to the Canadians?

If Harry and Meghan base themselves in Canada - a realm of which the Queen is monarch, it raises the question of whether the Canadians will have to contribute to their security costs as well, or even pay for an official residence.

- Will they lose their HRH titles?

Their statement makes no mention of them losing their HRH titles nor of Harry being removed from the line of succession.

The duke and duchess said they have chosen to "carve out a progressive new role within this institution".

- Does combining private work with royal duties work?

Having a dual role has proved controversial in the past.

In 2002, the Earl and Countess of Wessex stepped down from their businesses to become full time royals after they were accused of cashing in on their royal status.

Harry's cousin Zara Tindall earns her own income, but does not carry out royal duties nor live in an official residence.

- What about the Queen and the Prince of Wales?

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It is understood that the Queen and the Prince of Wales were not aware of the content of Harry and Meghan's personal statement before it was issued.

The announcement was made just seven weeks after the Queen's second son Andrew stepped back from royal duties after his disastrous Newsnight interview about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Buckingham Palace has warned that Harry and Meghan's decision to step back will be "complicated" and talks are still at an early stage.

- Why did Harry and Meghan take the decision?

The couple spoke of their struggles dealing with royal life and the intense tabloid interest in a television documentary about their Africa tour.

Meghan said: "It's not enough to just survive something, that's not the point of life. You have got to thrive."
PHOENIX and CHICAGO, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- VillageMD, a leading national provider of primary care, announced its first Phoenix clinic will open on Jan. 13 at 10240 W. Indian School Road, with more locations opening in the coming months. Additionally, VillageMD hired 17 new Phoenix-based providers, including primary care physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, to staff planned area clinics.

"Village Medical will provide accessible and quality primary care to patients in the Phoenix area," said Tim Barry, CEO and co-founder of VillageMD. "We are honored to launch in Phoenix with clinicians who have demonstrated expertise throughout their impressive careers. Their 'patients first' approach is exactly the right mindset for delivering high-quality care in a value-based world."

Village Medical will offer a comprehensive suite of services including preventative care, treatment for illness and injury and management of chronic conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease, hypertension, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and heart failure. The clinic hours are 7 a.m.  6 p.m., Monday  Friday and 8 a.m.  5 p.m. on Saturday. Starting Monday, Jan. 13, patients can make an appointment online here and learn more about the experienced providers in their areas.

Village Medical patients will have access to same day appointments and virtual health visits with a Village Medical provider. Additionally, homebound patients can take advantage of Village Medical at Home, which provides an experienced, primary care provider visit to patients in their homes.

Patients also benefit from VillageMD's patent-pending docOS operating platform, which integrates data and technology to give physicians 360-degree view of their patients' health profile and can help identify gaps in care, among other things.

VillageMD currently partners with primary care physicians in nine markets with plans for continued expansion in 2020.

To learn more, make an appointment and view all locations, please visit www.villagemedical.com.

About VillageMD

VillageMD is a leading provider of healthcare for organizations moving toward a primary care-led, high-value clinical model. The VillageMD solution provides the tools, technology, operations, and staffing support needed for physicians to drive the highest quality clinical results across a population. VillageMD works with physician groups, independent practice associations, and health systems to improve quality, deliver a first-rate patient experience, and lower costs in the communities they serve. VillageMD will continue to grow its Village Medical brand and scale its Village Medical at Home offering. VillageMD has grown to include more than 2,500 physicians across nine markets and is responsible for approximately 500,000 lives and $3 billion in total medical spend in value-based contracts. To learn more, please visit www.villageMD.com.

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Australia's biggest family is about to get even bigger.

Supermum Jeni Bonell, from Queensland's Toowoomba, and her husband Ray are already proud parents of 16 children - aged between 29 and four.

And this week the mother-of-sixteen announced the family are expecting yet another addition to their huge brood.

Taking to her YouTube channel, she revealed her eldest daughter Brooke - who already has a baby girl named Aurora - is pregnant with her second child, a boy.

In the 24-minute video, Ms Bonell - who already has two grandchildren - shared a collection of events leading up to the big baby gender reveal.

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Supermum Jeni Bonell, from Queensland's Toowoomba, and her husband Ray are already proud parents of 16 children - aged between 29 and four

Brooke and her husband Jamie - who are already parents to baby daughter Aurora - are expecting their second child - a baby boy (pictured at their gender reveal party)

'So exciting, so exciting, I'm so happy,' the grandmother said after discovering Brooke's second pregnancy.

She shared a footage of Brooke surprising the family with the baby news by dressing her granddaughter Aurora in a top that read: 'I may be little, but I'm going to be a big sister'.

Ms Bonell said she felt 'honoured' after her daughter Brooke 'entrusted' her to find out whether she's expecting a boy or girl when she handed her the envelope with the gender written on a note inside.

'So when I've had my own babies, I never found out the gender before delivery so we've always gone in, had the baby and then found out whether it was a boy or a girl,' she said.

'As a grandparent I'm thrilled to find this out but it's very different for me I've never done this before.'

Ms Bonell went to the hospital with her daughter Brooke to get an ultrasound (pictured). The kept the sex of the baby unknown until they hosted a gender reveal party

Jeni Bonell and her husband Ray are already proud parents of 16 children - making them Australia's biggest family

Brooke (right) and her husband Jamie (centre) shared their excitement after discovering they are expecting their first son together

After opening up the envelope, Ms Bonell was overjoyed to know the gender of her unborn grandchild.

'I'm shaking... I'm so happy I don't care whether it's a boy or a girl, honestly I'm just so happy for them,' she said.

The family hosted a gender reveal party just days before Christmas, with a video showing Brooke popping a black balloon - and was showered in blue confetti.

'Yay it's a boy, that's awesome,' Brooke said, as she wiped away the tears.

This week the mum announced the family are expecting yet another addition to their brood

The exciting baby news comes after Ms Bonell previously told Daily Mail Australia she spends up to $600 a week on groceries to feed her family of 18.

The grocery bill would include 17 three-liter bottles of milk and 14 boxes of cereal, loaves of bread - and 45 tubs of yoghurt.

At home, she would do between six to seven loads of washing a day.
Iran's Missile Launch Against Two U.S. Bases in Iraq Calls Trump's Bluff By Moon Of Alabama January 08, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - Last night Iran fired 22 Qiam missiles towards two U.S. bases in Iraq. Between 1:45 and 2:15 local time (~22:00 UTC) seventeen missiles hit the Ain al Assad airbase west of Ramadi. Five missiles were aimed at Erbil airport in the northern Kurdish region of Iraq. There were no casualties. The Swiss embassy in Tehran, which represents the U.S., was warned at least one hour before the attack happened. Around 0:00 UTC the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) which prohibited civil U.S. flights over Iraq, Iran, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. This attack was the "open" and "proportional" response for the U.S. assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani which Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had promised. It will certainly not be the only response but represents the opening shot of a long and much more silent campaign to kick the U.S. out of the Middle East. U.S. President Donald Trump, who had threatened to destroy 52 targets in Iran including cultural sites if Iran would take any revenge, seems to have understood that this attack was intentionally limited to avoid a larger war: Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump - 2:45 UTC  Jan 8, 2020

All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning. The Qiam missiles Iran launched are a derivative of the Soviet Scud type. They are liquid fueled with a warhead of about 700 kilogram. They have a range of some 800 kilometer. Iran has more capable and precise solid fueled missiles it could have used. The Ain al Assad airbase which was hit is where the drones that killed Soleimani and the Iraqi leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were launched from. Erbil airport is the logistic center for the U.S. forces in Syria. Videos show the launch and the impact of the missiles. No U.S. air or missile defense against the incoming projectiles was observed. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter The message from Iran is thus: "We can attack all your bases and you can do nothing to prevent that." Iran's leader said that the attack was "slap in the face" for the U.S. and that this military reaction to the U.S. crime is not the only one that will happen: Ayatollah Khamenei addressed the nation live on TV in a meeting with a large group of people from Qom, in commemoration of the 42nd anniversary of the January 9, 1978 uprising in Qom against the Pahlavi regime. The live address also took place hours after the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) targeted the US airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq after launching a wave of attacks in early hours of Wednesday to retaliate the US assassination of IRGC Quds Force commander, Lt. Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

...

What is important in addition to retaliation is that military operations do not suffice. It is important to end the US corrupting presence in the region, the Leader stressed. Americans are insisting on bringing corruption and destruction into our dear Iran. Talks of sitting down at the negotiating table is a preface to interventions, which must end. Regional nations do not accept the US presence and its meddling measures, he added. The US enmity toward Iran is not temporary; its inherent. It is a gross mistake to think if we took a step back and comprised, the US would stop its enmity, he stressed. Hours after Iran had launched the missiles a Ukrainian airliner crashed three minutes after it had taken off from Tehran airport. All 176 people on board died. The passengers were mostly from Iran, Canada and the Ukraine. The airplane was a three years old Boeing 737-800 NG operated by Ukrainian International Airlines, the country's flag carrier. Video shows the burning airliner coming down on a glide path. Photos from the crash site show shrapnel like impacts on the fuselage. The evidence is consistent with an uncontained turbine disc rupture but other potential causes can not be ruled out. The incident will be investigated like all other airliner crashes. The Iranian military revenge was less intensive then I had expected. But it was also a clear sign that Iran is capable and willing to openly attack U.S. bases in the larger area. The missile attack came despite Donald Trump's threats to Iran. It called his bluff. Further reactions will depend on the U.S. reactions to the demand of the Iraqi parliament that all foreign forces leave Iraq. Should the U.S. leave Iraq peacefully all will be well. Should it insist on staying U.S. soldiers will die. Update - 17:00 UTC Additional information has come in which corrects or adds to some of the above made claims. The 17 missiles launched against Ain al Assad airbase were of the Qiam-2 type which is an updated version of the original Qiam with a guided warhead and much better accuracy. The missiles launched towards Erbil airport were solid fueled Fateh 313 missiles which have a 500 kilometer range and additional anti-interception devices. Damage pictures of Ain al-Assad airbase show that the hits were well targeted and extremely precise.

Source: ArmsControlWonk - bigger

Source: ArmsControlWonk - bigger Trump confirmed that there were no U.S. casualties. The situation is thereby de-escalating as the U.S. will now stand down. Trump called the damage on the base "minimal" even while several airplane/drone hangers were obviously hit and completely destroyed with everything they contained. Iran must have had very good intelligence about the site. Trump also lauded an early warning system that, he said, prevented casualties. The Swiss embassy in Tehran will have a good laugh at that comment. Higher quality daylight pictures of the crashed Ukrainian plane show that at least some of the "shrapnel impact holes" are not holes at all but are debris or dirt lying on top of the aircraft pieces. Additional pictures also show no evidence of an externally induced event. The Flight Data Recorders of the airplane were found. Iran will download the data from them or, if it does not have that capability, will ask some other country (France?, Germany?) to do so. A preliminary accident report will be published after one month. This article was originally published by "Moon Of Alabama" - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here
Occidental Petroleum started broad layoffs this week that will reach from Houston to Denver as the Permian Basins leading oil producer aims to cut costs in the aftermath of its massive $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum last year.

Oxy has for months offered voluntary employee buyouts and worked to sell assets around the world  from the old Anadarko headquarters in The Woodlands to Anadarkos entire Africa portfolio. But now the Houston energy firm is moving on to terminating jobs, the company confirmed Wednesday.

While these (voluntary) programs have been successful and contributed significantly to our goals, we have determined that additional staff reductions are necessary, Chief Executive Vicki Hollub said in an internal email to employees. A reduction in force program, based on business necessity by job, is being initiated with individual communications and exit dates.

Oxy refused to reveal job reduction numbers or goals, but employees this week have cited cutbacks occurring at Oxys Greenway Plaza headquarters in Houston, the Permian Basin in West Texas, and its large hub in Denver. Several employees anonymously posted updates on the website TheLayoff.com.

Oxy prided itself as one of the few energy companies to avoid job cuts during the most recent oil bust. But this time, layoffs were widely expected. Oxy and Anadarko had 16,000 employees combined before the merger, and Occidental told investors the merger would yield significant savings  which typically means job cuts.

All of the new layoffs could be announced by the end of this week, Hollub said in the email to employees.

On HoustonChronicle.com: After Anadarko merger, difficult decisions ahead for Oxy

Staff reductions are always difficult and we feel for those employees and their families who will be affected, Hollub added. However, for the long-term success of the company, we must take appropriate action to compete in our transforming industry and achieve the synergies announced at the time of the merger.

She said Oxy would not have any layoffs within its petrochemical arm, called OxyChem, or in the Gulf of Mexico division that was acquired from Anadarko. Few jobs will be cut internationally.

That would make Texas and Colorado the most exposed to job reductions.

Stock recovers

In a prepared statement Wednesday, Oxy spokeswoman Melissa Schoeb said Oxys integration team worked for months to identify the positions needed to successfully and safely operate its business while still achieving its cost reduction goals.

We reduced the workforce significantly with voluntary separation packages, and to attain the integration goals, we implemented a non-voluntary program to further reduce staffing, Schoeb said. We recognize this will have an impact on our employees and will do what we can to provide assistance during through the process.

Oxys stock value suffered after it outbid Chevron to buy Anadarko, with shareholders concerned the company was overpaying, taking on too much debt and betting too heavily on higher oil prices moving forward. The stock value dropped almost 45 percent from April to a December low of about $37 per share.

Famed activist investor Carl Icahn even waged an unsuccessful proxy war  thus far  to oust Hollub and much of the Oxy board. Oxy took on about $40 billion in debt to close the deal, including new loans and the assumption of Anadarkos existing debt.

Oxys stock has since ticked back up to roughly $45 a share; it closed at $44.98 Wednesday, down 29 cents a share. Oxys market capitalization value is $38 billion  the same amount it paid for Anadarko.

This week, Oxy said it would make its pipeline arm, Western Midstream Partners, an independent company and reduce its ownership stake in the firm to cut its debt. Oxy acquired Western as part of the Anadarko deal and a potential sale was considered one of the best ways to help Oxy pay off the deal. Westerns market value, however, plunged by about 30 percent last year, putting a sale on hold. Westerns market value is currently about $10 billion.

Oxy instead said it would reduce its roughly 55 percent stake in Western to below 50 percent this year and make the pipeline firm fully independent. The deal would let Oxy take Westerns nearly $7.5 billion debt off of its books while still allowing Oxy to maintain an operational relationship with Western and its pipelines and processing capabilities.

$15 billion plan

Oxy said last week it would sell the twin-tower Anadarko headquarters in The Woodlands  while leasing back one tower  and the old ConocoPhillips campus in the Houston Energy Corridor for a combined $565 million to the Howard Hughes Corp. to help further reduce debt. Oxy had originally intended to move its headquarters to the former Conoco campus but nixed those plans after buying Anadarko, deeming the campus too small to accommodate everyone.

Oxy will maintain a smaller presence in The Woodlands as well as its current headquarters in Houstons Greenway Plaza.

The biggest part of Oxys debt reduction thus far is $8.8 billion sale of Anadarkos Africa assets to the French energy major Total as part of a larger $15 billion divestment plan.

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A 26-year-old man suspected in armed robberies in six communities  including three cities in Macomb County  was paroled from prison last August, Warren police said Wednesday.

The man was arrested Tuesday afternoon by Warren police and Michigan Department of Corrections agents at his apartment on Wayne Road in Westland. Investigators believe he is responsible for a 3-week crime spree that included two robberies in Warren and one each in Sterling Heights, St. Clair Shores, Pontiac, Detroit and Taylor.

Hes a career criminal. He went to prison at age 19, Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer said during a news conference Wednesday.

Police officials did not reveal the name of the suspected serial robber, pending formal warrants. Warren detectives were scheduled to present details of their investigation of two incidents to the Macomb County Prosecutors Office on Wednesday for review. Detectives in the other police departments could likely follow by submitting their findings to prosecutors in their respective counties.

The robbery spree began Dec. 12, with the suspect wielding a semi-automatic pistol to steal money from Family Dollar stores at 4803 Eight Mile in Warren and in the 12400 block of Conant in Detroit.

The other incidents that police officials believe were committed by the same man include:

* Dec. 17: Check N Go at 26041 Hoover in Warren

* Dec. 30: Check N Go on Telegraph Road in Taylor

* Dec. 30: Check N Go at 23120 Harper in St. Clair Shores

* Dec. 30, Family Dollar, 96 Auburn Avenue in Pontiac

* Jan. 2, Check N Go on Mound Road, south of M-59 in Sterling Heights

No employees or customers of the businesses were shot. Officials theorized the robber may have singled out only Family Dollar and Check N Go locations because he felt comfortable targeting those businesses.

Warren Detective Cpl. Christopher Skridulis said between $500 and $1,500 was taken during each of the robberies.

Warren police arrested the 26-year-old man as law enforcers raided his apartment at approximately 4 p.m. Tuesday and recovered undisclosed evidence. His Mercury Sable was seized and towed to the Warren Police Department, where officers recovered a pellet gun that closely resembles a revolver. However, police do not believe that weapon was used during any of the incidents.

The suspect, who remained in the Warren police headquarters lockup Wednesday, has cooperated with investigators but has not admitted responsibility for the spree, officials said. Although the robber entered the targeted Family Dollar stores and the Check N Go outlets alone, Skridulis said the culprit may have been assisted by a getaway driver in one of the Warren incidents and by a lookout in the Sterling Heights robbery last week.

Officials told reporters they believe the robbery spree would not have ended had police not arrested the suspect this week. They declined to reveal whether there was key evidence or an investigative lead that led to the identification of the suspect.

Dwyer praised the work of a team of Warren detectives plus officers assigned to the Special Operations Unit, and the joint communications by investigators from the various cities.

The police commissioner said the man in custody Wednesday was sentenced to 30 years in prison for two robberies committed in 2013. He was paroled last August after serving approximately 6 1/2 years of that term behind bars.

He would have continued, as he did last time, until he was arrested, as he was this year. (Hes) another example of a career criminal. Youre not going to rehabilitate a majority of those, in my belief, said Dwyer, who has spent approximately 50 years in law enforcement, including as a commander in the Detroit Police Department, as police chief in Farmington Hills and currently in his second stint as Warrens top-ranking police administrator.

According to the FBIs Uniform Crime Reporting program data, Warren had 121 reported robberies in 2018, the last year for which statistics from the agency are available. Thats a 24.7 percent increase from the most previous year, when 97 robberies were reported in Macomb Countys largest community. The 97 incidents was a significant decrease from the 125 robberies reported in the city in 2016, according to FBI reports.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : India has imposed restrictions on refined palm oil imports from Malaysia, although crude palm oil (CPO) imports from the country will continue. The move is being viewed as a major step to benefit the domestic industry in the country.

The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday issued a notification prohibiting the import of commodities falling under the Exim Code 15119010 and 15119020 -- refined bleached dehydrated palm oil and refined bleached dehydrated palmolein.

It is believed that this decision will create a war between Malaysia and Indonesia over palm oil prices as India is a major importer of palm oil. But, Indian businessmen say that crude palm imports will increase if refined oil imports from Malaysia stop, which will ultimately benefit the domestic industry here.

For the purpose of reducing refined palm oil imports and increasing crude imports, the domestic industry has been demanding a difference of at least 15 per cent in the import duty of both.

Atul Chaturvedi, the president of the Solvent Extractors Association Of India, welcomed the government's decision. On being asked about the benefits to the domestic industry, Chaturvedi told IANS: "If refined goods imports decrease, it is natural that crude palm oil imports will be higher, and this will benefit the domestic industry." "When Malaysia had the benefit of five per cent duty earlier, then about three lakh tons of palmolein was being imported every month, but when the benefit of five per cent duty ended, Indonesia and Malaysia imposed a uniform duty on imports. After this, the import of palmolein from Malaysia has come down to about 1.25 lakh tonnes," said Chaturvedi.

Under the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement between India and Malaysia, there was a five per cent exemption in duty on palmolein imports from Malaysia, which was withdrawn by the Indian government in September last year.

He futher added: "The ratio of palm oil imports from Indonesia and Malaysia is 70:30, that means India imports 70 percent palm oil from Indonesia and 30 per cent from Malaysia. The government's decision to reduce about one and a quarter million tonnes in the import of refined palmolein means that the CPO imports will increase by one and a quarter million tonnes." Following this decision of the government, all the CPO deals on the Indian futures market Multi Commodity Exchange were trading on a fast pace. The January contract of the CPO was up by Rs 7.30, or 0.89 per cent, to Rs 830 per 10 kg. Earlier, during the trading hours, the CPO price rose to Rs 835 per 10 kg, which is a record level. In the last one month, the CPO price on MCX has increased by more than 14 per cent.

On the other hand, the government's decision to ban the import of refined palmolein from Malaysia was being seen as the fallout of the tensions between the two countries.

The relations between the two countries have soured a bit since Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed's anti-India rant on the Kashmir issue at the UN last year.
By IANS

NEW DELHI: At least 37 per cent of Swiggys part-time delivery partners are students working to fund their education, a report said on Thursday.

Food delivery major Swiggy recently conducted a poll to discover the various aspirations and motivations of about 16,000 part-time delivery partners who login into the app for about 4-8 hours every day.

According to the report, 29 per cent have another full-time job and moonlight as delivery partners to meet their own and their families' financial goals and 20 per cent have another part-time job on the side.

ALSO READ: Swiggy doubles subscription fee to cut losses, mulls new offers for members

Ten per cent are entrepreneurs and run their own business while working with Swiggy to relive stress of erratic earnings from their business, and 29 per cent are primary earning members of their household, the survey found.

Talking about their aspirations, 33 per cent delivery partners aim to grow into the role of fleet managers with Swiggy itself, like some of their counterparts have.

The survey also revealed that 28 per cent are saving money with the goal of buying a house or car of their own.

ALSO READ: Fake food shops flourish on Swiggy, Zomato; users in distress

According to the report, 20 per cent delivery partners aim to land a full-time, regular job eventually and 8 per cent are fuelled by wanderlust and want to travel across India.

Another 8 per cent are the young and responsible ones who are selflessly saving money to fund their siblings' wedding, the report added.

The findings from the poll also revealed that a small but significant minority of 12 per cent opened bank accounts for the first time post joining Swiggy, highlighting financial independence for these partners.
Photo: Mar y Tierra/Yelp

Looking to try the best food trucks in town?

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top such mobile eateries in Chula Vista, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of the best spots to fill the bill.

1. Tortas Ahogadas El Gallito

Photo: J F./Yelp

Topping the list is Tortas Ahogadas El Gallito. Located at 975 Broadway (between Arizona and Moss streets) in Southwest, it's the highest-rated budget-friendly food truck in Chula Vista, boasting 4.5 stars out of 153 reviews on Yelp.

Curious to know more? The eatery's signature item is its torta ahogada, which was featured on the show "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern." The menu also features pork tostadas covered with El Gallito's specialty sauce.

2. King Kream Ice Cream

Photo: quinn c./Yelp

Next up is Southwest's King Kream Ice Cream, at 767 Anita St. (between Frontage Road and Industrial Boulevard). With five stars out of 48 reviews on Yelp, it has proven to be a local favorite for those looking for an affordable option.

The mobile soft-serve ice cream shop specializes in banana splits, milkshakes and ice cream cones, according to its Yelp page.

3. Mar y Tierra

Photo: sakae g./Yelp

Northwest's Mar y Tierra, at 15 N. Fourth Ave. (at C Street), is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the budget-friendly Mexican food truck and caterer 4.5 stars out of 47 reviews.

In keeping with its name, which translates to sea and land, the restaurant's burritos, tacos and tostadas come in meat and seafood varieties.

4. El Ranchero

photo: georgina g./yelp

Last but not least is El Ranchero, a food truck that offers tacos and more in Lynwood Hills. It's another low-priced go-to, with four stars out of 65 Yelp reviews. Head over to 495 Telegraph Canyon Road to see for yourself.

Yelper Joanna S., who reviewed El Ranchero on Jan. 1, wrote, "Delicious, authentic Mexican street tacos. This brought me back to my childhood  perfectly seasoned and cooked."

Karen Q. noted, "Very authentic taco spot. The tortillas are always cooked well, not too hard or soft. The meat is delicious [and] their salsas are amazing."

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.
With over 1.5 billion downloads, TikTok has become the latest social media network to capture our collective attention. Now, however, it seems as though the platform is coming under scrutiny largely due to the fact that it was created by developers in China, leading the U.S. Department of Defense to encourage its employees to avoid installing the app on their smartphones.

That's according to an advisory issued in December, that has also been reported on by The New York Times, which tell users "not to install [the] app until further guidance from the ongoing national security review."

The memo, which I had an opportunity to review, conveys the DoD concern over "the app's popularity with Western users including armed forces personnel, and its ability to convey location, image and biometric data to its Chinese parent company, which is legally unable to refuse to share data to the Chinese government"

TikTok is the popular social media app that allows users to upload and share short-form video, and is especially popular for dance, lip-sync, and comedy content. Because it is developed by a Chinese company, there has been a lingering concern that information of U.S. citizens could be compromised or revealed. Understanably, the Defense Department is particularly worried about that sort of thing, especially as it relates to military personnel.

The advisory memo warns that "TikTok (formerly Musical.ly) application 12.2.0 for Android and iOS performs unencrypted transmission of images, videos, and likes. This allows an attacker to extract private sensitive information by sniffing network traffic."

Furthermore, Check Point Research released a report on Wednesday that detailed multiple vulnerabilities in the TikTok app that would allow attackers to compromise accounts, obtain content, delete videos, and reveal personal information saved on the account. According to Check Point, this information was provided to TikTok and an update fixed these vulnerabilities in December.

Check Point is a security research firm that has discovered vulnerabilities in other apps we use on a daily basis, and has a track record of working with developers to make them aware of issues to be fixed. This latest revelation, however, simply highlights a growing problem.

In reality, while the Defense Department memo and Check Point Research report deal specifically with TikTok, the truth is that the information we share on social media is increasingly at risk of being used in ways we might not intend. Instagram and Facebook users have experienced multiple breaches of their data, and third-party developers have been found to scrape user data for their own purposes on several occasions.

"Threats posed by social media are not unique to TikTok, though they may certainly be greater on that platform, and DoD personnel must be cautious when making any public or social media post," says Lt. Col. Uriah Orland, a Pentagon Spokesperson.
JNU students and teachers, heading to Mandi House for a protest march against the recent violence on campus, were stopped by police at the varsity's main gate on Thursday, the students said.

However, the police has denied the claim and said students are being allowed to board the buses they had booked to reach the protest venue in central Delhi.

There is also heavy deployment of police personnel both at the campus and the protest venue.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 06:26:45|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday told the United Nations Security Council that one "unhinged" regime is frantically clamoring to turn back time and explicitly pointed the finger at the United States in his speech.

Zarif, whose visa was denied by the United States which made him impossible to attend in person the Security Council ministerial-level open debate on the topic of "Maintenance of international peace and security upholding the UN Charter," told the meeting, through the delivering of Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi, that "the world is at a crossroads: with the end of monopolies on power, one unhinged regime is frantically clamoring to turn back time."

"This has meant more damaging American unilateralism in defiance of international norms and law, most recently a dastardly targeted assassination of the heroes who were the nightmare of groups such as ISIS," said Zarif.
New Delhi [India], Jan 9 (ANI): Congress on Thursday alleged that Union Human Resources Development (HRD) Minister and Union Home Minister were behind Sunday's violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), which left more than 30 students injured.



"Whatever incident took place in JNU was not sudden but planned. We all know who is behind it. MHRD and Home Minister are behind the violence. This is 'Official Sponsored Goondaism'," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said at a press conference here.

On January 5, a masked mob entered JNU campus and attacked the students and professors with sticks and rods.

The Congress leader also alleged that Delhi Police was not arresting those responsible for the incident.

"It has been 72 hours but Delhi Police has not arrested anyone. This is being done intentionally. We demanded that those responsible for the incident should be arrested," he said.

Ramesh said that JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar should resign as the situation will not become normal in the campus in his presence.

"It is clear that the situation will not become normal in JNU until Vice-Chancellor will remain in his post. It is important that the government ask Vice-Chancellor to resign," he said. (ANI)
The worlds oil and gas explorers powered ahead and discovered 12.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in 2019, the highest volume since 2015, according to estimates from Rystad Energy. Last year recorded 26 discoveries of more than 100 million boe, with offshore regions dominating the list of new oil and gas deposits.

Guyanas success story from 2018 continued in 2019, with ExxonMobil adding four new discoveries within its offshore Stabroek block, while Tullow Oils Jethro and Joe exploration wells established the presence of a working petroleum system to the west of the Stabroek block. Rystad Energy estimates that the discoveries in Guyana hold cumulative recoverable resources of around 1.8 billion boe.

ExxonMobil can be declared explorer of the year for a second year in a row thanks to its ongoing efforts and results in Guyana, along with significant investments in Cyprus. The supermajor was exceptional, both in terms of discovered volumes and value creation from exploration, says Palzor Shenga, a senior analyst on Rystad Energys upstream team.

The US company discovered around 1.07 billion boe in additional net resources last year. Rystad Energy estimates the value creation from these volumes to be around $2.7 billion, largely driven by the continued success in Guyana.

Off the coast of Mauritania, BPs Orca gas field was not only the largest single discovery, but also the deepest-water find of 2019, estimated by Rystad Energy to hold about 1.3 billion boe of recoverable resources. Recent gas discoveries in the region now support plans to build an additional LNG hub in the Bir Allah area in Mauritania.

In Russia, Gazprom announced two discoveries in the Kara Sea, Dinkov in the Rusanovsky block and Nyarmeyskoye in the Nyarmeysky block. Rystad Energy estimates Gazproms 2019 discoveries to hold combined recoverable resources of around 1.5 billion boe, with Dinkov ranked as the second-largest find in 2019 world-wide.

Other key offshore discoveries in 2019 include Totals Brulpadda in South Africa, ExxonMobils Glaucus in Cyprus, CNOOCs Glengorm in the United Kingdom and Equinors Sputnik in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea. Related: The Oil Industrys Most Promising Dividend Stocks Of 2020

Even so, many of 2019s high-impact wells turned out to be duds, Shenga noted. Although the discovered volumes for 2019 surpassed the preceding year, it was a disappointing year for high-profile wells as many prospects with significant estimated pre-drill resources failed to deliver. Over 10 billion barrels of estimated pre-drill volumes were at stake in wells that failed to encounter hydrocarbons.

US independent Hess and Chinese state player CNOOC occupy the second and the third spots on the list of top explorers of 2019 in terms of value creation from new discoveries, with both benefiting from their partnership with ExxonMobil in Guyanas Stabroek block. Hess added about $2 billion in value from new discoveries last year, while CNOOC had value creation of about $1.8 billion.

French major Total took fourth place, with about $873 million in value creation from its 2019 exploration activities. Totals value creation from exploration in 2019 was largely driven by the play-opening success with the Brulpadda find in South Africa, says Shenga.

In 2020, Rystad Energy expects the global discovered volumes to continue the rising trend of recent years, with the list of upcoming wildcats including several high-impact wells along with some promising probes delayed from 2019.

By Rystad Energy

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 19:14:35|Editor: huaxia

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Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, shakes hands with Takagi Tsuyoshi, head of a visiting delegation of the House of Representatives of the Japanese parliament, in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 9, 2020. The Japanese delegation is here to attend the 11th meeting of the cooperation committee between the NPC and the House of Representatives of the Japanese parliament. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislator Li Zhanshu met with a delegation of the House of Representatives of the Japanese parliament Thursday in Beijing.

Li, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said the healthy and stable development of China-Japan relations serves the fundamental interests of the two countries and the two peoples.

Li said the NPC is ready to work with the Japanese parliament to maintain the political foundation of bilateral relations, facilitate pragmatic cooperation in various fields, promote local and youth exchanges, give full play to the mechanism of exchanges between legislative bodies and make contributions to promoting China-Japan relations in the new era.

Takagi Tsuyoshi, who is leading the delegation to attend the 11th meeting of the cooperation committee between the NPC and the House of Representatives of the Japanese parliament, expressed the willingness to promote mutual trust, enhance exchanges, deepen cooperation and push bilateral relations in the new era toward continuous development.
B ikers rescued a woman left trapped and injured in the wreckage of a tea hut after it was hit by an out-of-control car .

The blue shed on Blackheath, which has served customers for almost 100 years, crumpled when a Mercedes veered off the road and ploughed into a group of motorcycle enthusiasts before smashing into a side wall.

Alex Harvey, 43, was knocked out by the impact but came to and started looking for tea hut worker Jackie Blackwell, 54.

He was the first to reach her and managed to pull her out with his friend, John Charles.

A tea hut was left in tatters following the dramatic crash in Blackheath, south-east London / @dougiedickson/Twitter

Mr Harvey said: She had just served me my coffee and I heard this crazy noise and got knocked out. I woke up, saw all my mates on the floor and heard John screaming her name. It was just mayhem.

I thought Jackie was dead. We started ripping the front of the hut apart to get to her."

Teahut worker Jackie Blackwell

He added: "We found her legs but everything was on top of her  a massive tea urn with boiling water, a huge fridge and a hot plate.

"Hearing her scream was the best because we knew she was alive. We could smell gas and thought it would all fall down again, so we got her out.

Alex Harvey pictured by the remains of the tea hut in Blackheath / Barney Davis

Mrs Blackwell was said to be recovering in a burns unit in a non life-threatening condition. Her boyfriend, who suffered a head wound in the smash at 7pm on Tuesday, has been discharged.

Witnesses said the driver got out of the car and was violently sick.

Mr Harvey, who has a broken toe, torn hip muscles and a graze to the head, said of Mrs Blackwell: You couldnt meet a nicer woman, she is the friendliest.

"All the bikers come out here, its like our pub because we dont drink.

Paramedics at the scene of the smash in south-east London / @dougiedickson/Twitter

Her daughter Zoe, 24, wrote on Facebook of her worst night ever, to arrive at Blackheath Tea Hut where my mum works, to find her stuck inside because of a car crashing into it.

She said her mother was due to make a full recovery and thanked people for their support.

The tea hut on Shooters Hill, open 24 hours a day, is popular with emergency workers and cabbies and is said to have operated in the same spot since 1924.

Radio presenter Danny Baker, who lives in the area, tweeted: The Tea Hut has been there all my life. Never closes. It IS Blackheath as much as the church.

JustGiving and GoFundMe pages set up to help re-build the hut have already raised more than 4,000.

The bikers had been holding a vigil in memory of fellow rider Thomas Ruffy, who was killed in a crash in November.
A report by United Nations sanctions monitors has said Yemens Houthi rebels did not carry out an attack in September that set ablaze two major Saudi oil facilities, Reuters news agency reported.

The United States, European countries and Saudi Arabia accused Iran of being behind the attack on Saudi Aramco oil plants in Abqaiq and Khurais that was claimed by the Houthis. Iran has denied any involvement.

According to the report seen by Reuters on Wednesday, the independent UN experts to the Security Council Yemen sanctions committee said: That despite their claims to the contrary, the Houthi forces did not launch the attacks on Abqaiq and Khurais on 14 September 2019.

Riyadh, which is backing Yemens internationally recognised government in its fight against the Houthis, has long accused Iran of supplying the rebels with weapons. Tehran says it supports the rebels diplomatically and politically but has repeatedly denied providing them with any military aid.

The reported findings by the UN monitors come amid escalating tensions in the region after the US assassinated top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq last week and Tehran retaliated on Wednesday by firing missiles at Iraqi bases housing US troops.

The UN investigators said they doubted that the drones and land-attack cruise missiles used in the September 14 attack have a sufficient range to have been launched from Yemeni territory under the control of the Houthis.

The panel notes that Abqaiq and Khurais were approached respectively from a north/northwestern and north/northeastern direction, rather than from the south, as one would expect in the case of a launch from Yemeni territory, the report said, according to Reuters.

The investigators, who monitor sanctions on Yemen, also said they do not believe that those comparatively sophisticated weapons were developed and manufactured in Yemen. They were not tasked with identifying who was responsible for the Saudi attack.





The attacks that targeted the Abqaiq and Khurais oil plants caused an increase in oil prices and shut down more than 5 percent of global oil supply. Saudi Arabia said on October 3 that it had fully restored oil output.

The Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, signalled in September that Riyadh was waiting for results of UN investigations before announcing how his country would respond.

UN experts monitoring UN sanctions on Iran and Yemen travelled to Saudi Arabia days after the September attack.

Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, told the Security Council in a separate report on December 10 that the UN was unable to independently corroborate that missiles and drones used in the attacks are of Iranian origin.

The report is from the independent panel of experts that reports twice a year to the Security Council on the implementation of sanctions related to the conflict in Yemen that were imposed in 2014 and 2015.

It was submitted to the UN Security Council Yemen sanctions committee on December 27, but will not be made public for a few more weeks.

The Houthi forces continue to receive military support in the form of assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, anti-tank guided missiles, as well as more sophisticated cruise missile systems, the report found.

Some of those weapons have technical characteristics similar to arms manufactured in Iran, it said.

A Saudi-UAE-led military coalition intervened in Yemens conflict in 2015 in support of forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who had been forced out by the Houthis.

Since then, tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions driven to the brink of famine in a war the UN calls the worlds worst humanitarian crisis.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 15:06:07|Editor: huaxia

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HONG KONG, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Thursday expressed firm opposition to a U.S. congressional report that distorted facts and interfered in Hong Kong affairs.

Before pointing fingers at Hong Kong affairs, the United States should first reflect on itself that how U.S. police enforce the law at home and how the country acts against law and reason abroad, a spokesperson of the office said in a statement.

U.S. politicians are not qualified to talk about international rules, to smear and attack the Hong Kong Police Force and to make irrepressible remarks on Hong Kong affairs, the spokesperson said.

Over the past seven months, anti-China politicians of the United States have played a disgraceful role in stirring up troubles in Hong Kong and the latest report is another evidence of U.S. meddling in Hong Kong affairs, the spokesperson said.

Hong Kong affairs are entirely China's internal affairs and there is no need for any external force to dictate things to Hong Kong, the spokesperson said.

The commissioner's office will firmly support the Chief Executive in leading the HKSAR government to govern in accordance with law, firmly support the Hong Kong police in strictly enforcing the law, and firmly support the Hong Kong judicial bodies in severely punishing the violent criminals in accordance with the law, the spokesperson said.
Mining billionaire Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest has pledged $70 million to bushfire recovery efforts.

The Fortescue Metals boss and his wife Nicola will make the massive donation through their Minderoo Foundation charity.

He said $10 million would go to immediate relief for fire-hit communities through the Australian Red Cross and Salvation Army.

Mining billionaire Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest and his wife Nicola (pictured together centre at a Salvation Army event) has pledged $70 million to bushfire recovery efforts

The same amount will mobilise an army of more than 1,200 specialist volunteers from the mining and agriculture sectors in his home state of Western Australia to help rebuild devastated towns.

The remaining $50 million will be invested in a national 'long-term blueprint for fire and disaster resilience' to develop new ways of fighting and preventing bushfires.

'With incredible courage and determination, Australians have united to help those devastated by these bushfires,' Mr Forrest told reporters in Perth on Thursday.

'We recognise that we don't have all the answers, but we want to understand what communities need and do our bit to help them.

'We are putting $50 million on the table to create resilience in order to encourage other companies and philanthropists from Australia and around the world to build a resilient Australia so we might avoid a tragedy striking to this extent ever again.'

NSW Rural Fire Service crews fight the Gospers Mountain Fire as it impacts a structure in Bilpin on December 21

The Fortescue Metals boss and his wife Nicola will make the massive donation through their Minderoo Foundation charity

Ms Forrest said the tragic loss of lives, the scale of destruction of homes and properties and the devastation to the the landscape was difficult to comprehend.

'We hope the Minderoo Foundation's contribution will complement existing efforts, provide hope to those hurting and encourage others to help in any way they can.'

Mr Forrest has a net worth of $12.8 billion and is consistently ranked among the richest Australians.

The couple's donation dwarfs any other single contribution to bushfire recovery or volunteer firefighting organisations.

A fundraiser for the NSW Rural Fire Service set up by comedian Celeste Barber has attracted $48 million in donations from 1.2 million people.

Fellow mining magnate Gina Rinehart was chastised by Barber for not appearing to have made a donation as she with a $14 billion fortune is one of Australia's richest people.

A spokesman for Gina Rinehart (pictured at Flemington Racecourse in November) said the billionaire prefers to donate privately

However, a spokesman for Ms Rinehart told Daily Mail Australia the Hancock Prospecting chairwoman prefers to give privately.

The spokesman said the mining billionaire had contributed to a collection for firefighting at a function at her home where 150 guests were present on Tuesday night.

Other efforts have raised millions more for various bushfire-related causes, including the billion animals affected by the fires.

Celebrities from Chris Hemsworth to Prince Harry have lined up to donate millions of their own, and call on their fans to give generously.

The next biggest publicly-known donation after Mr and Mrs Forrest is $5 million by the Packer family.

The federal government has committed at least $2 billion towards the bushfire recovery and established a new national agency to coordinate efforts on the ground.

The NSW and Victorian governments have set up similar agencies at a state level.
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO EVE: A History of Womens Interpretation. By Amanda W. Benckhuysen. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2019. X + 262 pages. By Amanda W. Benckhuysen. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2019. X + 262 pages.

The first three chapters of Genesis play a foundational role in the Jewish and Christian stories. Whether we look to them for historical accounts of creation is not really the point for many of us. What is important are the theological implications of these stories. When it comes to the portrayal of the primal coupleAdam and Evethere is much at play, including issues of salvation and the manner in which sin entered the world. One of the central questions focuses on responsibility. Besides these questions, questions of authority also emerge. Does the fact that in Genesis 2 the man is created prior to the woman mean that he is in charge? In a related question, since the woman was taken from man, is that also a sign of his supremacy? With regard to the fall and its aftermath, does this change the relationship between man and woman? There is one other question to consider, and that question has to do with the gender of the interpreter. Does it make a difference if the one interpreting these stories is a woman rather than a man? These are the kinds of questions that are dealt with in The Gospel According to Eve. The first three chapters of Genesis play a foundational role in the Jewish and Christian stories. Whether we look to them for historical accounts of creation is not really the point for many of us. What is important are the theological implications of these stories. When it comes to the portrayal of the primal coupleAdam and Evethere is much at play, including issues of salvation and the manner in which sin entered the world. One of the central questions focuses on responsibility. Besides these questions, questions of authority also emerge. Does the fact that in Genesis 2 the man is created prior to the woman mean that he is in charge? In a related question, since the woman was taken from man, is that also a sign of his supremacy? With regard to the fall and its aftermath, does this change the relationship between man and woman? There is one other question to consider, and that question has to do with the gender of the interpreter. Does it make a difference if the one interpreting these stories is a woman rather than a man? These are the kinds of questions that are dealt with in





The Gospel According to Eve is Amanda Benckhuysen, a professor of Old Testament at Calvin Theological Seminary. She takes up these questions by looking at the texts and their interpreters through a historical lens. As she notes upfront, until recently most female interpreters were not theologians or biblical scholars, which means that by and large, they didn't necessarily write scholarly treatises. Nevertheless, women have been exploring these passages and offering their interpretations down through the centuries. While their interpretations are not uniform, they are illuminating. As a male historical theologian, I found the book fascinating, and a worthy read for all. The author ofis Amanda Benckhuysen, a professor of Old Testament at Calvin Theological Seminary. She takes up these questions by looking at the texts and their interpreters through a historical lens. As she notes upfront, until recently most female interpreters were not theologians or biblical scholars, which means that by and large, they didn't necessarily write scholarly treatises. Nevertheless, women have been exploring these passages and offering their interpretations down through the centuries. While their interpretations are not uniform, they are illuminating. As a male historical theologian, I found the book fascinating, and a worthy read for all.





Benckhuysen explores the interpretive writings of over sixty women (all of whom are introduced in a biographical section at the end of the book, for quick reference). Many of the women responded to the dominant traditions, which were those espoused by men (and generally to the benefit of men). Some of the women embraced traditional interpretations, but they often reworked them in unique ways. Other women challenged traditional interpretations. To give context, Benckhuysen introduces us to the traditional interpretations as laid out by early church fathers and doctors of the church. Some were allies for women, but many were not. The focus of the book is on women interpreters who emerged from the fifteenth century to the present. She covers a few women from the period prior, including Hildegard of Bingen, but for the most part, these women affirmed the traditional interpretation. These interpretations generally asserted that women were the weaker vessel, and in many cases, the assumption was that Eve was responsible for the fall (due to Eve's inferior constitution). In other words, she was easily misled. What that says about Adam is another thing altogether.





rib and helper, demonstrating that these words suggested equality, not subordination. Then in chapter three, she focuses on women who argued for educating women. These writers ranging from Lucrezia Tornabuoni in the fifteenth century onward argued that if Eve fell victim to the serpent it was due to a lack of education. The argument here was that the education of women would lead to moral improvement. That is, if Eve lacked education, that might explain her actions. The education of women would overcome the charge that women were not intellectually capable of making appropriate moral decisions. Benckhuysen notes that while these writers insisted that education would lead to moral improvement in society, they weren't arguing for education toward greater participation in the public sphere. That remained the domain of men. In the chapters that follow the introduction, Benckhuysen takes us on a thematic journey. It is relatively chronological, but at each stage, the women represent a specific theme. Thus, in chapter two she explores women who wrote from the fifteenth to seventeenth century defending the worth and dignity of women. In one case, Isotta Nogarola suggested that Eve was less culpable than Adam because she was the weaker sex. While she may have argued this premise, it was done in a way that suggested that it was logically inconsistent to blame Eve for the fall if she was not as strong in her mental capacity as Adam. Why did he allow himself to get drawn in if he was the stronger partner? Then there were seventeenth-century Italian writers Moderata Fontes and Arcangela Tarabotti, who addressed the meaning of the wordsanddemonstrating that these words suggested equality, not subordination. Then in chapter three, she focuses on women who argued for educating women. These writers ranging from Lucrezia Tornabuoni in the fifteenth century onward argued that if Eve fell victim to the serpent it was due to a lack of education. The argument here was that the education of women would lead to moral improvement. That is, if Eve lacked education, that might explain her actions. The education of women would overcome the charge that women were not intellectually capable of making appropriate moral decisions. Benckhuysen notes that while these writers insisted that education would lead to moral improvement in society, they weren't arguing for education toward greater participation in the public sphere. That remained the domain of men.





Building on the previous chapter, in chapter 4, Benckhuysen looks at writers who defended the dignity of women based on their reading of the Eve story, but with a view to equipping women to be wives and mothers. The focus of these writers was the role of women in being a moral compass to husbands, and the teachers of religion and morality to children. Some of these women, such as Mary Astell, did argue against the subjugation of women and argued for their equality in marriage, but most focused on the moral teaching role of women in the home.





As we move to chapter five we encounter women who engage the story of Eve in relation to the call of women to preach and teach. Seventeenth-century Quaker writer Margaret Fell wrote of "Women's Speaking Justified," which was one of the earliest defenses of women's preaching. In her view preaching was the task of all Christians who had been indwelt by the Spirit. That included women. A number of defenses emerged in the years following, some of which corresponded to movements of social reform. Thus, the ministry of Catherine Booth, co-founder of the Salvation Army, who wrote in defense of her call to preach. Another key figure was Frances Willard, who sought to defend the right of women to preach, but also for women's suffrage.





In chapter six we move back into the more traditional realm of the formation of children. During the nineteenth and twentieth century, a number of women devoted their attention to the creation of materials for childrento be used by women. Though they may have espoused more traditional roles they reinterpreted Genesis' picture of Eve, offering defenses of her moral and intellectual equality. The works produced in the 19th century became the foundation for materials that came afterward, including movements for women's rights.





Chapter seven explores the works of women such as Sarah Grinke, Sojourner Truth, and Lucretia Mott among others who became key leaders in advocating for social reform including the abolition of slavery. They argued this on the basis of human rights for women. Benckhuysen notes that "faced with the reality of their own disempowerment, disenfranchisement, and continued subjugation, many female abolitions turned their attention to advocating for women's rights." (pg. 178). Again, in doing so they engaged with the story of Eve. With that in mind, as we move to chapter 8, we are introduced to the question of gender ideology, and efforts of persons like Elizabeth Cady Stanton to expose the patriarchy present in both the Bible and in society. If Stanton believed that the Bible's patriarchy was problematic for women, Katherine Bushnell and Lee Anna Starr tried to use the Bible to support women's rights and equality. They gave their attention to questions of translation. Being a missionary to China, Bushnell was introduced to the challenges posed by culture to translation. She concluded that if Chinese culture posed problems, didn't English-speaking contexts offer the same challenge? If so, then maybe patriarchal interpretations were rooted in translation problems.





These three chapters of Genesis, and their interpretation regarding Eve, have influenced our understandings of women and men and our faith. Some of these interpretations are liberating and others are not. Hearing women's voices, especially as revealed historically, helps us get a better grasp of the issues at hand. Its important to remember that not all women argued for equality or women's rights. Some embraced traditional readings suggesting that this first woman had culpability for the Fall and thus subordination of women was an appropriate response. They may have affirmed traditions that suggested that pain in childbirth was a logical punishment for her sin. Nevertheless, some of the same women defended the dignity of women and suggested that if nothing else the work of Christ reversed any of the curses she may have incurred. In the end, there isnt just one interpretation. Women might be just as traditional as any man, but they still provide another vantage point. At the same time, they may offer a new perspective that is liberating.





Nevertheless, it is definitely worth giving ones attention tofor the good of all. This is an informative and challenging read. It is scholarly and deep. It will take a commitment to listen carefully to history. But, it also serves as a reminder that gender does play a role in ones interpretation, as do race and sexual orientation and economic situations. Since men, especially white European and European Americans have dominated the scholarly and ecclesial worlds.Nevertheless, it is definitely worth giving ones attention tofor the good of all.




Gov. Kristi Noem drafts bill limiting 'action civics'

This legislation prohibits colleges and schools from directing, requiring or compelling students to protest or lobby as part of a grade or a class.
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The second baby born from a transplanted uterus in the US has arrived.

Benjamin Gobrecht was born in November at the University of Pennsylvania, where his mother, Jennifer, previously received a transplanted uterus from a deceased donor.

Jennifer, now 33, found out that she would never be able to care carry a baby in the uterus she was born with when she was just a teenager.

Now, a groundbreaking procedure to transplant a new uterus into her body has allowed Jennifer to experience pregnancy and childbirth and welcome her first baby with husband Drew into the world.

Benjamin Gobrecht is the second baby born in the US to a mother who received a transplanted uterus from a deceased donor. He was born in November and is happy and healthy

'One of the hardest days of my life was when I was 17 years old and learned I would never be able to carry my own child,' Jennifer said.

She was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome. Like one in every 4,000 to 5,000 women in the US with MRKH, Jennifer has functional ovaries, but an underdeveloped or, in her case, absent uterus.

MRKH falls under the umbrella of uterine factor infertility (UFI), a set of conditions that leave about five percent of women across the globe unable to get pregnant or carry a baby due to one or several problems with their wombs.

Jennifer's ovaries produce eggs but, without a uterus, there would be nowhere for a fertilized egg to implant and develop.

When she was diagnosed with MRKH 16 years ago, Jennifer was told it was not only unlikely, but impossible that she would ever have children.

'My husband and I have always wanted to grow our family, but we knew the limited options meant it might never happen,' said Jennifer.

In 2018, Jennifer underwent the 10-hour uterus transplant surgery at University of Pennsylvania. Pictured: her husband Drew, walks with her gurney to the operating room

Jennifer remembers being nervous, but woke up feeling 'whole,' once she had the organ that had been missing for her entire life

She and Drew underwent IVF and froze embryos two years ago, in the hope that they might have a surrogate carry a baby for them some day.

But then the couple, who live outside Philadelphia, learned of a new, complex and experimental solution: a uterus transplant.

The first-ever uterus transplant was performed in Sweden in 2014.

So far, the vast majority of 70-or-so completed procedures worldwide have used uteruses from living donors who knew they didn't want to have any more children.

The first baby ever born of a uterus transplant in the US came into the world in 2017. The next year, a Brazilian woman became the first to give birth to a baby via a uterus transplanted from a deceased donor.

In 2019, the first such baby was born in the US at the Cleveland Clinic.

Alongside Cleveland Clinic, University of Pennsylvania's is one of the few uterus transplant trials around the world that accepts uteruses donated from both living and deceased donors.

And the medical center happened to be close by the Gobrechts' home outside of Philadelphia.

Jennifer and Drew laughed and cried with relief when they found out that not only had the transplant been successful, but that Jennifer's pregnancy test was positive

Jennifer said she had an easy pregnancy and got to enjoy her progress. She 'relished' every moment, especially Benjamin's many kicks

When Jennifer read the criteria for Penn's program, 'I was like, 'wow, this sounds like it's describing me!'' she told DailyMail.com.

She and Drew 'never thought in a million years' they would get to experience pregnancy, knew that applying fro the trial wasn't a guarantee of admission, and admission wasn't a guarantee of a baby.

But they gave it a shot and in 2019, Jennifer underwent a 10-hour transplant procedure, receiving a uterus harvested from a deceased donor.

The operation was a success.

'It was very surreal to have lived your whole life feeling like a part of you was missing, to wake up and have this piece now complete...it was very emotional,' Jennifer said.

'How much that moment meant to me, to be like, 'wow, I now have a uterus, something I lived my whole life without, and now I have the potential to have a child with this transplantation.''

Once Jennifer had healed, the embryos she and Drew had preserved were transferred to her new uterus.

And then they waited.

'It was 10 days of waiting and those were the hardest 10 days of the entire trial,' Jennifer says.

'I would rather have the uterus transplant again multiple times!'

The future of their family depended entirely on the call they knew would come at 6pm on a Wednesday.

Jennifer gave birth to Benjamin in November. He was just under five pounds, but healthy

The little family is happy to be home, where they say Benjamin is eating well, growing daily and an 'angel' of a baby

When Dr Kathleen O'Neill did call, she wasted no time in telling the couple the results: the test was positive.

A sweet video shows the pair grinning, Drew resting his head on Jennifer's shoulder in relief, and tears welling to both their eyes.

'It was so many fears and feeling excited and happy and nervous,' Jennifer recalls.

Her pregnancy was easy, free of nausea and morning sickness.

'I just relished in the entire pregnancy,' Jennifer says, recounting her joy at each of her unborn babies (many) kicks.

Then in November, the big day came. The Gobrecht's son, Benjamin, was born via C-section, weight just under five pounds.

'The first time I met him I was crying like crazy,' Jennifer says.

'He is such a sweet baby, he loves to be snuggled.

'He is, I swear, a little miracle, a little angel...and hes's showing more personality every day.'

Jennifer says that he's growing every day, and eating lots.

As for more children, Drew laughed, and Jennifer said they are happy to be a family for three for now.

'We have this amazing family,' she said.

'We are just excited for him to be able to experience a lot of the things we had as children with Benjamin.'
Iran's ambassador to the United Nations dismissed as "unbelievable" what he said was President Donald Trump's call for cooperation, given Washington was imposing sanctions on Tehran, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported on Thursday.

Majid Takht Ravanchi, in what appeared to be Iran's first official reaction to Trump's address after an Iranian missile attack on Iraqi bases housing US troops, was quoted as saying Washington had "initiated a new series of escalation and animosity with Iran" by killing an Iranian general on Jan. 3.
More than 200 representatives from schools and police departments across Pennsylvania met with the U.S. Secret Service at a Bucks County school Thursday to learn how to identify signs of a situation all hope they never confront  the next school shooting or other violence.

This is about early prevention, said Jeffrey McGarry, a social science research specialist at the Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center. We want to identify troubled students early, before they even develop an idea.

The training at Council Rock High School South, closed to the public, was the first in the region since the center released a report in November analyzing 41 incidents of targeted school violence nationwide between 2008 and 2017. It also comes as the state has had an increase in fighting and other violence in schools, as well as students reporting feeling depressed or threatened.

Students are carrying invisible backpacks to school every day, including burdens of depression and anxiety, David Volkman, executive deputy secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Education, told teachers, administrators, and law enforcement attendees during opening remarks at Thursdays training. He said his department now considers social workers a must-have in our schools and is working to increase their ranks across the states districts.

The Secret Service report noted there is no profile of a student attacker, nor a type of school that has been targeted. It examined the motives of the attackers behind the incidents studied (most common was a grievance with classmates), their interest in violence, and their behavior prior to committing violence.

It followed a 2018 report by the center with instructions for schools on forming threat assessment teams, advising they enlist staff from multiple parts of a school community to create a central reporting process and procedures for evaluating concerning behaviors by students.

Rather than so-called hardening measures  like adding cameras or bulletproof glass  the focus of the services guidance is awareness and identification of what might pose a threat to a school community.

There really wasnt a description, like, OK, black trench coat, this guy must be somebody whos going to do something to us,  Robert Whartenby, director of facilities for the Centennial School District in Bucks County, said after Thursdays training. It was more on the context of true mental health and asking why students might feel distressed.

The training did address patterns in the behaviors of past attackers, Whartenby said, including a typically good student whose grades are starting to slip. The kid who has his head down on the desk. Other commonalities included use of alcohol or drugs, or troubles with a students home life.

While many educators are already familiar with identifying students in need of help, Whartenby said, we need to come full circle and make sure we embrace that process all the time.

Pennsylvania has not endured a mass school shooting in the period studied by the center. but the state did log four incidents of targeted school violence involving a knife or blade. The center defined such violence as incidents by a current or recently former K-12 student using a weapon to injure at least one other student or school employee on school property, after targeting one or more students or employees in advance. It did not consider gang or drug-related violence. (A mass shooting at a one-room schoolhouse in Lancaster County left five dead in 2006, before the years the report covered.)

 READ MORE: Study: 2018 worst year for gun incidents in schools

Volkman told the group that incidents of assault, fighting, and violence in the states schools had increased dramatically between 2015 and 2018, according to the departments Safe Schools Report.

He also noted a 2017 state survey of students in grades 6-12, which found one of five students reported being threatened at school. It also found 38% of students said they regularly felt sad or depressed, and 10% said they had attempted suicide at least once in the prior year.

The state Attorney Generals Office last year launched an anonymous threat reporting system, Safe2Say Something. The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Child Delinquency has also been working to develop a threat assessment training network, in response to a 2019 law that required all school entities to have threat assessment teams.

In Council Rock, which formed a threat assessment team two years ago at the behest of county District Attorney Matt Weintraub, the school district has monthly meetings with school employees and police to discuss potential threats, said Superintendent Robert Fraser.

Were able to share information, Fraser said. He said the team formalized reporting procedures for when a teacher or staff member is concerned about a students behavior. The district has also added trauma-informed counseling services through a grant from the state commission, and is seeking grants for social workers at the elementary school level.

Fraser was hopeful that Thursdays training would help us refine" what to look for in student behavior that could signal larger problems.

The Secret Service, which began analyzing school violence after the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, has led thousands of similar trainings nationally. Thursdays was organized by State Rep. Wendi Thomas (R., Bucks), who said she requested it after a New Hope-Solebury school board member showed her one of the Secret Service reports.
Going Further

Choose one or both of these Going Further activities:

Option 1: Languages in My Community

Explore this map of languages spoken in New York City from the Endangered Language Alliance. Do you recognize any or all of the languages that are included? Do you see any languages that are spoken in your neighborhood or school community? Create a map or list of the languages spoken in your town or even just in your classroom.

If you are in the United States, you can use this map from the United States Census Bureau to see what languages people identified speaking in 2010. The United States also has many languages that have been lost because of its history of colonization and because of the displacement of Native Americans. Look at this map from Native Land to see if you are able to identify the Native American languages that were spoken in your area. Do you know if any of those languages are still spoken by tribal members in your community or elsewhere?

Option 2: Culture in My Home

Image Rasmina Gurung, left, and her mother, Woesser Dolma, chatted in Seke at their home. Credit... Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi for The New York Times

How can you identify culture in your home? Is it through language, decorations, religious traditions or the observance of holidays? The article describes the home of Nyaka Gurung (shown above):

Nyaka Gurung, Ms. Gurungs uncle, has built low, wooden rectangular seats along the walls, covered with rugs, a common setup in Nepalese living rooms. Scrolls of Tibetan deities hang on one wall. On a recent visit, offerings were laid out under a framed photo of the Dalai Lama that hung above a large plasma television. A thermos used to serve hot butter tea, the national drink of Nepal, stood on a table nearby, and the smoky fragrance of chumin, a Tibetan incense, blended with the smell of Indian spices from the kitchen.

What are some of the elements of culture in Ms. Gurungs home? Make a list with two columns: one for the object (hot butter tea) and one that names the cultural element (food). Then, think of your own home and make a list of objects and how they relate to your culture. If you have time, write a description of your home like the one in the article. You can use these questions to guide you:

What objects are important to you or other members of your family? Why?

What are the spices or cooking ingredients in your home? What dishes can be made with them? Where do you or other family members buy those ingredients?

Is there anything in your home that was not purchased in the United States or the country or city where you currently live? Is that object important to you in any way?

What language or languages are spoken in your home? If you have a television, what kinds of programs are playing? Is there instrumental music, singing or radio programs in another language playing at your home?

Are there objects of religious significance in your home? Are there certain foods or other traditions that you practice for holidays?

Be sure to use vivid language and details in your description so that someone can imagine what your home looks like.
Democrats will barrel ahead with a vote on tolls for trucks at a dozen locations as soon as next Wednesday, sources at the Capitol say, adopting the measure with apparently zero Republican votes. That will give Gov. Ned Lamont some of the money the state needs to shore up aging bridges.

Still unclear is whether Sen. Alex Bergstein, D-Greenwich, will vote for the final package. That matters not because the Senate needs her vote  it might have the needed 18 yeses without her  but because of what she stands for and says.

I am woefully disappointed in whats being presented to us now, Bergstein told me Wednesday. Its like putting a Band-Aid on a patient who needs emergency surgery.

Bergstein, perhaps alone in the General Assembly, certainly alone in the Senate, is willing to say loudly and with fervor that her colleagues  Democrats as well as Republicans  are doing the wrong thing for political reasons. She says the only correct path is tolling all vehicles as a way to cover a gap in bridge and highway costs that will reach at least $300 million by 2023, and probably twice that much.

The tolling plan for trucks would raise between $150 million and $190 million a year.

Democrats might want the early vote in part to create as much space as possible between it and the November election, and in part to get this whole, ugly tolls debate off the table before the February start of the three-month General Assembly session.

They also vow to bake into the bill a promise that  contrary to universal Republican accusations  this is not the first step in a bait-and-switch plan to toll all cars on all interstate highways. That, too, rankles Bergstein.

I am not endorsing a statement that says we will never toll other vehicles, she said. Our word has to be worth something and I will not be disingenuous. I have always advocated for tolling of all vehicles. Its the only responsible choice and I will not endorse any statement to the contrary.

Shes right. It is the only responsible choice, especially as the trucking industry challenges trucks-only tolling. The good news for in-state trucking is that only the largest rigs will face a gantry levy, not the delivery vans, oil trucks or even those 2-axle, 24-foot box trucks that carry, say, furniture from Bobs.

Lamont knows shes right and he pushed for full tolling but couldnt make it happen.

Heres a solution: Forget the promise of never tolling cars, and build into the bill that any expansion of tolling must be accompanied by an equal, balanced tax cut someplace else. That means, for example, if we tack on a fee for cars and general trucks at those same gantries, we create a new income tax credit (good idea) or we cut the gasoline tax (bad idea).

That one-for-one trade-off would yield a bonus of 40 percent, the amount of tolls that would come from out-of-state drivers using our roads. Its like a company match in your 401(k). Take it!

Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, the majority leader, likes the idea of eliminating the local property tax on cars, which he says punishes city residents. Would he pair that with an expansion of tolls? He wouldnt bite on that, saying only, Well, Id like to end the car tax.

Bergstein exited the Senate caucus a couple of hours early on Tuesday afternoon. Did she storm out? No, she and at least one person in the room at the state Capitol said. I had heard everything I needed to hear, I said what I needed to say. I wasnt angry, she insisted.

Shes not angry at her fellow lawmakers, that is. On an individual basis, I have profound respect for all of my colleagues in the legislature.

No, shes unhappy over the process that led to a watered down tolling bill when a truly meaningful one was in reach.

If elected officials dont have the courage to stand up for what they know to be in the best interests of the people in the state then they shouldnt run for office, she said. The culture of bullying in Connecticut by a few people apparently has intimated some of our elected officials into shying away.

One little issue is that theres no final bill yet. Details, details. The 12 gantries on the target list  same as the 14 Lamont proposed in November, minus the Merritt Parkway, which has no trucks, and Route 9 in Middletown  could still change. And as one person pointed out, it doesnt make sense to name each tolling location in statute.

Trucks would pay between $6 and $13 at each location  significantly higher than the fees trucks faced in rhe previous plan  and thats bound to help the interstate truckers legal case that theyre being unfairly targeted. Yes, the controversial I-684 location thats basically in New York state is on the list, for now.

The bigger issue, Bergstein said, correctly, is that we still face limited options: Tax more every year to pay for transportation upgrades; borrow more, which will lead to much higher costs in the long run; neglect the infrastructure and fall behind further as a state; and expand tolling to the people who use the highways.

Most lawmakers who supported full tolling, and still want it, are lined up behind this flawed bargain. Political reality being what it is, the proposal currently on the table is a reasonable compromise addressing some of the most pressing needs at this time and I hope we can move expeditiously to get it passed, said Rep. Steve Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, a strong tolls supporter.

Bergstein, whose tolling plan included an infrastructure bank that would bring significant financial advantages and federal dollars, said shes sensitive to the rising cost of living in Connecticut.

We need to invest so that there is less pressure to tax, she said.

dhaar@hearstmediact.com
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: The Madras High Court has reserved orders on a petition moved by mining major Vedanta Limited challenging the closure of its copper smelter unit in Thootukudi in Tamil Nadu in May 2018.

Concluding the hearing of arguments after 39 days, a special bench of Justices TS Sivagnanam and V Bhavani Subbaroyan said on Wednesday it would try to deliver the order as expeditiously as possible.

Vedanta had approached the high court on in February last year seeking to reopen the Sterlite plant which was closed following a May 23, 2018 order issued by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) in the backdrop of violent protests against the unit that left 13 people dead in police firing on May 21 and 22.

Vedanta had moved the plea as suggested by the Supreme Court.

The top court had on February 18, 2019, set aside the National Green Tribunal order that allowed opening of the Sterlite Plant, which was at the centre of massive protests over pollution concerns.

It, however, gave the liberty to the company to approach the high court against the closure orders of the Tamil Nadu government and its state pollution control board.

An interim relief sought by Vedanta to permit access to the 200-acre factory premises to carry out maintenance work was rejected by the high court based on the assurance provided by the state that it would take responsibility of the premises.

The state government and TNPCB represented by the Advocate General Vijay Narayan and senior counsel CS Vaidyanathan opposed the plea for reopening of the plant, terming Sterlite as a 'chronic' defaulter.

"Unrestrained pollution appears to be standard modus operandi of the company, as it has been found guilty of various violations globally," they had contended.

Vedanta's senior counsels Aryama Sundaram and PS Raman countered the arguments, claiming that the closure order was nothing but 'naked discrimination' against the company.

The company also contended that the GO was only a knee-jerk reaction of the state to 'appease' a section of public with vested interest after 13 protesters were killed in the police firing.

It also alleged the hand of a Chinese company behind its closure and claimed the company which has financial interest in copper manufacturing was funding the protesters to agitate against Sterlite which is one of the biggest copper manufacturers with state-of-the-art technology.

Citing TNPCB pollution statistics, Vedanta claimed that a person living inside Sterlite is safer than a person living in Anna Nagar locality in Chennai.

Opposing the submissions, impleading petitioners in the plea Professor Fathima and Makkal Adhigaram told the court that the environment in Thoothukudi had actually improved after the closure of the plant.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Henry Zuckerman was born in New York on Dec. 9, 1930. (Long known as Buck, after a grandfather, he later legally changed his name, his wife said.) An only child, he invented a pair of imaginary siblings, telling friends they lived in New Jersey because he assumed nobody would ever go there to visit. His father was a prominent stockbroker, and his mother was silent-film actress Ruth Taylor, who played the flighty Lorelei Lee in the 1928 gold-digging comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. (Marilyn Monroe portrayed Lee in the 1953 screen musical version.)
We are excited to introduce our new special ordering, along with our endless aisle technology next week, our solution allows retailers to expand their product lines without the risk of investing in inventory they wouldnt normally buy.

Celerant Technology, a leading provider of innovative retail solutions, will debut its customer-facing tablets and endless aisle technology at NRF 2020, Retails BIG Show. Celerant currently ranks as the number one software vendor overall in the annual RIS LeaderBoard, and achieved the number one position in more categories than any other software vendor exhibiting at NRF.

Customer-facing tablets

Debuting at NRF, Celerants new customer-facing tablets enhance the in store checkout experience by allowing customers to sign up for loyalty programs, review their current rewards and view digital/video advertisements to encourage additional sales in store and/or online. Customers can also view the details of their transactions (i.e., quantity, prices, discounts, tax, total) as items are scanned into the point of sale.

Endless aisle technology

During Retails BIG Show, Celerant will also showcase new endless aisle technology. Celerant will debut its Special Ordering at Register, allowing retailers to sell a virtual endless selection of products from behind the register or over the phone by accessing their vendors available inventory via live data feeds. Retailers can also offer an endless aisle via Celerants in store kiosks and eCommerce platform. Once an order is placed, the retailer can have the items drop shipped directly to the customer, or delivered to the store for pickup.

In addition to endless aisle, Celerant built and maintains one of the largest product catalogs to help retailers build their database. Consisting of over 8 million SKUs, retailers can view the latest products and images from well-known brands, and import the items they want to sell into Celerants retail software in just a few clicks.

We are excited to introduce our new special ordering, along with our endless aisle technology next week, said Ian Goldman, President and CEO of Celerant Technology. Our solution allows retailers to expand their product lines without the risk of investing in inventory they wouldnt normally buy.

Visit Celerant at NRF 2020

To see Celerants retail technology at NRF, stop by Booth #6013 from January 12-14, 2020 at the Javits Center, NYC. To schedule a meeting with Celerant, or to download the Free Expo Pass, visit http://www.celerant.com/nrf.

About Celerant Technology

Founded in 1999, Celerant provides innovative, multi-channel retail commerce solutions and expert consulting to mid-market retailers across all industries. Celerant is ranked as the #1 retail software provider, and has been recognized as a top-five vendor for the past eleven consecutive years on the RIS Software LeaderBoard. Celerant supports retailers through point of sale, inventory management, eCommerce, vendor integrations and endless aisle, marketplace integrations, CRM and shopper incentives, ERP, email marketing and more. To learn more, subscribe to our blog- http://www.celerant.com/blog.

About NRF

The National Retail Federation (NRF), the worlds largest retail trade association, passionately advocates for the people, brands, policies and ideas that help retail thrive. From its headquarters in Washington, D.C., NRF empowers the industry that powers the economy. Retail is the nations largest private-sector employer, contributing $2.6 trillion to annual GDP and supporting one in four U.S. jobs  42 million working Americans. For over a century, NRF has been a voice for every retailer and every retail job, educating, inspiring and communicating the powerful impact retail has on local communities and global economies. For more information, please visit http://www.nrf.com.
Days of bellicose rhetoric came to an abrupt halt just when it looked as if the United States and Iran were on the brink of war. The world can breathe easier  at least for the moment  now that the leadership in Tehran and President Trump tempered their escalating threats. As our editorial reminds, still in question is whether there really was an imminent threat that required the assassination of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Let each leader make his face-saving spin, I say. Its sure preferable to war.

And then there is the question of whether the president of 15,000 false and misleading statements, on issues large and small, can be trusted when it really matters. As my Sunday column noted, never is a presidents credibility and judgment more critical than in moments like this.

What else were saying in editorials

Bolton steps up: You know its a heavy news week  with war and peace in the balance  when John Boltons announcement that he is willing to testify in a Senate impeachment trial is not the top headline. The national security adviser is distinctly qualified to tell exactly what President Trump was saying behind closed doors about the withholding of military support for Ukraine. He must be heard.

Building support: State Sen. Scott Wiener deserves kudos for persistence in coming up with yet another version of his controversial legislation to compel housing construction around transit. Hes listening, and making amendments to address concerns about loss of local control, but its still a tough  and worthy  pursuit.

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

War crime in the making? President Trumps threat to attack cultural sites in Iran  ultimately withdrawn  showed a reckless disregard for international law. This is what terrorists do. And its just plain disgusting to rationalize such an egregious affront to civilization by pointing to their excesses.

Guest opinions

Suzy Loftus: Interim district attorney, whose last day in office was Tuesday, reflects on what she learned about the state of crime and justice in San Francisco during her three months on the job.

Cause for concern: Aside from the risk of war that would eclipse the human and financial cost of the Iraq War, I am increasingly concerned about what will happen to Iranian Americans here in the U.S., writes Nima Rahimi.

When will they ever learn? A retired lieutenant colonel writes: The ruling elites will continue the semi-war to which we have become accustomed, comfortably dismissing critics as naive pacifists or reactionary isolationists while providing a truly inspirational set of speeches for the Fourth of July and Veterans Day.

Getting along with whales: When humpbacks enter an environment dominated by humans for so long, they can run into trouble. Marine Mammal Center CEO offers his expert advice on how we can get along with our increasingly frequent visitors to San Francisco Bay.

Letter of the Week

New outfits, same-old body image: The Jan. 6 story in our Business section, Barbie getting science makeover, caught the attention of Elizabeth Samuelson of San Francisco. She was underwhelmed:

Although toy maker Mattel has decided to create Barbie dolls that include a marine biologist, astrophysicist, photojournalist, conservationist and entomologist, they still represent unrealistic body types and ideas about beauty.

Children who play with Barbies should understand that theres both a variety of career options and physicalities that exist in the non-Barbie human world.

Rick Bowmer / Associated Press

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.

Where to follow us

We have a 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
Trump addresses US about Iran

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

In a recent USA Today poll, Americans say said they feel "less safe" after a drone strike killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.

USA Today conducted an online survey of 1,005 adults on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The survey results showed that Americans overwhelmingly feared terrorist attacks on American soil and a possible war with Iran.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Donald Trump's decision to carry out a drone strike to kill top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani drastically escalated already terse tensions with Iran  and in a recent poll by USA Today, a majority (by a margin of 52% to 24%) of Americans said that decision made them feel "less safe."

USA Today conducted an online survey of 1,005 adults in the US on Tuesday and Wednesday, during which time the Iranian attack on US bases took place. They asked participants questions related to the recent conflict with Iran and how it has affected the country with "a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points."

The survey showed Americans were divided on the fatal drone strike at the Baghdad airport that killed Soleimani and others; 42% supported the decision and 33% opposed it. Twenty-five percent said they didn't know what to think. While independents were nearly evenly split, more Republicans were supportive of Trump's military action. One thing that a majority of Americans could agree upon was that Trump's behavior with Iran was "reckless" by a margin of 52% to 34%. Sixty-three percent of participants feared that there would be terrorist attacks on American soil, due to Soleimani's death.

Americans also overwhelmingly believed that the drone strike that killed Soleimani increased the likelihood that there would be more violence. Sixty-nine percent said they believed that Iran was now more likely to strike American interests in the Middle East and 62% said they believed there would be a war between the two countries.

Story continues

The assassination of Soleimani prompted swift and united public outcry from Iranians, and last Wednesday, following Soleimani's death, Iran launched a barrage of missiles at a US base. The president later announced that there were no American casualties in the strike at a press conference from the White House.

On Wednesday, during a brief speech at the White House, the president backed away from further violent conflict with Iran, but threatened to impose even stronger economic sanctions against the country instead. In spite of the threats, Trump said the US was "ready to embrace peace with all who seek it."

USA Today disclosed that the survey was completed prior to Trump's White House address.

Read the original article on Insider
New Mexico State Police says two people were killed in a rollover crash near Cliff on Wednesday.

Viola H. Escobar, 67, of Santa Clara, and Lucia Mendoza Norero, 68, of Arenas Valley died in the single-vehicle wreck that happened around 1:50 p.m. on U.S. 180 near mile post 76, west of Cliff in Grant County, according to an agency news release.

State Police said Escobar was driving a Chevy Tahoe sport utility vehicle east when, for unknown reasons, it left the road and rolled. Both Escobar and Mendoza Norero, who was a passenger, died at the scene from their injuries.

Alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the crash and seatbelts appear to have been properly utilized, police said.
Kenya has imposed a curfew in Lamu three days after fighters from the Islamist militant group al-Shabab stormed into a military base, killing three Americans.

The curfew will begin daily at 22:00 until 04:00 local time (19:00-01:00 GMT) for an indefinite period.

It is intended to help security agencies to monitor suspicious activity.

The coastal region Lamu is close to the Somali border where al-Shabab has been fighting the UN-backed government.



County police Muchangi Kioi is quoted in the Star as saying no vehicles will be allowed to operate during the curfew period, and that police will conduct security searches on vehicles during the day.

Sundays attack on the military base saw vehicles and aircraft destroyed.

Residents are reported to have fled villages that are located near the base out of fear of more attacks.

Last week, three passengers were killed in the area when heavily armed men stopped a bus and sprayed it with bullets. Two others were injured and were rushed to local clinics.

Follow Us on Facebook  @LadunLiadi; Instagram  @LadunLiadi; Twitter  @LadunLiadi; Youtube  @LadunLiadiTV for updates
Ukrainian passenger jet crashes in Iran, all 179 on board dead

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 08 January 2020 3:53 AM

A Ukrainian passenger plane with 179 people on board has crashed shortly after take-off from the international airport south of the Iranian capital, Tehran, killing all those aboard.

Ali Khashani, a senior public relations official at Imam Khomeini International Airport, said the Boeing 737 operated by the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), which was bound for Kiev, went down early Wednesday in the vicinity of Parand, a city in Robat Karim County, Tehran Province.

The plane caught fire after crashing.

Later, Kashani announced that all the passengers and crew members of the plane had died in the crash, according to IRNA.

Rescue teams were sent to the site of the crash immediately after the incident.

The head of Iran's Emergency Medical Services, Pir-Hossein Koulivand, also confirmed to Tasnim news agency that all those on board had been killed.

Koulivand said the fire had been extinguished and emergency crews were now collecting bodies.

Later, he announced that there had been 170 passengers and nine crew members on the plane. Of the 170 passengers, he said, 147 had been Iranians.

Kashani, the public relations official at Imam Khomeini International Airport, said the crash had not affected traffic at the port and that all other flights were taking place according to schedule.

Mansour Darajati, the director general of crisis management at the Tehran Governor's Office, said the Office's Crisis Management Committee would shortly convene to investigate the crash of the Boeing 737.

However, Qassem Biniaz, an official at the Iranian Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, told IRNA that the plane crashed after its engine caught fire. The pilot made an unsuccessful attempt to control the plane when the fire erupted, he said.

The Ukrainian Embassy in Tehran said the plane went down "due to an engine problem."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered the creation of a crisis team to handle the accident, including top ministers and managed by the country's national security agency.

"We have prepared emergency planes to send to Tehran... to fly out the bodies of the victims, we are waiting a confirmation by Iran for their departure," Zelensky said.

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Karl Stefanovic has made light of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's decision to quit public life and become financially independent, saying they will most likely end up living with her mother, Doria Ragland.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their plans to 'step back as "senior" members of the Royal Family' in a statement on their official Instagram account on Wednesday evening.

On Friday's Today show, Karl joked about the couple's next steps while interviewing a royal commentator about The Queen's response to their decision to live between the UK and North America.

Cheeky! Karl Stefanovic (left) has made light of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's decision to quit public life and become financially independent, saying they will most likely end up living with her mother, Doria Ragland. Pictured on the Today show with Allison Langdon (right)

During the discussion, royal expert Victoria Arbiter explained that The Queen is hoping to 'come up with a workable solution' to Megxit in the next few days.

'We don't know if Prince Charles is going to agree to keep funding them, we don't know if The Queen is going to say, "Yes, you can hold onto Frogmore Cottage,"' she said.

Karl then interrupted: 'What will happen is they'll end up moving in with Meg's mum in California and they will go to work somewhere.'

Bombshell: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their plans to 'step back as "senior" members of the Royal Family ' in a statement on their official Instagram account on Wednesday evening. Pictured on Tuesday at Canada House in London

He went on to ask pointedly: 'What are their work prospects? How "financially independent" will they actually be?'

Victoria replied: 'They are both independently wealthy already. Harry has an inheritance from Diana [Princess of Wales, his mother] and from The Queen mother, and Meghan has money she has made from her acting career.'

'They both have a lot of money but not enough to maintain the lifestyle and worry about the security they are going to need,' she added.

What will they do? On Friday's Today show, Karl (left) joked about the couple's next steps while interviewing royal commentator Victoria Arbiter (right). He said, 'What will happen is they'll end up moving in with Meg's mum in California and they will go to work somewhere'

It comes a day after Karl rubbished the idea that Harry and Meghan can escape the spotlight by moving to Canada.

As his colleagues speculated that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's decision to step back from public duty and live between the UK and North America was motivated by a desire to avoid press attention, Karl interrupted their discussion.

'This is modern media and a modern landscape. Harry and Meghan [are] going to Canada and [think] they won't have any cameras outside their place?' he said on Thursday.

'No one will take photos out there? There's not going to be link trucks? And there's not going to be satellite dishes? This is just an absolute farce.'

Opinions: It comes a day after Karl rubbished the idea that Harry and Meghan can escape the spotlight by moving to Canada. Pictured with newsreader Tracy Vo (left) on Thursday

The Sussexes announced their plans to 'step back as "senior" members of the Royal Family' in a statement on their official Instagram account on Wednesday evening.

They wrote: 'After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution.

'We intend to step back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen. It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.

Having his say: Karl announced, 'This is modern media and a modern landscape. Harry and Meghan [are] going to Canada and [think] they won't have any cameras outside their place?'

'We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.

'This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.

'We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support.'
Chairman of the Ha Nam provincial Peoples Committee Nguyen Xuan Dong speaks at the meeting with FDI businesses on January 9 (Photo: VNA)

Chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee Nguyen Xuan Dong appreciated FDI companies contributions to local socio-economic development in 2019, noting that the gross regional domestic product of Ha Nam grew 10.5 percent, industrial production value increased 14.9 percent, and exports rose 13.5 percent. Notably, FDI attraction continued to improve strongly in terms of both quantity and quality.

Last year, the province attracted 57 FDI projects and nearly 830 million USD in newly registered and additional FDI capital, the biggest project number and capital value attracted in a year so far. Those figures raised the total number of such projects in Ha Nam to 295 worth almost 3.6 billion USD, he said.

At the meeting, businesses asked local authorities to give more support in terms of building housing for workers, training human resources, ensuring traffic safety and electricity supply, improving water quality, and treating wastewater.

Dong affirmed that the provincial authorities will press on with implementing the Governments resolutions on supporting enterprises, improving the business environment and promoting the national competitiveness.

It will also step up support policies that target small- and medium-sized enterprises so as to create the best possible conditions for them to accelerate investment projects and develop production and business activities, thereby helping to enhance the provinces competitiveness, the official added.
IMAGE: JNU students during their protest march from Mandi House to HRD ministry, demanding removal of the university vice-chancellor, in New Delhi, on Thursday. Photograph: Ravi Choudhary/PTI Photo

The Jawaharlal Nehru University has formed a five-member committee to probe the January 5 violence on the campus that had left around 35 people injured, and recommend measures to ensure safety of students, Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar said on Thursday.

The panel will also probe lapses, if any, in security, Kumar told PTI.

A group of masked people armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus on Sunday, prompting the university administration to call in the police.

At least 35 people, including JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh, were injured in the violence. They were admitted to AIIMS Trauma Centre and discharged on Monday.

Meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators, including students and members of civil society organisations, hit the streets on Thursday protesting the violence and demanding resignation of the vice-chancellor.

The protesters, carrying placards and banners, started a march from Mandi House towards the Human Resource Development Ministry.

However, the Delhi Police stopped the march near Shashtri Bhawan.

Communist Party of India-Marxist leaders Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat and Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav also joined the march.

Slogans of 'Halla Bol' and 'Inquilab Zindabad' rent the air as the agitating people waited for JNU students to arrive at the protest venue.

Banners with messages such as 'No CAA, No NRC', 'Ban ABVP from university campuses', 'Reject Violence', 'Education is not a commodity to be bought or sold' dotted the swelling crowd that demanded strict action against those involved in the campus violence of January 5 that left more than 35 injured.

"People have started speaking up and that is what these people are not able to take. They are manufacturing stories that the protests have nothing to do with students or workers but are political," Brinda Karat said, referring to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led government.

Yechury said, "For three hours, people wearing masks beat up varsity students. They entered the campus with police being present at the main gate."

Alleging that the incident could not have happened without the vice-chancellor knowing about it, he said, "The VC has to go."

On Sunday, a mob of masked men stormed the campus and targeted students in three hostels, unleashing mayhem with sticks, stones and iron rods by hitting inmates and breaking windows, furniture and personal belongings.

The JNU students union has been demanding a rollback of the hostel and mess fee hike and had boycotted the registration process for the next semester.
An Iranian anti-aircraft missile may have shot down Ukrainian Airlines flight 752 near Tehran, killing all 176 passengers, U.S. officials said Thursday. Iranian state media had previously said the Wednesday crash was likely due to "mechanical failure."

Only four days ago, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had reminded the world that the United States once accidentally shot down an Iranian passenger jet. He invoked the incident in response to a Trump tweet.

"Those who refer to the number 52 should also remember the number 290. #IR655Never threaten the Iranian nation," he posted.

Rouhani's hashtag "#IR655" refers to Iran Air Flight 655, a commercial jet shot down by the U.S. military by mistake on July 3, 1988, killing all 290 civilians and crew on board, including 66 children.

Although the incident is nearly forgotten in the United States, it is etched deeply in memory in Iran, where the country is mourning the U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.

In 1988, the long war between Iraq and Iran was close to ending. At the time, the United States supported Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein in their fight against Iran. U.S. Navy ships patrolled the Persian Gulf to protect shipping routes.

On the morning of July 3, the cruiser USS Vincennes was engaged in a skirmish with Iranian gunboats in the Strait of Hormuz. Not far away, in the coastal city of Bandar Abbas, an Iran Air commercial jet took off for a routine flight to Dubai. This flight was frequently packed with weekend shoppers going to Dubai for jewelry and electronics, The Washington Post's Valerie Strauss reported.

The Vincennes's radar detected the nearby aircraft, and crew members mistook it for an Iranian F-14 fighter jet. After sending warnings with no response, the ship fired two surface-to-air missiles, destroying the aircraft.

According to coverage in The Washington Post at the time, the plane's wreckage fell into Iranian waters. Iranian rescue crews found no survivors, and Iranian television showed footage of bodies floating in the water among the debris.

Iran called the incident a "barbaric massacre" and accused the United States of deliberately shooting down a civilian aircraft. At first, Pentagon officials denied any role in the incident until more detailed intelligence revealed their mistake.

"The U.S. government deeply regrets this incident," Adm. William Crowe, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a hastily called news conference soon afterward.

President Ronald Reagan, who was at Camp David for the Fourth of July holiday, said: "This is a terrible human tragedy. Our sympathy and condolences go out to the passengers, crew and their families." He also said that the airliner had "failed to heed repeated warnings" and that the Vincennes took "a proper defensive action."

A month later, a Defense Department investigation concluded that "Iran must share the responsibility for the tragedy" for allowing a civilian aircraft to fly near ongoing hostilities, and that it was "not the result of any negligent or culpable conduct by any U.S. Naval personnel associated with the incident."

But in December of that year, a United Nations agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization, came to a different conclusion. It faulted the United States because none of its ships in the area had the equipment necessary to listen in on civilian air traffic control frequencies, which would have identified the passenger jet.

"Seven of [ICAO's] eight recommendations were directed at the Navy shortcomings it had identified," The New York Times reported.

In May 1989, Iran sued the United States in the International Court of Justice for compensation for the victims and the destruction of the plane. The two governments reached a settlement in 1996; the United States did not accept liability but "expressed deep regret over the loss of lives" and agreed to pay $61.8 million to the victims' families.

The shooting down of Flight 655 also coincided with Iraq's increased use of chemical weapons in its war with Iran, prompting Iran to agree to a cease-fire two months later.

To this day, many hard-liners in the Iranian government believe the downing of the airliner was intentional.
GOP Sen. Mike Lee blasts officials for 'insulting and demeaning' Iran briefing originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

President Donald Trump's close, conservative ally Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, was livid following a classified briefing that members of Congress received Wednesday by top officials on the decision to order an airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, which brought tensions with Iran to a boiling point.

While most Republicans came out of the briefing with praise for the administration's handling of last week's drone strike that killed Soleimani, Lee said he was left utterly shocked and insulted that administration officials allegedly told senators they shouldn't debate and discuss military action against Iran.

(MORE: Trump addresses nation, de-escalates crisis over Iran's missile attacks)

"For them to tell us ... for us to debate and discuss these things on the Senate floor would somehow weaken the American cause and embolden Iran in any other actions, I find very insulting," Lee said, who did not specify to reporters on Capitol Hill which briefer made the assertion.

PHOTO: CIA Director Gina Haspel prepares to join a briefing for lawmakers on U.S. engagements with Iran in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 8, 2020. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA via Shutterstock)

"It is not acceptable for officials within the executive branch of government -- I don't care if they're with the CIA, the Department of Defense or otherwise -- to come in and tell us that we can't debate and discuss the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran," Lee added.

JUST IN: GOP Sen. Mike Lee says classified briefing on Iran was "probably the worst briefing I've seen, at least on a military issue, in the nine years I've served in the United States Senate." https://t.co/KwglhOrX0t pic.twitter.com/bzIapClHNN  ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 8, 2020

Lee was joined by GOP Sen. Rand Paul as he addressed reporters. Paul said that while he is a friend and supporter of Trump, he thinks "we need to have a debate of the separation of powers."

Story continues

Lee and Paul both noted that they now want to support a War Powers Resolution that intends to check the president's power to commit the U.S. to an armed conflict without the consent of Congress. The House plans to vote on the resolution Thursday.

"The briefing lasted only 75 minutes ... (it was) probably the worst briefing I've seen -- at least on a military issue -- in the nine years I've served in the U.S. Senate," Lee said. "Drive-by notification or after-the-fact lame briefings like the one we just received aren't adequate."

PHOTO: Senators' Mike Lee and Rand Paul depart via the Senate Subway following a classified national security briefing of the Senate on developments with Iran at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 8, 2020. (Tom Brenner/Reuters)

"I understand these are busy people, they've got a lot of demands on their time ... they had to leave after 75 minutes while they're in the process of telling us that we need to be good little boys and girls and run along and not debate this in public. I find that absolutely insane," Lee added. "It's un-American, it's unconstitutional, and it's wrong."

Lee also said the briefers were asked "repeatedly" what, if anything, would trigger the need for the administration to come back to Congress for a declaration of a war, or an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF).

"The briefers said something along the lines of, 'I'm sure we can think of something.' But they struggled to identify anything," Lee said.

The Utah senator said he intends to speak to the president about what he was told.

His description of the briefing was vastly different from what other Republicans described in their remarks to reporters.

"I just sat through one of the best briefings I've had since I've been here in the United States Congress," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Risch said. "After listening to the information that the president had, the CIA had ... it would have been negligent, it would have been reckless, and it would have been an intentional disregard to the safety of Americans not to ask and not to take out Soleimani."

PHOTO: Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley arrive to brief lawmakers on U.S. engagements with Iran in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 8, 2020. (Shawn Thew/EPA via Shutterstock)

Risch said the information provided by the briefers was "crystal clear" and he accused Democrats of hating the president so much, they were willing to risk American lives.

When asked about the intelligence that the U.S. had on Soleimani, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., told reporters that his activities were likely to come to a "significant head" soon. Blunt said Soleimani changed his patterns last spring and that his activities would have resulted in the loss of American life.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called the missiles from Iran last night a "feckless and anemic attack." He praised U.S. technology and then added, "Iran didnt just take an off-ramp; they took a U-turn."

"We have more questions than we have answers," Sen. Bob Menendez says following the briefing with Defense Sec. Esper regarding Iran and the intelligence that led to the strike that killed Qassem Soleimani. https://t.co/yKI66Qqbn7 pic.twitter.com/FkVPFOFori  ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 8, 2020

Democrats, for their part, blasted the briefing.

"There were so many important questions that they did not answer. We did not see a satisfying plan for the future. We had 97 senators there. Fifteen got to ask questions. As the questions began to get tough, they walked out. I've asked for a commitment that they all come back within a week. We've not yet gotten that commitment," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

PHOTO: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, to brief lawmakers on the U.S. engagement with Iran, Jan. 8, 2020. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

"I would say that the briefing was incredibly thin on facts, and to the extent that they provided facts in my judgement, they did not support any claim of an imminent threat that would justify the actions they've taken with respect to eliminating Soleimani," Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said.

Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said he thought it was apparent to him that the decision to strike Soleimani was a "choice" and not because of an imminent threat.

"It appears to me a strike of choice by this administration, one that likely would have required Congressional authorization beforehand," Murphy said.

ABC News' Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
A South African air force plane crash-landed and caught fire Thursday at the Goma airport in eastern Congo but there were no casualties, authorities said.

The C-130BZ military aircraft was transporting 59 passengers and eight crew members from the U.N mission when its left engine caught fire upon landing, said Mathias Gillman, acting spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping mission known as MONUSCO.

"MONUSCO sent a rescue team that brought the fire under control and everyone was safely evacuated," Gillman told The Associated Press.

The plane was returning from the eastern Congo city of Beni, where it was providing logistical support to the South African contingent deployed in the region, he said.

The South African National Defence Force in a statement confirmed the incident with one of its aircraft and said a board of inquiry will be convened to investigate what happened.

South Africa is one of the top five troop contributors to the UN peacekeeping force in Congo.

In November a small civilian plane crashed into homes shortly after takeoff in Goma, killing 26 people, including the passengers and crew as well as residents on the ground.

Authorities said the 19-seat plane owned by private carrier Busy Bee had been headed to Beni.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Alliance Data Systems Corporation (NYSE: ADS), a leading global provider of data-driven marketing and loyalty solutions, will host a conference call on January 30, 2020, at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss the Company's fourth-quarter and full-year 2019 results. Hosting the call will be Charles Horn, acting chief executive officer, executive vice president and vice chairman, as well as Timothy King, executive vice president and chief financial officer.

The conference call will be available via the Internet at www.alliancedata.com. Additionally, there will be several slides accompanying the webcast. Please go to the website at least 15 minutes prior to the call to register, download and install any necessary software. Please contact AdvisIRy Partners by e-mail: [email protected] with any questions.

About Alliance Data

Alliance Data (NYSE: ADS) is a leading global provider of data-driven marketing and loyalty solutions serving large, consumer-based industries. The Company creates and deploys customized solutions, enhancing the critical customer marketing experience; the result is measurably changing consumer behavior while driving business growth and profitability for some of today's most recognizable brands. Alliance Data helps its clients create and increase customer loyalty through solutions that engage millions of customers each day across multiple touch points using traditional, digital, mobile and emerging technologies. An S&P 500, FORTUNE 500 and FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Alliance Data consists of businesses that together employ over 9,000 associates at more than 50 locations worldwide.

Alliance Data's card services business is a provider of market-leading private label, co-brand, and business credit card programs. LoyaltyOne owns and operates the AIR MILES Reward Program, Canada's most recognized loyalty program, and Netherlands-based BrandLoyalty, a global provider of tailor-made loyalty programs for grocers. More information about Alliance Data can be found at www.AllianceData.com.

Follow Alliance Data on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

Contacts: Alliance Data

Tiffany Louder  Investor Relations

214-494-3048

[email protected]





Shelley Whiddon  Media

214-494-3811

[email protected]

SOURCE Alliance Data Systems Corporation

Related Links

http://www.alliancedata.com


(@FahadShabbir)

COMSATS' delegation under the leadership of the COMSATS Executive Director Dr S M Junaid Zaidi visited UNESCO Headquarters to reinforce the existing collaboration and breaking new grounds for joint working between the two organizations

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Jan, 2020 ) :COMSATS' delegation under the leadership of the COMSATS Executive Director Dr S M Junaid Zaidi visited UNESCO Headquarters to reinforce the existing collaboration and breaking new grounds for joint working between the two organizations.

Meetings were held with Dr Shamila Nair-Bedouelle, Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences and Dr Peggy Oti-Boateng, Director of the Division for Science Policy and Capacity-Building, highlighting COMSATS' interest in institution building in the South, said a message received here.

A prominent example of the same quoted by Dr Zaidi was recent establishment of a Centre for Climate and Sustainability to provide a platform for advocacy, coordination and collaboration in the area of climate sustainability.

Possibilities explored led to likelihood of establishment of a Science Park jointly by UNESCO, COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI) and relevant institutions in Ghana.

UNESCO experience in this domain would help materialize such a project successfully.

UNESCO's experience for research commercialization as well as initiatives for development of University-Industry relationship was also offered to help COMSATS member states.

Discussions with Dr Firmin Edouard Matoko, Assistant Director-General for Priority Africa and External Relations Programme and his colleagues helped explore possibilities of collaboration with COMSATS under Africa Priority Programme.

Other important meetings held on the occasion include those with Moez Chakchouk, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information and Dr Neelofer Shahzad.

The former was highly appreciative of COMSATS' activities in the field of information technology and expressed willingness to work jointly on smart cities for sustainable development.

During the discussion with the latter "Dr Abdus Salam Award for Best Scientist" and "COMSATS-UNESCO Edhi Humanitarian Award" were considered.

It was also suggested that COMSATS may offer scholarships to young scientists from COMSATS-UNESCO common member countries.
Lehigh County Commissioner Nathan Brown announced his candidacy Wednesday for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in the 131st Legislative District.

Brown served on Emmaus Borough Council from 2008 through 2017, when he was elected to represent Lehigh County's District 5 on the board of commissioners.

The 131st District covers communities in Lehigh, Montgomery and Northampton counties. State Rep. Justin Simmons, a Republican, represents the district but announced last month he will not seek a sixth two-year term.

Brown, a Republican, is a native of Pottstown, Montgomery County. He has lived for 21 years in Emmaus, where he and his wife, Liz, raised their two daughters. He said in a news release announcing his candidacy, he wants to expand on the good work that Justin has accomplished over the years and continue to fight for our community in Harrisburg.

Brown is a long-time project manager, currently for a fire and life safety corporation, where he oversees the multi-million-dollar installation of property and life safety equipment on four East Coast military bases, according to his campaign announcement.

He is a member of the County Commissioner Association of Pennsylvania and offers experience on fire and EMS issues, economic development as well as the need for state funding for local counties and municipalities, according to the announcement. On the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners, he serves on the courts and corrections, governance, development and planning, and human services committees.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) at a press conference in the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 9, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

House GOPs Byrne Introduces Resolution Censuring Pelosi for Delaying Impeachment Articles to Senate

WASHINGTONRep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) introduced a resolution to the House of Representatives on Jan. 8 to censure the chambers top official, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for her delay in sending two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate.

Speaker Pelosis decision to hold the articles of impeachment against President Trump in a pathetic and unconstitutional attempt to extract concessions from the Senate is an unprecedented abuse of power, Byrne said in a statement announcing the resolution.

House Democrats made the misguided decision to rush through the most legally unsound and factually unsupported articles of impeachment in the history of this country, and they cant now insist that the Senate fix their shoddy, incomplete work.

The two articles, for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, were approved by House Democrats on Dec. 18, 2019, with allegations that Trump withheld U.S. military aid to Ukraine in return for officials there investigating former Vice President Joe Biden.

All House Republicans voted against both articles, as did two Democrats, while Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), who is seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, voted present on both articles.

The Constitution gives the House of Representatives the authority to impeach a president for high crimes and misdemeanors, while the decision on whether to convict and remove an impeached official from office rests solely with the Senate.

In the two previous presidential impeachments by the Houseof Democrat Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Democrat Bill Clinton in 1998House officials quickly transmitted the impeachment articles to the Senate and appointed managers to present the impeachment case to the Senate trial.

Pelosi has yet to do so, citing concerns that the rules for the trial in the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans, wont be fair if the upper chamber doesnt allow testimony by witnesses who didnt appear before the lower chamber.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has echoed Pelosi on the issue, but at least five Senate Democrats earlier this week publicly said Pelosi should end the delay and send the articles over.

Pelosi, Schiff, and Nadler must do as our founders intended and present the lackluster case they assembled to the Senate and let the President finally exercise his right to defend himself. Until then, the leader of this attempt to throw out Constitutional norms to remove our president must be held accountable, Byrne said in his statement.

The key section of Byrnes resolution states:

Whereas this attempt by Representative Nancy DAlessandro Pelosi to establish a quid pro quo where the House performs a necessary function in the impeachment process in exchange for the Senate agreeing to demands with respect to the impeachment trial is an impermissible attempt to invade the constitutionally delegated authority of the Senate;

Whereas leveraging the powers of the House in this matter by indefinitely preventing the trial of Donald John Trump or by attempting to slant the trial in a manner favorable to the proponents of impeachment and removal threatens to deny Donald John Trump his constitutionally protected right of due process and the opportunity to defend himself;

And Whereas the actions of Representative Nancy DAlessandro Pelosi represent an abuse of power and bring dishonor and discredit to the House of Representatives 

Censure is the most serious punishment the House can impose on a member, short of refusing to seat the individual. Once a censure motion is adopted by a simple majority of the House, the censured member is required to stand before the assembly as the censure resolution is read aloud.

The last such resolution adopted by the House occurred in 2010 when Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) was censured for improper soliciting of funds, inaccurate financial disclosures, and failure to pay federal taxes.

Only four other representatives have been censured since 1787.

Contact Mark Tapscott at Mark.Tapscott@epochtimes.nyc
Frank Ocean's budding relationship with Prada bore fruit a year ago, when the musician donned a subdued casual look from the brand to the Met Gala, spawning countless security guard comparisons on Twitter. A few months later he flew halfway around the world to Shanghai to attend their Spring 2020 menswear show. Now, he's officially the face of the Italian company with the release of their new men's spring campaign.

The images, shot by photographer David Sims in LA, showcase two photos of Ocean juxtaposed against each other, including a photo of him wearing a bolo tie and looks from the spring collection. In addition, the word Prada is used as an acrostic poem, spelling out phrases coinciding with the campaign subjects. (Ocean's includes "Programming Rhythms And Dancing Again.")

This marks Ocean's third fashion ad campaign following past works with Calvin Klein and Band of Outsiders. Prada also highlighted two other creatives in the photo series, including actor Austin Butler of Carrie Diaries fame and screenwriter/producer Nicolas Winding Refn.
Tamil Nadu: Chennai oil spill: Panel to evaluate remedial measures undertaken

by SV Krishna Chaitanya

January 09,2020 | Source: The New Indian Express

Nearly three years after the devastating Chennai oil spill, southern bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a joint expert committee to assess the remedial measures by the State government to restore the coast and submit a report in three months. This follows complaints of governments inaction in taking up full-scale restoration works. Now, the panel, comprising expert members from Union Environment Ministry, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) and State fisheries department, has been mandated to check the quality of aquatic life, look for residual remains of oil spill in seabed and river mouths. After the oil spill off Ennore coast on January 28, 2017, the coast has been cleaned, but sufficient efforts were not made to assess the extent of environment damage caused by the spill, it is pointed out.



A detailed long-term monitoring programme on health of larvae, benthic organisms, turtles and birds during the post-spill period is what is needed to understand the extent of recovery of biological system and the likely period that would take for complete recovery of the ecosystem in the oil spill affected Ennore and Marina coasts. Committee on Assessment of Environmental Impact of Oil spill, constituted by State Department of Environment three months after the incident submitted its report, which gathered dust even as Central and State research institutes awaited funds for long to commence the studies on various aspects, including fisheries.



Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management Project Directorate (ICMAM) carried out analysis of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) in edible fish caught using trawl nets operated by fishing trawlers at depths of about 10m. The analysis showed 21 species were contaminated by TPH measuring 4.51 g/g. No data on safe limits for TPH in fish is available, which makes it difficult to interpret whether the observed value of 4.51 g/g in fish is within safe limit. Experts are concerned about the probable environmental impacts.



Experts concerned



Considering the high viscosity of bunker oil, low reactivity and persistency in environment, it is certain that the oil will continue to be present in sediments and organisms at least for a period of five-eight years, experts say.
The woman lodged a complaint alleging that he had raped and cheated her, following which the boy was arrested and produced before a court for the judicial remand, the police added.

Hyderabad: A 19-year-old man who allegedly cheated and sexually exploited a 23-year-old divorced woman was arrested by the Malkajgiri police on Wednesday. The police said that the accused and the victim met on Facebook and developed a relationship, following which he allegedly made false promises.

According to Malkajgiri police, the victim, 23, was a resident of Nacharam area. About three months ago, he came in contact with one Md Affan, 19, a resident of Nacharam and native of Bareli in UP through Facebook.

The woman had taken up a job as a maid and was living at her owners house. She developed friendship with Affan and he promised to marry her and adopt her children. They had met in her owners house in their absence, where he exploited her sexually on the promise of marriage, said the police.

On December 31, when they were together, the inmates of the house caught them. Even then, Affan promised to marry and escaped from there but switched off phone.

The woman lodged a complaint alleging that he had raped and cheated her, following which the boy was arrested and produced before a court for the judicial remand, the police added.
State of American Business Positive, Growing, and Hopeful Amid Uncertainty

WASHINGTONThe state of U.S. businesses and the economy isnt as pessimistic as is reflected by the talking heads on cable TV and talk radio, according to the nations largest business organization.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue raised concerns about growing economic, political, and global uncertainties in 2020 but said U.S. businesses are still positive, growing, and hopeful, despite those challenges.

The recession that many feared was looming in 2019 never showed up, Donohue said at the annual State of American Business event hosted by the Chamber on Jan. 9.

And by many measuresunemployment, wages, and the stock market to name just threethe economy is the strongest it has been in years, he added.

The political climate in Washington is one of the biggest question marks for business leaders, as the uncertainty of President Donald Trumps impeachment trial hangs over the Capitol.

In some respects, 2020 will be a year of frantic activity, Donohue noted. The high drama of impeachment continues to unfold, and once that gets resolved, we can get back to politics, politics, politics.

He called on lawmakers to focus on an infrastructure bill, immigration reform, and bipartisan proposals that help address climate change.

So, lets flip the conventional wisdom that nothing gets done in an election year, he said.

Free Enterprise

As in the past, the Chamber also raised concerns about the growing disregard of the free enterprise system and criticized far-left policies that have become popular among Democratic presidential candidates.

Donohue, in his speech, focused on candidates who have called for the federalization of some U.S. businesses, the elimination of private health insurance, a ban on energy production, a wealth tax to pay for government programs, as well as proposals to silence or limit the lobbying efforts of U.S. businesses.

Thomas Donohue, president and CEO of U.S. Chamber of Commerce (L) and Neil Bradley, vice president of Chamber of Commerce, hold a press conference at the 21st annual State of American Business event in Washington, on Jan. 9, 2020. (Emel Akan/The Epoch Times)

While Donohue didnt mention candidates by name in his speech, he did speak about a range of proposals touted by Democrats such as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal.

Some candidates support Medicare for All through a single-payer system, which provides automatic enrollment to a government plan. And many of the candidates have either co-sponsored or endorsed the Green New Deal, an ambitious environmental agenda introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.).

In addition, candidates such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) proposed a wealth tax that has sparked a fierce debate about whether the proposal is unconstitutional and would encourage capital flight.

Larry Summers, who served as Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and was chairman of President Barack Obamas National Economic Council, criticized the idea of a wealth tax, saying that it would lead Democrats down the wrong path.

Donohue says that the business community wouldnt stand on the sidelines of these political debates.

We need a wake-up call in this country that disincentivizing growth and going after corporations as if theyre a negative force in this country is no way to generate collective prosperity, he said.

China Trade

The Chamber applauded both the United States and China for reaching a phase one trade agreement.

Donohue said the deal would begin to reduce harmful tariffs.

But theres still a long way to go, he added. Phase two must address Chinese trade and industrial policies that put American businesses at a competitive disadvantage. It is in both nations interests to resolve those issues and restore our commercial relationship.

Optimism improved after the worlds two largest economies announced in October that they had reached a partial trade agreement. However, theres still a sense of skepticism in the United States when it comes to Chinese concessions on intellectual property (IP) rights and state subsidies.

The phase one agreement with China will be signed on Jan. 15 at the White House. Beijing said on Jan. 9 that Vice Premier Liu He, head of the countrys negotiation team in trade talks, will sign the deal in Washington.

According to the deal, Beijing has made commitments to buy in each of the next two years an average of $40 billion to $50 billion in U.S. agricultural products, which more than doubles the previous annual purchases.

Donohue noted that the agriculture deal is a vigorous opportunity for the United States.

When asked if the purchase amount was realistic, he said Beijing wants to make that number work, given the high demand in China for soybeans and poultry.
A schoolgirl has been diagnosed with a deadly brain tumour after doctors repeatedly blamed puberty for her crippling headaches.

Lily Wythe, from Southend-on-Sea in Essex, started to complain of migraines after returning from a family holiday in Spain in July last year.

The 14-year-old took paracetamol and soldiered on, but her headaches quickly became more severe and started to take a toll on her daily life.

Within weeks the teenager was suffering from double vision, slurred speech, and problems with her balance and vomiting.

Lily's parents took her to see doctors on five separate occasions and claim the headaches were dismissed as a normal part of puberty.

It wasn't until September that the teenager was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), which only a handful of patients survive.

Lily Wythe, 14, from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, had complained of migraines since coming home from a family holiday in Spain in July (pictured wearing an eye patch due to double vision caused by her tumour)

She took paracetamol and soldiered on, but the symptoms quickly became more debilitating. Pictured on holiday in Spain before her diagnosis

The teenager began suffering double vision, slurred speech, problems with her balance and vomiting. Pictured after radiotherapy to kill the mass

The 4cm mass had developed at the base of Lily's brain. There is no way to remove it without causing severe brain damage or death.

Recalling the devastating diagnosis, her mother Diane, 40, said: 'I can't tell you what happened in that room when doctors spoke to us.

'I remember the start of the conversation but I can't remember anything else, we were distraught.

'All I remember is my husband Martin standing there telling me "we've got to go and tell Lily she's got cancer" and I just thought "how do you do that?".

'Doctors explained they couldn't remove it because it was intertwined around all of her vital nerves that control everything.

'How do you tell a 13-year-old that you might have a year to live? You can't.'

She added: 'When we were told that only one course of radiotherapy was an option it was horrendous because we just felt helpless.

'These children die very slow and painful deaths. It's not like they just go to sleep, they lose their sight, their hearing, they lose everything - but cognitively they're still there. Their body is failing them and they're aware of it, it's heartbreaking.'

DIPG tumors are found in an area of the brainstem called the pons, which controls many of the bodys most vital functions such as breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate.

Lily's parents took her to see doctors on five separate occasions and claim the headaches were dismissed as normal part of puberty

It wasn't until September that the teenager was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), which only a handful of patients have survived

The 4cm mass had developed at the base of Lily's brain and there is no way to remove it without causing neurological defects or even death

Only a handful of children are diagnosed with them each year in the UK, while up to 300 youngsters develop them annually in the US.

Mrs Wythe claims five different health professionals including a GP, optician, out-of-hours doctor and A&E doctor all put her symptoms down to hormonal headaches.

When Lily's balance worsened and her speech became slurred during a family walk, her mother demanded she have an MRI scan.

It was at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) on October 8 that Mrs Wythe and husband Martin, 41, were told Lily, then 13, had inoperable DIPG.

Her mother said: 'What Lily's got is incurable, but we're focusing on being positive because that's the kind of people we are.

'We have to have a plan because when it decides to come back, you need to be able to move straight away as we saw Lily deteriorate quite quickly with the initial tumour.

Lily with brother Josh, 14, mother Diane, 40, and father Martin, 41, while on holiday in 2018 - a year before the headaches started

It was during a family trip to the beach in September, along with 12-year-old brother Josh Wythe, that Lily's balance worsened and she started slurring her speech (pictured with her mother)

Lily started a two-and-a-half-week course of radiotherapy on October 14, which has temporarily made her feel better

'We've worked out that the average cancer treatment in America is 300,000 a year.

'We are very positive because that's just the way we are as people but we're also scared because it's the unknown - nobody knows what's around the corner.'

It was during a family trip to the beach in September, along with 12-year-old brother Josh Wythe, that Lily's balance worsened and she started slurring her speech.

Mrs Wythe knew it was something more sinister and took her daughter to the hospital.

She said: 'When I spoke to her she just looked really tired, started to slur and was unsteady on her feet so I took her to A&E.

'We we were given a handout to log migraines but I knew she was seriously ill so asked for an MRI.

'I think they had me down as a neurotic mother, which annoyed me because I've never been like that.

But the family are anxious as doctors have told them the tumour 'almost always' comes back

Her mother set up a GoFundMe page in November and has raised 35,000 towards the 300,000 target. Lily pictured with brother Josh

'All four of us have probably used the NHS a handful of times in our lives - we're not ill people and my kids never go to the doctors. I was absolutely petrified there was something seriously wrong with her.

'I knew she was poorly but I didn't think she was seriously ill. I didn't think they were going to say it was a brain tumour even though she had all the classic signs.

'Technically Lily is too old for this because it's a childhood tumour - it generally affects children upto the age of nine or ten.'

Lily started a two-and-a-half-week course of radiotherapy on October 14, which has temporarily made her feel better.

But the family are anxious as doctors have told them the tumour 'almost always' comes back.

Her mother set up a GoFundMe page in November and has raised 35,000 towards the 300,000 target.

She said: 'It's absolutely crazy that people are donating to the GoFundMe.. We don't know most of the people donating money, we've never met them before, but the thought that they're all out there rallying around for you is absolutely amazing.

'The fact that people are out there helping us is extraordinary, it restores your faith in human beings.'

You can donate to the fundraising page here.
Ukraine exports almost 32 mln tonnes of grain since July 1

16:40, 09.01.20 1384

In particular, Ukraine exported almost 15 million tonnes of wheat.
Bud Light is taking on White Claw with its own hard seltzer.

Anheuser Busch announced today that starting Monday, January 13, it will be selling four flavors of Bud Light Seltzer, each with 100 calories and 5 per cent alcohol by volume.

The brand is the latest to compete in a growing market after White Claw became the unofficial drink of the summer of 2019.

New! Bud Light is taking on White Claw with its own hard seltzer

Next week! Anheuser Busch announced today that starting Monday, January 13, it will be selling four flavors of Bud Light Seltzer, each with 100 calories and 5 per cent ABV

Varieties: The new hard seltzer will be available in Black Cherry, Lemon Lime, Strawberry, and Mango flavors served in both 12-ounce and 25-ounce cans

The new hard seltzer will be available in Black Cherry, Lemon Lime, Strawberry, and Mango flavors served in both 12-ounce and 25-ounce cans.

In addition to having 100 calories, the drink has 2 grams of carbohydrates and less than one gram of sugar per serving. It is also gluten-free.

'Bud Light Seltzers unique 5-step filtration process ensures a clean finish, with no lingering aftertaste,' says the brand. 'Our natural carbonation and quality ingredients like sparkling water, real cane sugar, and natural fruit flavor create a light and bubbly seltzer for any occasion.'

Anheuser Busch first announced the product in November, and hard seltzer fans have been eagerly awaiting it ever since.

'Seltzer has brought excitement to the entire category and brought consumers back to beer,' Andy Goeler, Bud Light vice president of marketing, said in a press release. 'We are looking forward to leveraging the power of the Bud Light brand to help grow the category.'

Growing market: Bud Light joins several other beer brands that have debuted hard seltzer in the past several months, including Pabst Blue Ribbon and Natural Light (pictured)

Bud Light joins several other beer brands that have debuted hard seltzer in the past several months.

In August, both Pabst Blue Ribbon and Natural Light introduced their own versions.

Natural Light Seltzer has six per cent ABV and 133 calories, and comes in Catalina Lime Mixer and Aloha Beaches flavors.

PBR Seltzer, meanwhile, has eight per cent ABV and 228 calories, and it is available only in lime flavor.

A fan favorite: White Claw really put the drink on the map last summer, with Americans going wild for the low-calorie, alcoholic drink

But it's White Claw that really put the drink on the map last summer, with Americans going wild for the low-calorie, alcoholic drink.

Their hard seltzer has five per cent ABV, 100 calories, and 2 grams of carbs, and comes in five flavors: Black Cherry, Raspberry, Mango, Natural Lime, and Ruby Grapefruit.

The drink earned fast popularity last summer, and was soon such a must-have that the company had trouble keeping up with demand, leaving distraught customers complaining on social media that they couldn't find it stocked in stores.

Because there is not enough to go around, some distributors were even rationing out cases, limiting how many each store could get.

'An employee at total wine told me theres a shortage of white claws due to production issues and ya girl just wants a mango white claw!' one upset customer tweeted in late August.

Obsessed: The drink was so popular last summer that the company had trouble keeping up with demand, leaving distraught customers complaining on social media

'Im so tired of all the local markets being out of @WhiteClaw. There is seriously a white claw shortage in La Crescenta. come on mannnn, just trying to get my claw on,' tweeted another.

A woman in Las Vegas wrote that she tried seven stores without luck, while a woman suffering through the shortage in Los Angeles begged, 'send help.'

'Why must you always be sold out everywhere,' asked one heartbroken woman.

A Pennsylvania woman said she was 'crying' over the shortage, while people in West Virginia, Tennessee, New Jersey, and Florida also reported the problem.

The company has been working on increasing its output, even building new distribution centers.

In December, the drink even began popping up at Trader Joe's stores in 13 states.
A woman claims her ex-boyfriend bit off her nose and either ate it or flushed it down the toilet.

Allyson Danylko, 24, alleges her former partner Nick Grewal set upon her in a bathroom at his property in Toronto, Canada.

The pair were arguing in a nightclub on New Years Eve and things became even more heated when they returned home, it is said.

Ms Danylko claims Grewal, 30, was jealous over her plans to travel to Costa Rica without him.



The victim was allegedly assaulted by Grewal in the past and berated herself for taking him back, calling herself a stupid f***ing girl in an interview.

She told the Toronto Sun: He didnt want me to go on the trip. He was looking at me with a crazy look in his eyes.

I was cornered in the bathroom and he was holding me against the wall and I was screaming but he wouldnt let me go and he bit off my nose.

I was bleeding and got past him and ran out to a neighbours and started banging on their sliding door. It seemed like an eternity, but the police came and put me in an ambulance.

The victim believes her ex-boyfriend either ate her nose or flushed it down the loo as police dogs were unable to find it.

Officers were called to a property where a womans nose had been bitten off at 6.22am on New Years Day.

Ms Danylko is set to undergo reconstructive surgery on her nose using part of her ear in March.

She said she got a restraining order against Grewal after he bit her on the shoulder a few months ago, although she took him back.

Her mum has started a GoFundMe page to help her daughter cover her bills as she cannot work again until May.

Grewal has been charged with aggravated assault, forcible confinement and failing to comply with probation  and will appear in court on January 28.

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COLUMBIA  South Carolina's Senate lacks enough votes to pass a bill banning most abortions in the state, the Senate's Republican leader said Thursday, potentially blocking a path to take the fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"I don't want to deal with it again. If we have the votes, that's a different scenario," Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, told reporters.

Republican Gov. Henry McMaster has said he would sign the bill that would make it illegal to get an abortion in South Carolina after a fetal heartbeat has been detected, which can occur as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.

The measure that was forwarded in November by the Senate Medical Affairs Committee includes exceptions for victims of rape or incest  as long as the crime is reported.

But heading into the 2020 session that starts Tuesday, its chances in the full Senate come down to simple math, and "we've seen this movie before," Massey said.

In 2018, legislation that would have banned abortion outright  except in cases of rape, incest or saving the mothers life  was defeated with an early-morning 24-21 Senate vote that ended a filibuster and allowed the body to move on to other business in the sessions waning days.

The math has only gotten worse, Massey said, since a special election later that year added a Democrat in the chamber. A single senator can block debate in the body, based on its rules.

Massey, who is pro-life and otherwise supports current House legislation restricting abortion, said he doesn't want a repeat of the 2018 fight without stronger numbers.

The bill lacks enough support to even get to an official vote, he said.

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"It would be easier with the exceptions, but I don't know that it matters in the end," Massey said. "We don't have the votes."

However, advocates are expected to argue for it anyway.

State Rep. John McCravy, a Greenwood Republican and initial sponsor of the heartbeat bill, urged pro-life senators to push ahead.

"We are talking about saving lives here, not some frivolous matter. I think the majority of pro-life voters of this state will demand our senators vote on this bill and pass it," McCravy said.

"If the senators we have in office won't fight for this bill, I predict the people of South Carolina will hold them accountable at the ballot box," he said.

Ann Warner, CEO of the Women's Rights and Empowerment Network, said her agency is monitoring the bill.

"We remain on high alert to protect bodily autonomy in South Carolina," she said.

The S.C. House passed the "heartbeat" abortion ban along party lines, 70-31, in April.

McMaster is the keynote speaker for the South Carolina Citizens For Life Proudly Pro-Life Dinner on Friday. His office said the governor did not have any comment Thursday.

Several other Southern states have passed more restrictive abortion legislation in recent sessions with an eye toward challenging Roe vs. Wade in the U.S. Supreme Court.
A mother claims she has been left with 'over-inflated Barbie lips' and a 'piggy snout' after five botched surgeries.

Ellen Gonzalez wanted to have plastic surgery after being bullied as a child about her appearance, with the cruel remarks leaving her suicidal.

The 42-year-old, from Stamford, Connecticut, was devastated when she was left with lips that were 'too big' after having silicone injected in 2004.

More than a decade later, she decided to brave the operating table once again, with two nose jobs in 2016  but says she was left with a 'piggy snout'.

Things went from bad to worse in 2017 after surgery to rectify her appearance, with her nose made even larger and her lips left 'lumpy'.

A final attempt to perfect her pout in 2018 left Mrs Gonzalez's lips so puffed up that they now meet in the middle but not at the edges.

She has been left unable to smile or speak properly, food falls out of her mouth and she has to drink with a straw.

Determined to 'look like herself' again, unemployed Mrs Gonzalez is now preparing for an operation next month. But she has go back to the doctor who has performed all her surgeries because she can't afford anyone else.

Mother Ellen Gonzalez claims she has been left with 'over-inflated Barbie lips' and a 'piggy snout' after five 'botched' surgeries. She is pictured with her 14-year-old daughter Adrianna

The 42-year-old, from Stamford, Connecticut, had three procedures on her lips and two on her nose between 2004 and 2018. She is pictured recently

When Mrs Gonzalez demanded her nose was redone for a second time, she claims she asked for her lips to be made slightly smaller too. But the result was unexpected. She went on to have two surgeries to try and rectify the work

Mrs Gonzalez, who is sharing pictures of her face as a warning of how plastic surgery can go wrong, said: 'I wish I'd never touched my face.

'I feel ugly and unattractive. I don't want to be fake anymore. I can't eat or drink properly.

'Food falls out of my mouth, and if I drink liquids and I'm not leaning the right way, they come out too. I have to drink with a straw.

'My goal is to go back to looking like myself so that my daughters have good self-worth and self-esteem. [I don't want them to] think that over-inflated Barbie was the only way to feel beautiful.'

Mrs Gonzalez first had her lips done aged 27 in 2004, a decision she says she made because she was bullied at school.

She said: 'I went through a lot of trauma as a child which is why I got plastic surgery. I wanted to have control over my body.

'I was bullied to the point of wanting to commit suicide and I ran away from home to get away from my bullies.

'When bullies tell you that you're fat, ugly, that you would be better off dead, you do anything to change that impression of yourself.'

Mrs Gonzalez revealed a friend had told her about a woman who was doing fat shots, tattoo eyebrows and lip fillers, but it wasn't a real clinic.

Recalling her visit in 2004, she said: 'She injected my lips and I immediately felt they were too big but she assured me they'd get smaller.'

Mrs Gonzalez claims the woman told her the procedure was non-permanent and her lips go back to normal size in 'a few years'.

She went to see another plastic surgeon with daughter, Hailey, in 2016 because the 16-year-old had a tumour on her neck.

He offered Mrs Gonzalez a rhinoplasty to help her breathe easier. It is unclear why she struggled to breathe through her nose.

But after the surgery on her nose, Mrs Gonzalez says she was left looking like she had a 'piggy snout'.

She said: 'In 2016, my daughter had a tumour on her neck and the surgeon said "I could fix your breathing problems for you too". He told me to stop by his office.

'He originally did a rhinoplasty, but [my nose] was turned up like a little piggy snout. It didn't look natural.

After the first surgery to correct her lips in 2017, Mrs Gonzalez claims her stitches became infected and pus seeped from her sores (pictured)

Mrs Gonzalez's lips are so puffed up that they meet in the middle but not at the edges

'It was like I had two separate noses. One part was going one way, then I had a crazy-looking nose tip that was very, very pointy.'

Mrs Gonzalez demanded her nose was redone, and as she was wheeled into theatre for a second time, she claims she asked for her lips to be made slightly smaller too.

She said: 'The second time he went back in, he took fat from my stomach and added it to my nose. Now I've got an even bigger nose than when I started.

'While he was doing that, he said he'd make my lips a little smaller too. Instead of cutting straight across, he cut one side higher than the other.

'I asked him for an explanation and he didn't answer me. He said it looked good and if I didn't like them, he'd fix them again.'

Mrs Gonzalez was horrified to see how lumpy her mouth was. She claims her stitches became infected and pus seeped from her sores.

In February, Ms Gonzalez will go under the knife for a third time to allow the same man to operate on her lips, hoping she will look 'normal' afterwards

Mrs Gonzalez, pictured with her husband, Eddie, is hoping to go back to how she looked before she began having surgery, to teach her two daughters how to be confident in their own skin

Ms Gonzalez had another surgery in 2018 to create the lips she wanted.

But since then, her bottom lip has been left 'protruding out' and her mouth is full of scars, leaving her too self-conscious to have photos taken

She is also unable to talk properly, suffering with a slight speech impediment due to her lips being misshaped.

Mrs Gonzalez said: 'The bottom lip on the right side hangs down slightly. So when I close my mouth, air goes in it and I constantly have dry mouth.

'They were very lumpy. I've gone through the ringer with this. It's messed my mouth up.

'I got infections in my lips. I had very bad luck. All my stitches opened up and it was massively infected. I used to take pictures all the time, but now I don't want to.'

After finding herself unemployed, Mrs Gonzalez claims she has no choice but to return to the same surgeon for corrections, instead of finding someone else.

In February, she will allow the same surgeon to operate on her lips, hoping she will look 'normal' afterwards.

Mrs Gonzalez is now hoping to go back to how she looked before she began having surgery, to teach her two daughters how to be confident in their own skin.

Mrs Gonzalez, who had to stop studying to be a nurse because of other health problems, said: 'I'm now out of work so I don't have the option for another doctor.

'The surgeon who did it is doing a re-surgery to fix it. I have literally written down three pages [of notes] and gone over it, stating "do not cut my top lip".

'My next surgery is in February. I'm not feeling very well about trusting him again, but I don't have any options.

'I'm trying to do them as small as possible. I've got scars on my lips now. I don't want to keep adding scars.'
Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Thursday that Pakistan will "never get involved" in other countries' wars again and will serve as an "example" for other Muslim countries and "lead" them.

Khan made the comments a day after he directed Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to visit Iran , Saudi Arabia and the US as part of Pakistan's efforts to defuse the tensions in the Gulf region following the killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike and Tehran attacked military bases in Iraq housing American troops.

He said Pakistan will become a country that will "serve as an example for other Muslim countries around the world and lead them".

I even told President Donald Trump that I will help establish peace between Iran and the United States, Imran Khan said

Geo News quoted Khan as saying that Pakistan had been committing mistakes in its foreign policy "by getting involved in others' wars".

"Pakistan will never participate in anyone's war again," he said while launching an ambitious skill development programme here aimed at the emancipation of youth through quality professional training.

Khan has previously said that Pakistan has suffered immensely over its role as a front-line state during the 'Afghan Jihad' in the 1980s and the US-led war on terror following the 9/11 terror attacks.

A senior aide to Imran Khan says US has sought Pakistan's help to de-escalate tensions in the Persian Gulf

He had also said that even though there were economic advantages to these conflicts, with foreign funding flowing into Pakistan, the eventual cost to the fabric of Pakistani society was not worth it.

"Pakistan will become the country that encourages peace in other countries," he said, adding that Islamabad will do its best to bring about peace between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

"This (peace between Saudi Arabia and Iran) will be our biggest effort," he said.

"I even told (President) Donald Trump that I will help establish peace between Iran and the US," he was quoted as saying.

'Nobody Ever Wins a War'

Khan said that "nobody ever wins a war", saying that Pakistanis knew very well how much Pakistan had suffered due to the War on Terror.

Meanwhile, a senior aide to the prime minister said the US sought Pakistan's help to de-escalate tensions in the Persian Gulf amidst the recent standoff between Washington and Tehran.

I have asked FM Qureshi to visit Iran, KSA & USA to meet with respective foreign ministers, Secretary of State; & COAS Gen Bajwa to contact relevant military leaders to convey a clear message: Pakistan is ready to play it's role for peace but it can never again be part of any war  Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) January 8, 2020

The US has asked Pakistan for help to de-escalate tensions in the region, according to Moeed Yusuf, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Security Division.

While taking part in a talkshow, Yusuf said "Washington asking Islamabad to play a role in the Middle East row shows Pakistan's international standing as a peacemaker."

The Nation newspaper noted that Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark Esper discussed the situation in the Gulf region during recent telephonic conversations.

Pakistan in a Tight Spot

Pakistan is majority Sunni Muslim but has a large Shiite minority and is anxious to avoid any regional upheaval.

An ally of Saudi Arabia, Tehrans arch regional foe, Pakistan has a complex relationship with Iran, with which it shares a long border.

Pakistan is grappling with a severe economic crisis and its long land frontier with Iran is rife with cross-border militant activity.

Islamabad has also long had a tense relationship with the United States over the war in Afghanistan

But it badly needs US support, both in handling its severe balance of payments problems and in dealing with India

Sectarian Tensions

In Karachi, thousands of Shi'ite protestors, including women and children, carried images of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as of Soleimani.

They marched and chanted slogans of "Death to America," and "Death to Israel.

A smaller rally was also held in the capital, Islamabad, where protestors burnt US and Israeli flags.
BEIJING - Chinas economy czar will visit Washington next week for the signing of an interim trade deal, the government said Thursday.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/1/2020 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FILE - In this Sept. 16, 2018, file photo, American flags are displayed together with Chinese flags on top of a trishaw in Beijing. China's economy czar will visit Washington next week for the signing of an interim trade deal, the government said Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)

BEIJING - Chinas economy czar will visit Washington next week for the signing of an interim trade deal, the government said Thursday.

Vice Premier Liu He, Beijings chief envoy in talks with Washington over their tariff war, had been expected to attend the signing but the Commerce Ministrys statement was the first official confirmation.

Washington postponed planned tariff increases following the announcement of the Phase 1 deal in October. But earlier punitive duties imposed by both sides on billions of dollars of each others goods stayed in place, dampening global trade and threatening to chill economic growth.

Liu will lead a delegation to Washington from Monday through Wednesday, said ministry spokesman Gao Feng.

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Under the Phase 1 deal, Beijing agreed to buy more American farm goods and Washington's chief negotiator, Robert Lighthizer, said it would make changes to respond to complaints about its industrial policies. Details have yet to be announced and Chinese officials have yet to confirm any regulatory changes or the size of purchases of American soybeans and other exports.

Both sides have soothed financial market jitters by announcing conciliatory steps including postponing planned tariff hikes. Beijing also has resumed purchases of soybeans, the biggest American export to China, and pork.

Washington, Europe, Japan and other trading partners complain Beijing steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology. Washington is pressing China to roll back plans for state-led creation of global competitors in robotics and other industries that its trading partners say violate its market-opening commitments.

President Donald Trump announced last month he would sign the Phase 1 agreement Jan. 15 and travel to Beijing after that to start the second stage of talks.

Trump hailed the interim agreement as a step toward ending the tariff war, but Beijing has been more measured in its public statements.

Economists say concluding a final settlement could take years. Potential hurdles include Chinese insistence that U.S. tariff hikes be cancelled once an agreement takes effect. The Trump administration says some must remain in place to ensure Beijing carries out any promises it makes.
Vietnam needs to change policy or lose out in Industry 4.0 Updated: 09:00 - 09/01/2020

Pham Xuan Hoe from the Banking Strategy Institute speaks at a forum in Hanoi__Photo: Internet

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Vietnam needs a revolution in its policy-making mind-set before it can take advantage of the fourth industrial revolution, said Pham Xuan Hoe from the Banking Strategy Institute, at a forum in Hanoi on January 8.Attending the forum held by the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR), Hoe said: if Vietnam can catch up with the revolution in time, the digital economy can help the country close the gap with other nations around the world.However, he was concerned about policies to help boost digital transformation, saying: Vietnam still applies outdated policies in a new economic context.Economist Nguyen Tri Hieu told the forum: Since 2016, the country has spoken a lot about the advantages from the fourth industrial revolution but, after four years, I dont see where it is in such a revolution.Responding to both comments, Ho Tu Bao from the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, said: Vietnam is in the initial stages of the revolution, adding that each revolution takes between 50 to hundreds of years.Bao said the fourth industrial revolution is one of digital transformation, which helps close the gaps in social relationships, ease the burden on labor and remove the role of intermediaries to develop the economy.Bao is working with the Ministry of Health on a plan to connect the medical records of more than 50 million people with their health insurance details and another plan with the Ministry of Transport to connect transport records of 1.2 million vehicles.It is the last chance for Vietnam to take advantage of the era, Bao said.The two most important areas for digital transformation were tourism and agriculture, as the main drivers of economic growth in Vietnam.Some ministries go fast and some go slower in digital transformation, however, the awareness of many leaders has been improved.Digital transformation is a long term project, and should take at least 10 years, Bao said.Hosting the forum, VEPR director Nguyen Duc Thanh agreed that the economy was changing.Recognizing the Governments efforts, VERPs director said Vietnam was spending on building an e-Government but the process was slow. Half of the countrys ministries were not yet digital.Thanh told the forum: The transformation will take time as the people (who make decisions) are still the same. There is no other way than to wait for them to change their minds.Professor Cao Doan told the forum that: Vietnam should define a clear plan for the revolution, or it will lose out.According to the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), the implementation of the fourth industrial revolution can help boost economic growth from USD 28.5 billion to USD 62.1 billion, equivalent to 7-16 percent of GDP over the next ten years.Lucy Cameron, lead author of the report Vietnams Future Digital Economy Towards 2030 and 2045, in 2019 forecast that in the best scenario, Vietnam will carry out a digital transformation across industries and export ICT products and services, GDP could see an increase of VND 3.750 trillion in the next 20 years, an annual increase of 1.3 percent.According to the SBVs Payment Department, ending 2019, the country had 78 organizations providing payment services online, 45 organizations providing payment services via mobile banking and 83.3 million personal bank accounts.-
Trucking companies impacted by WA's Goldfields bushfires have called on the Federal Government to include them in any assistance packages made available to businesses impacted by the devastating east coast fires.

Several Goldfields fires have been raging since before Christmas, tearing through more than 600,000 hectares of bush and shutting down the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway and Eyre Highway, WA's major arterial connection to the east coast.

Firefighters have been battling the Goldfields blazes since before Christmas. Credit:Paul Jeffers

The closures left trucks and cars stranded on either end of the highway at the Caiguna Roadhouse in the east, and prompted the Western Roads Federation to warn eastern states trucking companies to not send any trucks to WA.

There are still trucks stuck in Salmon Gums as firefighters continue to battle the blazes, and fresh emergencies near Balladonia will ensure Eyre Highway remains closed on Thursday.
Hundreds of people took to the streets on Wednesday in a candlelight march against the CAA and NRC. The vigil started from Lal Kuan to Jama Masjid in Delhi. Demonstrations against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) have been going on for over a month in various parts of the country, including the national capital. The city has witnessed violent protests in various regions, increasing tensions across India, over the Act.

READ | Hundreds Gather At Jama Masjid To Protest Against CAA

Holding the view that CAA and NRC are against the democracy and discriminates citizens on the basis of religion, several protestors, and opposition leaders are demanding its immediate rollback. Meanwhile, the BJP leaders are carrying out pro-CAA rallies and holding discussions to spread awareness about the benefits of the recently proposed law.

READ | Anti-CAA Protests: SIT Arrests Two More Persons For Violence In Delhi

Agitation in Delhi

The mood in the capital has been tense since December 15, when buses and police vehicles were set ablaze in an outbreak of violence near Jamia Millia Islamia University. The varsity's students denied involvement, and police action inside the campus had later sparked nationwide protests.

The police had claimed that the protesters torched DTC buses and a fire tender was damaged. However, the students claimed that the police baton-charged them when they were holding a peaceful protest.

READ | Students From Delhi Universities Protest Against CAA, NRC And JNU Violence

What is CAA & NRC?

The CAA seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Through this bill, Indian citizenship will be provided to the members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian communities, who have come from the three countries to India till December 31, 2014, to put an end to them being treated as illegal immigrants in the country.

An updation process of NRC act had started in 2013 and ended with the receipt of forms by the NRC authorities on 31 August 2015. The process aimed at separating genuine Indian citizens from undocumented immigrants living in Assam. As per NRC terms, a resident has to prove that they or their ancestors entered Assam before midnight on March 24, 1971. Anyone failing to do so will be declared a foreigner.

READ | JNU Violence: Delhi Police Gets Vital Leads To Identify Masked Men, Claim Govt Sources

(With inputs from ANI)
PHILIPSBURG:--- On early Tuesday morning, around 10.00 am, the central dispatch received a call concerning a stolen car that was spotted driving in Dutch Quarter area. According to the caller, his car was stolen on November 24th, 2019 from his home in Zorg and Rust. The owner filed an official complaint of theft of his vehicle by the detective department.

The central dispatch directed the patrol to the area of Dutch Quarter where the car was parked. At the Gibbs drive in Dutch Quarter, the patrol found the car that was reported stolen in November 2019.

The Driver of the white Hyundai I-10 with the initials M.C. told the police that he bought the car from a friend a few weeks earlier. He was arrested and incarcerated at the police station in Philipsburg pending further investigation. The car was also confiscated for investigation.

KPSM Press Release.
TV actor Nehha Pendse, who recently got married in a grand celebration in Pune on Sunday, has responded to talk about her husband, businessman Shardul Singh Bayas being a divorcee with two daughters. Speaking with Times of India in an interview, Nehha said, Whats the big deal about this? Today, many of us are getting married late because of various reasons, including the focus on career. A lot of people end up having more than one relationship before finally tying the knot. The commitment, love and physical proximity could be the same as it is in a marriage, the only difference is that there is no legal stamp over it. So, why are people talking about Shardul being a divorcee? Its not that I am a virgin either.

Also read: Ananya Panday says struggle is not appearing on Koffee with Karan, dad Chunky wants her not to take his name

She further told the daily,  I appreciate the fact that he took chances with women he was in love with, unlike in my case where the men disappeared just when the relationship could have culminated into marriage. At least, Shardul is not commitment-phobic. I salute him for his undying faith in the institution of marriage, it is easy to not believe in it after two failed marriages. That shows that he is a man of substance unlike those who fear the idea of getting married. I also feel that if a marriage is not working out, one should end it rather than drag on.

Nehha had opened up on changing her surname and told Hindustan Times recently, Im proud to be Sharduls wife and more than happy that Shardul came into my life. I couldnt wait to change my name and immediately after the rituals, I added Bayas to my last name. We truly love each other.

The beautiful part about the relationship is that we consciously decided to be in a live-in before getting married as we wanted our journey to be very seamless. Because of this, we feel that we are already well settled with each other. So, nothing changes in our life post marriage. We are now just officially married to each other, she added.

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Britains Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are to step back as senior royals.

Harry and his wife, Meghan, stunned the British monarchy and the world on Wednesday by quitting as front-line members reportedly without first consulting Queen Elizabeth II, according to the Guardian UK.

In a statement on Wednesday, Harry and Meghan said they made the decision after many months of reflection and internal discussions.

They said they intend to step back as senior members of the Royal Family, and work to become financially independent.

The couple said they would spend time in North America and rip up long-established relations with the press while continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.

This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, the couple said.

The surprise news follows a turbulent year for the couple, who have openly said they have struggled in the spotlight and grown apart from Harrys brother, William. They have also reacted badly to negative news coverage.

We intend to step back as senior members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen, they said in a statement released by Buckingham Palace.

We have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution, they added.

Meghan also admitted that it had been a struggle becoming a mother while living under an intense media spotlight.

We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America.

The announcement appeared to catch the royal family by surprise.

According to the BBC, Buckingham Palace put out a second statement an hour and 40 minutes later, saying discussions with Harry and Meghan were at an early stage.

We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through, it added.

It was understood that the mood in Buckingham Palace was one of disappointment and even, according the BBC, hurt.

Struggling in the spotlight

Harry and Meghan are among the most senior, core members of the royal family, and, along with William and his wife Kate, seen as the monarchys future.

The pair spent six weeks over Christmas in Canada after speaking of the pressure of being in the spotlight following their fairytale wedding at Windsor Castle in May 2018 and son Archies birth 12 months later.

They skipped the royal familys traditional Christmas at Sandringham, the sovereigns private estate in eastern England, spending the festive season instead with Meghans mother, Doria Ragland.

Local press said all was not well with the Sussexes in October when Harry, sixth in line to the throne, admitted that he and William were on different paths and had good and bad days in their relationship.

We dont see each other as much as we used to, he told ITV televisions Tom Bradby, whom the princes have grown to trust with interviews over the years, according to the Guardian UK.

Asked by Mr Bradby if she was not really OK and life had really been a struggle becoming a mother while living under intense media scrutiny, Meghan appeared emotional and replied simply: Yes.

Mr Bradby said Wednesday that he sensed he was witnessing a long, sad farewell to this royal life.

This is a new war of the Windsors and its not over yet.

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Media battle

The royal couple have appeared increasingly unhappy in recent months with their public roles and the level of scrutiny they have faced in the media, according to the Guardian UK.

The BBC recalled in October last year how Harry issued a stinging statement about general tabloid coverage and launched the first of a handful of lawsuits against newspaper publishers for bullying his wife; behaviour he likened to the treatment of his mother, Princess Diana, who died in a car accident in 1997.

He said he could no longer be a silent witness to Meghans private suffering, adding that his deepest fear is history repeating itself.

The action was in the wheels of the moment when Meghan took some legal proceedings against the Mail after the paper published a handwritten letter she had sent to her estranged father.

On a new website, the couple said they would no longer take part in the royal rota.

The rota system is an established arrangement between the palace and the press whereby news organisations take it in turns to cover events and then share the pictures, text and video with everyone in the pool, avoiding the mass media scrambles of the past.

In a separate statement on their website, the duke and duchess questioned the credibility of established royal correspondents, and indicated their desire to work instead with young, up-and-coming journalists and specialist publications in future.

A wrong move

Following the announcement of the Royals step back, many have condemned the decision as a wrong way of being alone.

Queen Elizabeths former press secretary Dickie Arbiter told Sky News television that the couples approach was a succession of doing things their own waywhich is the wrong way.

Sometimes theres good press; sometimes theres bad press. You take the rough with the smooth.

UK media have joined in the tongue-backlashing as newspaper headlines seen on Thursday including The Suns Megxit, said the couple had sparked civil war at the palace.

They didnt even tell the Queen, said the Daily Mirror, while the Star said: The Royal formerly known as Prince.

Always ends in tears

Former BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt told Channel 4 television that royals thinking they can earn money in a side career has always ended in tears.

According to the Guardian UK, Harry has inherited millions of pounds from his relatives estates, including from his mother, and, prior to taking a public role, Meghan was a highly successful actor. The Queen also gave them a home to live in.

Harry and Meghan indicated they would seek paid work in future and would fulfil some royal duties if asked to do so, suggesting such work would continue to be funded in the usual way.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have announced they will be stepping back as senior royals - after a whirlwind two years in the public eye.

The Duke, 35, and Duchess of Sussex, 38, who made their first ever appearance together at the Invictus Games in Toronto on 25 September 2017, have squeezed in endless memorable moments in the time that has followed.

Among their jam-packed schedule includes their official engagement announcement in November 2017, and the multi-cultural and US-influenced wedding that followed at Windsor Castle, on May 2018.

The star-studded day was filled with VIP guests and dominated by Hollywood stars including the Clooneys, the Beckhams, Idris Elba, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hardy and James Corden.

Other highlights since their big day include Meghan's lavish baby shower trip to New York, which is thought to have cost more than $500,000 (380,000), Archie's birth on 6 May 2019, and their 10-day tour of Africa as a family late last year.

Here, FEMAIL looks back at Prince Harry and Meghan's relationship timeline.



Prince Harry and Meghan Markle watched Wheelchair Tennis at the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto, Canada on 25 September 2017 - in what marked their first public appearance together

The Duke and and Duchess of Sussex with their baby son (Name later announced as Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor), who was born on May 6 2019 during a photocall in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle in Berkshire

FIRST PUBLIC EVENT, 25 September 2017

Hand in hand, Prince Harry proudly brought his then-girlfriend Meghan Markle to a highly public tennis match on 25 September 2017 at the Invictus Games in Toronto - marking their first official appearance together as a couple.

The Suits star made an intriguing outfit choice, sporting a a 221 (retailing for $185 in the States) white shirt named The Husband, designed by her friend Misha Nonoo whose former spouse went to Eton with William and Harry, along with sunglasses and ripped blue jeans.

Their appearance was seen as a sign that an engagement was on the cards for the couple, and within hours of them stepping out together bookies Ladbrokes suspended betting on an engagement announcement.

The love birds arrived, fingers entwined, to the Invictus Games semi-final, in full view of members of the public and photographers.

The couple put on a show of togetherness with Harry leaning close to chat to his then-girlfriend during proceedings on 25 September 2017

ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT, 27 November 2017

Prince Harry told how he was 'thrilled' to be marrying Meghan Markle and admitted he knew the Suits star was 'the one' from 'the first day we met'.

Meghan also showed the world her engagement ring designed by Harry himself containing two diamonds from Princess Diana's own personal collection set in a gold band.

Harry looked nervous but happy as they made their first public appearance since the announcement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, much loved by his late mother Princess Diana.

His fiancee stroked his arm lovingly as they spoke to reporters, who asked him: 'When did you know she was the one?' and he replied: 'From the very first time we met'.

He refused to say how he proposed saying: 'That will come later' but when asked if it was romantic he said: 'Of course it was' - but the couple didn't kiss for the cameras.

The prince said he was 'thrilled, over the moon' adding: 'Very glad it's not raining as well.' Meghan said she was 'so happy, thank you' before they wandered back into Kensington Palace beaming.

THE ROYAL WEDDING, 19 May 2018



Meghan Markle married Prince Harry in a multi-cultural and US-influenced wedding at Windsor Castle on 19 May, 2018.

The newlyweds shared tears, laughter and a passionate kiss in front of their hundreds of VIP guests dominated by Hollywood stars including the Clooneys, the Beckhams, Idris Elba, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hardy and James Corden.

Elton John, who sang at Princess Diana's funeral in 1997, performed at the lunchtime reception hosted by the Queen in a poignant nod to Harry's late mother.

All the senior British royals were also there to support the couple including Her Majesty the Queen, Prince Philip, Harry's best man Prince William and his wife Kate, who brought George and Charlotte but left baby Louis with the nanny.

Meghan became the first mixed-race member of the royal family in an extraordinary journey for a girl born in LA to a white father and African-American mother who fought her way through the tough world of showbusiness to land a plum role in the TV series Suits.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry walked down the steps of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor, near London, following their wedding on May 19, 2018

FIRST OUTING AS THE DUCHESS OF SUSSEX, 22 May 2018

Meghan Markle made her first outing as the Duchess of Sussex on 22 May 2018 as the newlyweds arrived at Prince Charles's 70th birthday party at Buckingham Palace.

The Duchess of Sussex was given a warm welcome into the family, with Prince Harry explicitly referring to the garden party as a 'family celebration' during his speech.

Harry and Meghan enjoyed only a brief private getaway following their wedding, and delayed their full honeymoon to honour the Prince.

But their newlywed energy was on full display as she rubbed her hand up and down her husband's back as they made their way out.

The Duke and Duchess attended the Prince of Wales' 70th Birthday Patronage Celebration at Buckingham Palace in London on 22 May 2018, which was their first official engagement following their wedding

PREGNANCY ANNOUNCEMENT AND FIRST ROYAL TOUR, October 2018

Meghan and Harry announced they were expecting in a statement via Kensington Palace on October 15, 2018.

The statement read: 'Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public'.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh said they were 'delighted' to be welcoming their eighth great-grandchild in a joint statement with Prince Charles, who became a grandfather for the fourth time when Baby Sussex was born.

Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland said she was 'very happy about this lovely news' and 'looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild'.

The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were told in person at the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank at Windsor Castle two days prior.

The baby news was released in a statement by Kensington Palace saying the baby was due in Spring 2019

Harry and Meghan attended the wedding of his cousin Princess Eugenie in Windsor on 12 October 2018 (pictured) - where they told the Queen and the royal family they were expecting and she was wearing a wide fitting coat

Rumours were rife that Meghan may be pregnant after her mother Doria Ragland was seen taking baby-care classes in Pasadena with a view to looking after her new grandchild.

The news came as the couple were seen beaming as they touched down in Sydney to start their three-week tour of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga - their first major international trip since they married in May.

They were later photographed holding hands in the grounds of Admiralty House, where the Queen stays Down Under, when their happy news was announced to the world.

Their 16-day tour of Australasia included a trip to Fiji and Tonga despite advice that pregnant women should not travel to the region because of its moderate Zika risk.

LAVISH BABY SHOWER, February 2019

At seven-months-pregnant, the Duchess of Sussex celebrated the impending arrival of her first child Archie with a lavish baby shower trip to New York, which is thought to have cost more than $500,000 (380,000).

Meghan's pricey - but privately-funded - party, which took place in a $75,000-a-night penthouse, included a flower arranging class for guests, using a variety of blooms from Upper East Side florist Lady Fleur.

Guests at the lavish baby shower left the intimate gathering with high-end gift bags filled with luxe leather tote bags filled with the royal's favourite products.

According to People, Serena Williams, Amal Clooney, and Canadian stylist Jessica Mulroney were among the attendees who were gifted Cuyana leather totes that were filled to the brim with products, much like Oscars swag bags.

Meghan Markle celebrated the impending arrival of her first child Archie with a lavish baby shower trip to New York in February 2019

The Duchess of Sussex celebrated the impending arrival of the royal baby with a spectacular baby shower in New York, costing an estimated $500,000 (380,000) in total

ARCHIE'S BIRTH, 6 May 2019

Prince Harry revealed his delight at baby Archie's arrival during a TV statement in which he heaped praise on his 'incredible' wife.

The Duke of Sussex announced that Meghan had given birth at 5.26am to a boy weighing 7lbs 3oz, having been more than a week overdue.

Prince Harry gushed that the 'little thing is absolutely to-die-for' as he announced the news on after Meghan went into labour in the early hours.

Speaking from Windsor at the time, a visibly-excited Prince Harry shared his immense pride as he joked of getting just two hours' sleep the night before, before calling the birth 'the most amazing experience I could ever have possibly imagined'.

In a statement shortly after the birth was announced, Buckingham Palace said Meghan and her baby were 'both doing well', and that the Queen and other members of the royal family were 'delighted' with the news.

Meghan is pictured at King's College, London in March (left) and with Harry at at Buckingham Palace in the same month (right)

Speaking hours after his wife went into labour, an overjoyed Prince Harry (pictured) revealed that his wife had given birth to a healthy baby boy

FIRST PICTURES OF BABY ARCHIE, 8 MAY, 2019

Meghan and Harry made their first public appearance with baby Archie in the grounds of Windsor Castle, two days after he was born.

The move differed from the announcement of royal babies in the past, where new mothers had shown off their newborns on the steps of the hospital where they were born.

The baby boy was lovingly cradled by his adoring father and watched attentively by Meghan, who was herself pictured for the first time in over a month since withdrawing from public life ahead of the birth.

The couple appeared to be beside themselves with joy, giggling and looking into each other's eyes as they spoke, while Harry could not resist sneaking a peek down at his son as he apparently slept.

Speaking from inside the majestic St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, a radiant Meghan declared: 'It's magic, it's pretty amazing. He's just been the dream so it's been a special couple of days.

The world was given its first ever glimpse of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's newborn son on 8 May 2019 as his beaming parents finally showed off their 'own little bundle of joy' to millions of royal fans across the globe

Baby Sussex (pictured) made his very first public appearance at a photocall alongside a thrilled Prince Harry and Meghan in the grounds of Windsor Castle

'I have the two best guys in the world so I'm really happy. He has the sweetest temperament, he's really calm.'

As they both laughed, Harry said: 'I don't know who he gets that from.'

Asked who the baby takes after, Meghan said: 'We're still trying to figure that out.'

Harry said: 'Everyone says that babies change so much over two weeks we're basically monitoring how the changing process happens over this next month really. But his looks are changing every single day, so who knows.'

Asked how he found parenting, Harry added: 'It's great. Parenting is amazing. It's only been two and a half days, three days, but we're just so thrilled to have our own little bundle of joy.'

Harry said they were looking forward to spending some 'precious times with him as he slowly, slowly starts to grow up.'

Asked about going to see the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, Meghan said: 'We just bumped into the duke as we were walking by which was so nice. So it'll be a nice moment to introduce the baby to more family and my mum's with us as well.'

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are pictured with their baby son in the majestic setting of St George's Hall at Windsor Castle today

CHRISTENING: JULY, 2019

Archie Mountbatten Windsor was christened exactly two months after he was born on July 6, last year.

The young royal was pictured sitting on the lap of his mother, the Duchess of Sussex, as she nestled into the shoulder of his father, the Duke of Sussex.

The image, shot against the opulence of Windsor Castle's Green Drawing Room, was one of warmth and family joy.

Archie did not be take an HRH title at the request of his parents but he did, however, enjoy all the trappings of a Royal christening.

This official christening photograph released by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex shows the Duke and Duchess with their son, Archie and (left to right) the Duchess of Cornwall, The Prince of Wales, Ms Doria Ragland, Princess Diana's sisters Lady Jane Fellowes, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, The Duke of Cambridge and The Duchess of Cambridge in the Green Drawing Room at Windsor Castle

Finally baby Archie's face is revealed! The stunning snap shows off the adorable royal, with the little boy being held by mother Meghan Markle

He was wearing the cascading ivory Honiton lace and satin gown used for all Royal babies' baptisms since the reign of Queen Victoria. The one Archie wore is a 2008 copy of the 1841 original, and was handmade by the Queen's dresser Angela Kelly.

The ceremony was performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, using the silver gilt Lily Font. Commissioned in 1840 by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert for the birth of their first child, it is part of the Crown Jewels and had been brought from the Tower of London for the occasion.

The names' of Archie's godparents have never been revealed, but Prince Harry's former nanny Tiggy Legge Bourke was among the 25 guests at the private event, sparking speculation she was godmother.

In the main picture, Archie is flanked by three of his proud grandparents, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and Meghan's mother Doria Ragland

In a touching tribute to Harry's mother, Princess Diana's sisters Lady Jane Fellowes and Lady Sarah McCorquodale were prominent in the official picture.

In the second image, which was black and white, Meghan was seen gazing into Harrys eyes as the proud father looked down at Archie, while placing a hand on his wifes arm.

A second shot in black-and-white shows Meghan dressed in white gazing into Harry's eyes as she cradles baby Archie and her proud husband looks at their baby son. Windsor castle's Rose Garden can be seen in the background

Prince Harry's former nanny Tiggy Legge Bourke was among the 25 guests at the private event in Windsor today, sparking speculation she could be one of Archie's godparents

TOUR OF AFRICA WITH BABY ARCHIE, September 2019

At the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Harry and Meghan visited South Africa, Malawi, Angola and Botswana between September 23 and October 2, 2019.

The royals took baby Archie, who was just four months at the time, along with them on the trip.

During their visit they unveiled three new Queens Commonwealth Canopy projects, protecting forests and planting trees, and worked with the British Government to announce investment of 8m in technology and skills in the region.

The Duke also travelled to Angola to focus on the ongoing mission to rid the world of landmines - following in the footsteps of the work that was pioneered by his mother, Diana.

But the highlight of the trip was when baby Archie made his first appearance by meeting one of the heroes of the anti-apartheid movement, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The Sussexes released adorable footage of them carrying their four-month-old, with the caption, 'Arch meets Archie!'.

A video posted to their Instagram account shows the couple beaming as Meghan holds little Archie - who giggles at his mother - as they are greeted by Archbishop Tutu and his daughter, Thandeka Tutu-Gxashe.

Meghan joked with the Archbishop's daughter Thandeka Tutu Gxashe that the little royal would have to get used the cameras in his life, while Ms Tutu Gxashe joked little Archie was 'going to be a ladies' man'.

The veteran Nobel Peace Prize-winning anti-apartheid campaigner - who effectively became the leader of the liberation struggle during Nelson Mandela's long imprisonment - said he was 'thrilled by the 'rare privilege and honour' to meet the royals.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex took Archie on a tour of South Africa, Malawi, Angola and Botswana between September 23 and October 2, 2019. Pictured, during a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cape Town on 29 September 2019

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex met a group of dancers at the Nyanga Township in Cape Town, South Africa, on the first day of their tour of Africa on Monday September 23

Meghan met health workers and families during a visit to the mothers2mother charity organisation in Cape Town

THE ITV DOCUMENTARY THAT FOLLOWED, 20 October 2019

In Tom Bradbys hour-long documentary, Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, which followed the royal couple during their official tour of Africa, Prince Harry admitted that he and William are travelling on 'different paths' in the first public acceptance of a rift between the brothers.

In a candid interview, the Duke of Sussex acknowledged there had been deepening tensions between himself and William, following months of speculation about the state of the brothers relationship.

He made the comments in a TV documentary broadcast where he also attacked the press over the public scrutiny that he and wife Meghan Markle have faced.

Harry said: 'I will not be bullied into playing a game that killed my mum.'

The 35-year-old initially laughed in response to the question, then added: Part of this role, part of this job and this family being under the pressure it is under, inevitably stuff happens.

But look, we are brothers, we will always be brothers. We are certainly on different paths at the moment but I will always be there for him and, as I know, he will always be there for me.

He added: We dont see as much as we used to because we are so busy but I love him dearly and the majority of stuff is created out of nothing.

As brothers, you have good days, you have bad days.

Harry said spoke about his struggles with mental health and how the death of his mother affected him during the ITV documentary

Prince Harry refused to deny reports of a rift between himself and brother William in a candid interview

FINAL ENGAGEMENT BEFORE STEPPING BACK AS SENIOR ROYALS, 7 January 2020

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave after visiting Canada House in London yesterday, after their recent stay in Canada

Yesterday marked Prince Harry and Meghan's final appearance before they made the decision to step back as royals.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex held hands and walked closely next to each other as they visited Canada House to meet the country's High Commissioner in London, Janice Charette.

They were warmly greeted by Ms Charette and her deputy Sarah Fountain Smith, after saying they wanted to meet staff to 'thank them for the warm Canadian hospitality and support they received during their recent stay'.

Meghan wore a mix of tans and camel colours for her appearance - pairing a coat from Reiss with a polo neck and 85 skirt from Massimo Dutti.

The Duchess was joined by Prince Harry at their first public appearance which marked the end of their six-weeks hiatus from royal duty - where they thanked the people of Canada for hosting their private holiday.
Farmers, who have been protesting against the move to relocate the state capital Amaravati, urged the Prime Minister to intervene, as opposition parties including the BJP hit the streets of Machilipatnam on Thursday seeking alms demanding that the YSRC government drop its plan.

Farmers and common people dialled the Mann Ki Baat phone line and recorded an appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prevent shifting of the state capital from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam.

They recalled that Modi had laid the foundation stone for building Amaravati and that the Centre has so far granted Rs 2,500 crore for the purpose.

Farmers, who have given their land for development of Amaravati as the state capital, have been on a protest for over 20 days, opposing the government's move to relocate it.

Hitting the streets of the coastal town of Machilipatnam former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and leaders belonging to other opposition parties sought alms demanding that the ruling YSR Congress drop its move to shift the state capital.

CPI state secretary K Ramakrishna and other leaders, under the aegis of Amaravati Parirakshana Samiti (committee for protection of Amaravati), accompanied the Telugu Desam Party chief.

Naidu and leaders belonging to parties, including the BJP and Jana Sena, went to shopkeepers and passers-by and sought alms for their movement, demanding that Amaravati be continued as Andhra Pradesh's capital.

Women and girl students joined the Samiti leaders' rally in large numbers from Koneru Centre to the RTC Bus station in Machilipatnam, raising slogans in support of Amaravati.

The main demand was that the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government drop the move to shift the capital from Amaravati.

Naidu, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, vowed to continue the fight till the government gave up its stand on the capital issue.

"So far 11 farmers who gave up their fertile agricultural lands for Amaravati died of heart attack, unable to digest that the capital is being shifted from the region," Naidu claimed.

At a press conference in Vijayawada, Jana Sena political affairs committee chairman and former Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar alleged that the YSR Congress government was terrorising citizens of the state through its "whimsical" decisions.

"Jagan Mohan Reddy has no right to continue as chief minister when he has no time or inclination to listen to the people's grievances.

The YSRC was seeking to create rift between people of different regions only to gain political mileage in the forthcoming elections to local bodies," Manohar said.

On Thursday, students and other sections took out a rally in Tenali in support of the farmers and staged a dharna demanding that Amaravati be retained as the capital.

In Kurnool, an all-party meeting was held opposing the plan to shift the capital and in Visakhapatnam too protests were organised by the TDP and other parties against the move to relocate the state capital.

Other cities like Kakinada and Rajamahendravaram also saw rallies and protests against relocation of the state capital.

In Mandadam, Velagapudi, Tulluru and other villages of the capital region, protests continued for the 23rd day with women conducting an open kitchen and cooking food for a community lunch.

Meanwhile, state municipal administration minister Botsa Satyanarayana told reporters that the second meeting of the High-Powered Committee (HPC) of ministers and bureaucrats would be held here on Friday to further discuss the recommendations made by the experts committee and the Boston Consulting Group on the distributed capital functions.

The HPC held its first meeting here two days ago and favoured decentralisation of development as well as administration.

"We will honour all commitments made to farmers (who gave their lands). We have our own plans for the development of Amaravati region.

If farmers have some other plans in mind, they can place them before us," the minister said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Like so many college sophomores around the world, recently reelected Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau returned from winter break this week with a brand-new beard. First debuted in a photo on the leaders Instagram page Tuesday, the beard is the first facial hair Trudeau has sported in public during more than four years on the job.

The new beard is not wholly unprecedented for Trudeau. After he was first elected in 2015, one seasoned political analyst at Slate (me) took note of his uncommonly rich (for a politician) history of facial designs: A decade ago, he wore a soul patch(!) with a thin, split-down-the-middle mustache. Not long after, he grew an hourglass-shaped goatee and a bulkier slash of lip hair.

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While neither of those looks were aesthetically advisable, they were both explicable, meeting the threshold for acceptable nonreligious public-servant facial hair. Both occurred during Trudeaus time in the opposition party, a position befitting a scrappy, nonconformist visage. The soul patch came out during 2010, when Trudeau was his partys emissary for youth. (Soul patches werent popular among youths in 2010, but can you blame him for trying something new?) The goatee was a Movember stunt, though Trudeau wore it for some time after the month ended; he has since apologized for making himself look like my own evil twin.

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So what can explain the prime ministers new beard? Why, and why now? The most obvious answer is search engine optimization. In September, Time magazine published a photo of Trudeau wearing brownface at a 2001Arabian Nights party. Trudeau apologized and admitted hed also worn blackface for a performance of the Jamaican folk song Day-O in a high school talent show. Another video from the 1990s showed him wearing blackface and an Afro wig. Trudeau has said he cant rule out the existence of even more images of himself in black- or brownface. (Umm?!) Google Justin Trudeau facewho among us has not?and youll get served hundreds of versions of these stories. But now, with his face (beard) in the headlines, some of them might get buried.

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There also appears to be a trend afoot. There have been at least two new noteworthy beards in American politics in the past two years. According to my back-of-the-envelope calculations, thats about one per year, a pretty high rate for a country that has seen precious few whiskers in federal office since the early 20th century. Here, the trend appears to be localized, or at least originating, in Texas, with new beards appearing on Sen. Ted Cruz and former Rep. Beto ORourke. But there is reason to believe theyre just the tip of a soon-to-surface iceberg.

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Political fashion norms may seem stagnant, but theyre still subject to shifts in global fashion norms, and there are two shifts that are probably starting to hit politics after a decade-or-so delay. The first is a loosening of formal dress codes in business. The decreasing prominence of business-formal workwear has already started to affect American politics: Women in Congress protested a ban on sleeveless clothing in 2017. Barack Obama famously held a meeting without wearing his suit jacket on his first day in the White House and a sweater on his first weekend, a visible marker of his desire to seem more of-the-people than his predecessor. (George W. Bushs first chief of staff called the Obama dress code disrespectful.) These days, Andrew Yang is out here on the presidential debate stage without so much as a tie. Its only a matter of time before Western heads of state revert to looks that require even less primping and upkeep: a no-iron polo shirt and Stain Defender Dockers, say, or the facial hair of a Civil War general.

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Trudeaus new beard, along with Cruzs and ORourkes, may also indicate a delayed response to the beard boom of the early- and mid-2000s. Around the middle of the 2010s, some trendsters were declaring the beard resurgence over, calling big beards conformist and overdone. But beards of all sizes are still quite popular today, and its probably way past time for the trend to trickle its way up to the G-7.

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My beard experts (men) at Slate tell me that Trudeau is doing a decent job with his. Hes not letting it grow in all willy-nilly; hes trimming and shaping it, accounting for growth gaps in the upper cheek area without resorting to a chinstrap look. The salt-and-pepper coloring lends him a dignified air, a welcome counterbalance for the relatively young world leader (hes 48) and, perhaps, a sign of humility for a man known in large part for his gorgeous head of hair. In short, its the beard of a self-aware, conscientious, battle-tested public official. Too bad its on a face that did blackface!
She is preparing to welcome her first child in a matter of weeks.

And Sylvia Jeffreys took to Instagram on Thursday to ask her followers whether her new snoring habit was 'normal'.

'Friends, is it normal to start snoring during a pregnancy? And does it stop after birth?' the 33-year-old Channel Nine journalist asked.

'Asking for a friend': A pregnant Sylvia Jeffreys took to Instagram on Thursday to ask her followers whether her new snoring habit was 'normal'

Help please! 'Friends, is it normal to start snoring during a pregnancy? And does it stop after birth? Asking for a friend,' she wrote

She jokingly added: 'Asking for a friend.'

It comes after Sylvia's husband, Peter Stefanovic, shared a sweet photo of the couple to Instagram last Friday.

The image showed Sylvia flaunting her growing baby bump in a pretty beige dress.

She's glowing! It comes after Sylvia's husband, Peter Stefanovic, shared a sweet photo of the couple to Instagram last Friday

Last month, Sylvia accidentally left fans wondering whether she was expecting twins, after posting a very cheeky Christmas message on Instagram.

She uploaded a photo of herself and Peter posing next to their Christmas tree, alongside the caption: 'Happy Christmas to all, from all four of us (including Pete's lasagna bump).'

Sylvia, who announced her pregnancy in August, had two baby showers: one in Sydney and the other in her home town of Brisbane.
Pope Francis has expressed his deep concern over the conflict between the US and Iran and has urged to prevent deepening of the conflict, reports RIA Novosti.

What is particularly troubling are the signals from the Middle East amid the growth of tension between Iran and the United States. These signals first and foremost pose a risk for the slow process of restoration of Iraq and create grounds for a larger conflict that everyone wants to prevent, the pontiff said.

In this regard, the Pope recalled his call for dialogue that he had made during the traditional Sunday prayer at St. Peters Basilica of the Vatican on January 5.

The relations between the US and Iran further intensified after a US special operation following the murder of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Iraq in early January. In response to the murder, Iran fired missiles at US military facilities in Iraq. Washington reported that there were no casualties. After the attack, Washington declared that it would limit itself to the imposition of new sanctions in response.
Big Joke links gunshots to B2bn airport biometrics project

BANGKOK: The former immigration police chief yesterday (Jan 8) linked the gunshots fired into his car on Monday to his opposition to a B2 billion contract for biometrics equipment to screen passengers at major airports.

immigrationcrimecorruptionpolice

By Bangkok Post

Thursday 9 January 2020, 08:56AM

Former immigration chief Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn (right) at Bang Rak police station yesterday for questioning about the shots fired at his car on Monday night (Jan 4). Photo: Pornprom Satrabhaya / Bangkok Post

Surachet Hakparn handed over documents relating to the biometric project to interrogators while being questioned at Bang Rak police station.

The former flamboyant police officer, better known as Big Joke, told reporters that he viewed his attempt to block the project as the only possible motive for the attack on his SUV on Monday night.

Pol Lt Gen Surachate had earlier urged national police chief Chakthip Chaijinda, in a written statement, to consider cancelling the project when he was still the immigration police commissioner last year.

The B2bn project involved the purchase of biometric equipment to scan the faces and fingerprints of visitors and residents going through major airports. He cited the long delay and questioned the equipment's efficiency as among the reasons to end the contract.

Sittra Biabangkerd, an independent lawyer, has asked the National Anti-Corruption Commission to look into the project.

Pol Lt Gen Surachate denied any connection with Mr Sittras move for a graft investigation.

After Big Joke was forced out of the police circle into a civilian position as adviser to the Prime Ministers Office last year, his successor, Pol Lt Gen Sompong Chingduang, placed stress on being fair to the contractor.

The new immigration police chief has even praised the biometric system on more than one occasion, pointing out how it had identified suspects passing through airports, and they were then arrested.

A gunman fired eight shots into the passenger-side doors of the Lexus SUV that Pol Lt Gen Surachate drove and left parked in a soi outside a massage parlour in Bang Rak district on Monday night. Police recovered two bullets for forensic examination, and believed the rest were in the vehicle.

His career path soared, overshadowing more senior officers, when Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon was in charge of police affairs during the junta regime from 2014-2019.

In an interview on the Inside Thailand programme on Mcot TV on Wednesday, Pol Lt Gen Surachate said he exited his police career with no personal grudge towards other officers. I am no longer a police officer. I left my police career behind with no personal conflicts, he said.

At Bang Rak police station, he said Pol Gen Chakthip should accept responsibility if police could not find the men who shot at his car. The case was in its third day, but police said they still had no leads on finding those responsible, he added.

Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Pakkapong Pongpetra said the placement of the bullet holes showed that the attackers intended to threaten Big Joke, not to kill him.

Lawyer Sittra posted a Facebook message on Tuesday saying the shooting was linked to the NACCs intention to call Pol Lt Gen Surachate in to provide more information about the biometrics project, as part of the graft investigation.

Read original story here.
A 26-year-old man from Indiana has been sentenced to 55 years in prison for killing his ex-girlfriend by stabbing her 105 times after sending her threatening text messages.

Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Hurley on Wednesday also sentenced Marshun Lloyd to 10 years of probation in what she called, 'an act of hate, an act of savagery,' in the killing of 30-year-old Ashley Starr in south Bend.

'That is a choice, not just to kill, but to kill in the most violent manner you could possibly do so,' Hurley said.

Marshun Lloyd, 26 (left), has been sentenced to 55 years in prison for the March 2019 murder of 30-year-old Ashley Starr (right) in South Bend, Indiana, last March

A family member discovered Starr dead from multiple stab wounds at her home on Huron Circle on March 10, 2019

Starr had moved into the home with her three children a short time before her slaying in an alleged attempt to elude her ex-boyfriend

On March 10, Starr, a mother-of-three, was found slaughtered in her home in the 4400 block of Huron Circle, according to a WSBT report. The autopsy reports Starr died of multiple stab wounds.

Police located Lloyd four days after the murder when he was taken into custody in Gary on outstanding warrants. Lloyd pleaded guilty to the murder last November.

Prosecutors said Lloyd had been sending Starr a series of threatening text messages when she took out a no-contact order against him, reported South Bend Tribune.

'If I can't have you, nobody can,' read the texts.

When Starr responded to say he should not be communicating with her based on the no-contact order, Lloyd replied ominously, 'that won't stop me, I'm done texting.'

Lloyd send a message to Starr saying her no-contact order against him 'won't stop me, I'm done texting'

Starr was a mother of three boys, including twins. She loved her work and enjoyed singing and shopping

When given a chance to speak during his sentencing hearing, Lloyd addressed Starr's family and friends in the courtroom, asking them to forgive him.

'I want to apologize, I know it dont mean anything, but at least I said I'm sorry,' Lloyd said. 'I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.'

Starr's mother, Christine Dotson, said outside court she does not hold any hate toward Lloyd but is not ready to forgive him.

Dotson broke down in tears describing her efforts to keep her daughter away from Lloyd by moving her from house to house, including her final residence on the west side of South Bend, where she believed her ex-boyfriend would not find her.

According to her obituary, Starr worked as a dietician and was a mother of three boys, including a set of twins.

Her passions included singing, shopping and spending time with her family.
By Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Islamist militant group al Shabaab said it was responsible for a bomb blast on Wednesday near the presidential palace and other government buildings in Somalia's capital Mogadishu that city authorities said had killed three people.

The attack appeared to be part of an intensified campaign over the past two weeks by the al Qaeda ally in Somalia and neighboring Kenya, which have porous borders and often ad hoc methods for sharing intelligence.

Three people were killed in Wednesday's blast, Saleh Hassan Omar, spokesman for the city's mayor, said in a statement. The bombing hit Sayidka junction, a security checkpoint near the palace, the interior ministry and parliament.

Aamin ambulance service head Abdikadir Abdirahman told Reuters that 11 people were wounded, including three women.

Al Shabaab issued a statement claiming responsibility for the bombing and saying the attack showed that the government has not fully secured "Mogadishu's major arteries".

On Sunday, three Americans -- one U.S. military service member and two contractors -- were killed by Al Shabaab during an attack on a military base in Kenya near the Somali border. The base is used by both U.S. and Kenyan forces.

On Dec. 28, a truck bombing claimed by al Shabaab at a busy checkpoint in Mogadishu killed at least 90 people, in the deadliest such attack in the country in more than two years.

The group regularly carries out attacks aimed at undermining Somalia's government, which it has been fighting to overthrow for more than a decade.

Last year, 21 people died during an al Shabaab assault on a hotel complex in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, which in 2011 sent troops into Somalia after a spate of cross-border attacks and kidnappings.

Security analysts say that a spate of recent attacks in Mogadishu have hit unusually sensitive locations, showing the group's continued ability to mount sophisticated attacks.

Story continues

In September, it also targeted a base where U.S. special forces train Somali commandos, though no one was killed.

The group has also launched three deadly attacks in Kenya in the last week, in different areas near the border with Somalia. The latest was on Tuesday, when four Kenyan school children were killed in a gunfight between militants and police.

(Reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar; Writing by Maggie Fick and Duncan Miriri; Editing by Catherine Evans)
ORI in Mysuru which houses the highest number of rare palm leaf and paper manuscripts in the country, including the famed Arthashastra of Kautilya, is gearing up to conserve these works in digital form for the benefit of future generations.

Mysuru: Oriental Research Institute (ORI) in Mysuru which houses the highest number of rare palm leaf and paper manuscripts in the country, including the famed Arthashastra of Kautilya, is gearing up to conserve these works in digital form for the benefit of future generations.

P.R. Mukund, professor of electrical engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, who is known for saving several ancient Indian manuscripts including those related to Vedic knowledge mainly through his Tara Prakashana, visited ORI in this regard on Wednesday along with Mysuru-Kodagu BJP MP Pratap Simha.

Simha told Deccan Chronicle that the plan is to conserve these rare manuscripts at ORI in the form of e-books using a technology called wafer-fiche at a cost of over Rs 5 crore by entering into a MoU with Tara Prakashana. A pilot project focusing on one book will be completed in a months time.
This morning, bomb threats prompted the evacuation of several Moscow schools.

Moscows Basmanny District Court had to be evacuated due to a bomb threat, according to an emergency source. "The Basmanny District Court was evacuated following an anonymous bomb call," TASS cited the source as saying.

Seven district courts in the city of St. Petersburg also received bomb threats, the united press service of the citys courts said in a statement. "The Vasileostrovsky, Krasnogvardeisky, Kuibyshevsky, Petrodvortsovy, Petrogradsky, Dzerzhinsky and Sestroretsky District Courts have been evacuated," the statement reads. In addition, five subway stations, Pulkovo Airport, several grocery stores and maternity homes in St. Petersburg also received bomb scares.

A wave of bomb threats swept across Russias regions in December 2019. Emergency experts inspected thousands of facilities, including courts, schools and shopping malls, all threats turned out to be hoaxes.
US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster and envoys from 15 other countries arrived in Srinagar on Thursday. (Photo Credit: Twitter@ANI)

Srinagar:

US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster and envoys from 15 other countries arrived in Srinagar on Thursday on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the first visit by diplomats since August last year when the states special status was revoked and it was downsized to a union territory.

The Delhi-based envoys, who came here on a special chartered flight, landed at Srinagars technical airport and were taken directly to the army cantonment for a briefing.

Top officials from the newly carved out union territory of Jammu and Kashmir received the delegation, which will be going to Jammu later in the day and stay the night there.

Envoys to meet Lt Governor G C Murmu

The envoys, who are here as part of the governments diplomatic outreach to rebut Pakistans propaganda on the Kashmir issue, will meet Lt Governor G C Murmu as well as civil society members and receive briefings on the security situation from various agencies, officials said.

Besides the US, the delegation includes diplomats from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, Maldives, South Korea, Morocco, and Nigeria. They return to Delhi on Friday.

Brazils envoy Andre Aranha Correa do Lago was also scheduled to visit Jammu and Kashmir. However, he backed out because of his preoccupation here, the officials said on Wednesday.

EU envoys give visit a skip

Envoys from the European Union (EU) countries are understood to have conveyed that they will visit the union territory on a different date and are also believed to have stressed on meeting the three former chief ministersFarooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Muftiwho are under detention.

Officials said envoys of several countries had requested the government for a visit to Kashmir to get a first-hand account of the situation in the Valley following the August 5 decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 and bifurcate it into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

This is the second visit of a foreign delegation to Jammu and Kashmir since August 5. Earlier, Delhi-based think tank International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, a Delhi-based think tank took 23 EU MPs on a two-day visit to assess the situation in the union territory.

The government had distanced itself from the visit with Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy informing Parliament that the European parliamentarians were on a private visit.

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WHEN: Today, Thursday, January 9, 2020

WHERE: CNBC's "Squawk on the Street"

The following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC EXCLUSIVE interview with U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" (M-F 9AM  11AM) today, Thursday, January 9th. The following is a link to video of the interview on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2020/01/09/trump-wants-our-allies-to-work-with-us-in-iraq-says-us-nato-ambassador.html.

All references must be sourced to CNBC.

CARL QUINTANILLA: The President and NATO Secretary General agreeing that NATO could contribute more to regional stability and the fight against terrorism during a call yesterday afternoon, as the President called on NATO to step up its involvement in the Middle East process. But just what does that process entail? For more we're joined exclusively this morning by the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchison. Madam Ambassador, it's great to talk to you again. We carried the President's comments yesterday when he said: I'm going to ask NATO to become much more involved in the Middle East process. What, specifically, does the President want?

KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON: Yes, Carl. It's great to be with you. And I think what the President is looking for is more of our allies working with us in Iraq. We do have a mission in Iraq now to train and advise the Iraqi Armed Forces to try to help them help themselves to defeat ISIS. But we also can do more in that area. And that is something that our NATO Council will have to discuss and decide that we would do more. But it is important that we not walk away from the Defeat ISIS Coalition that we have put together. Because that is what's holding the terrorists where they are, so that they don't come back and attack Americans or any of our allies in the NATO Alliance.

CARL QUINTANILLA: It's no surprise, obviously, the President has had his issues with NATO when it comes to various countries and their commitments. But how does the White House balance their request to be able to act unilaterally as the U.S. sees fit and, yet, also balance that with a consensus forming ability of getting NATO to help out? How do we have that both ways?

KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON: Well, thank you, Carl. Because really that is the value of NATO. Because we do different things when we act unilaterally, and we certainly have the right to do that. But when we act with NATO, it is with 28 other allies, and we speak with one voice, and it is our unity that is our strength. And, of course, NATO is in Afghanistan, working side by side with America in our two area missions. America does a lot of the work with the Afghan Army, but, also, so does NATO, all throughout the provinces. In Iraq, we train and advise the Iraqi forces. But our goal is to stop ISIS from resurging. Because that is a terrorist organization that could be exported to America or any place in Europe or Canada. So, we can do, unilaterally, side by side with NATO, and then, as the President has now asked, he would like for NATO to step up even more to work with us in Iraq, as well as throughout the Middle East.

MORGAN BRENNAN: Ambassador Hutchison, if NATO get more involved, what does this actually mean for the longer-term strategy for the U.S. in the region? Does it make it less or more likely that we actually see some sort of entity so-called endless wars?

KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON: Well, I think that we are all committed to countering terrorism. That's why we came to the Middle East in the first place. It's why we're in Afghanistan, of course. And why NATO stepped up with us. This was the only time NATO had invoked Article 5, which is if one of us is attacked, we're all attacked. So, counterterrorism is one of our major NATO missions. And, of course, it is very important for the safety of the people of America and Canada, as well as Europe. So, I think that it is something that we've all agreed is a major common threat that our NATO allies have with us. And that's why we work together. Sometimes side by side and sometimes within the same framework.

MORGAN BRENNAN: We've already seen demand for missile defense growing in recent years among our allies, presumably these recent strikes are only going to fuel that type of demand. How big is the risk that more allies would consider Russia's antimissile systems especially given the fact that Turkey, a NATO member, already purchased that S-400 last year?

KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON: Well, we are still trying to stop that Russian missile system from being deployed in Turkey. That is going to stop the interoperability of all of our air defense systems in NATO. And we have said many times to Turkey, you just can't do this. And we've tried to work with Turkey for a way to assure their protection, that they feel their protection by NATO, but having that S-400 is a nonstarter for America and for NATO. These are some of the issues that we have to deal with that are very delicate. A NATO ally which Turkey has been and been a good one, but they're doing something that is very much against our common security needs and we are still working to try to show them that this can't work and we cannot operate our NATO systems with a Russian missile defense system, because Russia is the main adversary that we are facing right now, in addition to counterterrorism.

CARL QUINTANILLA: Madam Ambassador, it's good to talk to you again. It's been a while. But obviously, this is a story we'll watch closely with your help. Thank you very much. Kay Bailey Hutchison, U.S. Ambassador to NATO in Brussels.

KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON: Absolutely. Thank you, Carl.

For more information contact:

Jennifer Dauble

CNBC

t: 201.735.4721

m: 201.615.2787

e: jennifer.dauble@nbcuni.com

Emma Martin

CNBC

t: 201.735.4713

m: 551.275.6221

e: emma.martin@nbcuni.com
Las Vegas firefighters have discovered what officials described as an illegal, homemade gas station in a backyard.

Las Vegas Fire and Rescue shared images online of the makeshift gas station discovered by firefighters Tuesday showing two yellow tanks in the corner of a walled yard with a gas pump nozzle on the end of hose.

The hose was long enough to reach from the yard to the street for possible curbside fill ups, the department said in a social media post.

This is not only illegal in the city, it is a hazard to neighbours (and) first responders who may respond there for an emergency, like a fire, the department said.

The backyard station may be part of an illegal trend involving people who purchase gasoline with stolen credit card information before emptying the fuel into storage containers at private homes, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officials said.

The citys code enforcement office is investigating the case and citations are possible for the homeowners, authorities said.
FRONT PAGE

An article on Wednesday about the Trump administrations justification for the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani referred incorrectly to an intelligence briefing given to lawmakers on Tuesday. It was not given by Gina Haspel, the C.I.A. director.

An article on Sunday about tech companies expansion in New York referred imprecisely to a Wall Street Journal report on Facebooks negotiations to lease office space in the James A. Farley Building. While the Journal was among the first to report on the deal, it was not the first.

INTERNATIONAL

An article on Wednesday about the partial removal of NATO trainers in Iraq misidentified the country in which NATO will continue to maintain a presence. It is Iraq, not Iran.

An article on Wednesday about the use of the word assassination in relation to the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani misstated the surname of a University of Virginia law professor who said many legal issues were unsettled concerning the killing. She is Ashley Deeks, not Ashley Meeks.
Mumbai: Fugitive gangster Ejaz Lakdawala, who is wanted in several cases of extortion, attempt to murder and rioting, was arrested by Mumbai Crime Branch's anti-extortion cell (AEC) team in Patna on Wednesday, and was brought to Mumbai today through the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.

Lakdawala, who is a former aide of Dawood gang, later split and joined Chota Rajan Gang, was wanted by Mumbai, Delhi, and other police for more than 40 extortion and attempt to murder cases.

Addressing media persons, the Mumbai police said that Lakdawala's daughter Sonia was arrested last month from Mumbai Airport when "she was trying to escape the country with help of a passport acquired through fake documents."

Live TV

After her marriage, Sonia Lakdawala changed her name to Soniya Shaikh. She was earlier arrested by the AEC officials when she was trying to flee Nepal on December 28, 2019, from the Mumbai Airport with a fake Passport as Soniya Advani.

Sonia was arrested in connection with the extortion case registered against her and Lakdawala on the complaint of a realtor in Bandra, Mumbai.

The Canadian Police had arrested Lakdawala in Ottawa in May 2004. A few years back, he was believed to be somewhere in North America, as he frequently travelled to other countries. The government has also issued a red Corner notice against him.

In April 2019, AEC arrested Ejazs elder brother Aquil for allegedly demanding money from Khar based developer and later Ejazs associate Sagar Yadav was also held during a probe. One more Lakdawala associate was recently arrested by the Delhi police.

Gangster Ejaz Lakdawala was wanted by Mumbai, Delhi, and other police for more than 40 extortion and attempt to Murder cases.

In 2002, when Chota Shakeel orchestrated an attack on Lakdawala in Bangkok, he was injured with 7 bullets but escaped to South Africa from Thailand.

In 2008, he established an independent gang and started making extortion calls. The Mumbai Police has been working on him for the past 6 months. Following a tip-off about his arrival in Patna on 8th January, the AEC with the help of Bihar police nabbed him.

Lakdawala was produced in Mumbai court today and he was sent to police custody till 21st January.

With Lakdawala's arrest, the Mumbai Police expects a major lead about Dawood, Chota Shakeel and other gangsters from his interrogation.
The film features Ms Padukone as acid attack survivor Malti Agrawal.

Bhopal: The Deepika Padukone-starrer Chhapaak, set for all India release on January 10, was on Thursday declared tax free in the Congress-ruled states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh amid outpouring of online hatred against the star following her recent visit to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to express solidarity with victims of violence unleashed by a group of masked men and women on its campus four days ago.

The Meghna Gulzar-directed movie, based on the real-life story of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agrawal, also marks Ms Padukones maiden production venture.

The film features Ms Padukone as acid attack survivor Malti Agrawal. It also stars Vikrant Messy and Madhurjeet Sanghi in pivotal roles.

The right wing supporters have given a call to boycott the movie after Padukone visited the JNU campus on Tuesday night to express her sympathy with the students leaders who were attacked by the masked goons on Sunday.

Justifying his governments decision to declare the movie tax free, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath said, The film sends a message to society. That is why it has been declared tax free in MP.

Mr Nath also took a jibe at those who targeted Ms Padukone for visiting JNU. First of all,

I fail to comprehend why there should be objection to her visit to JNU and why should anyone give a call to boycott a film. If one does not want to watch the movie, then one can do so, but one should not try to impose ones views on others by asking them to boycott the film, he added.

Meanwhile, Chhattisga-rh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel said the film has been declared tax free in the state since it sent a very good message to society.

The Opposition BJP here however slammed the Kamal Nath government for declaring the movie tax free in MP.

The decision to declare the film tax free in MP is purely political, meant to provide mileage for Congress. The Kamal Nath government should fulfill its promise of waiving loans of farmers and providing unemployment allowance to youths, instead of doing such stunts, said state BJP vice-president Rameswar Sharma.
A helicopter drops water on bushfires that sweeps through Stokes Bay on Kangaroo Island in Adelaide, Australia, January 9, 2020. (Photo : AAP Image/David Mariuz/via REUTERS)

A Congress building is silhouetted during sunset as smoke from Australia's bushfires reached in Buenos Aires, Argentina, January 7, 2020. (Photo : REUTERS/Matias Baglietto)

Melted bottles due to bushfire are seen on the ground in the village of Mogo, Australia, January 8, 2020. (Photo : REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)

Smoke and haze are seen from a No 11 Squadron P-8A Poseidon having damage assessment and surveillance in the bushfire-affected area near Cooma, New South Wales, Australia, January 7, 2020. (Photo : SGT Murray Staff/Australian Department of Defence/Handout via REUTERS )

More than 15 million acres in Australia were burned in one of the world's worst fire seasons on record. That's an area larger than West Virginia, and eight times more massive part that burned in California in 2018, the state's most destructive year for wildfires.

The fires have now killed more than 20 humans and destroyed nearly 2,000 homes. Though rain brought firefighters a peaceful respite Wednesday, the AP reported that hot and windy situations that would make the fires burning are forecasted to go back later this week.

It's an explicitly looming catastrophe: In a warming world, extreme fire occasions like this one would be much more likely to happen.

Here's what absolutely everyone should understand about the disaster in the land down under.

1) The fires broke out in a record-breaking heatwave

The fires are directed on Australia's southeast coast - particularly New South Wales and Victoria. The country's southeastern region is the most severely affected; however, the fires have also hit every Australian state and territory this season.

Australia was already enduring its hottest and driest year on record before the fires started. It's summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and the heat keeps growing.

Much of the harsh heat was followed by brisk winds over much of Australia, which heightens fire risks and increases blazes. The wind gusted up to 80 mph over the weekend, fanning flames and pushing heavy smoke over major cities."

Dry weather, high temperatures, and wildfires are common this time of year in the land down under. But the severity and persistence of these hot conditions are disturbing and match the pattern of what scientists expect as climate change.

2) Climate change is partly to blame. But so is weather variability.

This summer's high heats and consequent fires are linked to climate change, which pushes long-term warming trends and makes these kinds of events more severe. Australia's country geography is also a factor, as well as the unfortunate alignment of a few short-term weather patterns.

Indian Ocean Dipole - the temperature gradient cycle between the eastern and western Indian Ocean - was in its positive phase in 2019, which made the massive heatwave.

ALSO READ: Where Exactly Did Australia's Apocalyptic Bushfires Go?

Southern Annular Mode - the movement of the circular belt of wind around Antarctica as it shifts north or south - is another red flag. It's in its negative side right now, bringing dry conditions to Australia.

Australia's yearly monsoon rains in the northern part of the country were also delayed, which allowed more heat to accumulate over the central part of the country.

3) Australia's fire season is getting longer and more dangerous.

Wildfires are a common part of Australia's ecosystem. Many plants and organisms depend on regular fires to germinate, cycle nutrients, and pure decay.

Australian Bureau of Meteorology's 2018 State of the Climate reported that the country's climate has warmed by just over 1 C since 1910, leading to an increase in the number of extreme heat events.

Increased heat and drier weather combined turned vegetation into tinder, which is ready to ignite near some of the most densely populated parts of the country.

While these fires may not be 100 percent attributable to climate change, scientists anticipate seeing more extreme wildfires in Australia in the latter part of this century.

4) Millions of plants and animals in Australia are in danger

Australia is one of the major biodiversity hotspots worldwide. The island continent was separated from the rest of the world for millions of years, which allows evolution to take strange new paths with minimal human influence.

Ecologists fear that critical ecological consequences of so much land being burnt at once. Manu Saunders, an ecologist at the University of New England in Australia, explained that the whole concept of an ecosystem depends on connectivity. "There are millions of individuals, and hundreds of different species across whole forests rely on each other," Saunders added.

The loss here is almost hard to fathom. The flames directly killed many animals. Distressing photos of burned kangaroos and koalas, and videos of dead animals on the sides of the roads, have circulated online over the past week.

Regardless of the exact numbers, Australia's situation is a crisis for biodiversity in the country, which is home to some of the planet's most distinctive animals, like koalas.

5) There's lots of smoke

Where there's fire, there's smoke. The smoke is so abundant that NOAA reported the fire is "in the process of circumnavigating the planet," showing up over South America after being propelled there by the wind.

The smoke itself is a hazard. It's an irritating pollutant that worsens respiratory illnesses and heart problems. Fine particles from soot and smoke can be smaller than 2.5 micrometers - tiny enough to stick themselves into the crannies of the lungs and pass into the bloodstream.

The most significant health threat from smoke, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), comes from fine particles. EPA added the microscopic particles could get into one's eyes and respiratory system. EPA added fine particles also aggravate chronic heart disease.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday assured Ukrainians that the truth into what caused a Ukrainian jetliner to crash in Iran, killing all 176 people on board, would "surely" be found. Zelenskiy cut short a visit to Oman to return to Kyiv and said, in a filmed statement, that a team of Ukrainian experts would go to Tehran to help investigate the crash.

He also laid flowers inside the terminal at Boryspil Airport where a makeshift memorial has been set up for the nine Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) crew members killed in the incident.

The Boeing 737 went down during a takeoff attempt from Tehran airport in the early hours of Wednesday morning, just hours after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at US forces in Iraq.

While the timing of the disaster led some aviation experts to wonder whether it was brought down by a missile, US intelligence officials said there was no immediate evidence it was shot down.

(Picture Credit: AP)
A training tower which has helped tens of thousands of submariners learn potentially life-saving techniques to escape a stricken submarine is being retired.

The Submarine Escape Training Tank (Sett) at Gosport, Hampshire, has been used by the Royal Navy since July 13 1954, but is being replaced with a new training centre at the submarine services base in Faslane, Scotland.

The Sett is a 100ft column of water which simulates emerging from a sunken submarine by subjecting the submariner to the same underwater pressures as would be experienced at sea.

They are expected to escape without breathing apparatus but using a specially designed escape suit to help them breathe.

Submariners gathered at Gosport to mark closure of the Submarine Escape Training Tank (SETT) facility.



The structure will be preserved as it is a listed building and its role taken on by the Submarine Escape Rescue Abandonment & Survival Training Facility (SMERAS TF) at Faslane pic.twitter.com/k9baJjsueL  Navy Lookout (@NavyLookout) January 9, 2020

The tower was built between 1949 and 1953 as part of a wholesale revamp of submarine escape training, prompted by a report drawn up by Captain Phillip Ruck-Keene just after the Second World War.

During the peak of usage in the 1960s and 70s, 4,500 submariners trained in the Sett every year, meaning it has been used up to 150,000 times during its 66-year life.

The Royal Navy stopped pressurised ascent training in the 900,000-litre tank in 2012, but still uses the facility for non-pressurised drills and teaching. It is due to formally close next month.

Following the move to the new survival training centre in Scotland, the Sett at Fort Blockhouse will be preserved as it is a listed building.

The new facility includes a huge abandonment and sea survival training environmental pool, where various weather conditions and sea states can be replicated.

Lieutenant Commander Gareth Griff Griffiths, in charge of the training team, said: Its a poignant moment for all of us.

Were looking forward to carrying the lessons of our past many years into the future of submarine escape, rescue, abandonment and survival training.

Our success is due, in no small part, to our commitment to one another and the unique perspective of being submariners.
The following message from Provost Teri Balser and President Deep Saini was sent to the Dal community Thursday afternoon (January 9).



We continue to have an immense sense of grief over yesterdays news. The deaths of those aboard Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 represent a huge loss: to Halifax, to Canada, to our broader academic community across the country and beyond, and, most of all, to the family, friends and colleagues of those who lost their lives.

We can now share that there were two known Dal individuals on the flight:

Masoumeh Masi Ghavi was a masters student in Internetworking in the Faculty of Engineering, who moved to Nova Scotia from Iran last summer. She also working locally with a Bedford-based I.T. company. She was travelling with her younger sister, Mandieh, who was coming to Halifax to begin studies of her own.

Sharieh Faghihi came to Dal in 2014 as a Qualifying Program student in the Faculty of Dentistry. Born in Tehran, she obtained her DDS from Tehran University followed by a masters in periodontology. With her husband and two children, Sharieh immigrated to Canada in 2011. After graduating from Dal in 2016, she returned to the Faculty to teach in the Division of Periodontology in 2017 and also worked in private practice in Halifax. She loved Nova Scotia and her colleagues at Dal and described dentistry as my career of passion all my life.

Two additional individuals on the flight were headed for Halifax: Saint Marys University students Maryam Malek and Fatemeh Mahmoodi. Other Canadian universities are recognizing members of their communities who were killed as well. We share in their grief. This is truly a Canadian tragedy.

On behalf of Dalhousie University, we express our condolences and reaffirm our support to all those impacted, especially the family, friends and colleagues of Masoumeh and Sharieh. We stand beside you in this moment of grief and loss.

The Iranian Cultural Society of Nova Scotia and Dalhousie Iranian Students Society, together with the DSU and the broader university and community, are planning a local vigil this Saturday.

Date: Saturday, January 11

Saturday, January 11 Time: 2:30-4:30 p.m.

2:30-4:30 p.m. Location: Dalhousie Arts Centre, Rebecca Cohn Auditorium (6101 University Ave.)



We extend an invitation to attend to all from Dalhousie, Saint Marys and our communities who wish to be part of sharing condolences and remembering Masoumeh, Sharieh, Mandieh, Maryam and Fatemeh and all others who lost their lives in Wednesdays tragedy. In light of the broad community impact of this tragedy, please note there will most likely be other vigils and commemoration events taking place in Halifax and elsewhere for people to gather and grieve.

Finally, a reminder that resources for students are available through Dalhousies Student Health & Wellness Services, including Multifaith Services. Staff and faculty resources are available through Dalhousies Employee & Family Assistance Program. Morneau Shepell, which provides this program, has also opened up a Crisis Support Line for anyone in the community (not just employees) in need of emotional support in relation to these events. The Crisis Support Line is open 24/7 and can be reached at: 1-866-885-6540. Additional outreach is being made to our communities in Dentistry and Engineering regarding available supports.

With sincerest condolences,

Dr. Teri Balser

Provost and Vice-President Academic



Dr. Deep Saini

President and Vice-Chancellor
Two days after masked goons attacked students and teachers at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi, actor Deepika Padukone visited the campus to join a protest against the violence. While she did not address the gathering, her presence sent out a powerful message. The image of Bollywoods leading female star standing behind Kanhaiya Kumar, the former JNU Students Union (JNUSU) leader who is charged with sedition, and Aishe Ghosh, the current JNUSU president, who was brutally attacked and charged with a previous case of vandalism, even as they chanted slogans against the government, was hugely symbolic.

While many, particularly supporters of the government, saw in Ms Padukones visit a publicity stunt ahead of a movie release, this is unconvicing. In fact, by associating with JNU  which is the subject of polarised opinions  she risked alienating a set of her admirers. She has also risked antagonising the current regime. She has also put her career at risk, risked projects, for producers and distributors are careful not to be on the wrong side of those exercising power. And she has risked vicious trolling, as can be seen in the social media attack against her.

But this is not about Ms Padukone alone. She is one among the increasing number of people from the Mumbai film industry, generally known for its silence and lack of engagement with contemporary political concerns, who have taken a stand on recent issues. Irrespective of ones political affiliations, the fact that these citizens, who command enormous following, have stood up against violence, and for equality and justice, must be applauded. Their interventions have enriched democracy.
Sarahbeth Maney / Special to the Chronicle

Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton announced Thursday nearly 2,400 people will have marijuana convictions dismissed, joining five other counties in the state, including San Francisco, that have partnered with a tech nonprofit to clear records.

Prosecutors partnered with Code for America, a nonprofit that focuses on technology to enhance government, to identify 2,399 unique individuals with marijuana-related offenses eligible to be relieved under Proposition 64. Of those people, 531 will no longer have felonies on their criminal record and 316 will have no convictions.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Spectrum Health, Mercy Health and Metro Health  University of Michigan Health and Mercy Health are enacting restrictions on hospital visitors amid an influx of respiratory illness, officials announced Wednesday, Jan. 8.

The Grand Rapids hospitals are among health care systems statewide asking those who are ill to refrain from visiting hospitalized friends or family members to curb the spread of illnesses.

For example, Bronson hospitals throughout Southwest Michigan also announced restrictions this week.

Michigan is among the hardest hit states for respiratory illnesses this season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Respiratory illnesses, including RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), can be especially dangerous to the young, frail or elderly.

Officials say one of the most important tools in fighting the transmission of infection is limiting exposure.

If you are not feeling well, please dont come to the hospital because you could make things worse for people, said Dr. George Fogg, a pediatric infectious disease physician.

We now have all these technologies such as the ability to FaceTime in which a person can still communicate with family and friends without exposing others to their germs.

Fogg said the community is seeing high levels of respiratory illness. He said enacting restrictions is not a new policy.

He said there are a lot of vulnerable patients, including those with cardiopulmonary disease, undergoing chemotherapy and organ transplant recipients.

Visitors are asked to respect the following restrictions:

If you are ill, please refrain from visiting the hospital

All visitors are expected to be healthy and the hospitals are taking active steps to protect patients, staff and visitors. A healthy visitor is someone who does not have the following symptoms:

Fever, greater than 100.4 F Cough Sore throat Runny nose or congestion Vomiting or diarrhea Rash or draining sores

Only healthy visitors may visit patients in the hospitals or outpatient locations.

Anyone with the above symptoms should consider a video visit with a provider, an appointment with their primary care physician or an urgent care visit.

The restrictions are effective until further notice. Officials say the measures are designed to protect vulnerable patients, as well as staff members.

The hospitals will continue to monitor the situation and stay in contact with clinical leaders at health systems across the state to collaboratively and effectively address the situation, according to a press release.




By Jung Min-ho







The Cambodian government has shut down all businesses operated by North Koreans in the country to comply with United Nations sanctions.





, a newspaper based in Phnom Penh, reported Wednesday that authorities closed four restaurants in the capital and two in Siem Reap.





The government also closed Angkor Panorama Museum near the Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap. The museum, built and paid for by North Korea as a sign of friendship between the two states, was run by North Koreans since opening in 2015.





On Dec. 22, 2017, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) issued sanctions that require member states to repatriate North Korean nationals earning income abroad within 24 months over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.





To comply with the sanctions, Cambodia's Tourism Ministry spokesman Top Sopheak said all North Korean restaurants were closed by Dec. 22, 2019.





"The ministry had earlier informed the owners of the restaurants about the matter and they agreed to shut their businesses down," he was quoted as saying.





Kim Sereyroth, head of the food and hospitality services department at the Tourism Ministry, said the government has to submit a report about its implementation of the sanctions to the UNSC by Jan. 9.





Cambodia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said Cambodia is one of 193 members of the United Nations and the closures of North Korean businesses and museum will not harm relations between the two.





"We are just following the UN resolutions, so I think we don't have to be concerned over this (the closures)," he was quoted as saying.


ALTON  YWCA of Alton will host its annual Trivia Night Fund Raiser Saturday, Jan. 25, at the Spaulding Club (formerly known as the Knights of Columbus), 405 E. 4th St., Alton.

Doors open at 6 p.m.; trivia starts at 7. A table of eight costs $160. Round sponsorships are available; there also will be a 50/50 drawing and basket raffles. No outside alcohol will be allowed; soda and water will be provided. Attendees may bring in their own food.
CatLane/Getty Images

The U.S. Air Force is still two years away from its 75th anniversary but is already asking for the public's help in choosing the theme to celebrate the milestone.

Every year, the Air Force dedicates a theme to celebrate its anniversary, which is Sept. 18. Themes in previous years include "Frontiers of Blue... This is 72!" and "Breaking Barriers!" according to a news release from the Joint Base San Antonio.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Even as a masked mob ran riot at JNU on Sunday assaulting students, vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar sent a message for deployment of police outside the main gate only at 6.45 pm, and the force entered the premises an hour later when the attackers had dispersed, police sources have said.

The vice-chancellor has been facing criticism for not acting swiftly when the students were being attacked by a mob on Sunday evening.

The varsity had been on a boil since afternoon.

Earlier, at around 3.45 pm, the police control room (PCR) received the first call about the violence from the varsity's Periyar hostel.

The police immediately responded to the call.

The policemen, who were deployed at the administration block following an earlier high court directive, were asked to go to the spot, the sources said.

At Periyar Hostel, some people attacked students with batons.

However, the group did not enter the hostel.

Around 17 PCR calls were received from Periyar hostel till around 4.15 pm, the sources said.

After dispersing the crowd at Periyar hostel, the police personnel returned to the administration block of the varsity.

ALSO READ | Delhi Police capable, but gets orders from above to not take any action: Kejriwal

Around 5-5.15 pm, DCP (southwest) Devender Arya entered the campus.

He also visited the Periyar hostel and inspected the situation.

He, however, returned to the main gate of the university after "ensuring" that the situation was normal, the sources said.

After the incident at the Periyar hostel, the main gate of JNU varsity was closed and entry was not allowed.

The police was deployed at the north gate of the varsity, sources said.

However, the violence continued inside the campus.

The sources said the Vasant Kunj North police station in-charge and 20 officials from each station of the district were called in to maintain law and order.

The police again received a PCR call around 5.30-5.45 pm which said around 700 people had entered the university.

ALSO READ | No deviation from HRD Ministry's fee hike 'formula': JNU V-C

The police personnel deployed at the administration block were sent again, but they did not find any gathering.

When the PCR called back the caller, the mobile phone was found to be switched off, sources said.

The students, most of them belonging to the ABVP, disrupted a peace march of the JNU Teachers Association at the T-point of Sabarmati hostel, sources said.

After disrupting the march, the group entered the Sabarmati hostel and vandalised the gates and windows.

In the meantime, the students from the left group were mobilised leading to a scuffle, the sources pointed out.

Nearly, an hour later, at around 6.45 pm, the JNU vice-chancellor sent a message urging police to increase the police deployment at the main gate of the varsity as the situation in the campus could become tense after which police were deployed outside, the sources said.

Later, at around 7.30-7.45 pm, police received a written letter from the JNU administration to intervene.

But by the time the police intervened, the mob had already dispersed.

JNU Students Union president Aishe Ghosh was taken to the ambulance by the DCP from the east gate of the varsity.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 9, 2020) - Quaterra Resources Inc. (TSXV: QTA) (OTCQB: QTRRF) ("Quaterra" or the "Company") and Chuchuna Minerals Company ("Chuchuna") today announced the results of the 2019 geophysical and geologic exploration program conducted at the Groundhog copper-gold prospect, a 54,880-acre property situated on an established copper-gold porphyry belt 300 kilometers southwest of Anchorage, Alaska.

During August and September 2019, Geotech of Ontario, Canada, completed a 1,664 line kilometer ZTEM and magnetic survey covering 165 square miles of the Groundhog property. A review of the data resulted in the selection of 19 targets that were ranked using ZTEM responses from similar porphyry systems, including the Pebble Project porphyry copper, gold and molybdenum deposit, which lies about five kilometers to the southwest of Groundhog. Targets were picked along a resistivity slice at 400-meters in depth from a 2D inversion. Eight top-ranked targets were selected that compare favorably in size and intensity to the ZTEM responses of other mineralized systems in Central and North American mining districts. An additional 11 target anomalies were identified that were less similar to other known deposits.

The combined interpretation of all of the geophysical data collected on the Groundhog property to date leads to grouping the ZTEM targets into two areas: the northwest sector associated with the Alpha magnetic anomaly and the southeast sector, an extension of the ZG fault zone area trending northeastward from Pebble. Additional IP and drilling will be required to evaluate these anomalies, but the timing and scope of such programs has yet to be determined. Chuchuna has expanded its land position based on ZTEM results.

A limited geologic reconnaissance program of the strongest ZTEM survey targets did not identify any significant geochemical anomalies, due primarily to thick overburden and scarce outcrop. Traverses in Groundhog Creek and White Rock Creek discovered pyritic, argillically altered crystalline igneous dike rocks of uncertain relationship with the Tertiary cover rocks. Argillically altered and pyritized volcanic rocks and gabbros were also sampled in the northern part of the White Rock Creek Canyon. Geologic work - including an IP line and a shallow drill hole in 2017 at the Alpha anomaly in the northern part of the ZTEM survey area - found areas of strong to pervasive propylitic alteration, with veined and weakly mineralized (anomalous copper to 0.18%, Mo 0.01%, Au 0.8 ppm) basalt/gabbro/pyroxenite.

ZTEM is a geophysical method that measures changes in resistivity. Because IP response (sulfides) are often associated with changes in resistivity related to various alteration types, the large area covered by the ZTEM survey will facilitate interpretation of wide-spaced ground IP lines that could result in the identification of one or more blind sulfide systems.

Groundhog is located on State of Alaska claims covering the northern extension of a 10-kilometer wide north-northeast trending structural zone that hosts a number of porphyry copper-gold prospects, including the large Pebble project, which is approximately five kilometers south of the Groundhog claim boundary. Regional magnetic data suggest that geology similar to that at Pebble extends under cover for an additional 30 kilometers northeast from the Pebble deposit.

Quaterra reached an agreement with Chuchuna in 2017 whereby it has to provide $5 million over five years in exploration spending, later amended to six years, in order to earn a 90% interest in Groundhog. The Company is also required to pay a lump sum of $3 million at the end of the sixth year. Quaterra has no obligation to exercise its option and can terminate the agreement at its discretion annually. (All amounts are expressed in U.S. dollars). Chuchuna is the operator of the project and plans, implements and manages exploration field programs as set out in a budget and work plan approved by Quaterra. Chuchuna is an Alaskan company jointly owned by Kijik Corporation, the ANSCA village corporation for the community of Nondalton, and Alaska Earth Sciences, an Anchorage-based mineral exploration company.

Technical information in this news release has been approved by William T. Ellis, CPG # 8719, Vice President, Alaska Earth Sciences, and a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101.

About Quaterra Resources Inc.

Quaterra Resources Inc. (TSXV: QTA) (OTCQB: QTRRF) is a copper exploration and development company with the primary objective of advancing its U.S. subsidiary's copper projects in the Yerington District, Nevada. It has the right to earn a 90% interest in the Groundhog copper-gold prospect, a 54,880-acre property situated on an established copper-gold porphyry belt 300 kilometers southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. Quaterra also has the right to purchase a 100% interest in 678 unpatented mining claims associated with the Butte Valley prospect, a large, partially explored porphyry copper-gold system located in eastern Nevada. The Company continues to look for opportunities to acquire copper projects on reasonable terms that have the potential to host large mineral deposits attractive to major mining companies.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Gerald Prosalendis, President and CEO

Quaterra Resources Inc.

For more information please contact:

Gerald Prosalendis, President and CEO

Quaterra Resources Inc.

250-940-3581

Tom Patton, Chairman

Quaterra Resources Inc.

604-641-2758

Disclosure note:

Some statements contained in this news release are forward-looking statements under Canadian securities laws and within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are identified in this news release by words such as "will", "may", "intends", "anticipates", "offers the potential", "suggests", "plans", and similar language, or convey estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives, potential outcomes, expectations, or goals. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. In particular, forward looking statements in this news release include that the Company will be able to finance exploration efforts and acquisition costs; that commodity markets and copper prices will improve; that mapping, sampling, IP and exploration drilling will be undertaken; that results will define mineralization or high grade zones; that historical and new exploration will support a resource on the property; and that the Groundhog assets have the potential to support mining operations. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. A summary of risk factors that apply to the Company's operations are included in our management discussion and analysis filings with securities regulatory authorities, and are publicly available on our website. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date thereof. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

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

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/51276
The first patient has been recruited for a UK-wide trial into tackling one of the most disabling complications of Parkinson's disease, led by the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Bristol.

The trial, funded by a 2.1 million grant from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), will test whether a commonly prescribed dementia drug could prevent debilitating falls for people with the disease. Falls are a frequent complication of Parkinson's, leading to patients suffering from injuries and broken bones and often needing hospital admission.

RUH Research Lead Nurse Ruth Hamlin said: "To recruit our first patient is hugely significant and marks the official start of what is a really important study. While there is no cure for Parkinson's, our hope is that this research and its eventual findings will help to improve patients' quality of life."

Gitte Dawson, from Freshford, near Bath, was diagnosed with Parkinson's seven years ago and has experienced a number of what she describes as 'Parkinson's falls'.

She said: "I'm very interested in this research and learning about its findings. It's very practical and do-able for a patient like me on a daily basis, which is important because we'll be taking part for a year."

The three-year trial is led by Dr Emily Henderson, a Consultant Geriatrician at the Royal United Hospital in Bath and Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol. It will recruit 600 patients across 26 UK hospitals to determine whether a drug, known as a cholinesterase inhibitor (ChEi) will help people with Parkinson's.

Earlier phase trials have shown that ChEi treatment has potential to almost halve the number of falls and improves the regularity of walking, speed, and balance.

Dr Henderson said: "This research will provide definitive evidence as to the role of these drugs for falls. We are working hard to tackle one of the most disabling complications of Parkinson's and, if successful, this treatment will improve the lives of people living with Parkinson's now and has the potential to be tested in other groups of patients who are at high risk of falling."

Trial patients will be randomly assigned a 12-month course of either a ChEi via a patch or a placebo (dummy) treatment. However, neither the researchers nor the participants will know which group they are in. Patients will be asked to record any falls that they experience in diaries that they post back each month for a year.

Dr Tim Craft, Trust Director of Research and Innovation, said: "I'm delighted that this trial has now begun and proud that the RUH is leading with the University of Bristol in such important research that has the potential to benefit people worldwide."

Findings from the trial, funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme (HTA), will be published in a research journal.

###
Senior members of the Royal Family are said to be disappointed and hurt at the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs decision to step back from their current roles.

Prince Harry and Meghan did not inform the Queen or any other royal before their announcement on Wednesday, said BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond.

Buckingham Palace was blindsided, he said, as talks about their future had begun but were in very early stages.

The Palace said there were complicated issues to work through.



Former BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt told BBC Newsnight: Im always very wary of using the word unprecedented but I cannot think of a previous example where they [the Royal Family] have washed their dirty linen in public.

In their statement, Harry and Meghan said they made the decision after many months of reflection and internal discussions.

They plan to split their time between the UK and North America, while continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.

This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, the couple said.

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said efforts should be made to calm frayed tampers in the wake of the agitations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and to normalise the situation.

As it is the country is going through difficult times. The object should be to bring about peace. Such petitions dont help that. There is a presumption of the constitutionality of law, said Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, who was heading a three-judge bench which comprised Justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant.

The strong observation from the bench came in the course of the hearing of a petition by one Puneet Kaur Dhanda seeking a declaration that the CAA was constitutional.

We have never heard of a petition like this  to declare an act as constitutional, the Chief Justice said, adding: The job of the court is to determine the validity of a law, not declare it constitutional.

The CJI then permitted the petitioner to withdraw the plea, with the liberty to intervene in a similar matter which the court is seized with.

On Friday, the Supreme Court is likely to hear the Centres plea seeking the transfer of all cases which are the challenging the CAA pending before high courts across the country. The Centre has sought the transfer of cases contending that the Supreme Court is already seized of the matter. The government has expressed the fear that different high courts may pronounce conflicting judgments.

The Supreme Court had on December 18 sought a response from the Centre on a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship Act.

The court will hold a further hearing on January 22, when it will also consider the plea for a stay of the CAA.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 9, 2020 / Experion Holdings Ltd. (the "Corporation" or "Experion") (TSXV:EXP)(OTCQB:EXPFF)(FRANKFURT:MB31) Experion is pleased to announce that it will be an Exhibitor at the Lift & Co Cannabis Expo taking place January 9th to 11th at the Vancouver Convention Center, British Columbia. The Experion team will be hosting Booth 1222 in the Main Conference Hall.

We are also pleased to announce that our industry recognized Head Grower, Liam McKenzie, will be taking part in a panel discussion on The Future of Cultivation: Threats and Opportunities at 4:30 PM on Friday, January 10th. The panel will be exploring what it means to grow premium cannabis, how to ensure product quality and new trends in cultivation. As Canada's youngest Head Grower, Liam brings over seven years of experience in cannabis cultivation, propagation and facility design. He is directly involved in Experion's day to day cultivation activities but also plays a role with strategic partnerships, genetic licensing agreements and facility enhancements. Liam has been leading our Mission, British Columbia production facility since 2017 ensuring that every handcrafted, small batch harvest is the finest.

The Lift & Co Cannabis Expo is one of Canada's leading cannabis industry events which is open to the public and features key speakers and exhibitors from the industry. The conference provides a great opportunity for Experion to exhibit its premium strains under its acclaimed brand, Citizen Stash, to new consumers, members of the investment community and industry experts.

Please visit our Booth 1222 to learn more!

About Experion Holdings Ltd.

Experion Holdings Ltd. is the parent company of Experion Biotechnologies Inc., a Health Canada licensed cultivator and processor of Cannabis, based in Mission, BC.

Experion Holdings Ltd. is invested in a portfolio of products to address a wide spectrum of consumer needs' including Adult-use, Wellness and Therapeutic, and Medical products.

Experion trades on the TSX Venture Exchange as a Tier 1 issuer under the symbol "EXP" on the OTCQB Venture under the symbol "EXPFF" and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "MB31"

For further information, please visit the Company's website www.experionwellness.com or join our Global Investor Forum on 8020 http://connects.company/ExperionEXP where you can read all press releases or contact Investor Relations, Email: IR@experionwellness.com

Disclosure

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Although the Company believes that such information is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.

Forward looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, forecast, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to: the state of the financial markets for the Company's equity securities; recent market volatility; the Company's ability to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies; the risks identified in the Filing Statement, and other risks and factors that the Company is unaware of at this time. The reader is referred to the Filing Statement dated September 25, 2017 and/or the most recent annual and interim Management's Discussion and Analysis for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects, copies of which may be accessed through the Company page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies ofthe TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Experion Holdings Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/572557/Experion-Participating-in-Vancouver-Lift-and-Co-Cannabis-Expo
Cheong Wa Dae reshuffled 32 high-ranking prosecutors on Wednesday. Key prosecutors under Prosecutor-General Yoon Seok-youl were demoted. They investigated major corruption scandals surrounding ex-Justice Minister Cho Kuk, and other former Cheong Dae Dae officials as well as allegations over the government's meddling to a mayoral election. The head of the Seoul District Prosecutors' Office was also replaced by a prosecutor who went to the same university as President Moon Jae-in. The move is widely viewed as an attempt to cut off the arms and legs of the prosecutor-general and meddling in the investigation. The demoted prosecutors had been appointed to their positions only six months ago, and there was no reason to demote them other than punishing them for probing alleged corruption by presidential aides. This is exactly what Korean dictators used to do, and now the former democracy activists who so ardently fought them are emulating them now they are in power themselves.

Normally a reshuffle of prosecutors takes place at the recommendation of the prosecutor-general to the justice minister, who then makes a formal request to the president. This process ensures relative neutrality of the prosecution. But this time Cheong Wa Dae and Justice Ministry apparently did not inform the prosecutor-general of the details of the new appointments and merely asked for his opinion at the last minute. When the prosecutor-general baulked, the new appointments were unilaterally announced at night in something very like a cloak-and-dagger operation. This is a brazen affront to the independence of the prosecution. Just recently, the Moon Jae-in administration also bulldozed through a law establishing a separate body that investigates corruption among high-raking public officials so it can be staffed with friendly officials. The government must believe it is now truly above the law.

Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae even tried to appoint a civilian lawyer as chief prosecutor, only to be rejected by a personnel committee. Most members of the committee were appointed by Moon, yet that went too far even for them, and they put the brakes on Choo's attempt over concerns about due process.

Choo and the Cheong Wa Dae officials who spearheaded the new appointments are all being investigated by prosecutors. Choo was the head of the ruling Minjoo Party when Cheong Wa Dae allegedly meddled in the election of the mayor of Ulsan and has been under investigation for arranging a meeting between Mayor Song Cheol-ho and Cheong Wa Dae officials. She could end up becoming a suspect depending on what the investigation yields. Other Cheong Wa Dae aides are suspected of instructing police to investigate an opposition candidate and fabricating documents to make it appear as if the son of the previous, fly-by-night justice minister Cho Kuk worked as an intern. Their next step, surely, will be to try and oust the prosecutor-general. When the targets of an investigation can pick and choose their investigators, democracy under the self-described "most democratic administration" ever is in grave peril.


 This is a true story reads the preamble to White House Farm, but just how true can a story be if its key elements are so strongly contested?

In 1986, Jeremy Bamber was convicted of shooting dead his adoptive parents Nevill and June, his sister Sheila Caffell, and Sheilas six-year-old twin sons, Daniel and Nicholas, at his parents farmhouse in Essex. Now 34 years into a whole-life sentence, Bamber (who was the first to alert police) still protests his innocence, insisting the killings were a tragic murder-suicide committed by Sheila, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Lawyers for Bamber have argued the timing of this new mini-series about the murders and its potentially fictitious narrative could be disastrous for his latest appeal and have tried (and failed) to get ITV producers to postpone the air date. Meanwhile, Bambers extended family remain convinced of his guilt.

But separating the show from its real life circumstances, White House Farm is a very good drama indeed  skilfully cast and careful to avoid ghoulishness in its handling of one Britains most notorious murder cases. Freddie Fox is particularly good as the 25-year-old Bamber; with an ambiguous, wide-eyed look that hovers between angelic and devious, its hard to know whether to feel sympathy or suspicion.

Ambiguous: Freddie Fox (right) plays Jeremy Bamber / ITV

We open with a distressed call made by Bamber to Chelmsford police. He tells the officer his terrified father has rung to say his sister has gone crazy with a gun. We then jump back to four days before the murders when Bambers sister Sheila (Cressida Bonas, brilliant) attends a housewarming party thrown by her ex-husband Colin, father of their twins. Visibly anxious, particularly when her brother arrives, she eventually hides in the bathroom upstairs, weeping and whispering prayers to herself.

More family tension is unpacked when Colin drives Sheila and the twins to stay at her parents farm. Sheila hates the injections she needs to control her mental health problems but appears to be having them, under pressure from her parents.

White House Farm: Real Life & Characters - In pictures 1 /12 White House Farm: Real Life & Characters - In pictures Shelia Caffell and Cressida Bonas Jeremy Bamber and Freddie Fox June Bamber and Amanda Burton Colin Caffell and Mark Stanley Nevill Bamber and Nicholas Farrell Mark Addy as DS Stan Joines Stephen Graham as DCI Thomas 'Taff' Jones Nicholas and Daniel Caffell Alamy Gemma Caffell as Ann

All of this seems to be nudging us towards the polices initial conclusion: that Sheila snapped. DCI Thomas Taff Jones (Stephen Graham) is sympathetic to a seemingly devastated Bamber and, with the media circling, is keen to conclude the case quickly as a murder-suicide. But his colleague DS Stan Jones (Mark Addy) is sceptical.

If Sheila killed the family before turning the gun on herself, why does she have two gunshot wounds? And could such a slight woman have inflicted those other injuries on her considerably bigger father?

The series is based on two books: Carol Ann Lees study The Murders at White House Farm, which includes extensive interviews with Bamber and family members, and In Search of the Rainbows End: Inside the White House Farm Murders, written by Sheilas ex-husband Colin. This heft of background material and a strong screenplay by Kris Mrksa gives the drama weight and substance, all sensitively crafted by director Paul Whittington.

Though the subject matter is certain to throw up more debate on the trial-by-audience nature of true crime, as a piece of drama its difficult to fault.
CNBC's Jim Cramer broke down what Wall Street's rally in the wake of Iran's attack on an Iraqi military base housing U.S. troops means for the market. The "Mad Money" host said he sees a tough future ahead for the oil market. Later in the show, he interviewed Constellation Brands CEO Bill Newlands to get a read on what's ahead for the seltzer market.

What Wall Street's reaction to Iran ballistic missile strike means

The Charging Bull near Wall Street is pictured in New York. Carlo Allegri | Reuters

CNBC's was amazed that stocks rallied hard less than 24 hours after Iran attacked military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq. The major U.S. indexes all surged 0.50% or more in Wednesday's session, one day after Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles at U.S. and coalition targets. No Americans were injured in the attacks. "With the averages staging a huge rally from last night's moment of crisis ... I marvel at this market's ability to overcome even the toughest of obstacles," the "Mad Money" host said after the market closed. "So is this market being resilient ... or are investors being complacent? Why not both? I think it's a combination of these two forces," resilience and complacency, "and I think they've taken control."

Tough future for oil

A drilling crew member on an oil rig in the Permian Basin near Wink, Texas. Nick Oxford | Reuters

' decision to cut its dividend in late December illustrates the oil market's tough future, Cramer said. "Management wouldn't cut it unless they had some serious long-term concerns that the oil industry just isn't coming back the way it's supposed to when the price of crude goes higher," the host said. Core Labs reduced its dividend from 55 cents to 25 cents, at a time when the oil business is "the worst I have ever seen it," Cramer said, arguing it is even worse than January 2016, when oil traded below $30 per barrel.

Big spending on Corona seltzer launch

Constellation Brands' Corona Light is displayed for sale at a grocery store in New York. Scott Eells | Bloomberg| Getty Images

CEO Bill Newlands told CNBC the company is committing big dollars to launch a line of Corona hard seltzers, an alcoholic beverage category that is a growing favorite among millennials. The spirits company, whose portfolio includes Corona Extra, Modelo Especial and Svedka Vodka, plans on spending more than $40 million in marketing alone to release four seltzer flavors this spring. "We're prepared to have one of the biggest introduction spends that we've ever had against a single brand, but recognize we're spending it against a franchise and that's Corona," Newlands said in a "Mad Money" interview. "So we're quite confident that we will get a significant share of this business and we can't wait for March 1 to roll around."

Cramer's lightning round
William Crawley has paid a heartfelt tribute to his tragic BBC Radio Ulster colleague Stephen Clements after his "devastating" sudden death.

The Talkback presenter revealed how Stephen asked him for advice before starting his dream job at Broadcasting House in Belfast, adding that his friend was set for bigger things at the corporation.

It was a "great tragedy" that he would not fulfil those ambitions, he said.

The 47-year-old's death has left colleagues and listeners stunned. Stephen, a married father-of-two, joined Radio Ulster last summer, having been the long-time presenter of Q Radio's breakfast show.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Stephen Clements with his wife Natasha and their children Poppy and Robbie Dream job: DJ Stephen Clements with his son Robbie Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Beach life: Stephen Clements, with his daughter Poppy, has fond memories of Barrys in Portrush Leading man: Stephen Clements taking part in The Royal Does Strictly with Brenda Creaney of the Belfast Trust in 2012 Sunday Life News brenda shankey, eamonn holmes, Q Radio Stephen Clements and Cate Conway recording the Christmas Special. Picture Colm O'Reilly Sunday Life 19-12-2015 Stephen Clements is set to present his own show on BBC Radio Ulster Dream job: Stephen gets settled in Kevin Scott Stephen with wife Natasha The RUAs Annual Exhibition takes place at the award-winning Ulster Museum. Northern Ireland Tourist Board Great cause: Stephen Clements with Children in Needs Pudsey Stephen Clements with wife Natasha and children Poppy and Robbie BBC Children in Need are presenters Holly Hamilton and Stephen Clements with Pudsey Bear. Twitter postings: Stephen Clements Kevin Scott The BBC NI studio with presenters Stephen Clements and Holly Hamilton William Cherry/Presseye / Facebook

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Whatsapp Stephen Clements with his wife Natasha and their children Poppy and Robbie

Yesterday both stations paid emotional tributes during the shows he fronted.

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And speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, William Crawley said he was struggling to take in the news.

He recalled how he got to know Stephen through listening to his show on Q Radio, adding: "We began texting back and forth compliments and things like that.

Read More

"When he got the job replacing Sean Coyle I phoned him and we had a good old chat. And then as he came into the building as a new colleague, I first met him when he got out of a lift, and we had communicated so much we naturally both hugged each other.

"That was quite amazing. He was a very easy guy to get to know very quickly and he was just a big smile and a bundle of energy - he was a joy bringer on the radio and when you met him in person as well.

"He was a hugger. He was tactile, natural and I think he connected with people on the radio for the same reason, that was part of his DNA.

"He was just a natural connector with people. I don't know how to process all of this, it's too crazy. It's beyond me. I mean, the last text I had with him, we were arranging to get together for lunch with 'definitely' in capitals.

"Then you hear that news and you're just wondering, 'God, what the hell?' It's devastating."

William is currently overseas on holiday but has been texting and calling colleagues who worked closely with Stephen at the BBC.

He said there was a synergy between them in terms of having a previous life before broadcasting and also taking over from a more established presenter.

Stephen held down a range of jobs before finding his feet on air in his 30s, while William was a lecturer and a minister before his BBC career and working his way up to replace Wendy Austin in the Talkback hotseat.

He said: "There was (a synergy) and we talked about that quite a bit, I shared some of my experiences, and you know how it is - you get people who will text in criticisms or tweet criticisms and others will love you or maybe you've just got to earn your place.

"He was a very thin-skinned kind of guy and I was telling him that's just the way of it, that's natural, that's just the way with all broadcasting and you've got to make your way through that.

"And so mostly we were talking about what it's like just to kind of ease your way into this new world, working in the BBC and that sort of thing, and dealing with the fact that you're replacing somebody and you've got to create your own space and I've been there too, and we've all been there.

"It can be difficult, it can be challenging but it still has to happen.

"We'd meet for coffee from time to time in the canteen and he was just lovely. He was just genuine. Absolutely transparently genuine.

"He was almost like an innocent abroad for someone who always said he got into broadcasting later, but he had quite a big pedigree already and he was sort of wide-eyed about all the possibilities.

"And the great shame is that I know that next year there would be a lot more happening with him with television and radio and even beyond the show and that's a great sadness and that's a great tragedy."

William said that, before switching from Q to the BBC, Stephen had turned to him for some guidance ahead of launching his show, which preceded his in the weekday schedule.

He said: "He asked me for a bit of advice going in and I said, 'Look, the first couple of months are just finding out where the studio is, don't worry about it. Just do your thing and remember the reason you have this job is that these bosses know what you can do, and they don't want you to be anything else other than the person they thought they were hiring. So the best advice I can give you,' I said to him, 'Is just be yourself and don't worry about anything going around you, there will be a lot of new stuff, new buildings, new people - but your voice needs to be you, don't let anybody else take that from you.'"

William said that while he and colleagues at BBC Northern Ireland will be reeling in the wake of Stephen's death, they will rally round and support one another.

"You've got a responsibility to keep that strong voice and try to do justice to someone you knew and this was true with Gerry Anderson and others we've lost over the years," he said.

"It's a bit of a family. The BBC can be a bit of a dysfunctional family at times, but it's a family nonetheless.

"You see people everyday, you walk past people every day or you meet them for coffee in the canteen and you make some friends, you don't make others, and I was very clearly making a friendship with Stephen.

"It was early days but he was an easy person to become a friend to and you can see that with the wave of responses, people saying very similar things about how connected he was to people, how he wanted to get involved, how he wanted to do something for other people.

"He was just genuinely a decent person."
Trump downplays Iran's missiles attack against U.S. forces in Iraq

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 13:14, January 08, 2020

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday appeared to downplay Iran's missile attack against U.S. forces in Iraq, while highlighting U.S. military strength at the same time.

"All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good!" Trump tweeted hours after Iran's military launched missiles targeting U.S. forces in Iraq.

"We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning," he added.

The Pentagon confirmed earlier that Iran had launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against U.S. military and coalition forces in Iraq.

"It is clear that these missiles were launched from Iran and targeted at least two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S. military and coalition personnel at Al-Assad & Irbil," the Pentagon said in a statement.

The Pentagon also pointed out that it would take all necessary measures to protect and defend U.S. personnel, partners, and allies in the region.

U.S. media reported late Tuesday that there were no initial reports of any U.S. casualties caused by Iran's attack.

The missile attack came hours after Trump's latest warning to Iran earlier Tuesday.

"If Iran does anything that they shouldn't be doing, they're going to be suffering the consequences, and very strongly," Trump told reporters in the White House.

Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), was killed in a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad airport on Friday, raising fears of an uncontrolled escalation in the region.

Commander of the IRGC Hossein Salami warned the United States on Tuesday that Iran would take "severe revenge" over its assassination of Soleimani.

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The Boston Center for Facial Rejuvenation is excited to share that its own, Sean Doherty, MD and Leonard Miller, MD, FACS has made Boston Magazines list of Top Doctors 2020. Among the most sought-after surgeons on the east coast, Dr. Doherty and Dr. Miller specialize in plastic and cosmetic surgery for the face, breast and body. With a career dedicated to bringing proportionate, natural-looking results to all of his patients, Dr. Doherty and Dr. Miller are honored to be named one of Bostons finest physicians.

Each year, Boston Magazine partners with respected healthcare researcher, Castle Connolly Medical Ltd, to create a definitive list of the most trusted physicians and medical professionals across the city. The comprehensive guide to the areas elite healthcare providers is designed specifically to assist those in search of a new doctor or medical consultation. The Top Doctor 2020 list includes a wide range of experts crossing more than 65 medical specialties including dermatology, cardiology, gastroenterology, orthopedics, pediatrics and plastic surgery.

As one of this years honored physicians, Dr. Doherty believes that less is more when it comes to plastic surgery. By customizing each treatment around the individual patients needs, Dr. Doherty can provide results that bring a rejuvenated, refreshed appearance without seeming overdone. Dr. Doherty explains his treatment philosophy, As an undergraduate, I studied art and art history. Learning about classical art laid down a foundation for my aesthetic. Throughout history, simple and subtle beauty has prevailed. My aesthetic is based on this. In all aspects of my practice, my goal is to create a simple and attractive beauty,.

ABOUT DR. SEAN DOHERTY

Dr. Doherty is a graduate of Columbia University and Tufts University School of Medicine. A board-certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Doherty is a partner at the Boston Center for Facial Rejuvenation, working alongside respected plastic surgeon, Leonard Miller, MD, FACS, FRCS. With extensive training in reconstructive and cosmetic surgery procedures, Dr. Doherty is well-known for his use of groundbreaking techniques. These include the tummy tuck, breast augmentation, body contouring and facial aesthetics for both women and men. Dr. Doherty is also at the forefront of rejuvenating, noninvasive techniques and fat elimination.

The Boston Center for Facial Rejuvenation provides a welcoming environment for anyone considering a cosmetic procedure for any part of the body. If you would like to schedule a confidential consultation with Dr. Doherty, contact the Boston Center for Facial Rejuvenation at 617.450.0070. New patient appointments can be scheduled at either the Boston or Brookline location. For more information on the Top Doctors for 2020, visit Boston Magazine.


Mumbai, Jan 9 : Volkswagen Passenger Cars India will unveil its biggest SUV offensive, with the launch of four new SUVs within two years.

"Owing to ever increasing consumer preferences for the SUVs, the Volkswagen brand plans to heavily focus on introducing its global line-up of SUV portfolio for the Indian market," the company said in a statement on Thursday.

Besides, starting this February the company will showcase its electric vehicle based on the 'MEB platform' along with the world premiere of the 'A0' SUV under the Group's India 2.0 project.
Shelley Creighton, pictured outside South Tyneside Magistrates' Court, refused to give a breath sample after she was arrested on suspicion of drink driving on December 2 in Sunderland

Staff at a McDonald's restaurant tipped-off police after a nurse parked her car and walked unsteadily to the counter and slurred her words while ordering food, a court has heard.

Shelly Creighton, 33, drove to the restaurant in the Roker retail park on December 2 at 4am.

Concerned staff rang police after they suspected she may have driven while drunk. They then delayed her order to give officers enough time to attend the scene.

Creighton was walking back to her car when police arrived. However, she refused to give a breath sample and was arrested on suspicion of drink driving.

Officers described her as 'argumentative and agitated.

She was arrested and taken into custody, where she continued to be uncooperative with police and refused to take part in any of the standard drink-driving procedures.

Appearing at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court, Creighton pleaded guilty for failing to provide a specimen of breath.

Lee Poppett, prosecuting, said Creighton, of Roker, Sunderland, was first spotted by McDonald's staff driving into the car park at around 4am on December 2 last year.

He said: 'They smell alcohol on her, she has slurred speech and they thought she was drunk. The staff then delayed her, giving the police time to attend. When they do attend, the defendant is walking towards her vehicle.

'Her speech is slurred and she appeared to be unsteady on her feet.'

The court was told that Creighton, who works as a nurse in a hospital A&E department, immediately became agitated and refused a roadside breath test.

McDonald's staff spotted Creighton walking unsteadily across this car park in Roker, Sunderland around 4am on December 2. They alerted police after she ordered food inside the restaurant and was slurring her words. Staff delayed her until police arrived

However, despite being arrested, her behaviour didn't improve and she remained argumentative with police and continued to refuse to take any tests.

Richard Copsey, defending, said Creighton had been out drinking in the late afternoon and early evening of the day before and had fallen asleep at 10.30pm, before waking up hungry at 4am and deciding to drive to McDonald's.

'Her at attitude is disappointment in herself,' Mr Copsey told the court.

'She has a good job in a hospital. She's incredibly sorry for what she did.'

Creighton was fined 1,500 and banned from the roads for 20 months.

Sentencing her, District Judge Kate Meek said: 'In my view, there was a level of impairment and this was demonstrated by your behaviour and deliberate refusal to provide a specimen and that's the basis I'm going to sentence you on.'
09.01.2020 LISTEN

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has embarked on a bold effort to transform the political terrain of Ethiopia while simultaneously launching new economic reforms. The creation of the new Ethiopian Prosperity Party (PP) replaces the Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front-(EPRDF), founded in 1988. Dissolving the reigning EPRDF and fashioning a new national party, or what some refer to as a Pan-Ethiopian party, is a courageous and daring move, essential for Ethiopias future. This emerging nation of over 105 million people, already a leader in economic development, is now embarking on a challenging path to create de novo a national party.

The EPRDF, which had governed Ethiopia since May 1991, was composed of four Regional States, plus the cities of Addis Ababa (the capital), and Dire Dawa. The four regional parties are: the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front-(TPLF); the Oromo Peoples Democratic Organization-(OPDO) (renamed early this year as Oromo Democratic Party-(ODP); the Amhara National Democratic Movement-(ANDM), (renamed early this year as Amhara Democratic Party-(ADP); and the Southern Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Movement-(SEPDM), (a coalition of the 56 ethnic groups).

The EPRDF was fashioned to address Ethiopias earlier history of dictatorial and monarchical rule. The designers of the governing party believed that acknowledging ethnic identity, which was not recognized for centuries, would solve the tensions of that time. Recent conflicts in Ethiopia have shown this arrangement to be ineffective.

Of the four parties that comprised the EPRDF, only the TPLF has refused to join the new PP. Already the governing parties representing 5 regions, which were not members of the EPRDF, but were recognized as allies of the EPRDF have joined the PP in preparation for May 2020 elections. They are: 1) Afar National Democratic Party (ANDP); 2) Benishangul-Gumuz Democratic Party (BDP); 3) Somali Democratic Party (SDP); 4) Gambela Peoples Democratic Movement (GPDM); and 5) Harari National League (HNL). The PP will be inclusive, intending to represent all communities, inviting Tigrayans, who live in and outside the region to join. The PP program will have Amharic as its working language as per the constitution. However, Afan Oromo, Tigrigna, Somali and Afar will also be the working languages of the new PP.

Prime Minister Abiys founding of the PP on December 1, just six months before Ethiopias national elections, is fraught with personal risks for the new Prime Minister. However, this endeavor is bursting with the potential to transform politics and social relations in Ethiopian society. Ethiopia has a splendid history thousands of years old, rich with a multiplicity of cultural backgrounds. The PP is intended to harmonize the diversity of the nation with a national non-ethnic based party.

Chair Persons of the eight parties who also represent eight Regions as governing parties worked under the umbrella of the EPRDF coalition signed a document for the establishment of Prosperity Party. Photo Credit OPM

Nationalism: Not Ethnic Nationalism

A sovereign nation-state is not a mosaic of diverse groups competing with each other for control of the government or pursuing administration posts to obtain economic and financial rewards. A sovereign nation should have a national identity and a mission orientation for its people; all its people, regardless of ethnic heritage. Contributing to the distinctive identity of Ethiopia was its military defeat of the Italian Empire in the battle of Adwa on March 1, 1896. Consequently, this victory, uniquely allowed Ethiopia to remain free from colonialism. Although this triumph occurred over one century ago, it is part of the psychological composition of the identity of all Ethiopians; whether they are conscious of its effects or not. Ethiopias decades long determination to develop from a disadvantaged nation to an aspiring lower middle-income nation with nascent light manufacturing industry is another feature of Ethiopias national identity.

Professed ethnonationalism errs in that it attempts to substitute the demands, often for legitimate needs, of one particular group above the interests of all the citizens. A nation-state cannot survive in a Hobbesian war of all against each other to obtain the most goodies for my people. Dare we forget the horrors of the ethnically driven tragic Biafran war in Nigeria from 1967-1970, and how geographic-ethnic distinctions have determined every unhealthy aspect of political and social life in Nigeria today?

Recriminations from the past are no excuse for actions today. Decisions concerning the best strategy for securing the future of Ethiopia must be based on how that policy will benefit the well-being of all citizens.

Medemer and Synergy

In his acceptance speech for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Prime Minister Abiy spoke of the philosophy of the Medemer.

He said: Medemer, an Amharic word, signifies synergy, convergence, and teamwork for a common destiny. Medemer is a homegrown idea that is reflected in our political, social, and economic life. Id like to think of Medemer as a social compact for Ethiopians to build a just, egalitarian, democratic, and humane society by pulling together our resources for our collective survival and prosperityAt its core, Medemer is a covenant of peace that seeks unity in our common humanity. One could appropriately, add for the common good of humankind.

Our common humanity exists in all of us. We are all born in the image of the Creator. All human beings are universally related by our endowed powers of creative mentation, more commonly known as reason. What distinguishes all human beings from the animal species is our mental power to discover new scientific and cultural principles embedded in our universe. All of us homo sapiens, regardless of where we were born, or any physical characteristics, are substantially more alike than we are different. Therefore, our needs, desires, and aspirations in life are similar. All human beings not only share a common interest to enhance our lives, but we also share a desire for a better future for our posterity. There is no class of superior people, who have more rights than others due to privileges of birth, religion, or skin color. Each of us are placed here on earth to contribute to the common good of our common humanity using our individual talents.

If we accept synergy to mean cooperation and collaboration to achieve an enhanced effect, then let us act synergistically to ensure a prosperous Ethiopia that provides for all its citizens.

The Constitution and Sidama

Inherent problems of the 1995 Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia are evident in the November 2019 referendum conferring autonomy to Sidama. Ethiopias constitution stipulates that with this lawful vote, the people of Sidama, the fifth largest ethnic group, will become the tenth ethnic regional state. Eight of the existing nine regional states are governed by the dominant ethnic group of that geographical region. However, the Sidama people reside in Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region(SNNPR), where many other small ethnic groups (around 56) also exist.

The Preamble of Ethiopias Constitution properly emphasizes the conception of a united nation with a common purpose and goal for all its people. It deliberates on advancing our economic and social development, common interest.and the emergence of a common outlook, and to live as one economic community. Article 14 resonates with the US Constitution, stating: Every person has the inviolable right to life the security of person and liberty. The same principle is echoed in Article 43 of the Constitution: The Right to Development. The basic aim of development activities shall be to enhance the capacity of citizens for development and to meet their basic needs.

The drawback to the Constitution begins in Article 8:Sovereignty of the People, where sovereign powers are divided up between Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia. This is an obvious compromise to ethnicity. In truth; there is only one Ethiopian people and only one Ethiopian nation. The divisions in Ethiopian society are made explicit in Article39: Every Nation, Nationality and People in Ethiopia has an unconditional right to self-determination, including the right of secessionthe right to a full measure of self-government This separation of Ethiopians into multiple groups, outlined in the Constitution, is the seed for the tensions gripping Ethiopia today.

In the aftermath of the Sidama referendum, Ethiopia potentially faces a conundrum. Will other ethnic minorities now choose to follow the same path as Sidama in calling for autonomy as delineated in the Constitution? It appears so. In addition to Sidama Zone*, which is now claiming to be the 10th state, there are other Zones in the Southern Region that want to follow the same route to statehood. To quote William Shakespeare, theres the rub. Clearly the Ethiopian Constitution, despite the best intentions, has proven to be unsuccessful in governing this multi-ethnic nation.

The Challenging Course Ahead

The emergence of a national party such as the PP can commence the process of uniting the nation by moving away from a society where ethnic interests are placed above the welfare of the nation. Ultimately the problematic features of the Ethiopian Constitution will have to be revisited. Not to address this thorny issue will allow instigators to use ethnicity to disrupt what is most necessary for Ethiopia to move forward; a healthy process of dialogue and debate on the future of Ethiopia.

This discourse should include a discussion by the Ethiopian people on changing the structure of ethnic-based parties. For example, Ghanas Constitution stipulates that Every political party shall have a national character, and membership shall not be based on ethnic, religious, regional or other sectional divisions. That no political party shall be formed (a) on ethnic, gender, religion regional, professional or other sectional divisions; or (b) which uses words, slogans or symbols which could arouse ethnic, gender, religious, regional professional or other sectional divisions.

The lack of vibrant Ethiopian nationalism creates a fertile environment for those who want to manipulate misplaced ethnic passions. The danger presents itself during times of social or economic stress, when the populations frustrations can be channeled along ethnic fault lines, manipulating Ethiopians to act against their true self-interest: progress for the nation of Ethiopia. Opportunistic ringleaders will attempt to misdirect the population against each other via competing ethnicities, instead of uniting society behind a national policy. A policy of economic growth that includes a strategy to generate employment opportunities for the millions of youth preparing to enter the workforce is in the vital interests of all citizens.

Of course, it will take time for people to shed their desire to control policy making through ethnic-based parties. It is an existential moment for Ethiopia, and a national grounded PP is a needed first step. It should be understood, that a sovereign nation, whose national mission is to promote the general welfare of its people does not require the elimination of historical cultures. On the contrary, the uniqueness and beauty of each ethnic culture can be synergistically woven into an elevated national character that transcends ethnicity.

*Zone is the middle tire next to the regional state in the governing structure that is also formed under ethnic lines the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR).

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in the economic development policy of Africa for 30 years. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com
CNN reporter accuses Babylon Bee of misleading Americans, but lauds Onion satire

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The conservative Christian satire website The Babylon Bee was again forced to defend itself amid accusations from secular media that it's spreading misinformation.

CNN reporter Donnie OSullivan took issue with The Babylon Bee on Sunday, tweeting his disapproval with a satire piece poking fun at prominent Democrat reactions to the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

The satire piece in question is titled Democrats Call For Flags To Be Flown At Half-Mast To Grieve Death Of Soleimani. In a Twitter thread, OSullivan commented on a tweet explaining that The Babylon Bee article had topped 500,000 shares on social media.

OSullivan, who reports on disinformation, politics and technology, stressed that it's the same number of engagements as the top New York Times and CNN articles over the past week.

Although it's widely known in Christian circles that The Babylon Bee is a satire site akin to The Onion, OSullivan wondered how many users who share the articles on social media know that it's satire.

A lot of people sharing this satirical story on Facebook don't know it is satire, OSullivan argued. Having a disclaimer buried somewhere on your site that says its satire seems like a good way to get around a lot of the changes Facebook has made to reduce the spread of clickbait and misinformation.

Sullivan pointed to some of the comments made by Facebook users who shared the link to The Babylon Bee article, including one user who wrote: I wish this was a joke. Sullivan quoted another user who wrote, I wish this was satire.

Babylon Bee founder Adam Ford shot back at OSullivan in a Twitter thread Monday. He criticized Ford for the fact that he has shared numerous articles by the satire site The Onion on his social media page.

A CNN reporter is taking shots at the Bee because our articles get shared a lot and some people think they're real (which will always happen with satire), Ford wrote. After thinking how adorable, I thought, well surely this guy has chirped at the Onion for the same thing.

As it turns out, Mr. O'Sullivan HAS tweeted about the Onion, Ford added. But it looks like he's quite the fan!

On Tuesday, The Babylon Bee published an article titled CNN Attacks Babylon Bee: The Internet Is Only Big Enough for One Fake News Site.

The satire article includes a made-up quote from Brian Stelter, host of the CNN show Reliable Sources.

They're obviously amateurs over there at The Bee," reads the fake quote attributed to Stelter. "A lot of times, their reporting comes true. If you're gonna do fake news, do it right  100% fake, guaranteed, 24/7. They really should learn from the pros over here at CNN."

This is not the first time that The Babylon Bee has received heat from the left-leaning media.

Last summer, Ford hit back after the so-called fact-checking website Snopes did a fact-check on a Babylon Bee article titled "Georgia Lawmaker Claims Chick-Fil-A Employee Told Her To Go Back To Her Country, Later Clarifies He Actually Said 'My Pleasure.'"

The article poked fun at a Georgia Democrat lawmaker who accused a white man at a grocery store of racially berating her and telling her go back where you came from, a claim that man denied.

The Snopes article claimed that The Babylon Bee made an apparent attempt to maximize the online indignation surrounding the lawmakers claims and the white mans denial.

We're not sure if fanning the flames of controversy and muddying the details of a news story classify an article as satire, the Snopes article read, adding that the Bee has managed to fool readers with its brand of satire in the past.

In a Twitter thread, Ford took issue with Snopes' claim that Babylon Bee was trying to maximize the online indignation and that it published a fictionalized version of the story.

That's certainly an interesting way of saying we satirized an absurd real-life event, Ford wrote at the time. You know, that thing that all satirical outlets do.

Snopes then fired back at suggestions that its fact-checking of satire articles is unnecessary.

In August, Snopes published a study titled Too Many People Think Satirical News Is Real. The study was written by R. Kelly Garrett, professor of communication at Ohio State University, and his colleagues. The study focuses on a survey of over 800 U.S. adults.

We discovered that many of the false stories werent the kind that were trying to intentionally deceive their readers; they actually came from satirical sites, and many people seemed to believe them, the article reads.

However, the research promoted by Snopes was denounced by Babylon Bees Editor-in-Chief Kyle Mann. Mann criticized the way researchers paraphrased the satirical story claims when asking their questions to respondents.

"That survey @snopes shared is horrible. Did they seriously paraphrase Bee stories and ask people if they thought they were true? That's an awful way to figure out what percentage of people will believe satire," Mann tweeted.

"This is totally different from how people actually engage with our stories, where the over-the-top content on the site and social feeds, the site name, our freakin' tagline, a goofy photoshop, are pretty darn big clues that its satire. ... Do people get fooled? Sure, sometimes. But this survey is a horrible way to prove that."
Sprint and T-Mobile are still not in the clear for the massive merger. It still has both New York and Californias attorneys general suing in opposition of the merger due to decreased competition, loss of jobs, and raising of service costs. In an interview with T-Mobile COO, Mike Sievert revealed the companys plans in case the merger is not approved.

During an investor relations event today, Sievert spoke on the possibility of a settlement with the State Attorney Generals. Its never off the table, he explained  despite his confidence that the merger would be approved. Final arguments for and against the mergers are expected to take place on January 15 with a decision expected next month.

If the merger is blocked, T-Mobile would immediately begin a $9 million stock buy-back and purchasing more spectrum would be the first priority  this is according to T-Mobile CFO Braxton Carter. T-Mobile CTO, Nevile Ray admits the company has its sights set on 3.5GHz CBRS spectrum.

T-Mobile has been working on the merger for over a year and a half by this point, and if T-Mobile challenges the Judges decision, it could delay the merger talks even longer for a merger that the two carriers didnt expect to take this long.

Amidst the news of T-Mobiles exit plans, Virgin Mobile is going to close its doors. The pre-paid carrier has confirmed to Gizmodo that it began contacting its customers this week to notify their transition to Sprints other pre-paid network, Boost Mobile.

Beginning on the week of February 2, we will be moving Virgin Mobile customer accounts to our sister brand Boost Mobile  consolidating the brands under one cohesive, efficient and effective prepaid team.  Virgin Mobile spokesperson

As part of the merger, Sprint would need to sell assets to Dish Network, including Boost Mobile. In order to facilitate the move, Virgin Mobiles parent company, Virgin Group, has agreed with Sprint to transfer its customers to Boost Mobile (which also runs on Sprints network) before the carrier is sold to Dish.

Virgin Group is happy that it once again has control of the Virgin Mobile brand and hopes to work on options to relaunch a modern mobile offer in the US. Current Virgin Mobile customers with PayPal as their selected payment option should switch to a credit or debit card before the transfer in order to avoid service interruptions.

Source 1  Source 2
WOODY POINT, AustraliaPleasure product manufacturer Geeky Sex Toysmakers of pop-culture and sci-fi-inspired sex toyshas crated a new Down-Under Donation Dildo to raise funds for bushfire recovery.

Our country has been devastated by bushfires and we need your help! The company posted on its website. Purchase this toy and 100% of the profits will be donated directly to the bushfire relief efforts. This silicone toy was designed specifically as our way to help out our neighbours in need. Buying a sex toy has never felt so good.

The Down-Under Donation Dildo is green and gold, the national colors of Australia. The gold shaft has a realistic head and is embossed with an adorable koala on the side near the base, which is green and in the shape of the island country.

Since the fires started in Australia, at least 24 people have been killed, and more than 500 million animals have lost their lives, including koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, birds and other iconic wildlife. The fires have burned more than 8.4 million hectares, and thousands of homes and other structures have been destroyed.

The dildo is priced at $69.

As you may know, all our toys are handmade in this wonderful country that we call home, a statement on the website reads. We are proud Australians and to see our country burning like this is truly heartbreaking. The catastrophic spread of bushfires is devastating, and our thoughts go out to all the people, wildlife and land that has been affected throughout Australia.

Thank you so much to everyone around the world who has already donated in any way, the post added. When you purchase our Down-under Donation Dildo we will give 100% of the profits directly to the bushfire relief efforts. A specific charity has yet to be determined but we will be posting regular updates on our Instagram and Twitter with the amount of money raised and specifically where it is going.

For more, or to make a purchase, visit GeekySexToys.com.


Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump defended his targeted killing of an Iranian general.

Qassem Soleimani was the head of Irans Quds Force. He died last Friday in a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad International Airport.

His death increased tensions in the area. Iran has already answered by firing missiles into Iraq. The missiles landed at two military bases that house U.S. troops.

No casualties from that attack were reported. Trump did not speak Wednesday about using additional military force against Iran. Instead, he said he would put more economic restrictions on the country.

But many American lawmakers are expressing concerns about open war between the two countries. They will vote this week on a measure to prevent U.S. military forces from taking action against Iran unless Congress approves.

How does the U.S. declare war?

The U.S. Constitution says Congress has the authority to declare war. And it says the president is the commander-in-chief of the military.

The men who wrote the Constitution divided these powers on purpose. They wanted to prevent one person or group from making a sudden move toward war without others in the government agreeing.

But lawmakers and the president have often clashed over how to operate within the rules of the Constitution. The last time Congress officially declared war was almost 80 years ago, during World War II. American military actions since then have happened without an official declaration of war.

In 1973, Congress passed the War Powers Act to further define the presidents role in directing military actions. The law required that U.S. presidents had 38 hours to report to Congress after committing U.S. forces to military actions overseas. The president must also officially say why she or he is committing forces.

In 2001, lawmakers and the president worked together to create a resolution permitting actions to answer terrorist threats. It is called the Authorization for Use of Military Force, or AUMF. The AUMF is unusual because it permits actions against groups or people, as opposed to nations or areas.

The resolution has created debate under Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Trump. All three leaders have used the AUMFs large definition of a terrorist threat to say military actions are needed.

What does Trump say?

Observers say Trump appears to be using his ability to strike under the War Powers Act, which permits the president to use military force to answer an attack. Trumps government noted intelligence they say pointed to planned attacks on Americans as a reason for the airstrike.

In a tweet on Sunday, Trump wrote, These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner. Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!

How is Congress reacting?

Lawmakers from the opposition party to the president, the Democrats, have expressed concerns about how Trumps government told lawmakers about the airstrike. Some want to require Trump to discuss increasing hostilities against Iran with Congress and the public before taking action.

For his part, Trump on Wednesday called on the security alliance of NATO to become much more involved in the Middle East process.

Im Kelly Jean Kelly.

This report comes from the Associated Press and VOA. Kelly Jean Kelly adapted it for Learning English. George Grow and Caty Weaver were the editors.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

casualty - n. a person who is hurt or killed during an accident, war, etc.

authority - n. the power to give orders or make decisions : the power or right to direct or control someone or something

role - n. a part that someone or something has in a particular activity or situation

commit - v. to decide to use something for some particular purpose or use

disproportionate - adj. having or showing a difference that is not fair, reasonable, or expected : too large or too small in relation to something

nevertheless - adv. in spite of what has just been said
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WASHINGTON  American and allied officials said on Thursday that they had intelligence that missiles fired by Iranian military forces were responsible for the downing of a Ukrainian jetliner and the deaths of all aboard this week in Iran, most likely by accident.

The disclosures suggested that the deaths were a consequence of the heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran that have played out since an American drone strike killed a top Iranian general last week.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, citing a preliminary review of the evidence, called for a full investigation to be convinced beyond all doubt. The jetliner was carrying 63 Canadians among its some 176 passengers and crew.

We recognize that this may have been done accidentally, Mr. Trudeau said at a news conference in Ottawa. The evidence suggests very clearly a possible and probable cause for the crash.
In the wake of rising tension in West Asia, the government of India has advised citizen to avoid non-essential travel to Iraq until further notification. Aside from the geopolitical relevance, developments in West Asia will have implications for both the global and Indian economy. A sharp rise in oil prices will only reduce the possibility of a revival in the Indian economy.

Heres a collection of Business Standard Opinion pieces for the day. In 2020, it is likely that economic growth will remain in the order of 5 per cent. It could be significantly lower if the conflict in ...
Whats the worst studio you ever had?

It was during a yearlong residency in Italy. I was not allowed to hang anything on the walls because it was a historic Tadao Ando-designed building. The architecture was amazing, but it was the most counterproductive space Ive ever had. I just couldnt make it my own. I was allowed to be there and breathe it, but nothing else. Otherwise, I can be resourceful and turn anything into a studio.

Whats the first work you ever sold? For how much?

I sold a portrait of a boy that I had photographed in Cape Town. His name was Tam Vleksi, and he had albinism. I sold it for $150 in 2003.

When you start a new piece, where do you begin?

I start when I have an intuitive response to something that piques my interest. If I have the conviction that its worth pursuing, I pack my bags and go to make the work. This often results out of a response to something I see on the media, which could be a newspaper article or something from a literary journal, anything that has visual stimuli. Its about having my eyes open  there is no formula for when that spark may find me. I cultivate a receptive eye.

How do you know when youre done?

Im usually done when Im three-quarters of the way through a project, when I realize that I have started seeing the world in a different way. Theres still the labor part and finishing the work, but mentally and spiritually, Im finished when I start looking at the world in a different way.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have displayed various tell-tale signs over the past year that they have long been looking to quit as senior royals.

Rumours of a rift between Prince Harry and his brother William first emerged last March when he and Meghan split from Kensington Palace to form Sussex Royal.

They also launched their own Instagram account in April, trademarked more than 100 products with their name in June and employed a new PR firm in September.

Meghan also revealed her struggles with royal life in an ITV documentary filmed in Africa last October, and they spent Christmas in Canada away from the royals.

In addition, the couple decided not to announce their newborn child Archie's godparents after his christening last July in a break with royal tradition.

And last week, a portrait of the Queen with the next three heirs to the throne - Charles, William and George - was released, with no sign of Harry in the picture.

Here is a timeline of their past year as they said last night they will step back from royal duties and split their time between the UK and North America from now on:

February 2019 - Meghan makes a surprise trip to New York where she enjoys a two-day baby shower with close friends including Serena Williams and Amal Clooney. The lavish $300,000 event was attended by her celebrity friends including Amal Clooney, Gayle King and Jessica Mulroney and took place in a $75,000-a-night penthouse at a top Manhattan hotel.

March 14 - Rumours of a rift between Harry and William emerge after the Sussexes split from Kensington Palace to form their own royal household. It meant Harry and Meghan took on their own staff with offices in Buckingham Palace, and appointed their own new communications staff, reporting to the Queen's Communications Secretary, Donal McCabe.

April 2: Harry and Meghan launch their own Instagram account, saying it will be used for 'important announcements' and for sharing the work that 'drives' them. The account - which began with a message saying 'We thank you for your support, and welcome you to @SussexRoyal' - now has more than ten million followers.

Prince Harry and Meghan launched their own Instagram account on April 2 last year

April 4 - The couple move into Frogmore Cottage following taxpayer-funded renovations that reportedly cost around 2.4million. The couple later said they left their previous residence of Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace because it 'could not accommodate their growing family'.

The couple moved into Frogmore Cottage in April (pictured that month) following taxpayer-funded renovations

May 6 - Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor is born at the Portland Hospital in London after Meghan goes into labour in the early hours of the morning. It is a break from tradition with previous royals, including the Duchess of Cambridge, who have previously visited the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in London to give birth.

May 8 - The duke and duchess present baby Archie to the world at a press briefing at St George's Hall at Windsor Castle. The couple later reveal they chose not to use the courtesy title Earl Dumbarton, which Archie was allowed to use, nor to style him Lord Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, opting for plain 'Master' instead.

Harry and Meghan present baby Archie to the world at a press briefing at St George's Hall at Windsor Castle on May 8 last year

July 7 - Archie is christened at an intimate ceremony attended by close family. Royal baptisms are traditionally private but Harry and Meghan went one step further by going against convention and deciding not to announce Archie's godparents, with the couple facing criticism from some quarters.

A christening photograph shows Harry and Meghan with their son Archie and (left to right) Camilla, Prince Charles, Meghan's mother Doria Ragland, Lady Jane Fellowes, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Prince William and Kate in the Green Drawing Room at Windsor Castle last July

June 20 - Harry and Meghan confirm they are splitting from the Royal Foundation charity with William and Kate to start their own initiative, Sussex Royal. It is later revealed it will officially launch in 2020. The split came 16 months after the 'Fab Four' appeared on stage to launch their vision for a shared working future and joked that they were 'stuck together for the rest of our lives'.

June 21: Harry and Meghan issue a trademark application for their Sussex Royal brand on more than 100 items, from hats to T-shirts and newspapers to gloves, as they appear intent on turning their brand into a global empire. The news is first revealed by the Daily Mail in late December 2019.

Documents published by the Intellectual Property Office show the trademark applications made by Sussex Royal last June

July 28 - It is announced Meghan is guest editing the September issue of British Vogue and she chooses to put the faces of 15 'changemakers' - including activists, politicians and artists - on the cover rather than herself. Prince Harry also interviewed anthropologist Dr Jane Goodall and tells her he will only have two children for the sake of the planet.

Prince Harry interviewed anthropologist Dr Jane Goodall for British Vogue last July and told her he will only have two children for the sake of the planet

August - The couple are heavily criticised in the press for using private jets to go on holiday with Archie to the south of France, despite their environmental campaigning. They used four private jet flights in just 11 days, with their return visit to Nice seeing them hosted by Sir Elton John. In September, Harry defends the use of the transport and claims it was to 'ensure their safety'.

September 3: Meghan hires top crisis PR firm Sunshine Sachs which once represented Harvey Weinstein in a bid to improve her public image following a series of damaging controversies. Royal watchers pointed out that PR is traditionally handled by Palace staff, and said the move to work with an American company exposed the US focus of their ambitions.

September 23 - Harry and Meghan take Archie on a two-week Royal Tour of South Africa, while the duke also visits Botswana, Malawi and Angola alone. In Angola, Harry visits a minefield where his mother was pictured walking through 22 years previously while on charity work to call for an end to landmines.

Harry, Meghan and their baby son Archie in Cape Town, South Africa, on September 25, 2019

October 1 - Prince Harry issues a statement criticising the press for its coverage of his wife and confirms they will take legal action against a newspaper over a story. Referring to the death of his mother Diana in 1997, he said: 'My deepest fear is history repeating itself. I've seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person.'

October 21 - Meghan reveals her struggles with royal life in an ITV documentary filmed during the duke and duchess's trip to Africa and says 'It's not enough to just survive something... You've got to thrive.' In the same programme, Harry reveals he and brother William are on 'different paths'.

November 14 - The duke and duchess confirm they will not spend Christmas at Sandringham with the Royal Family. It is later announced they are taking a six-week break and they spend the holidays in Canada. They decided to spend the period including Thanksgiving with Meghan's mother Doria Regland, and the Queen was thought to have backed the decision.

December: Prince Harry is said to ask Charles about spending more time in Canada and the US, but is told to come up with a more thorough plan.

December 31 - Harry and Meghan share a picture of the Prince holding Archie while standing by a lake in what is thought to be their Canadian Christmas hideaway of Vancouver Island. They accompanied the post with a message saying: 'Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and thanking you for your continued support!'

The Duke of Sussex holding his son son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor in Canada in December

January 3, 2020 - A portrait of the Queen with the next three heirs to the throne - Charles, William and George - is released by Buckingham Palace, with no sign of Prince Harry in the picture. It was only the second time such a portrait of the monarch and the next three in line to the throne has been released, with the first being in April 2016 to celebrate Her Majesty's 90th birthday.

The Queen, Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince George pose on December 18 in a photograph to mark the start of the new decade in the Throne Room of Buckingham Palace

Early January: Harry sends a draft proposal about his future role to Charles - but is told he still needs to think it through further, especially regarding funding, it has been claimed. Harry allegedly asks for a meeting with the Queen, but she says she will not discuss his proposals until he has gone over them in detail with Charles.

January 7 - Harry and Meghan return from their break and visit Canada House in London to thank the country's High Commissioner for the hospitality they received. Their first official engagement of the new decade was to publicly thank the Commonwealth country for hosting them during an extended private break over Christmas.

Prince Harry and Meghan smile during a visit to Canada House in London on Tuesday

January 8 - The duke and duchess announce in a statement released by Buckingham Palace they are stepping back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family and are 'working to become financially independent'. They also reveal they will split their time between the UK and North America.
WASHINGTON - With the expected House vote Thursday to limit President Donald Trump's military actions against Iran, Congress takes its latest stab at reaffirming its constitutional authority to declare war, part of a long-standing power struggle between the executive and legislative branches that has only grown murkier as the nature of global conflicts has changed.

But nearly 50 years after Congress passed the War Powers Act to prevent presidents from embarking on military actions without approval from the legislative branch, lawmakers have repeatedly failed to fully exert the powers they granted themselves to authorize or halt the use of military force.

And Thursday's resolution - though it will almost certainly pass the House and perhaps even the Senate - is likely to be another example since it will fall well short of what's needed to overcome a presidential veto.

Not once since the 1973 law was adopted has Congress successfully used it to block a president's military actions, including some rather large-scale and long-term operations, such as President Reagan committing nearly 2,000 troops in Grenada in 1983 and President Clinton committing thousands of troops in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995.

"They attempted to assert themselves," said American University international relations professor Gordon Adams, "and then it just slipped away again."

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At the same time, only four times has Congress agreed to grant the president the authority to use military force since the War Powers Act passed: in Lebanon in 1983, in the Persian Gulf in 1991, and twice after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The threat, or attempt, to pass a war powers resolution has largely become a political tool that allows Congress to criticize a president's actions without taking a difficult vote themselves, said Columbia University law professor Matthew Waxman, a former national security official in the George W. Bush administration.

"The president has vast power to use force - not only because the executive branch has taken it aggressively but because Congress has ceded it," Waxman said. "Congress has often been unwilling to accept responsibility for these issues, or to take very tough and risky decisions. Congressional members of the president's party are also usually reluctant to act against him in this area."

Congress' unwillingness to rein in the executive became clear over the last 18 years. After lawmakers authorized military force against Al Qaeda following 9/11, future presidents have continued to rely on the same authority for military actions that critics say exceed what was originally intended.

President Obama used the 2001 resolution authorizing military force to justify fighting militants in Libya, and for drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen. Trump has used it to justify actions in Syria, and used a 2002 resolution authorizing force to justify his recent actions against Iran. Attempts to update, replace or repeal the 2001 authorization have failed.

"Congress is missing in action," said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), the only member to oppose the 2001 authorization. She has led attempts to repeal it. "It may be just not wanting to cast a hard vote."

In 2013, Obama - after being lambasted by lawmakers over his handling of U.S. military intervention in Syria's civil war - called their bluff by asking Congress to authorize a strike against the Syrian government in retaliation for its use of chemical weapons. Congress could not make a decision.

More recently, Congress demonstrated unity in exerting its war powers authority, but again the effort failed. Last year both the House and Senate passed a resolution seeking to end U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, following the killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabia. But the measure was vetoed by Trump, and neither chamber had the votes to override it.

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The Constitution divides the war powers between the executive and legislative branches. Article I gives Congress the authority to declare war and raise and pay for the armed forces, while Article II makes the president the commander in chief of those forces.

But questions have long lingered over the extent to which the president can engage the military in a conflict without consulting the legislative branch. Congress last formally exercised its authority granted in the Constitution to declare war in 1941 with the United States' entry into World War II.

Alarmed by the lengthy Vietnam and Korean conflicts, both of which began without the president asking Congress to declare war, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution in 1973 in an attempt to reassert itself. President Nixon vetoed the resolution, but the House and Senate had the two-thirds vote needed to overturn his veto and make it law.

The act requires the president to notify Congress when he engages the U.S. military in "hostilities" and then gives him 60 days to seek formal approval from Congress to continue, with the possibility of a 30-day extension.

In the decades since, presidents have notified Congress that they have engaged in military action more than 160 times, including the drone strike last week that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Presidents have questioned whether the act is an unconstitutional infringement on their powers, though courts have not ruled on the matter.

The Iran resolution is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled House on Thursday. Its prospects in the Senate once appeared dim, but Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) were so angered by the lack of answers provided in the administration's briefing to Congress on Wednesday that they said they'd vote for a similar resolution by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), expected to come to a vote as early as next week.

Even if both were to pass, Trump would probably veto the measure. In an election year, it is unlikely either chamber would get the support of two-thirds of their members needed to override his veto.

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The resolution is narrowly drafted to be only about military action in Iran at this time, and would leave the 2001 and 2002 authorizations of military force in place, probably an attempt by House leaders to get as much support for the measure as possible, Yale law professor Oona Hathaway said.

Still, Hathaway said the resolution was a "baby step" toward Congress reasserting its authority. "If Congress is totally silent while he's acting," she said, "it's often read as Congress agreeing to his actions."

---

(c)2020 Los Angeles Times

Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A young man was encircled and beaten by a gang of five at a Brisbane bus stop overnight  all so the attackers could steal his mobile phone.

The 24-year-old victim was waiting at a bus stop on Joseph Banks Avenue in Forest Lake, 17 kilometres south-west of the Brisbane CBD, about 8.30pm on Thursday.

One of several bus stops on Joseph Banks Avenue in Forest Lake in Brisbane's outer south. Credit:Google Maps

He was approached by five people, who chatted with him before they circled and assaulted him.

The attackers stole his mobile phone and fled, leaving the man on the ground with cuts and bruises to his face. He was taken to the Mater Hospital in a stable condition for treatment.
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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.




Talk about history repeating itself. Its 28 years since Lady Di broke up with Prince Charles and announced she intended to carry on being an independent member of the Royal Family.

I can remember writing at the time that it was a bit like Bianca Jagger, after getting divorced from Mick, insisting she would continue to be an independent member of the Rolling Stones.

Diana owed everything to the fact that she had married into the House of Windsor. Without the royal seal of approval, she was just another Sloane Ranger.

The Queen deserves to be treated better by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, writes Richard Littlejohn

Same goes for Meghan Markle  shorn of her royal connections, shed be just another obscure actress. Be honest, hands up if youd ever heard of her before she got her hooks into Harry?

Me, neither. Apparently, her big break was holding the briefcase on the U.S. version of Deal Or No Deal.

She was also in something called Suits, which peaked at two million viewers on an American cable channel  just over 0.6 per cent of the available audience.

So she wasnt even a household name in her homeland. In Britain, Suits went out on Dave  best known for showing endless repeats of Top Gear.

It is her relationship with the Prince which propelled her to international celebrity, not her unremarkable TV career.

As they embark on their adventure as independent members of the Royal Family, the couple may well discover, like Harrys mum Diana, that things dont always work out as well as envisaged

Diana owed everything to the fact that she had married into the House of Windsor. Without the royal seal of approval, she was just another Sloane Ranger. The pair are pictured on a tour in Canada in 1991

The British people, with characteristic generosity, embraced Meghan. Her fairytale wedding at Windsor captivated the nation.

With Harrys irrepressible Jack The Lad image and Meghans mixed-race heritage, the couple were hailed as heralding a new era for the royals. Until now, that is.

By renouncing most of their royal responsibilities, while clinging limpet-like to their titles and related privileges, they have forfeited any claim to such admiration as they once enjoyed.

They now intend to remain independent members of the House of Windsor, while developing their own brand and dividing their time between Britain and North America.

Missing you already. The plain fact is that without the royal connection they wouldnt have a brand to develop.

Why would the world be in the slightest bit interested in a minor aristocrat and a game-show hostess turned bit-part actress?

At the very least, this was an appalling display of bad manners. It really was an egregious example of lese-majeste  the French expression taken from Middle English, meaning to insult the monarch

Even before this weeks grandiose, self-serving announcement, most people were sick to the back teeth of their woke grandstanding, whining self-pity, eco-hypocrisy and ocean-going freeloading, especially at the expense of the British taxpayer.

Now, they are determined to milk their royal association for every last penny they can extract, while shunning the duties which go with it.

They even plan to carry on using as their UK base Frogmore Cottage, which was renovated at a cost of 2.4 million and rising from the public purse.

It has been suggested that if they intend to keep Frogmore as their private residence they should reimburse the Exchequer the fortune lavished upon it.

Be honest, hands up if youd ever heard of her before she got her hooks into Harry? Me, neither. Apparently, her big break was holding the briefcase on the U.S. version of Deal Or No Deal

Truth is, they almost certainly cant afford to. And without the patronage of others, they definitely couldnt sustain the A-list, jet-set lifestyle to which they obviously believe they are entitled.

Harry is a 35-year-old man who is still financially dependent on his dad. Meghan isnt worth anything like the kind of money youd expect a so-called Hollywood star to make.

Even at the height of her role in Suits, she was reported to be paid a salary equivalent to around 350,000 a year, at current rates of exchange.

A handsome sum, admittedly, but chicken feed compared to the 1 million plus an episode the biggest stars of American TV can command.

Maybe Meghan believes that now she has the cachet of a royal title, the likes of Netflix and Amazon will be queueing up to shower her with riches, should she choose to return to acting.

Who cares? There are others better qualified than me to speculate about the motivation behind this weeks parting of the ways between the Sussexes and the rest of the family.

Im not bothered about the reputational damage or the constitutional implications  of which there are none, from what I can gather. No, what concerns me on a human level is the abominable manner in which the Queen has been treated by her grandson and his wife.

They didnt even consult her before putting out their statement this week.

The first she knew about it was when the story broke on television.

It is being reported that, in advance of a planned meeting at Sandringham, Her Maj had specifically asked Harry not to make any premature announcement about his future plans, but he decided to openly defy her.

At the very least, this was an appalling display of bad manners. It really was an egregious example of lese-majeste  the French expression taken from Middle English, meaning to insult the monarch.

You dont have to be an ardent royalist  and no one has ever accused me of that  to be thoroughly disgusted at such selfish, thoughtless behaviour.

Leave aside the fact that shes Queen. This was no way to treat an old lady. Those of us fortunate enough still to have a mum, or grandmother, in her 90s can readily understand how distressing she will have found it.

Elizabeth II is a 93-year-old woman with a sick husband of 98. Shes had a rough few months, not just with Philip in hospital, but having to cope with her favourite son, Andrew, becoming embroiled in an international sex trafficking scandal with a weapons-grade, convicted paedophile.

The last thing she needed was yet another family furore landing in her lap. She has always indulged her grandsons, particularly in the wake of their mothers untimely death. She deserves better than this.

The Queen has been the glue that has held both her family and this country together, in good times and bad.

While the nation  or at least the political class  has been tearing itself apart over Brexit for the past three-and-a-half years, she has provided much needed stability.

The thought of a partisan president  someone like that gurning gargoyle John Bercow, heaven forfend  lording it over us all is too horrible to contemplate.

As I said, Ive never been a royalist, but as the years have passed my admiration for the Queen has grown.

Those of us fortunate enough still to have a mum, or grandmother, in her 90s can readily understand how distressing she will have found it. Elizabeth II is a 93-year-old woman with a sick husband of 98

Churchill once said of democracy: its the worst way to run a country, except for all the others. You could say the same about the British monarchy.

I can recall dear old Jack Tinker, late of this parish, remarking that there would only ever be a republican revolution in this country if Her Maj said it was OK.

The Queen is part of that stoical World War II, make-good-and-mend, generation, who  again in the words of Winston Churchill  KBO (Keep Buggering On).

What a contrast to the self-centred snowflakery of her grandson Harry and his Hollywood wife, with their endless moaning about mental health issues and bottomless sense of entitlement.

As they embark on their adventure as independent members of the Royal Family, the couple may well discover, like Harrys mum Diana, that things dont always work out as well as envisaged.

Still, when the invitations dry up and they are reduced to travelling economy  not on Eltons private jet  Meghan can always go back to holding a briefcase on a revival of Deal Or No Deal.

And Harry could take on the Noel Edmonds role. After all, hes got the beard for it.

They could call the show: Royal Or Not Royal.
In this retrospective study conducted at Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) from 2010 to 2015, we wished to better understand the impact of the 2012 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) Prostate Cancer Screening Statement which gave a D grade for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening, essentially saying no one should be screened. Since screening is most commonly done in the primary care doctors office, and since primary care doctors tend to follow USPSTF guidelines, we felt it critical to conduct this observational study to better understand its consequences.In order to calculate rates, an accurate denominator is needed. Since KPNC is a closed system, we used all screen-eligible men according to our internal National Kaiser Permanente Prostate Cancer Screening Guidelines (African American men ages 45-69, all other men ages 50-69) as our denominator. Of note, our internal guidelines did not significantly change over the study period, essentially suggesting shared decision-making for screen eligible men. However, as demonstrated in our study we saw a large drop in screening and biopsy rates following the 2012 USPSTF statement. We observed a decline in overall prostate cancer detection rates but this was at the expense of an increase in metastatic cancer rates. We acknowledge that some of this decline in overall cancer detection might be beneficial, as some of these cancers were likely indolent (we did not quantify this outcome in this study, but will be addressed in future work). For every 25 fewer cancers detected, one metastatic cancer was diagnosed.While one cannot prove causality in this observational study, we attempted to control for confounders that might influence screening and cancer rates such as age, race, BMI, comorbidities, smoking status, and primary care utilization. These demographics were similar between the pre-guideline and post-guideline periods.While the optimal detection strategy needs to be defined, it is clear that abandoning screening results in more men with metastatic prostate cancer is a uniformly fatal outcome. Fortunately, in 2018, the USPSTF upgraded its screening statement to C so that more shared decision-making may take place. We look forward to seeing the impact of this change in the future.Written by: Joseph Presti, Jr., MD, Regional Leader of Urologic Oncology Surgery, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, California
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 9, 2020) - Next Green Wave Holdings Inc. (CSE: NGW) (OTCQX: NXGWF) ("Next Green Wave", "NGW" or the "Company") welcomes Robert Dzisiak and David Wilson to its Board of Directors. Effective immediately, both appointees will join the board as independent directors, leveraging their vast knowledge in corporate governance, corporate finance and operational insight to help guide NGW through its next phase of growth and development.

Robert Dzisiak brings over 33 years of leadership and corporate planning experience to Next Green Wave. He has served on the board of over 20 public companies and has extensive financial expertise stemming from his years as an economic analyst.

Mr. Dzisiak is a Co-founder and Managing Director of Dona Blanca, a private Australian based medical cannabis company with operations in Colombia. He is an experienced executive who has successfully grown start-up companies as well as managed large organizations. He has been the CEO of several IIROC member firms and founded CFG Futures. Robert managed 120 retail brokers and the foreign exchange division at REFCO Canada as well as R.J. O'Brien & Associates. He is a former Chairman of the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange and served as a director of the Exchange and Clearing House for over 10 years. Robert has wide-ranging public market experience and has served in strategic roles including CEO, Chairman, and Director of multiple publicly listed companies in Canada.

The Board is also delighted to welcome back Mr. David Wilson, CPA, CMA, who has previously supported the Company through its IPO and brand acquisitions with his invaluable market insight. Mr. Wilson is a senior financial executive with 25+ years of experience as a strategic advisor in corporate finance, including mergers & acquisitions, public and private financings of equity and debt, and corporate governance.

Mr. Wilson is the former VP of Finance, Business Development at the Mark Anthony Group ("MAG") North America's most diversified and successful private beverage company. Over his 16 years at MAG his role encompassed mergers and acquisitions, industry relations, government relations and strategic liquor policies. In his role at MAG, Mr. Wilson was the Chairman of the Canadian Vintner Association and Co-Chairman of the British Columbia Wine Institute, the national and provincial wine associations.

The Company also announces that important measures have been taken to strengthen its corporate governance and policies. In addition to its Audit Committee, the Company has established a Corporate Governance, Nominating and Compensation Committee, all led by independent directors. Furthermore, the Company has implemented a formal Whistleblower Policy as well as a comprehensive Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.

The Company has granted 1,700,000 stock options under its stock option plan (the "Grant") exercisable at a price of CDN$0.15 per share to the new directors which will vest in accordance with the Company's stock option plan.

About Next Green Wave

NGW is a fully integrated premium cannabis producer with 8 legacy brands and premium products marketed through its WEARESDC brand house. Based in Coalinga, California, the company owns and operates a 35,000 sq ft indoor state-of-the-art cultivation facility and is currently expanding extraction and other operations on its cannabis zoned campus. NGW has a seed library of over 120 cannabis strains which include multiple award-winning genetics and cultivars and is developing its nursery cloning operations with bio-tech leader Intrexon. To find out more visit us at www.nextgreenwave.com or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

On behalf of the board,

Michael Jennings, CEO

Next Green Wave Holdings Inc.

For more information regarding Next Green Wave, contact:

Caroline Klukowski

VP Corp. Development

Tel: +1 (604) 609.6167

IR@nextgreenwave.com

Next Green Wave Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, are "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, dependence on obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals, including acquiring and renewing state, local or other licenses and any inability to obtain all necessary governmental approvals licenses and permits to complete construction of its proposed facilities in a timely manner; engaging in activities which currently are illegal under US federal law and the uncertainty of existing protection from U.S. federal or other prosecution; regulatory or political change such as changes in applicable laws and regulations, including U.S. state-law legalization, particularly in California, due to inconsistent public opinion, perception of the medical-use and adult-use marijuana industry, bureaucratic delays or inefficiencies or any other reasons; any other factors or developments which may hinder market growth; NGW's limited operating history and lack of historical profits; reliance on management; NGW's requirements for additional financing, and the effect of capital market conditions and other factors on capital availability; competition, including from more established or better financed competitors; and the need to secure and maintain corporate alliances and partnerships, including with customers and suppliers. Although NGW has attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other risk factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. NGW no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, even if new information becomes available as a result of future events, new information or for any other reason except as required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/51280
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said: "The Minister of Human Resource Development and the Home Minister are responsible for the attacks. This is officially sponsored "goondaism" in JNU.

New Jan 9 (IANS) The Congress on Thursday accused the Centre of complicity in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) violence and said that even after 72-hours since the incident no culprit has been identified and arrested so far.

"We demand that those responsible for the violence should be arrested immediately as 72-hours have passed."

The party targeted the JNU Vice-Chancellor again for the series of events in the University.

Jairam Ramesh alleged: "With this VC the campus cannot return to normalcy and government should force him to resign."

Ramesh expressed surprise over the fact that the "Vice-Chancellor was being too powerful and when the HRD secretary had some formula on the JNU, the secretary was removed from the post".

"The party demands that the Vice-Chancellor be removed and students demands met," said Jairam Ramesh.

The Congress fact finding team that visited the JNU campus on Wednesday, will submit its report on Friday to party interim chief Sonia Gandhi. The report will also be discussed during the party's top decision making body, the Congress Working Committee, meeting on Saturday.

The four-member fact finding team was led by former Congress MP and women wing chief Sushmita Dev, and the other three included -- MP Hibi Eden, National Students Union of India's former President Amrita Dhawan, and MP and former JNU Students Union President Syed Nasir Hussain -- visited the university campus on Wednesday afternoon. The team met the students injured in the violence which broke out on the campus on Sunday.

miz/dpb
Reacting to the violence in Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), BJP leader Uma Bharti said on Wednesday that efforts are being made to make environment venomous.

There are some thinkers in the country who are like a particular snake which is less in number but is highly venomous... Efforts are being made to make environment venomous... We have to fix some things and we will fix them, Bharti said.

On January 5 (Sunday), some masked persons entered the JNU campus during a meeting between students and teachers and thrashed people. More than 30 people were injured in the violence, including JNU Students Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh.

The violence in JNU has been widely condemned, with people from various field expressing solidarity with the students and taking part in marches and protests against the violence.

Actor Deepika Padukone visited the campus on Tuesday, during a meeting of students against Sundays violence. The meeting was addressed by former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar.

The Delhi Police is investigating the incident, and has identified a few people from the CCTV footages.

On Wednesday, the Union human resource development ministry told vice chancellor Jagadesh Kumar to make all out efforts to restore the normal functioning of the University at the earliest.

Kumar who on Tuesday appealed the students to put the past behind and return to campus, had been severely criticized by students and teachers for not being able to stop the attack.
Sometimes it helps to check the facts. You may be surprised what you find.

Over the last decade, several high-profile scientific studies have reported that tropical fish living in coral reefs are adversely affected by ocean acidification caused by climate change -- that is, they behave oddly and are attracted to predators as levels of carbon dioxide dissolved from air pollution increase.

But now new research suggests that isn't the case.

In fact, in the most exhaustive study yet of the impacts of ocean acidification on the behaviour of coral reef fish, headed up in Australia and co-authored by two Universite de Montreal researchers, it turns out fish behaviour is not affected at all.

"The past decade has seen many high-profile studies that have found alarming effects of ocean acidification on coral reef fish behaviour," with some reporting that "fish become attracted to the smell of predators in acidified waters," said lead author Timothy Clark, an associate professor at Deakin University's School of Life and Environmental Sciences in Geelong, a seaside city near Melbourne, Australia.

But when they tried to re-do those earlier studies with many of the same species, and by crunching the data in a new analysis, Clark and his team of Canadian and Scandinavian scientists -- including UdeM biologists Sandra Binning and Dominique Roche -- arrived at very different results.

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It turns out the original results couldn't be replicated.

"We expected previous results would be easy to repeat because of how clear and strong they appeared in the initial papers. Instead, we found consistently normal behaviours in fish that we acclimated to (predicted) end-of-(21st)-century levels of CO 2 ," said Clark.

But "by using rigorous methods, measuring multiple behaviours in multiple species, and making our data and analysis code openly available, we have comprehensively and transparently shown that ... ocean acidification has negligible direct impacts on the behaviour of fish on coral reefs," said Clark.

"Specifically, elevated CO 2 does not meaningfully alter activity levels or behavioural lateralisation (left-right turning preference), nor does it alter the response of fish to the chemical cues released by predators."

The new study is bound to make a big impact in the marine biology world, the scientists believe. Not only does it contradict earlier studies, it shows that science doesn't always produce results to buttress things everyone agrees on, like climate change.

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Quite the opposite, in fact.

"Some people may be surprised by these findings, but that's how science operates: it's a normal and healthy process to question published results. Sometimes they hold up, and sometimes they don't. Ultimately, it's the accumulation of evidence that matters and brings us closer to the truth," said Binning, an assistant professor at UdeM.

"It's not because some researchers have found one thing that we should take it at face value. As scientists, we should always be critical of what we read and what we see. That's how science advances."

"We're not saying that climate change is not a problem -- far from it," added Roche, her husband, a research associate at UdeM. "Our point is that replication studies are very important, just as are ocean acidification and global warming generally."

Clark agreed.

"The negative effects of CO 2 emissions are well established, with global warming already having devastating effects on coral reef ecosystems around the world. Among other things, more frequent storms and coral bleaching during heatwaves is causing severe habitat loss for fish," he said.

"So, despite our new results, coral reefs and their fish communities remain in grave danger because of increasing atmospheric CO 2 ."

Now, instead of concentrating on how fish behaviour is affected by ocean acidification, scientists would do better to focus their attention "on others aspects of climate change that are more in need of research," such as infectious disease risk, habitat destruction, and decreased oxygen levels in water, said Binning, holder of a Canada Research Chair on Eco-Evolution and Host-Parasite Interactions.

"With so little time left to combat climate change, it's vitally important that research dollars are used in the best way possible to better help us understand and target systems and organisms at the greatest risk," added Roche.
That Trump would criticize Obama for the 2015 Iran deal that sought to limit Tehrans ability to develop a nuclear weapon in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions was not remarkable  he has done so repeatedly since running for office. But that he would use his first public remarks more than 12 hours after the Iranian attacks to bash another president with a misleading and incomplete narrative drew immediate outrage from Obama veterans and other Democrats.
Chicago Style Gyros | Photo: Wael B./Yelp

Looking to uncover all that South Inglewood has to offer? Get to know this Nashville neighborhood by browsing its most popular local businesses, from a delicatessen to a Korean bar and restaurant.

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top places to visit in South Inglewood, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of neighborhood businesses. Read on for the results.

1. Mitchell Delicatessen

Photo: Fox E./Yelp

Topping the list is deli and brunch spot Mitchell Delicatessen. Located at 1306 McGavock Pike, it's the highest-rated business in the neighborhood, boasting 4.5 stars out of 432 reviews on Yelp. Mitchell Delicatessen offers barbecue brisket sandwiches, pastrami, tuna melts and more.

2. Chicago Style Gyros

Photo: wael b./Yelp

Next up is Mediterranean spot Chicago Style Gyros, situated at 2804 Gallatin Pike. With four stars out of 63 reviews on Yelp, it's proven to be a local favorite. On the menu, look for Philly steak sandwiches, chicken melts and gyro plates. Finish with the baklava or cheesecake.

3. Babo Korean Bar

Photo: ting w./Yelp

And finally, Korean spot Babo Korean Bar is another top choice. Yelpers give the business, located at 1601 Riverside Drive, four stars out of 49 reviews. Babo Korean Bar serves up homemade dumplings, kimchi fried rice and glass noodles. Try a soju cocktail or opt for one of the spot's rotating sours.

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.
Under new US rules, Mexican asylum seekers can be flown to Guatemala to seek refuge there instead.

Mexicans seeking refuge in the United States to escape violence and lawlessness in their homeland fear worse dangers if they are sent to Guatemala under a new Trump administration scheme to crack down on asylum seekers.

According to US rules made public on Monday, Mexicans requesting protection at the US-Mexican border can be flown to Guatemala to seek refuge there instead.

US President Donald Trump last year reacted to a surge in Central Americans requesting asylum with a series of policies aimed at preventing them from entering the US. The latest rules apply to migrants from Mexico, as well as Honduras and El Salvador, according to guidance documents, and will likely have the effect of suppressing Mexican access to US asylum.

It was unclear when the US would begin sending Mexicans to Guatemala. The Mexican government estimated that 900 Mexican asylum seekers could be affected from February, without giving a timeframe or explaining how it reached that number.

Mexicans who say their homes are unsafe due to drug gang extortion said the policy leaves them few options.

I cant go home, theyve already kidnapped my brother and son, said Carlos, a Mexican trying to reach the US via the border city of Tijuana. He said he had fled criminal gangs in the southwestern state of Guerrero.

Theyre after me. If I go back, theyre sure to kill me. If Im not safe in Mexico, Ill be even less safe in Guatemala, he said, requesting his last name be withheld for security reasons. Reuters could not independently corroborate his story.

Since the end of Guatemalas civil war in 1996, the country has consistently had a higher homicide rate than Mexico, its more prosperous northern neighbour.

In the last few years, the difference has narrowed as Mexicos murder tally, driven by turf wars between drug gangs, rose to record levels and Guatemalas declined.

Guatemala, however, is poorer and dangerous, and Mexicans generally have fewer contacts there than in the US.

Eugenio, 48, arrived in the border city of Ciudad Juarez with his family four months ago and has been on a waiting list for the chance to present his case to US officials ever since. He estimated his turn will come up later this week and the prospect of being sent to Guatemala was high on his mind.

Going to Guatemala is like walking straight into the lions den, Eugenio said, explaining he feared that the criminals he said had threatened his family in central Mexico could track him down across the fluid southern border. If he failed to get asylum in the US, he said, he would try Canada.

Mexican asylum seekers camping near US-Mexico border while waiting to apply for asylum to the US are evicted by the local government before moving them to a local shelter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico [Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters]

At the end of December, after reports first emerged that Washington was considering sending Mexican asylum seekers to Guatemala, a group of Mexican migrants filed a complaint with Mexicos National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) requesting help blocking the plan, saying it would put them in danger.

Mexicos government on Monday said it rejected the new US policy but acknowledged that the decision was up to US authorities.

Sitting in a chilly camp in Ciudad Juarez, one woman from the state of Zacatecas, who declined to give her name, said she was trying to reach the US because she had family there, and would be safe.

Im not going because of the American dream, Im going and taking my kids because we need security, we need safety, she said in tears, describing how she had fled a job as a scientist in a laboratory after she starting being followed and receiving phone threats.

She described the new policy as pressure aimed at making people like her give up her asylum claim.

They know we wont want to go to another country where we wont have family support, she said.
Visitors select beef products of Mianning County of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture during a shopping festival to greet the Spring Festival in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, January 8, 2020. The agricultural products of poverty-stricken areas in Sichuan are welcomed by visitors at the event. [Xinhua/Xu Bingjie]

A visitor tastes agricultural product of Dechang County of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture during a shopping festival to greet the Spring Festival in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, January 8, 2020. The agricultural products of poverty-stricken areas in Sichuan are welcomed by visitors at the event. [Xinhua/Liu Kun]

Exhibitors promote their products during a shopping festival to greet the Spring Festival in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, January 8, 2020. The agricultural products of poverty-stricken areas in Sichuan are welcomed by visitors at the event. [Xinhua/Liu Kun]

Visitors select mushroom of Tongjiang County of Bazhong City during a shopping festival to greet the Spring Festival in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, January 8, 2020. The agricultural products of poverty-stricken areas in Sichuan are welcomed by visitors at the event. [Xinhua/Liu Kun]

Visitors select cured meat of Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County of Mianyang City during a shopping festival to greet the Spring Festival in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, January 8, 2020. The agricultural products of poverty-stricken areas in Sichuan are welcomed by visitors at the event. [Xinhua/Xu Bingjie]

(Source: Xinhua)
Highlights of the Report:

In-depth analysis of various insights namely Medical Tourism Market trends, growth drivers, opportunities, and other related challenges.

Comprehensive details of key market players, their core competencies, and Medical Tourism Market share.

The potency of suppliers and buyers to make better business decisions.

Lists out the market size in terms of volume.

Key Players Operating in The Medical Tourism Market Include:

Key players are involved in mergers and acquisition to strengthen their market position. Owing to increasing competition frequent innovations are taking place in the market. Some of the companies operating the industry are:

Bumrungrad International Hospital

Mount Elizabeth Hospital

Bangkok Chain Hospital

KPJ Healthcare Berhad

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited

Fortis Healthcare Limited

Asian Heart Institute

Asklepios Kliniken GmbH

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Regional Analysis:

North America medical tourism market dominated in 2018 owing to aging population, growing emphasis on better quality treatment in lower costs and better patient experience. According to research conducted by Medical Tourism Association, an estimated 26.0% of medical tourists are American. Similarly, an estimated 40.0% medical tourists are travelling to the U.S. for medical care, followed by an estimated 16.0% to Germany and an estimated 12.0% to Turkey. Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa also hold huge potential for growth of the market owing to minimal treatment costs, better patient experience and rising healthcare infrastructure. According to World Health Organization, an estimated 1.5 million medical travellers visits Thailand each year.

Key Industry Developments

In June 2019, Clearbridge Health announced building the 1,500 square foot clinic in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong to better cater to both domestic patients and medical tourists. The construction of the new clinic will be able to accommodate more visiting physicians and specialists, such as obstetrician, gynaecologist and gastroenterologist.

According to the Medical Tourism Market Report 2015, India was found as one of the lowest cost and highest quality of all medical tourism destinations. India has persistently recognized the opportunity and showed its strength and potential in global market through public-private partnership, thereby pavement its way to become a hub for medical tourism.

For more information in the analysis of this report, visit: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/medical-tourism-market-100681

Key Research Objectives

Market size and growth rate by various segments at global and regional level for the 2015-2026 period, with 2015-2017 as historical data, 2018 as base year and 2019-2026 as forecast period

Overall market size and growth rate for key countries for the 2015-2026 period

Market dynamics  Market drivers, restraints, trends and opportunities

Technological and market developments shaping the market

Competitive analysis

Profiles of key companies operating in the market

Key insights

Reasons to Purchase this Report:

Comprehensive analysis of the Medical Tourism Market size, growth drivers, obstacles, opportunities, and other related challenges.

Tracks the developments, such as new product launches, agreements, mergers and acquisitions, geographical expansions, and joint ventures.

Identifies market restraints and boosters.

Identifies all the possible segments present in the market to aid organizations in strategic business planning.

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KEY QUESTIONS ANSWERED:

What is the market size and growth rate of the market for selective countries?

Which region or sub-segment is expected to drive the market in the forecast period?

What Factors are estimated to drive and restrain the Medical Tourism Market growth?

What are the key technological and market trends shaping the market?

What are the key opportunities in the market?

What are the key companies operating in the market?

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(CNN)  The UK might still be coming to terms with the surprising news that Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, are stepping down as senior royals, but there is still one cause to celebrate  the Duchess of Cambridge's birthday.

Catherine, wife of Prince William and mother to the third, fourth and fifth in line to the throne, turned 38 on Thursday.

The occasion was marked by several royal messages on social media.

Clarence House, the official residence of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, tweeted four photographs featuring Catherine  including one with Camilla and two with Charles.

The message contained a balloon emoji and wished the royal "a very Happy Birthday."

Congratulations were also sent by the royal family's official Twitter account, accompanied by three images of Catherine with the Queen and a link to a page about the work the duchess does.

"Wishing The Duchess of Cambridge a very Happy Birthday!," it read.

Thanking the public for their "lovely messages," Kensington Palace released a previously unseen image of the duchess, who is smiling and sitting against a sunny backdrop.

Dressed in jeans, a blue blouse and a brown sweater and sat on a wooden fence, the duchess is photographed by Matt Porteus.

Meanwhile on Instagram, the duchess also received a birthday greeting from her brother-in-law and his American wife.

Followed by emojis of a cake and a heart, the post from the sussexroyal account read: "Wish a very happy birthday to The Duchess of Cambridge today!"

Catherine has three children with Prince William  six-year-old Prince George, Princess Charlotte, four, and Prince Louis, one.

There have been reports over the last year of a rift between the two sisters-in-law, which was later followed by the couples dividing their royal household and charitable foundation.

During their royal tour of Africa last year, Prince Harry told a TV documentary that he had "good days" and "bad days" in his relationship with his brother.

The Sussexes announced on Wednesday they will leave their "senior" roles in the British royal family, aiming "to become financially independent."

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Duchess of Cambridge gets royal birthday best wishes amid turmoil over Harry and Meghan's announcement."
By Abdul Kerimkhanov

The tourist flow to Azerbaijan increased by 11.4 percent year-on-year in 2019 to reach 3.17 million people, the State Tourism Agency has told local media.

In 2019, the tourist flow to Azerbaijan increased by 11.4 percent compared to 2018, up to 3.17 million people. At the same time, the number of tourists from Europe amounted to 224,000 people, which is 14.7 percent more than in 2018, the agency reported.

UK is the leader among European countries for the number of tourists (36,000 tourists). Tourists from this country increase by 25.3 percent in 2019.

The tourist flow from Germany in 2019 boosted by 19.4 percent - up to 20,000 people, from Italy - by 10.8 percent, up to 12,000, France - by 15.2 percent, up to 9,000 tourists.

The largest tourist flow from among the South Asian countries was noticed among tourists from India - an increase of 66.8 percent (65,000 tourists), from Pakistan - by 12.9 percent (up to 46,000 people).

Among the Central Asian countries, the growth in the number of tourists from Turkmenistan amounted to 85 percent (52,000 tourists), Kazakhstan - 26.1 percent (47,000 people), Uzbekistan - 28.3 percent (23,000).

In 2018, as many as 2.8 million tourists from 196 countries visited Azerbaijan. Russian, Georgian, Turkish and Iranian citizens made up the largest share of the tourists arriving in the country. In 2018, there was a significant increase in the number of visitors coming from the Gulf countries.

In recent years, the creation of the diversified tourism infrastructure in Azerbaijan has increased the interest of foreign tourists to the country. There are many opportunities for tourism in Azerbaijan, including rural, health, environmental, cultural, social, commercial, sport, and other kinds of tourism.

The successful holding of international events has also turned Azerbaijan into a country recognizable by everyone in the world, and a country that many foreigners wish to visit.

Moreover, the simplification of the visa regime plays a major role in the development of tourism in Azerbaijan. Currently, citizens of a number of countries get visas right at the Azerbaijani airports, while other tourists can visit the country by getting online tourist visas.

Azerbaijan aims to further develop the tourism sector to facilitate the sustainable development of the non-oil sector.

---

Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
On Sunday, a family court judge in New York City ordered a 13-year-old African-American youth charged in the December 11, 2019 murder of Barnard College student Tessa Majors to be held in jail until March 13. The young teen was one of three boys suspected by police to be involved in the killing.

Majors was stabbed and killed during an apparent robbery in Morningside Park in Harlem. It was reported that after being attacked, Majors crawled up several flights of stairs to the edge of the park near a Columbia University security booth. A campus security guard called an ambulance. Barnard College is the historically all-women college of Columbia University.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) identified three African-American teenage suspects after police reviewed security camera footage and traced them back to their homes. The next day, the police arrested one youth, the 13-year-old now in custody, after he fled police officers. Another teen was arrested and released on the same day after being questioned with a lawyer present. The police searched the youths homes and confiscated several knives belonging to the youth, none of which matched the murder weapon.

The single youth has been charged with second-degree murder after admitting that he was with the group that stabbed Majors but denies stabbing her. The Legal Aid Society has protested the fact that the interview that produced the admission was held while the youth was accompanied by his uncle, his legal guardian, but not by a lawyer.

On December 16 the third suspect, a 14-year-old boy, whom police had believed was the one responsible for Majors death, was expected to go to a police station with a lawyer but did not. The NYPD then organized a search throughout Harlem that included intrusion into stores along 125th Street, the main commercial district of the neighborhood. NYPD helicopters were deployed to scan the area. On the December 21, the police released a photo of the boy. After a two week man-hunt the NYPD found and arrested the youth but released him after a few days.

Because of the age and race of the suspects and victimMajors was whitelocal news outlets were quick to issue warnings about violating the rights of the youth, including the presumption of innocence, drawing a parallel to the fraudulent conviction of black and Hispanic youth in the infamous Central Park jogger case in 1989.

In the spring of 1989, nearly two dozen teenagers were rounded up from the Manhattan neighborhood of the Upper West Side after a woman was raped and left unconscious in Central Park. Police ultimately pressured five youth into making false confessions after hours of isolated interrogation without lawyers present.

When the NYPD ignored DNA evidence that proved their innocence, five of the boys were railroaded to jail with the vilification of the press, including the present occupant of the White House, real estate magnate Donald Trump. At the time, Trump published a full-page ad in the Daily News with the headlines Bring Back the Death Penalty, and Bring Back Our Police. All five youth were sentenced to between seven and 14 years in prison.

The lead prosecutor in the frame-up of the five youth, Elizabeth Lederer, was, up until June, a law lecturer at Columbia. Lederer resigned at the end of the last academic year after the Netflix miniseries When They See Us revisited the case and powerfully exposed the role of police and the state prosecution. The exposure of the appalling and illegal conduct of the NYPD and city prosecutors, particularly Lederer, sparked protest among Columbia students.

The mainstream press and the NYPD are cautious about repeating legal violations from the Central Park Five case and openly vilifying African-American youth. They know that they cant simply railroad the suspected youth, as they did in 1989, in the Majors case because of the potential for an explosion of social anger built up around the issues of extreme inequality, not just in Harlem but in the entire city.

Nevertheless, Democratic politicians have called for a law-and-order response to the murder. At a vigil held on the following Monday, Congressman Adriano Espaillat called for more safety measures" in the area. One attendee shouted in response, Thats our after-school programs, referring to the closure of schools, community centers and youth programs over the past decades by city politicians that have impacted Harlems youth.

Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio has vowed to increase policing of the neighborhood and stated, Its unbelievable that could happen here next to one of our great college campusesits an unacceptable reality.

In an attempt to use the incident to ramp up the policing of marijuana possession and to vilify the youth involved, the Sergeants Benevolent Association president, Ed Mullins, made statements on local radio that Majors had been trying to buy marijuana in the park the night she was killed. Here we have a student murdered by a 13-year-old, we have a common denominator: marijuana, Mullins said.

The tragedy in Morningside Park, however, has profound social causes. It is the outcome of New York Citys conversion into an ever-expanding haven for the super-rich and upper middle class at the expense of the working class.

Morningside Park is a physical division between the affluent neighborhood of Morningside Heights, dominated by Columbia University and Barnard, and Harlem, the historically black and Hispanic working-class neighborhood that, in recent years, has experienced an influx of real estate investment that facilitates extreme gentrification .

Columbia University is New York Citys largest landlord, owing at least 209 street address properties. The University has an endowment of $10.87 billion. On the other side of the social divide, Harlem and East Harlems working class is one of the poorest in the city, with poverty rates of 23 percent and 31 percent respectively, well above the citys overall 17 percent.

The influx of sections of the upper middle class into Harlem has made inequality an increasingly visible reality for tens of thousands of workers and youth. There are now hundreds of million and multimillion-dollar homes for sale in the neighborhood, from new luxury apartments to single-use five-story mansions that stand in sharp contrast to dozens of deteriorating buildings owned by the New York City Housing Authority.

According to the NYPD, Morningside Park has seen an uptick in robberies in the last few years and counted the highest number of robberies among all city parks during 2019, excluding Central Park, even though it is one of the smallest. Many of these incidents have involved groups of teenagers, as young as 12, attacking and robbing individuals. Over the summer, about half a dozen minors, all similar in age to the suspects in Majors murder, were arrested in connection with robberies.

In 2011, the campus newspaper, the Columbia Spectator, published a report detailing the income disparity between Columbia Universitys Morningside Heights neighborhood and Hamilton Heights just north of it, which is part of Harlem. The report cited that the median income of the wealthiest 20 percent of residents was 34 times greater than the poorest 20 percent, averaging $207,053 and $6,073 annually respectively. The article notes the simultaneous increase in the salaries of educational administration and stagnation in the salaries of the working class as the main reasons for the inequalities.

According to information from Census Bureau for 2016, Harlem has seen a similar trend of inequality. The wealthiest 5 percent of residents has an average income of $195,900, five times the amount of the median income of $46,900. The bottom 40 percent of households earn less than $33,000, only slightly above the already incredibly low poverty federal line of $23,000 for a family of four.

The five young people, including Tessa Majors, caught up in the tragedy on December 11 reflect, in a distorted way, the inability of the capitalist systemand particularly the insatiable real estate intereststo provide for the basic social needs of young people in New York City and beyond.
Whether it's the destination or a fun stop on a Texas road trip, we suggest stopping off to visit some of this state's most interesting art installations. Some of these are set in rural areas or with west-Texas mountain ranges as backdrops, which makes them all the more fascinating to see in person.

A few are right here in Houston. Consider your weekend plans made.

Check out all of our recommendations in the gallery above, and learn about some of our highlights here:

Bloomhouse near Austin: This one-bedroom, 1,100-square-foot dwelling dubbed "Bloomhouse" is a functional installation: it's available to the public for short-term stays. It was molded from the imagination of two students and updated with the care of its most recent owners. There's no shortage of ways to describe the curious house, since its mushroom-like figure is a 3-D Rorschach test that can take on any shape a renter might see. Originally dreamed up and erected  over the course of 11 years  in the '70s by University of Texas students Dalton Bloom and Charles Harker, the structure is built for more than its aesthetic appeal: it's also been constructed with environmental care in mind.

HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: The most expensive homes to sell in Houston this decade

Marfas art attractions: Strike a pose in front of Prada Marfa, the art installation that resembles a Prada store (many still wander here hoping to see $2,000 shoes for sale in the desert). It's about 26 miles from Marfa, but it's still a symbol of the small town. Another popular art destination is the Chianti Foundation (1 Cavalry Row), a contemporary art museum founded by venerable artist Donald Judd. Its minimalist installation was built on a former military base.

Robert Brunos Steel House: Among the curious attractions is the "Steel House" by the late sculptor Robert Bruno.Part sculpture, part house and part 1970s Texas time capsule, the structure is located in Ransom Canyon, about 15 miles east of Lubbock. The bold piece is made of 150 tons of steel that rests on narrow legs, giving the illusion of a hovering spacecraft. The three-level, 2,200-square-foot house sits at the edge of a jagged hill overlooking a nearby lake.

Cadillac Ranch: This vibrant backdrop merges desert landscape with bold hues. Created in 1974 by Ant Farm trio Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, this site features 10 colorfully painted cars partially buried nose-first in Amarillo, Texas. A curious fact about it: in 1977 the vehicles were moved to another part of Interstate 40. Unfortunately, it's been vandalized in recent months, but a fresh influx of visitors could help preserve its condition. Nearby Combine City, an homage to the Cadillac Ranch, is also located in Amarillo.

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The former owner of a Cuban restaurant in Elizabeth admitted he cheated the government out of nearly $194,000 in taxes by failing to report all of his income over a three-year period.

Omar Rodriguez, 49, of Sayreville, pleaded guilty in federal court in Trenton on Wednesday to one count of tax evasion, the U.S. Attorneys Office for New Jersey said in a statement.

When Rodriguez owned Mojito Lounge and Restaurant between 2015 and 2017, he generated $844,585 in income but didnt report more than $443,000 of it to the IRS, according to court papers.

Rodriguez regularly paid employees and vendors in cash and kept some for personal use. If his tax returns were filled out correctly, the restauranteur would have owed an additional $193,733 in taxes.

He faces up to five years in federal prison when he is sentenced April 15.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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The barrage of missiles that Iran fired at US bases in Iraq Jan. 8 frightened Iraqis in the middle of the night. The missiles were a response to the Jan. 3 killing of top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad. Iraqis, among others, anticipated the news of US casualties and whether Washington would react in a way that could transform Iraq into a real battleground. Some warned that World War III was closer to Iraq than ever before.

Soon after the strikes, however, surprising statements came from Washington and Tehran.

Iran had fired more than 20 ballistic missiles, 17 of them at the US Ain al-Asad base in the Anbar province of western Iraq, according to the Iraqi military. Five other missiles were aimed at Erbil airport in Iraq's Kurdistan region.

Immediately after the strike, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter targeting base from which cowardly armed attack against our citizens & senior officials were launched, adding, We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression.

US President Donald Trump said the United States was assessing casualties, noting, So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well-equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning. He confirmed in a Jan. 8 speech that "no Americans were harmed in last night's attack by the Iranian regime."

The Iraqi military said it suffered no casualties. Erbil Mayor Nabaz Abdulhamid likewise reported that Iranian missiles left no casualties in the Kurdistan region.

Trump said, "precautions were taken in advance, and an early warning system was set, which helped prevent casualties".

A senior military officer at Ain al-Asad base told Al-Monitor that they were informed of a possible Iranian attack on the base before the strike, and that all Iraqi and US personnel were moved to shelters or other bases.

The spokesman for the commander in chief of the Iraqi army said in a statement that the Iranians had informed the Iraqi army prior to the attack about Iran's intent to target US bases in Iraq.

Zarif said during his visit to the Iraqi Embassy in Tehran Jan. 8 that Iran had informed the Iraqi government and Iraqi military in advance about Iran's planned attack against US bases in Iraq, adding that Iran respects Iraqs sovereignty."

It seems Iraq also gave the United States advance warning of the Iranian strikes. CNN quoted an Arab diplomatic source as saying that Iraq  after receiving the Iranian information  told the United States which bases would be hit."

Before the attack, several messages were exchanged between the United States and Iran via different intermediary parties, including Europeans and the Gulf states.

This raises questions as to whether Iran and the United States have agreed to cooperate on decreasing tensions and whether they are possibly preparing for negotiations.

A senior Iraqi government source told Al-Monitor that the lack of causalities  in addition to focusing only on one base  indicates that there was an agreement in advance between the two parties. Iran, in fact, could have targeted other bases closer to its border, like the Balad air base in northern Baghdad or the Taji base near the capital.

Iraqi politicians were more concerned about Iraq's role in the war and negotiations between Iran and the United States. They were divided into two camps.

On one side, pro-Iranian parties and militias lauded Iran for taking action against the United States, and threatened the United States with retaliation for the killing of Popular Mobilization Units commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was killed alongside Soleimani. Qais al-Khazalis Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba separately issued statements, threatening the United States and saying that they reserve their own right to retaliate.

Following the statements, two Katusha rockets hit near the US embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone on Wednesday night, Jan. 7, but no causality was reported.

On the other side, Sunni forces, Kurdish parties and Shiite nationalist forces like the Nasr coalition, led by former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, expressed their concerns about the breach of Iraq sovereignty, calling upon both Iran and the United States to stop using Iraqi territory to fight each other.

Iraqi foreign ministry summons the Iranian ambassador, complaining about the missile attacks on Iraqi territory and stressing that "We will not allow Iraq to be a ground for carrying out attacks (between US and Iran)".

The call for an end to using Iraqi territory in the US-Iran war no longer seems realistic or binding until a strong Iraqi government comes into power, taking serious legal and diplomatic action against both to stop the use of Iraq as a battleground.

In such circumstances, the only way to prevent Iraq from falling into the abyss is a serious US-Iran negotiation that solves not only the nuclear issue but also their disagreements over the regions conflicts.
Researchers united on international road map to insect recovery

It's no secret that many insects are struggling worldwide. But we could fix these insects' problems, according to more than 70 scientists from 21 countries. Their road map to insect conservation and recovery is published in Nature Ecology & Evolution this week. From urgent 'no-regret' solutions to long-term global comparisons.

The goal is to start insect recovery soon, says initiator Prof. Jeff Harvey from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Evidence is growing that all over the world, insect species are suffering from multiple human-induced stress factors: habitat loss and fragmentation, pollution, invasive species, climate change and overharvesting. "As scientists, we want to gather all available knowledge and put it to action together with land managers, policy makers and everyone else involved."

Predators to pollinators

The roadmap is based on achieving targets over different timescales. More than 70 experts from all continents joined the effort, including book author Dave Goulson and leading scientist Hans de Kroon whose study on insect biomass decline is well-known. "Essentially, we are thinking strategically and this is novel," explains Harvey. "Now and down the road, all to reverse insect declines."

Insect abundance, diversity and biomass are frequently under pressure. It affects all functional groups: from predators to pollinators. The scientists state that "insects are vitally important in a wide range of ecosystem services of which some are indispensible for food production and security, as in pest control."

Call to action

The steps to be taken are divided into immediate, mid- and long-term actions. First of all, there are a number of actions coined as 'no-regret solutions' that can be taken immediately and regardless of new knowledge still to come - as they will not just benefit single insect species. Secondly, there is the urgent need to prioritise: which species, areas and issues need our attention the most.

For the mid-term, new experiments should be planned to clarify which stress factors cause what effects. And to gain knowledge in understudied areas. A parallel action here would be to dig through existing insect collections, in museums for instance. "This can fill in gaps in our diversity data of the past, as an essential base of reference."

Finally, more long-term actions would include the formation of public-private partnerships and sustainable financing initiatives to restore and create places to live for the insects. Combined with a global monitoring programme where people all use the exact same methods and sites, over longer timescales. "In that way, we can definitely compare the well-being of insects worldwide, and rule out possibly disruptive inconsistencies."

True recovery

The extensive group of scientific experts involved in the road map stresses that insect declines are a serious threat, one that society cannot postpone addressing any longer. Harvey: "Most importantly, we hope that end-users and land managers now can use this road map in for instance farming, habitat management and urban development as a template for true insect recovery."

With more than 300 staff members and students, the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) is one of the largest research institutes of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). The institute specialises in water and land ecology. As of 2011, the institute is located in an innovative and sustainable research building in Wageningen, the Netherlands. NIOO has an impressive research history that stretches back 60 years and spans the entire country, and beyond.

###

The continents and countries from which the co-authors originate:

* Europe - The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Turkey, Serbia, Portugal, Finland * North America - United States, Mexico * South/Central America - Colombia, Panama * Asia - China, Thailand, Viet Nam, Indonesia * Africa - South Africa * Oceania - Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea

This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
A woman who fatally stabbed a romantic rival during a French Quarter street brawl must spend her weekends in jail for a year and spend five years on probation, a judge said Wednesday.

Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Camille Buras handed down the sentence to Dannisha Green in connection with a 2017 slaying near a Decatur Street nightclub.

Green pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated battery in August after state prosecutors reduced her charges from second-degree murder.

The lesser charges came over the objections of victim Brittany Seymours family, who gave emotional testimony about her death on Wednesday. Her mother called for Green, 22, to receive a decade in prison.

However, a defense attorney said Seymour provoked the final, fatal confrontation.

Buras said she took into account Greens lack of a criminal record as well as video of the fight, which showed bystanders looking on as the pair clashed in the 300 block of Decatur, near the House of Blues.

+3 Woman pleads guilty to reduced charge in deadly French Quarter stabbing; victim's family objects A woman facing a murder charge in a 2017 stabbing death outside a French Quarter music club pleaded guilty Monday to reduced charges of mansla

Why isn't someone stopping it? Why isn't someone jumping in to break these girls apart? Buras said. I don't know what lessons are being taught about interaction with our fellow human beings, our fellow citizens, our fellow family.

The judge warned that she would treat any failure by Green to report for weekends in the Orleans Justice Center as a probation violation that could result in her being forced to serve out a 10-year suspended sentence.

Green and Seymour werent related by blood, but they had been raised almost as family. That once-close relationship apparently fell apart during an increasingly venomous dispute over Seymours ex-boyfriend.

Speaking through tears, Kimi Seymour said that on the night of her daughters death she had begged her and her sister not to leave the house. But Brittany Seymour insisted on celebrating her recent, 22nd birthday.

Kimi Seymour said she suspected that Green sought out a confrontation after Brittany Seymour posted a video to social media from the House of Blues early on June 15, 2017. But Green insisted in an address to the victims family Wednesday that she never meant to get into a fight.

+3 Citing death threats, suspect in fatal French Quarter stabbing gets permission to move to Texas After bonding out of jail late last month, a woman accused of fatally stabbing her cousin in the French Quarter received court permission to m

The pair tussled before club security intervened. Then the dispute spilled out onto the street, where Seymour grabbed Green by the hair, according to a statement from one witness to police.

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In the midst of the wild scrap, Green grabbed Seymours hair and struck her in the abdomen, according to the same witness. Only afterward did onlookers realize that Seymour had been stabbed.

If Green had gone to trial on a second-degree murder count, the case might have hinged on whether it was self-defense.

But Greens defense attorney, Jeffrey Smith, said he took the unusual step of convincing his client to plead guilty to manslaughter even though he thought he could win an acquittal.

Smith said he dreaded exacerbating the bad blood between the families with a trial. Green claimed in 2017 that she had received death threats.

However, Kimi Seymour said she was disappointed that prosecutors hadnt pursued the murder charge and that Green did not receive years of imprisonment.

In a statement last year, District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said his office agonized over the decision to reduce charges but felt that it was the only way to guarantee that Green took responsibility for the death.

Kimi Seymour said she wished police had arrested everyone before the fight continued on the street.

All of them was wrong, but what I'm saying is (Brittany) didn't deserve to lose her life that night, Kimi Seymour said from the stand. We was like family, and it wasn't supposed to go that far.

Seymour said shed worked hard to send her daughter to the private St. Marys Academy in New Orleans East. Her daughter was planning to earn a nursing degree at Holy Cross University.

+2 Video shows brawl on Decatur Street before woman allegedly stabs cousin to death The stabbing death of a 22-year-old woman early Thursday, allegedly at the hands of her younger cousin, followed a scrap inside a Decatur Stre

Brittany was a very sweet, kind, loving person. Brittany would do anything for anyone. Losing my child has been the hardest thing for me and my family, she said.

In a brief statement, Green said she wished she and Seymour had been able to talk through their differences.

I'm sorry that the situation took place, Green said. I just wish I never went out that night and stayed inside.
And Tehran, she added, could take further action. A tweet by Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif that his government had concluded its military response could mean a lot of things: It could mean that Iran is done for now, which is the interpretation many have chosen to embrace. But it could also mean that this specific operation is done. Others may be in store.
This article is written for those who want to get better at using price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We'll apply a basic P/E ratio analysis to China Logistics Property Holdings Co., Ltd's (HKG:1589), to help you decide if the stock is worth further research. Based on the last twelve months, China Logistics Property Holdings's P/E ratio is 18.92. That corresponds to an earnings yield of approximately 5.3%.

See our latest analysis for China Logistics Property Holdings

How Do I Calculate A Price To Earnings Ratio?

The formula for price to earnings is:

Price to Earnings Ratio = Price per Share (in the reporting currency)  Earnings per Share (EPS)

Or for China Logistics Property Holdings:

P/E of 18.92 = HK$2.69 (Note: this is the share price in the reporting currency, namely, CNY )  HK$0.14 (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2019.)

Is A High Price-to-Earnings Ratio Good?

A higher P/E ratio means that investors are paying a higher price for each HK$1 of company earnings. That isn't a good or a bad thing on its own, but a high P/E means that buyers have a higher opinion of the business's prospects, relative to stocks with a lower P/E.

How Does China Logistics Property Holdings's P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?

The P/E ratio indicates whether the market has higher or lower expectations of a company. The image below shows that China Logistics Property Holdings has a higher P/E than the average (6.9) P/E for companies in the real estate industry.

SEHK:1589 Price Estimation Relative to Market, January 8th 2020

China Logistics Property Holdings's P/E tells us that market participants think the company will perform better than its industry peers, going forward. The market is optimistic about the future, but that doesn't guarantee future growth. So investors should delve deeper. I like to check if company insiders have been buying or selling.

How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios

If earnings fall then in the future the 'E' will be lower. That means even if the current P/E is low, it will increase over time if the share price stays flat. A higher P/E should indicate the stock is expensive relative to others -- and that may encourage shareholders to sell.

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China Logistics Property Holdings saw earnings per share decrease by 43% last year. And it has shrunk its earnings per share by 13% per year over the last five years. This could justify a pessimistic P/E.

Don't Forget: The P/E Does Not Account For Debt or Bank Deposits

Don't forget that the P/E ratio considers market capitalization. So it won't reflect the advantage of cash, or disadvantage of debt. Hypothetically, a company could reduce its future P/E ratio by spending its cash (or taking on debt) to achieve higher earnings.

Such expenditure might be good or bad, in the long term, but the point here is that the balance sheet is not reflected by this ratio.

China Logistics Property Holdings's Balance Sheet

China Logistics Property Holdings's net debt is 67% of its market cap. If you want to compare its P/E ratio to other companies, you should absolutely keep in mind it has significant borrowings.

The Verdict On China Logistics Property Holdings's P/E Ratio

China Logistics Property Holdings trades on a P/E ratio of 18.9, which is above its market average of 10.6. With significant debt and no EPS growth last year, shareholders are betting on an improvement in earnings from the company.

When the market is wrong about a stock, it gives savvy investors an opportunity. As value investor Benjamin Graham famously said, 'In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine. Although we don't have analyst forecasts shareholders might want to examine this detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Of course you might be able to find a better stock than China Logistics Property Holdings. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have grown earnings strongly.

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.



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. Thank you for reading.
It's in area under Chinese occupation for 60 years: MEA on China constructing bridge across Pangong lake

Northern Army Commander on a rare visit to China's Xinjiang

International

pti-PTI

Beijing, Jan 09: Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh is on a rare visit to China's politically significant Xinjiang province, bordering Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, during which he will hold talks with top Chinese generals.

Lt Gen Singh's visit is the second-ever by a Northern Army commander to China, earlier being in 2015 by his predecessor Lt Gen B S Hooda.

The visits of the Northern Army Commanders to China are significant as one of its previous heads Lt Gen B S Jaswal was denied regular visa in 2010 on the ground that the Northern Command covered the "disputed" Jammu and Kashmir, which led to an angry reaction from India and disruption of ties between the two militaries.

The issue was resolved with Lt Gen Hooda's visit in 2015 leading to the normalisation of ties between the two militaries. Lt Gen Singh in the last three days has visited Beijing and Chengdu.

On Thursday, he reached Urumqi, the provincial capital of Xinjiang, which borders PoK. He is due to interact with the top officials of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Urumqi and visit local military installations on Friday, sources here told PTI. Technically China and Pakistan have no borders but only connected through PoK.

Xinjiang is the starting point for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor over which India has protested to Beijing as it is being laid through the PoK. Singh's visit to Xinjiang also assumed significance as it comes in the backdrop of India's move to revoke Article 370 which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcate the state into two Union Territories.

China has said that bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories is "unlawful and void", and it "challenges" China's sovereignty. India has told China that the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir is an internal matter and sole prerogative of the country and has no implication for either the external boundaries of India or the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The boundary issue is being discussed through the Special Representatives (SR) mechanism. The SRs - National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi - held the 22nd round of border talks in New Delhi last month. Xinjiang has been in the news in recent months over allegations that China has interned more than a million Uighur Muslims, a claim Beijing deny.

Earlier, Lt Gen Singh met Chinese ground forces' commander Gen Han Weiguo and discussed issues having strategic ramifications and measures to enhance peace and tranquillity along the sensitive borders.

The visit would "serve as a milestone" by cementing mutual ties. "This will achieve the twin aims of high level military co-operation and stabilizing the sensitive borders of both the countries," an Indian army official said. The visit comes close on the heels of Joint Military Exercise 'Hand-in Hand 2019' held recently between the two countries in eastern theatre in Meghalaya.
Ukrainian GTS operator: Russian gas transit exceeds 100 mcm per day

13:00, 09.01.20 197

The GTS operator received payment in full from Gazprom at a rate of 178 mcm per day, Makogon said on January 4.
Hyderabad: Expressing serious concern over rising money power eroding the credibility of the countrys democratic polity, Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu called for effective laws in quick time and simultaneous polls to check the menace.

Speaking at a conference, Money Power in Politics, organised by the Foundation for Democratic Reforms, Bharat Institute of Public Policy and the University of Hyderabad, in Hyderabad on Thursday Mr Naidu spoke on the causes and consequences of unbridled use of money by both the governments and political parties to lure the voters.

He said a millionaire has better chances of becoming an MP or an MLA at the cost of the honest and deserving low-income Indians. He referred to the assets of 475 members of the Lok Sabha out of 533 having declared assets in several crores.

He said: Two glaring distortions need to be addressed by the political system with a sense of urgency and unity. The first is the use of enormous money power-often unaccounted for and illegal- in politics and elections. The second is the increasing attempts to entice the voters with short term benefits at the cost of long-term goals of ensuring amenities, infrastructure, quality education and healthcare and growth and job opportunities.

Mr Naidu said unregulated higher election expenses fostered corruption and threatened the quality of governance through compromised policy-making and administration. It also undermined the fairness of the election process, he said.

Urging political parties not to shy away from being financially accountable, he said I suggest Parliament should think of making a law for ensuring transparency in the polity through appropriate and actionable regulatory measures to make accounts of political parties public.

He urged people to chose their representatives based on character, conduct, calibre and capacity and not to be guided by cash, caste, community and criminal prowess of the candidates.

BJP state president Dr K. Laxman said that as per the report of the Centre for Media Studies, during the 2019 general elections, candidates spent about `60,000 crore. The total expenditure was about $8.5 billion which is higher than the $6.5 billion spent on the US presidential elections in 2016.

Telangana state Planning Commission vice-chairman B. Vinod Kumar, a senior TRS leader, stated that economic factors played a key role in organisational management for parties, but that they should be sustained as part of the public service.

He said electoral expenses were heavier than party management and limited costs are good at one stage, but extreme costs are not optimal.

MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said, I dont think there is any way of running a political party transparently. Very soon a day will come wherein political parties would exist only on paper and individuals would be running the parties and individual agendas would be implemented.

He said, If you have all MNCs and corporates sponsoring political parties, that is not the best way of running a political party. We need individuals contributing. We agree with them on having a national election fund, where in citizens would decide how this money should be used.
Backers of two proposed climate change measures are suing Oregons secretary of state, asking a judge in Marion County Circuit Court to allow the two to move forward despite Bev Clarnos decision to reject them last month.

Initiative Petitions 48 and 49 would require the state to transition to 100% renewable and carbon free electricity by 2045. Clarno rejected both, however, deciding that they violated a provision in the Oregon constitution that says ballot measures can only deal with a single subject. The violation, she said, was that the initiatives also required that the jobs created by the clean energy transition meet fair labor standards.

The groups contend that Clarno, a Republican who was appointed last year to serve out the term of former Secretary of State Dennis Richardson, and Deputy Secretary of State Rich Vial have abused their authority by politicizing the ballot approval process and making partisan decisions to reject certain measures without sound legal grounds.

Chief Petitioner Eric Richardson, executive director of NAACP Eugene/Springfield, and Tera Hurst, executive director of the climate advocacy group Renew Oregon, are asking the court to allow the initiatives to continue the process of qualifying for the November 2020 ballot.

We must not let this egregious abuse of power by Secretary of State Bev Clarno and Deputy Secretary Rich Vial continue, Richardson said in a news release. We are joining the many voices speaking out against the way the secretary of state is blocking access of citizens to the ballot.

On Wednesday afternoon, Clarnos office had not responded to a request for comment.

Earlier last year, Clarno rejected three forest protection ballot measures filed by an environmental group on the same grounds. When environmental groups sued her to overturn that decision, she was forced to hire expensive outside counsel after Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum declined to represent her. Clarno ultimately prevailed, however, when a Marion County judge found she had properly rejected the measures. The groups then refiled narrower measures that she has approved.

Unions added their voice in support of the lawsuit, saying they had engaged in a wide range of advocacy efforts to improve standards for jobs created by legislation.

To suggest that this type of advocacy violates the single subject rule will hurt Oregon workers and sets a dangerous precedent for public policy discussions in the future, Graham Trainor, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO, said in an e-mailed statement.
Dublin, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Novel Cell Sorting and Separation Market: Focus on Acoustophoresis, Buoyancy, Dielectrophoresis, Magnetophoretics, Microfluidics, Optoelectronics, Traceless Affinity and Other Technologies, 2019-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



This report features an extensive study of the current landscape and future outlook of the growing market for novel cell sorting and separation technologies (beyond conventional methods). The study presents detailed analyses of cell sorters, cell isolation kits, and affiliated consumables and reagents, that are based on the aforementioned technologies.

One of the key objectives of the report was to understand the primary growth drivers and estimate the future size of the novel cell sorting and separation market. Based on multiple parameters, such as potential application areas, likely adoption rate, and expected pricing, we have provided an informed estimate on the likely evolution of the market, over the period 2019-2030.

In addition, we have provided the likely distribution of the current and forecasted opportunity across:

[A] potential application areas (research studies, clinical diagnostics, cell-based therapeutics, and other applications)

[B] end users (academic institutes, clinical testing labs, hospitals, and commercial organizations)

[C] type of offering (cell sorters, and consumables and isolation kits)

[D] cell sorting technology (buoyancy-activated, magnetophoretics, microfluidics, optoelectronics, and other advanced technologies)

[E] type of cell (adult stem cells, CAR-T cells, circulating fetal cells, circulating tumor cells, dendritic cells, embryonic stem cells, insect cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, microbial cells, sperm cells, TCR cells, TILs, and tumor cells / cancer cells)

[F] size of cell (< 5 m, 5-10 m, 10-15 m, 15-25 m, and > 25 m)

[G] key geographical regions (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific). In order to account for the uncertainties associated with some of the key parameters and to add robustness to our model, we have provided three market forecast scenarios portraying the conservative, base and optimistic tracks of the industry's evolution.

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In order to account for the uncertainties associated with some of the key parameters and to add robustness to our model, we have provided three market forecast scenarios portraying the conservative, base and optimistic tracks of the industry's evolution.

Over the years, extensive research in the field of flow cytometry has enabled the development of a variety of novel technologies that are capable of efficiently isolating cells from tissue samples and/or heterogeneous cell populations. In fact, since 2014, over 3,000 patents were reported to have been filed/granted related to such advanced techniques, indicating the rapid pace of innovation in this domain.



Developers of the aforementioned technologies claim that these new techniques offer numerous benefits, including fast and precise cell sorting, reduced sample requirement, improved portability, reduced risk to cell viability, and negligible need for expensive biochemical/magnetic labels.

Moreover, they have been shown to be compatible for use across a myriad of applications, including research studies (bacteriology, immunology, stem cell research, and viral titering and infectivity), biomedical diagnostics (circulating tumor cell detection, in vitro fertilization, and non-invasive prenatal diagnosis), biological therapy-related process operations (bio-banking, drug discovery, sample preparation, single-cell sequencing, and tumor cell characterization), and cell-based therapeutics (B- or T-cell immunotherapies).



Consequently, these techniques have captured the interest of several stakeholders in the biopharmaceutical industry. It is also worth highlighting that stakeholders in this domain have received significant support from both private and public investors.

Amongst other elements, the report features:

A detailed assessment of the current market landscape, featuring a comprehensive list of over 220 innovative cell sorters, cell isolation kits, and affiliated consumables and reagents, along with information on their respective specifications (such as size, weight, cell flow rate, cell sort rate, cell analysis rate, cell purity and viability, process time, and operating temperature and pressure), cell sorting technology (acoustophoresis, buoyancy-activated, dielectrophoresis, magnetic levitation, microfluidics, optoelectronics, photoacoustics, traceless affinity, and others), type of cell (animal cells, cancer cells, immune cells, microbial cells, red blood cells / platelets, stem cells, and others), cell separation approach (positive selection, negative selection and depletion), basis for separation (cell morphology and physiology, cell size and density, surface biomarkers, surface charge and adhesion, and others), and end-use / application (research studies, biomedical diagnostics, biological therapy-related process operations, and cell-based therapeutics).

An insightful company competitiveness analysis, taking into consideration the supplier power (based on size of employee base and experience in this segment of the industry) and portfolio-related parameters, such as number of products offered, number of target cells, end use(s) / application(s), and key product specification(s).

Comprehensive profiles of key industry players (shortlisted on the basis of company competitiveness analysis scores) that are currently offering novel cell sorters/consumables and cell isolation kits, featuring an overview of the company, its financial information (if available), and a detailed description of its proprietary product(s). Each profile also includes a list of recent developments, highlighting the key achievements, partnership activity, and the likely strategies that may be adopted by these players to fuel growth in the foreseen future.

An in-depth analysis of the patents that have been filed/granted related to novel cell sorting and separation technologies, since 2014. It highlights the key trends associated with these patents, across patent type, regional applicability, CPC classification, emerging focus areas, leading industry players (in terms of number of patents filed/granted), and current intellectual property-related benchmarks and valuation.

Detailed publication analysis of more than 200 peer-reviewed, scientific articles that have been published since 2014, highlighting the research focus within the industry. It also highlights the key trends observed across the publications, including information on innovative technologies, potential application areas, target disease indications, type of cell, and analysis based on various relevant parameters, such as year of publication, and most popular journals (in terms of number of articles published in the given time period) within this domain.

An analysis of the partnerships that have been established in the domain, in the period 2014-Q1 2019, covering R&D collaborations, licensing agreements, distribution agreements, mergers/acquisitions, asset purchase agreements, product development agreements, product utilization agreements, and other relevant deals.

An analysis of the investments made at various stages of development, such as seed financing, venture capital financing, debt financing, grants/awards, capital raised from IPOs and subsequent offerings, by companies that are engaged in this field.

An analysis to estimate the likely demand for novel cell sorting products and solutions across key application areas, including research studies, clinical diagnostics, cell-based therapeutics, and other applications, in different global regions for the period 2019-2030.

Companies Mentioned



1087systems

48Hour Discovery

5AM Ventures

Abbott

AbbVie

Academia Sinica

Academic Medical Centre

Academy of Military Medical Sciences

Accelerate Diagnostics

ACEA Biosciences

AcouSort

Active Biotech

Adaptive Biotechnologies

Adelaide Research & Innovation

AdnaGen

ADS BIOTEC

Advanced Virus Detection Technologies Interest Group

Aegea Biotechnologies

Aenitis Technologies

Agency for Science, Technology and Research

Agilent Technologies

AIM Group International

AIMM Therapeutics

Akadeum Life Sciences

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Alder BioPharmaceuticalss

Alexion Pharmaceuticals

Alkem Laboratories

Amazentis

Ambergen

American Institute of Health

Amgen

AnaptysBio

Ancera

Angel HQ

Angel Round Capital Fund

ANGLE

Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

ANSYS

Anzu Partners

ApoCell

Argonaut Manufacturing Services

arivis

Artiman Ventures

Ascent Bio-Nano Technologies

Ascus Biosciences

Astellas Pharma

Augusta University

Aurora Life Technologies

AVIVA Biosciences

Barts Cancer Institute

Base4 Innovation

Bay City Capital

Bayer

BC Cancer Agency

Beckman Coulter

Becton Dickinson

Beijing Genomics Institute

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Betta Pharmaceuticals

BGI Group

Biocept

Bioceptive

BioCrine

BioFluidica

BioInfleXion Point Partners

BIOK

Biolidics

BioMEMS Resource Center

BioMimetic Therapeutics

Bio-Rad Laboratories

BIOSS

Bio-Techne

BioTheranostics

BioView

Boehringer Ingelheim

Boyalife Group

Bpifrance

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Bristol-Myers Squibb

Broad Institute

Bucher Biotec

C4 Therapeutics

California Institute of Technology

California NanoSystems Institute

Caltag Medsystems

Cambridge Consultants

Cambridge Enterprise

Canary Center at Stanford

Cancer Genetics

Cancer Institute of Greenville Health System

Cancer Metastasis Laboratory, University of Basel

Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute

CANCER-ID

Canon US Life Sciences

Capio Biosciences

Caris Life Sciences

Carnegie Mellon University

Case Western Reserve University

Catalyst Biosciences

Celgene

Cell Microsystems

Cell Signaling Technology

Cell.Copedia

Cellaviva

CellectCell

Cellenion

Cellix

CellMax Life

Celsee

Center for Advanced Medical Products

Centre Lon Brard

Cephalon

Cesca Therapeutics

CFD Research

Chang Gung Memorial Hospital

ChemoCentryx

Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Cipla

Clinomics

Columbia University

Cornell University

Corning

Creative BioArray

Creative Diagnostics

CREST

CRV International

CureGene

Cytonome

CytoVale

Cytovance Biologics

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Danaher

DAON BioSciences

Decheng Capital

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Lund University

Detroit Innovate

DiaSorin

Diffusion Capital Partners

Draper Laboratory

Duke University

eFFECTOR Therapeutics

Eisai

EKF Diagnostics

eLab Ventures

Eli Lilly

EMV Capital

Engender Technologies

Enlivex Therapeutics

Enterprise Angels

Epic Sciences

Evercyte

EXONBio

Fiona Stanley Hospital

Five3 Genomics

FloDesign Sonics

Florida Cancer Specialists and Research Institute

Fluidigm

France Innovation Scientifique et Transfert

French National Center for Scientific Research

Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center

FusionX Ventures

GE Healthcare

GenapSys

Genentech

General Automation Lab Technologies

Genewiz

Genial Laboratory Automation

Genoa Ventures

Georgetown University

Georgia Tech Research Institute

Gilead Sciences

GILUPI

Glass Capital Management

GlaxoSmithKline

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals

GOM

Grace Bio-Labs

Greenwoods Asset Management

GRI Bio

Guangxi Academy of Sciences

Hahn-Schickard

Halcyon Biomedical

Halozyme Therapeutics

Harvard Stem Cell Institute

Harvard University

Horizon Discovery

Hubei Cancer Clinical Study Center

Humacyte

Humanitas Research Hospital

Hunan Agen Medicine Laboratory Technology

IBA Lifesciences

Icahn School of Medicine

ICE Angels

iCellate

ICREA

Ignyta

Illumina Ventures

IMEC

immatics biotechnologies

Immunomedics

ImmunoQure

Inabata

Inbiomotion

IncellDx

IncoCell Tianjin

Incyte

Inguran

Innate Pharma

Innovate UK

Innovative Biochips

Innovative Micro Technology

Inova

Institute of Cancer Research, London

Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry

Instrumentation Laboratory

Intrinsic LifeSciences

Invention Science Fund

Invest Michigan

Invetech

iPS Portal

Janssen Biotech

Japan Science and Technology Agency

Jiulongpo District People's Hospital

Jiva Sciences

John Hopkins University

John Wayne Cancer Institute

Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center

Karolinska Institute

Kataoka

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Keswick Ventures

Kiyatec

Koek Biotechnology

Kymab

LabCorp

Landos Biopharma

Lawson Health Research Institute

Leica Biosystems

LevitasBio

LG Electronics

LIDE Biotech

Life Technologies

Livzon Pharmaceuticals

London Business Angels

LPATH

LumaCyte

Luminex

LungLifeAI

Lupin

Mackay Memorial Hospital

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mayo Clinic Foundation

MD Anderson Cancer Center

MDxK

Medigen Biotech

MeMed Diagnostics

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Menarini Silicon Biosystems

Merck

Metabiota

Microbix Biosystems

MicroMedicine

Middle East Technical University

Mikro Biyosistemler

Mikro Systems

Millennium Pharmaceuticals

MilliporeSigma

Miltenyi Biotec

Morehouse School of Medicine

Morphotek

Mumbai Angels

Namocell

NanoCellect Biomedical

Nanosphere

NanoTag Biotechnologies

National Cancer Centre Singapore

National Cancer Institute

National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases

National Center for Nanoscience and Technology

National Institute for Health Research

National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals

National Institute of Drug Abuse

National Institute of General Medical Sciences

National Institutes of Health

National University Hospital

National University of Ireland Galway's Regenerative Medicine Institute

National University of Singapore

Naval Research Laboratory

Nektar Therapeutics

NeoDiagnostix

NeuroVision Pharma

New York Upstate Cord Blood Bank

New Zealand Venture Investment Fund

Newable Private Investing

NextGem

Nodality

Northeastern University

Northwestern University

Novartis

Novo Nordisk

Ohio State Innovation Foundation

On-chip Biotechnologies

Oregon Health & Science University

Organovo

Ortho Clinical Diagnostics

Orthohealing Center Management

Osaka University Venture Capital

Owl biomedical

OYAK

Pacific Biosciences

Pacific Channel

Packers Sanitation Services

Parkwalk Advisors

Partec

Penn State Research Foundation

PerkinElmer

Pfizer

Pharmaxis

Philips

Phywe

pluriSelect Life Science

Purdue Research Foundation

Qiagen

Quad Technologies

Qventures

R&D Systems

RareCyte

Real Tech Fund

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Regionalt Cancercentrum Stockholm-Gotland

RIKEN Bioresource Research Center

Riverside's Highlander Venture Fund

Roche

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center

Rowan University

Rush University Medical Center

Samsung Medical Center

Sandoz

Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute

Scholar Rock

ScreenCell

Seoulin Bioscience

Sequenom

Sequenta

Seventure Partners

Severance Hospital

Shilps Sciences

Shriners Hospitals for Children

Singapore General Hospital

Singapore Immunology Network

Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology

Singh Molecular Medicine

Singular BIO

Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital

Siwa Therapeutics

Skne University Hospital

Sloan Kettering Institute

Sony Biotechnology

Southampton General Hospital

Sphere Fluidics

SpheriTech

SRI International

Stand Up To Cancer

Stanford University

Stanford Women's Cancer Center

StemBioSys

Stempeutics Research

Stony Brook University

Streck

Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma

Sutter Health

Syllogistech

SynGen Biotech

Syno Capital

Sysmex

Takeda Pharmaceutical

Tan Tock Seng Hospital

Targeted Technology Fund

Technical University of Denmark

Telegraph Hill Partners

Texas Stem Cell

The Fourth People's Hospital of Chongqing

Theranosis Life Sciences

Thermo Fisher Scientific

ThermoGenesis

ThinkCyte

Tisch Cancer Institute

Tokai Pharmaceuticals

TOMY Digital Biology

TorpedoDx

Tracon Pharmaceuticals

Trinity College Dublin

TumorGenesis

Twist Bioscience

Tyme

UCB Biopharma

UCLA Medical Center

Union Biometrica

United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases

United States Environmental Protection Agency

University of British Columbia

University of California

University of Chicago

University of Edinburgh

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Iowa Research Foundation

University of Kansas

University of Maryland

University of Miami

University of Michigan

University of Missouri

University of North Carolina

University of Notre Dame

University of Oxford John Radcliffe Hospital

University of Pennsylvania

University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center

University of Texas

University of Utah

University of Virginia School of Medicine

Uppsala University

US Department of Veterans Affairs

Vancouver Prostate Centre

Vanderbilt University

Vegenics

VentureSouth

Vertical Venture Partners

Vortex Biosciences

VWR

Wako Pure Chemical Industries

Washington University

Wego Medical Systems

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Wright State University

Xcell Biosciences

Yale University

Zeiss

Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University

Zomedica Pharmaceuticals

Zurich Instruments

ZymoGenetics

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/5thezh

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.



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WSU Invites Community to Star Party

January 8, 2020

OGDEN, Utah  Weber State Universitys Ott Planetarium is hosting a series of star parties throughout spring semester to help people learn about the night sky. The first will be held Jan. 13 from 7-9 p.m. at the observatory on the fourth floor of Tracy Hall Science Center. People of all ages are encouraged to attend the free star party.

We want to share with the community our love of astronomy and the experience of gazing at deep-space objects, said John Armstrong, physics professor. Dark skies belong to all of us, and we should all know what is up there. We want to help people learn a little about what they can see and encourage them to keep looking up.

Held after dark, the events give attendees an opportunity to view different astronomical objects, such as planets and galaxies, through nine telescopes provided by WSUs physics department.

Planetarium staff will be on hand to answer questions, and small children can use stepladders provided to reach the telescopes. The event is outside, so attendees should dress accordingly.

Astronomy is one of the few sciences where the laboratory is in everyones backyard, and we want to help people take advantage of our close proximity to areas with very dark skies. Armstrong said. The large observation deck at the science center allows community members to use some fantastic telescopes in a comfortable environment.

The opening of Tracy Hall Science Center and its observation deck in 2016 gave the physics department and the planetarium a place to host stargazing events and make the telescopes more accessible to the public.

The planetarium hosts the star parties throughout the spring and fall semesters. The seven events planned for the spring are scheduled as follows.

Calendar of Events

Jan. 13, 7-9 p.m.

Jan. 31, 7-9 p.m.

Feb. 10, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Feb. 28, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Mar. 16, 8-10 p.m.

April 3, 8:30-10:30 p.m.

April 13, 8:30-10:30 p.m.

The Ott Planetarium in Lind Lecture Hall is currently closed for renovations through the spring and summer, but the science center observation deck will remain open and available for events. For more information, visit weber.edu/ottplanetarium

Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
A lawyer, who claims to have fought the criminal case for the acid victim on whose life Deepika Padukone-starrer movie 'Chhapaak' is based, on Thursday moved a Delhi court seeking stay on its release, asserting that she was not given due credit in the film.

Lawyer Aparna Bhatt moved the petition in this regard before Delhi's Patiala House Court. Judge Pankaj Sharma reserved the order on her petition till 1 pm.

Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh appeared for the petitioner in the court today. During the course of hearing, the judge was told that his client fought Laxmi's case for years and helped during the script-making of the film but was still not given credit.

"She does not want any money. All she only wants is credit as promised by the film director," Parikh told the court.

He said that Bhatt came to know that her name is not included in the movie on January 7 following which she was promised that the production will take care of her concerns after the movie is released.

She was also told that her contribution has been acknowledged in several interviews, the advocate told the court.

"The film-maker acknowledged her but I do not understand why they are hesitating in giving my client any credit," he rued.

The movie, which is slated to be released on January 10, is based on Laxmi's life. In 2005, at the age of 15, she was allegedly attacked by a spurned lover.

Laxmi had to undergo several surgeries. Later, she took up the job of helping other acid attack survivors and promoted campaigns to stop such gruesome attacks.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Another flu death was reported in Monterey County on Tuesday night, bringing the total this season to three in the county and at least 55 statewide.

Flu season had an earlier start than usual in 2019 and deaths have occurred faster than last year.
NURNBERG, Germany, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Alma, one of the top five global leaders of energy-based medical and aesthetics solutions, today announced it has been recognized with an Excellence Award for its "outstanding business performance in Japan" in 2019.

The annual "Excellence Award" was bestowed on Alma by the Israel-Japan Friendship Society and Chamber of Commerce - Israel's leading organization for Japan-related matters and a registered non-profit organization that aims to encourage knowledge of Japan and its culture in Israel.

The award recognizes Alma's exceptional contribution to the bilateral commercial and cultural relationships between Israel and Japan. In the Japanese market, Alma leverages proven technologies, innovation, quality assurance and clinical evaluation to develop and provide safe, high quality and reliable energy-based medical aesthetics treatment products and services. Acknowledging Japan's premium quality industrial components, Alma has been working closely with Japanese suppliers, one of which is its largest long-term supplier for treatment systems' display screens. In addition, Alma and its Japanese distributor have established an "excellence center" where treatment providers can experience its products and treatments hands-on. With this strong upstream support, the Company intends to continue expanding its presence in the Japanese market.

Alma received the award during a ceremony on Jan. 8 in the honorable presence of the Ambassador of Japan in Israel, Mr. Koichi Aiboshi, as well as Mr. Ofir Akunis, Minister of Science & Technology of Israel; Mr. Adiv Baruch, Chairman of Israel Export Institute; Mr. Aharon Aharon, CEO of Israel Innovation Authority; and other governmental and industrial leaders of Japan and Israel.

"The Japanese market is an important segment of our Asia Pacific and global practice", said Lior Dayan, CEO of Alma. "This award marks the Japanese market's recognition of our high-quality products and services. We will continue to develop high-quality innovative products and services to cater the Japanese market with a mission of enhancing quality of life."

About Alma

Alma is a global innovator of Laser, Light-based, Radiofrequency, Plasma and Ultrasound solutions for the aesthetic and surgical markets. We enable practitioners to offer safe and effective procedures while allowing patients to benefit from state-of-the-art, clinically proven technologies and treatments.

https://www.almalasers.com

For media inquiries, please contact:

ICR Inc.

Edmond Lococo

Tel: +86 (10) 6583-7510

E-mail: Edmond.lococo@icrinc.com
Praia, Cape Verde (PANA) - The Cape Verdean government Wednesday declared "an emergency access to water" until October 2020 throughout the country due to drought accumulated in recent years , an official source told PANA here
Presidential candidate Tom Steyer says America should embrace religiosity, spirituality as strength

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Billionaire Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer who said he believes Americas spirituality and religiosity is one of the nations great strengths is hoping the discussion of faith in America will seriously be acknowledged beyond the realm of the Republican Party this election cycle.

Steyer, who never run for elected office before launching his campaign, much like incumbent President Donald Trump, says he is as a Christian believer who embraced the idea of God through both his fathers Jewish and his mothers Episcopalian traditions.

In a recent interview with journalist Paula Faris on her podcast Journeys of Faith with Paula Faris," Steyer, a hedge fund manager and philanthropist who describes himself as a political activist whos running for president, revealed how he finally found faith in God at age 30 and infused it in his life.

He believes the separation of church and state is important but also strongly embraces religious freedom, freely stating that his faith impacts his worldview including government.

I think about my religion as giving me the values and the framework for thinking about everything including government.  I think everybody should be coming to questions of government with values in mind in trying to do the right thing. I say look, if you come that way, if you tell the truth and put the American people first in trying to do the right thing, if we disagree on everything, Im fine with it  thats called democracy, he said.

I think about religion as infusing you with the values you care the most about. But the reason the Constitution separates church and state, religion and government, is because if you bring it directly into the government where you say, Im in contact with God, this is what I think because this is what God thinks, you really cant have a conversation, he said.

Steyer says when he made his decision to embrace faith in God his mother felt he was a bit smug about it.

I was aware growing up that people could believe in God and pursue faith from different angles and still that didnt reflect on them being right or wrong. It was their way of seeing it. So when I was about 30, I called my mom and said: Youre not gonna believe this but I really believe in God, he told Faris.

She goes: Sonny, there are a lot of people who are a hell of a lot smarter than you that believe in God. Dont sound so smug, Steyer said his mother replied.

He explained that at the time he decided to believe in God he was searching for something that would help him make sense of his purpose in life.

I think what I was searching for then and what I think is important to me, is feeling like theres a connectedness to my life. And that, in fact, what Im doing makes sense while Im on the earth, theres a purpose to it and the values that I believe in make sense in the context of the physical world and the other human beings on the planet in kind of a continuum of life on earth, he said. I want to feel as if Im part of that continuum in a positive way and that my time here is not empty, but its in fact infused with value beyond myself.

His faith, he said, helps to drive the passion he has for some of the touchstone issues of his platform, such as climate change.

Lets talk for a second about climate change. I said I would declare a state of emergency on day one. I would use the emergency powers of the presidency to deal with it on day one. Id call on Congress to pass something like the Green New Deal the first 100 days. Id make it the No. 1 priority of foreign policy because unless we do that  re-establish the United States as a moral and technological and commercial leader in the world  we cant get it done, he said.

When you think about it in terms of faith, youre thinking about two things. Youre thinking about protecting Gods earth.  You cant do that and not in fact take care of the earth and watch it change in ways that can be devastating, not just for us but for everything on earth, he added.

Steyer added that while America has historically been an overwhelmingly Judeo-Christian nation, it's increasingly growing more pluralistic, especially with many young people struggling with traditional faith."

Historically, we were overwhelmingly Judeo-Christian and I think that even when you look at that description you can see that we are much more multiple than that. You have a lot of people who were coming here who are Muslims, Hindus. We have a lot of young people who are struggling with traditional faith and finding their own way to God, and to me thats fine, he told Faris.

Everybody has to find their own way and I support that. But the key to me is not how you do it but whether you do it. I really think its really important for me. I hope other people see it this way, too, in finding that core of what were doing on this planet. How were making contributions. How were part of a positive force on this planet.

We are a spiritual nation. We are a religious nation. I think thats one of our great strengths. I think that that gives us the courage to do whats right, he said.
The Ministry of Public Security has announced that three police officers sacrificed, one person died and another was injured during a disturbance in Dong Tam, My Duc District, Hanoi on January 9 morning.

The area planned for the construction of Mieu Mon Airport in Dong Tam, My Duc District, Hanoi. Photo: Thai Binh

Since December 31, 2019, some units of the Ministry of Defense has collaborated with the local agencies to build a fence to protect the Mieu Mon Airport in Dong Tam, Hanoi as planned.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, during the construction process, in the morning of January 9, some locals used grenades, petrol bombs, knives... to attack the functional forces, causing public disorder.

As a result, "three police officers sacrificed, one opposer died and one was injured". The functional forces restrained and arrested violators and launched investigation and prosecution against the law violators in accordance with the law.

Currently, relevant units are carrying out the construction of the fence of Mieu Mon Airport as planned.

Moc Mien

Hanoi calls on individuals illegally arresting police to confess

Hanoi prosecutes 14 former officials for land violations in Dong Tam
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have shocked the world with the announcment that they will be taking a step back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family

- The couple said in a statement they're working on becoming financially independent

- The news spread like wildfire online and soon both Harry and Meghan were trending

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle caught the world by surprise when they announced that they will be stepping back as "senior" members of the Royal Family.

According to the couple, they will now work to become financially independent. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made this known in a statement on their official Instagram page. More reports indicated that the Royal couple plan to move to Canada.

The news has since gone viral and soon both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, along with #Megxit, started trending online.

We took a look at some of the reactions to Harry and Meghan's decision.

READ ALSO: John Dumelo Foundation shares over 2000 exercise books and school bags to kids in Accra

Many applauded Meghan for 'liberating' Harry from a "terrible, stuffy, constricted life".

Twitter user, @sparklingmeghan, commented:

"I just want to give Meghan a hug. Shes so strong and brave. Keep going Meghan. The #SussexSquad have got you. We always have done and always will do. Keep your head up."

READ ALSO: Man robs pharmacy to take care of sick child

However, there where those who did not agree with the couple's decision, adding they were failing to do their duty to the Crown.

Piers Morgan, who has shied away from blasting Meghan in the past, accused the "Kardashian-wannabes" of trying to bring down the Monarchy.

In one post he said:

"The Queen must FIRE Their Royal Hustlers: Deluded Meghan and Harry should be stripped of their titles before this pair of grasping, selfish, scheming Kardashian-wannabes bring down the Monarchy."

Morgan added in another tweet:

Twitter user, @NocteRegem, added:

"He used to be the cool royal that was always having a laugh. Not anymore, it seems... Sad."

Another tweep, @hallsymatt, wrote:

"Shes ruined him! Shes even caused a rift with his brother! I agree strip them of there titles and no Prince Charles handouts!"

Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Source: YEN.com.gh
Iran was facing mounting pressure last night to explain the destruction of a civilian airliner near Tehran hours after Iranian forces launched missile strikes against US forces.

Three Britons were among 176 people killed when an Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737 plunged into a nosedive and exploded shortly after take-off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport yesterday morning.

A colleague of the flight crew members of the Ukraine International Airlines flight places candle at a memorial at the Boryspil International airport outside Kyiv. Photo: REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

Iran dismissed speculation that the aircraft had been downed by a missile, but said it would not hand over the black boxes from the aircraft to Boeing, in an unusual move likely to have been prompted by tensions with the US.

Earlier, Ukraine withdrew an initial statement that attributed the crash to engine failure and ruled out a terror attack, sparking an international scramble to investigate the crash.

The crash came three-and-a-half hours after Iran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at US bases in Iraq in what it said was revenge for the assassination of General Qassim Soleimani. No US or Iraqi troops were killed in the half-hour bombardment. Leaders in both Tehran and Washington played down the prospect of further armed conflict between the adversaries.

The Ukrainian aircraft, bound for Kyiv, took off shortly after 6am. Footage filmed by a local man showed it trailing fire before diving into the ground and exploding.

Din Mohammad Qassemi, a local villager, said he heard an explosion. Assuming he was under attack from the Americans, he dived below ground into his basement.

"All the houses started to shake. There was fire everywhere," said Mr Qassemi. "At first I thought [the Americans] have hit here with missiles, and went in the basement as a shelter."

Bodies, fragments of aircraft and victims' personal belongings were discovered at the crash site near the village of Fedosiye, about 10 miles from the airport.

The dead included 83 Iranians and 63 Canadians, according to a flight manifest released by UIA. Ten Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and 11 Ukranians, including the nine crew members, were also killed.

The three British passport holders on board the flight included Saeed Tahmasebi (35), a chartered engineer.

He was returning with his wife Niloofar Ebrahim, a fellow Iranian studying psychology in London, from their wedding.

Sam Zokaei (42), an engineer who worked for the BP Exploration Operating Company and lived in Richmond, had been on holiday and had been visiting relatives.

Mohammed Reza Kadkhoda-Zadeh, a 40-year-old father of one from Brighton, had been in Iran to visit family over the Christmas break.

Iranian media said that both flight recorders had been found, but the investigation into the crash is likely to be complicated by the stand-off between the US and Iran.

Ali Abedzadeh, the head of the Iranian civil aviation authority, said that the government would not hand over the black boxes to Boeing, which is a US company, and that it was unclear which country would be asked to analyse them.

Iran may have the ability to extract data from black boxes but would have to call on the expertise of one of a handful of countries, including the US, France and Britain, if they are badly damaged.

Western intelligence agencies quoted by Reuters said they shared Iran's initial assessment that the aircraft had not been hit by a missile.

Iranian officials said the pilot lost control of the aircraft after a fire struck one of its engines.

"The rumours about the plane are completely false and no military or political expert has confirmed it," said General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesman for the Iranian armed forces.

But aviation experts last night queried whether the plane could have been destroyed by simple engine failure, and friends and family of the three British victims demanded an investigation into the circumstances of the crash.

David Learmount, consulting editor at FlightGlobal, told 'The Daily Telegraph' that the failure of the crew to send out a mayday signal suggested they faced "a sudden and violent" event that forced them to fight for control of the aircraft.

"Even a catastrophic engine failure would be highly unlikely to have such a dramatic effect on control of the aircraft. A 737 is capable of flying safely on just one of its two engines," he said.

Ukraine's embassy in Tehran initially posted but then deleted a statement attributing the crash to engine failure.

Later, Oleksiy Honcharuk, the Ukrainian prime minister, refused to rule out the possibility that it had been shot down at a briefing in Kyiv.

Vlolodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, said he had dispatched a team of experts, including ministry of defence and civil aviation personnel to Iran to investigate the crash and repatriate the remains of the Ukrainians who had been killed.

"Our priority is to establish the truth and those responsible for this terrible catastrophe," he said.

"We are in contact with our airline customers and stand by them in this difficult time. We are ready to assist in any way needed," Boeing said in a statement.
Algonacs independent auditor has given the city a clean, or unmodified, audit opinion for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2019.

Curtis McBride, a certified public accountant and director of governmental accounting and auditing services at McBride-Manley & Company PC, gave a presentation about the audit at the councils Jan. 7 meeting. He explained that a clean, or unmodified, audit opinion means that the firm has determined the citys financial records to be reliable.

The purpose of our audit is not to provide an opinion on the financial health of the city, McBride said. Thats not the focus of our audit.

General fund

McBride discussed the citys general fund, which primarily derives its revenues from property taxes, state-shared revenues and federal, state and local grant money. At the end of the fiscal year, Algonac had about $2 million of assets on hand, with about $151,000 of liabilities, with an ending fund balance of about $1.86 million.

To put that into perspective, the Michigan Department of Treasury recommends that at minimum, your fund balance level be at about 10% of annual operating expenditures in the fund, McBride said. At the end of June 30, 2019, you were at 78%, so in my opinion, the city does have a solid, healthy general fund balance level.

In 2019, the city generated about $2.59 million in revenue. In 2018, that number had been over $3 million, but McBride explained that was because of a $500,000 grant from the state in the seawall during that year.

The revenue for 2019 came from several places, including about $1.3 million in property tax revenues, $429,000 in distributions from the state and $303,000 in refuse fees.

The city spent about $2.4 million in 2019 and finished the year with an increase to the fund balance level of about $197,000. In 2018, total expenditures had been roughly $2.2 million. The increase came as a result of contributing an additional $155,000 to the citys pension in December 2018 to help fund some of the shortfall.

Just to clarify, your pension fund is currently at about 80% funded, which according to the state of Michigan, is actually pretty healthy, McBride said. Under state law, your pension is considered underfunded if its lower than 60% funded.

He also mentioned that the citys retirees health care is 100% funded, while a lot of municipalities are only 5% to 10% funded.

Special revenue funds

Next, McBride spoke about special revenue funds, which have restricted fund balances for the purpose of maintenance and construction of streets throughout the city.

The citys major street fund had about $838,000 of assets on hand at the end of the fiscal year and did not have any significant liabilities against those assets, finishing the year with an ending fund balance of about $837,000. The fund generated about $305,000 during the year and spent about $212,000, resulting in an increase to its fund balance level of about $93,000.

To put that into perspective, that fund balance level is actually more than 100% of its operating expenditures during the year, McBride said. So just like the general fund, your major street fund has a good, solid fund balance level.

The citys local street fund finished the year with about $333,000 of assets on hand, had about $54,000 of liabilities against those assets and finished the year with a total fund balance of about $279,000. The fund generated about $344,000 of revenues during the year, spent about $350,000 and used up about $6,000 of its fund balance level. Its fund balance represents about 80% of its annual expenditures, which McBride said is also healthy.

The thing you need to keep in mind with these two funds is its normal for their fund balance levels to fluctuate drastically from year to year, which is going to be different from your general fund, he said. So in years when you have significant street projects going on, youre going to be using that fund balance level, and then in years where you dont youre going to be building it back up.

He noted that a Washington and Mill streets to Cole Boulevard project occurred during the fiscal year and made up a good portion of the expenditures.

Trend analysis

McBride then moved into some trend analysis.

In 2013, the city generated about $364,000 in state revenue sharing, which went up to $384,000 during 2016 and is now at $428,000 in 2019. In distribution to the street funds, which is money given by the state for local street funds, the city generated $255,000 in 2013, $300,000 in 2016 and $466,000 in 2019.

In regards to property tax, the general fund generated about $1,235,000 in 2013, went down to about $1.17 million in 2015 and climbed back up to about $1.32 million in 2019. McBride noted that if the analysis went further back, in 2009 the city received about $1.61 million in property taxes.

So even though youve gone up to $1,321,000 in 2019, thats still $293,000 less in property taxes that you had to work with in 2019 than you did back in 2009, he said. Now that doesnt mean the property values in the city are that much down from where they were in 2009. Those are primarily because of the constitutional limitations that are placed on property taxes.

He also mentioned the recession and housing market crisis back in 2010 and 2011, which values are still climbing back up from.

Actually, this situation has been devastating for some municipalities, but you guys have been able to budget well in anticipation of the loss of revenues, McBride said. Youve done a great job in maintaining your healthy fund balance level.

With the general fund, the city had about $1.29 million in an ending fund balance in 2013. That trend continued upward, except in 2017, where it dropped to $919,000, when the city spent $800,000 for its seawall project. By 2018, the fund balance went back up to $1.6 million.

Water, sewer funds

The last two funds McBride spoke about are the water and sewer funds, which are different from the others because they are proprietary, or enterprise funds. They are accounted for more similar to that of a private business because of how they generate their revenues.

The sewer fund had a balance of about $2.84 million of assets on hand at the end of the fiscal year, with total liabilities of about $361,000 and a total net position of about $2.48 million. Its unrestricted net position, which represents a net position not tied up in long-term assets of the plants that cannot be easily converted to cash, is about $482,000, which is about 71% of operating expenses in the fund.

The fund generated about $468,000 during the year and spent about $540,000. The city had to use some of its fund balance level: about $70,000.

The water fund had a balance of about $9,512,000 assets on hand and liabilities of about $825,000, finishing the year with about $8.7 million. Its unrestricted net position was just over $1 million, which is about 87% of the citys annual operating expenses. The fund generated about $962,000 during the year and had a slight increase to the fund balance level of about $76,000.

In my opinion, water and sewer funds have a healthy, unrestrictive net position or fund balance levels, McBride said.

General information

McBride then spent a few minutes talking about the audit process in general. He said the process focuses on what he calls the major accounting functions, including purchasing, cash receipts, utility billing, adjusting journal entries, payroll and bank reconciliations.

Were in contact with the city throughout the year, he said. We have a really good relationship with the city.

He noted the firm assists with questions regarding transactions throughout the year, assist with various state filings and compliance requests and provide support for the sales tax information for state revenue sharing.

Between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019, we spend about 450 hours of time working on the audit and then working on the rate studies and various consulting services for the city during the year, he said. Were happy to be available and communicate with the city during the year.

Mayor Terry Stoneburner thanked McBride.

I imagine this will change next year when we get all the costs for high water in there, so we will see a change in our fund balance from that, she said.

Council member Corey Blair seconded the thanks to the firm and also thanked City Manager Denice Gerstenberg, the administrative staff and city council.

Another stellar job, he said.

Its a monumental task, I know, and I can tell when its audit time when I come in here, Stoneburner said. The energy level changes just a little bit. But thank you, Mr. McBride and (City Treasurer) Linda Mackie. Look at the money you save us. Im going to give you my checkbook. We really appreciate it.

She also noted that Gerstenberg and the department heads also contribute along the way.

Its almost like we hear the same good news every year and the same perfect audits with Linda every year, council member Michael Bembas said. Thats one thing that our community doesnt have to worry about because our finances are in good health.

Emily Pauling is a staff writer for The Voice. She can be contacted at 586-273-6200 or epauling@medianewsgroup.com.
The Kingwood Service Association is awaiting approval on a permit application to the city of Houston to dredge sand and silt dropped during Hurricane Harvey from the bank of River Grove Park.

The $500,000 dredging project spans from just left of the boat ramp, then continues around the pier and goes down to the end of the boardwalk. KSA hopes to begin dredging in January, and conclude the project this spring, said Dee Price, President of the Kingwood Services Association and a Park Steward.

KSA started planning the dredging project in July by collecting bids and seeking approvals from the city. KSA applied for the permit in mid-December to recover the boat launch after Harveys destruction.

We knew we were going to have to eventually do this, but we did not want to start our dredging operation until the (dredging) project in the San Jacinto River was completed, Price said. So once that project completed, then we started the process of doing a request for bids, sending it out, getting the bids back, and then getting the approvals of the KSA board and the committees.

RELATED: $40 million dredging of Kingwood mouth bar begins this week

About every seven to eight years, Price said that they have to dredge the boat dock in River Grove Park. However, its worse this time because Harvey dropped so much sand in the boat channel and the boardwalk.

The dredging project, which will help Kingwood residents launch their boats out of River Grove Park, is funded through KSAs reserve account  an accumulation of money set aside every year for major asset replacements and catastrophes.

Price said KSA is the only entity involved in the planning process and the permit application could be approved through the city of Houston this month. Price said KSA owns the river bank next to where the dredging will take place.

What were doing is were dredging along the edge of the bank where River Grove Park is located, Price said.

The Army Corps of Engineers is not involved in this project, but there is a likelihood that they addressed the area near River Grove Park during their 2-18-19 emergency dredging project because it was affected by Hurricane Harvey.

ON HOUSTON CHRONICLE.COM: FEMA to pay $25M to help build flood gates and waterproof Kingwood High School

Price said the Army Corps worked on the area near where KSA is planning to dredge.

...I can tell you that if that material deposited because of Harvey and it was in the west fork of the San Jacinto River, yes, there is a pretty good likelihood that we did address some of it, said Alicia Rea, chief of Emergency Management at the USACE Galveston District.

Rea said the Army Corps of Engineers would only need to be involved if the project included dumping the sand into U.S. waters. Dave Martin, Mayor Pro-Tem and District E Council Member, said that he is not involved with the project.

We dont regulate dredging there, we only regulate where they put the material, Rea said. And if theyre not putting the material in waters of the United States or into wetlands, then a permit from the corps is not required.

savannah.mehrtens@chron.com
The newlyweds killed after a Ukrainian passenger plane crashed in Iran were travelling home to settle in London just two weeks after their wedding ceremony.

Niloufar Ebrahim, 34, died alongside her husband Saeed Tahmasebi Khademasadi, a 35-year-old engineer with Imperial College London, in the plane which crashed moments after taking off in Iran on Wednesday.

Mr Tahmasebi, a dual British-Iranian national, was among three Britons killed in the incident.

Ms Ebrahim was not yet a British citizen but was planning to settle in the UK with her new husband.

She had just completed her masters degree at Kingston University and was doing charity work for VSO.

Expand Close Niloufar and Saeed had traveled to Iran to celebrate their marriage with family and friends. (The Ebrahim family) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Niloufar and Saeed had traveled to Iran to celebrate their marriage with family and friends. (The Ebrahim family)

Downing Street said it is looking into very concerning reports about the crash, as the US claimed the jet was shot down by a missile.

Although legally married last year, Ms Ebrahim and Mr Tahmasebi, who lived in Chiswick, had travelled to Iran to celebrate their wedding with friends and family.

Ms Ebrahims sister, Navaz, told the PA news agency: She was the biggest sweetheart. The best sister I could have asked for. She was brilliant and smart and kind  everyone who met her loved her.

Expand Close Ms Ebrahim was unable to attend her sisters wedding, so had to be Skyped into the ceremony. (The Ebrahim family) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Ms Ebrahim was unable to attend her sisters wedding, so had to be Skyped into the ceremony. (The Ebrahim family)

She was so well loved and we are devastated.

The pair were set up by mutual friends in Iran several years ago, and Navaz said they instantly hit it off.

Navaz, who now lives in Texas, US, said she had been unable to see her sister for five years due to restrictive travel policies.

She said: Because of the Trump travel ban, I was unable to attend her wedding because I am not allowed to leave the country.

That alone was devastating at the time. I always thought I would get a chance to see her again, and we would meet again someday, but to not be able to do that breaks my heart.

Expand Close The couple had been hoping to settle in Britain permanently. (The Ebrahim family) / Facebook

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Whatsapp The couple had been hoping to settle in Britain permanently. (The Ebrahim family)

My family managed to get a visa to visit me in 2016, but because she was single at the time her visa wasnt granted.

The restrictive travel policies mean there is uncertainty about when Navaz will be able to see her family, who live in Iran, again.

They had their whole lives ahead of them. They were such a happy couple, and the whole family is devastated, she added.

The plane never made a radio call for help and was trying to turn back to the airport when it went down, killing 176 people.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Centre of not giving any funds for the Gangasagar Mela which is held annually in the Sagar Islands in South 24 Parganas district.

"The Central government gives a lot of money for the Kumbh Mela, but Ganga Sagar Mela is not less than the Kumbh for which the Centre does not give any money. We do not take any money from anyone for the infrastructure and development of Ganga Sagar nor do they give me," Banerjee said on Wednesday.

West Bengal Chief Minister also announced insurance of Rs 5 lakh per person, in case of any incident, for all the pilgrims who will visit the Sagar Islands till January 17.

"My government has done enough for Ganga Sagar. Earlier nothing had been done here," she further stated.

The Gangasagar Mela is held annually at the Sagar Island during the Makar Sankranti festival, thousands of pilgrims come at the spot to take a dip in the holy Ganga river during that time.

The Kumbh Mela, on the other hand, is celebrated in a cycle of approximately 12 years at four river-bank pilgrimage sites in Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nashik, and Ujjain.

The last Kumbh Mela was held in 2019 at Prayagraj.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Dan Rosenheim

Bay City News Foundation

The Bay Area Council plans to leave its longstanding headquarters in a downtown San Francisco office building and move into a historic ferry boat on the Bay.

The 300-member council, the nine-county region's largest and most influential business advocacy group, is acquiring the 95-year-old Klamath ferry boat, which is currently moored in the Port of Stockton.

The BAC has a contract to purchase the boat from its current owner, Duraflame Inc., which has used the boat as a corporate headquarters since 1992.

Word of the move comes just as the Bay Area Council's chief executive officer, Jim Wunderman, has been named by Gov. Gavin Newsom to serve as chair of the Water Emergency Transportation Authority.

That agency oversees San Francisco's ferry boat operations, which currently runs boats between the city and Richmond, Vallejo, Oakland, Alameda and South San Francisco. Wunderman was appointed to the WETA board by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2015, and has been an outspoken advocate for expanded water transit service.

Plans call for the BAC to move its staff from the Sacramento Street offices it has occupied for the past seven years. John Grubb, chief operating officer for the council, said the boat will not only serve as the BAC's new headquarters, it will also have significant space open to the public, including a large conference center.

Grubb said he hopes the boat will be ready for occupancy in San Francisco by August. Although a final location on the Bay has yet to be established, Grubb said the most likely spot for the Klamath is the south side of Pier 9, adjacent to WETA's offices.

That site will make it easy for Wunderman to move between his BAC workplace and the ferry agency, but BAC staffers stress that the two organizations will retain discrete identities.

"We'll be next to WETA, but we'll be separate from it," Grubb said.

The decision by the 70-year-old Bay Area Council to relocate onto the water is a reflection of maritime transit's burgeoning popularity in the region.

Two large ferry agencies -- WETA and Golden Gate Transit -- as well as private operators are all adding boats, terminals and new runs, primarily in the North and Central Bay, while cities on the Peninsula and in the Delta are clamoring to be included in the service.

"The Bay Area Council is a big champion of ferry boats," Grubb said.

Built for the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1924, the Klamath operated during a golden era for regional ferry service; between 1850 and 1939, 120 ferry boats operated on San Francisco Bay.

Constructed at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Union Yard in San Francisco, the boat was named for Klamath County, Oregon, and carried as many as 1,000 people and 78 cars.

The Klamath ran between Oakland and San Francisco's Ferry Building until 1929 and between Sausalito and San Francisco's Hyde Street Pier from 1929 to 1938.

When construction of the Golden Gate and Bay bridges sent ferry traffic into a rapid decline, the boat was sold to the Richmond-San Rafael Ferry Company and operated between Point Molate and San Quentin until the arrival of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge -- ironically, a pet project of the Bay Area Council at the time - which put an end to its role as a passenger vessel in 1956.

After several years of sitting unused in the Oakland Estuary, the Klamath was acquired in 1964 by Landor Associates, the famous design firm. Landor refurbished the boat and parked it at the old Pier 5, where it served as the firm's headquarters.

It was on the Klamath that some of the world's most famous logos were created, including those for British Airways, Coca-Cola, FedEx and Levi's. And the boat also became a gathering place for artists, musicians, actors and writers, among them Andy Warhol, Tom Wolfe and Marshall McLuhan.

"It was not just a business place," Grubb said. "It was a cultural hub."

Grubb added that he has been struck by the number of people he meets who remember being on the boat at Pier 5. But in the early 1990s, Landor decided that it had outgrown the Klamath, so the boat was sold to Duraflame, which moved it to a deepwater port in Stockton.

In preparation for the current acquisition, Grubb said the BAC has had discussions with the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, city Supervisor Aaron Peskin and others.

"We've had very favorable feedback," Grubb said. "There is a lot of excitement about this."

"The Bay is an extremely valuable resource," added Rufus Jeffris, senior vice president for communications at the BAC. "We want to ensure its protection from an environmental standpoint, but it also offers a tremendous opportunity for expanded transportation."

Grubb said the boat is currently in reasonably good shape, but will be refurbished prior to assuming its new role.

"It still needs to be dry-hauled, sandblasted and painted, and the interior needs to be brought up to modern San Francisco standards," Grubb said, putting the cost of refurbishing the boat in the millions of dollars.

Well worth it, he added.

"To create a gathering spot like this and preserve part of our history is really important," he said.

Copyright  2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act Tribunal upheld Centre's decision to impose a ban on Sikh for Justice (SFJ) observing that the unlawful activities of the proscribed association are disruptive in character and is a threat to the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of India.

The Union Cabinet on July 10 declared "Sikhs for Justice (SFJ)" as an unlawful association under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967. The SFJ had challenged this notification in UAPA Tribunal.

Centre said that SFJ is involved in anti- and subversive activities in Punjab and elsewhere, and intended to disrupt the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India. It stated that SFJ is in close touch with the militant outfits and activists, and is supporting violent form of extremism and militancy in Punjab and elsewhere.

"The evidence brought on record also proves that the respondent Association (SFJ) is working in collusion with anti-India entities and forces to fulfill their objectives by indulging in unlawful activities. Thus, the Central Government had 'sufficient cause' to take action under Section 3(1) and 3(3) of the Act for declaring Sikhs For Justice as an 'unlawful association'," tribunal Judge, Justice DN Patel stated in the order.

"The Notification dated 10th July, 2019 issued by the Union of India under sub-sections (1) and (3) of Section 3 of the Act declaring Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) to be an 'unlawful association' is hereby confirmed," Justice Patel stated.

The Union Government examined twelve witnesses who have deposed about the activities of the association as well as the cases registered in India which are stated to have a direct connect with their handlers who are based abroad and are known members and sympathizers of the association, the tribunal mentioned.

It also noted that the witness has also proved the social media posts of the association where the respondent association (SFJ) has openly aligned itself to Referendum 2020 and has been proved to be the primary moving force behind the said Referendum, which has, at its core, the objective to disrupt the unity and integrity of India. The call for a referendum to cede a part of the territory of India in itself is a crime.

Referendum 2020 being propagated by the association is itself restricted and is an unlawful activity under the Act and does not have any sanction under any law, the tribunal stated.

"The evidence brought on record by the Union of India is stark and clear and the same has gone unchallenged despite the opportunity," observed the tribunal.

"The acts, utterances and social media posts attributed to SFJ and its activists and sympathizers, which have duly been provided on record, are divisive in character and are a pointer to a divisive mindset and a divisive intent.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
EUGENE, Ore. -- A well-known mortuary firm in Lane County has sold their business, but former-owners Mark and Jeff Musgrove are assuring people that the quality of service won't change.

Musgrove Family Mortuaries and Cemeteries is now owned by a Florida company called Foundation Partners Group. The company owns cremation centers and cemeteries in 20 states, including some operations in Portland.

The Musgrove Family had owned their local mortuary business since the 1970s and expanded by acquiring local funeral homes and cemeteries through the years.

But Mark Musgrove said the sale won't change much for the public or employees.

RELATED: FLORIDA COMPANY BUYS MUSGROVE FAMILY MORTUARIES & CEMETERIES

We've retained all of our staff and we will continue to serve the community with care and professionalism and care about our community members, Musgrove said.

The company will retain the family name. Mark and his brother Jeff will now be moving into consulting roles within the company.

Jeff Musgrove said it was important for his family to find the right company to take ownership, and he believes they found that in Foundation Partners Group.

The investment that we have in this community is something that we take very seriously and we feel very strong that the future is bright for this community, Jeff Musgrove said.

The family said the sale will not affect anyone's pre-arrangements for funerals, burials or cremations.
The Hennessy Japan Fund (Trades, Portfolio) released its fourth-quarter portfolio earlier this week, listing two new positions. It also disclosed it exited one of its other holdings.





Managed by Masakazu Takeda and Yu Shimizu, the fund, which is part of California-based Hennessy Advisors, invests in a concentrated number of high-quality Japanese companies. The portfolio managers look for value opportunities among companies that have good management, a strong balance sheet with little to no debt, a durable competitive advantage, a high return on equity, strong cash flow generation and above-average earnings growth.

Based on these criteria, the fund established holdings in Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (TSE:4502) and Relo Group Inc. (TSE:8876) and divested of its Toyota Motor Corp. (TSE:7203) position during the quarter.

Takeda Pharmaceutical

The fund invested in 628,000 shares of Takeda, allocating 3.36% of the equity portfolio to the position. The stock traded for an average price of 3,713.23 yen ($34.01) per share during the quarter.

The Japanese pharmaceutical company, which focuses on the oncology, gastroenterology, vaccines and neurology spaces, has a market cap of 6.7 trillion yen; its shares closed at 4,250 yen on Wednesday with a price-earnings ratio of 126.79, a price-book ratio of 1.36 and a price-sales ratio of 1.97.

The Peter Lynch chart shows the stock is trading above its fair value, suggesting it is overpriced.

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While GuruFocus has not rated its financial strength or profitability, Takeda's prospects don't look too bright as it is weighed down by debt and has extremely low interest coverage. In addition, the Altman Z-Score of 0.97 warns the company could be in danger of going bankrupt as its revenue per share has been in decline for several years.

Story continues

Despite the fact its margins and returns underperform over half of its competitors, Takeda's Piotroski F-Score of 5 indicates its operations are stable. It also has a business predictability rank of one out of five stars. According to GuruFocus, companies with this rank typically see their stocks gain an average of 1.1% per annum over a 10-year period.

Of the gurus invested in Takeda, the Vanguard Health Care Fund (Trades, Portfolio) has the largest stake with 0.67% of outstanding shares. The Causeway International Value (Trades, Portfolio) Fund and the T. Rowe Price Japan Fund (Trades, Portfolio) are also shareholders.

Relo Group

The Japan Fund picked up 489,000 shares of Relo Group, dedicating 1.77% of the equity portfolio to the holding. During the quarter, shares traded for an average price of 2,630.28 yen.

The business services company, which provides corporate fringe benefit management outsourcing solutions, has a market cap of 457.63 billion yen; its shares closed at 3,065 yen on Wednesday with a price-earnings ratio of 38.87, a price-book ratio of 8.47 and a price-sales ratio of 1.85.

According to the Peter Lynch chart, the stock is overvalued.

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Relo's financial strength scored a 6 out of 10 rating on the back of comfortable interest coverage and a high Altman Z-Score of 3.68, which indicates the company is in good standing financially.

The company's profitability fared even better with a 9 out of 10 rating, driven by operating margin expansion, strong returns that outperform a majority of industry peers and consistent revenue and earnings growth. One weakness for Relo is a low Piotroski F-Score of 2, which suggests its business conditions are in poor shape. Regardless, it has a 4.5-star business predictability rank. GuruFocus says companies with this rank typically see their stocks gain an average of 10.6% per year.

The Matthews Japan Fund (Trades, Portfolio) is Relo's largest guru shareholder with 1.7% of outstanding shares. Hennessy holds 0.33%.

Toyota

Hennessy sold its 324,100 remaining shares of Toyota, impacting the equity portfolio by -3.34%. The stock traded for an average per-share price of 7,140.13 yen during the quarter.

GuruFocus estimates the fund gained 3.95% on the investment since establishing it in the third quarter of 2013.

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The automaker has a market cap of 21.60 trillion yen; its shares closed at 7,617 yen on Wednesday with a price-earnings ratio of 11.44, a price-book ratio of 1.07 and a price-sales ratio of 0.71.

Based on the Peter Lynch chart, the stock appears to be undervalued.

69fc1136700765169f04c760f6a3b1d6.png

GuruFocus rated Toyota's financial strength 5 out of 10. Despite issuing approximately 2.7 trillion yen in new long-term debt over the past three years, it is at a manageable level due to the company's comfortable interest coverage. The Altman Z-Score of 1.79, however, warns it is in financial distress and could be at risk of bankruptcy.

The company's profitability scored a 7 out of 10 rating. Although the operating margin has declined over the past several years, it still outperforms a majority of its competitors. Toyota is also supported by strong returns and a moderate Piotroski F-Score of 6. Its one-star business predictability rank is on watch.

David Herro (Trades, Portfolio) is the company's largest guru shareholder with 0.26% of outstanding shares.

Additional trades and portfolio performance

During the quarter, the Japan Fund also trimmed its holdings of Japan Tobacco Co. (TSE:2914) and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. (TSE:8316) and boosted its positions in Ariake Japan Co. Ltd. (TSE:2815), Anicom Holdings Inc. (TSE:8715) and Nitori Holdings Co. Ltd. (TSE:9843).

Hennessy's $675 million equity portfolio, which is composed of 26 stocks, is heavily invested in the industrials sector at 33.15%. It also has smaller holdings in the consumer defensive (20.56%) and consumer cyclical (20.10%) spaces.

3ce0bd8e194911e06ed9aa5ce5783e39.png

According to its website, the fund posted an 18.04% return in 2019, slightly underperforming the Russell/Nomura Total Market Index's return of 20.07% and the Tokyo Stock Price Index's return of 19.67%.

Disclosure: No positions.

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Spiros Segalas Adds 4 Stocks to Portfolio in 4th Quarter

5 Stocks These Spanish Funds Agree On

Tweedy Browne Loosens Hold of MRC Global



This article first appeared on GuruFocus.






9 Jan  Tracy Chu has recently laughed off rumours that she is currently pregnant with her first child.

As reported on Mingpao, tabloids previously alleged that the actress has been five months pregnant and that her husband Justin has now returned to Hong Kong from Singapore to focus on taking care of her health.

This was further fuelled by Tracy's sudden keenness to wear loose clothing and flats, and that she has supposedly been eating more than usual.

When asked about it, however, the actress couldn't help but laugh and dismissed it as false.

"I'm not pregnant, just fat. Thanks for caring!" she added.

She also went on social media to deny the rumours, writing, "Chubby, happy, but no baby. Thanks for the blessings anyway! Always feel loved."

Tracy and Justin tied the knot back in August last year after five years of relationship.

(Photo Source: Tracy Chu Instagram)
[January 08, 2020] 2020 INFORMS Franz Edelman Award: World's Leading Operations Research and Analytics Competition Selects Finalists

CATONSVILLE, Md., Jan. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- INFORMS, the leading international association for professionals in operations research and analytics, has selected six finalists for the 49th annual Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research and Management Science, the world's most prestigious award for achievement in the practice of analytics and operations research (O.R.). For more than four decades, winners of the Edelman Award have been recognized for transforming how we approach some of the world's most complex problems. This year's finalists are no exception, with revolutionary contributions in robotics, cruise industry pricing and booking, railway planning and productivity, IT system sustainability, corporate decision-making, and retail inventory operations. Finalists for the Edelman Award have contributed to a cumulative impact of more than $257 billion since the award's inception. The finalists for the 2020 Edelman Award are: Amazon.com. Amazon fulfillment centers are the bones of the company's global operations network. Order picking plays a significant role in the overall process and accounts for a large part of the building's ability to drive faster cycle times and higher throughput. Amazon's revolutionary robotics system has reduced costs by identifying ways in which Amazon can process the picking of items faster and more efficiently across multiple floors and pick stations. The technology overall has led to significant performance improvement through stowing and picking inventory to facilitate sortation of multi-item shipments, reducing robotic systems travel by 31%. This has resulted in millions in savings per Amazon Robotics fulfillment center. Carnival Corporation & PLC. Carnival & PLC built Yield Optimization and Demand Analytics (YODA), a cutting-edge program using advanced analytics and algorithms to provide dynamic price recommendations and inventory management. The program is a global collaboration involving leaders from six brands and teams across three continents who manage prices in six currencies. Since the system deployed in late 2017, it has been used to set prices on thousands of cruise voyages. The system was built in collaboration with Revenue Analytics. Deutsche Bahn. The largest European railway company is moving more efficiently thanks in part to a new decision support system. The system optimizes train rotations in cargo, regional and long-distance passenger transport divisions. The changes have resulted in direct savings in addition to better planning and productivity. The productivity of the locootives and railcars has increased up to 10% while the time savings were up to 80%.



IBM. IBM Services (Global Technology Services Unit) has developed a cutting-edge system that utilizes machine learning and advanced data analytics to identify devices, such as servers, that are at risk for an outage. The system determines contributing risk factors, e.g., outdated hardware, and prompts a fix before the problem occurs. Since 2013, executing recommended actions has reduced outages by 23%. This translates into savings of more than $1 billion every year for IBM's clients. The IBM team is also using this system to drastically reduce the number of problematic systems for clients by as much as 85%. Intel. Efficient product feature design coupled with supply chain planning is critical to Intel's success given its scale, complexity of its products and manufacturing processes, and the highly capital-intensive nature of the semiconductor business. In response to an exponential increase in complexities, Intel developed an innovative set of capabilities using advanced analytics that span product feature design through supply chain planning with the goal of maximizing revenue while minimizing cost. This set of capabilities is fast and effective, enabling analysis of many more business scenarios in much less time than previous solutions while providing superior results including faster response to customers. Implementation of this capability over the majority of Intel's product portfolio has provided average annual benefits in increased revenue and decreased cost of $1.9 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively, with a total benefit of $21.2 billion to date while also contributing to Intel's environmental goals of reducing water usage and preventing wastewater.

Walmart. Walmart's model of offering consistently low prices depends on constantly innovating to find new ways to reduce costs. The company developed a new system using machine learning to help perfectly time markdowns to optimize sales and clear excess inventory in its stores. The technique relies on operations research and provides feedback to help avoid excess inventory ordering in the future. The technology has already helped the company save millions of dollars. About the Franz Edelman Award First awarded in 1972, the prize is named in honor of Franz Edelman, who founded the Operations Research division within RCA, one of the first corporations to embed operations research as a business imperative. Previous winners of the Franz Edelman Award include the 2019 winner, Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD), as well as Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Holiday Retirement, UPS, IBM, Syngenta, The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Hewlett-Packard, and General Motors, among others. The 2020 Edelman Award will be presented at the INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics and Operations Research in Denver, CO on April 26-28. For more information on the Franz Edelman Award, visit https://www.informs.org/Recognizing-Excellence/2020-Edelman-Award. About INFORMS With 12,500 members from nearly 90 countries, INFORMS is the largest international association of operations research (O.R.) and analytics professionals and students. INFORMS provides unique networking and learning opportunities for individual professionals, and organizations of all types and sizes, to better understand and use O.R. and analytics tools and methods to transform strategic visions and achieve better outcomes. Visit www.informs.org or @informs. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2020-informs-franz-edelman-award-worlds-leading-operations-research-and-analytics-competition-selects-finalists-300983862.html SOURCE INFORMS

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SCHENECTADY  After 25 years as chairman of the city Democrats, Dick Naylor has stepped down from the leadership post.

His resignation took effect Tuesday.

Naylor, 77, explained that he is a caregiver for his companion and wants to spend more time with her and his sister, who will soon be entering an assisted living facility in Rochester.

As time goes on, your friends get sick, your family gets sick, and you cant walk away from them because you have a committee meeting, he said. I have to take care of my family and I have to keep my health.

Naylor said hes not dropping out of politics completely.

 I want to see more diversity, more pluralism, more equity and more affirmative action because the city has to mirror the population better, he added.

The retired Sage College dean said he wants to also return to teaching American history on the college level and do some part-time consulting work, study the history on the Erie Canal, and write historical articles.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Schenectady City Councilman Ed Kosiur said Thursday Naylor provided strong leadership. Kosiur said Tom Bellick will serve as the interim chairman until the full 74-member Schenectady Democratic committee meets Jan. 22 to elect a new chairman and vice chairman. Kosiur acknowledged Bellick is a natural fit for the top job.

With Naylor in charge of the party's stronghold, the Democrats took control of the county's legislature, won five straight mayoral races and dozens of city council races.

He said he will miss the bonds he developed with candidates and recruiting new ones to run for office.
The HSE will spend 1.1m in premium extended IT support fees to Microsoft this year, the health service has said, with a smaller level of fees due in 2021.

The HSE was responding after Independent.ie revealed that the body faces a hefty bill for not having its PCs and laptops upgraded to a safe and secure version of Windows in time for a deadline next week.

Microsofts obsolete Windows 7 operating system will be cut off from security support worldwide next week, a deadline that has been flagged for five years. The company offers an extended support service to allow those who havent upgraded to avail of critical security patches.

Negotiations were carried out with Microsoft in order to achieve the best value for money for this service, said the HSE statement. The cost is approximately 1.1m.

In a detailed response, the HSE said that it has 46,000 Windows 7 computers still operating on its network, out of a total of 58,000 computers.

It said that it would spend 13.5m this year replacing and upgrading PCs this year, with 1.1m earmarked for the special extended support payments to Microsoft due to not making the pre-existing security shutoff deadline.

However, HSE chief information officer Fran Thompson told the Irish Independent that the size and complexity of the HSE meant that it was never going to be able to meet the January 2020 deadline, even with several years notice.

He said that extending the support to the outdated Windows 7 operating system at an agreed cost of 1.1m with Microsoft represented the best use of the organisations budget compared to alternative solutions.

He added that 12,000 of the 46,000 machines cannot be replaced until radiology information systems are upgraded in 2021.

The HSE Windows 10 program started in late 2017, said an HSE statement. In 2018, the testing and validation of our 650 different applications started. The validation of off-the-shelf applications is straightforward. However, the HSE, like all other health services internationally, has many health-specific applications which require extensive testing and validation to ensure that they continue to perform as expected.

Three years ago, the HSE had to shut off its systems from outside communication because thje Wannacry ransomware virus threatened a number of its PCs connected to Windows XP, an older unsupported system. The same virus crippled UK hospitals, forcing some into paying over hundreds of thousands of pounds to criminal attackers who gained control over the computer systems.

Other state bodies are also stuck with Windows 7 computers.

According to figures released from a parliamentary question from Labour TD Alan Kelly, the Department of Employment and Social Affairs has 11,000 PCs still using Windows 7, while the Department of Justice has 3,700. Both departments host sensitive data on citizens.

The HSE has over 6,000 locations nationally which have Windows 7 devices, said the HSE statement. The makes the size and scale of the upgrade logistically and technically challenging. The initial deployment of Windows 10 devices was slow and methodical to ensue that patient care would not be compromised by the upgrade.

The HSE replaces 5,500 desktops and 2,000 laptops every year, which amounts to 13pc of its devices. Its annual budget for this is 6m, but it will bring forward next years allocation to fast forward the upgrades this year.

Mr Thompson said that he expects the bulk of the 46,000 PCs and laptops to be upgraded to Windows 10 this year.

However, this means that it will have to agree a new extended support fee program with Microsoft in 2021. Mr Thompson said that this would be an awful lot smaller than the 1.1m budgeted for 2020.

The HSE has the largest estate of devices in the state and management of these takes considerable resources, said the HSE statement.

The bulk of our Windows 7 devices will be replaced during 2020. The HSE is a layered system of security to mitigate cybersecurity risk, This includes perimeter security, software updating, real time monitoring of assets, mobile devices security and endpoint encryption. Given the continued threat of cybersecurity, the HSE will continue to invest in cybersecurity tools and education of staff to help minimise the ever-changing threat.
The 18-year-old charged with stabbing a New Jersey deli owner to death after the theft of a tip jar led to a violent confrontation waived his right to a detention hearing Thursday morning, opting to remain in jail while awaiting trial.

Dyheam Williams, 18, of Lindenwold, remained silent in court other than to answer yes twice to Superior Court Judge Edward J. McBride Jr.'s questions during a brief hearing in Camden County. Defense attorney Brad Wertheimer said hed discussed legal options with Williams before the teenager decided to bypass his right to ask for pre-trial release.

Jerry Pastore, the owner of the Shamrock Deli, was killed Friday outside his store.

Jerome Pastore, the 57-year-old owner of Shamrock Deli in Audubon, was stabbed 11 times during a struggle outside the business on Friday, authorities said.

Williams had come to the deli multiple times in recent weeks to ask for a job, authorities said. After Pastore told Williams he hadnt made a decision on Friday, Williams swiped a tip jar and fled, authorities said in court documents.

Pastore gave chase and caught up to Williams outside, where they struggled and Pastore was fatally stabbed, authorities said.

He was well-respected and loved by the community where he lived, and he was well-respected and loved by the community where he operated his business, which is where he died at this defendants hands, Camden County Assistant Prosecutor Christine Shah said Thursday.

Pastores wife and oldest son were in court Thursday morning. They remained quiet, but wore pained expressions throughout the brief hearing.

Ethel Pastore, the wife of Shamrock Deli owner Jerry Pastore, listens in court Thursday.

Police initially provided a photo of a man with a bike while seeking suspects in the killing. Williams was charged Sunday with murder and weapons offenses in the killing.

In a vigil Monday evening, the deli owners family remembered his strong work ethic and love of family.

They vowed to continue running the deli, which Pastore had only owned for about a year.

Jenna Wise may be reached at jwise@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JennaRWise. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.

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No "red carpet" welcome to envoys can "absolve" the government of "crimes they have committed" in Jammu and Kashmir, the CPI said on Thursday, hitting out at the Centre over the visit of ambassadors to the region while denying entry to its own MPs post nullification of Article 370.

Envoys from 15 countries, including United States Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster, arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the first by diplomats since August last year when the erstwhile state's special status was revoked and it was divided into two union territories.

"Earlier the government had allowed some MPs of European Parliament with affiliations to right wing parties. Why is government doing this? They are not allowing its own MPs to visit the region but allowing them. If everything is normal in Jammu and Kashmir then why is Farooq Abdullah still not free?" asked CPI general secretary D Raja.

He further said that if Kashmir had been normalised then the first delegation to go there should have been of Indian parliamentarians in order to assure the country that everything was fine.

"What the government has done is disrespected the Indian Parliament, its political parties, its people and its democracy. While the government is saying that everything is normal there, the region in reality is under seige. We demand that if the situation is normal then every political detainee should be released immediately.

"No red carpet welcome to some envoys can absolve the government of crimes they have committed in Jammu and Kashmir," Raja alleged.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thank God. Its a miracle

Tony Bullimore forced open a hatch underwater and swam out of the cabin of his upturned yacht, where he had huddled for 89 hours, to greet his Australian navy rescuers. His first words were: "Thank God. It's a miracle." Shipwrecked during the Vendee Globe race deep in the Southern Ocean, the stocky former Royal Marine kissed his rescuers after they dragged him exhausted from the sea to end a drama that had held the world transfixed.

A bitch in time saves lines

Gore Vidal should be good for a bitchy aside. Not to mention a laugh, wrote a Herald journalist in a survey of talent attending the Sydney Writers Festival. Some say that Vidal also perks up at news of catastrophe among his writer friends; James Kelman holds the world record for the usage of the f word in one novel and Lynda La Plante is the creator of the most panted-over, hard-boiled, tough girl detective (she only cries in private) on the screen.

Democrats must not lobby
Zarif: Iran missile strikes legitimate self-defense against US terrorism

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 08 January 2020 11:27 AM

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran's missile attack on American bases in Iraq was an act of "legitimate self-defense" against "legitimate targets" in response to the terrorist act perpetrated by the US military and the targeted killing of prominent commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.

Speaking at the end of a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday, Zarif said the Islamic Republic had targeted a US military base, which had previously acted against General Soleimani and the resistance front.

The base hit was "a legitimate target under international law" that was struck in response to the US act of terrorism, said the minister. "We communicated a message to Americans immediately after the operation via the country's interests section in Iran."

In the early hours of Wednesday, Iran launched tens of missiles at two bases housing US troops in Iraq's western Anbar Province and Kurdistan regional capital, Erbil, in revenge for the assassination of General Soleimani and his companions.

Tehran says its missiles precisely hit their targets, with initial reports of casualties.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran had to react militarily against the US measure, which it did. But this is not the end of our job. The end is to be the US pullout [from the region], which does not require military action," Zarif said, adding that this will come about as a result of of Washington's own "stupid" move to carry out the targeted killings.

Zarif said the extent of public hatred towards the US shows the country's days in the region are numbered and it will have no future there.

The top Iranian diplomat also highlighted reactions of the regional countries to General Soleimani's assassination, saying this indicated that they were "highly concerned about the very dangerous US adventurism."

Referring to the Tehran Dialogue Forum, which was held in the Iranian capital on Tuesday, Zarif said Tehran told the participants that while the US is after warmongering, Iran has always been pursuing dialog in the region.

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TOKYO, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Healios K.K. ("the Company"); (TSE: 4593), Japan's leading clinical stage biotechnology company harnessing the potential of stem cells for regenerative therapies announces that its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Hardy TS Kagimoto, MD, will provide a strategic overview and company update at the 38th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. In addition, the Company's CFO Richard Kincaid will make a presentation at the Biotech Showcase also being held in San Francisco, CA, between 13-16 January 2020. The Company will hold meetings with investors around both events.

Healios will present its unique strategy in regenerative medicine, which combines near-term and potentially accelerated commercialization of Somatic Stem Cell (SSC) -based treatments in Japan, with the development of next generation therapies derived from its world-leading induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) technology platform.

Healios's SSC candidate (HLCM051) is in a pivotal Phase 2/3 trial in Japan in ischemic stroke in which it offers the potential to provide an effective treatment over a much longer treatment window as compared with standard-of-care acute therapies, such as clot-dissolving agents.

HLCM051 is also in a Phase 2 trial in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in Japan aiming to become the first approved therapeutic drug for this serious medical condition.

Pending the successful completion of these studies, Healios intends to pursue an accelerated path to approval and commercialization owing to Japan's progressive and positive regulatory framework for regenerative medicine (known as the Conditional and time-limited authorization system, or "SAKIGAKE" in Japanese*).

In parallel, Healios is developing a proprietary gene-modified iPSC platform of non-immunogenic, off-the-shelf (allogenic) 'Universal Donor Cells' for applications in next-generation therapies in ophthalmology (wet and dry age-related macular degeneration), organ regeneration (e.g. following metabolic liver disease), and immuno-oncology (targeting solid tumors) including the development of iPSC derived gene-modified natural killer cells. These next generation iPSCs offer the potential for avoiding the requirement for immunosuppressive drug treatment while offering long duration of effect.

Details of the presentations are as follows:

At the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference:

Presenter: Hardy TS Kagimoto, CEO

Date: Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Time: 09.30 - 09.55 Pacific Standard Time (PST)

Location: Mission Bay Room, Westin St. Francis Hotel

The presentation will be accessible via live webcast here: https://jpmorgan.metameetings.net/events/hc20/sessions/30294-healios-k-k/webcast, as well as the investor section of the Company's website, www.healios.co.jp. The webcast and presentation slides will also be archived on the site following the event.

At the Biotech Showcase:

Presenter: Richard Kincaid, CFO

Date: Monday, January 13, 2020

Time: 14.00  14:30 PST

Location: Yosemite A, Hilton San Francisco Union Square

*About the Conditional and time limited authorization system (SAKIGAKE Designation)

In 2014, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) formed the "Strategy of SAKIGAKE".

The Conditional and time limited authorization system (SAKIGAKE) aims to promote R&D in Japan aimed at the early application of innovative pharmaceutical products, medical devices and regenerative medicines. It provides a process for the accelerated authorization of unapproved drugs for serious and life-threatening diseases and aims to improve the environment for companies to undertake development of such drugs.

About Healios

Healios is Japan's leading clinical stage biotechnology company harnessing the potential of stem cells for regenerative medicine. Its aim is to offer new therapies for patients suffering from diseases without effective treatment options.

Healios's near-term pipeline includes its Somatic Stem Cell (SSC) platform products, with candidate HLCM051 currently being evaluated in Phase 2/3 and Phase 2 trials in ischemic stroke and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), respectively. HLCM051 is in-licensed from Athersys, Inc.

Healios is a pioneer in the development of regenerative medicines in Japan, using gene-modified induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to develop regenerative treatments in ophthalmology, liver diseases, and immuno-oncology cell therapies targeting solid tumors.

Healios was established in 2011 and to date has raised over US$300 million in funds to support its growth and development. The Company is listed on the Tokyo stock exchange in 2015 (TSE Mothers: 4593). www.healios.co.jp

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Healios K.K.

Tsuyoshi Taguchi

Email: [email protected]

Citigate Dewe Rogerson

Frazer Hall, Nathaniel Dahan PhD, Mark Swallow PhD

Tel: +44 (0)20 7638 9571

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Healios K.K.

Related Links

https://www.healios.co.jp/


Nissan's fugitive ex-boss, Carlos Ghosn, described his arrest in Japan, from which he escaped last month, as a plot against him and his detention conditions as a "travesty" against human rights.

Ghosn was defensive as he held a news conference in Beirut - his first appearance since fleeing Japan last month in a high-risk operation. He said the decision to escape the country, where he was due to stand trial for alleged financial misconduct at the automaker, "was the most difficult of my life."

The former auto industry titan dismissed all allegations against him as untrue, saying "I should never have been arrested in the first place." "I'm not above the law and I welcome the opportunity for the truth to come out and have my name cleared," he told a packed room of journalists.

Ghosn smuggled himself from Tokyo to Beirut in late December, arriving in the Lebanese capital where he grew up and is regarded by many as a national hero.

Ghosn's daring and improbable escape has perplexed and embarrassed Japanese authorities after he skipped bail and managed to flee the country despite supposedly rigorous surveillance.

Media reports have said that he left his residence alone, met two men at a Tokyo hotel, and then took a bullet train to Osaka before boarding a private jet hidden inside a case for musical equipment. He flew to Istanbul and was then transferred onto another plane bound for Beirut, where he arrived December 30.

On Wednesday, Ghosn portrayed his arrest as a plot linked to a decline in the financial performance of Nissan. Ghosn had been in favour of merging Nissan with industry ally Renault, of which he was also chairman.

"Unfortunately there was no trust. And some of our Japanese friends thought that the only way to get rid of Renault in Nissan is to get rid of me," he said.

Earlier in the day, Tokyo prosecutors raided a Japanese lawyer's office where Ghosn had visited regularly before he fled. Japanese media reports said prosecutors had likely seized the computer to track down how Ghosn escaped and who might have helped him.

An hour before the scheduled press conference, a Lebanese prosecutor said Ghosn will be summoned "in the coming hours" over a visit to Israel more than 10 years ago, according to the state-run National News Agency.

Two Lebanese lawyers had submitted a report to the Public Prosecutor's Office against Ghosn last week, saying he violated Lebanese law by visiting Israel. The two neighbouring countries are technically in a state of war. Prosecutor Ghassan Khoury met with the two lawyers who filed the case on Wednesday and asked them to bring additional evidence, adding he would summon Ghosn in the coming hours.

Ghosn visited Israel in 2008 and met officials including the prime minister and the president. At the time he announced the launch of electric cars in Israel.

Lebanese authorities have said Ghosn entered the country on a legal passport, casting doubt on the possibility they would hand him over to Japan. Lebanon last week received an Interpol-issued wanted notice  a non-binding request to law enforcement agencies worldwide that they locate and provisionally arrest a fugitive.

Lebanon and Japan do not have an extradition treaty, and the Interpol notice does not require Lebanon to arrest him.

Ghosn, who is Lebanese and also holds French and Brazilian passports, was expected to go on trial in Tokyo in April. In statements, he has said he fled to avoid "political persecution" by a "rigged Japanese justice system." He also said that he alone organized his departure from Japan and that his wife, Carole, played no role.

On Tuesday, Tokyo prosecutors obtained an arrest warrant for Carole Ghosn on suspicion of perjury. That charge is not related to his escape. Lebanon's justice minister said Tuesday that Lebanon has not received any request related to that warrant.

Japanese justice officials acknowledge that it's unclear whether the Ghosns can be brought back to Japan to face charges.

Ghosn's former employer, Nissan Motor Co., said it was still pursuing legal action against him despite his escape, adding that Ghosn engaged in serious misconduct while leading the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance. Ghosn denies all the charges.
Activists and politicians from Goa have demanded that certain areas in wildlife sanctuaries of the state be notified as 'tiger reserve'.

The Goa government should follow up its proposal sent to the Centre in 2017 to notify certain areas of the coastal state as a tiger reserve, they say.

The demand has come following the death of four tigers in Mahadayi Wildlife Sanctuary of Sattari Taluka in North Goa district in the last few days.

As part of the state's proposal, about 500 sq km area of Mahadayi, Netravali and Cotigao wildlife sanctuaries and some part of Mahaveer National Park was selected to be marked as 'tiger reserve', considering the presence of the striped animals in those places.

Former forest minister of Goa Rajendra Arlekar said in 2017, the State Wildlife Board approved the proposal and it was sent to the Central Wildlife Board.

"The state government should follow up the proposal so that there is proper protection and conservation of tigers in these areas," the BJP leader said.

Carcasses of a tigress and her three cubs were found in the Mahadayi Wildlife Sanctuary earlier this week.

Threelocals were arrested for suspected poisoning of the four wild cats, which were captured roaming in the area on cameras set up by the forest department on December 23, 2019.

The forest department prima facie suspects that the felines were poisoned in a "revenge killing" for preying on cattle in Golavali village.

Union Ministry of Forest, and Climate Change has constituted a high-level committee to inquire into deaths of the tigers.

Environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar, who was the first to moot the proposal for tiger reserve, said the state government should form a 'task force' for the protection and conservation of wild cats.

"The proposal of tiger reserves should also be followed up by the state government with the central authorities. The areas where there is human habitation or they have plantations can be excluded from the tiger reserve," he suggested.

Such a step is required to save the tigers inhabiting forests of the coastal state, he added.

As per National Tiger Conservation Authority's census, five wild cats were spotted in Goa in 2010.

But, Kerkar claimed the number would be more than five.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By now, fans of the Royal Family have received the news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are taking a huge step back from their royal duties. Less than two years after Markle officially joined the Royal Family by marrying Prince Harry, the royal couple has decided to forego their responsibilities as senior members of the Royal Family.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry | Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announce huge news

The Duke and Duchess announced their decision in a statement on January 8, 2019. The former actress and The Prince have opted to step down as senior members of the Royal Family. Citing reasoning such as launching their personal charitable endeavors and raising their son privately, they shared their difficult decision with the public. But, could the medias unfair treatment of Markle be the real reason for this choice?

After the royal wedding, the medias treatment of Markle got worse

Markle has been treated unfairly by the media ever since she and Prince Harry went public with their relationship. Things only escalated when she married Prince Harry and welcomed their young son, Archie, into the world. Critics slammed Markle for everything from holding her baby to taking maternity leave. Publications made up terrible lies about her and violated her privacy by publishing private letters that she sent to her family members. In many ways, the medias treatment of Markle is eerily similar to the way they treated her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana. Of course, Markle also has to contend with an added dose of racism.

When Prince Harry announced that they were suing Daily Mail, he also revealed his deepest fear

Having lost his mother in a tragic accident that occurred, in large part because of the medias carelessness, Prince Harry has openly expressed concern for his wife. When the couple revealed their plans to sue the Daily Mail back in October of 2019, the Duke of Sussex revealed that losing Markle due to the medias callousness was his greatest fear. Because my deepest fear is history repeating itself. Ive seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces, Prince Harry wrote in a statement posted to the Sussex website.

Announcing their resignation on Instagram

Prince Harry gave clear warnings that he would continue to prioritize his wife and his sons well-being at all costs. This is why many fans of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were unsurprised that they are taking a step back from royal life. On Instagram, the powerful couple outlined their thought processed behind this choice. After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. We intend to step back as senior members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen, the statement began.

The royals will split their time between Canada, The USA, and The UK

It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment. We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages. This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity,  Markle and Prince Harry continued.

A new age for Markle and Prince Harry

Finally, the royals extended their thanks to their loyal supporters and promised to keep them informed about whats next for them. We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support.  The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the couple concluded.

Of course, even retirement cant protect Markle from harsh criticism. The statement has already received thousands of hateful comments, a large majority of them directed at the duchess. Thanks Meghan Markle for putting a black eye on the US. You married into his family. You knew exactly what you were getting into. Now you are turning your back on the monarchy. If your marriage lasts, I would be very surprised. Embarrassing, one naysayer wrote on Instagram. With so much unjustifiable hate, its no wonder Prince Harry and Markle have chosen to step back from their roles as senior royals. We wish them all the best in their exciting (and hopefully more peaceful) new chapter.
In 2018, the Vietnamese government issued Circular 17/2018/TT-BLDTBXH (Circular 17) regulating self-inspection of labor law compliance by enterprises. The Circular, already in effect since January 1, 2019 provides guidelines for self-inspection of compliance with labor law, online reporting, and responsibilities of employers, labor unions, and the states inspection agencies.

According to Circular 17, the timing of self-inspection is at the discretion of the enterprises, but they need to do it at least once a year and must retain all the files of the results.

If they fail to conduct the self-inspection or report the results, they may be subjected to a labor law compliance inspection or could incur penalties.

Scope of self-inspection

The self-inspection needs to cover the following according to Circular 17:

periodical labor reports;

employee recruitment and training

signing and execution of labor contracts;

communication, negotiation, and the signing of collective labor agreements

Working hours and rest hours;

wages paid to employees;

organization and implementation of occupational safety and hygiene;

implementation of regulations for female employees, minor employees, elderly employees, disabled employees and foreign employees;

formulation and registration of labor rules, labor discipline, and physical compensation

participation and deduction/contribution of compulsory social insurance, unemployment insurance and health insurance for the relevant employees;

handling of labor-related disputes and complaints; and

other activities deemed necessary by the employer.

Employer obligations

The employer needs to conduct the self-inspection as prescribed in Circular 17. They also need to register an account and submit the results on the website (http://tukiemtraphapluatlaodong.gov.vn) as required by the state inspection agency.

In addition, employers need to work with the labor union in implementing the recommendations put forth by the state inspection agency for labor affairs.

Procedures

The employer needs to set up a self-inspection delegation and create an account on the website (http://tukiemtraphapluatlaodong.gov.vn) to receive a self-inspection note.

The delegation should be comprised of a delegation head (employer representative) and members who are in charge of salary, occupational safety and health work, labor union, and other departments as decided by the employer.

Next, the delegation needs to compare the companys activities with the labor law in force and analyze if it complies with the law. If there are any acts against the labor law, they need to suggest measures to ensure compliance. The conclusion of the delegation needs to be posted on the website (http://tukiemtraphapluatlaodong.gov.vn) and updated in case there are changes in the labor law.

In case of activities which require inspections visits to production facilities or workplace of the employees, the delegation needs to pay a visit to check for compliance.

The self-inspection dossier should include the self-inspection note, conclusion of the inspection, documents on the establishment of the delegation, and other relevant documents created during inspections.

The final step is to work with the labor union and create an online report of the result as per regulations. The enterprise, including its branches and offices in local areas, need to send the online report to their authorities and Inspectorate of the Department of Labour  Invalids and Social Affairs in places where their entities operate.
Fighting a boardroom battle at multi-billion dollar Murugappa Group previously headed by her late father, US-settled nuclear scientist Valli Arunachalam on Thursday said she would be forced to take legal recourse if an amicable settlement is not reached soon, and alleged that she is being denied a board seat just because of being a woman.

"I have lots of patience but it's not infinite," said Arunachalam, the New York-based eldest daughter of late Murugappa Group patriarch MV Murugappan.

In an interview here, she accused her extended family of uncles and male cousins of denying her to execute her father's will "just because I am a woman".

After being the executive chairman of the nearly Rs 40,000-crore diversified group that runs around 30 companies, ten of them listed, for over two decades, MV Murugappan passed away in September 2017, leaving a probate will bequeathing his 8.15 per cent stake in the group holding firm Ambadi Investments to his wife and two daughters.

It can be noted that Arunachalam has chosen to go public with her grievances weeks after the National Company Law appellate Tribunal reinstated Cyrus Mistry as the chairman of the Tata Group, and also declared that his family is legally qualified to hold a board position in the group as a minority shareholder.

"After I went public with my demand for a board position or an amicable settlement through a buyout of our significant stake in the Ambadi, both of which have so far been rejected by the board of my extended family members, who run it. I have read last week that they are working on a corporate governance plan at the company.

"I am keen to know how they are going execute it and how soon. Though I have lots of patience, I would like to remind them that my patience is not infinite" Valli, who holds a PhD in nuclear engineering, told PTI in an interview.

She also said that if an amicable settlement is not happening at the earliest, she will be "forced to take legal/regulatory recourse" (including moving the NCLT and the ministry of corporate affairs).

But despite pressing for a timeline, she refused to put a deadline for resolution -- getting a board position or selling the 8.15 per cent stake to other family members, according to her late father's will, at a fair value.

Though she said that they had submitted a valuation, but refused to quantify the same, citing confidentiality.

Her family is not represented on the board, which she squarely blames as "gender discrimination".

"I am being denied a board position just because I am a woman," she said, and points out that "my uncle MV Subbiah, who has long ago retired as the chairman but still controls everything at the group and is also the sole spokesperson for the rest of the family barring my immediate family. He has been on record in an email in October that I am not eligible for a board position as the Murugappa family has no history of a woman getting into the company nor I have any experience".

She wondered if working with some of the top Fortune 500 companies for 23 long years is not good enough experience to be a board member of the company her father built.

All the eight board members are male and of them six are from her extended family -- two uncles and four cousins -- who while joining the company in their early youth had no experience at all, she claimed.

Arunachalam, her sister Vellachi Murugappan and their mother MV Valli Murugappan together hold 8.15 per cent stake in the holding entity that controls 28 registered entities and 10 listed companies like EID Parry, Cholamandalam Investment, Coromandel Fertilisers, Tube Investments, TI Financial Holdings, Shanthi Gears, Cholamandalam MS General Insurance and Carborundum Universal among others.

The fifth generation Murugappa family also runs businesses like bicycles, engineering, fertilisers and finance and the group employs 50,000.

"My sister and I are well educated, we have many years of experience, and there is no reason why our skills cannot be transferable or applicable to the family business," she said, adding her sister is a software engineer with a decade of experience.

Arunachalam said she first wrote an email to chairman MA Alagappan and company secretary P Eswaran and the board members on August 13, 2019, seeking a board position or asking them to buy out their stake at a fair value.

"The mail was responded to in later October not by any of the addressees but by MV Subbiah who clearly ruled out the first demand saying 'Murugappa family clearly keep women out of business' and with no experience I am not eligible and ignored the second demand," she said, adding that her family gets paid the dividends and bonuses on time and the issue is not money but getting her rights and also securing corporate governance at the company her father built.

Prior to that Ambadi had AGM on August 19, wherein they refused to take her proposals and the questions sent via emails to the company secretary, forcing her seek a copy of the video recording. But that was also denied, saying it was meant for board members only, she alleged.

Then there was the board meeting on November 26, but when she asked for the minutes of the meeting, it was not complied with. Not just that the company secretary replied to her on November 26 email only on December 11, stating that the minutes of the board meetings can be shared only with the board.

"This was the trigger for me to go public," Arunachalam said, adding that she had first suggested them to buy her family stake more than two years ago to settle things amicably.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
ATHENS, Greece, Jan. 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Diana Shipping Inc. (DSX), (the Company), a global shipping company specializing in the ownership of dry bulk vessels, today announced that, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, it has entered into a time charter contract with Phaethon International Company AG, for one of its Panamax dry bulk vessels, the m/v Oceanis. The gross charter rate is US$9,200 per day, minus a 5% commission paid to third parties, for a period of minimum twelve (12) months to about fourteen (14) months. The charter is expected to commence on January 9, 2020.



The Oceanis is a 75,211 dwt Panamax dry bulk vessel built in 2001.

This employment is anticipated to generate approximately US$3.31 million of gross revenue for the minimum scheduled period of the time charter.

Upon completion of the previously announced sale of one Panamax dry bulk vessel, the m/v Calipso, Diana Shipping Inc.s fleet will consist of 41 dry bulk vessels (4 Newcastlemax, 14 Capesize, 5 Post-Panamax, 5 Kamsarmax and 13 Panamax). As of today, the combined carrying capacity of the Companys fleet is approximately 5.2 million dwt with a weighted average age of 9.56 years. A table describing the current Diana Shipping Inc. fleet can be found on the Companys website, www.dianashippinginc.com. Information contained on the Companys website does not constitute a part of this press release.

About the Company

Diana Shipping Inc. is a global provider of shipping transportation services through its ownership of dry bulk vessels. The Companys vessels are employed primarily on medium to long-term time charters and transport a range of dry bulk cargoes, including such commodities as iron ore, coal, grain and other materials along worldwide shipping routes.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

Story continues

The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words believe, anticipate, intends, estimate, forecast, project, plan, potential, may, should, expect, pending and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, Company managements examination of historical operating trends, data contained in the Companys records and other data available from third parties. Although the Company believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies that are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond the Companys control, the Company cannot assure you that it will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.

In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in the Companys view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand for dry bulk shipping capacity, changes in the Companys operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for the Companys vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessel breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other factors. Please see the Companys filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Corporate Contact:

Ioannis Zafirakis

Director, Chief Strategy Officer and Secretary

Telephone: + 30-210-9470-100

Email: izafirakis@dianashippinginc.com

Website: www.dianashippinginc.com



Investor and Media Relations:

Edward Nebb

Comm-Counsellors, LLC

Telephone: + 1-203-972-8350

Email: enebb@optonline.net
Are the space aliens bored of Brexit? Scared of Trump? Keen to get a vote in the Labour leadership contest? It seems extraterrestials might be trying to communicate something or other after astronomers detected a mysterious radio signal coming from a nearby galaxy. Boris Johnson  on the verge of getting his Brexit bill through the Commons today  is ignoring all efforts by the life forms on the opposition benches to communicate the bills flaws. Westminster watchers, meanwhile, are trying to decode messages given off by the new EU Commission chief after her first contact with the PM at No 10. And Barry Gardiner is sending out signals he could make a dramatic late arrival in the Labour leadership contest. Im Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independents daily Inside Politics briefing.

Inside the bubble

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock on what to look out for in SW1 today:
Migrant workers receive wages that police helped them recover from employers who defaulted on payments in Shenyang, Liaoning province, on Dec 12, 2017. [Cai Jingyu/For China Daily]

New officials 'must not be allowed to disavow obligations', premier says

China will work to ensure that government departments and State-owned enterprises clear their undisputed arrears owed to private and smaller businesses as much as possible by the end of this year, and resolute efforts will be made to see the task through, the State Council's executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang determined on Wednesday.

"Much work has been done to tackle this problem over the past year," Li said. "There must be no letup. This problem is primarily about wage payments that departments and SOEs owe to private companies, small and medium-sized enterprises and migrant workers. It has directly affected the government's credibility, the business environment, expectations of private businesses and people's lives."

It was noted at the meeting that as of the end of last year, some 75 percent of the more than 890 billion yuan ($128 billion) of the arrears identified nationwide had been paid, exceeding the original target of making no less than half the delinquent payments in 2019.

Supervision from higher levels of government and public scrutiny will be applied to repayments of large sums, it was decided at the meeting. Provincial governments have overall responsibility for the payments and must formulate plans for any cities and counties that are unable to complete the task, ensuring that no arrears are left unaddressed. Large State-owned enterprises must coordinate with their subsidiaries to make sure the late payments are made.

Going forward, when it comes to construction projects, sufficient capital will be allocated and issued on time in accordance with contracts for wage payments to migrant workers, it was determined. Governments at all levels, and State-owned enterprisesand public institutions in particularmust not fall into arrears on payments to migrant workers for any reason, it was decided.

"New government officials must not be allowed to disavow obligations undertaken by their predecessors," Li said. "Undisputed arrears must be paid off by the end of this year."
YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. The ministry of emergency situations informs that on January 9, as of 08:00, some roads are difficult to pass in Armenia.

The ministry told Armenpress that Vardenyats Pass and Sotk-Karvachar highway are difficult to pass for trucks.

The Georgian side informed that the Stepantsminda-Lars highway is open for all types of vehicles.

Drivers are urged to use winter tires.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan




The man accused of causing a bomb scare in New York City last summer by leaving two rice cookers in a lower Manhattan subway station has been pictured in court for the first time in months, DailyMail.com can reveal.

Larry Kenton Griffin II, 26, was charged with two counts of placing a false bomb or hazardous substance in a public place back in August after surveillance footage captured him pushing a shopping cart filled with rice cookers inside Fulton Street Station and planting two of the devices on separate parts of the platform.

Dressed in a large green jacket and slacks, a shackled and forlorn-looking Griffin emerged in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon appearing before a judge for the first time since his arraignment in September.

Griffin pouted and stared vacantly down to the ground as he was escorted in front of the judge's bench as part of a calendar call, ahead of his upcoming trial.

His attorney requested to the judge that Griffin, who is originally of Bruno, West Virginia, be extradited back to his home state for trial but no immediate decision was made by the judge.

Larry Kenton Griffin II, 26, was charged with two counts of placing a false bomb or hazardous substance in a public place back in August after surveillance footage captured him pushing a shopping cart filled with rice cookers inside Fulton Street Station

Griffin pouted and stared vacantly down to the ground as he was escorted in front of the judge's bench as part of a calendar call this afternoon, ahead of his upcoming trial

Surveillance video obtained by police shows Larry Griffin, 26, pushing a shopping cart with rice cookers inside and leaving them in Fulton Street Station and on one of its platforms

The discovery of the two containers inside the station, located just two blocks from the World Trade Center, on the morning of August 16 prompted an evacuation of Fulton Street and counter-terrorism officers were summoned to the scene.

An hour later, cops confirmed the cookers were empty, were not modified, and were not explosives as first feared, but a city-wide search for the culprit who planted them was launched.

Griffin, who police would later go on to describe as mentally disturbed, was apprehended by chance on August 20 after a four day hunt, when police were summoned to a home in the Bronx to reports of a suspected overdose and found it was Griffin in need of medical assistance.

Video footage captured the moment he was taken away to hospital, strapped to a gurney and seemingly unconscious with an oxygen mask secured around his face.

Family members have previously revealed to DailyMail.com that Griffin has a history of drug abuse and drug addiction, and had been panhandling in New York up until his arrest.

His attorney requested to the judge that Griffin, who is originally of Bruno, West Virginia, be extradited back to his home state for trial but no immediate decision was made by the judge

The discovery of the two containers inside the station, located just two blocks from the World Trade Center, on August 16 prompted an evacuation of Fulton Street and counterterrorism officers were summoned to the scene

Police and fire department were dispatched to investigate the report of two suspicious packages at Fulton Street Station after a call after 7am, shortly before rush hour

Jason Griffin, Larry's brother, explained to DailyMail.com that his brother was homeless and is mentally ill, believing his actions may have been 'a cry for help'.

He said at the time: 'There was no evidence that he would ever be a 'rice cooker bomber', he has no political affiliation and as far as I know is a registered Democrat'.

Griffin, 44, who lives in New London, Connecticut, said: 'He was held-up in a house, I didn't know what to do.

'He was in the house knowing they were looking for him, he wanted to run and asked me to help him run.

'I told him no. I tried to tell him to turn himself in and be calm but once I gave him words of rationality he hung-up.'

Griffin revealed that two days prior to the incident his brother was allegedly refused help when he tried to check himself into a psychiatric hospital.

He said: 'He is bipolar and has never been medicated. We come from the South with not a lot of parental instruction from the family. He needs to be medicated.

Griffin, who police would later go on to describe as mentally disturbed, was apprehended by chance on August 20 after a four day hunt, when police were summoned to a home in the Bronx to reports of a suspected overdose and found it was Griffin in need of medical assistance

Video footage captured the moment he was taken away to hospital, strapped to a gurney and seemingly unconscious with an oxygen mask secured around his face

'He called me when he was trying to get into a psych ward that was the last contact before today.

'It basically comes down to... we present well so no one takes us seriously. If you're well-dressed and shaved you can't be crazy in their eyes.

'He said they weren't going to admit him, he was worried and was calling (me) on a woman's phone.'

Griffin added that his brother had been living homeless on the streets of New York since March 2019 and considered it to be an 'adventure'.

He explained that Larry found sleeping in boxes 'fun' and that he pushed a shopping cart around regularly.

Jason claims his brother found the three rice cookers in front of a sushi restaurant.

'He put them in his shopping cart and went on a little adventure, how he ended up on the subway I don't know,' he said.

Jason Griffin (left) said his brother Larry (right, pictured aged five) was scared when he called him. After tried to reason with his brother and allegedly told him not to go on the run he hung-up

Family members have previously revealed to DailyMail.com that Griffin has a history of drug abuse and drug addiction, and had recently been panhandling in New York to survive.

Griffin (above), 26, had gotten into trouble with the law previously. He had been arrested at least three times in the last eight year

Chief Deputy M.A Mayes of the Logan County Sheriff's Department revealed to DailyMail.com that, prior to his August arrest, Griffin had several run-ins with the law dating back to 2011, with a warrant also outstanding for his arrest.

Griffin was charged in 2011 with possession of controlled substance and possession of a weapon by a prohibited person.

He was also later charged in 2017 with use of obscene matter to seduce minor and display of obscene material to minor, Chief Deputy Mayes said.

According to a criminal complaint, Griffin sent a series of sexually explicit messages to the minor in July and November 2017.

One of the messages was said to include a homemade video showing a man engaging in sex acts with an unspecified animal.

In March a warrant was issued for his arrest for failure to report for drug screening which is part of his pre-trial bond supervision.

His father, Larry Griffin, said his son fled the area after being charged.
Appointment

9 January 2020

Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, the iconic world leading hotel group known for its historic luxury and unparalleled service, has announced the appointment of Jannika Spremberg as Director of Sales and Marketing of Fairmont Empress in Victoria, BC.

In her new position, Spremberg will lead the Sales, Marketing, Public Relations, Catering and Conference Services teams, tasked with optimizing revenue opportunities and continuing to develop the hotel's iconic brand. She most recently served as the Director of Revenue Management, Fairmont Empress, a role that gave her valuable insights and understanding of the hotel's rate strategy and comparative analysis of Canada's West Coast hospitality market.

Prior to her time at Fairmont Empress, Spremberg spent four years as the Director of Revenue Management at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess in Bermuda, following her time spent in progressive roles within the Revenue Management team at Fairmont Dubai.

Spremberg holds a BA in Hotel Management from The Hague. She was awarded Leader of the Year at Fairmont Hamilton Princess in 2015 and currently sits as co-chair on the Fairmont Empress RiiSE Committee, a corporate led initiative promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
By Trend

With organizational support of Azerbaijan Tourism Board (ATB), 14 Azerbaijani tourist companies participate in the 27th International Travel & Tourism Trade Show (SATTE) 2020, which is being held in New Delhi on January 8-10, Trend reports referring to ATB.

Azerbaijan's opportunities in the tourism sector are demonstrated at a stand of 144 square meters. Within the framework of the exhibition, the companies representing Azerbaijan hold meetings with foreign travel agencies in B2B format and discuss prospects for cooperation.

Over 1,000 participants from more than 50 countries and from 105 cities of India, as well as over 30,000 experts in the field of tourism and travel attend the exhibition.

SATTE is one of the most internationally acclaimed travel and tourism exhibition across India. The event recognized as a leading event in South Asia aims to showcase Indias tourism potential to the world by bringing the global tourism market to the country.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Not all nuclear weapons go bang. Some just quietly kill the fish. To avoid that Norway has begun paying for the movement of Russian Navy nuclear waste from a Cold War era storage facility 65 kilometers from the Norwegian border to a more modern storage facility at Murmansk, about a hundred kilometers further east. Each shipload (14 containers) cost $565,000 move. This includes getting spent fuel rods and other nuclear waste from decaying Cold War era containers and into more modern ones. After that, it costs about $280,000 for the sea voyage to Murmansk. From there the nuclear material is eventually moved to a nuclear reprocessing in Chelyabinsk, which is far inland, just east of the Ural Mountains on the border between Asia and Europe.

Until recently Russia paid for movement of the nuclear material out of the old naval base at Andreeva Bay while Norway had already contributed millions of dollars to upgrade the nuclear storage site there to avoid leaks or other accidents that would contaminate nearby fishing grounds that are valuable to Norway and Russia. As of late 2019, only about 25 percent of the fuel rods at Andreeva Bay have been recovered from the crumbling storage facilities, repackaged in more effective containers and shipped to a better storage site or reprocessing. It will take another eight years or more to recover, repack and move the remaining fuel rods. That will leave some material that is too difficult to recover and has had new containment structures built around it.

The Andreeva Bay naval base was built in the early 1960s for the storage of nuclear waste. The base was closed in 1982 because of a leak in the water storage pool where spent nuclear fuel rods were kept. The cleanup went on until 1989 but not before 770,000 tons of contaminated water leaked into the Barents Sea. Some 9,000 nuclear fuel rods, in 1,500 barrels, were moved to safer storage. At the time Russia was reluctant to allow Norway to get involved but there were several accidents during the cleanup. To make matters worse there was the 1986 nuclear plant meltdown in Chernobyl, which made cooperation with Norway a prudent safety and political move. The cooperation, and financial aid from the West, increased after 1991. Post-Cold War Russia was more open and more details of Cold War era nuclear contamination in Russia emerged. It turned out there was a lot of clean up required. With the end of the Cold War in 1991, the storage facility continued to deteriorate. Norway was at risk as well because the Andreeva Bay facility was so close to Norway and any Barents Sea contamination hurt both nations, but especially Norway because the contamination was so close. This was a problem not only at Andreeva Bay but at several other Russian naval bases further east where over 200 nuclear-powered ships, most of them submarines, were in need of dismantling and safe storage of nuclear fuel rods from nearly 500 nuclear reactors.

Twenty years after the Cold war ended Russia, with financial and technical assistance from America, Britain, Canada, Japan, Italy and Norway, has dismantled over 200 retired nuclear submarines a year, and a few of the nuclear-powered surface ships. Up through the early 1990s, Russia had built nearly 260 nuclear ships (nearly all submarines). The end of the Cold War in 1991 left the Russians unable to keep most of those subs in service. Russian nukes were expensive to maintain. Many were not worth keeping in service simply because they were too noisy, too old and had too many other flaws. Most of the submarine dismantling was paid for by the U.S., which spent over $15 billion to implement the 1993 Strategic Offense Arms Elimination Implementing Agreement with Russia. Britain, Canada, Japan, Italy and Norway also contributed cash and technical assistance to this effort.

Throughout the 1990s, Russia only decommissioned 2-4 nuclear subs a year. Many nuclear subs were taken out of service in the early 1990s, although lots of older boats were being decommissioned in the late 1980s before the Cold War even ended. That's because Russians tend to keep old weapons in service long beyond the time it's worth it. By the end of the 1990s, Russia had 150 decommissioned nuclear subs waiting to be dismantled. Russia hoped to complete dismantling these submarines by 2007, but things went much slower than expected because there was no money. However, by 2000, things really began to pick, as 18 subs were dismantled in that year and that soon reached 20 subs a year.

It costs about $7 million to dismantle one submarine. The primary task is to safely take apart the nuclear reactor, and get the radioactive components to a secure storage facility. The foreign countries contributing to this effort are all maritime nations that were concerned about the old Soviet subs falling apart while still in the water. What got this aid program going was the discovery that the Soviets were just dumping some radioactive components into Arctic waters. Russia was more willing, than the Soviets, to do the right thing and is determined to safely dispose of all these old nuclear subs.

Now the priority has shifted to dealing with the radioactive components of those subs, especially the nuclear fuel rods. These can be reprocessed into new fuel rods for power plants but that is behind schedule as well. Another priority is moving stored fuel rods out of decrepit Cold War area facilities like Andreeva Bay. Most of this work is done at the many Russian naval facilities on the north coast. But about 15 percent of the work is taking place in the Far East, where Russia also stationed nuclear subs during the Cold War. In the Far East, there is an additional problem because the dismantling work is taking place less than 200 kilometers from North Korea, which has already been caught several times trying to buy or steal nuclear material from those facilities.
Tata Motors said on Thursday that it will start rolling out BSVI-compliant passenger vehicles from this month.

The auto major also plans to have four global unveils and display 14 commercial and 12 passenger vehicle at the upcoming Auto Expo, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Guenter Butschek said.

Tata Motors has invested Rs 1,200 crore in transition to the new engine technology, which include investment in end-to-end focus for sales, after-sales and spare parts inventory management, in the last fiscal, he added.

Tata Motors is all set to roll out a product offensive in 2020. It will commence the introduction of its all-new BSVI range of products with passenger vehicles, starting from January 2020, the company announced.

"From January 2020 onwards we will be introducing over 100 lead models with over 1,000 variants," Tata Motors President and CTO, Rajendra Petkar said.

These will cover options of powertrain combinations, body styles, chassis configurations and technologies imbibing CESS (connected, electric, shared and safety), he stated.

Significant front loading of activities, the use of digital product development tools and early involvement of globally reputed technology and supplier partners have helped us accelerate the portfolio migration, he added.

The company also said the BSVI transition has been the single-largest focus area for it, adding that it established a state-of-the-art 'Advance Power Systems Engineering Tech Center' at its Engineering Research Center (ERC) Pune, which has played a key role in the roll-out.

Butschek said that with this new range of products, the company is confident that January marks a turning point in transition to BSVI.

"It is going to give us a much more powerful play for 2020-21, and if this is going to be supported by a bit of a tail wind, as far as the market is concerned, I am confident that we are going to get back to the previous growth path."



He said the recovery in the passenger vehicle segment is expected in the second half of the next financial year.

We are cautiously optimistic. The second half of the next fiscal year should be a realistic horizon for the recovery," he said.

He said that the Union Budget 2020-21 needs to have the stimulus element where the industry sees the continuation of what was announced earlier by the government to boost demand.

"I do hope that the scrappage policy is formalised and finally approved soon. This would also help as far as transition from BSIV to BSVI is concerned," he said.

India is a widely diversified market and the last year has shown the industry that in order to play in such highly diversified market, with many differentiated dynamics, one needs to apply a micro market strategy, Butschek said.

He said the company had not yet taken a call on the pricing of BSVI vehicles.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
For years, he has tried to repeal and replace post-9/11 authorizations Congress passed in 2001 and 2002 as a legal basis for military action in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kaine says the legislation has been inappropriately stretched to justify U.S. military engagements well beyond the original authorization and that Congress has abdicated its responsibility for declaring war under the Constitution.
Washington  New Jersey Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker said President Trump's upcoming impeachment trial and other issues demanding his attention in Washington could be a "big, big blow" to his efforts to win next month's Iowa caucuses.

Booker told The Associated Press in an interview for its "Ground Game" podcast that his campaign's internal metrics indicate he would finish in a "pretty exciting place" in the February 3 caucuses, but his Senate responsibilities could hamper his ability to remain competitive.

"It's going to be a challenging four weeks into caucus for us where our strengths are going to be under assault, so to speak, from all the things going on in our country right now," he said. "Our weaknesses are going to be seen because, again, if we can't raise more money in this final stretch, we won't be able do the things that other campaigns with more money can do to really show presence."

Booker said his campaign is under "major pressure" to bring in donations, which would allow him to remain on the airwaves in the coming weeks if he cannot be in Iowa.

"We have real demanding things going on in Washington," he said. "I swore an oath to do this job and I'm going to do it."

Booker is one of five Democratic senators running for president who could be forced to spend the days leading up to the Iowa caucuses participating in the impeachment trial in the Senate. The parameters of the proceedings, however, have not yet been agreed to, including how long they will last and whether witnesses will be called.

The House voted last month to impeach Mr. Trump, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has refused to send the two articles of impeachment to the Senate until Republicans publish a resolution outlining the rules for the trial. The upper chamber cannot begin a trial without the articles, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said Republicans have the votes to approve a resolution without negotiating with Democrats.

Story continues

Booker said a Senate lasting just two weeks would force him to cancel "literally dozens" of events where he could drum up support from caucus-goers.

In addition to the impeachment trial, escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran will require Booker's attention.

The New Jersey senator returned to Washington for an all-Senate briefing Wednesday on the Trump administration's targeted strike that killed top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani last week. Lawmakers have raised questions about the justification for the attack ordered by Mr. Trump, and congressional Democrats are preparing to vote on a measure to limit his war-making powers.

Booker said he is confident his campaign will exceed expectations in Iowa, which would give him momentum heading into contests in states with more diverse electorates. Still, he has not qualified for next week's Democratic presidential debate in Des Moines, the final debate before the caucuses.

Booker has also not been shy about his fundraising struggles. In September, Booker's campaign manager warned he needed to bring in at least $1.7 million by the end of the third quarter in order to stay in the race. Booker also urged voters last month to donate to his campaign, telling "Face the Nation" in an interview he needed their help.

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New Delhi: Taking charge of the governments efforts to revive the economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday met economists and industry leaders to chart the future course of action.

Mr Modi held 12 brainstorming meetings with different stakeholders at Niti Aayog to discuss the issues facing the economy and measures needed to boost growth and create jobs.

The meeting assumes significance in the wake of forecasts that suggest India will post the slowest economic growth in 11 years.

Though finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman was not present at the meeting, it was attended by home minister Amit Shah, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal.

The finance minister, however, skipped the meeting with economists for holding pre-budget consultations with party workers at BJP office.

Ticking off the government on the finance ministers absence at such a crucial meeting, the Congress asked the PM to consider inviting the finance minister for the next budget meeting.

Here's a suggestion, next budget meeting, consider inviting the FM, the Congress said.
A Kerrville teacher was arrested in connection with taking improper photographs of a student during class, according to the Kerrville Police Department.

Jimmy Lee McElhaney, 36, was placed under arrest on Dec. 27 by police in Palmer, a town south of Dallas.
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This is the shocking moment a group of five suspected migrants cut their way out of a lorry at an Essex industrial estate.

The men were in the back of the heavy goods vehicle when it stopped at Stonehouse Industrial Estate in Purfleet, Essex at around 11.30am yesterday.

It is believed the lorry had recently crossed the Channel.

These migrants escaped from the back of a truck at Stonehouse Industrial Estate in Purfleet, Essex, at around 11.30am yesterday

The men escaped after cutting their way through a tarpaulin at the back of the truck

The men cut their way through a tarpaulin in the back of the truck.

According to a witness, one of the men shouted 'happy New Year, we love you... London here we come'.

The men fled the scene after leaving the truck before police arrived.

A witness told MailOnline: 'I was outside having a cigarette and heard the rip of the lorry and saw one person jump out then started filming. After the recording stopped no one approached them for safety reasons and they then all run away.'

Migrants are still risking their lives crossing the Channel in the back of trucks despite the tragic deaths of 39 people in October.

The bodies of 39 Vietnamese nationals, including two 15-year-old boys, were found in the trailer in an industrial park in Grays, in the early hours of October 23, shortly after the lorry arrived on a ferry from Zeebrugge, in Belgium.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 19:21:36|Editor: xuxin

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TEHRAN, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Thursday released a preliminary report about the Ukrainian Boeing 737 passenger plane which crashed in capital Tehran's Parand suburb on Wednesday with all people on board killed.

According to Ali Abedzadeh, the chief of Iran's Aviation Organization, the black boxes of the plane have been damaged. Besides, physical damage on the memories of both equipment are visible.

Iran has invited representatives of Ukraine and relevant countries for evaluations on the accident, Abedzadeh was quoted as saying by Khabaronline news website.

He said that on Wednesday after the plane ascended to 8,000 feet high, it disappeared from the radar and then crashed.

The Iranian official said that no radio message of "unusual condition" has been received from the pilot.

Abedzadeh said that the locals saw the blaze erupting from the plane before it crashed.

The direction of the crash shows that after the pilot found the problem, he changed the direction and returned to the airport, the official noted.

There were 176 people on board the Ukrainian plane, including 167 passengers and nine crew members, Abedzadeh said.

On Wednesday, Iranian media released different figures about the people on board the crashed plane.
This is the first time in five months that several countries asked the Centre to let them review the ground situation in the areas under internet shutdown. Reports suggest that India's move to allow foreign envoys is a diplomatic move to water down Pakistan's propaganda on Kashmir issue.

Five months after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, fifteen envoys from Latin American and African countries are expected to visit the valley today and meet civil society members over the security situation in the Union Territory.

ANI reported that a delegation of 15 foreign envoys has already reached Srinagar and are currently being briefed by the Indian Army on the security situation. The delegation comprises envoys from USA, Argentina, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Norway, Maldives, Niger and Morocco.

European Union envoy is also expected to review the security situation in Kashmir on another date as the EU has informed the BJP-led Centre that it will visit the UT.

The ones visiting today will be meeting Lieutenant Governor GC Murmu and other officials in Jammu. This is the first time in five months that several countries asked the Centre to let them review the ground situation in the areas under internet shutdown. Reports suggest that Indias move to allow foreign envoys is a diplomatic move to water down Pakistans propaganda on Kashmir issue. Following the suspension of Jammu and Kashmirs special status, India had reached to P5 countries and world capitals explaining why it abrogated UTs special status.

Pakistan has been trying hard to internationalize the Kashmir issue but to no avail. Its very first attempt was the informal closed-door meeting of UNSC member where barring China, the other countries called Kashmir Indias internal matter.

Time and again, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has raked up the Kashmir issue at international forums and one such was at the United Nations summit where in an almost 40-minute long speech, Khan accused India of subverting human rights underlining that India was suppressing its minorities.

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Water woes and a lack of funding are among the many problems said to be affecting residents 
Britain is expected to make a final call on how to deploy Huawei equipment in its future 5G networks later this month. (Photo: AP)

The United States is making a final pitch to Britain ahead of a UK decision on whether to upgrade its telecoms network with Huawei equipment, amid threats to cut intelligence-sharing ties, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Britain is expected to make a final call on how to deploy Huawei equipment in its future 5G networks later this month. It has been weighing US-led allegations that Huaweis telecoms equipment could be used to spy against Britains relationship with Beijing and industry warnings that banning the firm outright would cost billions of dollars.

Huawei, the worlds biggest maker of mobile networking equipment, has repeatedly denied the allegations. Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to press British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab over Huawei at a meeting in Washington on Thursday, the sources said.

Ahead of the decision, Washington had also planned to send a delegation, including deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, to meet with British officials this week, sources said. But the trip was cancelled at the last minute, two of the people said, due to bad weather.

Last month, the United States passed legislation that included a little-noticed provision bolstering threats to restrict intelligence-sharing with allies that use Huawei equipment.

Washington is seen to be cocking the pistol, said a person with knowledge of the British governments position on Huawei. Whats unclear is how, when or indeed if it will actually be fired.

A UK government spokesman said: The security and resilience of the UKs telecoms networks is of paramount importance. The government continues to consider its position on high-risk vendors and a decision will be made in due course.

The US State Department and National Security Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Britain is a key battleground in the geopolitical tug-of-war over Huawei. Officials decided in principle last year to block the company from critical parts of the 5G network but give it limited access to less sensitive parts. A final decision has yet to be made public.

A provision of the US 2020 defence spending law, signed by President Donald Trump in December, directs intelligence agencies to consider the use of telecoms and cybersecurity infrastructure provided by adversaries of the United States, particularly China and Russia, when entering intelligence-sharing agreements with foreign countries.

The provision, added by Republican Senator Tom Cotton, was aimed in particular at members of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance made up of the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and was intended as a a first shot across the bow, said a person familiar with the matter.

An aide to Cotton said the senators team is working on a new draft bill that could be released this month and would significantly restrict intelligence-sharing with countries that use Huawei equipment in their 5G networks, following through on earlier US threats to do so.

Im profoundly concerned about the possibility that close allies, including the UK, might permit the Chinese Communist Party effectively to build their highly sensitive 5G infrastructure, Cotton told Reuters.

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New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday attached assets worth Rs 2,500 crore, belonging to Haryana-based SRS group, in connection with a money laundering and fraud case against the promoters of the firm.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, the Central probe agency said, Movable and immovable assets like land, real estate projects, commercial projects, residential houses, a school, cinema hall, balances in bank accounts and fixed deposits totalling to Rs 2,510.82 crore of the SRS Group, its promoters, their family members and associate companies have been attached.

A provisional order for attachment of these properties has been issued under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The group and its promoters have been accused of allegedly making fraudulent promises of giving high returns to investors in the guise of investments in real estate units like shops, plots, flats and apartments among others. The SRS Group, as per information provided on its official website, is a diversified business house with a strong presence across multiple sectors that include gold and jewellery, commodities, cinemas, retail, hospitality, financial services, real estate, education and health care.

The ED said its probe found that the promoter of the group, Anil Jindal, and founder directors Jitender Kumar Garg and Praveen Kumar Kapoor along with other accomplices hatched a criminal conspiracy and lured investments from several individual and institutions on fake promises of high returns in the guise of investments.

Jindal was arrested by the Faridabad Police in 2018 as part of probe. These investments were later siphoned off into group companies through various shell companies of the group having dummy directors, who were mainly SRS Group employees, the agency said.

Further, they presented fake and fabricated balance sheets in order to enhance their turn-over and balance sheets, said the ED. The accused kept investors in dark by not giving investor-specific investment plans, the ED alleged. To sustain their illegal investment schemes, the accused further availed loans which were used for re-payments and to develop their other projects, said the ED.
Michael White, acquitted of voluntary manslaughter for fatally stabbing Sean Schellenger near Rittenhouse Square in 2018, was sentenced Thursday to two years probation for throwing the knife used in the killing onto a West Philadelphia rooftop after running away from the scene.

The imposition of the penalty by Common Pleas Court Judge Glenn B. Bronson is likely to mark the end of the criminal case against White, which had attracted widespread attention for seeming to touch on issues that have long divided the city, such as race, class, and opportunity.

White, 22, was convicted of evidence tampering at his October trial, the lone charge jurors lodged against him after he testified that he had stabbed Schellenger, a real estate developer, in self-defense during a confrontation at 17th and Chancellor Streets. In addition to tossing the knife, White, who had been working as a bicycle food courier, threw his backpack and a bloody T-shirt into a trash can.

Whites sentence fell within the guidelines for the misdemeanor crime, and Bronson noted that White ultimately cooperated with authorities after discarding the evidence.

 READ MORE: Anatomy of a deadly clash

White told Bronson that he realizes disposing of the evidence wasnt the right thing to do and that after he turned himself in, he told his lawyers where he had tossed the items. Police later recovered the knife from the roof.

Although many sentencing hearings feature testimony from the victim or the victims relatives, Bronson had ruled that Schellengers family members would not be allowed to describe how the incident has affected them, because prosecutors did not prove that Whites stabbing of Schellenger was a crime.

His decision upset the Schellengers, who also have frequently criticized District Attorney Larry Krasner over his offices handling of the case.

Schellengers relatives did not attend the sentencing hearing. In a statement sent to reporters, his mother, Linda Schellenger, said: Our life sentence began on July 12, 2018, when Sean was fatally stabbed with a deadly weapon.

She called the sentencing hopefully, the last episode in Krasners finely orchestrated obstruction of justice, repeating a charge she has previously made against the DA. Sean Schellenger was intelligent, articulate, successful and kind and no one can ever take those qualities away from him or us! she wrote.

Bronson said in court Thursday that Schellengers death was a senseless and tragic event.

He meant a great deal to his family, the judge said.

Krasners office initially charged White with a general count of murder  which allows prosecutors to seek a possible life sentence  but downgraded the case to third-degree murder, and then proceeded at trial on the lower charge of voluntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 to 20 years.

Jurors voted to acquit White of that charge, as well as counts of possessing an instrument of crime and obstruction.

Last month, one of Whites lawyers, Chief Defender Keir Bradford-Grey, suggested that coverage of the case by Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who interviewed Linda Schellenger several times, had led to death threats against White. Linda Schellenger denied seeking to incite threats of violence and called Bradford-Greys behavior malicious and unnecessarily personal.

White and Schellenger did not know each other before crossing paths in July 2018.

According to trial testimony, White got involved in a dispute with Schellenger, who had been out celebrating with friends, and White plunged the knife into Schellengers back after Schellenger tried to tackle him.

White pulled the blade out of Schellenger before fleeing to West Philadelphia, where he tossed the knife onto a roof and his backpack and T-shirt into a trash can, he testified.

White told reporters after the hearing that the saga was not yet behind him due to his probation. But he said he was praying for the Schellengers, and wants to focus on being the person I always envisioned myself to be.

I just take it one day at a time, White said. I just want to live my life.

Bradford-Grey said White has been supported by many community members since the stabbing. One of them, Andrea Lawful-Sanders, told Bronson that she has been connecting White with young men to mentor.

White is due back in court next month for an unrelated case from 2017, before the stabbing, in which he was accused of stealing a bicycle from the University of Pennsylvania campus. White had been in a probationary program for that alleged offense when he was charged with murder in 2018.
To push digital payments, the government is planning to waive merchant discount rate (MDR) on all debit cards, Hindustan Times has reported.

The move could be announced when the Union Budget is presented on February 1, the report said.

The government recently scrapped MDR on payments made through Rupay debit cards and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Commercial banks have been seeking compensation for losses related to MDR, and this could cost the exchequer Rs 2,000 crore annually.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

The finance and IT ministries had not responded to requests for comment by Hindustan Time. Spokespersons for State Bank of India (SBI) and Visa declined to comment.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has in her July 2019 Budget speech said that business establishments with a turnover of Rs 50 crore would not be allowed to charge MDR.

On December 30, 2019, a government notification scrapped the processing fee on digital payments.

The circular also mandated all companies with a turnover of Rs 50 crore to adopt UPI and Rupay payments. The penalty for non-compliance, starting February 1, 2020, is Rs 5,000 per day, the Central Board for Direct Taxes said in a separate circular.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 13:00:54|Editor: ZD

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro will not attend the upcoming World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, presidential spokesperson Otavio Rego Barros said on Wednesday.

"The President and his assistants analyzed a series of aspects -- economic, security, political. And those aspects, together, allowed the President to evaluate that he should not participate in this forum at this moment," Rego Barros said.

Bolsonaro mentioned the possibility of not attending the summit earlier this week, citing security reasons.

The World Economic Forum, held annually at Davos, is a meeting in which world leaders discuss economic matters. This year's summit will take place on Jan. 21- 24. Bolsonaro attended the World Economic Forum in 2019.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

By Tamilla Mammadova  Trend:

Colliers International Group has completed work on a feasibility study for arranging a tourist center on the territory of the Enguri hydroelectric power plant (HPP), the largest HPP in the South Caucasus, the head of the Georgian Energy Development Fund Irakli Chikovani said, Trend reports citing Georgian media.

Enguri HPP, located north of the town Jvari, is a unique technical and engineering complex. It is planned to equip the center with information space, viewing platforms, an open concert venue and a cable car.

In 2015, the Enguri hydroelectric arched dam was given the status of a cultural heritage monument with the aim of developing the industrial heritage of Georgia. The total height of this dam is 271.5 meters and a length of 728 meters.

This project will cost tens of millions of lari. We are discussing several models - simple and complex. the Georgian Energy Development Fund cannot solve all issues on its own, so the decision must be made by the state, Chikovani said.

However, he did not exclude that the construction of the center can be carried out on the basis of partnership between the private sector and the state.

The work will begin during the shutdown of the HPP for repairs, according to the head of the Georgia Energy Development Fund.

All five units of the Enguri HPP will be shut down in 2021 for three months due to the planned repair of the derivational (hydraulic) tunnel.

Enguri HPP was built in the 1970s. The arched dam among the dams of this type is one of the highest in the world. At the moment, the installed capacity of the HPP is 1,300 MW.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Mila61979356
RTHK: Trump urges China to drop Iran nuclear deal

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the Iran appeared to be "standing down" after missile strikes on US troop bases in Iraq that resulted in no American or Iraqi deaths.

In an address from the White House, he also called for world powers, including Beijing, to follow his lead in withdrawing last May from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

The agreement is already unravelling, with Tehran announcing on Sunday that it would roll back the limit on the number of centrifuges used in uranium enrichment, one of its commitments under the agreement.

"The time has come for the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and China to recognise this reality. They must now break away from the remnants of the Iran deal, or JCPOA," Trump said.

"We must all work together towards making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place."

On Wednesday's missile strikes, he added: "All of our soldiers are safe and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases. Our great American forces are prepared for anything.

"Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world. No American or Iraqi lives were lost."

Trump said the United States would immediately be imposing "additional punishing sanctions" on Iran but made no mention of military retaliation to the missile attacks  seen by experts as a measured first response by Iran to the killing of General Qasem Soleimani in an American drone strike in Baghdad. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
SALEM, Ore., Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, the Oregon Court of Appeals again heard oral arguments in the case of Aaron and Melissa Klein, former owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa. Last June, the Supreme Court of the United States vacated an earlier decision by the state court that effectively forced Aaron and Melissa out of business by penalizing them $135,000 for refusing to create a government-approved message in conflict with their sincerely held religious beliefs.



The government should not be in the business of deciding whose faith is or is not acceptable, said Keisha Russell, Counsel to First Liberty Institute. Government officials must remain neutral. When government decides whose faith is or is not acceptable, it discriminates against people of faith.

Former Ambassador to the European Union, C. Boyden Gray and Adam Gustafson of Boyden Gray & Associates are the lead appellate counsel for the case along with First Liberty.

Melissa said, We welcomed and served everyone in our bakery, but we could not endorse all messages. We lost everything we loved and worked so hard to build. Our hope is that maybe someday we can, once again, reopen our bakery and serve everyone without being forced to celebrate events that conflict with our religious beliefs.

The Supreme Court sent the case back to Oregon courts for further review in light of Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The State of Oregons Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) found that the Kleins had violated Oregons public accommodations statute after Aaron and Melissa declined to design and create a wedding cake celebrating a same-sex marriage. In court, attorneys for the Kleins argued that BOLIs Commissioner, Brad Avakian, abandoned the constitutional requirements of neutrality, tolerance, and respect when, even before their case even came before him, he spoke dismissively of the Kleins religious objections.

In addition to the $135,000 penalty for emotional damages, BOLI issued a gag order, limiting the Kleins ability to talk publicly about their beliefs. After BOLIs decision, the Kleins were forced to shut down their bakery.

To learn more about the case, visit KleinFacts.com .

About First Liberty Institute

First Liberty Institute is a non-profit public interest law firm and the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.

To arrange an interview, contact Lacey McNiel at media@firstliberty.org or by calling 972-941-4453.
Despite most cancers seeing a drop in deaths, prostate cancer deaths are on the rise in the U.S. New reporting from the American Cancer Society shows that in 2020, the number of men who will die from prostate cancer will hit a record high over the last two decades, with an increase of 5 percent since just last year.

The annual report - Cancer Facts and Figures - was released earlier today, and states that disease reductions "halted" for prostate cancer.

Other troubling findings include a prediction that in 2020, prostate cancer will receive the most diagnoses among male cancers, with 21 percent of new cancer cases being prostate-related, compared to the next highest, lung and bronchus, at only 13 percent.

Of those diagnosed with prostate cancer, 10 percent are expected to pass away from the disease.

These statistics are unacceptable and show the urgency for men to get tested early, given the high likelihood of men developing prostate cancer during their lifetime. The 2020 Cancer Facts and Figures report says that screening only 'probably' reduces mortality rates for prostate cancer. This irresponsible claim made in the report and by opponents of the PSA test is simply untrue. Early detection saves lives, but unfortunately, decades of mixed messaging about the PSA test have left both doctors and men confused about the importance of testing. As a result, fewer men are taking initiative regarding their prostate health, which is directly contributing to more deaths from prostate cancer year over year." Jamie Bearse, CEO, ZERO - The End of Prostate Cancer

In 2020, men will still be diagnosed at a rate of 1 in 9 men. This makes prostate cancer the most likely cancer diagnosis among men, followed by lung and bronchus at a rate of 1 in 15.

"The risk of death from prostate cancer is highest among men who develop metastatic and/or castrate disease," said ZERO Medical Advisory Board Member, Dr. Kelvin Moses, an associate professor of urology at Vanderbilt University. "

"There have been multiple treatments approved in the metastatic and castrate-resistant space in the past decade, and yet the mortality rate from prostate cancer has plateaued, and possibly increased in recent years. The prevailing paradigm among the opponents of prostate cancer screening has been that the significant decline in prostate cancer mortality in the so-called PSA era was also attributed to 'better treatment.' "

"Yet the proliferation of treatments specifically directed to late-stage disease has not made a dent in mortality rates. This fact, along with the continued decrease in mortality in other screened cancers (lung and colorectal), further proves the utility of PSA screening in appropriately selected patients."

Rising prostate cancer deaths correlate to medical bodies -- such as the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force -- discouraging the lifesaving PSA test.

When caught early, prostate cancer has a 99 percent chance of survival; this is three times higher than when prostate cancer is found in an advanced stage, which has only a 30 percent rate of survival.

"When I found out I had prostate cancer, I just wanted to live," said Jeffrey Wilde, a prostate cancer survivor in North Carolina. "I'm here today because my cancer was caught early. We need to educate more men about this disease, and why early testing is crucial to survival. The fact that I'm still here today is proof."

ZERO recommends that doctors and men follow the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guidelines for Prostate Cancer Early Detection, which calls for a discussion of the risks and benefits of testing for men beginning at age 45 if they fall into any of these categories:

Family history of prostate cancer

African American ancestry

History of prostate disease

Family history of the BRCA 1 or 2 gene mutations

Military veterans

The report and its data are a product of the American Cancer Society from National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, and the Centers for Disease Control.
A mother murdered her four-year-old daughter by stabbing her 30 times - partially severing her shoulder and wrist, according to police.

Nicole Terri Lester, 29, has been charged with aggravated murder after little Lainey Vos was found with a 'partially severed shoulder and wrist' and a number of defensive wounds.

Police say Lester carried out the brutal slaying on New Year's Eve using a ceramic kitchen knife at her mother's home in West Valley City, Utah, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.

She now faces the death penalty after telling neighbors: 'I just killed my daughter.'

Nicole Terri Lester, 29, left, has been charged with aggravated murder after Lainey Vos, right, was found with a 'partially severed shoulder and wrist' and a number of defensive wounds

Disturbing court documents state that youngster Vos was found with defensive wounds to her arms, hands and shoulder.

It adds: 'There were multiple deep lacerations to her chest centered on her heart.'

Lester sat outside her home in bloody clothing and told police she needed to be arrested, according to court records.

Her internet search history is said to reveal how the mom had searched 'how do you break a neck?', the 'best place' to hit someone with an ax and how to murder.

She is said to have searched 'numerous topics that involved breaking a neck, smashing a head with an ax, breaking bones with an ax, stab wounds to the chest, broken and cracked ribs, and also included medical diagrams of a child's chest'.

Lainey was found in the basement of the home. A six-year-old boy was found safe and asleep in the home.

Lester, pictured, now faces the death penalty after telling neighbors: 'I just killed my daughter'

Lester, pictured, sat outside her home in bloody clothing and told police she needed to be arrested, according to court records. Her internet search history is said to have revealed how the mom had searched 'how do you break a neck?' and how to murder

West Valley City policemen at the home where Utah mom Nicole Terri Lester is accused of killing her daughter, stabbing her at least 30 times with a ceramic kitchen knife

The young boy is now in the custody of Lester's mother, who was not at home at the time of the stabbing.

Lester has a history of arrests for drug possession, assault and domestic violence.

In a May 2014 case her charge involving domestic violence was dismissed after she completed mental health treatment.
A resolution recently adopted by the Richmond School Board states that plans for effective communication, effective leadership and conflict resolution be completed by Superintendent Brian Walmsley in the near future.

While the school board accepted the findings of an investigation that found Walmsley did not violate the districts anti-harassment policy or federal law, it did lay out steps to be taken by and with the superintendent going forward.

The board received three complaints, one from an administrator and two from secretaries, on or about Oct. 21, 2019, alleging that the superintendent violated the districts anti-harassment policies. The board then appointed the Thrun Law Firm PC to investigate the complaints.

After finding Walmsley not guilty regarding the complaints, the board adopted an eight-part resolution about how the matter would be handled. The list included Walmsley adopting the policies and guidelines of the board, including staff discipline and evaluations. He is to maintain professionalism and not retaliate against any person who filed a complaint. It also states restorative practices would be completed and coordinated by the board beginning Feb. 1.

When The Voice contacted school board President Margaret Teltow asking what the plans for effective leadership and conflict resolution might entail and if the board was concerned to have the complaints filed against the superintendent, the following response was received:

The bard of education has no comment concerning this matter, Teltow said in a Jan. 9 email.

Richmond Community Schools has a policy that states only the president of the school board can comment on issues, speaking for the board as a whole.

MediaNews Group filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the school district on Jan. 3 seeking the complaint documents and was notified on Jan. 7 that the request was complete and the charges would be $13.83. After traveling to the school to pick up the documents, the superintendent changed his mind about releasing them, saying he needed things clarified by attorneys for the district. On Jan. 8, The Voice was notified that the request was going to be delayed until Jan. 24 to provide time to research a voluminous amount of district records that must be collected from numerous departments, along with further discussions with attorneys regarding what could be released.

Spouse speaks out on Walmsley

When the school board met for an organizational meeting on Jan. 6, Bob Westerhof, the husband of former Richmond teacher Sheri Westerhof, addressed the board on the harassment topic during the public comments portion of the meeting.

Bob Westerhof struggled to gain his composure several times as he began to speak of his wifes 20-year career in the district and its allegedly sad demise.

Reading from a letter his wife submitted upon her resignation from the district, Bob Westerhof said she wrote that she was in education for 22 years, and 18 were spent teaching at Will L. Lee Elementary School in Richmond. As he began to lose his composure, he read, I was a dedicated teacher, highly respected by students, parents, colleagues, principals, administrators and the community and had the evaluations to prove it.'

Unfortunately, he said, the last four years of Sheri Westerhofs teaching career were miserable; which she attributed to the leadership of Walmsley.

He continued: After teaching fourth grade for 17 years I was moved to third grade and found out about this through an email. I wasnt given the common courtesy of a personal meeting. Did I receive materials or resources I needed? Training? No. Did I welcome the changes and put my best foot forward? You bet.'

As examples of the superintendents alleged harassment and retaliatory nature, Sheri Westerof said she was in a staff meeting and asked him why there were locks on the copy machines in the district. She alleged that Walmsley wouldnt provide a straight answer and later found she was written up for asking the question and being disrespectful. The reprimand was later removed from her file when she took the matter to her union representative.

At this point in the meeting, Teltow interjected that Bob Westerhof only had 30 seconds left of his three minutes of public comment but someone from the audience quickly interjected that he could have their three minutes as they werent going to speak.

Bob Westerhof said that with previous evaluations, his wife maintained a highly effective rating, but this time, her evaluations reflected a minimally effective score. She alleged that she was told by the principal completing her review that he was instructed by Walmsley to give her that rating.

Bob Westerof said an exit form was not sent to his wife until shed been out of the district for 18 months. A letter of response has yet been acknowledged; although, it was sent to every member of the school board and several administrators.

I really take it personally when someone attacks my wife personally. Thats not something I was raised doing, Bob Westerhof said. I thank you for your time and I know its not an easy job and I hope I can get some answers about what happens with these exit forms.

As is policy, the board does not address public comments during the meeting but retains the speakers phone numbers to contact them with answers to their concerns later.

Barb Pert Templeton is a freelance reporter. She can be contacted at barbperttempleton.reporter@yahoo.com.
Weather Alert

...WIND CHILL WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 3 PM EST TUESDAY... * WHAT...Dangerously cold wind chills expected. Wind chills as low as 35 below zero. * WHERE...In Vermont, Western Franklin County. In New York, Eastern Clinton County. * WHEN...From 7 PM this evening to 3 PM EST Tuesday. * IMPACTS...The cold wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...The coldest wind chill values will occur between 2 AM and 11 AM on Tuesday. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Avoid outside activities if possible. When outside, make sure you wear appropriate clothing, a hat, and gloves. &&
Michel Barnier revealed the EU is still planning for a no-deal Brexit (Getty)

Despite the Government standing down no-deal Brexit planning with immediate effect, the EU has not followed suit.

In fact, no-deal planning is still very much in full flow, according to the EUs chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.

During a speech in Sweden on Thursday morning, Mr Barnier said there was still a possibility of a trade deal not being struck by the end of 2020, while Boris Johnson has already ruled out an extension to the transition period.

Boris Johnson has ruled out any extension to the transition period (AP)

Mr Barnier said: If Prime Minister Johnson does not want an extension of the transition period beyond the end of the year  and yesterday when we met him with Ursula von der Leyen, he told us very clearly that he does not want such an extension  we will have less than 11 months to conclude a deal.

If we fail, the transition period will end on 1 January 2021 without any arrangements for a new future relationship in place.

This would not affect the issues covered in the withdrawal agreement But it would mean the return of tariffs and quotas: a total anachronism for interconnected economies like ours.

Read more from Yahoo News UK:

MP calls for Union flag to be flown from all public buildings to mark Brexit

Jess Phillips says hundreds of men 'tell her to shut up and not run' for leader

Scientist warns of extinction crisis as Australia wildfires wipe out a billion animals

Of course, this is not what the EU wants. But it is nonetheless a scenario that everyone must continue to prepare for  at EU level, but also at national level, and here in Sweden.



Mr Barnier made it clear that he believes a full trade deal by the end of the year was unrealistic.

"We cannot expect to agree on every aspect of this new partnership," Mr Barnier said, adding "we are ready to do our best in the 11 months.

The EU does not believe a trade deal can be struck by the end of 2020 (AP)

During a transition period ending on December 31, a new relationship between the EU and the UK will be negotiated.

Full trade covers everything from fisheries to the airline industry to medicines, but the EU insists to deal with all these issues in one year is a pipe dream.

The Prime Minister has insisted he will not agree to any more delays - leading to fears that the country will face a no-deal Brexit at the start of 2021.

Watch more from Yahoo UK
Orangeburg County

Sheriffs Office

Someone stole two ATVs from Jimmy Jones Polaris on St. Matthews Road, according to a sheriffs office incident report.

An employee reported the thefts on Wednesday.

Two 2020 camouflage Ranger Crew ATVs were stolen. Both have dump beds.

One has a hard roof with a grey velvet interior, winch on the front, front and rear cameras, a 7-inch touch screen on the dashboard for GPS, overhead visor speakers in the front, rear roof speakers, a 10-inch subwoofer under the front passenger seat, a dome light and an added 900-watt charging system.

The other has a black hard top and a full lock and ride windshield.

The vehicles are valued at a total $36,249.

In other reports:

 A Norway man reported Wednesday that someone stole his 2003 brown Chevrolet Trailblazer from a Savannah Highway address in Neeses.

He told deputies he dropped off his vehicle to have some custom wheels installed.

The four-door vehicle also has a white lift gate/hatch and chrome rims.

It is valued at $5,000.

 A Santee man reported at 6 p.m. Wednesday that someone stole his 1990 grey Ford Ranger.

A little while later, a deputy found the vehicle in a wooded area a few addresses away from the mans Old Number Six Highway residence.

Orangeburg

Department

of Public Safety

A Due Street man reported Wednesday morning that several items were stolen from his vehicle, including a black Fossil watch, a silver and gold Kenneth Cole watch, a silver Kenneth Cole watch and a coral pink Apple iPhone 8 with a broken screen.

The man told officers he left his 2017 black Chevrolet Impala unsecured.

The value of the stolen items is $1,010.

Contact the writer: mbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5545. Follow on Twitter: @MRBrownTandD

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The UK government's bill for Britain's exit from the European Union (EU) on January 31 finally cleared the House of Commons on Thursday as MPs voted for it 330 votes to 231.

The EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill, or the Brexit Bill, passed its third reading in the Commons with a majority of 99 for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had won a landslide election last month with a promise to leave the 28-member economic bloc by the latest end-January deadline.

It marks a historic moment for the bill which has been repeatedly defeated in Parliament in its various forms in the past, creating parliamentary gridlock over Brexit.

The bill will now go to the House of Lords on Monday for voting before royal assent from Queen Elizabeth II to become law.

It is my sincere hope that their lordships will now give due regard to the clear majorities we have seen during the committee stage and establish their endorsement of this bill in a similar, timely, fashion, said UK Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay after the Commons vote.

This bill will secure our departure from the European union with a deal that gives certainty to businesses, protects the rights of our citizens and ensures that we regain control of our money, our borders, our laws and our trade policy, he said.

Meanwhile, Johnson kick-started the process for achieving a new trade agreement with the EU when he met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at Downing Street on Wednesday evening.

He wants to strike a Canada-style free trade agreement (FTA) with the bloc post Brexit.

However, Von der Leyen, who took over from Jean Claude Juncker last year, has warned that it would not be possible to sort out every aspect of Britain's future relationship with the EU before the December 31, 2020 transition period deadline.

In a statement released after the first face-to-face meeting between Johnson and the new EU President, 10 Downing Street said the discussions had been "positive".

"The PM (Johnson) was clear that the UK would not extend the Implementation Period beyond December 31, 2020 and that any future partnership must not involve any kind of alignment or ECJ (European Court of Justice) jurisdiction, the statement noted.

"The PM said the UK was ready to start negotiations on the future partnership and Canada-style FTA as soon as possible after January 31," it added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
FLINT, MI -- Moving into a year of tough decisions, the Flint Community Schools Board of Education voted to appoint its former assistant treasurer and secretary as its new president.

Casey Lester was unanimously appointed board president at a boards annual organizational meeting Wednesday, Jan. 8.

Former board president Diana Wright expressed last year she did not want to be elected president for another term.

The board unanimously voted to elected Wright vice president of the board. It made other moves Wednesday night, as well. The board voted for Betty Ramsdell to continue to serve as secretary and for Danielle Green to continue to serve as treasurer.

Former vice president of the board, Blake Strozier, did not want to keep this position as vice president and will now serve as only a trustee. The board voted to no longer have an assistant secretary and treasurer, the position formerly held by Lester.

Lester thanked the board for his appointment to president at the meeting.

"I know we have a lot of work ahead of us, he said.

The 35-year-old Lester moved to Flint in 2008 and works as a manager at Huntington Bank, The Flint Journal reported in November 2018, when Lester was appointed to the school board. Lester and wife, Marcella, have a young child, which played a motivating factor in his move to join the school board.

The board is facing tough decisions on what gets cut in face of the districts millions of dollars of yearly deficit.

Lester acknowledged these upcoming challenges.

My goal as the president of the board in the next year isnt to create a board that is 100 percent unanimous at all times because I dont think that does anything for us, Lester said.

He asked board members not to hesitate to disagree.

I think constructive conflict is always going to be better than destructive peace, he said.

In face of the deficit, Superintendent Derrick Lopez has proposed closing Eisenhower Elementary School, Pierce School, Scott Middle School and Flint Jr. High School, the former Northwestern High School, after the discovery of the massive deficit through a district-wide audit. However, the board must make a final decision on how to cut $5 million in yearly costs and Lopez encouraged further discussion on possible solutions.

Last month, administrators and board members took time to walk through buildings proposed for closure. Lopez said in December there will be multiple community forums planned and the board will meet to further discuss its findings in January.

A special meeting to further discuss ways to eliminate the deficit is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 9 at Southwestern Classical Academy.
By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - Internal auditors should have direct access to top company bosses to help avoid Carillion-style corporate crashes, a new industry code said on Wednesday.

By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - Internal auditors should have direct access to top company bosses to help avoid Carillion-style corporate crashes, a new industry code said on Wednesday.

The code from the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (CIIA) aims to restore credibility in internal auditors' ability to be the "eyes and ears" of boards to stamp out poor governance and misconduct.

Companies hire internal auditors to check for compliance with regulations. They are different from external auditors or outside accounting firms that independently endorse company financial statements.

The code, which CIIA members voluntarily sign up to, says internal auditors should have unrestricted access to any part of a company and be able to attend and observe executive committee meetings.

They should also have a direct line to the company's chief executive and to the company's external audit committee.

Internal auditors should share information with external auditors, the code said, implementing a recommendation from a government-backed review of auditing in December.

Every company should have a chief internal auditor, even when internal auditing is outsourced as in the case of Carillion, the code said.

The CIIA hopes the new code will make it harder for company management to stonewall internal auditors' concerns.

Andrew Bailey, head of Britain's Financial Conduct Authority and governor-designate of the Bank of England, said in 2012 that boards of banks had regarded internal auditors as a "nuisance" not be taken seriously.

This led to the creation of a code for internal auditors specifically for financial services companies, which has resulted in an increase in chief audit executives' attendance of executive committee meetings to 84% from 48%, the CIIA said. The CIIA's members are drawn from most of Britain's biggest listed companies.

The number of financial firms carrying out audit work on risks from poor culture has risen from 54% to 93%.

The CIIA hopes the changes resulting from the financial services code can be replicated by the new, separate code for companies in other sectors.

The new code was written by a committee of officials from companies like oil group BP , energy firm Centrica , supermarket Tesco , and InterContinental Hotels Group , along with the Financial Reporting Council, which regulates accounting.

(Reporting by Huw Jones. Editing by Jane Merriman)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
A registered sex offender living in Syracuse was charged with having child pornography for the second time when a probation officer found lewd images during a routine check, according to court records.

Kenneth Houck, 44, is facing his second child pornography case after his December arrest. Houck was badly beaten while in jail in Philadelphia in 2011.

Houck was convicted in 2012 of transporting child pornography. According to court records, investigators caught Houck the first time through an undercover agent posing as a child sex offender online. Houck admitted to sending the agent child pornography.

He also at the time sent the investigator actual, non-sexual images of a child he had access to and claimed to have molested. Houck later in court claimed he did not actually have contact with the child, but instead was sharing a fantasy."

Houck traded child pornography in online communities, and investigators said he also held child pornography parties" at his home in Philadelphia. Prosecutors wrote in court papers that Houck and other child sex offenders would meet in person to view child pornography, discuss molestation and take drugs.

When Houck was arrested in February 2011, investigators found him downloading and uploading child pornography images on his computer when they entered his residence, prosecutors said.

Investigators found nearly 6,500 photographs in Houcks possession during his first arrest.

During Houcks incarceration while awaiting sentencing on that charge, two inmates dragged him from the top bunk of his bed in his cell, stomped and beat him with a chair. Houck sued the federal Bureau of Prisons. He claimed he spent 18 days in critical care unit of a Philadelphia hospital.

Houck, who is openly gay, said he believed the attack was motivated by anti-LGBT animus. The assailants were charged in the assault, but were not charged with hate crimes. Houck claimed hed asked for increased security because of homophobic threats.

In 2018, Houck was released to a halfway house in Syracuse. He was most recently staying at Circle of Hope Residential Care at 2500 S. Salina St., according to court records.

As conditions of his release from prison, Houck was not allowed to have a computer. He was required to register as a sex offender and was subject to home visits.

During a home visit, a probation officer said Houck appeared to hide a cell phone from him, court records said. Eventually during the visit, Houck admitted to having the phone and a laptop, and admitted he had been watching pornography on the devices, prosecutors said.

The officer confiscated the devices, and got a warrant to search them. FBI investigators found 107 photos and 10 videos depicting child pornography on the devices, court records said.

Houck was arrested on Dec. 30 and is being held in jail pending the outcome of his case.

The child pornography charge typically carries a maximum of 30 years in prison. Houck could face additional time due to his prior conviction.

Public Affairs Reporter Julie McMahon covers courts, government, education and other issues affecting taxpayers. She can be reached anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992

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Britian's Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle have stunned the nation by announcing plans to step back as senior royals to divide time between the United Kingdom and the United States, a move being viewed as a split within the UK's royal household.

In an extraordinary statement released on Wednesday night, the couple announced plans to step back from their current roles and split their time between the UK and North America with their eight-month-old son, Archie.

Buckingham Palace described the process as "complicated" as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed their intention after months of "reflection" to become financially independent and set up their own charitable entity as they carve out a new role for themselves in the New Year.

"We intend to step back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen," their statement notes.

It adds: "We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth and our patronages.

"This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.

As the couple unveiled their exciting next step, it seemed that the other royals, including Harry's 93-year-old grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, were taken by surprise.

Their announcement, branded online as 'Megxit', has been described as "personal" and had not been approved by the palace.

"Discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage. We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through, a Buckingham Palace statement noted in response.

According to the BBC, the palace was blindsided by the announcement as the couple did not consult any senior royal before issuing the unprecedented statement.

Harry, 35, is sixth in line to the British throne, a position he will retain within the line of succession.

He married 38-year-old former American actress Meghan Markle in May 2018 and the couple had son Archie in May last year.

They had a particularly difficult year in 2019 when they spoke out about the media glare on their role in a television documentary and decided to take legal action against British tabloids over breach of privacy.

Also, Duke and Duchess of Sussexes' absence from Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton's last two birthdays has stoked rumours of a royal rift between Prince William and Harry, the Daily Express reported.

The latest move was finalised during a six-week sabbatical by the royal couple on Vancouver Island in Canada over Christmas.

Their future plans are roughly outlined on their Sussex Royal website, where it says they will be making a transition to a new working model and not be dependent on the Sovereign Grant of UK taxpayer funding to the royal family.

Harry has some personal wealth through the money left to him by his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, but he is supported by money from his father Prince Charles as well as the public funding.

Under current rules, the pair are "prohibited from earning income in any form", but in their new stepped back roles they would be free to follow other title-holding royals in having full-time jobs.

The costs of their official overseas visits will continue to be funded by the Sovereign Grant and contributions from the host country as appropriate.

Harry and Meghan are classified as "internationally protected people", which means they must have armed security provided by Scotland Yard and they have indicated plans to hold on to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor as their family home in the UK.

The couple are expected to continue their charitable work through the launch of their new Sussex Royal Foundation, which was set up after they separated from Prince William and wife Kate Middleton's foundation last year.

The new charity is expected to be global, linked to Africa and the US, rather than with a UK focus -- and will have a commitment to female empowerment in line with Meghan's work before marriage.

"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex take great pride in their work and are committed to continuing their charitable endeavours as well as establishing new ones, notes a statement on the official Duke and Duchess of Sussex website.

The site also highlighted the couple's disdain for the British mainstream media, which has been tracking Meghan's strained relationship with her estranged father Thomas Markle, as their statement indicated plans to favour grassroots media organisations and their own social media accounts.

The couple are formally withdrawing from the royal rota, or the palace system that allows papers to share joint coverage of royal events, blaming frequent misreporting and say their new strategy would enable them to share more with the public directly.

But royal historian Prof Kate Williams said it will be "difficult" for Harry and Meghan to lead "normal" lives, as media interest in them will increase after their "unprecedented" move.

"Harry and Meghan are global celebrities. Meghan was already famous (due to her former acting career)" as was Harry, who will become even "more significant" when his father -- and later his brother -- becomes king," William told the BBC.
DUBLIN, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Cyber Deception Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2020 - 2025)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global cyber deception market is expected to witness a CAGR of 15.45%, during the forecast period (2020-2025).



With the increasing number of internet and smartphone users across the globe, system breach is a common activity carried out by cyber-hackers to extract sensitive information, which can lead to unwanted cyber-attacks. Deception network, also called honeypot or decoy, is utilized to divert these kinds of attacks to other nodes and offer prior warnings to the administrator.



Key Highlights

The increasing adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) is highlighting the cyber deception technology and promoting high usage, over conventional cybersecurity.

Cyber deception market is driven by a rise in APT and zero-day attacks lined with the need for effective solutions for early detection of cyber attackers. Penetration of online as well as ATM transaction is influencing growth of cyber deception market in BFSI sector.

Moreover, growing government funding in the financial industry across the world is likely to translate into growth of cyber deception market. The omnipresence of online and digital data and growth in cloud-based technology increases the vulnerability of these data, which in turn accelerates the growth of the cyber deception market.

On the contrary, increasing use of pirated network tools in several emerging economies along with lack of cyber expertise will be one of the growth restraining determinant of the cyber deception market. Limitation of budget allocation in IT organizations and inability to meet technical requirements of the deceptive security tools are likely to hinder the cyber deception market.

Market Trends



Increasing Cyber Attacks to Drive the Market

According to the World Economic Forum, cyber-attacks are one of the largest threats across the globe and require high-end security. Software infiltration and cloud-hacks are likely to be the major instances of cyber-attacks. As a result, there is an increase in internal security reviews and audits, in cloud-based companies, giving rise in demand cyber deception solutions.

F-Secure, a cyber-security company based in Finland , published that cyber attack threats increases to fourfold. The total of 1836 million honeypot attack has occurred during FY 2017 -2018. Moreover, attackers are now targeting manufacturing industries. Financial gain (53 %) and industrial espionage (47 %) are the main motives behind cyber attacks on the manufacturing industry. In manufacturing, 86 % of the cyber attacks are targeted. These certain instances of cyber-attacks, which in turn expected to propel the market growth over the upcoming years, at a significant rate.

Asia-Pacific to Witness the Fastest Growth

In the year 2018, according to a study done by Cisco, in the APAC region, many companies received up to 10,000 threats a day which means 6 threats are received every minute. 69% of companies surveyed received more than 5,000 threats a day.

In Southeast Asia , 51% of all cyber attacks resulted in a loss of more than USD 1 million . Nearly 10% of respondents said that cyber attacks cost them more than USD 5 million .

, 51% of all cyber attacks resulted in a loss of more than . Nearly 10% of respondents said that cyber attacks cost them more than . In addition to financial losses, cybersecurity incidents are also undermining APAC organizations' ability to gain confidence with their consumers and other stakeholders, with 72% remarking that greater privacy concerns from their customers are adding more time to their sales cycle.

According to Cisco, APAC security capabilities benchmark study, 15% of businesses in India suffered downtime lasting over a day, which is regionally, among the highest for this extent of time.17% of companies in India deal with 250,000-500,000 alerts per day, which is way above the regional benchmark of 6%. A staggering 26% of organisations in India reported that a breach cost over $5 million , which is very high compared to the regional benchmark of 14%.

suffered downtime lasting over a day, which is regionally, among the highest for this extent of time.17% of companies in deal with 250,000-500,000 alerts per day, which is way above the regional benchmark of 6%. A staggering 26% of organisations in reported that a breach cost over , which is very high compared to the regional benchmark of 14%. Due to the above results, the market holds a noteworthy potential to penetrate the region, which is likely to boost the industry.

Competitive Landscape



The cyber deception market is fragmented due to a lot of players are offering cyber security solutions to the market. Moreover, the entry of new players is making the market highly competitive. Some of the key players include Illusive Networks, LogRythm Inc., ForeScout Technologies, Acalvio Technologies, Fidelis Cybersecurity (TopSpin Security), Allure Security, GuardiCore Limited, Cymmetria, among others.



Recent Industry Developments



May 2019 - LogRhythm, the company powering the world's most modern enterprise security operations centers (SOCs), announced that it has released a cloud-based version of its NextGen SIEM Platform: LogRhytm Cloud. LogRhythm's NextGen SIEM Platform is already used by some of the world's largest and best-known enterprises. Collecting and analyzing trillions of security events and threat indicators each week, LogRhythm enables precise detection and accelerated neutralization of sophisticated cyber threats for SOCs across the globe. These benefits are driven by LogRhythm's end-to-end platform architecture, its patented machine-based analytics and its embedded security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) functionality.

- LogRhythm, the company powering the world's most modern enterprise security operations centers (SOCs), announced that it has released a cloud-based version of its NextGen SIEM Platform: LogRhytm Cloud. LogRhythm's NextGen SIEM Platform is already used by some of the world's largest and best-known enterprises. Collecting and analyzing trillions of security events and threat indicators each week, LogRhythm enables precise detection and accelerated neutralization of sophisticated cyber threats for SOCs across the globe. These benefits are driven by LogRhythm's end-to-end platform architecture, its patented machine-based analytics and its embedded security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) functionality. April 2019 - apid7, Inc., a leading provider of security analytics and automation, announced it has acquired NetFort, a company that provides end-to-end network traffic visibility and analytics across cloud, virtual and physical networks. Rapid7 plans to bring NetFort's network monitoring, visibility and analytics capabilities into its Insight cloud to help customers securely advance.

Key Topics Covered



1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Study Deliverables

1.2 Study Assumptions

1.3 Scope of the Study



2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY



3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY



4 MARKET DYNAMICS

4.1 Market Overview

4.2 Introduction to Market Drivers and Restraints

4.3 Market Drivers

4.3.1 Increasing Cyber Attacks to Drive the Market

4.3.2 Omnipresence of Online and Digital Data and Growth in Cloud-based Technology Accelerates the Growth

4.4 Market Restraints

4.4.1 Increasing Use of Pirated Network Tools

4.4.2 Lack of Cyber Expertise

4.5 Industry Attractiveness - Porter's Five Force Analysis



5 MARKET SEGMENTATION

5.1 By Layer

5.1.1 Application Security

5.1.2 Network Security

5.1.3 Data Security

5.1.4 Endpoint Security

5.2 By Service Type

5.2.1 Professional Service

5.2.2 Managed Service

5.3 By End-user Vertical

5.3.1 IT & Telecom

5.3.2 Retail

5.3.3 Energy & Power

5.3.4 BFSI

5.3.5 Healthcare

5.3.6 Other End-user Verticals

5.4 Geography

5.4.1 North America

5.4.2 Europe

5.4.3 Asia-Pacific

5.4.4 Latin America

5.4.5 Middle East & Africa



6 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

6.1 Company Profiles

6.1.1 Illusive Networks

6.1.2 LogRythm Inc.

6.1.3 ForeScout Technologies

6.1.4 Acalvio Technologies

6.1.5 Fidelis Cybersecurity (TopSpin Security)

6.1.6 Allure Security

6.1.7 GuardiCore Limited

6.1.8 Cymmetria



7 INVESTMENT ANALYSIS



8 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES AND FUTURE TRENDS



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/m0hxv3

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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Man Convicted in Fast and Furious Murder of U.S. Border Agent Sentenced to Life

The man convicted of murder as the triggerman for the fatal 2010 shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in a case that exposed the ill-fated federal gun-running sting operation dubbed Fast and Furious was sentenced to life in prison on Jan. 8.

Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, 41, a Mexican national, was found guilty in February of slaying Brian Terry, 40, during a gunfight near Nogales, Arizona, between border agents and armed bandits suspected of robbing drug smugglers along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Prosecutors cast Osorio-Arellanes, the sixth of seven defendants in the case to be convicted and sentenced to date, as the gang member who actually shot Terry to death. Another gang member was wounded in the Dec. 14, 2010, confrontation.

In a statement delivered in Spanish and translated for the court before the sentence was pronounced by U.S. District Judge David Bury in Tucson, Arizona, Osorio-Arellanes said he believed he had been wrongfully prosecuted.

With all due respect, I dont agree with the trial. Prosecutors pointed to me as a murderer without any evidence, so the jury would say I was guilty. Everything is being done illegally, he said, standing before the judge in shackles and an orange jumpsuit.

The judge retorted, I feel like I have to say to you what the law is in the United States, but you refuse to accept it, adding that Osorio-Arellanes was guilty of murder regardless of whether he fired the fatal shot because he took part in the gunfight in which Terry was slain.

Law enforcement officers carry the casket of Border Patrol officer and former U.S. Marine Brian Terry out of Greater Grace Temple after his funeral service in Detroit, on Dec. 22, 2010. (John T. Greilick/Detroit News via AP)

Two of Terrys sisters also addressed the court. One, Kelly Terry-Willis, tearfully recalled that instead of greeting her brother in a holiday family reunion planned that December, she went to the airport for his lifeless body to arrive in a flag-draped casket.

Michelle Balogh (R) and Kelly Willis speak to reporters on Jan. 8, 2020 following the sentencing of the Mexican man who killed their brother, U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, in December 2010, outside court in Tucson, Ariz. (Astrid Galvan)

Osorio-Arellanes, arrested by Mexican authorities in 2017 and extradited to the United States the following year, was convicted on a total of nine felony counts, including first-degree murder, assault and attempted robbery.

Bungled Gun-Running Probe

While Terry has been hailed as a fallen hero, the investigation of his murder led to a major government scandal.

Two AK-47 assault rifles found at the scene of the shootout were later traced back to the bungled gun-running investigation of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that embarrassed the administration of then-President Barack Obama and strained relations with Mexico.

A U.S. Border Patrol vehicle returns on Dec. 15, 2010, from the scene of an overnight shootout where Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed northwest of Nogales, Ariz. (Greg Bryan/Arizona Daily Star via AP)

As part of its sting operation, the ATF had sought to trace weapons purchased legally in the United States by straw buyers and resold into the black market, but federal agents lost track of some weapons, many of which ended up in the hands of drug traffickers.

Four other members of the Mexican rip crew involved in the lethal gunfight, along with a fifth man charged with conspiracy, were convicted in U.S. federal court and sent to prison.

A seventh defendant is in Mexican custody awaiting extradition to the United States and will be tried in Tucson, the Justice Department said.

By Paul Ingram
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 19:06:34|Editor: xuxin

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SUVA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Littering and the careless disposal of rubbish contributed immensely to flooding and health hazards, said a Fijian government minister.

According to a statement from the Department of Information on Thursday, Fiji's Minister for Agriculture, Rural and Maritime Development, Waterways and Environment Mahendra Reddy reiterated this week that littering was a major contributor to flooding, especially when rubbish is dumped into waterways, mangroves and drains which blocked the flow of water during heavy downpour.

Speaking at handing over a fibre glass boat and outboard engine to Nakubati youth club in Rakiraki, Ra, one of the 14 provinces on the western side of Fiji's main island of Viti Levu, Reddy said villagers should dispose rubbish safely to ensure that their environment remained free from diseases.

"The rubbish not only blocks the waterways, it is an eyesore and will also threaten your health and the health of your children. You need to ensure that you protect your environment."

"I want to urge all communities, villages and settlements to assist us in dealing with this major issue which affects our waterways," Reddy said.

He said the Waterways and Environment Ministry would soon be recruiting part-time Litter Prevention Officers who would be issuing infringement notices to people caught littering as a deterrent of public to refrain from this unhealthy behavior.

According to the Fijian government, poorly managed wastes can have negative effects on tourism, by detracting from the "Pacific Paradise" the image that Fiji promotes, and by association with health warnings about infectious and vector-borne diseases.

There is the potential for contamination of food supplies, which can have impacts on local markets or revenue from export crops and there are numerous health and environmental hazards that arise when wastes are poorly managed and disposed.

Conversely, the benefits from good waste management can include reduced raw material costs, enhancement of the tourism experience, reduced health care costs. Effective measures now will also avoid the need for expensive clean-up operations in the future.
Hungary's prime minister said Thursday that his country will keep its troops stationed in Iraq as long as the Mideast country stands by the agreement between the two governments.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told reporters after a Cabinet meeting that plans were in place should the Hungarian troops need to be evacuated, which would take place immediately if Iraq pulls out of the agreement.

Hungary has been member of NATO since 1999 and currently has about 150 troops in Iraq's Kurdish region.

Hungarian troops are deployed in several international missions around the world, carrying out mostly tasks like peacekeeping and partnership building.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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At least 12 people were killed and 30 others were injured on Wednesday following a road accident in Nigeria's northern state of Kano, said the local road safety police.

Kabiru Daura, a spokesman for the Federal Road Safety Corps in Kano, said the accident occurred when a speeding vehicle hit the other from the rear in Tsaida town of Gaya local government area of the state.

Daura said the road safety police had launched an investigation into the road crash.

The corpse of the victims and those who sustained injuries have been rushed to a local hospital, he added.

Deadly road accidents are frequently reported in Nigeria, often caused by overloading, bad condition of roads and reckless driving.
Plane crash aftermath Ukraine Airlines

Rouhollah VAHDATI / ISNA / AFP via Getty

A passenger plane flying from Iran to Ukraine crashed shortly after take-off Wednesday morning local time, killing all 176 people on board.

The Boeing 737-800 NG flight had been flown by Ukraine International Airlines.

Ukraine International Airlines said in a Wednesday statement that the aircraft had been built in 2016, delivered as new from Boeing, and completed maintenance checks two days ago.

Iranian authorities have blamed a technical failure, while Ukraine has opened criminal proceedings into the disaster.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Ukrainian plane that crashed in Iran had been just three years old and checked for maintenance just two days, the airline said.

The Boeing 737-800 NG passenger jet, flown by Ukraine International Airlines, burst into flames shortly after take-off from Iran around 6 a.m. local time Wednesday.

Flight PS 752 had been heading from Tehran International Airport to Kyiv. All 167 passengers and nine crew members are dead. The victims included 82 Iranian citizens and 63 Canadians, as well as citizens of Ukraine, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and the UK.

Debris and engine parts were strewn across six miles of the crash site, with a fire "so heavy" that 22 ambulances, four bus ambulances, and a helicopter could not "do any rescue," said head of Iran's emergency services Pirhossein Koulivand, according to Reuters.

Ukraine Airlines rescue efforts in Iran .JPG

Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Ukraine International Airlines said in a Wednesday statement that the aircraft had been built in 2016 and delivered as-new directly to the airline from Boeing.

It added that the last scheduled maintenance of the jet took place on January 6, 2020  two days before the disaster.

An official from Iran's Roads & Urban Development Ministry also blamed the crash on a "fire in a part of the engine and the pilot's unsuccessful effort to control the plane," according to BBC Monitoring.

Story continues

"Had the accident happened due to a missile strike, the plane would have exploded in the air," the ministry added.

Both Ukrainian and Iranian authorities have confirmed that the crash was caused by unspecified technical problems, and dispelled the idea of it being a terrorist attack.

The Ukrainian Embassy in Tehran also called the crash an accident, but did not specify a cause. According to The Independent, it deleted an earlier statement citing an engine failure.

Rescue efforts Ukraine Airlines crash .JPG

Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran's state broadcaster IRIB said that one of the plane's black boxes  which record flight data and audio from the cockpit  had been found.

Ukraine has opened criminal proceedings into the crash, Sky News reported. Ukraine International Airlines added that it will suspend flights to Tehran indefinitely in light of the disaster, according to the British broadcaster.

The Boeing 737-800 NG crash comes as the plane manufacturer faces heavy scrutiny over the safety of its planes. In October 2018 and March 2019, two brand-new Boeing 737 Max jets crashed shortly after takeoff, killing a total of 346 people on board the two planes.

Boeing tweeted on Wednesday morning that it was "aware of the media reports" and is "gathering more information."

Read the original article on Business Insider
GoPro footage of an infamous jump that saw four men cop heavy fines after parachuting from a Perth building has been released.

The footage was taken back in September, when the four men gained access to the roof of the Exchange Tower on the Perth Esplanade.

Initial footage shot by bystanders showed the jumpers standing on the roof of the building before taking the 40-storey plunge and gliding down to the streets below.

The men were allegedly dressed in suits to blend in in the Perth CBD, and make it to the roof of the building.
Wana News Agency/Reuters

The Ukrainian airliner that crashed on Wednesday morning in Iran, killing all 176 people aboard, was shot out of the sky by one of Irans anti-aircraft missile systems, probably as the result of a horrifying mistake, according to U.S., Canadian, and European officials familiar with the intelligence.

Intelligence indicates the Iranians came to see they had erred soon after the plane was downed, per two U.S. government sources.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, a Boeing 737-800 traveling from Tehran to Kyiv, went down in flames hours after Iran fired a ground to ground missile fusillade at two U.S.-used military bases in neighboring Iraq. While investigators have made no determination into the cause of the crash, a Ukrainian government source told The Daily Beast that their leading theory at the moment is that an Iranian missile downed the doomed plane.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government has intelligence indicating that Iranians quickly learned theyd made a mistake by downing the plane, according to two U.S. government officials. That includes intercepts indicating that civil aviation officials in Iran knew the plane should not have been a military target, the sources said.

President Donald Trump speculated publicly on Thursday that the Iranians shot down the plane, an allegation first reported by Newsweek.

I have my suspicions. I dont want to say that because other people have their suspicions also, Trump said at the White House when asked what he thought happened to PS752. It was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood and somebody could have made a mistake. Some people say it was mechanical. I personally dont think thats even a question, personally. So well see what happens.

The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment. But a senior European official read in on the intelligence said that the U.S. has determined Iran likely shot down the plane.

Most of the victims were Canadian or on their way to Canada when the plane crashed, and Canadas Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa, We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. He also added that it might have been an unintentional act.

Story continues

Newsweek reported that the preliminary assessment by U.S. officials was that a Russian-manufactured anti-aircraft system fired at the civilian airliner by mistake during a moment of massively heightened U.S.-Iran tensions following the U.S. assassination of Iranian external-security chief Qassem Soleimani.

Trump, Iran, and Where The Forever War Was Always Headed

The international nature of that tangle of weapons systems and security interestsa Russian air defense system, a Ukrainian airliner, tensions with the United Statescomplicates the efforts at investigating the crash.

Already, the head of Irans Civil Aviation Organization, Ali Abedzadeh, said this week that the country will not give the black boxes to the manufacturer and the Americans. Its not yet clear which country the black box will go to for the investigation. Responding to reports of a possible missile strike on the aircraft on Thursday, Abezadeh called the allegations illogical and scientifically impossible.

"A man sits by a memorial for the victims of the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 crash in the Iranian capital Tehran, at the Boryspil airport outside Kiev on January 8, 2020." Sergei Supinsky/Getty

CBS News reported that U.S. intelligence picked up signals of a radar being turned on, and American satellites also detected two surface-to-air missile launches, which happened shortly before the plane exploded.

A preliminary report by Irans Civil Aviation Organization said the flight took off from Imam Khomeini Airport en route to Kyiv at 6:13 a.m. local time and crashed shortly thereafter. The Iranian missiles targeting bases in Iraq had been launched about five hours earlier.

The flight continued to climb while controlled by Imam Khomeini control tower, then was delivered to approach unit at Mehrabad Airport, and was approved to climb to 26,000 feet. After losing contact with [air traffic control] at time 06:18, the aircraft crashed near Sabashahr, located on Tehran outskirts.

Witnesses on the ground and aboard other flights interviewed by Iranian investigators said a fire appeared on the aircraft which was intensifying, then impacted the ground causing an explosion.

Under international aviation rules, authorities in the country where the crash took place have the authority to lead a crash investigation. Countries representing the owner of a crashed aircraft, its manufacturer, and the victims may also participate in the investigation.

Among the dead were nationals from over a half dozen countries. Eighty-two were listed as Iranian and 63 as Canadians, many of them of Iranian origin.

In a statement issued Thursday, Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said hed been in contact with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and stressed the need for Canadian officials to be quickly granted access to Iran to provide consult services, help with the identification of the deceased and take part in the investigation of the crash.

Shortly after the crash, images began circulating on social media purporting to show remnants from a missile fired by a Russian-manufactured SA-15 air defense system near the site of the crash. Irans air defense is equipped with the SA-15 system, but open source imagery experts cautioned that pictures remain unverified.

Currently there are two separate images showing what appear to be the same Tor missile head on the ground. Statements have been made which claim these images were taken in the vicinity of the crash, Nick Waters, a senior investigator at Bellingcat, an open source investigative news organization, told The Daily Beast. However, no one has yet been able to verify these images, and since they do not contain any view of the background, it is not possible yet to be certain of where they were taken.

The prospect that PS752 was shot down by accident over a conflict zone raises memories of the downing of MH17, a Malaysian airliner, blasted out of the sky above Ukraine by a Russian-made BUK anti-aircraft missile in 2014, killing all 298 people aboard.

But for Iranians the incident has a particular resonance, reminding them of an incident in 1988 when a U.S. warship shot Iran Air 655 out of the sky above the Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard, including more than 60 children.

At Borispol airport in Kyiv on Wednesday night, hundreds of people brought flowers to the improvised memorial for the victims of PS752. People arranged flowers around the victims photographs on the airports floor and discussed the bitter news.

From the beginning, many in Kyiv believed an Iranian missile had shot the plane down and the crash was not the result of a technical issue, as Ukrainian diplomats had said at first in a social media post they subsequently deleted. The mourners also wondered why U.S. President Donald Trump did not mention the crash in his speech the morning after the tragedy.

I think Iranians accidentally hit and brought down the plane with missile, Ivan Yakovyna, an international observer at Novoye Vremia, a well respected Kyiv radio station, told The Daily Beast on Wednesday. And thats why Iranians dont want to give Ukraine the planes black boxes.

The Boeing 737-800 was built in 2016 and the airline, UIA, says it thoroughly checked the plane on January 6. UIA belongs to President Volodymyr Zelenskys good friend and former business partner, Ihor Kolomoyskyi.

This was the first crash in the airlines history, UIA officials told reporters during a briefing on Wednesday. We dont suppose that the crew has made a mistake. Considering their experience, we wouldnt say there was something wrong with the crew, said Igor Sosnovsky, UIAs vice president.

On Wednesday President Volodymyr Zelensky assured Ukrainians that the investigation of the crash was his priority. I am taking the whole operation under personal control. I strongly ask everyone to refrain from speculation and spreading unverified theories about the disaster until official statements are made, Zelensky said.

In the hours since the PS752 crash, a number of videos purporting to show the flight in its final moments have surfaced on social media. Two videos, verified as likely authentic by The New York Times visual investigations team appear to show the impact of the aircraft on the ground in a suburb of Tehran.

On Thursday, a new video surfaced on Twitter and Telegram purporting to show a flying object streak through the night sky and hitting an aircraft shortly before a loud explosion can be heard. Its unclear yet whether the footage depicts the final moments of PS752 but investigators at Bellingcat have determined that the footage was filmed in Western Parand, near where the flight crashed, and shows the known trajectory of the flight before it crashed.

 with additional reporting by Anna Nemtsova

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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The Supreme Court will on Friday pronounce its verdict on a bunch of petitions against the internet and communication blackout imposed in Jammu and Kashmir ahead of the nullification of Constitutions Article 370 in August that ended the regions special status in August.

Three former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were also detained along with hundreds of others to prevent protests against the change in the regions constitutional status. Most of the restrictions have since been eased but top politicians remain under detention and the internet remains largely blocked. Short messaging service on mobile phones in Kashmir and broadband internet services were restored in government-run hospitals on December 31, exactly 150 days after the government imposed the restrictions.

Mobile phone, landline and internet services were disconnected in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir on August 4, a day before the Centre withdrew its special status and divided it into two Union territories  Jammu & Kashmir. The government has gradually restored phone lines, but internet services and prepaid mobile services remain suspended.

A three-member bench of Justices NV Ramana, R Subhash Reddy, and BR Gavai will pronounce the verdict.

Kashmir Times editor Anuradha Bhasin and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad were among those who had filed petitions against the restrictions.

The petitioners have argued that such blanket restrictions violate the fundamental right to speech and expression and the right to move freely under Article 19 of the Constitution.

The Centre had told the court in November that the restrictions were imposed pursuant to orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) that enables district magistrates to impose restrictions on movement and assembly in public. The Centre sought to justify the restrictions on the ground of national security.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that misuse of social media and internet by separatists and military and political leaders of Pakistan had necessitated curbs on the internet.

While maintaining that there were no restrictions in the whole state, Mehta had underscored that tweets and trending hashtags on social media by mischievous elements justified the restrictions imposed.

He had also argued that restrictions were imposed based on intelligence inputs and in specific areas where law and order problems could be expected.

The petitioners maintained the blanket restrictions affecting a whole region cannot be imposed under Section 144 of the CrPC and can be done only by proclaiming emergency under Article 352 of the Constitution.

Tomorrow it can happen anywhere. If there are upcoming elections, they can impose Section 144 and shut down all communication, senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for Azad had told the court.
Forensic labs in San Antonio, TX, Golden, CO, and Tucson, AZ have announced they will begin using STRmix to resolve DNA profiles in criminal investigations.

Sophisticated forensic software that can be used to resolve mixed DNA profiles previously thought to be too complex to interpret, STRmix is being regularly used in 51 forensic labs throughout the U.S. Another 60 U.S. forensic labs are now in various stages of STRmix installation, validation, and training.

San Antonios Bexar County Criminal Investigation Laboratory provides the citizens of Bexar County with comprehensive, impartial, reliable scientific analysis of evidence by experts skilled in the latest technology in forensic science.

The Jefferson County Regional Crime Laboratory, based in Golden, CO, provides services to all law enforcement agencies within Jefferson County, including the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office and the Arvada, Golden, Lakewood, and Wheat Ridge Police Departments. The lab also provides training in a variety of forensic disciplines to law enforcement agencies.

Finally, the Tucson (AZ) Police Department Crime Laboratory is part of the Forensics Division of the Investigative Services Bureau, providing the Tucson community with quality forensic science and service.

These labs join a national list of forensic labs using STRmix that now includes the FBI and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). Internationally, STRmix is being used by nearly two dozen forensic labs in Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Ireland, Finland, Dubai, Denmark, Switzerland, and Canada.

Since its introduction in 2012, STRmix has been used to interpret DNA evidence in more than 120,000 cases around the world. It has also been used successfully in numerous U.S. court cases, including 28 successful admissibility hearings.

Forensic labs increasingly are using STRmix because of its success in producing usable, admissible DNA evidence in a wide range of criminal cases, says John Buckleton DSc, FRSNZ, Forensic Scientist at the New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) and one of the developers of STRmix.

Dr. Buckleton notes that labs using STRmix are reporting an increase of interpretable DNA in gun cases from about 40% to more than 70%. STRmix is also producing a much better return on investment by delivering a significantly higher rate of interpretable results in sexual assault cases.

A new version of STRmix, STRmix v2.7, was introduced in late 2019. STRmix v2.7 includes several new features in response to improvements recommended by forensic labs to better address the on-the-job needs they regularly encounter. DBLR, an application used with STRmix, was also introduced last year. DBLR allows users to undertake superfast database searches, visualize the value of their DNA mixture evidence, and carry out mixture to mixture matches.

For more information about STRmix visit http://www.strmix.com
American firefighters got a hero's welcome when they arrived in Australia to help battle the country's devastating fires.

Travelers at Sydney's international airport cheered and clapped Wednesday as the group, with members from across the United States, walked by. Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service posted video of the scene on social media.

Sean Snyder of Alabama was part of the group. His wife, Autumn Snyder, was "very humbled" by the response, she told CNN.

"It's so refreshing and gratifying to see them be welcomed and appreciated," she said.

Sean Snyder, an assistant fire management officer for the U.S. Forest Service in Talladega, Alabama, volunteered for the assignment, which will last at least 30 days, his wife said.

Snyder was excited to have been chosen, his wife said, even though it will be challenging for them and their three children.
ANN ARBOR, MI - More than 200 protesters braved freezing temperatures Wednesday night in Ann Arbor to condemn recent U.S. military action in Iraq.

The No War with Iran protest at the steps of Angell Hall on the University of Michigan campus came in the wake of the killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3, Irans retaliatory missile strike against American military bases in Iraq on Jan. 7 and President Donald Trumps call for de-escalation and economic sanctions against Iran on Jan. 8.

Zaynab Elkolaly, an organizer of the rally and member of Ann Arbors police oversight commission, said that while the president appeared to have de-escalated the situation Wednesday, the crowd gathered to oppose destructive foreign intervention.

Imperialism is the core issue here, she said. This is not a partisan issue... Its being present in another country to exploit their resources and to harm the people there, destabilize them for (American) interests.

Protesters gathered about 4 p.m. to make signs. Some demanded the U.S. government avoid war with Iran, while others voiced support for the impeachment of Trump.

We have a mad bomber in the White House, yelled UM history professor Juan Cole. We have somebody whos erratic. We have a Secretary of Defense (Mark Esper) whos a lobbyist of the arms industry. We have a Secretary of State (Mike Pompeo) who is a Kansas oil man.

Esper was the vice president of government relations at the Raytheon Corporation, a leading defense contractor, from 2010-17 before serving as Secretary of the Army. Pompeo served as president of Sentry International, an oilfield equipment manufacturer.

A small group of counter-protesters gathered to support the U.S. military strike that killed Soleimani. Kareem Rifai, founder of the group People Against Authoritarianism, Dictatorship and Oppression, blamed Soleimani for the killing of his relatives of his family in Syria.

My family is Sunni Muslim from northern Syria from the Idlib province, which is currently under siege by Iranian and Russian forces, he said. Soleimani was part of the team of military generals that ordered the bombing that killed multiple members of my family.

According to The Associated Press, Syrian government forces allied with Russia and Iran have been shelling parts of Syrias Idlib province, where al-Qaida-linked militants have established a presence.

"No War on Iran" rally on UM campus Posted by The Ann Arbor News on Wednesday, January 8, 2020

The anti-war protest was sponsored by more than a dozen local organizations, including the Huron Valley Democratic Socialists of America, UM College Democrats and Palestinian Youth Movement.

One of student who attended was Carlos Delgado of the group International Youth and Students for Social Equality. He said his group looked at the protest as a launching point to advertise a socialist alternative to Republican and Democratic representation.

The Democrats and Republicans both represent the capitalist ruling elites, he said. They both represent warring factions of millionaires and billionaires, massive corporations, banks and international finance... Its embedded within the imperialist nature of the United States itself.

Counter-protesters argued with anti-war rallies during the demonstration, but no exchanges escalated beyond occasional shouting.

READ MORE:

Michigans members of Congress express concern after Iran strikes

Kalamazoo group switches weekly prayer vigil to protest for peace in Iran
Latest News CoreLogic data shows new listings on the rise in early 2022 First data of the year suggests supply is already entering back into the market, cooling hot property market

Business NSW calls for support as pandemic bites Staff shortages and customer falls causing severe problems in recovery

With the governments First Home Loan Deposit Scheme (FHLDS) having gone into effect on 1 January 2020, both brokers and potential borrowers are being called to educate themselves on what the development means for them.

Doubts over the reach of the scheme began as soon as its details started to be announced, with many voicing scepticism an initiative with a small 10,000 borrower limit could have a material impact on the market; now, concern has been raised the scheme is encouraging new buyers to bite off more than they can chew".

RateCity research shows that while a person buying a $500,000 property with a 5% deposit rather than 20% would need $75,000 less initially, their monthly mortgage repayments would be $329 extra a month. Over the next 30 years, theyd pay the bank $43,546 in extra interest.

Just because the government is encouraging people to borrow with as little as a 5% deposit doesnt necessarily make it a great idea, said Sally Tindall, RateCity research director.

People that borrow with a wafer-thin deposit might get into the property market faster, but theyre likely to make higher monthly repayments and shell out tens of thousands in extra interest over the life of the loan.

According to the most recent APRA quarterly property exposure statistics, just 7.35% of new loans settled in the September quarter had an LVR of over 90% -- meaning a less than 10% deposit.

Over the last five years, APRA has been actively asking the banks to think carefully about approving loans to people with small deposits. Now the government is actively encouraging it, said Tyndall.

If you are thinking about signing up to this scheme, go in with your eyes wide open because its peppered with potential drawbacks."

On the broker side of the equation, FBAA managing director Peter White has encouraged the association's members to self-educate regarding the hurdles and limitations that accompany the initiative.

It is important to note that the scheme will not be available to everyone and is limited to 10,000 people per financial year, so brokers need to do some research before walking potential borrowers down this path, White said.

Further, he reminded that only select lenders are participating in the scheme and there are geographical caps limiting the amount available to borrow.

Brokers should also be aware that the price cap varies according to postcode; for example, in Sydney and Newcastle the maximum amount someone can borrow is $700K, whereas in many regional NSW centres it decreases to $450K, he added.

Given the many considerations that need to be kept front of mind, the FBAA has worked with the government to assemble an information kit to help brokers navigate the FHLDS. The resource is available on the associations site, as well as at: https://www.nhfic.gov.au
MILWAUKEE, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Medical Technology Management Institute (MTMI Global), an internationally recognized continuing education provider in the fields of medical imaging and healthcare technologies, today announced the opening of its new global headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Located in the Milwaukee County Research Park, a hub of innovation and medical activity in the region, the new center utilizes best-in-class technology to train, educate, and prepare medical imaging healthcare professionals both on-site and online, helping hospitals and healthcare employers close persistent talent gaps.

"As the field of medical imaging technology continues to accelerate, healthcare employers globally are facing growing skill gaps  often with significant implications for patient care," said Jennifer Valenti, Breast Imaging Manager at Ascension Michigan  Providence Hospital. "We're committed to making sure our patients have access to the most sophisticated and effective equipment available. MTMI Global is our trusted go-to resource to stay ahead of the accelerating pace of change  and deliver the best available care."

Healthcare jobs are in high demand across the country, with an expected 14% growth rate over the next decade  a rate much faster than other sectors, according to data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Meanwhile, advances in technology carry broad implications for the field, with the potential to create hundreds of billions of dollars in annual value. Over the past three decades, MTMI Global has established itself as a trailblazer within the intersection of medical imaging technology and growing jobs, serving over 150,000 students across over 7,000 programs for a wide range of professions, including technologists, mammographers, sonographers, medical physicists and physicians. In January, MTMI was acquired by The College of Health Care Professions (CHCP), which is the largest trainer of allied health professionals in Texas.

"As the need for qualified professionals in the healthcare industry continues to increase, MTMI Global's commitment to flexibility and multimodality is more important than ever to provide continuing education training for licensure requirements to professional students in the field of medical imaging "said Jon Patterson, president of CHCP Digital Services, Online & Medical Technology Management Institute. "The opening of this new international headquarters reflects our work to partner with employers from across the globe to deliver customized, on-demand skills education and training that meets the needs of each professional student."

In addition to their new headquarters in Milwaukee, MTMI Global also announced the opening of its new regional office in Houston, Texas, which will help the organization expand on its existing partnerships across the state (including Southwest General Hospital, One Step Diagnostic, HCA Medical Center, Houston Medical Imaging, and Gonzaba Medical Group). To support its expansion in Texas, MTMI Global has brought on medical imaging technology veteran Tonya Brightmon, as the new Vice President of Partnership Development - Medical Imaging. Brightmon most recently served as the imaging manager for Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center in Houston Texas and joins MTMI Global with nearly three decades of experience in direct patient care, clinical operations, radiology administration, and education.

"Tonya has seen firsthand how effective education is the bedrock of both high-quality healthcare and opportunities for employees to advance their careers in one of the country's fastest-growing fields," said Dr. Denise Lukasik-Sedmak, Executive Director of MTMI Global. "We are honored she is joining our team in Houston to advance MTMI Global's mission of delivering high-caliber medical imaging training services in the Texas market".

About MTMI

Medical Technology Management Institute (MTMI Global) has been dedicated to improving patient care since 1989, as a trusted global medical imaging education partner. MTMI Global provides high quality accredited continuing education and training for medical imaging professionals with a focus on programs for technologists, medical physicists and physicians. Programs are taught by experts with national reputations in their field including: Radiography, mammography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, bone densitometry, ultrasound, PACS/imaging informatics, nuclear medicine and fluoroscopy. MTMI Global delivers outstanding accredited multimodality continuing education and cross training experiences in webinar, face to face/classroom and on-demand formats that provide practical and effective training opportunities. MTMI global is a continuing education division of The College of Health Care Professions (CHCP). For more information, visit www.mtmi.net.

SOURCE Medical Technology Management Institute
New Delhi:

Peoples Democratic Partys (PDP) Muzaffar Hussain Baig has once again stepped out from his partys line and said that the problems of Jammu and Kashmir will not be solved by coercing the prime minister, home minister or the National Security Advisor (NSA), and all talks had to be held in a dignified and civilised manner.

My opinion is that if you want to talk about issues relating to people of Jammu and Kashmir, you will have to talk in a dignified and civilised manner. You cant achieve anything by coercing the prime minister, home minister or NSA, Baig was quoted by ANI as saying.

Baig also slammed PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti for her statement that 'no one will hold tricolour in J&K if Article 370 is tampered with'. Statements like that resulted in the downgrading of J&K from state to Union Territory. That did not help us. That should not have been made, he was quoted as saying by ANI.

Mehbooba Mufti, in 2017 when she was still Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, had said many mainstream political workers in Kashmir, of PDP and National Conference, had been killed carrying the flag of India on their shoulders, but if Kashmirs special status was tampered with, is jhande [tricolor] ko kaandha dene waala koi nahi hoga Kashmir mein [there will be nobody to carry the Tricolor on their shoulders].

Also Read: Delegation Of Ambassadors From 15-20 Countries To India To Visit J-K Soon

Former Jammu and Kashmir Minister Ghulam Hasan Mir on Wednesday praised the people of the valley for not going for violence after the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A. There was not a bullet shot, there was no killing. Credit should go to people as well, they didn't go for violence. Now onus is on Central government to prove that Article 370 was barrier for development, Mir said after meeting foreign envoys.

There was not a bullet shot, there was no killing. Credit should go to people as well: Ghulam Hasan Mir

SC Allows Mehbooba's Daughter To Meet Her In Kashmir

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Muftis daughter to meet her in Kashmir, where she is under detention following the revocation of the states special status a month ago. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi allowed the PDP chiefs daughter Iltija to meet her after she submitted in court that she has no problem in going to their Srinagar home but has not been able to move freely in the city. The bench, also comprising justices S A Bobde and S A Nazeer, noted that there was no problem in authorities permitting Iltija to travel from Chennai, where she is currently staying, to Srinagar to meet her mother.

As far as moving around in other parts of Srinagar goes, Iltija can do so subject to the permission from district authorities, the bench said in its order. It also allowed Iltijas plea to meet her mother in private. A relieved Iltija said she will be finally meeting her mother thanks to the Supreme Court. I feel a sense of relief that I will be able to see her. But my greater worry is that there seems to be no plan in place to end this siege that the state has witnessed for a month now, she said.

BJP Has Ensured 'Kashmir-Like' Situation In Every Part Of India: Mehbooba Mufti

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti last month said people of the country need not visit Kashmir to experience the subjugation of the locals in the valley as the BJP has ensured that a Kashmir-like situation prevails in every part of India. Fellow citizens dont need to visit Kashmir anymore to witness their subjugation. BJP has brought Kashmir right to the doorstep of every Indian, a tweet on Mehbooba Muftis twitter handle read. The twitter handle of the PDP president is being operated by her daughter Iltija Mufti after the former was placed under preventive detention hours ahead of the Centre abrogating Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories. Protests against the amended Citizenship Act are being held across the country ever since the bill was introduced in Parliament earlier this month.
Ejaz Kaiser By

Express News Service

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh police on Thursday arrested a personal assistant of former chief minister Raman Singh for allegedly raping a minor girl in Raipur.

The Raipur senior superintendent of police Arif H Sheikh confirmed about the arrest of Om Prakash Gupta who was taken into custody during the early hours of Thursday. The police arrested Gupta from his residence following a complaint lodged by the 16-year-old victim at women's police station here.

The complainant stated that in 2015, her parents left her in Gupta's care after he promised them to take care of her education, following which the abuse began in 2016 and lasted till December 2019. Gupta sexually assaulted the minor on several occasions at his other residence in Naya Raipur, and threatened her of dire consequences if she complained to anyone, a police official said quoting the complainant.

The victim, who hails from Rajnandgaon district, was also forced to engage in household work and give body massage to Gupta and his wife, the officer said. The victims who is a student of Class 11 at a government school here, was recently shifted to the school's hostel, where she happened to come in contact with an NGO that helped her file a police complaint, the officer added.

The accused has been charged under section 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said. Gupta has been associated with the former chief minister and BJP's national vice-president Raman Singh for the past 15 years. When asked about this development, Singh said that he has sought details from the police. It would be difficult to comment without verifying the facts, he said.
Tihar jail authorities kept giving Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad ordinary medicines even after being made aware that he was suffering from polycythemia, a rare blood disease in which the body makes too many red blood cells, a Delhi Court has observed.

Chief metropolitan magistrate Arul Verma on Thursday accepted Chandrashekhar Azads request that he should get proper treatment and ordered jail officials to ensure that he is treated for polycythemia and therapeutic phlebotomy at national capital Delhis All India Institute of Medical Sciences, or AIIMS.

The judge also made it clear that he was upset about the way jail officials had handled Azads case.

At the outset, the court expresses displeasure that despite being aware of the fact that the accused had expressed to the jail authorities that he was a patient of polycythemia, no action was taken, judge Arul Verma recorded in his order.

On the contrary, the judge wrote in his order, they (jail authorities) gave him treatment with some ordinary medicines. None of them relate to addressing the issue of polycythemia.

Chandrashekhar Azad was arrested on 21 December after he led a march from Jama Masjid against the new citizenship law. He was charged with rioting, unlawful assembly and inciting the mob to indulge in violence after vandalism in central Delhis Daryaganj area. Azad is in judicial custody till January 18.

Minutes before the judge ordered Azads treatment at AIIMS as an outpatient, the investigating officer told the court that doctors needed to carry out further evaluation to ascertain if Azad was suffering from polycythemia. The judge, however, wasnt convinced and pointed out that when Azad was suffering from the disease, why does it require further examination.

Azad, through his counsel Mahmood Pracha, had moved the court seeking medical treatment stating that he was suffering from a blood thickening disease, polycythemia, and every week or so, when the blood becomes thick, it is let out from the body in a process known as phlebotomy.

The application also added that if the blood is not taken out, it might result in the patient suffering a cardiac arrest.
ABC has picked up thirysomething(else) to pilot, the sequel to the networks thirtysomething series from Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick.

The new show will follow an new cast of actors playing the 30-something year-old children of the original cast, with Ken Olin (Michael Steadman), Mel Harris (Hope Murdoch), Timothy Busfield (Elliot Weston) and Patty Wettig (Nancy Weston) returning.

The new cast has yet to be announced.

Apparently, raising children (even grown children) never ends, but who could have known how hard it would be for them to raise their parents? according to ABCs description.

Also Read: ABC Orders Sexy 'Dracula' Pilot 'The Brides' From 'Riverdale' Creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

thirtysomething originally ran from 1987-1991 for four seasons and a total of 85 hourlong episodes, and earned 13 Emmy Awards out of 41 nominations, including Best Drama. It also won two Golden Globes.

The drama series highlighted a tight-knit group of baby boomers living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and their struggles. It revolved around husband and wife Michael Steadman (Olin) and Hope Murdoch (Harris) and their baby Jane. The series celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2017.

Showrunners and thirtysomething creators Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick will return to helm thirtysomething(else) under their Bedford Falls Co. banner along with MGM Television. Zwick will direct. ABC Studios will produce. The original series was produced by Ann Lewis Hamilton, Joseph Dougherty, and Richard Kramer.

Read original story Thirtysomething Sequel Pilot Ordered by ABC At TheWrap
HUNT VALLEY, Md., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- RDA has been awarded a contract to support Neptune's implementation of Sitecore Digital Experience Platform as an integral part of their vision to be the Most Valued Partner for water utilities in North America.

As a leader in water metering systems, software and services, Neptune is continuously looking for ways to better serve their customers' needs. The goal of the project is to lay the foundation for long-term success with cutting-edge technology and strategic partnerships. By aligning sales and services, automating marketing activities, and delivering an enhanced customer experience, Neptune will continue on its customer-centric journey.

"Neptune's experience in the water industry is a story rooted in loyalty to our customers," said Steve Feeney, Vice President of Customer Experience. "We are excited to work with RDA's team and the Sitecore Experience Platform to digitally enhance experiences to our customers and continue to leverage data to exceed the expectations of the utility."

The award represents another B2B client for RDA that is investing in their customers' experiences by centralizing product information, simplifying data management and optimizing marketing campaigns.

"Like other industries, our B2B manufacturing and distribution clients must digitally connect with their customers in a highly personalized way that cultivates lifelong relationships. We are excited to work with Neptune on this important initiative," said Tom Cole, CEO of RDA.

Over the last decade, RDA's B2B expertise has grown to serve three important use cases that lead to greater enterprise agility:

Creating and managing digital content that opens up new revenue channels while driving down cost

Turning brochure websites into powerful digital catalogs that accelerate sales cycles

Predictably personalizing content that enhances customers experience and increases sales

"B2B leaders, like Neptune, are truly focused on exceeding their customer expectations. RDA drives results for our clients by aligning their business goals with a digital roadmap, bringing agility to that roadmap with quick achievable results, and providing ongoing services to optimize the tools and platforms they've invested in along their journey," adds Tom Cole.

About RDA

RDA enables enterprise agility through top-line AND bottom-line impact. As a leading provider of digital experience and intelligent automation platforms, RDA positions our clients for revenue growth while eliminating excess costs and inefficient processes. Leading brandsincluding Five Guys, Pandora, Kimberly-Clark, Tessco, Acuity Brands, and Georgia Pacific  have trusted RDA to drive new channels of revenue while becoming more agile. RDA is an award-winning Sitecore Partner, 4X Microsoft Gold Partner of the Year, Salesforce Consulting Partner, and UiPath Gold Partner. Visit www.rdacorp.com.

Neptune Technology Group Inc

Neptune is a technology company serving more than 4,000 water utilities across North America. Neptune makes data actionable using effective software and measurement systems that are interconnected by a smart network, with expertise and experience specifically focused on the business of water. The company's story is rooted in loyalty to customers and in sound stewardship. Neptune, as your most valued partner in water metering tools, technology, and connectivity, will connect you to what's next in water. For additional information, visit www.neptunetg.com.

All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

SOURCE RDA

Related Links

https://www.rdacorp.com


Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 23:14:07|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TOKYO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Most major cities in Japan are prepared to provide multilingual information and aid to foreign residents and tourists in case of natural disasters, local media reported Thursday.

According to a Kyodo News survey released Thursday, 52 local governments, constituting almost 80 percent of the total among Japan's 47 prefectures as well as 20 ordinance-designated cities, already have or are planning to establish so-called disaster support centers in multiple languages due to the rising number of foreigners.

The central government has encouraged local authorities to establish such centers as many of foreign citizens who do not speak Japanese lack vital information during natural disasters.

The survey, conducted late last year, found that 23 local governments have set up multilingual disaster support functions, but many still lacked the ability to widely spread translations of information from their disaster response headquarters to foreign citizens.

Forty-eight local governments said they have plans to set up multilingual facilities or have agreed to establish them with the support of local organizations that promote international exchanges.

The languages used to provide information will differ by region according to their foreign population structure.

According to Kyodo, during the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, Ibaraki Prefecture transmitted information in eight languages, including English, Chinese, Spanish and Thai.
Actors Salma Hayek and Tiffany Haddish are hopeful about the future for women in Hollywood and now cinema is making films about women because the audience was "neglected".

The duo along with Rose Byrne star in "Like a Boss", a comedy directed by Miguel Arteta, which follows best friends Mia and Mel (Haddish and Byrne) who join forces to run their own boutique cosmetics company.

When the prospect of a big buyout offer from a notorious titan of the beauty industry (Hayek) tempts them, their lifelong bond - and their business - is put in jeopardy.

Hayek said she is happy with the increase in female-driven films in Hollywood.

"We're on the right path. And we're not going to stop," the actor told Variety.

"What I can tell you is that a lot more women are directing and acting and writing and producing. And there are a lot more movies made about women and for women because the audience was neglected, she said.

She was speaking at the premiere of the film in New York.

Haddish added that the mantle for change shouldn't be left to the traditional decision-makers.

To get things, one has to sometimes make noise, the actor-author said.

"It's about us putting in the work and creating the projects and creating the opportunities in order to do those things to make it better. I sit back and I listen to people talk sometimes, saying, 'They're not letting us; they're not giving it to us.' Why do we have to ask permission? Why can't we just start putting it together? If they want to come on board with it, come on board. And if not, oh well," Haddish said.

"I'm about creating an opportunity. People say I'm loud and obnoxious, but sometimes it's the squeaky wheel that gets the oil and gets things done," she added.

The comedy comes on the heels of a year gone by in cinema that featured female protagonists in films like "Little Women" and "Captain Marvel".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday expelled its eight leaders, including those who met a group of foreign diplomats in Srinagar.

The diplomats interacted with security officials, politicians and civil society representatives in Srinagar as part of the first such government-organised visit since the Constitutions Article 370 was nullified to end Jammu and special status in August and the state was split into two Union territories.

Mufti and two other former chief ministers, Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, were detained along with hundreds of others to prevent protests against the change in the regions constitutional status. An information blackout and a lockdown were also imposed. Most of the restrictions have since been eased but top politicians including the three former chief ministers remain under detention.

A PDP statement cited the Centres unilateral move in August and said it violated the will and hurt the sentiments of people. It added it has come to the partys attention that certain party leaders have been part of parleys which go against the interest of the state, official position and the core beliefs of the party. The statement said the partys disciplinary committee thus recommended the expulsion of Dilawar Mir, Rafi Ahmad Mir, Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, Qamar Hussain, Raja Manzoor, Javeed Baig, Abdul Majeed Padder, and Abdul Rahim Rather.

Manhas, Baig, Padder and Rafi Ahmad Mir among them met the diplomats.

The eight on Tuesday met Lieutenant Governor G C Marmu amid speculation that mostly former PDP legislators were planning to form a new party. The PDP expelled Rajya Sabha member Nazir Ahmad Laway after he participated in Murmus oath-taking ceremony in October.

Congress leaders Shoaib Lone and Hilal Shah also met the diplomats even as their party slammed the Centre for disallowing Indian lawmakers from visiting Kashmir while offering the diplomats a guided tour. They will meet a selected few people there, said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh. He said their objection is not related to the visit. But our objection is that when our own political leaders, our own members of Parliament are not allowed to visit J&K, they are barred, then what purpose the visit of these ambassadors would serve.

He added leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad were forced to move the Supreme Court to seek permission to visit Jammu and Kashmir when they were prevented from going there.

State Congress leader G N Monga said the diplomats were not free to meet common Kashmiris but were sponsored to meet sponsored people. The delegation is not free. They should go to everybody. Let them meet caged leaders. They should go to Lal Chowk [Srinagars city square] and talk to shopkeepers, and meet common citizens to know what they want.

Jammu and Kashmir Awami National Conference chief Khalida Shah said there was no point in foreign envoys visiting Kashmir on state-sponsored visits. The tragedy is that these envoys are to meet with handpicked politicians, civil society members, traders, panchayat members who normally are unable to visit their homes.

She said nothing is normal in Kashmir and that there is a total clampdown on freedom of speech, movement, and basic liberties.

Anil Gupta of Bhartiya Janata Party termed the expulsion as an internal matter of the PDP but said that the leader wanted change.

What had happened cant be changed. The meeting of PDP leaders with envoys is a welcome step and also the change of heart about the current situation in J&K, Gupta said.
Pope Francis called for restraint from the United States and Iran on Thursday after a military tit-for-tat that he warned could trigger a "vaster conflict" in the Middle East.

"Particularly troubling are the signals coming from the entire region following the heightening of tensions between Iran and the United States," the pope said in his annual speech to Vatican diplomats.

Iran on Wednesday launched 22 ballistic missiles at bases in Iraq hosting American and other foreign troops, in a calibrated response to the killing of a top Iranian general in a US air strike last week.

The attacks "risk above all compromising the gradual process of rebuilding in Iraq, as well as setting the groundwork for a vaster conflict that all of us would want to avert," Francis said.

"I therefore renew my appeal that all the interested parties avoid an escalation of the conflict and keep alive the flame of dialogue and self-restraint, in full respect of international law," he added.

The Argentine also slammed the "general indifference" of the international community towards Yemen, which is suffering "one of the most serious humanitarian crises of recent history", and warned the conflict in Libya created fertile terrain for human trafficking.

He called for "far-sighted solutions" for war-torn Syria and thanked Jordan and Lebanon for taking in refugees.

Francis cautioned however that the burden of taking care of those fleeing for their lives was provoking tensions among the population in Lebanon and other states, "further endangering the fragile stability of the Middle East".

Lebanon, which says it hosts around 1.5 million Syrian refugees, has been rocked by unprecedented anti-government protests since October.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Meeting with her Lao counterpart Pany Yathotou in Hanoi on January 9, the top legislator spoke highly of the efficiency of the conferences held by the two National Assemblies in the past time, and recommended similar events should be organised to enhance experience sharing between the two legislative bodies.

Sharing the same viewpoint, Pany Yathotou said that the two parliaments have played an important role in the implementation of high-level agreements between Vietnam and Laos in the past years.

She cited as an example parliamentary cooperation in supervising the handling of free migration along the shared borderline, expressing her belief that it has created favourable conditions and brought practical benefits to border residents.

Congratulating Vietnam on taking over the Chairmanship of the ASEAN in 2020 and of the 41st General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), Pany Yathotou affirmed Laos always supports and works closely with Vietnam so that the country can fulfil its heavy responsibilities.

On the threshold of the Lunar New Year (Tet), the Lao top legislator wished that that the Vietnamese Party, State and people will reap further achievements, successfully carry out the resolution adopted at the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and make good preparation for the upcoming congress.

Both leaders acknowledged the close coordination between the National Assemblies of Vietnam and Laos to commend organisations and individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the traditional friendship between the two countries.

The Lao NA Chairwoman suggested that local Peoples Councils should also be involved in the commendation work.

The two top legislators were unanimous in promoting experience sharing and developing the cooperative ties into a more practical and effective fashion.

As Laos is revising its customs laws, it hopes Vietnam will share experience in the work, Pany Yathotou said, adding the National Assemblies should also enhance supervision in mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, especially after the two Supreme Peoples Procuracies signed an agreement in the field.

NA Chairwoman Ngan agreed with her Lao counterparts recommendation, saying she will discuss the matters with the Prime Minister, and direct competent agencies to send experts to help Laos with the revision of its customs law.
India has given its military a formal say in how government is to be run. The long-term consequences of this are unclear, but what is clear is that we will not be able to avoid them. They will come.

The record of military in government in our part of the world is not encouraging, and keeping soldiers at arms length has always been wise. It is not particularly understood that the military capture of Pakistan happened because of a civilian initiative to introduce soldiers into government. Gen Ayub Khan, the army chief, was made a minister in the cabinet while he was still a ...
Married At First Sight's Ryan Gallagher reignited his feud with ex-'wife' Davina Rankin on I'm a Celebrity this week, two years after her infamous 'affair' behind his back.

The 31-year-old opened up old wounds on Tuesday by saying he never had feelings for Davina, 28, during their 'marriage' - even before she kissed another groom.

Reflecting on their time together, he said: 'Oh that was nothing, I didn't like her and I like Charlotte [Crosby, his I'm a Celebrity co-star]. There was no feelings whatsoever.'

Drama: Married At First Sight's Ryan Gallagher (left) reignited his feud with ex-'wife' Davina Rankin (right) on I'm a Celebrity this week, two years after her infamous 'affair' behind his back

Discussing Davina's betrayal on MAFS in 2018, he added: 'I just felt like an idiot because I didn't see what was coming. I felt like a dipstick on camera. I didn't feel heartbroken, I just felt like an absolute idiot.'

Ryan concluded: 'It hasn't made me fear marriage or anything. If anything, it makes me want to get married properly.'

He had previously taken a swipe at Davina when he arrived in the jungle on Sunday.

Savage: Ryan, 31, opened up old wounds on Tuesday by saying he never had feelings for Davina, 28, during their 'marriage' - even before she kissed another groom. Pictured: Davina and Dean Wells (right) during their 'affair'

Introducing himself to viewers, he said: 'I'm Ryan Gallagher, and a few of you may know me from my terrible experience - yes, it was terrible - on MAFS.

'I'm up for meeting animals - giraffes, rhinos, cheetahs. I'm used to a lot of cheetahs... e.g. cheating.'

After Ryan and Davina's season of MAFS aired in early 2018, the former couple had several public spats.

Forgotten: Reflecting on their time together, Ryan said: 'Oh that was nothing, I didn't like her and I like Charlotte [Crosby]. There was no feelings whatsoever'. Pictured on MAFS

Davina was branded a 'villain' and suffered a backlash from the public, while Ryan launched a stand-up comedy career.

He would often mock Davina on stage and, after comparing her to a pig at one show, the brunette threatened legal action.

After this, the pair seemed to bury the hatchet and were spotted attending the Logies together as friends in May 2018.

Ignored! While Ryan's comments in the jungle have risked reigniting their feud, Davina seems to be having the last laugh this time

While Ryan's comments in the jungle have risked reigniting their feud, Davina seems to be having the last laugh this time.

In fact, a cursory glance at her social media posts shows that her ex is the furthest thing from her mind at the moment.

Instead of firing back, she has completely ignored Ryan's debut on I'm a Celebrity and is instead focusing on family life.

Over the past few days, Davina has shared videos to Instagram of herself and her boyfriend, Jaxon Manuel, settling into their $540,000 cottage in Brisbane with their two-month-old daughter, Mila-Mae.

Moved on: In fact, a cursory glance at Davina's social media posts shows that her ex is the furthest thing from her mind at the moment
Global Indigenous Music Summit Set For 1.21-26 Alongside Folk Alliance

Bringing together global Indigenous music industry, culture leaders, and artists to honor tradition and forge new paths forward, the second edition of the International Indigenous Music Summit will be held alongside the Folk Alliance International conference, from Jan 21-26, 2020 in New Orleans.

This year, the International Indigenous Music Summit will welcome keynote speakers and round table discussions alongside its music programming. The first wave of official artist selections include Polaris Music Prize 2019 Short List artists Elisapie and Snotty Nose Rez Kids, both from Canada, Austin, TX Americana artist Josh Halverson and traditional Sami musician and composer Vassvik.

The inaugural International Indigenous Music Summit took place in Montreal in February 2019. Programming included community outreach, stakeholder discussions and, of course, showcases by Indigenous artists from around the world. The Summit also welcomed iconic songwriter and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie and FAIs 2019 Keynote Speaker Tanya Tagaq for book readings and, in the case of Sainte-Marie, a special address for Summit attendees. Summit delegates also gathered for a group discussion on wide-ranging topics surrounding one of IIMS big-picture goals: to imagine, connect and work towards fostering a music industry model rooted in Indigenous experience and values.

IIMS acknowledges that this years gathering takes place on Bulbancha, the ancestral lands of the Atakapa-Ishak, Caddo, Chitimacha, Choctaw, Houma, Natchez, and Tunica peoples, and the Petites nations. According to a release, the IIMS would also like to recognize the Alabama, Biloxi, Koasati, and Ofo peoples, and others who were pushed into Louisiana from their ancestral lands.

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- The set of conjoined twins was successfully operated on and separated at the National Hospital in Abuja, Nigeria

- The surgery was carried out by a 78-member team of Nigerian medical doctors and other health specialists

- The twin sisters, Mercy, and Goodness Ede, were joined in the chest and abdomen

It was a memorable joyful moment when a 78-member team of Nigerian medical doctors successfully operated on and separated conjoined twin sisters.

The widely applauded surgery which lasted about 13 hours was carried out in November 2019.

READ ALSO: World compares Meghan Markle to Princess Diana for brave decision to step back as senior royals

A photo of the conjoined twins before the surgery. Photo: CNN

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Woman confronts husband's alleged mpango wa kando in dramatic video

According to CNN, the surgery separated the two sisters, Mercy and Goodness Ede, who were joined at the chest and abdomen.

The twins were born on Tuesday, August 13, 2018.

The head of the team that performed the surgery, Emmanuel Ameh, said the two were doing well and ready to be discharged from the hospital six weeks after the operation.

READ ALSO: Emotional moment deaf mother battling dementia realises she is hanging out with her daughter

The team found out the twins were sharing a diaphragm and one liver was serving both of them Photo: CNN

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Kimada amwanika lofa kilabuni kumtunga mimba

The hospital's spokesperson, Doctor Tayo Haastrup, said the surgery was the first of its kind at the public specialist centre.

"We are just happy and proud of the team that worked on this surgery were all Nigerians. It was done in Nigeria and the parents didn't have to go outside the country," Haastrup said.

Speaking about the surgery, the lead doctor, Ameh, said plastic surgeons on the team were worried that a large section of the girls' chests would be open and may be infected once they were separated.

To avoid such complication, the team created artificial skin large enough to cover the area.

Ameh added that the team also found out the twins were sharing a diaphragm and one liver was serving both of them, but all other organs were separate.

He said such findings led to some delay as they had to make sure everything was in order and confirm if the twins could live separately before going ahead.

The twin girls were born via cesarean-section to Mariah and Michael Martins.

They parents were referred to the National Hospital after finding out the two kids were conjoined.

Some members of the team that performed the surgery. Photo: CNN

Source: UGC

The twins' father, Martins, expressed gratitude to the management of the hospital for performing the surgery successfully without collecting a dime from him.

Martins is a painter while his wife is unemployed.

Nigerian minister for women affairs, Pauline Tallen, promised the unemployed mother of the twins would be given "automatic employment".

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Kim Holman, 56, committed suicide after undergoing surgery and chemotherapy at Royal Gwent hospital in Wales

A tragic nurse is said to have killed herself as she dreaded remaining in hospital after cancer treatment, an inquest heard.

Kim Holman, 56, took a taxi before jumping off a bridge after surgery and chemotherapy at Royal Gwent hospital Newport, Wales.

Mother Kim experienced suicidal thoughts during her treatment and managed to convince health workers that she didn't need to be transferred to St Cadoc's mental health hospital, Wales.

The former anaesthetic nurse, who was monitored by her family, took a taxi to a bridge where she killed herself, Gwent Coroner's Court heard.

Kim, of Newport, Wales, was pulled from the River Usk by a passerby and later died in hospital.

Coroner Caroline Saunders said: 'Kim was a 56-year-old lady who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

'She had undergone surgery and chemotherapy. It is not surprising that Kim was depressed.

The health worker 'took advantage of a brief lack of supervision' as she jumped from a bridge over the River Usk in Newport, the Gwent Coroners Court heard. She had complained of suicidal thoughts while undergoing treatment

'While attending hospital, she complained of suicidal thoughts. She was assessed then discharged from hospital.'

The health worker attempted to take her own life by cutting her wrists and taking an overdose of medication, and was due to be transferred to St Cadoc's mental health hospital, Wales.

She told staff she was feeling better as she allegedly 'didn't want to stay' and preferred to be at home, the court heard.

She was to be transferred to St Cadoc's Hospital (pictured). Here she convinced staff that she was in a fit mental state because she 'didn't want to stay' in the hospital, the court heard

The coroner added: 'Kim was seen daily by a member of the team but concerns were raised that Kim was masking her true feelings.

'Sadly Kim took advantage of a brief lack of supervision and jumped from Town Bridge.'

Miss Saunders recorded a conclusion of suicide.

For confidential support in the UK call the Samaritans on 116123, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here for details.
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Scientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory, in collaboration with scientists from the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, Calif., and Nanjing University in China, have identified synergistic cellular pathways for longevity that amplify lifespan fivefold in C. elegans, a nematode worm used as a model in aging research.

The increase in lifespan would be the equivalent of a human living for 400 or 500 years, according to one of the scientists.

The research draws on the discovery of two major pathways governing aging in C. elegans, which is a popular model in aging research because it shares many of its genes with humans and because its short lifespan of only three to four weeks allows scientists to quickly assess the effects of genetic and environmental interventions to extend healthy lifespan.

Because these pathways are "conserved," meaning that they have been passed down to humans through evolution, they have been the subject of intensive research. A number of drugs that extend healthy lifespan by altering these pathways are now under development. The discovery of the synergistic effect opens the door to even more effective anti-aging therapies.

The new research uses a double mutant in which the insulin signaling (IIS) and TOR pathways have been genetically altered. Because alteration of the IIS pathways yields a 100 percent increase in lifespan and alteration of the TOR pathway yields a 30 percent increase, the double mutant would be expected to live 130 percent longer. But instead, its lifespan was amplified by 500 percent.

"Despite the discovery in C. elegans of cellular pathways that govern aging, it hasn't been clear how these pathways interact," said Hermann Haller, M.D., president of the MDI Biological Laboratory. "By helping to characterize these interactions, our scientists are paving the way for much-needed therapies to increase healthy lifespan for a rapidly aging population."

The elucidation of the cellular mechanisms controlling the synergistic response is the subject of a recent paper in the online journal Cell Reports entitled "Translational Regulation of Non-autonomous Mitochondrial Stress Response Promotes Longevity." The authors include Jarod A. Rollins, Ph.D., and Aric N. Rogers, Ph.D., of the MDI Biological Laboratory.

"The synergistic extension is really wild," said Rollins, who is the lead author with Jianfeng Lan, Ph.D., of Nanjing University. "The effect isn't one plus one equals two, it's one plus one equals five. Our findings demonstrate that nothing in nature exists in a vacuum; in order to develop the most effective anti-aging treatments we have to look at longevity networks rather than individual pathways."

The discovery of the synergistic interaction could lead to the use of combination therapies, each affecting a different pathway, to extend healthy human lifespan in the same way that combination therapies are used to treat cancer and HIV, Pankaj Kapahi, Ph.D., of the Buck Institute, has said. Kapahi is a corresponding author of the paper with Rogers and Di Chen, Ph.D., of Nanjing University.

The synergistic interaction may also may explain why scientists have been unable to identify a single gene responsible for the ability of some people to live to extraordinary old ages free of major age-related diseases until shortly before their deaths.

The paper focuses on how longevity is regulated in the mitochondria, which are the organelles in the cell responsible for energy homeostasis. Over the last decade, accumulating evidence has suggested a causative link between mitochondrial dysregulation and aging. Rollins' future research will focus on the further elucidation of the role of mitochondria in aging, he said.

The research was conducted at the MDI Biological Laboratory and Nanjing University using information from double mutants developed by Kapahi. Rollins' and Rogers' work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (AG056743), the Morris Scientific Discovery Fund and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (P20GM103423 and P20GM104318).
Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to streets across France on Thursday in the latest mass protests against a pensions overhaul that critics say could cut benefits even while requiring people to work longer before retiring. Tensions flared in Paris and other cities as some black-clad protesters smashed glass-panelled shopfronts and bus stops, while others hurled paving stones against police who tried to disperse crowds with tear gas. It was the fourth day of demonstrations since the protest began on December 5 with a massive public transport strike now in its 36th day. Police said at least 24 people had been detained in Paris, where 56,000 people marched toward the Saint-Lazare train station, according to the interior ministry. Some 452,000 protesters turned out across France, the ministry said, as teachers and other public-sector employees joined train and metro workers. The hardline CGT union said almost 1.7 million people protested around the country. "Teachers like us stand to lose the most. Some could see their pensions cut by up to 100 euros a month!" Marylou Crampette, a 25-year-old school teacher, said at the Paris march. Unions have staged their biggest show of strength in decades against plans for a single points-based system that would sweep away the country's 42 pension schemes, many offering early retirement mainly to public workers. The government on Thursday night unveiled two bills that aim to appease the unions by committing to salary rises for teachers and researchers. However, the unions are unlikely to agree to the measures, which still contain the key sticking point of the "pivot age" -- that would effectively extend the minimum age for receiving a full pension from 62 to 64. - Fuel shortages? - Commuters in Paris were again hit hard by scaled-back metro services, and the Eiffel Tower was shut as during the previous protests. National train services also remained severely disrupted during what is now France's longest continuous rail strike. "Between the government's stance of 'We're talking, everything is on the table' and the reality, you have to wonder if it really intends to... take the views of unions into account," CGT's Philippe Martinez said ahead of the Paris march. Thousands of people also demonstrated in Toulouse, Nantes, Marseilles and other cities against the pension reform, a key plank in President Emmanuel Macron's pledge to shake up the French economy. Unions have warned the strike could widen, with CGT energy workers this week blockading fuel refineries and depots, raising fears of petrol shortages. Another day of mass demonstrations has been called for Saturday, and further protests were planned for January 14, 15 and 16, unions said. A flurry of polls have shown support for the protest eroding in recent days. "It's normal that they defend their rights, but they're doing it at the expense of the rest of the population," said Cedric Chevalier, 40, a manager at a clothing store in Paris. Apart from his daily commute having doubled due to the strike, the store's "sales are down at least 20 to 30 percent, which means I'm losing money", he told AFP. - 'Work a bit longer' - Even the moderate CFDT union, which backs the plan for a single pension system, baulks at the new pension age of 64, which the government says is needed to plug a gaping deficit. The CFDT, France's largest union, has urged the government to drop the measure and agree to a separate "financing conference" with unions, who want companies to pay more in payroll taxes to cover pension payouts. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who is set to meet labour leaders again on Friday, has said he is open to the idea but wants the "pivot age" of 64 to remain for now in the bill he intends to send to parliament in March. Budget Minister Gerald Darmanin insisted the measure was "fair" in an interview with the daily newspaper Figaro on Thursday. "It's certain that we are going to have to work a bit longer," he said. Tensions flared in Paris and other cities as some black-clad protesters smashed glass-panelled shopfronts and bus stops Police said at least 24 people had been detained in Paris, where 56,000 people marched toward the Saint-Lazare train station CGT union leader Philippe Martinez said he doubts the government's sincerity in negotiations
The Rs 25,000-crore Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) set up to provide last-mile funding for stalled real estate projects by the government has raised Rs 10,530 crore in its first round and has received 200 applications, of which four have already been approved, NAREDCO National President Niranjan Hiranandani said.

SBI Capital has already received more than 200 applications, of which four have already been approved in the first round. These are of Rs 25 crore each and the funds should be released soon, he said.

Hiranandani said that several financial entities are interested in investing in the fund in view of the LIFO (Last-In, First-Out) method.

The next meeting is scheduled within a week and he expects a number of stressed projects, especially those in NCR, that are 60 percent complete to benefit. As many as 2.5 lakh apartments will benefit, he stated.

Experts expect the impact of the real estate stressed fund to be seen in the next six months to a year.

These projects are stuck due to last mile funding issues, but are intrinsically networth positive. Once these funds are deployed, the actual impact is likely to be felt in the next six months to a year. Actual possessions may start happening after deployment of the fund, Mudassir Zaidi, Executive Director- North, Knight Frank India, told Moneycontrol.

In all likelihood, projects that may have the highest impact with low fund deployment may be preferred, he stated. Projects that are 70 percent complete and impact the largest number of buyers, especially those in the affordable and mid segment may be considered first. The social element may perhaps be considered while selecting projects.

SBICAP Ventures, an alternative asset manager, had in December achieved first closure of its Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing Fund (SWAMIH) Investment Fund I at Rs 10,530 crore. The fund attracted interest from investors such as the Government of India, State Bank of India, LIC, HDFC and all major public sector banks. GoI has committed to a fund infusion of up to Rs 10,000 crore in the special window.

Inquires have been received from developers across the country. As many as 65 percent of them are for stalled projects located in MMR and NCR, a source said.

Earlier, sources had told Moneycontrol that as many as 14 domestic financial institutions have so far committed to the fund. The fund is not attempting to raise more money right now, but looking at foreign funds to come forward, which may take time, a source added.

The strategy was to first attract interest from domestic investors and financial institutions, and 14 of them have so far committed to Rs 10,530 crore. The rate of interest would be around 15 percent, but that would again be deal specific," the source said.

Sources told Moneycontrol that real estate developers are free to apply for as much or as little an amount from the fund as per their requirement. Just about anybody can apply for funding. However, applying by itself is not an indicator whether the fund will sanction the entire amount, a source explained.

On November 6, the government approved creation of a 'professionally managed' Rs 25,000 crore fund for boosting stalled middle and low-income RERA registered housing projects that are networth positive.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government will put in Rs 10,000 crore in this alternative investment fund (AIF) while SBI and LIC would provide Rs 15,000 crore, taking the total size of the fund to Rs 25,000 crore.

The finance ministry in its FAQs had said the maximum funding will be Rs 400 crore for any single project that will be seeking assistance from the 'special window' or the AIF for completion of the 1,508 projects comprising about 4.58 lakh units.

The AIF can be utilised even by the projects, which have been declared non-performing assets (NPAs) or are facing insolvency proceedings.

The real estate projects that can make the cut include those that require last-mile funding to complete construction, those in the affordable and middle income category, networth positive projects that also include NPAs, those undergoing NCLT proceedings, and RERA-registered projects. Priority will be given to projects that are nearing completion.

Homebuyers are expected to benefit from the funding as it may help revive the stalled projects, leading to early completion and timely possession, especially for buyers paying both EMIs and rent for years. The fund seeks to provide relief to builders who require last-mile funding to complete stuck projects.
King Mohammed VI sent a message of congratulations to Spains caretaker socialist PM Pedro Sanchez for winning a confidence vote in parliament, enabling him to govern in coalition with far-left Podemos.

In his message, the Sovereign wished success to Mr.Sanchez in his mission to meet the Spanish peoples aspirations for more progress and prosperity.

The Monarch also renewed Moroccos firm commitment to strengthening constructive strategic partnership with neighboring Spain and enhancing the bonds of solid friendship, mutual esteem and shared history.

King Mohammed VI reiterated his steadfast attachment to fostering consultation and coordination of the two countries stands on regional and international issues of common interest to serve the interests of the Moroccan and Spanish peoples, while contributing to the promotion of the spirit of cooperation and solidarity.

On Tuesday, January 7, Sanchez won the vote of confidence by a historic two-vote margin, breaking nearly a year of deadlock. The Socialist Party leader will now lead a coalition-based government thanks to support from seven parties and the abstention of the Catalan ERC party.

The socialists are currently the largest political party in Spains parliament. However, they fell short of an absolute majority in both of the recent elections, due to the right-wing party Vox gaining popularity. The far-right party is currently the third-largest party in the parliament.

The Spanish Prime Minister entertains a good relationship with Morocco. In an interview with Spanish media last year, Sanchez said that his country has strong and strategic ties with Morocco, calling the North African country a special ally for Spain.
January 09 : Deepika Padukones upcoming film, Chhapaak has been hitting the headlines of late for both good and bad reasons. A day before it's release the movie has once again found itself in troubled waters. According to reports, Laxmi Agarwals lawyer, Aparna Bhat has decided to take legal action against the makers of the Deepika Padukone starrer for omitting to mention her name in the film.

Bhat's contention is that the filmmakers have not given due acknowledgement to her in the film's credits.

Taking to her facebook handle, she wrote that she is deeply disturbed by the fact she has not been given any credit in Chhapaak. The lawyer claimed in the post that she would take legal action to protect her identity and preserve her integrity.

Elaborating further, she mentioned that although she cannot match the power of producer Deepika but wont keep silent about it.

She wrote, Have never been the one to demand attention to my work. Deeply disturbed by the turn of events post watching Chhapaak. Compelled to take legal action to protect my identity and preserve my integrity. I represented Lakshmi in her criminal trial in Patiala House Courts... tomorrow someone will represent me in my cause...Ironies of life. She further wrote to take legal action against Deepika and makers and wrote, I thank all my friends who endorsed my contribution and challenged team Chhapaak in failing to say even Thank you!!. I cannot match the powers of these mighty producers of Bollywood but keeping quiet will further endorse injustice. I have decided to take my cause to the next level. Ready to face the consequences.

The court has now ordered the makers of Chhapaak to give credit to Aparna Bhat before the release.

This is the second controversy that has erupted about 'Chhapaak' within the span of a single day. Earlier on Wednesday, social media and WhatsApp were flooded with the rumour that the name of the real-life acid attacker was changed from Naeem Khan to Rajesh in the film, in order to protect the culprit's religious identity.

Directed by Meghna Gulzar, Chhapaak stars Deepika Padukone and Vikrant Massey in the lead roles. It will hit the theatres tomorrow on January 10, 2020.
She returned to EastEnders full-time in January 2018 as Tiffany Butcher after previously leaving the show in 2014.

And Maisie Smith was keeping fit as she departed the gym with Zack Morris, who plays her on-screen husband Keegan Baker, in London on Thursday.

The actress, 18, kept it casual in her workout gear, donning a bright pink crop top and white and grey printed leggings.

Exercise: EastEnders star Maisie Smith, 18, was keeping up with her workout regime as she left the gym in London on Thursday

Wrapping up for the frosty January weather in a black bomber jacket, Maisie also sported pink trainers.

The soap star completed her look for the day by letting her brunette locks fall loose down her shoulders.

Zack, 21, donned a grey hoodie with black shorts and matching trainers as he chatted with his co-star after they left the gym.

Maisie returned to her role as Tiffany in EastEnders after the character left in 2014 to start a new life with mum Bianca (Patsy Palmer) in Milton Keynes.

Co-star: The actress was joined by fellow EastEnders actor Zack Morris, 21, who plays her on-screen husband Keegan Baker

Style: Maisie kept it casual in her workout gear, donning a bright pink crop top and white and grey printed leggings

Viewers watched Tiffany and Keegan marry in Scotland in November despite the couple's families not being happy about the teenagers getting hitched.

Tiffany's mother Bianca was unimpressed at her 16-year-old daughter's decision to get married.

At the crucial moment when the registrar asked if anyone present knew of any legal reason why the couple should not get married, Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) received a phone call from Bianca, who was absent from the ceremony, but didn't answer it.

Outfit: Wrapping up for the frosty January weather in a black bomber jacket, Maisie also sported pink trainers

Casual: Zack donned a grey hoodie with black shorts and matching trainers as he chatted with his co-star after they left the gym

Out and about: The soap star completed her look for the day by letting her brunette locks fall loose down her shoulders

Keegan's parents, Karen Taylor (Lorraine Stanley) and Mitch Baker (Roger Griffiths) were also against their son getting married.

Karen told him that he was making the worst mistake of his life until a passionate speech from Keegan helped to change her mind.

He said: 'My job is to look after Tiff. To love her, protect her and make her happy. But all you lot are doing is upsetting her. Im sick of it. Ive had enough.'

Comeback: Maisie returned to her role as Tiffany in EastEnders in January 2018 after the character left in 2014 to start a new life with mum Bianca in Milton Keynes

It comes after Maisie celebrated her 18th birthday last summer with her family during a luxury spa break.

She posed for a snap with her lookalike sibling Scarlett as they enjoyed one last weekend together before her sister headed off to uni.

The pair had enjoyed a trip to Champneys in Hertfordshire with their mum Julia where they marked the occasion, with Maisie also passing her driving test.
A tenant in Luxembourg hopes to reduce his rent from 1,700 a month to 1,100 by using an obscure law and has taken the matter to court. But is the matter that simple?

Paying 1,700 (with 200 in bills included) for a 90 square metre apartment in Luxembourg is not especially surprising when you take the average prices for the neighbourhood into consideration. Nevertheless, the tenant of the apartment is demanding a considerable reduction in rent to 1,100, including bills.

As he told our colleagues at RTL 5Minutes, this demand may sound crazy but he could still ask to pay much less. The reason for the tenant's sudden demand is that there is a law in Luxembourg that prohibits landlords from getting more than 5% of the amount they invested in the property in renting it out.

The law in question is the law of 21 September 2006 on 'residential leases'. As suggested, article 3 of the law stipulates: "Renting out a property for housing cannot provide the landlord with an annual revenue surpassing a rate of 5% of the capital invested in the housing." A tenant already successfully used the law to reduce rent, namely a tenant of a Bettembourg studio who managed to reduce their rent from 600 to 250 a month in 2014, as reported by the Wort.

'I was advised to go live in Thionville'

On Thursday, the tenant had an appointment at Luxembourg's peace tribunal. From the outset, the tenant has stressed he has 'no particular issue with the owner', whose apartment he has rented since 2014. The entire debacle began when a potential flatmate visited the apartment and noted that the furnishings were both used and very old. The home dates from 1957 and, upon the tenant asking the landlord to replace the furniture, the landlord refused.

The tenant then decided not to give up and began looking into the 2006 law, quickly convinced his apartment is being rented out at a rate far exceeding the stipulations of the law. This started a course of a number of requests to meet with the landlord, all unsuccessful, which escalated to a meeting with the City of Luxembourg's commission on rental properties. Even this meeting was unsuccessful, as the commission emphasised the 'invested capital' into the property.

More: Luxembourg's rent prices 13th highest in the world

However, the capital was never communicated throughout the procedure, the tenant told our colleagues. He wondered what evidence the commission used for its decision and added he feared he was the victim of an arbitrary decision. The tenant even felt pressured, saying he had been advised to move to Thionville and retract his request, as this request would not succeed and even lead to an increase in rent.

His rent is 'not unreasonable'



The tenant continued his investigation, revealing that such an apartment should have cost between 600,000 and 1 million Luxembourgish francs, which equates to between 15,000 and 25,000 at the time of purchase in 1957. Applying the 2006 law, the tenant believes his rent should be between 500 and 700 a month.

The landlord's lawyer responded in court by highlighting that the rent of the apartment had not raised throughout the tenancy, stating: "It is not unreasonable to ask 1,500 a month [ed note: without bills]." She used average rental costs in Limpertsberg to justify the point and further requested an expert evaluate the property to determine a fair cost. The lawyer mentioned an amount of 2,000 a month.

She also accused the tenant of not providing any supporting documents to provide evidence to his claims, such as the presumed cost of the apartment in 1957. The lawyer also provided bills proving the homeowner's investments into the property, including new windows. Further, the lawyer suggested the tenant's main motivation is due to his apparent difficulty finding a new flatmate. The lawyer consequently argued the tribunal dismiss the tenant's request. The decision will be rendered on 16 January, the judge announced.

Expert analysis: 'These are rare cases'

Our colleagues at RTL 5Minutes contacted Georges Krieger, the founding partner of law firm Krieger Associates. Having been an expert on real estate law for nearly 30 years, alongside a role as president of the Union of Landlords in Luxembourg, Krieger believes this type of procedure rarely succeeds. "Over the last five years, I haven't seen one landlord in court for such a rental reductions. These are rare cases," he told our colleagues. But this was not always the case, as 20 years ago, his law firm could easily have 40 such cases a year. Nowadays, the number has fallen to one a year on average.

The reason these cases have become so rare is the law of 2006, which updated a law going back to the post-war period (1947). This older law was created in the context of the destruction of a third of housing and was designed to facilitate reconstruction. New homeowners could thus request up to 5% of their invested capital from tenants, and old homeowners had a price list to refer to.

The economic development of Luxembourg made the old law anachronistic, and some tenants tended to abuse the law. "I remember a case 25 years ago in which a tenant used the calculated to claim rent lower than 0!", Krieger exclaimed. In this case, the landlord would theoretically have had to pay the tenant. The updated law defined more realistic criteria, taking improvement investments into consideration.

Landlord obligations



But this does not mean the tenant in court's case is a lost cause from the start, on the contrary. Krieger admitted he does not know the case, but if the property was an investment from 1957 and the landlord has never invested in it, would not be absurd for the rent to be lowered.

He highlighted that every landlord must maintain their property and respect modern standards, with those who fail to do so risking to be penalised by the law. Nevertheless, it remains difficult to judge what is fair and what isn't, and it really depends on a case-by-case basis. Finally, Krieger pointed out the law is no Luxembourgish exception and there are more interesting cases in Germany.

What will happen remains to be seen next week, but our expert tells us such affairs usually end with the landlord and tenant coming to an arrangement.
Elijah Johnston, a senior at UGA, will be performing in the Comer Coffee concert series in Comer, GA to benefit Love.Craft's fundraiser for adults with developmental disabilities. (Photo/Daniela Rico)
The digital discourse must be curated by the private companies that host it, but such power can not be exercised unless it is dispersed in a competitive marketplace, writes Francis Fukuyama.

In October, a confrontation erupted between one of the leading Democratic candidates for the US presidency, senator Elizabeth Warren, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Warren had called for a breakup of Facebook, and Zuckerberg said in an internal speech that this represented an existential threat to his company.

Facebook was then criticised for running an ad by president Donald Trumps re-election campaign that carried a manifestly false claim charging former vice-president Joe Biden, another leading Democrat contender, with corruption. Warren trolled the company by placing her own deliberately false ad.

This dust-up reflects the acute problems social media poses for American democracy  indeed, for all democracies.

The internet has in many respects displaced legacy media like newspapers and television as the leading source of information about public events, and the place where they are discussed.

But social media has enormously greater power to amplify certain voices, and to be weaponised by forces hostile to democracy, from Russian trolls to American conspiracy theorists.

This has led, in turn, to calls for the government to regulate internet platforms in order to preserve democratic discourse itself.

But what forms of regulation are constitutional and feasible? The US Constitutions First Amendment contains very strong free-speech protections.

While many conservatives have accused Facebook and Google of censoring voices on the right, the First Amendment applies only to government restrictions on speech; law and precedent protect the ability of private parties like the internet platforms to moderate their own content. In addition, section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act exempts them from private liability that would otherwise deter them from curating content.

The US government, by contrast, faces strong restrictions on its ability to censor content on the Internet in the direct way that, say, China does.

But the United States and other developed democracies have nonetheless regulated speech in less intrusive ways.

This is particularly true with regard to legacy broadcast media, where governments have shaped public discourse through their ability to license broadcast channels, to prohibit certain forms of speech (like terrorist incitement or hard-core pornography), or to establish public broadcasters with a mandate to provide reliable and politically balanced information.

The original mandate of the Federal Communications Commission was not simply to regulate private broadcasters, but to support a broad public interest. This evolved into the FCCs Fairness Doctrine, which enjoined TV and radio broadcasters to carry politically balanced coverage and opinion.

The constitutionality of this intrusion into private speech was challenged in the 1969 case Red Lion Broadcasting Co V FCC, in which the Supreme Court upheld the commissions authority to compel a radio station to carry replies to a conservative commentator.

The justification for the decision was based on the scarcity of broadcast spectrum and the oligopolistic control over public discourse held by the three major TV networks at the time.

The Red Lion decision did not become settled law, however, as conservatives continued to contest the Fairness Doctrine. Republican presidents repeatedly vetoed Democratic attempts to turn it into a statute, and the FCC itself rescinded the doctrine in 1987 through an administrative decision.

The rise and fall of the Fairness Doctrine shows how hard it would be to create an internet-age equivalent.

There are many parallels between then and now, having to do with scale.

Today, Facebook, Google, and Twitter host the vast majority of internet speech, and are in the same oligopolistic position as the three big TV networks were in the 1960s. Yet it is impossible to imagine todays FCC articulating a modern equivalent of the Fairness Doctrine.

Our politics are far more polarised; reaching agreement on what constitutes unacceptable speech (for example the various conspiracy theories offered up by Alex Jones, including that the 2012 school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, was a sham) would be impossible.

A regulatory approach to content moderation is therefore a dead-end, not in principle but as a matter of practice.

This is why we need to consider antitrust as an alternative to regulation. The right of private parties to self-regulate content has been jealously protected in the US; we dont complain that the New York Times refuses to publish Jones, because the newspaper market is decentralised and competitive.

A decision by Facebook or YouTube not to carry him is much more consequential because of their monopolistic control over internet discourse.

Given the power a private company like Facebook wields, it will rarely be seen as legitimate for it to make such decisions.

On the other hand, we would be much less concerned with Facebooks content moderation decisions if it were simply one of several competitive internet platforms with differing views on what constitutes acceptable speech. This points to the need for a massive rethinking of the foundations of antitrust law.

The framework under which regulators and judges today look at antitrust was established during the 1970s and 1980s as a byproduct of the rise of the Chicago School of free-market economics.

As chronicled in Binyamin Appelbaums recent book The Economists Hour, figures like George Stigler, Aaron Director, and Robert Bork launched a sustained critique of overzealous antitrust enforcement.

The major part of their case was economic: Antitrust law was being used against companies that had grown large because they were innovative and efficient.

They argued that the only legitimate measure of economic harm caused by large corporations was lower consumer welfare, as measured by prices or quality.

And they believed that competition would ultimately discipline even the largest companies. For example, IBMs fortunes faded not because of government antitrust action, but because of the rise of the personal computer.

The Chicago School critique made a further argument, however: The original framers of the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act were interested only in the economic impact of large scale, and not in the political effects of monopoly.

With consumer welfare the only standard for bringing a government action, it was hard to make a case against companies like Google and Facebook that gave away their main products for free.

We are in the midst of a major rethinking of that inherited body of law in light of the changes wrought by digital technology.

Economists and legal scholars are beginning to recognise that consumers are hurt by things like lost privacy and foregone innovation, as Facebook and Google sell users data and buy up startups that might challenge them.

But the political harms caused by large scale are critical issues as well, and ought to be considered in antitrust enforcement.

Social media platforms have been weaponised to undermine democracy by deliberately accelerating the flow of bad information, conspiracy theories, and slander.

Only the internet platforms have the capacity to filter this garbage out of the system. But the government cannot delegate to a single private company (largely controlled by a single individual) the task of deciding what is acceptable political speech.

We would worry much less about this problem if Facebook was part of a more decentralised, competitive platform ecosystem.

Remedies will be very difficult to implement: It is the nature of networks to reward scale, and it is not clear how a company like Facebook could be broken up.

But we need to recognise that while digital discourse must be curated by the private companies that host it, such power cannot be exercised safely unless it is dispersed in a competitive marketplace.

Francis Fukuyama is a senior fellow at Stanford University and co-director of its programme on democracy and the internet.
MBUYA  Ugandas Defence attaches to various missions abroad have come together on Wednesday, January 8, 2020, at the Ministry of Defence Headquarters Mbuya for a two-day conference.

The main objective of this meeting is to share experiences and understand the common values in the foreign service.

In his welcoming remarks, the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Gen Muhoozi congratulated and welcomed appointed officers to the diplomatic service whose mandate is to promote and protect Ugandas interests abroad.

He was happy that they were meeting to discuss the various issues of interest to Uganda.

Gen Muhoozi said that that they were also meeting to discuss, engage, assess and evaluate themselves as far as their work is concerned.

He asked the newly appointed officers to get deep knowledge about Uganda in terms of our engagements. I implore you to get more knowledge about our country and take keen interest in understanding our country but also in defence matters, he said.

Ambassador Patrick Mugoya the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs in his keynote address said that the key function of military attaches is to represent Uganda to the specific states, but also act as exper advisors to Heads of Missions.

He asked the officers to always be aware of Ugandas role in foreign countries like Somalia and international organisations such as the United Nations because these deployments help the force to gain exposure as well as experience.

He underscored what the CDF had said about officers getting deep knowledge of the country they are accredited to as it is the only way they will be able to deal with its affairs.

He reminded the officers to always represent Uganda and not themselves.

The conference is being attended by the Deputy CDF Lt Gen Wilson Mbadi, the Joint Chief Staff Lt Gen Joseph Musanyufu and other Senior Leaders of the UPDF among others.

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The ambassadors of the G7 countries in Ukraine have expressed their deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed in the crash of a Ukraine International Airlines passenger plane near Tehran.

"The G7 Ambassadors in Ukraine express their deepest condolences to the families and friends of all those who perished on the Ukrainian International Airlines flight that crashed near Tehran this morning," the ambassadors wrote on their Twitter account.

A Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane heading from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after taking off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport at about 06:00 Tehran time (04:30 Kyiv time) on Wednesday, January 8.

There were 176 people on board the aircraft - 167 passengers (including two Ukrainians) and nine crew (all Ukrainians). Most of the victims of the Ukrainian plane crash in Tehran are citizens of Iran (82) and Canada (63). Those killed in the crash also include ten Swedes, four citizens of Afghanistan, three Germans, and three Britons.

op
Have Sheriff Offices in North Carolina, possibly even Beaufort County's Sheriff Office, become too political in the discharging of their sworn constitutional duties?

No, the sheriff is a constitutional officer.

Yes, the Sheriff Office, on strong occasion, often reverts back to political patronage in the dispensation of their sworn constitutional duties.
During our week of service we helped 341 patients, but it wasnt about quantity, it was about quality: quality in our time with the patients, community, and our fellow team. As a business we actively seek out opportunities to uplift our global community.

Multiple hygienists, assistants, and a U.S. dentist flew to the Dominican Republic along with staff from Productive Dentist Academy and Barnabas Task, a nonprofit, to bring dental care to the community of Santiago this past October. This is the fourth trip for Productive Dentist Academy, and the 13th year for Barnabas Task. The coalition is continuing their efforts into 2020 with another dental mission trip to the Dominican Republic this January 16-25.

Our goal is simple, said Victoria Peterson, CEO of Productive Dentist Academy. "To make a positive impact on 20 million people in the world through awareness and service to others."

During the stay, Peterson and the rest of the team tended to patients from New Hope Girls, an organization dedicated to breaking the cycles of abuse and exploitation of young girls in the Dominican. They also served members of the general community, both adults and children.

During our week of service we helped 341 patients, but it wasnt about quantity, it was about quality: quality in our time with the patients, community, and our fellow team, said Regan Robertson, President & CMO of Productive Dentist Academy, who also volunteered for the mission. One of our core tenets at PDA is Doing good while doing good. As a business we actively seek out opportunities to uplift our global community. We were fortunate to align with Tom Hinton and Barnabas Task to help realize our goal on an international scale.

Tom Hinton, the co-founder of Barnabas Task, says that volunteering and community service is a great way to make a difference in the world and to positively impact other peoples lives. It was his nonprofit that was responsible for organizing the event and handling logistics.

"The hallmark of Barnabas Task is that we care for people, said Hinton. We spend time with people, we find out why they are here, we pray for them, we build long-term relationships with them so that our impact is felt after we leave, not just during our time with them in person. The volunteers of this mission demonstrated expertise, professionalism, and the ability to perform restorative care, extractions, and cleanings. But the significant mark they left in Santiago is that they loved people, cared for them, and built relationships.

Dr. Chad Johnson, a faculty member at Productive Dentist Academy and a dentist with his own practice, was also one of those volunteers. In addition to providing dental care, Johnson and others presented technology and advice to professionals in the Dominican Republic, sharing the latest U.S. trends in patient care and oral systemic connection to his Caribbean counterparts. Barnabas Task attending missionary, hygienist Nancy Mann, also gave a presentation regarding whole body health and hygiene.

"The local dentists in the Dominican wanted to know more about the latest in technology, Johnson said. I was able to share with them advancements in pharmacology, laser dentistry, and implementing CBCT into implant surgical design. What excited them is that I also offered to bring my laser for demonstration the next time I am there in an effort to get them to work alongside Barnabas throughout the year at the free clinic, knowing that we would have more free technology available for them to try and use. I also gave them samples of compounded topical, and I left them sodium bicarbonate to buffer the anesthetic, which should be a big benefit in not only making patients more comfortable, but also making dentists more efficient."

About Productive Dentist Academy

Productive Dentist Academy is a dental-consulting and marketing firm located in Anacortes, Wash. It works with dentists throughout the United States to fine tune, expand, and build businesses. This work ranges from helping dentists to start up new practices to helping them deal with mid-career slumps or developing a custom business development plan, and exploring retirement options. Productive Dentist Academy also helps dentists to expand and find ways to increase productivity while simultaneously decreasing stress. PDA has been in operation since 2004, and it currently provides assistance to thousands of dentists throughout the country. For more information, call (360) 709-7765 or visit http://www.productivedentist.com.

About Barnabas Task

Barnabas Task, founded by Tom and Nancy Hinton in 2008, provides community health evangelism throughout the world. Tom is a pioneer pastor, and has worked as a missions coordinator/connector with various ministries throughout the United States. Since 1980, he has facilitated church planting in Boston, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and Chile as well as coordinated significant Disaster Relief responses worldwide. A popular, engaging speaker, Tom has served with the Global CHE Network Service Team and is certified CHE trainer. He also serves as a consultant to World Challenge, Latin America, and the Caribbean. His focus has been leadership training in a small group setting. Nancy is a Nurse Practitioner and Hospitalist at Parkview Regional Medical Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She is passionate about prevention care. The Hintons have six daughters and 15 grandchildren. They reside in Bradenton, Florida. For more information, visit http://www.barnabastask.org.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.9

By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:

Uzbekistans InfinBank Joint Stock Commercial Bank has summed up the results of the year, Trend reports citing the Uzbek media.

In 2019, the Swiss investment fund increased its stake in InfinBank to 35 percent. Meawhile, the bank's representatives took part in a number of international meetings and conferences, which expanded the pool of foreign partners opening credit lines at InfinBank for business representatives.

The bank improved products and services for legal entities, which helped to achieve significant joint results.

The banks strong position and stability are confirmed by Moodys ratings at B2 / Stable and Ahbor-Reyting at Stable.

Evidence of the bank's reliability as a financial partner is the fact that a number of leading European and Russian financial institutions have allocated credit lines for InfinBank. For trade finance operations in the bank, credit lines of banks in Germany, Russia, Austria and others are available.

Moreover in 2019, representatives of InfinBank held meetings and reached an agreement to continue the dialogue on attracting equity and debt capital with the following investors: Voltan Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Citi Bank, Forum Asset Management, Renaissance Capital Securities, Harding Loevner, Equinox, Kyklos Capital LLC, Cumulus and others.

In 2019, more than 300 exporters used the services of the bank. These are mainly business representatives in such areas as export of agricultural products, textiles, paper products, confectionery products, wool and leather products.

---

Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri
DENVER, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Boom Supersonic, the Colorado company building historys fastest supersonic commercial airliner, today announced the addition of two seasoned executives to its Advisory Board. Dr. Ray O. Johnson, the former SVP and CTO of Lockheed Martin, and Mark Levy, the former CHRO of Airbnb and Allbirds.



As we continue to make progress towards fulfilling our mission, Booms need for world-class expertise in aviation technology and overall corporate culture will continue to evolve and grow, said Boom founder and CEO, Blake Scholl. Now as we move toward completing the build of XB-1, we are entering a new phase in our development as an organization. And I am so pleased to be able to add additional world-class business and engineering expertise as we scale and forge a high-performing organization.

Dr. Ray O. Johnson served as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Lockheed Martin for nine years, where he directed engineering, technology, production operations, global supply chain, program management, and logistics and sustainment. Currently, he is a business and strategy consultant working with a range of technology-related companies, and an active board member on several high-growth tech and aerospace organizations. Johnson is also a renowned academic and sits on the Argonne National Laboratory Board of Governors, and previously held board positions with Sandia Corporation and the USAF Scientific Advisory Board.

Boom is well-positioned to transform the state of commercial aviation, said Dr. Johnson. I am excited about the opportunity to support the continued development of its organizational structure, manufacturing processes, and leadership framework to help drive the companys success.

Mark Levy was a pioneer in developing Airbnbs innovative employee experiencewhich has become a model for how organizations globally are looking at expanding the HR function. Presently, Levy works with startups to global brands on how to evolve from traditional HR practices to encompass a more holistic employee experience. This transition entails creating an integrated internal and external brand, bringing the mission and values to life, and forging stronger connections among the company, its employees, their customers, and the communities in which they operate.

Even as a start-up, Boom has built a truly high-performing culture with an exceptional employee experience to support its audacious mission, said Levy. With significant growth on the horizon and a goal that will take years to achieve, it will require even greater alignment between managements vision and the employees daily work. My primary focus will be to help Booms leadership team leverage both the talents and passions of the team, in a sustainable way.

About Boom

Boom Supersonic is redefining what it means to fly by building Overture, historys fastest commercial airliner. Booms vision is to bring families, businesses, and cultures closer together through supersonic travel and make the world dramatically more accessible. The company is backed by top-tier investors and has 30 aircraft on pre-order from Japan Airlines and Virgin Group. Founded in 2014, Boom has assembled a best-in-class team of over 130 full-time employees who have made contributions to over 139 air and spacecraft companies. For more information, please visit https://boomsupersonic.com .

Contacts for the Media

Boom

John Stavinga

720.726.5465

press@boomsupersonic.com

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bb24f259-85fb-4e0a-b383-02bf00105051

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1f8b4f3d-7ce3-4f23-ad1b-4053f2db14b9
Zimbabwes President Emmerson Mnangagwa has taken three weeks holiday and handed power to his two vice-presidents.

Zimbabwe media has published articles on the presidents leave highlighting how he will be on vacation within the country.

Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga will be the acting president for the first half of the presidents leave, then his counterpart Kembo Mohadi will take over.

A statement by President Mnangagwas secretary George Charamba said the president will be on annual leave till end of January. The President will spend his vacation in the country, he wrote.

Follow Us on Facebook  @LadunLiadi; Instagram  @LadunLiadi; Twitter  @LadunLiadi; Youtube  @LadunLiadiTV for updates
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 20:33:46|Editor: huaxia

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Frank Mugambage (R), Rwanda's High Commissioner to Uganda, talks to some of the released Rwandan prisoners after their release by Uganda, in Kampala, capital of Uganda, Jan. 8, 2020. (Xinhua/Joseph Kiggundu)

Uganda handed over 9 Rwandan nationals released by a military court to Rwanda to ease tensions between the two neighboring countries.

KAMPALA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Uganda on Wednesday handed over nine Rwandan nationals released by a military court to ease tensions between the two neighboring countries.

Sam Kutesa, Uganda's foreign affairs minister handed over the freed prisoners to immigration authorities in the presence of Frank Mugambage, Rwanda's High Commissioner to Uganda.

Kutesa said the gesture is in line with the Luanda Memorandum of Understanding signed between Uganda and Rwanda on the normalization of the relations between the two countries.

"We have withdrawn the charges against these nine people. We are doing this as a political move to ease the tensions between our two countries," said Kutesa at the handover ceremony in the capital Kampala.

"To withdraw charges is an act of goodwill which we consider and hope will be reciprocated by the Rwanda government by dealing with other issues we have raised with them," he said.

Sam Kutesa (L), Uganda's Foreign Affairs Minister and Frank Mugambage (2nd, L), Rwanda's High Commissioner to Uganda address the press in Kampala, capital of Uganda, Jan. 8, 2020. (Xinhua/Joseph Kiggundu)

Uganda's General Court Martial on Tuesday set free nine Rwandese who were facing charges of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. The move followed the prosecution losing interest in the case.

Mugambage said the release and handover is a step in the right direction and called for the end of arbitrary arrests of Rwandese who visit Uganda.

The handover came in the wake of negotiations by the two neighboring countries to end close to a year of misunderstandings.

Last year, Rwanda closed its common border with Uganda alleging that the latter was incarcerating its citizens. Uganda denied the allegations. 
Iran Army: Attack on US airbase a legitimate response

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Jan 8, IRNA -- Iran's Army said on Wednesday that the crushing response to the US terrorist act was the absolute right and legitimate expectation of the Islamic Ummah.

Iran's Army in a statement expressed its support for the IRGC's missile attack on the US airbase in Iraq that took place last night, warning that the security of Islamic government and people of Iran is the red line for Iranian armed forces.

The statement also stressed that Iran will pursue a strategy to expel all foreign forces, including 'American terrorists', from the region.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) targeted the US airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq early on Wednesday in response to the US assassination of the great commander of the IRGC's Quds Force, Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Lieutenant General Soleimani and the acting Commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), known as the Hashd al-Shaabi, Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandes, along with eight other military forces with a record of fighting the Daesh (ISIS) in Iraq were assassinated by the US on Friday.

The Supreme Leader had called for proportionate military action against the US interests in response to a heinous crime against the Iranian commander who was on a diplomatic mission to Baghdad.

9416**2050

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By Tim Korso

January 09, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - Head of the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh has stated that the 8 January missile attack on American bases in neighbouring Iraq was only the start of a series of attacks that will take place across the entire region, Tasnim News Agency reported. The general further shared that the country had hundreds of missiles ready for launch, when it carried out strikes and added that Tehran conducted cyberattacks on the same day against American plane and drone navigation systems.

At the same time, Hajizadeh revealed that Iran didn't plan to kill any US soldiers on 8 January, saying the country had targeted the American "military machine" instead. The Iranian general noted that driving out US forces from the Middle East would be the only "appropriate revenge" for their assassination of Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani on 3 January.

Iranian Retaliation for Soleimani's Killing

Tehran's attack on US military facilities in Erbil and the Ayn al-Asad Air Base in Iraq came as a response to Washington's assassination of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani in an airstrike on 3 January that Iranian leaders subsequently branded a "terrible crime" and "state terrorism".

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The attacks, however, didn't result in American or Iraqi casualties and only caused minor damage to the US bases. In his address to the nation, US President Donald Trump announced that Washington will impose new harsh sanctions on Iran over the attacks, but stopped short of announcing any kind of military response. At the same time, he recalled that the US has "lethal and accurate" missiles, but added that the White House would prefer not to use them against Iran.

This article was originally published by " Sputnik " -
Kyiv's business court in a ruling dated January 2, 2020 launched proceedings in case No. 910/18214/19 opened under a claim of former board chairman and ex-minority shareholder in PrivatBank (Kyiv) Oleksandr Dubilet (earlier held 2.7249% of shares in the bank) against the state in relation to the nationalization of the bank, Finbalance ezine has reported.

According to the report, at the end of December 2019 similar claims were also filed by ex-minority shareholders and former top managers of PrivatBank: Tymyr Novikov (as of March 31, 2016 held 1.2625% of the shares), Oleh Gorokhovsky (0.3236%), Volodymyr Yatsenko (0.3229%), Tetiana Huryeva (0.2422%), Liudmyla Shmalchenko (0.1614%) and others. Defenders in the case are the Deposit Guarantee Fund, Finance Ministry of Ukraine and state-owned PrivatBank.

According to court materials, the former top managers of PrivatBank challenge, among other things, the bail-in procedure  the forced conversion of their deposits into new shares of the bank, which were issued in December 2016 during the nationalization of the financial institution, and then were bought by the state (represented by the Ministry of Finance) for 1 UAH with all the "old" shares of the bank (total  100%).

As reported, in 2017-2018, the former minority shareholders of PrivatBank filed lawsuits against the state with the Pechersky district court of Kyiv, but the court refused to hear the relevant claims, citing the fact that such disputes should be resolved in business courts.

At the same time, in December 2019, several companies, which funds also fell under the bail-in, filed lawsuits against PrivatBank and the Finance Ministry with the Kyiv business court. Among them are Chem-Oil-Transit-Ukraine LLC, Songo LLC, FC Finilon LLC, Revatis LLC, Partner-Expi LLC, Paritet LLC, KS Group LLC, Hangli International Holdings Limited, Craentex Investments Ltd, Hetterington Group Ltd, Birgminton Investing Inc., Veliona Trading Ltd, and Saviento Investments Ltd.
Parl panel on Science and Technology meets for first time since lockdown

Airports Authority of India is now 'Adani Airports of India': Jairam Ramesh

SC pulls up Centre for not filing reply on Jairam Rameshs plea against amended RTI Act

This is loot: Jairam Ramesh on govt plan to privatise oil fields

Govt adopting double standards by allowing envoys to visit J&K, but not Indian politicians: Congress

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Jan 09: The Congress on Thursday accused the government of adopting double standards by resorting to "guided tours" to Jammu and Kashmir for foreign envoys, but not allowing Indian politicians to go there.

The party's attack on the government came hours after US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster and envoys from 15 other countries arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the first visit by diplomats since August last year when the state's special status was revoked and it was downsized to a union territory.

16 envoys including US Ambassador reach Kashmir, EU skips

"Government adopting double standards by allowing foreign envoys to visit J&K, but not Indian politicians," senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said at a press conference.

"We demand that the government allows unfettered access to J&K to all politicians and not resort to guided tours for envoys," he said.

The Congress wants meaningful political activities in J-K, Ramesh said.

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Story first published: Thursday, January 9, 2020, 15:55 [IST]
Princess Salma completed her pilot training with Jordans Armed Forces and was honoured by her father King Abdullah.

Jordans Princess Salma bint Abdullah became the first woman in her country to pass her theoretical and practical pilot training with the Jordanian Armed Forces.

According to a statement from the Royal Hashemite Court, the 19-year-old completed her pilot training on fixed-wing aircraft.

The princess, who previously graduated from a short commissioning course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in November 2018, was presented with her aviation wings by her father, King Abdullah, at the Husseiniya Palace in the capital Amman on Wednesday.

The ceremony was attended by her mother Queen Rania and her older brother, Crown Prince Hussein.

The ceremony at Al Husseiniya Palace in Amman was attended by Queen Rania Al Abdullah and Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II. pic.twitter.com/j4jn6Hl8Hu  Arabian Royal Agency (@ARoyalAgency) January 9, 2020

Her brother, who is a first lieutenant in the Jordanian Armed Forces, took to Instagram to congratulate his sister.

Brilliant and hard-working as always! he wrote. Congrats on receiving your wings and heres to more success and achievements.

The Jordanian royal family can count a few of their members as Sandhurst alumni, such as the late King Hussein, King Abdullah and Prince Hussein.

Princess Salma, however, is not the first female to graduate from the UK-based military academy. Her paternal aunt, Princess Aisha bint Hussein, was the first Arab woman to attend Sandhurst and graduated in 1987.

She later went on to serve in Jordans special forces. Another aunt, Princess Iman, graduated in 2003.
Amazon is hiring a high-profile public health expert and clinician to help it strategize how to deliver better care for its workers, a person familiar with the company's thinking told CNBC.

The company plans to add Vin Gupta as a principal scientist to its growing Amazon Care team later this month, the person said. Gupta, a self-described "lung doc" with a background in pulmonary medicine, previously worked as a consultant to Apple, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Amazon acknowledged in September that it is piloting Amazon Care, a virtual medical clinic for Amazon employees based near its Seattle offices. Months later, the company has started making key hires, which indicates that it is looking to convert the group's pilot status into something more concrete. It's part of Amazon's larger push into the $3.5 trillion health care sector, which includes its PillPack team that's working in medication delivery, a variety of efforts to structure health data within its cloud service AWS, and its work to bring Alexa's voice technology into the patient's hospital room and home.

Amazon Care currently offers an app for employees to get virtual-only health advice and medical visits, but there's an option for an in-person consult via a health professional that will show up at their home or office. The medical staff are hired through a separate legal entity, known as Oasis Medical, which ensures that Amazon doesn't have direct knowledge of its workers' health.

Its focus on delivering medical care virtually isn't new -- lots of employers and insurance plans will work with third-parties to offer apps for that. But it relatively unique to see an large tech employer getting into care delivery, which puts it in a position to collect insights and data on whether its approach is moving the needle.

Gupta writes about public health topics for NBC, the New York Times and other outlets, and has worked as a health policy researcher and assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Gupta has also worked as a volunteer advisor for Joe Biden's "Biden for President" group, and as a pandemic policy consultant for the World Bank, via his LinkedIn.

He's written about the health impacts of vaping, the rise of antibiotic resistance, and recently penned an opinion column for the New York Times where he encouraged Congress to explore "digital interventions."

Amazon and Gupta declined to offer a comment for this story.

Gupta will join other high-profile medical hires to Amazon Care, including telemedicine expert Kristi Henderson.
Health official: 'Regardless of variant, the protective measures are the same'

local
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA  Alex Trebek says that when it comes to his health, I have good days, and bad days. But despite being treated for pancreatic cancer, the longtime Jeopardy! host is still on the job. And its a job he enjoys, as Trebek made clear during a panel discussion of the Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time tournament Wednesday, during the Television Critics Association 2020 winter press tour.

I love spending time with bright people, Trebek, 79, said, indicating Brad Rutter, Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer, the champions who shared the stage with him at the Langham Huntington hotel.

Tuesday night, millions of viewers saw the terrific first match in the Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time tournament, which brings together Jeopardy! champions Jennings, Holzhauer and Rutter.

All three entered the tournament with bragging rights. Jennings boasts a 74-game winning streak, the longest one in the shows history. Rutter is the highest money winner, with total Jeopardy! winnings of $4,688,436. Holzhauer is a more recent Jeopardy! phenom, who holds the record for all 15 of the top single-day winnings records on the show.

In a fitting showcase, Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time is getting a primetime event airing on ABC. Jennings, Rutter and Holzhauer are competing against each other in a series of matches, which began Tuesday night. The first player to win three matches will be named the best of the best  The Greatest of All Time  and win $1 million. The other two players will each receive $250,000.

Though the reason for the press tour panel was the Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time tournament, many of the questions were directed to Trebek, whose health has been a subject of intense interest since he announced his pancreatic cancer diagnosis, in 2019.

There was a good deal of affection for longtime "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek, who discussed how he's coping with treatment for pancreatic cancer, during his appearance at the TV winter press tour. (Photo: ABC/Stewart Cook) ABC

The interest has been mixed with affection for Trebek -- who has hosted Jeopardy! since 1984 -- and for the dignified way hes handled his difficult personal news.

Asked about the impact he has made, Trebek was modest. More than half my life has been spent hosting the program, Trebek said, adding that his success has been linked with the success of the show. Any host who had been in the job for as long as he has would be enjoying the same kind of appreciation, Trebek said.

He noted that the tributes that have been coming his way are, in part, a reaction to his illness. The pity factor is out there, Trebek said, adding, Im not unaware of that.

When a reporter encouraged Trebek to reflect on his role in the culture, the host said, I hope Ive been an influence for good, adding that he hoped he helped to highlight the benefits of not minimizing the importance of knowledge.

Having a wide range of knowledge, Trebek said, Makes you a better human being.

Jennings, Rutter and Holzhauer talked a bit about Jeopardy! strategy  choosing the mid-point of a category ups your chances of hitting a Daily Double, Rutter noted  and also praised Trebek.

If anybody in TV is irreplaceable, Jennings said, its Trebek.

In terms of how long he plans to continue hosting, Trebek said, As long as I feel my skills have not diminished too much, then Ill continue doing it.

Trebek also said that when he decides its time for him to stop, hell ask to use the final 30 seconds of the show to say goodbye. Hell decide then, he said, what his final show will be, and what he will say.

I dont foresee that 30-second moment coming up any time soon, Trebek said.

When a reporter asked what executive producer Harry Friedman and Trebek about what would happen after the host made such a statement, Friedman got a laugh by saying his reaction would be to cut the show off 30 seconds early.

The session ended with more laughter, as when Holzhauer complimented Trebek on spending decades in Hollywood, with no scandal.

Theres still time, Trebek said.

Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time continues at 8 p.m. Wednesday on ABC; stream it on Hulu + Live TV,

Check Oregonlive.com for more news and coverage of the TCA Winter 2020 press tour.

-- Kristi Turnquist

kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
Joe Biden has been wrong about nearly every major foreign policy decision for as long as anyone can remember. He was even wrong about the biggest no-brainer ever. Biden counseled President Obama against taking out Osama bin Laden when the opportunity to do so arose. (He now falsely denies this.)

Biden doesnt want to be wrong again, so hes waffling on the decision to take out the terrorist general Qasem Soleimani. On the one hand, Biden criticized President Trump for killing Soleimani:

A president who says he wants to end endless war in the Middle East is bringing us dangerously close to starting a new one. This outcome of strategic setbacks, heightened threats, chants of Death to America once more echoing across the Middle East, Iran and its allies vowing revenge  this was avoidable.

On the other hand, Biden stopped short of saying that killing of Irans Qasem Soleimani was the wrong decision. He explained that, though he is deeply skeptical about the action, he might agree with it if given information showing that there was an imminent threat that required this extraordinary action.

On the other other hand (you need three hands to keep up with Biden), the former vice president claimed that Trumps impulsive decision may well do more to strengthen Irans position in the region than any of Soleimanis plots would have ever accomplished. If so, why does Biden say he needs to know whether Soleimani was the author of an imminent threat?

Biden has an additional incentive for straddling, in addition to not wanting to be wrong again. He wants to appeal to Trump-hating Democrats (i.e. nearly every Democrat), but doesnt want to go full Bernie Sanders on foreign policy and national security.

Washington Post reporter Matt Viser has trouble locating Biden on the foreign policy spectrum. He writes:

While some see him as a hawk, Biden has also held dovish positions in the past, opposing the Persian Gulf War under President George H.W. Bush and counseling his boss, President Barack Obama, against a surge of troops in Afghanistan.

Biden is neither a hawk nor a dove. If he were one or the other, he would, like a broken clock, be right at least occasionally about foreign policy.

Biden has no fixed, coherent view of the world. Hes just a hack who relies on a combination of political expediency, conventional wisdom, and a small dose of his own judgment to form his foreign policy/national security positions.

Its that small dose of judgment, I assume, that keeps him from nearly ever being right.
SB Investment Advisers (UK) Ltd (SBIA) on Thursday named former Google executive Vikas Agnihotri as its first operating partner in India.

"To continue its expansion in India and bolster portfolio companies, SBIA has announced the appointment of Vikas Agnihotri as its first operating partner to foster closer connections with the region's technology ecosystem and the SBIA's global network," a statement said.

Agnihotri joins the company from Google, where he had a stint of about a decade in various leadership roles. In his last role, he served as the interim Country Head and Managing Director of Indian operations.

He is also on the board of Mobile Marketing Association, the Advertising Standards Council of India, and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

After launching the SoftBank Vision Fund I in 2017, SoftBank Vision Fund II was announced last year to continue the strategic investment in technology and innovation globally.

In India, SoftBank Vision Fund I has already invested over USD 10 billion in technology companies, including Grofers, Lenskart, Delhivery, FirstCry, Oyo, Ola, Paytm, and PolicyBazaar.

SBIA had announced the opening of its India office in 2018 and hired Sumer Juneja to lead its India investing operations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners has agreed to pay most of the nearly $26,000 in legal fees associated with Chairman Jim Bernards defense against a state investigation that found he broke ethics laws.

The Oregon Government Ethics Commission last year determined that Bernard improperly used his official position to urge county leaders to hand over records to his wife for a possible lawsuit against the county. Bernards settlement with the state says he broke two laws -- one prohibiting public officials from using their positions for financial gain and the other dealing with declaring conflicts of interest.

The ethics panel voted to send Bernard letters of education instead of a fine for the two ethics violations in 2017.

Bernards legal bills in the matter totaled $25,912. He paid $5,000 and asked the county to pay the rest. He was represented by Steven Berman, an attorney with Stoll Berne in Portland.

On Tuesday, Commissioners Martha Schrader, Sonya Fischer and Ken Humberston voted to approve Bernards request. Commissioner Paul Savas was the lone no vote. Bernard abstained. Taxpayers will foot the bill through the countys general fund.

Before casting her vote, Schrader asked if Bernard would compromise and pay $10,000. When her offer was declined, she agreed to vote yes. However, she said she was very troubled by Bernards proposal.

I dont want to chastise us, but we have to be very careful about how we put things in text and emails and things like that, she said. I am troubled by this, but I also believe there is an argument or assertion to be made that any one of us can be targeted.

Fischer, who made the motion to pay most of Bernards legal bills, did not explain her vote in the meeting, saying only that she was prepared to support what Commissioner Bernard has proposed.

Humberston said Bernards ethics violation was essentially an honest mistake and that the involvement of Bernards wife, Danielle Cowan, made the situation unique. Cowan formerly served as executive director of Clackamas County Tourism and Cultural Affairs.

When your family is involved, that is a particularly difficult issue to deal with, Humberston said. We protect our families and when we feel they are being threatened, we can make mistakes that we wish we hadnt made and that can happen to any one of us.

In casting his no vote, Savas highlighted an earlier commitment by Bernard to pay his legal fees if he was found to have violated state ethics laws.

Bernard declined comment to The Oregonian/OregonLive on the vote but referred to a letter he wrote to his colleagues, saying he settled the ethics complaint because I did not want to inflict further costs on taxpayers.

In the end, after a thorough investigation the (Ethics) Commission found no merit to everything alleged in the Complaint, save my sending an email that could result in two possible violations, he wrote. The Commission recommended a minor sanction, which I accepted to put this matter to rest.

The ethics commission opened its investigation into Bernard after the former county treasurer lodged a number of claims involving Bernards involvement in matters tied to his wifes employment.

According to ethics commission records, Bernard sent an email to two county officials as Cowan threatened to sue the county alleging that false and defamatory statements had been made about her during a county commission executive session in June 2017.

Cowan had sought a recording of the meeting. In limited circumstances, Oregon law allows public bodies to meet and deliberate in executive sessions that are closed to the public.

Using his government email account, Bernard urged a county lawyer and the county administrator to comply with his wifes request, saying his family comes first.

I will support my wife in anyway possible just as both of you would, he wrote, according to the investigative report. We have made huge effort to separate our relationship from work but in this circumstance family is number 1.

One of my rules  has been to keep us out of court and public scrutiny. That is why I think her lawyer should be given access to the file.

During Tuesdays county commission meeting, Bernard did not address the matter or his request for the countys help paying his legal bills.

Bernard was elected to the commission in 2009. Bernards annual salary is $106,563.

-- Noelle Crombie; ncrombie@oregonian.com; 503-276-7184; @noellecrombie

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
A lawyer for Harvey Weinsteins has accused the judge presiding over his rape trial of bias over comments he made about the former film mogul texting in court.

Judge James Burke had threatened to revoke Weinsteins bail after catching him using his mobile phone in the courtroom on Tuesday.

Arthur Aidala, one of Weinsteins lawyers, has now filed a motion asking the judge to recuse himself, saying he showed animus towards his client.

Judge Burke had asked the defendant: "Is this really the way you want to end up in jail for the rest of your life, by texting and violating a court order?"

Mr Aidala said the questions suggested the judge had already decided Weinstein was guilty and should be sentenced to life. Judge Burke has not ruled on the motion.

Ninety of the 120 people summoned to a court in Manhattan on the second day jury selection were excused, many for saying they could not be impartial.

Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting two women in New York.

He faces life in prison if convicted on the most serious charge, predatory sexual assault.

Film producer Harvey Weinstein arrives at New York Criminal Court / REUTERS

Most of the potential jurors dismissed said they could not be impartial in the case, with one saying her friend had an encounter with the defendant.

Another said she could not be fair because she had been sexually assaulted.

"I read every article and it's going to be very hard for someone who's been assaulted multiple times," one potential juror said, explaining why she could not be impartial.

"I was assaulted in my past, so I dont think I can be a fair juror," another woman said.

Harvey Weinstein leaves the courtroom in New York City criminal court / Getty Images

The 30 potential jurors who were not dismissed Wednesday are expected to return January 16 for the next phase of jury selection.

Since 2017, more than 80 women, including many famous actresses, have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct dating back decades.

The Weinstein allegations helped fuel the #MeToo movement which encouraged women to go public with misconduct allegations against powerful men.

Weinstein has denied the allegations, saying any sexual encounters he had were consensual.

The former film producer made his mark with critically acclaimed films such as "The English Patient" and "Shakespeare in Love."

Prosecutors need 12 jurors to back a conviction, while Weinstein needs just one holdout for a hung jury.
Madigan, the leader of the Democratic Party of Illinois, was named among many others in a subpoena and search warrant executed by the FBI in May at the City Club of Chicago seeking recommendations from the organizations then-president, Jay Doherty, who was also then a ComEd lobbyist. Doherty resigned as the organizations president last month.
January 1, DPRK supreme leader Kim Jong-un expressed his intention to resume nuclear testing, as the United States continues to strengthen South Korea and supply weapons there. The North Korean leader promised to test new strategic weapons soon. According to Kim Jong-un, North Koreans should tighten their belts. At the same time, he expressed his intention to conduct denuclearization if the United States were the first to lift the sanctions. A year and a half of US diplomatic efforts to persuade the DPRK to abandon nuclear weapons ended in complete failure, and Pyongyangs actions will be unpredictable this year.

In 2017, was the last time DPRK conducted nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Then, for a year and a half, North Korea refrained from missile and nuclear tests, but from the second half of 2019 it resumed launches of short-range missiles, fired from multiple launch rocket systems, and in December it tested a rocket engine. Kim Jong-un is not just blackmailing the States, but focusing on the supply of weapons to South Korea. The lack of progress in the negotiations on the denuclearization of the North really influenced the militarization of the South, which is reaching a qualitatively new level and causing concern in Pyongyang.

The help of the Big Brother

Kim Jong-un has found some point to cling to. Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, the armed forces of South Korea, numbering 3.5 million people (including reservists) rely on the United States as the main foreign supplier of weapons (not counting national manufacturers). In 2013-17, Seoul spent over 13 billion USD on the purchase of American weapons, on programs in the field of training the army. Since 1989, South Korea has been a major US ally outside of NATO and has access to advanced US military technology and equipment.

The United States did supply large quantities of weapons to South Korea during North Koreas voluntary moratorium on missile and nuclear testing. Lockheed supplied the South Korean Air Force with 13 multi-purpose stealth F-35A fighters. Three aircraft were shipped in December 2019, and it is planned to supply 47 more such combat vehicles. Also in December, Northrop Grumman delivered the Global Hawk drone to South Korea. In the first half of 2020, it is planned to ship three more drones. In May 2019, it became known about the deal for the supply of 94 SM-2 Block IIIB missiles for the American Patriot missile defense systems to South Korea.

The DPRK authorities were unhappy that the armed forces of the United States and South Korea continue to conduct joint military exercises. Washington and Seoul canceled the large-scale Young Eagle, Key Decision military exercises, but replaced them with smaller maneuvers called the Alliance, which were held twice last year.

Pyongyang's position is not without bias. For some reason, Kim Jong-un didnt say a word about Russia's proposal in 2019 to upgrade Ka-32 civilian helicopters in a South Korean park, about the participation of the Russian company Almaz-Antey in the development of the South Korean missile defense system KM-SAM (seven batteries are planned to be deployed by 2022). In 2018, France delivered three Airbus A330 MRTT military tanker aircraft to South Korea. South Korea is an attractive arms market, and therefore manufacturers from various countries of the world continue to work with it, despite denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

War is when one fights to the last-ditch and another gets rich

Pyongyang is alarmed by the dynamic development of the military-industrial complex of its southern neighbor. The North Korean crisis can be compared with the Cold War, only in miniature, within the same peninsula. The DPRK nuclear threat factor, the potential threat of the Second Korean War are the drivers of defense research and development in South Korea and contribute to investment in the production of weapons. In 2018, the military budget of South Korea amounted to 43.1 billion USD (10th place in the world). For comparison, the DPRK spends on the maintenance of its army only 7.5 billion USD a year, while having a numerical superiority over the South Korean military by 2 times. In 2019, defense spending in South Korea amounted to 2.6% of GDP - more than in India (2.4%), France (2.3%), Turkey (2.5%). In August 2019, Seoul announced plans to invest 239 billion USD in the development of the defense sector in 2020-24.

As the experience of the United States, Western Europe, and Russia shows, producing weapons is beneficial not only to strengthen their own defense potential but also to sell to foreign markets, which is a profitable business. Prior to the tightening of international sanctions, North Korea earned this by selling its cheap small arms, tanks, and artillery to countries in Africa and Asia. South Koreans follow the same path, having a technological advantage over the DPRK. After 2010, reforms were carried out in the military-industrial complex of South Korea in order to establish the production of competitive products according to NATO standards. South Korea is only inferior to Israel in terms of defense research expenditures, and the developed machine-building complex allows, like the United States, Russia, and China, to produce products for the ground forces, navy, air force, albeit to a lesser extent.

Foreign companies are involved in the defense sector, and medium and small enterprises capable of producing weapons components are subsidized. Known as automobile manufacturers in Ukraine and the world, South Korean companies Daewoo and Hyundai produce tanks and other types of armored vehicles, surface ships and submarines. The South Korean self-propelled howitzer K9 was developed on the basis of the American analog M109A2, and the submarine of the Chang Bogo class was based on the German diesel submarine Type 209, the FA-50 fighter was based on the American F-16 aircraft. South Korea concluded contracts with Estonia, Finland, and Norway for the supply of self-propelled howitzers, with Indonesia for the supply of 6 submarines, with the Philippines for the supply of 2 frigates, and with Indonesia, Iraq, Thailand, and the Philippines for the supply of training and combat aircraft. Oman and Poland are considering acquiring the South Korean K2 tank.

A light aircraft carrier capable of accepting American F-35B fighters capable of carrying out vertical landing, a South Korean multi-purpose fighter KF-X, and Sejong Daewang class destroyers are under development. South Korea plans to modernize its navy so that it can carry out tasks not only in coastal waters and the surrounding Pacific Ocean (green water navy), but also in the open ocean anywhere in the world (blue water navy), as in the USA, Russia, China, India, France, and the UK. DPRK is annoyed that South Korean industrialists are commercializing the ongoing North Korean crisis. In response, Pyongyang decided to play on the nerves of Seoul, to make it clear that the nuclear threat is real and the development of conventional weapons will not help to avoid it.

Kim Jong-un's nightmare

North Korea fears South Koreas development of its own ballistic missiles as opposed to North Koreas missile program. Two years ago, South Korean President Moon Jae In agreed with his American counterpart Donald Trump to revise the 2012 bilateral agreement on restrictions on ballistic missile production. Prior to this, Seoul could produce missiles with a flight range of not more than 800 km, capable of carrying warheads of not more than 500 kg. Pyongyang is afraid of discussions in South Korean society about the development of its own nuclear weapons. In November 2019, former South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min Sung proposed the creation of limited-range tactical nuclear weapons to deter the DPRK and reduce its dependence on the United States in defense. According to a Gallup survey, 60% of South Koreans support the acquisition of nuclear weapons.

To date, the implementation of this initiative is hindered by the participation of South Korea in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Tests. The USA and Europe are against the expansion of the club of nuclear powers. The appearance of nuclear weapons in South Korea will be hostile in China, which is against even the deployment of US missile defense systems in the country. Following South Korea, Japan wants to acquire nuclear weapons. In this case, the geopolitical situation in the Asia-Pacific region will not change in favor of the Middle Kingdom. South Korean missiles can be used to deter not only the DPRK but also China.

Kim Jong-un once again opted for muscle games to force the US to stop reinforcing South Koreas defense capabilities. However, Seoul will carry out militarization until Pyongyang renounces nuclear weapons. Kim Jong-uns moratorium on missile and nuclear testing does not inspire Moon Jae Ins confidence. The collapse of denuclearization will deepen the confrontation between South Korea, the United States and North Korea in the spirit of the Cold War. This year, various variants of DPRK provocations are possible: from launching a satellite into outer space to new nuclear tests and testing of intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine ballistic missiles.
Artsakh President Bako Sahakyan sent Thursday a congratulatory letter to Armenian first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan on his 75th birthday anniversary.

"Respected Mr. Ter-Petrosyan,

On behalf of the Artsakh people, authorities and myself personally I extend my cordial congratulations to You on Your 75th birthday anniversary.

In the high and responsible position of the Republic of Armenias first president You have had a great contribution to the establishment, development and strengthening of Armenia and Artsakh.

You have devotedly served the homeland, been by your native people, fought for the realization of their cherished desires, their freedom and independence, brought your invaluable contribution to the Artsakh national liberation movement and organization of the liberation war.

On this memorable day I wish robust health, happiness and all the best to You and all Your relatives and friends," the statement said.
The lawyer for the fugitive ex-Nissan chief, Carlos Ghosn, appeared before Lebanese prosecutors on Thursday over a non-binding Interpol-issued request to locate and provisionally arrest his client.

It was not immediately clear if Ghosn himself was at the hearing, though local media reported that he was and that he had entered through a side door, reserved for judges and lawyers, to avoid reporters.

Lebanon last week received an Interpol-issued wanted notice, which is a non-binding request to law enforcement agencies worldwide that they locate and provisionally arrest a fugitive.

Ghosn showed up in Lebanon on Dec. 30, after an audacious and improbable escape from surveillance in Japan. On Wednesday, Ghosn spoke to the media for the first time since his escape in a 150-minutes press conference in which he railed at Japanese justice system, accusing it of violating his basic rights.

Ghosn said he had no trust he would get a fair trial in Japan, disputing all allegations against him as "untrue and baseless".

Lebanon and Japan do not have an extradition treaty, and the Interpol notice does not require that Lebanese authorities arrest him. The authorities here have said that Ghosn entered the country on a valid passport, casting doubt on the possibility they would hand him over to Japan.

But in Lebanon, Ghosn separately faces possible legal action over a visit to Israel in 2008 after two Lebanese lawyers submitted a report to the Public Prosecutor's Office saying the trip violated Lebanese law. The two neighbouring countries are technically in a state of war.
Jeffrey Epstein survivor paints portraits of other survivors: 'Each one of those should have never happened' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

With a soft pastel in hand, Maria Farmer sketched out a portrait of a young woman. Its one of seven she created so far as part of a series, each showcasing a different woman drawn on a brightly colored background.

There's turquoise, there's pink, there's purple, there's yellow, there's blue, there's green and orange. And so, that's  each color behind the girl represents her, Farmer said.

'I absolutely stopped painting because of Epstein,' Farmer said. 'And in a weird way I kind of started painting because of him because I wanted to honor the victims.' (ABC News)

All have one thing in common: they have survived horrific and traumatic experiences, allegedly at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein.

I'm painting these  beautiful survivors, Farmer said. I want these girls to be honored individually  I wanted it to portray how beautiful these women are and how strong they are  because they did survive.

The drag of the pastel across the canvas, the fluid motions she used to shape the eyes, the hair, the face -- these are familiar strokes to Farmer, who used to find great inspiration and passion in her art. But only recently has she been able to stand at an easel again.

I absolutely stopped painting because of Epstein, Farmer said. And in a weird way I kind of started painting because of him because I wanted to honor the victims.

Click here to subscribe to the "Truth and Lies: Jeffrey Epstein" podcast.

Maria Farmer is seen here working on seven portraits for her series, 'The Survivors Project.' (ABC News)

There is one portrait missing from her collection: her own. Farmer, who says she is a survivor of Epstein, provided the earliest known criminal complaint about him to law enforcement.

I'm going be a blank of sheet of paper in mine, she said. I am just a blank sheet of paper, according to the U.S. government and the FBI, and I have felt like a blank sheet of paper for 24 years  I feel invisible.

MORE: Jeffrey Epstein survivors on coming to terms with what happened to them in Palm Beach: 'I had blamed myself for all these years'

Story continues

Farmer said she first met Epstein in 1995 when she was 25 years old. At the time, she had just graduated from the New York Academy of Art and her art career was taking off.

I was selling my paintings for over $20,000 out of my studio, she said. Nothing was going to stop me. I just knew I was going to be an art star.

Farmer said she was introduced to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite who was an associate of Epstein, at an art show that was put on by the New York Academy of Art. She said she was told they were important art patrons.

[Epstein] looked kind of distinguished because he had gray hair and he always had this smirk like he knew something that other people didnt know, Farmer said. He went to shake my hand and said, You're so talented. I love your painting, but here's the thing: you're going to give us a discount, because we're not going to pay full price. But we're going to make it up to you."

She said Epstein took home one of her paintings that night -- one that depicted the back of a dark-haired man standing in boxers in a doorway, looking at a blonde woman in a purple dress lying on an antique couch.

That was me sitting there in a contemplative manner, lying there on the sofa, Farmer said. I'm fully clothed. I'm in the back, tiny, on this sofa. But I'm, you know, a real size. But the viewer sees me as small.

Maria Farmer holds her painting she said Epstein bought from her in 1995. (ABC News)

After that first encounter, Farmer said Epstein hired her to collect art for him, which at the time sounded like a great opportunity.

At first, Farmer said she kind of admired Epstein, because he told her he had grown up in Coney Island, New York, in a working class family and went on to create an empire for himself that included a portfolio of luxurious properties around the world and vast amounts of wealth.

But just days into her new job, she said she started to see cracks in Epsteins facade. For one, she said Epstein neglected to pay artists for the paintings she had acquired for him. She said she wanted to quit but Epstein convinced her to stay on in a different role -- one that required her to man the front door of his New York City townhouse, signing in his guests, and she said he told her she could work on her art there.

She said Epstein gave her a tour of his townhouse on her first day in this new role, during which he pointed out various pinhole cameras.

He said, Do you see that? Like, well, we're going to be able to watch you right here. There's a pinhole camera. Oh. There's another one. And I thought that was odd. Why are you pointing them out to me? Farmer said. I said, Well, where does all this go? And he said, Well, it's right there. Let me take you in the room."

Farmer said Epstein led her into a security room of sorts that was stacked with monitors showing all the different camera feeds throughout the home.

At this point when I'm in the security room, I realize, well, I won't be going to the bathroom here. I won't lie down for a nap, because look. There's the bed upstairs. The other bed. The toilet. The bathroom. The shower. It's all on these screens. These very private moments people should have are on these screens, she said.

MORE: Former IT contractor for Jeffrey Epstein says he quit over concerns about revealing pictures and topless young women

Farmer said there were other things that seemed to be off about Epstein, like the fact that she said he never seemed work and he told her he got at least three massages a day.

Farmer, who is suing Epsteins estate, alleged in a lawsuit that while she was working the front door at Epsteins townhouse, she became concerned with things she said she saw involving him and Maxwell.

Ghislaine was 100% the lady of the house at Jeffrey's, she said.

At the time, Epstein was a financial advisor to billionaire Leslie Wexner, the founder and CEO of L Brands, which owns Victorias Secret and Bath & Body Works.

Farmer said she would see young girls regularly coming to the townhouse, signing the ledger and going upstairs. She said Maxwell told her that she and Epstein were model scouts who were auditioning models for Victorias Secret, according to her civil complaint.

Maxwell would go out on these drives  to procure models. She would say, These are the nubiles  I need the nubiles. That was her word, Farmer said. I asked Ghislaine, Why are you always going on to fetch children?  She made it clear  Jeffrey worked for Les Wexner, and they were just acquiring models for Victoria's Secret.

I knew something was wrong. I didn't know what was wrong, Farmer added.

PHOTO: Jeffrey Epstein's residence at 9 East 71st Street in the Manhattan borough of New York City on July 18, 2019. (Scott Heins/Getty Images)

ABC News reached out to L Brands for comment, including if Epstein and Maxwell had been model scouts for the company, but the company hasnt responded. But last year, the company told Business Insider that L Brands had hired an outside law firm to review Epsteins relationship with the company, adding that it did not believe Epstein was ever employed by L Brands or served as an authorized representative.

MORE: Alleged Epstein victims recount powerful emotions after witnessing financiers New York arraignment

In the summer of 1996, Farmer said she was given an opportunity to provide some artwork for a feature film, so she told Epstein she was quitting. She said Epstein instead offered that she move out to a home he said he had acquired in a New Albany, Ohio, community developed by Wexner, where she could have more space to work.

According to Farmers lawsuit, at one point Epstein and Maxwell came to Ohio for a visit and stayed at the home with her. It was during this visit that Farmer said everything she thought she knew about them changed.

Farmer's lawsuit alleges Maxwell asked her to come to Epsteins bedroom one night. When she walked in, Farmer said she found Epstein lying on the bed with socks and boxers on and he asked her to rub his feet.

I knew I was in trouble, Farmer said. I've never rubbed my boss's feet  So I'm like, I don't think I'm very good at this. And he goes, Sit right here (tapping on the bed)  And I thought, Oh god.

Thats when, according to Farmer's lawsuit, Epstein and Maxwell proceeded to violently, sexually assault her. Maxwell is referenced in Farmers lawsuit against Epsteins estate but she is not named as a defendant.

I sat down. And Ghislaine got on the other side of me, and they proceeded to -- touch me, Farmer said. I don't remember the assault. I remember being in a lot of pain. I remember having some bruises. I don't remember everything they touched. But they didn't get my clothes off. They tried."

"I was in an absolute panic to the point where I was able to get myself up and get out of that room, she continued. And Ghislaine came after me, but I literally took these big pieces of furniture, and I pushed them against the doors. And I stayed up all night.

PHOTO: Maria Farmer holds a photo of her younger self. (ABC News)

Farmer said she barricaded herself in her room and called the police but she said they didnt respond. The New Albany Police Department told ABC News it doesnt retain 911 records going back to the 1990s, and attempts to find records at other local departments were unsuccessful.

Farmer said she stayed in her room all night and when she came out the next morning, Epstein and Maxwell were gone. The next day, she said she got a call from Epstein, who allegedly offered her money, but she refused and never worked for him again.

"He said, 'Maria, I will do whatever you want. I am so sorry. What can I give you? I will give you any amount of money,'" Farmer explained.

According to her lawsuit, Farmer said after the alleged incident, Maxwell called her on Epsteins behalf and threatened to have all the paintings she had at the townhouse burned.

On Aug. 26, 1996, Farmer said she told the New York City Police Department about the alleged sexual assault, but Farmer said she was told the NYPD couldn't do anything because the alleged incident had occurred out of state. She said the NYPD referred her to the FBI, but they did take a report from her about Epstein concerning her artwork. Farmer said she called the FBI later that same day, but nothing happened.

When ABC News asked the FBI about Farmers report, as a matter of policy the FBI declined to comment and it wouldnt confirm or deny whether any record exists.

Maxwells attorneys did not return requests for comment for this report.

MORE: The rise and fall of Jeffrey Epstein: A timeline of the financier's troubles

By 2008, authorities in Florida had spent nearly two years investigating Epstein for allegations he had sexually assaulted minors. But the federal government entered into a then-secret non-prosecution agreement with Epstein that spared him a potential lengthy prison sentence in exchange for guilty pleas to two lesser state prostitution charges. He served just 13 months of an 18-month sentence in a private wing of a county jail, and was released in 2009.

Epstein was arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges in July 2019, but died in prison a month later before facing trial.

The whole ordeal has taken an enormous toll on Farmer. She said she stopped painting for 20 years, and only picked it back up in the past year.

I actually stopped because I felt like my art had been violated, she said. Not painting for 20 years was very -- it caused me to have depression  it was just very painful to not be able to paint and to not do the one thing that I was here to do.

'I'm painting these  beautiful survivors,' Farmer said. 'I want these girls to be honored individually.' (ABC News)

To this day, Farmer believes that if the FBI had listened to her in 1996 and taken action against Epstein back then, dozens of other women would have been saved.

If the FBI had listened to me in 1996, there would have been no more victims, she said.

She has chosen to call her series of portraits, The Survivors Project.

With each person I'm drawing, I realize that's another person who was harmed, Farmer said. And each one of those should have never happened, because I reported so many years before.

Farmer will open a month-long solo exhibition of her artwork beginning March 14 at the Gavlak Gallery in Los Angeles.
Red pill or blue pill? It appears Keanu Reeves chose neither during a recently confirmed sighting in Alameda.

Instead, he opted for a scoop of ice cream at the Baskin-Robbins location on Blanding Avenue.

Video shared to Twitter Monday evening shows the "Always Be My Maybe" actor casually seated on the curb outside of the ice cream chain, enjoying his cone in solitude. (Later, he was kind enough to pose for a photo with a young fan.)

A Baskin-Robbins employee named Abby told KTVU Reeves had walked into the shop around 5 p.m. that day. While she didn't get to see Reeves herself, she said her colleague who was working the evening shift "freaked out" and "didn't know how to act" when he saw the actor walk up to the counter. After the fact, a large sum of money was apparently left in the tip jar.

The fourth "Matrix" installment is scheduled to begin filming in February, and it looks like some of the scenes might take place in Alameda as well as San Francisco. It makes sense: A car chase scene in the 2003 sequel, "The Matrix: Reloaded," was filmed in the Posey Tube connecting Oakland and Alameda.

Last month, the San Francisco Film Commission told SFGATE a major film production  which, ironically enough, has the working title of "Project Ice Cream"  would be shooting around the same time. Industry trade magazine Production Weekly confirmed "Project Ice Cream" was the working title of "Matrix 4."

MORE: Is 'Matrix 4' going to film in San Francisco?

On Wednesday, an Alameda city official confirmed to SFGATE that Warner Bros. had previously obtained "the right permits to do filming" there but could not provide further comment.

Reeves was also reportedly spotted at the Big 5 Sporting Goods location on Park Street the following day.

"Matrix 4" is slated for release on May 21, 2021, the same weekend as "John Wick 4." Keanu fans can look forward to "Bill and Ted 3" later in August.

Amanda Bartlett is an SFGATE associate digital reporter. Email: amanda.bartlett@sfgate.com | Twitter: @byabartlett
Mike Pompeo has said Washingtons support of Israels settlements in the occupied West Bank will advance peace, sparking fury from Palestinian officials that dismissed the notion as dangerous.

Speaking via video link at a policy forum conference in Jerusalem, the US secretary of state reiterated that the Trump administration believes Israeli settlements on land captured in the 1967 war dont inherently violate international law and instead advance peace with Palestinians.

Its important that we speak the truth when the facts lead us to it. And we are recognising that these settlements dont inherently violate international law, Mr Pompeo said, during Wednesdays event hosted by the Kohelet Policy Forum, a Jerusalem think-tank.

We are returning to a balanced sober Reagan era approach. In doing so we are advancing the cause of peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, he added.

Palestinian leaders were outraged by the statement, dismissing the notion as ludicrous.

Around 430,000 settlers live amongst some 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank, where the Palestinians seek to set up a state along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

Settlements are a war crime and illegal. They are a violation of international law. They are antithetical for the basic requirement for peace, Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organisations Executive Committee, told The Independent.

It is a dangerous shortcoming to believe in this. It is like saying we support murder to maintain peace, she added.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator also rejected the notion saying that US policy was pushing the region further towards bloodshed and violence.

Israeli colonial settlements are illegal under international law... ignoring facts (doesnt) mean they dont exist, he said.

The shift in US policy on settlements not violating international law was first announced in November. It countered the widely accepted view that transfer of any countrys civilians to occupied land is a war crime, and a violation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and UN Security Council resolutions.

Many countries condemned Mr Pompeos announcement at the time but the Trump administration, which has strong ties with the government of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stuck by its shift.

The International Criminal Courts chief prosecutor signalled she would launch a full investigation into possible crimes committed by all sides in the Palestinian Territories  including a probe into Israeli settlements.

Recommended Benjamin Netanyahu asks for immunity from corruption charges

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Trump administrations backing was a proper answer to the ICCs decision to move ahead with the probe.

The Pompeo doctrine regarding the status of the settlements simply states that we are not foreigners in our homeland, Mr Netanyahu told the Wednesday conference.

Israeli rights groups have told The Independent that Trumps election has emboldened Israels pro-settler government.

In October Peace Now registered that since Trump came to office there have been well over twice the amount of housing units approved in settlements than the three years before that.

Btselem, another Israeli organisation, said this week that in 2019 Israel demolished a record number of homes in East Jerusalem.

The Palestinians have boycotted the Trump administration and its peace efforts, including its long-delayed peace plan since 2018. They accuse Washington of pro-Israel bias since it recognised Jerusalem as Israels capital.
WASHINGTON - The House will vote Thursday on a resolution that would limit President Donald Trump's authority to take future military action against Iran without congressional authorization, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Wednesday.

House lawmakers received a briefing from key administration officials following the Tuesday night attack on two bases in Iraq that house U.S. troops and the preceding U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

"Today, to honor our duty to keep the American people safe, the House will move forward with a War Powers Resolution to limit the President's military actions regarding Iran," Pelosi said.

The resolution, introduced Wednesday by Michigan freshman Elissa Slotkin, directs the president to end the use of U.S. military forces to engage against Iran unless Congress has formally authorized action or if there is an "imminent armed attack upon the United States." Slotkin is a former CIA analyst who served three tours in Iraq and represents a competitive district.

House Democrats exited their briefing unsatisfied with the administration's threat rationale for the Soleimani strike and legal justification, the post 9/11 authorization for use of military force for Iraq.

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"Members of Congress have serious, urgent concerns about the Administration's decision to engage in hostilities against Iran and about its lack of strategy moving forward. Our concerns were not addressed by the President's insufficient War Powers Act notification and by the Administration's briefing today," Pelosi said.

The announcement comes as grumbling about the administration's justification for the strike on Soleimani is picking up steam across the Capitol. Members were briefed by the administration on Wednesday, and some of the reaction was not kind.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said it was the worst briefing he had ever received as a member, and he and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., indicated they would be supporting a Senate War Powers resolution sponsored by Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine.

Lawmakers were still working out earlier in the day a process that would ensure the resolution will have a "privileged" status in the Senate and therefore will require action by the other chamber.

"The issue - if you look at what happened with the Yemen war powers, we passed it in the House, there was (a motion to recommit), the MTR passed and that deprivileged it in the Senate. And of course if it's de-privileged McConnell won't give it a vote," Rep. Ro Khanna explained to reporters.

Khanna said that there is some hope that some of the Republican senators who supported the Yemen war powers resolution last year would also support this new iteration.

The resolution will see action in the House Rules committee Wednesday evening before a vote slated for Thursday. The measure includes a repeal of the 2002 Iraq AUMF from Rep. Barbara Lee and legislation from Khanna that would bar funding for military action against Iran not authorized by legislators.

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(Bridget Bowman, Lindsey McPherson and Niels Lesniewski contributed to this story.)

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To the Editor:

A Presidents Mixed Messages Unsettle More Than Reassure (news analysis, front page, Jan. 9) quotes an Iranian-American strategist who described President Trumps policy toward the Middle East over the past few months as strategically incoherent. In fact, U.S. policy in the region has been incoherent for nearly two decades with the pursuit of policies that have created terrorists faster than they could be eliminated.

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, U.S. actions have worsened the stability of the Middle East, the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia. Our prolonged stay in Afghanistan has been a strategic nightmare. George W. Bushs invasion of Iraq was doomed from the start, targeting the wrong enemy and creating conditions for the current instability throughout the region.

American policies have contributed to metastasizing Al Qaeda into a diffuse global movement and intensified radical militancy in the Muslim world. Meanwhile, the huge costs of the global war on terror have compromised our ability to fund key domestic programs.

Mr. Trumps actions toward Iran will increase the terrorist threat to the United States, creating more tactical opportunities for the Islamic State, and will allow President Vladimir Putin to improve Russias relations with both Iran and Iraq.
Peter Bogdanovich, the ascot-wearing director of 1970s black-and-white classics like "The Last Picture Show" and "Paper Moon," has died. He was 82.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 08:13:25|Editor: ZX

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OTTAWA, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke on Wednesday with U.S. President Donald Trump, according to the Canadian Prime Minister Office.

The two leaders discussed the need for a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the Ukrainian plane crash, which killed 176 people including 63 Canadians early Wednesday.

They exchanged views on the situation in Iraq and next steps with respect to Iran and shared concerns for the safety of armed forces and diplomatic personnel serving in the region, and the limited impact of the Iranian missile attack on U.S. bases in Iraq on Tuesday after U.S. airstrike killed an Iranian general last Friday.

They discussed the need for de-escalation and emphasized the importance of continuing support for stability in Iraq and the ongoing fight against Daesh (Islamic State), said the office.

The two leaders agreed to stay in touch and continue working alongside other members of the international community to promote security and stability in the region, added the office.
Fugitive gangster Ejaz Lakdawala, wanted in connection with several cases of extortion, attempt to kill and rioting, has been arrested by Mumbai Police, an official said on Thursday

Mumbai: Fugitive gangster Ejaz Lakdawala, wanted in connection with several cases of extortion and attempt to kill, has been arrested by Mumbai Police's anti-extortion cell, a top official said on Thursday. Lakdawala, 50, was detained at Patna by the anti-extortion cell with the help of Bihar Police on Wednesday.

He was then brought to Mumbai and placed under arrest late Wednesday night, Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve told reporters. Once a close aid of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Lakdawala was wanted in at least 27 cases in Maharashtra, including 25 in Mumbai, he said, adding that as of now 80 people have come forward with complaints against him.

After being arrested, Lakdawala was produced in a Mumbai court which remanded him in police custody till 21 January, the official said. "He was wanted in various cases under Maharashtra

Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) cases. All these cases will be investigated concurrently," he said.

In May 2004, Lakdawala was arrested by the Canadian Police in Ottawa. A few years back he was believed to be somewhere in North America, although he frequently changed his locations to

South-East Asia as well.

A Red Corner notice was earlier issued against him. On the operation to nab Lakdawala, Joint Commissioner of Police Sanjay Saxena said their efforts to nab the fugitive gangster were on since the last six months and the city police force was working closely with central agencies.

"Our efforts gained momentum after the arrest of Lakdawala's daughter Shifa Shahid Shaikh at the Mumbai International Airport on December 28 while she was travelling to Nepal on a fake passport," he said.

Shaikh was travelling with a passport in the name of Soniya Manish Advani, he said. During her interrogation, police got some important information aboutLakdawala's movements following which he was nabbed at Jakkanpur village in Patna, he said.

Lakdawala has been arrested on a complaint filed with the anti-extortion cell by a businessman from Khar in Mumbai. His daughter has also been arrested in the same case, the official said.

After splitting with fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim, Lakdawala started operating with gangster Chhota Rajan. He, however, parted ways with Rajan in 2008 and started running his operations independently, Saxena said.

"We have information that he stayed in Canada, Malaysia, USA, London and Nepal and we will confirm this information during the investigation," he said. He was operating under various fakes names, passports and travel documents, the official said. "Mumbai Police will examine all those documents," he added.
Home of Hollywood in India, HOOQ, reveals its top highlights for January 2020; showcasing the best of hollywood blockbusters. The month of January is an exciting one as the New Year is upon us and has many thrilling things in store for us. So, what better way to welcome the New Year than to be transported into these funky and adventure-filled worlds? Featuring: The Dark Knight Rises, The Lego Batman Movie, Fist Fight, King Arthur: the Legend Of The Sword, Kong: Skull Island, Chips, and Final Destination 3.

The Dark Knight Rises: The Dark Knight Rises is set eight years after Batman vanished into the night turning from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, Batman sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act. But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda. Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of his self-imposed exile. But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane. Starring Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Cane.

The Lego Batman Movie: Lego Batman stars in his own big-screen adventure! There are big changes brewing in Gotham and if he wants to save the city from The Joker's hostile takeover, Batman may have to drop the lone vigilante thing, try to work with others and maybe, just maybe, learn to lighten up. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Zach Galifianakis, Jenny Slate and Jason Mantzoukas.

Fist Fight: On the last day before summer vacation, high school teacher Andy Campbell tries his best to keep it together amid senior pranks, a dysfunctional administration and budget cuts that threaten his job. Things go from bad to worse when he crosses Ron Strickland, the school's toughest and most feared teacher. When Strickland gets fired, he challenges Campbell to a fight after school. As news of the showdown spreads like wildfire, poor Andy desperately seeks any way out of his date with certain doom.Starring Ice Cube, Charlie Day, Christina Hendricks, Jilian Bell, and Tracey Morgan.

King Arthur: the Legend Of The Sword:The film is an iconoclastic take on the classic Excalibur myth, tracing Arthur's journey from the streets to the throne. When the child Arthur's father is murdered, Vortigern, Arthur's uncle, seizes the crown. Robbed of his birthright and with no idea who he truly is, Arthur comes up the hard way in the back alleys of the city. But once he pulled the sword from the stone, his life is turned upside down and he is forced to acknowledge his true legacy...whether he likes it or not. Starring Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Eric Bana, Aiden Gillen, and Djimon Honsou.

Kong: Skull Island: This compelling original adventure tells the story of a diverse team of scientists, soldiers and adventurers uniting to explore a mythical, uncharted island in the Pacific, as dangerous as it is beautiful. Cut off from everything they know, the team ventures into the domain of the mighty Kong, igniting the ultimate battle between man and nature. As their mission of discovery becomes one of survival, they must fight to escape a primal Eden in which humanity does not belong. The stellar ensemble cast includes Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Oscar winner Brie Larson, John Goodman and John C. Reilly.

Chips: Jon, a rookie police officer, and Frank, an undercover agent, are posted together in highway patrol. Their frequent clashes stop them from performing their duties to the fullest. Starring Dax Sheppard, Micheal Pena, Kristen Bell, and Rosa Salazar.

Final Destination 3: In the third film of the Final Destination franchise, high school student Wendy Christensen fails to stop the ill-fated roller-coaster ride that she predicted would cause the deaths of several of her friends. She teams up with schoolmate Kevin Fischer in a race against time to prevent death from revisiting the survivors of that amusement park accident. Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ryan Merriman, Kris Lemche, and Alexz Johnson.


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Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Wednesday announced the establishment of a panel tasked with preparing draft proposals for the revision of the constitution, official Algeria Press Service (APS) reported.

The panel, headed by Ahmed Laraba, a member of the UN International Law Commission, is composed of 17 Algerian law experts, according to a statement of the President's Office.

The panel has been given a three-month period to submit proposals to the president for the parliament's approval before heading to a referendum, according to a source.

Tebboune has outlined seven main axes for the panel to prepare the proposals, including strengthening the rights and freedoms of citizens and consolidating the separation and balance of powers, according to the statement.

Tebboune was elected as Algerian president on Dec. 12, 2019, after popular rallies forced former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign in April 2019.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that no U.S. casualties have resulted from Iran's missiles attack against U.S. forces in Iraq on Tuesday, adding that the United States would impose additional sanctions against Tehran.

"No Americans were harmed in last night's attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties," Trump said in a televised White House address after Iran launched ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops in retaliation for the U.S. killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

Trump noted in the remarks that "Iran appears to be standing down," calling it "a good thing" for all parties concerned.

"The United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime. These powerful sanctions will remain until Iran changes its behavior," he added.

The U.S. president also highlighted the military strength of his country, which he suggested as the "best deterrent" and "does not mean we have to use it." He said he would ask NATO to become more involved in the Middle East.

In the meantime, Trump hinted at potential cooperation between Washington and Tehran. "The destruction of ISIS (the Islamic State) is good for Iran, and we should work together on this and other shared priorities," he said at the conclusion of the speech.

The Pentagon on Tuesday confirmed that Iran had launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against at least two military bases housing the U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) had claimed responsibility for the missile attacks, saying that they were meant to retaliate the U.S. killing of Soleimani.
N etflix has been ordered to stop showing a Christmas special that was called blasphemous for depicting Jesus as a gay man.

The ruling by Rio de Janeiro judge Benedicto Abicair responded to a petition by a Brazilian Catholic organisation that argued the honour of millions of Catholics was hurt by the airing of comedy The First Temptation Of Christ.

The film depicts Jesus returning home on his 30th birthday and insinuates he is gay.

Although religious groups were angry at the depiction, the creators of the film defended it as legitimate freedom of expression.

Netflix has been ordered to stop showing a Christmas special (Netflix Brazil/AFP via Getty Images) / Netflix Brazil/AFP via Getty Ima

The special was produced by the Rio-based film company Porta dos Fundos, whose headquarters were targeted in a petrol bomb attack on Christmas Eve.

Netflix said it would not comment on the ruling.

Porta dos Fundos also declined to comment on the ruling, which contradicted an earlier decision rejecting censorship of the film.
Kathmandu, January 8

Nepal has asked China to share with it weather data from its Tibetan Autonomous Region.

Nepal shares a 1,500km long border with China and the data plays a crucial role during emergencies, Nepali officials have told their Chinese counterparts.

The request was made during meeting between water resources minister Barsa Man Pun and Chinas meteorology department deputy director general Chun Yungfeng in Singhadhurbar. Most of the rivers in Nepal flow from Tibet and important infrastructure is being built on the banks of major rivers and it is necessary to safeguard against floods that originate in Tibet, Pun told Chun.
OAKLAND (BCN)  The Oakland Department of Transportation and shared-mobility service provider Lime launched the first-ever e-scooter pilot program for riders with disabilities on Wednesday.

Oakland officials said the pilot program features an e-scooter intended for riders who are not comfortable or unable to stand for a long time or have limited capacity for walking.

They said the program will make it easier for Oakland residents with disabilities to travel and commute to work and home.

"I helped found Oakland's first-ever Department of Transportation because our community deserves dedicated leadership and innovation making our city safer and easier to travel -- for every single Oaklander," Mayor Libby Schaaf said in a statement.

Schaaf said, "Tens of thousands of Oaklanders manage disabilities every day. This program is an exciting step forward in our work to better serve them, expanding access to new shared mobility options that make getting from Point A to Point B that much more affordable or convenient."

Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan said, "I am pleased we were able to write and pass a law in Oakland to allow scooters, with responsible regulations to serve the needs of our community."

Kaplan said, "We don't have to choose between a ban and chaos - we can have a permitted scooter system and include regulations to prevent negative impacts and ensure public access."

Department of Transportation Director Ryan Russo said his department "will closely monitor this program to help ensure it meets the needs of our community and succeeds and grows over time."

Frank Sperling, the vice chair of the Mayor's Commission on Persons with Disabilities, said, "I applaud Lime and the city of Oakland for creating this exciting new pilot program for persons with limited mobility or disabilities."

Sperling said, "The Bay Area is the cradle of innovation. As technology continues to advance and makes our lives easier, it's imperative that people with disabilities benefit and are included in all the successes."

EV Ellington, the Bay Area General Manager for Lime, which is based in San Francisco, said, "Lime's mission has always been to empower communities and residents with green, safe, and affordable transportation options."

Ellington said, "We are excited to expand our service to riders with disabilities that deserve access to the benefits of this new technology. We are pleased to roll out our first-in-the-nation adaptive pilot program in Oakland, a city long known for leadership in both equity and accessibility."

Oakland officials said people interested in using the program will be able to reserve an adaptive e-scooter in advance using an online reservation process through the Lime app, and Lime will deliver it directly to them.

Rentals will be for a 24-hour period and the customer can use the adaptive vehicle at their convenience.

The cost of using the adaptive e-scooter is $32 for a 24-hour rental and includes a 50-percent discount for registered low-income Lime Access users.

The e-scooter's top speed is 15 mph and its maximum range is 11.7 miles.

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Saudi Arabia has sent a message to Washington and London that it wants to see a de-escalation of the United States struggle with Iran, in a sign that Saudi is nervous about its vulnerability to Iranian missile strikes  and still uncertain about the reliability of Donald Trumps long-term commitment to his Gulf allies.

The tone has been sent out in an array of diplomatic tweets since the assassination of General Qassem Suleimani, but also conveyed personally by the Saudi Arabian deputy defence minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman.

He held meetings this week with Trump and Jared Kushner, the presidents son-in-law, in Washington and then in London with the defence secretary, Ben Wallace; Britains senior defence adviser for the Middle East, Lt Gen Sir John Lorimer; and the prime ministers foreign policy adviser, David Quarrey. He also met senior figures in the Foreign Office.

The White House, in a break with protocol, only confirmed the meeting with Trump after the Saudi side had tweeted pictures of the meeting.

The meetings, and de-escalation message, echoed by other oil-rich Gulf states such asthe United Arab Emirates (UAE), came at the point of maximum concern that the Iran-US standoff could turn into a full-scale conflagration.

Analysts said the message from Riyadh would have been that it did not want its territory to be in the frontline of any assault on Iran  even if it knew it could not avoid involvement if the conflict developed.

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In the critical days after the assassination of Suleimani, many Iranian commanders warned the Gulf states of the consequences if their territories became a launchpad for strikes on Tehran. Dubai would be the first city targeted, one said.

Saudi Arabias vulnerability to Iran was exposed in September by the drone and missile attack on Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais. Riyadh was surprised the attack did not prompt any military response from the Trump administration, even though US intelligence declared Iran was responsible and the White House described the attack as a declaration of war.

An as-yet unpublished UN report is expected shortly to confirm the American assessment indirectly by rejecting the claim by Houthi rebels in Yemen that they had been responsible for the attack. The UN report also concluded that the attack came from the north, and the weaponry was of a sophistication that ruled out the Houthis.

But the publication of the UN report, four months after the attack, will only serve as a reminder to Riyadh of American unreliability. Trump was not prepared to strike to defend Saudi oil infrastructure, but was willing to risk killing Irans most senior military figure after the US embassy compound was stormed in Baghdad.

The episode only confirmed Trumps claim in October that Saudi Arabia would not last more than two weeks without US military protection.

Even in celebrating the killing of Suleimani on Wednesday, an episode the Saudis instinctively celebrate, Trump underlined he wanted Nato to replace some US troops in the Middle East  an idea he referred to as Nato ME. He also stressed that the umbilical cord tying the US to the Middle East  oil  had been cut. The US was self-sufficient in energy, he said  a half-truth but one he believes.

This does not leave the Sunni states facing an immediate American withdrawal  the actual number of US troops in the region is increasing  but it may require rebuilding some damaged alliances.

Indeed, there has been a year-long trend in Riyadh to try slowly to dial down some of the conflicts in which it has embroiled itself including Yemen, with its Gulf neighbour Qatar, and, more broadly, with Iran. In the context of the Saudis chairing the G20 this year, Riyadh wants a less confrontational image. Female drivers, concerts by Swedish House Mafia and the promise of mass tourism is not enough.

So Riyadh has emphasised it can see a role for the Houthis in a future Yemen government. The number of Saudi airstrikes has been cut by 80%, and the UAE has largely pulled its troops out.

Riyadh has edged closer to ending the fruitless two-year boycott of Qatar, a dispute as much about prestige as substance, as it seeks to prevent its neighbour cementing an alliance with Iran. It will not escape Saudi Arabias notice that Qatar  home to a US airbase that would be a potential launchpad for any American war against Iran  did not hide its loyalties. Within a day of the killing, Qatars foreign minister visited Tehran, met President Hassan Rouhani and offered his condolences. Qatar understands the deep pain and sadness that the Iranian people and government are enduring, he said.

As to easing Saudi-Iranian tensions, it has even been claimed by the admittedly pro-Iranian Iraqi prime minister, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, that he had been scheduled to meet Suleimani the morning he was killed. He said Suleimani was carrying a message from Irans supreme leader in response to a Saudi message relayed through Iraq to Iran about important agreements and breakthroughs in Iraq and the region. The account has been ridiculed by Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, and not verified by the Saudis.

But it has been the persistent theme of Iranian foreign policy that the whole region would benefit from the removal of US troops from the region, starting in Iraq. Javad Zarif, Irans foreign minister, appealed this week to all countries situated around the strait of Hormuz to form an alliance, saying: We  all of us, let me underline  should abandon the paradigm of elimination and antagonism premised on the illusion of purchasing security and development from without.

Global thinktanks are littered with reports setting out the path to a Saudi-Iran rapprochement, and perhaps the best that can be secured in the foreseeable future is a limited non-aggression pact. That would be an advance on all-out war.
Ghostwritten papers. Research reprinted elsewhere under a different name. Plagiarism.

For years it's been an open secret that all is not well in the world of academic writing in Russia.

A committee appointed by the Russian Academy of Sciences last year tried to tackle what many said was a huge task. Its report, released on January 6, confirmed what a gargantuan effort it may turn out to be

The committee said more than 800 scientific papers had been retracted since last summer, when it first pinpointed more than 2,500 dubious papers published in some of Russia's 6,000 scientific journals.

"I think this is just the tip of the iceberg," said Anna Kuleshova, the chairwoman of an ethics committee at Russia's largest scientific publishing association.

The root of the problem dates back to 2012, some analysts say, when, in a decree issued shortly before his reelection, President Vladimir Putin ordered universities to pay professors more but also to publish more academic papers to boost Russia's international clout.

To churn out more papers, many Russian universities resorted to linking academics' pay and contracts to article productivity. However, others say the problem is older and deeper.

Not only academics, but businessmen and senior government officials -- including Putin -- have been accused of plagiarizing college and doctoral theses.

To sniff out suspicious scientific articles, the academy-appointed commission used software to search hundreds of Russian-language journals to check whether articles had been duplicated. It also had individuals check papers that were flagged for possible plagiarism or self-plagiarism.

The commission also spotted cases of "obscure authorship" in which academics were listed as an author of one version of a paper but not another.

The commission's findings were largely in line with what other researchers have found, including Dissernet, a grassroots group that has focused on ferreting out plagiarism not only in Russian academics, but elsewhere.

Dissernet had no immediate comment on the committee's finding.

Kuleshova, who is chairwoman of the Council on the Ethics of Scientific Publications of the Russian Association of Scientific Editors and Publishers, told RFE/RL's Russian Service in an interview in October that plagiarism was widespread at Russian scientific publications.

"You can't say exactly what percentage of scientific articles violates ethical standards, because to do that you'd need to analyze the entire database -- it is technically very difficult to do," Kuleshova said. "Over two years, about 1,000 articles were recalled that revealed violations."

In July, the Academy of Sciences committee, formally known as the Commission for Counteracting the Falsification of Scientific Research, asked 541 journals to retract a total of 2,528 papers. As of January 6, the commission said, 263 journals had agreed to pull 869 suspicious papers.

The commission said only five journals had refused to cooperate with them, and therefore it recommended those five publications be removed altogether from the Russian Science Citation Index, a database run by eLibrary.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

That could be problematic for many academics, since having papers published in indexed journals is often a prerequisite for them receiving promotions and funding, according to Science magazine.

Kuleshova said some academics were outraged by her council's efforts. "There are people in power who don't understand how anyone dared tell them that it is wrong to steal other people's work. They were plagiarists and at the same time, deputies, colonels, and so on," she said.

Dmitry Livanov, who served as education minister between 2012 and 2016, has said that revelations at the time of widescale plagiarism were hurting Russia's reputation. "People not versed in the topic will get the idea that all academics are cheats and liars," Livanov told the Kommersant newspaper in a 2014 interview.

The plagiarism racket has been a blight on Russian higher education for years, according to a Time magazine article in 2013, which asserted "that many politicians and businessmen pad their resumes with fake diplomas, either plagiarizing their dissertations or paying some to do if for roughly the cost of a midsize sedan."

Putin himself, whose official resume says he holds a law degree earned from Leningrad State University in 1975, has faced charges of plagiarism.

His biography says in 1997, Putin defended a doctoral thesis on economics at the St. Petersburg State Mining Institute, a paper titled Strategic Planning Of The Reproduction Of The Mineral Resource Base Of A Region Under Conditions Of The Formation Of Market Relations.

In 2005, two researchers at the Brookings Institution in Washington got a copy of the thesis, and concluded that it had been heavily "borrowed" from a 1978 textbook written by two University of Pittsburgh professors.

"Even Vladimir Putin himself doesn't reference or cite his own dissertation," said Igor Danchenko, a senior research assistant at Brookings. "This fact is also omitted in his famous book of interviews, In The First Person." "Moreover, Putin seems to evade questions about his dissertation," he added. "He [has] never openly said that he has a degree in economics."

Putin has never responded publicly to the allegations.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Putin defended his doctoral thesis in 1976, rather than in 1997.
Britains royal family scrambled Thursday to contain the fallout from the surprise announcement by Prince Harry and Meghan that they plan to step back from royal duties, a shift that ignited media outrage and public unease in the U.K.

The couples declaration that they planned to forge a progressive new path for royals in the modern world clearly upset senior royals  who apparently werent told of the decision in advance.

Britains media didnt like it either, lambasting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in articles, columns and editorials Thursday that expressed everything from disappointment to fury.

The Daily Mirror said in an editorial that the couples failure to tell Harrys grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, about their plans shows shocking disregard for a woman whose entire life has been ruled by a sense of public duty and honour. The Times of London accused Harry of petulance and hotheadedness, while the Daily Mail said the couple wanted the status of being senior royals but the privacy and freedom of being private citizens.

The Sun and the New York Post described the departure as Megxit, a play on Brexit, Britains impending departure this month from the European Union. The New York Post, a Rupert Murdoch paper, featured a cover cartoon drawing of the couples alleged future: the duchess in curlers holding a cigarette while Harry in a stained T-shirt cradled a beer in front of a television.

Harry, 35, is Elizabeths grandson and sixth in line to the British throne, behind his father, brother and his brothers three children. With his ginger hair and beard, he is one of the royal familys most recognizable and popular members and has spent his entire life in the public eye.

Before marrying the prince in a royal wedding watched around the world in 2018, the 38-year-old Duchess of Sussex was American actress Meghan Markle, star of the TV legal drama Suits. The couples first child, Archie, was born in May 2019.

The uproar began Wednesday with a statement from Buckingham Palace, described as a personal message from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. It said Harry and Meghan intend to become financially independent and to balance their time between the U.K. and North America.

After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution, the statement said. We intend to step back as senior members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support her majesty the queen.

Hours after Harry and Meghans announcement, though, a difference of opinion was laid bare. Buckingham Palace issued a second statement, saying many issues still had to be worked out before the couples plan could be realized and discussions with the couple were at an early stage.

That communique hinted that Harry and Meghans statement had caught the royal household by surprise.

We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through, it read.

The message about their future plans was also posted on the couples official Instagram page and referred readers to their website for information. But the statement and launching of the website was apparently not cleared with senior royals or their advisers.

It was not known exactly where in North America the couple planned to spend some of their time. Meghan grew up in Los Angeles and lived in Toronto while filming Suits.

Harry and his family skipped the queens traditional Christmas gathering at her Sandringham estate last month to spend the holidays on Vancouver Island off the west coast of Canada and see Markles mother Doria, who lives in California.

The royal pair described their new roles on their new website. The site noted that the Sovereign Grant, which funds the monarchy, covers just five per cent of the costs for the duke and duchess and is used for their official office expenses. They said they want to cut this financial tie.

The couple also announced a new media relations policy to ensure diverse and open access to their work. The policy includes them opting out of a pool system that guarantees media coverage of royal events to Britains media.

Under this system, the rota, or pool, gives these British media representatives the opportunity to exclusively cover an event, on the understanding that they will share factual material obtained with other members of their sector who request it, the website said. The current system predates the dramatic transformation of news reporting in the digital age.

As an actress and a human-rights activist, the duchess was accustomed to media attention before her marriage, but she has made no secret of the fact that the transition to being a global celebrity and part of Britains royal family was difficult. The royal couple particularly took issue with their treatment at the hands of the British tabloids, whose aggressive coverage of all things royal is legendary.

The royal couple revealed their struggles with the media during an ITV documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, which followed them on a recent tour of Southern Africa. Both said they had struggled with the spotlight, particularly because they say much of what is printed is untrue.

The duchess told ITV last year that her British friends warned her not to marry the prince because of the intense media scrutiny that would follow in his country. But the U.S. television star said she naively dismissed the warnings, because as an American she didnt understand how the British press worked.

I never thought this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair, she said. And that is the part that is hard to reconcile.

The announcement left a slew of questions in its wake, including whether the couple should repay taxpayer funds used on their home, Frogmore Cottage in Windsor. Taxpayers paid 2.4 million pounds ($4.1 million) to renovate the Grade-2 listed building.

Simon Webb, 73, of Kings Lynn in eastern England, said the couple should pay the money back if they are stepping back from royal duties.

I dont think they can keep dipping in and out as it suits them, because thats what they seem to do, he said.

The royal family will also be watching to see how the public reacts to the news. Many royal watchers on Thursday offered sympathy for the queen.

We dont mind them having an ordinary life. What we dont like is the queen not being informed about nothing, said royal fan John Loughrey, adding that the British public did not want to see the royal couple isolated abroad.

It is a crisis, he said. We have got a crisis here. Seriously.

Associated Press reporters Jill Lawless and Gregory Katz contributed.

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President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone conversation with Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sweden, Stefan Lofven, expressed condolences to the families of the Swedish citizens killed in the UIA plane crash in Iran and invited Sweden to join the investigation, according to the presidents press service.

"We are taking every effort to find out the causes of the plane crash and are ready to closely cooperate with Sweden. Our task is to find out the truth. This is the main thing, Zelensky said, inviting Sweden to join the investigation.

He noted that Ukraine is ready to participate as much as possible in the investigation in line with the international law, in particular, the Chicago Convention on Civil Aviation.

The president reminded that the day before a group of Ukrainian experts arrived in Iran to assist in the investigation.

He also expressed condolences and words of support for the relatives and friends of the Swedish citizens killed in the plane crash in Iran.

Ukraine is stunned by the tragedy. Thank you for your solidarity and empathy, Zelensky said.

In turn, Stefan Lofven expressed condolences from the people of Sweden and said that official Stockholm was ready to assist in ensuring a transparent investigation.

Zelensky also stressed that Ukraine was in constant contact with a group of experts in Tehran and would inform its partners of the progress of the investigation.

During the talk, it was noted the importance of the phone call between the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Sweden the day before, who discussed cooperation in the investigation into the plane crash.

As reported, January 9 was declared the day of mourning in Ukraine due to the crash of an UIA plane in Iran.

iy
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador looks on during his daily news conference at National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico on Nov. 6, 2019. (Luis Cortes/Reuters)

Mexican Drug Wars Hidden Human Toll Includes 61,000 Disappeared

MEXICO CITYThe Mexican government on Monday revised upward by as much as 50% the number of citizens classified as missing to more than 61,000. The vast majority of them are victims of the countrys grinding war with powerful drug gangs that have grown more violent.

The new figure from the one-year-old administration of leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador compares to about 40,000 cited as missing by the government as recently as June.

The official data of missing persons is 61,637, Karla Quintana, the head of the National Registry of Missing or Missing Persons (RNPED), told a news conference. She said 25.7 percent of them were women.

More than 97.4 percent of the total had gone missing since 2006, when then-President Felipe Calderon sent the army to the streets to fight drug traffickers, fragmenting the cartels, which made combating them more difficult.

By David Alire Garcia and Stefanie Eschenbacher
High flu activity in the state is prompting health officials to encourage people to get a flu shot.

Flu activity is high and expected to continue for weeks, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This season, there have been at least 6.4 million flu illnesses, 55,000 hospitalization and 2,900 flu-related deaths.
Warm Currents Fool and Kill Another Sea Turtle on N. Oregon Coast



Published 01/08/2020 at 3:05 PM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff





(Seaside, Oregon)  A sad sight that occurs every winter on the north Oregon coast is the run of sea turtles that start showing up on beaches, either deceased or close to death. Warm currents periodically run farther north than usual and then dissipate abruptly, and some warm-water species like turtles can get fooled by this and suddenly find themselves in colder waters that are deadly to them. (All photos courtesy Tiffany Boothe, Seaside Aquarium).

In the case of one found Tuesday near Gearhart, that one was already dead.

The sea turtle turned out to be a Loggerhead turtle, though at first Seaside Aquariums Tiffany Boothe reported it to be a Green turtle.

Crews from the aquarium received the call around 11:30 a.m., and when they arrived at Sunset Beach near Gearhart they found a deceased 30-pound sea turtle, and it had likely died long before washing ashore.

Though there was a small amount of netting found wrapped around its left flipper the cause of death is currently unknown, Boothe said. A necropsy will be preformed at a later date to determine the cause of death.

Boothe said no one could be certain if the netting had something directly to do with its death or not, but what is certain in these cases is that cold shock is likely the main factor.

With the current weather patterns it would not be unusual for more sea turtles to show up on Oregon and Washington beaches, Boothe said.

Its something to keep an eye out for on both the Washington coast and Oregon coast.

Sea turtles forage for food in an offshore warm-water current that originates much farther south, Boothe said. Certain weather patterns like prolonged southwest winds can drive that warm water farther north and closer to shore than usual. If this happens and then conditions suddenly change, the warm current dissipates, and the turtles find themselves trapped in the colder currents that run naturally along the Oregon and Washington coasts. Turtles like all reptiles are cold blooded, so this is a highly unfavorable situation for them. Their bodily functions slow and they may become hypothermic. Strong west winds can blow hypothermic sea turtles onto the beach, where they have a better chance of being found and taken to a rehabilitation facility.

Boothe said turtles suffering from extreme hypothermia may be unresponsive to touch. Their heartbeats get so slow and weak its barely possible to detect them. When found along either coastline, authorities get the sea turtles to one of two licensed rehab facilities on the Pacific Northwest coastline: Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport and Seattle Aquarium up north.

It can take multiple weeks for a turtle to stabilize from such trauma, if it recovers at all, Boothe said. If it does indeed stabilize, the turtle is transferred to another rehab facility in California where it may continue its recovery. If all goes well, it's finally released back into the wild.

Loggerheads inhabit all oceans, primarily in temperate water. They are named for their relatively large heads, which support powerful jaws and enable them to feed on hard-shelled prey, such as crabs and mollusks. Loggerheads are the most abundant species of sea turtle found in U.S. coastal waters. Like all sea turtles the loggerhead are protected in the U.S. and most countries worldwide.

In the Pacific Ocean they are found as far north as Alaska and as far south as Chile, however during the winter months loggerhead sea turtles migrate to tropical and subtropical waters.

So what do you do if you come across a sea turtle on the beach?

Boothe said either call the Seaside Aquarium at 503-738-6211, or call the local police.

Report the location and condition of the turtle, Boothe said. The quicker a turtle gets reported, the quicker authorities are then able to get it off the beach. More photos below:

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Its alleged role in the violence during the nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), especially in Uttar Prade-sh, Assam and Manguluru in Karnataka, appears to have infused a new lease of life into the outfit.

Hyderabad: It has been linked to terror groups like Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Hizbul Mujahideen and even the Al Qaeda and is said to be the off-shoot of the proscribed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)  something that this organisation has vehemently denied.

Since its inception in 2006, the violent side of this outfit was there for all to see  from the time their members allegedly chopped off the hand of a Kerala professor for insulting Prophet Muhammed to their association with love jihad besides various criminal activities, ranging from murders, kidnapping, possession of arms and launching hate campaigns.

The Popular Front of India (PFI)  the Kerala-based radical group, which had been lying low for quite sometime  is now back in the spotlight. Its alleged role in the violence during the nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), especially in Uttar Prade-sh, Assam and Manguluru in Karnataka, appears to have infused a new lease of life into the outfit.

Known to be hyperactive on social media platforms, the organisation is understood to have expanded its support base considerably in just the last one month ever since the CAA and NRC rocked the nation. Similarly, the fund flow for the organisation is understood to have gone up just in matter of a few days  something that has become a cause of concern for security establishment.

Sources tasked with keeping a watch on the PFI and its activities told Deccan Chronicle that though various small and regional Muslim outfits were trying to make their presence felt after the Centre came up with the CAA amid the fears of implementation of NRC looming large, the PFI is said to have taken the lead.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

By Nargiz Ismayilova - Trend:

In December 2019, the share of Google searches in the Azerbaijani market dropped by 0.31 percent compared to the previous month, Trend reports referring to data provided by StatCounter's Global Stats.

Thus, Google remains the most popular search engine in Azerbaijan, which as of January 1, 2020 owns 95.24 percent of the market.

In this month, statistical indicators of the Yandex search engine, increased by 0.21 percent. Its share in Azerbaijan's search engine market was 2.76 percent compared to 2.55 percent at the end of November 2019.

Herein, there was also a slight decrease by 0.03 percent in the share of Yahoo search engine, which as of January 1, 2020 amounted to 0.61 percent.

At the end of December 2019, the share of Yandex search engines in Azerbaijani market amounted to 0.52 percent, changed by 0.04 compared to the previous month.

The remainder of the market is distributed among other search engines.
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 8, 2020 / XT.com is the world's first socialized exchange under the business environment where users are decentralized and dynamic. The platform integrates the functions of real-time K-line trend observation that helps users to determine the best trading opportunity, user wisdom pooling, exploration of value coins, and etc, and realizes a rapid and cohesive accumulation of active users. At present, XT has gathered 7+ million investment users in the world, with a daily average of 5 billion USD stable trading volume, this is business model provides a new direction for the whole industry.

Digital asset trading is a market that is growing rapidly at a global scale. As the "transit station" of transaction, the existence of exchange plays an important role in the cryptocurrency economic system, and that earns a huge market potential for the exchanges themselves. But according to the data on SimilarWeb, the overall popularity of the trading industry continues to decline. The traffic growth of Okex, Binance and Huobi, the three cryptocurrency exchange giants, slowed down significantly.

Technical service providers have lowered the threshold for investment and construction of exchanges, and tens of thousands of exchanges have sprung up. Although there are many exchanges in the whole industry, they are seriously homogenized and lack of user precipitation and trading depth. What the users care about most is the trading results and trading experience. Even the top three exchanges are facing problems such as the decline of user viscosity, the slow growth of traffic, and the urgent need for incremental market development caused by the serious homogenization of the industry.

To break the present and seek development, we must replace the homogenization with a new model. While the industry leaders are mostly talking about how to compete for traffic, what's actually be competed for is the stock market. In the future, the foothold of the exchange should be to surpass the existing traffic, compete for the incremental market and cultivate user loyalty. The key to achieve this goal is to cluster popularity.

Story continues

In the environment where users are decentralized, a trading platform is likely to become the black horse of the exchange industry if it can introduce social functions that closely links people together, socialize the trading process through enabling effective communication, transform traditional closed business management into openness, and realize a broader business connection. At present, this socialized trading mode has been pioneered in the world. It is the XT exchange, invested by many famous overseas enterprises such as FIBTCLTD, with its headquarters in Hong Kong.(official website: https://www.xt.com/)

(XT PC official website displayed)

XT exchange cooperates with BiYong, the world's leading blockchain social platform, to build user groups and communities based on the social business platform, directly connect and aggregate users, and share online services and content. Users can chat, obtain information and trade in the community at the same time. The platform provides arena for wisdom sharing, viewpoints collision and information exchange, enables both senior and novice investors to get the most real-time and valuable investment information and complete the transaction in a timely and fast manner.

The characteristics of XT exchange's socialized mode includes:

XT users can grasp the specific information of any watched digital currency, community trends, transaction pairs, market trends, investment suggestions, etc. in real time, and control the time from understanding currency messages to the completion of investment purchase to the shortest time span; Users can see the K-line trend of various trading pairs real time in the chatting interface, research by themselves or gather the wisdom of many senior investors, and judge the best trading opportunity; Users conduct real time trading while chatting and socializing. The socialized exchange also supports secure login with the fastest speed. XT also realizes the storage function of conventional exchange digital wallet in social software.

After several months of operation, XT ecosystem now has 7 + million users global wide, with daily trading volume stable at about 5 billion USD, and the number of users has stepped into the ranks of the world's top exchanges. The marketing flow created by socialization is exponential, because socialization is not only aggregation, but also makes a group form its own conscious cohesion. In order to meet the global operation needs, XT exchange has set headquarters in Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Spain and other countries and regions.

The successful innovation of XT socialized trading mode is not only the victory of XT, it also creates a platform for the global cryptocurrency transaction participants.

In addition to the unique new model of community trading, what other aspects of XT are worth looking forward to?

According to the official website, XT trading varieties include 300 + trading pairs, 100 + mainstream currencies and six trading areas. The trading methods include cryptocurrency to cryptocurrency trading, currency to fiat trading, interest free leverage, contract trading and OTC trading, the rich trading options makes XT an equal rival of the tycoon exchanges. Observing from another approach, only an active and large scale trading market can ensure that the seller can sell at a competitive price, and the buyer can bid at a higher price, so as to produce a fair and balanced market price. After comparing the trading depth of XT, we can find that its real trading depth exceeds 90% of the exchanges, including the three major BHO exchanges.

In summation, XT's innovation is like a new found continent for the trading industry. The waves wash away the sand, reveals the real gold. The whole digital asset exchange industry is in full bloom, and the market is full of opportunities for real innovative and unique transactions to emerge from the surge.

Contact:

XT.com

Cathy Sun

+1 (321) 800-3487

info@globalnewsonline.info

SOURCE: XT.com





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/572421/XTcom-Exchange-the-First-Socialized-Digital-Asset-Exchange-in-the-World




Getty

They showed up to anti-war protests in Pittsburgh and Atlanta on Saturday waving signs and distributing flyers. They live-streamed from a Monday night anti-war demonstration in Austin.

But they werent associated with the left-wing crowd who organized pushback on the U.S. assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani last week. They were far-right activists, some of them affiliated with known extremist groups.

FBI Got Warrants for Unite the Right Organizer Jason Kessler, Antifa Activists

In the days after Soleimanis assassination, leftist-organized rallies drew hundreds of attendees eachfewer than the tens of thousands who showed up to some of the most visible anti-war protests against the Iraq War, but sizeable pockets of discontent nonetheless. At the same time, some right-wing figures have also made their presence felt in the emerging anti-war scene. Some are hecklers, just looking to crash a rival protest. But others, including overt neo-Nazi groups and Republican pundits like Tucker Carlson, who has voiced opposition to war on Fox News, represent an anti-interventionist wing of an otherwise hawkish conservative movement.

The apparent ideological overlap has some lefties wondering what, if anything, they should do about the far-right figures at their rallies in the era of Unite the Right and "very fine people on both sides."

The first of the faceoffs appears to have come Saturday, when five far-right demonstrators reportedly showed up at an anti-war protest in Pittsburghs Schenley Plaza. Although they chanted along with anti-war slogans, the men carried anti-Semitic signs blaming Jews for wars. Leftist demonstrators drove the group away with a Nazis out chant.

One of the interlopers was later identified as Greg Conte, a white nationalist who has worked closely with racist organizations. Conte made national headlines in 2018 when it was revealed that he worked as a substitute teacher. (On Twitter, former students accused him of bigotry in the classroom. Conte previously told the Washington Post that he did not openly preach his views at school but sometimes questioned students on whether hate could be acceptable, or why diversity was good.)

Story continues

The same day, at least one member of the white supremacist group Patriot Front distributed flyers at an anti-war protest in Atlanta, according to an activist involved in anti-fascist organizing in that city who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A fascist presence at an anti-war rally might strike some observers as surprising. But certain fringes of the right have historically cozied up with anti-imperial movements.

People often confuse the far right with other conservatives, Spencer Sunshine, a writer and lecturer long focused on the far right, told The Daily Beast. But unlike more mainstream Republicans, the far right, traditionally, is very isolationist. The original America First committees were opposed to U.S. entry in WWII. Generally, these groups are opposed to U.S. intervention overseas. Theyll often say theyre proxy wars for Israel. You find this stuff a lot more among groups that are highly anti-Semitic, or are third-positionist.

Third position describes fascist ideology that often fuses some left-wing economic and anti-war policy with overt white supremacy and opposition to immigration, feminism, and LGBTQ rights. The National Policy Institute, a racist thinktank where Conte used to work alongside white nationalist Richard Spencer, could be classified as third-positionist, Sunshine noted.

On Twitter, Spencer has voiced opposition to attacks on Iran, but framed his argument in terms of protecting Aryan heritage sites from Zionist forces. At least one subsequent tweet denouncing President Donald Trump around the time Iran struck military bases in Iraq on Tuesday was picked up by hosts of The View, where audience members applauded the white nationalist who recently made headlines for screaming racist and anti-Semitic slurs.

Actors on the far right often use wars to invoke anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, either overtly accusing American Jews of orchestrating them (as Contes crowd reportedly did in Pittsburgh) or speaking more euphemistically about Israel or Zionists fueling the war efforts.

Its been a long-standing tactic of the far right in the U.S. to try to recruit from left-wingers, or to create a coalition, Sunshine said. Occasionally those efforts are successful. There are some people on the left who want to have a left-right coalition of anti-war people They want to have a bloc of all anti-imperialists and they dont really care who it is.

The far rights favorite Fox News pundit, Tucker Carlson, also made anti-war gestures after Soleimanis assassination, claiming that war with Iran would be a distraction from cracking down on immigration. Although the stance placed Carlson at odds with most of his network, his comments were in line with previous salvos against people of color, according to Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at the liberal organization Media Matters.

The argument hes making there is that its a bad idea to get involved in an escalating situation with Iran because its going to get attention off of what he calls the invasion of the southern border, Gertz told The Daily Beast.

That language of invasion, like the language of Great Replacement that he uses, are frequent tropes of white nationalists, and part of the reason that white nationalists really appreciate Tucker Carlsons show and think hes a big asset to their movement.

When the missiles actually drop, some supposedly anti-war Republicans fall into pro-war party lines. This summer, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz enjoyed bipartisan buzz for his work on an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have cut off federal funding for military actions on Iran that were not approved by Congress. The bill would have also barred the use of the 2001 or 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) to justify attacks on Iran. (The White Houses best legal defense of the strike on Soleimani rests on a shaky combination of both AUMFs, Lawfare reported.) The bill passed in the House, but was dropped from the final text of the NDAA.

Despite his previous support of the bill, Gaetz was a vocal supporter of the strike on Soleimani.

The President correctly *responded* to violence & ongoing threats against US personnel after repeated warnings and admirable restraint, Gaetz tweeted. He did *not* start a regime change war.

The day after Soleimanis assassination, left-wing Rep. Ro Khanna and Senator Bernie Sanders announced plans to reintroduce the bill. Gaetzs name was notably absent from the press release.

Gaetzs staff and our staff are in touch for the Sanders/Khanna bill but no decision has been made yet on partnership, a Khanna spokesperson told The Daily Beast on Monday. A Sanders spokesperson said the senator and presidential candidate was interested in working across the aisle to pass the bill. Gaetz's office did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication.

Already, questions about how to respond to far-right incursion are dogging leftist anti-war groups.

In Atlanta, an anti-fascist group has begun circling a flyer warning activists to look out for facist entryism at antiwar protests. The group advised protesters to photograph interlopers or confront them directly.

Protesters Across U.S. Condemn Trumps New War After Soleimani Killing

Although footage of Pittsburgh demonstrators expelling interlocutors went viral, some social media users alleged that a number of rally attendees did little to oppose Contes crowd. In Austin on Monday, two people said to be associated with the far-right group Texas Nomads SAR crashed a Democratic Socialists of America anti-war rally while live-streaming. Anti-fascists on Twitter accused the DSA of being too slow to respond to the disruption.

Madeline Detelich, a member of the Austin DSA leadership, said the two live-streamers were there to antagonize protesters, not co-opt the rally, and that DSA members tried blocking their cameras with anti-war signs. Nevertheless, her chapter will be strategizing for future clashes, she said.

Were thinking a lot about the best way forward. My own view is that numbers are our best friend.

Sunshine also characterized the conflict as a numbers game.

The really far-right people dont have the numbers, he said. Their presence is just to be a parasite on the organization."

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Lebanon banned former auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn from travelling on Thursday after questioning him over an Interpol "red notice" of charges of financial misconduct in Japan, judicial sources said.

The 65-year-old businessman -- for years venerated in Japan for turning around once-ailing Nissan -- fled while awaiting trial on charges including allegedly under-reporting his compensation to the tune of USD 85 million.

His shock arrival in his native Lebanon last month was the latest twist in a story worthy of a Hollywood plot and prompted outrage from the Japanese government as well as from Nissan.

"The state prosecution issued a travel ban for Ghosn, and asked for his file from the Japanese authorities," a judicial source told AFP.

A second judicial source said: "He has been banned from travelling until his judicial file arrives from Japan." Lebanon's judiciary received a "red notice" from Interpol last week urging Ghosn's arrest.

A "red notice" is a request to police across the world to provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action. It is not an arrest warrant. Lebanon does not have an extradition agreement with Japan.

Ghosn had also been expected to make a statement on a report submitted by Lebanese lawyers that he had travelled to neighbouring Israel as head of Renault-Nissan.

Lebanon and neighbouring Israel are still technically at war.

In early 2008, Ghosn travelled to Israel to announce the mass production of electric vehicles there with the cooperation of Renault-Nissan.

At a press conference in Beirut on Wednesday, Ghosn apologised to the Lebanese people for having visited the neighbouring country.

"I went as the head of Renault," he said.

"I went as a Frenchman because of a contract between Renault and an Israeli company," said Ghosn, who holds French, Lebanese and Brazilian nationalities.
Deputies bring Keenan Jones, right, who shot five people at a Walmart in August 2018, to a courtroom inside the Montgomery County Courthouse. Jones was convicted of opening fire at the store in Cheltenham and then fleeing the scene. Read more

A Germantown man convicted of wounding five people in a chaotic shooting inside a crowded Montgomery County Walmart in 2018 will spend decades in prison.

Keenan Jones, 31, was sentenced to 25 to 62 years during a hearing Thursday in Norristown. A jury convicted Jones of attempted murder, multiple counts of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, and firearm offenses after just one hour of deliberation during his October trial.

I dont believe Mr. Jones went to Walmart to terrorize.  Its clear he was suffering from his own demons, said Montgomery County Judge Risa Vetri Ferman in announcing the sentence. But the evidence shows that his actions inside were intentional.

Jones was arrested hours after the August 2018 shooting, which unfolded as he was waiting with his sister at a checkout line at the store in Cheltenham Township. As Jones stood there, he became agitated and paranoid and grabbed his sisters gun from her waistband. He pointed it at the shopper behind him, shooting the man in his calf.

Despite days of testimony from both Jones family and investigators, the motive of the shooting remains unclear  including to Jones himself, as he told Ferman on Thursday.

I didnt have no intention to harm or hurt nobody, he said, apologizing to the victims. I have no explanation as to why this happened or how this happened, only what doctors tell me about the chemical imbalance, PTSD, and psychosis in my brain.

Jones attorney, Vanessa L. Bellino, said he was in the midst of a psychotic break, pushed to insanity by the recent stress of his girlfriends troubled pregnancy. That exacerbated his past untreated traumas, she said, which included witnessing his fathers violent murder, and the murder of a childhood friend months before the Walmart incident.

Mental health is something that is a stigma in our society as a whole, particularly in their neighborhood, Bellino said, referring to the section of Germantown where Jones and his family live. Its not manly to get treatment, and not manly to ask for help.

She urged Ferman to consider the support of Jones friends and family, some of whom spoke on his behalf Thursday and presented the judge with a 157-signature petition asking for leniency.

Prosecutors, led by Assistant District Attorney Tonya Lupinacci, called Bellinos insanity defense concocted."

No matter who you are, how you live, where you grow up, you dont have the right to walk into a store in our community and fire a reign of terror onto innocent people, Lupinacci said.

Video from inside the store showed that after the initial gunfire, Jones ran toward the exit, firing indiscriminately as customers and employees scattered in panic.

He shot a customer-service manager, Akiya Dash, striking her four times. She testified at Jones trial that she believed he targeted her because he feared she would identify him to police.

Outside the store, Jones sped away in his sisters car, stopping only to discard her gun. Jones was not allowed to possess a gun due to prior felony convictions.

Minutes later, he crashed into a Philadelphia police vehicle, parked nearby on an unrelated matter.

Those officers confronted Jones, who goaded them into a prolonged fight that left them with injuries sidelining them from active duty.

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled the prosecutors surname.
BOSTON  Robina Habib worked as a dentist internationally and is now a full-time student putting in long hours to get certified in Massachusetts. Her husband, a financial manager, works three days a week, working nearly 12-hour days. They rely on an au pair to care for their 8- and 9-year-old children. The au pair came from South Africa, where she got a masters degree in tourism, to experience American culture.

Habibs relationship with her au pair became more complicated  and more expensive  after the U.S. Appeals Court ruled in December that au pairs are subject to Massachusetts Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. That means au pairs must be paid the state minimum wage, and employers must adhere to overtime laws and keep records of their au pairs hours.

Were a middle class family, who is struggling every day, and like overnight the price went up for us and placed a lot of confusion among people about the au pair program, Habib said.

Habib said she treats her au pair like family and pays for her room, board and food. This ruling has changed the family demographics overnight and brought us from a host family who is having an au pair for one year in their home to an employer, she said.

The U.S. State Department sponsors the au pair program, in which foreign nationals receive a cultural exchange visa and are placed with host families to provide live-in child care while they pursue post-secondary studies in the U.S. They are paid a minimum stipend of $195.75 a week to work up to 45 hours a week, and get housing and food from the family.

Massachusetts enacted its Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in 2014. It requires domestic workers to be paid the state minimum wage, with deductions for room and board, and overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours a week. It also has administrative requirements for employers, such as requiring them to keep time cards for their workers.

Attorney General Maura Healey told the Cambridge-based agency Culture Care Au Pair in 2015 that au pairs were considered domestic workers and are subject to the state law. Culture Care sued, but the Appeals Court ruling affirmed that au pairs are subject to the law.

As a result, the minimum stipend rose to $528 a week in Massachusetts for 45 hours of work  which reflects a $12.75 hourly minimum wage and the $77 that can be deducted to pay for room and board.

The additional expense has upset many host families, who said they had no notice of the change. Families say they are already paying for expenses like housing, food and cellphone bills for au pairs, in addition to their wages.

In addition, families say they are stymied by contradictions in state and federal law regarding things like which taxes to withhold and what benefits they have to offer. For example, guidance published by Healeys office says families must withhold Social Security taxes, while IRS guidance says au pairs are generally not subject to the Social Security tax. Families must figure out how to do things like pay for workers compensation insurance.

Leonora Balaj, who lives in Lincoln and has 4-year-old twins, said child care is already expensive in Massachusetts. The ruling, she said, increases the stress on her family and the expense. She had to cut her au pairs hours, and she now gets stressed if she gets caught in traffic commuting home from Boston. That increases the stress on families, but I would honestly add more on moms, Balaj said. I honestly feel like its a punishment on moms.

Judi Gordon of Westborough hired an au pair to help with her 10-year-old son while her husband is deployed with the U.S. military. Gordon said she has no problem paying her au pair more money. But she is frustrated by conflicts between State Department rules and Massachusetts law, and has not been able to get a clear answer regarding which taxes she is supposed to withhold and how to treat her au pair as an employee without jeopardizing her federal visa.

Theres just so many conflicts among the little things, Gordon said. Its like now were an employer and we have to monitor hours. We didnt want an employee, we wanted a family member.

Kaitlyn Ouellette, a nurse from Medford, employs an au pair to watch her three daughters. I feel like the programs just going to fail, Ouellette said. Theres conflicting regulations from the federal level and the state level, and the onus to figure all that out so far has been put on the families. ... This wonderful program that originally was intended to be a cultural exchange has now turned into something else, and no one is really helping the families figure it out.

Delis Silva, a Brazilian au pair working in Natick, said three of her friends had to go back to their countries because their host families dropped out of the program when the cost increased.

On the other hand, advocates for domestic workers say the court ruling provides basic protections for au pairs.

Thaty Oliveira, a former au pair who is now a professional nanny and volunteers with the Matahari Womens Workers Center, said the center hears about au pairs who are denied healthy food, made to sleep in a room with the kids, or forced to work 65 hours a week without extra pay. Although the program is billed as a cultural exchange, Oliveira said au pairs are working a job 45 hours a week. There is little supervision or oversight to ensure families are following the law.

The court ruling, Oliveira said, gives very basic rights to domestic workers and recognizes they are doing real work.

Oliveira said if families want to cut costs, they can lower the number of hours that au pairs are required to work, which would give the au pairs more time to do cultural exchange activities.

While she sympathized with families surprise, Oliveira said the agencies who placed the au pairs should have told families about the lawsuit, which has been pending since 2015. It seems they have been caught blindsided, and it shouldnt have happened, Oliveira said. Agencies should take responsibility for that.

A grassroots organization calling itself Au Pair Families of Massachusetts, which represents 1,500 host families, is calling on the Legislature to pass two bills. The group held a lobby day at the Statehouse Wednesday. One bill, HD4707, would give families six months to comply with the court ruling. The other, HD4705, would let families deduct up to 40% of an au pairs weekly wages to pay for lodging, food and drink  or $211 out of a weekly wage of $528, instead of the current cap of $77.
The Armed Police Force in Southwest China's Yunnan Province conduct anti-terrorism training ahead of the New Year.

Military forces across China welcomed the new year of 2020 by conducting training for real combat scenarios.

"The 400-meter hurdle race is not among the year-end test?" asked Han Yang, a captain at the Armed Police Force in East China's Jiangsu Province. The course is usually a required test and that officers had to take seven or eight times a year in the past, 81.cn, China's People's Liberation Army's official news website, reported.

He Mengmeng, an officer from the same detachment, explained to him that the 400-meter hurdle race was replaced by armed 100-meter hurdle race. "It is more difficult and more caters to the real combat."

Canceling some easy courses, and adding some more practical courses, is a big change to the recent year-end test, He said.

"Only by improving ourselves through real-combat tests, could we stay longer in the battle field in the future," a senior officer from the detachment said, 81.cn reported.

President Xi Jinping on January 2 signed a mobilization order for the training of the armed forces, the first order of the Central Military Commission (CMC) in 2020, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Issued by Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the CMC, the order stressed strengthening military training for real combat conditions. It also asked the armed forces to maintain a high level of readiness and step up emergency and combat training.

The order required strengthened joint command in training. It also stressed integrating new forces into the joint operations system.

Force-on-force training should also be strengthened and the evaluation system should be improved, according to the order.

After the order was released, each troop conducted the updated New Year training.

On Tuesday, the PLA garrison in Hong Kong posted a video of the troop's new year training on its official Sina Weibo account. The 1.5-minute video shows the troop's training courses in shooting, flying and other military strategies.

In a coastal region of southeastern China, a brigade under the 73rd group army conducted its first flight training. The troop practiced several military strategies, including sea-skimming flying, reconnoitering on sea and attacking on sea, the People's Daily reported.

A brigade of 83rd group army based in central China marched to a special area to conduct their training. Officers and soldiers from the brigade believe if military preparations for battle are not practical, the troop's combat capability will not be effective.

In Northeast China's Changbai Mountains, officers and soldiers from the Armed Police Force in Jilin Province took a course on shooting and surviving in forests with temperatures of -30 C.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) on Thursday announced the extension of the existing precautionary fish consumption advisory on the Nolichucky River due to mercury.

In August 2018, TDEC issued a precautionary advisory for smallmouth bass and channel catfish in the Nolichucky River from Douglas Reservoir upstream to the mouth of Bent Creek at river mile 14.9. At that time, the department pledged to collect additional data to determine if the elevated mercury levels extended any further upstream.

Todays action, which is the result of these additional studies, expands the advisory to include all black bass species and extends it so that the entire length of the Nolichucky River in Tennessee is included, from Douglas Reservoir to the North Carolina state line. The existing advisory for channel catfish in the downstream portion of the Nolichucky River is not being changed.

TDEC advises that pregnant or nursing mothers and children avoid eating the fish species included in the advisory and that all others limit consumption to one meal per month. Other recreational activities such as boating, swimming, wading, and catch-and-release fishing carry no risk.

We provide these advisories so the community can make informed decisions about whether or not to consume the fish they catch, TDEC Deputy Commissioner Greg Young said. Unlike do not consume advisories that warn the general population to avoid eating fish from a particular body of water altogether, precautionary fish consumption advisories are specifically directed to sensitive populations such as children, pregnant women, nursing mothers and those who may eat fish very frequently from the same body of water.

As a follow up to the August 2018 advisory, the department collected additional fish in the Tennessee portion of the Nolichucky River in the fall of 2018, plus the spring and summer of 2019. Specifically, fish were collected at river mile 8.5 (Hurley Island), at mile 20.9 (u/s of Conway Bridge), at mile 68 (Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park), and at mile 83.9 (off Charlie Carson Road). Attempts to capture bass near the North Carolina state line were unsuccessful, but they are documented in historical surveys to be present.

These studies documented that in black bass species  which include smallmouth, largemouth and spotted bass  mercury levels were above the trigger currently used by the department. This trigger, 0.3 mg/kg (parts per million), was jointly recommended by both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Although targeted for collection, few data are available for walleye, a popular target for fishermen, and the results were inconclusive. Walleye are not included in the advisory. Additionally, channel catfish in the upper parts of the Nolichucky had mercury levels below the trigger.

TDEC considers the source of mercury in the Nolichucky River to be atmospheric deposition. According to the EPA, atmospheric deposition due to the global burning of coal is the most frequent reason for elevated levels of mercury in fish. TDEC will post warning signs at public access points and will work with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency to communicate this information to the public.

About Fish Consumption Advisories

The Tennessee Water Quality Control Act identifies the commissioner of the Department of Environment and Conservation as having the authority and responsibility to issue advisories for either water contact hazards like pathogens or excessive health risks due to the accumulation of contaminants in fish or shellfish. Tennessees General Water Quality Criteria provide additional guidance regarding the conditions under which advisories may be warranted.

There are two types of fish consumption advisories issued by TDEC based on the levels of contaminants present in fish tissue. Do not consume fishing advisories are issued when levels of contaminants in fish tissue would represent a threat to the general population. Precautionary advisories are issued when contaminant levels are lower, but would still pose a risk to sensitive subpopulations such as children, pregnant women, nursing mothers and those who eat fish frequently from the same body of water.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, mercury is a naturally occurring element that can be found throughout the environment. Human activities have caused the amount of mercury in some areas to increase. The primary way people in the United States are exposed to mercury is by eating fish containing methylmercury, a toxic form of mercury that accumulates easily in organisms.

Where new advisories have been issued, TDEC will immediately begin the process of putting up signs at primary public access points. TDEC works in partnership with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency to communicate information about fishing advisories.

For a complete listing of Tennessees current fishing advisories plus additional information about the advisory issuance process, visithttps://www.tn.gov/ content/dam/tn/environment/ water/planning-and-standards/ wr_wq_fish-advisories.pdf.
The incumbent operators in the Philippines, Smart Communications and Globe Telecom, have joined forces with newcomer DITO Telecommunity to set up a new firm focused on mobile number portability.

The move is in line with the governments Mobile Number Portability (MNP) Act. The companies selected US-based Syniverse as the MNP provider for the new clearinghouse firm, which will be funded via investment from the three operators.

Local media reported that MNP implementation will be contingent upon the completion of integration and interoperability tests of the clearinghouse facilities with the separate multi-vendor systems of the mobile operators.

Syniverse stated that it believes the integration period will be no later than 18 months from setting up of the support mechanism. In addition, porting services shall be free of charge to the customers.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Hennadiy Nadolenko has told the Israeli Foreign Ministry that Israeli Ambassador in Kyiv Joel Lion is conducting a counterproductive public debate on internal issues of Ukrainian politics.

"On January 9, Mr. Hennadiy Nadolenko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Israel, during the meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel brought to the attention of the Israeli side the Ukrainian position that the public debate held by Mr. Joel Lion, Ambassador of Israel to Ukraine, on internal issues of Ukrainian politics, in particular in the context of the joint statement by the Ambassadors of Israel and the Republic of Poland to Ukraine, dated 2 January 2020, is counterproductive," the Ukrainian embassy in Israel said in a statement posted on Facebook on Thursday.

"The Ambassador of Ukraine emphasized that the revival and preservation of the national memory of the Ukrainian people is one of the main priorities of the state policy of Ukraine. Discussions in this area should be held at the level of historians and experts," the statement said.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also said on January 8 in a conversation with Polish Ambassador in Kyiv Bartosz Cichocki that the public debate on internal issues of Ukrainian politics was counterproductive.

On January 2, Cichocki and Lion issued a joint statement on the honoring in Ukraine on January 1 of the leaders of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The ambassadors said they considered it insulting to honor in Ukraine people who "actively promoted ethnic cleansing," adding that they expected the Kyiv city state administration and the council of the Lviv region to join "the search for the truth" in this issue.
Sometimes, love cant happen without anti-capitalism.

People sharing short personals on Red Yenta dont need to clarify that. Red Yenta publishes ads on Twitter and Instagram catering exclusively to leftists looking for other leftists.

I mean, theres clearly a market for it, says Mindy Isser of South Philadelphia, co-founder of Red Yenta. We get bios like every day.

The bios cant run longer than 280 characters, given Twitters limits. That economy required to describe ones attributes has inspired distillations of gender, sexuality, political alignment, and dating styles.

U cant spell BDSM w/out BDS! begins one Red Yenta personal ad, referring both to sex styles and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which pushes for pulling support from Israel and a number of companies. The ad continues: Libertarian socialist (28, she/her) seeks similar (27-35, he/him) to join forces against nonconsensual power dynamics (capitalism, white supremacy, etc.) while exploring consensual ones as friends or more. Send me yr fave song.

The yentas behind the free dating accounts are Marissa Brostoff, a writer and English doctoral candidate based in Brooklyn, and Isser, a local labor organizer. The two, who havent met, draw inspiration from @_personals_, an Instagram account that invites LGBTQ people to describe who they are and whom theyre seeking in tight space through text, a nod to how newspaper personals used to be. Brostoff and Isser receive bios via email and blast them out, most often on Sundays. Potential dates contact each other directly through DM.

Finding the right match in the Trump era, as one matchmaker told the Inquirer, has become much more polarizing." In 2019, its by no means abnormal for people to make their politics known in their dating app bios, or to discourage those who voted for a certain candidate or who didnt vote at all, from getting in touch.

But falling under the liberal umbrella isnt enough for Caitlin Brown, a 35-year-old communications director who lives in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood.

When youre dating somebody, youre not going to agree on everything, but its important to agree on some core values, Brown said. Anti-poverty issues are such a big part of my identity that I want someone who can identify with that, and we can have common ground there.

For Isser, it all started with a Washington Post opinion article from last spring, whose author, a Christian woman, expressed feeling slighted in relationships with Jewish men. Isser got so mad at the piece she started matchmaking Jewish couples. The workload quickly became unwieldy, so Isser took a break from making love connections. Months later, she criticized socialist men who date women who arent leftists on Twitter. A need, once again, became clear.

Brostoff remembers being really excited when she discovered OKComrade, a communist dating community that started on Facebook in 2014 "and then immediately finding that it was all bots and trolls and like three people that seemed datable, but they were like halfway across the world. Brostoff, who writes about sex and socialism, saw Issers tweet about wanting to start a socialist dating site. The writer was on board.

Fortunately, Brostoff said, it seems the notion that debating everything can be sexy is thankfully, finally, really outmoded. The left, she said, has constant divides and arguments already. Like, its fine," she said. We have plenty of stuff to fight over.

One weepy Gemini said she was looking to evade neoliberal expectations by writhing in bed, talking w/o goals/motives. Another leftist, in Durham, N.C., admitted to being mostly ethically non-monogamous but not very good at ethics. A man in Shippensburg, Pa., signaled that hes looking for a situation where they can be more than comrades, and included this note: vegan if it comes to that.

A nonbinary baby anarchist in Mexico City put this in their bio: a tad religious, super queer, early 20s. Dumb brain w/ social anxiety impedes me from mtg people the oldfashioned way, so looking for friendships and more here. running, coffee & lavender. Send pics of yr pets *woof*.

>> READ MORE: In the 2019 dating world, nobody meets in person anymore

Isser and Brostoff find the ads enjoyable to read, and, at times, curious. Brostoff said the specificity of the ads might speak to certain self-consciousness within the leftist community, as potential daters sort through how to name tendencies within tendencies and do so quickly.

Isser agreed: And its kind of like, if you dont understand that, that persons probably not for you.

Many people whove shared notices are LGBTQ, which pleases Brostoff, as communist circles of old had been very heteronormative. Not all users have included their race. Brown didnt list her age, something she regrets, as one of the people who DMed her was 15 years younger.

Skyler Cruz, 23, of Queen Village, said she tried to squeeze her personality into the ad. She had friends vet her bio before she turned it in, but the yentas sent it back, explaining that it needed to be shorter. This was the result: 23, black&puerto rican pan trans girl (she/her) socialist looking for something casual/nonmonog. Fairly reformist, w/ an appetite for the rich. Love biking+dancing in pretty dresses. Lets sip hot cider btwn kisses while St. Vincent plays! Big nerd/cheap date.

One month into their matchmaking, Isser and Brostoff are set to meet for the first time Friday, when Red Yenta hosts a dating game at Verso Books in Brooklyn. The yentas arent aware of anyone whos found love through their accounts yet, but some users say the ads have sparked, at this point, conversations. Cruz was surprised when someone first reached out to her. She recalls thinking, Wow, somebody read about me without a picture.

Cruz is willing to have loving friendships with people who arent leftists, but abiding romantic partnerships? Not a chance.

Ive realized that how you feel politically says a lot about the people around you and what you think peoples lives should be like, Cruz said.

Hookups, though? Thats another question.

A lot of things can slide by on the hookup level, Cruz said. Lets just say that.
Deepika Padukone was joined by her husband Ranveer Singh at a special screening of her film Chhapaak in Mumbai on Wednesday night. Deepikas father Prakash Padukone, mother Ujjala Padukone, sister Anisha Padukone, Ranveers father Jugjeet Singh Bhavnani, mother Anju Bhavnani and sister Ritika Bhavnani also made their presence felt at the screening.

Ranveer Singh came to cheer for wife Deepika Padukone at the screening of Chhapaak. (Varinder Chawla)

Watch: Deepika Padukone calls Ranveer Singh her fan no 1

Deepika Padukones family attended the screening of Chhapaak. (Varinder Chawla)

Ranveer and Deepika could not stop packing on the PDA on the red carpet and gave each other a peck on the cheek as they posed for the paparazzi. Vikrant Massey, who plays the male lead in Chhapaak, was accompanied by his fiancee Sheetal Thakur.

Director Meghna Gulzar and acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal, whose life has inspired Chhapaak, were also seen at the screening.

Meghna Gulzar was joined by Laxmi Agarwal on the red carpet (Varinder Chawla)

Several Bollywood celebrities including actors Bhumi Pednekar, Yami Gautam, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Rekha, Riteish Deshmukh and wife Genelia DSouza, Arbaaz Khan and girlfriend Giorgia Andriani, Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha, Huma Qureshi with boyfriend and filmmaker Mudassar Aziz, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, designer Manish Malhotra and lyricist Javed Akhtar attended the screening.

Yami Gautam and sister Surilie Gautam, Manish Malhotra, and Kabir Khan with wife Mini Mathur at Chhapaak screening. (Varinder Chawla)

Javed Akhtar, Rekha and Siddhant Chaturvedi at Chhapaak screening. (Varinder Chawla)

Riteish Deshmukh with wife Genelia DSouza, Huma Qureshi with boyfriend Mudassar Aziz, Neil Nitin Mukesh with wife Rukmini Sahay at Chhapaak screening. (Varinder Chawla)

Bhumi Pednekar, Abhimanyu Dassani and Tahira Kashyap at Chhapaak screening. (Varinder Chawla)

Ali Fazal with Richa Chadha, Anurag Kashyap and Arbaaz Khan with girlfriend Giorgia Andriani at Chhapaak screening. (Varinder Chawla)

Radhika Madan, Boney Kapoor and Sharmin Segal at Chhapaak screening. (Varinder Chawla)

Earlier, at an event, Deepika said that Chhapaak was the film that she was the proudest of, in her 12-year-long career. The entire journey was special. I dont think I can speak of a particular moment or scene as the closest to my heart. I think the entire journey and process has been extremely rewarding. Its the film I am most proud of, among all that I have done in my career. I am not thinking much about peoples reactions after its release because that is a different aspect, but this film is something I am proud of, and I am proud that the entire team had faith in Meghnas (Gulzar) vision, she was quoted by IANS as saying.

In Chhapaak, Deepika plays an acid attack survivor named Malti. At the launch of the title track in Mumbai last week, the actor said that the film, along with creating awareness about acid attacks, emphasises that external beauty is not everything.

I am really happy because makers of this film have shown that external beauty is not important, and it was really important to create awareness about this cause. I feel there is acid in the mind of people and this film will help remove that acid from their minds. So, I am happy that we are portraying victimised people as fighters, and taking this cause ahead, she said.

Chhapaak, which also marks Deepikas debut as a producer, will release on January 10.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has explained why a candidate who scored 302 in the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculatio...





The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has explained why a candidate who scored 302 in the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) was not admitted for medicine at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaira. The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has explained why a candidate who scored 302 in the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) was not admitted for medicine at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaira.





The case of Goodness Thomas, a female candidate of last year exam, had generated public outrage and sparked negative reports against ABU and JAMB across online media platforms.





Ishaq Oloyede, the registrar of the board, however, addressed the facts bordering on the controversy on Thursday, during a meeting convened in Abuja.





He said Thomas was responsible for the confusion that caused ABU not to admit her for the said course  although the decision has now been reversed following the boards timely intervention.





Shekwobyalo Goodness Thomas, who is 3rd on ranking from Niger State on ABU Medicine and Surgery admission list was admitted to read medicine in ABU Zaria contrary to general believe that she was denied admission by ABU Zaria.  JAMB (@JAMBHQ) January 9, 2020 The evidence before us is that the candidate changed her course from medicine to anatomy. We can see that clearly in the central admissions processing system (CAPS). She did that on her own, he said.





She was therefore not in consideration for medicine at all. If she had not changed her course, she would have been number 36 (of 80)on the merit list of ABU for medicine.





After she changed, she became number one in Anatomy and she was offered admission for that course. She said someone in ABU called her on phone to change her course.





We asked her for evidence, there was none. ABU said they never advised her to do so. But despite that, ABU still went ahead to reverse the change she made and offered her admission in Medicine





This is even when that was not cleared with CAPS. I asked her why she is not telling the world that ABU offered her admission in medicine eventually. She had no answer.




Libya: EU arms embargo needed says Di Maio Foreign minister says many foreign States are meddling

(ANSAmed) - ROME, JANUARY 9 - Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said during a visit to Algiers on Thursday that "there is interference by foreign States" in conflict-hit Libya, adding that "we must find a solution with the EU for the adoption of an arms embargo".



"It us a national security problem that we are addressing with all our strength," he added.



"We'll push for a date to be identified as soon as possible for the Berlin conference (on Libya).



"We have to put all the parties around a table and find a solution". (ANSAmed).




UPPER DARBY- The hiring of new administrative leaders and at least one new council member in Upper Darby Township sparked the first Republican reaction to Democratic rule.

Republican councilmen Tom Wagner and Don Bonnett were the most vocal against some of the administrative appointments Democrat Mayor Barbarann Keffer asked council to approve at Monday nights reorganization meeting. Of 11 appointments put forth for approval, only four were approved unanimously, including three holdovers from the Republican administration, with any dissent coming from at least one of the three Republicans on the 11-person council. Republican Councilwoman Lisa Faraglia, sworn in to a second term Monday night, did not contribute to the appointment discussions.

The biggest talking point was the appointment of Vince Rongione to serve as the townships chief administrative officer, a deputy mayor who oversees accounting systems, budgetary records and expenditures, maintains personnel files and records, and collects all of the taxes, according to the townships home rule charter. The former Southeast Delegation Director for the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus was approved on a party line 8-3 vote with Wagner being his most ardent objector.

Wagner prefaced his over three minutes of comments saying, My concerns regarding this appointment are in no way personal, nor are they political, which elicited some laughs from the meeting audience.

This is a matter of concern that I have about qualifications, he said, adding later after reading off the charters job description, I need to know what the qualifications of this gentleman are to do all of those things. Has he ever done any of that for any organization at all? Has he ever done any of that for any municipality, perhaps a smaller one where he might have gotten some training to do all of that?

He continued, Those are important duties and we have to do due diligence. This appointment is not the mayors alone. The mayor appoints, but township council has to approve it and its the responsibility of every one of his here on this council to do our due diligence and make sure this is a qualified person.

Wagner then pulled out a residency issue during Rongiones 2014 run for state representative to serve the 163rd House District that resulted in him getting Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition in 2015 for for allegedly violating the Pennsylvania Election Code. The charges were dismissed upon completion of ARD.

Rongione the next day said he was not surprised by the discussion about his appointment, calling it frustrating but that he didnt take it personal.

I dont begrudge it to Councilman Wagner or anyone up there, he said. The transition was bound to be difficult, and difficult for some folks to accept. Ive been active in the community and public service for the better part of 15-20 years and my name, experience and reputation are more known to the council people who were objecting than they led on.

On his experience, Rongione is an attorney who dealt with municipal and zoning matters for different law firms and municipalities. He had previously been a part of various non-profit organizations handling large budgets and contracts which included writing of complex gift agreements and multi-million dollar grant proposals and reporting and the management and intake of funds. At Villanova University he worked in institutional advancement as a director of major giving for the college of nursing handling multi-year gift agreements. Rongione also worked on a number of political campaigns whose budgets exceeded $30 million.

His management experience includes organizational budgeting, vendor management and expense tracking, all things, Ive been doing for years whether in the context of a political campaign, non-profit and higher education.

Theres a robust case to be made by my resume that Im ready for the job, said Rongione.

Council President Laura Wentz countered Wagners views, saying she knows Rongione and he will do an amazing job at this task. Wagner mockingly questioned that as her due diligence to vet Rongione.

I gave a broad overview of my knowledge and experience with him, said Wentz.

You can say that again, retorted Wagner quickly.

Rongione was originally one of the interviewers at a Dec. 14 meeting for council members to vet candidates to fill a number of administrative posts. He confirmed after the meeting that he was eventually part of the candidate pool as the search process continued.

The appointment of Sean Kilkenny and his Norristown-based law office for solicitor and legal services also did not sit well with Wagner.

Kilkennys firms represented a number of township residents in a 2018 civil appeal against the townships zoning hearing board who they alleged allowed variance to environment-related zoning codes for an over $100 million project to update the Drexeline Shopping Center in Drexel Hill. A modification of the plans was agreed upon out-of-court by all interested parties by the end of 2018, but no progress has been made since then to update the decades-old, 17.5-acre site.

Thought Wagner didnt have complaints about Kilkennys abilities as a lawyer (he also serves as Montgomery County sheriff), he thought bringing him in to support the townships legal affairs would prevent the developer from coming back.

Its signing a death knell to ever reviving that project, he said.

Wentz came back saying there was a lot of political action that went in to the Drexeline delay and was not solely because of Kilkenny.

If our former mayor did not get us involved as a township, if they did not use it as a political toy, it would have moved forward months after the appeal, she said. At this point in time, were going to have to agree to disagree on this.

Bonnett shared Wagners concerns.

Were not talking about credibility as an attorney, or experience, were talking about the future relationship with a prospective developer of that property, he said. That property is in my district and is a grave concern to not only the people who live in my district, because I hear about this frequently, but it should be a concern to everyone for the township.

Kilkenny was eventually confirmed by a 9-2 vote with Bonnett and Wagner in the dissent.

The two Republicans also voted against Chris Herr, CPA and Maillie, LLP as the townships independent auditor.

The rest of the appointments voted on that night were unanimous, or nearly unanimous.

Council was united to retain John McMullan as director of finance, Ed Martin as director of the electrical department and Timothy Bernhardt as interim police superintendent.

Positions getting a 10-1 vote from council included Michael Gove as interim fire department chief, Alison Dobbins as director of special projects and Christopher McSween as director of licenses and inspections.

Sekela Coless resignation from council yielded a 10-0 vote to be confirmed director of parking enforcement. Without her vote on council, she could not vote in favor of Scott Alberts to his position of director of administrative services in the 9-1 vote.

All of the appointments were grouped into two different motions to be voted on as a block. Wagner and Bonnett asked Wentz for roll call votes on each individual nomination who obliged to the request.

Bonnett voted against seven of the appointees because he did not have the chance to meet with them before the vote and didnt want to pre-judge anyones capability.

A party-line vote also occurred to appoint Matt Silva to fill the unexpired term of Keffer who was sworn-in as mayor. Democrats nominated and voted for Silva while Republicans nominated and voted for Patrick Spellman who just lost his reelection to the same seat in November.

Overall, Presient Wentz called Monday a successful night that had healthy discussion even when it got a little funky at times.

Change is hard. There will be discussions on a variety of things. The question is can we find the path together to work toward helping all the constituents of Upper Darby? Thats my goal to try to do that.
A bus was hijacked at Dublin Airport in the early hours of this morning (Stock photo)

Two men were arrested after three tourists were driven away at high speed in a shuttle bus that was allegedly hijacked at Dublin Airport in the early hours of yesterday.

The incident led to a massive cross-Border chase. Cousins John McDonagh (26) and Stephen McDonagh (25), of Navan, Co Meath, were arrested.

Both remained in custody in Carrickmacross garda station in Co Monaghan last night where they were being questioned about the unauthorised taking of a minibus and suspected false imprisonment of three people.

They were arrested after a manhunt that lasted for almost two hours in which a number of Garda and PSNI cars were rammed.

The incident began when the three innocent passengers were sitting in a shuttle bus owned by the Carlton Hotel parked in front of Terminal 2 at 1am.

The tourists had arrived on a transatlantic flight late on Tuesday and had been due to take a connecting flight to a European destination, but missed this as a result of a delay.

Aer Lingus had planned to put them up in the Carlton Hotel, near Dublin Airport.

The suspects are alleged to have got into the front of the bus as it waited with three people aboard.

The Colombian woman and a couple who are understood to be English were then driven off by the men, who are known to gardai.

The bus was involved in a minor collision with a taxi as it left the airport before fleeing the scene.

The vehicle was then driven for more than 27km from the airport to a service station in Julianstown, Co Meath, near the City North Hotel off the M1 and the three people were told to get out of the vehicle.

They later told gardai that although they thought the driving on board was "erratic" they were not led to believe they were in any danger.

They were not threatened or robbed during the incident and not "dealt with aggressively in any way", according to a senior source.

A female tourist has already given gardai a detailed statement about what happened and officers are hoping to obtain more statements.

When they were let off near the City North Hotel they thought they had arrived at their designated hotel and asked to check in, only to be told they had no booking.

The three then decided to get a taxi back to the airport and contact Aer Lingus.

After eventually being brought to the right hotel, they were able to spend the night there and made their flight later yesterday.

As the tourists made their way back to the airport unharmed, gardai and the PSNI were faced with 90 minutes of mayhem.

The two men continued north in the bus and were located by gardai near Drogheda, Co Louth, where a new Garda patrol car was allegedly rammed off the motorway.

The bus then continued on the M1 where it drove north of Dundalk, before it then crossed the Border into Northern Ireland.

In a statement, the PSNI confirmed it "received a report from our colleagues in An Garda Siochana that a stolen transit van had been tracked crossing the Border".

"Officers observed the vehicle in Crossmaglen Square, and upon police entering the car park the transit van collided with the police vehicle causing damage to the front of the car," a spokesperson said.

"The transit van then made off from the area and recrossed the Border."

No PSNI officers were injured during the incident.

The minibus then diverted back into Co Monaghan where officers were waiting.

A Garda operation, involving the air support and the armed regional response unit, then got under way, involving at least 12 patrol cars and specialist units.

The bus crashed after crossing south of the Border.

But the two men escaped on foot and stole a small parked car from a farm while the smashed bus was left blocking the roadway.

The stolen car was intercepted near Castleblayney in Co Monaghan a short time later.

Before the suspects were arrested, the stolen car had attempted to ram a Garda vehicle.

No one was injured and the incident ended with the arrest of the suspects at around 2.30am.

The suspects are likely to face multiple charges.

John and Stephen McDonagh are based in Navan but also have links to Swords, Ballymun, Cavan and Ballymena in the North.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang answers a question during a briefing in Beijing on November 28, 2019. (WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese State Media Promote Iran Retaliation Against US Following Airstrike

Chinese state-run media has published dozens of articles criticizing the U.S. government after the airstrike that killed Irans top military general, Qassim Soleimani, on Jan. 3.

The reports emphasize Irans stated desire to retaliate against the United States for the attack, quoting extensively from the Iranian regimes official media and its officials, but they fail to include comments from the U.S. administration.

Some state media editorials veered toward encouraging a conflict between Iran and the United States.

China is one of Irans key allies. It was Irans largest buyer of crude oil before the United States imposed sanctions on Iranian oil last year.

None of the Chinese media reports mentioned that Soleimani has been blamed for the deaths of civilians and American soldiers while serving as head of the Quds Force. The military force is part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the United States designated as a terrorist group in 2019.

China Response

On Jan. 7, Geng Shuang, spokesman for Chinas Foreign Affairs Ministry, urged the White House to stop misusing military force, and implored the U.S. State Department to grant a visa to Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. The United States denied his visa for traveling to New York to attend a United Nations conference.

Consistent with the Chinese regimes propaganda, Geng claimed that Beijing was a mediator of peace in the Middle East.

On Jan. 7, the Peoples Daily, the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) mouthpiece newspaper; Global Times, a tabloid published under Peoples Daily; Xinhua, a state-run media; China Central Television, the state broadcaster; and pro-Beijing Phoenix Media all published the same report.

The headline was a translation of a tweet by Irans semi-official Fars News Agency: Iran said it has prepared 13 measures to seek revenge on the United States. Even the weakest one is enough to create a historical nightmare for the U.S.

Fars deleted the tweet after several hours, but Chinese media kept their articles online.

The above media outlets published dozens of articles in the past few days, all critical of the United States for conducting the airstrike. Most of them quoted Iranian officials, such as Iranian president Hassan Rouhani. None of the articles reported statements from U.S. officials or NATO, which called on Iran to refrain from further violence and provocations.

In a Jan. 5 article, Xinhua reported that Wang Yi, Chinas foreign affairs minister, called his Iranian counterpart Zarif and told him that the United States killing of Soleimani exacerbated tensions and unrest in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Hu Xijin, chief editor of the Global Times, suggested on Twitter that the U.S. attack would encourage North Korea to hold onto its nuclear weapons more tightly: The US humiliating Iran this way sent such a message to North Korea: If it were not for your nuclear weapons, we would be more brutal on [sic] you. Now North Koreans are probably thinking: We can lose anything, but not nuclear weapons.

In another tweet, he suggested that an all-out war was imminent. Perhaps the war is not really far from u.s.. Now whether its Iran or forces trying to pass off as Irans, attacking US target will trigger even fiercer attack from the US. So forces that hate the US or hate Iran are all likely to be tempted.

Beijings Interests

The Chinese regime is one of Irans top economic and military partners.

According to Chinas General Administration of Customs, the country imported $54.5 billion goods from Iran in 2018, which is 24.7 percent higher than in 2017 ($43.7 billion).

And China continued to import Iranian crude oil despite a U.S. sanctions waiver that ended in June 2019.

Senior Trump administration officials estimate that 5070 percent of Irans oil exports are flowing to China.

The Chinese regime has also made considerable investments in Iran in the past few decades. Tehrans metro system, a large portion of Irans highways, and Irans gas refinement and oil infrastructure were built by Chinese companies. In 2018, Chinese state-owned CITIC Group established a $10 billion credit line to Iran. The state-run China Development Bank also promised $15 billion to Iran that year.

On Jan. 8, after Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at a U.S. military base in Iraq, stock prices of almost all 180 Chinese weapon manufacturersmostly listed on Chinese exchanges increased. Stock prices for Lingyun, a subsidiary of Chinas largest military manufacturer China North Industries Group Corporation, increased more than 10 percent.

There is currently an international arms embargo on Iran due to expire at the end of the year, but the investor confidence indicated strong interest in IranChina trade.

At a daily news briefing, Geng was asked by a reporter whether the stock price increase was due to Chinas defense contributions to the Middle East region. He refused to answer the question.

Beijings Goal

Some CCP officials really want the U.S. to fight with Iran. Then, the Chinese regime would have another five to ten years to strengthen its power without the U.S. noticing, Wang Youqun, U.S.-based China affairs commentator wrote in the Chinese-language Epoch Times on Jan. 7.

But he predicted the Chinese regime ultimately would not want to become involved in a U.S.-Iran conflict.

CCP needs the crude oil from Iran and Irans enemy country Saudi Arabia, Wang said. He explained that if the United States and Iran entered into a conflict, the latter would not be able to export oil. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia would be upset if the CCP supports Iran in the conflict.

Joseph Bosco, a U.S. national security consultant, told Epoch Times affiliate NTD that the Beijing regime is likely using the issue of Iran to divert Washingtons attention from its own threats to U.S. society. If the Chinese regime succeeds in fomenting a conflict between the two countries, that would also split up American resources devoted to tackling Chinas threats.

They [Beijing and Tehran] are starting to cooperate militarily and present a security threat to the U.S. in the region and elsewhere in the world, Bosco said.
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President Donald Trump on Thursday is expected to propose sweeping changes to a landmark environmental protection law to make it easier to approve of major infrastructure projects like oil and gas pipelines.

The proposed regulations would update how federal agencies implement the National Environmental Policy Act, a law aimed at ensuring that the government protects the environment when reviewing such projects as building roads and bridges or logging in forests.

The change would be the first in 40 years by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, which coordinates U.S. environmental efforts by federal agencies and other White House offices.

The council is expected to announce that federal agencies will not be required to consider "cumulative" climate change impacts when considering federal projects, said two people familiar with the council's rule-making.

The council oversees how nearly 80 government agencies meet their obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Trump's remarks come as a trial over his impeachment looms in the Senate and amid tensions between the United States and Iran following the Trump administration's decision to kill Iran's top commander, Gen. Qasem Soleimani, in an airstrike in Baghdad. That move led to a retaliatory strike from Iran on U.S. targets in Iraq.

Soleimani led an elite branch of Iran's armed forces, the Quds Force, and has been blamed for the deaths of many Americans across the Middle East.

With Reuters.

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M&A in tech drives a digital overhaul

The rise of omnichannel retail in Vietnam is witnessed through such investors increasingly turning toward e-commerce startups to bring a seamless shopping experience for consumers. In November, Vietnamese e-commerce platform Sendo wrapped up a $61 million investment in its Series C funding round from existing shareholders, as well as new investors including Indonesias EV Growth and Thailands Kasikorn Bank.

Meanwhile, e-commerce startup Tiki reportedly raised $75 million in March 2019 from investors led by Singaporean private equity company Northstar Group.

In October last year, Scommerce, the parent company of e-logistics groups Giaohangnhanh and AhaMove, secured its latest and largest funding round led by Singapores state-owned investment company Temasek. Although the funding amount was not disclosed, it was reported to be worth up to $100 million. The deals reflect the continued investment and growth in omnichannel retail, including in technology and logistics platforms that support such growth.

Most recently, Vingroup JSC announced its merging its retail and agricultural arms with Masan Groups consumer goods subsidiary, Masan Consumer Holdings, to create the countrys largest retail company. This new platform is exceptional in its scale and reach in the market: 2,600 supermarkets and convenience stores in 50 cities and provinces, which includes the VinMart 4.0 virtual stores.

Seck Yee Chung, a partner at Baker & McKenzie Vietnam, told VIR that M&A in retail is mainly driven by Vietnams growing middle class, with more disposal income and aspirations toward a more rewarding lifestyle. At the same time, as a highly competitive sector, retailers with physical locations will also have to contend with the growing trend in e-commerce, and adopt digital transformation in their business models.

To survive and thrive, retailers will have to adapt to and leverage consumer trends and preferences in terms of what their customers are looking to purchase, as well as why and how, Chung said. Whilst M&A tends to suggest an effort to consolidate and scale up, retailers might also be looking at bringing onboard a vertical element in the supply chain to ensure quality and consistency of supply, or to bring in a new dimension to their business model to enhance consumer experience and options.

M&A in retail to build an omnichannel presence is one of the emerging trends in Vietnams tech landscape. Indeed, Vietnams growing digital economy and tech startup scene is increasingly becoming a darling among foreign investors, especially those from the Asia Pacific region.

In August 2019, Grab announced plans to invest $500 million in Vietnam, with tech startups being a focus area. Softbanks Vision Fund and GIC poured $300 million into e-wallet VNPAYs parent company in July last year, while e-wallet group Momo raised $100 million from Warburg Pincus in January, according to news platform DealStreetAsia.

The Vietnam Tech Investment Report 2019 by Cento Ventures and ESP Capital found that Vietnam leapfrogged from the second-least active tech startup ecosystem to the third-largest in the ASEAN within two years, trailing only behind Singapore and Indonesia. Between the first half of 2017 and the first half of 2019, the amount of invested capital in Vietnam and the number of technology deals grew six-fold, led by investments in the fintech, e-payment, and e-commerce space.

Specifically, Vietnam has experienced a surge in both the amount of capital invested and the number of deals carried out since the beginning of 2018, with financial year 2018 totalling $444 million and financial year 2019 expected to reach $800 million. With digital transformation being a key strategic goal for most businesses, the startup providers of new technologies are themselves targets for funding.

Maybank Kim Eng economist Linda Liu told VIR, We see tech startups riding on this digital transformation wave and playing an integral part of Vietnams digital economy in the future. A greater push by the government as laid out in the National Digital Transformation Plan for 2021-2030 could serve as yet another catalyst for tech investments into the local startup scene.

Much like many other parts of the world, digital transformation is emerging fast in Vietnam, Liu added. It is an opportunity for Vietnam to realise its potential and unlock the economic opportunities available in order to catch up with the world.

Last August, VinaCapital, a leading investment management firm, officially launched VinaCapital Ventures, a tech-focused venture capital fund with a corpus of $100 million. The new venture capital fund will set up a company that will invest in startups with innovative technology solutions.

While manufacturing and property get most of the attention and investment in Vietnam, tech  and startups in particular  hold the greatest promise for the country, said Don Lam, VinaCapital co-founder and CEO. Technology is playing a transformative role in all manufacturing and service sectors and will drive Vietnams economy forward. Thats why venture capital, including supporting startups and entrepreneurs, has been a key part of VinaCapitals business for the past 15 years.

In 2019, VinaCapital Ventures made investment in a number of startups such as logistics firm An Vui, ride-hailer Fastgo, digital gifting platform Urbox, logistics startup Logivan, prop-tech company Rever, and social e-commerce platform Ecomobi.

Thach Le Anh, founder of Vietnam Silicon Valley, lauded the maturity of Vietnamese startups. The fund has seen the rate of successful investment in startups hit 36-40 per cent, fairly high compared to other countries in the region.

A booming economy, growing middle class, and increasingly tech-savvy population imply great growth potential for the tech startup scene in Vietnam, Anh added. These are among the key reasons drawing in investors.
Through McDonald's Archways to Opportunity education program, restaurant employees who work a minimum of 90 days at 15 hours per week will be eligible for tuition assistance of up to $2,500 per year as a crew member and up to $3,000 per year as a manager. Ivy Tech will offer crosswalk credits to McDonald's restaurant employees for some on-the-job training and classes, plus individualized counseling  allowing them to earn a degree faster.

McDonald's restaurants in Indiana have enrolled a number of employees in the Archways to Opportunity tuition assistance program since its inception five years ago. Throughout 2019, McDonald's invested more than $1.2 million in tuition assistance to restaurant employees across Indiana. "There is no limit," said Robert Terhune, McDonald's owner/operator and president of the Greater Indiana Operator Co-op. "We want to encourage as many of our employees and students across Indiana as we can to take advantage of this tuition assistance program. We believe this strengthens all of our communities throughout Indiana."

Ivy Tech's degree crosswalk will allow McDonald's employees to work with an Ivy Tech counselor to determine which of their McDonald's training and work experiences may articulate into credits which they can apply towards their certificate or degree. The flexibility of Ivy Tech having both online classes and locations statewide will give employees the option to complete coursework on their schedule; whether that be during the day, evening, weekend or whenever it's convenient for them.

With most Ivy Tech students working while they attend school, Ivy Tech leadership says this new partnership fits in perfect with Ivy Tech Community College's mission. "Ivy Tech locations across Indiana currently enroll many talented McDonald's employees pursuing upward mobility in their careers and we expect this partnership to encourage even more employees to enroll and at the same time, assist in finding potential new employees for McDonald's and new students for Ivy Tech," said Ivy Tech President Sue Ellspermann. "Each Ivy Tech campus will dedicate an advisor to McDonald's employee enrollment, questions and scheduling needs. We are committed to helping each and every employee further their education and achieve their dreams."

"This is the exact kind of forward-thinking partnership that enables Indiana to develop our skilled and ready workforce," said Governor Eric Holcomb. "The combined strength of these two great entities will allow thousands of students to pursue their dreams and simultaneously help keep Indiana's economy moving full steam ahead."

McDonald's and its independent franchisees provide jobs for almost 2 million people across the world and are committed to inspiring workplaces where everyone  from crew to C-suite  is equally supported and empowered to realize their full potential. This Ivy Tech alliance underscores the ways jobs at McDonald's restaurants help build skills, education and relationships that translate to new experiences. Whether crew members plan to enjoy a career at McDonald's or in another industry, the skills made at McDonald's restaurants are transferrable no matter what career path they choose.

To learn more about the McDonald's Archways to Opportunity education program, visit any Indiana McDonald's, the Archways to Opportunity website, or any Ivy Tech campus.

ABOUT McDONALD'S

McDonald's is the world's leading global foodservice retailer with over 38,000 locations in over 100 countries. Approximately 93% of McDonald's restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local business men and women.

ABOUT ARCHWAYS TO OPPORTUNITY

The Archways to Opportunity program provides eligible employees at participating U.S. restaurants an opportunity to earn a high school diploma, receive upfront college tuition assistance, access free education/ career advising services and learn English as a second language. Since 2015, the education program has increased access to education for over 40,000 people and awarded over $63 million in high school and college tuition assistance. To learn more about the Archways to Opportunity program, please visit ArchwaysToOpportunity.com.

ABOUT IVY TECH COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Ivy Tech Community College serves communities across Indiana, providing world-class education and driving economic transformation. It is the state's largest public postsecondary institution and the nation's largest singly accredited statewide community college system. It serves as the state's engine of workforce development, offering high-value degree programs and training that are aligned with the needs of its communities, along with courses and programs that transfer to other colleges and universities in Indiana. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association.

SOURCE McDonald's Corporation

Related Links

http://www.mcdonalds.com


US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said on Wednesday that the United States has reestablished some deterrence toward Iran. (Photo Credit: File Photo)

New Delhi:

US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said on Wednesday that the United States has reestablished some deterrence toward Iran in the wake of the January 3 drone strike that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad. I think at this point with the strikes we took against KH in late December and then our actions with regard to Soleimani, I believe that weve restored a level of deterrence with them, he told reporters, referring to Kataeb Hezbollah, an armed Iraqi group backed by Iran.

But we will see. Time will tell, Esper said.

This came after Tehran launched ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing American and other coalition forces in retaliation for the US killing top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.

Qasem Soleimani, the popular head of the Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations arm, was killed in a US drone strike outside Baghdad airport on Friday, ratcheting up tensions between the arch-foes.

On Wednesday, President Trump offered to embrace peace with the Iranian leadership, in a significant move to de-escalate spiralling tensions in the Middle East.

In a direct message to the Iranian leaders and the people, Trump said the United States was ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.

To the people and leaders of Iran, we want you to have a future and a great future, one that you deserve, the president said.

Trump said Iran appeared to be standing down, which was a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.

For far too long, all the way back to 1979 to be exact, nations have tolerated Irans destructive and destabilising behaviour in the Middle East and beyond. Those days are over, he said, adding that peace and stability cannot prevail in the Middle East as long as Iran continues to foment terrorism.

Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley, however, dismissed suggestions that Iran did not intend to kill Americans with its missile barrage, which struck the sprawling Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq and a base in Arbil, both housing American and other foreign troops with the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group.

I believe, based on what I saw and what I know, is that they were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft and to kill personnel. Thats my own personal assessment, Milley told reporters.

But we took sufficient defensive measures that there were no casualties to US personnel, coalition personnel, contractors or Iraqis. Esper also downplayed the firing of two rockets into Baghdads fortified Green Zone late Wednesday, where the US and other foreign embassies are located and many US troops are based.

We should have some expectation that the Shia militia groups, either directed or not directed by Iran, will continue in some way, shape or form to try and undermine our presence there, either politically or, you know, take some type of kinetic actions against us or do Lord-knows-what, Esper told reporters.

A top Iraqi paramilitary commander, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, was also killed in the strike on Soleimani last week.

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The movie is special for all the Rajini fans as Darbar marks the maiden collaboration between Rajinikanth and filmmaker AR Murugadoss, who is known for helming Ghajini and Kaththi. (Image: Twitter)
The mood in Tehran was tense Wednesday morning when Ukraine International Flight 752 took off, bound for Kyiv. Just hours earlier, Iran had fired missiles at two bases in Iraq that house US troops, and Iranian forces were on alert for an American counterstrike.

Nothing was unusual about the planes takeoff and ascent, according to preliminary satellite data. But minutes into the flight, the Boeing 737 was engulfed in flames as it plunged to the ground, killing at least 176 people on board.

In the best of circumstances, determining the cause of an international plane crash can take a year or more of difficult investigative work and involve investigators from multiple governments. Resolving what happened over the skies of Tehran may prove even more complicated given the tensions between Iran, where the plane went down, and the United States, where it was built by Boeing, a company in the midst of crisis after two earlier deadly accidents involving another 737 model.

The immediate aftermath of the crash brought confusing and contradictory statements from Ukraine and Iran. Ukraines embassy in Iran initially issued a statement ruling out terrorism or a rocket attack. But the statement was later removed from the embassys website and replaced with one saying it was too early to draw any conclusions.

All possible versions of what occurred must be examined, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine said in a Facebook post, adding that Ukrainian experts would travel to Tehran to investigate and recover the bodies of Ukrainians.

The uncertainty could also ripple through the aviation industry, which relies heavily on the 737-NG for commercial travel. And for Boeing, the crash is the latest in a series of devastating events that have roiled the company since the first 737 Max disaster in Indonesia in late 2018.

The crashs timing raised immediate suspicions. Iran fired at US forces early Wednesday in retaliation for an airstrike Friday that killed a top Iranian general and the leader of Iran-backed Iraqi militias  the latest in a long sequence of escalations.

Investigators should put consideration of an attack at the top of their agenda, said Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board.

On Tuesday, hours before the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration barred American airliners from flying over Iran, citing a risk that commercial planes would be mistaken for military aircraft. Several non-American carriers rerouted flights Wednesday to avoid Iraq and Iran, according to Flightradar24. In 2014, early in the war in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed separatists, a Russian missile shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, killing 298 people.

A spokesman for Irans armed forces, Abolfazl Shekarchi, said the crash was not a result of any military action.

They are spreading propaganda that the Ukrainian flight was targeted, Iranian news media quoted Shekarchi as saying. This is ridiculous. Most of the passengers on this flight were our valued young Iranian men and women. Whatever we do, we do it for the protection and defense of our country and our people.

Typically, the country where a crash occurs leads an investigation, and includes officials from the country where the plane was produced, as well as countries where the victims were from. With the United States and Iran engaged in an escalating, violent conflict, it was immediately apparent cooperation could be fraught.

The flight data recorders, or black boxes, were recovered from the crash site, and are usually sent to the planes maker for analysis. However, the head of Irans Civil Aviation Organization, Ali Abedzadeh, told the semiofficial Mehr News Agency that Iran would not send the recorders from the Ukraine International Airlines flight to Boeing.

We will not give the black box to the manufacturer and the Americans, Mehr quoted him as saying. Ukrainian officials, he said, would be involved in Irans investigation of the crash.

However, the airline promised a full investigation, involving officials from Ukraine, Iran and Boeing. Zelenskiy said that he had ordered Ukraines prosecutor general to open a criminal investigation into the crash and that the countrys entire civil aviation fleet would be checked.

The 737 left Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran at 6:12 a.m. Wednesday. There were 176 people aboard, including nine crew members, according to the airline, which released the names of the dead. Iranian authorities listed 177, while some Iranian news organizations cited other figures.

The plane had reached an altitude of almost 8,000 feet and a speed of more than 300 mph, according to Flightradar24, which tracks aircraft by their radio signals. Two to three minutes after takeoff, it abruptly ceased the automatic transmission of flight data, though it remained in the air for a few minutes longer. Abedzadeh said the airliner had not contacted the control tower about an emergency.

The Iranian Students News Agency, a state-run media organization, shared a video that it said showed the predawn crash, with an aircraft apparently in flames descending in the distance before a bright burst filled the sky upon impact. The New York Times identified another video that showed the crash from a different angle.

It woke us up, said Sajad Shirkhani, 29, who lives near the crash site. We got out of bed and ran outside, and all of the windows on our home were broken. We ran outside, we thought we were hit by a missile, that there was a war.

The plane crashed on agricultural land near the village of Khalaj Abad, about 10 miles northwest of where the planes signal was last logged by Flightradar24. The plane appears to have banked northwest and flown for several miles after its transponder stopped working.

Photos and videos from the crash site showed rescuers in a field littered with plane debris, smoldering fires and the belongings of passengers. An analysis by The Times suggests that the plane was returning to the Tehran airport when it crashed.

There was disagreement on the breakdown of the victims nationalities, though that may be because some passengers held dual citizenship; Irans tally included 147 Iranians and two Canadians, while Vadym Prystaiko, Ukraines minister of foreign affairs, said there were 82 Iranians and 63 Canadians.

Our government will continue to work closely with its international partners to ensure that this crash is thoroughly investigated, and that Canadians questions are answered, Justin Trudeau, Canadas prime minister, said in a statement.

Another theory about the crash was that one of the planes two engines failed. Qassem Biniaz, an official at the Iranian Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, told the Islamic Republic News Agency, the governments official news agency, that an engine on the plane caught fire and that the pilot was unable to regain control.

The Fars News Agency, a semiofficial Iranian media outlet, said in an article about the crash that Boeing 737 passenger planes are notorious for frequent technical issues, an apparent reference to the two crashes involving the companys 737 Max. Later, Abedzadeh told Mehr that so far there was no evidence of technical problems.

Commercial airliners are designed to be able to fly even if one engine fails. Engine fires are fairly common on commercial jets, but rarely result in crashes. An uncontained engine failure, in which parts of an engine disintegrate, sometimes spraying debris that can damage or even destroy a plane, is rare. In 2018, a Southwest Airlines flight on its way from New York to Dallas experienced such an emergency, killing one person.

The plane that crashed in Iran, a 737-NG, was manufactured in 2016 and delivered directly from the factory, the airline said, and it had most recently undergone scheduled maintenance on Monday, two days before the crash. The airline offered no theories as to what might have happened and declined to comment on whether it might have been shot down, but noted that the plane was being operated by a highly trained crew.

While airlines in the former Soviet Union generally have poor safety records, Ukraine International Airlines said on its website that its safety was audited and met FAA standards for code-sharing flights with foreign partners. It had not previously experienced a fatal crash, according to a list of Ukrainian aircraft accidents compiled by the Flight Safety Foundation.

The 737-NG is one of the worlds most widely used airliners; more than 7,000 have been built since 1998, and the plane has logged more than 250 million hours of flight time and fewer than a dozen fatal accidents.

But Boeings engineering has come under scrutiny over the past year, after two crashes involving a different model of jet, the 737 Max. Those accidents, which were caused in part by new software on the plane, have plunged Boeing into its biggest-ever crisis. The Max has been grounded worldwide since March, and the companys chief executive was fired last month.

As the company struggles to get a fix for the Max approved by regulators, new safety risks have recently emerged with the plane. The company may also need to assess those risks in the 737-NG family, which includes the 737-800. Boeing shares were down almost 2% Wednesday.

If the crash in Tehran turns out to be a mechanical failure, raising questions about the 737-NG, the results could be devastating for Boeing. We are aware of the media reports out of Iran and we are gathering more information, Boeing said in a statement.

David Gelles, Anton Troianovski and Daniel Victor c.2020 The New York Times Company
Its not getting any easier to live in San Francisco. The cost of living is high, the rental market is barely slowing and the challenges of day-to-day living arent disappearing anytime soon.

The demographics of the city are quickly changing, too. According to an analysis by the Golden Stats Warrior, families making more than $100,000 per year are moving here at a much faster rate than those making under $60,000 a year. Data was gathered from an analysis of U.S. Census data from 2013-17.

Twenty-three thousand more people from families making at least $100,000 arrived than left each year, while people making under $60,000 arriving annually is just 3,000 higher than the number of people leaving.

Breaking it down by race, white and Asian people in their 20s and 30s with relatively high incomes are moving in much faster than those who are elderly, black and lower-income. While about 5,000 new white people moved to the Bay Area each year from 2013 to 2017, about 5,000 black residents left each year.

Movers that identify as Asian dominate who is arriving in the Bay Area, with an estimated 30,000 moving in each year.

When people leave the Bay Area for another state, the data show they most often head for Texas (4.2%) and Washington (3.6%). But, when you break it down by demographics, youll see that white people are most likely to leave for Washington (5%), Oregon (4%) and New York (4%), while black people are most likely to leave for Texas (9%), Nevada (3.5%) and Maryland (3%).

People in families making over $100,000 are most likely to leave for Washington, but those making less than $60,000 are most likely to head for Texas. Older people tend to head for Arizona and Nevada, while 25-39-year-olds have the highest probability of going to Texas and New York.

Population growth overall is steady. Four percent of the Bay Areas population left and just over 4 percent arrived every year from 2013 to 2017.

Tessa McLean is a digital editor with SFGATE. Email her at tessa.mclean@sfgate.com or follow her on Twitter @mcleantessa.
Three weeks before Britain is due to leave the European Union, the president of the European Commission warned Wednesday that the UK wont get the 'highest quality access' to the European Union's market after Brexit unless it makes major concessions

London: Three weeks before Britain is due to leave the European Union, the president of the European Commission warned Wednesday that the UK wont get the highest quality access to the European Union's market after Brexit unless it makes major concessions.

In a friendly but frank message to the UK, Ursula von der Leyen said negotiating a new UK-EU trade deal will be tough. She also said the end-of-2020 deadline that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has imposed on negotiations makes it basically impossible to strike a comprehensive new agreement in time.

Von der Leyen, who took over as head of the EU's executive branch on 1 December, met Johnson at 10 Downing Street in London on Wednesday for the first time since the British leaders election victory last month.

Johnsons Conservatives won a substantial parliamentary majority in Britain's 12 December election, giving him the power to end more than three years of wrangling over Brexit and take the UK out of the EU on 31 January. It will be the first nation to ever leave the bloc, which currently has 28 members.

Britains departure will be followed by a transition period in which the UK-EU relationship will remain largely unchanged while the two sides negotiate a new trade arrangement.

Johnson says the UK is seeking a wide-ranging free trade deal but doesn't want to agree to keep all EU rules and standards.

Johnson's office said after the meeting that the UK wanted a broad free trade agreement covering goods and services, and cooperation in other areas. But it said any future partnership must not involve any kind of alignment in which Britain would automatically follow EU rules.

That could cause problems. Speaking at the London School of Economics before her meeting with Johnson, von der Leyen warned that without a level playing field on the environment, labour, taxation and state aid, you cannot have the highest quality access to the worlds largest single market.

"With every choice comes a consequence. With every decision comes a trade-off," she warned.

The EU worries that Britain plans to cut environmental and employment standards in order to position itself as a low-regulation, low-tax competitor to the bloc.

Johnson sought to allay those fears, telling von der Leyen the UK would continue to maintain high standards in areas like workers rights, animal welfare, agriculture and the environment, Downing St. said.

International trade agreements typically take years to complete, but Johnson has ruled out extending the post-Brexit transition period beyond the end of 2020, although the EU has offered to prolong it until 2022. Downing Street said Wednesday that both British and EU citizens rightly expect negotiations on an ambitious free trade agreement to conclude on time.

Von der Leyen said the time frame was very, very tight and made it basically impossible to negotiate anything but a skeleton deal.

The more divergence there is, the more distant the partnership has to be, she said. And without an extension of the transition period beyond 2020, you cannot expect to agree on every single aspect of our new partnership. We will have to prioritize.

The German EU chief  who studied in Britain in the 1970s and has proclaimed herself a friend and fan of Britain  did have some encouraging words for Johnson. She said the bloc was ready to strike a tariff-free and quota-free trade deal with Britain, and a partnership that goes well beyond trade and is unprecedented in scope.

She said the new relationship could encompass everything from climate action to data protection, fisheries to energy, transport to space, financial services to security. And we are ready to work day and night to get as much of this done within the time frame we have.

At the start of the meeting, Johnson noted that he and von der Leyen had attended the same Belgian school  the European School in Brussels, where both lived for a time as children. Johnson, 55, is six years younger than the EU chief.

Johnsons election victory broke Britain's political stalemate over Brexit. His 80-seat House of Commons majority means he has the votes to get his Brexit deal approved by lawmakers, something his predecessor Theresa May never achieved.

Johnsons key Brexit bill was approved in principle last month and is expected to pass its final House of Commons hurdle on Thursday after three days of debate. It also must be approved by the European Parliament.

Von der Leyen said she did not anticipate a delay and expected the UK to leave the EU on 31 January.

This will be a tough and emotional day," she said.
Ghaani already has several decades worth of blood on his hands, from repressing the Iranian people and aggressively expanding the regimes control in the region, so he was the obvious pick for the nations number one terrorist.

The 62-year-old, who served as Soleimanis deputy for the past 20 years, rose quickly through the ranks after helping to crush the Kurdish uprising following the fall of the shah in 1979.

His main role in the Quds force was to bolster terrorist militias in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Africa. He was placed on Americas terrorism blacklist in 2012 after sending 13 shipping containers filled with 107mm Katyusha rockets, rifle ammunition, and other weapons to the Gambia.

Since then, his focus turned to the Middle East where he has:

organized the genocide of Sunni Muslims in al-Anbar province, Iraq

boasted of his connection to the Houthi rebels in Yemen

assumed command of Irans proxy forces in Aleppo, Syria, to aid the Bashar Assad dictatorship in massacring its own civilians

Now, Ghaani has met with Iran-backed Hamas terror groups chief Ismail Haniyeh and his deputy Saleh al-Arouri. Hes also vowed harsh revenge for Soleimanis death.

Ghaani said: We promise to continue down the martyr Soleimanis path as firmly as before with the help of God and in return for his martyrdom we aim to get rid of America from the region.

Struan Stevenson, the Coordinator of the Campaign for Iran Change, wrote: Ghaanis tough talk and his bloodstained past may serve to bolster his Mafia credentials in the eyes of Irans tyrannical dictators, but it will do little to dent the determination of the Islamic Republics 80 million, careworn and struggling population, who have taken to the streets in the hundreds of thousands in recent weeks in protest of the venal corruption of the ruling mullahs and their wanton spending on conflict and terror.

Stevenson, a former member of the European Parliament, explained that Soleimani had enthusiastically implemented the crackdown on these protests that left at least 1,500 young demonstrators dead, 4,000 wounded, and 12,000 arrested.

He wrote: The courageous Peoples Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK) resistance units, who have played a central role in organizing the uprising, will not be cowed by Ghaanis arrival on the scene. Soleimanis blood-spattered demise should act as a warning to Ghaani that like the Mafia godfathers of old, there is no impunity for the perpetrators of evil.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 14:21:03|Editor: Xiaoxia

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QUITO, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Flamengo have submitted a formal offer to secure striker Pedro on loan from Fiorentina, according to press reports in Brazil and Italy.

The 22-year-old has made just four appearances across all competitions - each time as a late substitute - since joining the Italian club from Fluminense in September.

Flamengo's proposal includes an option to buy the Brazil U-23 starlet after 12 months, Globo Esporte reported.

However the Rio de Janeiro giants are facing competition for Pedro's signature from Gremio, Besiktas, Nantes and several teams from Portugal, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Pedro grabbed the attention of European clubs in 2018 by scoring 19 goals in 40 matches before his season was cut short by an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Flamengo, who released Pedro from their youth academy when he was 14, also tried to sign the forward last year.
Outraged Somalis are urging Australians to stop culling camels, and to instead send the animals to the Horn of Africa so that they can look after them.

Snipers have been shooting camels in South Australia from the air since Wednesday following concerns that extreme heat and drought were forcing the animals to encroach on human settlements in search of water. Thousands are expected to be killed.

Somalis have a deep love for camels, which they call geel. They measure wealth and status by the number of camels that people own, not the amount of cash they have.



They also believe that after the British colonised what is now the self-declared republic of Somaliland in the 19th Century, they seized herds of camels and sent them to Australia, which was also a British colony at the time.

Others say that camels were first taken to Australia by British settlers from India, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Nevertheless, the chairman of the Somaliland Camel Herders Association, Mustafe Cali Deeq, said the animals were very precious to Somalis and second only to human beings.

He said Australia should spare the lives of the camels by sending them to where they originally came from.

While others said on Twitter that they could be accommodated in the whole of Mena, an acronym for the Middle East and Africa.

Follow Us on Facebook  @LadunLiadi; Instagram  @LadunLiadi; Twitter  @LadunLiadi; Youtube  @LadunLiadiTV for updates
Voters will cast ballots in the 2020 presidential race in the fall, but primary elections across the US to select the Democratic nominee, along with a host of local elections, have been postponed or moved or held under potentially dangerous conditions as the coronavirus pandemic has altered the course of candidates' campaigns.

Following those contests and nomination convention, the Democratic nominee will participate in presidential debates against Donald Trump this fall.

Republican parties in several states have cancelled their party primaries, presuming the incumbent will be on the ballot.

Here's an amended schedule of key election events  and a recap of what has happened so far  in the 2020 race.

14 January

Five candidates qualified for the seventh Democratic debate, which will be hosted by CNN and The Des Moines Register at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. On the stage will be Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

3 February

Bernie Sanders won the largest share of votes but was narrowly defeated by Pete Buttigieg for state delegate equivalents in the Iowa caucus, which captured the first votes cast in the Democratic primary race. After a chaotic release of the vote totals that ultimately led to the resignation of the state's Democratic party chair, there was heavy scrutiny over the results of the primary season's opening contest, leading to speculation for the candidates' futures as larger state primaries followed, and as the campaigns  and donors  strategised ahead of the election's crucial next few months.

7 February

ABC, WMUR and Apple News at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire hosted the eighth Democratic primary debate.

11 February

After winning the state in a landslide in 2016, Senator Sanders won the popular vote in the New Hampshire primary, followed by a second-place finish from Pete Buttigieg and a surprise third from Amy Klobuchar. Andrew Yang, Michael Bennett and Deval Patrick later dropped out.

19 February

NBC News, MSNBC and The Nevada Independent hosted the ninth Democratic primary debate in Las Vegas, Nevada.

22 February

Senator Sanders won the Nevada Democratic caucus, which offered a glimpse of candidates' success outside the East Coast in a key state with a large Latino voting population. The senator received 24 delegates to the former vice president's nine. No other candidate passed the threshold for delegate consideration.

25 February

CBS News, Twitter and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute at The Gaillard Center hosted the 10th Democratic debate in Charleston, South Carolina.

29 February

Joe Biden won nearly 49 per cent of the popular vote in South Carolina, the first southern state to enter the primary contest, serving as a test of the strength of African-American support among the Democratic candidates. The former vice president captured 39 delegates to Senator Sanders 15. Following the primary, Tom Steyer  who came in third place  dropped out of the race. Republicans cancelled their party's primary in the state, with the incumbent president as the presumed nominee.

3 March

Fifteen states across the US held primary contests on Super Tuesday, including California, which has the largest delegate count in the US, with 415 delegates pledged to the Democratic nominee, and Texas, the second-largest delegate trove, with 228 delegates pledged to the Democratic nominee. After Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar withdrew from the race and endorsed Joe Biden, his resurgent campaign won nine states, including Texas, while Bernie Sanders won California and three other states. After disappointing finishes throughout the primary, including no victories on Super Tuesday, Elizabeth Warren ended her campaign two days later. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg also dropped out and endorsed Biden.

3-10 March

US citizens living abroad cast their votes in the Democrats Abroad primary. Bernie Sanders received nearly 60 per cent of the vote, securing nine delegates. Joe Biden received 22 per cent of the vote and four delegates.

10 March

As the coronavirus pandemic gripped the US, campaign events and rallies were cancelled, though voting was still on in in Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Washington and Michigan, a crucial battleground state for the two-man race. While Bernie Sanders won North Dakota, Joe Biden won the remaining states, with a narrow victory in Washington state.

15 March

The public health crisis framed the election's unprecedented 11th debate, hosted by CNN and Univision and giving Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders and audience-free platform from Phoenix.

17 March

Ohio postponed its primary to 2 June as Arizona, Florida and Illinois held their elections as states across the US began ordering residents to stay at home and public health warnings urged people to avoid crowds, beginning a series of controversial election events in the thick of the crisis.

Joe Biden ultimately won 296 delegates by sweeping the three states. Tulsi Gabbard ended her campaign two days later.

7 April

Wisconsin held its Democratic party despite calls from voters and the state's governor to postpone. Republican lawmakers and conservative majorities on the state and US supreme courts ultimately blocked those efforts, which also prevented absentee or mail-in ballots from being cast at a later date, forcing thousands of voters into a small number of open polling sites during the pandemic.

Joe Biden ultimately won in the state, as Bernie Sanders's supporters and other critics painted the election as illegitimate. The next day, the senator announced he was suspending his campaign.

10 April

Alaska moved its primary from 4 April with candidates competing for a share of 19 delegates. Joe Biden received 55 per cent of the vote and eight delegates, while Bernie Sanders received 45 per cent and seven delegates.

17 April

Wyoming moved its primary from 4 April with candidates competing for a share of 18 delegates. Joe Biden received more than 72 per cent of the vote and 10 delegates.

2 May

Joe Biden received more than 76 per cent of the vote in the Kansas primary, with all Democrat voters participating by mail using a ranked-choice method.

12 May

Joe Biden also received more than 76 per cent of the vote in the Nebraska primary.

19 May

Joe Biden received 67 per cent of votes in Oregon's primary, followed by Bernie Sanders, who received 20 per cent.

22-24 May

The Libertarian Party had planned to host its convention in Austin, Texas from 22-25 May as delegates selected their candidate for the ballot from among the party's declared candidates.

The convention has instead held virtually, with Jo Jorgensen emerging as the nominee  the first woman in the party's history to receive the nomination. Spike Cohen was selected as the nominee for vice president.

23 May

In Hawaii's primary, Joe Biden received 63 per cent of the vote, followed by Bernie Sanders, who received nearly 37 per cent. Biden received 16 pledged delegates. Sanders received eight.

2 June

Several primaries scheduled across the US came on the heels of growing protests against racial injustice and policy brutality as well as renewed fears of coronavirus and spikes in cases as states began to reopen.

Joe Biden won each primary in Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota and Washington DC, as well as in Indiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, which had initially postponed their elections due to the coronavirus crisis.

Controversial Republican congressman Steve King of Iowa also lost to Randy Feenstra in a primary for his House.

5 June

The former vice president clinched the Democratic Party nomination, with delayed delegate tallies pushing him past the 1,991 delegates needed to become the nominee.

6 June

Joe Biden won nominating contests in the US Virgin Islands and Guam, which participate in the primary process but not the general election.

9 June

West Virginia held its primary, originally scheduled for 12 May. Joe Biden received 65 per cent of the vote and 28 delegates.

23 June

Joe Biden received 67 per cent of the vote in New York, one of the largest delegate states behind California and Texas.

Democratic Commissioners on the state's Board of Elections initially sought to strip non-campaigning nominees from the ballots, effectively cancelling the election, but a federal judge halted the decision.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of Queens and The Bronx handily defeated Democratic primary challengers in her House district and is likely to win in a re-election bid.

In Kentucky, the former vice president received 68 per cent of the vote.

30 June

Amid a wave of progressive candidates holding primary challenges against moderate Democrats, Jamaal Bowman defeated longtime New York Democrat Elliot Engel, pending absentee ballot counts.

Following mail-in ballots in Kentucky, Amy McGrath  with a slim lead over progressive challenger Charles Booker  has secured the Democratic slot to face against Republican incumbent Mitch McConnell.

7 July

Joe Biden took nearly 90 per cent of the vote from his home state of Delaware, and he received more than 86 per cent of the vote in New Jersey. Both states moved their election dates a second time from 2 June.

9-12 July

Green Party co-founder Howie Hawkins and running mate Angela Nicole Walker were selected as the third party's nominees at its convention, which was held virtually after an initial plan to hold its event in Detroit, Michigan.

11 July

Joe Biden received nearly 80 per cent of the vote in Louisiana, after election officials postponed the date a second time from April to 20 June.

12 July

Puerto Rico's primary was postponed twice over coronavirus concerns. Joe Biden collected 56 per cent of the vote.

17-20 August

Democratic delegates were scheduled to convene in Milwaukee for 2020's Democratic National Convention, where presumptive nominee Joe Biden was officially selected as the party's nominee to face Donald Trump in November. The event was originally scheduled for July but was postponed due to the coronavirus crisis. Most the event was held virtually.

11 August

Joe Biden received more than 84 per cent of the vote in Connecticut's primary, rescheduled twice following the pandemic. It was the last state to hold a presidential primary.

24-27 August

Republicans initially planned to hold the party's nominating convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, but the party moved the event to Jacksonville, Florida over social distancing disputes. As cases surged, officials in Jacksonville announced they would require attendees to wear masks indoors after the president and his campaign sought to avoid similar precautions. That prompted GOP officials and the president to announced that the Florida event will be cancelled  all convention events will remain in Charlotte, while the president and campaign used the White House as a backdrop for partisan speeches, flouting federal law.

1 September

In Massachusetts, a heavily scrutinised primary challenge to incumbent Democratic senator Ed Markey from Joseph Kennedy III ultimately failed, with an incumbent win buoyed by progressive support.

29 September

The University of Notre Dame was scheduled to host the first 2020 presidential debate, but the university withdrew from the event over health concerns. The debate is now scheduled for Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.

7 October

Republican and Democratic nominees for vice president will debate at the University of Utah, which hosts the only debate between the running mates.

15 October

The second presidential debate will take place at the Adrienne Arsht Centre for the Performing Arts in Miami.

22 October

Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee will host the third and final presidential debate.

3 November

Election Day  voters across the US will participate in a general election to select the next president, along with other candidates that appear on local ballots.

14 December

Electoral college representatives meet in state capitols to formally cast votes.

6 January 2021

Congress enters electoral votes into the record, and the Senate president announces vote tallies.

20 January 2021

Inauguration Day  the president-elect will be formally sworn into office.
FAIRFIELD  Brian Farnen, Republican candidate for the state legislature from the 132nd district, issued the following statement Thursday in response to a press release earlier this week from the Democratic Town Committee. The election, to fill the seat vacated recently by First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick, takes place Tuesday, Jan. 14.

Farnen said:

Our campaign has been grounded in doing what is right for Connecticut and for our community. Over the last seven weeks I have heard one clear message from voters: they want a government that is responsive to their needs and not one that is embroiled in bickering and platitudes. The Democratic Town Committees laundry list of petty assertions packaged in a release makes clear the difference between my opponent and myself. I am running for the State Legislature because I am concerned about the future of our state, our town and our collective future. My opponent said she is running because it is the next step (see news 12 interview).

I know that Democratic Town Committee is very eager to win this election but press releases such as this only bring down our community and people like Jenn and I who decide to run for office. I am looking forward to the remaining few days on the campaign trail and I am proud of this campaign, and all of the campaigns Ive been a part of. I will continue to be focused on an issues based campaign listening to voters and expressing my vision on how to turn around our state and best represent Fairfield.

Answers to their claims:

I have always been open about my position with the Connecticut Green Bank, an organization that Ive been always proud to be a part of. It is one of my lifes greatest accomplishments being a leader in the fight against climate change and creating good-paying jobs here in Connecticut. I also have an unambiguous Ethics opinion from the States ethics board approving of my ability to run for State Representative. There are no conflicts of interest.

On the Sherman School directory  As a parent, RTM member and executive member of the Sherman PTA, I reached out to parents and friends before every election to explain my strong support on education.

On the Mailer from First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick  It was an important message from the First Selectwoman and I am proud of her support and endorsement.

On the Community Theater  This message came from a key proponent of the renovation of the Fairfield Community Theater and that was something youll have to ask him about. I was not aware he was sending out a message of support but I welcome and am proud of his endorsement.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday accused the BJP and the civic bodies administered by it of making Delhi the "garbage capital of India" and claimed that the Ghazipur landfill will soon cross the height of Taj Mahal.

Hitting back, Member of Parliament and former Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel said it is Kejriwal who talks about two models of governance but forgot that the AAP government has turned Delhi into a "hell".

Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said, "The BJP and the MCD have made Delhi the garbage capital of India, with open 'dhalaos' (community dustbins) and garbage dumped in every nook and corner of the city."



It a matter of shame for Delhi that it is at the bottom of the rankings in the Swachh Bharat Mission, Kejriwal said while highlighting the inconvenience that the garbage dump in Ghazipur is causing to the people of the city.

"The biggest gift of the BJP to Delhi is the garbage and waste mountain in Ghazipur, which is expected to cross the height of the Taj Mahal in Agra. What is more worrisome is the fact that only 40 per cent of the garbage in Delhi is processed," the chief minister said.

Kejriwal presented the MCD report card to the media, comparing the statistics of various sectors under the civic bodies and the Delhi government, and highlighting the loopholes in the workings of the corporations across education, healthcare, sanitation, and other significant domains.

He said there are two models of governance in front of the people of Delhi, and they have to decide one is right for the city and the nation.

"First, I would like to put forth a difference in the education levels in primary schools of the MCD as well as the Delhi government senior secondary schools. On one hand, the MCD has shut down 109 schools in the last nine years, while on the other the Delhi government has opened 20,000 new classrooms in its schools in the last five years," he said.

The civic bodies have the most corrupt officials, Kejriwal alleged while describing the MCD as 'Most Corrupt Department'.

"And I am not the only. Also, I am not saying this without any relevance or proof," he said.

"Recently, when BJP leader Vijay Goel was asked to speak on the matter of corruption in the MCD, he replied 'Aap mujhse kahoge MCD kaisi hai. Mein kahoonga chor hai' (If you ask how is the MCD, I would reply it's a thief). Is this something to be proud of? The MCD has been under BJP for the last 15 years and it has done nothing to eliminate corruption from the department," Kejriwal said.

In the healthcare sector, Kejriwal alleged that no additional dispensary has been built in the civic bodies-run hospitals in the last seven years, while only one hospital was added to the list of existing hospitals in the city.

About the promises made by the BJP before winning the civic bodies elections, Kejriwal said, "I believe that not even one of them has been fulfilled."



Referring to the law and order situation in Delhi of late, Kejriwal made a snide remark alleging the Delhi Police was functioning along the same lines of the civic bodies.

"There are 90 per cent chances that a complaint will not be filed by the police in case of an emergency. You all have witnessed the attitude of the Delhi police in the last few days when the law and order situation is grave," he said.

"I have said this time and again, that the Delhi Police is not at fault in the law and order menace in Delhi. They are just following the orders from the above because they fear suspension from their duties," Kejriwal said.

When contacted, Delhi Police additional PRO, Anil Mittal clarified that Delhi Police has all along being a "professional force and has handled situation professionally as per its legal mandate".

"It is absolutely incorrect to suggest that it acts under any pressure whatsoever. It is also incorrect to suggest that complaints are not registered at police stations," he said.

On AAP's long pending demand of full statehood for Delhi, Kejriwal said full statehood of Delhi is what the people of the city want.

"The multiplicity of agencies is not favourable to anybody. I have been blamed several times regarding completion of maximum initiatives in the last one year of my tenure. But it is because, before this all the files used to go to the L-G office for approval," he said.

"The files were stuck because of political reasons, and when we got the authority of approving the files, everything including the construction of Mohalla clinics, installation of CCTV cameras, and others was completed," Kejriwal said.

Reacting to Kejriwal's allegation, BJP leader Goel claimed that Delhiites have rejected Kejriwal's model.

He reminded Kejriwal that AAP candidates badly lost civic bodies elections two years ago and five out of its seven candidates lost their security deposit in the Lok Sabha election.

"Today Kejriwal is levelling allegations against MCD but he forgets that he is equally responsible for this situation of MCD. Kejriwal should disclose details of his meetings with MCD and its commissioners and the developmental projects discussed in these meetings," Goel added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
LAS CRUCES, N.M. - New Mexico State University is preparing to host the worlds largest conference dedicated to chile peppers.

The 2020 New Mexico Chile Conference will run Feb. 3-4 at the Las Cruces Convention Center. The universitys Chile Pepper Institute has been organizing the annual conference for about three decades.

Chile has long been one of New Mexicos signature crops. Its the state vegetable and the basis for the official state question: Red or green?

The conference draws experts in breeding, processing, pest management and sustainable ways to give growers a competitive advantage. There also will be discussions about the states chile certification program and how to add value to the harvest.

Organizers also are inviting students to present their pepper-related research during the two-day gathering.
A Delhi on Thursday granted bail to 15 accused in the case of violence in Daryaganj here last month.

Additional session judge Kamini Lau granted bail to the 15 accused arrested for allegedly perpetrating violence during protests against anti-Citizenship Amendment Act with a bail bond of Rs 25,000 and one surety.

It also directed accused to appear before SHO Daryaganj Police Station every Saturday for four weeks on last Saturday of every month.

The judge also ordered that the accused must surrender the passport to the investigation officer

On January 8, the Court directed the investigating officer to produce MLC report and CCTV footage before the court.

The counsel for accused Rebecca John told the court said to the court that Section 436 of the IPC is not attracted in the case. The allegations in the FIR only make out a case of Section 435 IPC, which is a bailable offence.

The judge said that the case cannot be called a criminal and is at best a civil suit.

"The people were walking from Seelampur and as they moved on others kept joining. That's how protests are. And everyone has a right to protest," the judge said.

On December 23, the Tees Hazari magistrate court dismissed the bail plea of 15 accused in the Daryaganj violence case. Metropolitan magistrate Kapil Kumar had sent all 15 accused to 14 days Judicial Custody.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
CHICAGO, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Dimethyl Carbonate Market by Application (Polycarbonate Synthesis, Battery Electrolyte, Solvents, Reagents), End-Use Industry (Plastics, Paints & Coatings, Pharmaceuticals), Grade (Industry, Pharmaceutical, Battery), Region - Global Forecast to 2024", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Dimethyl Carbonate Market is projected to grow from USD 895 million in 2019 to USD 1,207 million by 2024, at a CAGR of 6.2% from 2019 to 2024. The increasing demand for polycarbonates and lithium-ion batteries is expected to drive the global dimethyl carbonate market.

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The polycarbonate synthesis segment estimated to account for the largest share of the dimethyl carbonate market in 2019.

By application, the polycarbonate synthesis segment is estimated to account for the largest share of the dimethyl carbonate market in 2019. Dimethyl carbonate is used to manufacture polycarbonate by the well-established and rapidly expanding non-phosgene melt process. Polycarbonate is used across industries such as automotive and electrical & electronics due to its superior physical properties such as heat resistance, impact resistance, structural stability, and optical transparency. The growing demand from polycarbonate from the automotive and electrical & electronics industries is driving the market for dimethyl carbonate across the globe.

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The plastics segment estimated to account for the largest share of the dimethyl carbonate market in 2019.

By end-use industry, the plastics segment accounted for the largest share of the dimethyl carbonate market in 2019. Dimethyl carbonate is used as an intermediate in polycarbonate synthesis. PC has become an important environment-friendly and recyclable form of commercial polymer with numerous uses in different industries such as automotive, electrical & electronics. The growing demand for plastic products specially the polycarbonate is expected the drive the demand of dimethyl carbonate across the globe.

Asia Pacific estimated to account for the largest share of the global dimethyl carbonate market in 2019

The Asia Pacific region accounted for the largest share of the dimethyl carbonate market in 2019. China, India, Japan, and South Korea are major countries contributing to the increased demand for dimethyl carbonate in this region. In China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan, dimethyl carbonate is mainly used in the production of polycarbonates, while in India, it is primarily consumed by the pharmaceutical, paints & coatings, and agrochemical industries to manufacture different products such as medicines, paints, and pesticides.

Ube Industries Ltd. (Japan), Merck KGaA (Germany), Kowa Company Ltd. (Japan), Kishida Chemical Co. Ltd. (Japan), Lotte Chemical (Korea), Shandong Shida Shenghua Chemical Group Co., Ltd. (China), Guangzhou Tinci Materials Technology Co., Ltd. (China), Haike Chemical Group (China), Arrow Chemical Group Corp. (China), and Panax Etec (Korea) are some of the leading players operating in the Dimethyl Carbonate Market.



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Polycarbonate Resin Market by Application (Electrical & Electronics, Optical Media, Consumer, Automotive, Sheets, Films, Packaging, Medical, and Others) and by Region (Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, North America, and RoW) - Trends & Forecast to 2020

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Mumbai: The Mumbai Police has been a major success against the underworld. The Crime Branch of Mumbai Police has arrested Ejaz Lakdawala, the right-hand gangster of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in Karachi, Pakistan. The Crime Branch team arrested him from Patna. The Crime Branch team got this success after the arrest of Ejaz's daughter.

From there, the police got information about him being in Patna, after which he was caught. The court has sent Lakdawala to police remand till January 21. Lakdawala was on the run for the past 20 years. Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve told the media that 25 cases have been registered against Lakdawala in Mumbai only, while other 2 places in the state have also been registered against him. At the same time, the Anti-Extortion Cell of the Crime Branch of the case is also contacting other states to see if any other cases have been registered against it.

According to Sanjay Barve, Lakdawala's daughter Sania Sheikh was arrested on December 28. The Crime Branch had been investigating the remaining cases against him for a long time. Anti Extortion Cell had been tracking Sania Sheikh for a long time and she was recovering Rs 5 crore in Lakdawala's name. Sania had told during interrogation that Lakdawala was in the process of escaping to Nepal, after which she was caught by laying a trap.

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A report has looked at the support given to migrants and refugees in Ireland (Niall Carson/PA)

The rights of people granted permission to stay in Ireland under the International Protection Act are not set out in legislation and there is a lack of clarity around their entitlements, research suggested.

While Ireland has increased its options to protect vulnerable migrants in recent years, disparities in supports remain.

An increased numbers of migrants in need of protection have been offered residence in Ireland under national law and new resettlement schemes.

Research carried out by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) shows that there are a number of disparities in supports and entitlements among different groups of status-holders.

The number of people resettled to Ireland, including under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme, grew from 20 in 2010 to 349 in 2018.

The report highlights that certain disparities have arisen in integration supports and in particular access to education among different groups.Sarah Groarke

The largest number resettled to Ireland in this period were nationals of Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.

Granted programme refugee status under Irish law, such people have rights similar to those of Irish citizens and people granted international protection.

Families resettled to Ireland under Community Sponsorship Ireland (CSI) are among those granted programme refugee status.

Launched as a national programme last year, it involves community organisations providing a range of integration supports to a refugee family.

Eight Syrian families have been resettled under community sponsorship to date.

The International Protection Act allows people to stay after they have received a negative decision on an application for international protection but have other grounds, including humanitarian considerations, to remain in Ireland.

A total of 72 people were granted permission to remain under this Act in 2017, with a further 238 granted this status in 2018.

The top countries of origin were Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Albania, Malawi and Pakistan.

Between 2010 and 2018, 4,676 people who had submitted an application for international protection were granted leave to remain.

The top countries of origin were Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Ghana.

The research found that, unlike people who come through the international protection system and the other groups, only programme refugees resettled to Ireland receive targeted orientation and integration supports.

The rights of people under the International Protection Act are not set out in legislation and there is less clarity regarding their entitlements, such as access to employment and education.

Unlike programme refugees and people granted international protection, permission to remain holders are not eligible for State funding for third-level education, which is highlighted by NGOs as a barrier to accessing third-level education not faced by other protection status-holders.

Rights for people granted leave to remain are also not provided for in legislation and are less clear than for other status-holders.

Sarah Groarke, co-author of the report, said: The recent introduction of additional admission programmes demonstrates how national legal statuses and ad hoc schemes can be used flexibly, in a way that complements Irelands international protection obligations and traditional resettlement pathways.

However, the report highlights that certain disparities have arisen in integration supports and in particular access to education among different groups.
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Trump claimed that a Ukranian plane that was mistakenly shot down by Iran was flying in a bad neighborhood.

Trump said, Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side, could have made a mistake. It was flying in not our system, has nothing to do with us, it was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood and somebody could have made a mistake. Some people say it was mechanical. I personally dont think thats even a question personally. So well see what happens. Just some very terrible  something very terrible happened, very devastating.

Video:

Trump says the Ukraine plane mistakenly shot down by Iran was flying in a "bad neighborhood." pic.twitter.com/rJvn0FXt6K  Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) January 9, 2020

As Americans, we should feel lucky that Trump didnt claim that the plane deserved it because of what it was wearing, or he didnt find some other way to blame the deaths of 176 people on the victims.

Irans mistake is part of the chain reaction that Trump set off when he approved the strike that killed Soleimani. If Trump doesnt approve the strike on Soleimani, those airline passengers are probably still alive.

The problem with presidents who make up foreign policy as they go along is that they never anticipate the unintended consequences. Trump didnt intend for 176 innocent people to die because of the events that he set into motion, but they did.

The Trump administration still hasnt provided the evidence that was the basis for the Soleimani decision, and it looks like 176 people lost their lives because Trump needed a to politically change the subject.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Just as the avuncular presence of Ed Sullivan helped ease middle America into accepting Elvis Presley and The Beatles, the aw-shucks midwestern charm of Dick Cavett made Woodstock hippies seem downright cuddly when he had Jefferson Airplane, David Crosby, and Joni Mitchell on just after the legendary music festival in 1969. He had a way of making everyone around him comfortable enough to reveal just a little more than they might otherwise. (See Jimi Hendrix talk about his National Anthem performance, below.)

Born in Nebraska in 1937, the only persona [Cavett] bothered to, or needed to, develop for working on camera was of a boy from Nebraska dazzled by the bright lights of New York, as Clive James writes in an appreciation of the TV host. As he interviewed the biggest stars of late sixties, seventies, and eighties on the long-running Dick Cavett Show, Cavetts easygoing Midwestern demeanor disarmed both his guests and audiences. He kept them engaged with his erudition, quick wit, and breadth of cultural knowledge.

Cavett, writes James, was the most distinguished talk-show host in America a true sophisticate with a daunting intellectual range. He was also an empathic interviewer who could lead his guests beyond the stock responses they were used to giving in TV interviews. (David Bowie, below, reveals how he was influenced by his fans.)

A trained gymnast and self-taught magicianCavett met fellow magician Johnny Carson in the early 50s at a magic conventionthe talk-show host left Nebraska for Yale and never looked back. (He once joked, quoting Abe Burrows, How ya gonna keep em down on the farm, after theyve seen the farm?) After college, he moved to New York to pursue acting. There, he got his first comedy writing job, when he handed some of his jokes to Tonight Show host Jack Paar in an elevator. He befriended Stan Laurel, Groucho Marx, and all the biggest names in comedy, and wrote for Jerry Lewis and Merv Griffin.

Once he had his own late-night talk show, however, which ran opposite Johnny Carsons Tonight Show, it became clear that he was doing something very different. Cavett never mugged, never whooped it up for the audience, rarely told a formally constructed joke, and listened to the guest, writes James. He became famous enough not to be able to go out except in disguise, but his style did not suit a mass audience. This is what madeand still makesCavett worth watching.

He had Brian de Palma and Martin Scorsese on to talk about how theyre each others best critics, and Scorsese revealed that he did additional shooting for The Last Waltz after De Palma saw it.

Robin Williams came on to demonstrate his developing Popeye voice during the shooting of the Robert Altman film in 1979. In the clip above, he talks about feeling like a monkey on a string and working through his depression.

Lucille Ball told the story of her early years in show business, and her time working as a model, and Dick Van Dyke talked frankly about his alcoholism and the stigma surrounding addiction.

These are just a few of the 270+ surprising clips youll find on the Dick Cavett Show YouTube channel, where George Carlin, Muhammad Ali, Marlon Brando, George Harrison, John Lennon, Ian McKellen, Julie Andrews, and too many more stars to name say things they rarely said anywhere else, as Cavett draws them out and keeps them talking.

Related Content:

Dick Cavetts Wide-Ranging TV Interview with Ingmar Bergman and Lead Actress Bibi Andersson (1971)

George Harrison in the Spotlight: The Dick Cavett Show (1971)

John Lennon & Yoko Onos Two Appearances on The Dick Cavett Show in 1971 and 72

Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness
Photo: Tocayo Organica/Yelp

A contemporary Mexican spot has opened in Carmel Valley. Called Tocaya Organica, it's at 3725 Paseo Place, Suite 1070.

The restaurant, a member of a regional chain, features bowls, burritos, salads, tacos and quesadillas made with organic produce, hormone-free meat and sustainable seafood.

The menu also features a variety of desserts, including sweet corn tamales, churro waffle bites and fruit bowls.

With a 4.5-star rating out of 19 reviews on Yelp so far, the new addition has already made a good impression.

Michelle H., who was among the first Yelpers to review the new spot on Dec. 30, wrote, "I really enjoyed this restaurant. They offer a bunch of teas and mixed lemonades as well, which all seem to be decent flavors. I tried the strawberry basil and it wasn't too sweet, which was perfect. All in all, a good lunch staple."

And Michael B. added, "Pretty cool. It's stand-in-line to order and then they bring it to your table. The decor is certainly sparkling and refreshing. They should do well with their twist on Mexican cuisine."

Head on over to check it out: Tocaya Organica is open from 11 a.m.9 p.m. on Sunday-Thursday and 11 a.m.10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Want to keep your finger on the pulse of new businesses in San Diego? Here's what else opened recently near you.

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.
Fugitive gangster Ejaz Lakdawala, wanted in connection with several cases of extortion and attempt to kill, has been arrested by Mumbai Police's anti- extortion cell, a top official said on Thursday.

Lakdawala, 50, was detained at Patna by the anti- extortion cell with the help of Bihar Police on Wednesday. He was then brought to Mumbai and placed under arrest late Wednesday night, Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve told reporters here.

Once a close aid of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Lakdawala was wanted in at least 27 cases in Maharashtra, including 25 in Mumbai, he said, adding that as of now 80 people have come forward with complaints against him.

After being arrested, Lakdawala was produced in a Mumbai court which remanded him in police custody till January 21, the official said.

"He was wanted in various cases under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) cases. All these cases will be investigated concurrently," he said.

In May 2004, Lakdawala was arrested by the Canadian Police in Ottawa.

A few years back he was believed to be somewhere in North America, although he frequently changed his locations to South East Asia as well.

A Red Corner notice was earlier issued against him.

On the operation to nab Lakdawala, Joint Commissioner of Police Sanjay Saxena said their efforts to nab the fugitive gangster were on since the last six months and the city police force was working closely with central agencies.

"Our efforts gained momentum after the arrest of Lakdawala's daughter Shifa Shahid Shaikh at the Mumbai International Airport on December 28 while she was travelling to Nepal on a fake passport," he said.

Shaikh was travelling with a passport in the name of Soniya Manish Advani, he said.

During her interrogation, police got some important information aboutLakdawala's movements following which he was nabbed at Jakkanpur village in Patna, he said.

Lakdawala has been arrested on a complaint filed with the anti-extortion cell by a businessman from Khar in Mumbai. His daughter has also been arrested in the same case, the official said.

After splitting with fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim, Lakdawala started operating with gangster Chhota Rajan. He, however, parted ways with Rajan in 2008 and started running his operations independently, Saxena said.

"We have information that he stayed in Canada, Malaysia, USA, London and Nepal and we will confirm this information during investigation," he said.

He was operating under various fakes names, passports and travel documents, the official said.

"Mumbai Police will examine all those documents," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Reynhard Sinaga, a 36-year-old PhD student from Indonesia, was found guilty of 159 sexual offences against 48 men. He picked up his victims outside clubs in Manchester and lured them to his flat, where he drugged and assaulted them while filming the attacks. On Monday, a judge jailed Sinaga for life, with a minimum term of 30 years. As Sinaga's family and friends come to terms with his fate, they have painted a picture of his life in Indonesia before he became a serial sexual predator. Supiyatna, the principal of Depok 1 Public High School confirmed that Reynhard Sinaga was a graduate student from 1998 to 2001, spoke to an Indonesian journalist on Thursday (January 9). According to him, there are no distorted characteristics or behavior that Reynhard displayed during his education at this school. Reynhard is known as an ordinary teenager like his classmates. Although somewhat smart and a bit stubborn, Reynhard was not an outstanding student. "Reynhard studied at SMAN 1 Depok for 3 years from 1998 and graduated in 2001. His association was ordinary, not too prominent. He was stubborn but not too stubborn, smart but not too smart, so he didn't have to get special attention from his teachers. He is a person who is flexible, easy to get along with so many friends. When related to the case he is doing at this time we feel quite concerned and shocked as not describing the Reynhard we know," Supiyatna said. After graduating in 2001, Reynhard continued his education by studying at the University of Indonesia, majoring in Architecture.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump thinks NATO should be expanded to include nations in the Middle East. He even suggested a new name for the 70-year-old alliance: NATOME short for NATO-Middle East.

What a beautiful name  NATOME, Trump said Thursday, pronouncing it Nay-TOE-me.

Speaking to reporters at the White House during an unrelated event, Trump said the U.S. had tamped down Islamic State militants, eliminating their control of territory and killing IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

We did Europe a big favour, he said.

I think NATO should be expanded and we should include the Middle East, absolutely. ... Right now the burden is on us and thats not fair, Trump said.

Trump said he also wants to see more NATO troops in the Middle East because problems there are international in scope. He said he spoke about NATOs role on Wednesday during a phone call with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

I think he was actually excited about it. I actually had a name. NATO, right, and then you have ME, Middle East. They would call it NATOME, Trump said.

Im good at names, right, he said and noted how the new North American trade agreement is called USMCA for the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
Mumbai, Jan 9 : The turmoil that has gripped the youth and students -- powered mostly by the intelligent but impatient millenials -- inside and outside campuses across the country, is considered unprecedented in the past two decades, and left the powers-that-be rattled right out of a stupor.

The youth's unified angst flaring up at regular intervals from the north, east, west, south has manifested against various contemporary issues that have rocked the country's ruling dispensation in the past few years.

The young, modern-day 'Davids', especially the millenials, feel all this has created a divide of sorts -- psychological, social and political in the country, by the 'Goliaths' symbolizing the current rigid rulers.

Recently, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had prophetically warned that the "country's youth are like a bomb, if you play around with them, they can explode".

"The youth are out because historically, they have always been the first to protest against any kind of social or political injustices... What the young brigade see now is very dismaying, and kindles no hope for their future," Pune's Yuvak Kranti Dal Vice-President Kamlakar Shete told IANS.

Passionate about issues, Shete warned that given the magnitude of the issues confronting the nation, these protests will "only magnify" till the government yields -- "not only an inch, but all the way" -- for a better future for the youth.

A youth leader Chandan Saroj from Wardha said while the government may believe the illiterate masses can be fooled easily, "the youth have seen through their antics and are now wide awake" to fight for the citizens' rights which are sought to be usurped by a handful of individuals in power.

"The youth are educated, they understand, think, analyse the disastrous consequences of government decisions, how the Constitution is being tinkered with and which way the nation is heading... The rulers forget that the youngsters also possess the power to arrest such trends," the soft-spoken Saroj told IANS.

Another firebrand youth leader, Fahad Ahmad, former general secretary of TISS, Mumbai, feels this is "a new movement for Freedom from oppression" of the current government which is attempting to crush all sections of society.

"The youth is feeling uncertain, demoralized, he/she has no clue how the education they get will help them build or secure their future... They are splitting the country on grounds of religion, caste, creed... We are determined -- if they divide the nation, we will unite it," Ahmad told IANS.

Invoking a famous line -- "Darr ko itna mat darao, Ki darr hi mar jayea -- he cautioned that the youth is not 'scared' of anything now.. for, in the past six years, the government has driven wedges between communities, imposed restrictions on what to eat, wear, speak, think, etc. -- the kind of which was not witnessed even during the long and merciless British regime or the brief and harsh Emergency.

"But the youth is united... You assault them in north, east will protest, you terrorise them in west, south will oppose... Our slogans are about 'unity, integrity, amity, harmony' and the government cannot break this unity. We will not be violent, but we will no longer be silent," Ahmad asserted.

About the brutality they face, they proudly refer to Shaheed Bhagat Singh, who was martyred at the age of 21, and many other youngsters in recent decades who sacrificed themselves at a young age to ensure a better future for the rest of the youth and the nation.

They emphasise how students and youth have been at the forefront of every major historical turning point in India, be it the Independence movement, anti-Emergency of 1975, the anti-Mandal Report crusade, the Nirbhaya agitation, or the recent ones opposing Citizenship Amendment Act, and the potent youth always succeeded in bending the ruling might, and globally too.

About the battering the country's image has taken on the world stage, Ahmad says that actually the image of India as a 'vibrant democracy' has been reinforced in recent years as the country's "youth has now fully woken up to the grim realities".

Conceding India has taken a beating in global ratings, Shete refers to the condemnation that abounds on the global social media against the government, worrying investors, tourists, etc., but feels this is "necessary for the larger, long-term national interests".

"Until now, India may have been considered only economically backward, but in the past six years, we have gone politically, socially and intellectually backward, our proud and envied image as a country of 'unity in diversity' has been shattered. The world now knows that India is a strong democracy where anybody who tries to deprive the masses of their rights will be uprooted," Saroj said.

The three enthusiastic leaders are unanimous that despite the harassment and problems they encounter at individual levels, the youth of the country cannot be cowed down.

"The agitated, young Genie is now unbottled But he will work only for the good of the country's youth and future," declared a determined Saroj.
There was a time when Justin, an international college student in Oregon, couldnt imagine hed ever get to go to school in the United States.

The Iran native remembers growing up hearing about the hostile relationship between the two countries, particularly at the end of the Carter Administration, that made coming to the U.S. on a student visa all but impossible.

But as restrictions on Iranian nationals entering the country to study began to ease, Justin decided to apply to Portland State University. Since 2009, hes earned a PhD in mechanical engineering and is working on a second masters degree.

Justin now works in the semiconductor industry.

Hes been feeling increasingly anxious as relations between two countries he loves have deteriorated to the point that officials in both nations have hinted at a full war.

First, President Donald Trump ordered the assassination of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, which U.S. drone attacks accomplished. Then the Iranian government retaliated by launching a volley of missiles at an Iraqi base that houses U.S. troops.

Justin, whose real name The Oregonian/OregonLive has agreed to withhold for both his safety and that of his family in Iran, fears the attacks give credibility to war hawks in both nations.

He said people in both countries get lost in emotion. You get lost in patriotism on both sides.

All of a sudden, its not a rational conversation. Its nationalism, Justin said.

Only nine Iranians are studying at Portland State on a student visa, according to officials at the Office of International Affairs.

Three of those students, plus Justin, whos now a green card holder, spoke to The Oregonian/OregonLive and other media outlets Wednesday about their experiences as relationships between the U.S. and Iran have grown tense.

They said they feel torn between two worlds. They rarely mention theyre Iranian for fear of drawing attention to themselves.

All four also said they hope Americans can distinguish between them, twentysomethings and thirtysomethings looking for an education, and officials threatening war.

Were not supporting war, said Andrew, who is also going by an alias. Were not seeking tension between Iran and the U.S. Were not thinking the same as our government.

For Justin, whats worse, he cant speak to his family back home about the tension between the two countries.

Lets talk about everything else but this, Justin remembers relatives saying.

Thats because they worry about the government monitoring their conversations. And if either Justin or a relative criticized the regime in any way, it could spell trouble for both parties.

At least this time, Justin can consistently communicate with his family, he said.

Back in November, the Iranian government essentially shut off the internet and throttled mobile data in response to massive protests that erupted in the wake of a sudden surge in gasoline prices.

That was worse, he said. That was much worse.

Both then and now, Justin heard from close friends in Portland after theyd heard the news about the strife in his home country. Hes had about a decade to build that base of support. He says hes lucky  other Iranian students in Portland havent had time to plant those same roots.

The difficulties for Iranians living in the U.S. didnt begin with the Trump Administration. When President Obama signed a pair of executive orders to pressure Iran into abandoning its nuclear program in 2012, Justin said some employers took one look at his resume and decided it wasnt worth jumping through the hoops to hire an Iranian national.

Those troubles certainly were amplified when Trump entered the Oval Office, he said.

Soon after the president signed his controversial travel ban, Justin realized he couldnt visit home, nor could his family visit him in Oregon anymore. Last year, he instructed his parents to fly to Vancouver, B.C., so he could meet them there rather than navigate the paperwork necessary for them to see him in the U.S.

That doesnt seem like a possibility anymore. When Justin heard that Customs and Border Patrol detained U.S. citizens of Iranian descent at the Canadian border over the weekend, he decided it was no longer worth the risk.

Even for U.S. citizens, Justin said, Wed like to think we all get equal rights, but the reality is that its not that simple.

Still, he remains hopeful that cooler heads will prevail and that tensions between the two countries eventually simmer. But that will require officials in both countries to come to the table, he said.

I think we need changes, he said. We need some changes in Iran. We need some changes in this country, too.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Britain's royal family scrambled Thursday to contain the fallout from the surprise announcement by Prince Harry and Meghan that they plan to step back from royal duties and pursue a new path that will allow them to be financially independent.

The couple's announcement that they planned to forge a progressive new path for royals in the modern world and clearly upset senior royals  who apparently weren't told of the decision in advance. Hours after Harry and Meghan's announcement, Buckingham Palace issued a second statement, saying many issues still had to be worked out before the couple's plan could be realized.

A statement issued Wednesday evening by Buckingham Palace, described as a personal message from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, said Harry and Meghan intend to become financially independent and to balance their time between the U.K. and North America.

After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution," the statement said. We intend to step back as senior members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support her majesty the queen."

The rift dominated Britain's media, which reported that Queen Elizabeth II had not been informed of the decision. The Sun described the departure as Megxit''  a play on Brexit, Britain's departure from the European Union. The term was also adopted by the New York Post, another title owned by Rupert Murdoch  which featured a cover cartoon drawing of the duchess holding a cigarette while Harry cradles a beer in front of a television.

The 35-year-old Harry is Elizabeth's grandson and sixth in line to the British throne. With his ginger hair and beard, he is one of the royal family's most recognizable and popular members and has spent his entire life in the glare of the public eye.

Before marrying the prince in a royal wedding watched around the world in 2018, the 38-year-old Duchess of Sussex was American actress Meghan Markle, star of the TV legal drama Suits. The couple's first child, Archie, was born in May 2019.

The message about their future plans was also posted on the couple's official Instagram page and referred readers to a website, sussexroyal.com, for information.

The statement and launching of the website was apparently not cleared with senior royals or their advisers.

Buckingham Palace's later communique hinted that Harry and Meghan's statement had caught the royal household by surprise. The palace statement said discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were at an early stage.''

We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through,'' it read.

It was not known exactly where in the Americas the couple plan to spend their time. Meghan grew up in Los Angeles and lived in Toronto while filming Suits. Harry and his family skipped the queen's traditional Christmas gathering at her Sandringham estate last month to spend the holidays on Vancouver Island off the west coast of Canada and see Markle's mother Doria, who lives in California.

The royal pair described their new roles on their new website. The site noted that the Sovereign Grant, which funds the monarchy, covers just 5% of the costs for the duke and duchess and is used for their official office expenses but they want to cut this financial tie.

The couple also announced a new media relations policy to ensure diverse and open access to their work.'' The policy includes opting out of a pool system that guarantees media coverage of royal events to Britain's media.
A man in Germany has died after a co-worker poisoned his packed lunch with mercury and other substances.

The 26-year-old was left in a coma for four years after his food was spiked at the metal fittings company where he worked, with a state court in Bielefeld confirming his death on Thursday.

Two other employees at ARI Armaturen, who had their food poisoned over the course of several years, were left with serious kidney damage.

A German man, identified only as Klaus O under local reporting laws, was sentenced to life in prison for attempted murder in March 2019 after he was caught on CCTV putting powder in a colleagues sandwich.

The surveillance equipment was installed at the company after an employee opened their sandwich and found white powder inside. The same equipment later captured footage of Mr O taking his colleagues sandwiches out of their bags, sprinkling powder in them and putting them back.

Police searched Mr O's home and found substances including cadmium, lead and mercury.

Following the discovery, authorities announced a probe into all deaths related to the company from 2000 onwards  with a total of 21 employees at ARI Armaturen in the town of Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock dying before retirement age of conditions including heart attacks.

There were a strikingly high number of heart attacks and cancers among the death cases in the company, police said at the time, confirming a probe into the deaths over fears they were related to the poisoning.

Testimony from a psychologist in the case suggested Mr O seemed to me like a scientist who was testing substances on a guinea pig, Deutsche Welle reported at the time.

Ahead of the trial, which saw Mr O say very little other than that he supported the remarks of his defence, an attorney for one of the poisoning victims said the colleagues who were poisoned did not have any particular issues with the defendant prior to the poisoning taking place.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. 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A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

There was a relationship of trust between colleagues like in any other company; nobody expected anything like this, the attorney told DW.

Klaus O, a trained toolmaker, was considered technically experienced and helped his colleagues. Otherwise, he generally avoided them. There were no conversations about private matters over a cup of coffee, but there weren't many quarrels either."
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SHANGHAI, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- An exhibition of Chinese New Year prints opened in east China's Shanghai to celebrate the upcoming Chinese Year of the Rat.

The exhibition, titled "Heritage in Auspicious Clouds," is held at the Shanghai History Museum. A total of 87 Chinese New Year prints are on display, telling the history, usage scenarios, production areas and techniques of Chinese New Year prints.

In accordance with the Chinese zodiac cycle, the Year of the Rat will start on Jan. 25, 2020 and last until Feb. 11, 2021, when the Year of the Ox begins.

New Year prints, or "nianhua," are a type of traditional painting that people put on their doors to ward off evil spirits and express good wishes for Chinese New Year.

The exhibition, organized by the Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum and Shanghai History Museum, will last until March 1.
A villager pushes her electric bike on a road partially blocked by rocks, wood and debris amid a showdown between farmers and police at Dong Tam on the outskirts of Vietnam's capital Hanoi, April 20, 2017.

UPDATED at 11:08 A.M. ET on 2020-01-09

Three policemen and a civilian were killed Thursday as farmers threw grenades and petrol bombs at police in the latest flare-up of a long-running dispute over a military airport construction site near Vietnams capital Hanoi, state media said.

"On Thursday morning, some people resisted, using hand-grenades, petrol bombs and knives to attack police forces, fighting officers on duty and disrupting public order," the online VN Express quoted the Ministry of Public Security as saying.

As a result, three policemen and a civilian died, and another person was injured, it said, adding that authorities have launched an investigation into the case and have arrested the lawbreakers," the ministry said.

VN Express quoted To An Xo, a spokesman for the ministry, as saying Dong Tam commune was under control and police forces remain at the scene to maintain stability.

A woman who had just escaped from Dong Tam told RFA's Vietnamese Service police were destroying the house of an elderly farmer who had been at the center of the land dispute and arresting his relatives.

They [police] threw explosive charges, pepper spray and everything," she told RFA. "Now they are breaking down Mr. Kinhs house and arresting people inside.

Kinh, in his mid-80s, was among the farmers taken into custody in the initial arrests in April 2017 that sparked a hostage showdown.

"There are about 20 people at Mr. Kinhs house, but his grandchildren and his two sons and daughter-in law have also been arrested," she added. Le Dinh Quang, Mr. Kinhs son, was trying to run away, but he was arrested and kicked by police with sniffer dogs.

Lawyer Ngo Anh Tuan, who has worked to protect the interests and rights of Dong Tam residents, told RFA Thursday that he has repeatedly cautioned villagers against engaging in a violent confrontation with the government.

For years, I have advised them not to engage in extremist acts and instead to maintain dialogue with the government with the aim of resolving the land dispute over the long term," he said.

"I've told them not to use violence, because there is no way they could deal with a government response without weapons."

Tensions over the Mieu Mon military airport in Dong Tam village, 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Hanoi had simmered for nearly three years.

Farmers in Dong Tam say the government is seizing 47 hectares (116 acres) of their farmland for the military-run Viettel Groupthe countrys largest mobile phone operatorwithout adequately compensating them. The farmers say their families had tilled the land for generations and paid taxes and fees to the government.

Scene of 2017 hostage standoff

In April 2017, police arrested several farmers for allegedly causing social unrest during a clash between authorities and commune residents over the 47 hectares of Dong Tam land.

Other farmers responded to the arrests by detaining 38 police officers and local officials, threatening to kill them if police moved against them again.

The standoff lasted a week and ended after police freed jailed farmers and the farmers freed the officers and officials, following a pledge by the Mayor of Hanoi, Nguyen Duc Chung, to investigate their complaints and not prosecute the villagers.

In July 2017, government inspectors in Hanoi ruled that the disputed land should be administered by the military and, in October, police ordered the farmers involved in the incident to turn themselves in.

In August, a Hanoi court sentenced 14 officials to between one and a half and six and a half years in prison for abusing their authority to manage land deals in Dong Tam commune.

VN Express quoted the security ministry as saying Thursdays violence came a week after the Ministry of Defense and local authorities began building a fence for the Mieu Mon military airport.

While land disputes are not uncommon in Vietnam, it is the first time in years that policemen have been killed in one, the state news website said.

Call for accountability

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), urged Vietnam to hold accountable those who used violence and permit access to Dong Tam by journalists, diplomats, U.N. agency officials and other impartial observers.

"Vietnam's national authorities must launch an impartial and transparent investigation of these events that gets to the bottom of what happened, who is responsible for the violence, and whether police used excessive force," he said in a statement.

In the Dong Tam dispute, the authorities maintain that the farmers have illegally occupied land earmarked for the military nearly 40 years ago, which was allocated to Viettel in 2015 to build a defense-related project.

While all land in Vietnam is ultimately held by the state, land confiscations have become a flashpoint as residents accuse the government of pushing small landholders aside in favor of lucrative real estate projects, and of paying too little in compensation to those whose land is taken.

"Unfair and arbitrary land confiscation for economic projects, displacing local people, has been a major problem in the country for the past two decades," said Robertson of HRW.

"Vietnam government officials need to recognize the importance of carrying out dialogues and negotiations with farmers to solve land disputes like Dong Tam in a peaceful manner rather than using violence," he added.

The U.S. State Department detailed numerous reports of clashes between local residents and authorities at land expropriation sites in Vietnam during 2018 in the latest edition of its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, noting that disputes regarding land expropriation for development projects remained a significant source of public grievance.

Additional reporting and translation by RFA's Vietnamese Service.


By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Yemen's Houthi group did not launch an attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities in September, according to a confidential report by U.N. sanctions monitors seen by Reuters on Wednesday, bolstering a U.S.

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Yemen's Houthi group did not launch an attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities in September, according to a confidential report by U.N. sanctions monitors seen by Reuters on Wednesday, bolstering a U.S. accusation that Iran was responsible.

The United States, European powers and Saudi Arabia blamed Iran for the Sept. 14 attack on the Saudi Aramco <2222.SE> oil plants in Abqaiq and Khurais, dismissing a quick claim of responsibility by the Iran-allied Houthis. Tehran denied any involvement.

The report by the independent U.N. experts to the Security Council Yemen sanctions committee said, "That despite their claims to the contrary, the Houthi forces did not launch the attacks on Abqaiq and Khurais on 14 September 2019."

The findings of the U.N. report come amid escalating tensions in the region after the United States killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad and Tehran retaliated by firing missiles at military facilities housing U.S. troops in Iraq.

The U.N. investigators said they doubted that the drones and land attack cruise missiles used in the Sept. 14 attack "have a sufficient range to have been launched from Yemeni territory under the control of the Houthis."

"The panel notes that Abqaiq and Khurais were approached respectively from a north/northwestern and north/northeastern direction, rather than from the south, as one would expect in the case of a launch from Yemeni territory," the report said.

The investigators, who monitor sanctions on Yemen, also said they do not believe that "those comparatively sophisticated weapons were developed and manufactured in Yemen." They were not tasked with identifying who was responsible for the Saudi attack.

MILITARY SUPPORT OF THE HOUTHIS

The attacks that targeted the Abqaiq and the Khurais oil plants caused a spike in oil prices, fires and damage, and shut down more than 5% of global oil supply. Saudi Arabia said on Oct. 3 that it had fully restored oil output.

The Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, signaled in September that Riyadh was waiting for results of U.N. investigations before announcing how his country would respond.

"The United Nations sent people to be part of the investigation, other countries have sent experts to be part of the investigation," he told reporters in New York. "When the team that's investigating has concluded its investigations we will make the announcements publicly."

Reuters reported in November that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had approved the attack on the Saudi oil facilities, but with strict conditions: Iranian forces had to avoid hitting any civilians or Americans. Iran rejected the version of events that four people described to Reuters.

U.N. experts monitoring U.N. sanctions on Iran and Yemen travelled to Saudi Arabia days after the September attack.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council in a separate report on Dec. 10 - on the implementation of an arms embargo and other restrictions on Iran - that the United Nations was "unable to independently corroborate" that missiles and drones used in the attacks "are of Iranian origin."

The report seen by Reuters on Wednesday is from the independent panel of experts that reports twice a year to the Security Council on the implementation of sanctions related to the conflict in Yemen that were imposed in 2014 and 2015.

It was submitted to the U.N. Security Council Yemen sanctions committee on Dec. 27, but will not be made public until later this month or next month.

A proxy war has been playing out in Yemen between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015, backing government forces fighting the Iran-allied Houthis. The Houthis have been subject to a separate arms embargo since 2015. Iran has repeatedly denied supplying weapons to the Houthis.

"The Houthi forces continue to receive military support in the form of assault rifles, rocket propelled grenade launchers, anti tank guided missiles, as well as more sophisticated cruise missile systems," the report found.

"Some of those weapons have technical characteristics similar to arms manufactured in Iran," it said.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Mary Milliken and Leslie Adler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg received his first endorsement from a member of the Congressional Black Caucus on Thursday when former Maryland lieutenant governor AnthonyBrown announced his support for the outgoing mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

"I firmly believe that Pete Buttigieg is the guy to lead our nation after we defeat Donald Trump and have to pick up the pieces and repair the damage of the last four years," Brown said in an interview. "He's well-versed and studied and really diligent about the issues from a policy standpoint."

As Buttigieg has vaulted to the top tier of the Democratic field, he has struggled to attract support from African American voters and leaders. Brown will serve as a national campaign co-chairman, the first endorser the campaign has named to that position.

Brown, 58, is a relatively junior member of the Congressional Black Caucus, having been elected to Congress in 2016. Two years earlier, Brown lost a governor's race in heavily Democratic Maryland to current Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, in part because of a significant drop-off in Democratic turnout.

Brown acknowledged Buttigieg has received criticism for how he has approached racial issues in South Bend, but he said Buttigieg has not shied away from the critiques.

"We all suffer criticism," Brown said. "The question is, how well do you take that criticism and sort of transform it into an overall constructive approach to addressing the challenges that are being raised? And I think he is really good at that and is open to it."

Buttigieg's campaign plans to deploy Brown on the campaign trail in the coming weeks, much of which the candidate will spend in Iowa during the final push to the Feb. 3 caucuses. That effort also includes new television ads, announced Tuesday, that will be airing in each of the four early primary states.

The ads running in Iowa and New Hampshire feature Buttigieg speaking about various issues, but the one in South Carolina - where black voters make up most of the Democratic electorate - consists of black members of the South Bend community talking about how Buttigieg listened to their concerns.

Since launching his presidential exploratory committee in early 2019, Buttigieg has transformed from a little-known mayor into a viable contender for the Democratic nomination. He has climbed to the top of polls in Iowa and New Hampshire and has raised more money than former vice president Joe Biden.

But Buttigieg has not accumulated the list of high-profile endorsers touted by some of his competitors. Until Wednesday, just three sitting members of Congress had endorsed Buttigieg; Biden, by comparison, has the official backing of more than 30 lawmakers.

In an interview, Brown said he paid close attention to the Democratic debates and to Buttigieg's speeches over the summer. The arguments he heard and things he saw from the candidate impressed him. When the Buttigieg campaign reached out to Brown, he met with the candidate and trailed him during a swing through Iowa in late December.

"When I went out there and I attended a lot of events, my ear was listening to him but my eyes were on the audience," Brown said. "How are people reacting to this midsized city mayor who is fairly new to the American electorate but is attracting a lot of attention because of his ideas and because of his openness?"

He concluded that Buttigieg is "very, very consistent and connects well to the audience."

Brown - who represents Maryland's 4th Congressional District, just outside Washington - has other connections with Buttigieg. Both attended Harvard University and both are military veterans.

Brown served 30 years in the military, including a tour in Iraq, and said Buttigieg's own service was an important part of his decision. He also defended the 37-year-old candidate against concerns by some voters that he lacks experiences, saying the notions of age and experience "need to be decoupled."

"He's got eight years as mayor," Brown said, noting that he served under Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a former Baltimore mayor. "I saw firsthand the important work that mayors do, whether it's public health, whether it's public education. It's just a variety of issues dealing with diverse communities."

For all of Buttigieg's high polling numbers in Iowa and New Hampshire, surveys suggest he could hit speed bumps in states with more diverse electorates. Buttigieg has polled in the low single digits with black voters in South Carolina and nationwide, and his struggles to handle racial issues have come under a microscope.

Buttigieg has faced criticism, for example, for his relations with black residents in South Bend, which crescendoed after a white police offer shot and killed a black man named Eric Logan there this summer.

Nationally, some African American activists say he's had an erratic approach to black outreach during his campaign. Rival candidates criticized him for citing his experience as a gay man in discussing the discrimination faced by the black community; Buttigieg said he did not intend to compare the two.

Adding to his challenges, some officials in South Carolina said the Buttigieg campaign misrepresented them as endorsers of his "Douglass Plan" on racial justice, and the campaign drew fire for using a stock photo of a Kenyan woman on the plan's cover.

Buttigieg's campaign has held multiple small-group events with black voters over the past month, and at each of them, at least one attendee asked Buttigieg how voters of color can trust him to look out for their interests.

Brown was at one of those events, a gathering in Des Moines hosted by the local NAACP chapter and a Des Moines-based group called Urban Dreams. Buttigieg fielded several questions from black voters about his plans and his record on racial justice.

"He didn't shy away from the fact that South Bend, like Baltimore, like so many cities, have challenges, and that he's learned a lot in addressing that," said Brown, adding that his Douglass Plan shows he intends to seriously tackle racial disparities.

In South Carolina, the Buttigieg campaign recently invested $2 million in television and radio ads. South Bend Council member Sharon McBride has campaigned for Buttigieg in the state as part of the campaign's effort to counter local criticism.

The campaign has also sought to put Buttigieg in small-group settings with African American and Latinx leaders in Iowa, Nevada and elsewhere as part of an attempt to build relationships and trust in communities of color.

"He's demonstrated it out there, the ability to pull together a diverse coalition of people to take on these issues," Brown said. "The issues that he was speaking to when I was in Iowa, the same issues that have come up during debates - these are issues that resonate in all communities across America."
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla., Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fulcrum Partners Managing Director & Partner Tom Chisholm has been accepted into Forbes Chicago Business Council, an invitation-only community for successful business owners and leaders in Greater Chicago.



Tom was vetted and selected by a review committee based on the depth and diversity of his experience. Criteria for acceptance include a track record of successfully impacting business growth metrics, as well as personal and professional achievements and honors.

We are honored to welcome Tom Chisholm, Fulcrum Partners Chicago, into the community, said Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, the collective that includes Forbes Chicago Business Council. Our mission with Forbes Councils is to bring together proven leaders from every industry, creating a curated, social capital-driven network that helps every member grow professionally and make an even greater impact on the business world.

As an accepted member of the Council, Tom has access to a variety of exclusive opportunities designed to help him reach peak professional influence. He will connect and collaborate with other respected local leaders in a private forum and at members-only events. Tom will also be invited to work with a professional editorial team to share his expert insights in original business articles on Forbes.com, and to contribute to published Q&A panels alongside other experts.

I am excited to have been selected to be part of the Forbes Chicago Business Council, said Tom. This is an honor for me and for Fulcrum Partners and a significant opportunity to connect with other business leaders in the Chicago area. As one of the largest and leading executive benefits advisories in the US, Fulcrum Partners has creative and strategic expertise to offer organizations seeking to attract, retain and reward top talent and key executives. I look forward to the chance to exchange ideas with other Council Members and to build and expand relationships with some of Chicagos most innovative thought leaders.

About Fulcrum Partners LLC

Fulcrum Partners ( fulcrumpartnersllc.com ) is a wholly independent, member-owned firm dedicated to helping organizations enhance their Total Rewards Strategy. Founded in 2007, today the company has offices in Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Charleston, South Carolina; Columbus, Ohio; Delray Beach, Orlando and Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida; Honolulu, Hawaii; Los Angeles and Newport Beach, California; Portland, Oregon; Salt Lake City, Utah and Washington D.C. Fulcrum Partners is an independent member of the BDO Alliance USA. Learn more about the Fulcrum Partners Team at fulcrumpartnersllc.com/fulcrum-partners-team/ .

About Tom Chisholm, Managing Director & Partner, Fulcrum Partners LLC

Fulcrum Partners Managing Director & Partner Tom Chisholm consults on a range of executive benefits issues, including nonqualified benefit programs, employee retention, senior management compensation, change in control issues and plan integration during mergers and acquisitions. Tom has extensive executive benefits design experience in a range of areas including high technology, manufacturing, utilities and retail. An endurance athlete, driven to succeed both professionally and personally, Tom is a member of Team USA, Long Course Triathlon Team 2015 and 2012 and in 2019, was appointed to serve on the World Bicycle Relief Advisory Council.

About Forbes Councils

Forbes Councils is a collective of invitation-only communities created in partnership with Forbes and the expert community builders who founded Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). In Forbes Councils, exceptional business owners and leaders come together with the people and resources that can help them thrive.

For more information about Forbes Chicago Business Council, visit forbeschicagocouncil.com . To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com .

Securities offered through Lion Street Financial, LLC (LSF) and Valmark Securities, Inc. (VSI), each a member of FINRA and SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through CapAcuity, LLC; Lion Street Advisors, LLC (LSF) and Valmark Advisers, Inc. (VAI), each an SEC registered investment advisor. Please refer to your investment advisory agreement and the Form ADV disclosures provided to you for more information. VAI/VSI, LSF and BDO Alliance USA are non-affiliated entities and separate entities from Fulcrum Partners and CapAcuity, LLC.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3deb4bf8-6774-49cf-81cf-3787ac320c0c
New Delhi [India], Jan 9 (ANI): The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday slammed Pakistan for comments of its leaders concerning minorities in India and said that Islamabad should not tell others how to take care of its own people.



"It is their habit. We all know what is happening there. They always see what is happening in India or in some other country. It is not for us to make a comment on every comment they make. A country that cannot take care of its minorities should not tell other countries how to do it," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said at a weekly briefing here.

He said that the stone-pelting incident at Gurdwara Nankana Sahib and the killing of a Sikh youth in Peshawar is like a 'mirror' for Pakistan.

An angry group of local residents pelted stones at Gurdwara Nankana Sahib in Pakistan on January 3. The group was led by the family of a boy who had allegedly abducted Sikh girl Jagjit Kaur, daughter of gurdwara's panthi, last year.

India had strongly condemned the "wanton acts of destruction and desecration" at Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Dev, and called upon Pakistan to take immediate steps to ensure the safety and welfare of the members of the Sikh community.

Days later, the body of Sikh youth, identified as Ravinder Singh, was found in the Chamkani police station area of Peshawar. The deceased was the brother of an Islamabad-based journalist, Harmeet Singh.

New Delhi also shared strong concerns raised by members of civil society, parliamentarians and others at the "continued persecution of religious and ethnic minorities" in Pakistan. (ANI)


SPRINGFIELD  Sex education in Illinois middle and high schools would be required to include a discussion on sexting if a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives becomes law.

House Bill 4007, introduced by Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, would require sex education curriculum in grades 6-12 to include material on the legal and social risks of sharing sexually explicit images, messages and videos.

This is something that a lot of our students are dealing with and are partaking in without really understanding what the consequences could be, West said.

Issues surrounding sexting that would be required in curriculum include long-term consequences, bullying and harassment, resisting peer pressure and using the Internet safely. Lessons would also have to highlight school and community officials who students can reach out to with a problem.

Theres no telling what our children are doing on their phones, West said, so instead of trying to intrude into their privacy, lets just make sure theyre educated on even the things that make us adults uncomfortable.

The bill defines sexting as sending, sharing, receiving, or forwarding a sexually explicit or sexually suggestive image, video, or text message by a digital or electronic device, including, but not limited to, a mobile or cellular telephone or a computer.

Illinois would become only the second state to require teaching about sexting in sex education, according to Jennifer Driver, vice president of policy at the nonprofit Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, which advocates for modern and comprehensive sex education.

New Jerseys law, signed in 2018, requires schools to teach the social, emotional, and legal consequences of sexting.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, Americas second-largest, added the risks and consequences of sexting to its curriculum in 2015.

Driver says including sexting in sex education is a smart response to a growing practice.

Young people generally think short term, in the immediate, and so providing the education before it becomes punitive  is a very responsible way to address sexting, she said.

A 2018 study of 110,000 teenagers published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found 15 percent had sent sexts and 27 percent had received them. Twelve percent also admitted to sending a sext of someone else without their consent.

Sexting between minors is illegal in 25 states including Illinois, according to a 2018 analysis by the Cyberbullying Research Center. Illinois law forbids minors from sharing sexual images and videos of themselves via any electronic method, such as texting, social media and smartphone apps. The penalty is usually community service or counseling.

Illinois is one of 24 states plus the District of Columbia that require sex education. School codes require sex education lessons in Illinois to be age-appropriate, evidence-based and medically accurate. Parents have the option to take their children out of class if they object to the material.

It is my hope that schools will be understanding of this because this is one thing that we really cant control, West said.

Ben Schwarm, deputy executive director of the Illinois Association of School Boards, predicts his organization will oppose the bill once it is assigned to a committee.

We oppose all new curricular mandates. It has just really grown out of control, he said.

Schwarm calls the bill unnecessary because school codes already mandate instruction on related topics like Internet safety and cyberbullying.

West, however, said he does not believe it would be an unnecessary mandate.

Were just simply saying we need to acknowledge the elephant thats in the room, he said.

West said sexting has already come up among a group of middle school boys he mentors.

Im telling them the ramifications to it and telling them how, though you may feel that this is pretty cool now, it can be detrimental later, he said.

But thats just with six boys that I mentor. Theres a lot more out there that may not be getting that same kind of guidance.

Driver said she agrees that sex education should meet young people where they are.

I think very much how were trying to keep up with technology, we need to be keeping up with sex education at the same time so that one doesnt happen without the other, she said.

West introduced the bill in December and is reaching out to fellow lawmakers from both sides of the aisle for support as the General Assembly prepares for its 2020 session beginning Jan. 28.
State lawmakers wont vote on a hotly debated bill to address the misclassification of workers in New Jersey before the legislative session in Trenton ends Tuesday, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney told NJ Advance Media.

Instead, Sweeney said, the measure will be taken up in the next two-year legislative session.

Unlike what (critics) were saying, we werent rushing anything, Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said Wednesday.

We had four hours of testimony, and we want to make it right," he added. We want to be fair to legitimate independent workers. But for the businesses that are gaming the system, we want to correct that.

The bill (S4204) would update New Jersey labor laws by expanding the definition of whos an employee versus whos an independent contractor. It would also make sure employees are properly paid minimum wage, receive benefits, and are paid overtime.

Sponsors say the goal is to fight back against employers exploiting gig workers by misclassifying them and paying them less.

But some independent contractors  such as freelancers, truck drivers, bakers, wedding photographers, and musicians  have spoken out against the bill. They say it could keep them from finding work, reduce their income, and even force them out of state.

Sweeney, D-Gloucester, has defended the measure, arguing that lawmakers have made changes and exemptions to protect workers.

The bill has cleared multiple legislative committees, but it would have to pass the full state Senate and Assembly before Gov. Phil Murphy could decide whether to sign it into law.

If the houses dont vote by the end of the lame-duck session  the period before new lawmakers are sworn in  on noon Tuesday, the process has to start over again.

Meanwhile, it remains uncertain whether lawmakers will vote on two other controversial issues by the end of lame duck: banning the sale of flavored vaping products in New Jersey, and eliminating a law that allows parents in the state to cite their religious beliefs to avoid having their children receive vaccinations required to attend schools here.

An Assembly committee is scheduled to consider the vaping ban and related measures on Thursday, but they would still need to be passed by the full Assembly and Senate by Tuesday to avoid the process restarting.

The Senate has scheduled voting sessions for Thursday and Monday and the Assembly for Monday before lame duck ends.

Lawmakers, however, wont vote during lame duck on a measure that would ban menthol cigarettes in the state, according to two legislative sources. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the situation in public.

The concern is that the state may lose hundreds of millions in cigarette tax money if the ban took effect, and leaders will have to search for ways to make up that money, the sources said.

As for the religious exemption bill, the Assembly has already approved it, but the measure fell one vote short of passing the Senate last month. Hundreds of protestors have gathered in the Statehouse in Trenton multiple times in recent weeks to protest the measure.

The bill has not been slated for a vote yet in the Senate.

Were working on it, Sweeney told reporters this week.

Lawmakers could take up the vaping, menthol cigarettes, and vaccine bills in the next session if they dont pass by Tuesday.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Sophie Nieto-Munoz contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

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By PTI

MUMBAI: BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday denied meeting Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, and said there was no plan to join hands with him as of now.

His party and the MNS did not have any ideological affinity, Fadnavis, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, said.

Speaking at a function here, he said, "I did not meet MNS chief Raj Thackeray and there is no plan to join hands with him as of now. They follow an ideology which is different from ours. If they consider expanding their outlook towards various issues, we may join them," the former chief minister said.

"The BJP, as a national party, is in favour of working with various (regional) organisations. We will think about them in future," he added.

A section of media had claimed that Fadnavis met Raj Thackeray recently and the two discussed a possible tie-up to take on the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in the state.

Raj Thackeray had campaigned vigorously against the BJP during the Lok Sabha as well as the Assembly elections.
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A 20-year-old man charged with false imprisonment and attacking a pensioner in her late sixties in Dublin said Im sorry, it was a joke that went wrong, a court has heard.

Gardai commenced an investigation following reports of an attempted abduction of the woman, 69, by allegedly forcing her into the boot of a car.

It allegedly happened on the morning of January 6, at Blackhorse Avenue, Dublin 7.

Martin Gallagher with an address at Rusheeney Avenue, Hartstown, Dublin 15, was arrested and charged in connection with the incident.

He appeared before Judge Bryan Smyth at Dublin District Court today charged with assault causing harm to the woman and false imprisonment.

Detective Garda Paul Kirwan told Judge Smyth the accused made no reply when charged at Blanchardstown station.

The detective applied for a remand in custody.

Defence solicitor Michael Kelleher told Judge Smyth his client was not making a bail application at this stage.

He also told the court his client did make a reply to the charge after caution but no note was made of it.

Mr Kelleher said his clients response was: Im sorry, it was a joke that went wrong. The solicitor said Mr Gallagher was anxious to make that reply, and said he did have that response but the garda had no note of it.

The detective said there was no reply to the charge.

Judge Smyth remanded Mr Gallagher in custody to appear at Cloverhill District Court on January 16 for directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions to be obtained.

Legal aid was granted after a statement of his means was furnished to the court.

Dressed in a navy sweater, light grey pant and runners, he did not address the court but blew a kiss to family members in the public gallery at the end of his hearing.
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Linkedin Jessicha Valentina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020 18:48 732 48be62e941b44f04afae568c32193b48 1 Entertainment Netflix,Netflix-original-film,The-Night-Comes-For-US,film,partnership,online-streaming Free

Online streaming platform Netflix announced its partnership with the Education and Culture Ministry on Thursday.

Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim said at a press conference that the partnership was worth $1 million and it would feature various activities, including scriptwriting workshops, a short film competition with the nations ideology Pancasila as the theme, an online safety training program and agile governance workshops.

The scriptwriting workshops will take place in Los Angeles' Hollywood and Jakarta.

The workshops are set to run in March, and Netflix will invite 10 up-and-coming Indonesian scriptwriters and producers to Los Angeles, providing them with the opportunity to meet content creators from around the world to further learn about how to develop authentic local content that appeals to a global audience.

Nadiem said the workshop in Jakarta would involve around 100 writers.

Netflix Asia Pacific managing director Kuek Yu-Chuang explained that in collaboration with the ministry, they would hold activities in Jakarta over the next 12 months that included scriptwriting and story development workshops as well as production and post-production training. The platform considers both skill sets to be helpful for the Indonesian film and television industry.

Through the program we are introducing today, we will partner with local companies and policymakers to support digital skills growth, [assist] the ecosystem and promote Indonesian culture through storytelling, said Kuek.

Following the training, the scriptwriters will be invited to develop and submit story abstracts for consideration. Netflix will offer cash prizes to the best abstracts to be used for production and development.

Read also: Please prioritize Indonesian-made films for streaming in the country, minister asks Netflix

With regard to the online safety training program and agile governance workshops, Kuek explained that it was part of the pledge the company had signed with the World Economic Forum's Digital ASEAN initiative to work with communities and governments in Southeast Asia to develop creative and digital skills capabilities to support the fourth industrial revolution.

Netflix is among the most popular online streaming services in Indonesia. Earlier this week, Communications and Information Minister Johnny G. Plate said he hoped the platform would prioritize local content to help the countrys creative industry.

Since January 2016, state-owned telecommunications and internet provider Telkom has blocked Netflix on all of its platforms citing censorship problems. Concerning the matter, Johnny urged the two sides meet to reach an agreement over the issue.

Association of Indonesian Film Producers (APROFI) chairwoman Sheila Timothy shared her excitement upon hearing the partnership, saying that scriptwriting was among the skills that needed to be improved to go global.

There are many talented scriptwriters in Indonesia. But to reach a whole new level, where we need to communicate with a global audience and cross cultural boundaries, [particular] writing skills are needed, she said.

Sheila said that in the digital era, when over-the-top (OTT) streaming services were widely available, the local film industry required the skills for both feature films and television series. She added that OTT was not merely a platform to distribute films, but it had become another source of income for production companies.

Timo Tjahjanto, director of Indonesia's first Netflix Original film The Night Comes for Us, said the streaming platform had helped him in terms of international exposure. He said Indonesian filmmakers previously had to rely on film festivals or distribution channels through several production houses. (wng)
Controversial former Footy Show host Sam Newman has claimed firefighters shouldn't battle bushfires - even if they're bearing down on homes

Controversial former Footy Show host Sam Newman has claimed firefighters shouldn't battle bushfires - even if they're bearing down on homes.

The TV veteran referenced a 'survey' in America to allege Australian firefighters would be better off watching the catastrophic flames burn through trees, livestock and properties.

'Survey done when Yellowstone National Park caught fire,' Newman wrote to Twitter on Thursday evening.

'It determined that all the resources deployed to fight the blaze stopped it NOT one-minute before it went out naturally.

'We must take note and get out of its way #lifesaving.'

Newman's tweet included an inaccurate map which suggested there are fires sprawled across the whole continent of Australia.

When Newman was asked whether we should 'let fire destroy anyone's home without resistance', the commentator responded 'yes'.

The TV veteran referenced a 'survey' in America to allege Australian firefighters would be better off watching the catastrophic flames burn through trees, livestock and properties

The ex-Footy Show host was quickly slammed for his insensitive sentiments about Australia's deadly bushfire season, which has so far claimed the lives of 26 people. Pictured: Firefighter battles blaze on the New South Wales Central Coast

The ex-Footy Show host was quickly slammed for his insensitive sentiments about Australia's deadly bushfire season, which has so far claimed the lives of 26 people.

'So you are saying that we should gamble with human lives because it might go out?' one person questioned.

'Tell that to the people trying to save their houses and livestock,' another person said.

'I think old age, too many hits to the head in footy and a privileged life have left old Sam a bit disconnected from the real world,' a third added.

In a similar post on Instagram, Newman clarified he was thankful to those who donated to bushfire victims but stood by his hardline stance.

In a similar post on Instagram, Newman clarified he was thankful to those who donated to bushfire victims but stood by his hardline stance

'We should be extremely grateful to those rescuing animals and donating to fire affected citizens,' he said.

'But why do we risk lives fighting the outbreaks on this map? NO bushfire will go out one-minute before it ends naturally.'

Newman's brazen comments come after he slammed bushfire victims who refused to shake Prime Minister Scott Morrison's hand.

Zoey Salucci-McDermott, from the bushfire-ravaged town Cobargo, on the NSW south coast, was filmed on Thursday refusing to shake Mr Morrison's hand.

Sam Newman called the bushfire victims 'miserable pr*cks' on Twitter for refusing handshakes

Scott Morrison seized a young mother's hand despite her telling him she would only greet him if he provided more funding to the Rural Fire Service

The prime minister was also denied a handshake by a despondent fireman in the same town who lost his home while battling bushfires in one of Australia's worst hit areas.

While many have stood behind their actions, Mr Newman stood up for the nation's leader on Sunday.

'What about the miserable pr*cks who won't shake Scott Morrison's hand, or acknowledge him because they think he's responsible for Australia being on fire,' he wrote on Twitter.

He then suggested the people who ignored Mr Morrison's handshakes 'research the REAL reason' Australia is burning.
A new study shows that a test physicians commonly used to guide chemotherapy treatment for post-breast cancer surgery patients may also help them decide whether radiation therapy may be of benefit.

Known as the 21-gene recurrence score, the test is a personalized analysis of the activity of 21 genes found in a patient's breast tumor tissue. The score can be used to predict whether, after undergoing surgery, that patient's breast cancer is likely to return in another part of their body, like the bones or lungs, and whether that patient will likely benefit from chemotherapy treatment.

Study results suggest patients with an intermediate or high 21-gene recurrence score are more likely to see their cancer return to the breast and nearby lymph nodes and, thus, could benefit from radiation. Findings appear today in JAMA Oncology. The study was conducted by the SWOG Cancer Research Network, a cancer clinical trials network funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and part of the oldest and largest publicly funded research network in the nation.

The Canadian Cancer Trials Group, with co-sponsorship by the NCI, is enrolling patients on a trial called TAILOR RT, which will confirm whether the recurrence score - all by itself - can identify low risk node positive patients who do not need radiation. Because randomized trials represent the gold standard in clinical research, TAILOR RT results could change the standard of cancer care. Until that data is in, the SWOG findings provide evidence that the recurrence score can be an effective, additional tool - along with tumor size or stage - that physicians can use to determine whether to recommend radiation therapy, particularly for patients whose cancer presentation makes the need for radiation uncertain.

"For a decade, radiation oncologists have been banging on the doors of precision medicine, looking for genomic tools they can use to personalize treatment for their patients," said Wendy Woodward, MD, PhD, lead investigator of the SWOG study and chief of the clinical breast radiotherapy service at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. "Radiation oncologists want these tools because they can help their patients. Radiation treatment can help wipe out local disease, saving or lengthening a patient's life. And omitting radiation treatment could spare other patients pain, time, and cost."

The 21-gene recurrence score test is sold as the Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score and was developed by the California-based company Genomic Health, Inc. In multiple research studies, the test has been proven to predict the likelihood of disease recurrence - and chemotherapy benefit - in patients with invasive, early-stage breast cancer.

The test made international headlines in June 2018 when the results of the Trial Assigning Individualized Options for Treatment, or TAILORx, were released at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Results from TAILORx, the largest randomized post-surgery breast cancer trial ever mounted, showed that the test could predict who would, and would not, benefit from chemotherapy.

Woodward and her team wanted to see if the 21-gene recurrence score could also be useful in predicting the local breast cancer recurrence that radiation can prevent. Radiation is much more targeted than chemotherapy, focusing on specific areas in and around the breast.

Woodward was particularly interested in how recurrence scores might help add to the clinical tools that currently guide radiation for patients - especially when the need isn't clear. Breast cancer patients who have undergone mastectomy, have low-risk clinical factors, and cancer-free lymph nodes often do not require radiation treatment after their cancer surgery. However, those with large tumors and cancer in four or more lymph nodes almost definitely get radiation. But what about patients with a more ambiguous presentation - say, a smaller tumor and one to three cancer-positive lymph nodes? Can scores help safely guide radiation decisions?

To find out, Woodward and her team dove into data generated by S8814, a long-closed SWOG trial that compared post-surgery treatments in post-menopausal women with breast cancer. In this randomized trial, postmenopausal women with node-positive breast cancer were randomly assigned to one of three treatments. Physicians recommended radiotherapy based on clinical factors, such as tumor size and the number of lymph nodes that contain cancer.

As part of S8814, 367 patients took the 21-gene recurrence score test. Woodward and her team reviewed all these records to see which patients had radiation therapy and which had what's known as locoregional recurrence (LRR), when cancer returns after treatment close to the site of the original tumor - in this case, the breast, chest wall, or lymph nodes. After winnowing out certain patients, the SWOG team wound up with a pool of 316 patient records. They logged every patient's recurrence score, and also whether and when LRR occurred. In all, after a median of eight years of follow-up, 34 patients went on to have an LRR event - 27 with intermediate or high recurrence scores and seven with low recurrence scores. Regardless of other factors, such as number of cancer-positive lymph nodes, the recurrence score proved to be an independent predictor for LRR.

"We believe these data support using recurrence scores - along with standard clinical factors like age or tumor size - to determine risk of recurrence and radiotherapy decisions for patients," Woodward said. "Our findings are clearly limited, as we had some small patient numbers and looked at data retrospectively. But these results provide additional evidence of the value of this test in node positive patients. And they suggest it might be possible to skip radiation in patients with low recurrence scores and one to three cancer-positive nodes, a question now being rigorously tested in TAILOR RT.

"There are large clinical trials going on looking at radiation care for breast cancer patients, like TAILOR RT, and I encourage people to enroll. The more data we have, the more we'll know how to use this new precision medicine tool."

###

Funding for this SWOG study comes from National Institutes of Health through the National Cancer Institute under grants CA180888, U10CA180819, U10CA180821, U10CA180820, U10CA180863, U10CA180858, U10CA180801; and in part by Genomic Health, Inc. Dr. Woodward is supported by NIH 1R01CA180061-01 and The State of Texas Grant for Rare and Aggressive Breast Cancer.

Woodward's team includes senior author Kathy S. Albain, MD, of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine; William E. Barlow, PhD, of the SWOG Statistics and Data Management Center at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; Reshma Jagsi, MD, of University of Michigan; Thomas A. Bucholz, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Steven Shak, MD, of Genomic Health, Inc.; Frederick Baehner, MD, of Genomic Health, Inc. and University of California San Francisco; Timothy J. Whelan, BM, BCh, of McMaster University; Nancy E. Davidson, MD, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Mayo Clinic; James N. Ingle, MD, of Mayo Clinic; Tari A. King of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Peter M. Ravdin, MD, PhD, of the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio; C. Kent Osborn, MD, of Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine; Debasish Tripathy, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Robert B. Livingston, MD, deceased, formerly of University of Arizona; Julie R. Gralow, MD, of University of Washington and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance; Gabriel N. Hortobagyi, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; and Daniel F. Hayes, MD, of University of Michigan.

SWOG Cancer Research Network is part of the National Cancer Institute's National Clinical Trials Network and the NCI Community Oncology Research Program, and is part of the oldest and largest publicly-funded cancer research network in the nation. SWOG has nearly 12,000 members in 47 states and six foreign countries who design and conduct clinical trials to improve the lives of people with cancer. SWOG trials have led to the approval of 14 cancer drugs, changed more than 100 standards of cancer care, and saved more than 3 million years of human life. Learn more at swog.org.
HONG KONG - Trump signs, Pepe the Frog graffiti and British and American flags have become a common sight at Hong Kongs anti-government protests  and an unsettling one to longtime democracy activists on the left.

Beijing has seized on the images to portray the movement as a coddled, westernized middle class incited by foreign organizations and governments to rebel against the worlds largest communist country, China.

Why does the American flag appear at every violent scene in Hong Kong? state broadcaster CCTV asked.

Many of Hong Kongs hardcore protesters are working-class construction workers and hairstylists battling an establishment government dominated by business interests and real estate tycoons. Some wave U.S. and other flags to appeal to the rest of the world for support.

But a small group of followers of far-right activist Horace Chin regularly join the long-running protests, drawing the glare of television cameras with big banners reading President Trump, Please Liberate Hong Kong.

For liberals, Chin is a pariah hijacking the demonstrations.

Its really disappointing to see people try to drive a wedge between Hong Kong people and the Chinese people in this way, said Wilfred Chan, a founding member of Lausan, a leftist collective that seeks to build international solidarity with the Hong Kong protests. This is a mistake.

There is little, though, that they can do about it. Protesters have vowed to avoid the internal divisions of the pro-democracy umbrella movement in 2014. Demonstrators refrain from criticizing each others tactics or politics to stay focused on what unites them: opposition to the communist government in Beijing and the ruling establishment in Hong Kong.

The protests are not your traditional left or right movement, said Avery Ng, chairman of the League of Social Democrats, a left-wing political party. This is a broad-spectrum movement against a totalitarian government.

But basic disagreements bubble beneath the surface: What do the protests stand for? Who are they for, and who are they against? How do you save a city caught in a growing confrontation between the U.S. and China?

When four far-right Ukrainian activists flew into Hong Kong and posed for pictures with protesters, some Chinese state media played up what they said was the protest movements true colours.

Ukrainian neo-Nazis exposed colluding with Hong Kong rioters, trumpeted a headline in the Global Times, a nationalistic state-owned newspaper.

Hong Kongs left-leaning activists feel caught in the middle. The right-wing imagery is misleading, they said, fearing it feeds into Beijings narrative and harms the movement.

The protests started in June to oppose a bill that would have allowed the city to extradite suspected criminals to China and rapidly snowballed into a full-blown defence of the citys semi-autonomy under Beijings rule.

Chan, the Lausan member, treks the world to seek support from grassroots organizers. He sees a common struggle between demonstrators in Chile, Kashmir, Bolivia and Puerto Rico, saying their struggles stem from the same root: governments that lie to their own people.

We have to think beyond trying to appease elites far away, he said, When it comes to the question of Hong Kongs autonomy, I think that neither China nor the United States desires Hong Kong to truly be free.

Many of the most overt displays of support for President Donald Trump are led by Chin, the far-right activist and a former professor.

Dear President Trump, communism is AIDS, he said in a December tweet. Wheres your cocktail therapy & shock therapies for communist China?

In 2011, Chin published an influential book, On the Hong Kong City-State. His supporters admire him for being one of the first to outline a concrete strategy to preserve the citys identity and traditional Chinese heritage from Chinas all-controlling Communist Party.

His language, though, veers into the bombastic, angering many with anti-China rhetoric that some call racist.

The expressions of people like Chin and attacks by bands of hardcore protesters targeting mainland Chinese-connected businesses and shoppers allow Beijing to tar the whole movement as being bigoted, critics say.

Cedric, a 30-year-old former construction worker turned front-liner, is somewhat indifferent towards Trump, whom he calls just a businessman. Nor does he think the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, passed by Congress as a rebuke to Beijing and Hong Kongs leadership, has had much impact so far.

Cedric, who like most protesters didnt give his last name out of fear of arrest, rejects political labels, calling himself just a Hong Kong citizen. Like many in the movement, he embraces Pepe the Frog as a protest symbol, unaware of its association with far-right extremists in the U.S.

Some of his friends have been arrested and he now lives in hiding, nursing a shoulder injured in clashes with riot police. As the protests march on, Cedric hopes that more people across the globe will support the Hong Kong cause, including Chinese on the mainland.

We wont reject support from people of any country or race, because we know those people value freedom and democracy, he said.

Ng, the head of the far-left party, sees the Chinese government as the common enemy of both Hong Kong and ordinary Chinese.

His left-wing yet anti-Beijing views were shaped by his years as a consultant helping multinational corporations buy stakes in Chinese companies. On visits to factories in distant corners of the country, he found that the lions share of profits went to officials and business people, not the workers.

The trips jarred Ng, who struggled to square the Communist Partys socialist slogans with the exploitation and lack of basic worker rights he saw on the ground.

The Chinese Communist Party is the most anti-communist party in the world, he said. What they are operating is authoritarian state capitalism.

Ng sees the appeals of Hong Kong protesters to the U.S. as a distress signal, more a desperate cry for help than a sign of any ideological inclination.

Hong Kong people are traditionally very utilitarian, Ng says. They will try whatever path that they may think to help the cause.

___

Associated Press news assistant Phoebe Lai contributed to this report.
Burma Myanmar Archaeologists Object to Construction Near Ancient Pagodas in Bagan

Four Pyu-era stupas. / Myanmar Archaeology Association / Facebook

YANGONConservationists have expressed concern over a construction site located near stupas in Bagan that experts say are from the Pyu era.

The Myanmar Archaeology Association issued a statement Tuesday voicing concerns that the construction project may impact the stupas as it includes foundations around 1.5 m deep. The association said it still cant confirm the purpose of the building or the identity of the developer.

Nobody knows what lies underground. It shouldnt be done without consulting with the archaeology department. We cant accept residential buildings or other buildings built in the heritage zone, Myanmar Archaeology Association Secretary Ko Thura Aung told The Irrawaddy.

Bagan is a major tourist draw for Myanmar and was named a World Heritage site by UNESCO in July 2019. The Pyu era lasted from 200 BC to AD 900, when the Bagan kingdom took over the other Pyu city-states and ruled from AD 1044-1287.

The statement called on authorities to intervene directly. Archaeologists believe excavations at the religious site, known as the four-stupa site, can uncover new findings.

Though we cant say definitely [regarding further excavations], these Pyu stupas indicate that Bagan had culturally flourished and Buddhism had arrived there since the Pyu era. These are very important facts, said heritage adviser Daw Ohmar Myo.

Archaeologists believe the Pyu stupas in Bagan were built between the 4th and 8th centuries AD. Experts have also said that because the stupas are located in close proximity to Thiri Pyissaya Palace, which was built before the establishment of the Bagan empire, they should be excavated.

New buildings like this can damage the archaeological evidence underground. This can lead to misrepresentation of the history of Myanmar people, said Daw Ohmar Myo.

She added that the government should give serious consideration if it is to grant land-use permits in old and new Bagan as well as Nyaung-U due to their cultural significance.

Ko Thura Aung said that the regional government, if it is going to make a decision that affects a cultural heritage zone, should consult with the regional cultural heritage conservation committee and the archaeology department.

It is unacceptable that the regional government has granted permission instead of raising an objection to [the construction]. I would like to urge them to listen to the voices of experts, he said.

The Bagan branch of the Archaeology, National Museum and Library Department, overseen by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture, reportedly remarked in 2017 that the area near the Pyu pagodas must be included in a list of conservation sites.

The Irrawaddy was unable to reach Bagan branch archaeology department director U Aung Kyaw Kyaw for further details.

Bagan is home to some 3,000 pagodas and temples dating from the 9th to the 13th centuriesa period during which some 50 kings ruled during the Bagan Dynasty.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko

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MADISON, Wis. - U.S. Air Force officials confirmed Wednesday that theyre investigating the Wisconsin National Guards former commander after Guard investigators determined he improperly launched an internal sexual assault investigation.

Gov. Tony Evers office has said the National Guard Bureaus Office of Complex Investigations discovered that Adj. Gen. Donald Dunbar improperly launched the probe sometime last year while the OCI was conducting a top-to-bottom review of the Wisconsin Guards sexual assault complaint protocols.

Evers and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin requested the review in March after Master Sgt. Jay Ellis complained to Baldwin in 2018 that commanders in his 115th Fighter Wing security squadron had brushed off at least six sexual misconduct complaints dating back to 2002.

The National Guard Bureau produced a report in December that found multiple shortcomings with how Dunbars command handled sexual assault complaints, including launching internal investigations in 22 of 35 cases reported between 2009 and 2019. Federal law and Department of Defence regulations require commanders to refer sexual assault complaints to their respective branches criminal investigators and prohibit internal investigations.

Dunbar resigned at Evers request hours before the report went public and has since retired, according to Wisconsin National Guard spokesman Joe Trovato said.

Evers spokeswoman, Melissa Baldauff, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the OCI investigators discovered that Dunbar had launched another internal sexual assault investigation sometime before October while their review was ongoing, even though he knew that OCI had already flagged internal investigations as a serious problem within his ranks.

Evers office learned in October that OCI had forwarded the allegations to the National Guard Bureaus inspector general and learned in late December that he was under investigation. Baldauff said she didnt know specifically what violations investigators were looking at or whether the probe was still ongoing.

Maj. Rob Perino, a spokesman for the National Guard Bureau, said Wednesday that any investigation would be handled by the Air Force since Dunbar held the rank of general when he led the Wisconsin Guard. Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek confirmed late Wednesday that there is an ongoing investigation involving Dunbar but declined to provide any further details.

___

Follow Todd Richmond on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trichmond1
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The current controversy about whether or not - and, if so, how - the history of British policing on this island might most appropriately be commemorated today is a useful reminder of how problematic the commemoration of 1916 itself was just over half a century ago.

No 'Decade of Commemorations' then - but the issues involved were, in some quarters, at least as sensitive as those currently involving the RIC and its role in pre-independent Ireland.

The acting chairman of the government committee set up in 1965 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rising the following year was minister Jim Gibbons, who was later to come to unwelcome prominence (at least from his own point of view) at the time of the arms crisis.

It is probably safe to assume that by putting him in charge of the government's commemoration committee, then-Taoiseach Sean Lemass signalled his belief that here, at least, was a safe pair of hands.

The two principal files in the National Archives covering that commemoration (D/T 97/6/159 and 161) are eloquent about the sensitivity of the discussions that were then taking place at the highest level.

Lemass wrote to Gibbons on December 18, 1965, about a meeting he had just had with Archbishop Simms, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, and marked his cards in no uncertain manner.

"Dr Simms," he told Gibbons, "called on me to discuss certain problems which arise from the reluctance of certain Six-County bishops to participate in the religious ceremonies which are contemplated. "The net point is that in any publicity regarding Church of Ireland functions, it will be correct to say that 'the Church of Ireland will arrange religious services' but not that 'the bench of bishops of the Church of Ireland' have decided on these services".

He also advised Gibbons to clear the wording of any announcement with Dr Simms before it was released to the press.

Lemass was hyper-conscious of the need to avoid party controversy. He ordered at one stage that no photograph of himself should appear in an official programme in case anyone might think that party advantage might be involved. He also personally drafted a statement which suggested "the introduction into the ceremonies of dissension of any kind would be deplorable and unforgivable".

"Our friends throughout the world, no less than our people at home, would be dismayed by anything which detracted from the dignity and harmony of the ceremonies."

The Taoiseach and other members of the government were, in addition, extremely anxious about the activities of Republicans who were planning to commemorate the Rising by organising a special 'Freedom Train' to Belfast. A news cutting in the file has the name of Republican Cathal Goulding - who was announced as one of the proposed speakers for the Belfast event - heavily underlined.

The issue arose dramatically when Frank Lemass, Sean Lemass's brother and general manager of CIE, wrote to Erskine Childers, then transport minister, in February 1966.

He asked whether the government "would have any views" on the application, from Coiste Cuimneachain Seachtain na Caisce of 30 Gardiner Place (the then headquarters of Sinn Fein), for running what they described as 'Freedom Trains' from Belfast.

Childers also got a letter from his Taoiseach advising him that the Garda authorities were of the opinion "that if such a train is provided there is a strong likelihood of trouble in Belfast and of serious danger to the rolling stock along the railway line in the Six Counties".

"I think you should so inform CIE," Lemass replied, "and if, in the circumstances, they decide not to provide the train, request them to do so without giving this as the reason, or indicating that they have sought the government's advice in the matter."

Lemass's advice was taken. CIE announced later that it would be unable to run the train because of "a shortage of rolling stock".

The Taoiseach did not, however, always have matters his own way. He wrote to his finance minister, Jack Lynch, on February 14, 1966, suggesting that a suitable way to commemorate the occasion would be to double the 1916 military service pensions.

Lynch wrote back on February 14, opposing the idea because "if 1916 pensions were further increased, and nothing were given to those with active service in later years, it is inevitable that there would be resentment and possible charges of making invidious distinctions".

"The repercussions," he warned, "would be endless."
Mark Zuckerberg expects to see massive progress in augmented reality technology over the next 10 years.

Instead of setting a yearly challenge for himself as he has annually for the past 10 years, the Facebook founder and CEO took to his platform to predict major developments over the next ten years. Among his predictions, he said augmented reality will finally break out this decade.

"The technology platform of the 2010s was the mobile phone," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post Thursday. "While I expect phones to still be out primary devices through most of this decade, at some point in the 2020s, we will get breakthrough augmented reality glasses that will redefine our relationship with technology."

Augmented reality (or AR) is technology that lets users place digital objects on top of the real world. Today it's mostly used through smartphones, but some companies like Microsoft and Magic Leap have released full AR headsets.

CNBC reported last September that Facebook is working on AR glasses, codenamed Orion, in its labs in Redmond, Washington. The company also hoped to partner with Ray-Ban's parent company Luxottica on the design with a target to launch the product between 2023 and 2025. Facebook is also working on a voice assistant that will control the Orion glasses, CNBC reported.

Facebook has been pushing to get into the business of virtual reality and AR hardware since its 2014 acquisition of virtual reality pioneer Oculus VR for $2 billion. In May of last year, Facebook unveiled the $399 Oculus Rift S augmented reality gaming headset. It has released several versions of Oculus VR headsets over the years.

Early AR products have faced criticism for feeling unnatural and obtrusive, which Zuckerberg addressed in his post Thursday.

"Even though some of the early devices seem clunky, I think these will be the most human and social technology platforms anyone has built yet," he said.

Zuckerberg also pointed to a number of socio-economic issues that he thinks AR could help address, "like ballooning housing costs and inequality of opportunity by geography." He said that AR could empower individuals to live wherever they wanted while working remotely.

"Imagine if you could live anywhere you chose and access any job anywhere else," he said. "If we deliver on what we're building, this should be much closer to reality by 2030."
The Indian Navy already has one warship in the Gulf of Oman to come to the aid of any Indian merchant ship in the area.

New Delhi: Hours after Iran attacked bases in Iraq where American troops are stationed, India on Wednesday asked all its nationals to avoid all non-essential travel to Iraq until further notification, even as Iranian ambassador to India Ali Chegeni said Iran would welcome any initiative by India aimed at de-escalating tensions between his country and the United States.

In another development, defence sources said the Indian Navy was ready for any emergency pullout of Indians from Iran.

The Indian Navy already has one warship in the Gulf of Oman to come to the aid of any Indian merchant ship in the area.

There could be two ways in which Indians can be evacuated. The first is that Indians will be asked to reach an Iranian port and from there, they will be taken to some nearby Gulf country. From that country, Indians can be flown to India or they can go to any other place of their choosing. However, if the Gulf countries refuse to be part of the plan, then the option will be to bring them directly to India, a source adde.

The voyage by ship from Iran to India can take one and a half to two days.

Ties between the US and Iran plummeted to dangerous levels after the US assassinated Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, in Baghdad last week, reportedly in a missile strike by an American drone.

The Americans had accused Maj. Gen. Soleimani of plotting terror attacks against them worldwide.

A furious Iran had on Sunday vowed to take appropriate retaliatory action against the United States at a suitable time and place.

India usually plays very good role in (maintaining) peace. At the same time India belongs to this region. We welcome all initiatives from all countries, especially India as a good friend for us, to not allow escalation (of tensions), Iranian ambassador to India Ali Chegeni was quoted by news agencies as saying on Wednesday.

We are not for war, we are looking for peace and prosperity for everybody in this region. We welcome any Indian initiative or any project that can help peace and prosperity in this world, he added.

In its advisory, New Delhi said, In view of the prevailing situation in Iraq, Indian nationals are advised to avoid all non-essential travel to Iraq until further notification. Indian nationals residing in Iraq are advised to be alert and may avoid travel within Iraq. Our embassy in Baghdad and consulate in Erbil will continue to function normally to provide all services to Indians residing in Iraq.

The DGCA on Wednesday asked all Indian carriers to be vigilant and take all precautions in the airspace over Iran, Iraq, Gulf of Oman and waters of Persian Gulf, hours after a Ukrainian aircraft with 176 people crashed near Tehran. A meeting was called and the airlines were sensitised, a senior DGCA official said.
AUSTIN  While some Republicans in Congress have been critical of vague briefings from White House officials in the days after the U.S. drone strike on a top Iran official, the top-ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Thursday that he heard plenty to justify President Donald Trumps actions from top administration officials.

U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul, an Austin Republican whose district stretches to Katy and parts of Harris County, said hes spoken with Vice President Mike Pence and other officials over the last few days and is comfortable that the White House did see an imminent threat on American forces and interests from Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.

I feel confident that the threat was real, McCaul said in a 20-minute interview with Hearst Newspapers. What if the President didnt take action and there was an attack?

McCaul, 57, has been in Congress since 2004, serving as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee for six years before becoming the top-ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee as Democrats regained the majority in the U.S. House.

His view is dramatically different than that of top Democrats on the Foreign Affairs Committee who sat through recent briefings about the drone strike that killed Soleimani.

The basic theme of it was the administration essentially saying, Trust us, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., told reporters in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. I'm not sure who I trust or what I trust when it comes to these issues because we've been told so many different things that just bother me.

For subscribers: Texas Republicans rally around Trump after Soleimani slaying

The Trump administration has so far refused to disclose the exact threat Soleimani posed or what future attacks by Iran it would prevent. Even some Republicans have criticized the lack of information being given to Congress.

After a top secret briefing on Wednesday, U.S. Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah and Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, vented about the lack of information given to them. Lee called it probably the worst briefing I have seen, at least on a military issue, and said the administration had not really done anything to show the imminent attack that could be coming.

Paul was even more blunt, telling reporters: I didnt learn anything in the hearing that I hadnt seen in a newspaper already. None of it was overwhelming that X was going to happen.

McCaul said critics of Trump have gone too far in making the president seem like a hawk who wants to go to war. McCaul said Trump has been more resistant and pushed back against more hawkish voices in his Cabinet, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former National Security Advisor John Bolton over the years.

Hes shown an extreme amount of restraint, said McCaul, who was scheduled to have lunch with President Trump at the White House on Thursday.

Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

He said the combination of the killing of an American defense contractor in Iraq and then the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was a tipping point.

When Trump ran for the White House, he campaigned as a candidate who would stop endless wars. Last year he infuriated more hawkish members of Congress by pulling back troops in Syria.

McCaul characterized Trumps approach as being hawkish when there is an immediate threat to homeland security, but nevertheless pushing to reduce the U.S. footprint in Middle East conflicts overall. He said he and others have had to push back against Trump at times, including on the withdrawal in Syria.

While players like Pompeo and Bolton have had Trumps ear, McCaul said its clear Trump also takes counsel from others like Paul, who has consistently opposed intervention in Middle East conflicts.
Washington

President Donald Trump backed away from further military action against Iran on Wednesday and called for a new diplomatic effort as the bristling confrontation of the last six days appeared to ease after Iranian missile strikes that proved more symbolic than deadly.

"Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world," Trump said in a televised statement from the Grand Foyer of the White House, flanked by his vice president, Cabinet secretaries and senior military officers in their uniforms.

The president vowed again not to let Iran obtain a nuclear weapon and warned it against future terrorism or destabilizing actions in the region, but otherwise avoided the bombastic threats that had characterized his public remarks in recent days. Instead, he said he would impose more economic sanctions on Iran and called on NATO allies to become more involved in the Middle East.

"The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it," Trump said after outlining U.S. combat potential. "We do not want to use it." He expressed willingness to negotiate with Iran. "The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it," he said.

He added that Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China should recognize that the nuclear agreement they sealed along with President Barack Obama in 2015 is effectively dead, and called on them to join him in negotiating a replacement that would go further to constrain Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"They must now break away from the remnants of the Iran deal, or JCPOA, and we must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place," Trump said.

His comments came the morning after Iran fired a reported 22 ballistic missiles at two military bases in Iraq that house U.S. troops in response to last week's drone strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran's elite security and intelligence forces. No U.S. or Iraqi troops were injured or killed in the latest attacks, the president said.

In the hours since, some analysts expressed cautious optimism that the missile strikes might prove the end of the immediate conflict rather than the start of a larger confrontation that could spiral into a full-fledged war. They could have been a face-saving way for Iran to say it had responded forcefully to the killing of Soleimani without actually hurting any Americans, which would quite likely have provoked Trump into escalating further.

Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said after the missile strikes that Iran had "concluded proportionate measures" in retribution for Soleimani's death, and Trump's response seemed to indicate an openness to forgoing any reprisals since there were no casualties.

But analysts cautioned that even if the two sides ease off a military clash in the short term, the conflict could very well play out in other ways in the weeks and months to come. Iran has many proxy groups in the Middle East that could stir trouble in new ways for U.S. troops or U.S. allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia, and experts remained wary of a possible Iranian cyberstrike on domestic facilities.

President Hassan Rouhani of Iran made clear that his country still saw its mission over the long run as driving the United States out of the Middle East after the killing of Soleimani. "Our final answer to his assassination will be to kick all US forces out of the region," Rouhani wrote on Twitter.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader, likewise suggested on Wednesday that an incremental operation would not be the end of the clash. "What matters is that the presence of America, which is a source of corruption in this region, should come to an end," he said in a speech to a hall filled with imams and others, who chanted, "Death to America!" and "Death to Israel!"

The operation against Soleimani may prove to have consequences beyond the direct relationship with Iran. Outraged that the general was killed after arriving at Baghdad International Airport, Iraq's Parliament voted to expel the 5,000 U.S. troops from the country. Such a decision would still have to be enacted by the caretaker government, but the Pentagon has begun preparing for the possibility of losing its bases in the country nearly 17 years after the invasion ordered by President George W. Bush.

Trump's 10-minute televised statement Wednesday morning was his most extended effort to explain the situation with Iran to the country after last Thursday's drone strike on Soleimani. Aside from a four-minute statement on Friday morning, he has stuck to Twitter blasts, comments to reporters and a call into Rush Limbaugh's radio show.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

To demonstrate unity, he surrounded himself with his top team, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Robert C. O'Brien, the national security adviser.

The administration's messages have at times been conflicting and confusing. The president was forced to walk back threats to target Iranian cultural sites after his defense secretary made clear that doing so would be a war crime. The American headquarters in Baghdad had drafted a letter indicating it was withdrawing from Iraq, only to have the Defense Department say it was a draft document with no authority.

And the administration has not given a detailed public explanation of its reasoning for conducting the strike now, given that Soleimani has been responsible for killing U.S. soldiers and stirring trouble in the region for many years.

Congressional Democrats have complained that the administration has not been much more forthcoming in a classified war powers notice or in briefings, raising questions about the nature of the intelligence used to justify the drone strike.

The White House has said the president acted under his constitutional authority to take action in self-defense as well as in keeping with the power granted by Congress in a 2002 measure that authorized Bush's invasion.

Soleimani, commander of the elite Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, was the architect of Iran's efforts to extend its influence throughout the Middle East. He helped direct wars in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen as he sought to establish a regional bloc of Shiite power, and he was held responsible for attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq that killed at least 600 during the height of the Iraq War.

More recently, U.S. officials pointed to Soleimani as the force behind a Dec. 27 rocket attack on a base in Iraq that killed an American civilian contractor. They said he had traveled the region in recent days as part of preparations for a future attack that could have killed hundreds of Americans; however, they provided scant details and no evidence.

Trump defended his decision to order the drone strike, calling Soleimani "the world's top terrorist" responsible "for some of the absolutely worst atrocities" of recent years.

"In recent days, he was planning new attacks on American targets, but we stopped him," Trump said without elaborating. "Soleimani's hands were drenched in both American and Iranian blood. He should have been terminated long ago."
Bushfires flared in southern Australia on Thursday as a heatwave expected to bring renewed misery set in, and officials warned some areas are "just at the beginning" of the devastating crisis. Soldiers went door-to-door advising residents to leave the South Australian town of Parndana on Kangaroo Island after a large blaze bore down on the area, with temperatures there soaring to 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit). That came less than 24 hours after police evacuated the picturesque island's Vivonne Bay community, which by Thursday afternoon was also being threatened by fires that were expected to burn for days to come. "The conditions are such that it is continuing to present a significant risk to the firefighters who are working hard to control the fires, and to anyone else in the vicinity," Country Fire Service chief Mark Jones said. In neighbouring Victoria state, officials extended a "state of disaster" declaration for a further 48 hours ahead of scorching temperatures that were due to set in Friday, further stoking massive fires. "It's a very dangerous and dynamic situation that will confront us over the next 12, 24 and 36 hours," Victoria Emergency Management commissioner Andrew Crisp said. The catastrophic bushfires have killed at least 26 people, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and scorched some eight million hectares (80,000 square kilometres) -- an area the size of the island of Ireland. Scientists say the drought-fuelled blazes are being worsened by climate change, which is increasing the length and intensity of Australia's fire season. Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews warned residents to brace for further devastation in what has already been a months-long crisis. "We're just at the beginning of what will be a really, really challenging summer," he said. - 'Extreme' danger - Despite cooler weather and rainfall providing some relief in some bushfire-affected areas this week, almost 150 fires were still burning in worst-hit New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, the huge continent's most populated regions. Vast tracts of the states are facing "severe" fire danger Friday, with some areas expected to experience "extreme" conditions. "Don't get complacent with the rain that we've seen," Victoria police minister Lisa Neville said. "These fires are absolutely still moving, still growing in our landscape and they pose significant risk to communities." Firefighters have been taking advantage of this week's milder weather as they race to contain bushfires ahead of Friday. They have been clearing vegetation and carrying out controlled burns in an effort to protect areas like the coastal town of Eden, where a large bushfire is burning to the south. "It only takes a spark to get a fire burning, and that's our concern for tomorrow," Rural Fire Service superintendent John Cullen told a local council briefing. The Rural Fire Service said a helicopter pilot who had been waterbombing a fire in the area ditched his aircraft into a dam Thursday afternoon, managing to free himself and swim to shore. - Hottest ever year - In some burnt-out areas people have turned to the painful task of rebuilding their homes and lives, with the process expected to take years. NSW announced Thursday it would spend Aus$1.2 billion (US$680 million) on restoring infrastructure in fire-ravaged areas. That comes on top of a separate Aus$2 billion ($1.4 billion) national recovery fund earmarked to help devastated communities. "We are always standing shoulder-to-shoulder with those who have been impacted by the devastating fires, this catastrophe which has come to New South Wales and we are stepping up to make sure we provide that support," NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said. The bushfire toll has not been limited to human losses -- the blazes have also wreaked wide-ranging environmental damage. University of Sydney scientists estimate one billion animals have been killed in the fires. The figure includes mammals, birds and reptiles, but not frogs, insects or invertebrates. Bushfire smoke has shrouded Australia's major cities in toxic haze for weeks, causing major public health concerns. The smoke has also travelled more than 12,000 kilometres (7,400 miles) to Brazil and Argentina, according to weather authorities there. Australia experienced its driest and hottest year on record in 2019, with its highest average maximum temperature of 41.9 degrees Celsius (107.4 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded in mid-December. It has been a long and deadly summer already in Australia, with bushfires that have wreaked terrible damage, but officials are warning the heartbreak is far from over Fires have ripped through vast areas of countryside, burning up everything in their path Fires have ripped through vast areas of countryside, burning up everything in their path Smoke from the blazes has blanketed cities in Australia and affected New Zealand, as well as reaching some parts of South America
The negligence by doctors in a premeier hospital in the city during a operation in 2003 cost Tapaswini Das her eyesight, but it could not deter the 23-year-old girl to crack the Odisha civil services exam the results of which were announced on Monday.

Das, who lost her eyesight while she was studying in Std 2 in Bhubaneswars DAV School, secured 161st rank in the Odisha Civil Services examination 2018 conducted by Odisha Public Service Commission. Incidentally, she appeared as a general candidate unlike UPSC where there is reservation for visually-impaired candidates.

This is the second time when a visually-challenged person has cracked the Odisha civil service examination. In 2017 Odisha civil service examination, 8 visually-challenged candidates had made it to the list of successful candidates after Orissa High Court allowed them to appear at the examination.

I expected to sail through the examination. Strong determination and patience are required to achieve success and I was determined to crack the exam in my first attempt, said Das, who is now pursuing her Masters degree in political science from Bhubaneswars Utkal University.

Das was in 9th standard when she decided to be a civil servant. Though her first choice is UPSC, she decided to write the Odisha civil services exam when she heard about the advertisement for the examination.

Though she has battled the challenge of visual impairment successfuly since last 16 years, preparing for Odisha civil service exam proved to be a daunting task. People who have clear eyesight, they can read from books directly. But I had to depend on recordings of several books that I stored in my laptop. I used to books scanned and turn it into audio format. I have never shied away from challenges in life. So I told myself lets give it a try, said Das.

Her father Arun Kumar Das, a retired deputy manager from Odisha Cooperative Housing Corporation and mother Krushnapriya Mohanty, a teacher, said for him Tapaswini is both a son as well as a daughter.

I was heartbroken when a botched up surgery took both her eyesight. She was in Std 2 then and used to top her class. I then put her in a school for visually impaired from where she passed her matriculation exam with flying colours using Braillie script. She passed the higher secondary examination in arts stream topping the list of successful students. She did extremely well in her graduation too. All throughput her career she has been a persevering student, said Arun Kumar Das.

With a rank of 161, Tapaswini may find it difficult to make it to Odisha Administrative Service and would have to settle for Odisha Tax and Accounts Service and Odisha Revenue Service. But the young girl is determined to crack UPSC as she hopes to follow in the footsteps of Pranjal Patil, Indias first visually-impaired IAS officer who in October last year took charge as sub-collector of Thiruvananthapuram.

In UPSC, there is reservation for visually-challenged persons and she can crack it. She is a fiercely determined girl, said her father.

Sulochana Das, Odisha Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities said her department would felicitate Tapaswini for her achievement.
Hyderabad: Election fever has gripped TRS, Congress, and BJP following the commencement of filing of nomination for municipal elections on Wednesday.

The State Government and State Election Commission (SEC) are gearing up their machineries to ensure a smooth election.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has called a meeting of MLAs and party in-charges of Assembly constituencies from 10 am on Thursday to decide issue of party tickets to the candidates.

Party general secretary Srinivas Reddy has urged each of them to make it to the important meeting.

The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy went a step head and announced names of some of the candidates.

He named Bathula Lakshma Reddy as the candidate for the chairmans post of Miryalguda municipality and B Prakash (SC) for the Nereducharla municipalitys top post. Sangareddy MLA T. Jaya Prakash Reddy has stated that his wife Nirmala Jagga Reddy will be the candidate for Sangareddy municipality.

Meanwhile, the BJP, which is eager to open its account in the municipal elections, has constituted teams with the senior leaders and party MPs and also district unit presidents and those who contested the previous Assembly elections.

BJP state president Dr. K Laxman told this correspondent that all the 120 municipalities were divided into 15 clusters and each cluster has been given targets.

The senior party leader said district presidents will issue the party tickets for councellor candidates and he will issue B forms to the candidates contesting in the nine municipal corporations.

Meanwhile Mr Somesh Kumar, Chief Secretary directed all the District Collectors to make necessary arrangements for conducting elections peacefully and complete the process without any problems and as per schedule given by State Election Commission.

At a video- conference with them on Wednesday, he said that Collectors should be involved fully in election process.

You are aware that it is for the first time that so many ULBs (Urban Local Bodies) and Corporations are going to polls. Collectors should focus carefully in every aspect like polling staff allotment, printing of ballot papers, procuring of ballot boxes and papers.

He asked that collectors of Ranga Reddy, Medchal Malkajgiri, Mancherial, Sangareddy, Nalgonda to take extra care to understand each municipality as they are having more number of municipalities.

He sought a similar concentration on new municipalities.
Chairperson of Athletes' Commission, Anju Bobby George has written to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President Narinder Batra requesting a review of the two-year ban imposed on rower Dattu Baban Bhoknal.

The Rowing Federation of India (RFI) imposed the ban on Bhoknal on March 29 last year. However, the Olympian wrote a letter to Athletes' Commission requesting them to help reduce the period of ban to enable him to qualify and compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

"After studying the matter based on the communications between the RFI and the athlete we feel it should be reviewed if the alleged lapse from the athlete deserves a 2 year ban which is too harsh on an athlete having very good performance record in the past in international level including Olympics," Anju wrote.

Anju further said that IOA should discuss the matter with RFI as this 'harsh punishment' might spoil Bhoknal's sporting career.

"So the Athletes Commission feels IOA should discuss with RFI regarding this issue to help the athlete participate in the Olympics 2020 as two year is harsh punishment on an athlete for the alleged lapse, which might spoil his sporting career," the letter read.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Iran official reacts to Pompeo's claim

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Jan 8, IRNA -- An advisor to President Hassan Rouhani in a tweet responded to the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's claims.

Hesamodin Ashna, advisor to President Rouhani wrote in his tweet: Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi says we have offered to mediate between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and the General has been the message carrier of Iran and has had an official meeting with me.

"Zarif says that is true and that the Genaral (Qasem Soleimani) has carried the diplomatic message,"Ashna said, "Pompeo claims we are sure there was no message because I asked the Saudis myself." Wow!?

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hours ago, at a news conference, alleged that Lt Gen Qasem Soleimani did not carry any messages from Iran to Saudi Arabia during his trip to Baghdad.

In completing his allegation, Pompeo added that he had spoken to his Saudi counterpart about this and that he had not.

General Soleimani, the commander of Quds Force of Iran's IRGC and Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandes, the acting commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) were in separate cars at Baghdad airport when the US carried targeted airstrike to assassinate them on Friday morning.

Millions of Iranians all around the country took to the streets on Sunday and Monday to condemn the terror act of the US. They took to streets holding the pictures of the martyred General Soleimani and flags of Iran, chanting "Down with the US" and "Down with Israel".

The Supreme Leader has called for proportionate military action against the US interests in response to a heinous crime against the Iranian Commander on a diplomatic mission to Baghdad.

General Soleimani, was involved in diplomatic contacts with the regional leaders and was carrying a message to the Saudi leaders during a visit to Baghdad when he was assassinated, according to the Iraqi prime minister.

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GAHANNA, Ohio  A suspect in a domestic violence incident crashed while trying to escape police Wednesday night, killing a female passenger, according to reports.

The suspect, identified by WBNS Channel 10 as Christopher McCleese, tried to run from the scene after the crash just after 7 p.m. but was caught by officers. He was taken to a hospital, WBNS reports.

WCMH Channel 4 reports police were trying to arrest the suspect on a felonious assault warrant in connection with a domestic violence incident last week. After leading police on a four-minute chase, the suspect crashed into a tree.

Police have not released the name of the woman who died in the crash. Gahanna is a suburb of Columbus.

To comment on this story, visit Wednesdays crime and courts comments page.

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Man rammed, shot at car after argument at Cleveland strip club, records say
The Ooni of Ife, Enitan Ogunwusi, on Thursday declared that Southwest traditional rulers are in support of the new regional security outfit, code-named Amotekun.

The monarchs comment comes just as the Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State also on Thursday said the Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN) otherwise know as Amotekun would not undermine the power of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Mr Ogunwusi made his declaration during the launching of Amotekun by the governors of the South-west region.

At the launching held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, were Governors Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Mr Fayemi.

Others are Deputy Governor of Ogun, Noimat Salako-Oyedele; Deputy Governor of Osun, Benedict Alabi; Yoruba World Congress Leader, Banji Akintoye and Deji Osinbogun.

It will be recalled that the six governors from the zone: Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo) Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Gboyega Oyetola (Osun), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos) and Mr Fayemi (Ekiti), had last year agreed to establish Amotekun, aimed at strengthening security in the region.

The region, like others, has been ravaged by crimes such as banditry, robbery and kidnapping in recent months leading to the deaths of many.

Mr Ogunwusi warned personnel who will be working with the new security outfit not to betray the interest of Yoruba land.

He declared that all traditional rulers in the region were in support of the new security outfit.

Mr Ogunwusi also said governors in the region have done their best and it was left for the personnel and the citizens of the region to work together for the success of the security outfit.

Mr Ogunwusi said, All the traditional rulers are in support. The federal government is not opposed to it, let all and sundry support it for peace to reign in the region.

The success of this security outfit will be of benefit to the present generation and the generation yet unborn, he added.

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Meanwhile, Mr Akintoye said the Yoruba people did not know how to tackle security challenges when it first started and many people suffered for it.

He added that the governors have now risen to the challenges and are acting credibly in tackling it.

The people that will work in the Amotekun are going to be trained properly by highly educated people for them to relate properly with the police and the army, he said.

Also, the National Public Relations Officer, Vigilante Group of Nigeria, Nelson Fashina, said his people are properly fit for the security outfit because they understand the terrain and are capable of taking up the challenges of community policing.

The Ekiti Governor, Kayode Fayemi. [PHOTO CREDIT: Official twitter handle of Kayode Fayemi.]

Fayemi speaks

Meanwhile, Mr Fayemi, who doubles as Chairman, Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), speaking at the event, said the establishment of Amotekun was aimed at tackling armed robbery, banditry and kidnappings across the region.

He said it would not undermine the work of federal security outfits but enable it.

He added that the primary responsibility of all the governors is to ensure the security and welfare of citizenry.

Mr Fayemi maintained that Amotekun is not a duplication of the Nigerian Police Force.

People should not misinterpret Amotekun, he said. We are not here to undermine the power of the Federal Government of Nigeria, but our primary interest is the security and safety of our people.

That is why we decided to come together to curb the security menace in this region, he added.

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Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo, in his welcome address, also explained why the initiative was birthed.

We governors have not forgotten our oath in providing peace and security and coming together to fish out our common enemy. All of us met six months ago and decided to set up a joint security outfit because it is our priority as governors to ensure that citizens carry out their legitimate businesses safely, he said.

Mr Akeredolu, who is also the chairman of the Southwest governors forum, said hardly any state in South-west is immune from security challenges.

We decided that something must be done in order to curb the menace and we think that combined efforts is the only solution to it. We shall not relent until our people are secured, he said.
The Orange Beach Police Department are searching for two suspects for stealing $177,000 worth of barine electronics. Police say the thefts that have been occurring since 2016.

Orange Beach police has identified the suspects as Nathan Thomas McCleod, 42 of Hollywood, Florida and Danielle Michelle Archer-Amos, of Tamarac, Florida. Police believer they are both part of a theft ring that extends from the Alabama Gulf Coast down to the southern tip of Florida.

No connections have been established between any victims to the two suspects. These are the only two individuals police have identified with no other suspects at this time.

Orange Beach Investigators are in the process of locating these two individuals so they can be brought to justice. No other other crimes of this nature have been reported to our agency since November 2019.
[January 08, 2020] Waples Manufacturing Launches New Website

FORT WORTH, Texas, Jan. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Waples Manufacturing, Inc., a leading precision machining manufacturer for the aerospace, oil & gas, military, Industrial, and material handling industries, has launched a new website to communicate the firms 60 years of experience and expertise in high-performance lights-out manufacturer. The new website is located at: http://www.Waples.com. An ISO 9001/AS9100 certified company, Waples Manufacturing maintains a 25,000 square foot facility and an expansive team of machinist and engineers who manufacture complex metal parts while meeting close tolerance requirements. Waples Manufacturing offers a wide variety of machining capabilities from tight tolerance custom work to high volume lights-out production all driven by the latest technology. There wide spectrum of material knowledge saves clients time and money while delivering turnkey production services. They are a precision machining operation that provides value-added services such as welding & fabrication, specialty coating, metal finishing, and much, much more. With over 60 years of expeience in Oil & Gas, Aerospace, Military, Industrial and Material Handling Waples has developed a culture and mission that aligns directly with its customer's passion and demand for excellence.



Waples employs 42 CNC Machine Centers comprised of the latest technology in CNC Lathes, Mills, and Multus equipment. Their state-of-art 5 Axis Machining gives them the ability to machine complex shapes in a single set up while increasing productivity and reducing fixture cost. Their Smart Technology lets the part comes off the machine ready to ship. Waples' rigorous internal Quality Assurance Program dictates its production process while its strategic vision guides the direction of its business. It starts with the Quality of work produced by the engineers; it carries through to the Production Team then finished with the Value Added work and ultimately the on-time, on-budget delivery of finished parts to their customers.

About Waples: Originally founded in 1960 in Fort Worth, TX, Waples Manufacturing, Inc. is an American manufacturing firm specializing precision machining across multiple industries including aerospace, oil & gas, military, Industrial, and material handling. Their approach is to become strategically positioned with their clients to guide and support their manufacturing needs, using their 60 years of experience in precision machining. Time to Market, Innovation and Quality are the hallmark of the company's service. Contact: John Deely

Vice President Sales

Waples Manufacturing, Inc.

[email protected]

817-568-1120 Related Images image1.jpg View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/waples-manufacturing-launches-new-website-300983938.html SOURCE Waples Manufacturing

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AUSTIN  Using home remedies such as herbs, teas and vitamins or a prescription drug obtained from Mexico, Texas women have tried to end their pregnancies themselves three times more often than women in other states, a new study finds.

The Texas Policy Evaluation Project at The University of Texas at Austin found 6.9 percent percent of 721 patients seeking abortion tried to end their pregnancies on their own before going to an abortion clinic, compared to 2.2 percent nationally. The results of the study were released Thursday morning.

We hear from clients pretty often, if I cant get money for this, trying it at home is their next step, said Cristina Parker, a spokeswoman for the Lilith Fund, which offers financial assistance to people who need abortions.

For subscribers: This researcher interviewed 600 women at Texas abortion clinics. Heres what she saw.

Most women who used misoprostol  a safe pill commonly used in abortion clinics but available without a prescription in Mexico  were successful in ending their pregnancies, the research found. Women who used home remedies found their attempts failed and sought care at an abortion clinic.

Common factors among the 721 women surveyed and 18 interviewed found they lived in poverty or had other obstacles that led them to believe they had no other option, such as finding their nearest clinic had closed or they could not afford to pay for the procedure. Nearly all said they would have preferred to go to a clinic instead of ending their pregnancies themselves, the study showed.

Self-managed abortion could be on the rise as people from states hostile to abortion wrestle with restrictive policies. The Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights, found 18 percent of non-hospital clinics across the country reported treating at least one case of a person who attempted an abortion without a doctors help in 2017. Thats up from 12 percent in 2014.

The Texas study, which involved a researcher from Guttmacher, suggests self-managed abortions could become more common in Texas if clinics become more difficult to access. Researchers say that could be especially true in South Texas  where women are closer to Mexico and can more readily obtain misoprostol  or among poor women who cannot afford an abortion, which can cost $500 or more.

If people have to choose a self-managed procedure thinking that what they could be doing is dangerous or that it could compromise their future fertility, and theyre therefore scared and think they have no other options, thats not health care with dignity, said Liza Fuentes, senior research scientist at Guttmacher who worked in collaboration with the Texas Policy Evaluation Project on the study.

She said the findings show a need to ensure women who try to end their pregnancies at home have accurate information about effective methods and what to expect.

For subscribers: Houston study: Young homeless dont seek medical care after rape

The research was conducted in 2012 and 2014, before and after a Texas law forced nearly half the states abortion clinics to close. The 2013 law imposed regulations the U.S. Supreme Court found created an undue burden on a womans right to an abortion. The high court struck down the law in 2016, ruling that the clinic closures caused women to drive farther and face longer wait times.

The data is too old to offer a sense of how accessible abortions are, said Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life. Five abortion clinics and more than 100 centers offering alternatives to abortion have opened since researchers conducted its last interviews and surveys, he said.

I believe there are grave reasons to question the relevance of the data that the author is putting forward because its quite old and things have changed he Texas, said Pojman.

There are 24 clinics performing abortions in Texas, down from 41 that were open before the Texas law.

More than 52,000 abortions were reported in Texas in 2017, the latest year of which data is available. In 2012, the year before the law instituted regulations that caused clinics to close, more than 68,000 were performed.

Texas has passed other abortion restrictions that have withstood legal challenges, such as a 2011 law requiring abortion providers to show or describe an ultrasound image of the fetus to the woman and play sounds of the fetal heart beat before moving forward with the procedure.
Liberia: Untapped fisheries sector could save economy as World Bank, EU pushing Mesurado Pier Fix

by Rodney Sieh

January 09,2020 | Source: FPA

Pointing to what was once a vibrant and lucrative Mesurado fishing Pier, near the Coast Guard Base at the Freeport of Monrovia Wednesday, Yevewuo Subah, the coordinator of the World Bank project looking to revamp the fisheries sector in Liberia, foresees a rebirth for fishing where Liberia could become a beehive for fishing activities, not just domestic but for the West African sub-region. In a post-war, transitioning democratic nation short on cash and an economy in a freefall with prices of traditional resources like iron ore, rubber, gold and diamond, this could mean good news in the long term. The industry has always been around. As far back as 1848 when Liberia made its first attempt at commercial fishing, then President Joseph Jenkins Roberts, converted his yacht into a fishing boat. The first fishing trawler to operate in Liberian coastal waters belonged to Woerman, a German company that operated in the country between 1938 and 1939.



During those days, fishing was a daily activity with the trawlers returning to port at the end of each fishing day and catches were sold immediately to avoid post-harvest losses because of lack of means for preservation of fresh fish. Considering the success of the Woerman Company and the realization of the potential important role of fisheries in national socio-economic development, the Government of Liberia, in 1952, requested the assistance of FAO and the United States Government to help develop its fisheries subsector. Experts were sent from FAO and the United States of America to assess the fisheries potential of the country. As a result of months of exploratory fishing, it was established that a medium striving fishing industry could be established in the country.



World Bank EU Keen on Resurrection Play



Many years later, NaFAA is hoping for a return to the days when the sector was at its peak. Through the World Bank and the European Union, Subah says efforts are being made to restore the pier so that industrial and semi industrial vessel can resume landing to what we foresee to be an industrial fishing market. It will provide an opportunity for those who want to go into processing a and give fishermen access to good quality fish and encourage local fishermen to process fish for market. As you know, fresh fish is more valuable than frozen fish.



For months now, the National Fisheries & Aquaculture Authority(NaFAA) has been in discussions with the World Bank for a fisheries project valued at US$21 million. Phase two of that project dubbed, the West Africa Regional Fisheries Project (WARFP) came to an end as a result of the pause on regional project by the bank in December 2018. It has now been increased to US$40 million subsequent to the agreement in July 2019 to continue with as a National Project. The project titled Sustainable Management of the Fisheries Project aims to sustain the gains of the WARFP in Liberia and develop National capacity to improve the value added and increase the economic contribution to the fisheries sectors and the restoration of key infrastructure to enhance the sector contribution to the economy.



The new World Bank National Fisheries Project will focus on the rehabilitation and expansion of the Mesurado Fishing Pier to a state-of-the-art Modern Fishing port with onshore processing facilities for value addition, it will also prioritize the establishment of landing jetties targeted in five coastal counties with densely populated fishing communities such as Montserrado, Grand Bassa County etc, in an effort to reduce to huge Post Harvest loss and supply the domestic market with high quality of fish products which has a fish demand deficit of 33, 000metric tons. Liberia has the longest coastline in West Africa and the government is hoping to improve food security and ensure the livelihoods of the countrys 33,000 fisherfolk.



With infrastructure development in the fisheries sector, Liberia will be in a strong position to compete with its next-door neighbor, and gravitate from a regime of only issuance of License for wild marine fisheries to a fully industrialize and commercialized fishing industry which includes huge exports proceeds, signing of fish access agreement through bilateral arrangements such as EU-Liberia or Senegal-Liberia as well as with Private Tuna fishing industry. To date, Liberia has no site for industrial fishing vessels to unload. This is where the proposed rehabilitation and reclamation of parts of the pier will provide, a jetty for industrial fishing vessels to land and offload and/or transship fish, and (ii) product storage and transport facilities. Mesurado Pier was the site of one of the largest fish export operations in Africa during the 1960s and 1970s, but has fallen into disrepair since the conflict. This rehabilitation would provide the country with a key entry point for fish processing and products.



Abandoned Vessels vs. Illegal Fishing



Director General Emma Metieh Glassco explains that the World Bank project should address a number of issues holding the sector from taking off in Liberia. The World Bank is allotting at least 40M towards revamping the Fisheries sector which is seems to be a short-, medium and long-term domestic revenue source for contribution towards the national budget. It tends to focus on the expansion and rehabilitation of Mesurado fishing pier into a modern fishing port and the establishment of landing jetties in fishing communities. The Mesurado fishing port/pier when industrialized could be the engine for national growth.



In early, February,2019 Liberia signed a partnership agreement with the Icelandic government for the purpose of establishing and equipping national fisheries competent laboratory to meet up with international standards for the certification and testing of fish product both for imports and exports. It will also include smoke ovens in local fishing communities. Through the setting of the Competent Laboratory, Liberia is expected to gain accreditation from the EU, USA, Japan and other international markets for direct export of fish. Presently, Glassco says, all fish products are tested and certified through second-member states within the sub-region, for example, Ghana.



Portions of the Mesurado Pier is still rundown but not for long. In a few days, the World Bank is expected to put pen to paper on the deal that should get the revamp project underway. But even amid the expectations, the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority is struggling to rid the area of abandoned vessels still docking at the pier, many of them yet to pay fines for illegal fishing. Glassco says efforts are underway to remove abandoned vessels from the Mesurado Pier. The process which started mid last year is forcing all vessels owners and agents to apply efforts to remove the vessels including those that went through court proceeding including F/V Nine Star which is being scrapped. The F/V Eros, another abandoned vessel has committed itself to the final payment of financial obligation while agents for the F/V Seiro-1 vessel have promised to get it removed on or before January 31, 2020. F/V Global 8, another vessel has been refurbished for fishing operations as well as F/V Benty-1 which is to be turned over to the Agent for possession.



Besides these five vessels, Glassco says, all others are submerged wrecks which can only be removed under different arrangements. Illegal fishing has been a huge problem in West Africa with some seven million people living along the coast and the sea is their livelihood. Industrial fishing fleets from Europe and China and are ravaging coastal fish stocks. The Liberian government has been working with Sea Shepherd for two years to try and stop illegal fishing.



Partnering with Sea Shepherd, Liberian Coast Guard sailors and Marine Fisheries inspectors have been working to stop illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in their territorial waters. This has enhanced Liberias reputation as a regional leader in the fight against illegal fishing. Since the start of this co-operation between Sea Shepherd and the Coast Guard, fifteen fishing vessels have been held for illegal fishing and other fisheries crimes; only three arrests were made in the seven years prior to this partnership.



The World Bank is allotting at least 40M towards revamping the Fisheries sector which is seems to be a short-, medium and long-term domestic revenue source for contribution towards the national budget. It tends to focus on the expansion and rehabilitation of Mesurado fishing pier into a modern fishing port and the establishment of landing jetties in fishing communities. The Mesurado fishing port/pier when industrialized could be the engine for national growth.  Emma Metieh Glassco, Director-General, National Fisheries and Aquaculutre Authority



A Lucrative, Profitable Business



A 1983 Bio-Economic Analysis of the Liberian Shrimp Fishery and review of other marine fisheries in Liberia documented for the International Finance Corporation in Washington, DC, concluded even then that the revenue nature of taxes on fuel, duties, and the opportunity costs of labor were considered. The analysis came to the conclusion that Maximum economic rent would be generated from the shrimp fishery with a fleet size of about fourteen 365 HP crawlers. At this level it is estimated that approximately 800 tonnes of shrimp would be caught annual with an approximate landed value of $US5.7 million dollars. Because of the uncertainty in the accuracy of the data used to parameterized the shrimp production model and the cost benefit analysis, this estimate could be in error by up to three trawlers. Some 37 years later, the potential remains.



Close neighbors Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea and The Gambia are seeing huge gains, showing encouraging signs that Liberia could generate the same or even better. For example, the artisanal subsector in The Gambia employs between 25,000 and 30,000 people, while about 2,000 people work in the industrial sub-sector. The livelihoods of an estimated 200,000 people are indirectly dependent on fisheries and related activities. For women in particular, fish processing and marketing provide an important source of income and livelihood support: an estimated 80 percent of fish processors and 50 percent of small-scale fish traders are women.



In neighboring Guinea, the National Institute of Statistics, reports the contribution of the industry to the GDP is 15,8 percent while fisheries represent only 3.7 percent. All the fisheries sectors contribute with more than 40 percent to the total State budget. In Ghana, the Fisheries sector is estimated to contribute about 3 percent of the nations gross domestic product (GDP) and 5 percent of the Agriculture GDP.  The per capita consumption of fish is estimated at about 25 kg per annum representing 60 percent of animal protein intake by the Ghanaian populace.



In the Ivory Coast, a modern fishing wharf opened since 1964 in Abidjan, which is Africas largest tuna fishing port, handling about 100,000 tons of tuna each year. There are fish hatcheries in Bouake, Bamoro and Korhogo. Commercial fishing for tuna is carried on in the Gulf of Guinea; sardines are also caught in quantity. The total catch was 71,841 tons in 2004, with commercial fishing accounting for 25 percent; artisanal fishing, 74 percent; and aquaculture, 1 percent.



To the contrary, in Liberia, the sector has been underperforming unlike other countries because of outdated laws and lack of polices to probably manage the fishing sector. During the 1970, Liberia generated at least 40M per annum from the Mesurado Fishing Pier on export of shrimps which happens to be one of our main commercial species to Japan. Glassco says in order to compete with other fishing countries such as Gambia, which has a robust semi-industrial fishing sector, the local fishermen must be fair enough to pay for the fish resources harvested. In so doing, the government can provide subsidies to local fishermen and fish mongers and develop a robust semi-industrial program which will include value addition component and processing facilities.



Fee Increase in Play



Looking to change the trend, Glassco says, in the next few days, NaFAA says it aims to increase licensing fee in a bid to generate more revenues for government. Glassco explains that there are several reasons which justifies the increment of license fees for semi-industrial boats includes. They have been operating without a legal fee structure or gentlemen agreement from previous administrations, unlike the industrial fishing program. Glassco adds that the current fee is completely insignificant to the resources that are being harvested.



For example, she says, the average harvest per annum for a semi-industrial boat is 9 tonnes of fish which is equivalent to 5.8 M LD/ 23,000USD with a profit of 1.5M LD or 8,000USD. Whereas the government gets only 10,00LD/ 53USD which less than 1% of their total profit. These are some of the reasons attributed to an underperforming fisheries sector. Our judgment is based on other immigrants fishermen with the same engine capacity paying $600.00 per annum. The fee increment will not affect peddling canoes, it will only affect motorized boats which is defined in our law as semi-industrial boats.



Controversial deal explained



The NaFAA is coming off a rugged but successful 2019, marred by controversy over a Liberia-Senegal Fisheries Partnership Agreement that raised eyebrows and send fishermen and women haywire. Glassco explains that the agreement will seek to increase fish production as well, which will then lead to the reduction of the price of fish on the local market. Glassco indicated that key action under the agreement will see that all 100 artisanal canoes (paddle canoes) will only be permitted to sell their catch on the Liberian local market, adding that all industrial vessels will be licensed under this agreement. She adds that 40 percent of the semi-industrial (200 canoes) catch shall be landed in Liberia and 60 percent exported due to lack of market, thereby increasing Liberias trade balance and improved foreign exchange earnings. While the rehabilitation and reclamation of the Mesurado Pier for fish landing will bring in much-needed revenues to Liberia, it is also expected to complement the Robertsport Fish Landing Cluster (RFLC) preservation facilities which was launched in late 2017.



The cluster is capable of storing two tons of fish per day in a privately-owned cold storage and then sold at higher prices by women, who dominate the sector. According to the World Bank, Fisheries employment increased by 16% as result of recovered stocks, and more jobs are being created, giving fishermen and women newfound hope for their livelihoods and the wellbeing of their community. The World Banks investment in the project stems from Liberias rich past which saw the Mesurado Terminal thriving with exports to world markets. Stakeholders are hopeful that a return to those days is still possible. When completed, the refurbished Mesurado Pier will be the home of a new fishing industry of multi-purpose vessels under Liberian ownership, providing sustainable management of fisheries, food security, and employment.



But more importantly, industry watchers would be keen to see how driven Liberia is to make use of the efforts the World Bank and the EU are making to complete a project many say is key to revitalizing Liberias economy. But first, the fine-prints of the US$40 million World Bank cash would be crucial as to how the Weah-led government utilize the sector to its advantage.

Theme(s): Coastal Ecosystems and Threats, Post Harvest Technology and Trade, Freshwater ecosystems and threats, Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods, Communities and Organisations, Fisheries Development and Aquaculture, Fisheries Resources, Landing Centres, Others.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 9, 2020) - CHC Student Housing Corp. (TSXV: CHC) ("CHC" or the "Company") announces that it has completed the previously announced sale of its Trois-Rivieres, Quebec student housing property to an arm's length party for total gross proceeds of $3.15 million. Net proceeds to the Company from the sale following payment of the first mortgage on the property, working capital deficiency at the property and transaction expenses were approximately $425,000, and were used in whole to pay a portion of the deferred interest on the second mortgage on the Company's London, Ontario property.

The Company also wishes to announce that it has mailed and filed its management information circular and related meeting materials in connection with the annual and special meeting of shareholders to be held on January 24, 2020. The purpose of the meeting includes seeking approval for the previously announced sale of the Company's London, Ontario property to an arm's length party. The meeting materials are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company encourages shareholders to read the meeting materials in detail. To ensure that your CHC shares will be represented at the meeting, shareholders should carefully follow the voting instructions provided in the meeting materials. The deadline for the receipt of proxies is 5:00 p.m. (Eastern time) on January 22, 2020.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For more information, please contact:

Simon Nyilassy, President and Chief Executive Officer

CHC Student Housing Corp.

Telephone: (416) 504-9380

Email: snyilassy@marigoldandassociates.com

Ron Schwarz, Chair

CHC Student Housing Corp.

Telephone: (416) 593-7085

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/51272
Members of AITUC and INTUC block a train during the trade unions nationwide strike in West Midnapore district of West Bengal on Wednesday. (PTI)

New Delhi: Barring Kerala, that saw a complete shutdown, and West Bengal that witnessed violent clashes, the Bharat Bandh called by trade unions affiliated to the Left parties and the Congress remained by and large peaceful and limited to certain sectors only, having no major impact on people in much of the country.

However, public sector banks remained closed throughout the country, and autos, taxis, buses refused to ply in some cities, while universities saw students marching in protest during the Bharat Bandh called by trade unions against the Centres anti-people labour policies, and against the CAA, NRC, NPR as well as the attack on JNU students.

The day-long Bharat Bandh was expected to see the participation of 25 crore people. Huge crowds were seen taking part in protests. While the bandh largely remained peaceful, incidents of clashes between Trinamul Congress and Congress-Left workers were reported in West Bengal.

The ruling Trinamul decided not to participate in the bandh. Incidents of stone-pelting at state transport buses were also seen in Karnatakas Madikeri district.

The corporate sector largely worked smoothly, while schools and colleges too were open in several parts of the country.

In Left-ruled Kerala, normal life was severely affected with public transport services keeping off the roads and banking services hit. Schools and colleges had declared a holiday and three major universities in the state postponed their examinations. Shops, hotels and other business establishments were shut in the state.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his ministers also did not attend office.

In Delhi, trade unions held a protest at ITO while the students of Delhi University marched against the CAA, NRC, NPR and the violence at JNU. DUs St. Stephens College, that largely stays away from all protests, also saw a boycott of classes and slogan-shouting in protest.

However, the city remained by and large free of disruptions, but industrial workers in the Mayapuri ans Wazirabad area stayed away from work. The Delhi Metro and the the Delhi Transport Corporation services functioned normally in Delhi, and schools and colleges remained open.

We are protesting against the anti-labour laws of the Narendra Modi government, and the labour codes they plan to introduce which are against the welfare of workers. They even want to sell a Maharatna like Bharat Petroleum, and move towards privatisation, said CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali.
(Newser)  The nation's largest consumer electronics show hosted Ivanka Trump as a keynote speaker  a choice that drew scorn from many women in technology. Ivanka Trump spoke for nearly 40 minutes onstage Tuesday with Gary Shapiro, president of CES organizer Consumer Technology Association. She highlighted the work the administration has done with tech companies to retrain their workers for new skills. There was no mention of the pushback about her appearance at the show, the AP reports. The hall was full, and she was met with applause. The annual CES tech gathering in Las Vegas has long taken criticism over diversity issues. In recent years, CES organizers have invited more women to speak and sought to curb some of the show's more sexist aspects, such as scantily clad "booth babes" hired to draw attention of the mostly male attendees.

story continues below

But for critics and activists who have pushed for broader recognition of the less-heralded women who found startups and take on difficult technical challenges, the inclusion of President Trump's daughter, who is also a White House adviser, sent the wrong message. "Ivanka is not a woman in tech," tweeted Brianna Wu, a video game developer who is running for Congress as a Democrat. "It's a lazy attempt to emulate diversity." Opponents tweeted the hashtag #BoycottCES. Shapiro said, "Weve had politicians speak before, cabinet secretaries and others who've come in." Rachel Sklar, a tech commentator and founder of a professional network for women, was disappointed. "The whole category of women being overlooked are still being overlooked," she said. "Ivanka Trump disrupted the conversation about women in tech," read Engadget's headline, "while saying nothing about them."

(Read more Consumer Electronics Show stories.)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 00:22:15|Editor: huaxia

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LUSAKA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Zambian President Edgar Lungu on Thursday inspected fields and families affected by floods in the eastern part of the country and pledged government's support.

Over 250 people in Mambwe district of eastern Zambia have been displaced while crops have been submerged forcing the government to provide humanitarian assistance. Other districts in the province have been affected.

The country's meteorological body has warned that floods are likely to continue as the district was expected to receive more rain.

The Zambian leader visited the affected families who have been sheltered at a local school where the government has provided tents and was providing food, according to state-broadcaster, the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation.

He helped in the distribution of relief food and other support materials to the people.

The Zambian leader told the affected people to start cultivating their crops on higher land as opposed to conducting their farming in lower grounds.

According to him, the government has sourced enough food for everyone.

Laston Mbewe, a civic leader said the people were willing to relocate to higher ground during the next farming season. Enditem
Maharashtra government is open to reinvestigating the death of special CBI judge B H Loya in 2014, state home minister Anil Deshmukh said here on Thursday.

Loya, who was hearing the high-profile Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case of Gujarat, died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague's daughter.

"Our government is open to reinvestigating the Loya death case. Some people are meeting me today to demand that the case be reopened. I will hear them out and if necessary, the case will be reinvestigated," Deshmukh told reporters.

Asked if Loya's family members were meeting him, the minister said, "I don't want to disclose that."



Meanwhile, Deshmukh praised the police officers who were part of the operation to nab fugitive gangster Ejaz Lakdawala from Patna on Wednesday night.

He said the gangster's daughter Shifa Shaikh had put 'Manish Advani' as her father's name in her passport.

"She was arrested in the fake passport case and Lakdawala was nabbed after the police came to know of his whereabouts. The police are investigating who is Manish Advani," he said.

Asked if the police officers who nabbed Lakdawala will be rewarded, he said, "They have gone a good job and a decision on rewarding them will be taken."



Lakdawala, who was earlier an associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and gangsters Chhota Shakeel and Chhota Rajan, was operating on his own since 2008-09, Deshmukh said.

"He has 26 extortion cases, four cases under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and 80 other complaints against him," the minister said.

On BJP's criticism that police were under political pressure to withdraw cases against those who protested the JNU violence at Gateway of India here, Deshmukh said the police were probing from where Mumbai resident Mehek Prabhu got the placard with the message "Free Kashmir", and what were her intentions behind displaying it.

"She has given her side of the story and after investigations are completed, a decision on the FIR will be taken," he said.

Deshmukh also said that he has sought a report on the status of probe into the Koregaon Bhima violence on January 1, 2018.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bishops from Europe and North America will visit East Jerusalem, Ramallah and the Gaza Strip on 11-16 January. Their schedule includes official meetings as well as visits with seniors, the sick and the disabled, focused on prayer, pilgrimage, persuasion and presence.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews)  The Coordination of Episcopal Conferences in Support of the Church in the Holy Land, better known as the Holy Land Coordination (HLC), is set to conduct its annual visit in the area on 11-16 January.

The HLC, which involves prelates from Europe and North America, will meet Christians in Ramallah, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. Despite its small size, the latters community is stronger than the walls and bans that have prevented its members from celebrating this Christmas in Bethlehem.

During their stay, the bishops will discuss, in addition to pastoral care, peace-building and dialogue, two topics that have always taken centre stage at the meetings of prelates.

The latter will also visit the sick, a home where the Sisters of Mother Teresa care for seniors and disabled residents, as well as meet young people in Ramallah and East Jerusalem.

The official schedule includes a Mass and a round table at the Latin Patriarchate with the Apostolic Administrator Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa and the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli.

In their announcement, the prelates expressed their solidarity and closeness to the faithful In the Gaza Strip, who received very few permits from Israel to visit Bethlehem and other holy places for last months Christmas celebrations.

This years visit[*] is dedicated to the promotion of peace and dialogue in an area where the Church experiences extreme political and social-economic pressure.

Following tradition, the visit will focus on four aspects: prayer, pilgrimage, persuasion and presence.

The presence of European and North American bishops puts the spotlight on the problems of Christians in the region, who live on the margins amid great difficulties.

Such a visit helps Christians around the world to know better the places where Christ was born and lived, encouraging them to come and see how the communities of the Holy Land survive.

Over the years, the HLC has highlighted and spoken out on other issues as well, such as family reunification, land seizures, illegal evictions and house demolitions, not to illegal occupation, separation walls and oppression.

The bishops have repeatedly appealed to Israelis and Palestinians to end the violence and conflict and search lasting peace.

In one statement on security, they said that to be pro-Israeli has to mean being pro-Palestinian. This means being pro-justice for all, whose certain fruit is lasting peace.

[*] The first visit was in 1998.
Facebook announced on Thursday that it would not change its ad policy ahead of the 2020 elections and will continue to allow political ads with false or misleading information.

In the absence of regulation, Facebook and other companies are left to design their own policies, wrote the companys director of product management Rob Leathern in a blog post. We have based ours on the principle that people should be able to hear from those who wish to lead them, warts and all, and that what they say should be scrutinized and debated in public.

The policy has come under fire from Democrats who accuse the company of allowing misleading campaign ads by President Trump. In October, the Trump campaign ran an ad alleging rival Joe Biden and his Hunter engaged in corrupt practices with regard to Ukraine, enraging Democratic candidates.

Our approach is grounded in Facebooks fundamental belief in free expression, respect for the democratic process and the belief that, in mature democracies with a free press, political speech is already arguably the most scrutinized speech there is, Katie Harbath, Facebooks head of global communications, wrote in a letter to the Biden campaign explaining the decision to run the ad. Senator Elizabeth Warren subsequently ran her own Facebook ad accusing company CEO Mark Zuckerberg of backing President Trump for reelection.

Andrew Bosworth, head of Facebooks virtual and augmented reality division, in a December 30 memo obtained by the New York Times dismissed widely repeated claims that Trump won election in 2016 due to Russian disinformation campaigns.

Trump got elected because he ran the single best digital ad campaign Ive ever seen from any advertiser, Bosworth wrote. The campaign didnt run misinformation or hoaxes, nor was it microtargeting or saying different things to different people. [The campaign] just used the tools we had to show the right creative to each person.

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Joe Lavore, Founder of Rehab Therapy Works Our patients and physicians have trusted the Rehab Therapy Works name and services for over 20 years. We are pleased to be extending these services to the Trinity and New Port Richey areas.

Rehab Therapy Works (RTW) is pleased to announce their newest physical therapy clinic opened January 2nd, in Trinity, FL. Located at 1839 Health Care Drive, the clinic is RTWs 10th location.

RTW specializes in providing exceptional physical therapy through a combination of evidence-based practice, care excellence, and clinical excellence. Services offered from the Trinity clinic will include manual and orthopaedic physical therapy and Pain Neuroscience Education.

Our patients and physicians have trusted the Rehab Therapy Works name and services for over 20 years. We are pleased to be extending these services to the Trinity and New Port Richey areas, said Joe Lavore, PT and founder of the Rehab Therapy Works clinics in Spring Hill and Hudson.

Randy Wiemer, PT, DPT, serves as the Trinity Clinic Director alongside Kim Eneberg, PT, a full-time primary treating physical therapist.

"I am so excited to have rung in the new year by opening the newest Rehab Therapy Works location in Trinity, says Wiemer. This clinic is a great opportunity for us to meet the needs of our patients and offer excellent customer service/care to the Trinity community. I look forward to helping the community work to achieve their optimal level of function.

For more information about the new Trinity clinic and a full list of RTWs services and offerings, please visit https://www.myrtw.com/.

To book an appointment, please call 727-339-1180.

About Rehab Therapy Works

Since 1998, Rehab Therapy Works (RTW) has served Florida residents with outpatient physical, occupational, and speech therapy services across three locations in Hudson, Trinity, and Spring Hill, Florida. RTW remains physical therapist owned and committed to developing strong, independent physical therapists serving the residents of in their local communities. As a proud Medicare-certified rehab agency, we accept Medicare, workers compensation, private pay and most insurances. For more information on Rehab Therapy Works, please visit http://www.myrtw.com.
Trudeau is just the latest PM to keep his distance from an American act of war

Justin Trudeau emerged on Wednesday afternoon to deal publicly with the world as it is, in all its complexity and danger.

Not for the first time, a Canadian prime minister was asked about an American military adventure. Not for the first time, the response required a combination of diplomacy and differentiation.

The unanswerable question is what else might happen next.

The alarming prospect of armed conflict between the United States and Iran was superceded in Trudeau's remarks by the deaths of 63 Canadian citizens in the crash of a Ukraine International Airlines flight near Tehran. Only after dealing with that tragedy did the prime minister turn to what he described as the "deeply concerning events in Iraq."

Trudeau specifically and explicitly condemned the Iranian military's firing of missiles into American military bases in Iraq, including one base where Canadian soldiers were stationed.

"We continue to encourage a de-escalation of tensions and a dialogue in the region," the prime minister said.

Only in response to a reporter's question did he comment on Donald Trump's decision to order the targeted killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani  the act that prompted Iran to launch two dozen missiles into Iraq on Tuesday night.

"Canada has long been aware of the threat posed by the IRGC on regional and global safety and security," Trudeau said after being asked whether he accepted the American claim that Soleimani posed an imminent threat. "The Americans made a decision based on their threat assessment."

This was neither a condemnation nor an endorsement of the American action  and it has the effect of maintaining some distance between this country and what the American president has done.

Pearson and Johnson, Trudeau and Nixon

From Vietnam to Iraq, there are precedents for keeping our distance, however uneasily.

Lester B. Pearson famously provoked Lyndon Johnson's ire in March 1965 when the prime minister went to Philadelphia and delivered a speech in which he called for a temporary halt to American bombing in North Vietnam. Johnson grabbing Pearson by the lapels and lecturing him at Camp David is one of the more iconic moments in the history of Canadian-American relations.

Story continues

Eight years later, Pierre Trudeau ran afoul of Richard Nixon over another wave of U.S. bombs.

That Trudeau, like this one, had just been narrowly re-elected with a minority that depended on the NDP for survival. With the stridently anti-war New Democrats pushing for a resolution that would condemn the American bombing of Hanoi, the Liberal government introduced a motion that both deplored the bombing and called on all sides to cease "acts of a warlike nature."

Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Nixon was furious and Canada-U.S. relations dropped into a deep chill for the remainder of Nixon's time in office. According to historical accounts, Nixon pointedly declined to send a letter of condolence when Trudeau's mother died sometime after the resolution was passed.

Trump the unpredictable

Nixon was perhaps not the most calm or rational man to ever occupy the White House, but even his approach to power seems relatively cautious when you compare him with Trump. Justin Trudeau is, like all of his predecessors, compelled to mind the economic and political realities of this country's relationship with the United States. But no prime minister has ever been faced with a president less reliable or predictable than the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

When surveyed last year, 71 per cent of Canadians said they didn't trust Trump to do the "right thing" in world affairs. Point of comparison: 59 per cent of Canadians said they believed George W. Bush would do the right thing in 2003, the year he led the United States into the war in Iraq.

That sense of insecurity hangs over this situation like a dark cloud, even on a day when it seemed like cooler heads had somehow prevailed.

Further retaliation by the Iranians is not inconceivable and it remains unclear what the Americans imagine they'll do next. Trump said publicly on Thursday morning that he would be asking NATO to become more involved in the Middle East  though Trudeau told reporters that the president has made no specific request.

Dealing with all of that will test Trudeau at a time when he's trying to rehabilitate his government and his own credibility. And he will be pressed on all sides by rival parties who want him to be somehow tougher, or clearer, or more involved. If the House of Commons had been sitting this week, the NDP no doubt would have pushed Trudeau to condemn the killing of Soleimani, just as his father's government publicly criticized the bombing of Hanoi.

For at least as long as Donald Trump is president, there are going to be more moments like this. It's also not guaranteed that things will go back to normal whenever the next president is sworn in.

Figuring out how Canada should navigate this new world has become the necessary objective of Trudeau's presence on the world stage. It's a challenge he may end up passing on to his successors.
Protesters gather in Times Square Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, in New York. The U.S. and Iran stepped back from the brink of possible war Wednesday, as President Donald Trump indicated he would not respond militarily after no one was harmed in Iran's missile strike on two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

SINGAPORE  Singaporeans are strongly advised against travelling to, or remaining in, Iraq and Iran, in light of rising tensions in the Middle East, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

In a statement on Thursday (9 January), the ministry noted that the Republic has no diplomatic representation in either country, which constrains its ability to extend consular assistance in an emergency.

Singaporeans intending to travel to, or who are already in, the Middle East are also encouraged to eRegister with MFA, monitor the local news, heed the advice of the local authorities and take necessary precautions.

Those who need consular assistance can contact the 24-hour MFA Duty Office (24 hours) at +65 6379 8800 / 8855 or mfa_duty_officer@mfa.gov.sg

MFA added that Singapore is deeply concerned about the current situation. There is an urgent need for all parties to exercise maximum restraint and de-escalate tensions and return to dialogue and diplomacy to resolve their differences.

Tensions have been high in the region since a US airstrike near Baghdad airport last Friday killed Qassem Soleimani, the general who ran Iranian military operations in Iraq and Syria.

In retaliation, Iran launched missiles on U.S. military bases in Iraq on Tuesday evening.

However, US president Donald Trump has said that there were no American casualties suffered in the attack, and that Iran appeared to be standing down.
US President will attend this year's global economic forum in the Swiss alpine resort of Davos, having cancelled last year's trip, a senior administration official said Thursday. The official confirmed Trump would make the January 21-22 trip, even though several other major world leaders are expected to stay away.

Last year, Trump pulled out of Davos, which attracts wealthy business people, celebrities and politicians, in the midst of a budget battle with Congress that saw the US government shut down.

He will make the trip amid mounting tension over his Senate impeachment trial and fears of conflict in the Middle East after the US killing of a leading Iranian general and



Tehran's retaliatory missile strike against US troops in Iraq. The White House said that Trump's delegation will include his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband and top presidential advisor Jared Kushner.

A high-level economic team will include Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
What if you get stuck on the highway in a storm? Here are some tips
Heres something different for your Saturday afternoon.

Take a whirlwind trip to New York.

Fathom Events presents will present the Metropolitan Operas current production, Wozzeck, at cinemas nationwide. In Beaumont, the high-def screening will be at Cinemark 15 & XD.

New York Times theater critic Anthony Tommasini wrote:

Alban Bergs bleak opera Wozzeck tells the story of an impoverished and increasingly delusional soldier driven to murder and suicide. And few works look at life with more searing honesty. The issues that drive this wrenching, profound opera are especially timely: the impact of economic inequality on struggling families; the looming threats of war and environmental destruction; the rigid stratification  almost militarization  of every element of society.

The opera is directed by South African filmmaker William Kentridge, whose animation and illustrations are part of the dramatic set. It stars Peter Mattei in the title role and soprano Elza van den Heever as his wife Marie. The orchestra is conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin.

In addition to the Mets operas, Fathom Events brings major sporting events, music concerts and Broadway shows to movie theaters.

Later this month, Fathom will present the Bolshoi Ballets Giselle and, in February, the Mets Porgy and Bess.

Get another bite of the Big Apple with a late lunch at New York Pizza & Pasta (790 Neches and 4405 Calder Ave.).

syd.kearney@beaumontenterprise.com
The primary rule of commemorations must be first do no harm.

And it is one the Government has broken in its handling of the 1920 centenary.

Some sleeping dogs are best left to their slumbers instead of startling them back to snarling life.

It takes the most dexterous fingers to defuse the trip-switch of a bitterly conflicted past; handled clumsily, it will blow up in your face, as Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has discovered.

If the history of the RIC in Ireland was inflammatory, that of the Black and Tans was explosive.

Once British prime minister David Lloyd George asserted the conflict in Ireland was "a policeman's job supported by the military and not vice versa", the RIC was on the frontline in his government's war with the IRA.

Between 1919 and 1921, policemen made up by far the highest number of crown forces casualties. More than 400 were killed.

RIC men were regarded as decent people lured into the force by the necessity of making a living. They should not have been pitched into a tit-for-tat cycle of violence which would spiral out of control with the arrival of the Black and Tans in 1920.

Too many died doing their duty and they have a right to be remembered.

The loss of any life must always be a matter of regret in a civilised society but the Government found itself pitched into the molten furnace of history when the perception took hold that its members would be honoured as part of the commemorations.

Attributing justifications in retrospect is futile.

At this remove, all we can say is that atrocities happened and needless blood was spilled.

The stony silence that remains unbroken over much of our history tells its own story.

In a war of any kind, few come out on the side of the angels.

Yet it is hard to get away from the fact that in the War of Independence the RIC's duty was to back the British government's denial of self-determination to Ireland.

In other words, they were on the other side.

Celebrating those who resisted the formation of the emerging Irish State would clearly be contentious in such a context.

But remembering them respectfully should not be beyond us.

In the words of Cicero: "If no use is made of the labours of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge."

Disentangling history, hoping to find teams of good guys and bad, is simply spurious.

We can all find plenty to irritate, insult, provoke and separate if we look hard enough.

What we need to do is accept the full story and live with it. But we must also resist the temptation to sanitise or try or revise it in order to fit a false narrative.

Our duty today is clear - to get on with it and to see it for what it was, and not as what we might wish it was.
Specialist insurer Beazley and reinsurer RenaissanceRe have jointly launched a product that provides Beazley with additional catastrophe cover for cyber events. The majority of the security behind the deal will be provided by capital market sources structured by RenaissanceRe.

This placing of cyber catastrophe risk into the capital markets opens up a new, larger source of capital to support Beazleys rapidly growing affirmative cyber offering in excess of levels currently available in the traditional reinsurance market, said the companies in a statement.

Beazley and RenRe said they have launched one of the first cyber catastrophe insurance solutions backed by the capital markets.

As the scale of the cyber threat to businesses continues to intensify, the challenge to the insurance industry is to ensure we continue to provide cover that responds as the risk evolves and capacity that is commensurate to the size of the risk, said Adrian Cox, Beazley chief underwriting officer. We are delighted to partner with RenaissanceRe to deliver valued cyber cover to our growing client base whilst managing accumulations of risk within the groups tolerances.

David Marra, RenaissanceRes chief underwriting officer  casualty & specialty, said: We are pleased to partner with Beazley to provide a solution to businesses seeking higher levels of cyber insurance cover. Our ability to address the emerging challenges of the market by structuring attractive opportunities for investors is a hallmark of RenaissanceRes creative approach to risk selection, capital management and client service.

Source: Beazley and RenaissanceRe

Topics Catastrophe Cyber New Markets
Buck Henry, a comedian who created the satirical spy sitcom "Get Smart" with Mel Brooks, was a frequent early host of "Saturday Night Live" and turned "plastics" into a countercultural catchword with his Oscar-nominated screenplay for "The Graduate," died Jan. 8 at a hospital in Los Angeles. He was 89.

The cause was a heart attack, said his wife, Irene Ramp.

A restless entertainer, Henry dabbled in improvisational comedy as well as theater, television and film. He received an Academy Award nomination for co-directing the 1978 afterlife comedy "Heaven Can Wait" with star Warren Beatty; wrote scripts for the sex farce "Candy" (1968), based on the novel by Terry Southern, and the Barbra Streisand screwball comedies "The Owl and the Pussycat" (1970) and "What's Up, Doc?" (1972); and appeared as a droll supporting actor in nearly every film he helped create, including a turn as an anxiety-inducing hotel clerk in "The Graduate" (1967).

"I never wanted to stay at anything very long," he told the New York Times in 2002, while performing in a Broadway revival of the Paul Osborn comedy "Morning's at Seven." "I'm moderately lazy, and I'm interested in much too large a list of things other than my career."

Henry maintained a close association with "Saturday Night Live," where he hosted 10 episodes in the show's first five seasons and helped establish its transgressive brand of humor.

He played Lord Douchebag, an 18th-century English nobleman who observed that "Parliament has always had its share of Douchebags, and it always will," and he portrayed a film actor who abuses a "stunt baby," throwing the crying infant - a prop - against a grandfather clock before flinging it through a glass window.

The skit, and a follow-up that featured a howling "stunt puppy," triggered a torrent of angry letters from viewers. But the segment seemed almost timid compared with Henry's depiction of Uncle Roy, a Polaroid-wielding babysitter who encourages his young wards (Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner) to lift their dresses and hunt for "buried treasure" in his pants.

Created by writers Anne Beatts and Rosie Shuster, the recurring segment first aired in 1978. At Henry's urging, the writers crafted a closing joke in which Uncle Roy slyly gazed into the camera and insisted that he was not "one in a million," but rather that "there's more of me than you might suspect," a reference to what Henry took to be the widespread nature of pedophilia.

"In other words," Henry said in "Live from New York," a 2002 oral history of SNL, "I talked myself into the fact that we were performing - or that I was performing - a public service."

Off camera, Henry cultivated a reputation as a dry-witted comedian-intellectual, claiming to read 200 periodicals each year.

He was "the funniest and most serious guy I'd ever met - simultaneously," said the late director Mike Nichols, a childhood friend with whom Henry collaborated on an adaptation of Joseph Heller's "Catch-22" (1970) and, somewhat less successfully, "The Day of the Dolphin" (1973), a thriller about a plot to assassinate the president using English-speaking dolphins.

"The Graduate," based on Charles Webb's 1963 novella, remained their most enduring project. The film made a star of Dustin Hoffman, who played Benjamin Braddock, a college graduate who has an affair with his parents' friend Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). Mixing wry comedy, sexual drama and a soundtrack by Simon & Garfunkel, the film captured the alienation and rebelliousness of the era and was later ranked No. 7 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 best American movies.

Much to his frustration, Henry shared his Oscar nomination for "The Graduate"with Calder Willingham, who had worked on previous attempts to adapt the novel and sued to receive partial credit for the screenplay.

The book provided much of the film's dialogue - including the oft-quoted line "Mrs. Robinson, you are trying to seduce me. Aren't you?" - but it was Henry who devised the "plastics" exchange, in which a business associate of Benjamin's parents offers career advice to the lost young man.

"I just want to say one word to you, just one word," the businessman declares. "Plastics. . . . There's a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?"

The suggestion neatly encapsulated what some viewers saw as the artificiality and materialism of older generations.

"I was trying to find a word that summed up a kind of stultifying, silly, conversation-closing effort of one generation to talk to another. Plastics was the obvious one," Henry told the Orlando Sentinel in 1992. "I was embarrassed some years later. I got to know some people in the plastics business, and they were really nice."

Henry Zuckerman was born in New York on Dec. 9, 1930. (Long known as Buck, after a grandfather, he later legally changed his name, his wife said.) An only child, he invented a pair of imaginary siblings, telling friends they lived in New Jersey because he assumed nobody would ever go there to visit. His father was a prominent stockbroker, and his mother was silent-film actress Ruth Taylor, who played the flighty Lorelei Lee in the 1928 gold-digging comedy "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." (Marilyn Monroe portrayed Lee in the 1953 screen musical version.)

Henry graduated from Dartmouth College in 1952 and performed with an Army theater group before beginning a long, Benjamin Braddock-like period of what Henry described as "vigorous, total unemployment, characterized by a great deal of sleep."

That lifestyle changed around 1960, when he began performing with the Premise, a Greenwich Village improv group, and developed an offstage alter ego as G. Clifford Prout, the prudish president of a spoof organization called the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals.

Founded by prankster Alan Abel, the group took comic aim at "uptight, silly morality chasers," as Henry put it. He declared that "a nude horse is a rude horse," attempted to place boxer shorts on a baby elephant and was covered by credulous news programs including Walter Cronkite's "CBS Evening News."

The exposure helped him land writing jobs for TV variety programs and appearances on "That Was the Week That Was," a satirical news show. With Ted Flicker, founder of the Premise, he also wrote his first movie, "The Troublemaker" (1964), a comedy about a farmer who arrives in New York to start a coffee shop and realizes he must bribe officials to cut through red tape.

The film bombed - "the world wasn't really waiting for the final definitive attack on the cabaret-licensing system in New York City," Henry quipped - but that same year he was paired by a production company with Brooks in an effort to duplicate the success of the spy series "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."

The result was "Get Smart," a sitcom featuring Don Adams as bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart. The series debuted in 1965 and resulted in an Emmy Award for writing for Henry, who served as the story editor for two of its five seasons. (Henry's relationship with the better-known Brooks frayed over the issue of equal billing, with credits listing the show as "By Mel Brooks with Buck Henry.")

Henry's first marriage ended in divorce, and in 2008 he married Irene Ramp, his sole immediate survivor.

His later film credits included the critically disappointing 1980 political farce "First Family," which was written and directed by Henry and featured Bob Newhart as an ineffectual U.S. president, and the screenplay for "To Die For" (1995), a mockumentary about a murderously ambitious newscaster played by Nicole Kidman.

Henry also continued acting, appearing as Tina Fey's father in the NBC sitcom "30 Rock" and as himself in Robert Altman's 1992 movie "The Player," a Hollywood satire that began with Henry pitching a producer on a sequel to "The Graduate."

The movie, he said, would be set 25 years after the original and would feature a stroke-impaired Mrs. Robinson living with her daughter, Elaine, who had by then married Braddock; Julia Roberts would play their adult daughter.

"I thought . . . it would stop people from ever calling me about a sequel," he told the film magazine Cineaste in 2001. "Instead, of course, the opposite happened. There was a big screening . . . and my scene got a big laugh. In the lobby afterwards, a studio guy came over and said, 'Good joke, good joke. Now let's talk serious about it.' So dumb ideas never die."
Thirteen political parties have endorsed the Electoral Commissions decision to put together a new voters' register ahead of the polls in December 2020.

Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in

According to the 13 political parties, the EC has made a good case for their decision to compile a new register.

The coalition of political parties at a press conference in Accra on Thursday, January 9, 2020, said they are all voting YES for the new register.

READ ALSO: John Dumelo Foundation shares over 2000 exercise books and school bags to kids in Accra

Leader of the coalition, Kofi Akaploo, called on all other parties to support the Electoral Commission in its quest to clean and sanitize the register.

The EC has made a solid case for a new register in terms of cost, time and credibility. We support the compilation of new register and we expect all political parties to support the EC in the quest to deliver a better-organised election than before, Apaloo, leader of LPG said.

He also expressed disappointment on the National Democratic Congress (NDC) decision to oppose and contest the compilation of the new register.

We are saddened by the continued bashing of the EC by the NDC. We know it is deliberate we wish to call on all well-meaning Ghanaians to call the so-called main opposition party to order, he added.

READ ALSO: Incompetent Akufo-Addo has made me lose my good looks - NDC National Organiser

He added that: You will notice that consistently any time we all sit at IPAC and take a decision, the NDC will come out to contradict what we had all agreed on. Any time the NDC has to work with other political parties in the national interest, they turn around and stab the nation in the back.

ATTENTION: Read the best news on Ghana #1 news app. Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Ghana

The 13 political parties making up the coalition include the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), Convention Peoples Party (CPP), New Patriotic Party (NPP), Peoples National Convention (PNC), among others.

YEN.com.gh earlier reported that Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has sent a strong warning to the heads of the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).

Dr. Bawumia charged the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), to sanction managers of the SOE who fail to churn out results or make profits.

Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Source: YEN.com.gh
Iran stresses its right to self-defense against any threat

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New York, Jan 8, IRNA -- Iran's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Majid Takht Ravanchi in a letter to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres underlined Iran right to self-defense against any threat.

"In conformity with international law and in exercising its inherent right to self-defense, Iran will take all necessary and proportionate measures against any threat or use of force," Takht Ravanchi said in his letter.

The full text of Iranian envoy's letter is as follows:

Pursuant to my letter dated 3 January 2020 regarding the terrorist attack by the armed forces of the United States of America against Martyr Major General Qasem Soleimani, the Commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and his companions on 3 January 2020 at the Baghdad International Airport, I am writing to draw your kind attention to yet another provocative statement by the United States threatening to use further force against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

On 3 January 2020 and almost immediately after the terrorist attack, the President of the United States threatened Iran "in particular", stating, "We have all of those targets already fully identified, and I am ready and prepared to take whatever action is necessary".

On 4 January 2020, the President of the United States once again threatened to "hit very fast and very hard" "52 Iranian sites", including some very important to "the Iranian culture".

After a few hours on the same day, he threatened Iran again by stating, "We will hit them harder than they have ever been hit before".

On 5 January 2020, when faced with the criticism that targeting Iran's cultural sites would be considered a war crime under international law, he asserted anew that, "We're not allowed to touch their cultural site? It doesn't work that way".

On the same day, he yet again brazenly threatened that "the United States will quickly [and] fully strike" Iran "in a disproportionate manner".

Overall, only in three days, the President of the United States, through extremely provocative and harsh statements, has threatened five times to use force against a founding member of the United Nations.

Publicly repeating such provocative statements and unlawful threats are without a doubt a clear call for lawlessness, chaos, and disorder at the international level, particularly with respect to a highly important common good such as peace and security.

Such unbridled threats by the President of the United States indisputably constitute a gross violation of the peremptory norms of international law as well as the very fundamental principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter, particularly its Article 2(4) that clearly prohibits the threat or use of force.

Given the confrontational nature of these inflammatory statements and threats, as well as the broad and adverse ramifications of the military adventurism of the United States on regional and international peace and security, it is crystal clear that this country bears the full responsibility for all consequences.

It is also evident that the threat to target Iranian cultural sites is certainly a flagrant violation of the basic norms and principles of international law, and any attack against such sites would be a war crime. Additionally, it should be born in mind that "damage to cultural property belonging to any people whatsoever means damage to the cultural heritage of all mankind".

Recalling that the current insecurity and instability in the broader Persian Gulf region is the direct result of the unlawful invasion of Iraq by the United States in 2003 as well as its massive military presence and its "divide and rule" policy in the region, it is also worth noting that all the abovesaid threats, including to dispatch more troops and "brand new beautiful equipment" to this already volatile region, would indeed further complicate the current tense situation.

I must also stress that the aforementioned statements and actions are only the tip of a submerged iceberg of hostile policies and unlawful practices, as well as the threats and plots of the United States against Iran over the past 40 years.

While the Islamic Republic of Iran does not seek war, it seriously warns against any further military adventurism against it. Iran is determined to continue to strongly protect its people, to vigorously defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity and to fully secure its national interests.

Accordingly, in conformity with international law and in exercising its inherent right to self-defense, Iran will take all necessary and proportionate measures against any threat or use of force.

This is in accordance with its inherent right under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, and Iran will not hesitate to exercise it when required.

The irresponsible policies and unlawful practices of the United States continue to not only endanger the very foundations of international law and order but also pose a real threat to international peace and security.

The international community should not condone or tolerate this situation and must demand that the United States put an end to its continued unlawful and destabilizing measures in such a volatile region as the Middle East, particularly by withdrawing all its forces from the region.

Likewise, the United Nations Security Council must condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the unlawful threats and unfettered policies of the United States as well as hold it accountable for all of its wrongful acts and unlawful practices while compelling it to abide by the principles and rules of international law.

I should be grateful if you would have the present letter circulated as a document of the Security Council.

9376**1424

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When you set out to plan a family vacation to Walt Disney World, the choices can be overwhelming, with where to stay topping that list. Every Disney World resort is family friendly, but with three tiers of accommodations and amenities (value, moderate, deluxe), plus theming that runs the gamut from no-frills with in-your-face characters at Art of Animation to refined (albeit wallet-busting) Victorian elegance at the Grand Floridian, it makes sense to do some serious research before choosing the resort that best suits your taste and budget.

To add to your choices, last December Disney World opened a new resort, Disney's Riviera Resort, which takes its place among the nicestbut also most expensiveresorts on the property. Here, we break it down to help you decide if a stay at Riviera is right for your family.

What's Disney's Riviera Resort Like and Who Should Stay Here?

Inspired by the grand turn-of-the-century European holiday resorts lining the French and Italian Riviera, Disney's Riviera Resort has a decidedly swanky vibe. Despite its nods to the past, this "Deluxe"-tier hotel feels more like a modern European retreat. Disney theming is subtle but abundant across the property, with nods to Walt Disney's European travels showcased throughout the resort's artwork, decor, and even in family photos, books and souvenirs displayed in the Voyageurs' Lounge just off the hotel lobby.

For Parents: If sipping coffee at a French cafe or twirling pasta at a cliffside restaurant in Italy is more your style than downing a theme park hot dog while sweating in line for character meet-and-greets, this is the place for you.

For Kids: There's a lot to entertain the youngest guests here, from a highly rated character breakfast at rooftop restaurant Topolino's Terrace (more on that later) to a zero-depth feature pool and fun "Fantasia"-themed splash area with two small slides, but we think older kids will probably find the most to appreciate. Activities like bocce and giant chess on the lawn, a 30-foot water slide at the Riviera feature pool, Disney movie posters in foreign languages, and hidden mickeys to hunt around every corner will all go a long way toward keeping older kids engaged while parents enjoy their European escape.

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Biggest tip to know before you go: Be sure to snag a weekly resort schedule to make sure you don't miss any of the kid-friendly activities on offer at Riviera. From build-your-own lego race cars for a mini grand prix on the lawn to a toy boat race to open the pool each morning to a scavenger hunt by Skyliner that takes you from Riviera to other area resorts, there's a lot to keep families busy around the property.

Brooke Geiger McDonald

How's the Location?

Just a few months ago, Riviera would never have topped any list of best-positioned Disney resorts. But, thanks to the opening of the Disney Skyliner, Disney's newest transportation system, Riviera is now a quick gondola trip to both Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios. With Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and Disney's most ambitious attraction to date, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, now open and another new ride, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, on the way at Hollywood Studios, plus a whole slew of new attractions in the works over at Epcot, seamless access to these two parks puts Riviera's location on par with the highly coveted "monorail resorts" that provide easy access to both Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

For Parents: If you've ever been to Disney World, there's a good possibility you share the widespread disdain for bus transportation from the resorts to the parks. Service can be inconsistent, buses crowded, and schlepping strollers and squirmy kiddos on them is not the most enjoyable way to start or end the day. The Skyliner changes all of this. Lines move quickly, single strollers can be rolled right on (doubles do need to be collapsed), and travel time is typically much shorter than on the buses (or boats or monorails).

RELATED: 15 Reasons to Book a Disney Vacation in 2020

For Kids: Forget the parks, from a thrilling whoosh at "take-off" and return to the station to breathtaking aerial views of Disney World from the air, the Skyliner is a ride in its own right. My kids, who moan and groan when it's time for the bus, are as excited to hop on the Skyliner as they are to ride Splash Mountain.

Biggest tip to know before you go: Many of the Skyliner's gondolas feature character wraps that, while charming, seriously impact your view from inside the vehicle. If there's not a long wait, ask the cast member at boarding if you can wait for an unwrapped gondola to better take in the sights.

Brooke Geiger McDonald

What Are Riviera's Rooms Like?

Riviera is a Disney Vacation Club (DVC) resort. DVC is Disney's vacation ownership program that operates on a flexible, points-based system (cash reservations are also available). Because all of the rooms are DVC rooms, they have some extra amenities rarely found in a typical hotel room, including a microwave, refrigerator, toaster, wet bar and, depending on the room type, much more. Rooms sleep anywhere from two adults plus an infant in the Tower Studios (a warning: adding a pack and play would make these a very tight squeeze) to up to 12 guests in the massive three-bedroom grand villas.

For Parents: One-bedroom and larger rooms come with a full kitchen, dishwasher, and washer and dryer. This means you can pack lighter, plus save money by eating some of your meals in the room.

For Kids: At Riviera, queen-size Inova murphy beds replace the traditional lumpy sofa beds kids are typically stuck with. The cutest part? Beds pull down to reveal whimsical original artwork created exclusively for the resort and showcasing scenes from classic animated Disney films set in Europe like "Peter Pan" and "101 Dalmations." A small single bed also pulls down from the wall to reveal a sleeping Mickey that kiddos will love to snooze alongside.

Biggest tip to know before you go: When you book your room, you'll have the opportunity to include special room requests such as "first available" or "high floor." To maximize your ease of access to the Skyliner, request "close to transportation." Some rooms are mere steps from its entrance. We timed it on our last trip and traveled via the Skyliner from Hollywood Boulevard, the main drag at Disney's Hollywood Studios, to Riviera, in less than 15 minutes.

Brooke Geiger McDonald

Where Can We Eat?

You can't pretend you're in Europe without eating all the food, can you? Here's where to indulge your culinary wanderlust around the resort.

Le Petit Cafe In the morning, this Parisian-style cafe, named after a spot in the 1970 animated Disney film "The Aristocats," serves up coffee and delicious pastries. At night, the cafe, located just off the lobby, transforms into a relaxed wine bar.

Primo Piatto The resort's main quick-service location, Primo Piatto is a firm step up from most other resort quick-service spots around Disney World. Everything here is accessible to the average American palate but gets a European twist: Blueberry-Lemon Pancakes are topped with mascarpone and scrambled eggs get served over mascarpone polenta with a sweet brioche roll. Of course, Mickey waffles for the kids are always an option. Lunch and dinner feature Italian classics like handmade pasta (delicious!) and hearth-baked pizzasa big hit with kiddos. French fare highlights include the Croque Monsieur and, for a lighter option, the Tuna Nicoise Salad.

Bar Riva While officially this is Riviera's pool bar, it doesn't feel quite fair to call it that when other deluxe resort pool bars like the one at Disney's Boardwalk Resort offer little more than a hot dog and a bag of chips or a Mickey pretzel with cheese. At this beautiful poolside space bathed in a rainbow of calming shades of blue, families can enjoy a truncated, table-service version of Primo Piatto's upscale menu. Parents will want to try the inventive cocktails like the Coco Paradiso and La Petite Fleur. If your kids don't see something they want on Bar Riva's kids menu, be sure to ask. They're happy to bring you most everything that's served next door at Primo Piatto. My 6-year-old highly recommends the handmade Linguine with Tomato Sauce!

Topolino's Terrace  Flavors of the Riviera For breakfast or dinner with a view, head to Riviera's rooftop restaurant, Topolino's Terrace ("Topolino" is the Italian name for Mickey Mouse). Here, you'll find one of the best character dining experiences on property. Breakfast a la Art with Mickey and Friends is a relaxing antidote to the typical chaotic buffet character breakfast. No need to stress that characters will show up at your table while you're at the buffet, at your table you'll be served fresh pastries then your choice of entrees like Quiche Gruyere, Sour Cream Waffle or Wood-fired Butchers Steak. Dressed in some of our all-time favorite costumes, painter Mickey, poet Minnie, sculptor Donald and dancer Daisy will all visit your table. Breakfast is a pricey affair, but at $41 for adults and $24 for kids, we think it's a pretty good value when compared to other character breakfasts on property.

Dinner at Topolino's Terrace is a showstopper. Take in sweeping views across Disney World that, if you time it right, will include fireworks from both Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios. Menu standouts include the Buratta con Panna with black winter truffle, Winter Pumpkin Ravioli, Filet Mignon with truffled mashed potatoes (can you ever have too many truffles in a meal?), and my favorite, the Tarbais bean Cassoulet, a plant-based take on the classic French dish, made with Beyond sausage.

For parents: The character breakfast at Topolino's is a memorable experience for the whole family, but dinner is definitely a more grown-up affair. While kids are welcome, parents may enjoy booking an in-room sitter through Kids Nite Out, an excellent local babysitting service, to enjoy a special adults-only evening.

For kids: Aside from the resort's main dining locations, kids won't want to miss a scoop from Vivo Il Gelato, the poolside outpost of the world-famous Florence gelato shop.

Biggest tip to know before you go: When making your reservation for dinner at Topolino's Terrace, consult the park hours for Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Fireworks times typically align with park closing times, so if you time your reservation to coincide with that, you'll catch quite the show!

RELATED: 17 Disney Hacks You Never Knew for a Cheaper Trip

How Much Does Riviera Cost?

With the elegant vibe and deluxe amenities comes a hefty price tag: Current pricing for Riviera ranges from about $400 to $4,539, depending on the room type. While this is no doubt pricey, amenities like in-room kitchens and dining areas can help remove some of the sting by allowing you to save some money on meals out. Becoming a Disney Vacation Club member also makes staying at deluxe Disney resorts like Riviera much more cost effective. Our family joined several years ago and we've been able to afford far more Disney World vacations than we ever could have by booking direct with cash.

Biggest tip to know before you go: When it comes to saving money at Disney World, timing is everything. Peak travel times make everything more expensive, from flights, to hotel rooms, to park tickets so if your travel dates are flexible, be sure to price out different dates for both resort rates and park tickets (you can also price both out as a package) to find the cheapest time to travel.
Baptist pastor accused of sexually 'grooming' teen babysitter sentenced to 90 days in jail

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A Baptist pastor and former college president accused of grooming and sexually abusing a teenager over a decade ago as a pastor in Maryland has been sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading guilty to lesser charges in December.

Cameron Shane Giovanelli, a married father of three, was sentenced Monday by Baltimore County Circuit Judge Robert Cahill Jr., according to The Baltimore Sun. In addition to 90 days in jail, Giovanelli will have to serve five years of supervised probation

Now residing in Florida, Giovanelli gave himself over to Baltimore County authorities in August 2019 to face allegations lodged against him by a former student he knew during his time as pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Dundalk.

It was alleged that Giovanelli manipulated the student and engaged in inappropriate contact with her multiple times between January 2007 and August 2007. At the time, the student was 17, and Giovanelli was 29.

Although Giovanelli initially denied the allegations, he pleaded guilty in December to fourth-degree sex offense and second-degree assault charges as part of a plea bargain that resulted in the dropping of sexual abuse of a minor charge.

The accuser, Sarah Jackson, said she attended the churchs school and also baby-sat for Giovanellis family.

According to prosecutors, Giovanelli is accused of using his position as a church pastor to pressure Jackson into a relationship that involved months of kissing, touching and oral sex.

Jackson told the courtroom that it was not a one-time abuse.

This was months of daily, calculated decisions by my pastor, teacher and boss, she said. This was a man whom I was being raised to trust. A man who was supposed to be our godly leader and council. A man that was supposed to protect me as a child when left in his care. Not teach sexual acts.

She even alleged that Giovanelli opened a phone line for her on the churchs phone plan to avoid her parents seeing how much the two were communicating.

She said Giovanelli abused his role to get what he wanted from me.

He took things from me I could never get back, she said in court. He instilled things in me that took me years to realize. He showed me that even the man we are supposed to trust most, could not be trusted.



Jackson opened up publicly up about the experience she had with Giovanelli in 2018 and launched a blog called Letters of Freedom.

Giovanellis lawyer told the court on Monday that his client accepts responsibility, according to The Baltimore Sun. However, the lawyer tried to bargain for a more lenient sentence by arguing that the relationship between Giovanelli and Jackson was consensual.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Giovanelli will not have to register as a sex offender and will be allowed to serve his probation in Florida.

Giovanelli led Calvary Baptist Church from 2004 to 2014.

In a statement shared with WBAL-TV, Calvary Baptist Church said it stands by the victim and joins her in gratitude that Cameron Giovanelli will face justice.

After departing from the church, Giovanelli became president of Golden State Baptist College in California, a position he resigned from after Jackson came forward with her allegations.

Giovanelli also served as the associate pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, and was reportedly supposed to be the president of North Florida Baptist College when it opens up in fall 2020.

It's not clear if Giovanelli is still affiliated with either institution.

The Christian Post reached out to both Immanuel Baptist Church and North Florida Baptist College for comment on Giovanellis sentencing. A response is pending.
The U.S. and Iran appear to have taken a step back from escalating hostilities triggered by the U.S. killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani  but analysts warn "Iran is not finished with its retaliation."

They say Iran's vow to retaliate could take years to play out.

Tensions ratcheted up this week, following an airstrike ordered by President Donald Trump that killed Soleimani in Baghdad on Friday. Iran retaliated on Wednesday and blasted missiles at two Iraqi bases where U.S. soldiers were housed  no Americans were killed in the attacks.

After the attacks, Trump said on Twitter: "All is well!" He later spoke from the grand foyer of the White House, and said Iran "appears to be standing down" and even suggested that the U.S. was open to negotiations with Tehran.

"Since there were no casualties, President Trump seems to be taking the opportunity to say this is the end of this round. That's a hopeful sign, (but) it doesn't mean this is the end of this conflict," said Daniel Shapiro, who was the U.S. ambassador to Israel between 2011 and 2017.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., meets with reporters following escalation of tensions this week between the U.S. and Iran, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

WASHINGTON  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she will not rush to deliver two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate.

"I'll send them over when I'm ready. That may be soon," Pelosi told reporters, revealing no signs that she planned to end her 3-week-long effort to negotiate with the Republican-controlled chamber over the rules of Trump's impeachment trial.

Pelosi, D-Calif., faces mounting pressure not only from Republicans, but increasingly from fellow Democrats, to deliver the articles, which would then permit the Senate to begin preparations for a trial.

"I'm not withholding them indefinitely," Pelosi said.

Pelosi's decision to delay sending the articles is part of a strategy aimed at forcing concessions out of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., chief among them, the ability to call witnesses.

McConnell has so far said the question of witnesses should be shelved until partway into the trial itself, as was the case in the 1998 impeachment of former President Bill Clinton.

"We want to see what they're willing to do, and the manner in which they will do it," Pelosi said Thursday. "But we will not let them say, 'This is just like Clinton, fair is fair.' It is not."

The House voted on Dec. 18 to impeach Trump on two articles stemming from his monthslong campaign to pressure Ukraine into launching investigations into Joe Biden and other domestic political opponents. The pressure tactics allegedly included withholding congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia. Trump was impeached on charges that he abused the power of the presidency and obstructed Congress by prohibiting top administration officials from testifying about the Ukraine scheme.

Following the articles' passage, Pelosi said she planned to hold them until McConnell assured her he would conduct what Democrats called "a fair process."

Democrats have insisted that any trial of the president include testimony from witnesses, something in which Republicans have so far shown no interest.

But the effort has so far failed to produce results, and the Senate leader said this week he would move forward on Trump's impeachment trial without any Democratic support.

It's considered highly unlikely that two-thirds of the GOP-controlled Senate will vote to convict and remove Trump from office. No Senate Republicans have said they support impeaching Trump.
If Irelands ailing health service were a patient, it would be on life support. In a way, it already is, as we face an existential threat to a service that is lurching from crisis to crisis. Signs are that trolley numbers in hospitals have hit record highs this week.

It is a nationwide dilemma. Conditions at Cork University Hospital and the Mercy Hospital are said to be appalling, while flu levels have prompted visitor bans at several hospitals nationwide.

A seven-year-old boy from Wexford has had heart surgery postponed eight times at Crumlin hospital in Dublin; in Limerick, a young mother with Crohns disease had to be treated while seated in a chair in the emergency department of the citys university hospital.

When he became Taoiseach, in June 2017, Leo Varadkar said one of his stated priorities was to repair the health service so as to ensure greater patient access. Instead, as the latest trolley figures show, the situation is going from bad to worse.

There have been serious problems with the HSE since its creation, in 2005, during the tenure of Mary Harney.

At the time, the 11 regional health boards were considered to be too politicised, with nominated board members often the aspiring members of political parties.

The new structure was meant to make the service more responsive to the needs of patients, more accountable, more transparent, and better value for money. It has failed miserably on all four fronts.

Yet, within a year, it was clear that the HSE was ill-conceived, poorly designed, and was being badly executed.

In 2006, Maev-Ann Wren, of the ESRI, and Professor A . Dale Tussing, of Syracuse University in New York, produced a devastating critique of the service, saying it did not address the two-tier access to care, the consultants contract, the deficiencies in primary care, the inadequacy of acute care, or the needs in community and continuing care.

In 2011, then health minister James Reilly scrapped the HSE board and, the same year, the programme for government between Fine Gael and Labour promised that the HSE would be dismantled.

This plan was abandoned in late 2017, in favour of reform and various efforts have been made in that regard  including the introduction of Slaintecare  with limited success.

The health ministry has confounded our finest politicians. Nobody can doubt the strenuous efforts of Micheal Martin, the intelligence of Ms Harney, the passion of Mr Reilly, or the dogged determination of Mr Varadkar, yet we still have a dysfunctional service.

When Simon Harris was appointed in 2016, it was hoped that youth would triumph over experience. That has not happened.

Former taoiseach Brian Cowen once described his tenure at the Department of Health as akin to Angola, referencing the prolonged civil war in the southern African former Portuguese colony.

This was because administrative landmines, like a prolonged nurses strike, bed shortages, and overcrowding in hospitals, could detonate without warning.

Angola has been enjoying relative peace and stability since 2002, while Irelands health service remains in peril.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives to conduct a briefing on last weeks targeted killing of Irans senior military commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

The Trump administration has been urged to release more details of the threat that prompted the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani following a classified briefing session.

Democrats said that by not disclosing many details of the threat, US President Donald Trump is asking the American public to trust the very intelligence reports he has often disparaged.

Trump administration officials have repeatedly stressed that the undisclosed intelligence about imminent threats to Americans in the Middle East required action and that the president would have been negligent not to strike Iran.

But Democrats want more information about what led Mr Trump to kill Gen Soleimani, a man whose hands were drenched in both American and Iranian blood, according to Mr Trump.

Trust us. Thats really what it all boils down to, Democrat Eliot Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said after a classified briefing administration officials gave members of the House.

But Im not sure that trust me is a satisfactory answer for me, he said.

Expand Close President Trump said Gen Soleimanis hands were drenched in both American and Iranian blood (Alex Brandon/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp President Trump said Gen Soleimanis hands were drenched in both American and Iranian blood (Alex Brandon/AP)

Democrat Gerry Connolly called the briefing profoundly unconvincing and said no case was made that the Iranian attacks were imminent.

I leave this (briefing) more troubled than I went into it, he said.

However some Republicans joined the Democrats in criticising the administrations presentations.

Republican senator Mike Lee said it was probably the worst briefing Ive seen, at least on a military issue, in the nine years Ive served in the United States Senate.

He said he found it insulting and demeaning for administration briefers to warn politicans against debating the merits of further military action against Iran because that would only embolden Tehran.

It is not acceptable for officials within the executive branch of government  to come in and tell us that we cant debate and discuss the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran. Its un-American, its unconstitutional, and its wrong, Mr Lee said.

Expand Close Defence Secretary Mark Esper said he thought the evidence made a compelling argument in support of the strike (Jacquelyn Martin/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Defence Secretary Mark Esper said he thought the evidence made a compelling argument in support of the strike (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

In contrast, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Jim Risch called the Senates meeting one of the best briefings he has had as a member of Congress, calling the information crystal clear.

Defence Secretary Mark Esper said he thought the congressional briefings offered politicans a compelling argument that the intelligence supported the strike on General Soleimani.

But he noted that only eight politicans  the top four in the House and Senate and chairmen and vice chairmen of the intelligence committees in both chambers  are the only members of Congress who are authorised to see all the intelligence.

One of the challenges, of course, is not everybody has, in fact most members of Congress do not have, access to the intelligence that I think was the most compelling, Mr Esper said.

Thats just simply the nature of the intelligence.
It is a startling reaction, but LGBT advocates are continuing their campaign to ostracize "transgender" people who want their appearance once again to reflect their sex.

Charlie Evans fits the profile of a "former transgender" who felt shunned by LGBT members and was labeled a "traitor." She naively set out to help teenagers avoid making the same "horrendous mistakes" she had made when starting to "transition" at age 17. She began living as a boy, binding her chest and shaving her head.

The floodgates to this bizarre phenomenon opened in the aftermath of Evans appearing on a popular cable program, Sky News, in the United Kingdom. Hundreds of "former transsexuals" who (also) "feel like a social contagion," says Evans, had contacted her wanting to do the same thing.

Evans further enraged leftists by founding a nonprofit that recognizes the extent of the problem spelled out in its name, "Detransition Advocacy Network," in England. Transsexuals sought out Evans for support, calling from countries around the world.

Pulling back the curtain on Evans's regrets, and those of others like her, couldn't come at a worse time for the LGBT community. They literally can't afford to have hundreds of "retransitioning" transsexuals come between them and their dream of getting more taxpayers to foot the bill for so-called sex change procedures.

Apparently, "former transsexuals" fail to fit their romanticized narrative on how to achieve "gender inclusivity." Leftist advocates can't be bothered with examining the tragic details of devastated health and ruined lives of transsexuals, but rather must stick with their ideology foisted on the public.

Seeking the gold standard of approval, transgender advocates have prominently displayed the ACLU's statement summing up their economic goal: "A general recognition in America that transition-related care is basic healthcare for transgender people," reads the ACLU "blog of rights ... [and] that no one should be denied coverage."

Most politicians know which way the ideological argument is going, and they're jumping on board the gender-activist train  and not without your tax dollars.

Massachusetts's former governor Deval Patrick successfully forced taxpayers to subsidize sex-obscuring surgery by expanding Medicaid coverage. Why stop there? Gov. Patrick was lauded by leftists for his state's unprecedented "significant advances" in health care legislation: that translates to mean he has targeted the deepest pockets in the medical insurance industry.

Private health care insurers are now prohibited from denying the claims of members who are suffering from sexual dysphoria and undergoing "sex change" operations, according to the Massachusetts Division of Insurance.

This is the tip of the subsidy iceberg. Oregon and California have led the campaign to offer Medicaid and Medicare (respectively) funds for sex-obscuring procedures.

Now even elderly patients can opt for gender-related health care coverage through Medicare. (Requests are handled on a case-by-case basis, according to the government website.) No doubt, voters can anticipate thousands of pages more of legislation coming down the subsidy pike in 2020.

Taxpayers need to question more than subsidies for sex-obscuring operations; they need to ask whether their politicians are keeping up with serious and lasting risks of transgender procedures.

One physician in Los Angeles addressed the obvious but rarely discussed "dangerous" pre-treatment and surgical regimen. "A patient administered high doses of sex-change [sic] hormones must factor in the potentially catastrophic effects of totally disrupting the body's normal physiologic function," he says. The FDA has already received 24,000 reports of adverse reactions to cross-sex hormones, which now include puberty-blockers for children who "identify" as the opposite sex.

One world health organization has admitted that sex-obscuring treatments "can cause permanent bodily impairment and are generally irreversible," according to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).

Mounting clinical evidence reveals the fallacy of the "rainbow dream" to safely "transition." That means gender ideology cannot save transsexuals who are now suffering from ruined health and experiencing more serious health disorders (including cancer, diabetes, severe osteoporosis, etc.)

It's rare, but cases of gender regret are surfacing in the media.

Mike Penner, a writer for the Los Angeles Times, returned to the newsroom as Christine Daniels after surgery. Colleagues were very accepting, even after Mike decided to return to presenting himself according to his true sex. Tragically, the reporter became another transgender statistic. He died by suicide in 2009.

The numbers mounted, according to nonprofit websites. Walt Heyer  who had his sex-obscuring surgery reversed  thinks this phenomenon is far more common than what the public has been led to believe. That is why he launched the website https://sexchangeregret. com.

"People don't fare well in life experience after undergoing gender surgery," Heyer tells National Review. "So it's always kind of troubling for me why we would pay for something ... that is actually [going to] be more harmful than if we left the person alone and dealt with the psychological component."

His sixth book, Trans Life Survivors, compiles 30 life experiences of transgender regret, capturing the painful experiences of those caught up in today's "transmania." The most heartbreaking are "survivors" who felt pressured into gender "transition" by social media, political correctness, and even public school officials.

"Blair," who holds a Guinness World Record for the most so-called sex change surgeries, underwent a shocking 167 procedures. He, and others, are left feeling as though the transgender movement has become a sickening money-making industry.

None of this can be found on the ACLU "blog of rights."

A note to taxpayers: Generally, taxpayers remain clueless about the costs attached to gender "reassignment" surgery. Procedures now federally subsidized include: basic "male-to-female" surgery ranges from $25,000 to $50,000, including testicle removal, breast augmentation, and genital surgery; and "female-to-male" ranges from $30,000 to $50,000, covering mastectomy, reconstruction of chest, areolar reduction, and genital surgery, according to the Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery.
Washington, Jan 10 : US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is holding onto two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, said that they will probably be sent to the Senate soon for a trial, signalling a possible end to a standoff with Republicans.

"I'm not withholding them indefinitely. I'll send them over when I'm ready," Pelosi told reporters during her weekly press conference at the Capitol on Thursday. "And that will probably be soon." The Democrat-led House impeached Trump last month for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, charges that the president has rejected.

Pelosi, who initiated an impeachment inquiry into Trump in September 2019, is withholding the articles of impeachment and has refused to name impeachment managers, who will make the House's impeachment case in the Senate trial.

"As I said right from the start, we need to see the arena in which we are sending our managers. Is that too much to ask?" Pelosi said, reported Xinhua news agency.

Pressure is mounting on Pelosi, who is trying to give Democrats more leverage in setting rules for the trial in the Senate, where Republicans have a narrow majority, as some Democrats have urged her to send over articles of impeachment.

She also has no lack of support.

"Our report accompanying the articles of impeachment says the president constitutes a clear and present danger to American constitutional system," Jamie Raskin, a Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee, told reporters on Thursday.

"We have to move forward on a basis that does justice to what the Constitution provides," added Raskin.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized Pelosi on Thursday in a sarcastic tone.

"This is a challenging time to create bipartisan agreement. But the Speaker Pelosi has managed to do the impossible," the Kentucky Republican tweeted. "She has created growing bipartisan unity -- in opposition to her own reckless games with impeachment." McConnell has said that the Senate should model Trump's impeachment trial after that of former President Bill Clinton, by dealing with potential witnesses after the trial begins.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, however, has wanted to make sure certain witnesses would be called upon for the trial before it starts, which McConnell has so far rejected.

In an anonymous complaint last summer, a whistleblower raised concerns about the White House's interactions with Ukraine, resulting in the Democrat-led impeachment inquiry against Trump.

The president was alleged to have pressed his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, into launching investigations that could politically benefit him. Furthermore, the White House allegedly tried to cover it up.

Having repeatedly denied any wrongdoings, Trump lashed out at the impeachment at the White House on Thursday, calling it "a hoax." According to the nation's Constitution, the House shall have the sole power of impeachment, while the Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments.

Conviction can only happen in the Senate and requires at least two-thirds of its members, or 67 senators, to vote in favour after a trial. Currently, the Senate has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents.
Dear Amy: I brought a big client to the bank where I work. I partnered with a "relationship representative" (a female colleague) to build the account at the bank.

The rep informed me that she was having issues with the partnership and said she needed my help.

I spoke to the client and we agreed to speak again at a later date.

Sometime after this, the rep and I saw him at a public event.

I was truly shocked when the rep asked me to go "flirt" with the client.

I am gay, as is the man in question.

I am afraid to say something, as my position is too low, and I may be terminated.

What should I do?

-- K

Dear K: You don't say how you responded to this request in the moment, but your colleague's suggestion is totally inappropriate, and you should register your discomfort.

Write down your account of exactly what happened, so you have a record, and take this to HR.

If you were terminated for bringing a very reasonable concern to the administration's attention, then you would surely have a case of wrongful termination that I assume any employment lawyer would be happy to take.

I understand that banking is a "go-go" industry. Your bank's "relationship rep" might skirt all sorts of boundaries in order to keep major clients happy, but if she can't manage this professional relationship without calling upon you to flirt with the client, then she isn't very good at her job.

She could very easily claim that this was a joke. The word "flirt" can have nonsexual connotations. Regardless of her intent, she should not make comments like this, or attempt to use you in this way.

You brought this big client to the bank, and your doing so means that you are valuable to the bank. Don't underestimate your own value, both as an employee and as a person.

Dear Amy: My sister committed suicide after a complicated life, contentious divorce and child custody battle.

Her horrible ex-husband has always blamed me for her suicide.

I tried to help her and was dedicated to her (not him), while living abroad.

Their daughter, 21, who I am in touch with and see when I am in the U.S., is getting married, but she did not tell me, which is disappointing.

Her dad forbade her from inviting me. She accidentally revealed it on Facebook.

Should I get her a present?

-- Loving Aunt

Dear Aunt: I'm very sorry for this loss to your family. When people die by suicide, their death creates tremendous trauma, heartbreak, and relational challenges for survivors.

After your sister's death, your niece was left with one parent, who you describe as "horrible." She is only 21 years old, and she has already been through a lot.

I don't think this question is really about a wedding present. But to answer your question -- yes, you should definitely give her a gift.

Your gift to her could be something as simple as just getting in touch to say how happy you are to learn that she is getting married. The choice to start a family with a beloved person is a positive one for her, and this should be celebrated.

Express your desire to meet her significant other at some point in the future, and don't put any pressure on her regarding being invited to the wedding.

Extended family members can be important heroes to their younger family members -- especially when there is loss and grief in the picture. You may never know the extent of your positive influence on your niece, but you should continue to attempt to keep the relationship going.

Dear Amy: More feedback to "Seen it All" about how customer service personnel should handle irate clients. I was in customer service for over 30 years.

The abusive customer is well aware of their demeanor, and might have it well practiced.

The best way to get past the ire is to let the aggrieved customer have their say (rant), apologize, and then ask, "What would you like me to do?"

This approach reliably defuses the situation. The complainer is distracted and taken "off their script" in order to reconsider their demand.

-- Really Seen It All

Dear Really: I receive a lot of upset, irate, and (sometimes) abusive "feedback" to my work. I agree that how you receive this can transform the experience. People really do need to be heard. "What would you like me to do?" is the perfect response.

(You can email Amy Dickinson at askamy@amydickinson.com or send a letter to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or Facebook.)

COPYRIGHT  2020 by AMY DICKINSON. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.

Read more advice:

Ask Amy: Separated soulmates are eager to connect

Dear Annie: Looking to hop off the hamster wheel

Dear Abby: Children cut off stepmother with dads power of attorney
[January 09, 2020] Amnesty International Canada extends deadline for 25th annual Media Awards

OTTAWA, Jan. 9, 2020 /CNW/ - With little more than a week left to submit entries, Amnesty International Canada invites Canadian journalists and students to apply for its 25th annual Media Awards. **The deadline for submissions has been extended to Jan. 17, 2020 at 11:59 PM EST.** All entries must be published or broadcast in Canada between Oct. 1, 2018 and Dec. 31, 2019. Unfortunately, we can only accept English submissions at this time. These awards honour the efforts of journalists to increase Canadians' awareness and understanding of human rights issues, while also highlighting excellent journalism. You can read more about Amnesty International Canada's Media Awards here or head directly to the submissions form to apply.



The winners will be announced in late February or early March 2020. A reception to honour the winners will be held in Toronto on May 6, 2020. Categories for 2019-2020

Short-form text: A written story of 2,000 words or less on a human rights issue.

Long-Form Text: A written story of more than 2,000 words on a human rights issue. Investigative pieces and multi-part series are also welcome.

Short-Form Video: A filmed story relating to a human rights issue of no longer than 10 minutes.

Long-Form Video: A documentary or film relating to a human rights issue with a runtime of more than 10 minutes.

Short-Form Audio: A radio or podcast story highlighting a human rights issue with a runtime of no longer than five minutes.

Long-Form Audio: A radio or podcast feature, or series, highlighting a human rights issue with a runtime of longer than five minutes.

Mixed Media: A combination of at least two of the abovementioned elements: text, video and audio.

Post-Secondary Youth Award: A text, audio, video or mixed media story about a human rights issue created by a student attending a post-secondary school in Canada . The piece does not necessarily need to have been published with a school publication.

. The piece does not necessarily need to have been published with a school publication. Secondary Youth Award: A text, audio, video or mixed media story about a human rights issue created by a student attending a secondary school in Canada . The piece does not necessarily need to have been published with a school publication. SOURCE Amnesty International

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Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Thursday said the police department should be rewarded for arresting wanted gangster Ejaz Lakdawala.

"The police department has arrested known gangster Ejaz Lakdawala in Patna yesterday night. We all know that he was connected to Dawood and Chota Rajan earlier. He has 4 MCOCA cases against his name," Deshmukh said.

"I congratulate the Police department and believe that they should be rewarded. We will conduct an enquiry whether he was trying to flee to Nepal or not. He had a fake passport with the name Manish Advani," he added.

Fugitive gangster Ejaz Lakdawala was arrested from Patna on Wednesday by the Mumbai Police. The police produced him in a local court in Mumbai on Thursday, which remanded him to police custody till January 21.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Cagayan de Oro (CNN Philippines, January 9)  Around 250,000 devotees joined the two-hour procession of the Black Nazarene in Cagayan de Oro City on Thursday, police said.

The religious activity started from the St. Augustine Cathedral around 5:15 a.m.  an hour later than the same procession held in Manila.

After traveling 1.5 kilometers, the image of the Black Nazarene arrived at the Nazareno Church at 7:15 a.m.

The night before the procession, the replica of the Black Nazarene was transferred from the Nazareno Church to the St. Augustine Cathedral for the vigil.

Authorities said the Traslacion was peaceful, crediting the public's support for the implemented security measures.

Police said two persons fainted, but were immediately given attention.

CNN Philippines stringer Alwen Saliring contributed to this report.
You have to hand it to him. Trump can create swagger out of nothing at all. In his usual inimitable style, he started off by saying that as long as he is President, Iran will never have nuclear weapons. He justified the killing of Qassem Soleimani saying that he was the worlds greatest terrorist and was directly and indirectly responsible for thousands of American deaths.

Announcing punishing sanctions on Iran, he said that the sanctions would be in effect till Iran comes around. Coming down hard on Obama, he said that that the missile attacks on US troops yesterday was funded by the previous administration.

Dont need Middle East oil, thundered Trump. Spent 2.5 trillion USD to modernize the US Armed Forces, boomed Trump. Have the shiniest missiles in the world, claimed Trump. Rambling on about al-Baghdadi and other terrorists killed, Donald Trump patted himself on the back. Yet, he pleaded with China, Russia, UK and France to help him. And he asked NATO to pitch in.

He jumped from topic to subject, never completing a coherent sentence, and stopped short of taking his own autograph. His entire address left everyone confused. The President of the United States talked. He didnt speak. In the East, they will say, Today, Trump lost face.

Good night, world. Sleep easy. We are not going to war. For now, the crisis has been diffused. Trump gave an election speech masquerading as what he thought was a statesmanlike global address. The President was not Presidential.

And in many ways, Iran won.
The Danger Of The Ethno-Nationalist State

One of the most common features of right-wing populist and fascist movements is the demand for ethnic and/or racial purity. During the course of the 20th century we saw it in its most egregious forms in colonial and white minority regimes in the global South, and in the Nazi-led persecution and, later, Holocaust against the Jews.

Ethnic regimes were largely ignored in the mainstream media of the global North until the early 1990s, even when troubling events, such as genocide in Burundi, were unfolding. It was only with the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s and the Rwanda genocide (1994) that it became more than apparent that another wave of ethnic cleansing and ethno-nationalist regimes were unfolding.

What are ethno-nationalist regimes? They are political systems that quite openly privilege the alleged rights of a given ethnic or so-called racial group. Apartheid South Africa was certainly an example of a long-running such regime. But the Rwanda genocide when right-wing Hutus went to war to openly eliminate Tutsis (and those Hutus who allied with Tutsis) using the pretext of a civil war, was yet another example.

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Right-wing populist leaders such as Donald Trump in the USA, Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and Narenda Modi in India are quintessential examples of leaders who promote ethno-nationalist regimes. Contrary to early 20th century fascists and 19th century scientific racists, they do not rely on the rhetoric of racial superiority or inferiority in justifying their politics. Rather they argue either the incompatibility of different racial/ethnic groups and/or that the specific racial/ethnic group which they claim to represent has been, allegedly, aggrieved over the years.

The situation in India at this very moment is illustrating the evolving and serious dangers of ethno-nationalist regimes. The political forces around Modi and his political partythe BJPhave been promoting anti-Muslim rhetoric and practices for years. Their objective is nothing short of eliminating the secular basis of India and replacing it with a Hindu ethno-nationalist state. The recent legislation advanced by Modi and passed in Parliament that offers citizenship to refugees from neighboring countries UNLESS they happen to be Muslim demonstrates the depths of depravity of such regimes. It is, therefore, not surprising that India is exploding.

Netanyahu is a close cousinpolitically speakingof Modis. He and his partythe Likudhave always aimed to eliminate the Palestinian presence from not only the occupied Palestinian territories, but from Israel itself. But it is not only the Palestinians that Netanyahu, et.al. wish to eliminate. The language of the regime when it comes to other alleged outsiders is particularly provocative and echoes that of Hindu fascists in India in describing undocumented immigrants, in the case of Israel, as infiltrators.

Right-wing populism and ethno-nationalism have become major parts of the global political landscape. It is not only the appearance of Donald Trump; nor is it just Britains Boris Johnson. It has emerged, like chicken pox, in numerous places. And, if one is not careful, it can emerge even within the ranks of the oppressed when, in desperation, we sometimes seek to distinguish ourselves from some Other.

Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the executive editor of globalafricanworker.com and the former president of TransAfrica Forum.
EUGENE, Ore. -- With a rash of child sexual abuse cases in headlines in the past week, experts are speaking up about what drives abusers to abuse.

On Tuesday alone, KEZI 9 News covered three sexual abuse cases. Lane County man Michael Creech pleaded guilty to 10 counts of child sex abuse and will spend more than seven years in prison. RiverBend nurse Larry Wilt signed an agreement to not practice while he faces charges of sexually abusing a minor. Lastly, officials are searching for more possible victims of Eugene man Robert Davis, who is facing five counts of sex abuse charges.

RELATED: AUTHORITIES SUSPECT MORE VICTIMS IN CHILD SEX ABUSE CASE

According to experts, it's hard to know if child sexual abuse is on the rise. Data from the Children's Bureau shows between 800 and 1,000 cases being referred to Child Protective Services in Oregon each year.

Certified clinical sex offender therapist Peter Shannon thinks widespread online availability of child pornography and a sex-saturated pop culture can influence some people to act on impulses.

"Some people who have desires for power, to get over on people who can't protect themselves. They have desires for intimacy for which they feel inadequately skilled to address with age-appropriate people," he said.

Still, Shannon thinks a holistic approach to therapy can help sexual abusers improve.

"If they do time, they are going to return to the community eventually, and if they get probation they are going to be in the community now. We need to do something to encourage a restoration of health," he said. "They will respond to a therapeutic approach that takes the total package of their character into consideration. Not just their sexuality."

Pennie Saum was sexually and emotionally abused by her father as a child. Now, working as a children's advocate, she wanted to emphasize that there's no stereotype for a child sexual abuser.

"He was a decorated ex-Marine, now Army officer, and he was doing this in our home," she said. "We were the perfect family on the outside. People didn't want to believe who he was and what he did."

She thinks that the influence of the Me Too movement has trickled down to children, who are in some cases being educated about what sexual abuse is and why they should report it.

"Believing is the number one thing that needs to happen. If someone discloses to you, 'I hear you, I see you, I believe you. Let's take action and see what we can do to help,'" she said.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 17:19:23|Editor: mingmei

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BAGHDAD, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Two Iraqi border guards were killed, and two others wounded in an attack by Islamic State (IS) militants near the border with Syria in western Iraq, the Iraqi military said on Thursday.

The extremist IS militants attacked a border guard force while conducting a search operation near the border line with neighboring Syria, leaving two border guards killed and wounding two others, according to a statement by the media office affiliated with the Iraqi Joint Operations Command.

The statement did not give further details about where and when exactly the incident took place.

Late in 2017, Iraq declared full liberation of its territories from IS militants after Iraqi forces seized the whole border areas with Syria and nearby desert in western Iraq.

However, small groups or individuals of IS militants still trying to infiltrate into Iraq from neighboring Syria through the roughly 600 km long border with Iraq with vast rugged areas and desert land.
In a viral photo shared on the Internet, a lady once identified as a Catholic reverend sister was seen in her pre-wedding photos with her police officer husband.

Sharing the photos on Facebook, many Nigerians have expressed their love and courage for her decision.

It was gathered that the lady dropped her vows over the love she had for a police officer.

READ ALSO  Unbelievable: Villagers Dig Up Dead Body Of Man Hurriedly Buried By Reverend Sister In Anambra (Photos)

In another picture, she was seen clad in her habit when she was still a Reverend Sister sworn to the oath of chastity.

See Reactions Here:
Iraq War veteran Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) hit back at Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) on CNN Thursday over the GOP lawmaker's insinuation that Democrats are sympathetic to terrorists, including the recently killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

What they're saying: "I'm not going to dignify that with a response. I left parts of my body in Iraq fighting terrorists. I don't need to justify myself to anyone," Duckworth said on CNN Right Now.

Duckworth added: "No, I am not sad that this man is dead. I am glad that he's gone to meet his maker ... But at the end of the day, because of the poor handling by the White House and the consequences of their actions ... American forces are now under greater danger of attack from Iran and other hostile forces in the Middle East."

Flashback: Collins, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said in an interview on Fox News on Wednesday that Democrats are "in love with terrorists."

We see that they mourn Soleimani more than they mourn our Gold Star families who are the ones who suffered under Soleimani. Thats a problem.

Go deeper:
Leo Strine, former Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court, describes worker-investors as the 99 per cent of Americans [who] owe most of their wealth to their jobs and who  do not benefit when some companies offload the costs of their activities, such as pollution and carbon emissions, on to everyone else.[1]

Healthy capital markets need vigilant investors. Vigilance is exercised through selecting good investments and rejecting bad ones. It's also exercised through active ownership, the ability of shareholders to influence corporate governance at investee companies.

Heightened investor anxiety about issues like climate change is driving a global investor stewardship movement--the gathering pace at which investors are organizing into coalitions, undertaking engagements with companies, and supporting shareholder resolutions that address how companies are governing environmental and social risks.

Mutual funds and exchange-traded funds collectively own a sizable stake in the global equity market. As investment fiduciaries, the asset managers that offer those funds are under growing pressure from investors, clients, peers, and regulators to use their voting power and other stewardship strategies to advance sustainable business practices at investee companies.

They are also being called on to be stewards of the financial system itself. Consider the new wording in the introduction to the U.K.'s revised, and globally influential, stewardship code:

 asset owners and asset managers play an important role as guardians of market integrity and in working to minimise systemic risks as well as being stewards of the investments in their portfolios.

Much of this pressure is coming from the world's largest asset owners--the big pension funds, who are growing increasingly assertive in calling on asset managers to offer investment approaches that align with their values and their long-term investing goals.

In this context, proxy voting, which gives investors considerable influence over corporate governance, is becoming increasingly important to asset managers.

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An encouraging set of findings has emerged from the proxy votes of large asset managers in 2019, based on Morningstar's fund proxy vote data.

Across 55 large fund families with more than $17 trillion in assets, shareholder-proposed sustainability resolutions were supported 44% of the time, up from 26% in 2015 and increasing by 7 percentage points in each of the last two proxy seasons.

In 2019, 177 resolutions were put on company ballots by shareholders asking boards to address risks like climate change, environmental stewardship, pay equity, diversity, reputational and liability risks from products linked to social harms, political influence, animal welfare, cybersecurity, and online content governance.

More than 1,000 of these sorts of ballot initiatives have been voted over the past five years. And more than half a million votes on these initiatives were cast by funds belonging to one of the 55 large fund families included in this analysis.

Ten of these 55 large fund groups voted for' at least 75% of sustainability resolutions in 2019.

In addition, 14 fund groups expanded their support for ESG-related shareholder resolutions in 2019 by more than 20 percentage points over their respective previous four-year averages, most notably, American Century; Eaton Vance; and Fidelity's index funds, managed by Geode.

Unfortunately, the largest of the fund providers did not keep pace with their smaller peers and this has important implications for how much can be achieved through the proxy process.

Five of the 10 largest fund families supported fewer than 12% of sustainability resolutions voted in 2019. These are Vanguard, BlackRock, American Funds, T. Rowe, and Dimensional Funds. Given the volume of votes they control, their opposition to ESG shareholder initiatives significantly lowers overall support, despite the trend of increasing asset manager votes in favor of these resolutions.

For example, a resolution voted at Chevron CVX asked the company to disclose plans to reduce its carbon footprint in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. The ballot initiative earned 33% support from shareholders. Had Chevron's largest three institutional holders--BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street--supported the measure, it would have passed with majority support.

Lobbying transparency is now a core component of the investor agenda to push companies to plan for low-carbon policy scenarios. Climate policy delays due to heavy lobbying by fossil fuel companies and their trade associations threaten trillions of dollars in investments. Where fiduciaries oppose lobbying transparency, they could be failing their investors.

Had Vanguard and BlackRock voted their stakes in support of lobbying transparency at Exxon's annual meeting in May 2019, the proposal, earning 37% support from shareholders, would have passed by a comfortable margin. A resolution asking Alliant Energy LNT to disclose its political campaign and lobbying spending earned 54% support, notwithstanding Vanguard, its largest institutional holder, voting its 11% stake against the resolution.

The low-carbon transition challenge for investors is also about managing the human transition. Inclusivity is an essential tool in the fight to contain climate change. Companies led by more diverse boards perform better, and having more women in corporate leadership leads to a more-inclusive corporate culture and fewer instances of corporate scandal. Recent academic research shows that countries with female political leadership pass more progressive climate policies, resulting in lower national carbon dioxide emissions.

It stands to reason that one of the most effective strategies for aligning corporate governance with the low-carbon transition challenge is to increase board diversity.

A board diversity resolution at Exxon earned 30% support. Only one of Exxon's largest five institutional holders, Geode (Fidelity's index fund manager), supported the measure. Had Vanguard, BlackRock, State Street, and Capital Group (managing American Funds) voted for', the measure would have passed.

For asset managers, stewardship is becoming an imperative in winning asset-management mandates with large pension funds. Influential international stewardship codes--the regulatory or industry-led principles that guide active ownership by investment fiduciaries--are giving asset owners specific strategies for incorporating stewardship into their mandates with asset managers.

In May 2019 the UK Association of Member-Nominated Trustees, which represents the financial interest of pension fund beneficiaries, requested the UK financial services regulatory authority, the Finance Conduct Authority, to investigate opacity and lack of comparability in voting policies and practices of asset managers, lamenting that too many fund managers' public policies are, in the areas studied, out of alignment with either best practice or asset owners' and societal concerns.

Worker-investors' interests align quite well with those of large pension funds.

Therefore, stewardship is also an opportunity for fund providers to connect with sustainability-minded investors. Passive fund providers competing on price can differentiate their offerings through stewardship. Active fund providers competing with passive providers can offer informed and strategic ESG stewardship to achieve impact.

Besides voting in support of shareholder-proposed sustainability resolutions, asset managers can tailor their votes on management-proposed resolutions, such as director elections and say on pay, to align corporate governance to investors' long-term interests.

The policy statement that guides BlackRock's proxy voting says that, for companies in sectors that are significantly exposed to climate-related risk, we expect the whole board to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business and how management approaches assessing, adapting to, and mitigating that risk. Note to boards: don't leave it too late to consider climate competence as a board renewal principle.

Geode's proxy voting guidelines state: Geode may take action against the re-election of board members if there are serious concerns over ESG practices or the board failed to act on related shareholder proposals that received approval by Geode and a majority of the votes cast in the previous year. Note to Alliant Energy: Let's hear more about your political and lobbying spending.

Large pension funds file many of the resolutions that come to vote. For instance, the diversity and lobbying resolutions voted at Exxon and Alliant, respectively, were filed by New York City's Retirement Systems and Pension Funds.

Of the thousands of sustainability resolutions that have come to vote over the years, many have been filed by asset managers--but only by asset managers with an explicit sustainable investing mandate.

If large asset managers disagree with the specifics of most shareholder resolutions up for vote, they could file their own. One well-placed resolution filed by one of the largest three asset managers, calling on a large and reticent oil and gas company to provide a TCFD-aligned climate report, would likely be a tipping point for corporate climate risk transparency.

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[1] Leo Strine. "Workers must be at the heart of company priorities," Financial Times, 30 Sept 2019.
As citizens and not spectators, we are obliged to offer a helping hand to the Akuffo Addo led administration. It is in this spirit that I present an evaluation of the decision of government to recognize 7th January as 'republic day' so that as the first lawyer to be president of Ghana, he will not regret for the rest of his life for this unmeritorious policy. It is a prerequisite that we reflect on the historical contradictions that existed among the Nkrumahist forces, the Rawlings camp and the Busia -Danquah intellectuals. While the political battles in Ghana took a different dynamic with the elimination of the CPP and its sudden bans, the military forces led by Rawlings and the now NPP elites led by Aduboahene struggled to seize political power. Rawlings bullied his way through with arms and the former were left to agitate in hideout because of the growing viciousness of the Rawlings PNDC administration. The question we must respond is, what compelled the current NPP administration to recognize 7th January as Republic day?the day the 1992 constitution came into enforcement. The NPP opposed the constitution for undemocratic procedures and the continuing tensions to allow Kuffour to rule this nation had to be resolved by the Otumfour himself. For all we know , the Addo family and Rawlings family are now united by marriage. President Akuffo Addo has also made open attempts to show their positive relationship by appointing Rawlings as his sanitation ambassador. Did men and women die for Aduboahene's cause for this? Did Aduboahene and his colleges bitterly fight the dictatorship of Rawlings only for their successor to add momentum to the legacy of the 'enemy camp' or it was all about political power and not a democracy? We cannot argue that President Akuffo Addo has abandoned the Busia-Danquah tradition for he has rather elevated them to the status of founders of Ghana even while history proves otherwise. There is therefore a new phenomenon, a coalition between the military and the Danquah intellectuals to redistribute the hero legacy of Ghana to appease both camps. As a strategy to ensure that 4th August is recognized and meet lesser opposition ,7th January had to be given it place. If this reasonable analysis suffice as motivation for the recognition of 7th January; a policy that has nothing to offer the NPP in 2020 elections then we will be better citizens to resist as it constitutes opportunism. But this is a mere analysis,let us dive into the evaluation.

2. The struggle to maintain constitutional rule is merely a struggle to maintain an already achieved Republican status.

1st July 1960 was the turning point in our history as Ghanaians. It was on this date that for the first time, the laws governing the state spring from the sovereign will of the people of Ghana. The fight for the republic was completed when the imperialism of Britain was completely broken and the constitution was drafted by an elected body by the people and not proclamation by a monarch or elites nor military junta. The military violence that occasionally distracted the republic (sovereignty of the people) did not undo the original sovereignty of the people of this land. When we speak of the fourth republic, we implicitly recognise the first republic for there was first before fourth. Thus if republic day recognition will be based on the latest constitution instead of the moment we achieved sovereignty then we will be rotating republic day when a new constitution arrive, which is likely to.

3. Rawlings did not save the nation, he unnecessarily intervened and recked it.

Apart from the fact that Rawlings has no economic legacy, his corruption-free campaign did not materialize. Corruption is not limited to politicians but the immigration, judges, police and even referees, thanks to Anas' expose. So to what extent did the executions help? The same offense he committed himself, his corruption was not limited to selling state enterprises to family members but even beyond Ghana, he sold truth and integrity to defend Abacha of Nigeria. Under his watch, three Judges of the supreme court were murdered, such respect for rule of law is overwhelming. At the time of Rawlings' intervention, the SMC2 was in the process of democratic transition when he intruded only to prolong the elections. As that was not enough, Rawlings; having the military at his disposal, went against the popular will of the people expressed in the election of Hilla Liman;62% victory, by overthrowing Liman's administration in 1981 he went against majority rule.

4. Rawlings disregarded the sovereignty of the people

Flight lieutenant Rawlings suspended the 1979 constitution, one he supervised to come into enforcement. After the election and popular expression ,he suspended the constitution and ruled as a military dictator for eleven years. He distracted the republic for the longest years in Ghana's history. In the history of Ghana Rawlings is the longest dictator who ruled the nation without a constitution nor popular mandate.what prevented Rawlings from contest Liman in elections, if he was indeed man of the people then.

7th January is a military decreed date.

The date '7th January' we want to recognize as our republic day is actually the decreed date that the PNDC military junta declared as the day the 1992 constitution will come into enforcement (PNDCL 282). To celebrate this day as our republic day, is to submit to the dictate of military rule.

6.

The 1992 constitution did not spring from Ghanaians

The 1992 constitution is a body of laws governing this state but does not come from the sovereign will of the people of Ghana. Without sovereignty of the people, there is no republic. The PNDC military supervised the making of the 1992 constitution. Without any popular mandate, they appointed individuals like S.K.B Asante and Afari Gyan to form a committee of experts for drafting of the constitution. To make matters worse, instead of organizing elections to elect the body that will form a constituent assembly to scrutinize the presented draft,the PNDC formed a consultative assembly based on appointment( PNDC L253).The consultative assembly led by the PNDC wing (national association for the defense of the revolution) and some fish mongers, carpenters and chaired by Chiana Pio . These pro PNDC appointees approved the draft

.If Rawlings respected popular rule,why did he refuse to subject the scrutiny of the drafted 'constitution' to an elected body.

7. Ghanaians were coerce to accept the 1992 constitution.

Did Ghanaians have a choice on the 28 april 1992 referendum. What we do know was that, this was the first time Rawlings submitted to the people a matter to decide. Rawlings had viciously ruled the nation with iron fist for eleven years without laws nor mandate. He then presented a sub-standard constitution that at least define the means of exit. Ghanaians had to decide whether to remain under the military junta or agree to a substandard constitution. The voter's turnout was 48% but at least the yes vote carried the day. All other groups and movements campaign for no vote except the PNDC.Since the power of Rawlings superseded that of the people he had to sign the constitution before it becomes law, thus he decreed the constitution as chairman of a military junta on 8 May 1992 after the referendum. In fact, the 1992 constitution was decreed by PNDCL 282(The promulgation decree).where is the Republic constitution?

8. The 1992 constitution makes Rawlings sovereign instead of people. The 1992 constitution does not respect equality before the law. If we wish to misplace the day we recognise our sovereignty as a people (republic) must it be based on a day the constitution that does not respect the equality before the law was enforced? The republic existed so long as the people had superior power and the laws governing the land springs from them. So long as the majority rule other than monarchs, oligarchs, or military junta. The indemnity clause in the 1992 constitution put Rawlings above Ghana. It places Rawlings and his fellows PNDC and AFRC men above the laws of Ghana. The indemnity clause makes Rawlings untouchable. This clause entrenches the sovereignty of Rawlings for he cannot be tried in any Court in Ghana for his actions. By this provision, sovereignty resides in Rawlings not the people of Ghana. Did Rawlings secure the republic or himself?

These are the critical issues surrounding the 7th January we wish to celebrate. The Only lawyer who have occupy the highest office of the Land either proves he values being viewed as mediocre in his profession when it comes to rule of law and democracy by maintaining this policy or instead of a man with integrity who will do the right thing not for political score by even removing the indemnity clause or calling for a new constitution. God bless our home land Ghana.
LONDON  After more than a year of drama, recrimination and tense, late-night votes, British lawmakers signed off on Thursday, with minimal fuss and no fanfare, on legislation to take their country out of the European Union at the end of the month.

The vote in the House of Commons is not quite the final parliamentary moment of Britains extraordinary Brexit story  the bill will be considered next by the unelected second chamber, the House of Lords  but the suspense that surrounded many previous votes was entirely absent.

[Read: Battered at the polls, pro-Europe Britons gird for the next fight.]

Even if the Lords amend the bill, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party now have a large majority in the Commons and could overturn any changes  swiftly, if necessary. The legislation is almost certain to be completed and written into law next week.

Only a few dozen members of Parliament attended the opening statements of the debate on Thursday  in contrast to the packed chamber for previous discussions on Brexit  but by the time the debate drew to a close hours later, most of the lawmakers had trickled into the room.
There is no place like Nebraska  and Im honored to be back home after 36 years away.

Im the new editor of your World-Herald, a Beatrice native and University of Nebraska-Lincoln journalism graduate whos been blessed to have a newspaper career thats been a seminar in America. Ive worked in big cities (Detroit and Cincinnati), small towns (Glenwood Springs, Colorado) and in red, blue and purple states; had a front-row seat to presidential politics in Des Moines; and met my wife in Abilene, Texas.

Ive always been proud during this amazing journey to say Im a Nebraskan and have always felt the warmth of tribal familiarity when Ive visited.

So it is, then, that coming home to practice my profession matters a lot to me because both journalism and Nebraska matter a lot to me.

It matters that news organizations hold government accountable and insist on openness, that journalists fight to find a sustainable way forward for our profession and help students on that path, that we stand up for Nebraskans and give them voice. It matters that we look without blinking and tell hard truths and that we seek out and celebrate the human good in everyday life.
Art as a form of protest. The anger against a new controversial citizenship law in India is getting creative.

Activists in India are using art to express their anger over a citizenship law that sparked weeks of protests.

And although some of Bollywoods top actors are taking part, others are staying silent.

Al Jazeeras Anchal Vohra reports from New Delhi.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 01:00:19|Editor: huaxia

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Chief Executive of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam meets with Luo Huining, the new director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR in south China's Hong Kong, Jan. 9, 2020. (Xinhua)

HONG KONG, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam on Thursday met here with Luo Huining, the new director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government at the Government House.

The two sides had full exchanges on the current social situation in Hong Kong and their respective performance of duties in accordance with the law.

Lam extended a warm welcome again to Luo on his assumption of the new post in Hong Kong.

Although Luo has just taken up the post, he is familiar with the situations in Hong Kong, Lam said, expressing the hope for enhancing communication and cooperation with Luo in the future to promote the work involving the mainland and Hong Kong.

During the meeting, Lam briefed Luo on the work of the HKSAR government over the past two years as well as the social unrest arising from the legislative amendment since June last year.

They both agreed that Hong Kong had experienced the most severe situation since its return to the motherland during the past seven months, affecting seriously all aspects of society, and that restoring social order as soon as possible is the common aspiration of the general public.

Lam said the HKSAR government will, in accordance with the Basic Law and the "one country, two systems" principle, spare no effort to curb violence and uphold the rule of law in order to find a way out of the current impasse.

As the severe economic situation may affect the livelihood of the general public, especially the grassroots, the HKSAR government will proactively study and introduce relief measures to help the people, Lam said.

Luo said he had a friendly exchange with Lam when leading a Shanxi provincial delegation to Hong Kong at the end of 2018 for business and he was deeply impressed by the competence of the chief executive.

Luo spoke highly of the hard efforts of Lam and the HKSAR government during social unrest, including measures to rein in chaos and help businesses and residents weather out hardships.

The liaison office will, as always, continue to fully respect and support Lam and the HKSAR government to govern in accordance with law, Luo said.

The two sides pledged to further implement the "one country, two systems" principle and maintain Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability in accordance with the requirements of the central authorities.

Joint efforts will be made to stop violence, restore order, and safeguard the rule of law. Measures will be taken to develop the economy, improve people's livelihood and promote the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. They also agreed on improving communication and cooperation to better perform duties.

They both firmly believe that Hong Kong will definitely return to the right track and achieve greater success with the care of the central authorities, the support of the motherland and the joint efforts of all sectors of Hong Kong society.
As news spreads in North Koreas capital about the U.S. drone strike last weekend that killed Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani, citizens are surprised that North Koreas media has been so quick to acknowledge the incident.

New modes of accessing news from outside the country have made it difficult for authorities to control what people are allowed to see, so sources say that the countrys coverage of the incident is a clean break from how similar events were reported in the past.

[The news] is spreading fast among the people, said a senior official from Pyongyang in an interview with RFAs Korean Service on Sunday.

Pyongyang has a developed Internet network thats connected to foreign embassies and foreign trade agencies, and there are many officials visiting foreign countries, so important outside news reaches [some of] the residents immediately, the source said.

[The assassination] is the hottest topic of the New Year for people living in Pyongyang, said the source.

The source said the topic dominates public discourse, and even mandatory political education sessions are derailed by people wanting to talk about the drone attack.

We have to attend educational sessions daily, the source said, adding, But people are not interested in the education session. They just want to learn about the Iranian general who was killed by the U.S.

[This] is a greater shock than when we heard about the death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi [in 2011], the source said.

The source recalled that incident, noting that the government was quick to put its spin on it.

When Gaddafis death resulted in the toppling of Libyas autocratic regime, the Central Committee [of the Korean Workers Party] quickly organized lectures saying, We are different from Libya. We will never surrender to the U.S. without first using nuclear and biochemical weapons, the source said.

The source said that the drone-strike was reported in detail in a reference newsletter, a secret document distributed to various high ranking officials who lead the governments ministries.

But most Pyongyangers already knew that [Soleimani] had been killed by the U.S. in a drone strike, the source said.

A resident of Pyongyang told RFA that news articles about the attack appeared in North Korean newspapers on Monday.

Todays [state run] Rodong Shinmun [newspaper] reported that the Chinese and Russian foreign ministers condemned the U.S. attack on an airfield in Baghdad Iraq that killed an Iranian general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and an Iraqi paramilitary commander, the second source said.

It is very unusual that the Rodong Sinmun to quickly reveal that the Iranian general was killed in a U.S. attack, said the second source.

The authorities seem to have decided that it would be useless to hide facts that all Pyongyangers already know, the second source said.

The second source also said that the people were surprised by the attack and that North Koreas government might also be as well.

The fact that Iran, a country that is more economically and militarily advanced, with an anti-aircraft defense system better than North Koreas, was defenseless is a shock to most people here, the second source said.

Although the leadership is clamoring for an all-out confrontation with the U.S., the recent death of Soleimani may have some implications for the supreme leadership.

Reported by Jieun Kim for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Scooter company Lime is laying off about 14% of its workforce (roughly 100 employees) and shuttering operations in 12 markets as it seeks to become profitable this year, the company tells Axios.

Why it matters: After two years of explosive growth, scooter companies have entered a new phasesurvival of the fittest in a capital-intensive, money-losing industry.

The big picture: Lime is not the first or only scooter company to make cuts.

Bird, Scoot, Lyft, and Skip have all held layoffs or retreated from certain markets over the past year.

Lime too has made small cuts, as when it suspended operations and laid off workers in St. Louis in late 2018, though it emphasizes to Axios that it will continue to expand to new markets this year.

The companies have generated headlines for huge losses as they attempt to manage vehicle attrition, labor costs, and regulatory battles.

What they're saying: "Were very confident that in 2020, Lime will be the first next-generation mobility company to be profitable," Lime president Joe Kraus tells Axios.

He said that projection is based in part on improvements to Lime scooters' longevity, which in 2019 went from from six months to about 14 months.

In between the lines: Kraus also refuted rumors that Lime is actively raising a new round of funding despite months of ongoing rumors that the company was running out of cash and looking for a fresh infusion. (Meanwhile, rival Bird announced in October $275 million in new funds.)

Kraus added that the company is not looking to sell but could be interested in being on the other side of the M&A table.

"We always look opportunistically in being a buyer," he said.

Details: Lime is ending operations in 12 markets where it says business was underperforming.

In the US : Atlanta, Phoenix, San Diego, San Antonio.

: Atlanta, Phoenix, San Diego, San Antonio. In Latin America: Bogota, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Lima, Puerto Vallarta, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

Bogota, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Lima, Puerto Vallarta, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. In Europe: Linz (Austria).

Editor's note: The story has been updated to show that scooter longevity was previously six months (not weeks).
Boris Johnsons Brexit legislation is poised to clear its Commons hurdles on Thursday after months of knife-edge votes and parliamentary turmoil.

Armed with an 80-strong majority, Mr Johnson decided to fast-track the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) through its remaining stages in the Commons in just three days, where it has faced little substantial opposition.

If MPs vote to pass the bill unamended, as expected, the legislation will move to the House of Lords where the government has no majority  and could face a rougher ride from pro-European peers.

The prime ministers decision to strip out commitments in the bill to allow child refugees to reunite with their families has been branded disgraceful by opposition MPs, and is likely to prove a crunch point for peers.

Labour peer Alf Dubs, who fled the Nazis on the Kindertransport when he was 6-years-old, had urged Tory MPs to back efforts to reinstate the protections in the Brexit legislation. However the attempt was heavily defeated in the Commons on Wednesday.

Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes Show all 8 1 /8 Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes Conservative party leader Boris Johnson drives a JCB through a fake wall POOL/AFP via Getty Images Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes PA Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes AFP via Getty Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes PA Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes REUTERS Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes PA Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes AFP via Getty Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes AFP via Getty

The bills smooth passage comes in stark contrast to the trials Theresa May endured during her premiership.

Rebel Tories joined forces with opposition MPs to reject Ms Mays deal by 230 votes in January 2018  the worst government defeat in history  before inflicting two further defeats on the beleaguered prime minister.

Ms May was then forced to ask the EU to delay Brexit beyond 31 March, sowing the seeds for her resignation in the summer.

Her successor, Mr Johnson, has redrafted the WAB since winning the election, stripping out oversight on trade negotiations, protections for workers and the commitments to child refugees. Downing Street insists these matters will be dealt with in separate legislation.

Mr Johnson's official spokesman said: "The prime minister obviously made it a priority after winning a majority to get Brexit done and to move the country forward, and securing the legislation's passage through the Commons is a significant positive step for delivering on that."

The spokesman confirmed that Mr Johnson intends to be present in the Commons to vote on the third reading, but he is not expected to speak in the chamber.

The bill also enshrines in law the prime ministers pledge against extending the transition period beyond December 2020. This new deadline increases the risk of a no-deal Brexit, as it leaves the prime minister only 11 months to negotiate a trade deal with Brussels.

Ursula von der Leyen, the new European Commission president, said the timetable set by Mr Johnson to get a trade deal agreed and ratified by the end of the year was very, very tight.

Without an extension of the transition period beyond 2020, you cannot expect to agree on every single aspect of our new partnership. We will have to prioritise, she said, ahead of a meeting in Downing Street on Wednesday.

However a No10 spokesman described the talks as positive and said the prime minister made it clear that the UK was ready to start talks as soon as possible after Brexit day.

The spokesman added: The PM was clear that the UK would not extend the implementation period beyond December 31 2020; and that any future partnership must not involve any kind of alignment or ECJ jurisdiction. He said the UK would also maintain control of UK fishing waters and our immigration system.
As bushfires continue to ravage much of the nation, many Australians have been left feeling helpless and desperate.

And in light of the current situation, Jessica Rowe is using her platform to urge people to seek help if they need it.

Taking to Instagram on Thursday, the 49-year-old television journalist encouraged her followers to look after their mental health.

Doing what she can: In light of the current bushfires ravaging Australia, Jessica Rowe is using her platform to urge people to seek help for their mental health if they need it

'The bushfires have taken a huge emotional toll on families,' she began, sharing a touching photo of a kangaroo hugging its joey.

'@beyondblueofficial have practical advice about the signs and symptoms of emotional distress, tips for supporting children and young people, and links to several useful websites.'

According to Beyond Blue, many people have felt overwhelmed, numb and detached by the fires devastating the country.

'The bushfires have taken a huge emotional toll on families,' she wrote on Instagram, sharing a touching photo of a kangaroo hugging its joey

They may also be experiencing an 'inability to focus', along with 'constant tearfulness', and may be losing sleep over the fires.

'Communities and individuals affected by bushfire can experience a range of thoughts, feelings and behaviours that can be intense, confusing and frightening,' they wrote on their website.

Jessica has been a vocal advocate for mental health awareness over the years, and has opened up about her own struggles.

Raising awareness: Jessica has been a vocal advocate for mental health awareness over the years, and has opened up about her own struggles

In an interview with Whimn's body+soul in December, the former Studio 10 presenter spoke about struggling with depression and anxiety.

'I've had post-natal depression, depression and anxiety over the years, so I'm a passionate advocate for greater mental health awareness and the importance of asking for help,' she said.

'I felt like a failure because of my mental illness, but now I know that it's an illness like any other and nothing to be ashamed of. I asked for help, went to a psychiatrist and started taking medication, and I'm far healthier in my head as a result.'

Speaking out: Actress Rebecca Gibney also urged her fans to seek help if they are feeling overwhelmed by the current situation

And like Jessica, actress Rebecca Gibney also urged her fans to seek help if they are feeling overwhelmed by the current situation.

'If like me you've been feeling helpless and not sure what to do - know that it's OK to not be OK,' the 55-year-old wrote on Instagram on Thursday.

She also shared a link to Beyond Blue, urging her followers to get the proper support if needed.
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Mullah Nangyalay was killed but local officials say the attack also hit dozens of innocent bystanders.

More than 60 civilians were killed or wounded in a US drone attack targeting a top Taliban splinter-group commander in the western Afghanistan province of Herat, local officials said.

The Taliban commander, named as Mullah Nangyalay, was killed in Shindand district close to the border with Iran, Herat provincial governors spokesman Jailani Farhad said on Thursday.

According to the people, over 60 civilians were killed and wounded in the operation, Toryalai Tahiri, deputy head of Herat provincial council, told Afghan local media TOLO News.

Quoting Wakil Ahmad Karkhi, a member of the Herat provincial council, TOLO News reported civilians have been killed and wounded alongside Mullah Nangyalais fighters in an American attack on Wednesday.

More:

The Afghan government said it launched an investigation into reports of civilian casualties.

Nangyalay split from the main branch of the Taliban after the 2013 death of founder Mullah Omar and joined a smaller breakaway faction led by a commander known as Mullah Rasool.

A senior provincial police source said Wednesdays air raid had been carried out by a US drone.

Resolute Support, NATOs mission in Afghanistan, told AFP news agency it launched a defensive air strike in support of Afghan forces, with a spokesman confirming US participation in the operation.

The main Taliban faction has been negotiating with Washington for more than a year over the withdrawal of US troops in exchange for security guarantees from the armed group that could pave the way to intra-Afghan peace talks.
Just like the Scissor Sisters sing on their famous track, Rochesterites "wanna have a kiki."

A kiki is a social gathering thats historically connected to LGBTQIA+ communities. The Scissor Sisters describe it in their song "Lets Have a Kiki" as "a party for calming all your nerves." Now, theres a weekly kiki at Little Thistle Brewing Company (2031 14th St. NW, Rochester) every Thursday night from 6-8 p.m.

The weekly meetup, which started in October, was founded by Bryan Matthew Chase who says he saw a need for an "inclusive queer space in a welcoming local place."

"I was looking for a title for the events that was obviously queer," explains Chase.

One aspect of the kiki that is very important to Chase is that it embraces diversity. "All LGBTQIA+ folx are welcome at the kiki," he says. "All of usof all races, gender identities, ages, and abilities. A lot of queer spaces cater to gay white cis men, which I am, and I've benefited from those spaces. I'm working to make sure this does not become another one of those places."

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{{tncms-inline alignment="right" content="<p>The term "folx" is sometimes used as a gender-neutral way to refer to people, especially those in the LGBTQ+ community.</p> <p>It is a variation on "folks," which may have male connotations.</p>" id="21fc735c-18b2-4f7b-94b2-b60b0840dfb7" style-type="highlights" title="Editor's Note" type="relcontent"}}

In particular, Chase says the kiki is an inclusive and welcoming place for trans people, nonbinary people, people of color, and younger people. "It may be surprising for some, but historically LGBTQ folx have been internally fractured," he says, "and that's true of Rochester too. It's important for us to have a place where all queer folx truly are welcome."

The kiki got its start when Little Thistle reached out to Rochester Pride saying they wanted to be more involved in the local queer community. Chase is the Vice-Chair of Rochester Pride, and the brewerys outreach spurred him to consider hosting a weekly LGBTQIA+ event there, even though the kikis are not technically a Rochester Pride event.

"The one thing I asked was that (Little Thistle) be part of the kikis too," he says. "I didn't want the kiki to be an event that just happened to be at this business and they only saw it as a means of making money."

Chase says this desire has been more than met. "I wanted us to be welcome, to be wanted in this space, and we are."

"As a small community brewery, its very important that we provide a welcoming environment to everyone, including our friends from the LGBTQIA+," says Dawn Finnie, the Little Thistle Brewing Company CEO. "One of our goals, when we opened, was to create a warm, welcoming space for friends and family to gather over a pint and just be together. Thats exactly what the kiki events are," Finnie says.

Both Dawn and Steve Finnie say they think they "hit the jackpot" with their staff. "The fabric of our brewery is made up of a diverse group of people that we feel fortunate to be part of our beer family," Finnie says. "It makes us a better business to have opinions, ideas, creativity, and experience from different voices.  To think that any of those friends were marginalized or treated differently at Little Thistle would be tough."

Its also important to make inclusive spaces in breweries, which are historically white and male.

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"Supporting our community here in Rochester is extremely important to us, and sometimes you need to take extra steps to say We see you. We value you. We are grateful youre part of this community," says Dawn Finnie.

So far, the plan seems to be working. Josh Neis found out about the meetup through Facebook events, and Brittany Anderson found out about the kiki in a LGBTQIA+ social media group. For Anderson, part of what makes the kiki special is meeting new friends.

"Bryan always introduces me to new people when they arrive, and makes sure everyone gets to meet everyone else," Anderson says.

One of Chases favorite memories from the weekly gathering is inviting people hes never met to join the kiki group at their rainbow flag-draped table. "Twice Ive met queer folks who happened to be at Little Thistle during the kiki but didnt know what it was, and then joined our table," he says.

If youve been looking for a place where you are welcomed, consider kicking it at the Little Thistle kiki.

{{tncms-inline content="<p>What: LGBTQIA+ kikis at Little Thistle</p> <p>When: Every Thursday from 6-8 p.m.</p> <p>Where: Little Thistle Brewing Company, 2031 14th St. NW, Rochester</p> <p>Cost: Free</p>" id="efca0fe8-0a97-44bf-bc68-e47c703e61cc" style-type="fact" title="If You Go" type="relcontent"}}

What: LGBTQIA+ kikis at Little Thistle

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When: Every Thursday from 6-8 p.m.

Where: Little Thistle Brewing Company, 2031 14th St. NW, Rochester

Cost: Free

The term "folx" is sometimes used as a gender-neutral way to refer to people, especially those in the LGBTQ+ community.

It is a variation on "folks," which may have male connotations.
Shriners Hospital for Children in the Texas Medical Center is planning to close in 2021, officials said Thursday, part of an effort to consolidate all its area care at the charity systems Galveston facility.

The closure, which will end Shriners 100-year presence in Houston, will mean all four specialty care departments  acute burns, orthopedic conditions, spinal injuries and cleft lip and palate abnormalities  will be provided in Galveston. Currently, the burn unit is in Galveston and the other three are in Houston.

This will make more efficient use of resources and enable us to provide our patients who need more than one type of care to receive it all in one place, said Mel Bower, director of marketing at the Shriners national offices in Tampa. It makes more strategic sense.

Bower said the decision, made last fall, was driven by a desire to build one premier hospital, not financial concerns. Plans are still fluid, he said, but the closure in Houston and consolidation of services in Galveston should be finished sometime in the first half of 2021.

Bower added that the burn centers presence in Galveston was a major determinant in the decision to consolidate there rather than Houston. He said the requirements to provide such care are very complicated.

The burn center also is considered one of the nations best. It has the highest survival rate of patients with major burn injury  greater than 80 percent  of all U.S. hospitals, according to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, which provides the centers doctors and nurses.

But the center was criticized in 2018 because of allegations that some faculty members provided inappropriate treatment to some research patients. UTMB subsequently suspended all burn-injury studies on human subjects at the burn center as well as its own campus while it reviews the matter and develops a plan of corrective action. That suspension, initiated in January 2019, is still under effect, a UTMB spokesman said Thursday.

The Texas Medical Center Shriners keeps a lower profile, mostly because its surrounded by Texas Childrens and Childrens Memorial Hermann hospitals. Texas Children's is the nation's largest pediatric hospital -- and is consistently ranked among the best in U.S. News & World Report's annual survey.

The Houston Shriners hospital is licensed for 40 inpatient beds and performs a little more than 1,000 surgeries annually, according to its website. It reports treating 3,000 patients in 2019.

In contrast, Texas Childrens Medical Center campus has 694 licensed pediatric beds and performs more than 20,000 surgeries annually. Childrens Memorial Hermann has 234 licensed pediatric beds and performs 6,000 surgeries annually.

Shriners history in Houston dates to 1920, when it opened as the Arabia Temple Crippled Childrens Clinic in the Baptist Sanitarium downtown. It has been housed in a number of different locations in the city before taking root in the medical center in 1949. It built the facility in its current location in 1996.

The Shriners system, which began as a response to the polio epidemic in the 1920s and accepts patients regardless of the familys ability to pay, comprises 20 hospitals in the U.S., one in Mexico and one in Canada.

Bower said it is still too early in the process to know what it will do with its existing building in the medical center.

todd.ackerman@chron.com

twitter.com/chronmed
MPs have finally given their formal backing to Boris Johnsons Brexit deal after more than three years of bitter parliamentary wrangling over the UKs departure from the European Union.

The historic EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill cleared the Commons this afternoon - despite Labour opposition - as MPs gave the draft legislation its third reading by 330 votes to 231, a majority of 99.

It is the final major Commons hurdle which the so-called WAB had to navigate and it will now head to the House of Lords next week for further scrutiny before the UK leaves the EU on January 31.

Remainer peers are expected to table a wave of amendments but ministers are confident that the Lords will eventually bow to the will of the elected House.

They hope the WAB - the legislation which is needed to deliver an orderly Brexit at the end of the month - will make it onto the UK statute book by January 22.

Todays vote represented a huge symbolic moment as the nation prepares to split from Brussels.

Mr Johnsons crushing general election victory in December meant the passage of the WAB was a formality after the battle to deliver Brexit tormented the previous two Tory administrations.

However, while the UK's legal departure from the bloc now looks certain to take place at 11pm on January 31, the struggle over the UKs future relationship with the EU is only just getting started.

MPs voted by 330 to 231 to give the EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill a third reading this afternoon

Boris Johnson was in the Commons this afternoon to hear the result of the vote. He is pictured as the result was announced

Mr Johnson, pictured in Downing Street yesterday, is now firmly on course to take the UK out of the EU on January 31

Unlike previous knife-edge Commons votes on Brexit, the result was not in doubt following the Tories' crushing election victory before Christmas

After more than three years of bitter wrangling, the historic EU Withdrawal Bill is now a step closer to becoming law

Three years of Brexit chaos: Key dates in the wrangling June 21, 2016: The UK votes to leave the EU in the referendum. July 13, 2016: Theresa May becomes PM after seeing off challenges from Boris Johnson and Michael Gove. March 29, 2017: Theresa May formally notifies the EU that the UK is triggering the Article 50 process for leaving the bloc. June 8, 2017: The Tories lose their majority in the snap election called by Mrs May in a bid to strengthen her hand on Brexit. Mrs May manages to stay in power propped up by the DUP. July 12, 2018: Mrs May forces her blueprint for the future relationship with the EU through Cabinet during lengthy talks at Chequers. But both David Davis and Boris Johnson resign afterwards. November 2018: Mrs May finally strikes a Withdrawal Agreement with the EU, and it is approved by Cabinet - although Esther McVey and Dominic Raab resign. December 2018: Mrs May sees off a vote of no confidence in her leadership triggered by Tory MP furious about her Brexit deal. January 15-16, 2019: Mrs May loses first Commons vote on her Brexit deal by a massive 230 votes. But she sees off a Labour vote of no confidence in the government. March 12, 2019: Despite tweaks following talks with the EU, Mrs May's deal is defeated for a second time by 149 votes. March 29, 2019: Mrs May's deal is defeated for a third time by a margin of 58 votes. May 24, 2019: Mrs May announces she will resign on June 7, triggering a Tory leadership contest. July 23-24, 2019: Mr Johnson wins the Tory leadership battle after solemnly vowing that Brexit will not be extended beyond October 31, and becomes PM the following day. August 28, 2019: Mr Johnson announces he wants to prorogue Parliament from September 10. September 3-4, 2019: MPs seize control of Commons business and pass a law requiring a Brexit extension to avoid No Deal. Mr Johnson tries to call a snap general election but does not secure the two-thirds majority of MPs needed. September 24, 2019: The Supreme Court declares the prorogation of Parliament illegal. October 21, 2019: Mr Johnson strikes a new Brexit deal with the EU, incorporating many elements of Mrs May's but deleting the Northern irish backstop and proposing a much looser alignment. October 22, 2019: MPs approve Mr Johnson's deal at second reading stage in a major breakthrough - but they vote down his proposed timetable and vow to try to amend the Bill later. The PM responds by pausing the legislation and again demanding an election. October 29, 2019: MPs finally vote for an election, after the SNP and Lib Dems broke ranks to vote in favour, forcing the Labour leadership to agree. December 12, 2019: The Tories win a stunning 80 majority after vowing to 'get Brexit done' during the campaign. December 20, 2019: The new-look Commons passes Mr Johnson's Withdrawal Bill by a majority of 124. Today: EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill cleared its final Commons stages. Next week: The legislation moves to the House of Lords, where Remainer peers are expected to table a wave of amendments. January 22: Ministers expect the EU Withdrawal Bill to complete its progress by around this point, and receive Royal Assent. 11pm, January 31: The UK formally leaves the EU - although it will stay bound to the bloc's rules for at least another 11 months during the transition period. Advertisement

The new president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen came to London yesterday for her first face-to-face talks with Mr Johnson.

She was accompanied by the EUs chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier who will now lead trade discussions on behalf of the bloc after managing the divorce stage.

But the two sides struck distinctly different positions, with Mr Johnson insisting the transition period - an effective standstill when the UK is still bound by EU rules when the two sides will try to agree a trade deal - will not be extended beyond 2020.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: 'The PM reiterated that we wanted a broad free trade agreement covering goods and services, and co-operation in other areas.

'The PM was clear that the UK would not extend the Implementation Period beyond 31 December 2020; and that any future partnership must not involve any kind of alignment or ECJ (European Court of Justice) jurisdiction.'

But Ms von der Leyen said the end-of-year deadline would limit what could be agreed on trade as she suggested the UK could leave the bloc with only a partial deal in place.

During a speech at the London School of Economics, where she spent a year in hiding as a student in the late 1970s after becoming a target of the left-wing terrorist Baader-Meinhof gang, she said that a full deal would not be achievable in just 11 months.

She said: 'Without an extension of the transition period beyond 2020 you cannot expect to agree on every single aspect of our new partnership. We will have to prioritise.'

Mr Barnier echoed a similar sentiment in a speech in Stockholm today as he said: We are ready to do our best and to do the maximum in the 11 months to secure a basic agreement with the UK, but we will need more time to agree on each and every point of this political declaration.

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson has risked irritating hardline Eurosceptic Tory MPs after it emerged a request for Big Ben to chime to mark Brexit on January 31 is yet to be submitted by the government.

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who chairs the Commons Commission, has previously suggested he would not personally block such a request if the House wishes it to happen.

Conservative former minister Mark Francois has led efforts within parliament for Big Ben to bong at 11pm on January 31 to mark the UK's departure from the EU.

He has tabled an early day motion (EDM), which has attracted 55 signatures, and had proposed an amendment to the WAB although it was not selected for debate.

Sir Paul Beresford, answering a written parliamentary question on behalf of the Commission, said: 'The House of Commons Commission has not received a request from the government to arrange for Big Ben to chime to mark the UK's departure from the EU.'

He added the commission is 'aware' of the EDM and 'further aware' of the amendment which was tabled.

Sir Paul added: 'In May 2018, the commission agreed that, during the Elizabeth Tower refurbishment project, Big Ben should sound only for Remembrance Sunday, Armistice Day and over the New Year.'

Big Ben's bongs were temporarily silenced in 2017 for the safety of workers involved in a four-year restoration scheme of the Elizabeth Tower.

No 10 last night suggested it was considering pushing for sector-specific mini-deals to speed up trade negotiations with Brussels.

The Prime Ministers press secretary said: We want to get on in terms of negotiating a deal so maybe the approach of nothing is agreed until everything is agreed which characterised previous negotiations  thats not an approach we are interested in taking.

During the transition period the relationship between the UK and the EU will remain largely unchanged while the two sides negotiate a new trade agreement.

A Downing Street source said the PM had given absolute clarity to Ms von der Leyen during yesterdays talks about the UKs timetable and proposed agenda, with no extension of the transition period beyond the end of this year.

In his meeting with Ms von der Leyen at No 10, Mr Johnson repeatedly referred to the Tory manifesto, which pledged to take back control of the UKs money, borders and laws.

The source said: They havent sorted out their negotiating mandate yet, but we have got ours  it is the manifesto.

Aides were cautiously optimistic about Ms von der Leyens approach, with the new EU chief apparently open to holding talks in London and Brussels.

The two leaders also reminisced about the European School in Brussels, where they both spent time as children.

Mr Johnson joked that he had introduced the very rough game British Bulldog to the playground.

Mr Johnson welcomed the new EU boss Ursula von der Leyen to Downing Street for talks yesterday afternoon

Mr Johnson told new EU Commission President that the end of 2020 must be treated as a hard deadline for striking a post-Brexit trade deal between the EU and UK

Ahead of meeting Mr Johnson, the former German defence minister used her LSE speech to praise the UK and the capital which she truly fell in love with as a student.

She added: This country  strong-willed, open-minded and big-hearted. Proud and patriotic. Kind and generous in spirit. Full of traditions and contradictions.

Of course, certain things took longer for me to learn. The sense of humour, for example, or the subtle meanings hidden in every sentence. But this only deepened my fascination and my admiration for the UK which remains as strong today as it was back then.

Ms von der Leyen joked that she had spent more time in Soho bars and Camden record stores than reading books in the university library.

Speaking about Brexit, she warned that there would be limitations to a trade deal if the UK chose to no longer stick to rules made in Brussels.

With every decision comes a trade-off, she said.

Without the free movement of people, you cannot have the free movement of capital, goods and services.

Without a level playing field on environment, labour, taxation and state aid, you cannot have the highest quality access to the worlds largest single market.
Erinn Hayes. Photo: Cassidy Sparrow/Getty Images

Erinn Hayes has done it all. On Netflixs new Childrens Hospital spinoff premiering tomorrow, Medical Police, she jumps out of a plane, impersonates an interior decorator, and visits water parks across Europe. The globetrotting mystery parodies big ensemble global conspiracy shows like Blindspot and Manifest, and reunites cast and crew from the dearly departed Adult Swim show. Hayess Lola Spratt joins Rob Huebels Dr. Owen Maestro to make the dumbest jokes and save the dumbest version of the world youve ever seen. (Yes, even dumber than the world we currently inhabit.)

Beyond her new show, Hayes has done everything from starring in prestige dramedies (The Dangerous Book for Boys) to being killed off between seasons on a sitcom (Kevin Can Wait). She spoke with Vulture about how to sell a joke while commenting on it, Kevin Can F*** Himself, and how things are improving for bitches on TV.

What was it like coming back to this character and this crew after such a long time?

It was such a dream to come back to work with everybody. And truly, it was so much of the same crew from Childrens Hospital. Not just the cast, and not just the executive producers, but the camera guys and our set designers. Everybody was back. It felt like not much time had passed, so it didnt make sense that we look older. We didnt skip a beat. The tone didnt need to be explained, or how we do things. It felt nice and easy.

Youve said before that shooting Childrens Hospital has a summer-camp vibe, because you would always do it between shooting other things. Was doing it with Netflix more of a big production?

One-hundred percent. For Childrens Hospital, we shot six weeks a year, and it was usually either over our Christmas break or over the summer. Youd be in certain days, and then youd be off for a few days. And this is ten half-hour episodes, where I was in every single day. It felt much more legitimate, and was a little bit bigger production. It had the same kind of, Hey lets make a show! kind of vibe.

You are basically the star this time. You have the big emotional arc in Medical Police, which is a big departure. Childrens Hospital didnt have a lot of continuity. What was that like?

It was quite a shift. Childrens Hospital didnt have any episode-to-episode through line. There were a couple of things that were always the same: Were always in Brazil, were always doctors. But you could be married to someone in one episode, and the next episode is set in the 40s or something. So it was only tricky in the way that we had to put more thought into, Wait, where did we end the last scene? What is the arc of the whole series? How confused should I be at this point? Because we had actual facts to figure out: How sick should this person be? How far along are they with this virus? That was the one part that definitely veered away from the Childrens Hospital experience.

But its fun. Its exciting to take the world of Childrens Hospital and give it a more global feel. If wed just come back and made more episodes, people might have been excited about that. But this is the same tone, the same characters, and feels like the natural progression for it.

Speaking of making the show more global, what was your favorite L.A. is doubling for a place around the world moment?

Oh my God. Well, we shot on this set, out in Santa Clarita. I think it was supposed to be the Sudan. And its the set that they built for American Sniper. So it was made for this big, Oscar-bait movie, really serious, and were there making jokes about the dumbest stuff. It was also China; it was a bunch of locations for us. But were there making the dumbest jokes in the same building where Bradley Cooper was just emoting his heart out.

Is there a difference in the way you approach acting on a straight sitcom vs. acting on this Airplane-style deadpan parody?

For sure. Its tricky, because with a comedy, you take a joke and play the joke for what it is. You do it as best you can, because you have a fresh take on it or something. But with this style of humor, which is more meta, you have to know, first of all, what the joke is. Because its usually some hack joke thats been done a million times. And then you have to have an opinion on that joke. So youre playing the joke and the commentary on the joke at the same time, which is a much different preparation. You want to call attention to how stupid and how hack the joke is, but you still want the joke to be funny.

We had a while doing Childrens Hospital to get the way the guys wanted us to do it, or find a way that worked for us. I think some of the guest stars had a trickier time, because they would come in, and about halfway through the day would be like, Ohhh, I see what were doing here. Maybe they hadnt watched the show before. But then, every single one of them turned up and was fantastic.

Stepping away from Medical Police, youve said before that you often get cast in one of two roles: the bitch that needs to be softened up, or the woman who makes the irresponsible dad seem like not a monster.

I have done my share of those, yes.

How do you make those fun for you?

Its interesting, because I think in more recent years  Huge in France being one of them, and then a couple pilots I did  Im just now coming to roles where theyre just letting me be a bitch. And thats been so fun. Because I think certain times, writers will write a script, and they have this character that they want to be a bitch. But then they get this studio note that says, Shes just a little too mean. Can we make her a little softer? So instead of doing it in the writing, they will just cast someone who has kind of a softer feel. Theyll be like Can you play that line nicer? And Im like, But the line is written so harshly! Ill give it a shot.

Its tricky sometimes, but I do prefer that one, Soften Up a Bitch. I prefer that to the ones where you have to make the audience love the goofy guy. That ones a little harder, because it requires a little more suspension of your own disbelief. That woman would have left that guy a long time ago.

Ive been rewatching The Simpsons on Disney+, and the whole Homer and Marge dynamic is so much more troubling as an adult.

Oh my God, thats what it is, right? Shes a delightful character in her own right. So I think thats what you have to hope for. It is what it is. There are those people that are never going to leave the goofy guy, and so you have to find what that is. You have to find the love thats there, make that person a flawed person as well  thats the easiest way to do it. Because if theyre just some saint that is putting up with all of this nonsense, then its harder for the audience. But if theyre a little messed up as well, then you go Well, these are two people [who belong together]. The guy does wackier stuff, but the woman is no saint herself.

How do you imbue that character with flaws? Do you work with the writers, or is it some secret actors choice?

Its a constant conversation with the producers and writers. Sometimes something can be written straight as the wife supporting the husband. And you can play it like shes commenting on that. I ask, Hey, can I play this ironically, and give her a bit of a sideways glance in the way I deliver it? Which has made me feel better about delivering things like that. Make her a little smarter, like she knows whats going on and chooses to participate.

Since Kevin Can F*** Himself was announced, Vulture has been heavily campaigning for you to be involved in the show.

Well, bless you. I did read the script. I just reached out through my team in Hollywood, because I wanted to see what their take on it was. And its so good. The woman who wrote it is so smart. The angle she takes on telling this particular story has nothing to do with me. It has nothing to do with Kevin James. Its just exploring the trope that we talked about earlier.

Its way older than that.

Its so much older. Its The Honeymooners. Its bananas how old this trope is. And she does it so well. Its so good, and Id kill to be in it. Its fantastic. That being said, maybe Im the only one in town that wont get a chance to read for it. Who knows? That would be a story in itself, and I dont know if theyd want to make the casting a story.

Because it would make it too specific to your own case, as opposed to about that trope more generally?

Because then its like, Oh, its Erinn Hayes, who was killed off Kevin Can Wait. It makes that part of the story. But if theres any way I could do that part, Id love to. The part theyve written is so full and so interesting. They just did a great job, and Im excited to see how the show turns out whether or not I ever get a chance to read for it or be a part of it in any way.

Would you soften up a bitch on that show?

Oh, Ill soften up any bitch on that show.
A young child was caught in the middle for several hours overnight after a fugitive from LaPorte County pulled a gun while police attempted to take him into custody, records state, resulting in lengthy negotiations and a tactical team forcing their way into the home.

Members of the Fugitive Apprehension Street Team and the US Marshals Service Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force showed up around noon at a residence in rural Cass County, Michigan to take the wanted man into custody, according to the LaPorte County Sheriff's Office.

Officers discovered the wanted man at the house with a woman and young child, at which time the man pulled a gun, police said. Police took cover and established a perimeter around the house while calling for additional help.

Police negotiated with the armed man for several hours, resulting in the child being released from the home at 10:11 p.m.

At 2:32 a.m. Thursday, a tactical team breached the attached garage door of the house, police said. The man and woman, who police did not identify, exited a few minutes later and were taken into custody, police said.

Both face criminal charges in Cass County.
By Rasana Gasimova

The World Bank (WB) forecasts GDP growth rate of Azerbaijan at the level of 2.3 percent in 2020.

According to the report titled Global Economic Prospects: Slow growth, policy challenges published on the banks website, Azerbaijans GDP growth in 2021 will amount to 2.1 percent.

The World Bank confirmed its forecasts on the economic growth rates of Azerbaijan for 2020-2021 made in October 2019.

According to WB forecasts for 2022, Azerbaijans GDP growth will reach about 2.2 percent. According to WB estimates, the country's GDP growth in 2019 will be 2.5 percent.

The long-term growth of the Azerbaijani economy depends on continuing reforms to accelerate the development of the private sector and eliminate vulnerabilities in the financial sector. In addition, investment in human capital, improving the quality of education will have a positive effect on the pace of economic growth, the report states.

Following the results of 2019, the Azerbaijani government expects GDP growth at the level of 2.3 percent.

Azerbaijan expects its GDP to grow by 3 percent in 2020, by 3.7 percent in 2021, 3.1 percent for 2022. In 2018, GDP growth in Azerbaijan amounted to 1.4 percent.

As for the other forecasts on Azerbaijans economy, EBRD expects that Azerbaijan's GDP will grow by 3.5 percent in 2019 and by 3.3 percent in 2020. In addition, ADB expects that the economy of Azerbaijan will grow by 2.5 percent in 2019 and by 2.7 percent in 2020.

Meanwhile, according to the forecasts of the Fitch agency, the economy of Azerbaijan will grow by 3.5 percent in 2019. At the same time, the international rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) expects the Azerbaijani economy to grow by 2.3 percent in 2019.

Also, The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts that Azerbaijans GDP growth will reach 2.5 percent in 2020-2024.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Media outlets around the world have been reporting that Finland wants to introduce a four-day workweek. But in reality, the country's government has no such plans.

Several international media outlets in Britain, the United States and Australia have reported that Finland's new young prime minister Sanna Marin has announced plans to introduce a four-day workweek, and in some cases a six-hour workday as well.

There is very little validity to these claims and according to the Finnish government itself, no such plans exist.

"There's no mention of this in the government's programme. It is not on the government's agenda," a government source told AFP in a text message.

The source regretted that "no fact-checking whatsoever" had been attempted.

On Tuesday the government also officially denied the plans in a tweet.

"In the Finnish Governments programme there is no mention about a four-day week. The issue is not on the Finnish Government's agenda. PM @marinsanna envisioned idea briefly in a panel discussion last August while she was the Minister of Transport, and there hasn't been any recent activity," it said.

The 34-year-old Marin's envisioning of the idea refers to when she attended a panel discussion at the Social Democratic Party's 120-year anniversary in the city of Turku in August 2019.

"A four-day working week, six-hour working day, why can't that be the next step? Is eight hours the final reality? In my opinion people deserve more time with their families, their close ones, with their hobbies and other things in their life. This could be the next step for us in working life," she said while listing things she hoped for in the future.

Most international publications reporting the story refer to an article by Brussels-based publication New Europe, which was published on January 2.

The New Europe article actually makes clear that this is not an official policy of the new government, but merely suggested that Marin could bring up the idea once again now in her new role as prime minister.

In later retellings of the story, that distinction, however, was not always made clear.

In some reports Marin was described as also planning to shorten the work day to six hours, and references to neighbouring Sweden are made, where allegedly a six-hour workday has been in place since 2015, but this claim is also untrue.

While there are a few isolated examples of companies and public sector workplaces that have experimented with shorter work-days in Sweden, the norm is still an eight-hour day, five days a week.

While there is some substance to the claim that Sanna Marin has suggested that a shorter workweek should be a future goal, there is no truth to reports that Finland in any way is preparing to introduce a four-day workweek or shorten the workday.
BAR HARBOR, Maine - A pair of U.S. senators believes restoring native plants in national parks around the country could help beautify and improve some of Americas most beloved public places.

The effort is led by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington. Theyve called the bill the Native Plant Species Pilot Program Act and said it would encourage the National Park Service to increase use of native plant materials on land the service stewards.

The use of native plants would benefit wildlife, human health and the environment, Collins and Cantwell said. Collins said the proposal would be especially beneficial for Acadia National Park in Maine.

Acadias native plant communities includes many species such as the blueberry barrens near the mountain summits, the towering white pines in older forests, and the cranberry bogs along Northeast Creek that contribute to Maines iconic landscape, Collins said.
Willie Walsh is one of the most prominent figures in international aviation.

But even those apparently in the know might not always recognise the Irishman.

On a recent trip to Toronto to showcase one of its new Airbus A350 aircraft, Willie Walsh and a number of journalists from Ireland, the UK and Spain were out to dinner the evening we arrived at the citys famous CN Tower.

After an enjoyable and jet-lagged meal where Walsh sampled some Canadian ale at the bustling revolving restaurant, and revealed that Tokyo is his favourite city in the world to visit, we were eventually among the last to leave.

We crammed into the super-fast lift that descended the 1,150 feet to the ground, chatting amongst ourselves.

A Canadian who had been dining separately with his partner had also jumped in at the last minute and eagerly mansplained to her about the speed of some aircraft as the lift hurtled downwards.

And I should know, he announced confidently as the lift slowed to a halt and they stepped out the door. Im in the airline business.

We could barely contain our laughter as we fell out of the lift. He hadn't even recognised Willie Walsh, who was standing just a couple of feet away from him.

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Walsh has been among the vanguard of Irish executives who have flown to the high perches of the aviation world.

Notably, Ryanair boss Michael OLeary is among those who has global recognition in the sector. So do others, such as Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, the Tallaght native who has been running the airline since 2008.

Walsh also likes to tell a story about an event he attended in Glasgow a few years ago. Afterwards, he repaired to the well-known Horseshoe Bar in the city for a drink.

As he sipped on his pint, a local wag approached him.

"You're Michael OLeary, he accused Walsh.

Walsh assured him he was wrong, but the man persisted.

"I've seen you on television. You're Michael O'Leary."

Again, Walsh pointed out his error.

"The accent and the pint of Guinness. It's a dead giveaway. You're Michael O'Leary," the man insisted.

Fed up, Walsh turned to him: "Would you ever fu*k off, I'm not Michael O'Leary."

"I knew you were Michael O'Leary!" came the satisfied reply.

Irish aviation executives have left a global mark. And its not only in running airlines.

Some of the worlds top aircraft leasing firms are run by Irish men and women: Domhnal Slattery at Avolon; Peter Barrett at SMBC Aviation; Ruth Kelly at Goshawk; and Gus Kelly at AerCap command tens of billions of dollars worth of aircraft assets.

Domhnal Slatterys brother, John, is the chief executive of the commercial arm of Brazilian jet maker Embraer. Hell lead a new joint venture between Boeing and Embraer once it receives regulatory clearance.

Later this month, thousands of executives involved in all aspects of the aviation business, from airline and jet leasing bosses, to finance and legal teams, will descend on Dublin from all over the world for two of the sectors big annual get togethers.

So why are there so many Irish executives involved in aviation?

They frequently put it down to factors including Ireland being an island and its history of emigration and need for connectivity, as well as the fact that Irish people can find it easy to do business anywhere due to a lack of colonial or conflict baggage.

The country's leading role in the aircraft leasing sector has also been helped by successive governments that have ensured attractive legislation and tax platforms for the industry here.

About 50pc of the worlds leased aircraft are managed or leased via Ireland.
 Flash

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday called for promoting the China-Egypt comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level with the aim of building a community of shared future in the new era.

Wang made the remarks during his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the Egyptian capital of Cairo.

As the long-term trustworthy friend of Egypt, China firmly supports Egypt in preserving its national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, adopting the development path matching its national conditions, and combating the terrorist and extremist forces of all forms, Wang said.

China also supports Egypt in its efforts to achieve national rejuvenation and play a bigger role in the international and regional affairs, the top Chinese diplomat added.

As the cooperation between China and Egypt grows in scope and depth, China has become the largest trading partner of Egypt, Wang noted, adding the Chinese investments in Egypt surged more than 60 percent in 2019.

China is willing to deepen strategic coordination with Egypt in a joint effort to uphold peace and stability in the Middle East, preserve multilateralism, fairness and justice, and safeguard the common interests of all developing countries, he said.

For his part, Sisi spoke highly of China's great economic and social achievements and the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Egypt, while thanking the valuable long-term support China has provided to Egypt.

Egypt is willing to work together with China to promote the comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level, Sisi said.

As a staunch supporter of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Egypt hopes to become a key partner in promoting the Chinese initiative, the Egyptian president noted.

Proposed by China in 2013, the BRI refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aiming at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road trade routes to seek common development and prosperity.

Being at a critical moment for its development and revitalization, Egypt hopes to strengthen win-win cooperation with China in different fields and enhance exchanges in the fight against terrorism and extremism, Sisi said.

The Egyptian president hailed the fair stance China has always maintained in the global affairs, while expecting China to play a more active and greater role in dealing with the current turmoil in Middle East.
- The commissions chief executive Nancy Macharia said the decision was taken to protect the teachers

- The TSC boss condoled with the family and friends of the deceased teacher Daisy Mbathe Maluka

- The Ndooni Primary School teacher was killed by a mob over the dismal performance of the school in the 2019 KCPE exams

- Two suspects have since been arrested in connection with her death

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has withdrawn all teachers from Ndooni Primary School in Kitui county after a teacher at the learning institution was killed by parents protesting poor KCPE results.

The commissions chief executive Nancy Macharia said the decision was taken to protect the tutors.

READ ALSO: Flamboyant lawyer Donald Kipkorir claims Tanga Tanga is keen to recruit Miguna

TSC CEO Nancy Macharia has condoled with the family and friends of the deceased teacher Daisy Mbathe Maluka of Ndooni Primary School, Kitui county. Photo: TSC Kenya.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Alfred Mutua's wife takes on her husband's critics online

In a statement on Thursday, January 9, the CEO condoled with the family and friends of the deceased Daisy Mbathe Maluka.

The commission regrets the unfortunate death of the teacher and takes this opportunity to condole with her family, relatives, friends, pupils and teachers of Ndooni Primary School.

The commission has with immediate effect withdrawn the six TSC teachers who have been working at the school," she said in a statement.

READ ALSO: Willis Raburu supports wife's comments on abandoning God, says people grieve differently

The teachers employer said it was engaging relevant government agencies to bring to book the culprits who committed the offense to book.

The commission wishes to assure the affected it is working with other government agencies to establish the circumstances under which the teacher met her death, part of the statement read.

It further warned it would not hesitate to petition for the closure of the school where the safety of teachers was at risk.

Two suspects have been arrested in connection to the killing of the teacher and have been detained for 21 days pending investigations.

Wambua Mwangangi and Chris Kyalo Muli are said to be part of the mob that beat up and burnt to death teacher Daisy. Photo: Daily Nation.

Source: UGC

Wambua Mwangangi and Chris Kyalo Muli were believed to have been part of the irate villagers who attacked and burnt to death Mbathe over dismal performance in the 2019 KCPE examination.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

The Blind Tailor, I don't want people to pity me. I want them to be encouraged by my story | Tuko TV.

Source: TUKO.co.ke
Satellite images of al Assad air base in Iraq taken Jan. 8 show damage from Iranian missiles.

Satellite images reveal damage at two bases in Iraq after Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at U.S. troops and coalition forces Tuesday in retaliation for a U.S. drone strike days earlier that killed Qasem Soleimani, one of Tehran's most powerful military officials.

The missiles targeted al Assad air base in Iraqs Anbar province and another base in Erbil in Iraqs semiautonomous Kurdish region.

Al Assad air base is in western Iraq and was used by American forces after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. It houses about 1,500 U.S. and coalition personnel. President Donald Trump made a surprise visit there in late 2018 and spoke about the fight against the Islamic State.

No U.S. or Iraqi troops were killed or injured in Tuesday's attack, Trump said Wednesday in a live address to the nation. He described the damage done by the missiles as "minimal." Iran, Trump said, "appears to be standing down."

A U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, stated that a hangar was damaged at al Assad.

The official described the attack as "massive" and cautioned that the assessment was made during predawn hours Wednesday.

Examination of satellite images by USA TODAY shows damage to multiple buildings at the complex.

The strike Tuesday could have functioned as a very loud warning shot and may be an indication that the Iranian regime wants to limit escalation, said Michael O'Hanlon, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution. The opening may be short-lived, he said.

"They missed on purpose and want to de-escalate  for the moment," O'Hanlon said.

The Iranians know how to hit a target when they want to destroy it, said a U.S. official with knowledge of Iranian capabilities who was not authorized to speak publicly. Such an attack would have caused "grave damage," the official said. It is possible that more moderate elements in the Iranian government are pushing for restraint, the official said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: See satellite images of bases in Iraq before and after Iranian missile attack
The brave owner of a wildlife park on Kangaroo Island has vowed to stay and protect hundreds of koalas as a raging bushfire close in.

Residents on the South Australian island fled for their lives when the army gave them just five minutes to evacuate after a flare-up near Parndana on Thursday afternoon.

But Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park owner Sam Mitchell and other staff have remained at the site, risking their lives for the animals.

Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park owner Sam Mitchell (pictured) has vowed to stay and protect hundreds of koalas as a raging bushfire close in

Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park owner Dana Mitchell and members of the army bandage one of many burnt koalas being treated at the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park

Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park is caring for almost 100 koalas after the bushfire on the island last week

The park is home to 1,500 animals, including almost 100 koalas who have been rescued since another blaze tore through the tourist hotspot on Friday.

Mr Mitchell, who purchased the park with his partner Dana Jansen in 2013, called the destruction caused by the bushfires last week 'horrific'.

'For every koala we are seeing alive, there are 100 dead,' he told SkyNews.

At least half of the koala population on the small island are believed to have been killed and there are fears the flare-up could see the number skyrocket.

The Australian Defence Force were seen moving door-to-door in a bid to ensure residents were evacuated before the blaze hit on Thursday afternoon.

The evacuation alarm was also heard ringing throughout Parndana, urging residents to flee.

The park has 1,500 animals, including almost 100 koalas (pictured) who have been rescued since another blaze tore through the South Australian tourist hotspot on Friday

Bushfires are sweeping through Stokes Bay in Kangaroo Island, Australia, threatening homes

A helicopter drops water on bushfires sweeping through Stokes Bay in Kangaroo Island, Australia

AUSTRALIA'S BUSHFIRE CRISIS - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Evacuations are underway and emergency alerts are in place in NSW, Victoria and South Australia as authorities predict the devastating bushfires will continue burning until at least March. At least 28 people have been killed in blazes across the country since the bushfire season began in October. NEW SOUTH WALES/ACT Around 90 fires were burning in NSW on Thursday morning

20 people dead

More than 5.2 million hectares burned - equal to the metro areas of the five mainland state capitals

1,870 homes confirmed destroyed, more than 3,774 outbuildings and 200 facilities razed VICTORIA 19 bushfires burning in the Gippsland, northeast and alpine regions as of Thursday morning

Five people dead

More than 1.5 million hectares burnt

387 homes have been damaged or destroyed

602 non-residential structures have also been damaged SOUTH AUSTRALIA Three people, including two from Kangaroo Island, are dead

More than 274,000 hectares burnt

161 homes confirmed destroyed, along with 413 sheds and outhouses QUEENSLAND 2.5 million hectares burnt

48 homes confirmed destroyed WESTERN AUSTRALIA 1.5 million hectares burned

One home confirmed destroyed TASMANIA 30,000 hectares burned

Two homes confirmed destroyed NORTHERN TERRITORY Five homes confirmed destroyed Advertisement

There are more than 145 Army Reservists and vehicles with supplies on Kangaroo Island for initial recovery efforts.

A Water Treatment Plant has also been established and can produce up to 250,000 litres per day.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young wrote on Twitter The Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park had been evacuated as the fire approached.

It comes as people across the island are bracing for another day of severe fire risk with fears the major blaze will jump containment lines and surge a second time.

The fire has already destroyed 160,000 hectares including most of the famed Flinders Chase National Park.

The small island off the coast of South Australia state is home to about 4,500 people

A rescued koala injured in a bushfire in Kangaroo Island recovers at Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park

Dead kangaroos and sheep near the roadside following devastating fires on Kangaroo Island

As a precaution, police and the Country Fire Service evacuated the town of Vivonne Bay on the south coast amid fears homes could not be protected should the fire move quickly into the area.

Made up of mostly holiday shacks, it's thought less than 100 people live there at any given time.

Police went door to door, calling on residents to head for Kingscote or Penneshaw, but some still chose to stay.

Those who left will not be allowed to return until Friday, but only if it is then deemed safe.

'This is a pre-emptive relocation due to the increased fire risk,' the CFS said.
(CNN)  Canada and Britain's leaders said Thursday that they have intelligence a Ukrainian airliner was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile.

"This may have been unintentional," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a press conference in Ottawa.

"There is now a body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian Surface to Air Missile. This may well have been unintentional. We are working closely with Canada and our international partners and there now needs to be a full, transparent investigation," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement.

"The UK continues to call on all sides urgently to deescalate to reduce tensions in the region," the statement added.

Trudeau has called for a thorough investigation into what caused the crash but would not provide additional details about the evidence and intelligence he cited.

CNN reported earlier Thursday that the US increasingly believes Iran mistakenly shot down the airliner, according to multiple US officials. The working theory is based on continuing analysis of data from satellites, radar and electronic data collected routinely by US military and intelligence.

A US official familiar with the intelligence said the plane was shot down by two Russian made SA-15 surface to air missiles. The US saw Iranian radar signals lock onto the jetliner, before it was shot down.

The morning after the incident, US analysts discovered the data but took another day to verify, the official said.

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he suspected the crash was not due to mechanical issues, indicating that "somebody could have made a mistake on the other side."

Asked during a White House event what he thought happened to the plane, Trump said, "Well, I have my suspicions."

European security officials told CNN they believe reports suggesting that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile in error are credible.

The timing of the crash has fueled speculation about its cause, coming just hours after Iran fired missiles at two Iraqi bases housing US troops in retaliation for the killing of its top general, also in Iraq. The exchange of attacks between Tehran and Washington on Iraqi soil was a dramatic escalation of tensions between the adversaries, and is raising fears of another proxy war in the Middle East.

The head of Iran's Civil Aviation Authority is questioning the US allegation.

Speaking to CNN, Ali Abedzadeh said, "if a rocket or missile hits a plane, it will free fall."

Abedzadeh asked, "How can a plane be hit by rocket or missile" and then the pilot "try to turn back to the airport?"

He also told CNN the plane's black boxes are damaged and Iran may need help decoding them.

"Generally speaking, Iran has the potential and know-how to decode the black box. Everybody knows that," Abedzadeh said.

However, he also added that, "the black box of this very Ukrainian Boeing 737 is damaged. Ukrainian Aviation experts arrived here in Tehran today. We had a session with them. From tomorrow they will start decoding the data."

"If the available equipment is not enough to get the content" Iran will outsource the boxes to "the experts from France or Canada," Abedzadeh said.

Newsweek was first to report US and Iraqi sources believe Iran shot down the plane by mistake.

"I don't want to say that because other people have their suspicions," Trump said, but added, "Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side ... not our system. It has nothing to do with us."

"It was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood. They could've made a mistake. Some people say it was mechanical. I personally don't think that's even a question."

Asked if he thought it was downed by accident, Trump said, "I don't know. I really don't know ... that's up to them. At some point they'll release the black box."

"Ideally they'd give it to Boeing," he said, but said giving it to France or "some other country" would be fine, too.

"Something very terrible happened, very devastating," he concluded.

The Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA) flight PS752 came down just minutes after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday local time, killing all 176 people on board, including dozens of Iranians and Canadians. The Boeing 737-800 was headed for Kiev, where 138 passengers were expected to take a connecting flight to Canada. Ukrainians, Swedes, Afghans, Germans and British nationals were also aboard.

One possibility being considered is that an Iranian missile unit saw something on their radar, thought they were under attack and fired.

"If it is true that an Iranian missile brought down a civilian airliner, it points to exactly the sort of miscalculation and recklessness that attends the cycle of escalation and violence we've been seeing in the region. The innocent people killed in this tragedy would then, sadly, not be the only victims. Iran must fully cooperate with investigators and be willing to account for their actions," CNN national security analyst retired Adm. John Kirby said.

Investigation underway

Iran's Civil Aviation Organization head, Ali Abedzadeh, said it would not hand the flight data recorders to Boeing or the United States after they were found on Wednesday.

One of the officials said the US is working closely with the Canadians on the intelligence. US officials have also shared officials with UK officials, according to sources familiar.

Ukrainian officials on Thursday were considering terrorism, a missile strike and catastrophic engine failure as potential causes for the crash, as aviation authorities in Tehran said the jetliner was on fire before it came down.

Ukraine's National Security and Defense council chief, Oleksiy Danilov, said a meeting was taking place with Iranian authorities, where various causes behind the crash were "being studied," including a theory that the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile, according to a statement on Facebook.

Conflicting claims about potential causes for the disaster began hours after the crash, when Iranian state media blamed technical issues and Ukraine ruled out rocket attacks. Within hours on Wednesday, officials in both countries had walked back those initial statements.

An initial report by the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization on the crash cites witnesses as saying the airliner was on fire while in the air and changed directions after a problem, turning back toward the airport. People on other aircraft at higher altitudes also saw the flames, Iranian officials say. Images of the wreckage show the plane torn to piece, its parts charred and strewn across a field.
Rochesters Human Library convenes for two hours of stigma-shattering discourse Wednesday night.

The global Human Library project , developed in Denmark in 2000, has inspired a number of offshoots. Rochesters has been active for a couple of years. Its a partnership between the Rochester Public Library and the Diversity Council -- in fact, many of the current volunteers work on the Diversity Council board.

The concept is this: people who experience stigma or have experience with certain topics volunteer to be "human books," who assemble in the librarys auditorium for about two hours on Human Library dates.

Then readers -- members of the community who can apply on the spot for a "human library card" -- sign up to "check out" some of the books for 20-minute conversations.

Those conversations, RPL head of Reader Services Kim Edson says, are supposed to foster connections and answer tough questions in a safe, open way. Both books and readers can ask any questions they like, reserve the right not to answer anything that makes them uncomfortable, and can end conversations early.

But thats never happened at RPL, Edson says.

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"The main ground rule is that everyone deserves to be treated with respect, and that includes the book and the reader," Edson says. "Weve been lucky to have a lot of really open human books and a lot of curious readers."

Rochesters human library was specifically curated with "books" that deal with certain societal biases -- people who have experienced poverty, people of color, gender and sexual minorities, people who were accused of, then acquitted of crimes, people with disabilities and other illnesses, and more.

"Theres pretty clear evidence that the best way to break down barriers between people is to have conversations," Edson says. "Curious people sit down and have a face-to-face conversation, ask whatever questions they want to ask, and learn."

Each human library event or pop-up has had a different group of readers. Its been a valuable resource for sociology events, Edson says, or other groups looking to learn about different walks of life.

In general, speaking with the books is an invaluable way to learn a new perspective.

The library hopes to have 10-15 "books" at the Jan. 15 event, although volunteer availability does affect which stories a reader can hear.

"I think the ultimate goal -- and this sounds lofty -- is world peace," Edson says. "If we learn to understand one another, I think that gives us some common ground and ways to interact with one another -- and hopefully understand the impact of bias, and try to reduce it."

{{tncms-inline content="<p><strong>Info for Readers</strong></p> <p>You can apply for your &ldquo;human library card&rdquo; at the Jan. 15 event, which is different from a Rochester Public Library card. Conversations last 20 minutes, and a reader can sign up for several in the two-hour span -- likely a maximum of four.</p> <p><strong>Info for Books</strong></p> <p>Have an interesting story? Want to volunteer as a human book? Rochester&rsquo;s Human Library is looking to expand its catalog and human library staff. Apply online at <a href="https://www.diversitycouncil.org/human-library" target="_blank">diversitycouncil.org/human-library</a>.</p> <p><strong>Info for Everyone</strong></p> <p>What: Human Library</p> <p>When: 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 15. See rplmn.org for future dates.</p> <p>Where: Rochester Public Library Auditorium, 101 2nd St. SE, Rochester</p> <p>Cost: Free</p>" id="0e645fd4-1e8e-48e5-9142-6103d0655f32" style-type="fact" title="If You Go" type="relcontent"}}

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Info for Readers

You can apply for your "human library card" at the Jan. 15 event, which is different from a Rochester Public Library card. Conversations last 20 minutes, and a reader can sign up for several in the two-hour span -- likely a maximum of four.

Info for Books

Have an interesting story? Want to volunteer as a human book? Rochesters Human Library is looking to expand its catalog and human library staff. Apply online at diversitycouncil.org/human-library .

Info for Everyone

What: Human Library

When: 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 15. See rplmn.org for future dates.

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Where: Rochester Public Library Auditorium, 101 2nd St. SE, Rochester

Cost: Free
Allegations have been reported in an Australian newspaper of apparent dirty tricks by Beijing, in cahoots with Taiwan's pro-China opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party, ahead of the presidential election on Saturday.

The allegations relate to self-identified Chinese spy Wang Liqiang, also known as William Wang, who is currently in hiding in Sydney with his wife and child after making information available to Australian intelligence officers about Beijing's overseas infiltration and influence campaigns, particularly in Taiwan.



Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen last year ordered an investigation into allegations by Wang that China has been using a Hong Kong-based real estate company as cover to infiltrate the democratic island and influence its politics and media.



Authorities on the democratic island then detained Xiang Xin and Kung Ching, two directors of the Hong Kong-based China Innovation Investment firm.



Australia's The Age newspaper reported on Wednesday -- citing sources in Australian security agencies -- that Wang had received attempted bribes and threats from two men beginning on Dec. 24 in a bid to get him to record a video retracting his information and claiming it was planted by Tsai's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).



Tsai is seeking a second term as president in an election on Saturday, and her popularity has been boosted by her insistence that Beijing is a major threat to the island's freedom and democracy.



Taiwan's national security agency has repeatedly warned of Chinese efforts to infiltrate and influence the outcome of Saturday's poll, and the island recently passed a law banning political campaigning and donations linked to foreign powers.



According to The Age, former KMT legislator and opposition party deputy secretary general Alex Tsai sent Wang text messages, including one which read: "If you take up the offer by the end of this month, everyone will help ensure you safely return to mainland China, and at the same time will help you resolve all your debts."



Tsai later offered Wang the opportunity to settle in Taiwan.



Wang said in a series of interviews with Australian media outlets in November that he engaged in espionage in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia, including infiltrating Taiwan's city elections of 2018 and the upcoming 2020 presidential election. Wang said he was hired by China Innovation Investment Ltd. (CIIL) CEO Xiang Xin as a spy.



A 'businessman' named Sun

A Chinese man who identified himself as a "businessman" and gave the surname Sun also warned Wang that he could be extradited to China and killed or his family on the Chinese mainland punished if he did not co-operate, The Age reported.



If proven, the approaches to Wang would be in breach of Australian foreign interference laws, which ban using bribery or threats in order to advance the interests of a foreign power.

Tsai confirmed to the paper that he and Sun had been in contact with Wang, but denied any wrongdoing.



However, the paper cited security sources as saying that Tsai had sent Sun a message in which he appeared to refer to the script Wang was being pressured into reading on camera.



Speaking to journalists in Taipei, Tsai echoed Beijing's claim that Wang Liqiang is not a spy, and said he had been trying to get Wang to "tell the truth."



But the DPP said Tsai wasn't admitting the whole truth, in a reference to the reported attempt to frame the DPP as having "fabricated" Wang's spy story ahead of the election.



DPP lawmaker Kuan Bi-ling said there is no evidence backing the claim that the DPP had done any such thing.



"These people are trying to save Xiang Xin [who is currently being investigated by Taiwan over the spying allegations] and strike a blow to the Taiwan general election at the same time," Kuan said. "They are trying to cook something up to drag the DPP into this."



The Australian Federal Police said they were investigating allegations of threats made against a man, after being contacted by Reuters.



Front company for Communist Party?

Xiang Xin and Kung Ching, the two directors of China Innovation Investment are being investigated over suspected violation of national security laws, and are currently unable to leave the country.



The couple are suspected of violating Article 2, section 1 of the law, which forbids people to "set up, finance, host, manipulate, direct or develop organizations on behalf of [China]."



If found guilty, those who break this law can receive a jail term of more than seven years and a multimillion-dollar fine.



Wang alleged that Xiang and Kung's company was used as cover for the ruling Chinese Communist Party to wield political influence in Taiwan and Hong Kong, via the media and other organizations.



Xiang, Kung and others had applied to the Investment Review Commission for approval for a NT$100 million investment on Dec. 30, 2016, officials said.



Chang Ming-bin, executive secretary of the Investment Review Commission under the ministry of economic affairs, said at the time of Wang's initial allegations that China Innovation Investment's history was "not straightforward," and that it had been turned down for an investment application on national security grounds as early as 2016.



Taiwan began a transition to democracy following the death of Chiang Ching-kuo in January 1988, starting with direct elections to the legislature in the early 1990s and culminating in the first direct election of a president, Lee Teng-hui, in 1996.



It has never been controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, nor formed part of the People's Republic of China.



Beijing wants to rule Taiwan under the "one country, two systems" concept used to take back the former colonial cities of Hong Kong and Macau, and has refused to rule out annexing the island by force.



Tsai has repeatedly said that Taiwan's 23 million people have no wish to give up their sovereignty.



She has also been an outspoken critic of the Hong Kong government since the anti-extradition, pro-democracy protest movement gripped the city in early June, and has repeatedly warned that Taiwan could suffer a similar loss of freedom and democracy if it entertains China's plan.



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.
Khloe Kardashian wants to do 'everything she can' to help Rob Kardashian win primary custody of his daughter Dream.

The 32-year-old sock designer filed documents in Los Angeles earlier this week asking to be the main carer of three-year-old Dream - whom he has with Blac Chyna - and sources have now said he has the support of his older sister Khloe.

'Khloe has always been very close with Dream,' a source told People. 'When Rob had custody of her as a baby, Khloe often helped out. She really loves Dream.'

Here to help: Khloe Kardashian wants to do 'everything she can' to help Rob Kardashian win primary custody of his daughter Dream, according to People

The insider added: 'Khloe will do everything she can to help Rob get custody. She thinks this is best for Dream.'

Khloe, 35, has a close relationship with her nieces and nephews, including Dream, and recently documented a playdate between Dream and her own daughter True, 20 months, on social media.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star has always been close with her brother, who lived with her for several years.

So many fun play dates: Here Dream and Khloe tried on red lipstick for a photo

Legal move: The 32-year-old sock designer filed documents in Los Angeles earlier this week asking to be the main carer of three-year-old Dream - whom he has with Blac Chyna - and sources have now said he has the support of his older sister Khloe; Rob and Chyna in May 2016

In his documents, Rob asked a judge to limit the time Chyna spends with their daughter to just weekends with a nanny present as he believes she's a danger and isn't behaving appropriately around their little girl.

The reclusive star accused his former lover - who also has seven-year-old son King Cairo with her ex-partner Tyga - of regularly hosting parties at her home in front of Dream and invites strangers around to 'get drunk with her.'

Rob believes Dream's behaviour has changed recently as she's started 'naked twerking, and acting out sexual positions that she said her mom taught her' as well as swearing and using language he insisted he never uses around her.

Close bond: The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star has always been close with her brother, who lived with her for several years. Seen in April 2012

He also said his daughter arrives to him with messy hair and dirty teeth.

Rob's paperwork states that Khloe can back up his allegations as she has noticed a behavioral change in Dream as she is 'more in defense mode' and is 'decidedly more aggressive' during her play dates with her cousins.

However, a lawyer acting for his client Chyna has blasted Rob for moving to take the tot away from her 'hands-on, extremely loving' parent.

A big family support system: Khloe has Penelope on her lap as she posed with her sister and mom on a recent vacation

She is often with the kids: Here Khloe earlier this week tried to teach her daughter True and Kourtney's daughter Penelope how to do cartwheels

Lawyer Lynne Ciani said: 'So Rob Kardashian - who has ... posted illegal revenge porn against Chyna - wants to take custody of Chyna's beautiful daughter, Dream, away from her hands-on, extremely loving mother?

'And Khloe Kardashian ... wants to take her niece Dream away from her loving mother, Chyna? Oh, please.

'Chyna will vigorously contest this latest despicable attempt to take away her daughter in a court of law, where she will keep prevailing against her ex-fiance Rob and the other malicious and vindictive members of his family.'

Working mom: Chyna shared this image to her Instagram page on Wednesday as she modeled for a brand

Rob filed documents in a Los Angeles court on Tuesday for full custody of his daughter.

Rob also reportedly asked the court to order Chyna to undergo random drug and alcohol testing, a move which was denied by a judge.

In his court filings, Rob made shocking claims about Chyna as a mother and said she has taught their little girl to mimic sexual positions, snorts cocaine with strangers and has a $600-a-day-alcohol habit.

Chyna's lawyer fights back: 'Chyna will vigorously contest this latest despicable attempt to take away her daughter in a court of law, where she will keep prevailing against her ex-fiance Rob and the other malicious and vindictive members of his family,' Ciani added

Tough: The reclusive member of the Kardashian clan also reportedly asked the court to order Chyna to undergo random drug and alcohol testing, a move which was denied by a judge

He also asserts that Chyna is making for 'an unsafe environment due to her unpredictable behavior' and even makes violent threats to people in her home.'

Kardashian said that Chyna uses foul language in front of Dream, who has subsequently repeated phrases such as 'What the f***?' and 'b***h.'

And he said in court docs that a person who used to work with Chyna said that the Lashed entrepreneur spends about $600 on booze a day,

He added that she is usually drunk, and has finished a full bottle of Hennessy in one sitting.

Dream was involved in a physical fight with another kid last month, which Rob said is indicative of her mother's influence.

Rob is asking the court to mandate Chyna take drug and alcohol tests a half-hour before visits; and that the nanny is granted legal power to terminate the visits in cases of violent or aggressive behavior when the child is present.

Chyna told RuPaul in June that 'co-parenting is good' with both Tyga and Rob, as they're 'all in a good place.'

'With both of my baby fathers, we have a mutual agreement and everything runs smoothly,' she said.

Rob and Chyna welcomed Dream in November 10, 2016, but they split in February 2017
Some exhibitions come with stories.

And, notes Hyperallergic, the story behind the exhibition Francesca Woodman: Portrait of a Reputation, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver through April 5, is a good one.

It seems that Woodman, whose brief  though legendary  photography career ended with her suicide at age 22, had a college pal named George Lange who for decades was in possession of a box whose contents he never shared with anyone, notes writer Ray Mark Rinaldi. Inside that box were dozens of photographs and contact sheets, along with personal notes and letters, all made by Woodman in the late 1970s while she was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design.

About three years ago, Lange finally told someone about the box, and word of it eventually made its way to Nora Burnett Abrams, curator at the Denver museum. She drove to Boulder, where Lange lives, to see it. Peering inside, notes Rinaldi at Hyperallergic, "she realized she was staring at a large volume of undiscovered material, created by one of the most studied, if enigmatic, photographers of the 20th century."

The resulting exhibition, which is accompanied by a catalog, features some 50 Woodman photoraphs and many of the private artifacts  letters, postcards, and other ephemera  from the box. Abrams also included another 45 photos taken by Lange himself, capturing Woodman when they were classmates.

The exhibition, notes the museum, details Woodmans creative coming-of-age primarily during the years 1975 to 1979.

But rather than taking a particular point of view on Woodmans work, the exhibition is a showcase for all of the influences and styles observers have long identified in Woodmans images, observes Rinaldi. The exhibition, notes Hyperallergic, removes suicide as a filter for experiencing Woodmans work.

Francesca Woodman, untitled photograph (circa 1975-1978), gelatin silver print (courtesy George Lange  Estate of Francesca Woodman / Charles Woodman / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York)



Francesca Woodman, untitled photograph (circa 1975-1978), gelatin silver print (courtesy George Lange  Estate of Francesca Woodman / Charles Woodman / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York)



Ranging from portraits in her studio/apartment in college to self-portraits in the bucolic Colorado landscape in which she was raised, these works capture Woodmans hallmark approach to art-making: enigmatic, rigorous, and poignant, all at once, notes the museum.

George Lange, Untitled photograph (circa 1975-1978), gelatin silver print, 7 7/8 x 10 inches. George Lange Collection. Courtesy the artist.



George Lange, untitled photograph (circa 1975-1978) gelatin silver print (George Lange Collection, courtesy the artist)

Woodman, who died just four years after the photos were taken, didnt leave much of an explanation around her intent, notes Rinaldi. Deciphering it has been left to beholders whose natural tendency is to focus on its artifice, as if these shots were actually still captures of a performance, as if the sheet of glass she presses against her breasts in one photo, or the mask she uses to cover her open legs in another, are props for some dark play. 'Portrait of a Reputation' suggests just the opposite: it shows Woodman honing concepts, refining ideas, making careful picks from her contact sheets, enjoying her school assignments.

Francesca Woodman, untitled photograph (circa 1975-1978), gelatin silver print (courtesy George Lange  Estate of Francesca Woodman / Charles Woodman / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York)



The show, Rinaldi adds, goes a long way toward dismantling the cliche that has built up around Woodman as a tortured genius. She was a hard-working student engaging deeply with her craft.

_________________________________________________

At top: George Lange, untitled photograph (1975-1978), gelatin silver print (George Lange Collection, courtesy the artist)
Authorities in the western Mexican state of Jalisco were tipped off this week to foul odors coming from a ravine where 26 bags with humans remains had been dumped.

According to a statement released Thursday by the Jalisco state prosecutor's office, a phone call was made placed Tuesday to the police in Tonala, a town on the outskirts of Guadalajara.

Investigators shut down a road connecting Tonala to the municipality of Matatlan and initially recovered 14 bags of body parts before the search was suspended. They returned to site Wednesday and found 12 additional bags.

The remains were taken to the Jalisco Forensic Science Institute for identification.

At least 19 bags with body parts were found at a sewage canal in the western Mexican city of Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos in March

The area has experienced increased violence and disappearances in recent years as the Jalisco New Generation cartel grew in strength.

Gangs often hack up their victims in order to try and disguise the body count.

Authorities have not suggested who may be responsible.

Since 1964, authorities have registered 61,637 missing persons in all of Mexico. Of that number, 60,053 disappeared since 2006.

The before-mentioned total is largely attributed to the beginning of the government's war in 2006 which has since left more than 200,000 dead when then-President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug cartels and other criminal groups sending federal troops to clean up his home state of Michoacan.

More than 2,000 people have disappeared in Jalisco during that period.

The Mexican government reported Monday that 60,053 people are missing since 2006 when then-President Felipe Calderon unleashed an offensive effort against criminal organizations. In September, residents alerted the local police of a foul odor emanating from a grass field (pictured) in La Primavera, a neighborhood in the municipality of Zapopan on September 3, 2019. Authorities from Jalisco Forensic Science Institute pieced together 41 bodies after locating 119 bags with human remains

Government data released Monday by the National Search Commission indicated that 1,124 bodies were exhumed from 873 clandestine graves in President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's first 13 months in office.

The agency said only a third of the bodies have been identified during during the period. Less than a quarter of the total had been turned over to relatives.

At least 9,164 people were reported missing under Lopez Obrador's after he entered office in December of 2018. Authorities are still searching for the remaining 5,184 victims.

Stats showed that more than 60% of the secret burial sites were located in the states of Sinaloa, Colima, Veracruz, Sonora y Jalisco.

In September, residents alerted the local police of a foul odor emanating from a grass field in La Primavera, a neighborhood Zapopan, Jalisco. The Jalisco Forensic Science Institute was able to piece together 41 bodies after locating 119 bags with human remains.

In March, Mexican authorities discovered the butchered remains of 19 people inside plastic bags floating in a canal in Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos, a town east of Guadalajara.
SOUDERTON  Plans for new playgrounds in Souderton Community Park have been completed, Borough Manager Mike Coll told Souderton Borough Council at its Jan. 3 meeting. "Where the former softball field was is where we are looking to install two playgrounds  a playground for smaller toddlers in an age group up to five and a larger playground structure for...
(Newser)  Ukraine has its doubts about Iran's explanation that a mechanical failure brought down a Ukrainian passenger jet near Tehran this week. Now, the US does, too. The AP quotes two anonymous US officials who say it is "highly likely" that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed the Boeing 737 with more than 170 people aboard. President Trump also laid the blame on Iran, though he suggested it might not have been deliberate. Somebody could have made a mistake," said Trump, noting the plane was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood." All those aboard were killed. "I have my suspicions," the president added, per the Washington Post. "Some people say it was mechanical. Personally, I don't think that's even a question.

story continues below

Specifically, the US thinks a Russian-made SA-15 surface-to-air missile brought down the plane, reports the Washington Post. European officials also have come to believe that Iran shot down the plane mistakenly, according to the newspaper. The jet crashed just hours after Iran fired missiles into Iraq at US targets in retaliation for the killing of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani. It's not clear whether that earlier incident might have been a factor in the apparent shooting down of the jet. Meanwhile, dozens of Ukrainian search-and-rescue officials have arrived in Iran to participate in the investigation. (Read more plane crash stories.)
Ukraine, US officials offer theories behind crash near Tehran, as Trump says he has terrible feeling about disaster.

Kyiv, Ukraine  Ukraines top security official said on Thursday that its passenger airliner that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board, may have been downed by a Russian-made missile.

The plane, carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians, crashed on Wednesday amid a spiralling escalation between Tehran and Washington.

A team of 45 Ukrainian experts has arrived in the Iranian capital to examine why the Ukraine International Airlines plane plunged from the sky minutes after takeoff from Imam Khomeini International Airport, Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraines National Security and Defense Council, told journalists.

Meanwhile, US officials have claimed that the plane was most likely brought down accidentally by Iranian air defences, as President Donald Trump said he had a terrible feeling about the tragedy while offering no evidence.

Somebody could have made a mistake, Trump told reporters, adding that he had suspicions about the crash but giving no other details.

Irans head of civil aviation, Ali Abedzadeh, has dismissed these suggestions as illogical rumours, according to Irans ISNA news agency.

Ukraine floats theories

Danilov, the Ukraine security official, said one of the considerations was whether the plane was hit by an air defence missile, including a [Russian-made] Tor cruise missile.

Moscow has for decades supplied Tehran with sophisticated weaponry, and Iran tested the Tor-M1 missiles in 2007.

Other possible reasons include an explosion inside the plane as a result of a terrorist attack, a collision with another flying object or the explosion of one of the engines, he said.

The Ukrainian team intends to look for the debris of a Russian Tor air defence missile, Danilov said.

Moscow-based analyst Alexey Malashenko, a respected Russian expert on the Middle East, rejected the allegation.

I dont believe in this version, considering the craziness that is going on down there, it would have been version number one from the very start, he told Al Jazeera.

Ukrainian experts are cautious about the possible political bias of the ongoing investigation into the crash, which happened just hours after Iran launched missiles at US military facilities in neighbouring Iraq.

Unfortunately, any official version will be subjected to doubt because of the specifics of the investigation, Kyiv-based analyst Alexey Kushch told Al Jazeera.

The disaster is not a topic for hype on social media, sensationalism or conspiracy theories, Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a national address.

We must investigate all possible causes, he wrote on Facebook on Wednesday, shortly after Iranian officials said the crash was caused by a fire that struck one of the planes engines, causing the pilots to lose control.

Shortly before Zelenskyys announcement, Ukraines embassy in Iran removed a statement that ruled out the attacks from its website, Ukrainian media reported.

The Boeing 737-800 was last seen on radar at 2,400 metres, according to the Flightradar24 monitoring website, hours after Tehran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles at US facilities in neighbouring Iraq.

Earlier, Iran said the plane caught fire and was trying to turn back, but its crew did not make a call for help.
Researchers backed by the most popular zoo in the US are preparing to head into fire-ravaged areas in the Blue Mountains for a koala rescue mission.

San Diego Zoo's global organisation is providing resources for the team to analyse the damage in the Blue Mountains, estimated to be more than 1 million hectares, and strategise how to revitalise animal numbers and habitats in the area when the fires are eventually out.

An injured koala is rescued in the Blue Mountains. Credit:San Diego Zoo Global

"These fires are completely changing how wildlife management will be carried out in future in Australia, said Kellie Leigh, a researcher and the executive director of not-for-profit conservation organisation Science for Wildlife.

Dr Leigh said the short-term goal would be to engage in search and rescue for wildlife that needs help and to provide water sources for the wildlife that has been left behind.
BERLIN, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cybersecurity, interoperability, and patient empowerment are major concerns in the European healthcare industry, according to the latest Annual European eHealth Survey 2019" which surveyed over 500 professionals in the field. The study, which was conducted by HIMSS in cooperation with the management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company, also finds that Estonia has swapped places with Denmark and is now perceived to be the leading eHealth country in Europe; EU citizens, for example, can retrieve medication prescribed electronically by doctors in Finland in Estonian pharmacies.



Major Trends: Patient health records and telemedicine services

The Annual European eHealth Survey 2019, which has now been published in its 3rd edition, shows that the development of the eHealth industry in Europe is increasingly focusing on "patient empowerment", the ability of patients to not only access and use their own health records, but also to contribute to these records with self-generated data.

Digital patient empowerment requires a more advanced eHealth infrastructure. This seems to be the case in Italy (47%), Netherlands (39%) and the Nordics (34%); these countries are highlighting patient access to information as their key priority. The processing of patient generated data is particularly important to Spain (38%).

The importance of providing telemedicine services has significantly increased when comparing the results over the years. In some countries, like Germany, this rise can be linked to legislative initiatives where new reimbursement schemes incentivize the provision of such services.

In Germany and many other countries providers must speed up empowering patients thru electronic patient records and transparency in treatment outcome. The trend to outpatient treatment will further increase if outpatient provider leverage patient records to keep patients out of hospital, says Jochen Messember, Partner at McKinsey & Company.

Funding remains prime obstacle

The digital transformation of Europes healthcare systems is also facing major challenges: IT funding remains a major obstacle (37%) in particular in the UK, Spain and Germany. The lack of interoperability standards allowing for data exchange between systems (29%) and the shortage of skilled eHealth professionals (28%) are also plaguing the industry.

Jorg Studzinski, Director Research at HIMSS concludes: The Annual European eHealth Survey 2019 shows that the development of the eHealth industry in Europe is increasingly shifting towards patient empowerment and consumer-initiated digital health. Patient owned health records, their integration into clinical workflows, and telemedicine services will be high on the agenda everywhere. In digitally more advanced regions and countries like the Nordics, the Netherlands and Spain we also see a strong focus on topics like Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare Analytics. However, many of these capabilities will enter the market with some delay due to lack of funds and workforce shortages.

Link to the study:

https://europe.himssanalytics.org/europe/ehealth-barometer/ehealth-trend-barometer-annual-european-ehealth-survey-2019

About HIMSS Annual European eHealth Survey 2019

The European eHealth Survey 2019 is supported by the international management consulting firm McKinsey & Company and provides insight into the current priorities, challenges and trends of the eHealth industry in Europe. From September to October 2019, HIMSS surveyed over 500 eHealth experts in 30 European countries. The annual eHealth Survey has been investigating varying and recurring topics in the industry since 2017. The quantitative survey was aimed at all healthcare stakeholders in Europe: health care professionals such as doctors, nurses, IT leaders and management, policymakers, consultants, researchers and health IT software companies participated.

About HIMSS

HIMSS is a global advisor and thought leader supporting the transformation of the health ecosystem through information and technology. As a mission driven non-profit, HIMSS offers a unique depth and breadth of expertise in health innovation, public policy, workforce development, research and analytics to advise global leaders, stakeholders and influencers on best practices in health information and technology. Through our innovation engine, HIMSS delivers key insights, education and engaging events to healthcare providers, governments and market suppliers, ensuring they have the right information at the point of decision. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, HIMSS serves the global health information and technology communities with focused operations across North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. Our members include more than 80,000 individuals, 480 provider organizations, 470 non-profit partners and 650 health services organizations.

About McKinsey

McKinsey & Company is the leading top management consulting firm in Germany and around the world. Working in close collaboration with clients, McKinsey provides strategic consulting, digital transformation, talent development, risk management, marketing, design, process optimization, and functional excellence for private companies, public institutions, and social organizations. The firms clients include 28 of the 30 DAX companies. McKinsey has a number of offices in Germany and Austria, including Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, Stuttgart, and Vienna. Worldwide, the firm operates from more than 120 offices in 65 countries. McKinsey was founded in 1926, with the first office in Germany opening in 1964. Kevin Sneader is the Global Managing Partner and Cornelius Baur is responsible for Germany and Austria.

Learn more at: https://www.mckinsey.de/uber-uns

HIMSS Media Contact:

Maria Burpee

Marketing Director

mburpee@himss.org

+351 915292211



McKinsey Media Contact:

Kirsten Best-Werbunat

Manager of Media Relations, McKinsey & Company, Inc.

kirsten_best@mckinsey.com

+49 (0)211 1364688
Pakistan desperate, people of Kashmir wont give an inch, foreign envoys told

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Jan 09: US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster along with envoys from 15 other countries visited Srinagar on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, the first visit by diplomats since the abrogation of the erstwhile state's special status in August last year.

However, countries from the European Union were not part of the foreign delegates' team.

Envoys from US, South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Maldives, Morocco, Fiji, Norway, Philippines, Argentina, Peru, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, & Guyana are undertaking the visit to the Valley.

"Their first meeting was with security officials to get a sense of security situation in J&K, and also threat posed by terrorism in maintaining peace. Objective of the visit was for the envoys to see first hand the efforts which have been made by government to normalise situation," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

The local representatives rainsed concern over Pakistan propoganga and said the people of Kashmir would not give an inch to Pakistan, the people added.

The Delhi-based envoys arrived here by a special chartered flight at Srinagar's technical airport where top officials from the newly carved out union territory received them.

5 months after J&K special status revoked, foreign panel visits UT | OneIndia News

The European envoys have conveyed to the Centre that they will visit the UT on a separate date and insisted on meeting the top leaders including former Chief Ministers, Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, and Mehbooba Mufti.

As Centre invites foreign envoys to visit Srinagar, EU stresses on meeting detained J&K leaders

Quoting government sources, IANS stated that some EU Ambassadors didn't want to be part of the group of envoys visiting Kashmir as they felt "certain restrictions in the programme were unfounded and mischievous".

Earlier it was reported that certain European envoys were not keen on a "guided tour" of the region and rather wanted to meet the people and interact with them.

All but six political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir to be released: Sources

It may be recalled that in October 2019, the government had facilitated the Madi Group, an NGO, which escorted 23 members of the European Parliament to Kashmir. They met with locals and got some classified security briefings during their visit.

On August 5, 2019, the government abrogated Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. The Article granted special status to J&K and as a result of its abrogation, common laws of the land now apply to the newly formed Union Territory.
T he mystery has deepened over the airliner crash in Iran which killed 176 people after an initial report claimed some of the black box memory had been lost.

Investigators from Irans Civil Aviation Organisation also said the crew of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 were trying to turn the aircraft back minutes after take-off from Tehran.

The pilot never made a call for help, the report added, suggesting catastrophe struck the plane extremely quickly.

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another passing flight, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames as it came down in the morning darkness.

Iran: Tehran Plane Crash - In pictures 1 /13 Iran: Tehran Plane Crash - In pictures via Reuters AP AFP via Getty Images People stand near the wreckage after a Ukrainian plane crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran ISNA/AFP via Getty Images AP AP via Reuters AP Rescuers check the debris following the plane crash via Reuters Part of the wreckage from Ukrainian plane that crashed in Tehran shortly after take-off via Reuters

The plane suffered a massive explosion, either before or when it hit the ground, which was likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kiev, Ukraines capital.

The report claimed that both of the so-called black boxes containing data and cockpit communications from the Boeing 737 had been recovered, though they had suffered damage and some parts of their memory was lost.

It also said that investigators have initially ruled out laser or electromagnetic interference as causing the crash, which happened at 6.12am local time soon after the plane had left Imam Khomeini International Airport.

The crash came just hours after Iran carried out missile strikes on two air bases housing US forces in Iraq.

However there is no evidence the two events are linked

The Iranian and Ukranian authorities initially suggested that engine failure may have caused the tragedy. But aviation experts and the carrier cast doubt on whether this was likely, especially as the plane was just three years old.

David Learmount, safety editor of Flight Global, told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: Its incredibly rare for a modern aircraft to have a technical failure ... which causes a conflagration [major fire] before the aircraft has even hit the ground.

With just one engine, even if it was not functioning fully, the plane could have flown, he added.

Passengers' belongings are pictured at the site where the Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed / VIA REUTERS

There never has been a catastrophic engine failure which was so bad that the aircraft was completely uncontrollable and caught fire, he stressed.

You have to look at the possibility that it was hit by a missile or that there was a bomb on board.

US and Canadian intelligence officials, though, said there was no immediate evidence it was shot down.

Theories include that the plane could have collided with a military drone or been hit by accident by a missile having climbed to just under 8,000 feet.

Suspicions have been fuelled by Iran saying it would not hand over the black boxes to Boeing or the US.

Under global aviation rules Iran has the right to lead the investigation, but manufacturers are typically involved, and there are doubts whether it would have the expertise to analyse all the data.

Three British passengers died in the disaster: Sam Zokaei, 42, an engineer for BP from Richmond, Saeed Tahmasebi Khademsadi, 35, from Brentford, who worked as an engineer for global construction company Laing ORourke, and Mohammad Reza Kadkhoda Zadeh, 40, who owned a dry-cleaning business in Brighton.

Sam Zokaei's death has been described as 'deeply tragic'

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said crash investigators from his country had arrived in Iran to assist in the probe. He also said he planned to call Iranian president Hassan Rouhani about the crash and investigation.

Mohammed Reza Kadkhoda-Zadeh was 'always very friendly and helpful'

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said 138 of the passengers were bound for his country.

Know that all Canadians are grieving with you, he said, addressing the victims families.

Saeed Tahmasebi Khademasadi worked for a construction firm based in Kent

Among the Canadians killed were a number of university students and staff, including engineering professors Pedram Mousavi and Mojgan Daneshmand, a married couple from the University of Alberta, along with their two daughters, Daria, 14, and Dorina, nine.

Also killed were Evin Arsalani, 30, her husband Hiva Molani, 38, and their one-year-old daughter Kurdia, from Ajax, Ontario. They were returning home after spending three weeks in Iran to attend a wedding.

Dentist Parisa Eghbalian, 42, and her nine-year-old daughter, Reera Esmaeilion, also died.

They were flying home having attended Mrs Eghbalians sisters engagement party in Iran.

Rescue workers search the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed / AP

Her husband Hamed Esmaeilion said: She was my love for 20 years. She was a wonderful woman and she was very, very intelligent.

Ukrainian officials initially agreed with Iranian suspicions that the plane was brought down by mechanical trouble but later declined to offer a cause while the investigation is going on.

While the cause of the tragedy remains unknown, the disaster could further damage Boeings reputation, which has been battered by the furore over two deadly crashes involving a different model of the Boeing jet, the much-newer 737 Max, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months.
A two-day-old baby girl has died after her incubator burst into flames at a Pakistani hospital.

The infant was reportedly suffocated by smoke after the machine suffered a short circuit at the Karachi National Institute of Child Health hospital, the largest children's hospital in the country.

The baby girl's parents took the body away before police completed medico-legal formalities, and the hospital has launched an internal inquiry.

The infant was reportedly suffocated by smoke after the machine suffered a short circuit in Karachi National Institute of Child Health hospital

The hospital's executive director, Dr Jamal Raza, told Dawn the 'malfunction of equipment possibly led to an incident of fire in the surgical ward'.

'The fire was controlled swiftly with an extinguisher and patients were evacuated. However, the baby in the incubator could not survive.'

An inquiry committee has been put together by the Sindh health department, reports Pakistan Today, and will need to file its report within three days.

The hospital in the city-centre contains 500 beds, it says on its website, and is the only children's hospital in Sindh province.

The hospital also provides care for children's diseases, and is equipped to diagnose a number of illnesses.
A group of 15 envoys and diplomats on Thursday interacted with security officials, politicians and civil society representatives in Srinagar as part of the first such visit organised by the government since Jammu & Kashmirs special status was revoked on August 5, 2019, restrictions on movement and communication imposed, and many political leaders detained.

The group, which is making a two-day visit to Jammu & Kashmir to assess the ground situation, includes US ambassador Kenneth Juster, South Korean envoy Shin Bong-kil and Norwegian envoy Hans Jacob Frydenlund. The diplomats had frank interactions during their meetings, ministry of external affairs (MEA)?spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in New Delhi.

Soon after their arrival, the diplomats went to 15 Corps headquarters, where security officials and army commanders briefed them on the situation in Kashmir after Article 370 of the Constitution was nullified last August, and the challenges in maintaining security, including the threat of terrorism and the situation along the Line of Control (LoC).

The external affairs ministry spokesperson said the objective of the visit was for the envoys to see first hand the governments efforts to normalise the situation and and how normalcy has been restored to a large extent, but members of the Opposition, such as leaders in the Congress, said that similar opportunity to visit the region should also be given to Indian politicians.

The diplomats had a luncheon meeting with former legislators and ministers led by Altaf Bukhari, former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) minister. There were also interactions with civil society representatives from all over Kashmir and the local media.

We discussed issues related to Kashmir with the diplomats, said Bukhari. Another former minister, Ghulam Hassan Mir, who heads the Democratic Political Party, said the envoys wanted to learn about the situation.

We told them after the state was degraded into a Union Territory, the Centre promised development here but there are still no signs of development. We told them about [the need for] internet restoration and release of political prisoners, including three former chief ministers, whose detention is not required now, Mir said. While many of the restrictions imposed on August 5 have since been eased, a significant number of political leaders continue to remain in detention

Congress leader and former legislator Shoaib Lone, who said he met the diplomats in a personal capacity, added that the political leaders had asked the envoys to play a positive role for ending hostilities between India and Pakistan.

Budgam municipal council chairman Hakeem Rohullah said the diplomats posed several questions about communications, the economy and the situation in the Valley. It was a very fruitful discussion, he said.

After their arrival, the diplomats travelled in bulletproof SUVs to reach Lalit Hotel near the Dal Lake. Roads leading to the hotel were closed to traffic. The convoy passed through some main markets of Srinagar, where shops were open and transport was plying normally.

According to officials who asked not to be named, the diplomats were shown videos of infiltration across the LoC to highlight the threat of cross-border terror.

The diplomats also met members of panchayat and urban local bodies, members of NGOs, social activists, musicians and artists. Most of these people had also met members of the European Parliament (MEP) who travelled to Kashmir as part of a controversial private visit organised by a think-tank in October.

However, prominent civil society activists and the two sitting MPs of the National Conference  Hasnain Masoodi and Akbar Lone  were not invited to meet the diplomats. We are the elected representatives and still the government didnt invite us. Last time, we came to Srinagar from Delhi only to meet the delegation but at that time also we werent allowed. We are the real representatives of people, Masoodi said.

Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Sheikh Ashiq, who too wasnt invited to meet the group, said: Whenever any foreign delegation visited Kashmir in the past, they always called us. This time we didnt even know when they arrived in Kashmir.

A group of journalists too met the delegation, the officials quoted above said, adding that the media called for lifting of internet restrictions.

Overall, visit has gone off well so far, said one of these officials.

The diplomats in the group are from the US, South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Fiji, the Maldives, Norway, the Philippines, Morocco, Argentina, Peru, Niger, Nigeria, Guyana and Togo.

On Thursday evening, the group left for Jammu, where they will meet Lt Governor GC Marmu and other officials on Friday.

The programme was drawn up keeping in mind the threat posed by terrorism and taking adequate precautions for security, spokesperson Kumar added. Envoys of European Union states, who wanted to visit in a group, are expected to travel to Kashmir at a later date.

This is a beginning after almost five months and there was an appreciation that this visit was being organised. With progressive normalisation of the situation, more free interactions could be organised for visiting ambassadors, Kumar said.

The earlier visit by the MEPs had triggered sharp criticism from opposition parties and local residents. That visit also triggered a spontaneous shutdown in Kashmir during their stay. This time, secrecy was maintained about the visit and many people in Kashmir were unaware about the actual dates.
The South Philadelphia corner store where a store employee was fatally shot on Jan. 7, 2020. Read more

Xiaoding Li was behind the counter of his familys small corner grocery in South Philadelphia early Tuesday evening when two men wearing ski masks entered. One had a 9mm pistol. Within minutes, the gunman had fired one shot, fatally wounding the 31-year-old Li in the chest.

The two fled JD Hoyu Grocery at Ninth and Porter Streets shortly after the 5:48 p.m. attack.

On Wednesday, homicide detectives said that they were still trying to determine a motive for the shooting, and that it was unclear whether anything was taken.

Police said a customer walked into the store shortly after the shooting and found Li bleeding and unresponsive. Medics rushed him to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where the father of two was declared dead at 6:26 p.m.

No arrests have been made, leaving police on the hunt for the assailants and a neighborhood mourning.

Less than 24 hours after the shooting, residents of the quiet South Philadelphia neighborhood remembered Li as a kind, hardworking brother, husband, and father who was respectful to all who walked into his parents store. Neighbors gathered around the closed stores steps Wednesday night, adding to a growing collection of candles, teddy bears, and flowers.

I walk here every day with my son, said Kelly Darmi, 33, who has lived around the corner on Mildred Street for 15 years. Its just a shame. Thats somebodys child, somebodys father.

He was one of the nicest kids youd ever want to talk to, said Kevin Kinkade, 58, whos lived across the street from the bodega for 25 years. We were all praying that it wasnt him.

Li frequently worked in the store where he was shot and another family store at Ninth and Wolf Streets, swapping shifts at both stores with his parents and younger sister.

Ron Voci, who lives next door to the Wolf Street store, said he has known the Li family for more than 15 years and frequently drops by to say hello. Li was saving money to buy a new house, said Voci, who is deaf and had his nephew translate sign language over FaceTime.

The 75-year-old lifelong resident of South Philly attended Lis wedding in New York in 2014. He keeps the red invitation in his kitchen and remembered the evening as a spectacular night of love and great food.

As residents grappled with the death, some felt shocked that the violence happened so early in the evening.

Oh, God, its just horrible," said Leon Raymond Mitchell, 64, who lives near the Wolf Street store. For someone to do that? ... Thats something that is going to affect the whole neighborhood.
Sixty-seven-year-old P. Muthusamy is worried. The small-scale weaver from Tirupur, India's textile export hub located 450 km southwest of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, buys yarn from spinning mills and turns it into cotton fabric. He has 10 power looms, which until a year ago used to run for 12 hours a day, six days a week. Muthusamy had employed six people in his small factory, located next to his house. "We used to produce around 12,000 metres of cotton fabric a month and make around Rs 15,000 in profits. There weren't any large savings but I was able to meet the basic needs of my family," says Muthusamy. However, things changed for the worse last year. Cotton yarn exports plunged and domestic consumption of textile, too, took a hit. "I had to cut production to almost 50 per cent. Some of my workers left for better jobs in other industries. Now I employ only two people. I can hardly meet my own expenses. I can't learn any new job at this age," says Muthusamy, who started weaving when he was 15.

Like him, several small- and medium-scale players in major textile clusters of Tamil Nadu, including Tirupur, Erode, Salem and Coimbatore, are struggling due to the slowdown that has gripped the textile industry. Reports from the Cotton Textile Export Promotion Council (Texprocil), an industry body for promoting cotton exports, say cotton yarn exports have fallen nearly 39 per cent in July-September 2019 against the same period last year. In value terms, they have fallen to $1.28 billion, from $2.09 billion. "India exports about 25 per cent of its total cotton yarn produced every month," says K.V. Srinivasan, Chairman, Texprocil. "This started dropping when the slowdown started to hit the segment in the beginning of 2019. Monthly yarn exports, from an average of 100-120 million kg per month have come down to 60-70 million kg," he says.

The immediate impact of this has been a fall in forex earnings. "A drop of 35-40 per cent has been reported for yarn and fabric, resulting in forex earnings from this sector falling 30 per cent. This is a matter of concern for the country's economy as well as the individual industries in this sector," says Raja M. Shanmugham, President of the Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA).

The decline is indeed worrisome as the textile industry in India contributes around 13 per cent to the manufacturing GDP and 2.3 per cent to the total GDP, according to the Ministry of Textiles. The sector also accounts for 7 per cent of the industrial output (in value terms), and 15 per cent of export earnings. It also contributes 11 per cent to the country's total exports. Giving employment to more than 4.5 crore people makes it the second-largest employer (after agriculture).

While 2019 has seen a severe drop in the industry, the reasons are older.

Weak Fabric

A high 47 per cent of India's textile and apparel exports go to European nations and the US. However, India does not have free trade agreements (FTAs) with major export markets. "Our competitors, including Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and others, have an FTA with the US and European nations. Thus, we are losing our competitiveness," says C. Devarajan, Vice Chairman, Texvalley, a B2B marketplace for the textile industry in Erode, a prominent textile cluster in Tamil Nadu. In April this year, Pakistan, too, signed an FTA with China. So, not only do Indian exporters face stiff competition, they also have to contend with an import duty of around 5 per cent on cotton yarn from India.

"After 2016, we have not made any significant progress in exports," says Shanmugham of the TEA.

This duty disadvantage played out even in the opportunity that the US-China trade war presented. China used to have a 30 per cent share of US apparel imports. When the trade war began, the Indian textile industry was eyeing a share of that. "While we were able to ensure a slight increase in our apparel exports (2-3 per cent) because of this, we could not achieve a great leap. There is an import duty on our textiles while our competitors enjoy a duty-free advantage. The major businesses went to them," says Shanmugham. So, while a country like India, the second-largest cotton producer in the world, has only 7.6 per cent share of US imports, smaller markets like Vietnam and Bangladesh enjoy 13 per cent and 11 per cent market shares, respectively.

The trade war also resulted in reduction of cotton yarn and fabric exports to China. "India was one of the biggest suppliers of yarn and fabric to China. The trade war with the US has created a slowdown in China's apparel market, which has further hurt India's cotton exports," says Shanmugham. Srinivasan pegs the fall at "more than half the exports to China." Out of India's total yarn exports, 30 per cent goes to China, he says.

Domestic Slump

The reasons for the decline in the textile industry extend to the domestic market as well, mostly due to the economic slowdown and fall in rural consumption. "This has resulted in capacity reduction in textile mills. Many mills have reduced production by 30 to 50 per cent," says a representative of Coimbatore-based Southern India Mills Association (SIMA).

Another hard knock came from duty-free garments being imported from countries like Bangladesh under the FTA. "As our cost of production is higher, our garments cannot be produced or sold at a competitive price," says M. Jayabal, President of Coimbatore-based Open End Spinning Mills Association (OSMA).

The economic slowdown in India has led to delayed payments. "They are getting delayed by more than three to four months. This is hurting our working capital and loan repayment," says a yarn mill owner from Coimbatore. The state government has announced some incentives but these are inadequate.

Demonetisation and GST had already affected the industry, which is dominated by MSMEs. For instance, the Tirupur cluster in Tamil Nadu, which accounts for more than 70 per cent of India's cotton knitwear exports, has more than 9,000 textile units, which include spinning mills, dyeing units, power loom units, apparel making units, and exporters. More than 85 per cent are MSMEs. "The profit margin of these smaller textile manufacturers is very low, just 4-5 per cent. When they come under the GST net, since their margin is less than the GST rate, they are not able to compete with the bigger players," says S. Chandramohan, President of the Confederation of Indian Industries, Tamil Nadu State Council. "It is a structural issue and consolidation in the industry will help solve it to an extent," he says.

The challenges are forcing smaller companies to partially or fully shut down their operations. "In the past two years, Tamil Nadu alone saw the closure of more than 100 small-scale open-ended spinning mills. They are not able to compete in the market," says Jayabal of OSMA.

To cope, many have cut down production capacity. "The companies are running fewer looms and cutting down the working time," says S. Sakthivel, an exporter from Tirupur and executive secretary of the TEA. A weaver from Erode, who owns 15 power looms, says he has halved production. "My looms used to work six days a week. I have been running only 10 looms for the past six months. This is affecting my revenue flow and loan repayment," he says.

Job Worries

The textile industry is labour-intensive. Employment in it constitutes 18 per cent of the entire manufacturing industry. So, a slide will affect employment generation as well. By one estimate, a 20 per cent cut in production in a spinning mill can lead to job loss of 30-35 per cent.

"With companies cutting down production, many daily wage workers employed in these units work only for two-three days a week," says N. Chandran, Tamil Nadu State Vice President, CITU. "Three lakh workers are employed in spinning mills in Tamil Nadu. The state government has announced a minimum wage of Rs 439 per day for daily wage workers. But as the companies are not making much profit, many of them are not paying the same, he says.

The scale of job loss is high, too. "In the Tirupur cluster alone, which employs around five lakh daily wage labourers, around two lakh workers have become jobless in the past one year," says Chandran.

The closure of open-ended spinning mills alone has rendered one lakh workers unemployed, says Jayabal of OSMA.

Measures Needed

The industry is highly fragmented and needs restructuring. "The entire production value chain is fragmented. To address global requirements, we need to consolidate all the stakeholders involved," says Devarajan of Texvalley.

To beat competition from countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh, apart from FTAs, the industry needs to scale up, for which there is a need to modernise and improve efficiency. "We need to create mega apparel cities like China, which has individual apparel companies that are exporting garments worth Rs 21,000 crore, while the whole of Tirupur exports garments worth only Rs 26,000 crore per year. We need to scale up so that mid-sized companies can improve and capture big volumes which will attract partnerships from countries across the world," says Prabhu Damodaran, Convenor, Indian Texpreneurs Federation, a textile entrepreneurs association.

Use of better technology is needed in each layer of production to improve the turnaround time. "From farm to fashion, our turnaround time is at least 140 days. In Bangladesh, it is only 50 days," says Jayabal.

Market diversification is also needed to reduce concentration risk and increase volumes. Currently, India is more focused on the US and European markets. The volume of exports to countries like Japan or Russia is very thin. "These are big markets. For instance, Russia imports around Rs 65,000 crore worth of textiles every year, but India's share is a mere Rs 500 crore," points out Damodaran. "Market diversification is very important in job creation as it will divide the risk. Every $1 billion of additional exports in apparels can create 1.5 lakh jobs, which is not possible in any other industry," he adds.

The industry also wants a fibre neutral policy to improve exports. "The government should bring all raw materials, cotton and man-made fibre, under one tax rate. Currently, man-made fibre attracts an 18 per cent rate," Damodaran says.

To address these challenges and to pull the Central government's attention, various associations of textile industry have formed a committee - National Commission on Textile and Clothing - to bring in all segments of the industry under one umbrella. It has submitted a memorandum to the textile ministry, the commerce ministry and the finance ministry. "The textile ministry has asked stakeholders to give a joint representation. We have done so and are waiting for them to take adequate measures," says the representative from SIMA.

A sharp slump in exports is an issue that will need short-term as well as long-term revival measures, especially considering the employment that the industry can generate.

The author is a freelance writer based in Chennai
Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists found benefits of insect leaf-wounding in fruit and vegetable production. Stress responses created in the fruits and vegetables initiated an increase in antioxidant compounds prior to harvest, making them healthier for human consumption.

"Many studies in the past supported this idea, but many others showed no differences," said Luis Cisneros-Zevallos, Ph.D., AgriLife Research horticulture and food scientist in College Station and principal investigator for a study addressing this controversy. "In our study we proved that wounding leaves in plants like those caused by insects produce healthier organic fruit."

View the original publication in Scientific Reports from Nature "Solving the controversy of healthier organic fruit: Leaf wounding triggers distant gene expression response of polyphenol biosynthesis in strawberry fruit (Fragaria x ananassa)." The research team, highly interdisciplinary in nature, also included molecular biologist Woo Young Bang, Ph.D., and horticulturist Leonardo Lombardini, Ph.D., both former AgriLife Research scientists.

"We conducted studies using strawberries as a crop model and applied various levels of wounding to the leaves a few days before harvesting the fruit. We found how several genes associated with sugar translocation and phenolic compound biosynthesis were overexpressed in the distant strawberry fruit," said Facundo Ibanez, Ph.D., an investigator for the project associated with the Instituto Nacional de Investigacion Agropecuaria, Uruguay.

All plants have the ability to respond to the environment by activating the secondary metabolism as part of a defense mechanism or as part of an adaptation process. It also activates the primary metabolism, which will move the carbon source needed to produce those antioxidant compounds, explained Cisneros-Zevallos.

"There was the existing idea proposed by others that insects present in the field in organic farming could cause a stress response in the plant and increase antioxidant compounds," said Cisneros-Zevallos. "However, this hypothesis or concept was never tested until now, where we mimicked the damage caused by insects."

Ibanez said the study emphasized fresh produce as an excellent source of health-promoting compounds and that perhaps insects in some way can be allies to achieve even healthier produce.

"Healthier grown produce for the food industry can be a driving force for large-scale production and an attractive investment to relevant stakeholders," he said.

Organic farming in recent years has experienced continued growth and a higher demand among consumers. This has had a positive large-scale impact on the organic industry, farmers and other industries related to organic produce, said Cisneros-Zevallos.

After several studies published in the past on post-harvest wounding stress effects on different crops, the team was inspired to apply this approach to leaf surfaces in the field that mimicked the attack of insects to the plant.

"This observation was key when we designed the strategies to be used in the study, that simple wounding stress on leaf surfaces elicited this systemic response with the unique observation of higher accumulation of phenolic antioxidants in fruit," Ibanez said.

"Our team has elucidated a controversy that was an open question for many years," Cisneros-Zevallos said. "Understanding how these antioxidants are produced by a simple stress like wounding can certainly transform the way the fresh produce industry operates, including both organic and conventional. And it may allow the industry to adopt novel tools based on pre-harvest stress to favor the accumulation of healthier antioxidants in fresh produce and processed foods."

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Increasingly alarmed that Bernie Sanders could become their partys presidential nominee, establishment-minded Democrats are warning primary voters that the self-described democratic socialist would struggle to defeat President Donald Trump and hurt the partys chances in premier House, Senate and governors races.

The urgent warnings come as Sanders shows new signs of strength on the ground in the first two states on the presidential primary calendar, Iowa and New Hampshire, backed by a dominant fundraising operation. The Vermont senator has largely escaped close scrutiny over the last year as his rivals doubted the quirky 78-year-olds ability to win the nomination. But less than a month before Iowas kickoff caucuses, the doubters are being forced to take Sanders seriously.

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, previously a senior aide to President Barack Obama, warned Democrats that Sanders status as a democratic socialist and his unwavering support for Medicare for All wont play well among swing voters in the states that matter most in 2020.

You need a candidate with a message that can help us win swing voters in battleground states, Emanuel said in an interview. The degree of difficulty dramatically increases under a Bernie Sanders candidacy. It just gets a lot harder.

The increasingly vocal concerns are coming from a number of political veterans tied to the Obama administration and the 2020 fields moderate wing, including those backing former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet.

In some ways, the criticism is not surprising.

Sanders has spent decades fighting to transform the nations political and economic systems, creating a long list of political adversaries along the way. Many people connected to Hillary Clinton, for example, still blame Sanders for not working hard enough to support her after their long and bitter presidential primary feud in 2016. Some Democrats still accuse him of not being enough of a team player.

Sanders chief strategist Jeff Weaver dismissed the growing criticism as a reflection of the strength of his candidacy.

He raised more money than any other Democratic candidate in the last quarter  virtually all of it from small-dollar donors  and hes considered a legitimate contender to win Iowa and New Hampshire next month.

People in establishment Washington are terrified of Bernie Sanders, Weaver said. The truth of the matter is their centrist tacking over the years has led us to the place where someone like Donald Trump can get elected.

Less than four weeks before Iowas Feb. 3 caucuses, Sanders critics are making a concerted effort to turn up the volume.

The ranks of the concerned include many Democrats tasked with preserving the partys majority in the House and expanding its minority in the Senate and governors mansions across the country.

California Rep. Ami Bera, a leader in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committees frontline program to protect vulnerable House members this fall, warned that a Sanders nomination would force more than 40 Democratic candidates in competitive districts  most of which were carried by Trump four years ago  to run away from the nominee.

Specifically, Bera cited Sanders signature health care plan, which would replace the nations private insurance system with a government-run Medicare for All system.

You have to take Sen. Sanders seriously, said Bera, who has endorsed Biden. Those are going to be tough positions for our members to run on.

Montana Sen. Jon Tester, who led the Senate Democrats campaign arm the last time Trump was on the ballot, warned that Republicans are really good at making elections about whos at the top of the ticket.

I come from a state thats pretty damn red. There is no doubt that having socialist ahead of Democrat is not a positive thing in the state of Montana, Tester, who has not endorsed any 2020 candidate, said of Sanders. He can overcome that, but I think its something hes going to have to do.

Several Sanders critics noted that he has largely escaped intense scrutiny throughout the campaign, in part because some assumed that Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, another progressive firebrand, was a stronger candidate who would cannibalize his support. With Warrens candidacy struggling to maintain momentum, however, those assumptions are now being questioned.

He has now emerged as somebody whos got the ability to win the nomination, said former Obama aide Ben LaBolt, who isnt aligned with any 2020 campaign but opposes Sanders.

LaBolt seized on what he called Sanders short list of accomplishments over three decades in Congress. Over that time, the senator wrote just a handful of bills that ultimately became law.

Hes more concerned about shouting in the wilderness to make an ideological point than getting things done, said LaBolt, whose communications firm has done work for the health insurance industrys push to expand Obamas health care law, the Affordable Care Act, at the expense of Sanders preferred Medicare for All plan.

Sanders camp insists hes effected meaningful change in and out of Washington, pointing to accomplishments that include a resolution he authored last year to oppose U.S. involvement in the conflict in Yemen, which passed both chambers of Congress but was vetoed by Trump; working with former Sen. John McCain of Arizona to shape a sweeping veterans bill that became law in 2014; and helping to secure billions of dollars for community health centers as part of the 2009 Affordable Care Act.

Sanders is also facing lingering questions about his age, having suffered a heart attack late last year. He is the oldest candidate in the race, and, if elected, he would be the oldest president in U.S. history.

Former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, who is supporting Bennets underdog bid, was reluctant to single out any of the candidates for criticism. But he said Sanders wouldnt be the strongest nominee and suggested it was fair to take Sanders age into account.

I think health has become an issue, whether we like it or not, Hart, 83, said in an interview. Im older than Sen. Sanders, so I can say things like that. I think its time for generational change.

Marshall Matz, who was a policy adviser for Sen. George McGoverns failed 1972 bid for president, was more direct in his warning for Democrats. If they nominate Sanders, he said, the party should expect the same landslide loss that McGovern suffered decades ago to President Richard Nixon.

I think he would not just lose but would lose badly  and I dont think the country can afford that, Matz said, noting that McGovern generated large crowds and enthusiasm just as Sanders has.

Indeed, on the ground in Iowa, there are signs that Sanders is in a strong position as caucus day approaches.

Josh Kennedy, a 36-year-old Sanders supporter from West Branch, Iowa, said he had previously been curious about Warren but hadnt been impressed by her on the campaign trail. Hes back on board with Sanders.

You know exactly what you get with him, Kennedy said.

Sanders drew consistently large crowds as he crisscrossed the state over the New Year holiday. His campaign said he spoke to nearly 6,000 supporters across 16 events, with more than 1,300 people gathered for a Des Moines party on New Years Eve.

The supporters turned out in rural areas as well.

Tracy Freese, chair of the Grundy County Democratic Party and a Sanders supporter, said she counted around 250 people at the Grundy Center Community Hall for Sanders last weekend, a number she called incredible.

To put that many people in a room, in a small red county, for Bernie was crazy on a Saturday, she said.
UPDATE 1/10/20 9:25a.m: According to Orange Beach police, Faith Wilson turned himself in Friday morning at approximately 3 a.m.

Wilson is currently being held at Baldwin County Corrections Center awaiting his bond hearing.

Original: Orange Beach police is currently attempting to locate a suspect in several condominium burglaries on Perdido Beach Boulevard.

Police has identified the suspect as Faith Demont Wilson, 55 of Pensacola, Florida. Investigators were able to identify Wilson after receiving information about the suspect through an anonymous tip on social media broadcast by a local media outlet.

Police claim that Wilson is responsible of stealing approximately $16,000 in cash along with guns and personal belongings from 16 condo units.

All units were unlocked and several were occupied during these crimes. Wilson has been charged with 38 felonies for theft of property and burglary.

Wilsons criminal history in Alabama dates back to March of 1988 when he was found guilty for breaking and entering, receiving stolen property and forgery.

The Orange Beach police department asks the public to contact Sgt. Trent Johnson at 251-981-9777 with any information on Wilsons whereabouts.
F OR years Goldman Sachs was regarded with a mixture of awe and fear.

The great vampire squid, in the irresistible description dreamt up by Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone, was wrapped around the face of humanity, jamming its blood funnel into anything that smelt like money.

If this was fair once, at times it seemed to be, the squid has been killed off by a mixture of market forces and Goldmans own desire to move on. It no longer seems relentlessly, suspiciously, ahead of rivals. Its just another very big, very successful bank. Well stop short of saying its good for society  lets keep it real  but there seems far less reason to fear it than there was.

From the Wall Street Journal this week: Goldman Sachs Lifts the Veil to Woo Sceptical Shareholders. Goldman is taking a shot at transparency, the paper reports, in a bid to arrest a share price that has gone nowhere for a decade and has fallen well behind arch rival JP Morgan.

Goldman is having its first ever investor day at the end of January. Next weeks annual results will see it disclose all manner of details it would previously have kept private.

This is not entirely a matter of being open for the sake of it  bonuses get paid partly in shares the executives think are undervalued; they think this is a solution. Even so, this is a changed organisation. Conversations with the bank that under previous management might have been blunt verging on paranoid are relaxed.

Criticism is fine; offence neednt be taken. Partly this is Goldman recognising reality. Its once mighty trading arm lately gets it wrong as much as mere mortals tend to. The investment bankers back the flotations of what turn out to be turkeys more regularly than Christmas.
T he newlyweds killed after a Ukrainian passenger plane crashed in Iran were travelling home to London to begin their married lives together.

Niloufar Ebrahim, 34, died alongside her husband Saeed Tahmasebi Khademasadi just two weeks after their wedding ceremony.

They died in the plane which crashed moments after taking off in Iran on Wednesday.

Mr Tahmasebi, a 35-year-old engineer with Imperial College London, was a dual British-Iranian national and was among three Britons killed in the incident .

They were due to return to London having celebrated their wedding with family in Iran / PA

Ms Ebrahim was not yet a British citizen but was planning to settle in the UK with her new husband.

She had just completed her masters degree at Kingston University and was doing charity work for Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO).

Downing Street said it is looking into very concerning reports about the crash, as the US claimed the jet was shot down by a missile.

Iran: Tehran Plane Crash - In pictures 1 /13 Iran: Tehran Plane Crash - In pictures via Reuters AP AFP via Getty Images People stand near the wreckage after a Ukrainian plane crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran ISNA/AFP via Getty Images AP AP via Reuters AP Rescuers check the debris following the plane crash via Reuters Part of the wreckage from Ukrainian plane that crashed in Tehran shortly after take-off via Reuters

Although legally married last year, Ms Ebrahim and Mr Tahmasebi, who lived in Chiswick, had travelled to Iran to celebrate their wedding with friends and family.

Ms Ebrahims sister, Navaz, said: She was the biggest sweetheart. The best sister I could have asked for. She was brilliant and smart and kind  everyone who met her loved her.

Family say they are "devastated" by the deaths of the couple / PA

She was so well loved and we are devastated.

The pair were set up by mutual friends in Iran several years ago, and Navaz said they instantly hit it off.

Navaz, who now lives in Texas, US, said she had been unable to see her sister for five years due to restrictive travel policies.

"I always thought I would get a chance to see her again" says sister of the bride / PA

She said: Because of the Trump travel ban, I was unable to attend her wedding because I am not allowed to leave the country.

That alone was devastating at the time. I always thought I would get a chance to see her again, and we would meet again someday, but to not be able to do that breaks my heart.

My family managed to get a visa to visit me in 2016, but because she was single at the time her visa wasnt granted.

The restrictive travel policies mean there is uncertainty about when Navaz will be able to see her family, who live in Iran, again.

They had their whole lives ahead of them. They were such a happy couple, and the whole family is devastated, she added.

The plane never made a radio call for help and was trying to turn back to the airport when it went down, killing 176 people.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 14:54:06|Editor: ZX

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by Julia Pierrepont III

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- In the fashionable Kumi Japanese restaurant, over 100 hungry attendees at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) clustered around food prep counters sizzling with woks to gorge themselves on a popular Asian-themed buffet serving delicious Chinese food.

Pork Bahn Mi, sweet and sour meatballs, spicy ground pork with Dan Dan noodles, Pork Char Sui Buns, Pork Shumai, and Pork Katsu ... the twist is that none of them was actually pork.

Unveiled by California-based Impossible Foods at the annual CES that kicked off here Tuesday, the alternative pork or cultured pork is grown in lab and will provide plant-based substitutes for meat products in fast food chains and grocery stores this year.

The company was founded by Stanford biochemistry professor Patrick Brown in 2011 when he decided to make a substitute to real meat which could deliver the same delicious taste as real meat, moreover, people's favorite family memories of real meat.

His unique approach was not to trot out yet another tasteless soy or bean burger, but to explore meat's signature taste on a molecular level.

He and his team of scientists started by isolating some of the basic building blocks that give meat its delicious taste, like heme protein, a molecule that makes blood look red and helps give meat its chewy texture.

Celeste Holz-Schietinger, director of research for Impossible Foods, told Xinhua: "We've been working to understand meat on a molecular level, to figure out what creates flavor, textures, juiciness. Identifying the sensory experiences of beef and pork on a molecular level, so we could discover which plants can drive those same sensory experiences."

Company scientists created a library of proteins and fats derived from plants and experimented with them to mimic the taste and texture of meat, using such ingredients as coconut fat, soy and potato proteins.

When the "meat" is cooked, the potato protein provides a firm exterior, similar to seared beef and the coconut oil stays solid until heated, but melts in a way similar to beef fat.

Their resulting plant-based burgers and pork dishes have more protein, less total fat, and fewer calories than similar meat products.

Committed to being environmentally green, the company said their plant-based burgers and pork dishes also use 95 percent less land and 74 percent less water per burger than burgers made from cows.

The company's first foray is fake beef, called "The Impossible Burger," which went on sale in 2016 and is available at more than 17,000 restaurants in the United States, Singapore, and China's Hong Kong and Macao.

Impossible Foods Chief Executive Pat Brown said that the company decided pork should be its next product and started working on the new products about 18 months ago and accelerated development in the second half of 2019.

Burger King will give consumers their first taste of Impossible Company's alternative pork. Later this month, 139 Burger King restaurants in five U.S. cities will offer the Impossible Croissan'wich, made with plant-based pork sausage coupled with the traditional egg and cheese.

Brown said that ground pork is also key to meeting the company's international expansion goals. While Americans eat more beef and chicken, pork is the most widely consumed meat worldwide, according to the National Pork Board.

The global plant-based meat market will enjoy an annual compound growth rate of 15 percent to reach 27.9 billion U.S. dollars by 2025, according to consulting firm Markets and Markets.

When asked about their China strategy, Holz-Schietinger said, "If we want to get rid of animal agriculture, we need to be global, and China is front and center for that goal."

Similarly, Sheetal Shah, the company's senior vice president of product and operations, said that "China is an important market for us."
OTTAWA - Canadian and foreign intelligence indicates dozens of Canadians were killed by a potentially errant Iranian missile that downed their jetliner near Tehran this week, sparking a quest for answers that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested might take years.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/1/2020 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Rescue workers search the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed as the bodies of victims in body bags lie on the ground, in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. A Ukrainian airplane with more than 170 people crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff from Tehran's main airport, killing all onboard. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

OTTAWA - Canadian and foreign intelligence indicates dozens of Canadians were killed by a potentially errant Iranian missile that downed their jetliner near Tehran this week, sparking a quest for answers that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested might take years.

Trudeau said Thursday that multiple sources show that an Iranian surface-to-air missile downed the Ukraine International Airlines flight that crashed near Tehran on Wednesday. It killed all 176 people on board, including 138 passengers bound for Canada.

The crash came after a week of soaring tensions in the Middle East, and just hours after Iran launched missile attacks on bases in Iraq where American and allied troops are stationed. Iran said the attacks were retaliation for the American killing of Maj.-Gen. Qassem Soleimani near Baghdad last week.

Trudeau said it was too soon to blame any particular country for Canada's losses, including the United States. Trudeau repeatedly said there needs to be a complete and thorough investigation to get "a complete picture of what happened."

"The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. This may well have been unintentional," Trudeau told a Parliament Hill news conference Thursday afternoon.

He declined to offer other details about the nature of the information in Canada's hands but added that "the preliminary conclusions we've been able to draw based on intelligence and evidence today are clear enough for me to share them with Canadians right now."

Trudeau said he knows the news will compound the suffering of grieving families. "My thoughts instantly went to how much harder this must make it for those families who are experiencing just a terrible amount of grief right now."

The plane crashed minutes after taking off from Tehran's airport, apparently on fire as it went down.

Earlier Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested he believes Iran was responsible, without laying direct blame.

"Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side," Trump said in a Washington news conference, noting the plane was flying in a "pretty rough neighbourhood."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a news conference updating the Iran plane crash in Ottawa on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, as Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan looks on. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

"Some people say it was mechanical," Trump added. "I personally don't think that's even a question."

Trudeau said he had no comment on what Trump had said.

Iran's civil aviation authority is leading the investigation, under international rules for probes of such crashes. Late Thursday Canada's Transportation Safety Board confirmed it has been invited by the authority to "attend the accident site."

"We have accepted this invitation and we are making arrangements to travel to the site," the board said in a statement.

Before the western leaders began saying publicly they believed the airliner had been shot down, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted Hasan Rezaeifa, the head of the Iranian investigation commission, claiming that "the topics of rocket, missile or anti-aircraft system is ruled out."

Trudeau said Canadian consular officials are headed to Turkey and that Iran would be open to issuing visas so they can enter the country. He said Iran has indicated "an openness" to Canada taking part in an investigation. Canada and Iran broke off diplomatic relations in 2012.

Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne spoke to his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, about the need for Canadian officials to be allowed into Iran to provide consular services, help with identification of the deceased and to take part in the investigation.

Champagne also told Zarif that Canada condemned Iran's missile attacks against the military bases in Iraq, one of which holds Canadian troops. He described the conversation as "open and encouraging."

Trudeau spoke to several world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Dutch Prime Minister Marc Rutte and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Trudeau said Zelensky told him that the Iranians planned to keep the plane's black boxes in their country but would allow Ukrainian investigators access to the vital flight data they contain. Zelensky pledged Ukraine's full co-operation with Canada.

Rutte, meanwhile, provided insights into the investigation led by the Netherlands  lasting more than five years and counting  into the similar July 2014 crash of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 after it departed Amsterdam. That airplane was struck by a missile and crashed in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. The plane was travelling at the height of Russia's military action against Ukraine.

"(Rutte) talked about the fact that he had multiple conversations with Russian authorities, including Vladimir Putin in the days following the Malaysian Airlines downing," Trudeau related.

Rutte also told Trudeau of the need to keep families informed, especially in the early stages.

Trudeau said Canada is now embarking on "a difficult process of establishing the truth and the facts of what happened."

The Iranians offered no immediate explanation for the disaster. Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, a notion initially backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldn't speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

The plane was also carrying 82 Iranians, 11 Ukrainian passengers and crew, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons.

Trudeau noted that the majority of the victims were Iranian citizens "and this is something that binds us together in our grief." But he emphasized: "Canadians want answers. I want answers. That means closure, transparency, accountability and justice. And this government will not rest until we get that."

Canada has pressed Iran on the need for a credible investigation that gives international partners "on site" access to the crash, he added.

"The Iranians have indicated that they understand that," Trudeau said.

The prime minister said Canadian expertise in investigating air disasters is "world class. We have much to contribute and we have lost much in the loss of so many Canadian lives  so many families across this country grieving.

"We will be involved."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 9, 2020.

 with files from the Associated Press
B oris Johnson said there was now a "body of information" that indicated the Tehran airliner crash was caused by an Iranian missile.

Mr Johnson said that the incident "may well have been unintentional". He also confirmed that a fourth British person had been killed.

In a statement, he said: "There is now a body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile. This may well have been unintentional.

Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

"We are working closely with Canada and our international partners and there now needs to be a full, transparent investigation."

Mr Johnson said four Britons died in the plane crash, up from the earlier reports of three .

"The loss of life on Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 is a tragedy and my thoughts are with all those who lost loved ones," he said.

Rescue workers search the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed, south west Tehran / AP

"Four British nationals were among those who were killed, and we are providing support to their families at this most terrible time.

The Conservative Party leader said the Government was "providing support to their families at this most terrible time".

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the UK agrees with Canadas assessment that that indicates the plane was shot down by an Iranian missile.

He said the familes of victims "deserve to know the truth".

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab (right) walks from the Foreign Office towards 10 Downing Street / AFP via Getty Images

After meeting his Canadian counterpart Francois-Philippe Champagne, Mr Raab said: "We agree with the Canadian assessment that indicates that Ukrainian International Airlines flight was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, and as Francois-Philippe said it may well have been unintentional.

"Our view on the crash underlines why we urgently now need an independent, full and transparent investigation to establish what caused it.

"The Iranian regime must open up to the international community, including access to the crash site, so we can get to the truth as quickly as possible to give the families of the victims an understanding of what happened to their loved ones.

Justin Trudeau says passenger plane that came down in Tehran was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile

Mr Raab added: "The families of the victims deserve to know the truth, and we say that whether they're Canadian families, British families, Ukrainian families, Swedish, German, Afghan.

"And let us not forget the Iranian families because they have suffered the greatest loss of life in this terrible incident and they deserve to know the truth too.

"We urge Iran not to repeat the reckless and dangerous attacks and rather pursue the urgent de-escalation and return to diplomatic dialogue."

The three known British victims included engineer Sam Zokaei, from Surrey, Saeed Tahmasebi Khademasadi, from west London, and Mohammad Reza Kadkhoda Zadeh, from near Brighton.

In total, 176 people were killed when the plane crashed moments after it left Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran at 6.10am local time (2.40am GMT) on Wednesday, bound for the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

At least a third of the deceased held Canadian passports. Prime Minister Mr Trudeau told a press conference earlier on Thursday that the news of a missile being responsible was likely to comes as a "shock" to the grieving families.

Aerial images of Iran missile strike 1 /6 Aerial images of Iran missile strike What appears to be new damage at Al Asad air base in Iraq is seen in a satellite picture via REUTERS What appears to be new damage at Al Asad air base in Iraq is seen in a satellite picture via REUTERS What appears to be new damage at Al Asad air base in Iraq is seen in a satellite picture via REUTERS Al Asad air base in Iraq is seen in a satellite picture taken is seen in December, before the missile strike via REUTERS What appears to be new damage at Al Asad air base in Iraq is seen in a satellite picture via REUTERS

Two US officials had earlier said that it was "highly likely" an Iranian anti-aircraft missile brought down the passenger plane.

The news came after Mr Johnson used a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday to call for a "full, credible and transparent investigation" into what happened.

Ukraine's Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, posted on Facebook that a missile attack was one of the possible causes of the fire that caused Ukraine International Airlines' (UIA) PS752 aircraft to break-up as it gained height after taking off from Tehran airport on Wednesday.

Niloufar Ebrahim (left) and Saeed Tahmasebi Khademasadi died in the plane crash / PA

The Iranian military had disputed suggestions the airliner was brought down by a missile, with officials in Iran blaming an engine fire.

But Mr Danilov said "information about the detection of the shards of a Russian missile" - understood to be a Russian Tor M1 missile - meant an attack on the plane could not be ruled out.

The Prime Minister pushed for the facts to be established during his conversation with Mr Zelenskyy on Thursday.

Mr Zelenskyy ordered a criminal investigation soon after the details of the tragedy emerged this week.

Iranian Missile Attack - In pictures 1 /16 Iranian Missile Attack - In pictures Pieces of missiles are seen at the rural area of Al-Baghdadi town after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq Anadolu Agency via Getty Images An explosion is seen following missiles landing at what is believed to be Ain al-Asad Air Base in Iraq Iraqi security forces find and collect the pieces of missiles as they gather to inspect the site after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq Anadolu Agency via Getty Images A protester waves the Iraq flag while demonstrators set fire to close streets near Tahrir Square during a demonstration to protest against the Iranian missile strike, in Baghdad, Iraq AP Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him addressing a meeting in Teharn Getty Images An explosion is seen following missiles landing at what is believed to be Ain al-Asad Air Base in Iraq via Reuters Iraqi security forces and soldiers gather to inspect the site after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq, a facility jointly operated by U.S. and Iraqi forces, at Bardarash district of Erbil in Iraq Anadolu Agency via Getty Images An explosion is seen following missiles landing at what is believed to be Ain al-Asad Air Base in Iraq IRIB/AFP via Getty Images Multiple rockets are launched at Al-Asad airbase Multiple rockets are launched at Al-Asad airbase A protester sets fires to close streets near Tahrir Square during a demonstration to protest against the Iranian missile strike AP A man holds shrapnel from a missile launched by Iran on U.S.-led coalition forces on the outskirts of Duhok ,Iraq Reuters

He has invited United Kingdom aviation experts to join the investigation into the crash.

A spokesman for the president said: "The President invited the United Kingdom to join the investigation.

"Boris Johnson supported this idea and stressed that the best British experts should be involved in clarifying all the circumstances of the tragedy."

The airline ruled out human error in the aftermath of the incident, and crew were not said to have made an emergency call.

The crash comes amid escalating tension in the Persian Gulf following the killing last week of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani / VIA REUTERS

Iran fired missiles at army bases in Iraq were both US and UK troops were stationed, although both Number 10 and the White House said there had been no casualties incurred.
South Africa copes with blackouts despite presidents promises as it prepares to mark ruling partys 108th anniversary.

Johannesburg, South Africa  The power is off, again, in South Africa six years after the first major consumer crisis of the state-owned power company, Eskom.

The notorious load shedding schedule  portioned power cuts caused by failing electricity plants  was introduced to the nations households again last week.

This means blackouts of at least four hours a day continue to affect peoples lives.

This is not only an inconvenience to many people in the country, which is slowly losing its international reputation as Africas inspiring and thriving post-liberation economy and example of democratic change, it is also President Cyril Ramaphosas first broken promise of the year.

In December, Ramaphosa announced power cuts would only occur from the second week in January.

The deteriorating power grid, however, proved him wrong several days before the African National Congress (ANC) gathers in Northern Cape province to celebrate its 108th anniversary.

Celebration

For the annual event, the ANC has mobilised members and officials from all over the country to come to Kimberley, the city where the partys founding member Solomon Plaatje was born.

Preparations for the first rally of the year have been accompanied by a loud social media campaign by the ANC, running under the hashtag Khawuleza  the Zulu word for Hurry up.

Despite the many challenges facing the nation, the ANC is eager to spread a message of hope this Saturday.

We are going to look at the weaknesses and shortcomings. Thats why we will give South Africans hope that things will be better tomorrow, ANCs Secretary-General Ace Magashule said to the media on Monday.

Looking at the state of the nation, there is a lot to hurry up about for the governing party, which finds itself at the centre of the many immediate problems haunting the once celebrated rainbow nation.

Besides external factors such as the crippling blackouts, a peaking unemployment rate of 29.1 percent, even worse among the youth where in the last quarter of 2019 it passed 58 percent, rising levels of inequality and a staggering economy, the party is haunted by internal conflicts that are a major obstacle on the way forward.

The party is so divided that it can no longer focus on what is the core foundation of it, says political analyst Ralph Mathegka and author of, When Zuma Goes, and, Ramaphosas Turn.

Struggle for liberation

While the party represented numerous black South Africans in their struggle for liberation, personal power struggles within have led to deep fractures that manifest themselves as two rivalling camps: a group around Ramaphosa and one around Jacob Zuma, the former president who  accused of fraud, money laundering and racketeering linked to a multibillion dollar arms deal  was removed from office by his party in 2018 after years of institutionalising corruption in government.

We thought Ramaphosa would bring unity, says Mathegka. But if there is one thing I can say about Ramaphosas presidency which is very distinct, it is that it has actually resulted in an institutionalisation of divisions within the party.

This makes it hard to tackle any of the countrys problems which, according to Steven Friedman, director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Johannesburg, outgrow party politics.

They are symptoms of broader problems in the society, he said.

The significant one being economic exclusion.

South Africa changed its political system in 1994, but it didnt change the way the economy ran, and it didnt change the way the society ran. The way the economy and the society ran before 1994 was that most people were excluded, says Friedman.

Many black South Africans remain shut out from economic participation 25 years after the fall of apartheid.

A diagnostic issued by the World Bank in 2018 underlined the struggles of today have historical roots.

If you are a young black person living in a low-income township and you are smart and energetic, the chances of you finding a space in the economy are very slim, says Friedman, adding peoples only way out of the dire situation is to join party branches in the hope to access resources and move into the middle class.

The only real question we should ask is: How are we going to make sure that the people who arent in jobs can earn decent livelihoods and contribute to the economy? asks Friedman.

Friedman says the party is aware of the structural challenges the country is facing. Everything is very well understood. But when one faction says there is a problem, the other faction is the cause of the problem.

In the days leading up to the events during which the party issues its annual policy statement, the party communicated the coming of brighter days. The ANC was not available for comments on how it was planning to move forward.

Losing ground

The Zuma years, characterised by scandals of state capture and a growing internal division, have translated into the ANC losing ground among its electorate with the party missing the 60 percent mark last year for the first time.

This was seen as a significant blow for the party that remains the one and only party many black people in South Africa would ever cast their ballot for  for loyalty reasons and a lack of other options given the weak opposition with the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the EFF.

It was during the nine years under Zuma that panic among the voters spread, says Goodman Dinga, once a loyal ANC voter whose faith in the leadership has faded.

It was good under [first President Nelson] Mandela. And good under [second President Thabo] Mbeki. Now, people dont trust in the ANC any more, because there are no jobs and corruption is everywhere, Dinga said.

On his minibus commute to work as a security guard, he passes people sleeping on the streets every day.

People eat what they find in the bins, they sleep on the doorsteps because there are no jobs, says the 53-year-old.

He speaks of schools in rural areas that have no rooves and hospitals where load shedding has led to the collapse of the intensive care unit.

Politicians are busy pointing at each other instead of looking after the people, Dinga said.

He is not alone. At 66.05 percent, voter turnout during last years election was at an all-time low, a sign the ground the ANC has been standing on is slowly cracking.

Change

An increase in service delivery protests also indicates a growing demand for change among the population.

And still, despite the grim state the country finds itself in, the door for improvement is not closed.

Things can start to change because there are problems which people experience and which they believe need to be fixed. And pressure is building up right now, concludes Friedman.

This glimmer of hope remains even among people who seem to have given up like Dinga. But, for this, reform is necessary.

Only if Ramaphosa decides to try other means, says the security guard, then things can change.
Conventional wisdom says that having just one mutated copy of the cystic fibrosis gene has no effects on a person's health--the disease occurs when both copies of the gene are mutated. But a new study from the University of Iowa suggests that may not be the case.

The research, published recently in the journal PNAS, found that people with one mutated copy of the cystic fibrosis (CF) gene, sometimes called CF carriers, are at increased risk for all of the conditions that affect people with CF.

Importantly, although the relative risk is higher, the study shows that the absolute risk - the likelihood of a CF carrier getting many of these conditions - is still very low. However, because more than 10 million Americans are CF carriers, the new findings suggest that the amount of illness caused by CF-related conditions could be substantial.

CF carriers are nowhere near as at-risk as patients with CF. But compared to people with no CF mutations, they have a slightly higher risk for some diseases." Philip Polgreen, MD, UI professor of internal medicine and epidemiology and senior author on the study

Some previous reports have linked being a CF carrier with an increased risk for some CF-related conditions, like pancreatitis, male infertility, and airway infections. The new study shows that CF carriers also have an increased risk for other CF-related conditions, including type 1 diabetes, gastrointestinal cancer, and newborn failure to thrive.

The UI team used data from the IBM Watson/Truven Health Analytics MarketScan Database, a very large database of health information, to analyze the effect of CF carrier status on increased risk for CF-related conditions.

They identified 19,802 CF carriers whose diagnosis had been confirmed by genetic testing and matched each carrier to five people without CF (a total of 99,010 people). The analysis showed that for 59 CF-related conditions, carriers were at an increased risk, and the risk was significant for 57 of the conditions. In addition, the more prevalent a condition is in people with CF, the more prevalent it is in people who are carriers.

The researchers also constructed a "validation cohort" comprised of mothers whose children were diagnosed with CF (meaning the moms must be carriers). Health records of the women, from before their children were diagnosed, revealed similar findings to the big database study.

The findings may have implications for certain lifestyle choices. Due to the increased risk for respiratory disease or pancreatic problems, for example, Polgreen says it may be even more important for CF carriers, compared to non-carriers, to avoid excess alcohol consumption.

From a broader perspective, the researchers also think the study reveals the potential power of combining genetic testing information with health information from very large observational databases of medical records.

More and more individuals are receiving genetic testing from their providers or from private companies, and if this information can be incorporated into health care records, there could be many new opportunities to discover both population-level health risks and individualized treatment options." Aaron Miller, PhD, UI assistant professor of epidemiology and first author on the study
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 9, 2020) - NetCents Technology Inc. (CSE: NC) (FSE: 26N) (OTCQB: NCCTF) ("NetCents" or the "Company"), a disruptive cryptocurrency payments company, is pleased to announce that it exceeded $1 million dollars in monthly processing volume in December 2019.

"Exceeding the one million dollar mark in monthly processing volume is a major milestone for us," stated Clayton Moore, Founder and CEO of NetCents. "Our proven ability to seamlessly scale our processing volume in a short period of time proves that our platform is ready for our continued exponential growth."

The Company is pleased with its 2019 results. The Company increased its monthly processing volume by 2,497%. In January 2019, the Company processed $39,436 in cryptocurrency transactions and ended the year by processing $1,024,030 in December 2019. During calendar 2019, the Company processed a total of $2,913,180 in cryptocurrency transactions.

In May 2019, the Company projected that it would continue to increase monthly processing volume by 40% month over month, reaching over $2 million dollars in monthly processing volume in Q1, 2020. The Company is pleased to report that it has exceeded this projection for 2019 and is on track to meet its Q1 2020 projections. This continued compounding 40% monthly growth rate is a key inflection point for the Company's future growth and revenue.

"During 2019, we tested and refined the system with 20 select merchants and we are ready to green light all of our and our partners' merchants," added Mr. Moore.

The Company is excited to start 2020 with our 54 partners and their 7 million merchants collectively.

About NetCents

NetCents is a next-generation online payment processing platform, offering consumers and merchants online services for managing electronic payments. The Company is focused on capturing the migration from cash to digital currency by utilizing innovative Blockchain Technology to provide payment solutions that are simple to use, secure and worry-free. NetCents works with its financial partners, mobile operators, exchanges, etc., to streamline the user experience of transacting online.

NetCents Technology is integrated into the Automated Clearing House ("ACH") and is registered as a Money Services Business (MSB) with FINTRAC, which ensures our consumer's security and privacy. NetCents is available for deposits from 194 Countries around the World, providing you with the freedom to choose to Pay. Your Way.

For more information, please visit the corporate website at www.net-cents.com or contact Sonja Bakgaard, Investor Relations: sonja.bakgaard@net-cents.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

NetCents Technology Inc.

"Clayton Moore"

Clayton Moore, CEO, Founder and Director

NetCents Technology Inc.

1000 - 1021 West Hastings Street

Vancouver, BC, V6E 0C3

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include regulatory actions, market prices, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates, and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/51278
The sponsorship dollars brought by Nicholas Latifi's new race seat are now starting to flow at Williams.

This week, we reported that Williams' major backer since 2015, Rexona and its parent Unilever, have left as the Oxfordshire based team faces a third consecutive season at the very back of the grid.

And that came after the departure of Robert Kubica and his sponsor PKN Orlen, who are now taking their EUR 15 million in backing to Alfa Romeo.

But by signing Latifi, the son of wealthy McLaren co-owner Michael Latifi, Williams has opened up a new stream of revenue.

The most obvious will be the replacement of the Orlen branding on the back of the rear wing with Sofina, the third largest food company in Canada.

Sofina was founded by Michael Latifi, and it is reported that the sponsorship dollars from the Latifi camp to Williams will add up to about $40 million in 2020.

Some of that will also come from Lavazza, a well-known Italian coffee brand. Latifi's Sofina Foods is the exclusive distributor of Lavazza coffee in Canada.

Lavazza has been a personal sponsor of Nicholas Latifi's in recent seasons, and the logo will make its debut on Williams' 2020 car this year.

After hitting rock bottom in 2019, Williams is hoping for a better season this year but boss Claire Williams admits the sweeping new rules for 2021 are a complication.

"Really, we're looking at 2019 and 2020 as one long campaign. So it's difficult, but we wanted the 2021 regulations to come in," she said.

"We lobbied hard for them, so we've just go to deal with the problem head on and do the best job that we can."

(GMM)
New Delhi, Jan 9 : The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) seized Rs 25 lakh in cash from a passenger's hand baggage, at the Okhla Vihar Metro Station here, on Thursday.

During the baggage X-ray screening, the CISF personnel noticed the cash in the hand baggage of a passenger, identified as Arjun Kumar,(25) resident of Rajasthan's Sirohi district.

According to Hemendra Singh, Assistant Inspector General CISF, Arjun Kumar had revealed that he was working in a courier service agency located in Chandni Chowk, and that the amount had been collected from a businessman in Nehru Place.

Following preliminary inquiries, the passenger and the recovered Rs 25 lakh were handed over to the Income Tax officials for further action in the matter.
STOCKHOLM, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Securitas reinforces its leadership position within the electronic security market in Spain through the acquisition of Techco Security, a leading electronic security company. The purchase price is estimated to MEUR 22 (MSEK 230).

Techco Security offers a comprehensive range of integrated security services including installation, maintenance and remote guarding services as well as access control, electronic alarm surveillance and fire protection, and supports clients through two operations centers in Madrid and Barcelona. The company has approximately 520 employees with a strong footprint across Spain and Portugal. Techco Security's annual sales was MEUR 50 (MSEK 520) in 2018. The purchase price is estimated to MEUR 22 (MSEK 230).

"We are pleased to welcome Techco Security's clients and team onboard for an exciting journey together with Securitas. The acquisition represents an important milestone in the transformation of our company. We will have an even stronger position in delivering quality electronic security services to our clients and we will continue growing the business together with the team", says Jorge Couto, Divisional President, Security Services Ibero-America.

Securitas is leading the transformation of the global security industry, from traditional guarding to a wide range of protective services, including on-site, mobile and remote guarding, electronic security, fire and safety and corporate risk management. In the full year of 2018 security solutions and electronic security sales represented 20 percent, or approximately BSEK 20, of total Group sales. Securitas ambition for its security solutions and electronic security business is to double the size from approximately BSEK 20 in 2018 to approximately BSEK 40 in 2023.

The acquisition was closed and consolidated into Securitas on January 8, 2020.

This press release is available at www.securitas.com.

Information:

Micaela Sjokvist

Head of IR

Securitas AB

Mobile +46-76-116-7443

Email micaela.sjokvist@securitas.com

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/securitas/r/securitas-acquires-leading-electronic-security-company-in-spain,c3004781

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LONDON, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The World Copper Conference will once again be hosted in Santiago, Chile during CESCO week on March 23-25, and will reinforce its position as the premier copper event in Latin America.

2020 is an important year as Chile is undergoing a period of social unrest caused by inequality in its society. These underlying collective frustrations are not unique to Chile. Many of the jurisdictions in which the mining industry operates are more volatile and far less developed.

This year's conference will have a special focus on the challenges of social value that the mining industry creates and how this value is perceived in the long term and away from its operations. There will be a keynote panel discussion on this with Octavio Araneda, CEO of Codelco, Marcin Chludzinski, CEO of KGHM, Aaron Puna, Executive President of Chile, Anglo American, Harry Conger, President & Chief Operating Officer - Americas of Freeport-McMoRan, Jorge Gomez, Executive President of Minera Collahuasi and Diego Hernandez, President of Sonami.

"We estimate that disruptions to global mine production were 6% last year compared to a historical average of just less than 5%, while unforeseen interruptions continued to plague the smelter and refinery sectors across the world from Chile to China. Near-term risks to mine supply remain high. Country-wide civil unrest and several mine labour contract renegotiations in Chile, community protests in the Arequipa region of Peru, operating challenges in the African Copperbelt, and the possibility of profit-related smelter shutdowns could all upset forecasts that otherwise suggest an increase in copper production of almost 1.5% in 2020." Commented Robert Edwards, CRU's Principal Analyst.

The three-day agenda includes key presentations from mining CEOs well as an opening presentation from the Ministry of Mines, Chile.

Additionally, the conference will include sessions on the future of the industry, the impact of technical innovation in the mining process, copper demand, what happens after China's current 5 year plan, International copper scrap trade and developments and Market and price outlook.

Attendees at the World Copper Conference also gain access to the one-day Environmental strategy and technology forum on 23 March and the Sulphuric Acid Seminar on 25 March.

Running alongside the conference is an exhibition showcasing the latest technologies, products and solutions. For exhibition enquiries, please contact Paul Terry at paul.terry@crugroup.com or +44-(0)-20-7903-2131.

We are delighted to have Bechtel, Worley, Collahausi, London Metal Exchange and the International Copper Association as key sponsors; as well as industry support from CESCO.

The World Copper Conference will take place in Santiago, Chile on 23-25 March 2020.

Please visit http://bit.ly/2QPLwTQ to find out more and to book your place.

Read more about CRU: http://bit.ly/About_CRU

About CRU

CRU offers unrivalled business intelligence on the global metals, mining and fertilizer industries through market analysis, price assessments, consultancy and events.

Since our foundation by Robert Perlman in 1969, we have consistently invested in primary research and robust methodologies, and developed expert teams in key locations worldwide, including in hard-to-reach markets such as China.

CRU employs over 280 experts and has more than 11 offices around the world, in Europe, the Americas, China, Asia and Australia - our office in Beijing opened in 2004 and Singapore in 2018.

CRU events are well respected for attracting the most senior level professionals and providing valuable networking opportunities throughout the year for global audiences. For more information visit www.crugroup.com/events

CRU - big enough to deliver a high-quality service, small enough to care about all of our customers.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1063329/CRU_2019_Copper_Conference.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/536199/CRU_Logo.jpg
People look at a memorial at Borispil international airport in Kyiv, Ukraine (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Ukraine airliner that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people aboard, was most likely brought down accidentally by Iranian air defenses, U.S. officials said on Thursday, and President Donald Trump said he did not believe the crash was due to a mechanical issue.

Citing an extensive review of satellite data, one U.S. official said the government had concluded with a high degree of certainty that anti-aircraft missiles brought down the plane, on the same day that Iran launched ballistic missiles at U.S. forces in Iraq.

The official said the Ukraine International Airlines plane had been tracked by Iranian radar.

The data showed the Boeing 737-800 was airborne for two minutes after departing Tehran when the heat signatures of two surface-to-air missiles were detected, one of the officials said.

Expand Close Passengers' belongings are pictured at the site where the Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed after take-off from Iran's Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran January 8, 2020. Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS / Facebook

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Whatsapp Passengers' belongings are pictured at the site where the Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed after take-off from Iran's Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran January 8, 2020. Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

That was quickly followed by an explosion in the vicinity of the plane, this official said. Heat signature data then showed the plane on fire as it went down.

The flight was on its way to Kiev carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians.

The crash happened early on Wednesday morning, hours after Iran launched missile attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq, leading some to speculate that the plane may have been hit.

Iran's head of civil aviation denied the reports as "illogical rumours."

Expand Close Security look at passengers' belongings at the site where the Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed after take-off from Iran's Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran January 8, 2020. Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS / Facebook

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Whatsapp Security look at passengers' belongings at the site where the Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed after take-off from Iran's Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran January 8, 2020. Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

"Scientifically, it is impossible that a missile hit the Ukrainian plane, and such rumours are illogical," the semi-official ISNA News Agency quoted Ali Abedzadeh as saying.

Two U.S. officials said Washington believed the downing of the plane was accidental.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he had a terrible feeling about the downed airliner but offered no details. He said he did not believe it was a mechanical issue.

"It's a tragic thing. But somebody could have made a mistake - on the other side," Trump said.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said evidence indicates an Iranian missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner and that the strike "may have been unintentional".

Mr Trudeau said Canadian and allied intelligence supports that but he declined to get into the intelligence.

Expand Close Flowers and candles are placed in front of portraits of the flight crew members (Efrem Lukatsky/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Flowers and candles are placed in front of portraits of the flight crew members (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

At least 62 Canadians were among the 176 dead.

Ukraine had outlined four potential scenarios to explain the crash, including a missile strike and terrorism. Kiev said its investigators wanted to search the crash site for possible debris of a Russian-made missile used by Iran's military.

An initial report issued by Iran's civil aviation organisation on Thursday cited witnesses on the ground and in a passing aircraft flying at a high altitude as saying the plane was on fire while in the air.

It said the three-year-old airliner, which had its last scheduled maintenance on Monday, encountered a technical problem shortly after take-off and started to head toward a nearby airport before it crashed. The report said there was no radio communication from the pilot and that the aircraft disappeared from radar at 8,000 feet (2,440 m).

Investigations into airliner crashes require regulators, experts and companies across several international jurisdictions to work together. It can take months to fully determine the cause and issuing an initial report within 24 hours is rare.

Expand Close Rescue team works among debris of a plane belonging to Ukraine International Airlines, that crashed after take-off from Iran's Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran January 8, 2020. Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS / Facebook

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Whatsapp Rescue team works among debris of a plane belonging to Ukraine International Airlines, that crashed after take-off from Iran's Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran January 8, 2020. Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne called his Iranian counterpart to stress that Canadian officials needed "to be quickly granted access to Iran to provide consular services, help with identification of the deceased and take part in the investigation of the crash."

"Canada and Canadians have many questions which will need to be answered," a Canadian statement said.

Britain wants a transparent investigation, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman said on Thursday following a call between the British leader and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

"The prime minister said that there needed to be a full credible and transparent investigation into what happened," the spokesman said.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have risen with the United States' killing of a top Iranian general on Friday.

The Ukrainian airliner took off at 6:12 a.m. local time and was given permission to climb to 26,000 feet, Iran's report said. It crashed six minutes later near the town of Sabashahr.

Bodies and body parts recovered from the site of the crash were taken to the coroner's office for identification, the report said.

Smouldering debris, including shoes and clothes, was strewn across a field where the plane crashed. Rescue workers in face masks laid out scores of body bags.

Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration declined to comment on the missile reports on Thursday, as did the Pentagon.

Boeing is still reeling from two deadly crashes of 737 MAX planes in five months that led to the plane's grounding in March 2019. The 737-800 that crashed was built in 2016 and is the prior generation of the 737 before the MAX. Boeing has built about 5,000 of those planes, which have a good safety record.
He tapped a safe full of cash to pay off corrupt stock tipsters and used phony invoices for artwork sales to mask some payments. He stole information from his banker girlfriend, placed stories with journalists and disguised illegal trades by using other people to make share purchases.

On Wednesday, Marc Demane Debih, a failed Swiss entrepreneur, revealed to a New York jury the secret methods he used to earn $70 million in illegal profit from a global insider-trading network. Testifying for U.S. prosecutors, he is the government's star witness in the trial of Telemaque Lavidas, the first to face a U.S. jury after a multiyear government probe of a wider alleged conspiracy.

"We agree (with) each other to share inside information and rumors," Demane Debih said about his relationship with one member of the network. "If he got inside information, he would give it to me. I would trade it for him."

Demane Debih has been jailed since his 2018 arrest in Serbia and pleaded guilty in October to 38 insider-trading charges. Prosecutors say he was a key player in a sprawling network of contacts on three continents that shared information about pending corporate takeovers and paid off tipsters -- from executives to bankers to an art collector.

The 49-year-old Demane Debih, who has agreed to cooperate with authorities to reduce his sentence, testified that Lavidas' tips helped produce profit on shares of Boston-based Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Lavidas got inside information from his father, who was an Ariad board member at the time, and passed it along to Georgios Nikas, a Greek businessman who owned restaurants in New York, according to prosecutors. Demane Debih, who described Nikas as a friend, said he never got tips directly from Lavidas.

The secret Ariad information stood out from the other tips he got from investment bankers because it came "from somebody who worked there -- in this case a board member," Demane Debih told jurors on Wednesday.

In addition to Nikas, Demane Debih testified he got leaks from John Dodelande, a French art collector connected to investment bankers. Dodelande sometimes provided him with stolen deal documents and shared information about more than 15 transactions in all, Demane Debih said. He concluded Dodelande's sources probably worked for Moelis & Co. and Centerview Partners.

Benjamin Taylor, a former Moelis banker, and Darina Windsor, formerly of Centerview Partners, were charged by the U.S. in October. Taylor and Windsor shared a London apartment, sometimes communicating in code and using the pet names "Pops" and "Popsy" in emails, according to the government. They're charged with providing inside information on 22 companies.

Taylor and Windsor haven't appeared in court to face the charges. Prosecutors said Taylor is in France and Windsor in Thailand. Dodelande didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

On Tuesday, former Goldman Sachs investment banker Bryan Cohen pleaded guilty to passing confidential information to Demane Debih. Nikas, who faces insider-trading charges, is in Greece and considered a fugitive by the U.S. Lavidas's father, Athanase Lavidas, hasn't been charged.

Demane Debih said he got into stock trading about 14 years ago after failed stints at importing coffee, selling cigarettes and trying to bring foreign businesses to Serbia. A diamond business he financed with a partner fell apart after only a couple of months. He used $3 million he got from the sale of a family boat and from an inheritance to fund his initial trading activities.

After trading stocks for a few years, Demane Debih testified that he moved to London from Geneva to find his own sources of information, getting his first tip from a JPMorgan Chase investment banker. He also described how he got details about pending takeovers involving three mining companies from an unwitting girlfriend who worked at Goldman Sachs.

During one four-year period of insider trading he lived in Switzerland, Greece, the U.K., France, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. As part of his guilty plea, he agreed to forfeit about $49 million.

He told jurors he learned early on to disguise illegal trades by using other people to make share purchases, buying other stocks in the same sector as the target stock and selling off part of a profitable position before an expected share move. He later came to insist that insider-trading contacts communicate with him in person or on burner phones.

Demane Debih said he took steps to hide the flow of payments from authorities, sometimes paying off tipsters from a cash-filled safe in his apartment. Phony invoices for artworks helped obscure payments to Dodelande, whom he said he paid more than $12 million. Other payments were made to and from companies set up to hide the source of payments. He told jurors that he sometimes used illegal tips to plant stories with financial news outlets, including Bloomberg News, then profited when the stories moved share prices.

Demane Debih said he met Telemaque Lavidas once, at a 2011 birthday dinner for a friend of Nikas. Sometime after the dinner, Demane Debih claims, Nikas told him he had access to information about Ariad from Lavidas's father.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

On cross-examination, defense lawyer Jonathan Streeter worked to minimize the connection between Lavidas, who lives in New York, and Demane Debih. The trader answered "no sir" to a series of questions establishing that he hadn't ever seen Lavidas after that first meeting and never met his father, whose name he didn't know.

He never witnessed either Lavidas providing insider information, he said.

Streeter suggested that Demane Debih, who faces many years in prison, is lying about Lavidas to reduce his own sentence. He told jurors in his opening statement Monday that Windsor, the former Centerview Partners banker, was the source of Nikas's Ariad information, not his client.

Since 2013, American prosecutors, working with other countries, have investigated an alleged web of insider-trading that includes residents of the U.S., U.K., France, Switzerland, Israel, Cyprus, Greece and Hong Kong. The participants allegedly used secret information to profit from mergers, regulatory moves and other market-moving actions involving pharmaceutical companies.

Demane Debih told jurors that a Turkish-Swiss contact in Geneva passed along a rumor in 2013 that Ariad was going to be acquired and taken private. He testified that he ran the scenario by Nikas, because he knew Nikas had access to Lavidas. Nikas told him there was nothing to the rumor.

Demane Debih said he "strongly advised" his Geneva contact to sell his position. "I told him I had a very good source," the trader said. "It was not the time to be long on the stock. It was time to be short on the stock. He was very happy. I saved him a huge loss on this position."

The case is U.S. v. Lavidas, 19-cr-716, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
CHICAGO, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Special Olympics Illinois, the only Illinois entity accredited by Special Olympics Inc., is opening a Chicago headquarters in the West Loop as the Chicago-born non-profit expands programming to ensure people with intellectual disabilities an ever-expanding opportunity for growth.

The Chicago office for Special Olympics Illinois (SOILL) will bring the organization closer to a growing constituency in the city as it expands and introduces new programs. Roughly 53,000 people in Chicago live with intellectual disabilities. Currently, Special Olympics Illinois serves about 6,000 athletes, ages 8 and older of all ethnicities.

"We are moving into the West Loop to expand our work in Chicago. We want Chicagoans to know Special Olympics is much more than a track meet. We are a leader in health services for people with intellectual disabilities and we enhance life skills to build confidence," said David Breen, president of Special Olympics Illinois. "And with our key partners, many of whom are in the city, we can work together to bridge inclusion hurdles, so our athletes have equal opportunities to prosper as contributing adults."

Already in Chicago, Special Olympics Unified School programming is offered at 19 Chicago Public Schools. Unified Champion Schools (UCS) is an all ages, education-based program supported through the Federal Department of Education. At Unified Champion Schools, students with and without intellectual disabilities work together to develop, skills and opportunities to build change and help their schools develop true cultures of inclusiveness.

Later this month, SOILL will host a professional development seminar for schools that have implemented Unified programming and for those interested in learning more. It is the first of several informational meetings planned for the year. Significant expansion plans throughout CPS are on tap for 2020 adding to the expanding list of 280+ UCS schools throughout Illinois.

Ahead of the move into Chicago, SOILL hired an outreach director to work with Chicago Public Schools to expand programming for students with intellectual disabilities. Also, SOILL hired a government relations specialist to expand development and partnership opportunities for the Chicago region.

The West Loop office will provide SOILL additional opportunities to help corporate sponsors to work on solutions for workplace diversity and inclusion issues. "Inclusion creates career opportunities for our athletes, and we are at a time when companies are looking to us for help on implementing their goals for a more inclusive workforce," Breen said.

"Furthermore, given the area's continued business and residential growth, our new office will help us better connect with the city's young professionals looking to spend time with our inspiring athletes and growing our mission."

SOILL will host an invitation-only Open House on January 15 in its new space, 820 W. Jackson Blvd. The Chicago office will complement Special Olympics Illinois' existing state headquarters in Normal, Ill.

About Special Olympics Illinois

Special Olympics is a global inclusion movement using sport, health, education and leadership programs around the world to end discrimination against and empower people with intellectual disabilities. Special Olympics Illinois is the only entity in Illinois accredited by Special Olympics, Inc. and authorized by license to use the Special Olympics trademark and logo. Please contact Chris Winston at [email protected] at Special Olympics Illinois with any questions.

SOURCE Special Olympics Illinois

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http://www.soill.org


Vera Spiller, a longtime lover of classic Russian literature, has completed her debut novel Pride and Punishment: an impassioned look at the revolutionary deeds of the famous men and women in Russian literary history, the violent conspiracies they hatched, and their successes and failures in the process of creating what they believed would be an improved Russia.

They were rich and powerful men in Russia who seemed to have everything, but it wasnt enough for them, Vera Spiller says of the men who appear in her work. They conspired to replace the autocratic regime of Czar Alexander I by the codes of laws that resembled British or even American Constitution.

Published by Page Publishing, Vera Spillers historic tale features familiar Russian authors including Pushkin, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and more. As their actions incite riots and rebellions within Czarist Imperial Guards and encourage societal unrest, these great men are eventually cut down to size and must face the consequences of their actions.

The uprising was ruthlessly suppressed. Some of them paid the ultimate price, while others were

exiled in Siberia. Their friends remained loyal through good and bad times. Their beautiful women followed them to the earths end, Vera Spiller continued.

Readers who wish to share in these moments of upheaval in Russian history can purchase Pride and Punishment at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create, not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.
The Delhi Police has said that there was 40 per cent match in identifying the masked arsonists who attacked JNU teachers and students. The police submitted its report to the government on Wednesday, which is based on the facial recognition software it used to identify the culprits of Sundays violence.

The matches have been handed over to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the violence in JNU, said officials who did not wish to be identified.

The recently acquired facial recognition system is meant to be primarily used for the tracking and tracing missing children and unidentified bodies.

The police have indicated that there would be a breakthrough in the case soon, a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.

Masked arsonists armed with sticks, rods and hammers entered the campus during a meeting between students and teachers on January 5 and severely beat up people. They also vandalised student quarters. More than 30 students, including JNU Students Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh was injured in the incident.

In addition to the use of technology, the Delhi Police is also relying on the complaints from students. The police have received around 40 complaints from students, many of who have identified those who were involved in the violence, a second senior official who did not want to be named said.

Ghosh too has filed a complaint in which she has said, When we (Me, Nikhil, Anjana Basith) were being taken to the hospital, the ambulance not allowed to exit the campus from the North Gate, which was totally blocked. Amongst the persons present there were 30-40 police persons including SHO of PS Vasant Kunj North Ritu Raj and also a number of goons and persons affiliated with ABVP from who I have recognised Omkar Srivastava.

The violence was widely condemned across the country. Students, civil society members and actors supported and joined the protests against the violence.

The Delhi Police also came under criticism for letting arsonists enter JNU despite the presence of cops there. Under criticism, the government set-up a high-level an inquiry later that night.
Reuters

US Senator Tom Cotton on Wednesday introduced a bill that would prevent the United States from sharing intelligence with countries that allow Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies to operate 5G network technology within their borders, according to a copy of the bill seen by Reuters.

The United States has led a global campaign against the company, saying it could spy on customers for Beijing, and last year placed it on a trade blacklist, citing national security concerns. Huawei denies the allegations.

(Also read: Indian Govt allows Huawei to participate in trials for 5G networks from January onwards)

The bill's unveiling comes just days before the United Kingdom is slated to decide whether to upgrade its telecoms network with Huawei equipment.

Cotton, a vocal critic of Huawei, proposed a little-noticed provision in a defense bill signed into law last month that directs intelligence agencies to consider the use of telecoms and cybersecurity infrastructure "provided by adversaries of the United States, particularly China and Russia," when entering intelligence-sharing agreements with foreign countries.
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WASHINGTONThe U.S. House of Representatives took a preliminary vote Thursday to advance a measure that would force President Donald Trump to go to Congress for authorization before taking further military action against Iran, reigniting a fierce and long-standing debate over the role of the legislative branch in waging war.

The 226-193 procedural vote, split almost entirely along party lines, comes as Democrats  joined by two Republican senators  have raised questions about Trumps rationale and justification for ordering the drone strike last week that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

It paved the way for the Democratic-led House to hold a final vote later Thursday to approve the War Powers Resolution, after a debate that pitted presidential power against congressional prerogatives.

Lawmakers were rankled by the White Houses failure to confer with Congress before the strike and were dissatisfied with the classified notification the administration sent to Capitol Hill afterward. And they left their first briefings on the matter Wednesday, with Trumps national security team, irate.

Citing the mercurial nature of the presidents foreign policy and what they said was a dearth of credible information presented by administration officials to Congress justifying the strike, Democrats lined up on the House floor to argue that the week of escalating tensions underscored Congress duty to reclaim its constitutional authority to declare war.

Still, the House measure  sponsored by Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich. and a former CIA and Pentagon analyst specializing in Shiite militias  could amount to little more than a statement of principle, without the force of law.

House Democrats opted to use a concurrent resolution  the type that is considered to be enacted once both chambers approve it and is never presented to the president for his signature  rather than a joint resolution, which Trump could veto.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1983 that to have legal effect, an action of Congress must be presented to the president for signature or veto. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted Thursday, without elaborating, that the House measure would have legal teeth.

Most Republicans, who are often reluctant to criticize the president, especially on matters of national security, have stood in lockstep with Trump and his administration, rejecting suggestions that Congress must reassert its war powers in light of the recent hostilities with Iran. They contend that Trump showed restraint and was well within his authority to respond to an imminent threat.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 22:03:58|Editor: huaxia

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by Xinhua writers Zhang Jiawei, Jin Jing

LONDON, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- "I foresee a good future for us (Rolls-Royce) in the Chinese market, and we are also heavily investing into the Chinese market together with our partners," said Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes, CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

Rolls-Royce delivered record annual sales in 2019 in the company's 116-year history, with 5,152 cars sold to customers in over 50 countries around the world, an increase of 25 percent year on year, according to the latest figures released by the company.

The company reported significant sales growth in every of its key global markets. North America retained top status (around a third of global sales) followed by China and Europe.

"China is now back into the second position right after the North American market," said Mueller-Oetvoes in a recent interview with Xinhua.

The CEO also noted that his company, a luxury car manufacturer, even plans to launch a version of Ghost, a flagship sedan, exclusive to the Chinese market.

"It's something we are very much looking forward to do this year," he said.

There is reason for Mueller-Oetvoes' optimism in the Chinese market. The BMW Group, of which Rolls-Royce is a part, continued its positive sales trend in November last year: worldwide deliveries increased by 1.4 percent year-on-year to 225,662 vehicles, and strong growth can be seen in China.

The auto industry is undergoing fast change with electric vehicle, or EV, being in the spotlight. EVs have entered into a fast track of development globally, especially in leading markets like China. Even a luxury brand like Rolls-Royce is planning to electrify its products.

"Our plans are clear, and I announced it already last year. In this decade, Rolls-Royce will become electric, and step by step we are already working on that project," said Mueller-Oetvoes.

This is "the future for the brand, our lighthouse and we are following that path", he added.

EVs are on track to dominate global sales of passenger cars and buses by 2040, and to encroach significantly on the market for vans and short-distance trucking, according to a forecast from research firm BloombergNEF (BNEF) released last year.

The BNEF report sees China continuing to lead in electric cars, accounting for 48 percent of all passenger EVs sold in 2025 and 26 percent in 2040 when other markets are catching up.

Mueller-Oetvoes pointed out that it is still extremely hard to forecast when EVs will become the mainstream products in the market, but "I think what is clear is that long term electrification is the trend and everybody is on it."

However, Rolls-Royce will need to take time to deliver "real proper Rolls-Royce", including electric versions, to satisfy customers, said the CEO.

"Our customers are asking us, we want a true Rolls-Royce, even in an electrified version, and that takes a little bit of time. We need certain battery technology and when the time is right, we will bring it into the market," he said.
Accenture, a global professional services company, has agreed to acquire Symantecs Cyber Security Services business from Broadcom, Inc., which will make Accenture Security one of the leading providers of managed security services.



It will further enhance its ability to help companies rapidly anticipate, detect and respond to cyber threats, a statement said, noting that financial terms of the were not disclosed.



Symantecs portfolio of Cyber Security Services includes global threat monitoring and analysis through a network of security operation centers, real-time adversary and industry-specific threat intelligence and incident response services.



The six security operations centers are located in the US, the UK, India, Australia, Singapore and Japan. Its managed security services business is supported by a proprietary cloud-based platform that delivers a steady stream of technical and cyber adversary threat intelligence through a customizable portal.



Cybersecurity has become one of the most critical business imperatives for all organizations regardless of industry or geographic location, said Julie Sweet, Accentures chief executive officer. With the addition of Symantecs Cyber Security Services business, Accenture Security will offer one of the most comprehensive managed services for global businesses to detect and manage cybersecurity threats aimed at their companies.



Kelly Bissell, senior managing director of Accenture Security said: Companies are facing an unprecedented volume of cyber threats that are highly-sophisticated and targeted to their businesses, and they can no longer rely solely on generic solutions. This acquisition is a game-changer and will help Accenture provide flexibility rather than a one size fits all approach to managed security services.



With Symantecs Cyber Security Services business, we can now bring clients our combined expertise fine-tuned to their industry with tailored global threat intelligence powered by advanced analytics, automation and machine learning.



Symantecs Enterprise Security business, now a division of Broadcom, is headquartered in Mountain View, California and its Cyber Security Services business includes more than 300 employees around the world who serve top-tier organizations across a diverse range of industries, including financial services, utilities, health, government, communications, media, technology and retail.



Becoming part of Accenture Security is a tremendous opportunity for our clients and our cyber warriors around the globe, enabling us to fuse the unique services, capabilities and solutions of two well-established companies to deliver the next generation of cybersecurity services, said John Lionato, vice president and general manager of Symantecs Cyber Security Services business.



Symantecs Cyber Security Services business will be the latest in a series of acquisitions  including those of Deja vu Security, iDefense, Maglan, Redcore, Arismore and FusionX that demonstrate Accenture Securitys commitment to investing in and innovating advanced threat intelligence and cybersecurity solutions.



In its 2019 fiscal year, Accenture invested nearly $1.2 billion globally on 33 acquisitions to acquire critical skills and capabilities in strategic, high-growth areas of the market.



Completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in March 2020.  TradeArabia News Service


One day in 2009, Frank Rheindt was wandering up a forested mountainside on an Indonesian island when the skies opened up. He had spent months planning this trip, days finding a charter boat that would carry him to this remote place, and hours plodding uphill, but the local tour guides insisted that the rain would make the search impossible.

Reluctantly, Dr. Rheindt agreed to head to lower ground.

But on the way down, even with the deluge, he was startled by the sight of a thrush sitting on a log. Dr. Rheindt, an ornithologist, knew that a thrush shouldnt have been on that island, and that the species normally would seek shelter from the rain.

A little farther along, he heard the distinctive call of a grasshopper warbler, an endangered bird thats normally hard to spot. I could tell from the sound that it was a grasshopper warbler, but different than I was used to, he said. Thats when I knew I was going to come up again.
The crew of a Ukrainian jetliner that crashed in Iran, killing 176 people, never made a radio call for help and were trying to turn back for the airport when their burning plane went down, an initial Iranian report said on Thursday.

Ukraine, meanwhile, said it considered a missile strike or terrorism as possible theories for the crash, despite Iran's denials.

The Iranian report suggests a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines early Wednesday morning, when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

Investigators from Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation offered no immediate explanation for the disaster.

Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, something initially backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldn't speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing US troops amid a confrontation with Washington over it killing an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general in a drone strike last week.

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6:12 am on Wednesday, after nearly an hour's delay at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travellers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.

Then something went wrong, though "no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations", the report said. In emergencies, pilots typically immediately contact air-traffic controllers.

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above it, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing at 6:18 am.

The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Keiv.

The report also confirmed that both of the so-called "black boxes" that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost.

It also said investigators have initially ruled out laser or electromagnetic interference as causing the crash.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's Security Council, told Ukrainian media that officials had several working theories regarding the crash, including a missile strike.

"A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash," Danilov said. He did not elaborate on where he saw the information on the internet.

Ukrainian investigators that arrived in Iran earlier on Thursday currently await permission from Iranian authorities to examine the crash site and look for missile fragments, Danilov said.

The Tor is a Russian-made missile system. Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1s to Iran in 2007 as part of a USD 700 million contract. Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades as well.

Iran did not immediately respond to the Ukrainian comments. However, General Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, denied a missile hit the airplane in a comments reported Wednesday by the semiofficial Fars agency. He dismissed the allegation as "psychological warfare" by foreign-based Iranian opposition groups.

Danilov also said other possible causes under consideration included a drone or another flying object crashing into the plane, a terrorist attack or an engine malfunction causing an explosion.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. The crash just before dawn scattered flaming debris and passengers' belongings across a wide stretch of farmland.

Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Keiv after visiting with family during the winter break.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he planned to call Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about the crash and the investigation.

"Undoubtedly, the priority for Ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash," Zelenskiy said. "We will surely find out the truth."



Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said 138 of the passengers were bound for Canada...The flight also included a family of four and newlyweds, too. The manifest listed several teenagers and children, some as young as 1 or 2.

The crash ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. The flag over Parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-staff, and Trudeau vowed to get to the bottom of the disaster.

Ukrainian officials, for their part, initially agreed with Iranian suspicions that the 3-year-old plane was brought down by mechanical trouble but later backed away from that and declined to offer a cause while the investigation is going on.

While the cause of the tragedy remained unknown, the disaster could further damage Boeing's reputation, which has been battered by the furore over two deadly crashes involving a different model of the Boeing jet, the much-newer 737 Max, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months.

The uproar led to the firing of the company's CEO last month.

Boeing extended condolences to the victims' families and said it stands ready to assist.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
FILE PHOTO: A general view of the Johan Sverdrup oilfield platforms in the North Sea

By Nerijus Adomaitis

STAVANGER, Norway (Reuters) - Norway's oil output will grow by 43% from 2019 to 2024 as new fields come on stream and older production facilities are upgraded, forecasts from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) showed on Thursday.

The numbers show a revival for Norwegian crude production, which last year fell to its lowest since 1989 as older fields gradually depleted their reserves.

By 2023, combined output of oil and gas is expected to reach close to the record level seen in 2004, the agency said, although gas would have a greater share than before.

"This time oil will account for about half of the total," NPD chief Ingrid Soelvberg told a news conference.

Production growth in Norway, alongside steep output gains in the United States and Brazil, will add pressure on oil prices in a market which is already perceived as oversupplied.

OPEC has been curbing output since 2017 to balance the market, but oil prices have failed to go above $70 per barrel even though U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela have steeply cut exports from those nations.

Crude output from Norway's offshore fields is now predicted to hit 2.02 million barrels per day in 2024, up from a 30-year low of 1.41 million last year, as major oilfields Sverdrup and Castberg gradually come on stream.

"After two years of lower output, production will rise again in 2020, mainly due to the start-up of Johan Sverdrup but also due to other finds," Soelvberg said.

Natural gas production is predicted to rise to 117.1 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2020 from 113.2 bcm in 2019, but below a previous forecast of 120.2 bcm.

The NPD now expects Norway's oil output to total 1.76 million barrels per day in 2020, up from a previous forecast of 1.74 million made a year ago.

While exploration increased in 2019, to 57 wells from 53 the previous year, it will likely decline to 50 wells in 2020, the NPD said.

Exploration in the Barents Sea in the Arctic brought only one discovery last year, an area that was once expected to be a new oil and gas province for the Nordic country.

Story continues

State-controlled Equinor <EQNR.OL> and its partners earlier on Thursday announced plans to further extend production from their Statfjord field, which has been producing since the 1970s and is now expected to remain on stream beyond 2040.

While Norway supports the 2015 Paris climate agreement, and aims to sharply reduce its domestic carbon emissions in the coming decades, it also says it will continue to pump and sell petroleum to others for as long as demand exists.

The Sverdrup field is expected to remain in production for at least a half century, according to Equinor's plan.

(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis and Gwladys Fouche; Editing by Terje Solsvik, Philippa Fletcher and Mark Potter)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 16:31:16|Editor: mingmei

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SHANGHAI, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai has released a guideline for the management and administration of private cultural relics trade.

The regulation will come into effect on March 1, this year, according to the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism.

It is China's first provincial-level government guideline on prospering and regulating the cultural relics trading market.

Shanghai is a leading city in private cultural relics trade and one of the ports with the largest number of cultural relics imports and exports in China.

In 2019, Shanghai held 171 auctions of cultural relics and artworks, with a total turnover of more than 5 billion yuan (around 720 million U.S. dollars).
Assistant Commissioner Winchester's body was not removed from the car until just after 11 am yesterday, almost 14 hours after the shooting, so that forensic specialists from Victoria and NSW could be flown in to inspect the scene. A post mortem examination of the body was to be carried out last night. Results are expected to be announced today, and the examination is expected to give further clues to the type of gun used. The scene of Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester's murder in Lawley St, Deakin. Mr Winchester's house is on the left, but habitually parked in the driveway of a neighbours home on the right. Credit:Canberra Times The professional-style execution marks the emergence of a dangerous new era for Australian police if, as suspected, it proves to have been an organised crime payback or warning. According to one senior officer involved in the investigations: "The appalling aspect is that if it was a contract killing it starts a whole new era. The enormity of the thing and what it portends for the future is frightening."

Despite police fears that the apparent professionalism of the murder indicates a contract killing related somehow to Mr Winchester's police work, Federal police are reluctant to suggest that they have yet any preferred theories. However, given that the clues and information used to solve most murders are usually uncovered within the first 48 hours or so, investigators are running out of time to find any more physical or direct evidence. Instead, investigators appear to believe that their best hopes of solving the murder lie somewhere in Mr Winchester's professional past. This aspect of the inquiry, according to one investigator, "is expected to be a long slog". Through the day, police ran down several possible leads. They interviewed a representative of a carpet cleaning firm, working in the street, but he saw nothing. Another possible early lead - an anonymous call by two men to Canberra radio station 2CA - also weakened through the day. Police have established the call came some 20 minutes after the body was found - later than originally thought.

However, investigators still were seeking information on the callers. The manhunt is the largest ever in Canberra. Within 30 minutes of the execution, Lawley Street had been sealed off, and roadblocks set up on nearby roads. But it was several hours before roadblocks were set up on the main arterial roads in and out of the city. Loading Through the night police also checked every house for blocks around, noting registration numbers. Yesterday morning, a helicopter hovered over the scene. In support of the belief that the murder was related to Mr Winchester's police work, teams of Federal police have begun combing through records relating to sensitive and recent cases in which he was involved.

Although Mr Winchester's more recent duties as an assistant commissioner with responsibility for policing the ACT would ordinarily have kept him occupied largely with administrative matters, some colleagues suggested yesterday that he relished trying to stay involved closely in operational matters. As well, he is understood to have maintained good contacts with some members of the local Italian community, within which he reputedly had a number of sources of information about mafia-style activities. However, most of the initial inquiries are expected to concern his involvement in past major organised crime investigations. The crime author, Mr Bob Bottom, was quoted yesterday as saying that he believed there could be a link between Mr Winchester's death and a pending major drugs prosecution. A legal attempt to block the prosecution failed recently. Although police have not ruled out such a connection or, indeed, any possibilities, it is not clear how Mr Winchester's death would have affected the case, which involves alleged marijuana cultivation and distribution in southern NSW.

He was centrally involved in the initial investigations and intelligence gathering during the early 1980s which preceded the charges but was not expected to be a key witness in the pending court case. At this stage, they believe the murderer was probably alone and had observed Mr Winchester's movements for some time. The murderer appears to have known, for instance, that he habitually parked his car in an elderly neighbour's driveway. He did so because his family usually parked their cars in his own driveway. The neighbouring driveway is surrounded by shrubs and police believe the killer waited there for Mr Winchester, who had been visiting his brother in Queanbeyan. The coffin of Assistant Police Commissioner Colin Winchester is carried by pall-bearers and flanked by police at his funeral, 13 January, 1989. Credit:Canberra Times After the shooting, neighbours reported having heard noises at the time but they appear to have dismissed them as a car backfiring. Reports of the sound of a speeding car soon afterwards indicate that the killer probably drove away.

According to police, .22 calibre weapons are favoured by professional killers because they have less recoil and thus tend not to jerk off the line of fire. As well, they are relatively light, sufficiently deadly and tend to deform the bullets more than other weapons, which makes subsequent ballistics testing more difficult. They are also plentiful. AFP commissioner Peter McAulay, who flew to Canberra from Hobart after being told of the killing, fought back tears as he spoke to journalists. "I have known him as a friend and colleague for 25 years," he said. "I have to say I was very impressed with the way Mr Winchester tackled his job."
SpendEdge, a leading provider of procurement market intelligence solutions, has announced the completion of their latest success story on improving the product quality through the supply chain by performing supplier risk analysis

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005549/en/

Project background

The company wanted to examine risk quality from suppliers' and customers' perspectives. The key objectives of the engagement are mentioned below.

Objective 1: The company wanted to gain specific insights into risks in their global supply chain.

The company wanted to gain specific insights into risks in their global supply chain. Objective 2: They also wanted to analyze risks associated with tier-1 suppliers to improve product quality.

They also wanted to analyze risks associated with tier-1 suppliers to improve product quality. Interested in gaining detailed insights? Request a free demo and know how we can help you perform supplier risk analysis and provide access to over 1000+ procurement reports.

"Companies must perform a supplier risk analysis to ensure the smooth functioning of the supply chain as the number of stakeholders in the supply chain network has increased," says a procurement expert from SpendEdge.

Key findings and solutions offered

In collaboration with SpendEdge, the client a leading distributor in the US FMCG industry - increased the flexibility of manageable quality products. The solution offered helped them to:

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Contract an external organization to inspect, evaluate and implement new companies'practices.

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Outcome: To address the specific requirements of the client, the experts at SpendEdge analyzed all suppliers associated with the organization. They identified various risks such as quality risk, price risk, technology risk, and environmental risk. This helped the client to define action plans and improve the product quality through the supply chain. The solution offered further helped the client to gain insights into the supplier's production practices and terminate suppliers' relationships with high risks.

To access the complete case study on how we helped an FMCG company in the US to perform supplier risk analysis and reduce the product transit time, read the complete case study here!

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View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005549/en/

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Miami, FL, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The formal ceremony of the 2020 Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Action Awards will take place at a gala reception and dinner on January 23, during the 15th annual World Stem Cell Summit (WSCS) at the Hyatt Regency in Miami. Since 2005, the nonprofit Regenerative Medicine Foundation (RMF) (formerly Genetics Policy Institute) has recognized the stem cell and regenerative medicine community's leading innovators, leaders, and champions through its annual awards reception.

Bernard Siegel, Executive Director of Regenerative Medicine Foundation and founder of the World Stem Cell Summit, said, The 2020 Action Awards will recognize three important organizations that are positively impacting the emerging field of regenerative medicine. We will also honor a retired Major General, who has capped off his military and diplomatic career by promoting the cause of world peace through medicine. All of these distinguished honorees will be recognized for their devotion to improving health and developing cures through advocacy, innovation, leadership and inspiration. In addition, the wounded warrior veterans community of South Florida will also receive special recognition at the event. 

Meet the 2020 Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Action Award Honorees:

Innovation Award: With the motto, We will not rest until we find a cure, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is geared towards the successful development and delivery of treatments, therapies and a cure for every person with cystic fibrosis. CF Foundation has added decades to the lives of people with the disease as a direct result of advances in treatment and care made possible through its innovative business model- venture philanthropy. The Foundation recently unveiled its Path to a Cure research agenda aimed at addressing the root genetic cause of the disease and is currently funding industry programs aimed at gene delivery with the goal of progressing into clinical studies in 2021.



Inspiration Award: Emily Whitehead Foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to raising funds to invest in the most promising pediatric cancer research. Tom and Kari Whitehead founded EWF in honor of their daughter Emily, the first child in the world to receive CAR T-cell therapy, training her own cells to fight cancer. Her inspiring story focused public attention on the potential for cancer immunotherapy to transform cancer treatment, as well as the need to support lifesaving cancer immunotherapy research. The foundation provides support to pediatric cancer patients and promotes awareness of the disease through education and sharing other inspiring stories.

Advocacy Award: Gift of Life Marrow Registry was established in 1991 by Jay Feinberg and his family after Jay received a life-saving bone marrow transplant. Gift of Life is dedicated to saving lives and facilitating bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants for patients with leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell and other diseases. In 2019, Gift of Life opened the worlds first apheresis center fully integrated within a registry, the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Gift of Life-Be The Match Stem Cell Collection Center. With the collection center and rapidly expanding donor database, Gift of Life will launch a biobank to advance cellular therapies using allogeneically sourced cells in 2020.



Leadership Award: Ret. Major General Bernard Burn Loeffke, PhD (US Military) is a highly decorated Special Forces officer, diplomat and medical officer. He survived two helicopter crashes and was wounded in combat. After the Vietnam War, he served as the Army Attache at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, first Defense Attache at the U.S Embassy in Beijing, a staff officer in the White House, and Director of the Commission on White House Fellows. His last command was Commanding General of Army South. After 35 years in the military, he became a medical officer traveling the world on relief missions to third and fourth world countries. Presently, at age 85, he champions the hydrocephalus and wounded warrior communities. He continues to serve as an inspiration and supporter of building peaceful international relations through medical partnerships and played a pivotal role as a keynote speaker at the inaugural 2019 World Stem Cell Summit CHINA. He is called the Peace General in Latin America. In China, he is simply known as The General, our Friend.

To learn more about past honorees and details for sponsoring or attending the upcoming 2020 Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Action Awards dinner, please visit, https://www.worldstemcellsummit.com/stem-cell-action-awards/

About the World Stem Cell Summit (WSCS)

Produced by the non-profit Regenerative Medicine Foundation (RMF), and in its 15th year, the World Stem Cell Summit will take place January 21-24, 2020, in Miami, Florida in partnership with Phacilitate Leaders World, as part of Advanced Therapies Week. The Summit is the most inclusive and expansive interdisciplinary, networking, and partnering meeting in the stem cell science and regenerative medicine field. With the overarching purpose of fostering translation of biomedical research, funding, and investments targeting cures, the Summit and co-located conferences serve a diverse ecosystem of stakeholders. For more information about the upcoming World Stem Cell Summit in Miami, please visit: www.worldstemcellsummit.com.

About the Regenerative Medicine Foundation (RMF)

The nonprofit Regenerative Medicine Foundation fosters strategic collaborations to accelerate the development of regenerative medicine to improve health and deliver cures. RMF unites the worlds leading researchers, medical centers, universities, labs, businesses, funders, policymakers, experts in law, regulation and ethics, medical philanthropies, and patient organizations. We maintain a trusted network of leaders and pursue our mission by producing our flagship World Stem Cell Summit series of conferences and public days, honoring leaders through the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Action Awards, supporting our official journal partner STEM CELLS Translational Medicine (SCTM), promoting solution-focused policy initiatives both nationally and internationally and creating STEM/STEAM educational projects. For more information about RMF, please visit: www.regmedfoundation.org.

Attachments
Scotland Yard is to review Harry and Meghans security arrangements, it emerged last night, as experts warned that protecting them in future could cost taxpayers millions.

The bill for the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs highly trained protection team, which stands at about 600,000 a year, is picked up by the Metropolitan Polices Royalty And Specialist Protection Command.

But last night the future arrangements were unclear after Harry and Meghan raised the prospect of spending much of their time abroad. During royal foreign visits, the high cost of providing officers to secure crowds is met by the host country, but it is unclear whether that would still be expected as they jet around the globe.

Pictured: Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, flanked by her police protection officer and Fijian security officers as she visits Suva Market in October last year

Currently, an armed team made up of at least six officers accompany the couple at all times. But their seven-week holiday in Canada over Christmas involved more than ten officers, as replacements had to be flown out to maintain the rota.

Dai Davies, a former chief superintendent who led the Metropolitan Polices royal protection unit, said: It is going to cost millions to protect Harry and Meghan in the long term. If you look at the cost in terms of police officers  their salary, overtime, overseas allowance, pensions, accommodation, flights etc  the total resource budget is going to be in excess of 100,000 per officer.

Prince Harrys threat level is particularly high. The security arrangements will be very complex. I do not think they have thought any of this through at all.

Last night it emerged that a joint committee made up of the Home Secretary Priti Patel, the Metropolitan Polices royal protection command chief and palace officials will assess whether the couples 24-hour protection should continue when their circumstances change. It is expected that the independent body, known as the Royal And VIP Executive Committee, will consider the position only once the couples actual plans are known.

Prince Harry leaves the True Patriot Love Symposium surrounded by his Canadian security detail on the eve of the Invictus Games 2017 Toronto, Canada

Princess Diana jettisoned her police protection team in 1993 before her divorce from Prince Charles. Lord Condon, the then Met Commissioner, begged her to reinstate the team and later told the inquest into her death that he believed she would still be alive if her security had not been removed.

A number of royals do not have state-funded security, including the Queens granddaughter Zara Tindall. Prince Andrew pays for his daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, to be guarded by former Met close-protection officers when they appear at high-profile events. Their taxpayer-funded protection was removed following controversy over the cost, estimated to have been 500,000 a year.

A Met Police spokesman said: We never discuss matters of security.
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John Bolton, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, announced on Monday that he's willing to testify in the impending Senate impeachment trial, even if the president opposes it.

Bolton's unexpected move took Washington by storm and is now the biggest thorn in the side of congressional Republicans.

The GOP for weeks accused House Democrats of holding hearings with witnesses who provided only "hearsay" instead of those with direct knowledge of events at the center of the impeachment inquiry.

But Bolton, if he testifies, could be the president's worst nightmare. Not only does he have firsthand information about events relevant to the investigation, but as the former national security adviser, he would be the highest-profile witness to testify against Trump.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

John Bolton, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, announced on Monday that he's willing to testify in the impending Senate impeachment trial, even if the president opposes it.

"If the Senate issues a subpoena for my testimony, I am prepared to testify," Bolton said in a statement.

The former national security adviser's unexpected statement took Washington by storm and is now the biggest thorn in the side of congressional Republicans.

Shortly after Bolton's announcement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the upper chamber could move forward with a trial without calling witnesses  a central request from congressional Democrats  and decide on whether to do so once the trial is underway, similar to President Bill Clinton's impeachment proceedings in 1998.

Some more moderate and vulnerable Senate Republicans  including Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski  said they supported McConnell's decision to force a trial without guaranteeing that the Senate will call witnesses.

Story continues

However, McConnell added that he can't move forward on the resolution determining the rules of the trial until House Speaker Nancy Pelosi transmits the two articles of impeachment against Trump to the Senate.

Pelosi, meanwhile, said she would send them over soon, but only after Senate Republicans make public the rules of procedure for Trump's trial.

Bolton's statement is a potential wild card in the impeachment fight and increases pressure on moderate and vulnerable Republican senators to take a clearer stance on whether to call witnesses.

"By wholly dismissing witnesses, even those with direct knowledge of the allegations, Republicans are demonstrating to their constituents that they are shills for the president," Rodell Mollineau, a Democratic strategist and DC-based consultant, told Insider. "That might be OK in red states, but if you are a Senate Republican from a purple state with a tough race in 2020 it will harder to justify."

Greg Sargent, a Washington Post opinion columnist, argued that if Senate Republicans succeed in acquitting Trump without hearing from key witnesses, "the whole affair will be forever stained by the indelible fact that they could only exonerate Trump by refusing to permit a full reckoning  and refusing to hear the very sort of testimony they themselves claimed to want for months."

Indeed, with Bolton, Democrats now have a key witness  someone with direct knowledge of Trump's dealings with Ukraine  ready and willing to make what could be very damaging claims against the president. And Republicans are poised to deny Bolton the chance to divulge information about what Bolton's lawyer has said are "many relevant meetings and conversations."

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump listens to a question from reporters next to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as he arrives for a closed Senate Republican policy lunch on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

Reuters

"The testimony & evidence considered in a Senate impeachment trial should be the same testimony & evidence the House relied upon when they passed the Articles of Impeachment," Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, tweeted on Monday. "Our job is to vote on what the House passed, not to conduct an open ended inquiry."

Republicans say they're confident the party will stay united through the trial.

"Lisa Murkowski's announcement that she supports Majority Leader McConnell's request that a vote on witnesses occur mid-trial, just as it did in the Clinton impeachment, is far more important than Bolton's announcement," Matt Mackowiak, a conservative strategist, told Insider. "Pelosi has no leverage over McConnell, and both sides know it."

Bolton could be the single most dangerous witness against Trump

Throughout the battle over impeachment, Republicans have argued that Democrats held hearings with witnesses who provided only "hearsay" rather than witnesses with direct knowledge of the events at the center of the inquiry.

Yet they refused to acknowledge that the very reason some of those direct witnesses didn't testify was that the White House itself barred them from appearing, on Trump's orders.

Bolton, if he testifies, could be the president's worst nightmare. As the former national security adviser, he would be the highest-profile witness to testify against Trump and one who held frequent meetings with him.

Bolton attended a July 10 White House policy meeting between senior US and Ukrainian officials. Gordon Sondland, the US's ambassador to the European Union, hijacked the meeting when he told the Ukrainians that Trump wanted a "deliverable"  specifically, politically motivated investigations  in exchange for a White House meeting. Bolton immediately cut the meeting short at that point and informed Fiona Hill, who at the time was the National Security Council's senior director in charge of Russian and Eurasian affairs, to "tell the lawyers" what had happened. Hill said in her testimony that Bolton ordered her to tell John Eisenberg, the NSC's chief counsel, that he was not part of "whatever drug deal" Sondland and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, were "cooking up" in Ukraine.

Bolton was staunchly opposed to Trump making the infamous July 25 phone call to Zelensky. Hill and other witnesses testified that Bolton was against the phone call because he feared the president would use it to air his personal grievances to Zelensky, which is exactly what ended up happening.

The former national security adviser described Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer who spearheaded what witnesses have said was the "irregular channel" of foreign policy in Ukraine, as a "hand grenade." Bolton was also opposed to the smear campaign Giuliani and Trump carried out against Marie Yovanovitch, the US's ambassador to Ukraine. Asked why Bolton described Giuliani as a "hand grenade," Hill told Congress that the former New York mayor was "clearly pushing forward" issues that would "probably come back to haunt us," adding, "That's where we are today."

Bolton's lawyer, Chuck Cooper, dropped a tantalizing hint in a letter to Congress indicating that Bolton knows even more than what's already been revealed. Bolton "was personally involved in many of the events, meetings, and conversations about which you have already received testimony, as well as many relevant meetings and conversations that have not yet been discussed in the testimonies thus far," Cooper wrote.

Bolton has receipts. Current and former senior administration officials told the news website Axios that people in Trump's orbit were terrified of what Bolton may have documented and what he might divulge. According to Axios' sources, Bolton is a prolific note-taker and likely has more details than any witness in the impeachment inquiry so far about Trump's shadow campaign in Ukraine. "Bolton was a voracious note-taker, in every meeting," one source who attended several meetings with the former national security adviser told Axios. Apparently, Axios reported, while others sat and listened in meetings with the president, Bolton "distinguished himself by filling legal pads with contemporaneous notes on what was said in the room."



Read the original article on Business Insider
WASHINGTON  President Trump on Thursday capped a three-year drive to roll back clean air and water protections by proposing stark changes to the nations oldest and most established environmental law that could exempt major infrastructure projects from environmental review.

The revisions to the law  the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act, a landmark measure that touches nearly every highway, bridge, pipeline and other major federal construction in the country  underscored Mr. Trumps focus on stripping away regulations, to the consternation of conservationists. In the middle of a foreign-policy crisis and on the cusp of an impeachment trial in the Senate, Mr. Trump appeared in his element on Thursday, flanked by men in hard hats and orange safety vests.

Americas most critical infrastructure projects have been tied up and bogged down by an outrageously slow and burdensome federal approval process, and Ive been talking about it for a long time, he said.

Mr. Trump, who made his fortune as a real estate developer, spoke as if personally aggrieved: The builders are not happy. Nobodys happy.
Thailand Public Health Officials run thermal scans on passengers arriving from Wuhan, China at Suvarnabumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand on Jan. 8, 2020. (Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

Chinese Authorities Keep Mum on Mysterious Respiratory Illness as Hospital Releases Patients

Chinese authorities said they identified a possible cause for an unknown viral pneumonia: a new type of coronavirus, Chinese state media reported on Jan. 9.

But they provided no updates about the possible spread of the disease and the number of patients currently admitted for the respiratory illness.

Meanwhile, the top official of Wuhan City suddenly resigned from one of his appointments, while Hong Kong and Taiwan authorities are taking extra precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the disease.

Coronaviruses are spread through coughing or sneezing or by touching an infected person. Some cause the common cold and others can lead to more severe respiratory diseases, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Such viruses are common in people but more exotic versions from bats, camels and other animals have caused severe illness. The novel coronavirus is different from those that have previously been identified, Chinese state-run China Central Television (CCTV) said.

Wang Yuedan, an immunology professor at Peking University told Hong Kong media RTHK that coronaviruses can be transmitted from person to person, warning that the illness may have already spread to other regions of China.

No other local Chinese authority has reported a case of the mysterious pneumonia, while the national disease center has kept mum.

China has ruled out the flu, bird flu, adenovirus, SARS, and MERS as being the cause of the virus. It added that it is still investigating the matter.

Wuhan Update

On Jan. 8, CCTV reported that eight patients were released from Jinyintan Hospital, where all patients infected with the disease were in isolation.

According to the report, these eight patients no longer showed symptoms in the past several days, so doctors made the decision that they could go back home.

Meanwhile, Chinese netizen and Wuhan resident Wen Xiaoyao posted on Weiboa Chinese Twitter-like social media platformthat two of her family members were infected with the diseases, one in critical condition.

In the beginning, the symptoms were the same as catching a cold. Then they had a fever, which is a symptom of pneumonia. Now one is suffering from organ failure, Wen posted on Jan. 5.

Soon after Wen lamented that one of her family members was facing death, her account was removed from Weibo.

Hong Kong media Apple Daily reported on Jan. 5 that the security at Jinyintan Hospital drove away its journalist from the hospital premises that day. All the doctors and nurses in the hospital whom this journalist met were wearing protective gear, such as a face mask, goggles and a body suit.

The journalist also witnessed new patients being admitted in the hospital that afternoon.

The hospital has two buildings. The journalist observed that patients infected with the virus were isolated in both buildings.

Patients being treated in the north building are in severe condition. When their health improves, they will be moved to the south building, the report said.

Out of Mainland China

On Jan. 8, Hong Kong Hospital Authority stated that Hong Kong public hospitals had received eight more patients in the past 24 hours who visited Wuhan in the past 14 days and had pneumonia symptoms. The total suspected patients in Hong Kong reached 38.

The government agency said new suspected patientsone man and seven womenwere being treated at six different hospitals, and that their conditions were stable. The youngest is three years old, and the oldest is 61.

Taiwan authorities found two new suspected patients on Jan. 8. The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control stated that one patient was infected with the H3N2 virus, and still was isolated at home. The other patient came back from Wuhan on Dec. 21, and was isolated at a hospital.

South Korea reported its first suspected case, which is a 36-year-old Chinese citizen who works near Seoul. The patient visited China twice and she was in Wuhan from Dec. 13-17. She was diagnosed with pneumonia on Jan. 8.

To protect its people, the Hong Kong government released new rules on Jan. 7, similar to the measures that Taiwan released earlier, which granted health officials the right to isolate suspected patients.

The Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service also announced on Jan. 7 that anyone who has traveled to Wuhan should not donate their blood in the first 14 days after returning to Hong Kong.

The U.S. Embassy & Consulates in China also published an alert on Jan. 7 that notifies all travelers to protect themselves if they plan to visit Wuhan.

China

Chinese media has focused on Wuhan since the outbreak. On Jan. 6, the citys Communist Party secretarythe top leader of the townMa Guoqiang resigned from his position as director of Wuhans Peoples Congress, Chinas rubber stamp legislature.

The Peoples Congress said Ma resigned due to the needs of his work, but didnt further elaborate on the meaning.

In the local governments history, all former Party secretaries also held the position of director of the local rubber-stamp legislature.

One of the most efficient ways to protect oneself from the spread of the disease is to wear a face mask, especially the surgical type.

In October 2019, a Chinese shipping company leaked to the media a notice from the Chinese regime, banning e-commerce platforms from selling face masks to Hong Kong due to ongoing protests. Hong Kong protesters typically wear face masks during demonstrations to protect their identities. The policy has angered many Hongkongers amid the recent illness outbreak.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
UPPER THUMB  Because January is Radon Action Month, Thumb area health departments are urging residents to do testing for it and are offering free test kits.

Huron County Health Department, and Tuscola County Health Department officials are encouraging residents to check the radon gas levels in their homes.

Radon levels vary considerably from house to house. Elevated levels of radon have been detected in some homes in just about every county in the state

The only way to know if a home has radon gas is to test for it. It is easy to check a home for radon. Test kits are available year-round from health departments for $11. However, during the month of January, health departments offer the kits free.

Radon is an invisible, odorless and tasteless gas that seeps into homes from surrounding soil. It has no immediate health symptoms. When radon gas becomes trapped in homes, it can be harmful at elevated levels. During cold weather, people spend more time indoors with windows and doors closed, potentially breathing unhealthy levels of radon.

A statewide survey indicates that elevated levels of radon would be expected in one out of eight homes in Michigan.

In some counties, as many as 45% of homes could have radon levels above the EPA recommended action guideline of 4 pico curies per liter of air, according to Tip MacGuire, environmental health director for the Tuscola County Health Department and the Huron County Health Department.

The U.S. Surgeon General has issued a national health advisory on the risks of breathing radon gas in homes. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S.

Some hardware stores, home improvement centers, and other local retailers sell the do-it-yourself test kits. Professional testing services are also available, though they are most often used for testing as part of a real estate transaction.

If elevated levels are found, they can be reduced with various ventilation techniques.

A free test kit is available from the Tuscola County Health Department during normal business hours through the month of January. The Health Department is located at 1309 Cleaver Road, Caro.

Free test kits are available at the Huron County Health Department, 1142 South Van Dyke, Bad Axe, during regular business hours.

For more information, call the Tuscola Health Department at 989-989-673-8119, or the Huron County Health Department at 989-269-9721, or go to www.michigan.gov/radon.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has proclaimed that January is Radon Action Month.
Latin America's unrest no fading away easy Cristobal Olivares /Bloomberg



Why Latin America's bloody protests won't die out anytime soon - Company seeks to import fuels by ship after starting with rail

- It plans first Mexico electric car charging station this year By Eduardo Thomson, Ezra Fieser, and Stephan Kueffner / Bloomberg SANTIAGO/BOGOTA/QUITO

Petroleumworld 01 09 20120 It's called Italy Plaza, a vast traffic circle in the Chilean capital of Santiago. To the north and east live the country's ultra-wealthy. One way of describing those out of touch with the rest of the country's grim reality is to say they've never been below Italy Plaza. The spot is ground zero for furious street demonstrations that have turned Chile from Latin America's richest and stablest nation into a test case of profound social unrest. The area, which demonstrators have renamed Dignity Plaza, is coated in layers of graffiti, with most shops looted and shuttered. The case of Chile  $2 billion in property damage, 26 dead  has shocked the investor world because it was supposed to be a regional model. But the virus of discontent was already spreading elsewhere, with streets in Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia turning into scenes of pot-banging fire-setting fury. Numerous factors are at play. Among the most significant are economic inequality , ethnic tensions and police brutality. While the most violent protests have for now dissipated, these forces continue to gnaw away at social cohesion and could once again spark unrest unexpectedly and suddenly. Institutions and the rule of law are fragile and economies are expected to have another tough year. Here are snapshots of three issues in three countries. Chile's Inequality Every Friday, after David Vargas completes his shift as a technician at a credit-card company in the upscale Santiago neighborhood of Nueva Las Condes he heads to nearby Italy Plaza to join the protests. Vargas, 38, embodies Chile's socio-economic divide. He comes from a poor family and works among the well-to-do. And while he once watched the gap shrink, lately he's seen it stagnate. He was struck when he saw the difference in how the authorities treated his work neighborhood from the one where he lives. Cristobal Olivares/Bloomberg



Demonstrators are seen in an aerial photograph taken above Italy Plaza during a protest in Santiago, Chile, on Oct. 21, 2019. The area around his company was packed with soldiers, he said. They were guarding everything when absolutely nothing had happened. But if you went downtown or to other parts of Santiago, it was pure chaos. They just guarded from Italy Plaza to the rich neighborhoods. Vargas's father, a former factory worker, collects a monthly disability pension of just 80,000 pesos, about $100 . His mother cleaned houses. I'm protesting mostly because of the pensions and to show solidarity because right now I have privileges that many don't have, Vargas said. I know what it is to live in a poor neighborhood, I know what it is to wait for eight hours at public hospitals for service, I know what it means that the elderly receive extremely low pensions and don't have enough to live or to buy food. A few blocks away is where it all began. In early October at a subway station, students plotted ticket evasions sparked by a fare increase of 30 pesos. They coordinated on social networks and dangled their feet over the tracks to force trains to stop. Things got nasty, fast. Police special forces clashed with the protesters, and groups set dozens of stations on fire . Stunned, the government declared a state of emergency and a curfew, sending the army to the streets. Protests morphed into the biggest social unrest since at least the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s and 1980s. They were now against every injustice imaginable: low pensions, school debts, health services, public education, police brutality, women's rights, even replacing the Pinochet-era constitution, which President Sebastian Pinera has agreed to in an attempt to calm the situation. Javier Torres/AFP



A demonstrator stands inside Macul Metro station as it burns during a mass fare-dodging protest in Santiago, Chile on Oct. 19. The message was clear. The neglected middle class in South America's richest country was very mad. It was a taste of the frustration of similar populations across the region in recent years. Podcast: How Chile's Unrest Is Affecting Its Economy Paulina Astroza, professor of political science at Chile's Universidad de Concepcion, said Chile's economic model worked when commodity prices were soaring but has failed since. The issue is distrust of the political class, of the church, even of union and labor leaders, she said. There has to be a change in the model for more wealth redistribution or the grotesque inequality and the discontent will continue. If we want to avoid other unrest movements in one, two or even five years, we have to see a redistribution of power. Colombia's Police Brutality Dilan Cruz wasn't much for politics. An 18-year-old with a broad smile and a big group of friends, Cruz joined Colombia's anti-government demonstrations in late November to protest for more funding for education. He believed he could get ahead if he could get a chance to study, said Alexa Beltran, a close friend. He was about to graduate high school and planned to study business administration, she said. Cruz was killed by riot-control police at one of the demonstrations. His death was a flash point and an example of aggressive police tactics that have inflamed protests in countries across the Andes. Luis Robayo/AFP



Students light candles around a poster during a vigil for Dilan Cruz in Cali, Colombia, on Nov. 26. Dozens of demonstrators have been killed and thousands injured by state forces from Bogota to Santiago. The violence has been most prominent in Chile, where thousands have been hurt, including more than 200 who sustained eye injuries from the use of pellet shotguns by authorities, according to human-rights groups . There are similarities in the way the police units are behaving, said Silvia Otero Bahamon, a professor at Universidad del Rosario in Bogota who studies inequality and political violence. Dictatorship, war and high levels of violence in the past have led to heavily militarized police forces. Abuses are common. Colombians, who lived through decades of armed conflict, have become so accustomed to them that few of the more than 40 killings of demonstrators by anti-riot police in the last two decades have been investigated, Otero Bahamon said. Repression of protest by police is common in Colombia, she said. That's why what's happened with Dilan Cruz has been surprising. Cruz's death sparked fresh protests and anger. Marchers carried signs bearing his likeness and broke out into spontaneous chants of Dilan didn't die, he was murdered. Protest leaders are demanding the government dismantle the national police's Mobile Anti-Disturbance Squadron, known by its Spanish acronym ESMAD. Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP



Students protest for Dilan Cruz in Medellin, Colombia on Nov. 26. President Ivan Duque has ruled out such a move. Cruz's death is under investigation by the attorney general's office. Sometimes provoked but other times not, ESMAD agents have been seen clubbing protesters, kicking a woman in the face and casually tossing tear gas into peaceful demonstrations. Cruz came from a broken home; his father died years ago and his mother was in jail. He lived with his older sister in a hardscrabble neighborhood, taking day jobs selling fast food. He'd joined a few peaceful protests in the past, but none of them compared with the demonstrations that shook Colombia starting on Nov. 21, when hundreds of thousands took to the streets in a broad-based rejection of government policies. Two days after the protests began, Cruz was on the street. He picked up a teargas canister, threw it at anti-riot police and ran, video footage from cellphones and street cameras shows. An officer shot a projectile, hitting Cruz in the head. Cruz collapsed in front of an internet cafe on a normally busy commercial street. Two days later, he died in a hospital. His sister Denis attended his graduation ceremony in his place. In a video she posted, she said, No more violence. Dialogue and love will always be our best weapons. Ecuador's Indigenous Tensions When President Lenin Moreno announced the end of gasoline and diesel subsidies in October to comply with an International Monetary Fund program, the reaction was so violent that he fled the capital, Quito, and moved the government to the coastal business center of Guayaquil. At the heart of the protests were indigenous tribal groups , among the most affected. Round-the-clock roadblocks, achieved by felling trees, burning tires and rolling boulders, paralyzed large areas. Some ransacked flower plantations and farms. Others caused $140 million in damage by sabotaging oil production. Looting and street riots culminated in the arson of the Office of the Comptroller General and several deaths, leading Moreno to repeal his decree. The indigenous umbrella group CONAIE called off the demonstrations. The government is back in Quito. But tension remains high. Johis Alarcon/Bloomberg



Demonstrators gather around a fire on Machachi-Latacunga highway during a protest at night in Quito, Ecuador, on Oct. 4, 2019. Jaime Vargas is a 40-year-old indigenous leader who wears a necklace ending in a jaguar's tooth he said he pulled from a live cat himself, along with a brightly feathered crown typical in swathes of the Amazon where he is from. People have been carrying a heavy load. Of the violence, there are justifications, he said. The indigenous, who make up about 10%-20% of the country's 17 million inhabitants by various estimates, mirror the marginalized poor across South America. Their cultures are as diverse as their homelands, ranging from sweltering rain forests to icy, windswept mountains capped with receding glaciers. Some came into contact with Western civilization only when the oil industry showed up in the 1960s and 1970s, while most descend from people who fought both invading Incas and Spanish conquistadors hundreds of years ago. Many have moved to urban areas for education and jobs, only to find both elusive. They live in marginal areas, exposed to crime, drugs and prostitution.



David Diaz Arcos/Bloomberg



An indigenous woman wears a protective face mask during a protest in the Historic Center neighborhood of Quito, Ecuador, on Oct. 9, 2019. CONAIE leaders, wearing traditional ponchos and felt hats and carrying hardwood spears, have toppled several elected governments in Ecuador in the past. Moreno has responded cautiously while trying to move the economy to more of a market orientation. Luisa Lozano, the 43-year-old head of CONAIE's women's organization  who has already beaten back charges for her role in previous anti-government protests including blocking highways  wears a wide-brimmed black and white hat she says is a symbol of the sun worshiped as a deity before the Spaniards arrived. The more repression, the greater the adrenaline to resist, she said in reference to the October protests and clashes over fuel prices. The more blood, the stronger the peoples' reaction. When it comes down to it, people will react because we know everything we've achieved has come through struggle after struggle.



By Eduardo Thomson, Ezra Fieser, and Stephan Kueffner from Bloomberg.



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DANBURY  The pre-trial hearing of the Sherman man accused of murdering his husband in a drunken rage last March was continued Wednesday to Feb. 19.

James C. Maharg, 66, was arrested and charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence in March after police found his 63-year-old husband, Thomas Conley, dead in the couples Sherman home.

Authorities said the March 19 murder culminated after months of trouble for the couple, when Maharg called 911 and announced: My husband is dead.

Maharg told police that he and his husband had stopped going into their Manhattan fashion retail supply business because it was failing, and as a result they were losing their 20-acre farmhouse to the bank and were dealing with it by drinking three bottles of tequila a day.

Responding state troopers found empty tequila bottles in the couples house, as well as Conleys already-cold body.

Maharg and his husband had been drinking tequila all day  as the two had done habitually since mid-December, police said.

(State police) observed that (Conley) was lying naked against the wall at the bottom of the staircase and had two wounds to the top of his scalp, the more pronounced of the two being a gaping gash approximately two inches wide and four inches long, reads the arrest warrant.

The official cause of death from the Connecticut Chief Medical Examiners Office was chop wounds.

The victim walked into the kitchen and said something nasty to Maharg, and Maharg pushed the victims chest, causing him to fall backward into the kitchen cabinet shelf, the warrant reads.

Maharg stated he must have struck the victim in the head at some point during this time, however, he could not provide us with the object or the exact time frame, the warrant says. [He] stressed he must have struck him in the head with a significant object to create the large gash.

Maharg was arraigned March 22 in Waterbury Hospital, where he underwent detoxification treatment and was on suicide watch, according to his arrest file.

He is being held on $2 million bail at the Bridgeport Correctional Center and represented by public defenders at state Superior Court in Danbury.
Washington County Sheriffs deputies returned on Wednesday to the site where they had last searched for missing woman Allyson Watterson and briefly resumed searching the area, following tips and leads theyve received in the past week and a half.

Deputy Brian van Kleef said crews began searching the area around 5 p.m. Wednesday and ended their search about two hours later.

He wouldnt elaborate on the tips they were following but said they didnt find what they were looking for during Wednesdays search.

Van Kleef said at this point, the case is still considered a missing persons investigation and not a criminal case.

Watterson, 20, was last seen around noon Dec. 22 near Old Pumpkin Ridge Road, a heavily wooded area near North Plains. She was last seen with her boyfriend, Benjamin Garland, 21. A homeowner found Garland asleep in his truck on the morning of Dec. 23, and his father, Don Garland, reported Watterson missing on Dec. 23, about 30 hours after she was last seen. Garland has since been arrested on charges unrelated to Wattersons disappearance, including fraudulent use of a credit card and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Despite initial police reports that Watterson and Garland had been hiking in the area, the sheriffs office announced a dramatic shift in the report of events a few days into the search, later saying that they had no evidence the pair had been hiking. They are still trying to account for the 30 hours between when Watterson was last seen and when she was reported missing.

The sheriffs office suspended the search for Watterson on Dec. 28, saying they had exhausted all leads in the area. The investigation has remained open since then.

Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR

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Constitution of India is like modern version of 'The Gita': Lok Sabha Speaker vows for unity

Parliament session of 2022 will be held in new building: Om Birla

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 09: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that to mark the 75th anniversary of the country in 2022, the parliament session will be held in the new building.

"...to fulfil the dream of 'New India'. Indian parliament will hold its session in 2022, in new Parliament House to mark the 75th anniversary of its independence," Birla said, speaking at the 25th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC) in Ottawa in Canada.

Noting that the Parliament House Building has completed 92 glorious years after it was made functional in 1927, Birla said in a statement issued by Lok Sabha Secretariat that there is an urgent need to provide sufficient space and facilities for the Members of Parliament and the staff in Parliament House to fulfil the dream of 'New India'.

LS Speaker Om Birla urges Rajasthan govt to act sensitively over infants deaths in Kota Hospital

Birla also made it clear that members and staff of parliament will be consulted before undertaking the renovation and reconstruction and that too, within the prescribed time limit with minimal capital and without any interference in the parliamentary work.

5 months after J&K special status revoked, foreign panel visits UT | OneIndia News

The speaker said the redevelopment of the Central Vista from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate has been initiated and the aim of this exercise is to fulfil the needs for the next 250 years.

"Architecture of Parliament building symbolises the aspirations of the State and its people; it also epitomizes the character of the State, its traditions and cultural heritage," Birla was quoted as saying in the statement.

With the increasing number of lawmakers and the ever-growing mandate of Parliaments, he said, the legislatures across the world are also expanding.

Om Birla refers bankruptcy code amendment bill to standing committee

The speaker emphasised that the renovation and reconstruction of Parliamentary building facilitate transformation in cultural, technological and infrastructural spheres which strengthen the interface of citizens with parliament and in turn consolidates democracy.

Birla said legislatures across the world have been contemplating to renovate and redevelop parliamentary buildings to address the emerging requirements of the 21st Century.
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Hundreds of Australian troops will stay in Iraq after Iranian rockets fired on US-led military bases in the country.

Scott Morrison said his government remained focused on ensuring stability in Iraq, and deemed it safe to leave troops there after the situation 'stabilised'.

The prime minister said that the 'cessation of immediate hostilities' as well as the statement issued by US president Donald Trump showed tensions had eased.

'It means that we are in a position to continue to undertake the mission that we have set for ourselves in the Middle East,' Mr Morrison told reporters on Thursday.

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Scott Morrison (pictured on Thursday at Parliament House) said his government remained focused on ensuring stability in Iraq

On Wednesday, Iran launched more than a dozen missiles (pictured) against two US-led military bases in response to the US assassination of an Iranian military chief

Australia has 300 troops deployed to Iraq, along with a team of diplomatic staff.

The National Security Committee of Cabinet met in Canberra on Thursday to discuss the tense situation in the Middle East.

'We remain committed to carrying on this important work,' Mr Morrison said of Australia's activities in Iraq.

Most of Australia's personnel are stationed in the Taji base near Baghdad, where they are helping to train the Iraqi military to promote stability in the region.

Australian Defence Force personnel (pictured) are in the Middle East as part of Operation Okra. 350 troops are there helping to train the Iraqi military

Shiite Muslims hold pictures of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani (pictured) to pay tribute during a candle light vigil in Islamabad on Wednesday

Earlier on Thursday, Australia's defence minister said the government wouldn't be making any sudden decisions on withdrawing troops from Iraq.

'We're monitoring the situation to see what happens over the next couple of days,' Linda Reynolds told ABC.

She said it was important for Australia to have a presence in the Middle East to help with the fight against Islamic State.

As tensions threatened to spill over, on Wednesday Iran launched a rocket attack against two US-led military bases.

More than a dozen ballistic missiles hit the Al Asad air base in western Iraq and the Erbil base in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani (pictured) said the country's response to a US strike that killed one of its generals shows 'we don't retreat in the face of America'

Australian troops close to the attacked Al Assad base were confirmed safe, with those further north unaffected.

The missile attack was in response to the US assassination of an Iranian military chief, which has caused shockwaves across the country.

The death of Qasem Soleimani threatened to escalate tensions between America and Iran, as thousands took to the streets to mourn his death.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has called for an end to the American presence in the Middle East.

Iranian mourners gather around a vehicle (pictured) carrying the coffin of top general Qasem Soleimani during the final stage of funeral processions in his hometown Kerman on Tuesday

After Iran's retaliation attack on the US base in Iraq, President Trump assured Americans that 'all is well'.

Writing on Twitter, he said: 'All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq.

'Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning.'
Hundreds of people sat in front of the Jama Masjid in Delhi on Wednesday with candles and posters to protest against the amended citizenship law, NRC and the National Population Register

New Delhi: Hundreds of people sat in front of the Jama Masjid in Delhi on Wednesday with candles and posters to protest against the amended citizenship law, NRC and the National Population Register.

Residents, mostly from all parts of Old Delhi - Lal Kuan, Gali Kasim, Bhuja Pandi and Ajmeri Gate - participated in the protest, where they also expressed solidarity with the students of the JNU and the Jamia Millia Islamia. Children were also part of the candle march that started from Lal Kuan, passed through Chawri Bazaar and ended at Gate No 1 of the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi where the crowd sat on the stairs of the mosque and shouted slogans.

On the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC), Zeena Junaid (39) said they have their documents with them, but wondered what about those who do not documents. "Where will our brothers and sisters from Sikh, Muslim, Hindu and other communities go if they fail to submit their documents?" she asked.

Seeda, also a resident of Lal Kuan, said why there had been no action against any culprit involved in assaulting students on campus. Seeda alleged that the present government was not only attacking students, but were also creating communal disharmony in the country.

The protesters said they would not be sharing any details with the officials who would visit to verify their documents regarding the amended Citizenship Act. "Boycott CAA" and "Can't protect students in your own country and want to protect minorities of other countries" were among some of the posters held by the protesters. They also held banners mentioning the Preamble.

The protesters also questioned why no arrests had been made yet in connection with mob attack at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. "There is an atmosphere of fear in the country under this government. No one can speak or share their views on the decisions taken by the government. We are not safe in our own country," said a student who did not wished to be named.

Iram, an MA student of Jamia Milla Islamia said she fears going to campus after her university students were attacked by the police last month. "I was not part of the protest when police barged in my campus but following the incident, I also joined the peaceful protest which was organised post the violence that unfolded in our university," she said.

Historical Jama Masjid, a little while ago. #CAA_NRC_Protests pic.twitter.com/j710Hbkgzk  Ovais Sultan Khan (@OvaisSultanKhan) January 8, 2020

A student of Delhi university, who did not wished to be named, said, "Instead of providing us employment opportunities and a safe campus to pursue our dreams, government is sending their goons and assaulting students. Are they shaping our future or destroying it?"

The symbolic protest concluded with a national anthem.
If you like free pizza and movie tickets, go to Big Lou's Pizza next weekend and donate blood to help out the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center.

During Big Lou's 8th Annual Blood Drive and Marrow Registry event, donors will get a voucher for a 20-inch one-topping pizza, a movie ticket, a commemorative t-shirt and the chance to be entered into a drawing for Spurs tickets.

In addition, anyone who signs up for the bone marrow registry will also get a voucher for a free pizza roll.

On Express-News: Days into the new year, San Antonio's blood banks still struggling to meet demand

The event, happening Jan. 18 will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the restaurant's parking lot. There will be 12 donation stations, a DJ to pump up the attendees and free finger foods for those who donate.

The blood drive started in 2012 to honor the restaurant's owner Brian Lujan's late father. During a Facebook Live to promote the event, Lujan explained how his father contracted a disease and relied on blood donations that helped keep him alive.

FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox

"Without the blood my dad received he would have passed away in two to three months of his diagnosis, the blood kept him alive for six years," Lujan said.

"This should mean a lot to everyone in San Antonio because you just never know when you are going to need this blood," he continued.

Last year, the blood drive collected over 730 units  which helped save 2,200 lives last year  but the restaurant is hoping to collect more than 1,000 units during this year's drive.

The event comes after the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center sent out a plea for donations as it deals with a blood shortage. The blood bank currently has less than 500 units of blood platelets on its shelves.

To schedule your donation time, click here. Big Lou's Pizza is located at 2048 S. WW White Road.

Taylor Pettaway is a breaking news reporter and general assignment writer. Read her on our breaking news site, MySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | taylor.pettaway@express-news.net | @TaylorPettaway
Is The Energy Sector Setting Up Another Great Entry?

Another wild week for oil traders with missiles flying and huge overnight price swings in crude. As we recently pointed out within our current Oil research article, Oil and the Energy sector may be setting up for another great trade. We recently commented on how the supply/demand situation for oil has changed over the past 20+ years.

With US oil production near highs and a shift taking place toward electric and hybrid vehicles, the US and global demand for oil has fallen in recent years. By our estimates, the two biggest factors keeping oil prices below $75 ppb are the shift by consumers across the globe to move towards more energy-efficient vehicles and the massive new supply capabilities within the US.

Our researchers believe the downside price rotation in Crude Oil early this week, after the US missile attack in Iraq, suggests that global traders are just not as fearful of a disruption in oil supply as a result of any new military actions in Iraq, Iraq or anywhere near the Middle East. If there was any real concern, then the price of Crude Oil would have spiked recently.

We talk more about what we expect with oil both the bullish and bearish outlooks in this recently recorded conversation with HoweStreet.

Inverse Energy ETF ERY Daily Chart

This leads us to believe the inverse Energy ETF, ERY, maybe setting up a very nice bottom in price below $40. Ultimately, we believe a deeper price bottom may set up in the next 10 days where ERY may trade below the $36~37 range, but time will tell if we are correct about this or not.

Historically, price levels below $40 have resulted in some very nice long trade setups in ERY. This ERY Daily chart highlights the Support Channel we believe exists in ERY and why we believe any entry-level below $36 is an outstanding entry point for any future upside price move.

Weekly ERY Chart

This Weekly ERY chart highlights the past rallies that have originated from within the Support Channel. Pay special attention to the size and scope of these moves. The October 2018 rally resulted in a 183% price rally. The April 2019 rally resulted in a 57% price rally. The July 2019 rally resulted in a 50% price rally and the last move in September 2019 resulted in a 41% price rally.

Could this next setup in ERY be preparing for another 40% to 60%+ upside price rally?

We believe the setup in ERY is very close to generating an entry trigger. We have not issued any new trade triggers for our members-only service as we are waiting for confirmation of a potentially deeper price move in ERY. Right now, get ready for what may become a very good setup in ERY over the next few weeks.

Watch what happens in the energy sector over the next 30 to 60 days. We may be setting up for a fairly large price rotation as the tensions spill over into the global markets and precious metals. We may find that Oil is the big loser over the next 60+ days.

Profit during times when most others cant which is why you should join my Wealth Trading Newsletter for index, metals, and energy trade alerts. Visit our website to learn how you can see what this research is telling us.

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Chris Vermeulen has been involved in the markets since 1997 and is the founder of Technical Traders Ltd. He is an internationally recognized technical analyst, trader, and is the author of the book: 7 Steps to Win With Logic



Through years of research, trading and helping individual traders around the world. He learned that many traders have great trading ideas, but they lack one thing, they struggle to execute trades in a systematic way for consistent results. Chris helps educate traders with a three-hour video course that can change your trading results for the better.



His mission is to help his clients boost their trading performance while reducing market exposure and portfolio volatility.



He is a regular speaker on HoweStreet.com, and the FinancialSurvivorNetwork radio shows. Chris was also featured on the cover of AmalgaTrader Magazine, and contributes articles to several leading financial hubs like MarketOracle.co.uk

Disclaimer: Nothing in this report should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. Technical Traders Ltd., its owners and the author of this report are not registered broker-dealers or financial advisors. Before investing in any securities, you should consult with your financial advisor and a registered broker-dealer. Never make an investment based solely on what you read in an online or printed report, including this report, especially if the investment involves a small, thinly-traded company that isnt well known. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report has been paid by Cardiff Energy Corp. In addition, the author owns shares of Cardiff Energy Corp. and would also benefit from volume and price appreciation of its stock. The information provided here within should not be construed as a financial analysis but rather as an advertisement. The authors views and opinions regarding the companies featured in reports are his own views and are based on information that he has researched independently and has received, which the author assumes to be reliable. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content of this report, nor its fitness for any particular purpose. Lastly, the author does not guarantee that any of the companies mentioned in the reports will perform as expected, and any comparisons made to other companies may not be valid or come into effect.

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Michelle Williams thanks God for abortion; pro-life women respond: Babies worth more than trophies

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After Michelle Williams used her platform to promote abortion at the Golden Globes Sunday, pro-life advocates and conservative leaders took to social media to condemn the actresss sad comments.

Williams, who won Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie for her role on "Fosse/Verdon," told the crowd Sunday evening that she was grateful to have lived at a moment in our society when choice exists, because as women and as girls, things can happen to our bodies that are not our choice.

I've tried my very best to live a life of my own making and not just a series of events that happened to me, but one that I could stand back and look at and recognize my handwriting all over it  sometimes messy and scrawling, sometimes careful and precise, but one that I have carved with my own hand.

I wouldn't have been able to do this without employing a woman's right to choose, she added. In an interview afterward, when asked by a reporter if she had personal experience to back up her statement, Williams refused to elaborate.

The actress, who also used the occasion to show off her new pregnancy at the ceremony with fiance Thomas Kail, a film director, encouraged women to vote to support abortion. I know my choices might look different but thank God or whomever you pray to that we live in a country founded on the principle that I am free to live by my faith and you are free to live by yours," Williams said. "So women, 18 to 118, when it is time to vote, please do so in your own self-interest; it's what men have been doing for years, she added.

Williams speech came after British comedian Ricky Gervais urged Golden Globes attendees to avoid political issues. So if you do win an award tonight, dont use it as a platform to make a political speech, he said. Youre in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world.

While Williams speech was met with applause from the audience, pro-life advocates and conservative leaders took to social media to condemn her comments.

Lila Rose, anti-abortion activist and founder of Live Action, tweeted. No trophy is worth more than a child's life. Sacrificing our children to pursue our dreams is the total antithesis of women's empowerment.

She later added, Babies do not keep us from our dreams. Babies make us better, more loving, more giving. They are the source and inspiration for our best dreams. So grateful that Ive been privileged with the precious gift of being a mother.

Babies do not keep us from our dreams. Babies make us better, more loving, more giving. They are the source and inspiration for our best dreams. So grateful that Ive been privileged with the precious gift of being a mother.  Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) January 7, 2020

Planned Parenthood Director turned Pro-Life Advocate Abby Johnson tweeted: Michelle Williams wants you believe that you have to kill your children in order to be successful. Well, I have eight children and have met all of my educational and career goals. To say that we must choose is an insult to the strength of women and motherhood.

How sad it must be to trade an innocent human life for a tiny golden statue. Praying for Michelle Williams, she added.

Michelle Williams wants you believe that you have to kill your children in order to be successful. Well, I have 8 children and have met all of my educational and career goals. To say that we must choose is an insult to the strength of women and motherhood.  Abby Johnson (@AbbyJohnson) January 6, 2020

Conservative writer Matt Walsh tweeted, Michelle Williams got up on stage while pregnant and bragged about killing her child, then the audience full of rich, drug addled narcissists applauded while crying tears of joy. Hollywood is a cesspool. Gervais was way understating the case.

Michelle Williams got up on stage while pregnant and bragged about killing her child, then the audience full of rich, drug addled narcissists applauded while crying tears of joy. Hollywood is a cesspool. Gervais was way understating the case. https://t.co/5vMk8RngoK  Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) January 6, 2020

Author Melissa Ohden, a pro-life advocate who survived a botched abortion, wrote: As usual, the Hollywood elite take a stand on abortion and show how little they really know about the issue. Its sad, really, to see Michelle Williams (currently pregnant, nonetheless), state that shes achieved what she has because of her right to choose. Clearly, shes achieved what she has in spite of abortion, not because of it.

Williams speech came just a week after a group of Republican lawmakers submitted a brief to the Supreme Court urging it to reconsider the landmark case Roe v. Wade.

In an amicus brief signed by 38 senators and 168 members of the House, the federal legislators urged the nation's highest court to revisit the core holdings in the cases that have enshrined abortion as a constitutional right for decades, particularly Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a 1992 decision that upheld and reinforced Roe and created the undue burden standard to evaluate laws that restrict abortions.

On Twitter, the pro-life group Americans United for Life said Williams had clearly embraced the false choice of Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

The group tweeted, Michelle Williams embraces the false choice of SCOTUS's Casey decision, which ignored the morality of abortion itself and lamely claimed that women can only achieve equality through the violence of abortion. We can do better.
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Newswire Supports cPanel by Providing the Expertise, Tools and Results to Deliver More Media Exposure in the Web Hosting SpaceNEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 9, 2020 / cPanel, a leading hosting automation platform, has overcome the hurdle of gaining media exposure in their respective industry with the help of Newswire's Earned Media Advantage Guided Tour. Utilizing Newswire's industry experts and best-in-class platform, cPanel has garnered the media's attention with features on Pulse 2.0, WiredGorilla, and Structure Research. Having an integrated media and marketing communications utility on demand has allowed Newswire to provide cPanel with proven results and performance, helping them increase their media exposure, as well as accelerate their time to market in the space."cPanel is a leader as a web hosting solution and worked with Newswire to help bring to light their brand by highlighting partnership stories across industry publications across the globe," said Charlie Terenzio, Director of Earned Media Strategy at Newswire. "We worked together to formulate a winning combination for their media communications objectives. By focusing on specific publications and the type of coverage they needed, we are pleased with the results achieved." For over 20 years, cPanel has been helping web hosting platforms grow their business, positioning them as one of the leaders in the industry. Prior to signing on with Newswire's Guided Tour program, cPanel had been scarcely talked about in the press in their respective industry due to insufficient outreach efforts. Through Newswire's high-tech, high-touch solution, cPanel has been able to turn their owned media (press releases) into the Earned Media Advantage: greater brand awareness, increased traffic, greater return on media and marketing communications spend, and increased sales. This has significantly improved its media coverage, which has accelerated its time to market.The Guided Tour has helped position cPanel, showcasing them as the industry-leading hosting platform in the eyes of the media who cover their space. In addition, cPanel was able to increase the value of each release and lower its paid-media costs, resulting in an array of earned media mentions across different verticals.The Earned Media Advantage Guided Tour empowers businesses like cPanel to penetrate new markets while lowering new customer acquisition costs by complementing their going-to-market strategies across the globe with Newswire's people, plan, platform, production, and performance to produce targeted campaigns that are concurrently running at all times. Technology companies can now transform their owned media into the Earned Media Advantage using Newswire's integrated media and marketing communication utility on-demand. Customers enjoy EMA GT services, which include assessment, plan and production provided by Newswire for a fraction of the cost to do it themselves. Newswire works closely with existing staff, extending their reach to rapidly deploy media campaigns that generate results. Time to market and value is accelerated while customers continue their focus on product innovation and obtaining more new accounts.The Guided Tour eliminates the need for additional time, resources and staff to implement, operate and manage software solutions across different vendors. As a result, Newswire customers are able to increase efficiency with one platform and simplify their go-to-market success using an effective Media Strategy delivered by experts.Download How the Earned Media Advantage is Transforming Business and discover how to empower your go-to-market strategies with the Earned Media Advantage: greater brand awareness, increased traffic, generate greater return on media and marketing communications spend and increased sales.About NewswireNewswire delivers press release and multimedia distribution software and services (SaaS) that empower the Earned Media Advantage: greater brand awareness, increased traffic, greater return on media and marketing communications spend and the competitive edge. With over a decade of experience, Newswire continues to provide its customers with the ability to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time through the right medium. To learn and experience Newswire, visit http://www.newswire.com Contact InformationAnthony SantiagoVice President of MarketingNewswireOffice: 917-398-2622Email: anthony@ newswire.com SOURCE: Newswire
Evry (France) - January 9th, 2020 - Genethon, a French laboratory dedicated to the design and development of gene therapy products for rare diseases, and Sarepta Therapeutics, the leader in precision genetic medicine for rare diseases, today announced an expansion of their collaboration to develop a gene therapy approach for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Microdystrophin has demonstrated significant efficacy in pre-clinical testing*. The agreement between Sarepta and Genethon paves the way for a clinical trial to begin in 2020.

Gene therapy combining an AAV-type viral vector with a shortened version of the dystrophin gene (microdystrophin) has been developed by Genethon researchers in collaboration with Pr George Dickson's team (University of London) to treat patients suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). This approach has demonstrated significant efficacy in dogs naturally affected by the disease with a high expression of microdystrophin level and a significant restoration of muscle function with a stabilization of clinical symptoms.

On the basis of these results, Genethon and Sarepta initiated a research collaboration in 2017 to finalize the preclinical development of the product. The agreement announced today reinforces and expands this collaboration with the co-development of the clinical gene therapy program using this microdystrophin approach. Under the terms of agreement, Genethon will be responsible for commercializing the product GNT0004 in Europe (excluding the UK) and Sarepta will be responsible for the rest of the world. Genethon is entitled to receive an upfront payment, development and commercial milestones and royalties from Sarepta.

YposKesi, one of Europe's largest GMP vector production sites, with 160 bio-production experts and a dedicated site of 5,000 sqm, has been entrusted with the production of clinical and large-scale commercial batches based on innovative suspension-based production methods.

To meet the needs, YposKesi has planned to expand its production capacity and increase the volume of its bioreactors.

"This cutting-edge technology is the result of years of research and development based on the expertise of Genethon researchers, pioneers in the field of gene therapy for rare diseases. Combining this promising approach, which targets the majority of Duchenne patients, with the know-how of our partner Sarepta is a new opportunity for patients. We have just started a clinical study of pre-inclusion of patients ("baseline" study) to allow us to precisely evaluate the efficacy of the product. This is a very concrete step towards the injection of the first patient with the product in the coming months", states Frederic Revah, CEO of Genethon.

###

*Nature Communications: Long-term microdystrophin gene therapy is effective in a canine model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy

About Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a rare, progressive genetic disease that affects all the muscles of the body and affects 1 in 3500 boys. It is the most common neuromuscular disease in children. It is linked to abnormalities in the DMD gene, which is responsible for the production of dystrophin, a protein that is essential for the proper functioning of the muscle. This gene has the characteristic of being one of the largest in our genome (2.3 million base pairs of which more than 11,000 are coding). Because of this size, it is technically impossible to insert the complete DNA of dystrophin in a viral vector (or even the only 11,000 coding base pairs), as is usually done for gene therapy.

About Genethon - http://www.genethon.fr

Created by the AFM-Telethon and located in Evry (France), Genethon is a non-profit research and development centre dedicated to the development of biotherapies for rare diseases, from research to clinical validation. Genethon specializes in the discovery and development of gene therapy drugs and has several ongoing clinical, preclinical and research programs for genetic diseases of muscle, blood, immune system and liver. A first product to which Genethon has contributed has obtained marketing authorization in the United States in 2019 and is currently undergoing approval in Europe for spinal muscular atrophy. 7 other products resulting from Genethon's R&D, alone or in collaboration, are currently in clinical trials, and several others are in the preparation phase for clinical trials in 2020 and 2021.

Accessing Genethon's pipeline

Follow Genethon on Linkedin

Please note: if you wish to meet Frederic Revah, CEO of Genethon, he will participate in the JP Morgan congress in San Francisco from the 13th to the 16th of January.

Press contact : communication@genethon.fr
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said since the income of agricultural mandis has increased, they should give three per cent cess for cow shelters instead of the existing two per cent.

Some amount of this money could also go to the Animal Husbandry Department, he added while addressing a meeting of the governing council of the State Agricultural Produce Market Board (Manid Parishad) at Lok Bhavan here.

"As the income of mandis has increased, they should give three per cent cess for cow shelters instead of the existing two per cent. It should be ensured that the money go to only those institutions that run cow shelters with devotion," the CM said.

The CM also cautioned that people might indulge in black marketing, storage and smuggling of essential commodities due to tensions in the Gulf countries.

"Such people can increase the price of these things by creating artificial shortages. Keep a close eye on them and take strict action if necessary. Also, keep a special watch on the prices of pulses, oil and vegetables", the CM said.

He directed that one lab each should be provided in Lucknow, Varanasi and Gorakhpur as well as in Bundelkhand and Western UP for organic products.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The S.C. Department of Transportation dispatched a maintenance crew to address a neighborhoods flooding concerns a day after someone brought the concerns before Orangeburg County Council.

"There are some community concerns about a flooding issue on Kings Road and I believe Terry Street would be the problem street in that area. It has been an issue that has been consistent in the area for a while," Darnell Bubba Johnson said.

Johnson, who is running for sheriff, spoke to county council about the flooding Monday during its regularly scheduled meeting.

Johnson noted that the flooding is near Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School.

"We have about eight to twelve residents that have been flooded out each time in the area," he said. "It is very bad. It is in such a high-demand and high-traffic area."

Johnson said he is also concerned about someone losing their life in the flood waters.

S.C. Department of Transportation District 7 Engineering Administrator Kevin Gantt said crews were sent out Tuesday to investigate the situation.

An SCDOT vac-truck was sent to vacuum and suction the dirt and debris from pipes on Wednesday.

Gantt said the cause of the frequent flooding is due to an, undersized drainage structure that was attached to SCDOTs drainage outlet without an encroachment permit.

"The water will continue to back up and cause temporary flooding during heavy rains until the drainage system located off SCDOTs right-of-way is repaired by the property owner," Gantt said.

During Mondays meeting, Council Vice Chairwoman Janie Cooper-Smith said, "That area has been addressed millions of times, millions of times.

"The neighbors can't do anything about the flooding, but they can do something about the littering."

"When it floods, the litter in the ditches just comes out and pours out like the rain does," she said. "It really adds to the trash."

Orangeburg County Administrator Harold Young said the county is also aware of the situation, noting the roads and ditches in the neighborhood are state-owned and maintained.

Young explained the area was clear cut many years ago with plans to build a housing development.

"There is debris that got in the woods and whenever you have a big flood like that, it pushes all that trash out of the wooded area onto the road," Young said. "We have talked to our GIS department and we are going to get a drone flight done in that area so we can actually find the clog point."

Young said the information will be presented to SCDOT and the Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities for review.

In other matters:

 Council gave third and final reading to economic development incentives for a fish hatchery company planning to invest $30 million and create 82 new jobs in Orangeburg County.

Despite third and final reading, Young said there are some details of the project that are still not finalized and declined to provide the company's name. The company is currently known publicly as Project Hunter.

"We are waiting for one last thing from (the S.C. Department) Commerce. As soon as we get that, we will announce," Young said.

"It is an aquatic project but not at the fish hatchery, he said.

The company plans to invest $17.2 million in buildings and $12.4 million in machinery and equipment at the John W. Matthews Jr. Industrial Park at the U.S. 301 and U.S. 176 intersection.

The company will receive a 30-year fee agreement and a 15-year special source revenue credit from the county.

The company will be located in a multi-county industrial park with Dorchester County. There is no physical joint industrial park. The designation allows the project to receive some development incentives.

 Council gave third and final reading to incentives for Black Water Tea, LLC (Project Orange A). The project will be a solar farm near Bowman on Charleston Highway.

The land purchase agreement has yet to be finalized, but officials say the farm is several hundred acres. The company's name was not released Monday.

The company will make a minimum capital investment of $85 million and will receive a 30-year special source revenue credit and 30-year fee-and-lieu of taxes agreement.

As with most solar farms, there will be no new permanent jobs, but jobs will be in place for construction and maintenance.

 Council gave unanimous second reading to lease-purchase financing for eight Kenworth dump trucks for the county's Department of Public Works. The total cost for the eight trucks is $1,547,500.

"Our trucks don't just haul dirt, but they haul asphalt and other things as well," Young said. "We also do housing demolitions, so those trucks really get wear and tear."

"They are to the point now where maintenance has become such an issue that you spend more money fixing them than you would having a new one," he said. "With us any day that truck ain't running, that means somebody is not getting dirt on their road. The down time is what affects us."

Young said the lease-purchase agreement is, the best financial situation for us.

"Under a lease-purchase agreement, the debt payments are smaller than it would be if we bought them outright," Young said. "At the end of the lease, you have an option to put the equipment on lease hold with a buy-out option."

Young estimates the county will save at least $100,000 over the lifetime of the lease-purchase agreement, compared to purchasing the trucks outright. The trucks should be in the county's possession by the end of the January.

 Council was informed the Lower Savannah Council of Governments is conducting a community needs assessment survey and is seeking public input.

The survey will help determine grant funding allocations by the LSCOG when it comes to Community Development Block Grants.

Surveys are available through Feb. 6. The survey is online at www.lscog.org.

 Council was informed there will be a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Day event held at the new Orangeburg County Courthouse MLK monument.

The event will begin at the downtown Memorial Square Monday, Jan. 20 at 11 a.m. Participants will march to the courthouse.

The event will feature music, speakers and food.

 Miss Orangeburg County 2020 Shantavia Edmonds informed council that her platform is to be an advocate for families who are on a waiting list for organ transplants.

Her platform is in honor of her father, James, who received a double-lung transplant.

Edmonds is a senior at Claflin University where she is pursuing a biochemistry degree. She asked for the county's support as she competes for Miss South Carolina in June.

 Council appointed Rogers C. Ideozu to the Orangeburg County Board of Assessment Appeals/Tax Equalization Board for District 5.

Contact the writer: gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5551. Check out Zaleski on Twitter at @ZaleskiTD.

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ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sylvia Strobel has been named the new President and CEO of Twin Cities PBS (TPT). Strobel will be replacing TPT's CEO of 20 years, James R. Pagliarini, who announced his retirement in May 2018. Strobel comes from her position as the Chief Operating Office for ideastream in Cleveland, where she oversees management of WVIZ/PBS, 90.3 WCPN-FM, the Ohio Channel and Ohio Government Telecommunications. Strobel has more than 25 years of public media experience.

"After an extensive search, we are proud to announce that Sylvia Strobel will be taking the helm of Twin Cities PBS," said Scott Dillion, Chair of the Twin Cities PBS Board of Trustees. "She has a stellar background of experience and we are excited about the direction and ideas that she will bring to TPT."

Strobel, who worked for TPT in the 1990s as Deputy Counsel, will be returning to TPT as the sixth president since TPT's inception in 1957. Prior to ideastream, Strobel served on the executive management team of American Public Media Group (APMG) as General Counsel, overseeing legal, business affairs and government relations for APMG, Minnesota Public Radio and Southern California Public Radio. She also served as CEO for the Alliance for Women in Media, president and general manager of Pennsylvania Public Television Network and as an attorney for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. She co-founded the law firm, Lehmann Strobel PLC.

"I am so excited to come back to my Minnesota roots to direct the vision of TPT as we move through this next decade," said Strobel. "TPT has grown from its foundation as a television broadcast station  blossoming into a true 21st century media organization ensuring all have access to quality, educational content on multiple platforms. I am excited to continue this trajectory and work with the TPT team to use new technology, expand content offerings and enhance the experience of  and services to  TPT's audiences."

Strobel earned her B.A from St. Olaf College, a J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law, and a M.B.A from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. She also devotes her expertise and time to various causes she is passionate about, currently serving on the board of directors for NPR, Latino Public Broadcasting, the Minnesota Humanities Center and Hospice of Western Reserve. She is also on the Governance Committee of the Association of Junior Leagues International. She is a member of the National Press Club, the Federal Communications Bar Association, the Union Club of Cleveland, and is admitted to the bar in Minnesota and Pennsylvania.

About Twin Cities PBS

Twin Cities PBS (TPT)'s mission is to enrich lives and strengthen our community through the power of media. Established 63 years ago, TPT now operates as a public service media organization that harnesses a range of media tools to serve citizens in new ways  with multiple broadcast channels, online teaching resources, educational outreach and community engagement activities reaching more than 2 million people each month. Over its history, TPT has been recognized for its innovation and creativity with numerous awards, including Peabody awards and national and regional Emmy Awards.

Carol Schuler

[email protected]

612.281.7030

SOURCE Twin Cities PBS
French Company ECA Group, an expert in robotics, automated systems, simulation and industrial processes, will build its new plant in the port of Ostend, Belgium, in order to carry out the contract to supply their unmanned systems for the 12 minesweepers of the Belgian and Dutch navies.

French Company ECA Group, an expert in robotics, automated systems, simulation and industrial processes, will build its new plant in the port of Ostend, Belgium, in order to carry out the contract to supply their unmanned systems for the 12 minesweepers of the Belgian and Dutch navies.

ECA A-18M Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (Picture source ECA Group)

In 2019, the Dutch and Belgian navies decided to award the supply of 12 minesweepers (6 for each country) and the dedicated unmanned systems for mine clearance at sea to the consortium Belgium Naval & Robotics, set up by Naval Group and ECA Group. Many Belgian companies are involved in this nearly 2 billion contract as partners and suppliers. Subsidiaries have been created in Belgium by the two companies to facilitate these exchanges.

The company ECA Robotics Belgium, the Belgian subsidiary of ECA Group, will manufacture the next generation of naval drones for this contract but also for future export sales, at its plant in Ostend. It concerns disruptive technologies that are the core of the innovative 'stand-off' mine hunting concept that Belgium Naval & Robotics proposes to the 2 navies, both world leaders in the field of mine countermeasures: The mother ship and therefore its crew, stay away from the danger zone. The unmanned systems clear the mines autonomously and are controlled from the mother ship.

These unmanned systems will be manufactured in a new factory to be built in Ostend. PORT OSTEND grants ECA Group a concession for the building of the factory on the former site of Beliard in the port area. The plant with a surface of 5000 m will be built on this location and will be operational in 2022.

The investment for the construction of the factory and the start of production represents around 10M . All the naval drones (submarines and surface) of ECA group to be delivered to the Belgian and Dutch navies will be produced in this factory: the submarine drone A18-M, the towed sonar T18-M, the surface drone (USV) INSPECTOR 125 and the mine inspection and neutralization drones (ROV MIDS) Seascan and K-STER and launch & recovery systems drone-drone as well as surface equipment.



The new ECA plant will be located in the port of Ostend, Belgium.
LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday suspended Gautam Budh Nagar SSP Vaibhav Krishna, who had recently landed in a soup after a video featuring him with a woman's voice in the background went viral, and transferred five other IPS officers.

The action was taken after a forensic lab in Gujarat confirmed the authenticity of his video chat with a woman that had gone viral on the social media a few days ago. Krishna had termed the viral video as doctored but the forensic report said that "no sign of edit, alteration, medication, morphing was observed in this video".

Vaibhav Krishna had himself lodged an FIR in the case of the viral video and ADG, Meerut zone was probing the case. The official had sent the video for forensic examination.

The Gautam Budh Nagar SSP reportedly also leaked a confidential letter that he had written to the state government accusing five officers of conniving with certain builders, extortionists and local journalists to ensure "transfers and postings" in exchange for money.

UP DGP OP Singh had said last week that this amounted to a violation of service rules.

Live TV

Krishna, a 2000 batch IPS officer, had also accused an ASP-rank officer, a Provincial Civil Services (PCS) officer, four inspectors, a sub-inspector and three constables in his letter of extending favours to these middlemen.

He had also provided the DGP with video recordings and clips in support of his allegations. An investigation into his allegations is being conducted by IG, Meerut, Alok Singh.

The IPS officer had claimed that the "morphed" video was leaked to tarnish his image.

He also alleged that he was being targeted because he had begun a probe to expose the nexus between the IPS officers, journalists and builders.

The state government also transferred 13 IPS officers, including the police chiefs of Banda, Sultanpur, Rampur and Ghaziabad, who had been accused of corruption by Vaibhav Krishna. All these officers have been given non-district postings.

These officers include Ajay Pal Sharma (Rampur), Sudhir Singh (Ghaziabad), Ganesh Prasad Saha (Banda), Himanshu (Sultanpur) and Rajiv Narain Misra, who was posted as SP, STF in Lucknow.

Meanwhile, Lucknow SSP Kalanidhi Naithani has been transferred in the same position to Ghaziabad.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday tempered days of angry rhetoric and suggested Iran was "standing down" after it fired missiles at U.S. forces in Iraq overnight, as both sides looked to defuse a crisis over the U.S. killing of an Iranian general

Trump said the United States did not necessarily have to hit back at Iran's attack on military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq, itself an act of retaliation for the Jan. 3 U.S. strike that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani.

Trump said no Americans were hurt in the overnight attacks. The Pentagon said Iran had launched 16 short-range ballistic missiles, at least 11 of which hit Iraq's al-Asad air base and one that hit a facility in Erbil but caused no major damage.

"The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it. American strength, both military and economic, is the best deterrent," Trump said.

"Our great American forces are prepared for anything. Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world," he said.

Trump did not directly threaten military action but said the United States "will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime" in response to what he called "Iranian aggression." He offered no specifics.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, addressing a gathering of Iranians chanting: "Death to America," said the missile attacks were a "slap on the face" of the United States and said U.S. troops should leave the region.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had said the strikes "concluded" Tehran's response to the killing of Soleimani, who built up Iran's network of proxy armies across the Middle East. He was buried in his hometown, Kerman, after days of national mourning.

"We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression," Zarif wrote on Twitter.

Influential Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who casts himself as a nationalist rejecting both U.S. and Iranian interference in Iraq, also said the crisis Iraq was experiencing was over and he urged militia groups not to carry out attacks.

"I call on the Iraqi factions to be deliberate, patient, and not to start military actions,," said Sadr, whom Washington has long regarded as an Iranian ally.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told CBS News in an interview that the United States was receiving "encouraging intelligence that Iran is sending messages" to its allied militias not to attack U.S. targets.

But Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he and others in the military "fully expect" Shi'ite militia groups in Iraq, backed by Iran, to carry out attacks against U.S. and U.S.-led forces in Iraq and Syria.

Two rockets fell on Wednesday in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, causing no casualties, the Iraqi military said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

U.S. Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans said administration officials had not provided evidence in classified briefings to back up Trump's assertion that Soleimani had posed an "imminent" threat to the United States.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Democratic-led chamber would vote on a resolution intended to limit his military actions against Iran.

NUCLEAR DEAL

Trump's address contrasted with his recent harsh rhetoric. The Republican, who was impeached in December and faces an election in November, had vowed to respond "disproportionately" if Iran retaliated strongly against Soleimani's killing.

Trump said on Saturday the United States had targeted 52 Iranian sites, including ones important to the country's culture. He was criticized for that even by U.S. political allies and later backtracked, saying the United States would obey international law on the issue.

On Wednesday, Trump again vowed he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and urged world powers to quit a 2015 nuclear accord with Iran that Washington abandoned in 2018 and work for a new deal, an issue at the heart of rising tensions between Washington and Tehran. Iran has rejected new talks.

There was no immediate reaction from Iranian officials to Trump's comments. The semi-official Fars news agency described the U.S. president's remarks as a "big retreat from threats."

Soon after Wednesday's attacks, Trump had said on Twitter that "All is well!" and Washington was assessing damage.

That tweet and the comment by Iran's foreign minister eased some concerns about a wider war and calmed jittery financial markets. U.S. stock prices hit record highs before paring their gains, while world oil prices, after an early spike, fell about four percent.

U.S. and European government sources said they believed Iran had deliberately sought to avoid U.S. military casualties in its missile strikes to prevent an escalation.

But an Iranian army spokesman denied "foreign media reports" suggesting there was some kind of coordination between Iran and the United States before the attack to evacuate bases.

Iranian state television said Iran had fired 15 ballistic missiles from its territory at U.S. targets in Iraq.

Iranian television reported an official in the supreme leader's office as saying the attacks were the "weakest" of several retaliation scenarios. It quoted another source saying Iran had lined up 100 other potential targets.

Analysts said Iran wanted to avoid any conventional military conflict with superior U.S. forces.

Milley said he believed Iran's strikes "intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft and to kill personnel. That's my own personal assessment."

After the Iranian missile attack, Iranian state television showed footage of the Soleimani burial, with hundreds of people chanting: "God is greatest" when the strikes were announced over loudspeakers. "His revenge was taken and now he can rest in peace," Iranian television said.

Hours after the Iranian missile strike, a Ukrainian airliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board. A Canadian security source said Western intelligence agencies' initial assessment was that the plane was not brought down by a missile.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  The crew of a Ukrainian jetliner that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people on board, never made a radio call for help and were trying to turn back for the airport when their burning plane went down, an initial Iranian investigative report said Thursday. Ukraine, meanwhile, said it considered a missile strike as one of several possible theories for the crash, despite Irans denials.

The Iranian report suggests that a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines early on Wednesday morning, when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

Investigators from Iran's Civil Aviation Organization offered no immediate explanation for the disaster, however. Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, something initially backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldn't speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over it killing an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general in a drone strike last week.

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6:12 a.m. Wednesday, after nearly an hour's delay at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travelers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.

Then something went wrong, though "no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations," the report said. In emergencies, pilots typically immediately contact air-traffic controllers.

Two women mourn standing in front of a memorial for the flight crew of the Ukrainian 737-800 plane that crashed on the outskirts of Tehran, inside Borispil international airport outside Kyiv, Ukraine, late Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. A Ukrainian airplane carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff from Tehran's main airport, killing all onboard, Iranian state TV and officials in Ukraine said. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)AP

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above it, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing at 6:18 a.m., the report said.

The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

The report also confirmed that both of the so-called "black boxes" that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost. It also said that investigators have initially ruled out laser or electromagnetic interference as causing the crash.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's Security Council, told Ukrainian media that officials had several working theories regarding the crash, including a missile strike.

"A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash," Danilov said. He did not elaborate on where he saw the information on the internet.

Ukrainian investigators that arrived in Iran earlier on Thursday currently await permission from Iranian authorities to examine the crash site and look for missile fragments, Danilov said.

Iran did not immediately respond to the Ukrainian comments. However, Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, denied a missile hit the airplane in a comments reported Wednesday by the semiofficial Fars news agency. He dismissed the allegation as "psychological warfare" by foreign-based Iranian opposition groups.

Ukraine has a grim history with missile attacks, including in July 2014 when one such strike downed a Malaysian Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.

Danilov also said other possible causes under consideration included a drone or another flying object crashing into the plane, a terrorist attack or an engine malfunction causing an explosion. However, no terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. The crash just before dawn scattered flaming debris and passengers' belongings across a wide stretch of farmland.

Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Kyiv after visiting with family during the winter break.

By AMIR VAHDAT, JON GAMBRELL and DARIA LITVINOVA, The Associated Press
The population of the Seoul metropolitan region outnumbers the whole of the rest of Korea's for the first time.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, 25.93 million people were registered in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province as of December last year, accounting for 50.002 percent of the total population of 51.85 million.

Some 1,737 fewer were registered in all other parts of the country, yet the Seoul region takes up only 11.8 percent of the country's area.

The population proportion of the Seoul area increased sharply from 28.3 percent in 1970 to 49.2 percent in 2010. The more recent surge is mostly due to population growth in the dormitory towns and endless suburbs of Gyeonggi Province.

The population there jumped 12.3 percent over the past nine years, far outpacing the overall population growth of 2.6 percent.

The population in most other big cities like Busan, Daegu, and Daejeon dwindled in the 2010s.


A one-year-old child is fighting for life after a pushchair was hit by a car in north west London.

The baby has been rushed to hospital and is in a critical condition, police said.

The driver of the vehicle is said to have stopped at the scene on Church Road in Brent immediately after the incident.

No arrests have been made, according to a tweet posted by Brent MPS.

It is not known if the child is a boy or girl.

Nobody else was injured in the collision.

Pictures from the scene show a red pushchair on a road next to a stationary car.

Police and ambulance are at the scene on the A407 between Willesden and Harlesden.
TEHRAN, Iran  Two U.S. officials said Thursday it was highly likely that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner late Tuesday, killing all 176 people on board. They suggested it could well have been a mistake.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose nation lost at least 63 people in the apparent shootdown, said much the same at a news conference in Toronto. He said the strike appeared to involve a surface-to-air missle and "may have been unintentional."

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over the U.S. drone strike that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general last week. The officials, citing U.S. intelligence, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. They said they had no certain knowledge of Iranian intent. But they said it could very well have been a mistake, and that the airliner was mistaken for a threat.

President Donald Trump suggested that he believes Iran was responsible and wouldn't directly lay the blame on Iran, but dismissed Iran's initial claim that it was a mechanical issue.

Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side.," Trump said, noting the plane was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood."

Some people say it was mechanical, Trump added. I personally don't think that's even a question.

The U.S. officials wouldnt say what intelligence they have that points to an Iranian missile. But they acknowledged the existence of satellites and other sensors in the region, as well as the likelihood of communications intercepts and other similar intelligence.

The U.S. assessment comes after a preliminary Iranian investigative report released Thursday said the crew never made a radio call for help and was trying to turn back for the airport when the burning plane went down, an initial Iranian investigative report said Thursday. Ukraine, meanwhile, said it considered a missile strike as one of several possible theories for the crash, despite Iran's denials.

The Iranian report suggests that a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines early on Wednesday morning, when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

Investigators from Iran's Civil Aviation Organization offered no immediate explanation for the disaster, however. Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, something initially backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldn't speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over it killing an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general in a drone strike last week.

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6:12 a.m. Wednesday, after nearly an hour's delay at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travelers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.

Then something went wrong, though "no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations," the report said. In emergencies, pilots reach out to air-traffic controllers to warn them and to clear the runway for their arrival, though their first priority is to keep the aircraft flying.

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above it, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing at 6:18 a.m., the report said. Flight-tracking data for the plane stopped before the crash, which occurred in the town of Shahedshahr to the northeast of the plane's last reported position. That's the wrong direction of the flight plan, bolstering the report's claim that the pilots tried to turn the aircraft back to the airport.

The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

The report also confirmed that both of the so-called "black boxes" that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost. It also said that investigators have initially ruled out laser or electromagnetic interference as causing the crash.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's Security Council, told Ukrainian media that officials had several working theories regarding the crash, including a missile strike.

"A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash," Danilov said. He did not elaborate on where he saw the information on the internet.

Ukrainian investigators that arrived in Iran earlier on Thursday currently await permission from Iranian authorities to examine the crash site and look for missile fragments, Danilov said.

The Tor is a Russian-made missile system. Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1s to Iran in 2007 as part of a $700 million contract signed in December 2005. Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades as well.

Iran did not immediately respond to the Ukrainian comments. However, Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, denied a missile hit the airplane in a comments reported Wednesday by the semiofficial Fars news agency. He dismissed the allegation as "psychological warfare" by foreign-based Iranian opposition groups.

Ukraine has a grim history with missile attacks, including in July 2014 when one such strike downed a Malaysian Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.

Danilov also said other possible causes under consideration included a drone or another flying object crashing into the plane, a terrorist attack or an engine malfunction causing an explosion. However, no terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack and the plane was only 3 years old.

Oleksandr Zaporozhchenko, a mechanic with the Ukraine International Airlines in 2016-2018, said he knew one of the crew members of the plane and had never heard any complaints about the aircraft.

"It is one the most reliable planes out there," Zaporozhchenko told The Associated Press.

The manufacturer of the plane's engines, U.S.-French firm CFM, declined to comment. French air accident investigators have not been asked to take part in the investigation so far.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Kyiv after visiting with family during the winter break.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he planned to call Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about the crash and the investigation.

"Undoubtedly, the priority for Ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash," Zelenskiy said. "We will surely find out the truth."

The crash ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. The flag over Parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-staff, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has vowed to get to the bottom of the disaster.

While the cause of the tragedy remained unknown, the disaster could further damage Boeing's reputation, which has been battered by the furor over two deadly crashes involving a different model of the Boeing jet, the much-newer 737 Max, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months. The uproar led to the firing of the company's CEO last month.

Boeing extended condolences to the victims' families and said it stands ready to assist. However, it remains unclear if Iran will allow that amid tensions with Washington, given Boeing is a U.S.-based firm.

Associated Press writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami told the Assembly on Tuesday he does not agree with National Register of Citizens (NRC). In a single reference to the contentious issue during the debate, he said: When I recently met the union home minister, I conveyed this to him. We dont concur with NRC.

He then elaborated on his party stand of offering dual citizenship to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, who are not covered under CAA. On Wednesday, the debate over CAA again heated up between Treasury and Opposition benches. Opposition leader MK Stalin blamed ruling AIADMK for supporting CAA. Responding, Revenue Minister RB Udhayakumar highlighted how there was no violence in Tamil Nadu and the State government was giving space for protests in a democratic manner. He reiterated that AIADMK will protect the interests of minorities. Senior DMK leader Duraimurugan then interrupted, saying the minister was taking too much time for his speech.

An exchange between the CM and Durai Murugan resulted in a commotion and proceedings were disrupted for about 15 minutes. Later, Speaker P Dhanapal pacified members of both sides.
New Delhi accused of organising yet another guided tour of region that has been under lockdown since August 5.

Srinagar/New Delhi, India  Delhi-based foreign diplomats are visiting Indian-administered Kashmir on the invitation of the Indian government, with Kashmiris and opposition leaders decrying it as a guided tour designed by New Delhi to show normalcy in the Muslim-majority region.

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had faced criticism last October when it organised a similar tour for far-right members of the European Parliament.

The two-day trip, which begins on Thursday, comprises more than a dozen envoys, including from the United States. They are expected to assess the situation in the disputed Himalayan region, which was stripped of its special status by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on August 5.

Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah, a close aide of Modi, announced the abrogation of Article 370 of the constitution, which granted autonomy to Kashmir, saying it was necessary to bring development to the region that has seen armed rebellion for decades.

The delegation is expected to meet locals, civil society groups, journalists, local body heads and business heads, among others.

Diplomatic outreach

The Modi governments decision has yet again come under criticism for trying to portray normalcy in Kashmir where the internet remains suspended for more than five months and Kashmirs top political leadership, including three former chief ministers, still remain in detention.

These people come here ... they eat good food, stay in luxury hotels ... They hardly question India on its oppression in Kashmir. Rameez Ahmad Mir, a Kashmiri resident

Interestingly, local news reports suggest that diplomats from Australia and several Gulf nations backed out of the visit due to scheduling reasons.

In addition, diplomats from European Union countries too have dropped out of the visit with reports suggesting they wanted to reach out to their contacts on the ground and visit areas which have not been included in the trip organised by the Indian government in coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs, Home Affairs and Defence.

The latest trip is part of the governments diplomatic outreach programme after it came under criticism for not allowing envoys from the US, Germany and the United Kingdom to visit Kashmir.

Sidiq Wahid, a Kashmir-based political analyst and academician, told Al Jazeera that such delegations have no credibility.

This is the second visit of foreign delegations to Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5 [Farooq Khan/EPA]

The government in Delhi is trying to seek legitimacy for itself. And from a Kashmir point of view, there is so little credibility for such delegations. Why do you need delegations? Why cant just people come freely? The expectations of Kashmiris is very low. We [Kashmiris] continue to struggle, he said.

Meanwhile, Indias opposition parties are criticising the government for not taking its own citizens, including top political parties, to visit Kashmir and hold dialogue with the people of the region.

Essentially, the government wants to demonstrate that everything is normal in Kashmir, which is far from reality, said Congress leader Manish Tewari.

The government in Delhi is trying to seek legitimacy for itself. And from a Kashmir point of view, there is so little credibility for such delegations. Sidiq Wahid, Kashmiri analyst

He went on to add: Post-abrogation of Article 370, the government assumed that Kashmiris would embrace it as a popular move and if that is the case, why is internet suspended for more than five months? Its paradoxical that the government can allow right-wing EU members to visit Kashmir but wont allow Indian politicians to visit the region.

This visit is a farcical exercise aimed at distorting reality. The situation needs a political outreach and for the people of Kashmir need to be taken on board, the senior Congress leader said.

Rights violations in Kashmir

Sushobha Barve of Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation said there is ambiguity on who is visiting and who is not.

This visit is a farcical exercise aimed at distorting reality. Manish Tiwari, Congress leader

My understanding is that they want to tell the world that everything is all right in Kashmir. I also think that during a Congressional hearing in the US, questions were raised about human rights violations in Kashmir, Barve told Al Jazeera.

Modi governments Kashmir move was accompanied by a harsh crackdown, with New Delhi sending tens of thousands of additional troops to the already heavily militarised region [File: Dar Yasin/AP Photo]

A US Congress resolution on Kashmir is expected anytime soon, so the Indian government is trying to reach out to them and maintain how the abrogation of special status has restored normalcy in Kashmir.

Barve was part of a delegation of the Concerned Citizens Group (CCG), which had visited Kashmir twice since August 5. The first visit was organised in September when its leader Yashwant Sinha was not allowed to leave Srinagar, the regional capital, and was deported back to New Delhi on the same day.

Former bureaucrat Wajahat Habibullah, who was also part of the CCG delegation, wondered about the need for such a guided tour and maintained that people should have unrestricted access to Kashmir.

People should be allowed to go without any restrictions. What is the necessity for a guided tour unless the objective is to spread propaganda? Habibullah, who served as a senior bureaucrat in Kashmir in the 1990s, asked.

BJP defends trip

Meanwhile, the governing BJP remained undeterred by such criticisms and claimed that the reservations about the visit by diplomats is a product of frustrated minds.

A delegation of 27 politicians, including far-right ministers of parliament from France and the UK, visited Kashmir last October [File: Farooq Khan/EPA]

The opposition is the one that started spreading misgivings in international media on how human rights are being violated and how everything is wrong in Kashmir. [The] opposition said that this is murder of democracy, murder of rights of minorities, if that is the case why arent people in Kashmir protesting, said BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal.

The opposition is the one that started spreading misgivings in international media on how human rights are being violated and how everything is wrong in Kashmir. Sudhanshu Mittal, BJP leader

He went on to add that the idea is to show the international community that everything is OK in Kashmir and to explain to them why such measures were taken in the first place.

As far as the internet blackout is concerned, it is a preventive measure to not give people who are fishing in troubled waters, a chance to disturb [the] peace, Mittal told Al Jazeera.

In Kashmir, this visit means little for the people of the region. Rameez Ahmad Mir, a 33-year-old engineer, said he has no hopes of anything concrete coming out of this visit.

These people come here like the last delegation from Europe, they eat good food, stay in luxury hotels and enjoy the joy rides in the lakes. They hardly question India on its oppression in Kashmir. So, we have no hopes that they will speak for us.

Had India been a real democracy it would have given access to international human rights groups and foreign journalists, Ahmad told Al Jazeera.
The Pentagon says that Iran did try to kill US troops in missile strikes on its Iraqi bases despite claims Tehran deliberately avoided human targets.

There were no American or Iraqi casualties when 16 missiles were fired at coalition bases at Al-Asad and Erbil on Tuesday night.

Sources in Washington claimed Tehran gave the US up to three hours warning of the strike via a European embassy, despite Iran's previous calls for vengeance after America's deadly strike on Qassem Soleimani.

But General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: 'I believe based on what I saw and what I know is that they were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft and to kill personnel.'

Ballistic missile Zelzal , is launched during the second day of military exercises, code-named Great Prophet-6, by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards at an undisclosed location in Iran, 28 June 2011

Milley and Esper said actions taken by military personnel safeguarded lives, as well as early warning from U.S. military systems that detect such missile activity.

Referring to the lack of casualties, Milley replied, 'In my estimation from what I know now, I think it has more to do with the defensive techniques that our forces used as opposed to intent.'

Milley noted that bases like al-Asad have scatter plans, bunkers and protective gear to help protect forces that come under attack.

Esper and Milley said they were unaware of any heads-up from Iraq about the coming attack, after Baghdad said it was notified by Tehran of the strike.

'We tried to give them a quick heads-up from here,' Esper said.

It comes as the US officials claimed that Washington was given three hours warning of the missile strikes via a European embassy.

Not only that but another three US officials told TIME magazine that the Iranians deliberately 'went loud' during the missile assault, making sure intelligence could pick up on their plans through satellites and eavesdropping.

One official said the hours-long warning enabled a U.S. military officer to visit one of the bases in Iraq and warn them of when and where the missiles were expected to strike.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi had earlier revealed that Iran had given him a tip-off about the missile strikes, which they were able to pass on and give troops time to seek shelter in bunkers.

President Donald Trump has stepped back from new military action against Iran after its missile strikes on the US bases in Iraq

Mahdi said Iran did not give specific locations to him but said they would only target locations where U.S. forces were present.

As the missiles were raining down, Mahdi said he received a call from Washington to say they already knew of the assault.

President Donald Trump has stepped back from new military action against Iran after its missile strikes on the US bases in Iraq.

Trump and Iranian officials looked to defuse a crisis that on Wednesday had threatened to spiral into open conflict.

Wreckage of a missile that was fired at Ain al-Asad military base in western Iraq but failed to explode on impact

Iraqi security forces clear away pieces of shrapnel from the Ain al-Asad airbase after it was struck by ballistic missiles fired by Iran as part of operation 'Martyr Soleimani'

U.S. officials say they had three hours warning of the Iranian missile strikes after Iran tipped them off about the attacks via a European embassy

The tit-for-tat military action, after months of rising tension since the US withdrew in 2018 from Iran's nuclear pact with world powers, had stoked global concerns that the Middle East was heading towards another war.

But both sides drew back from the brink, while Arab and other international leaders called for restraint.

In Iraq, Muslim Shi'ite groups, opposed to the US presence in Iraq, also sought to cool passions.

'The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it,' Trump told the nation after saying Iranian ballistic missiles fired in the early hours of Wednesday caused no casualties and limited damage.

He said Iran 'appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned' but he said the United States would impose additional sanctions on Iran, adding to measures that have slashed its oil exports and crippled its economy.

Trump, who faces re-election this year and who accused predecessors of dragging the United States into unnecessary regional wars, did not say what new sanctions would involve.

His comments came hours after Iran's foreign minister said Iranian missile strikes 'concluded' its response to the killing of Qassem Soleimani, a powerful general who masterminded Iran's drive to build up proxy armies abroad.

The minister, Javad Zarif, said on Twitter that Iran did not 'seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression'.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had called Iran's missile attack a 'slap on the face' for the United States and said Iran remained determined to drive U.S. forces out of the region, a policy that analysts say it has pursued via its proxy forces.

Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif called the attacks 'self-defense' but said they did 'not seek escalation' but would defend itself against further aggression

President Donald Trump says 'all is well' and 'so far so good' as the damage and casualties continue to be assessed after Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing American troops

But Washington said it had indications Tehran was telling its allies to refrain from new action against U.S. troops.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told CBS News the United States was receiving 'encouraging intelligence that Iran is sending messages' to its allied militias not to attack U.S. targets.

Moqtada al-Sadr, an influential Shi'ite cleric opposed to U.S. and Iranian interference in Iraq, said the Iraq crisis was over and called on 'Iraqi factions to be deliberate, patient, and not to start military actions'.

Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia the United States blamed for an attack in Iraq in December that killed a U.S. contractor, said 'amidst these conditions, passions must be avoided to achieve the desired results' of expelling U.S. forces.

That contrasted with fiery comments early on Wednesday from Qais al-Khazali, leader of another Iran-backed militia, who said Iraqi forces should respond to the killing of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who died with Soleimani in the Jan. 3 U.S. strike.

Arab states, which lie across the Gulf from Iran and feared their region was being dragged into another conflict, also called for cooler heads to prevail in Iraq and beyond.

'The brotherly Arab nation of Iraq today is in need of solidarity among its people to avoid war and becoming the site of a battle in which it would lose most,' Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan wrote on Twitter.

In Trump's address on Wednesday, he repeated his promise not to allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon - an ambition it denies ever having - and called for world powers to quit the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran that he abandoned.

Trump said world powers should negotiate a new nuclear deal with Iran to replace the one set in place under Barack Obama.

Iran has rejected new talks and said negotiations could not be held without an end to sanctions, which have sent Iran's currency plunging and slashed vital oil revenues.

There has been no immediate reaction from Iranian officials to Trump's address. The semi-official Fars news agency described the U.S. president's remarks as a 'big retreat from threats'.

Analysts have said Iran, despite its strident words, has wanted to avoid a conventional war with superior U.S. forces.

U.S. and European government sources said they believed Iran had deliberately sought to avoid U.S. military casualties in its missile strikes to prevent an escalation.

An Iranian army spokesman denied 'foreign media reports' suggesting there was some kind of coordination between Iran and the United States before the attack to evacuate bases.
Citizen 865: The Hunt for Hitler's Hidden Soldiers in America

By Debbie Cenziper

Hachette. 300 pp. $28

---

'To tell the truth, I used to read and write German," a 73-year-old retired potato chip salesman named Jack told a federal prosecutor at the outset of his interrogation in 1992. "Now I have forgotten."

Jack, as we discover in "Citizen 865: The Hunt for Hitler's Hidden Soldiers in America" by Debbie Cenziper, was actually Jakob Reimer, one of the Nazi mass murderers who were trained in a village in southeastern Poland called Trawniki. The author calls it "one of the most diabolical operations in the Holocaust," but "the Trawniki men," too, are mostly forgotten nowadays.

Cenziper's mission in "Citizen 865" is to restore and preserve our memory of Trawniki through her account. She is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist on The Washington Post's investigative team and director of investigative journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism; she's based at Medill's Washington campus. Cenziper brought her investigative skills to bear on the challenge of retrieving the hard facts, but she also possesses the gift of a storyteller. For that reason, "Citizen 865" is a work of nonfiction that reads like a thriller.

She shows us the human faces of the real men and women of her narrative - the victims, the survivors, the perpetrators and those who sought to bring the perpetrators to justice. Prominent among them are the lawyers, investigators and historians who refused to allow the victims to disappear into mass graves. The Office of Special Investigations (OSI), a unit of the Justice Department, took up the task in 1978, when Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman of Brooklyn "helped pass legislation that made it easier for the federal government to deport anyone found to have participated in Nazi persecution, striking down a series of exemptions long provided under immigration law."

The Nazi-hunters included historians from Brandeis and Columbia; "classic gun-and-badge" investigators from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the IRS and the U.S. Marshals Service; and court-hardened criminal prosecutors. Their goal was to revoke the citizenship of Nazi war criminals who had lied their way into the United States three decades earlier: "If American citizenship is to have any meaning at all," observed historian David Marwell, "we have to take it back."

The OSI pursued dozens of Nazi war criminals in the United States, including the notorious John Demjanjuk, and Cenziper shows us both the successes and the failures. (Two different prosecutions were required to strip Demjanjuk of his citizenship.) But it is Jakob Reimer, a member of "the Trawniki elite" whose identification number was 865, who is placed in the crosshairs of her book.

A descendant of immigrants from Germany to Russia, Reimer was born in a Mennonite community in Ukraine, then a part of the Soviet Union, in 1918. He was serving as an officer in the Red Army when he was taken prisoner by German soldiers in 1941, and the SS plucked him out of a POW camp for training and service at Trawniki. Reimer insisted that he was only a civilian paymaster, but in fact he rose to the SS rank of top sergeant and was "deployed on at least two critical missions [that sent] forty thousand Jews to their deaths in the Treblinka gas chambers" in 1942, as well as the crushing of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and the final liquidation of the Jews confined there in 1943.

Reimer's war record was overlooked when he was granted entry to the United States and, later, full citizenship, but the author allows us to witness the interrogation that finally revealed the truth in 1992. "Reimer had always excelled, as a Red Army lieutenant, as a commander at Trawniki, as an immigrant, as an American," Cenziper writes, echoing the thoughts of his interrogator. "And somewhere deep in the woods outside Trawniki, Reimer had excelled as a participant in a mass-killing operation."

The decision that finally revoked Reimer's citizenship in 2002 was hailed by James Comey, then serving as U.S. attorney in New York: "Reimer's presence in the United States is an affront to all those killed in the Holocaust." His appeal was rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in an opinion written by future Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor. But Germany refused to accept him back, and he died in the United States before the OSI and the State Department "could find a country willing to take him."

No matter how many times we peer into the black hole of the Holocaust, something new and strange is there to behold. "At Belzec," Cenziper writes about the pathway from the barracks to the gas chamber, "signs in German, Polish, and Yiddish read: (BEGIN ITAL)Please undress. Go to the bath area. Shower. Relax on the straw(END ITAL)." Later, she quotes a remark by Eli Rosenbaum, director of the OSI, about other "late-night images" from the historical record that have the power to haunt us: "You try to imagine these things," Rosenbaum would say, "and then you try real hard not to imagine them."

Rosenbaum's words remind us of Cenziper's greatest accomplishment in a highly significant work of investigation that is eye-opening and heartbreaking. She compels us to confront the crimes of the Trawniki men in a way that burns itself into both memory and history.

---

Kirsch is the author of, most recently, "The Short, Strange Life of Herschel Grynszpan."
54 million people injured in road accidents in 2017, resulting in 1.2 million deaths; disability from road injuries frequently due to limb fractures and traumatic brain injury; men ages 25-29 are most likely to be injured

SEATTLE - Road injuries have become more frequent but less fatal over the past three decades, according to a new scientific study.

The probability of dying from a road accident increased in only five nations since 1990 - Central African Republic, Jamaica, Somalia, Swaziland, and United Arab Emirates.

Disability from road injuries is multifactorial, and largely driven by injuries such as lower limb fracture, traumatic brain injury, open wounds, digit amputations, and muscle and tendon injuries. These conditions often require medical treatment to prevent long-term disability, which is not always available in areas with high rates of road injuries.

"Many factors affect the risk of road injuries, including vehicle and road safety and engineering; enforcement of speeding, seatbelt, and alcohol laws; and access to medical care," said Dr. Spencer James, senior author on the study and Lead Research Scientist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington School of Medicine. "It's encouraging to find improvements globally in road injury mortality over the past three decades, though there is still considerable progress to be made since road injuries should be considered preventable."

In 2017, 54 million people worldwide were injured in road accidents, leading to 1.2 million deaths. Regions with the highest incidence rates in 2017 were Central Europe, Australasia, and Eastern Europe.

Road injuries become more burdensome as countries transition to more stable economies, according to James. He and the study's coauthors found middle-income nations experienced the greatest increases in incidence between 1990 and 2017.

Men ages 25-29 are most likely to be injured, with a global incidence rate that is more than double the rate for women in the same age group.

Published today in the international medical journal BMJ Injury Prevention, the study is part of the annual Global Burden of Disease (GBD). The analysis provides comparable estimates of road-injury-related mortality and morbidity across 195 countries and territories. Road injuries were defined as involving motor vehicles, pedestrians, motorcyclists, and cyclists.

"While individuals injured in road accidents today are less likely to die, their injuries can still result in short- and long-term disability," said James. "This places a substantially higher burden on both individuals and health systems, with especially dramatic increases in costs related to care."

Additional findings include:

Globally, the incidence rate for road injuries for all ages combined increased by 15.7% from 1990 to 2017. The greatest increases in the all-ages incidence rate during the time period were observed in Sri Lanka (143.3%), China (130.3%), and Marshall Islands (121.5%). By comparison, Portugal, Ethiopia, and South Korea saw the largest declines in the all ages incidence rate, at -40.9%, -38.3%, and -35.9%, respectively.

In 2017, the probability of dying from a road injury was highest in Haiti (15.6% of those injured, or about one in seven), Central African Republic (10.4%), El Salvador (7.3%), Afghanistan (7.2%), and Guatemala (7.0%).

For males aged 20-24 and 25-29, global incidence rates were double those for females. Among females ages 20-24, the rate was 585.8 new cases of road injury per 100,000, versus 1,229.2 for males. Among 25-29 year-olds, the female rate was 660.5, versus 1,354.0 for males.

At 261,802 deaths in 2017, China ranked highest globally in number of total deaths, but 48th out of 195 countries in terms of death rate for all ages combined.

ROAD INJURY DEATH RATES, 195 COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES, 2017

Highest death rates:

1. Central African Republic: 75.6 deaths per 100,000 people (all ages combined)

2. Oman: 43.0

3. Lesotho: 41.2

4. Haiti: 37.9

5. United Arab Emirates: 37.5

6. Saudi Arabia: 35.0

7. Swaziland: 33.0

8. Tunisia: 32.1

9. Yemen: 31.4

10. Papua New Guinea: 30.7

Lowest death rates:

1. Singapore: 3.53 deaths per 100,000 people (all ages combined)

2. Ireland: 3.86

3. Sweden: 3.88

4. Switzerland: 3.89

5. Malta: 3.97

6. United Kingdom: 4.02

7. Norway: 4.09

8. Iceland: 4.24

9. Greenland: 4.28

10. Andorra: 4.67

RISK OF DEATH GIVEN A ROAD INJURY, 2017

Highest risk of death given a road injury:

1. Haiti: 15.6% of road injuries resulted in death

2. Central African Republic: 10.4%

3. El Salvador: 7.3%

4. Afghanistan: 7.2%

5. Guatemala: 7.0%

6. Bolivia: 6.8%

7. Ecuador: 6.7%

8. Burkina Faso: 6.5%

9. Guyana: 6.4%

10. Dominican Republic: 6.1%

Lowest risk of death given a road injury:

1. Slovenia: 0.44% of road injuries resulted in death

2. New Zealand: 0.45%

3. Switzerland: 0.49%

4. Czech Republic: 0.51%

5. Ireland: 0.52%

6. Singapore: 0.52%

7. Iceland: 0.55%

8. Andorra: 0.56%

9. Croatia: 0.57%

###

The study is entitled "Morbidity and mortality from road injuries: results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017."

Media contacts:

IHME: Kelly Bienhoff, +1-206-897-2884 (office); +1-913-302-3817 (mobile); kbien@uw.edu

IHME: Dean Owen, +1-206-897-2858 (office); +1-206-434-5630 (mobile); dean1227@uw.edu

About the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent global health research organization at the University of Washington that provides rigorous and comparable measurement of the world's most important health problems and evaluates the strategies used to address them. IHME is committed to transparency and makes this information widely available so that policymakers have the evidence they need to make informed decisions on allocating resources to improve population health.

About the Global Burden of Disease study

The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study is the largest and most comprehensive effort to quantify health loss across places and over time. It draws on the work of more than 4,300 collaborators from 146 countries and territories. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation coordinates the study. The GBD 2017 study was published in November 2018 and includes more than 38 billion estimates of 359 diseases and injuries and 84 risk factors in 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017.
New Delhi: The government on Thursday blasted Pakistan over the desecration of Gurdwara Nankana Sahib near Lahore recently and the killing of a Sikh youth there, saying a country which cannot take care of its minorities should not tell others how to do it.

''A country that cannot take care of its minorities should not tell other countries how to do it,'' Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said while referring to the Nankana Sahib incident and killing of a Sikh youth in Pakistan.

"The incident at Nankana Sahib and the killing of the Sikh man are a mirror for them. It is a mirror for those who lecture others," the MEA spokesperson further said.

It may be recalled that the Gurdwara Nankana Sahib - the birthplace of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev - was attacked by a violent mob on Friday and a large number of Sikh devotees were attacked with stones.

A 25-year-old Sikh man was also shot dead in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar last week.

Live TV

The MEA official also lambasted the Pakistani Prime Minister, Imran Khan for his reported remarks on protests in India, saying it was the habit of the politicians in the neighbouring country to neglect their own job and comment on things happening in India and other countries.

"They should look within their country, their minorities, against whom atrocities are being committed. They should take care of them, give justice to them," Kumar said.

Asked about Pakistan encouraging the separatist Khalistan agenda, he said it was destined to fail from the beginning.

Referring to the geo-political situation after the killing of top Iranian commander in a US airstrike and Tehran retalliating to it by atacking the US airbases in Iraq, the MEA official said, ''We're closely monitoring the situation. Peace, security and stability in the region are of utmost importance to us. We would like the situation to de-escalate as quickly as possible. We are talking to several stakeholders. The EAM has spoken to players in the region.''

When quizzed about the future of Chabahar Port being jointly developed by Iran and India, Kumar said, ''In the past, the US has shown understanding on the importance of Chabahar project. How the whole thing is going to impact is hypothetical, we'll have to see. But, we do appreciate the US exempting Chabahar port from the sanctions.''
In the email, first reported Tuesday by WBEZ, McClain said Ashby, who later worked as a consultant on Pritzkers campaign, kept his mouth shut about Jones ghost workers, the rape in Champaign and other items. He is loyal to the administration. The email did not include any other details about the rape, nor was it clear who McClain was referring to in connection to the ghost workers.
Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Riaboshapka has changed the teams of prosecutors on several criminal cases on the embezzlement of public funds and misuse of public property at the Ukroboronprom State Concern, the Prosecutor General's Office reported.

"Following the consideration of an appeal of the Ukroboronprom State Concern and having analyzed the accumulated materials at the beginning of 2020, Prosecutor General Ruslan Riaboshapka changed the team of prosecutors on several criminal cases on public funds embezzlement and misuse of public property at Ukroboronprom's enterprises," reads the statement.

Riaboshapka charged prosecutors of the military prosecutor's office of the Central Region of Ukraine with procedural guidance of the criminal cases.

The specialized prosecutor's office in the sphere of surveillance over criminal proceedings on military and defense industry crimes took control over the pre-trial investigation into the cases.

As reported, in November 2019, an interdepartmental working group for prevention and fight against crimes in the defense industry was created at the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine.

It included prosecutors, employees of the central office of the State Bureau of Investigations, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, the Defense Ministry of Ukraine and the Ukroboronprom State Concern.
Cells called corneal keratocytes are innately programmed to come to the rescue if the eye is injured. This natural healing process sometimes fails, however, resulting in scarring and blindness. Scientists are still trying to understand why.

New research by University of Texas at Dallas bioengineer Dr. David Schmidtke aims to help solve that mystery. Schmidtke and his team have demonstrated a technique in the lab for fabricating tiny strands of collagen called fibrils to facilitate further research on the eye's repair process. The method was detailed in a new study published in the December issue of the journal Biomedical Microdevices.

The study was funded in part by a $1.8 million, five-year National Institutes of Health grant that Schmidtke received last summer to develop new ways to study the eye's healing mechanisms -- knowledge that may lead to new therapies and treatments.

"How keratocytes repair tissue and why, in some cases, they leave scar tissue, is not well understood," said Schmidtke, professor of bioengineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science. "We came up with a way to mimic an injury model, so we can look at how the cells respond when there is a wound."

Dr. Matthew Petroll, professor of ophthalmology and chair of the biomedical engineering graduate program at UT Southwestern Medical Center, initially approached Schmidtke for help in finding a new way to study how the patterning and topography of fibrils can influence corneal cell behavior. These threadlike structures are arranged in a crisscross pattern in the eye and serve as a path to guide keratocytes to an injury.

The UT Dallas research draws on Schmidtke's expertise in microfluidic devices, which are palm-sized pieces of transparent plastic that contain small channels about the size of a strand of human hair. He is using these devices to fabricate the fibrils. Schmidtke's research team, which includes undergraduate and graduate students, injects collagen into the channels. The collagen polymerizes as it flows through the channels, resulting in aligned fibrils that are similar in structure to the collagen fibrils that are present in corneal tissue.

Schmidtke is working with Dr. Victor Varner, assistant professor of bioengineering at UT Dallas, who is focusing on how keratocytes sense the level of stiffness or softness in the fibrils with which they interact. The researchers plan to study how fibrils' density, elasticity and dimensionality affect keratocytes. For example, keratocytes behave differently on aligned collagen fibrils compared to randomly oriented collagen fibrils, Schmidtke said.

The research could help develop therapies to reduce corneal scarring and guide efforts to engineer tissue replacements. The models also could be used in other fields where researchers need to study cell patterning and behavior. Schmidtke conducts his research at UT Dallas and in lab space at UT Southwestern.

"The collaboration with UT Southwestern, and having research lab space there, has been a big benefit to applying engineering tools to biomedical questions," he said.

###

Other authors of the study include Petroll and Varner, UT Dallas biomedical engineering doctoral student Kevin H. Lam, and UT Southwestern doctoral students Pouriska B. Kivanany and Kyle Grose, and postdoctoral research associates Dr. Nihan Yonet-Tanyeri and Dr. Nesreen Alsmadi.

In addition to NIH funding, the research was supported by grants from the Office of the Vice President for Research at UT Dallas, the UT Southwestern Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine, the UT Southwestern George M. O'Brien Kidney Research Core Center and the nonprofit organization Research to Prevent Blindness.
"This sweepstakes is our special way of extending our deepest thanks to our customers and to our employees," said Hsieh. "When we opened our doors, it was our goal to help as many Americans achieve the dream of homeownership and to find financial success. Today, we are delighted and humbled by the impact our efforts have achieved thus far, and look forward to exponentially expanding that volume in our next decade."

The nextX Mortgage Sweepstakes is part of the Company's year-long #nextX celebration which commemorates the momentous milestones the Company has achieved in its first decade in business. The Company made a courageous and bold decision to launch post financial crisis, at a time when many mortgage companies had either closed their doors or had significantly scaled back. Today, thanks to the vision of Founder and CEO Anthony Hsieh, loanDepot has propelled to becoming the nation's second largest nonbank lender while at the same time revolutionizing the industry.

"We founded loanDepot in 2010 with one goal: to delight the customer," added Hsieh. "Everything we doand have donein every area of the business has been strategically focused on that sole accomplishment. And that is, in a large part, how we've achieved such trajectory in such a short time."

Initially based in Southern California with a few dozen employees, loanDepot now boasts a nationwide footprint, with multiple operations centers and hundreds of branch locations. Its plus-6,500 employees serve hundreds of thousands of customers annually, all led by Hsieh, who was named Fintech Executive of the Year at the 2018 Lendit Fintech.

Under Hsieh's direction, the Company has made a $100M investment in its proprietary mello technology that creates a more seamless loan experience for customers and loan officers alike. Additionally, the Company was the first nonbank lender to expand beyond mortgage loan products. And, in its quest to vastly improve the industry's antiquated loan processes, it introduced its mello smartloan, the industry's first-ever fully end-to-end digital mortgage that uses artificial intelligence to complete itself.

Hsieh, who values the importance of giving back, also founded War Heroes on Water, a sportfishing tournament designed to show appreciation to combat-wounded veterans and to raise awareness of the challenges that veterans face after their tours are complete. His goal for the Sweepstakes is similarto change people's lives.

"Being able to help someone pay off their homeor purchase a new oneis a life-changing moment, and we are looking forward to celebrating with them on the big day," he added.

The consumer sweepstakes will feature nine monthly $10,000 prizes and one $250,000 grand prize to pay off or purchase a new home. The company is also celebrating the efforts of its employees by offering a similar giveaway.

To learn more about the Sweepstakes, please visit www.loandepotnextx.com. To learn more about loanDepot, please visit www.loandepot.com.

About loanDepot

An innovator since its inception in 2010, loanDepot continues to disrupt the lending industry with its focus on creating the technologies needed to deliver seamless borrowing experiences to its customers. loanDepot debuted the industry's first end-to-end fully digital loan, the mello smartloan, in 2019. The Company has funded over $202 billion since its founding, and currently ranks as the second largest nonbank lender and one of the leading retail mortgage lenders in the U.S. NMLS #174457

Media Contact:

Mary Biljanic

Public Relations Director

949.575.5592 (office)

[email protected]

SOURCE loanDepot

Related Links

https://www.loandepot.com


The Prime Minister had a 20-minute call with the Iranian President - IRNA

Boris Johnson urged Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday to end the confrontation with the United States and underlined Britain's commitments to Tehran's nuclear agreement, Downing Street said.

Johnson "called for an end to hostilities" and said Britain viewed the 2015 nuclear deal as "the best arrangement currently available to deliver on our goal of stopping Iran from having a nuclear weapon", his spokesman said.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said "the time has come" for Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China to follow Washington's lead and abandon the 2015 nuclear agreement, which sets limits on Iran's enrichment levels.

Iran began breaking the deal's rules once Trump pulled the US out in 2018, resulting in a new wave of tension.

The US launched a drone attack in Iraq last week killing Iran's top military commander.

In a 20-minute call, Downing Street said Johnson wanted to "deliver the clear message" to Iran that "there is an urgent need for de-escalation".

Boris Johnson has called for an end to hostilities in the Gulf in a phone conversation with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

During the call, Mr Johnson also urged an end to the "detention and mistreatment" of jailed British-Iranian mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other dual nationals held by Tehran, and demanded their immediate release.

Downing Street said the Prime Minister "underlined the UK's continued commitment" to the troubled nuclear deal in the conversation.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who held talks in Washington with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, acknowledged that Iran's breaches of the JCPOA were becoming "acute".

"We want to see Iran come back to full compliance and we will be looking at all measures including potentially triggering the DRM (the deal's dispute resolution mechanism)," he said.

Story continues

Mr Johnson's call with Mr Rouhani came as tensions appeared to have eased following Tehran's retaliation against the US over the killing of General Qassem Soleimani.

The Downing Street spokesman said: "They discussed the situation in the region following the death of Qassem Soleimani and the Prime Minister called for an end to hostilities."

In the Commons on Wednesday, Mr Johnson said Gen Soleimani, who was killed by a US drone strike on January 3, "had the blood of British troops on his hands" because he had "supplied improvised explosive devices to terrorists".

Following a missile barrage aimed at military bases in Iraq hosting US forces and troops from allies including the UK, Mr Trump suggested Tehran was "standing down" - signalling that the two sides were stepping back from the brink of war.
Scary people are roaming the streets of many big cities, thanks to Democrats, who believe that innocent black people are arrested convicted by our purportedly racist justice system. Under the rubric of bail reform, even chronic offenders can be back on the streets the same day they are arrested.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio was recently so embarrassed by the catch and release of Tiffany Harris after back-to-back arrests for violent attacks on orthodox Jews accompanied by hateful rhetoric that he personally intervened with the court to get her locked up on psychiatric grounds. But the policies that led to her release remain in place in New York.

Equally problematic is Chicago, where bail reform has been in place since 2017. In addition, probation is liberally granted, leading to this scary fellow now walking the streets after four recent arrests, and one conviction (so far) in just a few months. The excellent website CWB Chicago explains:

Since Tyrese Parris pleaded guilty in September to a reduced charge of theft from person in connection with a violent robbery, he has been arrested three more times  including once for allegedly headbutting a cop in the nose and battering a CTA Red Line passenger. But Cook Countys feckless court system has released him back on the streets each time. Back on May 8, prosecutors charged Parris with felony robbery, battery, and three counts of theft of lost or mislaid property after he mugged a 21-year-old man in Uptown. Prosecutors said Parris, 21, and two others beat the victim in the face, threw him to the ground, then took the mans phone, headphones, and credit cards. When officers located Parris a short time later, they allegedly found the victims property in his possession along with a wallet, a debit card, and a Ventra card that belonged to three other men. Police said Parris made statements admitting his participation in the robbery after being advised of his right to remain silent. On Sept. 16, Judge Shelley Sutker-Dermer sentenced Parris to two years probation after he struck a deal with prosecutors in which he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of theft from person.

Tyrese Parris (photo credit: Chicago Police Via CWB Chicago)

The leniency shown to Tyrese apparently didnt persuade him to go and violate no more.

On Dec. 5, prosecutors charged Parris with two counts of possessing a controlled substance on the 900 block of West Belmont. He was subsequently released. On Dec. 21, police arrested Parris as he allegedly prowled cars inside a parking garage on the 3400 block of North Broadway. Prosecutors charged him with possessing burglary tools and trespassing. He was released on his own recognizance.

At least those two arrests were for non-violent crimes. But Tyrese reverted to form, if the allegation about his New Years Day festivities are true:

On Jan. 1, a 28-year-old Gold Coast resident flagged down police at the Roosevelt CTA station and reported that Parris punched him as they rode a southbound Red Line train near Monroe. Police said the victim suffered blunt force injuries to his face. Officers arrested Parris on the platform. He immediately began resisting and he headbutted one cop in the nose, causing the officer to become disoriented, police said. Parris later kicked a second officer during a custodial search, according to CPD records.

Despite attacking cops in addition to an ordinary citizen, Tyrese is back on the streets again, after paying $100 in bail. Keep in mind that this man is on probation and is supposed to keep his nose clean. But to the Left, protecting lawful people from chronic criminals is less important than scoring racial grievance points.

Mass incarceration is the label given to their crusade to set free or never jail people accused or convicted of serious crimes. The ACLU contends:

...more Americans are deprived of their liberty than ever before - unfairly and unnecessarily, with no benefit to public safety. Its a problem that affects people of color most of all. (snip)  there are too many people in prison and for all the wrong reasons. Overcrowded prisons (snip) Inflated prison populations have also fueled the for-profit prison industry.

I fail to see how there is a benefit to the public in allowing a convicted felon on probation to roam the streets after being arrested for a subseuqent violent attack on an innocent train rider. I agree with Senator Tom Cotton that our problem is under incarceration. But that expression receives almost no attention in the public discourse. A Google search yields 11,500 results for under incarceration while mass incarceration boasts 14,500,000 results.
GUANGZHOU, China, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Tencent's WeChat team today celebrated WeChat Mini Programs' 3rd Anniversary by revealing that total transaction value generated on Mini Programs has exceeded 800 billion RMB in 2019, an increase of 160% year-on-year and a clear demonstration of the platform's tremendous business value. The announcement took place at the 2020 WeChat Open Class PRO event in Guangzhou, the flagship conference for business partners and developers where Tencent shares successful business cases and technological upgrades across the WeChat smart lifestyle ecosystem.

WeChat Mini Programs, which give users instant access to enterprise services and create tremendous business value to merchants and service providers, were pioneered by WeChat in 2017 and today attracts over 300 million active daily users. In 2019, the average number of Mini Programs used per user increased 98% and the average usage increased 45%. In 2020, WeChat Mini Programs will focus on empowering business ecosystems and opening up more capabilities for developers including livestreaming.

Report reveals the "Power of the QR Code"

WeChat launched its first research report about the significant use and economic influence of QR codes - The Power of the QR Code - The WeChat Economic Impact Report 2020 and highlights how WeChat and QR codes help connect business and society. For businesses, the use of QR codes by WeChat has multiplied touchpoints to improve customers engagement leading to tremendous business success. It also brings innovative ways of doing business and fosters a startup culture and eco-system in China. Mini Programs have lowered costs and improved the efficiency of setting up new business. Today, a total of 79.4% of small to mid-merchants in China are WeChat Pay users while WeChat has been identified as directly and indirectly creating 26.1 million job opportunities.

WeChat Pay continues to grow its international reach with the strong growth of Chinese outbound tourism, with cross-border payment services now offered in more than 60 markets.

WeChat Work, WeChat's dedicated product for work communication, showcased its 3.0 version with enhanced connection capabilities with WeChat and more tools to help enterprises improve efficiency. WeChat Work now serves more than 2.5 million companies and 60 million monthly active users.

Allen Zhang, Founder of WeChat, shared his observations on the wider impact of technology and his thoughts for WeChat's future development. "At WeChat, we used to focus on perfecting every feature we launched. Today, we are more focused on how to prioritize and dedicate our efforts to creating value for users and customers," Zhang said to developers over video at the conference. "With the rapid development of mobile Internet in recent years, everyone is online at all times, facing massive amounts of information and significant challenges," he added. "Through our own efforts and open collaboration with all partners and players across the industry, we are committed to exploring emerging issues, as well as addressing the challenges facing WeChat and the industry."

About WeChat

Launched in 2011, Weixin/WeChat has been enhancing the lives of hundreds of millions of users with its innovative features. The most widely used Chinese social media platform integrates instant messaging and social entertainment, bringing about a mobile digital lifestyle on an easy- to-use app. Users get to engage in real-time communications via free text and multimedia messages, make voice/video calls or share photos on their "Moments." Other lifestyle recreational features include "Games," "Sticker Gallery," and other functions. Continuously evolving around users' needs, Weixin/WeChat also offers enterprises "Official Accounts" to create original consumer experiences through its open platform and extended services such as Weixin/WeChat Pay for a truly mobile digital lifestyle. Weixin/WeChat reached more than 1.15 billion monthly active user accounts as of September 2019. Weixin/WeChat has evolved into a connector and open platform across industries, connecting users with one another, with smart devices and with business services.

SOURCE Tencent Holdings Limited
Mizoram's apex and most influential student organisation, the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), on Thursday observed black day to protest against the amended citizenship law.

MZP functionaries displayed black flags at various places in the state capital, responding to a call given by the North East Students' Organisation (NESO), MZP secretary Lalnunmawia Pautu said.

He said the students' body has been opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) since it was a bill as it would have a demographic impact on a small state like Mizoram.

Though the state is exempted under the law, Mizoram is still vulnerable to illegal influx, as the Chakma people from Bangladesh will migrate to neighbouring states and later, come to Mizoram as they have an autonomous district council here, Pautu claimed.

Hitting out at the BJP-led NDA government, Pautu alleged that it is responsible for the deaths during the nation-wide protests against the law since December last year.

He also blamed the Centre for the death of a Mizo ethnic tribal, who was allegedly beaten to death by illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in Tripura in December.

NESO finance secretary and MZP leader Ricky Lalbiakmawia said that NESO and its partner organisations will continue to oppose the amended citizenship law till it is scrapped.

He said that the Supreme Court will hear a petition filed by NESO on January 22.

Ricky also said that Mizoram is not fully protected from infiltration unless the law is scrapped or the entire Northeast region is exempted from the purview of the law.

He urged the people of Mizoram to extend support to NESO in the fight against the CAA.

On Tuesday, functionaries of MZP waved black flags at Mizoram's lone Lok Sabha member C. Lalrosanga for voting in favour of the citizenship bill in Parliament, as the MP arrived in Aizawl.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
[January 08, 2020] HP Sends Letter to Xerox

PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) today announced that HP has sent a letter to Xerox Holdings Corporation in response to Xeroxs January 6, 2020, letter.

The full text of HPs letter is below: January 8, 2020 John Visentin

Vice Chairman and CEO

Xerox Holdings Corporation

201 Merritt 7 Norwalk, CT 06851-1056 CC: Keith Cozza, Chairman of Xerox Holdings Corporation; President and Chief Executive Officer, Icahn Enterprises L.P. Dear John, We reiterate that the HP Board of Directors focus is on driving sustainable long-term value for HP shareholders. Your letter dated January 6, 2020 regarding financing does not address the key issue  that Xeroxs proposal significantly undervalues HP  and is not a basis for discussion. The HP Board of Directors remains committed to advancing the best interests of all HP shareholders and to pursuing the most value-creating opportunities. On behalf of the Board of Directors, [Signature] [Signature] Enrique Lores Chip Bergh Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If the risks or uncertainties ever materialize or the assumptions prove incorrect, the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of histrical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including any statements of expectation or belief; any statements relating to the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statements concerning the expected development, performance, market share or competitive performance relating to products or services; any statements regarding current or future macroeconomic trends or events and the impact of those trends and events on HP and its financial performance; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing.



Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include factors relating to the need to address the many challenges facing HPs businesses; the competitive pressures faced by HPs businesses; risks associated with executing HPs strategy and business model changes; successfully innovating, developing and executing HPs go-to-market strategy, including online, omnichannel and contractual sales, in an evolving distribution and reseller landscape; successfully competing and maintaining the value proposition of HPs products, including supplies; the impact of macroeconomic and geopolitical trends and events; the need to manage third-party suppliers, manage HPs global, multi-tier distribution network, limit potential misuse of pricing programs by HPs channel partners, adapt to new or changing marketplaces and effectively deliver HPs services; challenges to HPs ability to accurately forecast inventories, demand and pricing, which may be due to HPs multi-tiered channel, sales of HPs products to unauthorized resellers or unauthorized resale of HPs products; the protection of HPs intellectual property assets, including intellectual property licensed from third parties; risks associated with HPs international operations; the development and transition of new products and services and the enhancement of existing products and services to meet customer needs and respond to emerging technological trends; the execution and performance of contracts by HP and its suppliers, customers, clients and partners; the hiring and retention of key employees; integration and other risks associated with business combination and investment transactions; the results of the restructuring plans, including estimates and assumptions related to the cost (including any possible disruption of HPs business) and the anticipated benefits of the restructuring plans; the impact of changes in tax laws, including uncertainties related to the interpretation and application of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 on HPs tax obligations and effective tax rate; the resolution of pending investigations, claims and disputes; and other risks that are described in HPs Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2019, and HPs other filings with the SEC. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements. HPs Investor Relations website at http://investor.hp.com contains a significant amount of information about HP, including financial and other information for investors. HP encourages investors to visit its website from time to time, as information is updated, and new information is posted.

About HP Inc.

HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) creates technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere. Through our product and service portfolio of personal systems, printers and 3D printing solutions, we engineer experiences that amaze. More information about HP Inc. is available at www.hp.com . Editorial contacts HP Inc. Media Relations

[email protected] HP Inc. Investor Relations

[email protected]

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From Filhaal in 2002 to Raazi in 2018, filmmaker Meghna Gulzar has undoubtedly come a long way. Of late, the director has learnt to tell true life stories with precision. Strong scripts and characters sum up her films. The talented director was in Lucknow and discussed her work, motivations and upcoming projects during her promotional visits.

Meghna, daughter to legendary film personalities Gulzar and Rakhee, feels that its the stories that choose her. You will not believe I wrote the script of Chhapaak, right after Talvar. There was a time when I took just a year to write and collaborate on 2-3 scripts simultaneously. Acid attacks were something lingering in my thoughts and I also saw this recurring reportage of acid attacks, and it became the subject for my next film. So, my stories do choose me...

And when you research acid violence in the country, the first case that comes to you is of Laxmi Agarwal and I also happened to meet her and that meeting left a huge impact on me. I was surprised to see what a fighter Laxmi was and how gracefully she was living her life. Truly she is a motivator in all senses. I hope I have done justice to her story of grit and power, she said.

Talking about her upcoming film and its title she said, Chhapaak for me is precious, in one simple word. The title came after a long thinking process and then I realised this word not only brings action but also emotion. For people the word is associated with water and it gives us such a pleasant feeling but what if the liquid changes to acid? The entire scenario changes. So thats what made us choose the title, the director said.

Asked if such stories affect her, she said, Of course, they do! But this happens once I am done with the making and all. I get into a weird space and then the realisation as well as the impact of the incident strikes me. Like after Talvar, I was unable to cope with the gravity of the incident for months. I was so miserable thinking about the little girl, her parents and everything that must have happened. The agony and pain of the victim doesnt leave me easily.

Meghna has already started work on her next film, Yes, I am all set to bring alive the story of the life of Field Marshal Manekshaw, who was the army chief during the 1971 India-Pakistan war. I feel Manekshaw is a role model and a personality people should know about. His life is iconic. He is a hero... He played a very big part in the history of our country. And a lot of people of our generation dont know about him. So I am totally excited to bring his life to the silver screen. And for me, living the character in the film will be Vicky Kaushal, she said.
A look ahead: Forecasting Canadas immigration outlook and disruptors between 2020-2029 Declining birth rate means immigration will play a major role over the next decade

A look ahead: Forecasting Canadas immigration outlook and disruptors between 2020-2029 Declining birth rate means immigration will play a major role over the next decade

A look ahead: Forecasting Canadas immigration outlook and disruptors between 2020-2029 Declining birth rate means immigration will play a major role over the next decade Kareem El-Assal Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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The past decade was among the most eventful in Canadian immigration history.

It saw a significant increase in Canadas levels of permanent residents, international students, and foreign workers. The complete revamping of Canadas economic class program was among other major transformations that also impacted the countrys family and refugee class programs.

It is expected that the coming decade will see more major changes given Canadas unequivocal need for immigrants.

Canada set to welcome more than 3 million permanent residents over the coming decade

Canadas aging population and low birth rate is the main reason why we should expect the country to welcome even higher levels of immigration over the coming decade.

Canadas population grows by roughly one per cent each year. Natural increase (births subtracted by deaths) accounts for only 20 per cent of annual population growth and immigration accounts for the other 80 per cent. Within the next decade, natural increase is expected to fall to nearly zero, meaning immigration could comprise 100 per cent of Canadas population growth.

Population growth is important to stimulating the economic activity that is necessary to maintain Canadas high quality of life. Hence, if Canada wants its population to continue to grow by one per cent annually or more, it will need to gradually increase its newcomer levels from its target of 350,000 in 2021 to about 400,000 annually by the end of the decade.

All told, Canada looks poised to welcome roughly 3.5 million permanent residents over the coming decadeby far the highest intake in the countrys history. It would mark a 25 per cent increase compared with some 2.8 million permanent residents it admitted over the last decade.

Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs

Local actors will have a greater role in selecting immigrants

Based on the rationale that provinces and employers have a strong understanding of local labour market requirements, Canadas federal government has provided provinces, employers, and post-secondary institutions with a greater role in immigrant selection over the past two decades.

This devolution of selection authority will likely continue moving forward.

Today, Canadas provinces select around 40,000 principal applicants (PAs) annuallya figure that should grow to more than 50,000 PAs annually if the federal government increases immigration levels as expected.

Although Canadas Constitution outlines immigration as an area of shared federal-provincial jurisdiction, municipalities are also playing a greater role in the immigration system since most immigrants land in cities. Municipalities will continue to advocate for a larger voice in immigrant selection, although this will be difficult to implement given how complicated Canadas immigration system already isthe federal government and provinces collectively operate more than 80 available economic class pathways.

However, municipalities will likely have greater influence over selection through the forthcoming federal Municipal Nominee Program (MNP) as well as existing Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) streams both of which are sensitive to the reality that providing cities with influence over selection is in fact important.

Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia poised to see their immigration shares decline

A greater role for local actors helps to promote a broader distribution of immigration and economic development across Canada.

Today, about 70 per cent of immigrants go to Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia, down from around 85 per cent prior to the PNPs launch.

The share of newcomers landing in these three provinces should decrease as other provinces continue to aggressively court global talent. For instance, Atlantic Canada has seen its national newcomer share rise from three per cent a few years ago to five per cent today, and it has room for more growth.

Moreover, Quebec has reduced its newcomer intake by 20 per cent, meaning there are now 10,000 additional immigrants for distribution across Canada. Even if the province chooses to ramp up its immigration levels later this decade, they will likely still lag behind Canadas rate of increase since Quebec prefers a more cautious approach to increasing its levels.

The recovery of global oil prices could also see Albertas immigration intake take off once again. The provinces economy and newcomer levels boomed leading up to the crash of global oil prices in 2014. Both have since tapered, but if oil prices improve, Alberta could easily surpass Quebec and British Columbia to become Canadas second-leading destination of immigrants behind Ontario.

International students will help improve economic outcomes of newcomers

As Canadas nine million baby boomers inch towards retirement, the country will have a significant need for new workers. There will be plenty of job opportunities available and Canadian-born workers and immigrants alike should benefit from these changes. We have already seen this manifest itself over the past decade as federal government data shows immigrants are enjoying stronger outcomes. Federal research also demonstrates that providing provinces, employers, and post-secondary institutions with a role in the selection process supports positive immigrant labour market performance.

Surveys indicate that half of Canadas 600,000 international students indicate they wish to become permanent residents, meaning Canada is likely to see more of them become immigrants this decade. This will be a welcome development because international students fare very well in the labour market, and will become key drivers of economic growth since they will be workers and consumers in Canada for decades.

Canadian immigration will also be disrupted

Canada remains able to welcome high levels of newcomers due to strong public support for immigration. It must remain cognizant, however, of public sentiment towards newcomers as a rise in populism would certainly disrupt Canadas ability to spur economic development through immigration.

However, the fact immigrants will comprise a greater share of Canadas population over the coming decades may protect it from a rise in populism given that immigrants predominantly reside in Canadas largest citieswhich have the most political sway.

A decline in populist policies abroad could also disrupt Canadas immigration system. Canada will face a competitive threat if western democracies such as Britain and the United States choose to reform their Economic Class programs to welcome more immigrants.

Increased prosperity in developing countries could also reduce the flow of immigrants and international students to Canada, and may also result in more competition. For example, China is making major investments in its education system and is now one of the worlds leading recipients of international students.

Finally, the changing nature of work will further complicate matters for Canadas immigration system. Canadian stakeholders will have to grapple with numerous issues such as the value of assessing credentials even though some employers are moving away from screening credentials in their hiring processes, selecting immigrants in a fast-evolving labour market, and managing higher levels of temporary foreign workers due to globalization.

Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs

Kareem El-Assal is the Director of Policy & Digital Strategy at Canadavisa.

 2020 CIC News All Rights Reserved
Andrew Bacevich's fierce and fearless critique of US the military strategy.

By Marwan Bisharaby - 4 Aug 2016

America's War for the Greater Middle East is a remarkable book. Andrew J Bacevich, a military historian and an American patriot who served in the United States military, and who lost his son in the Iraq war, is a no-nonsense no-warmonger.

Sober and comprehensive, Bacevich's balance sheet of US wars in the Muslim world is a testimony to Washington's military failures in the Greater Middle East.

Throughout the book he employs an analytical razor to dissect the doctrines and dogmas behind direct US military intervention in the Middle East, which he dates back not to Franklin Roosevelt or Dwight Eisenhower, but rather to Jimmy Carter.

The Carter doctrine can be summarised by the following declaration: "Any attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force."

Andrew cuts Carter some slack, but shows how his doctrine paved the way for future interventions. He scrutinises each and every one of the dozen US military campaigns in the Greater Middle East and Muslim world, but connects them all into one strategic mindset spanning over four decades.

And then critiques the rationale behind the use of force since 1980 through a dispassionate evaluation of US military strategies from the first to the fourth Gulf wars and from Bosnia to Afghanistan through Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, Lebanon, and Yemen and others.

Delusional leadership, oblivious public

For Bacevich, US wars in the Middle East are driven not only by oil and the military industrial complex. He sees a collective illusion or naivete leading to more of the same blunders and mistakes.

And he shows how despite the proven failures, US leaders and strategists have continued to use the same Washington playbook.

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Among others, ignoring the simple lesson that starting wars is nothing like ending them, and what Washington portrayed as military victories or "missions accomplished" have consistently mutated into different sorts of prolonged conflicts.

The victory against the Soviets in Afghanistan later revealed itself as a major loss. For Washington, Soviet withdrawal meant that the US won, but that was a short-sighted reaction. The first Afghan war paved the way towards a second one in 2001.

Bacevich reckons supporting Iraq in the 1980s first Gulf war (the Iran-Iraq War) was also short-sighted, even though the US declared it a victory when Iran basically folded.

Iranian hostility continued to brew while Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, leading to greater US involvement in Iraq - to undo the Vietnam syndrome.

The 1991 war might have been a profitable war - Colin Powell later claimed America made money out of it - but it only paved the way for the 2003 war, which in turn paved the way for yet another more recent intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS).

And so on and so forth.

Bacevich doesn't spare any of the politicians or generals involved in making the case for war. From Carter to Barack Obama through Ronald Reagan, Clinton and both the George Bushes, and from the performances of former generals Wesley Clark to David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal and numerous others, Bacevich shows how the US political and military leadership has consistently overpromised and under-delivered.

And with the mainstream media utterly complicit in selling the war enterprise, Bacevich doesn't hesitate to point the finger at an oblivious American public that's too preoccupied with trivia as their country is stuck in the quagmire of the Greater Middle East.

In a passage of refreshing candour, Bacevich argues that the US might support freedom, democracy and prosperity in the Middle East, but only as long as it gets the lion's share of it - everything else is an afterthought.

Wrong wars, wrong lessons

As a military historian, Bacevich argues in his opening chapter that the Carter doctrine paved the way for decades of US military intervention in the Greater Middle East, allowing subsequent administrations to expand it to include many countries in the region.

Since then American leaders have ignored the lessons of history and the experiences of other imperial powers. As a secular enterprise, Bacevich reckons, the US military has also ignored religion and its complex influence in the region.

Indeed, most of the lessons that should have been learned in the pre-9/11 Middle East went unheeded after the September attacks. The US doubled down and went on to use more military force to foster the illusion of shaping the Greater Middle East region.

Instead of policy dictating the military's role, the US' military enterprise began to dictate policy and diplomacy in the Middle East.

Its military missions went on to creep, as the US became incapable of extracting itself from the region. In the process, it failed miserably to fulfil any of its objectives either in Iraq, the Gulf or against al-Qaeda.

Even the most sensible of the US presidents over the past four decades, Obama, couldn't help repeat more of the same mistakes in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq.

Like his predecessors, he resorted to a rhetoric that is disconnected from reality, claiming the US' longest war ended responsibly in Afghanistan - when it didn't - and portending to leave behind a democratic and stable Iraq - when it's anything but that.

Can the US change?

Bacevich laments the lack of creative non-military thinking in Washington and the absence of a peace-oriented political party that advocates fewer military answers to challenges in the US and across the world.

And he emphasises the high stakes for the military industrial complex in prolonged military campaigns, against the backdrop of an oblivious public.

For change to happen, Americans must show more interest in their foreign policy and military interventions in the Middle East and beyond.

Most Arabs and many Muslims have little or no say when dictators and extremists resort to war and violence to satisfy their ambitions and greed.

But Americans have a choice and do have a say, and therefore must take responsibility for their leaders' choices and blunders.

Does this mean President Obama was right not to intervene in Syria? Especially when the majority of Americans opposed direct military intervention after Iraq and Afghanistan?

Bacevtich certainly agrees. And so do I. But it's not as simple as that - not after the death of hundreds of thousands of Syrians.

In the absence of direct military intervention, the US, the de facto regional policeman, should have done more than witness as genocide was carried out under their watch. And it could have done more to deter Assad, protect civilians and reach a diplomatic solution.

Leaving it to Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia to take care of business - such as military interventions - is hardly the solution for an exploding region.

Americans need to pay attention not only when Americans die, but also when countless Arabs and Muslims pay the price of the US' follies in the region.

Marwan Bishara is the senior political analyst at Al Jazeera. Follow him on Facebook.

Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here
Jonny is a fourth-grader in a small, rural school in New Mexico.

His teacher lacks any form of teachers license. Its common for long-term substitutes to teach for an entire year or more in this school.

Jonnys class is reported in a statewide report that shows 644 teacher vacancies.

Daniella is a third-grader. Her school has two third-grade classes, each with 31 students.

Daniellas teacher is an experienced, licensed teacher, so the report on teacher vacancies doesnt count her class.

However, Daniella and her classmates receive less individualized attention because her class is too big.

Sophia is a junior in a small high school. Her math class has six students, but the teacher has zero prior teaching experience and takes night classes as required by her alternative license from the New Mexico Public Education Department.

None of the classes the teacher handles are considered vacant because she is licensed. Students like Sophia nonetheless suffer because their teacher comes with virtually no preparation.

Its very scary, said Susan Brown, dean of the New Mexico State University College of Education. We just dont have qualified people in the classrooms across the state. Its a crisis.

Our legislators several years ago responded to the teacher shortage with a stop-gap measure dubbed alternative licensure. Adults with any college degree can become teachers without first undergoing serious professional preparation.

In 2014-15, the 829 ALT teachers were 4 percent of teachers in New Mexico. That number grew to 2,657 in 2018-19, representing 12 percent of teachers.

Districts report that more than half of their new teachers are ALT teachers.

Every teacher, perhaps especially ALT teachers, who works hard to be the best teacher they can be deserves high praise for striving to do so under difficult circumstances.

Unfortunately, most New Mexico ALT teachers do not teach beyond a year or two.

Of 2,726 ALT teachers in New Mexico in 2017-18, 72 moved on to receive a permanent licensure in 2018-19. That is a mere 2.6 percent success rate.

That alarming statistic should be no surprise. The esteemed Learning Policy Institute noted in a September 2016 report, Solving the Teacher Shortage: Teachers with little preparation tend to leave at rates two to three times as high as those who have had a comprehensive preparation before they enter. In this regard, alternative licensure does little to ensure every student has the qualified, professionally prepared educator they deserve.

Instead, New Mexico is making investments into ALT teachers who are leaving the state and school communities.

Then there are teaching positions no longer considered vacant because districts found no applicants.

According to the PED, there has been a drop of 1,521 teaching positions (2014-15 to 2019-20). Add this to the 644 substitute-filled positions to give a new number describing the teacher shortage in New Mexico: 2,165 positions!

Policy options could help resolve the teacher-shortage crisis  from more competitive salaries to revamping teacher pipeline programs at higher education institutions. But our state cant really address the problem without first acknowledging the teacher shortage in our state is a true crisis.

(Charles Goodmacher is an independent education consultant working with NEA-New Mexico and the Transform Education New Mexico Coalition.)
A Singapore opposition party has mounted the first legal challenge against an online misinformation law that activists say is being used to silence criticism of the government ahead of elections. The controversial legislation gives authorities the power to order corrections be placed next to posts they deem false. Since the law came into force in October, several opposition figures and activists have been ordered to place a banner next to online posts stating that they contain false information. The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), one of a handful of small opposition groups in the city-state, has now asked the courts to overturn a government order for it to correct two Facebook posts and an article on its website. The Facebook posts said many Singaporeans had been displaced from white-collar jobs by foreigners -- claims the government said were "false and misleading". "We undertake this legal action because, as difficult as it may be, we must stand up for our fellow Singaporeans and fight for what little space we have left in Singapore to uphold our democratic freedoms," the party said on its website late Wednesday. The challenge was filed against Manpower Minister Josephine Teo, whose ministry last month ordered the corrections be put up and later rejected an application to withdraw the order. "Ms. Teo has plunged a dagger into the heart (of) Singapore's political system already plagued by anti-democratic rules that keep the (ruling People's Action Party) entrenched in power," said the SDP, which currently has no seats in parliament. While it is praised for its economic management, affluent Singapore's government is also regularly criticised for curbing civil liberties. The People's Action Party (PAP) has ruled Singapore for decades and is expected to comfortably win polls expected within months, with a weak opposition seen as little real challenge. The High Court has set Thursday next week to hear the SDP's challenge. The government insists the legislation is necessary to stop falsehoods from circulating online that could sow divisions in the multi-ethnic, multi-faith country. sr/jah FACEBOOK
The Boeing Co. jet that crashed near Tehran on Wednesday tried to turn back after takeoff, Iran revealed in an initial report as Ukraine said it's examining scenarios including a missile strike and terrorism.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 disappeared from radar screens at 8,000 feet, and witnesses said they saw it on fire in the air, according to Iran's Civil Aviation Organization. The flight-data and cockpit-voice recorders were damaged but their core memory appears to be accessible, the report said.

The findings are the first officially released from a probe fraught with difficulty amid heightened U.S.-Iranian tensions. Ukraine added to confusion around the crash, saying it's looking at whether the jet was downed by a missile or bomb after Iran had insisted it fell victim to a technical failure or engine fire.

The scenarios are among several that might explain the disaster, National Security & Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on Facebook, pointing to supposed evidence of missile debris found near the crash site and circulated on the Internet. The head of Iran's accident-investigation office said no such parts were found and that any images are false.

Alternative possibilities put forward by Ukraine include a collision with a drone or other flying object, as well as destruction of an engine due to technical reasons, Danilov said.

Iran has invoked an international agreement to get assistance from other countries involved in the tragedy, and Ukraine said its contingent includes experts who participated in a probe into Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, downed in 2014 by a surface-to-air missile during the conflict over Crimea and the eastern Donbas region.

American agencies including the National Transport Safety Board are weighing whether it's legal to engage with Iranian authorities under terms of sanctions against the country, according to people familiar with the matter. They're also concerned about sending people to Iran given recent military strikes.

The latest comments from Ukraine add to confusion about what led the Kyiv-bound 737-800 to plunge from the sky near Tehran minutes after taking off, killing all of the 176 people aboard.

A video purportedly shot by a bystander showed flames coming from the jet as it streaked across the night sky and burst into a fireball on impact. "The plane is on fire," an unidentified male can be heard saying. "In the name of God, God help, call the firefighters."

Iranian authorities initially blamed technical issues and then an engine fire. Ukraine International said it didn't "even consider" the possibility of crew error, and the Ukrainian embassy in Tehran ruled out terrorism before amending its statement to offer no comment on possible causes.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday called on parties not to "manipulate" the events, saying no conclusions can be drawn until experts have considered all of the evidence.

The recently serviced, three-year-old Boeing -- different to the company's grounded Max model -- went down without a distress call and after its global-positioning transmissions were unusually cut off mid-air. The crash came in the wake of an Iranian missile attack on two Iraqi military bases in retaliation for an American drone strike last week that killed one of Iran's top generals.

Under the United Nation's International Civil Aviation Organization, crash probes are led by the nation where a plane was destroyed. In addition, countries where the aircraft and key components were made usually take part.

The U.S. NTSB routinely participates in dozens of crash investigations around the world under the ICAO process, known as Annex 13.

By notifying ICAO, Iran suggested it might be open to U.S. help in the probe, said the two people. But the Islamic Republic has sent mixed signals, with some officials being quoted as saying they would not allow Americans to analyze the plane's two crash-proof flight recorders, for example.

American law also prohibits the NTSB from working in Iran because of longstanding bans on conducting business in that country. The NTSB has occasionally assisted in accident investigations there, but had to obtain special permission from the U.S. Treasury.

"The NTSB is monitoring developments surrounding the crash of Ukraine International Flight 752 and is following its standard procedures for international aviation accident investigations, including long-standing restrictions under the country embargoes," the agency said, adding that it was working with the State Department to determine a course of action.

The State Department offered assistance to Ukraine, but notably didn't mention helping Iran. "The United States calls for complete cooperation with any investigation into the cause of the crash," the department said.

Some aviation safety experts said the plane's sudden fall as it apparently was engulfed in fire might have been from a bomb or missile.

"Airplanes don't just catch fire and have that fire spread like that in such a short period of time, unless there was an intentional act causing that fire and explosion," Jeffrey Guzzetti, former chief of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's accident investigation division said in an interview.

It's at least theoretically possible for a fast-moving cargo fire to take down a plane, said Roger Cox, a former NTSB investigator. A ValuJet plane crashed in Florida in 1996 after pure oxygen caused a raging inferno, he said. But in that case, the plane flew for about 10 minutes, far longer than the Ukrainian jet.

The tragedy strikes during a deeply challenging period for Boeing, gripped by one of the worst crises in its 103-year history after two deadly crashes involving the 737 Max led to its global idling in March.

Earlier 737s like the one that came down in Iran don't use the flight-control system implicated in the Indonesian and Ethiopian events. The crash was also the first at Ukraine International since it was set up in 1992.

Engines for the single-aisle plane are made by CFM International, a venture of General Electric Co. and Safran SA. A representative didn't comment on the details or possible cause of the crash but said by email that CFM extends "heartfelt sympathies to the families and loved ones of those on board."

Boeing's shares slid 1.8% on Wednesday, their biggest loss since Dec. 16. The company hasn't commented on possible reasons for the crash.

- - -

Bloomberg's Will Davies and Daryna Krasnolutska contributed to this report.
Sudhir Suryawanshi By

Express News Service

MUMBAI: After growing discontent in Congress, party president Sonia Gandhi has deputed Congress general secretary Mallikarjun Kharge to placate the disgruntled legislators and ministers in Maharashtra.

Unhappy with his portfolio, Vijay Wadettiwar, minister in the Uddhav Thackeray government, has skipped the one special session of the state assembly on Wednesday. Wadettiwar had been allocated the Other Backward Classes (OBC), Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC), Vimutka Jati (VJ), Nomadic Tribes (NT), special backward classes (SBC) welfare, Salt-pan Land Development and Earthquake rehabilitation departments.

'Wadettiwar was Leader of Opposition in the previous government, and was expecting a bigger department. Senior Congress leaders Nasim Khan and Sunil Kedar met Wadettiwar to pacify him. Mallikarjun Kharge is also likely to meet him soon.

'Wadettiwar is unhappy with the party leadership as junior ministers got the major portfolios. Some weighted departments should be given to him in addition to the existing departments, said source close to Wadettiwar.

'Maharashtra Congress president Balasaheb Thorat said, unhappiness among the Congress leaders is bound to happen. We are the part of Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi, out of 42 ministries, in our side 12 ministries had came. Our leaders will have to accept this reality and work, he added.

Sangram Thopte, the Congress MLA from Pune had also expressed his displeasure for not being inducted in Thackeray cabinet.
With airfares to Hawaii at or near all-time lows  regularly running less than $300 round trip from the West Coast  it feels like everyone and their grandmother are headed to the islands these days.

That's creating huge demand for hotels in Hawaii, and when demand spikes, so do prices. It's not uncommon to see hotel rates for just a night or two soar well beyond what you'd pay for round-trip airfare.

In the past, when demand spiked and hotel prices followed, there was not much a bargain-focused traveler could do to avoid high costs, except to shop around and likely overpay for a hotel well off the beach or in a questionable area. Or to simply choose another destination.

But with the entry of Airbnb, HomeAway, VRBO (and other) online vacation rental platforms into the accommodations market, thousands of new, sometimes inexpensive, options popped up like rainbows on a cloudy day.

After an initial surge, municipalities across Hawaii have cracked down on the short-term rental market. On Oahu, Bill 89 (enacted in August) prohibits rentals for fewer than 30 days in residential areas outside the resort areas of Waikiki, Ko Olina and Turtle Bay. (Locals outside the tourist zone were complaining loudly about noisy tourists invading their neighborhoods and driving up rents. There was undoubtedly a big effort by the hotel industry to place some boundaries around home-sharing, too.)

After reading a recent SFGATE post about cheap airfares to Hawaii, reader DP wrote and warned, "Unless a property has a specific short term rental license included in the advertisement or listing, any rental under 30 days [outside the resort areas] is illegal. I have heard of a few Bay Area people paying for a room in advance and buying plane tickets and then, at the last minute, having no place to stay because the law is enforced."

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So if you book a rental condo in Waikiki, you're likely fine. If it's located elsewhere, or in what appears to be a home or apartment in residential neighborhood, you should ask your prospective host for a license, certificate of registration and/or permit number if you don't see it prominently displayed on the listing. (Keep in mind that each island has its own rules and regulations around short-term rentals  in this post, we are focused on Honolulu/Oahu.)

Check out the slideshow at the top of this post for a scroll through 8 legal listings

For example, this $445/night Airbnb listing for a house for six in Kailua, a laid-back, residential area northeast of Honolulu with great beaches, clearly shows its license number as part of the overall description (scroll down and you'll see it). It's also rented by a "super host," meaning he or she has built up a good reputation and track record, which should sooth would-be renters. This Kailua beachfront cottage listing at $400 per night on VRBO goes as far as putting the NUC/Registration number in the listing's headline to be sure prospective renters (and enforcers) know that it is legal.

But after plenty of searching for listings outside the tourist zones for less-than-30-day rentals, it was one of the few listings (among many) I could find with a registration number.

On the Airbnb and VRBO sites, when I restrict my search to Waikiki only, it shows several condos and apartments for rent, ranging from $89 to $300 per night for a mid-February stay. Since these are all located in the designated tourist zone, no permit or license is required. The same goes for searches of the Ko Olina area west of Honolulu, near the big Disney Aulani and Four Seasons resorts.

Regrettably, Airbnb and others do not provide a way to filter searches based on these licenses. And the platforms appear to do little to enforce what appear to be illegal rentals outside the designated tourist zones, only suggesting, but not requiring, owners to post registration numbers on listings on its Honolulu Responsible Hosting page.

Airbnb also warns would-be renters about hosts who might abuse the platform: "In rare cases, a host might abuse [the registration number] field by entering a phone number or an email address, and encourage you to contact them directly to book outside of Airbnb. Its important to remember that if you transact off the platform you are not protected by our Terms of Service."

I also noticed that when searching for less-than-30-day periods, illegal listings still show up, and in the description, hosts say something like, "Please note in order to remain compliant with city and county zoning regulations this property is only rented for periods of 30 days or more to one party. Feel free to contact us directly with any questions," which sounds like an offer to skirt the rules.

Airbnb also says that if a reservation is canceled by a host, it will offer a full refund  which is fine in theory, but not much help if you've booked a vacation, show up at your rental and it's canceled due to a recent crackdown or enforcement action on illegal rentals.

So what's a paradise-bound traveler to do? Well, it's up to each individual and traveler, to assess the level of risk they are comfortable with. For some, the safety, security and consistency of a hotel is what they want. For others, a nice, big, homey place by the beach, in a small town, or in the mountains might be worth a little uncertainty.

Check out the slideshow at the top of this post for a scroll through eight legal listings

To help you make a decision about which lodging option works best for you, I've put together some pros and cons of hotels and short-term rentals. Which one would you choose?

Hotel pros:

-A mostly guaranteed, consistent and legal product. (Marriott, for example, has 11 hotels on Oahu alone.)

-Daily housekeeping

-Quick on-the-spot response to issues or complaints

-Good locations near beaches and water views from higher floors

-A lobby, pool area or patio for socializing; most have on-site food service, and a bar. (To me, Waikiki's best mai-tais are at the Royal Hawaiian hotel)

-Points in a hotel chain loyalty program

Hotel cons:

-More expensive

-The high likelihood of irritating "resort fees" tacked on at the end of your stay. (See more about resort fees here.)

-Sterile, cookie cutter ambiance  you feel like tourist and not a local

-High parking rates

-Feeling crowded when hotel is full

House/Condo Rental pros:

-Less expensive, larger space

-You get a feel for what it's really like to live in Hawaii  it's more of an "experience"

-A kitchen and laundry room (most of the time)

-Usually more space than you get with a hotel

-Easier for a family with kids

-Cheap or non-existent parking fees

House/Condo Rental cons:

-Less consistent or reliable  you're stuck with what you get. No brand standards

-Sometimes exorbitant cleaning or other fees (See captions in the slideshow at the top of this post for what I mean.)

-Cleanliness is not always up to hotel standards

-Someone is not always available to assist when things go wrong

-May or may not have a pool

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Chris McGinnis is SFGATE's senior travel correspondent. You can reach him via email or follow him on Twitter or Facebook. Don't miss a shred of important travel news by signing up for his FREE biweekly email updates!

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My 20-year-old nephew is stationed at a military base that often is among the first to deploy. He recently married and is the father of a 5-week-old girl. I want him to see her grow up. And when she is old enough to understand the danger and uncertainty of her fathers work, I want him there to hold her and reassure her that whatever happens, she is loved.
Two years.

That's the simple answer to an easy question The Citizen asked a state agency on Aug. 6. The story of why it took two and half months to get that answer is an example of why New York's Freedom of Information Law needs to be reformed in order to get governments to be much more responsive to the public they serve.

Two years is the length of the additional prison sentence given last summer to a convicted rapist and kidnapper named Christopher Block. He was the parolee who removed a monitoring device and became the subject of a massive manhunt in the Skaneateles area near the border with Cayuga County.

A few weeks after he had been captured, Block pleaded guilty to a parole violation during a closed administrative hearing held on Aug. 6. This was a story that central New Yorkers were following intensely, and the public wanted to know what would be happening with this man. After the hearing on that same day, the state Department of Corrections and Community Service issued a statement that said Block would be serving a "period of incarceration" as a result of parole violation. Naturally, we asked DOCCS to specify how long that incarceration would be, and the agency wouldn't answer, saying "The disposition is not final until a written decision is issued by the Administrative Law Judge."

A week later, we noticed that Block had been transferred from the Onondaga County Jail back into the state prison system, so it was likely that the written decision was issued and the "period of incarceration" had started. So we followed up with DOCCS to ask again for the answer to that question: How long would Block be in prison?

This time, we were told to file a written Freedom of Information Law request for the administrative law judge's decision. We did that on Aug. 14, and quickly got a reply that said we would hear back within 20 business days.

After 20 business days, no response had come. We checked on the status of the request, and heard nothing. We checked again two more times, without a response.

Then on Oct. 21, we finally got our answer. It was four-page form filled out in handwriting and signed by the administrative law judge. It was dated Aug. 6, with a DOCCS stamp stating that agency had the ruling on Aug. 7. The form was mostly a series of checked boxes; there was hardly any written narrative, but it did note "the parolee is ordered to be held for 24 months."

We posted a story the afternoon of Oct. 21 updating our readers on the answer to that question we first asked on Aug. 6. The print edition carried the story the next day.

As I'm writing this column, I'm in the middle of a similar ridiculous exercise in FOIL delay tactics from a different state agency. A press office told us the answer to a question was in a simple one-page document, but they couldn't give it to us without a FOIL request. I submitted the request on Dec. 17. I didn't get a response within the required five business days. I followed up on Jan. 3 and then got an email telling me I'd get an answer by Feb. 10.

These stories illustrate a system in place in state government these days that is designed to pro-actively keep information from the public. The foundation of the state Freedom of Information Law is that government agency records are presumed to be accessible to the public, with a set of specific exemptions to that rule being the sole basis for keeping something confidential.

State agencies, though, are increasingly using the law in the opposite way. Information that is obviously public, such as the length of a parole violation sentence, becomes something that must be pried loose through a time-consuming bureaucratic process, despite the fact that taxpayers fund state agency public communications offices with millions of dollars each year.

As the state Legislature gets to work this session, my hope is that FOIL reforms get some needed attention.

Executive editor Jeremy Boyers column appears Thursdays in The Citizen and he can be reached at (315) 282-2231 or jeremy.boyer@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @CitizenBoyer

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The Yes, I Will Vote campaign was launched during a luncheon for local businesses and organizations and was held at an IBC administration building hosted by the Laredo Commission for Women on Tuesday.

READ MORE: Imaginarium unveils new exhibits, including piano dance mat, microscope exhibit

Guests from different fields such as healthcare, education and commercial and nonprofit organizations attended to discuss Laredo voters and the act of registering and voting. The non-partisan campaign also planned to discuss several methods on how attendees can get most of their workforce registered and voting in the upcoming elections.

According to Sylvia Palumbo, LCW chair, the turnout was greater than expected and the commission was very grateful. She said that the Yes, I Will Vote campaign is still not over and will continue to host luncheons and other sessions to involve more people and organizations, all to get more people into the polls.

In order to help businesses and organizations, all the LCW members are voter registrars and claimed they would be willing to visit any site to register employees to vote.

Lydia Camarillo, Southwest Voter Registration Education Project President, was the luncheons keynote speaker and discussed the importance of the Hispanic vote and how the 2020 election will be the most consequential election in America.

The SVREP was started in 1974 by Willie Velazquez in San Antonio in order to register every eligible voter and make sure they vote. It would also help by training organizers and candidates to run for office while blocking any attempt to dilute the Latino vote.

The idea was to make sure that Texas empowered Latinos and other communities that are ethnic and of color and allow us to elect candidates of choice and hold these candidates accountable so that they would fight for our interest, Camarillo said.

Camarillo said that this year, Texas may be the most competitive state in America with 38 electoral votes. She said that the southwest and Latino electorate will decide who will be in the White House in 2021.

Despite having the estimated influence over the election, the Latino population has shown a smaller voter turnout. A possibility given was the fear that may have gripped the Hispanic community regardless of immigration status.

Ive never seen the kind of fear that exists in todays climate, not only because they are worried about being deported or because there is a wall that is being placed in our borders but because we have mass killings, like the one in El Paso, so they are very worried, Camarillo said.

In a previous article, the LCW stated that of the 130,956 registered voters in Laredo, only 50,208 voted in the previous election. The members hope to bring 40,000 voters to the polls in March and 70,000 in November.

Its up to us to make sure that we register the electorate, Camarillo said. Its up to us that we turn out these voters. And I agree, it doesnt matter who you vote for. Just come out and vote.

The SVREP is prepared to register 100,000 new voters in regions such as Harris County, Webb County, San Antonio and more.

Representatives were invited to think about how many voters can be registered in their place of business, how they can turn them out during the election and educating voters about partisan choices. According to Camarillo, if a person who has never voted were to only vote twice, they would vote in every election from that point on.

Your vote is your voice, Camarillo said.

Victoria Sandoval, Move Texas Field Coordinator, said that in 2019 the organization registered approximately 30,000 voters and had them sign a pledge to vote card. The pledge allows the organization to contact the voter three times, once during early voting, on the last day of early voting and on election day.

The organization also provides information through direct communication with volunteers and organizers. They also meet voters and register them where they are.

For example, Sandoval said that voter registration booths are set up on college campuses and at community events. They also provide information about the process of voting, pre-registration and post-registration.

I think having these face-to-face interactions with people changes their perception of civic life, Sandoval said. They think its hard to go out and vote. They think its hard to get registered, but when we clarify these things, it makes it a lot easier and it makes us a more unified community.

According to the U.S. Census, in July 2014 the Hispanic population was 55 million, and by 2060 that number will be approximately 119 million. Sylvia Bruni, LCW Chair, said the commission started working on voter education 10 years ago and prioritized the Yes, I Will Vote campaign.

The commission approached many organizations across Laredo to raise the number of voters in Laredo using the membership of each organization.

I think well find that when everybody participates in our democracy, its when it works best, Sandoval said.

Veronica Castillon, LISD Executive Director of Communication, said the district has been involved with the campaign and hosts voter registration drives at its high schools. This will be an opportunity to inform students that are eligible to vote as well as registering staff members.

For young prospective voters, assemblies are hosted at schools to inform them of the importance of voting. LISD also sends reminders to its 4,000 employees about early voting and the mobile voting sites.

Castillon also said in Texas, high school principals must offer students the chance to register to vote if they are 18 or will turn 18 that school year.

READ MORE: Supporters gather as positions on Laredo primary ballot are determined

During the luncheon, Mayor Pete Saenz, Council Member Nelly Vielma and Council Member Alberto Torres Jr. announced a proclamation stating that Jan. 7 will now be Yes, I Will Vote Campaign Day in Laredo.
Ukraine's expert group has already started work in Iran.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has assured his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that the experts sent by Ukraine to Iran to investigate the Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 crash will be provided with access to all the necessary data.

This was discussed during a recent phone call between the two presidents, Zelensky's press service has said.

"The Iranian party assured of full cooperation with a view to holding an objective investigation and finding out the causes of the tragedy. Hassan Rouhani stressed that Iran would provide the Ukrainian expert group with prompt access to all the necessary data," the press service said.

Read alsoPS752 crash: Ukrainian experts examining Boeing wreckage in Iran say fire didn't start from engines

The Ukrainian president said that the Ukrainian side had already started its work by joining the investigation into the causes behind the accident.

"I hope for your assistance in conducting a transparent, comprehensive and objective investigation to clarify the circumstances of this tragic event as soon as possible," Zelensky told Rouhani.

The Ukrainian president also expressed his condolences over Iranian citizens' death in the plane crash in Tehran.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Kyiv-bound UIA flight PS752 crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport in the early hours of Wednesday, January 8. It was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members on board. Two passengers and the crew members were Ukrainians. There were also 82 citizens of Iran, 63 citizens of Canada, 10 citizens of Sweden, four citizens of Afghanistan, three citizens of Germany and the United Kingdom each. There were no survivors.

A transport aircraft of Ukraine's Armed Forces with 45 experts who will be involved in the probe into the PS752 crash and the identification of the victims' bodies departed from Ukraine late on the same day.

The expert group includes members of the State Emergency Service, the Defense Ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the SBU Security Service of Ukraine, the National Security and Defense Council, the State Aviation Administration, the National Bureau of Air Accidents Investigation of Ukraine and Ukraine International Airlines experts.
American Express Appoints Megha Chopra as General Manager and Vice President, Global Commercial Services India

NEW DELHI, Jan 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- American Express Banking Corporation (AEBC) India, today announced the appointment of Megha Chopra as General Manager and Vice President, Global Commercial Services (GCS) India. In this role, Megha will be responsible for leading the Company's Commercial Services Business, providing payment solutions to corporates throughout India.

With over 18 years of diverse experience across the Corporate and Commercial Banking segments, Megha comes with a deep understanding of financial services, digital solutions and the evolving business landscape shaping customer demand. She joins American Express from Citibank, where she led the transaction business for the northern region of India. Prior to this, Megha was with Standard Chartered Bank, where she was responsible for origination, structuring and syndication for large value, complex and structured financing solutions for large corporates in North and East.

Robert McClean, Executive Vice President, Global Commercial Services International, American Express said, "We are delighted that Megha is joining the team to lead the Global Commercial Services business in India. Megha's deep industry experience will be invaluable as we grow American Express' commercial payment offerings in India."

Through our Global Commercial Services division, American Express offers powerful backing and support that helps corporates of all sizes gain savings, control and efficiency. It provides a suite of payment products to manage a corporate's travel and entertainment expenses and everyday business spending.

Manoj Adlakha, senior VP and CEO, American Express Banking Corp India, said, "With close to two decades of experience in the financial industry, Megha has the leadership track record and the business understanding which are vital for our Global Commercial Services Business in India. On behalf of the entire India leadership team, I welcome Megha to the country executive team and look forward to working closely with her."

(Disclaimer--Features may vary depending on the regions; subject to change without notice.)

About American Express:

American Express is a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success.

Learn more at americanexpress.com and connect with us on facebook.com/americanexpress, instagram.com/americanexpress, linkedin.com/company/american-express, twitter.com/americanexpress, and youtube.com/americanexpress.

Key links to products, services and corporate responsibility information: charge and credit cards, business credit cards, travel services, gift cards, prepaid cards, merchant services, Accertify, InAuth, corporate card, business travel, and corporate responsibility.
In a veiled attack at actor Deepika Padukone for visiting Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Leader of Opposition Mohan Bhargava on Thursday said that "heroines should be in Mumbai and dance".

In reply to a question on Deepika's visit to JNU, the BJP leader said: "Heroine should dance in Mumbai. Why should she go to JNU? I do not know. There are many people like her. If they want to do politics then you should enter politics and contest elections."

Bhargava also referred to former JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar who lost Lok Sabha election to Union Minister Giriraj Singh in Bihar's Begusarai.

"Many have fought elections as well. He contested from Begusarai and came at third place," he said.

Deepika Padukone's upcoming film "Chhapaak" which is based on an acid attack survivor, is releasing on January 10.

On January 7, the actor joined the protest at JNU after a masked mob entered the varsity campus and attacked the students and teachers with sticks and rods.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
1917

The latest film from director Sam Mendes (Spectre, Skyfall), in which two soldiers in WWI are tasked with going behind enemy lines to deliver a message, is a cinematic thrill ride. Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Andrew Scott and Mark Strong make cameo appearances.

Rated R. Playing throughout Houston.

3Pol Trobol

Action-comedy from The Philippines.

Unrated. Playing at AMC Studio 30, Houston.

Chhapaak

Hindi-language drama from India about a woman disfigured in an acid attack and her survival.

Unrated. Playing at AMC Studio 30, Houston; AMC First Colony 24, Sugar Land.

Darbar

Action-crime drama from India.

Unrated. Playing at AMC First Colony 24, Sugar Land.

Just Mercy

Michael B. Jordan plays real-life civil-rights attorney Bryan Stevenson who defends men on death row who have been unfairly convicted. This earnest drama from director Destin Daniel Cretton (The Glass Castle, Short Term 12) also stars Jamie Foxx and Brie Larson.

Rated PG-13. Playing throughout Houston.

Like a Boss

This comedy from Miguel Arteta (Beatriz at Dinner) features Rose Byrne, Tiffany Haddish, Billy Porter and Salma Hayek about two women of very different personalities who open a beauty company.

Rated R. Playing throughout Houston.

Midnight Family

Luke Lorentzens acclaimed documentary follows a family that runs a private ambulance service in Mexico City. The film has won a plethora of awards on the global film-festival circuit.

Unrated. Playing at Alamo Drafthouse LaCenterra, Katy.

The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson

Crime thriller based on the events of the O.J. Simpson murder case. Director Daniel Farrands also made The Haunting of Sharon Tate.

Rated R. Playing at Studio Movie Grill Pearland.

Sarileru Neekevvaru

Telugu-language action film from India about an army major who has to keep the country safe from outside threats.

Unrated. Playing at Cinemark Tinseltown 290, Houston; Cinemark Memorial City, Houston; AMC First Colony 24, Sugar Land; Cinemark at Pearland

The Song of Names

Based on the novel by Norman Lebrecht, Clive Owen, Eddie Izzard and Tim Roth star in this drama about a violin prodigy who disappears and the childhood friend who sets out to find him. Director Francois Girard made the well-regarded The Red Violin in 1998.

Rated PG-13. Playing at Landmark River Oaks, Houston.

Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior

Hindi-language biopic based on the life of a 17th-century military leader.

Unrated. Playing at AMC Studio 30, Houston; AMC Gulf Pointe 30, Houston; AMC First Colony 24, Sugar Land.

Underwater

Kristen Stewart stars in this science-fiction film as a woman working in a deep-sea scientific station thats rocked by a major earthquake and then menaced by an even bigger danger.

Rated PG-13. Playing throughout Houston.

Varda by Agnes

French director Agnes Varda passed away last year but she left cinephiles this gift. She takes a look back at her long and influential career that began in 1955 and gave us such films as One Sings, The Other Doesnt and Faces Places.

Unrated. Playing at 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

cary.darling@chron.com

twitter.com/carydar
Michael Short / Special to The Chronicle 2015

The Hearst Foundations announced awards of 14 grants totaling more than $2 million to California education, health, culture and social service organizations.

The foundations  the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and the Hearst Foundation Inc.  are awarding half of their grants to Bay Area organizations, including three in San Francisco.
Among the chief concerns about the outbreak is how readily this respiratory illness spreads from one person to another. So far, there have been no reports of infection among health-care workers treating patients or among family members who have not had the same exposure to the source, infectious-disease experts said.
President Donald Trump speaks about the situation with Iran in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington on Jan. 8, 2020. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

US Strategy of Deterrence With Iran Sends Message to North Korea: Experts

The death of Irans top general and the United States response to Tehran is deeply concerning for North Korea and could have deep-seated economic and political ramifications for the communist regime, a key ally of Iran, experts say.

There are several factors at play that could affect North Korea, Gordon Chang, commentator and author of The Coming Collapse of China, told The Epoch Times. He noted that Iran pays $3 billion annually to Pyongyang for various forms of cooperationabout 10 percent of North Koreas gross domestic product.

Soleimanis death means Kim could temporarily lose these important revenue streams, Chang said via email.

Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Irans Quds Force, was killed early on Jan. 3 in a U.S. airstrike ordered by President Donald Trump, who has said the general was plotting an imminent attack on American citizens. It follows repeated attacks in recent months by Iranian-backed Shiite terror groups against bases hosting U.S. troops in Iraq.

Kim has to be worried that Trump was willing, unpredictably, to disregard the foreign policy establishments in Washington and wield American power, Chang said. Trump demonstrated that he will not be paralyzed into inaction.

It also means that North Koreas leader will almost certainly lose fees he had earned from training Irans proxy actors, at least in the short term, according to Chang. The missiles launched by Iran on Jan. 8, which targeted but didnt harm any U.S. forces in Iraq, meanwhile, are widely believed to be of the Qiam model, which Chang says is based on a North Korean design.

Soleimani was responsible for the proxies, so his death has the potential for disrupting the relationship in the coming months, Chang said. The Iranian general was also thought to be the one in charge, or one of those in charge, of Irans overall relationship with Pyongyang.

Iran remains the worlds worst state sponsor of terrorism, according to the Country Reports on Terrorism 2018 report published by the U.S. Department of State on Nov. 1, 2019. The regime has funded such international terrorist groups as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

As Iran vowed to avenge Soleimanis killing, Trump on Jan. 8 warned the Islamic regime that the United States would respond swiftly. With no Americans harmed in the missile strike a day earlier, Trump opted for sanctions and said he was ready for peace.

The actions by the United States, in combating Iran, send a general message to North Korea that there is a limit to U.S. patience, Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies International Security Program, told The Epoch Times.

I dont see any possibility that the U.S. would opt to strike the North Korean leadership today, but if the North Koreans caused U.S. casualties as Soleimani did, then the U.S. might retaliate, Cancian said via email.

Soleimanis death sends a message to global powers that the rules have changed from previous U.S. administrations, in that the United States will not tolerate terror masters and their state sponsors killing or harming Americans, according to Peter Huessy, president of Geostrategic Analysis, a defense consulting firm in Potomac, Maryland.

We do know that terror attacks from North Korea have diminished significantly since Trump shored up U.S. deterrent policy, including adding defense spending to our defense budget, to our Pacific forces, Huessy said.

In the event that relations between the United States and Iran continue to flare up or escalate, North Koreas leader may attempt to obtain U.S. governmental concessions by engaging in semi-aggressive rhetoric and activities at the margins, Robert J. Bunker, adjunct research professor for the Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College, told The Epoch Times.

Such activities would remain below the thresholds of Iranian transgressions and aggressiveness, however, Bunker added. The intent is to gain freedom of international action and benefits while the U.S. administration is preoccupied with Iran but not to replace it as the ire of Trumps attention.

In Trumps recent address to the nation about Iran, he didnt offer details on the additional sanctions he said would be imposed on the regime. According to the president, Irans attacks werent able to harm any Americans due to precautions taken, the dispersal of forces, and an early warning system that worked very well.

Bunker noted that if organizational elements of the North Korean regime in the future were ever to be designated as foreign terrorist organizations, the leadership of North Korea would also conceivably be fair game for U.S. targeting purposes.

But hurdles to ever targeting such leaders in the future would still exist, Bunker said.

Tensions between Iran and the United States and its allies, including Saudi Arabia, have risen since Washington pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.

Trump pulled the United States out of the Iran deal because it failed to protect Americas national security interests and enabled its malign behavior, while at best delaying its ability to pursue nuclear weapons and allowing it to preserve nuclear research and development, according to the White House.

Ivan Pentchoukov contributed to this report
Australians are angry at the prime ministers handling of the crisis and failure to take action on climate change.

Canberra, Australia  When Australias Prime Minister Scott Morrison arrived in the bushfire-ravaged New South Wales (NSW) town of Cobargo last week, locals were less than welcoming.

Im only shaking your hand if you give more funding to the RFS, said Cobargo resident Zoey McDermott in widely-circulated footage, referring to the NSW Rural Fire Service.

So many people here have lost their homes. We need more help, she pleaded.

Instead of comforting her, Morrison forced her to shake his hand, patted her shoulder, and walked away after saying nothing more than: I understand.

McDermott, whose house was destroyed by the fires, is 28 weeks pregnant and the mother of a two-year-old girl.

Other locals in the background could be heard yelling Youre an idiot and swearing at Morrison, saying he should be ashamed of himself after he went on holiday to Hawaii and left the country to burn.

Local Member of Parliament Andrew Constance later told the media that Morrison got the welcome he probably deserved in Cobargo. Constance is from the Liberal Party, as is Morrison.

An RFS firefighter in Cobargo also refused to shake the prime ministers hand. Morrison later asked the local incident controller to apologise to him, saying he was probably just tired. The incident controller responded that the man had, in fact, lost his house.

In nearby Nelligen, RFS firefighter Paul Parker pulled his truck over when he saw a television cameraman.

Morrison was rebuffed when he attempted to shake hands with a resident of the bushfire-stricken town of Cobargo [File: Nine Network via Reuters TV]

Are you from the media? Parker shouted out of the window, fury clear on his face. Tell the prime minister he can go and get f***ed!

Several homes and businesses were lost on the states southern coast when a massive bushfire tore through on New Years Eve. Eight people have died in the region, including in Cobargo where a man and his son were killed trying to save their home.

Cobargo was the first fire-ravaged town Morrison visited. The fires have so far burned more than 8.5 million hectares (21 million acres) of land, destroying thousands of properties and killing at least 26 people. Wildlife has also suffered badly, with ecologists estimating one billion animals have been killed or injured.

Burning anger

Morrison has been heavily criticised for his lacklustre response to the bushfire crisis, and many are suggesting he should resign as prime minister or at least adopt policies that will tackle climate change.

There is already a strong, broad sentiment in Australia about the increasing importance of reducing emissions, said Ketan Joshi, a renewable energy and climate change writer. It has been building over 2019, accelerated by the climate strike and Extinction Rebellion movements.

Joshi explained that Morrisons attempts to present climate inaction as action are no longer being believed by the public.

2020 will be a year in which there is even greater focus on climate change, he said. It will be the biggest issue in the country, and it will haunt Scott Morrison for the whole year.

Publicly, Morrison has brushed off the criticism. People are angry, he told the media. And if they want to direct that at me, that is up to them  I dont take it personally.

Morrison became prime minister in August 2018, after an internal battle for the party leadership, and led the Liberal Party to a surprise victory in elections eight months later. In his campaign, Morrison projected the image of a practical man capable of protecting common Australians from the things they feared most  allegedly immigrants and job losses.

Fires have devastated Australias unique wildlife, ecologists estimating some one billion animals have been killed or injured [Lucas Coch/EPA]

The current bushfires began in September 2019, significantly earlier than the usual summer bushfire season.

By early December, more than 2 million hectares (5 million acres) of land had been burned and hundreds of homes lost. A state of emergency was declared in NSW but Morrison refused to meet former emergency service leaders, who had twice asked to talk about the situation.

More than 100 fires were burning in NSW when Morrison left for a family holiday in Hawaii, despite describing the situation as a natural disaster.

The Prime Ministers Office did not tell the Australian public that he was out of the country. Ironically, for a prime minister with a background in marketing, it was not until Morrison was photographed with Australian holidaymakers, relaxing on a beach, that it was revealed where he was.

It emerged last week that Defence Minister Linda Reynolds also took a holiday shortly after the deaths of two volunteer firefighters prompted Morrison to return to Australia. Reynolds spent New Years Eve in Bali, while Morrison held a fireworks-viewing party at his secondary official residence in Sydney.

Test of truth

It has definitely damaged Morrison in the short term but now a whole infrastructure is swinging in behind him in a coordinated way, former deputy leader of the Australian Greens, Scott Ludlam, told Al Jazeera. Ludlam was on the south coast of NSW when the fires picked up on New Years Eve and was forced to evacuate with thousands of others.

This will be a test of whether post-truth politics can survive when something massive and real happens, Ludlam concluded.

A fire truck at the Simec Coal Mine in NSW; Australia is one of the worlds biggest coal exporters and heavily reliant on fossil fuels [Dean Lewins/EPA]

The Liberal Party, which rules in coalition with the National Party, has been largely dismissive of climate change.

David Littleproud, the minister for drought and natural disasters, has previously commented that he did not know if climate change was man-made, while Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said climate change was nothing more than the ravings of some pure, enlightened and woke capital-city greenies. McCormack was acting prime minister while Morrison was in Hawaii.

Just last week, Morrison himself said: The suggestion  that the individual actions of Australia are impacting directly on specific fire events, whether its here or anywhere else in the world, that doesnt bear up to credible scientific evidence.

This catastrophe impacts millions of people, and they watched Morrison holiday in Hawaii while the country burned, said Joshua Badge, a political philosopher at Deakin University in Melbourne.

Some commentators thought that Morrison was a shrewd operator given how he rose from Turnbulls ashes, Badge told Al Jazeera. But Morrisons curated daggy dad gimmick has backfired by making him look incompetent.

Protests on Friday

His dont rock the boat leadership style worked in the past but has failed in a crisis. By pretending like everything was fine rather than admit his mistakes, it makes Morrison seem unaware and indifferent.

Even foreign leaders have commented on Morrisons handling of the bushfire crisis. In a nod to Morrison, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said no government officials would be expected to resign following a six-storey building collapse that killed at least 36 people.

Let me ask you, the Australian prime minister took his children to the US while wildfires are happening in the country, local media reported Hun Sen saying. He was widely condemned, but has he resigned?

Pacific nations, oft-dismissed themselves by the Liberal Party as islands that will soon be underwater, are helping with the relief effort. Papua New Guinea, Australias biggest recipient of international aid, will send 1,000 soldiers and firefighters to battle the blazes, while Vanuatu has promised to contribute 20 million Vatu ($173,000).

It is unlikely that the Liberal Party will internally vote to replace Morrison as the leader and prime minister. After Morrison unseated then-leader Malcolm Turnbull in August 2018, he introduced a new rule for leadership contests, requiring a two-thirds majority to trigger a vote.

Public pressure for Morrison to resign is strong, but some have pointed to what they say is a social media misinformation campaign that blames the fires on state governments, the Australian Greens, and arsonists has also emerged. Morrison has also announced a 2 billion Australian dollar ($1.4bn) fund for recovery efforts.

But Australians are increasingly angry. Large protests are planned across the country on Friday to demand action on climate change.
One of Melbourne's most infamous gangsters was shot dead in a hail of bullets on Thursday night.

Underworld figure Nabil Maghnie was killed in the car park of Taco Bill restaurant at Epping in Melbourne's northern suburbs at 8.30pm on Thursday.

The 44-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene. Two others, reportedly including one of Maghnie's sons, were also wounded.

A crowd of around 30 people gathered at the scene, where blood stains were visible on the footpath.

A criminal source told The Age Maghnie had made plenty of enemies and was a 'dead man walking'.

Nabil Maghnie has been shot dead after an incident in Epping in northern Melbourne

Maghnie infamously drove himself to hospital after being shot in the head in 2016 (crime scene pictured)

'It was only a matter of time,' the source said. 'You can't do what he did without p***ing off a lot of people - people won't stand for it.'

A local who heard the gunfire told the Herald Sun she and her husband rushed to the front of their home and saw the commotion.

'We went outside and saw the ambulances and the police. I can't believe it, it is ridiculous. It is way too close to home,' she said.

Maghnie infamously drove himself to hospital after being shot in the head in 2016.

In 2011, the married father was a victim of another non-fatal shooting at Broadmeadows.

Maghnie (pictured) was pronounced dead at the scene, while two others were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds

Forensic police attend the scene of Maghnie's shooting death in Epping in northern Melbourne

Maghnie was being investigated by police over a double shooting at the Love Machine nightclub in Prahan in April last year.

He has been linked to the Comanchero motorcycle gang, and was a suspect in an attempted hit on notorious Mongol's bikie Toby Mitchell.

He was on bail for serious driving offences before his death, after crashing his Range Rover at more than 200km/h while under the influence of alcohol and cocaine in May.

Victoria Police said detectives were investigating the circumstances around the shooting.
A bushfire victim has penned a heartfelt poem about helplessly watching his house burn down after desperately attempting to fight the blaze.

Jim Hughes wrote 'The Burning Bay' one week after a bushfire ripped through his Batemans Bay property on the New South Wales South Coast on New Year's Eve.

The poem was posted to Facebook on Wednesday by his sister Cathy, who said the piece came 'straight from his heart'.

Mr Hughes begins by painting a picture of the catastrophic fires which have claimed 26 lives and almost 2,000 homes.

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Jim Hughes wrote 'The Burning Bay' one week after a bushfire ripped through his Batemans Bay property on the New South Wales South Coast on New Year's Eve. The poem was posted to Facebook on Wednesday by his sister Cathy, who said the piece came 'straight from his heart'

'Where fires are burning, for over a month and a day, I live on the coast, in sunny Batemans Bay,' the poem begins.

'It's still going on, with no end in sight, there's no other choice, but to stand up and fight.

'I've had my bloody turn, it came on in a hurry, we did the best we could, there was no time to worry.'

Mr Hughes then explained he stayed behind with four others to fight the 'spark' but were unable to match the flames.

'We'll be alright, we'll give it a crack, we did our absolute best, we thought we'd beaten it back.'

'Then up through the gully, came the wind and the roar, we lost water pressure, we couldn't do more.

Mr Hughes heaped praise on the firefighters battling the conditions and the support of the community

Firefighters battle a blaze on properties near Termeil on the Princes Highway between Bateman's Bay and Ulladulla during December

The group then ran to the car to flee and Mr Hughes stopped at a corner to film his house 'burn to the ground'.

'Mine couldn't be saved, when I saw the first tanker, you bloody firebugs and looters, your name rhymes with banker.'

'To know where I live, it was a quiet little street, now six of us are gone, the damage complete.'

Mr Hughes also refers to other New South Wales towns that have been devastated by the bushfires, as well as the wildlife who have perished.

But despite the tragedy, Mr Hughes heaped praise on the firefighters battling the conditions and the support of the community.

'Then there's the firies, the boots on the ground, doing their absolute best, but stretched all around.'

The remains of a house destroyed by a bushfire is seen just outside Batemans Bay in New South Wales on January 2 2020

'The volunteers everywhere, trying to do their best, at all the evac centres, they'll lift your spirits like a welcome guest.

'I have my family and friends, just so much support, my daughter, my angel, she's my trooper, a real sport.'

Mr Hughes concluded by saying his piece was not asking for sympathy but instead encouraging people to donate to the Red Cross, Anglicare and the RFS.

Readers described Mr Hughes words as 'beautiful', despite the tragic circumstances.

'May you have the strength to move forward. Possessions don't define us but it must be excruciating to see all you have worked for taken so easily,' one person said.

'His words explain it so perfectly. My heart aches reading it,' said another.
An east Alabama woman has been convicted in 47 counts of animal cruelty.

Ruth Pauline Staggs, 48, was arrested in October after authorities in Cherokee County found dozens of animals  some dead and some alive  at her Centre home.

Cherokee County Chief Deputy Josh Summerford said at the time of Staggs arrest that deputies responded to her home in the Rock Run community to do a welfare check on Staggs mother. When they arrived, they could not get anyone to answer the door but noticed a large number of animals both inside and outside of the home.

The animals  which included dogs, rabbits and turtles  appeared to be malnourished and neglected. That obviously made them more concerned about the woman they were checking on, Summerford said.

Ultimately, deputies entered the home. According to court records, investigators found two dead turtles, five cats and 40 dogs. At least one of the dogs was dead.

The animals were in wire cages and walking and sleeping in fecal matter. Some had no food or water.

Skaggs mother, who deputies were initially called to check on, was inside the home. She did not have to be hospitalized but the Department of Human Resources was brought in to assist with her.

The Cherokee County Animal Shelter took possession of the animals.

Staggs trial on the misdemeanor charges began Tuesday. According to weisradio.com, Cherokee County sheriffs Investigator Jeremy Stepps testified that the conditions were so horrid, he vomited twice at Staggs house and threw away the clothes he was wearing that day.

Testimony, according to the news outlet, revealed one puppy was dead in the front yard and other puppies were eating the body. In addition to the dead puppy, nine dogs and cats died during treatment because of the severity of their illnesses after they were seized.

Court records show Staggs was sentenced to one year with 30 days to serve in the Cherokee County Detention Center and is prohibited from owning any domesticated animals or livestock. She is scheduled to report to the jail on Jan. 21 and has a restitution hearing scheduled for next week. Staggs will be on supervised probation for two years following her release.
Aussie DJ/producer FISHER is the latest to join the fight against the fires currently ravaging Australia, reportedly raising over $100,000 via his upcoming Dance For Disaster Bushfire Appeal event in Sydney.

FISHER announced the event on January 7th and added that all proceeds from both tickets and bar sales will be donated to NSW Rural Fire Service, Australian Red Cross and similar organisations.

The event sold out the next day and will take place on Sunday.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:

Total money supply in Uzbekistan increased by 13.8 percent in 2019, and amounted to $9.5 billion and the money supply in national currency increased by 14.4 percent ($ 6.5 billion), Trend reports citing Uzbekistans Central Bank.

According to the Central Bank, over the past year, there have been positive changes in the structure of the money supply. In particular, time deposits in national currency grew by 43 percent, including individuals - by 54 percent. The proportion of household deposits in deposits increased from 25 percent to 31 percent, their volume reached $2.1 billion.

Cash in circulation increased by 9.4 percent, which is less than the growth rate of the aggregate money supply. As a result, over the year, the share of cash in the total money supply decreased from 27.6 percent to 26.6 percent.

In general, this trend indicates a gradual increase in public confidence in the banking system and the positive impact of monetary policy on savings activity in the economy, analysts at the Central Bank said.

Thus, the Central Bank's press service reported that the activity of banks in attracting foreign credit lines, as well as in the development of the consumer lending market, has intensified.

As a result, the volume of credit investments in the economy in 2019 increased by 50.9 percent and amounted to $21.7 billion. In particular, loans in national currency increased by 48.7 percent, including 63.5 percent for the population and 53.8 percent in foreign currency.

According to preliminary estimates, with an increase in foreign economic operations by an average of 1.2 times, the current account deficit of the balance of payments at the end of 2019 amounted to $2.8 billion, which is $0.8 billion less than in 2018.

Considering that a significant part of imports was financed from foreign currency loans of banks ($6.2 billion), the formation of a current account deficit at this level did not put significant pressure on the foreign exchange market and, consequently, on the exchange rate, financial analysts say .

According to the Central Bank, the approach taken to ensure the neutrality of gold and foreign exchange reserves made it possible to ensure their safety. As a result, the volume of gold and foreign exchange reserves at the end of 2019 amounted to $28.6 billion, an increase of $2.2 billion compared to the beginning of the year.

In 2019, total demand in the domestic foreign exchange market amounted to $15.5 billion, an increase of 37 percent, while supply increased by 44 percent and reached $11.7 billion.

In order to sterilize excess liquidity arising from the purchase of $3.8 billion in monetary gold, the Central Bank sold foreign currency funds in the amount of $3.5 billion.

Moreover, the Central Banks foreign exchange interventions in 2019 were carried out within the framework of market exchange rates, without affecting the fundamental trend of the exchange rate, the report said.

The dynamics of the exchange rate was formed taking into account supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, reflecting internal and external factors of influence.

In the first half of the year, amid moderate growth in supply and demand, as well as relatively small volumes of interventions compared to target volumes of sales, the exchange rate of the soum to the US dollar during trading sessions on the currency exchange weakened by 2.8 percent.

In July and August, under the influence of the devaluation of the currencies of countries - trading partners and, as a result, increased devaluation expectations, as well as increased demand for foreign currency and Central Bank interventions, the exchange rate was adjusted for these conditions, depreciating by 10.2 percent.

In the following months of the year, Uzbek soum rate remained relatively stable, devaluing by 1.3 percent during September and November, and in December it slightly strengthened by 0.1 percent.

Thus, during 2019, the exchange rate of the national currency to the dollar devalued by 13.9 percent compared to the beginning of the year - from 8,341 to 9,501 soums per US dollar.

---

Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri
In the early 1920s, modern archaeological practices only began to emerge in China after Swedish geologist Johan Gunnar Andersson introduced Western methodologies and led key excavations across Central and West China.



Yangshao Culture, which dates back to between 5000 and 3000 BC and is best known for its colorful pottery vessels, is undoubtedly one of his most important discoveries, one that unveiled China's rich Neolithic heritage.

But because similar patterns were discovered emblazoned on the contemporary ceramics of Cucuteni culture in what today is Romania, Andersson made an arbitrary deduction: Chinese civilization was not original. Instead, he believed, it was introduced from the West via the Eurasian grasslands. This theory influenced academia for decades.

Although Andersson's speculation was later disproved by subsequent archaeological findings in China that reflected the spontaneous roots of Chinese pottery culture, Cucuteni remained a mesmerizing name for generations of Chinese archaeologists: Where did the similarities arise?

In July, four archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences set off on a two-month trip to explore Cucuteni Culture in Romania, on what was the first phase of excavations in the village of Dobrovat, near the city of Iasi in that country's northeast.

"Andersson's archaeological findings and mindset have their limitations," Wen Chenghao, an archaeologist working on the project, tells China Daily. "However, he left a lasting legacy for us. It was necessary for us to gain a comprehensive overview of our own for comparison."

Test of hypothesis

A 6-hectare heritage site in Dobrovat, dating back to around 4300 BC in the early stages of Cucuteni culture, was the focus of their research. The remains of nine houses had been discovered and the earth, which was used to construct them, was found to be scorched.

Charred earth was also found at sites dating back to the Yangshao period in China, and were widely assumed to be a type of consolidated building material.

According to Wen, however, in Dobrovat, the condition of the 20-centimeter-thick blocks of earthsome of them vitrified at a temperature of over 1,000 Cinstead suggested that these dwellings had been deliberately burned to the ground.

"It's likely that these intense fires were not accidentally caused by war or looting," he says. "This may reveal that certain religious rituals took place when people abandoned their homes. This inspired our future studies into similar phenomenon in China."

Since no Cucuteni culture graveyards have yet been discovered, Wen further speculated that Cucuteni burial customs may have dictated that people were burned together with their houses after they had died.

"After being inhabited for years, the houses were no longer treated as wood and earth," Wen says. "Instead, they were thought to be 'alive'and something spiritual."

He says he has learned a lot from his Romanian colleagues.

"When we conducted careful and detailed analysis of these earth structures, just like examining and rebuilding the broken pottery discovered there, they helped us reconstruct the original appearance of these dwellings and reveal an abundance of easily overlooked historical information."

Chinese archaeologists will also help to solve problems at the site.

Since two-thirds of the Dobrovat site is covered by thick forest, most electronic detectors don't work there. Wen says they will take a "Luoyang spade"a traditional tube-shaped testing tool widely used by Chinese archaeologists to examine the layers of soil to locate possible underground relicsto Dobrovat for the second phase of excavations later this year.

Although two months seemed too short a time to completely answer the questions raised by Andersson a century ago, Wen says the hypothesis of communication between the Cucuteni and Yangshao cultures, separated by 7,000 kilometers, seems improbable.

"It was our romantic imagination before we did field research in Dobrovat," he says. "However, despite the similar patterns on the colorful pottery, other unearthed objects from the two cultures appear markedly different.

"Nevertheless, their apparent 'similarities'even the patterns of colorful potteriesseem to reflect that people in different regions shared paths in social development carried over from Neolithic times to the Bronze Age. Comparative cross-cultural studies require an insight into historical precedents rather than by simply examining scattered signals."

In Africa

Thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese archaeologists now have more opportunity to conduct joint archaeological research around the world owning to recent intergovernmental agreements. According to statistics of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, Chinese archaeologists participated in 38 archaeological projects overseas in 2019, cooperating with around 20 countries.

In Kenya, Chinese archaeologists from the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology and Shandong University conducted a joint research project into the origins of modern humansa hot topic in global academia.

They began excavations in September at a site on Lake Bogoria dating back to the mid-Paleolithic period, which in Africa refers to an era between 250,000 and 40,000 years ago.

"Fundamental methodologies of Paleolithic archaeology are basically the same all over the world," Zhao Qingpo, an archaeologist from the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, says. "Consequently, it is really convenient for us to have exchanges with overseas scholars in this field."

Sparse vegetation and continuous rainfall have led to many relics being discovered lying on the open ground. However, it is still not easy to spot them in an area of around 16 square kilometers.

"We can only walk all around the area," Zhao says, recalling the tough but exciting days spent working in the field. "If we traveled in a vehicle, important findings could be easily overlooked."

Zhao and his colleagues identified 14 key excavation sites by Lake Bogoria, where 5,000 pieces of stone toolschoppers, scrapers, adzes and pickaxes, among otherswere unearthed. On a 2-square-meter spot alone, over 700 relics were found within a 15-centimeter-deep layer of earth.

"There is no doubt that the site used to be a workshop," he says. "The adoption of the Levallois technique (a distinctive type of stone knapping) to create these highly standardized stone objects was apparent, where it functioned much like a modern assembly line. The ancient humans who used this process had a strong cognitive ability."

The site at Lake Bogoria was accidentally unearthed by a local villager who was a guide for the Leakey family, a group of renowned British archaeologists credited with many key findings on early-stage humans.

Standing in a local museum, surrounded by a myriad of relics dating back more than 2 million years, Zhao realizes how difficult it is to catch up with Western scholars, who have been studying the origins of humans for over a century.

Nevertheless, for Zhao, traveling to Kenya has not only been an academic pilgrimage. He says through the ongoing project, and following key findings in China in the recent years, Chinese scholars can also have their voices better heard in the study of modern humanswhich is thought to have begun some 200,000 years ago.

According to current Sino-Kenyan agreement, the research on Lake Bogoria site will last for four years, but Zhao expects that to be extended.

"The Leakey family were stationed in Africa for decades," he says. "We need to adopt a similar attitude and focus on one place for a long time. Harvests only follow persistence."

New terrain

After lengthy preparations in 2018, China's first archaeological excavation in Egypt formally kicked off in November. In Luxor, local archaeologists welcomed four Chinese scholars from the Institute of Archaeology, CASS, as part of a joint research project at a key site of the New Kingdom period (16th century-11th century BC).

Academics from the two countries are working together to unveil the splendor of the Temple of Montu, which was dedicated to the Egyptian falcon-god 3,300 years ago, using 3D modeling technology alongside the excavation of the architectural ruins.

French archaeologists worked there in the 1940s and 1950s, but their efforts were curtailed by war and social turmoil, and old findings litter the abandoned site covered by thick grass.

"The stones relics suffer from severe weathering, and many previously recorded inscriptions have disappearedbut luckily most areas remain untouched by archaeologists," says researcher Li Xinwei. "We hope our excavations will help to figure out how this temple was constructed and its status during the New Kingdom period."

He adds that preservation work is involved at every step of their studies. A new warehouse and a workshop for this program had been constructed ahead of the excavation.

For Chinese archaeology, fieldwork in neighboring countries can also help with research back home.

At the Gol Mod No 2 graveyard site in Mongolia, for instance, scholars from the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology and Ulaanbaatar State University joined forces last year to unearth the tombs of Xiongnu noblesthe powerful nomadic ethnic group appearing in ancient Chinese historical records, speculated to be the predecessor of the Hun.

Many exquisite cultural relics were found in two tombs dating to the period of China's Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), including a pair of gilded silver dragons, jade belt hooks and jewels.

The American Journal of Archaeology listed the finding as one of the "top 10 discoveries" of 2019.

Going further north, a team of Chinese archaeologists from the Changchun-based Jilin University worked with their Russian counterparts at Pinchuka-6, a large-scale grave site dating back to between the 4th and 6th centuries that was discovered deep in the Siberian forest.

The Chinese team leader Quan Qiankun says the burial rituals and unearthed bronzeware pieces at the site share similarities with ancient nomadic ethnic groups in northern China.

"It indicates that even people living in the north of Siberia had a connection with North China at that time," Quan says. "A lot of focus is placed on the study of ancient ethnic groups to the north of Chinese border, but a clear picture of what life was like in Siberia remains a mystery to most Chinese archaeologists. It is essential for us to have this program and explore the sphere of influence of East Asian cultures."

"Today's international steps by Chinese archaeologists would have been unimaginable even five years ago," says Bai Yunxiang, a senior researcher from the Institute of Archaeology, CASS. "Frankly speaking, Chinese archaeologists' understanding of foreign sites is still insufficient. More projects will help us join the dots and eventually build a systematic map of knowledge about the culture of other countries."

He also expects Chinese archaeologists to have a growing influence in global academia.

"Archaeologists' broader world view shows their open mind and cultural inclusiveness," says Song Xinchao, deputy director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration. "They'll also help people to better understand today's global issues from a historical perspective."
Iran vows 'more crushing response' to any new US 'mischief'

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 08 January 2020 5:53 AM

Iran's armed forces chief of staff has warned that "any new mischief" by the United States will be met with "a more crushing and decisive response."

"The time has come for the evil rulers of the United States to withdraw their terrorist army forces as quickly as possible from the region," Major General Mohammad Baqeri said on Wednesday.

The overnight retaliation following US assassination of the Middle East's most prominent anti-terror commander demonstrated only a fraction of the capabilities of the Iranian armed forces, he said in a statement.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) hit two US military bases in Iraq with several precision-guided Fateh missiles shortly after Gen. Qassem Soleimani was laid to rest in his hometown of Kerman, with initial reports of many casualties.

"The glorious overnight operation demonstrates only a fraction of the capability of the Islamic Republic of Iran's armed forces and is a response to the terrorist act of the American regime in martyring the honorable commander General Qassem Soleimani," Baqeri said.

"And from now on, any new American mischief will face a stronger, more crushing and wider response," he added.

Tasnim news agency quoted an informed source at the IRGC intelligence organization as saying that at least 104 targets in the region had been pinpointed for attack in case the Americans perpetrated any new aggression.

According to the source, 15 ballistic missiles hit Ain al-Asad air base in Anbar province early Wednesday morning, none of which were intercepted by the radar system of the "terrorist American Army".

"The time now has come for evil rulers of the United States to have a better understanding of the Islamic Republic of Iran's capability in a wide geography of the world and adopt a principled approach," Gen. Baqeri said.

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Willie Walsh led the merger of BA and Spanish airline Iberia to form IAG in 2011 (Nick Morrish/PA)

Willie Walsh has become a key figure in the aviation industry after a 15-year career at the helm of British Airways and International Airlines Group (IAG).

He led the merger of BA and Spanish airline Iberia to form IAG in 2011, and it has since gone on to become one of the worlds largest airline groups after adding a raft of carriers to its stable.

As well as BA and Iberia, IAG also now owns Irelands Aer Lingus, low-cost airlines Vueling and Level, and recently acquired Spanish airline Air Europa.

A former pilot himself, Mr Walsh had already revealed plans last November to retire within two years.

He said at the time that he wanted to step down before his 60th birthday on October 25 2021.

I still love what I do, but my intention is to be retired within the next two years, he told a capital markets briefing last year.

Expand Close Willie Walsh sealed IAGs takeover of Aer Lingus, where he first launched his airline career, in 2015 (PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Willie Walsh sealed IAGs takeover of Aer Lingus, where he first launched his airline career, in 2015 (PA)

But his exit has come a little earlier than expected.

It follows an unfortunate 2019 for BA, which has been forced to warn over profits after a summer of industrial action.

The first pilots strike in BAs history saw the UK flag-carrier cancel thousands of flights in September amid a long-running dispute over pay.

Mr Walsh has not yet disclosed his plans for life after IAG, but will no doubt be asked about this when the group unveils its full-year results on February 28.

Mr Walsh started his career in the industry as a cadet pilot for Aer Lingus in 1979 before working his way up the ranks to become chief executive of the Irish airline in 2001.

He then became chief executive of BA in 2005 until its merger with Iberia six years later, when he was appointed to head up the wider IAG group.

Mr Walsh succeeded in snapping up Aer Lingus in 2015 after overcoming a long-running feud with low-cost Irish rival Ryanair.

Ryanair  led by outspoken boss Michael OLeary  finally agreed to sell its stake in Aer Lingus to IAG, having itself tried to buy the carrier several times.

Mr Walsh and Mr OLeary have been fierce rivals over the years, but have also admitted admiration for each other and have often joined forces on industry issues, such as airlines taxes.

While Mr Walsh will be a hard act to follow at IAG, his successor  Iberia chief executive Luis Gallego  is seen as a strong choice.

James Goodall, airlines analyst at Redburn, said: IAG has good succession planning in place and we see the promotion of Luis Gallego to group chief executive as a good option.

Luis has an exceptional track record, turning around Iberia over the past five years.
Rustem Emiruseinov faces life imprisonment, while other defendants in the case, Arsen Abkhairov and Eskender Abdulganiev, may face up to 20 years in prison.

Prominent Crimean lawyer Emil Kurbedinov has said a preliminary hearing on three Crimean Tatars will be held at the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on January 9.

"The next political trial will be launched of three Crimean Muslim Tatars whom Russia accuses of terrorism...," he wrote on Facebook.

Kurbedinov said his client, Rustem Emiruseinov, faces life imprisonment, while other defendants in the case, Arsen Abkhairov and Eskender Abdulganiev, may face up to 20 years in prison.

Read alsoU.S. calls on Russia to immediately release Crimean Tatar, other Ukrainian prisoners (Video)

During the preliminary hearing, the lawyers of all the defendants will participate via video conference from the Simferopol pretrial detention center.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on February 14, 2019, Russia's FSB Federal Security Service detained three Crimean Tatars after raiding their houses.

According to the Russian media, the men are suspected of setting up a "terrorist cell" and participating in the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, which is designated as a terrorist network in the Russian Federation. At the same time, human rights activists say the detainees are active participants in the Crimean Tatar movement, which is engaged in defending Crimean Tatars' human rights in Russian-occupied Crimea.
Jawaharlal University (JNU) administration on Thursday said that the hostel residents will not be charged for the services and utility during the current registration for 2020 winter semester.

The administration said that the University Grants Commission (UGC), which is a statutory body under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), will bear the cost till further orders.

"As per the record of discussion held in MHRD on resolving the JNU issue on December 10/11, 2019, UGC will bear the cost of Service and Utility charges proposed till further orders," JNU administration said in a circular issued on Thursday.

It said that the administration has already written to the UGC to release the funds towards the service and utility charges in the hostels.

"The matter is being pursued at the appropriate level in the UGC," the circular read.

The HRD Ministry had last month formed a three-member committee to dispel the tension between the students and the university administration over the fee hike.

The university students have been protesting against the fee hike for over the past two months.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The electrical grid may likely represent a prime target after Iran has vowed crushing revenge on the United States following a drone strike that killed its top general, Qassem Soleimani.But the former director of the organization that oversees the power system for the bulk of California says hes not overly worried about a major disruption.We spend a lot of time, money and energy to harden the system so this doesnt happen, said Jim McIntosh , who was director of grid operations from 2000 to 2009 at the California Independent System Operator . And the system is broken up into a lot of pieces. We can isolate areas very readily and keep control of the system. So its a very difficult task to take the grid down  very difficult.Based in Folsom, the California ISO manages the flow of electricity across the high-voltage and long-distance power lines that make up 80 percent of Californias grid, as well as a small part of Nevadas power system. The ISO not only balances the flow of electricity in the state but also makes power purchases to match demand and avoid power outages.I would say we are adequately protected against anything Iran has done in the past and could do at this point, said McIntosh, who spent 13 years at the ISO. They have proven over time that they cant break through the firewalls" put in place to protect the system.Critical infrastructure such as the power grid has come under more intense focus since tensions between the U.S. and Iran have escalated.On Saturday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued an updated threat bulletin that warned Iran maintains a robust cyber program and is capable, at a minimum, of carrying out attacks with temporary disruptive effects against critical infrastructure in the United States.But attempts to disrupt Californias power grid are not new.Last summer, the manager in charge of ensuring the states power system remains safe from cyberattacks told the Union-Tribune the ISO fends off several millions of hacking attempts each month.Spokeswoman Vonette Fontaine said in a statement the California ISOs systems have not experienced any major cyber incidents since the Iranian government promised to retaliate and the ISO coordinates diligently and proactively with federal and state law enforcement agencies to stay in front of potential issues.Fontaine would not say whether the ISO has stepped up its efforts in recent days to prevent any potential attacks on its information technology systems or physical assets.Similarly, a spokeswoman for San Diego Gas & Electric did not go into specifics.We are aware of the recent events involving Iran and the heightened concerns of a cybersecurity threat, said SDG&E communications manager Sara Prince in an email. Our cyber and physical security operations teams are in routine contact with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to stay informed about the latest potential threats and respond quickly to evolving situations.McIntosh said unless a specific threat shows up, I dont think (the states investor-owned utilities) would be doing much more than they always do. ... They have a large group of folks that watch this stuff on a daily basis and would be able to protect their systems. (Southern California) Edison, San Diego (Gas & Electric) and (Pacific Gas & Electric) each have staffs that do this for a living, all the time.At the same time, McIntosh recalled how the ISO had to interrupt electrical loads 13 times during the California energy crisis in 2000 and 2001 that led to rolling blackouts across the state.One of the things that people realized real quick was that if you dont have energy, things go downhill rapidly, McIntosh said in a telephone interview. So if anybody would go and successfully knock out the grid, it would create havoc for California.In 2013, snipers opened fire at a PG&E substation in San Jose and knocked out 17 transformers that supplied electricity to the Silicon Valley. Grid officials avoided a blackout by rerouting power but as the Wall Street Journal reported , it took 27 days to make the necessary repairs to bring the substation back online. No arrests have ever been made.McIntosh said utilities have increased security at physical sites since then.They used to concentrate on 'inside the fence and now they actually look out and have the same type of ground detection movement (technology) that (the government has) put on the border, so that anybody approaching is detected and alarms go off, McIntosh said. Theyve spent millions and millions of dollars.Nationally, the energy sector has become a prime target for cyberattacks in the past decade, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Energy detailing its multiyear security plans.Energy infrastructure and sites experienced more cyber incidents than any other sector between 2013 and 2015, accounting for 35 percent of the 796 incidents reported by sectors accounting for critical infrastructure, according to the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team at the Department of Homeland Security.Attempts to penetrate the U.S. grid have been attributed to Russia and China , and hackers from Iran also targeted at least one American billionaire who is politically active.In October 2013, casino magnate and conservative political donor Sheldon Adelson said while appearing on a panel in New York that the U.S. could counter Irans nuclear ambitions by exploding a warhead in a deserted area of the country.The comments enraged Irans Supreme Leader and four months later, hackers disabled the IT systems of one of Adelsons casinos in Las Vegas and caused $40 million in damages. U.S. intelligence officials traced the attack to Iran
The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) is taking an alleged scammer to task over fraudulent crypto mining activity.

The SEC filed a complaint today against Donald G. Blakstad for raising about $3.5 million from at least 14 investors via allegedly fraudulent securities offers.

The SEC said Blakstad raised the funds through three of his companies: an oil, gas and alternative energy firm; a company formed to acquire a Canadian car parts manufacturer; and a "purported" cryptocurrency mining operation.

Blakstad told investors their cash would be used for "start-up costs" including the purchasing of equipment for the mining operation, according to the SEC's complaint. However, the regulator said Blakstad used the funds as "his own personal piggybank," and used some of the funds to compensate the person who connected him with his investors.

The mining company, Energy Sources International Corporation, was first sprung up in Nevada in 2015 with Blakstad as its President, and allegedly its only employee.

From December 2017 to May 2018, Blakstad purportedly sold securities in the company to at least five people, totaling $550,000. The SEC alleged he then used at least $270,000 of these funds for personal expenditures and issued nearly $60,000 in checks to investors as return on investment despite never turning a profit.

The complaint calls for Blakstad to repay any ill-gotten gains and pay civil penalties, as well as barring him from any officer or director position with any issuer of certain registered securities.
A man from Hanoi was sentenced to death for trafficking up to 3kg of heroin by the Thanh Hoa Court on Tuesday.

Two female Lao drug traffickers are caught while attempting to smuggle 60,000 methamphetamine pills into Vietnam on Tuesday.  VNA/VNS Photo

The court heard that La Van Ha, 32, ran into an old acquaintance  a Lao man named Tua in Que Phong District, Nghe An Province on August 21 last year.

Tua asked him to deliver eight packages of heroin from Que Phong to Hanoi, promising a payment of VND120 million (US$5,100) for the courier job.

The two men then agreed to meet again the next night when Ha received the drugs and hid them in his car.

He started driving towards Hanoi the same night but was stopped by traffic police while passing Tinh Gia District in Thanh Hoa Province.

The police found the drugs while searching his car and arrested him.

Ha was found guilty of delivering drugs in a trial opened by the Thanh Hoa Peoples Court on Tuesday.

Lao drug gang arrested

Four Lao nationals have been arrested while attempting to smuggle 60,000 methamphetamine pills into Vietnam, Quang Binh Province border guard said on Wednesday.

In a joint operation of Vietnamese border guards and Lao security forces, three women and a man, all in their 20s, were discovered on Tuesday afternoon in the border mountainous area in Laos Khammouan Province carrying boxes suspected of containing drugs.

The gang was said to have fought back against officers with weapons and fled into the forest to escape.

The police, however, managed to nab all four after an hour of intense searching in the area.

They also seized the 60,000 pills from the gang members.

Further investigation into the case is ongoing.  VNS

Two Taiwanese drug traffickers arrested in HCM City Two Taiwanese involved in a drug trafficking ring were arrested on December 20 while hiding in Ho Chi Minh City, police said on December 21.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 17:15:22|Editor: mingmei

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LANZHOU, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- On the first day of 2020, Sun Yi finally received the e-mail she had long been waiting for. It contained the final version of her wedding plan.

The plan, which had gone through nearly 10 revisions, offered the 29-year-old a "new Chinese style" wedding ceremony in March, which she described as being "traditional, but not old-fashioned" and "ritualistic but with style."

Since China's opening-up in the late 1970s, influenced by Western culture, many Chinese couples living in big cities favored Western-style wedding ceremonies, which they thought were more ritualistic and romantic.

However, in recent years, traditional Chinese weddings are back in vogue among the country's newlyweds, as many of them no longer consider Western-style gowns and vows of "I do" an essential part of the wedding ceremony.

Instead, they now prefer wearing Tang Dynasty-style clothes and performing traditional rituals at wedding ceremonies the same way their ancestors did hundreds, even thousands of years ago.

In a traditional Chinese wedding, the couple usually wears red, which symbolizes auspiciousness in the Chinese culture, and the venue of the ceremony is also richly decorated in red. The couple will perform a three-bow ritual, namely to heaven and earth, to their parents and to each other.

In Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province, several wedding planning companies are sparing no effort promoting their "Chinese-style wedding packages," which offer a wide range of choices for wedding plans.

"Chinese-style weddings account for nearly 40 percent of our orders. Customers often need to make reservations six months in advance," said Zhang.

Wang Yiru, a wedding planner in Lanzhou Xinxin Wedding Service Company, said the preparation for a Chinese-style wedding is usually very time-consuming and costly.

Chinese-style wedding ceremonies usually cost more than 40,000 yuan (about 5,775 U.S. dollars) and some even exceed 200,000 yuan. That usually covers the expenses of venue design, photography, make-up services and hiring a wedding MC.

"Wedding ceremonies reflect social and cultural changes. As people's living standards improve, they go for more individualized choices," said Wang Zongli, a professor at Northwest Normal University.

Experts also believe that the revival of Chinese-style weddings is part of a larger social and cultural trend that prizes tradition over modernity.

"With China's economic and social development, many young people are starting to search for their cultural identity, which is also a reflection of their growing cultural confidence," said Zhu Yongbiao, executive director of the Research Center for the Belt and Road of Lanzhou University.
The intelligence briefings given by top Trump administration officials to detail the rationale for an airstrike that has led the US to the brink of war with Iran has been derided by members of both parties in the US Capitol, marking a rare breach of unity in the Republican ranks.

The classified briefings were intended to bring Congress out of the dark on the justification for the airstrike Donald Trump ordered last week that killed Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, Irans second most powerful figure.

But the briefings from top officials including State secretary Mike Pompeo and Defence secretary Mark Esper were quickly slammed by Democrats and at least two prominent Republicans, one of whom who called it probably the worst briefing of his career.

Now I find this insulting and demeaning, not personally, but to the office that each of the 100 senators in this building happen to hold. I find it insulting, and I find it demeaning to the Constitution to which weve all sworn an oath. It is after all the prerogative of the legislative branch to declare war, senator Mike Lee, a Republican, told reporters during a press briefing alongside senator Rand Paul.

Mr Lee added: What we were told over and over again was, look, this action is necessary, this was a bad guy, we had to do it and we cant have division. We cant have division within our ranks, within our government, otherwise it sends a wrong signal to the Iranians. And I just, I think thats completely wrong.

 Mike Lee blasts the Trump administrations post-Iran briefing: 'I find this insulting and demeaning'

US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Show all 35 1 /35 US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures This photo released by the Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office shows a burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, early Friday 3 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures The wreckage of the car in which general Soleimani was travelling when a targeted US airstrike struck outside Baghdad International Airport on 3 January Ahmad Al Mukhtar via Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Demonstrators burn the US and British flags during a protest in Tehran after general Soleimani was killed in a targeted airstrike by American forces Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike. The Pentagon said Thursday that the US military has killed general Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, at the direction of Donald Trump AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn Israeli and US flags as thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of general Soleimani at the hands of America EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of Donald Trump pray at an 'Evangelicals for Trump' campaign event held on the day following the killing of general Soleimani. At the event, the president praised the "flawless strike that eliminated the terrorist ringleader" AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A huge procession of mourners gather in Baghdad for the funeral of general Soleimani on 4 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of Soleimani during an anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iraqis perform a mourning prayer for slain major general Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards at the Great Mosque of Kufa AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A billboard reading 'Death to America and Israel', installed by Iran-backed shiite armed groups at a street in Jadriyah district in Baghdad, Iraq EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him visiting the family of Soleiman KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US flag as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Jalal Feiruznia, looks to a portrait of Soleimani, as he receives condolences at the Iranian embassy, in Beirut, Lebanon AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures People make their way on the street while a screen on the wall of a cinema shows a portrait Soleimani in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Aziz Asmar, one of two Syrian painters who completed a mural following the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani poses next to his creation in the rebel-held Syrian town of Dana in the northwestern province of Idlib AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A demonstration in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures An anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Mujtaba al-Husseini, the representative of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivers a speech in the holy shrine city of Najaf AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US and Israeli flags as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters demonstrate in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shi'ite Muslims hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, in Peshawar, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters, holding a photograph of the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran Massoud Rajavi, outside Downing Street in London PA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn a US flag in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A Syrian man offers sweets to children to mark the killing AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers attend a mourning prayer for Soleimani in Iran's capital Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shout anti American and anti Israel slogans during a protest AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshipers chant slogans during Friday prayers Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A protest against the USA, in Islamabad, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranians burn a US flag in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin, Germany Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol a road in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel. Following morning's killing of Major General Qasem Soleimani, Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement called for the missile strike by Israel's closest ally, to be avenged AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian women take to the streets in Tehran EPA

Mr Lee joined in with many Democrats in decrying the classified briefings, with senator Chuck Schumer saying the Trump administration officials couldnt handle the heat in the briefing room.

As the questions began to get tough, they walked out, the New York Democrat said. There were so many important questions that they did not answer.

Gerry Connolly, a Democrat in the House of Representatives, described the meeting as particularly unhelpful.

Without commenting on content, my reaction to this briefing was it was sophomoric and utterly unconvincing and I believe that more than ever the Congress needs to act to protect the constitutional provisions about war and peace, he said.

I believe the administration is after the fact trying to piece together a rationale for its action that was impulsive, reckless and put this countrys security at risk, he added.

The Trump administration has not made public its full rationale for the airstrike last week, but has said the attack was ordered after Mr Trump determined that an attack against Americans was "imminent".
Most of the upper reaches of Himachal Pradesh, including tourist destinations Shimla, Kufri and Manali, witnessed sub-zero temperatures on Thursday, a day after widespread snowfall across the state, the Meteorological Department said.

The lowest temperature was recorded in tribal Lahaul-Spiti district's administrative centre Keylong at minus 14.6 degrees Celsius and the highest at 16.8 degrees Celsius in Una, it added.

The maximum temperatures across the state were 8 to 9 degrees below the normal during the day.

Meanwhile, 935 snowbound roads in the state, including five national highways and one state highway, remain blocked as per the status available at 4 pm, a state disaster management authority (SDMA) official said.

Train service between Shimla and Kalka was normal, Shimla station superintendent Prince Sethi told PTI. Six up and down trains ran between Shimla and Kalka on both Wednesday and Thursday as usual, bringing relief to tourists stranded due to blockade of road. A separate charter down train was also run on the Shimla-Solan route, he added.

Bus service from the Inter State Bus Terminus in Shimla to Chandigarh, Delhi and other parts resumed on Thursday morning, Officiating Regional Manager (RM) of Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC), Shimla, Rajendra Sharma said.

Sharma told PTI that local bus service from ISBT Shimla to old bus stand, Ghanati, Dhami and Dhalli via Mehli and Malyana was also restarted after clearance of snow on Thursday.

Shimla Police, meanwhile, put out a Facebook post alerting tourists not to travel towards Kufri and Mashobra as the roads were still snow-bound.

The mercury went on a downward spiral across most of the state. The minimum temperature in Kinnaur''s Kalpa was minus 9.1 degrees Celsius, followed by Manali minus at 7.8, Dalhousie at minus 5.6, Kufri at minus 5.2 and Shimla at minus 3.7 degrees Celsius, Shimla Met Centre Director Manmohan Singh said.

The minimum temperature in Solan and Palampur of Kangra district was recorded at minus 0.8 degrees Celsius, Singh said.

He added that the would remain mostly dry in Himachal Pradesh on Friday.

The Met centre forecast rain and snowfall in the middle and the high hills from January 11 to 15, however it issued the 'yellow' warning for Monday only.

The office issues colour-coded warnings to alert people ahead of severe or hazardous that has the potential to cause "damage, widespread disruption or danger to life".

Yellow, the least dangerous of all the weather warnings. It indicates the possibility of severe weather.

Kufri received 58 cm snowfall from Wednesday till 8.30 am on Thursday, followed by Khadrala (56 cm), Theog (52 cm), Bijahi (45 cm), Sarahan (36 cm), Jubbal (31 cm), Shimla (27 cm), Banjar (25 cm), Kalpa (23 cm), Janjehli (20 cm), Mashobra (16 cm), Kumarsen (15 cm) and Rohru and Rajgarh (10 cm each).

Apart from this, Jatton Barrage recorded 47 mm rainfall since Wednesday, followed by Paonta Sahib (41 mm), Nahan (38 mm), Rampur (37 mm), Rajgarh (26 mm), Gohar and Dharamshala (25 mm each), Baldwara (23 mm), Solan (22 mm), Sangrah (17 mm), Rajgarh (16 mm), Pandoh (14 mm) and Arki (11 mm), Singh added.

Power supply has been adversely affected in many areas as 3,883 Dynamic Transformer Rating (DTRs) were disrupted, the SDMA official said, adding that water supply was hit in 67 areas.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dang Tat Thang, general director of Bamboo Airways made the confirmation recently.

After one year in operation, the airline is estimated to have made a pre-tax profit of VND303 billion ($13.17 million) in 2019 and expects to increase the figure to nearly VND1.03 trillion ($44.78 million) this year.

Earlier in December 2019, Thang said that Bamboo Airways planned to launch its Initial Public Offering (IPO) with a starting price of VND60,000 ($2.61). It expects its capitalisation to hit $1 billion after listing.

The airline is considering selecting strategic investors having strong financial capacity and experience, especially those from the US, Japan, and the EU.

Ending 2019, Bamboo Airways conducted nearly 20,000 safe flights with around three million passengers.

It aims to increase its share in the domestic market to 30 per cent in 2020, expand its flight network to 85 routes, including 60 domestic and 25 international ones, and to increase air fleet to 100 aircraft from the current 25, including 12 Boeing Dreamliner 787-9.

On December 22, Bamboo Airways welcomed the first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, becoming the first private airline to operate wide-body aircraft in Vietnam.

Bamboo Airways becomes Vietnams first private airline to operate a wide-body aircraft In the morning of December 22, Bamboo Airways welcomed the first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, becoming the first private ...

Aviation industry seeks private investment The booming aviation sector in Vietnam needs investment from the private sector to ensure that it has adequate airport infrastructure for continued expansion, experts have ...
Expressing solidarity with the Tiranga Rally, the Old City Hyderabad Traders Association on Thursday announced that businesses and shops in the Old City will remain closed on Friday.

Hyderabad: The Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen has made all efforts to ensure the Tiranga Rally scheduled on Friday in Hyderabad a big success. The Muslim United Action Committee is organising the rally from Idgah Miralam to Shastripuram after the Juma prayer against the CAA, NRC and NPR.

Expressing solidarity with the Tiranga Rally, the Old City Hyderabad Traders Association on Thursday announced that businesses and shops in the Old City will remain closed on Friday.

About 50 LED screens have been installed at various places for the convenience of the participants.

The city police has issued traffic advisories to facilitate easy passage of the rally.

National Flags has been hoisted on the buildings and business establishments on the route of the rally. Flexies imprinted with the Preamble of the Indian Constitution have been placed on electricity polls.

MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi is personally monitoring the arrangements. He has instructed the every leader and worker of the party to ensure maximum participation of the people belonging to every community. Workers were distributing National Flags among the youth to bring to the rally.

Group meetings and corner meetings were conducted by all seven MLAs and two MLCs of the party to mobilise people for the rally.

Various associations of professionals, trade organisations and social groups, human rights bodies, doctors, advocates and religious scholars announced their participation in the rally.
Yves here. Its not a secret that graduate students are now members of the precariat. But knowing that intellectually and having a sense of what that means in practice are two different things. This report, from the union organizing effort at Harvard, includes shameful conditions, like graduate students worrying if they can afford to eat, are simply inexcusable at an institution as rich as Harvard. However, Harvard has always been stingy with its help; back when I was a student, the food service workers had to strike for better pay, and the details their union presented on compensation and work conditions then as now did not reflect well on the university.

By Eric Coles, a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) student at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health who researches social determinants of health. Originally published at openDemocracy



Harvard Graduate Students Union  UAW / Facebook

My father was a card-carrying union member for nearly 20 years when he worked as a computer programmer for the state of New Jersey. When I had questions about unions, he would list their achievements in making the lives of workers better, such as improving safety conditions, raising wages, ensuring adequate health benefits, eliminating child labor, and overall protection from the whims of management.

Following my father, I have been a proud member of the Harvard Graduate Students Union since I started to work for Harvard University two years ago. Now, we are on strike, fighting for the same things that my father would have fought for from his union days  fair wages, better healthcare, and protection from discrimination and harassment by supervisors.

It may be difficult to empathize with Harvard student workers. Popular culture often depicts us as privileged elites, like in the movie Good Will Hunting. However, like many of my classmates and coworkers, I am not at all wealthy. During my 3-year program, I will acquire about $70,000 in debt. I am in my early 30s and my new debt burden affects when I start a family, buy a home, and what future jobs I can consider. The wage increase we are fighting for would directly improve my situation.

My story is unfortunately far better than that of some of my classmates. Through a student survey, my school, the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, found out there were students who werent sure they could afford food for themselves. Other students have needed food stamps to get by. Questioning how you can afford food while studying at one of the richest educational institutions in the world is absurd. To my schools credit, they offered assistance to those concerned about money for food over Christmas break. But that is a temporary relief to a full-time problem.

Moreover, I have heard stories of students on the verge of homelessness, sleeping out of cars or bouncing between friends. While the cost of living increases in the Boston area by as much as 3-4% each year, wages in many departments are stagnant. Students who have been at Harvard for five or six years cannot recall any general raises. Others received their first raise only after Massachusetts increased the minimum wage. Year after year, we fall further behind and are slowly being priced out of our communities.

Make no mistake: Harvard has the money to pay us livable wages. Their endowment is valued at $40.9 billion. Last year, this money returned $2.6 billion in investment gains  more than twice as much as the university took in for all tuition costs. In other words, Harvard makes more off the stock market than it does off its students. If the endowment worked full-time, its hourly wage would be over $1.2 million. Our union is asking for pennies in comparison.

The disparity between Harvards wealth and student workers struggles to make ends meet is especially frustrating because I study health inequity  the incredible, and unjust, differences in health across groups of people. My Harvard professors have taught me that income inequality is often the root cause of disparities in health outcomes and life expectancy. Poor health is seen more often in communities which face bigotry, racism, and discrimination, in part due to the chronic stress that marginalized people unjustly face. Many health experts believe that discrimination literally gets under your skin. It has measurable physical and medical consequences.

Thats just as true at Harvard as anywhere else. To improve the situation for student workers, we are fighting for independent and common-sense harassment and discrimination protections that are critical for real accountability. We want all student workers who face discrimination or harassment to have access to neutral, third-party recourse. As Harvards own professors have taught me, this is not just a moral issue, but a health issue. We want to protect current and future student workers from the chronic stress that many face on a daily basis as a result of discriminatory treatment. But so far, Harvard has refused.

I never imagined I would be pleading with the same organization that taught me about health inequities to take action to avoid perpetuating them. Our demand is to take a minute portion of the billions Harvard makes each year, and use that money to ensure all student workers have enough food to eat, an adequate home to sleep in, and affordable healthcare. I am incredibly disappointed that Harvard is fueling the same problems they have trained me to resolve.

Dont let the Harvard name confuse you. We are workers, and we are fighting for the same rights as many unionized staff: fair pay, good health insurance, and protection from abusive supervisors. Though my father was never a Harvard student worker, he would recognize our fight for the same rights, benefits, and protections his union won for him and many others across the country. Our cause is their cause, and like their cause, it must be won.
The meeting assumes importance as the government is in the process of formulating Budget proposals for 2020-21

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is meeting economists and experts at the NITI Aayog to discuss the state of economy and steps to be taken to revive growth which is estimated to drop to 5 percent during the current fiscal.

PM @narendramodi interacting with Economists and Experts in a meeting held at @NITIAayog today. pic.twitter.com/ES5BLAZkl7  PIB India (@PIB_India) January 9, 2020

Among others, the meeting is being attended by Home Minister Amit Shah and other cabinet ministers, besides NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, CEO Amitabh Kant and other senior officials of the think-tank.

Bibek Debroy, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, too is present at the high-level meeting which began Thursday morning here.

The meeting assumes significance as the government is in the process of formulating Budget proposals for 2020-21 the focus of which is likely to be on accelerating economic growth which is estimated to slip to an 11-year low of 5 percent during 2019-20.

The Prime Minister on Monday interacted with top business tycoons to discuss the issues facing the economy and measures needed to boost growth and create jobs.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting her second Union Budget on February 1.

The latest GDP data for the July-September quarter showed a significant further moderation in the pace of economic growth to 4.5 percentthe weakest in six years, with a key contributory factor being a slump in manufacturing output.

The Modi government has undertaken a number of measures to arrest the growth slowdown. In September 2019, it announced a cut in the corporate tax rate to 22 percent from 30 percent.

The government also lowered the tax rate for new manufacturing companies to 15 percent to attract new foreign direct investments. The tax rate reductions bring India in line with rates in other Asian countries.

The government's other initiatives include bank recapitalisation, the mergers of 10 public sector banks into four, support for the auto sector, plans for infrastructure spending, as well as tax benefits for startups.

But experts say none of these measures directly address the widespread weakness in consumption demand, which has been the chief driver of the economy.

Also, financial sector fragilities continue to weigh on the economic growth momentum, with the high level of non-performing loans on the balance-sheets of the public sector banks, constraining their fresh lending.

Furthermore, there are also risks from potential contagion effects from troubled non-bank financial companies (NBFCs) to the balance-sheets of some commercial banks, which could further weigh on the overall pace of credit expansion.

In response to the growth slowdown, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has eased policy rates significantly during 2019, with a series of rate cuts since February 2019.

Further stimulus measures are expected in the upcoming Budget where the focus is likely to be on reforms, including some structural measures such as reducing red tape and boosting foreign direct investment.

The Prime Minister's meeting with industrialists is in the series of discussions that Modi has had during the last couple of weeks to seek suggestions to revive growth.

In the previous meetings, he met Kotak Mahindra Bank CEO Uday Kotak, State Bank of India head Rajnish Kumar, HDFC Bank managing director Aditya Puri, IT industry veteran TV Mohandas Pai; former finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia; Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani, Intel India general manager Nivruti Rai and Tata Consultancy Services chief executive Rajesh Gopinath.

Modi has so far met over 60 entrepreneurs and businessmen from sectors such as FMCG, finance, renewable energy, diamond, retail, textiles, MSMEs and startups and technology.

Follow full coverage of Union Budget 2020-21 here
Photo: Jeff D./Yelp

Looking for a new cocktail bar to check out? Look no further than this new arrival to River West. Called The Dandy Crown, it is located at 694 N. Milwaukee Ave.

The Dandy Crown offers a variety of cocktails, draft beer and other beverages. On the menu, look for the House Old Fashioned cocktail, a Half Ace Bodum IPA from Chicago or a Vandermill Vandy cider from Michigan. Take a look at the full menu here.

According to the business's Facebook page, "Your friendly River West neighborhood cocktail bar is now open!"

The fresh addition has garnered an enthusiastic response thus far, with a 4.5-star rating out of four reviews on Yelp.

Jeff M., who was among the first Yelpers to review the new spot on Jan. 3, wrote, "Awesome new spot for a cocktail. Friendly staff, and great ambiance! I will be back soon."

And Jeff D. wrote, "I opted for the Old Fashioned which had a twist of Pedro Ximenez sherry in it. A nice and wonderful touch to this classic bourbon cocktail. Now for the vibe, I would describe it as a place where you'd want to hang, relax and listen to some smooth classic soul."

Interested? Stop by to welcome the new business to the neighborhood. The Dandy Crown is open from 3 p.m.midnight on Monday, 3 p.m.2 a.m. on Tuesday through Friday, noon3 a.m. on Saturday and noonmidnight on Sunday.

Want to keep your finger on the pulse of new businesses in Chicago? Here's what else opened recently near you.

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.
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In line with the recently communicated business unit structure, Ashland today announced Ashok Kalyana will be joining Ashland, to lead the Life Sciences business unit, effective Jan. 31, 2020. Kalyana will report directly to Guillermo Novo, chairman and chief executive officer.

Most recently, Kalyana led Tate & Lyles Asia Pacific commercial and business development. Prior to that he led specialty materials businesses with Dow Chemical and Rohm and Haas.

Kalyana graduated from Osmania University in Hyderabad, India as a chemical engineer. He later obtained his Master of Science in Chemical Engineering at Florida State University and an MBA at University of Virginias Darden School of Business.

About Ashland

Ashland Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ASH) is a premier global specialty materials company serving customers in a wide range of consumer and industrial markets, including adhesives, architectural coatings, automotive, construction, energy, food and beverage, nutraceuticals, personal care and pharmaceutical. At Ashland, we are approximately 4,700 passionate, tenacious solvers  from renowned scientists and research chemists to talented engineers and plant operators  who thrive on developing practical, innovative and elegant solutions to complex problems for customers in more than 100 countries. Visit ashland.com to learn more.

 Trademark, Ashland or its subsidiaries, registered in various countries.
Nigerians and other foreign nationals resident South Africas Keimoes and Upington areas of Northern Cape Province were on Thursday morning given 12 hours to vacate by the indigenes.

The President of Nigeria Union in South Africa, Adetola Olubajo, made the disclosure in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.

Mr Olubajo said the development was as a result of an ugly incident that took place on Wednesday between a police officer and a Nigerian.

He said that the Nigerian man, an indigene of Abakaliki in Ebonyi State, allegedly stabbed to death the police officer, Nico Visagie, during a disagreement at 5 a.m.

Mr Olubajo said the details of the disagreement were still not very clear as the major witness was also stabbed multiple times and was still in critical condition at the hospital.

After the horrific incident, the community members of Keimoes and environs went on rampage burning and destroying properties belonging to foreign nationals, Nigerians in particular.

These attacks spread to Upington and Nigerians and other foreign nationals were also expelled from Upington.

Prompt Police intervention this morning brought about calm but the situation is still tensed. Some locals were arrested by the police for public disturbance and malicious damage to properties.

They appeared in a magistrates court this morning for bail hearing, he said.

He added that the suspect who stabbed the police officer had been arrested and would appear in court on or before next Monday.

We commend the swift intervention of the members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the arrest of the suspect is a welcome development.

We hope the police will continue to maintain law and order in the area, Mr Olubajo said.

Keimoes is a town in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. It lies on the Orange River and is about halfway between Upington and Kakamas.

(NAN)
SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Board of Directors today approved a $25,000 donation to aid Australian veterinarians who are helping animals impacted by the bushfires ravaging their country. In addition, the AVMA is encouraging its 95,000 members and the general public to consider contributing to relief efforts by donating to the American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF), which will match donations up to $50,000.

"People have been calling us, asking how they can help their colleagues in Australia," said Dr. Janet Donlin, AVMA CEO and AVMF executive director. "This is how you can help."

Both AVMA's $25,000 donation and AVMF's matching donation will be made to the Australian Veterinary Association's (AVA) Benevolent Fund, which provides financial assistance to veterinarians who have lost their own property due to the fires or who have provided charitable care for impacted animals.

For those who would like to donate and help veterinarians help animals, visit the AVMF website and use the AVMF code "Disaster Relief - AVA Benevolent Fund". One hundred percent of all contributions will be directed toward the AVA's Benevolent Fund.

"As part of the global veterinary community, the AVMA and AVMF are grateful to be able to provide this critical support to our colleagues in Australia who are helping save the lives of countless animals," said Dr. John de Jong, chair of the AVMF Board of Directors. "Our thoughts are with all those affected by this devastating disaster."

The Australian wildfires have had staggering, unprecedented impacts on people, animals and the environment. Current reports indicate at least 24 people have died, 2,000 homes have been destroyed and according to a biodiversity expert, an estimated one billion animals, including some species found only in Australia, have perished. In addition, at least 15 million acres of land have burned across the country.

As part of its mission, the AVMF is committed to assisting veterinarians, veterinary students, emergency relief teams and allied health organizations who are helping animals during times of disaster. Since 2018, $200,000 in disaster relief has been granted, including a $10,000 donation to GreaterGood.org this past September to fund relief and recovery efforts from the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian; in 2018, $20,000 was donated to help with relief efforts related to California's wildfires. Following Hurricanes Michael and Florence in Florida, the AVMF donated $20,000 to the Florida Veterinary Medical Association Foundation.

For more information, contact Michael San Filippo, AVMA senior media relations specialist, at 847-732-6194 (cell) or [email protected].

About the American Veterinary Medical Association

The AVMA, founded in 1863, is one of the oldest and largest veterinary medical organizations in the world, with more than 95,000 member veterinarians worldwide engaged in a wide variety of professional activities and dedicated to the art and science of veterinary medicine. Visit avma.org to learn more.

About the American Veterinary Medical Foundation

The American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF) is the charitable arm of the American Veterinary Medical Association, one of the oldest and largest veterinary medical organizations in the world. For more than 55 years, the AVMF has helped veterinarians help animals by providing support for student education, disaster relief, charitable care and research programs. Visit AVMF.org to learn more.

SOURCE American Veterinary Medical Association

Related Links

http://www.avma.org


MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Brian Slipka, managing partner of True North Advisors and president & CEO of the Business Broker Investment Corporation (BBIC), today announced True North Advisors has acquired Peak Development, a leading technology platform for marketing business brokerages and advisors. True North Advisors also owns Sunbelt Business Advisors, a member of the Business Broker Investment Corporation.

"By bringing together Peak Development with Sunbelt Business Advisors  with an eye towards the BBIC  we will be able to work more closely and apply best practices for the benefit of both buyers and sellers of small, mid-sized, and franchise businesses. All the members of the BBIC can now benefit from the best-in-industry business development programs and broker recruitment protocols developed in the relationship between Peak and the ever growing BBIC," said Slipka. "Powered by Peak, the BBIC will be a dominant force in the business brokerage industry."

"Today's acquisition will allow BBIC member brokerages to increase their enterprise value and to offer more effective service to buyers and sellers of businesses," said Slipka. "We are acquiring a powerful lead-generation and business-development engine that will benefit the BBIC's members and create an ecosystem of growth and innovation. This is just another reason why many of the more successful business brokerages and advisory firms are being considered for membership in the BBIC."

"This is also another demonstration of how the BBIC is benefiting its members by defragmenting the business brokerage industry and leveraging its collective resources," said Slipka. "As the only investible vehicle that provides access to small, midsized, and franchise businesses, BBIC is a conduit to the engine that drives 42% of the $19.3 trillion U.S. economy."

Peak was founded by Aaron Thom in 2013. "My goal was to create a bolt-on business development firm that could feed business brokers deals from anywhere in North America," said Thom. "We started out to solve a problem. There was a disconnect between business owners and business brokers. Many owners didn't know brokers could help with selling their business. On the flip side, business brokers have always wanted high quality deal flow with motivated sellers." To date, the Peak platform and playbook have sourced deals in nearly every state in the US and also in Canada, totaling over $700,000,000.

Minneapolis-based BBIC (bbicnow.com) is an affiliation of business brokerages that serves its members by defragmenting, institutionalizing, and legitimizing the business brokerage industry and by leveraging its collective resources to benefit its members and the small, midsized, and franchise business owners they serve.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Sunbelt Business Advisors (sunbeltmidwest.com) has offices in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota; Chicago, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Fargo, North Dakota. Sunbelt's proprietary website lists more businesses for sale and drives more buyer traffic than any other broker website.

Also headquartered in Minneapolis, Peak Business Development (peakbizdev.com) applies an industry-leading omni-channel approach to generate live meetings for business brokerages.

SOURCE Business Broker Investment Corporation

Related Links

http://bbicnow.com


The Duke and Duchess of Sussex prompted headlines across the world with the announcement they would step back as senior members of the royal family on Wednesday.

An announcement made by the couple on Instagram instantly gave rise to widespread reports of disgruntlement among family members, with the Queen said to be furious at not being consulted prior to the decision.

As it quickly became a leading trend on social media, the term Megxit was splashed across a series of front pages across the world, with the New York Times describing Meghans impact on the royal family as Yoko Ono-like.

The newspaper noted there had been royals who left the family before, including the late Princess Diana when she lost her title after divorcing Prince Charles in 1996, and Prince Andrew who has been all but banished after his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein became the subject of scrutiny last year.

There is no precedent for Harry and Meghans situation, it added. Meghan and Harrys desire to break free from royal traditions and renounce the usual menu of royal obligations speaks directly to the challenges facing the monarchy as the reign of the queen, now 93, enters its final years.

World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down Show all 24 1 /24 World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down US World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down Canada World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down Italy World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down UK World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down UK World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down US World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down Canada World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down UK World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down Argentina World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down US World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down UK World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down Belgiam World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down UK World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down US World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down Brazil World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down UK World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down Chile World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down UK World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down UK World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down Belgiam World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down UK World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down Canada World reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan stepping down UK

USA Todays headline asked if the couple were really aware of the implications of their decision, asking: What are Harry and Meghan thinking?

Sally Bedell Smith, an American biographer for Diana, told USA Today: You would think that Harry would know that you cant just go off and make decisions without taking advice.

For them to have cooked this up all by themselves  I think is a real violation of the way the royal family is supposed to operate.

The front page of the New York Post poked fun at the idea of Harry and Meghan leading commoner lives, superimposing their faces on a couple in bathrobes and holding cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.

NYP writer Maureen Callahan wrote straightforwardly: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are hypocrites  abdicate or stay!

Going forward, they should have to pay for their own security, their own travel, their own staff, their own homes and upkeep and childcare.

To employ a cliche: They are having their cake and eating it too, she added.

In Canada, where the couple said they plan to "balance their time" between there and the UK, the press appears welcoming. The Toronto Star's headline said: "Harry and Meghan, you're finally free - now come to Canada, where you belong."

In response to the couples stated desire to become financially independent, Bloomberg offered advice and suggested they take up public speaking.

It said Harry could earn nearly US$500,000 per appearance, almost as much as former US president Barack Obama.

Vanity Fair sided with Harry and Meghan, calling out British media tabloids' unfair coverage as a big reason for the couples decision.

The poor treatment of Meghan by the press has not gone unnoticed by the British public, with 39 percent suggesting she is treated least favourably.

Elsewhere, the Sydney Morning Herald drew parallels between the Duke and Duchess planned exit with the abdication of then-King Edward VIII in 1936.

Edward gave up his royal title after confirming his plan to marry American Wallis Simpson, who was disapproved of because she was a divorcee.

SMH wrote: To some, Meghan is seen as an ambitious American whose arrival and brand-focused Hollywood style has served to widen the gulf between Harry and his family.

She has brought an American PR methodology to an antiquated British institution. That the system is rejecting change, like foreign antibodies in a blue bloodstream, is hardly surprising.

Cartoonist Matt Goldings contribution to Australian newspaper The Age was a comic of Prince Harry saying: King Arthur removed a sword from a stone and now I will attempt to remove a silver spoon from my mouth.

The New Zealand Herald pinpointed the arrival of the couple's son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, was born as the pivotal moment that "things irretrievably broke for the Sussexes", with the headline: "The moment that ruined Meghan and Harry's royal career".

Across the Channel, French newspaper Le FIgaro quoted royalty specialist Stephane Bern in a headline which read: "English taxpayers no longer want to pay for Meghan and Harry".

He said: "Gone are the days when the English paid for everyone [in the royal family] without wondering why; today, it has to be worth what it costs, that those who are not the core show that they earn a living and are independent."

German newspapers took a more pragmatic approach, with Bild scrutinising how much Meghan and Harry would be giving up by withdrawing from their current roles.

Independent weekly Die Zeit carried the headline "Even the Queen has a shortage of skilled workers", comparing the royals' duties in "waving and greeting" to the "realms of bakers, plumbers and tilers".
Cancer patients could soon have their entire course of treatment in less than a second, according to new research.

The 'quickfire cure' is on the horizon after scientists identified the theoretical dose that would be needed.

It would end the harrowing and grueling ordeal of regular hospital visits faced by millions around the world - that can go on for months.

The pioneering technique uses charged particles instead of conventional X-rays to deliver radiotherapy.

It allows high-energy protons to be targeted directly at a tumor - causing fewer side-effects. Known as FLASH radiotherapy, it is set to revolutionize oncology.

The groundbreaking study also showed it had the same effect on tumors as traditional radiation - while sparing healthy tissue due to the shorter exposure time.

Radiation therapy for cancer is typically delivered in daily 10 minute sessions for five to eight weeks, but the new method uses protons to give a full course of treatment's worth of radiation in a single second, according to the new study

'This is the first time anyone has published findings that demonstrate the feasibility of using protons - rather than electrons - to generate FLASH doses, with an accelerator currently used for clinical treatments,' said co-senior author Dr James Metz, director of the Roberts Proton Therapy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

The study published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics generated the required dose with protons.

Even in a lab setting specific tools had to be developed to effectively and accurately measure the radiation. Standard detectors were rapidly saturated due to the high levels.

Other research teams have produced similar doses using electrons. But these do not penetrate deep enough into the body to be clinically useful, said Prof Metz.

Other groups have tried the approach with conventional photons. But current devices do not have the ability to generate the necessary dosage.

With technical modifications the currently available accelerators for protons can achieve sufficient FLASH doses that are biologically effective, said Prof Metz.

The Roberts Proton Therapy Center includes a dedicated research room to run such experiments.

Investigators can use photon and proton radiation side-by-side just feet from the clinic.

It's one of the few facilities in the world with those unique features. This infrastructure is what made the tests possible, said Prof Metz.

He said: 'We've been able to develop specialized systems in the research room to generate FLASH doses, demonstrate that we can control the proton beam and perform a large number of experiments to help us understand the implications of FLASH radiation that we simply could not have done with a more traditional research set-up.'

His team are already beginning to optimize how they would use this down the road for clinical trials.

This includes taking the necessary steps to translate the ability from the research room to a clinical space, as well as designing a delivery system for FLASH in humans.

Proton therapy is so highly targeted it can avoid healthy tissue - particularly organs behind the tumour.

Radiotherapy can lead to side effects such as nausea and can sometimes disrupt how some organs function.

This means it's effective for treating cancer that affects critical areas, such as brain cancer.

There were 17 million new cases of cancer worldwide in 2018. The four most common types occurring are those of the lung, breast, bowel and prostate gland.

These four account for more than four in ten of all cancers diagnosed. Globally there will be 27.5 million new cases of cancer each year by 2040.
Australias bushfire crisis has arrived to such a tragic and critical apex that the smoke from the climate change-fuelled fires has travelled nearly 10,000 miles to South America and may have reached the Antarctic, according to a terrifying report released by the United Nations World Meteorological Organization on Tuesday, as reported by Reuters.

But skies as far away as over central Chile have now gone grey because of the smoke and the WMO cited reports that the sunset in Argentinas capital, Buenos Aires, had turned red, said Reuters. The fires, which have raged for months in Australia, have already emitted 400 megatonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and produced harmful pollutants, the article went on to paraphrase the EUs Copernicus monitoring programme.

The possible arrival of smoke from the bush fires to Antarctica is of particular concern, as soot deposits darken the ice and speed their melting, thereby contributing to even greater rates of global warming in a vicious cycle that will lead to more of these kinds of catastrophic fires. Brown sooty deposits have already been reported on glaciers in New Zealand, potentially accelerating the rate at which they are melting, the Copernicus programme told Reuters.

In another ironically appropriate twist, at the same time that Australia is experiencing the dramatic tragedy of the bushfires has also overshadowed the countrys recent distinguishment of becoming the worlds single-biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG). A series of new projects around the Australian coast have contributed to global LNG leadership with analysis by the industry consultancy, Energy Quest, calculating that Australia shipped 77.5 million tons of the super-chilled gas in 2019, reported Forbes. For reference, the United States, the worlds fastest growing producer of natural gas, exported less than half that amount, clocking in at just 34.3 million tons of exported LNG in 2019. Also, notably, the tiny gulf country of Qatar came in second for LNG exports at a whopping 75 million tons as estimated by Energy Quest (the official data has not yet been released). Related: Oil Tanks As Trump Claims Iran Is Standing Down

As summed up by Forbes in an article titled Raging Bush Fires Dampen Australias LNG Export Achievement, there is a division in Australia between the fast-growing LNG industry and dissidents who point to fossil fuel emissions and global warming as the impetus of the bushfires. Not everyone in Australia will be impressed with the countrys status as a fossil fuel leader with pressure growing to put a cap on coal production and growing uncertainty about whether being biggest in LNG is a laudable achievement if natural gas is playing a role in global warming and climate change which is said to be fanning the bush fires which have so far killed 24 people and destroyed an estimated 1500 homes, the article reports.

Whats more, the countrys LNG industry is not going to be curbed by the bushfires, but is actually set to continue growing in the next year. Australias exports came from projects in Queensland on the east coast, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, writes Forbes, with more to come as new developments such as the Scarborough and Browse LNG developments move towards formal development commitments.

Much of global demand for LNG is coming from Asia, which has a nearly insatiable hunger for the import, and, in fact, the biggest driver of the increase in Australian LNG exports in the last year was a Japanese-owned project called Ichthys. Mostly thanks to Ichthys, Australian LNG exports increased 11.4 percent in the last year as compared to 2018.

Australia is set to become a fascinating litmus test for the power of public awareness of global warming and the ramifications of greenhouse gas emissions versus the energy industry. If something as dramatically catastrophic as the bushfires do not dampen the growth of the LNG industry on the same soil, it does not bode well for the increasingly important fight against catastrophic climate change.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that Judge James (Jim) Fisher (retired) has been selected as a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals.

The National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals is the foremost professional organization for experienced mediators and arbitrators practicing in the field of civil and commercial conflict resolution. Formed in 2008, members are selected based on peer nominations and due diligence research in each state, under the guidance of our state committees. Members are distinguished by their commitment to excellence in the field of dispute resolution and their reputation within the profession. To learn more about the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, please click here.

Mr. Fisher is Of Counsel in the firms Grand Rapids office. He brings several decades of experience as a successful litigator and distinguished jurist to his active ADR practice. Trained as both a Civil and Domestic mediator, he provides skilled mediation and arbitration services to attorneys and their clients in all types of cases. He has successfully mediated over 400 cases in the last 8 years involving divorce, valuation of closely-held businesses, medical and legal malpractice, personal injury and wrongful death, construction and real estate claims, and estate disputes. He has also arbitrated dozens of disputes in these areas, and for the last two years has served as a Special Master assisting the trial judge with management of discovery disputes arising from the over 200 cases filed against Wolverine Worldwide and 3M in Kent County involving contamination of water wells with PFAS.

Mr. Fisher is a Member and the former Chair of the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission, a commission that was created in 2014 from legislation recommended by Governor Rick Snyders Indigent Defense Advisory Commission. The Commission is mandated to adopt minimum standards for indigent defense systems throughout the state, recommend best practices to local courts, and fund grants to improve these services throughout the state. The Michigan Indigent Defense Commission is responsible for oversight of grants in excess of 100 million dollars each year for improvement of legal services to indigent defendants, and as a result Michigan is now considered a national leader in this area.

Mr. Fisher is on the Board of Directors of Highpoint Community Bank and a former board member of the Michigan Judges Association, Spectrum Pennock Hospital, the YMCA of Barry County, and the Kiwanis Club of Hastings. He was a consultant to the Michigan Supreme Court helping trial courts across the state improve their services and is the recipient of the 2012 Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award for leading Michigans Indigent Defense Advisory Commission. Mr. Fisher received his B.S. from Kettering University and his J.D. from Wayne State University School of Law.

About Dickinson Wright PLLC

Dickinson Wright PLLC is a general practice business law firm with more than 475 attorneys among more than 40 practice areas and 16 industry groups. Headquartered in Detroit and founded in 1878, the firm has 18 offices, including six in Michigan (Detroit, Troy, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Grand Rapids, and Saginaw) and 11 other domestic offices in Austin and El Paso, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Lexington, Ky.; Nashville, Tenn.; Las Vegas and Reno, Nev.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Silicon Valley, Calif.; and Washington, D.C. The firms Canadian office is located in Toronto.

Dickinson Wright offers our clients a distinctive combination of superb client service, exceptional quality, value for fees, industry expertise and business acumen. As one of the few law firms with ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification, Dickinson Wright has built state-of-the-art, independently-verified risk management controls and security processes for our commercial transactions. Dickinson Wright lawyers are known for delivering commercially-oriented advice on sophisticated transactions and have a remarkable record of wins in high-stakes litigation. Dickinson Wright lawyers are regularly cited for their expertise and experience by Chambers, Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and other leading independent law firm evaluating organizations.


A star is set to explode into a "nova" that will be the brightest in the sky by the end of this century, scientists say.

For now, the star known as V Sagittae is very dim. It is so faint that it is hard to find even with a telescope.

But some time around 2083, it will explode and shine with the intensity of Sirius, the brightest star we can see in the night sky. At that point, it will become the most luminous star in our Milky Way galaxy.

When that happens, the star will become involved in a dramatic, violent "death-spiral" that will send out light that will be bright and visible from Earth, astronomers have said.

We now have a strong prediction for the future of V Sge, said Bradley E. Schaefer from Louisiana State University, one of the authors of the new study. Over the next few decades, the star will brighten rapidly.

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Mystic Mountain, a pillar of gas and dust standing at three-light-years tall, bursting with jets of gas from fledgling stars buried within, was captured by Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope in February 2010 Nasa/ESA/STScI Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures The first ever selfie taken on an alien planet, captured by Nasa's Curiosity Rover in the early days of its mission to explore Mars in 2012 Nasa/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Death of a star: This image from Nasa's Chandra X-ray telescope shows the supernova of Tycho, a star in our Milky Way galaxy Nasa Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Arrokoth, the most distant object ever explored, pictured here on 1 January 2019 by a camera on Nasa's New Horizons spaceraft at a distance of 4.1 billion miles from Earth Getty Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory in January 2012. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust Nasa Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures The first ever image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon telescope, as part of a global collaboration involving Nasa, and released on 10 April 2019. The image reveals the black hole at the centre of Messier 87, a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides about 54 million light-years from Earth Getty Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Pluto, as pictured by Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft as it flew over the dwarf planet for the first time ever in July 2015 Nasa/APL/SwRI Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures A coronal mass ejection as seen by the Chandra Observatory in 2019. This is the first time that Chandra has detected this phenomenon from a star other than the Sun Nasa Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks running downhill on the surface Mars were believed to be evidence of contemporary flowing water. It has since been suggested that they may instead be formed by flowing sand Nasa/JPL/University of Arizona Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Morning Aurora: Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station in October 2015 Nasa/Scott Kelly

"Around the year 2083, its accretion rate will rise catastrophically, spilling mass at incredibly high rates onto the white dwarf, with this material blazing away.

"In the final days of this death-spiral, all of the mass from the companion star will fall onto the white dwarf, creating a super-massive wind from the merging star, appearing as bright as Sirius, possibly even as bright as Venus.

V Sge, as it is known for short, is part of a "Cataclysmic Variable". Those CVs consist of normal star that it is in orbit around a white dwarf, and sees the ordinary star's mass gradually dropping onto the white dwarf, and they can often exhibit dramatic, spectacular behaviour as they do.

Even among CVs, V Sge is intense: it is the most extreme of any known, and is 100 times more luminous than all other known examples. It is churning a huge stellar wind that is similar to the one thrown out by the most massive stars as they die.

It has already been getting brighter, and until the last decade it had been getting 10 times as luminous. Scientists were able to confirm that using historical data that showed it had got much more luminous between 1907 and recent years.

That will continue as more of the mass falls away, resulting in a dramatic climax that will see most of the gas fall from the big star into the white dwarf in its last weeks and days.

"This falling mass will release a tremendous amount of gravitational potential energy, driving a stellar wind as never before seen, and raise the system luminosity to just short of that of supernovae at peak," said Professor Schaefer in a statement.

Eventually they will merge into one star, hitting their peak brightness. It will leave behind one single star that has a white dwarf core.

Astronomers were able to use their historical understanding of the strange behaviour of V Sge to predict its future. They say the final merging will happen around 2083, though it could be around 16 years either way.

Thus, V Sge will appear startlingly bright in the night sky, said Schaefer. This is substantially brighter than the all-time brightest known nova (at -0.5) just over a century ago, and the last time any 'guest star' appeared brighter was Kepler's Supernova in the year 1604.

Now people the world over can know that they will see a wondrous guest star shining as the brightest in the sky for a month or so, being pointed at by the Arrow just below Cygnus, the Swan, said Schaefer.
It was unclear whether Trump might have been disclosing new details about what the administration has called an imminent Iranian plot against American interests in the region or whether he was referring to the pro-Iranian protesters who stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad last week, a subject he returned to later in his remarks.
Ex-Fuller Seminary student joins lawsuit over gay marriage ban, sexual ethics standards

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A second Fuller Theological Seminary student has filed a lawsuit against the Christian institution over its ban on noncelibate same-sex relationships.

On Tuesday, Nathan Brittsan, a pastor and graduate student who is in a same-sex marriage, added his name to a lawsuit against the California-based nondenominational seminary.

Brittsan is joining plaintiff Joanna Maxon, who was expelled by Fuller for being in a same-sex marriage. Her suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

This is a civil rights case about two students who were expelled from their graduate program for one reason: they married someone of the same sex, said the amended lawsuit, filed Tuesday, as reported by Pasadena News Now.

Maxon and Brittsan have not said why they chose to attend the seminary, given that it upholds the biblical standard of marriage and sexuality.

Brittsan was expelled from Fuller in September 2017 after being found in violation of the Sexual Standards component of Fullers Community Standards, according to Pasadena News Now.

Becket, a law firm that specializes in religious liberty cases and has successfully argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, has agreed to represent Fuller.

"The claims here are dangerous for faith-based institutions," said Becket attorney Daniel Blomberg in a CBN report.

If the court was to accept them, then they would be harmful to religious groups of all backgrounds and particularly minority religious groups that have beliefs that the majority and the surrounding communities might find unpopular.

Last November, Maxon brought the original suit against Fuller, arguing that her expulsion violated Title IX given that Fuller receives federal funding.

Paul Southwick, an attorney for Maxon, told The Christian Post last year that this was his first case in which the student filed a Title IX lawsuit because they have been expelled for [being in] a same-sex marriage.

The other cases Ive taken on have dealt with gender identity discrimination or related to sexual conduct involving non-married LGBTQ students, Southwick said at the time.

With the legalization of same-sex marriage, institutions like Fuller will be encountering more and more students who are in same-sex marriages, particularly among graduate student populations.

Southwick also told CP that he believed if Fuller wanted to maintain traditional standards for their students, then they must refrain from accepting public money and should not offer its services to the general public.

Passed in 1972, Title IX states that No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

While the term sex in the civil rights law has traditionally been understood as applying only to biological sex, some progressive groups and politicians have sought to interpret it to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

Fuller has an entry on their website called Title IX at Fuller in which they describe unlawful discrimination under Title IX as including sexual discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual violence, such as rape, and sexual exploitation.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 18:30:31|Editor: Lu Hui

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BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese people are enjoying better and healthier lives thanks to the country's sci-tech achievements, studies highlighted at China's annual research awards show.

FEEDING THE NATION

In China, where less than 8 percent of the world's arable land feeds one fifth of the world's people, food security is a priority for many researchers. Three research achievements on rice were recognized in the 2017 National Science and Technology Awards.

Li Jiayang and his researchers - one of the three teams - found the balance of yield and quality in new hybrid rice varieties.

The cultivation of hybrid rice has spread across China for more than four decades. But while yields have increased, many varieties have failed the taste and cooking tests until recently.

Li's team identified the major gene that regulates yield and quality and used molecular breeding technologies to combine high yield and good taste in a new rice variety.

"Good characteristics can be identified in molecular breeding," Li said. They plan to work on "tailored" hybrid rice varieties in future.

Huang Sanwen, of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, won last year's State Natural Science Award for breeding high-yield cucumbers.

With advanced genome sequencing technology, Huang's team mapped the genetic code of cucumbers, shedding light on their origin and evolution.

HEALTHIER LIVES

Professor Li Luming, of Tsinghua University, won first prize in the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award of 2018, for his research on brain pacemakers.

His team made brain pacemakers cheaper, smaller, lighter and more durable, benefiting China's 2 million Parkinson's disease sufferers.

Lung cancer is China's leading deadly cancer. Surgical resection is the key to treat lung cancer in the early and middle stages.

He Jianxing, head of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, created a minimally invasive lung cancer treatment system through technological innovation. Patients can usually get out of bed within hours of the surgery and leave hospital after three days.

Progress in medical science has greatly improved the health level of Chinese people, with average life expectancy rising from 35 in 1949 to 77 in 2018.

CLEANER AIR

In the global drive to curb climate change, China has been consistently delivering on its environmental pledges.

From 2015 to 2017, the government highlighted in its work reports ultra-low emissions from coal-burning power plants.

Gao Xiang and his team developed an ultra-low emissions system to filter pollutants from coal-fired flue gas quickly and cheaply, resulting in cleaner air. It has been successfully trialed in a power plant in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province.

The system can simultaneously remove multi-pollutants, reducing emissions from a coal-fired power plant to a level even lower than that of a natural-gas-burning power plant.

In January 2018, Gao and his team were awarded first prize in the National Technology Invention Award. The Ministry of Science and Technology said the system had drastically reduced pollutants emitted by coal-fired power plants nationwide.
"The AAFP continues to support physicians moving away from receiving payments in an antiquated fee-for-service context," the Academy wrote to CMS Administrator Seema Verma, M.P.H. "Instead, we strongly support efforts to shift primary care payments into alternative payment models and value-based care arrangements that are more consistent with the continuous, comprehensive and longitudinal nature of primary care."

The letter was sent in response to the proposed rule "Modernizing and Clarifying the Physician Self-Referral Regulations" that was published in the Oct. 17, 2019, Federal Register.

The AAFP applauded just such an effort in the OIG's proposed rule "Fraud and Abuse; Revisions To Safe Harbors Under the Anti-Kickback Statute, and Civil Monetary Penalty Rules Regarding Beneficiary Inducements," which was also published in the Oct. 17 Federal Register. At the same time, the Academy advised the OIG to ensure that physicians can focus on patients rather than paperwork.
Weeks after switching on the machines of a new production line near Bangkok, veteran manufacturer Larry Sloven has a quip for the stream of companies leaving China: Elvis has left the building.

After three decades of building up manufacturing bases in China, Sloven helped Capstone International Hong Kong, of which he is managing director, wind one down. Costs were rising before the trade war, but a 25 per cent tariff on the lighting products the company exports back to the United States helped accelerate a shift that was set in motion 18 months ago  moving its production base to Thailand.

Now, despite the fact that lead time to hit the shelves in US stores can take up to 40 days from Thailand, almost twice as long as from China, few retailers are willing to pay the premium price that needs to be charged to keep production in Guangdong.

Even if the tariffs went away tomorrow, most people are not coming back, he said. But I do not believe that most retailers in America understand this process of what a supplier must go through. Nobody will pay the price.

Even if the tariffs went away tomorrow, most people are not coming back. But I do not believe that most retailers in America understand this process of what a supplier must go through. Nobody will pay the price

Larry Sloven

This is a situation playing out in boardrooms around the world, as international companies accept the reality that the US-China phase one trade deal will not materially improve the lay of the land for their Chinese-based operations.

Rising labour and environmental costs, a head-spinning regulatory environment, the ever-looming threat of more and higher tariffs, along with a sharp increase in the perception of risk associated with living and working in China mean that the manufacturing exodus that began at the tail end of the last decade will continue well into this one.

There is acceptance that the Goldilocks Zone provided by Chinas industrial heartlands for the last 30 years  in which the mixture of costs, quality, human resources and infrastructure was just right  will not be matched in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand, Vietnam or anywhere else.

Story continues

This is the right stepping stone, just the start, Sloven said of Thailand. I believe that Vietnam is already full, it's like having a ticket at a bakery, you have to wait in line. Right now, there's no line in Thailand, but it will get full.

As a direct result of trade war tariffs, China has fallen behind Mexico and Canada to become the US third largest trading partner. Before the trade war, it was number one.

Tariffs saw Chinas trade in goods surplus with the US fall by 7.9 per cent in November, according to data released by the US Census Bureau on Tuesday. This was amid a 20.84 per cent fall in Chinese exports to the US from a year earlier, including items like cellphones. US purchases of Chinese goods are now at their lowest point since March 2013.

At the same time, the US has been buying more goods from the countries to which Chinese-based manufacturers are most commonly fleeing.

Compared with June 2018, the month before the trade war began, US imports of goods from Vietnam have soared 51.6 per cent, Thailand 19.7 per cent, Malaysia 11.3 per cent, Indonesia 14.6 per cent, Taiwan 30 per cent and Mexico 12.7 per cent, according to South China Morning Post calculations based on US Census Bureau data for November.

If there were any new year optimism about the US-China trading relationship, it is in scarce supply among foreign manufacturers in China.

For companies exporting to the US, the entire time span of the trade war has sent the message that this isn't going to go away and that they need to rethink things, said John Evans, managing director at Tractus Asia. Evans, who advises firms on relocating from China, said that even with the announcement of a phase-one deal, he has been getting more calls.

There were still a number of companies sitting on the sidelines, even into the last quarter of last year, thinking there'll be a grand resolution. But in reality, its more of a new normal.

This so-called new normal has helped drive a long list of big-name companies out of China, with others choosing to keep a presence but scale back operations to continue selling to the domestic market.

But for every Hasbro, Samsung, Sonos, Sharp, GoPro, Sony or Nintendo, there are a host of small suppliers being forced out due to costs, or because they are pressured to follow their major customers.

For every foreign company that left China in 2019, there were two to three more seriously contemplating doing so and we expect more companies to leave China in 2020 than in 2019

Dan Harris

For every foreign company that left China in 2019, there were two to three more seriously contemplating doing so and we expect more companies to leave China in 2020 than in 2019, wrote Dan Harris, founder of Harris Bricken, an international law firm working extensively in China, in a blog post.

A director at a company supplying accessories to Apple  who spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the topic  said the US tech giant had told them that they should plan to leave China if they were to be kept on as a supplier, forcing them to scout for new production sites in Southeast Asia.

Other exporters that have yet to face US trade war tariffs are making contingency plans due to rising costs and the unpredictability of exporting from China. They are not just American firms, but companies from all over the world.

Allar Peetma is the CEO of Estonian manufacturer Gerardos Toys, which makes rocking horses near Shanghai using moulds made in the European Union. His biggest export market is the US, and his products were due to face a 15 per cent tariff on December 15. This was postponed indefinitely with the announcement of the phase-one trade deal, but Peetma does not seem comforted by the truce.

Our costs are going up, but our customers want the same price, and they dont understand that the costs are rising, he said. Our plan is to produce in the EU. We can use automation which can allow us to keep the costs and prices about the same. And its higher quality than being handmade in China. Our biggest market is the US, so tariffs are of course a worry, but other countries have high [import] taxes for China too, like Brazil and Turkey.

Similarly, Tsutomu Aoi  a manager in the Hong Kong division of Japanese magnetic toymaker Sumaku  said that costs in their plant in the eastern port city of Ningbo have ratcheted up. For some products like action figures, the company has automated processes such as mould injection and spraying at a separate plant in Jiangmen, across the border from Macau. But should the postponed US tariffs eventually hit, production would be quickly switched to Indonesia.

The labour costs are low, but the process is slow. Currently the US forms a small part of our exports but it is a target to grow there this year, said Aoi. The 25 per cent [tariff] would be expensive, thats one of the reasons we have set up in Indonesia, to export to the US from there.

The 25 per cent [tariff] would be expensive, thats one of the reasons we have set up in Indonesia, to export to the US from there

Tsutomu Aoi

French scooter manufacturer Globber, meanwhile, is experiencing 15 to 30 per cent higher costs at its Dongguan plant, in southern China, compared to its previous production base near Hangzhou in the countrys east. New tariffs would make it more expensive to export to the US.

December 15 was good news for us, said CEO Pascal Comte, but he is already thinking of what might come next. In the short term, you cant do anything [about tariffs], you have to pay the costs and it affects sales. Long term for sure, or medium term, the best option is Vietnam. It takes a while to transfer tooling, and to find operations and manpower.

Rarely, however, is the divorce from China a clean one. Sloven at Capstone moved to a new base in Thailand with the help of a Chinese manufacturing partner that still provides many of the components used in their products. It can be a delicate balance, working with a Thai manufacturing partner to ensure that enough of the finished product is made of local content, to qualify for a low-tariff Made in Thailand label.

Weve worked out a formula thats good for both of them so they both can stay in business, he said. Its difficult to get out of China without the help of your Chinese partner.

The company needs to ship a particular form of glue from China that cannot be sourced in Thailand and will also import packaging from there.

You would be amazed at the things that you find out. Its cheaper to produce your packaging in China, put it on a boat, ship it to Thailand than to have a factory in Thailand produce that packaging, Sloven said My point is you cant do this overnight. This is a two year process.

Consultant Evans said that the first wave of companies leaving China started moving 12 to 18 months ago, while the second wave started mid-2019.

A brief period of armistice in the US-China relationship is unlikely to stop more waves in the future, as foreign companies continue to wean themselves off the Chinese manufacturing dream that has helped shape the global economy for the past 30 years.

More from South China Morning Post:

This article Chinas manufacturing exodus set to continue in 2020, despite prospect of trade war deal first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2020.
Houston police are searching for four men who may be tied to a deadly noontime shooting in Sagemont.

Officers were called to the 11800 block of Algonquin Drive shortly after noon Wednesday, according to the Houston Police Department. Paramedics pronounced one man dead on scene while another was taken to a nearby hospital in an unknown condition.
South Korea, not the US or Singapore, is the market where many Vietnamese startups will call for capital, according to Pham Ngoc Huy from Vietnam Silicon Valley.

Huy, who attended a workshop on strengthening resources to attract capital held some days ago, affirmed that South Korea investors want to pour capital into Vietnams startups.

Pham Ngoc Huy from Vietnam Silicon Valley (left)





In the thoughts of many Vietnamese, Singapore is the nearest market for Vietnamese businesses. Vietnams startups also tend to call for capital from the US. However, Vietnam is still not a targeted market for investment funds from these countries, except for highly promising projects.



Meanwhile, South Korean investors have big money and are competing fiercely with each other to find startups to invest in. As the number of good startups in South Korea is limited, they tend to look for startups in other countries. Vietnam is a major choice partly because of business culture similarities.

In general, startups encounter difficulties when activating their business and one of the biggest tasks is seeking capital. In the first phase of operation, it is difficult to access investment funds.

In general, startups encounter difficulties when activating their business and one of the biggest tasks is seeking capital. In the first phase of operation, it is difficult to access investment funds.



When calling for capital, young founders, especially those who finish technology schools, try to show business knowhow and innovative technology. But they tend to overvalue their startups.



Meanwhile, investors, when considering investment opportunities offered by startups, mostly focus on business models and the products' chances for sales. In many cases, startups have relatively good products, but their business model is not clear and they do not receive capital.



if the business model is not clear, it will be very difficult to develop, Huy said.



In order to persuade investors, make friends with them at first, he said.



Meanwhile, the factors about project potential and market are just figures for reference, especially when the figures are unclear when startups are in the early stages of development.



As for technology startups, investors do not focus on potential profits of startups, but analyze the abilities of founders and whether the founders can play any role in investors ecosystems.



According to Huy, the good time for startups to call for capital is when startups have developed for a certain time, and can define their business model, strategy and business structure. At that time, the value of businesses begins to increase.



He said in the first phase of development, startup founders should not think too much about the value of their businesses.



I have met many startups and they overvalued their businesses though they were still developing their products, he said.

Le Ha

Are made-in-Vietnam technology products going to be made by South Koreans or Chinese? Seeing signs of young Asians migrating to Vietnam to work in the technology sector, NextTech president Nguyen Hoa Binh said the so called trend of made-in-Vietnam technology products made by South Korea or China is very likely to happen in Vietnam.
Within certain Houston circles, "Joan Pillow brides" are considered a big deal. And come Jan. 31, they'll become a rare breed.

For more than a decade, Joan Pillow's eponymous bridal salon has been a go-to for locals with designer taste. It's not uncommon for brides-to-be to ring up Pillow immediately after their fiances propose. Access to her second-floor atelier in Highland Village is by appointment only. And back in it's early days, the Joan Pillow Bridal Salon was the only shop in town that carried two of the most coveted names in bridal fashion: Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera.

So on Tuesday, when the silver haired doyenne announced her retirement via social media, aspiring "Joan Pillow brides" spun into panic mode.

"I will stay until the last bride is dressed," Pillow told the Chronicle. "I'm getting all these people calling like crazy, but I'm not taking any new orders. All good things must come to an end."

She's had a great run.

Pillow earned her chops at Neiman Marcus, in the Dallas-based department store chain's prestigious executive program. That's where she learned the ins and outs of the retail business, and later worked alongside company scion Lawrence Marcus.

Then in 1989, Pillow opened her premier bridal salon in Atlanta, GA. A second, luxury showroom followed two decades later in Houston.

Though at the end of this month, she's ready to close that chapter - and her bridal salon's doors - for good.

"I don't know long people expected me to keep doing this," Pillow said with a laugh. She also confirmed that the Atlanta location closed two years ago. "I just decided not to renew my lease. All existing appointments will move to the alterations' studio."

For loyalists like Kathryn Hamilton Swain, founder of Colores Collective, the news came as a shock.

"When (my husband) Colby and I got engaged, I knew that I really wanted an Oscar de la Renta dress. At the time, the only two people who carried Oscar de la Renta were Casa de Novia and Joan Pillow," she said. "Honestly, they made me feel like I was a) one in a million, and b) like I was home."

The Swains had initially planned to tie-the-knot in Vail, Colo. But family dynamics changed, and the couple landed on a venue in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Swain's sales associate, Terry Cohen, handled it all in stride.

"Joan and Terry helped me find a new dress, the absolute dream dress, during a trunk show," Swain recalled. "I'm almost at a loss for words, it was such a divine experience."

The then-bride returned to Joan Pillow Bridal Salon to show off her wedding photos post-honeymoon. "It was like sharing with family. I've always referred people to go there for that very reason."

Swain was so moved that she was inspired to launch Wed to White, a now-defunct e-tailer for wedding-related outfits leading up to the big day.

Margot Trevino Rosson, an attorney, was an atypical bride. She's not the type to bring in inspiration photos or Pinterest boards to her bridal appointment. All she knew was that she didn't want a "big cupcake dress."

"It was when everyone was doing lace, so that's what I thought I wanted," said Rosson. Her mother, Ileana Trevino, knew of Pillow through longtime friend Leisa Holland Nelson. "The dress I actually tried on was pink - well, more of a blush. I'm kind of still kicking myself for not getting it."

Instead, she opted for an ivory version of the strapless, silk Monique Lhuillier gown that took her breath away. Pillow ordered it from her salon's Atlanta outpost.

"It had tulle gathered on one side and a trumpet silhouette," said Rosson. She and husband Charles Rosson exchanged vows at St. Michael's the Archangel Catholic Church and held their reception at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "I put it on and just felt beautiful. I loved that it was a softer, less structured look."

Nelson's daughter, Laura Max Rose, had a special request when she and Ben Rose said "I do."

"Joan has been a friend of my family for a really long time," Rose explained. "When I met my husband, Joan was always very outwardly excited about it. So two days after I got engaged, I went to her store - which sounds crazy, but I kept telling everyone, 'I'm just going to look. I'm not going to get anything!'"

That all went out the window once Rose slipped into one of Romona Keveza's designs. "Joan told me that was the right dress for me, and I took it as the word of God."

And on her big day, Rose asked Pillow to dress her personally. "How you put on a dress can make all the difference. She has this understanding of what it means to be a bride that is a lost art."

Area brides-to-be only have a few weeks left to shop Pillow's curated collection and take advantage of her honed eye.

Nelson, who got engaged over the holidays, will be there to kick off her friend's retirement in style.

"I've dressed so many debutantes who have become my brides. And I've made so many friends, like Leisa, who've become my brides," Pillow said, her voice brimming with excitement. "She called me after the proposal and said, 'Can you believe it? I'm going to be a Joan Pillow bride!"
Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Mostly sunny and bitterly cold. It will feel like it's in the single digits and low teens..

Tonight

Partly cloudy and extremely cold. Wind chills around or below 0 degrees.
The Crime Branch of Mumbai Police arrested fugitive gangster Ejaz Lakdawala, a former associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, from the Patna airport. The Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Crime Branch arrested Lakdawala on Wednesday evening in connection with an extortion case.

He was produced before a local court which remanded him to police custody till January 21.

Lakdawala has been on Indias most wanted list from 1998 when he escaped from Nashik jail. He is wanted in 27 cases of murder and attempt to murder and in 80 cases of threatening businessmen for extortion in Mumbai alone.

We have been planning his arrest since the last two years but we got credible information about him after arresting his cousin brother Sameer Lakdawala in February 2019, said an AEC officer, requesting anonymity.

Sameer was wanted in extortion case in 2012. Later, the AEC also arrested Ezajs elder brother Aquil in April, 2019, who also gave information about Ejazs location.

But it was his daughter Sonia Lakdawala alias Sonia Shaikh who provided maximum information about Ejaz after she was arrested from Mumbai airport on December 29, 2019. Sonia was picked up on tip-off when she was trying to escape to Nepal along with her daughter on a fake passport, added the AEC official.

Later, Sonia was also arrested in second extortion case and threatening a Bandra-based developer on January 6, 2020. Ejaz Lakdawala was also booked in the same case as he was calling the builder from international numbers and threatening and demanding money for two months, said another AEC official.

An ex-student of Bandras St Stanislaus school, Lakdawala started out as an employee in his uncles transport company. In 1993, he killed one Haren Mehta after an altercation at a cricket match for which he was jailed but was acquitted in 1995. During his term in the prison, he came into contact with Sunil Madgaonkar alias Matya who eased him into the world of Mumbais underworld. Matya, a top associate of Chhota Rajan, is also credited to have nurtured Rajans favourite hitman Rohit Verma alias Hammer - who was killed in the 2000 shootout at Bangkok in which Rajan escaped with injuries.

Initially, Lakdawala was among the close confidants of Dawood who used to provide logistical support to D-Company members in Mumbai for extorting money from Bollywood film producers and businessmen. But after Rajan split with Dawood, Lakdawala chose to walk away with Rajan.

Matya gave Lakdawala his first job by asking him to kill Farid Rajji, an aide of Dawood confidant Chhota Shakeel. But Rajji survived the attempt on his life in 1996, and Lakdawala was arrested and sent to Nashik Jail. He escaped from Nashik jail in 1998 and reached Malaysia.

Lakdawala later shifted his base to Bangkok where he associated himself with Chhota Rajan. In 2003, he is believed to have played a major role in the killing of D-Companys chief financier Sharad Shetty in Dubai which saw Shakeel order a hit on Lakdawala. He was shot in a busy market place in Bangkok in 2003, but survived despite being hit by seven bullets. Lakdawala was admitted to a hospital in Bangkok from where he escaped to South Africa, and later to Canada.

His last base of operation was in Nepal, said crime branch sources.
Thersa Emshwiller worried about her family after hearing about the water system shut-down in Parchment. She filters her water in Grand Rapids, but is concerned about people who cant afford to do that.

Kim Conner lived for years in Rockford, and now has PFAS in her well in Cedar Springs. She wonders how many other well-users are exposed to PFAS.

Scott Harveys 38 grandchildren live in and around Plainfield Township, and now Harvey wonders whether establishing new guidelines for PFAS in drinking water will be enough to help them.

Those were among among the 125 people who turned out Wednesday night in Grand Rapids for Michigans first public hearing to get reaction on its attempt to set maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for some types of PFAS in drinking water.

Many speakers thanked the state officials who presented the proposed guidelines for the states drinking water, saying they welcome defining protections from the per- and poly-flurocarbons that affect at least 1.9 Michigan residents.

But they also ask what comes next - and why the proposal calls out only seven of the estimated 5,000 types of the flurocarbons. The next logical step, many said, should be to regulate PFAS that gets into water supplies as a class of chemicals, not by the specific types.

This is a time for Michigan to be courageous, said Lynn McIntosh, the Rockford resident who helped uncover widespread PFAS contamination north of Grand Rapids from Wolverine Worldwide.

The effort to set drinking water standards in Michigan follows statewide sampling of drinking water that started in 2018, when officials learned that about 10 percent of public drinking water supplies contained some level of the chemicals, said Eric Oswald, director of the drinking water unit of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE).

These things were used everywhere, said Oswald as he started the meeting at Grand Valley State Universitys downtown Grand Rapids campus, offering an explanation of not just the ubiquity of PFAS but also some of their chemical characteristics.

Theres a general lack of information, he said, noting that a lack of standards lead us to be concerned about them.

The hearings are the latest step in the two-year journey taken by Michigan to identify PFAS and protect residents from the chemicals.

The state in 2018 convened a work group of scientists to determine health based values for PFAS, determining at the end of that year that the public needed more protection than the accepted practice of following the unenforceable EPA guideline of 70 parts per trillion (ppt) of PFOS and PFOA in drinking water.

That led to EGLE proposing the drinking water standards for seven types of PFAS. The proposed numbers are:

PFNA: 6-ppt

PFOA: 8-ppt

PFOS: 16-ppt

PFHxS: 51-ppt

GenX: 370-ppt

PFBS: 420-ppt

PFHxA: 400,000-ppt

According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), studies of humans exposed to PFAS have shown that certain chemicals can affect the growth, learning, and behavior of infants and older children, lower a womans chance of getting pregnant, interfere with the bodys natural hormones, increase cholesterol levels, affect the immune system and increase the risk of cancer.

The potential health risks for people exposed to the chemicals were threaded through most peoples comments on Wednesday night.

Among them was Sandy Wynn-Stelt of Belmont, the first speaker. She spoke at a Congressional hearing in 2019, urging accountability for the companies that made and used PFAS, and now voiced support for Michigan adopting the MCLs.

Wynn-Stelt lives across the street from the House Street dump owned and operated by Wolverine Worldwide, and a major source of PFAS in the 25-mile plume spreading in Northern Kent County. She and her neighbors have become activists after learning that their wells contain extremely high levels of the chemicals, which Wynn-Stelt blames for her husbands death.

The state action on PFAS in drinking water has been top among the groups goals, she said, since the federal government seems to refuse to act on this.

She welcomes the proposed MCLs. But she also voiced concerns echoed by later speakers that some of the levels may not be low enough, and that regulating PFAS as a class should be a next step.

This is one step in a long journey, she said.

Michigans proposed MCLs would result in regular testing of 2,700 public water supplies, including municipalities and schools. Tests would start out quarterly, then phase to annually if there is a pattern of non-detect.

Oswald said the costs for the statewide sampling are estimated at $6.4 million, with another $11 million likely needed for equipment upgrades to get systems into compliance. Annual operations and maintenance are estimated at $326,000.

As far as benefits, Oswald said, its difficult to quantify health problems that people dont have.

Even with the proposed MCLs, an estimated 25 percent of Michigan residents wont fall under the new regulations because private wells and smaller private systems are covered under local health department regulations, Oswald said.

That was a concern to more than one speaker, with several stating that they wanted to see well-testing incorporated into more protective measures.

Several representative of environmental advocacy groups also were present. Among issues raised by Cyndi Roper of the Michigan branch of the National Resources Defense Council was the need to remove more than just seven types of PFAS from drinking water.

She also raised concerns about corporate accountability.

Its time for industry to accept its responsibility  for allowing chemicals to be released before proving they were safe, she said.

No one spoke against the MCLs. However, Jaime Fleming of the city of Wyoming did not that additional costs of testing are not insignificant, especially for small systems, noting that the rate-payers would likely end up bearing the costs.

The Michigan drinking water rules proposal occurs amid a growing awareness of and response to PFAS contamination nationwide. Multiple states, including New York, New Hampshire, Vermont and California are in the process of developing similar state-level standards.

After the next two public hearings, the MCLs head back to the Environmental Rules Review Committee. Depending on the outcome of the ERRC, the proposal would next head to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules for approval.

The next two public hearings will be:

- Jan. 14, Washtenaw Community College, Towsley Auditorium, Ann Arbor, 5 p.m.

- Jan. 16, Ralph A. Macmullan Conference Center, Roscommon, 5 p.m.

Read the draft rule language here.

Comments can be emailed to: EGLE-PFAS-RuleMaking@Michigan.gov or mailed to Suzann Ruch, Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division, Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, P.O. Box 30817, Lansing, MI 48909. The deadline is Friday, Jan. 31.
Bazaar Corporate Radar | Feb 22, 2021, 12:00 AM IST

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An assessment by an international rescue group has placed Nigeria fourth on the list of top ten countries at great risk of humanitarian crises in 2020.

Amidst growing concerns for the deteriorating humanitarian situation due to upsurge of security crises in 2019, Nigeria has scaled up to the fourth place in the 2020 Watchlist of countries with possibly worsening humanitarian catastrophe as compared to her eighth position in the 2019 Watchlist.

Nigeria rises into the top five in part because of the escalating conflict and resultant humanitarian need both in the Boko-Haram-ravished northeast and in other parts of the country.

Topping the list for the second year in a row is Yemen, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo {DRC) and Syria.

Tagged the 2020 Emergency Watchlist and seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the assessment was carried out by the by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a non-sectarian, non-governmental international relief and development organisation based in the United States, with operations in over 40 countries.

The 2020 Watchlist is dominated by countries that are experiencing internal conflict; nine of the countries in the top ten are experiencing major conflict, with nearly all countries in the Sahel region, from Mali to Sudan.

This reflects the impact of rising conflict-driven by militancy and competition for resources as well as increasing droughts and flooding possibly related to climate change, according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

In many Watchlist countries, it said, prolonged armed conflict has damaged health, sanitation and other infrastructure, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks.

The said countries which make up barely six per cent of the worlds population now host nearly three-quarters of the worlds refugees and have produced more than half of people in need of humanitarian aid.

The IRCs Vice President for Emergencies, Bob Kitchen, in a statement on Tuesday, noted that the countries had changed little since the previous year, alluding to the collective failure of the international community to resolve the root causes of the humanitarian disasters.

Mr Kitchen said democratic leadership and financial support are key in handling humanitarian situations.

Restrictions on humanitarian access and disregard for International Humanitarian Law are major concerns across all Watchlist countries and could significantly undermine the ability of humanitarian actors to respond to these crises and meet growing needs.

The IRC is responding to the crises in all of the countries on the Watchlist (with the exception of Sudan, where the IRC is now registered and moving forward with the re-launch of humanitarian programmes), helping people to survive, recover and gain control of their lives, he added.

In order of risk, top 10 countries most at risk of experiencing the worst humanitarian crises over the coming year: Yemen, DRC, Syria, Nigeria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Somalia and CAR.

Nigerias humanitarian crisis scorecard

Battling a decade-long Boko-Haram insurgency in the northeast, communal violence in north-central areas and rising violence in the northwest, Nigeria is facing a major humanitarian crisis, with high levels of food insecurity, a cholera outbreak and large-scale displacement, according to the IRC.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in 2019, over two million people fled their homes across the north-eastern part of the country, the region most affected by the deadly acts of the terrorists.

About 240,000 fleeing victims have taken shelter at neighboring countries, particularly Niger and Cameroon.

The large-scale displacement in northeastern states (Borno, Adamawa and Yobe), according to the UN, has left 7.1 million people in need of lifesaving assistance, including food, nutrition and healthcare interventions, while over four million others, including children, were vulnerable to food insecurity and malnutrition.

Additionally, it said 1.2 million Nigerians live in inaccessible areas of the northeast which are effectively under the control of armed groups with limited information available about their living conditions but that indications show the humanitarian situation is even more serious there.

Aside from the large-scale displacement in the northeast, the rescue group, quoting a UN report, said more than 500,000 people were displaced internally in northwest and north-central Nigeria due to unclear causes such as banditry, cattle-raiding violence and kidnapping.

With all these, it said Nigeria scored highly for human risk (eight out of ten) as a result of several factors, not least the ongoing internal conflict across the northeast and other areas.

Its natural risk score is relatively low (four) but there is still a risk of drought.

Major flooding also regularly occurs in the center, northeast and around major rivers (Niger and Benue) during the rainy season, most recently affecting about 300,000 people in the northeast as of November 2019 which contributes to a persistent risk of cholera, the IRC wrote in the 2020 Watchlist.

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For vulnerability, Nigeria was adjudged a high score of eight while scoring moderately high for lack of coping capability (seven).

This indicates weak infrastructure and healthcare capacities in addition to a population that was already vulnerable.

There is a sharp contrast between more developed areas like Lagos or Abuja and the situation in

less developed parts of the northwest and northeast.

The latter areas likely face more vulnerable populations and limited response capacity than the national-level scores would suggest, it noted.

Humanitarian Access

With an estimated 1.2 million people who cannot be reached by the humanitarian community, the rescue group believed preserving humanitarian access to the affected population within the current situation in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states will continue to be the most critical and challenging element to ensuring a response commensurate to the needs in 2020 and beyond.

Nigeria scored four (very high) out of five for access constraints, highlighting in particular, restriction of movement within the country, violence against humanitarian personnel and facilities and the impact of ongoing conflict.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how Boko Haram terrorists continued their murderous campaign across Nigerias north-east with major targets on humanitarian aid workers and health personnel.

While top military officers have blamed the inability of troops to end Boko Haram on lack of army aviation, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Farouq has rather faulted the poor management strategy of the military and NGOs for the upsurge and recent attacks on aid-workers while stressing that the presence of security operatives in many of the crisis-ridden areas would make those communities safe and accessible for humanitarian actors to carry out their activities

PREMIUM TIMES also reported how the Nigerian military temporarily forced two major international NGOs  Action Contre la Faim (ACF) and Mercy Corps  to suspend their activities in September and October 2019 after accusing them of assisting armed groups.

2020 Outlook

With rising conflict activity in the northeast throughout the second half of 2019 alongside increasing constraints on humanitarian access, the IRC forecast that humanitarian needs will continue to grow in the region in 2020 and that the ability of humanitarian actors to respond will be even more limited.

Moreover, conflict in the northwest may continue to escalate, particularly if links start to emerge be-tween bandits in the northwest and armed groups active in the Sahel, which could trigger a more significant humanitarian crisis.

Perennial issues like communal conflict in central Nigeria as well as seasonal flooding will further compound the situation in Nigeria, it said.

According to Mr Kitchen, the 2020 Emergency Watchlist will help them to make informed decisions about where to focus our efforts in the coming year.

As these crises evolve, we will continue to track them and provide lifesaving assistance and humanitarian aid to those in need across the globe, he said.
OTTAWA - The launching of Iranian missiles against a base housing Canadian soldiers in Iraq has highlighted a long-standing deficiency for the Canadian Army: the inability to defend against air attacks such as aircraft, rockets and drones.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/1/2020 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This satellite image provided on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, by Middlebury Institute of International Studies and Planet Labs Inc. shows the damage caused from an Iranian missile strike at the Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq. Iran's actions were in response to the U.S. killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani. (Planet Labs Inc./Middlebury Institute of International Studies via AP)

OTTAWA - The launching of Iranian missiles against a base housing Canadian soldiers in Iraq has highlighted a long-standing deficiency for the Canadian Army: the inability to defend against air attacks such as aircraft, rockets and drones.

Iran on Tuesday fired missiles at two military bases in Iraq, including one near the northern city of Irbil that has housed Canadian troops for more than five years as part of the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

No one was injured in the missile attack, which was in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Maj.-Gen. Qassem Soleimani by a U.S. drone last week. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed Wednesday that Canadian soldiers were at the base at the time of the Iranian attack.

Canadian troops in Iraq and elsewhere are routinely deployed with allies who have what are called "ground-based air defences," or GBADs in military parlance, which can include everything from missile interceptors and anti-aircraft guns to electronic jamming devices and lasers.

But Canadian Army spokesperson Karla Gimby said the Iranian missile attack nonetheless demonstrated why a new air-defence system is one of the army's top procurement priorities.

"Iran launching missiles underscores the need for militaries  and the Canadian military  to have GBADs," Gimby said Wednesday, though she added: "It is too early to tell if recent events will impact the GBAD procurement timeline."

Successive Canadian Army commanders have raised the lack of air defences for frontline troops since the military retired the last of its anti-air weapons in 2012.

However, efforts to acquire a new system have been stuck in neutral for years. The Department of National Defence is not expecting delivery of a new system until at least 2026, which is projected to cost between $250 million and $500 million.

Officials have previously suggested that part of the problem is trying to figure out exactly what threats the system will be designed to counter, particularly given rapid advances in technology.

In a recent interview with The Canadian Press, Canadian Army commander Lt.-Gen. Wayne Eyre referenced Iran's use of drones to attack Saudi Arabia's largest oil facility in September as one new airborne threat on the battlefield.

"No army in history has gone to war with all of the resources that it wanted, all the capabilities that it wanted," Eyre said. "That being said, GBAD is one of the ones that I am most concerned about because it is not just a capability shortfall, it's a capability gap. We don't have it."

When the Canadian military put away the last of its anti-air weapons in 2012, it was on the assumption that Canada and its allies would have air superiority in any battle and not have to worry about airborne attacks, said defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

"The Taliban never had any of that kind of stuff. (ISIL) really didn't have any of that kind of stuff," Perry said. "So we've been deploying in places where it hasn't been a problem."

The Iranian attack demonstrates the importance of Canadian troops on the ground being able to protect against airborne threats, he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Jan. 8, 2020.
The lawyer for the fugitive ex-Nissan chief, Carlos Ghosn, appeared before Lebanese prosecutors on Thursday over a non-binding Interpol-issued request to locate and provisionally arrest his client.

It was not immediately clear if Ghosn himself was at the hearing, though local media reported that he was and that he had entered through a side door, reserved for judges and lawyers, to avoid reporters.

Lebanon last week received an Interpol-issued wanted notice, which is a non-binding request to law enforcement agencies worldwide that they locate and provisionally arrest a fugitive.

Ghosn showed up in Lebanon on Dec. 30, after an audacious and improbable escape from surveillance in Japan. On Wednesday, Ghosn spoke to the media for the first time since his escape in a 150-minutes press conference in which he railed at Japanese justice system, accusing it of violating his basic rights.

Ghosn said he had no trust he would get a fair trial in Japan, disputing all allegations against him as "untrue and baseless".

Lebanon and Japan do not have an extradition treaty, and the Interpol notice does not require that Lebanese authorities arrest him. The authorities here have said that Ghosn entered the country on a valid passport, casting doubt on the possibility they would hand him over to Japan.

But in Lebanon, Ghosn separately faces possible legal action over a visit to Israel in 2008 after two Lebanese lawyers submitted a report to the Public Prosecutor's Office saying the trip violated Lebanese law. The two neighbouring countries are technically in a state of war.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin speaks about sanctions against Turkey at a news briefing at the White House in Washington, October 11, 2019.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is pushing to delay a proposed disclosure of Secret Service spending on presidential travel until after the 2020 election, a spokesperson for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said Thursday.

The Trump administration's maneuvering to put off providing cost figures related to the agency's protection of President Donald Trump comes as Mnuchin is in talks with Congress on a bill to move the Secret Service back to the Treasury Department, according to an article Wednesday in The Washington Post, which first reported on Mnuchin's efforts.

The cost of protecting Trump while he is away from the nation's capital has come under scrutiny.

According to the Post, Democrats have demanded that the legislation require the Secret Service, which was transferred from Treasury to the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, report costs related to Trump's travel within 120 days after it is passed. The disclosure would also include costs of protecting Trump's adult children, according to the newspaper.

A Treasury Department spokesperson said in a statement that Mnuchin and Secret Service Director James Murray have been working over "the past several months" to return the Secret Service to the Treasury Department.

"Conversations about the return of the Secret Service to the Treasury Department are ongoing, and we decline to comment on individual aspects of those conversations," the spokesperson said.

The Government Accountability Office published a report in January 2019 finding that federal agencies incurred costs of $13.6 million in a period of just over a month in 2017 when Trump took four trips to his Florida club Mar-a-Lago.
Investigators with the National Police of Ukraine and Ukrainian experts will be working both in Iran and Ukraine.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine has explained the role of Ukrainian units in the investigation of the PS752 crash in Iran.

Chief of the media liaison office of the Interior Ministry Artem Shevchenko said the causes of the tragedy are being established by the Iranian side with the participation of law enforcement units and competent authorities of the countries of aircraft registration and developer, according to the ministry's website.

As the plane is Ukrainian and citizens of Ukraine were among passengers on board, the Office of the Prosecutor General initiated criminal proceedings under Part 3 of Article 276 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The investigation was entrusted to the National Police of Ukraine.

Similar criminal proceedings may be launched in other countries whose citizens died in the crash.

According to the ministry, this is done to legally collect DNA samples from relatives of the victims for identification purposes and then legally attach them to the international investigation files.

Read alsoIran releases preliminary accident report on PS752 crash

In addition, the Ukrainian side will check whether the safety standards on board the aircraft were violated, that's if the Iranian side allows Ukrainian investigators and experts to examine the wreckage, the ministry added.

The government group includes investigators with the National Police and forensic experts with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

National Police investigators and experts will be working both in Iran and Ukraine, including to carry out a comparative study.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Kyiv-bound Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport in the early hours of Wednesday, January 8. It was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members on board. Two passengers and the crew members were Ukrainians. There were also 82 citizens of Iran, 63 citizens of Canada, 10 citizens of Sweden, four citizens of Afghanistan, three citizens of Germany, and three citizens of the United Kingdom. There were no survivors.
NEW YORK - Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has unveiled a rough sketch of his plans to create millions of new jobs focused largely in communities left behind by President Donald Trump.

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This article was published 7/1/2020 (734 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEW YORK - Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has unveiled a rough sketch of his plans to create millions of new jobs focused largely in communities left behind by President Donald Trump.

The billionaire former New York City mayor discussed his prescriptions for the nation's economy during a Wednesday tour across three Midwestern states, featuring stops on the South Side of Chicago, rural Minnesota and Akron, Ohio.

Democratic presidential candidate and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, left, speaks as former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, right, listens during a press conference in Richmond, Va., Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. Bloomberg was making a campaign stop in Richmond and met with Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney as well as McAuliffe. (Bob Brown/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)

While Bloomberg's team declined to release many details, the plan calls for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, sending hundreds of thousands of American workers into apprenticeship programs and ensuring collective bargaining rights for all workers. Bloomberg would also make major new investments in research and development directly to local municipalities and put a special focus on improving access to technology in rural communities.

The reason Im releasing this plan is one of the reasons Im in the race: I know that our economy is working fine for people like me  and people like Donald Trump. But it is badly broken for the vast majority of Americans, said Bloomberg, whose net worth is estimated at roughly $50 billion.

Too much wealth is in too few hands, and its concentrated in too few places, he added. There are a handful of big cities that have boomed. But a lot of the country is stagnating.

Bloomberg did not release the cost of the plan on Wednesday. Nor did his team outline its expectation for the expected impact on job growth and the broader economy. He did not address Trump's tariffs or taxes, although an adviser said the Democratic candidate would release those details in the coming weeks.

There were no measurable goals in the plan to address income inequality. An adviser said that improving income inequality was an organizing principle of Bloomberg's plans for the economy and other policy areas.

There was a particular focus on education and training, which Bloomberg said he'd make the top priority of his vice-president.

Apprenticeships, in which students earn pay and academic credit for on-the-job learning, would play a central role. Bloomberg's plan calls for 1 million students to earn apprenticeship degrees by 2030.

Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City, speaks during a rally at Olive-Harvey College on the Far South Side, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Having joined the presidential race just six weeks ago, Bloomberg is the last major candidate to release an economic plan. And his is the least detailed to date, although his advisers indicate he'll be releasing more details in the coming weeks.

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.

Bloomberg's travel schedule on Wednesday underscored the unusual path to the presidency he's trying to carve. He is bypassing the first four states on the primary calendar  Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina  and devoting the bulk of his time and attention to the many states that hold their primary contests in March.

Those include the three states he's visiting, which he has bombarded with political advertisements in recent weeks.

The 77-year-old Bloomberg is trying to stand out as one of the few candidates with experience in government and business in the Democratic field. He employs thousands today through his media company and non-profit organizations.

I know a lot of candidates say theyre going to create good jobs. But for me, creating good jobs is not something I just talk about. Its something Ive spent my whole career doing, he said. Others shake their fists and point to scapegoats and make promises that they cant deliver on. I think weve had enough of that.

___

Catch up on the 2020 election campaign with AP experts on our weekly politics podcast, Ground Game.
The Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court on Thursday that it is not looking at cutting 64,000 trees in Lucknow for holding a defence exhibition.

The top court asked an activist seeking direction to the Centre and the UP government not to damage, fell, uproot or cut down the trees to approach Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court.

A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant said the high court is seized of a similar matter and the petitioner is at liberty to approach it.

The top court also recorded the statement of senior advocate Ravinder Raizada and advocate Rajeev Dubey, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, that till now neither a single tree has been cut and nor there is any plan to cut any tree for the scheduled defence expo.

On December 18, the top court had sought response from Uttar Pradesh government on a plea by activist Sheela Barse, who said that cutting of huge number of trees is an "inter generational injustice which must be stopped forever".

She said that as per reports, the UP government is planning to remove 64,000 trees in Lucknow for holding the defence expo and it wants the area to be completely cleared by January 15, 2020 so that the land can be handed over to the organisers.

"Unmindful felling of trees is devastating to the nature, it is against inter-generational equity and against the right to life and existence of not just humans but other living beings including trees and the entire living beings dependent on such vegetation," her plea said.

She sought declaration of the inter-generational equity rights of trees and to recognise trees as living entities entitled to rights.

The 11th biennial edition of DefExpo India-2020 is scheduled to be held next month for the first time in Lucknow.

The plea referred to media reports which said that a proposal has been made for displacing 64,000 trees on the banks of river Gomti for DefExpo-2020.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.9

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Southern Gas Corridor, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, will increase competition in Europes gas market, Bert Schoofs, ambassador of Belgium to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkmenistan, told Trend.

"Energy is the main strategic element of Belgian-Azerbaijani economic cooperation. In this regard, I think 2020 is an important year, when the Southern Gas Corridor, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, will be fully commissioned. Belgian company Fluxys holds 19 percent in the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which is the European leg of the Southern Gas Corridor. Fluxys is not a gas producer or consumer, it mainly owns gas infrastructure. In that sense, Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR and Fluxys work well together, as they are complementary in their activities," he said.

Schoofs said the major achievement of the Southern Gas Corridor is that it can transport gas from Azerbaijan and eventually other countries in the region to Europe.

"This is important, because it gives European countries an alternative to other gas corridors. The Southern Gas Corridor will increase competition in Europes gas market. Azerbaijan exports its gas and its territory can be used for transit of gas from other countries as well," the ambassador added.

Noting that some Belgian companies are subcontractors in Azerbaijans energy sector, Schoofs highlighted the bilateral cooperation in renewable energy sphere as well.

"The biggest solar power plant in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Azerbaijan, operating since 2016, has been equipped with technology of Belgian Soltech company. This company is aiming to become active in other parts of Azerbaijan, so the cooperation is already there. This company and other Belgian companies are very interested to have projects in renewable energy sphere in Azerbaijan," he added.

The Southern Gas Corridor project aims to increase and diversify European energy supply by bringing gas resources from the Caspian Sea to markets in Europe.

The Southern Gas Corridor comprises the following four projects: (i) operation of Shah Deniz natural gas-condensate field ("SD1" project) and its full-field development ("SD2'" project), (ii) the operation of the South Caucasus Pipeline ("SCP" project) and its expansion ("SCPX" project), (iii) the construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline ("TANAP" project) and (iv) the construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline ("TAP" project) (SD2, SCPX, TANAP and TAP collectively, the "Projects").

The Projects have an estimated investment cost of approximately $40 billion. Upon completion, the SD2 project will add a further 16 bcm of natural gas per annum to 10.9 bcma (maximum production capacity) already produced under SD1 project.

Total length of the newly constructed SCPX, TANAP and TAP pipelines will be more than 3,200 kilometres.

---

Follow the author on Twitter:@Lyaman_Zeyn
In the midst of spiralling tension between the US and Iran over the killing of an Iranian military commander, India on January 9 said it would like the situation to de-escalate as soon as possible and was monitoring the developments very closely.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar also said India has been in touch with key players including Iran, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar as it has important interests in the region.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is scheduled to visit India next week to attend the Raisina Dialogue, the flagship annual event of the external affairs ministry. Zarif will also hold talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during his stay in Delhi.

"Peace, security and stability in the region is of utmost importance to us. We have important interests in the region and we would like the situation to de-escalate as quickly as possible. We are talking to several stakeholders in the region," Kumar said.

"We are monitoring the situation very closely and will see how it develops in the next few days," he said.

His remarks came a day after Iran said it will welcome any peace initiative by India to de-escalate tensions with the US following the killing of Qasem Soleimani.

Maj Gen Soleimani, 62, the head of Iran's elite al-Quds force and architect of its regional security apparatus, was killed when a US drone fired missiles into a convoy that was leaving the Baghdad International Airport early on Friday. The strike also killed the deputy chief of Iraq's powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force.

On Wednesday, Iran launched over a dozen ballistic missiles targeting at least two bases where US military and coalition forces' are stationed in Iraq. Tehran said it was a "slap in the face" of America.

Soleimani's killing was the most dramatic escalation yet in spiralling tensions between Iran and the US.

India has strategic interests in the Gulf region which is a key source of the country's energy security.

Asked whether India would evacuate Indian citizens from Iran if the situation deteriorates, Kumar said necessary steps will be taken depending on assessment.

"We are committed to safety and security of Indians," he said.

On Chabahar port in Iran, Kumar said the US in the past had shown understanding of the importance of the project to India as well as for connectivity of Afghanistan.
By Donald Kirk





People who split hairs over semantics ask if decapitation is the same as assassination. The debate assumes relevance in the wake of the killing of the Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. No, he wasn't exactly decapitated, meaning his head wasn't literally cut off from the rest of his body though probably not much was left of either after the vehicle in which he was riding from Baghdad airport was struck by a missile fired by a U.S. drone. Was he, however, assassinated or simply a casualty of a war in which thousands have died?



Those who think President Donald Trump ordered a wanton act of murder by having Soleimani killed would say the guy was assassinated. Like a gunman brandishing a rifle or pistol, the man at the controls of the drone, sitting in a plain metallic air-conditioned structure in the Nevada desert, pressed the button that fired the missile that killed the man in the vehicle that was moving like a black ant on a computer screen. Others also died, notably Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of the militias that Iran is spurring on inside Iraq, but Soleimani was the one that Trump wanted. The killing of his sidekick was a bonus.



The decapitation word comes into play since U.S. forces, in the era before Trump abruptly cancelled joint war games with South Koreans after his Singapore summit with Kim Jong-un in June 2018, loved to conduct exercises called "decapitation." The deal was that small tightly-focused units, maybe army special forces or navy SEALS, backed up by fighter jets and observation planes off aircraft carriers, would coordinate on getting the North Korean leader. No, the script didn't call for them to seize him, then decide whether to lop off his head. Rather, they'd practice wiping the target off the map, out of existence, caput, the moment they saw him.



U.S. military people carefully refrained from the somewhat odious term, assassination. Somehow the word didn't sound right. U.S. troops don't assassinate people, do they, that wouldn't be honorable. Then someone decided "decapitation," a carefully rehearsed, finely tuned strike to kill the enemy leader, was respectable. At stake was image. It wouldn't look good for U.S. forces to do an assassination. Better to call it decapitation, cutting off the head of a poisonous snake.



Up in Pyongyang, Kim and his advisers may not see much difference between these two five-syllable, rhyming words. To them what counts is the simplicity with which the U.S. pulled off a strike like that, swooping down to hit the target minutes after it became visible to the eyes in the skies, the satellites, the scopes on the drones, all done stealthily, invisibly, so the victim had not a moment to jump for cover, to fire back.



No one could be more attuned to the danger than Kim, who's exposed in the open when he goes about inspecting an army base here, a chemical plant there, a missile launch facility when he wants to publicize himself pressing the button on a test. All that may be fun, but it's gotta be scary knowing he could be wiped out by a drone like the one that got Soleimani. It may be for that reason that North Korea's state media has been circumspect about commenting on Soleimani's death.



Sure, North Korea supports Iran with thousands of advisers, exchanging the secrets of missile and nuclear technology and exporting short- and mid-range missiles. The two are de facto allies, tightly bound in common cause against their enemy, the U.S. Just because the enemy of my enemy is my friend, however, does not mean Kim wants to rush to his friend's defense, even rhetorically. His people must never know how easy it was for the U.S. to snuff someone.



That realization has to have a certain impact on Kim's nuclear dream, the vision of his country as the world's ninth nuclear-armed power. What good are my nukes, he might be asking himself, against drone strikes that could kill me any time? And how much can I count on the friendship that I so eagerly forged with Trump in our three meetings when there's no telling when or how he'll strike next? As a potential target, Kim is probably not asking which is preferable, assassination or decapitation.





Donald Kirk, www.donaldkirk.com, has been covering war and peace in Asia for decades.


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Swathed in a metallic gold jumpsuit encrusted with rhinestones, 'Bollywood Elvis' struck a pose in the middle of Sydney's Central Station.

Born in Mumbai, Alfred Vaz says his family were big fans of Elvis Presley - the man dubbed the king of rock and roll.

'You won't believe how many people in India are Elvis fans,' Mr Vaz told AAP on Thursday.

A little less congregation: Six Elvis diehards were seen waiting for the Elvis Express train at Central Station on Thursday

Railhouse rock! Elvis impersonator Sean Wright takes a moment to pose for a photo as he board the Elvis Express in Sydney

King of the carriage: Elvis-obsessed Anthony Fenech checks his quiff before boarding the train for Parkes

Rock and roll: Mr Wright pushed along his suitcase as he made his way to the train, where he'll be joined by dozens of fans

Hope it's not all shook up! Mr Wright grabbed a soft drink from a vending machine as he waited for the train

Mr Vaz, who now lives in Denistone, was among hundreds of Elvis tribute artists, lookalikes and fans who flooded Central Station on Thursday ahead of their seven-hour trip west for the 28th Parkes Elvis Festival.

The performer - runner-up in the festival's senior tribute artist competition in 2018 - was wearing a custom-made gold jumpsuit from India.

Presley, who died in 1977, was 'released to us for a very short time,' Mr Vaz said.

'I don't call him the king, I call him the emperor - the king of kings. His music is going to live for centuries.'

Some 27,000 people descended on Parkes for the 2019 event, doubling the regional town's population for the duration of the five-day festival.

A dedicated train - dubbed the Elvis Express - left Central Station before 8.30am amid much fanfare, including live performances and dancers.

Returning to sender? Elivis impersonator John Collins jumps on board the Elvis Express on Thursday morning

They love him tender! Mr Wright (left) and Mayor of Parkes Ken Smith (right) looked rock and roll ready on Thursday

Elvis fever! Elvis impersonators Alfred Vaz (left) and George Booking (right) were among the diehards ready to rock

He's not lonesome tonight! Mr Keth is joined by three other well-heeled Elvis fans as they set off on Thursday

Second-generation Elvis impersonator Anthony Fenech, 24, has been performing for about two years and his father has been an Elvis tribute artist for more than 20 years, touring the US, Asia and Europe.

'I was actually helping my dad, we had a touring company ... and I guess I got sick of being behind the scenes and people just kept saying, you need to get up and do it,' Mr Fenech told AAP.

The pair have done a number of shows together, including on a cruise ship.

'People loved it, the whole father and son thing - it's actually never been done anywhere in the world,' Mr Fenech said.

Mr Fenech and his father also compete against each other.

'He's teaching me the ropes, he's a great mentor and hopefully I'll get past him soon,' he said.

Dolled up in a Priscilla Presley-style black wig, pink cat-eye sunglasses and a Pink Ladies jacket, Nola Bugeja said the festival was on her bucket list.

Three of Ms Bugeja's work colleagues joined her in matching outfits.

'I'm (of) the era of Elvis and Chuck Berry, so I do love rock'n'roll music ... I think we'll have great fun,' Ms Bugeja told AAP.

Draped in a powder-blue jumpsuit with silver studs, Parkes Shire Council mayor Ken Keith said he wears half a dozen outfits during the festival.

'Everyone just loves Elvis and Parkes is just the friendliest town in Australia,' Mr Keith told AAP.
The Bautistas and Palermos (R) enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Mississauga Living Arts Centre on Jan. 8, 2020. (NTD Television)

MISSISSAUGA, CanadaThe Renaissance period may have come to an official close in the 17th century, but theatergoers felt a revival of the arts on Jan. 8, 2020 at the Living Arts Centre.

Shen Yun Performing Arts illuminated the hearts and minds of Mississauga theatergoers tonight with its colorful onstage revival of ancient Chinese culture, arts, beliefs, and legends, a feat one Italian-Canadian felt especially inspired by.

We [Italians] have a multitude of traditions. Some of them seem to be lost in current culture but we hold true to some of them and its inspirational to see that in the production today, some of the old culture showing through. Its nice to see, said Joseph Palermo, a banking director for RBC.

Shen Yun truly is spearheading a modern-day renaissance of authentic Chinese culture. Based in New York, Shen Yun has dispatched seven touring companies to the worlds top venues this year where their unequivocal brand of classical Chinese dance, bel canto singing, live orchestral compositions, and more, impress and inspire such tastemakers as Cate Blanchet, Donna Karan, and others.

Like the artists of the previous Renaissance in Italy who revived ancient Greek arts, Shen Yun artists draw wisdom and inspiration from ancient Chinese culture but are taking their art forms farther than their ancestors could have imagined.

Shen Yun Performing Arts curtain call at the Mississauga Living Arts Centre on Jan. 8, 2020. (Evan Ning/The Epoch Times)

One example of this is the sound of the live orchestra, which is a rich, sonorous Western-style of orchestration, punctuated with distinctly Chinese instruments and melodiesan expert balance of East and West that feels familiar yet exciting to long-time symphony-goers.

Palermo thought this original sound was fantastic, as was all of Shen Yuns Eastern and Western elements.

Its amazing. I think it was fantastic because [the show] was oriented for both English and Chinese [speakers]. I just loved the mix between East and West cultures coming together. In the music, you could hear, the orchestra  both instruments that are East and Western instruments. And the storytelling in both languages is fantastic, Palermo said.

Authentic Chinese culture is divinely-inspired, Shen Yun artists say. A Shen Yun show depicts divine beings on stage and tells their stories of hope, compassion, and the blessings good people receive.

Palermo loved this aspect.

It was great to see. I think it was a learning experience for me, so I enjoyed it. It came through in the music and also in the dancing, you can see the spirituality in it. I really enjoyed it, he said.

Palermo recommends Shen Yun to anyone thinking about going.

Absolutely, its a great show. I saw it on the commercials but its so much nicer, so much better in person.

With reporting by NTD Television and Brett Featherstone.

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.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) speaks while flanked by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) (L), after attending a briefing with administration officials about the situation with Iran, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 8, 2020. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Senators Introduce Resolution Saying Post-9/11 Authorization of Force Doesnt Apply to War With Iran

Senators introduced a bipartisan resolution on Jan. 8 saying the 2001 and 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) doesnt apply to a war with Iran.

Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced the resolution (pdf).

The American people do not want another endless war in the Middle Eastyet what weve seen in recent days is a president willing to make significant military decisions bringing us closer to war without consulting Congress or recognizing that our Constitution gives war making power to Congress, not the president, Merkley said in a statement.

Its time for the Senate to send a clear message: The cost of sending our sons and daughters into danger is too great for any one president to make a singlehanded decision to send our nation into war.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) arrives for a briefing with administration officials about the situation with Iran, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 8, 2020. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

It is time for Congress to stop using previous AUMFs as an excuse to continue abdicating its constitutional responsibility on war, Paul added in a statement. We can take a major step toward reasserting our voice by making it clear the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs do not authorize war with Iran.

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ed Markey, (D-Mass.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) co-sponsored the resolution, along with Democratic presidential contenders Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The resolution was introduced shortly after Congress received classified briefings from top officials in the Trump administration.

The resolution states: Neither the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 10740; 50 U.S.C. 1541 note) nor the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107243; 50 U.S.C. 1541 note) may be interpreted as a statutory authorization for the use of military force against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

A burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike, in Baghdad, Iraq, early on Jan. 2, 2020. (Iraqi Prime Ministers Press Office via AP)

Administration officials have said the authorization for the use of military force passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks provides legal authorization for an airstrike against Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who was hit near Baghdad International Airport last week.

The president exercised Americas clear and inherent right of self-defense to counter this threat. It was a fully authorized action under the 2002 AUMF and was consistent with his constitutional authority as commander-in-chief to defend our nation and our forces against attacks like those that Soleimani has directed in the past and was plotting now, National Security Adviser Robert OBrien said after the strike.

The resolution is one of several introduced in Congress in attempts to halt military action against Iran. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) introduced a war powers resolution last week meant to curb Trumps authority, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Wednesday that a similar resolution would be introduced in the House and voted on the next day.

The war powers resolution was meant to keep the American people safe and would limit the presidents military actions regarding Iran, she said.
A man died at a hospital after a drive-by shooting Wednesday afternoon in southwest Houston, police said.

The shooting was reported at 4 p.m. in the 7500 block of Cook, police said. Another man was wounded and remains hospitalized, police said.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde on Thursday said the importance of heritage trees is invaluable, as we do not take into consideration the oxygen the tree has produced throughout its lifecycle.

The observation came during the hearing of a petition opposing felling of hundreds of heritage trees by the West Bengal government near Kolkata for the construction of a railway overbridge (ROB) and for widening the road to the Bangladesh border.

Chief Justice Bobde said: "When you cut a heritage tree, look at the value of the oxygen the tree produced all these years. Then try to compare it to how much you would have to pay if you were to have to buy it from somewhere." Recalling that the construction of the Nagpur-Jabalpur road, which led to the felling of around 4,000 trees, the Chief Justice said in the legal context, the order was upheld by the High Court, but the enormous loss to nature must not be ignored.

He also said he is in favour of the construction of ROBs, as it saves human lives and also the widening of the road, but it does not mean the authorities concerned stop exploring alternatives.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), said the agencies concerned did not explore the alternatives and the permission was granted to fell heritage trees, which were aged around 80-100 years.

He also cited the impact of global warming and the danger it entails for the human civilisation, as reckoned by climate scientists across the globe.

The Chief Justice also added that trees should not be cut for economic considerations.

"The idea of economics of cutting the tree, and if there is a delay, then we look at the cost attached to this delay in the execution of the project." He observed this case presents the usual dilemma between environmental degradation and development.

Bhushan suggested underpasses could be an alternative to ROB and also the alignment of roads could be changed, which may result in saving the trees.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the West Bengal government, said that the Calcutta High Court had examined all aspects after which it granted permission to fell 356 trees, which is required for ROB and widening of road. Singhvi insisted ROBs will definitely save human lives.

The apex court ordered constitution of a four-member committee comprising three independent specialists and a government representative, to explore alternatives for the project. The committee will report back on the issue after four weeks, and the court will take up the matter after five weeks. The committee of environment experts will examine an alternative to felling of over 350 trees for construction of the ROB and widening of National Highway-112 from Barasat to Petrapole on the Indo-Bangladesh border in West Bengal.

The Calcutta High Court in August 2018 had allowed felling of over 350 trees for widening of Jessore Road, which connects the city to Petrapole. The court put in a condition that five trees will have to be planted for each tree.
- Princess Meghan and hubby Prince Harry announced the decision to step back as senior royals surprising many

- The Duke and Duchess of Sussex seemed tired of the attention and glamour that comes with being senior members of the royal family and decided to 'quit'

- Meghan was compared to the late Princess Diana who was also not into the kind of lifestyle accorded to the royal family

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have made the tough decision to step back as senior royals members to the English throne.

This has put Meghan's role in Harry's life in question and many have now compared her to the late Princess Diana.

READ ALSO: Woman confronts husband's alleged mpango wa kando in dramatic video

READ ALSO: Netizen comes up with hilarious solution to how Miguna Miguna can easily sneak back into Kenya

Many believe the Suit actress was behind the tough decision just as Diana was, to let go off the highly esteemed life.

Cybernauts derived comparisons from the two princesses as they praised the young family for the bold move.

READ ALSO: Comedian Dr Ofweneke announces arrival of third daughter

READ ALSO: Kimada amwanika lofa kilabuni kumtunga mimba

Many said Princess Diana being the mother to Harry would be proud of the two making the resounding decision.

Princess Diana was known to be a lady who made her own rules and never thought of herself as a royal being.

Some also claimed that Prince Harry was tired of seeing her woman being treated badly by the press, the same way as her mother, and saw it wise to cut ties with the hierarchy.

Here are some of the notions of social media users:

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Raila Odinga is behind Miguna miguna's problems - Moses kuria | Tuko TV

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Nearly a month after the controversial measure stalled when a deluge of angry parents stormed the Statehouse in protest, state lawmakers are now poised to pass a bill that would eliminate religion as a recognized reason for children to avoid getting vaccinations required to attend New Jersey schools.

In a surprise, last-minute deal, Democratic leaders of the state Senate agreed to a series of amendments to the legislation to convince a Republican legislator to become the last vote needed for it to pass.

The changes include giving private schools and day care centers in the state the freedom to accept children who arent vaccinated, provided they make public a count of how many enrollees do not have their shots.

The Senate narrowly approved the amendments in an emergency vote in Trenton on Thursday. A final vote is expected to happen Monday, the last full day of New Jerseys two-year legislative session.

Republican state Sen. Declan OScanlon said he agreed to provide Democrats with the deciding vote as long as the measure was made to be more flexible.

OScanlon, R-Monmouth, said he didnt think it was fair that concerned families didnt have an option, other than home-schooling their children.

Its not a perfect solution, OScanlon told NJ Advance Media. But its a justified request and a fair compromise.

NJ Advance Media was the first to report the development Thursday, with sources confirming that OScanlons support gives Democrats the 21 votes needed for the bill (S2173) to pass the Senate and head to Gov. Phil Murphys desk. Thats if the vote count doesnt drop over the weekend.

It all happened as about 1,000 people gathered outside the Statehouse to once again protest the bill for hours in the cold weather.

Kill the bill! Kill the bill! Hundreds of anti-vaccination demonstrators rallied outside the N.J. statehouse today. Lawmakers are deciding whether to eliminate religion as a reason for children not being vaccinated. https://t.co/gBo8UUnHIq pic.twitter.com/HOQ1rpa2Rz  NJ.com (@njdotcom) January 9, 2020

Inside, some shouted from the Senate gallery after the Senate approved the amendments, by a vote of 18-15, around 5:30 p.m.

Murderers!" some yelled. "Traitors! others bellowed.

The scene in the NJ senate after it took a big step towards eliminating the religious vaccine exemption at public schools pic.twitter.com/JKNXckah3p  Matt Friedman (@MattFriedmanNJ) January 9, 2020

State Senate President Stephen Sweeney told reporters he expects the bill to pass Monday when the chamber reconvenes at the Statehouse.

Its very fluid, but I expect to have 21, Sweeney, D-Gloucester said after Thursdays vote. This is not going away. It has to be addressed. This is a public-health issue."

The state Assembly passed the bill Dec. 16, the last session before Christmas and Hanukkah. But with protesters roaring, Senate leaders called off a vote, saying they were one vote short.

Thursday, the outcry was similar, but the outcome was different.

OScanlon said another amendment will require schools to accept unvaccinated children if there is evidence one of their siblings has suffered a vaccine-injury and has received a settlement from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

Those children should have an automatic opt-out, the Republican senator said.

OScanlon said in addition to talking with many vaccine hesitant families, he also spoke to a handful of other families whose children are immune-compromised.

They hold their breaths sending their kids to school, he said.

I think we need to do all we can to maximize vaccine compliance, the lawmaker added.

Now, the stage is set Monday for another clash with potentially thousands of parents and religious leaders who have inundated lawmakers offices with calls and emails for the last month.

In addition to the Senate, the Assembly would have to pass the bill again Monday because its been amended.

If for some reason the bill doesnt pass both houses by noon Tuesday  the official end of the legislative session  lawmakers could take it up again in the new two-year session. Sweeney has vowed it will pass eventually.

Just like they did last month, protestors packed the courtyards outside the Statehouse on Thursday, this time chanting OScanlon vote no! and Amendments wont work!

Women pounded buckets. Scores blew whistles. Bells rang and sirens howled and families shouted into megaphones, the sound so deafening that one protester used his hand to shield his toddlers ears.

Their shouts were audible through the Senate chamber walls, drowning out lawmakers as they spoke inside.

And yes, like the last voting session, you can hearing them protests from outside loudly in the Senate chamber. pic.twitter.com/ph17cwFBwc  Brent Johnson (@johnsb01) January 9, 2020

Start Tweeting at him now, a woman yelled about OScanlon.

Whats his Twitter handle? asked a man with a bullhorn.

So many kids huddled in lawn chairs and under Mylar blankets that some areas looked like an underage Occupy Wall Street. When someone announced that a voting session had begun inside, the crowd broke into the Lords Prayer.

Beata Savreski, 40, drove down from Bergen County, her first trip to Trenton. She has three boys, and she said she doesnt feel like the government should make this type of decision for families.

I want to preserve our rights as parents, Savreski said.

News that the amended bill would allow unvaccinated kids to attend private schools did not appease the masses.

Not everyone has the funds to do that, said Andrea Kelly, 33.

That change would only create a caste system where the rich had a choice, Kelly said. Vaccinations were a private decision between parents and their doctor, she said.

Sue Collins, co-founder of New Jersey Coalition for Vaccination Choice, said loosening the requirements on private schools is unfair to families who cant afford to pay tuition.

This type of amendment will once again allow the wealthy to buy their way out of a law via private schools, Collins said. Unless you have enough money, your religious beliefs are not valid.

A handful of Republican lawmakers said they remained against the bill, even with amendments.

The folks who came over on the Mayflower are all dead, state Sen. Gerald Cardinale, R-Bergen, said on the Senate floor. I think this has them turning over in their graves. This bill is a deliberate attack on religious freedom.

Sen. Joseph Pennachio, R-Morris, said the measure was tantamount to state-sponsored eugenics.

The outbreaks of measles in New Jersey and other states convinced legislative leaders to take a closer look at the growing number of children who request a pass from vaccine laws on religious grounds. There were 13,987 New Jersey students who were granted a religious exemption in the 2018-19 academic year, according to the state Department of Education. In the 2015-16 year, 9,506 students were exempt.

New Jersey requires only a letter from a parent citing a religious exemption for schools and day care centers to grant them. Pediatricians and public health professionals have argued that exemption is really a philosophical one because most religions do not oppose vaccines.

Christian Scientists, who rely on prayer more than medical interventions, are free to make their own choices on all life-decisions, in obedience to the law, including whether or not to vaccinate their children. These arent decisions imposed by their church, according to the Christian Science website.

Many opponents say they have opted-out because embryonic tissue extracted from aborted fetuses in the 1960s is used to make the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. Others said they mistrust the medical and pharmaceutical industries and say that God had created their bodies strong enough without vaccines. They say the measure violates their First Amendment rights.

Should the bill pass Monday, Murphy, the states Democratic governor, to decide whether to sign it into law or veto it. The law would take effect six months after he signs it.

New Jersey would be the sixth state to pass such a law. California, Maine, Mississippi, New York, and West Virginia have eliminated religious exemptions.

Asked about the measure during an unrelated event in Saddle Brook last month, Murphy would not say whether hed sign it. Instead, he said the safety of all nine million residents is job No. 1 for me, and in particular our kids.

EDITORS NOTE: This story has been changed to reflect official position on vaccines by the Christian Science religion.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Blake Nelson contributed to this report.

Thousands of protesters gather outside the Statehouse in Trenton on Thursday to protest the vaccination bill.Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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Kansas City, Missouri, filed a lawsuit against several gun manufacturers and dealers that it claimed were involved in an illegal gun trafficking schemethe first by a major city in a decade.

There is a significant problem with illegal gun trafficking in our city, Mayor Quinton Lucas said at a press conference on Tuesday, reported the Kansas City Star. While a lot of our criminal justice partners make sure they root this out, they address it. There are a lot of private actors who each day create new threats for citizens of Kansas City, for citizens of the entire region.

At the center of the alleged illegal gun sales scheme is Nevada-based manufacturer Jimenez Arms Inc. and former Kansas City Fire Department captain James Samuels, according to the suit that was filed in Jackson County Circuit Court with assistance from the federal nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety.

Samuels reportedly operated as an unlicensed vendor, allegedly purchasing firearms and selling them to uncertified clients and even felons.

Between 2013 and 2018, Samuels trafficked 77 firearms, the majority of which he purchased from Jimenez Arms at wholesale prices, according to the suit. Samuels was arrested and charged in 2018 for federal gun law violations. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held in federal custody at the Leavenworth Detention Center in Kansas, where he is awaiting trial, reported The Wall Street Journal. Samuels could not be reached for comment.

Samuels knew people who wanted cheap handguns but who could not buy them legally. And he knew people like Defendant Iesha Boles, who served as a straw purchaser in Samuels schemeobfuscating the connection between Samuels and the trafficked guns, the suit states.

Jimenez Arms sold 32 guns directly to Samuels at wholesale prices despite knowing that Samuels was not a licensed dealer, according to the suit. On some occasions, the guns were shipped to his home.

The lawsuit claimed the company from its very first transaction with Samuels in November 2013  knew, or consciously avoided knowing, that Samuels was purchasing the firearms for re-sale, something that only a licensee can do.

Other than Samuels and Jimenez Arms, the suit also accuses Suzette Nelson, Iesha Boles, Herb William Butzbach III, and gun manufacturers Mike & Sue Enterprises Inc., Conceal & Carry, CR Sales Firearms LLC, and Mission Ready Gunworks, of being involved in the arms trafficking scheme.

Boles, described in the suit as a straw purchaser, plead guilty in May to falsifying records and illegally transferring ownership of several firearms to another person, reported the Kansas City Star. She is awaiting trial.

There is a whole network of folks who have been involved in creating this harm to the people of Kansas City, Lucas said. Instead of looking at an individual actor  what were doing here is saying that were actually looking at the folks that were a key part of the  organization, added Lucas added, reported the Star.

Today, we took another bold, creative step to curb gun violence by filing a lawsuit against several firearm manufacturers, dealers and individuals that allegedly trafficked more than 75 handguns into the Kansas City region over a five-year period, Lucas wrote on Twitter.

Proud to take this additional important step, hitting at private actors who have helped traffic illegal guns in our city. My administration continues its work taking creative steps to keep guns out of the hands of law breakers and to make KansasCity safer, he added in another Twitter post on a separate account.

Proud to take this additional important step, hitting at private actors who have helped traffic illegal guns in our city. My administration continues its work taking creative steps to keep guns out of the hands of law breakers and to make #KansasCity safer. #KCMO https://t.co/iM4PwFm29L pic.twitter.com/nVKSN53fGu  Mayor Q (@QuintonLucasKC) January 7, 2020

A gun trafficker cannot accomplish his work alone, attorney Alla Lefkowitz of the Everytown Law Group told Fox4 reporters. He needs suppliers, and he needs straw buyers. He needs companies willing to look the other way. He needs individuals willing to lie for him.

Jimenez Arms has not responded to our request for comment and James Samuels could not be reached.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Eligible voters will be heading to the polls on Thursday, January 9th, 2020 to cast their votes to elect 15 Members of Parliament. The anticipation as to which political party will take over power will come to an end Thursday night into early Friday morning. Contesting the election are seven political parties, namely: United Democrats (UD), United People's Party (UPP), United St. Maarten Party (USP), Party for Progress (PFP), People's Progressive Alliance (PPA), St. Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) and National Alliance (NA).

SMN News will be bringing you the live updates as it begins on Thursday morning from the House of Parliament. At around 11 pm readers of SMN News can watch the live announcements that will be made by the main voting bureau, as well as the interviews given by those that postulated themselves for this years parliamentary election. Early Friday morning a detailed article on the 2020 Parliamentary Election will be posted. Photos of the days proceedings will also be available on the SMN News Facebook page.

Hourly results are preliminary and are also posted below when it is received!
By IANS

KANPUR: More than 40 years after she picked up the gun and turned into a bandit, following a dispute over four bighas of land with her cousin Maya Din, Phoolan Devi's family in her native village in Jalaun district is still waiting to reclaim that elusive piece of land.

The land was initially owned by Phoolan's father, Devi Din Mallah and after his death, her mother Moola Devi, 90, became the owner.

However, Maya Din, son of late Devi Din's elder brother allegedly grabbed the plot and did not allow Phoolan's mother to till the land. Maya Din claims the land was passed on to him as legacy.

Moola Devi says, "My daughter Phoolan fought with Maya Din for this land. Maya Din and his men ridiculed her and hurled abuses at her. She got together some girls from the village and staged a dharna on the land.

"The village elders tried to remove her from the land but failed. Then Maya Din hurled a brick at her and she fell unconscious. After this, she became a 'baaghi' (rebel)."

It is said that Maya Din 'sold' her off to Lal Ram and Shri Ram -- heads of a Thakur gang of dacoits -- who not only raped her but also held her captive.

A few years later, Phoolan Devi fell in love with another dacoit Vikram Mallah, who was later killed by the Lala Ram and Shri Ram gang.

To avenge the wrong done to her by the Thakur gang, Phoolan Devi gradually built up her own gang.

On February 14, 1981, she went to Behmai village that had a dominant Thakur population, lined up 22 Thakur men and shot them dead.

She surrendered to the Madhya Pradesh government in 1983 and later in 1994, the Mulayam Singh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh withdrew cases against her and she walked free.

She joined politics and served as MP for two terms before she was assassinated in Delhi in 2001.

Now as the verdict in the Behmai case is waiting to be delivered next week and the focus has turned back on Phoolan Devi and her family, Moola Devi says, "If I do not get back the land in my lifetime, the sacrifices that Phoolan made for the family will go in vain. Sab bekar ho jayega."

When contacted, district officials in Jalaun said that they will go through government records to ascertain the factual position regarding ownership of the land and then ensure that justice is done.

Till then, Moola Devi waits for justice.
Four additional flu-related deaths in Oklahoma were confirmed Thursday, and health departments are urging residents to take precautions against an unusual virus.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health, Oklahoma City-County Health Department and the Tulsa Health Department are closely monitoring influenza activity across the state, and warn the number of deaths and hospitalizations are on the rise.

According to the CDC, influenza B/Victoria viruses are predominant nationally, which is unusual for this time of year, officials said.

Oklahomans who havent received a vaccine yet should make it a priority as soon as possible, a joint news release states. The vaccine is one of the most important things we all can do for ourselves and/or our children to protect against the flu and/or reduce complications from the flu.

Twelve deaths have been confirmed as flu-related since Sept. 1. Two of the newly confirmed victims were from Tulsa and Oklahoma counties, and two were from southeast Oklahoma, marking the first from the latter region, in both the 50-64 and 65-plus age groups, Oklahoma State Department of Health data shared Thursday show.
A man places flowers at a memorial for the victims of the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 crash in the Iranian capital Tehran, at the Boryspil airport outside Kiev on January 8, 2020. A Ukrainian airliner crashed shortly after take-off from Tehran Wednesday killing all 176 people on board, in a disaster striking a region rattled by heightened military tensions. Read more

This is a moment  in the wake of the Soleimani killing and the mild Iranian response  when everyone needs to take a deep breath.

Iranian officials are clearly shocked and debating their options. They will have to factor in the fallout if, as evidence indicates, Iran mistakenly downed a Ukrainian airliner.

Whether or not it was necessary or wise to kill Gen. Qassem Soleimani, his death wont produce World War III. The Iranian response will be asymmetric and occur over time.

Tehrans goal is to drive the United States out of the Mideast, using proxy Shiite militias that Soleimani fostered around the region. The immediate focus of Iranian efforts is Baghdad.

What we have is a pause, not victory, says veteran U.S. diplomat and former ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker. For the next step, watch Iraq.

 READ MORE: Trump and Iran have paused, but the confrontation isn't over | Trudy Rubin

So let us watch. The 2003 invasion opened the door to Iranian influence in Iraq after the U.S. overthrew the Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.

Iran shares a 900-mile border with Iraq, in which a majority of Arabs are Shiite, as are most Persians.

The George W. Bush administration naively believed all Shiite Iraqis would welcome the U.S. with open arms because Saddam had oppressed them. But when I traveled to the holiest Shiite shrine city, Najaf in southern Iraq, in May 2003, religious leaders told me the Americans owed them big time. The first President Bush, they bitterly complained, had called on them to rise against Saddam during the 1991 Gulf War, then let Saddam slaughter them.

The Americans should stabilize Iraq and leave, senior clerics said.

The Americans did neither, instead helping to create a sectarian political system, with Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish political parties that corruptly divide oil spoils and fail to meet the countrys basic needs.

Soleimani helped Tehran cement control over key Shiite political movements. After ISIS swept into northern Iraq in 2014, the Iranian general also shaped Shiite militias into a powerful fighting force against it. Tehran still hopes to subsume the regular Iraqi army under the control of Shiite militias loyal to Iran.

In reaction to Soleimanis death, pro-Iranian parties in parliament voted for the 5,000 or so remaining U.S. troops to leave. Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi has asked to discuss steps for their withdrawal. But its not at all clear that most Iraqis want them out.

The parliaments decision was nonbinding, I was told by phone from Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, by Hoshyar Zebari, Iraqs longest-serving foreign minister (2003-14) and a leader in its Kurdish region. The current Iraqi caretaker government doesnt have the legitimacy to take this decision.

Equally important, Kurdish and Sunni parties didnt vote, nor are all Shia parliamentarians on board. Any such move has to be done with a national consensus, which isnt there, said Zebari.

To understand why Iraqis are divided on this, one need only look at the massive street protests in Baghdad and elsewhere, before Soleimanis death, against Iranian domination, and corrupt sectarian politics.

About 450 of these young demonstrators have been killed by Shiite militiamen, probably on Soleimanis orders. This is the most powerful movement for change since the U.S. invaded Iraq.

True, some demonstrators also spoke of the need for all foreign forces to leave, including Americans. But, said Zebari, this is not really the public sentiment on the street. And if U.S. troops leave, Iranian proxy militias will have an even freer hand to crush the protests.

The key message, Zebari continued, is that the U.S. should not leave. If they evacuate, there would be a vacuum, chaos, a failed state. It would expose all U.S. allies to the threat of terrorism, and regional interference.

In other words, Iranian influence would grow around the region despite Soleimanis death.

Morever, if U.S. forces exit Iraq, the last American troops would also have to quit northern Syria, since they are supplied from Iraq. Iranian influence over Syria, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, would be cemented, to Israels detriment.

 READ MORE: After Soleimani's death, how does this war end? | Trudy Rubin

If the U.S. gets nervous in coming days that Irans proxies may attack its forces in Iraq, Zebari has a solution. He says, They could relocate to Kurdistan if they feel threatened.

We welcome them, he adds.

Right now, State Department officials are resisting any talk of a pullout. Yet on Wednesday, President Donald Trump talked of expanding a NATO role in Iraq (useless without a strong U.S. presence).

Some see the presidents talk of NATO as a hint that he wants an early U.S. exit. At the same time, in a true Trump contradiction, his threats to sanction Iraq if the government asks Americans to leave -- along with insulting, public State Department rebuffs of the prime ministers request -- make it harder for any Iraqi official to defend a continued U.S. presence.

Bottom line: It is time for serious, behind-the-scenes talks in Baghdad on how to keep U.S. troops in Iraq for now, despite Trumps temptation to pull them before November elections. To remove them now would be as powerful a tribute to Soleimani as the ayatollahs gave him in Tehran.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has banned spending funds from business accounts of private entrepreneurs on personal needs.

"All types of settlement and cash transactions are carried out with current accounts opened for the national currency by private entrepreneurs engaged in independent professional activities, in accordance with the terms of the contract and the legislation of Ukraine, except for transactions related to personal needs," the NBU said in NBU resolution No. 162 dated December 27, 2019, which was posted on the central bank's website on January 2 and entered into force on January 3.

According to the document, after paying taxes, fees and other payments prescribed by law, private entrepreneurs can transfer funds from business accounts to personal current accounts, after which they can use the money for their own needs.
Parliament of Zimbabwe has launched an investigation on the origins and operations of machete-wielding gangs causing havoc mainly in gold mining areas in Zimbabwe amid reports that the country is losing millions of dollars in potential revenue.

According to the Mines and Mining Development Parliamentary Committee chairperson, Edmond Mkaratigwa, the gangs, well-known as Mashurugwi (people from Shurugwi), are also invading urban areas where they are robbing and killing innocent people.

Mkaratigwa says the marauding gangs have so far killed several people, including Constable Wonder Hokoyo and gold buyer, Marko Dube.

The committee is perplexed by the rampant killings going on in the mining sector and as elected representatives of the people, parliament will not remain silent on the issue. Within its mandate, parliament and government shall work to ensure that punitive measures are put in place, as it affects our major resource and reduces the market space by tainting of our minerals.

They are a danger to society, taking into consideration the impact these gold panning gangs have on the social, cultural and economic spheres of Zimbabwe. The committee, through its constitutional obligation, is reaffirming fully its participation against the illegal activities being carried out by the gold panning gangs.

Reports say police on Wednesday arrested at least 14 members of a gang operating at Jumbo Mine in Mashonaland Central region that had 11 machetes and other dangerous materials.

The state-controlled Herald newspaper reports that the gang also had 423 sticks of explosives, four rows of copper wire and nine hammer mills.
NUI Galway has updated its policies after an investigation found a charity set up to raise funds for the university shelled out money for luxury hotels and travel for directors spouses.

Last month, an investigation by the Charities Regulator found that the Galway University Foundation spent close to 50,000 on business class flights.

The charity, which was set up to raise funds for NUIG, also spent almost 30,400 on private taxi trips, with the majority of these taken by the charitys former director and former president of NUIG, James Browne, who was the president of the university at the time.

A number of policies highlighted by the regulator have since been changed, according to Ciaran O hOgartaigh, the current president of NUIG who joined the university in 2018.

The policies that were in place then have been amended since, he told the Irish Examiner. The issues raised by the Charities Regulator, to the extent that reflect on the policies of the university, those policies are no longer in place.

Spousal travel is no longer allowed, and there are other changes around the approval mechanisms for travel, he added.

Public transport is the norm, or certainly charging for the public transport equivalent. I think thats indicative of the seriousness in which the university takes its accountability.

"We will be thinking about other ways in which we can demonstrate that and make that clear.

Its something I am uncomfortable with, its not something that one would be very happy with. I am an accountant by background, so I have particular views of what good accountability looks like.

"We take our responsibility in that regard very seriously and the university is determined to be accountable in public for everything that we do, and transparent likewise.

The investigation by the Charities Regulator, initiated in 2017 on foot of concerns, found that the charity shelled out charitable funds on taxi trips between Galway and Dublin, luxury hotels, and travel for directors spouses.

Overseas hotels often used by the charity included the four-star Fitzpatrick Hotel in New York, the Royal Automobile Club in London, and the five-star Shangri-La and Grand Hyatt in Singapore.

The investigation also found that the Galway University Foundation spent:

A further 24,145 on flights that included economy-class tickets one way, and a business-class return;

An average of 385 per night on hotel accommodation, with the cost of hotels in many cases in excess of Revenues guidelines for overseas travel;

Almost 11,000 on 10 trips for spouses of the foundations directors, with 7,965 of this specifically spent on business-class travel for Dr Brownes wife.

However, Charities Regulator inspector Tom Murray noted that in many respects the Galway University Foundation appeared to be well run, and has raised over 146m in support of NUIG. Such funds have leverage matching funding of 65m from public and other sources, allowing NUI Galway to invest 200m in research and educational access, he added.

All donor funds were invested in NUIG projects, and recommendations around improving documentation and distinguishing between charity and universitys activities were fully addressed.
She had a PhD from Harvard. Was married and the mother of four.

And on Feb. 12, 2010, University of Alabama in Huntsville professor Amy Bishop stood up during a biology department meeting, raised a 9mm handgun and shot six faculty members, killing three.

Bishop had recently been denied tenure at UAH, where she'd worked since 2003, but had a reputation as a lackluster teacher with a bad attitude.

Bishops arc is one of the most infamous in Huntsville, a north Alabama city known for aerospace innovations and (mostly) quiet, easy living.

HLN, a CNN network, will retell Bishops story during a 9 p.m. central Jan. 12 episode of true crime series Vengeance: Killer Coworkers. The episode is titled Deadly Ambition.

Other episodes focus on subjects including: a string of murders targeting a pizza chain and its employees; a twisted workplace love triangle at a hotel; a beloved horse-trainer found brutally murdered; and mattress factory manager gunned down in the shower.

In 2012, Bishop pleaded guilty to killing three and attempting to kill another three. She received a life sentence without parole.

Earlier in her life, Bishop had been involved in other incidents, including a deadly 1986 shooting of her brother with a shotgun, ruled an accident at the time.

Her story has been featured previously on TV on shows such as Investigation Discovery's "Fatal Encounters" and Oxygen's "Snapped."

Killer Coworkers is the third installment of HLNs Vengeance series.

The first series, Killer Lovers, premiered March 2019, followed by Killer Families.

According to a press release, HLN reaches more than 900 million U.S. households.

Click here for past AL.com coverage on Amy Bishop.
In a nutshell: Twitter is introducing a new feature that will allow people to decide who, if anyone, can reply to their tweets. The platform already allows users to hide replies to tweets, but the new tool adds more control over what they see and should help address the long-running troll problem.

Suzanne Xie, Twitters director of product management, revealed the new reply options at CES. They will be tested in the first quarter of this year before being launched later in 2020, and consist of four settings that users can select:

Global  Anyone can respond.

 Anyone can respond. Group - Allows replies from a users follows, or anyone mentioned in the tweet.

- Allows replies from a users follows, or anyone mentioned in the tweet. Panel - Allow replies from people mentioned.

- Allow replies from people mentioned. Statement  No replies are allowed.

"We want to help people feel safe participating in the conversation on Twitter," the company said.

Being able to prevent any replies at all to a tweet is certainly interesting, and you can expect plenty of people to use the option. When asked about the possibility of limiting replies leading to misinformation going unchallenged, Xie said the company is exploring the option of allowing quote retweets.

For many years now, Twitter has promised to do more to deal with the harassment and bullying that is rife on the platform. In July, it started removing tweets that "include language that dehumanizes others on the basis of religion."

In December 2018, an Amnesty International report that examined the abuse of women on the site led to a short-seller labeling it the Harvey Weinstein of social media.

Xie also announced new conversational features were coming to Twitter in the coming months, including threading, with the aim of putting an entire conversation on one screen. The company is also upgrading its topics and lists discovery features.
'There is a great deal of uncertainty, particularly with regard to fraud risk, and independent directors realise that the liabilities of taking up the post could be very high. The requirement of passing an exam will make things more onerous from here on, which is why the supply of independent directors may be impacted.'



Ashley Coutinho reports.

Photograph: Larry Downing/Reuters

High-profile corporate frauds, accounting discrepancies, and the coming into effect of global anti-corruption laws have led to the exit of close to 1,400 independent directors last year, the highest in the past seven years for which data was analysed.

While 1,394 directors quit, 1,112 were appointed, implying a net deficit of 282.

Exits in the September quarter numbered 488, the highest in the year.

According to experts, the terms of about 1,500 independent directors who had signed up for five-year tenures in 2014-15 were up for renewal last year.

Independent directors can get a second term after approval by a special resolution.

"There is a great deal of uncertainty, particularly with regard to fraud risk, and independent directors realise that the liabilities of taking up the post could be very high. The requirement of passing an exam will make things more onerous from here on, which is why the supply of independent directors may be impacted," said Shriram Subramanian, founder and managing director, InGovern Research Services.

The ministry of corporate affairs recently introduced a proficiency test for independent directors to assess their knowledge of securities and corporate law, accounting, and areas related to the functioning of an independent director.

"People are getting more and more selective about joining the boards of companies, while basing their decisions on several qualitative factors," said Tejesh Chitlangi, senior partner, IC Universal Legal.

According to him, factors such as the track record of governance, litigation history, and whether the company is professionally run or promoter/family-driven are being evaluated.

"Directors are avoiding companies driven by promoters who expect IDs (independent directors) to be yes-men. IDs are doing their homework, analysing information that is in the public domain while also seeking requisite clarification from the company concerned before signing up."

The Companies Act, 2013, effective April 1, 2014, had laid out a code for independent directors.

The recent change in listing regulations based on the recommendations of the Kotak Committee has also bolstered governance requirements.

The role of independent directors in fraud detection has come under the regulators' scrutiny because they, along with auditors, are the first line of independent authorities obliged to question wrongdoing early in the day.

Independent directors carry both the legal and regulatory obligation to raise the red flag and record dissent on board matters.

"The line of business the company is in and sensitivities around it are being evaluated," said Chitlangi.

For instance, chances of lawsuits against a pharma company exporting heavily to the US are relatively high and can land the board into trouble.

Similarly, many avoid debt-ridden companies with heavy borrowings from banks.

Directors are liable to class-action suits under the Companies Act, criminal misappropriation under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and criminal breach of trust, also under the IPC.

There could be scenarios where an independent director on the board of a wilful defaulter might get tagged -- for not showing dissent or for failing to act -- as a defaulter in his personal capacity as director.

This could result in him being declared not fit and proper to hold any significant position in a financial intermediary or carry out financial regulatory activities.
Buckingham Palace, London, in the wake of the announcement that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will take a step back as senior members of the royal family, dividing their time between the UK and North America.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex plan to step back as senior royals and work to become financially independent.

Here is a look at how some members of the family have dealt with life outside the royal bubble due to life-changing decisions, and how others raised eyebrows by choosing to do something that was perhaps viewed as not the royal way.

 King Edward VIII

Prince Harrys great-great-uncle abdicated over his love for Wallis Simpson in 1936.

Neither the royal court, the government nor the church would accept a twice-divorced American as queen.

Edward became the Duke of Windsor and finally married Mrs Simpson while in exile in France in 1937, but none of the Royal Family attended.

Expand Close The Duke and Duchess of Windsor in 1954 (PA Archive/PA Images) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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Mrs Simpson became the Duchess of Windsor but was never permitted to adopt the style of a HRH.

If Edward VIII had remained king and fathered children, it is unlikely Elizabeth II would ever have become monarch.

The Duke and Duchess were not invited to the Queens coronation in 1953.

But they were pictured watching it on TV at the Paris home of an American millionairess.

 Diana, Princess of Wales

Harrys mother was one of the most photographed women in the world and was known for her fashion sense.

But she also hit the headlines for her troubled marriage to the Prince of Wales and their subsequent divorce, her affair with cavalry officer James Hewitt and the Panorama television interview in which she laid bare many of her problems such as bulimia.

Charles confessed to an affair in an interview and book with Jonathan Dimbleby, and then Diana gave the Panorama interview in which she said of her relationship with Charles there were three of us in this marriage and questioned his suitability as king.

Expand Close Diana, Princess of Wales, with Sandra Tigica 13, at the orthopaedic workshop in Neves Mendinha, near Launda, Angola (John Stillwell/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Diana, Princess of Wales, with Sandra Tigica 13, at the orthopaedic workshop in Neves Mendinha, near Launda, Angola (John Stillwell/PA)

It prompted the Queen to urge them to divorce, which they finally did in 1996. Diana was stripped of her HRH title.

In her final year she resigned from most of her charities and began her anti-landmine campaign, visiting minefields in Angola and travelling to Bosnia.

Diana split from heart surgeon Hasnat Khan, whom it is claimed she had wanted to marry, and began a relationship with Dodi Fayed, son of tycoon Mohamed Al-Fayed, who at the time owned Harrods department store.

The 36-year-old princess was killed suddenly in a car crash on August 31 1997.

The Mercedes she was travelling in with Dodi was being pursued by the paparazzi after leaving the Ritz Hotel in Paris, when it crashed in the Pont de lAlma tunnel.

 Duke of York

The Duke of York quit public life in November 2019 in an unprecedented move for a royal in modern times after staging a disastrous BBC Newsnight interview about his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

He was criticised for showing a lack of empathy towards Epsteins victims and a lack of remorse over his friendship with the disgraced financier.

Expand Close The Duke of York leaves his home in Windsor, Berkshire, the day after he suspended his work with his charities, organisations and military units because of the fallout from his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. (Steve Parsons/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp The Duke of York leaves his home in Windsor, Berkshire, the day after he suspended his work with his charities, organisations and military units because of the fallout from his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. (Steve Parsons/PA)

He denied an alleged sexual encounter with Virginia Giuffre, who claims she was trafficked by Epstein, saying he had no recollection of meeting her and had been at a Pizza Express in Woking instead.

Mounting pressure followed with firms including BT and Barclays cutting ties with Andrews charity work, forcing the duke to quit royal life.

Time will tell how Andrew chooses to deal with life outside the royal fold.

 Sarah, Duchess of York

Sarah brought renewed vigour to the monarchy in the 1980s alongside Diana, but struggled to come to terms with the rigorous disciplines of royal life after marrying Andrew.

Six years after they wed, in March 1992, it was announced that they were to separate.

Five months later, the Queens peaceful annual holiday at Balmoral was shattered by publication of the toe sucking photographs.

Expand Close Sarah, Duchess of York waves as she departs BBC Broadcasting House in central London after appearing on a live recording of The One Show (Jonathan Brady/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Sarah, Duchess of York waves as she departs BBC Broadcasting House in central London after appearing on a live recording of The One Show (Jonathan Brady/PA)

A topless Duchess of York, wearing just bikini bottoms, was pictured cavorting with John Bryan  her financial adviser  who was seen kissing the sole of her foot as she reclined on a sun lounger.

Sarah and Andrew eventually divorced in May 1996, but they have remained close friends, and Sarah has described herself and the duke as being the happiest divorced couple in the world.

In the years that followed their divorce, Sarah was said to have struggled with money problems.

She turned her finances around by working in America, including acting as a spokeswoman for Weight Watchers for 10 years from 1997 and writing a series of childrens books and self-help and lifestyle guides.

But in 2010 she was caught up in the cash-for-access scandal, offering to sell an introduction to her ex-husband for 500,000 to an undercover reporter posing as a businessman.

The exuberant mother of princesses Beatrice and Eugenie celebrated her 60th birthday in 2019 and recently admitted to having cosmetic surgery.

The duchess still lives at Andrews home, Royal Lodge, in Windsor Great Park, and there is frequent speculation they will remarry.

 The Earl and Countess of Wessex

When Sophie Rhys-Jones  now the Countess of Wessex  wed the Queens youngest son Prince Edward, now the Earl of Wessex, in 1999, her intention was to combine her public relations career with her royal standing.

But just three years later, following a storm of controversy and devastating rows within the Royal Family over Sophie and Edwards dual roles, both stepped down from their businesses.

The couple said they were severing all connections with their firms to support the Queen during her Golden Jubilee year and would then take on more charity work.

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They had long been accused of cashing in on their royal status, with Sophies bid to win business from a bogus Arab sheikh for a public relations firm triggering a major review of the royals commercial conduct.

Edward also sparked a bitter feud with his brother the Prince of Wales when a team from his company Ardent Productions were found filming at St Andrews University shortly after Prince William began studying there.

Years earlier, in 1987, The Firm came together for a royal Its A Knockout, organised by Edward.

He persuaded the Princess Royal and Duke and Duchess of York to dress up and perform slapstick feats for the TV game show.

It raised more than 1 million for charity but was seen as an embarrassment to the Royal Family.

Edward stormed out of a press conference after it received a muted reaction from reporters and photographers.
Vice President Mike Pence has claimed that the US has received some "encouraging intelligence" that Iran has asked its militia not to move against American targets or civilians after the assassination of a top commander of its powerful Revolutionary Guards.

Pence's remarks came after US President Donald Trump said in an address on Wednesday that no Americans were harmed in the attack by Iran on US bases in Iraq.

Iran launched 22 ballistic missiles in a pre-dawn attack on Wednesday targeting at least two bases where US military and coalition forces are stationed in Iraq, which Tehran said was a "slap in the face" of America.

"We are receiving some encouraging intelligence that Iran is sending messages to those very same militias not to move against American targets or civilians. And we hope that that message continues to echo, Pence told CBS in an interview on Wednesday night.

Pence stood alongside President Trump when the latter addressed the nation from the White House wherein, he did not announce any fresh military action in response to Iran's ballistic missiles hitting US military base in Iraq.

In his first interview, Pence said that the US is safer today after the killing of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards General Qasem Soleimani, which was ordered by Trump.

"I think the American people can rest easier tonight thanks to the leadership that President Donald Trump provided and the extraordinary and courageous professionalism that our military demonstrated over the last several weeks. Despite missile attacks yesterday, again because of the professionalism of our military personnel and their preparedness there were no American casualties, no Iraqi casualties, and our information as of this afternoon continues to be that Iran is standing down," he said.

The Trump administration, he said, does not seek regime change in Iran, but wants to see the regime change its behaviour.

"We are dealing with a country that's been the leading state sponsor of terrorism for more than 20 years. And so we'll continue to be prepared. We'll continue to confront Iran in the way that President Trump has done since early in this administration," he said in response to a question.

Pence said following assassination of Soleimani on Friday in a US air strike, the US has received intelligence over the previous several days that there may be attacks coming.

According to the Iranian state TV, the missile attacks by Iran on Wednesday were in revenge for the killing of General Soleimani.

The Iranian state television claimed that "at least 80 terrorist US soldiers" were killed in the strikes. Some 5,000 US soldiers are in Iraq as part of the international coalition against the IS terror group.

"We heard the threats. The world heard the threats from Iran. We moved forces. We provided a level of force protection at the president's direction. And in a very real sense, we had the early warning systems that allowed us to move Americans and our allies out of harm's way," he said.

"Let me say that the fact that no American lives were lost was a great relief I know to the president, to myself, to our entire national security team, as it is to every American," he asserted.

The United States, he said, is safer today than before Trump ordered military to take out Soleimani.

"This was a man who had been leading a terrorist state-sponsored organisation in the region sowing violence. But what President Trump, our commander in chief, demonstrated was we have a president who's also willing to use American military might to protect American lives," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Koala mittens and baby bottles. Jan. 8

As an Australian living in Toronto, it is heartbreaking to watch footage from the bushfire catastrophe unfolding across my home country.

I am filled with sorrow for those who have lost loved ones. I am numbed by the news that the number of wildlife lost is now estimated to be more than a billion. The mind barely knows how to grieve at loss of this magnitude.

But alongside my grief I feel a deep anger. Scientists and Indigenous people in Australia have been predicting this climate-change-driven catastrophe for decades. But instead of heeding these warnings, the government, supported by the Australian coal industry and aided by the Murdoch media, has responded with disparagement, obfuscation and obstruction.

This must not continue. Scientists are now warning that the world has less than 10 years to halve greenhouse gas emissions if we are to avoid catastrophic and irreversible climate change. We ignore their warnings at our peril.

Australia, like Canada, needs to end the extraction and export of fossil fuels and focus on a just transition to renewable energy. Our collective lives depend on it.

Anne Keary, Toronto

Read more about:
In a rare and successful incident, doctors performed a liver transplant of a one-year-old Hoor of Saudi Arabia. The operation was conducted in Artemis hospital in Gurugram. The liver transplant was performed using bovine jugular vein, in this case a cow, to provide blood circulation to the new liver.

"Thanks to the doctors and the hospital staff. We are satisfied with the doctors and their result," ANI quoted Hoors father as saying. The doctors of the hospital mentioned that the transplant procedure was 'extremely rare'.

ANI

Dr Giriraj Bora, Senior Consultant, Artemis hospital said, "When Hoor arrived here, she was very weak due to her liver problem. She weighed around 5 kgs and 200 grams and was suffering from Biliary Atresia. Hoor had undergone an operation for the same in Saudi Arabia which was not successful and local doctors then referred her here."

He further said, "We had to undergo this kind of transplant as cadaver vein donation is not available in India. Hoor's vein was very small and cadaver vein was not available here. Later, we explained the family of the infant that bovine jugular vein (animal vein) would be used in the transplant and we took their consent for the same, to which they agreed.

Doctors claim that this is the first time such type of liver transplant has taken place in Delhi-NCR on an infant.

"This is a very very rare case as this is the first liver transplant in the world in which a cow's veins have been used to transmit blood to the new liver. These veins have been sourced from foreign countries," Dr Ramdip Ray, Senior Consultant of Artemis hospital said.

ANI

He further said, "This case is so rare because 1/8th of the liver has been used in this transplant along with the bovine jugular vein of the cow has been used to replace the infant's vein.

Congrats to the doctors for successfully carrying out the operation and to the family for having a healthy baby.
They fired off a couple of flares, though they had little hope that anyone would see them. There was no beacon to broadcast their location.

The most immediate challenge was bracing the raft through the tumultuous waves that kept coming, so they leaned outward onto the octagonal sides. Off in the distance, they occasionally caught a glimpse of what appeared to be the lights of the Scandies Roses other life raft.

In the frigid air  10 degrees Fahrenheit, with strong winds  Mr. Gribble began dunking himself in the pool of water in the raft, which felt warmer. Presently, though, ice began forming on their suits, and on the raft.

The men distracted each other by making plans for the future: Mr. Gribble was getting ready for marriage, Mr. Lawler was preparing for the birth of his first child. God cant take me now, he thought as he stuck his head out of the raft looking for signs of rescue.

Were not dying  were not dying, they told each other. But, as minutes on the boat turned to hours, they didnt really believe it.

Headwinds

Some 170 miles away in Kodiak, Coast Guard rescue crews had received the mayday call from the Scandies Rose. But though the fishing boat was equipped with an emergency beacon to broadcast a more precise location, it had not done so, perhaps because it was caught on the sinking vessel.

A Coast Guard crew gathered to set up a rescue plan and then, half an hour before midnight  90 minutes after the mayday call  the four-member crew set off in an MH-60 helicopter. Worried that fuel might be a problem, with so far to fly against a strong headwind, they limited their use of heat in the cabin.
The "France Cards Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Summary

The 'France Cards Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2023' report provides detailed analysis of market trends in the French cards and payments industry. It provides values and volumes for a number of key performance indicators in the industry, including credit transfers, direct debits, cash, cards, and cheques during the review-period (2015-19e).

The report also analyzes various payment card markets operating in the industry, and provides detailed information on the number of cards in circulation, transaction values and volumes during the review-period and over the forecast-period (2019e-23f). It also offers information on the country's competitive landscape, including the market shares of issuers and schemes.

The report brings together research, modeling, and analysis expertise to allow banks and card issuers to identify segment dynamics and competitive advantages. The report also covers details of regulatory policy and recent changes in the regulatory structure.

The 'France Cards Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2023' report provides top-level market analysis, information and insights into the French cards and payments industry, including

Current and forecast values for each market in the French cards and payments industry, including debit, credit, and charge cards.

Detailed insights into payment instruments including credit transfers, direct debits, cheques, cash, and cards. It also, includes an overview of the country's key alternative payment instruments.

E-commerce market analysis.

Analysis of various market drivers and regulations governing the French cards and payments industry.

Detailed analysis of strategies adopted by banks and other institutions to market debit, credit, and charge cards.

Scope

The European instant payment system, SCT Inst, was introduced in France in July 2018. The system enables fund transfers of up to 15,000 ($17,183.22) in real-time within 10 seconds. BPCE, a major French cooperative banking group (which includes the Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Epargne networks), became the first payment service provider in France to adopt the new SCT Inst scheme. Societe Generale was the first bank to introduce the instant payment service for corporate customers in June 2019.

To further push the use of contactless cards, Banque de France (the country's central bank) increased the contactless card payment limit. Effective from October 2017, card holders can make contactless payments of up to 30 ($34.37) without the need to enter a PIN. Previously the limit had been set at 20 ($22.91). The increased limit has further accelerated the use of payment cards for day-to-day, low-value transactions. The number of contactless transactions using CB cards increased from 234.8 million in 2015 to 2.1 billion in 2018.

To benefit from the growing preference for alternative payments, banks and payment service providers are launching new payment solutions. In March 2018, French retail giant Carrefour launched its mobile payment solution Carrefour Pay. The solution enables users to make contactless mobile payments using NFC-enabled mobile phones. In addition to the 3,000 Carrefour stores in France, the solution can be used at all stores that accept contactless payments. In April 2018, Samsung launched its mobile payment solution Samsung Pay in France. The solution allows users to make purchases using NFC and magnetic secure transmission technologies. And Google launched Google Pay in France in December 2018. The solution allows users to make in-store, online, and in-app payments.

Reasons to buy

Make strategic business decisions, using top-level historic and forecast market data, related to the French cards and payments industry and each market within it.

Understand the key market trends and growth opportunities in the French cards and payments industry.

Assess the competitive dynamics in the French cards and payments industry.

Gain insights into marketing strategies used for various card types in France.

Gain insights into key regulations governing the French cards and payments industry.

Key Topics Covered:

Card-based Payments

Merchant Acquiring

E-commerce Payments

Mobile Proximity Payments

P2P Payments

Bill Payments

Alternative Payments

Payment Innovations

Payments Infrastructure Regulation

Appendix

Companies Mentioned

Credit Agricole

Credit Mutuel

Societe Generale Group

La Banque Postale

BPCE

BNP Paribas

HSBC

Carrefour Banque

Cartes Bancaires

Visa

Mastercard

American Express

Diners Club

JCB

UnionPay International

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/8ivub7

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005385/en/

Contacts:

ResearchAndMarkets.com

Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

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A forecaster is warning of the potential for a dangerous storm on Monday with others possibly following next week.

In a post this morning, Weather Alerts Ireland is warning that this morning's charts still show a storm potentially hitting Ireland.

The post states, "This low pressure will be pushed in by the Jet Stream from the Atlantic and strengthening as it comes. This storm definitely has the potential to be the next named storm Brendan. This would bring warnings of minimum orange levels as charts are showing winds in excess of 110 km/h. This is definitely one to watch."

In its latest forecast, Met Eireann states that current indications are for a very wet and windy day on Monday with strong and gusty south to southeast winds and gales expected along all coasts. The rain will be heavy and persistent at times with localised flooding possible.

MORE BELOW POST

In a separate post, Weather Alerts Ireland is warning of potential coastal flooding associated with the weather system.

According to the post, the most likely time for flooding looks to be Monday evening and Tuesday morning when there is very high tides.

Click on the post to see more details.
Former Union Minister and BJP leader Yashwant Sinha will take out a 'Gandhi Shanti Yatra' in Mumbai to protest against the currently passed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and also the implementation of National Register of Citizens (NRC). This protest march will begin from the Gateway of India and will culminate at the Raj Ghat in Delhi on January 30.

This march would cover six states- Maharashtra,Gujarat,Rajasthan,Haryana,Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. While addressing a presser in Mumbai, Sinha said that the supremo of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Sharad Pawar will flag off the march and also be a part of the same.

This protest march will be taken out under the banner of Yashwant Sinha's political platform Rashtra Manch that was launched in December 2019. He was accompanied by senior politicians such as the BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha and the former CM of Maharashtra and veteran Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan.

Also read: Chidambaram mocks Modi govt, says 'you cannot build economy on Uber, WeWork'

When asked about his yatra, Sinha said that the due to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), the situation in educational institutions is appalling and the financial situation in our country is also terrible owing to this Act. According to Sinha, the reason behind taking out this march is to establish peace and harmony at a time when the country is witnessed with disturbance.

Also read: Cabinet committee recommends Budget 2020 session from Jan 31; Union Budget on Feb 1

The demands that will be raised through this march are the repealing of the amended Citizenship Act, probe by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court into the JNU campus violence , and also an assurance from the Central government about there being no nationwide NRC. He termed the JNU campus violence on January 5 as a 'state sponsored' incident.

Also read: Envoys from US, Bangladesh, South Korea, 14 more countries to visit Jammu and Kashmir today

Also read: Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen says CAA unconstitutional, should be scrapped
BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The State Council, China's cabinet, on Wednesday urged further efforts to clear arrears of government departments and state-owned enterprises owed to private firms as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Clearing arrears is significant for maintaining market and economic order, and improving the business environment, market expectations and government credibility, according to a statement released after a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.

The country has resolved more than 890 billion yuan (about 128 billion U.S. dollars) in arrears of government departments and state-owned enterprises owed to private firms and SMEs in 2019, and 75 percent of the total had been cleared by the end of 2019, beating the goal of clearing more than half for the year.

The meeting urged intensified efforts to clear arrears before the Spring Festival and the establishment of a long-term mechanism to prevent future arrears, such as implementing the regulation on guaranteeing payments of wages to rural migrant workers.

State-owned enterprises will be urged to ensure timely repayment, and the country will roll out laws and regulations to ensure that SMEs are paid on time.

The meeting also stressed that undisputed arrears should be cleared by the end of 2020 and no new arrears will be permitted.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 07:36:54|Editor: yhy

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Visitors select beef products of Mianning County of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture during a shopping festival to greet the Spring Festival in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 8, 2020. The agricultural products of poverty-stricken areas in Sichuan are welcomed by visitors at the event. (Photo by Xu Bingjie/Xinhua)
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Linkedin Adrian Wail Akhlas (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020

China will remain committed to investing in Indonesia despite the ongoing spat between the two countries over the formers controversial naval maneuvers in Indonesias exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the North Natuna Sea, Chinas senior envoy in Jakarta has said.

Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Xiao Qian said both countries had wonderful relations but even good friends might have different views.

We can solve this problem through diplomatic channels as I believe it will not affect the economic and investment [relations] between China and Indonesia, Xiao said on the sidelines of the China Business Forum held at the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) building in Jakarta on Wednesday.

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Samsung Engineering, one of the worlds leading engineering, procurement, construction and project management (EPC&PM) companies, and Tecnicas Reunidas (TR) of Spain have signed a $3.7 billion contract with Sonatrach for the Hassi Messaoud (HMD) refinery project in Algeria.

The project was awarded with Tecnicas Reunidas (TR) of Spain as joint venture partner and is located at Hassi Messaoud, 600 km southeast from the Algerias capital Algiers.

The signing ceremony was attended by Kamel Eddine Chikhi, Sonatrach President and CEO, Juan Llado Arburua TR Vice Chairman and CEO and Sungan Choi, Samsung Engineering President and CEO.

The refinery will process 110,000 barrels of crude oil per day and will be executed on an engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) lump-sum turn-key basis for approximately 52 months.

The scope of work includes process & utility unit, crude distillation unit (CDU)/ vacuum distillation unit (VDU), continuous catalytic reforming (CCR) unit, isomerization, naphtha hydro-treating(NHT) unit, hydrodesulfurization (HDS) unit, hydrocracker unit (HCU) as well as utility systems.

Sonatrach roadmap is to invest heavily in petrochemicals as well as in oil and gas development, which will give Samsung Engineering the opportunity to be part of Sonatrachs value chain from the very beginning of the process.

Samsung Engineering is confident that the HMD refinery project will be completed with excellence, since refinery is one of the company's flagship products. Samsung has successfully completed many refinery projects globally in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Algeria with excellent experience and superior technology.

In addition, Samsung Engineering will execute the HMD refinery project with TR as JV partner, who is also cooperating in other on-going project. The mutual familiarity with TR reduces risk and maximizes synergy for the HMD refinery project.

Samsung Engineerings President and CEO Sungan Choi stated: Samsung Engineering is honoured to be trusted again by Sonatrach as a contractor. Our expertise in refinery projects and know-how of the region, will secure a state of the art refinery for Algeria. - TradeArabia News Service
New Delhi, Jan 9 : Although the Chandni Chowk Assembly constituency is the smallest in Delhi in terms of electorate, however, it has been one of the most prominent for political parties here.

Part of the old city, the constituency has been mostly dominated by the business community and so is considered an important area for the parties.

Famous Delhi markets -- Khari Baoli, Darya Ganj, Faiz Bazar, Kinari Bazar, Nai Sarak, and Naya Bazar are part of the constituency.

Areas including Dariba Kalan, Fateh Puri, Jama Masjid, Kashmere Gate, Chandni Chowk, Khyber Pass, Lal Quila and Yamuna Bridge, are located in the constituency.

The key battle to win the Delhi assembly elections and the Chandni Chowk Assembly constituency will be between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.

Among the 70 Delhi assembly constituencies, Chandni Chowk has elected either Congress or the BJP since its formation in 1993 but the picture changed in 2015 Assembly election with the emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party.

While Congress ruled the constituency between 1998 and 2015, the BJP was in power between 1993 and 1998.

In 2015, the Aam Aadmi Party fielded Alka Lamba, a former Congress leader who had joined the AAP then.

She bagged the seat for AAP but had been disqualified as the MLA in 2019 after she rejoined the Congress last year.

It is worth mentioning that the four-term Congress MLA Prahlad Singh Sawhney, who was elected in the 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013 elections, had joined the AAP in 2019.

While the AAP is eager to retain the seat, which the party had won along with 66 other seats in 2015, the Congress will try to regain the lost seat.

The constituency is also crucial for the BJP as it has been out of power from the seat for more than two decades.

The political parties have not named their candidates yet.

Even for the general elections, the Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seat has been held by either the Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Aam Aadmi Party gave a tough time to Congress and BJP in 2014 when it pushed the Congress to third position in the results.

However, in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress came second while the AAP candidate lost its deposit.

Part of the Central Delhi district, the Constituency may see a tough fight between the three parties this time, similar to the last two assembly elections.

In 2015 Assembly polls, the AAP bagged 67 out of 70 Assembly seats and its vote share jumped to 54.34 per cent. The BJP's vote share was 32.19 per cent, while that of Congress was 9.65 per cent.

Lamba, who contested from AAP in 2015, bagged the seat that time by getting 49.35 per cent of the total votes.

Sawhney, who was a Congress candidate in 2015, came third after AAP and BJP and got only 24.07 per cent of the votes.

39-year-old Lamba was the sole female candidate from the seat in 2015. Also, she was among the six women who were elected to the Delhi Assembly.

In the 2013 Assembly elections, the Congress had secured a vote share of 24.55 per cent, the BJP had secured 33.07 per cent vote share and the AAP had secured 29.49 per cent. The AAP and the Congress had joined hands to form Arvind Kejriwal's 49-day government.A In 2013, all the 15 candidates from the Chandni Chowk seat were males.

During that time, Congress' Sawhney, won the seat by bagging 37.77 per cent of the total votes.

BJP's Suman Kumar Gupta came second with 25.95 per cent votes. AAP's Vikram Badhwar came third and got 21.96 per cent votes.

Delhi will go for polls on February 8 and the results will be out on February 11.

(Nivedita Singh can be contacted at nivedita.singh@ians.in)
Nepal on Thursday expressed concern over recent development in the middle eastern region which hosts about a million of its citizens.

Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has released a statement expressing concern over the recent development in the West Asia after Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was killed in an US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport.

Killing of the Iranian General on Friday in the drone strike last week in Iraq escalated tensions between Iran and the United States.

Iran had launched strikes against Iraqi bases where US troops are stationed on Wednesday. Kathmandu has asked parties in the region to exercise restraints from taking measures and actions that contribute to the further escalation of tensions.

"The Government of Nepal is following with serious concern the recent developments in the West Asian region. The region hosts a large number of Nepali migrant workers and therefore security and safety of our people in the region become a matter of utmost priority for Nepal," the release from Foreign Ministry states.

"We call upon all sides to exercise restraints from taking measures and actions that contribute to the escalation of tension and endanger peace and stability in the region. It has been a principled position of Nepal that all disputes and differences must be resolved through peaceful means," the release further adds.

The MoFA on Thursday also held a separate meeting with stakeholders and officials from various concerning ministry and discussed measures to be adopted if the condition worsens.

It has decided to form an Inbound Coordination Committee to watch on the condition there and take actions as needed for the security of the Nepali migrant workers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A group of 16 envoys arrived in Srinagar on Thursday for a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir. This is the second visit by foreign envoys to the Union Territory after the erstwhile states special status

A group of 16 envoys arrived in Srinagar on Thursday for a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir. This is the second visit by a foreign delegation to the Union Territory after the erstwhile states special status, granted to it by Article 370, was revoked in August 2019.

US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster and envoys from 15 other countries, including Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, Maldives, South Korea, Morocco and Nigeria, reached Srinagars technical airport by chartered flight, PTI reported. They were directly taken to the Indian Army cantonment for briefing.

The diplomats will visit Jammu and will also meet will meet Lieutenant Governor GC Murmu as well as civil society members and receive briefings on the security situation from various agencies. They will return to Delhi on Friday.

Srinagar: Delegation of 15 foreign envoys meets political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir including Ghulam Hasan Mir, Altaf Bukhari, Shoaib Iqbal Lone, Hilal Ahmed Shah, Noor Mohd Sheikh, Abdul Majid Padder, Abdul Rahim Rather and Rafi Ahmed Mir pic.twitter.com/ygC6vTrcuK  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

The envoys are on the two-day visit as part of the government's diplomatic outreach to rebut Pakistan's propaganda on the Kashmir issue.

Brazil's envoy Andre Aranha Correa do Lago was also scheduled to visit Jammu and Kashmir. However, he backed out because of his preoccupation here, officials said told PTI.

Envoys from the European Union (EU) countries are understood to have conveyed that they will visit the Union Territory on a different date and are also believed to have stressed on meeting the three former chief ministers  Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti  who are under detention.

According to government sources quoted by The Indian Express, EU envoys wanted to visit Jammu and Kashmir as a group, but it was not possible to accommodate all of them due to restrictions on numbers. Some EU ambassadors conveyed that the visit was taking place at too short a notice to seek instructions from headquarters, sources said. It was, therefore, decided that a group of EU ambassadors will undertake a trip to Jammu and Kashmir at a later date, said the source.

Officials said envoys of several countries had requested the government for a visit to Kashmir to get a first-hand account of the situation in the Valley following the 5 August decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 and bifurcate it into two union territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The first visit of a foreign delegation to Jammu and Kashmir since 5 August was organised by Delhi-based think tank International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, which took 23 EU MPs on a two-day visit to assess the situation in the Union Territory.
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Border authorities in Vietnam have been ordered to closely monitor the body temperature of all incoming visitors in the wake of a mysterious pneumonia outbreak that has struck dozens of people in China.

Non-contact body temperature meters are to be utilized for the health screening, the General Department of Preventive Medicine under the health ministry told local health departments.

It also cautioned Vietnamese businesses against high-risk visitors who have recently traveled to Wuhan City in the central Chinese province of Hubei, where a total of 59 people have been attacked by the pneumonia outbreak, including seven who remain in a critical condition.

A new coronavirus that comes from the same family of viruses as the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has been identified as the pathogen for the outbreak, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to SARS, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

SARS infected more than 8,000 people, claiming 916 lives worldwide in 2002-03, mostly due to a lack of knowledge about the disease.

A coronavirus is also the culprit for the fatal Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

MERS has since killed 851 people globally, according to WHO.

In Hong Kong, authorities say 21 people have been hospitalized after returning from Wuhan in recent days and displaying flu-like illnesses but none were confirmed to have contracted the new viral strain.

"The reported link to a wholesale fish and live animal market could indicate exposure to animals," WHO stated on Sunday.

"Pneumonia is common in winter," it added, saying the concentration of cases should be handled "prudently."

Additional thermal imaging systems have been put in place at Hong Kong International Airport to check the body temperature of inbound travelers from Wuhan since January 3, according to Radio Television Hong Kong.

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WATERLOO  The Waterloo Commission on Human Rights and the Eastside Ministerial Alliance are organizing a bus trip to Des Moines on Wednesday to attend the revitalized Poor Peoples Campaign.

The original Poor Peoples Campaign was a march on Washington, D.C., in 1968 to fight for economic justice for those living in poverty. It was organized by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, though King was assassinated in April before the march began in May.

It was reanimated in 2018 under the name Poor Peoples Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival by William Barber II and Liz Theoharis. The new movement calls for a nonviolent approach to combating economic exploitation, including advocating for an expanded Voting Rights Act, equal pay, single-payer universal health care, free tuition at public colleges and an end to mass incarceration, according to its website.

What Dr. King was fighting for then, and what people are still fighting for today, are issues of guaranteed income, Medicare  these things that are essential to have a reasonable and sane quality of life, said Abraham Funchess, director of the Waterloo Commission on Human Rights.

The group started a 25-state tour, We Must do MORE, in September and will conclude in May, followed by the Mass Poor Peoples Assembly and Moral March on Washington on June 20 in Washington, D.C. Funchess is on the groups education coordinating committee, he said.

We want to fight poverty, Funchess said. We are also concerned with the Voting Rights Act and gerrymandering, because this abridges freedom.

The 25-state tour will make a stop in Des Moines from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesday at First Christian Church at Drake University, 2500 University Ave., Des Moines.

Tickets to ride the bus from Waterloo to Des Moines and back are $10. Attendees are asked to meet at the Allen College parking lot at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, with the bus leaving at 4 p.m. The bus will return to Waterloo at approximately 11:30 p.m. that evening.

Those interested should register with Shelly at the Waterloo Commission on Human Rights by calling (319) 291-4441. The last day to register is Monday at noon.

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Against the backdrop of JNU violence, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday said the BJP-led central government is using "dictatorial" policies which need to be answered through the non-violent way of Mahatma Gandhi.

He was speaking after flagging of the 'Gandhi Shanti Yatra' of former Union minister Yashwant Sinha in the city, where former Maharashtra chief minister and Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan and state minister Nawab Malik were present.

"The government is using dictatorial policies. What happened in JNU is being opposed across the country. The government's dictatorship needs to be answered with Gandhiji's way of non-violence," a statement said quoting Pawar, after the yatra was launched at the Gateway of India here.

Pawar also said that an atmosphere of fear is prevailing in the country on the Citizenship Amendment Act and the Nation Register of Citizens.

He accused the government of creating a situation where people are feeling that they will have to stay in camps set up by government in case they do not have required documents.

"People are disappointed with the government due to the situation that has arisen in the country. Hence, they have taken to streets in big number. They need to be shown the right path, which is Gandhiji's way of non-violence, which can save the Constitution," the statement quoted Pawar as saying.

The 'Rashtra Manch', led by former Union finance minister Sinha, launched the yatra seeking repealing of the CAA and a declaration from government in Parliament that the NRC will not be registered across the country.

Sinha on Wednesday told reporters that protesters also want the government to ensure a judicial probe into the "state-sponsored" violence like the one in JNU, through a sitting Supreme Court judge.

The yatra will culminate at Raj Ghat in Delhi on January 30, Gandhi's death anniversary.

Apart from Maharashtra, the yatra will pass through Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi covering a distance of 3,000 km, its organisers said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi [India], Jan 9 (ANI): Mukesh Singh, a convict in the 2012 Delhi gangrape and murder case against whom death warrant has been issued along with three others, has filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court.



Earlier in the day, another convict in the Nirbhaya rape case, Vinay Kumar Sharma, filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court.

A Delhi Court had issued a death warrant against four convicts on January 7 and they are to be executed on January 22 at 7 am in the Tihar Jail premises.

Besides Vinay and Mukesh, Pawan and Akshay are facing the gallows. The court after issuing a black warrant in their name gave them two weeks' time to file both the curative and mercy petition.

A curative petition is the last judicial resort available for redressal of grievances. It is decided by the judges in-chamber.

The mercy petition, on the other hand, is filed before the President who has the power to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment.

The case pertains to the gang-rape of a woman by six persons on a moving bus in the national capital on the night of December 16, 2012.

The victim, who was later given the name Nirbhaya, died at a hospital in Singapore where she had been airlifted for medical treatment. (ANI)


[January 09, 2020] Two-Time Honoree! Jade Global Recognized for Fast Growth Among Silicon Valley and Philadelphia Enterprises

Jade Global has been recognized for fast growth by both the Silicon Valley Business Journal and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Each of the prestigious designations below were awarded to Jade Global and other winners based on percentage net revenue growth over three years, from 2016 to 2018. 2019 Silicon Valley Fast Private Award The Silicon Valley Business Journal simultaneously released its edition of the "Fastest Growing Private Companies in Silicon Valley with less than $50 million in 2018 revenue" during an October 24th award ceremony at the Club Auto Sport Event Center in San Jose, California. Jade Global ranked #13 on the list, which can be found here: https://t.co/2XEJ13YaQE?amp=1 Jade Global CEO Karan Yaramada added that these awards for fast growth reflect Jade Global's commitment to create meaningful experiences for employees and customers. "Winning thi prestigious recognition underlines our focus and commitment towards leveraging technology to create a seamless work life for employees," he said. "This recognition is also in line with our customer-centric focus. We are trusted technology experts for enterprises looking to become future-ready."



2019 Philadelphia 100 List The Philadelphia100 is a merit-based program that recognizes the fastest growing, privately-held companies in the Greater Philadelphia Region. Over 1,500 companies were considered for the 2019 Philadelphia 100 List. Jade Global's #85 ranking was revealed among 500 guests at the Philadelphia 100 awards ceremony on October 24th at The Crystal Tea Room in Philadelphia. As part of the 100 companies selected, Jade Global featured in the October 2019 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The winning companies can be viewed here: www.inquirer.com/philly100.

Additional 2019 Achievements for Jade Global Over the past year, Jade Global has celebrated a variety of wins, exposure and company success. In addition to these incredible feats, Jade Global earned a spot on Inc. magazine's prestigious Inc. 5000 list of the nation's fastest growing and most successful independent businesses for the 9th consecutive year. Jade Global ranked 3905 in on this year's 38th annual Inc. 5000 list. In addition, we enhanced our enterprise iPaaS portfolio by becoming Dell (News - Alert) Boomi Select Implementation Partners. Jade Global also added a variety of new customer logos to our repertoire including a large semiconductor manufacturer, leading social media platform, and an internet privacy security company all headquartered in the Silicon Valley region. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005004/en/

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Four Turkish soldiers were killed in a car bomb attack in northeast Syria yesterday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.

It said the attack occurred during a roadside security check in the region east of the Euphrates river in Syria, where Turkey carried out a military operation with allied Syrian rebels in October, Reuters reported.

No further details on the attack were immediately available.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Thursday organised a rally and public meeting in Warangal to express their support for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Large number of local BJP leaders along with their supporters took part in the meeting and lauded the act for granting citizenship to persecuted minorities of the neighbouring countries.

A massive flag was also waved through the rally, while leaders made speeches expressing support for the citizenship act.

Rallies in support of CAA and protests against the act have been held in several parts of the country against CAA which grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians who fled religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

BJP has been in a fire fighting mode on the issue and Prime Minister Narendra Modi too had tried to give clarification on it during his rally at Ramlila maidan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Jigawa State Hisbah Board on Thursday said it dissolved no fewer than 330 forced marriage in 2019 after the victims fled their homes in protest.

The head of the Hisbah, also known as the states moral police, Ibrahim Garki, told PREMIUM TIMES they nullified the marriages after the victims reported their cases to the Hisbah offices across the state.

He said after the nullification, the board also reconciled the victims with their parents.

The official said the victims are mostly underaged girls and women including divorcees whom their parents insisted on marrying off to a particular suitor that the parents are pleased with.

Also, he said the Hisbah succeeded in preventing some of the marriages from taking place.

Mr Garki added that the organisation advised the parents to enrol the girls in schools and followed it up.

Street kids

Meanwhile, the Hisbah also said it picked up 436 street children known as almajiri and reunited them with their parents.

We preach to the parents about the rights of their children. If they fail to give them a proper upbringing with good education, they would account for their negligence on the day of resurrection, the official said.

According to a United Nations survey, 43 per cent of Nigerian girls are married before they are 18. The problem of early marriage is particularly endemic in the North.

With more than 80 per cent of girls being married off before their 18th birthday, Jigawa State has one of the highest prevalence of child marriages in the country.

Jigawa State is also yet to domesticate the Child Rights Act Law which provides adequate protection for children and girls.

But officials in the state have cited some sections of the law contradicting their religion and cultural belief.

Lawyer reacts

Meanwhile, a legal practitioner, Bulama Bukarti, said the Child Right Act makes some exquisite provisions aimed at protecting all children such as access to basic education.

Section 14 and 15 of the child right act law made it mandatory for parents to give their children care and made it illegal for the child to be separated from their parents, the lawyer said.

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Mr Bukarti added that there are other existing laws that protect the children but there is no law that adequately protects the children other than the Child Right Act Law.

Had it been the law was enacted, it would ensure more protection for the children and increase girl-children enrollment in schools, he said.

However, he said, some sections of the law contradicts customary practices in Jigawa State.

This, he said, resulted in the state rejecting the whole content of the law adding that the decision is like throwing a baby with the bathwater.

He advised legislators and the governor to codify (merge) parts of the law that are in agreement with Islam and cultural practice in the state and domesticate the law.
New Group organisation , based on an expertise platform

Governance renewed and strengthened

Financial performance : 30 million EBITDA targeted

Innovative HR strategy focused on the employee experience

Commitments to CSR and non-financial performance

Lyon, 8 January 2020 - 7.00 am. The Visiativ Group share (FR0004029478, ALVIV) is listed on Euronext Growth Paris.

As a new decade unfolds, Visiativ is delighted to present its latest development ambitions under a new strategic plan named CATALYST 2023. After AUDEO 2017, a plan completed in 2016 one year ahead of schedule, and NEXT 100, whose targets for 2020 will be reached by the end of 2019, CATALYST 2023 aims to consolidate Visiativ's position as a strategic partner for corporate directors to accelerate innovation and the transformation of their businesses.

CATALYST 2023 sets out five priority areas of development for Visiativ: reorganisation based on an expertise platform, renewed and strengthened governance, new financial targets, implementation of an innovative HR strategy and further strengthening of CSR commitments.

Over the past few years Visiativ has become a global player with multiple areas of expertise. Under CATALYST 2023, Visiativ plans to harness its human and digital expertise platform in order to accelerate innovation and the transformation of SMEs companies, thereby establishing itself as the go-to strategic partner for company directors. With over 150 successful corporate transformations already under its belt, Visiativ offers a pragmatic approach to digital transformation covering all phases of the process from diagnostics through to roadmap fulfilment. Taking a step further, Visiativ intends to become a powerful platform of human expertise serving the digital experience.

Through this third strategic plan since its IPO, Visiativ plans to leverage its 18,000 strong customer base to step up multi-brand sales, thereby growing the portion of revenues generated through cross-selling between the various business lines.

To achieve this goal, Visiativ has set itself the task of improving performance and strengthening Group synergies and cross-disciplinarianism in the same aim: being a close, trustworthy partner for its customers.

Reorganisation to enhance agility, responsiveness and efficiency

Under the CATALYST 2023 plan, Visiativ will decentralise its organisational structure on the basis of a multi-competencies platform, combining Consulting, software edition, software integration and Cloud infrastructures. Theses competencies will be put to the service of the Group's activity poles: ABGI Consulting (Innovation Consulting & Operational Excellence), Moovapps Platform (Apps, Platforms & Business Experience), Visiativ Solutions (3Dcontinuity & Dassault Systemes) and Visiativ Managed Services (support for development of cloud-based corporate technological infrastructure). All support functions (finance, HR, information systems, marketing and communication) will be brought together under a Group holding structure.

The development of the Rapid Manufacturing business will be boosted by an industrial partnership to be concluded shortly.

Renewed and strengthened corporate governance

Visiativ has modified its governance structure in order to drive the CATALYST 2023 plan. Alongside Chairman and CEO Laurent Fiard, Bruno Demortiere was appointed Chief Operations Officer in late 2019 and is now in charge of all Group operations. Olivier Blachon, Deputy Managing Director Integration, will be responsible for coordinating the Visiativ Solutions expertise platform in liaison with Dassault Systemes.

These appointments are designed to make Visiativ more dynamic by fostering a cross-disciplinary approach among operations: more synergies, cross-selling and sales complementarity between business lines. By bringing the coordination of all operations and sales under the same umbrella, the Group will be able to optimise and standardise its efficiency.

Meanwhile, the new governance team will be strengthened by today's appointment of Philippe Jean Garcia as Deputy Managing Director Finance (see 8 January 2020 press release).

Agile, decentralised and closer to the Group's customers, partners and employees, this new organisational structure is designed to foster improvement and enhance performance.

New financial targets: stepping up profit growth to reach 30 million EBITDA by 2023

Having grown its revenues and EBITDA margin from under 83 million and 4.6% respectively in 2015 to over 160 million and 8% in 2018, Visiativ is now setting a new milestone in terms of financial performance.

The new strategic plan focuses on stepping up profit growth over the coming years, mainly by enhancing operating performance, fostering agility among support functions henceforth centralised under the holding structure, prioritising organic growth and targeting accretive acquisitions. Furthermore, synergies will be implemented and enhanced via the integration of all previous acquisitions into a global value proposition, thereby boosting overall financial performance.

Visiativ is targeting EBITDA of 30 million by 2023, a major step-up from 13.1 million in 2018.

An efficient and innovative HR strategy focused on the employee experience

Through CATALYST 2023 Visiativ aims to place employees at the centre of its development strategy. Under the direction of Gregory Jourdan, who joined the Group a few weeks ago as Deputy Managing Director Human Resources, Visiativ plans to implement an efficient and innovative HR strategy focused on the employee experience in order to stimulate collective commitment among a strongly driven employee community.

This strategy will mainly be supported by the Human Resources Business Partners in each division, whose role will be to transform the Group business strategy into operational human resources strategies. They are tasked with ensuring the strategic alignment of all employees, focusing on allowing talent to blossom and implementing the global HR strategy in each business unit.

Visiativ employees will also be able to contact the Expertise Centre and their own HR department for a swift and appropriate response to all queries regarding HR matters.

Targeting excellence in CSR and non-financial performance

Non-financial performance remains a central feature of Visiativ's ambitions. Visiativ's social, economic and civic commitments towards all of its stakeholders constitute a separate growth driver within its development strategy. Besides its initiatives to enhance employees' daily wellbeing, under the new strategic plan Visiativ has decided to assign a major priority in favor to inclusion.

The aim is to develop human potential regardless of the challenges that stand in the way. In partnership with charity organisations, Visiativ plans to foster the inclusion of disabled persons and those in a situation of social fragility. Meanwhile, Visiativ will step up its efforts to foster access to new technologies through education, to make digital technology accessible to all and intensify the digital education provided to children in difficulty.

Financial calendar

FY 2019 revenues: 28 January 2020

This date is provisional and may be changed if necessary. Publication will take place after close of trading on Euronext Paris.

About Visiativ

A true platform of human and digital experiences, Visiativ is a global player with multiple areas of expertise (consulting, software editing and integration, platform creation, IT outsourcing). Through its unique value proposition, it helps accelerate companies' innovation and digital transformation. Working with mid-caps since its foundation in 1987, the Visiativ Group posted 2018 revenues of 163 million and boasts a diverse portfolio of over 18,000 customers. Covering all of France's business hubs and with operations worldwide (Belgium, Brazil, Canada, USA, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Morocco, UK and Switzerland), Visiativ has over 1,000 employees. The Visiativ share (ISIN code FR0004029478, ALVIV) is listed on Euronext Growth Paris. The share is eligible for the PEA and PEA-PME personal equity plans and FCPI/FIP investment funds, thanks to its status as an "innovative business" recognised by Bpifrance.

For further information, visit www.visiativ.com

CONTACT VISIATIV

Lydia JOUVAL / Eleonore DUFOUR

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It is a founding principle of Boogeyman alarmism that it be couched in vague terms. Only a novice at scaremongering would tell a little brother, Give me your candy or the Boogeyman will come and sew your eyelids closed Thursday night at 6:07 p.m. Central Time. Boogeyman leverage relies heavily on uncertainty. All predictions of Boogeyman activity must be non-falsifiable. Just say, The Boogeyman will get you and leave it at that.

Some understand this principle better than others. Back in the years before 2010, federal workers at Glacier National Park in Montana put up signs warning that all of the glaciers would be gone by 2020 because of climate change. Now 2020 has arrived, and about 60 percent of the glaciers remain. Someone pointed this out to park employees, so they have started taking down the signs. While doing so, they complained (in a CNN story) that there is not enough federal money authorized for them to perform the arduous sign-taking-down. (It costs $35 per car to drive into the park. Buses pay $200.)

This is why you cant trust a federal employee to do anything. If these people were still in charge of the internet, every January 1 youd have to send a money order and a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the federal office of grain management, spotted-owl preservation and information services, in Pueblo, Colo., to pay for your Internet access license to be renewed. Glacier National Parks sign-posters should take a hint from the mischievous barkeepers who post those signs saying, Free beer tomorrow.

The glaciers in Glacier National Park have been shrinking for more than 100 years (as the USGS points out, since 1900 the mean annual temperature for GNP and the surrounding region has increased [by] 1.8 times the global mean increase), so on current trends theyll be gone someday in the next few decades. Who knows how long current trends will last, though? A 1923 Associated Press report said the glaciers would almost disappear in 25 years. So, gone by 1948. In 1936, the Arizona Republic reported that the glaciers would vanish within 25 years. So, 1961. A 1952 AP report alluded to naturalists who said the glaciers would be gone in 50 years. So, 2002. In 2009, National Geographic News asked, No More Glaciers in Glacier National Park by 2020? A New York Times report a few years ago pushed the date back to 2044.

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Other predictions have proven sillier. The Boogeyman is a capricious fellow, so you never want to promise that he will do any specific harm on any specific date. What if he decides to go bowling that day? What if he complains of lumbar throbbing and calls in sick? Then you might embarrass yourself the way ABC News did in 2008, when it produced a special about a Boogeyman-ruled future, hosted by Chris Cuomo, in which we were asked to believe that on June 8, 2015, milk would be $12.99 a carton (not $12.76 or $13.09?), gas would be $9 a gallon, and large parts of Manhattan (seen in a snazzy graphic) would be underwater. The map suggested that my apartment on the West Side would currently be occupied by Aquaman, but nearly five years later I can report that I am still here and that I am able to type these words without any snorkeling gear. The term fake news did not yet exist in 2008, but you can see why it had to be invented. What is the purpose of the brand ABC News if it cant be distinguished from sci-fi?

A similar brush with specificity appeared in a 2000 report in the Independent, based on an interview with climate scientist David Viner, that claimed that snowfall would be very rare within a few years and children just arent going to know what snow is. A few is vague, but not vague enough; surely 20 is more than a few. Today it seems likely that in a few years children will still be aware of snow but will not know what the Independent was.

As the Boogeyman is a union member and cannot be forced to perform labor not specified in the Local 666 contract, it is a mistake to assert that he will perform any arduous or even strenuous activity. This was a mistake Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made when she said, Were, like, the world is going to end in 12 years if we dont address climate change. This, someone told her, was way beyond Boogeyman duties, so she pulled a Never mind and ridiculed anyone who believed shed meant what shed said: This is a technique of the GOP, to take dry humor + sarcasm literally and fact check it, she said later on Twitter. Like the world ending in 12 years thing, youd have to have the social intelligence of a sea sponge to think its literal. Is it okay if we treat everything she says as a joke?

Environmentalists should keep in mind these examples. Declare, Weve got ten years to save the planet and you never have to recant. Learn from the master, Al Gore, who in 2006 famously said, Within the next 10 years, the world will reach a point of no return. Hey, maybe he was right. Because what is a point of no return, anyway? You cant prove he was wrong. The ice is going but the Boogeyman cometh!

More from National Review
A satellite image taken by NASA has revealed the true devastation of the bushfires on Australia's Kangaroo Island.

The first image was taken on December 16, showing the lush green landscape of the South Australian island before the wild fires began on December 20.

The second image was taken on Tuesday, showing a third of the island scorched with some areas still on fire, including an out of control blaze in Flinders Chase National Park.

There are currently two emergency warnings in place on the island, in Vivonne Bay and Pandana, after fires crossed their containment lines.

The second image taken on Tuesday, highlighting the devastating impact the fires have had on the island

A NASA satellite image showing the lush green landscape of Kangaroo Island on December 16

A wildlife rescuer carrying a koala with burnt hands and feet near Cape Bouda on Kangaroo Island

A dead koala in the desolate landscape of Kangaroo Island on Tuesday

A series of raging fires have scorched around 155,000 hectares on the island, killing around 25,000 koalas.

The Army has been called in to help farmers deal with dead livestock, clear roads and recover injured wildlife.

There are 120 soldiers on the island and that figure is set to grow to 600 over the next few days.

The ADF released a video showing Army vets and reservists helping injured koalas recover from savage burns and feeding rescued kangaroos.

The Army is working hard in Kangaroo Island to help farmers deal with dead livestock, clear roads and recover injured wildlife. Pictured: A soldier nurses a kangaroo

Vision from inside a truck watching a wild fire flare up on Kangaroo Island

Soldiers have also been helping fire crews prepare for further fires, bringing in heavy machinery to bolster containment lines.

A big focus so far has been restoring water supplies with a portable treatment plant flown in to do the work of infrastructure damaged in Friday's blaze.

Islanders have been asked to restrict water use to essential needs after the plant near Parndana was knocked out of action.

Incredible images from the ground of the winding road through Flinders Chase National Park have revealed exactly how brutal the ferocious fires were.

 Slide me  Before and after pictures of the winding road through Flinders Chase National Park reveal exactly how brutal the ferocious fires were

A burnt out car surrounded by a blackened trees highlighting the destruction of the bushfires on Kangaroo Island

The road, which was once filled with lush greenery, has been left completely charred, with nothing but blackened branches remaining.

The stark contrast between the two images has been heartbreaking for many.

'How f***ing devastating,' one person wrote.

'I'm so sad for my country and our beautiful wildlife,' another person said.

'I can't even comprehend everything that has happened yet,' wrote another.

Smoke from the fires has already made its way across the world with areas in New Zealand and South America seeing an eerie haze.

A thick haze of smoke blanketed the Tasman Glacier in New Zealand

Glaciers on New Zealand's south island have been hit with ash and soot that has drifted across the Tasman Sea, while Santiago in Chile and Buenos Aires in Argentina have had poor air quality from the floating smoke.

Experts from the European Union's Copernicus program said that 400 megatonnes of carbon dioxide and other pollutants have been emitted into the atmosphere form the fires.
John David Duggar, 29, and his wife Abbie, 27, have welcomed their first child.

The couple announced today that on January 7, Abbie gave birth to a 7 pound, 11 ounce baby girl named Grace Annette.

'Our lives have changed forever with the arrival of our baby girl,' the couple said in a statement on TLC.

Baby's here: John David Duggar, 29, and his wife Abbie, 27, have welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Grace Annette

Grace, who was given her mother's middle name, was born at 3:21 a.m. and measured 20.75 inches long.

'She's is a beautiful gift from God,' the couple said. 'We are so blessed the Lord has given her to us. Its still surreal to know that we are really parents but its a great new adventure that we are excited to take on together.'

This is the first couple for the child, who got married on November 3, 2018 and were, by Duggar standards, a bit older to be tying the knot.

John David's older brother, sex pest Josh, got married at age 20, while most of his adult siblings wed in their late teens or early 20s and started reproducing soon after.

John David had joked about being a 'bachelor 'til the rapture' until he met Abbie, a nurse, and started courting her in June 2018, getting engaged just one month later.

'Our lives have changed forever with the arrival of our baby girl,' the couple said

First: This is the first couple for the child, who got married on November 3, 2018. Abbie suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum during her first trimester

The couple announced that they were expecting on August 1, nine months after saying 'I do.'

'We are on Cloud 9 about welcoming our own little Duggar into the world,' the couple said, according to TLC. 'It really is amazing to think about being parents and having our own child to raise.

'We are thankful that God has blessed us with this new life and we look forward to taking on this new adventure!'

They made the announcement with an airplane-themed photoshoot. John David, a pilot, also worked planes into his proposal.

'I'm really looking forward to having a little one around,' he said. 'I mean I'm really just thrilled and just excited for the next step in our little family's life as we expand.'

One on the way! The couple announced that they were expecting on August 1, nine months after tying the knot

Sticking to the theme: The two revealed the news with an airplane-themed photoshoot

Flying together: Their 'We're expecting a co-pilot' sign comes after John David's flying-themed proposal

'We are on Cloud 9 about welcoming our own little Duggar into the world,' the couple said

'It really is amazing to think about being parents and having our own child to raise,' the added

But the first trimester was rough for Abbie, who suffered from severe morning sickness.

'It hit her hard, and she was down for probably seven weeks with severe morning sickness,' John David told Us Weekly. 'She got diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum, and she was hospitalized a couple times.'

Hyperemesis gravidarum is a complication in which pregnant women experience severe nausea and vomiting, which frequently leads to dehydration.

Celebrities including the Duchess of Cambridge, Kelly Clarkson, and Amy Schumer also experienced it.

'We made multiple visits to the ER for dehydration,' John David explained. 'She couldnt eat, pretty much, or drink, or anything. So she was actually on IVs and had IVs at home. So that was a pretty scary time.'

He added that he was taking especially good care of his wife.

Everybody gets a bump: Abbie joined five of her sisters-in-law for a maternity shoot

Another pregnancy? She used the shoot to surprise the other women with the news that she was pregnant

In on the secret: Jana, John David's twin sister, was the only one who knew, and she drove Abbie to the shoot

Sad: The shoot took place shortly before Joy Anna's stillbirth at 20 weeks

'I keep her water filled up, and her snacks for her. I keep her eating and just comfortable. Anything I can get for her, I try to. I run to the store, [get] whatever she needs, just keep her as comfortable as possible when shes feeling bad.'

Abbie said he even went to the grocery store to by a heat pack around midnight, and has cooked and cleaned as well.

'Hes just been an angel,' she added.

Abbie was still struggling with hyperemesis gravidarum when her sisters-in-law Jessa, Joy Anna, Anna, Kendra, and Lauren had planned a joint maternity shoot together.

The five women  all pregnant except for Jessa, who had just given birth  were in the middle of the outdoor shoot when Abbie pulled up to join them as a surprise.

She had been resting just moments before, but changed into a flowy dress and flower crown to join them for the photogenic occasion.

Pink stuff: The couple showed off pictures from their gender reveal on Instagram

'I'm so excited about hair bows and pink dresses and lots of sparkle,' said Abbie

Grandparents: The new mom and dad are pictured with their parents

Later in August, the couple held a gender reveal party at the Duggar compound, inviting nearly the whole family over to come discover the sex of their baby.

They then shared the happy news with fans, talking all things pink and bows for their future child.

'We are so excited to announce that we are having a baby girl,' the couple said in a joint TLC video.

'We knew the gender of the baby but our family didn't. Nobody else except Jana knew,' John David said, showing off photos of their big gender reveal on the lawn of his parents' house.

The pair surprised everyone by setting off pink streamers and confetti.

'I'm so excited about hair bows and pink dresses and lots of sparkle,' said Abbie.

'I'm really looking forward to having a little baby girl around the house. I already have one, so now I'm gonna have two,' John David added, referring to his wife. 'I just hope she's as pretty as her mommy. I know she will be.'

Cousins: In May, Jessa, 27, welcomed her first daughter Ivy Jane with husband Ben Seewald, 24. The couple also has two sons, four-year-old Spurgeon and two-year-old Henry

Baby boom: Josiah and his wife Kendra, 21, welcomed baby Addison Renee November 2, who joined one-year-old big brother Garrett

One of many: On November 8, Josiah and his wife Lauren, 21, welcomed Bella Milagro

Just what they need: Finally, on November 21, sex pest Josh and his wife Anna, both 31, added sixth child Maryella Hope Duggar to their family

John David and Abbie's baby Grace joins several female cousins who were born in the past eight months.

In May, Jessa, 27, welcomed her first daughter Ivy Jane with husband Ben Seewald, 24. The couple also has two sons, four-year-old Spurgeon and two-year-old Henry.

Then, in November, the real baby boom began. First, Joe, 24, and his wife Kendra, 21, welcomed baby Addison Renee November 2, who joined one-year-old big brother Garrett.

On November 8, Josiah, 23, and his wife Lauren, 21, welcomed Bella Milagro, their first child.

Finally, on November 21, sex pest Josh and his wife Anna, both 31, added sixth child Maryella Hope Duggar to their family.

Joy Anna, 22, and her husband Austin Forsyth have a son named Gideon, and Joy Anna suffered a stillbirth at 20 weeks this summer.

And Jinger, 26, and her husband Jeremy Vuolo have one daughter, Felicity, while Jill, 28, has sons Israel and Samuel with husband Derick Dillard.

John David's twin Jana, 29, is unmarried, as are adult brothers Jedidiah and Jeremiah, 21, Jason, 19, and James, 18. Their youngest siblings are Justin, 17, Jackson, 15, Johanna, 14, Jennifer, 12, Jordyn, 11, and Josie, 10.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 21:40:55|Editor: xuxin

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TOKYO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears to have decided to go ahead with his three-nation Middle East tour as planned, local media reported Thursday.

According to government officials, there will be no change in the schedule for Abe's upcoming visits unless there is a sudden change in the situation. The PM will visit Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman starting on Saturday.

Some government officials suggested earlier that the trip should be postponed amid the recent tension between the United States and Iran. However, Abe has decided to go on with the schedule after U.S. President Donald Trump's press conference on the matter.

Abe will try to show Japan's stance of making diplomatic efforts in helping stabilize the region to the leaders of the three nations in his upcoming visits, according to local media reports.

He also intends to explain his government's plan to send Self-Defense Forces personnel and hardware to the region and seek their understanding.
Fifteen foreign envoys and senior diplomats, including US ambassador Kenneth Juster, travelled to Srinagar on Thursday to assess the situation in Jammu and Kashmir following the revocation of the regions special status last August.

This was the first visit of diplomats organised by the government since it withdrew Kashmirs autonomy and decided to split the former state into two union territories. The group was accompanied by senior officials of the External Affairs Ministry.

Their first meeting was with security officials to get a sense of security situation in J&K, and also threat posed by terrorism in maintaining peace. Objective of the visit was for the envoys to see first hand the efforts which have been made by government to normalise situation, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

ALSO WATCH | Team of 15 foreign envoys visit Kashmir; Congress slams Modi govt

Besides the US envoy, other prominent members of the group were South Korean ambassador Shin Bong-kil, Norwegian ambassador Hans Jacob Frydenlund, Vietnamese ambassador Pham Sanh Chau and Argentinian envoy Daniel Chuburu.

The group was taken around Srinagar and met panchayat members and representatives of local bodies and NGOs.

The representatives who met the envoys told them that they completely reject Pakistans disinformation about a bloodbath in Kashmir and also lauded the governments handling of the actions taken on August 5 last year without bloodshed, said people familiar with developments.

The representatives acknowledged they were facing some difficulties but said this was necessary to maintain order.

They also highlighted Pakistans desperation and efforts to spread terrorism and blamed the neibouring country for killings in Jammu and Kashmir and asked the envoys to pressure Islamabad not to interfere, the people cited above said.

The representatives also said the people of Kashmir would not give an inch to Pakistan, the people added.

The countries that were part of the group were the US, Vietnam, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Niger, Nigeria, Morroco, Guyana, Argentina, the Philippines, Norway, the Maldives, Fiji, Togo, Bangladesh and Peru.
WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT: A man has had to have part of his genitals removed after his scrotum enlarged by more than three kilograms due to swelling.

The man, 43, from Panama, went to the emergency department with a fever and a fast heart, according to Urology Case Reports.

He was using a walker to get around and had been receiving care from his mother. Doctors noted he hadnt seen a physician in 30 years and over this time he had scrotal swelling which had gradually worsened.

Such was the extent of the swelling they were sagging past the level of his knees.

Researchers noted it as a case of elephantiasis.

Doctors said his scrotum was swollen so much it was sagging past his knees. Source: Urology Case Reports

He had no prior urologic history and only previous surgery was a diaphragmatic hernia repair as a child, researcher wrote.

A diaphragmatic hernia is a birth defect where a baby is born with an opening in the diaphragm which can lead to breathing difficulties.

Researchers wrote he had two open wounds with foul smelling, purulent fluid located at the bottom of the left hemi-scrotum.

They noted he had extensive swelling on the right and thickening skin on his left leg.

The 43-year-old was found to be anaemic meaning he had a low red blood cell count.

Doctors discovered through a CT scan of his pelvis and abdomen a hernia in his groin along with fluid build-up in his left scrotum.

There were concerns for Fourniers gangrene - a type of gangrene which affects the genitals and kills soft tissues, nerves and muscles.

He was taken into surgery to have infected tissue removed.

A CT scan of the 43-year-old's abdomen. Source: Urology Case Reports

Five days later, after suffering discomfort from dressing changes and wound cleaning, a decision was made to perform plastic surgery.

He underwent a scrotectomy and the hydrocele, or swelling of the scrotum, was found to weigh more than three kilograms.

The patient was discharged after 10 days in hospital to undergo rehab and after four weeks was healing well with satisfactory cosmetic and functional outcomes.

Story continues

Researchers noted his case was unique.

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Canada has intelligence from multiple sources that Ukrainian airliner was shot down by Iranian surface-to-air missile, said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, adding that the action by Tehran may be 'unintentional'.

"We have intelligence from multiple sources including our alliance and our own intelligence and the evidence indicate that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface to Air missile. This may have been unintentional," Trudeau said during a conference.

The Boeing 737 jet with 176 people on board including 63 Canadians crashed minutes after taking off from Tehran on Wednesday morning.

Eighty-two Iranians, 63 Canadians, and 11 Ukrainians died in the crash, which took place between the cities of Parand and Shahriar.

There were also 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three British nationals among the victims.

Earlier in the day, CNN reported that the United States believes that Iran mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner. President Donald Trump has indicated the plane crash was not due to mechanical issues, adding that "somebody could have made a mistake on the other side."

The crash took place on the day, Iran had launch missiles US targets in Baghdad in retaliation to the killing of Iranian military leader General Qassem Soleimani.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has opened an investigation to find out the cause of the crash. The country's officials said they are looking into multiple causes for the crash including the missile strike or terrorism.

Sweden has also joined the crash investigation on Thursday. Sweden Minister of Foreign Affairs Anne Linde told CNN that nothing was ruled out concerning the causes of the plane crash.

The UK is looking into "very concerning" reports about the Iran plane crash, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, European security officials said they believe that reports suggesting that the Ukrainian airliner was shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile in error are credible.

Ali Abedzadeh, the chief of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, wrote in a preliminary report on the crash that both of the plane's black boxes have been damaged, with physical damage visible.

"Both devices have been damaged by fire and the accident. There is the memory parts in both devices, however, physical damage is visible on them," the report wrote.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A rescue worker searches the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed in Shahedshahr, south west of Tehran (Ebrahim Noroozi)

The crew of a Ukrainian airliner that crashed in Iran never made a radio call for help and were trying to turn back to the airport when it went down, according to an initial Iranian report.

The report suggested a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines early on Wednesday when it went down moments after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, killing 176 people.

Investigators from Irans Civil Aviation Organisation offered no immediate explanation for the disaster.

Witnesses, including the crew of a passing flight, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing, the report said. The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely to have been because the aircraft was fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv in Ukraine.

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The report also confirmed that both the black boxes that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they had been damaged and some parts of their memory was lost.

It also said investigators have initially ruled out laser or electromagnetic interference as causing the crash.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraines Security Council, told Ukrainian media that officials had several working theories regarding the crash, including a missile strike.

A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash, Mr Danilov said.

Ukrainian investigators that arrived in Iran earlier on Thursday are awaiting permission from Iranian authorities to examine the crash site and look for missile fragments, Mr Danilov said.

The Tor is a Russian-made missile system.

Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1s to Iran in 2007 as part of a 700 million dollar contract signed in December 2005.

Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades as well.

General Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, denied a missile hit the plane in comments reported on Wednesday by the semi-official Fars news agency.

He dismissed the allegation as psychological warfare by foreign-based Iranian opposition groups.

Mr Danilov also said other possible causes under consideration included a drone or another flying object crashing into the plane, a terrorist attack or an engine malfunction causing an explosion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said crash investigators from his country had arrived in Iran to assist in the probe. He also said he planned to call Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about the crash and the investigation.

Undoubtedly, the priority for Ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash, Mr Zelenskiy said. We will surely find out the truth.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, and three Britons according to officials. The crash just before dawn scattered flaming debris and passengers belongings across a wide stretch of farmland.

It came immediately after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing US troops amid a confrontation with Washington over it killing an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general in a drone strike last week.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks in Ottawa following the fatal plane crash outside of Tehran, Iran, that claimed the lives of 176 people, including 63 Canadians. pic.twitter.com/uMTdY11jDO  CanadianPM (@CanadianPM) January 9, 2020

Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada, making their way back to Toronto via Kyiv after visiting family during the winter break.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said 138 of the passengers were bound for Canada. The flight included a family of four and newlyweds. The manifest listed several teenagers and children, some as young as one or two.

The crash ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. The flag over parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-mast, and Mr Trudeau vowed to get to the bottom of the disaster.

Know that all Canadians are grieving with you, he said, addressing the victims families.

Ukrainian officials initially agreed with Iranian suspicions that the three-year-old plane was brought down by mechanical trouble but later backed away from that and declined to offer a cause during the investigation.

While the cause of the tragedy remains unknown, the disaster could further damage Boeings reputation, which has been battered by two deadly crashes involving a different model of the Boeing jet, the much-newer 737 Max, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months.

The uproar led to the firing of the companys chief executive last month.

Boeing extended condolences to the victims families and said it stands ready to assist.
Brownsville Transit Village I and II are mid-rise buildings located in the Brownsville neighborhood  an urban, infill location  at 5255 NW 29th Avenue, with 96 and 100 units respectively. Brownsville Transit Village II is an independent senior living community.

Both properties are part of a larger campus of affordable apartment buildings that finished construction in 2012, which encompasses almost 500 affordable housing units and includes ground floor retail. The development is transit-oriented, located near the Metrorail Green Line station, with easy access to Miami International Airport and Downtown Miami.

"Lincoln Avenue Capital is driven by the mission to preserve and create quality affordable homes in the Miami area and across the nation," said Jeremy Bronfman, LAC's Chief Executive Officer. "We are proud to preserve Brownsville as an affordable property to meet this vital need in urban Miami, including its vibrant community of seniors."

About Lincoln Avenue Capital : Lincoln Avenue Capital (LAC) is one of the nation's fastest-growing developers, investors, and operators of affordable housing, providing high-quality, sustainable homes for low-income individuals, seniors, and families nationwide. LAC is a values-driven organization with a portfolio that includes 47 properties, comprising more than 9,000 units.

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Washington: United States President Donald Trump on Thursday said he had "suspicions" about the crash of a Ukrainian airliner outside Tehran as US media reported it had been mistakenly shot down by Iran.

"I have my suspicions," Trump said. "It was flying in a pretty rough neighbourhood and somebody could have made a mistake."

Trump's remarks came as several media outlets in the US reported that the plane had been accidentally shot down by Iranian air defense systems. All 176 people aboard died in the crash near Tehran on Wednesday.

"Some people say it was mechanical. I personally don't think that's even a question," Trump said, adding "something very terrible happened."

Unnamed officials told American media that Iranian air defence systems likely accidentally shot down the airliner. Newsweek, CBS and CNN said that satellite, radar and electronic data indicated the tragic error, which followed a ballistic missile barrage by Iran on two military bases in Iraq where US troops work.

Analysts pointed to pictures shared widely online of the wrecked fuselage of the aircraft showing multiple apparent puncture holes consistent with a rocket that detonated just outside the plane, blasting shrapnel into it.

"Similar marks were visible on wreckage of MH17," CNN reporter Jim Sciutto said, referring to the Malaysian Airlines flight which was shot down only July 17, 2014 over Eastern Ukraine by a Russian-designed surface-to-air missile.

Ukraine, meanwhile, outlined four potential scenarios to explain the crash, including a missile strike and terrorism, as Iranian investigators said the plane was on fire before it fell to the ground.

Kiev said its investigators wanted to search the site of the crash southwest of Tehran for possible debris of a Russian-made missile used by Iran's military. An initial report by Iran's civil aviation organisation said the plane had experienced an unspecified technical problem.

The Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800, flying to Kiev and carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians, crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport, killing all 176 on board.

The Iranian report cited witnesses on the ground and in a passing aircraft flying at a high altitude as saying the plane was on fire while in the air.

It said the three-year-old airliner, which had its last scheduled maintenance on Monday, encountered a technical problem shortly after take-off and started to head toward a nearby airport before it crashed. The report said there was no radio communication from the pilot and that the aircraft disappeared from radar at 2,440 m.

Such rumours make no sense: Iran

Iran on Thursday ruled out a missile strike as the cause of the plane crash, saying such a scenario made "no sense".

"Several internal and international flights were flying at the same time in Iranian airspace at the same altitude of 8,000 feet (2,440 m)," Iran's transport ministry said in a statement. "This story of a missile striking a plane cannot be correct at all."

"Such rumours make no sense," Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran's civil aviation organisation and deputy transport minister, said. He was reacting to rumours on social networks that the Boeing 737 was hit by a missile fired by Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Abedzadeh said Iran and Ukraine were in the process of "downloading information" from black boxes retrieved from the crash site.

"But if more specialised work is required to extract and analyse the data, we can do it in France or another country," he added.

On Wednesday, Iran's Mehr news agency -- close to ultraconservatives -- quoted Abedzadeh as saying Iran "would not give the black boxes to the Americans".

But the minister's statement on Thursday rejected "rumours of Iran's resistance to delivering the black boxes... to the US".

Iran is not obliged to have the black boxes analysed in the US, but America is one of only a few countries -- including France and Germany -- capable of carrying out such work.

Iranian authorities say initial indications showed the plane had turned back after suffering a problem.
BEIJING (AP)  Since late last year, people in the central Chinese city of Wuhan have been infected with a viral pneumonia whose cause was unknown. The outbreak raised the specter of another SARS epidemic, which killed hundreds in 2002 and 2003.

A preliminary investigation has now identified the respiratory disease as a new type of coronavirus, Chinese state media reported Thursday, citing scientists handling the investigation.

As of Sunday, local authorities reported 59 people with the illness. Seven were in critical condition, while the rest were stable. Eight were discharged Wednesday night after they didn't exhibit any more symptoms for several days.

WHAT ARE CORONAVIRUSES?

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses first identified in humans in the mid-1960s. Some cause the common cold, while others found in bats, camels and other animals have evolved into more severe illnesses.

The name comes from the Latin word corona, meaning a halo or crown, which the viruses resemble when viewed under a microscope.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?

Common symptoms include a runny nose, headache, cough and fever. Shortness of breath, chills and body aches are associated with more dangerous kinds of coronavirus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

HOW ARE CORONAVIRUSES SPREAD?

Many coronaviruses can spread through coughing or sneezing, or by touching an infected person, but officials said the present illness does not not transmit readily between people

The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said some of the infected patients ran businesses in a seafood market, meaning it's possible they were infected by animals there. The market is being suspended and investigated.

IS IT ANYTHING LIKE SARS?

SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, belongs to the coronavirus family, but Chinese state media say the illness in Wuhan is different from coronaviruses that have been identified in the past. Earlier laboratory tests ruled out SARS and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome), as well as influenza, bird flu, adenovirus and other common lung-infecting germs.

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SARS emerged as a novel coronavirus in 2002, first infecting people in southern China, then spreading to more than two dozen countries. More than 8,000 people were sickened and more than 700 died. No new cases have been reported since 2004.

Another form of coronavirus causes MERS, an illness that began in Jordan and Saudi Arabia in 2012 before spreading to about two dozen other countries. It has resulted in more than 800 deaths, with the majority reported from Saudi Arabia.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Chinese researchers made their preliminary determination through gene sequencing of the virus from one patient, according to a statement from Gauden Galea, a World Health Organization representative to China.

Preliminary identification of a novel virus in a short period of time is a notable achievement, Galea said.

But more must be done before scientists can reach a definitive conclusion. Xu Jianguo, the leader of the group that made the preliminary assessment, told Xinhua state news agency that they will conduct more research over the next several weeks to confirm that it is indeed a new coronavirus.

___

AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe in New York and researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed to this report.
We are in the midst of an imaginary impeachment standoff between House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell. Both have drawn firm lines in the sand. Someones got to give, one reporter recently declared.

There is, of course, nothing to give. Pelosi has no standing to dictate the terms of a Senate trial; no constitutional right or political leverage. Why she has put herself in a position that will ultimately end, one way or another, with her surrendering to McConnell is perplexing.

A new piece in Time magazine does shed some light on the thought process behind Pelosis decision to refuse to hand over articles of impeachment to a Senate whose majority doesnt want them. One of the most interesting nuggets in the piece isnt that Pelosi  portrayed as courageous risk-taker  had gotten the bright idea from CNN; its that she specifically got it from noted felon John Dean, Nixons former White House lawyer. Now, Dean is often portrayed as a patriotic, whistleblowing impeachment expert  which is true insofar as he planned the Watergate coverup, and then informed on everyone whom he conspired with after they were caught. His real expertise is cashing in on criminality for the past 50 years (I wrote about Deans slimy past here).

Surely Pelosi, blessed with preternatural political instincts, wouldnt rely on Deans advice? Surely Pelosi wasnt browbeaten into doing this by podcast bros and talking heads on Americas least popular major cable-news network?

Because whatever you make of the case against Donald Trump, its getting increasingly difficult to argue that this amateurish, constantly shifting effort by the House has been effective. After two dramatic emergency impeachment hearings, a pretend standoff, and massive cooperative coverage from the media, poll numbers havent budged. They may even have ticked back toward Donald Trump.

Yet, to hear Time tell it, Pelosi has micromanaged every step of this process, from signing off on every committee report and press release  aides say she caught typos in the Intelligence Committees final report before it went out  to picking furniture that would make Adam Schiff and the more diminutive Jerry Nadler look like equals.

Story continues

My working theory is this: Pelosi realized that impeachment was a mistake. She didnt want the president to be able tell voters that he had been exonerated by Senate. The only way to mitigate the damage was to undertake a ham-fisted effort to attack the Senate trial and dampen, or perhaps circumvent, that inevitable moment.

In the process, however, Pelosi destroyed the Democrats justification for rushing impeachment in the first place. Nadler and Schiff both argued that Trumps tenure in office constituted a national emergency, and that the only way to save the republic from another stolen election was to move quickly.

McConnell, on the other hand, had to take only a short break from confirming judges to inform the House that the Senate would treat the impeachment of Donald Trump the same way it treated the impeachment of Bill Clinton  with a rules package that passed 1000 in 1998. Under the Clinton precedent, the Senate would allow both the House impeachment managers and Trumps lawyers to make their case, with questions from the Senate to follow.

Pelosis defenders are running out of arguments. Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin now says that acting on the Clinton precedent means that moderate Republican senators such as Susan Collins will face the real possibility that conclusive evidence of Trumps wrongdoing will come to light after a sham trial. That would make for a disastrous, humiliating legacy.

The gaping hole in this argument, and the reason Democrats are losing the debate, is that theyve already claimed to have conclusive evidence of Trumps wrongdoing. They claimed they had proof of bribery, but they didnt include it in the impeachment articles. They claimed to have proof in the Mueller report that Trump obstructed justice, yet its not in the article of impeachments either. Rubin herself has alleged, dozens of times, that we already have definitive proof Trump has committed an impeachable offense.

In truth, if the House had made a persuasive case, there would be public pressure on Republicans to act in a different manner. That the House did not is the only reason Pelosi embraced John Deans silly idea  which has drastically backfired.

More from National Review
America and Iran stepped back from the brink of war last night, but the region remains a powder keg.

Britain is preparing to evacuate thousands of UK citizens from the Middle East as experts fear the threat of war is far from over as Iran is expected to direct its proxy militias in the region to carry out more bloodshed.

More than 7,000 Brits will fly home from Lebanon alone as Iran has a large contingent of Hezbollah supporters there. The Foreign Office advised against all but essential travel to the country.

Embassies throughout the world remain on high-alert against attacks and are protected by increased security.America and Iran stepped back from the brink of war last night, but the region remains a powder keg.



Britain is preparing to evacuate thousands of UK citizens from the Middle East as experts fear the threat of war is far from over as Iran is expected to direct its proxy militias in the region to carry out more bloodshed.

More than 7,000 Brits will fly home from Lebanon alone as Iran has a large contingent of Hezbollah supporters there. The Foreign Office advised against all but essential travel to the country.

Embassies throughout the world remain on high-alert against attacks and are protected by increased security.

Not only are local forces loyal to Iran a threat, but there are armed groups with links to Iran throughout the whole of Asia and that are also a threat in South America and Africa.

The proxies could be anything from State supporters like the Shia sect Assad regime in Syria to Shia militia groups throughout Iraq and Syria, who are heavily-armed and supported by Iran.

There are also Lebanese Hezbollah groups, funded by Iran as well as the Popular Mobilisation Units, which comprise of more than 40 mostly Shia militia groups.

A senior British security source told the Mirror: The whole region remains a powder keg. Lebanon is very tense and could quickly erupt as Iran urges its proxies to take action, militants are generating hatred across the country.

We have a team ready to fly out and scope out how we would extract people.

The priority is to locate available ships or ferries that we can hire and get into Lebanon and transit people to Cyprus.

A similar operation was carried out in 2006 during a war between Hezbollah and Israel.

However, influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr yesterday called on militia groups not to carry out attacks. He said: I call on the Iraqi factions to be deliberate, patient, and not to start military actions, and to shut down the extremist voices of some rogue elements until all political, methods have been exhausted.

Follow Us on Facebook  @LadunLiadi; Instagram  @LadunLiadi; Twitter  @LadunLiadi; Youtube  @LadunLiadiTV for updates
In its ongoing quest to become profitable, Lime says it will exit 12 markets across the globe. In the US, the company will shutter operations in four cities: Atlanta, Phoenix, San Diego and San Antonio. It will also leave Linz, Austria, as well as Bogota, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Lima, Puerto Vallarta, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in Latin America.

According to Axios, Lime is also laying off about 100 employees, which amounts to approximately 14 percent of its workforce. Lime president Joe Kraus told the website the tweaks will help the company become sustainable this year. "We're very confident that in 2020, Lime will be the first next-generation mobility company to be profitable," he said.

Today's announcement isn't the first time Lime has scaled back its ambitions. Last month, the company shuttered its short-lived LimePod service, which had allowed people in Seattle to rent an electric car through the company's mobile app. The company has also tried to find new ways to generate revenue. In March, Lime started testing a subscription service that allows frequent customers to sign up for unlimited scooter and e-bike rides. It plans to roll out the service to additional countries this month.
Carlos Ghosn, speaking publicly for the first since his dramatic escape from Japanese justice, told reporters in Beirut he had been treated "brutally" by Tokyo prosecutors, whom he accused of conspiring with Nissan to oust him as head of the automaker.

Ghosn, who denies any wrongdoing, fled charges of financial misconduct in Japan including allegedly under-reporting his compensation to the tune of $85 million.

Addressing a large crowd of journalists in the Lebanese capital, the one-time car industry titan said he was "presumed guilty" by Japanese prosecutors and had "no choice" but to jump bail.

Ghosn alleged "collusion" between Nissan and Japanese prosecutors over his arrest, which he described as "staged".

Dismissing all allegations against him as untrue, he said he had been "ripped" from friends and family when arrested, in what he described as a "travesty" of justice.

Im not above the law and I welcome the opportunity for the truth to come out and have my name cleared, he told a packed room of journalists.

He added that he would be ready to stand trial "anywhere where I think I can have a fair trial".

Ghosn was awaiting trial in Japan on charges of financial misconduct when he slipped away from his Tokyo residence, crossed Japan on a bullet train and was smuggled onto charter jets that delivered him from Osaka to Lebanon via Istanbul.

His bail jump has prompted outrage from the Japanese government, which has called his escape "unjustifiable", as well as from Nissan, which labelled the getaway "extremely regrettable".

Many were hoping Ghosn would disclose details of his audacious escape during Wednesdays press conference, but Ghosn told reporters he was "not here to talk" about how he fled Japan.

In a comment that was bound to cause further upset in Japan, he appeared to compare his arrest to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1941.

Story continues

"I didn't suspect anything ... Did you see Pearl Harbour happening?" he quipped to reporters.

Prosecutors slam 'one-sided' account

Ghosn said the charges against him stem from a "coup" inside Nissan by disgruntled executives and Japanese officials who feared his plans to more closely integrate the car giant with its alliance partner, French firm Renault.

Asked how high the alleged conspiracy went, the 65-year-old said he did not believe Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was involved.

In a further jab at his former colleagues, Ghosn said that Nissan's stock market value had fallen by $40 million a day since his arrest, while that of Renault had slumped by 20 million euros daily.

Shortly after the press conference, Tokyo prosecutors issued a statement slamming the former Nissan chief's "one-sided" and "unacceptable" criticism of Japan's legal system.

The Tokyo prosecutor's office also said claims they had colluded with Nissan were "categorically false and contrary to fact".

The prosecutors said Ghosn had "only himself to blame for being arrested", accusing him of having "flagrantly disregarded Japanese law to avoid the consequences of the crimes he committed".

>> A look back on Carlos Ghosn's fall from grace:

(FRANCE 24 with AP, REUTERS)
Waikiki beach in Honolulu of Hawaii / Courtesy of HanaTour



By Jun Ji-hye



An increasing number of newlyweds here are choosing to travel far when going on a honeymoon, opting to visit Hawaii or European countries rather than nearby Southeast Asian nations, according to a local travel agency.



HanaTour, the nation's largest travel agency, has recently released its analysis result of honeymooners who have bought group tour programs offered by the company for the last five years.



Hawaii was the most popular destination last year, with 19.6 percent of honeymooners choosing it, while European countries came in second at 16.2 percent.



In 2015, the U.S. resort island ranked second at 15.1 percent in terms of popularity, after Phuket.



But Hawaii reached the top spot in 2016, and has since maintained its popularity.



European nations have also enhanced their presence as honeymoon destinations on the back of the growing popularity of Eastern European cities such as Prague in the Czech Republic.



On the other hand, vacation spots at Southeast Asian nations have been falling in popularity as honeymoon destinations. In 2015, 49.3 percent of honeymooners chose Southeast Asian nations, but the figure fell to 42.5 percent in 2019.



Phuket, which had been the hottest spot until 2015, was ranked third in 2019.




Seven months after the release of a scathing quality assurance report by Nova Scotia consultant Dr. David Peachey on the state of the Pallister governments hospital consolidation plan, it appears little has changed.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/1/2020 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Seven months after the release of a scathing "quality assurance" report by Nova Scotia consultant Dr. David Peachey on the state of the Pallister governments hospital consolidation plan, it appears little has changed.

Peachey was called in last year to provide a progress report on the implementation of a bold plan, which he had recommended in February 2017, on how to improve Manitobas health care system.

Among the recommendations was to consolidate Winnipegs six acute care hospitals down to three, while converting three emergency rooms to urgent care centres.

In order to make it work, and to avoid compromising patient care, the plan would require effective strategic planning prior to implementation, Peachey recommended. Hundreds of staff would need to be relocated between hospitals; many would require retraining to take on new roles. Increased resources would be needed, both human and capital, at the three remaining acute care centres to absorb the expected influx of patients. The planning was as important as the changes themselves, Peachey said.

When the Pallister government announced the hospital reform plan in April 2017, then-health minister Kelvin Goertzen and senior officials from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority assured the public that planning had been completed.

The changes would be carried out in two phases; the first of which occurred that year. The second was scheduled for 2018.

Problems surfaced almost immediately. It became apparent within the first year of implementation that the required planning had not been done (if it was, it was done extremely poorly).

The second phase of the plan  the closure of ERs at Seven Oaks and Concordia hospitals  had to be delayed by more than year because the required staffing and resources at the three remaining acute care hospitals were not in place. Even prior to the implementation of Phase 2, things began to fall apart. After some early success in reducing ER wait times and improving patient flow in hospitals, wait times began to rise again at all hospitals.

Staffing shortages, particularly at St. Boniface Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, got worse. Patient volumes grew at those facilities without adequate increases in staffing and resources to handle the influx. Nurses and other hospital staff began complaining that the system was buckling under. Meanwhile, delays in closing ERs and intensive care units at Seven Oaks and Concordia left those facilities severely short staffed, as doctors and nurses resigned to take positions elsewhere.

It was a mess.

"Nurses have been inadvertently trapped by previously unknown levels of stress, exacerbated by a mixture of unpredictability and under-resourcing that have been fallouts from consolidation," David Peachey wrote in his report. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files)

By May 2019, Peachey was brought back to assess the situation. He confirmed the rollout of the plan was so poorly executed, it was causing severe distress among hospital staff. Some nurses were afraid to go to work for fear they would be forced into overtime shifts they could no longer handle, Peachey found.

"Nurses have been inadvertently trapped by previously unknown levels of stress, exacerbated by a mixture of unpredictability and under-resourcing that have been fallouts from consolidation," Peachey wrote in his report. "It is entirely predictable that the quality of nursing care to patients is and will be compromised."

Seven months later, it appears little has changed. In fact, it seems to be getting worse. The Free Press spoke with nurses from HSC recently who say severe staff shortages and a lack of resources are harming patient care. The Manitoba Nurses Union said last week it may have to urge nurses not to apply for jobs at HSC until the situation improves.

Seven months later, it appears little has changed. In fact, it seems to be getting worse.

The WRHAs own ER wait time numbers show the situation continues to deteriorate. In June, when Peachey released his quality assurance report, the longest ER wait time at HSC for 90 per cent of patients was 4.97 hours. By November, it grew to 5.5 hours, according to the most recent data. Thats up from 3.38 hours for the same month in 2018.

Its even worse at St. Boniface Hospital, where wait times grew to 5.92 hours in November, from 4.83 hours in June. In November 2018, it was 4.17 hours.

Regardless of the merits of the consolidation plan, the execution of it has been abysmal. Wait times have been on the rise for at least the past year and staff shortages are compromising patient care.

The government and the WRHA may eventually work out the logistics on this, but theyre running out of time.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca

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After a gap-up opening, Indian equities Thursday logged steady gains as investors cheered temporary de-escalation of a heated rhetoric between the United States and Iran.

In response to Iran's missile attack, US President Donald Trump said the strikes had not harmed any US troops stationed there and that damage was minimal. Trump, however, announced fresh sanctions on Tehran but stopped short of any further military escalation. This slight cool-off gave global some space for a relief rally.

Financials contributed the most towards the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex's gains, pushing the index to close 634.61 points, or 1.55 per cent, higher at 41,452.35 level. ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, and M&M were the top performing stocks at the 30-share index, while TCS, HCL Tech, NTPC, and Sun Pharma were the top laggards.

On the NSE, the broader Nifty50 reclaimed the crucial 12,200-mark after three trading session and settled at 12,215.40, up 190.05 points or 1.58 per cent. All the sectoral indices ended the day in the positive territory, except Nifty IT index. Nifty PSB, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty Auto, Nifty Realty, and NIfty Media indices were all up about 2.5 per cent. On the downside, Nifty IT index settled with 0.5 per cent cut.

BUZZING STOCKS

>> Shares of small-cap companies were in focus on Thursday with S&P BSE Smallcap index hitting a 6-month high on the back of strong rally in agri inputs, fertilizers, education, metals, textiles and real estate stocks. The index hit a high of 14,095 points, its highest level since July 8, 2019. At cose, the S&P BSE small-cap index was at 14,080.58, up 1.5 per cent.

>> Shares of real estate companies advanced at the bourses on Thursday, gaining up to 6 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), after the State Bank of India (SBI) launched a Residential Builder Finance with Buyer Guarantee scheme to safeguard home buyers financially. Sunteck Realty, Indiabulls Real Estate, DLF and Oberoi Realty were up more than 2 per cent each on the NSE in the intra-day trade today. At close, the Nifty Realty settled 2.73 per cent higher.

GLOBAL CUES

Asian stocks had their best session in weeks on Thursday, as the United States and Iran backed away from the brink of conflict in the Middle East and investors reversed their flight to safety.

MSCIs broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.3 per cent, its sharpest gain in almost a month.

Hong Kongs Hang Seng and Shanghai blue chips each added more than 1 per cent, while Japanese stocks rose further, gaining 2 per cent to their highest for the year so far.

In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.6 per cent to a record high of 420.98, while stocks in Germany, the bloc's biggest economy, gained 1.1 per cent.

In the commodities market, Brent Crude Futures were at $65.86 per barrel-mark, while WTI Crude was at $60 per barrel-mark by 3:00 pm.
HONOR has announced the global availability of the HONOR Band 5 and MagicWatch 2 at CES 2020. The company said that the Band 5 and MagicWatch 2 are now globally available, in fact.

We decided to check that information by navigating to HONORs global website. It is true that both devices are available in some regions, but not as many as youd think.

The HONOR Band 5 availability announced for Europe, Latin America, the Middle East & Africa

The HONOR Band 5 is available in parts of Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. It is available in Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, as far as the Asia Pacific region is concerned.

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In terms of Europe, you can get it in Russia, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Finland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria, and Poland. We believe that HiHonor ships to other European countries, though, at least those that are a part of the EU. Make sure to check the companys website, though.

It is available only in Colombia, as far as Latin America is concerned. As far as the Middle East and Africa are concerned, these are the countries that is available in: Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt, South Africa, Levant, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.

The device is priced at 29.90 in most of Europe, while the equivalent of that price tag is used in other regions, in different currencies, though.

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Now, as far as the HONOR MagicWatch 2 is concerned, its availability is more limited. For the 42mm version, only Thailand and Hungary are listed on the companys website.

The 46mm variant is a slightly different story. The 46mm variant is available in Indonesia, Thailand, the Netherlands, and Hungary. This variant of the HONOR MagicWatch 2 is priced at 189.

The HONOR Band 5 Sport & MagicBook coming soon

HONOR also announced that the Band 5 Sport and MagicBook will be hitting global markets soon. The company said that theyre expected to become available in Q1 2020.

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The HONOR Band 5 and MagicWatch 2 are expected to roll out to more countries soon. The MagicWatch 2 especially, as its availability is quite limited, as far as HONORs official store is concerned.

HONOR did not have anything new to announce at CES 2020, at least as far as new products are concerned. This availability information is the only piece of info that hit our inbox.

Still, these are quite interesting products. The HONOR Band 5 will be especially interesting to consumers who are looking for an affordable fitness tracker. This smart band has a lot to offer.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 07:02:20|Editor: ZX

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ROME, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Italy on Wednesday appealed for de-escalating tension between the United States and Iran, after the most recent developments occurred on the Iraqi soil.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) on Wednesday targeted U.S. bases in Iraq including al-Asad and Harir Camp to the north of Erbil with a second wave of surface-to-surface missiles.

The attacks came after Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, was killed in a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad International Airport on Friday.

Rome confirmed none of the Italian soldiers deployed in Iraq -- including those positioned in the bases near Erbil -- were injured in the Iranian attacks, and yet expressed concern for their safety.

"Our first thought goes out to our soldiers engaged in the country, to whom we express closeness and gratitude," Foreign Affairs Minister Luigi Di Maio said in a statement.

"We reiterate our firm appeal to all actors involve to exercise moderation, and to refrain from further mutual provocation."

Di Maio also stressed the military option was not "acceptable".

"Further instability across the region will impact directly and in the long-term on global security," he warned.

"Along with its European partners, Italy is ready to support any action to encourage dialogue and a constructive discussion within the Gulf region."

Still on Wednesday, Minister Di Maio flew to Egypt for the third stop of a round of diplomatic talks held with partners on both the U.S-Iran crisis and the situation in Libya, where military tension was running high as well.

Currently, Italy has authorized the deployment in Iraq of up to 1,100 troops, 305 vehicles and 12 aircraft for the Global Coalition against Daesh (also known as ISIL, Islamic State, or ISIS), according to the latest report provided by the parliament.
One of two frigates acquired by Bangladesh from China arrives at the southwestern seaport of Mongla in Khulna district, Jan. 9, 2020.

Two warships that Bangladesh purchased from China arrived in the South Asian nation on Thursday, officials said, less than three months after Dhaka confirmed it was negotiating to buy fighter jets and combat helicopters from the United States.

The frigates  renamed the Umar Farooq and the Abu Ubaidah  had been decommissioned by the Chinese navy and symbolically handed over to the Bangladeshi navy in China in December.

The two frigates arrived today [Thursday] at the Mongla naval jetty, Lt. Col. Abdullah Ibn Zaid, director of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Bangladeshi militarys news agency, told BenarNews, referring to the seaport in the countrys southwestern Khulna district.

The warships armaments include twin 100 mm cannons, surface-to-air missiles and anti-submarine torpedo tubes, Zaid said.

He and other officials declined to say how much the ships cost or whether they were refurbished or new.

Bangladeshi Navy Chief Adm. Aurangzeb Chowdhury and Rear Adm. Bai Yaoping, deputy commander of the Chinese navys Eastern Fleet, attended the handover ceremony in Shanghai in December, officials said.

The two ships served with Chinas Peoples Liberation Army Navy until they were decommissioned and sold to Bangladesh last year, according to Janes Defense Weekly, a news website that monitors military and security issues.

The Umar Farooq  previously known as Lianyungang  was commissioned in 1998 and Abu Ubaidah  formerly named Putian  went into service for the Chinese navy the following year, Janes said.

The two Chinese ships are refurbished, retired Rear Adm. Abu Taher, former chief of Bangladesh Navy, told BenarNews on Thursday. Frankly speaking, its very hard for countries like us to afford brand-new frigates.

Beijing was helping strengthen the navies of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as it aimed to enhance its footprint in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, security and defense analyst Sakhawat Hossain, a retired brigadier general, told BenarNews.

[Chinese officials] want to increase their influence in the geopolitics by enhancing militaries of the three south Asian countries, he said. Thanks to China, Bangladesh is now one of the countries with submarines, although conventional in nature, in South and Southeast Asia.

Chinas bid to tighten its military influence in the Bay of Bengal occurred as regional rival India announced in July last year that it had asked seven shipyards to submit proposals for the construction of six warships and support vessels worth 150 billion rupees (U.S. $2.2 billion) for New Delhis navy and coast guard.

In addition to the above, a few more request for proposals for more shipbuilding projects are likely to be issued in the next few months, Indias Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

American offer: An opportunity for us

Since the 1980s, Bangladeshs 157,000-member military has purchased equipment from China  its traditional main weapons supplier  as well as Russia, Great Britain and South Korea.

China provided weapons valued at almost U.S. $2 billion to Bangladesh between 2008 and 2018, about 71.8 percent of the South Asian nations military acquisitions, according to the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Dhakas military expenditure, totaling about $3.2 billion in 2017 and 2018, accounts for about 6 percent of its annual budget, according to official statistics.

The two frigates were turned over to Bangladesh as the Muslim-majority nation ramps up a program to modernize its armed forces.

Dhaka recently acquired two submarines valued at $205 million from Beijing. Those submarines, which were berthed at a Bangladeshi naval base in Chittagong district, will be housed at a naval base that is expected to be constructed in a southeastern district, officials said.

Bangladesh is negotiating to purchase fighter jets, missiles systems and combat helicopters from the United States, according to retired Col. Faruk Khan, chairman of the parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs.

We have been in negotiation with the United States regarding procurement of attack helicopters, fighter planes and missiles, Khan told BenarNews in October 2019.

The negotiations marked the first time that Dhaka had approached Washington for defense equipment since Bangladesh broke free from Pakistan in 1971, security analysts told BenarNews.

During her Dhaka visit in November, Alice Wells, the U.S. acting assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, confirmed that the United States was seeking an expanded military relationship with Bangladesh.

Wells said that under the Bay of Bengal Initiative, a new U.S. State Department program that involves foreign military financing, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives could build their maritime and border security capacities.

The U.S. offer to strengthen ties between militaries under the initiative is an opportunity for us, security analyst Abdur Rashid, a retired major general, told BenarNews.

We have to grab it.
New Delhi:

Fugitive gangster Ejaz Lakdawala, wanted in connection with several cases of extortion, attempt to kill and rioting, has been arrested by Mumbai Police, an official said on Thursday. Lakdawala was apprehended by Mumbai Crime Branchs anti-extortion cell team at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on Wednesday, the official said. He once worked for underworld don Dawood Ibrahim before forming his own gang, he said.

In May 2004, he was arrested by the Canadian Police in Ottawa. A few years back he was believed to be somewhere in North America, although he frequently changed his locations to South East Asia as well. A Red Corner notice had earlier been issued against him.

His arrest comes days after his daughter Sonia Lakdawala was arrested by Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Mumbai crime branch. Sonia was arrested by the AEC officials while she was trying to flee the country. Soniya was flying to Nepal on a forged passport and was booked and arrested for forgery and passport act. As her remand in the earlier case ended on Monday, she was arrested in connection with the extortion case registered against her and her father on the complaint of the Bandra based realtor.

Ejaz Lakdawala once worked for underworld don Dawood Ibrahim before forming his own gang. (Credits: News Nation)

Last year, Ejaz Lakdawalas brother was arrested for allegedly trying to extort money from a builder. Probe revealed that Akil was also involved in the extortion racket, and following a tip-off, he was nabbed from Mira Road area on the outskirts of Mumbai. He was booked under IPC section 386 (extortion) and 120 (criminal conspiracy) and produced before a court which remanded him in police custody.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
The number of people who died from drug overdoses in New Jersey appears to be down for the first time in years.

About 3,021 people died of suspected drug-related overdoses last year, based on preliminary data. State officials said that was about a 3% decrease from 2018, when nearly 100 more people died during the ongoing opioid epidemic.

On average, more than eight people continue to die everyday.

We finally are seeing a breaking in the curve, Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday. But, he cautioned, theres no celebration.

Opioid prescriptions were also down by more than 6%, authorities said. There were more than 3.9 million opioid prescriptions last year in the state, compared to more than 4.2 million in 2018, according to a statement from state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal.

New Jersey drug deaths had set records for four straight years. Before 2012, when officials started tracking those deaths, more than 1.5 billion prescription pain pills flooded the state from a relatively small number of pharmacies, which helped trigger a surge in drug addiction.

State officials announced the new numbers and discussed next steps during a roundtable event at the Family Guidance Center of Warren County, a treatment nonprofit in Washington Township.

Attempts by President Donald Trumps administration to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, threatened to cut the state off from badly needed federal funds, according to Carole Johnson, commissioner of the human services department.

But the states recent one-day giveaway of 32,000 doses of naloxone, an opioid antidote, was a positive step, she said. This week, Johnson reached out to police departments about distributing more doses, she said, and 80 had already responded.

Just on Tuesday, an off-duty corrections officer saved somebodys life with naloxone, said Marcus Hicks, acting commissioner of the corrections department. Hicks said more than a quarter of the states prison population had addiction issues, and he was working to improve treatment behind bars.

In addition, the state attorney generals office is suing the Sackler family, founders of the drug manufacturing giant Purdue Pharma, which officials say deceptively marketed addictive painkillers.

Grewal said officers shut down 11 heroin mills last year and seized more than 4.5 million doses. He highlighted a program he began to redirect people arrested on drug charges to treatment, and he said thousands of high school athletes and their parents were now required to watch an educational video about opioids.

The governor also revived an idea to tax opioid manufacturers to help pay for addiction treatment.

Murphy said the state spent $100 million each of the last two years to tackle the problem, and he suggested that he would be asking for money again in this years budget, although he did not name a specific figure.

Overall, the governor said the state was on the right track.

Blake Nelson can be reached at bnelson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BCunninghamN.

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GARY  An 82-year-old man shot by police in November died Saturday at a Chicago hospital, authorities said.

Melvin Bouler, of the 2400 block of Roosevelt Street, was shot by Gary police Nov. 17 after failing to follow officers' orders, officials said.

Bouler's death Jan. 4 marks the third confirmed homicide in Gary so far this year, police said.

Police were dispatched about 5:30 p.m. Nov. 7 to the Small Farms apartment complex in the 2400 block of Roosevelt Street for a report of an intoxicated person with a weapon, Lake County sheriff's police said.

Upon arrival, authorities found Bouler sitting inside a vehicle in front of the apartment complex. Bouler refused to follow officers' orders and shots were fired, police said.

A Gary police spokeswoman declined to say in November whether Bouler fired any shots.

Bouler was taken to Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus in Gary and later transferred to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he died Jan. 4.

His cause and manner of death were pending, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
The Iranian regimes ballistic missile attack on U.S. troops in Iraq was the most brazen assault on America since the 1979 seizing of the embassy in Tehran. Therefore, President Donald Trump was challenged by the greatest test of his presidency. A few days ago, a U.S. drone targeted a convey nearly Baghdad International Airport that caused the death of the chief of the Revolutionary Guards Quds Force (IRGC-QF) Qassem Soleimani.

It is worth noting that Soleimani was notoriously renowned as a war criminal whose hands were stained with the blood of hundreds of thousands of people in Iran, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, etc. Many people in these countries rejoiced the elimination of the IRGC-QF chief.

Protesters in Nasseriya, a Shia-majority city in Iraq, jokingly bury a garbage bin and hit it with shoes (sign of humiliation) to mark Soleimanis death.

Militias established by Solemani are implicated in the murder of hundreds of peaceful Iraqi protesters in recent months. pic.twitter.com/9RXkzxchkt  Elizabeth Tsurkov (@Elizrael) January 3, 2020

Iraqis  Iraqis  dancing in the street for freedom; thankful that General Soleimani is no more. pic.twitter.com/huFcae3ap4  Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 3, 2020

Indeed, these are #Iraqi people celebrating elimination of Solimani, the murderer of thousands of people from #Iran protestors o #Iraq, #Lebanon and Yemen! pic.twitter.com/purDzJZYPz  Nasrin Saifi (@NassrinSaifi) January 3, 2020

However, both Tehran and Washington previously announced their dislike about beginning any conflict, but the mullahs pushed the countries closer to war. Now the globe is waiting for the civilized worlds response to the aggressive move of the first state-sponsor of terrorism, who today became the starter of warmongering. The U.S. President offered no immediate indication and only assured his people that All is well! on Twitter.

All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2020

Later, President Trump delivered remarks addressing the nation following the recent missile attacks on the U.S. military bases in Iraq. Peace and stability cannot prevail in the Middle East as long as Iran continues its malign activities Iran will not be allowed to go forward with its malign campaigns I will ask NATO to become more involved, he said. The U.S. president also emphasized that the days of tolerating Irans destructive and destabilizing behavior as the leading sponsor of terrorism are over. He also reasoned that American strength both military and economic are the best deterrent. The White House account on Twitter that was airing the presidents speech tweeted, The United States will immediately impose additional sanctions on the Iranian regime.

The United States will immediately impose additional sanctions on the Iranian regime. pic.twitter.com/Y47COReXr2  The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 8, 2020

Senior U.S. Senator Marco Rubio issued a warning about the disinformation activities and spreading false information on social media. He portrayed the creation of confusion and division as the goal of coordinated informational warfare regarding the Iranian regimes missile attack. Senator Rubio also acknowledged that the U.S. was prepared for the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC)s attack and mentioned the range of options that the U.S. president has to respond to.

Be aware that we are experiencing a stunning volume of troll & disinformation activity on twitter. We are witnessing coordinated informational warfare regarding #Iranattack spreading false information designed to create confusion & division.  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) January 8, 2020

US was prepared for the attack launched tonight by the #IRGC @potus has a broad range of options available to respond We will soon have a fuller assessment of this attack Thereafter I am very confident he will pursue an appropriate response & act at a time of our choosing  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) January 8, 2020

Also, it is said that Irans missiles intentionally missed areas populated by Americans during attacks. The IRGC later claimed responsibility of attacks by issuing an announcement and explained the assault has taken place in retaliation for the unfair assassination of Qassem Soleimani.

Donya Eqtesad newspaper published IRGCs announcement about the acceptance of the responsibility for launching ballistic missile attacks at U.S. military bases in Iraq

Subsequently, the state-run Iran Students News Agency (ISNA) declared, 1,500 Americans were in Ain al-Assad; the base was completely destroyed. ISNA quoted Mehdi Mohammadi, analyst of security-political affairs, like tweeting, According to footages of drones and satellites, Ain al-Assad base is completely destroyed. More than 1,500 Americans were there. The casualties are unprecedented and certain. The United States has yet no true estimation. Here is the place that the U.S. was assured about its safety and since Friday (January 3) gathered its sensitive properties there.

Mahdi Mohammadi brags about complete destruction of the Ain al-Assad base hosting U.S. troops in Iraq during the IRGCs missile attacks

Also, the state-run Tasnim news agency, affiliated to the IRGC-QF, published, Taking harsh revenge has begun. Launching IRGCs ballistic missiles at the American base Ain al-Assad. Tasnim described the operation was done in retaliation to the assassination of Soleimani. On the other hand, deputy commander of IRGCs operations Abbas Nilfroushan told Tasnim, Our missiles exactly landed on target.

Our missiles exactly landed on target, deputy commander of IRGCs operations Abbas Nilfroushan boasted about missile attacks on U.S. military bases in Iraq on January 8.

Observers believe that Iranian authorities pursued two purposes by recent attacks on U.S. bases. First, they would brag about their regional power curbing more defection among their forces. Second, they deeply comply with U.S. redlines about the lives of Americans.

Notably, on December 27, while the Iranian regime saw its authority in Iraq is on the brink of collapse, it orchestrated a missile attack against the Iraqi base hosting the Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) in Kirkuk, Iraq. The mullahs attempted to divert the Iraqi protests against their malign influence in this country and lead the argument against the U.S. presence in Iraq rather than Irans meddling. Kataib Hezbollah (KH), a well-known Iranian proxy in Iraq, launched missile attacks that resulted in the death of an American civilian and several injuries. The regime factually triggered a chain of confrontation that followed by U.S. airstrikes on five bases of KH in Syria and Iraq. Afterward, Irans mercenaries in Iraq, including the head of KH Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the head of Badr organization Hadi al-Ameri, etc. , were ordered to rush to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and they provoked their followers to damage and torch some parts of the embassy. Then, Qassem Soleimani arrived at Baghdad to brief Irans allies for more operations against the U.S. in this country. The presence of Soleimani had always coincided with terror attacks and killing innocent people. The U.S. targeted the most dangerous commander of Irans terrorist apparatus to prevent the loss of more lives.

In such circumstances, upcoming developments show how Khameneis expectations were an illusion. In fact, he calculated that the U.S. wont respond to his regimes aggression due to the upcoming presidential election campaigns. In this respect, he heralded his forces that the U.S. avoids engaging a new war [against Tehran] in the region, and also, we dont want a war. His supporters boasted by quoting Khameneis remark, No war, No negotiation. However, it was proven that the regimes supreme leader is not only an expert in economic issues, as he said after the gas price hikes in the last November, he also suffers from not having reliable insight about the standards of the 21st century!

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A team of 15 envoys including US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster, which reached here on Thursday on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, will also meet and interact with residents of Kashmiri migrant camp at Jagati on outskirts of the city.

The envoys' team, which reached Jammu from Srinagar on late Thursday evening, is also slated to be hosted later in the night by Lieutenant governor G C Murmu in a dinner meeting at Hotel Radisson, where the team would be staying tonight.

"The team of envoys will visit Jagat Migrant camp after 1200 hours Friday. They will interact with Kashmir Pandit migrants at the camp," a senior official told PTI.

During the visit, the team will be briefed by two displaced Kashmiri Pandit members including a female member.

The State government has built 4,218 two-room flats at Jagti in Nagrota area of Jammu for those Kashmiri Pandit migrants who are living in one-room dwellings provided to them and was provided to displaced families in 2010.

Soon after the arrival in Jammu, the team checked in hotel Radisson Blu amid tight security and are being hosted a reception by Lt Governor G C Murmu here.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLAs along with district TDP leaders held a silent protest on Thursday against the arrest of former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday night in Amaravati.

Visakhapatnam East MLA Velagapudi Rama Krishna, South MLA Vasupali Ganesh Kumara and West MLA Ganababu participated in this protest .

Visakhapatnam West MLA Ganababu said: "Everybody has a right to protest against the government decision. We live in a democratic country. There is no reason why anybody should be prevented from staging a peaceful protest."

"In a democracy, the opposition parties have the right to oppose the decisions of the government. Moreover, the development of the state has come to a standstill in the last seven months," he alleged.

N Chandrababu Naidu was detained by police in Vijayawada on Wednesday and was released later in the day when he was dropped off at his residence in Undavalli in Amaravati.

Police had detained Naidu ahead of the flagging-off ceremony of Amaravati Parirakshana Samiti's bus yatra against YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led state govt's decision of three state capitals.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday launched Pakistan's largest skills development programme under which the government aims to train more than 500,000 youth in modern skills to get jobs in local and international markets.

Launching the programme 'Hunarmand Jawan', Khan said that it was a flagship initiative to transform the youth of the country, including those studying in religious seminaries.

"Under this programme, we initially aim to train 500,000 youth. One thing that I am very proud of is that the first 70 skill centres we create will be in madarssahs, so that the children who have always been neglected are able to acquire skills that will help them step up in the real world, he said.

Khan said that Hunarmand Jawan programme would help to reviving dormant industries and to provide youth with modern IT and other skills.

Under the four-year programme, the youth would be provided quality professional training.

The programme would cost approximately Rs 30 billion and will provide easy loans, capacity building and internships for the youth.

Khan said that 300 smart training centres will be created, where students will have access to international teachers to achieve global standards.

He urged the youth to work hard as there was no easy way to success.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A man has been charged with murder after an Omani student was stabbed to death near Harrods.

Badir Rahim Alnazi, 23 is charged with the murder of Mohammed Al-Araimi, 20, on December 5 last year.

Mr Al-Araimi was attacked as he walked home from a restaurant in Knightsbridge.

He was knifed in the back and collapsed beneath a Christmas tree in Hans Crescent, near an entrance to Harrods.

Police released this CCTV of two suspects after the stabbing / Metropolitan Police

The Kings College politics and economics student was the son of Sheikh Abdullah Al Araimi who founded one of the Middle Easts biggest property empires.

Sheikh Al Araimis Al Raid Group opened the 130 million Al Araimi Boulevard shopping centre in Muscat in 2018, which was modelled on Westfield London in Shepherds Bush.

The family, said to be close to Omans ruling dynasty, reportedly spend much of the year in London and own a number of apartments in a block in Knightsbridge opposite Hyde Park.
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WASHINGTON - It is highly likely that Iran shot down the civilian Ukrainian jetliner that crashed near Tehran late Tuesday, killing all 176 people on board, U.S., Canadian and British officials declared Thursday. They said the fiery missile strike could well have been a mistake amid rocket launches and high tension throughout the region.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops in its violent confrontation with Washington over the U.S. drone strike that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general. The airliner could have been mistaken for a threat, said four U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose country lost at least 63 citizens in the downing, said in Ottawa: We have intelligence from multiple sources including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile.

Likewise, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison offered similar statements. Morrison also said it appeared to be a mistake. All of the intelligence as presented to us today does not suggest an intentional act, he said.

The assessment that 176 people were killed as collateral damage in the Iranian-U.S. conflict cast a new pall over what had at first appeared to be a relatively calm aftermath following the U.S. military operation that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

It was not immediately clear how the U.S. and its allies would react. Despite efforts by Washington and Tehran to step back from the brink of possible war, the region remained on edge after the killing of the Iranian general and Irans retaliatory missile strikes. U.S. troops were on high-alert.

At the White House, President Donald Trump suggested he believed Iran was responsible for the shootdown and dismissed Irans initial claim that it was a mechanical issue with the plane.

Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side. Trump said, noting the plane was flying in a pretty rough neighbourhood.

Late Thursday, the U.S. House approved a measure that aims to bar any further military action against Iran without congressional approval. However, the resolution approved by the Democratic-majority House is nonbinding and, at any rate, no similar measure could pass the Republican-controlled Senate.

As for the airliner shootdown, the U.S. officials wouldnt say what intelligence they had that pointed to an Iranian missile, believed to be fired by Russian Tor system, known to NATO as the SA-15. But they acknowledged the existence of satellites and other sensors in the region, as well as the likelihood of communication interceptions and other similar intelligence.

The New York Times posted a video Thursday it said it had verified showing the moment the apparent missile struck the plane over Iran. The video shows a fast-moving object rising before a fiery explosion. An object, apparently on fire, then continues in a different direction.

A preliminary Iranian investigative report released Thursday said that the airliner pilots never made a radio call for help and that the aircraft was trying to turn back for the airport when the burning plane went down.

The Iranian report suggested that a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines late Tuesday, when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

Investigators from Irans Civil Aviation Organization offered no immediate explanation for the disaster, however. Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, something backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldnt speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

Before the U.S. assessment, Irans state-run IRNA news agency quoted Hasan Rezaeifa, the head of the of civil aviation accident investigation commission, claiming that the topics of rocket, missile or anti-aircraft system is ruled out.

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6:12 a.m. Wednesday, Tehran time, after nearly an hours delay at Tehrans Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travellers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.

Then something went wrong, though no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations, the report said. In emergencies, pilots reach out to air-traffic controllers to warn them and to clear the runway for their arrival, though their first priority is to keep the aircraft flying.

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing at 6:18 a.m., the report said. The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday vowed his government will get answers after a Ukrainian passenger jet crashed, killing at least 63 Canadians, just minutes after taking off from Iran's capital. (The Associated Press)

The report also confirmed that both of the black boxes that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost.

Hours before the plane crash the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had issued an emergency flight restriction barring U.S. carriers and pilots from flying over areas of Iraqi, Iranian and some Persian Gulf airspace warning of the potential for miscalculation or misidentification for civilian aircraft due to heightened political and military tensions.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraines Security Council, told Ukrainian media that officials had several working theories regarding the crash, including a missile strike.

A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash, Danilov said.

Ukrainian investigators who arrived in Iran on Thursday awaited permission from Iranian authorities to examine the crash site and look for missile fragments, Danilov said.

The Tor is a Russian-made missile system. Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1s to Iran in 2007, and Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades.

Iran did not immediately respond to the Ukrainian comments. However, Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, denied a missile hit the airplane in a comments reported Wednesday by the semiofficial Fars news agency. He dismissed the allegation as psychological warfare by foreign-based Iranian opposition groups.

Ukraine has a grim history with missile attacks, including in July 2014 when one such strike downed a Malaysia Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Kyiv after visiting with family during the winter break.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, Undoubtedly, the priority for Ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash. We will surely find out the truth.

The crash ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. The flag over Parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-staff, and Prime Minister Trudeau vowed to get to the bottom of the disaster.

The U.S. accident investigator, the National Transportation Safety Board, is talking to the State Department and the Treasury Department about travelling to Iran to inspect the U.S.-built aircraft and working with Iranian authorities despite U.S. economic sanctions against that country. In a statement Thursday the NTSB said it continues to monitor the situation surrounding the crash and evaluate its level of participation in the investigation.

U.S. officials have expressed concerned about sending employees to Iran because of the heightened tensions.

___

Associated Press writers Rob Gillies in Toronto, Robert Burns and Matthew Lee in Washington and Jill Lawless in London contributed.
The government is committed to ensuring that perpetrators of atrocities during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots are brought to justice, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday while lauding the Sikh community for building India's image abroad.

He was interacting with NRIs in Australia, Surinam, the US, Singapore, Quatar, Malaysia, the UK and Mauritius through video conferencing on the occasion of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas when he made the comment.

To a question regarding misconceptions about the Sikh community abroad, Jaishankar said among the Indian communities abroad, Sikhs have been the foremost in shaping the brand and image of India.

Referring to the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, he said, "As a government, we are committed to ensuring that the perpetrators of atrocities are brought to justice. Where some cases regarding anti-Sikh riots were closed, we have had them reopened and reinvestigated. We have looked at compensation for people who have been affected by the riots of 1984."



"Where we are concerned, there are no misperception about the Sikh community. They are an extraordinarily diligent, hardworking, patriotic and contributing community in India and abroad," the external affairs minister said.

There may be a few people who are pursuing their own agenda in a way that is detrimental to the interests of India, but the vast majority of this community is deeply attached to the welfare, security and integrity of India, he asserted.

"In terms of what has happened in the past, I recognise that, having served in various embassies in last 30 years. We know that there have been complaints from the community," Jaishankar said.

"We all know the reason for denial of consular services to some people. This government has taken the initiative to address that. We have decided that political asylees of Sikh origin and their family members who in the past could not obtain passports and consular services will now be allowed to do that," he said.

The government last September had removed from its blacklist names of 312 Sikh foreign nationals involved in anti-India activities and only two persons figure in the list now.

Responding to a question posed by an NRI from Singapore, Jaishankar said, "We as a country, as a government definitely would like to see the NRIs invest metaphorically and literally in India in a bigger way."



"We hope to take measures soon to facilitate investment by NRIs and PIOs," Jaishnkar said.

He said the external affairs ministry will also seriously think about organising a 'pravasi global CEO conference' some time this year in London.

On the issue of workers being exploited in Qatar, Jaishankar said the matter was "very strongly on the government's radar" and it will remain vigilant. He also said that the government hopes to issue the Emigration Bill soon.

Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan and Secretary, East, Vijay Thakur Singh were also present at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrations here.

The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is celebrated on January 9 every year to mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community in the development of India.

January 9 was chosen as the day to celebrate this occasion since it was on this day in 1915 that Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa, led India's freedom struggle and changed the lives of Indians forever.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A recent Facebook ad campaign promoting a pamphlet about a whooping cough vaccine controversy has drawn criticism for potentially violating the spirit, if not the exact letter, of Facebooks policy against publishing vaccine misinformation in ads.

The ads come from Earthley, a wellness company that sells natural healthcare and beauty products.

Earthley also promotes some of its own products as treatments for whooping cough, including elderberry elixir, vitamin C powder, and different herbal mixtures.

A new ad campaign on Facebook has skirted the social media giant's ban on vaccine misinformation by promoting a guide to the whooping cough that promises to explain the 'controversy' surrounding vaccination

Since December 9, the company has been running a series of ads on Facebook promoting A Guide to Pertussis (Whooping Cough).

The guide promises to help parents understand the symptoms and treatment options for the respiratory disease, which kills 160,000 people a year.

It also claims to address a controversy connected to the practice of vaccinating people for the whooping cough.

Is the vaccine the best option? And if not, what is? one of Earthelys ads for its whooping cough guide, as reported by BuzzFeed.

Another ad says, Click below for a FREE guide for Pertussis which will include: Vaccine Controversy.

According to BuzzFeed, the guide makes the false claim that whooping cough vaccines contain levels of aluminum that could cause neurological damage.

Earthley responded to the report about their questionable advertising campaign with a post on Facebook that included a mischaracterization of a CDC report about whooping cough in its comments

When contacted about the ads, a Facebook representative said that the companys ads didnt violate its new policy for anti-vaccination propaganda, which it announced in March of 2019.

WHAT IS FACEBOOK'S PLAN TO CURB ANTI-VAX PROPAGANDA? In a March 7 blog post, Facebooks VP of Global Policy Management Monika Bickert outlined a series of steps the firm is now taking to cut down on vaccine misinformation. This includes: Reducing the ranking of groups and pages that spread vaccine misinformation

Rejecting ads including misinformation about vaccines

Removing related targeting options, such as 'vaccine controversies'

Removing this content from recommended pages in Instagram Explore or hashtags

Providing 'authoritative information' on the topic of vaccines Advertisement

Facebook does not have a policy that bans advertising on the basis that it expresses opposition to vaccines, a Facebook spokesperson told BuzzFeed.

Our policy is to ban ads containing vaccine misinformation.

While information contained in the guide itself could potentially meet Facebooks standards for vaccine misinformation, an ad that promotes the guide without specifying any of its claims does not.

According to Peter Hotez, an MD and professor of pediatrics at Baylor University, the whooping cough vaccine is safe, it does not cause autism, does not cause all the other things that they talk about.

Its highly protective, and could save your childs life.

In a Facebook post reacting to BuzzFeeds article, Earthley points to a report on whooping cough from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, arguing that the vaccine is of questionable efficacy because four times as many vaccinated people get the disease as unvaccinated people.

Earthleys claim, however, does not accurately represent the CDC reports findings.

Of the 3,862 reported cases of whooping cough in children between the ages of six months and six years, 62 percent involve patients with an unknown vaccination history, were not vaccinated, or had not completed the full vaccination course.

Only 38 percent, or 1,463 cases, came from children who had completed a full DTaP vaccination for whooping cough.

Because protection from DTaP wanes over time, even children who are up to date with their pertussis vaccines may contract pertussis, the report explains.

Unvaccinated children are more likely to contract pertussis and have more severe disease than those who are fully vaccinated.

Another CDC report addresses concerns over aluminum content in vaccines, which is no more than 0.85mg per dose.

For comparison, the CDC says the average American adult ingests between 7mg and 9mg of aluminum every day through various food sources, including flour, baking powder, coloring agents, or anticaking agents.

A single aspirin tablet contains between 10 and 20mg of aluminum and a single antacid capsule can contain between 104mg and 208mg of aluminum.

Aluminum is one of the most common metals found in nature and is present in air, food, and water, the CDC report says.

Scientific research has shown the amount of aluminum exposure in people who follow the recommended vaccine schedule is low and is not readily absorbed by the body
Bengaluru: A controversial tweet against actress Deepika Padukones visit to the JNU campus in Delhi from former Bengaluru police commissioner Raghavendra Auradkars Twitter handle had the police saying WTF for a while.

The tweet, coming in the wake of the actress much-publicised appearance at a JNU protest, purported to paint her as bad luck. It ran: When the actress supported BSNL, the company ran into huge losses. She supported RCB (Royal Challengers of Bangalore) and the team never won a cup forcing Vijay Mallya and Sidharth Mallya to flee the country. She became friends with Yuvraj Singh and he had to battle cancer. Now, it is the turn of tukde tukde gang. Deepikas track record is impeccable. All the best students.

Deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Kuldeep Kumar Jain, presently DGP (Police Housing Board) said they checked and found that Auradkar had dismantled his Twitter account a long while back, and that it had somehow fallen into the hands of hackers..

The department has got in touch with Twitter India and a case has been registered in this regard, Jain said.
FLINT, MI -- The U.S. Food & Drug administration has joined in an investigation of bottled water distributed in Flint just before Christmas which was the subject of complaints from some who received it.

Genesee County Health Department Director John McKellar said the federal agency, which regulates the safety of bottled water, took possession of water samples from the giveaway at Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church of Flint on Dec. 21.

Some people who drank the water complained it had an unusual smell or taste. The church and the health department urged those who received the brands Niagara, Freedoms Choice or Refreshe to dispose of it as a precaution based on complaints.

Initial testing by the county showed samples were normal for pH and bacteria, but McKellar said the county consulted with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development about further testing. The state then consulted with the FDA.

FDA took possession of samples yesterday for additional testing. We expect to learn results in approximately two weeks, McKellar said in an email to MLive-The Flint Journal.

The Rev. Daniel Moore, pastor of Shiloh, has said his church distributed more than 100 pallets of bottled water in the Dec. 21 giveaway -- water acquired for distribution from FEMA by District 7 and Local 1626 of the American Federation of Government Employees.

FEMA said in a statement to MLive-The Flint Journal last week that it offered 104,000 liters of water that apparently ended up in Flint through the General Services Administration in October with best before dates of January/February.

The seven tractor trailer loads of water came from the FEMA Distribution Center in Fort Worth, Texas, and was stored in accordance with producer guidance," according to a statement from the agency.

FEMA said it was investigating the origin of the Flint water, including how it was manufactured, stored and shipped.

The FDA did not immediately comment on its testing plans.
Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, Head of the Vietnamese Permanent Mission to the UN, has called on the world to intensify efforts in the fight against terrorism in West Africa and the Sahel region.

Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy (red tie) chairs the UN Security Council Briefing on the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel.

Chairing the UN Security Council Briefing on the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) on January 8, the diplomat stressed that in the context of the worsening situation in the region, countries should join hands to resolve the unstability there, including organised crime and the impact of climate change on regional security.

According to Mohamed Ibn Chambas, UN Special Represenative and Head of the UNOWAS, the region has experienced a devastating surge in terrorist attacks against civilian and military targets, with Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso suffering the most.

Recurring attacks have triggered population displacements of more than 5.1 million people, led to the prolonged closure of health and education facilities, and in certain areas reinforced the role of militias and self-defence groups for security, he said.

On behalf of UNOWAS, Chambas spoke highly of agencies in Guinea-Bissau for ensuring safety for the second round of the countrys presidential elections on December 29. However, he warned of the threat of increasing violence when presidential elections take place in Burkina Faso, Cote dIvoire, Ghana, Guinea, Niger and Togo.

He also mentioned other threats to the nations, including racial conflict, territorial disputes between Nigeria and Cameroon, as well as breakaway activities in other countries.

Terrorism, organised crime and intercommunal violence are often intertwined, especially in peripheral areas where the States presence is weak.

In those places, extremists provide safety and protection to populations, as well as social services in exchange for loyalty, he informed the Council, echoing the Secretary-General in saying that for these reasons, counter-terrorism responses must focus on gaining the trust and support of local populations.

The Special Representative outlined that governments, local actors, regional organisations and the international community are mobilising across the region to respond to these challenges.

Calling now the time for action, Chambas drew attention to the importance of supporting regional Governments by prioritising a cross-pillar approach at all levels and across all sectors.

Other members of the UNSC also voiced their concerns over rising violence in West Africa. Niger, South Africa and Tunisia lauded UNOWASs efforts and roles, and reiterated African countries commitment to handling the situation in the region. They also asked the UNSC for further support for UNOWAs activities in the area.

Other representatives at the event said UNOWAS should focus on helping regional countries successfully hold presidential elections./.VNA
The tensions between the US and Iran increased. At the same time, in view of the increasing tension in the Gulf between the US and Iran, the Indian Navy has deployed its warships in the Gulf region. The Navy has taken precautionary measures to protect India's maritime trade. Officials said on Wednesday that the Indian Navy says that Indian warships and aircraft have been deployed in the area to show their presence. So that Indian traders feel safe, and keep an eye on the current situation in the Gulf and take immediate action in any emergency crisis.

According to the statement issued by the Navy regarding this matter, the Indian Navy is continuing to monitor the situation in the Gulf region. With its presence in the region, the decision has been taken to protect maritime businesses and Indian businessmen while their ships pass through this route. Indian Navy spokesman Commander Vivek Madhwal said that in the Gulf of Oman last June, The Indian Navy has launched a naval security operation 'Sankalp' after the attack on merchant ships in 2019. So that there is no crisis on the Indian ships passing through the Strait Hormuz. Now in continuation of this operation, coordination has been made with the Ministries of Defense, Ministry of External Affairs, Shipping, Petroleum and Natural Gas etc.

For your information, let us tell you that Indian Navy vessel Sumedha rescued 13 members of the crew of a private vessel in crisis during anti-robbery patrol in the Gulf of Aden. Indian Navy official gave this information on Wednesday. An Indian Navy official said a traditional wooden vessel named Al Hamid was traced through an Indian Navy helicopter launched from the deck of INS Sumedha on 6 January. It was confirmed that the vessel is in trouble and floating near the Somalia coast.

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Geriatrics isnt a popular profession. It doesnt pay well  geriatricians earn less than half of an average cardiologists salary  and it struggles to attract medical students. Only 35 of the countrys 139 geriatric fellowship programs were filled in 2018, according to the National Resident Matching Program.

Its one of the few specialties that you get extra training to make less money, Kistler said. And who wants to go into that sort of specialty?

But without geriatricians, the frailest patients  many of whom take a cocktail of prescriptions and face complications from the simplest surgeries  are left to navigate the tangled health care system alone.

I dont think its because primary care doctors are bad, Kistler said. But 20 minutes in the doctors office doesnt work when you have a list of medications that is 20 meds long.  Our system is poorly designed to meet the demands of this population.

Nurse practitioners like Schmerge say they could help meet patient demand if North Carolina lifted cumbersome regulations. They have won full practice authority in 22 states. If passed in North Carolina, S.B. 143 could be added to their list of victories.
Shops were looted and offices ransacked as violence erupted during a day of nationwide strikes and anti-government demonstrations in France on Thursday.

The worst trouble was in Paris where a mob went on the rampage close to Saint Lazare station.

'They broke up street furniture and cobblestones to throw at officers,' said a police spokesman at the scene.

Protesters take part in a demonstration on day 36 of a nationwide multi-sector strike over French government's plan to overhaul the country's retirement system in Nantes, western France on January 9

A protester burns a flare during a demonstration in Paris, on January 9

Protesters are caught up in tear gas fired by police to disperse the demonstrators

French police secure a position during a demonstration by French labour union members and workers

Protesters burn blue flares and wave a French flag during a demonstration in Paris

Mass demonstration in Paris on Thursday. The worst trouble was in the capital where a mob went on the rampage close to Saint Lazare station

A protester holds a placard reading '36 days of strike, we are not letting go' flanked by another holding a burning flare during a demonstration in Paris

'Then they targeted shops and small business, some of which were ransacked, with items stolen.'

Thousands of police and gendarmes equipped with water cannons and armoured cars were on the streets of the capital.

They used tear gas and baton charges, arresting some 25 demonstrators by 6pm, mainly around Saint-Lazare.

Protesters march along Magenta Boulevard during a day of protest and ongoing transport worker strikes over French pension reform plans

French Police walk along a street during a day of protest

Protesters march along Magenta Boulevard.Strikes against French President Emmanuel Macrons pension reform plan entered their second month earlier this week, the longest such action for state-owned railway company Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer (SNCF)

Protesters march along Magenta Boulevard. Thousands of police and gendarmes equipped with water cannons and armoured cars were on the streets of the capital

A day of national action against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reforms came two days after unions and the government restarted negotiations.

Transport was again thrown into chaos on Thursday as the record-breaking social movement entered its 36th consecutive day, making it one of the longest in France's history.

SNCF train services were severely disrupted across the country, along with underground Metro trains in Paris.

The General Confederation of Labour  one of the largest trade unions in France  said Mr Macron's reforms had triggered mass anger.

A day of national action against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reforms came two days after unions and the government restarted negotiations

A protester uses a megaphone. Transport was again thrown into chaos on Thursday as the record-breaking social movement entered its 36th consecutive day, making it one of the longest in France's history

A spokesman said: 'We have one of the best retirement systems in the world, if not the best.

'However, the president of the Republic decided, because of pure ideology, to annihilate it.'

The independent Mr Macron came to power in 2017, pledging to shrink France's public services, and to make the private sector more competitive.

But the former merchant banker is now frequently referred to as the 'President of the Rich' who is mainly on the side of big business.

Protesters hold a banner reading 'People want the withdrawal of the reform' during a demonstration against pension reforms in Paris

Protesters hold a banner reading 'People want the withdrawal of the reform'

Protesters gather outside Saint-Lazare rail station during a face-off with police forces at the end of a demonstration in Paris

Youth stand by a smashed window during a demonstration Thursday

An Ifop poll released on Sunday found that only 44 per cent of French people now back the strike.

This is down seven percentage points from the previous survey carried out before Christmas.

It also found that 75 per cent of people believe that President Macron will not perform a U-turn on his controversial policies.

A series of public sector general strikes in France in late 1995 saw transportation halted as thousands took to the streets against cuts, including pension reform.

The strikes led to the then conservative President Jacques Chirac and his prime minister Alain Juppe withdrawing their reform plans.

A protester is arrested by riot police officers during Thursday's demonstration
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Linkedin A. Muh. Ibnu Aqil (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9 2020

Ban the bag: A trader hands fish inside a plastic bag to a buyer at Senen Market in Central Jakarta on Wednesday. Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has issued a gubernatorial regulation to prohibit the use of single-use plastic bags in the city starting in June. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)

Jakarta has finally hopped onto the bandwagon of regions restricting single-use plastic bags by issuing a long-anticipated regulation on the matter.

Gubernatorial Regulation No. 142/2019 on eco-friendly bag usage was signed by Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan on Dec. 27 and is to take effect in June, six months after it was enacted on Dec. 31.

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By IANS

KOZHIKODE: A team of health officials after visiting Karaserry panchayat, near here, on Thursday said there was no cause of worry, even as five people tested positive for H1N1 (A category).

A large number of students at the Anayamkannu Higher Secondary School was suffering from fever. After preliminary tests, one teacher and four students tested positive for H1N1 (A category). Since then, the health authorities have started an awareness drive in the village council.

According to experts, the A category H1N1 is not dangerous, but those affected will have to be monitored. Health officials are keeping watch on 299 people.

ALSO READ: Rahul Gandhi writes to Kerala Health Minister, draws attention to H1N1 cases in Kozhikode

"There need not be any worry. But residents will have to take care and seek medical attention. Four teams of health professionals have gone around the village council. Everything is under control," said a health official.

A week-long holiday has been declared at all educational institutions in the panchayat.

Earlier in the day, Wayanad Lok Sabha member Rahul Gandhi wrote to State Health Minister K.K. Shailaja seeking her attention in the matter.
When he first performed in China with five concerts in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong in 1992, French pianist Richard Clayderman and his team seemed out of tune with their surroundings and were not, initially, confident about the tour. You could say they were feeling off-key.



"The country was quite different compared with what it is today. There were no huge buildings and people dressed only in blue or gray. They looked curiously at us," the pianist recalls. "However, once I stepped on stage in Beijing, there came a huge applause from an audience of nearly 20,000. They gave me the confidence to start a new career in this country."

China is now the country where Clayderman performs the most. Since 1992, Clayderman, with his trademark blond hair and blue eyes, has held nearly 500 concerts in the country in nearly 100 cities. Every year, he gives about 50 concerts in China.

On Jan 18, the 66-year-old pianist will return to Beijing with a recital at the Great Hall of the People with some of his best known pieces, including Ballad for Adeline, A Comme Amour and Lyphard Melody. The recital is part of the ongoing 20th Meet in Beijing Arts Festival, one of the largest annual art festivals held in the capital from Jan 6 to Feb 4.

Clayderman will also perform adaptations of Chinese songs as well as interpreting some famous hits, both classical pieces and film themes, such as Star Wars and Les Choristes.

"I travel a great deal every year. One of my hobbies is to collect different kinds of music. In my repertoire, you can find music from every corner of the world, including my adaptations of Chinese songs," he says.

Before his first trip to China, the pianist listened to several Chinese songs, and they had an immediate impact.

Butterfly Lovers, one of China's most celebrated violin concertos, was one of Clayderman's favorites and, naturally, he will perform the piece during his upcoming recital. He has performed it not only in China but also in other countries, including Australia, Canada and the United States.

Clayderman's music can still be widely heard in China today, in shopping malls, restaurants and hotel lobbies.

Recently, he reached a younger audience by performing Hedwig's Theme, composed by John Williams for the Harry Potter film series, during the year-end gala broadcast on Chinese live streaming platform Bilibili on New Year's Eve. It received a warm feedback.

Born in Paris, where he still lives, Clayderman learned to play piano with his father, an accordion teacher, at the age of 5. At 12, he was enrolled to study at the Conservatoire de Paris and graduated in 1969.

In his 40-year career, Clayderman has sold more than 60 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling French musicians in history. Clayderman has 70 platinum discs to his name.

When he first toured China, the country was transforming with economic reforms and opening-up. Besides live performances, his music has been frequently broadcast on radio and television. Classical music was still in its infancy in the country when he first toured here and piano was considered a symbolic instrument of classical music then.

"I was impressed by his posters and the pictures on the cover of his albums. He looked very gentle and handsome," recalls Chinese pianist Yuan Fang, who was born in Shenzhen in 1982, started learning piano at the age of 4. She moved to Beijing to join the middle school affiliated with the Central Conservatory of Music in 1993, a year after Clayderman's debut in the capital.

"The melodies of Clayderman are easy to understand, delightful and beautiful. Some of my classmates learned to play his pieces," Yuan says. "We grew up with his music."

Yuan, who studied with German pianist Gerhard Oppitz while majoring in piano and chamber music at Munich's University of Music and Performing Arts, notes that one of Clayderman's major contributions is that "he inspired many Chinese people to get to know, and learn to play, the piano".

Clayderman fondly recalls his earliest interactions with Chinese audiences and his success in the country. "There were numerous moments which moved me, for instance, thousands of concert goers standing in the rain during open shows, young kids and their parents waiting in the cold wind outside theaters just to say hello to me. I feel grateful to all of them and love to perform for them. I was the lucky one chosen by history."

Having witnessed the fast development of China over the past 30 years, Clayderman, with his enduring popularity, also has cooperated with some Chinese classical musicians and is involved in music education in China.

He still practices for two hours every day, even during his tours.

"When I meet problems, I keep on practicing. I may fail in the first practice, and also in the second and third, but after 10 or 20 days, I will succeed. This is the experience I want to share with youngsters," he says.
Good times are about to end as hinted in the new teaser of Narcos: Mexico Season 2. According to an article by Hot New Hiphop, the Netflix drama, dropping in a little over a month, is a spinoff of the original Narcos which features the King of Cocaine Pablo Escobar, and in this upcoming season, it seems that Diego Luna's Felix Gallardo is finding that with his infamy comes many more snakes in the grass.

Three weeks ago Netflix released a date announcement video and the recent one gives out a bit more information about what is in store for the "Rockefeller of marijuana."

In the new teaser uploaded on YouTube featuring a background track of an eerie, slowed-down version of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" to establish the late-'80s setting, Gallardo can be seen with his crew seated around a table as they enjoy what luxuries their criminal activities have afforded them, a comparison to Jesus' "Last Supper".

The video transitions to Scoot McNairy's DEA agent, Walter Breslin listening in a van, putting on headphones as if infiltrating Gallardo's group. Breslin narrates in the video, "Backstabbing's hard work. It wears you out eventually. No one stays on top forever."

The narration continues as the camera moves underneath the long table showing everyone, except for Gallardo, holding guns. The agent says, "And no one is untouchable" and the camera focuses Gallardo's face showing fear and apprehension.

Gallardo's reign as leader of the Guadalajara cartel set up much of what is going on in Mexico now, so it's obvious there will be long-standing reverberations discussed throughout this season. It's interesting that Netflix isn't giving audiences a lot of exposition to go off of, but it's enough to whet the appetite for the full season's release in February.

The fiery second season of Narcos: Mexico is set to kick off on February 13, just in time for a Valentine's Day date. This marks the fifth installment of Netflix's Narcos' saga. Its first three seasons followed Medellin Cartel's Pablo Escobar and Colombia's illegal drug trade in the '80s. Narcos: Mexico, which premiered in November 2018, was originally pitched as the fourth season of Narcos, but has evolved into an independent series. It also shows occasional character crossovers from Escobar's Narcos.

Since the second season is yet to be released, you still have time to catch up if you haven't seen the first season of Narcos: Mexico also streaming on Netflix. Watch it now before the twist ending is spoiled!

According to Oprah Mag, Narcos: Mexico may be devastating, but it is also one of Netflix's most complicated and intelligent shows.

The first season of Narcos: Mexico has a score of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 35 reviews with an average rating of 7.43/10. On Metacritic, season one has a weighted average score of 80 out of 100 which indicates "generally favorable reviews."

According to critics, "Dangerous, thrilling, and highly addictive, Narcos: Mexico's first season expertly expands the franchise by exploring new territory in the drug war's grim history and showcasing electric performances from Diego Luna and Michael Pena."
Chairman of the People's National Convention (PNC), Bernard Mornah has rubbished reasons by the Electoral Commission calling for a new voters register ahead of the general elections in December.

 Just this last year, we went to the polls and in that elections over 6000 assembly members were elected and according to CODEO [COalition for Domestic Election Observers] the machines functioned 98.8%, there were no difficulties.

These things were said by the EC [Electoral Commission] and backed by CODEO, they said it was credible so now I am asking why they want to change something that they claim is credible he queried at a forum organised by the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for Good Governance in Accra Thursday.

The EC has defended its decision to create a new voter system. It disclosed at a press conference last week that an assessment of the current system prompted the need to acquire a new system instead of refurbishing the existing one as has been suggested by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The Commission further argued that it would make more economic and operational sense to acquire a new voter registration system than to keep the current system and incur frequent costs for maintenance and renewal.

The Commission also described the old register as obsolete and bloated.

It is a well-known fact that the register is bloated and there has not been an effective means of cleaning it. We are discussing effective ways of doing this going forward. Besides, the current register does not include facial recognition feature as a means of verification. This has resulted in a high incidence of manual verification where the voters fingerprints cannot be verified. A recent case in point is the just ended District Level Election out of 5,431,902 voters in the recent District Level Election, 34,843 were verified manually. This is a worrying trend which should not be encouraged,  EC's Deputy Chairman in Charge of Operations, Mr Samuel Tettey had read.

But disputing the claims, Mr. Mornah said the challenges can be resolved through an upgrade of the system instead of compiling a new register.

According to him, a bloated register cannot have any negative impact on the election, unlike the compilation of a new register which has the potential to disenfranchise Ghanaians.

If you take the issues stated by the EC one by one, you will notice that the EC after we have floored their argument one after the other, they have recently come out to tell us the register is bloated. When has the register never been bloated? One of the reasons why a register is bloated is because people die and people who die have their names on the register.

I am not sure the names of J.H Mensah, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur and Former President John Evans Atta Mills, including the name of my late father have been removed from the register. Its obvious the register will be bloated by the number of people who are dead, so the question is do dead people vote? If dead people dont vote and their names are on the register, it amounts to nothing.

The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for Good Governance forum brought together experts from Civil Society, Political Parties, I.T Experts, Election Observers, Development Partners and the Diplomatic Corps to look critically into the Electoral Commissions decision to procure a new Biometric System for the compilation of a new voters register.

---Myjoyonline.com
Almost 20 more people have been charged over riots and the destruction of homes in an isolated Queensland community sparked by an alleged murder.

Police say six houses were firebombed on New Year's Day when about 200 armed people took to the streets of Aurukun, on Cape York in far north Queensland, looking for "vengeance".

Six houses were destroyed by fire, with another two left uninhabitable by vandalism. Credit:Queensland Police Service

The violence followed the alleged stabbing murder of a 37-year-old man, for which two teens have been charged.

Another 19 people were charged on Thursday with 79 riot and arson offences, bringing the total number of people charged following the riots to 25.
[January 09, 2020] New York Computer Help Is Victim of New Spoofing, Robocall Scam that Could Affect Any Business

NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Phone scammers have a new method to steal your money. Plus, you'll be more aggravated along the way. New York Computer Help, a reputable, leading computer repair company in business since 2000, is now the latest victim, according to New York Computer Help's owner, Idit Silverman. This new scam starts off with an unsolicited call originating overseas. The scammer reports a computer issue to the first victim, the unsuspecting person at home in upstate New York. The call recipient sees a legitimate company name on the caller ID, New York Computer Help and an associated Manhattan number, 212-599-0339. If the person forks over the required credit card payment to resolve the issue, then the scam has successfully completed. But, if the call recipient doesn't play ball, then the scammer turns into a heated robo-call mode, literally calling 20 times repeatedly within the next two minutes. Keep in mind the spammer is an actual human, not an automated robotic message. Next, comes victim number two, New York Computer Help. Victim number one, the one getting these insane robo-calls, now is aggravated and calls or texts the caller ID number which is New York Computer Help's number. Loud shouting and obscenities come from victim number one to leave him or her alone. Victim number two, New York Computer Help, then has to defend itself by explaining it is not the actual spoofing robocaller. Sadly, the legit tech company is inundated with at least 10 angry calls per minute! Previous robocall scams would simply end at the first attempt. But, this new spoofing scam involves retaliatory robocalling if the scam is rejected. This new leel of anger from the scammer further fuels new frustration from victim number one that is vented onto victim number two, New York Computer Help.



Silverman exclaimed "We are losing time and business. And our reputation is now in question. All of our phones lines are jammed with people complaining about the spoofing robocaller. This takes us away from supporting our regular customers." Silverman also mentioned that her business phone number has now been reported as a spam number on many lists. Plus, there have been several negative reviews and forum board comments made about the innocent company being the actual culprit in this scam. What can be done?

New York Computer Help has already reported this to the FBI, FCC, and its phone provider. As a working measure, the company has set up an automated attendant to filter out spam victim calls. However, the negative impact is monumental here for both victims. How can spoofing robocallers disguise its caller ID with someone else's? It's similar to setting up a virtual VPN, or redirecting your IP address. There is available virtual software or sites that will allow you to input legit phone numbers and company names. This can bypass the regular phone provider company profiles for companies. What future steps can be done? Silverman likes the mostly hands-off approach the government has taken with the Internet and communications. But, Silverman makes an exception for these scammers, relaying: "For obvious crimes like this where a company is being impersonated, harsh penalties and actions must be taken. Unfortunately, we are not holding our breath for law enforcement to reel in this criminal. Instead, we have a personal digital investigator on the case. Further, we hope our phone provider will step up and do more. Lastly, we are shining a light on this crime and such victimization in the hopes it will end soon." About the company: Since 2000, New York Computer Help, a legitimate, leading computer repair service company in Manhattan, provides onsite tech support to NYC offices as well as PC / Mac repairs at its 53 East 34th Street Manhattan computer repair center. For more info about this topic, please contact:

Contact: Idit Silverman

212-599-0339

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-york-computer-help-is-victim-of-new-spoofing-robocall-scam-that-could-affect-any-business-300983861.html SOURCE New York Computer Help

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Adebayo Shittu, former minister of communication, has described as idiotic speculation that President Muhammadu Buhari would seek third term in 2023.

Adebayo also said that it may be difficult for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to get votes in 2023 if the party doesnt resolve its internal issues.

The former minister said this when he featured on The Frontliners a programme organised by the association of veteran journalists, Osun state branch.

He noted also that the Buhari factor increased the popularity and acceptance of the ruling party in the last two general elections.

In the last two elections, Buhari got over 15 million votes and that is because he is on the ballot. From the north alone, he got over 12 million votes on each occasion,  he said.

Read Also: Buhari Has The Courage, Character To Refuse Third Term Temptation: Tinubu

If the APC is not careful and put its house in order, where will the vote come in 2023 if the magnet of Buhari is no more on the ballot?

Buhari is the most selfless leader Nigeria ever had. This is one president who when elected slashed his salary by 50 percent

As we also know, his lifestyle for the past 20 years has not changed. He is not flamboyant. What he is looking for is good legacy.

Obasanjo failed when he attempted it (third term); so you think a less ambitious person would now be the one to do that? It will not happen, so I think it is not a matter we should focus on. It is a waste of time.
Prince Harry and wife Meghan could make a fortune in North America but may not find the privacy there that they crave, say experts, as the royal family-loving United States buzzes with speculation about where the couple might live. Celebrity speaking engagements, book and television deals, and even brand endorsements: the couple's opportunities on the other side of the Atlantic are "unlimited," according to public relations guru Ronn Torossian. "Their global appeal rivals the Obamas, and their global appeal can rival Kylie Jenner or Jay Z or others," Torossian told AFP via email. "There is no door which will not open for Harry and Meghan," added the CEO of New York City-based firm 5W Public Relations. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex rocked the British monarchy Wednesday by announcing they were resigning from frontline royal duties and planned to balance their time between Britain and North America. Harry 35, and Meghan, 38, said they were seeking "financial independence," pricking the ears of US talent managers who would love to get the prince and former actress on their books. Sharron Elkabas, the chief executive of booking agency MN2S, said the couple could charge seven-figure fees for a single speaking engagement. "Harry and Meghan would be one of the most valuable talents in the global industry and become extremely sought-after, receiving hundreds if not thousands of potential opportunities," Elkabas told AFP. "As the most progressive royal couple to date, they represent a new era and a change in the royal rituals, which provides a unique angle and only serves to broaden their audience," he added, calling them "pioneers." - Philanthropy - Analysts say they would likely restrict their work to the charity sector and causes they both believe in. Last month, Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Markle had recently reconnected with contacts in Los Angeles as part of plans to launch a charitable foundation in the United States. "For a similar example, look at Barack and Michelle Obama: they will only speak at events that seek to change the lives of others or empower those in need," said Elkabas. Torossian estimates that the photogenic and globally recognizable couple could even earn eight or nine figures annually in deals, if their status within the royal family allows it. "Any publishing house in the world wants their book, any brand wants social media posts, and any company wants endorsement deals from them," he said. Some commentators have suggested that the couple could sign a television deal with Oprah Winfrey. The US talk show queen was a guest at their star-studded wedding in 2018 and Harry is already teaming up with her to produce a documentary series about mental health for Apple TV+. Monarchy-less America has long been obsessed with Britain's royal family. The fascination is sometimes dated back to the abdication of King Edward VIII in 1936 to marry American divorce Wallis Simpson. The marriage into the family of LA-born actress Markle, whose mother is African-American, enhanced the admiration. Almost 30 million television viewers tuned in for their wedding 2018, according to research firm Nielsen, well above the number who watched Harry's brother William tie the knot with Kate Middleton in 2011. Speculation is rife in US tabloids about which North American city Harry and Meghan will choose to set up a home in. The smart money seems to be on somewhere in Canada. The royals spent several weeks holidaying on Vancouver Island over Christmas and Markle lived in Toronto for several years while filming television series "Suits." - Lower profile? - The New York Post, citing an unnamed source close to the couple, said Markle wanted to live in California, however. Her mother, Doria Ragland, lives in Los Angeles. Harry's cousin Princess Beatrice lives and works in New York but the couple are unlikely to find the privacy there that they apparently desire to bring up their son Archie. Experts say the United States will appeal to them because Americans do not tend to demonstrate the cynicism and dislike of the royal family that some Brits do. "My sense is that Harry and Meghan feel similarly about America, the more relaxed environment where they're still appreciated," Boston University Associate Professor Arianne Chernock told AFP. But she warns that they will have to be "judicious" about the choices they make, so as not to undermine the crown. Analysts also say that America's voracious paparazzi and celebrity-obsessed culture mean they may not be able to carve out the lower profiles they desperately want. In 2012, naked photos of Harry playing strip billiards in a Las Vegas hotel went viral. "They will have to be vigilant in maintaining their privacy," said Torossian. Britain's Prince Harry and wife Meghan have been under the microscope for their jet-set lifestyle Almost 30 million viewers tuned in for the 2018 wedding of Harry and Meghan, pictured (right) with Harry's father, Prince Charles, brother William and sister-in-law Kate The couple married in May 2018
Today i.e. on Thursday, the ambassadors of 16 countries including the American have arrived in India to take stock of the situation in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Last year in October of 2019, a 27-member delegation of the European Parliament visited Kashmir. This was objected by many opposition parties. This time the reasons for EU diplomats not attending the tour have not been officially confirmed yet. However, according to media reports, in the Government of India, EU diplomats want to visit Jammu and Kashmir in a separate group, but it is not possible to prepare it right now. It is being told that the diplomats of the European Union will be taken on a visit to Kashmir after some time.

Opposition takes 'Mahatma' against CAA-NRC, Yashwant Sinha begins 'Gandhi Yatra'

According to the media report, the Indian government is in touch with the European Union on the issue of visiting diplomats in Jammu and Kashmir. The European Union has not been able to agree to be a part of this Jammu and Kashmir tour. According to central government sources, EU diplomats want to go to a separate group, but it is not possible to make such preparations in such a short time.

Government declaration for employees working in state corporations, will be paid up to 345 percent in dearness allowance

Diplomats from 16 countries including US Ambassador to India, Kenneth Juster have come on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir from Thursday. This will be the first visit of diplomats after the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was abolished last year. These diplomats from Delhi arrived in Srinagar by air on Thursday and from there he will go to Jammu. He will also meet the people of civil society along with the Deputy Governor GC Marmu there. These will also include diplomats from countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, Maldives, South Korea, Morocco, Nigeria, etc.

Budget session in Parliament will start from this day, Modi government's budget will be presented on February 1
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 14:07:01|Editor: zh

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LHASA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- A total of 490 automatic weather stations have been set up and put into operation in poverty-stricken areas across southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

These stations cover 685 impoverished towns, the regional meteorological bureau said Thursday, adding that the move has fundamentally changed the scarcity of ground meteorological observation stations in Tibet and strengthened meteorological disaster monitoring in poor towns.

The bureau said that by the end of 2019 all towns in the region had been covered by automatic weather stations, compared with 28.47 percent coverage rate in 2018. So far, the region's ground weather stations total 756.

"The stations have strengthened meteorological disaster prevention and reduction, as well as ecological civilization construction," said Lazhoe with the regional meteorological bureau.
As news trickled out Tuesday evening about a plane crash outside Tehran, Hossein Saghlatoon began a frantic search for information.

He called anyone who might know anything, and soon learned the crash involved a jetliner owned by Ukraine International Airlines.

His heart sank.

He knew his friends, University of Alberta engineering professors Pedram Mousavi and Mojgan Daneshmand were scheduled to fly out of Tehran with their daughters on a Ukrainian flight.

"I kept calling everyone," Saghlatoon said Wednesday in Edmonton. "Do you know when was his ticket? Was it today or not?"

With more phone calls, he soon figured out there was only one scheduled flight from Tehran to Kyiv.

"So I started to call everyone, to see if they were on board, if they got to the plane on time or not," Saghlatoon said.

Finally he reached a friend of a friend who was still at the airport in Tehran, and found out the family was together and had boarded the flight.

He knew then that Mousavi and Daneshmand and their daughters Daria and Dorina were among the dead.

Seated before the glare of cameras at a news conference hosted by the Iranian Heritage Society of Edmonton, Saghlatoon waited patiently for members of the media to hook up his lapel microphone, then spoke from the heart about Mousavi, a man he called a mentor and a friend.

"It was such a horrible day for me," Saghlatoon said, "because I was so close to him. Not only me, like everyone who ever was working  I should say for Pedram  but he didn't like that.

"Whenever we said that we're working for you, he said, 'No, we're working together.' We were part of a family, a group. He always encouraged us. He did his best to give us more."

Saghlatoon worked under Mousavi as a teaching assistant for five years. The professor was supervisor as the younger man worked on his PhD in electrical engineering.

He said he visited the department on the university campus Wednesday morning.

Story continues

"Everyone was in tears," he said. "All the students were in tears, all the faculty members."

'Such sweet people'

A married couple, Mousavi and Daneshmand were kind and highly talent academics and scientists who helped create a sense of family for those they worked with, he said .

"They were such sweet people, they were such kind people," said Saghlatoon, who called Mousavi the "best boss I've ever had in my life, and I could imagine to have, ever."

He said Daneshmand's set an example that inspired many young women, some of whom did their master's degrees and PhDs with her.

The couple travelled to Iran over the holidays to visit family, Saghlatoon said.

"They had to go and visit their parents. Whomever is immigrating, they know that if you leave your families, your friends there, it's hard, and you have to take any chance you get to go back and visit them. Because this might be the last time you can."

Saghlatoon said Mousavi called him a couple of days before the family's flight home, and they talked excitedly about work they had planned for the new year.

The two professors were bright stars in the engineering world, he said.

"In the whole world, whomever is working in this field, they know them. They're famous people.

"It's such a big loss, not only for Alberta, not only for Edmonton, not only for Canada, [but] for everyone in this field.

"There is a void space that I cannot imagine anyone can fill."

Friends mourn newlywed couple

At the same news conference, Amir Forouzandeh spoke about his own personal loss. He was a friend of crash victims Arash Pourzarabi and Pouneh Gorji, both in their mid-20s, who had travelled to Iran for their wedding.

University of Alberta

The three were all graduate students in the U of A's computer science program.

Pourzarabi and Gorji were "super excited" for their Jan. 1 wedding in Iran, Forouzandeh said.

"If you met them even once, you could tell that these two belong together," he said. "We all knew that they were going to end up together, for sure. It was just a matter of time."

Forouzandeh said he got to know the pair well during their time together at the U of A.

"They were basically the kindest souls that I knew, honestly," he said. "And since Day 1 that I got to know them, hang out with them, it was a blast."

Amir Samani, another U of A friend of Pourzarabi and Gorji, said the couple had planned to have a small ceremony in Edmonton to celebrate their wedding.

"I was looking forward to that," he said.

Samani said he had known the couple for about two years, and they were more like family to him than just friends.

"I can't understand what's going through my mind," he said. "I even check my phone to see is [Pourzarabi] going back online again? Going to talk again?

"I don't know," he said, wiping his eyes with a tissue. "It's crazy."
Kristen Stewart returns to cinemas this week in Seberg, inspired by the tragic true story of French New Wave star Jean Seberg.

The Charlies Angels star plays the American actress who appeared in a number of iconic films including Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 film Breathless (known in France as A bout de souffle).

The actress found herself embroiled in an FBI plot in the late 1960s due to her support of the civil rights movement.

Seberg comes to cinemas across the UK and Ireland this Friday.

Stories were leaked to the press that falsely suggested shed conceived a child with a member of the Black Panthers, and she later successfully sued Newsweek for libel and defamation after she lost the baby.

Read more: Elizabeth Banks is proud of Charlies Angels flop

Were thrilled to share an exclusive clip from the film that shows Stewarts Seberg at a party with her second husband Romain Gary (Yvan Attal), speaking with Anthony Mackies African-American activist Hakim Jamal, and his wife Dorothy, played by Jokers Zazie Beetz.

Jean Seberg (1938-1979), US actress, wearing a yellow jumper as she plays an acoustic guitar, circa 1970. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

Unbeknownst to them, the conversation is being listened to remotely by Vince Vaughn and Jack OConnells FBI agents.

Seberg comes to cinemas across the UK and Ireland this Friday. Watch a trailer below.

Anthony Mackie and Zazie Beetz in Seberg. (Universal/Amazon)

Starring Kristen Stewart (Charlie's Angels, Personal Shopper), Jack OConnell (Unbroken, Starred Up), Vince Vaughn (Brawl in Cell Block 99, Hacksaw Ridge) Anthony Mackie (Avengers: Endgame, The Hate U Give), Zazie Beetz (Joker, Deadpool 2) and Margaret Qualley (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Novitiate).
A Qantas plane has slid off the runway at Newman Airport in West Australia's Pilbara region amid heavy rain from an ex-tropical cyclone in the state's northwest.

All 80 passengers and crew exited via the stairs after the Fokker 100 aircraft slid onto gravel on Thursday morning and became stuck in the mud, about 50 metres past the end of the runway.

There were no injuries.

Scroll down for video

A Qantas plane has slid off the end of a runway with 80 on board after a heavy rains following a tropical cyclone in WA (pictured)

The airport has been closed and flights in and out of Newman cancelled for the rest of the day while workers attempt to move the aircraft.

A QantasLink spokesperson said the airline had commenced an internal investigation and reported the incident to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

'The aircraft has come to a complete stop in what's called the runway end safety area,' she said.

'We apologise to impacted customers and are working to re-accommodate them as quickly as possible.'

There were no injuries to any involved but the plane is currently stuck in the mud and all flights in and out of Newman airport are cancelled

Newman Airport recorded 130mm of rain in a 24-hour period to Thursday morning as ex-Tropical Cyclone Blake continued to track southeast.

WAs first tropical cyclone of the summer has been downgraded to a tropical low but heavy rain has continued to lash the Kimberley and Pilbara regions.

Major flooding has occurred in the De Grey River catchment, including on the Coongan River at Marble Bar.

Flood warnings have also been issued for Fortescue River, the Salt Lakes District, West Kimberley District and parts of the Sandy Desert catchment.
A Waverly resident is among those Rep. Darin LaHood has submitted for consideration for the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Abigail McCue of Waverly is one of seven nominated for the academy. She completed an application process conducted by a panel that included veterans and community leaders.
Srinagar: Envoys from 15 countries including the United States were shown around Srinagar on Thursday, the first visit by New Delhi-based diplomats since the government stripped Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status and began a harsh crackdown five months ago.

The diplomats were driven by Indian authorities in a motorcade amid tight security from the airport to the military headquarters in Srinagar, where they were briefed on the security situation, an army officer said. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

They also held discussions with civil society members and some Kashmiri politicians, said Raveesh Kumar, spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

The objective of the visit, organized by the Union government, was for the envoys to see first-hand how things have progressed and how normalcy has been restored to a large extent'' in Kashmir since August, Kumar told reporters in New Delhi.

In October, a group of European Parliament members had visited the region, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan.

The delegation that visited Kashmir on Thursday included US ambassador to India Kenneth Juster and diplomats from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, the Maldives, South Korea, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Argentina, the Philippines, Fiji, Uzbekistan, Peru and Togo.

Offices, shops and businesses were open in Srinagar on the cold winter day, but the diplomats did not stop to talk to people as they moved to different venues of their meetings.

They were to fly to Jammu, the winter capital of Kashmir, later Thursday and return to New Delhi on Friday.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh pointed out the oddity of taking foreign diplomats to the troubled state but not allowing allowing Indian political leaders to freely visit it.

The National Conference said it was "disappointed" with the way the government brought envoys from various countries to "endorse" its "claims of normalcy" in the union territory. The party alleged that it was no more than a "guided tour" with access limited to "handpicked individuals who toe the government line".

The NC wishes to ask these envoys that if the situation in Jammu & Kashmir is "normal", then why are scores of people, including three former chief ministers, under detention for almost 160 days and why have the people been denied access to the internet for over 5 months?" a statement issued by the party said.

Kumar dismissed as unfounded criticism of the visit, and said more such visits to Kashmir by New Delhi-based diplomats are likely in the near future.
Good morning, Bay Area. Its Thursday, Jan. 9, and big changes could be coming to how mortgage taxes work in California. Heres what you need to know to start your day.

On Wednesday morning, Uber emailed 150,000 California drivers and millions of California passengers to inform them their next ride would likely be under different rules.

The changes come as the ride-hailing company works to strengthen its defenses against AB5, the new gig-work law that makes it harder for companies to claim that workers are independent contractors rather than employees.

Reporter Carolyn Said explains the changes and what they mean for riders.

Q&A: All your questions on AB5 answered.

The suspect next door

Yuba City Police Department

After his elderly neighbor was murdered, he confessed to the crime. So why did all the evidence point to someone else?

In 2013, Yuba City police were investigating the death of Leola Shreves when they heard a young man next door shrieking. They brought him in for questioning, saying he wasnt under arrest. But within hours hed confessed to Shreves murder - and would spend the next three and a half years in jail  until the case against him was dropped. What happened?

Over the course of nine months, The Chronicles Matthias Gafni investigated. Our story is based on more than a dozen interviews and thousands of pages of documents, among them police reports, court filings, transcripts of interrogations, search warrants, autopsy and DNA results, and school and medical files.

Read more.

King on King tides

Jessica Christian / The Chronicle 2019

King tides, a naturally occurring phenomenon that received a common name only a decade ago, are heading to California shorelines this weekend  and with them, a series of public events intended to show people the dangers posed by sea level rise.

John King reports on the expected impacts from the king tides  and what they have to do with rising sea levels.

Our Climate Challenge: How climate change-driven sea level rise may impact the bay.

Mortgage tax changes coming?

California homeowners with big home loans and vacation properties would owe higher taxes under new legislation proposed by Assemblyman David Chiu to raise money for programs to get the states homelessness crisis under control.

It has made no sense for our government to subsidize secondary vacation homes when 150,000 people dont have a place to sleep at night, Chiu said. Everyone should have a roof over their head before we help people buy two.

But any tax changes in the state have to pass with two-thirds majority vote in both houses of the Legislature, a heavy lift even with Democrats holding more than a super-majority.

Read more details of the proposal here.

 ICYMI: California will open vacant state land for homeless shelters under Gov. Gavin Newsoms order.

New and notable

Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

In the Bay Area restaurant landscape, openings and closings happen in waves, and styles and trends are dictated by the regions high operating costs, rising rents and wage increases. Those financial constraints wont disappear in 2020. Fortunately for local diners, neither will the food worlds ambitious spirit.

Heres the restaurant openings The Chronicles food team is most excited about in 2020  and why.

Around the Bay

 Democrats vs. Facebook: The social media giant wouldnt remove doctored Pelosi video under new deepfakes ban.

 49ers Richard Sherman: You learn to play with your hands behind your back.

 Ready, set, click: Reserving campsites is now an annual competition in California.

 Its All Political: Theres not much Democrats can do to stop President Trump from striking Iran again, and Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee is tempted to say I told you so. From the Associated Press: U.S., Iran step back from the brink, but the region is still on edge.

 From columnist Otis Taylor: Two Oakland moms take radical stand in battle for housing. Background: Mothers who took over vacant home plead case in 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.

 Alder Creek: Californias largest private giant sequoia stand saved from development. Meanwhile: Bay Areas largest planned housing project could die due to union fight.

 Scooters  were on it: Electric scooter injuries have soared, UCSF study finds. Meanwhile, seated scooters for disabled riders are coming to Oakland and San Francisco and the SF city attorney has ordered a rogue e-scooter company to shut down immediately.

 Peter Hartlaubs ode to 8,400 tons of steel: A love letter to Hunters Point crane, the most underrated Bay Area landmark.

 Met with skepticism by two regents: ACT chief warns University of California that killing the admissions test would harm students.

 Car break-ins: Two Oakland men arrested in connection to 43 car burglaries in Sunnyvale.

In the studio

Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle

Jose Cisneros is San Franciscos treasurer he manages the citys $12 billion budget.

But how do those billions actually get spent? On a recent episode of San Francisco City Insider, Cisneros spoke to columnist Heather Knight about everything budget and a new program hes launching for low-paid airport workers.

Listen here.

More from Chronicle Podcasts:

 Wild West: Lake Tahoes first private ski area.

 Its All Political: Can Barbara Lee stop the war in Iran?

 The Big Event: Paula Poundstones perfect comedy dream.

Bay Briefing is written by Taylor Kate Brown and sent to readers email inboxes on weekday mornings. Sign up for the newsletter here, and contact Brown at taylor.brown@sfchronicle.com.
Oleksiy Honcharuk apostrophe

An unscheduled inspection will be carried out at Ukraine International Airlines (UIA). The Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk reported it on his Facebook page.

"We are starting an unscheduled inspection of the provision of flight activity, maintenance of the aircrafts airworthiness, maintenance of aviation equipment and flight safety management system of CJSC Ukraine International Airlines," Honcharuk wrote.

He added that other airlines would also undergo additional flight safety checks.

Meanwhile, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) recommended the air companies to stop the flights in the airspace of Iraq after missile attacks of Iran on the American military bases

As we reported earlier, Boeing 737 of Ukraine's International Airlines, flight PS 752 with 180 passengers aboard crashed in Tehran, not far from Imam Khomeini airport. Iranian Tasnim News Agency informed about that, pointing out that the reason for the crash was a "technical malfunction."

As of 7 a.m. January 8, the fate of passengers remained unknown. Local authorities feared that no one survived, because the plane was visibly on fire as it was falling, CGTN reported.
DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / January 9, 2020 / National Partners PFco, a leading premium finance company, has named Brian Soder, senior vice president, sales. He'll work with independent agents and brokers nationally in meeting their insureds' premium-finance needs.

Soder was most recently senior vice president, national accounts, with AFS/IBEX, and has other prior experience in the premium finance industry.

National Partners focuses on providing commercial premium finance solutions to brokers, agents and insureds simply and efficiently with its cutting-edge technology. Founded in 2016, it became a subsidiary of WebBank in April 2019. National Partners has attracted a fast-growing clientele ranging from local independent insurance agencies to top-10 national brokers.

"Brian knows that insurance professionals and business owners need easy, reliable and profitable solutions," said National Partners CEO Bruce Lundy. "Our clients will benefit from his deep expertise and total client focus."

At AFS/IBEX, he was responsible for cultivating long-term relationships, client retention, maximizing revenue and growth opportunities, pricing, portfolio analysis, and credit review. He'll have similar duties at National Partners.

"National Partners has quickly developed a reputation for providing best-in-class services to its agency partners," Soder said. "Their team's deep experience, plus an entrepreneurial environment, allows for creativity and the ability to offer our clients unique solutions and additional efficiencies."

He is a graduate of Rutgers University.

About National Partners

Dedicated to providing the highest standards in the premium finance industry, National Partners works with clients of all sizes through its commercial insurance agent and broker relationships. Responsive service, ease of use and creative solutions are its hallmarks. It also offers funding programs to third-party premium finance companies, often those affiliated with agents, brokers and MGAs, so that these smaller premium finance companies can access capital to grow and expand.

National Partners provides a variety of additional services to the premium finance industry, including profit-sharing models, private-label servicing, and premium-finance loan purchase facilities. In addition to its Denver headquarters, it has regional offices in Chicago, New York City, Orange County, California, and Tampa, Florida.

More information is available at www.nationalpartners.com or by contacting National Partners at 800-506-8901 or info@nationalpartners.com.

About WebBank

WebBank is the bank behind today's growing, customer-centric brands. It is a national issuer of online consumer and small business loans through brand partners that include retailers, OEMs, and financial technology companies. In addition, WebBank is a leader in digital lending, driving innovation in financial products through its strategic partner relationships. The Bank is dedicated to providing customized credit products and solutions to both SMBs and consumers as a best-in-class provider of compliance, capital, and oversight management for strategic partner platforms.

Organized in 1997, WebBank is an FDIC-insured, Utah-chartered industrial bank headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. WebBank is owned by Steel Partners Holding Corp (SPLP). For more information on WebBank, visit www.webbank.com.

Media contact: Henry Stimpson, Stimpson Communications, 508-647-0705, Henry@StimpsonCommunications.com

SOURCE: National Partners

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/572627/Premium-Finance-Company-National-Partners-Names-Brian-Soder-Senior-VP
Standing on stage in front of a raucous crowd in San Franciscos Herbst Theater, Chesa Boudin was sworn in Wednesday by Mayor London Breed as San Franciscos new district attorney.

Boudin, 39, stood before the packed house of impassioned supporters, city dignitaries, law enforcement officials, judges and attorneys, promising to confront racial disparities in the criminal justice system and mass incarceration. And as the citys top prosecutor, he said he will focus resources on the citys most violent criminals while also pledging to hold police more accountable in cases of brutality.

Join me, Boudin said to the crowd of hundreds. Join this movement. Join us in rejecting the notions that to be free we must cage others, that to seek justice we must abandon forgiveness, that to empower our protectors requires tolerating excessive force, that to be safe we should put the mentally ill and addicted in cages, and that jails and prisons should be the primary response to all of our social problems.

Before his rousing speech, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor made a surprise appearance via a recorded message on the theaters big screen to congratulate Boudin on becoming district attorney.

Your personal strength and commitment to reforming and improving the criminal justice system is a testament to the person you are and the role model you will continue to be for so many, she said. Chesa, you have undertaken a remarkable challenge today. I hope you reflect as a great beacon to many.

Boudins unlikely path to the high-profile position began when his politically radical parents were incarcerated when he was an infant. They acted as getaway drivers in an armored car robbery in upstate New York that left two police officers and a security guard dead.

Boudin said visiting his parents behind bars while growing up helped shape his understanding of the countrys criminal justice system.

He went on to study law at Yale and earned a Rhodes scholarship before coming to San Francisco where he worked at the public defenders office and was instrumental in upending the states cash bail system.

His mother was released from prison after more than two decades behind bars. She was in the audience at Wednesdays swearing in. Boudin addressed her and his father, who remains in prison in upstate New York.

The crime you both participated in when I was an infant cost innocent men with families their lives, he said. It did not matter to the DA or the judge that neither of you was armed nor that you did not personally hurt anyone. Those details matter to me. What matters even more is that since that terrible day you and my father have focused your lives on love. Thank you for teaching me about forgiveness and redemption.

Boudin was elected in November in a narrow race in which he ran the furthest politically-left campaign of four candidates. His election was celebrated by his supporters and activists as a momentous juncture in how the citys legal system will operate.

Boudins win, though, has prompted concern from groups like the citys police union and statewide law enforcement groups, which fear the new district attorney may be unfairly harsh on police and soft on criminals.

But while progressive prosecutors were once unusual around the country, San Francisco has a legacy of electing reform-minded district attorneys, including the last three, George Gascon, Kamala Harris and Terence Hallinan, who was elected in 1995. Other cities, like Philadelphia, Boston and St. Louis, have followed San Franciscos lead and recently elected progressive district attorneys.

And under San Franciscos progressive prosecutors, violent crime has followed national trends and steadily decreased over the last two decades, reaching a 56-year low for homicides last year.

We know there is a balance between justice and fairness and I appreciate that Chesa Boudin appreciates that balance, Mayor London Breed said before administering the oath. He knows that we need so desperately to reform our criminal justice system. But we dont have to do so at the expense of keeping our community safe.

Boudin ran on a slate of progressive reforms to transform the system, but he will also be confronted by major challenges including the worsening epidemic of drug abuse and dealing in neighborhoods like the Tenderloin, a mental health crisis on the streets, and the worst property crime rate in the country.

Our work will yield the most comprehensive restorative justice program in the country, Boudin said. Restorative justice saves lives. I know this because it saved mine. Victim services, especially for limited-English speakers and marginalized communities, is a critical and under-resourced part of the criminal justice system.

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.

As he takes over operations from interim District Attorney Suzy Loftus, who was appointed by Breed after Gascon quit his post in October, Boudin has launched efforts to implement his sweeping vision.

This week he announced the creation of subcommittees of advisers who will help to implement his policies.

Members include deputy police chiefs, public defenders, retired judges and activists. Jamal Trulove, who was wrongfully convicted of murder in San Francisco, and Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project and former member of the O.J. Simpson Dream Team, are among the members of the subcommittee to develop the offices second look and conviction integrity unit.

Boudin will also have to solidify his executive team, which oversees the prosecution and public policy divisions of the office.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Sharon Woo, who ran the prosecution team under Harris and Gascon, tendered her resignation last week. She will be taking a job at the city Department of Police Accountability.

In an interview before his swearing in, Boudin said he was disappointed that Woo is leaving the office but understands her decision. He has not decided whom he will hire.

Its not a decision that I want to rush into, he said. Those are big shoes to fill. She did a lot of work. I want to make sure the person I put there is someone I can work well with, and also someone who has the skills and temperament and capacity to take on all that we need to take on.

Boudin said Gascons Chief of Staff, Cristine Soto DeBerry, will remain the head of public policy.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
Supplier News

9 January 2020

NEW YORK - TravelClick, an Amadeus company, today announced that RLH Corporation, an innovative hotel company that owns and, through its subsidiaries, franchises and provides services to over 1,300 upscale, midscale and economy hotels, has joined TravelClick's Demand360 business intelligence program. Demand360, a Hotelligence360 solution, gives hoteliers across the globe unique access to powerful forward-looking demand data, enabling them to develop best practices and make better business decisions to maximize revenue.

With the addition of RLH Corporation's family of hotels, more than 30,000 properties worldwide now participate in Demand360, the leading competitive market intelligence product available to the hospitality industry that provides forward-looking reservation metrics and competitive share by segment and channel.

"We have been a longstanding customer of TravelClick as users of the company's Agency360 and GDS Media tools, so becoming a part of the Demand360 program made perfect sense, especially given the vast impact that the data has on the hospitality industry - you can literally see into the forward-looking demand of your market," said Vinod Sankar, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of RLabs, Inc., the technology subsidiary of RLH Corporation. "Demand360 not only helps us to create more advanced strategies and understand our competitive set's business mix, but it also has an intuitive user interface that is easy-to-use and understand."

"Expanding our relationship with RLabs and RLH Corporation allows us to ensure even more that our customers are doing everything they can to get a complete picture of every aspect of their business," added Greg Sheppard, Senior Vice President of Business Intelligence Solutions, TravelClick. "Demand360 in particular helps to maximize revenue per available room (RevPAR), while allowing hoteliers to drive business to higher-rated segments and lower-cost channels."

About TravelClick, an Amadeus Company

TravelClick offers innovative, cloud-based and data-driven solutions for hotels around the globe to maximize revenue. TravelClick enables over 25,000 customers to drive better business decisions and know, acquire, convert and retain guests. The Company's interconnected suite of solutions includes Business Intelligence, Reservations & Booking Engine, Media, Web & Video and Guest Management. As a trusted hotel partner with more than 30 years of industry experience, TravelClick operates in 176 countries, with local experts in 39 countries and 14 offices in New York, Atlanta, Barcelona, Bucharest, Chicago, Dallas, Dubai, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Orlando, Ottawa, Paris, Shanghai and Singapore. The Company also provides its hotel customers with access to a global network of over 600 travel-focused partners. Follow TravelClick on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

About RLH Corporation

RLH Corporation is an innovative hotel company focused on the franchising of upscale, midscale and economy hotels. The company maximizes return on invested capital for hotel owners across North America through relevant brands, industry-leading technology and forward-thinking services. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.rlhco.com.

About RLabs, Inc.

RLabs, Inc. is a travel technology-based innovator that houses and builds platform solutions and advanced technologies that allow the travel industry to leverage cost effective cutting-edge platform solutions that are focused on creating leverage and shelf space in a rapidly changing environment. The company provides technology products and solutions that enable hotel owners and operators to engage with guests across their travel journey - from dreaming to planning to booking to experiencing. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.rlabs.com.
By Express News Service

BHOPAL: Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha and ex-Madhya Pradesh minister Gopal Bhargava made a controversial remark on Bollywood actor Deepika Padukones silent solidarity with JNU students in Delhi on Tuesday.

A heroine should stay in Mumbai and dance, what was the need for her to go to JNU. Dozens of such people have emerged who are called activists and artists, but actually play politics at places meant only for studying. Varsity campuses should be meant for studies only and not for politics, said Bhargava.

Reacting to Bhargavas remarks, the MP Congress leader Narendra Saluja questioned, Does the LoP hold similar thoughts about actresses-turned-BJP politicians Hema Malini, Kirron Kher and Smriti Irani, particularly when previous BJP government in MP had spent lakhs of rupees on dance performances by Hema Malini and her daughter at various events in the state in the past.

Three days after former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi called Prime Minister Narendra Modi Hindu Jinnah, former union minister Uma Bharti on Thursday dubbed former Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as Rahul Jinnah and Priyanka Jinnah.

Addressing a program in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Madhya Pradeshs Panna district, the ex-MP CM talked about the countrys partition. Similar rumours which are being spread to create fear among Muslims now had led to the partition of the country in the past. But who gained from the countrys partition, the same problems still confront the two countries. It was people like Jinnah who furthered their political interests through the countrys partition. Now Jinnah is no more, but there are people like Rahul Jinnah and Priyanka Jinnah who are vitiating the countrys atmosphere and creating unfounded fear among Muslims, by misleading them through baseless statements like you will be kept at detention centres, said Bharti.

Bharti also took a dig at the Congress president Sonia Gandhi for rumour-mongering over CAA-NRC. Did we ever ask her (Sonia Gandhi) that weve read in history books about her father being part of Mussolinis dictatorial Army. We never asked her that has the same dictatorial mentality been transferred to her also. Ive always respected Soniaji as the daughter-in-law of our former PM as well as the wife of our elder brother. When we never questioned her (Sonia Gandhi) on issues in history books, why is she and her party people unnecessarily creating fear among Muslims of our country.

Later, when questioned by journalists about her Rahul and Priyanka Jinnah remarks, Bharti stood firm on her remarks and added, Even the Congress leaders call our PM Narendra Modi as Ravana and Neech, so whats the problem in making such remarks. Ill keep addressing them as Jinnah till they dont change their tone on CAA and stop misleading the Muslims on it.

She further said, Just like Congress people have read in books unsavoury things about Savarkar, we too have read about Sonia Gandhi in history books only.

Earlier on Monday, calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi India's "Hindu Jinnah", former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi had accused him of following the "two-nation theory" of the Pakistan founder to divide the nation on the basis of religion.
It's official: Murray State becomes member of Missouri Valley Conference
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: Arunachal Pradesh has 65,875 Chakmas and Hajongs but only 5,097 of them have voting rights in the state, the states BJP government said on Wednesday.

The figures emerged from a special survey conducted by the deputy commissioners (district magistrates) of Changlang, Namsai and Papum Pare districts in 2015-16. According to another survey conducted in 2012, the states Chakma and Hajong population was stated to be 54,203.

Taking part in a discussion on the issue in the Assembly on Wednesday, Chief Minister Pema Khandu said the matter of their citizenship was sub-judice. He said the state government had submitted a special leave petition in the Supreme Court on September 14, 2016 which was accepted. He said hearing on the case was being awaited.

Rights activist Suhas Chakma, who belongs to Chakma community, said the debate reflected xenophobia against Chakmas and Hajongs in the state.

Even though thousands of other people were settled by the Government of India in then NEFA (Arunachal and parts of Northeast) along with the Chakmas and Hajongs to beef up the security following the 1962 Indo-China War, only the issue of the Chakmas and Hajongs is raised while the rest continue to enjoy all rights as citizens of the country, Chakma said.

Contrary to what the CM said, he claimed that the case of the Chakmas and Hajongs was not sub-judice before the SC as it had dismissed the review petition filed with respect to the case of National Human Rights Commission Vs State of Arunachal Pradesh.

The judgment to grant citizenship to the Chakmas and Hajongs has achieved finality. It is the non-compliance with the said judgment which is under adjudication before the Supreme Court. If a state government takes pride in not-processing the citizenship applications and rejecting them en masse, it is nothing but the State promoting illegality and violations of fundamental rights with impunity. If India were a country governed by the rule of law, the officials would have been rotting in jails for the contempt of court for the non-compliance with the Supreme Court judgment, the activist said.

The Chakmas are predominantly Buddhists while the Hajongs are largely Hindus. They were among the earliest persecuted groups to have fled the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and migrated to India. Their migration to Arunachal took place during 1964-69. Here, they are settled in Bordumsa-Diyun areas of Changlang district and Kokila area of Papum Pare district. They also have sizeable populations in Tripura and Mizoram.

These migrants insist that the threat perception that they will outnumber tribes, such as, Tangsa, Khampti, Nocte, Singpho and Mishmi, in Arunachal is without any basis.
New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in his weekly briefing at New Delhi on Thursday informed that a 15-member delegation will be arriving in Srinagar today. Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar stated that the prime objective of taking the delegation to the valley was to show them how the normalcy in the UT was largely restored.

Raveesh Kumar claimed that the EU diplomats had refused to be part of of the delegation because they thought it was a guided tour. "We wanted this group to be of manageable size and make it broad-based representing different geographical regions. When we approached them they welcomed the decision. The invitation wasn't sent to all members because it would have made the delegation too big."

He stated that the delegation had the first meeting with security officials to get a sense of security situation in J&K, and also threat posed by terrorism in maintaining peace. Objective of the visit was the envoys to see first-hand the efforts which have been made by the Central government to normalise the situation there, he said.

Live TV

MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that the two-day visit of the envoy members has been facilitated by the Central government and that they will be meeting up with security officials, civil society members, local media, political leaders in J&K. Envoys from US, South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Maldives, Morocco, Fiji, Norway, Philippines, Argentina, Peru, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, & Guyana are undertaking the visit to the Valley, he said.

Kumar said, "A lot of people had requested for scheduling visits to J&K. This program has been chalked up after taking security inputs from local agencies and with the consent of the administration. They will be reviewing the situation in the Valley since the revocation of Article 370."

Further visits to J&K will be subsequently scheduled as the situation normalises. "This is a beginning, with progressive normalisation, more interaction will be held," Kumar said.

This is the first visit since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5 last year.

In October 2019, a delegation of 23 EU MPs were taken on a two-day visit to assess the situation in J&K by a Delhi-based think tank.
Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media

Monday nights special meeting appears to be an egregious display of nepotism and corruption by the majority of the members of the Bridgeport Board of Education.

Last spring, the board hired Michael Testani, a nice guy, and one of the least-qualified candidates for interim superintendent ever, despite our BOE having two candidates of color possessing doctorates, state superintendent certifications and experience running school districts to choose from. The candidate they chose then and last night under the secrecy of executive session to hire to lead our district for three years has none of those qualifications. Where, other than Bridgeport, can one be hired for a $244,000-a-year position they are so grossly underqualified for? I want the exorbitant tax dollars I pay to be spent on the very best for our children. Per Chairwoman Martinezs comments in the Connecticut Post, six months into the job Testani has yet to have specific job goal expectations set by the BOE.
California mom recalls how son rejected her for 1 year after unlawful CPS removal

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A California mother who won over $1 million in legal settlements after the state removed her sons from her custody is continuing to speak out about the long-term trauma that unnecessary family separation causes on families.

Rachel Bruno was awarded $1.49 million in legal settlements against Orange County, Los Angeles County, and Childrens Hospital last year.

Her two sons were removed from her custody in 2015 after her 7-week-old son suffered a cranial fracture with intracerebral hemorrhage. Bruno was stripped of her custody without a warrant or a court order.

Raised as a daughter and granddaughter of pastors, Bruno never thought she would be under police investigation and losing custody of her children. But thats exactly what happened.

Bruno said she never abused her son but was immediately under investigation by police after she took her crying baby to the hospital and he was diagnosed with severe brain bleeding.

Within a matter of hours, according to Bruno, police ordered that her older son, who was 20 months old at the time, be removed from her custody.

Before she even had a court hearing, Bruno said, Child Protective Services agents were asking her mother if she would sign papers to adopt both of Burnos children. Brunos mother did so under the threat that the children would be placed in foster care if she didnt.

Before this happened to me, I probably would have never believed it. And I think that's where a lot of people fall, Bruno told The Christian Post in a recent interview.

Bruno also said she was ordered to take a child abuse class. Even though she thought she would be taking a class with drug addicts, alcoholics, and domestic abusers, she found that many people in her class were in a similar situation as her.

When I get there and people start telling their stories, I realize everybody's in the same boat that I am, she said. There were families in there who had playground accidents [and were accused of] child abuse.

Another family in the class, she said, had a child who slipped in a bathtub. They were also accused of child abuse, she said.

Bruno also had to take a parenting class, do a polygraph test, a psychiatric evaluation, and oblige other requests from the CPS agency. And she wasnt allowed to return to her own home for 40 days and 40 nights, and was only given seven hours of visitation with her children each week.

According to Bruno, government officials also took her 20-month-old son and gave him a full medical examination, including an anal wink test to check for sexual abuse. Additionally, her son received 13 vaccinations without her consent.

Although she was allowed to return home after a month, Bruno said it took quite a bit of time for her 20-month-old son to accept her as his mother. Bruno said her son felt she had abandoned him even though it was not her choice to be separated.

My 20 month old, he was really traumatized, Bruno said. He kept rejecting me for probably about a year.

Even after I came home, he's like, I don't want you, mommy. I want to go live with my grandma, Bruno said, adding that it was the grandmother who picked up her son from the shelter after the medical tests were run on him.

As far as he's concerned, I abandoned him and I let these people do this to him. I was shocked at the things they did to this poor child.

As her son kept rejecting her, Bruno admitted that she built a wall to protect herself from the pain of her sons rejection.

The words hurt. The rejection hurts, she said. I have to pray to my God: I can't do this. I'm a victim too. And I just hear the Holy Spirit say, Yes, I know, but you're the adult in the situation.

And as crazy as it sounds, I had to forgive my 2-year-old and tell God I forgive Him, she said.

When her oldest son turned 3 in 2017, Bruno said the Holy Spirit led her to speak to her son about what happened to him when he was 20 months old.

I remember sitting down with him one day. I asked him, Do you remember when your auntie from Brazil came to take care of you? And he looked at me and he said, Why did you leave? Bruno recalled. At that point, I knew that he knew.

I sat down with him and took all the pictures that I had of his brother in the hospital, she said. And I showed him what happened to his brother.

Bruno said she told her son that the authorities thought she was responsible for what happened to his brother.

Her son, she said, looked back at her and told her that she had never hurt him. Yet Bruno had to explain to her son, in a way that wouldnt cause rebellion, that government employees had made a mistake.

Bruno said she told her son that what happened was not her or her husband, Ricardo's, choice. But no matter what, she told him that they must forgive those responsible for that because God is the ultimate judge.

From that point on, she said, her sons attitude completely changed.

I told him they thought they were doing their job. And in every job there's going to be people who make that choice, she said. But we're not gonna let them get away with it and we're gonna fight them.

And fight them they did. Bruno even let her oldest son take part in the civil suit by allowing him to drop the litigation paperwork in the mailbox.

I signed the petition for the civil suit in front of him. We prayed over it with him. We took him to the post office, he put it in the mail, she said. So he really became a part of the whole process.

According to Bruno, a lot of families suffer for years after their children have been removed from the home because of the trauma and lies that their children have been told.

Its the complete destruction of the family, it really is, Bruno stressed.

Bruno and her family are not the only families in California to walk away with million-dollar settlements after their children were removed by child services.

In November 2018, one mother received a settlement of over $6 million from Los Angeles County after a jury ruled that her child had been unlawfully seized by county social welfare workers.

In Orange County, another mother was awarded about $9.6 million in 2011 on grounds social workers fabricated evidence to ensure the separation of a daughter from her mother.

Theyve been sued out the yin-yang, Bruno said of Californias CPS system. But they continue to do it. I'm a lucky one in that I was in a financial position that I could sue them. How many hundreds of thousands of parents cant?

That's really why I've been speaking out and I want to talk about it and I want to educate the public, she added. My story is a fairytale compared to all the other ones I've heard. But I am in a position that I can fight for them, and that's what I want to do.

Bruno stressed that disruptive action continues to be committed by CPS agencies nationwide because there are too many federal incentives for states to put children through adoption. States receive about $8 billion annually in federal funds related to child abuse prevention, according to Pew Research.

Due to the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, Bruno says adoption and foster care have become one big money-making machine for the Department of Health and Human Services.

In 2018, President Donald Trump signed a law called the Family First Prevention Services Act, which provides more funding for at-home parenting classes, mental health counseling and substance abuse treatment. The law also puts limits on putting children in institutional settings such as group homes.

Bruno praised the legislation.

Let's help parents with rehab, she said. Let's help parents with classes on domestic violence. Let's help women try to get out of that abusive relationship. I think that is a step in the right direction.

However, she warns that there is still much work left to be done.

There is still money involved which scares me, she stressed.
Findings on education, malnutrition 'deeply disturbing'

SEATTLE--Despite progress toward global education targets, a new study reveals that 1 in 10 women ages 20-24 in low- and middle-income countries had zero years of schooling in 2017, and 1 in 6 had not completed primary school.

For the first time, researchers have mapped years of education and child malnutrition across all low- and middle-income countries at the level of individual districts. The findings include precision maps illuminating disparities within countries and regions often obscured by national-level analyses.

Nations with districts where high proportions of women had zero years of education in 2017 included Afghanistan, Niger, and the Gambia.

The research showed that gender inequality in education persists in many regions, with men achieving more years of education than women overall. A gap of more than three years between men and women was observed in nearly 140 districts in Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, Nigeria, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, and Afghanistan. The granularity of the estimates also shows where this gap varies widely between states, districts, or provinces.

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals set a target of universal secondary education by 2030. In 2017, fewer than 1% of the districts studied were close to meeting this goal for both men and women. The vast majority of those were in Uzbekistan, and the remainder in the Philippines.

"We know that education is closely related to people's health and well-being, particularly the health of mothers and children," said Dr. Simon I. Hay, senior author of the study and Director of the Local Burden of Disease (LBD) group at IHME. "This study enables all of us - teachers, educators, researchers, and policymakers - to look at disparities not just between countries, but at the level of individual communities."

Researchers also mapped "child growth failure" (CGF), defined as insufficient height and weight for a given age and exhibited by stunting, wasting, and underweight among children under 5.

The results show that 1 in 4 children living in the countries studied still suffered at least one dimension of malnutrition, and reveal inequality within countries doing well and those doing poorly. In Kenya, for example, there was a 9-fold difference in wasting between Tetu constituency and Turkana East constituency.

Predictions based on current trajectories for CGF estimate that only 5 low- and middle-income countries will achieve WHO goals for both stunting and wasting in all units. However, the analysis identifies priority regions where interventions could be targeted, as well as areas doing well. In Peru, the El Presupuesto por Resultados (Results-Based Budgeting) program, which includes community-level strategies, has been praised by the World Bank as a key driver in halving stunting levels in less than three years.

Both studies, conducted by IHME, analyzed low- and middle-income countries from 2000 to 2017. Interactive maps accompanying the publications visualize the results for each country and allow users to look at change over time.

Many countries demonstrated progress in education. South Africa, Peru, and Colombia saw substantial improvement over the study period. Researchers found that progress on women's education nationally often correlated with improved equality within a country. But in some countries, including India and Nigeria, national progress occurred in tandem with increased inequality across the study period.

In India, the proportion of women aged 20-24 achieving secondary education increased from 11% to 37% during the study period, and in Nigeria, the same demographic progressed from 12% to 45% attainment. However, the analysis showed that the majority of progress was driven by urban regions, particularly Maharashtra, India, and Lagos, Nigeria. Nigeria remained one of the countries with the world's highest inequality in education in 2017.

The studies were published January 9 in print in the journal Nature. They build on previous mapping of African nations published in 2018.

###

Media contacts

Amelia Apfel, +1-206-897-3733 (office); +1-206-359-5111 (mobile); arapfel@uw.edu

Dean Owen, +1-206-897-2858 (office); +1-206-434-5630 (mobile); dean1227@uw.edu

About the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent global health research organization at the University of Washington School of Medicine that provides rigorous and comparable measurement of the world's most important health problems and evaluates the strategies used to address them. IHME is committed to transparency and makes this information widely available so that policymakers have the evidence they need to make informed decisions on allocating resources to improve population health.

About the Local Burden of Disease project

The Local Burden of Disease (LBD) project at IHME aims to produce estimates of health outcomes and related measures that cover entire continents, but to do so at a very fine, local resolution. Such estimates allow decision-makers to target resources and health interventions precisely, so that health policy decisions can be tailored for local areas rather than entire countries. Combining local detail with broad coverage - producing estimates for different administrative subdivisions across entire continents - gives health officials tools to make locally informed decisions. The LBD project is led by Dr. Simon I. Hay, Professor of Health Metrics Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Director of Geospatial Science at IHME.

This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Clash of Clans brought in $727 million in 2019, which represented its first year-over-year (YoY) growth in player spending since 2015, according to mobile data analytics firm Sensor Tower. This revenue also put Finnish developer Supercell as one of the top five highest grossing mobile game publishers globally in 2019.

The freemium mobile strategy titles Gold Pass was introduced in April of 2019. This new feature boasted a $4.99 price tag and contributed significantly to the growth in player spending. The Gold Pass, which is similar to Battle Passes in other games, accounted for up to $66.6 million worldwide within the first month of release.

Since the features release, Clash of Clans grossed $597 million from April to December. This was a growth of 32 percent YoY from the $453 million generated in the same nine-month period in 2018. In addition, the mobile titles 2019 revenue saw growth of 27 percent from the $572 million brought in during 2018.

Clash of Clans launched on the App Store in 2012, with a later entrance to the Google Play store in 2013. With a rapidly growing player base, it became one of Supercells biggest hits, with earnings of $1.6 billion in 2014.

The $722 million in player spending during the past year isnt quite a return to Clash of Clans golden period between 2014-2015. Nonetheless, it still made up 42 percent of Supercells total 2019 revenue.
Kottayam : , Jan 9 (IANS) The Kerala Police on Thursday arrested four workers of the state's ruling CPI-(M)-affiliated trade union CITU for preventing the state guests - Nobel laureate Micheal Levitt and his wife - from proceeding onwards on their houseboat journey near here.

The incident happened on Wednesday during the countrywide protest strike called by 10 central trade unions and other independent labour associations.

The four arrested in the state all hail from Pulimkunnu near Kottayam and allegedly stopped Levitt's houseboat from moving forward.

This incident has generated lot of negative for the state, as the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) leaders had assured the state government that the tourism industry had been exempted from the nationwide protest strike call.

On Thursday, as he was leaving the tourist centre, the 72-year-old 2013 Nobel laureate told the media that Kerala is a beautiful and wonderful place without saying a word about his interrupted houseboat journey.

Earlier on Thursday, the Alappuzha District Collector M. Anjana came to meet Levitt and his family to express her deep regret about the events of Wednesday.

The Kottayam District Collector P.K. Sudheer Babu also came and met Levitt in this regard.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had earlier directed the two high-ranking officials to convey the state's apologies to the Nobel winner for his work in chemistry.

Levitt, along with his wife had started the Wednesday's journey from Kumarakom in the morning, but, around 11 a.m, their boat was stopped from plying by those taking part in the protests.

It was only two hours after the boatmen informed the authorities of the stoppage that Levitt and his wife could resume their journey and return later to Kumarakom.
If beer and the outdoors are your jam, Colorado is a 104,000-square-mile slice of multigrain toast.

But with more than 400 breweries and 5,600 miles of mapped hiking routes, the options can feel overwhelming if youre not a seasoned, and peripatetic, ale adventurer. Perhaps even then.

For her book, Beer Hiking Colorado: The Most Refreshing Way to Discover Colorful Colorado, 32-year-old Yitka Winn first tapped the institutional knowledge she gained after moving to Carbondale for a job at Trail Runner Magazine in her 20s.

If you love beer and you love hiking, theres no shortage wherever you are, said Winn, whose book pairs 50 nature and urban treks with resonant beers from nearby breweries.

Winn grew up in Kansas and her love of the outdoors was stoked by frequent family hiking trips to Rocky Mountain National Park. Living and working on the Western Slope, she got to know the state on a more intimate level.

That gave me a chance to really explore the terrain. And the beer, said Winn.

When the Switzerland-based publisher of a similarly themed guide approached her to do a stateside version, Winn said Colorado was a natural place for such a project. Boiling down two of the Centennial States defining pastimes to just 50 pairings, however, took some soul-searching and about six months of grueling field research in 2016.

I basically spent the summer and fall of that year road tripping all over Colorado and doing all the work for the book, said Winn, who now lives in Seattle. It was a neat opportunity to travel and see everything from 14ers to more high desert areas. I got to check out sort of the full sampler plate of Colorado topography and breweries.

Winns book includes a broad range of trails, most in the 3- to 5-mile range, with a selection of strenuous mountain hikes, metro strolls that meander through city parks, and everything in between.

I was trying to provide a little something for everyone, regardless of whether you consider yourself a hiker, she said.

Sometimes the breweries and routes were a natural pairing.

Some are surrounded by trailheads you can literally follow from the door of the brewery. Some are urban walks in Denver (and) some involve driving a few miles, Winn said.

The book features three hike/beer pairings in the Pikes Peak area. Bristol Brewing Co.s Pinon Nut Brown Ale, a summer release that raises money for Friends of Cheyenne Canyon, is paired with a hike of the canyon itself. Manitou Brewing Co.s High Ground IPA goes with a 3.5-mile loop through Red Rock Canyon. And Devils Head Red Ale, from Monuments Pikes Peak Brewing Co., pairs with an easy hike up to Monument Rock near the pinnacle, and the U.S. Forest Service fire lookout for which the beer is named.

Each excursion includes an estimate of how long it should take to reach the mission accomplished beer.

Theres nothing that stokes your thirst like hiking, and for me, Ive always found it very enjoyable to have a beer afterwards. Come down after a hike, come into town and be a part of the community that you find there, Winn said. Thats a neat thing about breweries featured in the book. Many are run by people who are very outdoorsy and active and you can feel that vibe in the taprooms.
Reacting for the first time to the criticism over the death of infants at a Kota hospital by his deputy Sachin Pilot, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday said people from both opposition and the government could ask questions.

He stressed it was Pilot's right to raise the issue as he also held the post of the state Congress chief.

"Pilot is the Pradesh Congress Committee president. It is his right to say this about the government. It is not the opposition only, which could ask questions. People from the government could also ask questions," said Gehlot.

Pilot, after a visit to Kota's J K Lon Hospital, had told the media that the death of infants was a serious matter and the government could not be spared of its accountability.

"We have to fix accountability. After 13 months of being in government, it may not serve any purpose to keep pointing towards the previous government. We have to face responsibility and consequences. People expect us to deliver," Pilot had said.

Talking to the media, Gehlot here at the airport said Pilot should give suggestions and say openly about any lacunaes.

"I have no problem with it as it would ensure good governance," the CM said.

He also termed the deaths a conspiracy against the state government and said those who died had come from outside.

"It was a conspiracy against the government. In order to propagate a word on it, media from Delhi was called. It was done on purpose close on the heels of the Nirogi Rajasthan launch," the CM said, adding that only time would tell who were behind it.

Referring to the recent violence by a mob at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, Gehlot said the democracy in the country was in danger and there was chaos everywhere.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tech giant Lenovo always rolls into CES, Americas biggest consumer electronics show, with slick new products from new gaming laptops to hot new Google (GOOG, GOOGL) Assistant-powered smart displays. But for 2020, the company has absolutely blown away any of its previous debuts with its new ThinkPad X1 Fold.

A totally foldable computer, the Fold is, more or less, a laptop display that folds completely in half like a Moleskine notebook. And while companies like Samsung and Huawei have shown off their own foldable smartphones, the X1 Fold is the first commercially available foldable PC, packing a far larger 13.3-inch OLED screen that the company says is as durable as any of its business-centric ThinkPad devices.

It's going to cost you a heck of a lot to get your hands on this technological marvel, though. We're talking $2,499. For comparison, Lenovos stellar, and pricey, ThinkPad X1 Carbon starts at $1,253.

Why the fold?

So what's the point of a device with a foldable display? Lenovo has laid out a number of potential usage scenarios and their advantages.

Completely unfolded, the Fold can be stood upright using its built-in kickstand. You can then use the included wireless keyboard to type away as if working on a standard laptop. When you're done, you fold up the system, sliding the keyboard into the gap between the two halves of the display. It creates a fairly thick, but compact, setup that you can toss into your bag.

Lenovo had debuted the ThinkPad X1 Fold. Image: Daniel Howley

Bend the display in half and use it in portrait mode, and you can use the top half of the display for content, and the bottom half as a touchscreen keyboard. You can also place the wireless keyboard on top of the touchscreen board for longer typing sessions. You'd likely use this in more cramped spaces like, say, an airplane or bus seat.

Lenovo says you'll also be able to use either side of the Fold's screen as separate displays, making for improved productivity. One example the company offers is video chatting with a coworker with one half of the screen, while editing a presentation with the other half. Of course, well have to see if this improves productivity in the real world.

Story continues

Holding the Fold, and, well, folding it, while strange at first, quickly becomes natural. That's likely thanks to the unit's leather case, which makes it feel like you're holding a book. A very expensive book, but a book nonetheless.

Outside of the potential for improved productivity, there's another, more basic case to be made for the development of a foldable computer: manufacturers need new form factors to get customers buying devices again.

The laptop and PC market hasn't seen meaningful growth in some time, and a new, more exciting design like the Fold's could get more consumers to open their wallets.

Years of work, and a lot of testing

The X1 Fold is the result of more than four years of work by Lenovo, Intel, and LG. LG worked on the display technology, while Intel helped ensure the Fold offers Always Connected PC technology, meaning the system will stay online even when you fold it up.

Lenovo gave Yahoo Finance a chance to check out the Fold's inner workings, and to say it's got a lot going on behind the screen is an understatement.

The company had to develop a special interlocking carbon fiber back plate behind the display to ensure that it remains taut and doesn't flex too much when used over and over again. Even the leather folio casing had to be outfitted with a series of springs to ensure that it moves smoothly across the Fold's exterior when you open and close it.

Then there are the hinges on the top and bottom of the fold. Lenovo had to specially develop them to withstand repeated use, while ensuring they lock in place so the system doesn't slide closed if held at an angle.

The company settled on a multilink torque hinge that is both durable and is still able to fold flat.

Lenovo recognizes this is the first generation of what it is a growing category of foldable, and dual-screen computers, and knows there will be future iterations on it. Weve already seen Intels foldable concept and Microsofts own dual-screen device.

In fact, Lenovo has already said it will offer a version of the Fold complete with Microsoft's dual-screen and foldable-ready Windows X operating system in the future. For early adopters, the Fold could be the kind of laptop that's too irresistible to pass up. If they've got the cash.

More from Dan:

Got a tip? Email Daniel Howley at danielphowley@protonmail.com or dhowley@yahoofinance.com, and follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  Iran struck back at the United States early Wednesday for killing its most powerful military commander, firing a barrage of ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases that house American troops in what the Iranian supreme leader said was a slap against the U.S. military presence in the region.

The dramatic blast of more than a dozen missiles caused no casualties, however, and U.S. President Donald Trump said hours later that Iran appears to be standing down.

It was a signal that both sides were stepping away from an immediate spiral of more direct exchanges that could throw the Middle East into great turmoil.

Speaking at the White House, Trump said the U.S. would impose new punishing economic sanctions on Iran to force it to stop its nuclear program and what he called its hostilities in the region. But he also said Washington was open to a deal with Tehran.

Iran, in turn, appeared to have calibrated its attack to avoid stoking further U.S. retaliation, giving some early warning to its Iraqi allies to avoid casualties.

Last night they received a slap, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said of the Americans in a speech after the missile strikes.

He made clear that Iran's actions were in response to the U.S. killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, whose death last week in a drone strike in Baghdad prompted angry calls for vengeance and drew massive crowds of Iranians to the streets in mourning. Khamenei himself wept at the funeral in a sign of his bond with the commander.

These military actions are not sufficient (for revenge). What is important is that the corrupt presence of America in this region comes to an end."

Satellite imagery showed at least five impact sites on the Ain al-Asad base in Iraqs western Anbar province, each leaving charred blast marks that damaged or destroyed buildings. One obliterated a structure in a row of buildings next to a line of helicopters, though none of the aircraft appeared damaged, according to the imagery provided by Planet Labs, Inc.

Story continues

Iran's foreign minister tweeted that Tehran had taken and "concluded proportionate measures in self-defense, adding that Tehran did not seek escalation" but would defend itself against further aggression.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said he received notification from Iran just after midnight that its retaliation was starting or would start soon and would focus only on U.S. positions. The militaries of Finland and Lithuania, which had personnel at one of the targeted bases, said they received information about an imminent attack and had time to move to shelters or leave the base.

Irans attacks appeared designed for maximum domestic effect with minimum escalatory risk, said Henry Rome, analyst with Eurasia Group.

"For a president who wants to avoid a war in the Middle East during an election year, the Iranians have provided an off-ramp he will likely take," Rome said.

Tensions have risen steadily in the Middle East since Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.

The Iranian attacks on the bases marked the first time in recent years that Iran has directly attacked U.S. positions rather than through proxies in the region.

Tehran and Washington have been at odds since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis.

Adding to the chaos, a Ukrainian airplane with 176 people crashed after takeoff just outside Tehran on Wednesday morning, killing all on board, Iranian and Ukrainian officials said. Iran said mechanical issues were suspected, although Ukraine declined to offer a cause while an investigation continues.

The Boeing 737-800 had taken off from Imam Khomeini International Airport, bound for the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The plane carried 167 passengers and nine crew members. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said there were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians on board  the Ukrainian nationals included two passengers and the nine crew. The rest were Swedish, Afghan, German and British nationals.

The U.S. Federation Aviation Administration earlier warned of a "potential for miscalculation or mis-identification" for civilian aircraft in the Persian Gulf. The agency barred U.S. carriers from flying over areas of Iraqi, Iranian and some Persian Gulf countries.

The U.S. has been deploying more troops in the region. U.S. Gulf allies that host thousands of American troops are concerned about a direct conflict. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have called for de-escalation.

The situation is not currently a war situation, UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al-Mazrouei said, stressing that Iran is a neighbor and the last thing the country wants is more regional tension.

Irans Revolutionary Guard warned the U.S. and its allies against retaliating over the missile attack.

We are warning all American allies, who gave their bases to its terrorist army, that any territory that is the starting point of aggressive acts against Iran will be targeted, the Guard said in a statement carried by Irans state-run IRNA news agency. It also threatened Israel.

The Iranians fired 15 missiles Wednesday, two U.S. officials said. Ten hit Ain al-Asad and one targeted a base in Irbil in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region. Four failed, said the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly about a military operation.

As we evaluate the situation and our response, we will take all necessary measures to protect and defend U.S. personnel, partners and allies in the region, said Jonathan Hoffman, an assistant to the U.S. defense secretary.

Two Iraqi security officials said a missile appeared to have hit a plane at Ain al-Asad, igniting a fire. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the attacks, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not have permission to talk to journalists.

Ain al-Asad was first used by American forces after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, and it later was used by American troops in the fight against the Islamic State group. It houses about 1,500 U.S. and coalition forces. Trump went there in December 2018, making his first presidential visit to troops in the region. Vice President Mike Pence also has visited.

As Iran reels from the loss of life in the plane crash, it is also contending with the aftermath of a deadly stampede Tuesday at Soleimani's funeral in his hometown of Kerman, killing 56 people and injuring more than 200. Shortly after Wednesday's missile attack, Soleimani's shroud-wrapped remains were lowered into the ground as mourners wailed at the grave site.

We tell our enemies that we will retaliate, but if they take another action we will set ablaze the places that they like and are passionate about," Hossein Salami, who commands the Revolutionary Guard, told a crowd in Kerman.

The general's funeral procession in major cities spanning three days was an unprecedented honor for Soleimani, seen by Iranians as a national hero for his work leading the Guards expeditionary Quds Force in the face of U.S. pressure.

The U.S. blames him for killing U.S. troops in Iraq. The Trump administration alleges he'd been plotting new attacks just before he was killed.

Many Sunni Muslims in the region, however, view him as a destabilizing figure who commanded dangerous and deadly Shiite proxy militias. Soleimani led forces supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad in that country's civil war.

Since his killing Jan. 3, Tehran has abandoned the remaining limits of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. In Iraq, lawmakers and pro-Iranian factions in parliament have voted to oust American troops from Iraqi territory.

Kuwait said Wednesday that its state-run KUNA news agencys Twitter account was hacked and posted a false story on U.S. troops withdrawing from the nation. The fake alert went out on its account, Kuwait said. More than 13,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Kuwait, with more now on the way.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Aya Batrawy in Dubai, Matthew Lee, Lolita C. Baldor and Zeke Miller in Washington, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; Hussain al-Qatari in Kuwait City and Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed.
Fans of superstar Rajinikanth have begun gathering and celebrating outside theatres in Chennai ahead of the release of 'Darbar' on Thursday.

The fans started queuing up in large numbers outside ticket gates and the many of them came loaded with cakes and in t-shirts displaying their love for Rajinikanth.

Amid the excitement of fans, the Tamil Nadu government has granted permission for a special show to screen Rajinikanth-starrer 'Darbar' for four days in the theatres all over the state. There will be one extra show per day for four days on January 9,10,13 and 14 for the film.

Earlier yesterday, the fans had offered special prayers at the Amman Temple in Madurai for the success of the film.

Fans also conducted special offerings to temple deity by piercing their bodies and paying unique penance 'Man Soru' for the huge success of the movie.

Rajinikanth's 167th film 'Darbar' is an action-drama directed by AR Murugadoss, the movie also features actress Nayanthara alongside the superstar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Church of Scientology has argued that they should be able to handle sexual assault allegations against That 70s Show actor Danny Masterson through 'religious arbitration' instead of in court.

Four women, including two ex-girlfriends, filed a lawsuit against Masterson in California last year claiming the actor drugged, raped and sexually assaulted them in the early 2000s.

The Church of Scientology is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit after the women claimed they were stalked and harassed by the church in a bid to silence them after they complained.

Masterson is a member of the church while some of women were members around the time of the alleged assaults.

In new court papers filed on Tuesday, the church argued that the women consented to 'ecclesiastical rule' when they became members and therefore relinquished their rights to sue.

Four women, including two ex-girlfriends, filed a lawsuit against That 70s Show actor Danny Masterson in California last year claiming he drugged, raped and sexually assaulted them in the early 2000s

The court documents, obtained by the Hollywood Reporter, argues that the church should be allowed to handle the case internally because of the Federal Arbitration Act.

'Under the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the United States and California Constitutions the Church may establish its own rules governing its relationship with its members exempt from civil law,' the court papers state.

'The Church's ecclesiastical arbitration is a condition of participating in Scientology services. This Court may not interfere with this condition by imposing civil rules for arbitration. The Church's arbitration agreements, as written and agreed to, must be enforced.'

In the court papers, the church claims the women signed agreements when they became members.

They agreed to relinquish their right to sue the church or church employees, according to the court documents.

The agreement allegedly stated: 'I am forever abandoning, surrendering, waiving, and relinquishing my right to sue, or otherwise seek legal recourse with respect to any dispute, claim or controversy against the Church, all other Scientology churches, all other organizations which espouse, present, propagate or practice the Scientology religion, and all persons employed by any such entity both in their personal and any official or representational capacities, regardless of the nature of the dispute, claim or controversy.'

It stems from a lawsuit filed by the women against Masterson and the Church of Scientology in August last year.

Two of the women named in the suit were Masterson's ex-girlfriends - Chrissie Bixler and Bobette Riales - while the other two were only been identified as Jane Does.

Chrissie Bixler dated Masterson for several years and claims he would forcefully have sex with her and became violent when she refused. She says her dog mysteriously died after she reported him

Bobette Riales, who dated the actor for two years from 2002, claims he drugged and sexually assaulted her. She claims she was followed, watched and had her trash stolen after going to the police with her allegations against Masterson in 2017

The women claim that when they came forward to report the sexual assault allegations against Masterson, the church allegedly conspired to stalk, harass, invade their privacy and cause emotional distress in a bid to intimidate and silence them.

The church and Masterson have denied those allegations.

In the initial lawsuit, Bixler said she dated Masterson for several years and joined Scientology 'per his orders'.

She claims Masterson would regularly force her to have sex with him and says he 'became violent' when she refused, citing one occasion when he dragged her naked across their bedroom floor while berating her appearance.

Bixler claims that after the incident she was required to do an 'ethics program' where she told a church employee about Masterson's alleged abusive behavior.

She said the employee told her it was her job as Masterson's girlfriend 'to give him sex whenever he wants it' and that if she complied 'these things wouldn't happen', according to the suit.

After coming forward with her allegations, she claims her dog mysteriously died from unexplained traumatic injuries to her trachea and esophagus.

According to the suit, Bixler claims she was also run off the road in June by a car that had been following her. In the same month, Bixler claims one of Masterson's friends threatened to release nude photos of her taken when she was underage.

Another woman in the suit, Bobette Riales, claims she experienced similar threats, including being followed, watched and having her trash stolen after going to the police with her allegations against Masterson in 2017.

Riales claims Masterson, who she dated for two years from 2002, drugged and sexually assaulted her.

In new court papers filed on Tuesday, the church argued that the women consented to 'ecclesiastical rule' when they became members and therefore relinquished their rights to sue

The other two women, who have not been identified, claim they experienced Masterson and his alleged abuse between 1999 and 2002.

Jane Doe 1 claims she may have been drugged by Masterson after he gave her two drinks and ended up alone in his guestroom where she fell asleep. She claims she woke up to Masterson having sex with her and fought him off.

A few years later, Jane Doe 1 said she again felt disoriented after having a drink given to her by Masterson. She claims she passed out and woke up to the actor raping her.

Jane Doe 1 claims she reported the incident to the LAPD on June 6, 2004, but said the Church of Scientology 'mobilized' against her to ensure no charges were filed.

The other woman, Jane Doe 2, claims she also felt disorientated after having a drink given to her by Masterson. Jane Doe 2, who was a member of the church since childhood, claims Masterson sexually assaulted her in the shower and in his bedroom.

Jane Doe 2 said she knew from Scientology that she would 'not be permitted to report the assault to civil authorities outside of Scientology' so she did not disclose the alleged incident to the LAPD until 2017.

Since reporting it, Jane Doe 2 claimed her phone and computer were hacked, her car was vandalized and she received harassment on social media.

Masterson has repeatedly denied all the accusations against him since they first came to light in 2017.

Netflix fired him from its show The Ranch after the LAPD confirmed they were investigating the allegations.

Masterson is best known for his role on That 70s Show.
Iran sent mixed signals Thursday as tensions with the US appeared to ease, with President Hassan Rouhani warning of a very dangerous response if the US makes another mistake and a senior commander vowing harsher revenge" for the killing of a top Iranian general.

Both sides appeared to step back on Wednesday after Iran launched a series of ballistic missiles at two military bases housing American troops in Iraq without causing any casualties.

Iran said the attack was retaliation for the US strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the architect of its regional security strategy, in Iraq earlier this week.

Rouhani said the strike on the bases was a legitimate act of self-defense under the UN Charter, but he warned that if the US makes another mistake, it will receive a very dangerous response.

In addition to launching the missile attack, Iran also abandoned its remaining commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, which President Donald Trump had walked away from in May 2018.

But Rouhani said Thursday that Iran would continue to cooperate with UN inspectors.

Senior Iranian military commanders struck a more defiant tone.

Abdollah Araghi, a member of Iran's joint chiefs of staff, said the country's Revolutionary Guard "will impose a more severe revenge on the enemy in the near future, according to the semi-official Tasnim agency.

Tasnim also quoted Gen. Ali Fadavi, the acting commander of the Guard, as saying the missile attack was just one of the manifestations of our abilities.

We sent dozens of missiles into the heart of the US bases in Iraq and they couldn't do a damned thing," he was quoted as saying.

On Wednesday, Trump signalled that he would not retaliate militarily for the strike on the bases.

That raised hopes that the current standoff, which brought the two countries to the brink of an all-out war, may be winding down.

Rouhani spoke by phone Thursday with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, urging Britain to denounce the killing of Soleimani.

As head of Iran's elite Quds Force, Soleimani had mobilized armed proxies across the region and was blamed for deadly attacks against Americans going back to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

In Iran, he is seen by many as a national hero who played a key role in defeating the Islamic State group and resisting Western hegemony.

Without Soleimani's efforts leading forces in Syria and Iraq against IS, you would not have peace and security in London today, Rouhani was quoted as saying by Vice President Alireza Moezi, who tweeted about the call with Johnson.

Downing Street confirmed the call, saying Johnson called for "an end to hostilities" in the Gulf.

It said the UK stands by the nuclear deal and is urging Iran to return to full compliance.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
NORFOLK, Va. - A Virginia doctor who wrote thousands of fake prescriptions for an infamous black market pharmacy has entered a guilty plea, despite earlier backing out of a plea deal, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Lawrence Ryan, 48, backed out of a plea deal last month but then changed his mind and admitted to conspiracy to unlawfully sell prescription drugs to consumers without valid prescriptions, The Virginian-Pilot reported.

From October 2007 to September 2010, Ryan worked for a black market pharmacy called RX Limited where he would sign off on prescriptions for a fee without ever seeing any patients, according to the Department of Justice.

Ryan approved more than 158,000 illegal drug orders for RX Limited, the department said. He was paid $2 per prescription for a total of at least $316,153, according to court records.

The site was founded by weapons and drug trafficker Paul Le Roux, but Ryans attorney said his client didnt know Le Rouxs connection to RX Limited until he read about him in The Virginian-Pilot.

He never met Le Roux, Trey Kelleter said of his client. He didnt know Le Roux existed.

Ryan was a former Navy doctor who was first licensed to practice in Virginia in 2001, the newspaper said. His license was suspended in May 2006 after it was discovered he was sending adult and child pornography to people who turned out to be Naval Criminal Investigative Service officers, the paper said citing documents filed with the Virginia Board of Medicine.

After a clinical psychologist interviewed Ryan and determined he was not a child pornographer and had no sexual interested in children, the board reinstated the Norfolk doctor in February 2007.

A sentencing hearing is set for April 6. He faces up to five years in prison.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : Delhi Police have again closed both carriageways of Baba Gang Nath Marg from Nelson Mandela Marg and Aruna Asaf Ali Marg due to demonstration at the JNU campus, Traffic Police informed on Thursday.

The Baba Gang Nath Marg, leading to JNU main entrance gate, had been mostly closed by the police after the January 5 violence in the university campus, a Delhi Traffic Police official told IANS.

"Baba Gang Nath Marg is closed (both carriageways) by local police from Nelson Mandela Marg and Aruna Asaf Ali Marg due to demonstration," the Delhi Traffic Police tweeted on Thursday morning.

Violence swept the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus on January 5, as several masked individuals thrashed students and teachers inside the campus with wooden and metal rods.
By Trend

Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) once again visited Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, Azerbaijani hostages captured by Armenian armed forces on occupied territories of Azerbaijan, in December 2019, Head of the Public Relations Department of ICRC Azerbaijan Office Ilaha Huseynova told Trend.

"We keep visiting them on a regular basis," said the spokesperson of ICRC Azerbaijan Office."According to its mandate, the ICRC visits detained individuals to monitor treatment and conditions of detention and help to ensure that the detainees are able to maintain contact with their families."

During an operation in July 2014 in Shaplar village of Azerbaijani Kalbajar district occupied by Armenia, the Armenian special forces killed an Azerbaijani Hasan Hasanov, and took hostage two other Azerbaijanis, Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov. A "criminal case" was initiated against them. Afterwards, a "court" sentenced Asgarov to life imprisonment and Guliyev to 22 years in prison.

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, 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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
A new research project is looking to speak with women who have experience of intimate or sexual relationships while in prison.

The project is being led by Trinity College Dublin researcher Danielle Claire OSullivan. It is being supervised by Dr Paula Mayock and is funded by a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship.

Danielle Claire OSullivan who is appealing for anyone with those experiences to get in contact.

She explained:

There is nothing so far in Ireland on the types of intimate or sexual relationships women have in prison in Ireland."

The only available research close to the topic is on LGBT experiences inside. My research will go further, including perspectives of lesbian, bisexual, and straight women who have experience of intimate and / or sexual relationships while inside.

"I know that different types of relationships happen and want to explore this, through the eyes of women with lived experience  some are based on love, some are in exchange for something (cigarettes etc) and are transactional in nature, and then there are the violent/coercive relationships.

Some women have been sexually assaulted while inside, by fellow inmates.

I am aiming to speak with women up to a max five years post-release to talk to them about the relationships they had, their healthcare during that time, safety, their identity, and resources they feel could help others both within the prison and post-release.

She tweeted that my end game is to understand what's going on for women and to make policy recommendations that accord with their own lived experiences".

5) We then speak to those for and with whom we are conducting a piece of research. For my research- my end game is to understand what's going on for women and to make policy recommendations that accord with their own lived experiences.Women need to know about this study 2 do that  Danielle Claire OSullivan (@osulld18) January 7, 2020

The Dochas Visiting Committee recently noted the practice of "inappropriate relationships" between women inside the prison, but Ms OSullivan said little is known about the nature of these relationships.

Meanwhile, figures provided by the Irish Prison Service this week showed there were just three phone seizures in the Dochas Prison last year, although the number of drug seizures increased to 15, the highest figure for the past three years. There were also six weapons seizures in 2019, whereas there were none in 2018.

Both the Dochas Prison and the womens section of Limerick Prison were reported to be consistently over capacity last year.

- Anyone seeking to become involved can can email osulld18@tcd.ie
New Delhi/Srinagar: India is all set to take around 15 foreign envoys to Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday to see the efforts being made by the government to bring the situation to normalcy. Confirming the development, a source said, "A group of around 15 envoys based in Delhi are being taken to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on January 9-10 to see first-hand the efforts being made by the Government to bring the situation to normal."

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has been receiving requests from envoy for a visit to Kashmir and the government source said, "Our consistent position has been that we may consider the request only after analyzing the security situation and checking the situation on the ground with the J&K administration."

Live TV

While envoys of Latin America, ASEAN and Africa will be going on Thursday, envoys of the European Union (EU) are expected to go on a later date. Speaking on why they could not attend foreign envoy's Kashmir visit, an EU envoy said, "It was communicated with very short notice and the majority of us need to get the agreement of our authorities," adding, "in any case, we are still discussing with MEA".

Government sources said that EU envoys have welcomed the initiative by the government and select EU envoys were invited since the aim was to keep the group broad-based. Asked, if any envoys had asked to meet anyone detained, the government source said, "no specific request was made and the group was free to interact with people subject to security considerations". Australia is not able to be a part of the visit since they are preparing for the Aussie Foreign Minister's India visit. The same stands true for another Asian country, whose delegation is in the town.

The visit by foreign envoys comes even amid criticisms over India keeping the region cut off. Kashmir woke up to a new year of freedom on January 1 as SMS services were restored across the valley from midnight on December 31, 2019. The news is being seen as a welcome measure in restoring freedom for the Kashmiris as normalcy returns gradually in the valley. Earlier on October 14, 2019, postpaid mobile services were also restored.

In October 2019, India took the EU Parliamentarians to Kashmir. It was the first such visit by an international delegation post-abrogation of Article 370. The visit by the members of the European Parliament had come at a time when the Centre was making efforts to restore normalcy in the region.

with inputs from Ieshan Wani
Capital Scaling Partner (CSP), the start-up development business of Capita plc, has appointed The British Centres for Business (BCB) as its delivery partner in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), supporting its growth and interests in the Middle East.

The BCB provides professional support and market entry services in the UAE for UK companies, including assistance and guidance through their unique incubator platform. Part of OCO Global, the specialist Trade and Investment advisory firm, BCB has well established networks throughout the Middle Eastern Region.

With a focus on the development of start-up tech-focused firms, CSP's growing portfolio of companies matches BCB's experience in supporting quality UK businesses in UAE. BCB has already helped more than 40 companies to set up in the region since 2014 and has provided general export advice to a further 300 companies, generating in excess of 50 million.

Three of CSP's tech-focused portfolio companies are currently benefiting from the BCB's services which is linking them to potential investors, clients and regulators in the UAE. These are:

Munnypot a software provider enabling financial institutions to offer a fully tailored, digital financial advice solution

Artificial an AI-driven platform that digitises the end to end quote, bind and issue process for commercial insurance

Dragonfly AI an artificial intelligence company which shows where human attention is drawn on any visual content

Speaking about the partnership, BCB's CEO Joe Hepworth said: "Like Capita we have vast experience in helping companies, grow, develop and expand their innovative services and products within global markets. Through our new partnership with CSP we are directly supporting some of the UK's most exciting early stage tech companies and it's clear that this resonates in the Middle East where there has been a conscious effort to encourage technology and innovation.

"The UAE has actively taken steps to make it a desirable location for tech investment, through its Vision 2021 strategy and it has targeted the region as not only a favorable destination for investors but also as an attractive prospect for the world's best talent. Over the last 5 years, I have overseen more than 300 trade and export projects, and, in that time, there has been a clear shift in the UAE to focus on the development of a knowledge-based economy. The interest and traction we have seen for the three companies who have visited the region so far, reflects this evolution within its economy and is strong barometer of the opportunities that lie ahead."

John Downes, Partner at CSP said: "We are delighted by our partnership with BCB in the UAE, and we are excited by the opportunity to bring cutting edge technology propositions to this market."

About the British Centres for Business

The BCB is a business-to-business professional services company established with the mandate to provide operational support and market entry services in the UAE to British companies. The BCB works alongside the British government to deliver on-demand trade services, providing practical assistance, guidance and orientation for UK exporters. The BCB is part of trade foreign investment advisory firm OCO Global (www.ocoglobal.com).

About Capita Scaling Partner

Capita plc is a consulting, digital services and software business headquartered in London and listed on the London Stock Exchange. Capita is driven by its purpose: to create better outcomes for employees, clients and customers, suppliers and partners, investors, and society.

Capita Scaling Partner is the start-up development business of Capita. CSP partners with start-ups to help them scale, providing them with strategic access to our network of clients, suppliers, investors and subject matter experts to support long-term sustainable growth. Through its portfolio companies, CSP brings relevant and executable innovation to large corporate and government entities.

Munnypot was created to make financial advice available to everyone. Not just the wealthy. Not just in the UK. Not just investors. People-from all walks of life, the world over-use our proprietary technology to buy the core financial products they need, via any device. And as and when changes need making, Munnypot is there to facilitate the regulated financial advice, simple or complex, that your end client's value. Given that all the technology is under the hood, the selection and purchasing experience for your end clients is transparent, engaging and free of hassle-from start to finish.

Dragonfly AI is a predictive Visual Analytics Platform showing what the human brain sees first enabling organisations and brands to optimise the performance of moving, static, digital or physical content. Dragonfly gives brands the power to instantly predict, analyse and influence human attention.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005042/en/

Contacts:

Joe Hepworth Director, Middle East

Email: joe.hepworth@ocoglobal.com

Tel: +971 56 3546277
You are here: Business

China will continue to push forward high-level opening up and shorten the list that outlines sectors off-limits to foreign investors, a senior commerce official said.



China is set to become the world's largest national market and enjoys a solid cooperation base for foreign investment thanks to its strong industry supporting capacity, Wang Shouwen, vice commerce minister said Wednesday at a meeting by investment promoting agencies.

Wang pointed out that the Chinese market is seeing growing innovation competitiveness, especially in sectors like the Internet, information technology and artificial intelligence.

China, generally speaking, still enjoys comprehensive advantages in attracting foreign investment, Wang said, adding that greater reform autonomy would be given to the country's free trade zones.
Writer and director Bill Haney found a pretty vile villain for his film Jim Allison: Breakthrough, opening Friday. And, no, its not the titular subject  an Alice, Texas, native who went on to become a groundbreaking immunologist, researcher, Nobel laureate and occasional Willie Nelson collaborator.

For a movie that begins with death and ends with the inevitable suggestion of death, Breakthrough nevertheless revels in its presentation of an incredible and interesting researcher, whose work has saved more than a few lives.

If the determined and eccentric doctor trope has played out in TV and film over the years Allison, MD Anderson Cancer Centers chairman of immunology, certainly provides a fresh update. He battles creationists as a kid and cancer as an adult, the latter a fight Haney loosely traces to the death of Allisons mother of lymphoma when he was a child.

Allison in his gruff drawl explains simply of an effort to keep the teaching of evolution in his school: I wasnt just trying to do what was right. If you believe in something you have to stand your ground. If it hurts, it hurts.

Jim Allison: Breakthrough Rated PG-13: For thematic material and brief, strong language Running time: 90 minutes Where: Landmark River Oaks, Houston *** (out of 5) See More Collapse

Haney also establishes a duality in Allisons life, which defines work hard/play hard. From his days as a student to his days leading a research lab, his inclination during the day was to upend conventional thinking, and his inclination during the evenings was to find live music and drinks. Jims lab had the feel of a pirate ship, one friend observed.

ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Houston scientist Jim Allison presented Nobel

From there the story splits between a tutorial on T-cells  crucial to Allisons research to cure cancer  and moments where hes seen on stage twisting about while playing the harmonica. Nelson makes a few appearances, including a funny anecdote about an impromptu gig in La Jolla, Calif.

Allisons story runs parallel in Breakthrough to that of Sharon Belvin, a woman with metastatic melanoma. She provides the human face of the high stakes research going on. Breakthrough doesnt throw the curtain wide on medical research, but in the course of telling Allisons story, Haney does a nice job establishing its competitive and tension-filled nature.

The film beautifully plays with time. Another Allison family member develops cancer, which sets a clock ticking. And the pace at which Ipilimumab  the immunotherapy that was Allisons lifes work to that point  does its work generates a separate tension. Allisons own health provides further dramatic undercurrent, even as testimony about his research steers deeply into the sentimental.

By films end the villain isnt vanquished, but it is nevertheless weakened. And a fairly full portrait of Allison has emerged, following his journey from Alice to Stockholm over the course of 70 years.

andrew.dansby@chron.com

Twitter.com/andrewdansby

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WASHINGTON  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made clear Thursday that shes in no hurry to send articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate, as her longtime colleague Sen. Dianne Feinstein backtracked on earlier criticism that it was time for the Senate to get the case.

Pelosi, D-San Francisco, has refused to forward the articles since the House voted on Dec. 18 to approve them, arguing she needs to know ground rules for how the GOP-led Senate will conduct Trumps trial.

No, Im not holding them indefinitely, Pelosi said at a news conference. Ill send them over when Im ready, and that will probably be soon.

Pelosis comments came a day after several Democratic senators said it was time for her to end her standoff with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over trial rules, including whether the Senate will hear testimony from witnesses.

On Wednesday, Feinstein joined a handful of prominent Democrats who suggested Pelosis delay must end.

The longer it goes on, the less urgent it becomes, Feinstein told Politico. So if its serious and urgent, send them over. If it isnt, dont send it over.

But Feinstein recanted Thursday, telling The Chronicle she sees no downside to Pelosi holding the articles. Pressed about her earlier dig at her fellow San Franciscan, Feinstein gave little explanation: I dont know what happened there. ... I did not mean to say that.

Feinstein later put out a statement that said, Given the importance of this additional evidence, its understandable that Speaker Pelosi has delayed transmitting articles of impeachment until the contours of a Senate trial are known. I do not believe that Speaker Pelosi is motivated by politics but by a sincere desire to ensure a fair process that allows the Senate to consider available evidence  a goal that all of us should share.

The House Armed Services Committee chairman, Democratic Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, had also urged Pelosi on Wednesday to send the articles to the Senate. He quickly retracted the statement, tweeting that he wholeheartedly supports her.

Pelosi didnt directly address their earlier comments at her news conference and expressed confidence that her gambit had paid off strategically.

Senate Republicans are expected to acquit Trump of accusations he abused the powers of his office by asking Ukraine to investigate a Democratic rival and obstructed Congress investigation.

Pelosi said Thursday, however, that her delay has boosted Democrats case as more documents come to light, including an email suggesting Trump ordered military aid to Ukraine be held while he waited for an announcement from Ukraines president of an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden.

She also noted that former national security adviser John Bolton, who was in his post as the Ukraine affair unfolded last year, has said he would testify at the Senate trial if subpoenaed.

Since the Houses impeachment vote, Pelosi has tried to put a spotlight on Trumps refusal to turn over subpoenaed documents or to allow administration officials to testify. She has criticized McConnell for saying hes coordinating with the White House counsel on trial rules.

Republicans have, in turn, seized on the hesitation among some Democrats. House GOP leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield said Thursday that Pelosi had lost the backing of her hometown senator and quoted Feinstein at length during a news conference.

When you sit and read and listen to lawmakers in Speaker Pelosis own party, they have no idea what she is doing, McCarthy said. Maybe the case is too weak.

Republicans have also said that if Democrats thought their subpoenaed documents and witnesses were important, they should have pressed the case while the House considered impeachment and sought the courts backing.

Trump tweeted Thursday that Pelosi doesnt want to send the articles to the Senate because after all of these years of investigations and persecution, they show no crimes and are a joke and a scam!

While some Democrats gave the GOP an opening to attack Pelosis impeachment strategy with their complaints, they were the exception in both the House and Senate.

I would not ever tell Nancy Pelosi what to do, California Sen. Kamala Harris told the Los Angeles Times. When the speaker is ready to send them over, we will do our job.

Dustin Gardiner is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dustingardiner
BJP leader Kirit Somaiya on Thursday wrote to Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and requested for a strong action regarding the 'free Kashmir' poster seen at the Gateway of India here during a protest against violence at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

"I wrote to Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh & requested no dilution of FIR & Strong Action in the Gateway of India Illegal Demonstrations Case," Somaiya tweeted with the copy of the letter in Marathi.

Earlier in the day, Somaiya submitted evidence to police regarding the 'free Kashmir' poster seen at the Gateway of India.

"Submitted evidence to Police Officials of Gateway of India illegal Demonstrations. Planned 'Kasmir ko Chahiye Azadi' propaganda (under the excuse of JNU demonstration) participation of minister. Understood Pressure from Mantralaya to dilute and weaken seriousness of FIR," Somaiya stated in a tweet.

Somaiya had filed a complaint against the incident two days ago. He said, "The Police have assured me of investigation."

On January 6, during the protest, a girl was seen holding the poster which read - "Free Kashmir". Other demonstrators were also seen holding placards.

Some posters called for 'Ban on ABVP,' while some others read "Stand with JNU."

Politicians, cutting across party lines, have condemned the attack on students which had taken place in JNU on Sunday. They had urged the administration to take nab the culprits and take strict action against those found guilty.

More than 30 students were taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre after a masked mob entered the JNU on Sunday and attacked them and professors with sticks and rods.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Juhi Chawla On CAA: Everyone Is Quick To Talk About Dividing, Why Don't We Talk About Uniting?
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The police are on the lookout for a domestic help and her husband, who are suspected to be natives of Nepal, for allegedly sedating their employer family at Kokapet and robbing gold ornaments and cash from their house.

According to Narsingi police, the couple had come to the city in search of livelihood. They landed jobs at the complainants house through a small company that arranges workers for the needy. They started working at the businessmans house in Kokapet, on December 27.

Soon, they won the trust of the family and also noted where the valuables were stored in the house. On January 3, they mixed sedatives in the dinner. After eating the food, all three members of the family fell unconscious. The couple then opened the lockers and robbed the gold ornaments and money stored inside. A family member, who was outside the house, tried to reach the family over the phone, however, there was no response.

His suspicion grew and rushed home only to find them unconscious. The victims reported the crime to the police on January 5. A case has been registered against the accused. The accused persons had fake identity cards. We cant ascertain their names at this moment, said Narsingi police inspector GV Ramana Goud. He added that the complainant is yet to figure out how much worth gold ornaments and cash was missing.


"Serving in the military changes you. The shades and degrees of change vary for everyone, but no one is ever the same as...
For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL  January 9, 2020  Stocks in this weeks article are Pan American Silver Corp. PAAS, Arcosa Inc. ACA, North American Construction Group Ltd. NOA, America Movil SAB de CV AMX and Helen of Troy Limited HELE.

Buy These 5 Low-Beta Stocks as U.S.-Iran Tensions Mount

Escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran have made the broader equity market extremely volatile. After the recent U.S. airstrike killed Irans top commander General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, Tehran retaliated by firing more than a dozen ballistic missiles at U.S. troops in Iraq.

Thus, it would be ideal to invest in low-beta stocks as they are less correlated to the market and thus tend to be less volatile.

Beta Understanding

Beta indicates the volatility of a particular stock with respect to the market. In other words, beta measures the extent of stock price movement relative to the market (we are considering S&P 500 here).

If a company has a beta of 1, it means that the relative volatility of the stock is the same as that of the S&P 500. In the same way, if the stocks beta is greater than 1 then it is more volatile compared to the market. Conversely, a beta below 1 signifies less volatility.

Now, if a portfolios beta is 3, it is three times more volatile than the market. Hence, if the market is projected to give 20% return, the portfolio will then definitely contribute 60% return which is amazing.

However, the opposite case also holds true. If the market slips 20% then the portfolio return plummets 60% which is surely a matter of concern.

For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at:https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/707848/buy-these-5-lowbeta-stocks-as-usiran-tensions-mount

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Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 9, 2020) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today released the agenda for the inaugural meeting of the Asset Management Advisory Committee, which will be held on Jan. 14, 2020, at 9 a.m. ET. The Committee was formed to provide the Commission with diverse perspectives on asset management and related advice and recommendations.

The Jan. 14 meeting will include a discussion of various aspects of the asset management industry as well as administrative items. The meeting will be held at the SEC's headquarters at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C., and is open to the public. The meeting will be webcast live on SEC.gov, and will be archived on the website for later viewing.

Members of the public who wish to provide their views on the matters to be considered by the Committee may submit comments either electronically or on paper, as described below. Please submit comments using one method only. Information that is submitted will become part of the public record of the meeting. All submissions should refer to File Number 265-33, and the file number should be included on the subject line if e-mail is used.

Electronic submissions:

Use the SEC's Internet submission form or send an e-mail to rule-comments@sec.gov.

Paper submissions:

Send paper submissions in triplicate to Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549-1090.

* * *

SEC Asset Management Advisory Committee

Agenda

Jan. 14, 2020

9:00 a.m. Welcome, and Opening Remarks:

Chairman Clayton; Commissioners Jackson, Peirce, Roisman, and Lee; Dalia Blass, Director of the Division of Investment Management; and Ed Bernard, Committee Chairman



9:30 a.m. Evolution of Asset Management and Value Proposition

Michael Goldstein, Empirical Research Partners

Ben Phillips, Casey Quirk - Deloitte Consulting

11:00 a.m. Break



11:15 a.m. Evolution of Public and Private Securities Offerings

Stephanie Drescher, Apollo Global Management

John Finley, Blackstone Group

Colby Penzone, Fidelity Investments

12:30 p.m. Lunch Break



1:45 p.m. Globalization of Asset Management

Raquel Fox, Office of International Affairs, SEC

Alex D'Amico, McKinsey & Company

Dan Waters, Independent Director and Consultant

Paul Roye, Capital Group

Jason Vedder, Driehaus Capital Management

3:15 p.m. Break



3:30 p.m. Discussion of Committee: Agenda Items, Next Steps, Future Meeting Topics, and Subcommittees

4:30 p.m. Adjournment
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has offered Australian support to the Trump administration in its push to maximise pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear ambitions amid fears of growing conflict with the United States.

Mr Morrison said Australia would play "whatever constructive role we can" after US President Donald Trump called on other countries to "break away" from a deal struck with Iran four years ago to ease economic sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.

"Australia is very committed to nuclear non-proliferation and particularly when it can get to the position of being weaponised to the extent that it appears that they have been seeking to achieve," Mr Morrison said.

"So it's important that we counter that threat and we'll play whatever constructive role we can do to achieve that. From where we're sitting, my own view is I think the President has summed up where it sits for now quite well."
An ax was seized from the garage of Fotis Dulos Farmington home Tuesday when investigators arrested him on murder charges in connection with the death of his wife Jennifer Dulos, sources told the Hartford Courant Wednesday.

The sources said after the ax was seized it was sent to the state forensic lab for DNA analysis.

Dulos had apparently asked a friend to borrow the ax roughly a month before Jennifer Dulos went missing in May.

Sources familiar with the investigation told the Courant that Dulos asked the friend if he could borrow the ax to cut firewood in the backyard of his home.

Its unclear if the ax was in the home when state police previously searched it.

Sources told the Courant that the friend told detectives about loaning Dulos the ax during a police interview. It was unclear when that interview took place.

Fotis Dulos was arrested at his Farmington home Tuesday and charged with felony murder, murder and kidnapping.

The Courant reported that a detective found the ax in the garage and confiscated it as Dulos was being cuffed.

Norm Pattis, Dulos attorney, said he was at the home when police took the ax.

We had been hearing about it for weeks, he added.

Also charged Tuesday by state police were Dulos former girlfriend Michelle Troconis and Dulos friend and former attorney Kent Mawhinney. Troconis and Mawhinney were each charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

All three were arraigned in Stamford court Wednesday morning. They each failed to post bond.

Dulos and Troconis were previously charged with evidence tampering and hindering prosecution in connection with Jennifer Dulos disappearance. They have each pleaded not guilty to those charges.

In the arrest warrants released Tuesday after the arrests, it indicated that the chief state medical examiner said he believes Jennifer Dulos suffered non-survivable injuries in the garage of her New Canaan home on May 24.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo stepped in Monday to answer the question most asked when a bright shiny proposal is made to remake Penn Station, what about that hot mess on track level?

His plan to build a subterranean eight-track addition to the worlds busiest train station was a welcome announcement, especially if youre a commuter packed on an overcrowded train that is waiting for a track to open up.

But experts interviewed said the plan isnt the win for NJ Transit that it appears to be.

So far, the plan is the same as the Penn Station South addition proposed as part of the larger Gateway Project, to build an eight-track annex between 7th and 8th Avenues and 31st Street, estimated to serve 175,000 people daily.

The larger Gateway Project would build two new Hudson Rail Tunnels, a new Portal Bridge in Kearny, additional tracks on the New Jersey side and a Penn Station South addition. Amtrak and NJ Transit officials broke Gateway into phases, starting with new tunnels.

NJ Transit and Amtrak trains would likely be moved to the new addition because it would be too difficult for Long Island Rail Road trains to access it, Gateway officials said. LIRR trains approach from the East River tunnels and depart to the east. The addition would only have access from the west and the Hudson River Tunnels.

Plans also call for bringing some Metro North trains from west of the Hudson River into Penn Station.

My initial opinion is that this is a lousy solution, especially for NJT customers, said Joseph Clift, a former Long Island Rail Road Planning Director. For the governors plan to work, NJT trains must move off tracks 12 to 5 in the center of Penn making NJT passengers mega-losers on access, but winners on station appearance -- a very bad trade.

That track swap gives the best track real estate to the LIRR and Metro North, he said.

Besides putting NJ Transit trains in a dead-end station, rail access to the addition from the existing Hudson River Tunnels will be extremely limited until the Gateway tunnels are built, Clift said.

A good first step but it needs to be refined to address train flow + narrow existing platforms. #NYC #PennStation https://t.co/Dpc7D2GgeI  Ed Cho (@Continental1K) January 8, 2020

Building a Penn Station annex without the new tunnels will make it difficult for two-way NJ Transit train traffic, and will require two new tracks, Clift said. Most of the tracks in Penn Station are through tracks that allow trains to pull in, unload and leave without backing up.

Now, many NJ Transit trains unload, go east and are parked in the Sunnyside yard in Queens until the evening rush. The addition plan kills access to Sunnyside yard if NJ Transit trains have no access to tracks that allow them to travel east, Clift said.

The positive aspect is the addition ultimately gives NJ Transit access for rail lines that lack a one-seat ride to and from New York. The Raritan Valley and Bergen County lines now lack direct assess to New York. Building two new Hudson River rail tunnels as part of Gateway and the addition could provide capacity for them.

Gov. Phil Murphy name-checked added capacity in his support for the concept.

Governor Murphy is pleased with this announcement that the necessary investments to build a 21st century Penn Station will be made, said Matt Saidel, a Murphy spokesman. The thousands of New Jerseyans who commute in and out of Manhattan everyday stand to benefit enormously from the increased platform and track capacity that the station expansion will bring.

Experts criticized the plan for limiting the additions effectiveness.

Its not needed at all, said Jim Venturi, ReThink NYC principal, who favors reconfiguring Penn Station tracks for wider platforms and trains that run through between New Yorks suburbs and New Jersey.

The ReThink NYC 2050 plan would eliminate some of Penn Stations 21 tracks, replacing them with wider platforms and more escalators, stairs and elevators. It would increase capacity by having a unified bi-state commuter agency running trains through Penn instead of ending or starting trips there. That 2017 plan also criticized the Penn South plan for limiting usefulness of the dead-end tracks.

Citing increased development in New Yorks outer boroughs, including Amazons interest in Long Island City, Venturi called the Penn Station addition an out-of-date way of thinking that mid-town is the only core" of the New York metro region.

Its a different world, he said.

Another concern is financing. Cuomos said the project will proceed with or without federal aid, which could come through grants or low-interest loans for Gateway.

Im at a loss. The whole thing doesnt make sense to me, said Martin Robbins, director emeritus of the Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers. It seems it might be premature to toss (the) Gateway (project) aside.

He questioned New Yorks need for a Penn Station addition when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is building the East Side Access project that will bring Long Island Rail Road trains to Grand Central Terminal and take some out of Penn Station.

New Jersey has tremendous need for additional capacity at Penn Station, I dont know if New York has the same needs, said Robins, a former NJ Transit director.

The cost and construction timetable arent known. Another unknown factor is how much financial support New Jersey could be asked for. Cuomo said New York officials will negotiate with Amtrak, NJ Transit and other stakeholders.

Governor Murphy looks forward to working in partnership with Governor Cuomo and other stakeholders as this vitally important project advances, Saidel said about financing.

In his address, Cuomo said the plan wont be perfect and will have naysayers, however, doing nothing wont address the growing regions demand for more mass transit.

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
ST. PAUL  The University of Minnesota Beef Team will host its annual Cow/Calf Days tour and trade show at 10 locations across the state in January, including five in southern Minnesota. This event has been held for 47 years and continues to be a leading information, technology, and research outlet for cow/calf producers.

The tour and trade show will feature information about how to evaluate carcass characteristics in your herd, calf scours prevention, finding profit in the cow-calf sector, and management of calves before and after weaning. Updates from the Minnesota State Cattlemens Association and the Minnesota Beef Council will be included. The trade show will feature vendors with new information, technology and products.

The program is directed at cow-calf producers and allied industry representatives, but is open to the public. A meal will be served with the program and a registration fee of $10 will include the meal, proceedings book and program materials.

For more information, go to www.extension.umn.edu/beef.

The southern Minnesota stops will be:

ADVERTISEMENT

Jan. 27, at 5:30 p.m. at the Grand Event Center, 2025 Rowland Road, Mora.

Jan. 28, at 9:30 a.m., at the Jim Wulf Bull Development Center, 30819 250th St., Starbuck.

Jan. 29, at 9:30 a.m., at the MN West Community College, 1314 N. Hiawatha Ave., Pipestone.

Jan. 30, at 5:30 p.m., at the Tony Rossman farm, 7000 70th St. NW, Oronoco.

Jan. 31, at 9:30 a.m., at the 4-H Center, 320 S. Plut Ave., Le Center.
A Brazilian court has ordered Netflix, an American streaming service, to take down The First Temptation of Christ  its controversia...





A Brazilian court has ordered Netflix, an American streaming service, to take down The First Temptation of Christ  its controversial Christmas special depicting Jesus Christ as gay.





In his ruling, Benedicto Abicair, the judge, held that the movie failed to take into consideration the fact that the right to freedom of expression is not absolute.





He, however, stated that the temporary ban was to simmer the controversies the film has stirred among Christians until a final decision is made by a higher court.





Exhibiting the artistic production may cause graver and more irreparable damage than its suspension, the judge said in Rio de Janeiro.

The 45-minutes special, produced by Porta dos Fundos, a Brazil-based YouTube comedy group, has left several controversies in its trail, since it was released on Christmas eve.





Fabio Porchat, one of the main actors in the movie, had earlier stated that the movie was not meant to incite violence or discourage people from serving God  few days before their headquarters suffered a petrol bomb attack.





It doesnt incite violence, were not saying people shouldnt believe in God, he had said.





But the explanation did little to address the dusts generated by the movie, with many calling for its ban.





Johnson Suleman, general overseer of Omega Fire Ministries, had charged Christians to unsubscribe and delete their accounts on Netflix, while more than 2 million people have signed a petition, which calls for the special to be prohibited and pulled down from the streaming service.





This also comes few days after Jordan, a predominantly Muslim country, called for the ban on Messiah, an American thriller web television series, saying it could be largely perceived or interpreted as infringing on the sanctity of religion.




A confidential United Nations report rebutted claims from Yemens Iran-backed Houthi rebels that they were responsible for a missile attack on two Saudi oil facilities in September, Reuters reported Jan. 8. The report found that the missiles and drones used in the attack on Abqaiq and Khurais in northern Saudi Arabia did not have a sufficient range to have been launched from Yemeni territory under the control of the Houthis.

Why it matters: Although Tehran has officially denied any involvement in the attack, the UN report bolsters US and European claims that Iran launched the attacks. The report comes as tensions between Iran and the United States have reached a boiling point following President Donald Trumps assassination of Quds force commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani. While the majority of Democratic lawmakers  and even some Republicans  have pushed back against the Trump administrations claims that Soleimani was planning an imminent attack, none have disputed the White Houses claim that Iran was behind last years Saudi oil facility attacks.

The report could also lend further ammunition for the Trump administration to justify its maximum pressure campaign against Iran, which includes crippling sanctions and the recent deployment of nearly 80,000 US troops to the region.

Whats next: Trump stopped short of a military response to Irans retaliatory strikes on US forces stationed in Iraq this week, opting instead to increase sanctions on Tehran  though it remains unclear how much is left to sanction.

Know more: Read Iraq editor Ali Mamouris overview of the latest bout of violence  and the prospect for negotiations  between Iran and the United States.
Apache Corp. is closing its San Antonio office and eliminating more than 270 jobs as part of a reorganization designed to cut costs.

The Houston-based company confirmed Thursday it is reducing its global workforce by up to 15 percent  roughly 500 jobs  as part of a broader restructuring that was announced late last year. The job cuts include those eliminated through attrition, and at least some of the San Antonio jobs will transfer to Houston or other field offices, an Apache spokesman said.

"Apache has already centralized key activities and seen positive results and is looking to take further steps in that direction," Apache spokesman Phil West said. "Staff reductions are always difficult, and we are working to support those employees who will be affected."

ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Occidental starting widespread layoffs in Houston and beyond

The oil and gas producer had a difficult 2019 as its stock value plunged more than 50 percent from fall 2018 through a recent December low. But Apache's stock has taken a big turn up this week with the discovery of oil off the coast of Suriname in South America.

Apache said the San Antonio closing and the 272 job cuts will be finalized in early March, according to a letter filed with the Texas Workforce Commission.

The closing of the San Antonio office is part of the reorganization plan to save an extra $150 million per year. In addition, Apache aims to slash 2020 capital spending by up to 20 percent  a cutback of $250 million to $500 million. Apache most recently reported a larger-than-expected $170 million loss for the third quarter.

NEW FIND: Apache stock soars on Suriname discovery

While Apache has a notable presence in South Texas' Eagle Ford shale closer to San Antonio, the Houston producer has increasingly leaned on growth in West Texas' booming Permian Basin.

Apache could theoretically manage its Eagle Ford operations from Houston or even its West Texas hub.
Mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) on Thursday said it has completed the purchase of a majority stake in Apollo Munich Health Insurance for Rs 1,495.81 crore. The company has acquired 51.16 per cent equity share capital of Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company after receiving all requisite approvals from competition commission of India (CCI), Reserve Bank of India and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) by January 1.

HDFC purchased 50.80 per cent stake of Apollo Hospitals Group in Apollo Munich for Rs 1,485.14 crore and 0.36 per cent shareholding of employees for Rs 10.67 crore.

Earlier on January 2, HDFC had said in an exchange filing that the company and its subsidiary HDFC ERGO had received all requisite approvals to acquire 51.2 per cent stake in Apollo Munich Health Insurance.

"Subsequent to this approval (regulatory), Apollo Munich Health Insurance Co Ltd has been renamed as HDFC ERGO Health Insurance Ltd (HDFC ERGO Health) and will operate as a subsidiary of HDFC Ltd," HDFC said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company is a 51:49 joint venture between the HDFC and ERGO International AG, the insurance arm of the Germany-based Munich Re Group.

The company said that HDFC ERGO Health and HDFC ERGO General will soon apply to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking approval for the merger of HDFC ERGO Health with HDFC ERGO General. "Post?merger, the resultant entity will be the second largest private insurer in accident and health segment in the country".

The company said that Anuj Tyagi, Executive Director and Chief Business Officer at HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company (HDFC ERGO General), has been appointed as the new Managing Director and CEO of HDFC ERGO Health, subject to approval from the IRDAI.

Commenting on the development, Anuj Tyagi, MD and CEO, HDFC ERGO Health Insurance, said, "This is a momentous milestone for us. We would like to assure the policyholders and channel partners of Apollo Munich of continuity, highest standards of customer service experience and access to a wider range of products and a network of 10,000+ cashless hospitals."

Speaking on this occasion, Deepak Parekh, Chairman of HDFC, said, "We welcome the policyholders, channel partners and employees of Apollo Munich to the HDFC Family."

"We are committed to create value for all our stakeholders with the combined strength of the Brand HDFC and expertise of Apollo Munich in health insurance," Parekh added.

Ahead of the announcement, shares of HDFC closed Thursday's trade at Rs 2457.10, up 2.12 per cent, on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

By Chitranjan Kumar

Also Read: HDFC gets Irdai nod to acquire majority stake in Apollo Munich Health Insurance

Also Read: HDFC Bank hits fresh lifetime high, crosses $100 billion in market cap
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 20:37:46|Editor: xuxin

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COLOMBO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka has over 2,500 acres of land ready for investment in tourism, local media reports, quoting State Minister of Tourism Promotion, Arundika Fernando said here Thursday.

Minister Fernando said land with clear title was available for both local and foreign investors to lease for a period of 30 years, adding that cabinet approval could be sought for longer lease periods according to state-owned Daily News.

"A proper project proposal should be present when requesting for land, and eco-friendly and environmental and practices should be maintained," the state minister said.

Lands are available in the north-western town of Kalpitiya, the southern town of Dedduwa, and the north-eastern town of Kuchavelli as well as other areas.

Fernando noted that the government would continue to develop transport infrastructure, including domestic airport and railways stations, in order to provide better facilities for tourists.

New domestic flight routes would link popular tourists destinations in the northern, southern and eastern parts of the island, while apps would be developed to streamline railway booking systems.

Sri Lanka attracted 1.9 million tourists in 2019.
BOSTON  A New York man who pleaded guilty to beating a woman unconscious and bloody while on a cruise ship off the coast of the state was sentenced to two months in prison Wednesday.

Adam Damian Panetta, 45, of Farmingville, New York, pleaded guilty in September to one count of assault resulting in substantial bodily injury. He was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin on Wednesday to two months in prison, two years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, said Christina DiLorio-Sterling, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling.

Panetta was a passenger on the Norwegian Cruise Lines Gem in April when he pulled a woman down the full length of a hallway by her hair. He then punched her twice in the head after she slapped him with her open hand, she said.

After the assault, which was caught on surveillance video, the woman collapsed on the floor and was unconscious for several minutes. Eventually, as she crawled into the room, Panetta kicked her twice, DiLorio-Sterling said.

A short time later the woman was treated at the ships medical center which included swelling on her head and a laceration that required stitches, she said.

At the time of the assault, the ship was about 200 miles off the coast of Massachusetts. Panetta was arrested when the ship docked in Boston, DiLorio-Sterling said.
This year will be a big one for Sony, as it will officially reveal and then release the PlayStation 5. But Sony Interactive president and CEO Jim Ryan promised that it will have some surprises in store, as its biggest differences havent been announced yet.

Ryan recently spoke to Business Insider Japan a little further on what to expect but stopped short of giving anything away.

Each time a new console is released, the processor and graphics improve, he explained when it came to the evolving nature of game systems. Those are enticing, of course, but we need to have special appeals as well. We have already confirmed the use of a solid-state drive. Having load times that are next to nothing is a major change.

He then delved into a couple of other features revealed during the companys CES presentation earlier this week. 3D audio and the haptic feedback support of the controller are also things that, when you try them, you will be surprised at how big a change they are. Even just playing the racing game Gran Turismo Sport with a PlayStation 5 controller is a completely different experience. While it runs well with the previous controller, there is no going back after you experience the detailed road surface via haptic control and play using the adaptive triggers.

And then he hinted at whats to come. But you know. There are still more unique elements for PlayStation 5 to come that separate it from previous consoles. The bigger differences have yet to be announced.

But dont worry, PlayStation 4 owners. You wont be left behind so quickly. Ryan added, During the migration from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5, there will still be a great deal of PlayStation 4 users. That is very important and we have an obligation to those users. In the same way, we need to work out new appeals for PlayStation 5. This year will be a tough, but special year for us compared to previous console releases.

The PlayStation 5 is set to release sometime this holiday, though a specific date isnt available just yet.
First national US observatory to be named after a woman!

It was announced today that the upcoming Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), which will conduct a vast astronomical survey for unprecedented discovery of the deep and dynamic Universe, will now be named the NSF (National Science Foundation) Vera C. Rubin Observatory (Rubin Observatory or VRO). The announcement was made today by Ralph Gaume, Director of the NSF Division of Astronomical Sciences; Kathy Turner, DOE (Department of Energy) Office of High Energy Physics program manager; and Steve Kahn, LSST Director during the LSST Open House at the 235th American Astronomical Society meeting in Honolulu, Hawai'i, USA. The construction and operations of the Rubin Observatory and the DOE LSST Camera is a U.S. federal partnership of the NSF and DOE, with private and international contributors. This initiative was started on June 11, 2019, by Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson and Congresswoman Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon and enacted into law on December 20, 2019.

"Named after an astronomer who provided important evidence of the existence of dark matter, the NSF Vera C. Rubin Observatory seems destined to make science history with its extraordinary capabilities that will come to bear in the next few years," said France Cordova, director of NSF. "Congress has helped make this inspiring commemoration a reality. The Rubin Observatory is expected to significantly advance what we know about dark matter and dark energy, so the Rubin name will have yet another way to inspire women and men eager to investigate."

"It is fitting for this major new observatory, which includes the study of dark matter and dark energy as one of the major research topics, to be named for a pioneering astronomer whose observations were so critical to our understanding of this area," said Paul Dabbar, Under Secretary for Science of the DOE. The 3200 megapixel camera is DOE's primary contribution to LSST. "Dr. Rubin's life and singular achievements as a scientist remain a model for all those seeking to satisfy humanity's unceasing curiosity about our Universe."

In partnership with the U.S., Chile provides important support to the Rubin Observatory and other astronomical observatories. The Rubin Observatory features facilities currently under construction in Chile with headquarters in Tucson, AZ, USA. It consists of an integrated system featuring a wide field ground-based telescope with an 8.4-meter mirror.

During 10 years of operations starting late 2022, the Rubin Observatory together with the 3200 megapixel DOE LSST Camera and the data facility will carry out an unprecedented optical survey of the visible sky named the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). The survey's design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the solar system, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way.

Rubin Observatory Director Steve Kahn said, "We are deeply honored to have our observatory named after Vera Rubin. Through her discovery of dark matter, Vera made one of the most important contributions to science in the past century, not only for astronomy, but also for fundamental physics. When construction is completed in 2022, the Rubin Observatory and the LSST Camera will help build on her pioneering work to dramatically improve our understanding of the Universe on many different scales."

Vera Rubin's career spanned several areas in observational astronomy but she is most recognized for uncovering the discrepancy between the observed and predicted motions of matter in galaxies. This discrepancy is interpreted as evidence for dark matter, which exerts gravitational force but does not emit light as ordinary matter does. "We are proud that this next-generation observatory will be named in recognition of Vera's contributions 50 years after she published her landmark work," said Carnegie Institution for Science President Eric D. Isaacs. Her work was confirmed using numerous observational techniques and it had a major impact on cosmology.

Rubin Observatory Deputy Director Zeljko Ivezic commented, "Starting with this survey, the Rubin Observatory and LSST Camera will shed new light on the distribution of dark matter in our galaxy, the Milky Way, as well as throughout the Universe, and thus will significantly contribute to Vera's scientific legacy."

Although Vera Rubin received many scientific honors, such as the National Medal of Science award and she was voted into the National Academy of Sciences, she experienced gender-based resistance in her career. "We are pleased that LSST has now been named the Vera C. Rubin Observatory," said Allan Rubin, David Rubin, and Karl Rubin. "We believe that this is a great way to honor our mother's achievements in astronomy and her work for equal rights for women in science." Vera Rubin was an outspoken advocate for women in the sciences; she was recognized for paving the way for other women in astronomy, and for achieving remarkable success while facing challenges that her male colleagues did not have to overcome. Both as a scientist and a as woman, she improved the field for those who came after.

"Vera Rubin's research transformed our understanding of galaxies by observationally showing that they grow up inside dark matter halos. Not only did her work set the basis for my own research, speaking with her at my first big astronomy conference empowered my confidence that women could succeed in the field. Naming the observatory in her honor is a fitting tribute, an important statement about visibility and inclusivity in astronomy, and makes me proud to be involved in such an extraordinary project," said Amanda Bauer, Interim Deputy Director of Operations at the Rubin Observatory.

"It is exciting that this wonderful observing system will be named after Vera Rubin. Dr. Rubin was a strong advocate of public facilities for science as a means to ensure the best ideas got to see the light of day (or night). Much of her astronomy research was accomplished on NSF funded, national facilities open to all astronomers, so having her name on this new NSF facility is appropriate and a great way to honor her work and impact on our field," said Robert Blum, Acting Director of Operations at the Rubin Observatory.

In addition, the telescope at the Rubin Observatory has been named the Simonyi Survey Telescope in recognition of a significant private donation made early in the construction phase that was utilized to design, develop, and fabricate the telescope's primary mirror.

###

Contacts

PIO Contact:

Ranpal Gill

AURA/LSST

+1 520 309 6195

rgill@lsst.org

Science Contact:

Zeljko Ivezic

University of Washington

+1 206 403 6132

ivezic@uw.edu

This Federal project is jointly funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, with early construction funding received through private donations through the LSST Corporation. The NSF-funded LSST Project Office for construction was established as an operating center under management of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). The DOE-funded effort to build the LSST camera is managed by the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC).

NSF and DOE will continue to support the Rubin Observatory in its Operations phase to carry out the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. They will also provide support for scientific research with the data. During operations NSF funding is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF and DOE funding is managed by SLAC under contract by DOE. The Rubin Observatory and DOE LSST Camera are operated by NSF's Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory and SLAC.

Rubin Observatory Promotional Video: https:/ / www. youtube. com/ watch?v= m9UzJ29bNII

This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The new health care practice of "hotspotting" -- in which providers identify very high-cost patients and attempt to reduce their medical spending while improving care -- has virtually no impact on patient outcomes, according to a new study led by MIT economists.

The finding underscores the challenge of reducing spending on "superutilizers" of health care, the roughly 5 percent of patients in the U.S. who account for half the nation's health care costs. The concept of hotspotting, a little more than a decade old, consists of programs that give at-risk patients sustained contact with doctors, other caregivers, and social service providers, in an attempt to prevent rehospitalizations and other intensive, expensive forms of care.

The MIT study was developed in cooperation with the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, which runs one of the nation's best-known hotspotting programs. The researchers conducted a four-year analysis of the program and found that being enrolled in it makes no significant difference to patients' health care use.

"This intervention had no impact in reducing hospital readmissions," says Amy Finkelstein, an MIT health care economist who led the study.

Significantly, the new study was a randomized, controlled trial, in which two otherwise similar groups of patients in Camden were separated by one large factor: Some were randomly selected to be part of the hotspotting program, and an equal number of randomly selected patients were not. The two groups generated virtually the same results over time.

"The reason it was so important we did a randomized, controlled trial," Finkelstein says, "is that if you just look at the individuals in the intervention group, it would look like the program caused a huge reduction in readmissions. But when you look at the individuals in the control group -- who were eligible for the program but were not randomly selected to get it -- you see the exact same pattern."

The paper, "Health Care Hotspotting -- A Randomized, Controlled Trial" is being published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The co-authors are Finkelstein, the John and Jennie S. MacDonald Professor Economics at MIT, who is the paper's corresponding author; Joseph Doyle, an economist who is the Erwin H. Schell Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management; Sarah Taubman, a research scientist at J-PAL North America, part of MIT's Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab; and Annetta Zhou, a postdoc at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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Camden Coalition "fabulous partners" in seeking answers

To conduct the study, the MIT-led research team evaluated 800 patients enrolled in the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers program from 2014 to 2017. The patients in the study had been hospitalized at least once in the six months prior to admission and had at least two chronic medical conditions, among other health care issues. The study was constructed after extensive consultation with the coalition.

"They were fabulous partners," Finkelstein says about the coalition. "Because they're so data-driven, they had the data infrastructure in place, which made this possible."

Finkelstein particularly cites the founder of the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, Jeffrey Brenner, who served as executive director of the organization from 2006 through 2017, and whose development of "hotspotting" concepts has received substantial public attention. In Camden, where 2 percent of patients represent 33 percent of medical expenses, preventing the need for acute care is a pressing concern.

"Dr. Brenner is a really extraordinary person, and he's trying to solve a very hard problem," Finkelstein says, crediting Brenner for actively seeking data about his organization's results without knowing what those outcome would be.

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Half of the study's 800 patients were placed in a group that used the program's services, and half were in a control group that did not take part in the program. The Camden hotspotting program includes extensive home care visits, coordinated follow-up care, and medical monitoring -- all designed to help stabilize the health of patients after hospitalization. It also helps patients apply for social services and behavioral health programs.

Overall, the study found that the 180-day hospital readmission rate was 62.3 percent for people in the program and 61.7 percent for people not in the program.

Additional measurements in the study -- such as the number of hospital readmissions for patients, aggregate number of days spent in the hospital, and multiple financial statistics -- also showed very similar outcomes between the two groups.

The study shows that while the overall number of people in hotspotting programs who need rehospitalization declines over the course of the program, it does not decline by a larger amount than it would if those people were outside the program's reach.

In short, people in hotspotting programs require fewer rehospitalizations because any group of patients currently using a lot of health care resources will tend to have lower health care use in the future. Previous reports about hotspotting programs had focused on the roughly 40 percent decline in six-month hospital readmissions -- while not comparing that to the rate for comparable patient groups outside such programs.

"If you think about health care interventions, almost by definition they're occurring at a time of unusually poor health or unusually high cost," Finkelstein says. "That's why you're intervening. So they're almost by construction going to be plagued by the issue of regression to[ward] the mean. I think that's a really important lesson as we continue to try to figure out how to improve health care delivery, especially as so much of the work focuses on these high-cost patients."

"We're not going to give up"

To be sure, as Finkelstein notes, the new study is a local one, and hotspotting programs exist in many locations. It also examines the four-year results of the program, which underwent some evolution during the study period; if the program had made a breakthrough change in, say, 2016, that would only partially be reflected in the four-year data. As it happens, however, the study found no such large changes over time.

Brenner's perspective about studying the effectiveness of his own initiative, Finkelstein says, was that, by analogy, "if you have a new medication to try to cure cancer, and you run a clinical trial on it and it doesn't work, you don't just say, 'I guess that's it, we're stuck with cancer.' You keep trying other things. ... We're not going to give up on improving the efficiency of health care delivery and the well-being of this incredibly under-served population. We need to continue to develop potential solutions and rigorously evaluate them."

Finkelstein also notes that the current study is just one piece of research in the complicated area of improving health care and reducing costs for people in need of extensive treatment, and says she welcomes additional research in this area.

"I hope it inspires more research and that more organizations will partner with us to study [these issues]," Finkelstein says.

Finkelstein also serves as the scientific director of J-PAL North America at MIT, which backs randomized controlled trials on a variety of social issues.

The data for the study came from the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers; Camden's four hospitals; and the state of New Jersey.

The research was supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health; the Health Care Delivery Initiative of J-PAL North America; and the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Government and industry officials are still on high alert for bruising cyberattacks from Iran even though President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders stepped back from the brink of a broader military conflict.

Even as the nations ratcheted back threats of physical attacks, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security sent a memo to law enforcement obtained by CNN warning of digital and physical attacks that could "sabotage . . . public or private infrastructure, including US military bases, oil and gas facilities, and public landmarks." Cybersecurity companies continued to sound alarms about far more serious hacks that might still be coming.

Meanwhile, pro-Iranian hackers launched a series of digital strikes throughout the day, including defacing city websites and spreading misinformation through hacked Twitter accounts. It's not clear if any of those attacks were backed by Iranian leaders.

The continuing threat underscores the pernicious nature of cyberattacks, which can pack a punch but not rise to the level of forcing a military or diplomatic retaliation. It also demonstrates the supreme value for Iran of attacking in cyberspace where it has an asymmetric advantage against the much-more digitally dependent United States.

This makes it an especially appealing option as conventional military confrontation becomes less likely, said Jamil Jaffer, a former top George W. Bush White House official who is vice president at IronNet Cybersecurity.

"Of all the areas where we might face a threat, cyber remains highest, particularly in sectors they've historically targeted," he told me.

After a classified briefing from the Department of Homeland Security on Iranian cyberthreats, Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan said he remained "very concerned about possible retaliatory cyberattacks on the U.S." The top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee warned that "a major incident could severely disrupt our energy, financial and telecommunications networks."

DHS's top cybersecurity official Chris Krebs warned in a New York Times interview that Iran may remain eager to launch destructive cyberattacks against U.S. companies that cause serious or even permanent damage.

"You need to get in the head space that the next breach could be your last," he said.

Reps. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., and Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., who serve on the House Financial Services Committee, also sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission and eight other federal financial regulators urging them to strengthen protections against Iranian hacks.

All this happened despite President Donald Trump's declaration he was "ready to embrace peace with all who seek it." He earlier urged a new slate of sanctions against Iran and officials determined an Iranian missile strike against U.S. targets in Iraq appeared calibrated to cause minimal damage and avoid U.S. retaliation.

However, Iran is probably less likely now to launch an attack that destroys vital computer systems out of fear it will ratchet up the conflict again, said Jaffer, who also is executive director of George Mason University Law School's National Security Institute. But hackers there may launch attacks that shut down access to U.S. banks and other financial institutions as they did in 2012, he said.

"After yesterday, I think the threat of an attack is still high, but a destructive attack is less likely," he said. "They want to be seen as responding but not the kind of response that will elicit a punch back in the nose."

Iranian hackers may also ramp up efforts to gain a foothold inside the computer networks of U.S. companies and government agencies so they're prepared to do more damage if and when the conflict heats up again, Corey Thomas, CEO of the cybersecurity company Rapid7, told me.

"Don't think anyone's going to pack up their bags and go home. This will embolden the Iranians to build arsenals for the future," he said.
"So should we stay or should we go?"

Fatigued and frustrated, people in the East Gippsland towns who saw fires rip through their communities a week ago are again having to decide whether they should fight or flee.

Nowa Nowa residents at a community meeting on Thursday. Credit:Joe Armao

High temperatures and north-westerly winds are set to create conditions for out-of-control blazes in the region on Friday and authorities have told residents not to assume they are safe just because they were burnt through last week.

In towns such as Sarsfield, Clifton Creek, Nowa Nowa and Buchan South, which were some of the first places to be devastated by the Victorian fires, some have only just returned to their homes.
Putin, Erdogan urge restraint, de-escalation of Iran-US tensions

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 08 January 2020 6:24 PM

Russia and Turkey have called for restraint and de-escalation of tensions between Iran and the United States following the assassination of a senior Iranian military commander in Iraq by US army terrorists.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the appeal in a joint statement following a meeting in the Turkish port city of Istanbul on Wednesday.

"We believe that exchange of attacks and use of force by any party do not contribute to finding solutions to the complex problems in the Middle East," the statement read.

"We express our commitment to de-escalate the existing tensions in the region and call on all parties to act with restraint as well as commonsense and to prioritize diplomacy."

The Pentagon confirmed on Wednesday that Iran had fired dozens of missiles at two military bases hosting US troops in Iraq. The missiles were fired at the Ain al-Asad base in Anbar province and a base in Erbil.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says none of its missiles were intercepted during the heavy strike that was carried out to avenge the cowardly operation by US terrorists that assassinated Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC.

Iran had vowed that it would take a harsh revenge on the US over the vicious strike that also assassinated Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a senior commander of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) of Iraq, the force that has been at the forefront of the fight against terrorism in Iraq over the past years. Eight other military officials who accompanied the two heroes were also martyred in the strike.

Iranian officials have advised US commanders against embarking on any new military action, warning that a more crushing response will be awaiting them. They have been urging US forces to swiftly leave the region.

In a live televised speech on Wednesday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei highlighted the need for the US military presence  the source of all corruption in the region  to come to an end.

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President Trump's real estate company is telling potential buyers they have two more weeks to get in their bids to take over the lease of his Washington, D.C., Trump hotel.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday on the deadline, writing that the Trump Organization had hoped to get more than $500 million for the rights to lease the property, a historic post office that has become more than 260 hotel rooms and a lanfmark atrium where power brokers gather daily.

Potential buyers have balked at spending $2 million per hotel room, which isn't uncommon in New York City but would be a new record for the nation's capital.

The Journal reported that real estate brokers are indicating the Trumps may be willing to part with their hotel for less.

No one has reported that the Trumps have received any bids to date, or published a definite asking price.

President Trump's real estate company is giving potential buyers two more weeks to submit bids to buy the lease of his D.C. hotel property

The Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., features a spacious lobby and bar area, where allies of the president are often spotted hanging out

The Trump family cut a large ribbon at the official opening of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., in October 2016, just weeks before President Trump won the election

Another view of the lobby of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., which is located just blocks away from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.

Eric Trump (left) and Donald Trump Jr. (right) took over the Trump Organization business when President Trump was elected president in November 2016

President Trump (center right) is shown during the 2014 groundbreaking of the D.C. property standing alongside sons Eric Trump (left) and Donald Trump Jr. (center left) and daughter Ivanka Trump (right), who became a top White House adviser

President Trump has been scrutinized for keeping the D.C. hotel. House Democrats are investigating the property's lease with the federal government, while there's a court case that claims Trump is violating the Constitution's emoluments clause

The president's Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C. is an unusal property because his company doesn't own the building.

One potential bidder who's emerged is D.C. real estate developer Brian Friedman (pictured), who could partner with a company like Hilton to turn the Trump hotel into a Waldorf Astoria

Instead he leased the Old Post Office building from the federal government and, with extensions, that lease could carry on for nearly 100 years.

The Trump Organization put in approximately $210 million to renovate the property into a hotel, hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony just weeks before Trump won the 2016 presidential election.

He brought up the project while campaigning, saying he would be in D.C. no matter what. He even let reporters traipse through the hotel's ballroom while it was being constructed after a press conference in May 2016.

The building had a number of uses over the years, including - more recently - as a food court.

The National Park Service continues to run a museum on the property, where visitors can ascend the clock tower.

Critics of the president have complained since Trump was sworn in that the property created a conflict.

For one, the General Services Administration's lease says that no elected federal or D.C. official can benefit from the hotel.

The GSA, under the Trump administration, has ignored subpoenas from the Democrat-led House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure requesting information on how the agency deems it appropriate that the Trumps remain holding the lease.

The Trump initially hoped to get around $2 million per roon for the lease of the grand hotel just blocks from the White House

There are 263 rooms in President Trump's Washington hotel, which is frequented by allies and friends of the president

There's also an emoluments clause case that's winding through the courts over whether President Trump is violating the Constitution when the hotel is patronized by foreign governments.

The Trumps are giving that money back to the U.S. government, they say.

'People are objecting to us making so much money on the hotel, and therefore we may be willing to sell,' Eric Trump said in a statement in October, previewing the sale.

The Wall Street Journal said a number of major hotel brands are looking at the property including Marriott and Hilton.

Hilton lost a bid to win the hotel property's lease to the Trumps in 2011.

Those brands would likely partner up with a buyer to get the property.

One such buyer is D.C. real estate investor and developer Brian Friedman, who told The Washington Post last week that he planned to bid on the lease.

He said he wanted to partner with Hilton to turn the hotel into a Waldorf Astoria.

He also mentioned partnering with Rosewood, the Hong-Kong based chain that already has one Washington property, in its Georgetown neighborhood.
Thanks to her emergency satellite device, a Swiss tourist had a lucky escape after breaking her leg when she fell down a gorge at a remote WA national park.

The woman was found by police and local rangers thanks to her Personal Locator Beacon. Credit:WA Police

The Rescue Coordination Centre in Canberra received a notification from a Personal Locator Beacon about 6pm in the vicinity of Kalamina gorge in the Karijini National Park and quickly informed WA police about the distress call.

Officers from the Tom Price Police station and other rescuers rushed out to the location and found a woman about 600 metres down in a gorge lying on the edge of a pool.

An initial assessment established she had a broken leg and together with local rangers police rescued the woman from her dire situation.
The satirists at Porta dos Fundos faced backlash for their recent Netflix Christmas special titled The First Temptation of Christ. The film depicts Jesus returning home from fasting in the desert with his new friend, who, though its never confirmed, is implied to be homosexual. The writers knew they were dealing with a controversial topic but pressed on once the courts ruled against censorship. On Wednesday, Rio de Janeiro judge Benedicto Abicair demanded that Netflix remove the film, per the AP, for the honor of millions of Catholics, despite this clearance. A petition for the films removal garnered a whopping 1.8 million signatures as Brazilian members of the Catholic Church were appalled at Christ being associated with homosexuality.

We strongly support artistic expression and well be fighting to defend this important principle, which goes to the heart of great storytelling, Netflix told THR in a statement. The streamer appealed to Brazils Supreme Court Thursday in an effort to fight the injunction against their showing the special.

A group of hooded extremists took particular issue with Porta dos Fundos actions and pelted the comedy troupes office with molotov cocktails on Christmas Eve, sending a violent message that there is no place for blasphemy in a country with more than three quarters of the population identifying as Roman Catholic. Fortunately, no one was injured, but at least one suspect remains at large.

Lead actor Fabio Porchat spoke with Variety about the controversy, expressing surprise at the backlash from insinuated homosexuality, as neither characters sexuality is ever confirmed.

The public has always protested media outlets for offensive depictions that are egregious to some. The people have a voice, and the right to use that voice to object to obstruction of their personal freedoms. Objectively, The First Temptation of Christ did not depict any violations of human rights and, technically, did not commit to the blasphemy that enraged the public. Such a violent reaction to an incomplete depiction of homosexuality seems disproportionate in the States, but in more religious countries, artists face a much more complex task when pushing boundaries and challenging traditional ideals.

Brazilian artists and lawmakers have the final say as to whether The First Temptation of Christ is vehemently offensive in their cultural setting, but it is crucial that we pay attention to censorship in the arts and how it shapes representation.

You can watch the 46-minute Netflix special that sparked violent controversy here and interpret it however you like.
Learning a foreign language should be compulsory for GCSE students, according to a report that warns the UK is falling behind its European neighbours in language ability.

Scrapping the subject at GCSE level  a decision made by Tony Blairs Labour government  led to a severe drop-off in the numbers taking languages such as French and German, a new study by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) says.

Fewer than half of pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland now take a GCSE foreign language, it argues, compared to three in four in 2002.

The study also notes that the UKs young people are miles behind their European peers in foreign languages, with just a third able to speak more than just their mother tongue.

And it warns that post-Brexit, language skills cannot be ignored, and the UK cannot rely on the assumption that the rest of the world speaks English.

The study says there has been a huge drop in demand for language learning in recent years.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the scrapping of the compulsory foreign language GCSE in 2004 has had a detrimental effect on national uptake levels, the paper says.

This measure failed to anticipate the vast drop in uptake.

Given fewer than half of pupils now take a GCSE foreign language, compared to 76% in 2002, we are far behind the rest of Europe, and changes in governmental attitudes and policy are pressing.

The author calculates that at GCSE, entries for French have dropped by 63% since 2002, while German entries have fallen 67%.

There has been a rise in the numbers taking Spanish over this period, overtaking German in 2012, and last year there was an overall rise in the numbers taking modern foreign languages.

The report also says that entries for French and German A-level have been falling since the mid-1990s, and there has been a fall in recent years in the numbers applying to study certain languages at university.

Story continues

The falls are having an impact on the languages pipeline, the report suggests, affecting the numbers of language graduates and trained teachers.

This, along with reductions in EU school staff, will threaten languages in schools, it says.

The study concludes: The assumption that the rest of the world speaks English hinders new international collaborations and overlooks cultural and cognitive enhancement developed by learning.

Political developments mean change is more pressing. If the UK is to thrive outside the EU, language skills cannot be ignored  the UK must address educational declines and capitalise on untapped reservoirs of linguistic capacity.

It is crucial that ancient and modern languages receive support in schools and higher education.

The report puts forward a series of recommendations, including calling for foreign language study to be compulsory at GCSE level, with youngsters encouraged, but not obliged to take an accredited GCSE or alternative qualification.

Report author Megan Bowler, a third-year Classics undergraduate at the University of Oxford, said: It was a big mistake to scrap compulsory foreign languages at GCSE.

Rather than continuing to present languages as not suitable for everyone, we need to include a broader range of pupils learning through a variety of qualifications geared to different needs.

Nick Hillman, HEPI director said: The decision to limit language learning in schools by making GCSE languages voluntary is probably the single most damaging education policy implemented in England so far this century.

The UK is bottom of the pile for the number of young people familiar with another language, and miles behind every EU country.

A Department for Education spokesman said: We are committed to ensuring more pupils are studying languages, which is why it is compulsory for all children between years three and nine.

The introduction of the EBacc halted the decline in languages and since 2010 the proportion of pupils studying a language at GCSE has risen from 40% to 47% in 2019.

We are also taking a range of steps to make sure that the uptake of languages continues to increase, such as creating a new network of schools and funding programmes like our Mandarin Excellence Programme.
Since Thursday midnight, Russian-led forces have been observing the ceasefire.

Russia's hybrid military forces on January 8 mounted five attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, with three Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action.

"The armed forces of the Russian Federation and its mercenaries violated the ceasefire five times on January 8. Three Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in enemy shelling," the press center of the Joint Forces Operation Headquarters said on Facebook in a morning update on January 9.

Read alsoMinister Prystaiko: Expedient to hold elections in Donbas simultaneously with rest of Ukraine

The enemy engaged Ukrainian troops with proscribed 122mm artillery systems, 120mm mortars, grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns, and rifles.

Under attack came Ukrainian positions near the villages of Lebedynske, Khutir Vilny, Novo-Oleksandrivka, and Novoluhanske.

Since Thursday midnight, Russian-led forces have been observing the ceasefire.


remaining of

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One of the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease is memory loss. The disease causes a decline in memory retention and the reasoning abilities of a person. There are numerous articles found on the internet and other academic papers that discuss the different symptoms of the disease.

It had always been a challenge for medical practitioners to diagnose Alzheimer's disease during its early stages. The disease is not normally diagnosed in its early stages because those who go to their doctors saying that they are having problems with memory retention underreport the symptoms they experience.

This is one of the many reasons why the disease is still not diagnosable with a single and specific examination regardless of years' worth of research by multiple medical professionals.

An uncomplicated eye exam is about to undergo a trial for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease. The trial will be primarily facilitated by three institutions namely BayCare Health System, Butler Hospital in Providence, the University of Rhode Island, and fifteen other medical institutions in Florida.

The type of eye test to be used in the trial is called a retinal screening examination. If proven to be of success, this test may be used by multiple eye doctors in the country. This is a cheaper alternative to PET scans. It can detect the accumulation of amyloid plaque in a person's brain. This incident is closely related to the disease before its known symptoms become noticeable. This is an expensive examination and is often not covered by insurance policies.

According to the Vice President of URI, Peter Snyder, after the research, they plan to make the findings available to every medical practitioner. The retinal biomarkers can be spotted through the technology and it is strongly believed to have strong associations with Alzheimer's disease. If doctors see changes, they can suggest to their patients to visit a specialist. Snyder and his co-researchers believe that their study can help lower a patient's cost in testing for the disease. He also shared that there is a possibility of discovering a way to help people diagnose the disease in its most early stage. This will lead to an increased ratio on the drug therapies' effectiveness. This will also allow medical professionals to successfully slow down the progression of the disease.

The research team is eyeing 330 participants to the study age 55 to 80. The participants range from extremely healthy adults and adults with low risks to those with memory retention issues. Those with a mild-version of Alzheimer's disease will also be asked to participate in the study.

The subjects of the study will be observed for 3 years at 4 different periods. The study will comprise of an eye examination, discussion of the medical history of each subject, other examinations to determine the ability of each subject to retain new information. The retinal imaging tool that the study will employ is similar to eye exams performed by most eye doctors. It will also determine the levels of moods of the subject, their balance, sleeping habits, and other medical-related information.

The retinal screening research is proof that Rhode Island is becoming a leading center for the research of Alzheimer's disease.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) and Chairwoman of the Lao National Assembly Pany Yathotou (Photo: VNA)

The PMs of the two countries also always create favourable conditions for Vietnamese and Lao students in the other country, he said, suggesting that the two legislatures should provide all possible support for joint projects in line with laws, as well as the effective implementation of high-level agreements between the two governments.

Vietnam hopes that Laos will further improve its business environment, the Government leader said and thanked Laos for working closely with Vietnam when it assumes the role of the ASEAN Chair 2020, the Chair of the 41st General Assembly of ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA 41), and a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020  2021 tenure.

The host said Vietnam will also assist Laos in hosting important sub-regional mechanisms such as the Cambodia  Laos  Vietnam Development Triangle Area, the Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam Summit, and the Ayeyawady - Chao Phraya - Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy in 2020 for the benefit of the two countries and the region.

Yathotou, for her part, wished that Vietnamese firms would enhance investment in Laos.

Laos is ready to help Vietnam fulfill its role as the ASEAN Chair and the Chair of AIPA 41, she said.

As 80 percent of the Lao NA House construction has been completed, she wished that the Vietnamese Government would ask contractor and units concerned to step up the work and ensure its quality and safety.

She wished that the Vietnamese Party, Government, NA and people would successfully realise the resolution adopted by the 12th National Party Congress, hold party congresses at all levels this year, towards the 13th National Party Congress in 2021.
Colombia's President Ivan Duque on Wednesday called on the United Nations to prolong its peace verification mission in the South American country until 2022. The mission is tasked with monitoring compliance with the fragile 2016 peace agreement between the government and the former FARC guerrilla movement that ended 50 years of conflict. The UN Security Council decided in September to extend the mission until the end of 2020. "The desire of our government is that the observation mission accompanies us for the duration of our mandate, until August 2022," Duque said after a meeting with mission chief Carlos Ruiz Massieu at government headquarters. Ruiz Massieu said that although "very important advances" had been made in the implementation of the agreement, he said it faced "great challenges," both in the short and long term. When Duque was elected in August 2018, he promised to modify the accord, which he considers too lenient on ex-fighters guilty of serious crimes. Most of the FARC forces disarmed under the agreement and joined a political party. But the ex-guerrilla group has denounced delays in the application of the accord as well as a lack of legal guarantees and security for its members. The UN said 2019 was the deadliest year for ex-FARC combatants since the peace deal, with 77 former rebels killed over the past 12 months. Eighty percent of the attacks were related to criminal groups and organizations linked to drug trafficking and illegal mining, the UN says. In the mission's end-of-year report, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for "more effective measures to protect the lives of former combatants." Colombian President Ivan Duque has asked the United Nations to extend its peace verification mission until 2022
Scientists map genome of Indian cobra: How does it help fight snakebite

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Jan 09: Snakebite, envenoming is a serious and neglected tropical disease that causes nearly 50,000 deaths in India every year. This leads to significant mortality in the country but received little attention from the government.

The deaths are primarily attributed to four snake varieties - Indian Cobra, Russel's viper, saw-scaled viper and Indian common krait, infamously described as the "big four."

Scientists from India and their collaborators abroad have sequenced the genome of the highly poisonous Indian cobra, in a feat that may go a long way in reducing mortality and disability from snake bites.

Snake venoms are complex protein mixtures encoded by several gene families and these proteins function synergistically to cause rapid paralysis or death in prey.

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How does decoding the genome help?

The scientists have identified 19 key toxin genes, the only ones that should matter in snakebite treatment. They stress the need to leverage this knowledge for the creation of antivenom using synthetic human antibodies.

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The study has led to the development of new safer and more effective antivenoms.

It could spur new efforts in the decades-long battle to limit the global toll of snakebite, which kills more than 100,000 each year.

Outdated procedure

At present, antivenom is produced by immunising horses with extracted snake venom and is based on a process developed over 100 years ago.

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"It is about time we modernise anti-venom development by leveraging genomics, recombinant protein expression, and synthetic antibody development technologies. The Indian cobra genome and the catalogue of target toxins are a blueprint needed to do this," Professor R. Manjunatha Kini of NUS Biological Sciences explains.

"It will provide a complete platform for developing a safe, universal anti-venom for snakebite victims all over India and neighbouring countries," Kini told IANS.

How big is the problem?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around five million snake bites occur each year, although venom is only injected in just over half of cases.

From blindness to amputations, the snake bite leaves many life crippled. The WHO describes such cases as among the most neglected tropical diseases.

Rural population, especially the poor are at particular risk from snake bites, as they often lack access to antidotes or may turn to traditional treatments.

Inadequate treatment is a key factor behind such a high death toll.
A pet dog has been tied in a black bag and thrown into a canal before it was rescued by kind-hearted locals in Thailand.

Tawan Chanthakanok, 27, was working across the road from the water when he heard the dog crying in Chonburi on Tuesday morning.

The chef started looking and, with the help of passers-by, noticed a large black bag near the water.

Tawan Chanthakanok, 27, was working across the road from the water when he heard a dog crying in Chonburi on Tuesday morning

Tawan called emergency services who climbed over a 13ft high fence and used a rope to winch the exhausted pooch to safety.

It is believed to have spent the night inside the sweltering hot bag as temperatures outside soared past 30C without any food or water.

Tawan said: 'I spent some time looking for the dog but I did not find it until later the locals told me there was a dog was dumped inside a garbage bag.

'I wanted to reused it right away but the fence was too high for me to climb so I contacted the rescue team instead.'

The chef started looking and, with the help of passers-by, noticed the large black bag on the banks of the stream

It is believed to have spent the night inside the sweltering hot bag as temperatures outside soared past 30C without any food or water

The exhausted dog was taken to an animal rescue centre to be nursed back to health and put up for adoption.

Tawan added: 'When the dog was brought up it was hardly breathing and too weak to move. The police told me that the dog could have died if it had been left just a few hours longer.

'I cannot understand how anybody could be cruel enough to treat a poor little dog like this.'
Polymetallic mining company Sierra Metals (TSX:SMT) said it plans to return up to $30 million to shareholders in the coming year.

The company will offer to repurchase for cancellation up to US$15 million of its common shares. Plans to distribute the remaining $15 million are being weighed.

"Management believes that Sierras underlying value along with its growth prospects are not reflected in the recent trading price of its Common Shares. As such, the company will use a reasonable portion of its cash resources toward the purchase of its common shares under the offer," said Igor Gonzales, rresident and CEO of Sierra Metals.

"Going forward, the company expects to be in a position to return a significant portion of its excess free cash flow to shareholders annually," said Sierra Metals in a news release.

Sierra runs the Yauricocha Mine in Peru, and the Bolivar and Cusi mines in Mexico.
King tides, a naturally occurring phenomenon that received a common name only a decade ago, are heading to California shorelines this weekend  and with them, a series of public events intended to show people the dangers posed by sea level rise.

The aim isnt simply to point out what really high tides look like, but to explain why theyre likely to swell higher and higher in the decades to come.

Todays king tides are the high tides of tomorrow, said Lori Lambertson, a staff instructor at the Exploratorium, the interactive science museum at Pier 15. Theyre harbingers of what climbing water levels are going to do to the city and its infrastructure.

Lambertson will lead hour-long walks on Friday and Saturday morning along San Franciscos Embarcadero, an artificial line between land and water formed by construction of the citys seawall in the late 19th century.

Tides along the Embarcadero will reach 6.7 feet above the average daily low tide on Friday at around 10:30 a.m., according to forecasts by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and slightly higher on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. Last Friday and Saturday, by contrast, they were 18 inches lower.

Add the lapping of bay waters, or surges caused by passing ferries, and the extra height can be dramatic. During king tides exacerbated by warm water or falling rain, low points at Piers 3 and 14 routinely see water splash up onto public walkways, sometimes spilling into the Embarcadero roadway as well.

The most obvious Bay Area spot affected by extra-high tides is Highway 101 in southern Marin County, where the ramps at the junction of Highway 1 often fill with water. Because of the anticipated tides, Caltrans has closed a park-and-ride lot located there until Tuesday.

The Embarcadero walks are co-sponsored by the Port of San Francisco, which will also help lead a Saturday morning walking tour along Islais Creek in the Bayview district. The tour is being done with the citys Planning Department, which is heading a newly launched effort to craft an adaptation strategy given the possibilities of future flooding as a result of climate change.

We timed it with king tides so that it would be more dramatic, granted Kirsten Southey, a spokeswoman for the port. We want people to see what the future might be like in terms of sea levels.

The pace and extent of future changes are unknown.

Seeing the king tides All you need to do to see king tides in action is head to a local shoreline at around 10:22 a.m. on Friday, 11:07 a.m. on Saturday and and 11:54 a.m. on Sunday. That's when waters will swirl at roughly 6.7 feet above the average daily low tide. If you also want an explanation as to what's going on, or the chance to mingle with like-minded tidal buffs, there are scheduled events to take advantage of as well. Among them: At 10 a.m. on Friday and 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, walking tours will begin on the water side of Pier 3 on the Embarcadero. The Exploratorium is hosting each walk with the Port of San Francisco. Kayakers will set off at 10:30 a.m. Saturday from Trancas Crossing Park in the city of Napa. From there they'll ride the high tides up Napa Creek past Oak Knoll vineyards. At Big Break Regional Shoreline in Oakley, an event beginning at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday will demonstrate how delta marshes can help absorb rising tides. A marsh restoration event organized by Save the Bay will run from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday at Oakport Field in Oakland, off San Leandro Bay. In San Mateo County, a king tides walking tour will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Oyster Point Marina & Park in South San Francisco. Sunday, the marsh at China Camp State Park in San Rafael will be the site of a tides-related nature walk starting at Turtleback Trailhead at 12:30 p.m. For full information on these and other king tide-related events, as well as information on the multi-year California King Tides Project, go to www.coastal.ca.gov/kingtides See More Collapse

The most recent set of projections by the California Ocean Protection Council puts the likely increase in tides along the bay at around 40 inches by 2100. The councils less scientifically rigorous upper-level forecast, done in 2018, suggested that daily tides could climb by nearly 7 feet.

Other Bay Area events scheduled this weekend include a Friday walk in Richmond beginning at the Shimada Friendship Park in the Marina Bay neighborhood. Theres a Saturday kayak tour of the Napa River, and Save the Bay is sponsoring a marsh restoration on San Leandro Bay.

The origins of the phrase king tides apparently dates to around 2009, when it was used by Australian scientists to describe a particularly extreme set of tides. The less catchy name  but more scientifically accepted  is perigean spring tides, a natural occurrence several times each year when the monthly high tide is amplified by the moon and sun being particularly close to Earth, coinciding with new or full moons.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

This intensifies the gravitational pull that causes extra-high tides. In California, they tend to occur in the weeks before or after the winter solstice.

Its the period of the year with the most predictable astronomical high tides, which are controlled by the pull of the moon and the sun, said William Sweet, an oceanographer with NOAA.

According to Sweet, California isnt as susceptible to widely shifting tides as is the East Coast, where sea levels already have risen to the point that cities such as Miami are seeing flooding on seemingly calm days.

But even if this weekends local king tides are relatively sedate, theyll still put on a show.

Sea level rise is not a gradual, uniform thing. It will wax and wane and ebb and flow, Sweet said. But the long-term patterns are accumulating. King tides give folks a snapshot of whats going to occur.

John King is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jking@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @johnkingsfchron
WASHINGTON - In the seven years since Sen. Tim Kaine took office, he has been obsessed with curbing presidents' efforts to deploy the military without congressional say-so - decrying the use of resolutions from 2001 and 2002 to justify sending troops into harm's way years later.

Now that the killing of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani has increased tensions with Iran, Kaine is approaching the issue from another angle, and starting to gain traction.

Kaine, D-Va., last week introduced a war-powers resolution that would "remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran or any part of its government or military," an attempt, he said, to prevent the further escalation of hostilities.

A similar measure was quickly proposed in the Democratic-majority House, introduced by Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., a former CIA and Pentagon analyst. House members were expected to pass Slotkin's resolution as soon as Thursday afternoon.

Kaine, a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee, has spent the past week talking up his resolution and trying to bring Republicans on board.

He got a major break Wednesday when Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky told reporters they'd back his effort. Since then, Kaine said, he's spoken with eight or nine more senators from the 53-member GOP caucus, with more meetings planned.

He needs 51 votes for the resolution to pass the resolution. A vote could come as soon as Tuesday. Kaine said he has agreed to remove references to President Donald Trump from the resolution - it would apply to all presidents - and to make other technical changes.

"It doesn't mean everyone I talk to will get on board," Kaine said in an interview. "But me sitting down with them and talking them through why I've done it this way, it gives them some level of comfort."

Although Trump has not reacted to Kaine's resolution, on Thursday morning the president tweeted, in part: "Hope that all House Republicans will vote against Crazy Nancy Pelosi's War Powers Resolution."

Kaine on Friday plans to talk to JROTC cadets at a Virginia high school about his efforts to more clearly define the roles of Congress and the president in deploying service members.

"When we ask our troops to risk everything, we in Congress cannot hide under our desks, outsource our constitutional duty to the president, and pretend that we can avoid accountability for war and its consequences," he wrote in an opinion article published by Fox News on Wednesday.

The issue is vital to Kaine both as a senator - his state has among the most active and retired military personnel - and a father. His son is an active duty Marine.

For years, he has tried to repeal and replace post-9/11 authorizations Congress passed in 2001 and 2002 as a legal basis for military action in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kaine says that the legislation has been inappropriately stretched to justify U.S. military engagements well beyond the original authorization, and that Congress has abdicated its responsibility for declaring war under the Constitution.

The United States used the 2001 authorization in dozens of instances to send forces to nations including Libya, Turkey, Georgia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, the Philippines and Cuba.

A new Authorization for Use of Military Force, Kaine argues, would show to troops risking their lives that Congress has made a fresh determination that their mission is in the national interest.

Kaine considered it a modest victory for his cause in December 2018 when 14 Senate Republicans joined Democrats in voting to end U.S. military support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen. Trump ultimately vetoed the measure but stopped refueling Saudi bombing jets on the way to Yemen.

Three Republicans who were key allies on the issue are no longer in the chamber: Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., then chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., have left Congress; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., died.

Kaine also won majority support for a June 2019 amendment to the defense spending bill that would have prohibited defense funds from being used for a war with Iran. But he could not muster the 60 votes needed to pass the measure.

His efforts began during the administration of President Barack Obama, whom he describes as a friend. Kaine unsuccessfully pressed Obama to seek permission from Congress before committing U.S. forces to the conflicts in Libya and Syria and the war against ISIS.

With the transition to a new administration, Kaine said, his worry about the potential abuse of power grew.

"For years, I've been deeply concerned about President Trump stumbling into a war with Iran," he said. "We're now at a boiling point, and Congress must step in before Trump puts even more of our troops in harm's way."

- - -

The Washington Post's Karoun Demirjian contributed to this report.
Victor B. Lawrence is a Ghanaian who improved the transmission for the modern internet to ensure that you and I have access to fast internet.

Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in

Victor was born to Ghanaian parents in Ghana in 1945. He attended Achimota College also in Ghana and continued to the Imperial College of Science and Technology at the University of London where he received his B.Sc. degree in 1968.

He also received M.S degree in 1969 and a Ph.D degree in 1972. All his education were in electrical engineering.

Victor B. Lawrence was born in 1945 in Ghana and a graduate of Achimota College. Source: thehistorymakers.org

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Incompetent Akufo-Addo has made me lose my good looks - NDC National Organiser

In 2016 Victor Lawrence was inducted into the American National Inventors Hall of Fame.

According to research, Lawrence improved the transmission for internet by making high-speed connections more available. He is also credited for having stimulated the growth of the global internet.

His works also advanced modem technology, data encoding and transmission, silicon chip design, ATM switching and protocols, DSL, speech and audio coding, and digital video.

According to thehistorymakers.org, Lawrence spent much of his career at Bell Laboratories from 1974 to 2005 where he manipulated data for faster and more reliable travel over telephone lines.

ATTENTION: Read the best news on Ghana #1 news app. Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Ghana

Lawrence was also lead engineer of AT&Ts 2.4kbps full-duplex modem, and his innovations pushed modems to 56kbps. He helped turn the internet into a global industry useful for more than simple text-based functions.

He has co-authored five books: Introduction to Digital Filters, Tutorials on Modem Communications, Intelligent Broadband Multimedia Networks, Design and Engineering of Intelligent Communications Systems, and The Art of Scientific Innovation.

READ ALSO: From shoemaker and scrap dealer to UN fellow: The inspiring story of Justice Surugu

He holds more than twenty U.S.A and international patents.

YEN.com.gh earlier reported that Marsai Martin, a 15-year-old Hollywood actress who became the youngest movie producer ever, is set to produce a new movie with Universal Pictures.

It would be recalled that YEN.com.gh reported how the brilliant young woman produced Little and made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list subsequently.

Enjoy reading our stories? Download YEN's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Ghana news! Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Source: YEN.com.gh
More cases of students committing suicide were reported in 2019, and most students killed themselves because of study pressure.

Giao Duc Viet Nam newspaper in December published an article reporting that many students in HCM City committed suicide at home.

Students nowadays feel pressure from heavy workload





Just within December, two cases of students committing suicide occurred in Tan Binh district.



A 12th grader at Le Trong Tan High School killed himself because of mental disorder. Meanwhile, an 11th grader of Tan Binh High School in Tan Phu district committed suicide at home because of the reasons related to family.



On the same day, Dan Tri newspaper reported that an 11th grade female student in Binh Duong committed suicide by jumping into Sai Gon river.



The victims friends said the female student had looked stressed and showed abnormal behavior. The school said the female students did not attend the exam held days before.

More cases of students committing suicide were reported in 2019, and most students killed themselves because of study pressure.

Five days later, Thanh Nien reported that a student from the 12th math majoring class at Le Quy Don High School was found dead at Trung Chi Lake of Dong Ha City in Quang Tri province. The male student, 17, was believed to kill himself.



The common characteristic of the suicide cases was that the victims were high school students aged 16-18. They abandoned their lives at a young age, leaving families, relatives and teachers.



Cao Nguyen, a high school teacher, in his article on Giao Duc Viet Nam, wrote that the majority of students committing suicide had unbalanced psychology.



Many young people of high-school age experience a psychological crisis and have serious problems, but do not seek advice and sympathy from parents and teachers.



In August 2019, a female student at a high school in Binh Tan district in HCM City committed suicide by drinking pesticide just before the day she planned to start school.



The parents of the female student had prohibited their daughter to go out with friends for fear that they could not control the girls schedule.



Believing that she would have to accept an environment with lack of freedom, she decided to kill herself.



According to Nguyen, students in urban areas do not seek advice from parents, who are always busy. In the technology era, family members spend time looking intently at mobile phones, tablets and laptops instead of communicating with each other.



Meanwhile, students now feel pressure from the heavy workload. Students at a private school in HCM City reportedly have to study and fulfill exercises from 6.30am to 11pm and have less than 7 hours of sleep each day.

Mai Lan

Number of child suicides on the rise: psychologists In Vietnam, the number of adolescents and children with serious mental health problems accounts for 12 percent, or 3 million people who need support and treatment, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
By Trend

Southern Gas Corridor, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, will increase competition in Europes gas market, Bert Schoofs, ambassador of Belgium to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkmenistan, told Trend.

"Energy is the main strategic element of Belgian-Azerbaijani economic cooperation. In this regard, I think 2020 is an important year, when the Southern Gas Corridor, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, will be fully commissioned. Belgian company Fluxys holds 19 percent in the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which is the European leg of the Southern Gas Corridor. Fluxys is not a gas producer or consumer, it mainly owns gas infrastructure. In that sense, Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR and Fluxys work well together, as they are complementary in their activities," he said.

Schoofs said the major achievement of the Southern Gas Corridor is that it can transport gas from Azerbaijan and eventually other countries in the region to Europe.

"This is important, because it gives European countries an alternative to other gas corridors. The Southern Gas Corridor will increase competition in Europes gas market. Azerbaijan exports its gas and its territory can be used for transit of gas from other countries as well," the ambassador added.

Noting that some Belgian companies are subcontractors in Azerbaijans energy sector, Schoofs highlighted the bilateral cooperation in renewable energy sphere as well.

"The biggest solar power plant in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Azerbaijan, operating since 2016, has been equipped with technology of Belgian Soltech company. This company is aiming to become active in other parts of Azerbaijan, so the cooperation is already there. This company and other Belgian companies are very interested to have projects in renewable energy sphere in Azerbaijan," he added.

The Southern Gas Corridor project aims to increase and diversify European energy supply by bringing gas resources from the Caspian Sea to markets in Europe.

The Southern Gas Corridor comprises the following four projects: (i) operation of Shah Deniz natural gas-condensate field ("SD1" project) and its full-field development ("SD2'" project), (ii) the operation of the South Caucasus Pipeline ("SCP" project) and its expansion ("SCPX" project), (iii) the construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline ("TANAP" project) and (iv) the construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline ("TAP" project) (SD2, SCPX, TANAP and TAP collectively, the "Projects").

The Projects have an estimated investment cost of approximately $40 billion. Upon completion, the SD2 project will add a further 16 bcm of natural gas per annum to 10.9 bcma (maximum production capacity) already produced under SD1 project.

Total length of the newly constructed SCPX, TANAP and TAP pipelines will be more than 3,200 kilometres.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Vietnam has been tapped by Japanese firms as the most promising place in Asia to invest in 2020, with India and Southeast Asian countries dominating other top spots, Kyodo News cited a survey as showing on January 8.

A corner of Hanoi

In the survey, conducted online from November to December 2019 by NNA Japan Co., a Kyodo News group company, Vietnam received 42.1 percent of the 820 valid responses, based on factors such as its potential as a growing market and large supply of skilled, low-cost labor.

India was second at 12.2 percent, with expectations for its growing market and its potential as a doorway to the Middle East and Africa among the reasons cited.

Myanmar jumped three spots from the previous year to third place at 11.6 percent, while Indonesia was fourth at 6.6 percent.

China, which appears to have lost its appeal somewhat as an investment location due to concerns about its trade war with the United States and rising labor costs, ranked fifth at 5.1 percent./.
P resident Donald Trump thinks Nato should be expanded to include nations in the Middle East, suggesting the 70-year-old alliance rebrand as Natome.

The US President praised himself for being "good at names" after suggesting the new monkier - pronounced "Nay-toe-me" - as a shortened version of Nato-Middle East.

What a beautiful name  Natome, Mr Trump said.

Speaking to reporters at the White House during an unrelated event, Mr Trump said the US had cracked down on so-called Islamic State militants, eliminating their control of territory and killing IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

We did Europe a big favour, he said.

Trump made the comments during an event to unveil significant changes to the National Environmental Policy Act on Wednesday / Getty Images

I think Nato should be expanded and we should include the Middle East, absolutely.  Right now the burden is on us and thats not fair, Mr Trump said.

Mr Trump said he also wants to see more Nato troops in the Middle East because problems there are international in scope.

He said he spoke about Natos role on Wednesday during a phone call with Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg.

I think he was actually excited about it. I actually had a name. Nato, right, and then you have ME, Middle East. They would call it Natome, Mr Trump said.
Just after the General Election, a member of Boris Johnsons team was quoted in The Sun setting the following challenge:

If Darlington high street isnt visibly better in four years time, well be in trouble.

It is an important test. A report from the Royal Society for Public Health went so far as to suggest that if the high street dies then the local inhabitants do too  life expectancy being two and half years lower:

Its architecture and design affects how we use our high streets, whether they are places we enjoy being or areas we avoid; whether they foster community and social interactions or encourage us to walk away quickly, eyes down until we reach our destination. Levels of traffic, how accessible it is for pedestrians and how safe we feel, determine whether we choose to visit our high street or prefer to sit at home making purchases over the internet instead.

Unfortunately, the high street challenge will be a tricky one to meet. That is because, as Margaret Thatcher famously reminded Nigel Lawson in a different context:

You cant buck the market.

A year ago I wrote that we had twice as many shops as we needed. It is no surprise that since then the trend has continued. The vacancy rate for shops is up. Footfall is down. Online spending continues to grow.

The decline is not evenly spread. High Streets in Darlington and Sunderland are struggling far more than those in York or Harrogate. It follows that for the high street to flourish the rest of the town needs to be doing well. The suggestion that HS2 might be ditched would allow substantial funding for smaller alternative projects. Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, has backed reversing the Beeching axe, in places where this would be viable. We also learn today that towns across England will be able to compete in a new Town of the Year competition. It will celebrate towns achievements, including in areas such as entrepreneurship, technology, community, enterprise, and integration.

Robert Jenrick, the Communities Secretary will visit all of the 100 areas receiving funding under the 3.6 billion Towns Fund to set out the governments ambition to restore the fabric of our towns and cities and give local people far more control in how they are invested in.

Jake Berry, Northern Powerhouse Minister, promises:

Our plan to unleash the Norths potential will deliver real, visible change in local communities.

Even to halt, let alone reverse, the decline will sound to many an impossible ambition. We have already had various initiatives which have failed to do the trick. Some may question why the attempt is even made. What business is it of politicians to tells us how we should do our shopping? Or complain if we wish to switch from drinking beer in pubs to drinking wine at home?

Apart from the obvious electoral calculation, there are two reasons why the battle is worth fighting. First of all, there are social as well as economic considerations. Walking past boarded up shops is depressing. Secondly, there are some forms of state intervention which are currently distorting the market in a way that makes matters worse.

Business Rates is an obvious one. The Conservative Manifesto said:

We will cut the burden of tax on business by reducing business rates. This will be done via a fundamental review of the system. As a first step, we will further reduce business rates for retail businesses, as well as extending the discount to grassroots music venues, small cinemas and pubs. That means protecting your high street and community from excessive tax hikes and keeping town centres vibrant.

That is welcome so far as it goes. But how much will Business Rates be cut? So far we have Small Business Rate Relief, worth 1.2 billion, which is cutting bills by half. A sensible start would be to make it 100 per cent. It should also be applied for all small premises  including those that are part of chains. Brexit will mean that the restrictions on state aid would not apply. That means that if the Government wanted to adjust the tax system to help the high street, the scope to do so will be there.

The other key change would be to have greater flexibility in the planning system. We have too many shops and a housing shortage. Thus people walk along a decayed high street to their overcrowded home. It should be much easier to obtain a change of use to turn shops into homes.

Its not all gloom. Aristotle spotted that man is by nature a social animal. There are 25,000 coffee shops in the country  twice as many as a decade ago. So our high streets do still serve an important need. The Government should seek ways to help them that work with the grain of human nature.
Health care will dominate the 2020 elections. Its the top issue for millions of voters. And the two parties couldnt be farther apart.

Many Democrats want to establish a Medicare for All system or a public option to enable the government to expand coverage and drive down health-care costs. Meanwhile, many Republicans want to strike down the Affordable Care Act and its regulations in the hopes that less government and more competition will reduce costs.

Partisans can argue about the merits of each approach until theyre blue in the face. But theres no question that both proposals would prove enormously disruptive, take years to fully implement, and potentially leave some Americans worse off.

Fortunately, there are many ways to improve all patients' access to care. One of which costs nothing. And it enjoys bipartisan support.

That solution? Enable all clinicians to practice to the full extent of their education and clinical training. That would expand every patient's access to high-quality care now.

America suffers from a severe shortage of primary care. Right now, 78 million U.S. residents live in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), which the federal government defines as having more than 3,500 patients for each primary-care provider. Sixty percent of these areas are rural.

The problem grows worse each day. Currently, the United States is short about 14,000 primary-care physicians. But that figure could grow to more than 49,000 by 2030, according to a report by Peter Buerhaus, Ph.D., published by the American Enterprise Institute.

Nurse practitioners and other practitioners are well-positioned to solve this crisis -- and in some areas, already are. NPs complete both undergraduate and graduate-level academic and clinical training, including a masters or doctoral degree, pass national certification exams and receive board certification, and meet state license requirements to practice. This training prepares them to evaluate and diagnose patients, order and interpret diagnostic tests, and prescribe medications in all 50 states. Importantly, more than 85% of NPs are trained in primary care -- including pediatric, geriatric, and womens health.

They provide outstanding care to patients. Study after study finds that NPs achieve patient outcomes equivalent to physicians, according to the National Academy of Medicine. And, patient satisfaction with NPs consistently ranks high.

Nurse practitioners already shoulder much of the primary-care burden in America. Last year, the ranks of NPs grew to a record 270,000, and they conduct more than one billion patient visits annually. Between now and 2030, the NP workforce is projected to grow by 6.8% annually, according to Buerhaus. By comparison, the physician workforce is expected to grow just 1.1% annually.

Unfortunately, just 21 states and the District of Columbia license NPs to the top of their education that allows them to provide primary-care services without unnecessary physician oversight. The rest impose unnecessary restrictions.

For instance, in 28 states, its illegal for NPs to practice without a permission slip in the form of collaborative agreements with physicians. These agreements needlessly impede patients access to high-quality NP care and increase health-care costs. Many states, most notably Missouri, even prevent NPs from practicing more than a few miles from their collaborating physician.

Such outdated regulations deter NPs from setting up shop in many areas of the country. Not surprising, states with restricted practice laws have 40% fewer NPs than states with full practice authority. By contrast, states with modernized licensure laws have recorded growth in the number of NPs joining the profession as well as the number of NPs working in rural and underserved areas.

Thankfully, policymakers are moving to retire these pointless restrictions.

In November 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report -- in conjunction with the Treasury and Labor Departments -- that called on states to update their scope of practice laws. The National Academy of Medicine has recommended similar reforms. In October 2019, the administration also released an executive order that would lift barriers to NP practice in the Medicare program.

Politicians up and down the ballot have the power to help their constituents by supporting such commonsense, bipartisan reforms. Eight of the top 10 healthiest states in the United States have granted full practice authority for NPs, according to a UnitedHealth Foundation report. Meanwhile, the bottom 10 states all restrict NP practice.

Our great national debate about health-care reform wont end anytime soon. But giving patients unimpeded access to highly trained professionals such as NPs ought to be low-hanging fruit. In the end, consumers should have access to a variety of health-care professionals. There are many patients who need care and we all need to work together.

Tom Daschle is cofounder of the Bipartisan Policy Center and a former Senate majority leader (D., S.D.) who served in Congress from 1979-2005. David Hebert is CEO of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP).
Zimbabwes acting president Constantino Chiwenga has allegedly deployed members of the army to barricade his matrimonial home and other properties to bar his estranged wife, Marry Mubaiwa, from accessing her children, clothes, motor vehicles and personal goods.

In an exclusive interview with VOA Zimbabwe Service, Mubaiwas lawyer, Taona Nyamakura, confirmed the development saying Marry Mubaiwa, who is out on bail and was ordered by the court to live at the matrimonial Borrowdale Brooke mansion in Harare, has been denied entry.

We are actually considering court action against General Chiwenga.

Chiwengas wife was arrested late last year on allegations of attempting to murder her husband and for contravening the countrys exchange control laws by transferring more than a million United States Dollars abroad.

She was denied bail by the lower court before it was granted by the High Court. State prosecutors had opposed bail arguing that she was a flight risk as she is facing at least 25 years in prison if found guilty of attempted murder.

Human Rights lawyer, Dewa Mavhinga called the acting presidents actions unconstitutional and abuse of state institutions and the army.

VOA Studio 7 did not get comment from Chiwenga as his lawyer Wilson Manase was not responding to calls on his mobile phone.

This is not the first time Retired General Chiwenga has been accused of abusing the army in his domestic issues. In 2014, when he was divorcing another wife, Jocelyn Mauchaza, she accused him of using soldiers to deny her entry to their farm located 1,5 kilometers off the Shamva Road. The army stepped in only hours after the court had issued a divorce decree ordering her eviction.

Chiwenga masterminded the coup that led to the ouster of the late former President Robert Mugabe in 2017.

The office of the President and Cabinet announced recently that President Emmerson Mnangagwa is on leave until end of month.

During this period, Honourable Vice Presidents, General (Rtd) Dr C. G. D. N Chiwenga and Colonel (Rtd) Cde KCD Mohadi will take turns to act in his place, starting with the Honorable Vice President Chiwenga, read the statement from Acting Chief secretary of Cabinet George Charamba.




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AKRON, Ohio, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- For the 14th consecutive year, FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) has earned recognition for its emergency response efforts from the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), a leading electric industry organization. FirstEnergy earned the "Emergency Recovery Award" for safely and efficiently restoring service to nearly 280,000 of its New Jersey customers following severe thunderstorms in July of 2019 that impacted the region.

On July 22, a storm with straight-line winds topping 80 miles per hour swept through Jersey Central Power & Light's (JCP&L) service territory, toppling trees, causing extensive equipment damage and closing dozens of roads. A massive restoration effort was launched that ultimately included over 2,300 line workers, hazard responders, damage assessors and other support staff from FirstEnergy companies, contractors, and assisting utilities. Repairs included replacing more than 100 utility poles, 100 transformers and other equipment, and approximately 22 miles of wire. The joint effort restored service to 93 percent of affected customers within 48 hours of the start of the storm, with all affected customers restored by July 25.

"FirstEnergy's work to restore service safely and quickly to customers, often in dangerous conditions, makes them deserving of this award," said EEI President Tom Kuhn. "Their efforts exemplify the high standards our industry seeks to uphold, and I applaud their commitment to their customers."

"When severe weather impacts our region, we have well developed storm restoration plans that are quickly implemented to reduce the outage time our customers might experience," said Sam Belcher, senior vice president of FirstEnergy and president of FirstEnergy Utilities. "This award creates an opportunity to recognize our crews in the field who worked safely around the clock in difficult, and sometimes hazardous, conditions to help our customers."

EEI presents awards twice annually to member companies to recognize extraordinary efforts to restore power or for assisting other electric companies after service disruptions caused by weather conditions and other natural events. Winners are chosen by a panel of judges following an international nomination process. The awards were presented January 8, 2020, during the winter EEI Board of Directors and CEO meeting in Arizona.

EEI is the association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. Our members provide electricity for 220 million Americans, and operate in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. As a whole, the electric power industry supports more than 7 million jobs in communities across the United States. In addition to our U.S. members, EEI has more than 65 international electric companies as International Members, and hundreds of industry suppliers and related organizations as Associate Members.

FirstEnergy is dedicated to safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its 10 electric distribution companies form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. The company's transmission subsidiaries operate more than 24,500 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Follow FirstEnergy online at www.firstenergycorp.com. Follow FirstEnergy and its utilities on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp, @ToledoEdison , @IlluminatingCo, @OhioEdison , @MonPowerWV, @JCP_L, @Penn_Power, @Penelec, @Met_Ed, @PotomacEdison, @W_Penn_Power.

SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.

Related Links

http://www.firstenergycorp.com


Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha briefs lawmakers on the escalating conflict between the U.S. and Iran at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap



Seoul cannot always be on the same page as Washington, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told lawmakers Thursday when asked about the government's stance on sending troops to the Strait of Hormuz.



"I think the stance of the United States and ours cannot always be the same in political analysis and when considering bilateral ties with countries in the Middle East," Kang told lawmakers in a meeting at the National Assembly.



"We have sustained economic ties with Iran for a long time and at the moment are continuously trying (to carry out exchanges) in humanitarian assistance and education."



The foreign minister said the government has not yet reached a conclusion on dispatching troops to help safeguard the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically vital area that serves as a route to the open ocean for more than one-sixth of global oil production and some 70 percent of South Korea's oil imports.



Kang's remarks come two days after the U.S. ambassador to South Korea voiced hopes for a possible dispatch of South Korean troops to the strait amid heightened tensions in the Middle East following the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general.



In an interview with South Korean broadcaster KBS, Amb. Harry Harris pinned hopes on the plan, noting that Seoul gets much of its energy from the Middle East.



Kang, meanwhile, said relocating part of the Cheonghae Unit, South Korea's anti-piracy unit currently stationed in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia, could be an option.



The Gulf of Aden is around 1,800 kilometers, or four days' sailing, from the Strait of Hormuz. Earlier this month, the National Assembly passed a motion to extend its mission, which started in 2009, through the end of next year.



The foreign minister said the government has been reviewing how to utilize its assets, adding that a legal review of the details of the dispatch would be necessary.



Seoul is expected to discuss issues relating to the ongoing Middle East crisis at a bilateral ministerial meeting between Seoul and Washington or a possible trilateral meeting of South Korean, U.S. and Japanese foreign ministers, both expected next week. (Yonhap)


A popular Transgender Woman, Nare Prince Mphela has been murdered.

According to reports, Prince was brutally murdered by unknown persons in Limpopo, South Africa.

Confirming her death, LGBTI group, Capricorn Ignited LGBTI, stated that her body was found locked in a shack with multiple stab wounds.

Read Also: He Was Using Me To Get Papers  Transgender Woman Calls Out Her Nigerian Boyfriend

Limpopo is mourning after brutal murder of one of our own. A well known Transgender Woman from Ga- Matlala Prospect, Nare Prince Mphela was found locked in a shack on Sunday in the Mokopane area where she worked. It appears her body has been lying there for some days, with multiple wounds of stabbings. The case is under investigation as we await further details and no arrests were made yet. She will be buried on Saturday 10 January, Further details will be updated. It is a painful loss to the Limpopo LGBTIQ+ Community and Society as a whole. May her Soul Rest in Power it said.
World China's CNPC Withdraws Staff From Iraqi Oilfield as Tensions Rise

The West Qurna-1 oilfield, which is operated by ExxonMobil, is seen during the facilitys opening ceremony near Basra, Iraq on June 17, 2019. / REUTERS

SINGAPOREChina National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), a top investor in Iraqi oil, has withdrawn about 20 employees from the West Qurna-1 field operated by U.S. major Exxon Mobil because of tensions in the region, a company source familiar with the matter said.

CNPC made the move on Sunday after last weeks killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq, the Beijing-based source said, adding that the state firm has kept staff in place at two other fields.

Tehran retaliated with missile attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq on Wednesday, stoking fears of a wider war.

CNPC pulled out its staff from West Qurna on Jan. 5, following Exxons direction as they are the operator, right after the U.S. killing of Soleimani, the source said.

CNPC declined to comment on the matter. Exxon Mobil did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Iraq is the second-largest oil producer in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia, pumping about 4.6 million barrels a day. The deteriorating security situation poses a heightened risk to foreign firms operating in its oil and gas sector.

CNPC had kept its staff of close to 60 at the Rumaila oilfield, a joint venture with operator BP, as well as a team of about 100 at the CNPC-operated Halfaya field, according to the source, who was not authorized to talk to media.

Teams at Rumaila and Halfaya update headquarters on the [security] situation on a daily basis. For now theres no plan for evacuations, said the source, who declined to be named.

Malaysias foreign minister said there were 162 Malaysians in Iraq, the majority employees of state oil and gas company Petronas, and that the government was monitoring the situation.

We have given instructions to nearby embassies to be prepared  if there needs to be any evacuation, Saifuddin Abdullah told reporters in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

Petronas, formally Petroliam Nasional Bhd, did not respond to requests for comment. It has been operating in Iraq since 2010 with ventures in three oilfields, its website shows.

It holds equity in the Halfaya and Badra oilfields and is the operator of the Garraf oil field.

Chinas state-run CNOOC Ltd, which produces at the Maysan oilfield in southeast Iraq, said it had no immediate evacuation plan as it has already put in place a very high level of security measures due to long-term security concerns.

A spokesman for state-run Korea Gas Corp, which participates in development projects in Iraq such as the Zubair oilfield and Mansuiya gas field, said it is monitoring the situation and has maintained its staff of fewer than 10.

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Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/1/2020 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Restaurant review Pauline 112 Marion St. 204-235-6001; paulinebistro.ca Go for: French-inspired breakfast and brunch dishes in a tres chic setting Best bet: Brioche French toast with rum-spiked caramel Mains: $10-$16 click to read more 112 Marion St. 204-235-6001; paulinebistro.ca Go for: French-inspired breakfast and brunch dishes in a tres chic setting Best bet: Brioche French toast with rum-spiked caramel Mains: $10-$16 Monday-Sunday: 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Noise levels: Moderate Wheelchair accessible: Yes Reservations: Yes, recommended Licensed: Yes, including those crucial brunch cocktails  1/2 out of five Close

First, lets talk about Paulines space, a top-to-bottom renovation within the Norwood Hotel thats light, airy and gorgeous. Designed by Calgary-based firm Frank, this St. Boniface venue has a 1920s Parisian feel, combining comfort and style in sturdy cafe tables, elegant bentwood chairs, plushly upholstered banquettes and a handsome tiled coffee bar.

The attention to design extends to the details. Everything you touch has a good, solid feel, from the substantial striped cloth napkins to the Italian bistro glasses. Even the clientele seems better dressed  by my last visit, I was wearing a silk scarf  perhaps inspired by the francophone feel of the neighbourhood or by the bistros accomplished namesake, Pauline Boutal, an actor and influential artistic director of Le Cercle Moliere, who was also a painter and designer known for her fashion illustration. Her work and life are referenced in charming, quick black-and-white drawings on the walls.

The newly renovated St. Boniface restaurant has a Parisian feel.

There is style to burn, then, at this St. Boniface venue, but the food doesnt always rise to the level of the space. The best of the kitchen is good, often very good, but some dishes are let down by small inconsistencies.

A daytime resto, Pauline is open from 7 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon, starting with breakfast and then switching to brunch at 11 a.m. The brunch menu retains some breakfast overlap while bringing in lunchtime fare such as burgers, sandwiches, salads and soups.

The fair trade coffee options include a very good Americano, intense but not bitter. Fresh-pressed juices are also good. The sunny pineapple, orange and lime option has a subtle kick of turmeric, while the ruby-red beet option is finished with strawberries and ginger.

The savoury smoked salmon and rosti is available at both breakfast and lunch.

A treat for those who prefer breakfast on the sweet side  well, veering toward dessert, really  is french toast crossed with a touch of bananas Foster. Two absolute slabs of rich, eggy brioche are finished with banana slices and a puddle of rum caramel sauce.

At the savoury end is smoked salmon with poached eggs and potatoes rosti, available at both breakfast and brunch. The dish is generously loaded with salmon, the eggs are nicely executed, and the citrusy hollandaise is creamy but not gloppy. The rosti lacks the required crisp exterior, though, and the promised grilled tomato is blistered in one spot but otherwise hard and cold.

The basic breakfast  two eggs any style with sausage, bacon or vegetable patty, toast and hash browns  is called The Standard, but it felt perhaps too standard for this setting and this price point ($11), especially with underwhelming breakfast links offered for the sausage option. (I also need a sidebar here to raise a labelling issue: the potatoes billed on many menus as hash browns are what many people  me included  would call home fries, and that is whats served at Pauline.)

A vegan chia bowl

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.

Add-ons include fresh fruit, and counter to the prevailing trend of serving fruit in massive, aggressive chunks, the Pauline version is cut in small dice, which allows the fruits to macerate a little and the flavours to meld. I liked it a lot.

Tartines  basically open-faced bread-and-topping combos  have some very good points. Prosciutto, pear and chevre is a tasty option, as is avocado with pickled onions and tomatoes cooked in the restaurants big open wood-burning oven. Pauline offers lots of coal-roasted and fire-grilled ingredients, and the blistered tomatoes have a lovely sweet smokiness. The sourdough toast base is a little flimsy, though, and if you are in the brunch business, you need to be absolutely reliable with your poached eggs. Two tartines were topped with eggs, and while one was perfectly gauged  cut into it and it melded into all the other ingredients  another was overdone.

Servers are professional and quick with coffee top-ups, but food was slow out of the kitchen during the Saturday rush.

And since wait times for tables are the bane of brunching, reservations are strongly recommended at Pauline, even for small groups of two or three, and especially on the weekend.

alison.gillmor@freepress.mb.ca

The avocado tartine dish is a popular choice.
NEW YORK, NY and TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 9, 2020 / GlobeX Data Ltd. ("GlobeX" or the "Company") (https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/SWISF/overview) (OTCQB:SWISF) and (https://thecse.com/en/listings/technology/globex-data-ltd) (CSE:SWIS, SWIS.WT).

GlobeX Data Ltd. (https://globexdatagroup.com) The leader in Swiss hosted cyber security and Internet privacy solutions for secure data management and secure communications, has been featured in an interview on Proactiveinvestors.com (https://ca.proactiveinvestors.com). The subject of the interview was the surge in demand for its Swiss Hosted Cybersecurity services for secure data management and secure communications, namely DigitalSafe, PrivaTalk and Custodia.

In the interview, Alain Ghiai, CEO of GlobeX Data talks about the surge in demand for cybersecurity services, such as GlobeX's DigitalSafe, PrivaTalk and Custodia and the fact that cyberwarfare is here to stay. According to Ghiai, cyberwarfare is the new nuclear of the 21st century. No longer are geopolitical dominations ruled by missiles, but by cyberwarfare, which can cripple entire economies, businesses, electrical grids, financial and government institutions and individual data. Ghiai talks on how GlobeX Data protects US based businesses in particular due to their high vulnerability to cyber warfare as they depend heavily on US based services, data centers and telecom operators. In the interview, GlobeX's CEO explains how a combination of Swiss hosted secure solutions and GlobeX's highly encrypted services can protect businesses from cyber attacks.

To View Interview Click the link below:

GlobeX Data CEO Interview On Cybersecurity Demand Amid US - Iran Tensions

About GlobeX Data Ltd.

GlobeX Data Ltd. is a Cybersecurity and Internet privacy provider of Swiss hosted solutions for secure data management and secure communications. The Company distributes a suite of secure cloud-based storage, disaster recovery, document management, encrypted e-mails, and secure communication tools. GlobeX Data Ltd. sells its products through its approved wholesalers and distributors, and telecommunications companies worldwide. GlobeX Data Ltd. serves consumers, businesses and governments worldwide.

For more information please contact GlobeX Data at corporate@globexdatagroup.com or visit us at https://globexdatagroup.com

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "achieve", "could", "believe", "plan", "intend", "objective", "continuous", "ongoing", "estimate", "outlook", "expect", "project" and similar words, including negatives thereof, suggesting future outcomes or that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. GlobeX cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond GlobeX's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the future of the Company's business; the success of marketing and sales efforts of the Company; the projections prepared in house and projections delivered by channel partners; the Company's ability to complete the necessary software updates; increases in sales as a result of investments software development technology; consumer interest in the Products; future sales plans and strategies; reliance on large channel partners and expectations of renewals to ongoing agreements with these partners; anticipated events and trends; the economy and other future conditions; and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in GlobeX's prospectus dated May 8, 2019 filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available on www.sedar.com. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, GlobeX undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Alain Ghiai, CEO

+1.212.372.8828 or +1.416.644.8690

corporate@globexdatagroup.com

SOURCE: GlobeX Data Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/572606/GlobeX-Data--Amid-Rising-US-and-Iran-Tensions-GlobeX-CEO-Sees-Strong-Interest-For-Its-Cyber-Security-Solutions-DigitalSafe-PrivaTalk-and-Custodia--Protecting-US-Business-From-Cyber-Attacks
When two farmers in Chinas Hubei province decided to let their neighbors take a bag or two of their newly-grown white radishes, they had no idea it would cost them their entire 500 tonne harvest, or about $42,000 in cash.

Xu Jiuge, one of the farmers who suffered the shocking loss last month, told the Chutian Metropolis Daily newspaper that he and his partners decided to let their neighbors take a few radishes for home consumption after some of them praised their produce, saying that it tasted great in their winter soups. After all, they only had a few neighbors, and if each took a bag or two of radishes, it didnt really affect their hundreds of tonnes harvest. But what the farmers didnt expect was for their neighborly courtesy to turn into a free-for-all that not even the police could stop.

Photo: Weibo

The villagers told us the radishes we grew tasted great in their winter soups, and asked if it was OK to take a few, Xu Jiuge told Chinese reporters. They were our neighbors and we didnt think it was a big deal so we said they could pick some  but I dont know how it evolved into the rumor that all our radishes were free.

No one knows who made up the rumor that the farmers were giving away white radishes for free, but one thing is for sure  it spread like wildfire. By next day, the farmers fields were already overrun by people they had never seen before, some of whom had traveled a long way for some free radishes and would not be denied. The farmers tried calling the police, but there was only so much they could do to contain the masses.

Photo: Weibo

Most people came on Tuesday, from 7am to 10pm, there were people all over the field, Xu said. I estimated there were 3,000 people that day. Some of them had traveled from 120km away.

Some of the freeloaders even livestreamed their radish picking session on social media, inviting their friends to join them. There was nothing for the owners to do but sit and watch their 500 tonne harvest evaporate in front of their eyes. Their kindness only cost them $42,000 in losses Still, they werent too upset, telling reporters that they decided to see the whole thing as charity and move on, instead of filing a complaint and seeking compensation.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 16:36:17|Editor: huaxia

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China's Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Gao Feng reacts at a regular press conference in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 9, 2020. China will sign the phase one economic and trade agreement with the United States next week in Washington, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday. At the invitation of the U.S. side, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chief of the Chinese side of the China-U.S. comprehensive economic dialogue, will lead a delegation to visit Washington from Jan. 13 to 15, MOC spokesperson Gao Feng told a regular press conference. The two sides are in close contact for the arrangements of the signing of the agreement, Gao added. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- China will sign the phase one economic and trade agreement with the United States next week in Washington, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday.

At the invitation of the U.S. side, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chief of the Chinese side of the China-U.S. comprehensive economic dialogue, will lead a delegation to visit Washington from Jan. 13 to 15, MOC spokesperson Gao Feng told a regular press conference.

The two sides are in close contact for the arrangements of the signing of the agreement, Gao added.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, who is under fire from students, faculty members, members of the Opposition and activists, finally broke his silence and urged the students to put the past behind and return to the varsity premises.

"Our heart goes out to all the injured students. The incident (violence) is unfortunate," Kumar said in a brief statement.

"I would like to tell students that JNU campus is a secure place. I urge all students to come back to the campus. Let us put the past behind," the vice chancellor said.

After the attack, there has been a demand from numerous factions demanding his resignation and accusing him of being complicit in the targeted violence against students.

bccl

Addressing the media, Jagadesh Kumar said, "JNU is known for debate and mad discussion. What happened on Sunday was painful for all of us. The situation was brought under control after we called the police. Police are investigating if the attackers came from inside or outside and facts will come out."

Meanwhile, JNU Registrar, Pramod Kumar, said that the university will recover cost of the losses caused during vandalism.

JNU Registrar Pramod Kumar, on the other hand, said, "There have been heavy losses on the campus due to the vandalism. Those students who were involved in the vandalism will be identified and losses will be recovered from them."

bccl

He added, "University is an open space. We would like to allow free movement on the campus. Let the security personnel investigate the matter. We don't see students as two groups."

On the other hand, JNUSU said in a tweet: "Why has the administration not registered any complaint with Delhi Police regarding the January 5 violence where several students and faculties were attacked by the mob and university property was also damaged?"

The JNU administration lodged a complaint with Delhi Police regarding the vandalism in server room here the registration process was stopped.

bccl

While there have been zero arrests made in connection to the attack, the Delhi Police have lodged an FIR against JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh and 19 others.

Former finance minister and senior Congress leader, P Chidambaram today said that Kumar should follow his own advice and leave JNU.

"The VC of JNU wants students to 'put the past behind'. He should follow his advice. He is the past. He should leave JNU," Chidambaram tweeted.

The VC of JNU wants students to "put the past behind". He should follow his advice. He is the past. He should leave JNU.  P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) January 8, 2020

On Sunday evening, more than 30 students of the university including JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh were injured and were taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre after a masked mob entered the varsity and attacked them and professors with sticks and rods.
Rarely do relationships actually work in the world of The Real Housewives. Most women who start out on the show married, end up separating from their partners. The ones who do manage to find new romances while on the show, dont have a high success rate either.

When Cynthia Bailey first entered the world of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, she was getting ready to head down the aisle to marry Peter Thomas. Her family members were not too keen on the union but Bailey went through with it anyway. But six years later, their relationship came to an end.

Cynthia Bailey | JP Yim/Getty Images for FTM Fashion Week

This season on RHOA, fans got to watch Bailey get engaged to her beau Mark Hill. But have the two already secretly tied the knot?

Cynthia ends her marriage to Peter and gets engaged

Bailey and Thomas had been having more than a few rough patches in their marriage after Thomas was accused of cheating. Eventually, they decided to separate.

Peter and I are separated, Bailey told The Daily Dish in 2016. He lives in Charlotte, and I live in Atlanta. I am definitely taking some time to myself to figure out how I want to move forward. I dont want to rush into anything, so I think this time apart is good for us.

And I think the space apart, I think he can appreciate it as well. I think it gives people time to think and process and just move forward in a way that really is healthy for everyone involved.

She, then, started dating Hill and fell for him quickly.

I want to marry Mike, she told People in 2018. I love Mike. Hes my soulmate. We talk about getting married all the time.

You know, weve both been married before, so marriage is something we both understand, she continued. Were not jumping into this blind. We both have kids and we both love each other very much. We know marriage is the next step.

Are Mike Hill and Cynthia Bailey already married?

Hills proposal was shown on RHOA. But recently, pictures surfaced that had fans wondering if the pair had secretly gotten married.

Baileys agent, Nick Roses, told People that the pictures were just part of a photoshoot for Sophisticated Weddings.

Not to worry, this was merely a photoshoot in preparation for their big day! Roses said. Cynthia looked lovely today! Be sure to check out [the magazine] for Mike and Cynthias full photoshoot, coming soon.

What do we know about Cynthia Baileys wedding?

Bailey and Hill have already set their wedding date for Oct. 10 of this year.

I actually have to thank Kandi Burruss for helping us with the date, Bailey said on PEOPLE TVs Reality Check. We had been wanting to do it in October, but I didnt actually know when. We were actually in Greece, we were on the bus just bored and talking about wedding stuff. And she said, 10/10/20  like 20/20 vision. It falls on a Saturday. Its perfect. Perfect vision, perfect date. And our little mantra is, Were not perfect, but were perfect for each other. So it works.

But Bailey isnt sure if she will have bridesmaids or even if the RHOA women will be in attendance at all.

Im not wanting to have any bridesmaids, she said. Its a lot going on in the friendship department over here. Im trying to mend friendships, new friendships are blossoming. Well have to see what happens when we get to the reunion, who even makes it to the wedding. But its something we have to figure out because Mike really wants groomsman.
At the same time a handful - Diana, Fergie and, now, Meghan - wrestle with it. And for most of those, it is the institution which ultimately breaks them, not the other way around. In the ultimate aristocratic expression of you cannot have your cake and eat it too, you can always leave, but the titles, tiaras and the flag-waving adoration do not always go with you. Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, and the Duke of Windsor outside Government House in Nassau, the Bahamas, circa 1942. The Duke of Windsor served as Governor of the Bahamas from 1940 to 1945. Credit:Getty Images There are - in this rogues gallery of cabochon gemstone tiaras, quaint traditions and esoteric titles - few other outcomes. Illustration: Matt Golding Credit: Given the wording on their resignation post, not consulting the Queen might be seen as a surprising move by Harry and Meghan, given it is the Queen who sits at the apex of the institution the couple claim they hope to reform.

Its a bit like embarking on a taxpayer-funded 2.4 million($4.5 million) renovation of someones Grade II listed cottage and not asking permission first. But not consulting anyone? Thats frankly astonishing. Opinions on the couple are divided, particularly over the uneasy dance of a taxpayer-funded life of luxury which demands its pound of flesh in exchange, and the uncomfortable marriage of woke politics and private jet travel. To some, Meghan is seen as an ambitious American whose arrival and brand-focused Hollywood style has served to widen the gulf between Harry and his family. She has brought an American PR methodology to an antiquated British institution. That the system is rejecting change, like foreign antibodies in a blue bloodstream, is hardly surprising. Loading Nearly a century ago, in 1936, the then-King Edward VIII confirmed his plan to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson. It was a different era, where social custom dictated that Simpsons two previous marriages were a barrier to any thought of marriage to the reigning monarch.

The combination of political and religious tension over Mrs Simpsons past, and what was perceived as her unpopularity in the United Kingdom once news of the planned marriage broke, led to Edwards abdication and his journey into exile, initially in the Bahamas, and later in France. It became a figurative soap opera of titles denied - Mrs Simpson became the Duchess of Windsor, but was denied the style of Royal Highness - and bitter recriminations. It was felt the ascent to power hastened the death of Edwards brother, the Queens father, the late King George VI, for which the Windsors were never forgiven. And then, in Netflixs The Crown, it became a literal soap opera. But such comparisons are complicated by the fact that the destinies of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are substantially different. Edward was the King-Emperor, the centrepiece of a royal court which at that time carried a loud echo of the who-used-to-be-who and the whats-left of the British Empire. Harry and Meghans destiny, before or after their resignations, is substantially lesser. Born third in line to the throne, Harrys stake on the centrepiece of royal power diminishes with each new birth in his family, a ghoulish algorithm which requires each generation elevate to regal power only on the occasion of a parents death. Three Cambridge children later, Harry is now sixth in line and, as the children of William and Kate grow up, marry and have children of their own, the Sussexes will become the next generations Yorks, Wessexes, Gloucesters and Kents: royal cousins who serve as little more than bejewelled mannequins at state occasions.

Prince and Princess Michael of Kent arrive for the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Credit:AP Far from being the snub some sections of the media sought to believe it was, the absence of photos of Harry and Meghan from the Queens desk during her Christmas message was simply a statement about the power of continuity. The assembly of framed images - George VI, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, Charles and Camilla, and William and Kate - were an illustration of love, yes, but also of power. Lady Patricia Ramsay, formerly Princess Patricia, with her husband Captain Alexander Ramsay. And while the notion of an exiled Duke and his American wife might invite easy comparisons to the story of Edward and Wallis, in truth the more accurate historical comparison might be the story of Princess Patricia of Connaught who, in 1919, relinquished her royal titles so she could marry the naval commander Alexander Ramsay. As the youngest child of an Earl, Princess Patsy - the Princess Diana of her day - instead took her husbands title, effectively downgrading herself from a Royal Highness and Princess of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to the substantially lesser title of Lady Patricia Ramsay.
Photo: Nicole Baster/Unsplash

If you're a fan of the arts, mark your calendars: There's plenty to do when it comes to artsy events in Austin this week, from a wickedly wonderful musical to an improv show to a museum tour.

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.

Wizard of Oz the Musical

From the event description:

Theatre lovers: Gather the family for this production of the beloved tale. It's the story of a Kansas farm girl who travels over the rainbow to discover the magical power of home.

When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 7-10 p.m.

Where: Akins High School Theater, 10701 S. First St.

Price: $7 (Student Ticket); $10 (Adult)

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

The Art of Chad Smith

From the event description:

He's a six-time Grammy winner and an artist. Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith is embarking on a fine art tour this year. Don't miss the Austin premiere of his work this Saturday.

When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 6 p.m.

Where: 1009 W. Sixth St.

Price: Free

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

My Own Worst Enemy

From the event description:

"Your friends secretly hate you." "The cashier at H-E-B is judging your bulk gummy worms purchase." Watch the cast of "My Own Worst Enemy" bring these anxieties to life during improv comedy about relationships and what goes on inside our heads.

When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 8 p.m.

Where: 4803 Airport Blvd., Suite C

Price: $12

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Up to 56% Off Photography Courses from Manifold Photography

From the Manifold Photography deal description:

Calling all photographer enthusiasts! Classes currently being offered include digital photography course, flash and off camera lighting and custom photography classes. Beginners and advanced levels are welcome.

Where: Texas State Capitol, 1100 Congress Ave. (Meet Outside)

Price: $60 (52 percent discount off regular price); $100 (55 percent discount off regular price). More options available.

Story continues

Click here for more details, and to take advantage of this deal

Up to 40% Off at LBJ Presidential Library and Museum

From the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum deal description:

Explore nearly ten floors and learn about the 36th Presidents early life, political career, the Vietnam War and America's space program. Also, check out a 1960s replica of the Oval Office and recordings of President Johnson's phone calls with political leaders. Free admission for children under 12 and active duty military.

Where: 2313 Red River St., Central Austin

Price: $6 (40 percent discount off regular price) - Admission for One; $25 (37 percent discount off regular price) - Admission for Four

Click here for more details, and to score 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.
South Africa: President Ramaphosa lauds 2019 matric class

President Cyril Ramaphosa has congratulated the class of 2019 on achieving a 81.3% matric pass rate which is the highest since the advent of democracy in 1994.

These results are a triumph and a clear signal that governments substantial investment in education, in pupil and teacher support and in educational infrastructure is yielding results, said President Ramaphosa following the announcement of the national results of the 2019 National Senior Certificate (NSC) matric exams.

The results were released by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga on Tuesday evening at VodaWorld in Midrand. This is the first time the combined matric pass rate has breached the 80% threshold.

Motshekga announced that 787 717 candidates sat for the NSC examinations countrywide.

The 2019 pass rate represents a 3.1% improvement from 2018 when the national pass rate stood at 78.2%.

South Africans can be proud that education, like most aspects of our nations development, is on an upward trajectory which should inspire all of us to work together to accelerate and maintain excellence, said the President.

The results also revealed that there had been an increase in the number of female learners achieving bachelors passes.

There has also been an increase in the number of female learners achieving bachelors passes, the Eastern Cape recorded the highest improvement in the matric pass rate, and not one of the countrys 75 districts performed below 60% - these are stellar achievements, said President Ramaphosa.

The President noted that the increase in the matric pass rate in quintile one, two and three schools was indicative that the divide between so-called rich schools and poorer schools was steadily narrowing.

In announcing the results Minister Motshekga pointed to the increase in specialised schools offering subjects like agricultural studies and maritime studies as well as the introduction of subjects such as entrepreneurship into the national curriculum.

These are critical subjects that will enable us to meet the needs of our economy and prepare our young people for the workplace of the future: in this regard the Class of 2019 are pioneers, said the President.

Meanwhile the President has encouraged successful matriculants to take advantage of the diverse opportunities on offer in the higher education system as well as programmes for the development of entrepreneurship and self-employment.

To the Class of 2019, you have done yourselves proud and returned the investment made in you by your families, teachers, communities and mentors, he said.

Providing support to all learners

He also encouraged candidates who did not attain the Senior Certificate to make use of the Department of Basic Educations Second Chance programme.

Do not be discouraged, but courageously persevere towards your goals, said President Ramaphosa adding that government would continue to provide support to learners to complete their education.

Government will also address weaknesses in the system that result in high numbers of learners who enter the education system in Grade 1 and end up not completing their schooling.

President Ramphosa also urged learners across all grades to embrace learning as a lifelong and pleasurable pursuit that not only adds economic value and enhances employability, but enhances peoples outlook on life and their contribution to society beyond the world of work. SAnews.gov.za



This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Linford Owuo was found dead in his room

09.01.2020 LISTEN

Police at Manhyia Divisional Command in Kumasi have begun investigations into the mysterious death of a parliamentary hopeful of the NDC for Subin.

The partly decomposed body of 55-year-old Linford Owuo, also known as CD was found in his room at Fante New town on Wednesday.

Suspicious landlord and other neighbours had drawn police attention to a foul smell and hovering flies in front of his door.

Manhyia Divisional Commander, ACP Kwaku Buah, said police will rely heavily on a post-mortem to establish the cause of death.

We are waiting for the pathologists report which will come only after the post mortem has been done. Weve been assured that the post mortem will be done 9th January 2020.

In a press statement from the NDC Subin Constituency Secretary, Justice Anaman, he described Linfords demise as a sorrowful moment for the party.

"He was a committed and dedicated member of the party whose demise is devastating to the entire party within the Subin Constituency," the statement said.

---Myjoyonline
We all will experience it at some point, unfortunately: The older we get the more our brains will find it difficult to learn and remember new things. What the reasons underlying these impairments are is yet unclear but scientists at the Center for Regenerative Therapies of TU Dresden (CRTD) wanted to investigate if increasing the number of stem cells in the brain would help in recovering cognitive functions, such as learning and memory, that are lost during ageing.

To investigate this, the research group led by Prof. Federico Calegari used a method developed in his lab to stimulate the small pool of neural stem cells that reside in the brain in order to increase their number and, as a result, to also increase the number of neurons generated by those stem cells. Surprisingly, additional neurons could survive and form new contacts with neighbouring cells in the brain of old mice. Next, the scientists examined a key cognitive ability that is lost, similarly in mice and in humans, during ageing: navigation.

It is well known that individuals learn to navigate in a new environment in a different way depending on whether they are young or old. When young, the brain can build and remember a cognitive map of the environment but this ability fades away in older brains. As an alternative solution to the problem, older brains without a cognitive map of the environment need to learn the fixed series of turns and twists that are needed to reach a certain destination. While the two strategies may superficially appear similar, only a cognitive map can allow individuals to navigate efficiently when starting from a new location or when in need of reaching a new destination.

Would boosting the number of neurons be sufficient to counteract the decreasing performance of the brain in navigation and slow down this ageing process? The teams of Prof. Calegari (CRTD) together with Prof. Gerd Kempermann (German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases DZNE / CRTD) and Dr. Kentaroh Takagaki (Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg) found the answer to this challenging question and published it this week in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

The answer is "Yes": Old mice with more stem cells and neurons recovered their lost ability to build a map of the environment and remembered it for longer times making them more similar to young mice. Even better, when neural stem cells were stimulated in the brain of young mice, cognitive impairments were delayed and memory was better preserved over the entire course of the animal natural life.

In young individuals, a brain area called the hippocampus is crucial for remembering places and events, and is also responsible for creating maps of new environments. However, old individuals use other structures that are more related to the development of habits. It was very interesting to see that adding more neurons in the hippocampus of old mice allowed them to use strategies typical of young animals. It was not only about how fast they were learning but, rather, how different the learning process itself was ", explains Gabriel Berdugo-Vega, first author of the study.

"Also humans have a few stem cells in the brain and these stem cells are known to severely reduce in numbers over the course of life. Identifying the causes underlying cognitive deficits in ageing and rescuing them is crucial for our rapidly ageing societies. Our work demonstrates that age-related impairments can be rescued by hijacking the endogenous neurogenic potential of the brain, thus, rejuvenating its function. Being a human myself with my own stem cells and being the senior author of this study, I felt that I had a personal interest in this topic." says Prof. Federico Calegari, senior author of this study.

The research group of Prof. Federico Calegari focuses on mammalian neural stem cells in the context of development, evolution and cognitive function at the CRTD. The institute is the academic home for scientists from more than 30 nations. Their mission is to discover the principles of cell and tissue regeneration and leveraging this for recognition, treatment and reversal of diseases. The CRTD links the bench to the clinic, scientists to clinicians to pool expertise in stem cells, developmental biology, gene-editing and regeneration towards innovative therapies for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, haematological diseases such as leukaemia, metabolic diseases such as diabetes, retina and bone diseases.

###

This study was funded by TU Dresden / CRTD through the German Excellence Initiative, the German Research Foundation and a European grant from the H2020 programme. In addition, it was supported by the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, the Dresden International Graduate School for Biomedicine and Bioengineering (DIGS-BB) and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE).
LONDON and NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- K2 Intelligence, an industry-leading investigative, compliance, and cyber defense services firm, announced that Joanne Taylor has joined the firm as a Managing Director, resident in London. Ms. Taylor has 20 years of legal, investigations, and financial crime compliance experience which includes fraud risk management, anti-bribery and corruption, regulatory enforcement, and fraud investigations working within the financial and legal services industries. She will report to Darren Matthews, Executive Managing Director and regional head of Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

"I am delighted to welcome Joanne to K2 Intelligence. She has a deep understanding of the financial crime risk and compliance issues facing banking institutions today. Joanne is also a proven leader, adept at building and integrating anti-bribery and corruption investigative teams in order to drive strategy and develop solutions to complex problems," said Darren Matthews, Executive Managing Director and regional head of EMEA.

"Joanne's expertise, both investigative and legal, as well as her experience interfacing with regulators, will be an invaluable addition to assist our EMEA-based clients facing complex regulatory compliance and corruption issues," said Robert Brenner, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer for the firm.

Ms. Taylor joins K2 Intelligence from Deutsche Bank, where she served as Managing Director, Global Deputy Head of Anti-Fraud, Bribery, and Corruption. In this role she was responsible for global anti-fraud, bribery, and corruption (ABC) strategy, programs, and framework efforts, which included governance, policy, remediation, training and awareness, risk assessment, reporting, and whistleblowing, as well as fraud detection and monitoring strategy. She also regularly engaged with board members and senior management, regulators, regulatory monitors, and internal and external audit teams. As Managing Director, Head of Whistleblowing and Global Anti-Fraud, Bribery, and Corruption Investigations, she was responsible for all aspects of the bank's global whistleblowing program and cross-border investigations relating to fraud, bribery, and corruption. As Director, Regional Head of Anti-Fraud and Investigations, UK and CE-EMEA, she was responsible for internal and external fraud investigations, advising on fraud prevention and oversight of first-line fraud controls as well as interfacing with law enforcement. Ms. Taylor also led cross-border anti-money laundering investigations, briefing senior management and regulators.

Ms. Taylor has also held positions at UBS Investment Bank, where she served as Legal Counsel for the Regulatory Inquiries and Investigations Group and was EMEA Head of Research Compliance. While at UBS she handled regulatory enforcement matters with possible fines, led internal investigations into potential misconduct, dealt with hundreds of regulatory inquiries from regulators and exchanges, and was responsible for suspicious transaction and order reporting to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Ms. Taylor started her career as a Solicitor for Herbert Smith Freehills.

Click here for additional information on Joanne Taylor.

About K2 Intelligence Financial Integrity Network (FIN)

K2 Intelligence is an industry-leading investigative, compliance, and cyber defense services firm founded in 2009 by Jeremy M. Kroll and Jules B. Kroll, who is credited with originating the modern corporate investigations industry. Redefining 21st-century corporate intelligence, the firm combines subject-matter expertise with cutting-edge technology, bringing to bear the industry's best multidisciplinary teams to solve its clients' most difficult problems.

With offices in New York, London, Washington, DC, Madrid, Geneva, Los Angeles, and Chicago, K2 Intelligence advises governments, companies, boards, and individuals in business areas including investigations and disputes, regulatory compliance, cyber defense, construction and real estate, strategic risk and security, and private client services. With the addition of Financial Integrity Network (FIN) in 2019, the firm assists financial institutions, sectoral clients, and governments with strategic advisory, policy, controls, and training to protect against the full range of illicit financing threats.

For more information, visit www.k2intelligence.com.

CONTACT:

Paula Zirinsky

Global Chief Marketing Officer

pzirinsky@K2Intelligence.com

Lindsay Sweeney

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lsweeney@K2Intelligence.com

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BRIDGEPORT  A 77-year-old New York man was arrested Thursday after police said he sexually assaulted a 9-year-old girl who was visiting her grandparent at a Fairfield nursing home.

Dino Carlo Gioia was charged with third-degree sexual assault, risk of injury to a child, second-degree unlawful restraint and breach of peace.

Thursday afternoon, Gioia was brought before Superior Court Judge Tracy Lee Dayton, a judicial marshal supporting him under each arm.

Told by the judge that he will have to stay away from the victim and her family, Gioia responded, Im going to stay far away.

The judge ordered Gioia held in lieu of $100,000 bond due to the severity of the charges, and continued the case to Feb. 27.

Fairfield police said they responded to Regal Care of Southport numerous times regarding sexually involved behavior by Gioia, who had only been in the nursing home for a month, including complaints that he had touched the intimate parts of dementia patients and exposed himself. In one incident, police said, Gioia was accused of threatening to rape a female patient.

He was not arrested on those incidents.

On Dec. 24, police said the 9-year-old girl was visiting a grandparent at the nursing home with her mother when Gioia took the little girl around the waist, drew her to him and grabbed at her privates, telling her she was beautiful.

The mother yanked her daughter from Gioias grasp and reported the incident to nursing staff, police said.

This is the second time in a year that someone has been arrested on sexual assault charges at Regal Care of Southport.

In January 2018, Elias Saldana, 58, a former patient of Regal Care, was charged with sexually assaulting a bedridden non-verbal female patient.
Pretty much everyone in Japan loves hot springs, and hot springs can be found pretty much everywhere in Japan.

So if youare in a romantic relationship here, sooner or later you and your partner will probably be heading out to an onsen (as hot springs are called in Japanese) together.

But the question then becomes whether youall be in the onsen together. While the vast majority of hot spring bathing facilities in Japan are gender-segregated, a few still have konyoku baths, where men and women soak together. Konyoku hot springs are mainly found in especially remote rural areas, but what just about every moderate-sized or larger hot spring in Japan has are kashikiri baths, which you rent out for an additional fee for just you and your companionas private use.

To be clear, kashikiri baths arenat love hotel rooms, and doing the deed while in the water is a strictly prohibited faux pas. But even if your hands and hips arenat supposed to be busy, your eyes most likely will be, since in Japan you go into the hot spring naked. Even if youave been on a few dates, sharing a cozy-dimension tub for 30 minutes with no clothes on is its own unique sort of intimacy, so at what point in the relationship is it acceptable to say aHey, letas hop in the hot spring together?a
Headliners Shane Lowry and Tony Finau started slowly at the Hong Kong Open Thursday, with former champion Wade Ormsby setting the early pace as the tournament teed off six weeks after being postponed amid pro-democracy protests. Ormsby birdied three of the first five holes -- and added three more against a lone bogey -- to end with a five-under 65, hailing the "good vibes" at the historic Fanling course where he won his maiden European Tour title in 2017. Japan's Tomoharu Otsuki was also five under, while South Korea's Yikeun Chang and Australians Travis Smyth and David Gleeson were one behind and joint second. The tight fairways and breezy conditions challenged, with Open winner Lowry finishing at one under. "It was very, very tricky... anything in the 60s out there is pretty good," the Irishman said on his first return to the course in a decade. "I think I can build on that going forward." US big hitter Tony Finau was also subdued, finishing at one under but needing a spectacular save for par on the ninth after two misplaced shots. "Tomorrow I've got to hit a little bit better," he said, admitting there was a little bit of "rust" remaining from a break taken after the President's Cup in Melbourne. "My putter actually saved me. I probably could have hit one or two over today, so I'm happy to hit under par." Hong Kong-born amateur Alexander Yang -- who at 17 is the second youngest player in the tournament -- also ended one under after a birdie on the eighteenth. "I'm really happy at the way I played today. I hit the ball really well, really solid," he said. Thailand's Jazz Janewattananond bogeyed the ninth and the sixteenth and came in at two under. "I hit some shots where I thought I could pull it off, but I didn't pull it off," he said. The 24-year-old, whose stellar 2019 sees him head to the US Master in Augusta this April, failed to make the cut on both his previous two appearances in Hong Kong. India's Shiv Kapur also ended two-under-par. Organisers hope a successful staging of the Open will show that some normality is returning to the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, which has seen months of unrest and demonstrations. The tournament -- whose previous winners include Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose -- was originally slated for November, but was postponed as the finance hub wrestled with the often-violent protests. The rescheduled tournament is sanctioned by the Asian Tour but not the European Tour, which will resume its support when the event returns to its November slot later this year. The changed date also resulted in the loss of original headliners Patrick Reed, Henrik Stenson and Aaron Rai, the defending champion. Wade Ormsby of Australia had a share of the lead with a five-under-par 65 after the first round of the Hong Kong Open American Tony Finau was four shots behind the leaders after the first round of the Hong Kong Open Reigning Open champion Shane Lowry is making his first appearance in Hong Kong in a decade
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said evidence indicates an Iranian missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner and that the strike may have been unintentional.

Mr Trudeau said Canadian and allied intelligence supports that.

He declined to get into the intelligence.

Earlier, US officials said it was highly likely that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed the jetliner, killing all 176 people on board.

Expand Close Mourners place candles and photographs during a vigil outside the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton, Alberta, during a vigil for those killed after a Ukrainian passenger jet crashed (Codie McLachlan/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Mourners place candles and photographs during a vigil outside the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton, Alberta, during a vigil for those killed after a Ukrainian passenger jet crashed (Codie McLachlan/AP)

They suggested it could well have been a mistake.

At least 63 Canadians were on the plane.

It crashed just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic attack against Iraqi military bases housing US troops amid a confrontation with Washington over the US drone strike that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general.

At least 62 Canadians were among the 176 dead.

Mr Trudeau spoke at a news conference.
DUBLIN, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Industrial Sensors Market 2019-2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global industrial sensors market is projected to grow at a significant rate during the forecast period, owing to the increasing adoption of industrial robots and growing automation in manufacturing and various other industries.



Moreover, the indoor positioning systems (IPS) are increasingly deployed in the manufacturing sector for various purposes including tracking the record of the asset utilization, streamlining the production process and building quality controlled systems. The use of IPS enables a continuous determination of the real-time location of an object and provides an overview that when and how assets are used. Thus, the rising adoption of these technologies in manufacturing further increases the demand for industrial sensors.



Geographically, the global industrial sensors market is further classified into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest of the World. North America is anticipated to have a significant share in the global market. The factors contributing to the growth of the North American industrial sensors market include the significant adoption of wireless sensors for various industrial applications and considerable growth in Industrial 4.0 and IIoT.



Moreover, Asia-Pacific is estimated to exhibit considerable growth during the forecast period. The Asia-Pacific industrial sensors market growth is attributed to the increasing industrialization coupled with automation in the manufacturing sector in emerging economies.



The global industrial sensors market is influenced by product development and advancements conducted by the market players. The key players in the market include Honeywell International Inc., Rockwell Automation Inc., Siemens AG, STMicroelectronics International N.V., Texas Instruments Inc., Amphenol Corp., First Sensor AG, Panasonic Corp., Robert Bosch GmbH, among others.



These players are playing a significant role in the growth of the industrial sensors market by providing various products and adopting several strategies such as merger and acquisition, partnerships and collaboration, technological development, and others.



The report covers:

Comprehensive research methodology of the global industrial sensors market.

Includes a detailed and extensive market overview with key analyst insights.

An exhaustive analysis of macro and micro factors influencing the market guided by key recommendations.

Analysis of regional regulations and other government policies impacting the global industrial sensors market.

Insights about market determinants which are stimulating the global industrial sensors market.

Detailed and extensive market segments with regional distribution of forecasted revenues.

Extensive profiles and recent developments of market players.

Key Topics Covered



1. Report Summary

1.1. Research Methods and Tools

1.2. Market Breakdown

1.2.1. By Segments

1.2.2. By Geography



2. Market Overview and Insights

2.1. Scope of the Report

2.2. Analyst Insight & Current Market Trends

2.2.1. Key Findings

2.2.2. Recommendations

2.2.3. Conclusion

2.3. Rules & Regulations



3. Competitive Landscape

3.1. Company Share Analysis

3.2. Key Strategy Analysis

3.3. Key Company Analysis

3.3.1. Honeywell International Inc.

3.3.1.1. Overview

3.3.1.2. Financial Analysis

3.3.1.3. SWOT Analysis

3.3.1.4. Recent Developments

3.3.2. Rockwell Automation Inc.

3.3.2.1. Overview

3.3.2.2. Financial Analysis

3.3.2.3. SWOT Analysis

3.3.2.4. Recent Developments

3.3.3. Siemens AG

3.3.3.1. Overview

3.3.3.2. Financial Analysis

3.3.3.3. SWOT Analysis

3.3.3.4. Recent Developments

3.3.4. STMicroelectronics International N.V.

3.3.4.1. Overview

3.3.4.2. Financial Analysis

3.3.4.3. SWOT Analysis

3.3.4.4. Recent Developments

3.3.5. Texas Instruments Inc.

3.3.5.1. Overview

3.3.5.2. Financial Analysis

3.3.5.3. SWOT Analysis

3.3.5.4. Recent Developments



4. Market Determinants

4.1. Motivators

4.2. Restraints

4.3. Opportunities



5. Market Segmentation

5.1. Global Industrial sensors Market by Sensor Type

5.1.1. Flow Sensor

5.1.2. Pressure Sensor

5.1.3. Proximity Sensor

5.1.4. Level Sensor

5.1.5. Temperature Sensor

5.1.6. Image Sensor

5.1.7. Others (Humidity and Moisture Sensor

5.2. Global Industrial sensors Market by Vertical

5.2.1. Oil & Gas

5.2.2. Manufacturing

5.2.3. Chemicals

5.2.4. Pharmaceuticals

5.2.5. Energy & Power

5.2.6. Others



6. Regional Analysis

6.1. North America

6.1.1. United States

6.1.2. Canada

6.2. Europe

6.2.1. UK

6.2.2. Germany

6.2.3. Italy

6.2.4. Spain

6.2.5. France

6.2.6. Rest of Europe

6.3. Asia-Pacific

6.3.1. China

6.3.2. India

6.3.3. Japan

6.3.4. Rest of Asia-Pacific

6.4. Rest of the World



7. Company Profiles

7.1. Amphenol Corp.

7.2. ams AG

7.3. Endress+Hauser Management AG

7.4. Figaro Engineering Inc.

7.5. First Sensor AG

7.6. Honeywell International Inc.

7.7. NXP Semiconductors N.V.

7.8. OMEGA Engineering, a Spectris PLC Company

7.9. OMRON Corp.

7.10. Panasonic Corp.

7.11. Renesas Electronics Corp.

7.12. Robert Bosch GmbH

7.13. Rockwell Automation Inc.

7.14. Safran Colibrys S.A.

7.15. Sensirion AG

7.16. Siemens AG

7.17. STMicroelectronics International N.V.

7.18. TE Connectivity Ltd.

7.19. Teledyne Technologies Inc.

7.20. Texas Instruments Inc.



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New Delhi : After countries from the European Union reportedly said that they will not be part of a foreign delegation visiting Jammu and Kashmir on the Centre's initiative on Thursday, the government quickly got into the act by claiming that such claims were 'unfounded' and 'mischievous' and that the EU Ambassadors will undertake a trip to J&K at a later date.

According to sources in the government, reports that some EU Ambassadors didn't want to be part of the group of envoys visiting J&K due to certain restrictions in the programme were unfounded and mischievous.

Earlier it was reported that certain European envoys were not keen on a 'guided tour' of J&K and rather wanted to meet the people they wanted to interact with.

As things stand now, envoys from around 17 countries will be travelling to J&K on Thursday where they will meet civil society members and will be briefed on the security situation in the newly-formed Union Territory.

The countries include the US, Vietnam, South Korea, Brazil, Uzbekistan, Niger, Nigeria, Morroco, Guyana, Argentina, the Philippines, Norway, Maldives, Fiji, Togo, Bangladesh and Peru.

In October 2019, a delegation of European Parliamentarians had visited the Valley.

The sources in the government said that it wanted to take a global group of envoys to J&K with only some EU Ambassadors, and not all EU envoys were asked to join.

"EU envoys welcomed this initiative by the government. However, EU envoys wanted to visit J&K as a group, which was not possible to accommodate due to restrictions in numbers and to keep the group broad-based.

"Some EU Ambassadors conveyed that the visit was taking place at a short notice. The group was free to interact with people subject to security considerations. In any case, no Ambassador had specifically asked to meet anyone who was detained.

"It was therefore decided that a group of EU Ambassadors will undertake a trip to J&K at a later date," the government sources said.
Darien houses were robbed of a combined nearly $100,000 in goods after they were broken into while the owners were out of town.

At approximately 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 29, police responded to a St. Nicholas Road address for a burglary arm.

While checking the home, officers noticed that a rear window, leading into the kitchen, had been broken out. The homeowners were contacted who were able to grant access to the home through the garage. Officers swept the home for any suspects, finding none.

Officers noted that the second floor of the home had been ransacked. Clothing and other items were on the floor and doors, cabinets, and drawers were found open. Detectives responded to the scene to process for evidence. The homeowners stated they had left for travel on Dec. 26, and that they were on their way home. Once home, they were able to give officers an inventory of what had been stolen. The missing items, all pieces of mens and womens jewelry, were valued at a total of $50,570.

On Dec. 30, Darien Police responded to a Tokeneke Road address after a tree technician reported a sliding glass door was shattered.

The homeowners had departed on Dec. 1 and were not returning until April 1. Officers, as well as the Tokeneke Constable, checked the residence for any suspects, finding none.

The officers noted that the second story of the home had been ransacked, finding items on the floor and drawers and cabinets open. They also noted that all of the area rugs on the first and second floor had been partially flipped over. The owners were contacted and would return home the following day to determine what had been stolen. The residence had an alarms system, but the system had not been armed.

Detectives responded to process the scene for evidence. The homeowners would later give officers an accounting of the missing items which included jewelry, purses, handbags, and coins. The total loss to the homeowners was estimated to be $47,090.
MARION TOWNSHIP  A parcel of land in Marion Township in Sanilac County is related to the site where green ooze leaked onto a Detroit-area highway.

The land, which contains an abandoned home and construction vehicles, is owned by Gary Sayers, owner of a former Electro-Plating Services site in Madison Heights that had green toxic chemicals spilled onto Interstate 696 in Madison Heights in December.

The Sanilac County Office of Emergency Management said they received inquires about the site in question and contacted the Michigan Department of the Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) in order to look it over.

Todd Hillman, the director of Sanilac County Emergency Services, said the Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency visited the area. They will do a report with EGLE and figure out how to proceed.

Jill Greenberg, a public information officer for EGLE, said they visited the site in 2017 and found empty barrels, but no traces of hazardous waste at the property.

There was one empty barrel with a Tricholorothylene (TCE) sticker on it at the site, which is commonly used as an industrial solvent. Other news outlets reported it as one chemical in the ooze that spilled onto I-696.

Hillman said that barrel had been empty for a considerable amount of time.

If it was emptied to the ground, there wouldve been obvious signs, like killed vegetation, Greenberg said. Its common for people in chemicals to reuse barrels.

EGLE shut down the Electro-Plating Services plant in 2016 after regulators found numerous deteriorating drums and tanks with toxic chemicals stored inside. They were also reportedly stored in a pit dug into the ground on the site rather than being transported to a licensed hazardous waste facility.

Sayers was sentenced to a year and a day in prison in 2019 for storing hazardous waste without a permit and ordered to pay $1.45 million in restitution to the EPA for cleaning up the former plant. He was sent to a federal prison in West Virginia this week.

Marion Township reportedly did issue a blight citation against Sayers last year.

Shane Hernandez, the state representative whose district covers all of Sanilac County, issued a statement in response to this report.

I am outraged by this situation, Hernandez said. First we hear about the green ooze on I-696, now we see this alarming situation in Sanilac County. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars cleaning up the environment and protecting health. Citizens demand that their tax dollars are spent effectively to protect public health, and they expect the state to respond quickly and effectively any time public health may be jeopardized. It is my intent to ensure accountability so that happens.

Hernandez also said the state House Appropriations Committee plans on scheduling hearings about the matter, focusing on what state environmental quality officials knew about possible contaminations, when they knew, and what was done in response.

Sanilac County Emergency Management will provide more updates as they are made available.
Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra launched a campaign on Thursday to reforest the Machu Picchu archeological site in order to protect it from mud slides and forest fires. Vizcarra has pledged to plant one million trees in the 35,000-hectare protected archeological complex that features the stunning Inca citadel. "We're here to begin the planting of a million trees in the protected zone around the Machu Picchu sanctuary," said Vizcarra. The Machu Picchu estate -- which includes three distinct areas for agriculture, accommodation and religious ceremonies -- is the most iconic site from the Inca empire that ruled a large swathe of western South America for 100 years before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Vizcarra said the ambitious target of one million trees is "a commitment from the government, the region, the municipality and all the citizens who want to protect this world wonder." Environment ministry specialists evoked the need to plant trees to protect not only the sanctuary but also the protected ecological area's fauna and flora. The area is at risk of mudslides due to heavy rainfall in winter and forest fires in summer. It's the second such measure taken in the last eight months to protect Peru's most popular tourist destination. In May, Peru announced a restriction to three key areas of the site to prevent greater degradation: the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Condor and the Intihuatana Stone. Back in 2017, Peru limited visitor numbers to just under 6,000 a day in two waves. Machu Picchu, which means "old mountain" in the Quechua language indigenous to the area, is at the top of a lush mountain and was built during the reign of the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438-1471). It lies around 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Andean city of Cusco, the old Inca capital in southeastern Peru. It was rediscovered in 1911 by the American explorer Hiram Bingham. UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 1983. Around 1.5 million tourists a year visit the old Inca sanctuary of Machu Picchu in the Andes, the most iconic site in Peru
Ali Ndume, chairman, senate committee on army, says the problem of insurgency will continue in the north-east because of inadequate re...





Ali Ndume, chairman, senate committee on army, says the problem of insurgency will continue in the north-east because of inadequate resources and soldiers.





Boko Haram insurgents have sustained attacks on communities in the north-east region, causing thousands of citizens to flee their homes.





Borno and Adamawa are worst hit by the insurgency.





Speaking with the Punch on Wednesday, Ndume said the insurgency will persist unless the federal government deploys adequate resources and increases the number of soldiers in the area.





As long as the resources are not deployed in terms of what they would need, we would continue to have this (insurgency) challenge, he said. The challenge that the military have now is lack of resources and inadequate personnel.As long as the resources are not deployed in terms of what they would need, we would continue to have this (insurgency) challenge, he said.





They (federal government) have to do something urgently about that. In an operation like this, we have only 30, 000 soldiers on ground which is grossly inadequate.They (federal government) have to do something urgently about that.





Ndume said a lot of persons have been displaced, and that civilians in the affected communities have fled the area.





But he added that the government was making efforts to ensure the return of displaced citizens.





The governor is now appealing to the military to secure the areas so that the residents could return, he said. The civilians ran away because of the fears of what would happen to them. They refused to come back.The governor is now appealing to the military to secure the areas so that the residents could return, he said.





The residents of the affected local government areas in Borno State, taken over by the military following the Boko Haram attacks, have not started returning but the government is making efforts to ensure the return of the people.





The senator decried the abduction of Lawan Andimi, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Michika local government area in Adamawa by Boko Haram on Thursday.





He asked the military to do everything necessary to ensure that he is released and that normalcy returns in the affected communities and states.




- 65% of Kenyan respondents expressed confidence in US leader Donald Trump

- The figure put Kenya in third position out of the 33 countries that were polled

- However, only 29% of the respondents said they had faith in Trump's administration

- The survey was conducted in 2019 and so did not factor in the latest US-Iran conflict

At least 65% of Kenyans who were polled in a survey have high confidence in the US president Donald Trump's administration.

The poll which was conducted by Pew Research Center between May and October 2019, ranked Kenyan third after Israel and Philippines which came second and first respectively.

READ ALSO: Parents abandon two children inside house while escaping from landlord

The ranked Kenyan third after Israel and Philippines which came second and first respectively. Photo: BBC News.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Picha ya wanafunzi wa Pembroke House wakiripoti shuleni wakitumia ndege yazua gumzo

A total 37,000 nationalities from 33 countries took part in the exercise according to BBC News.

Only 29% of the countries surveyed expressed confidence in Trump and the poor rating was attributed to opposition to the president's foreign policy on tariffs, climate and immigration.

Poll shows Trump the most loved among the five world leaders. Photo: BBC News.

Source: UGC

In the US, the first time leader is gaining popularity which significantly dwindled upon assuming office in 2017.

"Favourable opinion of the US declined dramatically when Trump took office and remains significantly lower than during the Obama era. There have been some increases in favourable views of the US which may be driven at least in part by increased favourability among supporters of right-wing populist groups in some nations," the pollster explained.

President Uhuru Kenyatta in chit chat with his US counterpart during the US tour in August 2018. Photo: Uhuru Kenyatta.

Source: UGC

The US leader's popularity soared in the UK, India, Ukraine and Russia thus beating German chancellor Angella Merkel, French leader Emmanuel Macron, Vladimir Putin of Russia and China's Xi Jinping.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

The Blind Tailor, I don't want people to pity me. I want them to be encouraged by my story | Tuko TV.

Source: TUKO.co.ke
Gladys Berejiklians announcement of $1 billion over two years to fund new infrastructure in bushfire-ravaged areas of NSW will provide a significant economic boost to those regions.

But that is hardly the point.

And making the announcement is the easy part; making sure the money is spent in a timely and efficient manner is the harder task.

To provide some context for the billion dollar figure, the NSW government has embarked on a record $97 billion infrastructure spending spree over this and the coming three financial years.
Justin Trudeau  whose nation lost 63 citizens in the loss of Ukrainian International Airlines flight 752  has said intelligence indicates it was most likely shot down by an Iranian missile.

As unidentified US and British officials said it appeared the plane was shot down by Tehran, most likely in an accident, Mr Trudeau stood before the cameras to call for a full investigation, and to reveal what he had been told by intelligence officials.

We have intelligence from multiple sources... the intelligence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, he said. This may well have been unintentional.

He added: The intelligence evidence suggests very clearly a possible and probable cause for the crash.

British prime minister Boris Johnson, later echoed Mr Trudeaus comments. There is now a body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian Surface to Air Missile. This may well have been unintentional, he said in a statement, adding that four Britons were among the 176 people who lost their lives.

Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Show all 18 1 /18 Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran People stand near the wreckage after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran People and rescue teams are pictured amid bodies and debris All 176 people on board a Ukrainian passenger plane were killed when it crashed shortly after taking off, Iranian state media reported ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran One of the engines State news agency IRNA said 167 passengers and nine crew members were on board the aircraft operated by Ukraine International Airlines Iran Press via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Rescue teams work at the scene AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Passengers' belongings West Asia News Agency via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Members of the International Red Crescent collect bodies of victims EPA Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Rescue teams work amidst debris AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran A relative of a victim reacts at Boryspil International Airport, outside Kiev Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Part of the wreckage Iran Press via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran West Asia News Agency via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Officials inspect the wreckage EPA Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP

The comments of the two leaders come after remarks from anonymous Western officials suggesting Flight 752 had been shot down by the Iranians, apparently in error, on the night they launched ballistic missiles on US-Iraqi bases in Iraq, and may have been anticipating a possible reprisal from Washington.

Donald Trump said the plane was flying in a rough neighbourhood, and that something very terrible happened.

Adding to the growing evidence, the New York Times published video footage it said appears to show an Iranian missile hitting a plane close to Tehrans airport at the same time Flight 752 stopped transmitting its radio signal.

A small explosion occurred when a missile hit the plane, but the plane did not explode, the video showed, the newspaper said.

The jet continued flying for several minutes and turned back towards the airport.

The developments came as tensions between the US and Iran had appeared to ease, after Mr Trump on Wednesday indicated Washington was not planning further military operations, following the targetted assassination of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani.

 Video purports to show moment Ukrainian airliner is hit by missile over Iran

When Iran responded by firing missiles at two bases used by US troops in norther Iraq, there as widespread concern the situation may rapidly escalate. It remains to be seen how Iranian responsibility for the downing of Flight 752  if Tehran was responsible, impacts the already tense situation.

If confirmed, the planes downing would darkly echo an incident from three decades ago, when a US ship,USS Vincennes, accidentally downed an Iranian passenger plane with the loss of 290 lives during another period of conformation between the two nations.

Earlier, Ukraines top security official said that a missile strike was considered to be one of the main working theories for the crash.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraines Security Council, said officials were in Iran with a brief to look for any possible missile debris or evidence of a rocket strike.

A rocket strike, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main working theories, since there is information on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash, he said.

Philip Ingram, a former British military intelligence officer, explained the possible delay in the US releasing its conclusions by saying announcing a working confirmation could be a way of releasing very classified info without giving your capability away.

If the missile was of a certain size then the US has a satellite network that will pick up any launch, he said. I

rans head of civil aviation, Ali Abedzadeh, was quoted by ISNA News Agency as saying that it was impossible that a missile hit the Ukrainian plane. How can a plane be hit by rocket or missile [and then the pilot] try to turn back to the airport?

Speaking in Ottawa, Mr Trudeau demanded a full investigation and that he had spoken with Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Zarif. He also spoke to Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky

I made it clear that Canadian officials must be granted access to Iran...to...participate in a thorough investigation, he said.

What happened yesterday was a tragedy...that shocked not only Canada, but the world.
Chaotic scenes of violence broke out across France on Thursday, with police firing pepper spray at protesters, as strikes against Emmanuel Macron's proposed pension reforms entered their 36th day.

Trade unions led doctors, lawyers, teachers and others in marches after negotiations with the government failed to end the stand-off.

Protests were staged in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and other French cities, marking the fourth day of major demonstrations since the strikes began on 5 December.

Clashes between police and protesters were once again shared across social media, with police appearing to use pepper spray outside a school in Chalon-sur-Saone in Burgundy.

A protester was also injured in Rouen after reportedly being struck on the head with a police baton.

France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Show all 18 1 /18 France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Nantes Protestors disperse as tear gas is fired by French police during a demonstration on day 36 of a nationwide multi-sector strike over French government's plan to overhaul the country's retirement system in Nantes AFP via Getty France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Protestors face off with French Gendarmes in Nantes The French President's push for sweeping changes to the pension system has unleashed the longest transport strike in France in decades, causing weeks of travel chaos AFP via Getty France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Paris Protesters burn flares AFP via Getty France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Nantes French police use a water canon on people protesting AFP via Getty France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Paris AFP via Getty France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Paris A protestor is arrested by riot police AP France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Paris Protesters burn blue flares and wave a French flag AFP France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Nantes A protestor throws a rock towards French police AFP via Getty France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Lyon A picture of French President Emmanuel Macron burns during a demonstration AP France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues A woman reacts after tear gas was fired by riot police officers AP France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Paris AFP via Getty France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Paris A protester wearing a mask depicting French President Emmanuel Macron holds a spectre and a placard reading "Welcome to Macronia" AFP via Getty France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Paris A smashed window during a demonstration AP France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Paris Protestors clash with riot police officers AP France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Paris Protesters hold a banner reading 'People want the withdrawal of the reform' EPA France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Nantes French CGT dock workers on strike Reuters France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Protesters react AFP via Getty France strikes: Chaotic scenes as unrest continues Riot police officers clash with protestors AP

Disruption of regional, national and international train services continued, while Paris metro traffic was halted for most of the day on all but two lines.

The transport strikes, which are now entering their sixth week, are the longest since the national rail operator, SNCF, was established in 1938. Millions of passengers have been affected and the company has lost hundreds of millions of euros in revenue.

Under President Macron's reforms, France's 42 different pension schemes would be unified into a single, universal system. However, critics say it will force many people to work longer for less.

The most controversial part of the reforms is the plan to raise the full retirement age from 62 to 64, which the prime minister, Edouard Philippe, claims is necessary in order to balance the pension budget.

A new round of negotiations between the trade unions and the government will begin on Friday, with the president calling for a quick compromise to end the deadlock.

Macron made the reforms a key part of his electoral campaign when he came to power in 2017 and has so far offered little compromise on the key proposals. The strike action has united the country's far left and far right in opposition, as well as drawing in nearly every sector of society.

Lawyers symbolically threw off their robes and blocked the entrance to the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Nanterre on Thursday, while similar action took place in cities across France.

On Wednesday, firefighters sprayed foam over the town hall in Le Havre, where Mr Philippe served as mayor between 2012 and 2017.
Gangster Ejaz Lakdawala, wanted in several cases of extortion and attempt to murder, has been arrested by the Mumbai police's Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) after being on the run for two decades, a top official said on Thursday.

Lakdawala, 50, was detained at Patna by the AEC with the help of Bihar Police on Wednesday, Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve told reporters here.

As he called and threatened builders in Mumbai, seeking protection money with impunity, the police were trying to hunt him down for the last many years. Finally, the arrest of his daughter led to a break-through, officials said.

Once a close aide of gangster Dawood Ibrahim, Lakdawala was wanted in at least 27 cases in Maharashtra, including 25 in Mumbai, Barve said, adding that as many as 80 people had filed complaints against him.

After being brought here, he was produced in a Mumbai court which remanded him in police custody till January 21.

In May 2004, Lakdawala was arrested by Canadian Police in Ottawa but was released later. A few years ago he was believed to be somewhere in North America, though he visited South East Asia often.

A Red Corner Notice seeking help from the agencies in other countries to nab him had been issued against him.

"Our efforts gained momentum after the arrest of Lakdawala's daughter Shifa Shahid Shaikh at Mumbai Airport on December 28 when she was travelling to Nepal on a fake passport," said Joint Commissioner of Police Sanjay Saxena.

From her, the police got some important information, following which he was nabbed from Jakkanpur near Patna, Saxena said.

Lakdawala was arrested in connection with a complaint filed with the AEC by a businessman from Khar in Mumbai. His daughter was arrested in the same case.

After falling out with Dawood Ibrahim, Lakdawala started operating with Dawood's aide-turned-foe Chhota Rajan. In 2008 he parted ways with Rajan and started operating independently, Saxena said.

"We have information that he stayed in Canada, Malaysia, USA, London and Nepal," the officer said.

According to another official, to evade arrest as well as a possible attack by the Dawood gang, he kept moving from one country to another for nearly two decades.

In 2002, while he was with Rajan in Bangkok, Lakdawala was attacked by Chhota Shakeel gang members.

The assailants shot him seven times, but as the incident took place near a hospital, Lakdawala got medical help immediately and survived the attack, the official said.

In the last few years, he targeted builders in Mumbai for extortion, the official said. Lakdawala was tech savvy, and used social media apps to make extortion calls which made it difficult for the police to trace their origin, he added.

His brother Akil was arrested in February 2019.

Shifa, who was born in Mumbai but studied in Nepal, used to visit her grandmother who lives in Mahim in Central Mumbai. Shifa would travel using a fake passport, the official said.

She was arrested from the airport by AEC team led by senior inspector Ajay Sawant and inspector Sachin Kadam on December 28. The information she gave during questioning finally led the police to her father.

According to the police, Lakdawala committed his first crime during his school days when he allegedly stabbed a teacher with a measuring compass.

In 1987, he was held for robbery by Dongri police here and sent to a children's home.

He came in contact with Rajan's close aide Kashi Pashi, who was in the cable business. The two were allegedly involved in the murder of the son of a corporator in 1989.

In 1998 Lakdawala allegedly shot the brother of one of the accused in the Mumbai blasts case and was arrested.

But he managed to flee from the J J Hospital here and since then he was on the run.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Palmdale, CA (93550)

Today

Mostly clear. Low around 30F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Stronger winds in and below canyons and passes..

Tonight

Mostly clear. Low around 30F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Stronger winds in and below canyons and passes.
B ritish Airways chief executive Willie Walsh will retire on June 30, ending a 15-year career with the group, the airline's owner International Airlines Group has said.

Mr Walsh, who orchestrated the creation of International Airlines Group (IAG) through the merger of British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia, will step down from the role and board of IAG on March 26 and retire on June 30.

He will be succeeded by Iberia chief executive Luis Gallego.

Mr Walsh said: "It has been a privilege to have been instrumental in the creation and development of IAG.

"I have had the pleasure of working with many exceptional people over the past 15 years at British Airways and at IAG."

Walsh said his role had been 'a privilege' / AFP/Getty Images

He added: "Luis has been a core member of the team and has shown true leadership over the years and I have no doubt he will be a great CEO of IAG."

Mr Walsh said: "It has been a privilege to have been instrumental in the creation and development of IAG.

"I have had the pleasure of working with many exceptional people over the past 15 years at British Airways and at IAG."

He added: "Luis has been a core member of the team and has shown true leadership over the years and I have no doubt he will be a great CEO of IAG."

Mr Walsh became chief executive of British Airways in 2005 and then led its merger with Iberia in 2011.

IAG chairman Antonio Vazquez said: "Under Willie's leadership IAG has become one of the leading global airline groups.

"Willie has been the main driver of this unique idea that is IAG."

He praised Mr Walsh's "strong leadership and clear vision".

"I am deeply respectful of what he has achieved as CEO of this group, of his sense of fairness, his transparency and his capacity to integrate people regardless of nationalities or backgrounds," added Mr Vazquez.

Mr Gallego also has a long career in the airline industry under his belt, having started with Air Nostrum in 1997 and heading Iberia since 2014.

Mr Vazquez said the Iberia boss had led a "profound transformation" at the airline over his time in charge.

On his upcoming role at IAG, Mr Gallego said: "It is a huge honour to lead this great company.
YEREVAN.  The Ministry of Health of Armenia is not making any financial savings with the decision to close the Maralik maternity hospital. Health Minister Arsen Torosyan told this to reporters today.

The minister said that it was back in mid-2018 that it had been decided to review the status of all organizations providing birth assistance in the country.

"Before, ministerial orders for granting degrees were issued without any justification," he said. These degrees implied differences in financial compensation

"The number of births and the number of medical interventions is directly proportional to the quality of these services, it is an axiom in health care."

Torosyan emphasized that the same can be applied to birth assistance, where there is an issue of preventing infant and maternal mortality.

"Based on this principle, it was decided that the lowest threshold would be 150 births," he added. Overcoming those 20 or 30 kilometers is easier than saving a childs life in a difficult situation. (...) In the case of Maralik, the nearest is the Artik [medical] center, which is directly 15 kilometers from Maralik."

As reported earlier, demonstrators had closed the communitys national highway in protest against the closure of the Maralik maternity hospital. Shirak governor Tigran Petrosyan had met with them, urging them to reopen the road. They eventually reopened the road, as the closure of this maternity hospital shall be discussed at the Shirak provincial hall. The protesters said if it is decided that the maternity hospital shall be closed, they would close the road again. The demonstrators will await the outcome of this discussion.
The Ukrainian Airlines flight that crashed in Tehran on January 8 had 63 Canadians among the 176 passengers who died in the accident. According to reports, a newlywed couple was among the 63 victims of the crash. President of the Iranian Heritage Society of Edmonton, Reza Akbari, said that the newlyweds Arash Pourzarabi and Pouneh Gourji were graduate students from the University of Alberta, Canada and had come to Iran to get married.

Newlyweds among 63 Canadians killed in plane crash

Akbari said that Arash and Pouneh were on board with 4 people from their wedding party and 24 other people belonging to the Canadian City of Edmonton. According to reports, another newly married couple Siavash Ghafouri Azar and Sara Mamani were also one of the victims in the plane crash.

While talking to an international media outlet, a friend talked about one of the victims Alvand Sadeghi who had played music for guests at his wedding. Both Sadeghi and his wife died along with his sister and her daughter.

While talking to reporters, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that there was an expectation that Canada would be a part of the investigation involving the crash. According to reports, the Ukrainian Airlines crash consisted of the biggest Canadian casualties since the 1985 Air India accident that claimed the lives of 268 Canadians.

Read: Ukraine President's Tribute To Crash Victims

Read: Ukraine PM Says Envoys Working With Iran On Plane Crash

Ukraine International Airlines releases statement

A statement by Ukraine International Airlines read "the airline while operating flight PS752 from Tehran to Kyiv disappeared from the radars just after few minutes it took off from Tehran International Airport". The statement further added that "the aircraft departed from Tehran International Airport at 6:10 am (Iran local time)." According to reports, there were 176 passengers and 9 crew members aboard the flight. The UIA officials are currently clarifying the exact number of passengers aboard, the statement read.

Ukraine International Airlines issued a press statement on the #PS752 accident: pic.twitter.com/uvE6F0QEI8  Aviation Safety Net (@AviationSafety) January 8, 2020

According to media reports citing Ali Kashani, a senior public relations official at the airport, the plane was heading towards Kyiv and had 167 passengers and nine crew on board. The Boeing 737 took off early December 8.

After a Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed in Iran on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for an end to speculation over the reason behind the plane crash. Many rumours have been doing the rounds regarding the connection of the current US-Iran impasse to the UIA plane crash. Revealing that all passengers and crew members on board were believed to have died, he expressed his condolences to their family members. Moreover, he cut short his Oman visit and is on the way back to Ukraine.

On Facebook, the Ukrainian President said, "I ask everyone to keep from speculating and putting forth unconfirmed theories about the crash. According to preliminary data, all passengers and crew members are dead. Our embassy is verifying information on the circumstances of the tragedy and the lists of the dead. My condolences to the families of passengers and crew members."

Read: Ukraine International Airlines Suspends All Operation In And Out Of Tehran After Crash

Read: Ukraine Official: No Theory On Cause Of Crash Yet

(With inputs from agencies)
Iran Gov't spox hails IRGC attack on US base

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Jan 8, IRNA -- Iranian Government spokesman Ali Rabiei in a message welcomed the recent attack conducted by the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) on the US Ain-Assad base in Al-Anbar, Iraq.

In his message, Rabiei hailed the IRGC forces for their successful operation and underlined the Iranian government's support for them.

He noted that the IRGC has given a legitimate response to from exactly to the point from which the US started the assault.

We have not been after waging war, but we will give more crushing response to any other aggression.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) targeted the US airbase of Ain al-Assad in Al-Anbar province in western Iraq on Wednesday.

The IRGC said in a statement that it would release more details about the strike.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei commented on the martyrdom of the great commander of the IRGC's Quds Forces and said harsh and severe revenge is awaiting the criminals.

Earlier, Iran's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Majid Takht Ravanchi in a letter to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres underlined Iran right to self-defense against any threat.

"In conformity with international law and in exercising its inherent right to self-defense, Iran will take all necessary and proportionate measures against any threat or use of force," Takht Ravanchi said in his letter.

9376**1424

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TAMPA, FL / ACCESSWIRE / January 9, 2020 / Nick Stroboulis is the owner of Bella's Cleaning Service, Inc., a commercial cleaning service. As someone with experience in the industry, he knows which questions customers should ask before hiring a professional commercial cleaner.

How Do You Select Your Employees?

Nick Stroboulis mentions that before hiring a professional commercial cleaner, they should ask if the company performs background checks. After all, commercial cleaners will have access to the company's office space and belongings. It's essential to know the cleaning company takes care of hiring only reliable individuals.

Do You Have Insurance?

Most businesses and commercial spaces have expensive equipment, such as computers, machinery, and valuable furniture. Those who plan on hiring a commercial cleaner should make sure the company is insured before hiring them. If there's any damage done to the property or the business, it's great to know the cleaner company has insurance.

What are the Rates?

Nick Stroboulis advises that before a company hires a commercial cleaner, they should find out everything they need about the rates. Instead of just finding out how much they charge for one visit, the person doing the hiring should learn about possible packages and other discounts. Before hiring a commercial cleaner, they should find out as much as they can about pricing.

Will You Bring Your Supplies?

Nick Stroboulis mentions that some companies like to hire commercial cleaners because they bring all of the supplies. When they're in the process of hiring a commercial cleaner, the company should find out if the cleaner will bring everything they need. Cleaning a commercial space often requires a vacuum cleaner, solutions, and other chemicals. If some people in the office have specific allergies, they might want to supply the supplies for the cleaner.

How Much Experience Do You Have?

Before hiring a commercial cleaner, it's crucial to find out how long they have been in business. While there's nothing wrong with hiring a new business, it's essential to know they know what they're doing. If the company is newer, there's nothing wrong with asking a few more questions about their experience.

Will You Provide a Contract?

Nick Stroboulis also recommends finding out if the commercial cleaning company will provide a contract. It's best to hire a company that will lay it all out in writing. Having a contract is the best way to avoid any misunderstandings in the future.

Nick Stroboulis currently lives in Florida with his wife. He has a long business career as a business owner. He owned Main Street Bail Bonds, and New Jersey Fugitive Recovery Group. Nick Stroboulis also worked for American Express Co., Airlines Reporting Corp, and Arpol Travel Agency.

CONTACT:

Caroline Hunter

Web Presence, LLC

+1 7865519491

SOURCE: Web Presence, LLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/572613/Questions-to-Ask-Before-Hiring-a-Commercial-Cleaning-Service-According-to-Nick-Stroboulis
KYIV. Jan 9 (Interfax-Ukraine)  The amicable agreement signed by Ukraine and Russia's Gazprom late December 2019 does not foresee the return of assets seized earlier under the decision of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to the Russian company, Executive Officer of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy Yuriy Vitrenko has said.

"Within the framework of this settlement, Gazprom refused this compensation [in a lawsuit filed with the international tribunal for seized property]. It agreed that the value of its assets seized in Ukraine will never be returned and compensated. This story came to a close," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

As reported, the Antimonopoly Committee in January 2016 decided to fine Gazprom UAH 85.966 billion for abuse of its monopoly of the Ukrainian market for transit shipments of natural gas. On April 21, 2017, Ukraine's Justice Ministry initiated the execution of the ruling to collect the fine, a penalty, execution and court fees via freezing of assets of Gazprom in Ukraine. Gazprom's efforts to challenge these steps were a failure.

On October 25, 2018, Gazprom, in accordance with UNCITRAL arbitration rules, has initiated an arbitration settlement against Ukraine with the goal of safeguarding its interest on its territory in connection with Ukraine, in the form of the Antimonopoly Committee, has groundlessly and unjustly levied a fine against Gazprom amounting to more than $6 billion (including penalties) for supposedly abusing its monopoly position on the Ukrainian gas transit market.

The dispute of Gazprom with Ukraine on a $6 billion fine imposed by Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine was to be heard in Geneva.

At the end of December 2019, Gazprom and Ukraine's Justice Ministry concluded an irrevocable amicable agreement, which envisages termination of any current and possible future claims of Ukraine v. Gazprom based on the decision of the Ukrainian Antimonopoly Committee, which obliged the Russian side to pay a $7.4 billion fine.
When we imagine Ned Kellys accent, we think of a bloke with a strong Irish brogue  addressing his gang like the leader of a revolution.

But hang on, wasnt Ned Kelly born in Australia?

What was that, Ned? Ned Kelly fanatics disagree over what accent the bushranger had.

Yes, his birthplace was the small town of Beveridge, 50 kilometres north of Melbourne. So perhaps we should be thinking of a country drawl, or a bogan twang.

Its a hot topic among Kelly fanatics, and is set to fire up due to the release of the latest film inspired by the famous bushranger.
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Jan. 9

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov has received Israeli Ambassador Moshe Kimchi, who is completing his diplomatic mission in the country, Trend reports referring to Turkmen Foreign Ministry.

The minister thanked the diplomat for his productive activities during the period of work in this position and great contribution to the strengthening of Turkmen-Israeli cooperation.

At this stage, the two countries are negotiating the prospects for cooperation in the field of economics, business, energy, tourism and education. Israel offers its services in the field of purification, desalination and rational use of water resources.

In the past, Israel took an active part in the reconstruction of Turkmenistans biggest oil refinery near the Caspian Sea. Israeli companies were also actively involved in the Turkmen agricultural sector.

In September last year, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, in a letter to his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, expressed hope for the Turkmen presidents visit to Israel.
BRIDGEPORT  City School Board Chair Jessica Martinez told a judge on Thursday that she has learned her lesson.

Superior Court Judge Eugene Calistro dismissed the charges of attempted second-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment and violating previous conditions of release against the newly elected Martinez after she completed a 20-week pre-trial domestic violence education program.

Her lawyer, Dennis Bradley, showed the judge the certificate his client had earned.

She was involved in a relationship with a person who has a lengthy criminal record. She was bravely defending herself against his attacks, Bradley said as he and Martinez left the Golden Hill Street courthouse. She participated in the program and completed it and that is a testament to the strong woman she is.

Martinez was arrested after police said she got into two disputes with her former boyfriend early last year. State prosecutors also agreed to drop related motor vehicle charges.

She was involved in a volatile relationship with another person and she made her own choices, Senior Assistant States Attorney Kevin Dunn told the judge. But she did complete the program and, as in similar cases, the state is not opposing a dismissal of the charges.

Ms Martinez has done well in the program, added the judge before dismissing the charges.

Bradley said Martinez is also working to settle an eviction case brought against her by her landlord.

Martinez is the third member of the citys Board of Education to face criminal charges within a years time.

Last month, board member Chris Taylor was arrested after Seymour police said he and his wife posed as police officers and attempted to kidnap her adult son at gunpoint. Taylor is going to be in court on that case next week.

Maria Pereira, who won election to the city council, had been arrested following a disturbance at a meeting in Success Village and later following an alleged confrontation with a former school official. She was acquitted in the first case and the second case was dismissed after prosecutors decided not to pursue it.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio collected close to $54 million in civil and criminal cases during fiscal year 2019, according to a news release.

Prosecutors collected the money through fines and restitution, as well as through civil cases brought by federal prosecutors in Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown and Toledo. The release says that more than $32.8 million came from criminal cases, while $6.4 million came from civil cases.

Prosecutors also collected $14.6 million in asset forfeitures, the release says. That total includes money and assets the government seized in criminal and civil cases.

The governments civil asset forfeiture process allows authorities to seize assets when it suspects a person obtained money or property illegally. Civil liberties groups have said the process is ripe for abuse, as it allows officials to seize money from people who were never convicted or even charged with a crime.

The release says that local prosecutors also worked with other wings of the Justice Department to collect an additional $1.2 million.

The federal government's fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.

These figures represent money returned to the United States through the hard work and outstanding effort of our employees and law enforcement partners, U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said in the release. Whether we are representing the United States in a criminal or a civil action, we will always seek to maximize the financial interests of our country in resolving these cases.

The money collected is used to compensate crime victims, as well as state and local law enforcement agencies. The rest is returned to the U.S. treasury.
"It's increasingly embroidered," said Sally Bedell Smith, the Washington-based biographer of Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana. "Really, whole cloth in some places." Illustration: Matt Golding Credit: In the episode Margaretology, Princess Margaret attends a White House dinner with President Johnson, disses Jacqueline Kennedy, tries to drink the president under the table and recites bawdy limericks. "They twist them around to make them whatever they want them to be," said Hugo Vickers, author of a new book titled The Crown Dissected. "I don't mind Edward and Mrs Simpson," he said, referring to a now-ancient TV miniseries about the abdication of King Edward VIII, the queen's uncle. "But the queen is still head of state. It's too close." Vickers is not alone. Unlike other biographical dramas about the royals, The Crown has engendered a cottage industry in the forensic examination of storylines as journalists and longtime close chroniclers of the Windsors seek to separate what is known from what is depicted.

Other biographical dramas have not engendered such scrutiny. Why? Vickers and others say that because it is based on real and famous people, because the production values are so rich and convincing and the writing and acting so polished, viewers are unable to distinguish what is real from what is embellished. The show's creator, Peter Morgan, works in a continuum from known fact to pure fantasy but in a such seamless fashion that the viewer doesn't know, or even care, which is which. Loading Smith says she has given more than 100 talks across the United States for her biography of Prince Charles, published in 2017. "Practically the entire Q and As are devoted to The Crown. They take it as gospel. I can't walk into a room without spending the evening explaining it. It's quite an extraordinary phenomenon." Morgan has built his career as a dramatist on the royals. He wrote the screenplay to The Queen, the 2006 movie starring Helen Mirren set at the time of Princess Diana's shocking death and Elizabeth's halting reaction to it  seen as one of the few missteps in a reign of nearly 68 years. Mirren won an Oscar for her performance. Morgan also created The Audience, a hit play in which he imagines the private meetings held each week between the queen and the prime minister. Boris Johnson is just the latest. She has worked with 14, including Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.

Lacey says it's the power of storytelling that breathes life into history, using what he calls "legitimate invention." Loading He points to the scene in The Queen when Elizabeth is stranded alone in the Scottish Highlands and comes face to face with a buck, crowned with antlers. Such a deer was captured in a famous 19th-century painting titled The Monarch of the Glen. "No one imagines the queen in her life has spoken to a stag in the highlands of Scotland," Lacey said. "It's total imagination, but it contains a very profound historical truth  two endangered species looking at each other." The dramatic license in The Crown, he argues, serves to humanize the queen and those around her. "As I see it, everything in The Crown is true, either historically or imaginatively," he says. He has joined the fact-fiction debate in a new book, The Crown: Political Scandal, Personal Struggle, and the Years That Defined Elizabeth II.

Smith is sanguine about the series' liberties but voices some worries. She recently deconstructed some of the depicted incidents in an article in Air Mail (News). (She was an adviser to Morgan in The Audience.) "Olivia Colman in the current season portrays her in a significantly less flattering light," Smith said. "I'm not sure what they are building up to but certainly the trend in the third series is to depict her as emotionally straightened and in some ways cold and even cruel to her son." Struggling with her tears: Olivia Coleman's Queen Elizabeth II was slow to emotion after an accident in a Welsh village killed 116 children in season 3 of The Crown. Credit:Netflix Loading Vickers is still incensed over an episode in the second season, when a flashback has the teenage Philip attending the funeral of his sister. She was killed in a plane crash flying to a wedding in London, though the script has her coming to Britain to see her brother. "The worst thing they did was to cook up a story to blame Prince Philip for the death of his sister, which is so disgusting and outrageous," Vickers says. We don't know if the royal family watches The Crown, but Vickers says Philip "was very upset about it. I know that."

Chronologies are jumbled to fit the story. In one episode, the Duke of Gloucester appears resplendent in his morning coat adorned with medals. "Good of them to take so much trouble to dress him up," Vickers writes. "By then he had been dead for three years." The entire series, Morgan writes in a forward to Lacey's book, "is underpinned by a vast and exhaustive amount of research, analysis, thought, care and consideration." "The relationship between history and narrative, fact and fiction, is much more fluid and unreliable, but also more interesting, than anyone might imagine." The Victorian journalist Walter Bagehot seems to have hit upon the importance of the monarch's mystique with his oft-quoted remark: "We must not let in daylight upon magic." Prince Harry said the media's treatment of his wife Meghan reminds him of his mother Princess Diana. Credit:AP
Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang (Photo: VNA)

At the ministrys regular press conference on January 9, responding to a question about Vietnams comment on the recent US-Iran tensions, Hang stated: Vietnam is concerned about the recent tensions in the Middle East. We call on all relevant parties to exercise self-restraint, avoid escalating tensions, not use force, protect civilians, and resolve disagreements though dialogue and peaceful measures on the basis of respecting international law for the sake of peace, stability in the region and the world.

She added to ensure security and safety for Vietnamese citizens in the Middle East, the Foreign Ministry on January 8 advised Vietnamese against going to the regions countries that could be influenced by conflicts. It also recommended that the citizens present in the affected countries should avoid going to the areas those countries have warned against travel to, and follow local authorities instructions to ensure the safety of their lives and property.

The Foreign Ministry has publicised the citizen protection hotlines of all representative agencies of Vietnam in the region so that people can contact when necessary. It has also ordered the representative agencies in the Middle East and domestic relevant sides to keep a close watch on the situation and ready citizen protection measures in case of necessity, she said.

Regarding the farm fire in Ramenskoye town in the suburbs of Moscow, Russia, the spokeswoman noted the Foreign Ministry has continually updated information. Its Consular Department and the Vietnamese Embassy in Russia are promptly and closely coordinating with authorised agencies of both countries to gather information from Vietnam and the Vietnamese community in Russia to support the identification of victims. They are also making preparations to protect citizens and deal with relevant procedures in case there are Vietnamese among the dead.

On January 8, the embassy sent a diplomatic note to the Russian ministries of foreign affairs and internal affairs and the internal affairs agency of Ramenskoye, asking for the investigation to be accelerated, information about the results of the identification of the dead to be announced soon, and active treatment for the Vietnamese woman currently in hospital, Hang added.
Nexus Dx IB10 POC immunoassay platform (formerly branded as Samsung LabgeoIB10) including its entire test portfolio for critical care environments will be marketed through sphingotec's distributor network

After introducing the assay for DPP3, a biomarker for short-term organ dysfunction, sphingotec will continue to add novel critical care tests to the IB10 test menu in 2020, including penKid(R), a proprietary kidney function biomarker and bio-ADM(R), a proprietary endothelial function biomarker

HENNIGSDORF, GERMANY, AND SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / January 09, 2020 / The German diagnostics company sphingotec GmbH (Hennigsdorf, Germany) today announced that through its network of regional and local distribution partners it will exclusively offer the Nexus Dx IB10 immunoassay platform together with a broad portfolio of commonly used tests for acute and critical care. The biomarker company has also started to launch a series of novel proprietary tests on the Nexus IB10 point-of-care platform to aid in the diagnose and monitor life-threatening conditions such as sepsis, acute kidney injury and heart failure.

Following the acquisition of Nexus Dx from Samsung in 2018, sphingotec has obtained all rights to Nexus Dx's unique IB10 immunoassay platform for simple and rapid testing of diagnostic parameters for acute and critical care utilized in point-of-care settings such as emergency departments (EDs) and intensive care units (ICUs). Using disposable low-cost reagents discs, the instrument can perform up to three diagnostic parameters on one test disc in only 20 minutes using routinely available whole blood samples. The Nexus IB10 platform, formerly branded Samsung LabgeoIB10, has sold more than 1,800 systems since its introduction in 2012. The IB10 instrument is one of the most commonly used point-of-care immunoassay platforms throughout Europe and beyond. The CE-IVD-marked IB10 analyzer and test portfolio, which was previously commercialized by Samsung's partner ThermoFisher Scientific, will now be exclusively represented by sphingotec and made available through sphingotec's global network of distribution partners.

While initially marketed with a broad range of blood tests and test panels routinely used in EDs and ICUs such as tests for Troponin I, NT-proBNP, D-Dimer, sphingotec has begun implementing a series of new CE-IVD-marked assays for its proprietary biomarkers for the diagnosis and monitoring of life-threating acute and critical care conditions. This includes the recently introduced IB10 sphingotest(R) DPP3, an assay for Dipeptidyl Peptidase 3, a protein whose elevated blood levels are a major cause for heart and kidney dysfunction in patients with acute heart failure, sepsis and other critical conditions. Further, near-term launches include an IB10 assay for penKid(R), a novel biomarker for the real-time assessment of kidney function, and an IB10 assay for bio-ADM(R), a biomarker for real-time assessment of endothelial function, planned to be launched in early and mid-2020, respectively.

Using the assays for DPP3, penKid(R) and bio-ADM(R) on the IB10 platform, clinicians will have parameters available that provide actionable information needed to aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of critically ill patients and may significantly improve the management of patients with sepsis, septic shock, cardiogenic shock, and organ failure.

"With the integration of Nexus IB10 platform and the set-up of our own distribution-based sales channel, sphingotec has transformed from a developer of unique biomarkers to a fully integrated commercial provider of complete solutions for innovative rapid diagnostic testing at the point-of-need in acute care settings," said Dr. Andreas Bergmann, CEO of sphingotec GmbH. "Providing rapid and novel solutions needed by clinicians in managing critically ill patients is part of our long-term strategy to reduce mortality in the ICU's and ED's."

sphingotec will ensure continuous supply of IB10 consumables to all former ThermoFisher Scientific customers. Customers can place supply requests through sphingotec's website at sphingotec.com for referral to the sphingotec IB10 distributor in their respective region.

###

About sphingotec

sphingotec GmbH ("sphingotec"; Hennigsdorf near Berlin, Germany) develops and markets innovative in vitro diagnostic (IVD) tests for novel and proprietary biomarkers for the diagnosis, prediction and monitoring of acute medical conditions, such as sepsis, acute heart failure, circulatory shock, and acute kidney injury in order to support patient management and provide guidance for treatment strategies. sphingotec's proprietary biomarker portfolio includes bioactive adrenomedullin (bio-ADM(R)), a unique biomarker for real-time assessment of endothelial function in conditions like sepsis or congestive heart failure, Proenkephalin (penKid(R)), a unique biomarker for real-time assessment of kidney function, and Dipeptidyl Peptidase 3 (DPP3), a unique biomarker for cardio-renal pathway disruptions leading to acute organ dysfunction. In addition, sphingotec develops a portfolio of novel biomarkers, which predict the risks of developing obesity, breast cancer and cardiovascular diseases. IVD tests for sphingotec's proprietary biomarkers are made available as sphingotest(R) microtiterplate tests as well as point-of-care tests on the Nexus IB10 immunoassay platform by sphingotec's subsidiary Nexus Dx Inc. (San Diego, CA, USA) alongside a broad menu of IB10 tests for established biomarkers for acute and critical care.

About Nexus Dx Inc. and the IB10 Platform

Nexus Dx Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of sphingotec, headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA, is a global provider of a near patient testing system and advanced diagnostic solution. The company is improving patient care by providing the medical community with rapid and reliable information at the point of care (POC), delivering patient information when and where it is needed most. The company has invested over $160m to develop and market the IB10 analyzer system which, without the need for sample preparation, automatically separates plasma from whole blood with subsequent reliable and quantitative detection of biomarkers in the plasma by means of antibodies. With a hands-on-time of less than 3 minutes the easy-to-use system provides in only 20 minutes test results for biomarkers that are crucial in the management of critical care patients. The portfolio of IB10 assays includes tests for established critical care parameters such as Procalcitonin, Troponin I, CK-MB, Myoglobin, NT-proBNP, and D-Dimer as well as tests for sphingotec's proprietary biomarkers such as DPP3, an assay for Dipeptidyl Peptidase 3, a unique and proprietary biomarker for cardio-renal pathway disruptions leading to acute organ dysfunction. The IB10 assay for bioactive Adrenomedullin (bio-ADM(R)), a unique and proprietary biomarker for endothelial function and the assay for Proenkephalin (penKid(R)), a unique and proprietary biomarker for real-time assessment of kidney function, will be launched later in 2020.

bio-ADM(R)

sphingotest(R) bio-ADM(R) measures blood levels of bioactive adrenomedullin (bio-ADM(R)), a hormone maintaining endothelial function. The endothel contributes to blood pressure and separates blood from the surrounding tissue. Elevated blood levels of bio-ADM(R) predict blood pressure break down and leaky vessels resulting in oedema. Imbalanced endothel function is the major cause of shock ultimately resulting in organ dysfunction and death. Early identification of an imbalance in endothelial function allows guidance of vasopressor and diuretic therapy in critically ill patients to improve outcomes.

About DPP3

IB10 sphingotest(R) DPP3 measures Dipeptidyl peptidase 3 an active enzyme which, when released into the blood, degrades hormones that maintain organ function. Inactivation of such hormones by DPP3 results in organ dysfunction and subsequent death. The DPP3 release is a newly identified pathway explaining most of the deaths in critically ill patients as it is causal for short-term organ dysfunction. Early identification of DPP3 release allows better patient stratification and early interventions to improve outcomes.

About penKid(R)

sphingotest(R) penKid(R) measures proenkephalin (penKid(R)), a stable fragment of the kidney stimulating hormone enkephalin. penKid(R) has been demonstrated to be a real-time surrogate biomarker for glomerular filtration rate, the gold standard to assess renal function. Measuring penKid(R) blood concentrations allows for timely information on kidney function in critically ill patients. Early assessment of worsening and improving of renal function on intensive care units and in emergency departments allows adjustment of nephrotoxic drug administration and the initiation of kidney-protective strategies to prevent acute kidney injury and thereby improve outcomes.

Contact

SphingoTec GmbH

Ruxandra Lenz

PR & Market Communications Manager

Neuendorfstr. 15A

16761 Hennigsdorf

Germany

Tel. +49-3302-20565-34

press@sphingotec.de

www.sphingotec.com

SOURCE: SphingoTec GmbH
The issue of homelessness and lack of affordable housing deserves better leadership from Gov. Greg Abbott, who too often has framed this discussion in Austin in stark and fearful terms.

This began this summer after the city of Austin loosened bans on camping, sitting or lying down on sidewalks, and panhandling, which has, in turn, led to greater visibility of the homeless there. But, as city officials and experts have argued, visibility is different from an increase in the homeless population.

Abbott has criticized Austin officials for jeopardizing public safety, tweeted videos alleging violent acts by the homeless and ordered camps to be cleared. Most recently, he has brought attention to a fatal stabbing by a homeless man, saying it demonstrated a sense of lawlessness perpetuated by the city of Austin.

We have no tolerance for violence, and clearly something needs to change in Austin. But homelessness is a complex issue, and it merits a statewide plan from the governor with funding for housing first initiatives and mental health care, not just quips and tweets with an intense focus on one Texas city.

Its been estimated through federal data that in January 2018, there were 25,310 homeless people across Texas. Here in San Antonio, the January point-in-time count revealed a drop in the homeless population from 3,066 in 2018 to 2,872 in 2019.

But  and this reflects the complexities of the issue  officials have also said the number of homeless families increased during that time period from 232 to 274.

In an interview last year, Haven for Hope CEO Kenny Wilson told us many of these families were homeless due to evictions or domestic violence.

Add in factors such as mental health issues, addiction and extreme poverty, not to mention when the homeless are victims of crime and violence, and this becomes an incredibly complicated issue.

Much of Abbotts rhetoric has revolved around public safety  always an important concern  but, again, this is only a slice of the needed conversation.

Yes, when public safety is threatened, an arrest is appropriate. But many homeless are arrested for nonviolent offenses such as criminal trespass. Such arrests might provide some temporary relief from a nuisance  we dont enjoy being aggressively panhandled  but they also serve as a revolving door between jail and the streets without ever addressing root causes.

Thats why we have supported District Attorney Joe Gonzales decision to not prosecute many criminal trespass cases. Its futile and a poor use of resources.

A better way can be found at Haven for Hope, where the homeless have relatively safe spaces to sleep and the chance to access wraparound services. Abbott, in fact, has touted Haven as a model of success. A better way can also be found providing housing to the homeless as a platform to other services.

If addressing homelessness is a gubernatorial priority, and we agree it should be, then we strongly encourage Abbott to offer a vision and a plan for Texas. One that supports cities in their efforts to assist the homeless and embraces the best-known practices.
colorful picture " Success means making meaningful work that promotes inclusivity"

Businesswoman Alexandra Arrivillaga DeCastro Starts off 2020 with the Launch of LatinTouch Agency.

LatinTouch Agency is a new endeavor for Boston entrepreneur Alexandra Arrivillaga DeCastro. The company will have offices in Massachusetts.

Today, Alexandra Arrivillaga DeCastro announced the launch of LatinTouch Agency. The core initiative of LatinTouch Agency is to ensure Latinos are positively represented in the business world. Ms. DeCastro has a background in consulting management, security, and communications that will support LatinTouch Agencys goals. Prior to forming LatinTouch Agency, Ms. DeCastro was the CEO and Founder of Owl Management Consulting, LLC, Proplex 5, LLC, Social Biz, LLC and Lock It Up Security, LLC.

When asked why the need for such a company, Ms. DeCastro replied, I saw that Latinos werent fully represented in all businesses. I want business leaders to see that Latinos are not the stereotype that was assigned to them. As a Latin professional, she will help other Latinos who have faced discrimination as a consumer as well as an entrepreneur. Ms. DeCastro strongly believes in being authentic and consults with Fortune 500 companies to make their stores more comfortable for Latinos, which results in increased sales and social media connectivity. She understands the Latino and Portuguese communities in Boston and still has close ties to them. She believed that education was the key to success and went to Lesley College. She continued her education to earn an MBA and a doctorate. However, true entrepreneurship cannot be learned in a classroom. Ms. DeCastros story is not unique, but her business expertise is.

The focus on LatinTouch Agency will be on strategy and inclusion consulting through innovative thinking, marketing and leadership. Ms. DeCastro has partners in Dubai and Barranquilla, who share in her philosophy that success means making meaningful work that promotes inclusivity. The name LatinTouch Agency comes from Ms. DeCastros passion to help Latinos leave their touch in our world.

The company is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts with a second office in Westborough. For more information, please contact Ms. DeCastro at http://www.latintouchagency.com
An Alabama fire official who volunteered to fight the massive bush fires in Australia was greeted with a heros welcome as he and other volunteers arrived this week at Sydney International Airport, according to a report.

Sean Snyder, an assistant fire management officer with the U.S. Forest Service in Talladega, was among the firefighters who volunteered for the 30-day assignment to help Australia and fight the bush fires that have destroyed more than 15 million acres of bush and killed 27 people, according to CNN.

Shane Fitzsimmons, commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, posted a video on his Twitter account of Snyder and the other firefighters being cheered upon their arrival at the airport.

US fire fighters arrived at Sydney Int Airport this week, on their way to assist with fire fighting in Victoria.

Coming through, all gathered gave a spontaneous & lengthy round of applause, reflecting the gratitude & admiration we all have for their generosity. #NSWRFS @NSWRFS pic.twitter.com/5epg5y4qxX  Shane Fitzsimmons (@RFSCommissioner) January 9, 2020

Snyders wife, Autumn Snyder, told the outlet she was very humbled by the welcome given to her husband.

Its so refreshing and gratifying to see them be welcomed and appreciated, she said.

Autumn Snyder said their family includes three children.

We are a public service family and believe in doing all the good we can, Autumn Snyder said. We are super proud of the work he is doing over there.

Sean Snyder is among some 2,000 volunteers from the United States and New Zealand assisting Australian firefighters.

Australias summer season has led to hot and dry conditions that are causing the fires. The disaster is expected to cost the country more than $4.4 billion, which was the cost of the 2009 Black Saturday fire that killed 173 people, according to the Guardian.
Heavily armed assailants stormed a military base in Niger on Thursday killing 25 people and leading to fierce clashes that killed 63 "terrorists", the defence ministry said, in an area where dozens died in a previous jihadist attack.

The raid near to the volatile frontier with Mali by attackers in vehicles and on motorbikes began in Chinegodar, in the western Tillaberi, at 01:00 pm (12H00 GMT), defence spokesman Colonel Souleymane Gazobi said on television.

"The response with the combined air support of the Niger air force and partners made it possible to strike and rout the enemy outside our boundaries," he said. Partners often means US drones in the Sahel, or French fighter planes or drones in the country.

He put the toll at 25 dead and six injured on the "friendly side" and on the "enemy side 63 terrorists neutralised".

The attack happened in the same region Tillaberi, also bordering Burkina Faso, where 71 Niger soldiers were killed in a December attack, claimed by the Islamic State group, that saw hundreds of jihadists storm a camp near the border with Mali with artillery.

It was the deadliest on Niger's military since Islamist extremist violence began to spill over from neighbouring Mali in 2015, and dealt a blow to efforts to roll back jihadism in the Sahel.

That attack spurred leaders of the G5 Sahel nations to call for closer cooperation and international support in the battle against the Islamist threat. Militant violence has spread across the vast Sahel region, especially in Burkina Faso and Niger, having started when armed Islamists revolted in northern Mali in 2012.

Thousands of civilians have also died and more than a million have been forced to flee their homes since the jihadist revolt began.

Analysts note an escalation in the jihadists' operational tactics, which seem to have become bolder and more complex in recent months. Ranged against them are the impoverished armies of Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, plus a 4,500-man French force in the Sahel and the 13,000-man UN force in Mali, MINUSMA.

The Sahel region of Africa lies to the south of the Sahara Desert and stretches across the breadth of the African continent.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China says the mystery virus that has sickened dozens of people in the central city of Wuhan is a new coronavirus in the same family as SARS, as experts said they don't believe official claims of no human-to-human transmission.



State news agency Xinhua quoted Xu Jianguo, the lead scientist on the team researching the virus, as saying that authorities had "preliminarily determined" that at least 15 patients in Wuhan had contracted the same virus.



The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the discovery.



"Further investigations are also required to determine the source, modes of transmission, extent of infection and countermeasures implemented," the WHO's China representative Gauden Galea said in a statement.



At least 59 people in Wuhan have been taken ill -- seven of them seriously -- with what was initially feared to be a resurgence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS.



SARS killed 349 people in mainland China and 299 in Hong Kong over the winter of 2002-2003.



Chinese health authorities had said the virus -- which first struck in Wuhan among employees of a now-shuttered seafood market -- wasn't SARS, and no human-to-human transmission has yet been reported.



But health experts have cast doubt on the claims about human-to-human transmission.



Ho Pak-leung, head of the University of Hong Kong's Centre for Infection, has warned that it is highly possible that the illness is spreading from human to human, given the sheer number of cases that have mushroomed in a short period of time.



Hong Kong authorities appear to be taking the possibility seriously, with health screening of all passengers coming into the city from mainland China already in place.



Infrared thermal screening

Incoming passengers from Wuhan are being given infrared thermal screening for signs of a raised temperature, while enhanced cleaning and disinfection measures are in place on Hong Kong's railway network and at the airport, secretary for food and health Sophia Chan told lawmakers on .



Any inbound travelers with tell-tale symptoms who have been to Wuhan are being isolated and treated in government hospitals, Chan said.



Ren Ruihong, former head of the medical assistance department at the Chinese Red Cross, said she too has her doubts about the reported "absence" of human-to-human transmission in Wuhan.



"It's a new type of mutant coronavirus," Ren said. "They haven't made public the genetic sequence, because it is highly contagious. From what I can tell, the patients caught it from other people. I have thought that all along."



She said the lack of fatalities didn't indicate that the virus was less deadly than SARS, just that antiviral medications have improved in the past 10 years or so.



Ren said she also regarded the relatively high number of infections in Hong Kong with suspicion, given that there had been no reports of cases anywhere in between the two cities, in the southern province of Guangdong, for example.



"Genetic engineering technology has gotten to such a point now, and Wuhan is home to a viral research center that is under the aegis of the China Academy of Sciences, which is the highest level of research facility in China," she said.



Repeated calls to various numbers listed for the Wuhan Institute of Virology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences rang unanswered.



However, an employee who identified herself as a senior engineer said she knew nothing about the virus.



"Sorry, I ... I don't know about this," the employee said.



Lunar New Year travel looms

As of noon on local time, 10 patients -- five of whom are under seven years old -- had been admitted to hospital in Hong Kong with flu-like symptoms or pneumonia who had been to Wuhan during the past two weeks, Hong Kong's Hospital Authority said in a statement.



"The patients concerned had not visited [fresh food] markets in Wuhan before the onset of symptoms," the statement said.



WHO representative Galea said "people with symptoms of pneumonia and reported travel history to Wuhan have been identified at international airports," but no travel advisories have been issued for China as hundreds of millions get ready to travel across the country to spend Lunar New Year with their families on Jan. 25.



People living in Wuhan have said there is scant information in the media about the outbreak, in a country where media outlets are strictly controlled by the ruling Chinese Communist Party.



An employee who answered the phone at Wuhan's Jinyintan Hospital declined to comment when contacted by RFA on .



"We don't give interviews here," the employee said. "The only official channel for this matter is the Wuhan municipal health commission, so ... you can contact them directly to find out more."



However, calls to the Wuhan municipal health commission rang unanswered during office hours on .



Residents in the neighborhood around the Huanan Seafood Market, where the outbreak was traced to, said they knew very little about it.



"It's about 500 meters from here," one resident said. "We don't know anything about it, and I haven't been paying attention to it ... I don't think I went there recently."



SARS -- described as atypical pneumonia caused by a coronavirus -- infected more than 8,000 people around the world, and is believed to have originated in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.



The WHO declared China free of the SARS virus in , although it criticized the Chinese government's initial attempt to cover up the crisis.



Reported by Wong Siu-san and Sing Man for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Qiao Long for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Iran, alluding to doubtful scenarios, on Thursday challenged international suggestions that the Ukrainian airliner that crashed outside Tehran this week was mistakenly downed by an Iranian missile.

The Iranian government, in a statement, urged Canada to share its information after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said multiple intelligence sources indicate that Iran shot down the Boeing airliner after it took off from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 on board, including 63 Canadians.

Irans foreign ministry also invited the US planemaker Boeing to participate in its enquiry into the crash.

Canadas theory was swiftly backed up by other Western leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who said mounting evidence supported an Iranian missile strike, which may well have been unintentional.

US President Donald Trump indicated that Washington officials believe the Kiev-bound Boeing 737 was struck by one or more Iranian missiles before it ditched and exploded outside Tehran.

Flight PS752 went down just minutes after takeoff from Tehran airport in the dark early Wednesday, after Tehran launched ballistic missiles at American military targets in Iraq in retaliation for the January 3 US drone strike in Baghdad that killed a top Iranian general.

Tehran said it was prepared to allow experts from the countries who lost people in the crash to help with the enquiry.

The ill-fated plane was carrying 82 Iranians,11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons, as well as the 63 Canadians.
Other unverified images from the charred crash site appear to show shrapnel damage to sections of the plane's fuselage. The Ukraine International Airlines crash killed 176 passengers and crew on Wednesday  just as the region was gripped by a heightened state of alert over Iran's decision to launch ballistic missiles on military bases in Iraq housing US troops. In addition to the Canadians, there were 82 Iranians, 11 Ukrainians and 10 Swedish nationals on board the doomed flight, as well as four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons. "What happened yesterday was a tragedy. A tragedy that shocked not only Canada but the entire world," Mr Trudeau said. "We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence, that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. This may well have been unintentional.

Rescue workers search the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed in Shahedshahr, near the Iranian capital Tehran on Wednesday. Credit:AP "The families of the victims and all Canadians want answers. I want answers. That means closure, transparency, accountability and justice." Mr Trudeau did not rule out the possibility the aircraft was intentionally targeted but said evidence suggested the missile launch was probably a mistake. Prime Minister Scott Morrison was more definitive, telling 2GB on Friday morning: "This is not a deliberate attack  it's a terrible accident." He said Australia had similar intelligence to other allies that an Iranian missile downed the plane. Mistaking a commercial passenger jet for an American war plane would be deeply embarrassing for the Iranian leadership and its military, which has not responded to Canada's allegations.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a press conference about the Iran plane crash. Credit:AP American officials told multiple media outlets that they had radar images showing the "blip" of a missile launch, followed by another "blip" indicating the weapon had struck the flight about 8000 feet, just minutes after the plane took off from Tehran. US President Donald Trump said he had a feeling something "very terrible" had happened and "somebody could have made a mistake". Asked what he thought brought down the plane, Trump replied: "Well, I have my suspicions". "It was flying in a pretty rough neighbourhood. Some people say it was mechanical, I personally don't even think that is a question," he said.

Iran has strenuously denied it shot down the plane and has repeatedly blamed its downing on a mechanical fault such as a catastrophic engine explosion. It was not revealed whether US officials believed Iran deliberately or accidentally shot down the plane, however the incident and Tehran's subsequent denials will trigger a new round of tensions in the already volatile Middle East. Mr Trudeau said Iran wanted to keep the flight's crucial black boxes in Iran but will apparently allow Ukrainian investigators access to the data. There are reports the regime has started tampering with the crash site. The Canadian leader was repeatedly asked whether America was partly responsible for the loss of the flight given its assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani had escalated tensions in the Middle East. Loading

"I think that is one of the many questions that people will be thinking about and trying to find answers to," Trudeau said. The disaster has the hallmarks of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down over Ukraine by a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile in 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew members, including 38 Australian citizens and residents. Ukraine initially agreed with Iran's assessment that mechanical or technical error was to blame for this week's crash but quickly walked back from that amid mounting evidence of foul play. The secretary of Ukraine's national security council, Oleksiy Danylov, told Ukrainian media that investigators wanted to search for the possible debris of a Russian-made missile at the crash site near Tehran's main airport, citing images that suggested the aircraft fuselage suffered shrapnel damage. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said there was a "body of evidence" the plane had been destroyed by a missile.
A shoplifter caught on CCTV stuffing a Where's Wally costume down her top has avoided jail

A shoplifter caught on CCTV stuffing a Where's Wally costume down her top has avoided jail.

Mary Donegan, from Carnhill in Londonderry, took the 39.99 outfit from the Party Warehouse, on the city's Springtown Industrial Estate, in November 2017.

When the 33-year-old tried to exit the store, the alarm went off.

Donegan told a staff member she had a metal object in her leg that must have triggered the alarm, then left the premises.

Images of the defendant and her partner were put on police briefing pages and both were later recognised by an officer.

Donegan was handed a suspended four-month prison sentence and ordered to pay for the costume, which has never been recovered.

The defendant's partner, Ernest Moore, who at one stage was her co-defendant, accepted a formal police caution for his involvement in the incident.
'The Modi government is trying hard to see if it could be sold to a private airline.'

'But it appears there are no takers.'

'If no buyer comes forward by June, the government will close down Air India,' predicts A K Bhattacharya.

With 2019 having ended on a depressing note, a lot of hope rests on 2020.

Will the New Year usher in a revival in the Indian economy?

And will the Narendra Damodardas Modi government, which in 2019 was mostly focused on achieving its political agenda, pay more attention to the economy in 2020?

Nobody can anticipate, let alone predict, what Mr Modi will do in 2020.

But what one can safely do is to list out the possible key economic issues that might figure in the New Year.

Here are three such issues or developments that you need to be prepared for in the next 12 months.

Air India may be history

Air India, the State-owned airline, may not exist after June 2020, if government officials are to be believed.

The Modi government is trying hard to see if it could be sold to a private airline.

But it appears there are no takers.

If no buyer comes forward by June, the government will close down Air India.

Its pilots have already sent a letter to the civil aviation ministry urging it to clear their wage arrears and other dues before Air India is shut down.

The closure of Air India will mark the end of a saga in India's civil aviation industry.

It was an airline that was floated by the Tatas and run efficiently as a private airline for quite some time before India's first prime minister decided to nationalise it.

Since then, successive prime ministers have allowed Air India to operate as a public sector enterprise, lose market share, become more inefficient and incur losses.

Air India's financial dependence on the central exchequer has kept rising over the years.

It was only sometime in the middle of 2017 that the Modi government decided to privatise Air India.

However, the procedures adopted for its sale were such that the privatisation exercise was doomed to failure right from day one.

In its second term, the Modi government has once again tried to privatise Air India, but so far with little success.

Hence, there is now talk of its closure in June, if no buyer is found for the airline.

If that indeed happens, it would reflect how governments over the years have neglected Air India and allowed a slow destruction of an asset.

If the privatisation move had been initiated earlier and with a greater sense of realism by making the norms more attractive, Air India could have escaped the ignominious fate that it would face after June 2020.

There is a lesson in this for many other such assets that the Union government still owns.

Budget 2020 may reveal the true state of government finances

Just about a month later, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will unveil the Union Budget for 2020-2021.

Understandably, the Budget will give a clear indication of the government's approach to how it wishes to tackle slowing economic growth.

Whether it would do so by increasing expenditure on infrastructure projects or by cutting taxes or by a mix of both types of measures keeping in mind the need for fiscal consolidation, the Budget will reveal it all.

However, the more important revelation of Budget 2020 will pertain to the true state of government finances.

It has to acknowledge, for the first time, that the actual gross tax revenue collections in 2018-2019 were substantially lower than what the revised numbers indicated when the last Budget was presented in July 2019.

It may also have to indicate the true extent of the government's off-Budget borrowings which it has resorted to in the past to help meet its expenditure, without adversely affecting its headline fiscal deficit number.

It will be interesting to see if Budget 2020 presents a more realistic fiscal deficit number that is arrived at without seeking recourse to off-Budget borrowings or imaginative accounting.

GST Council meetings will become contentious

The last meeting of the Goods and Services Tax Council held in New Delhi last month provided an early indication of how contentious its deliberations in the coming months will become.

The 38th meeting of the Council had to decide on the fixation of rates for lotteries through a voting, the first time a decision was taken on the basis of voting since the Council was set up more than three years ago.

All decisions in the past were taken on the basis of consensus.

Now, the politics of the country has undergone a significant change.

The Bharatiya Janata Party at present rules only 17 states.

In the GST Council, 29 states and the two Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry have a vote each that can be exercised when consensus becomes elusive.

But each vote of the states and the Union Territories has a weight of 2.1.

A decision can be taken only when it receives approval from three-fourths of those present and voting.

The Centre has a weight of 33 or one-third of the total.

Of course, the Centre can count on the 17 BJP-ruled states for their support at the GST Council meetings.

But that would give them a total weight of 69, including 33 of the Centre and 36 of the 17 states.

This, however, will be six votes fewer than what will be required to get a decision approved at the GST Council.

In other words, the Centre will not only have to count on all the 17 BJP-ruled states, but also get at least three more states to support its proposals at any voting during the Council's deliberations.

In short, GST Council meetings in 2020 will become more contentious and the Centre will have to embrace the principles of co-operative federalism not just in letter but also in spirit.

The above three issues or developments in 2020 are only a few examples of how the New Year would pose new challenges for the Indian economy as also the polity.

If the right lessons from these developments are learnt early enough by the government, one can expect 2020 to end on a less depressing note than 2019 did.
The parallels between the recent United States (US)-Iran clash and the February 2019 India-Pakistan conflict are being widely noted. Indeed, there are uncanny similarities between the two episodes. I will first recount the two major similarities and then draw the lessons the two conflicts have to offer on escalation dynamics.

First, in both cases, the stronger power showed a tremendous appetite for risk-taking. While the impact remains disputed, India did breach a red line by dropping ordnance on proper Pakistani territory beyond the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The US, on the other hand, carried out a targeted killing of Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian State official. The Indian action in Balakot was a response to a terrorist attack in Pulwama, but it was also presented as a pre-emptive strike to prevent future attacks. Donald Trump, the US President, justified Soleimanis killing to prevent imminent attacks in addition to avenge recent attacks on US targets that had already been concluded.

Second, the weaker power responded, in both cases, with an aim of restoring deterrence. The responses were calibrated in a manner so as to leave room wide open for de-escalation. Pakistan claimed it merely wanted to show resolve and deliberately missed when it could have targeted Indian military installations. Iran, it appears based on the evidence so far in the public domain, used precision targeting in order to avoid American casualties. While the Indian Air Force lost a Mig-21 Bison, Pakistan quickly returned the captured pilot so as to not give India further chance of escalation.

There are four broad factors that contributed to the eventual restraint, in both cases.

First, both India and Pakistan are vulnerable to each others nuclear weapons. The fear of escalation, right to the nuclear level, works as a significant restraining factor. This also leads to heightened global interest and counselling from major powers. One has traditionally assumed that the fear of nuclear escalation works disproportionately on India. However, the quick return of captured pilot showed that Pakistan was no more prepared for escalation either. In the US-Iran case, there is no mutual nuclear vulnerability. The presence of US troops in Iraq and other countries in the region, nevertheless, plays a similar role and some sort of mutual vulnerability is created. While Iran desires a complete US withdrawal from the region, such a drawdown would mean that the US could, in situations of conflict, use its long-range missiles, aircraft carriers and bombers to damage Iranian assets while Tehran wont have much to target with its current levels of capability. Mutual vulnerability, hence, is the key to de-escalation.

Communications to ones audience is the second factor contributing to restraint. India could present its Balakot operation as a success. It also claimed that it shot down a Pakistani F-16 on the next day, though it failed to produce enough evidence to prove that. Pakistan projected the return of Indian pilot as an act of magnanimity rather than one of necessity. Both sides, therefore, were well able to project victory to their domestic audience. Iranian media, similarly, claims that 80 Americans died in its attack on the two Iraqi military bases. The US has been able to de-escalate because there were no American or allied casualties. The use of ballistic missiles by Iran could have been seen as escalatory and responded to by further escalation. However, the Trump administration has, for now, decided to look past this inconvenient fact.

Third  and this is more of a hypothesis which will need rigorous testing  the de-escalation is not just a factor of the ability of leaders to sell victory to the domestic audience, but also the audiences ability to restrain the leaders. Even among the hawkish section of the domestic audience, a fraction of people are ready to press for de-escalation, or not press for further escalation, if reasonable face-saving exit options are available. A test of this claim would be to examine the divergence in tones of editorials in Indian newspapers before and after the capture of the Indian pilot on February 27, 2019. Trumps ability to exit also shows that he was able to rein in the warmongers in his administration and the Republican party. Once the bombs and missiles start flying, even some hardcore proponents of war turn squeamish.

Lastly, luck does have a role to play in de-escalation. If the Indian pilot had been killed in the crash or, worse, lynched by a mob in Pakistan, the eventual outcome might have been very different. If the Iranians had, even accidentally, killed a number of American personnel in Iraq, US response could easily have been very aggressive. That luck can play such a huge role, in itself, creates a deterring effect. How strong is that deterrence is very difficult to pin down  because when a dog does not bark, we dont know why it did not, or if it even wanted to bark in the first place. For what it is worth, a Pulwama-scale terrorist attack has not been repeated so far. The decapitation of Soleimani does not itself create deterrence but a realisation that another ambitious Iranian operation could bring it, once again, this close to a war with the US can induce some caution.

Irans safest bet  not perfectly safe, as nascent proliferators can become military targets  would be to rush to get its nuclear deterrent.

Kunal Singh is a PhD candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The views expressed are personal
The third season of her show, Very Cavallari, is set to premiere tomorrow night.

And Kristin Cavallari put on a very stylish display while out promoting the upcoming season on Wednesday.

The 33-year-old was spotted in New York City and got heads turning in a bold overcoat.

Fashionista: Kristin Cavallari out her best fashion foot forward on Wednesday when she stepped out in New York City in a statement plaid overcoat

Kristin rocked a white button-up shirt underneath a long plaid overcoat.

She teamed the look with tan colored suede bell-bottom trousers from FRAME.

The reality star accessorised with a large belt and pair of suede pump heels that matched her pants.

Soft and beautiful: Kristin's shoulder-length blonde hair was styled out into soft waves for the press day

Stylish: Kristin teamed the look with tan colored bell-bottom trousers from FRAME

Kristin's shoulder-length blonde hair was styled out into soft waves for the press day.

Her glam featured a semi-matte complexion with blushed cheeks and a soft eye to complete the look.

The star has had a very busy few days, from hosting the Golden Globes red carpet to promoting Very Cavallari.

Though she seems to be balancing everything seamlessly these days, that doesn't seem to be the case on her reality show.

Working mama! The star has had a very busy few days, from hosting the Golden Globes red carpet to promoting Very Cavallari

Get ready! Season three of Very Cavallari is promising more drama than ever

Season three of Very Cavallari is promising more drama than ever.

In a new trailer, Kristin is seen trying to balance life as a mom, business owner and friend in Nashville, Tennessee.

Things got tense in one scene with husband Jay Cutler, where they're seen sitting down to a fancy dinner and discussing their personal life.

'We speak two different languages when it comes to conflict,' Kristin cried as Jay's face fell with disappointment.

Very Cavallari will be returning to E! January 9.
Former Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, says the All Progressives Congress, APC, may find it difficult to win the 2023 presi...





Former Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, says the All Progressives Congress, APC, may find it difficult to win the 2023 presidential election without President Muhammadu Buhari.





Shittu disclosed that if the APC fails to put its house in order Nigerians wont vote them in 2023.





The Minister, who spoke in Osogbo, Osun State capital yesterday, said if the APC is not careful about the frustration being faced now, the party may find it hard to get votes in 2023.





He said: APC must put its house in order.





In the last two elections, Buhari got 15million votes in each and that is because he is on the ballot.





From the north alone he got 12 million on each occasion if APC is not careful to put its house in order for people not to be sent out from the party.





Where will the vote come from in 2023 if the mandate of Buhari is no more on the ballot? I think thats food for thought for those who can think well.





Describing the talk about the third term as idiotic, Adebayo said that Buhari was not in any way interested in such venture.





The issue of the third term for Buhari is idiotic. Our constitution prescribes two terms. It is the handiwork of some confusionists. Buhari is not interested in such agenda.





He cannot do anything that would tarnish his image and integrity. It is a mere waste of time for some people to be talking about third term, he said.





Recall that Buhari had last year assured Nigerians that he had no third term agenda.





Buhari had declared that he wont make the mistake of attempting to pursue a third term agenda.





According to Buhari: Im not going to make the mistake of attempting a third term.





Besides the age, I swore by the Holy Book that I would go by the constitution and the constitution said two terms.




Former Nissan Motor Co Ltd (OTC: NSANY) Chairman Carlos Ghosn said Wednesday he fled Japan because he wouldn't have received a fair trial on corruption charges, blamed Nissan officials for getting him arrested and compared his seizure to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in his first remarks since escaping to Lebanon.

"I did not escape justice. I fled injustice and political persecution," Ghosn said during a long news conference in Beirut, adding he was "resigned to impossibility of fair trial" in Japan.

"Lets not forget I was facing a system where the conviction rate is 99.4% and you can bet the number is higher for foreigners."

Ghosn fled house arrest in Tokyo late last month in an escape that seems taken from a movie plot. He was reportedly smuggled aboard a plane inside a large case meant for musical equipment. Ghosn didn't comment on the details of the escape.

Ghosn had run Nissan until his arrest by Japanese officials on fraud charges in November 2018. He denies the charges.

Ghosn said the case against him was planted by "unscrupulous, vindictive individuals at Nissan" in a plot to prevent a more complete alliance with partner company Renault SA of France.

Ghosn alleged he was questioned up to eight hours a day, describing his treatment as "brutal," and compared the conduct of Japanese police to Japan's attack on the United States in 1941.

"People say, 'you didnt look at this, you didnt suspect this?' It was a colleague in the U.S. who said 'did you see Pearl Harbor?' I didnt notice it because it was planned and confidential and secret."

Nissan Continues To Struggle

Nissan is still struggling to recover from the turmoil of the Ghosn downfall, as well as lingering issues from his time at the company, Michelle Krebs, executive analyst at Cox Automotive, said Wednesday morning on Benzinga's PreMarket Prep.

Nissan's U.S. operations discounted heavily when other automakers weren't, and overrelied on dealer incentives, among "a lot of bad practices," that hurt the brand in the U.S, she said.

Story continues

"Theyve got to do a lot of damage control to unwind a lot of that, and thats not going to happen in a year."

Related Links:

Months Of Planning, Millions Of Dollars Reportedly Went Into Ghosn's Escape

Interpol Sends Arrest Warrant For Carlos Ghosn To Lebanon

Screenshot from Bloomberg video on YouTube.

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Vintage Wings of Canada has had their rare Westland Lysander Mk.IIIa (RCAF 2364) up for sale for a while now with Platinum Fighter Sales, and many Canadians feared she might depart for foreign shores, as did the Collections Fairey Swordfish last year. But in recent days, news confirms that a Canadian consortium has pooled their resources to purchase the beautifully restored WWII liaison aircraft  a type that became legendary for its wartime role supplying clandestine operations behind enemy lines in Axis Europe. The aircraft is one of just three currently airworthy examples in the world, and the only one flying in North America. Following much restoration work under Harry Whearatts three decades of ownership, the team at Vintage Wings of Canada completed the task of getting 2364 back in the air again during 2010 after significant additional labor from their engineers. The Lysander was a real favorite in the skies over Vintage Wings home in Gatineau, Quebec. While she will be missed, the flying collection is making space in the hangar for other aircraft. One of these will be Hawker Hurricane Mk.XII RCAF 5447 (which also once belonged to Harry Whereatt), which is nearing the end of her restoration at Gatineau. She will hopefully make her debut on the air show circuit this season. Work on the collections ultra-rare Hawker Fury biplane fighter will hopefully then have the opportunity to bloom following the Hurricanes revival. So good things are also in store at Gatineau, and we look forwards to seeing them reach fruition!

The following press announcement relates the details regarding the Lysanders new home

The Lysander is Staying in Canada!

Toronto, Jan 06, 2020

An extremely rare, Canadian-built, Second World War aircraft has been purchased by Canadians, and will not be leaving the country. It will continue to appear at events in Southern Ontario.
We dont want boots on the ground, said Sean Hannity. The president has made it clear that hes not putting boots on the ground. Might need a few more intelligence people to protect very specific areas. I know the Washington swamp creatures, they like to send our kids to war.

Washington swamp creatures? Who are they? Government officials you dont like? And the ones you do like are not swamp creatures?

That issue aside: It is an old charge  that some people just like to send kids off to war to die. I used to hear it from the Left, constantly; some years ago, I started to hear it from the Right with almost equal frequency, and with the same nastiness.

I brought up the issue  war-lust  with Donald Rumsfeld, when he was secretary of defense. (Actually, he was secretary of defense twice: under Ford and then under George W. Bush. Im talking about the second stint.) I said, People are always saying that you like war. That you get your kicks from it. What do you have to say to that?

He said that he and his wife, Joyce, were visiting men at Walter Reed Hospital who had had their faces seared off. And no, dammit, he didnt like war.

In my 2012 history of the Nobel Peace Prize  Peace, They Say  I discuss the terms anti-war and pro-war. They are problematic. We are all anti-war, not pro-war. No one is pro-war except for psychopaths (of whom the world has more than a few). Often, however, we debate the national interest and whether war is necessary.

If I had my way, we would have no military at all. No police forces. No locks on doors. But the world dictates otherwise.

 Talking with Sean Hannity, Nikki Haley said this: The only ones mourning the loss of Soleimani are our Democrat leadership and Democrat presidential candidates. She liked her statement so much, she tweeted it around.

Shes running, for sure (in 2024, that is). She is right where she needs to be. That is an old expression in politics: to be where you need to be. Finger on the pulse, finger in the air, checking the wind. Which way is it blowing today? This year? This cycle?

Story continues

Haley is even using Democrat as an adjective, in fine populist style. (In the 1976 vice-presidential debate, Bob Dole inveighed against Democrat wars!) If the public is in the mood for yahoo-ism, thats what Haley will give them.

She is a canny, canny politician. Flexible as all get-out, like that other South Carolina pol, Lindsey Graham. No doubt she will succeed, or keep succeeding. But what a rotten business politics is, sometimes. I have often defended politics, citing its noble aspect. But really, what a rotten business.

 I will quote an Associated Press report out of Tehran: A stampede broke out Tuesday at Soleimanis funeral, and at least 56 people were killed and more than 200 were injured as thousands thronged the procession, Iranian news reports said. Like you, perhaps, I thought of Stalin and the throngs that mourned him. A lot of people died. An exact count is impossible to ascertain, probably  but more than a hundred.

You know who else died the same day as Stalin, right? (March 5, 1953.) Prokofiev. As legend has it, there were no flowers left for the great composers funeral. They were all  each bloom  devoted to Stalin.

 I would like to make a point about White House staffers and the new normal. I was reading about Kellyanne Conway on Monday, and she put me in mind of Peter Navarro.

Kellyanne is senior counselor to the president, and Navarro is his trade guy (or anti-trade guy).

So, first, Kellyanne. Defending the presidents policy on Iran, she took a shot at another president  Carter. Talk about a weak president, she said. She also said, I wish him the best now, but he was a very weak president when it came to that. By that, she meant the American hostages seized in Tehran in November 1979.

They took our hostages and they released them as soon as President Reagan took office, of course, said Kellyanne.

I repeated that line for many years. All of us conservatives did. So fearful was the Ayatollah of a real president  Reagan  that he released the hostages as soon as our guy was sworn in.

But you have to face the reality: A few years later, our guy traded arms for hostages. He was a lot more flexible than most people thought. They blasted him for being rigid: heartless, callous. He was letting our hostages rot in their cells! He refused to lift a finger to help them, adhering to some stubborn, ridiculous principle. Then, when it was revealed that he had engaged in some wheeling and dealing, he was blasted for violating principle!

Anyway, I have had much to say about Iran-contra in the past and am on a different point now: the way White House staffers talk. What if some Democratic staffer, down the road, dumps on Donald Trump? How will Republicans like that?

Before turning to Peter Navarro, Id like to go back to Jimmy Carter for a moment. In 2018, Stuart Eizenstat published his memoir of the Carter presidency. Mike Potemra asked me to review it. (Mike was National Reviews literary editor.) I balked  said I was Carterd out. But if you really want me to review it, I will, I said. He did. So I did.

It is a very interesting book. It gives you a strong sense of what its like to be president  particularly to be faced by excruciating, thankless situations. It also gives you a sense of humility, I think.

Here is a paragraph from my review:

Reading about Iran, no one could envy Carters position: how to deal with the Shah, how to deal with the revolution, how to deal with the hostage crisis. It is sobering to put oneself in the presidents shoes. It is not always comfortable to be where the buck stops. (Carter had President Trumans old sign  borrowed from the Truman Library  on his desk: The Buck Stops Here.) The rescue operation, popularly known as Desert One, was a riot of bad luck. Hearing about the result, Hamilton Jordan, Carters chief of staff, rushed into the presidents bathroom and threw up.

And now, Peter Navarro. In 2018, he went on Fox and said, Theres a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad-faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door. And thats what bad-faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference.

(If you want to know the history, you can look it up. And what recent history it is!)

I thought it was remarkable that a White House staffer should talk that way on television about a head of state or government. And Canada is arguably our closest ally.

Navarro later apologized  but clearly, norms have been smashed. And most people, or many people, celebrate this norm-smashing. To hell with norms! Hail the new day! Well, maybe. But some of those norms probably existed for a reason. Bryce Harlow doesnt live here anymore, I realize. But this new day of ours  is it a better day? The conservative in me is skeptical.

More and more, I feel like a dinosaur. (You are! my critics tell me.) I smile at the memory of my late friend  Bill Buckleys very good friend  Evan Galbraith. He worked at Morgan Stanley, where the veteran bankers were assigned their own wing. Van told me, They call it Jurassic Park.

 For a week or two, the phrase wine cave was on the lips of political America. Craig and Kathryn Walt Hall had hosted a meet-and-greet for Pete Buttigieg, one of the Democrats running for president. They hosted it at their winery  in their wine cave.

Cue spooky music.

For an hour, Buttigieg answered questions about health care, Afghanistan, and the rest. An attendee has written about the event, here.

In the Democratic debate on December 19, Elizabeth Warren pounced. In time-dishonored populist style, she let loose the phrase wine cave and said that this den of iniquity was full of crystals, too: yes, a Swarovski chandelier. Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States, she said.

Uh-huh. What danger is there of that? Voters will pick the nominees and the president, as they have long done (for better or worse).

Another candidate, Andrew Yang, had to get in on the action too. Candidates should not have to shake the money tree in the wine cave, he said.

Ooh, wine cave. Oogity-boogity.

The Halls  the cave-dwellers  are longtime Democratic donors and liberals in good standing. At least they have been until now. Im just a pawn here, Mr. Hall told the New York Times.

Let me quote a bit from that story:

Mr. Hall, 69, made much of his fortune in the real estate industry and said he started a business at 18 with $4,000 from his savings account. Ms. Hall, a lawyer and businesswoman, served as the United States ambassador to Austria under President Bill Clinton after donating to his re-election campaign. Her family has worked in the wine industry since the 1970s.

Ambassador to Austria? She may have picked up the chandelier there  Swarovski is a famous Austrian company.

Here is my favorite part of the story:

Mr. Hall said that during the debate, Ms. Hall turned to him and jokingly said she might go buy something for herself instead of contributing to another political campaign.

I think she should  a hundred more Swarovski chandeliers, as far as Im concerned. Populism is often a low, dirty kind of politics: playing on peoples envy, stoking their grievances  giving them new ones. Unfortunately, it often succeeds.

 Jack Garfein was a man of the theater: a director, acting teacher, and so on. He has died at 89, and his obituary in the Times is here. A couple of people helped him out at a critical time. (Pardon the understatement.) One of those people was his mother; the other was an old man who was a stranger to him. The place was Auschwitz.

Later he recalled the prisoners being divided into two lines: one for men and boys 16 and older, one for women and children. Although he was only 13, his mother shoved him into the mens line. At the time he took that as rejection, but in hindsight he realized it was her way of saving him. In the line, another unexpected turn helped him survive. The infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele himself was reviewing the male prisoners. After young Jakob gave his age as 16, a skeptical pause hung in the air until the stranger next to him in line, an old man, said Mr. Garfein was his apprentice and both were master mosaic artists. That got them sent to the forced-labor group rather than to the gas chamber. This god came down in the guise of an old man, Mr. Garfein said in A Journey Back, a 2010 documentary about his return to Auschwitz, because I never saw that old man again.

All of Garfeins family was murdered. Because Jack, or Jakob, survived, we know about his mother and that great old man.

 Thanks so much for joining me, ladies and gentlemen. Ill see you soon. Heres a concert review, for the road  the New York Philharmonic and Jeffrey Kahane. Later on.

If youd like to receive Impromptus by e-mail  links to new columns  write to jnordlinger@nationalreview.com.

More from National Review
While he waits for his asylum claim to be processed, Somali refugee Yusuf volunteers as a firefighter in the town of Furstenwalde, Germany. File image from October 2017.  UNHCR/Christian Mang

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has launched a set of ambitious but achievable Recommendations for the 2020 Croatian and German Presidencies of the Council of the European Union (EU). The Presidencies and the envisaged EU Pact on Migration and Asylum present unique opportunities to better protect forcibly displaced and stateless people in Europe and abroad, while supporting host countries.

As we enter a new decade, and following the success of the Global Refugee Forum, the EU under its Presidencies has the chance to make 2020 the year of change for robust refugee protection, said Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCRs Regional Representative for EU Affairs.

UNHCRs Recommendations propose a truly common and workable asylum system within the EU through sustainable reform and revitalized financial support for countries hosting forcibly displaced people outside the EU.

Inside the EU, fair and fast asylum procedures need to be established to quickly determine who needs international protection and who does not. People eligible for protection should quickly be granted status and receive support for integration. Those not eligible to any form of protection should be assisted in their return.

Responsibility-sharing with EU Member States receiving a disproportionate number of asylum claims is also needed to ensure a truly common and workable asylum system. UNHCR is encouraging the Presidencies to advance work on an effective solidarity mechanism, including through relocation arrangements, with family unity prioritized.

The last decade was one of displacement. This decade can be, indeed has to be, one of solutions, starting right now in 2020, said Vargas Llosa. By supporting large refugee hosting countries outside Europe, the EU can also help refugees thrive and not just survive.

With 85 percent of the worlds refugees hosted in neighbouring and developing countries, revitalized financial support is also needed. UNHCR is calling on the Presidencies to ensure increased and diversified funding, including for development cooperation funding, to further support host countries and help forcibly displaced people rebuild their lives. The next EU budget (Multi-annual Financial Framework 2021-2027) is a key opportunity for the EU to demonstrate global solidarity towards forcibly displaced people and their hosts.

UNHCR remains ready to support the Croatian and German Presidencies, the EU, and its Member States as they work to enhance solidarity with refugees and the countries hosting them in the EU and globally.

Read UNHCRs full Recommendations for the Croatian and German Presidencies of the Council of the European Union here.

For more information, please contact:
Artists often adopt personas in their work  master painter, trickster, savant  and you can see this in the 13 performances of the maverick artist William Pope.L at the Museum of Modern Art. And he uses the characters in his show, member: Pope.L, 1978-2001, to critique race and class in the United States.

Member is one of three exhibitions of Pope.Ls work mounted last fall, collectively titled Instigation, Aspiration, Perspiration, and organized by MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Public Art Fund. At the Whitney, his room-size Choir features an industrial water tank installed in a darkened space and eerie sound elements created by contact microphones placed near the pipes leading to the tank. Pope.L does this to show how even neutral or natural elements like water get embroiled in social and political battles, from Jim Crow laws that prohibited African-Americans from using certain water fountains to the recent water-contamination crisis in Flint, Mich.

In September 2019, the Public Art Fund mounted a big group crawl, echoing the ones Pope.L has performed throughout his career. Called Conquest, it involved more than 140 volunteers crawling through the city, from a playground in Greenwich Village to Union Square. The main event is at MoMA, though, where you can experience the arc of the artists performance career.
(CNN)  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was a driving force behind US President Donald Trump's decision to kill a top Iranian general, sources inside and around the administration tell CNN, a high-stakes move that demonstrates Pompeo's status as the most influential national security official in the Trump administration.

Taking Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani "off the battlefield" has been a goal for the top US diplomat for a decade, several sources told CNN.

Targeting Iran's second most powerful official -- the leader of the Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, the politically and economically powerful military group with regional clout -- was Pompeo's idea, according to a source from his inner circle. That source said the secretary brought the suggestion to Trump. Pompeo "was the one who made the case to take out Soleimani, it was him absolutely," this source said.

According to multiple sources close to Pompeo, the secretary of state has believed throughout his career that Iran is at the root of all the Middle East's problems and has focused on Soleimani, Iran's "shadow commander," as the mastermind behind the country's state sponsored terrorism throughout the region.

"We took a bad guy off the battlefield," Pompeo told CNN on January 5. "We made the right decision." The same day, Pompeo told ABC that killing Soleimani was important "because this was a fella who was the glue, who was conducting active plotting against the United States of America, putting American lives at risk."

'Leading the way'

"Pompeo provided the warrant for why Soleimani is a bad guy," the source said. "It's not personal because he was a terrorist and the mastermind." The source also said taking out Soleimani had been Pompeo's mission for a decade.

The secretary of state has been so fixated on the Iranian general that he even sought to get a visa to Iran in 2016 when he was a congressman from Kansas. While he said it was to monitor elections, he also suggested to confidants that he wanted to try to confront Soleimani when he was there. He never got the visa.

Pompeo, a West Point graduate who still has many friends in the military serving in the Middle East, also believed Solemani had the blood of hundreds of US soldiers on his hands.

US officials believe that during the Iraq War, Soleimani's units provided Iraqi insurgents with specially made bombs that could penetrate armor, a deadly weapon against American forces. Iran denies the claim, but the Pentagon still says Soleimani and his troops were "responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more."

More recently, Soleimani has been seen as the architect of Iranian military operations in Iraq and Syria. The source told CNN that as the years have gone by, Pompeo has told friend and colleagues that "I will not retire from public service until Soleimani is off the battlefield."

Long known as a "Trump whisperer" for the relationship he's cultivated with the President, Pompeo's ability to sell such an aggressive Iran strategy to Trump -- a conflict-averse President -- is testament to his unparalleled sway.

Now, with Pompeo's recent declaration that he will not run for a US Senate seat in Kansas, the former three-term House lawmaker and CIA director appears set to continue wielding his influence in the Trump administration.

"He's the one leading the way," according to the source in Pompeo's inner circle, discussing the face off with Iran. "It's the President's policy, but Pompeo has been the leading voice in helping the President craft this policy. There is no doubt Mike is the one leading it in the Cabinet."

One former Republican national security official, who is a Trump critic but supported the strike on Soleimani, told CNN that Pompeo is so influential, he is like the "secretary of state, secretary of defense and director of the CIA" combined.

'Un-American'

Pompeo's rise has sparked concerns within some Republican national security circles, where critics say he has enabled the famously mercurial President.

While he's earned the President's trust, however, Pompeo has not been insulated from scathing criticism over the administration's approach to Iran. On Wednesday, even some Republicans emerged from a briefing about the situation unconvinced.

GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah called the session by Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper the "worst briefing I've had on a military issue in my nine years" in the Senate. Lee said the administration's suggestion that Congress shouldn't have a role in debating military action against Iran was "un-American" and "completely unacceptable."

Congressional Democrats were highly critical, with Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia calling the briefing "sophomoric." Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she wasn't convinced Soleimani presented the imminent threat the administration claimed to justify his killing, while Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, disputed Esper's description of intelligence on Soleimani as "exquisite."

"It was not," Durbin said.

Since becoming the top US diplomat, Pompeo has been the point person for the administration's "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran. In April, Pompeo was a major force behind the Trump administration's controversial move to designate Iran's IRGC, including the Quds Force, as a foreign terrorist organization.

It was the first time the US had ever designated part of another government as a terrorist organization and laid a foundation for the legal rationalization to kill Soleimani, who had led the Quds Force since 1998.

In June, after Iran shot down a US drone, Pompeo was disappointed when he failed to convince Trump to take aggressive action against Iran and Soleimani. The President, at the last minute, reversed a decision to strike IRGC targets.

But this time, according to multiple sources with knowledge, Pompeo built a case that won over the President, particularly after a December 27, a rocket attack killed a US civilian contractor in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

On December 29, US planes killed at least 25 people in bombing strikes on the militia group Kataib Hezbollah, which reports to Iraqi leaders but is heavily influenced by Iran. On New Year's Eve, Iraqi protested in response to the American strikes, storming the US embassy compound in Baghdad.

Worry about another 1979

According to multiple sources familiar with these events, Trump was deeply concerned the embassy protests could lead to a repeat of the 2012 deaths of four Americans at a diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, or even the 1979 standoff between Washington and Tehran, when Iranian students stormed the US embassy in Iran and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

"I know Trump tweeted about Benghazi, but he didn't want to face another Tehran 1979," said the source in Pompeo's inner circle. Referring to Iran today, this source said that "they wanted to take hostages."

A Republican congressional source with knowledge of the events said that the American contractor's death was pivotal.

While Pompeo and Esper have argued that intelligence suggested an imminent threat, this Republican source said, "the intelligence may be no different of (Soleimani) planning" attacks similar to those he'd conducted in the past. The difference this time was that an American had been killed, the Republican said, tying the decision to strike to escalating encounters that began with the death of the 27-year-old Iraqi-American linguist from the San Francisco area.

"If an American hadn't died, I don't think any of this would have happened," the Republican said.

As planning got underway, Pompeo worked with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Army Gen. Mark Milley and the commander of CENTCOM Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie to assess the profile of troops in the field. Multiple sources also say that hawkish Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, were kept in the loop and also pushed Trump to respond.

Trump was not at all reluctant to target Soleimani, multiple sources said, adding that the President's other senior advisers -- Esper, Milley, CIA Director Gina Haspel and national security adviser Robert O'Brien -- "were all on board."

Pompeo has forged "very close relationships" with Haspel and Esper, alliances that bolstered his ability to make the case to Trump. "They all work together very, very closely," said the former Republican national security official.

That said, the former official expressed concern about the lack of deep expertise in Trump's national security team. Several analysts pointed to this as one factor in Pompeo's outsized influence within the administration.

The government is so compromised by Trump and by all the vacancies and lack of experience, this former official said, that "everything is being done by a handful of principles -- Pompeo, Esper, Milley. There are a lot of things being left on the floor."

'Such a low bar'

Pompeo is arguably the most experienced of the national security Cabinet, the former national security official said, "but it's such a low bar."

"It's such a small group and there's so much that needs to be done," the former official said. "Everyone in this administration is a level and a half higher than they would be in a normal administration. They have no bench," they said.

The Trump administration has been handicapped by the President's refusal to hire Republicans who criticize him. Other Republicans won't work for the administration, for fear of being "tainted" or summarily fired, the former official said.

As layers of experience have been peeled away at the White House, some analysts say safeguards have been removed as well. CNN's Peter Bergen has written in his new book, "Trump and his Generals," that former Defense Secretary James Mattis told his aides not to present the President with options for confronting Iran militarily.

Randa Slim, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, argues that since the departure of Mattis, former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and former White House chief of staff and retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, there are very few voices at the White House to offer "deeply considered advice."

"We don't have those people who have that experience and could look Trump in the eye and who have his respect and who could say, 'Hey, hey, hey -- wait!'," Slim said.
Australians have cheered US firefighters walking through Sydney airport to join the battle against bushfires that have killed 26 people.

US officials confirmed 100 firefighters were being dispatched to support 159 already in the country where 2,000 homes have been destroyed and eight million hectares scorched by wildfires.

Footage was shared by New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons of the reinforcements who will head to Victoria.

'As they came through the arrival gate, those gathered gave a spontaneous and lengthy round of applause, reflecting the gratitude and admiration we all have for their generosity and assistance,' Fitzsimmons said Thursday.

HEROES: Footage was shared by New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons of the reinforcements who will head to Victoria to help battle bushfires that have destroyed 2,000 homes and scorched an area the size of the island of Ireland

A fire burns near Tomerong, New South Wales, yesterday - after it was lit intentionally in an effort to contain a larger fire nearby

US firefighter John Szulc told ABC News: 'I'm not really worried, I think we're well trained ... We've got to learn from your local people in how we can do business and fit in with your system.'

It comes as the US National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) confirmed 20 seasoned firefighters from Angeles National Forest in LA headed to Australia on Monday.

That group will replace a crew who have been helping in Australia since early December, including crack helicopter teams with vast experience in tracking forest fires and putting them out before they grow.

NIFC spokeswoman Carrie Bilbao told ABC that the firefighters were receiving training on poisonous snakes and insects native to the region before heading out.

'They're there to work with Australia in any capacity needed,' Bilbao said.

US firefighters arriving in Sydney on Thursday. Another 100 firefighters are to be sent to Australia, US officials confirmed Tuesday, to support the 159 already in the country

The NIFC is in charge of US wild firefighting missions but over the winter months personnel can be freed up to help with fires elsewhere.

America, Australia and New Zealand have been involved in such exchanges for over a decade, but the last time US firefighters were sent there was in 2010.

'As the extreme fire danger continues across Australia, the Department of the Interior will continue to do all that we can to support requests for assistance,' said Craig Leff of Interior Department Fire.

It comes as Victoria state premier Daniel Andrews warned residents on Thursday it was 'just the beginning' of the bushfire crisis with a heatwave expected to bring further misery.

A firefighter backs away from flames in Tomerong, New South Wales, yesterday with fire crews scrambling to contain Australia's bushfire crisis

A Rural Fire Service volunteer is given instructions by a colleague as he douses a fire near Kulnura, New South Wales

'We're just at the beginning of what will be a really, really challenging summer,' Andrews said.

Bushfires have flared again with temperatures soaring to 100F on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, 24 hours after soldiers went door-to-door to warn residents to leave the town of Parndana on the island.

By Thursday afternoon, Kangaroo Island was also being threatened by fires that were expected to burn for days to come.

'The conditions are such that it is continuing to present a significant risk to the firefighters who are working hard to control the fires, and to anyone else in the vicinity,' Country Fire Service chief Mark Jones said.

In neighboring Victoria the 'state of disaster' was extended for 48 hours ahead of scorching temperatures that were due to set in Friday, further stoking massive fires.

'It's a very dangerous and dynamic situation that will confront us over the next 12, 24 and 36 hours,' Victoria Emergency Management commissioner Andrew Crisp said.

A wildlife rescuer carrying a koala with burnt hands and feet near Cape Bouda on Kangaroo Island

Scientists say the drought-fuelled blazes are being worsened by climate change, which is increasing the length and intensity of Australia's fire season.

Despite cooler weather and rainfall providing some relief in some bushfire-affected areas this week, almost 150 fires were still burning in worst-hit New South Wales and Victoria.

Vast tracts of the states are facing 'severe' fire danger tomorrow, with some areas expected to experience 'extreme' conditions.

'Don't get complacent with the rain that we've seen,' Victoria police minister Lisa Neville said.

'These fires are absolutely still moving, still growing in our landscape and they pose significant risk to communities.'

Firefighters have been taking advantage of this week's milder weather as they race to contain bushfires ahead of Friday.

They have been clearing vegetation and carrying out controlled burns in an effort to protect areas like the coastal town of Eden, where a large bushfire is burning to the south.

Fire and rescue personnel run to move their truck as a bushfire burns next to a major road on the outskirts of the town of Bilpin, New South Wales

Firefighters have been taking advantage of this week's milder weather as they race to contain bushfires ahead of another heatwave

'It only takes a spark to get a fire burning, and that's our concern for tomorrow,' Rural Fire Service superintendent John Cullen told a local council briefing.

The Rural Fire Service said a helicopter pilot who had been waterbombing a fire in the area ditched his aircraft into a dam Thursday afternoon, managing to free himself and swim to shore.

In some burnt-out areas people have turned to the painful task of rebuilding their homes and lives, with the process expected to take years.

New South Wales announced Thursday it would spend 1.2billion Australian dollars (630million or $822million) on restoring infrastructure in fire-ravaged areas.

That comes on top of a separate A$2billion (1billion or $1.4billion) national recovery fund earmarked to help devastated communities.

'We are always standing shoulder-to-shoulder with those who have been impacted by the devastating fires, this catastrophe which has come to New South Wales and we are stepping up to make sure we provide that support,' NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

Workers cut down burnt trees to clear the roads after a bushfire in Batlow, New South Wales

Strike teams perform controlled burning west of Corryong ahead of dangerous conditions later in the week

The bushfire toll has not been limited to human losses - the blazes have also wreaked wide-ranging environmental damage.

University of Sydney scientists estimate one billion animals have been killed in the fires. The figure includes mammals, birds and reptiles, but not frogs, insects or invertebrates.

Bushfire smoke has shrouded Australia's major cities in toxic haze for weeks, causing major public health concerns.

The smoke has also traveled more than 7,400 mile) to Brazil and Argentina, according to weather authorities there.

Australia experienced its driest and hottest year on record in 2019, with its highest average maximum temperature of 107.4F (41.9C) recorded in mid-December.
A spokesman for the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) on Wednesday announced that a "no-fly zone" had been expanded around capital Tripoli.

In a video statement, LNA spokesman, Ahmed al-Mosmari, said the current no-fly zone would be expanded to include the citys Mitiga airport, which has operated sporadically in recent months due to strikes.

The announcement came as General Khalifa Hifter's eastern-based forces launched a fresh offensive against Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj's UN-backed government in Tripoli.

On Monday, the LNA said they captured the strategic coastal city of Sirte after an operation lasting for approximately three hours.

Al-Mosmari's announcement came on the same day that Turkey and Russia called for a January 12 ceasefire while European Union officials intensified diplomatic efforts to cool tensions in the North African nation by holding talks with Sarraj.

Libya is currently governed by duelling authorities, with the LNA in the east, and the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli in the west, with each relying on different militias.

The fighting has threatened to plunge the country into violent chaos rivaling the 2011 conflict that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
After The Missile Attack, Is Iran Done With Its Retaliation?

By Golnaz Esfandiari January 08, 2020

Iran's direct retaliation for the January 3 U.S. assassination of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani raises the stakes in the escalating conflict between Tehran and Washington but puts the ball back in the Unites States' court, analysts say.

Iranian forces launched an overnight missile strike on two Iraqi facilities housing U.S. troops in Iraq, which was described by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a "slap in the face" for Washington.

Khamenei did not call for more military retaliatory actions, instead saying that "What is important is ending the corrupting presence of America in the region."

Analysts say the next move in the affair lies with Washington.

"I believe the comment that a war has already started may not necessarily be true, the U.S. response can be limited," said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, director of Virginia Tech's School of Public and International Affairs, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda.

He added that the U.S. move will depend on whether the Iranian strikes resulted in fatalities among American troops.

In his initial reaction, U.S. President Donald Trump, who ordered Soleimani's assassination, tweeted "All is well" and "So far, so good."

Trump added that casualties and damage from the missile attacks were being assessed and that he would make a statement on January 8.

Preventive Measures

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said on January 8 that the U.S. had "certainly" taken measures to prevent casualties.

"They knew that revenge would happen," he said. "They had made some preparations, although their preparations did not prevent the missiles from hitting [their bases] -- they had definitely taken measures to prevent casualties."

Hatami added that Tehran's next move "will depend on what [the Americans] will do."

"When it comes to us, we took harsh revenge," he said.

Ali Vaez, the director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group (ICG), suggested that Tehran may have given Washington advance warning in order to limit or avoid any casualties.

"I wouldn't be surprised at all if we later learn that either through visible movement of missile launchers or messaging through intermediaries, Tehran had tried to give advanced warning to the U.S. so as to limit casualties," he tweeted on January 8.

"The ball is now back in Trump's court," he added.

Despite the strikes, Iranian officials made it clear in their statements that they have no appetite for a full-scale war.

"We do not seek an escalation or war, but we will defend ourselves against any aggression," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter, adding that the Iranian move "was legitimate self-defense."

Creating An 'Unfavorable Atmosphere'

Raz Zimmt, an Iran analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv, told RFE/RL that Iran was making a distinction between immediate revenge for Soleimani's assassination -- namely its missile attack -- and more important long-term strategic revenge, which is the removal of the United States from the region.

"Therefore, unless the U.S. retaliates to the Iranian attack, the Iranians, in my opinion, will prefer to execute a 'road map' or a working plan, ultimately aimed at ending the U.S. presence in Iraq, over continuing to hit American targets, which could further escalate the situation and even lead to a military confrontation which doesn't serve Iranian interests," he said.

Clement Therme, a postdoctoral research fellow for the Nuclear Knowledge team at CERI-Sciences Po in Paris, told RFE/RL that Iran's objective was "to create a psychological atmosphere unfavorable to the maintenance of the American military and economic presence, and to break what it calls 'encirclement' by the American bases."

Therme said that, in the short term, Soleimani's death has allowed the Islamic republic to capitalize on "anti-American sentiments in Iraq."

"His death thus diverted attention from Iranian interference to American interference."

Zimmt said Iran's plan could include "both military actions, especially through the use of proxies, and political pressure on Iraqi political factions and government to encourage a U.S. withdrawal."

Speaking to journalists in Tehran, Hatami suggested that Tehran's proxies could retaliate over Soleimani's killing.

"Martyr Soleimani was an international figure of the 'resistance' [an alliance between Iran, Syria, and the Lebanese Hizballah]; he was an asset that belonged to all the soldiers of the resistance," he said. "They will pursue some policies [in his name]."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/after-the- missile-attack-is-iran-done-with-its- retaliation-/30366826.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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YEREVAN.  According to Zhoghovurd newspaper, Armenias political forces have thrown big New Year parties.

Zhoghovurd daily tried to find out how much money the political forces had spent during those pre-holiday gatherings. For example, the [ruling] My Step faction organized its party at Lianna restaurant owned by MP Narek Mkrtchyan of the same faction, where each person himself paid about 11,000 drams for his "chair."

The [opposition] Prosperous Armenia faction spent its New Year's party at Pharaon restaurant complex owned by Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukyan, but they have been reluctant to provide information about the money. Apparently, it was Tsarukyans treat.

And, here, the [opposition] Bright Armenia faction held their gathering in the Venezia restaurant complex, where the faction MPs and their assistants were present, and each deputy paid 50,000 drams to cover the total expenses.

The [opposition] ARF [Dashnaktsutyun Party] held its festive event at Pharaon restaurant complex, each of whom paid for himself, and it totaled 10-12 thousand drams.

And the [former ruling] RPA held its New Year party at the Harsnaqar restaurant complex owned by [RPA ex-MP] Ruben Hayrapetyan. RPA leader [and third President] Serzh Sargsyan also participated in it. According to our information, about 800 people attended the event.
A case has been registered in Ratlam against the BJP MP GS Damor and three MLAs of the party for taking out a procession in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) without permission, the Madhya Pradesh Police said

Ratlam: A case has been registered in Madhya Pradesh' Ratlam against the BJP MP GS Damor and three MLAs of the party for taking out a procession in support of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) without permission, the police said.

The procession was taken out from College Road to the Nagar Nigam square in Ratlam on Wednesday.

A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against 38 people under IPC section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) on Wednesday night, said Additional Superintendent of Police Indrajit Bakalwal.

The administration had denied permission for the event as prohibitive orders (banning assembly of five or more people) under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) were in force in the district, he said.

Those named in the FIR included Damor and BJP MLAs Chetan Kashyap (who represents Ratlam City), Rajendra Pandey (Jaora) and Dilip Makwana (Ratlam Rural).

Kashyap said the CAA is "part of the Constitution".

"It is the duty and right of every Indian citizen to respect and support the CAA. The action taken by the Kamal Nath government against peaceful and silent support of the public for the CAA is dictatorial," he said.

The controversial amendment offers citizenship to refugees who arrived in India before 2015 from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

On 7 January, a similar case was filed against Damor for taking out a procession in support of the CAA without permission in Jhabua city.
By Express News Service

Our leaders are all speech and no action, said Licypriya Kangujam, one of the world's youngest climate change activists, speaking at The New Indian Express' ThinkEdu Conclave 2020 on Thursday. "I want our leaders to show more action," she said.

Born in Imphal, Manipur, in 2011, she is one of the youngest climate activists in the world, having spoken at numerous platforms worldwide. In 2019, she attended the UNESCO Partners' Forum in Angola. She began a climate strike with more than 50,000 children and youth to call the attention of world leaders to take strong environmental action.

"I want to go to school. I wouldn't be here if our leaders took action," she said, adding that she doesn't go to school so that she makes sure she protests at the national capital every week. The Child Movement's founder confesses that she feels emotional when she sees children losing their parents and people becoming homeless at the threat of climate disasters. "My heart bleeds for people who cannot defend themselves when disaster strikes," she rued.

She said that it made her uneasy when ministers deny climate change and say that air pollution does not affect people's health. "12 million people have died because of poor air quality. I've travelled to 21 countries. I'm asking our Prime Minister Narendra Modi to change paper into actions," she said.

She asked what would happen to the health of Indian children if we ignore the threat of air pollution. "Have you seen the air at Delhi?" she asked, adding that our leaders, "don't have the time to listen to us. They don't hear our voice," she lamented.

Kanjugam attended the COP25  the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference  a month ago, alongside Swedish child environmental activist Greta Thunberg. Kanjugam, who has been hailed as the 'Greta Thunberg of India' by many, said, "Last month, I went and met many other children like me at COP25. I want to tell our leaders that this is our time to act," she said, exclaiming that she wants everyone in the country to say, "We will! We will! We will!"

She said she wants more children to claim rights over the climate crises as they are the future generation. "What we want is not just about tomorrow alone. It is about today and now," she concluded.


TORONTO, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eloro Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: ELO; FSE: P2Q) (Eloro, or the Company) is pleased to announce the signing of the Definitive Option Agreement on the Iska Iska polymetallic epithermal project, in the Potosi Department, southern Bolivia by Minera Tupiza S.R.L., Eloros wholly-owned Bolivian subsidiary.

We are very pleased to complete the signing of the Definitive Agreement granting Eloro Resources Ltd. the option to acquire a 99% interest in the highly prospective Iska Iska polymetallic property, stated Tom Larsen, Eloros President and CEO. As previously reported, (see press release of October 8, 2019) Eloro carried out preliminary evaluation work at Iska Iska that included geological mapping and channel sampling of the underground and on surface workings which returned very positive results. Planning is in progress to develop a multifaceted exploration program focused on evaluating known mineralized areas to define high priority drill targets as well as outline potential new mineralized areas. Consultations will also be carried out with the local community to ensure that as the project progresses, it delivers economic and social benefits to the community.

Pursuant to the signed definitive agreement and pending the receipt of all required regulatory approval, Eloro Resources Ltd. will issue 250,000 common shares within 30 days of the date of the agreement and can elect to issue a further 250,000 common shares within 2 years thereafter and have the option of paying US$10 million to Empresa Minera Villegas S.R.L., within 4 full years of the date of the agreement. During the 4 year option period, Minera Tupiza S.R.L. will undertake an exploration and development program on the property, to be conducted under the supervision of Dr. Osvaldo Arce, Ph.D., P. Geo. and Dr. Bill Pearson, Ph.D., P. Geo., each a Qualified Person in the context of National Instrument 43-101. Under the program, Minera Tupiza S.R.L. will carry out a multidisciplinary exploration strategy involving advanced geological mapping, geochemical sampling and conceptual modelling of the areas sedimentary and volcanic rocks, which will have the fundamental purpose of identifying new geological and geochemical objectives, focusing on developing high priority drill targets.

This program will be essential for the validation of a new geological model that will be used to plan future exploration programs and to identify new mineralized zones.

Qualified Person

Dr. Osvaldo Arce, P. Geo., an expert on Bolivian geology and a Qualified Person in the context of NationaI Instrument 43-101 has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.

About Iska Iska

Iska Iska pollymetallic project is a road accessible, royalty-free property, wholly-controlled by the Title Holder, Empresa Minera Villegas S.R.L. and is located 48 km north of Tupiza city, in the Sud Chichas Province of the Department of Potosi. The property can be classified as a polymetallic (Ag, Zn, Pb, Au, Cu, Bi, Sn, In) epithermal-porphyry complex. This is an important mineral deposit type in Bolivia.

Geological mapping on the property by Eloro has revealed the spatial and temporal zonation of alteration and vein minerals in an area of about 5 square kilometres. The polymetallic mineralization occurs mainly as veins, subsidiary vein swarms, veinlets, stockworks, and disseminations, forming a subvertical vein system in both the stock and the volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Preliminary evaluation work including 42 channel samples in underground and on surface workings at Iska Iska returned significant results as summarized below. All of the channel samples included altered wall rock with widths ranging between 1.20 to 5.55 m, averaging 2.90 m (see press release of October 8, 2019 for further details).

Silver. Anomalous silver values range between 35.5-694 g/t Ag (46% of channel samples).

Anomalous silver values range between 35.5-694 g/t Ag (46% of channel samples). Gold. Anomalous gold values range between 0.31-28.6 g/t Au (42% of channel samples).

Anomalous gold values range between 0.31-28.6 g/t Au (42% of channel samples). Zinc. Anomalous zinc values range between 1.05-16.95% Zn (37% of channel samples).

Anomalous zinc values range between 1.05-16.95% Zn (37% of channel samples). Lead. Anomalous lead values range between 0.41- 16.95% Pb (49% of channel samples).

Anomalous lead values range between 0.41- 16.95% Pb (49% of channel samples). Copper. Anomalous copper values range between 0.1->1% (22% of channel samples).

Anomalous copper values range between 0.1->1% (22% of channel samples). Bismuth. Anomalous bismuth values range between 967-7,380 g/t Bi (22% of channel samples).

Anomalous bismuth values range between 967-7,380 g/t Bi (22% of channel samples). Indium. Anomalous indium values range between 10.35 - >500 g/t In (34% of channel samples).

About Eloro Resources Ltd.

Eloro is an exploration and mine development company with a portfolio of gold and base-metal properties in Peru and Quebec. Eloro owns an 82% interest in the La Victoria Gold/Silver Project, located in the North-Central Mineral Belt of Peru some 50 km south of Barrick's Lagunas Norte Gold Mine and Pan American Silvers La Arena Gold Mine. The Property consists of eight mining concessions and eight mining claims encompassing approximately 89 square kilometres. The Property has good infrastructure with access to road, water and electricity and is located at an altitude that ranges from 3,100 m to 4,200 m above sea level.

For further information please contact either Thomas G. Larsen, President and CEO or Jorge Estepa, Vice-President at (416) 868-9168.

Information in this news release may contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward looking information express, as at the date of this news release, the Companys plans, estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations, or beliefs as to future events or results and are believed to be reasonable based on information currently available to the Company. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
CHICAGO  OHare International Airport and Midway Airport have installed boxes for travelers to dispose of recreational marijuana before they get on the plane.

The cannabis amnesty boxes, as theyre called, are stationed just past each Transportation Security Administration checkpoint, said Maggie Huynh, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department.

The police arent targeting travelers with cannabis, and its not illegal to have it at the airport, Huynh said. But possessing marijuana is still illegal under federal law, and air space is regulated by the federal government.

The boxes give people an opportunity to ensure theyre not breaking federal law and wont run into an issue when they land at their destination, Huynh said.

Were not encouraging people to bring cannabis through the airports at all, Huynh said. But if for some reason you have it on you, we have those amnesty boxes out there so that you can dispose of it prior to getting on the airplane.

TSA doesnt search for weed at security checkpoints, according to its website. But its agents are obligated to report any violations of federal law to local police, TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz said. TSA agents will not weigh the amount in someones possession before turning them over to police, Koshetz said.

In the event a substance that appears illegal is discovered during security screening, our officers will refer the matter to a law enforcement officer, who then follow their own procedures, Koshetz said.

Illinois residents can legally possess up to 30 grams of marijuana, or about an ounce, in Illinois and out-of-state residents can have half that.

The boxes are owned by the Department of Aviation and serviced by the police. Police officers will regularly empty the boxes, file a report for the items inside and dispose of any surrendered marijuana like they would narcotics, Huynh said.

The boxes were installed at each airport last week, just as legal weed sales began in Illinois.

Chicago airports werent the first to install marijuana disposal boxes.

McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas has amnesty boxes outside of the terminals where passengers can surrender marijuana or anything else they dont want to take through security.

Airports in other states that allow recreational marijuana give travelers additional options. In Juneau, Alaska, police give passengers stopped with legally purchased marijuana a chance to leave it somewhere for safekeeping, like in their car or with a friend.

Illinois first day of recreational marijuana sales on Jan. 1 marked one of the strongest showings of any state in the history of pot legalization. Shops sold more than $10.8 million worth of recreational weed in the first five days of sales.

A handful of shops  including one near Midway Airport  had to halt recreational weed sales as they deal with product shortages. Some dispensaries dont expect recreational sales to start again until later this week.



Ally Marotti of the Chicago Tribune wrote this story.

2020 Chicago Tribune

Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A senior administration official agreed, emphasizing that as a former Manhattan real estate developer, Trump understands the power of financial penalties and withholding money. A second person familiar with Trumps handling of sanctions said the president enjoys the position of leverage that comes from presiding over the worlds largest economy. Both also stressed that Trump appreciates the nonkinetic nature of sanctions, placating a commander in chief at once leery of foreign entanglements but eager for grand displays of power. The two people spoke on the condition of anonymity to share candid assessments.
A teacher in Florida was arrested and charged with battery after cellphone video showed him lifting a 14-year-old student from his desk, carrying him across the room and then pushing him into the hallway in a confrontation over playing music in class, the authorities said on Wednesday.

The teacher, Jeffrey A. Paffumi, 47, has been placed on leave by the school  Buddy Taylor Middle School, in Palm Coast  pending an investigation into the episode that happened on Tuesday, the Flagler County Sheriffs Office said in a statement.

The cellphone video, about 14 seconds long, was taken by another student, but it did not show events preceding the confrontation. The sheriffs statement described Mr. Paffumi grabbing the student with his right arm, and lifting him out of the chair.

Paffumi then hooks the students left arm with his left arm and lifts the student off his feet and carries him across the classroom, it said.
Hyderabad: Students of the Nizamia Tibbi College on Wednesday carried out a demonstration protesting against the brutal attack on Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students. They also held a Revolutionary Poetry meeting.

Ms Syeda Humera Fatima said, We are carrying out daily activities to express our solidarity with the students of JNU who were attacked by masked goons.

She said the management was not allowing them to protest hence they demonstrating to express their dissent over the incidents in the universities across the country.

We are also demonstrating against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR) and this will continue until the government revokes CAA and abandon the proposal for execution of NRC at national level, she said.

She said the Delhi administration had failed to nab the culprits responsible for the attack on the students of the JNU. It is strange that the police booked the president of the Students Union who was severely injured.

We demand that justice be done to the students, she added.She also asked the Unani College administration to allow them to raise their voices, which is a fundamental right.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Centauri Health Solutions, Inc. ("Centauri" or the "Company"), an innovative provider of healthcare technology and services, today announced an agreement under which Abry Partners ("Abry") will acquire a majority stake in Centauri. With this transaction, Abry, one of the premier sector-focused private equity investment firms in North America, adds Centauri to its growing portfolio of healthcare IT investments.

Abry's investment is intended to enable Centauri to further accelerate product development, expand sales and marketing efforts, and pursue strategic acquisitions.

Adam Miller, Centauri's co-founder and CEO, commented on the transaction: "As we wrap up our most successful year to date, we are excited to welcome Abry as our new lead investor. Abry, along with our existing investors Silversmith Capital Partners ("Silversmith") and SV Health Investors ("SV Health"), believes in Centauri's strategic vision and the positive impact the Company's solutions have on the lives of patients and health plan members. Abry's investment will enable us to accelerate our growth and expand the suite of innovative technology and services we provide to our hospital and health plan clients nationwide."

Jim Quagliaroli, Managing Partner of Silversmith said, "We're incredibly pleased by the growth of Centauri since our initial investment in 2016. When we invested in Centauri, the Company had fewer than 100 employees, and now closed 2019 with over 1,200 employees. The management team has created exceptional value for the individuals they serve, their clients, and investors over the last four years, and we are excited to support the Company's future growth."

Nick Scola, Partner at Abry, noted that, "Centauri represents an ideal investment for Abry within one of our core industry verticals. Adam and his team have built an exceptional company that delivers tangible economic value to payors, providers and patients within an increasingly complex and competitive healthcare environment. We truly look forward to working with the Centauri leadership team to drive growth through continued investment in technology and people, as well as strategic M&A."

SV Health's Managing Partner, Michael Balmuth, added, "It has been a privilege to work with the Centauri team. They've proven the old adage of 'doing well by doing good,' in building shareholder value while helping patients in need and also creating a thriving environment for employees. We look forward to supporting Centauri's continued expansion in partnership with management and our co-investors."

The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2020, following the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. On closing, Nick Scola, Chris Ritchie and Joe Cammarosano of Abry will join Jim Quagliaroli of Silversmith, Michael Balmuth of SV Health, and CEO Adam Miller on Centauri's Board of Directors.

William Blair & Company LLC, acted as exclusive financial advisor, while Choate Hall & Stewart LLP and Weiss Brown LLP acted as legal counsel to Centauri. Abry was advised by Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Robert W. Baird & Co.

About Centauri Health Solutions

Centauri Health Solutions provides services to payors and providers in government sponsored healthcare programs, including Medicare Advantage and Medicaid. In partnership with our clients, we improve the lives and health outcomes of the members and patients we touch through compassionate outreach, sophisticated analytics, and data-driven solutions. Our services directly address complex problems such as uncompensated care within health systems; appropriate, risk-adjusted revenue for specialized sub-populations; and quality of care measurement. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., Centauri Health Solutions employs more than 1,200 dedicated associates in seven U.S. locations. Centauri ranked No. 132 on Inc. Magazine's 2019 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. For more information about Centauri, visit www.centaurihs.com.

About Abry Partners

Abry is one of the most experienced and successful sector-focused private equity investment firms in North America. Since their founding in 1989, the firm has completed over $82.0 billion of leveraged transactions and other private equity or preferred equity placements. Currently, the firm manages over $5.0 billion of capital across their active funds. For more information on Abry, please visit www.abry.com.

About Silversmith Capital Partners

Founded in 2015, Silversmith Capital Partners is a Boston-based growth equity firm with $1.1 billion of capital under management. Silversmith's mission is to partner with and support the best entrepreneurs in growing, profitable technology and healthcare companies. The firm seeks to invest $20 million to $100 million per company. Representative investments include ActiveCampaign, Centauri Health Solutions, Digital Map Products, Impact, LifeStance Health, MediQuant, Nordic Consulting Partners, and Validity. The partners have over 75 years of collective investing experience and have served on the boards of numerous successful growth companies including Ability Network, Dealer.com, Liazon, Liberty Dialysis, MedHOK, Net Health, Passport Health, SurveyMonkey, Wrike and Yapstone. For more information, visit www.silversmithcapital.com.

About SV Health Investors

SV Health Investors, formerly named SV Life Sciences, is a healthcare and life sciences venture capital and growth equity firm. SV targets early-stage opportunities in biotechnology; early-stage and revenue-stage opportunities in medical devices; and growth equity investments for later-stage businesses in healthcare services and digital health. Over the past 25 years, SV has invested in more than 175 companies. The firm currently has over $2.9 billion in capital commitments raised across nine private venture capital funds and one publicly listed fund. SV Health Investors has offices in Boston and London. For more information, please visit www.svhealthinvestors.com.

SOURCE Centauri Health Solutions

Related Links

http://www.centaurihs.com


To have started an international volunteering organisation at the age of 22 is a pretty unbelievable achievement, but thats exactly what Laura Robinson did. Shes 23 now and back in Wanaka for her first Christmas home in three years. Robinsons spent the last five years volunteering in the Ugandan village of Kkoba, not to mention balancing law school at the University of Canterbury. Its been a whirlwind few years, but Laura Robinson is just getting started.

Robinson was raised in Timaru with two loving parents and a very close family. She looked up to her family as role models, with her father and grandfather running the local Rotary Club. When she was 11, Robinsons father passed away from terminal cancer, but not before writing her a series of letters that were put away for special occasions in her life. Theyve been a real guide in my life and an inspiration to keep dreaming big, Robinson said of his continual influence.

Her first real stint at volunteering was at age 18, for a small Ugandan organisation called Hope Line which was sent volunteers via a larger American organisation. Robinson was shocked at the exploitation of smaller grass-roots, not-for-profits by bigger organisations sending volunteers, which failed to focus on developing local organisations and projects and rather on charging large programme fees to cover administration costs. Purpose Projects, her volunteering organisation, was born out of a wish to help support Hope Line without the exploitative nature of larger companies.

Robinson goes to Kkoba three times a year; two months before and after Christmas over university break and one month mid year, always trying to work around exams and classes. Finding a balance with university was tough especially because I knew this was what I wanted to be doing but also needed to finish my qualifications. So I had to continuously prioritise and it meant dropping things out of my life to make room for what was important, Robinson confessed. If studying, researching, volunteering and setting up your own organisation didnt sound busy enough, Robinson also works part time as all of her work and travel is self-funded.

In 2018 Robinsons Purpose Projects lead over 30 students from New Zealand to Uganda to build a primary school. Every member self-funded their travel alongside the money needed for the project, which was implemented by Hope Line and overseen by a community board of Kkoba. The project was a success, and the school currently has over 200 enrolments for next year with a capacity for 2000. Robinson said, The volunteers were so hard working, open to learning and growing. It was incredible to see them work throughout the year on fundraising for the community and the next generation of children, and help Hope Line bring that project to life.

Recently, Robinson was recognized as a finalist for the 2019 Women of Influence awards which she calls an honour but admits its hard being recognised individually though when there has been so many people coming together to bring the organisation to fruition.

Going forwards, Robinson hopes to continue her work in Kkoba as well as develop a local arm of the organisation in New Zealand to support other young people interested in not-for-profit and social justice entrepreneurship. Although shes just gotten back to Wanaka, Robinson is off again next week to Uganda, but hopes to enjoy Wanaka life properly when she moves back in February. Robinson wants to give a shout-out to her incredible team here and in Uganda. Particularly Stuart, Alice and Stef who are grinding to prepare for our trip leaving in a week.

If youre interested in getting involved, Robinson says Purpose Projects are always looking for volunteers and donations to help continue the work they do.
Accusing the BJP of threatening college students here to support the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, senior Congress leader K Siddaramaiah on Thursday said Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa should control "hooligans" from his party.

The former Chief Minister was reacting to an incident where some BJP workers allegedly created ruckus near a girl's college here, while seeking support for CAA by raising slogans, as students opposed a pro-CAA banner on the wall of their institution.

"@BJP4Karnataka goons are threatening students of Jyotinivas College to support CAA. Mr @BSYBJP, I am strictly warning you to control hooligans from your party.

Don't subvert knowledge & institutions for your selfish motives. We won't let Ktaka to be victim of your Hitler rule!" Siddaramaiah tweeted.

"Educational institutions are a source of dissemination of knowledge, critical thinking & scientific temper.

While @BJP4India ideology is on weak foundations of fascism. BJP is threatened by the knowledge base of our Universities & hence they want to subvert & weaken them," he said in another tweet.

Later, speaking to reporters in Hubballi, Siddaramaiah said there was no democracy in the country now, and the freedom of expression that has been guaranteed by the constitution is being curtailed.

Alleging that an "atmosphere of fear" was being created in the country, he reiterated that the recent attack on students at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University was "government sponsored" and questioned as to why no one has been arrested so for in connection with the incident.

The Congress leader also claimed that the freedom of students and rights enshrined for citizens under the Constitution are being snatched away, and there was kind of "totalitarianism" in the country these days.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Opposition parties criticised the government on Thursday over what they described as a "guided tour" of foreign envoys to Jammu and Kashmir and said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led regime was adopting double standards by not allowing Indian politicians to visit the region.

IMAGE: US envoy to India Kenneth Juster and other diplomats from 15 countries on their arrival at the airport in Srinagar. Photograph:ANI

The Congress launched a broadside against the government hours after the envoys of 15 countries, including United States Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster, arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the first by diplomats since August last year when the then state's special status was revoked and it was split into two Union territories.

"The government is adopting double standards by allowing foreign envoys to visit Jammu and Kashmir, but not Indian politicians," senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said at a press conference.

He, however, clarified that the Congress was not opposed to such visits, but Indian politicians should also be allowed to visit the region.

Communist Party of India general secretary D Raja said no "red carpet" welcome to the envoys could "absolve" the government of the "crimes they have committed" in Jammu and Kashmir as he hit out at the Centre over the visit of the ambassadors, while denying entry to the region to Indian MPs after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.

"What the government has done is disrespecting India's Parliament, its political parties, its people and its democracy. While the government is saying that everything is normal there, the region in reality is under siege. We demand that if the situation is normal, then every political detainee should be released immediately.

"No red-carpet welcome to some envoys can absolve the government of the crimes they have committed in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

The government, however, said the objective of taking the foreign envoys to Kashmir was to help them see the efforts to bring back normalcy in the Valley after the abrogation of Article 370 and rejected the criticism that the visit was akin to a guided tour.

The Congress accused the government of "adopting double standards" by organising "guided tours" to Jammu and Kashmir for foreign envoys, but not allowing Indian politicians to visit the Union territories.

Besides the US, the group comprised the envoys of South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Fiji, Maldives, Norway, the Philippines, Morocco, Argentina, Peru, Niger, Nigeria, Guyana and Togo, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

"The objective of the visit is for the envoys to see the efforts being made by the government to bring the situation to normal and see first-hand the impact of the series of steps taken by the local administration to normalise the situation in the recent weeks," he said.

Ramesh said this was the second such attempt by the government, after the one planned for EU parliamentarians on October 29 last year.

At that time, after facing criticism, the government had to say it was an informal visit and not an official one, the Congress leader said.

"We do not oppose this visit of foreign envoys. But when our own politicians are not allowed to go to Jammu and Kashmir to meet the people there, what is the purpose of taking foreign envoys there?," he asked.

Ramesh pointed out that three former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers were still under house arrest and another former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, who is also the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, had to seek the Supreme Court's permission to visit the Union territory.

When a parliamentary delegation, opposition leaders, a former Congress president and the Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary could not go to Jammu and Kashmir, then what was the purpose of taking foreign envoys there, the Congress leader asked.

"We demand the government to allow an unfettered access to Jammu and Kashmir to all politicians and not resort to guided tours for envoys," he said.

The Congress wanted meaningful political activity to start in Jammu and Kashmir immediately and "political tourism" for foreign envoys to stop, Ramesh said, adding, "It is important to stop such guided tours."

"In the last five months, no meaningful political activity has taken place in Jammu and Kashmir. Political tourism of taking envoys to Jammu and Kashmir should stop," he said.

The National Conference issued a statement, saying it was disappointed with the way the foreign envoys were brought to the Valley to endorse the Centre's claims about normalcy in the region.

"The party wishes to ask these envoys that if the situation is normal, why are scores of people, including former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, under detention for the last 160 days," it said.

The People's Democratic Party said the visit of the foreign envoys was an attempt by the government to "normalise its clampdown" in the Valley and dared the Centre to allow the dignitaries to meet the detained political leaders.

"Today that @PMOIndia lets a 2nd batch of envoys to "see" the situation in #Kashmir, it only seems like an attempt to normalize the Govt's own clampdown. The dare is on @PMOIndia will they ever let these Foreign Envoys meet political detainees who are jailed since 160 days now?," it said on its official Twitter handle.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh said Indian MPs should be allowed to visit Kashmir before foreign envoys.
Brad Pitt recently accepted the Best Supporting Actor Award for his role as Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the Golden Globes.

The actor was honored once again Wednesday at the National Board of Review Awards Gala in New York City.

He served bromance vibes with pal Bradley Cooper, who presented him with the award.

Bromance vibes: Brad Pitt served bromance vibes Wednesday with pal Bradley Cooper, who presented him with an award at the National Board of Review Awards Gala

Both guys skipped the red carpet before the star-studded event, but were later spotted palling around.

Cooper, 45, took the stage in a black suede three-piece suit with a grey dress shirt and no tie.

He introduced Pitt, 56, who cut a sharp look in a navy blue suit with a matching collared shirt.

The guys recently hung out at last Friday's AFI Awards, where the Cooper-produced film Joker was recognized.

BFF goals: Both guys skipped the red carpet before the star-studded event, but were later spotted palling around

Dapper display: Cooper, 45, took the stage in a black suede three-piece suit with a grey dress shirt and no tie

Sharp look: He introduced Pitt, 56, who cut a sharp look in a navy blue suit with a matching collared shirt

And the award goes to: Cooper presented Pitt with the Best Supporting Actor award for his role as Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Hug it out: The friends shared a hug onstage, as Cooper handed over the plaque

Best wingman ever: They were reportedly there for each other amid their respective high profile breakups

Pals: The two lads named Brad definitely enjoyed each other's company

Ride-or-die: The guys recently hung out at last Friday's AFI Awards, where the Cooper-produced film Joker was recognized

Pitt later visited Cooper at his Manhattan apartment Tuesday, following the New York Film Critic Circle gala.

They were also reportedly there for each other amid their respective high profile breakups.

Back in August, they saw the LA Philharmonic Orchestra perform at Hollywood Bowl.

A source told The Sun: They have been busy juggling work with tricky family situations this year, and finally they have some time to themselves to hang out and be there for each other.

Calling quits: Cooper split with model Irina Shayk, 34, in June, having been together since 2015

Bachelor life: Meanwhile, Pitt's divorce with Angelina Jolie was finalized in April, after they fell in love on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2005 and got married in 2014

Both Brads had the best night being away from the normal Hollywood crowd, but they still stopped to talk to a few industry friends in the audience.

Cooper split with model Irina Shayk, 34, in June, having been together since 2015, sharing daughter Lea, two.

Meanwhile, Pitt's divorce with Angelina Jolie was finalized in April, after they fell in love on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2005 and got married in 2014.

They share sons Maddox, 18, Pax, 16, and Knox, 11, as well as daughters Zahara, 15, Shiloh, 13, and Vivienne, 11.

Smooth exit: Pitt cut a sleek look as he left the event

Fan favorite: He signed autographs and posed for selfies as he was swarmed by fans
AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Newchip, one of the top investment platforms in the world, has a track record of helping companies get funded with over $20M+ in investments into its companies in 2018 alone. This week, they accepted Univoice: a "learn languages through music" mobile app startup, into their online accelerator.

"We are very excited to have Univoice join the NEWCHIP family," remarked Ryan Rafols, Founder & CEO of Newchip. "The team impressed us from the startwe are eager to see how they take Univoice to the next level. They have a unique perspective on their market and what they've built so far shows great promise."

Launched in late 2018 by chief founder, Sami Halabi, Univoice simplifies and energizes the language learning process, helping avid language students learn quicker and have tons of fun while doing it. Sami is solving problems he's experienced personally, after 20+ years spent perfecting English, Arabic, German, Spanish, and now, Italian.

"There's a near-instant drop of enthusiasm new language learners experience, from Day 1 to Day 30. This is quite simply because even the more modern approaches to language learning are pretty flashcards and randomized practice sentences," says Univoice CEO, Sami Halabi. Univoice is making it much easier for language students to get hooked on learning via the addictive, scientifically proven method of music.

Univoice has reached 1000+ users within a few months, exclusively through word of mouth. In December 2019, they reached 50% of their seed fundraising round of $625,000, to grow the team and refine their product.

"We think the future is moving in the direction of integrated, contextualized learning experiences. It's about time the e-language learning space undergoes true innovation, rather than a repackaging of the same, ineffective methods," says Halabi.

Download us on the App Store or Google Play Store, or visit www.univoice.app to learn more.

Take a look at the other companies accepted into the Newchip accelerator at https://www.newchip.com

About Univoice:

Univoice is taking the world by song! We are a language learning software company that has built an exciting new platform for learning languages through music. Its cutting-edge app is as addicting and engaging as it is educational. It prioritizes relevant vocabulary, proper language and slang, and long-term retention, tying these elements together through gamification.

www.univoice.app

Press Contact:

Sami Halabi

[email protected]

254-718-5371

SOURCE Univoice
Trump couldnt talk?

Re: U.S. raid kills a top Iranian in Baghdad, Front Page, Friday:

This order by President Donald Trump was the wrong thing to do. All it did is raise more hate. Iranian leaders will probably go after our president and his family. Why could he not have had a sit-down conversation and attempt to solve the problems? By doing what he did, he has potentially started another war.

Jim Denton, Gatesville

Dems never happy

When it comes to the Democrats, President Donald Trump can do nothing right. Had Trump done nothing with the intelligence he had, Gen. Qassem Soleimani would have killed hundreds of American military a la the Beirut bombing of 1983, and Trump still would have been blamed. (I lost a close Marine Basic School classmate in that bombing.)

Instead, Trump takes out this Iranian general, along with some of his proxy partners in crime, and Trump gets blamed for fueling a war with Iran.

Soleimani was an imminent  or, to use the Democrats favorite word, existential  threat to American personnel in the Middle East.

Trump could discover the cure for cancer and the Democrats would criticize him for it.

Larry Kovalchik

On ExpressNews.com: Congress demands answers from Trump about Soleimani killing

Student loan debacle

Much campaigning lately has focused on the huge college loans students have accumulated. Many students fail to finish college and find it impossible to repay those loans. Others get degrees in fields that pay less than advertised by college counselors.

How did we get here? During the Obama administration, the government took total control of college loans.

This created opportunity for universities to raise tuition as much and as often as they wished. They didnt have any stake in student success, and if it took students six years to get a degree in any subject, that was only to their advantage. The only obsession colleges had was attracting more and more students to feed their gravy train.

It has now become a popular campaign promise to forgive this debt and dump it on taxpayers who never signed on to this scam. It is a sure way to get votes from students in debt and their parents, who should have seen it coming.

Robert Hicks, Cibolo

Yawn for Latinos

Re: Castro reaches end of his campaign trail, Front Page, Friday:

When Barack Obama decided to enter the 2008 presidential race, excitement started to swell among Democrats and some Republicans. The idea of the first African American president excited the electorate. When Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz entered the 2016 race, the idea of the first Latino president mustered zero excitement.

Julian Castro motivated no one. There were neither Hispanic rallies nor a groundswell of optimism among various Latino factions. Im sure there will be another African American president in our future.

Sadly, and for whatever reason, Latinos are not very popular.

Leo Q. Gomez
Bhopal, Jan 9 : Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath chose to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday by launching a personal attack and asking whether any of his ancestors fought for India's Independence from British rule.

Addressing party workers during a Sewa Dal training camp here, he questioned the BJP for teaching nationalism to Congress and others.

"Have you heard Modi Ji speak of the youth and farmers? They teach the Congress party about nationalism. Modiji, tell us one name from your party who was part of the independence struggle. At least name one relative or forefather who was part of the struggle. And these are the people who are trying to teach us nationalism," Kamal Nath said.

The CM also slammed Modi over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC). He said that the NRC was based on religion.

"They talk about NRC. What is it they are trying to do through? When you go for registration they would ask for your religion? What was your father's religion? They would ask you to prove it. Can you do that? "We are more concerned about what's not written in the NRC and CAA than what's

written. We have to read the fine print to know what is sought to be obtained through the NRC and the new law. The BJP just wants to divert attention from critical issues like they did in Lok Sabha elections. They run away from main issues and just keep diverting your mind. Does the PM talk about youth, farmers and women anymore? He doesn't. Look at the artistry involved in hiding behind non-issues and obfuscating the real issues.

This is where the Sewa Dal assumes importance in educating the remotely placed people about the political mischief being played by the BJP," Kamal Nath said.

He also announced that Madhya Pradesh will have an active IT cell for the party's Seva Dal.

"It will be a command centre for the Seva Dal at the national level. I will give all the resources," Kamal Nath stated.

This unit will bridge the gap between people and the party through the use of digital communication, he added.

Sewa Dal has done it in the past to train the party men for selfless service. It can still do it, he said.
Nurses, teachers and lawyers join protests in France

French trade unions disrupted rail services, shut schools and brought demonstrators onto the streets in cities across France on Thursday.

France braced for a national day of action on Thursday as the strike that has seriously hampered the country continues into its fifth week.

ALL TRANSPORT SERVICES HAVE BEEN STOPPED

The protest involved thousands of transit workers, with the main gathering Paris for early in the afternoon.

Thousand of people took to the streets of the capital, denouncing the government's planned pension reform.

Workers held rallies in other major cities throughout France, including Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lille, Rennes, and Lyon. The unions have already called for another day of mobilization this Saturday.

Transport services, including metro and bus lines, within the Ile-de-France -- the greater Paris region -- have been critically affected by the protests. All metro lines will be open today, but most will offer reduced services, with peak hours being the priority.
Britain's parliament finally approved Brexit on Thursday, allowing it to become the first country to leave the European Union later this month, ending years of arguments that toppled two governments and splintered society. The House of Commons erupted in cheers after MPs ratified Prime Minister Boris Johnson's divorce deal with Brussels by 330 votes to 231, turning the page on an extraordinary era of political drama and chaos. For much of the time since the 2016 Brexit referendum, lawmakers have been at each others' throats over how, when or even if Britain should leave its closest trading partners after nearly 50 years. Some view Brexit with horror, fearing it will strip them of their European identities and turn Britain into an insular, less important nation. Others embraced it with fervour, viewing it as a chance to "take back control" from officials in Brussels and see Britain regain some of its past might. Businesses and governments in Europe, puzzled by Britain's struggles over what they viewed as a self-inflicted wound, hoped that Brexit could still somehow be undone. - A smile and a nod - But Johnson's comprehensive victory in last month's general election brought an abrupt end to the turmoil, giving his Conservatives a parliamentary majority with which to push it through. MPs gave their initial blessing to the EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill before Christmas, and the government set aside just three days this week for detailed scrutiny of the complex text. But few even bothered to turn up on Tuesday and Wednesday, with both sessions ending early. The momentous day on which Johnson effectively won permission to abandon the European integration project was all but ignored in Thursday's media. Instead, it became a footnote to Prince Harry and his wife Meghan's decision to quit royal front-line duties -- christened "Megxit" and shaping up to be equally complicated and divisive. "We will be leaving the EU on January 31. We will have delivered on the PM's commitment to get Brexit done," a government spokesman said, echoing Johnson's election mantra. Britain's main opposition Labour party, bruised by its worst beating at the polls since 1935, voted against Brexit on Thursday knowing the battle had been lost. We "may not win many votes in parliament just now, but we can win the moral argument", said Labour's Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer, a potential successor to Jeremy Corbyn as party leader. Johnson attended the session but did not speak, savouring his victory from the front bench, where he smiled and nodded before the historic but all-but ceremonial vote. The Brexit bill must still be passed by the unelected House of Lords and the European Parliament, which is seen as a formality. - Turning to trade - All eyes are now on another major challenge: the negotiation of a new relationship between Britain and the remaining 27 EU nations, which form the world's largest single market. The Brexit deal covers separation issues such as EU citizens' rights and Britain's financial settlement, and sets out an 11-month transition period in which to agree a wider partnership. Brussels warns the current deadline of December 31 this year is extremely tight, and has given London the option to ask for more time. But Johnson insists there will be no extension of the transition period, saying that Britain must be free of EU rules as soon as possible. Ahead of talks with Johnson on Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it would be "basically impossible" to agree everything within London's timeframe. "We will have to prioritise," she said in a speech to the London School of Economics university, warning of "tough talks ahead". In response, Johnson's office indicated that it could accept a partial trade deal. London does not want the EU's long-standing policy that "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed" -- intended to stop one side cherry-picking bits of a deal they like -- to define the coming negotiations, a spokesman said. "We are very clear we want to get on in terms of negotiating a deal," he said. Boris Johnson, seen with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, now has a clear path to leave the EU after his decisive poll win Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not speak during the parliamentary session
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.9

By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:

In November 2019, 35,430 tourists from Israel visited Turkey, which is 35.59 percent more compared to November 2018, Turkeys Ministry of Culture and Tourism told Trend.

During November 2019, the share of Israels citizens in the total number of foreigners visited Turkey amounted to 1.6 percent.

The ministry said that from January through November 2019, over 527,678 tourists from Israel visited Turkey, which is 28.5 percent more compared to the same period of 2018.

During the reporting period, the share of Israels citizens in the total number of foreigners visiting Turkey amounted to 1.2 percent.

In November 2019, 2.1 million tourists visited Turkey, which is 11.4 percent more compared to November 2018, a source in the ministry said.

From January through November 2019, 42.9 million tourists visited Turkey, which is 14.3 percent more compared to the same period of 2018, the ministry said.

Over the first 11 months of 2019, over 14.4 million tourists visited Antalya, and over 13.7 million tourists visited Istanbul, while over 14.6 million tourists visited other Turkish cities.

---

Follow the author on twitter: @nargiz_sadikh
This editorial appears in The Washington Post.

- - -

The escalating confrontation between the United States and Iran paused on Wednesday, which, as President Donald Trump put it, "is a good thing for all parties concerned." Having demonstrated that it can strike Iraqi bases where U.S. troops are deployed with precision, Iran announced that it had "concluded" its response to the killing of Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani; Trump, reporting that no Americans were killed or injured by Tehran's missiles, set aside the sweeping attacks he had threatened on 52 sites inside Iran.

Trump's acolytes quickly proclaimed him victorious for having eliminated the architect of Iran's foreign adventurism while avoiding a more damaging response. That assessment was premature and shortsighted. Iran's strikes on U.S. interests and allies will almost certainly continue in the coming months. Unless the Trump administration quickly steps up its diplomatic game, what Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called his ultimate aim - the removal of the United States from the Middle East - could soon be realized in Iraq and Syria.

Then there is Iran's nuclear program, which the regime announced it would step up in the aftermath of Soleimani's killing. In his White House address Wednesday, Trump asserted that he would "never let" Iran acquire a nuclear weapon. But, having scrapped the deal that curtailed Iran's program and plunged into confrontation with the regime, he has articulated no coherent strategy for stopping additional Iranian enrichment of uranium - other than calling on European allies and Russia to give up their attempts to save the pact.

Trump ought to embrace the pause in hostilities as an opportunity to begin serious negotiations with the Islamic republic. That is the course favored not only by a majority of Americans but also by Mideast allies such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which have been pressing for restraint. Though he nodded to the idea, saying the United States was "ready to embrace peace," Trump also said he would intensify already massive sanctions on Iran. That campaign of "maximum pressure" has failed to bring about the new nuclear negotiations Trump says he wants, much less the regime collapse or capitulation his more hawkish advisers hope for. But it virtually ensures that Iranian responses such as last year's attacks on Persian Gulf shipping and Saudi oil fields will continue.

Tehran will meanwhile press its advantage in Baghdad, where Iraqi legislators furious over two U.S. military operations in its territory in less than a week took a nonbinding vote Sunday to expel the 5,000 U.S. troops in the country. Abetted by U.S. incompetence - the dispatch of a letter announcing a withdrawal that was later termed a mistake - acting prime minister Adel Abdul Mahdi is pressing the case. Trump only helped him with a foolish threat to impose sanctions on Iraq; in his address Wednesday, Trump sounded as if he were arguing the case for a U.S. retreat, saying he wanted NATO to become more involved in the region and that "we do not need Middle East oil."

There was reason for relief Wednesday that the United States and Iran had avoided a plunge into full-scale war. But Trump's manifest lack of clear goals or strategy in the Middle East, combined with his readiness to launch strikes or order troop movements on impulse, is cause for continued alarm.
A rocket has this evening landed near a military base in Iraq housing US troops, just days after 22 ballistic missiles were launched by Iran at American air bases in the country.

The missile was launched in the Fadhlan area of the Dujail district in Iraq's northern Salahuddin province, Iraqi police sources said.

The area is close to the Balad air base which houses US troops. The origin of the rocket is unknown, the sources said.

So far no casualties have been reported. Balad base is about 50 miles north of Baghdad, while Dujail is 30 miles north of the capital.

It comes two days after Iranian forces fired a series of rockets at two US airbases in Iraq in retaliation for the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani near Baghdad airport last week.

Joint Base Balad in Iraq which has seen US troops stationed in the past. A rocket fell near the base this evening

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired 22 ballistic missiles at the al-Asad airbase and Erbil in the early hours of Wednesday, but failed to kill a single US or Iraqi solider.

Only minor damage was said to have been done to the bases in Ain al-Asad in western Iraq and near Erbil International airport in the north, with no casualties reported.

Yesterday two rockets were launched in to the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad near the US embassy.

Iraqi police said one rocket landed around 100 yards from the embassy but there were no reports of casualties in the attack.

The Green Zone houses government buildings and foreign missions in the Iraqi capital.

Initial reports indicated the rockets were Katyushas, a Soviet-era ground-based multiple rocket launcher used by multiple factions within Iraq.

Pieces of missiles seen at the rural area of Al-Baghdadi town yesterday after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq which has housed US troops

Iran's proxy forces in Iraq, the Shiite militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, have been known to previously launch similar rocket attacks on US assets in Iraq.

On Sunday night three Katyusha rockets landed in Baghdad - two inside the Green Zone and one in the nearby Jadriya area.

Six people were wounded, police said, with one rocket thought to have hit a family home in an apartment complex.

It was the second night in a row the US embassy came under attack following the killing of General Soleimani.

As a result of the rocket attacks, the US military is weighing possible adjustments to its defensive posture in the Middle East,a US defence official said today.

A satellite image taken yesterday that appears to be of new damage to the Al-Asad air base in Iraq after a missile strike by Iran

The senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Iran - which had been expected to retaliate over the US killing of a top general - had been seen more likely attacking US positions in another country than in Iraq, where Tehran counts some influential allies.

The US military has deployed Patriot air defences in other Middle East locations like Saudi Arabia, where it would have been able to shoot down incoming Iranian missiles.

But it did not have that capability at al-Asad airbase in Iraq, where at least 11 of Iran's ballistic missiles hit in Wednesday's attack.

There were suggestions after the airbase attack that Iran deliberately missed directly hitting the buildings in order to avoid escalating the conflict with America into all-out war.
A fire broke out at the ESIC Hospital in Noida on Thursday morning, in which no injuries were reported

A fire broke out at the ESIC Hospital in Noida on Thursday morning, in which no injuries were reported. The blaze broke out in the basement of the seven-storey hospital located in Sector 24, PTI reported.

All patients and their attendees and the hospital staff were safely evacuated.

#UPDATE Fire broke out in ESIC hospital in Noida Sector-24, six fire tenders at the spot, people including patients evacuated https://t.co/COoFHkoJLf pic.twitter.com/aVdt4gCZ1n  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 9, 2020

Around 10 patients are lying on the open ground in the hospital premises and the administration is planning to shift them to nearby hospitals, officials said.

The fire department was informed about the blaze at 9.30 am. As per a Times of India report, at least six fire tenders were rushed to the spot to carry out fire-fighting and rescue operations. The blaze was controlled within two hours, a fire department official told PTI.

Indian Express that the suspected cause for the fire might be short circuit. However, other reports said that the cause is yet to be ascertained and the damage is to be assessed.

Serious lapses in safety were reported from the hospital. News18 reported that the fire alarm did not ring when the blaze broke out in the building that also has no ramps. Only two-three fire fighting systems were reportedly functional, further complicating evacuation process as the fire brigade had to go outside every time for a refill. Mock fire drills at the hospital were also organised in an erratic manner, with the latest held last month.

The blaze came on the same day as a fire at a printing press in Delhis Patparganj, in which a 25-year-old man from Bihar died.
Tributes have been paid to a young couple who died after they became trapped in a flooded lift.

Dean Shoshani and Stav Harari, both 25 years old, died when they became stuck in a lift at the parking level of an apartment building that filled with water in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday.

Reports said emergency services had to use scuba gear to rescue the victims, sawing through the roof of the lift to reach the pair.

Ms Harari was reportedly transferred to the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv in critical condition and suffering from hypothermia.

Stav Harari and Dean Shoshani were both 25 years old. (CEN)

Doctors could not revive her. Mr Shoshani was reportedly reanimated at the scene and later taken to the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer where he died of his injuries.

Its not clear if the couple lived in the building.

One of the buildings tenants, whose name has not been reported, told local media he called the police three times, only to get an answer on the third attempt.

Alfred Jadid, the owner of the building, said he got a call 20 minutes after the pair became trapped.

When I arrived, the water had already reached the ceiling, he said.

I started going crazy, we tried opening the elevator doors, but to no avail."

"Police only arrived about an hour later, but how would that help? The fire brigade arrived there after an hour and a half. All these floods are caused by the drainage system's failure. We have floods around here all the time. All the time."

Residents have complained it took authorities too long to respond. (CEN)

According to the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality, the incident is under investigation.

Eden Shoshani, Mr Shoshanis mother, said the couple moved into an apartment a few months ago.

You made a home that was sweet and pleasant  just like you, she said.

Now youve passed on together. I remember and treasure every moment with you.

Mr Shoshani and Ms Harari were reportedly buried in adjacent graves at the Yarkon Cemetery in Tel Aviv on Sunday with thousands attending the young couples funeral.

We are Jews and we believe in the holiness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, Shoshanis father, Tzion, said, according to Haaretz. Abundant water cant snuff out love, and rivers cannot wash it away  but rivers swept them away.

Story continues

Hararis father, Itzik, said, Stav, you are our life, our oxygen, we love you more than we love ourselves. Watch over us from above.

According to local media, 83mm of rain fell in coastal Israeli cities at the weekend within just a few hours.

---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK---
Hundreds of thousands of workers and students protest across the country against Modi govts anti-people policies.

Millions of Indians went on a strike on Wednesday, unions said, as workers angry at the governments labour policies brought travel chaos across the country.

The widespread action was in opposition to what unions called the anti-worker and anti-people policies of right-wing Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

They highlighted the recent privatisation of public firms and natural resources and demanded a rise in the minimum wage and pensions.

Farmers and students joined some of the protests called by 10 trade unions who claim 250 million members between them.

Students in many universities and colleges are boycotting classes in solidarity with attacks on students [Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters]

The nationwide strike comes amid a boycott of classes by students in many universities and colleges across India in solidarity with the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) university and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) who have come under attack from police, authorities and right-wing outfits.

Bus and train services and state-owned banks bore the brunt of the strike, staged in defiance of government warnings of consequences for anyone who took part.

Roads, train tracks blocked

Protesters blocked roads and railway tracks, while those at rallies also chanted slogans against the Hindu nationalist governments new nationality law that opponents say is anti-Muslim and has sparked widespread demonstrations.

191209095557419

In West Bengal state, strikers targeted railways and key highways and burned tyres on a main road in the state capital of Kolkata. Protesters carried red flags at rallies in the city.

Police said there had been some clashes in Kolkata and other districts between supporters and opponents of the strike.

The eastern states of Bihar and Odisha, Maharashtra in the west, Haryana in the north and Kerala and Karnataka in the south were also hit by the strike.

Workers at state-run oil and coal firms joined the strike as they oppose government plans to privatise state-run companies. Bank employees are also participating in the strike against the proposed merger of public-sector banks.

Severe economic slowdown

CH Venkatachalam, general secretary of the All India Bank Employees Association, said the proposed merger of 10 public sector banks into four banks would affect jobs and could hit the recovery of bad loans amounting to nearly $140bn.

Commuters make way on the Howrah Bridge during a nationwide general strike [Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP]

Modi governments policies have led to a severe economic slowdown and have created bad loans for banks, Venkatachalam told Reuters news agency by phone.

The government had warned strikers that they would face consequences, including wage deduction and other disciplinary action if they joined the protest.

But the strike added to pressure on the Modi government already hit by widespread protests against the controversial nationality law passed on December 11. More than 25 people have been killed in protests. Growing unrest in universities has added to social tensions.

The attitude of the government is that of contempt towards labour, said the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, one of the groups organising Wednesdays 24-hour strike.

Opposition parties have backed the strikers. Rahul Gandhi, former chief of the main opposition Congress party, said the government had created catastrophic unemployment in a Twitter message praising the action.

A government move to privatise big state-run firms as it struggles to get out of a severe economic slowdown has riled the opposition and unions.

Thousands of people have lost jobs in the manufacturing and construction sectors and debt-ridden companies have cut their investment plans.

Asias third-largest economy is facing its worst slowdown in decades, and the government on Tuesday forecast 5 percent growth for the current financial year, the slowest in 11 years.
Veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Thursday weighed in on the stand-off between Jawaharlal Nehru University students and the Vice Chancellor with a clear advice to the government to sack V-C Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar.

Joshi, who was the education minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, cited reports that the education ministry had twice advised the vice chancellor to take steps to arrive at a working formula to resolve the issue of enhanced fees at the university.

It is shocking that the VC is adamant for not implementing the government proposal. This attitude is deplorable and in my opinion such a VC should not be allowed to continue on this post, Joshi tweeted on Thursday evening, hours after scores of university students were detained for trying to march to Rashtrapati Bhavan.

ALSO WATCH | JNU standoff: VC calls fee rollback demand illogical, moots alumni fund

Jagadesh Kumar has been facing nationwide criticism, particularly after masked goons entered the university campus under his watch on Sunday evening and thrashed students. He has been targeted for allegedly doing little to stop the goons and not calling the police which waited at the gates of the university.

Kumar has also been widely criticised for not reaching out to his students who were beaten with sticks, rods and hammers.

On Tuesday, he sought to offer an explanation for the delay in calling the police, telling reporters that the campus has its own security.

The vice chancellor has also been the centre of attacks from within the campus, with the students union and the universitys teachers association demanding his exit.

When the vice chancellor constituted a committee to probe violence on the campus on Sunday, the teachers association quickly rejected the step.

First of all, we do not want any internal inquiry as long as this Vice-Chancellor is there. We want him to go. And, how can we expect a fair inquiry in the matter when the panel is completely biased. biased. We reject this committee, JNUTA president DK Lobiyal said, underlining that the committee appointed by the vice chancellor is highly unlikely to conduct a fair inquiry.
Northern Ireland peer Lord Maginnis has said he has "no recollection" of calling a gay MP "queer", despite a recording of him using the term being released.

SNP MP Hannah Bardell told the House of Commons she will report Northern Ireland peer Lord Maginnis to the police for an alleged hate crime after he used the term.

She accused Lord Maginnis of verbally abusing security staff on the parliamentary estate after he forgot his security pass.

The HuffPost news website reported that Lord Maginnis did not deny Ms Bardell's claims and quoted him saying: "Queers like Ms Bardell don't particularly annoy me. OK, she's got her cheap publicity out of it".

Speaking to the BBC, however, Lord Maginnis said he had "no recollection" of using the term.

The HuffPost journalist who quoted the unionist peer as saying the word "queer" later released an audio recording where Lord Maginnis can be heard saying the word.

Here is Lord Ken Maginnis calling @HannahB4LiviMP "queer" on Wednesday, after she raised his "abuse" of parliamentary security staff. Today, he has been trying to deny that he said this. Well he did, as you can hear. https://t.co/dfxXKlpc8b  Arj Singh (@singharj) January 9, 2020

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Speaking during business questions, Ms Bardell told MPs: "I'm sorry to say that the member from the other place (the House of Lords) who I have complained about has now launched a homophobic attack on me in the press.

"This will be reported to the police and I know that I and others consider this to be a hate crime."

The Metropolitan Police confirmed on Thursday evening that it was investigating an allegation of hate crime at the House of Commons.

A spokeswoman said: "The Met's Parliamentary Liaison and Investigation Team is looking into an allegation of hate crime at the House of Commons made to them on Thursday January 9."

Addressing claims he was abusive to parliament security staff, the independent unionist peer, speaking on Radio Ulsters Talkback, claimed he had nothing to apologise for but admitted he had lost his temper when a security guard prevented him from entering the building unless he showed his security pass.

Lord Maginnis (82) told the BBC that due to a disability he struggles to stand in the one place and that he had argued with security staff.

He said: "Eventually with some others who were getting through the door, I got through the door. That was alright. The next thing this Scottish lassie, I forget her name, I had never seen her before, she was there and she stood up in the House of Commons and made a scene about my being bad tempered, which was quite true. It is very strange, she must have an ulterior motive, I haven't discovered what that is yet."

Lord Maginnis admitted telling the security guard he was "crooked" but said that he will not apologise for his conduct.

"I didn't say that I overstepped the mark. I am not used to being tramped all over by anybody, whether a member of staff or a colleague. I have no intention of apologising. The chap brought it on himself," he said.

Ms Bardell, speaking on Talkback, said the peer's behaviour was "wholly unacceptable".

"Since this has happened he has made homophobic comments about me which I am having to report to the police," she said.

"Not only has he not been unwilling to apologise just because somebody has stood up to his bullying behaviour, his response is to attack me personally and it is something that is being considered by some, including myself, as a hate crime."

Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg called Lord Maginnis's language "disgraceful".

He told MPs: "The attack on the honourable lady was unutterably disgraceful and she is clearly owed an apology by the noble lord for what he said about her.

"I think everybody who heard about that was shocked by the comments that he is reported to have made and has not denied.

"I think they are really appalling and I know we are not allowed to criticise members of the other House, the other place, except on a specific motion, but I think under these circumstances we are allowed to stretch the rules."

On Wednesday, Ms Bardell, MP for Livingston, outlined the alleged incident to Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle in a point of order.

She said: "Yesterday, on re-entering the building for the first time after Christmas, I witnessed one of the worst cases of abuse of security staff that I have seen in my time here.

"One of the members of the other place - who I will name so as not to incriminate anybody else: Lord Ken Maginnis - had forgotten his pass, something we've all been guilty of.

"However, instead of taking the advice of the security staff - who, as we all know, are here for our security and our safety - he proceeded to verbally abuse and shout at both the members of staff, calling them 'crooked', saying 'did they not know who he was, he'd been here 46 years', and refusing to take the advice and assistance of both myself, the security staff and the police that then attended."
Buoyant business leaders have predicted a Stormont powersharing deal could be sealed within hours.

The DUP is working towards an agreement with former partners in Government Sinn Fein but cannot yet sign up to proposals to revive the institutions, a senior MP has said.

The devolved institutions in Belfast have been in cold storage for three years but talks to restore them have reached a crucial stage.

Redmond McFadden, president of the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce and a manager at Danske Bank, said: There is a genuine willingness to achieve something over the next few hours not only from the parties but from both of the governments as well.

We are leaving here this evening in positive mood and if a deal is delivered in the very near future we would be very positive around that and we would ask all of the community to get behind the deal and support our politicians.

The next hours will prove to be crucial but we leave in buoyant mood.

On Thursday the DUPs elected representatives met to discuss a draft text outlined by the UK and Irish governments.

The DUP and Sinn Fein, the two parties pivotal to any deal, were briefed on the governments blueprint on Wednesday afternoon.

The move has prompted intensive negotiations between the parties and the governments. The DUP and Sinn Fein have also held internal discussions on the proposals.

Proposed Irish language legislation; reform of a contentious Assembly voting mechanism; and plans to make the institutions less susceptible to collapse in the future are at the heart of the impasse.

Meanwhile, the three smaller parties involved in the process  the SDLP, Ulster Unionists and Alliance  have expressed frustration at delays getting sight of the text.

The parties are working to a Monday deadline to restore the institutions.

Expand Close Sir Jeffery Donaldson and DUP Chief whip Gordon Lyons pass a portrait of former party leader Ian Paisley in Parliament Buildings, Stormont (Niall Carson/PA) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp Sir Jeffery Donaldson and DUP Chief whip Gordon Lyons pass a portrait of former party leader Ian Paisley in Parliament Buildings, Stormont (Niall Carson/PA)

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUPs Westminster leader, said reforming Northern Irelands under-pressure health service was one of his partys main concerns as nurses prepared to take another day of strike action on Friday.

We are in a process of continuing to discuss these matters both internally and externally, he said of a potential agreement.

We continue to represent the interests of all of the people of Northern Ireland in seeking to get an agreement that ensures that this place is up and running again on a secure and sustainable basis.

He said the DUP did not want to sign up to a deal only to encounter more problems in a few months time.

Those are the kind of issues and priorities that we need to ensure are being properly and adequately addressed before we can put our hand to a deal we believe can have the support of a very clear majority of people in Northern Ireland, he said.

DUP sources have downplayed the prospect of a breakthrough on Thursday night.

Earlier, Sinn Fein vice president Michelle ONeill said her party was at Stormont to do the business.

Our determination is to make politics work, she said.

It is going to take all of the parties to make the politics work.

It is going to need to be a sustainable and credible government. It is going to need to be a government that actually has equality at its core.

Expand Close Michelle ONeill said her party was there to do business (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Ms ONeill insisted the deadline was a real one.

On Monday, legislation to give civil servants extra powers to run the regions troubled public services expires and the UK Government assumes a legal duty to call a fresh Assembly election.

While the SDLP, Ulster Unionists and Alliance were told to come to Stormont House on Wednesday afternoon for their own briefings, 24 hours later those meetings had yet to happen.

There were conflicting reports as to whether the parties would finally get sight of the proposals on Thursday evening.

Alliance Party MLA Kellie Armstrong said the stakes were high.

If we fail at this point it would be unforgivable, she said.

Time is running out and that is why I say I am optimistic a deal will be done because to not do it is unforgivable.

Weve been here all day. We have been constructive. We have not yet seen the text and that is a source of growing frustration. We need to see it today @NicholaMallon pic.twitter.com/RySCvoEb0Z  Social Democratic and Labour Party (@SDLPlive) January 9, 2020

SDLP deputy leader Nichola Mallon said: We are frustrated and our frustration is growing that we have as yet not seen text.

We have pressed on the Government that we need to see that text today.

She insisted her party would not be bounced into making a quick decision on the text when they did finally see it.

Ulster Unionist MLA Mike Nesbitt said the talks had reached a critical juncture.

There is a time to negotiate and there is a time to decide  this is the time to decide, he said.

We as the Ulster Unionists have a problem about making a decision, we havent even had a briefing on the paper, never mind sight of the proposed resolution to what is going on.

Expand Close UUP MLA Mike Nesbitt said it was decision time for the DUP and Sinn Fein (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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The developments came on the third anniversary of the late deputy first minister Martin McGuinnesss resignation  a move that triggered the collapse of the devolved institutions at Stormont.

Three years on, the DUP and Sinn Fein are still at odds on several key issues.

The talks are happening amid continuing industrial action by workers in Northern Irelands crisis-hit health service.

Thousands of healthcare workers are due to strike again on Friday.
Senator Christopher Lawrence Bong Go (left) looks on as President Rodrigo Duterte (center) signs the Salary Standardization Law of 2019.

MANILA, Philippines  President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a measure granting wage increase for government workers.

Based on photos released by the Palace, Duterte signed the Salary Standardization Law of 2019 on Wednesday at the Malacanang.

The president was shown in the photos signing some document with his former long-time aide and now Senator Christopher Lawrence Bong Go.

Duterte signed the bill into law a few weeks after he certified it as urgent in December 2019.

Under the new law, the salary adjustment will be given in four tranches starting January 2020 until 2023.

Upon full implementation, basic salaries of government employees will increase by a weighted average of 23.24 percent by 2023.

The largest increases range form 20 to 30 percent for workers under salary grades 10 to 15, while an eight percent raise will be given to those under salary grades 23 to 33.

The program will cover around 1.4 million state workers, including public school teachers and nurses.

The president last year vowed to increase the salary of public school teachers.

The post LOOK: Duterte signs law granting pay hike for government workers appeared first on UNTV News.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is scheduled to appear in the special court of CBI in Hyderabad on Friday to face the ongoing trial in the disproportionate assets cases against him.

The special court judge on January 3 directed Jagan to appear in person for the trial, rejecting the latter's plea for an exemption.

This will be Jagan's first appearance in court for the trial after he assumed charge as Chief Minister on May 30, 2019.

Even prior to that, he did not appear in person for the trial for several months, as he was busy campaigning for the general elections.

The YSR Congress president has been facing trial wherein he was charge-sheeted in at least 11 cases as the prime accused in alleged quid pro quo deals.

He is currently out on bail, having spent time in jail as an "un-convicted criminal prisoner" in the Chanchalguda Central Prison from May 2012 to September 2013.

Soon after becoming Chief Minister, Jagan filed a petition in the special court of CBI seeking exemption from personal appearance as he would be busy with official duties.

Also, lakhs of rupees of public money has to be spent for his security and other protocol requirements in view of his position, he contended.

On November 1, the court, however, rejected his plea and directed that he appear for trial every Friday.

Though he did not file an appeal in the High Court against the trial courts order, Jagan had not been attending the trial proceedings citing his official engagements as the reason for his absence.

Not impressed by this, the special court judge had on January 3 directed that Jagan attend the proceedings on the January 10.

Sources said the Chief Minister would return to Amaravati after attending court proceedings on Friday.

He would go to Hyderabad again on Saturday afternoon for an overnight stay and see off his two daughters for their foreign destinations on Sunday.

On Monday, he is expected to have a formal meeting with his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao to discuss a host of issues related to the two Telugu states, the sources added.

Meanwhile, the opposition Telugu Desam Party said public money should not be spent on Jagan's court appearance as he faced trial in his personal capacity.

"The charge-sheets were filed against Jagan in his personal capacity. He was not Chief Minister at that time.

So, he should personally bear the expenditure for court appearances," TDP politburo member Varla Ramaiah said in a statement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Ukraine Airlines flight which crashed in Tehran killing 176 people on Wednesday was shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile ...





The Ukraine Airlines flight which crashed in Tehran killing 176 people on Wednesday was shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile system, Pentagon officials have said in a report by Newsweek.





Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was struck by a Russia-built Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile system, the magazine reported, quoting three security officials.





Two of the officials said the aircraft was likely targeted by mistake by Iranian missile system as Iran awaited a possible counter-strike after sending rockets to two US bases in Iraq.





The aircraft was a Boeing 737-800, bound for Kiev.

It came down in a blaze just three minutes after take off, crashing in the outskirts of Iranian capital.





Canadian officials said 138 of the 167 passengers took the plane to connect flights to Canada.




SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The global distributed acoustic sensing market size is expected to reach USD 775.8 million by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It is anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of 11.5% from 2019 to 2025. The use of fiber optic sensors is progressively increasing in the oil and gas industry since they provide a data-rich perspective on micro-seismicity and fracturing process. Also, with the increasing importance of border surveillance, distributed acoustic sensing systems are being highly used in the security and surveillance industry since they provide high-reliability and low-cost surface crossing and tunnel construction detection. Due to the high potential of intrusion detection, the adoption of DAS systems is growing in several asset protection-related applications, such as railways, high-value facility perimeters, and oil and gas pipelines.

Key suggestions from the report:

The significant surge in the deployment of optical fiber sensors in oil and gas industries will create a massive potential for the distributed acoustic sensing market

Market players are focusing on providing optical fiber acoustic sensors for wellbores, which offers long-distance data transmission for subsea and downhole

Key market players are considering partnerships and acquisitions of startups providing innovative products to expand their outreach in the market

The key competitors in the market are OptaSense; Halliburton; Schlumberger Limited; Baker Hughes, a GE Company LLC; Future Fibre Technologies; Northrop Grumman Corporation; Fotech Solutions Ltd.; Omnisens; Silixa Ltd; and Ziebel; among others

Read 100 page research report with ToC on "Distributed Acoustic Sensing Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report, By Fiber Type (Single-mode Fiber, Multimode Fiber), By Vertical (Oil & Gas, Power & Utility, Transportation), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2019 - 2025' at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/distributed-acoustic-sensing-market

The economic benefits of distributed acoustic sensing are anticipated to create growth opportunities for the market in the forthcoming years. The key drivers include the prevention of construction damages and pipeline thefts. DAS systems can perform the early detection of leakages, corrosion, erosion, and malicious third-party intrusion, which offer economic benefits to the industry. Also, they provide real-time monitoring of assets and perimeters, which provides improved security. Therefore, distributed acoustic sensors are used in various end-user industries for long-distance tracking of the acoustic signals generated by external interferences.

The Asia Pacific distributed acoustic sensing market is expected to witness substantial growth over the forecast period, owing to the emerging trends, such as increasing penetration of seismology. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the region accounted for approximately 10% of the world's crude oil production in 2018. China alone contributed approximately 5% of global crude oil production in the same year. Due to the presence of substantial oil and gas industries, the region is expected to demonstrate significant growth in distributed acoustic sensing shortly.

Grand View Research has segmented the global distributed acoustic sensing market based on fiber type, vertical, and region:

Distributed Acoustic Sensing Fiber Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025)

Single-mode Fiber



Multimode Fiber

Distributed Acoustic Sensing Vertical Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025)

Oil & Gas



Power & Utility



Security & Surveillance



Environment & Infrastructure



Transportation

Distributed Acoustic Sensing Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025)

North America



U.S.





Canada





Mexico



Europe



U.K.





Germany





France



Asia Pacific



China





India





Japan



South America



Brazil



Middle East & Africa

Find more research reports on Next Generation Technologies Industry, by Grand View Research:

3D Gesture Sensing Control Market - The global 3D gesture sensing control market is poised for high growth throughout the forecast period which can be attributed to escalating demand across wide range of applications including consumer electronics.

The global 3D gesture sensing control market is poised for high growth throughout the forecast period which can be attributed to escalating demand across wide range of applications including consumer electronics. Artificial Lift Systems Market - The global artificial lift systems market size was valued at USD 16.18 billion in 2016. The rise in oil exploration activities is predicted to be a key factor driving the market growth over the forecast period.

The global artificial lift systems market size was valued at in 2016. The rise in oil exploration activities is predicted to be a key factor driving the market growth over the forecast period. Bare Metal Cloud Market - The global bare metal cloud market size was valued at USD 1,326.9 million in 2016 and is estimated to grow significantly over the next eight years.

Gain access to Grand View Compass, our BI enabled intuitive market research database of 10,000+ reports

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

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Mark DAmico, the South Jersey man accused of masterminding the GoFundMe scam that raised more than $400,000 ostensibly for homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt Jr., was indicted by a federal grand jury in Camden on Wednesday with multiple fraud and money laundering charges.

DAmico, 40, formerly of Bordentown, pleaded guilty in December to a state felony charge of misapplication of entrusted property, for which he faces five years in prison but could be out after seven months. He pleaded not guilty in October when he was first charged in federal court with one count each of conspiring to commit wire fraud and conspiring to commit money laundering, which combined carry a maximum of 30 years behind bars.

DAmico allegedly conspired with his former girlfriend, Katelyn McClure, to create the GoFundMe account with a fake feel-good story in 2017, about how the homeless Bobbitt gave his last $20 to McClure when she ran out of gas on the Girard Avenue exit ramp of I-95 in Philadelphia.

The phony plea, supposedly to help Bobbitt, a Marine veteran, went viral and bamboozled 14,000 donors. Bobbitt got some money but DAmico and McClure went on a spending spree with the rest.

After the scam was exposed, GoFundMe said it would reimburse all the donors. DAmico, McClure, and Bobbitt are supposed to repay the crowdfunding company.

McClure and Bobbitt pleaded guilty last March in federal court to conspiracy charges and are awaiting sentencing. McClure also pleaded guilty in Superior Court to theft by deception. As part of her agreement, she faced a potential four years in state prison. Bobbitt pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft by deception and was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to enroll in long-term live-in drug rehabilitation

DAmico now faces four counts of wire fraud and 10 counts of money laundering on top of the two conspiracy charges, said U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito in a news release.

The maximum penalty for wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud is 20 years in prison, Carpenito said. The maximum penalty for conspiracy to commit money laundering and on five of the money laundering counts is 10 years. The maximum penalty on the five remaining money laundering counts is 20 years, he added.

Mark G. Davis, DAmicos lawyer, could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.

As part of DAmicos agreement to plead guilty in December in state court to the single charge of misapplication of entrusted funds, state prosecutors dropped conspiracy, theft, and other charges. Under the plea deal, DAmico could apply to an intensive-probation program after serving seven months in custody.
The vehicular traffic and train services were affected across the state due to the strike.

BHUBANESWAR: The 24-hour nationwide strike called by trade unions disrupted normal life at several places across Odisha on Wednesday.

Workers participated in shutdown by the CPM affiliated Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) across the state to protest against Centres disinvestment, privatisation and anti-labour policies, pressing for 12-point demands including fixing minimum wage and equal wage for equal work.

The protesters hit the streets, alleging the government failed to tackle challenges posed by the crisis-ridden economy, but is busy privatising and selling public sector units (PSUs).

The vehicular traffic and train services were affected across the state due to the strike.

Apart from CITU, nine other trade unions  Indian National Trade Union Congress, All India Trade Union Congress, Hind Mazdoor Sabha, All India United Trade Union Centre, Trade Union Coordination Centre, Self Employed Womens Association, All India Central Council of Trade Unions, Labour Progressive Federation, United Trade Union Congress  took part in the bandh.

The BJP-affiliated Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh did not participate in the nationwide strike.

The ruling Biju Janata Dal did not extend its support to the protest.

Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Patnaik claimed total success of the strike and said the overwhelming response of the people reflected rejection of the Modis poor economic policy.

The overwhelming response to the one-day strike reveals the discontentment of the people over the governments policies. The success of the strike sends a strong message to PM for course correction or face the consequence in the future, said Mr Patnaik.
US allies in the Persian Gulf have loudly pushed for hawkish policies by Washington to pressure, isolate and cripple Iran, but this high-stakes strategy is now being put to the test by the unexpected US strike that killed Iran's most powerful military commander last week, thrusting the region closer to full-blown conflict.

Even as Gulf Arab states like Israel lobbied hard for tough U.S. sanctions and maximum pressure on Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have wanted to avoid outright war.

Friday's airstrike that killed the Revolutionary Guard's powerful Quds Force commander, Qassem Soleimani, appears to have caught America's Gulf allies off-guard.

Now they are trying to make sure the major escalation by President Donald Trump doesn't drag them further into the cross-hairs of rising tensions between Washington and Tehran.

Iran, which held an unprecedented multi-city funeral procession for Soleimani that drew millions to the streets to mourn him, retaliated early Wednesday by firing a series of ballistic missiles at two military bases in Iraq where American troops are stationed.

Trump signaled he would not retaliate militarily, but vowed to continue his campaign of maximum pressure and economic sanctions on Iran.

As the region braces for what comes next, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are calling for de-escalation.

Saudi Arabia dispatched Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman to Washington, where he met with Trump and the US president's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner at the White House on Monday.

The kingdom says he discussed efforts to reduce tensions and avoid escalations that could further destabilize the region in light of the Iranian regime's provocations and destabilizing activities. Qatar's foreign minister, meanwhile, traveled to Tehran the day after the killing of Soleimani and also called for de-escalation.

Nobody wants the outbreak of conventional war because when conventional war happens there are no winners, there are just a series of losers, said Mohammed Alyahya, the Saudi editor-in-chief of the Al-Arabiya English website.

This latest round of tensions has pushed oil prices up, with Brent crude trading around USD 70 a barrel. UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al-Mazrouei said on Wednesday there is no risk at the moment to the movement of oil in the region or any shortages in oil supply.

He noted, however, that Soleimani's killing was definitely an escalation." Iran is a neighbor. We are (geographically) very close to Iran and the last thing we want is another tension in the Middle East," the energy minister said, reiterating calls for de-escalation.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have long wanted the U.S. to push back Tehran's drive to spread influence and power across the region, and Soleimani was central to Iran's ambitions. Viewed by Sunni Muslims across much of the region as a menacing figure, his role as Quds Force commander put him in charge of lethal Shiite proxy militias in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen fighting against Gulf Arab interests. In Iran, he's hailed as a national hero who defied U.S. pressure.

Even after Soleiman's killing, there's little indication they've stopped skirting the dangerous line between maximum pressure and war.

Alyahya said the pressure strategy is still needed to stop Iran's Quds Force but he acknowledged that it is a very risky game, and if it backfires, the consequences are grave." Robert Malley, who heads International Crisis Group and served on Obama's National Security Council, said Gulf countries are likely satisfied that Soleimani was killed, but are also worried because Iran could inflict serious damage on their economies.

I think they are now sending the message to the U.S. and to others: 'Let's not let this go too far because you're living very far away ... we're going to be the ones who will pay the price and you won't be here to protect us', he said.

The Persian Gulf could be another target of Iranian retaliation. It hosts more than 30,000 U.S. troops, including the Navy's 5th Fleet stationed in Bahrain, U.S. Army's Central forward headquarters in Kuwait and at the sprawling Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

The U.S. also has hundreds of troops in Saudi Arabia and advanced drones, F-35 fighter jets and several thousand military personnel in Al-Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi.

Already over the summer, a series of attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and a major missile and drone attack on Saudi oil facilities were blamed on Iran. Tehran denied responsibility, though it did seize oil tankers around the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, through which 20% of the world's crude oil travels.

Over the weekend, the U.S. warned American citizens in Saudi Arabia of a heightened risk of missile and drone strikes, particularly near military bases, oil and gas facilities and other critical civilian infrastructure.

Since the September attack on Saudi Arabia, which temporarily halved its oil production, there appears to have been a quiet effort at diplomacy between Iran and the kingdom to ease tensions. But there's no sign either side had inched closer to overcoming their rivalry.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ulster Universitys Coleraine campus has almost three times as many administrative staff compared to its Magee campus despite having comparable student numbers, the Derry News can reveal.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show there are 355 administrative staff based at Coleraine and 125 at Magee. The latest figures available show 4,313 students are based at Magee and 4,495 at Coleraine.

Money spent on admin staff at Coleraine is 12,307,828 whereas a total of 3,746,528 is spent on salaries at Magee.

In addition, Coleraine (pictured below) has 210 teaching staff, Magee 162, with 12,695,915 and 8,475,959 spent respectively.

Independent Councillor, Gary Donnelly, who supports proposals for an independent north west university described the figures as appalling and further evidence that Derry City and Strabane District Council should lay the groundwork for a standalone institution.

"These figures are appalling - evidence that UU is clearly only interested in Coleraine and Belfast - but they are not shocking, as we have known all about their propensity for discrimination for generations already.

Council is threatening to partner with this organisation and hand them over 85m of capital from the City Deal - money that could go out the back door to Belfast to pay for UU's massive overspend there. This needs to be reconsidered.

He added: "The Magee Campus - and its budgets - must come back under local governance. The North West - which we have previously defined as the combined Donegal and Derry/Strabane council areas - needs its own independent university to reverse the tide of educational discrimination which has existed here since partition.

It is time Derry City and Strabane District Council began preparing to develop a standalone university here and local elected representatives need to keep this firmly on the agenda."

UUs biggest campus, Jordanstown, which will relocate to Belfast City Centre, has 455 administrative staff and 433 people in its teaching staff  costing 15,907,742 and 24,426,125 respectively.

Top earners

Spread amongst the figures for each of the institutions are the salaries of all top earners at UU depending upon which campus they are based.

Departing Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paddy Nixon, was appointed and took up post of VC and Chief Accounting Officer on 1 July 2015.

According to the university's latest financial statement for 2017/18, the VC earned 270, taking in benefits and employer's pension contributions that rises to 324,000.

There are 17 other high paid staff earning over 100,000 per annum, 10 earn between 100k and 120k while the other 7 earn 120k-155k.

The reports states: "ViceChancellor leads Ulster University to make a significant social, economic and cultural contribution, helping our community to thrive and confidently supporting Northern Ireland on the global stage.

"In an increasingly competitive sector, university leadership reflects the scale, complexity and impact of higher education across research and teaching."

The Vice Chancellors salary is determined by the Universitys committee responsible for remuneration and governance.

Business needs

In response, an Ulster University spokesperson said there are administrative staff based on each campus, with many departmental roles supporting activities across its multi campus University.

She added: As such, the number of administrative staff does not directly correlate to the student numbers on each campus.

All categories of University staff are located and distributed across campuses, depending upon business needs, operational requirements and academic or professional specialisms.

Although they may be attached to one campus for the purposes of staff records, many teaching staff are mobile and work across more than one campus. The ratio of staff to students varies, depending upon the nature of the subjects and course provision.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese investments in North America and Europe hit a nine-year low in 2019, according to a new report from global law firm Baker McKenzie and independent research provider Rhodium Group released Wednesday.

Chinese investors completed deals worth 19 billion U.S. dollars in North America and Europe in 2019, representing the lowest level since 2010 and 83 percent down from the peak of 107 billion dollars in 2017, the report showed.

Chinese investment in North America fell by 27 percent to 5.5 billion dollars in 2019, the lowest level since 2009, while Chinese investment in Europe fell by 40 percent to 13.4 billion dollars last year, the lowest since 2013.

China's outbound investment continues to be weighed down by a number of factors including restrictions on outbound investment from Beijing, strengthened regulatory reviews in the United States and Europe, slowing growth and lower liquidity in the Chinese economy, and geopolitical tensions, according to the report.

However, easing trade tensions between the U.S. and China, steps to liberalize inbound FDI (foreign direct investment) policy in China and more liquidity in the Chinese economy will lay the foundations for a potential rebound in Chinese outbound investment in 2020, the report noted.

"Several rounds of policy liberalizations by the Chinese government have abolished previous equity thresholds for foreign investors and driven deals in sectors such as automotive and financial services. This in turn helps set the scene for the return of higher levels of Chinese outbound investment in the coming years," said Michael DeFranco, global head of M&A at Baker McKenzie.

The report also noted that a "phase one" trade deal between China and the United States could help put both countries back on a more rational track of economic relations and in turn diffuse investor concerns about worst case outcomes.

"We see grounds for a degree of optimism as there are a number of variables showing change in the right direction, which could propel Chinese outbound investment to bottom out and return to modest growth in 2020," said Tracy Wut, a M&A partner at Baker McKenzie in Hong Kong.
New Delhi [India], Jan 9 (ANI): One of the convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case, Vinay Kumar Sharma, filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court on Thursday, days after a Delhi court fixed the date for hanging the four convicts.



A Delhi Court had issued a death warrant against four convicts on January 7 and they are scheduled to be executed on January 22 at 7 am in the Tihar Jail premises.

Besides Vinay, other convicts Pawan, Akshay, and Mukesh Singh are facing the gallows. The court after issuing a black warrant in their name gave them two weeks' time to file both the curative and mercy petition.

A curative petition is the last judicial resort available for redressal of grievances. It is decided by the judges in-chamber.

The mercy petition, on the other hand, is filed before the President who has the power to commute it to life imprisonment.

The case pertains to the gang-rape of a woman by six persons on a moving bus in the national capital on the night of December 16, 2012.

The victim, who was later given the name Nirbhaya, died at a hospital in Singapore where she had been airlifted for medical treatment. (ANI)


The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the presidencys continuous reference to a successor for President Muhammadu Buhari less tha...





The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the presidencys continuous reference to a successor for President Muhammadu Buhari less than a year into his second tenure, is a direct acceptance of failure and lack of capacity of his administration.





In a statement on Wednesday, Kola Ologbondiyan, national publicity secretary of the opposition party, asked Buhari to bury whatever interest he has in the 2023 presidential election.





Tunde Bakare, serving overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly (LRA), had asked Buhari to be involved in the choice of his successor in order not to destroy his legacies.





Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, had replied Bakare, saying that though Buhari is interested in who succeeds him, he will not handpick his successor.





But the opposition party claimed that Buharis interest in who takes over the baton of leadership from him is in direct aggression against the will of the people to freely elect a president as guaranteed by the constitution





The party invites Nigerians to note that such continued allusion to a successor by the Buhari Presidency shows that the President and the APC have no agenda for the nation for the next three years, the statement read.





It further underscores the hopelessness of the administration and the sorry situation our nation is faced with under President Buhari and the APC.





It also exposes the reason behind APCs resort to blackmail, fabrication and attack on well-meaning Nigerians instead of enunciating a direction for its incompetent administration.





Our party, standing with millions of Nigerians, counsels the Buhari Presidency to bury its confessed interests in the 2023 Presidency and desist from making unsolicited allusions and references to a successor, as failed leaders can only bequeath failure on a people.





The PDP therefore charges the Buhari Presidency to immediately withdraw the offensive and provocative remark to hand Nigeria over, in its response to Rev. Tunde Bakares comment on the 2023 Presidency.





Our party cautions the Buhari Presidency to note that Nigeria is a sovereign nation governed by rules and that nobody, no matter how highly placed, has the power to hand her over to anybody.





The 1999 constitution (as amended) does not confer the right to install the President of Nigeria on any individual, but on the people of Nigeria through a free, fair and credible election conducted without interference from anybody.




An Australian mum has issued a stark warning to holidaymakers after suffering a horrific foot injury after a massage in Bali.

Melinda Williams Craus, from Sydney, showed her gruesome injuries after the relaxing massage went wrong while enjoying her summer holiday.

She was forced to be stitched up by a local doctor in her hotel room after slipping down some stairs thanks to the massage oil on her feet.

Australian tourist Melinda Williams Craus shared pictures of her injuries in an effort to warn other holidaymakers in Bali about the dangers of massages (pictured)

Melinda Williams Craus, from Sydney, (pictured) showed her gruesome injuries after the relaxing massage went wrong

Ms Williams Craus was forced to have stitches in her Bali hotel room after slipping down the stairs after a massage (pictured)

Her foot was cut up during the horror fall, and she needed stitches to her little toe.

'Thanks Dr Ari for your assistance,' she wrote on Facebook.

'Stitched in the room in the hotel bed. Be careful when having massages and walking down stairs with oily feet.

'Lucky enough it was my last day in Bali, and could have been so much worse.'

Sharing several pictures of her getting stitches, Ms Craus (pictured) warned other holidaymakers in Bali to take care on stairs after massages

Miss Craus' foot (pictured) is seen after she was forced to get stitches in her Bali hotel room

Australians have long been among the largest tourist group to holiday in Bali, with more than one million people travelling there every year.

But tourists are often finding themselves in painful accidents.

In November, an Australian man became stranded in Bali after sustaining horror injuries in a motorcycle accident.

Bobby Barber (pictured), from Melbourne, was having dinner with friends in November before leaving on his motorcycle and crashing moments later

Bobby Barber, from Melbourne, was having dinner with friends before leaving on his motorcycle and crashing moments later.

He was rushed to hospital in a critical condition after suffering multiple fractures, internal bleeding and a severely injured spleen, pancreas and kidney.

Bobby had no travel insurance and his friends have set up a GoFundMe page to help with his spiraling medical bills.

Another young Australian was critically injured in a motorcycle accident in August.

Luke Bevan (pictured), an electrician from Kimberley in Western Australia, was on a five-month trip with his Swedish girlfriend when the pair were involved in a motorbike accident in August

Luke Bevan, 25, an electrician from Kimberley in Western Australia, was just beginning a five-month trip with his Swedish girlfriend when the pair were involved in a motorbike accident.

Mr Bevan sustained critical injuries including a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain, a collapsed lung and a punctured lung.

His family fundraised $50,00 to get him back to Perth for life-saving treatment.
Hundreds of JNU students on Thursday marched to the HRD Ministry and were later stopped when they tried to go towards Rashtrapati Bhavan during when some of them were roughed up by police who used mild force, in escalating protests for the sacking of the university Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar over the violence in the campus.

As the Delhi police struggled to make any arrest four days after the brutal attack on students and teachers by masked goons, former HRD minister and senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi threw his weight behind the demand for Kumar's removal.

Calling for Kumar's removal, Joshi took to twitter to say it is "shocking" that he is adamant on not implementing a government proposal to resolve the fee-hike crisis in the prestigious university.

The Centre for its part ruled out the removal of the vice chancellor even as the leaders of the protesting students including an injured JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh asserted they will not compromise on their demand despite assurances relating to their security.

Kumar told PTI that the varsity has formed a five-member committee to probe the January 5 violence on the campus that left about 35 people injured, and recommend measures to ensure safety of students. The panel will also probe lapses, if any, in security, he said.

The march in which students of other universities also participated started from Mandi House in central Delhi and was first stopped near Shastri Bhavan that houses the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD). Carrying placards and banners, slogans of 'Halla Bol' and 'Inquilab Zindabad' rent the air.

CPI(M) leaders Sitaram Yechury, Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat and CPI leader D Raja also joined the march.

The police, however, allowed the representatives of JNU students and teachers association to meet the ministry officials.

After the meeting that lasted for more than an hour, Aishe Ghosh addressed the gathering and said she told the officials that the attack on students and teachers was a "traumatic incident" something that "they will remember till their last breath".

She asserted they would not settle for anything less than sacking of the vice-chancellor.

"The HRD is still thinking whether he should be removed or not. We appealed to the ministry to remove the vice-chancellor. It told us that they will hold a dialogue with us on Friday," Ghosh said.

The ministry too appeared unwilling to relent on the demand for removal of Kumar.

Higher secretary Amit Khare said the basic issue on which the problem arose needs to be addressed first.

"His removal is not the solution. Changing X,Y,Z is not as important as resolving the issues that have cropped up on the campus," Khare said.

The demand for Kumar's removal has been growing after the Sunday's mob violence on the campus. Kumar has been accused of not doing enough when the students were being attacked.

After the meeting, Ghosh abruptly announced they will proceed to the Rashtrapati Bhavan since the President is the visitor of the varsity.

Later, the protesting students tried to march towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan but were stopped triggering a 30-minute drama.

Some of the students were reported to be injured as police roughed them up.

The police also resorted to mild force to control the crowd who tried to block the traffic at Janpath. Using loud speakers, the police also appealed to them to maintain peace.

Some of the protesters were detained by the police.

Police said the gathering remained peaceful till the meeting of the delegation with ministry officials.

However, when the delegation came out after the meeting, one of the student leaders provoked the gathering to move towards Rashtrapati Bhavan, the police said.

Consequently they stopped normal traffic at Rajendra Prasad road and some of them tried to march towards the President Estate.

The police said the protestors were prevented from proceeding further and in the process 11 people were detained and subsequently released.

Attacking the Centre, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Delhi Police is very capable of maintaining law and order but is given instructions to "just stand and not take any action". He said it is not the Delhi Police's fault for not stopping the violence at the universities because they were following the orders they got.

Continuing its attack on the Centre over the JNU violence, the Congress alleged the violence in the varsity was "officially sponsored goondaism" and said Home Minister Amit Shah and HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal were responsible.

The Congress demanded that those behind the violence must be identified and arrested immediately.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Change is in the cards for about 300,000 Ontarians who are clinging to their old red-and-white OHIP cards.

Health Minister Christine Elliott confirmed Thursday that the cards will no longer be accepted at doctors offices, labs, and medical clinics after July 1.

Only the modern cards with photographs of the holder will be allowed to access publicly funded health services.

The advanced security features of the photo health card help protect our public health system and is another measure to improve value for taxpayers dollars, said Elliott.

While there is no cost to convert or renew an Ontario photo health card, there could be significant costs by allowing red-and-white health cards, which could be used fraudulently, to remain in circulation, she said.

Elliott noted that every month, people using the old cards, which can easily be transferred among users, access up to $108 million in health services.

Successive Ontario governments have been trying to clamp down on fraudulent use of the red-and-white cards for years.

In the weeks ahead, the estimated 300,000 people still using the old OHIP cards will be notified by mail that they need to switch to a photo card, which can be obtained free at Service Ontario centres across the province.

People should bring their original cards, proof of Canadian citizenship or OHIP-eligible immigration status, proof of residency in Ontario, and proof of identity.

The minister stressed that no public hospital in Ontario will refuse services to a patient facing a life-threatening medical emergency regardless of whether they have an OHIP card.
OP Gupta, personal secretary to former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor girl, police said.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Praful Thakur, speaking to ANI on Thursday, said: "The girl used to live at his residence. A case has been registered under sections 376 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO)Act ."

Further investigation is underway, said the official.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
WASHINGTON  It is highly likely that Iran shot down the civilian Ukrainian jetliner that crashed near Tehran late Tuesday, killing all 176 people on board, U.S., Canadian and British officials declared Thursday. They said the fiery missile strike could well have been a mistake amid rocket launches and high tension throughout the region.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops in its violent confrontation with Washington over the U.S. drone strike that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general. The airliner could have been mistaken for a threat, said four U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose country lost at least 63 citizens in the downing, said in Ottawa: We have intelligence from multiple sources including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile.

Likewise, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison offered similar statements. Morrison also said it appeared to be a mistake. All of the intelligence as presented to us today does not suggest an intentional act, he said.

The assessment that 176 people were killed as collateral damage in the Iranian-U.S. conflict cast a new pall over what had at first appeared to be a relatively calm aftermath following the U.S. military operation that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

It was not immediately clear how the U.S. and its allies would react. Despite efforts by Washington and Tehran to step back from the brink of possible war, the region remained on edge after the killing of the Iranian general and Irans retaliatory missile strikes. U.S. troops were on high-alert.

At the White House, President Donald Trump suggested he believed Iran was responsible for the shootdown and dismissed Irans initial claim that it was a mechanical issue with the plane.

Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side. Trump said, noting the plane was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood.

Late Thursday, the U.S. House approved a measure that aims to bar any further military action against Iran without congressional approval. However, the resolution approved by the Democratic-majority House is nonbinding and, at any rate, no similar measure could pass the Republican-controlled Senate.

As for the airliner shootdown, the U.S. officials wouldnt say what intelligence they had that pointed to an Iranian missile, believed to be fired by Russian Tor system, known to NATO as the SA-15. But they acknowledged the existence of satellites and other sensors in the region, as well as the likelihood of communication interceptions and other similar intelligence.

The New York Times posted a video Thursday it said it had verified showing the moment the apparent missile struck the plane over Iran. The video shows a fast-moving object rising before a fiery explosion. An object, apparently on fire, then continues in a different direction.

A preliminary Iranian investigative report released Thursday said that the airliner pilots never made a radio call for help and that the aircraft was trying to turn back for the airport when the burning plane went down.

The Iranian report suggested that a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines late Tuesday, when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

Investigators from Irans Civil Aviation Organization offered no immediate explanation for the disaster, however. Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, something backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldnt speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

Before the U.S. assessment, Irans state-run IRNA news agency quoted Hasan Rezaeifa, the head of the of civil aviation accident investigation commission, claiming that the topics of rocket, missile or anti-aircraft system is ruled out.

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6:12 a.m. Wednesday, Tehran time, after nearly an hours delay at Tehrans Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travelers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.

Then something went wrong, though no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations, the report said. In emergencies, pilots reach out to air-traffic controllers to warn them and to clear the runway for their arrival, though their first priority is to keep the aircraft flying.

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing at 6:18 a.m., the report said. The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

The report also confirmed that both of the black boxes that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost.

Hours before the plane crash the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had issued an emergency flight restriction barring U.S. carriers and pilots from flying over areas of Iraqi, Iranian and some Persian Gulf airspace warning of the potential for miscalculation or misidentification for civilian aircraft due to heightened political and military tensions.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraines Security Council, told Ukrainian media that officials had several working theories regarding the crash, including a missile strike.

A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash, Danilov said.

Ukrainian investigators who arrived in Iran on Thursday awaited permission from Iranian authorities to examine the crash site and look for missile fragments, Danilov said.

The Tor is a Russian-made missile system. Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1s to Iran in 2007, and Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades.

Iran did not immediately respond to the Ukrainian comments. However, Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, denied a missile hit the airplane in a comments reported Wednesday by the semiofficial Fars news agency. He dismissed the allegation as psychological warfare by foreign-based Iranian opposition groups.

Ukraine has a grim history with missile attacks, including in July 2014 when one such strike downed a Malaysia Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Kyiv after visiting with family during the winter break.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, Undoubtedly, the priority for Ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash. We will surely find out the truth.

The crash ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. The flag over Parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-staff, and Prime Minister Trudeau vowed to get to the bottom of the disaster.

The U.S. accident investigator, the National Transportation Safety Board, is talking to the State Department and the Treasury Department about traveling to Iran to inspect the U.S.-built aircraft and working with Iranian authorities despite U.S. economic sanctions against that country. In a statement Thursday the NTSB said it continues to monitor the situation surrounding the crash and evaluate its level of participation in the investigation.

U.S. officials have expressed concerned about sending employees to Iran because of the heightened tensions.

___

Associated Press writers Rob Gillies in Toronto, Robert Burns and Matthew Lee in Washington and Jill Lawless in London contributed.
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Readers, I got wrapped around the axle trying to translate the New Left Review, so the politics section is a little thin. More shortly, as the press recalibrates from the war scare back to 2020. lambert UPDATE All done

Trade

Ship brokers expect tankers to resume normal operations in the Middle East before disruptions upend energy markets. Two major tanker operators suspended crossings in the Strait of Hormuz and oil giant Saudi Aramco was considering diverting its vessels, the WSJs Benoit Faucon as the economic impact of the U.S.-Iran confrontation ripples across the region [Wall Street Journal]. Carriers will remain cautious but several brokers say they expect usual shipping patterns to resume before the end of the week.

Politics

But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? James Madison, Federalist 51

They had one weapon left and both knew it: treachery. Frank Herbert, Dune

Here is a second counter for the Iowa Caucus, which is obviously just around the corner:

* * *

2020

Alert reader dk (not to be confused with DK) is in the process of developing the following interactive chart. We do not have new polls today, so yesterdays YouGov poill is the most recent, as of 1/8/2020, 12:00 PM EST. On the average, the pattern of Biden first, Sanders strong second, then Warren and Buttigeig is stable, but Bloomberg is closing on Buttigieg, which is interesting or concerning. Of course, these are national polls, about to be massively thrown into confusion by IA, NH, SC, and NV  and then CA. And the numbers: Since we have nothing new, heres the postage stamps view of the race: The trendlines are pretty clear. I cant imagine the political class is happy about them (though between the two candidates with obvious and continuous upward sloping numbers, Sanders and Bloomberg, they would doubtless brought to support the latter without much coaxing). CAVEAT I think we have to track the polls because so much of the horse-race coverage is generated by them; and at least with these charts were insulating ourselves against getting excited about any one poll. That said, we should remember that the polling in 2016, as it turned out, was more about narrative than about sampling, and that this year is, if anything, even more so. In fact, one is entitled to ask, with the latest Buttigieg boomlet (bubble? (bezzle?)) which came first: The narrative, or the poll? One hears of push polling, to be sure, but not of collective push polling by herding pollsters. We should also worry about state polls with very small sample sizes and big gaps in coverage. And thats before we get to the issues with cellphones (as well as whether voters in very small, very early states game their answers). So we are indeed following a horse-race, but the horses dont stay in their lanes, some of the horses are not in it to win but to interfere with the others, the track is very muddy, and the mud has splattered our binoculars, such that its very hard to see whats going on from the stands. Also, the track owners are crooked and the stewards are on the take. Everythings fine. I think dk has started a really neat project, and in the near future well seek your feedback (within reason) for the tool live. * * * UPDATE Biden (D)(1): Joe Bidens free ride is over [The Week]. One example: Incidentally, of late Biden has taken to claiming that he opposed the Iraq War from the moment it started, but as a July 2003 speech he gave at the Brookings Institution shows (I voted with my colleagues to give the president of the United States of America the authority to use force, and I would vote that way again today. It was the right vote then and it would be a correct vote today), that is a straight-up lie.  It will be interesting to see who, if anyone, brings this up in debate. UPDATE Biden (D)(1): Fact check: Biden again dishonestly suggests he opposed the Iraq War from the beginning [CNN].  This is not the kind of headline your campaign manager likes to see. From CNN, of all places! UPDATE Biden (D)(3): Past Due: Court Declares Hunter Biden The Father Of Child In Arkansas [Jonathan Turley]. In the order, [Arkansas Circuit Judge Holly Meyer] ordered the Arkansas Department of Health to issue a birth certificate listing Biden as the father. Biden has children by at least three different women. [Former GW student, 29-year-old Lunden Alexis Roberts] filed papers that portrayed him as a deadbeat father, stating that Biden had no involvement in the childs life since the childs birth, never interacted with the child, never parented the child, and could not identify the child out of a photo lineup. The next hearing is set for January 29th on child support. That could create some fireworks as Biden has resisted disclosures of his wealth  information that could reveal how much he received from dubious Ukrainian and Chinese contracts .  Pass the popcorn. Of course, if this were Trumps son, the cries of kompromat would be deafening, as would the Op-Eds by the woke. Bloomberg (D)(1): Katy Perry Talked Politics with Mike Bloomberg During Beverly Hills Dinner: Source [People]. Perry, who campaigned for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016, ate with Bloomberg at Wolfgang Pucks CUT in the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, California, a source tells PEOPLE. Bloomberg has already notched one celebrity endorsement this week after Judge Judy  real name Judy Sheindlin  endorsed the billionaire businessman.  Celebrity endorsements get the political class excited. I dont think they move the polls. UPDATE Bloomberg (D)(2): Bloomberg wont release women who sued him from secrecy agreements [Bloomberg]. Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg told ABC News this week he will not take any steps to release women who have signed confidentiality agreements with his company to speak publicly about past allegations that the former New York City mayor fostered a hostile work environment for some female employees. You cant just walk away from it,; Bloomberg said. Theyre legal agreements, and for all I know the other side wouldnt want to get out of it. ABC News has spoken with several women who expressed interest in telling their stories who were subject to confidentiality agreements, but said they feared the prospect of facing retribution from the company for speaking out.  It will be interesting to see if liberal Democrats are willing to work themselves into contortions to avoid the #MeToo implications (and no wonder Bloomberg doenst want to face a debate stage). UPDATE Bloomberg (D)(3): Maybe Nominating Bloomberg for President Isnt a Crazy Idea [Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine]. Bloomberg would be a seriously flawed candidate. But the campaign seems to be exposing all the candidates as seriously flawed, while frequently generating new flaws as they and their supporters tear each other to shreds. Whoever survives the primary, which still has months to go, will face a well-funded incumbent president benefitting from a mature economic expansion he inherited. Winning the presidential election is starting to look hard. How about buying it instead?  Breathtakingly pragmatic! Buttigieg (D)(1): Mayor Petes Invisible Black Police [The Root]. Buttigieg repeatedly says he demoted [Black Police Chief Darryl] Boykins because Boykins was the subject or target of an FBI investigationbut the U.S. attorney has never confirmed that Boykins was the subject or target of their investigation. Petes chief of staff confirmed that the U.S. attorney never said it in a deposition. He also insists that Boykins demotion had nothing to do with race and he has yet to comment publicly on the fact that DePaepes secret legal documents quote police as saying he agreed to get rid of Boykins before he even became mayor. No one knows why Buttigieg pressured Boykins to resign and subsequently demoted him. The only thing we know is Buttigiegs explanation that Boykins was the target of a federal investigation is not true. It was never true. Still, Buttigiegor proxies from his campaigncontinue to repeat it.  For this to stick, it needs to be written on a postcard to avoid seeming like a Benghazi-level hairball. But the details are very, very ugly for Buttigieg. More on the same theme UPDATE (D)(2): Thread: Trina Robinson, former South Bend NAACP officer and president, tells reporters that on race and police violence @PeteButtigieg's candidacy is "a ticking-time bomb."  Philip Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) January 4, 2020 Nobody from Newark seems to like former Mayor Cory Booker very much. But they arent coming after him seeking vengeance justice, either. Sanders (D)(1): Bernie emerges as growing threat to Biden [Politico]. The Biden campaign has specifically courted the endorsement of community leaders in Iowa who backed Sanders in 2016. Theyve sought to combat Sanders recent habit of rolling out star surrogates like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with their own A-list surrogates. And last week, Bidens five-day Iowa bus tour heavily concentrated on the eastern part of the state  the biggest regional battleground between the two candidates because of its concentration of working-class voters. Biden snagged several endorsements that went to Sanders in 2016, including Waterloo pastor and African American leader Frantz Whitfield, former AARP Iowa director Bruce Koeppl, Sioux City state Rep. Tim Kacena and Linn County Supervisor Brent Oleson.  Biden is Biden. But his campaigns not dumb, as the numbers show. Sanders (D)(2): Huge: We are proud to announce that our movement has voted resoundingly to endorse @BernieSanders for President of the United States. Join the #GreenNewDeal political revolution: https://t.co/3eXE0XsIUv#Sunrise4Bernie pic.twitter.com/cAO09Irndt  Sunrise Movement  (@sunrisemvmt) January 9, 2020 UPDATE Sanders (D)(3): My kids on a flight with @BernieSanders and texted, His coat and luggage are clearly decades old and hes sitting in a normal people seat no extra leg room. These are the things we Yankees appreciate in a candidate.  Jessica Lahey (@jesslahey) January 8, 2020 UPDATE Sanders (D)(4): We will create a government that represents the working class, not billionaires [Bernie Sanders, Des Moines Register]. First and second paragraphs: As the Feb. 3 caucus approaches, Iowans face a choice: Are we going to settle for a status quo that is leaving so many behind? Or are we going to come together to finally transform our country so that our government works for all of us? Our grassroots campaign clearly represents the latter  which is why polls consistently show us defeating Donald Trump, who is the most dangerous and corrupt president in modern history.  That is an extremely elegant pivot to electability. Also, its nice to see working class in the headline, and not much like working families or everyday Americans or other focus-grouped mush. UPDATE Sanders (D)(5): Shadow group provides Sanders super PAC support he scorns [Associated Press].  Bernie Sanders says he doesnt want a super PAC. Instead, he has Our Revolution, a nonprofit political organization he founded that functions much the same as one. Like a super PAC, which is shorthand for super political action committee, Our Revolution can raise unlimited sums from wealthy patrons that dwarf the limits faced by candidates and conventional PACs. Unlike a super PAC, however, the group doesnt have to disclose its donors  a stream of revenue commonly referred to as dark money.'  There was controversy that OR was a 501(c)(4) at the time of its founding. More: Our Revolution has taken in nearly $1 million from donors who gave more than the limits and whose identities it hasnt fully disclosed, according to tax filings for 2016, 2017 and 2018. Much of it came from those who contributed six-figure sums.  A million dollars over three years? Really? Still, the Sanders campaign needs to clean this up, pronto. (NOTE: I first saw this on the Twitter from Buttigieg volunteer  possibly quote unquote volunteer  accounts on 538s feed. Either AP was watching, or they managed to place it. If so, good job by the Buttigieg campaign.) UPDATE Trump (R)(1): A popular theory for Trumps popularity among Republicans appears to be wrong [Philp Bump, WaPo]. To Democrats, the level of support for Trump within his party seems occasionally baffling. How could someone they hate so much be viewed so positively by the other party? Over the course of Trumps presidency, a theory emerged: Hes so popular among Republicans because Trump-skeptical Republicans have simply given up on the party. Wring all the skeptics out of the party, and youre left with a more unanimous, if smaller, core.  However, party identification numbers pre- and post-Trump are more or less the same. Warren (D)(1): Elizabeth Warrens ex-husband founded DNA testing company [Washington Examiner]. Sen. Elizabeth Warrens ex-husband co-founded a DNA testing company and wrote one of the first computer codes for making genetic comparisons. One of the two other co-founders of his testing company, FamilyTreeDNA, has worked with Carlos Bustamante, the Stanford University geneticist who administered a DNA test at Elizabeth Warrens request. Bustamante, a Stanford University geneticist, conducted the test Rather than using a commercial service to conduct her DNA test, Warren hired Bustamante, 43, who appears in the video explaining the test and in a scene in which the Massachusetts senator telephones his office and asks to speak with him.  Gad. I suppose I should have put this together, but the initial fact set was so bad anyhow. What possible justification can there be for using a family friend to run the test? (What would Warren say about the same set of relationships between a bank and its auditors, say?) Put in its very best light, the episode shows what we know, that Warrens political judgment is terrible. * * * Liberal Democrat ballot-gaming in California looks like its working:  Crucial info for CA NPP voters  Initial tallies coming in for NPP voters who mailed in their postcard to ask for a Democratic mail-in ballot and it's LOW. Please tell NPP voters if they don't request a Dem ballot, their mail-in ballot will NOT have a POTUS section in it. https://t.co/fm08ou6KXL  The Bern Identity (@bern_identity) January 9, 2020 This is important to the Sanders campaign, which wants to expand the electorate, which surely includes getting Independents to vote in the Democrat primary. I am a Republican, and I hope the Democrats pick a candidate I can vote for [Shield Bair, WaPo].  If youre the former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and [have] held senior appointments in four Republican and Democratic administrations you can say that. If youre some working class schlub in a swing district, you cant.

Our Famously Free Press

Before the Iowa caucus, ffs: On Jan. 19, the @nytimes editorial board will publish our choice for the Democratic nomination for president. It wont be the first time weve endorsed a candidate  weve been doing that since 1860  but we aim to make it our most transparent endorsement process to date. pic.twitter.com/ElLqPoBgjn  Kathleen Kingsbury (@katiekings) January 9, 2020 Smells of desperation.

Impeachment

Trump Says He Doesnt Plan to Block Bolton: Impeachment Update [Bloomberg]. Trump said he doesnt plan to block his former top national security aide, John Bolton, from testifying at a Senate impeachment trial, but that he would need to protect his executive privilege. He told reporters on Thursday that its up to the Senate to determine whether he should testify. I dont stop it, Trump said. But he said he needs to protect presidential privilege for himself and future presidents. He said hed have to consult with lawyers about whether Boltons testimony would present a problem. When we start allowing national security advisers to just go up and say whatever they want to say, we cant do that, Trump said.  True, at least going by past precedent.

The Debates

Des Moines Register, CNN moderators announced for Tuesdays Democratic Presidential Debate [Des Moines Register]. CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, CNN political correspondent Abby Phillip and Des Moines Register chief politics reporter Brianne Pfannenstiel will moderate Tuesday nights Democratic Presidential Debate in Des Moines. It will be the final debate before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3, when the first votes are cast in the presidential nominating race. Five candidates have qualified for the debate so far: former Vice President Joe Biden; former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; and U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Other candidates have until the end of the day Friday to meet the donor and polling threshold requirements to qualify.  Only five? (Then again, if you look at the charts above, the debates dont seem to giving any candidate much of a pop.)

Realignment and Legitimacy

Democrat hearing on the ballot and Ballot Marking Devices unsurprisingly turning into a debacle: .@RepZoeLofgren: find out:

*Where specifically they installed remote access

* When specifically it was removed

* How specifically they know it was removed.

* Where specifically there are BMDs w/ Permission to Cheat

* Where specifically they installed wireless modems. https://t.co/EVgZtHa3HW  Jennifer Cohn (@jennycohn1) January 9, 2020 Hard to imagine why the Democrat establishment would want to enable election theft on a national scale by funding insecure Ballot Marking Devices. Not. Trump is a Criminal, But the Democrats Belong to the Same Mafia [Black Agenda Report (NippersMom)]. The Democrats, like their corporate and banking masters, are determined to preserve the neoliberal economic order  the global Race to the Bottom in which U.S. workers compete with super-exploited workers in the developing world. The only difference is that the Democrats would integrate the management of this dwindling wage economy through a policy of racial and ethnic diversity. Same downward destination, but with multi-colored overseers. AOC Is Right: She and Joe Biden Should Not Be in the Same Party [Jacobin (Nippersmom)]. In any other country, the diehard far-right Trump team, the self-proclaimed respectable but austerity-crazed Republicans like Paul Ryan, the Biden-Buttigieg-Clinton-Obama sphere of big-business-friendly social liberals, and democratic socialists like AOC and Sanders would sort themselves into four different parties. These four parties would then run competitively in general elections, presenting four different visions for the countrys future to voters. In the seventy or so congressional races on average, for example, that are won by less than a ten-percentage-point margin, the main fight might come down to a race between Ryans and Bidens. In the remaining 365 seats, elections in todays solidly red districts might come down to fights between the Ryans and Trumps, while in todays solidly blue districts, Bidens would face off against AOCs. The end result might be similar to the makeup of Congress today, with no party having a clear majority. Coalitions could then be entertained, via formal negotiations with clear pacts arranged between parties. But the critical advantage in this arrangement would be that general elections would test the popularity of four very different political programs before a critical mass of voters. Instead, in the United States today these vital battles between very different visions happen in low-turnout primaries in which few voters weigh in. Worse still, the political loyalties of candidates are usually unclear, and kept purposefully so by many candidates afraid of alienating voters. As a result, most people in the ballot booth have an understandably difficult time sussing out which political faction within the existing parties a candidate might belong to.

Stats Watch

Shipping: AAR: 2020 Picks Up Where 2019 Left Off [Railway Age]. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ended Jan. 4, 2020, and, for this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 414,014 carloads and intermodal units, down 5.1% compared with the same week last year.  Handy chart:

Retail: Walmart Inc. is turning to robots to help break a logjam caused by the combination of physical and online commerce joining a growing field of grocers deploying automation behind the scenes to improve efficiency in finding, picking and packing goods for delivery [Wall Street Journal]. The systems are part of the expanding use of robotics to solve operations puzzles that arise as retailers blend stores with digital sales efforts. Goals include cutting labor costs and filling orders faster. Alert Innovation says the average store worker can collect around 80 products from store shelves an hour, while the Alphabot system of tall stacks and wheeled robots can handle 10 times that figure.  Hmm. Amazon has not, apparently, hired Alert.

The Bezzle: The SEC proposes to modernize auditor independence rules [Francine McKenna, The Dig]. Barbara Roper told me: Instead of acknowledging ongoing violations as a sign that the audit firms are willfully ignoring the law, in the absence of strong deterrent-level sanctions and individual punishments, and stepping up enforcement to provide that deterrent, the SEC and PCAOB propose to weaken the auditor independence rules. If audit firms arent willing to maintain their independence, and regulators arent willing to hold them accountable, at a certain point investors are going to start asking whether it is really worth paying for the not-so-independent audit.'  Yikes! Important piece (and only part one).

The Bezzle: Grubhub has built up distribution and software capabilities but its revenue has been declining. Now, the company is tapping financial advisers to help with a review that could include a sale or acquisition, if it makes any moves at all [Wall Street Journal].  What a shame. No IPO .

Tech: Amazon Doubles Down on Ring Partnerships With Law Enforcement [The Register]. In an interview at the annual CES conference in Las Vegas this week, Amazons top hardware executive said hes proud of the program, believes the partnerships with police departments are good for neighborhoods, and hinted at a future in which Ring cameras could use Amazons facial recognition technologya scenario that some of Rings critics have already expressed concerns about. Dave Limp, chief of Amazon devices and services, says Ring has partnered with well over 400 police and fire departments around the US and that hes a big fan of the devices ability to boost community policing efforts. Im proud of that program, and I think well continue to do it. If anything were putting more resources on it, Limp said.  Only in America would we privatize the Stasi.

* * *

Todays Fear & Greed Index: 93 Extreme Greed (previous close: 92 Extreme Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 97 (Extreme Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jan 9 at 12:21pm.

The Biosphere

Seaweed forests can help fight climate change [National Geographic]. [A] new study that for the first time quantifies the global capacity of large-scale seaweed farming to offset terrestrial carbon emissions and maps areas of the ocean suitable for macroalgae cultivation. Farming seaweed in just 3.8 percent of the federal waters off the California coastthats 0.065 percent of the global ocean suitable for growing macroalgaecould neutralize emissions from the states $50 billion agriculture industry, according to the paper published Thursday in the journal Current Biology.  Holy moley!

A years diary of reckoning with climate anxiety, conversation by conversation. [New York Magazine]. Some scientists say the best way to combat climate change is to talk about it among friends and family  to make private anxieties public concerns. For 2019, my New Years resolution was to do just that, as often as possible [As] it turned out, people wanted to talk about it. Nobody was silent. I listened to their answers. I noticed the echoes. I wrote them all down.  This is very good, although definitely through a PMC lens.

Like sending bees to war: the deadly truth behind your almond-milk obsession [Guardian]. Like most commercial beekeepers in the US, at least half of Arps revenue now comes from pollinating almonds. Selling honey is far less lucrative than renting out his colonies to mega-farms in Californias fertile Central Valley, home to 80% of the worlds almond supply. But as winter approached, with Arp just months away from taking his hives to California, his bees started getting sick. By October, 150 of Arps hives had been wiped out by mites, 12% of his inventory in just a few months. My yard is currently filled with stacks of empty bee boxes that used to contain healthy hives, he says. This shouldnt be happening to someone like Arp, a beekeeper with decades of experience. But his story is not unique. Commercial beekeepers who send their hives to the almond farms are seeing their bees die in record numbers, and nothing they do seems to stop the decline.  Monoculture, yay!

Struggling to breathe in 48217, Michigans most toxic ZIP code [Detroit Metro Times]. Garrison is among more than 7,000 people who live in 48217  the most polluted ZIP code in Michigan. The community is inundated with a toxic stew of chemicals wafting from steel mills, coal-fired power plants, gas flares, billowing smokestacks, towering piles of coal and petroleum coke, a salt mine, wastewater treatment plant, and one of the nations largest oil refineries  all looming over schools, neighborhoods, parks, senior centers, and a recreation center. A nauseating stench of rotten eggs, burnt plastic, and gasoline permeates the air.  But sadly: It wasnt always like this. In the mid-20th century, the Tri-Cities was a working-class community teeming with Black-owned grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, banks, pharmacies, flower shops, car dealers, and even a hospital. Unlike many areas of Detroit, large sections of the Tri-Cities didnt have racially restrictive covenants that banned all but white people from homes and apartments. Drawn to the Motor City by the booming auto industry, tens of thousands of Black people fled the Jim Crow South and moved into the areas modest bungalows in the 1950s and 60, becoming first-time homeowners. For many of them, a century after slavery and still in the midst of segregated schools and neighborhoods, the American Dream was finally within grasp.

Double Environmental Injustice  Climate Change, Hurricane Dorian, and the Bahamas [New England Journal of Medicine]. Climate-changedriven hurricanes tend to inflict two types of environmental injustice. One is that socioeconomically disadvantaged and racial or ethnic minority populations experience disproportionate harm, loss, and life changes. The increased severity of climate-changerelated storms portends a worsening impact on marginalized people that can exacerbate preexisting health gaps and social inequities. As Dorian moved over the northwest Bahamas, for instance, the most severe destruction affected thousands dwelling in shantytowns on Great Abaco Island. Many of those affected were undocumented migrants. [A]fter Hurricane Maria, many rural, disadvantaged Puerto Rican municipalities struggled without electricity for as long as a year. The death toll rose steadily into the thousands, as frail, elderly, and chronically ill people died preventable deaths. Disparities in health, as measured by multiple indicators, were magnified. At a more fundamental level of environmental injustice, the contribution of island-based populations to global carbon emissions is negligible.  Everythings going according to plan!

Now is the time to think about trees!

I've finished placing my 2020 tree order. I'm getting 2 grafted Chestnuts

5 Chestnut seedlings

5 Turkish Tree Hazelnut seedlings

5 grafted Mulberries

6 grafted Persimmon What are you planting next spring? pic.twitter.com/4vgSk5kwAs  David (@organicgay) January 7, 2020

And soil! I could have put this under Groves of Academe, too. Thread:

At @Rothamsted where he used to work, theyve been collecting soil samples since 1843. It is the worlds longest-running scientific experiment. Seeing them in person was like being in an apothecary or an old-fashioned sweet shop. #soils #food #agriculture #climate (3) pic.twitter.com/8q2fO73z9A  Thin (@thinink) January 8, 2020

Health Care

US Healthcare Industry Creating an Endless Shitstorm of Money-Grubbing Bureaucracy and Paperwork, Study Finds [Vice]. Capitalist though [(?)] it may be, the U.S. healthcare industry is a bureaucratic, inefficient and unnecessarily complicated mess, which has created a highly lucrative paper-pushing industry that is unnecessarily costing already-broke Americans hundreds of billions of dollars a year, according to a new study published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The healthcare industrys bureaucratic administrative costs set Americans back $812 billion in 2017, or just under $2,500 per person . Another way to think about those numbers: 34 percent of all U.S. costs related to doctor visits, hospitals, long-term care and health insurance essentially came from paperwork , according to the analysis, which was performed by researchers at Harvard Medical School, the City University of New York at Hunter College, and the University of Ottawa.  Hey, careful! That paperwork is somebodys rent!

Groves of Academe

A scandal in Oxford: the curious case of the stolen gospel [Guardian]. As indeed the article points out, this could be an Inspector Morse mystery. Here is the opportunity part: There is a rough, handwritten catalogue of the entire collection, on 12cm by 7cm index cards, as well as photographs, which gives a rough indication of what each fragment contains. Editors have not usually been forthcoming about the details of the unpublished material, fearing an onslaught of interested academics. For scholars outside the charmed circle, who wonder what gems lie in wait, that can be frustrating. For a criminal, it might create an opportunity. The fewer people who know what is in the collection, the easier it might be to pilfer from it.  The motive would have been money.

Class Warfare

Empire, Twenty Years On [New Left Review]. Long and extremely dense, as is NLRs once. This, IMNSHO, is the key paragraph:

[T]he concept of class can be used to grasp the effects of subjection created by relations of domination, not only with respect to capital but also with respect to white supremacy and patriarchy, in the interests of not only the working class but also the racial class, the sex class and others. Second, it is important to stress that the concept of class is employed here not only as a descriptive claim but as a political call to those subjected to patriarchal or racial hierarchies to struggle together, as a class. Finally, and this is the point most difficult to confront: to recognize a plurality of classes dominated and struggling in parallel fashion is a step forward, but is not enough. The notion of multitudinous class or intersectional class that we seek requires a further step: an internal articulation of these different subjectivitiesworking class, racial class, sex classin struggle . Intersectional analyses commonly address the need for articulation between the subordinated subjectivities in terms of solidarity and coalition. Often this repeats an additive strategy: working-class plus feminist plus antiracist plus lgbtq struggle, plus . . . In other words, even when intersectional analysis refuses additive notions of identity, an additive logic can still govern activist imaginaries. One weakness of this approach is that the bonds of solidarity are external. What is needed are internal bonds of solidaritythat is, a different mode of articulation, going beyond standard conceptions of coalition. Let us illustrate this key conditionthe internal relations of solidarity in this multitudinous classwith three theoretical examples.

Integrating classic notions of class with intersectionality seems necessary  when not polluted with aspirational voices pushing diversity  but frankly, the portion I underlined above, seemingly meant to displace with notion of allies (rightly) doesnt mean much to me, and the examples following dont help (since they are not examples of where the concept, whatever it may be, actually worked). I think the Sanders campaign has the right of it in their catchphrase the multiracial working class, and it may be that practice is outrunning theory. Perhaps a reader who speaks leftish better than I do can give an interpretation.

* * *

USA! USA!

The wealthiest 10% of adults own 82% of the world's wealth. The bottom 50% account for less than 1% https://t.co/cYGCjG8QkC  The Economist (@TheEconomist) January 9, 2020

Afternoon of the Pawnbrokers [The Baffler]. The phrase redemption ratio rang through my head on the bus ride home. It seemed to me that I had unwittingly exited the realm of New York leftism where Marx ruled as an absent godhead, poised forever to vengefully return. Here in the land of Weber, like a good American Protestant, I would suck at the scum of petty usury, unredeemed yet restored to my unfortunate roots. I had entered the pawnshop that day a broke and desperate person; when I left, I was a subprime lender.

Mike Davis on the Crimes of Socialism and Capitalism [Jacobin]. For example, India: Due to the famines in the 1870s and the 1890s, population growth [in India] slowed so much in some regions that it didnt recover until Independence in 1948, after World War II. Indias always depicted as a teeming country, but these were very large-scale disasters. Regionally they were equivalent in terms of population loss and destruction of productive resources to the era of the Black Death in Medieval Europe, or even to the Mongol invasions. But they occurred on the watch and through the deliberate policies of the most powerful industrial nation in modernity. Modernization, which Indians paid for with their own taxes, did little or nothing for ordinary Indians. In fact it had the perverse effect of abetting a speculative market in grain, converting an environmental event into a famine that caused mass death.  Well worth a read.

Mobility: Real and Perceived [City Journal]. Americans, by and large, view the market economy as fair: if one works hard, poverty can be left behind; and wealth is generally deserved by those who have accumulated it. In other words, Americans believe in and endorse the American dream. Even after several decades of widening income inequality in the U.S., Americans dont show much of a taste for greater redistribution, as shown in a study that one of us conducted in 2015, possibly because they dont think that government can do it well and fairly.. According to the World Value Survey, a respected international study of socioeconomic views, 70 percent of Americans believe that the poor can escape poverty if they try hard enough; only half of Europeans share this view. Even low-income U.S. respondents (especially whites) generally share these American views and dont tend to favor redistribution, compared with the European poor.  Hmm. From a leading free-market think tank..

Think Debtors Prisons Are a Thing of the Past? Not in Mississippi. [The Marshall Project]. ississippi appears to be the only state where judges lock people up for an indefinite time while they work to earn money to pay off court-ordered debts. While there is no comprehensive data, legal experts who study fines, fees and restitution say Mississippi is unusual at the very least.  Sounds like an opportunity for a new start-up to bring this model to the rest of the country!

Union Library Workers Call on Executives to Meet As Soon as Possible, as Long as Necessary to Prevent Strike [Cleveland Scene]. More than 400 union library workers voted yesterday to authorize their bargaining team to strike. If Cleveland Public Library leadership fails to demonstrate meaningful commitments to staffing and safety in ongoing negotiations, the workers may issue a 10-day notice of an intent to strike at any time.

News of the Wired

So Neera Tanden wont have to have an intern manage her list of the blocked?

Twitter will soon let you restrict who can reply to your tweets Options:

 Global  Anybody can reply

 Group -Only people you follow + mention can reply

 Panel  Only people you mention in the tweet can reply

 Statement  Nobody can replyhttps://t.co/Ef6p2yG7Va  Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) January 8, 2020

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Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, (c) how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal, and (d) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. Todays plant (IM):

IM writes: The neighbourhood amanita muscaria is back! This year it was joined by its obnoxious and deadly poisonous cousin amanita Phalloides, which continues its colonization of the west coast. Mushroom hunters, beware

* * *

Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldnt see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know Im on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for five or ten days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals:









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TRUMBULL  Days after a Town Council vote to fill an alternate seat on the Board of Finance escalated into charges of partisanship and broken promises, the finger-pointing continues.

Following Monday nights council meeting, when the council voted to approve Republican Marc Mascola for the seat over the GOPs pick, former finance board member Scott Zimov, the councils Republican caucus released a statement accusing the towns Democratic administration of hypocrisy.

In the statement, the five Republicans complained that First Selectman Vicki Tesoro had run for office in 2015 endorsing the view that all elected boards or commissions have at least one alternate of their own political party and of their own choosing.

Following the publication of the GOP statement in the Trumbull Times, council Democrats Kevin Shively, D-2nd, and Bill Mecca, D-1st, responded, defending the councils actions and pointing out that Tesoro has no role in the naming of Board of Finance alternates. According to the Town Charter, the boards alternate members shall be appointed by the Town Council.

Shively, in a letter to the editor, called Republican claims that Tesoro was behind Zimovs rejection patently false and personally insulting.

He said no one in the administration had ever contacted him about how he might vote on the issue.

My vote not to support Mr. Zimov reflected a fundamental difference of opinion regarding Mr. Zimovs previous actions and positions taken while he was a member of the Board of Finance, Shively wrote. Others may disagree, but I truly believe that I voted in the best interest of my town. My vote is my own, and I stand by it.

Tesoro herself also has said she is committed to a policy of non-interference with the responsibilities of the towns boards and commissions.

I have maintained, and will maintain until the last day Im in this office, that I dont tell the Town Council how to vote, she said.

Council Vice-Chairman Jason Marsh, D-3rd, nominated Mascola, a CPA and corporate finance executive, for the alternate seat in December. Zimov, who has 17 years experience in banking, currently with Bank of America, was nominated by the council Republicans in early December.

We named him as our choice for the seat Dec. 3, said Minority Leader Carl Massaro, R-3rd. We were later contacted (by Council Democrats) and told that he would not be approved and that they had another Republican candidate.

Mecca said Mascola had attended the councils Rules and Research Committee meeting the previous week where he had shared his interest and qualifications in person. Zimov was absent from the committee meeting.

It feels intentionally misleading to not have mentioned that detail, Mecca said.

Zimov said he had not been informed of the meeting.

Massaro said he had intended to tell him about the meeting but had inadvertently forgotten to do so.

I didnt call him, and obviously they didnt either, he said.

But Zimovs absence from the committee meeting should have been irrelevent, Massaro said.

He is well-known to everybody, Massaro said. The fact is they were never going to put him on.

Zimov agreed.

The fact is, Vicki Tesoro has said more than once that the partys alternate seats should be held by people the party chose, Zimov said. Thats why (in 2016) when there was an opening for a Democrat on the Board of Finance, I agreed with the Democrats and texted (former first selectman) Tim Herbst that he should approve their choice to have Vicki fill the seat.

Massaro also scoffed at the idea that Tesoro was blameless in Zimovs rejection.

He doesnt vote the way the administration would like, he said. They wanted someone that would make it easier for them to get what they want.

But Mecca said it was Mascolas in-person demeanor and resume that swung the council to back him, saying that Mascola had attended both meetings, had a great resume as well and exhibited a fresh perspective as a newcomer.

Zimov himself said he has frequently been a voice of opposition on the board. He specifically recalled a board discussion of a proposed aquatics center when he said the boards Democrats went into attack mode over his pointed questions. But he defended his actions as being in the towns fiscal interest.

Asking for information should not be a bad thing, he said.
BISHKEK -- The editor in chief of Kyrgyz investigative website FactCheck was attacked by unidentified assailants on January 9, colleagues told RFE/RL.



Three men attacked Bolot Temirov near the website's office in Bishkek, beating him and robbing him of his mobile phone, his colleagues said.



Paramedics gave Temirov emergency medical assistance at the scene. He then accompanied police officers to a police station to file a written complaint.



Temirov's colleagues also said that several athletic-looking men were observed the previous day near the office while asking passers-by about the location of the FactCheck office.



Last month, the FactCheck website was hacked along with the sites of several online news resources that used FactCheck's materials.



FactCheck mainly investigates corruption allegedly committed by officials.



Temirov's site and the open source investigative organization Bellingcat have recently probed the fortune of the former deputy chief of Kyrgyz customs, Raimbek Matraimov, and his relatives, who are at the center of a corruption scandal around the alleged funneling some $1 billion from Kyrgyzstan.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 17:46:26|Editor: mingmei

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CAIRO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian and Chinese officials held on Wednesday night a forum in Cairo to exchange expertise on modernization of governance to boost Egypt's Vision 2030 for sustainable development.

Entitled "Governance and Egypt's Vision 2030," the two-day forum is held by the Egyptian cabinet and the Chinese Embassy in Cairo to share visions on governance and development and highlight the common principles between Egypt's Vision 2030 and China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Osama el-Gohary, an assistant of Egypt's prime minister and head of the cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center, a co-organizer of the event, said that such a forum represents a platform for Egyptian and Chinese experts to exchange opinions on development experience and initiatives.

"The forum seeks to learn about China's experiences in governance and sustainable development, convey to the Chinese side our relevant expertise and highlight the links between China's BRI and Egypt's Vision 2030," the Egyptian official told Xinhua.

Gohary described China's BRI as "one of the most important development tools in the world today."

For his part, Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liao Liqiang stressed that today's world development faces new challenges, highlighting the need for global stability and peace through good governance and development.

"China-Egypt exchange of expertise in governance is a manifestation of the growing mutual exchange and learning between the two countries," the Chinese ambassador told the attendees.

Proposed by China in 2013, the BRI aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe, Africa and beyond.

Under the initiative, dozens of Chinese companies have been operating in Egypt and working on national Egyptian mega projects in the field of infrastructure, including energy, construction and transport, amid growing bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

"Egypt has a real and earnest desire to learn from the Chinese model and experiences in the vital fields of governance and sustainable development," Selim, Egypt's Assistant Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs, said during the forum.

The Egyptian diplomat hailed China's growing success, saying that the giant Asian country is distinguished by "stretching hands of cooperation and support to its strategic partners toward broader horizons of development and prosperity."

The forum will hold four sessions on Thursday to discuss modernization of national governance systems, sustainable development, poverty reduction and the shared principles of China's BRI and Egypt's Vision 2030.

Al-Sayed al-Sherif, first deputy Speaker of Egypt's Parliament, asked the forum's organizers to send its final recommendations to the Egyptian parliament to be considered by Egyptian lawmakers.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, announced on Wednesday that they plan to step back as senior members of the Royal Family and split their time between the United Kingdom and North America. The couple, said to have a net worth estimated between $30 million and $45 million, also announced they will work to become financially independent.

The announcement follows months of signals that Harry and Meghan were miserable in their formal roles. They returned to work just this week after taking an unprecedented six-week holiday break from their royal duties. Last year, they gave interviews for a documentary in which they spoke frankly and emotionally about the burden and stresses they face, and the tensions that had arisen between Harry and his brother William, Duke of Cambridge. In October, Harry announced that the couple was suing the parent company of the Daily Mail after the tabloid published a private letter Meghan wrote to her father, Thomas Markle. Ive seen what happens when someone I love is commoditized to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person, Harry said at the time. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces. Meghan gave birth to their first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, in May.

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British tabloids have been brutally critical of Meghan in particular, and often blatantly racist. But she has become a beloved figure internationally. Meghan and Harry have really gotten a raw deal from the British press, but the wider world adores them, said Leslie Carroll, the author of American Princess: The Love Story of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, who said she was both surprised and not shocked by Wednesdays news. Imagine if you were joining a sorority where everyone was mean to you and then you realize: I dont have to be here.

In their statement, which was first posted to Instagram, the couple said their decision to break away was made after many months of reflection and internal discussions and that they plan to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. The couple also launched a new website in which they describe their decision to adjust their working model in more detail. One change is that they will forgo their income from the Sovereign Grant, the funding mechanism of the monarchy that covers their work on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II.

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The website says that they received 5 percent of the funding for their official office through the grant in 2019. (The other 95 percent came through the office of Harrys father Charles, Prince of Wales.) They will also take greater control of which media outlets have access to them and stop participating in the Royal Rota system, a press pool that includes several major tabloids. Harry and Meghan say they will now engage with grassroots media organisations and young, up-and-coming journalists and credible media outlets focused on objective news reporting.

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The announcement will be greeted with skepticism from those who point out that the couple is already rich and apparently keeping their royal titles. Meanwhile, they are cutting themselves off from an increasingly toxic brand while retaining their status as global celebrities. They will enjoy more personal and professional freedom, a round of sympathetic international press coverage, and potentially even higher incomes. What exactly is the sacrifice here?

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Fair points, all! But its possible for this break to be both canny and justified. Theres a reason, after all, that its unusual for a member of the royal family to publicly renounce their duties and move across the ocean. The whole premise of royalty is that it is a matter of blood. Giving a metaphorical two weeks notice on a birthright is a radical move, one that indicates the couple felt they had no gentler way to negotiate for what they wanted.

In any case, the good news for the rest of us is that this is all shaping up to be a very irresistible, refreshingly meaningless drama. Its already clear that the royal family apparently had to scramble to react. The BBCs royal correspondent tweeted that the couple did not consult any other members of Harrys family before making the announcement, and that the family is understood to be disappointed.  Buckingham Palace quickly released its own terse statement saying, discussions with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage. Exciting!

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Among many questions that remain is where in North America the couple will settle, which will make a difference in the optics of the break. Moving to the United States would be a major departure. But the family apparently spent at least part of their holiday break in Canada, which is part of the British Commonwealth. Markle is from Los Angeles, but she lived in Toronto for years when she starred in the USA Network drama Suits. Only the royals could turn Were thinking about possibly moving to Canada into the juiciest celebrity story of the year so far.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 21:40:56|Editor: Wang Yamei

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Pakistan's Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood speaks during the ceremony held for distribution of "Panda Packs" in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan on Jan. 9, 2020. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)

ISLAMABAD, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood said on Thursday that the friendship between Pakistan and China is getting stronger and more multidimensional with new avenues of cooperation in social and economic sectors.

"Pakistan and China have a long history of friendship, but now it is deepening and strengthening with the passage of time. Our economic and social cooperation is improving, and interaction between civil societies of the two countries is growing," the minister said, adding that this is indeed a new era in which already good friendship between the two countries is becoming even stronger.

Mahmood made the remarks during a ceremony held in Islamabad for distribution of "Panda Packs" among 20,000 students in grade 1-5 studying at government schools mostly in rural areas of the federal capital by the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in collaboration with China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation.

Inside the donated packs are lunch box, color pencil, eraser, sharpener and other stationery which would help learners to further improve their educational ability and interest in school. The distribution of donated packs is a proof of the growing multi-faceted relations between the two countries, he said.

Considering the increasing demand of skilled manpower in the country, the minister said vocational training institutes are being set up with the help of China under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to impart necessary skills to meet the demands of the local industries. "This will further strengthen the partnership between the two countries," he said.

Speaking at the event, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing said China is ready to help Pakistan in the field of education, adding that through a new sector of socio-economic cooperation under CPEC, hospitals, schools and vocational training centers will be established, and scholarships will also be offered to Pakistani students.

"The relationship between China and Pakistan has been for quite a long term, but this new momentum between the peoples, between the societies, between the communities, is just growing day by day," Yao said.

Abrar ul Haq, chairman of PRCS, said around 61 percent population of Pakistan lives in rural areas, where educational facilities are not up to the mark. He said the distribution of school bags among rural students is a highly welcome initiative.

"China has always been on the forefront in helping Pakistan in the time of need," Haq said while hoping that cooperation between the PRCS and the Red Cross Society of China will further grow to come to serve humanity together.
Toms reputation for specialization within the hospitality industry and real estate sectors of the insurance industry is considerable, said Kurt Meister, senior vice president of business development for Distinguished Programs. Throughout his long tenure he has been a valued member of the Distinguished Programs team. As we look to expand both the reach and size of our salesforce, Toms contributions, institutional knowledge and experience will aid in those efforts, and I congratulate him on this well-earned promotion.

Zeni brings approximately 35 years of industry experience to his role. Zeni previously served in the programs division of York Risk Services Group. He has also served as a national managing general agent with Apollo General Insurance, a regional program manager with AIG, and a program manager and executive underwriter with Firemans Fund Insurance Company.

Pauls background as a sales professional, broker, program manager and underwriting professional provides real-world expertise and insight to this role  an asset for agents and brokers in the region, Meister said. Were proud to have someone of Pauls caliber join our team. Adding such industry experts is central to our salesforce expansion efforts and to providing robust and beneficial insurance products nationally.
OTTAWA  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the country is grieving the loss of scores of people with ties to communities across Canada who died Wednesday in a plane crash near Tehran.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/1/2020 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the country is grieving the loss of scores of people with ties to communities across Canada who died Wednesday in a plane crash near Tehran.

While 63 of the 176 deceased are believed to have Canadian citizenship, a total of 138 passengers aboard the plane were connecting to Canada, Trudeau said, while extending condolences to their families.

"An entire country is with you; we share your grief," he told reporters on Parliament Hill, where the Peace Towers flag flew at half-mast.

"All had so much potential; so much life ahead of them," a sombre Trudeau said, flanked by cadre of top military and diplomatic officials.

In his first public appearance in almost three weeks, the prime minister reminded Canadians they stick together during tragedies.

Trudeau admitted he cant rule out the possibility the Ukrainian International Airlines flight was shot down  tensions are high in the region after the U.S. killed Iran's military leader and Iran responded with missile attacks on Iraq locations hosting American and coalition troops  but said it was "dangerous to speculate on possible causes."

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He said families deserve a full explanation, regardless of Canada cutting off diplomatic ties with Iran in 2012. It was unclear whether that will pose a difficulty in accessing information about the crash or repatriating the bodies of the deceased.

"There is a desire by everyone to see what actually happened," Trudeau said.

Canadian "consular teams" are being prepared to go to Iran and help with investigations, and the prime minister is hopeful the Middle Eastern nation will allow them entry. "We're going to work very hard to establish the facts," he said.

Trudeau had no explanation as to why he was only addressing the Canadian public five days after U.S. President Donald Trump revealed hed ordered Gen. Qassem Soleimani to be assassinated.

Instead, Trudeau insisted he was receiving briefings since the assassination during his vacation in Costa Rica.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
MUSKEGON, MI -- The Muskegon Area Career Tech Center, a vocational training facility for Muskegon-area high schoolers, has unveiled a new look and logo designed to increase enrollment as it celebrates its 15th anniversary.

The new logo features a swirl of orange, green and blue above the abbreviation CTC, a shortening of the official MACTC, which opened its doors at 200 Harvey St on Jan. 4, 2005. It offers 16 trade-oriented courses for Muskegon County 11th- and 12th-graders.

The rebranding is part of a broader marketing effort to increase the publics awareness of CTCs offerings, said Stephanie Hoekenga, the centers student outreach specialist.

I think theres just a lot of misconceptions still about what career and technical education is," she told MLive. These are really career-driven classes, all are backed by an advisory committee of local employers. And these are relevant careers. Were not training kids to work in jobs that arent going to be there in a couple of years.

By rebranding and getting us into public eye, were (showing that were) more than the voc-ed of the 1960s, she added.

Muskegons career prep school has a new look and logo, part of a broader effort to rebrand the school and boost enrollment. Courtesy Muskegon ISD.

CTC is overseen by the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District (MAISD), which provides supplemental education programming for public schools. Hoekenga first presented on a proposed rebranding at a meeting of the MAISD board on Aug. 29, sayings its goal was to boost interest in the school.

Students enrolled at the center spend half their days in traditional high schools, and half their days learning skills like computer-assisted design, welding, cosmetology, health sciences, and hospitality management.

More than 720 students were enrolled at CTC in the 2015-2016 school year. Annual enrollment figures were not immediately available, but Hoekenga said that enrollment typically hovers around 750-800.

We have capacity to grow, she said, adding that total capacity is between 900-1,000, depending on which programs students enroll in. Wed like to see all of our seats filled in all of our programs.

According to minutes from the MAISDs board meetings, new signs that display the logo for CTC and the Lakeshore Learning Center, another MAISD-operated facility, were produced by the Grand Rapids-based Midwest Sign Company and cost $23,945.

The rebranding took place in advance of a 15th anniversary open house that will take place on Jan. 29 from 5-7 p.m. at the CTC. Community members, including prospective students and their families, will be able to tour the facilities, see demonstrations of equipment and student work and meet with current students. Local manufacturers and representatives from colleges, trade schools and the military will also be present to discuss career opportunities.
By Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the largest U.S. energy industry group on Tuesday warned that Americans risk choosing the "wrong path" in the 2020 presidential election if they vote for a candidate seeking to fight climate change by banning drilling.

The chief executive of the American Petroleum Institute said such proposals from Democratic candidates seeking to unseat Republican President Donald Trump pose a threat to the economy, and urged a room filled with nearly 800 energy executives to push back against them.

The industry group also announced a multi-million dollar advertising campaign, focused on U.S. political swing states, that bills the oil and gas industry as a leader in cutting greenhouse gas emissions through improvements in technology.

We know many candidates now are talking about this industry and we want to make sure the American people hear our story, said API President and CEO Mike Sommers.

U.S. Democrats hoping to run against Trump in Novembers election have vowed to rapidly shift the country away from planet-warming fossil fuels if elected to help avert the worst impacts of global climate change.

To do so, several candidates https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-climate-factbox/factbox-climate-policies-of-top-u-s-democrats-in-2020-presidential-race-idUSKCN1VP15A have promised to end new drilling on public lands, and some have proposed a national ban on hydraulic fracking - a controversial drilling technology that pumps water and chemicals into rock formations to access petroleum deposits.

They argue that transitioning to a zero-emission economy would create millions of new jobs in clean energy industries like solar and wind that would compensate for jobs lost in drilling and mining.

The United States has become the worlds top oil and gas producer thanks to a fracking-led drilling boom. The API will release a report later this week showing that a fracking ban would put over 7 million jobs at risk by 2022 and cost the economy $7.1 trillion by 2030, Sommers said.

Story continues

U.S. emissions http://news.trust.org/item/20200107102718-xnfy5 of the gases that scientists blame for climate change, meanwhile, have been declining for about a decade, thanks mainly to the replacement of scores of old and inefficient coal-fired power plants with natural gas facilities.

But the future of U.S. emissions has been cast into doubt as the Trump administration seeks to boost domestic fossil fuels development by rolling back Obama-era climate protections and other environmental regulations.

While the oil industry has been a vocal supporter of the Trump administration's regulatory rollbacks, the API's ad campaign will cast the industry as an ally of Democrats and environmentalists seeking to cut emissions.

On issues that matter, like climate change, we are more alike than we think, according to one of the ads https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87ObTFn68ic&feature=youtu.be.

(Writing by Valerie Volcovici, Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Marguerita Choy)
Ukrainian airliner was turning back before crashing near Tehran, an initial report from investigators says.

A Ukrainian airliner that crashed outside of Tehran was on fire and trying to turn back but its crew never made a radio call for help, Iranian investigators said.

The Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800, flying to Kyiv and carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians, crashed shortly after taking off on Wednesday from Tehrans Imam Khomeini airport, killing all 176 on board.

Witnesses, including the crew of another passing flight, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing, the investigators report said. The crash caused an enormous explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the four-hour flight.

The plane, which was initially headed west to leave the airport zone, turned right following a problem and was headed back to the airport at the moment of the crash, the Iranian Civil Aviation Organisation said on its website.





The plane disappeared from radar screens the moment it reached 8,000 feet [2,400 metres]. The pilot sent no radio message about the unusual circumstances.

Ukraine outlined four potential scenarios on Thursday to explain the deadly crash, including a missile strike and terrorism.

Kyiv said its investigators wanted to search the site of Wednesdays crash southwest of Tehran for possible debris of a Russian-made missile used by Irans military.

Refrain from speculation

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said crash investigators from his country had arrived in Iran to assist with the probe.

Undoubtedly, the priority for Ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash, Zelenskyy said. We will surely find out the truth. He also declared Thursday a day of national mourning.

In a televised statement, Zelenskyy earlier asked people to refrain from speculation, conspiracy theories and hasty evaluations regarding the crash.

Both flight recorders  known as black boxes  from the three-year-old jet were found and are being investigated. Iranian Transport Minister Mohammed Eslami said they would be handed over to Ukraine.

The country that manufactures the aircraft is also supposed to have representatives involved in such a probe.

In theory, this means that the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the body charged with investigating air accidents, would be involved. The aeroplanes manufacturer, Boeing, is based in the US, and investigators would likely rely on experts from the manufacturer.

However, the head of Irans Civil Aviation Organisation, Ali Abedzadeh, said while Ukrainians were free to participate in the investigation into the crash, we will not give the black boxes to the manufacturer [Boeing] and the Americans, according to Irans Mehr news agency.

A Canadian security source told Reuters news agency there was evidence one of the jets engines had overheated.

The crash happened hours after Iran launched missile attacks on US-led forces in Iraq, in retaliation for the US assassination of a top Iranian commander, leading some to speculate that the plane may have been hit.

The initial assessment of Western intelligence agencies was that the plane suffered a technical malfunction and had not been brought down by a missile, five security sources  three Americans, one European and the Canadian  who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

Bodies and body parts recovered from the site of the crash have been taken to the coroners office for identification, the investigators initial report said.





Smouldering debris, including shoes and clothes, was strewn across the field where the plane crashed on Wednesday, as rescue workers in face masks laid out dozens of body bags.

On board were 146 Iranians, 10 Afghans, 11 Ukrainians, five Canadians and four Swedes, the report said but noted some may have held citizenship of other countries.

Ukrainian authorities have said those on board included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, and 11 Ukrainians.

Many questions

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said 138 of the passengers were bound for Canada. The flight also included a family of four as well as newlyweds. The manifest listed several teenagers and children, some as young as one or two.

The crash ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. The flag over Parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-staff and Trudeau vowed to get to the bottom of the disaster.

Know that all Canadians are grieving with you, he said, addressing the victims families.

Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne called his Iranian counterpart to stress the need for Canadian officials to be quickly granted access to Iran to provide consular services, help with identification of the deceased and take part in the investigation of the crash, a Canadian statement said.

Canada and Canadians have many questions which will need to be answered.
Washington, D.C., Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A final rule published by the U.S. Department of Agricultures National Organic Program (NOP) now requires the use of certified organic flavors in certified organic products when they are commercially available. The rule was implemented and went into effect on December 27, 2019.

It is now time that the regulations catch up with the marketplace, says Laura Batcha, CEO and Executive Director of the Organic Trade Association. Our position is that the organic flavor supply has grown to a size where it is no longer appropriate to allow the use of non-organic natural flavors in certified organic products.

The Organic Trade Association submitted a petition to help grow the availability and use of organic flavors in 2014. Natural flavors have been included on the National List since it was first implemented in 2002. Since that time, however, many organic flavors have been developed, and are being successfully used by many companies.

When we filed the petition, we realized the number of available certified organic flavors was not adequate to meet the current total needs of the organic marketplace. However, given the tremendous growth of organic flavors, we took this proactive step to push the needle in the direction of continuous improvement by requiring the use of organic flavors when they are available in the quality, quantity and form needed, says Gwendolyn Wyard, Vice President of Regulatory and Technical Affairs.

Organic Trade Association develops guide to comply with new rule

Currently, there is no formal guidance from the National Organic Program on the commercial search and use of natural and organic flavors for NOP certified products. However, the Organic Trade Association has developed a practical guide to complying with the new requirements for flavors, for its members and others in the sector, that reflects the National Organic Standards Board recommendations concerning commercial availability searches for ingredients and related instruction from NOP on filing a petition.

According to the Guide, companies using natural flavors in certified organic products do not need to panic about the change. The trade association has drawn up information to help certified operators develop a sound and sensible organic flavor search plan that can be submitted to and agreed upon by the accredited certifier.

The intent of the final rule is continuous improvement to increase the growth and use of organic flavors over time. The intent is not to hand down non-compliances to companies unable to secure organic flavors when they do not meet the specifications needed to make a product that organic shoppers will buy. Instead, the goal is for companies to start the process, make a search and evaluation process, and work with their certifiers on an annual basis to determine when and what organic flavors are commercially available.

Commercial availability is defined as the ability to obtain an ingredient or substance in an appropriate form, quality or quantity to fulfill an essential function in an organic product as determined by a certifying agent in the course of reviewing a companys organic plan. An organic handling system plan must include a list of each substance to be used, including its composition, source, location where it will be used, and documentation of commercial availability. Price cannot be a consideration in determining commercial availability.

Informational webinar being offered

In addition to its practical guide, the Organic Trade Association is offering a webinar at 2 p.m. Eastern on January 29 titled "New Rules: Requirement for Using Organic Flavors in Processed Organic Products" to its members as well as non-members.

In this session, attendees will get a first look at new industry guidance on use of organic flavors developed by the Organic Trade Association. The webinar is free to Organic Trade Association members, with a $149 fee for non-members. Sign up now for the webinar!

The Organic Trade Association (OTA) is the membership-based business association for organic agriculture and products in North America. OTA is the leading voice for the organic trade in the United States, representing over 9,500 organic businesses across 50 states. Its members include growers, shippers, processors, certifiers, farmers' associations, distributors, importers, exporters, consultants, retailers and others. OTAs Board of Directors is democratically elected by its members. OTA's mission is to promote and protect ORGANIC with a unifying voice that serves and engages its diverse members from farm to marketplace.

Attachment
Although Iranian missiles damaged equipment and infrastructure at U.S. and ally-occupied military installations in Iraq Tuesday, training and defensive readiness paid off in no lives being lost, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. C. Todd Lopez, Defense.gov, reports.



U.S. soldiers drive MRAP vehicles to an explosives range at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, Nov. 29, 2019 (Picture source: Spc. Derek Mustard)



"There's sirens that go off on these bases ... There's bunkers and jersey barriers, and there's places to go hide and all that," said Army Gen. Mark A. Milley told reporters at the Pentagon yesterday. Milley and Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper briefed reporters after spending most of the day on Capitol Hill talking with lawmakers.

"We have various levels of protective gear, and we have various scatter plans that do certain things," the chairman said. "They are all tactics, techniques and procedures -- normal defensive procedures that any military unit would do that would come under rocket attack, indirect fire, mortars, large-scale missiles, etc. So in this particular case, Al Asad is a big base -- they put 11 large rockets [with] 1,000-, 2,000-pound warheads in them -- but we took sufficient defensive measures that there were no casualties to U.S. personnel, coalition personnel, contractors or Iraqis."

Esper said good discussions took place on Capitol Hill. "We covered a number of issues in both the House and Senate, everything ranging from authorities and imminence, all the way though force posture, next steps, etc.," he said. "So a very good discussion, a very robust discussion, and you know I thought it was a good chance for all of us to kind of share our views and to consult on next steps."

The secretary said Iran launched 16 ballistic missiles into Iraq. He said he believes the missiles were short-range ballistic missiles and that the missiles landed in at least two spots. Both landing spots were Iraqi military bases that played host to American and coalition forces, including service members from the United Kingdom, Denmark and Canada.

At least 11 of the 16 missiles struck at Al Asad Air Base, about 175 miles from Iraq's border with Iran, and about 115 miles from Baghdad. At least one missile also hit at a military installation near Irbil, Iraq, some 200 miles north of Baghdad and about 60 miles from the border with Iran.

The secretary said the current battle damage assessment includes loss of such things as tents, taxiways, parking lots and damage to a helicopter, but "nothing I would describe as major, at least as I know it at this point in time."

While no lives were lost, Milley said, he believes the Iranians intended to cause deaths.

"The points of impact were close enough to personnel and equipment ... that I believe, based on what I saw and what I know, is that they were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft, and to kill personnel," Milley said. "That's my own personal assessment."

Esper and Milley both said professional intelligence analysts are working on a final assessment.

The secretary said he remains cautious about drawing any conclusion that if the Iranians intended to kill Americans and did not accomplish that during the attack, they may consider the attempt a failure and try again.

"I think we have just got to assess the situation. Let's see what they are saying publicly, see what they are saying privately, look at our intelligence, all those things," he said. "We are not going to do anything imprudent ... These are serious times, and we take things one step at a time."
Australia's oldest family-owned winemakers McWilliam's have called in the administrators after 141 years and six generations.

McWilliam's Wine Group, based in Griffith in the north-western part of the Riverina in New South Wales, announced on Wednesday they had hired administrators from KPMG to seek new capital or a buyout after declining profits.

The unlisted publicly-owned company includes brands such as McWilliam's and Mount Pleasant and is the only Australian distributor for Champagne Taittinger, Mateus, Henkell and Mionetto.

The winery is shaped like a wine barrel and was built in 1973 and was designed by Glen McWilliam

Restructuring partner at KPMG Gayle Dickerson said the company will continue operating as normal throughout the restructure, according to the Australian Financial Review.

'We are working with the McWilliam's family with the support of its employees while we work hard to try to preserve one of Australia's oldest winemakers.'

'We are seeking expressions of interest to recapitalise or acquire the Group to take this heritage brand forward in the future both locally and globally.'

The unlisted publicly-owned company is based in Griffith in the New South Wales Riverina

The unlisted publicly-owned company includes brands such as McWilliam's and Mount Pleasant

The publication also reported last January that the company's sale revenue for 2017 to 2018 dropped by $13 per cent.

Jim Brayne, chairman of McWilliam's, said the decision to go into voluntary administration was tough.

'We will work closely with the Administrator during the process in order to strengthen the prospects of a positive outcome for all involved.
BARRIE, Ontario, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MediPharm Labs Corp. (TSX: LABS) (OTCQX: MEDIF) (FSE: MLZ) (MediPharm Labs or the Company) a global leader in research-driven, pharmaceutical quality cannabis extraction, distillation and derivative product production, is pleased to announce that it has completed its first deliveries under a cannabis 2.0 white label agreement (the Agreement) with 1193269 B.C. Ltd., which operates as Shelter Brand House (Shelter), a cannabis product development company.



Through its wholly owned subsidiary MediPharm Labs Inc., the Company is providing high-quality cannabis extracts, filling services and national distribution of a line of custom-formulated Shelter vape cartridges initially under the brand Wayfarer, along with other future contemplated brands. Shelter created Wayfarer for consumers with uncompromising tastes who want the highest-calibre experience along with sleek product design.

Being among the first licence holders to bring newly approved, quality-assured cannabis concentrate derivative products to Canadian consumers confirms the continued execution of MediPharm Labs platform that weve built over the last five years, said Pat McCutcheon, Chief Executive Officer, MediPharm Labs. We intend to use our proven platform to expand our white label portfolio with serial innovators like Shelter who focus on building top, quality brands for all consumers.

First Consumer-tested Shipments Completed

In December 2019, MediPharm Labs received initial purchase orders from provincially authorized distributors for Shelters Wayfarer-branded, quality-assured vape cartridges. Utilizing its new Cannabis Act research licence that allows sensory testing of final products, MediPharm Labs Research and Development Team selected formulations for the initially launched Wayfarer products after human feedback on terpenes and final products. MediPharm Labs confirms its initial shipments of Wayfarer Northern Lights (Indica) vape cartridges were delivered into three provinces, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba before the end of 2019.

Shelters mission is to lead in both quality and innovation at every stage of bringing cannabis to market, said Shelters CEO and founder, Mark Hauk. Wayfarer cannabis vape cartridges are an outstanding example of Shelters custom hardware and brand development abilities. MediPharm Labs is our perfect production and distribution partner for Wayfarer.

Agreement Terms

The Agreement, entered into in December 2019, has an initial term of 12 months, with an option to extend, and relates to the filling, formulation and distribution of Shelter-branded vape cartridges, subject to purchase orders and pricing from provincial distributors. Under the Agreement, MediPharm Labs will receive certain fees for services related to procurement, formulation, quality assurance, manufacturing and distributing to provincial retailers, along with a portion of revenue from sales of the Shelter vape cartridges.

Exhibition

Both MediPharm Labs (booth 1136) and Shelter will be exhibiting at the LIFT EXPO in Vancouver, January 9-11, 2020.

About Shelter

Shelter is a Canadian quality and innovation leader in processing, packaging and branding of cannabis products. Shelter is a consumer-focused brand and packaging development company that has, with its partners, created quality cannabis pre-rolls and vape pens under brand names Wildlife, Journey, Botany and Wayfarer. The Shelter Craft Collective creates custom partnerships with small-batch cultivators, enabling them to leverage Shelters portfolio of capabilities to bring their quality craft cannabis to market.

About MediPharm Labs

Founded in 2015, MediPharm Labs specializes in the production of purified, pharmaceutical quality cannabis oil and concentrates and advanced derivative products utilizing a Good Manufacturing Practices certified facility and ISO standard built clean rooms. MediPharm Labs has invested in an expert, research driven team, state-of-the-art technology, downstream purification methodologies and purpose-built facilities with five primary extraction lines for delivery of pure, trusted and precision-dosed cannabis products for its customers. Through its wholesale and white label platforms, MediPharm Labs formulates, sensory-tests, processes, packages and distributes cannabis extracts and advanced cannabinoid-based products to domestic and international markets. As a global leader, MediPharm Labs has completed commercial exports to Australia and is nearing commercialization of its Australian extraction facility. MediPharm Labs Australia was established in 2017.

For further information, please contact:

Laura Lepore, VP, Investor Relations

Telephone: 705-719-7425 ext 216

Email: investors@medipharmlabs.com

Website: www.medipharmlabs.com

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They helped with two main areas in Iraq.

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Seven Slovak soldiers who had been deployed in Iraq until recently had served as advisors to Iraqi commanders.

This stems from the Defence Ministrys statements and documents on their deployment approved by the parliament in December 2018.

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They are staff officers who participate in mission management, said retired Lieutenant General Pavel Macko, who used to be the highest-ranked Slovak in NATO. Currently, he is defence expert in the non-parliamentary Progressive Slovakia/Spolu coalition.

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Related article Slovak troops withdrawn from Iraq Read more

The Slovak parliament approved the mandate for up to 42 Slovak soldiers who can serve in Iraq within the NATO Mission Iraq. Most recently, there were seven, placed in the Union III base in Bagdad. NATO soldiers come to Iraq upon the invitation of the local government.

After the Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani was killed in an air strike on Baghdad airport in early January, Slovak soldiers relocated to Kuwait, said Smer chair Robert Fico. The Defence Ministry has not confirmed it yet.

Its impossible to provide further details due to security reasons, said the ministry's spokesperson Danka Capakova.

Commanders and tutors
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump appeared eager to de-escalate military tensions with Iran on Wednesday with a carefully calibrated address at the White House. But his nine-minute speech also ramped up a nasty public debate with former Obama administration officials to a fevered pitch.

Flanked by Vice President Mike Pence and Pentagon leaders in the Grand Foyer, Trump hewed closely to a prepared script on a teleprompter and avoided the kind of free-association that has defined his tenure. That made it even more striking when he essentially sought to blame his predecessor for funding Iran's missile attack on two U.S. bases in Iraq late Tuesday.

"The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration," Trump said in a claim deemed both misleading and far-fetched by The Washington Post's Fact Checker.

That Trump would criticize Barack Obama for the 2015 Iran deal that sought to limit Tehran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions was not remarkable - he has done so repeatedly since running for office. But that he would use his first public remarks more than 12 hours after the Iranian attacks to bash another president with a misleading and incomplete narrative drew immediate outrage from Obama veterans and other Democrats.

"This is another series of despicable lies by President Trump," former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice said on MSNBC. "The fact that three years after taking office he remains obsessed with President Obama shows extreme weakness and insecurity."

"It's not enough to frame Iran as our enemy. He needs a domestic enemy and again it's the Obama Administration," former Clinton White House press secretary Joe Lockhart wrote on Twitter. "Curious way of bringing the country together, blaming a previous President for financing the terrorism against the United States."

It marked the latest in a long string of accusations from Trump and his allies who have accused the 44th president of seeking to "underwrite and appease" Tehran, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this week.

Formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the accord also signed by China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom has long been criticized by Republicans for being too lenient. They have bashed the deal for failing to contain Tehran's funding of terrorist groups and militia units in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and other Middle East countries and faulted the 15-year time span as too short, allowing Iran to restart a race to a nuclear weapon after the accord expires.

Trump made good on his campaign pledge to leave the deal in 2018, and since then he and his allies have publicly bickered with former Obama aides over its efficacy and Trump's halting efforts to bring the Iranian regime to the negotiating table. That debate has intensified over the past week after Trump authorized the military drone strike that killed Maj. Gen Qasem Soleimani, Iran's top military strategist.

To former Obama aides, Trump and his allies have made false arguments and ad hominem attacks in a bid to whip up public sentiment against the deal. In his remarks at the White House, Trump repeated the contention that the deal awarded Iran $150 billion, and another $1.8 billion in cash, which the regime used to finance a "terror spree."

In fact, numerous fact-checkers have called the argument misleading at best. The $150 billion figure was an estimate of Iranian funds frozen in international accounts through economic sanctions that would be released after Tehran signed the nuclear accord. The actual amount that Tehran was able to obtain was far lower, experts said, perhaps under $50 billion.

The additional $1.8 billion that Trump cited was money the United States owed Iran after military equipment the country purchased in the 1970s was never delivered amid tensions.

David Cohen, a former CIA and Treasury official in the Obama administration, called it specious to suggest that the deal amounted to a payoff to Tehran. And he emphasized that "the idea that you can trace the sanctions relief directly to the Quds force missiles" was implausible.

"There's a more fundamental point here, which is that while the deal was in effect we didn't have the [Iranians] shooting rockets at our forces," Cohen said.

Obama aides have argued that Trump's decision to drop out of the nuclear deal - even as the Europeans and the Chinese sought to maintain the framework - led to Iran's increasingly provocative behavior. Last week, an Iraqi militia group aligned with Soleimani breached the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, prompting Trump to respond with the drone attack.

"Did Iran blow up Saudi oil fields, shoot down a US drone, kill an American working in Iraq, attack bases where American soldiers were stationed, or provoke demonstrations against our embassy in Obama era, after JCPOA was signed?" Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia in the Obama administration, wrote on Twitter. "I don't remember that."

But Trump allies and some conservative foreign policy analysts said the president was not being petty but rather making a clear philosophical break with Obama's Middle East strategy, for which the Iran deal is a useful symbol.

"It's not just a matter of, 'We don't support the deal because President Obama did it.' I think that's an untrue view of what is happening," said Rebeccah Heinrichs, an expert on nuclear deterrence and missile defense at the conservative Hudson Institute. "There's a fundamental difference in how the United States government is approaching the regime and the larger Middle East. The president speaks in shorthand and rather than spend several minutes explaining the differences, he talks about the Iran deal as shorthand."

Heinrichs noted that Trump did not mention Obama by name, and she added that while it would be wrong to "assign malicious intent to the previous administration," she did not believe Trump crossed that line in his remarks.

In January 2016, not long after the deal was finalized, then-Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged in a television interview that some of the Iranian funds that would be unfrozen could "end up in the hands of the IRGC or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists."

Critics of the deal have cited it as evidence that the Obama administration was aware of Tehran's intent to continue funding malign groups and attack U.S. allies and assets in the region. A former Obama aide who was involved in the Iran negotiations said Wednesday that the previous administration, recognizing the difficulty of fully changing Iran's behavior, aimed to eliminate the "most important threat to the United States, which was by far the nuclear threat."

This person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said that "dealing with all the other problems becomes infinitely harder if Iran has a nuke than if you don't. You take it off the table and move to the other issues. That was the theory."

That did not stop Trump allies from gleefully repeating his talking point on social media Wednesday.

Chuck Callesto, a GOP congressional candidate in Florida, posted a story from an obscure website on Trump's remarks with the headline "Iran Rockets Were Funded by Obama" and asked his followers to retweet it.

Bill Mitchell, a talk-show host and Trump supporter, tweeted: "Trump went there and blamed Obama for buying the missiles Iran fired at us. This speech today gave, 'Like a Boss' a whole new meaning."

In an analysis Wednesday, The Post's Fact Checker found that Trump's speech contained "a number of factually dubious statements," including the claims about funding.

"All money is fungible, but Trump is stretching the factual evidence to blame the missiles on the deal negotiated by the Obama administration," the analysis found. "Experts say such a claim is far-fetched and that intelligence tying Iran deal money directly to the missiles is highly unlikely."
Wildlife officials at the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary in Goa, a 200-square kilometre enclave in the Western Ghats, on Wednesday, found the carcasses of an adult tigress and three cubs. According to them, the four were probably poisoned by two farmers, whose cattle were allegedly hunted by the cat family. Wildlife activists have claimed that the deaths could also be a case of poaching because the claws of one of the tigers were missing. The Centre has constituted a team to probe the deaths.

There are two reasons why the deaths could have been averted. One, Goas refusal to upgrade the sanctuary to a full-fledged tiger reserve (which could have provided it with stronger protection), following local and political opposition. And, second, a recent sequence of events should have alerted the officials of an impending man-animal conflict. On December 22, a cow was killed; a day later, the cat family was captured on a camera trap; and on December 30, a buffalo was killed. If the officials had planned a strategy to avoid any local backlash, the tigers could probably have been saved.

Indias tiger population has been increasing. The last tiger census report, released in July 2019, showed 2,967 tigers, up by a third when compared with the 2014 numbers. The killings in Goa are a reminder that while we celebrate the increasing numbers, there are enough reasons to keep the celebrations low-key. The big cats  as well as other animals  are facing existential challenges due to increasing man-animal conflict, lack of forest corridors through which they can move, and development projects such as mining and highways.
The Delhi Police has stopped near Shashtri Bhawan the march by students and members of civil society organisations towards the HRD Ministry.

Hundreds of demonstrators hit the streets on Thursday protesting the recent violence at JNU and demanding resignation of the varsity vice-chancellor.

CPI(M) leaders Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat and LJD leader Sharad Yadav also joined the march.

The protesters, carrying placards and banners, started their march from Mandi House towards the HRD Ministry, rending the air with slogans of 'Halla Bol' and 'Inquilab Zindabad'.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Iranian mourners gather during the final stage of funeral processions for slain top general Qasem Soleimani, in his hometown Kerman on January 7, 2020.

Independent Sen. Angus King told CNBC on Thursday that while the Trump administration made a good argument for killing Iran's top general, the timing is still questionable.

"There's no question he was a terrible guy and taking him out was a positive," King said of Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike last week.

But King said he wonders what led the Trump administration to suddenly kill Soleimani, whom the U.S. had pursued for decades.

"Why last Friday? What had happened that provoked this rather startling strike at this particular moment in time?" the Maine senator and former governor asked on "Squawk Box."

King's comments come ahead of a House vote on a resolution to curb President Donald Trump's power to take military action against Iran, after White House officials on Wednesday tried to quell lawmakers' concerns that it was legally justified.

"There's a lot of detail that we don't have about the strike," he said.

"Soleimani was a bad guy," King added. "But you also have to weigh that against the negatives."

A large concern is retaliation, as Tehran has vowed "harsh revenge." On Tuesday, Iran fired 15 missiles at Iraqi military bases housing U.S. and coalition forces involved in the fight against ISIS, though no Americans were reported killed.

"We would be having a very different discussion right now if the Iranian missiles had killed Americans," King said. "24 hours ago we were on the brink of a serious war. So you have to weigh all of these things together."

King's not alone in his questioning of the strike. Joining a majority of Democrats who opposed the action are at least two Republicans, Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Lee told reporters Wednesday that the White House briefing was the worst he had heard in nine years in the Senate, at least on a military issue, and that he would support the war powers resolution.

"What I found so distressing about that briefing was that one of the messages we received from the briefers was do not debate, do not discuss the issue of the appropriateness of further military intervention against Iran and that if you do, you will be emboldening Iran," Lee said.

King told CNBC that he understood the argument Lee was making, saying that stopping debate would be against Congress' constitutional responsibility.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 Reuters contributed to this report.
For those who might be resistant to take it up, I would ask that they make sure there is no hypocrisy, Davis said. If they are concerned about the exec and contributions to her from developers, that they are equally reluctant to take contributions from people who may appear before them and their committees.
Baghdad, Jan 10 : Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu arrived in Baghdad to hold talks with Iraqi leaders over means to develop bilateral relations amid growing tensions between Iran and the United States.

During the visit, Iraqi President Barham Salih held a meeting with Cavusoglu in the Presidential Palace in Baghdad on Thursday, where Salih "stressed the importance of joint work and coordination to spare Iraq and the region conflicts and wars," according to a statement by the presidency's media office, Xinhua news agency reported.

Salih also stressed the need to unify efforts of all parties to address the current crises and resort to restraint and calm, the statement said.

For his part, Cavusoglu affirmed his country's support for the sovereignty and stability of Iraq, pointing to the need to reduce escalating tensions and resort to constructive dialogue to deal with the sensitive situations that the region is currently going through, it added.

During his meeting with the Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, the Turkish minister conveyed the support of the Turkish government for Iraq's security, stability and national sovereignty, according to a statement by Abdul Mahdi's office.

Abdul Mahdi told the Turkish foreign minister that the security of the region and the preservation of its interests are the responsibility of all its states, and the Iraqi government is committed to its position and its consistent policy of establishing balanced relations with other countries, the statement said.

Abdul Mahdi and Cavusoglu discussed during the meeting cooperation between the two countries and the developments of the crisis between Iran and the United States, the statement added.

Moreover, Cavusoglu said in a joint press conference after his meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Mohammed Ali al-Hakim that "Iraq is not alone and we will work together to help Iraq pass this difficult stage." Cavusoglu told reporters that the US strike near Baghdad airport and the Iranian missile strikes on the US-led coalition forces in Iraq have intensified tensions in the Middle East region.

"We don't want Iraq to be the battle zone of foreign forces," the Turkish minister said.

Al-Hakim told reporters that Iraq "reject and condemn all the attacks that occurred on the Iraqi territories because they are flagrant breach for Iraq's sovereignty." He also asserted the need for all foreign forces to leave Iraq through diplomatic means and dialogue based on respecting sovereignty and common interests.

Cavusoglu's visit came after Iran fired ballistic missiles on military bases housing US troops in Iraq's western province of Anbar and near the city of Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.

Last week, a US drone attacked a convoy at Baghdad International Airport, killing Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces.
The couple will establish a new charity as they prepare to step back from being senior royals.

They said supporting the shared strength and spirit of community will be at the centre of their voluntary work.

A post on the Sussexes new website says they will create a charitable entity that will not only help complement these efforts, but also advance the solutions the world needs most.

Meghan and Harry - pictured at the Invictus Games - said supporting the shared strength and spirit of community will be at the centre of their voluntary work

The focus will be on environmental issues, the wellbeing of society and female empowerment. The sussexroyal.com website says: The call to protect our environment is more urgent now than at any other time in human history.

The Duke of Sussex believes that we can meet the challenges by working together to build truly sustainable communities.

Harrys work to protect the environment in Africa, including his role as president of African Parks, is lauded as an example of his green credentials alongside his Travalyst initiative, which seeks to change how travel impacts local communities. He has also backed other African initiatives, including Rhino Conservation Botswana and education projects in Uganda.

The website also notes that Meghan is deeply committed to advancing gender equity, empowering women and girls, and working within the community on a grassroots level to encourage women to recognise their inherent value.

The focus will be on environmental issues, the wellbeing of society and female empowerment. The couple are pictured with the Queen on July 10, 2018

The duchess has shown an interest in the arts and animal welfare and, in a nod to her past career, she became patron of the National Theatre last January.

Last year the Sussexes said they would set up their own foundation, although no details have been announced. The couple have registered the Sussex Royal brand as a trademark for more than 100 products, ranging from counselling services to books and clothing.

A number of the trademarks concern campaigning and fundraising and could provide a platform to any charity.
Junior Civil Engineer, Copenhagen, Denmark

Organization: United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)

Country: Denmark

City: Copenhagen, Denmark

Office: UNOPS HQ Copenhagen

Closing date: Sunday, 19 January 2020

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

Within UNOPS, Implementation Practices and Standards (IPS) is responsible for the UNOPS delivery practices. IPS provides thought leadership, standards and oversight as support to the successful delivery of programmes and projects within UNOPS service lines (infrastructure, procurement, project management, human resources and financial management services).

IPS is comprised of the Infrastructure and Project Management Group and the Procurement Group which aims to reduce organizational risks, improve project performance, and promote excellence across UNOPS projects through the Standards Management Framework; and provides organisational oversight on the application of standards. These Groups also support the positioning of UNOPS in the UN system and development sector in Infrastructure, Project Management and Procurement.

The Portfolio support unit which aims at building up and managing the organisational readiness of UNOPS and therefore support the implementation of the UNOPS global portfolio. It also provides support services to the Implementation Practices and Standards function.
The Nigerian Business Leaders Forum has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to relive the Minister of Power, Engr. Sale Mamman, of his position, accusing him of incompetence, nepotism and gross disregard to due process.

The group which had earlier warned that the Nigeria Power sector is heading for a total collapse under the minister, said the nation's power sector has worsened in the last five months.

The group, in a statement signed by its National Coordinator Dr. Austin Iwe Igwe noted that it warned of the looming danger three weeks before the whole nation was thrown into darkness for more than 48 hours in December.

According to him, the Minister since assuming office has been fighting imaginary cabal in the sector but could not point out to one thing it has achieved in the last six months.

He added that Mamman, with his conduct believes he is not answerable to Nigerians particularly the business community who are the worst hit by the epileptic state of the power sector.

Furthermore, the group accused the Minister of nepotism saying he was allegedly disregarding the Civil Service rules to favour his fellow kinsmen from Taraba State adding that Mamman has over 50 aides all from Taraba State who are being paid bogus amounts as consultants to the Ministry.

The statement read: "The Minister has dented the image of this government and showed that the government is not coordinated or some ministers in the Buhari administration are working against the Next Level agenda of Mr. President. As you will agree with me, it is unheard of a minister blaming his predecessor who is a member of the same cabinet; government, political party and under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari for his own failure.

It is disgraceful and a dent on the collective dream and idea of good governance. The question we should be asking is what has the Minister achieved in the last six months he has been appointed as Power minister? This is someone who has not done anything; he hasn't come out with any policy that would benefit the public, he's yet to embark on any project except moving from one project site to another without any tangible significance to the sector.

Also, the Minister has failed to galvanize and consolidate on the achievements of the Buhari's administration in the power sector. It's wrong to say Babatunde Fashola who was Lagos State former governor, former power minister and also the current Minister of Works and Housing failed in the power sector. It is on record that Fashola's stint as the Power Minister brought so many changes to the sector but the current Minister has failed in his primary responsibility to consolidate on Fashola's achievements, rather than take the blame for his failure as the current minister of power, he is turning around to point accusing fingers and blamed his predecessor who achieved much more in the first term of fours years of President Buhari's administration. If their is anything, under Fashola as Minister of Power, Nigerians were not subjected to nationwide blackout which has become a regular tale under Sale Mamman.

On this note, we call on Mr. President to sack or redeploy the Minister from the Ministry of Power as he lacks the idea and capacity to transform the sector and consolidate on the achievements of Mr. President in the Power Sector. If Sale Mamman is left to continue as the Minister of Power, this government will be biting its fingers at the end of its eight years administration because the Minister would have messed up the achievements of Mr. President in the sector."

For

Dr Austin Iwe Igwe

National Coordinator

Nigerian Business Leaders Forum

Abuja, Nigeria
More matric students dropped out before they could register for their exams in 2019 than ever before, Department of Basic Education statistics reveal.

Of the 616,754 full-time public school students who entered matric at the start of 2019, only 504,303 actually wrote the exams.

The number of matrics who drop out before sitting their exams has been increasing steadily since 2015.

In 2015, there were 23,389 matrics who dropped out before sitting their exams  a dropout rate of 3.5%. By 2019, this number had increased to 112,451  a dropout rate of over 18%.

Policy of progression

One possible reason for the increased dropout rate is the introduction of a new policy on progression in 2013. Under this policy, students are not allowed to be held back more than once between grade 10 and grade 12.

In other words, it may not take a student longer than four years to complete grades 10 through matric. They may fail any grade once and be held back, but not twice.

Of the 125,691 students who were progressed to matric in 2019, only 34,498 wrote exams. Of those who wrote, only 68% passed their exams.

The department has said in the past that the rationale behind the policy on progression is to minimise the high dropout rate and maximise school retention.

This year, Basic Education director-general Hubert Mathanzima Mweli said that the problem is not the dropout rate.

The real problem, he said, is the failure and repetition rate  the number of students who repeat a grade several times.

Mweli said part of the problem is that funding is only given for students who are of school-going age.

When there are students who are over 20 years old in matric, this puts undue financial pressure on provincial education departments.

However, he also didnt begrudge those students who remain in the system until deep into their twenties.

If people can stay in the system up to age 26, it means they are serious. They really want to meet the requirements of the National Senior Certificate, said Mweli.

Therefore the analysis must not be just horizontal. It must be much more in-depth.

Mweli added that 60.4% of South Africas young people finish their schooling within 12 years.

Inflating the pass rate

Aside from the policy on progression, the government has implemented several strategies to artificially inflate South Africas matric pass rate over the years.

This is done by lowering the pass mark for certain subjects, eliminating higher grade subjects, and abolishing the designated subject list for entry into degree studies.

The pass rate can also be inflated by adjusting scores after the exams have been marked or through making matric exams easier.

Mweli said that such standardisation is an international best practice to ensure that marks are adjusted when exams are either too easy or too difficult.

Another effective tool to increase the pass rate is to ensure that matrics who are unlikely to pass the exams do not register for them.

Dropouts

The graphs below show the number of dropouts and dropout rates from 2010 to 2019.

The Grade 12 dropout rate is calculated by subtracting the number of matrics who wrote exams from the number of enrolments.

Matric dropout figures: 20102019

Matric dropout rates: 20102019

Real matric pass rate: 20102019
"Tens of surface-to-surface missiles" were fired at the strategic airbase," said Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in a statement carried by Iranian state TV.

The IRGC attack comes after Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, was killed in a US airstrike near Baghdad International Airport on January 3.

In the statement, the IRGC called for a complete withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, saying that it would not differentiate between the US and Israel in retaliating the assassination of the Iranian national "hero."

"We in no way consider the Zionist regime (of Israel) to be separated from the criminal US regime in these crimes," read the IRGC statement.

"We warn US allies providing bases for the (American) terrorist army ... that any country serving as the origin of bellicose and aggressive attacks in any form against the Islamic Republic of Iran will be targeted," it said.

The IRGC warned the United States that "any new wicked act or more moves and aggressions (against Iran) will bring about more painful and crushing responses."

The IRGC further urged the American people to call for the return of US forces from the region in order to prevent further losses and not to allow Washington put the lives of American troops at risk any more.

The Pentagon has confirmed Iran's launch of more than a dozen ballistic missiles against US military and coalition forces in Iraq.

"At approximately 5:30 p.m. (EST) on January 7, Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against US military and coalition forces in Iraq," the Pentagon said in a statement.

These missiles were launched from Iran and targeted at least two Iraqi military bases hosting US military and coalition personnel at al-Asad and Irbil, the statement added.

The bases have been on high alert due to indications that Iran planned to attack the US forces and interests in the region, it noted.

The Pentagon also pointed out that it would take all necessary measures to protect and defend US personnel, partners, and allies in the region.
Posted on January 8, 2020 (Kansas City, Mo.) - KC Water will hold a media event on January 9, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. to demonstrate features of the new green infrastructure projects at the Kansas City VA Medical Center and the former Avenue of Life building.
Road accidents have become more frequent but less deadly over the last 30 years as developing nations transition to more stable economies, according to a global injury and death analysis released Thursday. In 2017, the latest year for which complete data is available, 54 million people were injured in crashes, leading to 1.2 million deaths, said the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), which releases annual assessments of causes of death and injury. It found that those most likely to be injured in collisions were men aged 25-29, and that accident rates among that demographic were twice as common as among women of the same age. While the global likelihood of being killed in a car crash has decreased since 1990, in five countries -- Central African Republic, Jamaica, Somalia, Swaziland and the United Arab Emirates -- the risk of death has increased. Spencer James, senior author of the IHME study, said a number of factors, including vehicle and road safety, as well as proper enforcement of speeding, seatbelt and alcohol laws, contributed to the lower mortality rates. "It's encouraging to find improvements globally in road injury mortality over the past three decades, though there is still considerable progress to be made since road injuries should be considered preventable," he said. The global rate of road injuries for all age groups increased more than 15 percent between 1990-2017. The probability of dying from a road injury is highest in Haiti (15.6 percent injured in collisions), CAR (10.4 percent) and El Salvador (7.3 percent), the IHME data showed. China ranked the highest globally for total number of road deaths in 2017 with more than 261,000. Per capita road deaths were relatively low, however. The data was published in the journal BMJ Injury Prevention.
Focus on preserving trust and maintaining your relationship in your parent's final years

David Solies 89-year-old mother, Carol, was unyielding. No, I will not move, she told her son every time he suggested that she leave her home and relocate to a senior living residence.

Although Carol suffered from coronary artery disease, severe osteoporosis, spinal compression fractures, and unsteady balance, she didnt want assistance. When Solie brought in aides to help after a bad fall and subsequent surgery, his mother fired them in a matter of days.

In her mind, she considered it a disgrace to have anybody in her home, Solie said. This was her domain for over 50 years, a place where she did everything by herself and in her own way.

Conflicts of this sort often threaten relationships between aging parents and their adult children just when understanding and support are needed the most. Instead of working together to solve problems, families find themselves feuding and riven by feelings of resentment and distress.

Solie got so worked up, he considered going to court and asking for a conservatorshipa legal arrangement that would have given him control over his mothers affairs. (The situation was complicated because Solies brother, who has Down syndrome, lived at the family home.) But Solies lawyer advised that this course of action would destroy his relationship with his mother.

Today, Solie, a health care consultant and writer with a well-regarded blog about aging, sounds the same theme when he consults with adult children caring for parents. Make preserving trust and keeping your relationship intactnot winning argumentsa priority, he suggests. What your parents most need is confidence that youll listen to them, take their concerns seriously and stay by their side no matter what happens, he says.

How adult children communicate with parents can go a long way toward easing tensions, Solie says. Instead of telling your parent what to do, ask how theyd prefer to solve problems. Elicit their priorities and recognize their values when making suggestions. Give them choices whenever possible. Be attuned to their unexpressed needs and fears.

When Dr. Lee Lindquist, chief of geriatrics at Northwestern Universitys Feinberg School of Medicine, asked 68 older adults in eight focus groups why they resisted help, the answers varied. They said they were afraid of losing their independence, becoming a burden on loved ones, being taken advantage of, and relinquishing control over their lives.

Asked what might make a difference, the older adults said they liked the idea of interdependenceacknowledging that people need one another from childhood to an older age. And they found it helpful to think that by accepting help, they were in turn helping the person providing the help, according to Lindquists study, published last year in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Unfortunately, no amount of patience, compassion or forbearance will work in some conflict-ridden circumstances. But heres some of what experts have learned:

Be Patient

Give your parents time to adjust. At first, Jane Wolf Frances 87-year-old mother, Lillian Wolf, wouldnt consider moving with Janes father from New York City to the Los Angeles area, where Frances, her only child, lived.

Although Lillian had Alzheimers disease and Frances had planned to give her one-story house to her parents, I deferred to my mothers fear that she was going to be losing something essential, she said.

During three years of caregiving, Frances had learned to not rush her parents. She knew they had slowed down and needed time to process change.

So Frances waited until her parents home health aide called with concerns about their ability to live independently. After discussing the situation with their physician, Frances approached her mother again. A move to assisted living would be a fresh start, allowing the family to spend more time together, she said. After several conversations, her mother finally agreed.

Frances, a psychologist, is the author of a new book, Parenting Our Parents: Transforming the Challenge Into a Journey of Love and founder of www.parentingourparents.org. Stay calm when disagreements arise with your elderly parents and tamp down your emotional reactions, she tells families. Listen carefully to your parents concerns and let them know youre trying to help them accomplish their goals, not impose your agenda.

Its often helpful to say to your parents Im doing this for you; Id like you to do something for me, Frances said. People, who are good parents perk up on that one and will ask, OK, what can I do for you? Then, you can tell them, You can let me help you more.

Let Them Know Youre on Their Side

Denise Brown was convinced her parents, Roger and Sally Loeffler, were making a terrible decision. In the previous year, Roger, 84, had been diagnosed with bladder and prostate cancer and undergone extensive surgery. Sally, 81, had suffered three internal bleeds and had one-third of her stomach removed.

Denise Brown (center) with her siblings and parents, Sally and Roger Loeffler (Courtesy of Denise Brown)

Brown didnt think they could live on their own anymore, and her parents had moved into a retirement community upon her recommendation. But then, at a family meeting, her mother stood up and said, Im not dying in this dump. I hate it here. As Brown and her siblings turned to their father, he said, Ill do whatever your mom wants.

When her parents decided to move to an apartment, Brown was confrontational. I raised my voice and said, This is not good, this is terrible, she said. They were shocked, but they said It doesnt matter; this is what were going to do.

As Brown thought about her reaction, she realized she thought her parents would be safer and have a more gentle death in the retirement community: Then it occurred to methis wasnt what my parents wanted. They valued their independence. Its their decision about how the end of life plays out.

Brown let her parents know shed respect their wishes but would need to set limits. Her workBrown is the founder of www.CareGiving.comhad to be a priority, and her parents would need to arrange other assistance if she couldnt be available. (Browns two brothers and sister help out.) And theyd have to be willing to talk openly about how their choices were affecting her.

What doesnt work: Trying to communicate when any one of them is tired or angry. We never get anywhere, Brown said. Everybody gets defensive and shuts down.

What does work: Asking them questions like how do you think we should try to solve this problem? Its interesting to hear their answers, and it makes working together so much easier.

Understand Your parents Will Change

After her fathers death, Loi Eberle was distraught when her mother, Lucille Miller, became involved with a man she and her siblings didnt like. With his encouragement, Miller invested in real estate and lost a great deal of money.

But nothing Eberle or her siblings said could convince her mother that this relationship was destructive.

Eberle struggled with resentment and anger as her mothers needs escalated after a heart attack and a diagnosis of myasthenia gravis, a severe neurological disease. Mom and I had this love/hate relationship all my life, and there was a huge need for healing in this relationship, she said.

Loi Eberle and her mother, Lucille Miller, in 2012 (Courtesy of Loi Eberle)

In 2012, Eberle moved Miller, then 89, from her longtime home in Minneapolis to a nursing home in northern Idaho, near where Eberle lives. Gradually, she realized that her mother had transitioned to being someone elsesomeone who was vulnerable and at her lifes end.

I think for a long time I had this idea that I was going to help Mom come back to who she was, and I spent a lot of time trying to do that, Eberle said. I finally had to forgive myself for failure and understand that this is the life process.

With this shift in perspective, emotional tension dissipated. When Id visit, my mother was always so happy to see me, Eberle said. Miller died in March 2017 at age 94.

Let Go of Unrealistic Expectations

This is the final stage of your journey with your parents. Try to put angst to one side and help make this time meaningful for them and for you. Most of all, your parents want to feel emotionally connected and accepted, even in a diminished state.

Judith Graham is a contributing columnist for Kaiser Health News, which originally published this article. KHNs coverage of these topics is supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and The SCAN Foundation.
A Mexican asylum seeker slit his own throat on a bridge across the Rio Grande after being denied entry into the United States, according to two Mexican security sources and local reports.

The man, who has not been identified, tried to enter the US at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge between the Mexican border city of Reynosa and Pharr, Texas on Wednesday, two Mexican security officials told Reuters News Agency.

The officials, who were not authorised to speak publicly, said around 5pm (23:00 GMT), the man drew a knife and cut his throat when denied access to the US. Both officials said the man was seeking asylum.

He committed suicide, one of the officials told Reuters.

The man killed himself on the Mexican side of the bridge, just metres away from the international dividing line, the other source said.





The officials told Reuters the man was in his 30s.

US Customs and Border Protection officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

The attorney generals office for the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, where Reynosa lies, said it was investigating the mans death.

Strict asylum policies

Many Mexicans who seek refuge in the US say their lives are at risk at home from violent criminal gangs, which have made parts of the country increasingly perilous. Homicides have reached record levels in Mexico during the last two years.

US President Donald Trump has made tightening border security and reducing irregular immigration at the US-Mexico frontier a priority of his administration.

US immigration officials now consider Mexicans seeking asylum eligible for deportation to Guatemala under a bilateral agreement between the two countries signed last year, according to documents that became public on Monday. The policy had previously only applied to asylum seekers from countries south of Mexico, who the Trump administration argues could have sought asylum in other Latin American countries, such as Guatemala, considered safe third parties.

Many have expressed fear of being sent to the Central American country, where the murder rate is five times that of the US, according to 2017 data compiled by the World Bank, and where resources for asylum seekers are stretched.
A couple who spotted that their credit card details were being used for fraudulent transactions have won a payout and an apology from NatWest after the bank failed to take action when they first tried to report it.

Jean and Ken Day, from Broughton-in-Furness, Cumbria, had flown out to visit their daughter in New Zealand at the start of December.

On Monday 16 December - having arrived in the country four days earlier - they noticed two purchases worth 338 on their credit card for retailer Next, which they did not have an account with.

The couple believe high street travel agent Flight Centre are to blame for their details falling into the hands of fraudsters, with the company sending them to a profit-making Spanish website to apply for their visa waiver rather than New Zealand immigration, as we explain below.

Jean and Ken Day were visiting their daughter who lived 30 miles south of Auckland (pictured), on New Zealand's North Island

As the Next transactions were not made by them, they rang up NatWest to report them.

Being in New Zealand, the repeated phone calls they would make to the bank would end up costing the Days around 50.

Ken told This is Money that NatWest initially directed them first to Next, who couldn't help them as they didn't have an account, and then the bank's retail disputes team, who told them the transactions were currently 'pending'.

The person they spoke to in that team initially told them they would have to wait until the two pending transactions were processed before they could be challenged.

Two further Next purchases totalling 336 then appeared on their list of transactions, which again were not made by them.

Ringing NatWest again, Ken told This is Money they were once again told nothing could be done as they were deemed 'pending' transactions.

They told the bank they were trying to stop these fraudulently purchased goods being delivered to a third-party by reporting the transactions, rather than simply seeking just to get their money back.

After this second conversation, the bank cancelled their credit card and sent a replacement to their home address - though they will not be back there until 21 January - and then cancelled the two later transactions worth 336.

Ken told This is Money: 'The main reason for our disappointment with NatWest is that having notified them as soon as the fraudulent deals appeared, they said they could do nothing about it until they appeared on our statement.

'They recommended that I should contact their retail disputes team, who in turn said it was not a dispute but a fraud, and that I needed to get back to the fraud department.

'I was also told to contact Next from whom the goods had been ordered. Of course they had no trace of our details so couldn't help.

'All could have been nipped in the bud if NatWest had taken prompt action. All we wanted to do was alert the bank of a fraud which they could have stopped in its tracks.'

The earlier two transactions worth 338 were refunded on 30 December after This is Money contacted NatWest.

The Days also received 50 to cover the cost of their calls to the bank, and another 50 in compensation.

NatWest told This is Money in a statement: 'We are very sorry for the poor service that Mr and Mrs Day received while trying to report fraud on their credit card.

'We have refunded them and offered compensation to apologise for the difficulties they encountered while trying to report this.'

Is this how fraudsters managed to get the details?

Ken told This is Money he may have discovered the source of the fraud after he and his wife received four calls from a phone number purporting to be NatWest, which was likely the same scammers.

He said: 'This alerted me as very few people have this mobile number'.

He realised they had booked flights to New Zealand through travel agency Flight Centre.

In August 2019, after booking their tickets in June, they received an email from Flight Centre letting them know they need to apply for a New Zealand ETA before they travelled, with a link in the email.

However, rather than send them to the official New Zealand immigration website, it was a link for a company based in Spain that charged you extra for the ETA application service.

New Zealand immigration charges $9 or $12 for the service, while the website charges $69.

On the New Zealand immigration website, it explains it charges $9 for a NZeTA - what the Days were applying for - rather than the $69 charged by a private website

In small print, the website explains it is a 'privately held company, not associated with the Government of New Zealand.

'We offer high-quality travel and immigration services to both individuals and legal entities. A service fee of $69 is charged for this assistance.'

The website's privacy policy explains its servers are based in the United States, but Ken told This is Money their credit card statement said the payment was made out to 'Visa Barcelona Spain'.

It doesn't, however, have contact information.

Ken said that as soon as this was pointed out 'Flight Centre immediately arranged a refund', but believes their details may have been compromised through this website.

Flight Centre told This is Money: 'In recent months Flight Centre has changed its visa policy, meaning that all our consultants now direct customers to the official immigration service for countries operating an electronic visa waiver system, rather than using any third-party recommendations.

'For Australia, Flight Centre issues customer visas free of charge.

'Flight Centre can confirm that a refund covering the difference in fee for the Visa waiver has been paid to Mr and Mrs Day on this occasion.

'Flight Centre sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused.'
The country is going through difficult times and there is so much violence that endeavour should be for peace, the Supreme Court observed on Thursday while refusing to entertain a plea seeking the Citizenship Amendment Act be declared constitutional.

Expressing surprise over the petition, a bench headed by Chief Justie S A Bobde said this was the first time that someone was seeking that an Act be declared as constitutional.

The bench, also comprising justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant, said it will hear the petitions challenging validity of CAA when the violence stops.

"There is so much of violence going on. The country is going through difficult times and the endeavour should be for peace... This court's job is to determine validity of a law and not declare it as constitutional," the CJI Bobde said during the hearing.

The observation was made after advocate Vineet Dhanda sought the court's intervention to declare CAA as constitutional and a direction to all states for implementation of the Act.

It is only the Supreme Court which can help in clarification of the present situation and guide "confused" citizens of this country who are being misguided, he said.

As the bench remained unimpressed, the counsel appearing for petitioner Puneet Kaur Dhanda, withdrew the petition with liberty to intervene in the similar matters.

The apex court in its order said, "After some arguments, counsel appearing for the petitioner prays for withdrawal of this petition with liberty to intervene in the petition(s) on the similar issue pending before this Court. Prayer is allowed. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed as withdrawn with the liberty aforesaid."



The plea had also sought action against activists and media houses for "spreading rumours".

"After the enactment for the bill was introduced the political persons belonging to various political parties across India started misguiding and spreading false rumours and hereby creating a sense of terror and concern in the minds of community belonging to Muslim people across the country.

"The political persons belonging to various political parties which are out of power hatched a conspiracy against the government which has passed an Act named Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 concerning the minorities in countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan," the plea said.

It said politicians with a vendetta against the government and its "progressive approach" have created an environment of "hatred, fear, violence" in various parts of the country for their vested political interest as a result of which around 50 lives have been lost in various parts of the country and public property worth hundreds of crores has been destroyed.

"The negative environment of fear and violence has resulted not only in the loss of precious lives, damage to public property but also has caused huge economic loss across the country and has also bought a bad name to our country," it said.

The plea sought directions to extensively publicise through newspapers, electronic media and other means on the issue of Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 and clarify that it is not against the Constitution of India.

On December 18, the apex court had agreed to examine the constitutional validity of the CAA, but refused to stay its operation.

The newly amended law seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi communities who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.

The apex court had earlier had fixed a batch of 59 petitions, including those filed by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, for hearing on January 22.

Several petitions have been filed challenging the constitutional validity of the Act including by RJD leader Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi.

Other petitioners including Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, All Assam Students Union (AASU), Peace Party, CPI, NGOs 'Rihai Manch' and Citizens Against Hate, advocate M L Sharma, and law students have also approached the apex court challenging the Act.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Bill Hughes Jan. 07, 2020 | 05:44 PM | PADUCAH

According to McCracken County Sheriff Matt Carter, Harold and Jennifer Campbell are both in custody in Schuyler County, Illinois and are scheduled to appear in court on charges of being fugitives from another state. If they are extradited, McCracken County authorities will go to Rushville and bring them back to McCracken County Jail.





An official in Pike County, Illinois told West Kentucky Star the Campbells had health problems that required them to be hospitalized after their December 6 arrests in Cass County. They have both apparently recovered and can appear in court.





Warrants for the arrest of the Campbells were issued in December after they failed to appear in McCracken County court, where they face multiple counts of 2nd-degree animal cruelty. Harold and Jennifer were charged October 22 after McCracken County Animal Control officers executed a search warrant at their home while Jennifer was already in jail, where they found more than 50 Chihuahuas living in poor conditions. Several of the animals subsequently died.





The surviving animals were treated and offered for adoption by McCracken County Humane Society.

Two Paducah residents charged with animal cruelty will soon be extradited to McCracken County from Illinois.On Wednesday, McCracken County Sheriff Matt Carter told West Kentucky Star that Jennifer and Harold Campbell appeared in Schuyler County Court, and extradition was waived, meaning local officers can bring them back to McCracken County Jail.After missing multiple court dates in Paducah and their eventual arrests last month in Illinois, Harold and Jennifer had health problems that required hospitalization. After their individual releases, they were taken into custody in Rushville.The Campbells face multiple counts of animal cruelty dating back to October, when more than 50 Chihuahuas were found in their home. Conditions in the home were poor, causing the death of some of the animals.Previous Story:A father and daughter facing numerous counts of animal cruelty are set to appear in an Illinois courtroom on Wednesday.
The Governing Council of the Ekiti State University (EKSU) has reinstated 363 out of 1000 members of staff who were recently disengaged by the University.

This decision was taken at the special meeting of the institutions governing council on January 7.

The council said the recall was sequel to the successful appeals lodged by those concerned.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported how EKSU sacked over 800 workers after a staff audit exercise.

Most of them were employed between 2016 and 2018.

The spokesperson of the university, Bode Olofinmuagun, announced the new development in a statement on Thursday.

Below is the full press release:

EKSU REINSTATES 363 SACKED WORKERS

The Governing Council of Ekiti State University at its Special Meeting on 7th January, 2020 approved the reinstatement of 363 members of

staff who were recently disengaged by the University.

The recall was sequel to the successful appeals lodged by those concerned to the University Governing Council.

READ ALOS:

In a Press Release, the Head of the Directorate of Information and Corporate Affairs of the University, Mr. Bode Olofinmuagun said that the Staff Audit recently carried out clearly exposed the fact that many of the disengaged staff were over aged, some with fake certificates, some falsified their ages, some were illegally recruited and many were indeed ghost workers who never showed up for the exercise.

The reinstatement of some the staff, according to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Edward Olanipekun was a vindication of the fact that the exercise was not to witch hunt any member of staff but carried out to reposition the University for better service delivery so that EKSU can become a University of reference nationally and in the global intellectual market of the 21st century.
SYRACUSE, NY -- The next big thing in the national craze for hard (alcoholic) seltzers is coming from just outside Baldwinsville.

Credit one of the most versatile breweries operated by global brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Bud Light Seltzer, which is expected to compete with top brands White Claw and Truly in the surging flavored-alcohol-water market, is being made exclusively at the A-B plant in the Radisson Business Park, off Route 31. That plant is one of 12 U.S. breweries operated by corporate brewing giant Anheuser-Busch Inbev, based in Belgium.

Bud Light Seltzer will hit the market nationally beginning Jan. 13, backed by a typically big A-B ad campaign that is sure to include some Super Bowl ads. Cans are rolling off the Baldwinsville brewerys packaging line this week.

The initial line-up of flavors are Black Cherry, Lemon Lime, Strawberry and Mango. They are 5% alcohol and have just 100 calories.

Hard seltzers have been a fast-growing segment of the American beverage market for the last three years, but had a huge surge starting in 2019. Sales of top-seller White Claw alone grew about 250% in 2019 compared to the previous year, according to data from Nielsen. Its sales hit $1.5 billion for the year.

Anheuser-Busch, of course, is best known as the maker of Budweiser and Bud Light and other mainstream lagers. But the Baldwinsville brewery is renowned throughout the company as the one that often launches new drinks innovations, particularly in the non-beer category known as flavored alcohol beverages.

Now that includes hard seltzer, which differs from malt beverages and beer because it is typically fermented from a sugar-water base instead of grains like barley, wheat or corn. That helps keep the calories and carbohydrates relatively low.

The Baldwinsville brewery entered the hard seltzer market after A-B InBev bought the SpikedSeltzer brand in 2017. A-B rebranded that product as Bon & Viv in 2018 (with accompanying Super Bowl ads) and has been producing it at the Baldwinsville plant.

The Anheuser-Busch InBev brewery on Route 31 in the Radisson Business Park, just outside Baldwinsville. (Dennis Nett/The Post-Standard)

Perhaps the biggest success launched at Baldwinsville has been the Bud Light Lime-A-Rita line, which started in 2012 and has become a top-seller for the company (and has spawned several new flavor variations). Other Baldwinsville innovations include Teavana (a non-alcohol drink) and even a mead.

The brewery also has one of the companys most versatile packaging configurations, producing bottles and cans in all shapes and sizes.

The Baldwinsville brewery, the largest in New York state, has about 500 employees. It makes about 75 different beverages, totaling around 6 million barrels (the equivalent of 82 million cases) each year.

Of its total volume, about 60 percent is Bud, Bud Light, Busch, Michelob Ultra and other A-B lagers, brewery officials said last year. Another 10 percent are craft beers under brands purchased by A-B, like Goose Island and Blue Point.

The remaining 30 percent includes flavored alcohol beverages, seltzers and other non-beer drinks.

Note: Although Baldwinsville is the actual home of Bud Light Seltzer, the TV commercials are set in the real town of Seltzer, Pa.

Anheuser-Busch executives will be in Baldwinsville today to launch the Bud Light Seltzer line and lead a behind-the-scenes tour of production and packaging. Check back to syracuse.com / nyup.com for an inside look at the process (with video and photos) and more on the reasons that the company chose to launch Bud Light Seltzer in Central New York.

Related:

-- Top drinks trends of the 2010s and how they played out in CNY

-- Upstate NY cider maker lures drinkers with 26er challenge

-- Booze at the movies: Cuomo plan could make it happen

-- Syracuse Beer Fest on tap

Don Cazentre writes about craft beer, wine, spirits and beverages for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.

Thanks for visiting Syracuse.com. Quality local journalism has never been more important, and your subscription matters. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.
In Sunni World, Many Applaud Soleimani Killing

By Jacob Wirtschafter January 08, 2020

Security sources in the Sunni states mostly applaud the assassination of Quds Force leader Major General Qassem Soleimani of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, and his deputy in Baghdad, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the leader of Iraq's Kataeb Hezbollah.

"There has long been a hostile feeling by the Arabs and [Sunni] Muslims toward Qassem Soleimani," said Nabil Al-Otoom, a Jordanian analyst focusing on Iran. "The American move drew a strong positive reaction from public opinion in the region, and a strengthened U.S. presence in Iraq is becoming more important to stop Iranian plans to build a regional empire by 2030.

"His elimination has slowed Iran's plan to manage a military coup with politicians completely loyal to Tehran controlling the government," Al-Otoom said. "I can say that this American move was in the right direction."

But Al-Otoom and other experts foresee diverging impacts and new threats across the region. While they believe there is room in Syria for a significant rollback of IRGC influence, they say Iraq will intensify as the epicenter in the U.S.-Iran conflict.

Mohamed Ibrahim, a retired general and board member at the Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies, does not foresee a region-wide conflagration as the result of Soleimani's elimination.

"All Iranian statements indicate that Tehran does not want matters to slip into a state of war with the United States. The retaliatory response to Soleimani's killing will be limited," said Ibrahim. "But while the Arab states are keen on stabilizing Iraq and supporting its national army, the current situation does not allow us to contribute to this effort."

Iraqi epicenter

Zauba Al-Rawi, a former senior Iraqi officer, echoes many analysts in Arab capitals who think that until the targeting of Soleimani, the U.S. had shown too much restraint against the Quds Force. The transnational unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards conducts military intelligence operations, organizes the region-wide training of Shi'ite militias and wages cyber warfare.

The largest of those is the 90,000-strong Popular Mobilization Force  the Shi'ite brigades who won accolades by helping prevent the fall of the country to the Islamic State and condemnation for killing up to 600 peaceful demonstrators during this autumn's economic unrest.

"It is clear that the Iranians were surprised by this operation because they seemed to be counting on American diplomacy," said Al-Rawi. "President [Donald] Trump shocked them by proving he could play their game.

"Iran does not want to push the Americans into a comprehensive response, so they will act by kidnapping or killing the Iraqi allies of the Americans. They will hit an oil field here and an oil tanker there.

"But until now, efforts made by the Americans to improve the capacity of Iraq's national army never rose to a level enabling this army to regain one-tenth of its real capabilities," argued the former general, who expects Iran to double down in support of its Iraqi proxies.

Slippage in Syria

In Syria, Soleimani is remembered for the recruitment of foreign Shi'ite fighters and presiding over the massacres of Sunni civilians in the suburbs of Damascus.

At the peak of the Syrian conflict, the IRGC coordinated the defense of Bashar al-Assad's government with Hezbollah, commanded over 10,000 Iraqi Shia militiamen and deployed at least 1,500 Iranian fighters.

"The famous image is of Soleimani in Aleppo overseeing operations of besieging the city," said Ammar Kahf, executive director of the Omran Center for Strategic Studies in Istanbul. "He also flew to Moscow to ask for the Russians' involvement [in Syria] in 2015."

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks Tuesday with Assad, where the Syrian Army commanders briefed the leaders at a Damascus command center.

"In terms of a direct impact on the Syrian government's military, I believe this may be a turning point in terms of Assad trying to distance himself from any conflicts with Iran," Kahf said. "And the Russians are also interested in not making Syria the scene for any American engagement with Iran."

In December, Russian airstrikes helped Assad's forces gain ground in Syria's northwest. On Saturday, the Russian news agency Sputnik proclaimed the capture of Al Tah, a village 45 kilometers from Idlib.

Yaroub Alshara, a former Damascus officer, believes Assad will now call on Russia to bolster his defensive posture even as it helps him gain ground in northern Syria.

"If Trump's new and unexpected policy continues, the elimination of Soleimani will have a significant negative impact on the morale and operational nature of the Syrian army," said Alshara. "This operation curbs Iran's ambitions in Syria."

Uncertainty in Lebanon, and cyberspace

On Tuesday, the IRCG warned Gulf states with U.S. bases that "any territory that is the starting point of aggressive acts against Iran will be targeted" and early Wednesday, Kuwait announced that its state-run KUNA news agency's Twitter account was hacked by intruders posting a false story claiming an imminent U.S. troop withdrawal.

"Kuwait has become a field of operations in cyber warfare, which raises a flag about this attack being also a warning to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Jordan. It's a simple message: They, too, can be targeted by Tehran's sophisticated digital warriors," said Barik Mhadeen, a Jordanian security researcher.

"The attack serves as yet another reminder that the information war is part and parcel of Iran's military strategy. One, they're not hesitant to use where a strike to the balance of power is needed. Iranian military has shown an advanced understanding of this edge and been utilizing it skillfully. It's a textbook asymmetric warfare tactic," Mhadeen added.

As for Lebanon, Mhadeen says regional states must account for the fact that killing Soleimani has turned him into a hero in Shi'ite communities from Baghdad to Beirut.

"It transformed him in the hearts and minds of many from a war criminal to an anti-imperialist who fell prey to fighting against the U.S. His assassination will be utilized to strengthen the victimhood narrative of Iranian proxies like Hezbollah," he said.

Still, Hezbollah's willingness to act on Tehran's retaliation impulse is being balanced with the risks posed for the Shi'ite militia's hefty political and economic presence if it were to lash out at Israel.

"Hezbollah is not only a military arm for Iran in the region but also an active actor in the decision-making process in the Lebanese state, constituting a significant social and economic bloc in Lebanon," said Hazem Dmour, General Manager of Strategics, an Amman think tank. "It will be weakened if a comprehensive military confrontation outbreaks in the region."

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Nearly half of the 63 people who were residing in Canada when they died in the crash of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 were from Edmonton.

All 176 people on board the Kiev-bound Boeing 737 were killed when the plane crashed after take off from Tehran's main airport.

Reuters is reporting 30 of the dead were from Alberta's capital.

CBC has confirmed the identities of 10 Edmonton victims:

Shekoufeh Choupannejad: Medical doctor who had an obstetrics and gynecology practice at Northgate Centre Medical Clinic. Choupannejad came to Edmonton in 2014 from Halifax but also worked in Iran, where she attended university.

Sara Saadat: Choupannejad's two daughters also died in the crash. Sara Saadat, born in 1996, was a clinical psychology student.

Saba Saadat: Saba Saadat, born in 1998, was a medical student who spent last summer studying placenta dysfunction at the University of Alberta's Women & Children's Health Research Institute.

Mojgan Daneshmand: University of Alberta associate professor of engineering and a specialist in radio frequency microsystems. She had degrees from Iran University of Science and Technology, University of Manitoba, and University of Waterloo.

Pedram Mousavi: Mousavi was married to Daneshmand. The University of Alberta professor of mechanical engineering and research specialist in wireless applications has degrees from Iran University of Science and Technology and University of Manitoba.

Daria and Dorina Mousavi: Daneshmand's and Mousavi's daughters. Daria was born in 2005 and Dorina in 2010.

Arash Pourzarabi: University of Alberta student born in 1993 was pursuing a master's degree in computer science.

Pouneh Gorji: Also a University of Alberta student pursuing a master's degree in computer science. Born in 1994. Pourzarabi and Gorji were returning from their wedding in Iran, where both had attended the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran.

Nasim Rahmanifar: A mechanical engineering student at the University of Alberta. She was working on her masters degree and according to friends was considering continuing on to a doctorate.

This story will be updated as more information about the victim becomes available.
Opposition parties criticised the government on Thursday over what they described as a "guided tour" of foreign envoys to Jammu and Kashmir and said the BJP-led regime was adopting double standards by not allowing Indian politicians to visit the region.

The Congress launched a broadside against the government hours after the envoys of 15 countries, including United States Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster, arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the first by diplomats since August last year when the then state's special status was revoked and it was split into two Union territories.

"The government is adopting double standards by allowing foreign envoys to visit Jammu and Kashmir, but not Indian politicians," senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said at a press conference.

He, however, clarified that the Congress was not opposed to such visits, but Indian politicians should also be allowed to visit the region.

Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D Raja said no "red carpet" welcome to the envoys could "absolve" the government of the "crimes they have committed" in Jammu and Kashmir as he hit out at the Centre over the visit of the ambassadors, while denying entry to the region to Indian MPs after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.

"What the government has done is disrespecting India's Parliament, its political parties, its people and its democracy. While the government is saying that everything is normal there, the region in reality is under siege. We demand that if the situation is normal, then every political detainee should be released immediately.

"No red-carpet welcome to some envoys can absolve the government of the crimes they have committed in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

The government, however, said the objective of taking the foreign envoys to Kashmir was to help them see the efforts to bring back normalcy in the Valley after the abrogation of Article 370 and rejected the criticism that the visit was akin to a guided tour.

The Congress accused the government of "adopting double standards" by organising "guided tours" to Jammu and Kashmir for foreign envoys, but not allowing Indian politicians to visit the Union territories.

Besides the US, the group comprised the envoys of South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Fiji, Maldives, Norway, the Philippines, Morocco, Argentina, Peru, Niger, Nigeria, Guyana and Togo, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

"The objective of the visit is for the envoys to see the efforts being made by the government to bring the situation to normal and see first-hand the impact of the series of steps taken by the local administration to normalise the situation in the recent weeks," he said.

Ramesh said this was the second such attempt by the government, after the one planned for EU parliamentarians on October 29 last year.

At that time, after facing criticism, the government had to say it was an informal visit and not an official one, the Congress leader said.

"We do not oppose this visit of foreign envoys. But when our own politicians are not allowed to go to Jammu and Kashmir to meet the people there, what is the purpose of taking foreign envoys there?," he asked.

Ramesh pointed out that three former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers were still under house arrest and another former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, who is also the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, had to seek the Supreme Court's permission to visit the Union territory.

When a parliamentary delegation, opposition leaders, a former Congress president and the CPI(M) general secretary could not go to Jammu and Kashmir, then what was the purpose of taking foreign envoys there, the Congress leader asked.

"We demand the government to allow an unfettered access to Jammu and Kashmir to all politicians and not resort to guided tours for envoys," he said.

The Congress wanted meaningful political activity to start in Jammu and Kashmir immediately and "political tourism" for foreign envoys to stop, Ramesh said, adding, "It is important to stop such guided tours."

"In the last five months, no meaningful political activity has taken place in Jammu and Kashmir. Political tourism of taking envoys to Jammu and Kashmir should stop," he said.

The National Conference (NC) issued a statement, saying it was disappointed with the way the foreign envoys were brought to the Valley to endorse the Centre's claims about normalcy in the region.

"The party wishes to ask these envoys that if the situation is normal, why are scores of people, including former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, under detention for the last 160 days," it said.

The People's Democratic Party (PDP) said the visit of the foreign envoys was an attempt by the government to "normalise its clampdown" in the Valley and dared the Centre to allow the dignitaries to meet the detained political leaders.

"Today that @PMOIndia lets a 2nd batch of envoys to "see" the situation in #Kashmir, it only seems like an attempt to normalize the Govt's own clampdown. The dare is on @PMOIndia will they ever let these Foreign Envoys meet political detainees who are jailed since 160 days now?," it said on its official Twitter handle.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh said Indian MPs should be allowed to visit Kashmir before foreign envoys.
WASHINGTON  U.S. Rep. Anthony Brindisi has asked a federal agency to launch an investigation into Spectrum cables debt collection practices and its deal with a Texas-based debt collection company.

Brindisi, D-Utica, said he reviewed complaints from former Spectrum customers in Upstate New York who received surprise bills from debt collectors after canceling their Spectrum service and paying off their balance.

The congressman asked the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to investigate how Spectrum and debt collection company Credit Management treat former customers of the cable and internet provider.

After believing they had paid their final bill in full and returned their equipment, customers are finding themselves face-to-face with this unknown debt collector from Plano, Texas, Brindisi wrote this week in a letter requesting an investigation by the bureau.

He said one former Spectrum customer learned from Credit Management that they owed more than $100 after ending their service on good terms with Spectrum.

Spectrum never notified this customer they owed a penny, Brindisi wrote. Instead, they sent them to collections, potentially damaging their credit rating and giving up their Social Security number and other personal information.

Charter Communications, Spectrums parent company, disputed Brindisis claim that customers are first learning of unpaid bills from the debt collection company.

We repeatedly contact customers with unpaid charges or unreturned equipment in writing and via phone, and we allow several weeks after they cancel service before engaging third parties in the process, said Lara Pritchard, a senior director of communication for Charter.

Spectrum tries to collect unpaid charges and company-owned equipment like DVRs at the time a customer ends their service, Pritchard said.

When we utilize third parties to collect unpaid charges and unreturned equipment well after the cancellation date, all debt collection efforts are conducted in accordance with state and federal law, Pritchard said.

Brindisi encouraged former Spectrum customers contacted by the debt collection company to contact his Utica district office at 315-732-0713.

A consumer should not be sent to a debt collector, without warning, for a missing remote control, Brindisi said. That is both unfair and a sneaky way Spectrum might be padding its bottom line, which would be unacceptable, worthy of investigation and potentially in violation of federal rules.

Brindisi has previously been critical of Spectrum and Charter Communications for poor service and increasing fees for its cable and internet services.

In November, Brindisi unveiled a plan that would force the federal government to examine the companys price hikes and business practices.

Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751

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Ukraine observed a day of national mourning on January 9 as aviation authorities frantically searched for answers after the crash of a Ukrainian airliner southwest of Tehran that killed all 176 on board.



President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the nation a day after the crash, saying the state was prepared to provide families who lost relatives in the accident "with all the help they need" and cautioned that the disaster was "not a topic for social media hype, sensationalism or conspiracy theories."



The Boeing 737-800 en route to Kyiv crashed shortly after taking off on January 8 from Tehrans Imam Khomeini airport with 63 Canadians, 82 Iranians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans, and three Britons on board, along with 11 Ukrainians, including nine crew.



The Iranian Civil Aviation Organization said on January 9 that initial evidence gleaned from eye witnesses on the ground and in a passing aircraft showed that Ukraine International Airlines flight PS 752 was on fire and had turned back towards the airport before it crashed.



Uncertainty about the cause of the crash, which occurred hours after Iran launched missile attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq, has prompted some speculation that the plane may have been attacked.



Ukrainian investigators, 45 of whom arrived in Tehran on January 9, said that they were seeking to search debris at the crash site to help determine the cause, including the possibility that a missile attack or terrorism may be to blame.



"Now our information space is filled with numerous theories and speculations about the tragedy. It is clear that we all want to know the truth as soon as possible. But in such cases, speed can interfere with the truth. We need to wait for at least the preliminary report of the investigation commission," Zelenskiy said.



We need patience, endurance and wisdom. This scary story should teach all of us -- and every citizen of Ukraine and every world leader -- to appreciate human life," he added.



The crew flying the three-year-old plane, which had its last scheduled maintenance on January 6, initially headed west to leave the airport zone, sent no distress signals, nor did they contact ground control, according to the Iranian aviation authority.



Ukraine's embassy in Tehran initially blamed engine failure but later removed the statement.



Iranian state media had initially reported that the plane caught fire after crashing, but a video aired by the state broadcaster appeared to show the plane already on fire as it fell from the night sky.

However, five security sources -- three Americans, one European, and one Canadian -- who asked not to be named, told Reuters that the Western intelligence agencies' initial assessment was that the plane had encountered a technical malfunction and had not been brought down by a missile.



The Canadian security source added that there was evidence one of the jet's engines overheated.



Iran and Ukraine have agreed "to coordinate further actions of our investigation groups closely to determine the cause of the terrible plane crash," according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystayko.



Iran has said it will not give the planes so-called black box, which contains flight data and cockpit voice recorders, to either U.S. authorities or to representatives of American plane maker Boeing.



Tehran is not obliged to do so and under international aviation rules is expected to be the lead investigator, while Ukraine, as the country where the plane was registered, would participate.



While the United States is home to one of the worlds top laboratories for studying black boxes after crashes, analysts say others located in Britain and France are also often called on to help investigations.



Meanwhile, Canada said it intended to play a key role in the investigation despite not having direct diplomatic relations with Tehran.



Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa that 138 of the 176 people on board the flight from Tehran to Kyiv had onward connections to Canada. Many were members of Canadas large Iranian community, mainly from the Edmonton area.



Trudeau said that "Canada is one of a handful of countries with a high degree of expertise when it comes to these sorts of accidents and, therefore, we have much to contribute."



"I am confident that in our engagement both through our allies and directly, we are going to make sure that we are a substantive contributor to this investigation," he told reporters.



The Canadian leader said Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne would call his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, to stress the need for a full investigation into the tragedy.



Canada broke off diplomatic relations with Iran in 2012, and Italy normally acts as a proxy for communication between Ottawa and Tehran.



Trudeau also stressed the need to refrain from speculation on possible reasons for the accident.



"Obviously we are very, very early days on the investigation. It's dangerous to speculate on possible causes," he said.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, Fars, dpa, and IRNA
Description

GIS  09 January, 2020: The Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Kailesh Kumar Singh Jagutpal, effected a site visit, yesterday, at Constance, for the construction of a new Flacq hospital to the tune of around Rs 6 billion. The consultant of the project, Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation Limited from India, and other personalities were present.

In a statement to the press, the Minister pointed out that the project, which will be constructed on a 25 acres plot of land, is in line with the vision of Government to continuously improve and provide quality healthcare services to the population.

Speaking about the amenities of the hospital, Dr Jagutpal indicated that it will cater for some 800 beds and will be equipped with the latest technology and customised services. With all these facilities, he said, the hospital will be the most modern medical institution in the Indian Ocean region. Construction works will start in around two months and will be completed in two years, he added.

The Minister also spoke of other projects that Government is implementing for the welfare of the population. They comprise: the setting up of four mediclinics namely in Grand Bel Air, Coromandel, Stanley and Quartier Militaire; and the construction of a new eye hospital in Moka which will start shortly.
The western Pennsylvania man who was arrested in connection with the shooting death of a 90-year-old is facing new charges after authorities say he attacked prison guards.

Anthony Miller, 27, is now facing charges that include aggravated assault for the incident that occurred at the Allegheny County Jail, WTAE is reporting.

According to reports, Miller robbed and fatally shot 90-year-old Samuel Rende in the head Dec. 28 near the Calvary Cemetery in Greenfield.

Rende died several hours later at the hospital. After witnesses say they saw someone running through the cemetery, police say they found Miller, whom reports indicate admitted to shooting Rende with a stolen .40-caliber pistol and taking his ring and watch.

Now, reports indicate Miller urinated on the floor of his prison cell, and when a guard came in to clean it up, he started punching and elbowing the guard and bit him, breaking his skin through his jacket.

The guard and another who came in to help were treated at the hospital, and Miller is facing three aggravated assault charges on top of the criminal homicide and related charges he was already facing, according to WTAE.

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The estranged husband of Lori Vallow, an alleged cult member believed to be involved in the disappearance of her two children, predicted that either she or her brother would kill him - months before the brother shot him dead.

Attorneys who represented Lori's late husband Charles Vallow have revealed that their client expressed fear that someone would attempt to take his life while he was petitioning for divorce last February.

In court documents, Charles claimed that Lori was 'infatuated' with doomsday and near-death experiences after joining a religious cult called Preparing a People.

Speaking to FOX10 on Wednesday, lawyer Steven Ellsworth claimed that Charles told him: 'I'm afraid I'm gonna be killed, and I know who's gonna do it.

'I'm telling you, Steve, so that if something happens to me, I wanna make sure you let everyone know that something happens, I'm killed, that it's my wife Lori and her brother, Alex Cox.'

Five months later, Charles' prediction came true.

He went to Lori's home in Chandler, Arizona, to pick up the couple's adopted son, seven-year-old Joshua 'JJ' Vallow, and reportedly got into an argument with the mother.

Cox intervened and ended up fatally shooting Charles. Police initially determined that Cox acted in self defense.

'We knew that this wasn't an accident,' lawyer Taylor Larson. 'This wasn't self-defense.'

Charles' death is now under investigation amid a multi-state search for JJ and Lori's daughter Tylee Ryan, 17.

Former attorneys for Charles Vallow say he predicted that he would be killed by his estranged wife Lori Vallow (pictured together) or her brother Alex Cox while he was petitioning for a divorce last February - five months before he was shot dead by Cox

Lori is currently on the run from police with her new husband Chad Daybell, both of whom are persons of interest in the disappearance of her children. The pair are believed to be members of a dangerous religious cult obsessed with the end of times

Tylee Ryan, 17, (left) and Joshua 'JJ' Vallow, seven, (right) have not been seen or heard from since September. Police in Rexburg, Idaho, only realized they were missing two days before Thanksgiving when they were asked to conduct a welfare check by relatives

Timeline of Joshua and Tylee's disappearance July 11: Lori Vallow's husband, Charles Vallow, killed in self-defense by her brother, Alex Cox, in Arizona following an argument between the three people August: The last time Joshua's grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, said they saw the boy via FaceTime August: September: Lori moved children Joshua and Tylee to Rexburg, Idaho September 23: The last time Joshua was seen at his school in Idaho October: Activity found on a Venmo account that may belong to Tylee October 19: Chad Daybell's wife, Tammy Daybell, dies at their home in Rexburg. Officials rule her death to be of natural causes October 22: Tammy is buried in Springville, Utah October 25: A friend of Tylee receives a text from her phone Early November: Lori and Chad get married November 26: Out-of-state relatives ask Idaho police to perform a welfare check on Joshua. Lori and Chad claim he is in Arizona with a family friend. Police also learn Tylee has not been seen since September, either November 27: Police execute a search warrant at Lori and Chad's home, discovering the couple have fled the city December 11: Tammy Daybell's body is exhumed from the Utah cemetery December 12: Lori's brother, Alex Cox, believed to have died in Arizona Advertisement

The children were last seen in Rexburg, Idaho, on September 23 but were never reported missing by their mother.

Authorities began searching for the children in late November after performing a welfare check ordered by concerned relatives who said they hadn't spoken to JJ in months.

Investigators say Lori and the man she married in earlier that month, Chad Daybell, fled their Idaho home the day after the welfare check.

They claim Lori and Chad have repeatedly lied about where JJ and Tylee are and have not cooperated with the investigation.

The couple are considered persons of interest in the children's disappearance after investigators said they believe Lori knows where her children are or what happened to them.

The search for JJ and Tylee uncovered a web of mysterious deaths surrounding Lori and Chad that has baffled investigators and captivated the country for weeks.

The first death is that of Charles Vallow, Lori's estranged husband.

The second was Tammy Daybell - Chad's previous wife. Tammy was found dead at the couple's home in Salem, Idaho, on October 19.

An obituary stated that Tammy passed away in her sleep. Chad reportedly declined an autopsy and her death was ruled to be from natural causes.

Investigators reopened the case after learning that JJ and Tylee were missing, as their mother had married Chad just two weeks after Tammy died. They believe the two cases could be linked.

Tammy's body was exhumed on December 11. Fremont County Sheriff Len Humphries told DailyMail.com on Monday investigators believe she may have been poisoned.

On December 12, Lori's brother Alex Cox turned up dead.

The results of Cox's autopsy have not been released but his death was deemed suspicious.

Chad Daybell's previous wife, Tammy Daybell, died at their home in Rexburg, Idaho, in October and was buried in Springville, Utah. Chad's new wife, Lori, was also widowed in 2019 when her husband, Charles Vallow, was shot dead by her brother, Alex Cox, in July in Chandler, Arizona

Rexburg police say Chad and Lori have repeatedly lied about where their children are and aren't cooperating with the investigation. Joshua is pictured left and Tylee is pictured right

Chad (left) is pictured with his wife Tammy Daybell (right) before she was found dead on October 19. Police now suspect foul play may have been involved

The FBI searched the Daybells' home (pictured) in Salem, Idaho, for evidence pertaining to Tammy's death and the children's disappearance on Friday

Speaking out this week, Charles' former attorneys Ellsworth and Larson said they were stunned when they heard about the complex case given what they knew about Lori through their client.

Earlier this week, court documents they filed on behalf of Charles seeking a divorce and custody of JJ were made public.

In the filing, Charles alleges that Lori threatened to kill him six months before he died.

During a January 29 phone conversation, Lori allegedly told Charles that she was a 'God assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ's second coming in July 2020 and that if Father [Charles] got in her way of her mission she would murder him', the documents state.

The petition describes Lori - referred to as 'mother' - as being obsessed with doomsday and near-death experiences.

'Mother has recently become infatuated at times obsessive about near death experiences and spiritual visions,' it states. 'Mother has told Father [Charles] that she is sealed [eternally married] to the ancient Book of Mormon prophet Moroni and that she has lived numerous lives on numerous planets prior to this current life.

'Mother also informed Father that she is a translated being who cannot taste death sent by God to lead the 144,000 into the Millennium.

'Mother believes that she is receiving spiritual revelations and visions to help her gather and prepare those chosen to live in the New Jerusalem after the Great War as prophesied in the book of Revelations.'

Charles' sister, Kay Woodcock, said he was 'fearful' of his estranged wife.

'He was sleeping with one eye open,' Woodcock told 12 News.

'People I've spoken with said she would just be doing something and say: 'Well, Charles just has to go.''

Woodcock also said that Charles had recordings of Lori ranting about her new beliefs.

'He said: 'Nobody will believe me,' and he recorded her one night,' she told FOX13.

'Even though it's deleted, nothing is ever deleted electronically or whatever.

'For her to say she's a translated being and she is reincarnated? That is scary!'

Her husband, Larry, added: 'Some nights he'd call me just crying like a baby, and it hurt my soul.'

Woodcock said she always loved Lori 'as a sister', but said she began acting differently after she met Chad, the author of 25 books about the end of the world who was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after he declared himself a prophet.

Woodcock said emails exchanged between the pair led her to believe Lori and Chat were having an affair.

Woodcock also said she was alarmed when Lori informed her that Charles was her fourth husband. Lori's third husband, Joseph Ryan, died of a heart attack in 2018.

'She's a black widow,' Woodcock said. '[Husband] three and [husband] four are dead. Five? He's next. How he's gonna go? I don't know. But I wouldn't sleep with my eyes closed.'

Charles Vallow (pictured) filed for divorce from Lori in February. He was killed five months later

Amid the divorce proceedings Charles was granted an order of protection against Lori - who he claimed had drained $35,000 out of their bank account. Authorities refused his request to put her under a 72-hour mental health hold.

He later moved from Chandler, Arizona, to Texas. When returned to Arizona in July to pick up Joshua, he got in a heated argument with Lori that ended with her brother, Cox, intervening and shooting him dead.

Police initially determined that Cox acted in self defense.

Charles' older son has said he doesn't believe his father would have gotten violent with Lori or her brother.

'I knew my dad was the most passive person. He hated arguing with people. He'd never been in a fight, he was not an aggressive person in any way. I don't believe it at all,' the son told FOX10.

Chad, the author of 25 books about the end of the world, was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after he declared himself a prophet

He added: 'I'm terrified for JJ. Im terrified for Tylee. I'm terrified for everyone surrounding them and their safety. I'm terrified for my family's safety.'

Other family members have expressed similar concern for their safety.

Brandon Boudreaux, who was married to Lori's niece, claims his wife tried to murder him in October after she joined the doomsday cult with her aunt.

On October 2, Brandon was shot at while driving home from the gym in Gilbert, Arizona. The bullet missed his head by mere inches as the shooter fled the scene, according to court documents obtained by The Arizona Republic.

An ongoing police investigation revealed that the shooter was driving a Jeep registered to Charles Vallow.

Brandon has now said he believes the children's disappearance, the three deaths and his attempted murder are connected to a dangerous religious cult that Chad recruited Lori into about 18 months ago.

'I just don't know how people can get so wrapped up that they can end up in this space where these people are. It's just so radical, so different,' Brandon told The Arizona Republic this week.

Brandon said his ex-wife, Melani Boudreaux, had begun spending time with her aunt's cult, a radical offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called Preparing for People, before she suddenly demanded a divorce over the summer.

'I thought I had a happy marriage, so it was pretty overwhelming,' Brandon said.

The parents to four young children were in the middle of divorce proceedings when someone tried to kill him in the October drive-by.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : Vinay Sharma, death-row convict in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, in his curative petition before the Supreme Court said his entire family suffered due to the criminal proceedings.

"The petitioner is not the only person being punished, his entire family has suffered greatly as a result of the criminal proceedings. The family faced societal wrath and humiliation for no fault of theirs.

"The petitioner's parents are old and extremely poor. The case has been a huge drain on their resources and now they are left almost empty handed," stated the curative petition filed through senior advocate Adhis C. Aggarwala and Advocate A.P. Singh.

"The petitioner's father earns a meagre living. The family has no savings and live in the R.K. Puram Harijan Basti. If the petitioner is executed his entire family will be destroyed," it stated.

The plea further said, the state had no evidence in the form of psychiatric structured clinical judgment, based on the appellant's life in the prison (around 7 years) and life prior to it, in the background of his mental impairment, his adjustment to and interaction with other inmates and officials.

A Delhi court on Tuesday while issuing death warrants against the four convicts in the case observed "despite being afforded sufficient time and opportunity" they didn't exercise legal remedies.

"It's apparent from the record, sufficient time and opportunity was given to the convict to exercise and exhaust their remedies as available to them under the law. Either the remedies have been exercised and exhausted by the respondents or have not been resorted to," said Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora.

In these given facts and circumstances, when reasonable time and opportunity had been afforded to the convicts to exercise their remedies, there was nothing to delay any further in passing orders on the application seeking issuance of death warrants, the court said.

The court has set 7 a.m. on January 22 for their execution.

A 23-year-old woman was gang-raped and tortured on December 16, 2012, which led to her death. All the six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder.

One of the accused, a minor, and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another committed suicide in Tihar Jail.

Four of the convicts were sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013. The verdict was confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014 and upheld by the Supreme Court in May 2017, which also dismissed their review petitions.
Bhopal, Jan 9 : Soon after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Thursday declared the upcoming Deepika Padukone-starrer "Chhapaak" tax-free in the state even before its release on Friday, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has followed suit.

Like Nath, Baghel also made the announcement on Twitter and praised the film for its subject. The film is based on the life of the acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal. Kamal Nath tweeted: "Deepika Padukone's film 'Chhapak' made on an acid attack survivor is releasing on January 10. I declare this film tax free in Madhya Pradesh. The film based on a woman's'story of self-confidence, struggle, hope, and passion to live with that suffering, sends a positive message about acid-affected women in society. It is based on the message of bringing change in the thinking of the society."" Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel tweeted: ""he government has decided to exempt Hindi film "Chhapak" from tax in Chhattisgarh. The film depicts such heinous crimes like acid attack on women in society and raises awareness. People should watch it with families." The move, however, invited sharp reactions as well.

Leader of Opposition in MP, Gopal Bhargava said, "Her (Deepika's) job is to dance and she should stick to it. If she has to play politics then she should take a plunge into it." A BJP spokesperson said, " Kamal Nath ji is never tired of blaming Modi for not releasing money or Shivraj ji for his legacy of an empty treasury as an excuse for his inability to waive farmers' debt in the state or checking of unemployment! However, the moment Deepika Padukone joined the traitors against Modi he decided to exempt all her films. Kamal Nath ji should let the people of Madhya Pradesh know whether bread for the farmer is more important or butter chicken and vodka for Deepika's home?" The film, helmed by Meghna Gulzar, is set to hit the screens on January 10.

"Meghna came to me with the script and I was instantly drawn to Meghna's honesty, to Laxmi's story and her journey. I felt like it was very very powerful and I felt like as an actor, I definitely wanted to be a part of the film. Even as a person, I felt like there's a really strong narrative in Laxmi's life, and I wanted the world to see that," Deepika had told IANS earlier.

It was back in 2005 when Laxmi, then just 16, was attacked by a 32-year-old man who threw acid on her because she had turned down his proposal. She didn't let the incident pull her down.

Laxmi went on to work as director of a non-profit Chhanv Foundation and also associated with campaign Stop Acid Attacks.

Deepika was left so impressed by Laxmi's story, among other things, that she decided to be attached to the film as a producer too.

"We finished the narration and I said yes to the film. I said, 'wait a second, should we produce this film as well?' Meghna was open to the idea. She and I came on board as producers and then we went around to studios and had Fox (Fox Star Studios) join us," she said.

The film's narrative leans on Laxmi but Deepika says it's not a biopic.

"It also throws light on acid violence in our country," she said.

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo was not scheduled to present a budget proposal along with his 2020 State of the State address in Albany. But in his own way, the legislative proposals that the three-term governor announced on Wednesday signaled how he wants to pay for his policy proposals  announced with the theme Making Progress Happen  in a year when the state faces a $6 billion budget deficit.

The massive shortfall limits the governors options for the coming year, even if it does not necessarily limit his ability to get things done on his own terms. While the governor did not offer his spending plan alongside his 2020 State of the State address  a departure from recent years  he did hint that his intended methods would include shifting costs to local governments and public authorities, borrowing money through a $3 billion state bonding referendum and convening various groups of experts to study a wide variety of issues of challenges. Their potential price tags would presumably accompany proposals implemented in later years. Raising taxes, he suggested, would not make the cut.

We didn't raise taxes, and in fact, we have cut tax rates for every New Yorker, Cuomo said of his record as governor. We reduced middle class taxes to the lowest level since 1947, we have the lowest corporate tax rate since 1968 and we managed the government to a 2% growth rate  lower than past Republican administrations  by running a smarter, more efficient, more effective government.

Much of Cuomos speech consisted of highlighting the accomplishments of past years, from tackling the state financial difficulties early on to various infrastructure projects built and social justice policies implemented in later years. We face a $6 billion gap attributable largely to our Medicaid state costs, he said. Now, thanks to our good work, 95% of the citizens of New York have health care coverage and that is a remarkable achievement. And it's a standard that previous generations could have only dreamed of reaching.

Then Cuomo offered his biggest signal yet of how he planned to solve it. Six years ago, we froze the cost of Medicaid to local governments, he said. This year alone, we will spend $4 billion in covering the increase in the local government share. Of that total, Cuomo said $2 billion goes to New York City alone, stoking fears of that city and other localities across the state that the state will simply shift costs to them.

Additionally, the state has already signaled that it will move $2.2 billion in Medicaid spending from the current fiscal year into the next year, which begins after the April 1 state budget deadline. The tactic could presumably be used again moving forward, given how many years he has performed similar budget tricks, according to the Empire Center for Public Policy. Besides shifting billions in Medicaid of spending onto local governments like New York City, Westchester County, Erie County, the governor also suggested that a new Medicaid Redesign Team could tackle the topic of limiting healthcare spending line the one he convened in 2011. The situation is unsustainable, Cuomo said. We have restructured Medicaid before with our MRT program, and we are going to have to do it again this year and we will and we can.

Cuomo also made efforts throughout the State of the State to present other proposals as revenue neutral  at least when it comes to the state budget that he is aiming to pass by April 1. A case in point is the $3 billion in new environmental spending he wants to restore natural areas like forests, wetlands and streams across the state. He is proposing to pay for it through a bond act that would appear on the 2020 ballot. Details of the bond act have yet to be released, but this approach would keep the spending out of the state budget. New Yorkers in some form or another would presumably foot the bill through user fees down the road or other indirect expenses.

Cuomo also has ambitions to expand the adoption of electric cars for both public transportation and electric vehicles, which would largely be done by employing public authorities that have their own revenue streams. Upstate and suburban transit authorities would have to fully electrify their fleets by 2040. Electrical utilities would develop the infrastructure necessary for a grid of electric vehicle charging stations with the help of an initial investment by the New York Power Authority. Outside the environmental arena, Cuomo is also mobilizing help from public authorities like the Olympic Regional Development Authority, which will oversee a $14 million idea to rebuild a ski lodge in the North Country. His idea to make permanent a state law requiring American-made steel for road and bridge projects would affect the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Thruway Authority and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York and state agencies like the Department of Transportation.

The Battery Park City Authority, meanwhile, is playing a key role in the public education efforts that Cuomo is proposing to battle hate crimes. We must increase our cultural understanding, he said after announcing that he would direct the authority to develop plans to expand the Museum of Jewish Heritage in lower Manhattan. To know the history of the Jewish people is to know our mutual love and connection.

This was just one among a litany of goals that Cuomo proposed reaching through various means with minimal fiscal implications. He wants to pass a state equal rights amendment in the state constitution that would protect people by sex and gender identity. Hes aiming to encourage employers to offer fertility coverage, according to a budget handbook distributed by his office. Cuomo said experts would tackle diverse issues like high-speed rail and cannabis research as part of his new respective proposals to improve state infrastructure and legalize recreational marijuana. The point of all of this appears to be to get as much done  or at least give the appearance of progress  without breaking the bank.

Ultimately, the strategies that Cuomo will use to overcome the deficit will only become known once he releases his executive budget proposal at a time and date to be determined. Only then will he make clear his plans for local governments or how exactly a plan to cut small business taxes might help companies pay for a new paid sick leave program for their employees. Hes even promising to expand a college tuition assistance program that has a mixed record.

Once state lawmakers have a look at his fiscal plans, their own proposals to solve the deficit can taken into account. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie suggested to reporters after Cuomos speech that was still a possibility, although state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins emphasized limiting taxes in her own remarks to her colleagues. The governors comments about education spending offered one last hint at how he intended on dealing with one issue particularly important to lawmakers in both chambers. Don't play politics with education money, Cuomo suggested in apparent reference to efforts to increase the Foundation Aid for public schools.

Much remains uncertain at this point in the budget season, but the governor has already given everybody a heads up about where hes headed.
Each time customers opened the door to enter the soul food restaurant  which had been featured on several local news programs and was included on a list of New Yorks top 10 restaurants of 2019  they were greeted with an apology.

Im sorry, my love, the owner would say. Were closed, indefinitely.

Millie Peartree, who owns Millie Peartree Fish Fry & Soul Food in the Fordham section of the Bronx, has been without cooking gas since late November.

After an inspection found unauthorized gas plumbing work in the building, the gas service was shut off, leaving Ms. Peartrees restaurant, as well as the residents of the five-story building on Grand Concourse, unable to use their stoves and ovens.

It is unclear who was doing work in the building, but a complaint logged by the New York City Department of Buildings noted theft of service.
TORONTO, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- North Bud Farms Inc. (CSE: NBUD) (OTCQB: NOBDF) ("NORTHBUD" or the "Company") is pleased to provide shareholders with the following corporate update:



Cannabis Production Facility in Salinas, California

In late December we completed our first harvest at our Salinas, California cultivation facility. We harvested 2,687 plants that were included in the acquisition of the Qlora Group (Qlora). The Company anticipates completing testing and sale of the product in late January 2020, which will represent the first revenue generated by the Company in California. The Company has also completed an in-depth review and analysis of both the infrastructure and cultivation practices and will be implementing significant efficiencies over the course of the next four harvests. The Company anticipates continual harvests of 2,000-3,000 plants every 25 days, with quality and yield improving with each harvest. This product will be sold via wholesale agreements to existing Qlora clients in the interim as we prepare for the launch of NORTHBUD branded flower products in California in the third quarter of 2020.

Despite challenges faced by the cultivation team during this period of transition, we are extremely excited to be harvesting our first crops and look forward to continual improvements as we implement procedural and infrastructure efficiencies, said Justin Braune, President of Bonfire Brands USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of NORTHBUD.

Cannabis Production Facility in Reno, Nevada

The Company is pleased to announce the completion of the first harvest of approximately 175 indoor grown plants. Upon the completion of testing and processing, the product will be distributed as NORTHBUD flower, pre-rolls and infused pre-rolls into selected Nevada dispensaries. The launching of NORTHBUD branded products into Nevada marks a significant milestone for the Company.

Status of Cultivation Licence Application for Cannabis Production Facility in Low, Quebec

On September 18, 2019, the Company received a confirmation of receipt of the site evidence package submitted in late August 2019. On November 22, 2019, the Company received a request for information from Health Canada (the Request). The Request was received within the 60-business day service window for feedback provided by the regulator. The Company is pleased to report that the Request was responded to in full in advance of the December 8th deadline. The Request did not contain any notices of deficiencies in the Companys cultivation licence application nor did it require the Company to make any modifications or changes to its facility.

On December 19, 2019 the Company received a subsequent follow-up request for information consisting of two questions which were responded to that same day, and on December 20th, the Company received a request to clarify the roles of recently-hired employees in relation to the requested cultivation licence. This request was responded to in full on January 3, 2020. The Company has received no further communication from Health Canada.

The Company is confident that the approval process is on track and within comparable timelines experienced by other publicly-traded companies who have recently submitted evidence packages. At this time, the Company cannot predict when it will be granted a cultivation licence by Health Canada. The Company will update shareholders on any further progress on the application.

Annual General Meeting

The Company wishes to inform shareholders that it will hold its Annual General and Special Meeting at 1:00 p.m. ET on Monday, February 3, 2020 at the office of McMillan LLP, World Exchange Plaza, Suite 2000, Ottawa, Ontario. The Company will file the required information for the annual and special meeting under its issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com .

Staffing and Personnel

The Company is pleased to announce the hiring of Adam Shapero as General Counsel. Adam comes to NORTHBUD after serving as Director of Risk Management, Corporate Secretary and Senior Counsel at Origin House (CSE: OH), who was recently acquired by Cresco Labs (CSE: CL) in a transaction valued at ~ $520 million. We are extremely pleased to welcome Adam to our team, said Sean Homuth, CEO of NORTHBUD. His first-hand experience in the Cannabis industry will add tremendous value to our team while reducing our reliance on external counsel.

About North Bud Farms Inc.

North Bud Farms Inc., through its wholly owned subsidiary GrowPros MMP Inc., is pursuing a license under The Cannabis Act. The Company has built a state-of-the-art purpose-built cannabis production facility located on 135 acres of Agricultural Land in Low, Quebec, Canada. NORTHBUD through its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, Bonfire Brands USA has acquired cannabis production facilities in California and Nevada. The Salinas, California property is located on 11 acres which currently consists of a 300,000 sq. ft. of licensable greenhouse space with 60,000 sq. ft. actively cultivating cannabis and a 2,000 sq. ft. building licensed for distribution. The Reno, Nevada property is located on 3.2 acres of land which was acquired through the acquisition of Nevada Botanical Science, Inc. a world class cannabis production, research and development facility with 5,000 sq. ft. of indoor cultivation which holds medical and adult use licenses for cultivation, extraction and distribution.

For more information visit: www.northbud.com

Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements and information included in this press release that, to the extent they are not historical fact, constitute forward-looking information or statements (collectively, forward-looking statements) within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, 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.

Forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those regarding the success of the Companys licence application in Quebec, future sales of cannabis in California and Nevada, plant harvest yields at the Companys California and Nevada operations, conditions in the cannabis market, the Company entering agreements in connection with the B2B supply of cannabis and the Companys transition into a revenue generating operational phase of development are based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the risk factors included in the Companys final long form prospectus dated August 21, 2018, which is available under the Companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com . Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company's management to predict all of such factors and to assess in advance the impact of each such factor 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 statements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect information, events, results, circumstances or otherwise after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law including securities laws. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy any securities of the Company.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

North Bud Farms Inc.

Edward Miller

VP, IR & Communications

Office: (855) 628-3420 ext. 3

investors@northbud.com




Think of it as the 21st century version of the doctor's house call. Telemedicine, which allows your doctor to visit, diagnose and treat you virtually  all in the comfort of your own home  is growing rapidly.

Usage is up 53% from 2016 to 2017, according to a J.D. Power study issued in July.

"It's really taking health care back to the patients and the customers of health care, which is very exciting," Dr. Andrew Watson, vice president of Clinical Information Technology Transformation at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said in an interview with CNBC's "American Greed."

Doctors and patients like the flexibility and time savings the online technology affords, particularly in rural areas where access to care can be difficult. In addition to being "seen" by your doctor, telemedicine allows you and your physician to exchange health data and other information.

Policymakers and insurance companies like the cost savings. The J.D. Power study says telemedicine is reducing emergency room visits, noting that just a 1% decrease in emergency room visits, replaced by telemedicine, can result in average savings of $102 million per year.

No wonder telemedicine is one of the few areas of health care with bipartisan agreement in Washington. A two-year budget deal approved in 2018 eased restrictions on Medicare reimbursement for telemedicine services, and a bill to combat the opioid epidemic, signed into law that year, included new funding for opioid-specific telemedicine services. In October, President Donald Trump signed an executive order further expanding the use of telemedicine under Medicare.

But the widespread appeal and growing acceptance of telemedicine has also attracted fraudsters seeking to use enthusiasm about the technology to their advantage.

Keisha Williams of Ashburn, Virginia, admitted running a $5 million scam in which she told prospective investors she had won the rights in a bankruptcy auction to telemedicine software created by an Austrian company, Zydacron. She said she needed the investors' money to complete the purchase of the software, and she promised to pay them back with interest as high as 300%.

Excited by the prospects for telemedicine, some 50 investors ponied up tens of thousands of dollars apiece. But rather than using the money to purchase the software, Williams spent nearly all of it on herself, according to prosecutors, paying for expensive trips and luxury goods.

"Keisha Williams displayed absolutely no empathy whatsoever for her victims and the positions she had put them in. It was a lack of conscience that was verging on sociopathic," Assistant U.S. Attorney Grace Hill told "American Greed."

Williams, 44, pleaded guilty in 2018 to multiple felonies including fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. She is serving a 15-year sentence at a minimum-security federal prison in West Virginia.

Watson, who is also a past president of the American Telemedicine Association, believes the technology and the prevalence of telemedicine are advancing to the point where scams like Williams' are becoming far more difficult to pull off. He likens it to other medical technologies like transplantation and minimally invasive surgery.

"It's all just the culture of a learning environment, and we're getting used to a new way of doing medicine," he said.

Despite that enthusiasm in the medical community, telemedicine is still reaching only a small percentage of the public.

The J.D. Power study, which included a June survey of 1,000 people, found that fewer than 10% had used telemedicine services in lieu of an office or emergency room visit. Usage was highest in the West  11.1%  and lowest in the Northeast, 5.7%.

The study cited low awareness about the technology as the main obstacle to telemedicine's growth. But patient skepticism is also an issue.

"It's hard enough to get a doctor to listen to you when you're sitting in front of them," one survey respondent said. "I'm sure they would be even more distracted online."

"It could be more prone to error without seeing a patient in person," said another.

Others worried about whether the technology is secure.

"Massive privacy issues, I am unclear as to proof of providers' qualifications," a respondent said.

But Watson, a colorectal surgeon, believes those concerns will evaporate as patients and doctors become more accustomed to virtual visits.

"I've done over 500 consults  that's when I see the patients and talk to them remotely," he said. "I feel very comfortable taking care of them, seeing them, examining them and treating them. It's very effective, and we're seeing this in the literature as well, which is exciting."

The J.D. Power study likens the development of telemedicine to public acceptance of mobile banking.

"Think about it," the study says. "Ten years ago, would you have ever imagined taking a picture of a personal check for mobile deposit?"

But the study says the industry still has plenty of work to do to build public confidence in the technology.

"A 'build it and they will come' approach will not be optimal," the researchers said.

Scams like Williams' probably do not help.

See how Keisha Williams misused the promise of a burgeoning medical technology to extract $5 million from investors and fund her outrageously lavish lifestyle. Watch an ALL NEW episode of "American Greed," Monday, Jan. 13 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, only on CNBC.
SC has sought Uttar Pradesh government's reply on a bail plea of a journalist arrested under the stringent UP Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act for alleged blackmailing and extortion of Noida police officials

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday sought Uttar Pradesh government's reply on a bail plea of a journalist arrested under the stringent UP Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act for alleged blackmailing and extortion of Noida police officials.

The top court asked the Allahabad High Court to proceed with the similar plea before it concerning the bail of journalist and decide the issue expeditiously.

A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant issued notice to the state government and sought its reply within two weeks.

Advocates Prashant Bhushan and Govind Ji said the journalist was arrested in August last year but the high court was not deciding his bail plea.

Bhushan claimed the high court has been frequently adjourning the matter and giving opportunity to the state government to file counter affidavit, without appreciating uncontroverted facts on record and baseless, motivated and uncorroborated charges levelled against the journalist.

He said petitioner Nitish Pandey is a journalist and not a gangster that he can be booked under the stringent law.

Bhushan said he had carried several news stories on his news portal against Noida police exposing corruption in the department.

"The high court while adjourning the bail application on several occasions failed to appreciate that cases concerning incarceration of an individual and jeopardising personal liberty based on false prosecution and motivated allegations which are to be viewed seriously and ordinarily Courts ought to lean in favour of guaranteeing personal liberty," said Pandey's plea.

He claimed to be a journalist since 2009 who was previously associated with reputed news channels.

"News regarding functioning of police department is often aired on the said news portal. The Petitioner enjoys a good reputation, having no criminal antecedent," the plea said.

It said, "News aired on the portal has often been appreciated by police officials of the Respondent State, except that few recent news stories published by the Petitioner, irked senior police officials of Noida police, which ultimately led to registration of the FIR on false pretext and bald allegations, leading to arrest of the Petitioner from his Lucknow residence, within three hours, from the time when FIR was registered in Noida".

Pandey was arrested on 23 August, 2019, under various provisions of UP Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986.

According to the FIR registered in the case, one alleged organised gang of people relating to journalism is acquiring pecuniary material and other benefits in an illegal manner by exercising wrongful pressure over the public officers especially officers of the police department and by restraining them in performing their lawful duties.

It was further alleged that the active members of the gang are Susheel Pandit, Udit Goel, Raman Thakur, Chandan Rai and Nitish Pandey which operated largely by luring police officials to act in their favour.

The plea said it was alleged in the FIR that police officials who didn't come under the gang's influence were blackmailed and their image was tarnished through social media by publishing baseless and fictitious information.
Though there are a great many people who likely havent heard of the Lincoln Project, a small group established by disaffected Republicans who want to see President Donald Trump defeated in November, the work of those sorts of folk has one of the presidents onetime top advisers feeling fretful about what may lie ahead.

Steve Bannon, who served as White House chief strategist and senior counselor for the first seven months of Trumps presidency, recently fretted about the possibility of those he termed establishment Republicans turning their backs on Trump in the 2020 election. And if that were to happen, he told The Associated Press, The Donald could find himself in deep trouble.

Said Bannon, who noted that his man got elected thanks to fewer than 80,000 votes in three states -- Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania -- if things go just a tad south, the former reality TV star-turned-politician could end up on the outside, looking in.

"If these guys can peel off 3% or 4%, that's going to be serious," Bannon said.

Though Trump likes to assert that he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in some sort of landslide, the fact of the matter is quite different, indeed. Trump got hammered in the popular vote, losing to Clinton by nearly 2.9 million votes. And though he did win in the all-important Electoral College, 304-227, when the margins in the closely contested states are considered, his win was really quite the squeaker. Which is exactly what has Bannon feeling fretful.

If small numbers of 2016 Trump voters in midwestern states vote for the Democratic nominee in November, that could be enough to defeat Trump. So, when it comes to the numbers, Bannon would appear to be on the right track. It's his terminology that is not a little suspect.

Members of the Lincoln Project and other onetime mainstream Republicans who have left the fold are no one's definition of the establishment. On the contrary, the establishment is fully in Trump's corner. Republican senators and members of the House of Representatives are all in with Trump, at least publicly.

Whatever one wishes to label the small number of Republicans who have split with Trump, however, one should think of them as courageous. Because they are working to save the nation from a man they see as a danger to our republic.
VACAVILLE  The sound of gunfire shattered the joyful noise being made in the Chabad synagogue in Vacaville on Sunday. But, unlike too often elsewhere lately, this anti-Semitic attack was part of a training exercise aimed at empowering worshipers of all kinds.

In response to the alarming rise in anti-Semitic attacks, Rabbi Chaim Zaklos said the Chabad Center for Jewish Life of Solano County hosted a training session by retired Richmond cop/detective/SWAT leader Steve Harris and others who are part of a firm called Threat Scenarios. It offers training to businesses, houses of worship and others.

Partner Jerry Kunzman of American Canyon said the four-year-old business, which he runs with Brad Engmann of Walnut Creek, helps police departments and others with role-playing scenario training.

At Sundays training, some 70 men and women from as far as Sacramento and Berkeley, representing a wide range of ages, sizes, colors and faiths, including Catholic and Protestant, got a taste of what to do to help prevent an attack, and, failing that, how to respond to one.

The size of the crowd shows how important this is, Zaklos said.

It can happen to you; its happening right now, and this might be the hardest thing for American Jews to accept, Harris said. We are empowering people. We are training to live.

Its important that everybody knows this, not just Jews, said participant Susan Cohen Grossman of Solano County. Everyone should know the right response in a dangerous situation. And I also really respect Steve Harris.

In November, Napa Valley Life Church held a similar security seminar for its members, believing that shooter response training was necessary in an increasingly violent world.

The Vacaville training was done in several phases, including practice in how to disarm a knife-wielding maniac and emergency medical treatment options.

Solano County resident Janet Nathan said she was at Sundays training mostly as an observer.

Anything I can learn, particularly with the first aid, she said. And to be unified with the Jewish community. We are in danger.

East Bay resident Yosef Figuero expressed a similar reason for attending.

For the safety of the Jewish community, which is at risk right now, said Figuero, who added that this is not his first such training.

One of the trainers, identifying himself only as J, described the firms approach as multi-faceted, meant to provide several barriers between the congregants and the threat.

Also a veteran law enforcement professional, J said that Jews have always been a target for violent bigots, but that the actual risk level has risen to heights not often seen in the United States. On the other hand, the number of people showing up for trainings like the one on Sunday is also significantly larger than usual, indicating that more people are facing the reality of the times.

We are negligent if we dont recognize the threat and take steps to expand our own resilience, he said. Noah built the ark before the flood, and thats what were doing here.

We provide these trainings not just to Jewish houses of worship, but, also to churches, mosques and temples, because anyone should be able to pray in peace.

Harris said he sees the groups role as helping build a barrier against evil.

Were trying to make it so evil doesnt win, he said.

The training was launched with a couple of prayers, including the 23rd Psalm and a prayer for the protection of Jews around the world, in Hebrew and in English.

Jews, Harris said, have traditionally kept a pacifistic low profile in the countries where they lived, in an attempt to ward off violent attacks. This approach may have helped some, but it also resulted in a reputation of cowardice and an inability to fight  an image that the modern state of Israel has only partially dispelled in its 70-or-so years, he said. Its an approach Jews worldwide can no longer afford to take, he said.

Now, we have to fight a rising anti-Semitism here and around the world, he said. Hoping it wont happen to you is not a good strategy.

The Jews job is to survive despite the threat, Harris said.

We cant rely on the stupidity of our attackers, he said. You have to prepare your congregation to survive.

Look at the need for training this way, J said: When seconds count, help is only minutes away.

Learning the best ways to survive an attack has other benefits, as well, the men said.

Fear is a natural reaction, but it can become courage with training, Harris said.

There are also some best practices to bear in mind in ones everyday life, they said.

Walk in pairs or groups; smile and make eye contact; keep your head and eyes up and off of your phone screen, and harden your structure with levels of physical barriers.

During one of the times the group was squeezed into the Chabad Houses safe room, after evacuating the sanctuary in an appropriate and orderly manner, one woman thanked the mostly men who were taking the training to be part of their groups ongoing security team.

Thank you for your willingness to protect us, she said.
The United States will take action in response to growing Russian support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a senior US official warned Monday. US President Donald Trumps administration has sanctioned Maduros regime and called it a dictatorship after he was re-elected in 2018.

We are looking at additional sanctions, personal sanctions, economic sanctions that we think will bring more pressure, Elliot Abrams, the State Departments Venezuela envoy, told reporters. Abrams, who did not specify what the sanctions would be, said the US had been looking closely at Russias role in Venezuela and would not allow the level of support to go unchecked.

Abrams said Russia was mainly interested in the oil economy in Venezuela, while Maduro has grown increasingly reliant on Moscow over the past year. Russian companies are now handling more than two-thirds, more than 70 percent of Venezuelan oil, Abrams said. So the Russian role is increasingly important.

Abrams did not speculate on whether Russia was involved in pushing Maduro to take control of the opposition-majority National Assembly on Sunday, which Washington currently considers the only democratic body in Venezuela.

Police had prevented opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido from entering the parliament, and in his absence Luis Parra, a corruption-tainted opposition lawmaker, declared himself parliament speaker.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said that since the income of the 'Mandis' increased, they should give 3 per cent cess to cow shelters instead of existing 2 per cent.

According to a statement, the Chief Minister said that this money should go to only those institutions that run the cow shelters with 'devotion'.

"Some amount of this money could also go to the Animal Husbandry Department," he said.

The Chief Minister held the 157th meeting of the Governing Council of the State Agricultural Produce Markets Board (Mandi Parishad) Uttar Pradesh at Lok Bhavan here.

As per the statement, the Chief Minister said that the ongoing tension in the Gulf countries could further increase and some people may indulge in black marketing, storage and smuggling of essential things under its guise.

"Keep a close eye on them and take strict action if necessary. Also, keep a special watch on the prices of pulses, oil, and vegetables," the Chief Minister said.

Further, the statement informed that the Chief Minister directed that one lab each should be provided in Lucknow, Varanasi, and Gorakhpur as well as in Bundelkhand and Western UP for organic products.

The Chief Minister further said that the Mandis formed under the Bundelkhand package have not shifted so far and directed officials to shift the traders by increasing the facilities there.

Minister of State Sriram Chauhan (Independent Charge), Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary, Special Secretary and Director of the concerned departments were present in the meeting.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
[January 09, 2020] Joanne Taylor, Legal and Financial Crimes Risk and Compliance Expert, Joins K2 Intelligence

LONDON and NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- K2 Intelligence, an industry-leading investigative, compliance, and cyber defense services firm, announced that Joanne Taylor has joined the firm as a Managing Director, resident in London. Ms. Taylor has 20 years of legal, investigations, and financial crime compliance experience which includes fraud risk management, anti-bribery and corruption, regulatory enforcement, and fraud investigations working within the financial and legal services industries. She will report to Darren Matthews, Executive Managing Director and regional head of Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). "I am delighted to welcome Joanne to K2 Intelligence. She has a deep understanding of the financial crime risk and compliance issues facing banking institutions today. Joanne is also a proven leader, adept at building and integrating anti-bribery and corruption investigative teams in order to drive strategy and develop solutions to complex problems," said Darren Matthews, Executive Managing Director and regional head of EMEA. "Joanne's expertise, both investigative and legal, as well as her experience interfacing with regulators, will be an invaluable addition to assist our EMEA-based clients facing complex regulatory compliance and corruption issues," said Robert Brenner, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer for the firm.



Ms. Taylor joins K2 Intelligence from Deutsche Bank, where she served as Managing Director, Global Deputy Head of Anti-Fraud, Bribery, and Corruption. In this role she was responsible for global anti-fraud, bribery, and corruption (ABC) strategy, programs, and framework efforts, which included governance, policy, remediation, training and awareness, risk assessment, reporting, and whistleblowing, as well as fraud detection and monitoring strategy. She also regularly engaged with board members and senior management, regulators, regulatory monitors, and internal and external audit teams. As Managing Director, Head of Whistleblowing and Global Anti-Fraud, Bribery, and Corruption Investigations, she was responsible for all aspects of the bank's global whistleblowing program and cross-border investigations relating to fraud, bribery, and corruption. As Director, Regional Head of Anti-Fraud and Investigations, UK and CE-EMEA, she was responsible for internal and external fraud investigations, advising on fraud prevention and oversight of first-line fraud controls as well as interfacing with law enforcement. Ms. Taylor also led cross-border anti-money laundering investigations, briefing senior management and regulators. Ms. Taylor has also held positions at UBS Investment Bank, where she served as Legal Counsel for the Regulatory Inquiries and Investigations Group and was EMEA Head of Research Compliance. While at UBS she handled regulatory enforcement matters with possible fines, led internal investigations into potential misconduct, dealt with hundreds of regulatory inquiries from regulators and exchanges, and was responsible for suspicious transaction and order reporting to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Ms. Taylor started her career as a Solicitor for Herbert Smith Freehills. Click here for additional information on Joanne Taylor. About K2 Intelligence Financial Integrity Network (FIN) K2 Intelligence is an industry-leading investigative, compliance, and cyber defense services firm founded in 2009 by Jeremy M. Kroll and Jules B. Kroll, who is credited with originating the modern corporate investigations industry. Redefining 21st-century corporate intelligence, the firm combines subject-matter expertise with cutting-edge technology, bringing to bear the industry's best multidisciplinary teams to solve its clients' most difficult problems. With offices in New York, London, Washington, DC, Madrid, Geneva, Los Angeles, and Chicago, K2 Intelligence advises governments, companies, boards, and individuals in business areas including investigations and disputes, regulatory compliance, cyber defense, construction and real estate, strategic risk and security, and private client services. With the addition of Financial Integrity Network (FIN) in 2019, the firm assists financial institutions, sectoral clients, and governments with strategic advisory, policy, controls, and training to protect against the full range of illicit financing threats. For more information, visit www.k2intelligence.com. CONTACT:

Paula Zirinsky

Global Chief Marketing Officer

[email protected] Lindsay Sweeney

Media Relations Manager

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"Remember when [President] Trump killed the top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, and everybody was like, 'Is this World War III?'" Stephen Colbert asked on Wednesday's Late Show. "Well I'm happy to announce it's not World War III! ... That's wonderful, but it's not like nothing happened." In fact, Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. forces, "and for hours we knew nothing," he said. "Then at 9:45 p.m. Eastern time, our commander-in-chief tweeted at a worried nation: 'All is well!'" Colbert and Jon Batiste had an elaborate bit about how that wasn't particularly reassuring.

Still, "as promised, this morning Trump emerged to address a worried world from what looked like a live nuclear reactor," Colbert said. And "the president started his statement with a weirdly abrupt greeting." Colbert tried it out in a different context: "As long as I'm your dentist, your fillings will never be composed of mashed-up other people's teeth! Hello, I'm Dr. Ditworth."

"Trump was quick to claim victory," but "it wouldn't be a Trump speech without some mis-speeching," Colbert said, rolling the tape. "Rest easy, America, that is the man deciding who liges and who dibes."

"'Toleraized?' 'Accomplishmentaized?' Trump's mouth was missing more targets than those Iranian missiles," Trevor Noah joked at The Daily Show. But "at least for the moment, the beef with Iran has been squashed." It's true that "Iran launched 15 missiles at American forces in Iraq, but in an interesting twist, they killed no one, hurt no one, and gave the Iraqi bases a six-hour heads-up  which is a lot of warning," he said. "It's almost like they were sitting there, like, 'Let's give them one hour notice.' 'But sir, what if they're watching The Irishman?' 'Okay, six hours.' ... In international diplomacy, this type of action is known as a 'Hold me back, bro!'"

Story continues

Still, Trump's "All is Well!" tweet "is hilarious, because the tweet was composed like Trump was writing a letter from the front lines of the Civil War," Noah said, demonstrating Ken Burnsstyle. But "Trump got what he wanted: Killed the general and it didn't escalate into anything. This is a win for him, but I pray that Donald Trump doesn't start watching Fox News again anytime soon, because for them, all is not well." Watch below.

More stories from theweek.com

Trump now says climate change is 'serious' and not 'a hoax'

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reportedly announced their 'step back' plan 'prematurely'

Donald Trump is behaving like the guiltiest man alive


CHICAGO - Federal prosecutors in Chicago say a judge was too lenient in sentencing a man to 16 years in prison for plotting to detonate a car outside a crowded bar.

In a court filing made public Thursday, prosecutors ask the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to vacate the sentence handed Adel Daoud last year by Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman. Assistant U.S. Attorney Georgia Alexakis contends Coleman improperly characterized Daouds attempt to bomb the downtown bar in 2012 to immaturity, braggadocio and `what teenage boys do.

Prosecutors requested a 40-year sentence for Adel Daoud, who entered an Alford plea in November 2018.

Plotting to kill hundreds of innocent people is not what teenage boys do, Alexakis contends in the 66-page brief. People of any age can appreciate the seriousness of a plan to detonate a 1,000-pound car bomb capable of killing hundreds, and the criminal justice system cannot countenance otherwise.

In imposing the sentence on Daoud last May, Coleman criticized the FBI for appearing to take advantage of Daouds extreme immaturity. Prosecutors announced plans to appeal the sentence a month later. At the time they announced plans to appeal, defence attorney Thomas Durkin called the move ``cruel, wrongheaded and stupid.

Daoud, of the Chicago suburb of Hillside, was arrested in an FBI sting in September 2012 after pushing a button on a remote he believed would set off a car bomb powerful enough to destroy much of the block. Undercover agents had supplied the fake bomb to Daoud, who was 18 at the time, telling him it would kill hundreds of people.

Daouds trial was frequently delayed by his outbursts in court. Coleman temporarily deemed Daoud mentally unfit for trial in 2016, concluding he sincerely believed Illuminati and other shadowy figures were out to get him.

Daoud, 26, is serving his sentence in a federal prison in Kentucky.
Hussain Bin A. Rahman is the CEO of MobilityOne Limited (LON:MBO). This analysis aims first to contrast CEO compensation with other companies that have similar market capitalization. Next, we'll consider growth that the business demonstrates. Third, we'll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO.

Check out our latest analysis for MobilityOne

How Does Hussain Bin A. Rahman's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

According to our data, MobilityOne Limited has a market capitalization of UK3.1m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth UK126k over the year to December 2018. We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at UK80k. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations under UK153m, and the median CEO total compensation was UK251k.

This would give shareholders a good impression of the company, since most similar size companies have to pay more, leaving less for shareholders. However, before we heap on the praise, we should delve deeper to understand business performance.

You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at MobilityOne, below.

AIM:MBO CEO Compensation, January 9th 2020

Is MobilityOne Limited Growing?

MobilityOne Limited has reduced its earnings per share by an average of 49% a year, over the last three years (measured with a line of best fit). In the last year, its revenue is up 39%.

As investors, we are a bit wary of companies that have lower earnings per share, over three years. But in contrast the revenue growth is strong, suggesting future potential for earnings growth. These two metric are moving in different directions, so while it's hard to be confident judging performance, we think the stock is worth watching. Although we don't have analyst forecasts you might want to assess this data-rich visualization of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Story continues

Has MobilityOne Limited Been A Good Investment?

Since shareholders would have lost about 3.3% over three years, some MobilityOne Limited shareholders would surely be feeling negative emotions. It therefore might be upsetting for shareholders if the CEO were paid generously.

In Summary...

MobilityOne Limited is currently paying its CEO below what is normal for companies of its size.

Hussain Bin A. Rahman is paid less than CEOs of similar size companies, but growth hasn't been particularly impressive and the total shareholder return over three years would leave many disappointed. So while shareholders shouldn't be overly concerned about CEO compensation, they would probably like to see improved shareholder returns before seeing a pay increase. Whatever your view on compensation, you might want to check if insiders are buying or selling MobilityOne shares (free trial).

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

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.



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. Thank you for reading.
"If needed, I will fight alone," a livid Mamata Banerjee declared in the West Bengal Assembly on Thursday and said she will boycott a meeting called by Congress's interim president Sonia Gandhi on January 13 over campus violence and the CAA, exposing the opposition faultlines on the issues.

Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal and also the Trinamool Congress (TMC) president, was angry over the incidents of violence in her state during a trade union strike called by organisations affiliated to the Left and the Congress over the Centre's "anti-people" policies, including economic measures and livewire issues such as the new citizenship law and a pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC), on Wednesday.

"I have decided to boycott the meeting convened by Sonia Gandhi on January 13 in New Delhi as I do not support the violence that the Left and the Congress unleashed in West Bengal yesterday (Wednesday)," she announced on the floor of the Assembly when the opposition insisted that the House pass a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

The Congress, however, said Banerjee was invited to the opposition meeting and it was up to her to attend it.

"I am not aware of any decision of Mamata Banerjee. As far as I know, the Congress party has raised its voice against the CAA and NRC inside and outside Parliament and opposition leaders have been invited for the meeting on January 13. Whether she will come or not, I cannot say it now," senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told reporters in New Delhi, when asked about the TMC chief's decision.

The development comes a couple of days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled two-day visit to the city to attend several government programmes.

The chief minister who is an invitee to Modi's programmes organised by Kolkata Port Trust is yet to decide whether or not to attend them, party sources said.

Banerjee said since the West Bengal Assembly had adopted a resolution against a pan-India NRC in September last year, which denounced according Indian citizenship to minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan on the basis of religion, there was no need for a fresh resolution.

As opposition MLAs insisted on a fresh resolution, the tempestuous leader launched into a harangue, defending her stance and declaring that she will not attend the meeting called by Gandhi.

"You people follow one policy in West Bengal and a totally contradictory policy in Delhi. I do not want to be on the same page with you. If needed, I will fight alone," she said, as she mounted an onslaught on the Congress and Left members.

"I was the first to launch an movement against CAA NRC," she said. "What the Left and the Congress are doing in the name of the CAA-NRC is not a movement but vandalism."



West Bengal was rocked by incidents of violence and arson during the strike called by trade unions linked to the Left and the Congress on Wednesday.

Those supporting the strike clashed with police and vandalised public property.

The CPI(M) and Congress on Wednesday accused Banerjee of instigating the violence. They claimed that TMC cadres and police personnel had indulged in violence in the state.

Both the parties pointed to an unverified video clip, that went viral, showing persons wearing police uniform vandalizing buses.

Banerjee had said though she empathised with the strikers and supported their cause, she was against a shutdown as it inconvenienced the common people and adversely affected economic development.

"You don't need to tell me how to fight CAA," she shouted above the roar of protests from members of the CPI(M) and Congress, who came down to the well of the house and started sloganeering against the TMC government.

The meeting called by Sonia Gandhi is being seen as an attempt to bring together all opposition parties against the Modi government, which is facing unmitigated fire from the opposition over Sunday night's violence at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi.

The opposition has blamed the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student front of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), for the violence.

Banerjee asserted that the TMC will continue with its protest against the CAA and the NRC, but not brook any shutdown over these issues in her state, calling it part of "dirty politics" by the Left and the Congress.

A temperamental Banerjee also sought the "forgiveness" of opposition leaders who will attend the meeting called by Gandhi, saying "It was I who had mooted the idea. But, after what happened yesterday in my state, it will not be possible for me to attend the meeting."



She also dialled Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar to inform him about her decision, TMC sources said.

The Left and the Congress were quick to slam Banerjee for her decision to give the meeting a miss, alleging that it was aimed at "pleasing the BJP leadership" and accused TMC of being "B" team of the saffron party in Bengal.

"She is trying to please the BJP leaders. She herself is adopting double-standards. She wants to keep the BJP leadership in good humour, which is why she is not attending the opposition meeting," Congress's Abdul Mannan, who is also the leader of the opposition in the state Assembly, said.

CPI(M) politburo member Mohammed Salim accused Banerjee of attempting to scuttle the opposition's efforts to come together on a common platform over "burning issues".

"It is clear who is in favour of the BJP-RSS. Her acts of protests are just a show-off. But you cannot just fool the people all the time. It is clear that she has a tacit understanding with the BJP in order to protect her party leaders from CBI probe in chit fund scams," he said.

State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh sneered at the opposition over its discomfiture following Banerjee's decision to boycott Gandhi's meeting.

"These parties cannot stay united for long as they do only for the sake of power," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sonos is suing Google, claiming that its popular smart speakers infringe on five of Sonos' patents.

Sonos alleges that Google stole its technology for creating a system of wireless speakers that can connect over the internet and be controlled individually or collectively by a mobile app, according to court documents. The company said in its complaint that Google's size has allowed it to undercut Sonos' prices and position in the market.

Sonos has filed two complaints  one in US District Court in the central district of California and another with the International Trade Commission. Google's "actions have caused significant damage to Sonos," the District Court complaint states. Sonos is asking the court to restrict Google from selling the smart speakers it says are infringing on its patents, including some products in the Google Home and Google Nest lines. It also seeks unidentified compensation for damages.

Google denies that it copied Sonos's technology.

"We dispute these claims and will defend them vigorously," Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in an emailed statement to CNN Business.

The lawsuit comes as many companies grapple for dominance in the market for connected, "Internet of Things" devices. Apple, Amazon and Google are among the biggest players in the space. Sonos and Google have for years partnered to make their technologies interoperable, allowing Google's apps and voice assistant technology to control Sonos speakers.

Sonos, which debuted its first product in 2005, helped popularize wireless home speakers at a time when most speakers in a home had to have a hard-wire connection to a music source. Sonos developed a way to connect them and the music source over the internet, so multiple speakers throughout a house could play the same music simultaneously, and users could control the music and the volume on any of the speakers from their phone.

In 2013, Sonos and Google began working closely together to integrate Google Play Music into the Sonos platform, meaning users could play music and adjust volume on their Sonos speakers directly from the Google Play Music app. At the time, Google referred to Sonos as a "speaker system unlike any other." More recently, Sonos announced it was incorporating the Google Assistant into some of its products, allowing users to turn on smart lights, check the traffic or send an email with their voice.

Such agreements helped boost the value proposition of Sonos speakers, and gave Google Play Music users another way to access the service.

But Sonos claims its work in 2013 to integrate Google Play Music into the Sonos system gave Google a "wide aperture through which to view Sonos's proprietary technology," according to the complaint. Two years later, Google released Chromecast Audio, which provided multi-room wireless audio and could be controlled by an app, and which Sonos alleges "copied key features from Sonos," court documents state.

Sonos alleges subsequent Google speakers infringed on even more of its patents. For example, the complaint states that the Google Home Max speaker copied a Sonos innovation that pairs speakers together for stereo sound.

Court documents state that over the past three years, Sonos notified Google four times that it was infringing on its patents. In February 2019, Sonos says it alerted Google that it was violating 100 of Sonos's patents, court documents state.

"Over the years, we have had numerous ongoing conversations with Sonos about both companies' IP rights and we are disappointed that Sonos brought these lawsuits instead of continuing negotiations in good faith," Google spokesperson Castaneda said in his statement.

Sonos says it is also concerned about how Google is selling and using its speakers.

"The harm produced by Google's infringement has been profoundly compounded by Google's business strategy to use its multi-room audio products to vacuum up invaluable consumer data from users and, thus, further entrench the Google platform among its users and ultimately fuel its dominant advertising and search platforms," Sonos stated in its complaint.

Google, along with several fellow tech giants, is being probed for potential antitrust violations related to its advertising business, its handling of user data, along with mergers and acquisitions. Google has said it is cooperating with the Justice Department and other US federal and state regulators, as well as other regulators around the world.

Sonos also alleges in the complaint that Google "subsidizes the prices" of its speaker products and "flooded the market" to encourage users to buy its products, which automatically connect to Google services, rather than Sonos's.

The lowest price Sonos's speakers sell for around $180, while users can scoop up a Google Nest Mini for around $50, which is often heavily discounted. Sonos speakers, however, are critically acclaimed for their sound, and Google's higher end Nest Home speakers are priced in the same range as Sonos' products.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 9) Malacanang expressed dismay at the dastardly death Thursday of a former Batangas lawmaker, who was reportedly killed together with his aide inside his vehicle that was set on fire.

In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo vowed authorities will hunt down the individuals behind the killing of former Batangas 2nd District Rep. Edgar Mendoza.

This is an outrageous act of barbarism. The perpetrators of this heinous crime will be pursued till they are placed behind bars, Panelo said.

We assure the bereaved family of the deceased that justice will be accorded by prosecuting the people behind this dastardly crime to the fullest extent of the law, he added.

Reports said Mendoza and another unidentified man were found dead with their charred bodies inside the lawmakers car along a road in Quezon.

Local police are currently investigating the incident.

This is a developing story.
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Linkedin Michael Mathes (Agence France-Presse) Washington  Thu, January 9, 2020 10:00 733 48be62e941b44f04afae568c3217c85e 2 World US-Iran-tension,Democratic-party,Donald-Trump,power,legislation,US-Congress Free

United States Democratic lawmakers pressed ahead Wednesday with plans to check President Donald Trump's ability to take military action against Iran, despite Congress breathing a collective sigh of relief at the de-escalation of conflict with the Islamic republic.

Republicans and Democrats alike expressed broad support for the toning down of sabre-rattling rhetoric both by President Donald Trump and Iranian officials, and satisfaction that no Americans were killed in Tehran's missile strike aimed at bases in Iraq housing US troops.

But classified briefings by senior administration officials left many Democrats  and at least one angry Republican  unconvinced about Trump's justification for killing top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani last week while the powerful general was in Iraq, a move that sent tensions soaring.

"Our concerns were not addressed by the president's insufficient War Powers Act notification and by the administration's briefing today" by Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other top officials, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

The top Democrat in Congress announced the chamber will vote Thursday on legislation aimed at preventing Trump from waging war with Iran.

"The president has made clear that he does not have a coherent strategy to keep the American people safe, achieve de-escalation with Iran and ensure stability in the region," Pelosi said in a statement.

Under the 1973 War Powers Act, the administration needs to notify Congress on major military actions but Trump, unusually, has kept classified his rationale for the strike that killed Soleimani.

"We're told it was an imminent threat" by Soleimani's forces against Americans, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Eliot Engel told reporters after being briefed. "I'm not sure I'm convinced about that."

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren also expressed doubts about the justification offered for killing Soleimani.

"There were so many important questions that they did not answer [and] we did not see a satisfying plan for the future," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, irate that Esper and company "walked out" of the briefing when questioning got tough.

Several Republicans described the briefings as helpful, and said they showed intelligence pointing to Iranian attacks expected within days against Americans.

Democrats seethed over Trump's unilateral order to kill Soleimani without congressional consent. But they joined Republicans including Senator Lindsey Graham in taking heart that Washington and Tehran appeared to choose de-escalation rather than war posturing.

"In my view, retaliation for the sake of retaliation is not necessary at this time," tweeted Graham, a hawkish Trump loyalist.

But he also lashed out at concerned Democrats, saying "I find this whole idea that somehow the national security team did not have a good basis to hit this guy to be ridiculous."

The briefings left not just Democrats fuming. Senator Mike Lee said it was "insulting" how briefers restricted questions about the appropriateness of military intervention with Iran.

Lee called the briefers' behavior "un-American," and announced he would support a Democratic-led war powers resolution.

Tensions between the US and Iran have escalated in recent years, but they spiked when Soleimani was killed. Iran retaliated this week by firing missiles at Iraqi bases where US troops are stationed.

Trump said he sought peace and that Iran appeared to be "standing down," while Tehran signalled it did not seek further confrontation.

"Both sides have said that that's their objective," senior House Democrat Steny Hoyer said. "Our hope is that that is what happens."
The late Lyra McKee's partner has rejected a renewed apology from the New IRA for murdering the journalist last year.

Sara Canning said an apology was meaningless while the group continues to shield the person responsible for killing the 29-year-old.

While a number of people have been arrested in connection with the murder in Londonderry last April, no charges have been brought.

The New IRA first apologised in the wake of the murder in Creggan area during which the journalist was killed while observing rioting.

Read More

Ms Canning said every word uttered by the group "rings hollow" following its latest apology.

"Lyra is dead because of your actions, and its a wonder more lives werent lost that night," she said.

"Give up the murderer, and give up in general. Youve admitted your actions wont yield a result you want.

"Stop using Lyras name to try to evoke some sort of positive response, you bring nothing positive, youre a stain on our society, and the lives you have taken are unjustifiable."

The apology, sent from terror group to The Irish News, said: "The IRA again take this opportunity to offer our full and sincere apologies to the partner and family and friends of Lyra McKee for her death.

"Our volunteers have been instructed to take the utmost care in future when engaging the enemy and we have put in place measures to ensure this."

The group also said it would meet force with force in a reference to the security forces.

"Against a background of the British government and its proxies stamping their authority on Ireland by force, we in the IRA intend meeting force with force," it said.

In recent days Ms McKee was posthumously awarded a Master of Arts degree in online journalism from Birmingham City University, where she had studied.

Ms Canning, writing on Twitter, said was "unfair" for the group to again speak out and apologise after so soon after the awarding of the degree.

"She had plans to go back and finish that masters after Lost Boys, there were plans and dreams and a life that she had planned for herself, and it was snatched away by these morons," she said.

Read More

"The same for the others whose lives have been taken and for what? Absolutely nothing, their aim will never be realised, what they claim to fight for is not the will of the vast majority here.

"The future of this place is uncertain, but it will never be what they envisage."

On Wednesday, the representative body for police officers in Northern Ireland branded the apology as hollow.

"Hollow words from terrorists," the Police Federation tweeted.

"The only way to ensure this never happens again, is to disengage from trying to murder ANYONE and accept that the overwhelming majority of people want to live in peace."
Although parametric solutions have been generally available since the late 1990s, they have more recently found their way into corporate insurance. Parametric insurance solutions offer a means to guarantee direct payout after a qualifying event and protect against unpredictable but potentially devastating risks in ways traditional insurance packages cannot.

These insurance solutions may offer alternatives to funding loss that are not possible with traditional insurance products that indemnify for an actual loss sustained.

The basic concept of parametric solutions is quite simple: Traditionally, instead of indemnifying for the actual loss incurred, parametric insurance covers the probability of a predefined event happening (e.g., a major hurricane and earthquake), and pays out according to a predefined scheme. Events may refer to an index-based trigger (e.g., crop shortfall) or an event within a defined area (often referred to as a cat-in-a-box). Exemplifying the cat-in-a-box concept, a policy might be structured to pay out 50%, 75%, or 100% of a predefined limit for a Category 3, 4, or 5 hurricane, respectively, happening within a 30-mile radius around the clients point of interest.

The notion of point of interest is an interesting feature of parametric cat-in-a-box solutions. The client defines a point on the map, i.e., a longitude-latitude geographical coordinate. Hence, the cover is not limited to the insureds own locations but can also include infrastructure critical for the client. This provides policyholders with flexibility.

Addressing Coverage Gaps

By addressing gaps in the cover such as non-damage business interruption, normally excluded assets, loss of attraction and prevention costs, parametric solutions complement rather than replace traditional indemnity products.

This structure offers benefits beyond expanding coverage. It also reduces complexity from the loss investigation process and provides greater certainty of loss payment recovery compared to traditional insurance products. Therefore, parametric insurance provides customers confidence when it comes to liquidity and speed of payout where predictive loss methods fall short.

Key Policy Differences

For those new to parametric insurance, it is helpful to highlight the key differences between traditional insurance products:

Nature of risk. Traditional indemnity insurance reimburses the insured for actual losses incurred. In contrast, parametric covers payout according to pre-defined parameters.

Basis risk. Traditional insurance includes deductibles, exclusions and conditions that balance insurer and insured interests. Parametric insurance, on the other hand, determines risk using pre-defined parameters (e.g., selected index), a pay-out matrix and the defined limit. Both types of cover do have a basis risk (i.e., the payout by the insurer does not cover the incurred losses). However, the basis risk tends to be greater for parametric solutions as it requires the clients to have an in-depth understanding of their exposure to the peril in question. Hence, if the trigger design is not well aligned with the underlying risk exposure, the insured will suffer a loss net of the insurance payment.

Term. Traditional insurance, especially in North America is frequently offered on an annual basis while parametric insurance may be offered on a one year or multi-year arrangement.

Structure. Traditional insurance contracts typically have standardized wording. While there may be some customized wordings negotiated, for the most part this is limited. Parametric insurance on the other hand is a customized product with uniquely tailored index and pay-out provisions. This wording is based on each clients specific needs, ideally aligned with its risk management game plan and the single or multi-trigger nature of the risk. However, parametric wording tends to be much shorter than a standard traditional policy.

Payment differences and claims handling. Traditional insurance includes payment triggered by actual loss or damage from an insured peril to a physical asset. Parametric insurance payments are triggered by an event exceeding a parametric threshold, i.e., an earthquake with minimum magnitude of 6.5 in a defined geographic area. While the assessment of actual losses with traditional insurance might be both complex and time-consuming (typically requiring a loss adjuster, which often takes months to years), the payout of parametrics is instead a matter of days. For example, some carriers offer terms to pay out within 20 business days after the event has been reported by the client. To sum up, traditional insurance involves reimbursement of actual loss sustained versus a pre-agreed payment structure based on an events index value.

Hypothetical Example

It can be helpful to learn about parametric policies by looking at a hypothetical example. For instance, a pharmaceutical companys drug manufacturing facility is located along the water of a coastal U.S. city that has been affected by rising sea levels. The companys executives are interested in protecting the facility from the potentially devastating impact of rising water levels around the facility but is having a hard time securing traditional coverage from insurers wary of taking on this risk.

A parametric insurance policy may be able to fill this gap. Based on data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an insurer capable of supplying a parametric policy could set up a triggering event of water rising past a certain level above the mean sea level, as defined by NOAA. The pay-out mechanism would be defined by how much the water level rises above a certain threshold. For example, the policy might pay out $2.5 million if water levels reach between 16 and 16.5 feet, $5 million if water levels reach between 16.5 and 17 feet, and $10 million if levels rise above 17 feet.

Under these scenarios, the water levels would be measured and reported by a third-party government agency (in this case, NOAA) and the insured would receive the payout immediately upon the ruling.

Parametric Insurances Key Elements

Parametric insurance policies contain two key elements: triggering events and pay-out mechanisms. These two elements (described below) define the scope of the policy, pricing, as well as other important terms that dictate the amount of financial reimbursement an insured will receive.

1. A triggering event. The insurance pays if an event (e.g., hurricane, earthquake) hits the defined trigger level for the index/measurement reflecting the peril in question. The index in question needs to reflect the exposure of the client. An independent, third party data source, providing the relevant information, is a crucial requirement for the parametric cover as the entire payout is based on this data. Hence, the objectivity and reliability of this source (also in case of a major event) is paramount. If we consider an earthquake event, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) earthquake magnitude indices would be such a source.

Typically, a triggering event might be a hurricane, flood or earthquake where the parameter or index is the wind speed, precipitation or magnitude of the quake. Catastrophe loss such as these are clear triggers but by no means the only ones used to fashion coverage. Other possible triggers often cited include crop yield, power outage, stock market indices or economic damages hitting municipalities due to event shortfalls in a supply chain. All events must be fortuitous and quantifiable to be able to model them.

2. A pay-out mechanism. The pay-out mechanism defines what happens in the case of an event meeting or exceeding the defined threshold, i.e., they determine how much money is paid out to the insured. Consider the recent magnitude 7.1 earthquake that occurred on July 5 in a defined geographical area of California. Say the pre-agreed pay-out parameter was 100% of the limit for magnitude 7.0 or greater. In this scenario, the policyholder would receive a 100% payout in this hypothetical example.

The idea is that a threshold may be set to align with a companys own business continuity plan and risk tolerance. For example, a company may know that with the risk mitigation measures currently in place, its business can sustain the effects of a magnitude 7.0 earthquake in the prior example. Above that magnitude, the company would require alternative risk transfer solutions. In short, parametric insurance allows management to better align its risk management goals with its overall financial objectives.

One of the most compelling aspects of parametric solutions is the clarity around these payouts. Claims are resolved much faster and without dispute. Contrast that with a complex insurance claim on a traditional policy, which may take a long time to adjust and be paid, due to the need to develop claim details and financial components as well as address issues like valuation and other conditions.

Current Landscape for Parametric Cover

The first parametric products have been around since the late-1990s and were developed by commodities traders as well as energy companies. Companies like AXA, Swiss Re and Munich Re entered the parametric space in the early 2000s. More recently as interest has grown, some of these companies have invested in parametric-focused teams to focus solely on crafting and pricing index-based solutions.

Currently, parametric insurance solutions are mostly used in the reinsurance space around catastrophe risks, but they have started to be used in other sectors such as aviation, special events and projects to protect against pure financial losses resulting from forces outside of an insureds control.

Of course, more traditional situations covering specific physical assets or property exposed to a pre-defined event, like agricultural, retail, agribusiness, energy, food & beverage, construction, transportation or industrial sectors, remain attractive to companies seeking an indexed approach. In fact, parametric insurance remains especially attractive to a company with more balance sheet risk than traditional insurance can alone address or in a cost-effective manner. The goal of such enterprises is to utilize a parametric approach to mitigate the liquidity risk of a traditional insurance contract.

Insurance buyers considering a parametric solution face a number of challenges that must be reconciled before moving forward. The data demands of parametric solutions are different than for traditional insurance and since the cover tends to be wider, it may be more expensive. Therefore, a buyer must have a strong understanding of the organizations business model and must be able to develop financial details and significant amounts of data to ensure that the approach will benefit the organization.

Feedback from carriers suggests that more and more customers, especially insureds with more complex liquidity risks, are making more inquiries about parametric solutions. Since both available data and the accuracy of modelling is improving, these solutions become efficient for sophisticated companies.

Parametric policies are also rising in popularity among carriers considering the virtual elimination of the claims handling process, which also presents significant cost savings to the insurer. The predetermined trigger and pay-out mechanism create a situation where it is crystal clear whether or not a company will receive payment and exactly how much is owed. Along these lines, insureds are paid much more quickly when there is limited necessary discovery or claims adjusting.

The Role of Brokers

While the claims handling process becomes much more streamlined after the policy is secured, companies considering parametric insurance policies will likely need assistance in the early planning stages of acquiring a policy. These companies will need to ensure that the triggering event and payout mechanisms are clearly defined and articulated in the policy. Without firm language on what constitutes a triggering event and how much exactly will be paid, companies risk leaving coverage gaps in their policy that could leave them on the hook for devastating losses.

Insurance brokers play a particularly important role in establishing and enforcing a robust process when it comes to purchasing a policy. This process goes far beyond that of traditional products, as parametric insurance is often a new product for purchasing companies. Insurance brokers that are able to truly understand the details of the product and its pros and cons for the policyholder can act as a trusted adviser to clients.

Brokers can also play a role in reviewing and understanding traditional covers and identifying gaps which might be filled with a parametric offering, identifying key loss drivers and selecting and managing insurance carriers on behalf of clients. Additionally, brokers should play an important role in identifying relevant data sources to set up an index appropriate to the exposures or coverage needs of the policyholder, especially for non-traditional risks.

Aside from some additional work upfront, the obvious benefits of parametric insurance will likely lead to continued growing adoption of these coverages. But before securing a parametric policy for themselves, businesses are wise to consult an insurance broker knowledgeable about the intricacies of these innovative products.

Insurance brokers experienced in parametric insurance policies will also be able to parse through complex policy language to ensure an organizations coverage needs are met. They can also assess a companys existing coverage and offer guidance in terms of where a parametric insurance policy could fill in coverage gaps or provide an extra layer of coverage.
By Rajesh Kumar Singh

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Deere & Co. <DE.N> on Wednesday said it will cut costs and ramp up investment in data-driven agriculture technology and its services business to make itself more profitable.

In a pitch to investors, Chief Executive Officer John May said the measures are expected to boost operating profit margin to 15% by 2022 from 12.5% projected for this year.

The steps, outlined by the company's new leadership, are part of a broader trend in the U.S. manufacturing sector which is facing its deepest slump in more than a decade.

In a bid to smooth earnings volatility, manufacturers such as Caterpillar <CAT.N> are slashing costs and focusing on more profitable parts and services businesses.

May, who took over Deere's reins in November, aims to shore up the company's fortunes which have taken a hit from Sino-U.S. trade tensions as well as poor weather in the American farm belt that has slowed equipment purchases by farmers.

The Moline, Illinois-based company reported lower profits in the latest quarter and has warned of lower earnings this year.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced last month that China had agreed to double its pre-trade war purchases of U.S. agricultural products over the next two years as part of a Phase 1 trade deal. Still, Deere expects industry sales of farm equipment in the United States and Canada, its biggest market, to decline about 5% this year.

In response to weak demand, the company has cut production and laid off workers.

May said Deere is reviewing its overseas manufacturing footprint in markets that have peaked or where it has over-invested. He did not provide the names of those facilities.

The company is also carrying out a voluntary separation program for its salaried employees, now projected to result in savings of $120 million, lower than $150 million estimated earlier.

May expects the cuts to add 1 percentage point to Deere's profits by 2022.

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The company is aiming to get a similar profit boost from investments in data-driven farming, known as precision agriculture, which enables farmers to plant according to the fertility of the soil, helping reduce input costs and enhance yields.

Similarly, it is betting on its parts and maintenance services business to contribute 50 basis points in added profits over the next two years. The segment currently accounts for a fifth of the company's sales.

(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that the European Union's position on the U.S.-Iran dispute should be more closely aligned with the United States and Israel.



"I would like for the European stance, which is not clear on this Iranian issue, to be oriented toward the Israeli-United States stance," Orban told a news conference on January 9 in Budapest.



U.S. President Donald Trump on January 8 urged world powers to quit a 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran that Washington abandoned in 2018 and work for a new deal. Iran, which denies having nuclear ambitions, has rejected new talks.



European Council President Charles Michel said on January 9 that he had spoken to Iranian President Hassan Rohani and urged Tehran to comply with the 2015 agreement.



EU foreign ministers are due to meet on January 10 in Brussels to discuss the tensions between the United States and Iran.



Orban, who has frequently scoffed at EU policy, met Trump last year, when the U.S. president praised his tough stance on immigration, a policy area in which the two leaders have similar visions. Orban also has warm relations with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.



Orban also said Budapest will keep its troops stationed in Iraq as long as the government in Baghdad stands by the agreement between the two countries.



However, Orban added that plans were in place should the Hungarian troops need to be evacuated, which would take place "immediately" if Iraq pulls out of the agreement.



EU and NATO member Hungary has some 150 military personnel in Iraq's Kurdish region.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
Both Labour and the Greens have ruled out propping up the embattled government to safeguard its control in the Dail as the prospect of snap general election looms.

The two parties have now backed calls for the Dail to be dissolved and for fresh elections - despite an insistence by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar that he may be able to rely on opposition support.

Ahead of a crunch meeting between Mr Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin over the two major parties continuing the confidence and supply agreement in order to postpone a vote and maintain the lifetime of the current Dail, other leaders ruled out providing support to keep the parliament limping on for a number of weeks.

Speaking at Leinster House this evening, Labour's Brendan Howlin said:

If you talk to anyone in this house, everyone agrees that the lifespan of this Dail has run its course and everybody is in election mode.

So the usefulness of the next number of weeks if its stays in existence is highly problematic. So I think that the Taoiseach should accept that this Dail has run its course, call a general election and allow the people to put in place a government which will actually solve the issues that are of most concern to people, like housing and healthcare.

I've had nothing but the absolute concerns of my constituents over Christmas in relation to healthcare. I've never seen the likes of it. I think people want a change, they don't trust the current administration.

Limping on for a number of weeks was a waste of time, added Mr Howlin.

Mr Howlin also insisted his party was not in any pact with the coalition to support it in government.

We never supported it. We have taken every opportunity to express concerns on all its policy platforms. That will remain our position until there is a general election."

Mr Howlin said any matters such as climate change and related measures could be addressed after the general election by the next administration.

A phoney election for a number of weeks would be infinitely worse than an actual election, he told reporters.

Greens leader Eamon Ryan also ruled out supporting the coalition in any vote it may need and that his party also believes that now is the appropriate time for a general election.

Mr Ryan said it was hard to see how others won't take the same approach.
Researchers at Swedens Karolinska Institutet have developed an online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for pain symptoms connected with fibromyalgia.

Maria Hedman-Lagerlof, a doctoral student at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet and colleagues found that patients who receive CBT experience fewer symptoms and enjoy a better quality of life.

Many doctors feel frustrated and at a loss when meeting a patient with fibromyalgia as there is currently no effective treatment, but now things might be looking up, Hedman-Lagerlof said.

Fibromyalgia is a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal chronic pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory, and mood issues. Many patients with fibromyalgia also suffer from joint pain, muscle pain, concentration difficulties, headaches, gastrointestinal problems, depression, and anxiety.

A fibromyalgia diagnosis can be made if a person has had widespread pain for more than three months with no underlying medical condition that could cause the pain. The cause of fibromyalgia is unknown, and there are no known cures for the condition.

Over-Awareness of the Body

The therapy created by Hedman-Lagerlof and colleagues is designed to counteract the brains learned over-awareness of the body. It involves patients performing activities that they would otherwise avoid on account of their fibromyalgia. They are required to practice holding onto their experience of pain and discomfort without becoming distracted.

The brain gradually learns that these unpleasant signals arent dangerous and so stops interpreting them as important, Hedman-Lagerlof said. When you become less occupied with the pain signals you dont feel as impeded by them, which tends to mitigate the pain and other symptoms, Hedman-Lagerlof said.

In studying the online cognitive behavioral therapy, patients with fibromyalgia were randomly assigned either to a course of online CBT or to a waiting list. Over a ten-week course of treatment, the group enrolled in the online training had fewer symptoms and felt less obstructed by their condition than the control group who were assigned to the waiting list. They also showed improved functionality and quality of life, with less anxiety, depression, insomnia, and fatigue.

The next step is to compare our therapy with a different kind of psychological treatment, Hedman-Lagerlof said. If it proves more effective it wouldnt take long for it to be implemented by the health services, where it can benefit the lives of many patients.

CBT offers new options to those suffering from fibromyalgia, which has no known cure and few treatment options. An analysis of the therapy also shows that it is a cost-effective treatment, which is partly due to it being online. Participants who followed CBT treatment recorded spending less time in healthcare.

Self-care is critical in the management of fibromyalgia. Along with the CBT, studies have shown that lifestyle changes can help to reduce symptoms of fibromyalgia. Reducing stress, getting daily exercise, eating healthy, and maintaining an overall healthy lifestyle can go a long way towards having a higher quality of life when living with fibromyalgia.

Mat Lecompte is a health and wellness journalist. This article was first published on Bel Marra Health.
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said evidence indicates an Iranian missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner and that the strike may have been unintentional.

Mr Trudeau said Canadian and allied intelligence supports that.

He declined to get into the intelligence.

Earlier, US officials said it was highly likely that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed the jetliner, killing all 176 people on board.

Expand Close Mourners place candles and photographs during a vigil outside the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton, Alberta, during a vigil for those killed after a Ukrainian passenger jet crashed (Codie McLachlan/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Mourners place candles and photographs during a vigil outside the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton, Alberta, during a vigil for those killed after a Ukrainian passenger jet crashed (Codie McLachlan/AP)

They suggested it could well have been a mistake.

At least 63 Canadians were on the plane.

It crashed just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic attack against Iraqi military bases housing US troops amid a confrontation with Washington over the US drone strike that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general.

At least 62 Canadians were among the 176 dead.

Mr Trudeau spoke at a news conference.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 09, 2020 | 12:27 PM | GRAVES COUNTY

The Graves County Sheriff's Office is searching for two suspects in connection with some area thefts.

Deputies say the thefts occurred in mid to late December near the Clear Springs and Symsonia areas. Police say the suspects were in a blue or black, 2007 or newer, Chevrolet Tahoe when the thefts took place.

The suspects have been identified as 19-year-old Kelsey Dawson and 22-year-old William Burgie, both of Mayfield. Both are currently wanted on outstanding arrest warrants charging them with 3rd degree burglary and 1st degree criminal trespass.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Dawson or Burgie is asked to contact the Graves County Sheriff's Office or any local law enforcement agency.
Government has dispatched solar-powered rice mills to four rice farming areas to help resolve the inadequate capacity for milling paddy rice.

The mills were sent to New Edubiase and Ejura, both in the Ashanti Region, Yamoransa in the Central Region and Fumbisi in the Upper East Region.

The initiative by government is part of government efforts to boost the cultivation and consumption of rice locally.

Speaking with the Daily Graphic, the Technical Advisor to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Mr Emmanuel Asante-Krobea, explained that the mills were currently being installed in the areas where the production of rice was high.

READ ALSO: Menzgold suspends payment; says NAM1 is traumatized

He indicated that the government was negotiating with two companies to import rice milling machines into the country to help farmers access and use them to mill their rice.

We expect about 500 additional milling machines from China and Brazil to increase the milling capacity by the next harvesting season, he said.

He further assured the farmers, especially those in the Fumbisi Valley, that the mills the government had brought in were solar-powered and would, therefore, not require any electricity to operate.

He gave an assurance that the mills that were being imported were of high technological capacity and could remove all stones, making rice milled in the country comparable to rice anywhere in the world.

READ ALSO: Paternity fraud: Ashanti Region tops all; men fathering children that are not theirs

In other news, The Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) has revealed that cases of false paternity have been on the rise in the Ashanti region.

According to DOVVSU, many men in the region are being made to believe that they are the biological fathers of children that are actually not theirs.

The Unit said there have been more cases of paternity fraud in the region than physical abuse of men.

READ ALSO: Standard of living in Accra is expensive; Kumasi the cheapest in Ghana  GSS

Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Source: YEN.com.gh
4,665 case of suicides were recorded in Maharashtra over 2017 and 2018. Karnataka ranked second with 2,522 cases in two years.

Hyderabad: Despite a decrease nationwide in the number of suicides by farmers and cultivators from 2017 to 2018, these numbers registered an increase in Telangana state. While in 2017 the number of farmers who took their lives in the state was registered as 846, this number rose to 900 in 2018, according to data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

The NCRB released its 2018 crime statistics report on Thursday. The number of suicides by farmers countrywide stood at 5,763 in 2017 and at 5,955 in 2018, according to the NCRB report.

The NCRB said that when suicides among all those engaged in farming sector in Telangana state is taken into account the number stood at 851 for 2017, and rose to 908 for 2018. For both years, men outnumbered women farmers in taking their lives in the state. For 2017, the number of male farmers and cultivators who committed suicide was 729 while 117 women farmers also took their lives. For the subsequent year, these figures stood at 793 and 107 respectively.

The state also retained the dubious status of being third in terms of suicides by farmers and cultivators for the two years. Maharashtra with 2,239 (2017) and 2,426 (2018) was the worst-affected followed by Karnataka with 1,365 (2017) and 1,157 (2018) suicides by farmers for the two years.

Woes of tenant farmers likely to increase further

The latest data released by National Crime Records Bureau, that showed an increase in the number of suicides by farmers in Telangana state in 2018 compared to 2017, indicates that agriculturists continue to face high levels of distress despite initiatives by the state government such as Rythu Bandhu scheme, farm rights activists said.

Stress in the agriculture sector does not have a single solution. The government appears to be relying on its flagship schemes to eliminate the stresses faced by the sector, said Mr Kiran Kumar Vissa, All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee national group working member. The real reason for increase in suicides by farmers is that the government is not addressing the fundamental issues that challenge the sector. It is not that the solutions are not known. The government seems to believe that one or two silver bullets like Rythu Bandhu will work, he said.

Among the major problems faced by farmers is that of compensation for weather-induced crop damages or losses resulting from drought or excessive rain.

While the state government refused to declare drought in 2018, crop insurance is not implemented properly, Mr Vissa explained. The loan waiver did not help much as banks were reluctant to issue fresh loans until the dues were paid. Because of the spend on Rythu Bandhu there has been little spending under other heads that assist the sector, he said.

According to Mr Kondal Reddy, secretary, Rythu Swarajya Vedika, most of the farmers who took their lives were tenant farmers who were left out of the Rythu Bandhu input assistance scheme and had little recourse to bank loans.

However, Mr Reddy said welfare measures for women such as free deliveries at government hospitals, and welfare pensions, have kept hopes alive among some farmers who would have otherwise faced additional financial distress.

The problem of tenant farmers will only increase in the state. Even with Mission Kakatiya and the Kaleshwaram project providing increased irrigation, the result will be farmers benefiting from these schemes are likely to move to other businesses after a few seasons and lease their lands.

This is what happened in the East and West Godavari districts in Andhra Pradesh. The government must address the tenant farmers issues if it wants to keep the number of suicides down among farmers, he said.
For millions of women throughout history, practicing abstinence in order to avoid the potentially devastating outcome of an unwanted baby wasnt so much a moral choice as a practical necessity.

Much has happened in the last 70 years that has altered this dynamic in Western countries. Premarital sex is now encouraged; premarital celibacy is mocked; there is contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancy, and theres abortion to end it. Gone is the principle of caution, replaced with mere consent. But do women really have less to lose now from sex than they once did? Is the new rationale sufficient to protect girls from harm or to make boys be decent?

The recent case of a 19-year-old British woman, convicted for reporting gang rape in Cyprus, suggests otherwise. The facts of the case are deeply disturbing. The way she has been treated is frankly monstrous. Last summer, the teen was on a working vacation at the Pambos Napa Rocks Hotel in Ayia Napa, Cyprus, where she met and began a romantic relationship with a young Israeli man. On July 17, as the two were having sex in her hotel room, a gang of her boyfriends friends entered and began to video them without her consent (this was later posted on multiple porn sites).

Before barging into her room, the men were overheard boasting that they intended to do orgies with the English girl. (Later, enjoying Champagne and confetti, they chanted in front of a female Israeli journalist: The Brit is a whore.) The teen claims that, upon entering the room, one man sat on her shoulders so she couldnt move, see, or free herself  as multiple men penetrated her. After escaping, the girl says that she fled to a nearby clinic where a doctor examined her and then called the police. The girls medical examination, which showed DNA from at least four people, as well as scratches on her legs and internal injuries, would appear to support her story. But the judge, Michalis Papathanasiou, wasnt interested in hearing any evidence related to the actual rape. Because  unbelievably  the young men were not the ones on trial; she was.

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Ten days after the attack, the police called her back in for questioning, saying her account didnt add up. And on July 27, in the early hours of the morning, after eight hours of questioning, with neither a lawyer nor translator present  and not even permitted to call her mother  she retracted her statement. The teen plead not guilty when tried for lying about the rape. She later said that she felt under pressure from the police to retract her statement. And her lawyer, Michael Polak, director of Justice Abroad, told the BBC, People suffering with PTSD can make retraction statements just to get themselves out of the situation in which they find themselves.

To add to her humiliation, Papathanasiou supported his decision with the covertly recorded sex tape, which he said showed that the encounter had been consensual:

The reason why she initially gave false statements was because she realised that she was being recorded while she was having sexual intercourse and so she was placed in a difficult position and felt embarrassed. . . . She then apologised saying she had made a mistake by filing a false statement.

But, again, how can he possibly be sure of that when the rape itself never went to trial? When he wouldnt allow relevant evidence to be admitted? Writing in the Times of London, Janice Turner highlights an additional, diplomatic concern:

In Cyprus, politicians werent going to let one silly British girl spoil relations with Israel, which not only uses the island, its only friendly regional neighbour, as a playground for its youth but is a key defence and trade partner. On Thursday the Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu met the Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades to sign off the $6 billion EastMed gas pipeline project. You dont have to be a tin-foil hat conspiracist to think it unlikely Cyprus would imperil this deal by having 12 young Israeli men, some reportedly from high-born political families, stuck indefinitely in its jails.

The teen girl, who now has a conviction of public mischief, spent over a month in jail, and she has only just been allowed to return to the U.K. on a suspended sentence. She had been due to begin university but is now dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder. Intimate videos of her have now been watched by goodness-knows how many creeps searching gang rape on porn sites. And while she has been scarred and may never recover, her tormentors have barely been inconvenienced.

The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a statement: The U.K. is seriously concerned about the fair trial guarantees in this deeply distressing case and we will be raising the issue with the Cypriot authorities. This is the very least they can do. But there are cultural implications, too. Yes, this is an extreme example, but it serves as a reminder that no matter what preventive and terminative measures we concoct for reproduction, no matter how hard we try to teach consent or promote safe sex, sex is always potentially devastating for women, so long as human nature remains human nature, and men retain their physiological advantages.

One of the most poignant articulations of this point comes from Thomas Hardys novel Tess of the dUrbervilles, in which the protagonist, having been raped by a suitor, pleads with her mother as if her poor heart would break:

How could I be expected to know? I was a child when I left this house four months ago. Why didnt you tell me there was danger in men-folk? Why didnt you warn me? Ladies know what to fend hands against, because they read novels that tell them of these tricks; but I never had the chance o learning in that way, and you did not help me!

That was written in 1891. What are we doing to help girls now?

More from National Review
The main contenders to succeed Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn have been announced, with a field dominated by the Blairite right-wing.

Corbyn announced he would stand down as party leader following Labours landslide defeat in the December 12 general election, losing 59 seats to Boris Johnsons Conservatives.

On Monday evening, Labours National Executive Committee (NEC) agreed that nominations from MPs would begin the following day, with the overall ballot to be closed on April 2 and Corbyns successor revealed April 4.

The NEC stipulated that MPs standing must win the backing of 22 MPs or MEPs and at least 5 percent of constituency parties (33) or three affiliated bodiestwo of which must be trade unions.

Corbyn was elected Labour leader promising an end to the pro-business, pro-war Blairite era, with the backing of hundreds of thousands of Labour members and supporters in 2015. Four years on, the leadership contest makes clear that he did not change the character of this right-wing, pro-imperialist party one iota.

Just one of the six of candidates for leaderRebecca Long-Baileyis even recognised as a supporter of Corbyn. Since the election, his supportersthere are only around 20 MPs who identify themselves as part of Labours lefthave been desperately seeking agreement on who should be the Corbynite continuity candidate.

Two MPs were considered, Ian Lavery, the former National Union of Mineworkers leader, and Long-Bailey, the MP for the northern seat of Salford and Eccles. After the election, shadow cancellow John McDonnell declared his own intention to leave the shadow cabinet and named Long-Bailey as his favoured candidate to preserve Corbyns political legacy.

But even with the threshold lowered by the Corbynites so that MPs standing for the leadership now require the backing of just 10 percent of MPs (down from the previous 15 percent), it was feared that two left candidates may not be able to secure enough support to get on the ballot. In the end, it was agreed that Long-Bailey would stand alone.

Long-Bailey is one of six candidates, with Corbyns shadow Brexit secretary, Sir Keir Starmer, the clear favourite among MPs, followed by a gaggle of other right-wingers made up of Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry; Clive Lewis, the shadow minister for sustainable economics; and backbenchers Lisa Nandy and Jess Phillips.

Standing for the deputy position are Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary; Richard Burgon, the shadow justice secretary; Dawn Butler, the shadow minister for women and equalities; Khalid Mahmood, the shadow Europe minister; Ian Murray and Rosena Allin-Khan.

Of the entire list of 12 standing for leader and deputy, only four were Corbyn backersLong-Bailey, Rayner, Burgon and Butler.

Long-Bailey has no popular standing in the party, having previously been a commercial lawyer and only joining Labour around 2010 before being elected an MP in a safe seat five years ago. She owes her position to Corbyns inner circle, who quickly elevated her into the shadow cabinet.

Long-Baileys political record, though limited, at least proves there are no essential differences between the Corbynite and Blairite factions of the Labour party. The pattern was set in an interview in May 2015, a few weeks before being elected, with independent local newspaper, the Salford Star.

Asked about the around 100 million in cuts that had been imposed by Labour-run Salford council, including 1,200 job losses, Long-Bailey said, We understand that we are going to have to deal with the economy in the state we find it on May 7 [general election day]. And to be credible we have to show what we can do ...

Everyone had to wait until Labour got into office and was able to clamp down on tax avoidance, she said.

Under Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband, from 2008 Labour councils pushed through tens of billions in cuts in every major urban area. After Corbyn took over from Miliband, he and McDonnell sent a letter in December 2015 to all Labour councils instructing them to continue setting a legal budget and to take all actions necessary to bring the budget back into balance.

In the first two years after Long-Bailey became Salfords MP, 55 million in cuts were imposed. For 2019/20, the council is slashing another 13 million from services it provides.

Long-Bailey has staked her leadership bid on nationalist jingoism and appeasement towards the Blairites. When announcing in the Guardian that she was considering standing, Long-Bailey called for the party to respond to the election defeat, with particular reference to the loss of votes over Labours Brexit policy, by espousing a form of progressive patriotism.

Asked on BBCs Today programme if she would authorise a nuclear strike as prime minister, she replied, If you have a deterrent you have to be prepared to use it.  And of course, any country that was considering pushing the nuclear button needed to realise that we were facing nuclear annihilation right across the whole world. But, yes, a leader would need to be prepared to engage in that if they were going to use the nuclear deterrent going forward.

Long-Bailey declared last year that Labour MP of 44 years standing, Chris Williamson, should not be allowed back in the party. A lifelong anti-racist and leading Corbyn backer, Williamson was forced out of the party by the Blairites after being falsely accused of anti-Semitism without his leader lifting a finger in his defence.

Speaking on Today, Long-Bailey went further still in endorsing the Blairites witch-hunt campaign, stating, We werent strong enough on anti-Semitism and Ive been quite clear about that before  Ultimately, he [Corbyn] has to take responsibility as the leader of the party.

She insisted that Labour must be bound by whatever recommendations are made by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the body currently investigating allegations of anti-Semitism in Labour after being prompted by the Zionist Jewish Labour Movement. The EHRC can institute legal proceedings which could end in criminal proceedings against the Labour Party and its leading officials, including Corbyn.

Long-Bailey and her running mate, Angela Rayner, have both rejected their designation as Corbyn continuity candidates. Rayner told Rupert Murdochs Sky News , We are the Labour party. We are not left, right-wings of the Labour Party. Weve got to get away from these divisions, and demarcation lines  Weve got to come together now and heal those divisions.

[T]he the first thing is to make sure were the broadest church as possible and I think Ive proven that in my [four] years in Parliament and in my years in the movement.

She told the Guardian, I dont consider myself to be of one political persuasion or another. Im not a Blairite, Im not a Corbynite, Im not a Brownite.

Long-Bailey and Rayner are the continuity candidates inasmuch as Corbyns entire period as leader was centred on appeasing the right and stressing his own commitment to party unity.

This is epitomised by the fact that the two most prominent Blairite challengers are Corbyns Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer and his Shadow Foreign Minister Emily Thornberry.

Starmer, a leading QC, was Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) from 2010-2013 and in that role was head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). As DPP, he played a critical role in the persecution and incarceration of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after his arrest in London in 2010, when Sweden first sought his extradition on false sexual allegations.

The CPS opposed a decision by a lower court to release Assange on bail and appealed to the High Court. Starmer said, The general position and the nature of the arrangement is absolutely clear. The Crown Prosecution Service acts here as agents of the government seeking extradition, in this case the Swedish government. These proceedings are brought as agents of the Swedish government.

Within a year of leaving his post as DPP, for which he was knighted, Starmer was chosen to be a Labour MP.

Thornberry, also a lawyer, holds the title of Lady Nugee. As shadow foreign secretary, she played a pivotal role in insisting that Corbyn, as party leader, drop all opposition to the renewal of the UK nuclear weapons programme and for Labour to back NATO and commit to the 2 percent of GDP target for military spending.

Clive Lewis, portrayed as of the soft left, is an infantry officer graduate from the elite Sandhurst Military Academy, who served in Afghanistan in 2009. As Corbyns shadow defence secretary he supported Trident renewal and pledged that a Labour government would fulfil its commitments to NATO, including those under Article 5 pledging to go to war in defence of another NATO ally.

In 2016, Lisa Nandy appeared at a conference of the Blue Labour group alongside a host of right-wingers including its founder, Labour peer Maurice Glasman.

Blue Labour criticises Blairism from the right, railing against how a supposed belief in internationalism has blinded the party to the legitimate fears of immigration undermining wages and straining social provisions and urging an agenda based on advocating for family, faith, and flag.

Jess Phillips, who likes nothing more than to talk about Jess Phillips, played a leading role in the Blairites efforts to remove Corbyn as Labour leader. Her political style is epitomised by her statement to the Guardian in December 2015, just three months after Corbyn was elected, that she had told him and his staff: The day that ... you are hurting us more than you are helping us, I wont knife you in the back, Ill knife you in the front. In another altercation, she told Corbyns Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott to f*** off.

Such is Corbyns political legacy in preserving the Blairites domination of the Parliamentary Labour Party that Starmer was the first candidate to secure the necessary nominations, including the backing of a major union, Unison. By Wednesday, Starmer had 41 nominations from MPs and Members of the European Parliament. This was more than double that of Long-Bailey who was trailing with 17 nominations. Phillips had 16 and Nandy 12.
Justice Dilip B Bhosale has resigned as member of the country's anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal, citing personal reasons, nine months after he was appointed to the Constitutional post.

"I have tendered my resignation from the post of judicial member Lokpal on January 6, with effect from January 12, 2020 due to personal reasons," he said in a tweet without elaborating further.

A former chief justice of the Allahabad High Court, Bhosale was administered the oath of office by Lokpal chairman Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose on March 27, 2019.

A Lokpal member is appointed for a five-year term or till attaining the age of 70.

Bhosale, 63, comes from a family of freedom fighters. He served as judge of the high courts of Bombay and Karnataka and as acting chief justice of the high court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for 15 months (2015-2016).

According to rules, an incumbent on ceasing office as a Lokpal member is barred from taking up any diplomatic assignment or contesting any election of president, vice president, member of either House of Parliament or State Legislature among others.

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.

All the eight Lokpal members were administered the oath of office by Justice Ghose on March 27.

Besides Bhosale, former chief justices of different high courts -- Pradip Kumar Mohanty, Abhilasha Kumari and Ajay Kumar Tripathi -- had taken oath as judicial members of the Lokpal.

The first woman chief of the 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.

The Lokpal Act, which envisages the 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.

The government is working on finalising a format to file a complaint with the Lokpal. As per norms, a complaint shall be filed in the prescribed form to be notified by the central government.

Lokpal has received 1,065 complaints till September 30, 2019. Of these, 1,000 have been heard and disposed of, according to a latest official data.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
NEW YORK, Jan. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C., a nationally recognized shareholder law firm, is investigating potential claims against Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE: PFS) on behalf of Provident Financial Services stockholders. Our investigation concerns whether Provident Financial has violated the federal securities laws and/or engaged in other unlawful business practices.

Click here to participate in the action.

On April 27, 2018, Provident released its financial results for the first fiscal quarter of 2018, disclosing "deterioration in selected commercial credits, including a $15.4 million credit to a commercial borrower" that had filed for bankruptcy in March 2018. Provident also disclosed that the Company had established a $2.5 million specific reserve for this loan.

On July 5, 2018, Provident disclosed that the Company expected an additional reserve would be required for the remaining balance of the previously disclosed $15.4 million credit, and that its net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2018 would be reduced by as much as $9.3 million, after tax, or up to $0.14 per diluted share.

Then, on July 27, 2018, Provident released its financial results for the second fiscal quarter of 2018, disclosing that two additional loans from another commercial borrower became impaired during the quarter, leading to a net charge-off of $4 million. Provident's Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") Christopher Martin stated that the losses "were primarily driven by two commercial relationships which we believe involved borrower fraud in each instance."

On this news, Provident's stock price fell $1.46 per share, or 5.27%, to close at $26.23 per share on July 27, 2018.

Later, in December 2019, certain Provident emails were made public during the course of litigation in New York state court, which indicated that Provident was aware of the fraudulent nature of and/or risks posed by at least one of its failed loans. Specifically, Provident executives and top-level management, including CEO Martin, seemingly ignored multiple red flags regarding a potential loan to Lotus Exim International ("Lotus") before ultimately extending a $17 million loan to Lotus.

If you purchased or otherwise acquired Provident financial shares and suffered a loss, have information, 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 Brandon Walker or Melissa Fortunato by email at [email protected], telephone at (212) 355-4648, or by filling out this contact form. There is no cost or obligation to you.

About Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.:

Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. is a nationally recognized law firm with offices in New York and California. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in commercial, securities, derivative, and other complex litigation in state and federal courts across the country. For more information about the firm, please visit www.bespc.com . Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

Contact Information:

Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.

Brandon Walker, Esq.

Melissa Fortunato, Esq.

(212) 355-4648

[email protected]

www.bespc.com



SOURCE Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 06:02:43|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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by Xinhua writer Chen Wenxian

TEL AVIV, Israel, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The third China International Import Expo (CIIE) road show was held on Thursday in the Israeli city Tel Aviv, attracting more than 100 delegates from the Israeli government, organizations and companies.

A delegation from the CIIE bureau, the event organizer, gave a detailed introduction of the third import expo, due to be held in November this year in the Chinese city of Shanghai.

The economic and trade ties between China and Israel have been flourishing since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1992, said Dai Yuming, charge d'affaires ad interim at the Chinese Embassy in Israel.

Currently, China is Israel's largest trading partner in Asia and also Israel's second largest trading partner in the world, he noted.

"There are strong economic complementarities between China and Israel and there are unlimited potentials for the two countries in the field of bilateral economic and trade cooperation," Dai said.

The CIIE has been serving as a vital platform in providing important opportunities for more and more global excellent exporters to set foot in the Chinese market and benefit from the rapid development of Chinese economy, Dai said.

He expressed the hope that Israeli companies could take advantage of the opportunity to expand their presence in the Chinese market by actively participating in the CIIE.

Liu Fuxue, deputy director of the CIIE bureau, who led the delegation for the road show, invited Israeli business representatives to attend the third CIIE, bringing more cutting-edge, high-quality and competitive products, technologies and services.

A total of six Israeli companies took part in the second CIIE held from Nov. 5-10 in 2019, with an exhibition area totalling about 760 square meters, Liu said.

More and more Israeli companies are looking for business opportunities in different fields such as agriculture, water technologies, medical and digital health, telecommunication, and automotive, said Michal Niddam Wachsman, director of the China Department of the Foreign Trade Administration at Israel's Ministry of Economy and Industry.

"The CIIE initiative is an excellent opportunity for Israeli companies looking to increase their business activities in the Chinese market," said Wachsman.

Israel's Foreign Trade Administration is operating six commercial offices in China, ranking the top in number of the offices across the world, with the aim of enhancing cooperation in trade and investment between the two countries, she said.

The potential for promoting the commercial ties between Israel and China is unlimited, said Sabine Segal, deputy director general for International Business Affairs of the Israel Export & International Cooperation Institute.

He said the tremendous flow of business delegations between the two sides and the volume of the business deals reached "are a fantastic testimony to that."

Israeli hi-tech company Watergen participated in the second CIIE, where it exhibited its water-from-air system which produces high-quality drinking water from air.

"The CIIE is a good platform to further improve the relations between Israel and China," Paula Crystal Green, head of the sales department of Watergen, told Xinhua.

Many Israeli companies are now trying to enter the Chinese market and the CIIE is the "right place" to present their technologies, Green said.

More than 3,800 enterprises from 181 countries, regions and international organizations participated in the second CIIE, which concluded with tentative deals worth 71.13 billion U.S. dollars reached for one-year purchases of goods and services.
The California Homebuilding Foundation (CHF) has elected two new industry leaders to its 2020 Board of Trustees: Kevin Carson, Northern California President of The New Homes Company, and Tom Grable, Division President of TRI Pointe Homes, Southern California.

Kevin Carson and Tom Grable join a volunteer board of 37 active members who are dedicated to serving CHF by creating a prosperous, thriving homebuilding industry in California.

The Foundation is excited to welcome the support and contributions of these two distinguished industry professionals:

Kevin S. Carson is the Northern California President of The New Home Company. With 30 years of homebuilding experience, Carson served as President of Ryland Homes Sacramento division from 1994 to 1998, later becoming President of John Laing Homes, leading the division to building over 5,000 homes throughout Northern California. In 2014, under Carsons leadership, The New Home Company began development of The Cannery, a sustainable, farm-to-table community located in Davis, CA. In addition to his role as company President, Carson also currently serves on the Executive Board of HomeAid. Mr. Carson was inducted into the 2016 CHF Hall of Fame.

Tom Grable has been with TRI Pointe Homes since 2010 and the President of its Southern California division since 2014. Prior to joining the TRI Pointe Homes team, Mr. Grable served as an Appointed Receivers Agent with California Real Estate Receiverships from 2009 to 2010. Mr. Grable was with William Lyon Homes, Inc. from 1998 to 2009 and served a combined 10 years at Beazer Homes and Watt Homes, Inc. Mr. Grable is currently a member of the California Building Industry Association (CBIA)s Board of Directors and has served in leadership positions with the Building Industry Association of Southern California (BIASC) since 2003. He currently leads the BIASC as its 2019-2020 President.

To learn more about the California Homebuilding Foundation or to view the full 2020 roster of Board Trustees, visit http://www.mychf.org.

About the California Homebuilding Foundation

The California Homebuilding Foundation (CHF) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization representing Californias homebuilding industry. CHFs mission is to ensure the continued success of the homebuilding industry through the development of its current and future workforce, funding pertinent research, and honoring exemplary industry leaders. The Foundation if the presenter of Californias top industry award, Hall of Fame. Go to http://www.mychf.org for more information on programs and services provided by the California Homebuilding Foundation.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Avion Unmanned, the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) division of Avion Solutions, Inc., signed a Participating Addendum with the State of Montana and all its State Agencies, Political Subdivisions and Institutions. This contract opens the door for Avion Unmanned to provide UAS services to state and local government agencies in Montana.

"Providing a simplified direct path for government agencies at all levels to request unmanned aircraft operations is finally a reality. With the signing of this Participating Addendum with Montana, Avion Unmanned may provide critical data collection services to organizations who desperately need it, but have never before had a contract vehicle to acquire vetted, legal, and safe operations in a timely manner," said Taylor Abington, Senior Program Manager of Avion Unmanned.

Based on proven expertise, Avion Unmanned has been chosen to provide UAS services nationwide through the National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) ValuePoint Cooperative Purchasing Organization. Among the UAS services Avion Unmanned can provide are: Emergency Services, Law Enforcement Support, Aerial Inspection and Mapping Data Services, support to Agricultural and Gaming, as well as Agency Media Relations and Marketing. Virginia's Department of General Service (DGS) and NASPO are working together through Contract E194-79435 to provide agencies easier access to UAS or drone services to organizations like Avion Unmanned.

"Avion Unmanned's solutions are true force multipliers that provide actionable data, reduce operational risks, and improve efficiency in critical areas from disaster response to law enforcement, infrastructure and construction development/monitoring and even agriculture management," said Chad Donald, President and CEO of Avion Solutions. "Under this new contract, Avion will partner with agencies nationwide to enable better decision-making, improve operations, and save lives."

For more information, visit https://www.naspovaluepoint.org/portfolio/unmanned-aerial-vehicle-drone-services-2019-2024/avion-solutions-inc/.

About Avion Unmanned

Avion Unmanned, the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) service provider of Avion Solutions, Inc., provides UAS flight operations, Red Team support, aerial inspections, training, and program development for commercial, military and non-military government agencies. The UAS team seeks to improve the efficiency, safety, and effectiveness of organizations through quality UAS services.

About Avion Solutions

Avion Solutions, Inc. is an employee-owned innovative engineering and logistics solutions provider for complex military-grade projects. Headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama with a presence in multiple states across the U.S., Avion Solutions has provided solutions to Department of Defense customers and commercial clients since 1992. Our broad range of technical expertise includes engineering, logistics and technical services, data analysis, software development, small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and drone services, and development of a full spectrum of training solutions ranging from on-site classroom training to interactive multimedia instruction (IMI) programs. Avion Solutions is a 2019 Best Places to Work award winner. To learn more, visit www.avionsolutions.com.

If you would like more information about this release, please contact Michael Jones at 256-327-7155 or email [email protected].

Contact: Michael Jones, Marketing Manager

Phone: 256-327-7155

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Avion Solutions Inc.

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Investing.com - Asian markets rebounded in morning trade on Thursday after U.S.-Iran tensions appeared to ease somewhat.

Chinas Shanghai Composite and the SZSE Component gained 0.5% and 1.1%. The countrys consumer price index rose 4.5% last month from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics data said Thursday. The median forecast was for a 4.7% increase.

Meanwhile, the producer price index declined 0.5% from a year earlier, slower than the 1.4% drop in November.

Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index rose 1.2%.

Japans Nikkei 225 jumped 2.0%. South Koreas KOSPI traded 1.1% higher.

Down under, Australias ASX 200 climbed 0.6%.

Overnight, U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran has appeared to be standing down.

"Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned," Trump said in a speech following Iran's strikes on several U.S. military bases.

"The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it," the president added.

His comments eased concerns of further escalation of conflict in the Middle East.

However, the president added that the U.S. will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime.

His comments came after Iran reportedly launched rockets against U.S. military bases in Iraq. Last week, Irans top general Qasem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad.

Global equities slumped on Wednesday after the attack, but recovered after the two countries appeared to suggest a halt in hostilities.

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(Newser)  Hundreds of students were shut out of school Wednesday in Seattle because records didn't show they'd had the required vaccinations. A few weeks ago, 2,200 students didn't have vaccinations on file, the Times reports. After warnings were sent out about the Wednesday deadline and free vaccination clinics were held, the figure had dropped to 799 on Tuesday afternoon. At 10am Wednesday, 565 public school students couldn't demonstrate compliance. Those who went to school were put in a supervised room until their parents could pick them up. Students who could show they had a vaccination appointment scheduled were allowed in class, per ABC.

story continues below

Staff members of at least one school visited the homes of students lacking records over the holiday break. Officials said they wouldn't bar anyone from a couple of schools that have high numbers of students who've recently moved to Seattle from other countries. Vaccination requirements vary, and getting records up-to-date can be complicated. Schools also won't keep out students who present a signed medical or religious exemption certificate. Washington law no longer lets parents claim a personal exemption for their children from the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Students will be charged with an unexcused absence for each day they're out until they're up-to-date, per MyNorthwest, when the record will be wiped clean. (Read more vaccinations stories.)
Parents of late actor Kushal Punjabi and his wife have jointly issued a statement responding to speculations around the reasons for his suicide. They have refuted reports that Kushal was financially unstable or had a failed marriage.

Also read: Kajol says she had a miscarriage when K3G released: The film had done so well, but it wasnt a happy time

It has been an emotional challenge for us all as a family to cope with his loss, as you can imagine and most importantly for his young son who is barely 4 years old. There have been multiple reports through various media that have been falsely reported as being given by members of Kushals family and we hereby confirm these as not true. Kushal was a very doting father who shared a close relationship with his son, and who was financially stable. Today, we stand together as one family in mourning, a SpotBoye report quoted the statement.

The statement further said, Kushal will always be remembered fondly as a much loved part of this family and will be missed by all of us. We stand by each other in our loss as a family and request you to please refrain from false speculations and reports on Kushal to allow his soul to rest in peace. While we do hope that this joint statement from us will put an end to any further speculation, we urge people and the media to please respect the familys privacy, especially that of his young son and leave us to grieve.

Earlier this week, his wife Audrey Dolhen reacted to allegations that a failed marriage pushed Kushal to take the extreme step. We had problems in our marriage but it was not a failed marriage. I never stopped Kian from talking to his father Kushal. It was Kushal who was not serious about his family, Dolhen had said.

I invited him to settle down in Shanghai but he was least interested. In fact, it was me who was looking after his expenses. Kian lost interest in his father because of lack of seriousness. I tried my best to save my relationship with Kushal, she added.

The TV actor committed suicide at his Mumbai home. He has also left a suicide note. Speaking to Hindustan Times, deputy commissioner of police Paramjit Singh Dahiya DCP said, We recovered a suicide note in which he has written that no one should be blamed for his act. We are conducting an inquiry. The news of Kushals death was revealed by his friend Karanvir Singh Bohra on social media.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
A former minister has called for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to relinquish their titles and repay the 2.4million spent on renovating their official residence after they said they want to quit as senior members of the royal family.

Norman Baker, a former Liberal Democrat MP and a Home Office minister in the coalition government, said 'you can't be one foot in, one foot out'.

He also said the Duke and Duchess of Sussex should hand back the public money spent on overhauling Frogmore Cottage, the Grade II-listed property near Windsor Castle, which the couple intend to keep.

Meanwhile, MPs have accused Prince Harry and Ms Markle of wanting to 'have their cake and eat it' after they said they want to be able to earn a professional income while also retaining some royal financial backing.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during their engagement announcement at Kensington Palace in November 2017

The couple will keep Frogmore Cottage (above) that was gifted to them by the Queen

Norman Baker, a former Home Office minister pictured in November 2014, suggested Prince Harry and Ms Markle should give up their official titles and repay money spent on renovating Frogmore Cottage

Mr Baker, who remains a member of the Privy Council, told the Express: 'You are either a member of the royal family or you are not.'

He said that Prince Harry is 'entitled in my view to absent himself and become a private citizen'.

'But what he can't do is becoming a private citizen, not doing royal duties and still have the state paying for him,' he added.

'He should give the money back spent on Frogmore Cottage and pay himself for the jets between the UK and America. And pay for his security.'

The couple said all travel arrangements in their private time 'will continue to be paid for privately and not by UK taxpayers' but security costs are likely to still be picked up by the public.

The bombshell announcement made by Prince Harry and Ms Markle last night has sparked a wave of questions over what their future status as members of the royal family will look like.

There is growing speculation over whether they will be able to retain their Duke and Duchess titles if they proceed with their plan to earn their own income.

They said in a statement published on their website: 'We intend to step back as "senior" members of the Royal Family, and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.'

They did not address the issue of titles in the statement but they do appear to be planning to turn their 'Sussex Royal' moniker into a global brand, having trademarked it on more than 100 items.

The announcement has prompted intense scrutiny of the couple's finances with the refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage having been funded by the Sovereign Grant.

The Sovereign Grant is the annual funding mechanism that covers the work of the royal family in support of the Queen, including expenses to maintain official residences and workspaces, and pay for official royal travel.

The duke and duchess will continue to use Frogmore Cottage 'as their official residence as they continue to support the monarchy, and so that their family will always have a place to call home in the United Kingdom', they said on their website.

Expenses related to fixtures, furnishings and fittings at the official residence - a gift to the couple from the Queen but owned by the Crown Estate - were funded by the pair themselves.

Funding from the Sovereign Grant covers just five per cent of Prince Harry and Ms Meghan's official office expenses and they have said they intend to stop receiving money from this source.

But 95 per cent of the funding for Harry and Meghan's office comes from income allocated by the Prince of Wales, generated through his private estate, the Duchy of Cornwall. It is thought that this source of cash will remain in place for the couple.

One Tory MP said it looked like Prince Harry and Ms Markle were trying to 'have their cake and eat it'.

Another said they should not benefit from any publicly-generated funding if they are stepping back from their senior roles.

They said: 'That is going to be a concern of a lot of people. If they want to have financial independence, no one would quibble with that.

'But the announcement they made was really quite sketchy.

'We will have to wait for their full proposals but it will be rather worrying if they quit their duties while maintaining a large share of what they are enjoying from the Civil List. I don't think that's acceptable.'

Labour MP Margaret Hodge, a former chair of the Public Accounts Committee, told MailOnline the royal finances were too secretive and it was hard to tell how much the public was funding individuals.

'I think it would be helpful to reassure the public if there was greater transparency around all the royal finances,' she said.

Anti-monarchy campaign group Republic has urged Prince Harry and Meghan to give up their Scottish titles, namely the Earl and Countess of Dumbarton.

Documents published by the Intellectual Property Office have now shown how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex plan to expand their brand

They were given the titles, along with the Dukedom of Sussex, by the Queen on the morning of their wedding back in 2018, but the couple have never visited the Scottish town since that day.

Graham Smith, chief executive of Republic, said: 'My own view is that they should not be hanging on to all their titles if they don't want to do the job.

'They can't have it both ways - keeping the perks but not wanting to stay and do the work. There's a long history of royals taking titles and doing nothing else with them.

'If I lived in Dumbarton I would be pretty miffed they had taken the title but not supported the community they claim to represent.'

The couple have an estimated 34million private fortune to fund their new life after quitting as senior royals, but could make even more through future commercial ventures.

Until now Prince Harry and Ms Meghan have been 'prohibited from earning any income in any form'  as they pointed out last night in a lengthy statement on their website.

Nicole Murdoch, a trademark lawyer based in Brisbane, Australia, said the decision to seek protections for the Sussex Royal brand appeared to have been a 'defensive move'.

She said: 'This could be because they may lose their titles as part of leaving the Royal Family.

'So this is a defensive move to allow them to continue using the titles or a name that alludes to the titles.

'Their royal titles are gifted by the Queen  will they lose their royal titles when they step back from Royal duties.

'When the trademark move was publicised in December there was a lot of uncertainty over why they were doing it. But now it's become very clear.

'This was a strategic move and it happened in the middle of last year so it's not some decision the pair made during their Christmas holidays.'
What can be done about so ancient and durable a plague? Plenty. When anti-Semitism emerges as hate crimes or violence, as in New York, there must be a concerted community response: aggressive prosecution by police and aggressive condemnation from political leaders. When anti-Semitic tropes crop up in our discourse, they need to be effectively marginalized. And all these efforts become more powerful when we are willing to criticize anti-Semitism within our own ideological tradition  conservatives confronting problems on the right and liberals criticizing problems on the left  rather than locating the problem mainly among our opponents. When the charge of anti-Semitism is used as a political weapon, it ceases to be a shared moral imperative.
Pamela Smart on teen lover who murdered husband nearly 3 decades ago: 'I loved him' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

After nearly three decades behind bars for plotting to kill her husband at their home, Pamela Smart is still proclaiming her innocence.

I have been portrayed as [an] ice princess, a black widow, a killer, and none of those things could be further from the truth, Smart told 20/20 in a new interview.

Smart's story made national headlines in the 1990s when she went to trial on charges she coerced her teenaged lover Billy Flynn into a plot to kill her 24-year-old husband Gregg Smart.

Pamela Smarts trial took place before the high-profile trials of the Menendez brothers, John and Lorena Bobbitt and O.J. Simpson.

The trial was broadcast live on TV and it subsequently launched a media frenzy. A local New Hampshire TV station preempted daytime soap operas for trial coverage. The sensational event led to a made-for-TV movie, features in various true crime TV series in the U.S. and abroad, as well as the 1995 feature film "To Die For," starring Nicole Kidman.

Watch the full story on "20/20" Friday, Jan. 10 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

In March 1991, Pamela Smart was convicted of witness tampering, conspiracy to commit murder and being an accomplice to first-degree murder. Under New Hampshire law, the accomplice charge carried a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole. She was 23 years old at the time.

Smart, now age 52, has spent the last 29 years incarcerated and is currently at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in Westchester County, New York.

I wanted to be [a] mother and now Ive lost all my years, she said. It seems like the whole world's passing by and, you know, I'm still here.

Over the years, Smart has filed numerous appeals and lost each time. With all her appeals exhausted, she said it's difficult to hope she'll ever leave prison alive.

Story continues

PHOTO: I have been portrayed as [an] ice princess, a black widow, a killer, and none of those things could be further from the truth, Smart told 20/20 in a new interview. (ABC)

Through it all, her mother, Linda Wojas, has continued her crusade to fight for her daughters freedom.

I just hope God lets me live long enough to see her free, Wojas said in a new interview with 20/20.

Pamela Smarts time in prison was difficult from early on. In 1996, she was beaten by two inmates who left her with injuries so severe that she needed a metal plate to be inserted into the side of her face.

Since then, Smart has earned two master's degrees. She said she participates in a leadership team for the prisons church and that shes the director of its praise dance group. She said she also works as a liaison between inmates and the prison superintendent.

Wojas, who firmly believes in her daughters innocence, said she once asked Smart to apologize for her husbands murder in hopes that it would help get her out of prison. Pamela Smart has consistently denied for decades she had any involvement in her husbands murder.

In February 2018, Smarts legal team submitted a petition for her sentence to be commuted, including testimonials from people she knew in prison.

I was struck by the letters of support. I was struck by how well Ms. Smart has conducted herself in prison. And then I got to the memo that she personally wrote, New Hampshire Executive Council member Andru Volinsky told 20/20.

In the very first paragraph, she claimed she had no involvement with his death, Volinsky said. That is at great odds with the evidence in the case. The failure to recognize her own culpability was what convinced me to vote against the hearing. How do I trust someone who hasn't even come to terms with her own responsibility for the death of her husband?

Smart was ultimately denied a sentence reduction hearing.

A life in prison is a world apart from the life Smart imagined for herself as a newlywed making a home in Derry, New Hampshire, in 1990.

I was only 21 years old when I got married. I was very much in love with my husband, Smart told 20/20. I thought that Gregg and I, that we would have a fulfilling future. That we would have a family and children.

Pamela Smart, who goes by Pame, worked at a local high school as a media and journalism coordinator while her husband went into the insurance business with his father.

On May 1, 1990, Smart said she came home from work to find her husband dead from a gunshot wound to the head inside their condominium.

(MORE: Pamela Smart 17 Yrs Later: 'Innocent')

What happened to Gregg is the most horrible thing I've ever gone through in my life, and I'm still haunted every day by memories of what must have happened to him inside our house before he was killed, Smart said in her most recent interview. Although I wasn't there, I feel that because of that I'll never know how Gregg was feeling at the time. I keep thinking of how afraid he must have been and how senseless this whole tragedy was. A lot of the times, I still can't even believe that he's gone.

Police were investigating the case for six weeks before they got their first break. Vance Lattime Sr. went into the Seabrook Police station with his .38 caliber revolver, telling authorities that one of his sons friends had told him it may have been used to kill Gregg Smart.

PHOTO: Vance Lattime leaves Rockingham County Superior Court in Exeter, N.H., after Judge Douglas Gray called for a break at the end of the day, March 7, 1991. (Jim Cole/AP, FILE)

Once ballistics results confirmed a match between bullets fired from the gun and the bullet that killed Gregg Smart, police brought in Vance Lattime Jr.s friend, Ralph Welch, for questioning.

Welch told police he had a conversation with Lattime Jr., and Patrick Pete Randall in the Lattime home, who talked about how Gregg Smart was killed.

He said he heard the boys discuss how Lattime Jr., Randall, and two other boys, Raymond Fowler and Billy Flynn were there that night. Welch said Lattime Jr. and Randall said that Lattime Jr. drove the group to the Smarts condo, and that Flynn and Randall went inside while Fowler remained in the car.

They [Flynn and Randall] went there, and they broke into the place. They set it up to make it look like a burglary. I guess the guy tried to run or something, they grabbed him, they threw his dog in the cellar, Welch said. Pete said he held the guy's head while Bill shot him.

Welch told police that hed also heard Pamela Smart had promised his friends $500 each out of a life insurance policy, which investigators later learned totaled $140,000.

Investigators were at a loss for how these high schoolers were connected to Pamela Smart. Then, police got an anonymous tip about Cecilia Pierce.

Pierce, another high school student who was interning for Smart, provided the link police were missing: Pierce said Smart was not only hanging out with the high schoolers she worked with but she had also begun an affair with Flynn, the young man who Welch claimed pulled the trigger.

Pierce told police that Pamela Smart was kinda like a big sister to her. She told them she knew Smart and Flynn were having sex, because one night, the three were watching a movie together when Smart and Flynn went off to have sex, and Pierce walked in on them, Pierce said.

Smart admitted to "20/20" that her relationship with Flynn was totally wrong.

It was actually very difficult because I had feelings for my husband. I loved him and I also had developed feelings for Bill, and I knew that I couldn't continue like this, Smart said. It wasn't, you know, gonna work like this forever. It was only a short relationship.

PHOTO: William Flynn, 17, looks at state police photo of Gregory Smart, during his testimony in Exeter, N.H., March 12, 1991. (Jim Cole/AP, FILE)

In July 1990, Pierce wore a police-monitored body wire that recorded Pamela Smart's apparently telling Pierce to lie to investigators.

I'm just telling you, you know, if you tell the truth, you're gonna be an accessory to murder, Smart said to Pierce in the recording. Now, you know you're gonna be on the witness standand then he'll say, Did you know? And you're gonna say no. Did Pame do it? No.

Smart argues, however, she was only pretending to be involved, hoping it would make Pierce give her information about what police knew.

All I wanted to know was did [Flynn] really kill my husband, she said. More than anything I wanted this not to be true...because I felt responsible.

I thought there was no way, because the person I knew, I never saw him violent, or anything like that, Smart said of Flynn.

PHOTO: Pamela Smart, 23, stands trial on charges of being an accomplice to first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder at the Rockingham Superior County Court in Exeter, N.H., March 11, 1991. (Susanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images, FILE)

Smart says that her attorney had even warned her not to trust Pierce before this conversation took place.

Let me tell you how out of whack I was, Smart told 20/20. The day before this [conversation with Pierce], I had a lawyer, and he calls me up and he says, Whatever you do, don't talk to herbecause she's coming in and she's gonna be wired.

Smart was arrested in August 1990. She said that at the time, she was not really worried about it.

I knew that I hadn't done anything wrong. I'm thinking this is gonna get straightened out, Smart said.

But the young man Smart said she had developed feelings for decided to cooperate. Flynn told investigators she coerced him to commit the murder.

I meet Pame Smart and she's beautiful, she's intelligent, you know, she's an adultand she likes me, Flynn told police. She said the way she sees it, the only alternativeis to kill him.

Flynn told police she would bring up the plan to kill her husband almost every day She said she hated him.

She had told Billy something along the lines that [Gregg Smart] mistreated her, and trying to give Billy some motive[that he] was a bad guy and deserved to die, Paul Maggiotto, the former New Hampshire assistant attorney general who prosecuted Smarts case, told 20/20 in a new interview.

She had used her sexual powers to influence Bill Flynn, Maggiotto added. But I can't tell you that she didn't legitimately love him.

Flynn, Randall, Lattime Jr. and Raymond Fowler eventually confessed to their roles in the murder and pleaded guilty to various charges. They later cooperated with authorities in their prosecution against Smart.

Randall testified that he asked her to go over the plan ahead of Gregg Smarts murder. Pamela Smart gave herself an alibi by being at a work meeting while the boys killed her husband.

I wanted to make sure everything was gonna work. And she told me she was leaving the backdoors unlocked, we could go in, make sure we didn't turn on any lights, Randall said on the stand. [She said] not to hurt her dog, and that we could ransack the apartment, the condo, take what we wanted. And wait for Gregg to come home. And when Gregg came home we were to kill him.

When Gregg Smart walked in, Flynn and Randall said they jumped him and forced him to kneel down on the floor. Randall said he held a knife in front of his face but it was Flynn who fatally shot him. Meanwhile, Fowler and Lattime Jr., the latter of whom was driving the getaway car, were waiting in the car outside.

PHOTO: Pamela Smart, 23, enters the Rockingham County Superior Court courtroom in Exeter, N.H. for the verdict in her trial, March 22, 1991. (Tom Landers/The Boston Globe via Getty Images, FILE)

Mark Sisti, Pamela Smarts defense attorney, said there was a tsunami of media attention around Smarts trial. He told 20/20 in a new interview that most of it was over-the-top drama.

We did not have a jury that was sequestered. So, naturally, we were concerned that they were going to be affected, Sisti said.

Sisti argued at Smarts trial that the prosecution made a deal with the devil.

Like any other wild animals, they'd chew off their own arm if they were caught in a trap, Sisti said during Smarts trial, referring to the four teens who cooperated with the prosecution.

During the trial, Flynn took the stand and emotionally recounted how hed been convinced that he and Smart could only be together if we killed Gregg. Because she cant divorce him.

Flynn testified at trial how he paused just before shooting Gregg Smart in the head.

PHOTO: Patrick Randall, 17, testifies in Rockingham County Superior Court in Exeter, N.H., March 9, 1991. (AP, FILE)

A hundred years, it seemed, and I said God forgive me. [Then] I pulled the trigger, Flynn said.

I didn't want to kill Gregg. You know, I wanted to be with Pame. And that's what I had to do to be with Pame, he said.

Smart said that when she sensed the jury empathizing with Flynn, she wanted to scream.

I wanted to get up and say, Stop lying! she said.

Smart told 20/20 that she absolutely believes Flynn lied to get a lesser sentence.

I know he lied, she said. There's only two people -- three -- that know the truth: me, him and God.

I was a woman. This happened in a small New England town and it seemed like the whole Salem witch trial thing all over again, Smart said. The media latched on. I was like the proverbial woman with the scarlet letter. You know, everybody could project everything on me and hate me.

Wojas also believes her daughter did not receive a fair trial.

When you have publicity1,200 newspaper articles screaming her guilt, [then] you'll put in safeguards, Wojas said. Stay the trial while the publicity abates. You change the venue. And you sequester the jury.

The jury was not sequestered and the venue was not changed.

PHOTO: Pamela Smart gets sworn in before testifying in her own defense in Rockingham County Court. (Bettmann Archive via Getty Images, FILE)

Flynn and Randall each served 25 years in prison for second-degree murder and both men were paroled in June 2015. Lattime Jr. served 15 years in prison and was paroled in August 2005. Fowler served 12 years in prison and was paroled in 2003.

When ABC News Diane Sawyer interviewed Flynn in 1995, she asked him what the one question he would ask Smart, if given the chance, would be.

Whether or not she really ever loved me, Flynn said at the time. In hindsight, that might not seem like a very big deal to most people, but knowing that she had me do this and that I did go through with it and that she never really loved me would probably kill me.

In a separate interview with Sawyer in 1995, Smart told her, Yes I think I did really love him.

Even today, Smart says she loved Flynn.

I loved him, she told 20/20. I cared for him. I had feelings. People act like I just used him and went lurking through the school looking for somebody to manipulate. And it was just really wasn't even like that.
Bowser said that, according to statistics from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, about 41 percent of guns recovered from crimes in the District in 2018 have been traced to Virginia. In 2018, law enforcement agencies recovered a total of 2,095 guns, and ATF traced 599 that were purchased in Virginia, according to ATF statistics the mayor cited in her letter.
YEREVAN.  In our estimation, the situation is becoming more de-escalating, and we hope that there will be a general calm in the coming days. Armen Grigoryan, Secretary of the Security Council (SC) of Armenia, said this in a conversation with reporters today, talking about the current US-Iran relations and their possible developments.

"Of course, we [Armenia] are always preparing for the worst," he said. "We have done very extensive work, both during the Syrian crisis and the Iranian crisis. We can say that our institutional capacity has increased, we have been able to develop both an evacuation plan and a crisis response plan. 

Asked whether Armenia is going to act as a mediator between the United States and Iran, the SC secretary said: Such an option has not been discussed yet. Of course, we want the conflict to be resolved as soon as possible, and we see our role more in continuing the dialogue with both sides. If need be, we are ready for any option to help mitigate the conflict as much as possible. 

Journalists inquired whether there were concerns regarding the economic security of Armenia, and Armen Grigoryan replied: At this moment we have no problem i terms of economic security. We have discussed all the options (...). We have already found the solution to all the alternative roads. () we are ready in all respects; of course, unless there are force majeure situations.
Cardi B is a rapper with a big attitude and it certainly gets her lots of fans. But she also has plenty of brands competing to sign her to an advertising campaign.

Why do so many companies want to work with Cardi B? Is it just because of her massive audience or is there some other secret to her success?

The answer is more complicated than it seems.

Why brands love working with Cardi B

Cardi B | Raymond Hall/GC Images

Cardi B went from being a struggling teen in the Bronx to a millionaire rapper in just a few years. A lot of that success is because of her tell it like it is attitude. She doesnt seem to have a filter on her mouth, but many people find that refreshing.

When it comes to advertising partnerships, brands love her completely honest image. They want to work with Cardi B because they know shell make it her own.

Over the last few years, Cardi B has built a net worth thats estimated to be between $12 million and as high as $24 million, but not all of that income comes from here music. A large percentage of that comes from advertising partnerships. Cardi B has worked with brands like Pepsi, Lyft, Steve Madden, Fashion Nova, and most recently, Reebok.

Like a lot of other brands, the rappers brave, in your face attitude is exactly what drew Reebok to Cardi B.

According to a press release from Reebok, as reported by PopSugar, Cardi B was the perfect star to launch their new Aztrek dad sneaker.

Shes broken every mold that superstars are supposed to fit into  and shes reached the top by following nobodys path but her own, Reebok said of Cardi B.

Because they believe shes a fearless individual, Reebok said Cardi B fits right in with their brand and image. Reebok has a longstanding legacy of nonconformity, the brand said, whether its creating the first workout shoe exclusively for women or putting bold-faced expletives and fresh-faced hip hop stars in its big ad campaigns in the early 00s.

Cardi B can drag brands into drama

Although she can draw a large audience, brands may want to be careful about signing with Cardi B. The same fearless attitude thats so attractive can also drag brands into drama.

In 2018, the feud between Cardi B and fellow rapper Nicki Minaj turned ugly on Twitter, dragging two brands along with them.

Diesel and Steve Madden were drawn into an argument between the rappers about who was offered advertising campaigns first. While the two rappers fought it out online, the brand CEOs stepped in and attempted to set the record straight.

Unfortunately, they only ended up making the argument worse. In one case, Steve Madden was even called a liar.

When Minaj claimed that she had turned down an offer from Madden several times before Cardi B started working with the brand, Madden tweeted from their official account, @NICKIMINAJ you cant turn down an offer that was never made. #StopLying.

But that remark didnt turn out too well for Madden. Minaj had proof that the company had asked her to do a collaboration in 2015. @SteveMadden thought I was lying you dumb fk. You, Irv & Gee Roberson came to my house in MALIBU BEGGING me to do the deal. I said no, she tweeted along with a video interview where the matter was discussed.

Steve Madden later attempted an apology and tried to back out of the argument. Unfortunately, the damage was already done.

Cardi B creates big sales for brands

Despite the drama that Cardi B has caused for some companies, she can help create a successful campaign. Theres no doubt that she has a massive audience behind her and theyre eager for her opinion on products. When the rapper teamed up with Fashion Nova, the line immediately sold out.

And its not just brands that Cardi B can promote successfully. When the rapper visited the country of Nigeria, she promoted the beautiful culture, and natural resources, introducing it to an audience that otherwise wouldnt have known it from anywhere else.

According to Pulse: Cardi B did more for Brand Nigeria than Mohammed, the presidency and successive administrations and state governments have done since independence in 1960.

Cardi B is definitely an attractive celebrity for brands to work with, and she gets results. As long as theyre able to calm her bold attitude (but then, thats also what people love!), advertising campaigns with the rapper can be very successful.
Chandigarh, Jan 8 : British craftsmen will exhibit artefacts at the Surajkund fair with signing of a pact on Wednesday between the Haryana government and the British Council here.

State Tourism Minister Kanwar Pal said the agreement in the field of tourism and crafts with the British Council would strengthen India-UK relations and promote tourism as well.

Taking to the media after the memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Surajkund Mela Authority and the British Council, he said the agreement was signed for three years.

Describing the pact as another milestone in the history of Surajkund Mela, he said that the fair, which will be held from February 1 to February 16 in Faridabad, would gain more popularity globally.

He said the British Council would organise programmes such as training of artisans, development of business models for artisans and display of handicrafts in India and Britain.

Additional Chief Secretary and Surajkund Mela Authority Vice Chairman, Vijai Vardhan said the British Council would help four craftsmen from Britain participating in the fair each year.

He said free board, lodging and local transport facility would be provided to the craftsmen participating in Surajkund Mela. Apart from this, free space will also be made available for sale or exhibition of artworks during the fair.

The British Council's North India Regional Director Tom Birtwistle expressed happiness over the agreement, saying that this would give the craftsmen of the two countries an opportunity to showcase their talent at an international platform.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

Trend:

A delegation led by Chairman of Azerbaijans Center for Analysis of International Relations Farid Shafiyev held meetings in the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, the Beijing International Studies University and the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, Trend reports referring to the Center Jan. 9.

At the meetings, political, economic issues, security issues of the region where Azerbaijan is located, success achieved in China-Azerbaijan bilateral relations, opportunities for cooperation in transport and other fields, the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and other important issues were discussed.

Information was provided about the programs that the Center for Analysis of International Relations plans to implement for foreign researchers, and the possibilities being created for joint research were discussed.

Shafiyev also informed his Chinese colleagues about the ongoing reforms in Azerbaijan.

A memorandum of understanding was signed with the Beijing International Studies University and the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations to further expand cooperation opportunities.
Due diligence is a vital part of the equitisation process, but many SOEs are wary of revealing information to overseas investors Photo: Le Toan

Equitisation and divestment are important tools that the government employs to re-arrange, restructure, and drive innovation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The equitisation programme began to be tested by Vietnam 30 years ago, being officially implemented in 1992 and actively promoted from 1996 until today.

Huynh Cong Tam

The government issued Decree No.126/2017/ND-CP in 2017 on conversion from SOEs and single-member limited liability companies with 100 per cent of charter capital invested by SOEs into joint-stock companies.

It provides an equitisation plan and the process to be followed. Importantly, it provides conditions for investors, including foreign investors, to purchase shares of SOEs through the equitisation process.

But based on a report issued by the Ministry of Finance in December 2019, since 2017 the equitisation and divestment of SOEs has only achieved 7.8 per cent of its target. This is in stark contrast to the plan approved by the prime minister in 2017 under Decision No.1232/QD-TTg giving approval on the list of SOEs that must undergo divestment in the 2017-2020 period.

Other targets over many years in this area have similarly not been met. The objective of selling shares to strategic investors, especially overseas ones, remains little more than the target. The fact is that strategic investors have not been included to participate in the equitisation of SOEs.

As part of the governments new efforts to hasten the process of state equitisation and divestment, in August 2019 the prime minister issued Decision No.26/2019/QD-TTg approving the amended list of SOEs that will be equitised through the end of 2020. According to Decision 26, 128 such enterprises have been scheduled for equitisation for the period, with many of them carried forward from the previous list. A number of circulars and decisions have also been issued by the competent state authorities in 2019 for such purposes.

Adding attraction

So how can foreign investors participate in SOE equitisation?

Looking at the results over the past few years, a report from the State Securities Commission stated that the participation rate of outside investors in SOE equitisation reached only 9.5 per cent, with participation of strategic investors hitting 7.3 per cent. In particular, only four among 46 SOEs sold shares to foreign strategic investors by equitisation, accounting for 8.7 per cent. These statistics are based on a report by the Central Institute for Economic Management.

There are a number of reasons why international investors view equitisation of SOEs as unattractive. A key reason is a lack of public and transparent information as it relates to the SOE target. Although the regulations on disclosure and transparency of SOEs which have to be equitised are relatively adequate, the reality is that lack of transparency remains a major hurdle. For example, it is a common practice prior to an acquisition for the buyer to conduct a due diligence appraisal of the target company. In such process, the potential buyer wants to review and have assurances on important aspects of the target company including legal, financial, operational, and commercial. In practice, few SOEs are aware of the importance of conducting such due diligence investigations by strategic international investors.

They may, therefore, be unwilling to grant investors full access to delve into the target companys books, licenses, certificates, business, operations, and other significant details. Without acceptance and well-considered preparation and planning, SOEs may not meet the expectations of foreign investors. The reality explains, in part, the reason for a low percentage of foreign investment in equitised SOEs.

The valuation of SOEs is another issue which creates obstacles to strategic foreign investors. According to an aforementioned report by the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the process of equitisation of SOEs normally takes a long time for the authorities to deal with financial, land use rights, and labour issues.

Most of the delay comes from problems with valuation of the SOEs assets, especially the value of land use rights and intangible assets. Relevant regulations under Decree 126, 2017s Circular No.122/2017/TT-BTC on promulgating Vietnamese Valuation Standard 12, and Decree No.91/2015/ND-CP released in 2015 on state capital investment in enterprises and financial management in state enterprises, require the involvement of various relevant authorities during the SOEs valuation.

There are also other obstacles. Assets including land are frequently valued quite differently from a government standpoint compared to a commercial standpoint.

Determining the selling price of shares to strategic investors is also an area where a large difference often exists. Limits on the ownership ratio of foreign investors as well as the ownership ratio of the state in the SOE post-equitisation is a key factor. In addition, generally, overseas investors prefer to own a majority but not a minority, and without controls.

New business options

Although hurdles exist for foreign investors, the process of SOE equitisation can bring opportunities too. This is especially true for those that become strategic shareholders of equitised SOEs. Sabeco, Vinamilk, and PV Oil are examples of reasonably successful equitisations. The process opens the door for investors to enter into certain business areas which were historically out of reach because they were within the states monopoly. SOEs have other distinct advantages, such as access to resources which private enterprises simply do not possess.

Under Decision 26, there are notable SOEs which have been put into the equitisation and divestment plan - among them are Agribank, Vinacomin, VNPT, MobiFone, Vinachem, Saigontourist, and many others.

According to the Steering Committee for Enterprise Innovation and Development, the biggest goal of SOE equitisation is to renovate the governance model, modernise technology, and call for investment which will promote operational efficiency. Accordingly, SOE equitisation and divestment must meet legal requirements and be fully transparent in order to bring the highest benefits.

The government continues to improve the legal framework of SOE equitisation, divestment, and restructuring. Specifically, the MoFs Circular No.21/2019/TT-BTC dated April 2019 provides a framework for book building for the purposes of determining the price for an initial public offering. This is particularly helpful when it comes to major auctions that involve foreign investors as it raises efficiency and effectiveness of the initial public offer of the enterprises.

Circular No.03/2019/TT-NHNN issued by the State Bank of Vietnam in May 2019 is supportive as it provides a legal mechanism for foreign investors to make deposits in overseas currencies when they agree to participate in SOE auctions. Circular 03 is aimed to amend and supplement a number of articles of 2013s Circular No.32/2013/TT-NHNN guiding the implementation of regulations on restricting the use of such currencies across the Vietnamese territory. Equitisation and divestment are increasingly becoming valuable tools for the government. Vietnam has taken necessary steps to ensure that the SOE equitisation objective can be achieved. Proper execution will increase the likelihood that foreign investors will participate in the process as strategic shareholders.
Rachel Wolf is a partner in Public First. She had co-charge of the 2019 Conservative Manifesto. She was an education and innovation adviser at Number 10 during David Camerons premiership and was founding director of the New Schools Network.

A while ago my company did two in-depth projects looking at the attitude and understanding of parents with children at primary and secondary school. Most of the people we talked to were C1 C2 D  in other words, the people who just voted Conservative. These terms can seem a bit meaningless (and the difference between a C1 and a D is very large) so here are a a few examples: one of the men was a joiner and another drove a van; quite a few of the women had part-time administration jobs in local small businesses and a couple worked in shops.

(If this sounds sexist it is not meant to  it is just a fact that women with children from these backgrounds tend to work part time and get jobs to fit.)

I have been very involved in school reform for the past decade  including founding and running the main Free School organisation, New Schools Network. The conversations were an eye-opening measure of where we had succeeded and where, to date, we had failed.

Three discussions summed it up.

The first was with a group of enraged parents in Yorkshire. Their school was in special measures and there were no local alternatives. They had been told their school was a failure, that their childrens futures were probably blighted, but that they could do nothing. No one else seemed to be fixing the problem either. This is exactly what the academy programme was designed to address  it has worked brilliantly in some parts of the country, but we still struggle to get enough people to take over schools and turn them round in others  primarily outside of the South East and our major cities.

This is why Ofsted has just published a report on stuck schools (those that have remained poor despite continued interventions and new leadership) with a proposal to do more to support them. Academies have not, at least yet, worked everywhere.

But it was noticeable that many of those stuck schools blamed parental disengagement (Ofsted made clear they couldnt verify if this were true). I dont think Ive ever had a conversation with a school leader where the parents werent considered inadequate in some way  either too disengaged or too nagging.

Of course some schools must cope with suffering children with very troubled families. But most parents are not troubled, and in the case of the Yorkshire school they were neither disaffected or disengaged. They were impotent.

The second group was in London. It was a different world. Many of the parents fell over themselves to talk enthusiastically about particular schools. London schools have moved from being among the worst in my childhood to being the best in the country. A huge proportion of the schools that consistently get kids from very disadvantaged backgrounds (often from ethnic minorities) into elite universities are in London.

Free Schools, the project I was involved in during the coalition years, are one reason for this triumph, indeed what was striking about the London groups was how many parents could name individual free schools. Many of the best schools in the country are now Free Schools. But a lot of those  probably too many  are in London.

The third discussion was in the East Midlands. The parents we spoke to didnt have children at terrible schools. But they werent particularly good either. All the schools were quite similar in standards and approach.

Those parents werent miserable  they didnt know anyone who sent their kids to schools that were markedly different (private schools are another, foreign, world for these groups and are irrelevant in their mind). The primary parents dutifully did all the homework the school suggested. They were competent and loving  like almost every parent in the country. But we knew, looking at the data, that the children at these schools could be doing much, much, better.

These are the parents we have, in my view, most consistently failed in the last decade, and where we continue to have the least to say. Weve done some important things  the children in those schools, for example, will be taught to read using better and more effective methods than a decade ago. But we havent empowered the parents to demand more for their children. The NHS has been on a ten year drive to help people take charge of their own health  including developing their own exercise programmes and detailed nutrition guides for children. We need the same in education. What should your children know? How do you hold your school to account? What is happening to pupils in other parts of the country?

Nor have we given them alternatives. The very original plan for Free Schools  which was to deliver new schools and therefore offer real choice was supposed to help these areas and these parents. Instead, they focused on areas with population growth (mostly London and the South East).

In this next five years, I really hope that this quiet majority of parents and pupils are the focus of our new Conservative government. As I said in my last column, we have to remember  as we so often fail to do in education  that most people are neither part of the elite nor in troubled families. We should measure our success in the next five years not only on whether we help the most disadvantaged, but on how much better things are for most families in most areas of the country and opportunities that all children have to succeed.
The plane of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine with the experts aboard has set out to Iran, said Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov.

"Let's wish them good luck and to fulfill their tasks. Ukraine is waiting for your return," he wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday evening.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates next week as regional tensions spike.

Abe will make the trip from the 12th to 15th, a spokesman from the prime ministers Liberal Democratic Party said.

The prime minister announced the details of the visit during a meeting with party executives. Im deeply concerned about the tensions in the Middle East, he said, according to public broadcaster NHK.

I hope to contribute to peace and stability in the region through diplomatic efforts to ease tensions.
(Newser)  There's now a conspicuously empty space in the royal family display at London's iconic wax museum, Madame Tussauds. The museum removed the wax figures of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, from its "Royal Family" set, where they used to stand across from Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton, behind the figures of the queen and Prince Philip. Also included in the display are Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. The move comes, of course, after Harry and Meghan's shock announcement that they are going to step back as senior members of the royal family. The AP reports that the rest of the royals were "scrambling to contain the fallout" Thursday, as the British media published articles condemning the couple's decision. The statement from the museum, however, was sympathetic.

story continues below

"Alongside the rest of the world we are reacting to the surprising news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be stepping back as senior Royals," the general manager says in a statement obtained by CNN. "From today, Meghan and Harry's figures will no longer appear in our Royal Family set. As two of our most popular and well-loved figures they will of course remain an important feature at Madame Tussauds London as we watch to see what the next chapter holds for the them." A rep for the museum's New York museum echoes that statement: "To reflect the announcement we will be moving the popular figures to another area in the attraction upon their return to Madame Tussauds New York. We look forward to spending more time with the couple in North America and we will continue to watch to see what the next chapter holds for them." (What's next for Meghan and Harry?)
Here are todays top news, analysis and opinion at 9 PM. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times.

Centre withdraws security cover of Tamil Nadu Dy CM O Paneerselvam, DMK leader Stalin

The Centre on Thursday withdrew the security cover provided to Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and DMK president MK Stalin, government officials told news agency ANI. Read more

Shocking: BJPs Murli Manohar Joshi asks Centre to sack JNU V-C

Veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Thursday weighed in on the stand-off between Jawaharlal Nehru University students and the Vice Chancellor with a clear advice to the government to sack V-C Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar. Read more

JNU students marching towards Rashtrapati Bhavan detained, later released by Delhi Police

JNU students tried to march towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday protesting the violence on the university campus earlier this week, but were stopped and later detained by the Delhi Police. Read more

Japan worlds most powerful passport, Pak 4th worst. This is where India stands

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Deepika Padukone, Laxmi Agarwal stun in classic Sabyasachi sarees at the special screening of Chhapaak

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Visually impaired Odisha girl cracks state civil services exam in first attempt

The negligence by doctors in a premeier hospital in the city during a operation in 2003 cost Tapaswini Das her eyesight, but it could not deter the 23-year-old girl to crack the Odisha civil services exam the results of which were announced on Monday. Read more

Ganguly posts training photo, Tendulkar hilariously trolls him

Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and former India captain and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly engaged in a hilarious banter on social media that left fans in splits. Read more

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While the JNUSU has demanded his resignation, M Jagadesh Kumar says that the attack was carried out to hamper the educational process in the JNU. (Photo Credit: File Photo)

New Delhi:

Amid the Left Vs Right debate in the JNU mob attack, new information has emerged that highlights Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumars role on that fateful day. Screen shots of WhatsApp chats that are now part of the probe by Delhi Polices Crime Branch show how Kumar had told the cops to be stationed on the gates while terrified calls were made by students to PCR about rod-wielding masked mob. According to a report by the Indian Express, at 6:24 pm, when the mob attack was at its peak and students were screaming for help at Periyar and Sabarmati hostels, Kumar WhatsApp senior cops saying, Considering the volatile situation in JNU campus, I request you to station police at the gates of JNU campus so that they can quickly reach the trouble spot in the campus if a law and order situation arises.

The timing of the WhatsApp chat raises questions as to why did Kumar ask cops to be stationed at the gates instead of asking them to enter the campus and quelling the riots.

It's been more than four days and not a single arrest has been made so far in the JNU attack. As many as 11 cases have been filed including an FIR against JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh for damaging the server room inside the campus.

The Vice-Chancellor has faced lots of criticism for his conduct and the trust deficit between him and the students. While the JNUSU has demanded his resignation, Kumar says that the attack was carried out to hamper the educational process in the university. However, the Delhi Police PRO has rejected the latest media report on the JNU probe. Several media reports have appeared attributing various findings to fact finding committee It is reiterated that these are INCORRECT (sic), the Delhi Police said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the police have collected dump data of mobile phones of people from campus to identify the culprits behind the Sunday's assault on the JNU students, officials said on Wednesday. Police said that several students have come forward to share information regarding the incident on Sunday after police made a public appeal requesting people to share information, footage and video clips relating to the incident. "Many students contacted on the given number and came forward to share details of the attack but when asked if they would be able to identify those involved in the attack, they said they would not be able to identify them," a senior officer said on condition of anonymity.
(TNS)  For the past month, consumers and advocates have not had online access to critical inspection reports on Georgia assisted living communities, personal care homes, nursing homes, hospitals and other health care facilities because the states website has been offline.Initially, the Georgia Department of Community Healths Map2Care website was projected to be unavailable for only four days in early December, according to a message posted on the site when it first went down. The message said an upgraded system will re-launch on Dec. 9.But the system is still down.The department toldin mid-December that the outage was due to a problem with a mapping service that was used to support mapping hundreds of markers on older browsers. The Map2Care site allows consumers to search for health care facilities using an address.DCH spokeswoman Fiona Roberts said in an email Wednesday that there was no further cause for the outage beyond the mapping issue. We have been working diligently to address the issue and plan to have the site back live within the coming week, she said.The outage underscores broader problems with transparency at the Department of Community Health. The agencys lack of timely inspections and delays in releasing information to the public were key findings in recent investigative series about Georgias senior care industry. As part of the series,created its own a consumer website with four years worth of information about every assisted living facility and large personal care home in the state.found that the Map2Care site was difficult for consumers to find and navigate and that it offered very limited information when compared with information provided by many other states. Most reports are not posted until months after inspections take place, and some reports were missing or blank, the AJC found.With the site down, the public does not have access to recent inspection reports, listings for new care facilities, and other information.Melanie McNeil, Georgias long-term care ombudsman, said the lack of online access to the reports handicaps families who are trying to find care. Youre just really flying blind, she said. You are just going on what the facility tells you. You just have to go with whatever your impression is.McNeils office has representatives throughout the state who take complaints and advocate for residents of nursing homes, personal care homes and assisted living communities. She said the outage has made it difficult for the representatives working in the field, who are familiar with navigating the Map2Care site and turn to it for basic information such as phone numbers, inspection reports and licensing status.McNeil said consumers understand that technology can fail, but they expect problems to be temporary.This doesnt seem temporary, McNeil said. This leaves consumers in the dark. Consumers look to the Department of Community Health for objective information. Right now thats a problem because it is information that should be available, but isnt. AJC reported in 2017 that DCH was struggling to meet a federal transparency requirement to post information about nursing home inspections on its website. However, consumers have another option because key information from nursing home inspections is posted on a federal website . Personal care homes and assisted living communities are regulated at the state level, so consumers must turn to state governments for information about these facilities.
Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung (right) and Japanese Ambassador to Viet Nam Umeda Kunio (left) sign the Exchange of Note in Ha Noi on January 9, 2020. Photo: VGP

The grant agreement was signed by Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung and Japanese Ambassador to Viet Nam Umeda Kunio under the presence of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Japanese Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Sanae Takaichi .

Earlier the same day, PM Phuc hosted reception for Sanae, during which the former highlighted that the Viet Nam-Japan extensive strategic partnership is advancing well and comprehensive with increasingly consolidated political trust.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (right) receives Japanese Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Sanae Takaichi at the Government Office in Ha Noi on January 9, 2020. Photo: VGP

Japan continues to be the biggest official development assistance (ODA) provider, the second largest investor and the fourth biggest trade partner of Viet Nam, emphasized Phuc.

He thanked Japan for its ODA grant over nearly three decades, which has made important contributions to socio-economic development, poverty reduction, and infrastructure development in Viet Nam.

The Government has always attached importance to and seriously implemented its ODA commitments between the two countries, Phuc said.

He called on Japan to continue its assistance for Viet Nam to reform and improve the effectiveness of the State apparatus and foster e-government development towards building a digital government and digital economy.

The Government chief also urged the Vietnamese Government Office and the Ministry of Information and Communications to strengthen cooperation with the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in deploying the signed documents.
This sale is not applicable to group and infant bookings and is valid on direct flights only, Vistara said.

Vistara, the joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, announced low fares on its fifth anniversary to different domestic destinations, according to the airline's website.

Celebrate Vistara's #Sensational5 years! Book under the 5th Anniversary Sale and enjoy great fares across our domestic destinations: https://t.co/lipD0Lc6gm pic.twitter.com/YZat1aqbgk  Vistara (@airvistara) January 9, 2020

The full-time airline is offering fares as low as Rs 995, which is an all-inclusive fare. For instance, Dibrugarh to Baghdogra costs Rs 995. Vistara is also offering international return fares starting from Rs 14,555 on selected routes. For instance, a Delhi-Bangkok, Mumbai-Colombo all-inclusive return airfare costs Rs 14,555.

The sale is on for 48 hours and will end tomorrow10 January midnight.

The offer is valid for travel between 25 January and 30 September 2020 (both dates included). A minimum of 15 days advance purchase is required to make the bookings.

This sale is not applicable to group and infant bookings and is valid on direct flights only, Vistara said.

"To celebrate the 5 sensational years of Vistara, we are delighted to announce a special 48-hour sale with attractive fares. The sale fares are available for all three classes of travel across our domestic and international network," Vistara said.

Fares for Vistara's domestic flights start from Rs 1,995 for premium economy and Rs 5,555 for business class; while fares for its international destinations start at Rs 14,555 for economy class, Rs 19,995 for premium economy and Rs 35,555 for business class, inclusive of all taxes and fees, it said.

In addition to the anniversary fares, passengers can get cashback offers when booking directly with the airline, using a valid Bank Of Baroda (BFSL) or RBL Bank Credit Card.
Jess Chen and Chad Ackerman "chased each other back and forth" through college before finally getting together and moving to California. Years later, Ackerman proposed during a stay at a romantic B&B in Vancouver.



Wedding planning for these two was quite practical. They started by taking an inventory of what they liked and disliked about weddings they'd attended, and ultimately, two major themes arose: They wanted a lush setting, and incorporating Chen's Taiwanese heritage (into an otherwise Western-style wedding) was a must.

Held at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, the celebration was luxurious. The color palette as navy and wine; the florals burst with deep red and white roses and peonies; and gilded and dramatic black accents added glamorous contrast to rustic wine barrels and wooden chairs. DIY moments appeared in the printed place cards and handmade paper cones for the petal toss, and twinkling lanterns topped the tables at the reception.

The couple's best advice: "Hire a good photographer. Outside of meals and the venue, photography was our biggest expense and we wouldn't do it any other way. Trust in them, and enjoy your day!"

Venue/Catering/Dessert: Wente Vineyards

Bridal Boutique: Novella Bridal

Wedding Dress: Essence of Australia

Bridesmaid Dresses: Birdy Grey

Groomsmen Suits: The Black Tux

Photographer: Cassie Rosch

Florist: Home Sweet Flowers

Hair and Makeup: My Hanh Beauty

DJ: Quantum Party Pros
The election was always going to be about Donald Trump.

But over the span of a few days, the years-long focus on the Republican president's performance on the economy, health care and immigration has been overtaken by an urgent debate over foreign policy and war.

And as the sprint to Iowa's February 3 caucuses begins, both Trump and his Democratic rivals are being forced to navigate a delicate and dangerous military conflict with Iran that injects a new level of uncertainty into the 2020 contest.

For Democrats, the of war now could play a major role in shaping how voters view the winnowing field. And for Trump, who relentlessly cheerleads the American economy, it marked a departure from the standard fare of his rallies and tweets and became the most dangerous moment of his three-year-old presidency.

In a carefully scripted speech, the brash president met the moment with a rare dose of restraint. Less than 24 hours after missiles from Iran rained down on military bases housing US troops in Iraq, he downplayed the impact of the attack.

"The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it," a solemn Trump declared.

The measured approach reflects the political sensitivity of a situation that Trump helped create by ordering the killing of Iran's top general late last week.

The president is leading a political party openly feuding with itself over America's role in global affairs. One faction is cheering his "America First" campaign promises to stop "endless wars". Another wants Iran to pay a painful price for an attack that violated the clear red line Trump outlined in a social media post days earlier.

For a day at least, Trump appeared to placate both factions with a speech that toed the line between humility and strength.

Fox host Sean Hannity, who appeared to be cheering for a fierce US counterattack before Trump's speech, was unusually silent in the hours afterward.

Senator Rand Paul, perhaps the Senate GOP's most fervent isolationist, tweeted that he was "pleased that President Trump has pulled back and taken the preferred path of no further military action".

This phase of the conflict has only just begun, however.

The president's actions in the coming days and weeks will mean far more than the scripted words in one speech. Trump, of course, has struggled with discipline and consistency throughout his presidency especially on social media.

One misplaced tweet or off-handed comment at a political rally could shatter the fragile peace. He is scheduled to face thousands of his supporters Thursday night in Ohio, where his thoughts on Iran almost certainly won't be as scripted.

"Trump's not out of the woods," said Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who predicted that remnants of the military conflict would help shape the 2020 election even if no further military action takes place.

Indeed, even if the infighting within his party dies down, Trump will face legitimate questions in the months ahead about his muddled foreign policy, which has scrambled alliances across the globe and emboldened some of America's most dangerous adversaries, including Russia and North Korea.

After maligning NATO for much of his presidency, Trump on Wednesday called for the alliance of Western nations to take a greater role in the Middle East. And he falsely blamed the Obama administration for funding for the Iranian missile attack, ignoring his own 2018 decision to abandon the international agreement to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

During a campaign appearance in Chicago, Democratic White House hopeful Michael Bloomberg urged Trump not to act "rashly or recklessly".

The prospect of a wartime election may be new in 2020, but the shift would mark a return to normalcy of sorts in presidential politics, at least in this century. International affairs and military conflict have played a central role in almost every presidential contest since 2000.

The 2004 contest came just a year after President George W Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq. Obama beat Republican war hero John McCain in a 2008 election shaped by voter fatigue over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And in 2016, Trump effectively turned the tables by casting Democrat Hillary Clinton as an establishment-minded globalist who would pursue endless wars.

While Trump sought to de-escalate on Wednesday, Democratic candidates sorted through what the conflict means for them. No one stands to gain or lose more in a foreign policy election than former Vice President Joe Biden.

"Biden just won the nomination," South Carolina-based Democratic strategist Boyd Brown said as the first reports revealed the extent of the Iranian missile attacks.

While Brown is far from objective, variations of his idea rippled through the political stratosphere as Democratic voters paused to rethink the terms of a 2020 nomination fight through the lens of war.

The party's far-left wing, in particular, was forced to face the fact that the overwhelming strength of their preferred candidates, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, lies in their grasp of domestic priorities like health care and income inequality, not international affairs.

But despite any questions Democrats will face, do not expect Trump to cede his leading role in the 2020 drama anytime soon. As the world waits to see whether the peace with Iran will last, Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate is just days away.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tesco has reported sales of 873m (1.03bn) for its Irish operations for the 19 weeks up to January 4, which covers the companys third-quarter and the Christmas trading period.

That represented a minimal annual increase of 0.7%. However, the British supermarket giant said like-for-like sales in the Republic rose by 2%. Tesco said its Irish sales growth was helped by its pricing campaigns and its online grocery business, which made a strong contribution, with nearly 1% growth in orders.

On a group-wide basis, Tesco reported just over 21bn in sales for the 19 weeks; down by just under 1% on a year-on-year basis.

In its home market of the UK, Tesco rode out a subdued Christmas to lift sales by 0.1%, enough to beat its main rivals, amid the toughest high-street conditions in years.

Group chief executive, Dave Lewis, said Tescos UK stores delivered the best operational performance of his five-year tenure.

That combination, of a compelling offer delivered brilliantly well, helped us to outperform the [UK] market, even against a challenging backdrop, he said.

Tesco sold more food on December 23 than on any other day of its 100-year history, Mr Lewis said, with 890,000 customers in the UK served in a single, peak hour of trading.

Britains biggest supermarkets  Tesco, Sainsburys, Walmart-owned Asda, and Morrisons  recorded the lowest sales growth over the Christmas trading period for five years, industry data has shown.

British shoppers had been cautious in 2019, as wage growth slowed and political uncertainty gripped the country.

Tesco, which has a 27.4% share of Britains grocery market, also updated on trading in the third-quarter period before Christmas, when life-for-like sales fell by 0.4%, before customers returned to stores for Christmas. In Ireland, Tesco is currently the third-largest grocer, with a 21.3% market share.

Mr Lewis will step down this year and be replaced by Irish businessman Ken Murphy, a former executive at healthcare group Walgreens Boots Alliance.

Additional reporting, Reuters
Shenzhen success story continues despite difficulties

From:ChinaDaily | 2020-01-09 16:27

Shenzhen set a target of 6.5 percent for its gross domestic product growth in 2020, according to the annual government report released on Wednesday at the eighth session of the sixth Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress.

Delivering the report, Mayor Chen Rugui said the city has experienced "an extraordinary journey" last year and achieved stable and high-quality growth amid risks from both domestic and overseas sources.

Shenzhen, as the cradle of many high-tech firms such as Huawei and drone maker DJI, is a key hub of international trade and under direct pressure due to recent trade disputes.

Despite these difficulties, exports still climbed 2.3 percent. The quality of growth is also improving, as total profit of large enterprises accelerated more than 10 percent.

The mayor believes such growth derives from reforms to improve the business environment and preferential policies to ease companies' burdens. In 2019, tax and fee reductions in the city have amounted to 110 billion yuan, accounting for 4 percent of GDP.

To fulfill the growth target, the official said "stability is the priority and reform is our foundation to growth."

Based on an initial estimate, Shenzhen's GDP reached 2.6 trillion yuan in 2019, with a slowed growth rate of about 7 percent.
Supreme Court to examine a plea seeking SC status to Christian having Dalit origin New Delhi, Jan 8 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to look into a plea seeking directions to the Centre to allocate benefits given to Scheduled Castes to Christians having a Scheduled Castes origin.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant, issued notice to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, the National Commission for Minorities and the Registrar General of India and sought the Centre's response within two weeks, as it tagged the plea with other similar matters.

The plea also sought the Scheduled Castes community should be made religion neutral.

According to the plea, a Scheduled Caste person admitting a religion different from Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism should not be deprived from the benefit by Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, which restricts Christians of Scheduled Castes origin from availing the Scheduled Castes status. This restriction is against the fundamental right to equality, religious freedom and non-discrimination, it said.

The plea sought allowing and extending the Scheduled Castes status to Christians of Scheduled Castes Origin for availing special privilege in education, scholarships, employment, welfare measures, panchayat elections, legislative assemblies up to Indian Parliament and for availing the legal remedy/protection under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention) of Atrocities Act, 1989 amended in the year 2018.

The court was hearing the plea filed by the National Council of Dalit Christians (NCDC) seeking Scheduled Caste status for Dalit Christians. "The non-inclusion of Christians in Paragraph (3)A of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, along with Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism, is discriminatory and violative of Articles 14, 15, 16 and 25 of the Constitution", said the plea.

The plea said social exclusion does not disappear with the change in and caste hierarchy continues to exist within Christianity, despite the religion forbidding it.
MOSCOW - Western leaders sketched out Thursday what they say was the fate of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 - apparently downed by an Iranian missile, possibly fired by mistake, as the plane with 176 people aboard climbed above Tehran's outskirts.

The assessments - based on intelligence reports from the United States, Canada and elsewhere - were met with quick dismissals from Iran and suggested deepening divides over the unfolding investigation of Wednesday's crash, which killed all aboard.

In Ottawa, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said intelligence analyses indicated that a surface-to-air missile hit the plane in what could have been an "unintentional" act.

In Washington, U.S. officials expressed "high confidence" that the Boeing 737-800, bound for the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was targeted by air-defense systems as Iranian forces were on high alert. President Donald Trump said the downing of the aircraft was probably a "mistake."

Trudeau's comments - as his nation mourned 63 Canadians on the flight and dozens of others with links to the country - came after U.S. officials said the plane was apparently hit by a SA-15 surface-to-air missile, part of a Russian-made air defense system also known as a Tor system.

The U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, offered no other details on the circumstances that led to the possible missile firing Wednesday, which came about four hours after Iran launched ballistic missiles into Iraq against U.S. targets in retaliation for the killing of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.

Iran has repeatedly rejected theories of a missile strike. A military spokesman on Wednesday called it "ridiculous." Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency labeled the claims Thursday a "psychological operation" waged by the Pentagon.

As Western officials built their case, it was unclear whether Iran would publicly acknowledge the direction of the probe or offer further details on the minutes after the flight left the runway, rose toward 8,000 feet, then burst into flames without a distress call.

And with the region on edge, Iranian military leaders could be put in a difficult spot, with commanders left to face possible questions about procedures or even the locations of antiaircraft sites.

Trudeau, speaking to reporters, said the missile-strike conclusion was based on "intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence."

"The evidence indicates the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. This may well have been unintentional," he said, without giving further details.

Trump, speaking Thursday at the White House, also said the passenger jet could have been downed in error. "Well, I have my suspicions," he said. "I don't want to say that, because other people have those suspicions also. . . . Somebody could've made a mistake on the other side."

"Some people say it was mechanical," Trump added. "Personally, I don't think that's even a question."

In London, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson joined the growing consensus around the missile strike. He cited a "body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile."

The Washington Post obtained a video that allegedly shows the moment the airliner is struck in midair. The video, first published by the New York Times, purportedly shows a missile intercepting the aircraft, followed by a loud boom.

Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 showed the Ukrainian airliner taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport in a northwesterly direction before losing contact near the suburb of Parand.

Michael Elleman, director of the Non-proliferation and Nuclear Policy Program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the general area about 12 miles northwest of Tehran's airport is known to be filled with Iranian missile facilities, which could have been protected by antiaircraft systems. The Iranian government may have suspected the missile sites could be targets for a retaliation by the United States.

The Tor system dates to the Cold War and can target planes, helicopters, drones or incoming missiles. Russia has exported the system to a number of countries, including Iran in 2005. It is designed to hit targets in the short-to-medium range.

- - -

A team of 45 experts and search-and-rescue personnel from Ukraine arrived in Tehran early Thursday to participate in the probe, as well as to identify and repatriate the bodies of the 11 Ukrainians aboard, including all nine crew members.

Before the U.S. and Canadian statements, Ukrainian investigators had said they were also looking at a range of theories - including the possibility of antiaircraft fire.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, wrote on Facebook that his team wants to search for possible debris of the Tor air-defense missile, after seeing online reports about the discovery of possible fragments of one near the crash site.

Ukraine is familiar with the risks that antiaircraft weapons can pose to civilian aircraft in times of conflict.

In July 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was downed by a missile shot from a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile system from rebel territory in Ukraine's east. The attack on the Boeing 777, which was passing over the conflict zone while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killed all 298 people aboard.

A joint investigative team from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine identified a Russian military unit in charge of the antiaircraft missile system and has pursued prosecution of Russian and Ukrainian citizens allegedly involved. Russia has denied any involvement in the incident.

Danilov said that Ukraine's investigative commission for the Tehran crash includes specialists who helped investigate the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash site. The government in Kyiv has also suspended all Ukrainian flights over Iranian and Iraqi airspace.

- - -

The responsibility for air defense traditionally falls to Iran's Air Defense Force command, said Saeid Golkar, a political science professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga who has studied Iranian security forces for 20 years.

Orders to mobilize the country's air defense are given by a central command center, which includes air-defense batteries controlled by Iran's two armed forces: the regular military and the more elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC. Within this system, the Revolutionary Guard is also in control of its own air-defense systems and has the capability of acting without authorization, Golkar said.

"It is possible that the IRGC acted alone?" Golkar asked.

"If you asked me if its possible if someone mistakenly shot it down, I'd say yes, because of the whole informality of the system," Golkar said.

A preliminary report from Iran's Civil Aviation Organization said witnesses - on the ground and among the crew of another flight in the vicinity - reported seeing a fire while the Boeing 737-800 was still in the air, followed by an explosion when it slammed into a field near an amusement park.

A video from a closed-circuit television camera posted on Twitter by Iran's state broadcaster showed the predawn darkness suddenly lit in a fiery orange glow and then flaming debris scattering over a wide area.

"The trajectory of the collision indicated that the plane was initially moving toward the west, but after encountering a problem, it turned to the right and was approaching the airport again at the time of the crash," Ali Abedzadeh, head of the Civil Aviation Organization, said in the report.

Iranian officials said immediately after the crash that the plane had encountered technical problems, but that did not appear in the report, which also noted that there was no distress call from the aircraft.

The passengers on the plane were mostly Iranians, but also included Europeans and 63 Canadians.

The Iranian report said the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were recovered but were damaged. Abedzadeh has said Iran will not share those "black boxes" with Boeing, but other countries have been invited to participate in the investigation in accordance with international guidelines.

John Cox, a leading airline safety consultant and former pilot, said Iranian officials have indicated they will conduct their probe in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization Annex 13, which outlines the process by which international crashes are investigated. Under the protocols, the United States has a right to participate in the probe because the jet was built and certified in the country.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday declined to say whether it will participate in the investigation. However, two people with knowledge of the investigation but not authorized to speak publicly, said the safety body has been asked by the ICAO to take part in the probe.

Still, U.S. sanctions against Iran, which include limits on travel and information sharing, will complicate any U.S. involvement.

NTSB officials would have to seek a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control to travel to Iran, a process can take months or even years, experts say. And even if they secure a license, U.S. officials may still be limited in what information they can share with Iranian officials.

Canada cut diplomatic ties with Iran about a decade ago. Trudeau said that while there has been "openness" from Iranian officials to involve Canada in the investigation, access has not yet been given to them. Iran wants to keep the black boxes there, but has told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Ukrainian investigators will have access to them, Trudeau said.

At his news conference, Trudeau dodged questions about whether the United States should bear some responsibility since its killing of Soleimani last week escalated tensions in the region.

"I think that's one of the many questions that people will be thinking about and trying to find answers to," he said. "But for the moment, I just want to underline the importance of having a full and credible investigation so that we can get those facts and then we can continue to analyze based on these facts."

- - -

Lamothe, Ryan and Sonne reported from Washington. The Washington Post's Amanda Coletta in Toronto, Erin Cunningham in Istanbul and Lori Aratani, Dalton Bennett, Shane Harris, Michael Laris and Souad Mekhennet in Washington contributed to this report.
"We've made meaningful progress toward merging State and organizational priorities over the past several months and are excited to have identified a seasoned leader to build on this momentum," stated Myra Norton, TEDCO Chair of the Board and President of Arena. "Linda has a strong leadership track record in private industry and government. This, combined with her personal leadership style makes her uniquely qualified to lead TEDCO successfully during this transition period."

In her immediate past role, Linda was a senior advisor to Governor Larry Hogan and a member of his cabinet. As Adjutant General, she was responsible for the daily operations of the Maryland Military Department, which included the Maryland Army National Guard, Maryland Air National Guard, Maryland Emergency Management Agency, and Maryland Defense Force. Linda oversaw the readiness, administration, and training of more than 6,700 members of the Military Department with an annual budget of more than $314 million. Her career included staff and command assignments at every level, including deployments in Kosovo and a combat tour in Afghanistan.

Linda also served more than 20 years at Accenture and retired as Managing Director from the firm's Health and Public Service North America operating unit. Her responsibilities included managing all operational activities to include the financials, strategic business plans, program delivery and quality programs, human resource management, business approvals, internal controls and sales activities for a budget that exceeded $3 billion dollars. She managed a global team in order to leverage capabilities from Accenture's global public service business as well as external partnering relationships. She previously served as the Commercial Director for the Public Safety Portfolio, the account lead for the Veterans Affairs and the account lead for the Army.

Linda grew up in Frederick County, Md., and is a long-time resident of Prince George's County.

"Leadership and innovation is crucial for value creation and economic growth. I see TEDCO as a critical contributor to Maryland's economic ecosystem and serving as the Interim ED/CEO is truly an honor," stated Singh. "I look forward to working with a dedicated TEDCO team to lead Maryland's innovation to market while the Board carefully evaluates a new leader for this tremendous economic growth engine."

Stephen Auvil will return to his role as Executive Vice President of Operations and Programs. He served as acting executive director for five months. Linda will assume day-to-day leadership of TEDCO.

As the Board's executive search continues, Korn Ferry has been selected to assist the organization with a national search for the selection of a permanent ED/CEO.

"Korn Ferry has an impressive track record of attracting and placing highly qualified, diverse leaders with public/private organizations like TEDCO," stated Myra Norton, TEDCO Chair of the Board and President of Arena."

Recognized as the number one executive search firm in the U.S. and worldwide according to Hunt-Scanlon Corporation's annual analysis, Korn Ferry was also ranked as America's best executive recruiter by Forbes in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

This is a critically important hire for TEDCO as the new ED/CEO must demonstrate a genuine enthusiasm for balancing the interests of the public and private sectors in innovative and cohesive ways that stimulate the regional economy.

About TEDCO

TEDCO provides resources and connections that early stage technology and life sciences companies need to thrive in Maryland. TEDCO's mission is to discover, invest in, and help build great Maryland-based companies. Learn more at www.tedcomd.com.

SOURCE TEDCO

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Andrew Fastow, who was at the center of the fraud which brought down Enron Corp., said he now accepts full responsibility for his actions after originally viewing himself as a hero while chief financial officer at the energy trading giant.

Enron used off-books partnerships Fastow created to hide billions of dollars in losses and debt, distorting the companys performance and inflating its share price. When the partnerships were revealed, Enrons stock nosedived, plunging the company into insolvency in weeks.
TAIPEI, Taiwan  A year ago, Taiwans leader was on the ropes. Then she got a boost from an unexpected corner: Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Polls indicate that President Tsai Ing-wen is poised to win a second four-year term on Saturday, a remarkable turnaround for a leader whose future was in doubt after voters dealt her Democratic Progressive Party a major loss in November 2018 local elections.

Since then, Tsai has capitalized on three developments: the fears generated by Chinas tough words on Taiwan, protests in Hong Kong that have reinforced those fears and U.S. government actions that reassure voters that America will have Taiwans back if the going gets tough.

All the factors that help Tsai Ing-wen are happening: the China factor, the U.S. factor and the Hong Kong protests, pollster You Ying-lung, chairman of the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation, said at a news conference late last month.

A victory for Tsai and her independence-leaning party would likely herald continued tensions and a further souring of relations with China, which considers self-governing Taiwan a renegade province.

Her main opponent, Han Kuo-yu of the Nationalist Party, won the mayors race in the Democratic Progressive Party stronghold of Kaohsiung in the 2018 local elections and held a comfortable lead over Tsai in early 2019.

Tsai began chipping away at his lead in the spring and pulled ahead for good in August. She was the clear leader by the end of the year, according to an aggregation of polls by The News Lens, an independent youth-oriented media outlet.

A Tsai victory is the last thing that Xi wants, yet it was his major policy speech on Taiwan at the start of 2019 that many analysts point to as the starting point for her political recovery.

The Chinese leader upped the pressure on Taiwan to join China under the one country, two systems framework that governs Hong Kong. He called for talks on the issue, while saying that China would not rule out the use of force to achieve unification.

Tsai responded immediately, saying Taiwans 23 million people would never accept one country, two systems and launching a four-day media blitz. Three weeks later, her support rating was 10 percentage points higher than after the November 2018 election setback.

Ken Moritsugu and Ralph Jennings are Associated Press writers.
Severe fire danger conditions threaten to spread blazes burning throughout south-east NSW on Friday, amid fears rising temperatures and "erratic" winds will fan flames in multiple states.

As the NSW government announced $1 billion to help rebuild towns decimated by bushfires, more than 2500 firefighters raced to bolster containment lines before worsening conditions on Friday.

Residents are bracing for rising heat, low humidity and gusty afternoon winds, which are set to exacerbate the bushfire crisis in NSW, South Australia and Victoria heading into the weekend.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday would be "a difficult day in the eastern states", with fire danger "increasing in the south and east today and it will spike along the east coast tomorrow".
Former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn gestures as he addresses a large crowd of journalists on his reasons for dodging trial in Japan, where he is accused of financial misconduct, at the Lebanese Press Syndicate in Beirut on January 8, 2020.

A Lebanese prosecutor imposed a travel ban on former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn on Thursday, a judicial source said, after he was summoned over an Interpol warrant issued by Japan seeking his arrest on financial misconduct charges.

Ghosn, 65, fled Japan to Lebanon, his childhood home, last month as he was awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies.

The decision issued by the prosecutor, Judge Ghassan Ouiedat, also requires Ghosn to keep the authorities informed of his place of residence, the source said. Ghosn's questioning took place at Beirut's Justice Palace, the headquarters of the judiciary.

There was no immediate comment from the prosecutor's office and Ghosn's lawyer in Lebanon could not immediately be reached.

The Brazilian-born Ghosn said during a news conference in Beirut on Wednesday he had escaped to Lebanon to clear his name and was ready to stand trial anywhere he could get a fair hearing.

Ghosn said he was ready to stay for a long time in Lebanon, which does not allow the extradition of its nationals, and a source close to the 65-year-old has said his legal team is pushing for him to be tried in the country.

In addition to the Interpol warrant, Ghosn is being questioned over a formal legal complaint filed against him by a group of Lebanese lawyers who accuse him of "normalization" with Israel over a visit he made there in 2008.

Ghosn said on Wednesday he had made the trip as a French citizen and an executive of Renault to sign a contract with a state-backed Israeli firm to sell electric vehicles and had been obliged to go because the board had requested it.

He said apologized for the trip and said he had not meant to hurt the people of Lebanon, which deems Israel an enemy state.

During the visit, Ghosn met Israel's former prime minister Ehud Olmert, who was premier at the time of the 2006 war between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Nearly 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, died in the 2006 war and 158 people died in Israel, mostly soldiers.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt's "Hacked" is set to release next month. He says when he saw actress Hina Khan after her "Bigg Boss" stint, he knew she was the perfect choice for the role.

"Hina Khan has the ability to be in one role for eight years while she was on TV. It can be tough and something that can be respected," Bhatt told IANS referring to her show "Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai".

"She has a unique sense of style and from a 'saans bahu' girl has made herself into a fashion icon. Hina plays a fashion editor in 'Hacked' and when I saw her after 'Bigg Boss', I knew she was it for the role. A good looking good actor and a good human. What else are we looking for?" he added about the former "Bigg Boss 11" contestant.

Meanwhile, "Hacked", a stalker thriller directed by Bhatt, will now release on February 7 instead of January 31.

"I have put aside the horrors of the spirit world to talk about the horrors of the real world and our vulnerable lives on the Internet is one such horror. It just takes one hacker with enough motivation to ruin your life," said Bhatt, known for making horror films like "Raaz" and "1920".

"'Hacked' is a film about a single woman and an obsessed hacker. Since there is a lot of VFX work in the film, we wanted to be absolutely ready, also, the new date works better as per our release strategy," he added.

Zee Studios will release the film that also stars Rohan Shah, Mohit Malhotra and Sid Makkar. It is produced by Amar Thakkar and Krishna Bhatt.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Chandigarh Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday declared that he would not quit politics till every youth gets a job. He was addressing Punjab Youth Congress (PYC) members and workers at the installation ceremony of the youth wings newly elected office-bearers, including its president Birinder Singh Dhillon, at the Congress Bhawan.

This is my state, you are all my peopleI will always be here for you, and will not go anywhere till I have ensured the welfare of every citizen of Punjab, he vowed amid cheers and slogans from youth.

Amarinder assured the newly elected office bearers of his governments full support in ensuring holistic development, and promised them full respect from officials in all departments for any work for youth of state.

The CM exhorted the youth to come forward to protect and safeguard the nation and its Constitutional principles of democracy and secularism, adding that Congress was only party that could provide secular, democratic rule, describing the situation prevailing in the country today as distressing.

The Preamble cannot be allowed to be tinkered with, said Amarinder, lashing out at the current attempts by the BJP to divide the nation. What prevails today is not Lok Raj, but Goonda raj. We all know what happened with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Uttar Pradesh, he said, underlining the need for youth to take the lead in saving the country.

Referring to his governments development agenda for Punjab, the CM added it was his vision to revive the states economic health, and added that he was perpetually thinking of ways and means of doing so. Referring to his governments flagship Ghar Ghar Rozgar scheme, he said the private sector was supporting the initiative in a big way to supplement job opportunities for youth.

Accusing the Akalis of ruining the state to promote their self-interest, the CM blamed them squarely for the spread of drugs and the gangsters in the state. Zira MLA Kulbir Singh Zira lauded former Punjab Youth Congress presidents, including Singla, MLA Jalalabad Raminder Singh Awla, and Amarpreet Singh Lalli for their leadership.

Lauding the CM for heralding an era of all-round development, the new youth Congress president Dhillon urged all young activists of the party to vigorously spread the state governments programmes and policies.
A devastated widow says she still blames herself for a fatal mistake that resulted in her daughter and husband dying right before her eyes.

Kerry Norton lost her husband Rick and four-year old daughter Shani when their car slammed into a logging truck outside Melbourne in November 1997.

The family headed off from their home in Berwick bound for Wilson's Promontory - two-and-a-half hours away - for a weekend camping trip when they realised they forgot their tent.

Rick turned the car around, running on just one-hour sleep because he worked night shifts. To this day Ms Norton feels guilty for not offering to drive.

'As a mother, I blamed, and I still do blame myself every now and again for not driving that day,' she told Yahoo this week.

Scroll down for video

Melbourne mother Kerry Norton celebrates her daughter Shani's first birthday with her husband Rick before they were killed in a head-on collision with a truck in 1997

On the way back home, Rick fell asleep at the wheel and slammed head-on into the logging truck.

The two were killed instantly - and and Ms Norton lay trapped in the wreckage for almost two hours before being freed.

'I saw beside me, my husband, I knew that he had gone, I knew my daughter had been thrown out,' she said.

Ms Norton was severely injured - her liver was lacerated, her femur broke in three places, her wrist in six.

She spent months in rehab relearning how to do the basics - walking, talking and eating.

During that time, the state coroner released its findings into the cause of the crash and deaths.

Ms Norton lost her husband Rick and four-year old daughter Shani when their car (pictured) slammed into a logging truck

Pictured: Family photos of daughter Shani and Husband Rick allow Kerry to remember the two and their former lives together

'Getting the coroners letter in the mail saying that my husband's fatigue had caused the crash, is something I will never come to terms with. "Why didn't I drive that day" goes through my mind constantly,' she said.

The Melbourne mum wasn't the only person haunted by the fatal accident.

A year-and-a-half after the crash Ms Norton, met the police officer involved in the emergency response.

She said the officer broke down in tears and told her it was a crash scene that will live with him forever.

Ms Norton and her daughter Shani before the crash claimed her daughter's life

Pictured: Kerry Norton and he first husband Rick who died after falling asleep at the wheel

Ms Norton eventually returned to work and started to pick up the pieces.

Four years later she met a man called Neil, who she had a son with.

'He had had a vasectomy and I was told I couldn't bear another child because of my accident and then I got pregnant. Kai was our miracle baby,' she previously told The Age.

Her second husband tragically died died of lung cancer in 2011, but Kerry is devoted to raising her son Kai, who is now learning to drive himself.

Meanwhile, Tuesday January 7 marked the birthday of her deceased husband Rick.

He would have been 57 that day.

Ms Norton honoured the former love of her life in a touching tribute on social media.

'Miss you every day if only things could have been so different,' she wrote.

Ms Noton says she still blames herself for the tragic mistake that resulted in her daughter and husband being killed right before her eyes in a car crash (scene pictured)
LONDON  The relationship between Britains royals and the media is awkward, mistrustful  and seemingly inescapable. But now Meghan and Harry want out.

After years of growing tension with the media, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have announced plans to quit their senior royal duties, move part-time to North America, seek financial independence and withdraw from regular media scrutiny.

In a challenge to the media, the couple slammed the countrys long-standing arrangements for royal media coverage, saying they preferred to communicate directly with the public through social media.

The British media were stung by the snub, reacting Thursday with articles, columns and editorials that ranged from disappointment to fury.

The Daily Mirror said in an editorial that the couples failure to tell Harrys grandmother Queen Elizabeth II about their plans shows shocking disregard for a woman whose entire life has been ruled by a sense of public duty and honor. The Times of London accused Harry of petulance and hot-headedness, while the Daily Mail said the couple wanted the status of being senior royals but the privacy and freedom of being private citizens.

The Sun and the New York Post described the departure as Megxit, a play on Brexit, Britains impending departure later this month from the European Union.

Harry and Meghans shock announcement drew comparisons to the abdication of the queens uncle King Edward VIII, who gave up the throne in 1936 so he could marry divorced American Wallis Simpson. Once again, waspish commentators noted, an American woman has caused a ruction in the royal family.

But the relationship between royals and the media has changed dramatically in the intervening decades.

The trauma of World War II and the social revolution of the 1960s demolished that tradition of deference to royalty and the establishment. For decades, the British media has proclaimed its reverence for the queen while treating the travails of her family as fair game, from the divorces of three of her four children to second son Prince Andrews troubling friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Jill Lawless is an Associated Press writer.
The number of patients waiting more than 12 hours tripled from the same period last year

Waiting times at Northern Ireland's hospitals emergency departments tripled over Christmas compared to the same period last year.

The number of people waiting more than twelve hours to be seen and discharged between December 20 and January 3 was 2,435, compared to 723 in the same period last year.

A spokesperson for the Health and Social Care Board said the delays were in part due to older, sicker patients attending emergency departments.

"These patients will often require longer in-patient stays and then more complex social care packages when they are ready to leave hospital," a spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said that "well documented workforce shortages" and the impact of flu and the norovirus played a part.

Figures from the Health and Social Care Board show that 1,052 of the people forced to wait more than twelve hours were over the age of 65.

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There were 6% fewer adults discharged from the main hospitals, with 182 more admissions to hospital than there were discharges.

Across Northern Ireland the average waiting time for those to be seen and treated, but not admitted, was three hours 30 minutes. The average waiting time to be admitted to a hospital bed was 11 hours 45 minutes.

There was an 8% decrease in the number of people who attended emergency departments compared to the same period last year, but an 7% increase in the number of patients attending over 65.

Compared to the same period five years ago the overall attendance at emergency departments has increased by 9%, with an increase of 22% of those aged 65 and over.

While the figures highlight the pressure Northern Ireland's health service is currently under, the period did not coincide with strike action taken by nurses and other health staff.

Nurses took strike action on December 18 and January 8 with further action planned for Friday due to a lack of pay parity with colleagues in the rest of the UK and safe staffing levels.

We would pay tribute to our staff who are working tirelessly to ensure that patients receive the care that they need," the Health and Social Care Board spokesperson said.

Health service organisations have repeatedly made it clear that the 2019/20 winter period would again bring serious challenges. Despite the plans in place, some patients have had to wait for unacceptably long periods in Emergency Departments  for that we sincerely apologise.

All HSC organisations will continue to work closely to ensure that the most urgent and sickest patients are prioritised. In the longer term, we need a radical transformation of services."

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DUP MLA Paul Givan said the fundamental reform envisaged through the Bengoa Report needed to be enacted.

He said the reforms had been held up by the power-sharing stalemate at Stormont.

"Reform will also require funding. There needs to be a massive investment. While the one billion pounds through the Confidence and Supply Agreement helped, it was a one-off injection of cash. We need strategic investment," the Lagan Valley MLA said.

"My heart goes out to staff who are doing their best but it is the system that needs fixed."

SDLP health spokesperson Mark H Durkan said the delays were having an impact on patients and their families.

"These figures are the latest in a long line of startling statistics about our health service. It is no longer at breaking point, but broken," the Foyle MLA said.

"Behind all of those numbers are patients and their families, waiting in anxiety for too long. Another reason, if it were ever needed, why we need to get back to work to sort it out."

UUP health spokesperson Roy Beggs described the figures as "frightening".

"Our hospitals and emergency units are in the midst of an unprecedented and deepening crisis. Never before have so many people been forced to wait, and wait for so long," he said.

The UUP believes if there is no deal to restore Stormont by Monday, Westminster must intervene to immediately take back responsibility of health matters."
NORWALK  A day after her former opponent announced his intent to run again, Lucy Dathan, representative in the 142nd district in the state House of Representatives, said she will seek re-election.

I have felt so honored to serve the people of Norwalk and New Canaan in the General Assembly for the last 12 months, Dathan said. I believe the democratic process thrives when people get involved to get all ideas on the table. I look forward to this journey.

Dathan said a formal announcement about her campaign will come next week, although the Secretary of States website shows she has not filed campaign paperwork with the state yet. The freshman representative won her seat from two-term incumbent Fred Wilms in 2018, making her the first Democrat to represent the district which is made up of Norwalk and New Canaan.

In her first term, Dathan said she has fought for affordable health care and prescription drugs, a balanced state budget, environmental protection for natural resources and common sense gun legislation. A New Canaan resident, she worked in finance and accounting and got involved in local politics in New Canaan in 2017.

Dathan also pushed back against a proposed bill to regionalize Connecticut schools which would have affected New Canaan and a bill which supported property class increases. She, along with senators Will Haskell D-26 and Alex Bergstein D-36, sent a letter to the Connecticut General Assembly pushing back against both proposed pieces of legislation, specifically calling the idea of property tax increases devastating.

Dathan has already received the support of Norwalks Democratic Town Committee, with chairman Ed Camacho saying Dathans support of the plans for a new Norwalk High School show what is possible when state representatives support local schools.

Lucy Dathan has delivered for us, Camacho said.

Two Republican candidates have already announced their plans to run against Dathan: political newcomer Irina Comer, a Norwalk resident and local business owner, and Wilms, a senior vice president for Webster Bank who has a long history of involvement in local politics.

Wilms held a press conference on Wednesday announcing his plans to run for his old seat, just two days after filing campaign paperwork with the state. Backed by other Republican state representatives, including Gail Lavielle and Republican minority leader Themis Klarides, Wilms said his loss in 2018 was due to voters coming out and voting Democrat without knowing the background of the candidates.

Wilms said his financial background will help him once again serve the state and help get Connecticut out of its financial crisis.

It bothers me when I see theres problems we face in the city, but also where the state is interacting with us, he said. I just cant sit by and see that continue to unfold.

erin.kayata@hearstmediact.com
Dear Richard and Gloria,

Your theory is probably correct. This kitten probably had very little socialization, but she also is being exposed to her new environment too quickly. Kittens are still babies and require help adjusting to their new homes.

The good news is, there is hope. Begin by placing her in a quiet room with her litter box and food for a few days (or even a week), so she can rest and settle into her new home. Spend time in the room with her. Read a book, drink some coffee or watch TV, so you can be near her but not focused on her. Spray your clothes with feline pheromones before going in as this will comfort her. Put a feline pheromone plug-in in the bedroom as well to lower her stress levels.

When you sit with her, dont try to pick her up. Let her come to you. When she does, dont reach out for her. Talk to her softly. If she purrs, you can slowly pet her. Otherwise, just talk to her and let her know she is safe. If she gets into your lap, let her sleep there for a minute or two before trying to pet her, and dont overdo it. Just letting her cuddle on your lap will begin to build her trust in you.
Swedish Gaming Authority Calls on All Resources to Fix the New Market

Published January 9, 2020 by Lee R

Sweden may have started roughly, but the Gaming Authority is putting on a full court press on for a smooth 2020.

Sweden has published more details of its proactive strategy to improve illegal gambling activity prevention.

Preventative Effort

Swedish Gaming Authority (Spelinspektionen) plans to ramp up preventative efforts against illegal operators to address the prevalent unlicensed activity which is proving to have serious consequences for both players and the state.

Lead Concern

The main concern is the discrepancy between the standards of player protection offered between legal and illegal licensees, with the implication that the state stands to lose out on additional tax revenue if the issues remain unresolved.

Streamlining Legal Framework

To this end, Spelinspektionen is prepared to prioritise measures channeling gambling most decisively towards legal options in Sweden.

Criteria for Marketing

The criteria for determining brands actively targeting Swedish players consists of developing criteria for assessing each potential breach, which requires Spelinspektionen to confirm on a case-by-case basis whether businesses offer deposits, withdrawals and winnings in Swedish Kronor, and if the website terms and conditions are in Swedish and compliantly adapted to customers in that country.

The Swedish Gaming Authority will further examine if the customer service number contains a Swedish country code, as well as whether the operator or its affiliates are marketing directly to Swedish consumers.

Fighting Unlicensed Operators

Spelinspektionen explained that operators illegally targeting Swedish consumers are most often based in other countries outside the European Union:

There is no simple solution or any tool that can directly exclude these illegal gaming operators from the Swedish market, the organisation explained in a statement. There are several stakeholders who can take steps to limit the opportunity and incentives to conduct illegal gambling in Sweden, with Spelinspektionen committed to prioritising collaboration with these bodies.

All Hands on Deck

Spelinspektionen intends to additionally enlist the assistance of Swedish police and prosecutors, the Swedish Consumer Authority and the Financial Supervisory Authority, while further engaging with regulators in other jurisdictions with prominent iGaming models such as the Malta Gaming Authority and the Gambling Division of the Gibraltar Ministry of Commerce.

Community Effort

Spelinspektionen has also called on current licensed operators and suppliers to help push unlicensed operators from the market through withholding common services such as payment processing services or gaming content while flagging unlicensed activity.

Outlook

The community effort approach in Sweden looks like the path to effective stabilization.
President Trump, responding during a White House address on Wednesday to the missile strikes by Iran, assailed the nuclear agreement reached by his predecessor and praised American military might. The 10-minute address contained numerous inaccuracies and claims that lacked evidence. Heres a fact check.

What Mr. Trump Said

Irans hostilities substantially increased after the foolish Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2013, and they were given $150 billion, not to mention $1.8 billion in cash.

This is misleading. The agreement reached by Iran, the United States and a number of other nations to constrain Tehrans nuclear program did not directly provide American money to Iran, but it did release about $100 billion in previously frozen Iranian assets. Much of the amount was tied up by debt obligations, for example, $20 billion to China for financing projects in Iran. Estimates for the actual amount available to Iran range from $35 billion to $65 billion.

A separate $1.7 billion transfer of cash to Iran was to settle a decades-long dispute and was agreed to in negotiations that happened parallel to the nuclear deal. Before the 1979 revolution, Irans shah had paid $400 million for American military goods but, after he was overthrown, the equipment was never delivered. The clerics who seized control demanded the money back, but the United States refused. The additional $1.3 billion is interest accumulated over 35 years.
A young Brisbane man was rushed to hospital in a critical condition overnight after his car crossed the road, smashed into a tree, rolled and slammed into a parked car.

Emergency services were called to Bennetts Road in Norman Park, four kilometres east of Brisbane CBD, about 1.40am on Thursday.

The 20-year-old driver from Gordon Park in Brisbane's north was initially trapped in the wreckage before he was freed and treated by specialist paramedics.

He was taken to the Princess Alexandra Hospital under emergency lights and sirens.
New York, Jan 8 - The momentum on ocean protection and restoration has rapidly accelerated particularly since the 2017 Ocean Conference. However, a number of the SDG 14- Life Below Water targets still lag behind. Between overfishing, pollution, habitat loss and the multiple impacts of climate change on ocean ecosystems, the ocean has never faced such a diverse range of threats.

UNDP launches a new call to action Ocean Innovation Challenge (OIC) to accelerate progress on SDG 14 targets. The OIC seeks innovations that are transferable, replicable and scalable. The Challenge grants range from $50,000 to $250,000.

Recognizing the increasing urgency of tackling ocean pollution, particularly from plastics and nutrients, the first of several planned OICs focuses on SDG 14.1- Reduce Marine Pollution.

At a time when the worlds oceans and seas face unprecedented pressures, UNDPs new Ocean Innovation Challenge will shine a light on innovative, entrepreneurial and creative approaches that can advance ocean and coastal restoration and protection, says Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator.

Supporting the blue economy in this way can help us achieve SDG 14 while spurring economic development and helping to reduce poverty and inequality.

From fisheries to aquaculture to industrial agriculture, the 'business as usual' scenario will not deliver the kinds of transformational change needed to move towards truly sustainable ocean use.

With four of SDG14s ten targets maturing in 2020, we have a critical year ahead for the well-being of the Ocean. Thus the UN Ocean Conference, to be held 2-6 June 2020 in Lisbon, will have special importance in supporting the implementation of SDG14, says Peter Thomson, UN Secretary Generals Special Envoy on Oceans.

To achieve SDG14, we must break new ground with innovative technologies, policies, regulations and financial instruments. In this regard, the new UNDP Ocean Innovation Challenge is a most welcome addition to the growing number of ocean incubators and accelerators.

For interested parties to take part in the Ocean Innovation Challenge:

 The innovations to be submitted can include technological as well as cutting edge policy, regulatory, financial, economic or other actions that address either sea-based or land-based sectors.

 Initial concepts can be submitted by public or private entities, including governments, private companies (including start-ups), NGO/CSO, United Nations entities, academic institutions, and intergovernmental organizations.

 The Challenge must be implemented in and benefit stakeholders in developing countries, but may be submitted by developing or developed country proponents.

For more information and to submit a preliminary concept, see the Ocean Innovation Challenge website at www.oceaninnovationchallenge.org .

About UNDP

UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in nearly 170 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations. www.undp.org.

For more information: Sangita Khadka, Communications Specialist, UNDP, email: sangita.khadka@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5043


Prosecutors have appealed against court decisions to release the director of Armenias main maternity hospital and two other individuals accused of arranging illegal adoptions of Armenian children by foreigners.

The hospital chief, Razmik Abrahamian, his deputy Arshak Jerjerian, the director of a Yerevan-based state orphanage, Liana Karapetian, and the two other suspects were arrested in mid-December as part of a criminal investigation launched by the National Security Service earlier in 2019.

In a November statement, the NSS claimed to have found evidence that three dozen Armenian children were illegally adopted by Italian nationals who paid hefty bribes. In particular, it said, in 2016-2018 several officials used threats, blackmail and lies to convince over a dozen pregnant (and presumably unmarried) women to abandon their expected children.

According to the statement, immediately after their birth the children were taken to state-run orphanages whose senior employees later arranged their adoption by foreigners through forgery of their medical records and other violations of adoption rules set by the state. The NSS said that members of the crime ring made sure that Armenian citizens could not adopt the babies.

Another law-enforcement agency, the Investigative Committee, brought corresponding criminal charges against the five suspects. They all were released from custody a few days later, however.

In particular, a Yerevan district court refused to allow investigators to hold Abrahamian in pre-trial detention. The other detained individuals were freed on bail.

A spokesman for the Office of the Prosecutor-General said on Thursday that it has asked Armenias Court of Appeals to overturn the lower court decisions relating to Abrahamian, Karapetian and another suspect. He said the prosecutors may also appeal against the release of the remaining suspects.

Most of those individuals are understood to deny the accusations of bribery and illegal separation of children from their mothers or child trafficking leveled against them.

Abrahamian, 76, was already charged in April with giving a bribe to then Deputy Health Minister Arsen Davtian. Unlike Davtian, who was reportedly caught red-handed in his office, the veteran doctor was not arrested at the time.

According to government data, a total of 54 Armenian children were adopted by foreign nationals, most of them Italians and Americans, from 2016-2018.
Cars wait in line at the port of entry in Blaine, Washington, at the U.S.-Canada border. Photo: Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images

Over the weekend, reports surfaced that dozens of Iranian-Americans were being forced to undergo secondary inspections at the port of entry in Blaine, Washington, at the U.S.-Canada border. According to multiple travelers affected, several immigration lawyers whose clients were stopped, and the Council on American-Islamic relations, Customs and Border Protection agents were subjecting these travelers to extra screening at the behest of the Department of Homeland Security, which had issued a security bulletin warning CBP to take extra security measures after the killing of Qasem Soleimani, a high-ranking Iranian military commander, by an American drone strike on Friday. Agents were allegedly pulling people aside on the basis of their Iranian heritage, asking where they lived, what they did for work, whether theyd served in the military, and questions about their families. Reports from advocates and lawyers about the total number of people screened differ, but all range from 40 to 75. According to BuzzFeed News, Blaine-based immigration attorney Leonard Saunders saw a nearly block-long line of them waiting to be inspected; the wait was so substantial, he said, that CBP officers had begun passing out juice boxes, prepackaged fruit, and crackers to quell their hunger.

Theres something especially disquieting about this detail  using snacks to soften the blow of the travelers helplessness in the face of a security apparatus that had total power to keep them from their homes and families. They werent going anywhere until CBP told them they could, they knew, and it was because theyd been born in, or descended from people born in, a country that an erratic U.S. president had decided on a whim to provoke via missile strike under thin pretenses.

While early reports indicated that their detention stemmed from a top-down mandate, CBP officials emailed congressional staff on Monday and said thered been no directive from DHS or CBP leadership with instructions to detain Iranian-Americans and [refuse] their entry into the U.S because of their country of origin, according to CNN. The email explained further that field agents have broad discretion to pull aside and inspect whom they please  and to respond to DHS security bulletins calling for increased situational awareness, as was issued last week, by [enhancing] operational posture based upon the totality of circumstances, including [area-]specific information. (Read: detaining people because theyre from a specific country.)

The takeaway is that Blaine CBP agents were simply being proactive in following the lead of the administration in their approach to following orders. They were told to be on high alert following Trumps attack on an Iranian military official  and the Iranian governments vow to retaliate  and responded of their own volition by applying broad suspicion and targeted security enforcement to people of Iranian descent, including American citizens and permanent residents. This imprecision was not irrational. Quite the contrary, it followed, closely, what any reasonable person might conclude is Trumps own border-security mandate, which entails using extremely large categories to define threats and enemies. Entire nations and religions arent exempt. Trump sought to ban travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries in 2017, a more sweeping effort than President Reagans conditional ban on Cuban travelers in 1986. No president who decries all Muslim immigrants or those from so-called shithole countries can be surmised to have an aversion to treating all people of Iranian heritage like potential terrorists while toying with war against Iran.

DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is reviewing a complaint about Blaine CBPs security procedures filed by the National Iranian-American Council, according to CNN; its unclear how long or wide-ranging their investigation will be. But it can be said with a fair degree of certainty that the agents vetting travelers of Iranian descent didnt go rogue or even substantively diverge from what, under Trumps government, has become the standard approach to border security. Among the defining features of the president and his partys default aversion  and often hostility  toward people who arent white, native-born Americans is that it doesnt require a rigorous rationale. Bigotry rarely does. In this particular case, its a logical extension of a seemingly boundless War on Terror that over the past two decades has generated spiking violence against American Muslims  and those mistakenly perceived to be Muslim, like Sikhs  and broad suspicion against Muslim communities and travelers, such that Muslims are surveilled, added to watch- and no-fly lists, and outright banned from entry to the U.S. in staggering numbers, while white supremacists shoot up synagogues and win national elections.

It is, to an extent, a reflection of the degree to which the Trump era has openly valorized the bigoted application of security policies that Blaine CBP agents could profile so flagrantly with little apparent fear of consequences. You know in Israel they profile, Trump said in September 2016, deriding what he saw, laughably, as a reticence among American police to single out racial or religious minorities for suspicion. Theyve done an unbelievable job  as good as you can do  And theyll profile. This fundamentally vague approach seems to be a feature of Trumps military strategy as well. Several members of Congress have emerged from briefings about the Soleimani strike with serious doubts that the presidents rationale for the killing  that it prevented an imminent attack on Americans  was even close to being true.

But it speaks as well to the fundamental pathologies in how too many Americans view Americanness: as conditional, determined by a litmus test that encompasses a narrow range of bona fides, such as whiteness, being native born, and adhering to a jingoistic understanding of patriotism. Its a remarkably short trip between waving ones Iranian-American countrymen through an immigration checkpoint with little fanfare on Friday to singling them out for special interrogation and multi-hour security lines on Saturday. Even if none of these travelers were ultimately denied entry to the U.S., that their undue vetting was viewed by its perpetrators as reasonably precautionary  as a way to reassure themselves that they were being sufficiently thorough in protecting the homeland  illustrates, if nothing else, the emotional catharsis that such a sweeping and rigor-less approach to national security generates. Bigotry can be comforting, an affirmation of whats seen as the natural order. And the precipice of wartime is an especially edifying time to be reminded whose Americanness can be taken for granted and whose must be proven under duress.
The tongue-in-cheek Christmas special, a Netflix satire portraying Jesus as gay, was meant to provoke - and it did.

Politicians and preachers called the Brazilian film an act of blasphemy. Millions of people signed petitions calling for its creators, the sketch-comedy group Porta dos Fundos, to be charged with a crime. On Christmas Eve, the troupe's Rio de Janeiro headquarters was attacked with molotov cocktails.

The backlash to "The First Temptation of Christ" had proven so intense that on Wednesday, a Brazilian judge ordered Netflix to remove the film from its streaming service.

"The consequences of the dissemination and exhibition of 'artistic production' ... are more likely to cause more serious and irreparable damage than its suspension," wrote Benedicto Abicair, a judge in Rio de Janeiro state, according to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

His ruling was prompted by a legal complaint from a conservative Catholic institute in Rio, which claimed that the film "attacked the protection of religious freedom" by portraying Joseph as an idiot, Mary as a cheater and Jesus as a "childish homosexual."

Netflix did not immediately respond to questions from The Washington Post, though a representative for the company told Brazilian media it had no comment on the ruling.

It's hardly the first time Netflix has faced such an obstacle overseas. As the streaming giant expands to markets worldwide, it has been the frequent target of regulation or censorship, sometimes cutting out scenes or entire episodes to avoid violating government orders or more conservative social norms.

A 2018 episode of "Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj," in which the comedian analyzes the United States' relationship with Saudi Arabia, was pulled from viewers in the Middle Eastern country following a request from authorities there. In India, Netflix voluntarily agreed not to stream content that "deliberately and maliciously" insults the national flag or upsets religions, and in Thailand, it sparked controversy with its advertisements for the racy British comedy "Sex Education."

But Wednesday's court order may mark one of the most forceful crackdowns on the streaming platform in Latin America, where it has produced dozens of original projects and faced few, if any, serious efforts to restrict what viewers can or cannot watch - let alone, a movie made in and for the region.

Netflix refused calls from critics to take down the 2017 Argentine movie "Desire," which shows a young girl accidentally experiencing an orgasm - a scene some lambasted as "child pornography." Although the streaming giant caused an uproar among Brazilian leftists with "The Mechanism," a fictionalized version of the country's recent political scandals, the series never went offline.

To be sure, "The First Temptation of Christ," was meant to push boundaries, like other Porta dos Fundos productions. Between scenes of Mary smoking marijuana or Melchior hiring a sex worker, Jesus brings home a flamboyant male companion named Orlando, who repeatedly implies the two men are sleeping together. (At one point, Orlando calls the son of God a "naughty Capricorn.")

The criticism was swift - from evangelical leaders, delegates in the national assembly, bishops in Texas and even the son of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose father once called himself a "proud" homophobe. But Netflix stayed quiet.

"They (Netflix) haven't said anything to us like, 'Maybe we should stop making the special available,' " Fabio Porchat, who plays Orlando, told Variety last month. "They support freedom of speech." The same was true of Viacom, which has had a majority stake in the comedy group since 2017, he said.

The debate over the film seemed to stay within the bounds of the Brazilian press and social media until Christmas Eve, when Porta dos Fundos's offices in Rio were hit with gasoline bombs late at night. No one was hurt.

In a video of the attack that circulated on social media days later, three men took responsibility on behalf of Brazil's "integralists," a 1930s-era ultranationalist movement inspired by Italian fascism. With a digitally altered voice, the video's narrator said the group wanted to defend "all Brazilians against the blasphemous, bourgeois and anti-patriotic attitude" of the filmmakers, denouncing them as "militant Marxists."

The group condemned the violence on Twitter, writing that "love will prevail along with freedom of expression."

On Dec. 31, Brazilian police carried out a search warrant against a 41-year-old businessman, Eduardo Fauzi Richard Cerquise, who by then had already fled to Russia, where he intends to seek asylum.

"We would like to reinforce our commitment to good comedy," the group said, "and declare that we are stronger, more united, inspired and confident that Brazil will survive this storm of hatred."

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.

Yet for others, it was still the group's film that they saw as hateful.

In its legal complaint against "The First Temptation," the Don Bosco Center for Culture and Faith said that "the level of disrespect, aggression and contempt for faith and the values of Catholics displayed in the film is unspeakable," according to BBC Brazil.

Abicair, the judge, wrote that the case was a "clear conflict" between two constitutional principles: the right to artistic expression and free speech, and freedom of religion and the protection of church and liturgy.

One of those seemed to win out. He argued that it's "more appropriate and beneficial, not only for the Christian community, but for the mostly Christian Brazilian society, until the merit of the offense is judged."

It's unclear what will happen next. Although Porta dos Fundos said on Wednesday it had not yet received the order, Netflix has complied with other government requests to take down movies.

In Singapore, for instance, the streaming service said it pulled three series that contained "positive portrayals of drug use" following a request from authorities there.

The order, which overturned a previous ruling, stands unless Netflix or the comedy group appeals and a higher court strikes it down.

Marco Aurelio Mello, a Brazilian Supreme federal court justice, said that's precisely what should happen with "The First Temptation." In an interview with the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, he said Abicair's decision was "an outrage" and not supported by the country's Constitution.
As Iran-US tensions soar, Indian Navy on standby for evacuations

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 09: The Indian Navy is on standby for emergency evacuations in the wake of the escalating tensions between Iran and the US.

The INS Trikand is currently deployed in the Gulf of Oman as part of the ongoing Operation Sankalp.

This operation was launched last year to safeguard Indian flagged vessels transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, following certain maritime security incidents in the region.

They appear to be standing down, says Trump after Iran missile strikes

An official familiar with the developments tells OneIndia that the INS Trikand can be diverted to help in evacuation if needed. The Indian Navy is also keeping a few warships on full operational readiness, with supplies in case they have to head towards the Middle East, the official also said.

5 months after J&K special status revoked, foreign panel visits UT | OneIndia News

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that there were no American casualties in the Iranian strike on military bases housing US troops in Iraq.

He further added that Tehran appeared to be standing down. No Americans were hurt in the attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties, Trump said in a White House address. Our great American forces are prepared for anything. Iran appears to be standing down, Trump further said.

On Wednesday, Iran said that it launched tens of surface to surface missiles at Iraq's Ain Assad airbase that houses US troops. The attack was over the killing of Iran's top general Qassem Soleimani.

Iran missile attacks: Iran gave Iraq a heads-up before firing 22 missiles at US forces on its soil

Iran's Revolutionary Guards has warned the US and its regional allies against retaliating over the missile attack in Iraq.

"We are warning all American allies, who gave their bases to its terrorist army, that any territory that is the starting point of aggressive acts against Iran will be targeted," a statement read. It also warned Israel.
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Faced with the complex issue of food waste and food insecurity in their community, students at Santee Education Complex and Thomas Jefferson High School partnered with National Health Foundation (NHF) to find a solution. After months of conducting research, students and staff piloted what is now the gold standard for addressing food waste and insecurity  Share Table.

Through National Health Foundation's Health Academy program, NHF partners with schools in South Los Angeles and works with students to develop sustainable solutions to address health barriers in their community. NHF collaborated with students at both schools to discover what issues prevented students from accessing healthy foods in their schools.

"Through the funding we received from the CalFresh Healthy Living Program, we were able to implement the Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) model, where students were challenged to think about health issues they faced in the context of food waste and food access," shares Director of Community Initiatives, Chad Monk.

The results gathered from the data collected indicated:

1) High levels of food waste on campus

2) Many students experienced hunger at home after the school day ended

In considering various options to address food waste and food access at school, they decided to pursue the Share Table model. Under this model, students can use a table or other hard surface to place uneaten and unopened food items and beverages in an open space where students can pick up additional food items at no cost. Acceptable items include milk cartons, fresh fruit, and other healthy snacks.

After the initial pilot, students gathered data gathered from confidential surveys indicating that 35.9% of students reported using the Share Table one to five days a week and 55% reported that they felt the Share Table made a difference in their schools.

As a result of the incredible success of the program, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health and CalFresh Healthy Living proceeded with the inclusion of NHF's step-by-step guide in this year's CalFresh Healthy Living Share Table Implementation Guide. In addition, local and state policies that directly support the use of Share Tables in schools have been instituted, including SB 557 Food Donation and Pupil Meals: Schools.

If you are interested in covering NHF's success with the Share Table model, please contact Stephany Rodas at (213) 538-0723 or via email at [email protected] .

Founded in 1973, National Health Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)3 corporation that works within communities to eliminate barriers to health, address the root causes of poor health, and advocate and empower under-resourced communities to find solutions that lead to lasting change. Embracing the guiding philosophy that health begins where we live, learn, work and play, the organization's advocacy and work focuses on four key areas: housing, food access, built environments and education.

Contact:

Stephany Rodas, National Health Foundation

213-538-0723, [email protected]

SOURCE National Health Foundation
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 9)  The Traslacion is the biggest and wildest annual Catholic event in this part of the world; and securing it is a tough challenge.

When it comes to security threats, some Filipino Muslims admit  though hesitantly  that they have become the usual suspects.

Inamin natin may mga nasasangkot din at may nadadamay, pero hindi po yun ang katuruan ng Islam at hindi po yun ang kagustuhan ng mga Muslim, said Yusuf Mando, chairman of the Muslim Consultative Council in Manila.

[Translation: We admit that some of us have been involved, but that is not what Islam teaches us and that is not what Muslims want.]

Kaya po sa pagkakataong ito, inunahan na po natin sila. Tayo na gumawa ng mabuti at nagpapakita ng respeto yung pakikisalamuha at pakikiisa, he said.

[Translation: Thats why this time, weve gone ahead of them. We are doing something good and showing respect and solidarity.]

The Manila chapter of the Muslim Consultative Council  among many other groups  offered free water and assistance to devotees. They set up their station along Palanca Street.

Majority of residents in two villages within the stretch of Palanca are Muslims, so it is only proper to deploy Muslim members of the police and military here.

They engage residents to gather critical intelligence information, while securing the procession route.

Being a Muslim serving during Traslacion, police and soldier said, is a humbling opportunity to show respect to other peoples faith.

Religion is not a barrier for unity. So we have to be united sa pagiging diverse natin sa [in our being diverse in] religion, Major Abdulmari Imam said.

Violence ensues

As the Black Nazarenes carriage reaches Palanca Street in record time, all hell broke loose.

A sea of people filled the street, and just like the sea, devotees moved like waves as they struggled to go along the procession.

As if walking on water, devotees step or desperately clung to other devotees to reach the carriage, or the andas  then they all fall together.

Violence kicked in as they fought for control of the rope pulling the carriage. And then the crowd pleaded for a medic to respond to an unconscious woman.

These graphic displays of overzealousness go on for about 20 minutes in Palanca Street as it moves to the next procession route.

Despite the innovations and changes organizers have tried to introduce, it seems like this is still the old Traslacion known to many.

Until the next Traslacion, organizers will have to reexamine where the threat of violence is coming from.

Filipino Muslims sincerely hope perceptions against them will still change.
Pakistans parliament yesterday passed laws limiting the maximum age and tenure of the countrys army chief, a significant move in a country which has been ruled by the powerful military for nearly half its existence.

The legislation came after the supreme court last year challenged Prime Minister Imran Khans decision to extend the appointment of army chief General Qamer Javed Bajwa, 59, by a further three years. Pakistan has been ruled by the military for roughly half its 72-year history, and the army is seen as the most powerful institution in the country.

The term for a military chief is supposed to be three years, but Bajwa was the latest in a long line of generals to see their tenure extended. The legislation passed in Pakistans lower house yesterday also sets a maximum age of 64 for the chiefs of the army, air force and navy.

The bill now goes to the senate, where it is expected to pass before being signed into law by the president. Bajwa was appointed to lead the military in 2016, taking over from the popular General Raheel Sharif.

Since taking power, however, Bajwa and the military have been criticised for cracking down on civil society. There have been nine army chiefs since Pakistans independence in 1947 following partition with India.
Chlamydia, one of the most common STIs, does not cause symptoms in most people. [Photo: Getty]

More than half of adults in the UK have never been tested for an STI, research suggests.

A nationwide survey of over 2,300 Brits by the online pharmacy Medicine Direct reveals 58% had never been checked over for a sexually-transmitted infection.

READ MORE: What's causing record rates of STDs?

While it may leave some red faced, STIs are rife.

Among those who go to get checked, more than 447,600 STI diagnoses were made in England alone in 2018, Public Health England data shows.

The reason why so many people tend to avoid getting tested is a combination of issues surrounding the subject of sexual health, Hussain Abdeh, superintendent pharmacist at Medicine Direct, told Yahoo UK.

Embarrassment is by far the number one reason, many people are too embarrassed to go to a doctor or sexual health clinic to discuss or show their symptoms in person.

Many also mistakenly believe STIs always cause symptoms, with a quarter (25%) of those asked claiming they would only get tested if something seemed awry.

Its worth remembering for some STIs, such as chlamydia, there can be no visible symptoms, but they can be very damaging if left untreated, Mr Abdeh said.

Thats why its so important to work regular STI testing into your life and treat it as a normal part of your lifestyle as a sexually-responsible individual.

READ MORE: STIs on the rise among middle-aged men

Chlamydia, one of the most common STIs, does not cause symptoms in most people, according to the NHS.

Left untreated, the bacteria can spread to other parts of the body, triggering pelvic inflammatory disease, swelling of the testicles and even infertility.

Of those who are open to getting tested, 12% had not been in more than five years.

Living up to their stereotype of dodging the doctors, men were found to be 39% more likely to bury their head in the sand when it comes to their wellbeing down there.

This contradicts research by the University of Glasgow, which found women are more likely to be in poor sexual health.

Story continues

Inadequate sex ed at school may be to blame, with 33% saying they were never educated on it, while 20% rated the information as poor or awful.

STIs can be caught or passed on via unprotected sex or close sexual contact with an infected person, the UK charity Avert reports.

Open communication with your other half is therefore important, but should not be the only way you stay safe.

READ MORE: What Is Chlamydia?

One in 10 (10%) of those surveyed claimed they would only get tested if their partner told them they had an STI.

As if this was not bad enough, 5% said they would only discuss their sexual history after intercourse.

Perhaps most worrying of all, 2% dismissed STIs as a complete myth.

As part of its Fruit of your Loins campaign, Medicine Direct is encouraging people to get tested regularly and be aware of the symptoms STIs can cause.

These include unusual discharge, pain when urinating and vaginal bleeding.

Some also notice rashes, itchiness, lumps, skin growth, blisters or sores on their genitals.

If in doubt, check it out, Mr Abdeh said.
By Steve Scherer and David Shepardson

OTTAWA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Ukrainian airliner that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people aboard, was likely brought down by an Iranian missile, Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said on Thursday, citing intelligence from Canadian and other sources.

The destruction of the airliner, which carried 63 Canadians, "may well have been unintentional," Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa.

"We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile," he said.

The Ukraine International Airlines flight to Kiev from Tehran crashed on Wednesday hours after Iran fired ballistic missiles at U.S. targets in Iraq, and Iranians were on high alert for a U.S. military response. https://tmsnrt.rs/36Fn26m

Trudeau said his government would not rest until it had obtained closure, transparency, accountability and justice.

Earlier on Thursday, a U.S. official, citing an extensive review of satellite data, said Washington had concluded with a high degree of certainty that anti-aircraft missiles brought down the plane. The official said the Boeing 737-800 had been tracked by Iranian radar.

The U.S. government believes Iran shot down the plane by mistake, three U.S. officials told Reuters.

The data showed the plane was airborne for two minutes after departing Tehran when the heat signatures of two surface-to-air missiles were detected, one of the officials said.

That was quickly followed by an explosion in the vicinity of the plane, the official said. Heat signature data then showed it on fire as it went down. Heat signatures are infrared emissions detected by U.S. military satellites.

The New York Times said it had obtained and verified a video that appeared to show an Iranian missile hitting a plane near Tehran airport.

'PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE'

Iran denied that the airliner had been hit by a missile.

Story continues

"All these reports are a psychological warfare against Iran ... all those countries whose citizens were aboard the plane can send representatives and we urge Boeing to send its representative to join the process of investigating the black box," government spokesman Ali Rabiei said in a statement.

An initial report issued by Iran's civil aviation organisation on Thursday said the 3-year-old airliner, which had its last scheduled maintenance on Monday, encountered a technical problem shortly after takeoff and started to head toward a nearby airport before it crashed.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump said he did not believe the crash of the airliner was due to a mechanical issue.

"It's a tragic thing. But somebody could have made a mistake - on the other side," Trump said.

Riki Ellison, a defense expert and founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said the radar signature of a Boeing airliner would have been quite similar to a large U.S. military transport plane.

"They (the Iranians) were on full alert to shoot down anything that resembled a U.S. aircraft. Somebody made a mistake by identifying it as a warplane," Ellison said.

Once the missiles were fired, it would have been impossible to divert them, even if the ground operators realized their error, he said. "Once you shoot those things, it's over."

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have risen since Trump ordered the U.S. drone killing of a top Iranian general on Friday. Trump has refrained from ordering more military action and Iran's foreign minister said the strikes on Iraqi bases that house U.S. forces had "concluded" Tehran's response.

TECHNICAL PROBLEM

Investigations into airliner crashes require regulators, experts and companies across several international jurisdictions to work together. It can take months to fully determine the cause and issuing an initial report within 24 hours is rare.

The Ukrainian airliner took off at 6:12 a.m. and was given permission to climb to 26,000 feet (7,925 m), Iran's report said. It crashed six minutes later near the town of Sabashahr.

There was no radio communication from the pilot and the aircraft disappeared from radar at 8,000 feet (2,440 m), the report said.

Bodies and body parts recovered from the site of the crash were taken to the coroner's office for identification, it said.

Smouldering debris, including shoes and clothes, was strewn across a field where the plane crashed. Rescue workers in face masks laid out scores of body bags.

Ukraine had outlined four potential scenarios to explain the crash, including a missile strike and terrorism. Kiev said its investigators wanted to search the crash site for possible debris of a Russian-made missile used by Iran's military.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said it had been invited by Iran to the accident site and was making travel arrangements.

Iran has formally invited the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to take part in its investigation and the agency has agreed to assign an investigator, an Iranian official told Reuters.

The NTSB said it had designated an accredited representative to the investigation. "The NTSB continues to monitor the situation surrounding the crash and evaluate its level of participation in the investigation," it said in a statement.

Boeing Co said it would support the NTSB in the investigation. The company is still reeling from two deadly crashes of 737 MAX planes in five months that led to the plane's grounding in March 2019. The 737-800 that crashed was built in 2016 and is the prior generation of the 737 before the MAX. Boeing has built about 5,000 of those planes, which have a good safety record.

The FAA had banned U.S. carriers from operating in the airspace over Iraq, Iran, the Gulf of Oman and the waters between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the hours after Iran's attack on U.S.-led forces in Iraq. Several other airlines also diverted flights.

OPSGROUP, which advises airlines on safety matters, said that after the comments from Trudeau and U.S. officials pointing to a missile downing, some flights inbound to Tehran were turned around and diverted. The group advised operators not to fly to airports in Iraq or Iran and said traffic flow over the countries had greatly declined in the past 48 hours.

(This story has been refiled to restore missing words in paragraph 8)

(Reporting by Mark Hosenball, David Shepardson, Jonathan Landay and Phil Stewart in Washington; Alexander Cornwell and Babak Dehghanpisheh in Dubai, Pavel Polityuk in Kiev and Steve Scherer in Ottawa; Additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris, Jamie Freed in Sydney, Allison Lampert in Montreal, Laurence Frost in Paris, Matthias Williams in Kiev, Elizabeth Piper in London; Writing by Sonya Hepinstall and Jamie Freed; Editing by William Maclean, Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)
The suspect in the fatal shooting of a 35-year-old man in Lawrence on New Years Eve is now in custody after turning himself in to police in New York City earlier this week.

The Essex District Attorneys office and Lawrence Police Chief Roy Vasque announced Luis Polanco, 25, of Lawrence, turned himself in to the New York City Police Department in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday.

Polanco was then arraigned in New York County Criminal Court on a fugitive from justice charge.

The Essex District Attorneys Office was notified Thursday morning that Polanco waived rendition. He will return to Lawrence District Court to face a charge of murder. No date for his return has been set.

Lawrence police were called at 11:49 p.m. on Dec. 31 for a report of gunshots at 7B Summer St.

Officers responded to the area and located 35-year-old Wilson Javier, of Salem, New Hampshire. Javier had been shot.

Authorities rushed Javier to Lawrence General Hospital where he was pronounced dead soon after arrival.
PHOTO: Getty Images

SINGAPORE  After a bout of drinking, an intoxicated man trespassed into a flat, impersonated a police officer, and sexually assaulted the domestic helper who was doing chores in her room.

The 32-year-old Indonesian did not comply with Mark Kalaivanan Tamilarasans demands to hand over her passport, work permit and money. She then went through the harrowing experience of being groped and violated by the man.

This was the prosecutions case on the opening day of Marks trial on Thursday (9 January). The 40-year-old Singaporean is contesting four charges, including molesting and sexually assaulting the maid, trespassing into the flat and impersonating a police officer on the afternoon of 15 July 2017.

Four charges related to impersonating an immigration officer, possessing five obscene films and two others without valid certificates, were stood down and will be dealt with at a later stage.

The victims name cannot be revealed due to a gag order imposed by the court.

Harrowing ordeal

Opening the case, Deputy Public Prosecutors Tan Yen Seow, Chew Xin Ying and Wong Kok Weng argued that the victim was sexually violated in a place that was supposed to be her sanctuary, by a man she had never seen before, while her employers bedridden mother was in the next room.

After a drinking session with friends, the accused, intoxicated, trespassed into the flat through the unlocked front door, said DPP Chew.

After creeping into the womans room and startling her, Mark brazenly lied that he was a police officer, and demanded that she hand over her passport, work permit, and money.

When she failed to comply, he told her to face the wall and raise her hands, stated the prosector.

He then allegedly grabbed her breast and touched her right thigh. He threatened to beat her up when the maid resisted his advances and begged him to stop.

DPP Chew said that Mark dragged the maid to the kitchen toilet, with the victim shouting for help and crying tolong, tolong! (Malay for help, help) Threatening to punch the maid, Mark then made her sit down on the toilet bowl. He ordered her to close her eyes and forced her to perform oral sex.

Story continues

He then allegedly demanded that the woman remove her pants, but she refused.

The woman later heard footsteps outside the toilet and fled.

Her harrowing ordeal came to an end when she saw two police officer inside the flat near the front door and ran towards them screaming for help, said DPP Chew. Mark emerged shortly after, naked and holding his clothes in his hand. He was then arrested.

The maids earlier cries had attracted the attention of her neighbours living in the flat above, and they had called the police, according to the prosecution.

Victims DNA found on Kalaivanans genitals

The prosecution said that it would call 14 witnesses for the trial, with the victim testifying first. The victim will testify about the torment she suffered at the accuseds hands, from the moment he appeared out of nowhere while she was ironing, to her tremendous relief when she laid eyes on the police officers, stated the prosecution.

Her neighbours, including another domestic helper, will testify to hearing her cries for help, while police officers will attest to the maids distress as she sought help from them. Body-worn camera footage recording her screams for help will also be adduced in court.

The prosecution will also be referring to forensic tests by the Health Sciences Authority that found the maids DNA on Marks genitals. The victims DNA was also found on the mans underwear and his right hand.

A significant amount of alcohol was discovered in Marks blood and urine samples, stated the prosecution.

While the defence will not be denying the sexual act, it will argue that the act was consensual, with the maid leading Mark to the flat where she willingly became intimate with him. The prosecution intends to rebut this defence by adducing CCTV footage which shows Mark taking the lift to the victims flat by himself from the ground floor of the block at around 3.26pm.

The trial continues on Thursday.

Other Singapore stories

Singaporeans should avoid travel to Iran and Iraq due to 'volatile security situation': MFA

GrabFood opens shared kitchen in Hillview with dine-in, takeaway options

Upskirter tailed 'attractive' women till they got to MRT escalators
Canberra, Jan 9 : Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday said the death toll from the country's bushfire crisis has risen to 27.

Morrison provided an update on the bushfires in a press conference at Parliament House, announcing that 2,131 homes have been destroyed and the toll is expected to rise, Xinhua reported.

Fire burning across Australia's southeast were expected to be exacerbated by high temperatures and strong winds on Thursday and Friday.

"I am sure over the course of the day, as further damage assessments have been undertaken, particularly in victims the numbers will continue to sadly change and they will continue to escalate," he said.

"I would encourage all Australians to continue to follow the advice of authorities, to keep being kind to each other as the way you are." Morrison also thanked international partners who have sent aid to Australia.

He was joined by former Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin, who on Monday was announced as the inaugural head of the National Bushfire Recovery Agency.

"The message we have is let's make sure what we give is tailored to the community who needs it," Colvin said.

On Thursday, mining magnate Andrew Forrest announced a 70-million-Australian-dollar ($48.1 million) donation to bushfire relief efforts.
The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba has concluded that the use of lethal force in the death of a man shot by a Winnipeg police officer in February 2019 was "reasonable, necessary, justified, and unavoidable."

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/1/2020 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba has concluded that the use of lethal force in the death of a man shot by a Winnipeg police officer in February 2019 was "reasonable, necessary, justified, and unavoidable."

In an eight-page report published Tuesday, the IIU's civilian director, Zane Tessler, details the unit's findings around the events that led to the death of Machuar Maduta 43-year-old man originally from South Sudan who family and friends said had been experiencing mental distress at the time he was shot in his Colony Street apartment.

SUPPLIED PHOTO Machuar Madut was fatally shot by a Winnipeg police officer in February, 2019.

According to the report's breakdown of the incidentbased off interviews with three witnessing officers, civilians, and the notes of the officer who fired the gunpolice were called Feb. 25 about a man with a hammer in the hallway banging on doors, trying to enter suites, and throwing items out of the building's backdoor earlier in the day.

A family member interviewed by the IIU said Madut had received treatment for mental illness, and had been notified of an impending eviction because he'd damaged his suite door. Madut was told he'd need to vacate the building by the end of the month.

One tenant told the IIU a man had entered their suite holding a hammer. Officers then spotted Madut and followed him to a different unit. An officer said he kicked at the door of the unit, and Madut answered. After Madut told the officer he lived in the building but in a different unit, he was asked to exit and face the wall to be handcuffed and detained, an officer said.

As one officer recalled, Madut refused, and ran into his suite with officers following. An officer used his taser, but it was ineffective. Madut charged at an officer and struck him on the head. "(The officer) was stunned by the blow, but not injured," the report notes.

Madut then ran into the bathroom and, when an officer approached, Madut "ran towards" him holding a hammer. The officer threw his taser to the ground and pulled out his firearm. The officer shot three times, hitting Madut in the chest twice.

"I am satisfied that the evidence gathered from all sources provides sufficient support for the conclusion that the decision by (the officer) to shoot (Madut) was necessary in order to prevent the injury or death to him and other police officers in the vicinity," Tessler wrote.

Nowhere in the report is Madut's race mentioned, and aside from his relative's interview, neither is his mental health, and critics say such elements often play outsized roles in interactions with police.

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.

An Ontario Human Rights Commission report into the Toronto Police Services found that from 2013 to 2017, black people were the ones killed in 70 per cent of police shootings resulting in civilian death, despite accounting for under nine per cent of the total population. In Manitoba, the majority of people killed in police encounters between 2000 and 2017 were Indigenous, CBC reported last year.

"I am unwilling to entertain the notion that Machuar Maduts death was sad but inevitable," wrote Robyn Maynard, the Canadian author of Policing Black Lives, shortly after his death. "We can and must collectively refuse the logic that tells us that violent death is an unpreventable turn of events when poor black people need support with mental health issues."

Bronwyn Dobchuk-Land, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Winnipeg, echoed Maynard.

"This report is saying his death was inevitable and justifiable, which I think is abhorrent," she said. "The fact that police are far more likely to shoot and kill black and Indigenous men makes it impossible to consider this incident without consdering that race and racism was a factor."

She said rather than de-escalating the situation, police had an opposite effect. Regarding the conclusion of the reasonability of the use of lethal force, she said, "Nobody was hurt until the police arrived."

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca
In a shocking development, another rocket attack was reported from the Fadhlan area of the Dujail district in Iraq's northern Salahuddin province. Media reports suggest that the area is close to the Balad airbase which houses US troops. The source of the rocket has not been traced yet.

Reports suggest that there have been no casualties. Dujail district in Iraq is 50 km away from the north of Baghdad, while Balad base is about 80 kilometres far from the site of the attack.

Tensions between Iran & US

The longstanding tension between Iran and the US surfaced again as Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was slain by the US in an airstrike near Iraq's Baghdad International Airport, ordered by US President Donald Trump on Friday.

Post this, Iran had threatened "harsh retaliation" and subsequently, two airstrikes were reported near US Embassy in Baghdads Green Zone on Saturday and Sunday. As per recent reports, a third attack was launched on Thursday as three Katyusha rockets hit the Baghdads Green Zone.

Read: No casualties, will impose sanctions: US President Trump cops out after Iran's missiles

Following the developments, Trump said that the US would strike 52 sites in the Islamic Republic if any Americans were harmed. After this, there has been a continuous war of words between the officials of the two countries.

In no time, on Wednesday morning, the Al-Assad and Ebril airbases in Iraq that house the US and coalition forces were hit by multiple rockets. This incident was first reported by Iranian state TV, who described it as Tehrans revenge operation over the killing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Read: LIVE: Three Katyusha rockets hit Iraq's Green Zone

Trumps statement on the recent attacks

US President Donald Trump, on Wednesday, addressed the media and spoke about the recent attacks on Iraqi military bases housing US officials. In his address, he opened the possibility of a truce and said that both the countries can work together to establish peace. However, as the Iranian news agency released the preparation video after Trumps address indicates otherwise.

Trump said, Time has come for the UNSC members to recognize this. We must work together to make a deal with Iran for world peace. Peace cannot prevail in the middle east till Iran wages violence. Your campaign of terror and mayhem will not be tolerated.

Image source: AP

Read: Irans local media shares missile prep video after US military base attacks

Read: Saudi minister asserts Kingdom's commitment to 'spare Iraq the danger of war'
Photo: Contributed

Recently the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard announced that a project would be undertaken on the Fraser River to remove an abandoned 75-year-old, nearly 200-foot-long, former transport vessel.

The reason for the removal is that there are imminent risks of pollution threat, hull corrosion, possible sinking and fire.

The cost of this project is estimated to be $3.3 million  which may or may not be recoverable from the vessels owners, assuming they can be identified.

That the federal government is taking action against derelict and abandoned vessels will certainly be welcome news in many areas that have experienced firsthand the adverse environmental impact of this problem.

My issue is not with this project itself, but rather the importance of being proactive.

Here in the Okanagan, we face the very serious threat of aquatic invasive freshwater mussels.These mussels can clog water intakes, causing serious damage to irrigation infrastructure as well as domestic and civic water systems.

Further, as an invasive species, an infestation of these mussels can also create serious adverse impacts on local fish habitat, such as the pacific salmon, and other freshwater ecosystems.

If an infestation did occur in Okanagan Lake, considering the connected Okanagan river drainage system as well as other surrounding freshwater lakes, the threat of other regions being seriously impacted through contamination would be significant and likely.

The Okanagan Basin Water Board predicts that the costs of managing an infestation are estimated to be $42 million per year in the Okanagan Valley alone.

These would be costs forced onto local taxpayers, pending other financial support from the provincial and federal government.

It is easy to understand why it makes far more sense to be proactive in this situation, to provide additional resources now to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species than to spend significantly more funds addressing an infestation after the fact.

Despite this reality, the federal Liberal government continues to largely ignore this threat, creating a situation that I believe all citizens of the Okanagan should find unacceptable.

If this government can prioritize $12 million to help Loblaws purchase new refrigerators, surely it can also prioritize the roughly $2 million in annual funding requested from the Okanagan Basin Water Board to protect the interior freshwater lakes of the Okanagan and British Columbia.

My question this week is: Do you agree?

I can be reached at [email protected] or call toll free 1-800-665-8711.
Early Rain Covenant Church vows to 'keep on fighting' despite imprisonment of pastor Wang Yi

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Members of Early Rain Covenant Church have vowed to keep fighting despite escalating persecution of Christians in China and the recent sentencing of their pastor, Wang Yi, to nine years in prison.

The 5,000 member church issued an exhortation and protest against the severe sentence and expressed hope that God will be glorified throughout the ordeal after Wang was sentenced to prison Dec. 30 on charges of subversion of power and illegal business operations.

Do you government officials not know that this is a sin against God? Do you not know that this is an abuse of your authority (Rom. 13:3)? the statement began. Even so, we do not hate you. On the contrary, our merciful and righteous God wants us to love you and to pray for you.

We desire that those public officials and law enforcement officers who are involved in this case would quickly repent and believe in the Lord, that you would know the atonement and forgiveness of sins which the Lord Jesus extends to all through his suffering on the cross, and that you would obtain eternal life and hope.

The church invited all sojourners throughout the world who belong to the universal church to pray for both Wang and church leader Qin Defu, who was sentenced to four years in prison for the charge of illegal business operations.

Pray for all of us. We will also pray for you, the church said. In this eschaton, which Jesus Christ brought about through his incarnation, through his perfect life, through his betrayal and trial, through his substitutionary death, through his resurrection and ascension, through his gift of the Holy Spirit  in this eschaton, may we testify, through our suffering, that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn. 14:6) and that he is the light of the world.

Early Rain Covenant Church was first raided during a Sunday evening service in December 2018 after authorities claimed the church had violated religious regulations because it was not registered with the government. Wang was detained along with his wife, Jiang Rong, and more than 100 members of the congregation.

Chinas Communist Party requires that Protestants worship only in churches recognized and regulated by the officially sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement.

Most Early Rain members were released after enduring various degrees of interrogation and torture. However, Wang was detained by authorities for more than a year without charge. He was later sentenced in a closed-door legal proceeding in which his lawyer wasnt allowed to defend him.

In addition to jail time, Wang will be deprived of his political rights for three years and the Chinese government will confiscate about $7,200 of his personal assets.

According to Bob Fu, president of China Aid, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization advocating for the basic rights of Chinese Christians, Wangs sentence is the harshest of any house church leader in China.

In its statement, Early Rain invited other persecuted churches to likewise fix their eyes together with us upon the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.

Through the Holy Spirit, may we be united to the King of Kings who ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on high, who is our eternal high priest and prophet of the last days, the church said. May we be strong in his grace as we keep on fighting despite repeated setbacks. We do this to fulfill the Great Commission and to spread the Gospel, that the glorious name of the triune God might be praised.

May God help us and allow us to experience together the breadth, length, height, and depth of the love of God until the day we see him face-to-face, it concluded. May blessing and honor and wisdom and wealth and glory and power and authority be to our holy Father who is in Heaven, to the Lord Jesus Christ who obtained our salvation, and to the Holy Spirit our Helper who continually helps us. Amen!

A lawyer by training, Wang had become known for taking high-profile positions on politically sensitive issues, including forced abortions and the massacre that crushed the Tiananmen Square democracy movement in 1989.

Before his arrest, Wang released a letter titled My Declaration of Faithful Disobedience. In it, the pastor said he wasnt interested in changing any political or legal institutions in China, because the goal of disobedience is not to change the world but to testify about another world.

Regardless of what crime the government charges me with, whatever filth they file at me, as long as this charge is related to my faith, my writings, my comments, and my teachings, it is merely a lie and temptation of demons, he wrote. I categorically deny it. I will serve my sentence, but I will not serve the law. I will be executed, but I will not plead guilty.

Persecution watchdog group Open Doors USA ranks China 27th on its list of 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 06:34:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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CAIRO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan failed to reach a consensus in their latest talks over the filling and operation of Ethiopia's new dam on the Nile River, Egypt said Thursday.

"The three states couldn't reach a consensus on the water released from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in the different hydrological conditions of the Blue Nile branch," said the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation in a statement.

It also lamented "the lack of clear measures from the Ethiopian side to preserve the capacity of Egypt's High Dam to face the different effects that may result from filling and operating the GERD."

The latest two-day talks, which ended on Thursday in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, involved the water ministers and technical delegations of the three countries, with the participation of mediators from the United States and the World Bank.

Upstream Nile Basin country Ethiopia started building its grand hydropower dam in 2011 on the Blue Nile, while Egypt, a downstream country, is concerned that the dam might affect its 55.5-billion-cubic-meter annual share of Nile water.

Egypt's fellow downstream country Sudan eyes future benefits from the GERD construction despite Egyptian concerns. The GERD is expected to produce over 6,000 megawatts of electricity and become Africa's largest hydropower dam upon completion.

"Egypt tried to bridge the gap in positions by presenting proposals and studies that guarantee Ethiopia's continuous and high-efficiency electricity generation during periods of severe drought without harming Egyptian water interests," said the Egyptian ministry.

Egypt seeks a minimum annual flow of 40 billion cubic meters of water from the Blue Nile branch to its lands, while Ethiopia wants to allow an annual passage of 35 billion cubic meters only during the period of filling the dam and the times of drought.

Filling the reservoir, whose total capacity is 74 billion cubic meters, may take several years. While Ethiopia wants to fill it in five to six years, Egypt seeks to prolong the period to avoid the negative effects of water shortage, which is a main point of their talks.

After years of deadlock, the negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have recently restarted with the U.S. mediation.
Acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal's lawyer on Thursday moved a Delhi court, seeking an injunction on the release of Deepika Padukone-starrer 'Chhapaak'.

Advocate Aparna Bhat filed the application saying that despite representing Agarwal in courts for several years and helping in the making of the movie, she was not given credit in the film.

She said the filmmakers took her help in the process of writing and shooting the movie, but did not give her credits in the film.

The matter is likely to be taken up for hearing shortly.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The presidents of Pennsylvanias 14 community colleges have inked a transfer agreement they hope will help the Keystone State achieve its goal of more Pennsylvania adults earning college degrees or industry credentials.

On Wednesday afternoon, the presidents announced a new partnership with Southern New Hampshire University that will allow students from all 14 community colleges to transfer up to 90 credits -- applicable military training is considered -- and complete their bachelors degree online at a discounted rate. They celebrated the agreement via a digital signing and news conference.

Southern New Hampshire University is already a popular transfer destination for Pennsylvania community college students with more than 1,500 students enrolled. The university is sweetening the deal, offering state community college alumni a 10% tuition reduction to make college more affordable. The agreement also extends to community college employees and their immediate family members.

This is a great option for students who are looking for an affordable, online alternative to continue their education once they graduate from NCC, said Mark Erickson, president of Northampton Community College. Northampton prides itself on the accessible, affordable and quality education we offer to the community. We are pleased when four-year colleges and universities work to provide our students transfer options that offer them the same opportunities.

By 2025, Pennsylvania hopes 60% of residents aged 25 to 64 will have a post-secondary degree or an industry-recognized credential. This agreement will give transfer students a chance to earn an online bachelors degree at a rate thats more affordable than nearly every other public option in Pennsylvania, according to a news release. It is the only statewide articulation agreement of its kind in the state.

At SNHU, we seek to streamline the transfer process for community college graduates across the nation and we are excited to team up with all 14 community colleges in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, said Jennifer Batchelor, vice president of academic programs-global campus at Southern New Hampshire University. Through this new partnership, students will be able to continue on a transformational journey, which will not only impact their lives but also those of their families and communities.

Nearly 500 Pennsylvania community college students transferred to Southern New Hampshire University in the 2018-19 school year and the school awarded 166 Pennsylvanians bachelors degrees. The tuition reduction will apply to currently enrolled transfer students from Pennsylvania community college and the standard application fee will also be waived for new community college transfer students.

Thousands of articulation agreements are already in place with higher education partners here in Pennsylvania to help students realize their postsecondary achievement goals and we fully expect those longstanding partnerships to continue, said Elizabeth Bolden, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges. The academic preparation, success and focus of Pennsylvanias community college students is appealing to many national higher education institutions, as these students are typically motivated and high-performing."

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Prince Andrew's decision to step down from his royal duties seems to be not his own at all.

Prince Andrew appeared in an "ill-judged" interview with BBC last November in pursuit of clearing his name about his involvement with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the allegations thrown at her by alleged victim Virginia Roberts. However, the opposite happened, as he received heavy backlash and was criticized even more after the interview.

Just a few days after the disastrous TV appearance, the Duke of York released an official statement regarding his decision to withdraw from his royal duties, as posted on his Twitter account through the Royal Communications.

"Therefore, I have asked Her Majesty if I may step back from public duties for the unforeseeable future, and she has given her permission," the statement read as the consequences of his BBC interview -- which affected not only the Royal Family but also his corporate partnerships with various sponsors and charities -- finally became clear to Prince Andrew.

Who Pushed Him to Step Down?

Because of this statement, rumors about Queen Elizabeth II allegedly firing the Duke of York spread.

On Nov. 20, a source exclusively revealed to Daily Beast that Her Royal Highness called her favorite son Prince Andrew to Buckingham Palace and ordered him to step down. This just proved that stepping down from his royal duties was never Prince Andrew's choice and the Duke of York's involvement with Epstein fueled the decision to toss him out of Buckingham Palace.

The Queen also reportedly decided to remove the duke's office from the palace and cancel his birthday plans due to the controversies surrounding Prince Andrew.

In addition, his brother and the heir to the throne, Prince Charles together with Prince William reportedly insisted the Queen to "fire" the Duke of York.

In reality, however, his father Prince Philip was the one who played the biggest role in removing Prince Andrew from his duties.

What Did Prince Philip Do?

Just this year, Express released a report stating that Prince Philip was the one to push Prince Andrew to won up to his mistakes.

Instead of keeping quiet just like how he has been since retiring in 2017, the Duke of Edinburgh spoke up and told his son his opinion on the matter.

A week before the scheduled crisis meeting between Prince Charles and Prince Andrew, Prince Philip called the Duke of York to Sandringham where a tense meeting took place.

An insider told The Telegraph, "There was no screaming or shouting but Philip told him in no uncertain terms that he had to step down for the sake of the monarchy."

The patriarch also expressed that he did not like how the media put Prince Andrew on trial, but he also realized that his son's actions could cause more problems to the royal family. The father truly spoke from the heart and convinced his son to take the step down as he knows what is best for everyone.
The Saudi Railways Company (SAR), in cooperation with the Ministry of Transport, is gearing up to host the 2020 Railway Forum at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh on January 28 and 29.



Under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, the forum is the first of its kind for the kingdom's flourishing railway sector. It constitutes a unique platform for exploring modern technologies, engaging with experts in the field, and meeting influential figures who are shaping its future. This will be made possible through the participation of an elite group of transport ministers and executives from around the world, as well as experts from international and regional bodies and representatives of local and international companies.



Commenting on the upcoming forum, Dr Bashar bin Khalid Al-Malik, CEO of SAR, said: "Saudi Arabia is holding this major event so that everyone can share the latest developments, success stories and achievements in the railway industry. It will also shed light on the kingdom's active role in this field, both on the regional and international levels, while highlighting the growing importance of this industry in terms of adoption of latest technologies, investment opportunities and its overall impact on the economy, tourism and logistical services in the region, in line with Vision 2030."



Locally, the forum aims to shed light on the development and growth of the railway industry, and to provide excellent investment opportunities while highlighting the kingdom's role as a key player in regional logistic services. This is one of the main objectives and pillars of Saudi Vision 2030. Globally, the forum aims to place the kingdom's railway industry on the world map by bringing together leaders in the field from around the globe, in a bid to create exceptional investment opportunities through a forum that includes a group of international companies specialised in the field of transportation. It is also meant to serve as a platform to exchange ideas, experiences and to discuss pivotal topics related to the field.



The forum seeks to establish a solid base of relationships between global pioneers in the railway industry, in order to provide a diverse reference and to enhance the experience of local talents in the transport industry. It will help widen foreign and local investment horizons, by introducing new ideas and attracting successful investors.



The 2020 Railway Forum notably features a set of workshops meant to exchange technical knowledge on railway issues, with the participation of a group of key local and international experts and executives who talk about infrastructure, new technologies and services, safety systems, investment opportunities, solutions, among other topics. The forum includes an exhibition on the railway industry, during which a group of key players from the region and around the world will showcase their latest products and achievements in the field. - TradeArabia News Service
WASHINGTON  In a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, two key lawmakers decried proposed cuts to shipbuilding, saying the cuts threaten long-term security and jobs.

Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, said in a letter that they are deeply concerned about reports that five of the 12 Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers planned in the Pentagons five-year projection were on the chopping block.

We write to express our strong support for a 355-ship Navy and to urge continued support from the Department for a robust shipbuilding budget," the letter said.

The cuts, which were outlined in a memo from the White Houses Office of Management and Budget to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and obtained by Defense News, would hit Maine particularly hard, according to analysts, and could put jeopardize jobs at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works.

Collins and King highlighted $390 million appropriated in the 2020 budget for advanced procurement for three destroyers, noting that the memo only notes one destroyer planned for 2021.

The letter said Congress would get the last word on the shipbuilding profile, and the senators expressed confidence that support for shipbuilding would continue.

We expect this congressional support for Navy shipbuilding and DDG-51 procurement to continue in FY 2021 and beyond, and we hope the Department and administration will join us in these efforts, the letter read. As you continue to develop and finalize the Departments FY 2021 budget request, we urge you to reverse course from cutbacks to shipbuilding plans that may be under deliberation and to support a 355-ship Navy.

In a statement to Defense News, an OMB spokesman said the Administration is clear that it is working toward the 355-ship Navy goal.

The Administration has made very clear that a strong Navy with 355 ships is essential to combat the multiple threats we face as a Nation," the statement read.
A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama has sentenced the Director-General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Otunba Olusegun Runsewe to prison.

Information Nigeria recalls Mr. Runsewe made headlines after he called controversial cross-dresser, Bobrisky a national disgrace.

The transgenders birthday party was also disrupted in the process.

The judge, Justice Jude Okeke made the order for the DGs arrest on Thursday while ruling on a motion which emanated from a suit filed by Ummakalif Limited against Minister of the FCT, Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), DG of NCAC, and the Minister for Culture and Tourism, as the first, second, third and fourth defendants respectively.

The claimant in the motion sought an order of the court committing Runsewe to prison for contempt of court order made on December 15, 2017.

Justice Okeke described Runsewes act as highly contemptuous.

The judge said he should be sent to the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) in Kuje as this will serve as a deterrent to others who abuse office and disobey court orders with disdain.

Okeke ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to arrest Runsewe with immediate effect and hand him over to the National Correctional Services pending when he retraces his steps.

The court had ordered parties in the suit to stay proceedings on every activity concerning the demolition of the Arts and Craft village located in the Central Business District area of the FCT.
Gardai are carrying out a review of the security of the US ambassador to Ireland, Edward Crawford, as tensions in the Middle East continue to increase.

As well as reviewing Mr Crawford's personal security, officers from the force's secretive Security and Intelligence section are carrying out a risk assessment of his residence in the Phoenix Park and the US Embassy in Ballsbridge.

Threat

A senior source also revealed that security at Shannon Airport - which is controversially used by US military aircrafts - is also being examined as part of the review.

However, it is understood that the threat level against the US ambassador here remains "moderate".

When contacted by the Herald, a garda spokesman said "normal protocol" was in place in relation to the US security arrangements and "nothing unusual" was in place.

As tensions continue to rise in the Middle East, US President Donald Trump said yesterday that there were no American casualties in the Iranian strikes on military bases housing US troops in Iraq on Tuesday night - which were carried out in revenge for the assassination of one of Iran's most significant leaders.

Last week, the US killed Iranian Major-General Qasem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force and architect of Iran's spreading military influence in the Middle East, in a drone strike at Baghdad Airport sparking huge tension and calls for revenge against the United States and its interests.

It comes after protections were beefed up for Irish troops serving on peace-keeping missions abroad over fears of reprisal attacks following the killing of Soleimani.

Iran had vowed "severe revenge" for the killing of the senior military official.

There are currently 470 Irish soldiers serving on two separate Untied Nations (UN) missions in Lebanon and the Golan Heights.

The missions are part of the UNIFIL and UNDOF assignments respectively, whose chiefs have ordered an increase in force protection following a threat assessment.

Over the weekend, military authorities were put on alert of an increased threat to Irish troops from militant group Hezbollah who may carry out attacks in revenge for the killing of Soleimani.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has also advised all Irish citizens currently in Iraq to leave the country immediately due to terrorist attack risks.

"We advise against all travel to Iraq, because of the extremely dangerous security situation and very high threat of terrorist attacks," a travel notice from the Department says.

"If you're currently in Iraq, we advise you to leave immediately."
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Representatives from LifeStar EMS provided important information to the Columbus City Council on the transition of adding Reeseville and Lowell to its coverage area.

LifeStar provides emergency services to the city of Columbus and village of Fall River. In November, LifeStar accepted a request from Reeseville and Lowell to provide coverage on a partial basis through 2020 with the option of a full-time contract taking effect in 2021.

Speaking at the Jan. 7 Committee of the Whole meeting at City Hall, LifeStar owner Mike Krueger and Columbus supervisor Chris Orange provided more clarity on the new agreement.

At the time we received the request from Lowell and Reeseville, we looked at how that would impact our service here, Krueger said. Based off the population, theres not anticipated to be much of an impact.

Combined, the two villages have about 1,000 residents, based off 2017 estimates. Krueger said that breaks down to an average of 50 calls per year from each municipality or about one call per week.
Australian shares rose strongly on Thursday, coming within a whisker of hitting fresh record highs during the session.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 56.6 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 6874.2, propelled higher by gains in all sectors except for energy.

At its highs, the benchmark came within 4.5 points of joining the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite which all hit record levels on Wednesday, driven by an easing in risk aversion as the United States offered a measured response to an Iranian missile attack targeting Iraqi bases used by its troops earlier in the session.

Iran-US tensions have de-escalated dramatically over the past 24 hours, despite the Iranian missile strikes yesterday, said Tapas Strickland, economist at the National Australia Bank. Some geopolitical analysts classed the strike as more symbolic in nature and being a warning shot designed not to inflict too much damage on US assets.

The improvement in risk appetite, suggesting investors have begun to price out the prospect of a full-scale war between the two nations, helped to spur on gains across most sectors on Thursday.

Technology stocks were the big winner for the session, gaining 2.2 per cent. The so-called WAAAX stocks  Wisetech, Altium, Afterpay, Appen and Xero  all jumped more than 1.6 per cent.

The broader information technology sector has now risen 20.6 per cent since early August, leaving it just 2.4 per cent below the record highs hit in November last year.

While it didnt manage to fresh highs during the session, the healthcare sector did, soaring 1.8 per cent, surpassing the previous mark hit in early December last year.

CSL and Resmed, the largest companies in subindex by market capitalisation, both rose to fresh highs, jumping 1.8 and 1.5 per cent respectively to close at $291.10 and $22.90.

Outside of health and tech stocks, industrials, communications and consumer discretionary all gained more than 1 per cent. Financials and materials posted smaller increases of 0.5 and 0.8 per cent respectively.

Those gains were partially offset by weakness in gold producers, reflecting a large reversal in bullion prices on Wednesday as risk aversion abated. Of the bottom 10 performers for the session, eight were gold miners. Resolute Mining led the falls, sliding 3.6 per cent to $1.215.

The energy sector was also pressured by a steep decline in crude oil prices overnight, finishing trade with a loss of 0.9 per cent. Woodside Petroleum slipped by a larger 1.5 per cent to $35.60 despite announcing the Senegalese government has given it the green light for a new offshore oil project.
ALBANY  Brian Angelo, a former hip-hop disc jockey in the Capital Region known as DJ IRoc, will not be inspecting his former workplace where he allegedly preyed sexually upon a child.

But his attorney  former Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove  will be allowed to look over the scene between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Friday, under a ruling Thursday by state Supreme Court Justice Peter Lynch.

Angelo, 51, of Clifton Park, who worked at radio station JAMZ 96.3 is charged with predatory sexual assault of a child, the most serious sex crime charges on the books in New York.

Abelove asked the judge for access to the scene of the alleged crime, which is now permitted for defense attorneys under the states criminal justice reforms, which went into effect Jan. 1.

The reforms eliminate cash bail for most violent crimes and misdemeanors and require prosecutors to provide discovery material  disclosable evidence  to the defense within 15 days of the defendants arraignment. One of the changes allows the defense to examine crime scenes. It is likely that attorneys will carry out the inspections but critics fear defendants who represent themselves could be allowed to visit the places where they allegedly committed crimes, including the homes of victims.

Abelove told the judge the physical layout of the building and furniture was absolutely relevant to his defense of Angelo.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Abelove later told reporters that defendants previously were never allowed to ask a judge for a court order to inspect a residence.

He said he was happy with the judges ruling. To be able to go and see the alleged crime scene is always beneficial, he said.

Police in Colonie have previously said they received a tip in July 2018 that Angelo had allegedly been abusing a victim in 2006 and a 12-year-old girl in 2009.
C CTV footage from outside Jeffrey Epstein's jail cell at the time of his first suspected has been deleted, prosecutors say.

The disgraced financier was found in his cell semi-conscious on July 23 last year.

He was later found dead in his cell on August 10, while he was awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges.

The video linked to the first suicide attempt went missing and was then reported to be found, according to the New York Times, but actually turned out to be footage from the wrong tier of the facility.

Police officers walk outside Metropolitan Correctional Center jail where financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead / REUTERS

The Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York said it "inadvertently preserved video from the wrong tier within the MCC and as a result, video from outside the defendants cell on July 22-23, 2019 no longer exists", according to court papers reported by NBC.

Details of this emerged during a trial of Nicholas Tartaglione, who was Epstein's cellmate on the day of the incident, over charges of killing four men.

He had been accused of assaulting Epstein on the day of the incident, as one explanation for his condition, and his lawyer asked for the footage in a bid to exonerate him of that accusation.
Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], Jan 9 (ANI): Amid slogans of 'Saada naara, Captain dobaraa', Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday declared that he would not quit politics till he ensures jobs for the youth and opportunities for all to grow in a progressive Punjab.



Addressing Punjab Youth Congress (PYC) members and workers at the installation ceremony of the youth wing's newly elected office-bearers, including its president Birinder Singh Dhillon, at the Congress Bhavan here, Captain Amarinder made it clear that he would continue to lead the state in its growth and development.

"This is my state, you are all my people...I will always be here for you, and will not go anywhere till I have ensured the welfare of every citizen of Punjab," the Chief Minister vowed, amidst cheers and slogans from an enthusiastic crowd of youth, many of whom could be heard demanding that he should continue to stay at the helm for many more terms.

Captain Amarinder assured the newly elected office bearers of his government's full support in ensuring holistic development and promised them they will get full respect from officials and others in all departments for any work in the interest of the state and its youth.

The Chief Minister urged the youth to come forward to protect and safeguard the nation and its Constitutional principles of democracy and secularism.

"The Congress was the only party that could provide secular, democratic rule," he said, describing the situation prevailing in the country today as extremely distressing.

"The Congress fought for India's independence and the Constitution was framed on the Preamble of a socialist secular democratic republic. Though the various Articles of the Constitution had since undergone many amendments, the Preamble has remained untouched," said Singh.

The Preamble cannot be allowed to be tinkered with, said Captain Amarinder, lashing out at the current attempts by the BJP to divide the nation. "What prevails today is not Lok Raj but goonda raj. We all know what happened with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Uttar Pradesh," he said, underlining the need for youth to take the lead in saving the country.

Charging the Akalis with ruining the state to promote their self-interest, Captain Amarinder blamed them squarely for the spread of drugs and gangsterism in the state. (ANI)


URBANA  Carle Health System plan to acquire Advocate BroMenn Medical Center in Normal, Advocate Eureka Hospital in Eureka and all Advocate-affiliated sites in Central Illinois.

Advocate Aurora Health, based in Downers Grove and Milwaukee, and Carle Health announced the acquisition to employees and physicians of each organization on Thursday.

Governing boards of each health system have approved the plan, which is subject to regulatory approval, including by the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board and the Federal Trade Commission.

Colleen Kannaday, president of Advocate BroMenn and Advocate Eureka, and Dr. James Leonard, Carle president and CEO, said they expect the acquisition to close by mid-year. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquisition affects about 2,000 employees and includes BroMenn and Eureka hospitals and other Advocate enterprises in Central Illinois, including the medical group, home care and hospice and joint ventures including the Advocate BroMenn Health & Fitness Center, The Center for Outpatient Medicine and the Community Cancer Center, said Kannaday, who didn't anticipate major changes at any of those operations.

Carle also has offices in Monticello and Mattoon, among other locations.

It is the second major hospital operation change in the region in the past year. In May, it was announced Decatur Memorial Hospital plans to merge with Springfield-based Memorial Health System. 

15 new Illinois laws for 2020

Contact Paul Swiech at 309-820-3275. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_swiech.

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London: Ukraine says it is investigating whether a packed passenger plane that crashed shortly after take-off in Iran was shot down by a missile or hit by a bomb, casting further doubt over previous claims the aircraft experienced mechanical difficulties.

The fiery Ukraine International Airlines crash killed 176 passengers and crew on Wednesday - just as the region was gripped by a heightened state of alert over Iran's decision to launch ballistic missiles on military bases in Iraq housing US troops.

Officials from Iran and Ukraine quickly downplayed fears that the disaster - which killed everyone on board - was connected to the tensions, but Kiev later withdrew its assurances that mechanical error was to blame.

The secretary of Ukraine's national security council, Oleksiy Danylov, has now told Ukrainian media that investigators want to search for the possible debris of a Russian missile at the crash site near Tehran's main airport, but offered no evidence to support that line of inquiry other than citing "information" on the internet.
Authorities issued new warnings and evacuation notices across southeast Australia on Thursday, as a return of hot weather fanned huge bushfires threatening several towns and communities.

A disaster level notice in large parts of Victoria state, already in place for the past week, was extended by 48 hours and people in danger zones were advised to leave if it was safe to do so.

"Don't get complacent from the rain we have had recently," Victoria Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville said in a televised briefing, referring to several days of cool weather that has allowed firefighters to strengthen containment lines around blazes that have been burning for months.

"These fires are absolutely still moving, still growing in our landscape and they pose significant risk to communities," Neville said.

Twenty-six people have died, thousands have been made homeless and thousands of others have had to evacuate repeatedly as the monster fires have scorched through more than 10.3 million hectares (25.5 million acres) of land - an area the size of South Korea.
The $14 million project is the latest from Smithfield Renewables , Smithfield's platform to unify and accelerate its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 25% by 2025. Through partnership with Duke Energy, roughly 140,000 dekatherms of RNG per year will be transported to natural gas plants and used to generate electricity for consumers.

"This project brings to life all three of our company's guiding principles  Responsibility, Operational Excellence, and Innovation," said Kenneth M. Sullivan, president and chief executive officer for Smithfield Foods. "For the first time, we are creating renewable energy from the biogas generated in our wastewater treatment system and using it to power local communities. With the help of our partners, we are producing additional value for our company and our neighborsa concept that is ingrained in our culture."

To date, this is one of Smithfield's largest renewable energy projects involving wastewater, and its first in North Carolina. Smithfield also has "wastewater-to-energy" projects at its Milan, Mo.; Grayson, Ky.; and Sioux Falls, S.D. facilities, which are used to power their modified steam boilers.

The company's Tar Heel, N.C., project utilizes a gas upgrading and injection system operated by OptimaBio, LLC, a bioenergy project developer, which leverages the facility's three million gallon-per-day wastewater treatment system to collect and clean biogas through an existing on-site digester and convert it into RNG.

"We are proud to partner with Smithfield on this project, which has far-reaching and positive impacts for the environment, the local community, and industries that are key to the state's economy," said Mark Maloney, CEO and Founder at OptimaBio, LLC. "We're helping diversify and strengthen North Carolina's renewable energy portfolio through this endeavor."

Once converted, the RNG is injected into the Piedmont Natural Gas system, and then transported to Duke Energy to produce electricity. This project will help Duke Energy satisfy state swine waste-to-energy mandates under the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard law in North Carolina. Under this law, Duke Energy must generate 0.20% of its retail sales from swine waste by 2024.

"At Duke Energy, we are seeking innovative and cleaner energy solutions. Buying the output from Smithfield's renewable natural gas project will allow us to expand our diverse generation mix in North Carolina," said Stephen De May, Duke Energy's North Carolina president. "This project is creating safe and affordable energy that customers can rely on."

In addition to creating renewable energy at its facilities, Smithfield is implementing projects on its farms that transform manure into RNG. These projects capture methane from manure, and clean and convert it into RNG, which is then injected into local natural gas distribution systems for homes and businesses. In the next decade, Smithfield is implementing "manure-to-energy" projects in at least six states including Arizona, California, Missouri, North Carolina, Utah, and Virginia.

Whether using biogas to power its facilities or nearby communities, these programs are part of Smithfield's robust sustainability program. To learn more, visit smithfieldfoods.com/sustainability.

About Smithfield Foods

Headquartered in Smithfield, Va., since 1936, Smithfield Foods, Inc. is an American food company with agricultural roots and a global reach. Our 40,000 U.S. employees are dedicated to producing "Good food. Responsibly." and have made us one of the world's leading vertically integrated protein companies. We have pioneered sustainability standards for more than two decades, including many industry firsts, such as our ambitious commitment to cut our carbon impact by 25 percent by 2025. We believe in the power of protein to end food insecurity and have donated hundreds of millions of food servings to our neighbors in need. Smithfield boasts a portfolio of high-quality iconic brands, such as Smithfield, Eckrich, and Nathan's Famous, among many others. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com , and connect with us on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , and Instagram .

About Smithfield Renewables

Smithfield Renewables is a strategic platform within Smithfield Foods, a $15 billion global food company, and the world's largest hog producer and pork processor. Smithfield launched this platform in 2017 to lead, unify, and accelerate the company's renewable energy efforts to help meet its industry-leading goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 25% by 2025the first commitment of its kind by a protein company. To achieve this goal, Smithfield has implemented a wide range of projects across its farms and facilities, including converting hog manure into renewable natural gas and commercial-grade fertilizer, streamlining its transportation network, launching an ambitious solid waste reduction plan, sourcing sustainably grown feed grain, and implementing operational efficiency projects. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com/renewables.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 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.

OptimaBio

Headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., OptimaBio is a swine waste-to-energy project developer, owner and operator and the leader in RNG development for North Carolina. It's a partnership bringing together experts in bioenergy, agriculture, project finance, and environmental stewardship to invest in rural communities for the greater good. pig.energy

Contact Information:

Lisa Martin

Smithfield Foods, Inc.

(757) 365-1980

[email protected]

Randy Wheeless

Duke Energy

(704) 382-8379

[email protected]

Mark Maloney

OptimaBio

(910) 632-0752

[email protected]

SOURCE Duke Energy; Smithfield Foods, Inc.; OptimaBio

Related Links

http://www.duke-energy.com


Two creatures clawing, then circling each other warily and walking away, growling, is one way to see the most recent Persian Gulf crisis. The United States (US) and Iran have been aggressively jostling each other the past few years, especially in Iraq. The Iranian siege of the US embassy in Baghdad and the assassination of Al Quds commander, Qassem Soleimani, both crossed redlines. Fortunately, neither an isolationist US president, Donald Trump, nor a Tehran regime, struggling with economic recession, were interested in a full-fledged confrontation. Washington lacked the will to fight, Tehran lacked the means to do so. Still, another violent entanglement cannot be ruled out. Nothing has been resolved, including what exactly constitutes a step-too-far for either country.

India is inextricably linked to the most unstable region in the world for reasons of finance, energy and geography. West Asia remains unstable because there is no sense of a geopolitical status quo. Iran sees itself as the natural hegemon of the region. The US is losing interest in the region but is giving up its dominance with reluctance  and, under the Trump administration, with a degree of incoherence. Complicating things is that Irans own heavy-handedness has given rise to a loose coalition, from Israel to Saudi Arabia, determined to contain its influence. No one is strong enough to have their own way, but no one is prepared to accept this reality. So the region is fissured with proxy battles, covert wars and economic conflicts.

The US-Iran relationship, poisoned by nearly four decades of confrontation and miscalculation, is particularly dangerous. Mr Trump is curiously in alignment with Tehrans overall goal to end the US military presence in the Gulf. But he is also determined to ensure the US is not humiliated as it withdraws. The Washington establishment remains close to traditional allies, Tel Aviv and Riyadh. What was notable about the most recent crisis was the complete lack of understanding between the two governments. India cannot play mediator given neither the US nor Iran have shown real interest in such a role, but there is a place for a messenger. New Delhi is in a position to talk to both countries. At the least, it should investigate whether there is mutual interest in India playing such a role. The idea is not peace making but mistake avoidance. And for India, it is about gambling some diplomatic capital to have some say in the greatest external risk to its future.
Around the same time Prime Minister Narendra Modi met economists and others for pre-Budget suggestions, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday separately interacted with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, giving ammunition to the Opposition to attack her absence from the event. What is going on here? Finance Minister indisposed?" Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said in a tweet that shows photograph of the PMs meeting. Where is the finance minister? Or has the duo (Modi and home minister Amit Shah) forgotten they have one, he tweeted.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020 11:39 733 48be62e941b44f04afae568c32180b24 1 Business Indonesia,China,investment,IPO,IDX,Natuna-sea,EEZ,BKPM Free

The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) has encouraged Chinese companies operating in Indonesia to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) and list their shares on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).

"I encourage Chinese companies that operate and invest in Indonesia to list their shares [on the IDX]," Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) head Bahlil Lahadalia said on Wednesday to more than 100 companies attending the China Business Forum.

Bahlil said the row between China and Indonesia over the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Natuna Islands had not affected economic cooperation between the two countries.

Over the past week, Jakarta and Beijing have been embroiled in a diplomatic tug-of-war over the latters claim to parts of Indonesias EEZ, after the Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla) reported multiple counts of Chinese coast guard and fishing vessels operating there illegally.

He said the listing of companies on the IDX could help improve economic relations between the two countries. Between the end of 2014 and the third quarter of 2019, China was the third largest foreign investor in Indonesia, after Japan and Singapore, the second and first largest foreign investors, respectively.

In the January to September period last year, Chinese direct investment in Indonesia totaled US$3.3 billion in 1,619 projects.

China Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia chairman Zhang Chao Yang agreed with Bahlil, noting that the IDXs capitalization of $520 billion made it one of largest stock markets in the region.

"The capital market is undoubtedly an effective alternative for financing [for Chinese companies]," he said at the same forum. "Listing on the IDX not only brings about diversified funding, but also enhances cooperation [between the two] governments."

Chinese companies in Indonesia currently rely on loans from banks to fund projects, according to Zhang.

Chinese ambassador to Indonesia Xiao Qian also echoed Bahlil's statement. "No Chinese companies have entered the Indonesian stock market. It is a bit of a pity," he said. With the rapid growth in Chinas foreign direct investment in Indonesia, there is potential in the future for Chinese companies to tap into the local capital market to raise funds, he added.

As diplomatic relations between Indonesia and China enter their 70th year, Xiao expressed hope that cooperation between the two countries in the capital market would "open up a new space for ChinaIndonesia business relations." (dfr)
ALBANY  An 18th century pipe tomahawk with a prized and at times sordid history has at long last been returned to the Seneca Nation, the State Museum announced Thursday.

The coveted artifact originally belonged to respected Seneca Chief Cornplanter, who was gifted the tomahawk by President George Washington as a peace offering during treaty negotiations in 1792. It came into the museums possession in 1851, after Seneca diplomat Ely Parker convinced noted anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan to donate it.

But nearly 100 years later in 1950, a new collections manager noticed something amiss. The decorative ax had gone missing from its locked display case sometime in the previous three years. Meanwhile, an outgoing collections manager at the time refused to meet with his successor to discuss the matter.

In 2018, the tomahawk found its way back to the museum after an attorney reached out on behalf of a couple from the Pacific Northwest who wished to donate it in return for remaining anonymous. The museum learned it had exchanged hands at least seven times in the decades it was missing.

In Seneca history, Cornplanter stands among our greatest and most respected leaders, said Seneca Nation President Rickey L. Armstrong, Sr. George Washington originally presented this pipe tomahawk to Cornplanter as a sign of respect, friendship and recognition of our sovereignty. Now, this piece of our great leaders remarkable legacy can finally  and forever  remain on Seneca land where it belongs.

The museum had kept the tomahawk on display for six months before loaning it out to the Nations Onohsagwe:de Cultural Center, located on the Nations Allegany Territory near the New York-Pennsylvania border.

On Thursday, the museum and Seneca Nation announced it would remain there on permanent display.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

The return of Cornplanters pipe tomahawk signifies a new chapter of strong collaboration between the New York State Museum and the Seneca Nation, said Interim State Education Commissioner Shannon Tahoe. Were proud to return this incredible object to the Seneca Nation and know it will continue to be an educational opportunity for people of all ages and background to research and learn from."

The journey of Cornplanters pipe tomahawk casts a spotlight on the murky underworld that can accompany prized artifact collecting. Its return to the Seneca Nation is also emblematic, however, of an ongoing effort by some museums to return cultural artifacts to their cultures of origin.

Cornplanters pipe tomahawk is an extraordinarily important object that speaks of Native American, New York, and American history and culture, said Mark Schaming, deputy commissioner of cultural education and director of the State Museum. It is due to this shared history that it is our great honor to return the tomahawk to the people of the Seneca Nation. We make this return in representation of mutual trust, partnership and fruitful years ahead, as was intended by our forebears.
Americans Deserve Answers Rather than Dangerous Disruption in the Entire Middle East, Says Rep. Waters

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43), a founding member of the Congressional No War With Iran Caucus, issued a statement on the deadly U.S. drone strike at the Baghdad International Airport that targeted Iraqis and Iranians, and killed Iranian Quds Force Commander, Major General Qasem Soleimani:

Were just three days into 2020, and already Americans are waking up to a world that is more dangerous and unstable than weve experienced in recent years. There is no question that Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani was a murderous general who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans in the Middle East, but so many questions remain about what information the administration had alleging that additional attacks on Americans were forthcoming. While no patriotic American laments the death of such a heinous individual nor would anyone deny that Iran is a hostile adversary, we cannot allow this president and his administration to take impulsive actions that needlessly escalate tensions and start a deadly war with Iran.

Sadly, the writings have always been on the wall. Donald Trump and his administration have failed to develop a comprehensive strategy in the Middle East or seek out diplomatic solutions in tandem with our western allies. In 2018, Donald Trump recklessly withdrew the United States from the Iran Nuclear Deal with China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Iran, formally knowns as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), thus allowing Iran to pursue a nuclear weapons programunconstrained, without United Nations inspectors, and without any recourse to stop them short of a U.S-led war and occupation. Last year, Trump tweeted, If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran, and he ordered a military strike in Iran, only to later cancel it. The assassination of Irans notorious high-ranking top paramilitary general, who is immensely popular in Iran, could trigger a deadly galvanized response from the regime and undoubtedly lead us to the brink of war. Tragically, he has done so without securing an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against Iran from Congress or properly briefing the American people.

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Im concerned that the now impeached presidents actions may have been predicated in politics rather than sound foreign policy. In 2011, he tweeted, In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran, and in 2012, he again tweeted, Now that Obamas poll numbers are in tailspin  watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate. Perhaps Donald Trump believes that if he drags the country into war, the American people and Congress will rally behind him. Perhaps he thinks that war is a diversionary tactic. Perhaps he thinks it will drown out the criticisms of his scandal-plagued administration and protect him from removal by the Senate.

Donald Trump is dangerous, and his actions could have dire consequences for the safety and security of Americans. He has cozied up with dictators like Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin, shielded for a Saudi regime that murdered a journalist, turned his back on our Kurdish allies in the fight against ISIS in Syria, and isolated our western allies. He has lied more than 15,000 times, and he cannot be trusted with matters as important as war and peace.

The American people, through their elected representatives in Congress, deserve to have information regarding the administrations decision to assassinate Soleimani. The House and Senate must be immediately briefed by the appropriate intelligence officials and given a complete explanation concerning how the president made this decision and on what intelligence his decision was based. Did the president seek counsel from the intelligence community he has called disgraceful and compared to Nazi Germany, or consult with his top generals and military leaders after previously claiming that they did not know as much about foreign policy and military strategy as he does? Given the presidents track record of siding with Russia over the US intelligence community, while seeming to appease and cede geopolitical ground to dictatorships and strengthening the Kremlins position in the Middle East, the American people must be given a proper accounting of the information Trump received that led to this significant escalation in military action against a sovereign nation at this time

As a founding member of the No War With Iran Caucus in the House, I stand with my colleagues in opposing an escalation of force and war with Iran. When countless lives are on the line, a presidential tweet of an American flag is insufficient. This president and his administration must immediately brief Congress and the American people on the path forward in Iran and the Middle East.
New Delhi:

Two days after a Delhi Court issued death warrants against the convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya case, one of them filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court on Thursday. News Nation has accessed the plea filed by Vinay Kumar Sharma. In his petition, Sharma asked the top court to, allow the present curative petition and set aside the final common judgmentpass any other or further order(s) as this Honble Court may deem fit in the facts and circumstances of the present case and in the interest of justice and equityand for this act of kindness, the petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray.

On January 7, the Patiala House court had issued the death warrants against the four convicts of the 2012 gangrape and murder case. According to the black warrant, four convicts in the sensational 2012 Nirbhaya Gang rape and murder case will be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail. The order was pronounced by Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora who issued the death warrants against the four death row convicts -- Mukesh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31). Sources said the jail authorities will approach the Uttar Pradesh prison authority asking for a hangman from Meerut to carry out the executions.

Also Read: Verdict Will Restore Faith Of Women In Law, Its A Big Victory For Us: Nirbhayas Mother Asha Devi

The four convicts -- Mukesh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) -- will be kept in isolated cells and will not be allowed to interact with other prisoners. Their family members, however, can visit them any time, the official said.

According to an earlier report by The Indian Express, the Buxar Central Jail is ready to supply its famed "Manila" rope for the hanging of the convicts, and 10 such ropes have been readied to be supplied to the capitals Tihar Jail. The jail has expertise in making the wax-coated manila rope that it sells for Rs 180 a kg and which can easily withstand the tension caused by the fall of a person weighing up to 80 kg sent.

Also Read: Nirbhaya Rape-Murder Convicts Issued Death Warrant: Here's Timeline Of Sensational Case

The jail produced several kinds of ropes used with handcuffs and for pitching tents. Clothes and durries are also woven by its inmates. The last time a manila rope was sent from Buxar jail was in 2004 for the hanging of a rape convict was Dhananjay Chatterjee at Alipore Jail following his conviction in a rape-cum-murder case.

The jail, probably the only one in the country making manila rope, supplies several types of ropes to different jails.
Year 2020 Better Life and Beyond!

Dont you wish every day was like Christmas.with excitement, joy, family, enthusiasm, food and dont forget getting some rest. The New Year is here. We look forward to what we can do differently that is better than what we did last year and years before. Wouldnt it be great if life was better and better with more leisure, more vacation, more resorts like you see on television? But, television is fantasized. The real-life world isnt the big screen. Tips for 2020:

 Love and respect your family more.

 Develop improved eating habits.

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 Discipline appetite.

 Dont fool yourself; alcohol is habit forming and addictive.

 Avoid junk foodfood with lots of fats, sugars and salt.

 Eat more wild salmon and other fish raised in their natural habitat.

 Listen attentively to the heart of speakers whoever they may be.

 Pay more attention to what your children and relatives are saying to you.

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 Family dinner sit down a few times a week, regardless of what you are eating

 Better organization in daily life and work life.

 Be calmer, not losing your temper. Chill out!

 Free yourself from fear and anger.

 Develop closer relationship with family members

 Read your bible more, have a daily sit-down morning meeting with Jesus Christ

 Develop more patience. That takes time and forming good habits.

 Work on making more sound decisions. Reason it out first. Be thoughtful.

 Dont overspend or get into needless debt

 Budget your funds within realistic management.

 Dont sign checks that you know wont clear.

 Set a schedule that includes finishing a project. Do goal setting. Finish something daily.

 Make haste! When the shepherds heard the angelic announcement that they would find a newborn baby (Gr. brephos) in a manger: the birth of the King of the Jewswhat did they do? They readily responded and made haste! They were not slackers, nor slothful.

Upon hearing the pronouncement by the angelic host, their excitement was overwhelming, filled with joy. Good example to be followed. Not only that, but they believed what they saw and heard! It was incontrovertible. It was truth. No doubt. The wise men were also convinced when they found the child (Jesus Christ) (Gr. pais) in a house. The wise men were alert and responsibly responding; very well managed and deceived King Herod, not disclosing the whereabouts of the child Jesus; as they knew Herod the Kings intent was to kill the child, along with all other children in the region who were two years old and under.

Ask Dr. Jeanette Parker www.AskDrJeanetteParker.com; Articles copyright  Inquiring Minds Want To Know Jeanette Parker is Founder/Superintendent of Todays Fresh Start Charter School www.todaysfreshstart.org [email protected] thanks for reading!
Robert DeNiros de-aged Irishman eyes Photo: Netflix

In the fall of 2015, celebrated visual effects whiz Pablo Helman was in Taiwan celebrating Thanksgiving with Martin Scorsese. The 24-year veteran of Industrial Light & Magic, the company founded by George Lucas at the onset of the Star Wars franchise, was midway through production on the directors Jesuit missionary saga, Silence, for which Helman had to digitally re-create the enormity of St. Pauls College of Macau. But over holiday dinner, Scorsese began pitching Helman on a different film entirely.

It was another adaption, this one based on I Heard You Paint Houses, Charles Brandts biography of mob hit man and supposed Jimmy Hoffa murderer Frank Sheeran. Much like Silence, the story was expansive, though instead of spanning geography (Portugal to Japan), the movie would stretch across years (approximately seven decades). Here, Helman  whose credits as a VFX supervisor include The Mummy, The Bourne Supremacy, and Star Wars: Attack of the Clones  wouldnt simply be manifesting background imagery, he would working on the very face of the story: Robert De Niro, playing a man expected to appear onscreen as young as 24 in one scene and as old as 80 in another.

Helman read the 170-page script for The Irishman in one sitting soon after. He was hooked. Little did the Argentine effects artist know he would spend the next four years creating and perfecting an untried method of turning back the cinematic hands of time, expending the sweat equity of hundreds of technicians across Europe, Asia, and North America in the process. We were all very nervous about the undertaking, Helman says. It was huge. And we all knew what the stakes were.

How exactly do you make old men young again? The question has bedeviled Hollywood since aging actors sagging features first began flickering across 30-foot theater screens. When it came to de-aging De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino for The Irishman, the $140 million Netflix production opted for a specific kind of fountain of youth, created from artificial-intelligence software, first-of-its-kind motion-capture technology, and an experimental three-camera rigging system that rendered the Oscar-winning trio of septuagenarian actors as eerily smooth-skinned incarnations of their younger selves.

The Irishman is now one of the presumed front-runners for a Best Picture Oscar nomination, having already taken the awards for Best Film from both the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Board of Review. Earlier this month, it landed on the American Film Institutes year-end best-films list in addition to scoring a Screen Actors Guild nod for Best Cast in a Motion Picture and a slew of Golden Globe nominations. Its also been included on the Oscars short list for Best Visual Effects. Ahead of the official nominations, Helman walked Vulture through his years-long journey to awards season  and all the second-guessing that came with it.

Pablo Helman (center) on the set of The Irishman Photo: Netflix

Step 1: Proof of Concept

The Irishman had officially been in development at Paramount since 2007, long before Helman and Scorsese broke bread in Taiwan. In the early going, it seemed like no one could crack the scripts old-to-young-and-back-again timeline issues. Scorsese knew De Niro, who had been firmly attached to the project for years, would never tolerate having his face plastered with dozens of motion-capture markers or wearing a helmet affixed with a mo-cap camera, the prevailing methods for turning actorly emoting into computer-generated imagery.

Instead, Helman seized upon the idea of using a three-camera rig, with the primary camera in the center flanked by two Alexa mini-cameras, to gather the gigabytes of digital information motion-capture dots might have otherwise harvested. He would then run the footage from the three cameras through a rudimentary version of ILMs proprietary de-aging software (called Flux or Face Lux) to create a new three-dimensional, virtually rendered actor that could be digitally manipulated  or what the supervisor calls a performance in 3-D space. The eventual de-aged rendering would be informed by both light sampling on set and scanning sessions with the actors, but the process involved no actual facial markers.

To test the method in 2015, De Niro, then 74, traveled to New York and, under Scorseses direction, filmed a beat-by-beat re-creation of the Christmas-party scene from Scorseses Oscar-nominated 1989 crime drama GoodFellas. After ten weeks, we computed all the information we had and put it together, Helman recalls. The results were conclusive: De Niro had been miraculously de-aged to a credible facsimile of his 46-year-old self. We made him look like he does in GoodFellas  and that got the movie green-lit, Helman says.

Step 2: Hurry up and Wait

While Scorsese wrapped postproduction on Silence, Helman and his ILM team continued to refine Flux and the three-camera motion-capture shooting method for another year, eventually opting for infrared tech on the two secondary cameras. However, in a surprise move in February 2017, Paramount sold North American distribution rights to The Irishman to Netflix. The studio had become reluctant to shoulder the films relatively large budget in an era when tentpole and superhero movies have overwhelmed adult dramas at the multiplex. Thankfully, a streaming platform with deep pockets was willing to take the risk.

Over that year and change, Helman and his crew became increasingly convinced they were onto something groundbreaking. Because we didnt have markers. We had a different way of capturing the performance that was actually more faithful to the movements of the face, he says. It usually depends on how many markers you have, but at some point, youre going to run out of space on your face to put those markers. Even if you have 200 markers on your face, youre not going to be able to capture all the nuances that are under the eyes and next to the nose and in the eyebrows. Now, the quality is much better. You are not tied to the resolution of 200 points. Now, you have millions of pixels that you can go into.

Joe Pesci pre-Flux (left) and post (right). Photo: Netflix

By the time filming on The Irishman commenced in New York City in September 2017, Helman and his team were confident in their no-marker strategy. But in an unusual move, Scorsese permitted Helman and his crew to continue perfecting the setup over the 108-day shoot, running rough cuts of the film through Flux along the way.

Step 3: The Adoration of the Ball

Scorsese responded to subsequent shifts in the new mo-cap rigging system with what can fairly be described as grandpa-like, How does this iPhone work? befuddlement. [There] was this ritual after each time we did a take, the 77-year-old director said at a press conference following the movies Hollywood premiere. Everything would stop and a young man would come out and hed have a board with some kind of design on it. And hed move it a certain way. And Id be looking: What the hell is this? Then there was dead quiet, and he goes back and then comes back with a silver ball, and the ball moved, and I would call it the adoration of the ball. I realized it was like a benediction of some kind.

According to Helman, the mirrored sphere was trotted out for 30 seconds in between takes to collect lighting data but insists it did not significantly slow or interfere with Scorseses shooting style nor with Pacino and De Niros improvisation-intensive acting methods. Weird as it may have seemed to an old movie salt like Scorsese, the ball played a crucial role in measuring what Helman calls the color temperature of the lighting for the scene required to calculate 3-D models of the actors.

Its something that becomes a ritual, Helman says. After a regular, non-visual-effects movie, after a setup is done, you move on really quickly. But we couldnt move on; we had to stay put for 30 seconds. And there was a silence. Everybody was ritualistically quiet.

Step 4: Computer Learning

Before production on The Irishman began in earnest, the ILM team spent two years cataloguing a digital library of images and sequences from Pesci, Pacino, and De Niros filmographies, homing in on the ages they would portray in The Irishman. Upon completion of principal photography, ILM computers compared the de-aged sequences produced in Flux against the actors younger onscreen selves to ensure continuity. We took a look at Casino, GoodFellas, Home Alone, and Godfather II, Godfather III, hundreds of titles, says Helman. After we rendered their performances as younger actors, we would run these images through our database, through an artificial-intelligence program that would look for alike angles and lighting conditions. And the computer program would spew out frames that were similar to the ones we rendered.

[The frames] didnt end up in the movie, he explains. But it was a sanity check for us. Because there are some times an actor doesnt look like himself or herself  It depends on the lighting, the location, the camera angle. So we will use a program to look for what we call behavioral likeness. The actors look the way and behave the way that we recognize them as such.

Step 5: A Long, But Not Too Long, Postproduction

Helmans team eventually produced a whopping 1,750 visual-effects shots, which compose almost two and a half hours of The Irishmans 210-minute run time  the equivalent of a finished movie in the footages own right. Some 500 VFX technicians in postproduction facilities in Vancouver, Ireland, China, and India, as well as in Industrial Light & Magics San Francisco headquarters, labored for eight months to finish the footage, giving each sequence in which the actors appear de-aged a thorough once-over to remove as much uncanny-valley artificiality as possible.

De-aged Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro. Photo: Netflix

But contrary to early press reports that vagaries of the digital de-aging process resulted in release delays for The Irishman, Helman would like you to know the films lengthy postproduction time frame  which is typical of blockbuster-event films like Avengers: Endgame or Avatar but had never been applied so unsparingly to a talky period drama  was always baked into the schedule. We were always going to deliver when we delivered, he says. Its not that we were slowing down anything.

The two-time Academy Award nominee would also have you know Scorseses specific vision dictated that de-aged versions of the characters remain more faithful to the plot of the film than the actors actual younger physiques. Martys design of the characters was tailor made for the movie, Helman says. Meaning that he didnt want to rewind 30 years and find Jimmy Conway from GoodFellas. If hes going to show Frank Sheeran in World War II, he doesnt want to see Taxi Driver. Same thing with Pesci. Pesci at 53 years old was never that thin as an actor. He had a little more weight on him, but in the movie hes really thin. That was by design.

Step 6: Look to the Future

Partway through The Irishmans opening act, De Niros Frank Sheeran character is shown conversing in passable Italian during a high-stakes, get-to-know-you meeting with Pennsylvania mobster capo Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci)  the dawn of a professional camaraderie that will span decades and result in the pileup of untold corpses. Although the sequence was filmed when both actors were squarely in the winter of their lives, each man appears convincingly middle-aged: their frown lines, crows feet, and chin wattles buffed into submission through Flux technological innovations. The scene suddenly flashes back to World War II, when we see an even-more radically de-aged 20-something De Niro unceremoniously assassinate a pair of Nazi soldiers whom he has just ordered to dig their own graves.

Even at a cultural moment in which it has become standard operating procedure to smooth away movie stars laugh lines and under-eye wrinkles through discreet digital legerdemain  and when the announcement of a movie featuring the CGI re-creation of James Dean has been met with an outpouring of fan opprobrium (and some legitimate hesitation, too)  Helman feels his Flux technology has the potential to affect lasting change in Hollywood. In addition to eliminating the hours in makeup an actor would otherwise endure for the time-consuming application of mo-cap dots, ILMs technological breakthroughs ultimately amount to a kind of hidden carpentry. They are, by design, tools to enable a focus on actors performances, rather than cloaking them beneath flashy FX flourishes.

Like any achievement, itll be measured against what it will do for the industry in the future, Helman says. I think actors are going to take a look at this and say, Does that mean that I dont have to wear 138 markers on my face? That I dont have to spend two hours in makeup? That I dont have to sit through a bunch of calibration cameras? And I can act on set with the lights, in front of the acting partner I need to perform against? Those are the kind of things that are important. And thats where were going.
Anti-infiltration Act won't impede cross-Strait interactions: MAC

ROC Central News Agency

01/08/2020 10:59 PM

Taipei, Jan. 8 (CNA) The controversial Anti-infiltration Act, which criminalizes activities in Taiwan backed by hostile forces such as China, will not impede normal interactions across the Taiwan Strait, the head of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Wednesday.

The act, passed by the legislature on Dec. 31, is aimed at "correcting" and normalizing" cross-Taiwan Strait relations and lowering the risk of Beijing interfering in Taiwan politically, MAC chief Chen Ming-tong () said at a press conference.

It was just the latest effort by the MAC to defend the act, passed just 11 days before Taiwan holds it next presidential and legislative elections.

Critics of the bill, including the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), argued that it was rammed through the Legislature by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) without appropriate scrutiny, and could have unintended consequences.

They have also argued the act could give the government the ability to make unsubstantiated allegations against any Taiwanese individual or company with ties to China.

Taiwan currently has an estimated 2 million people who work or study in China, and the law poses a threat to their normal activities, the critics said.

Under the law, making political donations, influencing elections, proposing the recall of government officials, or launching a public referendum at the instruction or with the financial support of an "infiltration source," such as a Chinese agency, is prohibited.

The law also prohibits lobbying on issues concerning national security, diplomacy and cross-strait affairs at the instruction or with the financial support of hostile forces.

The maximum penalty for such offenses is five years in prison or a fine of less than NT$10 million (US$330,578), according to the act.

Chen argued that the act would not hamper cross-strait interactions, saying that it would in fact allow Taiwanese businessmen to do business in China worry-free because Beijing could not hold them hostage to achieve China's political goals.

As to the claims that the act could lead the government to make unsubstantiated accusations, Chen said Taiwan is a society based on the rule of law and any suspect would go through a strict judicial process with evidence before being convicted.

The banned actions or behaviors listed in the Anti-infiltration Act are not new because they are already prohibited by current laws, Chen said, adding that the act only punishes intentional malicious actions and not offenses through negligence.

(By Emerson Lim)

Enditem/ls

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Chhapaak: The Name Of The Acid Attacker In Deepika Padukone's Film Is NOT Rajesh
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 20:25:44|Editor: huaxia

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GUANGZHOU, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Gongbei customs in south China's Guangdong Province said it busted 12 smuggling gangs, captured 30 suspects and seized food and beverages worth 500 million yuan (about 72 million U.S. dollars).

Another 3.3 million yuan involved in the case was also frozen, the customs said.

The smugglers set up an office near Gongbei Port in Zhuhai in January 2017. They hired individuals to bring in small amounts of food and drinks illegally through the port before delivering them to buyers across China.

In addition, they printed false invoices with artificially low prices to smuggle food and beverages via other ports in the province at lower tax rates.

After a thorough investigation, over 300 police officers were dispatched to carry out operations in the cities of Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Quanzhou on Nov. 18, detaining more than 3,000 cases of food and drinks.
A Ukrainian airplane carrying 176 passengers crashed minutes after taking off early Wednesday from Iran's Imam Khomeini International Airport, killing all passengers and crew members on board. The cause of the crash is currently unknown, although Iran cited "technical problems." As the investigation continues, Ukraine's Embassy in Tehran issued a statement ruling out terrorism and then removed it.

The fatal crash unfolded during a particularly tense time in the region: In a growing conflict with the United States, triggered by the killing of Iranian commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, Iran fired more than a dozen missiles targeting Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops four hours before the Ukraine International Airlines jet went down.

The victims include 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians in addition to nine Ukrainian crew members, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons, according to Ukraine's Foreign Ministry. More than 140 passengers were Iranian nationals, according to Iranian officials, suggesting that many possessed dual citizenship.

A list of names and birth dates shared by the airline capture the human scale of the loss. Some of the victims had barely even begun their lives: Thirteen of the passengers were younger than 10. Two were born in 2014, another in 2016 and one in 2018. Many victims shared the same last name, a sign they were probably related and possibly traveling with other family members. Almost half of the passengers on aboard were born in 1990 or after, meaning their lives came to an end at age 30 or younger.

As the extent of the tragedy continued to unfold, so, too, did details about the lives of the victims. Some had been traveling; others had been living abroad and visiting loved ones. At least two couples on board were newlyweds.

Thirty-five-year-old Saeed Khademasadi Tahmasebi, an engineer and postgraduate researcher at Imperial College London, had recently married Niloofar Ebrahim, a psychology student in London: Both Tahmasebi and Ebrahim perished on the plane, his brother-in-law, Amir Vaheat, told the British newspaper The Times. The couple had married in Britain and then traveled to Iran for a wedding ceremony.

"They were a wonderful, beautiful couple and they were so happy together," Tahmasebi's sister, Sally, 41, told Britain's Telegraph newspaper. "This is too terrible for words. We cannot believe what has happened.

Imperial College London, one of Britain's top universities for science and engineering, paid tribute to Tahmasebi. "Saeed was a brilliant engineer with a bright future," the university tweeted. "His contributions to systems engineering earned respect from everyone who dealt with him and will benefit society for years to come. He was a warm, humble and generous colleague and close friend to many in our community."

BP engineer and British national Sam Zokaei was also on the plane. He was 42 and had been working for the company for over a decade.

"With the deepest regret, we can confirm that one of our colleagues at BP, Sam Zokaei, was a passenger on the Ukrainian International Airlines plane that crashed in Iran this morning, reportedly with no survivors," the company said in a statement to The Washington Post on Wednesday. "We are shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic loss of our friend and colleague and all of our thoughts are with his family and friends."

Another British victim was identified by British media as 40-year-old Mohammed Reza Kadkhoda-Zadeh. The divorced father of a 9-year-old girl had traveled to visit family in Iran during the Christmas holiday break and was on his way back to Britain via Ukraine.

Kadkhoda-Zadeh ran a dry-cleaning business in the seaside town of Brighton and was fondly recalled by Stephen Edgington, who ran a business next door.

"It is so shocking and it is very upsetting for everyone who knew him," Edgington told the Times. "He was a lovely man, very quiet and polite but a really nice guy - we got on very well indeed and it is a tragedy."

Canadian officials say that there are at least 63 Canadians among the victims, according to preliminary reports, but noted that the number could change as more information becomes available. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released a statement Wednesday expressing his shock and condolences.

"Our government will continue to work closely with its international partners to ensure that this crash is thoroughly investigated, and that Canadians' questions are answered," he said in the statement. "Today, I assure all Canadians that their safety and security is our top priority. We also join with the other countries who are mourning the loss of citizens."

The Ukrainian flight was popular among Iranians traveling to Canada, as there haven't been direct flights between the two countries since 2012, when Canada broke off diplomatic relations. The route was also popular with Iranian nationals studying in Canada because they cannot catch connecting flights in the United States as a result of U.S. immigration policies, said Payman Parseyan, a member of the Iranian-Canadian community in Edmonton, Canada.

Canada has a sizable Iranian diaspora community that grew after the country's revolution in 1979. According to a 2016 census, more than 210,000 people in Canada are of Iranian descent.

The crash has "devastated" Edmonton's "fairly tight-knit" Iranian community, said Parseyan, who is the former president of the city's Iranian Heritage Society. Iranians living in the city were closely watching coverage of the Iranian missile strikes in Iraq on Tuesday night when they learned there had been a plane crash. They quickly began piecing together whether they knew any of the victims on the Telegram messaging app.

"Initially, it was three names, and even with three names, we were getting goosebumps because they were our community members," Parseyan said. "Then it went to 10 and we were in disbelief. As the night progressed, the number got to 27."

The University of Alberta in Canada, which is near Edmonton, has confirmed that two married professors, as well as the couple's two daughters, were on board the Ukrainian jet.

Pedram Mousavi and Mojgan Daneshmand were both professors of engineering and had been traveling with daughters Daria and Dorina, Masoud Ardakani, the associate chair of the university's electrical and computer engineering department, told Canada's Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Wednesday.

Parseyan said he knew seven of the crash victims quite well, including Mousavi.

"He was always laughing, always making fun of my political views," Perseyan said of Mousavi. "He was a nice, enjoyable person to be around."

Matthew Grant, the director of media relations at the University of Waterloo in Canada, said the university will provide support to anyone there affected by the crash.

"We are aware of reports that Marzieh (Mari) Foroutan and Mansour Esnaashary Esfahani, two University of Waterloo PhD students, were listed on the passenger manifest of flight PS752," Grant said in a statement. "We continue to work with the relevant authorities to obtain more information."

Foroutan, who is listed as a PhD student in geography on a University of Waterloo website, was researching how algorithms and technologies in remote sensing could be applied to study climate change. Esfahani is listed as a PhD student in civil engineering.

The Canadian victims also included Parisa Eghbalian, a dentist in Aurora, Ontario, a town outside Toronto, and her daughter Reera Esmaeilion. The pair had traveled to Iran to celebrate the engagement of Eghbalian's sister, Manijeh Ghotbi, one of her co-workers told The Post. Eghbalian's husband and Esmaeilion's father is Hamed Esmaeilion, a dentist and award-winning writer in Persian.

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.

Eghbalian, who immigrated to Canada from Iran in 2010, was "a very kind, nice and happy person," Ghotbi said. "I will never, ever forget her laugh and smile."

Reera, she added, had big green eyes and was "beautiful inside and out."

Alan Shepard, the president of Western University in London, Ontario, said in a statement that four of its students - three graduate students and one incoming graduate student - are among the victims.

The University of Guelph confirmed that Milad Ghasemi Ariani, a PhD student in marketing, and Ghanimat Azhdari, a PhD student in geography, were among the victims. Azhadri's partner, Hamed Alibeiki, also died in the crash. All three were returning from visiting Iran, said Franco Vaccarino, the university's president.

Azhdari belonged to a group called the ICCA Consortium, which advocates for indigenous people and their lands. The group said she was a member of the Qashqai tribe and described her in a statement as a "true force of nature" and one of its "most cherished flowers."

"They leave behind families and people they love and they come to Canada, and often they're second-guessing, 'should I leave my family behind to do this?' " Parseyan told Canada's Global News. "Then they move here and they do all this, just to board a plane and have it all washed away."

The Iranian Student News Agency also reported that a number of Iranian students were among the dead.

On social media, Iranians mourned the death of passengers Pouneh Gorji, born in 1994, and Arash Pourzarabi, born in 1993. The two had married six days earlier, according to local media accounts.

The couple were computer engineering students at Sharif University, an Iranian university on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf. The university listed them among at least 15 Sharif students and alumni who died in the crash.

As Iranians sought news of loved ones, one surreal tweet was making the rounds.

"I had predicted that night before my flight, the war would begin," Mojtaba Abbas Nejhad, who was on his winter break from the University of Toronto, tweeted on Tuesday. "Guys, forgive any good and bad you experienced with me."

Abbas Nejhad was on the Ukraine-bound plane.

- - -

Coletta reported from Toronto.
In work that could have clinical implications, UT Southwestern researchers find that humans and mice with pancreatitis are deficient in a stress hormone called FGF21. Normally, FGF21 is more abundant in the pancreas than in any other organ in the body. They also show that replacement therapy reverses the condition in mouse models in about 24 hours and may even prevent it.

The study published today in Science Translational Medicine also reports success with a second treatment strategy. A potential drug called a PERK inhibitor targets a different step in the integrated stress response, the cellular pathway affecting the amount of fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) available in the pancreas.

"Given that several FGF21 drug candidates are or soon will be in clinical trials for conditions related to metabolic disease, it may be possible to test fibroblast growth factor 21 for treating human pancreatitis in the near future," says David Mangelsdorf, Ph.D. In addition to being chair of pharmacology, Mangelsdorf is an investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). He adds that he knows of no current investigations of PERK inhibitors for clinical use.

Pancreatitis, a debilitating and sometimes deadly inflammation of the pancreas, can be acute or chronic. It accounts for about 275,000 U.S. hospitalizations each year, with its incidence on the rise for reasons that are unclear. The many causes of pancreatitis include long-term alcohol abuse, gallstones, and certain inherited conditions, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Pancreatitis also can occur as a complication of endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography, or ERCP, a procedure in which a camera, contrast dye, and X-rays are used to view the bile duct, gall bladder, and pancreatic ducts.

Treatment for acute pancreatitis is generally supportive. Most patients recover after a few days in the hospital, where they are given intravenous fluids and pain relief. Chronic pancreatitis, which is more common in those with alcohol use disorder, worsens over time. The progressive damage to the pancreatic tissue can affect the ability to digest food and sometimes requires prescription enzymes to avoid malnutrition.

The pancreas, an organ near the small intestine, creates the hormone insulin that helps keep blood sugar in balance. The organ also creates enzymes that normally get released into the small intestine to aid digestion, says Mangelsdorf, who runs a joint laboratory with Steven Kliewer, Ph.D., professor of molecular biology and pharmacology. For nearly two decades the researchers have studied FGF21, learning valuable information about this important metabolic hormone.

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In 2017, the researchers reported the hormone's role in keeping digestive enzymes from damaging the pancreas. "We found that FGF21 stimulates the pancreas to secrete digestive enzymes into the small intestine," Mangelsdorf says. "If this mechanism fails, the enzymes remain in the pancreas, where they damage the tissue and cause inflammation."

Mangelsdorf says his and other labs have shown that loss of FGF21 magnifies damage and slows recovery in animal models of pancreatitis. That led him and collaborators at the University of Pittsburgh, Stanford University in California, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China to wonder whether the stress hormone might hold promise as a pancreatitis therapy.

To answer that question, the researchers studied the effect of pancreatitis on the FGF21 pathway by analyzing samples from the pancreata of mice and humans with acute and chronic forms of the disease. They found in mice that pancreatic levels of FGF21 rose during the first four hours of pancreatitis and, unexpectedly, dropped at the 12-hour mark, becoming nearly undetectable after 18 hours. FGF21 was also reduced in human pancreatitis.

They were able to verify FGF21 behaves similarly in three different mouse models of the disease: pancreatitis induced by the drug cerulein, which causes excessive secretion of pancreatic enzymes; alcohol-induced pancreatitis; and ERCP-induced pancreatitis. The experiments confirmed that loss of FGF21 is a hallmark of the illness. Next, they wanted to know if FGF21 replacement therapy would work, using these same three mouse models of pancreatitis.

The researchers conducted several experiments using each of the three mouse models, repeating each investigation three to four times with three to eight mice per test group. They also ran experiments on 66 human tissue samples: 14 from healthy people and 52 from people with pancreatitis.

Injecting 1 milligram per kilogram of mouse body weight of FGF21 four times over a 12- to 16-hour period after inducing pancreatitis increased the amount of FGF21 in the bloodstream and caused inflammation, necrosis, and swelling to mostly disappear within 24 hours in the mice with drug- or alcohol-induced pancreatitis.

To see if they could somehow prevent ERCP-induced pancreatitis, the researchers mixed FGF21 with the contrast dye normally used in the procedure and found that by doing so, they were able to maintain normal FGF21 levels and prevent them from dropping, thereby preventing procedure-induced inflammation.

Mangelsdorf cautions that the study's limitations include that the models mimicked but fell short of completely reproducing human disease, and that a definitive conclusion about pancreatitis in humans will require an analysis of a greater number of test subjects.

"Nevertheless, we show that pancreatitis is broadly characterized as an FGF21-deficient state and restoring FGF21 pharmacologically reverses or prevents it," he says.
" " One study has an adorable explanation for why some dogs tilt their heads. moaan/Getty Images

Whether it's a basket of puppies in a viral video or one's own dog anticipating a treat, most of us have seen a dog tilt its head in an adorably inquisitive way. Makes you wonder why they do it.

A study published in the journal Animal Connections in October 2021 says it could be a sign of increased concentration. The researchers had done a previous study where they put toys in one room and asked dog owners (in another room) to tell their pets to fetch a specific toy by name. Even after three months of training, most dogs could not do this. However, the ones that could were labeled Gifted Word Learner (GWL) dogs.

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The GWL dogs tilted their heads to one side when they heard their owners ask for a specific toy 43 percent of the time, whereas the other dogs tilted their heads only 2 percent of the time. "It seems that there is a relationship between success in retrieving a named toy and frequent head tilts upon hearing its name," Shany Dror, researcher and co-author of the study, said in a press release.

The researchers said this was the first study to look at head-tilting behavior in dogs, but they point out theirs looked at it in a very specific situation. "Hence, it is important to refrain from thinking that only Gifted Word Learner dogs tilt their heads in other situations not tested in this study," added researcher Andrea Temesi in the same release.

So, there could be other reasons why dogs tilt their heads. What are they? First, let's take a closer look at sight, which oddly enough starts with the nose. (This will make, ahem, sense in a moment.) A dog's long snout can obstruct its vision from certain angles, so it may tilt its head to get a better look at something  especially if that something is a person's face. Research has shown that dogs use visual cues to read human expressions in an attempt to better understand whether we're happy, sad or ready to hand out treats.

Of course, not all dogs have long snouts. Another explanation may have something to do with the way dogs fine-tune to the sounds they hear. A dog's sense of hearing is twice as sensitive as that of a person's, though acuity can vary depending on breed and age.

" " Scientists have not come to one single conclusion about why dogs tilt their heads; there may be multiple reasons. Ashley Coombs/Flickr

When dogs detect noises at higher pitches, from farther away, they may tilt their heads to better handle the influx of sound waves. Specifically, dogs use the tip of their ears  the fuzzy, scratchable outer ears known as pinnae  like satellite dishes, moving them around to better hear the sounds humans are making.

Additionally, dogs have specialized muscles that help them process sounds in their middle ear. These muscles happen to be governed by a part of the brain stem known as nucleus ambiguus, which also governs facial expressions, gaze, vocalizations and head movements. That endearing head tilt? It could be nothing more than a reflex as a dog focuses on a sound.

And finally, if tilting their heads is so cute that it results in extra attention, well, that's definitely a bonus. Enough so that some animal behaviorists claim it's learned communication. Dog behavior consultant Steven R. Lindsay calls this the "social head tilt"  when a dog tilts its head in response to a human it's the dog's way of "talking." And when we respond with praise or other positive feedback  or snacks!  the head-tilting is more likely to happen again.

Now That's Interesting While a dog who tilts his head is downright adorable, if it happens too frequently, it could signal a medical issue. A cocked head could indicate an ear infection, inflammation or other issue, maladies that veterinarians can rule out.

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Originally Published: Jul 7, 2016
Traffic was thrown out of gear in central Delhi on Thursday due to vehicular restrictions owing to a protest march by students.

Traffic was also affected as vehicles were diverted on Sansad Marg where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was attending a meeting at Niti Aayog.

Traffic restrictions were put in place near Mandi House and barricades were put up outside Shastri Bhawan on the Rajendra Prasad Road where the protestors were headed to.

Buses plying on the Rakabganj Road and Pant Marg were also re-routed.

Officials said both carriageways of Baba Gang Nath Marg from Nelson Mandela Marg and Aruna Asaf Ali Marg will remain shut till 8 pm due to demonstration at the JNU campus.

"Baba Gang Nath Marg is closed by local police from Nelson Mandela Marg and Aruna Asaf Ali Marg due to a demonstration," the traffic police tweeted from its official handle.

The Traffic police also alerted commuters about congestions at Dhaula Kuan and asked them to avoid the stretch.

"Traffic will remain heavy in the carriageway from Dhaula Kuan towards Moti Bagh due to underpass construction work at Durgabai Deshmukh Metro Station. Kindly avoid the stretch," it added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 15:20:08|Editor: mingmei

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HAIKOU, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- More than 83 million tourists from home and abroad visited southern China's tropical island province of Hainan in 2019, up nine percent year on year, local authorities said Thursday.

Hainan's tourism revenue went up 11 percent over the previous year to 105 billion yuan (about 15 billion U.S. dollars) last year, according to the provincial department of tourism, culture, radio, television and sports.

Last year, Hainan received 1.42 million overseas tourists, up 12.4 percent year on year.

Eight large tourism enterprises including the China Duty Free Group and China Tourism Group set up their headquarters or regional headquarters in Hainan last year.

China plans to build Hainan into an international tourism and consumption center by 2025 and globally influential tourism and consumption destination by 2035.
By PTI

MELBOURNE: Australia's raging bushfire crisis, one of the worst in its history, has killed 24 people, burned over six million hectares of land, reduced to ashes hundreds of homes and pushed many species towards extinction, officials said on Thursday.

Authorities on Thursday issued fresh warnings and evacuation orders in the country's southeast as hot and windy conditions threatened to regenerate huge bushfires.

Around 23 fires were still burning in Victoria, according to the state's emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp.

Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews on Thursday announced extending state's first-ever state of disaster ahead of "significant fire activity" forecast for the next two days.

"We have forecast conditions of extreme danger, very significant fire activity is likely off the back of a hot day today, a hot day tomorrow and a change not coming through in the east of the state until late afternoon tomorrow and in the northern part of the state not until the evening on Saturday," he said.

"This means that we have every reason to believe there will be significant fire activity over the next 48 hours and that means it is appropriate that we continue the state of disaster," Andrews said.

There will be messages going out to communities in the fire zone on Thursday and those messages will indicate to people that they are in the fire zone and that if they can leave, they should leave, the Premier of Victoria said, adding that "we will not be able to guarantee their safety".

There was a possibility of another round of dry lightning and a wind change which could trigger fires across the state from Friday.

"This is a really significant challenge for us. We don't underestimate it. We don't lightly extend the state of disaster. We have done it because we believe that it will save lives and that, after all, is the most important thing," Andrews said.

Victoria's emergency management commissioner Crisp said that in the state, 244 homes were lost or damaged and another 400 'significant' structures impacted.

"We know those numbers will grow," he said.

Meanwhile, in New South Wales, state premier Gladys Berejiklian announced an additional 1 billion Australian dollars over the next two years into bushfire management and recovery for rebuilding and rehabilitating the fire-ravaged zones.

This season saw the worst damages across the state with almost 2000 homes damaged so far and 20 deaths.

Berejiklian said the new funding would prioritise infrastructure repair and help stimulate fire-ravaged NSW communities.

"The bushfire season is far from over but we know how important it is for communities to start the recovery process where possible," Berejiklian said in a statement.

She said the funding was on top of 231 million dollars already committed to disaster assistance funding.

In its latest tweet, NSW Rural fire services said: "Over 2,500 firefighters in the field, prepare for worsening conditions Friday. Currently 122 bush & grass fires, half uncontained".

In South Australia's Kangaroo Island, the bushfire threat on Thursday was escalated with 'a watch and act warning' issued for a fire near Parndana which according to the Country Fire Service (CFS) was uncontrolled and was burning in a southeasterly direction threatening the safety of people in the area.

The fire has already destroyed 160,000 hectares including the famous Flinders Chase National Park.

A total fire ban has been declared across the island following the high fire risk due to temperatures and winds rise.

"Currently there is no immediate threat to life or property but with the increasing wind, warmer weather and ongoing fires on Kangaroo Island, this situation is likely to change," the CFS said.

Over six million hectares of land has burned in this year's worst bushfire season of Australian history, claiming 24 lives and damaging hundreds of homes and buildings across several parts of southern New South Wales, northern and eastern Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, according to officials.

The raging fire has pushed many species towards extinction, with the number of kangaroos, koalas and others killed in the crisis keeps increasing.

According to some experts, an estimated 1 billion animals have been killed.

The bushfire crisis has taken a very heavy toll with more than 1,500 homes already lost throughout the course of this fire season, which has been running since September, according to the government.

Over 3,000 firefighters are on the frontline, with 31 specialist strike teams in place across NSW.

Australia's military has been assisting with aerial reconnaissance, mapping, search and rescue, logistics and aerial support for months.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who is facing widespread criticism in Australia for his handling of the crisis, on Monday announced an additional 2 billion dollars over two years to a new agency to coordinate a national response to rebuild communities and livelihoods following the deadly bushfire crisis.

The National Bushfire Recovery Agency, headed by former federal police chief Andrew Colvin, will help bushfire affected communities recover.

Australia's deadliest bushfire disaster, known as "Black Saturday", took place in February 2009 when about 180 people died in the country's southeastern state of Victoria.
Chennai, Jan 9 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K.Palaniswami on Thursday said the government will provide a job to a family member of Special Sub-Inspector Wilson who was shot dead in Kanniyakumari on Wednesday night.

Speaking in the Assembly, he said financial assistance to the family of Wilson and a government job to one of the family members based on their qualification will be given.

He said policemen were carrying out routine checks at Kaliyakkavilai check post in Kanniyakumari District on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border when two unidentified persons shot Wilson and also stabbed him, killing him, before fleeing the scene.

Palaniswami said the two bullets were recovered from the site and the police are investigating the crime.

He said four special teams had been formed and they are analysing the footagre from CCTVs installed in that locality.
Bengaluru Metropolitan Archbishop Peter Machado on Thursday submitted a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Governor Vajubhai Vala against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, requesting Centre not to grant citizenship to the illegal migrants on the basis of their religion but rather on the basis of merit.

In the memorandum, Machado while appealing to the citizens to maintain peace and harmony in the country in wake of anti-CAA protest, said: "People should not recourse to violent methods to fight for their cause. We appeal to the Central government to grant citizenship to the illegal migrants not on the basis of their religions, but on the merit of each individual case."

"There is a danger that there could be a polarization of our peoples along religious lines, which is very harmful for the country. Religion should never be the criterion for citizenship of a country," he said.

Stating that Muslims are being targetted through the CAA, he said: "Now one community has been by and large targetted and in future it may affect us (Christians) as well. That is why we want any protest or anything that should go in a peaceful manner and as per the Constitution."

"Let religion not be made criteria for citizenship. Let's not spoil India's image of unity in diversity. Don't isolate a religion or community. We are not targeted now but we could be in the future. We are also a minority, could happen to any of us," he told ANI.

The CAA grants citizenship to illegal Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jains, Parsis and Christian migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

The Archbishop said that the Act, naturally, implies that migrants, who identify themselves with any group or community other than Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jains, and Parsis won't be eligible for citizenship.

"The Bill also relaxes the provisions for "Citizenship by naturalisation," he added.

Taking cognisance of the ongoing protests against CAA, Machado said: "Violence is not a solution when there is a difference of opinion. It is necessary that the government dialogues with those opposing the Act, and come to an agreement about the way forward with justice, equity and fairness. There is no harm in backtracking: changing course if this is necessary for the good of the country and our people."

"By doing so, it can meet out justice to all the illegal migrants and thus promote equality among them. More so, it can also convince the citizens of the country that it upholds the sacredness of the Constitution and respects the rights of all the linguistic and religious minorities without any discrimination," he said.

He said the Christian Community expressed solidarity with those who have been discriminated on the basis of Religion, and assure them of support and fellowship that justice may be granted to them.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Following Centre's decision regarding GST compensation to states and the GST arrears to Kerala piling up to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore, Kerala is planning to take a legal recourse after taking other state governments into confidence.

"If GST council is not able to come with a solution regarding dispute settlement than states together should move to the Supreme Court over the issue. I am putting this proposal before other Finance Ministers,' said Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac.

The next ministerial-level council meet is scheduled to be held on January 18 in Delhi.

When asked if he would gain support from other Finance ministers of different states on the issue, Isaac said, "In next council meeting I will be discussing with like-minded finance ministers about the possibility of approaching Supreme Court to protect state rights, something which has been guaranteed by the Constitution and are very clearly laid down on the law passed by the Parliament. Most of the non-BJP finance ministers are in support of this".

He also proposed the GST council to be allowed to borrow to meet the GST compensation arrears.

"The GST compensation arrears to Kerala are about Rs 40,000 crore if not more" he stated.

Thomas Isaac said that GST compensation and Central share of the taxes have been drastically reduced for the last quarter.

"As far as our budgeted figures, Kerala should have received something like Rs 10000 crores public borrowing in the last quarter, instead we got Rs 1900 crore. The reason cited is that Kerala had over-borrowed in 2016-17. It will be difficult for the state government. Even if the centre wants to do this, do it over time. Don't do it in the height of the slowdown. All state governments are forced to reduce their expenditure as centre transfers are getting reduced", he said.

He also voiced concerns over the state coffers and said that Kerala has been pushed to a very serious financial crisis due to these reductions.

"'Regarding centrally sponsored schemes the centre owes arrears of Rs 1200 crores for employee guarantee programme. Now for paddy procurement centre government owes to Kerala more than Rs 1000 crores. This kind of system never existed before. There was always been some consideration for the plights of the state. Now there is very little dialogue. This is totally new phase in central state relation we are witnessing", Isaac said.

He also blamed centre for the exclusion of Kerala from 2019 flood relief and said that the move was 'political as well as ideological'.

"For the first time the centre is ruled by a party that does not believe in diversity. So there is a lack of appreciation for the aspiration of the regions", he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A natural gas plant proposed west of Williston could help reduce wasteful flaring in the northern part of the Bakken oil patch.

Denver-based Outrigger Energy II plans to build the facility in Williams County to process up to 250 million cubic feet of gas per day, with the option of expanding to handle up to 450 million cubic feet.

CEO Dave Keanini said crude oil prices surpassing $50 per barrel have been high enough lately to spur more oil drilling in the Bakken, and thats made the area attractive to his company.

We like being in basins where theres a lot of activity and a lot of growth going on, he said.

The company also intends to build a 70-mile gathering pipeline that starts in eastern Williams County and ends at the processing plant. It has entered into an agreement with XTO Energy to transport gas from the producers wells.

Keanini said XTO is the big fish in the area, but the line will be located near wells operated by other producers, too, and it has the potential to service them down the road.

The Outrigger processing plant is the sixth facility of its kind in the works in North Dakota. Officials hope the investments will significantly curb the amount of excess gas that is flared in the state.

Combined, the proposed facilities would have the capacity to process an additional 1.075 billion cubic feet per day of gas, according to the North Dakota Pipeline Authority. They follow four plants that came online in the latter half of 2019 and can accommodate up to 670 million cubic feet per day.

The latest figures available show that more than 500 million cubic feet per day of gas is flared at oil wells in North Dakota. That accounts for 18% of gas produced in the state, which is above North Dakotas 12% flaring target. The amount of gas flared peaked during the summer of 2019 amid a lack of pipelines and processing facilities as oil production climbed.

State Pipeline Authority Director Justin Kringstad said the announcement about the Outrigger plant is very encouraging for curbing flaring in the northern part of the state.

Theres been a tremendous amount of investment and expansions south of Lake Sakakawea over the past couple years, but this will be one of the most major near-term expansions north of Lake Sakakawea, he said.

The Outrigger plant would be one of the only cryogenic plants north of the lake, Keanini said. Other processing plants separate out natural gas liquids such as butane and pentane from the stream of raw gas that arrives at the facility, but they are not able to cool the gas enough to remove all the propane or ethane, he said.

The Outrigger plant would have the capability to remove propane and ethane. Keanini said the company intends to send the remaining gas to market down the Northern Border Pipeline.

The liquids removed by the proposed plant would travel on an existing Oneok pipeline system. Keanini said Outrigger might build a fractionation facility down the road to further process the liquids by separating each individual component. For example, the company could isolate propane from the other liquids and sell it locally.

Outrigger plans to have the pipeline in place and the processing plant running by Dec. 15. It will need to secure several state approvals for the plant, including permits from the Public Service Commission and the Department of Environmental Quality.

Outrigger plans to build the plant near the North Dakota-Montana state line. Theres a chance the company could build it in Montana if it runs into trouble securing local permits, Keanini said.

Were hoping to be able to keep it in North Dakota, he said.

He declined to disclose an estimated cost for the plant and pipeline, citing the agreement with XTO.

Reach Amy R. Sisk at 701-250-8252 or amy.sisk@bismarcktribune.com.

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(Photo : Sonos Twitter)

In what might become a long and protected battle, home speaker maker Sonos has filed two lawsuits against Google. Sonos, which gained popularity from its seeming wireless and integrated speakers, filed two lawsuits: One in the Federal District Court of Los Angeles and one in the United States International Trade Commission, a body that oversees trade cases and can effectively block imported goods that violate patents.

In Sonos's lawsuit, the company claims that Google has stolen some of its patents during the partnership of the two companies.While it is Sonos' claim that Google broke over a hundred patents, Google will only be sued for five of these.

"Google has been blatantly and knowingly copying our patented technology," Patrick Spence, CEO of Sonos, said in a statement. "Despite our repeated and extensive efforts over the last few years, Google has not shown any willingness to work with us on a mutually beneficial solution. We're left with no choice but to litigate."

However, Google denies these claims. A Google Spokesperson, Jose Casteneda, commented that the companies were in discussion between both of the companies' IP and "are disappointed that Sonos brought these lawsuits instead of continuing negotiations in good faith. We dispute these claims and will defend them vigorously,"

Sonos also claims that Amazon is in violation of these patents, but decided to only focus on Google as of the moment, as they cannot fight two tech giants at once. Amazon, however, claims that their Alexa speakers were not developed using Sonos' technology.

"The Echo family of devices and our multiroom music technology were developed independently by Amazon," Natalie Hereth, a spokesperson for Amazon said.

A complicated history

Sonos first rose to popularity due to bringing the wireless speaker concept to the mass market. It was one of the first companies to offer interlinked speakers that played the same song, regardless of where the speakers were located. In 2013, Sonos partnered up with Google to enable Google's music service to easily work with Sonos speakers, giving Google access to Sonos' speaker blueprints. At that time, Google did not have any wireless speakers of its own.

Later on, when Google released its own wireless speaker, Sonos found out that Google was using Sonos' techniques in solving some of the technical hurdles that wireless speakers face when communicating with each other. They also found out that Amazon's Echo speakers were using the same approach.

Sonos sought to fix the problem internally first. In 2016, they warned Google that the company was infringing. Sonos spent the next three years telling Google that over a hundred of its patents were being violated by Google's wireless speakers. Sonos tried to reach a deal with Google but ultimately declined as the contracts were one-sided.

Nowadays, Sonos is struggling as Google, and Amazon's speakers are cheaper than Sonos is able to offer. Sonos' speakers are beginning at $200 each, while Amazon and Google's speakers can be had for as low as $50. Sonos only moved 6.1 million speakers for the whole year, while Amazon moved 10.5 million speakers, and Google moved 6 million speakers in just one quarter.

While current Sonos speakers are capable of both using Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, it is then understandable as to why Sonos would want to stop Google, and eventually Amazon, to stop selling their speakers as the company is massively undercut by the two tech giants. Sonos has recently acquired Snips, an AI voice platform that would probably replace Alexa and Assistant.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Acting selflessly to help others in need was long thought to be a trait confined to mammals, in particular humans and some great ape species like bonobos and orangutans. But a new study has found that African grey parrots volunteer assistance to both their good friends and mere acquaintances -- even when there is no expectation of personal gain. The paper, published in the journal Current Biology on Thursday, advances our knowledge of the evolution of cooperation and social intelligence, co-author Auguste von Bayern of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Starnberg, Germany told AFP. Both parrots and corvids (like crows and ravens) are renowned for their extraordinary problem solving skills, and are sometimes called "feathered apes." Alex, the famous Harvard-based African grey parrot who died in 2007, developed a vocabulary of over 100 words, could identify colors and quantify objects up to the number six, among many other accomplishments. But despite their impressive intelligence, earlier experiments have failed to show crows helping other crows -- leading von Bayern and first author Desiree Brucks of ETH Zurich to wonder whether the same was true of parrots. Working at the Loro Parque research station on the Spanish island of Tenerife, they placed pairs of grey parrots and blue-headed macaws in boxes alongside each other with an transfer hole between the two, and a hole facing a human experimenter that was either kept open or closed. Both parrot species quickly learned that they could exchange tokens with the experimenter for a nut treat -- but only the grey parrots helped their neighbors when their own hole facing the scientist was closed, preventing them from gaining any personal reward. In the very first round, seven out of eight grey parrots were willing to transfer tokens in their possession to their neighbors so that their friends could feast when they could not. The fact they did so without knowing they would later be tested in the other role showed that those giving were not expecting the favor to be reciprocated, said von Bayern. Significantly, the grey parrots appeared to understand the nature of the task, as opposed to acting out of playfulness. When they saw the other parrot had an opportunity for exchange, they'd pass a token over -- but otherwise, they would not. - Lending a wing - And, like humans, the grey parrots appeared to favor their friends, sharing more tokens with birds they had previously closely associated with, though they still gave some to acquaintances. The experimenters did not test whether the effect would occur with perfect strangers. It is not fully clear why the grey parrots acted "prosocially" while the macaws did not, but the researchers suggest it may be linked to how the two species organize themselves in the wild. African greys live in huge flocks of up to 1,200 birds, Brucks told AFP, and this may require greater social cognitive abilities than macaws that live in much smaller groups of 10 to 30 individuals. The team would now like to investigate how widespread cooperation is among the world's 393 parrot species and examine what evolutionary pressures led to it. They'd also like to learn whether the birds are acting out of genuine empathy and if the level of help given is proportionate to the need of the recipient -- for example, will a parrot who just had a meal receive the same level of assistance as one which is hungry? - No jealousy - The latest research builds on previous work exploring grey parrots' concern for the wellbeing of others. In a study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science in December involving the same scientists and others, researchers gave the birds two types of token: one which rewarded just the subject, and another that provided food to both the subject and its neighbor. At first they chose randomly -- but when the parrots were tested alternatingly with their neighbor, they learned to choose the token that benefitted both birds. What's more, a third paper published in Scientific Reports in November found that the parrots do not show signs of jealousy if a partner receives a better reward for the same work, unlike primates (including humans). "At first, this finding came as a surprise, given that a 'sense of fairness' is considered a prerequisite for the evolution of cooperation," said von Bayern, to prevent a breakdown of ties. But one possible explanation could be the species' penchant for monogamy, as opposed to primates who switch partners as new opportunities arise. "Given that parrots are so closely bonded with a single individual and thus so mutually interdependent, it does not make any difference if one of them gets a better pay-off once in a while," said Von Bayern. "What counts is that together, they function as a unit that can achieve much more than each of them on their own." A new study has found that African grey parrots volunteer assistance to both their good friends and mere acquaintances -- even when there is no expectation of personal gain It is not fully clear why the grey parrots acted "prosocially" while the macaws did not, but the researchers suggest it may be linked to how the two species organize themselves in the wild
Three police officers charged with beating a disability pensioner during an arrest claim they acted reasonably because of the man's history of aggression and threats to commit 'suicide by cop'.

The victim, John, had a long history of mental health issues and had been violent with officers in the past, the Heidelberg Magistrates Court heard on Thursday.

Police officers John Patrick Edney, Brad Mcleod and Florian Hilgart were performing a welfare check at his home in Preston, Melbourne, in September 2017 after he failed to respond to a councillor.

Mr Goutzoulas was withdrawing from opioid pain medication and 'went into panic mode' when he saw them approach his house.

He begged the officers to leave him alone because he did not want to go to hospital.

'Leave me alone, please leave me alone,' he said in footage played in court.

'Please leave, I don't want to f**king leave,' he added, telling them if they wanted him to leave they would have to shoot him.

Eventually Mr Goutzoulas opened the door and was allegedly then capsicum sprayed, dragged outside, beaten and hosed down with water.

'He was wetting me with the hose, like you would a dog,' Mr Goutzoulas told the court.

The three officers are facing multiple unlawful assault charges.

CCTV footage showed six policemen towering over a disability pensioner on his front lawn

In 20 minutes of vision played to the court, John allegedly told the officers they'd 'have to shoot him,' The Herald Sun reported.

Another officer appeared to film part of the ordeal.

John reportedly told a psychologist 'he would give police a reason to shoot him if they didn't comply with his demands'.

At the time of the incident, the disability pensioner claims he genuinely believed the officers could kill him, the publication reported.

'They were all on top of me. I was pretty much assaulted. I was in a bit of pain. I couldn't breathe,' he told the court.

The officers are fighting all allegations, and say the level of force used was necessary.

The court heard the officers had reason to believe John had access to weapons and would be willing to use them.

An altercation on John's door step sparked a horrific episode that would see him held down by six officers, beaten with a baton, verbally abused and capsicum sprayed in the face

The court heard the officers had reason to believe John had access to weapons and would be willing to use them

John appeared to be sprayed with a high-pressure hose as he sat handcuffed and in tears on his lawn, while a grinning officer filmed the ordeal

In the past, he allegedly reached for an officer's gun, the court heard.

'This is a man who's prepared to resort to violence  in times of conflict, and it would seem, with little provocation,' Rahmin de Kretser, Mr McLeod's lawyer, said.

The three officers who were charged were all granted bail and suspended from duties without pay.

After footage surfaced of the incident, Victoria Police released a statement saying it had 'no tolerance for poor behaviour within its ranks'.

The court is expected to deliver a verdict on Friday.
ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Victor Williams, an insurgent Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, today questioned the fitness of incumbent Sen. Mark Warner to represent Virginia in the Senate.

Professor Williams condemned Democrat leaders for allowing Warner to continue to serve as the ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Pro-Trump Law Professor Runs for US Senate--Virginia Commonwealth of Virginia says, "16 years of Warner is Enough"

The committee post gives him a place on the "Gang of Eight" where he is allowed access to the most sensitive of national security information.

Williams' full statement is below:

"First, I would like to acknowledge that Scott Taylor, a competitor for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, has ended his campaign this week.

I began my campaign on July 4th of last year by inviting others to join the race early. Taylor jumped into the contest just four days later.

I wish Scott Taylor well as he now seeks to regain his former U.S. House seat to represent the Virginia Beach area. Just as with defeating Mark Warner, Republicans must unify after the primary to defeat impeachment-obsessed Elaine Luria in November.

As the field clears for the Republican nomination for the Senate and as national security manifests itself as a paramount issue, I today question Warner's fitness and trustworthiness to serve on the on the security-sensitive Intelligence Committee and with the Gang of Eight.

Warner should resign the posts, or have the assignment stripped from him by Democrat Senate leadership.

Warner has forfeited the public trust by his prevarications and perpetuations of the "Russia Collusion hoax."

Indeed, Mark Warner as caught having extensive contacts with a Russian oligarch's lobbyist in 2017. Unearthed texts indicate that Warner was attempting to further gin-up the Russian-Collusion hoax by soliciting the help of infamous foreign-agent Christopher Steel (author of the fictional, Democrat-funded, fake dossier).

And Warner has betrayed Virginia values and Virginia voters.

Warner joined with AOC+3 's insane hard-left lurch as his party threatens to:

*Legalize and Encourage Late Term Abortions (including post-birth infanticide);

*Kill Economic Growth and Fiscal Stability (with increased taxes and regulations bankrupting Virginia's coal industry);

*Throw Open the Southern Border (to allow a massive flow invasion -- of aliens who will then be given free health care and other largess);

*Eliminate Medicare (insuring "Medicare for None" with socialist schemes raising taxes on American workers and making private-employer insurance illegal)."

Williams' statement continued:

"Virginians remember that Mark Warner has never adequately explained his own 2014 Phil Puckett scandal The shame of offering to trade a federal judgeship in a quid pro quo for a local politician's partisan cooperation? "Puckettgate" remains a viable issue in 2020.

Warner's weak and conflicting responses to the 2019 Northam/Fairfax scandals are best described as "Pucketgate II" as Warner again chooses corrupt politicians over Virginia's interests.

Sen. Warner actually said that Ralph Northam had a "right" to keep his high office if the Governor could manage to talk his way out of the racist scandal.

16 years of Warner is enough. Virginia deserves much better."

Pro-Trump Law Professor Williams, who had been a leading academic critic of the fraudulent House impeachment as being an unconstitutional attainder, predicted that Donald Trump will win Virginia in the presidential contest.

And, Williams praised his other competitors who remain in the primary contest.

As Williams when announcing his campaign in 2019, he again called for others to join the contest prior to the March filing deadline. Williams particularly encouraged non-politician, self-funders to jump in the GOP contest, stating:

"Wouldn't it be great if pro-Trump entrepreneur Peter Thiel, or if Ivanka Trump, or Donald Trump, Jr. relocated to the Commonwealth to run for the Senate."

Contact Williams: 571-309-8249.

Media Contact:

Victor Williams

571-309-8249

[email protected]

SOURCE Prof. Victor Williams
Fionnuala McHugh in the South China Morning Post:

On a Sunday night, exactly 22 weeks after the protests against an extradition bill had begun on June 9, prize-winning Pakistani journalist and novelist Mohammed Hanif checked into his room at Robert Black College, on the University of Hong Kong campus. Until then, the citys social unrest had usually been confined to weekends; but, two days earlier, Chow Tsz-lok, a student from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, had died in unexplained circumstances while police were dispersing a crowd with tear gas. The Monday morning after Hanifs arrival, a traffic policeman shot a protester at 7.20am during disturbances in Sai Wan Ho. Matters escalated.

Hanif, who lives in Karachi, had been invited last year to give the 2019 PEN Hong Kong Literature & Human Rights lecture at HKU. PEN, which stood for Poets, Essayists, Novelists but now embraces all literary forms in its role as human-rights watchdog, planned for Hanif to take part in an evening with local writers titled We Still Laugh: Humour as a Literary Relief Valve. By lunchtime on his first day in Hong Kong, however, student outrage had been ignited, tear gas was seeping through Central and no one was laughing.

More here.
BIRMNGHAM, Ala., Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Air Methods, the leading air medical service provider, announced today that it recently signed a contract with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) that will allow third-year emergency medicine residents to assist the Alabama LifeSaver program with providing emergency care. This is the first program in the state of Alabama to permit medical school residents to provide physician-level care in the sky.

The UAB residency program will partner with the LifeSaver program, where residents will gain first-hand exposure to the needs of air medical patients. The LifeSaver 4 program is a division of Air Methods that have been providing critical care air transport since 1981. LifeSaver 3 has also operated since 1981, serving Alabama and the surrounding states. The residents will be assisting with and performing the same approved skills as the clinicians on board the aircraft.

Here at UAB we aspire to provide our residents with the most relevant EMS field practice in the hopes of inspiring some to be involved in their respective EMS communities once their residencies are complete, said Dr. William Ferguson, medical director for the UAB residency program. This unique partnership is another excellent addition to UABs prestigious program, and we are certain that residents will gain valuable experience from it.

This premier program will allow residents to contribute to the administration of care at the scene of an accident or the bedside of a smaller spending hospital. The partnership will provide an opportunity for residents to advance their knowledge of the emergency medical field and recognize the needs of a diverse population, which is crucial to providing top-tier care to patients.

###

About the UAB Residency Program

The UAB Emergency Medicine Residency Program provides some of the best comprehensive training in the United States. UAB is fully accredited by the Residency Review Committee in Emergency Medicine. They have a large patient population and the ability to gain deep exposure to various critical and non-critical conditions. The goal is to firmly establish a sense of confidence and discipline in their residents that promote the best patient care outcomes.

About Air Methods

Air Methods (www.airmethods.com) is the leading air medical service, delivering lifesaving care to more than 70,000 people every year. With nearly 40 years of air medical experience, Air Methods is the preferred partner for hospitals and one of the largest community-based providers of air medical services. United Rotorcraft is the Companys products division specializing in the design and manufacture of aeromedical and aerospace technology. Air Methods fleet of owned, leased or maintained aircraft features more than 450 helicopters and fixed wing aircraft.
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A detailed analysis report of the Global Bread And Baked Food Market has been covered in the report coupled with a thorough description of each company profile with information on the H.Q, future capabilities, key mergers & acquisitions, financial outline, partnerships and new product launches and developments.

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Rising demand for functional foods

Increasing purchasing capacity

Restraints

Limited shelf life of products

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Lewis Brothers

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Sara Lee Bakery Group.

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Trump administration officials plan to announce Friday that they have completed 100 miles of new barriers along the border with Mexico, but their benchmark underscores how far construction crews still have to go to fulfill the president's pledge to finish 450 miles by the end of 2020.

Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, is traveling to Yuma, Arizona, to make the announcement, according to DHS officials. Senior border officials and U.S. Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., who is facing a tough reelection bid and has been trailing in polls, are expected to join Wolf there.

Trump's border wall project is a central theme of his campaign for a second term, and the ambitious construction targets have put considerable pressure on Homeland Security officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the contractors building the structure.

The administration's push to quickly erect border fencing ahead of the November election received a boost this week when a federal appeals court in New Orleans lifted a lower court injunction that had frozen $3.6 billion the White House diverted for the project from military construction funds.

A district court judge in El Paso ruled last month that the administration did not have the authority to spend money allocated by Congress for a different purpose. But the appeals court ruled the administration can use the money - equal to about one third of the $11 billion the administration has obtained so far for the "border wall" - while legal challenges proceed.

The White House celebrated the court's ruling in a statement Thursday, saying it "lifted an illegitimate nationwide injunction," and "in doing so has allowed vital border wall construction to move forward using military construction funds."

"This is a victory for the rule of law," the statement said. "We are committed to keeping our borders secure, and we will finish the wall."

In recent weeks, Homeland Security officials have appeared to hedge against Trump's construction targets. Mark Morgan, the acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told reporters last month that the president's goal posts likely are out of range.

"Our goal at the end of 2020 was 450 miles," Morgan said. "It's hard right now to be able to say whether we're still going to be able to meet that goal, but I'm confident that we're going to be close."

Trump has designated Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, to oversee the project, with a particular focus on the vexing challenges of building new barriers along the Rio Grande in Texas. In addition to the engineering complexities of building a linear structure along a sinuous river and flood delta, the government needs to acquire private land from hundreds of property owners by making aggressive use of its condemnation authority.

Because the pace of construction has lagged in Texas, the administration has accelerated its efforts in western states, where most of the land along the border already is under federal control.

In those areas, crews are installing tall steel bollard fencing, roads and surveillance technology to replace smaller barriers that were designed to stop vehicles. Nearly all of the 100 miles of new fencing completed thus far is labeled "replacement barrier" by CBP, but the White House has asked the agency to stop using that term because it sounds like less of an accomplishment.

The 2020 budget approved by Congress last month included an additional $1.4 billion for border barrier construction. That is the same funding level Democrats agreed to last year but far less than the $5 billion the White House was seeking.

Kushner and other administration officials have discussed the possibility of diverting billions of dollars from military budgets again this year, and the ruling by the appeals court opens a path for the White House to take that course.
U.S. Army paratroopers of an immediate reaction force from the 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, board their C-17 transport aircraft as they leave Fort Bragg, North Carolina, January 1, 2020.

The House passed a resolution Thursday to curb President Donald Trump's war powers against Iran as the president aims to navigate sharp tensions in the Middle East.

The Democratic-held chamber approved it by a 224-194 vote. Three Republicans and an independent voted for it, while eight Democrats opposed it.

Democrats, worried about conflict following the U.S. killing of Iran's top general Qasem Soleimani last week, passed a measure to give Congress more oversight of White House military action against Tehran. The measure calls for Trump to stop military force against Iran within 30 days if he does not have congressional approval.

The vote to rein in Trump's latitude to clash with Iran continues a recent push by Democrats and some Republicans in Congress to reassert the legislature's authority to declare war. The measure introduced by Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., is a concurrent resolution  meaning the president cannot veto it and it does not carry the force of law.

Even so, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Thursday that it has "real teeth" to check the president. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., has put forward a similar resolution, which may not pass the Republican-held Senate.
Vietnamese coffee prices fell this week in line with subdued London prices, but trade activities started to pick up for March contract in Indonesia, traders said on Thursday.

Farmers in the Central Highlands, Vietnams largest coffee-growing area, sold coffee at 32,600 dong ($1.41) per kg, down from 33,600 dong last week, following a fall in ICE March contract.

March robusta coffee settled down $10, or 0.74%, at $1,354 per tonne on Wednesday.

London prices have consistently been very low, under $1,400 per tonne since Dec. 19, said a trader based in the region.

Demands from exporters and roasters are still high but farmers refuse to sell at such low prices.

Traders said farmers in the Central Highlands had harvested all of the fresh beans of the 2019/20 crop year.

Beans are abundant but very hard to buy, exporters were not so keen on making new trade deals, said another trader based in Ho Chi Minh City.

Traders in Vietnam offered 5% black and broken grade 2 robusta at a $100 premium per tonne to the March contract on Thursday, compared with last weeks $50 premium.

Indonesias grade 4 defect 80 robusta beans were offered at premiums of $220-$250 to the March contract this week, compared with $250 premium of a week ago, a trader in Sumatras Lampung province said.

Trade activities are starting to pick up for March contract, traders said, but demand is still relatively light this week.

Traders are waiting for the next harvest but they also suspect that farmers are still holding on to some bean stocks.
Kabul, Jan 9 : At least six Taliban militants were killed and five others arrested in an operation against the militants in Afghanistan's Kunduz province on Thursday, an army spokesman said.

The operation, backed by military planes, in the east of the provincial capital Kunduz city on early Thursday morning killing six insurgents including a local commander, army spokesman Abdul Khalil Khalili said, Xinhua reported.

Five more militants including some notorious ones were captured during the raids, he said.

Taliban militants who are active in parts of Kunduz province have yet to make comment.
Verastem, Inc. VSTM announced that it has signed a global licensing agreement with Japan-based Chugai Pharmaceutical. Per the terms of the agreement, Verastem will gain worldwide development and commercialization rights to Chugais RAF/MEK inhibitor, CH5126766. Chugai is currently developing the candidate as a treatment of KRAS mutant solid tumors.

Verastem will pay Chugai $3 million in upfront payment along with royalties. Verastem will be responsible for future development of CH5126766 and its commercialization globally. The company may look for various partnering strategies for development of the candidate.

Investors cheered the news and shares were up 36.5% on Jan 8. However, the companys shares have declined 58% in the past year compared with the industrys decrease of 2.9%.

Synergry has been observed in pre-clinical KRAS mutant models for combination of FAK and MEK inhibitors. Based on this observation the company has gained rights to CH5126766 for developing it in combination with its FAK inhibitor, defactinib. Currently, CH5126766 in combination with defactinib is being evaluated in a phase I/II study in patients with KRAS mutant advanced solid tumors, including low grade serous ovarian cancer (LGSOC), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and colorectal cancer.

The company plans to present clinical data from a study on defactinib plus CH5126766 and discuss development plans and registration path for this regimen with regulatory authorities in the first half of 2020.

Verastem is also developing defactinib as monotherapy or in combination regimens for ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, mesothelioma, NSCLC and other solid tumors. The candidate is being evaluated in combination with Merck's MRK PD-1 inhibitor Keytruda and Eli Lillys LLY chemotherapy, Gemzar, for treating patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

Meanwhile, Versatem continues to develop its leukemia drug, Copiktra, into additional indications including non-Hodgkin lymphoma, lung cancer, peripheral T-cell lymphoma, and others. In 2016, Verastem had in-licensed Copiktra from Infinity Pharmaceuticals INFI. The drug received FDA approval in 2018 for treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma after at least two prior therapies and follicular lymphoma after at least two prior systemic therapies. The drug generated $8.7 million in sales in the first nine months of 2019.

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A shopper crosses Oxford Street, a busy shopping street in London. Photo: Hollie Adams/Getty Images

Overall UK retail sales declined compared with the previous year for the first time ever in 2019, making it the worst year on record for the retail sector, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Total sales fell by 0.1% last year compared with growth of 1.2% in 2018, the BRC said, blaming Brexit and political uncertainty for a huge drop-off in consumer confidence.

The figures reflect a tough year for retailers  tens of thousands of employees in the sector lost their jobs, while behemoths like Sir Philip Greens Arcadia Group underwent restructuring and closed stores across the country.

2019 was the worst year on record and the first year to show an overall decline in retail sales, said Helen Dickinson, the CEO of the BRC.

Twice the UK faced the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, as well as political instability that concluded in a December general election  further weakening demand for the festive period.

Sales increased by 1.9% in December, compared with 0% growth in the same month in 2018, largely because Black Friday, which fell in late November, was included in that months data.

Looking at growth in November and December, total sales declined by 0.9%, the BRC said.

Dickinson noted that Black Friday had now overtaken the Christmas period as the biggest shopping week of the year, and that consumers became both more cautious and more conscientious as they went about their Christmas shopping.

She said that the confidence in the UKs trade negotiations with the EU would have a big impact on consumer spending in 2020, noting that retailers face many ongoing challenges.

Dickinson said it was essential that the government makes good on its promise to reform the business rates system.

Retailers currently pay 25% of all business rates, despite accounting for only 5% of the UK economy.
By PTI

WASHINGTON: Vice President Mike Pence has claimed that the US has received some "encouraging intelligence" that Iran has asked its militia to not move against American targets or civilians after the assassination of a top commander of its powerful Revolutionary Guards.

Pence's remarks came after US President Donald Trump said in an address on Wednesday that no Americans were harmed in the attack by Iran on US bases in Iraq.

Iran launched 22 ballistic missiles in a pre-dawn attack on Wednesday targeting at least two bases where US military and coalition forces are stationed in Iraq, which Tehran said was a "slap in the face" of America.

ALSO READ | Qassem Soleimani: A general who became Iran's icon by targeting US

"We are receiving some encouraging intelligence that Iran is sending messages to those very same militias not to move against American targets or civilians.

And we hope that that message continues to echo," Pence told CBS News in an interview on Wednesday night.

Pence stood alongside President Trump when the latter addressed the nation from the White House wherein, he did not announce any fresh military action in response to Iran's ballistic missiles hitting US military base in Iraq.

In his first interview, Pence said that the US is safer today after the killing of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards General Qasem Soleimani, which was ordered by Trump.

"I think the American people can rest easier tonight thanks to the leadership that President Donald Trump provided and the extraordinary and courageous professionalism that our military demonstrated over the last several weeks.

Despite missile attacks yesterday, again because of the professionalism, of our military personnel and their preparedness, there were no American casualties, no Iraqi casualties, and our information as of this afternoon continues to be that Iran is standing down," he said.

The Trump administration, he said, does not seek regime change in Iran, but wants to see the regime change its behaviour.

"We are dealing with a country that's been the leading state sponsor of terrorism for more than 20 years. And so we'll continue to be prepared.

We'll continue to confront Iran in the way that President Trump has done since early in this administration," he said in response to a question.

Pence said following the assassination of Soleimani on Friday in a US airstrike, the US has received intelligence over the previous several days that there may be attacks coming.

According to the Iranian state TV, the missile attacks by Iran on Wednesday were in revenge for the killing of General Soleimani.

The Iranian state television claimed that "at least 80 terrorist US soldiers" were killed in the strikes.

Some 5,000 US soldiers are in Iraq as part of the international coalition against the IS terror group.

"We heard the threats. The world heard the threats from Iran. We moved forces. We provided a level of force protection at the president's direction.

And in a very real sense, we had the early warning systems that allowed us to move Americans and our allies out of harm's way," he said.

"Let me say that the fact that no American lives were lost was a great relief I know to the president, to myself, to our entire national security team, as it is to every American," he asserted.

The United States, he said, is safer today than before Trump ordered the military to take out Soleimani.

"This was a man who had been leading a terrorist state-sponsored organisation in the region sowing violence.

But what President Trump, our commander in chief, demonstrated was we have a president who's also willing to use American military might to protect American lives," he said.
A speeding driver who hit an international student on her way home from university, failed to stop and spent days in hiding, has pleaded guilty to causing her death.

Nisali Perera was walking home from Monash University's Clayton campus on August 29 last year when Shane Cochrane sped through a pedestrian crossing and hit the 20-year-old.

Nisali Perera was killed in a hit-run in Clayton.

The force of the impact threw her 60 metres.

Ms Perera, a Sri Lankan business student, died instantly. She was her parents' only child.
Montana high school graduation rates continued to rise in 2019, hitting a new high.

The four-year rate ticked up to 86.6%, a .2% increase from the previous school year. That continues an upward trend that started when the state began tracking graduation statistics in 2011.

The Montana Office of Public Instruction released the figures Thursday, lauding the uptick.

I am proud that our states trend data is showing that more and more students are invested in their high school education, Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen said in a press release. The OPI will continue supporting families and schools in creating learning environments that are relevant to the future success of each individual student. That is how we will keep students engaged and close achievement gaps.

However, achievement gaps actually widened for the state's largest minority. Rates for American Indian students nudged down to 66.7%, a .8% decrease from the previous two years. It's still an improvement compared to 2016's rate, but underscores how stubborn Montana's achievement gap has been.

Hispanic students saw a notable increase, from 79.4% in 2018 to 83.1% in 2019.

Achievement gaps have come under increasing scrutiny under Montana's plan to comply with the Every Student Succeeds Act, the federal education law that replaced No Child Left Behind.

The plan  driven by federal expectations  calls for a steep rate of improvement among groups of students who traditionally perform worse in measures like graduation rate and standardized test scores. The idea is that achievement gaps will narrow and eventually close, but so far that hasn't panned out, as some educators predicted.

For example, from 2016's baseline of a 65.6% graduation rate, American Indian students were expected to improve about 1.8% each year. 2019's goal was 71.2%.

Completion rates, which measure high school diplomas regardless of time span, painted a better picture. American Indian completion rates hit a new high of 70.2%. The state's overall completion rate dipped but barely, down .03% to 87.38%.

Graduation rates at the schools with the lowest test scores in the state also improved from an average of 61.8% in 2018 to 63.6% in 2019. ESSA requires that schools identified in the lowest-performing 5% receive additional training and resources from state officials.

But that bump also illustrates how data in small schools tends to bounce around, and that gains can be difficult to sustain. The graduation rate for the low-performing school group hit 63.4% in 2015 before failing to improve on that figure for three years.

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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said there is never a good time for an election (Brian Lawless/PA)

The Taoiseach and the leader of Fianna Fail both had a constructive meeting on Thursday night and have agreed to meet again next week.

Leo Varadkar met Micheal Martin on Thursday amid continuing speculation over when the upcoming election will be held.

A short statement was issued following the meeting which lasted for around an hour.

The statement read: They discussed Dail numbers and possible legislative proposals which could be passed in a further Dail session. They agreed to consider matters further and to meet again next week.

Mr Varadkar has not guaranteed the Dail will return next Wednesday amid speculation a snap general election could be called before that.

Earlier on Thursday, at a post cabinet briefing in Marino in Dublin on Thursday, Mr Varadkar suggested his Government can continue over the coming weeks if Fianna Fail continues with their confidence and supply arrangement of abstaining in key Dail votes but admitted the numbers are precarious.

Expand Close Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin (Brian Lawless/PA) / Facebook

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The Cabinet is due to meet on Tuesday, the Dail will be reconvened on Wednesday  that is the position until such a time as that may change.

Mr Varadkar was asked repeatedly if the date of a general election would be decided at tonights meeting.

Well have to see how the meeting goes tonight then Ill be having discussions with my own party, with independents who support the Government, and of course the other parties too.

Mr Varadkar said there is never a good time for an election, and that politicians can wait for sweet spots that never actually arise.

The outcome of tonights meeting between Mr Martin and Mr Varadkar could determine the timing of the general election.

Earlier on Thursday, Independent TD Michael Collins said he is seeking to table a motion of no-confidence in Health Minister Simon Harris.

Mr Harris responded by saying it will be the Taoiseach and not an Independent TD who would decide the timing of the next election.

Fianna Fail has been in a confidence and supply arrangement with Fine Gael since they failed to secure a majority in the last general election in 2016.

The confidence and supply agreement was extended in December 2018 amid Brexit uncertainty and to prevent a general election being held before 2020.

With the decisive election in the UK which saw a Conservative Government returned, there has been pressure on Fine Gael to call a general election if the revised Brexit deal passes the UK parliament.

Mr Varadkar has previously said his preferred date for holding the next general election is May 2020, but an ongoing housing crisis and a record number of people on hospital trolleys has seen the Government come under sustained pressure.

In December, Fine Gael Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy narrowly survived a motion of no confidence with the support of some independent TDs.

With a motion of no-confidence in the Health Minister Simon Harris set to be tabled by a number of Independent TDs if the Dail returns next week, the motion highlights how precarious support for the Government is.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday held telephonic conversations with US Secretary of Defence Mark T Esper and his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono with a focus on evolving security situation in the Gulf region following killing of a top Iranian commander last week.

Officials said Singh conveyed to Esper India's stakes and interests in the Gulf region and how concerned New Delhi is over the escalating tension there.

"We expressed firm resolve to strengthen the bilateral defence cooperation. He (Esper) also briefed me about the recent developments in the Gulf Region. I shared India's concerns and interests in the region," Singh tweeted.

The tension escalated rapidly in the Gulf region after Maj Gen Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite al-Quds force, was killed in a US drone attack.

On Wednesday, Iran launched over a dozen ballistic missiles targeting at least two bases where US military and coalition forces' are stationed in Iraq. Tehran said it was a "slap in the face" of America.

Soleimani's killing was the most dramatic escalation yet in spiralling tensions between Iran and the US.

India on Thursday said it would like the situation to de-escalate as soon as possible and was in touch with important players in the Gulf region.

In their telephonic conversation, Singh and Kono also exchanged views on regional security scenario.

"The two defence ministers had discussions on enhancing the bilateral security cooperation under the framework of the India-Japan special strategic and global partnership," the defence ministry said.

Officials said the two ministers also exchanged views on fast evolving security scenario in the Gulf region.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Several hundred people protested in front of the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi on Wednesday to oppose the amended Citizen Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR). Men, women and children sat in front of the mosque with candles and posters.

The candle march started from Lal Kuan, moved through Chawri Bazaar and concluded at Gate No 1 of the Jama Masjid. The crowd sat on the stairs of the mosque shouting slogans. The symbolic protest ended with singing of the national anthem.

Historical Jama Masjid, a little while ago. #CAA_NRC_Protestspic.twitter.com/j710Hbkgzk - Ovais Sultan Khan (@OvaisSultanKhan) January 8, 2020

Jama masjid Delhi today Photo by @shahjahanabadipic.twitter.com/cmEDXJFUpu - Rana Safvi   (@iamrana) January 8, 2020

Residents from all parts of Old Delhi were part of the protest. They also expressed their support with the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the Jamia Millia Islamia.

"Where will our brothers and sisters from Sikh, Muslim, Hindu and other communities go if they fail to submit their documents?" Zeena Junaid a resident of Lal Kuan told PTI while talking about the proposed nationwide NRC. She added that they have their documents with them, but wondered what will happen to those who do not have the required credentials.

Also Read: CAA Protests: Car torched near Delhi Gate; police uses force to disperse protestors

Seeda, also a resident of Lal Kuan, said why there had been no action against any culprit involved in assaulting students on JNU campus. Seeda alleged that the present government was not only attacking students, but were also creating communal disharmony in the country.

The protesters said they would not be sharing any details with the officials who would visit to verify their documents regarding the amended CAA. "Boycott CAA" and "Can't protect students in your own country and want to protect minorities of other countries" were among some of the posters held by the protesters. They also held banners mentioning the Preamble.

The protesters also questioned why no arrests had been made yet in connection with the mob attack at JNU. "There is an atmosphere of fear in the country under this government. No one can speak or share their views on the decisions taken by the government. We are not safe in our own country," said a student.

Also Read: CAA & NRC II: Here are the myths and facts about all-India National Register of Citizens

Iram, an MA student of Jamia said she fears going to campus after her university students were attacked by the police last month. "I was not part of the protest when police barged in my campus but following the incident, I also joined the peaceful protest which was organised post the violence that unfolded in our university," she told the news agency.

A student of Delhi University also said, "Instead of providing us employment opportunities and a safe campus to pursue our dreams, government is sending their goons and assaulting students. Are they shaping our future or destroying it?"
There has been an increase in the number of children reporting never having had an alcoholic drink or smoking, a new study shows.

Minister for Health Simon Harris TD and Minister for Health Promotion, Catherine Byrne TD will launch the Health Behaviours in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2018 Study on Thursday.

This is an international study and the Irish part, commissioned by Department of Health and carried out by the Health Promotion Research Centre at NUI Galway, shows trends in health behaviours in children, as well as highlighting some areas of concern.

The study shows 64% of children reporting that they have never had an alcoholic drink, an increase of 6% since 2014.

I am struck by the finding that by far the most common source of alcohol for children is within their family homeMinister for Health Simon Harris

Of those children who reported ever having had alcohol, 54% received alcohol from a parent, guardian, sibling or reported taking alcohol from the family home, with a further 30% sourcing it from friends.

The study also shows that 11% of children aged 10  17 years old have tried smoking, a 5% drop from 16% in 2014, and 22% report trying e-cigarettes.

Mr Harris said: The health and wellbeing of our children is a key indicator of the health of the nation, and I am pleased to see many positive trends. In particular, the good news around smoking and alcohol use by children which both continue to decline.

However, the numbers of teenagers trying e-cigarettes and vaping products is a cause for concern and will be addressed by measures I will introduce in 2020, including new legislation to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to children under the age of 18.

Given the damaging effect that alcohol can have on the growing brain, the reduction in children trying alcohol and children reporting having been drunk is welcome. However, I am struck by the finding that by far the most common source of alcohol for children is within their family home. This is an issue that all of us, as parents and adults in the lives of young people, need to reflect on. We need to change our culture around alcohol in Ireland, if we are to reduce the corrosive effects alcohol has on so many young lives.

The study also contains information on physical activity and the consumption of sugary sweets and drinks.

While 52% of children report exercising four or more times per week, 9% of 10 to 17-year-olds report being physically inactive.

Expand Close While smoking rates are in decline, use of e-cigarettes is rising (Peter Byrne/PA) / Facebook

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Both figures are static since 2014 and are broadly in line with the findings of other studies.

Consumption of sweets and soft drinks is down significantly; 21% of children report eating sweets once or more per day, while 7% report consumption of soft drinks. These figures are down from 27% and 13% respectively in 2014.

Minister Catherine Byrne said the drop in the number of children eating sweets and drinking soft drinks is welcome.

This shows that the good work being done by many groups, including schools, in promoting healthy eating habits is having an impact. I also welcome the small drop in numbers of children reporting they go to bed or school hungry, but this is a figure that we need to see at zero. The number of children taking part in sufficient levels of physical activity is another cause for concern and still far too low.

There is a 4% drop in life satisfaction and happiness to 43% from 47% in 2014.

Girls are significantly less likely to report being happy than boys.

Ms Byrne describes the finding of a slight drop in overall feeling of happiness and life satisfaction among young people as concerning.

I am struck by the fact that more bullying takes place in real life than online. This underscores for me the very important role that adults in schools and our communities play in promoting healthy and respectful environments for young people, and in supporting participation in activities that protect mental wellbeing such as sport, arts and culture.

The HBSC study in Ireland is funded by the Department of Health.

The survey of 15,500 children from 255 primary and post-primary schools was carried out by the Health Promotion Research Centre, NUI Galway and led by Professor Saoirse Nic Gabhainn.
An Anglican priest and his wife have vowed to stand by their public school educated son after he was jailed for three years for bullying him.

Reverend Stephen Ridley and wife Judith's lives were made hell after their son Nicholas Hazell moved back in with them after losing his job as a chef.

Hazell, 27, created a 'horrendous atmosphere' at the family home and flying into a petulant rage if he didn't get his own way.

Speaking outside the family's large detached property in the village of South Church, near Bishop Auckland after Hazell was jailed for three years, Reverend Ridley said: 'His behaviour was frightening and uncontrollable.

Nicholas Hazell (left), 27, was jailed for three years after bullying his mother and stepfather, who is a priest in County Durham. Reverend Ridley (right) says he is devastated by the case

Hazell, of County Durham, went back to live with Judith Ridley, 56, and Reverend Ridley, 62, (pictured) after he lost his job as a chef and took out his troubles and frustrations on them

Reverend Ridley spoke about the case and how their son was a talented rugby player who lost his way and smoked cannabis outside the family home (pictured) near Bishop Auckland

'We were both frightened of him that is certainly true, but despite everything that happened his mother's feelings for him never changed.

'Nicholas was diagnosed with ADHD at a very young age, which made his life difficult.

'However he had an outlet for a lot of his anger and energy in that he was a tremendously gifted rugby player.

'He had plans to join the army but he injured his knee playing rugby and he failed the fitness requirements.

'Unfortunately he turned to cannabis, he began using it heavily and became addicted to it, which made everything so much worse.

'When he lost his job in catering it sent him into a black pit of depression. We did everything we could to support him when he came home but gradually he couldn't control his addiction or his anger.

'He found it hard to blame himself for his situation, he blamed everyone else and a phrase he would use often was 'look what you have made me do,' which placed a great burden of guilt on his mother.

Reverend Ridley said Hazell (above) was diagnosed with ADHD 'at a very young age', but he had an 'outlet' for his anger and energy, and was a 'tremendously gifted rugby player'

'She still feels that and is struggling with it every day.

'In a typical middle class home we just didn't know how to deal with that type of controlling behaviour, we were at a loss to know what to do other than keep trying.'

He added: 'The problem with coercive control is that it goes right to the heart of a family's relationship, that relationship becomes unbalanced and almost pathological.

'The imbalance came because we had a very disturbed young man whose behaviour was out of control and we had a mother who loved him and wanted more than anything to help him.'

Durham Crown Court heard how Hazell, a former pupil at the 9,600-a-term Barnard Castle School, was a gifted rugby player but got a knee injury playing the sport which prevented him from joining the army.

As his life took a downward spiral, he would blame his parents for every setback he faced.

Hazell would be charming in between violent outbursts towards his parents.

On one occasion he threw his mother into a chair and repeatedly spat at her, while he held a screwdriver to his step-father's throat.

Former public schoolboy Hazell, pictured at a wedding with his uncle, made his parents' lives a misery - but they will still support him on his release from prison for bullying them

He put him in a headlock and poured a bottle of beer over him, telling him: 'I am a master of bullying.'

He exploded with fury when his mother refused to lend him 6,000 she couldn't afford to secure the tenancy of a pub - and fled police in a 15-minute car chase reaching 100mph when officers were called.

For a short time he was thrown out of the house, sleeping in his mother's car, but was allowed back after bombarding her with threatening messages.

While on remand in Durham Prison he was recorded asking his sister to persuade their mother, who did not assist the prosecution, to drop her complaints against him.

Despite early denials Hazell admitted controlling or coercive behaviour in a family relationship, dangerous driving and perverting the course of justice.

In sentencing him to 39 months in prison and given a 12-month driving ban, Judge Jonathan Carroll told him: 'You are still acting more consistently like a petulant, stroppy teenager than a responsible adult.

'You said yourself you were 'a master of bullying' and that seems to be eminently true.'

Durham Crown Court (pictured) heard that for a short time Hazell was thrown out of the home, but was allowed back after bombarding his mother with threatening messages

He was also issued with a restraining order that bans him from contacting his stepfather indefinitely.

The case is an unusual use of the law - introduced in 2018 - to protect women from controlling partners.

Reverend Ridley said he and his wife have been left 'devastated' by the court case - but insist they will be there to support Hazell upon his release from prison.

'What I found hard to deal with was that in the middle of all these outbursts, which were aggressive and sometimes violent, he was an incredibly charming and interesting guy,' he said.

'You could have a violent row and then within minutes you could be having a normal conversation. The cloud would pass and it would be sunny again so you would always hope it would get better and would never want to take the nuclear option.

'We will continue to support him through this. I don't know what will happen when he is released, where he will go, but we'll be there for him,' he added.
vb-san Team-BHP Support



Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: S'pore/Thrissur Posts: 6,448 Thanked: 9,026 Times

Once upon a time in California  San Francisco, Yosemite and the Pacific Coast Highway! "heard you are in the US, come and visit us". I said "yes, I was in Philadelphia, not anywhere near to the west coast" (he is in Cupertino). A bit more chit chat and I was back on my flight to Singapore; suddenly the December holiday destination came up clear  San Francisco!



Though I had been to the east coast (NYC, NJ, and Philadelphia) a few times, never been to the west coast of the US. Started with a few YouTube videos of SF, read thru a couple of travelogues on Team-bhp (this one A duration of two weeks / 15 days Need to drive on the Pacific Coast Highway (California Highway 1) A bit of snow experience for the little one!

With so little knowledge of the American landscape my initial and rather ambitious thought was  SFO -> LA -> Vegas -> Death Valley -> Yosemite Valley -> SFO. Self-vetoed the plan immediately as it looked like too much for 2 weeks; I wanted to focus on the experience rather than no. of places covered. And also read about the winter road closures, which could make it even longer. A week or so was spent on trimming down the plan, and the final plan came about, and this time it was quite relaxing even to look at: 14th Dec: Arrive at SFO

15th to 17th Dec: Explore SF

18th to 20th Dec: Yosemite Valley

21st to 25th Dec: Pacific Coast Highway drive  SF to LA (CA-1), with multiple stops.

26th to 27th Dec: LA

27th Dec afternoon: Drive to SF (I-5), with an overnight stop midway.

Shared the plan with a few, my cousin insisted on staying with him on the day of arrival and also suggested to join his family on a flight to Aspen for Christmas. A friend suggested to drop Yosemite and do Lake Tahoe, and another one suggested that the drive can be boring and tiring, so take a flight from SF to LA. My wife also was of that opinion, as she was a bit petrified of the fact that I will be driving for the first time in the US, also my first experience in driving on the right side of the road. She tried to persuade me to give up on the driving aspect, but gave up considering that it could possibly result in an immediate cancellation of holiday plans. In the end only the first suggestion was taken in  to stay with my cousin on the day of arrival; thought that will help the girls to relax and get over with the jet lag, if any.



All the hotel bookings and car rental were done via booking.com, except for the stay in SF. The member rates from IHG was better than the one in booking.com and I wanted a reasonably good hotel to start the holiday. All the bookings except for SF was done with free cancellation options so that I can re-work some of the schedules on-the-go if required. It came handy as I cancelled the booking in LA as one of our friend insisted on staying at their place, instead of hotel.



The final plan looked like this: 14th Dec: Arrive at SFO, stay at Cupertino

15th - 18th Dec: San Francisco

18th - 20th Dec: Yosemite Valley

20th - 21st Dec: Back in San Francisco

21st Dec: Day 1 of Pacific Coast drive, night at Monterey

22nd Dec: Day 2 of Pacific Coast drive, night at San Simeon

23rd - 24th Dec: Day 3 and 4 of Pacific Coast drive, 2 nights at Solvang

25th - 27th Dec: LA (Valencia / Santa Clarita)

28th Dec: Drive back to SF via I-5 or US-101, night flight back to Singapore

30th Dec: Back in Singapore

And we started  at Singapore Changi Airport, Cathay Pacific flight to SFO via HK

They say December is the holiday season, and we hardly did a holiday in December. For a change, started to look at the December options, almost finalized Europe, then moved on to look at a few options in SE Asia, Japan etc. It was already October, and around late October I did a work trip to Philadelphia. While on transit in Doha on the return trip from Philly to Singapore, I saw a message from my cousin . I said(he is in Cupertino). A bit more chit chat and I was back on my flight to Singapore; suddenly the December holiday destination came up clear Though I had been to the east coast (NYC, NJ, and Philadelphia) a few times, never been to the west coast of the US. Started with a few YouTube videos of SF, read thru a couple of travelogues on Team-bhp (this one - (My West Coast Roadtrip **EDIT: Finally completed!) from Noopster was very useful), and the plan started getting clear. Did the first-cut itinerary with the following parameters:With so little knowledge of the American landscape my initial and rather ambitious thought was . Self-vetoed the plan immediately as it looked like too much for 2 weeks; I wanted to focus on the experience rather than no. of places covered. And also read about the winter road closures, which could make it even longer. A week or so was spent on trimming down the plan, and the final plan came about, and this time it was quite relaxing even to look at:Shared the plan with a few, my cousin insisted on staying with him on the day of arrival and also suggested to join his family on a flight to Aspen for Christmas. A friend suggested to drop Yosemite and do Lake Tahoe, and another one suggested that the drive can be boring and tiring, so take a flight from SF to LA. My wife also was of that opinion, as she was a bit petrified of the fact that I will be driving for the first time in the US, also my first experience in driving on the right side of the road. She tried to persuade me to give up on the driving aspect, but gave up considering that it could possibly result in an immediate cancellation of holiday plans. In the end only the first suggestion was taken in  to stay with my cousin on the day of arrival; thought that will help the girls to relax and get over with the jet lag, if any.All the hotel bookings and car rental were done via booking.com, except for the stay in SF. The member rates from IHG was better than the one in booking.com and I wanted a reasonably good hotel to start the holiday. All the bookings except for SF was done with free cancellation options so that I can re-work some of the schedules on-the-go if required. It came handy as I cancelled the booking in LA as one of our friend insisted on staying at their place, instead of hotel.The final plan looked like this:And we started  at Singapore Changi Airport, Cathay Pacific flight to SFO via HK Last edited by vb-san : 4th January 2020 at 19:05 .
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.
Retaliation from Iran was expected and the launch of ballistic missiles targeting U.S. military bases in Iraq did not come as a surprise. The two targets were the Asad Air Base in western Iraq and the Erbil base in the Kurdish-governed north. These house a combination of Iraqi and U.S. forces and were already on high alert. It was in anticipation of retaliatory action from Tehran over the death of Qassem Suleimani who fell to a drone strike in Baghdad. The Pentagon confirmed the attack but did not make any mention of casualties.

Spokesman Jonathan Hoffman indicated there was no immediate response from the U.S.

military, nor any official statement from US President Donald Trump on exact damage and casualties. The spokesman assured that "we will take all necessary measures to protect and defend U.S. personnel, partners and allies in the region.

Los Angeles Times quotes an expert in Muslim politics who says that if there are no casualties, the United States might not respond and escalate the issue. The local state-run television showed the launch of two sets of missiles and described them as the beginning of harsh Iranian revenge for the death of Qassem Suleimani.

Pentagon acknowledges Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles targeting Iraqi military bases housing US troops.@ckubeNBC: This is a much more serious attack in that a missile versus a rocket does a lot more damage.https://t.co/uAemmAOLEl  MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 8, 2020

The U.S. has a good presence in the region

The Pentagon says there is an impressive strength of US troops in the region.

They are equipped with adequate military hardware to tackle any threat. The missiles launched by Iran might not have led to extensive damage because both the bases are vast and the projectiles might not have caused any appreciable damage. That is the thinking of James Carafano, a foreign policy expert.

NEW: The Federal Aviation Administration says U.S. airlines are banned from flying over Iran, Iraq, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman after Iran attack on U.S. bases in Iraq. https://t.co/ORgGKcWork  ABC News (@ABC) January 8, 2020

Los Angeles Times says this missile attack is probably a first for Iran as it attacked the US directly.

Discuss this news on Eunomia

Until now, Iranian-backed militias used to carry out such attacks and this would be a first for Iranian security forces. The reason was the killing of Suleimani, one of Irans most powerful military commanders, in a drone attack authorized by Donald Trump.

The sparring game begins

According to Sky News, Tehran says that its attack on US targets in Iraq was the "first step." It has warned that American troops will be at the receiving end and feel the heat.

The State TV quotes an official saying President Donald Trump should take a decision on the withdrawal of US troops  and not to leave them within our reach." The Revolutionary Guard aerospace division had launched the missiles.

The Guards have cautioned all American allies that they could be possible targets. The civil aviation authorities imposed a ban on US carriers from operating in the airspace of the region that covers Iraq, Iran, the Gulf of Oman and the waters between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Incidentally, American forces first used the Al Asad airbase in Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Subsequently, they remained there to wage a war against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
Trump Says Iran Appears To Be 'Standing Down' After Missile Strikes

By RFE/RL's Radio Farda January 08, 2020

U.S. President Donald Trump says Iran "appears to be standing down" after the country carried out a ballistic-missile attack on air bases housing U.S. forces in Iraq, while his defense chief gave a fuller description of the scale of the attack.

In an address to the nation on January 8, Trump said that "no American or Iraqi lives were lost" in the strikes, "no Americans were harmed," and that the bases suffered "only minimal damage."

Iran says the attack on the Ain al-Asad Air Base and the Harir Air Base was in retaliation for the killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Qasem Soleimani.

The Quds Force commander died in a U.S. air strike in Baghdad last week, triggering a major escalation in already deteriorating relations between Tehran and Washington.

World leaders condemned Iran's attack and urged an end to the escalating confrontation between Tehran and Washington.

The attack came hours after the 62-year-old Soleimani, who helped orchestrate Tehran's overseas clandestine and military operations, was buried in his hometown on January 7.

It was described as the most direct assault by Iran on the United States since the seizing of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.

U.S. Defense Chief Mark Esper said that Iran launched at least 16 short-range ballistic missiles from at least three locations.

He added that U.S. military remains "poised and ready" should further attacks occur and said that its forces have restored the necessary "level of deterrence" on Iran.

Just before midnight in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, two rockets fell inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, causing no casualties, the Iraqi military said. The U.S. and other embassies are based in the area, as well as the seat of Iraq's government.

Pro-Iranian factions in the country have vowed to avenge Soleimani's death.

Meanwhile, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the chamber would move forward with a resolution to "limit the president's military actions regarding Iran."

The resolution "will go to the Rules Committee this evening and will be brought to the floor tomorrow," Pelosi said in a statement, after concerns about the administration's strategy and decisions were not addressed in a briefing with lawmakers.

Trump has previously threatened military action against Iran if it were to target U.S. personnel and bases.

But in his January 8 address, the president said, "The fact that we have this great military and equipment...does not mean we have to use it."

"Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned," he added.

Washington would impose new financial and economic sanctions on Iran, Trump said, adding that they would remain until the country "changed its behavior."

Iran "must abandon its nuclear ambitions and end its support for terrorism," he said.

"The civilized world must send a clear and unified message to the Iranian regime: Your campaign of terror, murder, mayhem will not be tolerated any longer. It will not be allowed to go forward," he continued.

Trump also said the United States was "ready to embrace peace with all who seek it."

Iranian state television said Iran had fired 15 missiles at U.S. targets in Iraq early on January 8.

AP quoted two U.S. officials as saying 10 of the missiles hit the Ain al-Asad Air Base in Iraq's western province of Anbar and one targeted the Harir Air Base in Irbil in Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region.

Four failed, according to the officials.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the attack was "a slap in the face" delivered to the United States and called for an end to the U.S. presence in the Middle East.

And President Hassan Rohani said that Washington might have "cut off the arm" of Soleimani but America's "leg" in the region would be cut off in response.

The IRGC said the attack was "a total success by all accounts."

Iranian state television claimed, without offering evidence, that the strikes killed "at least 80 terrorist U.S soldiers" and also damaged helicopters, drones, and other equipment.

Iraq's military said there were "no victims among the Iraqi forces."

And a NATO official said that there were no casualties among the personnel on the alliance's training mission in Iraq.

In a statement, the country's presidency condemned the Iranian strikes, reiterating its rejection of breaches of Iraq's sovereignty.

President Barham Salih's office also said that Iraq "has previously declared its refusal to be a starting point for aggression against any country, and also refuses to be a source of threat to any of its neighbors."

Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi received a verbal message from Iran telling him a response to the U.S. killing of Soleimani was either imminent or under way, Mahdi's spokesman earlier said in a statement.

Tehran told Abdul-Mahdi it would only target locations where U.S. forces were present but did not specify the locations, his spokesman said.

The Iraqi prime minister simultaneously received a call from the United States while missiles were falling on the Ain al-Asad and Harir air bases, the spokesman said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called on Tehran to "refrain from further violence."

Later in the day, NATO said Stoltenberg had a phone call with Trump, who asked the secretary-general for the military alliance to "become more involved in the Middle East."

The two agreed that NATO "could contribute more to regional stability and the fight against international terrorism," a statement said.

Besides Iraq, NATO conducts training missions in Afghanistan. It is also a member of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State extremist group in Iraq and Syria.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has condemned Iran's "reckless and dangerous" missile attacks and called for "urgent de-escalation" by Tehran and Washington.

France said that "the priority is more than ever for a de-escalation," while Germany called on Iran to end a "spiral" of conflict.

EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell said, "It is in no one's interest to turn up the spiral of violence even further."

Following their meeting in Istanbul, the leaders of Russia and Turkey issued a joint statement saying that the "exchange of attacks and use of force by any party do not contribute to finding solutions to the complex problems in the Middle East."

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called on all parties to "act with restraint as well as common sense and to prioritize diplomacy."

Separately, Erdogan said Turkey did not want the region to be "a stage for proxy wars."

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is to visit Iraq on January 9 as part of diplomatic efforts to "alleviate the escalated tension" in the region, his ministry said.

In a Twitter post, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan also stressed the need to take immediate steps to de-escalate tensions and said he was sending his foreign minister to Iran, Saudi Arabia, and United States to meet with counterparts.

The UN mission in Iraq said the country "should not pay the price for external rivalries."

Meanwhile, the Syrian government expressed solidarity with Iran, saying Tehran had the right to defend itself "in the face of American threats and attacks."

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami told state television that should Washington retaliate, Iran would respond with "proportional" force.

"We used short-range missiles.... I hope this will be a memorable lesson for America," Hatami said.

"Iran's response [to any U.S. retaliation] will be proportional to what America will do," he said, adding that Trump "has turned the [U.S.] administration into a terrorist government."

Several major airlines, including Air France and Germany's Lufthansa, announced they were rerouting flights to avoid airspace over Iraq and Iran, while the Federal Aviation Administration banned U.S. carriers from the area.

Iran's military leaders and pro-Iranian factions in Iraq had vowed to avenge his death.

Professor Stephen David of Johns Hopkins University told Voice of America that while Iran's retaliation wasn't unexpected, it was surprising that Tehran chose to launch the attack from its own territory and use ballistic missiles -- a weapon substantially more powerful than a rocket.

"I think it was surprising that the attack was from Iran. It was not at all deniable," David said. "It was clear what the source of the attack was; the fact they use ballistic missiles also was a bit of a surprise, something of an escalation."

With reporting by AFP, AP, Reuters, and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-claims- responsibility-for-multiple-attacks -in-iraq-including-air-base -with-u-s-troops/30365437.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Taiwan prepares for regional elections

Global Times

By Deng Xiaoci and Chen Qingqing Source:Global Times Published: 2020/1/8 20:18:40

HK card to have 'little influence on election'

Taiwan residents will head to the polls for the 2020 Taiwan elections on Saturday amid accusations of the mainland meddling and the influence of Hong Kong's social unrest.

Facing increasing challenges in cross-Straits relations as "Taiwan independence" forces grow, Chinese mainland officials and analysts warned that reunification of the motherland is an inevitable trend regardless of who wins.

The number of eligible voters for Taiwan's upcoming "presidential" and "vice presidential" election is 19.31 million, an increase of 528,114 from the 2016 contest, news website Taiwan Today reported on Wednesday, citing data from the Central Election Commission. The number of registered voters in 2016 was 18,782,991.

Tsai Ing-wen and her running mate Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are running against Han Kuo-yu and Chang San-cheng of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party.

In her fight to retain her "presidency," Tsai, repeatedly referred to Hong Kong's social unrest as a cautionary tale for the island against the mainland, even creating a slogan: "Hong Kong today, Taiwan tomorrow."

In light of Tsai's handling of cross-Straits relations over the past few years, Chinese mainland analysts said the upcoming elections in Taiwan remain complicated and would be more worrisome if she wins.

The number of registered voters indicates that the running parties have fully mobilized their supporters and the election will be a face-off between party bases where Tsai could hold the advantage over other candidates, Jin Yi, a research fellow at the Institute of Taiwan Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The result remains hard to predict, as alleged fake polls and disinformation also weigh on candidates, analysts said.

To blame Beijing for meddling in the election was groundless as reunification is inevitable and the mainland will not see the election result as an important factor affecting this process.

Hong Kong card

Han, Tsai's opposing candidate from the 1992 Consensus-endorsing KMT, criticized his rival at a live TV debate on December 29 for using the blood of Hong Kong young people to favor her candidacy.

"Your vote is based on the bleeding body of the Hong Kong people, and you are exploiting their value," Han said, BBC reported.

In her new campaign video, Tsai also highlighted so-called challenges that Hong Kong's young generation are facing during months of protests, undermining the "one country, two systems" principle.

The video tells a one-sided story of Hong Kong unrest by focusing on so-called police brutality and is also part of the DPP's continuing efforts to incite anti-mainland sentiment, analysts said.

"Using the Hong Kong card has a very temporary influence, which also won't last long," Yang Lixian, a research fellow at the Beijing-based research center of cross-Straits relations, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Playing the Hong Kong card may not work out as expected, Yang said, as the Hong Kong situation is cooling and the US, too, has been shifting its attitude toward this matter.

Meanwhile, the experts noted how the West has been hyping Chinese mainland efforts to "infiltrate" Taiwan's regional election, highlighted by the remarks of Wang Liqiang, a self-claimed spy defector who the mainland authorities showed in late November was a convicted fraudster.

Wang told the Australian Intelligence Organization that the mainland offered 20 million yuan ($2.88 million) in support of Han's election bid.

In December the US Senate gave final passage to the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, a provision of which mandates a report on any Chinese mainland interference in Taiwan's elections and regulates that the US Director of National Intelligence is required to submit the report to Congress within 45 days of the January 11 Taiwan election.

Analysts also concluded that such developments could be gathered as evidence to illustrate that it was the US that has been trying to influence the regional election, rather than the Chinese mainland.

Future challenges

While some Western media emphasized that the mainland's next crisis will be in the upcoming regional election, mainland analysts and officials reiterated how to deal with cross-Straits relations depends on the mainland's development, and the vote won't disrupt the pace of the reunification process.

Liu Jieyi, director of the Beijing-based Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said in his 2020 new year's speech that if the two sides could take on a peaceful development path, Taiwan compatriots could fully enjoy the benefits.

Otherwise, confrontation and hostility across the Straits created by a tiny minority would harm the interests and benefits of Taiwan compatriots, he said.

The bright prospects for the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations require the joint efforts of compatriots on both sides, which requires the Taiwan compatriots' correct choice, the senior official said, while noting that the trend toward reunification of the motherland was irresistible.

Some expressed concerns that if Tsai wins the election, she could continue to promote anti-mainland sentiments and enact anti-mainland bills in exchange for US endorsement.

"The especially dangerous part is Tsai's likely increasing military reliance on the US, and that would challenge the bottom line of reunification, leading to military clashes and conflicts across the Taiwan Straits," said Jin.

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A mother and her boyfriend were found guilty Wednesday of forcing the womanas 8-year-old daughter into a cold bath on multiple occasions by binding her wrists and ankles.

The Fukuoka District Court sentenced the 30-year-old man, Jun Yahiro, to three years in prison, suspended for five years with probation, and the mother to two years in prison, suspended for four years with probation.

The motheras name is being withheld to prevent the girl from being identified. Prosecutors had sought three-year prison terms for both the 30-year-old mother and the boyfriend who lived with the two.

According to the ruling, Yahiro and the woman bound her daughteras wrists and ankles with plastic tape and forced her into a cold bath at their home in Chikushino, Fukuoka Prefecture, on Dec. 29, 2018, and Jan. 24, 2019.

a(Yahiro) caused great mental and physical pain to the child by leaving her in a cold bath for more than an hour during winter,a presiding Judge Tadayuki Okazaki said, also criticizing the mother for not protecting the child.

Yahiro was suspected of hitting the girl several times around midnight on Jan. 24, while the mother allegedly injured her daughter the same day, according to police. A teacher at the girlas elementary school found bruises on her body Jan. 25 and the school informed a local child welfare center, which took her into protective custody the same day and reported to police.
New Delhi: Customs officials at the Delhis Indira Gandhi International airport arrested two Indian passengers for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country gold worth 42 lakh. Officials said the gold was concealed inside a bear shaped audio speaker. The passengers were arrested Tuesday from Terminal 3 on their arrival from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

According to officers, the two men were intercepted following a tipoff. An officer, who did not wish to be named, said the two men were asked to cooperate for a detailed baggage checking and frisking.

When their luggage was passed through X-ray scanner, we spotted gold hidden in a handbag and some gold bars concealed in an audio speaker that they were carrying. The audio speaker was dismantled and we recovered seven gold bars worth 21.11 lakh. From the bag, we recovered seven gold bars worth 20.97 lakh, the officer said.

Jayant Sahay, additional commissioner, customs, said the two men were arrested and the recovered gold was seized. Sahay said one of the men also admitted to having smuggled in gold worth 10.5 lakh previously.
If Paul Ryan is worried about liberal gerrymandering following the 2020 census, he should support a nonpartisan process for drawing fair voting districts, such as Iowas good-government model. That way, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans can rig legislative and congressional maps to their favor.

Instead, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from Janesville is doubling down on gerrymandering that has helped his GOP. Hes joining the Republican State Leadership Committees fight to defend right lines.

Ryan will serve as a key adviser for the committees Right Lines 2020 initiative. Ryan will help raise millions of dollars to protect Republican legislative majorities ahead of the decennial redrawing of federal and state district maps, according to the RSLC. Seven states are being targeted, including Wisconsin.

After getting beat badly in 2010 and facing the consequences for nearly a decade, Ryan said, Democrats are not just focusing on federal elections, but are prioritizing state legislatures as well. They are doing so for one reason: redistricting. The threat this poses to the conservative principles that guide our country, and the policies that keep our families safe, healthy and working cannot be overstated. The RSLC is leading the fight to protect state and congressional districts from liberal gerrymandering, and I am proud to lend my full support to their mission of winning races up and down the ballot.

Ryan certainly knows a lot about gerrymandering.

The 1st Congressional District in southeastern Wisconsin, which he represented for 20 years, was surgically drawn by politicians to include his hometown of Janesville. That way, Ryan could represent a Republican-leaning district. At the same time, the neighboring 2nd Congressional District was drawn to include as many liberal communities as possible  not just Madison and Dane County, but also the Democratic stronghold of Beloit, for example.

The 1st and 2nd districts are now safe for incumbents Bryan Steil, R-Janesville, and Mark Pocan, D-Black Earth, respectively. In fact, despite Wisconsin being known as a swing state, none of Wisconsins eight congressional seats has been decided by less than double-digit margins over the last decade.

It doesnt have to be this way. Iowa assigns a nonpartisan state agency to draw fair voting districts after every major census to adjust for population changes. The agency makes districts as contiguous as possible. Congressional districts follow county lines, rather than snaking into odd shapes. The nonpartisan agency is forbidden from considering the impact of its maps on political parties and incumbents.

Thats the kind of neutral system Ryan should demand so voters of all political stripes can better hold their elected representatives accountable.

This editorial is reprinted with permission from the Wisconsin State Journal.

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DELPHI, Ind. (WLFI) - The community of Delphi has some new leadership taking over in 2020. The town has a new police chief, who says he is looking forward to leading the department.

"We are all fairly close, said Chief Brook McCain. That's the nice thing about working in a smaller department it's kind of like a family environment."

McCain has been with the Delphi Police Department since 1990. He took over as police chief Wednesday. Former Delphi Police Chief Steve Mullin resigned for a different position.

"He took a position with the Carroll County prosecutor's office, he's an investigator, added Chief McCain about Mullin. It's a new position for the prosecutor's office."

McCain says the Delphi police department is better at what they do thanks to former Chief Mullin.

"He brought a lot of skills to the department and he was one of those that shared those skills, said McCain. All of our guys are better investigators just being able to work under him the time he was here."

McCain says he is looking forward to the new role, especially when it comes to being more involved in the community. However, he says don't be surprised if you still see him patrolling the streets of Delphi.

"With seven officers when we are fully staffed, you have to be able to utilize everybody, added McCain. It won't be uncommon for me to go out and work accidents and write citations and things like that."

The Delphi police department is in need of another police officer. If you are interested in applying click here.
Former Republican lawmaker Rich Vial has resigned as deputy Oregon secretary of state, saying in his letter of resignation that he will continue to search for those places that my service might be most effective.

Vial, 65, who represented a district that straddles Washington, Clackamas and Yamhill counties for one term before losing to Democrat Courtney Neron in 2018, was tapped by newly appointed Secretary of State Bev Clarno in April 2019 to serve as her deputy. She said at the time that his legislative experience, extensive knowledge of state and local government, and bipartisan reputation for intelligence and integrity will allow him to immediately hit the ground running.

His resignation, submitted Monday and made public Thursday, is effective Friday.

There has been speculation that Vial will seek the Republican nomination to run for secretary of state this year. He told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Thursday that he has not decided to do so, nor has he ruled it out. He said he is also considering running for a different public office and also considering not running at all.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reported in November that, at the same time the public was paying his $172,000 salary, Vial was moonlighting as an attorney in private practice, representing clients with cases pending before a state agency he had the power to have audited. On at least two days, Vial represented private clients in legal matters  once in Hillsboro in May and again on the Oregon coast in June.

The Oregonian/OregonLive also reviewed his work calendars for his first six months on the job and reported that he frequently had an empty calendar on two days of the work week. The newsroom also obtained records showing Vials email activity and logs for his desk phone and work cell phone. Those showed numerous work days during which Vial recorded little or no email or phone activity on days his calendar was blank.

Last week, the Oregon Ethics Commission cleared Vial for representing legal clients during his paid work week. In November, a retired education professor filed an official complaint about that conduct based on The Oregonian/OregonLives reporting and Vials state time sheet for one week in which he did private legal work but logged five full work days.

Tasha Peterson, human resources director for the Secretary of States Office, wrote that highly paid employees such as Vial who are not eligible for overtime are not supposed to log the actual hours they work. Rather, the human resources system automatically generates a time sheet showing that overtime-exempt employees work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Such employees are only to notate days on which they log a full day of vacation, sick leave or other paid time off, Peterson wrote.

Based on that information and Vials attestation that he works more than 40 hours every week, including the weeks he represented private legal clients, the ethics commission voted Jan. 3 to dismiss the complaint. It did not seek any independent confirmation of the hours he actually worked.

Andrea Chiapella, legislative director for the Secretary of States Office, said Thursday that Clarno did not ask Vial to resign. Vial told Clarno he wanted to look at opportunities, without specifying more, Chiapella said.

Gov. Kate Brown appointed Clarno to the role after Dennis Richardson, elected to the office in 2016 as the first Republican statewide state office holder since 2002, died of cancer in February 2019. Brown selected Clarno after the 83-year-old Republican former lawmaker from Central Oregon agreed she would not seek election after serving in the appointed role.

Four Democrats have filed to run for the office this year, but so far, no Republican has. Candidates have until March to do so.

In his resignation letter, Vial said he was grateful for the opportunity to work on Clarno and her team and will miss doing so. He compared the role, with its steep learning curve, to being in graduate school.

Clarno said in a statement Thursday, Deputy Vial has so much to offer government. His thoughtfulness, leadership, and collaborative spirit make him an exemplary public servant, and I have greatly appreciated his advice and assistance."

Chris May contributed to this report.

-- Betsy Hammond; betsyhammond@oregonian.com; @OregonianPol
President Donald Trump speaks during a 'Evangelicals for Trump' campaign event held at the King Jesus International Ministry on January 03, 2020 in Miami, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Trump Unveils Plan to Speed Up Permits for Big Projects

President Donald Trump on Jan. 9 introduced a plan to expedite the permitting process for major infrastructure projects such as oil pipelines and bridges.

Once adopted, the proposed rule would mark the first modification in four decades on how the executive branch interprets the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Enacted in 1970, NEPA is a bedrock environmental regulation that requires the federal government to assess the impact of major projects on the environment.

The plan, prepared by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, would help the Trump administration push through large energy projects that have been tied up over concerns about their effect on the climate.

The move is part of Trumps broader effort to cut regulatory red tape to boost industry. The president frequently cites deregulation and tax cuts as the major drivers behind the surging U.S. economy.

Today we are taking another historic step to slash job-killing regulations and improve the quality of life for all of our citizens, Trump said at the White House on Jan. 9.

In the past, many of Americas most critical infrastructure projects have been tied up and bogged down by an outrageously slow and burdensome federal approval processand Ive been talking about it for a long timewhere it takes many years to get something built.

The proposed rule would limit the time for the completion of environmental impact statements to two years and to one year for the completion of environmental assessments. The proposed rule would also limit the length of the assessment reports, which often total more than 600 pages. Executive branch agencies would also be allowed to adopt another agencys determination to avoid duplicate effort and increase efficiency.

Environmental impact statements currently take nearly five years to complete, on average, according to the White House. The average for highways is seven years. Approvals for roads, bridges, airports, and railways have been significantly hindered under existing regulations, according to a statement from the White House.

The rule states that federal agencies wouldnt need to factor in the climate impact of a project, making it easier for major fossil fuel projects to sail through the approval process and avoid legal challenges.

Assessing a major projects impact on climate change isnt mandated by NEPA, but over the last few years, federal courts have ruled that the law requires the federal government to consider a projects carbon footprint in decisions related to leasing public lands for drilling or building pipelines.

The proposed change also would widen the categories of projects that can be excluded from NEPA altogether. If a type of project got a categorical exclusion from one agency in the past, for example, it would automatically be excluded from review by other agencies, according to the plan.

Trump, a commercial real estate developer before becoming president, frequently complained that the NEPA permitting process took too long.

In remarks announcing the new rule, Trump noted that it currently takes 10 years to get a permit to build a simple road. The president pointed to the 25-year delay in the construction of a bridge in North Carolina, the 15-year delay for improvements to a vital highway in Alaska, and the two-decade environmental review for the runway at the Seattle-Tacoma international airport.

Its big government at its absolute worst, Trump said.

Some of the countrys biggest industry groups, including the Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute, also have complained about lengthy permitting delays.

We are fully supportive of the presidents initiative when it comes to NEPA and permitting reform, Sean McGarvey, president of North Americas Building Trades Unions, said at the White House. This proposal does nothing to take away from the protections for our citizens, for our taxpayers, for our workers, or for our environment.

Jennifer Houston, president of the National Cattlemens Beef Association, said that cattlemen are subject to NEPA reviews on a regular basis for grazing permits, improving their rangeland, or applying for federal programs.

Although well-intentioned, it has become mired in a complex web of litigation and complexity and delay. These reforms are very exciting. They will streamline the process, reduce duplication, allow more local control, and let our cattlemen and our beef producers go back to go back to what they do the best, Houston said at the White House.

Environmental groups warned the plan will remove a powerful tool to protect local communities from the adverse impacts of a hastily designed and reviewed project.

Todays destructive actions by Trump, if not blocked by the courts or immediately reversed by the next president, will have reverberations for decades to come, said Rebecca Concepcion Apostol, U.S. program director at Oil Change International, an environmental group.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue said at an event on Jan. 9 that the presidents new action is not all about the environment.

Some of the changes that were provided in the recent actions by the president were so common sense, which just had to be done. And people are trying to make it all about the environment. It is not all about the environment. It is all about regulatory overburden, it is all about confusion, one regulation against the other, Donohue said. This was a good thing to do.

The plan will go through a public comment period before being finalized.

Epoch Times reporter Emel Akan and Reuters contributed to this report.
H ollywood stars have paid tribute to Buck Henry, the screenwriter who penned The Graduate among other films, after his death aged 89.

Henry died at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Health Centrer with his wife by his bedside, one of his relatives has confirmed.

In the wake of the sad news, stars including Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswalt and producer Judd Apatow have paid tribute to the filmmaker.

Writing on Twitter, actor and comedian Silverman shared a vintage snap of Henry alongside the simple message: "Oh man. RIP Bucky Henry."

Oswalt shared a quote from an interview Henry gave with David Letterman while Apatow shared a lengthier post on Instagram:

Posting a picture of himself and Henry at a SXSW panel, Apatow wrote: "Buck Henry was hilarious and brilliant and made us laugh more times than we even know.

"I was lucky enough to be on a panel with him at SXSW and he was so funny.

"He said 'I dont like to write with people because if they arent as funny as me I hate them and if they are funnier than me I hate them.

"One of the greats," he concluded.
[HILLSBOROUGH, NJ - January 2020] On Thursday, January 9, The American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) will release updated Feline Retrovirus Testing and Management Guidelines to the veterinary community, which will be published in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery. In publishing these Guidelines, the AAFP aims to provide the most current information about feline retrovirus infections to veterinary practitioners so they may optimize the care and management of their feline patients. In addition, the Client Brochure provides cat caregivers with information regarding transmission, testing, prevalence, and precautions. These Guidelines focus on feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infections, which are found in cats worldwide. The spread of these viruses can be minimized through education, testing, and vaccinations.

The updated Guidelines represent a consensus of current information compiled by an international panel of researchers and practitioners, and is an update of the AAFP's heavily referenced 2008 Retrovirus Testing and Management Guidelines.

"Education and early testing can greatly assist in the treatment and management of feline retrovirus infections. Routine veterinary care, when cats are well and when they are sick, can lead to better care and decrease the spread of infection. We are pleased to present these Guidelines to support both veterinary professionals and cat caregivers in the management of these illnesses. We further stress the partnership between veterinarians and cat owners in caring for infected cats because with regular healthcare and reduced stress, cats infected with retroviruses, especially FIV, may live many healthy years," said Heather O'Steen, CEO, AAFP.

"The 2020 Feline Retrovirus Testing and Management Guidelines contain much new information about feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus infections. The Guidelines were written by an international panel of experts and included not only retrovirus researchers, but veterinarians working in private practice and in shelters. We hope these Guidelines will be of practical use for all veterinarians. The panel is especially proud to have endorsement of the Guidelines by the International Society of Feline Medicine," said Retrovirus Guidelines Co-Chair Susan Little, DVM, DABVP (Feline).

Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DABVP (Shelter Medicine) added, "These guidelines address rapidly evolving knowledge about how testing results, clinical expression, and prognosis for FeLV may change over time relative to the cat's current immune response and resulting levels of virus in circulation, how quantitative testing may be used to better inform clinical decision-making, and an emerging trend in which screening for FeLV and FIV is increasingly shifting from animal shelters, where cats are adopted, to veterinary practices, where animals receive comprehensive care."

More About Retroviruses:

These Guidelines and Client Brochure represent current knowledge on the pathogenesis, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of retrovirus infections in cats. Infections with FeLV and FIV are associated with a variety of clinical signs and can impact quality of life and longevity. Although vaccines are available for FeLV in many countries and for FIV in some countries, identification of infected cats remains an important factor for preventing new infections. The retrovirus status of every cat at risk of infection should be known. Cats should be tested as soon as possible after they are acquired, following exposure to an infected cat or a cat of unknown infection status, prior to vaccination against FeLV or FIV, and whenever clinical illness occurs. It might not be possible to determine a cat's infection status based on testing at a single point in time; repeat testing using different methods could be required. Although FeLV and FIV infections can be associated with clinical disease, some infected cats, especially those infected with FIV, can live for many years with good quality of life. There is a paucity of data evaluating treatments for infected cats, especially antiretroviral and immunomodulatory drugs. Management of infected cats is focused on effective preventive health care strategies and prompt identification and treatment of illness, as well as limiting spread of infection.

Prevalence and the Spread of Retroviruses in Cats:

FIV: Feline immunodeficiency virus is more commonly found in male cats and cats that fight with other cats. It is found less often in kittens and neutered adult cats. The virus is spread primarily through saliva and is usually passed to other cats by bite wounds. In North America, about 3 to 5% of tested cats are found to be infected with FIV.

FeLV: Feline leukemia virus infection is more commonly spread from mother to kittens. The virus can also be spread between cats that live together or those that fight. It is mainly spread in saliva during grooming and when food and water bowls are shared. The virus is less often spread through urine, feces, or nasal discharge. In North America, 4% of tested cats are found to be infected with the virus.

Prevention:

There are no vaccines marketed in the United States or Canada that can protect cats from FIV infection.

Vaccines to protect cats from FeLV infection are available. The vaccine is recommended for all kittens, again one year later, and for cats that have ongoing risk of infection. Adult indoor-only cats living alone or with uninfected cats may not need to be vaccinated after the first two years. Veterinarians will help assess an individual cat's vaccination needs.

To access the Feline Retrovirus Guidelines, visit catvets.com/retroviruses. Cat caregivers can learn more about feline retroviruses at catfriendly.com/felv and catfriendly.com/fiv.

###

About the American Association of Feline Practitioners

The American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) supports its members in improving the health and welfare of cats through high standards of practice, continuing education, and evidence-based medicine. As a trusted leader in the veterinary community, the AAFP has a long-standing reputation and track record for facilitating high standards of practice and providing educational resources to veterinary teams, including guidelines for practice excellence and an annual conference. Over the years, the AAFP has encouraged veterinary professionals to continuously reevaluate preconceived notions of practice strategies in an effort to advance the quality of feline medicine. Launched in 2012, the Cat Friendly Practice (CFP) program (catvets.com/cfp/veterinary-professionals) was created to improve the treatment, handling, and overall healthcare provided to cats. Its purpose is to reduce the stress of the veterinary visit for cats, caregivers, and the veterinary team and provide veterinary practices with the tools and resources to elevate the standard of care provided to cats. With the belief that cat caregivers are instrumental to feline health and welfare, the AAFP launched catfriendly.com, a consumer-focused reliable educational resource powered by feline veterinarians branded Cat Friendly Homes. This educational resource is tailored to the needs of cat caregivers who want to provide the very best care for their cat and is accompanied by a monthly newsletter, The Cat Column, as well as educational content.

About the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery

The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery is the official journal of the AAFP and the ISFM and is published in partnership with SAGE. All AAFP and ISFM and guidelines are free to access and download from guidelines.jfms.com.
A university has been slammed for kicking out an international student who tried to kill herself after she was raped at a mental health clinic.

The 21-year-old student from China was expelled from The University of Auckland in New Zealand in December for failing to tell the university about the change in her mental health condition.

The young woman was pursuing a double degree when she was raped at an Auckland mental health unit in late October, New Zealand Herald reported.

She tried to take her life a month later.

Hundreds of people took to social media to slam the university for its 'lack of compassion'.

The 21-year-old student from China was expelled from The University of Auckland (pictured) in New Zealand in December

'Could've given her some time to get better and once she felt fit, return to her studies,' one Facebook user said.

'From my understanding, this girl's family have spent upward of $100,000 sending their daughter to your school.'

'Suicidal people rarely even tell their family how they are feeling before its too late but the university expect you to let them know? What a joke,' another said.

'What an utter lack of compassion and decency,' someone else commented.

Hundreds of people took to social media to slam the university for its 'lack of compassion'

A letter from the university's deputy vice-chancellor Adrienne Cleland was also posted online.

The letter claimed the student was expelled because she breached enrollment conditions.

'It is clear that there has been a change to the state of your mental health ... and you did not promptly inform the International Office as you were required to do under your Enrollment Conditions,' the letter read.

'The University has cancelled your Student Agreement for your breach of enrollment conditions, thereby terminating your enrollment.'

A letter from the university's deputy vice-chancellor Adrienne Cleland was also posted online

A university spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the student's enrollment was terminated following medical advice.

'It was based on explicit advice from her own medical team who advised that the student was at high risk if she continued to study in New Zealand,' the spokesperson said.

'Our assessment, following meetings and conversations with them and the student's family, was that exceptional circumstances meant we could not continue to meet our obligations to her.'

'hey also said the letter was part of the 'complex legal process'.

'The letter was delivered in the context of her mental health care, and formed a small part of a significant body of correspondence from the University that demonstrates the compassion that has been shown to the student during her time with us.'

For confidential support call Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14.
In an official letter to the US government, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer stated that its ongoing imprisonment of Chelsea Manning is a violation of international law fulfilling all the constitutive elements of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Manning has been jailed since May 16 for refusing to give perjured testimony to a Grand Jury against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and potentially other representatives of the media organisation.

Assange, meanwhile, is imprisoned in Britains maximum-security Belmarsh Prison in conditions of virtual solitary confinement. Melzer has condemned the nine-year persecution of Assange and found last year that it had led to him showing medically-verifiable symptoms of psychological torture. Assange faces extradition to the US and the prospect of life imprisonment, for having published, in 2010 and 2011, documents that Manning leaked exposing war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, global diplomatic conspiracies and human rights violations at the notorious Guantanamo Bay military prison.

Chelsea Manning

In his letter on Manning, sent in October and publicly released on December 30, Melzer noted that the courageous whistleblower had been the subject of an urgent appeal by his predecessor in 2010.

At the time, Manning, awaiting trial for having leaked the damning US army and diplomatic documents, was being held in brutal conditions of solitary confinement in a military prison. She was denied adequate medical treatment and attempted suicide twice. Manning was eventually convicted on espionage charges and sentenced to decades in prison.

Manning was only released in 2017 when Barack Obama, who had spearheaded her persecution, commuted her sentence in the dying days of his presidency.

Melzer noted that Manning has now been imprisoned since last May, after having been found in contempt of court for refusing to cooperate with the Grand Jury targeting WikiLeaks. In addition to the deprivation of her liberty, Manning is being fined $1,000 for every day that she is detained. The punitive financial penalties, which now run into hundreds of thousands of dollars, have forced the whistleblower to give up her apartment and have left her bankrupt.

Melzer wrote: I express serious concern at the reported use of coercive measures against Ms. Manning, particularly given the history of her previous conviction and ill-treatment in detention.

The UN official wrote that Manning was being held under draconian legislation, which enables judges to seek to coerce witnesses into testifying before a Grand Jury.

This, Melzer wrote, involves the intentional infliction of progressively severe mental and emotional suffering for the purposes of coercion and intimidation at the order of judicial authorities. Indeed, victims of prolonged coercive confinement have demonstrated post-traumatic symptoms and other severe and persistent mental and physical health consequences.

The UN official stated: Based on these elements I conclude that such deprivation of liberty does not constitute a circumscribed sanction for a specific offence, but an open-ended, progressively severe measure of coercion fulfilling all the constitutive elements of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

He rejected claims that such measures fall under the rubric of lawful sanctions, branding them as a violation of US obligations to uphold the prohibition of torture and unjust imprisonment under domestic and international law. Melzer demanded further information about Mannings imprisonment.

He warned that while Mannings detention was officially limited by the 18-month duration of a Grand Jury, she could continue to be detained based on the convocation of new Grand Juries. This is what took place in May, after the previous jury, under which Manning had been detained since late March, expired.

Melzer stated that if it was the case that she was being detained, purely for means of coercion, I recommend that Ms. Manning be released without further delay, and that any fines disproportionate to the gravity of any offence she may have committed be cancelled or reimbursed.

The US government did not reply.

In a statement responding to Melzers letter published on Sparrow Media last week, Manning declared: My long-standing objection to the immoral practice of throwing people in jail without charge or trial, for the sole purpose of forcing them to testify before a secret, government-run investigative panel, remains strong.

Nearly every other legal system in the world condemns coercive confinement, and long ago replaced secret grand juries with public hearings. I am thrilled to see the practice of coercive confinement called out for what it is: incompatible with international human rights standards. Regardless, even knowing I am very likely to stay in jail for an even longer time, Im never backing down.

Mannings attorney, Moira Meltzer-Cohen, similarly welcomed the UN officials intervention. She said, as previously noted, that Mannings detention cannot even be considered coercive because the courageous whistleblower has made clear that she will not collaborate with a Grand Jury under any circumstances. This renders her detention punitive, in violation of even the draconian statutes governing the operation of Grand Juries.

In a New Year message posted on Twitter, Manning pointed to the extraordinary character of the persecution she has endured, along with her determination to continue to resist. She noted that in the decade from 2010 to 2019, she had spent 77.76 percent of her time in detention, 11.05 percent of it in solitary confinement. The courageous whistleblower defiantly stated that she had spent 100.00% being true to myself no matter what and 0.00% backing down.

The brutal treatment of Manning is bound up with the intensity of the US governments campaign against Assange and WikiLeaks. The US state apparatus is determined to silence the media organisation and its founder, as the spearhead of a broader onslaught against left-wing, alternative and anti-war publications.

At the same time, Mannings courageous leaking and her refusal to capitulate to government demands are viewed as an affront and a political threat by the US ruling elite.

Late last year, in comments made during an interview in which he was hailing US troops accused of war crimes, US President Donald Trump denounced Manning for having done horrible things in 2010, and condemned Obama for ever having released her.

Amid preparations for new US wars, including against Iran, Russia and China, the imprisonment of Manning is aimed at chilling mass anti-war sentiment. It is intended to intimidate anyone within the military who is thinking about replicating Mannings actions and alerting the population to the criminal intrigues carried out behind closed-doors and supported by a pliant corporate media.

This underscores the fact that the defence of Manning, and Assange, is a crucial spearhead of the fight against imperialist war and the defence of democratic rights. Amid an explosion of militarism, and a turn by governments around the world to authoritarianism in response to an upsurge of the class struggle, it is crucial that workers everywhere demand the immediate and unconditional freedom of both courageous class-war prisoners.
If you own shares in EXFO Inc. (TSE:EXF) then it's worth thinking about how it contributes to the volatility of your portfolio, overall. In finance, Beta is a measure of volatility. Volatility is considered to be a measure of risk in modern finance theory. Investors may think of volatility as falling into two main categories. The first category is company specific volatility. This can be dealt with by limiting your exposure to any particular stock. The second type is the broader market volatility, which you cannot diversify away, since it arises from macroeconomic factors which directly affects all the stocks on the market.

Some stocks see their prices move in concert with the market. Others tend towards stronger, gentler or unrelated price movements. Beta can be a useful tool to understand how much a stock is influenced by market risk (volatility). However, Warren Buffett said 'volatility is far from synonymous with risk' in his 2014 letter to investors. So, while useful, beta is not the only metric to consider. To use beta as an investor, you must first understand that the overall market has a beta of one. A stock with a beta below one is either less volatile than the market, or more volatile but not corellated with the overall market. In comparison a stock with a beta of over one tends to be move in a similar direction to the market in the long term, but with greater changes in price.

View our latest analysis for EXFO

What does EXF's beta value mean to investors?

Zooming in on EXFO, we see it has a five year beta of 1.55. This is above 1, so historically its share price has been influenced by the broader volatility of the stock market. If the past is any guide, we would expect that EXFO shares will rise quicker than the markets in times of optimism, but fall faster in times of pessimism. Beta is worth considering, but it's also important to consider whether EXFO is growing earnings and revenue. You can take a look for yourself, below.

Story continues

TSX:EXF Income Statement, January 9th 2020

Could EXF's size cause it to be more volatile?

EXFO is a noticeably small company, with a market capitalisation of CA$319m. Most companies this size are not always actively traded. It has a relatively high beta, suggesting it is fairly actively traded for a company of its size. Because it takes less capital to move the share price of a small company like this, when a stock this size is actively traded it is quite often more sensitive to market volatility than similar large companies.

What this means for you:

Since EXFO tends to moves up when the market is going up, and down when it's going down, potential investors may wish to reflect on the overall market, when considering the stock. In order to fully understand whether EXF is a good investment for you, we also need to consider important company-specific fundamentals such as EXFOs financial health and performance track record. I highly recommend you dive deeper by considering the following:

Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for EXFs future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for EXFs outlook. Past Track Record: Has EXF been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of EXF's historicals for more clarity. Other Interesting Stocks: It's worth checking to see how EXF measures up against other companies on valuation. You could start with this free list of prospective options.

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.



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. Thank you for reading.
This article was first published on NerdWallet.com.

Car buyers who are willing to think outside the box can find rare and bargain-priced cars by doing a nationwide search and turning the buying process into an exciting road trip.

For example, Mark Holthoff located a rare 1979 Mercedes-Benz 280E in Santa Rosa, California. He flew there with his teenage daughter, and they drove the 400 miles back home to Los Angeles along the rugged Pacific Coast.

Not only did I bond with my daughter, but I bonded with the car, says Holthoff, editor at Klipnik.com, a community website for used-car enthusiasts.

Regional pricing differences

The cost of cars in different areas can vary sharply, says Julie Blackley, communications manager at iSeeCars, which aggregates used-car listings.

Case in point: iSeeCars data shows that a buyer in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, could save $4,000 on the price of a year-old Honda Accord in Miami and drive it back home. Used-car prices are low in Miami, Blackley says, and its a great vacation destination.

Buying a car sight-unseen can be tricky. And when you figure in airfare and hotels, it doesnt always save you money. A thousand dollars ships a car a long way, Holthoff observes.

But if you treat it as a car-cation, it can provide lasting memories and a car you love. Heres how to buy that diamond in the rough and get it home safely.

10 steps to a fly-and-drive vacation

Cast a wide net. Use car finder tools on Craigslist, car club sites and AutoTrader to search for rare, bargain or hard-to-find new cars with an unusual combination of options or a rare color. If youre searching for an older vehicle, target areas where ice and snow wont rust cars. Run a vehicle history report. Holthoff recommends buying a plan from a service like Carfax or AutoCheck that allows multiple vehicle history reports. The reports will help you quickly rule out cars that have problems such as damage from an accident or significant mechanical issues. Visit an online community. People who already own the model of car you want are the best source of information around potential problem areas. Many are willing to share their purchase prices as well. Google owner forum and the car make and model name. Check the price. Some sellers ask unreasonably high prices that would require too much negotiating to make the purchase worthwhile. Use pricing guides and look at ads for comparable vehicles to get an idea of the right price range to expect. Blackley says iSeeCars offers a free tool with a market report showing pricing in the area. Contact the seller. Youre not just looking for a good car, but also a good seller, Holthoff says. Find a seller who is informed, transparent and communicates well. Review all the specs with the seller and find out if they have the cars title in hand. (A loan adds a few extra steps to the process.) Have the car inspected. Using Yelp, locate a mechanic that specializes in the make of car youre buying. Ask if the seller would take the car to a mechanic to have it inspected at your expense. In Holthoffs experience, most sellers are willing to provide this extra service as long as you are a serious buyer. Use the mechanics inspection report to negotiate the right price. Remember that, if you plan to drive the car home, you will want to have any critical work  such as installing a new set of tires  completed before you leave. Book your flight. Arrange a convenient time to arrive so you can conclude the deal that day. Some sellers might even be willing to pick you up at the airport. Arrange financing and insurance. Your current insurance policy will temporarily cover your new car, but you should compare insurance rates in advance. If you need to finance your car, a preapproved car loan gives you flexibility at a dealership. If you are buying from a private party, youll need to agree ahead of time on a preferred way to pay. Get your paperwork in order. Visit the DMV website. Every state is different. You may need temporary license plates or a trip permit. On the drive home, have proof of insurance, a signed bill of sale and title applications handy in case youre pulled over. Re-inspect the car. Before you hand over the money, make sure the car lives up to the sellers description. If you find an undisclosed problem, Its far better to book that flight back for a few hundred dollars rather than end up with a car thats not what you really wanted, Holthoff says. But if youve done your due diligence up to now, there shouldnt be any surprises.

Thats it. The drive home is your vacation, and while you may want to explore, you dont want to tempt fate.

Stick to the beaten path and dont do a lot of hot-rodding, Holthoff advises.

That way, if something does go wrong with your new purchase, you can more easily get help. And keep a pen and pad at hand  by the time you get home, youll probably have a list of little squeaks and rattles to repair.

Philip Reed is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: preed@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @AutoReed.

The article Turn Your Next Car Purchase Into a Vacation originally appeared on NerdWallet.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as well as the Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur's joint absence from the Prime Minister's pre-Budget meeting with economists didn't go unnoticed as Congress MP Shashi Tharoor took to Twitter questioning why she didn't attend the meet.

In a departure from his eloquent tweets, Tharoor simply posted: "What's going on here? Finance Minister indisposed?"

Same question again: https://t.co/QhZQtBLRwv. Whats going on here? Finance Minister indisposed? Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) January 9, 2020

PM Narendra Modi was accompanied by Home Minister Amit Shah, Commerce and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, and MSME and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari in the meeting with economists held at Niti Aayog on Thursday. Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar and CEO Amitabh Kant, as well as PM-EAC Chairman Bibek Debroy were also in attendance.

PM @narendramodi chaired a productive interaction with economists and experts to discuss topics ranging across economy, social sector and startups in #NITIAayog today. pic.twitter.com/DoT6rf6NQ1 NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) January 9, 2020

Meanwhile, Congress joined Tharoor to take potshots at the government over Sitharaman's absence. The opposition party tweeted: "How many men does it take to do a woman's job? #FindingNirmala"

How many men does it take to do a woman's job? #FindingNirmala https://t.co/RbiFmFZVBW Congress (@INCIndia) January 9, 2020

Replying to a tweet by BJP's official handle, which invited suggestions for the upcoming Budget, Congress posted: "Here's a suggestion, next budget meeting, consider inviting the Finance Minister. #FindingNirmala"

Here's a suggestion, next budget meeting, consider inviting the Finance Minister. #FindingNirmala https://t.co/wKV35GTI04 Congress (@INCIndia) January 9, 2020

And Twitterati did what it does best - had a field day over the Finance Minister's absence in the meeting.

Looks like Home Minister is doing finance meeting, while Finance Minister is at home. https://t.co/DcAeYeRXre Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) January 9, 2020

#FindingNirmala



A simple example how intelligent the modi govt is means they conducted a meeting ahead of budget without finance minister! https://t.co/uWaAfR3J7i (@4yy6oCIVSFNGxv7) January 9, 2020

First invite the Finance Minister @nsitharaman and take her suggestions.

Modi and Shah insulted her by not inviting in the consultation meeting with "top economists"#FindingNirmala#SaveIndianEconomy https://t.co/48lf7qkuLM Syed Maqbool (@maqbool_sm) January 9, 2020

In a rebuttal, FM Sitharaman clarified that she has already met economists as part of her pre-Budget consultations. In her reply to Tharoor, FM Sitharaman's office tweeted that she "has already met industrialists, experts, and economists during the pre-budget consultations". "Also, she has been meeting and interacting with representatives and stakeholders from various industries for many months now," the tweet added.

Sir, the minister has already met economists on 20th Dec 2019, as a part of the pre-budget consultations. https://t.co/pYMoqBbv35 NSitharamanOffice (@nsitharamanoffc) January 9, 2020

Sir, the minister has already met industrialists, experts, and economists during the pre-budget consultations.

Also, she has been meeting and interacting with representatives and stakeholders from various industries for many months now. https://t.co/0jqzqlaCrT pic.twitter.com/00jYixrVc3 NSitharamanOffice (@nsitharamanoffc) January 9, 2020

The PM's meeting began at 11:15 am and went on till 11:45 am. Meanwhile, FM's interaction with party leaders began at 10.30 am and continued till 2 pm. She was interacting with national office-bearers, spokespersons, Morcha members, departments, publications and think-tanks of BJP at the party's headquarters in Delhi as part of her pre-Budget consultations.

Smt @nsitharaman interacts with the office-bearers, panelists, spokespersons, and members of the morchas and departments of @BJP4India in New Delhi, as a part of the pre-budget discussions. pic.twitter.com/9wkB8fOFFh NSitharamanOffice (@nsitharamanoffc) January 9, 2020

The agenda for PM's meeting included issues related to agriculture and infrastructure sectors as well as measures to boost economic growth.

This isn't the first time Tharoor was poking the finance minister. In an earlier tweet, Tharoor had also questioned the absence of Finance Minister from a meeting between the Prime Minister and business tycoons of the country on Wednesday.
Number of unemployed who committed suicide in 2018 exceeded the number of farmers who gave up their lives-a trend that has reversed in just the past 2 years. A total of 12,936 unemployed gave up their lives, representing 9.6% of total suicides, as compared to 10,349 in the farming sector which made for 7.7% of total suicides. National Crime Record Bureau's latest data revealed total suicides in the country had risen 3.6% in 2018 to 1,34,516 from 1,29,887 in 2017.

Suicides by the unemployed made up for 9.4% (12,241) of the total suicides in 2017, whereas the farming sector suicides accounted for 8.2% (10,655). In 2016, suicides in farming sector were 8.7% (11,379) of total 1,31,008. This was more than unemployed suicides, which made up 8.5% (11,173) of the total.

In 2015, unemployed accounted for 8.2% (10,912) of total suicides, while farming suicides were 9.4% (12,602) of 1,33,623 suicides committed. Back in 2014, as per the government records the unemployed accounted for 7.5% of the total suicides and the agrararian suicides were 4.3% of the total.

More than 82 per cent in the unemployed suicides category were male victims. Majority of suicides committed by unemployed persons took place in Kerala (1,585) followed by Tamil Nadu (1,579), Maharashtra (1,260), Karnataka (1,094) and Uttar Pradesh (902).

Of the total suicides in farming sector 5,763 were farmers/cultivators and 4,586 were agricultural labourers. Among the farmer/cultivator suicides, 5,457 were male and 306 were female in 2018. Among agricultural labourers, 4,071 were male and 515 female.

Maharashtra saw most deaths (34.7%) followed by Karnataka (23.2%), Telangana (8.8%), Andhra Pradesh (6.4%) and Madhya Pradesh (6.3%). West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Goa and Chandigarh reported "zero" agricultural related suicides. West Bengal and Odisha had also reported zero agricultural deaths in 2017.

The report also revealed the economic status of the victims. Over 66% of suicide victims had annual income of less than Rs 1 lakh. And, 29.1% (39,080 of 1,34,516 victims) of suicide victims belonged to annual income group of Rs 1 lakh and above to less than Rs 5 lakh.

Also Read: 10,349 farmers committed suicide in 2018: NCRB

Also Read: Budget 2020: PM Modi meets top economists at Niti Aayog to discuss growth revival

Also Read: World Bank cuts India's FY20 growth estimates to 5% from earlier 6%
Mexico proposed joint goals for science, space, tourism and sustainability for the region's nations at the meeting Wednesday of The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

Twenty-nine representatives of the 31-nation body met in Mexico City.

Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico's foreign minister, said he wants to keep the body on a track of cooperation, rather than the same old political debates that have dominated other regional meetings.

It has been some time since we met, Ebrard said. "It was very difficult to even meet, because of the political polarization.

We are not going to discuss the same political issues that are discussed in all the (regional) forums, because there are other platforms for that, for that there is the Organization of American States, the U.N.

Ebrard proposed a 14-point cooperation plan that includes joint purchasing arrangements from multinational corporations for articles like medications. The plan also includes cooperation on technology, space, science and disaster prevention.

Mexico is also proposing cooperation on ocean management, drug-resistant infections, anti-poverty efforts and anti-corruption standards.

In addition, the plan would promote joint contacts and agendas in international forums.

Debate in other regional forums have often focused on highly polarizing issues like the political and economic crisis in Venezuela, or the ouster of Bolivian President Evo Morales.


American President Donald Trump says the United States did not have to necessarily answer Irans attack on American bases in Iraq.

Speaking at the White House Wednesday, Trump said, No Americans were harmed in last night's attack by the Iranian regime All of our soldiers are safe and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases."

The president added, Our great American forces are prepared for anything. Iran appears to be standing down. Trump also said that the U.S. will place more economic sanctions on Iran.



Iran fired missiles at U.S. airbases

Trumps comment came after Iran fired 15 missiles at two airbases that house U.S. soldiers in Iraq. U.S. military officials said al-Asad and Erbil were targeted early on Wednesday.

The missile attacks were in answer to the U.S. killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani last week in Iraq.

Iranian government media said the attacks killed 80 American terrorists and damaged U.S. helicopters and military equipment. Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the attacks a slap on the face of the U.S. and said American troops should leave the area.

Irans foreign minister said the countrys attacks were in self-defense and that Iran did not seek to increase hostilities.

The Associated Press reported that Iran appeared to have warned about the strikes. Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said Iran told him that the missile attacks would start soon and would target only on U.S. positions. The militaries of Finland and Lithuania also said they received information about a coming attack and had time to move to shelters or leave the base.

Henry Rome is an Iran expert with Eurasia Group. He told the AP the attacks appeared designed to avoid human injury and any increase in hostilities.

For a president who wants to avoid a war in the Middle East during an election year, the Iranians have provided an off-ramp he will likely take, Rome said. Trump, who is facing reelection in November, has repeatedly said he wants to keep the U.S. from involving itself in endless war.



Tensions between U.S. and Iran

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have increased since Trumps 2018 decision to withdraw the U.S. from Irans nuclear deal with world powers.

Last year, Iran shot down a U.S. military drone, seized several oil tankers and interfered with international ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. also blamed Iran for a September missile attack on a large Saudi Arabian oil processing center.

Recently, a large group of protesters attacked the outer edge of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. The embassy attack followed U.S. airstrikes that killed 25 Kataeb Hezbollah fighters, an Iranian-supported militia which operates in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. said it acted to answer the killing of an American defense contractor in Iraq.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke to the Iranian cabinet after the strikes on American bases. He said, "if America commits a crime, no matter how much she threatens us, she must know that we will act decisively as we have already shown."

Im Ashley Thompson.

Hai Do adapted this story for Learning English based on reports from AP, Reuters and other sources. Caty Weaver was the editor.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

regime - n. a form of government

minimal - adj. very small in amount

sustain - v. to deal with or experience

stand down - phrasal verb, to leave a position

slap - v. to hit someone or something with an open hand

off-ramp - n. a short road that is used to slow down or leave

commit - v. to do something that is illegal or harmful
Sudan seizes assets of Bashir's former party: Sudan has seized the assets of ousted president Omar Hassan al-Bashir's now-dissolved party, a senior member of the country's ruling sovereign council said. The National Congress Party's assets were seized under a law that was passed in November. The law's implementation is widely seen as a test of how far Sudan's transitional authorities are willing or able to go to dismantle the system built up by Bashir, who was ousted in April after nearly three decades in power.
Underworld Don Ejaz Lakdawala was arrested from Bihar's Patna after inputs from his daughter, Sonia Lakdawala. The fugitive gangster was wanted in connection with several cases of extortion, attempt to kill and rioting, has been arrested by Mumbai Police, an official said on Thursday. Lakdawala was apprehended by Mumbai Crime Branch's anti-extortion cell team at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on Wednesday, the official said. In May 2004, he was arrested by the Canadian Police in Ottawa.

A few years back he was believed to be somewhere in North America, although he frequently changed his locations to South East Asia as well. A Red Corner notice had earlier been issued against him. Previously a Dawood gang member, Ejaz Lakdawala had aligned with Chhota Rajan after the group split, later went to form his own gang, he said. In 2012, he was also attacked by underworld don Chhota Rajan in Bangkok, however, he survived the attack.

Joint CP Crime, Santosh Rastogi in a press brief detailed the arrest of the underworld don saying, "His daughter was in our custody. She gave a lot of information for us. Our sources also told us about his arrival in Patna, he was arrested in Jattanpur police station limits." The Police said that Ejaz Lakdawala stayed in the US, Canada, Malaysia, and Nepal before being arrested.

READ| Mumbai Police reveals why detained Mumbai man celebrated Dawood Ibrahim's birthday

Dawood Ibrahim

Considered as a key figure in the Hawala network that operates in the Indian subcontinent, Dawood Ibrahim has been infamous for his alleged involvement in smuggling and gang wars. However, he gained notoriety when multiple blasts rocked Mumbai on March 12, 1993, killing 257 people and injuring more than 1400. Along with his close aides, he allegedly escaped to Pakistan around the same time. The prosecution accused him of being the mastermind of the blasts.

Despite the Indian governments persistent efforts, Pakistan has stonewalled any chance of trying to reach Ibrahim. In the meanwhile, he has been consistently linked to multiple terror organizations like the Lashkar-e-Toiba, which carried out several terror attacks in India over the years. One such prominent attack where Dawood Ibrahim has been accused of providing logistics is the 26/11 terror attack. However, the accusations against him go beyond terrorism and extend to his involvement in the international betting and match-fixing syndicate. This includes the 2000 match-fixing controversy and the 2013 Indian Premier League spot-fixing scandal.

READ| Chhota Rajan's aide, Amar Baburao Wagh arrested in Nalla Sopara

READ| Underworld Don Dawood Ibrahim maintains radio silence without using phone for 3 years
One in four women lose a baby during pregnancy or birth. [Photo: Getty]

A diabetes drug could offer hope to women suffering recurrent miscarriages, research suggests.

Scientists from the University of Warwick previously found a lack of stem cells in the womb lining may be behind thousands of lost pregnancies.

READ MORE: Ashley Graham is working to teach women how to embrace pregnancy

Stem cells - basic cells that can change into a more specialised cell - go on to create decidual cells, which support the placenta throughout pregnancy.

Gliptins, a new class of diabetes drug, have been shown to target an enzyme that recruits circulating stem cells to the uterus.

In the new study, the gliptin-treatment sitagliptin was given to women who had endured an average of five miscarriages each.

After taking the drug every day for three menstrual cycles, their stem cell count went up 68%, with the scientists claiming there were no further losses of normal pregnancies.

There are very few effective treatments for miscarriage and this is the first that aims at normalising the womb before pregnancy, study author Professor Jan Brosens said.

Although miscarriages can be caused by genetic errors in the embryo, an abnormal womb lining causes the loss of chromosomal normal pregnancies.

We hope this new treatment will prevent such losses and reduce both the physical and psychological burden of recurrent miscarriage.

READ MORE: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Gained 55lb During Her Pregnancy

One in four women lose a baby during pregnancy or birth, according to the UK charity Tommys - which funded the study.

A recurrent miscarriage is defined as the loss of two or more consecutive pregnancies.

Additional miscarriages then reduce a womans hopes of ever successfully carrying a child.

To uncover if gliptins could help, the scientists gave 38 women - aged 18-to-42 - either an oral course of sitagliptin or a placebo.

Biopsies of the womens wombs were taken at the start and end of the experiment to gauge stem cell numbers.

Results, published in the journal EBioMedicine, show those on sitagliptin experienced a 68% boost to their womb linings stem cell count.

Story continues

The number of stressed cells in their uterus lining also halved.

Insufficient stem cells in the womb lining can make decidual cells stressed and inflamed, which may trigger placental bleeding and miscarriage.

When it comes to drug safety, side effects were reportedly minimal.

READ MORE: Hilaria Baldwin shares hopeful update after second miscarriage

Although the study only looked at stem cells, the women were said to have gone on to have children.

We have improved the environment that an embryo develops in and in doing so we hope to improve the chances of a successful pregnancy, study author Professor Siobhan Quenby said.

Although this research was specifically designed to test whether we could increase the presence of stem cells in the womb, follow-up of participants found there were no further losses of normal pregnancies in those who took sitagliptin.

These are very early results and the treatment now needs to be further tested in a large-scale clinical trial.

Professor Andrew Shennan, from Kings College London, added: This is an exciting finding that suggests a drug may be able to improve the environment in the womb for some women with recurrent pregnancy losses.

The numbers are small and dont represent most women who have miscarriages - the participants studied were at very high risk for recurrent miscarriage.

It does need more women to be studied but looks promising.
The driver of a Porsche was killed late Wednesday on Treasure Island when they crashed into a parked car and then a tree, authorities said.

The driver, who was not immediately identified, first struck at least one parked car around 11:30 p.m. before continuing on 9th Street and crashing into the tree near Avenue H, according to San Francisco police. The person was ejected from their car and died at the scene.
It is tragic that Trump has tried so hard to demolish the Affordable Care Act, apparently because it is popularly known as Obamacare. It is heartbreaking that he has tried so hard to roll back the Obama administrations environmental regulations, though that may have more to do with Trumps bizarre denial of climate change. And I almost laughed out loud Wednesday when Trump, after so often scoffing at Obamas faith in multilateralism, called on NATO to become much more involved in the Middle East process.
"Although over the past 3 decades stereotactic radiosurgery has become a well-established non-invasive tool for treating a broad array of human pathologies, globally more than 2 million people who suffer from brain, head & neck cancer annually go untreated," said John R. Adler, MD, Stanford Professor of Neurosurgery and founder & CEO of ZAP Surgical Systems. "ZAP Surgical welcomes this group of world-class investors in our now common quest to transform the lives, and very often cure, millions of patients each year by means of the ZAP-X surgical robot."

"We are very excited to be a part of this highly promising, innovative, mission-driven medical device company at an early stage in its commercial development," said Dr. Fred Hu, Chairman and Founder of Primavera Capital Group. "Dr. Adler is a true visionary in this field, and his team's latest invention will provide cutting-edge technology to millions of patients around the world. It fits Primavera's mission of supporting entrepreneurs who combine both commercial success and social impact globally."

The ZAP-X platform is an integrated robotic software and hardware solution currently FDA-cleared to provide image-guided stereotactic radiosurgery for tumors, lesions and conditions in the brain, head and neck. ZAP-X incorporates a unique self-shielded design that typically eliminates the need for costly radiation bunkers. Combining this first-in-kind vault-free design with cobalt-free radiation delivery, the ZAP-X platform enables significant improvements to the delivery of cost-effective care with the goal of bringing world-class non-invasive radiosurgery to more providers, and subsequently, more patients.

About ZAP Surgical Systems, Inc.

ZAP Surgical Systems, Inc. designs and manufactures the ZAP-X radiosurgery platform. ZAP was founded in 2014 by John R. Adler, MD, Stanford Professor of Neurosurgery and founder & CEO of ZAP Surgical Systems. Dr. Adler is also the inventor of the CyberKnife and founder of Accuray, Inc. FDA-cleared in September 2017, ZAP-X incorporates a unique self-shielded design that typically eliminates the need for traditional radiation vaults, and thus enables simple point-of-care delivery in locations previously unfeasible or cost-prohibitive, including physician offices, ambulatory surgery centers, and satellite facilities. Learn more at www.ZAPsurgical.com.

Contact:

Gabriel Morris

Investor Relations

ZAP Surgical Systems, Inc.

Email: [email protected]

Mark Arnold

Senior Vice President, Marketing

ZAP Surgical Systems, Inc.

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE ZAP Surgical Systems

Related Links

https://zapsurgical.com/


- The feast of the Black Nazarene every January 9 is one of the most celebrated religious events in the country

- Many people participate in the annual Traslacion to show their unwavering devotion

- However, it is a fact that a lot of individuals are still not aware of the history of the wooden statue

- We decided to report some information about the statue and the theories about how it became dark

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The feast of the Black Nazarene is undoubtedly one of the most celebrated and sacred events in the Philippines every year.

Many people, especially the religious ones from across the globe, come in throngs to show their unwavering devotion every 9th of January.

KAMI decided to report some facts regarding the wooden statue of the Black Nazarene, which, for many believers, is so miraculous.

The statue is actually a depiction of Jesus Christ when He was carrying His heavy cross on the way to Calvary for His crucifixion.

It was carved in the 16th century by a Mexican sculptor whose name is still not known even up to this date.

PAY ATTENTION: Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news!

The head of the image has a braided wig made of abaca, a crown of thorns, and the "Tres Potencias" which symbolizes the Holy Trinity.

In 1606, the wooden statue was brought to the Philippines by a group of missionaries and it has become the most popular object of devotion for Filipinos since then.

There are serious discussions and several theories as to how the prominent statue of the Black Nazarene acquired its dark color.

It was said that the sacred image caught fire when it was being transported to Manila that was why its outer appearance became dark.

However, some experts say that the statue was carved from a very dark timber which, according to GMA News, was called Mesquite wood.

While it is true that a lot of Filipinos are still not aware of the history of the Black Nazarene, it cannot be denied that their devotion remains strong as years pass by.

Please like and share our Facebook posts to support KAMI team! Dont hesitate to comment and share your opinion about our stories either. We love reading about your thoughts!

Source: KAMI.com.gh
The new Brussels chief yesterday said the EU and UK will remain best of friends after Brexit  but warned it will be basically impossible to conclude a trade deal this year.

Ursula von der Leyen said the timeframe for talks was very, very tight, but stressed it would not be a case of all or nothing if there is no extension to Boris Johnsons December 2020 deadline.

Instead the European Commission President said the two sides could prioritise parts of a deal, which could be put into place with just sticking points left to hammer out separately afterwards.

Boris Johnson welcomed EU boss Ursula von der Leyen to Downing Street for talks yesterday afternoon

Mr Johnson was expected to tell Ms von der Leyen, the new president of the European Commission, that the end of 2020 must be treated as a hard deadline for striking a post-Brexit trade deal between the EU and UK

Mrs von der Leyen was greeted by the Prime Minister with a salute before talks in Downing Street.

She said negotiations would be tough and that the relationship between the EU and the UK would not be the same as before.

But striking an optimistic tone, the German politician said that when the Sun rises after Brexit on February 1 the UK will still be the best of friends and partners, adding: The bonds between us will still be unbreakable.

She added: None of this means it will be easy, but we start this negotiation from a position of certainty, goodwill, shared interests and purpose. And we should be optimistic.

Key dates in the run-up to Brexit Today: EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Michel Barnier are in Downing Street for talks with the PM. Tomorrow: EU Withdrawal Bill is due to clear its final Commons stages. Next week: The legislation moves to the House of Lords, where Remainer peers are expected to table a wave of amendments. January 22: Ministers expect the EU Withdrawl Bill to complete its progress by around this point, and receive Royal Assent. 11pm, January 31: The UK formally leaves the EU - although it will stay bound to the bloc's rules for at least another 11 months during the transition period. Advertisement

No 10 last night suggested it was considering pushing for sector-specific mini-deals to speed up negotiations. The Prime Ministers press secretary said: We want to get on in terms of negotiating a deal so maybe the approach of nothing is agreed until everything is agreed which characterised previous negotiations  thats not an approach we are interested in taking.

After Britain leaves the EU on January 31, there will be a transition period when the relationship will remain largely unchanged while the two sides negotiate a new trade agreement.

A Downing Street source said the PM had given absolute clarity about the UKs timetable and agenda for talks, with no extension of the transition period beyond the end of this year.

In his meeting with Mrs von der Leyen at No 10, Mr Johnson repeatedly referred to the Tory manifesto, which pledged to take back control of the UKs money, borders and laws.

But Ms von der Leyen had earlier today warned it would be 'impossible' to finish a complete agreement by the end of the year. She used a speech at the LSE in London to warn that 'without an extension of the transition period beyond 2020 you cannot expect to agree on every single aspect of our new partnership'

The euro-federalist once seen as a successor to Merkel Ursula von der Leyen is the daughter of Brussels-born Eurocrat Ernst Albrecht, a senior German politician who worked in the EU Commission in the 1950s. It meant she spent her early years in the Belgian capital and partly explains her fanatic eurofederalism. Ursula with her centre-right politician father Ernst Albrecht and mother Heidi-Adele Albrecht in 1978 A former German defence minister, who has replaced Jean-Claude Juncker as EU Commission president, Ms von der Leyen has previously called for a 'United States of Europe' with its own army. The mother-of-seven has a medical degree and studied at the London School of Economics as well as Stanford in the US. She spent 12 months in the 'seething, international, colourful city' of London to avoid the Baader-Meinhof Gang, a hard Left group that carried out a string of bomb attacks and assassinations, she revealed last year. While in Britain she called herself Rose Ladson - the name of her American great-grandmother - to avoid detection. The qualified gynaecologist only entered politics in her 40s, but regularly emerges in opinion polls as one of Germany's most popular politicians. Ms von der Leyen is a mother of seven children. She is pictured with her family in 2005 Advertisement

The source said: They havent sorted out their negotiating mandate yet, but we have got ours  it is the manifesto.

Aides were cautiously optimistic about Mrs von der Leyens approach, with the new EU chief apparently open to holding talks in London and Brussels.

The two leaders also reminisced about the European School in Brussels, where they both spent time as children.

Mr Johnson joked that he had introduced the very rough game British Bulldog to the playground.

Ahead of meeting Mr Johnson, the former German defence minister gave a speech at the London School of Economics where she spent a year in the 1970s, Mrs von der Leyen had fled her home country, where her father was a politician because of fears she could be targeted by Left-wing terrorists.

In her speech yesterday, the centre-Right politician said that she truly fell in love with this city and this country during her student days. She added: This country  strong-willed, open-minded and big-hearted. Proud and patriotic. Kind and generous in spirit. Full of traditions and contradictions.

Of course, certain things took longer for me to learn. The sense of humour, for example, or the subtle meanings hidden in every sentence. But this only deepened my fascination and my admiration for the UK which remains as strong today as it was back then.

Mrs von der Leyen joked that she had spent more time in Soho bars and Camden record stores than reading books in the university library. Speaking about Brexit, she warned that there would be limitations to a trade deal if the UK chose no longer stick to Brussels rules.

She added that while the EU is ready to sign up to an agreement based on zero tariffs, zero quotas... the truth is that our partnership cannot and will not be the same as before.

With every decision comes a trade-off. Without the free movement of people, you cannot have the free movement of capital, goods and services. Without a level playing field on environment, labour, taxation and state aid, you cannot have the highest quality access to the worlds largest single market.

No 10 last night said the Prime Minister and Mrs von der Leyen had a positive meeting. She replaced Jean-Claude Juncker as Commission President last month.

Ms von der Leyen was greeted by pro-EU campaigners as she left Europe House in central London today
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) signed onto a resolution introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) seeking to change the Senates rules to dismiss articles of impeachment if they arent transmitted within 25 days of their approval, which would be Jan. 12.

Hawleys office confirmed McConnells backing, saying the so-called Hawley rule has gained momentum since its introduction on Monday, and Leader McConnell joins 12 other cosponsors, including Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), David Perdue (R-Ga.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), and Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

At the same time, McConnell told Republican senators that he believes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will transmit articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump soon, setting up an impeachment trial that starts early next week, according to several Republican senators.

[McConnell] expects them at some point here very soon, said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Thursday, reported Politico. The sense is that even if they got here at this very moment right now, theres still a process involved to notify the White House and chief justice and turning it all around  Im not sure he has any specific knowledge, but the gut feeling is that it will come over there tomorrow and set up for a Monday start.

At lunch, we all heard that. And he says: Thats my best guess, said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) in the same report. Which means that wed get started next week.

Mitch said, we still expect  the articles to come over soon. And, you know, maybe plan not to go home next Thursday,' said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), referring to the upper chambers regular dismissal date.

And Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) also said he expects the trial will begin next week. Hats off to Mitch McConnell for playing this very well, Graham, who is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Sean Hannity. His committee will play a major role in the pending trial.

Their comments came after McConnell warned on the Senate floor that the Senate would move on if the House continues to hold the articles of impeachment.

Pelosi told reporters on Thursday that she will eventually send the two articles to the Senate but didnt say exactly when.

I know exactly when, but I wont be telling you right now, Pelosi remarked. You all keep asking me the same question, I keep giving you the same answer, she also said. As I said right from the start: We need to see the arena in which were sending our managers. Is that too much to ask?

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Thursday that Pelosi has done just the right thing, claiming the withholding of the articles has left McConnell frustrated.

If the Speaker had sent the articles of impeachment over to the Senate immediately after they passed, Senate Republicans could have moved to dismiss the articles. There was a lot of talk about that a while ago. There wouldnt have been a fair or even a cursory trial, and they might have even tried to dismiss the whole articles before Christmas, he said on the Senate floor.

The House voted along party lines to impeach President Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, alleging Trump abused his power by withholding military aid to Ukraine in exchange for investigations that would benefit him politically. Following the Dec. 18 vote, Pelosi indicated her caucus would delay releasing the two articles to the Senate and said she wouldnt send over House managers until Democrats see how the Republican-controlled Senate votes on how the trial will be conducted.

McConnell has previously told media outlets that he would like the pending trial to follow the precedent laid out during President Bill Clintons impeachment trial in 1999. Schumer, however, has said he wants to force votes to call up witnesses, including former White House adviser John Bolton and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, while urging four Republicans to break ranks and vote with Democrats on his proposition.

Republicans have a 53- to 47-member majority in the Senate. To vote on the rules, the Senate needs a simple majority, but to remove a president, a 67-vote supermajority is needed.

McConnells office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.

From The Epoch Times
The HSE faces a bill of millions of euro because it has failed to upgrade most of its computers in time to protect against cyberattacks.

The blunder means that it is set to hand Microsoft a blank cheque for unnecessary fees to supply emergency protection against hospitals being shut down by hackers.

Microsoft's obsolete Windows 7 operating system will be cut off from security support worldwide next week, a deadline that has been flagged for five years.

The health body has had repeated warnings about the deadline from IT security experts and Microsoft, but still operates 46,000 of its 58,000 PCs and laptops on the outdated system which now needs expensive emergency intervention.

A spokeswoman for the HSE confirmed that it has agreed the emergency cover with Microsoft but admitted that it does not yet know how much it will cost.

She claimed that Microsoft has not yet told the HSE what the bill will be.

Industry estimates put the cost at 50 per PC per year, doubling each year.

This could see the HSE stuck with a bill for 2.3m in 2020, rising again in 2021 if the outdated systems remain.

The HSE may be in a position to negotiate a discounted rate due to the number of computers it has that are still stuck on the outdated system.

"Microsoft's pricing fees for extended support have not yet been released so the HSE is not in a position to comment," said the spokeswoman.

Three years ago, the HSE failed to upgrade PCs from Windows XP, causing a temporary shutdown of HSE systems from the notorious WannaCry ransomware virus and causing patient appointments to be cancelled.

The same virus crippled UK hospitals, forcing some into paying over hundreds of thousands of pounds to criminal attackers who gained control over the computer systems.

Other State bodies are also stuck with Windows 7 computers.

The Department of Employment and Social Affairs has 11,000 PCs that are still using Windows 7, while the Department of Justice has 3,700.

Both departments host sensitive data on citizens.

Microsoft declined to say whether it was involved with providing support for the HSE or what its pricing structure is for its new premium support services targeted at those who have not upgraded from Windows 7.

The HSE has seen a number of chief information officers come and go over the last three years and has been plagued by a lack of action in solving IT problems.

In November, it confirmed that 46,000 of its 58,000 laptops and desktop PCs still run Windows 7.

The risk from ransomware viruses remains strong.

This week, the huge international foreign currency exchange firm Travelex admitted that it had fallen prey to a ransomware attack.

Hackers infected it with Sodinokibi ransomware, also referred to as REvil ransomware. Its online currency service is still unavailable.

Police in the UK are investigating the cyberattack.

In Ireland, one-in-five PCs still use Windows 7, according to figures from Statcounter.

The company has advised ordinary citizens to upgrade to Windows 10 or to buy a new PC which has Windows 10 pre-installed.
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A top US general said Wednesday that Iran had wanted to kill American military personnel in the missiles attack on Iraqi bases, pushing back against a view gaining ground that Tehran had staged the attack to address domestic outrage over the killing of General Qassem Soleimani and not to actually punish the United States for carrying it out.

I believe, based on what I saw and what I know, that (the more than a dozen) strikes were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft and to kill personnel, General Mark Milley, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff told reporters, adding, Thats my own personal assessment.

If Iran really wanted to kill US personnel, as suggested by General Milley, it would indicate there really was not much basis to President Donald Trumps assertion from the White House earlier in the day that Iran had wanted to stand down and not escalate hostilities.

Iran hit two Iraqi bases, at al-Assad and Irbil, that also housed American forces with 15 missiles in an attack that was intended to avenge the killing of General Soleimani in an American drone strike last Friday. But it is also supposed to have communicated to the United States through three separate channels that it had not no intention to escalate the situation.

Iran appears to be standing down which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world, Trump said in a televised address from the White House, basing his assessment, according to some reports, on these back-channel communications.

This assessment was bolstered by a tweet from Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif that signaled a desire to de-escalate in the immediate aftermath of the missile attack. Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter targeting base from which cowardly armed attack against our citizens & senior officials were launched, he wrote on twitter, adding, We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression.

The fact that there were no casualties in the Iranian attack on the US forces was advanced as proof of Tehrans desire to not escalate tensions. Trump pointed to the lack of casualties in his remarks that were seen as far more reconciliatory than was expected based on his bellicose warnings in recent days of very fast and very hard reprisals for Iranian retaliation to Soleimani killing.

The president said early warning systems had helped prevent casualties but there were also reports that suggested that Iran had provided advance warning of the attacks to the Iraqis who, in turn, had passed it on the US and coalition forces. There were also suggestions that Iran intentionally avoided hitting US forces because the attack was only intended to send a signal, as an expression of its outrage over the killing of Soleimani.

That assumption of Iranian desire to also de-escalate faced its first test just hours later as reports came of a rocket attack on Green Zone in Baghdad, the militarily secure area that houses the US embassy. It was attributed to an Iran-supported militia by experts who expressed doubts about Tehrans ability to enforce the de-escalation it appears to favor to end the confrontation.

General Milley, of course, threw into doubt the central premise of that thesis with his assertion that Iran had actually intended to kill US personnel and inflict damage on these bases, and not stage an attack to address local concerns.
The labor ministry ordered a halt to the sending of Vietnamese guest workers to the Middle East on Wednesday amid the growing U.S.-Iran imbroglio.

Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung instructed the Department of Overseas Labor Management to temporarily stop businesses from sending workers to the volatile region and suspend them if they fail to comply.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are becoming ever more complex, making it difficult to anticipate how things would pan out, Dung said at a government conference.

On Wednesday Iran fired 22 missiles at Iraqi bases used by the U.S. military, AFP reported. It comes days after the U.S. assassinated Iran's General Qasem Soleimani. The U.S. has claimed there were no casualties in the missile attack.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said overnight the strikes had "concluded" Tehrans response to the Soleimani killing, and influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said the crisis was over, Reuters reported.

"Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world," said U.S. President Donald Trump, adding that the U.S. does not need to respond militarily to Irans attack.

Dung said Vietnam's overseas labor department should stay updated and cooperate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take necessary measures to protect citizens in the area.

The foreign ministry has advised Vietnamese citizens to avoid visiting the Middle East amid the tensions.

The labor ministry is collating official information about Vietnamese workers in the Middle East.

The number of Vietnamese in the region has been fluctuating sharply in recent years, with businesses sending people to work abroad rarely updating data or reporting to official agencies, the overseas labor department said.

Most recent data from the ministry shows that there are 10,000 Vietnamese workers in the Middle East, mainly engaged in construction and domestic work.

Around 7,000 of them are in Saudi Arabia and 3,000 are in the UAE.
Firefighters deployed from New Zealand to help tackle Australia's bushfire crisis have landed in New South Wales to a round of applause at the airport.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced earlier this month the country had commissioned more firefighters to battle the devastating fires.

The New Zealand Prime Minister confirmed the move as clouds of smoke from the bushfires crossed the Tasman Sea and reached the South Island.

The additional New Zealand firefighters sent to help tackle the Australian bushfire crisis (pictured)touched down in New South Wales to a hero's welcome

The group of heroic firefighters being given a round of heartfelt applause as they marched through the airport on Thursday.

Fire and Emergency NZ captured the touching moment and shared it on social media with the caption 'thanks for the warm welcome'.

Last year a strike team of firefighters was sent to Australia and its leader Denis Cooper had some advice for the new team.

'What they should expect is quiet a variable situation over there, you never know what you are going to do,' he said.

'You are there to help, they will be working with communities (and) possibly around neighbourhoods but also in the forest areas. So it's quiet a varied operation.'

He said the biggest thing for the New Zealand team was to be flexible.

'You need to just move in and help out where you can,' he said.

The team of New Zealand firefighters will help Australian firefighters in any area where they are needed and have been told 'flexibility' is the key to helping in the firefighting effort

Last year a strike team of firefighters was sent to Australia and its leader Denis Cooper had some advice for the new team (pictured), to be flexible and work as hard as they can

When asked what it was like working alongside Australian firefighters Mr Cooper had nothing but heartfelt praise.

'Great, they are good people, they are really thankful we were there,' he said.

'They were really tired, they've been doing this for a long time, it's easy for us we come over and do a couple of weeks and we work hard and we go home.

'They've got this week after week, month after month, they are very thankful we are there.'

Ms Ardern shared a photo of hazy skies over New Zealand when she vowed to help Australia during its calamitous bushfire season.

'It's been devastating to watch from afar, I can only imagine what it feels like to experience it directly,' she said in a Facebook post.

'I've been in contact with the Australian PM again this week to share our support and to offer whatever we can to help.

'Australia stood by us through some horrific moments in 2019, and we're here to do the same.'

Eariler this month Jacinda Ardern (pictured) announced additional firefighters would be deployed from New Zealand to help tackle Australia's bushfire crisis

One image showed a Queenstown lake just 24 hours before the smoke rolled in with picturesque blue skies

Fire and Emergency has deployed 179 people to help Australian firefighters since October 2019.

The move was met with praise on social media as hundreds of Australians thanked the prime minister for her efforts.

'Thank you for your leadership and compassion; we look across the ditch with immense PM envy,' one woman said.

'Thank you Jacinda. Whilst you are there send over some leadership advice to our PM who is in great need on learning how to respond to a country in a crisis. We all wish we had a leader like you in Oz,' another added.

The announcement came as Prime Minister Scott Morrison continued to face backlash over how he's handled the crisis.

Mr Morrison was heavily criticised before Christmas when he took a Hawaiian holiday as bushfires ravaged the country.

Images taken in places such as Christchurch, Queenstown, Dunedin, Wanaka and Otago showed an orange haze over the South Island. Pictured: Glendhu Bay

Meanwhile, an 'unprecedented' state of disaster was declared in Victoria giving the government special powers - used for the first time ever - to impose forced evacuations and give emergency services the right to take over properties.

New Zealand's South Island settlements were left in a haze on Wednesday after wind pushed smoke from the NSW and Victorian bushfires 2,000 kilometres across the Tasman.

One image contrasted a picture of a Queenstown lake just 24 hours before the smoke rolled in with another from Wednesday that obscured the mountains and made it impossible to see the skyline.

A satellite image showed the entire South Island covered in smoke and spreading to the west coast of the North Island.

Images taken in places such as Christchurch, Queenstown, Dunedin, Wanaka and Otago showed a thick haze filling the skies.
The frequently cited claim that e-cigarettes are "95% less risky" or "95% less harmful" than combustible cigarettes is outdated, misleading and invalid -- and should no longer be made in discussions on the dangers of vaping, according to an editorial published today in the American Journal of Public Health by six leading experts on e-cigarettes and public health.

"The '95% safer' estimate is a 'factoid': unreliable information repeated so often that it becomes accepted as fact," wrote the authors, including Thomas Eissenberg, Ph.D., co-director of the Center for the Study of Tobacco Products at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Public health practitioners, scientists, and physicians should expose the fragile status of the factoid emphatically by highlighting its unreliable provenance and its lack of validity today, noting the many changes in e-cigarette devices and liquids, the accumulation of evidence of potential harm, the increased prevalence of use, and the growing evidence that e-cigarette use is associated with subsequent cigarette smoking." Study Authors

The editorial, "Invalidity of an Oft-Cited Estimate of the Relative Harms of Electronic Cigarettes," re-examines the "95% safer" claim that originated in July 2013 when a group of experts in decision science, medicine, pharmacology, psychology, public health policy and toxicology rated the relative harm of 12 nicotine-containing products by using 14 criteria addressing harms to self and others.

They concluded that combustible cigarettes were the most harmful and that electronic nicotine delivery systems were substantially less harmful.

However, the experts acknowledged that their study lacked hard evidence for the harms of most products it was evaluating. Despite that lack of evidence, the claim that e-cigarettes are "95% less risky" or "95% less harmful" was widely publicized, notably by Public Health England and the Royal College of Physicians.

Since then, Eissenberg and his co-authors wrote, a considerable amount of evidence of the potential harms of e-cigarettes has accumulated.

E-cigarette devices have changed significantly since the original study, they wrote, so much so that even if the original estimate was valid in 2013, it can no longer apply.

"For example, in addition to using different materials and more numerous heating coils, many e-cigarettes today can attain power output that exceeds that of most over-the-counter 2013 models by 10 to 20 times (i.e., up to and sometimes exceeding 200 watts)," they wrote. "Greater power increases the potential harms of e-cigarette use because more aerosol is produced that exposes users to increased levels of nicotine and other toxicants."

E-liquids also have changed since 2013, with widespread availability of thousands of flavors that use chemicals "generally recognized as safe" to eat but with unknown pulmonary toxicity, they wrote.

One particularly notable change has been the pervasive marketing of liquids with protonated nicotine, also known as "nicotine salt," which is made by adding an acid to free-base nicotine. Aerosolized protonated liquid is less aversive to inhale than free-base nicotine, thereby allowing users to increase the nicotine concentration of the liquid and likely increase their own nicotine dependence.

"Protonated nicotine e-cigarette liquids are available today in concentrations greater than 60 milligrams per milliliter, and these liquids have become very popular, sparking a 'nicotine arms race,'" they wrote.

Recent evidence also suggests that vaping harms users. One recent study cited in the article found that "[e-cigarette] aerosol constituents could injure the respiratory system or worsen preexisting lung disease through a variety of mechanisms."

It also points to research associating wheezing, a symptom of potential respiratory disease, with e-cigarette use. And it notes that e-cigarette use has been shown to increase heart rate, blood pressure and platelet activation, and decrease flow-mediated dilation and heart rate variability, effects that suggest long-term cardiovascular risk.

The editorial also highlights research conducted since 2013 that found e-cigarette use is linked with a greater risk of the user starting to smoke combustible cigarettes.

Studies in the past six years also have shown that e-cigarette aerosol is not harmless, they wrote.

"For example, propylene glycol (PG) is one of the primary constituents of e-cigarette aerosol and is generally recognized as safe when eaten but, when injected intravenously over a period of days, is toxic," they wrote.

"E-cigarette aerosols containing propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin, another common constituent, cause inflammation in human lungs, suggesting differing safety profiles for inhaled versus ingested propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin."

Along with Eissenberg, a professor in the VCU Department of Psychology in the College of Humanities and Science, the editorial was co-written by Aruni Bhatnagar, Ph.D., of the American Heart Association Tobacco Regulation Center, University of Louisville; Simon Chapman, Ph.D., of the School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Australia; Sven Eric Jordt, Ph.D., of the Department of Anesthesiology, Duke University School of Medicine; Alan Shihadeh, Sc.D., of the Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, American University of Beirut in Lebanon; and Eric K. Soule, Ph.D., of the Department of Health Education and Promotion, East Carolina University.

Eissenberg and his colleagues were inspired to write the editorial after hearing report after report at the annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco on the risks associated with e-cigarette use.

"It just occurred to me that with all these pieces of evidence, that we needed perhaps to revisit this '95% safer' claim to see whether it still had any validity today," Eissenberg said. "We all agreed that this was something that we really needed to do. We wanted people to take a look at the number and decide for themselves."

It's important to understand the "95% safer" claim is bogus, he said, because it continues to be cited as a reason to start or continue vaping.

"People are using that claim as a reason to either keep using e-cigarettes if they started some time ago, or if they're nicotine-naive -- if they've never used nicotine before -- they hear 95% safer than combustible cigarettes and they say, 'Well, that's safe enough for me.' And so then they started using," he said.

The editorial's biggest takeaway, Eissenberg said, is that we simply do not know the long-term risks of e-cigarette use.

"It doesn't make any sense for us to claim that we know that it's 95% safer than combustible cigarettes," he said. "The fact is: we don't know whether e-cigarette use is as lethal as combustible cigarette use, less lethal than combustible cigarette use, or more lethal than combustible cigarette use.

"You have to understand: We've been studying combustible cigarettes for the last 60 to 70 years. And so we have a huge database with which we can look at how many people die from that behavior," he continued.

"We don't have anything near that kind of history with electronic cigarettes. What we do know is that they are delivering toxicants to the human lung and that over repeated use, in some cases, we see health effects from those toxicants that e-cigarette users are inhaling."
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 19:46:40|Editor: huaxia

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China's 10-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River will affect 280,000 fishermen, many of whom are happy to come ashore to protect biodiversity in the country's longest river.

by Xinhua writers Liu Fangqiang and Wang Haiyue

HEFEI, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Zhu Changhong, an ex-fisherman on the Yangtze River, skillfully scooped up a plastic bottle with a net from his boat while patrolling the water on a cold afternoon in early January.

"There is not much trash to clean in winter since the water is low," said the 54-year-old.

He bid farewell to his fishing boat and gear for good as a 58-km waterway where he used to fish completely outlawed fishing for the protection of finless porpoises at the beginning of 2019.

Ex-fisherman Zhu Changhong and his wife clean floating trash as they patrol along the Yangtze River in east China's Anhui Province, on Jan. 7, 2020. TO GO WITH XINHUA HEADLINES OF JAN. 9, 2020. (Xinhua/Qu Yan)

One year later, China started a 10-year fishing ban on 332 key areas of the Yangtze River to protect biodiversity in the country's longest river, among which is the river section where Zhu lives, Datong Township of Tongling City, eastern China's Anhui Province.

The fishing moratorium is regarded as a key move in fighting depleting biological resources and degrading biodiversity in the Yangtze River, which has long been suffering from human activities such as overfishing and pollution, said Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Yu Kangzhen.

The 10-year ban is estimated to affect more than 110,000 fishing boats and nearly 280,000 fishermen in 10 provincial-level regions along the river. The ministry has promised to provide social security services, financial support and vocational training for fishermen who have to find a new way of earning a living.

Unlike other fishermen who have found jobs in factories or become security guards, Zhu and his wife continue to live by the river, but in a different way.

With the help of the local government, they joined a patrol team to clean floating trash and report sightings of finless porpoises, a job that earns them 5,000 yuan a month (about 720 U.S. dollars).

Ex-fisherman Zhu Changhong cleans floating trash as he patrols along the Yangtze River in east China's Anhui Province, on Jan. 6, 2020. TO GO WITH XINHUA HEADLINES OF JAN. 9, 2020. (Xinhua/Qu Yan)

Known for its mischievous smile, the finless porpoise has a level of intelligence comparable to that of a gorilla. However, they rely on abundant food supply for survival. In recent years, overfishing in the Yangtze River has contributed to the decrease in their number.

According to a research conducted in 2017, the river mammal is teetering on the brink of extinction with a population of around 1,000 in the main waterway of the Yangtze, even fewer than that of the giant panda.

Zhu used to love watching the river dolphins swimming near the shore searching for small fish. As he grew up, the dolphins became more and more terrified by the influx of fishing boats.

"I even saw dead dolphins injured by the blades of fishing boats as they love to follow them," said Zhu, adding that he and 1,000-plus fishermen in Datong Township understand the big picture of the fishing ban.

"There used to be a lot of fish in the river, and we always came back fully loaded. But now, we don't catch as much even with advanced gear," Zhu said.

Instead of fishing on the river, now Zhu and his wife patrol 10 to 15 km of water per day on average, collecting up to 200 kg of trash on a busy day.

"It reminds me of my childhood when I see finless porpoises again during the patrol," Zhu said. "It's an honor to protect these angels of the Yangtze River."

The city of Tongling is not alone in its endeavor to protect the Yangtze River. About 100 km downstream the Yangtze River from Datong Township lies the city of Ma'anshan, which also launched a fishing ban starting July 1st, 2019.

Photo taken on Jan. 8, 2020 shows a residential area built for fishermen moving ashore, in Maanshan, east China's Anhui Province. TO GO WITH XINHUA HEADLINES OF JAN. 9, 2020. (Xinhua/Qu Yan)

Zheng Laigen, a 44-year-old fisherman, moved ashore after floating on a boat his entire life. Taking advantage of his expertise in aquatic products garnered over the years, he is now the owner of a fishing farm and manages about 13 hectares of ponds, raising crabs, shrimp and fish.

"The last decade has witnessed the depletion of fish stock. We could catch about 40 kg of fish per day previously, but the number has slumped to less than 15 kg now," Zheng said.

For long-term development, more than 10,000 local fishermen like Zheng stopped fishing and settled on land in 2019.

Zheng's nine fishing boats were dismantled in May last year, with a subsidy of some 200,000 yuan from the local government. The government also offered him a housing allowance of 40,000 yuan.

Ex-fisherman Zheng Laigen works at his fishing farm in Maanshan, east China's Anhui Province, on Jan. 8, 2020. TO GO WITH XINHUA HEADLINES OF JAN. 9, 2020. (Xinhua/Qu Yan)

His new business was prosperous last year, with an annual income of about 300,000 yuan. In the peak season in summer, he had to hire four people to help with his work.

To address their housing problem, efforts were made by the local government to help many families buy or rent a new house below the market price.

"The government grants 15 square meters for each person. I needed more, so I just paid for the extra space," said Zhang Laixi, an ex-fisherman, who owns a 60-square-meter apartment in a residential area specifically built for fishermen moving ashore.

Apart from housing, the local government also organized special job fairs and training classes for fishermen. As for Zhang who has been fishing for 20 years, he has no intention of working in factories since he prefers to work for himself.

The 33-year-old ex-fisherman now runs a convenience store in his community, serving more than 1,000 fellow fishermen in the area.

Ex-fisherman Zhang Laixi works at his convenient store in Maanshan, east China's Anhui Province, on Jan. 8, 2020. TO GO WITH XINHUA HEADLINES OF JAN. 9, 2020. (Xinhua/Qu Yan)

"It runs pretty well with an average daily turnover of 1,000 yuan. It's not too much, but I really enjoy the freedom I have," said Zhang. Enditem (Xinhua writer Yang Dingmiao also contributed to this article)

(Video editor: Li Ziwei; video reporters: Qu Yan)
Four people were arrested in Kerala for blocking the houseboat carrying Nobel laureate Michael Levitt in the backwaters during the nation-wide strike against the Centre's anti-labour policies

Alappuzha: Four people were arrested on Thursday for blocking the houseboat carrying Nobel laureate Michael Levitt in the backwaters during the nation-wide strike against the Centre's "anti-labour" policies.

The arrests were made on Thursday morning, police said. The four are said to be belonging to the ruling CPI (M)'s union outfit - CITU, one of the 10 trade unions, which were on strike on Wednesday.

Levitt, who won the Nobel prize in 2013 for Chemistry, was taking a houseboat ride across the scenic backwaters in Alappuzha when the four protesters stopped the boat near Kainakary for nearly two hours. "Kerala is beautiful. Backwaters are wonderful and the people are very good," he said this morning adding he had no issues with regard to Wednesday's incident when his boat was blocked by protesters.

However, in an email sent to his tour agent on Wednesday, Levitt had said "Being stopped by criminals on the backwaters sends a very bad message to tourists. It is as if a bandit stopped us at gun point and delayed us under threat of force for one hour."

He had also stated that the person who blocked them "ignored all arguments that tourists were exempted" from the strike. "This person, who did this ignored all arguments that tourists were exempted and that I am a VIP guest of the Kerala government. He is obviously acting knowing that he is safe from prosecution. Sadly this makes me fear that India is sinking into lawlessness," he added.

Meanwhile, the Kottayam Collector said he had met the Nobel laureate when he reached Kumarakom in the morning after their boat cruise. "The state government has expressed its grief and concern in the matter. We have also informed Levitt that the government has taken the matter seriously," Kottayam Collector P K Sudheer Babu told PTI.

The Alappuzha police chief told PTI that four people have been arrested in the case and charged for obstructing a public way or line of navigation. "We have arrested four persons in this matter. A case has been registered them," KM Tomy said.

The accused have been charged under various sections of IPC, including causing obstruction in public way and wrongful confinement.

Ten trade unions, including INTUC, AITUC, and CITU had called for the nationwide strike to protest against labour reforms, FDI, disinvestment, corporatisation and privatisation policies and to press for a 12-point common demands of the working class relating to minimum wage among others.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : Another death row convict in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court on Thursday.

Mukesh filed the plea, after fellow convict Vinay Sharma moved the apex court.

A court here, while issuing death warrants against the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case on Tuesday observed that "despite being afforded sufficient time and opportunity", the convicts didn't exercise their legal remedies.

The court has fixed January 22 and 7 a.m. as the date and time for execution of the the four convicted persons.

After a 23-year-old woman was gangraped and tortured on December 16, 2012, leading to her death, all six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of the accused was a minor and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another accused committed suicide in Tihar Jail.

The four convicts were sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013, and the verdict confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014 and upheld in May 2017 by the Supreme Court, which also dismissed their review petitions.
Amazon's smart doorbell company Ring has admitted it fired four employees after they abused their ability to view customer video feeds.

Ring made the admission in a letter to five US senators, after they quizzed the tech firm on its security practices.

It revealed that, in the last four years, there had been four separate instances which resulted in termination.

Each individual had access to user video as part of their job role but was deemed to have 'exceeded what was necessary for their job functions'.

It is unknown what footage the employees were viewing and what they were watching when judged to have overreached.

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Ring revealed that in the last four years there had been four separate instances of staff abusing their ability to view customer video, which was part of their job role, and was deemed to have 'exceeded what was necessary for their job functions' (file photo)

Ring says that as well as terminating those who violated company policy, it has also restricted how much access employees have to customer video feeds.

The letter reads: 'In addition to taking swift action to investigate and take appropriate disciplinary action in each of these cases, Ring has taken multiple actions to limit such data access to a smaller number of team members.

'Ring periodically reviews the access privileges it grants to its team members to verify that they have a continuing need for access to customer information for the purpose of maintaining and improving the customer experience.'

Ring says that as well as terminating those who violated company policy, it has also restricted how much access employees have to customer video feeds (file photo)

The letter to Democratic Senators Ron Wyden, Edward Markey, Chris Van Hollen, Chris Coons, and Gary Peters was received this week.

It was a reply to a letter sent to Jeff Bezos on November 20 and in the intervening six weeks Ring has been struck with several privacy breaches.

In December, an eight-year-old girl in Mississippi had obscenities shouted at her through the doorbell after a hacker seized control of the device.

It has also been reported that more than 3,000 Ring cameras were left vulnerable to hackers due to a software flaw.

It is unknown the extent to which this flaw was exploited, but it is possible the login credentials of users were taken.

Senator Chris Coons also sent a letter to Facebook last month, along with Republican Senator Josh Hawley, which revealed the social media platform can track a person's whereabouts even after they have opted out of precise location tracking.

Facebook stops tracking location data specifically when a user opts out but it admits that it can piece together various piece of information to determine where they are.

Tagged photos or locations as well as addresses for purchases on the site's shopping section provide clues to where a user is, as well as IP address information.
The Ghaziabad district administration has appointed its sub-divisional magistrates as nodal officers to resolve concerns of students from Jammu and Kashmir and various north eastern states, studying in the districts.

District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey on Thursday said the senior district adminstration officials have been made nodal officers for the outstation students studying in their areas to ensure that they are given adequate security and their concerns are addressed at the highest level.

Describing the J&K and north eastern states students studying in various educational institutes in the district as "guests", Pandey said the nodal officers were appointed as per a direction of the Uttar Pradesh government given last November.

In seven engineering and management institutes, a total of 135 students from the eight north eastern states and the new Union territory of J&K are studying here in the district, he said.

While the sub divisional magistrates will personally meet the students in their institutes twice a month, Superintendent of Police (Rural) has been asked to co-ordinate with the students on their security, said the district magistrate.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rokeach, who died in 1988, ultimately said that the three Christs cured him of his God-like delusion that he could change them. The closing title cards of Three Christs spin that quote to make it sound a tad more uplifting, a contextual shift that perhaps describes the method of the movie. It has to solve the problem of how to compress difficult, messy material into a polished, crowd-pleasing drama.

Institutional resistance to Alans methods is mostly concentrated in the form of a jealous hospital superintendent (Kevin Pollak, giving it his full weasel) who undermines and meddles in Alans work. There is a sense that disparate events have smushed together: In a victory for multitasking, Alan decides to dose Becky with LSD while they are observing their patients  and just in time for Alans wife (Julianna Margulies) to stop by and suspect an affair.

Yet the director, Jon Avnet, who wrote the script with Eric Nazarian, succeeds in keeping the movie watchable in spite of its contrivances. Whether it is the star power of the cast or the seductiveness of the period recreation, Three Christs has an appealing professionalism  an odd fit for a film about challenging a profession.

Three Christs

Rated R. Mistreatment of patients. Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes.
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In terms of reducing the cash collection period, Randstad Belgium has taken a leap ahead by choosing Sidetrade. Since 2013 they have been using Sidetrades technology to digitalize and automate their financial processes. In fact, their Finance department has observed a four day drop in days sales outstanding.

Today, with enhanced data processing, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing an ever-greater role in companies, giving clear information in real time on the state of the business, and providing support to make the best decisions. New areas are ripe for intelligent automation including personalized client relations for Finance, automated processing of invoices, and anticipation of client behavior.

"We are going through a revolution, where our AI technology, using deep learning, and working in unison with CRM and ERP systems, rationalizes business processes, makes work easier for people, and improves performance. Randstad Belgium joined this revolution by selecting Aimie, Sidetrade's Artificial Intelligence assistant, to boost the performance of their teams", said Jean-Cyril Schutterle, Chief Product Officer of Sidetrade.

With Aimie's help, staff can concentrate on their core business

To deal with an impressive increase in sales (1.5bn) and a corresponding jump in the number of invoices, Randstad Belgium has decided to use Aimie (Sidetrade AI) for fast, reliable decision-making support.

Trained on 313 million B2B payment experiences totaling over 953bn over the last three years, Aimie will analyze each Randstad Belgium client in real time to determine the best follow-up strategy. Aimie will consider objectives set by the Finance department, and all available criteria such as buyer profile, billing characteristics, and the history of the relationship including any disputes.

Aimie frees up staff from time-consuming collection tasks, automatically adjusts workflows according to client-specific payment behavior, and assigns the most complex cases to staff depending on workload. The actions recommended by Aimie are 53% more effective than conventional decisions made by the human mind alone. Moreover, Aimie cuts useless tasks by 51%, allowing staff to focus their expertise on the most important disputes and spend more time developing human relations with clients.

Rudy Lathouwers, Director of Administration, Randstad Belgium, had this to say: "We are looking forward to the rollout of Aimie in the context of the digitalization of our processes. This AI system will help us optimize our relations with our small and medium-sized clients. With Aimie on board, our credit controller staff are going to be able to concentrate on key account management, which is more complex."



Attachment
We now approach a national holiday celebrating the life of Martin Luther King. As the president of the United States leads us into yet another disastrous war, can we ignore Kings words from 1967: A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

Our government in Washington has voted an increase to $738 billion this year for military defense. Congress and the president together have authorized 69 percent of the federal budget to spend on war  over twice as much as it is assigning to Social Uplift like transportation, housing, education, clean air and water and all other programs combined. Spiritual Death.

The National Defense Authorization Act was stripped of amendments that would have prevented the president from unilaterally starting another war.

Every Connecticut member of Congress voted for this act that will explode in our cities and each welcomes how it benefits our state (The Defense Department has ordered submarines, helicopters and jet engines. Can Connecticut build them? By Emilie Munson, Dec. 16, 2019). None of our congress members willingly talks about the full military budget or their role in passing it, but when pressed each justifies spending the vast treasure to save jobs in our state and national security. What does Spiritual Death mean in terms of national security for Connecticut?

It means escalating the already decades-long war on the people of the Middle East killing hundreds of thousands, engulfing our own sons and daughters. The consequences will horrify everyone.

It means supporting the war on Yemen, starving its entire population of food and water and medicines, condemning millions of children to early death. It means continuing to fund the endless wars on Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Libya and starting war on Iran.

It means building more nuclear submarines, each carrying a supply of nuclear weapons that if used would snuff out civilization, ours as well as any adversary. It means promoting coercive sanctions against countries whose governments dont march in lock step with the demands of the military industrial complex, the giant banks and oil companies, measures which, short of war, starve whole populations of food, water, medicine and futures.

It means our representatives violate their oaths to the Constitution not only because they avoid the responsibility to declare war but also avoid the responsibility to abide by international treaties and laws that prevent wars. Spiritual Death.

The endless wars require endless weapons. The profits of the weapons makers require endless wars. A downward spiral into Spiritual Death.

As our members of Congress brag about bringing federal money into the state of Connecticut, ask how many lives will be lost in endless wars. How many jobs will be lost by not funding the repair of our crumbling infrastructure, not funding the desperate needs of our children, not funding work to rehabilitate and make energy efficient thousands of buildings, not funding affordable housing. Ask them if they actually see how desperately Connecticut cities are seeking resources. Ask them what kind of legislation they have submitted and fought for to move from this all-consuming war economy of Spiritual Death to fund Social Uplift?

Ask them: if they believe President Trump is irresponsible why then do they vote to hand him even more money and more freedom to wage war?

Henry Lowendorf is chair of the Greater New Haven Peace Council.
Kampala, Uganda (PANA)  Ugandas biggest public institution of higher learning, Makerere University, has come under severe criticism in print, electronic, online and social media for importing graduation gowns from China
We are entering a new phase in the history of African architecture. A period defined by African architects who are moved by cultural nuances and societal needs, and who draw heavily on the very roots of architecture across the continent.

Chris Malan, senior director at Co-Arc International Architects

Reconnecting with the past

Great value in traditional methods

Examples of excellence

Bold, powerful, multilayered tapestry

David Adjayes Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC. Image by Difference engine, Wikimedia Commons , CC BY-SA 4.0

It remains a rather onerous undertaking to try to extract common threads from the architecture of a continent as culturally and geographically diverse as Africa. Scholars such as Nnamdi Elleh have attempted to distil the essence of African architecture into three major influences: traditional architecture, Islamic and Western influences, while a series of 10 books endorsed by the International Union of Architects, World Architecture 1900-2000, gave little regard to traditional African architecture, instead focusing almost exclusively on the colonial heritage.What most African countries did have in common, for the better part of the century, was a shared history of colonialism and its aftermath. Pushed to the background during this period was Africas rich history of rural architecture; a tradition still present today, in a diminishing form, which holds great lessons for the evolution of African architecture.There can be no better expression of this fundamental approach than South African Peter Richs Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in Limpopo, a building which stands proudly as an example of traditional craft adapted to novel construction methods. Thin-skinned timbrel vaulting effortlessly combines contemporary and cultural influences, creating social spaces and reducing environmental impact. The Mapungubwe centre, which won the 2009 World Building of the Year award, is very much a response to nature and is truly unique to Africa.Another architect who is particularly impressive in this regard is Burkino Fasos Francis Kere, who studied in Germany but is celebrated at home for building schools that fuse local materials and crafts with contemporary thinking, technological know-how and environmental innovation. In 2017 Kere toldmagazine that his first school  is not Westernised, is not [a] traditional African building but one that responds best to the climate and to the needs of the people, using the most available materials. In this case, clay.Working with natural raw materials like clay is not new to African architecture, but the use thereof has been forgotten and shunned in favour of popular Western materials like glass and steel. However, these traditional methods hold great value for innovative architects.Back in the 1940s, Egypts Hassan Fathy deployed a similar approach in building low-cost housing that used local resources and was designed with the needs of the inhabitants in mind. Fathy revitalised a lost tradition of building in mud for his New Gourna project. While the project was dogged by political and financial complications, and nearly 40% of the original buildings are said to have been lost, it is still a pioneering example of sustainable architecture.In a world where social, economic and environmental demands are calling out for alternative approaches, architects seeking new forms of cultural expression are being compelled to look beyond generic skyscrapers towards solutions which effortlessly fuse both regional and global influences. When these projects come together, they raise the bar for architecture around the world.Probably one of the most impressive buildings in Africa today epitomises the continents place in the global imagination. It is the result of an international competition in 1989 to rebuild the great library of Alexandria, Egypt. Snhetta, working with local architects Hamza Associates, created the 11-storey Bibliotheca Alexandrina alongside Alexandrias ancient harbour.Snhetta is part of a new generation of innovative architects operating on a global stage today. They are not African, they are Norwegian, but what they bring to the table is a depth of conceptual thinking that finds expression in bold structures and powerful cultural symbolism.The Bibliotheca Alexandrina has to be seen to be fully appreciated: A disc of about 160m in diameter tilts out of the earth with the modern, high-volume building beneath comprising terrace floors which rise to 32m in height and descend 12m into the ground. The tilted roof, composed of an array of roof lights, is said to recall the ancient Alexandrian lighthouse, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Details like the exterior stone wall facade, which is clad in Aswan granite and engraved in 120 scripts of the world, are a celebration of Alexandrias glorious past as much as its aspirations for the future.On the other side of the coin are equally impressive structures being created for Western markets by African architects; with David Adjayes Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC being a prime example. The winner of the 2017 Beazley Designs of the Year awards, Adjayes creation has been called a major turning point in architecture. Now a knight of the British realm, Adjaye was born in Tanzania, is of Ghanaian ancestry and lived in Egypt, Yemen and Lebanon before moving to the United Kingdom at age nine. As such, he weaves together unique cultural nuances with care, attention and deference.In Adjayes hands, the African American museum became more than just a sad reflection on the history of slavery. Instead it is a powerful statement of what African architecture unencumbered by history might express. Adjaye describes his building as adopting a posture of praise, opening up as it rises, rather than hunkering down. The result is bold, powerful and a multilayered tapestry which imprints African values into the very heart of the West. That is a potent statement.Both structures have added nuanced cultural expression to their respective cities, and both highlight that, given the diversity and cultural depth within Africa, there can be no single definition of African architecture. What African countries do share, however, is a colonial history, a struggle to emerge from that yoke and a desire to assert themselves.This, in a city context, brings particular challenges since architecture cannot be disentangled from increasing social and environmental pressures on our urban agglomerations. As growing African cities battle massive infrastructure challenges, urban sprawl, decaying inner cities, gated communities and a steady reduction in green spaces, it is becoming evident that African architects must forge a new direction. Sustainable design, appropriate responses to a given regional context, cultural appreciation and respect for the community impacted by their work, are among the approaches being adopted by those trend-setters who are emboldened to draw on the past as they solve the problems of tomorrow.
In a major political development, Congress leader and former MLA Shoaib Iqbal along with two other leaders on Thursday joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in presence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Ex-deputy speaker of Delhi Assembly Shoaib Iqbal, MCD Councillors from Congress Aley Mohammed Iqbal and Sultana Abad joined AAP in the presence of Chief Minister and AAP's convener Kejriwal.

Being an MLA for five consecutive terms before losing to AAP in 2015, Shoaib Iqbal has a stronghold in the Matia Mahal constituency in Delhi. He contested and won the 2013 assembly elections from JD(U).

Speaking on the occasion, AAP Convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said, "I want to welcome Shoaib Iqbal Ji and his team to the party with all my heart. I strongly believe that his support will strengthen the work that we have done for the poor in Delhi. His addition in the party will help take forward the development that AAP always believes in and is devoted to."

Owing to his keen interest in politics, Iqbal was an active student politician and leader and the secretary of the Zakir Hussain's Student Union. Iqbal contested his first election in 1993 from Janata Dal party.

He later joined the Janata Dal (United), where he headed Minority Morcha of the Party. He subsequently won from Matia Mahal for five terms in Delhi 1993,1998, 2003, 2008, 2013 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections. He has served as the Deputy Speaker of Vidhan Sabha from 2003 to 2008. Prior to joining AAP, he was a member of the Indian Congress.

Shoaib Iqbal lauded Arvind Kejriwal led AAP government for its pro-people initiatives and schemes for the welfare of all the communities. He said, "AAP has worked towards the welfare and development of the downtrodden as well as the Dalit communities in Delhi. I have full faith in the strength of the party, it will come back with a record-breaking win of 70/70 assembly constituency seats."

"I have worked with Arvind Kejriwal Ji during his 49-days government in Delhi, his attitude towards work is commendable. I believe people are fed up with the corruption and lies of the BJP, which can be witnessed in the recent elections in states like Jharkhand and Maharashtra. This election is completely one-sided and the people have decided to vote for AAP. I am sure that AAP will break its previous record of winning 67/70 assembly seats this time," he added.

The development comes ahead of the assembly elections in Delhi slated for February 8.

The polling for 70-member Delhi assembly will be held on February 8. The counting of votes will take place on February 11.

The key contest in the national capital is among the ruling AAP, BJP and Congress.

In the 2015 Assembly polls, AAP won 67 of 70 seats while the BJP could win only three. The Congress, which was in power for 15 years in Delhi between 1998 to 2013, drew a blank in the election.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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In-Room VDO
Perhaps it was too much to expect two very different boys with two very different wives to forge a lifelong alliance. And perhaps it is too easy to blame American Meghan for heading off with Harry away from palace life into the sunset.

And yet it seems just a moment ago that Harry was as close to Kate as he was to William, a warm-hearted trio delighting the world.

The two princes are, of course, hardly the first husbands whose close friendship was split by wives who simply didnt get on.

Princess Diana with Prince William (top) and Prince Harry (bottom left) in 1988. Prince William heeded his mother Princess Dianas advice to marry a girl he knew well

The tragedy is that before Meghan came along, Harry was the very essence of a popular 21st-century prince. He was what every romantic expected a dutiful young royal to be  not only good-looking and a brave soldier, but someone who could laugh easily at himself. Indeed, laughter accompanied him everywhere he went.

Meghans arrival in his life changed so much of that. But was this her fault, or was it down to Harrys uncertainty in how to bring a fragrant Hollywood figure into the restrictive and highly controlled world of royal life?

Meghan, remember, had become accustomed to floating her views in public, on everything from climate change and human rights to clean water and gender equality.

This became clear on one occasion when the fab four of William, Kate, Meghan and Harry were on stage promoting their Heads Together mental welfare charity, and the Duchess of Sussex naturally dominated the microphone.

Even then, some detected an air of discomfort about William and Kate. Here was a young woman making it plain that her new royal status was something to be used so that her voice could be heard  an unknown philosophy in royal life.

At that moment the silent Kate beside her looked almost dull. In truth, all Kate was doing was following a protocol that has kept the royal family in business for generations.

Ironically, there had been a time when Harry envied his elder brother for having the good fortune to meet and to marry such a wonderful girl as Kate Middleton.

That partly explains why the world was so delighted when he found love with Meghan. After all, when Harry first introduced his bride-to-be, they still looked like the most attractive and popular young couple in the country.

What people especially loved was that while William married a woman whose great-grandfather was a coalminer, Harry ended up with a woman descended from slaves. There was no clearer proof that the Royal Family reflected the rich diversity of modern Britain.

Yet there was already a tiny crack in the brotherly relationship. William is understood to have questioned his younger brother about the hastiness of his engagement to the television actress hed known only for months. He and Kate were together eight years before he put a ring on her finger  a state of affairs which, it must be said, also attracted widespread comment.

But William has long been the wiser and more cautious brother. He heeded his mother Princess Dianas advice to marry a girl he knew well. Ruefully, she explained to him that when she had married his father, Prince Charles, we hardly knew each other.

Duke and Duchess of Sussex together with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Westminster Abbey for the centenary of the Armistice in central London on November 11 2018

As usual, William was looking out for his kid brother, just as he always did at school and during the difficult time after Dianas death. But Harry, besotted with worldly divorcee Meghan, didnt welcome this guidance, and the brothers relationship soured when words were exchanged between Kate and bride-to-be Meghan over the dress Princess Charlotte, now four, would wear as a bridesmaid.

At one stage Kate was said to have been reduced to tears. But no one attached too much significance to the kind of small family tiff hardly unknown during nuptial preparations.

Further tension in the lead-up to the event threatened to spill over after Meghan insisted she be allowed to choose a tiara once worn by Diana. This time it was the Queen who said no and instead allowed Meghan to wear the diamond lozenge bandeau made for Queen Mary in 1932.

Meghan accepted the Queens decision. But it seriously upset Harry and provoked his emotional outburst what Meghan wants, Meghan gets. As for Palace aides, the general feeling was that here was a mature woman of the world who had comfortably fitted into a new life in Canada  where she made her home for seven years while filming TV series Suits. Surely she would have as little difficulty adjusting to royal life as a young Kate did?

But one was happily restrained by the knowledge that she is destined to be Queen; the other uncomfortable unless she is permitted to speak about what is on her mind. As one royal aide observes cautiously of the royal sisters-in-law: They are simply not natural chums.

Even so, palace life might have jogged along well enough had Harry and Meghan not taken the surprising decision to remove themselves from the centre of public life in London and decamp to Windsor. Harrys greatest dream was about to be realised: Meghan was pregnant.

Some might feel she wanted to move away so she and Harry could have a more peaceful time. But in many ways this was a precursor of things to come. For who would have imagined the publics love for a new baby, especially a royal baby, would have been so defiantly frustrated?

No reason has ever been given for the couples secrecy in refusing to say where baby Archie was to be born. Nor has an explanation been supplied for why the couple chose not to say when she was in labour.

Equally confusing is why they refused to disclose who were the doctors attending Meghan. These were crucial days for Meghan and Harry, when the public should have fallen in love with them and their baby. Instead, they induced a wave of exasperation from people who considered the arrival of the seventh in line to the throne as a matter of public rejoicing.

Inexplicably, the couple chose the same level of secrecy over the christening, declining to say who were Archies godparents. No royal couple in history had ever behaved like this before. But then, why on earth would they?

Compare this with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. At every stage of Kates three pregnancies the public was kept informed. And after each birth the couple came out to cheering crowds and clicking cameras.

Royal couple kiss as they leave St George's Chapel, Windsor, on May 19 2018 after their wedding ceremony

Could Harry and Meghans display of ultra-privacy have been a portent of what the couple announced this week? And could it be that the prospect of having only a minor role as senior royals added to their frustration? Twice in recent days they were noticeable by their absence. On Christmas Day with the couple hidden away in Canada on Vancouver Island, they were not among pictures displayed on the desk beside the Queen during her traditional broadcast.

At New Year, Buckingham Palace issued a picture showing the Queen and her three heirs  Charles, William and George. Perhaps to Harry and Meghan it was a message that their significance as senior royals had waned.

For William, meanwhile, there is profound sadness that he knows his mother would have shared. In Harry he had what he saw as a lifelong ally, a younger brother whose good nature and joviality provided elements of fun at times when he, as heir in line to the throne, had to be dignified.

But Harry also provided the kind of unflinching advice on which a future monarch relies. They were always there for each other. It does seem extraordinary now that this mutually supporting togetherness has gone.

Both brothers have always needed each other because both are single-minded and stubborn. At one stage, lets not forget, it was Williams intransigence and grumpiness that was more of a worry in the family than Harrys youthfully immature behaviour.

But thanks to Kates calmness and level-headedness, as well as her respect for the Royal Family and her role within it, she has not only diffused any prospect of a William time-bomb, but created the sense of continuity crucial to the health of the monarchy.

As for Kate, yesterday on her 38th birthday, Kensington Palace issued a new picture of the Duchess in jeans and a jumper sitting on a fence. No doubt it provides a stark contrast to the glamorous new life the Sussexes will now enjoy in North America.

Indeed, Meghan and Harry will be in danger of becoming trophy royals to the kind of moneyed celebrity best avoided by those who wish to be taken seriously.

One has to wonder now whether Williams mind has gone back to a conversation he had with his brother in their mothers car with Princess Diana at the wheel.

They were then aged ten and eight and started to bicker before Harry said: Its all right for you William, youre going to be king. But I can do anything I want.
The blackened hills around Batlow are a desolate welcome for people returning home after a bushfire raced through to destroy houses, farms, livestock, orchards, forests and town buildings last Saturday. The incineration stretches into the distance along the road from Tumut, a sign that it will take years for communities like this to rebuild from this summer.

Scott Morrison has launched a new $2 billion national recovery fund but the message to the Prime Minister is that this will not be enough.

Batlow's iconic Big Apple in a scorched field after the bushfire. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Its bloody tragic, says Greg Mouat, an apple-grower with a farm on the road to Tumut. He knows it could have been worse: his farmhouse is still standing even though he lost crops, machinery, buildings and years of hard work. But his neighbours house is a ruin. The fire was indiscriminate. Its heart-breaking.

The Snowy Valleys Council mayor, James Hayes, says the fire destroyed timber plantations that will take 25 years to grow back, which means years of difficulty for the timber mill, the Visy paper mill and workers. I dont want to be alarmist but it could be dire, he says.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

Dont expect a shooting war despite harsh words by President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders in the aftermath of the airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a University of New Mexico professor who was once a former CIA intelligence officer said Wednesday.

I dont think the U.S. government wants war, Emile Nakhleh, director of the Global and National Security Policy Institute at UNM and a former CIA officer, told the Journal. The Iranian leadership doesnt want a military confrontation.

Words by the president and the Iranian government after a missile attack by Iran against bases housing U.S. troops that resulted in no casualties seem to indicate both nations are willing to de-escalate the crisis.

The Iranian government isnt suicidal, said Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. They know what a confrontation would do. They know it could result in a regime change.

Vatanka, who spoke to the Albuquerque International Association last year, said the manner of the Iranian missile attack seemed to give Trump an off-ramp in which the U.S. didnt need to respond.

Despite the strained relations and tensions between the two countries that have existed since the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979, Vatanka believes the Iranians were caught off guard by the strike against Soleimani and needed to respond.

They were worried about pubic mood, he said. They had to show resolve, that revenge was forthcoming.

But that doesnt mean there wont be consequences now that the two countries appear to be pulling back from the brink of war, Nakhleh said. He said the security threat against U.S. diplomats and military personnel is at its highest level in years.

There was a cooling of the relationship between Iraq and Iran, he said. There have been protests in the streets. People were beginning to speak out against Iranian influence in Iraq for the first time since the invasion of Iraq.  Now, Iranian influence in Iraq is ascending. The Iraqi parliament recently voted to have U.S. troops leave Iraq  and they will eventually leave.

Vatanka agreed pro-Iranian forces appear to be emboldened, but said he felt sentiments against Iranian influence remained in Iraq.

Nakhleh said the killing of Soleimani also appeared to unite Iran.

There was a split between the mainstream led by the president and the foreign minister and the hard-liners and the Republican Guard, Nakhleh said. Now that is gone  now they are speaking with one voice.

But Vatanka believes the divisions may resurface, saying Soleimani had support of a minority in Iran. He said the failure of both the Iraqi and Iranian governments to deliver basic goods and services may send people back out to the streets in both countries.

Nakhleh said the crisis has opened the door for an increase in the influence of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Middle East.

The Middle East is now the playground of Putin and Russia, he said.

He also said it could also lead to the reemergence of Islamic State and al-Qaida. He pointed to last Sundays attack in Kenya by al-Shabaab, which is allied with both groups, that killed three Americans, including a serviceman.

If there is a positive development, Vatanka said, it is Trump signaling Wednesday a willingness to go back to the negotiating table with Iran over its development of nuclear weapons. Nakhleh said his abandonment of the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran  known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action  is what sparked the escalation of tensions between the two countries.

Emile Nakhleh, director of the Global and National Security Policy Institute at UNM, formerly worked as a CIA intelligence officer.

Alex Vatanka is a senior fellow with the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C.
Rise of domestic strength

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), Vietnams exports in 2019 beat the target and were estimated at US$263.45 billion, up 8.1% from a year earlier. Exports saw a notable improvement in quality with less raw products and more manufactured goods, enabling Vietnam to take a greater part in the global value and supply chains.

Only 21 types of exported goods brought in over US$1 billion each in 2011, but the figure rose to 32 in 2019, with eight earning more than US$5 billion and another six earning more than US$10 billion, which combined to account for nearly 93% of Vietnams export revenue last year.

Another highlight is the continued robust growth recorded by domestic companies. In the previous years, exports by foreign-invested firms usually dominated, but now they have been outperformed by Vietnamese enterprises. Specifically, domestic companies shipped US$69.7 billion worth of goods in 2018, a year-on-year growth rate of 15.9%, compared with 12.9% recorded by foreign businesses. In 2019 the export growth by domestic companies outperformed that of the foreign sector by four times, raising the share of export revenue of domestic enterprises to 31.16%, compared with 28.61% in 2018.

In addition to bolstering exports, Vietnam managed to curb imports effectively, helping the country to run a record trade surplus of nearly US$10 billion in 2019.

A new year of challenges

Despite positive changes, Vietnams exports are still facing numerous challenges. First, several cash cows that were previously the main drivers of export growth, such as electronics, computers, optical products and especially mobile phones, failed to maintain their impressive growth.

Agricultural exports, another growth driver, also slowed down due to difficulties in markets and prices. The concerned authorities of Vietnam have made great efforts in their negotiations to reduce tariffs on Vietnamese agricultural goods but the results concerning quality control, food safety, animal health and plant quarantine remain limited. Therefore, many Vietnamese goods have yet to be exported to certain markets although tariffs have already been reduced to zero.

In addition, Vietnams imports from China are growing strongly amid the risk of escalation of the US-China trade war, raising concerns that Chinese goods are transhipped to Vietnam and then re-exported to the US to avoid issues of origin. Amid Vietnams increased exports to the US and trade surplus with the worlds largest economy, the US may impose curbs on Vietnamese goods.

This is happening to not only with the US market. In general, Vietnamese goods are facing a great deal of difficulties as many countries are shifting to use new trade protection measures such as preventing country of origin fraud instead of using technical barriers such as anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties. Such difficulties require Vietnam to change its approach and introduce timely solutions.

In face of both old and new challenges and in order to ensure exports will reach the US$300 billion mark in 2020, the MOIT is taking a wide range of measures. First of all, the ministry will work with the agencies concerned to remove the difficulties facing exports and unlock markets. The ministry will take measures to bolster logistic services to help enhance the competitiveness of Vietnamese goods.

The ministry will also step up trade promotion activities in key markets as well as at home so as to create opportunities for the domestic firms manufacturing equipment, machinery and raw materials to connect with those using their goods.

Furthermore, the ministry will closely monitor the global economic situation, especially the US-China trade war, so as to introduce prompt measures to boost the goods with plenty of opportunities to export, and will step up efforts to curb trade and origin fraud.
1. Celebs Show Up In Large Numbers To Support Deepika Padukone At The Screening Of 'Chhapaak'

To applaud her move and support the release of her film, Bollywood stars showed up in large numbers at the screening of Chhapaak, which was organised yesterday.



2. Shatrughan Sinha Takes A Dig At BJP Trolls, Wonders What They Would've Done To Mahatma Gandhi

Talking about "BJP trolls", Shatrughan Sinha said that he doesn't know what would have they done to leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jayprakash Narayan had they been alive today. He also said that targeting someone who takes a stand for the country is "not a big deal, but business" for trolls.

3. Joaquin Phoenix Plans To Wear Same Tuxedo At Every Award Show This Year To Save The Planet!

Joaquin Phoenix addressed the issue of climate change. While he was giving the speech, he was a little awkward on stage, yet he delievered a powerful speech. He had not completed when the music started playing, and he had to wrap up in seconds. This made a lot of his fans angry as well.

4. Kushal Punjabi's Parents & Wife Rubbish Reports Of Him Being Financially & Emotionally Unstable

It has been over two weeks since the TV actor took the hard decision to end his life. Kushal committed suicide on Dec 26 by hanging himself from the ceiling of his Mumbai apartment. Since then, the horrifying news has kickstarted debate on depression.



5. Karan Johar's Next Is A Spy-Thriller Based On The Life & Times Of Legendary RAW Chief RN Kao

Twitter

He was man of such a stature that when Sri Lankas Rohan Gunaratna, one of the few journalists to interview the former RAW chief, he said, R.N. Kao is the most remarkable spy in the history of modern India. If not for his contribution to Indias formidable RAW, South Asias geographic, economic and political landscape would have been markedly different.
[January 09, 2020] Union Home Mortgage Expands Presence In Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Indiana

Union Home Mortgage (UHM) announced today that Daniel Spaulding, a 30-year veteran of the mortgage industry, will join the company as regional manager of the upper Midwest region. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005803/en/ Daniel Spaulding, Union Home Mortgage (Photo: Business Wire) Spaulding began his career as the owner and manager of a mortgage credit reporting agency. After selling his company to a local title agency, Spaulding shifted his focus to the retail side of the mortgage industry by joining a major national lender. Spaulding speaks highly of the culture at UHM and is excited to contribute to the continual growth of the company. "Both the operational excellence and efficiency of execution at Union Home Mortgage were incredibly appealing to me when deciding on the next step in my career," said Spaulding."The company has an incredible appetite for growth and the reputation of President and CEO, Bill Cosgrove, makes me look forward to joining the family. I can't wait to learn more about the team and continue to grow our presence here."



Daniel Spaulding is also happy to reunite with former colleague, Jim Ferriter, UHM's Senior Vice President of Retail Sales. "Dan will be instrumental in growing the footprint of Union Home Mortgage in the Midwest," said Ferriter. "His years of leading teams, his expertise and his focus on recruiting and growth will take UHM to new heights." Union Home Mortgage is committed to the recruitment of top talent. A locally recognized "Top Place" to work, Union Home Mortgage prides itself on providing all employees, which it calls Partners, with opportunities to grow and achieve, guided by a rigorous and supportive Code of Conduct. Union Home Mortgage is always interested in finding new talent to join the team. Learn more about current openings: https://www.unionhomemortgage.com/careers.

About Union Home Mortgage Union Home Mortgage Corp. (UHM) is a high-growth, full-service retail, wholesale and consumer direct independent mortgage banking company with over 150 branches across the U.S. For 5 consecutive years, UHM has been awarded a Top Workplace. With a world-class culture that stands out in the mortgage industry, UHM Partners (employees) are guided by a Code of Conduct that emphasizes respect, open communication and accountability. UHM is an approved direct lender of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, VA, USDA and other conforming and non-QM loan products, with over $4 billion in responsible lending per year. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005803/en/

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The United Kingdom now has one foot out of the European Unions door after Prime Minister Boris Johnsons Brexit Bill was endorsed by the House of Commons on Thursday.

Succeeding where his beleaguered predecessor, Theresa May, had repeatedly failed, the Conservative Party leader saw his EU-agreed framework for leaving the European body backed by 330 members of parliament with 231 opposed, paving the way for the countrys official departure on January 31.

Speaking before the vote, Labours Paul Blomfield, opposition shadow minister for exiting the EU, lamented the bills inevitable passage, and particularly the Conservative governments refusal on Wednesday to restore child refugee protection rights into the Brexit agreement.

In what he described as a heartless move, Blomfield said guarantees over the rights of unaccompanied child refugees to be reunited with family residing in the UK would not be included in the legislation.

Following his comprehensive general election victory last month, Johnsons EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill faced little Commons opposition as it sidestepped the parliamentary impasse that had so dogged Mays administration.





Johnson has taken a party and a government that was on the edge of a nervous breakdown in the summer of 2019 to an overall majority in a legislature than now stands little chance of stopping it doing pretty much whatever it wants, said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.

Ever since the 2016 in/out EU referendum saw the majority leave votes in England and Wales negate the remain majorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland, the four-nation British union has been caught in a political storm, as many EU advocates attempted to challenge the 52-48 percent UK-wide vote.

After Mays resignation in July last year, Johnson found himself chastised by a dramatic UK Supreme Court ruling in September that decreed the new Conservative chief acted unlawfully when he suspended Parliament, following accusations he had done so in order to force through a disastrous no-deal exit from the worlds largest trading bloc.

But Thursdays vote was music to the ears of committed Brexiteers, who took delight in Johnsons success.

Brexit should have been done already, Leave advocate Iain McGill, who has stood multiple times for the Conservative Party in various elections, told Al Jazeera. But now weve got it and the future is bright and we are certainly upbeat, optimistic and positive.





Yet while Britains millions of pro-Europeans lament the Brexit Bills passage through the Commons, Scotland remains a tricky proposition for Johnson.

The UK constituent nation voted by 62-38 percent to remain in the EU, and then voted the pro-independence and European-minded Scottish National Party (SNP) into 48 out of 59 Scottish seats in Decembers election  but the British premier continues to reject SNP calls for a second poll on Scottish statehood.

The most obvious effect [of the Bill] is that it removes any doubt over whether Brexit will actually happen, and therefore ensures that the casus belli for a second independence referendum will remain in place, prominent Scottish independence-supporting blogger James Kelly, of the Scot Goes Pop! blog, told Al Jazeera.

Despite his Commons triumph, however, potential Brexit troubles remain for Johnson as he looks ahead to January 31 and beyond.

The big challenge for the PM is the fact that there are still a bunch of Conservative MPs who would like to see what they call a clean break from the EU, rather than a comprehensive free-trade deal which maintains a degree of alignment with [the EU], Bale said.

The academic, also deputy director of the UK in a Changing Europe think-tank, added: If they dont like whatever deal Johnson comes up with  or they object to an attempt on his part to renege on his promise not to ask for an extension to trade talks  they could effectively force the UK into some kind of minimalist World Trade Organisation Brexit that might seriously damage the economy, and, with it, Johnsons electoral coalition.

The bill will now go to the UK legislatures upper chamber  the House of Lords  for further examination next week.
Flamboyant Ugandan socialite Bad Black is on the spot for allegedly refusing to pay back money she owes a friend.

The socialite is said to have taken a loan from her friend known as Mercy Mika when her child was sick so as to sort the hospital bill and medication.

READ ALSO: Mama Diamond excites netizens with teenage-like TBT photo while rocking booty shorts

READ ALSO: Short stature actress Tausi gives birth to healthy baby

Speaking in an interview with Sqoop Uganda, Mika said she lent Black the money hoping she would pay but was surprised when the socialite started taking her rounds in circles.

Bad Black sent me a message on Saturday as I was leaving Club Guvnor. She told me- ''Mercy, I need your urgent help. My child is sick. Please help me with any amount of money you have so I am able to take him to the hospital. I do not have cash, my ATM has a problem, Mika claimed.

Apart from defaulting on the soft loan, the socialite blocked her lender from all social media platforms for demanding her money back.

READ ALSO: 11 heartwarming photos of Rashid Abdalla, Hassan Mugambi that prove they have perfect chemistry as TV co-hosts

I sent her the money and she promised to send it the following day. When I called her the next morning, she made her number busy and blocked me. So I went to Facebook messenger and sent her a message, but she still didnt respond. I posted on my Facebook status and also asked Ray to post for me,'' Mika added.

The lady revealed that she was shocked by Black's behaviour since they had been friends since 2010.

Mika held she has no problem with Black only that she wants her money back.

READ ALSO: Sonko azua mdahalo mitandaoni baada ya kumtania Miguna Miguna

I have no problem with her, I do not hate her. What hurts me is she asked for my hard-earned money and blocked me. She should have explained to me, I would have understood her situation," Mika said.

Bad Black has in the recent past been making headlines for her alleged riches.

Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly.

Raila Odinga is behind Miguna miguna's problems - Moses kuria | Tuko TV

Source: TUKO.co.ke
9 Jan  Although the couple have never confirmed if they would be holding a wedding reception, rumour has it that Zanilia Zhao and Feng Shaofeng will be walking down the aisle next month.

As reported on ET Today, sources recently claimed that the married couple are planning to hold their wedding banquet on the 14 of March in Bali, Indonesia - the go-to vacation wedding for many Chinese artistes.

It was also rumoured that Zanilia and Feng will be accompanied by a number of celebrity friends who will play bridesmaids and groomsmen, including Nana Ouyang, Kristy Zhang, Li Chen, and Shawn Dou.

Zanilia and Feng, who met through the Lunar New Year movie, "The Monkey King 3: Kingdom of Women", registered their marriage back in October 2018. They welcomed their first son in March last year.

(Photo Source: ET Today)
FILE PHOTO: The logo of SoftBank Group Corp is displayed at SoftBank World 2017 conference in Tokyo

BENGALURU (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp <9984.T> is in talks to sell a majority stake in its renewable energy joint venture in India as it looks to raise cash after facing setbacks to its global investments, India's Economic Times daily reported on Thursday.

SoftBank's Indian renewable energy business is a joint venture with India's Bharti Enterprises and Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group.

The Japanese technology giant has been in talks with sovereign wealth and pension funds from the Far East and Gulf regions, as well as some Silicon Valley technology giants, the report said, citing people in the know of the matter.

It is considering options including a sale of its entire 70% stake or a majority stake in the renewable energy venture, the paper reported.

However, the chief executive officer of SoftBank's global energy business denied any plans of exiting the renewable energy business in India.

"As part of business strategy, we review all options to raise external capital, including strategic investments, from time to time," CEO Raman Nanda said in an email statement to Reuters. "There is absolutely no plan to exit from the business."

The report of the stake-sale talks comes as SoftBank faces renewed investor scrutiny after being forced to bail out one of its best known portfolio companies, the cash-burning, office-sharing firm WeWork, for about $10 billion last year.

This has put a spotlight on founder Masayoshi Son's strategy of pouring billions of dollars into unproven, money-losing startups at a time when it is getting squeezed by a sell-off in many of its listed bets.

Its bailout effort for WeWork appeared to have complicated after talks to secure $3 billion from Japan's three biggest banks stalled, Reuters reported last month.

The ET report said SoftBank was looking at a partner that can provide equity commitments of $1.5 billion to $2 billion to execute and complete a pipeline of 7 gigawatts of renewable energy projects around the world.

SoftBank's Indian clean energy venture won its first solar plant order in 2015, the year when India, the world's third-largest carbon emitter, set an ambitious target to ramp up solar power capacity by five times to 100,000 megawatts by 2022.

(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
New York, Jan 10 : The top US diplomat dealing with South Asia, Alice Wells, is scheduled to visit India next week on a trip that will also take her to Pakistan, according to the State Department.

Wells, who is the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, is to meet with senior government officials to "advance the U.S.-India strategic global partnership following the success of the 2019 US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue" when she is in New Delhi from January 15 to 18,A the Department said.

She will also attend the Raisina Dialogue, the major Indian conclave on global affairs, in New Delhi.

The Department said that she will also meet with members of the business community and civil society.

India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark Esper participated last month in the 2+2 dialogue on strategic cooperation between the two countries.

Wells will visit Sri Lanka before coming to India, from where she will go to Pakistan.

In Islamabad she is to meet with senior government officials and members of civil society to discuss issues of bilateral and regional concern, the Department said.

Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov of Russia and Mohammad Javed Zarif of Iran along with those of nine other countries will be at Raisina Dialogue.

Jaishankar and other Indian ministers will also be at the meeting organised by the think tank, Observer Research Foundation.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)
[January 09, 2020] Postmedia Reports First Quarter Results

Postmedia Network Canada Corp. ("Postmedia" or the "Company") today released financial information for the three months ended November 30, 2019. Highlights from the Quarter Continued digital growth - Three years (twelve consecutive quarters) of double digit digital advertising revenue growth - up 11.1% in the quarter, equaling the growth rate over the last twelve months.

Business Transformation - In the quarter we realized an 8.1% reduction in operating costs 1 , which, together with other initiatives implemented in the quarter, are expected to result in approximately $10.4 million of net annualized cost savings.

, which, together with other initiatives implemented in the quarter, are expected to result in approximately $10.4 million of net annualized cost savings. Operating income before depreciation, amortization and restructuring was $21.4 million in the quarter, represents a decrease of $0.3 million. First Quarter Operating Results Revenue for the quarter was $156.7 million as compared to $171.3 million in the same period in the prior year, representing a decrease of $14.6 million or 8.5%. The revenue decline was primarily due to decreases in print advertising revenue of $12.9 million or 16.8% and print circulation revenue of $3.1 million or 5.8%. Digital revenue increased by $2.8 million or 8.7% in the quarter with digital advertising revenue up 11.1%, the same growth rate of digital advertising over the last twelve months. "Our teams are focused on executing on our strategy and this focus is reflected in our digital advertising revenue results. Today we reached an impressive milestone - three straight years of double digit digital advertising revenue growth," said Andrew MacLeod, President and Chief Executive Officer, Postmedia. "The industry remains in a difficult and disrupted state as pressure on its legacy foundation is accelerating. Any future model relies on growing digital revenue. The success of our teams proves that at Postmedia, we have reason to be cautiously optimistic. Despite these challenges, this established growth provides us with the necessary foundation to transform into a future sustainable model." Excluding the impact of the adoption of IFRS 16 - Leases accounting policy in Fiscal 2020, total operating expenses excluding depreciation, amortization and restructuring decreased $12.1 million or 8.1% for the quarter, relative to the same period in the prior year. The decrease was as a result of lower newspaper circulation volumes as well as the implementation of various cost reduction initiatives. Operating income before depreciation, amortization and restructuring of $21.4 million in the quarter represents a decrease of $0.3 million or 1.5% relative to the same period in the prior year. The decrease is due to decreases in print advertising and circulation revenues partially offset by an increase in digital revenue and operating expense decreases. Included in operating expense decreases is the impact of the change in accounting policy and a compensation expense recovery of $2.4 million related to the journalism tax credits. Net loss in the quarter ended November 30, 2019 was $3.0 million, as compared to $1.4 million in the same period in the prior year. The change was primarily the result of the decrease in operating income before depreciation, amortization and restructuring and increases in interest expense and financing expense relating to employee benefit plans, partially offset by decreases in foreign currency exchange losses and loss on derivative financial instruments and a gain on disposal of property and equipment. 1 Operating expenses excluding depreciation, amortization and restructuring as adjusted for the impact of the adoption of IFRS 16 - Leases in Fiscal 2020. Business Transformation Initiatives During the three months ended November 30, 2019, the Company implemented initiatives including compensation expense reductions, real estate rationalization, production efficiencies and other transformation programs, which are expected to result in approximately $10.4 million of net annualized cost savings. The Company intends to continue to identify and undertake ongoing cost reduction initiatives in an effort to address revenue declination in the legacy print business. Debt Refinancing On September 9, 2019, the Company completed a previously announced refinancing transaction that included the redemption of the Company's existing first-lien notes in the outstanding principal amount of $94.8 million, plus accrued interest of $2.8 million, and terminated the existing amended and restated senior secured notes indenture. The Company financed the redemption through the issuance of $95.2 million aggregate principal amount of new first-lien notes to Canso Investment Counsel Ltd. of Richmond Hill, Ontario, in its capacity as portfolio manager for and on behalf of certain accounts that it manages for net proceeds of $93.5 million, after financing fees of $1.7 million. The new first-lien notes have substantially similar terms to the existing first-lien notes with the exception of a reduction to the minimum annual excess cash flow redemption from $10.0 million to $5.0 million. In addition, the Company extended the maturity of its existing second lien notes by six months to January 15, 2024. IFRS 16 Leases The adoption of IFRS 16 Leases has resulted in an increase in operating income before depreciation, amortization and restructuring for the period ended November 30, 2019 of $2.2 million. Interest of $0.8 million on the lease obligations and amortization of $1.8 million of the right of use assets are charged to the statement of operations below operating income before depreciation, amortization and restructuring for the period ended November 30, 2019. Additional Information Additional information, including financial statements and management's discussion and analysis can be found on the Company's website at www.postmedia.com/investors/financial-reports or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Note: All dollar amounts are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise specified. About Postmedia Network Canada Corp. Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (TSX:PNC (News - Alert).A, PNC.B) is the holding company that owns Postmedia Network Inc., a Canadian newsmedia company representing more than 140 brands across multiple print, online, and mobile platforms. Award-winning journalists and innovative product development teams bring engaging content to millions of people every week whenever and wherever they want it. This exceptional content, reach and scope offers advertisers and marketers compelling solutions to effectively reach target audiences. For more information, visit www.postmedia.com. Forward-Looking Information This news release may include information that is "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities laws. The Company has tried, where possible, to identify such information and statements by using words such as "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "may," "will," "could," "would," "should" and similar expressions and derivations thereof in connection with any discussion of future events, trends or prospects or future operating or financial performance. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements with respect to the implementation and results of the Company's transformation initiatives, continued benefits of historical results into future periods,and the realization of anticipated cost savings and the identification and undertaking of ongoing cost savings initiatives. By their nature, forward-looking information and statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. These risks and uncertainties include, among others: competition from digital and other forms of media; the effect of economic conditions on advertising revenue; the ability of the Company to build out its digital media and online businesses; the failure to maintain current print and online newspaper readership and circulation levels; the realization of anticipated cost savings; possible damage to the reputation of the Company's brands or trademarks; possible labour disruptions; possible environmental liabilities, litigation and pension plan obligations; fluctuations in foreign exchange rates and the prices of newsprint and other commodities. For a complete list of our risk factors please refer to the section entitled "Risk Factors" contained in our annual management's discussion and analysis for the years ended August 31, 2019 and 2018. Although the Company bases such information and statements on assumptions believed to be reasonable when made, they are not guarantees of future performance and actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and developments in the industry in which the Company operates, may differ materially from any such information and statements in this press release. Given these risks and uncertainties, undue reliance should not be placed on any forward-looking information or forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of such information or statements. Other than as required by law, the Company does not undertake, and specifically declines, any obligation to update such information or statements or to publicly announce the results of any revisions to any such information or statements. Postmedia Network Canada Corp.

Consolidated Statements of Operations

(UNAUDITED)







(In thousands of Canadian dollars, except per share amounts) For the three months ended

November 30, 2019 2018 Revenues Print advertising 64,143 77,091 Print circulation 50,327 53,451 Digital 35,586 32,747 Other 6,599 7,984 Total revenues 156,655 171,273 Expenses Compensation 52,283 58,324 Newsprint 7,477 9,760 Distribution 28,906 31,443 Production 20,939 20,921 Other operating 25,672 29,119 Operating income before depreciation, amortization and restructuring 21,378 21,706 Depreciation 3,011 4,999 Amortization 4,248 4,192 Restructuring and other items 8,569 2,678 Operating income 5,550 9,837 Interest expense 7,378 7,185 Net financing expense related to employee benefit plans 610 541 (Gain) loss on disposal of property and equipment (3) 226 Loss on derivative financial instruments 519 557 Foreign currency exchange losses 46 2,747 Loss before income taxes (3,000) (1,419) Provision for income taxes - - Net loss attributable to equity holders of the Company (3,000) (1,419) Loss per share attributable to equity holders of the Company Basic $(0.03) $(0.02) Diluted $(0.03) $(0.02)

Postmedia Network Canada Corp.

Consolidated Statements of Financial Position

(UNAUDITED) (In thousands of Canadian dollars) As at November 30, 2019 As at August 31, 2019 Assets Current Assets Cash 13,546 15,464 Restricted cash - 13 Trade and other receivables 88,969 72,228 Assets held-for-sale 29,029 24,475 Inventory 3,582 3,554 Prepaid expenses and other assets 11,018 10,269 Total current assets 146,144 126,003 Non-Current Assets Property and equipment 101,061 109,860 Right of use assets 46,958 - Derivative financial instruments and other assets 2,310 2,829 Intangible assets 58,140 60,367 Total assets 354,613 299,059 Liabilities and Equity Current Liabilities Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 63,400 54,122 Provisions 11,651 5,893 Deferred revenue 25,185 25,907 Current portion of lease obligations 7,321 - Current portion of long-term debt 5,000 5,000 Total current liabilities 112,557 90,922 Non-Current Liabilities Long-term debt 248,795 250,011 Employee benefit obligations and other liabilities 66,247 94,537 Lease obligations 42,356 - Total liabilities 469,955 435,470 Deficiency Capital stock 810,861 810,861 Contributed surplus 14,992 14,770 Deficit (941,195) (962,042) Total deficiency (115,342) (136,411) Total liabilities and deficiency 354,613 299,059 Postmedia Network Canada Corp.

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

(UNAUDITED) (In thousands of Canadian dollars) For the three months

ended November 30, 2019 2018 Cash Generated (Utilized) by: Operating Activities Net loss attributable to equity holders of the Company (3,000) (1,419) Items not affecting cash: Depreciation 3,011 4,999 Amortization 4,248 4,192 Loss on derivative financial instruments 519 557 Non-cash interest 5,358 4,540 (Gain) loss on disposal of property and equipment (3) 226 Non-cash foreign currency exchange (gains) losses (51) 2,761 Share-based compensation plans expense 222 427 Net financing expense relating to employee benefit plans 610 541 Employee benefit plan funding in excess of compensation expense (452) (783) Net change in non-cash operating accounts (7,714) (21,241) Cash flows from (used in) operating activities 2,748 (5,200) Investing Activities Net proceeds from the sale of property and equipment 33 391 Purchases of property and equipment (1,122) (166) Purchases of intangible assets (196) (169) Cash flows from (used in) investing activities (1,285) 56 Financing activities Net proceeds from issuance of long-term debt 95,235 - Repayment of long-term debt (94,761) (8,718) Restricted cash 13 (393) Debt issuance costs (1,710) - Lease payments (2,158) - Cash flow used in financing activities (3,381) (9,111) Net change in cash for the period (1,918) (14,255) Cash at beginning of period 15,464 26,037 Cash at end of period 13,546 11,782 Supplemental disclosure of operating cash flows Interest paid 3,948 5,510 Income taxes paid - - View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005622/en/

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 06:08:43|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIRUT, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh on Thursday ruled out imminent financial collapse in Lebanon, MTV local TV Channel reported.

Salameh said that the banks in Lebanon are solvent though facing pressure due to the decline in liquidity, assuring no Lebanese bank will go bankrupt and the banks facing difficulties will be merged.

Lebanon has witnessed in the past few months a shortage of U.S. dollars caused by economic slowdown and the drop in cash injection from Lebanese abroad, reducing the central bank's foreign currency reserves and leading to a shortage in dollar for businesses and individuals.

Hence banks put restrictions on dollar withdrawals and exchange from Lebanese pounds to dollars, creating panic among depositors who resorted to withdrawing their money and storing them at home.

Salameh attributed this crisis to the panic caused in the market by the attacks against Aramco facilities, U.S. Treasury's measures against Jammal Trust Bank, in addition to the Israeli drone that attacked Beirut southern suburbs.

Salameh said he expects liquidity in Lebanese banks to drop further because banks hold the government's Eurobonds but this liquidity will remain above the requirements of BASEL III.

"Also banks are requested to increase their capitals by a total of 4 billion U.S. dollars by June 2020 without distributing any dividends to shareholders which will secure a total of 5.5 billion U.S. dollars," he said.

Salameh promised that Lebanese banks will start removing restrictions in June.

"If we succeed to secure political coverage, we will issue a circular to ease restrictions on withdrawals and allow all clients to transfer money from Lebanon to other countries. We have a road map for that," he said.

The central bank has devised a plan under which depositors' money will be preserved, Salameh added.
This article was first published on NerdWallet.com.

If you want to access federal financial aid for college, you will need to register for Selective Service, which registers men and is responsible for running a military draft. The requirement is nothing new.

Submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid doesnt mean you will be drafted into the military. But not completing the FAFSA to avoid Selective Service means you will lose out on financial aid opportunities.

Here are a few facts about the FAFSA and the Selective Service you should know.

Who has to register?

Registration with the Selective Service System is required for more than just college financial aid applicants.

All males (according to their sex assigned at birth) ages 18-25 must register for Selective Service. You must register within 30 days of turning 18 if youre a U.S. citizen or within 30 days of entering the country as an immigrant.

Is there an active draft?

There is no active draft right now  the current military is all-volunteer. There hasnt been an active draft by lottery since 1973, during the Vietnam War. The Selective Service System has accepted registrants since 1980.

To reinstate the draft, Congress would have to pass a bill, which would then need to be signed into law by the president. A random lottery system would then determine who is conscripted into military service. Those who are drafted would need to pass mental, physical and moral fitness tests before entering into the military.

Can you get financial aid without signing up for Selective Service?

You cant get federal financial aid without signing up for Selective Service. Technically, you could still apply for private student loans and scholarships that dont require the FAFSA for eligibility.

But even if you dont submit the FAFSA to avoid Selective Service, your college or state might require that you register with Selective Service anyway to enroll in school.

Before you make a decision, consider the drawbacks of missing out on FAFSA combined with the penalties of not registering for Selective Service.

What are the consequences of not registering?

By not registering with the Selective Service System, youll be denied for any federal financial aid. But thats just the start: You also face a felony charge, a fine of up to $250,000 and jail time of up to five years.

If you manage to get through college without aid and avoid any legal penalties, you still wont be able to get a federal job or many state jobs, including government contract positions. If youre an immigrant, you cant become a citizen.

What would I give up by not submitting the FAFSA?

If you dont submit the FAFSA, you wont have access to any federal financial aid, including Pell Grants, federal work-study and federal student loans. You will also be ineligible for certain scholarships, along with state and institutional aid that require the FAFSA.

Who is exempt from registering when submitting the FAFSA?

Not all men must register for Selective Service when submitting the FAFSA. Exemptions include:

Women and transgender men who were assigned a female sex at birth. Parents who apply for PLUS loans. Men currently serving in the armed forces, except Reserve and National Guard members who are not on active duty. Financial aid applicants who are under 18 when submitting the FAFSA. Noncitizens who entered the U.S. after the age of 26 or who entered as lawful nonimmigrants on a valid visa and stayed in the U.S. until age 26.



How can I register?

When you fill out the FAFSA, youre prompted to register with the Selective Service System if you have not already done so (Question 22). You can also sign up on the Selective Service System website.

Youll receive a letter in the mail with your registration card after signing up. You must register in order to receive financial aid. If your FAFSA is denied before you register for Selective Service, submit an appeal.

Anna Helhoski is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: anna@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @AnnaHelhoski.

The article Will the FAFSA Get Me Drafted Into the Military? originally appeared on NerdWallet.
SRINAGAR: In an effort to link Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country through rail network, the Indian Railways is constructing the world's highest railway-arch bridge over River Chenab, which is likely to be completed by 2021.

This special bridge across the river Chenab is being built at a height of 359 metres, from the bed level. The rail line is expected to be 35 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower.

It is the most challenging task in the 150-year-long history of the railways. The highest railway bridge in the world, connecting Kashmir with rest of country through rail line will be completed by December 2021, Konkan Railway Corporation Limited Chairman Sanjay Gupta said on Thursday.

''This iconic bridge soaring 359 metres above the bed of the River Chenab will be 35 metres higher than the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris, the KRCL CMD maintained. He added that the government has also set a fresh deadline for the completion of the much-awaited and one of the most complicated rail projects in the country.

The commissioning of the Chenab river project, which is now being directly monitored by the Prime Ministers Office for its faster completion, was earlier targeted for 2020, but the project got delayed.

The massive arch-shaped structure, being constructed in hostile terrain, have used over 5,462 tonnes of steel will be 359 metres above the river bed, he added.

Designed to withstand wind speeds of up to 260 km per hour, the 1.315-km-long engineering marvel will connect Bakkal (Katra) and Kauri (Srinagar). It will be a part of the Udhampur  Srinagar  Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) Project.

A part of this project from Katra  Dharam has been assigned to the Konkan Railway Corporation. It comprises 46.1km (86%) of the route in tunnels, 5 km (9%) of the route on bridges and the remaining 5% of route in cuttings and embankments.

Once completed, it will surpass the record of the Beipan river Shuibai railway bridge (275 m) in China.

The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project is the most challenging project being undertaken after the Independence of the country and highly essential to provide an alternative and reliable transportation system to J&K to link Kashmir Valley with Indian Railways network.

In view of the importance of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project in providing seamless and hassle-free connectivity in J&K, the project was declared as National Project in 2002. A part of this project from Katra-Dharam with 53.66 mm has been assigned to Konkan Railway for execution.

In addition, Konkan Railway has constructed 160 km of project roads including road tunnels and many temporary Bailey bridges to gain access to the Katra-Dharam section. The project will give a boost to tourism as tourists can travel from all over the country to visit various parts of J&K especially the Valley.

The project will provide better facilities to the students of J&K to travel to other parts of the country for educational purposes. The completion of this project will provide all-weather and reliable connectivity to J&K with rest of the country by the railway network apart from providing connectivity by rail to far-flung areas of J&K which will result in the overall economic development of J&K.
By IANS

MUMBAI: The turmoil that has gripped the youth and students -- powered mostly by the intelligent but impatient millenials -- inside and outside campuses across the country, is considered unprecedented in the past two decades, and left the powers-that-be rattled right out of a stupor.

The youth's unified angst flaring up at regular intervals from the north, east, west, south has manifested against various contemporary issues that have rocked the country's ruling dispensation in the past few years.

The young, modern-day 'Davids', especially the millenials, feel all this has created a divide of sorts -- psychological, social and political in the country, by the 'Goliaths' symbolizing the current rigid rulers.

Recently, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had prophetically warned that the "country's youth are like a bomb, if you play around with them, they can explode".

ALSO READ: Deepika patriotic when endorsing Modi government scheme, anti-national after visiting JNU, says Kanhaiya Kumar

"The youth are out because historically, they have always been the first to protest against any kind of social or political injustices... What the young brigade see now is very dismaying, and kindles no hope for their future," Pune's Yuvak Kranti Dal Vice-President Kamlakar Shete told IANS.

Passionate about issues, Shete warned that given the magnitude of the issues confronting the nation, these protests will "only magnify" till the government yields -- "not only an inch, but all the way" -- for a better future for the youth.

A youth leader Chandan Saroj from Wardha said while the government may believe the illiterate masses can be fooled easily, "the youth have seen through their antics and are now wide awake" to fight for the citizens' rights which are sought to be usurped by a handful of individuals in power.

"The youth are educated, they understand, think, analyse the disastrous consequences of government decisions, how the Constitution is being tinkered with and which way the nation is heading... The rulers forget that the youngsters also possess the power to arrest such trends," the soft-spoken Saroj told IANS.

ALSO READ: JNU students demand removal of V-C, stopped from marching towards Rashtrapati Bhavan

Another firebrand youth leader, Fahad Ahmad, former general secretary of TISS, Mumbai, feels this is "a new movement for Freedom from oppression" of the current government which is attempting to crush all sections of society.

"The youth is feeling uncertain, demoralized, he/she has no clue how the education they get will help them build or secure their future... They are splitting the country on grounds of religion, caste, creed... We are determined -- if they divide the nation, we will unite it," Ahmad told IANS.

Invoking a famous line -- "Darr ko itna mat darao, Ki darr hi mar jayea -- he cautioned that the youth is not 'scared' of anything now.. for, in the past six years, the government has driven wedges between communities, imposed restrictions on what to eat, wear, speak, think, etc. -- the kind of which was not witnessed even during the long and merciless British regime or the brief and harsh Emergency.

"But the youth is united... You assault them in north, east will protest, you terrorise them in west, south will oppose... Our slogans are about 'unity, integrity, amity, harmony' and the government cannot break this unity. We will not be violent, but we will no longer be silent," Ahmad asserted.

ALSO READ: Delhi Police takes JNUSU, JNUTA protestors to meet HRD officials

About the brutality they face, they proudly refer to Shaheed Bhagat Singh, who was martyred at the age of 21, and many other youngsters in recent decades who sacrificed themselves at a young age to ensure a better future for the rest of the youth and the nation.

They emphasise how students and youth have been at the forefront of every major historical turning point in India, be it the Independence movement, anti-Emergency of 1975, the anti-Mandal Report crusade, the Nirbhaya agitation, or the recent ones opposing Citizenship Amendment Act, and the potent youth always succeeded in bending the ruling might, and globally too.

About the battering the country's image has taken on the world stage, Ahmad says that actually the image of India as a 'vibrant democracy' has been reinforced in recent years as the country's "youth has now fully woken up to the grim realities".

Conceding India has taken a beating in global ratings, Shete refers to the condemnation that abounds on the global social media against the government, worrying investors, tourists, etc., but feels this is "necessary for the larger, long-term national interests".

ALSO READ: What is the exact hostel fee being charged now? Confusion among 'non-agitating' JNU students

"Until now, India may have been considered only economically backward, but in the past six years, we have gone politically, socially and intellectually backward, our proud and envied image as a country of 'unity in diversity' has been shattered. The world now knows that India is a strong democracy where anybody who tries to deprive the masses of their rights will be uprooted," Saroj said.

The three enthusiastic leaders are unanimous that despite the harassment and problems they encounter at individual levels, the youth of the country cannot be cowed down.

"The agitated, young Genie is now unbottled But he will work only for the good of the country's youth and future," declared a determined Saroj.
The Education Minister has announced a new 1m fund which aims to provide free books in primary schools.

More than 15,000 pupils across more than 100 schools are to benefit from the increased investment.
Four days after a masked mob entered the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus here and assaulted 34 people including students, the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police on Thursday said it had zeroed in on a few suspects behind the attack.

A senior police officer said they had identified at least 70 administrators of two WhatsApp groups, where the attack on members of the JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) was allegedly planned.

According to the police, they were very close to identifying the culprits behind Sunday's attack and had zeroed in on a few suspects.

The dump data of the mobile phones of those present on the university campus on Sunday was collected and being scanned, the police said.

So far, the police have spoken to more than 100 people from the campus, including students, teachers, wardens and witnesses.

After the incident, several students shared screenshots of conversations in certain WhatsApp groups, alleging that the attack on them was planned. A police officer said they had now identified at least 70 administrators of two WhatsApp groups.

The police, however, said they were trying to identify all the members of the two WhatsApp groups and will be questioning them to probe their involvement in the attack.

After the police made a public appeal requesting people to share information, footage and video clips related to the incident, several students came forward to share the details.

The police said they were also scanning the video clips and CCTV footage shared on social media platforms to verify its authenticity.

A team from the Forensic Science Laboratory had also visited the university to collect more evidence, the police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac on Thursday alleged that the Centre was "strangulating" the state by not allotting any funds and had reduced the borrowing limit by around Rs 8,000 crore.

"In the last quarter, our borrowing limit was Rs 10,023 crore, but yesterday the centre gave us the permission only for for Rs 1,900 crore," Isaac said at a press meet here.

In the last fiscal the state had got a loan amount of Rs 19,500 crore, but this year it had been been slashed to just Rs 16,602 crore, he said.

The centre's stand amounts to "strangulating" the state, he said, adding this would only result in "worsening" the country's financial condition.

However, the welfare funds like scholarships, medical aid to poor and subsidies would not be affected, he said.

"Though welfare funds like subsidies will not be affected, the major government expenditure will have to wait and rescheduled after considering the availability of funds," the minister said.

The Rs 1,600 crore GST compensation from the centre to the southern state had not yet been given and kerala has no idea when it would receive the amount, he said.

Isaac also claimed the Centre had not paid arrears to the state related to the centre's schemes, including MGNREGA.

The Centre had on January 6 approved the release of Rs 5,908.56 crore to seven states, including Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Assam, as assistance for the damage caused due to various calamities last year.

However, the demand of Kerala for over Rs 2,100 crore to tide over the devastation caused by last year's heavy rains and landslides, which claimed over 120 lives in north Kerala, was not accepted.

After the centre refused to allot any fund to Kerala as assistance for the damage caused due to various calamities last year, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has asked the state to pay Rs 205 crore for 89,450 metric tonnes of rice allotted as flood relief during 2018-19.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Midtown Manhattan's Macy's department store with holiday decorations in this file photo from 2009. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

Macys to Close 28 Stores Across US Despite Improved Sales

Macys is closing more than two dozen stores as troubles mount for the legendary retailer, according to reports on Wednesday. The chain is also planning to shutter a call center, affecting around 800 jobs alone.

In all, the company will shutter 28 Macys stores and one Bloomingdales location across the United States, reported Fox News and CNBC. Macys operates around 860 stores across the country.

A spokesperson told Fox that the closures are part of a routine review of Macys portfolio.

We will provide an update on our growth strategy and three-year plan, including details on our stores segmentation strategy, at Investor Day on Feb. 5, a Macys spokesperson told the Today show.

Macys on Wednesday reported that its sales at stores opened at least a year fell 0.6 percent during the November and December period, which was not as bad as most industry analysts had anticipated. The companys stock rose more than 2 percent in afternoon trading Wednesday.

In November, Macys cut its annual profit and sales expectations after posting a steeper-than-expected 3.5 percent drop in same-store sales for the third quarter.

Macys, Inc.s performance during the holiday season reflected a strong trend improvement from the third quarter. Our digital business and Growth150 stores performed well. Additionally, customers responded to our gifting assortment and marketing strategy, particularly in the 10 days before Christmas, said Jeff Gennette, chairman and chief executive officer of Macys, said in a news release. The entire organization committed to delivering Holiday 2019, and it showed up in our execution. I want to thank all of our colleaguesfull-time, part-time, and seasonalfor their hard work and dedication to serving our customers.

A spokesperson also told Business Insider that one of its call centers in Tempe, Arizona will be closing next month. The operations would be moved to other locations in Clearwater, Florida, and Mason, Ohio.

After careful consideration, the Macys Credit and Customer Services (MCCS) West  Tempe, AZ location will close in early February, a Macys spokeswoman also told AZFamily in a statement.

In the past several years, Macys and other department stores have been hit hard as consumers switch to buying their products online.

Macys failure on the sales line comes back to one central problem: the products it sells and the environments in which it sells them are not aligned with what consumers want, Neil Saunders, the head of GloablData Retail, wrote in a note to clients, reported Business Insider.

He added: Admittedly, some steps have been taken to remedy thissuch as the refurbishment of the menswear department at its New York flagship, the addition of concepts like Story to a handful of stores, and the focus on Growth 150 shopsbut these things are drops in the ocean when set against the entirety of Macys business. They are not going to quickly move the needle in any meaningful way.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Details have emerged of how troops of the United States, US, stationed in Iraq escaped ballistic missiles by Iran. It was reliably...





Details have emerged of how troops of the United States, US, stationed in Iraq escaped ballistic missiles by Iran.





It was reliably gathered that the US intelligence satellites picked up signals of a possible missiles attack a few minutes before the launch and the troops were informed to take short-term cover.





Recall that Iran had fired more than a dozen missiles at two Iraqi military bases early on Wednesday morning.





The US confirmed that the missiles hit its military airbase in Ain al-Assad in Anbar Province and a facility near Erbils airport in northern Iraq.

The attacks came in retaliation for the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, leader of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.





However, an insider revealed that the US intercepted Iranian conversations on the planned missile attacks.





Minutes earlier, US intelligence satellites had picked up signs of a heat signature from Iran, suggesting the country had just launched short-range ballistic missiles.





The US knew an impending attack was likely, thanks to a tip from the Iraqi government, which had been told by the Iranians an attack was coming and which bases to avoid.





Still, using information from the satellites and US aircraft in the region which had intercepted Iranian communications, US intelligence analysts quickly determined that two bases in Iraq were the targets, al-Asad and Erbil. Within minutes, US troops stationed there were warned. Theyd already been on high alert and sought safety in bunkers.





Troops took short-term cover the day before out of a concern of a possible attack. Now, the threat was imminent, and the troops were told of incoming missiles.





At 7:30 p.m. ET, the official announcement went out: Iran had launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against US military and coalition forces in Iraq, the source said.




ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Jan. 9

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has been familiarized with the planned work to modernize the energy system of the countrys capital, Ashgabat, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmenistan State News Agency.

As reported, Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister Charymyrat Purchekov has presented proposals on bringing the energy supply system of the country to a new level, in order to increase its reliability and meet the growing energy supply needs, taking into account the facilities under construction in the capital.

The Turkmen president noted the need to envisage creation of autonomous energy systems, the report said. It was also emphasized that in terms of energy resources, Turkmenistan is one of the richest countries, and the electricity production worldwide is considered one of the most profitable spheres.

In 2018, the population of Ashgabat exceeded one million people, due to the territorial expansion of the borders of the city. According to the 1995 census, the population of the city was 604,700 people.

A ring power system is planned to be created in the country to ensure uninterrupted power supply for consumers of Turkmenistan.

Earlier it was reported that the total volume of electricity generated in Turkmenistan is planned to be increased up to 33 billion kilowatt-hours by 2024, which is 27.2 percent more compared to the plans for 2018.

Turkmenistan sells electricity to Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey and Uzbekistan. Ashgabat also reviews the prospects for supplying electricity to the markets of the Caucasian, South Asian and other Central Asian countries.
BEIJING  A preliminary investigation into viral pneumonia illnesses sickening dozens of people in and around China has identified the possible cause as a new type of coronavirus, state media said Thursday.

Coronaviruses are spread through coughing or sneezing or by touching an infected person. Some cause the common cold and others can lead to more severe respiratory diseases, such as SARS and MERS. Such viruses are common in people but more exotic versions from bats, camels and other animals have caused severe illness.

The novel coronavirus is different from those that have previously been identified, CCTV said. Health authorities ruled out SARS and MERS as possible causes over the weekend.

As of Sunday, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said 59 people in the central Chinese city were being treated for the respiratory illness. Seven were in critical condition, while the rest were stable.

Eight patients were discharged Wednesday, Xinhua state news agency reported. They had not exhibited any pneumonia symptoms for several days.

Chinese researchers used a sample from one patient to conduct gene sequencing of the virus, said Gauden Galea, a World Health Organization representative to China.

Preliminary identification of a novel virus in a short period of time is a notable achievement, Galea said in a statement, adding that it demonstrates Chinas increased capacity to manage new outbreaks.

Possible cases of the same illness have been reported in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan involving recent travelers to Wuhan.

Since the end of 2019, Hong Kong public hospitals have reported 38 patients who presented with fever, respiratory infection or pneumonia symptoms after recent visits to Wuhan. Twenty-one of those patients have since been discharged, Hong Kongs Hospital Authority said Wednesday.

No serious cases have been found to be related to those in Wuhan, said Hong Kong health chief Sophia Chan.

The new illnesses had raised fears of a recurrence of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. The disease first infected people in southern China in late 2002, and spread to more than two dozen countries. More than 8,000 people were sickened and nearly 800 died, but no cases have been reported since 2004.

Yanan Wang is an Associated Press writer.
Gardai had to pull a man away from an unconscious woman as he sexually assaulted her on a Dublin street, it has been alleged.

Andrzej Tadel (43) is accused of pulling down the woman's trousers and assaulting her as she lay drunk in a laneway in the city centre.

It is alleged that he ignored gardai when they shouted at him to stop.

He was sent forward for trial when he had a book of evidence served on him at Dublin District Court.

Judge Bryan Smyth granted him bail despite garda objections.

Mr Tadel, of no fixed address, is charged with sexually assaulting the woman last July.

Objecting to bail, Gda Carol- ine Purcell said the incident happened between 11 and 11.45am.

A witness called 999 after she said she saw the accused pull down the woman's trousers and underwear before touching her.

Shouted

As two gardai arrived, they saw Mr Tadel and the alleged victim lying on the ground, and saw him touch her with her trousers and underwear pulled down, Gda Purcell said.

They shouted at the accused to stop, and it was alleged he ignored this and proceeded to touch the woman in full view of the gardai and "had to be physically pulled off the unconscious female to stop him".

The woman, who had to be roused by the gardai, told them she had not consented to the act and was incapable of doing so as she was highly intoxicated.

She further stated that she "does not know this male", the garda said.

There would be two garda witnesses as well as an independent witness.

The alleged assault was not captured on CCTV, but there was other footage from the area that showed both parties, Gda Purcell said.

This was of high quality and both were clearly identified, she said.

Mr Tadel made certain admissions during interview, Gda Purcell said.

She believed he was a flight risk because, while he had lived in Ireland for 13 years, he had no ties here and stated in interview: "Now I'm thinking of going back to Poland."

Applying for bail, defence solicitor Donal Quigley said Mr Tadel was presumed innocent and could resile from any admissions at any stage.

He had attended court while on bail.

There had been alcohol involved in relation to both parties, the court heard.

Judge Smyth granted bail in the accused's own bond of 500 with no cash required.

Under the conditions, he must sign on three times weekly at Bridewell Garda Station, remain sober in public and have no contact with the alleged victim.

A book of evidence was then served on the accused and he was sent for trial to the next sittings of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
TARRYTOWN, N.Y., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- When it comes to parenting, sometimes being perfect is all about embracing the imperfections! Boudreaux's Butt Paste, the diaper rash brand trusted and loved by millions of parents, sought to get the inside scoop on modern moments in parenting in the brand's 2020 parenting survey. From pain-in-the-butt fails to kick-butt wins, parents dished honestly on all things regarding raising little ones in the new year.

"The beauty of modern parenting is that we can all connect on the fact that no one has it all together," said Jeanne Collins, Vice President of Marketing at Prestige Consumer Healthcare. "Not only is it about laughing through the little mishaps that happen along the way, but also finding solutions that uniquely work for you as a parent  that's what the Boudreaux's Butt Paste brand ethos is all about."

From actually having a favorite child to what they'd give up for perfectly behaved kids, the results of this Boudreaux's Butt Paste survey reveal that ultimately, there is no such thing as the "perfect" parent.

Survey says!

Un-Trending in 2020

64 percent of parents said mom shaming and overscheduling kids were the parenting trends they'd most like to see go away in 2020.

Who Parents Turn To

When they need parenting advice, those surveyed turn first to their partner (42 percent), then to their mother (41 percent) or to other parents (31 percent).

In this modern day and age, 17 percent also rely on the internet for parenting questions and almost 10 percent look toward social media for advice.

What's Your Style?

A majority of parents (54 percent) agree that the "authoritative" parenting style is most effective  being sensitive and responsive to children's needs, while maintaining sternness.

"Authoritarian" parenting, being stern, demanding and aloof, takes second place with 12 percent of the vote.

Oops, I Did it Again!

According to parents, they commit almost 4,000 parenting faux pas before their child moves out of the house.

The average parent commits 221 little hiccups per year  adding up to 3,978 between their child's birth and age 18.

The top parenting snafu was found to be allowing children to have too much screen time (65 percent), followed by accidentally teaching children swear words (42 percent) and letting children watch something that wasn't age appropriate (39 percent).

The Naughty List

Parents aren't the only ones that have hiccups  they dished on the top ways their children are misbehaving

70 percent are jumping on the beds



63 percent are throwing things or playing catch inside



56 percent are slamming bedroom doors



52 percent are drawing on the walls or floor



50 percent are using screens after lights out



49 percent are eating something they shouldn't



47 percent are hiding toys under the bed instead of cleaning



46 percent are roughhousing with a sibling



45 percent are blaming their sibling for something they did



45 percent are calling their sibling names

The Terrible 6's?

Parents reveal that children are the most difficult to handle at age six.

Playing Favorites

50 percent of parents admit their youngest child is their favorite (of those who have a favorite), yet the youngest is the one they say causes the most trouble.

Best Behavior

If it meant having a perfectly-behaved child for life, 3 in 10 parents would give up social media, while others were willing to sacrifice wine (30 percent) or Netflix (26 percent).

29 percent of parents surveyed think their child behaves worse than they did at their age, while 33 percent said it's about the same.

Ready or Not, Here They Come!

Only 12 percent of respondents felt very prepared to become a parent. And when first becoming a parent, respondents were most surprised by the lack of sleep new parents get (50 percent), how hard it can be to get a new baby to fall asleep (37 percent) and the amount of stuff a baby comes with (31 percent).

Speaking of all that "stuff" more than half of parents (56 percent) revealed that their baby has a more expensive personal care routine than them.

Additionally, on average, parents revealed that their diaper bag has about 10 items in it.

One essential your diaper bag should always have in it  the gentle, yet effective and fast-acting, Boudreaux's Butt Paste!

Kicking Butt

Even with feeling unprepared  and having a handful of "hiccups" per week  66 percent of parents said they excel in teaching their children to be kind and compassionate.

42 percent of parents also felt that they did a great job helping their children consistently sleep through the night in their own bed.

For more information on Boudreaux's Butt Paste, visit www.ButtPaste.com or on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Methodology

This 2019 survey was commissioned by Boudreaux's Butt Paste and conducted online by OnePoll with a panel of 2,000 American parents. The parents were 23 years and older and results split by parent's age, child's age, gender and region.

About Boudreaux's Butt Paste

Created by pharmacist and father of four, George Boudreaux, in 1978, Boudreaux's Butt Paste was born from the need for an effective and safe solution to help treat diaper rash. Created specifically for parents who don't want to settle for anything less than the best, it uses a combination of efficacious ingredients to be fast acting without being harsh on a baby's skin. Boudreaux's Butt Paste is free-from dyes and formulated without parabens, preservatives, phthalates and talc. Parents rely on this trusted and pediatrician-recommend diaper rash line to help soothe and relieve rash discomfort from the first use and beyond. Boudreaux's is part of C.B. Fleet Company, Incorporated, a Prestige Consumer Healthcare.

About Prestige Consumer Healthcare, Inc.

The Company markets and distributes brand name over-the-counter products throughout the U.S. and Canada, Australia, and in certain other international markets. The Company's brands include Monistat and Summer's Eve women's health products, BC and Goody's pain relievers, Clear Eyes eye care products, DenTek specialty oral care products, Dramamine motion sickness treatments, Chloraseptic sore throat treatments, Compound W wart treatments, Little Remedies pediatric over-the-counter products, The Doctor's NightGuard dental protector, Efferdent denture care products, Luden's throat drops, Beano gas prevention, Debrox earwax remover, Gaviscon antacid in Canada, and Hydralyte rehydration products and the Fess line of nasal and sinus care products in Australia. Visit the Company's website at www.prestigebrands.com.

Media Contact:

Coyne PR

973.588.2000

[email protected]

SOURCE Boudreaux's Butt Paste

Related Links

https://www.buttpaste.com


The under-25-HP power category continues to grow as customers seek out more efficient powertrains for their equipment.

DEUTZ Corporation and KUKJE Machinery of Korea have entered into a long-term agreement to expand DEUTZs line of under-25-HP engines. As a result of this agreement, D1.2 and D1.7 engines will now be available for delivery throughout the Americas, with DEUTZ parts and service support already in place.

The under-25-HP power category continues to grow as customers seek out more efficient powertrains for their equipment, said Robert Mann, president and CEO of DEUTZ Corporation. Were extremely pleased to enter into this agreement with KUKJE, and we know that the engines will be built with the high-quality standards that DEUTZ customers deserve and have come to expect.

The engines are naturally aspirated, three-cylinder configurations offered in 1.2L and 1.7L displacement with output ratings of up to 25 HP. The D1.2 and D1.7 can also be utilized with the new E-DEUTZ products by providing customers with complete hybrid packages that are more efficient and environmentally friendly.

KUKJE Machinery, a leading industrial company in Korea for many years, has been producing diesel engines for tractors and other industrial applications for more than 30 years. The company also manufactures and provides agricultural machinery, tractors, combine harvesters, rice harvesters and diesel engines to over 50 different countries. The company focuses on cutting-edge technology that will enhance its customers productivity.

Our recently signed agreement is just one example of our ongoing efforts to provide engines that not only generate the right amount of power, but do so economically and efficiently, said Steve Corley, chief sales officer for DEUTZ Corporation. Now, through this agreement with KUJKE, well be able to bring DEUTZ quality and performance to even more OEMs and their customers.

To learn more about DEUTZ Corporation and its complete line of diesel and natural gas engines, visit http://www.deutzamericas.com.

ABOUT DEUTZ CORPORATION:

For more than 150 years, DEUTZ engines have supplied customized, cost-effective power to a broad array of machine types and market segments. The nine millionth DEUTZ engine was produced in 2015. From its headquarters in Norcross, GA, DEUTZ Corporation, a subsidiary of DEUTZ AG, supports a broad range of engines with capacities up to 620 kW that are used in construction equipment, agricultural machinery, material handling equipment, stationary equipment, commercial vehicles, rail vehicles and other applications.

The company is committed to providing optimized power solutions from the drawing board to prototype to production release. The organization serves as a sales, service, parts, and application engineering center for the Americas, employing nearly 300 people. DEUTZ Corporation also operates a value-added production facility for some of its key OEM partners, as well as an engine remanufacturing facility in Pendergrass, Georgia. Strategically located DEUTZ Power Centers and Service Centers are designed uniquely support both OEM partners and end users. For more information, visit For more information, visit http://www.deutzamericas.com.

ABOUT KUKJE MACHINERY :

KUKJE Machinery has been manufacturing and providing agricultural machinery, tractors, combine harvesters, rice harvesters and diesel engines to over 50 different countries and is a leading industrial company in Korea.

For the last 50 years, 450 skilled engineers and all staff members of BRANSON Tractor, the tractor brand name of KUKJE Machinery, have concentrated on developing cutting-edge technology and achieving the highest quality to meet global customers needs. BRANSON compact tractors equipped with EPA Tier-4 final and EC stage V engines, from 20hp to 74hp, are directly being exported to over 50 different countries and its quality is proven by winning Gold Level Status of NAEDA (North American Equipment Dealers Association) for three consecutive years.

KUKJE Machinery has been producing diesel engines for tractors and other industrial applications to meet the global customer needs for more than 30 years. For more information, visit http://www.branson-global.com.
This is the moment Tory MPs drowned out an SNP MP with cheers after he name-checked Margaret Thatcher.

During Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday, Brendan OHara was forced to pause his speech due to jeering Conservatives in the Commons chamber.

It came just hours after new Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said he wanted the House to have a better image that is respected by the public.

Mr OHara had been trying to lobby Boris Johnson over a second Scottish independence referendum by saying Mrs Thatcher accepted the union of the United Kingdom can only be maintained by consent.

Brendan O'Hara in the Commons on Wednesday (Parliamentlive.tv)

But as soon as he uttered Mrs Thatchers name, MPs on the Tory benches erupted into huge cheers lasting 10 seconds.

Mr OHara paused and sat down while an unknown colleague could be heard yelling: What a bunch of yobs!

Margaret Thatcher (PA)

Restarting his speech, Mr OHara mentioned Mrs Thatchers name a second time: again prompting cheers on the Tory benches.

Sir Lindsay had earlier told ITVs Good Morning Britain programme: I want to bring a different style to the House. I want the House to have a better image.

Read more from Yahoo News UK

'I dont have a family fortune to fall back on': Ex-Labour MP says she was photographed while visiting local Jobcentre

John McDonnell backs 'continuity Corbyn' candidates to take over Labour leadership

Corbyn loyalist Long-Bailey says she would use nuclear weapons as PM

I want an image that actually people respect the House of Commons, respect democracy, and I feel we have lost our way with the public trust.

I want to try and bring the chamber together. I want to take the hatred out of the chamber because it became very venomous, the way people were speaking to each other.

---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK---
A quarantine officer checks the temperatures of passengers arriving at Pyeongtaek Port in Gyeonggi Province, Thursday, through a thermal infrared monitor. The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention?said it has confirmed the first suspected case of pneumonia from China. /Yonhap



By Bahk Eun-ji



Health authorities are struggling to confirm what pathogen is causing cases of pneumonia from China as the first suspected case of the illness was reported here, the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said Thursday.



The KCDC said a 36-year-old Chinese woman who had visited Wuhan, the capital of China's central Hubei Province, has been under isolated treatment amid growing concerns that she might bring the disease back to Korea.



The woman was diagnosed with pneumonia on Tuesday following two trips to China last month.



"She is the first possible case of the illness, although she didn't show any serious health conditions except (some of) the symptoms of pneumonia such as a cough and a swollen throat," said Kim Sung-soon an official of the KCDC's infectious disease control bureau.



The KCDC said she is currently considered a "patient under investigation" as an initial respiratory virus test turned out to be negative.



"The patient so far has tested negative for nine types of respiratory virus testing including Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), influenza, human bocavirus and respiratory syncytial virus," Kim said.



A patient classified as "under investigation" in this case means a person who developed the pneumonia within 14 days of visiting Wuhan.



However, the agency said that they are conducting eight more virus tests including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which will take about one more week.



But the woman told doctors she had no contact with animals while she was in Wuhan and didn't visit a seafood market there where most of the cases have been traced to. The KCDC said they will soon confirm whether she has the same illness as the patients in Wuhan.



The disease control center said it has been taking necessary quarantine steps, including tightened monitoring of people entering from China, and recommending travelers avoid contact with animals. It also strongly recommended people to maintain good personal hygiene, and asked them to immediately seek medical attention if they feel sick after traveling.



The KCDC said it has been working on monitoring the disease in cooperation with the health authorities in China. Based on the epidemiological investigation results from the Chinese government so far, the health agency has decided to maintain the "interest" stage, which is the incidence and epidemic of new type of infectious disease from abroad.



Since the outbreak of the illness was first identified on Dec.31, there were 59 cases reported in Wuhan. Among them, eight patients have been cured of the disease and were discharged from hospital, the Wuhan's municipal health commission said Wednesday.



After the preliminary investigation having been carried out, China has identified the possible cause as a new type of coronavirus, according to the state broadcaster CCTV Thursday.



Coronaviruses spread through coughing, sneezing or by touching an infected person. Some cause the common cold but others can lead to a serious respiratory disease.



Chinese health authorities have not yet confirmed the report.


The most complicated of all the issues raised by Harry and Meghans decision to step down as full-time senior royals is their protection  specifically, what form it will take, who will provide it and who will pay for it.

The idea that they can split their lives between private and public roles is unprecedented, and deeply problematic when it comes to their security. I struggle to see how it will work. It risks compromising either their safety or their integrity.

If they are acting as independent individuals either in the UK or abroad, then their eligibility for Government-funded protection is questionable. Should they fund their own protection from the private sector? This would be logical. But it would also be highly dangerous, as private bodyguards can never offer them the level of protection they will need.

Harry and Meghan must learn the lesson of Diana's tragic death and keep Scotland Yard on side

This was illustrated all too well by the tragedy of Princess Diana, who was not under the protection of Scotland Yard when she died. The inexperience and ineptitude of the private bodyguards supplied by Mohamed Al Fayed, in my view, played a part in her death.

Private bodyguards do not undergo anything like the level of highly specialist training that Met Police officers dedicated to protecting the Royal Family and senior state figures, such as the Prime Minister, receive.

Nor do they have access to vital security information: state security services, such as the FBI, will share intelligence with the UK police and security agencies, but not with private security firms.

Furthermore, royal protection officers are authorised to carry firearms. Privately employed bodyguards never would be.

Prince Harry is pictured at the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto, Canada, surrounded by his security detail

So if I were advising the Sussexes, I would insist that they retain Scotland Yard protection  it is the only way to ensure their safety and that of their son.

This is more imperative now than ever in this age of terrorism. But if, as I sincerely hope, the Sussexes keep their state protection, this raises the moral question of who is going to fund it?

Security is a public matter, affecting the taxpayer, so will have to be discussed publicly, unleashing yet more controversy.

Many people feel that wealthy royals should pay for it themselves rather than expecting the taxpayer to fund it.

Providing protection is a multi-million-pound business. Protecting the Sussexes, including baby Archie, will involve at least two officers per person  thats six people for the three of them  over a 24-hour period, plus two to relieve them.

If you then allow an extra one or two for sickness, and others to carry out reconnaissance, which is absolutely vital, you are looking at a team of eight to ten, each on a salary of 80,000 to 100,000.

Factor in the costs of accommodation, food and airfares and the bill goes up to around 2million or 3million a year.

Fine if Harry and Meghan are performing their royal role all year round, but why should taxpayers pay for them when they are not?

Security is not something that can simply be turned on and off like a tap as they move between their private and public lives. It has to remain constant to be effective.

And what if they move to Canada for half the year? Should the Canadians supply their protection, or the British? The Canadians are hardly going to be happy footing the bill. But then, why should the British pay to protect them year-round if they are not here?

The fact is that Harry and Meghan cant have it both ways. The one way in which Harry and Meghan can retain both integrity and security is to have constant Scotland Yard protection, but pay for it themselves. But this requires deep pockets.

Whats more, successful protection depends on officers developing a working chemistry with the royals.

When working with Diana she frequently asked me for advice, and I gave it with honesty based on experience. Harry and Meghan could do with advice right now. Truly, I sympathise with them  their decision to give up on their full-time roles was clearly a difficult one. Yet they have so much to lose with this move and, I suspect, may come to regret it.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren this week demanded that U.S. Customs and Border Protection provide details regarding recent reports that Iranians and Iranian Americans have been detained and questioned on religious and political views amid rising tensions between the countries in recent weeks.

In a letter to CBP Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan, the Massachusetts Democrat cited a report from the Council on American-Islamic Relations that on Jan. 4, more than 60 Iranians and Iranian Americans were detained at length and questioned while attempting to reenter the United States from Canada.

The alleged hold up occurred just days after a U.S. drone strike ordered by President Donald Trump killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, which stoked tensions throughout the Middle East. The situation led the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to issue a National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin on Jan. 4 stating that Iran and its partners, such as Hezbollah, have demonstrated the intent and capability to conduct operations in the United States.

One Iranian-American, Warren wrote, said CBP held and questioned her family at the border crossing for nearly a dozen hours. Advocates said the people held were questioned about their political views or religious views and practices. There have also been indications of people of Iranian heritage at other ports of entry being held and subjected to enhanced scrutiny since Soleimanis death," Warren wrote.

CBP issued a statement, posted on Twitter, saying that social media posts that CBP is detaining Iranian-Americans and refusing their entry into the U.S. because of their country of origin are false. Reports that DHS/CBP has issued a related directive are also false.

Social media posts that CBP is detaining Iranian-Americans and refusing their entry into the U.S. because of their country of origin are false. Reports that DHS/CBP has issued a related directive are also false.  CBP (@CBP) January 5, 2020

CNN reported that CBP said that the Washington state port of entry experienced increased wait times to an average of two hours on Saturday evening, although some travelers experienced wait times of up to four hours due to increased volume and reduced staff during the holiday season.

The agency said that based on the current threat environment, CBP is operating with an enhanced posture at its ports of entry to safeguard our national security and protect the American people while simultaneously protecting the civil rights and liberties of everyone.

But Warren argued those statements were not clear enough.

The new threat warning from DHS is serious, and CBP should be taking lawful and appropriate action to protect national security, Warren wrote. But the conflicting information circulating about CBP personnels treatment of Iranian Americans and people who are or are perceived to be of Iranian heritage raises questions about what agency policies are in effect, and how CBP is safeguard(ing) our national security ... while simultaneously protecting the civil rights and liberties of everyone.

The senator asked CPB to provide more details by Jan. 14.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 17:41:25|Editor: mingmei

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KIGALI, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- A total of 1,919 Rwandan refugees have been repatriated from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), following a Congolese military offensive against armed groups in the east of the country, Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta said Wednesday.

The returnees are now living temporarily at the Nyarushisi transit camp in Rusizi district undergoing rehabilitation to enable them to reintegrate into society, Biruta told a news conference in Rwanda's capital Kigali.

Most of the repatriated are civilians, Biruta said, adding that there were also some former combatants.

Last December, the DRC repatriated 291 members of the Rwandan rebel group known as CNRD based in Congo. They were captured in South Kivu Province while fighting with the Congolese military.

The Congolese armed forces launched an offensive attack against rebel groups in the country's east region at the end of last October.
"I dont have a particular number of properties or a target income Im looking to achieve  as long as I can keep investing in property, I will!"

Like for many investors, the idea of investing in property first came to Hemal Mistry as an alternative to living the typical salarymans life. However, it only became a serious pursuit a few short years ago.

Id been working in IT in the UK and Australia for 12 years, and I hit a point where I couldnt see myself going through the same nine-to-five routine for another thirty-something years, he says.

However, I knew my financial needs would only increase in the future with children, university fees and the like. So I started searching for ways to build wealth to give me more security and, more importantly, the option to pursue another career.

Having first lived in the UK, Hemal had maintained his residence there as a rental property after moving to Australia. It only hit him afterwards that he had an investment property on his hands  and he was now a bonafide landlord!

The rental income I was receiving was greater than the expenses, and the value had also increased. Thats when I began looking at investing in property here in Australia."

Nearly 10 years after buying his first investment property in 2009, Hemal began his real journey as an Australian property investor in 2017 with a house in Queenslands Kallangur. Electing to follow a buy-and-hold strategy, he sustained the momentum by quickly acquiring three more properties in Kippa-Ring and Petrie.

I found established properties, renovated them and then pulled out the equity to use as a deposit for the next one. With this strategy I was able to acquire four properties within a year, he says.

AT A GLANCE

Years investing: 10

Current number of properties in portfolio: 7

Portfolio value: $2,111,000

All about balance

In time, Hemal noticed that his investments were cash flow neutral, and his portfolio needed a boost of positivity to balance things out. Thinking about the successful returns achieved with his UK property, Hemal made the decision to plunge back into overseas investment.

It occurred to me that it doesnt matter what country you invest in; a market is a market regardless of where it is located.

He noted the considerable returns that could be gained from renting out homes in the US, and decided to try his hand there. By this point, however, Hemals equity was inadequate to support the purchase of another investment.

I researched how to use my super to buy property, and I set up an SMSF. Then I purchased two positive cash flow properties in the US. This way, I achieve much higher returns of between 16% to 19% net yields, which is better than any super fund Ive come across. The capital growth will be the added bonus and ultimately increase my retirement fund further, he explains.

When the US market has risen significantly, Im looking to sell them off, which will enable me to purchase another two or three properties in another rising market.

Hemal has his eye on buying another US property, this time outside his SMSF, in order to further support the rest of his portfolio while he waits for the long-term capital growth of his Australia properties. This would leave his portfolio in great condition, given that it would reap both short- and long-term rewards. As a result, Hemal wont have to worry too much if the market undergoes a downturn.

My portfolio will be balanced and positively geared, and Ill be able to make the repayments for my Australian properties even if the rates were to increase. It serves as a buffer for any market fluctuations that may occur in the future, Hemal says.

Despite his short time as an investor, Hemal now has seven properties to his name, and he credits his successful handling of his portfolio thus far to his self-education.

My biggest realisation was that any challenge could be overcome through education. Ive been able to avoid major mistakes in my property investing journey, and I attribute this to my research-heavy approach, as well as learning from other investors successes and mistakes.

Hemal studied everything he could, from investor podcasts and forums to YouTube videos.

I reached out to some of the people I had listened to on podcasts and was even able to get some great advice for free, he says.

I purchased property as quickly as possible whilst doing my due diligence, and now its only a matter of time before I see the benefits.



Hemal Mistrys success in building a stable income through property investing has reduced his financial stress and freed up his time so he can focus on his family and wellbeing

Maintaining momentum

Hemal has hit the ground running over the past two years and is still keen to go full steam ahead.

My ultimate goal is to continue to grow my portfolio in as viable a way as I can based on my circumstances. I dont have a particular number of properties or a target income Im looking to achieve  as long as I can keep investing in property, I will! he says.

He also plans to expand his horizons beyond just buying and holding on to his Australia properties.

My approach is to manufacture growth by sourcing properties that require some renovation work, which allows for some negotiation of the sale price. After renovations are completed, it enables you to pull out the equity to fund the next property. But in the near future I am also considering subdividing the land for my Australian property and developing a granny flat to increase cash flow.

It occurred to me that it doesnt matter what country you invest in  a market is a market regardless of where it is located

With his finances more stable thanks to his portfolio, Hemal can relax without the trappings of the typical employee lifestyle.

Investing in property has been a game changer. I now have the reassurance of financial security for when I decide to start a family and when I eventually retire. I dont have to worry if Im unable to work for whatever reason, as I now have funds I can access from my property portfolio.

With less financial stress, Ive been able to focus more on other aspects of my life, including travelling and my wellbeing, he explains.

I believe that property will continue to provide me with new opportunities in the future, including the chance to teach and help others achieve what I have.

I also believe that if you understand the fundamentals of property investing and the criteria of the property you should source, then something that seems impossible becomes possible as its now simplifi ed in your mind. The risk is no longer as high as you once thought!

PORTFOLIO TIMELINE

2009

While working in the UK, Hemal Mistry purchases his first home as his primary residence.

Hemal leaves the UK for Australia. He converts his house in the Midlands into a rental property and hires a property manager.

2017



Hemals property in Kallangur, QLD, was his jumping off point for building a portfolio in Australia

As the rental income from his UK property pours in, Hemal realises how profi table investing in property can be. He makes the decision to invest in Australia, and buys his fi rst property in Kallangur, Queensland, for $338,000 after a period of self-education.

2018



One of four investments in Queensland, Hemals Kippa-Ring house brings in a healthy 5% yield

In line with his strategy to acquire as many properties as possible in a short period of time, Hemal purchases three more houses in the Sunshine State through equity generated from his previous investments.

2018



Hemals houses in Petrie, QLD, have jumped in value by $85k$100k each in the past year alone

Hemal realises a renovation strategy will not only help add capital value but also facilitate further property purchases. He renovates his Brisbane properties, using the new equity each time to purchase his next investment.

2019



Hemals properties in Detroit earn massive rental yields of more than 25%

Keen to find positive cash flow properties to balance out the neutral cash flow investments hes made in Australia, Hemal goes overseas once more in search of a deal. He establishes an SMSF and uses it to buy two houses in Detroit, USA, to benefit from the high yields.
(Newser)  With pressure building for her to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate for President Trump's trial, Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she'll take that step "when I'm ready." At a press conference, the House speaker added, "that will probably be soon." The trial can't start until the articles reach the Senate, NBC reports, but Pelosi has said she's waiting for the Senate to commit to a process for the trial. "At some point, we would hope that we would see from them what the terms of engagement will be," she said Thursday. Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, said earlier in the day that the Senate is ready to move on if Pelosi doesn't act soon, per the Hill. "We will operate on the assumption that House Democrats are too embarrassed to ever move forward," he said. Pelosi suggested taking up the trade deal with Canada and Mexico, which the House has passed, would be a good place to start.

story continues below

One of the Democratic lawmakers who has suggested it's time for Pelosi to send the articles, which were passed Dec. 18, is Rep. Adam Smith. But hours after his public contradiction, he tweeted that he "misspoke" and that he backs Pelosi's decision. Several Democratic senators also expressed impatience, then said it's up to Pelosi. "I don't quite know what the strategy is," Sen. Dianne Feinstein said. "If youre going to do it, do it. If youre not going to do it, dont." But she later said: "We have plenty to do, and the speaker will send them over when she's ready to send them over." Pelosi dismissed McConnell's shot by saying: "We are proud of our defense of the Constitution of the United States. We are concerned that the senators will not be able to live up to the oath that they must take to have an impartial trial." (McConnell said he has the votes to run the trial his way.)
MUSKEGON, MI  Once facing life in prison for murder, a Muskegon Heights man has been sentenced to nearly five years, but not more than 15, for a fatal shooting described as self-defense gone too far.

Masson Bryant, charged more than two years ago with open murder, had his charge reduced to manslaughter when it was determined his victim broke into his home as part of a robbery attempt.

Bryant pleaded no contest to manslaughter and a felony firearm charge in November 2019.

On Thursday, Jan. 9, Bryant, 23, was sentenced to 57 months to 15 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections for the fatal shooting of Nathan Ward on Dec. 21, 2017. Ward, 42, was from Dalton Township.

Bryant was sentenced to time served for the felony firearm charge. In all, Bryant has spent 749 days in the Muskegon County Jail awaiting resolution of his case.

The man who authorities say instigated the home invasion gone awry testified earlier to a completely different scenario. Joshua Bowlin testified under oath that he and Ward, who was his boss, went to Bryants home to obtain cocaine and that Bryant pulled a gun on them and then ended up shooting at them.

After witnesses came forward, it was determined that Bowlins story was untrue, and that the case was one of manslaughter, said Matt Roberts, chief trial attorney for the Muskegon County Prosecutors Office. Those witnesses were people who were told by Bowlin what happened that night, Roberts told MLive/Muskegon Chronicle.

Theres been an evolution of statements given by different witnesses including Mr. Bowlin, Roberts said.

Bryant and his attorney told Muskegon County Circuit Judge Annette Smedley at sentencing that the intruders had kicked in Bryants door that night.

Ward and Bowlin ended up fleeing the home, pursued by Bryant who fatally shot Ward outside. Police testified numerous shell casings were discovered near Bryants driveway.

They also described the home as in extreme disarray as though a big incident had happened there. Bullet holes and spent shell casings also were found inside the home, according to police testimony

Smedley said if Bryant hadnt pursued the duo outside, he may have been able to avoid prosecution. However, she also said that Bryant shared some of the blame for the home invasion because of his drug dealing through which he met Bowlin.

It does not start when the door was kicked in, Smedley said. It started with the choice you made to sell drugs and put yourself into this world.

She also fingered Bowlin as the instigator, saying Ward would not have been killed that night if not for Bowlins actions.

Bowlin provided dramatic and detailed testimony about the events of that night during Bryants preliminary examination in March 2018.

Roberts said a decision has not been made whether to charge Bowlin with perjury for that testimony, adding authorities dont know his precise whereabouts.

Charging Bowlin with home invasion would require Bryant to testify against him, Roberts said. Because Bryant has the right to appeal his manslaughter charge, Roberts said he was uncertain whether Bryant would be willing to testify without invoking the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination.

Prior to Bryants sentencing, Wards loved ones provided statements. His father, Ben Ward, said the family continues to believe that Bryant consciously murdered my son.

Weve already grieved for two long years, and will continue to grieve, he said. Our lives have been changed forever.

Nathan Wards fiance, Melissa Hammer, said their lives have been turned upside down.

I never thought Id be here looking at the man who took him away from me, Hammer said. I can only hope and pray God forgives him, because I dont think I ever can.

Read more:

Dramatic testimony recounts struggle prior to shooting death

Manslaughter plea accepted in homicide case after witness found not honest

Murder case back to square one after judge dismisses charges

Violent struggle preceded shooting death in Muskegon Heights: police

Two reportedly shot in Muskegon Heights, at least one dead
NEWTON, Kan., Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Park Aerospace Corp. (NYSE-PKE) reported results for the 2020 fiscal year third quarter ended December 1, 2019. As previously reported, Park completed the sale of its Electronics Business to AGC Inc. on December 4, 2018. Therefore, the results of operations for the Electronics Business in the prior year are reported as discontinued operations. Continuing operations discussed below refer to Parks Aerospace Business unless otherwise indicated, and prior periods in such discussion have been restated to reflect results excluding the Electronics Business.

A live audio webcast, along with presentation materials, will be available at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/qo te4j37 at 11:00 a.m. EST on Thursday, January 9, 2020. The presentation materials will also be available at approximately 9:00 a.m. EST on Thursday, January 9, 2020 at https://parkaerospace.com/shareholders/investor-conference-calls/ and on the Companys website at www.parkaerospace.com under Investor Conference Calls on the Shareholders page.

Continuing Operations:

Park reported net sales of $15,847,000 for the 2020 fiscal year third quarter ended December 1, 2019 compared to $12,853,000 for the 2019 fiscal year third quarter ended November 25, 2018 and $13,723,000 for the 2020 fiscal year second quarter ended September 1, 2019. Parks net sales from continuing operations for the nine months ended December 1, 2019 were $44,520,000 compared to $34,457,000 for the nine months ended November 25, 2018. Net earnings from continuing operations for the 2020 fiscal year third quarter were $2,806,000 compared to $2,078,000 for the 2019 fiscal year third quarter and $2,052,000 for the 2020 fiscal year second quarter. Net earnings from continuing operations were $7,572,000 for the current years first nine months compared to $4,718,000 for last years first nine months.

EBITDA from continuing operations for the 2020 fiscal year third quarter was $3,622,000 compared to $2,948,000 for the 2019 fiscal year third quarter and $2,406,000 for the 2020 fiscal year second quarter. EBITDA from continuing operations for the current years first nine months was $9,400,000 compared to $5,997,000 for last years first nine months.

For the nine months ended December 1, 2019, Park reported net earnings from continuing operations before special items of $7,716,000 compared to $3,930,000 for last fiscal years first nine months. In the 2020 fiscal years first nine months, the Company recorded a one-time tax charge of $144,000 for the write down of deferred tax assets for stock option expirations pertaining to employees who transferred to AGC Inc. in connection with the sale of the electronics business. The 2019 fiscal years first nine months included the one-time tax benefit of $788,000 related to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted in December 2017.

Park reported basic and diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $0.14 for the 2020 fiscal year third quarter compared to $0.10 for the 2019 fiscal year third quarter and $0.10 for the 2020 fiscal year second quarter.

Park reported basic and diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $0.37 for the 2020 fiscal years first nine months compared to $0.23 for the 2019 fiscal years first nine months. Basic earnings per share from continuing operations before special items were $0.38 for the 2020 fiscal years first nine months compared to $0.19 for 2019 fiscal years first nine months. Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations before special items were $0.37 for the 2020 fiscal years first nine months compared to $0.19 for 2019 fiscal years first nine months.

SPECIAL CASH DIVIDEND

Park announced that its Board of Directors has declared a special cash dividend of $1.00 per share payable February 20, 2020 to shareholders of record at the close of business on January 21, 2020. The total amount of this special dividend will be approximately $20.5 million.

Including this special dividend and the regular quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share payable February 4, 2020 to shareholders of record on January 2, 2020, the Company has paid a total of approximately $536 million, or $26.15 per share, of cash dividends since the Companys 2005 fiscal year.

The Company will conduct a conference call to discuss its financial results at 11:00 a.m. EST today. Forward-looking and other material information may be discussed in this conference call. The conference call dial-in number is (844) 466-4114 in the United States and Canada, and (765) 507-2654 in other countries. The required passcode for attendance by phone is 1627957.

For those unable to listen to the call live, a conference call replay will be available from approximately 2:00 p.m. EST on Thursday, January 9, 2020 through 11:59 p.m. EST on Wednesday, January 15, 2020. The conference call replay will be available at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/qote4j37 . It can also be accessed by dialing 855-859-2056 in the United States and Canada, and 404-537-3406 in other countries. The required passcode for accessing the replay by phone is 1627957.

Any additional material financial or statistical data disclosed in the conference call, including the investor presentation, will also be available at the time of the conference call on the Company's web site at https://parkaerospace.com/shareholders/investor-conference-calls/ .

Park believes that an evaluation of its ongoing operations would be difficult if the disclosure of its operating results were limited to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP) financial measures, which include special items, such as one-time tax charges and EBITDA. Accordingly, in addition to disclosing its operating results determined in accordance with GAAP, Park discloses non-GAAP measures including EBITDA and operating results that exclude special items in order to assist its shareholders and other readers in assessing the Companys operating performance, since the Companys on-going, normal business operations do not include such special items. The detailed operating information presented below includes a reconciliation of the non-GAAP operating results before special items to earnings determined in accordance with GAAP and a reconciliation of GAAP pre-tax earnings to EBITDA. Such non-GAAP financial measures are provided to supplement the results provided in accordance with GAAP.

Park Aerospace Corp. develops and manufactures solution and hot-melt advanced composite materials used to produce composite structures for the global aerospace markets. Parks advanced composite materials include film adhesives (undergoing qualification) and lightning strike materials. Park offers an array of composite materials specifically designed for hand lay-up or automated fiber placement (AFP) manufacturing applications. Parks advanced composite materials are used to produce primary and secondary structures for jet engines, large and regional transport aircraft, military aircraft, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs commonly referred to as drones), business jets, general aviation aircraft and rotary wing aircraft. Park also offers specialty ablative materials for rocket motors and nozzles and specially designed materials for radome applications. As a complement to Parks advanced composite materials offering, Park designs and fabricates composite parts, structures and assemblies and low volume tooling for the aerospace industry. Target markets for Parks composite parts and structures (which include Parks proprietary composite SigmaStrut and AlphaStrut product lines) are, among others, prototype and development aircraft, special mission aircraft, spares for legacy military and civilian aircraft and exotic spacecraft. Parks objective is to do what others are either unwilling or unable to do. When nobody else wants to do it because it is too difficult, too small or too annoying, sign us up.

Additional corporate information is available on the Companys web site at www.parkaerospace.com .

Performance table, including non-GAAP information (in thousands, except per share amounts  unaudited):

13 Weeks Ended 39 Weeks Ended December 1, 2019 November 25, 2018 September 1, 2019 December 1, 2019 November 25, 2018 Sales $ 15,847 $ 12,853 $ 13,723 $ 44,520 $ 34,457 Net Earnings before Special Items1 $ 2,806 $ 2,078 $ 2,052 $ 7,716 $ 3,930 Special Items, Net of Tax: Tax Impact of Cancelled Stock Options - - - (144 ) - Tax Cut and Jobs Act - - - - 788 Net Earnings from Continuing Operations $ 2,806 $ 2,078 $ 2,052 $ 7,572 $ 4,718 (Loss) Earnings from Discontinued Operations, Net of Tax $ (360 ) $ 1,613 $ 83 $ (404 ) $ 4,841 Net Earnings $ 2,446 $ 3,691 $ 2,135 $ 7,168 $ 9,559 Basic Earnings per Share: Basic Earnings before Special Items1 $ 0.14 $ 0.10 $ 0.10 $ 0.38 $ 0.19 Special Items: Tax Impact of Cancelled Stock Options - - - (0.01 ) - Tax Cut and Jobs Act - - - - 0.04 Basic Earnings per Share from Continuing Operations $ 0.14 $ 0.10 $ 0.10 $ 0.37 $ 0.23 Basic (Loss) Earnings per Share from Discontinued Operations (0.02 ) 0.08 0.01 (0.02 ) 0.24 Basic Earnings per Share $ 0.12 $ 0.18 $ 0.11 $ 0.35 $ 0.47 Diluted Earnings before Special Items1 $ 0.14 $ 0.10 $ 0.10 $ 0.37 $ 0.19 Special Items: Tax Impact of Cancelled Stock Options - - - - - Tax Cut and Jobs Act - - - - 0.04 Diluted Earnings per Share from Continuing Operations $ 0.14 $ 0.10 $ 0.10 $ 0.37 $ 0.23 Diluted (Loss) Earnings per Share from Discontinued Operations (0.02 ) 0.08 - (0.02 ) 0.24 Diluted Earnings per Share $ 0.12 $ 0.18 $ 0.10 $ 0.35 $ 0.47 Weighted Average Shares Outstanding: Basic 20,518 20,278 20,499 20,503 20,258 Diluted 20,617 20,352 20,601 20,601 20,343 1 Refer to "Reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures" below for information regarding Special Items.

Comparative balance sheets (in thousands):

December 1, 2019 March 3, 2019 Assets (unaudited) Current Assets Cash and Marketable Securities $ 144,166 $ 151,624 Accounts Receivable, Net 10,194 9,352 Inventories 3,936 5,267 Prepaid Expenses and Other Current Assets 1,703 1,690 Total Current Assets 159,999 167,933 Fixed Assets, Net 14,011 10,791 Operating Right-of-use Assets 453 - Other Assets 10,095 10,127 Total Assets $ 184,558 $ 188,851 Liabilities and Shareholders' Equity Current Liabilities Accounts Payable $ 2,010 $ 3,169 Accrued Liabilities 2,039 2,920 Income Taxes Payable 1,737 5,066 Operating Lease Liability 152 - Total Current Liabilities 5,938 11,155 Long-term Operating Lease Liability 301 - Non-current Income Taxes Payable 15,986 17,669 Deferred Income Taxes 103 - Other Liabilities 1,067 1,016 Total Liabilities 23,395 29,840 Shareholders Equity 161,163 159,011 Total Liabilities and Shareholders' Equity $ 184,558 $ 188,851 Additional information Equity per Share $ 7.85 $ 7.84

Comparative statements of operations (in thousands  unaudited):

13 Weeks Ended 39 Weeks Ended December 1, 2019 November 25, 2018 September 1, 2019 December 1, 2019 November 25, 2018 Net Sales $ 15,847 $ 12,853 $ 13,723 $ 44,520 $ 34,457 Cost of Sales 10,825 8,569 9,910 30,881 24,176 Gross Profit 5,022 4,284 3,813 13,639 10,281 % of net sales 31.7 % 33.3 % 27.8 % 30.6 % 29.8 % Selling, General & Administrative Expenses 1,949 1,983 1,914 5,785 6,200 % of net sales 12.3 % 15.4 % 13.9 % 13.0 % 18.0 % Earnings from Continuing Operations 3,073 2,301 1,899 7,854 4,081 Interest and Other Income: Interest Income 802 393 863 2,613 1,090 Earnings from Continuing Operations before Income Taxes 3,875 2,694 2,762 10,467 5,171 Income Tax Provision 1,069 616 710 2,895 453 Net Earnings from Continuing Operations 2,806 2,078 2,052 7,572 4,718 % of net sales 17.7 % 16.2 % 15.0 % 17.0 % 13.7 % (Loss) Earnings from Discontinued Operations, Net of Tax (360 ) 1,613 83 (404 ) 4,841 Net Earnings $ 2,446 $ 3,691 $ 2,135 $ 7,168 $ 9,559 % of net sales 15.4 % 28.7 % 15.6 % 16.1 % 27.7 %

Reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures (in thousands  unaudited):

13 Weeks Ended December 1, 2019 13 Weeks Ended November 25, 2018 13 Weeks Ended September 1, 2019 GAAP Specials Items Before Special Items GAAP Specials Items Before Special Items GAAP Specials Items Before Special Items Selling, General & Administrative Expenses $ 1,949 $ - $ 1,949 $ 1,983 $ - $ 1,983 $ 1,914 $ - $ 1,914 % of net sales 12.3 % 12.3 % 15.4 % 15.4 % 13.9 % 13.9 % Earnings from Continuing Operations 3,073 - 3,073 2,301 - 2,301 1,899 - 1,899 % of net sales 19.4 % 19.4 % 17.9 % 17.9 % 13.8 % 13.8 % Net Interest and Other Income 802 - 802 393 - 393 863 - 863 % of net sales 5.1 % 5.1 % 3.1 % 3.1 % 6.3 % 6.3 % Earnings from Continuing Operations before Income Taxes 3,875 - 3,875 2,694 - 2,694 2,762 - 2,762 % of net sales 24.5 % 24.5 % 21.0 % 21.0 % 20.1 % 20.1 % Income Tax Provision 1,069 - 1,069 616 - 616 710 - 710 Effective Tax Rate 27.6 % 27.6 % 22.9 % 22.9 % 25.7 % 25.7 % Net Earnings from Continuing Operations 2,806 - 2,806 2,078 - 2,078 2,052 - 2,052 % of net sales 17.7 % 17.7 % 16.2 % 16.2 % 15.0 % 15.0 % (Loss) Earnings from Discontinued Operations, Net of Tax (360 ) (360 ) 1,613 (1,565 ) 48 83 - 83 % of net sales -2.3 % -2.3 % 12.5 % 0.4 % 0.6 % 0.6 % Net Earnings 2,446 - 2,446 3,691 (1,565 ) 2,126 2,135 - 2,135 % of net sales 15.4 % 15.4 % 28.7 % 16.5 % 15.6 % 15.6 % Earnings from Continuing Operations 3,073 2,301 1,899 Addback non-cash expenses: Depreciation 410 453 366 Stock Option Expense 139 194 141 EBITDA 3,622 2,948 2,406

Reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures - continued (in thousands  unaudited):
A gang of armed robbers descended on a financial services company and decamped with gold and other valuables worth crores of rupees here in Gujarat's Valsad district on Thursday morning, said police.

The robbery took place at a gold loan branch of IIFL, in the industrial town of Vapi. The firm is engaged in providing loans for homes, against gold, personal and vehicle finance among other services.

While the IIFL staff along with company auditors are calculating the actual loss, police sources said the robbers fled with around 1,000 packets, containing gold jewellery worth approximately Rs 7 crore.

The masked robbers, numbering around half a dozen, stormed into the IIFL's gold loan branch, situated on the busy Vapi-Silvassa road, and threatened the staff with guns and other weapons, the police said.

To eliminate any chance of resistance, the looters tied the hands of eight staff members using duct tapes and also stuck tapes on their mouth, they said.

The robbers opened the lockers using keys taken from the staff and decamped with the booty, the police said.

"Robbers targeted an IIFL gold loan branch today morning. They decamped with gold and other valuables by threatening the staff.

"We are yet to ascertain the value of the looted gold. Further investigation is on," said district SP Sunil Joshi.

In the CCTV footage, the robbers can be seen coming out of the office carrying bags and rushing towards the road where they get into a waiting car and escape.

A police officer said the robbery appears to be the handy work of a professional gang from adjoining Maharashtra. Vapi is located close to the Maharashtra border.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020 12:23 733 48be62e941b44f04afae568c32182ec1 1 Business Indonesia,China,investment,cooperation,Luhut-Binsar-Pandjaitan,debt-trap,Belt-and-Road-Initiative Free

The government welcomes Chinese investment despite concerns that the country could fall into a debt trap.

"If you look at the amount of investment from China, it is a lot. But some people still say 'debt trap, debt trap'," Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said on Wednesday at the China Business Forum.

A debt trap is a term used to indicate the difficulty to pay debts to other countries.

Some economists have warned the government that an increase in Chinese investment, especially that financed under the economic giants Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), could cause the country to fall into a debt trap.

"We are not that stupid, you know," Luhut said at the forum, which was held amid a diplomatic row between Indonesia and China over an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Natuna Islands.

Over the past week, Jakarta and Beijing have been embroiled in a diplomatic tug-of-war over the latters claim to parts of Indonesias EEZ, after the Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla) reported multiple counts of the Chinese coast guard and fishing vessels operating there illegally.

Luhut said the government had kept the ratio of debts to gross domestic product (GDP) at below the 30 percent limit.

Indonesia's debt-to-GDP ratio was recorded at 29.8 percent at the end of 2019, according to the Finance Ministry as quoted by kompas.com.

In 2019, total government debt reached Rp 4.77 quadrillion, a slight increase from Rp 4.41 trillion in 2018, according to the Finance Ministry as quoted by kompas.com. As of September, Indonesia's foreign debt to China reached US$17.7 billion, making it the fourth-largest country creditor.

"We have some differences with Chinese companies here and there. But in the end, we can find a solution." (dfr)
Premature ejaculation affects about 30 per cent of the male population but a medical company called Morari is leveraging technology to help couples improve their sexual relationship.

At the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020, Morari introduced a one-use smart band-aid for the taint. The interesting bit here is that it can be controlled by the sexual partner via an app that could be installed on a wearable or device for prolonged satisfaction, Cnet reports.

The taint band-aid consists of a battery connected to electrodes that send mild electrical impulses to the area it is attached to. It stimulates and confuses the nervous system to delay ejaculation during sexual intercourse. It is expected to be available in the market by mid-2021 at a price of around USD 25.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 10:52:42|Editor: ZX

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TEHRAN, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Iran's civil aviation authority has said it will not hand over two black boxes recovered from an ill-fated Ukrainian airliner with 176 people aboard to the plane's manufacturer Boeing or the United States, but will cooperate with Ukraine.

Both of the plane's black box voice and data recorders had been found, Iranian state television reported on Wednesday.

A Boeing 737 Ukrainian passenger plane crashed near Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport on Wednesday morning, killing all passengers and crew members on board.

It is not clear to which country Iran will send the black boxes for analysis, Iran's Mehr News Agency quoted Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, as saying, adding that Ukrainians are welcome to join the probe into the crash.

The Ukraine International Airlines officials have denied mistakes by the crew in the jet's crash, saying the plane went through scheduled maintenance on Monday before departure. The aircraft was built in 2016 and delivered directly to the airline from the manufacturer.

Boeing said Wednesday that it is ready to provide any necessary assistance after the crash in Iran.
CHICOPEE  Two teenagers were arrested after they stalked the hallways of the citys alternative school with staplers pretending they were guns, causing that school and two neighboring ones to be locked down Wednesday.

Carlos Correa Jr., 19, of Charles Street, was arrested and charged with creating a disturbance while carrying a dangerous weapon. His 16-year-old classmate, whose name was not released because he is a juvenile, will be summoned to juvenile court on similar charges, said Michael Wilk, police public information officer.

A staff member at Chicopee Academy reported at 9:23 a.m. that she believed she saw a student carrying a gun. When School Resource Officer Al Blankenship was notified, he ordered the school be placed on lockdown and called for more officers to respond at the school. Hampden Charter School of Science and Herbert V. Bowie elementary, which are adjacent to the school, were also placed on lockdown as a precaution, Wilk said.

Chicopee officers, including a K9 team, and Massachusetts State Police searched classrooms and cleared rooms. No weapon was found and the lockdowns were lifted at about 10:50 a.m., he said.

After reviewing video taken from cameras in the school hallway, police determined the two students had unhinged school staplers and made them look like they were guns. They then walked through the halls waving them and pointing them into classrooms, he said.

Once the students realized they had been seen, they hid the staplers in their clothing, Wilk said.

Correa was booked and then taken to Chicopee District Court for an arraignment. The incident remains under investigation and more charges may be filed, he said.

We will not take this type of behavior lightly. This caused an extremely stressful situation for not only students and staff, but for students and staff at other schools as well as parents, Wilk said.

School officials also thanked students and staff at the Chicopee Academy and Bowie School for handling the problem calmly and in an orderly fashion. No one was injured during the lockdown.

Most important, it is proof positive that conducting the many emergency preparedness drills that we do annually, leads to a safe and organized response when faced with a perceived real-life threat. Furthermore, the Chicopee Public Schools wants to thank the men and women of the Chicopee Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police Department, and the other law enforcement agencies that assisted with todays emergency response at Chicopee Academy, the statement said.


Airline companies are changing flight paths throughout the Middle East following the deadly crash of a Ukrainian passenger plane in Iran Wednesday.

The crash killed all 176 people on the plane. It happened just hours after Iran attacked American bases in Iraq with ballistic missiles. No one was hurt in the strikes. The strikes were in answer to the U.S. killing last week of Iranian military official Qassem Soleimani.

The plane crashed minutes after leaving Tehran airport. Iranian officials said they believed a mechanical problem caused the crash. They have disputed suggestions that the plane was hit by a missile.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy cut short a visit to Oman to return to Kyiv following the crash. He said a team of Ukrainian experts would fly to Tehran to help investigate the crash. "Our priority is to find the truth and everyone responsible for the tragedy," Zelenskiy wrote in a Facebook statement.

The UIA flight was bound for Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, carrying 167 passengers and a crew of nine. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said the dead included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons. Airline officials said most of the passengers were going to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, to change planes for other cities.

Later Wednesday, several European airline companies announced they were changing their routes to avoid Iranian airspace. The changes are expected to decrease air travel between Iran and Western Europe.

Air France and Dutch airline KLM both said Wednesday that they had suspended all flights over Iranian and Iraqi airspace. German airline Lufthansa also canceled flights to Iraq.

In North America, Air Canada changed its flight paths from Toronto to Dubai through Egypt and Saudi Arabia to avoid traveling over Iraq.

In Canada, Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Wednesday Canadas hearts are with the loved ones of the victims, including many Canadians.

The Ukrainian president asked Ukraine International Airlines to begin a full inspection of all non-military airplanes in the country.

Irans Road and Transportation Ministry said it appears that one of the planes engines caught fire.

The plane was fully loaded with fuel for its 2,300-kilometer trip. It crashed near the town of Shahedshahr, just outside Tehran.

Im Susan Shand.

The Associated Press reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

ballistic - adj. a type of missile that can travel very far

priority - n. something that is very important
Industrial Opportunity Partners Acquires Midwest Paper in Wisconsin Midwest Paper manufactures and distributes various grades of paper including recycled containerboard (medium and linerboard). The mill has an annual production capacity of 400,000 tons on three paper machines. Jan. 9, 2020 - Industrial Opportunity Partners (IOP), an operations-focused private equity firm based in Evanston, Illinois, on Jan. 8 announced that it has acquired Midwest Recycled and Coated Containerboard Mill, LLC (Midwest Paper or the Company). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Midwest Paper is a paper mill headquartered in Combined Locks, Wisconsin. The company manufactures and distributes various grades of paper including recycled containerboard (medium and linerboard) for corrugated packaging, recycled bag products, and white paper for book publishing and printing/writing applications. The mill has an annual production capacity of 400,000 tons on three paper machines. The company employs about 320 workers. Dave Mackin, an IOP Operating Principal, will assume the position of Chairman of Midwest Paper. Mackin is a member of IOP's Board of Operating Principals which is comprised of experienced executives who provide leadership to the businesses in which IOP invests. Kyle Hood, Director of IOP, said, We are excited to partner with the Midwest Paper team. We believe that Midwest Paper has a strong position in the market and an excellent reputation with its customers. Mackin added, We look forward to partnering with the Midwest Paper management team in continuing to enhance the company's production capabilities with a focus on delivering high levels of customer service and quality. Mike Deprey, Midwest Paper Vice President, commented, The Midwest Paper management team and I are looking forward to our partnership with IOP. We believe IOP's operations-focused approach will assist us in optimizing all aspects of our business to support continued growth and better serve our customers. About Midwest Paper Founded in 1889 and headquartered in Combined Locks, Wis., Midwest Paper is a manufacturer and distributor of high quality recycled containerboard, natural kraft & bleached packaging, and printing & writing grades. For more information, visit Midwest Paper's website at www.mwpaper.com . Industrial Opportunity Partners is a private equity firm with $910 million of committed capital since inception, is dedicated to creating value through investing in manufacturing and value-added distribution businesses with revenue between $30 million and $400 million. SOURCE: Industrial Opportunity Partners Go to a related article on PaperAge.com:

 Former Appleton Coated Mill to Begin Doing Business as Midwest Paper Group - April 19, 2018.
BAY CITY, MI  A 48-year-old man is facing criminal charges after police allege he fired a gun inside his house and pointing the weapon at a preteen.

About 6:25 a.m. on Dec. 14, Bay County Central Dispatch began received text messages regarding a man firing a pistol inside his residence in the 7500 block of Flajole Road in Gibson Township. The texter said she was a woman resident and that four minors were also in the house, court records show.

As Bay County Sheriffs deputies and Michigan State Police troopers were en route to the scene, the texter added the man  identified as Jason J. Brock  had pointed the gun at her 12-year-old sons head.

Upon arrival, police erected a perimeter. About 7:35 a.m., Brock exited the house with his two sons, ages 14 and 15, and entered a red 2010 Cadillac sedan. He had the elder son get behind the wheel and start driving, police wrote in their reports, which are contained in court files.

Police soon stopped the Cadillac and arrested Brock without issue. When police told him they were responding to reports he had been firing a gun in his house, Brock said it was his Second Amendment right to do so, police reports state. He further said police would need a warrant to search his house.

Police cleared the house and saw a handgun in a bathroom. They also found the woman who had contacted Central Dispatch, along with her 12-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter.

The woman told police she has known Brock for years and has spent the previous couple of months living with him as a platonic roommate.

That morning, she heard Brock yelling at his dog and smashing things, she said. She then heard him discharge a gun. She lay in her bed with her two kids as she listened to Brock in another room arguing with himself, she told police.

Brock eventually burst into her room, yelled at her and her kids to Get out, get out, and pointed a handgun at her sons head, she said. When she told Brock they would leave, he told her no and then fired another round elsewhere in the house, she told police.

Brock then returned to the womans bedroom and was apologetic, saying he would never hurt them, she told police. The woman left her room with Brock to try calming him down, leaving her phone with her daughter so she could keep communicating with Central Dispatch, she said.

The woman told police Brock has mental health issues, had been drinking heavily and had recently quit his job.

Police obtained a search warrant and recovered a .40-caliber pistol, analogous magazines, ammunition, and 39 spent .40-caliber casings. They also recovered four rifles and a shotgun, their reports state.

Brock on Dec. 26 appeared in Bay County District Court for arraignment on single counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, felony firearm and possessing a firearm under the influence.

Brocks case is set for a settlement conference at 9 a.m. on Jan. 31. Brock is free on bond.
Boko Haram fighters have reportedly shot dead at least three operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) in Borno state on Monday.

According to reports, the SARS operatives were killed in an exchange of gunfire between security operatives and the insurgents at Kundori village in Konduga local government area of Borno.

Muhammed Ibrahim, commander of SARS in Borno, described the deceased officers as great fighters who have made the squad and the Nigeria police command proud in previous encounters.

Read Also: Boko Haram Leave Siblings Dead In Chibok

The deceased officers were identified as: Abdul Adam, a police sergeant; Gabriel Amos, also a sergeant; and Kenneth Amos, an inspector.

See photos below
ST. PAUL The Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission on Thursday, Jan. 9, is set to vote on a proposal to cap most felony probation terms at five years, a move supporters hope would prevent probation terms that vary widely based on where an offender is sentenced.

Under the proposal, felony offenses with the exception of homicide and criminal sex crimes would be subject to no more than five-year probation sentences. Minnesota for decades has had guidelines for jail and prison sentences, but the same guidelines haven't been spelled out for supervision sentences.

And that has led to discrepancies in sentencing around the state. While a defendant in Hennepin County faces probation terms that average three years, those in the 7th Judicial District, a swath of the west-central region of the state, face average probation sentences of seven years. And for about 5% of those sentenced in Minnesota, probation terms range from 15 to 40 years, according to the Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at the University of Minnesota .

Criminal justice researchers have found that offenders who go seven years without committing a crime after their first offense are as likely to re-offend as a person who has never offended. And supporters of reforms say that research lends support to capping probation terms.

Prosecutors and judges, along with some conservative lawmakers, worry that other violent offenders should be subject to longer probation terms if judges think they're needed. And they raised red flags about the proposal not offering judges the option to extend probation sentences past five years if offenders fail to complete treatment, pay restitution or if they continue to pose a threat to public safety.

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Commission members last month heard hours of testimony last month from lawyers, ex-offenders, probation officers, crime victims and faith groups about the potential consequences of setting a cap on probation terms statewide. And members offered little comment about how they planned to vote this week.

In an earlier meeting, the 11-member commission voted 6-5 to take the issue to a vote so that it could be included in the group's report to the Legislature this month. And an effort to delay a December public hearing was voted down on a 6-5 vote, signaling a slim majority will vote the measure into effect Thursday.

Without legislative intervention, the changes will take effect in August. And that means offenders sentenced after Aug. 1 won't be subject to probation terms longer than five years.

But Republican legislators have said they plan to take up reforms during the legislative session if commission members pass it.

Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Tim Walz have supported probation reform and said they plan to pass changes in the Statehouse this year. Similar efforts to cap felony probation sentences with some exceptions came up short in the Legislature last year.
US forces have evacuated their base in Khirab al-Jir on the Iraq border, which they had occupied for seven months reports Brocar Press.

On Wednesday, American forces evacuated their base in Khirab al-Jir in the al-Malakiyeh area in Hassakeh in northeastern Syria.

American forces had occupied this base near the Iraqi border for seven months.

Local sources said that dozens of trucks left the base loaded with military equipment and vehicles, before heading towards the al-Suweidiyeh area in the oil-rich Hassakeh area.

It is not yet known whether this convoy will stay in al-Suweidiyeh or will continue through the al-Walid border crossing into northern Iraq.

The withdrawal came after Iranian television announced that Iran had carried out missile attacks on American bases in Iraq, including Ayn Assad, in response to Washington killing Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Revolutionary Guard Quds Force with a strike at Baghdad airport. America did not announce any dead.

American forces redeployed in Hassakeh following the American-Turkish deals after the Turkish Operation Peace Spring in Syria. They withdrew from a number of their bases, and the withdrawal was accompanied by the reinforcement of their bases in Himo, which is to the west of Qamishli city, and the al-Shadadi base near the oil field and the Rumailan base, and established a new base in the Awdah oil field east of al-Qahtani in Hassakeh.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Gas transit via Ukraine to drop by 15 bcm in 2020 over TurkStream launch  Ukrainian GTS operator

12:00, 09.01.20 5731

On January 8, Presidents of Russia and Turkey Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the official launch of the TurkStream gas pipeline bypassing Ukraine along the bottom of the Black Sea.
Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Intense fighting between Nigeria's army and jihadists over a key northeastern garrison town killed three soldiers and sparked a deadly blaze at a nearby displacement camp, witnesses and security sources said Wednesday.

On Tuesday afternoon, dozens of fighters from the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP), aboard several trucks fitted with machine guns attacked Monguno, a town some 135 kilometres (85 miles) north of Borno State capital Maiduguri.

Witnesses said a rocket-propelled grenade struck a nearby camp housing thousands of displaced people during the fighting, causing a fire that destroyed hundreds of tents.

"Eight people died and 20 were injured in the fire," local resident, Kulo Gana told AFP, who was at the scene.

"The fire burnt more than 300 tents," said Gana, adding that hundreds of families were left without shelter.

Earlier a security source told AFP that three soldiers were killed when an army vehicle burst into flames after a car filled with explosives rammed into a convoy on Tuesday afternoon.

Just three days earlier, Chad withdrew 1,200 troops from the region -- including hundreds from Monguno -- after completing a nine-month mission fighting a rival jihadist group, Nigeria's Boko Haram.

The pullout from the largest base in the volatile Lake Chad region, which straddles the borders of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad, had sparked widespread fears of increased jihadist attacks.

On Tuesday jihadists launched multiple attacks in the town.

Buses carrying civilians under military escort outside the town, were ambushed by jihadists local residents said, sparking a gun battle.

Soldiers who repelled the attack killed many of the jihadists, witnesses said.

Militants also stormed a compound housing the offices of aid agencies working in the region.

Residents witnessed jihadists launching grenades into the offices, which had been evacuated before the attack.

Soldiers quelled the attacks and put the town on lockdown on Wednesday, with troops stepping up patrols, residents said.

Story continues

ISWAP and Boko Haram have repeatedly attacked Monguno in failed attempts to overrun it.

In recent months, ISWAP has ramped up attacks in the northeast, targeting security officials and abducting civilians at fake highway checkpoints.

The decade-long conflict in remote northeastern Nigeria has claimed 36,000 lives and displaced around two million from their homes, according to the United Nations.

The conflict has spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the jihadist groups.
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Linkedin Bagus Muljadi and Rebekah (The Jakarta Post) King Nottingham, UK  Thu, January 9, 2020

President Joko Jokowi Widodo recently declared his plan to improve Indonesias competitiveness by refocusing the research and innovation agenda. This initiative needs to be supported.

The key to focus on the right areas lies within two factors. First, we need to identify the strategic research to focus on. To do this, we must understand our competitive advantages that will allow us to contribute to solving global challenges. Second, we need to invest in high quality domestic researchers and research-intensive universities, as they are the basis of the countrys research and innovation architecture.

The country needs to build a robust academic ecosystem centered around empowering its higher education institutions, from which scientific thinking can permeate the substrate of our ethos. Playing to our strengths is the solution-driven strategy.

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Hong Kong police detain a man for an unknown reason outside a shopping center in the Tai Koo area of Hong Kong, China on Oct. 13, 2019. (Mohd Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images)

Hong Kong Police Officer Becomes One of the Protesters

Months ago, a young Hong Kong police officer decided to quit the force and join the pro-democracy protests.

Canaan Wong, 29, joined the police force in 2015. He told Hong Kong-based Stand News that he didnt hesitate to make the transition although he was well aware that the friends he made at work might not understand his decision, and some may even sever their relationship with him.

I did feel sad that I had to make a choice between friendship and justice. I value this group of friends, but it is my sincere hope that I chose to side with justice, he said.

According to Wong, the majority of police officers believe it is normal to subdue citizens who openly raise demands to the authorities. In addition, the Hong Kong government has taken a clear stance to allow Hong Kongs police force to commit violence and random arrests at will.

In his opinion, some officers dont know much about current affairs, nor do they care to. They like being policemen because they enjoy using guns and weapons. Such people regard the suppression of protesters as an enjoyable and thrill-filled game.

At the same time, as the police encounter friends and relatives holding opposite views and are routinely confronted by Hong Kong citizens, they feel isolated and tremendous pressure develops. It is quite possible that the pressure turns into hatred and the police then vent their discontent on protesters, Wong said.

Now working as a teachers aide, Wong often finds himself in a face-off with former colleagues during weekend protests.

He decided to stand in front of a media camera and tell his police friends, Actually you have a choice.

He also criticized the police for their brutality and unprofessionalism. As a protester, he has witnessed police beating protesters with batons, which deeply worries him.

Wong said that police training taught him to use the lowest level of force possible and only when necessary. Only when encountering active assault can the use of the baton be justified. However, videos repeatedly show that the Hong Kong police dont seem to be following these guidelines at all.

Wong has attempted to persuade some of his former police officers to quit the force, but without success so far. A friend told Wong bluntly that the generous overtime allowance he is paid is what keeps him on the police force.

Wong does not regret his decision to switch sides, even though many of his former colleagues turned their back on him. Wong says he lost these friends when he anxiously urged them to make a moral choice. Now, most of his former colleagues no longer respond to his text messages.

According to government figures released on Dec. 27 of last year, Hong Kong police earned a total of HK$950 million (US$122,305,261.00) in overtime pay during the six months of pro-democracy protests.
As an FBI agent through the 1990s, Art Pfizenmayer investigated title theft.

But it was rare then. Today, its a growing problem.

In 2008 when title theft was still uncommon, the FBI posted a notice about this house stealing scam, telling homeowners what to watch out for. A few years later in 2012, the California Department of Real Estate issued a consumer alert about the rising number of fraudulent property deeds and noted that the county recorder is not responsible for verifying the authenticity of the documents being recorded.

Roughly 2  years later, Granada Hills-based Title Lock Corp., a title fraud detection company with an office in Rancho Santa Fe, was founded by Harish Chopra, who also built Data Tree Corporation that is now a part of First American Title. Last year, Chopra recruited Pfizenmayer as its senior adviser. His position is unpaid but he has a minority stake in the company.

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According to the website of Home Title Lock, title fraud losses in 2015 in the U.S. totaled more than $5 billion. Title fraud losses per incident on average are more than $103,000 vs. $1,300 for identity theft losses.

With the advancement in technology, its a huge problem and tremendously under reported as a crime, Pfizenmayer said. Its that insidious that somebody can do this so easily.

He remembers the story several years ago of how a mentally ill man took legal title to Petco Park away from the city and the Padres by walking into the San Diego County Recorders Office and submitting a properly filled-out deed transfer. The man created a legal and bureaucratic nightmare that could be perpetrated on homeowners if someone targets them.

Thats why thousands of homeowners spread across 50 U.S. states subscribe to Home Title Lock, which advertises nationally on the radio and cable channels, Pfizenmayer said. Most of its subscribers pay an annual fee of $149 per property. Its monthly subscription fee is $15.

Pfizenmayer declined to reveal company sales, growth statistics and employee count for the privately held 4-year-old business.

Below, Pfizenmayer, 73 and an Encinitas resident, chats about how someone steals your house, who these thieves target and why you should pay for their services even though only a few of their subscribers have had their title ownership fraudulently altered. (This interview was edited and condensed for clarity and space.)

Q. What is title theft?

A. Title theft is when somebody uses a false identify to change ownership on your property title from your name to their name and then secures as many loans as possible using your equity as collateral.

Then what (could) happen is that you spend two years and $50,000 to hire attorneys and experts to show that this is your house and you didnt execute (the title change). Even if the court says this isnt your loan and that this is your house, youre still losing because of all the bills associated with trying to prove that because you dont have title insurance.

Q. What do you mean? Banks require title insurance when people buy homes.

A. (Banks) want (title insurance) because they dont want any liens in the past. But going forward (after escrow closes), your title, which is a legal document identifying the owner of record, is not insured. The (banks) dont care because they are first in line to get paid if something goes wrong. If the property is foreclosed, the (banks) get the money first.

Q. How often did you come across title theft when you worked as an FBI agent?

A. Title investigations werent a big deal back in the 90s and earlier. When I retired in 1995 (from the FBI after 26 years) it was on our radar but certainly not a priority.

Today, everything about you is online. They can download documents they need to steal your home. They just need your address. Once they have your address, they can find (your name as) the owner.

They can go online, pay $20 for a notary stamp and get it in two days. In most cases, you have to file in person. But they can give a kid the document to file and the deal is done.

(You may not find out until) the loan goes delinquent. Someone knocks on your door to say your property will be foreclosed because you werent paying back the loan you werent aware of. The bad guys changed your mailing address so you didnt get any notices.

Q. Who do these thieves typically target?

A. The big targets a lot of the time are the elderly because they have a lot of equity in their homes, they dont pay attention to details like missing property tax bills and they make very poor witnesses and the bad guys know it. For example, sometimes it can take two years to prosecute and the elderly victim might not be alive in two years.

Second homes, vacation homes and investment properties are also big targets because people dont pay attention to the details such as property tax bills, foreclosure notices, past-due notices if these documents happen to get through to the property for some reason. Youre more likely to notice you didnt get a property tax bill on your primary home vs. a second property in Colorado.

Q. What does your company provide to its subscribers?

A. We have direct access to 6 billion title records in a U.S. database. Our database covers about 97 or 98 percent of all title filings.

Our founder negotiated an agreement where we have exclusive access to this database. Our software monitors that database for our subscribers. We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on our proprietary software. When you are a subscriber and your title is disturbed in any way, you get an email from us. Shortly thereafter if we dont get a response from you, we call you.

(If your title ownership has been fraudulently changed,) you need to file an affidavit and notice of false filing with the county recorders office. That essentially puts a big red stop sign on that title, warning any lenders that theres a problem and that they need to tread carefully.

Well email that document to the subscribers and get on the phone and walk them through filling it out. They have to get it notarized and take it to the county recorders office to file. If they cant, our company will get someone to take it in to county recorders office to file it. Its not just finding the problem; its solving the problem. (None of its subscribers have had a loan fraudulently taken out against the equity of their homes.)

Q. Do other companies offer similar services?

A. There are some little onesies and twosies that go to an individual recorders office and work out a software. But all they do is notify their clients.

Q. I already subscribe to an identity theft prevention service. Will these services protect me from title fraud?

A. Nope, unfortunately. Bad guys use a false identity. They are not using your identify. So it doesnt raise any red flags associated with your identity.

Q. What information does a homeowner need to provide to subscribe to your services?

A. Subscribers just need to give their street address, credit-card number for payment and contact info in case something happens. You can sign up with your phone at Starbucks. You dont need the assessors parcel number, or APN.

Q. You said there have been very few times where your subscribers had their title changed fraudulently. What do you say to someone who asks why they should pay for your services?

A. Why do you have smoke detectors? In case of a fire. Its the same with Home Title Lock. Your home is your most important asset. It will be a devastating emotional, financial and legal nightmare if title theft happens to you. Its a road you dont want to go down when for pennies a day, you can have the comfort of knowing it wont happen to you.

Business

Hang Nguyen is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.
The John J. McCarthy Observatory in New Milford will present its next Second Saturday Stars program, Thycho at Uraniborg: Astronomy Before the Telescope, Jan. 11.

The program will run from 7 to 9 p.m. at the observatory located behind New Milford High School on Route 7 South.

Tycho Brahe was the worlds foremost astronomer just before Galileo first turned the telescope on the night sky.

It was Tychos accurate data that Kepler used to formulate his three Laws of Planetary Motion.

He as a well-educated Danish nobleman who was given his own island by the King of Denmark to use for his observatory.

Tycho led one of the most colorful lives in history.

The program will address his early life, why he wore a prosthetic nose, what happened to his pet elk, how his good manners killed him, and what has happened to him after he died.

The design and construction of his observatory and home will also be discussed as well as their reconstruction.

His instruments and observations and some of his other work will also be presented.
Nirbhaya: Convict Pawan refuses to meet new legal aid, authorities ask on last meeting with family

Weight of Nirbhayas killers will decide how low they drop at the gallows

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 09: More than a month before death warrants were issued in the Nirbhaya gangrape case, a jail in Bihar had been commissioned to make 10 execution ropes which are likely to be used for the four convicts scheduled to be hanged on January 22.

The Buxar Jail, the only prison in the state has the required know-how, had received an instruction to the effect in the first week of December.

Last minutes before a hanging: What Nirbhayas killers will face

The four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case will be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar Jail, a Delhi court said on Tuesday.

While the preparation of the rope is crucial another factor that is taken into consideration is the weight of the convict. The weight is important since it is on this basis that the drop is decided.

If the prisoner weighs less than 100 lbs. or 45 kgs, he should be given a drop of 8 feet or 2.5 mtrs.

If the prisoner weighs 45 to 60 kgs, he should be given a drop of 7 feet 8 inches or 2.3 mtrs.

If the prisoner weighs more than 133 lbs. or 60 kgs, but not more than 166 lbs. or 75 kgs, he should be given a drop of 7 feet or 2.2 mtrs.

If the prisoner weighs more than 166 lbs. or 75 kgs. but not more than 200 lbs. or 91 kgs, he should be given a drop of 6 feet 6 inches or 2 mtrs.

If the prisoner weighs more than 200 lbs. or 91 kgs, he should be given a drop of 6 feet 1.83 mtrs.
The Centre on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking transfer of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) pending before different High Courts and the top court. A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde said it will hear the transfer petition of the Centre on January 10.

The bench also comprising justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant said, "We are of the prima facie view that high courts should hear the petitions challenging CAA and in case there is a conflict then we may look into it".

Apex court said it will hear transfer petition on Friday

Solicitor General G Mehta, appearing for the Centre said, there will be a problem as different High Courts may take conflicting views and lawyers will be moving to different states to attend the proceedings. The top court said lawyers moving to different states for attending a hearing in CAA matters is not its priority. Mehta informed the top court that a petition will be coming before the Karnataka High Court on Thursday. The Apex court said it will hear the transfer petition on Friday.

Last month, a clutch of 60 petitions were filed in the top court challenging various aspects of the law that relaxed conditions for migrants of six non-Muslim communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to get Indian citizenship. The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Centre asking it to reply by January 22. Protests broke across the nation in December when the Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill with a majority turning it into law.

READ | Tajinder Bagga challenges Konkona Sharma to 'prove anti-CAA protest video is doctored'

READ | UMAC to hold silent protest against CAA & NRC in Hyderabad on January 30

Petitions filed against Jamia and AMU violence

A petition was filed in the Delhi High Court against the violence at Jamia Millia Islamia University during the protest against CAA. The court will hear the case in February this year. Similar petitions were also filed in the Allahabad High Court over violence in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), where students protested in solidarity with Jamia. The top court had refused to hear the petitions as it said the pleas should be referred to relevant High Courts. Chief Justice SA Bobde insisted that the facts of the case need to be established before lower courts first, and the top court should have the benefit of High Court orders.

READ | Deepika Padukone reacts on CAA protests & JNU violence, says 'proud that we aren't scared'

READ | DMK leaders walk out of Assembly after Speaker tables CAA discussion for another time

(With PTI inputs)
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The Central Inspection Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam has suggested that Party Secretary of Hanoi Hoang Trung Hai, who was a deputy prime minister, be penalized for his wrongdoing in a massive cast iron and steel project in the northern region of the country.

The committee convened its 42nd meeting in Hanoi from January 3 to 8.

Following the meeting, it proposed that the Politburo discipline Hai, who is now a Politburo member.

As the deputy prime minister, he was wrong when giving some directions on the implementation of the phase two of a project to expand production at state-run Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Joint Stock Corporation, which specializes in making cast iron and steel, known as the TISCO II project.

The phase two of a project to expand production at state-run Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Joint Stock Corporation in Thai Nguyen Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre

The TISCO II project, located in the northern province of Thai Nguyen, was projected to cost VND3.8 trillion (US$164 million) when it was launched in 2007.

It has lain dormant ever since and the Government Inspectorate has also pointed out a series of serious irregularities at this project, including a cost overrun of more than VND4.2 trillion ($181 million) that was not legally grounded, which turned the total investment into VND8.1 trillion ($349 million).

Hai was born in 1959 in Thai Binh Province, located in northern Vietnam.

He has been Hanois Party secretary since February 2016.

He was a deputy prime minister from August 2007 to April 2016 after working as an industry minister from August 2002 to July 2007.

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Washington: The Indian Navy has started deploying its warships in the Gulf region for the past few days as tensions in US-Iran increase. At the same time, India has taken this precautionary measure in the form of trade and protection from the sea routes, so that any emergent situation can be dealt with in time. Apart from this, INS Trikhand already deployed in the Gulf of Oman has also been alerted. Naval officials said on Wednesday that warships and aircraft have been deployed in view of the current situation.

SSP Vaibhav Krishna's confidential letter leak, demand for open discussion on case



According to information received from sources, it is known that Indian businessmen are being given the assurance of security. The situation is being constantly monitored and it has been asked to be prepared to deal with any accidental situation. At the same time, a statement issued by the Navy said that this step has been taken so that the movement of Indian business vessels is in a safe manner and the maritime business is in a safe manner. The Indian Navy is committed to protecting the country's maritime interests.

Sanjay Paswan's big statement, says, "People want to see BJP's CM..."



It is being said that the INS Trikhand warship is currently stationed in the Gulf of Oman. In addition, INS Sumedha is also deployed for anti-piracy patrolling in the Gulf of Aden. If there was a war between the US and Iran, the responsibility of evacuating all these ships from there will be the responsibility of the Indian Navy, just like Operation Sankalp.

Sanjay Paswan's big statement, says, "People want to see BJP's CM..."
Three men who were allegedly planning to commit a dacoity were arrested in suburban Kandivali on Thursday while two others managed to flee, the police said.

The arrested persons were identified as Ramashankar alias Pappu Sukai Bhagat (27), Wajahuddin Sirajuddin Ansari (38) and Rizwan Qureshi (34), all hailing from Uttar Pradesh.

After receiving a tip-off, officials of the Samatanagar Police Station laid a trap early Thursday morning and nabbed the trio in Ashoknagar area, but two of their accomplices managed to flee.

The police also seized two country-made pistols, 20 cartridges and tools used in house-breaking from their possession, said an official.

All three had serious offences such as murder and dacoity registered against them in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi as well as Mumbai and neighbouring Mira Road.

They had landed in the city on January 3 and were planning to commit a dacoity, the official said.

They were booked under IPC section 399 (Making preparation to commit dacoity). Further probe is on.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi: Union home minister Amit Shah along with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and other senior officials of the home ministry and multiple security and intelligence agencies held a high level meeting on Thursday to review the countrys internal security scenario. Sources said though there was no immediate threat or provocation, the security review was conducted due to multiple factors like ongoing protests against CAA, prevailing situation in some Universities particularly JNU, security scenario in Jammu and Kashmir and also the North-East.

Home secretary Ajay Bhalla and Intelligence Bureau chief Arvind Kumar also participated in the review meeting. While the home minister, sources added, and other top-brass expressed satisfaction over the existing security situation, it was decided to that the Home Ministry should continue to maintain co-ordination with various state security agencies to ensure that no untoward incident takes place particularly in the run up to Republic Day on January 26.

Senior officials said normally, the security agencies remain on high alert ahead of January 26 due to a possible terror threat, and this time the agencies will maintain greater co-ordination with states. On the issue of prevailing security scenario in the Kashmir Valley also there was a view that the situation was better now it has was decided that restoring internet connection in the Valley should be put on hold for some more time. The broadband or internet connectivity in the Valley will not be restored in any hurry.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will travel to Washington on Monday to sign the "Phase One" trade deal with the United States, the commerce ministry said Thursday.

Liu, China's top negotiator in the trade war, will be in the US capital from Monday to Wednesday, the ministry said, a week after President Donald Trump said the agreement would be signed on January 15.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The farm policies need to be reoriented to first ensure income security to farmers and later make them businessmen, a senior agriculture ministry official said on Thursday.

"Now, we are thinking to secure the community which has made our country food secure. We must emphasise on income security of farmer friends. Unless they are secured our aim of food and nutrition security, feed and fodder security and ecology security will not be fulfilled," said Ashok Dalwai, chairman of hight-level panel on doubling farmers income.

Dalwai, who is also CEO of the National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA), has recommended several policy measures to improve the income of farmers.

Speaking at an event organised by agro-chemicals firm Dhanuka Agritech Ltd, Dalwai said India has the capacity to improve the income of farmers.

"All our knowledge, science, policies need to be reoriented to benefit them. ...After income security, our next step would be to make farmers businessmen who works for profit which will be done though policy and other changes," he said.

Dalwai also mentioned that the green revolution must not be perceived negatively and at the same time there is a need to learn lessons from the milk revolution.

On the occasion, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary gave away the first edition of Dhanuka Innovative Agriculture Award (DIAA) with cash amount totalling Rs 22 lakh to 32 farmers in various categories for adopting and practising innovative farming techniques.

Dhanuka Agritech Chairman R G Agarwal said the awards have been instituted to felicitate the innovative farming community and encourage farmers to share their practices to enhance crop productivity and their income.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Trump administration does not want to make a decision that degrades the defence capabilities of India which is its 'Major Defence Partner', a senior US official has said, referring to the potential sanctions under CAATSA which prohibits countries from purchasing significant military equipment from Russia.

The US has said in the past it was working with countries, including India, to help them identify and avoid engaging in potentially sanctionable activities under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

India and Russia signed the USD 5 billion S-400 air defence system deal in October 2018, after wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Responding to a question on implications of India going ahead with its decision to purchase S-400 missile defence system from Russia, the official said: "I know India has expressed valid concerns... they don't want to have a sustainment line completely shut down... That's the last thing we want to do with a significant partner. We don't want to degrade their defence capabilities".

The US has said that such a major purchase would come under the purview of the punitive CAATSA sanctions. It has already taken such an action against Turkey.

Many in India believe a Congressional waiver would bail it through. However, the US official insisted that there is no country-specific or blanket waiver for such a major defence purchase.

"What we don't want India to do is to introduce something that as we continue to go forward in this partnership makes it challenging or exposes risk to our technology on future acquisitions," said the official requesting anonymity.

"It has been reported in different places, mostly outside of the US, that there was an understanding that there's a blanket waiver. There is not. I would start with that there is not a blanket waiver. Congress certainly never designed that or anticipated that, nor did the (Trump) administration," said the official.

While there is not a blanket waiver, there is also not a blanket application, he said.

"There is a case-by-case analysis on where CAATSA sanctions could be applied. CAATSA sanctions also can range in depth as to how deep-cutting and to who, the entities and the people. And those options are always there," the official said.

Officials from India and the United States -- which have seen galloping of their bilateral defence trade in last 15 years -- are having intense conversations on this issue. Any sanctions on India would have the potential to undo the improvement in the defence and strategic relationship, he said.

"Indian officials know that there is a risk of application of sanctions. Indian officials also know that we want to work with them to find a path forward where they have historic sustainment lines that certainly don't put them at CAATSA risk.

"The challenge we have with any state like India is new acquisitions on significant systems that would either put at risk our platforms or expose our technologies to an adversary. And so we said this very simple Turkey was a perfect example. The S-400 put at risk the F-35. The S-400 also could put at risk other platforms, and so we've had these conversations very candidly with all partners," said the senior State Department official.

The S-400 is known as Russia's most advanced long-range surface-to-air missile defence system. China was the first foreign buyer to seal a government-to-government deal with Russia in 2014 for the system.

The US recognised India as a "Major Defence Partner" in 2016, a designation that allows India to buy more advanced and sensitive technologies from America at par with that of the US' closest allies and partners, and ensures enduring cooperation into the future.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Viruses are not easy to characterize. But we need to because being able to quickly predict the surface charge of viruses opens up new possibilities for vaccine purification and making gene therapy treatments for eye diseases and muscular dystrophy.

Caryn Heldt, director of the Health Research Institute at Michigan Technological University, studies virus surface chemistry with funding through the National Science Foundation's faculty early career development (CAREER) program.

Her latest paper, published in Langmuir, focuses on using surface charge to determine a virus' isoelectric point, a common way to characterize viruses.

The innovation is that instead of bulk characterization, she's doing it using a single-particle method.

So we have these bulk methods where we put a virus in solution and we characterize the solution. But if your virus isn't completely purified -- which is also difficult to do -- then your characterization of your bulk solution means you're characterizing everything in that solution." Caryn Heldt, Director, Health Research Institute, Michigan Technological University

Heldt is also the James and Lorna Mack Chair in Bioengineering and an associate professor of chemical engineering.

To improve the accuracy of this characterization, Heldt suggests a single-particle method that uses atomic force microscopy (AFM). The adhesion between the AFM probe and the sticky virus surfaces can be measured -- it's called chemical force microscopy (CFM).

"Viruses are these complicated molecules that have a lot of different chemistries on them," Heldt said, adding that as a big, complex molecule a virus reaches its isoelectric point when all its negative and positive charges balance out.

"At a particular pH, the virus has a neutral charge. So if we want the virus to have a positive charge, we put the pH below the isoelectric point and vice versa."

That means Heldt's team could make the AFM probe positive or negative, then scan a solution across different pHs to determine a virus' isoelectric point.

To verify that the method worked, the team used two viruses: non-enveloped porcine parovirus (PPV), which has a well-documented isoelectric point, and enveloped bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), which does not have a known isoelectric point. The methods matched up.

"So now we can try and predict chromatography conditions with just a small amount of virus," Heldt said, explaining that chromatography uses surface charge to determine whether a virus is present in a medical test or for vaccine purification.

"Also, we have preliminary data that shows this could be helpful for manufacturing viruses that could be modified and used to target specific genes to help with diseases like muscular dystrophy and some retinal diseases."

In both cases for chromatography and gene therapy, less is more. In a body or vaccine, it doesn't take much virus to wreak havoc; single-particle methods could provide more answers with a smaller sample.

For gene therapy, using a bunch of inactive virus capsids that a body's immune system would fight is not ideal treatment; CFM could more easily discern inactive from active capsids, which could then be purified for a more effective treatment.

As a biomedical engineer, Heldt is keen to bridge the fundamental understanding of virus chemistry and its applications. By refining virus characterization, single-particle methods could streamline several medical processes including vaccine production and gene therapy manufacturing.
Throughout most of 2016, a significant percentage of the American public believed that the winner of the November 2016 presidential election would be a woman -- Hillary Clinton.

Strikingly, a new study from cognitive scientists and linguists at MIT, the University of Potsdam, and the University of California at San Diego shows that despite those beliefs, people rarely used the pronoun "she" when referring to the next U.S. president before the election. Furthermore, when reading about the future president, encountering the pronoun "she" caused a significant stumble in their reading.

"There seemed to be a real bias against referring to the next president as 'she.' This was true even for people who most strongly expected and probably wanted the next president to be a female," says Roger Levy, an MIT professor of brain and cognitive sciences and the senior author of the new study. "There's a systematic underuse of 'she' pronouns for these kinds of contexts. It was quite eye-opening."

As part of their study, Levy and his colleagues also conducted similar experiments in the lead-up to the 2017 general election in the United Kingdom, which determined the next prime minister. In that case, people were more likely to use the pronoun "she" than "he" when referring to the next prime minister.

Levy suggests that sociopolitical context may account for at least some of the differences seen between the U.S. and the U.K.: At the time, Theresa May was prime minister and very strongly expected to win, plus many Britons likely remember the long tenure of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

"The situation was very different there because there was an incumbent who was a woman, and there is a history of referring to the prime minister as 'she' and thinking about the prime minster as potentially a woman," he says.

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The lead author of the study is Titus von der Malsburg, a research affiliate at MIT and a researcher in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Potsdam, Germany. Till Poppels, a graduate student at the University of California at San Diego, is also an author of the paper, which appears in the journal Psychological Science.

Implicit linguistic biases

Levy and his colleagues began their study in early 2016, planning to investigate how people's expectations about world events, specifically, the prospect of a woman being elected president, would influence their use of language. They hypothesized that the strong possibility of a female president might override the implicit bias people have toward referring to the president as "he."

"We wanted to use the 2016 electoral campaign as a natural experiment, to look at what kind of language people would produce or expect to hear as their expectations about who was likely to win the race changed," Levy says.

Before beginning the study, he expected that people's use of the pronoun "she" would go up or down based on their beliefs about who would win the election. He planned to explore how long would it take for changes in pronoun use to appear, and how much of a boost "she" usage would experience if a majority of people expected the next president to be a woman.

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However, such a boost never materialized, even though Clinton was expected to win the election.

The researchers performed their experiment 12 times between June 2016 and January 2017, with a total of nearly 25,000 participants from the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform. The study included three tasks, and each participant was asked to perform one of them. The first task was to predict the likelihood of three candidates winning the election -- Clinton, Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders. From those numbers, the researchers could estimate the percentage of people who believed the next president would be a woman. This number was higher than 50 percent during most of the period leading up to the election, and reached just over 60 percent right before the election.

The next two tasks were based on common linguistics research methods -- one to test people's patterns of language production, and the other to test how the words they encounter affect their reading comprehension.

To test language production, the researchers asked participants to complete a paragraph such as "The next U.S. president will be sworn into office in January 2017. After moving into the Oval Office, one of the first things that ...."

In this task, about 40 percent of the participants ended up using a pronoun in their text. Early in the study period, more than 25 percent of those participants used "he," fewer than 10 percent used "she," and around 50 percent used "they." As the election got closer, and Clinton's victory seemed more likely, the percentage of "she" usage never went up, but usage of "they" climbed to about 60 percent. While these results indicate that the singular "they" has reached widespread acceptance as a de facto standard in contemporary English, they also suggest a strong persistent bias against using "she" in a context where the gender of the individual referred to is not yet known.

"After Clinton won the primary, by late summer, most people thought that she would win. Certainly Democrats, and especially female Democrats, thought that Clinton would win. But even in these groups, people were very reluctant to use 'she' to refer to the next president. It was never the case that 'she' was preferred over 'he,'" Levy says.

For the third task, participants were asked to read a short passage about the next president. As the participants read the text on a screen, they had to press a button to reveal each word of the sentence. This setup allows the researchers to measure how quickly participants are reading. Surprise or difficulty in comprehension leads to longer reading times.

In this case, the researchers found that when participants encountered the pronoun "she" in a sentence referring to the next president, it cost them about a third of a second in reading time -- a seemingly short amount of time that is nevertheless known from sentence processing research to indicate a substantial disruption relative to ordinary reading -- compared to sentences that used "he." This did not change over the course of the study.

"For months, we were in a situation where large segments of the population strongly expected that a woman would win, yet those segments of the population actually didn't use the word 'she' to refer to the next president, and were surprised to encounter 'she' references to the next president," Levy says.

Strong stereotypes

The findings suggest that gender biases regarding the presidency are so deeply ingrained that they are extremely difficult to overcome even when people strongly believe that the next president will be a woman, Levy says.

"It was surprising that the stereotype that the U.S. president is always a man would so strongly influence language, even in this case, which offered the best possible circumstances for particularized knowledge about an upcoming event to override the stereotypes," he says. "Perhaps it's an association of different pronouns with positions of prestige and power, or it's simply an overall reluctance to refer to people in a way that indicates they're female if you're not sure."

The U.K. component of the study was conducted in June 2017 (before the election) and July 2017 (after the election but before Theresa May had successfully formed a government). Before the election, the researchers found that "she" was used about 25 percent of the time, while "he" was used less than 5 percent of the time. However, reading times for sentences referring to the prime minister as "she" were no faster than than those for "he," suggesting that there was still some bias against "she" in comprehension relative to usage preferences, even in a country that already has a woman prime minister.

The type of gender bias seen in this study appears to extend beyond previously seen stereotypes that are based on demographic patterns, Levy says. For example, people usually refer to nurses as "she," even if they don't know the nurse's gender, and more than 80 percent of nurses in the U.S. are female. In an ongoing study, von der Malsburg, Poppels, Levy, and recent MIT graduate Veronica Boyce have found that even for professions that have fairly equal representation of men and women, such as baker, "she" pronouns are underused.

"If you ask people how likely a baker is to be male or female, it's about 50/50. But if you ask people to complete text passages that are about bakers, people are twice as likely to use he as she," Levy says. "Embedded within the way that we use pronouns to talk about individuals whose identities we don't know yet, or whose identities may not be definitive, there seems to be this systematic underconveyance of expectations for female gender."

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, a Feodor Lynen Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship.
How did Syrians react to news of the death of Qassem Soleimani? The first reaction, especially in the city of Aleppo, was to celebrate as if it were a national festival. In Aleppo, and in many cities beyond, they gathered to celebrate, sing, dance, and offer cookies and baklava to everyone. Cheering people in the streets, speaking in front of the cameras, said they hoped the next target would be Syria's detested dictator, Bashar Assad.

Soleimani, who was the commander of Iran's Quds Force, was a dedicated ally to Assad who murdered tens of thousands of civilians in Syria. Iran's mullahs and their favorite general, Soleimani, made it quite clear, time and again, that to them Syria was just another province of Iran to abuse as they wished. Their meddling in Syria at the hands of Soleimani was the cause of mass murders to our homeland, and for that, Syrians will never forgive him.

Soleimani wasn't just a killer of Syrians; he was also known as a notorious man who prevented Assad's downfall several times. He was considered an architect of Assad's war against the Syrian people and their Syrian liberation army, which fought Assad. Every time Assad was cornered and could no longer survive, Soleimani was there to help him out at the enormous cost of Syrian lives. Therefore, Syrians hated him and from the bottom of their hearts wanted him eliminated.

It was reported that in 2012, Assad was in a difficult situation. His army was not fighting for him. He was on the way out. But then Soleimani was there for him. Soleimani boasted that he would bring Iran's Basij brigades to save him. The Basij brigades were paramilitary thugs acting as a unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which have been declared a terrorist organization by the U.S. He apparently made good on his threat, using sneak tactics. By August of the same year, 48 Iranians were reportedly captured inside Syria posing as pilgrims but were identified as Quds Force members.

Soleimani began to bring in foreign militia forces composed of Hezb'allah members and Iraqi Shiite militias. His second in command, General Hossein Hamedani, was settled in Syria, and supplies began to fly in heavily from Iran for killing Syrian civilians.

Soleimani reassembled different Syrian intelligence apparati as the number of Quds Force officers and their foreign proxies present in Syria rose to the thousands. Some 2,000 Hezb'allah fighters joined the concert in April 2013. Finally, with no fewer than 80,000 fighting forces under the Quds Force command, Assad was saved from his downfall. Soleimani himself spent so much time in Syria bailing him out that he was almost resident in Damascus; he used to go to Syria a lot to attend meetings with Assad and to visit the operation fields.

In another round of rescue for Assad regime, Soleimani was assigned by Khamenei to go to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin in order to pave the way for the Russian intervention in Syria that followed.

Reuters reported on Oct. 6, 2015 that "Iran has aided Assad militarily by mobilizing its Shi'ite militias to fight alongside the Syrian army, and dispatching Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps officers as advisors. A number of them have been killed." This happened as Assad was fighting to retain his grip on power as the Syrian liberation army closed in.

Of Soleimani's visit to Moscow, Reuters reported: "Soleimani put the map of Syria on the table. The Russians were very alarmed, and felt matters were in steep decline and that there were real dangers to the [Syrian] regime. The Iranians assured them there is still the possibility to reclaim the initiative." At that time, "Soleimani played a role in assuring them that we haven't lost all the cards."

Therefore, his visit to Moscow in 2015 was the first step in planning for a Russian military intervention that reshaped the Syrian war in favor of Assad regime. This intervention has cost tens of thousands of civilian lives in Syria.

These were known facts registered in the history. What was unknown was if the architect of such vicious plans  i.e., Qassem Soleimani  would ever receive the punishment he deserved.

Now that he has, it is obvious that his elimination will have tremendous impact on the fate of the Assad regime, since he has lost a savior, and from now on, he won't find a rescuer the next time he is trapped.

As the last word, now that Iran's evil Quds Force has lost its head, it is time to evict the IRGC and its Quds Force altogether from the region. This is what the people of Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, and all other countries have been wishing for a long time. This perspective is the main reason why they now celebrate Soleimani's death.

Souheir Atassi is the main secular activist of the Syrian opposition and is, since November 2012, the vice president of the National Coalition of Opposition and Revolutionary Forces. She was the second Syrian personality in the Geneva conference.

Image credit: Kremlin.ru, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a professor of law at Harvard University and was a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter. His books include "The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President."
President Trump said he decided to take out Iranian general Qassem Soleimani because there were plans to 'blow up' the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

'We did it because they were looking to blow up our embassy,' Trump told reporters during an environmental event at the White House Thursday. 'He had more than that particular embassy in mind,' the president also said.

For days, the Trump administration has claimed that Soleimani was planning an attack on Americans making him an 'imminent threat' who needed to be killed.

President Trump said Thursday that Iranian general Qassem Soleimani was taken out by an American drone because there were plans to 'blow up' the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iraq

President Trump made the comments during an event promoting changes to the National Environmental Policy Act. It's the first time he's answered questions about the strike since it happened a week ago

Protesters set fires in fron of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on New Year's Eve. Trump said there was a bigger plot to blow up the embassy in Iraq, which is why he ordered a strike on Iran's second most powerful figure

Details, however, have been scarce.

On Thursday, Trump answered questions in-person for the first time, nearly a week after the strike.

'We caught a total monster and we took him out and that should have happened a lont time ago,' Trump said at an event promoting changes to the National Environmental Policy Act, before mentioning the embassy plot.

President Trump ordered a strike on Iranian general Qassem Soleimani (pictured), which killed him last Thursday

'We also did it for other reasons that were very obvious,' the president continued. 'Somebody died, one of our military people died. People were badly wounded just the week before. And we did it. And we had a shot at him and I took it and that show was pinpoint accurate and that was the end of the monster.'

The president was referring to a U.S. military contractor who was killed in a rocket attack late last month from an Iran-backed militia. The U.S. responded two days later by dropping bombs in Iraq and Syria on sites where Kataeb Hezbollah, the militia group, could be found. Twenty-five were killed. That attack led to droves of protesters leading a siege on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

'If you look at the protesters, they were rough warriors. They weren't protesters. They were Iranian backed,' Trump said.

While 'some of them were from Iraq,' Trump added, he said they were Iranian-backed and 'looking to do damage.'

'That was a totally organized plot, and you-know-who organized it,' Trump said Thursday. 'That man right now is not around any longer, OK?'

President Trump held Iranian general Qassem Soleimani responsible for the siege on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and said there were also plans to 'blow up' that embassy

After that, the president decided to target Soleimani, considered the second most powerful figure in Iran.

Soleimani arrived in Iraq last Thursday and his convoy was targeted by a U.S. drone outside the Baghdad International Airport.

The strike not only inflamed tensions with Iran, but also with Iraq - where the targeted killing occurred. Iraq's parliament voted Sunday to kick out U.S. troops, though the resolution that passed was non-binding.

Since Soleimani's death, members of Congress have been clamoring for an explanation that would justify the killing, especially since the White House didn't brief the top lawmakers, commonly referred to as the 'Gang of Eight.'

On Wednesday, Trump administration officials, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, came to Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers.

While members were not allowed to divulge the contents of the briefing Democrats, and even a few Republicans, left the meetings feeling unfulfilled.

Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, complained loudly about the briefing, espeically when administration figures suggested the conflict shouldn't be debated on Capitol Hill.

On Thursday the House of Representatives will likely pass a War Powers Resolution, which will limit Trump's ability to go to war with Iran.

On Wednesday morning the president addressed the nation and said he planned to sanction Iran more, but indicated he didn't have an appetite for full-on war.
IRGC hits US' Ain Al-Assad base in Iraq

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Wed / 8 January 2020 / 08:13

Tehran (ISNA)  Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) responded to US' terrorist and criminal act in assassination of General Qassem Soleimani.

The Aerospace Force of IRGC has fired several ballistic missiles at the Ain al-Assad base of the American troops in Iraq in retaliation for the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani.

The missiles have successfully hit their target.

The IRGC later confirmed the attacks, and said in an official statement that in Operation Martyr Soleimani in early hours of Wednesday, tens of ground-to-ground missiles were fired at the US base and successfully pounded the Ain al-Assad Base.

In the statement, IRGC warned the United States that any more aggression or movement will receive more "painful and crushing" response.

IRGC also issued a warning to all US allies that have their military bases to the terrorist US forces.

"Any land that becomes the source of aggressive and hostile measures against the Islamic Republic will be targeted," the statement said.

IRGC said it would not differentiate between the US and Israel in retaliating against the assassination of the Iranian national hero.

"We advise the US to withdraw American soldiers from the region to prevent further damages," the statement added.

At least 80 US forces have reportedly been killed during IRGC' missile strikes to intended U.S. targets in Iraq on Wednesday.

End Item

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U.S. conflict with Iran: What you need to read

Heres what you need to know to understand what this moment means in U.S.-Iran relations.

What happened: President Trump ordered a drone strike near the Baghdad airport, killing Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, Irans most powerful military commander and leader of its special-operations forces abroad.

Who was Soleimani: As the leader of the Revolutionary Guard Corps elite Quds Force, Soleimani was key in supporting and coordinating with Irans allies across the region, especially in Iraq. Soleimanis influence was imprinted on various Shiite militias that fought U.S. troops.

How we got here: Tensions had been escalating between Iran and the United States since Trump pulled out of an Obama-era nuclear deal, and they spiked shortly before the airstrike. The strikes that killed Soleimani were carried out after the death of a U.S. contractor in a rocket attack against a military base in Kirkuk, Iraq, that the United States blamed on Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia.

What happens next: Iran responded to Soleimanis death by launching missile strikes at two bases hosting U.S. forces in Iraq. No casualties were reported. In an address to the nation, Trump announced that new sanctions will be imposed on Tehran.

Ask a question: What do you want to know about the strike and its aftermath? Submit a question or read previous Q&As with Post reporters.
Richard Bingley is the CEO of the London-based Global Cyber Academy, an independent education organisation dedicated to making technology safer.

Irans government often causes incumbent American presidents a headache during election year, although Donald Trump seems immune to diplomatic migraines. His decisive swoop to eliminate top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani will certainly provoke a response from Tehran. But it might not be in a format we expect or understand.

After all, this was not a clandestine attack by an American secret agency practicing stealth-like plausible deniability. Rather, it was a highly brazen and visceral public lashing by Trumps White House.

Irans government views herself as being humiliated in her own backyard. Soleimani was viewed domestically as leader (now martyr) who rekindled the military power of Hizbollah in Lebanon and a man who was instrumental in helping Assads government in Syria  so far  to defeating Daesh (ISIS).

Yet even among her allies in Asia and The Gulf, Tehran is struggling to drum up much genuine sympathy for  if you believe western media hype  a cartel of uniformed gangsters who, seemingly, operated almost with a carte-blanche licence to kill beyond their own borders.

If any credit is to be had from this sorry episode, it is that the USA didnt even bother with an ambiguous operation that could be batted away in the United Nations with suppressed smirks, nods and winks which follow plausible deniability covert ops.

Tehran therefore has no dilemma to struggle with. Iran will tangibly respond. The only questions remaining are when and how. This weeks symbolic missile attack of US troop bases in Iraq is highly unlikely to draw a line under this recent escalation from both sides.

Although numerically strong, Irans military rank-and-file will be acutely aware that it will, in all likelihood, produce a feeble, disjointed performance on any battlefield. Moreover, such a bedraggling spectacle  of high-tech machinery pummeling the futile billows of religious-inspired rhetoric  will occur under the full spotlight of 24/7 satellite television and mass digital voyeurism.

Coupled with likely trade sanctions from some Gulf partners, then Russia and China, sitting on their hands, there can only be one short-term winner, if full-scale military confrontation broke out: the United States. Nevertheless, beneath her fighting rhetoric, Tehrans boisterous government is often clever, agile, highly rational and practices  most of the time  a strong, survivalist, realpolitik.

For a prediction of whats about to come, we should analyse the life of last weeks target: General Soleimani.

According to some defence journalists and journals, Soleimani was an expert exporter of asymmetric warfare; the types of lethal guerilla operations that can bring great humiliation, and even draw out precautionary fear and retreat, from larger military giants.

Soleimanis speciality was hybrid and deniable covert operations, which terrorized opponents and sent an intimidating signal or projection of power to Irans regional adversaries: principally Iraqs fledgling government, Saudi Arabia, non-Shia of the Lebanon and, of course, Israel.

Hybrid means the mixing up of attack methods; allegedly in the generals case, utilizing good old traditional ammonium nitrate fueled bombs that can liquidate an apartment block or garrison, but also increasingly deploying advanced technical capabilities: phone intercepts, target espionage and tracking, drone navigation, communications jamming, etc.

The second part of this modus operandi, technical sabotage, is likely to be Tehrans principle chosen retaliation.

Tehran will know that President Trump is consistent only ever in his dramatic inconsistency. If a bombing campaign is launched against US or allied troops in the Middle East, Trump is likely to strike hard, possibly to the point of driving regime change.

Ringing in his ears will be two presidential scenarios. President Kennedy who noted, that his personal approval ratings rose despite the unsuccessful 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion to topple Fidel Castro. Voters like tough and they like action.

Second, nice guy Jimmy Carters attempt to skillfully negotiate the way out of post-revolutionary Iran for seventy trapped US embassy officials in 1979. The debacle lasted 444 days.

Carters cerebral, plaintive, attempt failed dismally. Ronald Reagan nailed Carter for his dithering and hand-wringing weakness, to successfully defeat him in 1980, sending the esoteric one-termer back, figuratively, to his Peanut farm in Georgia.

Irans government knows all of this. Her President, Hassan Rouhani, was educated as a postgraduate at a Glasgow university and is deeply steeped in security and philosophical strategy. As such, Iran has perhaps one of the most finely tuned asymmetric warfare strategies out there. As with her partly successful nuclear enrichment negotiations with Barack Obamas White House (and the EU), Tehran thinks that it knows exactly how far to push back at an adversary, or camouflage a glitch, without necessarily provoking a Washingtonian trigger-pull.

Tehrans retaliation will probably be in the form of escalating cyber attacks upon the USA, its infrastructure and its close allies. Namely, the UK, Saudi Arabia and Dubai Emirate, part of the UAE.

Why?

Because, even though the evidence of a cyber-attack stemming from Iran would be almost incontrovertible to insiders, general public audiences are still susceptible to claims that cyber space is too ambiguous. (Most of us are, thankfully, optimists, unless we see damning proof of something!)

Cyber-attacks are a little like taking a complicated fraud case before a jury. The evidence trail is often too difficult to prove, then the end result is perceivably not lethal. Thus, at present, few countries, if any, have gone to war over a cyber-attack.

However, lets think back to form. Iran has the capability, in spades. In June 2017 MPs email accounts in the Houses of Parliament were successfully hacked. Initial suspicion fell upon Russia, China and North Koreas infamous Lazarus cyber-crime group.

But after a four-month investigation, forensic investigators at GCHQ (the UK governments signals intelligence agency) pointed HMGs finger squarely at Tehran.

In 2005, Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard established a cyber army, most notably attacking Chinese tech firm Baidu in 2009 and also Twitter. World-leading cyber analysts at the Israel Institute for National Security Studies ranked the IRG as the worlds fourth most powerful cyber army by 2013.

Moreover, if (for example) planned troop movements, or traffic planning systems, or hospital systems, power station systems, car GPS systems  many coordinated by automated and unchecked supervisory controls  are breached, then it simply is a fact of life that any decent cyber-attack upon a critical system will cause physical harm to citizens. And lots of us.

Its worth recalling that North Koreas cyber-attack using the WannaCry ransomware led to more than one thousand NHS operations being cancelled back in 2017. Unlike Israelis or Iraqis, we Brits simply do not believe that a devastating cyber attack will happen to us. Nor do we fully understand what the impacts might be.

Therefore, time spent away from television news, updating our antivirus software, subscribing to VPNs, organizing data back-up and storage, and avoiding dodgy URL links that promise enthralling Instagram images, might be the best retaliation by the UK citizen to this unfolding, highly worrying, skirmish.
There may be a few people in the Sikh community who were pursuing their own agenda in a way that was detrimental to the interests of India, but the vast majority of the community was deeply attached to the welfare, security and integrity of the country, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday.

Lauding the Sikh community for building India's image abroad, he also said the government was committed to ensuring that perpetrators of atrocities during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots were brought to justice.

The external affairs minister was interacting with NRIs in Australia, Suriname, the US, Singapore, Qatar, Malaysia, the UK and Mauritius through video-conference on the occasion of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas when he made the comment.

Jaishankar said that Sikhs were an extraordinarily diligent, hardworking, patriotic and contributing community in India and abroad.

"There may be few people who are pursuing their own agenda in a way it is detrimental to the interests of India. But I want to be very very clear here - we see the vast majority of this community as people who are deeply attached to the welfare, security and integrity of India. I want to make that very clear," he added.

To a question regarding misconceptions about the Sikh community abroad, Jaishankar said among the Indian communities in foreign countries, Sikhs have been at the forefront in shaping the brand and image of India.

Referring to the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, he said, "As a government, we are committed to ensuring that the perpetrators of atrocities are brought to justice. Where some cases regarding anti-Sikh riots were closed, we have had them reopened and reinvestigated. We have looked at compensation for people who have been affected by the riots of 1984."



Jaishankar said that in terms of what happened in the past, there have been complaints from the Sikh community and he knows about them as he has has served in various embassies in the last 30 years.

"We all know the reason for denial of consular services to some people. This government has taken the initiative to address that. We have decided that political asylees of Sikh origin and their family members who in the past could not obtain passports and consular services will now be allowed to do that," he said.

The government last September removed from its blacklist names of 312 Sikh foreign nationals involved in anti-India activities and only two persons figure in the list now.

Responding to a question posed by an NRI from Singapore, Jaishankar said, "We as a country, as a government definitely would like to see the NRIs invest metaphorically and literally in India in a bigger way."



"We hope to take measures soon to facilitate investment by NRIs and PIOs," Jaishnkar said.

When asked if the government can consider having a single-window clearance available for investments from NRIs and PIOs, he said that it is very much on government's radar.

He said the external affairs ministry will also seriously think about organising a 'pravasi global CEO conference' some time this year in London.

On the issue of workers being exploited in Qatar, Jaishankar said the matter was "very strongly on the government's radar" and it will remain vigilant. He also said that the government hopes to issue the Emigration Bill soon.

A person of Indian origin (PIO) from Malaysia asked the minister if something can be done about the third and fourth generation PIOs who find it difficult to get the Overseas Citizen of India card in the absence of necessary documents so that they can trace their roots.

The minister replied, "In a way, this issue is special to Malaysia. We have had few other countries where we have had similar situations... I think that the rules need to respond to this situation."



"If you have a situation where you are dealing with third and fourth generation -- there are no enough documentary linkages -- we will have to look at it and see if we can figure out a sort of a carve out that would address that need."



Let us look at what documentation is available, what other ways there are of validating the linkage with India. I can assure you that we would take a very positive view on it," Jaishankar added.

Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan and Secretary, East, Vijay Thakur Singh were also present at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrations here.

The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is celebrated on January 9 every year to mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community in the development of India.

January 9 was chosen as the day to celebrate this occasion since it was on this day in 1915 that Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa, led India's freedom struggle and changed the lives of Indians forever.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Permian Basin Petroleum Association will bestow its 40th Top Hand Award on Odessan Dick Saulsbury, founder of Saulsbury Industries. The award will be presented at a banquet Thursday at the Petroleum Club.

We are honored to be able to present Dick Saulsbury the 2019 PBPA Top Hand award this year, Ben Shepperd, PBPA president, said via email.

From humble beginnings, Dick has created a fantastic business employing thousands of Permian Basin folks over the last 50 years. His contributions to Odessa and the rest of the Basin have been enormous. He represents all of the top qualities of a PBPA Top Hand.

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Saulsbury said hes honored to receive the award.

The greatest thing is to be a top hand, whether youre called that or not, he said in a phone interview.

The Smackover, Arkansas, native arrived in West Texas in 1962; he first went to Wickett to work at Dixie Electric.

I assumed Id be here three or four years and then go back to Arkansas. Ive been here close to 60 years, he said.

He went on to found Saulsbury Electric, then added Saulcon construction company, Eagle Instrumentation to provide pneumatic services and then Saulsbury Engineering and Construction. He consolidated the companies into Saulsbury Industries, which now employs more than 5,000 people.

I didnt think it would grow (like that), he said. I didnt set a goal  my goal was doing the best I could.

He said he has tried to ensure he and his employees work with integrity and try to be the best they can at what theyre doing.

Its more about the work, the people, the families that work for you. Its important to make a profit because without a profit, you dont have a business, but if you do good work, and the people enjoy what theyre doing, then you have a profit, he said.

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And he tries to ensure he gives back the blessings he has received, whether its locally, statewide or globally.

You need to have a giving heart to be a top hand. If youre not willing to give, if you only want to take, youre not a top hand, he said.

But above all, Saulsbury said he remembers where his blessings come from.

Everything weve got comes from the Lord. He gives us talent; he opens doors for us, Saulsbury said.
Alister Jack spoke out at the first meeting of the Joint Ministerial Council on EU negotiations since the general election (Peter Byrne/PA)

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has dismissed claims by SNP ministers that they have secured a mandate for a second referendum on independence.

At talks in London, Scottish Constitutional Relations Secretary Mike Russell said the party had gained the right for fresh vote after winning 47 of the 59 Scottish seats in last months general election.

But Mr Jack said the SNPs share of the popular vote was no higher than it was at the time of the 2014 independence referendum.

Our view is that 55% of Scotland voted for unionist parties and therefore the SNP don't have a mandateAlister Jack

We believe that the 45% of the people who voted for the SNP was a similar number who voted for independence in 2014, he told reporters following the meeting.

Our view is that 55% of Scotland voted for unionist parties and therefore they dont have a mandate.

Mr Jack said the UK Government would be making a measured and considered response to a formal request by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to hold a referendum under section 30 of the Scotland Act.

He insisted it was right the power to consent to a referendum remained at Westminster, otherwise Scotland would face a series of never-endums as the SNP sought the result it wanted.

Once they could do that, they could just keep asking and create constitutional uncertainty, it would create economic uncertainty. It is damaging to jobs, damaging to taxation, he said.

Expand Close Scottish Constitutional Relations Secretary Mike Russell said the UK Government must respect his partys mandate (Jane Barlow/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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The clash came at the first meeting of the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) on EU negotiations since the general election.

It was attended by representatives of the UK and Scottish Governments, as well as the Welsh administration.

Following the talks, Mr Russell said they could not make progress on other issues until the referendum issue was resolved.

We have a mandate to have a referendum in Scotland  there is no doubt about that, he told reporters.

I accept that the UK Government has a mandate to leave the EU. They have to accept our mandate.

Until that issue is resolved it is very difficult to make progress on anything else. It will colour everything in this process from now on.
While most Australians remember to use sunscreen on their skin during a day out at the beach, few apply sun protection to their hair.

Thankfully there are a handful of haircare products that have launched that not only contain UV protection, but also leave locks glossy, frizz-free and healthy.

According to Mecca, while hair can't get sunburnt, once exposed to sun, heat and saltwater strands can suffer breakage, fading, dullness and 'general scraggliness'.

Gabrielle Epstein (pictured) uses coconut oil to treat her hair once a week and creates beachy waves by using sea salt spray

Bumble and Bumble's $52 Finishing Spray (used here) is formulated with UVA and UVB filters to prevent the damage and dryness associated with sun exposure

The first recommended product is 3 More Inches' Lifesaver Leave-In Styling Treatment which is designed to 'repair broken bonds' and condition and fortify the hair.

The $38 elixir is described as 'weightless' and promises to prevent damage from heat styling, the sun, the sea and environmental aggressors with its protective formula.

It is infused with 'hydrolysed cashmere amino acids' that repair broken bonds and restore moisture, and 'hydrolysed wheat protein' which strengthens locks.

Bumble and Bumble's $61 Invisible Oil uses a blend of oils to 'soften, smoothe and reduce frizz, tame flyaways, detangle and strengthen hair against breakage' (pictured being used here)

How to 'summer proof' your makeup PRIME Pick a primer that will help your makeup last through the day. A handy tip is to use a lightweight SPF50+ sunscreen like Mecca's 'To Save Face' product as a primer instead. PICK THE RIGHT FOUNDATION Apply foundation sparingly and pick a lightweight formula like Too Faced Perfect Peach Foundation or a BB or CC cream. The M.A.C Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation promises to stay on 'rain, hail or shine'. REAPPLY SUNSCREEN THE RIGHT WAY Reapply throughout the day by using a beauty sponge and lightly dabbing it into the skin. Combine with foundation or tinted moisturiser to avoid patchiness. LOCK IT IN Pick a setting spray that will protect your makeup from sweat and heat. Top picks are Urban Decay's All Nighter Setting Spray and Mac Prep + Prime + Fix. Source: Mecca Advertisement

Bumble and Bumble products are also highly recommended for UV protection, especially the Hairdresser's Invisible Oil, Shampoo, Conditioner and UV Protective Dry Oil Finishing Spray

To use it, simply comb it through damp hair and if using it at the beach, reapply after swimming.

'I bought this a month ago hoping this will repair my damaged hair and make it grow but I wasn't expecting get longer and healthy silky hair in such little time. I'll definitely buy again,' one woman wrote.

Bumble and Bumble products are also highly recommended for UV protection, especially the Hairdresser's Invisible Oil, Shampoo, Conditioner and UV Protective Dry Oil Finishing Spray.

The $61 Invisible Oil uses a blend of oils to 'soften, smoothe and reduce frizz, tame flyaways, detangle and strengthen hair against breakage' while the $52 Finishing Spray is formulated with UVA and UVB filters to prevent the damage and dryness associated with sun exposure.

The 3 More Inches' Lifesaver Leave-In Styling Treatment is designed to 'repair broken bonds' and condition and fortify the hair (left and in use, right)

The latter also has six ultra-lightweight oils - argan, coconut, macadamia nut, sweet almond, safflower and grapeseed - to 'inject moisture back into dull, dry hair, tame frizz and grant lustworthy shine'.

'I'm in the pool or ocean EVERY DAY. The B&B UV Protective Spray saves my hair from breaking and makes my hair smooth and soft. Fast and easy to use, it's a life saver,' one shopper wrote about the Finishing Spray.

Other popular products for hair sun protection include the $36 Suncreen Care Oil Spray by Clarins, Kevin Murphy's $35 heat protection Untangled Conditioner, Aveda's $30 Sun Care Protective Hair Veil and Paul Mitchell's $14 Colour Care Colour Protect Locking Spray.
By Krystal Seruya

Two years ago this week, former Gov. Chris Christie announced the closure of two of New Jerseys youth prisons. Two years later, they remain open. Based on my personal experience, this is unacceptable.

I was what they call a dual-system kid. In the world of youth justice, that means I spent time in both a youth detention center and foster care. As you can imagine, it wasnt an easy journey from those dark days to my life today as a 26-year-old full-time social worker.

My success wasnt inevitable. So many kids who get caught up in the criminal justice system never find their way back, so its important to me now to use the lessons Ive learned to fix a broken system that fails so many of our vulnerable youth.

When I was 14, having already spent time in foster care, someone falsely accused me of stealing a phone. I was briefly held in juvenile detention and then let out with an ankle bracelet. Soon after that, my mom died. Traumatized, I missed a court date, and a warrant was issued for my arrest. It was back to detention, this time for months.

Those days locked up were the worst of my life.

When youre in a situation like that, you need to be tough. You need to constantly put on a hard exterior and swallow your feelings. If you show emotion, youll be bullied. You have to stand your ground or your ground will crumble. And if you think the staff and guards will help you, think again. Most of them do nothing to help, unless youre one of their favorites.

I remember one girl who knew shed be spending a long time locked up and would go to a state youth prison. With no hope, it seemed she just didnt care anymore. Not surprisingly, she took her anger out on other kids. So those kids had to defend themselves against her. It was a vicious cycle.

There was nothing about that experience that was rehabilitative. That would make me less likely to get into trouble again. That would point me toward a positive, healthy future.

And as bad as it was, I saw that it was worse for kids of color (I am Latina, but present as white). I have personally witnessed how police officers treat Black and Brown kids differently. How they are more likely to end up locked up. And how they are treated more harshly once that happens. Its no surprise that for every white kid locked up in New Jersey, there are 21 Black kids.

When I finally got out of detention, after a brief time in a shelter and then a transitional living facility, I ended up in an independent living program run by Volunteers of America.

As much as youth detention was the worst experience of my life, independent living was the best. It was exactly what I needed.

It was there that I found compassion. I received therapy and life skills training. I was given the support I needed to graduate high school and start college. I found a job, and was promoted to top manager. I was taught the skills needed to move out on my own. I was given an independent living stipend to help me with rent and food. A huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders.

In sum, my independent living experience was just what I needed  space to reflect, room to heal, and a support system to get on my feet again.

And it was the contrast between that and the youth detention center that made it clear to me that our system is broken  but not beyond repair.

Adults and politicians talk a lot about caring about kids. About kids being the future. About needing to invest in them.

But in reality, New Jersey spent almost $300,000 per kid for incarceration in 2019, compared to investing just $16 million in community-based support programs for kids. Not only is that a cold-hearted investment strategy; it doesnt work, as is evident by the high recidivism rates.

What kids in vulnerable communities need is a continuum of care that includes mentors, social and recreational activities, and therapy when necessary. Better funding for schools. And jobs.

Thats what a society that really cares about its kids  all of its kids  looks like. Its what life looks like for most kids in wealthy white suburbs  but not for kids of color in the states urban communities.

When kids do get into trouble, they need support programs that are interested in helping them, not just throwing them away. Detention should only be the last resort when an issue of public safety exists  and even then, the detention should be truly rehabilitative, moving away from the current punitive model that just makes kids worse.

These teachings came to me the hard way, but I am determined not to let them go to waste. Thats why, in addition to my social work job, I head up Youth4Justice NJ, the youth arm of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justices 150 Years is Enough campaign, named for the year the Jamesburg youth prison opened.

In the Newark branch alone, about 30 kids consistently attend biweekly meetings to connect, learn, and plan engagements with the community  often to improve the youth justice system. These kids have met with police officers to discuss law enforcement policy. They have negotiated curfew proposals. And they show up prepared and eager to participate in panels and training sessions with kids around the state. I marvel as I watch them find their voices and develop a sense of investment in their communities.

New Jersey needs more of that.

And New Jersey needs less of failed youth prisons. So, two years after Governor Christies closure announcement, we need to finally close Jamesburg and Hayes  and also look to close the states most secure youth prison for boys, Juvenile Medium Security Facility in Bordentown.

Two years is enough.

Its time to finally close our youth prisons and, instead of building new ones as planned, to invest in the future of our kids.

Im convinced that with the proper support, its kids, like the ones I work with, who will make that happen.

Krystal Seruya is a family preservation specialist for Youth Advocate Programs Inc. and heads up the New Jersey Institute for Justices Youth Councils.

The Star-Ledger/NJ.com encourages submissions of opinion. 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 Trend

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 23 times, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Jan. 9, Trend reports.

The Armenian armed forces were using large caliber machine guns.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, 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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
The Supreme Court constituted on Thursday a committee of environment experts to suggest an alternative to felling of over 350 trees for construction of railway over bridges (ROB) and widening of National Highway-112 from Barasat to Petrapole on the Indo-Bangladesh border in West Bengal.

"When we cut a heritage tree, imagine the value of the oxygen the tree produced all these years," the top court said.

A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde, Justice B R Gavai and Justice Surya Kant asked the four-member committee, which included environmentalist Sunita Narain of the Centre for Science and Environment, to furnish its report in four weeks and listed the matter after five weeks.

"This case presents usual dilemma between environment degradation and development. Obviously, each situation involves different considerations," the bench said.

It added that whatever be the method adopted for evaluation of the loss to the environment, it is desirable that alternatives to proposed felling of heritage trees is considered by experts.

During the hearing, the bench told the West Bengal government, "When we cut a heritage tree, imagine the value of the oxygen the tree produced all these years. Compare it to how much you would have to pay for equivalent amount of oxygen these trees produced, if you have to buy it from somewhere else".

Chief Justice Bobde recalled that when the Nagpur-Jabalpur road was constructed around 4000 trees were cut.

"Legally, the decision to construct the road was upheld by the High Court but loss to the nature was enormous," he said, adding prima facie it is in the favour of construction of ROBs and widening of the road but if the alternatives can be found then there is no harm in exploring them.

At the outset, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) said that no alternatives were explored and permission was granted to fell the trees, which are heritage ones aged around 80-100 years.

He said everyone knows about global warming and there is study which says if the vegetation is not protected then in next 10-20 years the human species will be in danger.

Bhushan suggested that underpasses could be constructed instead of railway over bridges and alignment of roads could be changed to avoid cutting of trees.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singvi, appearing for West Bengal said the Calcutta High Court had gone into all the aspects after which it granted permission to fell 356 trees, which is required for the construction of ROBs and widening of road.

"ROBs need to be constructed as people are dying in accidents. Several people have lost their lives. We need bridges to protect them. The Calcutta High Court had also constituted a committee which looked into all these aspects," he said.

Bhushan said the high court-appointed committee had said that there are heritage trees in the area and if one such tree is to be cut, then under the West Bengal Trees (Protection and Conservation in Non-Forest Areas) Act of 2007, an inquiry has to be conducted, but in the present case nothing as such was done.

The top court then directed the committee of experts to submit its report in four weeks and asked the West Bengal government to make all necessary arrangements for their travel and stay.

The Calcutta High Court on August 31, 2018, had paved the way for widening of the national highway and allowed felling of over 350 trees for widening of Jessore Road, which connects the city to Petrapole on the Indo-Bangladesh border, on the condition that five trees will be planted for each tree cut.

The NH-112 or Jessore Road is an important link between India and Bangladesh and the state government had undertaken a project to widen it. Hundreds of old trees line both sides of the road, some of which were decided to be felled for the purpose of widening of the road.

A PIL was moved before the high court challenging the state's plan to fell the trees. After arguments for several months, the high court allowed felling of 356 trees at five places from Barasat to Petrapole border along the Jessore Road.

(Image Source: PTI)
- Angry parents stormed Ndooni Primary School on January 6, 2020 demanding answers over poor performance in the 2019 KCPE

- Teacher Mbithe was caught up in the melee during which attackers lynched her and burned her body to ashes

- Police arrested two individuals who are suspected to be among the mob

Two suspects arrested in connection to the killing of a teacher in Kitui county will be detained for 21 days pending investigations.

Wambua Mwangangi and Chris Kyalo Muli are said to have been part of the irate villagers who attacked and burnt to death teacher Daisy Mbathe over dismal performance in the 2019 KCPE exam.

READ ALSO: Poll shows Kenya among top 3 countries with great faith in President Donald

Wambua Mwangangi and Chris Kyalo Muli are said to be part of the mob that beat up and burnt to death teacher Daisy. Photo: Daily Nation.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Fahamu ni kwa nini mwalimu mwenye fimbo mkononi ndiye anayelia zaidi

Until her death on Monday, January 6, Daisy was teaching at Ndooni Primary School.

On the fateful day, parents stormed the institution demanding immediate transfer of all the teachers for posting poor results.

The slain teacher was caught up in the melee during which her attackers allegedly slashed her using machetes before burning her body.

The police produced the duo before Kitui Resident Magistrate Felistus Nekesa on Thursday, January 9, but did not take plea as the detectives requested more time to conclude probe.

Kenya National Union of Teachers condemned the incident and called for speedy action and transfer of all tutors in the school to ensure justice was served to their colleague and her family.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

The Blind Tailor, I don't want people to pity me. I want them to be encouraged by my story | Tuko TV.

Source: TUKO.co.ke
Its one of the most exciting possibilities in constitutional law right now: Many conservatives are clamoring to revive the long-dormant nondelegation doctrine, which liberal Supreme Court justice Elena Kagan has warned could invalidate most of [the federal] Government.

In essence, the doctrine holds that since the Constitution vests all legislative Powers in Congress, it is unconstitutional for Congress to turn those powers over to the executive branch. Congress may not, in other words, simply direct federal agencies to make major policy decisions themselves, the way it does now for a host of economic and environmental regulations. The courts must step in, police the separation of powers, and stop such abuses.

Last year, in Gundy v. United States, the conservative justices strongly suggested that theyd be willing to revive the doctrine in a future case, with Justice Neil Gorsuch spelling out the argument for such a move in detail. But a new paper from law professors Julian Davis Mortenson and Nicholas Bagley tries to slam on the brakes, offering an originalist argument against nondelegation.

Lets take a look at each sides evidence.

The Case against Delegation

Ill rely primarily on Gorsuchs Gundy dissent here because it already has the backing of much of the Supreme Court. Justices John Roberts and Clarence Thomas joined it, and Justice Samuel Alito expressed openness to joining Gorsuch to revive nondelegation in the future. (He didnt think Gundy itself was an appropriate vehicle for making such a dramatic change.) The big question mark was Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who did not participate in the case. But Kavanaugh soon thereafter called Gorsuchs dissent thoughtful and said it raised important points that may warrant further consideration in future cases. The reasoning laid out in Gorsuchs opinion is almost certainly the reasoning the Court would use to fully implement the doctrine, and thus the reasoning critics must refute.

Story continues

At the heart of the nondelegation doctrine is a point about the structure of the Constitution, and Gorsuch spends some time driving this home. As everyone learns in introductory civics, there are three branches of government that perform different functions and keep one another in check, because the Founders feared concentrating too much power in one branch. To take just one quote from James Madison, there can be no liberty where the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or body of magistrates.

But the Constitution doesnt explicitly say that branches of the government cant delegate their powers to other parties when they deem it convenient and reasonable to do so, so this overarching idea gets us only so far. So Gorsuch also points to sources showing that the concept of the nondelegation doctrine has been with us a very long time  though, admittedly and importantly, direct, on-point quotations from the American Founders themselves are lacking.

The philosopher John Locke, who loomed large in the Founders thinking, had this to say in the second of his Two Treatises of Government, published in 1689:

The legislative cannot transfer the power of making laws to any other hands; for it being but a delegated power from the people, they who have it cannot pass it over to others. The people alone can appoint the form of the commonwealth, which is by constituting the legislative, and appointing in whose hands that shall be. And when the people have said we will submit to rules, and be governed by laws made by such men, and in such forms, nobody else can say other men shall make laws for them; nor can the people be bound by any laws but such as are enacted by those whom they have chosen and authorised to make laws for them.

And once the Constitution was in place, it didnt take too long for the Supreme Court to address this issue. In 1825s Wayman v. Southard, the Court took it as a given that Congress could not delegate to the courts or to any other tribunals powers which are strictly and exclusively legislative, but added that Congress may certainly delegate to others powers which the legislature may rightfully exercise itself. It noted that an exact line had not yet been drawn between important subjects which must be entirely regulated by the legislature itself and those of less interest in which a general provision may be made and power given to those who are to act under such general provisions to fill up the details.

The Wayman case, and Gorsuchs reliance on it, is important for a reason besides providing historical support for the longstanding existence of the doctrine: It places a limit on what the conservatives are trying to do here. They are not saying Congress may never leave any policy parameter to the discretion of the executive branch. Instead, they are making a distinction between the major provisions of a policy  especially, Gorsuch makes clear elsewhere, those that regulate the conduct of private individuals and are not related to the inherent powers of the president, such as the power to conduct foreign policy  and the details. Of course, this distinction creates its own problems, as it will be difficult for courts to create and enforce an objective litmus test for separating the two.

But back to the Supreme Courts history of nondelegation jurisprudence. Until the New Deal era, the administrative state was relatively small, and while the Court rearticulated the nondelegation doctrine several times after Wayman, it never actually struck down any laws as running afoul of it. Two laws did bite the dust in 1935, but then activity mysteriously ceased again, despite the explosive growth of the administrative state. So what happened to that fill up the details standard?

Essentially, in the wake of the 1937 switch in time that prevented FDRs court-packing scheme, the Court ignored the old nondelegation doctrine in favor of a line from a 1928 decision that might have been intended to restate the usual rule rather than rewrite it: If Congress shall lay down by legislative act an intelligible principle to which the person or body authorized to [act] is directed to conform, such legislative action is not a forbidden delegation of legislative power. Providing an intelligible principle is a much lower bar to clear than is providing everything except the details on subjects of less interest, and a Court eager to sign off on sweeping legislation liked the former test better.

Thus did we lose sight of an important constitutional principle that is fundamental to the very design of our government, has roots in the philosophy that guided the Founders, and was endorsed by the Supreme Court in our countrys first half-century of existence  or so Gorsuchs argument goes.

The Rejoinder

The above narrative has long had its critics. And in their new paper, Mortenson and Bagley consolidate earlier counterpoints and provide some novel arguments of their own.

For one thing, they write, the distinction between legislative and executive is not as sharp as some would like to think, and the Founders, awash in centuries of debates about the nature of political representation, the criteria of legislative legitimacy, and the locus of sovereignty, acknowledged the difficulty of trying to insist they are entirely separate. The boundaries between the Executive, Legislative & Judiciary powers, Madison said, though in general so strongly marked in themselves, consist in many instances of mere shades of difference. The difference between legislative and executive functions created especially tedious debates when it came to the project of making treaties.

One might think this alleged conceptual mushiness is hard to square with the fact that, in the end, the three branches got one set of powers each, but Mortenson and Bagley offer a way of reconciling the contradiction: In the Founders ultimate view, the executive power was simply the power to execute the laws  an empty vessel for Congress to fill. The executive executes the laws even when following instructions to write legislation-style rules, and the legislature legislates even when its laws merely instruct someone else to formulate a policy. The authors provide numerous examples of Founding-era commentators, including Benjamin Franklin, contemplating the delegation of legislative power in various ways.

But what about that key quote from Locke and similar ones from other sources? Mortenson and Bagley argue that conservatives have misinterpreted them in a subtle but very important way: When Locke talked about transferring legislative powers, he was using that word in a specific sense, to refer to permanent transfers. The distinction between mere delegation and full alienation (of the peoples legislative authority to the king) was key to a major debate taking place in England at the time. He was not talking about a situation where the legislature delegates some decisions but reserves the right to revise or revoke its delegations in the future. Mortenson and Bagley note that some have read Locke that way over the years, and point to scattered references to the anti-alienation principle made by the Founders.

Whats more, the very first Congress acted on this understanding repeatedly, delegating important duties to the executive branch and others even though the Constitution gave these responsibilities to the legislative branch alone. To take just a few of many examples, it delegated the entirety of its police power over federal lands to regional governments for implementation in their unbounded discretion; assigned a three-member commission to figure out where the District of Columbia would be located and to buy the land with an open-ended appropriation; gave the districts mayor and council discretionary authority to make their own laws in many areas; turned the ability to grant patents over to the executive branch; made the right to trade with Native American contingent upon a license granted at the full discretion of the executive; and empowered the president to borrow up to $12 million to pay off the foreign debt, with the choice of prioritization among lenders left entirely up to him. So far as Mortenson and Bagley can tell from the historical record, no one argued when these delegations were made that they raised constitutional issues, though sometimes there were concerns about whether they were wise policy.

As for the subsequent history of Supreme Court decisions? The decisions in question didnt happen until well after the Founding itself, and even the 1825 Wayman case might be read to endorse the anti-alienation principle rather than the nondelegation doctrine, given the comment that Congress may certainly delegate to others powers which the legislature may rightfully exercise itself. If thats right, true nondelegation arguments didnt really start to crop up until later in the 19th century  though I would argue that Waymans distinction between important subjects and fill[ing] up the details in areas of lesser interest is hard to sell as a distinction between delegating ones powers and alienating them.

Regardless, to hear Mortenson and Bagley tell it, the nondelegation doctrine is a complete fiction. It did not exist at the Founding and virtually never made any difference, even during the much-later years when the Supreme Court professed to believe in it. Theres no reason, or at least no originalist reason, to revive it and pump it full of steroids today.

Reading the Tea Leaves

Mortenson and Bagley have hardly provided a definitive debunking of Gorsuchs argument for the nondelegation doctrine. Responses to their work are already trickling out; Ilan Wurman, for instance, has a blog post challenging the way they reinterpret Lockes view and questioning the relevance of some of the Founding-era delegations cited. But even Wurman says the paper should prompt a rethinking of exactly where to draw the line between allowed and disallowed delegations, which in turn raises the question of how courts could enforce a reinvigorated nondelegation doctrine in a fair and objective way.

Im not big into predictions, but my guess is that the arguments of Mortenson and Bagley wont prove quite strong enough to knock the nondelegation-revival train off its tracks. When they find a case they like, I think the conservatives on the Court will at least nominally return to the 1825 fill up the details standard, but probably will not prove eager to strike down one hugely consequential law after another on that basis. They cant go too far down that road without losing a vote or two over concerns about judicial activism, highly subjective line-drawing, and the Courts own legitimacy, so theyll mostly stick to smaller, less publicly known provisions  such as the one challenged in Gundy, which gave the attorney general full discretion over whether and how to register sex offenders whod been convicted before the sex-offender-registry law went into effect.

Of course, none of this says anything about Congresss blame for the administrative state. Even if the Constitution allows legislators to punt countless zillion-dollar decisions to the executive branch, so that each administration can undo the actions of the last in pursuit of its own whims, theres no excuse for actually doing so. Not everything thats constitutional is also a good idea.

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As Chavez explains, I am a firm believer that learning should never end. I also enjoy sharing what I learn with coworkers, clients and the students I teach... The CTSM designation Ive earned through EXHIBITOR Media Group and Northern Illinois University is something I will always treasure.

The Trade Group, an award-winning, trade show and experiential design firm, and Exhibitor Media Group, the award-winning leader in trade show and corporate event marketing education, today announced that Stephanie Chavez has joined the ranks of the trade show industrys top talent by earning EXHIBITORs Certified Trade Show Marketer (CTSM) credentials.

The CTSM designation is awarded by EXHIBITOR in affiliation with Northern Illinois University Outreach and reflects adherence to the highest educational standards of trade show and event marketing (http://www.ctsm.com). Chavez will be recognized at the annual CTSM graduate awards ceremony at EXHIBITORLIVE in 2020.

Chavez, who serves as the Director of Marketing for The Trade Group in Dallas, successfully completed a multitude of CTSM classes classes over the past three years, a 250-question exam and a 124-page thesis (portfolio) in order to achieve certification. She is also one of the few CTSM graduates who work for a supplier (only 10 percent of CTSM designees are employed by suppliers).

According to Malcolm Gilvar, Executive Vice President at The Trade Group, I am always amazed at what Stephanie is able to accomplish. She runs marketing for three companies, yet she still has the desire and dedication to complete her CTSM. Certainly, the knowledge she has gained through this process will significantly impact the quality and scope of The Trade Groups offerings.

For Chavez, who also leads marketing efforts for The Trade Groups sister companies Event Architecture and Abacus3, earning the CTSM designation was well worth her time and efforts. As she explains, I am a firm believer that learning should never end. I also enjoy sharing what I learn with coworkers, clients and the students I teach at Texas Womans University, the University of North Texas and elsewhere. The CTSM designation Ive earned through EXHIBITOR Media Group and Northern Illinois University is something I will always treasure.

About EXHIBITORLIVE

EXHIBITORLIVE, the Conference for Best Practices in Trade Shows and Events, will be held March 29 - April 2, 2020, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. For more information, go to http://www.exhibitorlive.com.

About The Trade Group

The Trade Group is an award winning, full-service event marketing and creative design firm, specializing in trade shows, esports events and activations, corporate events, brand activations, retail merchandising, commercial graphics and experiential solutions. Since 1986, the companys team of live event, design and engineering experts has helped thousands of clients amplify their brands and successfully navigate a wide range of events and experiences. Clients rely on The Trade Group for: event ideation, creation and production; esports expertise; exhibit design and fabrication; graphic design and production; strategic marketing solutions; technology integration and more.

About Exhibitor Media Group

The leader in trade show and corporate event marketing education, Exhibitor Media Group publishes the award-winning EXHIBITOR magazine, a monthly publication featuring best practices in trade show marketing. EXHIBITORS Learning Events include: EXHIBITORLIVE, the industry's top-rated conference and exhibition for trade show and corporate event marketing; EXHIBITORFastTrak accelerated learning conferences; and EXHIBITOR eTrak, professional online learning. Exhibitor Media Group is the founder and sponsor of CTSM (Certified Trade Show Marketer), the worlds only university-affiliated professional certification program. (http://www.ExhibitorOnline.com) Follow EXHIBITOR on Facebook, Twitter (@EXHIBITOR) and join EXHIBITORs LinkedIn discussion group.
Disgraced celebrity chef Mario Batali is being investigated by New York's Attorney General after 'credible evidence' emerged in a settlement with the owner of the Spotted Pig restaurant over sexual harassment accusations.

Batali, who was an investor in the establishment, was named in the 18 page deal with Ken Friedman, owner of the Spotted Pig, announced by New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday.

The restaurant, located in Manhattan's West Village neighborhood, 'maintained a hostile workplace where female employees were subjected to severe and pervasive incidents of unwanted touching and unwelcome sexual advances by Mario Batali, a celebrity chef and investor of the Spotted Pig, and Friedman,' says the settlement, obtained by DailyMail.com.

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'We have received credible information and are separately looking into him,' said New York Attorney General, in a reference to her office investigating Batali, who was an investor in the Spotted Pig restaurant

Disgraced celebrity chef Mario Batali (left) is being investigated by New York's Attorney General after 'credible evidence' emerged in a settlement with Ken Friedman (right) owner of the Spotted Pig restaurant over sexual harassment accusations made at the Manhattan eatery

Friedman, as part of the deal, agreed to pay $240,000 in damages to 11 ex-employees and share 20 per cent of his profits until 2029. He also has agreed to step down from management.

James, appearing at a news conference Tuesday announcing the deal with Friedman, said her office wasn't done its investigation, and brought up that a probe was on into allegations made against Batali.

'We have received credible information and are separately looking into him,' she said.

Additionally, her office is looking into Batali's former business partner, Joe Bastianich, and B&B restaurant group, an entity they used to operate several eateries.

The allegations detailed in the settlement announced by James say victims were exposed to a 'sexualized workplace where employees witnessed inappropriate sexual encounters', and that no action was taken in response to complaints made by the affected employees were were discouraged from reporting them.

The settlement alleges workers were retaliated against for speaking up about harassment with terminations.

Batali 'regularly groped female employees and grabbed their breasts and buttocks on multiple occasions,' the settlement says. He was also found by the attorney general to have 'forcibly kissed' the victims, according to the agreement.

The chef has previously denied the allegations, which came after several employees had told the New York times that Batali had harassed them in front of Friedman.

The trendy Spotted Pig restaurant in Manhattan's West Village neighborhood

Mario Batali, pictured in 2017, has previously denied allegations made against him while being an investor at the Spotted Pig

Bastianich also has denied he saw Batali engage in inappropriate touching of employees, but admitted he overheard him making objectionable comments to workers. reports Eater.

Staffers told the news outlet that both men were responsible for creating a male-dominated, 'boys' club' environment that would go on to influence restaurant culture as a whole.

Batali, who was forced to leave his restaurant empire and step down from his cooking show 'The Chew' because of previous allegations that arose in the wake of the #MeToo movement, already is fighting a criminal complaint made against him Boston last year.

In May, Batali appeared in municipal court on a charge that he forcibly kissed and groped a woman while taking a selfie with her at a restaurant in Boston in 2017.

Batali, who was forced to leave his restaurant empire and step down from his cooking show 'The Chew' because of previous allegations that arose in the wake of the #MeToo movement, is shown in municipal court facing criminal complaint made against him Boston last year

Batali (pictured in Boston municipal court) is facing a charge that he forcibly kissed and groped a woman while taking a selfie with her at a restaurant in 2017

The 58-year-old faced showed up to the Boston court dramatically thinner and almost unrecognizable from the plump, jovial celebrity chef seen on television, and known for wearing his signature red ponytail and Crocs

The 58-year-old faced a judge looking dramatically thinner and almost unrecognizable from the plump, jovial celebrity chef seen on television, and known for wearing his signature red ponytail and Crocs.

He kept mum during the brief hearing, but nodded as the judge ordered him to stay away from the accuser.

The court entered a not guilty plea on his behalf to a charge of indecent assault and battery.

It was the first criminal complaint made against Batali, resulting from several sexual harassment and assault allegations that have crippled his career.

The victim alleged that Batali observed her taking a photo of him with her phone, and told her to 'come here right now', reports The New York Times.

She went over to apologize and to tell him she would erase it, she told police, but instead, he offered to take a selfie with her and grabbed her as they posed.

A pending criminal complaint against Batali in was the first made against the celebrity chef, resulting from several sexual harassment and assault allegations that have crippled his career

The woman says Batali then grabbed her chest, kissed her face and touched her groin without her consent.

The details in the complaint mirrored those in a civil lawsuit filed against the chef in August 2018, seeking unspecified damages for 'severe emotional distress' including anxiety and self-doubt.

An attorney for Batali at the time denied the allegations.

'The [criminal] charges, brought by the same individual without any new basis, are without merit,' Attorney Anthony Fuller told the Boston Globe.

'He intends to fight the allegations vigorously and we expect the outcome to fully vindicate Mr. Batali,' he said.

Batali has apologized for past behavior, but did not say what behavior he was referring to.
Ride-Hailing Users Open to Giving Up Their Car

For many consumers, ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft have made it more convenient to get around. However, new research suggests that these services could have a bigger impact on the transportation landscape.

Strategy and consulting firm Accenture analyzed the ride-share market to learn what consumers think about it. Accenture polled 1,003 users of ride-hailing companies to ask them about their usage patterns and whether they would be open to receiving additional services.

An overwhelming percentage of respondents (92%) expressed satisfaction with their experiences using ride-hailing services. And 93% said they expect to spend either the same amount on ride-share services this year or even more.

That in itself is good news for ride-share companies, but another finding suggests that some consumers have plans to be customers for a long time. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (63%) said they would consider giving up their car in the next decade and using ride-hailing services instead.

Loyalty to the service, but not to the brand

A majority of respondents (52%) said they have switched between ride-hailing brands, suggesting that they view those companies as interchangeable.

Trust could be a factor for some consumers, as 69% said its important that their personal data be protected during the ride-hailing experience. However, only 27% of those surveyed said they have complete trust in their providers ability to protect their personal data.

Consumers are more likely to share their data with companies they perceive to be socially-conscious and that give back to their communities, according to a previous Accenture study. Only 29% of respondents in the ride-hailing survey said they believed their go-to ride-hailing service is an advocate for environmental and social issues.

Ride-hailing services of the future

Consumers are less interested in auxiliary services offered by ride-share companies. Less than half (42%) of those surveyed showed interest in alternative offerings such as food delivery, as well as the option of using bicycles and scooters.

Story continues

Yet, a majority of respondents said they would be willing to ride in an autonomous or self-driving vehicle in the next year:

62% would ride in an autonomous ride-hailing vehicle

61% would ride in their own autonomous vehicle

56% would ride in an autonomous public bus

Some consumers may find that they save money by getting rid of their cars and using ride-share services instead. If youre considering getting rid of your car, compare the costs of using ride-share services to the costs of car ownership. For example, add up what you spend each year on car insurance and consider what the average consumer spends on transportation on an annual basis. Also, consider the convenience factor, particularly if you live in a rural area or dont live near public transportation.
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- FortuneBuilders Gives (FB Gives), the philanthropic arm of real estate education company FortuneBuilders , wrapped up its 2019 efforts by partnering with 6 different charitable organizations in San Diego, and raising nearly $23,000 for multiple causes.

Over the last year, FortuneBuilders Gives also ran over 400 successful food drives at its events across the country, partnering with a local charity in every city visited. In total, an estimated 169,484 pounds of food was donated to those in need.

The organization's biggest contribution of 2019, however, was when they took their philanthropic efforts international by bringing their Future FortuneBuilders (FFB) classes to Ghana, Africa in July as well as Kingston, Jamaica in November. Both trips aimed to decrease the financial literacy gap among teens by bringing financial education to nearly 3000 students, which included lessons on credit, savings and how to set and achieve goals.

"Along with students we found ourselves impacting parents, teachers, administrators and even sponsors," said speaker J.P. Servideo when describing his most recent trip to Jamaica. "Anytime they found themselves around us they would stay and listen intently as long as they could. There was an immense feeling of gratitude shared all around."

As an additional financial education resource, FB Gives donated over 100 copies of Servideo & Merrill's Amazon best seller, "The High Schoolers Guide to Money." Started in 2014 by FortuneBuilders CEO Than Merrill and professional youth speaker J.P. Servideo, Future FortuneBuilders was developed to help teens aged 13 to 17 to grow their financial literacy as well as their professional development skills.

FB Gives was established to bring together members of the San Diego community by hosting fundraisers and other philanthropy events. In 2019, FB Gives partnered with local charities including Unity 4 Orphans, Habitat for Humanity, Canine Companions for Independence, Children's Initiative, Alpha Project & Toys for Tots.

In past years, FortuneBuilders Gives has worked with charities such as The American Red Cross and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and is actively searching for more philanthropic organizations to partner with in 2020. If you are interested in working with FB Gives or would like to learn more, please visit FBGives.com .

About FortuneBuilders Inc.

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Top medical device maker and popular healthcare stock Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) is now one asset larger. The company announced late Wednesday night that it acquired Stimgenics, a privately held enterprise that focuses on cutting-edge spinal cord stimulation (SCS) technology to alleviate pain.

Medtronic did not disclose the price of its purchase, nor the terms of the deal.

The signature product for Stimgenics, based in Illinois, is its Differential Target Multiplexed (DTM) Spinal Cord Stimulation waveform. This is a relatively recent innovation in SCS, which according to Medtronic "may engage a novel mechanism that modulates both neurons and glial cells, expanding the understanding of SCS mechanisms of action." Glial cells surround neurons in the central nervous system, providing insulation and support for the neurons.

DTM is essentially a bolt-on acquisition for Medtronic; it will be delivered through the company's SCS platform, Intellis.

Medtronic expressed high hopes for its new product. "We believe that DTM therapy will advance the treatment of chronic pain, supported by clinical evidence and preclinical research on a neuronal-glial mechanism of action," the company said in the press release trumpeting the acquisition.

Later this month, there will be a presentation at the annual meeting of the North American Neuromodulation Society in Las Vegas detailing the results of a clinical test comparing DTM and conventional SCS treatments.

Stimgenics is not expected to have a large impact immediately on its new owner. Medtronics said that its results should be neutral to per-share earnings this fiscal year. Past that, Stimgenics should "meet Medtronic's long-term financial metrics for acquisitions," the acquirer said without elaborating.

Following the news release, Medtronic's share price was up marginally in late trading on Thursday.
Burma Chinese President's Upcoming Visit Seen as Bid to Gain Myanmar Leaders Commitment on BRI Projects

Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on April 24, 2019. / REUTERS

YANGONChinese President Xi Jinping is reportedly planning to visit Myanmar late next week, in a trip many believe is aimed at sending a signal regarding the countrys importance to Chinas strategic ambitions in the Indian Ocean, while shoring up support for Xis ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) among leaders in Myanmar, which is slated to host some of the schemes key projects.

If the trip goes ahead, Xi would be the first Chinese president to visit Chinas southern neighbor in nearly two decades.

With China and Myanmar due to celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations this year, preparations for Xis trip have been under way for some time. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met in early December in Naypyitaw to discuss preparations.

According to government sources, Xi is expected to visit Naypyitaw, the capital of Myanmar, on Jan. 17-18. During his trip, the two sides are expected to sign dozens of agreements covering the construction of the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and border economic cooperation zones, road upgrade projects, promotion of trade relations, and social and economic development assistance, according to Myanmar government sources.

On Wednesday, Union Minister for Commerce U Than Myint told the media that Xi will visit Myanmar soon, saying that during his trip an agreement would be signed between the two countries in which China would ease restrictions on imports of products from Myanmar.

It will enhance trade relations with China, he said.

It will be Xis second visit to Myanmar. He visited the country in 2009 as vice president. During that trip, China and Myanmar signed 16 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on technical cooperation, the implementation of hydropower projects, the China-Myanmar Oil and Gas twin pipeline project, and the Kyaukphyu SEZ. However, the Kyaukphyu project was delayed due to a disagreement over the share ratio.

Daw Khin Khin Kyaw Kyee, head of the China desk at the Institute of Strategy and Policy (ISP)-Myanmar, told The Irrawaddy that during the trip she expects the Chinese president will push Myanmar to gear up for the implementation of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor projects (CMEC).

Myanmar joined the BRI in 2018 by signing a 15-point MOU establishing the CMEC. Utilizing the interconnected transportation infrastructure of China and Myanmar, the 1,700-kilometer CMEC will run from Kunming in Chinas Yunnan Province through Shan States Muse to Mandalay in central Myanmar, and then branch out to Yangon and the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in western Rakhine State.

The BRI is Xis signature foreign policy project. Unveiled in 2013, it is also known as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. The project aims to build a network of roads, railroads and shipping lanes linking at least 70 countries from China to Europe passing through Central Asia, the Middle East and Russia, fostering trade and investment.

According to the Myanmar government, China has proposed 38 projects under the CMEC. However, Myanmar only approved nine projects at the second BRI forum in Beijing in April last year. So far, Myanmar has only made public three projects: the construction of three economic cooperation zones in Kachin and Shan states; the Kyaukphyu SEZ; and the Muse-Mandalay railway project.

Planned projects like the Kyaukphyu SEZ, Muse-Mandalay Railway and Irrawaddy Economic Belt indicate that China is keeping alive its strategic vision for Myanmar, particularly [projects that provide] access to the Indian Ocean, Daw Khin Khin Kyaw Kyee said.

Xis trip will fit into Chinas vision to achieve a presence in the Indian Ocean. That is the reason they want Myanmars deep commitment to the BRI projects, she said.

Myanmar occupies a unique geographical position in the BRI, lying at the junction of South and Southeast Asia, and between the Indian Ocean and southwestern Chinas landlocked Yunnan province.

In November 2018 Myanmar successfully renegotiated the share ratio agreement and signed a framework agreement for the Kyaukphyu SEZ, a key strategic component of the CMEC. The project is expected to boost development in Yunnan province and provide China with direct access to the Indian Ocean, allowing its oil imports to bypass the Strait of Malacca.

The developer, China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC), hired Canadian company HATCH to oversee the environmental and social impact assessments and a geological survey for the port project in July, not including the SEZ. However, criticism has arisen among legal observers as to whether the developers are following the proper frameworks in line with Myanmars Environmental Law. The law states that any mega-project requires a site-wide environmental and social impact assessment. CITIC has not responded to the criticism.

A Chinese state-owned company carried out a feasibility study for a proposed railway that will link Chinas Kunming with Muse and Mandalay, two of Myanmars economic centers. The company had hired a local firm to carry out the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), but watchdogs said residents were not fully consulted about the impacts of the railway.

Many observers are critical of Myanmars tilt toward China as the West turns away due to the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine State. Amid severe pressure on Myanmar from the international community, China has shown support for Naypyitaw over the Rakhine crisis. Experts say the two countries diplomatic ties have reached new heights under the National League for Democracy (NLD) government.

Ethics Affairs and China expert U Maung Maung Soe told The Irrawaddy, China wants to show their relations with Myanmar are good. It [Xis trip] also shows they will forge even closer relations with the NLD government in the future.

Xi is demonstrating that China will stand firmly with Myanmar, despite criticism of the latter from the international community, he added.

During his trip in December, Foreign Minister Wang told Daw Aung San Suu Kyi that China is willing to work with Myanmar to promote the CMEC from the planning stage to construction of the landmark project.

Wang said infrastructure connectivity is the backbone of the CMEC, and the two sides should cooperate on the ground. He also pushed the Myanmar State Counselor to speed up implementation of the Kyaukphyu SEZ, the China-Myanmar Border Economic Cooperation Zone and other projects.

Daw Khin Khin Kyaw Kyee said China-Myanmar relations will be closer than ever if even half the CMEC projects actually get off the ground, adding that they would enhance bilateral ties economically and socially.

Despite Myanmars commitment to a non-aligned foreign policy, it is unavoidable that Myanmars stance toward China will grow more favorable due to the CMEC projects, she stressed.

CMEC backbone projects like the Kyaukphyu SEZ and Muse-Mandalay railway have attracted local criticism due to a lack of transparency on the part of the Myanmar government. Despite the criticism, during Daw Aung San Suu Kyis April visit to Beijing to attend the forum, Myanmar signed three agreements: the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement; the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor Cooperation Plan (2019-30) and the Agreement on Formulation of the Five-Year Development Program for Economic and Trade Cooperation.

When it comes to China-backed projects, we need a strategic vision, Daw Khin Khin Kyaw Kyee said.

China has a clear vision of what they want from Myanmar. The Myanmar government should have a clear vision of what we want from China, what advantages we expect from the projects and how we will implement them in such a way as to minimize the negative effects, she said.

You may also like these stories:

China-Backed Venture Proposes $800M Development Near Kyaukphyu Seaport

China Wont Allow Foreign Forces to Interfere in HK, Macau, Xi Says

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Praises Enchanting Works by Celebrated Myanmar Artists
Kashmir will be connected to the rest of India through railway network by December next year as the government has set a fresh deadline for completion of the world's highest railway bridge

Jammu: Kashmir will be connected to the rest of India through railway network by December next year as the government has set a fresh deadline for completion of the world's highest railway bridge.

The rail line is expected to be 35 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower.

Konkan Railway has said it was most challenging project in the post-independent history of the Indian Railways. "It is most challenging task in the 150-year-long history of the railways. The highest railway bridge in the world, connecting Kashmir with rest of country through rail line will be completed by December 2021," Konkan Railway Chairman Sanjay Gupta told reporters on Wednesday night.

"The construction of the bridge is the most challenging part of the Kashmir rail link project undertaken post independence and, once completed, it will be an engineering marvel," Gupta said.

The massive arch-shaped structure, being constructed in hostile terrain, has used over 5,462 tonnes of steel will be 359 metres above the river bed, he added.

Designed to withstand wind speeds of up to 260 km per hour, the 1.315-km-long "engineering marvel" will connect Bakkal (Katra) and Kauri (Srinagar). The bridge forms a crucial link in the 111-km stretch between Katra and Banihal, which is part of the Udhampur- Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project.

Once completed, it will surpass the record of the Beipan river Shuibai railway bridge (275 m) in China.

The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project is highly essential to provide an alternative and a reliable transportation system to Jammu and Kashmir to join Kashmir Valley to the Indian Railways network, Gupta said. He added that in view of the importance of this project in providing seamless and hassle-free connectivity in Jammu and Kashmir, the project was declared as national project in 2002.
Deepika Padukone's surprising presence at the protest by the JNU students caused a national uproar within minutes. And why not? A mainstream Bollywood superstar suddenly appearing at a protest over a very controversial issue was fodder enough for intense debates. As expected, she was showered with praise and admiration for taking such a 'bold' step, but at the same time, she was also attacked for 'promoting' her latest movie, Chhapaak.

But another issue cropped up out of nowhere, where a lot of Twitter users started accusing the makers of 'changing the religion' of the attacker in the movie.

By now, everyone is familiar with the story of Laxmi Aggarwal, an acid attack survivor. Her attacker's name was Nadeem Khan, however, the makers of Chhapaak were accused of changing his name to a Hindu one, Rajesh, basically bringing the religion of the culprit into the spotlight.

Well, turns out, these allegations are completely false and baseless. We got to review the movie yesterday and the name of the attacker in the movie was originally supposed to be Nadeem and was later changed to Basheer Khan.

Technically, people didn't even bother to check the facts before trending several hashtags like #NaeemKhan and #Rajesh to #NameItLikeBollywood on Twitter.

Here are a few tweets on the same:

Laxmi Agarwal faced a jihadi Acid attack in 2005 in New Delhi as she had refused to marry #NadeemKhan.

Deepika Padukone's making money with movie #Chapaak on Laxmi hardly talks about Nadeem Khan. Instead they changed name to Rajesh.#boycottchhapaak#IndianSecularism  Suman Kaul Sharma HINDU #Official (@SumanSh58123278) January 8, 2020

His name was #NadeemKhan who threw acid on #LaxmiAgarwal 's face, but you changed the name only to dishonour #Hinduism, this is your secularism.@deepikapaukone #Boycott_Chhapaak pic.twitter.com/Ljzq5ZFx4J  Lokendra Nath (@NathLokendra56) January 9, 2020

Name of the guy who attacked Laxmi Aggarwal with acid was #nadeemkhan.

But makers changed his name to

"Rajesh" to suit their agenda

This is how Machinery of anti Hindu Bollywood gang functions.



Boycott these secular traitors of our Country #boycottchhapaak #DeepikaPadukone pic.twitter.com/KHu2947Dsp  Pratik Shinde patil (@pratik_shinde18) January 8, 2020

Bollywood is an jihadi fort that is why their jihadi worm willfully converted jihadi acid attacker name from #NadeemKhan to a Brahmin Rajesh Sharma. Now every secular in India is promoting genocide of Brahmins. Unfortunately we Brahmins have no law to protect us.#boycottchhapaak  Suman Kaul Sharma HINDU #Official (@SumanSh58123278) January 8, 2020

Coming to the movie, Rajesh is actually one more character in the movie who plays Malti's love interest when she was a teen. For more information on the same, you should first watch the movie.

Chhapaak will finally hit the screens tomorrow and will clash with Ajay Devgn's much-talked-about period drama Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior.

Planning to catch a screening? Let us know in the comments section below.
Phuket, 1 January 2020  The OZO Phuket management team, led by General Manager Paul Halford (5th from right), Executive Assistant Manager Sonthaya Thongmeesukh (4th from right) and Human Resources Manager Thanawan Wangjumnong (3rd from right), participated in a traditional food offering ceremony on 1 January to welcome in the start of the new year 2020.

On this special day, representatives from each department took part in the New Year celebration by offering food to the monks on the first day off the year. The ceremony was held amidst the beautiful greenery of the hotels landscape beside one of the islands most popular beaches.
A security guard in South Florida has been charged with threatening to kill President Donald Trump to retaliate for the death of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

According to court documents filed by the Secret Service Wednesday, Chauncy Lump, 26, of Oakland Park, Florida posted a live video on Facebook Friday night stating, 'he killed my leader and I have to kill him,' while periodically displaying a loaded AK-47 semi-automatic rifle.

He was arrested Saturday after a Facebook employee contacted the Broward County Sheriff's Office, whose deputies used public databases to identify him.

Lump was charged with making a false bomb threat and threatening the president.

He remained at the Joseph V. Conte Facility Thursday on $100,000 bond.

Chauncy Lump, 26, of Oakland Park, Florida is charged with threatening to kill President Trump in retaliation for the US air strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani

In a Facebook Live video, Lump stated that President Trump killed his leader and 'I have to kill him,' while periodically displaying a loaded AK-47 semi-automatic rifle

Agent Lucas White wrote that Lump began live-streaming a seven-minute video under the name 'BlackMan vs. America,' shortly after the President announced last week that a U.S. airstrike had killed the Iranian general in Iraq.

Lump, who is said to have had white cream on his face, a towel wrapped like a turban on his head and an apparent shower curtain wrapped on his body made several threats against the president, who was at his Mar-a-Lago club at the time.

The threats included: 'He killed my leader, please tell me where is Donald Trump?' and 'I need to find the Donald because if I don't find him, I am going to have to blow up Broward County.'

When agents showed up at his home early Saturday, Lump admitted to producing the video but said it was joke, words not echoed in the video.

He told White, 'I should not have did it in the first place.'

Lump does have a concealed weapons permit. There is no information about where he works as a security guard.
Anyone else tired of perpetually petulant President Donald Trump blaming former president Barack Obama for, well, everything?

Boo-hoo, the air conditioning makes the White House too cold. Waaa, it's unlawful for Turkey to buy U.S. fighter jets because it purchased missiles from Russia. Hmmph, Iran is restarting its nuclear program after I junked the international treaty Obama negotiated that put the whole thing on ice for at least 10 years.

On Wednesday, hours after some yapper on "Fox & Friends" said, "This moment right now is on Barack Obama, not Donald Trump," the 45th president of the United States blamed the 44th.

"The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration," Trump mewled. "The very defective [Iran nuclear agreement] expires shortly anyway, and gives Iran a clear and quick path to nuclear breakout."

As The Washington Post noted, "None of those things is true."

By now, I'd come to dismiss the "Obama's to blame" excuse as nothing more than white noise. An excuse used to sully a man whose decency and character command respect and admiration around the world, unlike his successor. But the Fox News discussion about Trump's Iran mess being laid at Obama's feet took me back to Oct. 25, 1994, and a lake in Union County, South Carolina.

For nine days, the nation believed Susan Smith. As the Charlotte Observer reported in a story marking the 20th anniversary of the infamous event, "Smith said she was stopped at a red light at an intersection behind the Monarch Mill Textile Plant, which is close to Union's Main Street, when a black male forced her out of the car at gunpoint and drove off with her two small sons in the back."

But then Smith confessed to killing her 14-month-old and 3-year-old sons by letting her car roll into the John D. Long Lake with them strapped in their car seats in the back. Why? The man with whom the married-but-separated woman was having an affair broke off the relationship because he didn't want children. A jury found her guilty of murder and sentenced her to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years. Quite a different ending than another infamous "black guy did it" tale.

The Post's Diane Bernard reminded us last week that on Jan. 4, 1990, Charles Stuart jumped off a bridge in Boston. Why? Police named him the prime suspect in the murder of his pregnant wife.

As Bernard writes, "Charles falsely claimed that a black man jumped into his car one night in October 1989 and shot him and his wife, Carol, after they attended a Lamaze class at Brigham and Women's Hospital in the city's Mission Hill neighborhood. The supposed gunman, described by Stuart as an African American man in a track suit with a raspy voice, then shot Charles in the side. Carol was taken back to the hospital where she gave birth to a premature son, Christopher, and then died on the operating room table. The injured baby died 17 days later."

Then-Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn ordered a manhunt. According to Bernard, what ensued was "the police force's widespread use of stop-and-frisk in its search for the alleged murderer."

It was mass targeting and humiliation on an obscene scale. Bernard interviewed Frederick Johnson, a resident of the Roxbury neighborhood in Boston. Recounting the harrowing scene he painted for her, Bernard wrote, "During those first few days, African American men were lined up on street corners with their pants pulled down as officers searched their trousers and underwear for drugs, guns or any excuse to arrest them."

Because of the Stuart case, a lot of African Americans were super skeptical of Susan Smith from the jump. You might say we, as a people, are used to the ease with which others accuse black men of all manner of offenses. It is a deep skepticism woven into our DNA by the savagery of slavery and reinforced by the mutilated body of Emmett Till during Jim Crow, not to mention the countless more recent examples. What troubles us even more is the ease with which others are quick to believe the lie.

No, blaming a nonexistent black guy for murders you actually committed is not at all the same as blaming a real black guy for political problems you actually caused. Still, it's not hard to see how Trump's and the right's constant harping on Obama for their every personal, moral and professional shortcoming and failure follows a vile tradition.

No one should be surprised by this. Trump rose to prominence peddling the racist birther lie that the nation's first black president wasn't born in the United States. Trump then got elected by running a campaign that peddled in the kind of racial grievance that puts the blame for one's own failings on someone else. African American men have been the scapegoat of choice since the founding of the republic. So, for Trump, blaming Obama two years and 352 days (as of this writing) after he left the White House comes naturally.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday revived a lawsuit against United Airlines by an Oakland man who was pulled off an international flight after an argument about snacks, held in Northern Ireland for 10 months, and then tried and acquitted on a charge of endangering an aircraft.

Jeremiah Thede accused the airline of malicious prosecution, saying a flight attendant and other employees made false statements that led to the criminal charge and gave false testimony in court. A federal judge dismissed the suit, saying international passengers rights are limited by the Montreal Convention, a treaty that provides compensation only for injuries and property damage caused by aircraft accidents.

But the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Wednesday that the treatys limits did not apply to events that took place on the ground long after the flight. The airlines alleged role in causing Thede to be prosecuted, and the statements its employees made to the news media and on the witness stand, were far removed in time and place from his airline travel and thus outside the conventions substantive scope, the court said in a 3-0 ruling.

The court declined to consider the airlines claims that it was shielded by a federal law allowing airline employees to report apparent dangers, and that a private company could not be plausibly accused of causing a criminal prosecution. The appellate panel referred those arguments to U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton of Oakland, who will preside over the case if it goes to trial.

Thede is glad he will have his day in court against United Airlines, said his lawyer, Mike Danko. He feels that everyone needs to know about what United did to him, because it could happen to anyone.

The airlines lawyer, Richard Grotch, could not be reached for comment. In court filings, Grotch argued that the employees had acted reasonably, and that Thedes lawsuit was pre-empted by the Montreal Convention because it involved events that took place on the flight.

Danko said Thede, a young businessman, had made a personal visit to Rome and had just taken off on a return flight to San Francisco in June 2015 when the events occurred. Hungry after the flight was delayed at the airport, he asked a flight attendant for food, was turned down twice, and then was provided with a package of crackers, he said in a court filing. He asked for more food, was told it wasnt allowed, then asked for the attendants name, which she refused to provide.

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.

Soon afterward, the suit said, the head flight attendant and an off-duty pilot threatened to remove Thede from the plane if he continued to create a disturbance. Thede denied disturbing anyone, and later was served his meal and fell asleep, only to awaken when the plane made an unscheduled stop in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

He was taken off the flight by armed officers and thrown in jail, housed with convicted murderers and other felons, Danko said. He said Thede was transferred to a halfway house after 10 weeks, once he proved to local officials that he could pay for it, and eventually was released to an Airbnb, and later a hotel, until his trial in April 2016.

Despite the flight attendants testimony against Thede, Danko said, the jury acquitted him within minutes.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
Shareholders be prepared: The way oil companies announce new discoveries may be about to change - but dont panic. Youre being kept in the dark for a reason, and youll thank them later.

Thats what the recent theatrics surrounding the much-awaited Apache oil drill in Suriname has been all about: A strategic rethink.

Apache Oil Corporation isnt ExxonMobil, and its not Tullow Oil, either.

Exxon is a supergiant with a dazzling 15 discoveries, back-to-back, in the worlds darling new offshore oil venue - Guyana.

Tullow is a mid-cap explorer with a string of hits until it recently fell on some bad luck in this same venue.

Apache is a large-cap E&P company, and its had to play things very differently than both the above companies as it seeks to repeat Exxons stunning success right across the maritime border in Suriname.

Much of the oil left to be discovered on earth is going to be offshore in geologically challenging deepwater basins.

If youre Exxon, you can afford to drill, drill, drill at breakneck speed and prove up your discovery, even bringing a play into production months ahead of deadline. You can also afford a miss and abandon a well if necessary.

If youre mid-cap Tullow and your flagship Ghana project is missing the beat on production, you can't afford a miss in Guyana - at all. Especially not after you've raised expectations so high.

Tight Lips Dont Sink Ships



Short of being a fly on the corporate Apache wall, one can only assume that its silence in late November was a calculated risk  and one that paid off.

Apaches shares started to tank in late October, shedding 5% in a single day, when it emerged that its senior vice president of global exploration, Steve Keenan, had resigned. Immediately, shareholders panicked. After all, here is Apache (which is not Exxon), trying to drill its first well in Block 58 in Suriname in a very tricky new geological play that had already resulted in failure for Kosmos Energy.

At times like these, losing a key exploration chief doesnt sound great. Even worse when it comes with no explanation whatsoever.

Then came the drill results.

First, a lot is riding on Suriname because it could end up being another giant Exxon-style play like Guyana - or it could be a total flop. For Apache, the pressure was immense because of slowing production in the Permian.

But with Suriname, Apache had been extremely tight-lipped from the beginning, including with any information on when the contracted drillship was set to reach Block 58 and start drilling back in early November, and where, exactly, it was going to drill.

On November 29th (a Friday), Apache was set to tell shareholders of its drill results. Shareholders, already on edge from the Keenan developments, were disappointed. In the end, all the company said was that Apache would drill deeper and conduct further tests. There was zero indication that the company had struck oil, or not.

Related: Six Of The Hottest Oil Stocks For 2020

Traders assumed the worst. After all, if Apache had struck oil, why wouldnt they have said?

That sent shares down by 15% in trading the following Monday.

Twenty days later, Apache made a surprise announcement, unveiling a deal with French oil giant Total SA to develop the offshore Suriname project in a joint venture. That meant that Total SA would be chipping in financing to finish exploration.

In the deal, Apache would get a $100-million bonus when the deal closed and would also see half of its to-date exploration costs reimbursed. It would also get $5 billion in cash carry on its first $7.5 billion of appraisal and development capital, with Total SA eventually becoming the operator of the wells.

Shareholders loved it. Finally, something that made sense of all the silence.

Shares saw a 10% bump immediately following the news.

That left Apache stock still trading down about 5% on the year.

Only two weeks later, Apache made another - much more stunning announcement that sent stocks surging 27% on January 7th. Apache and Total unveiled a major oil discovery in Suriname that is potentially game-changing for the Houston-based company.

Apache sacrificed its stock price in the immediate term for a much bigger gain shortly afterwards. It was highly strategic.

Will Others Take Cue From Apache?

Perhaps Tullow should have been a bit more cautious about its Guyana discovery announcements.

Just like Apache has been under great pressure over Suriname, Tullow has been the center of attention in Guyana.

Facing extremely high expectations, Tullow has lost half its value and its CEO resigned in early December.

Like Apache, Tullow was facing slowing production in another of its key venues - Ghana. So not only was a Guyana discovery important, it was imperative.

The discoveries were lining up, with Tullow announcing three in a row in short order in 2019 to great fanfare.

But then the other shoe dropped rather abruptly, first in the Orinduik block and then in Kanuku license.

On January 2nd, Tullow was dealt its third blow in a month, revealing a smaller-than-expected oil pay at the Carapa-1 well in the Kanuku license. Related: Oil Tanks As Trump Claims Iran Is Standing Down

Building on the December drama of more discovery disappointments and the resignation of the CEO, Tullows acting chief, Dorothy Thompson, went as far as to say the company was open to takeover offers, the Irish Examiner reported.

The lesson learned - or pre-empted - by Apache was this: Its time to lower expectations. Apache did just that - successfully. Going into the discovery announcement with Total SA, shareholders were psychologically prepared for disappointment. Instead, they got a major discovery.

This is where oil exploration adds a psyops element.

And Apache may just have started a new trend for mid-cap and large-cap independent explorers who need to handle discovery announcements and drilling results in a different way, or sink under the pressure of expectations versus deliverables.

Moving further into 2020, we might just see more psyops that rather than trying to impress investors with immediate discovery news, will be trying to lower expectations in advance so that a de-risked discovery announcement doesnt just impress - it stuns, and is sustainable.

By. Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
According to the GuruFocus All-in-One Screener, a Premium feature, several gurus are focusing on stocks whose Peter Lynch fair values are above their current price. As of Jan. 9, the following companies are trading with wide margins of safety and have had positive performances over the last 12 months, in addition to trading at below their Peter Lynch fair value.





Hawaiian Holdings Inc.

Hawaiian Holdings Inc. (HA) is trading around $29.20 per share as of Jan. 9. The Peter Lynch fair value is $66.31, which suggests the stock is undervalued with a 56% margin of safety. Over the past three months, the stock has registered a positive performance of 16.10%.

fcc12a7087f94832fa62402abbc4f9d9.png

The air transportation provider has a market cap of $1.30 billion and an enterprise value of $1.21 billion.

The stock is trading with a price-earnings ratio of 6.78, which is higher than 87% of competitors. The share price is currently 14.73% below its 52-week high and 27.50% above its 52-week low. The price-book ratio is 1.28.

The company's largest guru shareholder is Third Avenue Management (Trades, Portfolio) with 3.04% of outstanding shares, followed by Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio) with 2.29% and PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio) with 2.05%.

Medifast Inc.

Medifast Inc. (MED) is trading around $112.00 per share as of Jan.9. The Peter Lynch fair value is $135.97, which suggests it is undervalued with a 18% margin of safety. The stock registered a positive three-month performance of 8.82%.

f7682bb695e9b015579a5c71fca74af8.png

The company, which provides products concerning weight loss and weight management, has a market cap of $1.30 billion and an enterprise value of $1.21 billion.

The stock is trading with a price-earnings ratio of 18.38, which is higher than 54% of companies in the personal services industry. The share price is currently 30.10% below its 52-week high and 67.55% above its 52-week low. The price-book ratio is 11.65.

Story continues

Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio)' Renaissance Technologies is the company's largest guru shareholder with 6.14% of outstanding shares, followed by Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.39%, Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.20% and Richard Snow (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.04%.

Patrick Industries Inc.

Patrick Industries Inc. (PATK) is trading around $53.60 per share as of Jan.9. The Peter Lynch fair value is $103.75, which suggests it is undervalued with a 51% margin of safety. Over the past three months, the stock has risen 25.36%.

e19e01e395ea8f9689cbe629f529f05f.png

The company, which provides building products and materials, has a market cap of $1.21 billion and an enterprise value of $1.85 billion.

The stock is trading with a price-earnings ratio of 12.29, which is higher than 52% of companies in the construction industry. The share price is currently 6.10% below its 52-week high and 59.07% above its 52-week low. The price-book ratio is 2.53.

The company's largest guru shareholder is Royce with 1.13% of outstanding shares, followed by Jones with 0.04% and Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio)'s Gotham Asset Management with 0.02%.

M/I Homes Inc.

M/I Homes Inc. (MHO) is trading around $41.53 per share as of Jan. 9. The Peter Lynch fair value gives the stock a fair price of $75.32, which suggests it is undervalued with a 45% margin of safety. Over the past three months, the stock has risen 9.84%.

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The American construction company has a market cap of $1.23 billion and an enterprise value of $2.07 billion. Over the past three months, the stock has registered a positive performance of 25.36%.

The stock is trading with a price-earnings ratio of 10.17, which is higher than 62% of companies in the homebuilding and construction industry. The share price is currently 5.91% below its 52-week high and 82.81% above its 52-week low. The price-book ratio is 1.22.

Donald Smith (Trades, Portfolio) is the company's largest guru shareholder with 4.96% of outstanding shares, followed by Royce with 1.19% and Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.32%.

Big Lots Inc.

Big Lots Inc. (BIG) is trading around $28.50 per share as of Jan.9. The Peter Lynch fair value is $88.39, which suggests the company is undervalued with a 67% margin of safety. Over the past three months, the stock has risen 39.48%.

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The company, which operates discount retail stores, has a market cap of $1.14 billion and an enterprise value of $2.85 billion.

The stock is trading with a price-earnings ratio of 4.51, which is higher than 98% of companies in the retail industry. The share price is currently 27.25% below its 52-week high and 55.12% above its 52-week low.

The company's largest guru shareholder is Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.87% of outstanding shares, followed by Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss with 0.29%, Simons' firm with 0.25%, Greenblatt and Jones with 0.21%.

Celestica Inc.

Celestica Inc. (CLS) is trading around $8.21 per share as of Jan.9. The Peter Lynch fair value for the company is $16.57, which suggests it is undervalued with a 50% margin of safety. The stock registered a positive three-month performance of 24.58%.

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The company, which provides a range of services such as design, engineering and assembly, has a market cap of $1.07 billion and an enterprise value of $1.35 billion.

The stock is trading with a price-earnings ratio of 8.1, which is higher than 90% of companies in the hardware industry. The share price is currently 16.87% below its 52-week high and 39.16% above its 52-week low. The price-book ratio is 0.76.

Richard Pzena (Trades, Portfolio)'s Pzena Investment Management is the company's largest guru shareholder with 3.66% of outstanding shares, followed by Smith with 3.03%, Charles Brandes (Trades, Portfolio) with 2.82% and Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.02%.

Disclosure: I do not own any stocks mentioned in this article.

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Before a Westfield mayoral debate at Westfield State University between candidates state Sen. Don Humason and Police Capt. Michael McCabe, audience members were asked to write down questions on note cards for the candidates. The variety of topics put forth indicated there are passionate, issue-driven residents with high expectations for their new mayor.

Questions related to school funding, teacher pay, recreational marijuana sales, downtown parking, poverty, renewable energy incentives, refugee status, water contamination, condition of city roads and luring new business were common themes. Both candidates had similar views on these and other matters.

On Monday, Humason was inaugurated as the mayor of Westfield, a city of 42,000, after winning the election by fewer than 100 votes. Humason succeeds Brian Sullivan, who didnt seek reelection. City Council president Ralph J. Figy has been filling in as acting mayor since November.

In a recent interview, Humason said, "Whether it was Captain McCabe or myself, the issues were the same between the two of us. It was more of a style difference, I think."

Humason has spent the last seven years as a Republican in a state Senate heavily dominated by Democrats. After Humasons departure, there will be four Republicans in the 40-member chamber.

Working as a minority member of the state Legislature certainly requires an element of patience and compromise. Will Humasons style translate into running a city government with a budget of $130 million?

As Westfields so-called weak mayor form of government requires the mayor to often exercise a more collaborative approach, his experience as a minority member of the Legislature may work to his advantage.

Even so, as the executive of the city of Westfield, Humasons style should be one that is decisive, motivating and innovative, as well as collaborative. A citys CEO must exhibit the ability to understand when his department heads are doing right by the city, and when intervention is necessary.

Experience gained in the Legislature, and contacts gained in serving decades in state government have advantages, but having an understanding of what it takes to lead multiple departments with sometimes competing interests is invaluable. That is the type of style that will gain the support and confidence of Westfields passionate, issue-driven residents.
By Julio-Cesar Chavez and Lizbeth Diaz

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexicans seeking refuge in the United States to escape violence and lawlessness in their homeland fear worse dangers if they are sent to Guatemala under a new Trump administration scheme to crack down on asylum seekers.

Under U.S. rules made public on Monday, Mexicans requesting protection at the U.S.-Mexican border can be flown to Guatemala to seek refuge there instead.

U.S. President Donald Trump last year reacted to a surge in Central Americans requesting asylum with a series of policies aimed at keeping them out of the United States. The latest rules apply to migrants from Mexico as well as Honduras and El Salvador, according to guidance documents, and will likely have the effect of suppressing Mexican access to U.S. asylum.

It was unclear when the United States would begin sending Mexicans to Guatemala. The Mexican government estimated that 900 Mexican asylum seekers could be affected from February, without giving a timeframe or explaining how it reached that number.

Mexicans who say their homes are unsafe due to drug gang extortion said the policy leaves them few options.

"I can't go home, they've already kidnapped my brother and son," said Carlos, a Mexican seeking to reach the United States via the border city of Tijuana. He said he had fled criminal gangs in the southwestern state of Guerrero.

"They're after me. If I go back they're sure to kill me. If I'm not safe in Mexico, I'll be even less safe in Guatemala," he said, requesting his last name be withheld for security reasons. Reuters could not independently corroborate his story.

Since the end of Guatemala's civil war in 1996, the country has consistently had a higher homicide rate than Mexico, its more prosperous northern neighbor.

In the last few years, the difference has narrowed as Mexico's murder tally, fueled by turf wars between drug gangs, rose to record levels and Guatemala's declined.

Story continues

Guatemala, however, is poorer and dangerous, and Mexicans generally have fewer contacts there than in the United States.

Eugenio, 48, arrived in the border city of Ciudad Juarez with his family four months ago and has been on a waiting list for the chance to present his case to U.S. officials ever since. He estimated his turn will come up later this week and the prospect of being sent to Guatemala was high on his mind.

"Going to Guatemala is like walking straight into the lion's den," Eugenio said, explaining he feared that the criminals he said had threatened his family in central Mexico could track him down across the fluid southern border. If he failed to get asylum in the United States, he said, he would try Canada.

At the end of December, after reports first emerged that Washington was considering sending Mexican asylum seekers to Guatemala, a group of Mexican migrants filed a complaint with Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) requesting help blocking the plan, saying it would put them in danger.

Mexico's government on Monday said it "rejected" the new U.S. policy but acknowledged that the decision was up to U.S. authorities.

Sitting in a chilly camp in Ciudad Juarez, one woman from the state of Zacatecas, who declined to give her name, said she was trying to reach the United States because she had family there, and would be safe.

"I'm not going because of the American dream, I'm going and taking my kids because we need security, we need safety," she said in tears, describing how she had fled a job as a scientist in a laboratory after she starting being followed and receiving phone threats.

She described the new policy as pressure aimed at making people like her give up her asylum claim.

"They know we won't want to go to another country where we won't have family support," she said.

(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Editing by Dave Graham and Rosalba O'Brien)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 13:34:58|Editor: Xiang Bo

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LANZHOU, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Gansu Province saw trade with Belt and Road countries and regions grow 3 percent year on year to 18.66 billion yuan (2.69 billion U.S. dollars) in the first 11 months of 2019, according to a provincial business meeting held on Tuesday.

The figure accounted for 54 percent of the total foreign trade volume of the province.

Gansu rolled out a plan to better participate in the Belt and Road construction and build a hub economic system with high-quality development of the logistics industry in 2019.

A total of 959 freight trains carrying 1.01 million tonnes of cargo, worth 2.3 billion U.S. dollars, were launched from Gansu in 2019.

In the same year, Gansu also opened regular all-cargo flights from Lanzhou to Pakistan and charter flights to Singapore and Belgium for the first time, with international air cargo volume increasing 53 percent year on year. The grain port in the New District of Lanzhou, the capital of the province, was opened, importing 2,700 tonnes of wheat from Kazakhstan, worth 5.25 million yuan.
The credit squeeze in the Indian financial space, one of the main reasons for the worrying state of the economy, may take longer to go away as banks are risk-averse, say top brokerages.

Global brokerage firm Macquarie, in a report on January 7, said credit growth at 7 percent is at multi-year low, excluding the one-off demonetisation phase, and the main problem is that banks dont want to lend.

Also, corporate-heavy banks such as ICICI Bank and Axis Bank are largely lending to the companies rated A and above, which is seen as an attempt to avoid default.

"Latest data from two corporate-heavy banks, ICICI and Axis, which funded a substantial part of their capex cycle last decade, clearly reveals that nearly 90 percent of incremental lending in the last couple of years has been to the corporates rated A and above," said Macquarie.

The risk-aversion of Indian banks has aggravated concerns about the revival of capex and infra cycle and the recovery of credit growth.

Why are banks not lending?

"Having burnt their fingers in the past, banks have turned extra cautious in a weak environment. Adding to it, the project pipeline is sparse too," said Mona Khetan, banking analyst at Reliance Securities.

Raghav Garg, CFA-Research Analyst, NBFCs and Specialty Finance at Nirmal Bang agrees.

"Likely reasons for this could be the current consumption and overall economic slowdown, which could potentially throw up asset-quality challenges later. Also, banks have been averse to lending to NBFCs because of the IL&FS episode as well as defaults by some prominent NBFCs and HFCs in recent times," said Garg.

It has been more than a year since IL&FS defaulted, followed by DHFL, ADAG, Zee Enterprise and others but there is very little progress on the resolution of these accounts. This has created uneasy among corporate lenders.

Banks have still not come out of the corporate NPA mess and clearly are cautious about new corporate exposures.

Asutosh Mishra, Head, Institutional Equity, Ashika Stock Broking, says the deleveraging of the corporate balance sheet has not been completed and thus there is an issue of availability of long-term equity from the corporate side also.

RBIs 'large exposure framework' is also a reason for slow credit growth, as it limits a bank to lend to an entity more than 25 percent of its Tier 1 capital, Mishra pointed out.

"Further, in our assessment revival of the capex cycle is still not started as consumption (public/private) is significantly low and thus capacity utilization across the industry is relatively low. In our view, the credit growth is likely to boost with public and private consumption improving first. It may later translate into higher capex requirement," said Mishra.

What can be done?

Experts say the government will have to take measures to boost consumption, which will raise the demand for the capital and push the banks to lend more. All this will eventually ease the liquidity squeeze.

"The government could take measures to increase consumption, which will in turn aid capex. Banks will eventually lend if there is enough demand for loans, which itself seems to be a problem at the current juncture," Khetan of Reliance Securities said.

To minimise the risk, banks can also focus on quality collateral and focus on cash-flow based lending.

"In the current environment, one of the ways to minimise risk is to focus on lending which is secured by good-quality collateral. Another focus area should be cash-flow based lending, which gives a better idea of the borrowers loan-servicing capability," Garg of Nirmal Bang said.

Experts and brokerages are optimistic that the scenario will change as a lot of groundwork has been done to address the issue and things will start improving.

Stocks to focus

For the investment, top brokerages advise going for quality names from the banking space.

"HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank remain our top picks. We wont be buying any PSU banks. HDFC Banks recent trading update reveals that quality private sector banks continue to outperform and gain market share," said Macquarie.

As per Credit Suisse, the third quarter will start to reflect the slowdown in loan growth momentum, with the banking sector loan growth down to 7 percent YoY. Credit Suisse expects banks to lower their growth guidance.

"Q3 should witness one of the highest recoveries driven by Essar Steel (will also aid PSU bank NIMs). However, corporate slippages and provisioning will also move up, on the back of RBI reported divergences and accounts like Dewan," Credit Suisse said.

"We expect IndusInd Bank and HDFC Bank to report the strongest growth (nearly 20 percent YoY). Reported profits at HDFC Ltd will jump 4 times, on account of the revaluation of Gruh's stake. We continue to prefer private banks, with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank remaining our top picks," it said.

Disclaimer:

The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
TORONTO, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Generation Mining Limited (CSE: GENM) is pleased to announce that it has retained the services of Renmark Financial Communications Inc. to handle its investor relations activities.



We are pleased to announce that we have selected Renmark to reinforce Generation Mining Limited.'s profile in the financial community and enhance the visibility of our company. We choose Renmark because its standards and methodologies fit best with the message we wish to communicate to the investing public, noted Jamie Levy, President and Chief Executive Officer

In consideration of the services to be provided, the monthly fees incurred by Generation Mining Limited. will be a cash consideration of up to $8,000 CAD, starting January 1st, 2020 for a period of six months ending on June 30th, 2020 and monthly thereafter.

Renmark Financial Communications does not have any interest, directly or indirectly, in Generation Mining Limited or its securities, or any right or intent to acquire such an interest.

For further information, please contact:

Jamie Levy, President and Chief Executive Officer

(416) 640-2934

(416) 567-2240

jlevy@genmining.com

Renmark Financial Communications Inc.

Barry Mire: bmire@renmarkfinancial.com

Tel: (416) 644-2020 or (212) 812-7680

www.renmarkfinancial.com

Neither CSE Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined, in the policies of the CSE Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Kyiv-bound Ukraine International Flight 752 was on fire before it hit the ground outside of Tehran, killing all 176 people on board, Iranian officials said Thursday. But little is known about what brought the plane down. Some aviation safety experts and pilots called several aspects of the incident unusual and because the crash occurred during heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. information about the flight may remain scarce. All 176 people  167 passengers and nine crew  on the Boeing 737-800 were killed when it crashed two minutes after takeoff from Tehran. Video shared on social media showed what appeared to be the plane on fire, falling to the ground in a fireball outside of the Iranian capital. The plane had turned, apparently to return to the airport, Iran's civil aviation authority said, adding that there was no distress call. The plane was not the 737 Max model that was grounded in March last year after two fatal crashes, but it adds to scrutiny on Boeing, which is scrambling to contain the fallout from those incidents.

The crash occurred hours after Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes on U.S. positions in Iraq for the killing of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, timing that prompted speculation that a stray Iranian missile may have downed the passenger plane. But as of Wednesday evening, there was no evidence to support that. Airlines began avoiding airspace in the region, taking other routes due to the conflict. It can sometimes take investigators more than a year to determine the cause of a plane crash and getting information about the deadly incident has become more complicated. An Iranian official told local media the country wouldn't hand over the black boxes  which contain flight data and cockpit voice recordings  from the crash site to the U.S. or to Boeing for review. Under international law, the country where the crash occurred controls the investigation. Because the plane was manufactured in the United States, Boeing, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board would generally participate. "The United States will continue to follow this incident closely and stands prepared to offer Ukraine all possible assistance," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Wednesday. "The United States calls for complete cooperation with any investigation into the cause of the crash." Boeing offered its condolences to the victims and said it is "ready to assist in any way needed." If Iranian officials withhold data, "they're not going to be trusted in our eyes and whatever they say without giving us the data, we're not going to believe," said John Goglia, a former NTSB member.

A Ukrainian airplane carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff from Tehran airport, killing all onboard. Photo: Mahmoud Hosseini/dpa (Photo by Mahmoud Hosseini/picture alliance via Getty Images) Mahmoud Hosseini | picture alliance | Getty Images
The hangman who will execute four Indian-men who gang raped and murdered a female student on a moving bus has said their deaths will bring 'a sigh of relief to me, her parents and the country'.

Pawan Jallad, a fourth generation executioner, said he is expecting the order to come to Delhi in the coming days, and is ready to carry out their sentence.

Akshay Kumar Singh, 31, Pawan Gupta, 25, Vinay Sharma, 26, and Mukesh Singh, 32, were sentenced to hanging on January 22 at 7am in Tihar jail, a court has ruled.

They were convicted of raping and killing physiotherapy student Jyoti Singh, 23, on a Delhi bus in 2012, while she travelled home from a nightshift at an IBM call centre.

Appeals by all four men against the death sentence have been rejected by India's Supreme Court, with the final verdict coming in December.

The men still have one more chance to appeal against the 'black warrant' death notice, although any mercy plea is expected to be rejected.

Pawan Jallad, a fourth generation executioner (pictured), said he is ready and waiting to carry out the four men's sentence

The executioner said he is expecting to be ordered to Delhi soon to carry out rehearsals for their hanging. The men are expected to make one final appeal, which will likely fail

Pawan Gupta (left), Vinay Sharma (second left), Mukesh Singh (second right) and Akshay Singh (right) have been sentenced to die on January 22 for the fatal gang-rape of a student in 2012

The hangman has said he is expecting to be ordered to travel to Tihar from his home in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, to carry out 'rehearsals' for the executions of the men.

'It will really give a great sigh of relief to me, to Nirbhaya's parents and to everyone else in the country when these convicts are hanged. These kinds of people should be hanged,' he told Gulf News.

'I don't need much practice. I will only have to inspect the noose and the execution place once, see the measurement of the convicts and prepare myself for the execution.

'I have said earlier also that the execution in the gang-rape and murder should happen as early as possible.'

The final plea in the case, known as the Nirbhaya - or fearless - gang-rape and murder case, is not expected to be granted. If the execution goes ahead, it will be India's first use of capital punishment since 2015.

Asha Devi, mother of the 23-year-old victim said on Tuesday: 'This judgement will reinforce people's faith in the judiciary. My daughter will get justice.'

Pawan Jallad (pictured) has also called for the execution to be carried out 'as early as possible'

Asha Devi (centre), the mother of 23-year-old victim Jyoti Singh, welcomed the verdict saying that 'justice has been restored'

The case sparked protests across India, garnered international media attention, and prompted lawmakers to toughen penalties for sex crimes

In court, there was a moment of drama as Mukesh's mother went to Asha and begged for her son's life to be saved.

'Please forgive my son. I am begging you for his life', she said, according to NDTV.

'I had a daughter too. What happened with her? How can I forget,' she replied.

Jyoti was riding on a bus through Delhi on December 16, 2012, when she and a male friend were attacked by six men including the bus driver.

Awindra Pratap Pandey described being beaten unconscious with a metal bar, before the men took it in turns to rape and torture Jyoti - who was nicknamed Nirbhaya or 'fearless' by Indian media.

The metal bar was used to inflict catastrophic internal injuries on the physiotherapy student, who was dumped naked by the side of the road.

Awindra survived with minor injuries, but Jyoti had to be flown to Singapore for specialist treatment. She died two weeks later, on December 29.

Women take part in a protest following the death of a rape victim in New Deli in December last year. Such cases have received heightened attention since Jyoti was killed

Jyoti was nicknamed Nirbhaya or 'fearless' by Indian media and has sparked nationwide protest movements demanding more protection for women from sex attacks

The case caught international attention, sparked weeks of national protests, prompted a change in laws around sex crimes, and harsher penalties for attackers.

Five men and one juvenile were initially arrested for the attack, and fast-tracked through the Indian court system where sex crime trials often take years to play out.

One of the men, Ram Singh, died in custody in 2013 with an autopsy ruling he hanged himself, though his family argue he was killed.

The juvenile was convicted of rape and murder and sentenced to the harshest possible punishment - imprisonment for three years in a reform institution.

The remaining four men were convicted of rape and murder in September 2013 and sentenced to death.

All four men subsequently launched legal appeals, fighting all the way to the Supreme Court.

The last appeal to be heard was from Akshay, who argued that since pollution in Delhi was so bad he couldn't be expected to live long and hanging was unnecessary.

A demonstrator wearing a blindfold takes part in a protest in solidarity with rape victims and to oppose violence against women in India in New Delhi on December 7

The court rejected his petition, saying he had provided no evidence that was not already considered by the lower courts.

In their ruling, the judges lambasted his legal team for seeking a 're-hearing of appeal over and over again.'

Preparations for the execution have already begun at Delhi's Tihar jail, with a mock hanging already carried out to test that the gallows still work.

A hangman is being brought to the city from Meerut, some 40 miles away, along with ropes from Buxar, some 450 miles distant.

Officials told NDTV that preparations began last month, after the final appeal failed and in preparation for Tuesday's black warrant being issued.

The men are currently being kept in separate cells and are being monitored around the clock by CCTV to prevent them from killing themselves.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 09:30:30|Editor: ZX

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SYDNEY, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- A nine-year-old girl was rushed to hospital on Wednesday after being attacked by a shark in Australia's northeast.

The attack occurred in the early evening as the girl was swimming in waters near North West Island, in the State of Queensland, AAP reported.

It left her with a bite to the back of her leg, and puncture wounds to her foot. Paramedics said she was in a stable condition.

According to reports, the girl was lucky that a registered nurse was nearby when the attack occurred, and the nurse was able to stem the bleeding.

The area where the girl was swimming is remote and it took her 40 minutes by boat to reach Heron Island, where a rescue chopper was waiting.

The creature responsible is believed to have been a lemon shark, a tropical dwelling species which can grow to be over three meters long.

On Dec. 30 last year a man was also transferred to hospital with hand and knee injuries following a suspected shark attack in the same region.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday held a meeting with Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and is believed to have discussed about the possibilities of giving constitutional safeguards to the indigenous people of the state, officials said.

The meeting was held amidst widespread protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in Assam.

The Union home minister is said to have discussed about giving constitutional safeguards to the indigenous people of Assam as mandated by the 1985 Assam Accord, an official said.

However, the details of the two-hour long meeting which was also attended by Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma were not known immediately.

The meeting bears significance as there has been a growing feeling among the indigenous people of Assam that the newly enacted legislation will hurt their interests -- both politically, culturally as well as socially.

There is a possibility of Sonowal making some announcements on welfare of indigenous people during the special assembly session convened next week, another official said.

The Assam Accord provides for detection and deportation of all illegal immigrants, who have entered the country after 1971 and living in the state, irrespective of their religion.

Clause 6 of the Accord provides for giving Constitutional safeguard to Assamese people.

According to the CAA, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

The protesters in Assam have said that the CAA violates the provisions of Assam Accord.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Russia-led armed groups violated the ceasefire regime in Donbas five times in the past 24 hours, with three Ukrainian servicemen reported as wounded, the press center of the Joint Operation Forces (JFO) has reported.

"On January 8, the armed groups led by the Russian Federation violated the ceasefire regime five times. As a result of the enemy's shelling attacks, three servicemen of the Joint Forces Operation were injured," the JFO headquarters said in its update on Facebook on Thursday morning.

In the area of responsibility of the Skhid (East) task force, the enemy mounted one attack near Lebedynske using heavy machine guns and small arms.

In the area of responsibility of the Pivnich (North) task force, the enemy mounted four attacks: two times near Khutir Vilny using 122mm and 120mm mortars, once near Novooleksandrivka using small arms and once near Novoluhanske using grenade launchers of various systems and small arms.
The fire had seemed quite distant as revelers reveled in the Australian resort town of Batemans Bay on New Years Eve. An orange blip far off in the mountains. But the blaze moved fast overnight, arriving without warning.

People were terrified, huddled together, trying to take shelter on the beach, one tourist told The Associated Press, adding: It was like being in the center of hell.

This is barely hyperbole. As many as 12 million acres have burned in Australia, and the fires have killed at least two-dozen people.

A koala drinks water from a bottle given by a firefighter in Cudlee Creek, South Australia. (Oakbank Balhannah CFS via AP)AP

The record-breaking fire season has been downright apocalyptic for wildlife. More than a billion animals may have been killed, according to one estimate. Heartbreaking images have captured desperate koalas, having fled their habitats, approaching firefighters and bicyclists for water.

Oregonians are trying to do their part to help ameliorate the disaster Down Under. The state Bureau of Land Management announced Monday that Oregon firefighting crews are heading to Australia to take up the fight.

OMFG. This photo.



A local firefighter and a koala watch their forest burn in a climate disaster. pic.twitter.com/8mH6sMQbww  Alex Steffen (@AlexSteffen) December 23, 2019

Individuals are pitching in as well, any way they can.

Three preteen sisters in Portland, for example, are turning over their allowance to the cause and putting up handmade flyers that urge others to donate whatever they can to RSPCA Australia, a nonprofit dedicated to animal welfare.

And Oregon artist Arrowyn Craban Lauer has made a koala wood print that shes selling on Etsy. She says all revenue from sales will go to Wires Australia Wildlife Rescue Organization.

Its really easy to just be paralyzed with it, she said on KOIN 6 News on Wednesday. I stopped and I was, like, Hey, I can do something about this. It might already be too late but theres no reason not to try.

The Australian Red Cross, GIVIT, Salvation Army Australia and NSW Rural Fire Service are among the charities The New York Times recommends for people looking to help.

Before donating money to an Australian organization for wildfire relief, its recommended that you check to make sure its on the Australian charity register.

-- Douglas Perry

@douglasmperry

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
YOU are the reward to your family.

This was the message of Dwight P. Avila, head of environment and safety unit of Taiheiyo Cement Philippines Inc. (TCPI), to regular employees and outsourced workers when TCPI observed its 2019 Safety Week celebration.

Avila pointed out that the workers diligence in following safety rules would ensure that they would go home every day unscathed.

TCPI recently observed the activity to promote safety consciousness with the theme I choose to work safely to eliminate or minimize risks and to safeguard workers at the plant at all times.

The company refreshed its personnels knowledge through seminars on handling and maintenance of personal protective equipment, behavioral based safety and healthy lifestyle in the workplace.

They took part in a firefighting competition, while packing staff Anastacio T. Cano emerged winner in the slogan-writing contest with Kung ikaw Nakahibalo, nga ang Kinabuhi walay Presyo, Pili-a ug i-Siguro ang Luwas nga Pagtrabaho (If you know life has no price, choose and ensure safety at work).

If we stop, safety will be complacent and mediocre and again incidents will occur. Let us change our mindset to inculcate good practices in safety, Avila said.

Communicate clearly our safety rules and challenge to improve our behavior towards good working attitude. Always choose to work safely, he added.

Initiatives

TCPI first instituted the celebration of the Safety Week five years ago after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake centered in Bohol in October 2013 and super typhoon Yolanda in November of the same year.

At the time, the company wanted to give more emphasis on safety through a celebration even if it had been undertaking initiatives like conducting safety patrols, adhering to the safety 24 principle and continuous safety education.

Employees also embraced Kiken Yochi (hazard prediction), a Japanese discipline to recognize and predict hazards, and further develop sensitivity to unsafe conditions or hazardous situations.

Story continues

Doing it right

Sought for their thoughts on safety, production staff member Zaldy Oliver Razo said: When I see someone doing not right, I correct them and say, Just letting you know, to keep you (and everyone else) safe. Its everybodys job.

It is our choice to work safely. We want to make sure everyone on the job site is safe, not only the regular employees but also the outsourced workers, said Stephen Sobrevilla of the mechanical maintenance unit.

Rey Sumayang of mechanical services said: Starting the day right with our morning safety meeting. We get the members to participate early (so that) they become more comfortable calling things out and watching each others back.

Continue to focus on the basics (safety rules) of each task to make sure we dont get hurt or become complacent (so that) we go home the way we came in, said Ronald Manuel of electrical instrumentation. S
MANILA  A mammoth crowd of mostly barefoot Filipino Catholics prayed for peace in the Middle East on Thursday at the start of an annual procession of a centuries-old black statue of Jesus Christ in one of Asias biggest religious events.

The daylong procession of the wooden Black Nazarene draws massive numbers of largely poor devotees who pray for the sick and a better life. This year, widespread fears over the conflict between the United States and Iran were highlighted in a predawn Mass.

Let us remember that in other parts of the world, the threat of violence is brewing and, hopefully, this will not lead to war, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle told the crowd at a Manila seaside park.

The popular Manila church leader asked the tens of thousands of devotees clad in maroon shirts  the color associated with the Black Nazarene  to briefly pause in silence and pray for peace in the Middle East and the safety of its people, including many Filipino expatriate workers.

Let us pray  that the desire to retaliate eases, Tagle said.

One of the worlds leading labor providers, the Philippines would face a gargantuan crisis if hostilities between the U.S. and Iran escalate and embroil other countries that host many Filipinos, such as Saudi Arabia and Israel.

The Philippine government on Wednesday ordered Filipino workers to leave Iraq and Iran. The military prepared to deploy navy ships, three cargo planes and one battalion each of marines and army troops to help the evacuations in case hostilities worsen.

Organizers of the Black Nazarene procession expect up to 4 million people to join the procession, which usually ends late at night when the life-size statue of Christ is returned to a church in downtown Manila.

More than 12,000 police, including bomb squads, snipers and helicopter-borne teams, were deployed to secure the procession, though authorities said they have not monitored any specific threat.

Aside from ensuring safety and order, police worked to clear the streets in front of the carriage bearing the statue. Guns and liquor were banned and cell phone signals were jammed in parts of Manila.

Such religious passion has continued in the Philippines even as President Rodrigo Duterte has stepped up attacks in recent years on the church and bishops, who have criticized the thousands of killings under his anti-drug crackdown. Duterte sparked outrage among many Catholics two years ago when he called God stupid and offered to immediately resign if anybody can prove that God exists.

Jim Gomez is an Associated Press writer.
JOS, Nigeria, January 7, 2020 (Morning Star News)  A leader of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria (EYN) pleaded for help on a video released on Sunday (Jan. 5) after Islamic extremists with Boko Haram kidnapped him last week.

The Rev. Lawan Andimi was abducted by terrorists of the Islamic States West Africa Province (ISWAP, known as Boko Haram before affiliating with the Islamic State) on Thursday (Jan. 2) in attacks on Michika County and a nearby area in northeast Nigerias Adamawa state, sources said.

Pastor Andimi, area EYN district chairman and chairman of the local chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, pleads with church leaders to ask Adamawa Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri to intervene for his release in the video.

I have never been discouraged, because all conditions that one finds himself is in the hands of God  God who made them to take care of me and to leave [me with] my life, Pastor Andimi says. I am appealing to my colleagues, reverends, particularly my president, Rev. Joel Billy, who is a strong man, a man of compassion and man of love. He can do all his best to speak to our governor, Umaru Jibrilla [Fintiri] and other necessary agents for my release here.

Pastor Andimi says he has been treated well with food and a comfortable place to sleep.

I believe that He who made them to act in such a way is still alive and will make all arrangements, he says. By the grace of God I will be together with my wife, my children and my colleaguesIf the opportunity has not been granted, maybe it is the will of God. I want all people close and far, colleagues, to be patient. Dont cry, dont worry but thank God for everything.

The video was released via Twitter by Ahmad Salkida, a Muslim journalist who has released previous videos from Boko Haram captives.

Area resident Vandi Hosea told Morning Star News by text message that armed Boko Haram members attacked Michika and Bassa communities at about 6 p.m.

They attacked Michika and Bassa communities just a day after we celebrated the New Year, Hosea said. Our people had to flee into the surrounding bushes, while others ran to the hills around here.

Zakariah Nyampa, a member of Nigerias parliament, the National Assembly, representing the Michika/Madagali area, issued a statement saying the army killed Boko Haram militants when they attacked.

When the Boko Haram attacked Michika on Jan. 2, the army quickly swept into action, killing most of the terrorists, and pursued them towards Lassa River, where they lost one of their trucks to the Nigeria army, Nyampa said. Our people had to run helter-skelter when they heard that the terrorists were approaching the town. We thank God for their lives, but the only civilian casualty is the missing pastor whose whereabouts are still unknown.

He called on the government to intensify efforts to find Pastor Andimi.

The Rev. Sansom Ayokunle, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), issued a statement on Monday (Jan. 6) in Abuja urging the Nigerian government to take necessary steps to rescue the Brethren pastor and all other captives held by the terrorists.

We were told that the troops repelled them but not until they had successfully forced Rev. Andimi into their Toyota Hilux and took him away, Ayokunle said. The innocent cleric, in video footage released by his captors, has been making an appeal to the federal government, the Adamawa state governor and the leadership of CAN to come to his aid.

Ayokunle also called on the United Nations, the United States, the United Kingdom and other developed-world countries to assist Nigeria in securing our lives before it is too late. They should help our security agencies to live up to the expectations before the situation gets out of hand by stopping these killings and abductions with impunity.

He said that CAN and other Nigerians wish to assure those in captivity and those facing religious persecution that their prayers are with them.

Our God who delivered the people of Israel from the Egyptian bondage will surely deliver them, he said. They will not die in captivity in Jesus name.

Ngida Zakawa, a Christian community leader in Michika, welcomed Adamawa Deputy Gov. Crowther Seth and other government officials who visited the area on Saturday (Jan. 4).

The whereabouts of CAN chairman the Rev. Lawan Andimi is unknown, except that some women claimed they saw him boarding a Hilux van, Zakawa said.

Nigeria ranked 12th on Open Doors 2019 World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most persecution.

If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit http://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.

If you or your organization would like to help enable Morning Star News to continue raising awareness of persecuted Christians worldwide with original-content reporting, please consider collaborating at https://morningstarnews.org/donate/?

Article originally published by Morning Star News. Used with permission.

Photo courtesy: Morning Star News/Ahmad Salkida
SACRAMENTO, CALIF.Federal officials and an environmental group this week issued rewards totalling $7,500 (U.S.) for the unsolved 2018 killing of an endangered wolf in Modoc County, Californias first wolf poaching investigation since the predators returned to the state.

On Dec. 2, 2018, Oregon wildlife biologists notified California officials that a black-furred yearling male theyd labelled OR-59 had travelled from a pack in northeast Oregon and crossed the state line into Modoc County.

The biologists were able to track its movements because the wolf was wearing a GPS collar, which biologists had put around its neck a few months earlier when theyd trapped it for study in northeast Oregon.

Three days later, the wolf was spotted by a rancher feeding on a calf, which investigators later determined may have died from pneumonia.

Then, on Dec. 9, 2018, Oregon biologists received a mortality signal from its collar indicating the wolf had died, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

In the year since, Californias wildlife officers have revealed little about the case, including where OR-59s body was found, how the wolf died or why they found its death suspicious.

In a news release this week announcing a $2,500 federal reward, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provided more details.

The wolf was shot once with a .22 calibre center-fire rifle along County Road 91 near the small communities of Lookout and Bieber, the wildlife agency said. Officials urged anyone with information about the killing to call 916-569-8444.

On Thursday, the environmental group, the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity, offered its own reward of $5,000.

We grieve the senseless and illegal killing of this precious wolf, Amaroq Weiss, the groups Petaluma-based wolf advocate said in a written statement. This loss is a terrible blow to wolf conservation in California. It underscores why our endangered wolves need the strongest possible protection at both state and federal levels.

OR-7 was the first known wolf to return to California after they were killed off early last century. OR-7, a 2-year-old grey male, had left Oregons Imnaha Pack and travelled hundreds of kilometres to Californias northern border.

He spent months wandering the state before returning to Oregon, finding a mate and starting his own pack. OR-7s appearance prompted the California Fish and Game Commission to grant grey wolves endangered species protections, over objections from ranchers and big game hunters who fear the predators will harm livestock operations and deer and elk herds.

In the years since OR-7 arrival, around 30 wolves have either passed through, settled or been born in a remote, five-county region about the size of West Virginia in Californias northeastern corner.

Some, like OR-59, wander in as they disperse from packs in Oregon and elsewhere looking for a mate. Most of the wolves have either died or wandered back out of state. But a couple of packs have settled.

The states first wolf pack the Shasta Pack had pups in Siskiyou County in 2015, but the wolf family disappeared before officials were able to put tracking collars on them.

Just one wolf family the Lassen Pack is confirmed to reside in the state. Officials have put tracking collars on two members of the Lassen Pack, the matriarch female and one of her young female progeny.

Meanwhile, there have been at least 15 confirmed or probable cases of wolves preying on livestock so far in California, including by members of the Lassen Pack.

In Oregon, wolves have been responsible for more than 130 confirmed livestock depredation events since the late 1990s, according to Oregons wildlife agency.

OR-7s family group the Rogue Pack has killed several cows and a ranchers guard dog, according to the agency and local media reports.

Wolves tend to have few fans in the cattle-dependent regions theyve resettled and poaching cases are common.

In Oregon alone, wildlife officials say at least 15 wolves have been killed illegally in recent years. Environmentalists estimate around two dozen wolves have been illegally killed in Washington since 2008.

Under the federal Endangered Species Act, anyone convicted of deliberately harming an endangered wolf faces up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine.
Two Republican senators historically loyal to Donald Trump have condemned a classified briefing on Iran as insulting and demeaning.

Utah senator Mike Lee claimed Wednesdays meeting on the airstrike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani was probably the worst briefing Ive seen, at least on military issues, while Kentucky senator Rand Paul described the information as nothing I hadnt seen in a newspaper already.

In the briefing and in public, this administration has argued that the vote to topple Saddam Hussein in 2002 applies to military action in Iraq. That is absurd, Mr Paul said in an interview with CNNs Wolf Blitzer.

Nobody in their right mind, with a straight face, with an ounce of honesty, can argue when Congress voted to go after Saddam Hussein in 2002, that authorised military force against an Iranian general 18 years later.

Both allies of the president, Mr Paul and Mr Lee joined Democratic senators in dismissing the closed-door briefing as unsatisfactory, and questioning the justification for the attack .

"It was probably the worst briefing I've seen at least on a military issue in the nine years I've served in the United States Senate," Mr Lee told reporters following the briefing, given by the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Mark Milley, CIA director, Gina Haspel; the defense secretary Mark Esper; secretary of state, Mike Pompeo; and acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire.

I find this insulting and demeaning. They had to leave after 75 minutes while theyre in the process of telling us that we need to be good little boys and girls and run along and not debate this in public. I find that absolutely insane. I think it's unacceptable.

The briefing prompted both Mr Lee and Mr Paul to publicly announce their plans to back a Democratic proposal to invoke the War Powers Resolution, which would limit Mr Trumps ability to launch military action against Iran without signoff from Congress.

Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Show all 24 1 /24 Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions Iranian mourners gather around a vehicle carrying the coffin of top general Qasem Soleimani during the final stage of funeral processions, in his hometown Kerman. Soleimani was killed outside Baghdad airport in a drone strike ordered by US President Donald Trump, ratcheting up tensions with Iran which has vowed "severe revenge" AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranian people carry a coffin of Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani during a funeral procession in Tehran Official Khamenei website via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions The assassination of the 62-year-old heightened international concern about a new war in the volatile, oil-rich Middle East and rattled financial markets AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Mourners packed the streets of Tehran for ceremonies to pay homage to Soleimani, who spearheaded Iran's Middle East operations as commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force and was killed in a US drone strike on January 3 Iranian Supreme Leader's Office/EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranians set a US and an Israeli flag on fire during the funeral procession AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, centre, with Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, second left, and President Hassan Rouhani, third left, standing next to him as he leads a prayer over the caskets of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at Tehran University Khamenei.IR/AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, openly weeps as he leads a prayer over the coffin of Qassem Soleimani AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Mourners holding posters of Qassem Soleimani AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Coffins of Soleimani and others who were killed in Iraq by a US drone strike, are carried on a truck surrounded by mourners during a funeral procession, at the Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) square AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions An Iranian mourner holds a placard AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Downtown Tehran was brought to a standstill as mourners flooded the Iranian capital Khamenei.IR/AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Former Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps chief Mohamad Ali Jafari prays on the coffins of Qasem Soleimani and of other victims during their funeral ceremony EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Official Khamenei website via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Satellite image Maxar Technologies/AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA

However, the Republican senators stopped short of breaking with the president entirely, both praising his decision to dial down further threats to Iran  in a Wednesday address that aimed to deescalate the situation.

American strength, the president said , was the best deterrent. The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it," he added, also announcing increased economic sanctions that would be removed only when Iran changed its behaviour.
New Delhi: There is a big conspiracy against India from the Pakistan-Bangladesh border. Under this, he is providing funds to the Bangladeshi terrorist organization Jamaat ul Mujahideen (JMB). This funding is being done for terrorist training to Rohingya. The intelligence report has revealed that Pakistani intelligence agency ISI is training 40 Rohingya living in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh to become terrorists.

Foreign diplomats will visit Jammu and Kashmir today, 16 countries join government

Pakistan is getting this training from JMB i.e., Bangladesh's most dreaded terrorist organization, Jamaat-ul Mujahideen. Sources have said that the agency has also funded Pakistan for terror training through Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and the UK. In the first installment, more than 1 crore amount has been received for the training of terror.

Dalit Christians seeking SC status, Supreme Court asks Center

Following the intelligence report, NIA, BSF and RAW have been alerted to monitor the activities of JMB and Rohingya terrorists. Every suspect is also being closely monitored so that any untoward incident can be prevented. Since the repeal of Article 370, the terrorists have been very angry and are in the process of attacking India.

Highest snowfall ever in Himachal, many roads closed
The economic growth is dragged by a poor show in the manufacturing sector, lower revenue collections hampering the ability of the government to ramp up spending and the absence of consumer demand in Asias third-largest economy.

Union Budget 2020 is being unveiled in the backdrop of a severe growth slowdown in the Indian economy. The GDP growth for the fiscal year 2020 is estimated to fall to 5 percent, the lowest in 11 years. The economic growth is dragged by a poor show in the manufacturing sector, lower revenue collections hampering the ability of the government to ramp up spending and the absence of consumer demand in Asias third-largest economy. Worsening global conditions add to the woes. There is a likelihood of economic growth falling further since government spending, which has been aiding growth in recent quarters is unlikely to continue in the last quarter on account of the governments tight financial position. It is in this backdrop that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her budget.

If one looks at data, growth in private consumption has fallen sharply over the last five quarters. In the second quarter, it grew by just 7.8 percent compared with 14.4 percent in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. Compared with this, government consumption has stayed at nearly the same level 15-18 percent in the last twelve months. The high government spending was essentially supporting GDP growth. But, as mentioned above, it is doubtful if the government can maintain this momentum in the months ahead due to a revenue shortfall.

The primary challenge for the finance minister then is to convince investors that the government has a plan ready to tackle the nosediving economy. So far, the government has announced several baby steps, including the ambitious Rs 102 lakh crore investment plan for infrastructure sector. But, the markets are not convinced about the government managing the money to fund these projects. For instance, to reach the target of Rs 100 lakh crore investments in say five years, total investments need to be around Rs 20 lakh crore a year. How will this huge deficit be filled? So far, India has been spending an average Rs 8 lakh crore annually since FY13 on infrastructure.

According to the plan announced by Sitharaman, of the total investments, 39 percent each will come from the Central and state governments while the remaining 22 percent from the private sector. But this is easier said than done. Bringing the private sector on board will be difficult at this stage since investors are wary about the economic situation on the ground. The ongoing controversy in the country over CAA (Citizenship Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019) has led to nationwide protests and made investors even more cautious. If one looks at the average infra funding pattern since FY13, the states have been the major contributors to projects with average annual spending of Rs 3.3 lakh crore while the Centre has been contributing only about Rs 2.38 lakh crore.

Now, we are talking about Rs 20 lakh crore a year. This means states will have to contribute more money, possibly over 40 percent to the total to meet the target. Unless there is a significant jump in revenues in the next few years enabling the government to reserve money for that kind of spending, this will be mere wishful thinking. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues have fallen way below the target so far and several state governments are up in arms against the Centre for not delivering the promised compensation on revenue loss on account of the GST implementation.

The present economic scenario warrants nothing but a major stimulus package. The time for baby steps is over. But, as of now, given the kind of revenue shortfall and tight fiscal deficit target, the government is not in a position to mop up enough funds for a big package. Therein lies the key dilemma for the government. If Sitharaman is serious about getting growth back to the economy, she should let go of the obsession with fiscal deficit numbers and focus on reviving growth. The extra fiscal room the government will get can be used for ramping up investments in infrastructure projects, which will then generate jobs and demand in the economy.

Even more worrying is the fact that the nominal economic growth at 7.5 percent is expected to fall to a 42-year low. A freefall in economic growth should be the top priority of the government at this point. Fiscal deficit targets can wait.

Follow full coverage of Union Budget 2020-21 here
A motorcade transporting Indonesia President Joko Jokowi Widodo and other officials travels in Indonesias East Kalimantan province on Borneo island, where the government plans to construct a new capital city, Dec. 17, 2019.

Indonesian officials are welcoming offers from China, Japan and the United States to help build the Southeast Asian nations smart and green new national capital on Borneo island, a project expected to begin later this year.

The involvement of foreign consultants, including those from the three countries, is needed to attract investors to the project, said Danis Hidayat Sumadilaga, director general of human settlements at the Ministry of Public Works.

There have been offers from Japan, China and the United States. We welcome all of them, Danis told BenarNews, adding that foreign involvement could enrich the existing design so that it becomes more attractive.

China is seeking a role in designing urban landscapes and water management, while the U.S. wants to help build infrastructure such as roads and bridges, Danis said. Meanwhile, Japan has expressed interest in building the future citys transportation and energy system.

Danis said the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs was vetting the proposals from the three countries. While he did not name companies that would participate in the project, he said they had been involved in infrastructure projects in Indonesia and had good track records.

Adam Boehler, the chief executive officer of U.S. Development Finance Corp. (DFC), is to visit Jakarta this week and could discuss investment opportunities in the infrastructure sector, according to an official at the American embassy who declined to be identified or release additional information.

In a statement, the embassy said Boehler was scheduled to meet regional business leaders and senior government officials during his visit to Asia, which includes stops in Japan and Vietnam. The DFC is an independent government agency that provides financing for development projects.

Officials at the Chinese and Japanese embassies could not immediately be reached for comment.

In 2019, Indonesian President Joko Jokowi Widodo announced that the country would move its capital from traffic-choked and crowded Jakarta to a location on Borneo, citing lower risks of natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions as among considerations.

Government officials hope to start moving the capital to an area in East Kalimantan province in 2024, the last year of Jokowis second and final term in office. Basic infrastructure construction such as roads, dams and irrigation could begin in the second half of 2020, officials said.

Looking for smart ideas

The new city is expected to cost 466 trillion rupiah ($33.5 billion) to build with part of the funding coming from public and private partnerships.

Last month, the Public Workers Ministry announced three winners of a contest to design the new environmentally sustainable capital.

We are looking for smart ideas, said Suharso Monoarfa, the head of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas).

Bappenas gave the designers six months, starting this month, to prepare the masterplan with the help of foreign and local consultants picked by the government, Suharso told BenarNews.

The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, said he had picked consultants from China and Japan to assist with the initial design work, national news agency Antara reported. He said experts from other countries might join the project later.

Luhut said Japanese investment giant SoftBank Group had offered to invest $100 billion in the new capital and its chief executive Masayoshi Son was scheduled to visit Jakarta on Friday.

Its too good to be true, but its ongoing and we are working on it. I told him that we are asking for only $25 billion and thats more than enough for the next five years, Luhut told Antara this week.

In addition to the SoftBank pledge, the United Arab Emirates said it planned to contribute to an Indonesian sovereign wealth fund to finance infrastructure projects in the new capital, Jakartas ambassador to UAE told Detik.com, an Indonesian news portal.



Jakarta, with a population of 10 million people  or 30 million including its satellite cities  is grappling with frequent flooding and traffic congestion. As much as 36 percent of Indonesias current capital could be underwater by 2050 mainly because of mass extraction of groundwater, according to a study by the Bandung Institute of Technology.

Still, some environmental activists have criticized the planned move to Borneo, warning that building a new city in the middle of a forest could harm the environment, including endangered species such as orangutan.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Only 6% of companies in the U.S. offer any child care benefits according to a new survey by Clutch , the leading B2B ratings and reviews platform. This is despite the fact that the average annual cost of daycare for one infant or toddler is $11,666 and can soar much higher depending on where the family lives.



How satisfied are people with the childcare services their companies offer? Only 6% of companies offer child care benefits

Combined with the country's lack of paid parental leave, becoming a parent can be a huge financial hardship for employees. A lack of affordable child care can cause employees to perform worse at their jobs, cut their hours, or even leave the workforce altogether  issues that disproportionately affect women .

Businesses may think that child care benefits are too expensive to even consider. However, there are a number of helpful options that vary in cost. These include:

Offering child care subsidies Offering on-site child care Allowing flexible employee schedules Instituting predictable employee schedules Offering back-up child care assistance Offering flexible child care spending accounts

Options such as on-site child care or child care subsidies can be moderately to very expensive to implement but can drastically reduce employee turnover while raising morale. Meanwhile, implementing predictable and flexible schedules can be an easier and cheaper way to begin helping parents.



Businesses offering child care benefits can reap the rewards of reduced turnover and increased productivity and engagement. For example, outdoor retailer Patagonia offers comprehensive child care benefits including onsite daycare and has seen 100% retention of its working mothers . In comparison, an estimated 20-35% of working mothers usually leave the workforce.

Women Less Likely to Believe All Employees Have a Fair Chance to Advance

Nearly 6 in 10 male employees (59%) believe everyone has a fair chance to advance at their company, compared to 43% of female employees. Women often face the burden of child care responsibilities, which can negatively impact their careers and earning potential.

Even when child care benefits are offered, women are 4x more likely to be dissatisfied with the options than men. More than 1 in 10 women (13%) are dissatisfied with their company's child care benefits, compared to only 3% of men.

Business owners should consider offering child care benefits that help alleviate parents' struggles while still staying within the business's budget.



Pedro Silva, co-founder and CEO of Kudos , a child care benefits platform, recommends offering child care benefits that are tangible and effective yet convenient.



An easy way for companies to begin helping working parents is to offer Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts.

These accounts let parents put aside pre-tax dollars toward care expenses.

Read the full report: https://clutch.co/hr/resources/how-to-offer-childcare-benefits

For questions about the survey or a comment on the findings, contact Seamus Roddy at [email protected].

About Clutch

Clutch is the leading ratings and reviews platform for IT, marketing, and business service providers. Each month, over half a million buyers and sellers of services use the Clutch platform, and the user base is growing over 50% a year. Clutch has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the 500 fastest growing companies in the U.S. and has been listed as a top 50 startup by LinkedIn.

Contact

Seamus Roddy

[email protected]

(202) 871-8095

SOURCE Clutch

Related Links

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As America's adversaries become more sophisticated, U.S. combat troops heading to the war zone may have to get used to leaving behind their phones, laptops and even personal gaming devices, military experts say.

The Pentagon doesn't have a blanket policy barring service members from taking electronic devices on deployment, but combat commanders are beginning to prohibit them when going into the unknown.

Last week, Maj. Gen. James Mingus, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, ordered his paratroopers with the 1st Brigade Combat Team to leave personal phones, computers and all electronic devices at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, when they were alerted for a short-notice deployment to the Middle East amid escalating tensions with Iran.

"My commander wanted to own the decision to avoid putting soldiers at risk," said Lt. Col. Mike Burns, spokesman for the 82nd Airborne. "It's an [operational security] issue."

Related: A Lance Corporal's Phone Selfie Got His Marine Unit 'Killed' at 29 Palms

All the services have shifted from a counterinsurgency strategy to one of high-intensity combat across all domains, including cyber and electronic warfare, to face more sophisticated adversaries such as Russia, China and Iran.

Carrying phones and other devices didn't pose too much risk in Iraq or Afghanistan, because the Taliban and other insurgents weren't sophisticated enough to mine the signals and data, said Dakota Wood, a retired Marine officer with the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington. That's no longer the case, he added.

"I think there's a renewed awareness on signature management, which was very, very important in the Cold War," Wood said. "The Soviets and NATO forces were very aware of radio direction, finding signals, intelligence and keeping your signature low."

Peter Whitehead, a senior engineer and cyber security expert at Rand Corporation, agreed.

"If you don't want your lock picked, don't put in a door," Whitehead said, describing how the enemy can easily locate soldiers when their smart phones connect to the internet or send texts and other data.

"Any time you are carrying around any kind of a transmitter there are obvious ... geolocation issues that can be used for targeting; I think that is obvious to anyone who understands radio frequency," he said.

This became a reality for a Marine during a recent large force-on-force training exercise at Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms in California's Mojave Desert.

The artillery Marine took a selfie that gave away his location -- a decision that resulted in his unit becoming casualties in the exercise, Lt. Gen. Lori Reynolds, the Marine Corps' deputy commandant of information, told reporters last week.

Troops' photos can present the enemy with a source of intelligence, Whitehead said.

Related: What to Do If Your Service Member Deploys Without a Phone or Laptop

"When you have soldiers in the field, even when they are sharing things that they don't think are necessarily classified, it can still be leveraged in terms of intel and counterintelligence," he said.

The decision to have paratroopers leave devices behind did not come from an Army-wide policy, according to Maj. Allie Payne, spokeswoman for the XVIII Airborne Corps.

Marine Corps Forces Central Command currently bars portable electronic devices with geolocation capabilities from being used in combat zones in the Middle East. That requires disabling WiFi or Bluetooth capabilities, said Maj. Joe Reney, a spokesman for the command.

"Operational security representatives and intelligence officers conduct risk analysis on [personal devices] due to the risk posed with these devices being effectively controlled," he said. "Hence, commanders of deploying units can make decisions within their own units to mandate that they are not brought forward."

The Navy did not respond to questions about whether that service is reviewing its policies on personal devices. One naval officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said it's common for sailors to bring phones, laptops and other devices onto ships.

One of the obvious vulnerabilities of smart phones is the vast number of apps that are available to users and the potential cyber threats they may pose, Whitehead said.

Related: Army Follows Pentagon Guidance, Bans Chinese-Owned TikTok App

"A commander has no idea what is on all the cell phones of all the people that are serving in that battalion, so how could you map all the vulnerabilities of all the apps and all the various functions and try to optimize that?" he said. "I'm not saying that couldn't be done, but it's clearly something that would need to be done if that is going to be the paradigm that you are going to allow privately owned devices in the forward areas."

Wood said troops are likely to be much more restricted when it comes to electronic devices in the future. But those policies are best left up to the individual services or commanders, he added.

"I think when you get a one-size-fits-all top-down thing, it's cumbersome, it's too vague or it's overly prescriptive," Wood said. "Different services are operating in different worlds and [we emphasize] small-unit leadership, personal responsibility and discipline."

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.

Read more: Satellite Images Show Destruction at Al Asad After Iran Missile Attack
(Newser)  PETA praised Joaquin Phoenix, actor and climate change activist, for announcing that he'll wear the same tuxedo to every Hollywood awards event this season to reduce waste. Stella McCartney, who designed his classic black tux, also was impressed. Former Fox News and NBC host Megyn Kelly was not, People reports. "How out of touch are these ppl?? Oh the sacrifice!" Kelly tweeted after a woman posted that her husband wears the same firefighter ensemble every day. Writer Emily Zanotti said she was going to rewear the Stella McCartney jeans she bought used, "just to feel like a climate change hero." On the other side were McCartney, who called Phoenix "a winner" in her tweet "because he chooses to make choices for the future of the planet." PETA answered that he's "inspiring EVERYONE to make compassionate changes."

story continues below

GQ, which knows tuxedos, points out that the issue Phoenix is calling attention to is sustainability. The red carpet is a sustainability desert  showing off clothes that were expensively and laboriously produced, only to be worn a grand total of once. McCartney has been a leader in sustainable design in her industry. She was alone in that cause at one time, but now other lines are following her lead, as sustainability has become important across industries. That includes the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which gave Phoenix its Golden Globe for best actor Sunday. The group announced this week, per NBC, that it will reuse its red carpet at other events; the carpet itself apparently had been a "use-and-discard" item. (Read more Joaquin Phoenix stories.)
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

Jorge Rico-Ruvira was arrested in October after police say he choked the mother of his child  at one point telling her to die in Spanish and accusing her of having an affair.

Afterward, relatives urged the woman, Isela Mauricio-Sanchez, to leave Rico-Ruvira because the next time he could kill her. She insisted the couple would work it out.

On Tuesday, Mauricio-Sanchezs father found the 27-year-old strangled in her bed. Coat hangers littered the floor, the closets were cleaned out and a security camera had been ripped from an exterior wall.

The womans 8-year-old daughter was inside the house and knew something was wrong with her mom but thought she was just sleeping.

Rico-Ruvira, 32, and the couples 3-year-old son, Osiel Ernesto Rico, were nowhere to be found. Police say they believe he took her SUV and fled to Mexico.

Roswell police have since charged Rico-Ruvira with first-degree murder in the death of Mauricio-Sanchez and issued an Amber Alert for the toddler.

Both are still missing and believed to be traveling in a maroon 2003 GMC Yukon sport utility vehicle with a turquoise New Mexico license plate, MNF231.

One relative told investigators she believed Rico-Ruvira would go to Mexico because he does not have any papers, referring to a green card, and does not have any family here.

By 4 p.m. Tuesday, Rico-Ruviras phone was pinging in Mexico.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Chaves County Magistrate Court:

Officers responded around 11 a.m. to the home in the 600 block of East Forest after Mauricio-Sanchezs father found her body cold to the touch. There were signs of a struggle in the bedroom  a broken fingernail and tousled clothing.

An autopsy revealed she had been strangled. The home had been cleaned out of Rico-Ruvira and Osiels clothing.

The father told police that Rico-Ruvira had called and asked the family to check on Mauricio-Sanchez earlier that morning because she wouldnt answer her phone.

When the father showed up to the home, there was no answer at the door and, eventually, Mauricio-Sanchezs daughter let him in. The girl told him something was wrong with her mom and blood was coming out of her mouth.

In an interview, the girl told detectives they ate as a family the night before but no one spoke to each other, and she knew the couple was mad at each other.

At one point, Rico-Ruvira called Mauricio-Sanchez mensa  slang for crazy or stupid  and everyone went to bed.

The girl told police she awoke to the house being in disarray with hangers strewn about, a TV missing and her mother asleep. Osiel and Rico-Ruvira were gone.

Detectives learned that morning that Rico-Ruvira had overdrafted the couples account, withdrawing more than $1,000 when there was only about $600 available.

Further interviews with family and friends, along with a police report, revealed trouble had been brewing for the couple in recent months.

Officers were called to the home in the early morning hours of Oct. 21 after police say Rico-Ruvira choked Mauricio-Sanchez in front of Osiel.

Mauricio-Sanchez told police that when she got home from work, Rico-Ruvira accused her of cheating on him. After the argument, she went to lie down with Osiel before Rico-Ruvira attacked her.

Rico-Ruvira was arrested and charged with aggravated battery against a household member, but relatives told police she dropped the charges.

Family members told police they had urged Mauricio-Sanchez to leave Rico-Ruvira after the attack but she insisted she wanted to be with him and he was going to get therapy.

A close friend of Mauricio-Sanchez told police Rico-Ruvira isolated the couple from her family and his behavior escalated  he put up cameras at the house, would often scour her phone and smell her clothes to see if she had been with other men.

The day before her body was found, Mauricio-Sanchez and her daughter brought enchiladas to her parents around 6 p.m.

Rico-Ruvira and Osiel did not come along and Mauricio-Sanchez did appear like something was going on between the couple.

Mauricio-Sanchez didnt mention anything and her family reassured her they were there for her.

Tips

Anyone with information is asked to call the New Mexico Department of Public Safety Missing Persons Clearinghouse at 1-800-457-3463. Information can also be called in to the Roswell Police Department at 575-624-6770.
Frenzied crowds, exhaustion and blazing heat were dangers bearing down on the cadre of guards who shield one of the Philippines' most revered Catholic icons from the believers desperate to touch it. The protectors served as human shields on Thursday, as they do every year, during the procession through Manila of the historic statue of Jesus Christ that believers say grants miracles to those who touch it. "Our safety is at risk here. Some of the devotees are very aggressive," Steve Celestino, one of the Black Nazarene icon's guards, told AFP Tuesday at a warm-up procession. The dangers are not theoretical: during the day-long procession temperatures hover at around 32 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) and hundreds of thousands of believers clamber over one another to reach the statue. In 2015 a guard belonging to one of the groups collectively called "hijos" (sons) suffered a fatal heart attack surrounded by sweaty devotees. Miracles attributed to the Black Nazarene have made it powerfully revered in Asia's bastion of Catholicism, and also engendered a class of admirers desperate to reach it. "There are two types of faithful: one is a devotee and another is a fanatic," guard Romy Roxas, who said he had been protecting the Nazarene from the latter for 30 years, told AFP on Tuesday. - 'You'll faint in this crowd' - Fanatics, he said, clamber up the metal float carrying the life-size statue hoping to snatch a strand of its hair or a piece of its maroon cloak in the belief that it has healing powers. Guards have to push off the unruly, including those who cling to the statue's cross for too long and risk damaging the several hundred year old wooden statue. It is a trying job for the hundreds of volunteers, who are stationed on the float a few dozen at a time and for a couple of hours at most due to the brutal conditions. They are not necessarily security professionals, but rather Catholics in good standing with the Church who offer to help and attend preparatory meetings. In exchange for the pain, they play a privileged role by catching and then wiping the statue with white towels thrown to them by people in the crowd. For believers, those swathes of cloth are just as good as touching the effigy itself, and bear healing or blessing effects. "Somehow, we feel we serve as a bridge for them to fulfill their devotion," guard Eugenio Jongco told AFP on Tuesday. Jongco, 73, is one of the oldest members of the group and attributed his well-being to his service to the Black Nazarene. "If you are not in good health, you will faint doing this because of the massive crowd," he said. "But I'll do it as long as I can." The protectors serve as human armour during the procession through Manila of the historic statue of Jesus Christ Devotees clamber up the metal float carrying the life-size statue in an attempt to touch the icon Volunteers are stationed on the float a few dozen at a time and for a couple of hours at most due to the brutal conditions For believers swathes of cloth are just as good as touching the effigy itself, and bear healing or blessing effects
A mother thought she had snapped up a bargain when she bought a luxurious fluffy rug online, only for a 'hairy piece of paper' the size of a plate to turn up instead.

Charlotte McAteer, 24, had her heart set on a huge fluffy rug after spotting the trend on Instagram and found the mat for just 9.99 on Wish.

But when the item arrived in a jiffy bag, Ms McAteer was confused by the size of it. The rug was revealed to be tiny and only just big enough for her toddler daughter to stand on.

Charlotte McAteer took a picture of the rug under her foot (right), to compare it to how it was advertised on the site. It was only just big enough for her daughter (left), two, to stand on

Photos online had advertised the rug as large enough to walk across - with an adult model's two legs standing in the middle of the carpet to demonstrate the diameter.

But in a comparison photo, Ms McAteer shows her pink fluffy mat's true size with her own legs, with just one of her feet fitting on it.

The mother-of-one claims the mat is 'as thin as paper' and can be folded over into the size of a quarter - while the opulent fluffy texture she had hoped for turned out to be 'hairy'.

But luckily the mother saw the funny side and now the mat has pride of place on her daughter's bed.

Ms McAteer, from Salisbury, Wiltshire, said: 'I opened it up and it is literally the size of a side plate.

'I follow lots of home accounts on Instagram and have gotten really into decor and things.

Photos online advertised an adult's two legs fitting in the middle of the rug

'I saw all these big shaggy rugs for the bedroom and I thought, 'oh my god, that would look beautiful in my bedroom' with the size of it and how big, thick and fluffy it was.

'It was 9.99 with free postage and I thought it would either not arrive because it was from China, or it's going to come and be amazing.

'So I ordered it anyway and it came in a little jiffy bag. I couldn't remember ordering anything that small.

'It's got these really thin hairs coming off the bottom. I wouldn't say it's fluffy.

'I took the picture of it under my foot because that's how they advertised it on the site, but the person had two legs.

'I just laughed. I was more like, 'really?' rather than being worried that I had wasted money. If I had spent 100 on it I would have been annoyed, but because I only spent 10 on it I think I found the funny side of it.

'My daughter just played with it. I think she thought it was a toy. She'd only just turned two, so she didn't really understand what it was.'

Ms McAteer admits that she was suspicious of the rug after she realised it had no description on the private seller's listing on the website but decided the price was good enough to take the risk.

Ms McAteer (pictured) said there was no description on the private seller's listing

However she claims she has been put off from buying online again after the dodgy purchase.

Ms McAteer said: 'There was no description about it online. That's what made me wonder. I thought, it's only 10 so if you lose 10 it doesn't really matter.

'It would have been amazing if a luxurious rug had turned up, so for 10 that would have been (a bargain).

'I order lots of little outfits for my daughter on eBay. They've all turned up and they've all been absolutely brilliant.

'The quality hasn't been amazing, but they've all looked really nice. Because it was from China, I thought it would be okay but just cheaply made. I didn't realise the size was going to be a lot different.'

She added: 'I never bothered to get a fluffy rug in the end.

'It's the first thing I've ordered online where this has happened. It's put me right off.

'I see these beautiful dresses online but I think it'll turn up and be for a Barbie doll or something. I haven't ordered online since, to put it that way. It has put me off.

'Especially from companies you don't know. Some pop up and I google. Ones that I do know I'm not bothered about, but the ones I don't know I check.'
Call 2 Worship  January 9

Second Baptist Church kicks-off the Health and Wellness Church Challenge during a health fair on Jan. 12, at 1:30 p.m., at 2412 S. Griffith Ave., in Los Angeles, said Pastor William S. Epps. The American Heart Association and WW sponsor the free program. The challenge includes 12 weekly sessions beginning Jan. 19. The public is invited and there is no charge to join. To learn more, call Helen Starks at (323) 216-0230, or email [email protected]

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Sinai Temple plans a Unity Shabbat honoring the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on Jan. 17, at 7:30 p.m., and Jan. 18, at 10:45 a.m., at 10400 Wilshire Blvd., in Los Angeles, said Rabbi David Wolpe. Also, the heroic deeds of nearly one dozen soldiers who liberated concentration camps during World War II will be recognized. For information, call (310) 474-1518 or visit sinaitemple.org.

Shared Harvest Fund presents the Sounds of Goodness Concert Tribute on Jan. 18, at 6 p.m., at the Blackbird House of Coworking, 10600 Virginia Ave., in Culver City. Melitta Johnson, founder of Elgin Foundation for Wellness; actress Taraji P. Henson, founder of Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation; and actor/comedian Hasan Minhaj of Patriot Act will be honored as Changemaker Ambassadors in wellness, service and relief for people with mental health needs or student debt. For tickets, visit sharedharvestfund.org.

Holman United Methodist Church welcomes the Rev. James Lawson as the guest preacher on Jan. 19, at the 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. services at 3320 W. Adams Blvd., in Los Angeles, said Interim Pastor Paul Hill. Also, Holman will host Lawsons Nonviolence Workshop on Jan. 25, at 9 a.m. Refreshments will be served. For details on both events, call (323) 703-5868.

The United House of Prayer for All People celebrates its Centennial Anniversary on Jan. 30 through Feb. 2, at 1029 E. Vernon Ave., in Los Angeles, said Apostle Rodney Lattisaw. Sweet Daddy Grace founded the organization in 1919. Bishop C.M. Bailey, presiding prelate, will be the special guest. For information, call (301) 943-2457.

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Yes We Can Worship Center invites donations for their distribution to the homeless on Feb. 1, at HOPICS, 5715 So. Broadway in Los Angeles, said Pastors Sherman D. Manning. Donations such as toiletries, clothing, school supplies, gift cards and financial contributions are encouraged. To participate, call (213) 858-2608 or email [email protected].

True Friendship Missionary Baptist Church salutes Pastor James and First Lady Evelyn Perkins with the 25th Love Celebration Luncheon on Feb. 8, at 11 a.m., at the Proud Birds Dolittle Room, 11022 Aviation Blvd., in Los Angeles. The donation is $65. To learn more, call Rebecca Kirksey-Weston at (562) 544-1530 or SaraDelois Haynes at (323) 804-7305.
Suspected Bangladeshi nationals have attacked a border outpost in Meghalaya, assaulting two Border Security Force jawans and snatching their weapons, resulting in injuries to one of them, police said.

Another group from the neighbouring country barged into the house of a Meghalaya resident and looted money, mobile phones and a gun, besides injuring the head of the family, a senior officer said.

The incidents took place at around midnight on Wednesday at Amdoh and Rongtila, which are about five km from the India-Bangladesh border, West Jaintia Hills Superintendent of Police (SP) Lakador Syiem said.

"A group of 10-15 Bangladeshi nationals allegedly surrounded two Border Security Force (BSF) personnel near the Rongtila border outpost (BOP), assaulted them and snatched their weapons, causing injuries to one of them," he said.

The weapons snatched from the BSF personnel were later recovered from a nearby forest, Syiem said.

Prior to the incident, another Bangladeshi group had barged into the house of Pratap Bareh at Amdoh village near the Rongtila BOP and looted money, mobile phones and a gun, he said.

Bareh had fired a round at the intruders in self-defence before his gun was snatched and he was assaulted, Syiem said.

Both Bareh and the injured BSF jawan were taken to Dawki Primary Health Centre (PHC).

The deputy inspector general of police (Eastern Range) met the injured persons and visited the places of occurrence along with the district deputy commissioner and senior officers of the BSF and police.

After the incidents, the BSF lodged a protest against the intrusion of cross-border criminals from Bangladesh during a flag meeting with its counterpart, the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB).

The BGB has promised to intensify patrolling to ensure that no Bangladeshi national crossed over the international border with India, a senior BSF official said.

The incident comes a week after another group of persons, also suspected to be from Bangladesh, attacked a car at an area 10 km inside India and decamped with money and mobile phones after injuring the occupants.

Meghalaya Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui, also the local MLA, condemned the incidents.

"I condemn the dastardly and daring attacks on the BSF and villagers living close to the India-Bangladesh border and urge the authorities concerned to step up vigil and thwart attempts to create fear among the border residents," he said.

Image only for representation purpose.
The CPI(M) and Congress will stage protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of Citizenship Amendment of Act and the proposed NRC when he visits West Bengal for two days beginning on January 11.

CPI(M) senior leader Sujan Chakraborty Thursday said the opposition Left Front and Congress will hold a massive protest across the state during Modi's visit.

A senior leader of Congress' students wing, the Chhatra Parishad, said Modi will be shown black flags and his effigies will be burnt during his visit.

"We will stage protests during Narendra Modi's visit to Bengal. But what will be the mode of the protests we will not reveal as of now," said Srijan Bhattacharya, the SFI state secretary.

Modi is scheduled to attend the 150th anniversary of Kolkata Port Trust, besides other programmes.

Chakraborty, who is also the CPI-M legislator party leader, alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has a "tacit understanding" with Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the state government is taking extra steps to welcome the prime minister.

He asserted that Left parties, Congress and "every single citizen opposed to Citizenship (Amendment) Act and NRC" will hit the streets to protest against Modi's visit. "If the state is serious about opposing the anti-people BJP let the TMC government take an unequivocal stand and not welcome the PM."



Echoing Chakraborty, Leader of the Opposition Abdul Mannan (Congress) said "If Modi is not allowed in BJP-ruled Assam, why is he being allowed to set foot in West Bengal!"



Reacting to the Opposition, a senior leader of the ruling Trinamool Congress said the party no such plans to organize protest rallies in the state during Modi's visit.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is an invitee to Modi's programmes organised by Kolkata Port Trust, is yet to decide on whether to attend them or not, party sources said.

The two opposition parties had supported the nationwide strike by the central trade unions on January 8.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi [India], Jan 10 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday that the government was in talks with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to facilitate more people visiting India in search of their roots or feel connected to their personal heritage.



"What we are doing is talking with IRCTC and provide more facilities for these people. We also expect to see more competitive packages that allow to people to travel by their own," Jaishankar said while interacting with Indian diaspora from Malaysia through video- conference on the occasion of Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas this evening.

"We do understand and appreciate that diaspora wants to take a spiritual journey where they are connected to their roots and heritage. Regarding the initiatives that we directly oversee, we have done three packages," he said in response to a question whether the number of people can be accommodated in such visits.

The minister said tracing one's roots is very important. "It has emotional and psychological significance. Earlier we had a scheme called 'Tracing the roots.' But only a few used it," he said.

"For some reasons, either it was not known or not user-friendly. But let me go back and fix the scheme. It is an important scheme. I will come back with a practical solution for tracing you," he added. (ANI)


Labor wants school students in bushfire zones to get trauma counselling when they go back to school, with psychologists warning a significant minority of children will have ongoing problems.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said the $2 billion bushfire recovery effort should place "a particular focus on the return to school in a few weeks time", saying children "might not be showing any impacts at the moment, but have taken in a huge crisis in their short lives".

Anthony Albanese says the federal government needs to boost its health response to the fires. Credit:Mark Brake

Lisa Gibbs from Melbourne University's School of Population and Global Health, who led a major study of the psychological aftermath of the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, said governments should be coordinating a long-term, "staged" response as mental health impacts would continue for years.

"A significant minority will have ongoing issues," Professor Gibbs said, saying those whose families and communities were disrupted in the longer term were at increased risk.
The United States is ready to engage in serious negotiations with Iran, Deutsche Welle writes, citing the letter sent by U.S. Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft to the UN Security Council.

According to the letter, the U.S. is "ready to engage without preconditions in serious negotiations with Iran, with the goal of preventing further endangerment of international peace and security or escalation by the Iranian regime."

Craft also noted that Washington acted out of self-defense when it killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. She cited Article 51 of the UN Charter, which outlines "the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations."

The U.S. was acting "in response to an escalating series of armed attacks in recent months by Iran and Iran-supported militias on U.S. forces and interests in the Middle East," U.S. Ambassador to the UN said.

According to Deutsche Welle, Iran's UN Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi also sent a letter to the UN Security Council, invoking Iran's right to self-defense.

Tensions around Iran flared up after the US launched a strike on Baghdads airport on January 3 killing General Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards elite Quds Force. On January 8, Iran retaliated by launching missile strikes on two military facilities in Iraq used by the United States. According to the Pentagons spokesperson, Al-Asad Air Base and the airport of Erbil were targeted.

According to the senior research fellow at the European Research Centre of the International Relations Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Olenchenko, major conflicts in the Middle East are not profitable for American business, therefore, Washington is ready to start negotiations with Tehran. In addition, the expert noted that this decision was also influenced by the approaching presidential elections scheduled for early November 2020.

"Apparently, they took it too far towards (Iranian general Qassem - VK) Suleimani. At the moment, the United States understands that further escalation in this direction will create many political, economic and international difficulties," the expert noted.

Olenchenko drew attention to the fact that in this situation Washington will seek options to calm Iran down, as the United States has other important unresolved issues now. "In addition to the problems already mentioned, the agreement on mutual trade has not yet been reached with China. Therefore, the U.S. is not interested in disturbing the Middle East," the expert concluded.

Senior research fellow of the Institute for Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Sazhin, in turn, recalled that U.S. President Donald Trump has always stated his readiness for negotiations with Iran, primarily on the nuclear program.

"The Iranian side has always stated that such negotiations are possible only after the lifting of American sanctions ... The Iranians attacked two American bases in Iraq, but, thank God, there were no casualties. Therefore, Trump in his statement yesterday did not talk about retaliatory attacks against Iran, only about tougher sanctions," he said.

It seems that after a missile attack and the killing of General Soleimani by Americans, Iran had to respond. But if American servicemen died in a retaliatory strike, then a very serious escalation would begin, the expert continued.

According to him, the further resolution of the situation depends, first of all, on Tehrans steps, since on January 6 Iran has begun the fifth step in reducing its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal. This stage will last 60 days, followed by Iran's official withdrawal from the JCPOA. "Trump offers negotiations without any preconditions, but Iran has a precondition - the termination of U.S. sanctions," Sazhin concluded.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. (left) and his Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, sign notes following their meeting in Manila, Jan. 9, 2020.

The Philippines and Japan on Thursday discussed enhancing bilateral cooperation on security in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly the contested South China Sea, as Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi paid his first official visit to Manila in that role.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. praised Tokyo for its military and economic aid to his country, after he met with Motegi behind closed doors.

Locsin said they discussed issues that challenge the backbone of our long ties and make our friendship even stronger for the stress and weight we carry together.

Among other topics, the two ministers talked about defense and security cooperation amid Chinas increasing military influence in the region, they told a joint news conference.

I was pleased with my candid exchanges with Minister Motegi on issues such as rule of law in the maritime commons and the situation in the West Philippine Sea. We committed to continue our cooperation  bilaterally and in all possible forums  to maintain peace and security, stability and the rule of law in our region, Locsin said, using the Philippine name for the South China Sea.

Beijing, Taiwan and several Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, have overlapping territorial claims in the mineral-rich South China Sea. Beijing also has overlapping claims with Japan in the East China Sea.

Addressing reporters, Japans Motegi said the Philippines held the key to realizing the free and open Indo-Pacific concept advocated by Japan.

The Philippines is located at a great crossroads, which connects the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, as well as the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere, he said through an interpreter.

Secretary Locsin and I were able to deepen our discussion from such perspectives and agree to deepen our discussions ... and agree to deepen bilateral cooperation in wide areas including security and enforcement of laws of the seas, Motegi said.

While China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to maintain peace in region, Beijing has expanded its military presence, establishing bases and placing missiles and other weapons on islands in the South China Sea.

This week, Indonesian President Joko Jokowi Widodo visited the Natuna Islands, a chain located at the southern end of the sea, where he vowed to enforce Jakartas sovereignty over those islands, which lie in his countrys Exclusive Economic Zone.

Jokowis government backed up his stand on the issue by sending navy ships and fighter jets to waters off the islands as a response to reports that dozens of Chinese boats, including some coast guard ships, had sailed into the EEZ. On Thursday, Indonesian officials said the Chinese ships had left the waters off the Natunas.

In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte has been less aggressive against Chinese encroachment in the sea, despite a 2016 decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that ruled in favor of Manila in a case against China.

The court said China, which claims almost of the sea as its territory, had no historical rights to it based on the Nine-Dash-Line boundary on official Chinese maps.

The Philippines and Indonesia are two of the 10 members of ASEAN.

Other action

On Thursday, the top diplomats of Japan and the Philippines also exchanged official notes on a planned project in Manila backed by Japan to reinforce bridges so they could withstand large-scale earthquakes.

In addition, Locsin announced that the Philippines had eliminated radiation test requirements for shipments of products from Japans Fukushima prefecture. Manila had previously required the test for beef and vegetable imports following the 2011 meltdown of a nuclear power plant that occurred after a massive quake unleashed a deadly tsunami.

The Philippines is the latest country to clear produce from Fukushima, although 20 others, including the United States, have restrictions.

Jason Gutierrez in Manila contributed to this report.
The incident happened on Wednesday during the countrywide protest strike called by 10 central trade unions and other independent labour associations.

Kottayam (Kerala), Jan 9 (IANS) The Kerala Police on Thursday arrested four workers of the state's ruling CPI-(M)-affiliated trade union CITU for preventing the state guests - Nobel laureate Micheal Levitt and his wife - from proceeding onwards on their houseboat journey near here.

The four arrested in the state all hail from Pulimkunnu near Kottayam and allegedly stopped Levitt's houseboat from moving forward.

This incident has generated lot of negative for the state, as the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) leaders had assured the state government that the tourism industry had been exempted from the nationwide protest strike call.

On Thursday, as he was leaving the tourist centre, the 72-year-old 2013 Nobel laureate told the media that Kerala is a beautiful and wonderful place without saying a word about his interrupted houseboat journey.

Earlier on Thursday, the Alappuzha District Collector M. Anjana came to meet Levitt and his family to express her deep regret about the events of Wednesday.

The Kottayam District Collector P.K. Sudheer Babu also came and met Levitt in this regard.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had earlier directed the two high-ranking officials to convey the state's apologies to the Nobel winner for his work in chemistry.

Levitt, along with his wife had started the Wednesday's journey from Kumarakom in the morning, but, around 11 a.m, their boat was stopped from plying by those taking part in the protests.

It was only two hours after the boatmen informed the authorities of the stoppage that Levitt and his wife could resume their journey and return later to Kumarakom.

sg/bc
Iran launches missiles at U.S. airbases in Iraq in retaliation for killing of commander

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 14:18, January 08, 2020

TEHRAN/WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) on Wednesday targeted U.S. bases in Iraq including al-Asad and Harir Camp to the north of Erbil with a second wave of surface-to-surface missiles, semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The attacks came after Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, was killed in a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad International Airport on Friday.

According to the report, Iran launched a dozen of ballistic missiles.

IRGC claimed responsibility for the missile attacks in a statement, saying that they were meant to retaliate the U.S. killing of Soleimani.

The missiles were probably of Fateh 313 type and they were launched from Iran's western Kermanshah Province, Fars News Agency reported.

Fateh 313 missiles are road-mobile single-stage solid-fueled surface-to-surface missiles with a range of 500 km.

"We warn all allied countries of the U.S. that they will be a target of military retaliation if attacks are launched from bases in their countries on Iran," the IRGC statement said.

It urged Americans to recall all their soldiers back home to prevent more damage.

An Iraqi army official in Anbar province anonymously told Xinhua that some 20 missiles hit Al-Asad airbase in al-Baghdadi area, some 190 km northwest of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, which houses hundreds of U.S. troops.

Sirens were heard in the airbase, while U.S. helicopters flew over the area, the source said.

Al-Asad, previously named al-Qadisiyah, is the second largest airbase in Iraq and has the largest number of U.S. troops in Iraq, along with others from coalition members.

The Iranian missiles also targeted another base located in Harir area, east of Erbil, capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, said reports.

U.S. President Donald Trump later Tuesday appeared to downplay the Iranian missile attacks, while highlighting U.S. military strength at the same time.

"All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good!" Trump tweeted hours after Iran's military staged the missile attacks.

"We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning," he added.

The Pentagon confirmed in a statement earlier that Iran had launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against U.S. military and coalition forces in Iraq.

It is clear that these missiles were launched from Iran and targeted at least two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S. military and coalition personnel at al-Asad & Erbil, the statement said.

The bases have been on high alert due to indications that Iran planned to attack the U.S. forces and interests in the region, it noted.

The Pentagon also pointed out that it would take all necessary measures to protect and defend U.S. personnel, partners, and allies in the region.

Citing anonymous U.S. officials, U.S. media reported that there are no initial reports of any U.S. casualties caused by the missiles strikes.

Iran has fired as many as 15 ballistic missiles into Iraq, among which 10 missiles hit al-Asad Airbase, one hit a military base in Erbil, and four failed to hit their targets, the U.S. officials said.

The Iranian attacks came three days after the Iraqi parliament passed a resolution requiring the government to end the presence of foreign forces in Iraq and prevent them from using Iraqi airspace and waters.

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Some BJP workers created ruckus on Wednesday at a college while seeking support for the amended Citizenship Act by raising slogans like 'Go back to Pakistan' outside the campus on Wednesday, as girl students opposed a pro-CAA banner on the wall of their institution

Bengaluru: Some BJP workers created ruckus on Wednesday at a college while seeking support for the amended Citizenship Act by raising slogans like 'Go back to Pakistan' outside the campus on Wednesday, as girl students opposed a pro-CAA banner on the wall of their institution.

A video of the incident went viral on the social media. A group of BJP workers, supporters of local party leader MM Govindaraj, had put up a poster "India Supports CAA" on the wall of Jyothi Nivas College near Koramangala. This was opposed by girl students, who said they would not allow any such poster to be put up on the college property.

A few videos & photos of outside #JyotiNivascollege are being circulated on social media. MLA (@RLR_BTM) & I have spoken to cops and the Prinicipal of about this incident.Spoke to @DCPSEBCP and she said that Koramangala cops went there immediately & they are picketing even now. pic.twitter.com/KW1WTTMi4u  Sowmya Reddy (@Sowmyareddyr) January 8, 2020

The BJP workers then tried to shout down the students. "You are not concerned about the citizenship, you are concerned about yourself. You should be concerned about India first. You are not an Indian then," a BJP worker is heard screaming at the girls in the video.

They also questioned the students if they had valid reasons to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Act and sought to know whether they wanted an argument or a debate.

The BJP workers purportedly told the girls that they were only the students of the college and not the owner. "What's your problem madam with the CAA? Are you the owner of the college?" they asked.

Amid the heated argument, the BJP workers resorted to sloganeering like 'We want CAA' and "Go back to Pakistan', as seen in another video shot by the students. BTM Layout Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy visited the college on Thursday after learning about the incident and spoke to its management.

BJP is doing this all over the city, even near malls, distributing pamphlets to houses.Plz watch out & if there is any issue anytime anywhere plz contact the cops immediately. This kind of behaviour is just not ok just because we are opposing it. This is a democratic free country  Sowmya Reddy (@Sowmyareddyr) January 8, 2020

Later, he told reporters that the campus should not be allowed for any political activities. "Any signature campaign whether in favour or against it (CAA) should be done outside the campus," Reddy said. He cautioned the pro-CAA protesters he will not let any violent incidents like the one at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi happen at the city college.

Reddy's daughter Sowmya Reddy, who is the Jayanagar MLA, tweeted, "A few videos and photos of outside #JyotiNivascollege are being circulated on social media. MLA Ramalinga Reddy and I have spoken to cops and the Prinicipal about this incident. Spoke to DCP South East Bengaluru and she said that Koramangala cops went there immediately and they are picketing even now," she added.
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This senior-focused relocation and estate-clearing company serves Palm Harbor, Tarpon Springs, Dunedin, Crystal Beach, Clearwater and the surrounding areas. Caring Transitions specially-trained professionals handle decluttering, organizing, packing, moving, resettling, in-home estate sales and online auctions, estate clearing and preparing homes for market.

Caring Transition s is unique because we can help with any part or all of your transition, from start to finish and anywhere in between. There are so many amazing services to choose from and we can work together to create a plan that best fits your needs. We dont come in and tell you what to do  you tell us what you need and we handle it for you, Mansur said. In addition to the actual services we provide, there are real benefits to bringing in a third party, especially when the transition is challenging and emotional. We can take that stress off your shoulders so you can focus on the important things.

Caring Transitions services are perfect for managing the many aspects of a senior move, including assisting with the process of downsizing to provide a safer living situation, as well as for busy families and people clearing out the home of a loved one who has moved into assisted care or passed away. All of Caring Transitions services are customizable, so clients choose the solution that best fits their needs.

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As I was helping them get ready for the next stage in their lives, I really felt for the people who dont have family to help or arent sure where to start. I also realized there was an opportunity to step in to help people who would just rather not do this kind of work themselves. Caring Transitions can make a big difference and, honestly, if I could have called myself to help with my parents, I would have done it in a heartbeat, Mansur said.

Caring Transitions of Palm Harbor, which is part of the national Caring Transitions franchise, is bonded and insured and all employees are CRT trained and background checked. For additional information, call 727-361-0620, email LMansur@CaringTransitions.com or visit http://www.CaringTransitionsOfPalmHarbor.com.


Edmonton: A newlywed couple that had travelled to Iran to get married were among the 63 Canadians killed when their Ukrainian Airlines flight crashed on Wednesday, according to friends and community leaders in the western Canadian city where 30 victims came from.

The plane crashed shortly after take-off from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board in a crash that intelligence sources said was likely caused by a technical malfunction. It had been heading for the Ukrainian capital Kiev. Ukraine later withdrew a statement blaming the crash on engine failure.

Tribute in Kyiv: Flowers and candles are placed in front of portraits of the flight crew members of the Ukrainian 737-800 plane that crashed on the outskirts of Tehran on Wednesday. Credit:AP

Arash Pourzarabi, 26, and Pouneh Gourji, 25, who were graduate students in computer science at the University of Alberta, had gone to Iran for their wedding, said Reza Akbari, president of the Iranian Heritage Society of Edmonton.

They were on the plane with four members of their wedding party and another 24 Iranian-Canadians from Edmonton, Akbari said.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, will travel to Brussels on Friday, 10 January, to participate in an extraordinary meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.



The Council is to discuss the developments in Iraq and Libya. The discussion on Libya will be carried out with the UN Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Libya, Ghassan Salame, in attendance.



During his stay in Brussels, the Minister of Foreign Affairs will have bilateral meetings with the Vice-President of the European Commission for Promoting our European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas, and with Ghassan Salame.
New bridges and roads have helped ease the traffic congestion that used to occur frequently in some areas in HCM City.

New bridge helps ease the traffic congestion at the National Universtiy intersection in HCM City.  Photo sggp.org

For instance, National Highway 1A and the Hanoi Highway have the highest vehicle density in the country, with cargo vehicles from Cat Lai and Sai Gon Ports and industrial zones in Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Ba Ria  Vung Tau provinces routinely traversing them.

With over 100,000 vehicles carrying more than 40 per cent of the volume of goods transported nation-wide using them, the two highways are always congested.

Traffic outside the Suoi Tien Tourist Area had become a nightmare, especially during weekends and holidays.

To address the congestion in the eastern gateway, the city built the intersection at National University of HCM City.

The 1.8km-project included expansion of National Highway 1 and construction of two open tunnels, two overpasses and two pedestrian bridges, starting from the gate of the Suoi Tien Tourist Area to the new Mien Dong Bus Station.

In the citys north-western gateway, the An Suong Tunnel has been under construction since January 2017. A portion has opened to traffic.

Ease traffic congestion

The city plans a series of infrastructure works to effectively ease traffic pressure at other congested hot spots.

To address the frequent traffic jams at the Nguyen Van Linh - Nguyen Huu Tho Intersection in District 7, project management board of the HCM City Transport Construction Investment Unit is waiting for the Department of Transports feedback on detailed construction plan.

Funding plans for the VND830 billion work have been approved by the city Peoples Committee.

Flyovers will be built outside Mien Dong Bus Station in District 9, and both bidding and construction will be done this year.

Two subways and a pedestrian bridge will also be built.

Besides these two key works, the board also plans to carry out six others, including widening of national highways 1, 13, 22, and 50 and construction of the An Phu Intersection in District 2.  VNS

HCM Citys campaign target foreigners violating traffic rules Ho Chi Minh Citys police on August 1 embarked on a campaign to disseminate traffic rules among foreigners in the city.
When doctors confirmed Martinez was having a baby girl, she was elated. Unfortunately, her joy was short-lived. During an ultrasound 25 weeks into her pregnancy, the ultrasound technician noticed something amiss. A large lump was growing on Aliyanna's spine.

Initially, doctors in her hometown in Oregon, believed the lump was spina bifida, but after Martinez was referred to a hospital in Portland, doctors confirmed the unimaginable: the growth was cancerous.

"I was devastated and heartbroken," Martinez said. "I felt like I had done something wrong."

The day after Christmas, Martinez was admitted to the hospital because she couldn't feel Aliyanna moving. On Dec. 28, 2017, Aliyanna stopped breathing. Martinez was rushed into the operating room for an emergency cesarean section. Before she could see or hold her little girl, Aliyanna was taken immediately to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

"I didn't know if she was going to make it," Martinez said. "I was so scared."

But as Aliyanna was whisked away, Martinez heard the distinctive cry of her newborn baby girl. Relief flooded over her.

"She was alive," she said.

Against the odds

Born at only 30 weeks, Aliyanna weighed less than four pounds. The odds seemed stacked against her. The large tumor on Aliyanna's spine was further complicating the fragile newborn's health.

Hours after Martinez gave birth, doctors allowed her to see Aliyanna for the first time.

"She looked so helpless," Martinez said.

Through the clear plastic of the incubator in the NICU, Martinez reassured her tiny baby. She couldn't hold her or touch her, but she let her know she was there. Every day, Martinez was by her side.

Saying goodbye

Three days after Aliyanna was born, the large tumor on her back ruptured. There was nothing Martinez could do but watch as doctors and nurses rushed to Aliyanna's aid, a cacophony of beeps blaring all around them.

Paralyzing fear gripped Martinez. A nurse told her to say goodbye to her newborn daughter.

"They told me there was nothing they could do," Martinez said. "They wanted me to hold her as she passed away."

Martinez put her hands on her tiny daughter for the first time.

"I told her that she was strong," Martinez said. "Her little head was in my hands and I rubbed it. I told her it was okay to go. No mother should ever have to say goodbye to their baby."

Suddenly, the bleeding stopped. Aliyanna was a fighter. She wasn't ready to say goodbye.

The next morning, Aliyanna was taken into surgery. Martinez prayed that wasn't the last time she'd ever get to see her baby girl.

And to her enormous relief, it wasn't.

As Martinez now holds her squirmy toddler, it's hard for her to think back to that terrifying day. Nearly two years ago, Martinez was saying goodbye. Today, she is singing happy birthday to her daughter, watching as her spunky and fiercely independent little girl reaches for a birthday cupcake.

Aliyanna has come such a long way since that day, but her journey hasn't been an easy one.

"There was a time I didn't know if I'd leave the hospital with a baby," Martinez said. "I can't imagine life without her."

Aliyanna is alive today thanks to what Martinez calls 'a miracle.'

A lifesaving option

Those 12 hours waiting for news from the operating room were the longest of Martinez's life. Aliyanna survived the surgery, but the cancer was insidious. By February, the tumor on her back had regrown.

Martinez was given the option of chemotherapy to try to shrink the growing mass, but that option seemed too grave. Aliyanna was so small, and the thought of her tiny newborn going through such a toxic treatment broke her heart.

That's when her doctors in Portland provided her with a second option. Seattle Children's was in the early phase of a clinical trial for an experimental drug called larotrectinib, a more precise and less toxic alternative to chemotherapy. It seemed like a gamble at the time, but Martinez took a leap of faith.

"When you hear the word trial, you know it's not guaranteed to work," Martinez said. "I was nervous, but I decided to give it a try."

Aliyanna was flown from Portland to Seattle Children's, where they met with Dr. Doug Hawkins, division chief of Hematology and Oncology.

Larotrectinib targets a specific gene alteration associated with soft tumors like Aliyanna's. A paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine, and co-authored by Hawkins, showed promising results. Overall, 75% of patients responded to the treatment and at one year, 71% experienced no disease progression.

Martinez hoped she was making the right decision for her daughter. She put her trust in the care team at Seattle Children's.

At only 7 weeks old, Aliyanna was the smallest baby enrolled in the trial, weighing just under 6 pounds.

Quickly, Seattle Children's became like a second home, and Aliyanna's care team became like a second family. Within just a few weeks of starting larotrectinib, Aliyanna's tumor shrunk significantly.

"At the time, larotrectinib was investigational, which means it was not available except as a clinical trial," Hawkins said. "It was developed to specifically inhibit a protein that is altered in infantile fibrosarcoma, the type of cancer Aliyanna had. It's a type of precise therapy that goes after the root cause of cancer."

Hawkins says the drug acts like a car's brake. The specific gene alteration causes the protein to constantly be turned on. Larotrectinib turns that accelerator off.

"It felt like a miracle," said Martinez.

At 3 months old, Martinez finally got to hold her baby freely, because Aliyanna's back had healed enough for her to be lifted. Martinez was overwhelmed with hope.

"You could see that she had more life in her," said Martinez. "That was the moment when I started to believe she'd go home."

The drug gave Aliyanna a second chance.

"We simply couldn't do cancer clinical trials without the support of philanthropy," Hawkins said. "We know that pediatric cancer receives only about 3% of the budget supporting cancer research from the National Cancer Institute. We think the lives of children are incredibly valuable and we should invest more money in that, but the reality is the money available from federal grants to support pediatric cancer research is limited. If we want to be able to offer cancer trials to all children who have cancer, we need to have the support of our community through philanthropy."

A bright future

Aliyanna and her family were finally able to go back to their home in Prineville, Oregon.

Today, Aliyanna has been on the medication for almost two years.

"Aliyanna is doing wonderfully," Hawkins said. "There is no sign her cancer is coming back."

Her family travels to Seattle Children's nearly every month for appointments, but it's a drive they don't mind making.

"It's good seeing our care team every month," said Martinez. "They make Aliyanna feel loved and welcome. They're like another family for us. They've seen her grow up."

During their latest visit, her care team had a special surprise planned. On Dec. 28, Aliyanna turned 2 years old, and so her care team decided to celebrate the monumental milestone in a special way: with a winter wonderland birthday party.

Her doctors and nurses sang her happy birthday and celebrated their tiny little fighter who has grown to be a smiley 2-year-old.

A special visitor even came to celebrate all the way from her frozen kingdom. The visit was magical.

"I'm very proud of my daughter," Martinez said. "Aliyanna could've given up at any point in her life. But she chose to continue to fight, to be strong," Martinez said.

Hawkins hopes one day Seattle Children's will be able to offer every child with cancer the same miraculous outcome.

"It's possible that larotrectinib will be viewed as a paradigm shift," Hawkins said. "To see a drug that has very few side effects but has incredible effectiveness is remarkable."

He says he's hopeful for that future.

In 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the cancer drug Vitrakvi, previously known as larotrectinib. Hawkins says the next step is to make the medication available as an initial treatment option, so more children like Aliyanna can benefit from this type of therapy.

Aliyanna beat the odds. Together, we can change them. Through breakthrough research, compassionate care, and support from generous people like you, Seattle Children's can envision a day when we can say yes to hope, care and cure for every child. Give now.

Learn more about Aliyanna's incredible story, research and clinical trials and It Starts With Yes: The Campaign for Seattle Children's.

Media Contact: Kathryn Mueller, phone: 206-987-7073, email: [email protected]

SOURCE Seattle Childrens

Related Links

http://www.seattlechildrens.org


The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made a big and hasty announcement this week that caught the world by surprise  even as it was months in the making. Heres what we know so far.

What exactly are Prince Harry and Meghan doing?

Its not fully clear and it depends whom you ask.

In a message posted to both the couples Instagram page and their new stand-alone website (one of two websites they have introduced in the last few months), the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their intentions to carve out a progressive new role within the institution of the British monarchy; to step back as senior members of the Royal Family; to work to become financially independent while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen; to balance their time between the United Kingdom and North America; to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages; to launch a new charitable entity; and to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge, and all relevant parties.

The message seemed to suggest a desire to relinquish some (public) lifestyle funding in order to be less beholden to the strict protocol and de facto traditions of the royal family without sacrificing titles, influence or access.

How was this received by the royal family?

According to a frosty statement from Buckingham Palace, which was not involved in the announcement, this is all still being negotiated:

Discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage. We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through.
SoftBank is facing renewed investor scrutiny after it was forced to bail out one of its best known portfolio companies.

A SoftBank representative in India did not immediately respond to an email request from Reuters for comment.

Bengaluru: SoftBank Group Corp is in talks to sell a majority stake in its renewable energy joint venture in India as it looks to raise cash after facing setbacks to its global investments, Indias Economic Times daily reported on Thursday.

As part of the move, the Japanese technology and investment giant has been in talks with sovereign wealth and pension funds from the Far East and Gulf regions, as well as some Silicon Valley technology giants, the report said, citing people in the know of the matter.

A SoftBank representative in India did not immediately respond to an email request from Reuters for comment.

The group is looking at a partner that can provide equity commitments of USD 1.5 billion to USD 2 billion to execute and complete a pipeline of 7 gigawatts of renewable projects around the world, the report said.

SoftBank is facing renewed investor scrutiny after it was forced to bail out one of its best known portfolio companies, the cash-burning, office-sharing firm WeWork, for about USD 10 billion last year.

This has put a spotlight on founder Masayoshi Sons strategy of pouring billions of dollars into unproven, money-losing startups at a time when it is getting squeezed by a sell-off in many of its listed bets.

Its bailout effort for WeWork appeared to have complicated after talks to secure USD 3 billion from Japans three biggest banks stalled, Reuters reported last month.

For its India renewable energy venture, SoftBank is considering options including a sale of its entire 70 per cent stake or a majority stake, the ET reported. The unit is a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises and Foxconn Technology Group, and it won its first solar plant order in India in 2015.

That year, India, the worlds third-largest carbon emitter, had set an ambitious target to ramp up its solar power capacity by five times to 100,000 megawatts by 2022.
A famed Viking relic known as the Rok stone tells of a heart-broken parent's crippling fear that the cold-weather that robbed their child of life may return, experts claim.

Fresh analysis of the mysterious runic inscription claims it speaks of an enduring battle against extreme cold weather in the sixth century.

It is known that, during the sixth and seventh century, more than half of all Scandinavians perished as frigid temperatures caused widespread devastation.

Experts have long been stumped by the 8.5ft tall stone, with most theories claiming it is a dedication to the legendary Ostrogoth king, Theodore the Great.

More than 700 runes cover its five sides and its true meaning has eluded experts as chunks of the rock are missing or worn away.

Scroll down for video

Fresh analysis of the mysterious runic inscription (pictured) on the Rok Stone claims it mentions an enduring battle against extreme cold weather in the sixth century

WHAT IS THE ROK STONE? The Rok Runestone or Rokstenen is one of the most famous runestones in the world, featuring the longest known runic inscription in stone, composed of around 760 characters. It is considered the first piece of written Swedish literature and is alleged to have been carved by a Viking named Varin. The stone was discovered in the 19th century, built into the wall of the church that was erected in the 12th century. The stone was erected in the late 800s near the lake Vattern in south central Sweden and makes mention of the Norse hero Theodoric. The stone was thought to contain a lost piece of Norse mythology and to make reference to Ostrogothic king, Theodoric the Great. But many missing sections and various languages mean its true inscription has long eluded researchers. Some academics now believe it refers to a brutal period of prolonged cold weather in the 6th and 7th centuries called the 'Late Antique Little Ice Age' where more than 50 per cent of Scandinavia perished due to crop failure and famine. Advertisement

The stone was erected in the late 800s near the lake Vattern in south central Sweden and makes mention of the Norse hero Theodoric.

Some people think this is a reference to Theodoric the Great, a sixth century ruler of the Ostrogoths in modern-day Italy.

But this claim has been refuted by some experts, with Professor Holmberg of the University of Gothenburg publishing research in 2016 stating 'the idea that the Rok Runestone mentions the Gothic emperor Theodoric is based on a minor reading error and a major portion of nationalistic wishful thinking'.

As endeavours to decipher the writing's true meaning continue, a team of experts from three Swedish universities now think it talks of a different topic entirely.

Instead of regaling travellers with stories of a great warrior who managed to rule over much of Europe, it is believed the Rok Stone speaks of a parent's anguish at losing their child during a period of time now referred to as the 'Late Antique Little Ice Age'.

'The inscription deals with an anxiety triggered by a son's death and the fear of a new climate crisis similar to the catastrophic one after 536 CE,' the authors write in the study published in Futhark: International Journal of Runic Studies.

WHO WAS THEODORIC THE GREAT? Theodoric the Great is known as one of the founding fathers of Medieval Europe, along with Clovis. He was an Ostrogoth who grew up in the great city of Constantinople as a prisoner. He developed an affinity with the Emperor Zeno. Zeno ordered Theodoric to return to his homeland and his people and seize control of Italy, which was being ruled by King Odoacer. He achieved this in 493, five years after being sent on his mission, by inviting the king to dinner and cleaving him from shoulder to groin Clovis, the great Parisian ruler, acknowledged Theodoric as ruler of Italy and sent him his sister, Audofleda, to marry in order to cement their peaceful treaty. He is regarded as a Viking and Ostrogoth hero who helped unite Europe in a brief period of calm in the tumultuous early centuries, and died in 526AD. Theodoric the Great (454- 526), was king of the Germanic Ostrogoths, ruler of Italy , regent of the Visigoths (511 -526), and a viceroy of the Eastern Roman Empire and a Norse legend Pictured, a woodcut engraving of his likeness Advertisement

This diagram of the runestone shows the seven elements of the text, including the first part (1) which claims the stone was inscribed by Varin for his son, Vamod

Experts have long been stumped by the writing on the 8.5ft tall stone, with most theories claiming it is a dedication to the legendary Ostrogoth king, Theodore the Great but now it is thought it alludes to fears of a repeat of the deadly Late Antique Little Ice Age

The stone was erected in the late 800s near the lake Vattern in south central Sweden and makes mention to the Norse hero Theodoric

The sixth century saw temperatures plummet as the world's climate was altered by a series of volcanic eruptions.

Crops were devastated, famine was rife and entire species were lost.

Previous analysis has suggested that at least half of the population of the Scandinavian nations died, etching the time period into the minds of Vikings for generations to come and influencing the development of Norse mythology.

The researchers agree that the stone talks of a battle enduring for centuries, but believe it is not a fight with man, but with nature.

In the study, the authors write: ''The conflict between light and darkness, warmth and cold, life and death.'

'A powerful solar storm coloured the sky in dramatic shades of red, crop yields suffered from an extremely cold summer, and later a solar eclipse occurred just after sunrise,' said Bo Graslund, professor in archaeology at Uppsala University.

'Even one of these events would have been enough to raise fears of another Fimbulwinter,' Professor Graslund added referring to a winter lasting three years in Norse mythology, a sign of the coming of Ragnarok.

Ragnarok is the great battle mentioned in Norse mythology which speaks of the deaths of many gods, including Odin, Thor and Heimdallr, and plunges the world underwater - only for it to emerge again rejuvenated and fertile.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 11:22:46|Editor: huaxia

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TORONTO, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has pledged to assist the probe into the crash of a Ukrainian airliner which killed all 176 people on board.

"ICAO is in contact with the States involved and will assist them if called upon. Its leadership is stressing the importance of avoiding speculation into the cause of the tragedy pending the outcomes of the investigation," the UN agency said in a statement released Wednesday.

The Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800, carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians, crashed just minutes after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday he was "shocked and saddened" to know that 63 Canadians were on board the ill-fated passenger plane.

"There is a clear need for answers," Trudeau said. "Canada is very concerned on this."

The Canadian prime minister said Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne has been in touch with the Ukrainian government and is speaking to other international partners.

U.S. aircraft surveillance firm Aireon said it has collected the position data from the crashed jet and is sharing it with the appropriate authorities.

The company's satellite-based global tracking system provides more detailed information than is available on commercial websites, according to its spokeswoman.

According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko, there were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainian citizens on board the crashed jet.
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Lush greenery inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone has been revealed as plants gradually creep into a rusting bus, forgotten fairground and hastily abandoned tower block inside a city that once housed 50,000 people.

Radioactive clothing thrown onto a hospital floor by clean-up teams, an abandoned operating theatre and discarded dolls were also found by Dutch urban explorer Roel van Wanrooy, 43, when he visited Pripyat in the nuclear wasteland.

He also met an 86-year-old mechanic living inside the restricted area, who ignored warnings and returned to the home he once shared with his parents.

When reactor four exploded at the nuclear power plant during a delayed test in April 1986, Soviet authorities took 36 hours to launch a full-scale evacuation of the area.

At least 31 people, including firefighters and emergency workers, lost their lives in the disaster after they were exposed to a lethal levels of radiation from the burning reactor.

Scroll down for video

Lush greenery has been pictured reclaiming the abandoned city of Pripyat inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Above is a rusting school bus gradually being colonised by plants

A rotting ferris wheel was also pictured inside Pripyat's iconic abandoned amusement park when Dutch urban explorer Roel van Wanrooy, 43, visited the area

Lush greenery was also shown reclaiming this abandoned building in Pripyat, which was built for workers at the power plant

A broken stained glass window display shows the advance of trees. Authorities took hours to establish that the reactor had exploded, and 36 hours to evacuate the city, during the disaster in April 1986

An empty swimming pool, with trees advancing through its windows, was also pictured in Pripyat - which once housed 50,000 people

'It was a very exciting place to be,' said Mr van Wanrooy after his trip. 'It has been left to rot for 35 years now and parts of area will be uninhabitable for thousands of years. Only a few people which were evacuated returned because they could not get used to living anywhere else.'

'The hospital was probably the most interesting place to investigate because the brave men and women who dealt with the reactor were treated there. Inside the cellar were all of their clothes which were very dangerous because of their radioactivity.

'(I also saw) anti radiation boots in the Pripyat hospital where the liquidators (cleaners of the reactor) were treated (and maybe died) after they cleaned up the damaged roof of reactor building four.

'The meter is showing the radiation from the boots which the guide said was dangerously high! 881,4 uS. Normal radiation is about 0.2 - 0.4 uS.'

Mr van Wanrooy said his favourite photo was the 86-year-old man with his car living inside the exclusion zone.

'He went back to his old house where he grew up with his parents,' he said. 'He was very proud of his old car which he enjoys tinkering with and he has some cattle and some land where he grows vegetables. 'I was not expecting to meet anyone living there when I visited.'

While visiting the reactor Mr van Wanrooy also found clothing abandoned by workers after they had cleaned the reactor roof. Left in Pripyat's hospital, it was emitting radiation of 881.4uS. Normal levels are 0.2 - 0.4 uS

The radioactive clothing had been left inside the hospital by the workers when they left the exclusion zone

The urban explorer also pictured what appeared to be an abandoned operating theatre in Pripyat, inside the 1,600-mile Chernobyl exclusion zone

Battered dolls left by residents were also pictured on beds. When they left, people were told they would be returning in three days time. Only an estimated 150 to 300 people have since returned

Two abandoned dolls with some sheets of paper were photographed on a shelf inside the abandoned city of Pripyat

A tower block that once housed workers at the nuclear power plant was also shown. It is gradually being reclaimed by nature

A 2billion silver shield was installed over the reactor in 2016 to stop radiation leaking out. Workers were only allowed to be on site for two hours every week due to fears of lethal radiation doses

Previous expeditions inside the 1,600-mile exclusion zone have also shown nature recolonising the area, with wild horses taking up residence in abandoned houses while packs of wolves roam the surrounding areas.

Pripyat, which was built nearby for the plants workers, and the surrounding areas were not initially evacuated as local authorities waited for orders from Moscow before establishing whether the reactor had exploded.

The lost hours meant that weddings went forward, children played in the street and babies were pushed around in prams in the shadow of the smouldering reactor as it shot radioactive waste into the sky.

When the evacuation was eventually carried out, residents were told that they would be returning to the city in three days.

Firefighters who rushed to the reactor to extinguish the blaze, despite having no training in how to handle a nuclear fire, were exposed to a lethal dose of radiation. The worst affected were flown to hospital in Moscow, where many died later.

Those near the reactor complained of feeling sick, vomiting, exhaustion and swelling - all symptoms of radiation poisoning.

The urban explorer also met an 86-year-old who returned to the area following the explosion during his visit. The mechanic lives in his car at the home he once shared with his parents

A new protective shield was installed over the nuclear reactor in 2016 at a cost of 2billion to the Russian authorities.

Workers at the time were only allowed into the zone for two hours a week, due to fears of them receiving a lethal dose of radiation.

The exclusion zone is expected to be in place for at least the next 20,000 years - as the uranium gradually degrades. Despite this, however, an estimated 150 to 300 people have returned to their family homes in the area.
Could Baby Bunting Group Limited (ASX:BBN) be an attractive dividend share to own for the long haul? Investors are often drawn to strong companies with the idea of reinvesting the dividends. If you are hoping to live on your dividends, it's important to be more stringent with your investments than the average punter. Regular readers know we like to apply the same approach to each dividend stock, and we hope you'll find our analysis useful.

Baby Bunting Group yields a solid 3.2%, although it has only been paying for three years. A 3.2% yield does look good. Could the short payment history hint at future dividend growth? Some simple research can reduce the risk of buying Baby Bunting Group for its dividend - read on to learn more.

Explore this interactive chart for our latest analysis on Baby Bunting Group!

ASX:BBN Historical Dividend Yield, January 9th 2020

Payout ratios

Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. As a result, we should always investigate whether a company can afford its dividend, measured as a percentage of a company's net income after tax. In the last year, Baby Bunting Group paid out 85% of its profit as dividends. Paying out a majority of its earnings limits the amount that can be reinvested in the business. This may indicate a commitment to paying a dividend, or a dearth of investment opportunities.

In addition to comparing dividends against profits, we should inspect whether the company generated enough cash to pay its dividend. Baby Bunting Group paid out a conservative 49% of its free cash flow as dividends last year. It's positive to see that Baby Bunting Group's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.

With a strong net cash balance, Baby Bunting Group investors may not have much to worry about in the near term from a dividend perspective.

Story continues

Consider getting our latest analysis on Baby Bunting Group's financial position here.

Dividend Volatility

From the perspective of an income investor who wants to earn dividends for many years, there is not much point buying a stock if its dividend is regularly cut or is not reliable. This company's dividend has been unstable, and with a relatively short history, we think it's a little soon to draw strong conclusions about its long term dividend potential. During the past three-year period, the first annual payment was AU$0.063 in 2017, compared to AU$0.10 last year. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 17% a year over that time. Baby Bunting Group's dividend payments have fluctuated, so it hasn't grown 17% every year, but the CAGR is a useful rule of thumb for approximating the historical growth.

It's not great to see that the payment has been cut in the past. We're generally more wary of companies that have cut their dividend before, as they tend to perform worse in an economic downturn.

Dividend Growth Potential

Given that the dividend has been cut in the past, we need to check if earnings are growing and if that might lead to stronger dividends in the future. Strong earnings per share (EPS) growth might encourage our interest in the company despite fluctuating dividends, which is why it's great to see Baby Bunting Group has grown its earnings per share at 18% per annum over the past five years. EPS are growing rapidly, although the company is also paying out more than three-quarters of its profits as dividends. If earnings keep growing, the dividend may be sustainable, but generally we'd prefer to see a fast growing company reinvest in further growth.

Conclusion

To summarise, shareholders should always check that Baby Bunting Group's dividends are affordable, that its dividend payments are relatively stable, and that it has decent prospects for growing its earnings and dividend. First, we think Baby Bunting Group has an acceptable payout ratio and its dividend is well covered by cashflow. We were also glad to see it growing earnings, but it was concerning to see the dividend has been cut at least once in the past. Overall we think Baby Bunting Group is an interesting dividend stock, although it could be better.

Companies that are growing earnings tend to be the best dividend stocks over the long term. See what the 3 analysts we track are forecasting for Baby Bunting Group for free with public analyst estimates for the company.

We have also put together a list of global stocks with a market capitalisation above $1bn and yielding more 3%.

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.



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. Thank you for reading.
An estimated 2,000 beds are available in private and voluntary nursing homes across the country to facilitate timely discharge of patients from acute hospitals to nursing home care, NHI today revealed. However, NHI states feedback from Members is the discharge process within hospitals is disorganised, inconsistent and supports are not available to enable staff facilitate the timely discharge of patients to nursing home care, where required.

NHI undertook a snapshot survey Tuesday 7th January asking private and voluntary nursing homes the number of available beds within their homes to facilitate transfer of patients from hospital. 136 nursing homes informed the survey of 861 beds being available. 445 private and voluntary nursing homes are operating in communities across the country, positioned to provide specialised step-down and long-term care. 80% of the nursing homes replying to the survey had at least one bed available.

HSE figures inform circa 60% of the hundreds of patients clinically fit for discharge in our acute hospitals are awaiting long-term nursing home care. Recent figures state at the end of November, almost 700 patients within our hospitals were delayed discharges.

Tadhg Daly, NHI CEO states: Engagement with nursing homes the past number of days has informed of huge level of frustration with regard to the discharge process within our acute hospitals. We have nursing homes informing us they are aware of patients requiring discharge to nursing home care but many of these patients are being deterred due to delays in accessing funding support or bureaucracy within the hospital. Weve hundreds of beds available to provide specialised care for people in our hospitals who need step-down care but these are not being utilised. Our Members are reporting extreme frustration that patients assessed as requiring nursing home care are experiencing unnecessary delays and are remaining within hospital for periods of days in many instances.

Late Saturday, NHI fielded an urgent request from the HSE at local level seeking information regarding nursing home beds immediately available to facilitate discharges from two severely overcrowded hospitals. Over 20 beds from ten nursing homes surrounding the hospitals were identified within a matter of hours but only one bed has since been utilised. These hospitals remain severely overcrowded.

While discharges occur every day to nursing homes, the urgency and focus required during this national emergency is not evident.

Nursing home care has a lead role to fulfil in alleviating overcrowding within our acute hospitals and engagement has been undertaken with the HSE at national level. But it is damning upon the Government that no engagement is undertaken with the nursing home sector prior to the Winter period with view to planning timely discharge of the hundreds of patients requiring nursing home care that are within our hospitals on a daily basis. Year-on-year it fails to comprehensively plan for the Winter period and the outcome is distress for hospital patients, their families and hospital staff.
Healthcare systems are organized and financed differently across the European Union Member States. But the universal access to quality healthcare, at an affordable cost to both individuals and society at large, is regarded as a basic human need and the right inseparable from the right to life. This is one of the shared values and principles in EU health systems.

Health systems across the globe have to evolve to respond to the changing needs and methods, new medical technology, and improvements in knowledge and demographic, social, and ethical developments. A background of financial sustainability remains the main limiting factor for access to healthcare and greater patient choice.

World Leaders In Healthcare

The healthcare expenditure statistics is defined as an attempt to quantify the economic resources dedicated to health functions. Healthcare expenditure is mainly measured for the healthcare goods and services that are consumed by residents. Statistics on healthcare expenditure and financing may be used to evaluate how a healthcare system responds to challenges and to try and adjust the allocation of the available resources between healthcare activities (for example, preventive and curative care) or groups of healthcare providers (for example, hospitals and ambulatory centers).

According to the Prosperity Report, the world leaders in healthcare infrastructure and nation's health overall are Japan and Singapore, followed by South Korea, Switzerland, and Norway (none of these are the European Union members). The achievement of Switzerland might have something to do with them being the leaders of both prosperity in general and also the European leaders on the healthcare expenditure: 12.2% GDP (gross domestic product).

Top European Union Countries

Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Spain, Malta, France, Italy are the top European Union countries on the Health Pillar ranking of the prosperity Report. The results not being the exact match to the expenditure remind us that, same as with any investment, the sheer spending number is an important but not the only parameter that defines the quality or the outcomes of the healthcare effort.

Among the European Union members, the top line-up by the expenditure is the following: Germany, Sweden, France, Netherland, Denmark, Belgium, Austria, and Finland. The level of the healthcare expenditure in Germany was EUR 352 billion in 2016  the highest value among the EU Member States. France recorded the second-highest level of the healthcare expenditure, EUR 257 billion. Twelve European Union Member States spent less than 7.5 % of GDP (gross domestic product), with Romania recording the lowest ratio (5.0 %).

Group of healthcare workers meeting in the hospital boardroom.

Member States Expenditures

It is interesting to note that Luxembourg has the second-lowest ratio of healthcare expenditure to GDP, but this is a reflection of the high level of GDP in Luxembourg. The actual spending in euro per resident was the highest among the EU Member States - EUR 5 600 per inhabitant. A significant proportion of workers in Luxembourg are cross-border workers and live outside the country; as non-residents, the expenditure on their healthcare is not included in Luxembourg's health accounts while their economic activity does contribute to Luxembourg's GDP.

Sweden spent EUR 5 100 per inhabitant and Denmark - EUR 5 000 per inhabitant. Following on from Luxembourg, Sweden, and Denmark, a group of four Member States  the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and Ireland  recorded current healthcare expenditure between EUR 4 200 and 4 300 per inhabitant. In turn, these were followed by another group  France, Belgium, Finland  with ratios in the range of EUR 3 600 to 3 800 per inhabitant. There was then a relatively large gap to Italy (EUR 2 500 per inhabitant), Spain (EUR 2 200), and Malta (EUR 2 000).

All of the remaining Member States recorded average expenditure below EUR 1 700 per inhabitant in 2016, with 7 of these 14 recordings an average spend on healthcare below EUR 1 000 per inhabitant. The lowest levels of expenditure per resident were in Bulgaria (EUR 556) and Romania (EUR 432). The contrast between the highest (Luxembourg) and lowest (Romania) levels of expenditure per inhabitant was 13 to 1. It looks a little less drastic if we consider lower prices in the latter but still remains significant.

Increases In Care And Medical Goods

In terms of the functions, in six EU Member States like the Netherlands, the most substantial increase was for expenditure on curative and rehabilitative care. In four others (for example, in Bulgaria), the expenditure increased most for medical goods.

As a source of financing, either government schemes or compulsory schemes dominated: in 10 Member States government schemes accounted for more than half of all expenditure. In 14 Member States, compulsory schemes accounted for more than half of all spending. In Austria, compulsory schemes registered a larger share than government schemes or other sources, but less than half of the total. France was the only EU Member State, where out-of-pocket household payments accounted for less than one-tenth (9.8 %) of healthcare expenditure.
Dr. Ruman earned her medical degree at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she participated in nationally recognized research on factors that control embryo implantation. Following, she spent her clinical time at Reproductive Medical Associates of New York, where she served as medical student and resident educator at Mount Sinai. Dr. Ruman completed her residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, where she continued to publish award-winning articles on infertility treatment. Following the completion of her residency training, Dr. Ruman was selected to a Fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia University, where she authored and co-authored several publications concerning egg donation and fertility treatment.

"I am excited to join Tennessee Fertility Institute and be part of a clinical team that is dedicated to helping patients achieve their dreams of having a baby," says Dr. Ruman. "I understand that the fertility journey can be challenging, and my goal is to use my expertise to provide the highest level of compassionate care for my patients."

In addition to her educational background, Dr. Ruman has done extensive research in the field of fertility, specifically on medications related to ovarian stimulation and induction. She has also studied the treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer with immunotherapy and conducted clinical studies looking at ovarian reserve and endometrial preparation for frozen embryo transfers. Dr. Ruman also has a special interest in egg freezing for fertility preservation and has given numerous lectures and interviews on this topic.

"Dr. Ruman is a highly skilled and compassionate physician who significantly contributes to and maintains the highest level of care to her patients, and we are excited to welcome her to the Tennessee Fertility Institute," says TJ Farnsworth, Founder and CEO of Inception, the parent company to the Prelude Network. "TFI offers a combination of the highest levels of scientific expertise with a dedication to helping each patient achieve their dream of building a happy and healthy family."

To learn more about Tennessee Fertility Institute, please visit https://tnfertility.com/.

About Tennessee Fertility Institute

Tennessee Fertility Institute (TFI) is part of The Prelude Network, the largest network of fertility clinics in the United States and is dedicated to providing comprehensive, state-of-the-art fertility care to the residents of Tennessee and its surrounding areas.

TFI recognizes that their patients have a choice in care providers and are committed to providing compassionate, individualized, and cost-effective service that places the highest priority not only on patients' outcomes, but also on their experience during the journey to parenthood.

TFI offers a full spectrum of female and male fertility care, including IVF, egg freezing, genetic screening (PGD/PGS), egg donation, surrogacy and LGBTQ+ fertility. www.inceptionllc.com / https://tnfertility.com/

About The Prelude Network

The Prelude Network (Prelude), the fastest-growing network of fertility clinics and largest provider of comprehensive fertility services in the U.S., is the clinic network of Inception- a company whose mission is to shift the paradigm of the fertility market by raising the standard of care, streamlining fragmented components into an integrated system and enhancing the overall patient experience.

Each clinic, as part of the Prelude Network, is committed to delivering the highest level of personalized fertility care by the nation's leading reproductive endocrinologists, embryologists and practitioners by focusing on an excellence in science, medicine and the patient experience. The growing Prelude Network has 41 total locations nationwide, offering a wide range of fertility services including egg freezing, IVF, genetic testing and egg/embryo storage, among others.

www.preludefertility.com / www.inceptionllc.com

MEDIA CONTACT:

Amanda Schlussel

Krupp Kommunications

[email protected]

212-886-6704

SOURCE The Prelude Network (Prelude)

Related Links

http://www.preludefertility.com


The future of John Lewis and Waitrose was thrown into chaos on Thursday, as the managing director of John Lewis was sacked and the chair warned that staff may miss out on a bonus.

Paula Nickolds, who has been with the employee-owned retailer since 1994, leaves just three months after the managing director of Waitrose, Rob Collins, also stepped down following a major restructuring.

John Lewis Partnership chair Sir Charlie Mayfield is also quitting  having announced his departure in November 2018  and will be replaced next month by outgoing Ofcom chief Sharon White.

Ms Nickolds departure comes as the department store revealed a 2 per cent like-for-like sales slump in the seven weeks to 5 January. She declined to comment.

She was supposed to become the new executive director of brand  overseeing both divisions of the partnership  in a newly created role which she was due to take up in February.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

Sir Charlie said: After some reflection on the responsibilities of her proposed new role, we have decided together that the implementation of the future partnership structure in February is the right time for her to move on and she will leave the partnership with our gratitude and best wishes for the future.

At the full year, we expect profits in Waitrose & Partners to be broadly in line with last year. In John Lewis & Partners we will reverse the losses incurred in the first half of the year, but profits will be substantially down on last year. We therefore expect that partnership profit before exceptionals will be significantly lower than last year.

Former managing director Paula Nickolds (PA)

He added: The partnership board will meet in February to decide whether it is prudent to pay a partnership bonus.

The decision will be influenced by our level of profitability, planned investment and maintaining the strength of our balance sheet.

In March last year, the company revealed that staff bonuses for the employee-owned retailer would be just 3 per cent of annual pay  the lowest level since 1953  after profits fell 45.4 per cent to just 160m.

Gross sales at the partnership in the seven weeks to 4 January were down 1.8 per cent compared with last year at 2.2bn. Waitrose saw a 1.3 per cent fall in sales, due to store closures, but was up 0.4 per cent on a like-for-like basis.

But at John Lewis there was a 2.3 per cent fall in sales  or 2 per cent on a like-for-like basis  with electricals and home furnishing sales both down heavily. They fell 4 per cent and 3.4 per cent respectively compared with a year ago.

Sir Charlie added: We saw significant variation in levels of demand, with Black Friday sales up 10 per cent on the equivalent period last year, followed by more subdued demand in the subsequent weeks.

But most concerning for the employee-owned business is the collapse in profits at the partnership, with the chairman warning that profits will be substantially down on last year.

There was some growth, with beauty sales up 4.7 per cent and fashion up 0.1 per cent, while at Waitrose online orders and basket sizes increased 23 per cent in the seven days leading up to Christmas compared with last year.

However, John Lewis could only manage a 1.4 per cent increase in online sales, meaning the group overall saw an online uptick of 16.7 per cent in total.

Reacting to the news, Richard Lim, chief executive of Retail Economics, said: Excitable Edgar did little to fire up Christmas sales, with declines across non-food and a woeful performance in the online business, which barely showed any signs of growth.

Recommended John Lewis Christmas adverts ranked from worst to best

The later timing of Black Friday may ultimately have been the destructive force at play. Consumers appear to have pulled forward gift purchases to take advantage of deep discounts at the expense of Christmas trading.

John Lewis and Waitrose have had a difficult few years, with former bosses Andy Street and Mark Price leaving at similar times. Both have gone on to pursue careers in politics.

Ms Nickolds joined John Lewis in 1994 and worked her way up through the ranks to the position of managing director.

Just last October, in a major overhaul of the business structure, she was unveiled as the new head of brand for both businesses, with Waitrose boss Mr Collins also stepping down.

The 100m cost-cutting exercise also saw 75 out of 225 head office roles axed, as the company attempted to recover from its first ever half-year loss in September.

Press Association
NO signal shutdown for Sinulog 2020.

They got the message.

***

Sinulog street parties must be outside 100-meter radius.

Theyve passed a good measure.

***

Emergency runway to help MCIA cope with growing air traffic.

They simply could not leave the situation up in the air.

***

Robredo: Dutertes drug war gets failing mark.

That is a serious condemnation; not a mere passing comment.

***

More officials slam Robredo report on drug war.

For giving the President a failing mark, the Vice President is now a marked (wo)man.

***

Fastfood chains now buying Cebu pork.

Pigs, vacation is over.

***

Four women nabbed for defaming store on social media.

For their act, they should have known what was in store for them.

***

Philippines orders evacuation of Filipinos from Iraq.

Those are marching orders to retreat.

***

Cops warned: Maintain weight or lose promotion.

Maintaining ones weight is not a piece of cake.

***

10 mayors charged for non-compliance with road clearing order.

They could not speed away for their offense.
Black Indianapolis doesnt need a lecture on outrage.

Over 400 Black people have been killed in this city in the last four years  the vast majority of them Black males. This doesnt even include both the Black infant and maternal mortality problem we are facing in this city.

Weve had the funerals.

Our city is dotted with memorials to young Black people murdered in the streets.

As the great poet Paul Laurence Dunbar said in one of my favorite poems, We smile, but O great Christ our cries.

To suggest there is no outrage is to be deaf to Black cries for justice  including for people like Aaron Bailey.

But here is the difference between Black outrage and what the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police and, sadly, Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition has done.

Black leaders developed a policy agenda based on facts. Were coming up with a plan  and be it through our own efforts or the citys, our objectives are being met.

Black leaders have developed the African American Legacy Fund of Indianapolis to address our philanthropic needs.

We also are training our own as part of The Exchange at the Indianapolis Urban Leagues Fellows Program so that we can build a cadre of leaders who will leverage all sectors of the city for the benefit of our community.

Theres now a fund at the city dedicated to addressing food insecurity.

Black folks were on the citys community development block grant committee and weighed in on where crucial federal dollars should go.

Black leaders have presented policy concerns not only to the mayor but to the city-county council leadership.

And we do not march in the streets every day because we have to be about the business of living  and trying to figure out ways to survive in a city that forces us to exist in absurdities.

Absurdities such as: How can we have the largest Black population in Indiana and experience both the level of violence and abysmal economic realities and not have piqued the intellectual curiosity of the media in a serious way (The Toll by the IndyStar being the notable exception), nor city leadership?

Only recently have we even heard city leaders say the word Black despite all the data that suggests it might be a good idea to pay attention to what is happening in our community.

We cry, but we also do the work that is unheralded, unseen, hard and unglamorous  away from cameras and known mostly by those working with us.

But what we wont do is develop plans that include locking more Black people up in jail for longer periods. What we wont do is call for stricter bail standards for poor Black people.

That aint on our agenda.

There is no quarrel with respect to keeping dangerous predators off the streets. Black victims matter to Black people.

But too often, Black people are preyed upon by a criminal justice system that locks up people we are mad at instead of focusing on people who are truly violent criminals.

The steady campaign highlighting the level of violence within the city by the FOP and leadership with the Indy Ten Point Coalition is tantamount to pimping our pain for a misguided policy agenda, and it is unacceptable.

The Black community is not for making bail more difficult to obtain, and, to be truthful, there are a lot of questions about the efficacy of what Ten Point achieves. There is a difference between correlation and causality, but I digress.

Im for outrage.

Im still working, but Ive been hard pressed to find a city that had over 100 homicides within one segment of its community that wasnt Black.

I cant imagine what leaders would do if 100 white males were murdered within a city inside of a year. I suspect a governor would be engaged, but they wouldnt be talking about bail and stricter sentencing.

I think we need way more outrage from the larger community, but what we dont need is people pimping Black peoples pain.

What I am hearing

Community activists and leaders were irritated to learn that the first action by the new city-county council would be the launching of a commission to study climate change, especially given the sustained level of violence occurring in the Black community.

The problem wasnt climate change per se, but rather a healthy expectation that Black issues would be on the citys agenda.

I hear that both community leaders connected to the commission effort, as well as councilors, are working to include environmental justice issues, which certainly does impact Black and Latinx communities in Indianapolis.

A focus on environmental justice that might look at lead abatement  including in drinking water, air quality and even a focus on brownfields  are all positive steps.

But this does raise the issue of the conspicuous absence of a commission on African American males

Marshawn Wolley is a lecturer, commentator, business owner and civic entrepreneur. Contact him at marshawnwolley@gmail.com.
Glen Allen, VA, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Advantasure continued to invest in its executive leadership team with the announcement of Johanna Hower as the chief operating officer.

This is a critically important position, necessary to ensure the company continues to have proper operational controls, administrative and reporting procedures and systems in place for effective client delivery of all our products and services.

Hower brings a wealth of experience to this new Advantasure role, having driven operational performance with a variety of government-sponsored healthcare programs  most recently as vice president of both operations and business implementation at Gateway Health Plan in Pittsburgh, PA. Prior to that, Hower held numerous leadership positions at Aetna, including chief operating officer, Medicaid New Markets, where she led operations and managed new market growth and expansion.

Through her constructive and energetic style, guided by the vision and objectives of the company, Johanna will help ensure its focus on client delivery, financial strength and operational excellence, said Advantasure President, Katie Guhr. As a result of her extensive experience, she is adept at overseeing both financial and business goal performance as well as ensuring compliance to regulatory requirements.

Hower holds a bachelors degree in International Business and Modern Languages from the University of Pittsburg in Pennsylvania.

These are very exciting times for Advantasure, Guhr said. Im extremely confident the company will be a differentiator in the health care industry and will continue building on the strong client-focused culture our clients rely on.

# # #

About Advantasure
El Centro Police Officer Alejandra Hurtado arrested in Imperial and placed on administrative leave

El Centro, California - On January 4, 2020, at 3:21 a.m. the Imperial Police Department responded to a battery investigation involving an El Centro officer. The preliminary investigation resulted in the arrest of Alejandra Hurtado. She was ultimately booked on multiple charges.

The Imperial Police Department is conducting the criminal investigation into the alleged incident. The El Centro Police Department has opened a formal internal affairs investigation into the alleged misconduct. The Officer has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the two investigations.
Gold weighing around 1.5 kg and valued at Rs 63. 73 lakh was seized from passengers who arrived at the Mangaluru International Airport (MIA), customs officials said on Thursday.

The yellow metal was confiscated by the custom officials in three separate incidents, a customs release said.

In the first incident, 336.7 gm of gold was recovered from a passenger who arrived by an Air India flight from Dubai on January 6.

The value of this is estimated to be Rs 13.43 lakh.

He had hidden it inside the socks of his shoes.

On January 7, illegal gold was seized from two passengers who arrived from Dubai via the Air India flight.

A total of 523 gm of gold worth Rs 21.24 lakh in paste form was found with one passenger, while the other was carrying 716 gm of gold valued at Rs 29.06 lakh.

All the three arrested passengers have been handed over to the police for further action, the release said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BOISE  One of the loudest ovations during Mondays State of the State address wasnt for Gov. Brad Little.

Nope.

It was for Timberlake Junior High teacher Stacie Lawler, who brought lawmakers to their feet.

About 20 minutes into the speech, Little asked the Legislature to help him congratulate Lawler, who schools chief Sherri Ybarra and he named Idaho Teacher of the Year during a surprise ceremony in September.

Little paused his speech, raised his left hand and pointed toward the seating gallery above the House chambers.

Stacie, stand up, Little said, beaming.

Lawler stood, and so did nearly everyone else under the Statehouse rotunda.

For a full 21 seconds, legislators honored Lawler with a standing ovation.

Check the tape.

What a crazy day for me, but it was such an honor, Lawler said.

Although he joked that Lawler may have stolen some of his spotlight, Little said it was important to highlight Lawler on such a big stage.

Lawlers key mission as Teacher of the Year, she said, is combating the stigma around mental health.

I believe a major issue in public education today is educators lack of knowledge about mental health, Lawler wrote in her Teacher of the Year application. Its a frightening position to be in when you are ill-equipped to deal with a crisis.

One of the five recommendations Littles Our Kids, Idahos Future task force issued in November was supporting social-emotional learning and students who face mental health or trauma issues.

Little decided to prioritize the mental health recommendation during his State of the State address by asking the Legislature to invest $1 million in professional development and additional resources to support students.

Lawler is the perfect example of someone already prioritizing the issue, he said.

She goes beyond teaching subject matter and helps her students learn the skills they need to be successful in life, not just school, Little said during the State of the State.

After the speech, Lawler said she is pleased Little is prioritizing mental health.

I am very excited about Gov. Littles plans for social emotional health, Lawler said. Its such an important issue for me personally and professionally that listening to his speech yesterday was inspiring to say the least. I believe we can get some amazing things done to help our students. I am truly looking forward to this year and I hope to be able to make some baby steps towards getting our communities to understand that its OK to not be OK.

This isnt likely to be Lawlers last appearance at the Statehouse. Although Lawler is the first Teacher of the Year in recent memory to be invited to and featured in the State of the State, Idahos top teacher routinely meets with legislators and speaks before the education committees.

2019 Teacher of the Year Marc Beitia served as a member of the Our Kids, Idahos Future task force.

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Kiev is investigating whether Iran accidentally shot down a civilian airliner near Tehran using a Russian-made missile, its most senior security official has said.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraines Security Council, said officials were in Iran with a brief to look for any possible missile debris or evidence of a rocket strike.

A rocket strike, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main working theories, since there is information on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash, he said.

The British government said it was looking into concerning reports that the jet, which crashed on Wednesday, killing 176 people, may have been shot down. Briefing journalists following a call between prime minister Boris Johnson and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, a spokesman called for a credible and transparent investigation into what happened.

Over the past day, at least two images of what appeared to be missile debris from Russian-made Tor missiles have appeared on social media. The photographs had not previously been uploaded to the internet, but attempts to geolocate them to the crash site have so far failed, and they may be unconnected.

Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Show all 18 1 /18 Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran People stand near the wreckage after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran People and rescue teams are pictured amid bodies and debris All 176 people on board a Ukrainian passenger plane were killed when it crashed shortly after taking off, Iranian state media reported ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran One of the engines State news agency IRNA said 167 passengers and nine crew members were on board the aircraft operated by Ukraine International Airlines Iran Press via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Rescue teams work at the scene AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Passengers' belongings West Asia News Agency via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Members of the International Red Crescent collect bodies of victims EPA Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Rescue teams work amidst debris AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran A relative of a victim reacts at Boryspil International Airport, outside Kiev Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Part of the wreckage Iran Press via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran West Asia News Agency via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Officials inspect the wreckage EPA Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP

Mr Danilov said Ukraine was working on four theories. Three were concerned with an explosion of some sort: an explosion from a Russian-made missile strike, a bomb on board or a catastrophic explosion of the engine. The fourth possible cause was a flying object or drone colliding with the plane, he said.

Ukrainian investigators may have some difficulty in gathering that evidence. According to the countrys media reports, debris from the crash site has already been moved  raising doubts about the prospect of an independent investigation.

On Thursday, Yuri Butusov, a prominent journalist with strong links to Ukraines security services, published what he claimed to be the preliminary conclusions of an investigator working at the crash site. The source is quoted as saying there was no evidence of a fire inside the engines, instead suggesting the blaze originated inside the cabin for an as yet unknown reason.

The absence of communications with air-traffic control and absence of fire means you cant exclude the possibility of a terrorist attack, drone collision or missile strike, the source is quoted as saying.

Flight data suggested Ukraine International Flight 752 took off normally from Tehrans Imam Khomeini International Airport at 6.12am on Wednesday. Serious issues emerged two minutes later, about 8,000ft up, and the plane stopped transmitting data.

Footage released on the internet then shows the liner, a Boeing 737, engulfed in flames before plunging to the ground in a fireball and explosion. All 176 of those on board were killed, including nine crew.

Coming only a few hours after an Iranian attack on US bases in Iraq, the area was on high alert. American aviation authorities banned US airlines from flying in the region, lest a civilian plane be mistaken for a military one. Iranian authorities, however, did not introduce their own ban.

Aviation experts say a catastrophic event in an engine leading to the destruction of the plane itself would be an extraordinary occurrence. Modern civil liners such as the Boeing 737 are designed to fly safely on one engine.

None the less, early theories about the cause of the crash focused on engine failure. On Wednesday evening, a Reuters report, citing five intelligence officers, said the western intelligence community was minded to believe technical malfunction was most likely. Ukraines embassy in Iran initially took this view, ruling out the possibility of a missile attack, before hastily removing the statement.

Iranian officials almost immediately ruled out all causes that were not mechanical  itself an unusual step so early on in the investigation.

Recommended Everything we know about the Ukraine Boeing 737 crash in Iran

On Thursday, Irans civil aviation authorities issued a report that suggested the plane was hit by a sudden emergency. The crew did not declare an emergency, it noted, but were attempting to turn back towards the airport at the time of the crash.

Ukraines security chief Mr Danilov said that 45 Ukrainian investigators were already working in Tehran. Their initial priority would be to look for evidence of a rocket attack and to verify the images online.

Eliot Higgins, the founder of Bellingcat, the digital investigation group famous for its investigation into the downing of MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, confirmed that the photograph of Tor missile debris were new images as far as the internet was concerned. But on Twitter he suggested independent verification may prove elusive.

Theres other examples of this type of debris documented in other conflicts, so theres no way to know this is in Iran, he said.

Recommended Ukraine deletes statement attributing plane crash to engine failure

The Tor is a highly mobile Russian-made system used for low-altitude anti-aircraft tasks. Tehran took 29 from Moscow in 2007 in a massive arms deal.

So far, the investigation has been marred by confusion and controversy. Iran has signalled that it will not be sending the black boxes to Boeing or America. According to Vadim Lukashevich, an independent Russian aviation expert, Iran does not possess the expertise to analyse the flight recorders independently.

Given the level of suspicion, it is incumbent on Iran to provide proof that it was not responsible for the crash, and that means handing over the boxes to a reputable third country, he told The Independent.
Rescue workers search the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed in Shahedshahr, south west of the Iranian capital Tehran (Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

It is highly likely that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner, killing all 176 people on board, two US officials said.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing US troops.

The missile attack came amid a confrontation with Washington over the US drone strike that killed an Iranian general last week.

The officials said they had no certain knowledge of Iranian intent but said it could have been a mistake and that the airliner was mistaken for a threat.

President Donald Trump suggested he believes Iran was responsible and would not directly lay the blame on Iran, but dismissed Irans initial claim that it was a mechanical issue.

Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side, Mr Trump said, noting the plane was flying in a pretty rough neighbourhood.

Some people say it was mechanical, Mr Trump added.

I personally dont think thats even a question.

The US officials would not say what intelligence they have that points to an Iranian missile.

But they acknowledged the existence of satellites and other sensors in the region, as well as the likelihood of communications intercepts and other similar intelligence.

The US assessment comes after a preliminary Iranian investigative report released on Thursday said the pilots never made a radio call for help and claimed the aircraft was trying to turn back for the airport when the burning plane went down.

Expand Close People look at a memorial at Borispil international airport in Kyiv, Ukraine (Efrem Lukatsky/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp People look at a memorial at Borispil international airport in Kyiv, Ukraine (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Ukraine, meanwhile, said it considered a missile strike as one of several possible theories for the crash, despite Irans denials.

The Iranian report suggests that a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

Investigators from Irans Civil Aviation Organisation offered no immediate explanation for the disaster, however.

Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, something initially backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they would not speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6.12am on Wednesday Tehran time, after nearly an hours delay at Tehrans Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travellers in Iran.

It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000ft, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.

Then something went wrong, though no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations, the report said.

In emergencies, pilots reach out to air traffic controllers to warn them and to clear the runway for their arrival, though their first priority is to keep the aircraft flying.

Expand Close A rescue worker searches the scene where the plane crashed in Shahedshahr, south west of Tehran (Ebrahim Noroozi/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp A rescue worker searches the scene where the plane crashed in Shahedshahr, south west of Tehran (Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Witnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above it, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing at 6.18am, the report said.

Flight-tracking data for the plane stopped before the crash, which occurred in the town of Shahedshahr to the north east of the planes last reported position.

That is the wrong direction of the flight plan, bolstering the reports claim that the pilots tried to turn the aircraft back to the airport.

The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, probably because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

The report also confirmed that both of the so-called black boxes that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost.

It also said that investigators have initially ruled out laser or electromagnetic interference as causing the crash.

Hours before the plane crash, the US Federal Aviation Administration had issued an emergency flight restriction barring US carriers and pilots from flying over areas of Iraqi, Iranian and some Persian Gulf airspace, warning of the potential for miscalculation or mis-identification for civilian aircraft due to heightened political and military tensions.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraines Security Council, told Ukrainian media that officials had several working theories regarding the crash, including a missile strike.

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A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash, Mr Danilov said.

Ukrainian investigators that arrived in Iran earlier on Thursday are currently awaiting permission from Iranian authorities to examine the crash site and look for missile fragments, Mr Danilov said.

The Tor is a Russian-made missile system.

Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1s to Iran in 2007 as part of a 700 million dollar contract signed in December 2005.

Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades as well.

General Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, denied a missile hit the plane in comments reported on Wednesday by the semi-official Fars news agency.

He dismissed the allegation as psychological warfare by foreign-based Iranian opposition groups.

Ukraine has a grim history with missile attacks, including in July 2014 when one such strike downed a Malaysian Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.

Mr Danilov also said other possible causes under consideration included a drone or another flying object crashing into the plane, a terrorist attack or an engine malfunction causing an explosion.

However, no terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack and the plane was only three-and-a-half years old.
The missile attack on an Iraqi base on Tuesday was not a mere gesture of retaliation. Further aggression is likely, with no guarantee the US wont respond in kind, writes Bobby Ghosh.

There's a temptation to characterise the Iranian missile attacks on an Iraqi base on Tuesday night as the Islamic Republic letting off steam; a shot across the American bow, after which the two sides can begin to parley.

Its being suggested that if US president Donald Trump restrains himself from tit-for-tat action, the tensions raised by the killing of Qassem Soleimani might begin to ease.

Colour me sceptical. The regime in Tehran, having whipped itself into a hysteria over the assassination, is unlikely to satisfy itself with a mere volley of missiles; and the fact that no Americans were killed will do little to slake Supreme Leader Ali Khameneis blood lust.

More likely, the missiles mark the first salvo of what Khamenei has promised will be severe retaliation against the US for taking out Soleimani, his favourite killing machine. Having encouraged millions of Iranians to come out into the streets to mourn Soleimani and demand vengeance, the Supreme Leader has painted himself into a corner.

His description of Tuesday nights strikes as a slap in the face of the US will not fool his countrymen, and certainly not the families of the 56 killed in the stampede at Soleimanis funeral.

Nor will it suffice for Irans proxy militias in Iraq, which have lost several leaders to American attacks in recent days, including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iraqs Popular Mobilisation Forces.

The missile strikes were unambiguously of Iranian provenance; unlike, say, the attacks on Saudi oil installations last September, there was no obfuscation of the origins of the missiles, nor pretence that they were shot off by proxy militias acting on their own initiative. Khamenei had already signalled that he wanted the response to Soleimanis death to bear an Iranian signature, and he has been as good as his word.

This doesnt mean the next salvos will come from Iranian soil. Although Iranian militias were clearly under instruction to hold their fire, while Tehran took the first shot, theyve been itching to demonstrate their own fealty to Soleimani, and will now feel freer to act. This is especially true of the militias farther from the range of American counter-strikes: Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hamas in Gaza.

Nor has Khamenei forsworn the Islamic Republics traditional tactics: Unclaimed attacks on international shipping; rocket strikes on US allies, such as Saudi Arabia; the kidnapping of Westerners; cyber-warfare; and assassinations in Europe. The chances that Iran will use any of these measures are unchanged.

Some early reports suggest the absence of casualties from Tuesday nights barrage was no accident  that the Iranians warned the Iraqis of the incoming missiles, and the latter in turn warned the Americans.

But this was, more than likely, a courtesy extended to what Tehran regards as a friendly government in Baghdad. If the next strikes on US nationals or US interests occur in countries hostile to Iran, such warnings may not be forthcoming.

Nor is it safe to assume that Trump will leave the Iranian attack unanswered. He tweeted that all is well after the missile strikes, but that was a reference to the absence of American casualties, and shouldnt be read as a signal that hes prepared to wind down hostilities.

In ordering the killing of Soleimani, Trump indicated that he is willing to punish Iran directly, and disproportionately, for the actions of its proxies, so any attacks against Americans by an Iraqi militia could lead to blowback against Iranian targets.

Separately, the US may not have ended its campaign of decapitating the leadership of Iranian proxies. Even if these kill no more high-value Iranians, Khamenei may feel obliged to respond.

In Tuesday nights missile barrage, the Iranians showed not even a pretence of concern for Iraqi sovereignty. It suggests the Islamic Republic will no longer hold to its practice of using Arab proxies to kill Arabs, a risky change of tactics at a time when many Iraqis, Lebanese, and other Arabs are already outraged by Iranian meddling in their countries.

Khamenei may be calculating that the Iraqi government will make no more than a token protest at the attacks. Its a safe bet that the large contingent of Iraqi politicians beholden to Tehran wont be as offended by Iranian military action on their soil as they professed to be by Soleimanis killing.

But the Iraqi civilians whose recent protests have been overshadowed by the events of the past week will be outraged by Tehrans temerity  especially if it emerges that some of their fellow citizens were killed or hurt by the missile attacks. Their protests will grow more determined, and Khamenei will respond the only way he knows how: brute force.

Rather than putting a lid on tensions in Iraq and the Middle East, Irans missile attacks will almost certainly turn the dial up a notch.

Bobby Ghosh is a columnist and member of the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board. He writes on foreign affairs, with a special focus on the Middle East and the wider Islamic world.
Photo credit: AFP - Getty Images

From Popular Mechanics

Iran launched missiles against targets in Iraq hosting U.S. forces.

No Americans were killed or wounded in the attacks.

Satellite imagery suggests that Iran's missile strike was calculated to deliberately avoid U.S. casualties.

Today, at 1:30 a.m. Iraq time, Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles at U.S. forces. The missiles were targeted at Iraqi military bases hosting American forces. No Americans were reported harmed in the attacks. The barrage was a remarkably bold response to the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

At the time of writing, Iran had declared mission accomplished and that its attacks on U.S. forces would cease. Whether that cease fire will hold, on either side, nobody really knows.

The attack took place at approximately 5:30pm EST. The exact number of missiles launched is unknown and described by the Pentagon as more than a dozen, with PBS reporting the missile count at 15. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, the paramilitary organization that controls the countrys ballistic missile force claimed it had fired tens of missiles. Iran launched the missiles, which it dubbed Operation Martyr Soleimani, directly from its territory, a rare move for a country that often fights conflicts through proxies.

Photo credit: Anadolu Agency - Getty Images

Fox News reports that ten missiles struck Al Asad Air Base in western Iran, while CNN reports thirteen missiles. (CNNs count likely includes missiles that missed the base but technically targeted it.) Al Asad air base is 160 miles from the Iraq-Iran border. CNN also reports that there were Iraqi casualties at Al Asad but no details were available at this time.

At the same time, CNN reports that a U.S. base at the city of Irbil in northern Iraq was targeted with two missiles. One missile landed outside the perimeter of Irbil International Airport while the other landed 20 miles west of the city. Irbil is 95 miles from the Iraq-Iran border, in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Story continues

Four of the missiles reportedly failed in flight three aimed at Al Asad and one missile aimed at Irbil. Assuming that Iran indeed launched 15 missiles, thats a success rate of just under 66 percent. Early generation Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles used in the 1991 Gulf War had a 90 percent chance of reaching their targets, while the current generation of Tomahawk missiles are even more reliable.

Photo credit: Mohsen Shandiz - Getty Images

The missiles involved in the attack were likely Irans Fateh 110 short-range ballistic missiles (see top). A truck-launched missile, Fateh 110 has a range of 124 to 186 miles and packs a 1,100-pound, high-explosive warhead. The missiles might have also been the Zolfaghar , a newer, more accurate version of the Fateh with a 436 mile range.

Heres imagery of a missile that failed to reach its target. The missile appears to be a Qiam short-range ballistic missile, which is based on the Scud missile.

More images of Iranian missile. pic.twitter.com/0RMFOoXiOE  Aldin  (@aldin_ww) January 8, 2020

Iran has a long history of lobbing ballistic missiles. During the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, the two sides launched Scud missiles at one anothers major cities, each attempting to demoralize the enemy. After the war, Iran pursued ballistic missiles as an alternative to building up an air force and reportedly received technological assistance from North Korea.

In 2017, Iran launched between four and six Zolfaghar missiles at ISIS forces in the town of Deir Ez-Zor in Syria. Iran launched a similar strike in 2018. In September 2018, Iran launched ballistic missiles against Kurdish militant targets in Iraq.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps warned Washington not to retaliate or it will face a more painful and crushing response." The threat rings hollow, since the missile attack didnt actually hit anything, but it does signal that if the U.S. retaliates Iran will escalate.

Photo credit: Planet Labs

The U.S. may have an excuse not to retaliate if it chooses. Satellite imagery provided by Planet Labs shows that Iran apparently pulled its punch, targeting specific locations at Al Asad unlikely to host personnel. Analysis by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies strongly suggests Iran targeted buildings and structures where people were unlikely to be.

Photo credit: Planet Labs

If true, the Iranian strike sends two messages: one, that Iran is not interested in escalating the situation by deliberately killing and injuring U.S. troops. Iran needed to retaliate but may have done so in a way that doesnt force the U.S. to strike back. Second, precision targeting would also make it clear Iran could have gone after American forces if it wanted to.

For now both sides seem disinclined to continue shooting, but this incident could be the start of a new cold war between Washington and Tehran.

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Scott Morrison has denied telling townspeople in the fire-ravaged community of Kangaroo Island he was thankful nobody died in a devastating blaze which actually killed two.

The prime minister visited the South Australian island on Wednesday and was filmed discussing the disaster with locals.

In the footage, he said: 'Thankfully we've had no loss of life' and was interrupted by locals who reminded him that a beloved father-and-son duo died in the blaze.

But in a subsequent interview with ABC's 7.30 program, Mr Morrison said he had been misinterpreted.

'I was referring to lost volunteer firefighters when I made that remark on Kangaroo Island,' he said.

'That was pointed out to the ABC, so I'm disappointed that you'd raise that in that way.'

The prime minister disagreed with host Michael Rowland's assumption he'd struggled with the public backlash.

'It hasn't been your finest week has it?' Mr Rowland had asked prior to Mr Morrison's response.

Mr Morrison has been internationally criticised for his handling of the crisis - with many saying he lacked basic leadership skills and remained quiet about the issue for too long.

He also famously took a family trip to Hawaii as the nation burned.

But the Liberal leader said there was more going on behind the scenes than what the public saw, and that his party was mobilising well before any information was provided to civilians.

'You don't call out 3000 reservists overnight, that takes a few days for that to take place... These initiatives were already moving at that time. We had already been preparing some contingencies,' he said.

Well-known outback pilot Dick Lang (left) and his son, Adelaide surgeon Clayton Lang (right), died in the Kangaroo Island bushfire after their car was trapped by flames

Prime Minister Scott Morrison appeared to forget two people died on Kangaroo Island last week

Mr Morrison also took the opportunity to clarify his party saw obvious links between climate change and extreme weather.

During his visit to Kangaroo Island, he was interrupted by one of the locals to inform him that two men did in fact die on the island.

'Two. We've lost two,' they said.

Mr Morrison quickly backtracked in an attempt to rectify the blunder.

'Two. Yes two, that's quite right. I was thinking about firefighters firstly,' he said.

Mr Morrison is seen visiting a fire damaged property on Stokes Bay on Kangaroo Island, southwest of Adelaide, Wednesday

Picture taken on Kangaroo Island as the fire front approached last Friday

Bush pilot Dick Lang, 78, and his 43-year-old surgeon son Clayton were killed defending a property when the fast-moving inferno tore through the South Australian island last Friday.

Mr Morrison's team later said he was discussing firefighting efforts in the moments leading up to the conversation.

A spokesman for the PM said: 'The Prime Minister was referring to no loss of life of firefighters as they were discussing the firefighter efforts'.

'He was aware of the two deaths and met with one the relatives of those who were killed while on the island.'

The mishap comes just a week after Mr Morrison was heckled in the burnt out town of Cobargo.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is seen chatting with locals whose homes were ravaged when a fire swept through last week

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is seen visiting a fire damaged property on Stokes Bay on Kangaroo Island, southwest of Adelaide, Wednesday, January 8

One woman refused to return the prime minister's offered handshake until he organised more money for volunteer firefighters.

A gathered group of men and women proceeded to tell him he wasn't welcome in their town until he finally left.

On Wednesday, Mr Morrison drew on memories of visiting Kangaroo Island as a tourist years ago.

He lamented the loss of much of its 'spectacular' west coast from the fire.

While he saw just a snapshot of the devastated area, the PM said he had also seen photographs of what now resembled a lunar landscape, including much of Flinders Chase National Park.

But he told locals he was confident in their spirit and willingness to fight back.

A dead koala and her joey are seen after the blaze tore through Kangaroo Island

'I can tell you, you're going to rebuild, you're going to rebuild here in South Australia; they're going to rebuild in NSW and Victoria and in all the other places that are affected,' he said.

'And the platform we're going to build it on is you because you built it in the first place and you'll build it again.'

In addition to the two lives lost, Friday's fire razed 56 homes and scorched 160,000 hectares of land.

A further 236 outbuildings and 257 vehicles were also destroyed in the blaze.

Experts fear more than 100,000 animals perished as well. There are unconfirmed reports more than 1,000 beehives were lost in the blaze.

'This is still a large fire, which is not controlled,' chief officer Mark Jones told reporters.

'The fire has caused extensive damage to the Flinders Chase conservation park and devastated a number of small communities and properties.'

2019/2020 FIRE SEASON DEATH TOLL The national death toll of Australia's 2019/2020 bushfire season was 33 as of Monday, March 2, with 25 confirmed deaths in New South Wales, three in South Australia and five in Victoria. OCTOBER New South Wales: Robert Lindsey, 77, and Gwen Hyde, 68, were found in their burned out Coongbar home near Casino on October 9th. NOVEMBER New South Wales: The body of 85-year-old George Nole was found in a burnt out car near his home in Wytaliba, near Glen Innes. Vivian Chaplain, a 69-year-old woman from Wytaliba, succumbed to her injuries in hospital after attempting in vain to save her home and animals from the blaze. The body of 63-year-old Julie Fletcher was pulled from a scorched building in Johns River, north of Taree. Barry Parsons, 58, was found in a shed at Willawarrin, near Kempsey. Chris Savva, 64, died after his 4WD overturned near burnt-out South Arm bridge, near Nambucca Heads. A 59-year-old man was founded sheltered in a Yarrowitch water tank on November 7. He died of injuries on December 29. Victoria: David Moresi, 69, died after being involved in a traffic incident while working at the at the Gelantipy fire in East Gippsland on November 30. DECEMBER New South Wales: Firefighters Andrew O'Dwyer, 36, and Geoffrey Keaton, 32, died on December 19 after a tree fell on their truck while they were travelling through Buxton, south of Sydney. Samuel McPaul, 28, was battling a blaze in Jingellic, in Green Valley, about 70km east of Albury on the border of NSW and Victoria, on December 30 when a 'fire tornado' caused his 10-tonne firetruck to roll. South Australia: The body of 69-year-old Ron Selth was found in his Charleston home, which was destroyed by the Cudlee Creek blaze on December 21. NEW YEAR'S EVE FIRES New South Wales: Dairy farmer Patrick Salway, 29, and his father Robert, 63, died trying to save their property in Cobargo, near Bega, on December 31. A 70-year-old man, named by local media as Laurie Andrew, was found dead outside a home at Yatte Yattah, west of Lake Conjola. The body of a 70-year-old man was found in a burnt vehicle on a road off the Princes Highway at Yatte Yattah on the morning of New Year's Day. The body of a 62-year-old man was found in a vehicle on Wandra Road at Sussex Inlet about 11.30am on New Year's Day. A body, believed to be a 56-year-old man, found outside a home at Coolagolite, east of Cobargo on New Year's Day. An off-duty RFS firefighter, believed to be 72-year-old Colin Burns, was found near a car in Belowra after the New Year's Eve fires swept through. Victoria: Beloved great-grandfather Mick Roberts, 67, from Buchan, in East Gippsland, was found dead at his home on the morning of New Year's Day. Fred Becker, 75, was the second person to die in Victoria. He suffered a heart attack while trying to defend his Maramingo Creek home. JANUARY New South Wales: David Harrison, a 47-year-old man from Canberra, suffered a heart attack defending his friend's home near Batlow on Saturday, January 4. A 71-year-old man was found on January 6. Police have been told the man was last sighted on December 31, 2019 and was moving equipment on his property in Nerrigundah. An 84-year-old man who stayed to defend his home in Cobargo, NSW, dies in hospital three weeks after fire hit. His pet dog Bella, who stayed by his side as fires raged, was also killed in the disaster. Three American firefighters are killed when Coulson Aviation C-130 Hercules water bomber Zeus crashed while fighting fires near Cooma on Thursday January 23. They have been named as Capt. Ian H. McBeth, 44, First Officer Paul Clyde Hudson and Flight Engineer Rick A. DeMorgan Jr, 43. On January 24, Michael Clark, 59, was found in a Bodalla home destroyed by bushfires near the NSW South Coast town of Moruya. Victoria: Forest Fire Management firefighter Mat Kavanagh, 43, was killed Friday January 3 when he was involved in a two-car crash on the Goulburn Valley Highway. Bill Slade, a 60-year-old father of two from Wonthaggi was fighting fires with Parks Victoria at Omeo when he died on January 11. He has been remembered as one of the longest serving, most experienced and fittest firefighters. South Australia: Well-known outback pilot Dick Lang, 78, and his 43-year-old son, Adelaide surgeon Clayton Lang, died in the Kangaroo Island bushfire after their car was trapped by flames. Advertisement

The small island off the coast of South Australia state is home to about 4,500 people

Ember attacks contributed to the deadly blaze on Kangaroo Island, with fires popping up well in front of the actual fire front

The CFS has completed an aerial survey of the island to determine which areas are likely to be of most concern as temperatures push into the 30s later this week.

New activity is expected on the eastern flank of the fire in areas including Snug Cove, Stokes Bay and in the Andamel, Mt Taylor and Lathami conservation parks.

Mr Jones said the CFS would increase its capability on the island and expected to be well prepared.

Consideration was also being given to bringing in extra water bombers.

The Kangaroo Island town of Vivonne bay will be evacuated amid fears lives could be lost if a bushfire still burning escalates and breaches containment lines amid deteriorating weather.

Mr Morrison (far left) is seen with South Australian Premier Steven Marshall (second from the left) and Senator Anne Ruston (far right) during a visit to a fire damaged property on Stokes Bay on Kangaroo Island, southwest of Adelaide

Residents will be asked to seek refuge in either Kingscote or Penneshaw, with accommodation camps being set up.

'This a pre-emptive relocation due to the increased fire risk in the next two days,' the Country Fire Service said.

'Currently, there is no immediate threat to life or property but with increasing wind, warmer weather and going fires on Kangaroo Island, this situation is likely to change.'

About 75 people live in the south coast town and will not be allowed to return until Friday but then only if it is deemed safe.
Envoys from the US and 16 other countries visit Kashmir, assess security situation

US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster along with envoys from 16 other countries arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.

The envoys arriving at Srinagar airport. Photo courtesy: Twitter/@Rezhasan

The members were taken to the Army's 15 core headquarters in Srinagar from the airport. The envoys, mainly from Latin-American and African nations, met civil society members and were briefed on the security situation.

The envoys will next go to Jammu, where they will meet Lt Governor GC Murmu and other officials before returning to Delhi on Friday.

The visit comes five months after the Indian government revoked Article 370, which granted autonomous status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The visit comes five months after the Indian government revoked Article 370, which granted autonomous status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Photo courtesy: wikimedia

According to sources, the visit follows a number of countries requests for international oversight in the region, so that they could get a first-hand report of the situation on the ground following the abrogation of Article 370.

Sources: A delegation of 15 foreign envoys reached Srinagar and are currently being briefed by Indian Army on security situation. Delegation includes envoys from USA,Argentina,South Korea,Uzbekistan,Bangladesh,Norway,Maldives,Niger and Morocco. #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/GilcvzVmX1  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

Meanwhile, envoys from European Union member states have conveyed to the Indian government that they will visit the recently-formed Union Territory on a separate date and insisted on meeting prominent leaders of the region who are still under detention, including former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, and Mehbooba Mufti.

India had reached out to the P5 countries and all the world capitals, putting forward its perspective that the decision to abrogate Article 370 and bifurcate the state was an internal matter.

A delegation of foreign envoys meeting political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir. Photo courtesy: Twitter/@AdityaRajKaul

Pakistan has tried to corner India on the issue of Kashmir globally over the past few months and has also downgraded diplomatic ties by expelling their Indian envoy.

This is the second visit of a foreign delegation to Kashmir after 23 EU MPs had last year made a fact-finding trip to assess the ground situation in the UT. That visit and the International Institute for Nonaligned Studies, a Delhi-based think tank which had organised it, had faced widespread criticism for the choice of delegates and the Indian government distanced itself from the delegation, with Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy informing Parliament that the European parliamentarians were on a "private visit".
Security forces combed the dense forest belt along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district for the ninth consecutive day on Thursday in search of infiltrators who sneaked into the Indian territory from PoK, officials said.

The search operation was launched last week after two soldiers were killed in a gunbattle with heavily-armed Pakistani infiltrators in the Khari Thrayat forest.

The forces combed Khari area in Naushera sector on Thursday, the officials said.

Troops located a natural cave and fired a few UBGL grenades in it, they said.

Search operations have been conducted in Khodi, Darath, Moghaldaye and Potha areas of the district, the officials added.

Last Wednesday, the infiltrators were intercepted while trying to sneak into India from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, leading to the gunbattle, in which two Army men were killed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BERKELEY (BCN)

A restaurant supervisor at the DoubleTree hotel at the Berkeley Marina has been charged with two felony counts of rape for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting a guest last year, according to prosecutors and police.

Issac Amiga, 64, of San Leandro, is charged with rape by use of drugs and rape of an unconscious person for allegedly sexually assaulting the female victim last June 5.

Berkeley police said the woman had dinner at the restaurant at the DoubleTree at 200 Marina Blvd. and then Amiga paid for her meal and provided her with a complimentary glass of wine.

Police said the woman told investigators that later in the evening she began feeling "weird" and blacked out.

The woman said the next thing she remembers is being sexually assaulted by Amiga several hours later, according to police.

Amiga was arrested after DNA evidence indicated that he raped the woman, police said.

Amiga was charged on Dec. 24 and he pleaded not guilty at a hearing on Dec. 27.

Amiga, who is now free on bail, is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 15 for a pretrial hearing. His preliminary hearing, which will determine if there's enough evidence for him to stand trial, is scheduled for Jan. 31.

Copyright  2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
'Death in Paradise' star Ardal O'Hanlon has explained why he's saying goodbye to DI Jack Mooney and the BBC crime drama (BBC)

Death in Paradise star Ardal OHanlon has explained why hes leaving the murder mystery show ahead of its upcoming ninth series.

In a recent interview with Metro, the actor - who has played Detective Inspector Jack Mooney onscreen since February 2017 - assured fans that there isnt one specific reason behind his decision but that he felt like hed overstayed his welcome.

Read more: 'Midsomer Murders' lines up 'Strictly Come Dancing' crossover featuring former contestants

The 54-year-old also said that hed grown tired of spending every summer being away from his family while each series shoots in Guadeloupe.

They need me, he laughed. I feel like you can get too much of a good thing, and I think this is the kind of show that traditionally has always changed the lead because it is a very demanding job and you are away from home for huge periods of time.

OHanlon went on to say that he felt like hed explored every possible storyline and character arc with Mooney and that he figured something has to give if he wanted to challenge himself in his work going forward.

I dont think it was anywhere else for it to go really, he clarified, before going on to suggest that his exit - which is set to happen over the course of the new series - is likely to surprise viewers.

Read more: 'Strictly' star Danny John-Jules reveals why he quit 'Death in Paradise'

In October 2019, it was confirmed that Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps actor Ralf Little was on board to take over from OHanlon as a British detective tasked with solving crimes on a Caribbean island.

According to a recent report by Radio Times, hes set to play DI Neville Parker, having previously appeared on the show as holidaymaker Will Teague.

Death in Paradise returns tonight (Thursday 9 January) at 9pm on BBC One.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Lifestyle
A complaint has been lodged with the University of Southern Maine after a defaced Bible was used as part of an art display.

Riley Harris was the USM student behind the installation, which featured a Bible with torn pages and Satanic images splashed across the face of Christ.

It was a Christian man, Charlie Flynn, who said he couldnt help but be disturbed by the display after being informed about it by his young daughter  she had noticed the bizarre piece on show outside a classroom after the family had attended a church gathering at the Wishcamper Center.

The Casco Bay Church of Christ is one of several religious groups that rent various spaces on USM campus grounds.

This is someones sacred text being desecrated, destroyed and displayed in a public place, Flynn said, according to Central Maine. I couldnt help but feel no ones sacred text should be treated that way I think its very inappropriate and repugnant.

Harris defended his piece, titled Unholy Bible: Very Revised Standard Edition, insisting that it was part of an art assignment that challenged students to repurpose a book into something new.

I was thinking a lot about questioning authority in general, Harris explained. People question different types of authority, but for some reason, religious authority seems too taboo to question, so I thought I would give it a shot.

Jared Cash, the current vice president for enrollment management and marketing at the university, defended the artwork, noting that the university supports freedom of speech rights for all students, affirmed and upheld by Board of Trustee System Policy 212.

According to the policy, as long as the expression of free speech does not violate the law, defame specific individuals, genuinely threaten or harass others, or violate privacy or confidentiality requirements or interests, it is duly permitted on campus.

Although the University System greatly values civility and expects community members to share in the responsibility for maintaining a climate of mutual respect, demands for civility and mutual respect will not be used to justify restricting the discussion or expression of ideas or speech that may be disagreeable or even offensive to some members of the University community, the policy continues.

Thats not good enough for Flynn, who believes this is a classic case of double standards.

If I saw a Koran with pig blood on it, I would certainly call someone, or a Torah with unclean foods on it, he explained. This is a Bible with Satans image put over Jesus image and around Christmastime. I dont understand why that would be viewable in an institution of higher learning. This is USM, a school that services the community.

Photo courtesy: Getty Images/ClaudioVentrella, this is a stock image. To view the art project, click here.

Will Maule is a British journalist who has spent the past several years working as a digital news editor. Since earning a degree in international relations and politics, Will has developed a particular interest in covering ethical issues, human rights and global religious persecution. Will's work has been featured in various outlets including The Spectator, Faithwire, CBN News, Spiked, The Federalist and Christian Headlines. Follow him on Twitter at @WillAMaule.
CAIRO - A spokesman for one of Libyas rival factions has said its forces will keep fighting for the countrys capital after Russia and Turkey called for a ceasefire yesterday.

Spokesman for the self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces Ahmed al-Mosmari said in a video statement late Thursday that groups battalions will still try to take control of countrys capital Tripoli from terrorist groups. The armed forces, led by ex-general Khalifa Hifter, have been waging an offensive to try to take the city for months. Russia has helped them with expertise and mercenary fighters.

Both Russia and Turkey have been accused of exacerbating the conflict by giving military aid to its parties. Most recently, the Turkish parliament approved last week the deployment of troops to fight on behalf of the United-Nations supported government in Tripoli.

The U.N.-backed government, led by Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, meanwhile, welcomed the proposed ceasefire. It released a statement late Wednesday expressing its full support for the resumption of the political process and the elimination of the spectre of war.

Libya is currently governed by dueling authorities in the east and in the west. The east-based government is backed by the self-named Libyan Arab Armed Forces, commanded by Hifter. It is supported by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, as well as France and Russia. The western, Tripoli-based government receives aid from Turkey, Qatar and Italy. Both sides are bolstered by militias which draw from the countrys tribal factions.

Turkish President Recep Tayep Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin released a joint statement after a meeting in Istanbul calling for a Jan. 12 truce. They did not specify what the conditions would be.

Clashes have continued between the two sides this week. Fawzy Onis, a health ministry spokesman with the Tripoli-based government, said artillery shelling by Hifters forces killed two paramedics on Thursday near the coastal city of Sirte. Hifters forces recently seized the town.

Observes say the Turkish-Russian suggestion to stop the fighting was unlikely to gain traction with the forces fighting for the countrys eastern government, because it would mean having to sacrifice recent advances theyve made towards Tripoli. But the meeting between the two powers could show an intent to not worsen the violence.

If Turkey can assure that some military aid helping Hifter is withdrawn, there is no longer a need for Turkey to deploy massively, said Claudia Gazzini, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group in Rome.

The calls for a stop to the fighting came amid a flurry of diplomatic activity by European powers. After a meeting with the Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Thursday, Italys Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio wrote on his Facebook page that the E.U. must work together with the countries neighbouring Libya to find a solution to the present crisis, which at the moment sees in the cease-fire our principal aim.

The Turkish decision to send reinforcements to Tripoli has elicited condemnation from European governments including Italy, Sarrajs main European backer.

According to the U.N., more than 200 civilians have been killed and more than 128,000 people have fled their homes since the conflict escalated in early April of last year amid Hifters push towards the capital. The fighting has threatened to plunge Libya into violent chaos rivaling the 2011 conflict that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

____

Frances DEmilio in Rome contributed to this report
An asylum-seeking boy from Central America runs down a hallway after arriving from an immigration detention center to a shelter in San Diego in December 2018. Read more

The freedwomans longing bleeds onto the page in a June 1865 notice she placed in the Christian Recorder, archived in the museum of Philadelphias Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church on South Sixth Street:

INFORMATION WANTED: Can any one inform me of the whereabouts of John Person; the son of Hannah Person, of Alexandria, Va., who belonged to Alexander Sancter. I have not seen him for ten years. I was sold to Joseph Bruin, who took me to New OrleansThis is the only child I have and I much desire to find him

Anguished over family members gone missing during slavery, freedmen placed such ads in the Christian Recorder and other newspapers for at least 30 years after the Civil War ended, according to Margaret Jerrido, Mother Bethels archivist. Besides a record of loss, these notices spotlight how, by allowing slavery, the U.S. government colluded in ripping apart black families and damaging them.

Today, though President Donald Trump ballyhoos the value of families, his administration continues the countrys tradition of assault on black and brown families, committed when it seems expedient for the nations policies or pocketbook.

An estimated nine out 10 detained immigrant children lacking an attorney are ordered deported, according to research from Syracuse University in 2014.

This statistic may shock, but separating families of color has deep historic roots in the U.S.  ones we havent seemed to learn from.

In the 1860s, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs began establishing boarding schools for Native American children, often far from the reservations where their parents lived. Agents from the Bureau of Indian Affairs took Native children from their parents, sometimes by force, and sent them to the schools, said Ron Welburn, professor emeritus of English and cofounder of the Native American Indian Studies certificate at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Welburn has Native American and African American ancestry. These schools aimed to strip away the childrens Indian spirituality, culture, and language, he said.

The boarding schools taught the boys trades while girls learned domestic skills, and children sometimes faced physical and emotional abuse, according to Welburn. Richard Henry Pratt  who founded Pennsylvanias Carlisle Indian Industrial School, considered a model school for its time  declared that the schools would kill the Indian and save the man.

Most such schools had closed by the 1970s, but former students and their families still face a long road to wholeness. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, a Minneapolis nonprofit founded in 2012, helps individuals and families recover from the addiction, depression, and loss of language stemming from what some Native Americans call the American Indian holocaust, referring to the eradication of many Native peoples and their culture.

More recently, the U.S. government has again forced separation of brown children from their parents  now those who cross the Mexico-U.S. border illegally. The Trump administration first acknowledged family separations as part of its zero tolerance policy toward illegal immigration that went into effect in May 2018. But numbers from the Department of Homeland Security indicate families were being torn apart as early as October 2016. The process has brutalized more than 5,400 young people, including infants, by taking them from their parents, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Any single case reveals the childrens tenuous position. I worked on a case last February of a young woman whos 20 years old, but was developmentally delayed and really functioned as a 13- to 15-year-old, said Mount Airy attorney and social worker Judith Bernstein-Baker, who represents immigration clients pro bono. She was separated from her mother and sister and sent to a detention center in Battle Creek, Michigan, while her mother was released to live with relatives in Kentucky. The girl was almost deported because she could not express herself. I managed to get her released and reunited with her mom.

That is not the case for many families.

Although the administration officially ended zero tolerance and family separations in June 2018, as of mid-December 2019, the ACLU reported the government had conducted more than 1,100 separations since supposedly making that change.

Lets put school administrators feet to the fire about addressing the governments separating families of color in curricula.

Continued outrage at our government tearing kids away from their parents and putting them in tents, cages, filth, pain, and extreme temperatures can fuel action to address this wrong  and reckon with it as a long-standing element of U.S. history.

First: We can urge our government to apologize for brutalizing not only the thousands of children and their families at the border, but also African American families separated during slavery, and Native Americans and their descendants torn away from their parents  an apology Canada has already offered to its Native peoples, with a commitment to financial remedy.

Second: We can urge legislators to enact provisions to allow reunited families to remain in the U.S. for enough time to receive the intensive therapy needed for healing, as psychologists have recommended. Violence and poverty in these families home countries often put those resources out of reach.

We can also donate time, money, or both to groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, the International Rescue Committee, Physicians for Human Rights, and others working to reunite families and attend to their physical and emotional health.

Finally, lets put school administrators feet to the fire about addressing the governments separating families of color in curricula and textbooks. More knowledge will spur us to remain conscious of  and thus help avoid  repeating this hateful history yet again.

Constance Garcia-Barrio is a Philadelphia freelance writer. cgarcia-barrio@wcupa.edu
INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Police Association (NPA) has filed a friend of the court brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court not to accept review of an appeal by Black Lives Matter organizer DeRay McKesson. The brief supports Officer John Doe, who seeks to recover for serious injuries caused by a rock thrown by a participant in the Black Lives Matter protest lead by McKesson, that began peacefully but then turned into a "riot," when McKesson lead protestors in closing down the street in front of a police station. McKesson claims that the First Amendment protects him from civil liability for the foreseeable consequences of his own negligent, unpeaceful, illegal, and dangerous activity.

Baton Rouge Protest

On July 9, 2016, a protest began in Baton Rouge, one of many protests related to the Black Lives Matter movement, where protestors illegally blocked a public highway. DeRay McKesson served as prime leader and organizer of the protest. The Baton Rouge Police Department arrived prepared to make arrests. In response, protestors threw objects at police officers. One of the protestors threw a rock striking Officer Doe, from which he suffered serious injuries.

Officer John Doe brought suit for negligence against McKesson asking a court to hold McKesson legally responsible for Doe's injuries since McKesson had recklessly led protestors down a public highway knowing the protest would likely turn violent. Since the protest illegally blocked a public highway, it was foreseeable that police would respond by clearing the public highway and making necessary arrests. McKesson asserted that, since he engaged in a protest when illegally blocking the public highway, he cannot be liable for the consequences of his illegal activity under the First Amendment. The federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals held that McKesson could be liable for the rock-thrower under a negligence claim because there was a foreseeable consequence of McKesson's own unpeaceful, and illegal activities, which are not protected by the First Amendment.

NPA's brief argues that the First Amendment does not protect against legal liability for the foreseeable consequences of one's own negligent, and illegal activity which pose a risk of serious harm to others. The brief clarifies that NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., 458 U.S. 886 (1964), upon which McKesson relies, involved a lawful boycott, in which some, but not all, persons engaged in violent activity. The Supreme Court held that those not engaged in illegal acts could not be held liable for others' illegal acts based on their speech, unless the person engaged in lawful activity authorized the illegal acts or incited violence themselves. In this case, the First Amendment does not protect a person from damages for the reasonably foreseeable consequences of one's own illegal activities. Claiborne recognized protection for peaceful, lawful activities, but Mr. McKesson's actions in Baton Rouge were illegal and led to foreseeable violence.

The brief argues that police officers need tort protection from negligent and illegal activity that poses a risk of serious harm to them. The violent and illegal activity associated with the Baton Rouge protests has infected similar Black Lives Matter protests organized in several U.S. cities, including Ferguson, Dallas, and St. Paul. Given the violence in these similar protests, the harm to Officer John Doe was particularly foreseeable.

James Bopp, Jr. of The Bopp Law Firm, P.C. and lead counsel for NPA on the brief, says: "The First Amendment only protects speech and assembly that is peaceful and lawful. So, if someone engages in illegal activity while chanting slogans, the First Amendment does not protect them from liability for the reasonably foreseeable consequences of their illegal actions, and that includes violent acts of others that leader of the illegal protest could have reasonably expected. Police officers in particular need the protection of negligence claims compensating them for harms fairly traceable to those engaging in and leading illegal and dangerous activity."

View the amicus brief here.

NationalPolice.org is a 501(c)3 nonprofit with a mission of educating supporters of law enforcement in how to help police departments accomplish their goals.

Media Contact:

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Photo: The Canadian Press Rescue workers recover the bodies of victims of Ukrainian plane crash in Shahedshahr, Iran, Wednesday.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau says it's too early to say what caused a plane to crash in Iran, killing all 176 aboard, including 138 who were ultimately headed to Canada.

But Garneau says it's clear that something "very unusual" happened.

He says the pilot lost communication with controllers shortly after a normal takeoff.

He's urging against speculation until an investigation reveals more.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says there were 138 empty seats on a plane that landed in Toronto this afternoon.

They were supposed to be filled by people aboard the downed flight who were set to connect in Kyiv.

Meanwhile, the Iranian military is disputing any suggestion that the Ukrainian airliner that crashed on the outskirts of Tehran was brought down by a missile.

A spokesman for Iran's Road and Transportation Ministry says the pilot lost control after fire erupted in one of the plane's engines.

He didn't explain how he was able to confirm that information.
Lindy Klim recently welcomed her ex-husband Michael Klim's new girlfriend, Michelle Owen, into her inner circle.

And it seems the Australian DJ has now found her place in the Klim clan.

The brunette beauty re-posted an Instagram photo on Wednesday shared by her Olympic champion beau.

'I found my tribe!' It seems Michael Klim's new girlfriend Michelle Owen has found her place in his family as she enjoyed a swim with her Olympian beau and his three children on Wednesday. Michelle (centre) wrote on the post: 'I found my tribe', along with a smiling emoji

The underwater photo shows Michael, his three children with Lindy, and Michelle swimming in the sea in Bali.

Michelle shared the post and wrote in the caption: 'I've found my tribe' along with a smiling emoji.

Michael and Michelle debuted their romance back in October - five months after his split from Desiree Deravi - when they were spotted together at a cafe in Bondi, Woman's Day reported.

Loved up: Michael and Michelle (Pictured) debuted their romance back in October - five months after his split from Desiree Deravi - when they were spotted together at a cafe in Bondi

And it also seems the talented DJ has won Michael's ex-wife, Lindy's approval in recent weeks.

After New Year's celebrations, Michelle smiled for a group photo with the Balinese socialite herself.

Also featured in the photo was her ex Michael their eldest daughter, Stella, 16, and her second husband British property developer Adam Ellis

Lindy and Michael split in February 2016 after 10 years of marriage and share three children: daughters Stella, 13, and Frankie, eight, and son Rocco, 11.

It also seems the talented DJ has won Michael's ex-wife, Lindy's approval in recent weeks. After New Year's celebrations, Michelle smiled for a group photo with the Balinese socialite herself. (Pictured left to right: Michelle, Michael, Stella, Lindy and Adam)

She went on to marry property developer Adam in 2018, and together they welcomed daughter Goldie, in 2017.

Back in October, Lindy told Stellar her relationship with Michael as 'incredible' and revealed it took them four years to develop and achieve.

'We have been able to come through such a difficult time, and that's not to say I am going to sugarcoat it.'

'We are always going to have difficult moments that come up, but at least we can speak about it as adults and we can just not have the anger behind it anymore,' she told the publication.
Press Release

9 January 2020

HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee - The Canadian hotel industry recorded negative year-over-year results in the three key performance metrics during the week of 29 December 2019 through 4 January 2020, according to data from STR.

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In comparison with the week of 30 December 2018 through 5 January 2019, the industry reported the following:

Occupancy: -0.4% to 42.7%

Average daily rate (ADR): -0.3% to CAD166.14

Revenue per available room (RevPAR): -0.7% to CAD71.01

Among the provinces and territories, Prince Edward Island posted the steepest declines in each of the three key performance metrics: occupancy (-22.1% to 19.9%), ADR (-7.2% to CAD103.33) and RevPAR (-27.7% to CAD20.51).

Alberta saw the only other double-digit declines in occupancy (-11.1% to 31.8%) and RevPAR (-13.8% to CAD48.05).

Newfoundland and Labrador recorded the second-steepest drop in ADR (-4.8% to CAD110.15).

Quebec reported the highest rises in occupancy (+7.7% to 52.3%) and ADR (+7.3% to CAD184.74), which drove the only double-digit jump in RevPAR (+15.6% to CAD96.62).
Article 370: SC verdict on constitutional validity of Kashmir lockdown today

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Jan 09: The Supreme Court will pronounce its judgment on Friday, 10 January, at 10.30 am on the batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the restrictions and communication lockdown imposed in Kashmir since August 2019.

A number of petitions have been filed in the matter including that of private individuals, lawyers, activists and political parties and they have also challenged the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019, which splits J&K into two union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

On November 27, a three judges bench comprising Justices N V Ramana, R Subhash Reddy and B R Gavai had reserved judgment on a bunch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of Kashmir lockdown, which was imposed in the wake of abrogation of the special status of J&K on August 5 last year.

The apex court had heard the petitions filed by Anuradha Bhasin, Executive Editor of Kashmir Times, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Azad and few intervenors.

The PIL filed on 10 August had sought immediate directions for the removal of restrictions imposed on media, communication and the free movement of people.

The Centre on November 21 justified the restrictions saying that due to the preventive steps taken neither a single life was lost nor a single bullet fired.

The restrictions have virtually paralyzed the lives of 7 million people; their daily lives have been impacted. Education, medical care, business, agriculture, tourism etc, have taken a bad hit due to the lockdown of the state, submitted the petitioners.
CHICAGO, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Mergers and acquisitions continued to permeate the healthcare financial landscape, often driven by the potential for hospitals and health systems to transform their business model, in the face of increased pressure from existing and new competitors, as well as changing consumer demands and government regulations. Those are just a few of the findings in Kaufman Hall's new report, 2019 M&A in Review: In Pursuit of the New Bases of Competition.

While the $278-million average size of sellers by annual revenue in 2019 was down from the historic high of $409 million set in 2018, it still remained well above recent historical levels. Additionally, the trend toward partnerships between financially strong or market-defining health systems continued, with three announced transactions falling into the category of "mega-mergers" (transactions in which the smaller partner had more than $1 billion in annual revenue) and 11 where the smaller partner had annual revenue between $500 million and $1 billion. In five transactions, the smaller partner had a credit rating of "A" or higher. Kaufman Hall classified only 20 percent of sellers as financially distressed, equal to the percentage in 2018.

Overall activity remained strong and steady as well, with 92 transactions announced in 2019 compared to 90 in 2018.

Other key findings in the report include:

Partnerships continue to diversify in both form and participants, as competition increases to control healthcare's "front door." Payers, health systems, physician practices and digital health companies are increasingly looking to align with legacy healthcare delivery organizations, build additional consumer access points, develop lower-cost sites of care and improve consumer convenience and access.

Not-for-profit systems continued to be the primary acquirers of other health systems, accounting for 80 percent of transactions in 2019. Of those, 66 percent involved the acquisition of another not-for-profit organization while 14 percent saw not-for-profits acquire for-profit health systems. For comparison, not-for-profits were the acquirers in 76 percent of transactions in 2018, 76 percent in 2017, and 75 percent in both 2015 and 2016.

Health systems continue to look across state lines, or leapfrog geography entirely, to seek out new growth opportunities, diversify bases of operations and pursue greater complements to existing operations. There were four such cross-state transactions in 2019, a similar number to those observed last year.

"What we saw in M&A activity in 2019 represents a clear turning point away from the aggregation of assets and toward real transformation of hospitals and health systems," said Anu Singh, managing director at Kaufman Hall. "Acquirers are less focused on obtaining 'more of the same' and instead are looking for ways to expand their portfolios, market opportunities and service offerings, especially when it comes to consumers. The transactions we're seeing, for the most part, are being driven more by strategic considerations than purely financial concerns. It's a trend we expect to see continue in 2020, and also accelerate in terms of more cross-vertical partnership activity."

The 2019 report notes several changes in the healthcare landscape that are contributing to the need for transformation. Competitive approaches from organizations such as CVS Health, which launched the first of its HealthHUB locations and later announced plans to expand the concept to 1,500 locations, and the opening of the first "Walmart Health" location that offers primary care, dental care and behavioral health, are spurring hospitals and health systems to rethink some components or all of their business model.

Consumer demand for friction-free, convenient and transparent experiences was another factor noted in the report. Previous Kaufman Hall research found that only 36 percent of parents would choose their child's primary care physician for a minor illness or injury, and 72 percent would opt for an alternative option if they had to wait more than one day for an appointment. The ability to deliver a better overall consumer experience will continue to factor more heavily into decisions, necessitating a substantial change over the current approach for many.

Changes by CMS in its 2020 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) final rule requiring hospitals and health systems to offer "consumer friendly" price information by 2021 on roughly 300 shoppable services are placing further pressure on legacy healthcare organizations. When coupled with a drive by insurers, risk managers and employers to change the high and inconsistent costs of legacy providers, the report concludes that M&A activities aimed at transformative changeincluding reductions in total cost of carewill remain strong for the foreseeable future.

"Hospitals and health systems cannot be complacent and rely on historical success. Tried and true business models are becoming obsolete and entirely new approaches to thrive in transformation will be required to compete in this new market reality," said Singh. "The way we deliver and consume healthcare is changing rapidly. In order to compete, especially against competitors with deep pockets or specialized expertise, legacy providers need to invest, build or collaborate to form new strategies and rethink operations and still be able to move quickly to execute on market opportunities. This report demonstrates that healthcare leaders understand this and are taking the necessary steps to enable their organizations to reinvent themselves as needed to come through the current market turbulence in even better shape than they went into it."

Read through and download a copy of the 2019 M&A in Review: In Pursuit of the New Bases of Competition.

About Kaufman Hall

Kaufman Hall provides a unique combination of software, management consulting and data solutions to help society's foundational institutions realize sustained success amid changing market conditions. Since 1985, Kaufman Hall has been a trusted advisor to boards and executive management teams, helping them incorporate proven methods, rigorous analytics and industry-leading solutions into their strategic planning and financial management processes, with a focus on achieving their most challenging goals.

Kaufman Hall services use a rigorous, disciplined, and structured approach that is based on the principles of corporate finance. The breadth and integration of Kaufman Hall advisory services are unparalleled, encompassing strategy; financial and capital planning; cost transformation; treasury and capital markets management; and mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, and joint ventures.

Kaufman Hall software includes the Axiom Software Suite, providing sophisticated, flexible performance management solutions that empower finance professionals to analyze results, model the future, and optimize organizational decision making. Solutions for long-range planning, budgeting and forecasting, performance reporting, capital planning, and cost accounting deliver decision support, reporting, and analytics within an integrated software platform. Kaufman Hall's Clinical Analytics empower healthcare organizations with clinical benchmarks, data, and analytics to provide a higher quality of care for optimized performance and improved patient outcomes.

Press Contact:

Philip Anast

Amendola Communications (for Kaufman Hall)

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 312-576-6990

SOURCE Kaufman Hall

Related Links

https://www.kaufmanhall.com/


Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae called on Micheal Martin to grasp the nettle and force a General Election, adding it should be the Fianna Fail leader and the Rural Independent Group who put forward the motion of no-confidence in Health Minister Simon Harris.

Mr Healy-Rae compared the Government to a car with no brakes and four bald tyres rolling down a hill. This Governments race is finally ran.

The Kerry TD went on to describe the health service as a shambles requiring a root and branch approach.

Simon Harris should be ashamed of his tenure as Minister for Health, he said.

Of course we should have a general election, this Government has gone by its sell by date.

Mr Healy-Rae said he did not have confidence in the Minister for Health, the Minister for Housing or the Taoiseach.

The best he (Taoiseach) could do was come out and celebrate the Black and Tans. He did a U-turn then when he saw the backlash.

The issue is that people want an election and they want it now. Lets have it, let the people have their say.

Mr Healy-Rae's brother Danny, also a Kerry TD, supports the motion of no-confidence and also had sharp criticism for the Government.

"Time is clearly up for this Government as they have left the people down badly especially Minister Simon Harris in Health, Minister Eoghan Murphy in Housing and Minister Shane Ross along with the Government have done more harm to the people of rural Ireland than any previous Government."
arrest Open source

A few months ago, on November 27, 2019, Russian security services detained 64-year-old Halyna Dolhopolova on suspicion of state treason. Crimean Human Rights Group reported this.

According to the press service of the FSB of the Russian Federation, the woman was allegedly recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services and, on the instructions of the Main Intelligence Directorate, was gathering secret military information.

Leninsky District Court sentenced the woman under the article of the Criminal Code of Russian Federation for state treason. She was chosen a preventive measure in form of an arrest for two months, that is, until January 26, 2020.

As it was reported earlier, at least 89 people stay in Russian jails in Crimean cases. The majority of the convicted, 65 people, are Crimean Tatars. Head of Crimean human rights group Olha Skrypnyk stated the the rights of these people were flagrantly violated as the evidence against them was rigged and they are kept behind the bars illegally.
NEW HAVEN  A 20-year-old city man accused of trafficking marijuana and illegally carrying a handgun last November was convicted Thursday, federal authorities said.

Jamie Middlebrook was found guilty of guilty of one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, and pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm while a convicted felon, the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticuts office said Thursday.
A former principal dancer of the English National Ballet has appeared in court accused of groping three young women while working as a dance teacher.

Yat-Sen Chang faces 14 charges of sexual assault in relation to three women in London between December 2014 and December 2016.

The 48-year-old, who now lives in Germany and performs at a dance school there, is alleged to have molested a female student and her friend at the West London School of Dance.

The woman, who was over 16, was receiving private tuition from Chang when she was assaulted, Westminster Magistrates Court heard today.

Yat-Sen Chang (pictured outside Westminster Magistrates Court) faces 14 charges of sexual assault in relation to three women in London between December 2014 and December 2016

Chang is pictured (centre) performing The Snow Queen at the English National Ballet in London in January 2010. He joined in 1993 after moving to the UK from Cuba, where he was born. He left the position as principal dancer in 2011.

The former dance teacher is said to have touched the genitals of the pupil and her friend, who is also over 16.

A third alleged victim was mentioned in court but no details of that charge were given.

Rose Edwin, prosecuting, said the crimes showed 'a high degree of breach of trust.'

She said: 'He is a well known and highly respected dancer.

The 48-year-old, (outside court today) who now lives in Germany and performs at a dance school there, is alleged to have molested a female student and her friend at the West London School of Dance

'There are three complainants in respect of this matter. Victim one is an ex-pupil who had private lessons at the academy's premises.

'Victim two is a friend of victim one who also made allegations of sexual touching.

'Police are contacted by Hammersmith council with concerns about sexual touching.'

Referring to the severity of the crimes when asked by District Judge Angus Hamilton, she said: 'It was two individuals and the touching of naked genitalia.

'The first two victims we say are in category two. The other is a category three.'

The court heard how Chang lives with his partner Emma and has a daughter in the UK. She is also a dancer.

Ms Edwin said: 'He lives in Germany and is employed there on a contract with a dance school. He is performer not a teacher he does not have any supervisory role.

'He lives with his partner Emma who was his partner at the time the allegations were made.

'He does have a daughter who resides here in the UK. She is herself a ballet student'

Chang sat in the dock wearing a light blue suit over a quilted black gilet and black turtle-neck jumper and spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth, address, and nationality as Cuban.

Chang was bailed at Westminster Magistrates Court (pictured) and his case adjourned until another hearing at Isleworth Crown Court on February 6

His barrister, Catherine Daly, indicated he would plead not guilty to all charges when he appears at Isleworth Crown Court next month.

The alleged offences came to light when police were contacted by Hammersmith Council.

Chang was granted bail until his next court appearance on February 6 on the condition he does not contact the alleged victims.

Concluding the hearing, District Judge Hamilton said: 'I have made the decision that your case is of such a serious nature it must be dealt with at the crown court.

'I'm sending you to crown court unconditional bail and the one condition is that you do not contact directly or indirectly.'

Chang joined the English Nation Ballet in 1993 after moving to the UK from Cuba, where he was born. He left the position as principal dancer in 2011.

During his career he has danced leading roles in productions including The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, San Lake, and Romeo and Juliet.
The suspect in Huntsvilles first homicide of 2020 is believed to be in Birmingham, authorities said.

Because authorities believe the deadly shooting suspect might be traveling to a veterans affairs clinic, the VA Medical Center and Clinic in Birmingham were on lockdown and canceled appointments Thursday afternoon. Patients and their families were eventually allowed to leave the VA clinic on 24th Street at Seventh Avenue South Thursday evening. Precautions are still underway at the medical center on 19th Street and at the clinic, said spokesman Jeff Hester.

Patients, their caregivers and non-essential employees were allowed to leave the facilities. The hospital remained on diversion - or not receiving new patients - Thursday night. Hester said no decision has yet been made about Friday appointments but said updates will be posted on the Birmingham VA Medical Center Facebook page.

"The safety of our Veteran patients, guests and staff is our number one priority,'' said Birmingham VA Health Care System Director Stacy Vasquez. The steps taken were to ensure we protect those in our care.

The VA is letting patients and their families leave now. Employees will be released. VA and UAB police remain on scene pic.twitter.com/FUzifGhSN6  carol robinson (@RobinsonCarol) January 9, 2020

Huntsville police identified the slaying suspect as 46-year-old Cornett Demetric Evans. Hes wanted on a warrant charging him with murder, said Huntsville police Lt. Michael Johnson. Evans may be armed and suicidal, the authorities said. Evans is described as about 5 feet 11 inches tall and 193 pounds. He may be driving a gold Jeep Patriot with Alabama tag YAN258.

The shooting happened around 11:30 a.m. in the parking lot of Sunlake at Edgewater Apartments off Zierdt Road in Huntsville. A woman died after being taken to Huntsville Hospital in critical condition. Her name hasnt yet been released.

Police are publicly encouraging the suspect to surrender.

HPD is looking for a person of interest involving an 11:30am shooting from Lakefront Rd. The victim is in critical condition. 46 yr old Cornett Demetric Evans is sought for questioning in this case. If you have any information please call HPD 256-722-7100. pic.twitter.com/9VBA2HLjqi  Huntsville Police (@HsvPolice) January 9, 2020

Huntsville police just want a safe and quick resolution, Lt. Michael Johnson said earlier Thursday.

Shortly after the shooting, officers unsuccessfully searched for the suspect at an apartment complex in Huntsville.

Police emphasize there has NOT been an active shooter at the VA in Bham. Lockdown is a precaution. https://t.co/lE3kDnMnn5 pic.twitter.com/sGdjWBnqqs  carol robinson (@RobinsonCarol) January 9, 2020

Updated Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020 at 5:53 p.m. to show patients were allowed to leave the Birmingham VA.

AL.com reporter Carol Robinson contributed to this story.
Employees of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service have banned Russian blogger Alexandra Mitroshina from entering Ukraine for three years, the State Border Guard Service has reported.

"Yesterday, on January 8, at the capital's airport, employees of the State Border Guard Service banned a Russian citizen born in 1994 from entering Ukraine for three years. A Russian blogger who violated the rules of entry and exit to the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine  the Autonomous Republic of Crimea - was identified by border guards at Boryspil Airport when she was leaving Ukraine. She checked in for a flight to Minsk," the report reads.

She was informed of the decision to deny her entry to Ukraine and a respective note in her passport was made.

The State Border Guard Service also noted that the Russian citizen entered Ukraine a few days ago via a railway checkpoint as there were no restrictions on her entry when she crossed the border, as well as no information that she visited temporarily occupied territories.

The report notes that in 2019 alone, border guards denied entry to Ukraine to more than 7,300 Russian citizens on whom an entry ban was imposed or who exceeded their stay or with respect to whom there was information that they illegally visited occupied territories.

op
A company release also noted that InsuraGuest has applied for licenses for the remaining 34 states, and is expecting to receive approval by the third quarter of this year.

We continue to build our insurtech platform and product offerings to service our customers and build shareholder value, explained InsuraGuest chairman and CEO Douglas Anderson.

According to InsuraGuest, its API integrates with about 71 different property management systems. This allows hotels and vacation rental operators to conveniently offer their guests coverage for the duration of their stay. The company hopes that its establishment of an in-house insurance agency would be just as successful as its platform, while providing InsuraGuest an opportunity to better serve clients who have properties outside the US.
Representative image

After a private school in Ahmedabad asked its students to write a message supporting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), parents' pushback against the move forced the school to apologise and call the exercise a "misunderstanding".

According to a report by The Indian Express, Little Star School in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city had asked its students from classes V to X to write a message congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi and saying that the students and their families support the Act.

According to some of the parents, during classes on January 7, teachers wrote a short congratulatory message on blackboards and asked their students to copy it on their postcards, to be delivered to PM Modi.

According to the report, the students were asked to submit these postcards, addressed to "PMO, South Block secretariat building, Raisina Hill, New Delhi" along with their addresses.

"My daughter studies in Class VI. I got to know on Tuesday evening that her teacher had asked the entire class to write congratulatory messages in support of CAA to Modi. My child doesnt understand the issue. She is being forced to be a part of it, which is unacceptable to us," a parent told the newspaper.

Another parent alleged that students in Class X, who are to appear for their internal exams, were told that those who do not submit the postcards would not be given marks in the internal exams.

"What is the purpose of mentioning their residence address, that too without the parents permission?" the parent said.

According to the report, dozens of parents went to the office of the school trustee-cum-owner on January 8 and protested against the exercise. The school management then apologised and returned the postcards to the parents.

The school management also told the newspaper that it had not conducted the exercise under the influence of any party.

"The issue has been sorted out, it was a case of misuse of authority by some teachers who conducted the exercise in some classes on Tuesday without my knowledge. We returned the postcards to the parents, and they tore them up," said Jinesh Parasram, trustee and owner of the school.
Alice Wells, US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS), is scheduled to visit India from January 15 for a three-day visit to attend Raisina Dialogue.

During her visit, she will meet with senior government officials to advance the US-India strategic global partnership following the success of the 2019 US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue and will discuss topics of mutual interest with members of the business community and civil society, said US State Department in a statement on Thursday.

The second annual 2+2 dialogue was hosted by the US State Department and attended by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, along with their American counterparts Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark Esper on December 18.

Wells will visit India as part of her three-nation tour on January 13 to January 22.

On January 13-14, she will be in Colombo, Sri Lanka, to meet with senior government officials and members of civil society to discuss a range of bilateral and regional issues, including shared interests in a free and open Indo-Pacific region that fosters prosperity, democracy, justice, and human rights.

Wells will then travel to New Delhi from January 15-18.

Finally, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Wells will travel to Islamabad, Pakistan, from January 19 to January 22. She will meet with senior government officials and members of civil society to discuss issues of bilateral and regional concern.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The majority of Americans seem to not know where Iran is, even as the US appears on the brink of war with the Middle Eastern country.

Thats according to a new poll out by Morning Consult, which found that just 28 per cent of registered voters were able to point to Iran on an unlabelled map of the Middle East, Europe, northern Africa and south-central Asia.

Just 23 per cent of respondents to the poll were able to correctly identify Iran on a map of the entire world, even as 69 per cent opined that the strike ordered by Donald Trump to kill Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani had made a war with Iran more likely.

The Independent set out to New Yorks Times Square on a chilly afternoon to quiz people on the whereabouts of Iran, using a similar zoomed-in map of the region and a red marker.

Of nearly a dozen people who took a shot at the quiz on Wednesday, just one correctly identified the location of Iran  a young man who said he is from France.

US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Show all 35 1 /35 US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures This photo released by the Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office shows a burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, early Friday 3 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures The wreckage of the car in which general Soleimani was travelling when a targeted US airstrike struck outside Baghdad International Airport on 3 January Ahmad Al Mukhtar via Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Demonstrators burn the US and British flags during a protest in Tehran after general Soleimani was killed in a targeted airstrike by American forces Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike. The Pentagon said Thursday that the US military has killed general Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, at the direction of Donald Trump AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn Israeli and US flags as thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of general Soleimani at the hands of America EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of Donald Trump pray at an 'Evangelicals for Trump' campaign event held on the day following the killing of general Soleimani. At the event, the president praised the "flawless strike that eliminated the terrorist ringleader" AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A huge procession of mourners gather in Baghdad for the funeral of general Soleimani on 4 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of Soleimani during an anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iraqis perform a mourning prayer for slain major general Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards at the Great Mosque of Kufa AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A billboard reading 'Death to America and Israel', installed by Iran-backed shiite armed groups at a street in Jadriyah district in Baghdad, Iraq EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him visiting the family of Soleiman KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US flag as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Jalal Feiruznia, looks to a portrait of Soleimani, as he receives condolences at the Iranian embassy, in Beirut, Lebanon AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures People make their way on the street while a screen on the wall of a cinema shows a portrait Soleimani in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Aziz Asmar, one of two Syrian painters who completed a mural following the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani poses next to his creation in the rebel-held Syrian town of Dana in the northwestern province of Idlib AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A demonstration in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures An anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Mujtaba al-Husseini, the representative of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivers a speech in the holy shrine city of Najaf AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US and Israeli flags as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters demonstrate in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shi'ite Muslims hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, in Peshawar, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters, holding a photograph of the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran Massoud Rajavi, outside Downing Street in London PA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn a US flag in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A Syrian man offers sweets to children to mark the killing AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers attend a mourning prayer for Soleimani in Iran's capital Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shout anti American and anti Israel slogans during a protest AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshipers chant slogans during Friday prayers Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A protest against the USA, in Islamabad, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranians burn a US flag in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin, Germany Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol a road in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel. Following morning's killing of Major General Qasem Soleimani, Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement called for the missile strike by Israel's closest ally, to be avenged AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian women take to the streets in Tehran EPA

Many of the others pointed to the general area surrounding Iran: One picked Afghanistan, another pointed to Turkmenistan, and yet another flagged Saudi Arabia. One woman pointed to Serbia as the location of Iran, and a man quickly pointed to France before walking away. A woman in a Queen Elsa  from Disney's Frozen, so she was technically Scandinavian  costume pointed to China (which was cut off on the map presented to her).

Iran is somewhere over here in East Africa, one man said, pointing to Egypt. Later when asked, he said he was following the crisis even if he couldnt point to the country on a map: Ive been paying attention to it. Ive been seeing whats going on and I feel like Iran might be  I think that Trump did a kind of f****d up [thing].

Asked if he thinks the US will go to war with Iran: I think were already in that state.

Iran Iran Thats it? one woman visiting New York with friends from Michigan said, while searching the map. The group ultimately marked Afghanistan, which borders Iran to the East.

Still, theyre also worried about the escalating tensions: A lot. We get alerts on our phone. Yeah [were worried], the woman said.

Its that one, said another woman visiting from Minnesota, pointing to Serbia. Ive kind of tried to follow along with it.  Im interested.

One man, a veteran of the Navy who said he was deployed to the Middle East in the 1990s, suggested that Iran wasnt actually on the map handed to him, before pointing to Turkmenistan as the location when reassured the document wasnt a trick map.

The man, visiting from Connecticut with his sons  one of whom he said is in the military  said he has been briefly paying attention to the crisis. He continued to say hes for it, meaning military conflict with Iran if it comes down to it.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : In wake of the locust swarm reaching Rajasthan from Pakistan, the Narendra Modi government has firmed up measures to deal with the incursion and a three-member team of Union Ministers will be touring the border area to take stock of the situation.

Led by Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, the team, which also includes Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhury will inspect the border districts to gauge the extent of the damage.

Talking to IANS on Thursday, Choudhury said that his department was fully prepared to deal with the marauding insects and for this purpose, advanced machines were being sourced from Britain and this would reach affected areas in Jaisalmer and Barmer in the next three days.

"To deal with the locusts, our personnel and officials are already deployed in the border areas and are being helped by the local farmers. I and Cabinet Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat are personally going to the affected areas on January 12 to take stock of the situation and interact with the farmers." Choudhury said that Prime Minister Modi was quite concerned at the situation, and had directed that all necessary measures be taken," he added.

It is understood that the Agriculture Ministry has bought 10 Micronair machines from Britain, which will be soon employed in the affected areas. These machines have already undergone filed trials where they have been seen to be successful in dealing with the menace.

The locust swarm from across the border has wreaked havoc on crops in the border districts of Jaisalmer, Jalore and Bikaner. At first, drones were used in a bid to counter them, but given the extent of their devastation, the need for other measures was felt.

Choudhury said that the locust swarm had first descended on Gujarat, but the state government dealt with the situation on a war-footing and achieved success within two days, but claimed that Rajasthan, despite several requests, had not cooperated.

"If Rajasthan had cooperated, then the locusts could have dealt with much earlier.. ... I think there should not be any politics on farmers' issues." Explaining the locusts' habits, he said that the locusts arrive in a huge swarm and the place where they are overnight, each locust lays 170 eggs and as the eggs hatch in seven days, the number keeps on increasing... Our personnel reach the chosen areas in seven days and destroy the locusts." The bajra (pearl millet), jeera (cumin) and isabgol (psyllium husk) crops have been most affected by the locusts, and it is here that the micronair machines will be used.

Latest updates on Howdy Modi Houston
He is 29 years old, has a keen interest in international law and global affairs, is inspired by former British premier Tony Blair and new Labour, and flaunts his woke credentials by expanding his full name to include that of his mother.

Meet Aaditya Thackeray, Maharashtras new environment and tourism minister. After a successful maiden electoral run, the Yuva Sena chief and son of Shiv Sena president and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and wife Rashmi, has been pitch-forked into a ministerial role.

The Maharashtra assembly polls and its aftermath have seen the Shiv Sena cross the rubicon in more ways than one. The partys first family Thackerays, who have traditionally stayed out of government and power and preferred exercising control over it from outside traditional structures, plunged into electoral politics.

Aaditya became the first Thackeray to seek public office from the Worli assembly constituency in central Mumbai. A month of dramatic developments later, the Shiv Sena broke ties with erstwhile ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and joined hands with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), with Uddhav becoming chief minister of an alliance government.

In a surprise move, Aaditya was inducted into his fathers cabinet, making them the first such father-son duo to be part of a government in Maharashtra.

Like his induction into the dust-and-grime of electoral politics, which party insiders said was meant to keep leaders with soaring aspirations in check, Aadityas entry into the cabinet and choice of portfolios is also strategic.

Unlike ministries like home, urban development and co-operation, Aadityas departments of tourism and environment do not involve a heavy element of interaction with people at large. But they have a large footprint in terms of employment generation and social impact.

Visitors to the Thackeray residence of Matoshri at Bandra in Mumbai during the early 1990s recall how Meenatai, wife of Shiv Sena supremo late Bal Thackeray, would deal with her husbands irritation or anger while discussing things with visitors.

Whenever Balasaheb lost his cool, Maasaheb (as she was called by the party faithful) would send some tea or eatables to break his link. If this did not work, she would put baby Aaditya on his lap. Aaditya was the favourite of his grandfather, who loved children. Aaditya would begin playing with Balasahebs rudraksha beads and the ruse would work, they explain.

Much like the stabilising, calming influence that he had on his fire-and-brimstone grandfather, Aaditya  who has cemented his position in the Shiv Senas chain-of-command  is seen as one who can sober his party and give it a much-needed progressive makeover.

Even most hard-bitten Sainiks agree that the party, which was born out of the social and economic angst of the sons-of-soil, namely the Maharashtrians in Mumbai, needs to evolve as a pan-Maharashtra regional force.

Aaditya, with his elite, cosmopolitan education  at the Bombay Scottish school and later St Xaviers college where he completed his bachelors in history before studying law  is seen as a change agent.

Many insiders in the Shiv Senas pyramidal aristocracy, where rules of entry are decided and enforced by the first family, say Aaditya is the antithesis of the typical Shiv Sainik. This is due to his soft-spoken style of speech, sophisticated mannerisms, interest in issues like international law and diplomacy, and environment.

However, like many well-laid plans, the devil lies in the details.

For one, despite the Shiv Sena claiming to be the alter-ego of the Marathi manoos, numbers of Marathi-speakers in Mumbai have continued to shrink under its watch compared to others like Hindi-speaking north Indians.

The fall in this core vote-base necessitates the need for the Shiv Sena, which has to contend with other rivals in this niche space like the rival Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), to create an auxiliary constituency to hold on to its control of the megapolis.

However, this outreach is easier said than done. Like after the state of Maharashtra was formed with Mumbai as its capital in 1960, the Marathi-speakers in the city are not in a majority but remain the largest minority, with its attendant insecurities.

The Shiv Sena feeds on this minority complex, using it to rally its forces, and any dilution of this position can be exploited by other political parties like the MNS, which is led by Uddhavs estranged cousin Raj.

The Shiv Senas sharp turn to Hindutva in the late 1980s helped it expand in communally-sensitive parts of Maharashtra, and develop a base in sections of non-Maharashtrians in Mumbai.

But this came at a price in a fast post-modernising Mumbai, which was in the throes of a social and economic transition with the retreat of the manufacturing sector, which dispossessed predominantly Marathi labour.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha and assembly elections, the MNS harnessed this anger and caused the Shiv Sena- BJPs defeat. The excessive focus on Mumbai has also prevented the Shiv Senas growth as a pan-Maharashtra regional force, like parties down south.

The strategy to expand its footprint seems to be on the cards considering Aadityas multi-lingual posters during his campaign in Worli, which however led to consternation in the party.

Despite its strong Maharashtrian presence, Worli has a cosmopolitan vote base and in 1951, saw the first north Indian MLA  Pandit Bhagirath Jha of the Socialist Party  being elected to the Bombay assembly, thus awakening the political aspirations of this social group.

Shiv Sena leaders say Aaditya was insistent on getting the tourism and environment portfolios.

Aadityas choice may be strategic. The tourism sector, despite its employment generation potential, has not received its due in the state governments scheme of things.

Though Maharashtra has the scenic Western Ghats, a 720-km shoreline and beaches, rich archaeological sites, over 350 forts, hill stations and cutting-edge medical facilities, the tourism sector is unorganised.

Despite its employment and revenue generation potential, and the obvious trickle-down effect, the tourism sector has been languishing largely due to the lack of a policy push. And jobs for sons-of-soil has been the Shiv Senas war cry, since its birth in 1966.

According to the Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2018-19, at an all-India level, the state leads in foreign tourist visits, but stakeholders claim many of these visitors use Maharashtra as a transit spot. As serving and former officials in the tourism department admit, the state can do better when it comes to exploiting its potential.

Aadityas other portfolio, the environment department, will also necessitate some tight-rope walking when it comes to balancing the interests of industry with that of ecology.

The department was held by the Sena in the Fadnavis government but had little to show in terms of performance, except an ill-conceived and poorly-executed ban on disposable, single-use plastic that is observed more in violation. The ban, incidentally, was seen as Aadityas brainchild.

As political observers note, from organising self-defence camps for girls, speaking about overhauling education, and importing Humboldt Penguins from South Korea for the civic body-run zoo in Mumbai, Aaditya has launched a new brand of civil, aspirational politics. This is a fresh, scarcely occupied political space and akin to breaking new ground for the Shiv Sena, which is rooted in its politics of identity.

The tourism and environment portfolios will help expand this agenda to cover livelihood and ecological issues.

However, as a Congress politician says, Aaditya may have to negotiate his way through the partys old guard, sections of which may resist change.

One of Aadityas college mates at the elite St Xaviers college remembers him as a student who never put on any airs. He recalled how Aaditya would participate in the college fest Malhar like any other volunteer, in a department which involved heavy physical work.

The question is, will Aaditya be successful in doing the heavy lifting to transform his party and governance at-large? Or will he prove to be yet another political dynast  they include around half of the Maharashtra council of ministers  who has made it to where he did by an accident of birth?

For Aaditya, the clock is ticking

(Dhaval Kulkarni is a journalist and author of the book The Cousins Thackeray: Uddhav, Raj and the shadow of their Senas, which is the first political biography of Uddhav and Raj Thackeray. Views are personal)
FLINT, MITwo University of Michigan-Flint professors received a $600,000 grant to teach students about global society.

The grant will be used to develop and teach new humanities-focused first-year classes that ask students to ponder their place in a globalizing world. Daniel Birchok and Jacob Lederman, who applied for the grant, will co-teach the first course.

We applied to this grant following discussions around how we could broaden our vision of education abroad to include global processes taking place in our own region, Lederman said.

The professors want to show that Flint hasnt been left out of globalization, despite the narrative suggesting is has since it deindustrialized, Lederman said.

Our city is very much a part of global processes, from new forms of international migration to the physical and metaphorical borders that produce our city, region, and the international border an hour away, Lederman said.

Birchok and Lederman said they were thinking of ways to get students learn more about global processes through travel.

It couldnt be just studying abroad, it needed to be an opportunity for students to understand how global processes work and how they relate to our region, Birchok said.

The grant was awarded to the university by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and will also help other professors create similar high-impact curricula.

The courses will be centered on aspects of the broader theme borders and crossing, Lederman said. This includes topics like transnational literature or immigration.

Two faculty members will teach each course and will have time to develop immersive experiences like field trips and bringing in national-level speakers on the topics picked.

Each course will culminate with a spring break trip where students will experience first-hand topics and issues raised in class, Lederman said.

The grant allows students to do so without any additional fees, Lederman said.

The courses will be taught off-campus. The pilot class taught by Lederman and Birchok will be offered in winter 2021 and more courses will be added in 2022. Both professors traveled abroad as undergraduates and said the experiences expanded their way of thinking about how the world is interconnected.

The class will take an experimental trip to Toronto and Windsor in Canada during spring break. This will give students a chance to compare their communities with those in Canada.

Global processes have left Flint with a diminished industrial sector, and for that reason people often think Flint has been left out of the global conversation, Lederman said. But we want students to think about ways Flint is very much involved in global processesmigration patterns and Flints continuing relevance in the auto industry, among many others.

Lederman said hes most excited about the courses brining the community connections that will be made through this grant.

Flint has a number of resources and institutions that could enrich humanities and humanistic social science courses, from the Flint Institute of Arts to local activist networks, Lederman said.
Our latest Personal Insight submission is a cautionary tale for men and women alike. Fiona Cooney, a young Irish expatriate presently living in Vancouver, bravely recounts a Christmas Eve celebration which almost cost her her life and which served as a massive wake-up call as regards her relationship with alcohol.

WHAT should have been a joyful Christmas Eve, quickly turned into the scariest night of my life.

My eyes open, I immediately recognise my pink duvet and the familiar dip in my mattress. I know Im in my bedroom, the problem is I dont remember how I got there. Its Christmas day in Vancouver, I moved here from Ireland two years ago. I had spent the night before with my housemates at our local haunt, an Irish pub located downtown.

I stumble out of bed and approach the mirror with caution. Im still in last nights clothes, but thats not uncommon. I notice that my hair is pulled back into a bun with a bobby pin placed on either side. Im confused, my hair wasnt up when I left the house that night. In fact I never wear it like this. Im too self-conscious about my side profile to leave it so exposed.

My attention then shifts to my left wrist. I notice that a bright blue plastic band is tightly secured around it. On closer inspection I realise its a hospital bracelet with my name on it. My heart immediately sinks.

I desperately try to piece together the events of last night, but to no avail. I open the door and head for the living room, I can hear my housemates talking. The look on their faces as I approach says it all. I know that what Im about to hear is not going to be pleasant.

I had hoped to spend this Christmas with my family in Ireland. However my bank balance failed to comply. For the second year in a row I would spend the holiday season away from the Emerald Isle. Luckily I share a house with three fellow Irish expats. Over time weve become our own kind of family.

Its funny how you leave your homeland seeking something different, yet instinctively end up craving what you know. Case in point-our favourite Irish pub. In a city as vast as Vancouver, we somehow end up in the same bar, surrounded by the same people week after week.

This Christmas Eve was no exception, we piled into a taxi and made our way downtown. I can vividly remember my first two hours in the pub that night. I greeted familiar faces with sheer excitement. I could feel my homesickness dissipating with every hug. The foundations for a fantastic night had been laid. But thats as far as my memory takes me. The rest is a big, bleak, blank.

I should probably mention that in-between all the hugs, and catch ups I had somehow managed to down 5 double vodkas. This was on top of the three I had already consumed at home as part of my pre-game ritual. Any experienced drinker knows the importance of soakage. You never embark on a session with an empty stomach. I made the unfortunate mistake of skipping dinner that night, leaving my body defenceless against the onslaught of vodka.

I was discovered at approximately 7.35 p.m. unconscious in an upstairs corner of the pub. My friends had made several frantic attempts to wake me. The bar staff had also intervened, yet still I remained unresponsive. They were left with no other option than to ring an ambulance. So there, in front of the entire Irish community I was carried out of the pub on a stretcher.

I was 19 when I had my first drink. Some might say I was a late bloomer considering my Irish status. My early experiences with alcohol were mostly positive. Of course it took a few years, and a few killer hangovers to learn my limits. But I loved what it did for my confidence. Vodka somehow managed to silence my crippling insecurities.

When I was drunk I didnt care so much about the way I looked or if my dance moves were up to scratch. It gave me a sense of freedom, revealing a side of my personality that had previously lay dormant.

The novelty of being drunk eventually wore off. Somewhere along the line my relationship with alcohol shifted. Initially, I used it to provide a much needed confidence boost. But in recent years it has become an anesthetic of sorts, a way for me to numb the reality of my existence.

In most respects I live a pretty charmed life. Im in good health. Ive travelled, met some amazing people and made incredible memories. All this aside, Im still plagued by a feeling of emptiness. I used to be the ultimate optimist. I had big dreams, and I was confident that I would fulfill them by the time I reached my 30s.

But here I am at 35-yet to achieve any substantial success both professionally and personally. This self-perceived failure has taken its toll on my confidence. Its caused me to question everything. Perhaps I was delusional to think I had any legitimate potential.

The events of Christmas Eve prompted a massive wake-up call. It turns out that drinking on an empty soul is just as dangerous as drinking on an empty stomach. Your state of mind prior to taking that first sip can ultimately dictate the kind of experience you have.

As traumatic as that night was, Ive come away with a renewed sense of optimism. I have so many regrets from the last few years, most of which are the direct result of intoxication. I look forward to reclaiming control. Control over what I say and what I do. I want to wake up every morning with a clear head, and a clear conscience.

My attitude towards life in general has changed. At the risk of sounding dramatic, Im so lucky to still be here. I could have easily slipped into a coma, or chocked on my own vomit. My housemates have told me that while I was unconscious, they were left to contemplate who would ring my mum if I didnt wake up.

The guilt and shame I feel about what happened has yet to subside, and I'm not sure it ever will. I recently came across a quote that said "the best apology is changed behaviour" (anonymous). With that in mind I vow to change. I vow to change for those who helped me that night.

I want them to know that their efforts were not in vain. I vow to change to for my family, so that they won't be on the receiving end of a devastating phone call. And finally, I vow to change for me.

I have so many things that I still want to achieve. My inner optimist has officially been resurrected. When you remove the burden of expectation, anything is possible.

The author, Fiona Cooney

- Fiona Cooney is a journalism graduate with a passion for writing human interest pieces.

This submission is part of an ongoing digital initiative on irishexaminer.com called Personal Insights.As part of the Personal Insights initiative we are asking readers, creative writing groups and writing enthusiasts in general to share personal essays chronicling an experience which has impacted their lives and any learnings from that life experience they would like to share with a wider audience.The essays should be sent directly to the executive editor for news and digital, Dolan OHagan, at dolan.ohagan@examiner.ie for consideration.Please note all submissions should be given the subject line Personal Insights submission to ensure they are picked up and should include any related imagery and a contact telephone number.Only submissions which meet the Irish Examiners own strict journalistic, ethical and legal guidelines will be considered for publication.The Irish Examiner reserves the right to edit submissions in line with those guidelines and before publication direct contact will be made with the person who has submitted the content.No payment will be made for submissions and our decision as regards publication is final.Our goal is to publish one submission per week and use all our powers to make sure it is seen by as wide an audience as possible.We look forward to reading your stories.
Sofia Richie enjoyed an action-packed Aspen vacation with boyfriend Scott Disick over New Years.

The trip was filled with endless gondola rides, ski lessons, shopping trips, and dinners out.

But the 21-year-old model appeared happy to return to her regularly scheduled routine, as she hit up her go-to eatery, Mauro's Restaurant, in Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon.

Richie shared with her 6.2million Instagram followers that she got her hair freshly colored and styled earlier in the day by her hairstylist, Kathleen.

Her favorite place: Sofia Richie was spotted out at her go-to LA eatery, Mauro's Restaurant, on Wednesday afternoon

Off-duty: The 21-year-old model usually takes a comfier spin on the off-duty model look

Richie showed off her sun-kissed, blemish-free complexion as she exited the popular Melrose avenue restaurant.

She wore a pair of cat-eye style sunglasses that dressed up her overall casual ensemble.

Featuring artwork from famed artist, Keith Haring, Sofia donned a pull-over, off-white sweatshirt, which she paired with basic, dark wash denim, and Chanel sneakers.

And, once again, strewn across her chest was her beloved Prada cross-body bag.

But, prior to munching on her favorite dish at Mauro's, Richie partook in some significant image altering activities.

Sofia is known for her toned abdominal muscles and overall fit physique.

But that kind of body comes from hard work and Sofia put in the work this morning with her friends and her trainer, Chase Weber.

Va-va-voom: Richie documented her entire hair transformation on her Instagram story on Wednesday

End result: It was clear Sofia was happy to have her balayage refreshed by her hairstylist Tauni

Making waves: Her other hairstylist, Kathleen, came in clutch with some textured beach waves for Sofia to wear out to her lunch date at Mauro's

She posted a photograph from the workout session on her Instagram story.

'Gang gang' captioned Richie, as her and her workout group posed in the gym's mirror.

Sofia positioned her leg up onto a work out bench, showing off her booty gains for the camera.

Later on, the Select Model met up with her hairstylists, Kathleen and Tauni, for some overdue TLC.

Taun fixed Sofia up with a brand new dye job to kick off the New Year.

Still blonde as ever, the new color treatment, called a 'balayage,' allowed Richie's darker roots to blend more seamlessly with her bleached ends.

'New color' toted Sofia on her Instagram story, as she flashed a pleased smirk.

Kathleen finished up Sofia's day in the salon, by adding textured beach waves to her freshly dyed strands.
American military and intelligence officials were stunned at the precision, scale and sheer boldness of what they later concluded was an Iranian attack.

Four months ago, a swarm of low-flying armed drones and cruise missiles struck oil tanks in the central hub of the Saudi petroleum industry, catching Washington by surprise and temporarily knocking out 5 percent of the worlds oil supply. Almost no country in the region  Israel may be the exception  could have defended against it.

The Iranian attack on American military posts in Iraq early Wednesday  the only direct attack on the United States or its allies claimed by Iran since the seizure of the American Embassy in 1979  relied on ballistic missiles and inflicted little damage.

But with tensions between the United States and Iran at the highest level in four decades, the unexpected success of the September strike on the Saudi oil facilities is a stark reminder that Tehran has an array of stealthier weapons in its arsenal that could pose far greater threats if the hostilities escalate.
Fort Gaines, a military fortification built in 1821 at the tip of Dauphin Island, is known to many history buffs as the place where Admiral David Farragut, from aboard the USS Hartford just offshore, famously commanded: Damn the torpedoes  full speed ahead.

Farragut reportedly gave the command on Aug. 5, 1864, during the Battle of Mobile Bay in the Civil War. But the preserved fortress is the site of other historical accomplishments  including its state-of-the-art self-flushing latrine.

When studying military sites and battles, our first thoughts are likely not where the soldiers would relieve themselves but, when you think about it, it had to be among the first considerations of those building a fort. Four hundred men were housed at Fort Gaines at its peak and those men would need facilities in quiet times and during attacks. After all, fighting for ones life does not preclude natures call. So the builders of Fort Gaines came up with a plan to keep the site clean and smelling pretty  or at least less icky.

Building the fort

In 1821, construction began on a fort on Mobile Bay to help protect the eastern portion of the coast from invaders. It was named for War of 1812 veteran, Maj. Gen. Edmund Pendleton Gaines, who died in 1849. He is buried in historic Church Street Graveyard in Mobile, Ala.

An article on Encyclopedia of Alabama says construction was halted soon after it began. Originally designed in 1818 as the identical twin to Fort Morgan, work on the Dauphin Island fort was suspended in 1821 when Congress cancelled funding. Although Congress again authorized funding for the fort in 1846, construction did not begin until 1857. Army chief engineer Joseph Totten then scrapped the original 1819 plans and designed the pentagon-shaped Fort Gaines using the latest French fortification theory of the 1850s to guard the seaward approaches to Mobile Bay and the eastern entrance of the Mississippi Sound.

The fort was held by Confederate forces from January 1861 until their defeat in the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864. Fort Gaines was upgraded in 1901 and 1904 and was active during World War I and, briefly, during World War II. It was abandoned as a military installment and opened as a state park in 1955. Click here to see the virtual tour created by David Brown with Mobile Boy Scout Troop 85 for his Eagle Scout project.

The latrine

The exhibits on display today at the fort include a blacksmith, bakery, kitchens, tunnel systems and original cannons, as well as the anchor from the USS Hartford. Historical re-enactments are held regularly at the site, which is open for daily tours at 51 Bienville Boulevard on Dauphin Island. For information, 251-861-6992 or visit dauphinisland.org.

The famed latrine was preserved as an exhibit. It has 10 seats or holes, which provided very little privacy for the soldiers housed at the fort. Because the fort is located mere feet from the Gulf of Mexico, builders realized nature could provide a solution to their sanitation issues. The 10 toilets were built so that any waste would be washed out by regularly occurring tides.

The toilets were unusual for another reason: They were designed to be accessed by tunnels at the fort so that even during battle, men could make visits to the latrine when necessary. Because who wants to be under fire while going about his business?

It is even one of the worlds few latrines with its own historical marker, which reads: This was not your everyday outhouse. It has ten seats that connected by way of a culvert to the Bay. The tide would come in and out once a day and flush the toilets. This was necessary being that over 400 men used these latrines daily. It was connected to the courtyard by a long tunnel and to the rifle lines by doorways to the left and right.

Fort Gaines has been well preserved but its location on the Gulf puts it in a precarious position when storms hit. It has been damaged numerous times by hurricane winds. In 2011, it was named to the list of Most Endangered Historic Places in America by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
CHICAGO, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) today announced a new partnership with the Uncle Kory Foundation to accelerate brain tumor research. Through this partnership, the Uncle Kory Foundation will invest $100,000 in the ABTA research program to fund two glioblastoma research projects. For more than 46 years, the ABTA has served the brain tumor community by funding research and delivering patient programs and services.

"Through collaboration with the Uncle Kory Foundation, we aim to leverage the strengths of each organization to maximize impact and drive change within this underserved disease population," said Ralph DeVitto, president and chief executive officer of the ABTA.

With an established and sophisticated mechanism to evaluate and foster brain tumor research, the ABTA has earned recognition as a trusted and committed research conduit for organizations and foundations who aim to advance brain tumor research. Since 1976, the ABTA has awarded more than $32 million in research grants to scientists from around the world to discover more about the causes, effects, diagnosis and treatment of pediatric and adult brain tumors.

The Uncle Kory Foundation was founded in 2014 in honor of Kory Hunter, with the mission to advance innovative and collaborative brain cancer research to specifically improve the survival rate and treatment of those diagnosed with glioblastoma.

"This collaboration is the key to success," said Renee Vachon, director of operations of Uncle Kory Foundation. "By leveraging the ABTA research platform we can adhere to our mission of funding innovative research for glioblastoma in a concise and effective effort."

The Uncle Kory Foundation is an important new partner for the ABTA's research initiatives. The ABTA is grateful to them and other established research collaborators within the brain tumor community, including the Joel A. Gingras, Jr. Memorial Foundation and Humor to Fight the Tumor.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN BRAIN TUMOR ASSOCIATION

Founded in 1973, the American Brain Tumor Association was the first national patient advocacy organization committed to funding brain tumor research and providing support and education programs for patients, caregivers and their loved ones. For more information, visit abta.org or call 800-886-ABTA (2282).

SOURCE American Brain Tumor Association

Related Links

http://www.abta.org


A Harris County grand jury has indicted a Houston-area attorney with assault after he was accused of trying to strangle his girlfriend, a county magistrate.

She told police that Oliver Jason Brown, 40, became enraged on Aug. 27, when she couldnt calm their daughter, who was crying in a bedroom.

Brown pushed the woman into a bathroom and punched her in the face, according to court documents. He covered her mouth and nose with his hand for 60 seconds, preventing her from breathing, she said, but she was able to move his hand away from her mouth.

He then put pressure around her neck until she managed to escape his grasp and run to her car, where she waited for police, the documents show.

When they arrived, authorities noticed visible injuries on the magistrates face and neck. Brown was uncooperative and wouldnt leave the house, stating he was a lawyer and that deputies would need a to-be (warrant) to get me, according to court records.

Brown, who practices criminal, family and civil law, was charged in August with assault of a family member, impeding breathing, and posted a $5,000 bond. A grand jury indicted him Wednesday.

His defense lawyer, Chukwudi Egbuonu, would only say: We just look forward to proving his innocence in court, he said.

The allegations against Brown highlight a dangerous form of domestic violence where someone has, in essence, practiced homicide, said Kelsey McKay, a consultant to the Harris County District Attorneys Office and founder of the nonprofit RESPOND Against Violence.

People who survive an attempted strangulation are almost between six and eight times more likely to be killed by the abuser within a year, according to multiple studies.

McKay said attempted strangulation is an escalated type of domestic violence.

Its done not just to physically assault another person, but its done to install the fear and feeling of what its going to be like when they die, McKay said.

Browns girlfriend is a Harris County hearing officer, and often determines initial bond amounts for defendants in probable cause court, including in domestic violence cases. The Houston Chronicle does not typically name victims of assault.

Judge Abigail Anastasio recused herself after the case was assigned to her court. She said she has no personal bias against Brown, but couldnt be on the case as a matter of propriety, according to court documents.

Brown is currently representing Cynthia Bailey, who is at the center of a legal fight about her eligibility for the District B runoff. She finished second in the Nov. 5 election and qualified for the runoff, which has been postponed. A 2007 felony conviction for theft is the subject of litigation that led county officials to remove her race from the ballot.

samantha.ketterer@chron.com
Its always wise to preface articles like these by noting that any dissent against Trump within the Republican ranks usually ends the same way: With the dissenters completely caving, oftentimes in the most craven way imaginable, while never taking any meaningful action against Trump, even in their votes, before the inevitable capitulation.

Armed with that context, and fully forewarned, its worth looking at the reactions of Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rand Paul (R-KY) following the Wednesday briefing from the White House on the Qassem Soleimani assassination. This isnt some Susan Collins-style serious reservations politicking; they seem genuinely mad. Heres Mike Lee, per the Times:

He blasted the administration for what he called a shoddy briefing on the presidents strategy on Iran, delivered in what he described as an insulting and demeaning way by administration officials he said were unwilling to engage in a genuine discussion about a possible military escalation in the Middle East.

The message, Mr. Lee said, was: Do not debate, do not discuss the issue of the appropriateness of further military intervention against Iran. If you do, you will be emboldening Iran.

Lee called it, probably the worst briefing Ive seen, at least on a military issue, in the nine years Ive served in the United States Senatethey had to leave after 75 minutes while theyre in the process of telling us that we need to be good little boys and girls and run along and not debate this in public. I find that absolutely insane. I think its unacceptable.

For his part, Rand Paul was upset about the justification for the strikes, which relied on some wild logic:

In the briefing and in public, this administration has argued that the vote to topple Saddam Hussein in 2002 applies to military action in Iraq. That is absurd, Mr Paul said in an interview with CNNs Wolf Blitzer.

Nobody in their right mind, with a straight face, with an ounce of honesty, can argue when Congress voted to go after Saddam Hussein in 2002, that authorised military force against an Iranian general 18 years later.

Of course, in contrast to Lee and Paul, the lickspittles definitely came out of the woodwork:

Natl Security officials gave a compelling briefing to Senators just now. They answered every important question.



Anyone who walks out & says they arent convinced action against #Soleimani was justified is either never going to be convinced or just oppose everything Trump does.  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) January 8, 2020

On Trumps personal talk show, Fox & Friends, Mike Pence did the trust me, it was definitely necessary routine in response to Lee and Paul:

To protect sources and methods, were simply not able to share with every member of the House and Senate the intelligence that supported the presidents decision to take out Qassem Soleimani. I can assure your viewers that there was a threat of an imminent attack, said Pence.

Lee clarified that his problem isnt with killing Soleimani, but with the possibility of more with Iran, whichare kinda the same thing, or at least two discrete spots on the same trajectory. His concern is about authorization for the war in the future, but the truth is that this is the price Congress pays for the strength of the executive branch. For the past four decades at least, including under the Obama administration, presidents have given themselves more power, and in cases like these, Congress has been neutered. Lee and Paul are bristling against that reality, but the truth is the executive branch doesnt need to give them a thorough briefing, or a consultation. It should be different, and hopefully complaints like these can spur change in the relative autonomy of the White House.
BARCELONA, Spain, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Almirall, S.A. (ALM) and WuXi Biologics ("WuXi Bio") (2269.HK) have today announced the signing of an agreement. Through this collaboration Almirall embarks on its strategy to develop highly innovative biologic products for dermatology diseases including atopic dermatitis.

Under the terms of the agreement, Almirall has access to WuXi Biologics' proprietary antibody platforms including WuXiBody to discover multiple novel bispecific antibodies. This strategic collaboration permits Almirall to develop the medication under licence and maintain ownership for medical use of the resulting components to complete the company's objective of developing biologics to tackle skin diseases.

Bhushan Hardas, MD, MBA, Chief Scientific Officer of Almirall, commented that, "This agreement is a big step forward for us in our objective in becoming a leader in biologic medical dermatology treatments. With WuXi Biologics technology platform and our long experience and understanding in the area of dermatology, we will be able to identify new molecules with the potential to become optimal alternative therapies for patients with atopic dermatology."

Dr. Chris Chen, Chief Executive Officer of WuXi Biologics, stated, "We are delighted to establish this collaboration with Almirall, the 12th global partnership since we launched this exciting platform in August 2018. This represents one further step in validating the power and versatile applications of WuXiBody in multiple therapeutic areas, underlining our leadership in next-generation biologic technologies and demonstrating our contributions to enable global partners to develop more new treatments for patients worldwide. WuXi Biologics is committed to developing globally leading technologies to accelerate and transform biologics discovery, development and manufacturing."

About Almirall

Almirall is a leading skin-health focused global pharmaceutical company that partners with healthcare professionals, applying science to provide medical solutions to patients and future generations. Our efforts are focused on fighting skin health diseases and helping people feel better. We support healthcare professionals in their continuous improvements, providing our innovative solutions where they are needed.

The company was founded almost 75 years ago and has its headquarters in Barcelona. It is listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange (ticker: ALM). Almirall has become a key source of value creation for society thanks to its commitment to its principal shareholders and its decision to help others by understanding their challenges and using science to provide solutions for real life. Total revenues in 2018 were 811 million euros. Almirall has more than 1,800 employees dedicated to research.

For more information see www.almirall.com.

About WuXiBody

WuXiBody is a leading proprietary bispecific antibody platform developed by WuXi Biologics. It can effectively break through the CMC barriers for many bispecific antibodies development with high expression yield, high stability, good solubility, and easy purification to homogeneity, expedite the process by 6-18 months and significantly reduce manufacturing cost, a limitation still facing by many other current bispecific platforms.

WuXiBody Platform enables almost any mAb sequence pairs to be assembled into bispecific constructs. They are expected to have low immunogenicity risk and longer in vivo half-life. WuXiBody Platform also has its unique structural flexibility, which makes it convenient to build various formats with different combination of valencies (1+1, 1+2, 2+2) to meet the requirements of different target biology.

About WuXi Biologics

WuXi Biologics (stock code: 2269.HK), a Hong Kong-listed company, is a leading global open-access biologics technology platform offering end-to-end solutions to empower organizations to discover, develop and manufacture biologics from concept to commercial manufacturing. Our company history and achievements demonstrate our commitment to providing a truly ONE-stop service offering and strong value proposition to our global clients. As of June 30, 2019, there were a total of 224 integrated projects, including 106 projects in pre-clinical development stage, 102 projects in early-phase (phase I and II) clinical development, 15 projects in late-phase (phase III) development and one project in commercial manufacturing. With total estimated capacity for biopharmaceutical production planned in China, Ireland, Singapore, and the U.S. exceeding 280,000 liters by 2022, we will provide our biomanufacturing partners with a robust and premier-quality global supply chain network.

For more information on WuXi Biologics, please visit http://www.wuxibiologics.com.

Media contact:

LLYC

Carmen de la Llave

[email protected]

Phone: (+34) 93 217 22 17

WuXi Biologics Media contact:

Jia Li

[email protected]

Corporate Communications contact:

Almirall

Noel Ortiz

[email protected]

Phone: (+34) 93 291 30 00

Investors Relations contact:

Almirall

Pablo Divasson del Fraile

[email protected]

Phone: (+34) 93 291 3087

Legal warning

This document includes only summary information and is not intended to be exhaustive. The facts, figures and opinions contained in this document, in addition to the historical ones, are "forward-looking statements". These statements are based on the information currently available and the best estimates and assumptions that the Company considers reasonable. These statements involve risks and uncertainties beyond the control of the Company. Therefore, actual results may differ materially from those declared by such forward-looking statements. The Company expressly waives any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements, goals or estimates contained in this document to reflect any changes in the assumptions, events or circumstances on which such forward-looking statements are based, unless required by the applicable law.

If you wish to unsubscribe from any Almirall Corporate Communication click here.

In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and the applicable local regulations, we inform you that your personal data is processed by Almirall S.A. with registered address at Ronda del General Mitre 151, -08022-, Barcelona (Spain), acting as Controller in line with the purposes indicated in our Privacy Policy. For further information, you may consult it at https://www.almirall.com/privacy-policy or contact our Data Protection Officer at the e-mail address: [email protected]. PRNewswire is the Agency that licenses your personal data according to their privacy policy https://gdpr.cision.com/gdpr. At any time you can exercise your rights of access, rectification, deletion, objection, portability as well as the limitation of the processing of your data in the terms provided in the current regulations on Data Protection, by addressing the corresponding written request to our postal address (Ronda General Mitre, 151, 08022 Barcelona, Spain). The request to exercise any of your rights must be accompanied by a copy of an official document that identifies you (ID, driver's license or passport). Finally, we inform you that you can contact the Spanish Data Protection Agency and any other competent public bodies for any claim arising from the processing of your personal data.

SOURCE Almirall

Related Links

https://www.almirall.com


Kaizen Health, Inc., a Chicago, IL-based health technology company, completed its Series B funding round of undisclosed amount.

The round was led by UnityPoint Health Ventures with participation from Lewis and Clark Ventures and Hyde Park Angels.

The company intends to use the funds to further enhance its healthcare transportation platform as well as expand their sales and account management teams.

Led by Mindi Knebel, founder and CEO, Kaizen Health is a health technology company that works with Managed Medicaid and Medicare Advantage plans as well as commercial payers, health systems, academic medical centers, clinical trial sponsors, senior living providers and municipalities to facilitate safe and reliable transportation, address food insecurity, reduce social isolation, and coordinate other SDOH programs and interventions.

FinSMEs

09/01/2020
A heartbroken music teacher has pleaded for the return of her precious 111-year-old vintage violin and other valuable instruments stolen from her home while she was sleeping.

Thieves broken into Jenny Occleshaw's Oakleigh home in Melbourne's south-east between between 2.30am and 7.30am on Tuesday in what police believe was a targeted heist.

Around $100,000 worth of unique instruments were stolen, including a rare $70,000 A E Smith 1908 violin Ms Occleshaw plays every day.

Jenny Occleshaw with the receipt for her beloved A E Smith 1908 antique violin that was stolen

Instruments stolen  An A E Smith 1908 antique violin  Roderich Paesold Gold-Mounted violin bow  J S Tubbs silver-mounted antique bow  2002 KG intruments 15 inch hand made viola  2002 KG instruments (full size) hand made cello  2 German Trade  size violin  Black Chines bow case, containing 6 violin bows  Carbon fibre cello bow  Mother of pearl mounted wooden cello bow Advertisement

Other valuable violins, violas, bow, cello and a violin case were also among the stolen loot.

The only instruments Ms Occleshaw was left with are for beginner students and are of no value.

'Obviously when the thieves came they knew exactly what they were looking for and they only took things of value,' she told 3AW listeners on Thursday.

While she has house and contents insurance, the 111-year-old violin sadly was uninsured.

The 1908 handmade instrument was one of only 200 made.

'I couldn't afford the premiums for that violin because I was only working part-time and it was just horrendous,' Ms Occleshaw said.

She has the framed receipt for the vintage violin and believes thieves will find it 'incredibly hard to pass on' without it.

Thieves will find it hard to pass on Ms Occleshaw's vintage violin (pictured) valued at $70,000

'I've notified every violin shop in Melbourne and some of the Sydney ones and it's on the stolen instrument register and it will be recognised everywhere, so it won't be able to be sold,' she said.

Music teacher Jenny Occleshaw (pictured) was left with instruments of little value

'Because it's an Australian violin, it won't have the same value overseas.'

Police believed the incident was a targeted attack.

'It's very hard to go around pointing fingers at people,' Ms Occleshaw said.

'Music is a very small puddle in Melbourne and I couldn't imagine any Melbourne musician would possibly do that sort of thing.'

The music teacher had pleaded for the return of the instruments.

'As a violinist, your violin is an extension of you, your lifeblood, it feels like you have lost a limb,' Ms Occleshaw told the Herald Sun.

'It is heartbreaking, devastating, I feel so upset.'

Investigators were told a man wearing a hat was seen fleeing Warrigal Road in a silver SUV.

Victoria Police have launched a public appeal and urged anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Marist High School, one of Hudson Countys last Catholic high schools, will close in June amid dwindling enrollment and mounting annual financial loss, the schools administration announced Wednesday.

Marist joins a throng of local Catholic schools that have shuttered in the last decade, a reflection of declining enrollment nationwide. With just 235 students, the school loses over $1 million a year and can no longer sustain itself, President Peter Kane said.

This has been a painful and difficult decision for everyone involved, Kane said. I am heartened by knowing the positive impact Marist has made in the lives of our current students, their families and alumni who have been so supportive of our efforts through this challenging process.

Kane added that students who are not graduating in 2020 will be personally advised on alternate schooling options for the upcoming school year.

The Bayonne school nearly closed three years ago after the Marist Brothers announced that $1.5 million was needed by April 2017 to keep the school afloat. But the Marist community banded together and raised $750,000, prompting the Marist Brothers to keep the school open.

Yet, enrollment has continued to flounder, dropping by 20% in the last four years. Todays enrollment is less half of what it was in 2008.

We Marist Brothers have cherished the many years of excellent education given by dedicated brothers and lay Marists, and we are grateful to all the extraordinary efforts by the Marist School Board and alumni to support Marist, Brother Patrick McNamara said in a press release.

But we ... simply do not have the funds to continue school operations after this academic year.

The school was founded in 1954 and occupied three private residences on West Eighth Street that were previously home to Holy Family Academy. The school purchased its current campus in 1962 and broke ground on a new building two years later. By 1986, Marist opened its doors to female students for the first time.

Following the closures of Holy Family in 2013 and St. Anthony High School in 2017, Marist was one of Hudson Countys four remaining Catholic high schools.

Jon Carvajal, who graduated in 2019, said attending Marist changed his life.

I went in a really shy kid and I was just an average student, but by the time I graduated I was doing really well academically, Id made a ton of friends, a ton of memories and everything was really fantastic, Carvajal said. I have just nothing but great memories of Marist.

Kane took over as Marists president in the fall of 2018, at the time saying he was confident the school would succeed and that it would focus on enhancing enrollment.

To survive, however, would mean overcoming financial challenges to which so many Catholic schools have succumbed.

The county lost a string of Catholic schools in the 2000s, beginning with Sacred Heart in Hoboken and Jersey Citys St. Aloysius (which merged for two years before shuttering). West New Yorks St. Joseph of the Palisades followed suit in 2009, two years before St. Mary High in Jersey City also closed.

A similar decline is happening across the state and the country. While there were nearly 13,000 Catholic schools nationally in the 1960s, that number fell to fewer than 6,300 in 2018.

This year, 59 seniors are expected to graduate from Marist, down from 85 last year. Its current junior class only has 41 students.

Its freshman class, however, is the largest in five years, with 75 students, the president said.

Regardless of this years substantial freshman class the overall trends in enrollment would not allow us the time to reverse the losses in the next few years, Kane said.

Bayonne residents make up about 20 percent of Marists student population, while half of the students are from Jersey City, Kane said. There are approximately 19 international students.

Kane said his favorite part about leading the school has been its students. He attends nearly every sporting event and said sharing the student passions has been rewarding.

When I took the job less than a year and a half ago, I deliberately wanted my office set in the midst of the classroom wing, he said.

As students prepare to continue their academics elsewhere, he wants them to remember the foundation Marist provided, Kane said.

Our hope is that in the short time that youve spent at Marist High School youve come to appreciate the power of your intellect and faith and using those to guide you on your journey and to your next step, he said.
Congratulations, pusatgrosirimport.com got a very good Social Media Impact Score! Show it by adding this HTML code on your site:

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PAGE TITLE GROSIR TAS IMPORT MURAH, TOKO TAS IMPORT, FASHION TAS IMPORT DESCRIPTION Pusat Grosir Import adalah Importir tangan pertama tas import di Jakarta, semua ready stock siap kirim KEYWORDS tas import, grosir tas import, tas korea, tas hongkong, tas china, tas bangkok, reseller tas, dropship tas, tas jeans, tas kulit, tas kain, tas branded, grosir tas murah, grosir tas import murah, tas branded import, tas ransel, tas anak, tas sekolah, tas OTHER KEYWORDS 00 tr, 00 fb, tas import, import, grosir, harga, grosir tas import



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DOCTYPE XHTML 1.0 Transitional CHARSET AND LANGUAGE UTF-8 DETECTED LANGUAGE English English SERVER nginx admin OPERATIVE SYSTEM

Character set and language of the site. Operative System running on the server. Represents HTML declared type (e.g.: XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.0, the new HTML 5.0) The language of pusatgrosirimport.com as detected by CoolSocial algorithms. Type of server and offered services.

Site Traffic trend during the last year. Only available for sites ranked <= 100000 in the world.

Referring domains for pusatgrosirimport.com by MajesticSeo. High values are a sign of site importance over the web and on web engines.

Facebook link

FACEBOOK PAGE LINK FOUND FACEBOOK PAGE www.facebook.com/pusatgrosirimport DESCRIPTION Importir tangan pertama fashion tas import LIKES 130 PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT 14 PAGE TYPE Shopping/retail TIMELINE PAGE TIMELINE

The URL of the found Facebook page. The total number of people who tagged or talked about website Facebook page in the last 7-10 days. The description of the Facebook page describes website and its services to the social media users. Facebook Timeline is the new layout of Facebook pages. The total number of people who like website Facebook page. The type of Facebook page. A Facebook page link can be found in the homepage or in the robots.txt file.

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A central Pennsylvania man is in custody in Texas after the U.S. Marshals apprehended him on sexual abuse charges out of York and Lancaster counties.

Susquehanna Regional police said Jose D. Diego, 54, is accused of sexually abusing two children from 1999 until 2007. The sexual assaults occurred in several locations, including locations in Mount Joy Borough and Marietta Borough in Lancaster County, and Wrightsville Borough in York County.

Police said the Lancaster County District Attorneys Office, York County District Attorneys Office, Mount Joy Borough Police, Hellam Township police and the Susquehanna Regional police worked on the case for more than a year.

Diego was apprehended on Tuesday, according to police. He will be transported to Lancaster County to face charges.

Anyone with information regarding this case or could aid in this investigation, please contact Criminal Investigator L. Jeffrey Sosnoski of the Susquehanna Regional Police Department at 717- 426-1164.

Read more on PennLive:
Taking a dig at the ruling BJP, CPI leader and former JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar on Thursday said actress Deepika Padukone was patriotic when she was an ambassador for a Modi government initiative, but turned anti-national after visiting the university.

Addressing a crowd outside the premises of the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry here, he also said there was no "tukde tukde" government in the country before 2014.

"Tukde tukde" gang is a term often used by BJP leaders to refer to alleged sympathisers of separatists.

"A Hindi cinema actress came to the university but did not raise slogans, did not take Modiji's name, did not take mota bhai's name. She just came and met the injured students. But calls were given to boycott her film.... Deepika Padukone was patriotic when she participated in a campaign for Modiji and became a traitor after coming to JNU," he said.

After Padukone's visit to the campus, JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar was quoted as saying that great personalities should also meet those students whose studies were affected due to the situation prevailing in the university.

"After her visit, the VC, whom everyone had been searching for, suddenly appeared in front of the media and said great personalities are meeting injured students, but they should also meet those whose studies were affected.

"Somebody tell him that it is your job to meet students, teachers and workers to discuss why studies are not happening in the university. Deepika Padukone is not the JNU VC," he said.

Padukone and badminton player PV Sindhu were on October 22 last year named ambassadors for "Bharat Ki Laxmi", an initiative of the Modi government aimed at bringing to light the commendable work done by women across the country ahead of the festival of Diwali.

The Bollywood star visited the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here on Tuesday to express solidarity with the students who were attacked by a masked mob inside the campus on January 5, though she did not address the crowd.

Padukone earned bouquets as well as brickbats from various people, including politicians, for her act of showing support to the JNU students.

Kumar asserted that JNU was a university that talked about every issue.

"JNU is not a 50-per cent sale at a mall. It does not scare you. It does not make fun of you if you are not fluent in English. Students take admission here following an entrance test. JNU does not live for itself. We stand up for others' right to live," he said.

The skill development ministry is believed to have dropped a proposal by the production team of Padukone's film "Chhapaak", slated to be released on Friday, to encourage acid attack survivors to do better in life, days after the lead actress in the film visited the JNU campus.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
by Karlene Lukovitz @KLmarketdaily, January 9, 2020





The future is all about personalizationto reach beyond the screen and form a personal relationship [with the audience] with the right ad with content, Linda Yaccarino, chairman of advertising and client partnerships at NBCUniversal, declared during the companys presentation at CES yesterday. Thats when the magic happens.

The availability of choice via technology promises myriad options, making it a playground for the team at NBCU as well as putting consumers in control, she said, reported Deadline.

Yaccarino noted, for example, that consumer demand on social media was responsible for NBC picking up Brooklyn Nine-Nine after the series  which is produced by NBC sister studio Universal TV  was cancelled by Fox in 2018. Tech, she said, gives consumers a voice in such decisions.

advertisement advertisement

Yaccarino did not reveal any new operational or marketing information about Peacock, the SVOD thats set to launch in April. NBCU has indicated that the plans for Peacock will be the focus of its investor meeting on January 16.

However, she stressed that Peacock, and all of NBCUs 2020 programming  including its Tokyo Olympics and election coverage  will stress quality over quantity.

NBCU announced Peacocks initial programming lineup this past September.

The lineup includes reboots such as Battlestar Galactica; a library of popular series ranging from The Office and Parks and Recreation to Downton Abbey and House; and new originals. New offerings include comedy series Rutherford Falls, starring Ed Helms; Dr. Death, a dramatic limited series starring Jamie Dornan, Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater; and Armas de Mujer,a Spanish-language dramedy offered as part of 3,000 of content from Telemundo.

Panelists for NBCUs CES presentation, hosted by Todays Natalie Morales, also included Mandy Moore of This Is Us, Terry Crews of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Americas Got Talent, Pitch Perfects Ester Dean and La Reina del Surs Kate del Castillo.
YEREVAN.  Against the backdrop of US-Iran conflict, Azerbaijan has become a platform for pressure on Iran from the US and Israel, from which unmanned aerial vehicles are being launched toward the Islamic Republic. Analyst Tevan Poghosyan stated this at a January 9 press conference.

He did not rule out that in the future, the US and Israeli special forces would penetrate into Iran from Azerbaijan. "Baku can take advantage of the situation and get closer with Washington," he said. "Armenia, for its part, must be ready for all this and not allow Azerbaijan to resort to information provocations."

The analyst expressed hope that the processes would be conducted not in a military but in a diplomatic format, as the opposite development of events could become a precedent and justification for Azerbaijan for taking aggressive actions against the Armenian side. "In any case, the Karabakh issue depends on us [the Armenian party] and on how prepared we are for any scenario," Poghosyan added. One can expect that there will be information attacks on the Armenian society during the elections, both in Azerbaijan and in Karabakh. Yerevan and Stepanakert must be ready for it.

According to him, Armenia's neutrality in the Iran-US confrontation is a more acceptable position stemming from the interests of the state. "Yerevan has such an experience of relations, given that Armenia cooperates with both Russia and Georgia, which have unfriendly relations with each other," Tevan Poghosyan explained. There is a similar situation also in relations with the US and Iran. Washington has always objectively accepted the situation which Armenia is in."
CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / January 9, 2020 / 8020 Connect Inc. ("8020") is pleased to announce it has signed a Representative Agreement with InvestorsHub (Parent company, ADVFN: LSE:AFN). This agreement provides 8020 a competitive advantage in the investor outreach market and provides our Canadian clients with preferred pricing and model suited for Canadian venture markets.

Join the 8020 Connect Investor Group: http://connects.digital/8020Group

"ADVFN offers massive reach into the global investor market which is going to be a key tool for Canadian issuers to access a new audience of investors. The benefit of bringing ADFVN's global reach to 8020's localized investor management system is that it allows 8020 clients to more easily capture and engage with a global audience of interested investors." Darren Stewart, President, 8020 Connect.

About ADVFN

ADVFN (www.advfn.com) is a global stocks, shares and crypto information website providing market-leading financial tools and data to private investors around the world.

Offering real-time share prices, news feeds, charting, portfolio management, monitor lists, financials, data from global stock exchanges, Level 2 and the most active financial bulletin board in the UK (along with many other features), the site is the destination of choice for day traders and retail investors.

Established in the last quarter of 1999, ADVFN (LSE: AFN) was floated on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market in March 2000. The site currently has approximately 36 million users worldwide and a billion-page impressions a year.

Originally a UK-based site, the company currently operates in the US, UK, Brazil, Japan and Dubai.

ADVFN has a joint venture in Brazil, a country in which ADVFN has a geographic and language targeted website. This is in addition to its US, French, German, Italian, Canadian, Japanese, Indian, Mexican and Filipino ADVFN financial sites.

About 8020 Connect

8020 Connect Inc. is an interactive investment community portal which expands the way shareholders and interested investors access and gather information from public corporations. Built as a hybrid social media and shareholder management platform, corporations can direct the flow of information to prospective and existing investors through both static and dynamic content. This will allow public companies to build their investment brand and investor awareness while maintaining digital media and regulatory compliance in a growing online investment community.

For more information, please contact:

Darren Stewart

Founder and President

8020 Connect Inc.

T: 403.835.1810

E: darren@8020connect.com

W: www.8020connect.com

Forward-Looking Information: This press release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, concerning the business and trading in the common stock of 8020 Connect Inc., raising additional capital and the future development of 8020 Connect Inc. The forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the company's management. Although the company believes 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 8020 Connect Inc. can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and 8020 Connect Inc. disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: 8020 Connect Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/572625/8020-Signs-Representative-Agreement-with-InvestorsHub
A worker is seen at the new CPF3 oil station in the Halfaya oilfield in southern of Maysan province, Halfaya, Iraq December 12, 2018.

Oil prices ticked lower on Thursday after the previous session's sharp losses on the back of swelling U.S. crude stocks and easing fears of imminent escalation of conflict between the United States and Iran.

Prices were hovering around where they stood before the Jan. 3 U.S. drone strike that killed a top Iranian general, prompting an Iranian rocket attack on Iraqi airbases hosting U.S. forces, and sent crude to its highest in four months.

After a 4.1% fall on Wednesday, Brent crude futures fell 3 cents at $65.41 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate slipped 5 cents to $59.56 after sliding nearly 5% the previous day.

During European trading hours Iranian media carried reports of military commanders speaking of further action aimed at expelling U.S. troops from the region.

U.S. President Donald Trump had eased tensions by stepping back from further military action, depressing oil prices and diverting attention back to a surprise build in U.S. crude stockpiles last week.

Crude oil stocks were up 1.2 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 3 at 431.1 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Analysts in a Reuters poll had expected a drop of 3.6 million barrels.

JPMorgan analysts maintained their forecast for Brent to average $64.50 a barrel this year.

Top oil producers led by Saudi Arabia have agreed to reduce output by as much as 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd) through the first quarter of 2020.

"As geopolitical tensions appear to enter a new equilibrium ... the overall supply conditions in the market tend to favour oil reverting lower," Harry Tchilinguirian, oil strategist at BNP Paribas in London, told the Reuters Global Oil Forum.

"U.S. crude oil production remains at a record 12.9 million bpd ... it is not evident in our opinion that OPEC and its non-OPEC allies will fully implement the incremental supply cuts."

Meanwhile, oil and gas ship owners are bracing to pay a price for U.S.-Iranian tensions in the form of higher insurance bills, which could add hundreds of thousands of dollars to shipping costs that would ultimately be passed on to fuel buyers, mostly in Asia.
Osisko Highlights Achievements from 2019

Posted by Publisher Internet

Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd (?Osisko? or the ?Company?) (TSX & NYSE:?OR) would like to highlight some of the Company?s recent achievements that will add significant value for its shareholders.? In 2019, Osisko announced a total of eight (8) royalty and streaming transactions valued at over $245 million ? ranking the Company among the most active participants in the royalty and streaming sector.

Horne 5 Silver Stream: On February 27, Osisko completed a silver stream with Falco Resources Ltd. (?Falco?) for up to 100% of the silver produced from the Horne 5 project located in Quebec, Canada.? Deposits to be made by Osisko under the stream agreement are based on milestones related to project advancement.? Once in production, the Horne 5 silver stream has the potential to deliver approximately 30,000 gold-equivalent ounces (?GEOs?) to Osisko annually, ranking it second only to the Canadian Malartic royalty in Osisko?s royalties and streams portfolio.? The creation of the Horne 5 silver stream in 2019 represented a rare opportunity to gain access to meaningful life-of-mine stream in a premier mining jurisdiction without any encumbrances such as buy-backs, production thresholds or production caps.? Throughout 2020, Falco is expected to continue advancing its project through the permitting process while maintaining its positive dialogue with certain key stakeholders, including the government of Quebec.

Share Repurchase: On June 25, Osisko announced a repurchase of 12,385,717 common Osisko shares from a jointly owned subsidiary of certain investment funds managed by Orion Resource Partners (?Orion?) representing a total value of $174.6 million.? Payment from Osisko to Orion consisted of a combination of cash and the direct transfer of other equities held by Osisko.? In a concurrent transaction, Osisko also agreed to sell to separate entities managed by Orion certain other equity securities held by Osisko for cash.? The share repurchase transaction was an elegant solution that allowed the Company to help Orion reduce its ownership percentage to the benefit of all remaining shareholders, while also providing Osisko with an exit opportunity for certain of its equity holdings.

Sable Resources Investment Agreement: On August 29, Osisko and Sable Resources Ltd. (?Sable?) entered into a strategic investment agreement whereby Osisko agreed to support Sable?s exploration activities over a four-year period in exchange for a net smelter return (?NSR?) royalty of up to 2% covering all of Sable?s properties over the period.? In backing Sable?s excellent team of geoscientists, the strategic investment in Sable provided Osisko with royalty exposure to (among others) over 440,000 hectares in northern Mexico and over 58,000 hectares in the San Juan Province of Argentina.? Osisko?s investment in Sable also included a right of first refusal (?ROFR?) on all future royalty and streaming transactions by Sable.? In in the first quarter of 2020, Sable is expected to drill its 100%-owned Vinata project in Mexico.? Sable also received permits for six targets at its Don Julio cluster in Argentina as well as environmental and community permits for its Scorpius Project near Ayacucho Peru, which will allow it to systematically test all priority targets throughout the year.?

Mantos Blancos Stream Enhancement: On September 3, Osisko Bermuda Limited (?OBL?), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, announced an agreement with Mantos Copper S.A. (?Mantos Copper?) to enhance its existing silver stream on the Mantos Blancos copper mine in Chile.? The stream amendment transaction was part of a comprehensive financing which will enable Mantos Copper to expand the Mantos Blancos sulphide concentrator plant.? Benefits to Osisko include (i) additional exposure to a long-life asset with further production upside and mine life extension potential; (ii) immediately increases cash margin per ounce and annual cash flow from the stream; and (iii) increases the value of OBL?s existing silver stream on Mantos Blancos.? During 2020, Mantos Copper is expected to continue advancing the Mantos Blancos expansion with expected completion in mid-2021.

Barkerville Acquisition: On November 21, Osisko agreed to acquire 100% of Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd., owner of the Cariboo gold project in central British Columbia, Canada.? The addition of the Cariboo project to Osisko?s portfolio adds a potentially world-class brownfield asset in Canada with a high-quality mineral resource, significant exploration upside, and substantial tailings and mining infrastructure in place. In 2020, one of Osisko?s primary objectives will be to obtain third-party funding for the Cariboo project while concurrently using the Company?s expertise in exploration, permitting, mine development, and mine finance to keep progressing the project and adding value.

Bralorne NSR Royalty: On November 21, Osisko entered into an investment agreement whereby it purchased a 1.2% NSR royalty from Talisker Resources Ltd. (?Talisker?) on the historic Bralorne gold project located in southwestern British Columbia, Canada.? Osisko?s investment in Talisker also included a ROFR on royalty buybacks, and on royalty and stream financings relating to Talisker?s land package of over 226,000 hectares in British Columbia.? In 2020 Talisker is expected to pursue confirmatory drilling and exploration work at Bralorne while developing new targets at the Spences Bridge property. ??

Pine Point Royalty: On December 3, Osisko and Osisko Metals Incorporated (?Osisko Metals?) announced an agreement pursuant to which Osisko agreed to purchase a 1.5% NSR royalty on Osisko Metals? Pine Point project located in Canada?s Northwest Territories.? Pine Point is a brownfields open-pittable, zinc-lead development asset containing an Inferred Mineral Resource of 52.4 million tonnes grading 4.64% zinc and 1.83% lead (6.47% ZnEq), making it the largest pit-constrained zinc camp in Canada.? In 2020, Osisko Metals is expected to continue project studies, exploration, and community engagement work at Pine Point.?

Santana Royalty: On December 6, Osisko and Minera Alamos Inc. (?Minera Alamos?) announced a royalty transaction that fully-funded the permitted Santana project to production.? Santana, located in Sonora State, Mexico, is a simple heap leach gold project with very low capital requirement that could potentially be put into production in a short timeframe of approximately 8 months.? Once in production, Santana could provide Osisko with 1,000 to 2,000 GEOs per year with the potential to increase with further exploration upside.? Minera Alamos is expected to begin construction of the Santana project the first half of 2020.

Capital Returned to Shareholders: As of today?s date, in addition to the above achievements, Osisko has returned approximately $336 million to shareholders in the form of dividends and share buybacks since its inception in 2014.? In 2019 alone, Osisko distributed approximately $30 million in dividends and over $184 million through share buybacks.?

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Guy Desharnais, Ph.D., P.Geo., Director of Mineral Resources Evaluation at Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd, who is a ?qualified person? as defined by National Instrument 43-101 ? Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (?NI 43-101?).

About Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd

Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd is an intermediate precious metal royalty company that holds a North American focused portfolio of over 135 royalties, streams and precious metal offtakes. Osisko\-\-s portfolio is anchored by its 5% NSR royalty on the Canadian Malartic Mine, the largest gold mine in Canada. Osisko also holds an equity portfolio of publicly traded resource companies, including a 15.9% interest in Osisko Mining Inc., a 17.9% interest in Osisko Metals Incorporated and a 19.9% interest in Falco Resources Ltd.

Osisko is a corporation incorporated under the laws of the Province of Quebec, with its head office is located at 1100 avenue des Canadiens-de-Montreal, Suite 300, Montreal, Quebec, H3B?2S2.

Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release may be deemed ?forward?looking statements? within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. These forward?looking statements, by their nature, require Osisko to make certain assumptions and necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward?looking statements. Forward?looking statements are not guarantees of performance. These forward?looking statements, may involve, but are not limited to, the ability of Osisko to realize the full potential of its investments with Falco, Sable, Mantos Copper, Talisker, Osisko Metals and Minera and of its transaction with Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd., and the ability of Falco, Sable, Mantos Copper, Talisker, Osisko Metals and Minera to carry out activities as planned and anticipated in 2020 and, as applicable, thereafter, the ability of Osisko to obtain third-party funding for the Cariboo project while concurrently progressing and adding value to such project .? Words such as ?may?, ?will?, ?would?, ?could?, ?expect?, ?believe?, ?plan?, ?anticipate?, ?intend?, ?estimate?, ?continue?, or the negative or comparable terminology, as well as terms usually used in the future and the conditional, are intended to identify forward?looking statements. Information contained in forward?looking statements is based upon certain material assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection, including management?s perceptions of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other considerations that are believed to be appropriate in the circumstances. Osisko considers its assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available, but cautions the reader that their assumptions regarding future events, many of which are beyond the control of Osisko, may ultimately prove to be incorrect since they are subject to risks and uncertainties that affect Osisko and its business; such risks and uncertainties include, among others, risks relating to the ability of exploration activities carried out by operators of the properties ?to accurately predict mineralization; errors in operators? geological modelling; the ability of operators to complete further exploration activities, including drilling, lack of third party interest in funding the Cariboo project.

For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions underlying the forward?looking statements made in this press release, see the section entitled ?Risk Factors? in the most recent Annual Information Form of Osisko which is filed with the Canadian securities commissions and available electronically under Osisko?s issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and available electronically under Osisko?s issuer profile on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. The forward??looking information set forth herein reflects Osisko?s expectations as at the date of this press release and is subject to change after such date. Osisko disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward?looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.
Canadas academic community is reeling from the devastating loss of students and faculty who were among those killed in a plane crash in Iran.

Dozens of students and staff from Canadian schools coast to coast were among the victims when a Ukrainian airliner crashed early Wednesday near Tehran, killing all 176 passengers and crew, including 63 Canadians. Universities and colleges expressed their condolences and offered to provide support.

While 63 Canadians were aboard the plane, the number who called Canada home is higher  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said 138 passengers were set to take a connecting flight to Toronto. Citing privacy concerns, Global Affairs Canada and the immigration department would not disclose how many victims were international students, migrant workers or visitor-visa holders who would not have been travelling on Canadian passports or been counted as Canadians.

In a statement, David Lindsay, president and CEO of the Council of Ontario Universities said they are deeply saddened by the deaths.

Ontario universities are enriched by students who come from around the world and share their unique perspectives, insights and help build a multicultural student body that prepares students for todays globalized world, he said. This tragic loss is felt by all members of our university communities.

The University of Toronto said six of its students were aboard Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752: Mojtaba Abbasnezhad, Mohammad Asadi Lari, Zeynab Asadi Lari, Mohammad Amin Beiruti, Mohammad Amin Jebelli and Mohammad Saleheh.

I want to say how deeply saddened we are, and how concerned we are for the families and friends of those who lost their lives, said U of T President Meric Gertler, adding flags at the universitys three campuses will be flown at half-mast.

York University confirmed one student had died  and friends identified the victim as Sadaf Hajiaghavand, a second-year human resources student.

I cant believe that shes not here. I just spoke with her two days ago, Naz Moayed told the Star, adding Hajiaghavand had gone to Iran to visit family.

In Toronto, Centennial College was mourning the loss of Dr. Razgar Rahimi, who taught in the School of Engineering Technology and Applied Science. He died along with his wife, Farideh Gholami, and their 3-year-old son Jiwan.

George Brown College also lost a student in the crash.

At the University of Guelph, two PhD students  Ghanimat Azhdari of the Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics; and Milad Ghasemi Ariani of the Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies  were passengers.

The students and I are in so much pain, associate professor Faisal Moola, who said he taught Azhdari, wrote in a tweet.

At McMaster University, two PhD students in engineering  Iman Aghabali and Mehdi Eshaghian  were among the dead. The University of Windsor was mourning at least five members of its student and research community.

At this very difficult time we will support each other as a university family and will provide counselling and additional support services, said University of Windsor president Robert Gordon.

At Western University  which lost three graduate students and one incoming graduate student  a vigil was held Wednesday, attracting dozens, including London Mayor Ed Holder.

In Ottawa, Carleton University is mourning Fareed Arasteh, a PhD student in biology, and the University of Ottawa is grappling with the loss of three students.

University of Waterloos Marzieh Foroutan, a PhD student in the geography department, and Mansour Esnaashary Esfahani, who studied civil engineering, were among the dead.

A friend of Foroutan, Jacqueline Eenkooren, described her as a powerful woman who put everyone else before herself, in a message to the Star. Foroutan was incredibly sincere, gracious, and generous and ridiculously humble despite her many academic achievements, Eenkooren said.

Canada has become a popular destination for international education among Iranian students with the yearly number of student permits tripling in the last five years from 2,960 in 2015 to 8,460 in 2019. Canada became an attractive option because of tense relationships between Iran and the United States, particularly under President Donald Trump. Many of those students are in post-graduate studies in Canadian universities.

University of Ottawa physics professor Ebrahim Karimi, whos originally from Iran, said the close-knit Iranian academic community in Canada is shocked and saddened by the loss.

For many young educated Iranians, there is no future in Iran and they all know that very well, said Karimi, the Canada Research Chair in Structured Light, adding many Iranian students hope to settle in Canada.

Also among the dead were two doctoral students from Quebecs Ecole de Technologie Superieure, an international student at Vancouvers Langara College, and members of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. At the University of Alberta, at least 10 from its community were on the flight.

With files from Star staff

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In a major attack on democratic rights, the Trump administration began on Monday collecting DNA samples from immigrants detained by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including teenagers and green card holders.

Under the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program, CBP and ICE officers are obtaining cheek swabs from detainees in US custody regardless of evidence of any crime. These samples are then submitted to the FBI for entry into various law enforcement and criminal biometric databases.

The legal justification provided by the Trump administration for this significant attack on the rights of immigrants is that it is permitted under the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005. When the law was originally passed, it contained an exemption protecting immigrants from its provisions due to operational exigencies and resource limitations. The Department of Justice and DHS officials have said that the exemption is outdated and that it is time to eliminate it.

The CBP Sandusky Station in Port Clinton, OH began collecting DNA samples of undocumented immigrants on January 6 along with five other Ports of Entry in the US (Photo Credit: Toledo Blade)

In an 18-page Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) published on January 3, the DHS elaborates on its rationale for the DNA collection program as well as details of how it is being implemented. Signed by Jonathan R. Cantor, acting chief privacy officer of DHS, the document is reminiscent of the White House Torture Memos produced by the Bush administrations legal counsel and Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2002 that justified criminal violations of US and international law with regard to the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques.

Quoting from a DOJ Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the DHS impact assessment directly contradicts the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution against unreasonable searches and seizures, stating, prompt DNA-sample collection could be essential to the detection and solution of crimes [aliens] may have committed or may commit in the United States. Regardless of whether individuals are deemed criminal arrestees or immigration detainees, the use of collected DNA samples follows a similar process and has similar value.

Stephen Kang, an immigration attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who spoke to CBS News, said, This is going to be a massive intrusion into individual privacy and it seems to us like a way of just collecting a DNA databank of people who are in immigration custodywhich we view as really problematic.

In October, when the DOJ published its new rules and the DHS announced plans for the program, Vera Eidelman, staff attorney with the ACLUs Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said in a statement emailed to The Verge, This kind of mass collection also alters the purpose of DNA collection from one of criminal investigation to population surveillance, which is contrary to our basic notions of freedom and autonomy.

Eidelman added, What if the government used the genetic information it collects to determine access to employment, our ability to have kids or get married, and other benefits, particularly as technology develops and our genetic information purportedly reveals even more about us?

The DHS DNA collection program is being rolled out in five phases. The first phase that began on January 6 is being used at two locations. CBP detainees will be swabbed throughout the Detroit Sector and at the Eagle Pass Port of Entry where the Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras International Bridge Coahuila, Mexico is connected with the state of Texas. The location of DNA collection by ICE officers has not been specified by the Department of Homeland Security.

The CBP Detroit Sector is responsible for 863 miles of the international water boundary between the US and Canada. It encompasses the states of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois that are surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes (Superior, Huron, Michigan and Erie). The Detroit Sector has five offices: the Sandusky Bay Station in Port Clinton, Ohio, the Sault Sainte Marie Station in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the Marysville Station, the Gibraltar Station and the Detroit Station in the lower peninsula of Michigan.

The DHS PIA document says, The initial phase will require DNA sample collection from arrested persons presented for prosecution and individuals held at a port of entry during consideration of admissibility and subject to further detention or proceedings but will not include DNA samples from anyone under the age of 14. The ages to be swabbed by border officials will be 14 to 79. Participation is mandatory and refusal to cooperate in DNA sample collection is a Class A misdemeanor.

Although some news reports say the initial DHS pilot is a 90-day trial, it is clear that the illegal DNA collection will become standard operating procedure at all US border facilities as part of the Trump administrations fascistic drive to criminalize immigrants attempting to enter the US. The plan calls for the gradual expansion of the number of officers, sectors and ports of entry collecting DNA over the next three years.

Significantly, the fifth phase of the plan expands the DNA collection beyond criminal aliens and aliens referred to prosecution to include: all criminal arrestees, including U.S. Persons; all detained non-U.S. Persons detained for processing under administrative proceedings and released on their own recognizance; all detained non-U.S. Persons detained for processing under administrative proceedings and voluntary withdraw application; all aliens subject to expedited removal, reinstatement of removal, or administrative removal; and all voluntary returns.

In other words, every individual who comes into contact with US border and immigration authorities will have their DNA collected and stored into the vast and expanding US law enforcement and military-intelligence biometric databases.

The DHS PIA reveals that the FBI will provide border agents with Buccal Collection Kits that include the materials need to obtain a buccal swab (DNA sample from inside the cheek) along with a Request for National DNA Database Entry Form with a unique barcode. The DNA samples will be sent by CBP and ICE agents to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia via the US Postal Service.

The FBI will process the sample and store the DNA profile of the individual in the National DNA Index System (NDIS) and will be available for looking up in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). According to FBI statistics, there are currently more than 14 million offender profiles in the National DNA Index as of November 2019.

According to the FBIs website the purpose of CODIS is to blend forensic science and computer technology into a tool for linking violent crimes. It enables federal, state, and local forensic laboratories to exchange and compare DNA profiles electronically, thereby linking serial violent crimes to each other and to known offenders.

It does not take much thought to recognize the Orwellian reality of the DHS DNA gathering operation. Data entry mistakes, identity theft and false criminal positive matches are going to become as routine with this system as have been police sketches, mug shots and lineups in the past.

As explained previously on the World Socialist Web Site, the creation by the state of massive biometric databases that are accessible to both domestic law enforcement and the CIA and NSAwithout the permission or knowledge of the publicis a component of the growth of authoritarian forms of rule in the US. The sharp edge of the attack on democratic rights is being directed by the Trump administration against the immigrant population, the target of its fascistic nationalism and xenophobia since taking office in January 2017.

The implementation and expansion of DNA sample collection of immigrants in violation of US and international law is part of the preparations of the US state apparatus to create biometric profiles of the entire population. Along with the use of round-the-clock electronic eavesdropping, facial recognition and other forms of biometric surveillance technology, the ruling elite is preparing the repressive instruments it thinks are necessary to suppress the eruption of the class struggle in the US and internationally.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States has increased sanctions on Iran after a missile strike this week on Iraqi bases housing American military personnel, but gave no other details.

Its already been done. Weve increased them. They were very severe, but now its increased substantially, Trump told reporters at the White House. I just approved it a little while ago with Treasury.

Trump did not elaborate on the new sanctions and said the Treasury Department would make a statement.

The U.S. president on Wednesday promised to impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime after Iran launched missile strikes on the bases in Iraq.

There were no casualties in Tuesday nights attacks, which were carried out in retaliation for a U.S. drone strike last week that killed senior Iranian leader Qassem Soleimani.
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President Donald Trump has revealed that the United States is currently developing 'many' super-fast hypersonic missiles and boasted that the American weapons were 'big, powerful, lethal and fast'.

It comes after the U.S Army awarded a $2.5 billion contract to aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin to build them with the aim of having at least one ready by the end of next year.

Trump's mention of the hypersonic missiles was dropped briefly into his national address on Wednesday as he spoke of the escalating tensions with Iran just hours after Iranian forces fired missiles at military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq.

It is no secret that the U.S. has been working on developing hypersonic weapons, but Trump's speech implied that multiple missiles were currently being built.

'Our missiles are big, powerful, accurate, lethal, and fast,' Trump said.

'Under construction are many hypersonic missiles.

'The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it. American strength, both military and economic, is the best deterrent.'

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the U.S. is currently developing 'many' super-fast hypersonic missiles and boasted that the American weapons were 'big, powerful, lethal and fast'

The combination of speed, maneuverability and altitude of hypersonic missiles can make them difficult to track and intercept.

They travel at more than five times the speed of sound or about 3,853 miles per hour. Some will travel as fast as 15,000 miles per hour, according to U.S. and other Western weapons researchers, which is about 25 times as fast as modern passenger jets.

There are two primary categories of hypersonic weapons: Hypersonic glide vehicles that are launched from a rocket before gliding to a target and hypersonic cruise missiles that are powered by high-speed, air-breathing engines after acquiring their target.

It is not clear what type of hypersonic weapon Trump was referring to in his remarks.

Unlike ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons don't follow a ballistic trajectory and can maneuver en route to their destination.

The U.S., as well as China and Russia, have so far focused research and development on both categories of hypersonic weapons - both of which could carry conventional or nuclear payloads.

A hypersonic glide vehicle is boosted aloft on a rocket to heights of between 25 miles to 62 miles above the earth before detaching to glide along the upper atmosphere towards its target.

The U.S. has been developing hypersonic weapons since the early 2000s, according to a Congressional Research Service report published in July last year

There are two primary categories of hypersonic weapons, including the hypersonic glide vehicles that are launched from a rocket before gliding to a target. Pictured above is an Avangard, which is a type of hypersonic glider

The two types of hypersonic weapons: Hypersonic glide vehicles A hypersonic glide vehicle is boosted aloft on a rocket to heights of between 25 miles to 62 miles above the earth before detaching to glide along the upper atmosphere towards its target. It is released at a height and speed that would allow it to glide unpowered to the target. Control surfaces on the glide vehicle mean it can steer an unpredictable course and maneuver sharply as it approaches impact. These glide vehicles follow a much flatter and lower trajectory than the high, arching path of a ballistic missile. Hypersonic cruise missiles These missiles are powered by high-speed, air-breathing engines after acquiring their target. While they have internal engines, unlike regular cruise missiles, they travel far faster and higher. Advertisement

It is released at a height and speed that would allow it to glide unpowered to the target. Control surfaces on the glide vehicle mean it can steer an unpredictable course and maneuver sharply as it approaches impact.

Hypersonic cruise missiles, meanwhile, have internal engines. But unlike regular cruise missiles, they travel far faster and higher.

The U.S. has been developing hypersonic weapons since the early 2000s, according to a Congressional Research Service report published in July last year.

The Pentagon has also previously said the U.S. has been working on the development of hypersonic weapons in recent years.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said back in August that he believes 'it's probably a matter of a couple of years' before the U.S. has one.

At the time, he called it a priority as the military works to develop new long-range fire capabilities.

The Pentagon's budget request for all hypersonic-related research throughout 2020 was a whopping $2.6 billion, according to the research report.

The U.S. Air Force awarded aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin two contracts in 2018 to develop the hypersonic missiles.

Russia created this computer simulation of an Avangard hypersonic missile with a gliding hypersonic warhead being released from booster rocket

China released footage on Wednesday of its nuclear-capable, hypersonic missile DF-26 being launched during a military exercise. Beijing did not reveal the time or location of the exercise

Work on the ultra-fast missiles was expected to largely take place in Huntsville, Alabama; Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; and Orlando, Florida.

Additional expertise in Denver, Colorado and Sunnyvale, California was also expected to be involved in the project, according to Lockheed.

The U.S. push for testing and deployment of hypersonics comes after years of stop-start development of the missiles and a need to now catch up with China and Russia.

Russia's Defense Ministry said in December that it had deployed its first regiment of hypersonic nuclear-capable missiles - a move that President Vladimir Putin boasted put his country in a class of its own.

The new system, called Avangard, comprises a hypersonic glide vehicle designed to sit atop an intercontinental ballistic missile, one of several new types of weapons Putin has touted as ahead of their time.

Meanwhile, senior U.S. officials said early last year that China was leading the U.S. in the race to deploy the hypersonic missiles

China released footage on Wednesday of its nuclear-capable, hypersonic missile DF-26 being launched during a military exercise.

Beijing did not reveal the time or location of the exercise, but footage of the launch was recently released by the country's state broadcaster China Central Television Station.
New Delhi [India], Jan 9 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Thursday set up an expert committee to look into the felling of trees to construct a bridge in the country's eastern border connecting Barasat to Petrapole.



"In these circumstances, we consider appropriate that there will be a committee of two experts Soham Pandya, Rishi Mukherjee, and Sunita Narain and a project engineer from WB to work on this," a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde said.

The petition filed by the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (ADR) claimed that a bridge is being constructed in the eastern border at a location known as Jessore road.

"If cutting of trees will be there, there will be environmental degradation," the petition stated.

The committee is tasked to file a report in five weeks. State of West Bengal will make adequate arrangements for lodging and boarding, the apex Court said. (ANI)


In the 2012 Delhi gangrape and murder case, one of the four convicts, Vinay Kumar Sharma, on Thursday filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court. This comes within 48 hours after a Delhi court fixed the date for hanging the convicts. On January 7, Delhi's Patiala House Court Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora had issued a death warrant against the four convicts--Vinay, Pawan, Akshay, and Mukesh Singh, and they are scheduled to be executed on January 22 at 7 am in the Tihar Jail premises.

Besides Vinay, other convicts Pawan Gupta, Akshay Thakur, and Mukesh Singh are facing the gallows. The court after issuing a black warrant in their name gave them two weeks` time to file both the curative and mercy petition. The convicts` lawyers had earlier said that they will move a curative petition in the Supreme Court. The convicts can also submit a mercy petition to the President.

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A curative petition is the last judicial resort available for redressal of grievances. It is decided by the judges in-chamber. The mercy petition, on the other hand, is filed before the President who has the power to commute it to life imprisonment.

The Tihar jail officials said that it would write to Uttar Pradesh prisons to seek service of a hangman. Since it is a sensitive matter, sources said that the Tihar jail administration has been trying to contact all the prisons across the country to know if they have an 'experienced' and 'trained' hangman.

As soon as the judge had pronounced the verdict, the convicts, who were produced before court through video conferencing, broke into tears.

Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi who very courageously fought the case erupted with joy and said that her struggle of seven years has finally ended. She said that her daughter has got justice and the hanging of four convicts will empower the women of the country. "My daughter has got justice. Execution of the four convicts will empower the women of the country. This decision will strengthen the trust of people in the judicial system," said Asha Devi. Lauding courts decision Nirbhaya's father Badrinath Singh said, "I am happy with the court's decision. This decision will instil fear in people who commit such crimes.''

The case pertains to the gang-rape of a woman by six persons on a moving bus in the national capital on the night of December 16, 2012. The victim, who was later given the name Nirbhaya, died at a hospital in Singapore where she had been airlifted for medical treatment.
Since opening close to three years ago, 1000 Degrees Pizza Salad Wings of Katy has been burglarized three times, said John Bock, owner/manager.

The latest break-in occurred just before 6 a.m. Jan. 9, leading Bock to post a message on Facebook that he said received 61 likes in less than 5 minutes.

His message reads: Yelp review of burglar at 1000 Degrees this morning:

I had such high hopes for you. So many people talked about you recently. Said how great you were. They were so spot on!

-you broke in at 5:54 am so we all got at least a little sleep. Very courteous. The last guy is it at 2 am so some of us were still recovering from the previous night.

-you were so thoughtful in only breaking a small portion of the window. The doors are so much more expensive.

-so little was taken (we dont keep more than $20 cash on site) that we hope it was worth cutting your clothes as you army crawled across the dining room floor.

-I see our Cauliflower crust is working as you could squeeze through that small opening. Way to get a jump start on New Years resolutions!

My only complaint is the hammer to the office door. Management should teach you to pick a lock like most do. But hey you just started so Ill give you time to work out the small stuff. Also floors were dirty with glass

Hope to see you again and we are definitely fans!

After the first break-in, Bock said they learned not to keep cash on site.

All we have is a change drawer, he said. The store also has a video camera on-site.

Every time someone does this, theyre crawling on the floor, he said. We have video.

He is grateful that no employees were at the restaurant when the break-in occurred. After the first time, we dont let employees close by themselves, he added.

In the restaurant industry forever, he said break-ins are among the items worked into plans for what might happen at a business. Stuff happens and you deal with it. He names other restaurants where hes worked where break-ins also occurred. Its less frequent here than anywhere else, he added.

We feel safe and love the center, the landlord and tenants, he added. His business is located at 24600 Katy Freeway, Suite 800.
The United States and Iran have exchanged messages via the unofficial channel of information exchange over the de-escalation of the conflict between them, the Financial Times reported citing a source.

According to the newspaper, the contact was made on late Wednesday night with the mediation of Switzerland.

The paper concludes that US President Donald Trump's earlier statement on Iran testifies that Washington and Tehran have taken one step back from the five-day threat of war that followed the January 3 killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani by the Americans.
One thing Im not eager to do is re-create the circuslike atmosphere of the House  thats not what were going to do here, if we can avoid it, said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), a McConnell ally. So I think it seems obvious to me that if the president picks a team that does not include House members, that wed be more likely to have the dignified process that the Constitution calls for.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --



NOVA Chemicals Corporation, 1000 Seventh Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 5L5

www.novachemicals.com | 403.750.3600 tel | 403.269.7410 fax

Vienna, Austria / Calgary, Alberta (January 9, 2020)  Borealis AG (Borealis) and NOVA Chemicals Corporation (NOVA Chemicals) today announced they have reached an agreement for Borealis to buy NOVA Chemicals 50% ownership interest in Novealis Holdings LLC (Novealis).

Formed in 2018, Novealis is the joint venture between affiliates of Borealis and NOVA Chemicals, which subsequently formed a 50/50 joint venture with an affiliate of Total S.A. to launch Bayport Polymers LLC (Baystar) in Houston, Texas, US.

Closing of the acquisition is subject to customary regulatory approvals and other conditions but is not subject to any financing condition. The parties expect the transaction to close in the first half of 2020.

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# # #

About Borealis

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With its head office in Vienna, Austria, the company currently has more than 6,800 employees and operates in over 120 countries. Borealis generated EUR 8.3 billion in sales revenue and a net profit of EUR 906 million in 2018. Mubadala, through its holding company, owns 64% of the company, with the remaining 36% belonging to Austria-based OMV, an integrated, international oil and gas company. Borealis provides services and products to customers globally, in collaboration with Borouge, a joint venture with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and with Baystar, a joint venture with Total and NOVA Chemicals in Texas, USA. www.borealisgroup.com

About NOVA Chemicals Corporation

NOVA Chemicals develops and manufactures chemicals and plastic resins that make everyday life healthier, easier and safer. Our employees work to ensure health, safety, security and environmental stewardship through our commitment to sustainability and Responsible Care. NOVA Chemicals, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is wholly-owned ultimately by Mubadala Investment Company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Visit NOVA Chemicals on the Internet at www.novachemicals.com .

# # #

For further information, please contact:

Borealis

Virginia Mesicek

Senior Manager a.i., External Communications

Tel.: +43 1 22 400 772 (Vienna, Austria)

E-mail: virginia.mesicek@borealisgroup.com

NOVA Chemicals

Media Relations

Jennifer Nanz

Director, Corporate Communications

E-mail: Jennifer.Nanz@novachem.com

Investor Relations

Patty Masry

Financial Reporting & Investor Relations Manager

Patty.Masry@novachem.com

NOVA Chemicals logo is a registered trademark of NOVA Brands Ltd.; authorized use.

Responsible Care is a registered trademark of the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada.
Bus travelling from capital Tehran to northeastern city of Gonbad overturns, killing at least 20 people and injuring 24.

At least 20 people have reportedly died and 24 others injured in a bus accident in Iran, according to an Iranian newspaper.

The bus was reportedly heading to Gonbad from the capital Tehran when the accident took place, according to the Entekhab newspaper.

Gonbad is about 500km (310 miles) northeast of Tehran, near the border with Turkmenistan.

An image posted on social media showed the bus lying on its side, with shattered windows, by the side of the road.

The Tehran-based Shargh Daily newspaper quoted authorities as saying that the accident was caused by a defect in the vehicles brake system.

     :             . pic.twitter.com/Ry1dMAhA7E  ILNA/  (@ilnanews) January 9, 2020

ILNA news agency also quoted authorities from Mazandaran Province as saying that mechanical failure was the cause of the deadly incident.

A video of the aftermath of the crash showed emergency personnel struggling to extract survivors from the mangled bus, while medics tried to load an injured victim into an ambulance.

UNICEF said Irans rate of traffic accidents is 20 times the worlds average, as the country suffers from poor roads and lax law enforcement.

At least two fatalities were also seen placed in a bodybag.

According to a May 2017 report by the Tehran-based newspaper Financial Tribune, more than 20,000 people are killed and 800,000 injured annually in road accidents in Iran.

More details to follow.
A stylist has revealed how Meghan Markle uses tailored camel outfits to show she 'is calm but means business' at appearances before making big announcements.

The Duchess of Sussex, 38, looked radiant as she stepped out in a tailored brown outfit for her appearance at Canada House on Tuesday, just 24 hours before announcing she would step down from life as a senior royal.

The smart chic tan outfit looked remarkably similar to one the Duchess wore in October during her tour of South Africa shortly she and Prince Harry, 35, announced they planned to sue various media outlets.

Stylist Lucas Armitage told FEMAIL the move was intentional, saying: 'Meghan is using traditional power dressing pieces to assert an authority and grounding them in relaxed colours to show a level of calm.'

Stylist Lucas Armitage told FEMAIL that Meghan Markle, 38, often pairs 'calm' camel colours with sharp tailoring at appearances shortly before announcing controversial news (pictured left, in October during the South Africa tour shortly before announcing she planned to sue the Mail on Sunday, pictured right, making her final appearance as a senior royal on Tuesday before announcing plans to stand down on Wednesday)

On Tuesday, the royal mixed high street with designer as she stepped out at Canada House and returned to royal duty.

She wore a 345 coat from Reiss with a 50 polo neck and 85 skirt from Massimo Dutti for her appearance in London.

Meghan added a touch of glamour to her outfit with a pair of velvet Jimmy Choo stilettos.

The Duchess chose a blend of wintery browns for the occasion, mixing trendy camel tones with a darker brown skirt.

The Duchess of Sussex has regularly paired warm, earthy colours with sharp tailoring before announcing explosive news (pictured on Monday visiting Canada House)

But the look was remarkably similar to one she wore in October, when the Duchess stepped out in 95 trench coat dress from Banana Republic for a morning meeting at the University of Johannesburg.

It was later that day that Prince Harry launched an attack on the on the British media as he accused the press of 'bullying' and 'relentless propaganda'.

The couple went on to reveal their plans to sue the Mail on Sunday newspaper.

Royal reporter Elizabeth Holmes speculated about the shift on her own Instagram page, writing: 'It's the ultimate dressing-for-the-slideshow moment.'

Stylist Lucas revealed that camel was often seen as a 'calming and pure' tone, while Meghan's choice of tailoring conveyed the message she 'means business'

And stylist Lucas revealed the sartorial choice was likely intentional, saying: 'The camel coat is a similar sartorial choice she has made time and time again before breaking controversial news.'

He went on to explain that even the tones of brown may have been an important choice for the royal.

He said: 'Camel is neutral tone and often seen as a calming and pure tone.

'As a stylist, camel seems like a great colour tone to employ as its less serious and somber then most hues and isnt too attention grabbing like bolder colour choices.'

The Duchess wore a remarkably similar outfit while on tour in South Africa shortly before announcing she was planning to sue the Mail on Sunday

He continued: 'Those who are in tune with Meghan's style choice may have picked up on the fact camel signalled royal news was coming.'

And Lucas suggested the tailored structure of Meghan's outfits, when paired with the calming camel tones, pointed to a powerful statement.

He said: 'Whilst the colour choice was one to give a relaxed tone the choice of strong tailoring is also a style trick Meghan often employs.

'Its conveys a message of meaning business and being taken seriously.

Lucas pointed to the similarities between the two outfits, suggesting the choice was a move by Meghan to 'assert authority' with a 'level of calm'

'It's very rare we see her in anything other than structure these days, which is understandable given the amount of pressure she is under.

He added: 'She is using traditional power dressing pieces to assert an authority and grounding them in relaxed colours to show a level of calm.'

Meanwhile stylist Susie Hasler added: 'Meghan's chosen colour - brown - is an interesting one. The colour signifies reliability. It's a conservative colour as well, which may be why she chose it to something brighter.'

On Wednesday evening the Sussexes took to the Sussex Royal Instagram account to announce the decision that they would be stepping back from royal duties and focus on low-key charity work.

On Wednesday evening the Sussexes took to the Sussex Royal Instagram account to announce the decision that they would be stepping back from royal duties and focus on low-key charity work

Sharing a picture of their engagement announcement in November 2017, their statement reads: 'After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution.

'We intend to step back as senior members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.'

It continues: 'It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment. We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.

Prince Harry and Meghan have unveiled their plan to step back as senior members of the royal family (pictured, with their son Archie in May)

'This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.

'We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support. - The Duke and Duchess of Sussex'.

The announcement racked up 1.4 million likes, and 80,000 comments, with some reacting with disappointment, and others with understanding.
Back by popular demand: Glass milk bottles at select Farm Fresh stores.

Several independently owned Farm Fresh stores have inked deals with Oberweis Dairy to carry on the years-old Southern Illinois tradition. This development comes after Chester Dairy, long the supplier of milk in iconic half-gallon glass bottles under the Farm Fresh label, closed its dairy operation last month.

Oberweis Dairy, based in North Aurora, began offering its glass bottle milk products this week at Farm Fresh stores in Carterville, Du Quoin and Murphysboro in Southern Illinois, and in the Metro East locations of Belleville, Bethalto, Granite City, Alton and East Alton, according to Andy Trefonas, Oberweis Dairys vice president of retail sales.

These new sales agreements mark Oberweis first foray into the Southern Illinois market. The timing made sense with the opportunity that opened up as Chester Dairys dairy operation closed, Trefonas said.

We heard about the stores, and Chester Dairy, and that part of the state of Illinois seems to have a lot of customers that like milk in glass bottles, he said. Were happy to serve those customers.

The Farm Fresh stores under the ownership of Chester Dairy (those in Anna, Centralia, Benton, Harrisburg, Herrin and West Frankfort) are not part of the sales agreements with Oberweis Dairy; only those stores that are independently owned are offering Oberweis products.

All of the Farm Fresh stores are continuing to offer milk under the Farm Fresh label, though it is now supplied by Prairie Farms Dairy. The Farm Fresh label milk is no longer available in a glass bottle. Rather, its half-gallon products are packaged in a clear plastic jug that is shaped similarly to the glass ones. They are not returnable but are recyclable. The stores also carry Prairie Farms Dairy milk and other products under the Prairie Farms label.

Chester Dairys decision to cease its dairy operation was met with disappointment throughout the region. The companys roots date back to 1932, and it was truly a local operation. The dairy farms products stayed within a 100-mile radius to ensure freshness.

The half-gallon glass milk bottles, a relic of the past, helped make the milk-and-bread stores a unique part of the fabric of Southern Illinois' small towns. Customers paid a $1 deposit for the bottle, and that same amount was deducted from their bill each time they returned a bottle and made a new milk or juice purchase.

Dave Armstrong, who took over as owner of the Carterville Farm Fresh store in October 2018, said that it is always difficult when a local business closes, especially one to which people have such nostalgic ties.

We knew that a lot of our customers were pretty upset about losing the glass bottles, he said. With this change, I felt like we were losing something that was meaningful to people  the milk in glass was meaningful.

Armstrong said thats why he sought out alternatives for glass bottle milk products when Chester Dairy announced its closure, and the end of glass bottle delivery. Oberweis Dairy offers several different options, and Armstrong said he chose its organic milk line. It is an option for people who want the most premium milk they can get in Southern Illinois, he said. He also chose to add several flavors of Oberweis Dairy ice cream to store shelves. Armstrong noted his store continues to offer the Farm Fresh label milk by Prairie Farms and said it's also a quality milk product.

But the enthusiasm for glass bottles is evident.

When the Du Quoin Farm Fresh, owned by Mike Patel, announced its business agreement with Oberweis Dairy for glass bottled milk to its Facebook page this week, the post received nearly 350 likes, shares and comments. Great news! one person wrote; Praise God!! said another. A lot of people ask about the glass bottles, Patel said. As of this week, his store is selling regular and chocolate Oberweis Dairy milk in glass bottles.

Trefonas said the company has been packaging milk in glass bottles for 93 years. "Milk is always going to taste better, colder and fresher in a glass bottle," he said. People who are environmentally conscious appreciate that the bottles are cleaned and reused multiple times before they are recycled, and "there's a nostalgia piece to it" that makes it a popular option, he said.

Trefonas said nine other grocers in the Southern Illinois and Metro East market have begun carrying its dairy products, in addition to the Farm Fresh stores. They are: Country Mart in Freeburg; Gateway Market in East St. Louis; Hansen Meat Co. in Jerseyville and Alton; Red Bud IGA; Joes Market Basket in Edwardsville; Myers Korner Market in Prairie du Rocher; Roziers County Market in Chester and Toms Supermarket in Mascoutah.

The glass bottle charge for Oberweis Dairy products is $1.50; the same amount is discounted from a new purchase with each bottle that is returned. Oberweis Dairy's milk is produced at farms in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.

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Pre-Christmas confidence and assurances that Portlaoise hospital would not be downgraded have not been bolstered by comments by the new boss of the Health Service Executive (HSE).

The Portlaoise Hospital Action Group said at the end of 2019 that they believed that the Department of Health policy is that the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise should retain its Emergency Department (ED/A&E).

Their view was based on a pre-Christmas statement and meeting with Laois TD and Minister Charlie Flanagan. In a statement, he said the reconfiguration plan for the hospital is superseded by Slaintecare.

However, in his first significant interviews as HSE Chief Executive Officer, Mr Paul Reid has again raised questions about the number of Emergency Departments and the role of hospitals. Mr Reid said the number of Emergency Departments around Ireland must be assessed.

Mr Reid discussed the issue with Claire Byrne on RTE Radio News at One programme.

"Supporting the massive number of 24/7 Emergency Departments we have across the country is a real challenge. So we need to look at the role of our hospitals across the country for the best effect," he said.

Asked if he saw this as a rationalisation of Emergency Departments Mr Reid said the hospital's roles will need to change.

"I would see it quite differently. I would see it as how do we organise our hospitals that we have the right care in Emergency Departments and specialised and elective care in some other hospitals so that we can manage both. We have to do something different so that we can manage daily surges and winter surges and elective procedures," he said.

As to when such real change could be expected, Mr Reid said a 'fundamental change' is contained in the HSE's 2020 service plan with 1,000 extra community staff being recruited.

Speaking to NewsTalk he said there are three major strategic elements that need to be implemented. One is more beds and resources to support those beds in hospitals and the community. He said the second element is changing the way health services are delivered in the hospital and the community. He said the third related to A&Es.

We do really need to look at the number of Emergency Departments that were managing all across the system. So were currently managing 29 emergency departments, and thats the route where primarily people go when they need it.

Theres a lot we need to do with our current emergency departments, but it has to be part of an assessment we do. Just to give a simple example, in a national trauma strategy where were looking at people would be treated in major traumas.

That does have a vision of having a small number of dedicated, major trauma centres across the country with a number of spines and hubs through the country off that, he said.

The Chief Executive's explanation is not dissimilar to a big reconfiguration plan for hospitals in Laois, Offaly, Kildare and Dublin which was presented to the Minister for Health in 2017.

It proposed the phased reconfiguration of the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise with A&E, maternity, paediatrics, ICU and most surgery transferring to expanded services in other hospitals. Portlaoise's new role would be mainly for diagnostic with a limited minor injury unit.

The plan was drawn up in the wake of the maternity controversy in Portlaoise.

The Minister for Health Simon Harris has promised local consultation on the future of Portlaoise hospital.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has formally accused Iran of shooting down the plane that crashed shortly after take off in Tehran Wednesday.

Mr Trudeau said fresh evidence suggested that a surface-to-air missile deployed by Iranian military brought down the flight early Wednesday morning.

Evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, Mr Trudeau said at a televised press briefing Thursday night. We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence.

While admitting that the attack might have been unintentional, the Canadian leader insisted that a thorough investigation must be carried out.

The Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 crashed shortly after take off from Imam Khomeini International Airport at about 6:12 a.m. Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board.

Amongst the victims were 63 Canadians. Iranians, Britons, Germans and Ukrainians were amongst the nationals on board.

Iran denied any involvement in the crash, with its media citing unnamed aviation experts as blaming it on a technical difficulties.

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The plane came down hours after Iran fired ballistic missiles into two military bases where American soldiers were staying in Iraq. The rockets hit the bases, but no Americans or other nationals were injured.

Still, Iran said it was satisfied by the action, which it said was in retaliation for last Thursdays killing of Qassem Soleimani, its top military general and strategist.
The following is a statement from the Lakota People's Law Project in connection with an incident at the Indigenous Peoples March in Washington, D.C., in January 2019.

Other than the Native press, no media outlets sought comment from organizers of the Indigenous Peoples March when CNN settled a libel suit this week brought by Kentucky high school student Nick Sandmann after his confrontation with Native American activist Nathan Phillips last year.

As the March was created to amplify Indigenous voices on matters that concern Indigenous people, heres a joint statement from organizers of the Indigenous Peoples March and the Lakota Peoples Law Project:

A painting of Nathan Phillips by Bobby Von Martin. Photo courtesy of the artist: Choctaw artist overcame hardship and reconnected with tribal culture

As no details concerning CNNs decision to settle Nick Sandmanns defamation lawsuit against them have been released, its difficult to assess the implications of the networks decision not to fight in court.

It is important to note that a Kentucky federal judge decided last summer to dismiss Sandmanns suit against The Washington Post, citing First Amendment concerns. Though the suit has since been reopened, it should be noted that Sandmann has only been granted the ability to seek discovery surrounding three of an original 33 alleged libelous charges.

Regardless of any legal outcomes, the smirk seen around the world remains a poignant symbol of the well-documented bigotry of President Donald Trump and many of his followers.

The United States is losing moral capital the world over right now at an alarming rate. That trend must be reversed immediately if we hope to remain a force for good in the world, and that begins with robust media coverage of public acts of racism.

We encourage interested parties to review our detailed rebuttal of the lawsuit filed by Nick Sandmann against The Washington Post. The arguments made there also apply to the specious suit settled by CNN.

The Lakota People's Law Project operates under the 501(c)(3) Romero Institute, a nonprofit law and policy center.

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Taiwan has seemed like a safe haven for Hong Kong protesters fearing arrest.

Marches in cities across Taiwan have called for Hong Kongers to strive on.

And messages of support had appeared on the streets of Taipei.

While protesters who fled have no legal way of gaining permanent asylum here, Taiwan's President, Tsai Ing-wen - has allowed dozens of them to temporarily stay.

But an upcoming election could hand victory to the opposition.

And some fear they could force them to leave.

One protester, who goes only by Jero, says he planned to stay in Taiwan.

He says he doesn't think he can go back to Hong Kong.

After he took part in the storming of the city's Legislative Council in July.

Something he fears he could face up to a decade behind bars for.

Taiwan's history is complicated.

China considers it its own, and wants to bring it under its control.

The current president is from a pro-independence party.

But her challenger favors closer ties with China.

And even though he's voiced support for the Hong Kong protesters, the prospect of a Han Kuo-yu presidency is still concerning some of the people who have fled here.

One protester who didn't want to reveal his real name, explained why:

(SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) HONG KONG PROTESTER, NICKNAMED ROGER, SAYING:

"When Han Kuo-yu visited Hong Kong, he ran to the Hong Kong Liaison Office to meet with cadres of communist China. That showed clearly that he is of the pro-China faction and therefore our enemy. Communist China is Hong Kong's and Taiwan's common enemy [...] So this is why we have such an antipathy against his pro-China stance."

Saturday's (January 11) election will see who'll call the shots for the next four years.

Until then, all the protesters can do is wait.
A Look At Three Decades Of Iran's Secretive Quds Force

By Morad Veisi January 08, 2020

Within hours of the U.S. air strike that killed Qasem Soleimani on January 3, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei announced the appointment of a successor to head the Revolutionary Guards' secretive Quds Force.

The speed of the announcement appeared to be aimed at sending a message of continuity.

"The force's mission is exactly the same as it was under the command of the martyr Soleimani," Khamenei said.

If the Quds Force's mission doesn't change, as the supreme leader suggests, its work will likely be based on the histories and influences that have acted on its commanders -- including its new one, Ismail Qaani.

Here is a look at some of those complex influences within the Quds Force.

Quds Within Iran's Armed Forces

The Quds Force is one of eight branches of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

The others are the Ground Resistance Force, commanded by Mohammad Pakpour; the Air Force, commanded by Amir Ali Hajizadeh; the Navy, commanded by Alireza Tangsiri; the volunteer Basij militia, commanded by Gholamreza Soleimani; Intelligence, commanded by Hossein Taeb; Counterintelligence, commanded by Mohammad Kazemi; and Security, commanded by Fathollah Jomeiri.

All eight units operate under the leadership of IRGC commander in chief Major General Hossein Salami and his deputy, Ali Fadavi.

But the Quds Force's commander effectively operates within a parallel structure and is solely accountable to Iran's supreme leader.

Overseas Activities

The Quds Force is essentially an offshore unit of the IRGC officially begun in the late 1980s.

The existence of such a military unit was never officially acknowledged prior to the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011. But the Quds Force's extensive involvement in the effort to prop up besieged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad brought the name of the force and its commander, Soleimani, out of the shadows.

Some of the Quds Force's most notable areas of operation have reportedly been Lebanon, where it supports Hizballah and has reportedly sought greater influence in that country's government and security structures; Syria, where its support has included the formation of pro-government militias; Iraq, including the establishment of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), also known as Hashid Shaabi, which has sought to encourage closer relations with Iran and manage relations with Iraq's Kurdistan region; Yemen, where it has supported the Huthi government in Sanaa against Saudi pressure; Afghanistan, where it has supported political and armed groups close to Iran and sought government influence; and the Gaza Strip, where it has backed Hamas.

Many of those groups -- like the IRGC itself since April -- are among U.S.-designated terrorist organizations.

Beyond those countries, the Quds Force has reportedly been active throughout the Middle East -- including during the simmering Iran-Bahrain dispute -- and suspected members have been detained in Arab Gulf states.

Division Of Labor

The activities that fall within the Quds Force's current mission were pursued within the framework of multiple organizations prior to Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted the shah and brought a clerical regime to power.

One of the Islamic regime's first moves was to organize many of those activities under the command of revolutionary Mohammad Montazeri, who had led armed groups from exile and had close ties to Palestinian and other militants.

After Montazeri's death in 1981, the overseas activities of the IRGC were led by future Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was president at the time.

Khamenei was said to have supported allies including Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi, who would later head the hard-line Judiciary, in nurturing Iraqi opposition groups in Iran. Shahrudi would purportedly help form and become a spokesman for the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI), which was aimed at providing internal opposition in Iraq during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War.

Already during that war, IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaee was disguising official ties to Iranian-backed groups abroad. They were the first serious attempts by the IRGC to consolidate the regime's activities abroad in the face of a potential rival within the system, the newly established Intelligence Ministry.

Rezaee also formed what became known as the Badr Brigade in Iraq, comprising opposition to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and officered by Iranians. From its inception, Razaee reportedly sought to escape oversight of the Badr Brigade by the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and its leader, Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim. Hakim reportedly complained about this to influential former revolutionary Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and to Khamenei himself.

The ranks of the Badr Brigade in those days included Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of the Iranian-backed PMF who was killed along with Soleimani in the January 3 U.S. bombing in Baghdad.

Muhandis had fled to Kuwait from Iraq in the early 1980s and went to Iran after allegedly collaborating with Imad Mughniyeh, a founding member of the Lebanese Islamic Jihad Organization and number 2 person within Hizballah, to target U.S. and European targets in Kuwait.

Muhandis eventually became commander of the Badr Brigade, which had ties to the IRGC.

Another person active in the Badr Brigade at the time was Hadi al-Ameri, the current head of the Badr Organization, one of the most important groups in the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (also known as the PMF and Hashid Shaabi) militia in Iraq. During an operation in Karala, both Abu Mahdi Mohandes and Ameri served under commander Hassan Danaeifar, who became Iran's ambassador to Iraq after the U.S.-led toppling of Saddam Hussein.

Another part of the IRGC's offshore activities was carried out within the framework of Operation Ramadan in Iraq. One of the senior commanders of Operation Ramadan and its chief of staff during those years was reportedly Iraj Masjedi, who is now a brigadier general and Iran's ambassador to Iraq.

Another commander in Operation Ramadan was Mohammad Reza Naqdi, who later commanded the IRGC's influential Basij militia in Iran.

In the 1980s, many of the IRGC's activities were carried out in Lebanon, near the Israeli border, and involved Hussein Dehghan, a future Iranian defense minister. Two of those who were trained under Dehghan to command Lebanese Hizballah during those years were Hassan Nasrallah, who now leads that group, and Hizballah second in command Mughniyeh.

Two other Iranians who directed and maintained ties to Hizballah after Dehghan were Ahmad Vahidi, the IRGC's then-commander and the first commander of the Quds Force after its establishment, and Fereydun Verdi Nejad (then known as Mehdi Nejad).

Vahidi and Nejad were also reportedly in charge of negotiating with Americans during the events that led to the Iran-Contra affair in the late 1980s.

Vahidi later became defense minister and now heads Iran's National Defense University. Nejad subsequently directed the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) and is now a media adviser.

After the Iran-Iraq War and the death of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruollah Khomeini, Ali Khamenei and Hashemi Rafsanjani reportedly tried to create a rivalry between the IRGC and the Intelligence Ministry.

Activities against Iran's political opponents abroad, including reported assassinations of their leaders, were essentially entrusted to the Intelligence Ministry.

Control and management of non-Iranian allied groups was said to have been handed to the IRGC. All of the various subgroups, including what would become the Nasr Command headed by Reza Seifullah, who was in charge of dealing with Iraqi Kurds and Shi'a, reportedly were merged and the Quds Force was formed, although for years it was not publicly discussed.

The Rise Of Soleimani

Qasem Soleimani replaced Vahidi atop the Quds Force in 1997.

The organization soon began to flourish and extend its influence inside and outside the country. As one of Khamenei's favorite IRGC commanders, Soleimani had established himself as a decisive figure.

He divided the Quds Force into separate departments based on the countries where it operated. Each department had a commander accountable only to Soleimani.

Soleimani also created five new branches of the Quds Force with distinct commanders, including Intelligence, Finance, Politics, Sabotage, and Special Operations. They interacted with each other under a so-called Council of Commanders with Soleimani at its head.

But the Quds Force and its commander mostly avoided the spotlight until civil war broke out in Syria in 2011.

Describing Syria as providing Iran with "strategic depth," Soleimani reportedly convinced Khamenei to intervene in favor of President Assad.\

Reports suggested that soon thousands of members of the Quds Force and their trained Iraqi Shi'ite militiamen poured into Syria to fight anti-Assad forces.

In the meantime, under Soleimani's direct supervision, Quds Force specialists reportedly began to train minority Shi'a from Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight in Syria, too.

Soleimani's Successor

Upon the 62-year-old Qaani's promotion to Quds Force commander on January 3, Khamenei praised him as "one of the most distinguished Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commanders."

Born in Iran's second-largest city, Mashhad, the capital of Khorasan Province, he is an Iran-Iraq War veteran who commanded the Nasr-5 and Imam Reza-21 brigades, the latter of which was eventually expanded into a division.

Qaani has been a member of the Quds Force since its establishment and, during the past two decades, has served as an intelligence official and deputy chief commander under Soleimani.

The U.S. Treasury Department listed Qaani in 2012 as a "specially designated national" for his alleged role in supervising financial disbursements and weapons shipments to the Lebanese Hizballah and Quds Force elements in both the Middle East and Africa, particularly The Gambia.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-quds-force- soleimani-explainer/30366930.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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The state of disaster declared in parts of Victoria will remain in place as fire conditions are forecast to worsen in coming days.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the declaration, which increases government and agency powers to move people out of affected regions, would continue for East Gippsland and the northeast.

'We have forecast conditions of extreme danger, very significant fire activity is likely off the back of a hot day today, a hot day tomorrow,' Mr Andrews told reporters on Thursday.

The state of disaster declared in parts of Victoria will remain in place as fire conditions are forecast to worsen in coming days. People are seen being evacuated from Hastings, Victoria

'A change is not coming through in the east of the state until late afternoon tomorrow and in the northern part of the state not until the evening on Saturday.

'This means that we have every reason to believe there will be significant fire activity over the next 48 hours and that means it is appropriate that we continue the state of disaster.'

Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said there were 23 fires burning across the state, 13 watch and act messages in place and 1.2 million hectares had been burnt.

The number of fires has increased from 12, but Mr Crisp said said there were not new fires, the information was just being broken up so communities could better understand threats from the merged blazes.

'In the lead-up to the spike day, on the Monday 10 days ago, we stood here and talked about people should not be in East Gippsland,' Mr Crisp said.

'Our message this time is clear and simple, it is exactly the same message: You should not be there.'

Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said there were 23 fires burning across the state, 13 watch and act messages in place and 1.2 million hectares had been burnt. Firefighters are seen backburning in Corryong, Victoria

About 67,000 people left East Gippsland last week as the disaster built.

There have been 244 houses and 400 other structures destroyed and three people killed in the fires in Victoria.

The third victim was confirmed on Wednesday - Forest Fires Management worker Mat Kavanagh, 43, died when his vehicle crashed on the Goulburn Valley Highway on January 3.

The Bureau of Meteorology on Wednesday issued an extreme fire danger warning for the north of the state on Friday, with a severe warning for the Mallee and northeast districts.

Temperatures nearing 40C are also forecast in some areas on Friday, along with northerly winds, ahead of a change in the afternoon.

Victorians are being told to heed 'life or death' warnings as extreme fire danger returns to fire-affected regions on Friday, following calm and mild weather conditions on Thursday.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the declaration, which increases government and agency powers to move people out of affected regions, would continue for East Gippsland and the northeast

The fires have prompted an outpouring of generosity from the public and celebrities, with millions of dollars being raised for the relief effort.

Pop star Lizzo on Wednesday found time in her tour schedule to pack hampers for Australian bushfire victims at Foodbank ahead of her sold-out show that night in Melbourne.

The blazes have also created an inferno of political angst.

Authorities have urged organisers of a climate protest planned for Melbourne's CBD on Friday night to postpone, call it off, or restrict it to one area but organisers are insistant the action will go ahead.

About 4000 people were stranded in Mallacoota after fire threats caught the coastal holiday town by surprise last week and many of them were rescued by military helicopter and ship, the final group leaving on Wednesday.

Military helicopters have also been delivering supplies of satellite phones, food, water and diesel for generators to isolated towns including Mallacoota and Genoa.
Over the last several years, Pure Michigan has become nearly synonymous with travel in Michigan.

What started as a series of commercials featuring a portion of The Cider House Rules theme song, picturesque views and the voice of Tim Allen eventually turned into a branding juggernaut, with the phrase Pure Michigan papering the states license plates and welcome signs. Its also a popular hashtag on social media, where people share their best Michigan nature photos and comment on life in the state.

Although the administration isnt planning a rebrand anytime soon, the campaign nonetheless faces an uncertain future as lawmakers and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer debate whether its funding should be returned.

But as many longtime Michigan residents could tell you, the Pure Michigan campaign isnt the first time the state has tried to lure in visitors by showing off Michigans attributes.

Where it all began

The first Michigan tourism promotion can be traced all the way back to 1873 - but the format and scope looked a lot different than it does today.

According to State Archivist Mark Harvey, it was Charles Hallock of New York who first documented the states natural charms in his book The Fishing Tourist, highlighting the states waterways in a chapter about the Michigan peninsula. The Au Sable River region also earned a mention in Scribners Almanac in the late 1800s.

Back then, there wasnt much of a regional or statewide approach to tourism in Michigan, Harvey said - ad campaigns were largely driven by specific businesses such as resorts or rail lines looking to attract customers.

That began to change at the turn of the century, when groups began forming to promote specific regions of the state. A convention and visitors bureau was formed in Detroit in the late 1800s, and the Michigan Tourist and Resort Association - now the West Michigan Tourist Association - was established in 1917, which sparked more regional tourism associations throughout the state.

By the 1930s and 40s, better roads and more access to cars meant tourism was on the rise, and state officials took notice. The Michigan Tourist and Resort Commission was created in 1934, and in 1945, state lawmakers passed legislation authorizing a statewide travel commission, according to a Michigan tourism timeline compiled by Alyssa Peterson and Dr. Sarah Nicholls of Michigan State University.

Experts at the time recommended Michigan respond to increased tourism demand with better facilities and means of transportation, investing in the states year-round vacation appeal and launching a national advertising campaign, coupled with strategically located information offices.

With the rapid development of all forms of transportation, Michigan, through the media of national advertising and more effective distribution of printed matter will be in a position to capture its share of this expanded market, one 1945 report reads.

Enter Water Wonderland

Although regional slogans like Carefree Days in West Michigan and Playground of a Nation predated it, the statewide ad campaign that endured for decades focused on one of Michigans most plentiful attributes: water.

Water Wonderland ads distributed throughout the 1950s and 1960s feature swimmers and divers, families lounging on the beach and families on their way to go fishing. Phrases used to describe the state include Americas Summer Home, an extra measure of rest and pleasure and a nature-based playground in the heart of the Great Lakes region.

In 1954, the phrase ended up on Michigan license plates, according to the Michigan Secretary of State, making it the first tourism slogan to land on the back of residents cars.

Eventually, the campaign transitioned into "Water-Winter Wonderland to market Michigan as a four-seasons state, and the license plates changed to reflect that in 1965. The license plate slogan was changed again in 1968 to Great Lake State.

The Michigans and more

While the state has had a handful of slogans that resonated with tourists and Michigan residents alike for years, some campaigns were barely a blip in the states tourism history.

Harvey highlighted a unique ad campaign created by the Detroit agency Ross Roy that ran only during the summer of 1971.

It refers to the Upper and Lower Peninsulas as The Michigans," with the slogan The Almost Islands of the Great Lakes.

Its the only one that mentions (Michigans peninsulas) in the plural. Its definitely calling out that there are two almost islands, Harvey said.

At one point, the state also used Thumbs Up as an ad slogan, but that hasnt enjoyed the same renaissance as other former campaigns, he added.

Say Yes to Michigan, Yes Michigan

In the 1970s and 1980s, the bold logo featuring Michigans geography coupled with the catchphrase Say Yes to Michigan! was the go-to for Michigan tourism ads.

The campaign also featured upbeat television ads featuring jingles and fun seasonal activities for visitors.

The vintage branding has enjoyed newfound popularity in recent years. It inspired the title of the song Say Yes! to M!ch!gan! by Michigan-born musician Sufjan Stevens, and the phrase is readily available on t-shirts and other merchandise.

That campaign transitioned into Yes Michigan" in the late 1980s and ran into the 1990s, and is now remembered primarily for the catchy Yes Michigan, the feeling is forever... jingle.

Pure Michigan

Michigans current promotional campaign made its first regional debut in 2006, and was launched to a nationwide audience for the first time in 2010.

The campaign almost went in another direction entirely. According to Crains Detroit Business, the initial idea was to run with the slogan Find Your True North, but state officials felt it focused too heavily on northern regions of the state.

The Pure Michigan campaign was created by the firm McCann Erickson. The campaigns creators have said the goal was to do something good for Michigan, comparing it to the I Love NY campaign in New York.

Pure Michigan has since evolved to become a core part of the states economic development brand, resulting in partnerships with corporations like Coca-Cola. Partnerships with Michigan companies and local artists have produced Pure Michigan ice cream, Vernors cans and an ambient music album.

In a recent interview with MLive, Bruce Vanden Bergh, Michigan State University professor emeritus in advertising, said Pure Michigans staying power with viewers is rare among state tourism campaigns. Few campaigns are able to encompass the diversity and authenticity of an entire state in a succinct way, he said.

It resonates with people, it hits them emotionally, he said. Its very hard to do.

Vanden Bergh said the Pure Michigan ads have served another purpose for Michigan as well - its given Michigan residents a sense of pride, as well as provide counterbalance to negative perceptions of the state.

Where things stand

Currently, the future of how the Pure Michigan brand is used in the future remains uncertain.

Funding for the campaign was scratched from the state budget in a line-item veto from Gretchen Whitmer, going from $36 million in funding last fiscal year to $0. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation secured funding to fulfill existing campaigns through the end of 2019.

Pure Michigan was not included in a supplemental spending bill signed into law before the end of the year, although legislative leadership left open the option for another supplemental spending bill early in 2020.

Rep. Jack OMalley, R-Lake Ann, and Sen. Wayne Schmidt, R-Traverse City, are backing legislation that would restore funding to $37.5 million - the amount initially approved by the state legislature for the current fiscal year before Whitmers veto.

Travel industry insiders remain hopeful Pure Michigan funding will be restored - although some critics are hoping the state stops investing in the campaign, arguing its ineffective and unfairly favors certain industries over others.

Read more:

See vintage maps used to promote Michigan towns

Pure Michigan budget cut stings for travel industry: It feels like a veto of our state

Advertising Michigan, with success

No funding coming for Pure Michigan in immediate future
Nurse Sandra Kyong Bradbury (R) hugs Jo-An Tremblay, the mother of one of the newborns the nurse saved when power went out in the NICU of a New York City hospital during Superstorm Sandy. (YouTube / ABC News)

On Oct. 29, 2012, New York City was struck by Superstorm Sandy, a post-tropical cyclone so powerful and immense that it could have covered a quarter of the continental United States when at its maximum size. Despite ample forewarning of Sandy's trajectory, city officials proved unprepared for the shocking force of the behemoth storm.

Sustained winds in excess of 80 miles per hour battered the New York City region, according to NOAA. In New York City, the 14-foot storm surge brought catastrophic flooding to the streets as winds knocked out power lines and even power plants, causing billions of dollars worth of damages.

The human cost proved devastating as well, as at least 43 people in the city alone lost their lives to the impacts of the storm, according to city officials. But were it not for the heroic efforts of one woman -- also, coincidentally, named Sandy -- the tragedy inflicted by the super storm could have proven even greater.

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 13 (GOES-13) captured this natural-color image of Hurricane Sandy at 1:45 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (17:45 Universal Time) on October 28, 2012, one day before the massive storm struck New York City. (NOAA)

As a new decade begins, AccuWeather is revisiting some of the most extreme weather events of the last decade and highlighting the heroic people who carried out selfless acts during those disasters to help those in need. Perhaps no one is more emblematic of heroism than Sandra Kyong Bradbury.

Sandra Kyong Bradbury, then 30, a nurse at New York University's Langone Medical Center in Lower Manhattan, was between shifts when the power went out at the hospital. At the time, there were 20 babies in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), many of whom were unable even to draw breath without assistance. The power loss, she knew, was a likely death sentence for the infants unless they could swiftly get the babies to another hospital.

Story continues

There was no time for hesitation. Bundling together the infants' IV drips, medications and ventilators, Sandy and her fellow nurses personally carried the at-risk babies down nine flights of stairs in the darkness. With each step, the nurses had to synchronize their timing to manually pump air into their delicate charges' struggling lungs.

Too little air, and the infants would suffocate. Too much, and they risked damaging their lungs irreparably. In her own arms, Sandy bore Jackson Shepherd, a prematurely born infant weighing just two and a half pounds. Remarkably, Sandy and her fellow nurses were able to save the lives of all 20 of their charges.

"It took a lot of coordination," Sandy recalled in an interview given to Reader's Digest at the time. "Because they were in our arms, we were able to constantly monitor the babies' color and heart rates.

"We care for these babies every day," she added. "This experience shows that we protect them as if they're our own children."

As the nurses carried the babies in their arms through the flooded streets to waiting ambulances, news crews captured dramatic video of the rescue -- inspiring not only residents of the city, but also countless people across the country, including the people in the White House. President Obama delivered a personal message of thanks to the nurses, declaring proudly that they represented the "brightest in America."

Baby Jackson's mother, Jo-An Tremblay-Shepherd, told New York Magazine that Sandy and her fellow nurses should be regarded as heroes.

"In my estimation," said Tremblay-Shepherd, "they are the highest." She added, "I'm just so thankful. Sandy was right by my side through the whole time."

Working in the NICU, Sandy explained to ABC News, was a responsibility that all nurses approached with absolute commitment and dedication. So when adversity struck, she said, she and her fellow nurses were prepared to do whatever it took to secure the infants' safety. Her job, she said, was to "take care of (the babies)" -- no matter what.

"It was in extreme circumstances," she acknowledged. "You step up, and I think that's what makes a hero."

Seven years after the dramatic events of that cold Monday evening in October, AccuWeather reached out to Sandy, who now serves as the Hospital Business Manager for Mead Johnson Nutrition in New Jersey. She declined a formal interview but told AccuWeather that she was "blessed to remain friends with Baby Jackson and his wonderful family" and that she was "grateful to have been part of an amazing team of nurses during Hurricane Sandy."

"The babies, their families, my fellow nurses and the memories will always remain a part of me and hold a special place in my heart," Sandy said.

Below, watch an ABC News interview with Sandra Kyong Bradbury and her colleagues from 2012.
Yesterday in Istanbul, the presidents of Russia, Turkey and Serbia, Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Alexander Vucic, as well as Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov formally launched the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, which consists of two pipelines with a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas per year each. The first line will deliver Russian gas to Turkish consumers, the second - to the countries of Southern and Southeast Europe.

The pipeline will bring Russian natural gas both to Turkey and onward to southern Europe, Daily Sabah writes in the article TurkStream offers economic interdependence as catalyst for peace. TurkStream follows the launch of another natural gas pipeline, the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), whose final leg to Europe was completed only two months ago. With the launch of TurkStream, Turkey is host now to three major natural gas pipelines, cementing its place as the major energy corridor between Europe and Asia.

The take-away from the launch of TurkStream from an economic perspective isn't the importance of the engineering feat achieved or of the immediate savings on energy prices to Turkey or even the addition employment it will bring to the region. The greatest economic contribution of TurkStream and similar projects is the generation of further economic ties between Turkey and Russia. As economic interdependencies increase between countries, their conflicts decrease. Both countries have more to lose should politicians on either side of the Black Sea disagree on a particular issue and move to freeze relations. This potential loss leads to lobbying on the respective governments by business leaders who help to avoid conflict.

This isn't just good news for Turkey and Russia but also good news for the NATO alliance Turkey represents along with the nations in Russia's sphere of influence. Ultimately, peace and conflict avoidance only come about when the alternative is rejected by the elites of nations on opposing sides of a conflict. If both countries cannot afford disruptions to their economies, disruptions do not happen.

This is the template that will need to be adopted for the greater Middle East conflict. What makes the current rhetoric and saber-rattling over the assassination of Qassem Soleimani so dangerous is that both sides have relatively little to lose. Iran is already fragile economically, and any further attacks on it will be to the benefit of the regime there and any counterattack by Iran on U.S. interests will be to the benefit of President Donald Trump in his reelection bids.

Meanwhile, both sides have little to lose and much to gain. In the middle of the conflict are civilians in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Israel, all with much to lose. Iran's "response" to Soleimani's death, attacks on U.S. bases including in Irbil, Iraq, hit only 120 miles south of Turkey's border. Obviously, Soleimani's assassination will only result in further bloodshed in which more innocent civilians will die.

Obviously civilian deaths need to be avoided at all costs whether or not economic ties exist between countries, but if economic interdependence will aid in this effort it should be welcomed and championed wherever possible.
KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th January, 2020) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has revealed plans to hold a phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, for strengthening cooperation on the probe into the deadly crash of Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 near Tehran.

The Boeing 737-800 plane, flying to Kiev, crashed on Wednesday near Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport soon after take-off, killing all 176 people on board. Most of those killed were Iranian and Canadian nationals.

Zelenskyy tasked on Wednesday the country's attorney general to open a criminal probe into the tragic accident.

"Today I will hold a phone conversation with the president of Iran regarding strengthening cooperation with the Ukrainian side for the sake of establishing the truth," Zelenskyy said in a video address, released on the Telegram channel of the presidential office.

He also called on the global community, including Canada, to join the investigation.
Health Minister Simon Harris has said the country is at point where an election becomes inevitable pretty quickly after Rural Independent TDs threatened to put down a motion of no confidence in him.

Independent TDs Michael Healy-Rae and Mattie McGrath confirmed this morning that they will support a motion of no confidence that Independent deputy Michael Collins will look to table when the Dail returns next week.

The earliest the motion can be debated is February 5 when the Rural Independent Group has private members time in the Dail. The minority government may not have the numbers to win the vote which means the government would likely fall and an election would follow.

Speaking after the threat was made, Mr Harris said: I do think we are arriving at a point where an election becomes inevitable pretty quickly.

The Minister said the election debate now centres on whether to have the vote within the next four weeks or within the next 14 weeks.

Mr Harris also criticised Fianna Fail leaders assertion that his party would not support Fine Gael in confidence motions.

If you actually look at the confidence and supply agreement it says the main opposition party would support or abstain in crucial votes . The leader of the opposing said he has no intention of supporting - thats his view and he is perfectly entitled to hold that view, he added.

Junior Health minister Finian McGrath accused the Rural Independents of political game-playing.

He warned that 56,000 pensioners over 70 waiting on medical cards and the legislation for that has not yet been passed.

He claimed if they are turning their backs on those senior citizens, that's their problem, but it's only political game playing.

We all know there's going to be election in 2020, let's have it after Easter, but let us finish the job. I want to finish my job.

He said he has a Disabilities Bill he wants to pass and wants to get the Cystic Fibrosis unit at Beaumont Hospital over the line.

Id say to people, cop on to themselves, we need to focus on the job.

We also have a Northern Executive we're trying to get up and running.

We're also trying to finalise Brexit so I'd ask them to stop their political game-playing.

Meanwhile, Mr Healy-Rae called on Mr Martin and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to bring the matter to a head by agreeing to have the election in the first or second of February when they meet later on Thursday to discuss the future of the confidence and supply deal.

Mr Martin is refusing Mr Varadkars request to support the government in Dail votes because of the tight numbers raising the prospect that the agreement that has held for nearly four years will collapse.

Speaking to RTEs Today with Sean ORourke, Mr Healy-Rae said: The issue is do the people want an election now or not, they want it now.

He said it was time to let the people have their say and believed that it should be held in the first or second week of February. He said the government was like a car going down the hill with four bald tires and no brakes.

Let the people decide who they want to run the country, he said. This is the peoples time to have their say and I believe the people want that chance and opportunity now.

Speaking on the same programme, Mr McGrath said he certainly will back the motion of no confidence in Mr Harris.

Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland earlier Mr Collins said he believes there is support for the motion if it comes before the Dail.

He said there is an "unprecedented crisis" in the health care system and said that "someone must be held accountable".

The country could be on the verge of an early general election as political tensions heighten ahead of the highly anticipated meeting between Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin.

With the two leaders preparing to discuss the timing of the election, senior figures in both parties were suggesting it was time to dissolve the Dail and allow the electorate to decide on the next Government.

There is also a growing belief within Fine Gael and Fianna Fail that voters are ready for a general election with February 7 and 14 being speculated as possible dates for a vote.

Last night, senior Fine Gael sources, including Cabinet members, were still raising concerns about how the Government could continue with the current Dail numbers after Mr Martin categorically ruled out supporting the Fine Gael-led administration in confidence votes.

Warnings

Meanwhile, a senior Fianna Fail source said "all the mood music" pointed towards the country going to the polls in the coming weeks, but added: "God himself only knows what Leo is thinking."

Another senior party figure said Mr Martin's media interviews showed the Fianna Fail leader had "started the campaign". However, there were warnings tomorrow's meeting could be a "damp squib" and the election talks may drag into the coming weeks.

Mr Varadkar and Mr Martin are due to meet tomorrow evening to hold their first official meeting to discuss the election date.

The two leaders set out their priorities for extending the Dail term in letters sent to each other before Christmas.

The Taoiseach suggested he was open to agreeing to Mr Martin's proposal to dissolve the Dail before the Easter recess if the Fianna Fail leader agreed to his priorities and assured the Government of his party's support in confidence votes.

Mr Martin has said there is "no question" of his party supporting the Government in confidence votes.

Ahead of the talks, a senior Fine Gael source said they believed the country could go to the polls on Friday, February 7. Other party sources suggested Valentine's Day, February 14 - the same day the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis is due to begin - as a possible election date.

Fine Gael candidates have also been contacted by the party's regional organisers in recent days and told to be prepared for a general election next month with February 7 or 14 given as possible dates.

Meanwhile, a senior Fianna Fail TD said Mr Varadkar made unreasonable demands of Mr Martin by requesting his support on certain Dail votes and to agree a new approach to the Local Property Tax (LPT).

"He'll be told he's getting no property tax deal. He's been dodging it for the past two years and now they want us to get under the bus with them. No way," the senior TD said.

They said the controversy over the now-postponed plans to commemorate the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin Metropolitan Police had caused damage to Fine Gael with voters.

"I am dying for it [an election]," the frontbench Fianna Fail TD said.

"We've a chance of beating them now. If we had it in April or May I wouldn't be able to tell you."
As Scott discusses below, U.S. officials say they have high confidence that an Iranian antiaircraft missile brought down that Ukrainian passenger jet near Tehran. So reports the Washington Post.

The missile strike killed all 176 people aboard the plane. None was an American. More than 60 were Canadians. 82 were Iranians.

The U.S. believes that the aircraft was hit by a SA-15 surface-to-air missile, a Russian-made system. This occurred about four hours after Iran launched missiles into Iraq, in and around two U.S. bases.

The Iranians promptly claimed that the Ukrainian plane was the result of technical problems. However, there is no indication that the crew reported any such difficulties.

President Trump dismissed the notion that mechanical difficulties were to blame. He said I dont think thats even a question.

Trump suggested that the Iranians might have downed the plane by mistake. This seems like the most plausible explanation. Its difficult to understand what Iran might have hoped to accomplish by shooting down a Ukrainian passenger jet with no Americans and plenty of Iranians on board.

How might the Iranians have made such a mistake? They might have thought that the Ukrainian plane was a military aircraft sent to retaliate for the missile attack Iran had just launched into Iraq. Presumably, the Iranians were on high alert during the hours just after their attack.

Indeed, according to the Post, U.S. passenger airliners had been told not to fly over Iran because of the risk that they could be mistaken for military aircraft. Thats probably what happened here.

But all we know with high confidence is that Iran shot down the plane.
I had thought the futility of war might be grasped by most American politicians by now. One of Donald Trumps rare bright spots as a candidate was his departure from the post-9/11 Bush-Cheney doctrine that doubled down on heedless American military interventionism. In his oft-stated aversion to endless war, Trumps sentiment matched the publics  a Pew poll this summer showed that most Americans, including most military veterans, now believe that our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have not been worth fighting. Trump seemed to be heeding the publics caution back in the summer when he abruptly called off a strike against Iran in retaliation for its shooting down an American surveillance drone.

But in killing Irans most important military leader, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, Trump opened the door to war. Now Iran is retaliating, and a cycle of escalation looks possible  even if, for now, Trump is backing away from further conflict. Its beginning to feel a lot like 2003 again, with some of the same pundits and politicians who were in favor of a war with Iraq now repeating similar talking points about Iran. While noting that hed like to avoid war, Trump himself has suggested that war with Iran would be a cakewalk: It wouldnt last very long, I can tell you that, the president told Fox Business in June.

Dont fall for it. Its plain dishonesty: How could anyone who has lived through the quagmire of Iraq and Afghanistan think war with Iran will be anything but long and brutal? In those conflicts, Americas overwhelming military might stumbled on local culture, geography, ethnic and religious rivalries, and most of all the determination of an entrenched, committed foe that could melt in and out of the local population.

As Voxs Alex Ward points out, Iran has almost three times as many people as Iraq did when we invaded in 2003. It also has treacherous geography, and it controls a great many proxy forces across the Middle East and even in likely sleeper cells in Europe and Latin America. Iran also possesses a sophisticated cyberwar operation  it is believed to be behind recent hacks into American banks and other targets and to have spread disinformation and propaganda on social networks around the world.
I can tell you pretty much every Iranian in Edmonton knew some of them, Mr. Akbari said. So its very devastating.

The crash also took the lives of the wife and daughter of an Iranian author, Hamed Esmaeilion, a dentist celebrated as a leading writer of his generation.

Husband-and-wife engineering professors at the University of Alberta, Mojgan Daneshmand and Pedram Mousavi, and their daughters Daria and Dorina Mousavi, were also killed. The university described Professor Daneshmand as a pioneering researcher in microwave sensors who had been making advances for a variety of products, including wearable health monitors.

In North Vancouver, Arash Azrahimi, owner of Rosewood Photography, said several of the victims had been his customers. Two of them, he said, Mohammadhossein and Zeynab Asadilari, who were in their 20s, were children of a member of the Iranian government and had been living in Vancouver.

Other victims from Vancouver area included a couple  both of them doctors  and the wife and daughter of a bakery owner, he said.

Majid Mahichi, a Vancouver-based television producer of a Persian-language program, knew the doctor couple, Firouzeh Madini and Naser Pourshabanoshibi, for 40 years. He said they had gone to Iran to visit their parents and had one daughter, who did not travel with them.

The pair moved to Canada about five years ago, Mr. Mahichi said. They were a very happy couple, he said. They were so happy to have moved to Canada.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaskas 2019 population has dipped to its lowest level since 2012 because of a falling birth rate and a decrease in the number of new arrivals to the state, officials said.

The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development said the state had 731,007 residents as of July 1, 2019, The Anchorage Daily News reported Wednesday.

The figure is a decrease of 3,048 residents from the same date in 2018, officials said.

The state Department of Labor estimates population changes between July 1 and June 30 each year and makes the results public in January.

The state saw the birth of fewer babies in 2019 than in any survey period over the past 20 years.

The number of people who moved to Alaska was lower than at any point since 1988, when the state was in the middle of an oil-bust recession.

Were just way below our average of in-migrants, said state demographer David Howell.

The U.S. Census Bureau published slightly different figures in the last week of 2019, but the state demographers office has access to Alaska Permanent Fund dividend application data that give more accurate estimates than interim Census Bureau figures.

Only the Census Bureaus 10-year survey, which will begin Jan. 21 in Toksook Bay, is more accurate, Howell said.

Alaskas population decline was No. 2 for U.S. states and behind West Virginia, which lost 0.7% of its residents between 2018 and 2019, according to the Census Bureau.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 9)  At least 14 truckloads of waste were collected by the Manila City government along the trail of the Traslacion this year.

While still massive, this is significantly lower than the 44 truckloads of waste collected by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority in the last two years duringTraslacion.

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno said they are working doubly hard to make sure the procession routes are clean again.

He also warned devotees that they will face penalties if they do not follow the citys ordinances on cleanliness.

Environment advocacy group EcoWaste Coalition, however, said signs reminding people not to litter were unheeded.

EcoWaste slammed what they dubbed as Trash-lacion, as devotees left mixed garbage, including sleeping materials, food leftovers, urine-filled plastic bottles, dirty diapers, and hordes of single-use plastics at the Quirino Grandstand.

The repeated call by various sectors, including the Manila City Government, Quiapo Church and the EcoWaste Coalition, for an environmentally-responsible expression of piety and devotion again fell on deaf ears, EcoWaste said.

The group, however, said it is confident that more devotees of the Black Nazarene will be more environmentally-conscious in the coming years.

CNN Philippines Correspondent Rex Remitio contributed to this report.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 14:48:05|Editor: ZX

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WELLINGTON, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is continuing to stay connected to federal authorities in Australia as devastating fires affect the country.

"The ministry is using an existing trans-Tasman forum for discussions on the agricultural impact of the fires and the future recovery phase," New Zealand Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor said in a statement on Thursday.

"MPI has offered assistance if needed in the future, and will remain in contact should any support be required," O'Connor said.

"This is an extremely challenging and distressing time for our friends in Australia," O'Connor added.

"MPI has also been in contact with stakeholders in New Zealand, and has made them aware we are offering Australia our full support," he said.
Iran and the US have shown restraint and a healthy approach, and it is not safe to say that any one of the sides was compelled to cede since, in this case, there are neither winners or losers. This is what Iranologist Gohar Iskandaryan told reporters today.

The analyst recalled that Irans foreign minister Javad Zarif has declared that Irans attacks on US military facilities were, in essence, a response to the US. She also noted that US President Donald Trump has also expressed satisfaction. According to the Iranologist, there are no threats of further escalation, but the issue remains unsolved.

Iskandaryan added that Armenia gave a rather adequate and moderate evaluation that satisfied Iran and believes that Armenia shouldnt interfere in this conflict since it lacks power, resources, potential and political weight. However, she says escalation of the situation in the region will have its impact on Armenia.

Nevertheless, Armenia cant play the role of a mediator since it doesnt have a strong and weighty position, the Iranologist stated, noting that Washingtons sanctions on Tehran will further deepen the already complicated situation in Iran and, as a result, Iran will have to freeze its investments in Armenia and other countries.
Banerjee said her decision was a protest against the violence unleashed by the Congress and the Left parties in the state during Wednesday's general strike.

Kolkata : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she would stay away from the January 13 meeting of opposition parties convened by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, to chalk out a joint strategy on the anti-new citizenship law (CAA) and the police brutality against students.

Police vehicles were torched in Malda district, buses and motor-bikes damaged, and highways, crucial road junctions and railway tracks blockaded in the state during the nationwide one-day general strike called by 10 central trade unions including those affiliated to the Congress and the Left parties.

Accusing the Congress and the state's Left spearhead CPI-M of playing "dirty politics", Banerjee said she would continue her protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) alone.

"I won't attend the meeting convened by Sonia Gandhi on January 13 as a protest against the Congress-Left hooliganism during Wednesday's strike," Banerjee said at the state Assembly.

"I'll continue my fight against the CAA, NRC, NPR, but I don't support violent protests and strikes," she said.

She alleged that the Congress and Left had "dual standards" and were trying to damage the state's economy by resorting to strikes.

"It is a cheap politics. We won't tolerate their double standards," said the Trinamool Congress chief.

Amid protests across the country, opposition parties will meet at Parliament annexe in New Delhi at 2 p.m. on January 13.

The Congress has sent invite to all like-minded parties to come together at a common platform.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 9)  Despite the threat in the Middle East given the tension between the United States and Iran, some Filipinos still choose to stay overseas thinking of their familys future.

Dahil sa trabaho at meron po akong kontrata, Sophia, a Filipino consultant working in Iraq, said to explain why she cannot return to the country.

[Translation: Its because of work and I still have a contract.]

Sophia admitted that it was hard for her to tell her family of her decision but assured that she could manage herself.

Mahirap, pero sinabi ko sa kanila na I can take care of myself and I have a company to take care of me also, she added.

[Translation: Its difficult, but I told them that I can take care of myself and I have a company to take care of me also.]

Sophia is just one of the 2,191 overseas Filipino workers in Iraq according to the Department of Labor and Employment. But she is not part of the 1,600 who expressed intent to return to the Philippines due to safety concerns.

READ: 1,600 Filipinos eyeing to fly home from Iraq amid tensions  Cimatu

The Blas F. Ople Policy Center, a non-government organization which caters to the needs of OFWs and their families, believes that it wont be easy to convince Filipinos in the Middle East to return home.

The reality is that people go to where the jobs are. When they are paid well, lifeline na 'yan ng pamilya nila. So its not that easy na sabihin mo na, Delikado diyan. Umuwi ka. Kasi ang first and foremost nga, paano yung edukasyon ng anak ko? Paano yung bahay na pinapatayo namin?, the organizations president Susan Ople told On The Record.

[Translation: The reality is that people go to where the jobs are. When they are paid well, its already a lifeline of their families. So its not easy to tell them, Its dangerous there. Please go home. Because first and foremost, they would think, What would happen to my childs education?, How about the house we are building?.]

Tensions remain high in Iraq after the US killed a top Iranian general last week and Iran struck back by launching strikes on Iraqi bases housing US troops. But there are signals of possible a deescalation of tensions, with US President Donald Trump responding to Iran's attacks by promising more sanctions.

President Rodrigo Duterte during a command conference with defense officials on Tuesday ordered the deployment of at least a thousand troops from the Army and the Marines to the Middle East to assist in the repatriation of Filipinos.

Ople noted that there wont be an easy fix in convincing OFWs to comeback home.

This wont be an easy fix. Lets not also pretend na kapag nagpadala ka dun ng mga ilang sundalo, pagbalik dito, hakot na lahat, she said. In face-to-face negotiation with employers, they would still have to rely on the embassy, DOLE, and DFA staff.

[Translation: This wont be an easy fix. Lets not also pretend that sending troops out there would mean the return of all Filipinos there, she said. In face-to-face negotiation with employers, they would still have to rely on the embassy, DOLE, and DFA staff.]

New jobs

House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs chairperson Rep. Raymond Mendoza said that returning Filipinos should be assured of a new job.

I think the contingency there is to re-deploy. Kung ibalik mo sila dito, what are they going to do here? [] According to the task force [meeting] yesterday, other countries are opening up [jobs], for example: Canada, Russia, China, said Mendoza.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said on Wednesday that his agency is in talks with China, Japan, Russia, Canada and Germany for the redeployment of Filipino workers.

Ople agreed with the need to find alternative jobs for repatriated Filipinos.

So sa tingin ko, palakasin ng gobyerno natin yung integration program. Ano ba ang alternatives kapag bumalik sila dito?, she said.

[Translation: So I think, the government should strengthen its integration program. What are the alternatives once they return here?]

She also suggested that private companies could also help in providing new livelihood to OFWs.

At hindi yan kaya ng gobyerno alone. Ang raming companies na nakikinabang sa remittances ng OFWs, baka ngayon sila dapat tumulong at kung may vacancies sila, baka pwede nilang i-absorb yung mga ibang uuwi.

[Translation: This cannot be done by the government alone. There are lots of companies benefiting from the remittances of OFWs. I hope they consider to help them, and if they have any vacancies, they could probably absorb some of them.]

The government earlier also ordered the mandatory repatriation of OFWs from Lebanon and Iran but has since called that off, with Bello citing the reduction in alert level status in those countries.

READ: Govt calls off mandatory repatriation of Filipinos from Iran, Lebanon

Filipinos in Iraq may contact the embassy at 0781 606 6822 and 0751 616 7838. They may also contact the embassy via email through baghdad.pe@dfa.gov.ph or embaphilbaghdad.secretary1@gmail.com, or through its Facebook page, Philippine Embassy in Iraq. They may also contact DOLE at (0632)1349 and OWWA at (0632)1348.
With the National Democratic alliance partners, the AIADMK and PMK, staying away from partys pro-Citizenship (Amendement) Act, or CAA, campaigns and anti-CAA protests continuing unabated in the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is left to shoulder a solo mission to counter the opposition campaign and garner mass support for the new law.

On Thursday, the BJP held fairly well-attended rallies in Madurai and Trichy. In Coimbatore, party general secretary Vanathi Srinivasan carried out an outreach programme by distributing pamphlets, extolling salient features of the amended citizenship law. However, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) as well as Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), both of which voted in favour of the legislation stayed away from these campaigns.

Chief minister and AIADMK joint-coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) had told the state assembly on Wednesday that he had made it clear to Union home minister Amit Shah in the meeting last month that the AIADMK does not support the National Register for Citizens (NRC).

When I met the Union home minister, I conveyed to him that we dont concur with NRC, he said during a heated discussion on the CAA in the assembly on Wednesday.

The PMK had passed a resolution against the NRC at its general council meet earlier last week.

Asked as to why the party had stayed away from BJPs pro-CAA programmes, AIADMK spokesperson Sivasankari said, It is a programme of the BJP. It is they who have to counter the opposition...and allay the fears of the minorities that the CAA is against them....

Explaining the allies stand, the BJP state general secretary said, It is not an NDA programme... It is a programme of the BJP. The AIADMK is preoccupied with the ongoing assembly session.
UPPER GWYNEDD  Township officials will have a much clearer picture of the direction Upper Gwynedd is heading, in 2020 and beyond, after Jan. 25.

On that day, township officials will host a workshop meeting meant to set the goals and direction of the township for the foreseeable future.

The purpose of this session will be in order to set our goals for 2020, and maybe even beyond 2020  if we have too many for 20, we might need it for 21, said Township Manager Sandra Brookley Zadell.

The goal-setting meeting will be held at the Normandy Farms complex, 1401 Morris Road in Whitpain. During the meeting, Zadell said, staff, the new board, and the public will make sure were all on the same page in achieving the new boards goals.

And its a great opportunity for department heads to interface with the new board, she said.

The goal-setting meeting will be run by one very familiar name: Larry Comunale, the longtime former Lower Gwynedd township manager who assisted Upper Gwynedd during the manager search that led to Zadells hiring in April 2019. He and fellow former Upper Merion township manager Ron Wagenmann now run a consulting service that will host the workshop, entitled A Framework for Successful Priority Setting.

One of the reasons were looking to hire an outside consultant is so that I can participate in the vision-setting session, with the board and the department heads, instead of facilitating it, Zadell said.

A formal contract approved by the commissioners Monday night says the workshop will be roughly eight hours long, with a written report summarizing the results to be submitted within 30 days, and a meeting with the township to discuss if required. The cost will be $4,000, with half paid before and half after, and Zadell said the costs were expected in the townships budget for the year.

In 2020, we budgeted $5,000 for this event. We may go over a little bit, but thats very minor, and we will be able to absorb that in the full budget, she said.

New police hire approved: The commissioners also voted unanimously on Jan. 6 to approve a conditional offer of employment to Montana Lighthart for a position with the townships police department.

Police Chief Dave Duffy said the offer was contingent on passing physical and psychological evaluations, and will fill a current vacancy with an experienced officer, who currently worked as a deputy sheriff and has a degree in criminal justice from Shippensburg University, and is a graduate from the Montgomery County Police Academy.

We vet very carefully, to make sure we think theyre the best fit to serve our residents, Duffy said.

That vetting is done by the townships civil service commission, which Duffy thanked, and a formal welcome will be scheduled depending on the testing results.

This conditional offer has to be done first, before we send anyone to the physical and psychological exams. And after that, if theyre successfully completed, then they get sworn in and we have a formal ceremony, Duffy said.

Waiver for holiday work granted: The commissioners also approved a waiver request from contractor PACT One to perform work on the townships sewer diversion project on certain holidays.

We require, with our code, that anyone doing construction work does not work on state, commonwealth-mandated holidays, Zadell said.

Some of those holidays are more important to residents that work not be completed, so our contractor is asking to work on Dr. Martin Luther King Day and Presidents Day, she said.

The townships diversion project involves building a series of pipelines and pump stations meant to transfer sewer flow from a formerly shared treatment plant in Towamencin to Upper Gwynedds own plant on the opposite side of the township. Updates on the project are available on a dedicated page on the townships website, www.UpperGwynedd.org/WIP, with the latest update for Jan. 6 stating work is expected on Stirling Drive, then Garfield Avenue.

Theyre very important holidays, but hopefully the work will not create a disturbance for people trying to live, work and play in the township, Zadell said.

Updated website unveiled: Commissioners President Liz McNaney also announced on Jan. 6 that a long-discussed update to the townships website is now complete.

Weve been working for the past two years, finding a company that was the right fit for us, and we finally got it all together and worked out, McNaney said.

CivicPlus, a Kansas-based company behind similar website upgrades for Lansdale Borough and Montgomery County in recent years, has now done the same for Upper Gwynedd, making high-demand information easier to find.

Hopefully its a lot more user-friendly than our older website. It seems like its very easily accessible, for a lot of the information you guys want to get out there, Weaver said.

McNaney said residents should be aware that the boards meeting materials packets now contain links to details and memos, and any feedback or suggested changes can be sent to the board or staff.

Thats just a way for us to be more transparent, and provide more information to everybody. We started it a couple of months ago, but itll really be a focus moving forward, McNaney said.

2020 schedule finalized: The board also unanimously approved a 2020 holiday and meeting schedule, with a minor change to the commissioners public meetings.

All commissioners meetings will now start at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of the month, a change from the prior practice of alternating 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. start times and having workshop meetings on Tuesday nights.

Full board meetings will now be held on: Jan. 27, Feb. 10 and 24, March 9 and 23, April 6 and 20, May 4 and 18, June 8, July 13, Aug. 10, Sept. 14 and 28, Oct. 5 and 19, Nov. 9 and 23, Dec. 7 and 21.

Planning commission meetings will be held at 7:30 p.m. on: Jan. 8, Feb. 12, March 11, April 8, May 13, June 10, July 8, Aug. 12, Sept. 9, Oct. 14, Nov. 12 and Dec. 9.

Zoning hearing board meetings will be held at 7 p.m. on Jan. 28, Feb. 25, March 24, April 21, May 26, June 23, July 28, Aug. 25, Sept. 22, Oct. 27, Nov. 24 and Dec. 15.

Parks and Recreation advisory board meetings will be held at 7 p.m. on Jan. 13, March 9, May 11, Aug. 10., Sept. 21 and Nov. 9.

The townships police pension board will meet at 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 19, May 20, Aug. 19 and Nov. 18, while the Nor-Gwyn pool commission will meet at 7:30 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month, and the comprehensive plan steering committee will meet at 6 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month.

All meetings will be held at the township administration building, 1 Parkside Place. For more information visit www.UpperGwynedd.org.
"I joined the faculty because of the vision and the mission which focuses on equality and opportunity for all and that is what social justice is about," said Dr. Alidou. "We are training individuals who believe in the capacity in all of us to create a just world."

As an educator and diplomat, Dr. Alidou brings a wealth of world-class expertise to her new role at Union. She is widely known for her work in helping community-based organizations, national governments and international institutions work together to achieve educational equality, literacy, gender equality and economic development. She was an endowed chair of cross-cultural competency and leadership. Dr. Alidou has also been awarded the 2018 Africa-America Institute Distinguished Alumni Award for Leadership in Education and Diplomacy.

"We are so fortunate to have Dr. Alidou join our great Union faculty," said Union Institute and University President Dr. Karen Schuster Webb. "Her breadth of knowledge in equality and social justice coupled with her outstanding global experience is a wonderful addition to our outstanding faculty."

Before her appointment as ambassador, Dr. Alidou served in various capacities with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). She also taught graduate students at Alliant University in San Diego, CA and coordinated education programs for Niger, Mali, Senegal and other African nations.

About Union Institute & University

Union Institute & University offers educational programs for adults who wish to achieve their professional goals and pursue a lifetime of learning, service and social responsibility. Since its founding in 1964, Union has been a leader in the development and delivery of high-quality undergraduate, master's and doctoral degree programs designed for busy adults. Students can choose to complete their studies online, in the classroom or through a blend of the two, depending on the program and location.

A private nonprofit institution, Union is a regionally accredited international university with academic centers located in Ohio, Florida and California.

To learn more about Union Institute & University, visit www.myunion.edu or call 1- 800-861-6400.

SOURCE Union Institute & University

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Thursday, January 9, 2020

Westwind Communications

If youre writing or have written a book with a Christian theme or genre, you may find a Christian writers conference to be well worth your time.

By attending one of these Christian Book Marketing events, you can strengthen your skills and gain a competitive advantage in the Christian writing industry.

Heres a good overview of some of the Christian writers conferences in 2020 that you should consider attending:

Capital Christian Writers Fellowship will be held January 25, 2020 in Annandale, VA. There will be sessions designed for aspiring writers, beginner writers, and advanced writers.

Asheville Christian Writers Conference will take place February 22-24 2020 in Asheville, NC. Writers who attend can receive one-on-one mentoring and earn scholarships.

Blue Lake Christian Writers Retreat is planned for March 25-28 2020 in Andalusia, AL. It will offer training and networking opportunities as well as lodging for three nights and all meals.

Colorado Christian Writers Conference will take place May 13-16 2020 in Estes Park, CO. Workshops, bible study, and an agents panel are all planned.

St. Davids Christian Writers Conference will be held June 24-28 2020 in Grove City, PA. The theme will be From Heart to Pen and feature boot camps, critique groups, and public speakers.

Florida Christian Writers Conference will be held October 21-25 2020 in Leesburg, FL. The conference will be full of critique groups, writing contents, and meetings with editors and agents.

American Christian Fiction Writers Conference will take place September 2020 This event will host inspiring keynote speakers who are veterans in Christian fiction.

Maranatha Christian Writers Conference will happen September 2020 in MI will host 24 essential workshops for various writers and feature over 28 leaders in the industry.

Ohio Christian Writers Conference will occur November 2020 in Ohio. There will be a keynote speaker and workshops related to the Christian writing industry.

The C.S. Lewis Retreat for Christian readers and writers will occur November in 2020 in TX. Itll revolve around the work and life of C.S. Lewis, a British writer and theologian.

The Bottom Line: Get involved with the Christian Writers Community and attend a conference, youll be glad you did!

About Book Publicist Scott Lorenz

Book publicist Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with authors to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz works with bestselling authors and self-published authors promoting all types of books, whether its their first book or their 15th book. Hes handled publicity for books by CEOs, CIA Officers, Navy SEALS, Homemakers, Fitness Gurus, Doctors, Lawyers and Adventurers. His clients have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC News, New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, LA Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Womans World, & Howard Stern to name a few.

Learn more about Westwind Communications book marketing approach at http://www.book-marketing-expert.com or contact Lorenz at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090 or fill out the form below. Follow Lorenz on Twitter @aBookPublicist
It should also be noted that on Tuesday last week, Delhi Police filed an FIR against JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh. (Photo Credit: News Nation)

New Delhi:

It has been 72 hours since the barbaric, masked goons stuck the JNU campus and ran riot terrorising students and thrashing them with rods, sledgehammers and acid! Not a single arrest has been made by the Delhi Police in the case that ahs galvanised campuses across India. While the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police is still looking for clues, News Nation has accessed the details of the complaint filed by JNUSU president Aishe Ghose, who was grievously injured in the mob attack on January 5. Dated January 7, Ghoshs police complaint gives chilling details of what happened on the fateful day.

SOS Left At Blue Tick

One of the most astounding factors in the sequence of events that led up to the mob attack is how Delhi Police personnel remained mute spectators, Ghosh has alleged in her complaint. The WhatsApp chats accessed by News Nation show how Ghosh had sent SOS messages to senior police officials at around 3 pm about some students gathering at a T-point inside the JNU campus. While it is clear that both the officers concerned had read the messages, the silence on their part shows they simply ignored the call of help.

In the message that was left at blue tick, Aishe Ghosh had asked senior police officers Sanjeev Mandal and Special CP Anand Mohan to take urgent notice of some armed students gathering inside the campus. Sir, This is to bring to your notice, large number of students have gathered with weapons and sticks at the Administrative Block, near the statue which is within 100 metres and beating up the students of the University. We request you to urgently take immediate action to remove these students and take immediate action for violating Honble High Court order of Delhi High Court, Aishe Ghoshs WhatsApp message to the senior police officials said.

Masked mob and three hours of terror

What followed was one of the most unprecedented and dastardly mob attack inside the campus of Indias prestigious central university. It was only at around 7 pm that the police finally entered the JNU campus. Latest reports say that the Crime Branch has recorded statements of over 150 people.

FIR against Aishe Ghosh

It should also be noted that on Tuesday last week, Delhi Police filed an FIR against Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh and 19 others for allegedly vandalizing server room of Jawaharlal Nehru University on January 4.

Gosh had claimed that she was specifically targeted. She received at least 15 stitches on the head, and her arm was in a cast after the attack. I was specifically targeted on Sunday during a peace march on campus. Around 20-25 masked persons disrupted the march and attacked me with iron rods, the union president, her head swathed in bandages, told news agency PTI after being released from hospital earlier Monday.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she will not attend a meeting called by the Congress on January 13 that is expected to discuss issues such as an attack by masked assailants on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus in New Delhi and the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, which triggered violent protests in several parts of the country last month.

In the state assembly, Banerjee, leader of the Trinamool Congress, also accused the Congress and the Left parties of incidents of violence in the state during a 24-hour nationwide shutdown, dealing a blow to the hopes of opposition bloc to put up a united front against the Centres ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the meeting in the national capital.

West Bengal reported incidents of arson during a nationwide strike called by trade unions on Wednesday. Opposition parties have blamed the ruling Trinamool Congress for staging violence to implicate them.

You people follow one policy in West Bengal and a totally contradictory policy in Delhi. I dont want to be on the same page with you. If needed, I will fight alone, Banerjee said in the assembly, where some members from the Opposition demanded a Kerala-like resolution against the CAA.

In the one-day special session, Banerjee also sought forgiveness of opposition leaders who will attend the meeting called by Gandhi, saying, It was I who had mooted the idea.

Banerjee, however, insisted that she will continue opposing the CAA and an all-India National Register of Citizens. Soon after addressing the assembly, Banerjee left for Barasat in North 24-Parganas district to address a rally against the citizenship law.

The state unit of the BJP welcomed Banerjees remarks in the assembly. Banerjee seems to have realised that she is a chief minister, and not an opposition leader. Instead of leading rallies against a law of the country every day, she should enforce it, BJP Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh said, as he prepared for a rally at Jhargram in West Midnapore district along with Union minister Giriraj Singh in support of the CAA.

The Left and the Congress alleged Banerjees statements were aimed at pleasing the BJP leadership.

She is trying to please the BJP leaders. She herself is adopting double standards, Congress leader Abdul Mannan, who is also the leader of the opposition in the assembly, said.

Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), politburo member Mohammed Salim accused Banerjee of attempting to scuttle the oppositions efforts to come on a common platform over burning issues.




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Nixon Wins With 290 Electoral Votes; Humphrey Joins Him in Call for Unity

Democratic Edge in House, Senate Trimmed Slightly By David S. Broder

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, November 7, 1968; Page A01 Richard Milhous Nixon, the 55-year-old former Vice President who lost the Presidency for the Republicans in l960, reclaimed it yesterday to climax one of the greatest personal comebacks and one of the closest elections in the history of American politics. His Democratic opponent, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, conceded Nixon's victory shortly after noon, when the 26 electoral votes of Illinois, a major state whose loss helped deprive Nixon of victory over John F. Kennedy in l960, gave the Republican contender an Electoral College majority. Nixon's Illinois victory, which emerged more than l5 hours after the voting ended in Tuesday's election, prevented third-party candidate George C. Wallace from using his l5 electoral votes to determine the choice of the 37th President and, alternatively, kept the contest from going to the House of Representatives for the first time since l824. Taking note of the serious division reflected in their near-even split of the popular vote, both Humphrey and Nixon referred in their post-election statements to the overriding need for national unity. The Vice President, in his telegram of concession to Nixon and in a brief talk to supporters in Minneapolis, pledged that he would continue to work on "the urgent task of unifying this country." A half-hour later, the President-elect, in his first statement of the voters, said from New York that the "great objective of this Administration will be to bring the American people together." Shortly before midnight last night Humphrey moved 4000 votes ahead of Nixon in the popular vote on the basis of 53,120 votes cast for the second slate of electors pledged to him in Alabama. There were two slates pledged to the Vice President in Alabama -- the National Democratic Party of Alabama, a largely Negro splinter group, and the Alabama Independent Democratic Party. Nixon, who had stayed awake past dawn awaiting returns from the last half-dozen crucial states, was joined by his family for the celebration of his almost incredible comeback from successive defeats for the Presidency in l960 and the governorship of his native California in l962. But his jubilation at the victory was clouded by his reference to the problems of an unsettled war in Vietnam and the bitter divisions in America he is inheriting from retiring President Lyndon B. Johnson. Mr. Johnson, who renounced any effort for re-election last March rather than "permit the Presidency to become involved in the partisan divisions that are developing this political year," as he said, told Nixon in a telegram from his Johnson City, Tex., ranch that he would "do everything in my power to make your burdens lighter." The pledges of cooperation from the Democratic leaders were of special significance to Nixon, who is the first President since Zachary Taylor in l848 to be confronted at the start of his White House tenure with an opposition Congress. Democrats on Tuesday retained control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, though losing a handful of seats in each chamber to the GOP. Nixon's failure to build up significant majorities over Humphrey in the major states and the tendency of Wallace voters in the South to return to the Democratic Party in lesser contests apparently were responsible for blocking the Republicans' expensive effort to take control of the House. Nixon's indicated share of the popular vote was the lowest for a successful presidential candidate since Woodrow Wilson won a three-way race over William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt in l9l2 with 4l.9 per cent of the vote. The cross-currents in the voting raised a question whether Nixon, who had based his campaign on the need for "new leadership" in domestic and international affairs, could claim a clear mandate for any particular policy direction. In the course of his nine-month appeal to the voters, beginning in the New Hampshire primary last winter, Dwight D. Eisenhower's Vice President had promised to bring peace to Vietnam and to curb disorder and crime in American cities without specifying in much detail the steps that would be necessary. But in the only test a democracy applies -- an electoral majority on Election Day -- Nixon's program proved effective. Barring a reversal of indicated results of absentee or uncounted ballots in such close states as Alaska, Maryland, Missouri, and Texas, Nixon and his running mate, Gov. Spiro T. Agnew of Maryland, carried 3l states with 290 electoral votes -- 20 more than needed for election. Humphrey and Sen. Edmund S. Muskie (D-Maine), his vice presidential choice, carried l4 states and the District of Columbia, winning 203 electoral votes. Wallace, the former Governor of Alabama, and his American Independent Party running mate, retired Air Force Gen. Curtis E. LeMay, took five states -- all in the South -- with 45 electoral votes. Lost 2 From l960 The pattern of the l968 election was strikingly similar to that of Nixon's l960 contest with Kennedy. In both years the Republican rolled up the bulk of his strength in the Midwest, the West and the Border States, and the Democrat carried most of New England and New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota and Texas, among the major states. The only states Nixon carried in l960 that he failed to win this year were Maine, where Muskie's popularity put the Democrats on top, and Washington. Wallace won three states that had gone Democratic in l960, Arkansas, Louisiana and Georgia, along with Mississippi, whose electors went to Sen. Harry F. Byrd Sr. eight years ago, and Alabama, which divided its electoral votes between Kennedy and Byrd. The significant shift -- the one which gave Nixon his victory this year -- came in seven states with a total of 74 electoral votes which Kennedy carried but Humphrey failed to win: Delaware, Illinois. Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina and South Carolina. Nixon led in the vote count through most of Tuesday night, but stalled short of an electoral majority because of the failing that cost him victory in l960: his weakness in the big cities. He lost New York City, Philadelphia and Detroit to Humphrey by massive margins, and with them the big electoral vote blocks of New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan, all states he had hoped to win. With those states in the Humphrey column, it was not until Wednesday morning that Nixon began to see his victory emerge, Ohio, which he had won easily eight years ago, was finally given to him at 4:53 a.m. California, where his political career started with election to the House in l946 and -- as many erroneously thought -- ended with his defeat for Governor in l962, came into line at 8:l4 a.m. And finally at l2:03 p.m., with networks and news services putting Illinois in the Nixon column, Humphrey conceded his defeat. In fact, the Democratic nominee made the election much more of a horse race than had been expected and closed out his 20-year career in Washington with his reputation as the Party's "Happy Warrior" substantially intact. When President Johnson eliminated himself as a contender for re-election, most Democrats were persuaded that the burden of an unpopular war, added to the Nation's domestic difficulties, made a change of parties in the White House almost inevitable. Nixon Landslide Seen By the end of the bitter convention in Chicago that nominated Humphrey and Muskie amid scenes of bloody street battles between demonstrators and police, there was almost a universal expectation -- confirmed by the polls -- that Nixon would win a landslide victory. The wounds of the pre-convention struggles were never healed. Humphrey, for example, failed to carry any of the states where the late Robert F. Kennedy and Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy of Minnesota had waged their presidential primary battles against the Administration policies the Vice President then felt called upon to defend. And yet the closing weeks of the campaign saw most of the dissident elements of the Democratic Party united. Although the ticket carried only Texas, among the Southern states, the other components of the "Roosevelt Coalition," organized labor, Negroes, Mexican-Americans and Jews, appeared to have turned out their usual majorities. Pollsters reported that the late surge for Humphrey was heightened by favorable public reaction to Mr. Johnson's announcement, four days before election, that he was halting all American Bombing of North Vietnam. All this has set the stage for endless speculation about what might have been, had Humphrey sided with the "peace forces" at the Democratic convention, had McCarthy and other prominent doves been less tardy in endorsing Humphrey after the convention, or had Mr. Johnson advanced the date of his bombing halt decision. Considering that the Republicans came back from their landslide presidential and congressional defeat in l964 to win the Presidency this year, there would seem to be little reason for pessimism among Democrats about their prospects for recovery. As for Wallace and his third-party movement, observers were cautious in appraising its chances for a future peace in the political spectrum. He won l3 per cent of the popular vote -- less than the short-lived Theodore Roosevelt Progressives of l9l2 and the Robert M. LaFollette Progressives in l924. About one-quarter of the Wallace vote was concentrated in the five Deep South states he carried, four of which had registered their protest by supporting republican Barry Goldwater in l964 and probably would have gone Republican again this year.

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The FBI asked Apple this week to help extract data from iPhones that belonged to the Saudi aviation student who investigators say fatally shot three sailors at a U.S. naval base in Florida last month.

Investigators have been trying to access the two devices  an iPhone 7 and an iPhone 5 that belonged to Mohammed Alshamrani, a 21-year-old 2nd Lt. in the Royal Saudi Air Force  but the phones are locked and encrypted, according to the letter from the FBIs general counsel, Dana Boente.

The FBI has received a court authorization to search the phones and the devices have been sent to the bureaus lab in Quantico, Va., Boente said.

The investigation is considered a high-priority national security matter, Boente said in the letter, which was reviewed by the Associated Press. Alshamrani opened fire at the Pensacola naval base on Dec. 6, killing three sailors and injuring several others before he was shot dead by a sheriffs deputy.

FBI officials have sought help from other federal agencies and other experts and investigators have been trying to guess the passwords, but those efforts have been unsuccessful, the letter says.

At least one of the phones was shot by a sheriffs deputy during the attack, but investigators believe they may still be able to extract data from the device, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an continuing investigation.

Apple said that it has already provided investigators with all the relevant data held by the company.

We have the greatest respect for law enforcement and have always worked cooperatively to help in their investigations, the Cupertino company said. When the FBI requested information from us relating to this case a month ago we gave them all of the data in our possession and we will continue to support them with the data we have available.

Apple, Facebook and other tech companies have periodically tussled with the FBI over the end-to-end encryption they have built into their products to protect customers privacy. The tech industry has resisted Justice Department calls for a backdoor that would allow authorities to read encrypted messages, arguing that such access could also benefit spies and criminals.

Apple resisted the governments efforts to gain access to an iPhone belonging to a perpetrator of a 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, which killed 14 people. The company went to court to block an FBI demand for Apple to disable security measures that complicated efforts to guess the phones passcode. The FBI eventually relented after it found another way of getting into the phone.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday the Senate would not haggle with the House of Representatives over procedures for President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, adding that the Senate would make a decision on calling witnesses for the trial at the appropriate time.

Speaking on the Senate floor, the Republican senator expressed exasperation that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a letter to her fellow Democrats on Tuesday night, had indicated she would continue holding back the House-passed articles of impeachment from the Senate until she knows more about Senate plans for the impeachment trial.

McConnell did not specifically answer Pelosi's demand, but lambasted her actions as "game-playing" and said she could not dictate the Senate's trial proceedings.

"There will be no haggling with the House over Senate procedure. We will not cede our authority to try this impeachment," McConnell said. If Pelosi sought leverage over the Senate, McConnell said, "no such leverage exists ... it will never exist." He accused Pelosi of wanting to keep Trump "in limbo" over the trial indefinitely.

The House in December charged Trump with abusing his power for personal gain by asking Ukraine to announce a corruption investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading contender for the Democratic nomination to face Trump in November's presidential election.

It also charged the president with obstructing Congress by directing administration officials and agencies not to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry.

Under the U.S. Constitution, the House brings impeachment charges, while impeachment trials are held by the Senate. But McConnell has said that Senate rules prevent the Senate from starting the trial until the House sends it the articles of impeachment, and the House has not done so.

Trump says he did nothing wrong and has dismissed his impeachment as a partisan bid to undo his 2016 election win. White House officials say they want and expect a speedy trial and acquittal by the Senate.

McConnell said on Tuesday he had enough support from his fellow Republicans to set the rules for the impeachment trial, dealing a blow to Democrats' efforts to call new witnesses against the president.

Democrats responded by saying they still want more details on the trial process before any further action is taken. In her letter, Pelosi said she needed to see the details of McConnell's plan for the trial so that "we can see the arena in which we will be participating, appoint managers and transmit the articles to the Senate."

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
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A Lebanese prosecutor imposed a travel ban on former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn on Thursday, a judicial source said, after he was questioned over an Interpol warrant issued by Japan seeking his arrest on financial

misconduct charges.

Ghosn, 65, fled Japan to Lebanon, his childhood home, last month while awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies.

"The state prosecution issued a travel ban for Ghosn, and asked for his file from the Japanese authorities," a judicial source told AFP.

Responding to the travel ban, a lawyer for Ghosn told Lebanese media his client was "very comfortable with the judicial path in Lebanon".

The ban came a day after the disgraced former auto tycoon denied any wrongdoing at a Beirut press conference Wednesday, his first since fleeing Japan.

Addressing a large crowd of journalists in the Lebanese capital, the one-time car industry titan said he was "presumed guilty" by Japanese prosecutors and had "no choice" but to jump bail.

Ghosn alleged "collusion" between Nissan and Japanese prosecutors over his arrest, which he described as "staged".

Dismissing all allegations against him as untrue, he said he had been "ripped" from friends and family when arrested, in what he described as a "travesty" of justice.

Im not above the law and I welcome the opportunity for the truth to come out and have my name cleared, he told a packed room of journalists.

He added that he would be ready to stand trial "anywhere where I think I can have a fair trial".

Ghosn was awaiting trial in Japan on charges of financial misconduct when he slipped away from his Tokyo residence, crossed Japan on a bullet train and was smuggled onto charter jets that delivered him from Osaka to Lebanon via Istanbul.

His bail jump has prompted outrage from the Japanese government, which has called his escape "unjustifiable", as well as from Nissan, which labelled the getaway "extremely regrettable".

Story continues

Many were hoping Ghosn would disclose details of his audacious escape during Wednesdays press conference, but Ghosn told reporters he was "not here to talk" about how he fled Japan.

In a comment that was bound to cause further upset in Japan, he appeared to compare his arrest to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.

"I didn't suspect anything ... Did you see Pearl Harbor happening?" he quipped to reporters.

Prosecutors slam 'one-sided' account

Shortly after the press conference, Tokyo prosecutors issued a statement slamming the former Nissan chief's "one-sided" and "unacceptable" criticism of Japan's legal system.

The Tokyo prosecutor's office also said claims they had colluded with Nissan were "categorically false and contrary to fact".

The prosecutors said Ghosn had "only himself to blame for being arrested", accusing him of having "flagrantly disregarded Japanese law to avoid the consequences of the crimes he committed"

.

>> A look back on Carlos Ghosn's fall from grace:

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)
A surprise change to the official response on the deaths of 176 people on board a Ukrainian passenger plane on Wednesday has opened the door to speculation and conspiracy about the cause of the crash.

The Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800, en route to Kiev and carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians, crashed on Wednesday, hours after Iran fired missiles at bases housing US forces in Iraq.

Iran media initially blamed the accident on technical problems and Ukraine officials followed suit, but appeared to back away from the explanation just hours after the crash. Shortly after, Iran said it would not release the black box from the flight to the US or the Boeing manufacturer.

Ukraines embassy in Iran dropped an initial reference to engine failure as the cause of the crash and in a follow-up statement said the causes had not been disclosed and that any previous comments were not official. Ukraine Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk cautioned against speculation but banned all flights to Iran.

Belongings of passengers are brought from the site by search and rescue team members. Source: Getty

Ukraines sudden about-face on the technical malfunction explanation and Irans refusal to release the black box to Boeing, has prompted speculation that the commercial flight may have been caught up in the military conflict in Iran.

However, five unnamed security sources - three Americans, one European and one Canadian - told Reuters on Thursday that the initial assessment of Western intelligence agencies was that the plane had suffered a technical malfunction and had not been brought down by a missile.

There was evidence one of the jet's engines had overheated, the Canadian source reportedly said.

Initially, Iranian state media reported that the plane caught fire after crashing, but a video aired by the state broadcaster, and shared online, appeared to show the Boeing 737 already on fire as it fell from the night sky.

An Iranian transport official has been quoted as saying an engine may have caught fire causing the pilot to lose control of the plane.

Story continues

However a former senior inspector at the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), Tony Cable, said it appeared the plane crashed vertically, suggesting it was more than a single engine failure at fault.

I've seen a few photos of the crash site. The wreckage shows a high degree of break-up which indicates that the plane crashed vertically at speed into the ground. There seems to be a lot of relatively small pieces of debris, he told the UKs Sky News.

According to him, if it was a simple engine fire, the pilot would have been able to shut off one engine and execute a controlled landing.

Engines dont just burst into flames

If an engine fire turns out to be the official explanation, it comes down to what caused the fire and what compounding system failures it mightve triggered, says Dr Geoff Dell, accident forensics and investigation expert from CQ University in Sydney.

Depends on what caused the fire, engines dont just burst into flames theres got to be something that led to that.

All of these types of accidents are a function of a sequence of failures. Its very rare for a single failure to lead to a catastrophic loss, he told Yahoo News Australia.

All 176 passengers and nine crew members died in the crash. Source: Getty

An engine fire, if uncontained, could affect other parts of the plane such as the hydraulics system and planes electric-based flight controls.

All the aviation systems have checks and balances so you need more than one thing to go wrong for something serious to happen.

If you get an uncontained failure you get collateral damage and that is what can cause the controllability issues.

Flight tracking data shows the plane came down shortly after taking off, which is a particularly bad time for an engine malfunction to take place. The airline confirmed the plane disappeared from radars a few minutes after takeoff.

An engine failure on take-off is critical because youre going slow and got lots of drag, and then you get asymmetric thrusts, Dr Dell said.

Flightradar24.com showing the flight track of Ukraine International Airlines flight which reportedly crashed shortly after takeoff. Source: Getty Images

However, until investigators can analyse radar data, debris and get their hands on the black box, it is impossible to tell what caused the crash, he said.

From whats been said in the media theres a lot of speculation but not much in the way of hard data.

While internet sleuths have tried to identify potential damage to the craft that indicates it was hit by Iranian fire, there is little evidence to underpin the theory at this point, and photos from the wreckage dont appear to show any major signs of such damage.

Iran likely downed a #Ukrainian Boeing 737 near #Tehran last night by mistake when their air defense was on alert for US airstrikes. Video of plane burning in the sky, bullet or shrapnel holes in the plane, 176 killed. #Iran refuses to turn over the black box flight recorder... pic.twitter.com/GDaa8eK6Qz  Matthew VanDyke (@Matt_VanDyke) January 8, 2020

Fog of war clouds much needed information

Ali Avez, Director of the Iran Project at Washington-based think tank Crisis Group, said its hard to get answers given the unstable situation in Iran at the moment.

When asked if he thought the plane had been caught up in the military tension between the US and Iran on Wednesday, he said it is hard to say because of a lack of information.

But the timing of it, it occurred a few hours after the operation was completed, makes me believe it might have been an accident, he told the ABC Thursday.

But in this fog of war, it is very difficult to get accurate and information.

The crash comes at a difficult time for plane maker Boeing Co, which has grounded its 737 MAX fleet after two crashes.

The 737-800 is one of the world's most-flown models with a good safety record and does not have the software feature implicated in crashes of the 737 MAX.

Mr Cable said it was pretty unlikely that the Ukraine flight suffered from the same flight control issues that downed flights in Indonesia and Ethiopia in recent years, forcing Boeing to ground its fleet.

"We are in contact with our airline customers and stand by them in this difficult time," the manufacturer said in a statement earlier on Wednesday. "We are ready to assist in any way needed."

In Paris on Wednesday morning (local time), the maker of the plane's engines, French-US firm CFM, said speculation regarding the cause was premature.

Ukraine said it was sending a team of experts to Iran to investigate.

With Reuters

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
A research team led by biochemists at the University of California, Riverside, has received a four-year grant from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, to study breast cancer -- the most common cancer in women worldwide -- and the racial disparities in the treatment of the disease.

The more than $1.2 million grant will support two projects: The first, led by Ernest Martinez, a professor of biochemistry at UC Riverside, will investigate the biology of aggressive "luminal B breast cancer," which occurs in younger women and makes up about 10% of all breast cancers; the second, led by John Jefferson Perry, an assistant professor of biochemistry at UC Riverside, will focus on "triple-negative breast cancer," which is more prevalent in Latina/Hispanic and black women.

The overall goal of the projects is to improve early detection, drug development, and patient survival. The grant is more than a typical research grant. It also aims to develop the resources, infrastructure, and training programs necessary to develop the next generation of therapeutics researchers that reflect the ethnic diversity of inland Southern California." Ernest Martinez, professor of biochemistry at UC Riverside

Both Martinez and Perry will be joined by researchers at City of Hope, as well as Maurizio Pellecchia and Byron Ford, who are professors of biomedical sciences in the UC Riverside School of Medicine.

Martinez explained that no biomarkers exist for separating good from poor prognosis luminal B breast cancers. A combination of "biological" and "marker," a biomarker is a quantifiable characteristic of a biological process.

"Luminal B breast cancer has been understudied, particularly in Latina/Hispanic women," he said. "Poor prognosis luminal B breast cancers are only identified after a woman fails to respond to neoadjuvant therapy, and options for cure are limited. Hence, biomarkers that identify biologically aggressive luminal B breast cancer and new therapeutic drugs are urgently needed."

The more extensively studied triple-negative breast cancer, or TNBC, is frequently chemotherapy-resistant and carries the poorest prognosis, particularly in African American women.

"The molecular mechanisms of TNBC-initiation in African American and Latina/Hispanic women are poorly understood," Perry said. "New more effective drugs are urgently needed."

City of Hope has received a comparable grant from the NIH for the two projects. Martinez and Dr. Victoria Seewaldt of City of Hope are the program directors of the projects. In the first research project, Martinez and Seewaldt will be joined by Dustin Schones and Dr. Veronica Jones of City of Hope. In the second project, Perry will be joined by Jeannine McCune and Chris Sistrunk of City of Hope.

Pellecchia of the UCR School of Medicine and Sistrunk of City of Hope will co-lead a cancer research education program team and will be joined by Ford of UCR and David Ann of City of Hope.

The grant will support two graduate students and several undergraduate students at UCR.
As many as 311 schools are lying non-operational in Arunachal Pradesh due to zero enrolment, minister Taba Tedir told the Assembly on Thursday.

Tedir, in a written reply to senior Congress member Nabam Tuki, also said most of these defunct schools are located in remote areas of the state and attributed lack of infrastructure and mass migration to urban areas as reasons for zero enrolment.

Altogether, there are 1300 primary schools, over 300 middle-level schools, 68 higher-secondary schools and 103 high schools in Arunachal Pradesh, he said, referring to a report by Unified District Information on School (U-DISE).

The minister also stated that the state government had been providing stipend to students of primary and upper- primary schools, as per its policy.

Last year, Tedir had said that his department would shutdown the defunct schools, and focus on strengthening the facilities in the ones that were currently up and running.

He had also said that the assets from these non- functional schools would be utilized for other purposes.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Donald Trump on Thursday urged House Republicans to vote against Nancy Pelosi's attempt to limit his military power in Iran but failed to mention two GOP Senators who are backing the legislation.

'Hope that all House Republicans will vote against Crazy Nancy Pelosis War Powers Resolution. Also, remember her speed & rush in getting the Impeachment Hoax voted on & done. Well, she never sent the Articles to the Senate. Just another Democrat fraud. Presidential Harassment!,' the president tweeted.

The House will vote Thursday afternoon on a War Powers resolution that would limit the president's ability to go to war with Iran. It is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled chamber but Republicans want to keep all their members in line and voting against it.

President Donald Trump urged House Republicans to vote against Nancy Pelosi's attempt to limit his military power in Iran

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is holding a vote on the War Powers Resolution Thursday afternoon in the House

Jared Kushner called Sen. Mike Lee Wednesday night to talk about the War Powers resolution

'The House will move forward with a War Powers Resolution to limit the president's military actions regarding Iran,' Pelosi said in a statement on Wednesday.

The speaker also left the door open for future resolutions, including one that would repeal the 2002 Iraq Authorization for Use of Military Force, and one that wouldn't allow any money to fund military actions in Iran not authorized by Congress.

But what the president, in his appeal for party unity, didn't mention was two Republican senators who said Wednesday they will vote for a similar measure making its way through the Senate.

Senators Mike Lee and Rand Paul came out of a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill on the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani saying they would support a War Powers resolution in their chamber.

White House counselor Jared Kushner spoke to Lee Wednesday night and told the senator he would relay his concerns to the president.

'Sen. Lee was planning on reaching out to President Trump but then Jared Kushner called Sen. Lee last night, and they talked, and Kushner said he would share Sen. Lees concerns with the president,' a Lee aide told DailyMail.com.

Republican Sen. Mike Lee said the administration briefing on Iran convinced him to support a War Powers resolution limiting Trump's power

Jared Kushner told Sen. Mike Lee he would pass on his concerns to the president

Sen. Rand Paul said he would now support a War Powers resolution

Lee, a conservative Senator from Utah, came out of Wednesday briefing in a storm of fury about the way the senators were treated and vowing to support a War Powers Resolution in the Senate.

'That briefing is what changed my mind. That briefing is what brought me on board,' Lee told reporters after it concluded. 'I'm now going to support it. I walked into that briefing undecided and I walked out of that briefing decided specifically because of what happened in that briefing.'

He said a request by administration officials to not debate Trump's action in Iran in public is what pushed him over the edge.

He wouldn't say what officials made the request by the briefing was conducted by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, and CIA Director Gina Haspel.

But Vice President Mike Pence said the officials couldn't share more details because it would compromise intelligence gathering methods.

'Some of the most compelling evidence that Qasem Soleimani was preparing an imminent attack against American forces and American personnel also represents some of the most sensitive intelligence that we have. It could compromise those sources and methods,' Pence told NBC's 'Today' show Thursday morning.

Lee did not mince words about his feelings on how the Trump officials treated him when he left Wednesday's briefing.

'They had to leave after 75 minutes while in they're in the process of telling us we need to be good little boys and girls and not debate this in public. I find that absolutely insane,' Lee said.

'One of the messages we received from the briefers was do not debate, do not discuss the issue of the appropriateness of further military intervention against Iran, and if you do, you'll be emboldening Iran,' Lee added. 'I find this insulting and demeaning.'

It is not acceptable for executive branch to tell us 'we can't debate the appropriateness of military intervention in Iran. It's unAmerican, it's unconstitutional and it's wrong,' the senator from Utah noted.

Lee called the briefing 'probably the worst briefing at least on a military issue I've seen.'

'The administration was ill-served by this briefing today,' Lee said.

His fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul agreed.

'I join Senator Lee in also deciding to support the War Powers resolution,' he said.

He said the administration's request lawmakers not to debate military action in public as 'particularly insulting.'

'I think we need to debate about separation of powers,' he said.

Both men stated they support President Trump politically but could not in this matter.

Lee doubled down on his criticism in an interview with NPR on Thursday morning, calling the briefing an 'unmitigated disaster.'

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine introduced a War Powers resolution to limit Trump's power

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper leave the Capitol after spending the afternoon briefing members of Congress

The two senators said they would support Sen. Tim Kaine's version of the War Powers resolution that he introduced on Friday, on the heels of the U.S. strike that killed Soleimani.

The Senate version differs from the version of the War Powers resolution that the House will vote on Thursday in that it includes a timeline, saying U.S. forces must disengage from hostilities against Iran 'by not later than the date that is 30 days after the date of enactment of this joint resolution unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force.'

The text of the resolution also points out that Trump has stated in the past that he believes he has the authority to initiate military action against Iran without Congressional approval.

'The question of whether the United States forces should be engaged in armed conflict against Iran should only be made following a full briefing of Congress and the American public of the issues at stake, a public debate in Congress, and a congressional vote as contemplated by the Constitution,' the resolution says.

After 10 days, Kaine can force a vote on his motion in the Senate.

Trump officials spent most of Wednesday afternoon on Capitol Hill, giving separate briefings to House and Senate lawmakers on the administration's justification for the killing of Soleimani.

'I thought we had a good set of briefings today,' Esper told DailyMail.com.
Iran executed a ballistic missile attack targeting two Iraqi airbases that were hosting U.S. and allied troops late in the night on Jan 7. More than dozen missiles were launched in retaliation to the U.S. airstrike on Baghdad airport that killed Irans top commander General Qasem Soleimani.

As expected, defense stocks jumped once the share market opened on Jan 8, as this missile attack once again intensified the long-standing tiff between the United States and Iran.

A Longstanding Conflict

Cross-border tension between America and Iran started long back in 1953, when reportedly, British and U.S. intelligence agencies orchestrated a coup to oust Iran's democratically elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadeq (as per a BBC report). The tiff mitigated, to some extent, at least, under President Barack Obama, when in 2015 Iran signed the much awaited nuclear accord, promising to limit its nuclear activities.

However, the relation between these two nations soured again when in May 2018, under President Trump, the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal. Moreover, economic sanctions were imposed on Iran that ultimately led to a recession. The situation further worsened in May 2019, when the United States tightened the sanctions targeting Iran's oil exports.

The recent killing of General Soleimani brought the government at its wits end and the nations commanders vowed to take revenge in the form of direct military action against the United States. The latest missile strike on an Iraq base seems to be in line with thepromise made by Irans leaders.

United States Stance

Surprisingly, President Trump appears to have taken a defensive approach while addressing the Iran missile attack issue. Per major reports, Trump did not mention any military retaliatory action against Iran, following the latest strikes, stating that Iran to him appears to have stepped down from executing any further military action against the United States.

However, Trump announced that his administration would once again slap Iran with more sanctions and demanded that U.S. allies leave the nuclear deal so a new pact can be negotiated. Now this will be a more strategic way to penalize Iran, which might once again enrage its leaders, leading to aggressive military action. In the event of such escalated action, the United States might strike back.

Story continues

Defense Stocks to Buy

In response to Irans threat of revenge following Soleimans death, the United States sent 3,000 more troops to the Middle East and advised its citizens to leave Iraq. Per the latest reports, Trump has not mentioned whether these troops will be withdrawn or not.

So the possibility of a war between the United States and Iran still exists. Such a scenario will boost U.S. defense stocks, missile manufacturing stocks in particular, as missiles have always played a vital role in cross-border tiffs.

Considering this, we have hand-picked three U.S. stocks that are either missile makers or offer significant missile defense systems. These stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and thus should find a place in an investors portfolio. They also boast strong fundamentals, which make them even more attractive. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Lockheed Martin LMT manufactures prominent missiles like Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3), Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), Hellfire, Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), Javelin tactical missile and a few more. The company surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in four consecutive quarters, delivering average surprise of 14.41%. Its long-term earnings growth rate is 7.1%

Northrop Grummans NOC key programs include Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile as well as the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS) and a few more. The company surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in four consecutive quarters, coming up with average surprise of 11.48%. Its long-term earnings growth rate stands at 13.1%.

Raytheon Company RTN is the manufacturer of Patriot air and missile defense systems, Standard Missile -3, Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), AIM-9X Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missile and a few more. The company surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in four consecutive quarters, with average surprise of 8.6%. Its long-term earnings growth rate is 10.7%.

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CAMPBELL, Calif., January 9, 2020  Centric Software is delighted to announce the release of a success story about its customer, MAXRIENY.

MAXRIENY is a CC Universe brand, and was co-founded by Kevin Wong and his wife, Sara Wong. The brand had specific target segments in mind right from the start  fans of European medieval castle themes and fantasy elements. In just five years, sales surpassed 0.7 billion RMB in Chinas already saturated ladies apparel market.

Kevin Wong, Founder and CEO of CC Universe reflects on the product development challenges presented to their multi-business brand:

Our multi-brand and multi-business model corporate development strategy would have created an enormous workload if we continued to operate with disparate systems and offline data. The companys priority is establishing a sharing platform that allows us to store all product creative and data.

Today, with Centrics Fashion PLM in place, there is a streamlined way for CC Universe to obtain consistent data. Team members can track product development by brand and business model, which greatly improves the management capacity of their Product Center.

Adrian Lian, who heads CC Universes IT Department, comments on Centrics synergy with innovation, Centric Fashion PLM has always been at the forefront of applications and innovations in the fashion and retail industry. The PLM system provides a fundamental platform for integrating upstream and downstream supply chain systems.

How did Centric Fashion PLM empower a multi-brand strategy for MAXRIENY and CC Universe?

Read the full story

Learn more about Centric Fashion PLM

Request a demo

MAXRIENY (www.maxrieny.com)

MAXRIENY was launched in 2007, and its parent company CC Universe was co-founded by Kevin Wong and his wife, Sara Wong. The couple transformed their family-owned apparel manufacturing operations into Shenzhen CC Universe Fashion Design Co., Ltd. Kevin handles strategic investments and organizational innovation, while Sara takes full charge of design for MAXRIENY, their main brand, as well as product management. MAXRIENY is highly inspired by the European retro elements, as the design of the brand is known to present unique, fantasy styles with the sense of inner power. It is one of the most popular emerging designer brands. Sara believes that fashion is never just about a fancy garment but it is also the expression of art.

Centric Software (www.centricsoftware.com)

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley, Centric Software provides a Digital Transformation Platform for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods. Centrics flagship Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) platform, Centric 8, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, quality and collection management functionality tailored for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric SMB provides innovative PLM technology and key industry learnings for emerging brands. Centric Visual Innovation Platform (VIP) offers a fully visual, transformative experience via large touch-screens and mobile devices, revolutionizing group decision making and creative collaboration while dramatically condensing time to market and product innovation. Centric Software is majority-owned by Dassault Systemes (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), the world leader in 3D design software, 3D Digital Mock Up and PLM solutions.

Centric Software has received multiple industry awards and recognition, including being named by Red Herring to its Top 100 Global list in 2013, 2015 and 2016. Centric also received various excellence awards from Frost & Sullivan in 2012, 2016 and 2018.

Centric Software is a registered trademark of Centric Software Inc.. All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

(end)

Media Contacts:

Centric Software



Americas: Jennifer Forsythe, jforsythe@centricsoftware.com

EMEA: Kristen Salaun-Batby, ksalaun-batby@centricsoftware.com

APAC: Lily Dong, lily.dong@centricsoftware.com
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Jan. 9

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Vladimir Norov met with Turkmen Ambassador to China Parahat Durdyev in Beijing, Trend reports with reference to the SCO website.

The parties discussed the prospects for cooperation in the field of innovations, digitalization and electronic commerce. The meeting participants also noted the role of SCO in regional and international initiatives and the organization's economic, transport and logistics potential.

Norov was given an official invitation to participate in the international conference entitled Neutrality policy and its importance in ensuring international peace, security and sustainable development scheduled to be held in Ashgabat on Dec. 11-12, 2020.

SCO is an intergovernmental international organization set up on June 15, 2001, in Shanghai by Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
First National Financial Corporation (TSE:FN), operating in the financial services industry based in Canada, received a lot of attention from a substantial price movement on the TSX over the last few months, increasing to CA$44.60 at one point, and dropping to the lows of CA$38.08. 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 First National Financial's current trading price of CA$38.48 reflective of the actual value of the small-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Lets take a look at First National Financials 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 First National Financial

What is First National Financial worth?

According to my relative valuation model, the stock seems to be currently fairly priced. Ive used the price-to-earnings ratio in this instance because theres not enough visibility to forecast its cash flows. The stocks ratio of 14.66x is currently trading slightly above its industry peers ratio of 12.62x, which means if you buy First National Financial today, youd be paying a relatively reasonable price for it. And if you believe that First National Financial should be trading at this level in the long run, theres only an insignificant downside when the price falls to its real value. Furthermore, First National Financials share price also seems relatively stable compared to the rest of the market, as indicated by its low beta. This may mean it is less likely for the stock to fall lower from natural market volatility, which suggests less opportunities to buy moving forward.

What does the future of First National Financial look like?

TSX:FN Past and Future Earnings, January 8th 2020

Future outlook is an important aspect when youre looking at buying a stock, especially if you are an investor looking for growth in your portfolio. Although value investors would argue that its the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. First National Financials earnings over the next few years are expected to increase by 32%, indicating a highly optimistic future ahead. This should lead to more robust cash flows, feeding into a higher share value.

Story continues

What this means for you:

Are you a shareholder? FNs optimistic future growth appears to have been factored into the current share price, with shares trading around its fair value. However, there are also other important factors which we havent considered today, such as the financial strength of the company. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at FN? Will you have enough conviction to buy should the price fluctuate below the true value?

Are you a potential investor? If youve been keeping an eye on FN, now may not be the most optimal time to buy, given it is trading around its fair value. However, the optimistic forecast is encouraging for FN, which means its worth further examining other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to take advantage of the next price drop.

Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters  the fundamentals  before you make a decision on First National Financial. You can find everything you need to know about First National Financial in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in First National Financial, you can use our free platform to see my list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.

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.



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. Thank you for reading.
Deepika Padukone visited JNU because she wanted to indirectly promote her forthcoming movie Chhappak? Many are calling it a PR stunt.

Why didn't she say anything before? There are so many questions that people have asked on social media; others are busy trolling and abusing her. But, one thing we all are forgetting is that despite knowing things would backfire, she still took the risk. It was a big one indeed.

As Anurag Kashyap said that she is also producer of the movie, so let's not forget that "stakes are higher". And let's just forget the motive for a little while, and applaud her for taking a stand knowing that she would be subjected to a lot of hatred.



Unlike the other big men of the industry like Akshay Kumar, who have made nationalistic movies based on social and political issues, she at least took charge and proved that she has a spine.



What happened after her visit? Exactly what everyone expected. She has become the eye of the storm. Soon after her JNU appearance, #BoycottChhapaak started trending on social media.

RT if you will Boycott Movies of @deepikapadukone for her Support to #TukdeTukdeGang and Afzal Gang pic.twitter.com/LN5rpwjDmT  Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) January 7, 2020

The trolls went to a different extreme when they started cancelling the same ticket to boycott her movie. It didn't take rocket science for anyone to figure it all out.

Then, some people tried to bring religion in this fight as well. How, you're wondering?

Some reports claimed that the acid attacker in the movie was named Rajesh and that he was a Hindu.



BJP Haryana IT cell head Arun Yadav tweeted a photograph of Laxmi Aggarwal (on whom the movie is based) and wrote, This is Laxmi Aggarwal. Chhapaak is based on her. In 2005, a man named Nadeem Khan threw acid on her in Delhis Khan Market. To keep the fabric of secularism intact, our Bollywood has named Nadeem Rajesh in the film. #NameItLikeBollywood"



Twitter

Later, it turned out to be a false claim.

A man who attended the screening of the movie, took to twitter to write, I watched the special screening of the movie which was organised for acid attack survivors, and the claim on social media that the accused is portrayed as belonging to the Hindu community is false. The person who is convicted is presented as belonging to the Muslim community, and so are his relatives, with one of them shown in a Burkha."



Shocking (or maybe not) that such demonstrable misinformation is carried. I watched the screening last night & can tell you with certainty the religion of attacker has not changed. Film has remained accurate to the case. Opinidia ko bachane ke chakkar mein khud Opindia ban gaye.. https://t.co/Jxc0ZCEDzJ  Abhinandan Sekhri (@AbhinandanSekhr) January 8, 2020

If this wasn't enough, BJP leader Ashish Shelar said that Deepika Padukone shouldn't try to act like a warrior.

It is easy to portray the character of warrior Mastani, when you have a director like Sanjay Leela Bhansali behind you. But in real life, when she does not have a director behind her, (then) she should not try to portray herself as a warrior or Mastani because it is now clear that she is unable to live that kind of life in reality," he was quoted as saying.



Like if this wasn't enough, another controversy has erupted now. It is said that Advocate Aparna Bhat, who represented acid attack victim Laxmi Agarwal in court, is upset with Chhapaak and is planning to take a legal action against Deepika Padukone.

She wrote on Facebook, "Have never been the one to demand attention to my work. Deeply disturbed by the turn of events post watching Chhapaak. Compelled to take legal action to protect my identity and preserve my integrity. I represented Lakshmi in her criminal trial in Patiala House Courts... tomorrow someone will represent me in my cause...Ironies of life."



While some people are trolling her, abusing her and dissing her. There are several others who are applauding her move.



Many of her contemporaries rooted for her after she visited JNU.



No matter which political party you support,do u support violence?Don't visuals of bleeding students and teachers shake you up?We can't sit on the fence any longer.Kudos to @deepikapadukone for showing up,& all those who spoke for speaking up.This is not the time to stay quiet.  Sonakshi Sinha (@sonakshisinha) January 8, 2020





Several others are also taking a stand for her.

I will sponsor 100 tickets for Chhapaak for any NGO working with underprivileged kids.

Let andh-bhakts #boycottchhapaak, we patriots will promote the work of every Indian brave enough to come out and speak up to save Indian democracy.#ISupportDeepika  Official PeeingHuman (@thepeeinghuman) January 7, 2020

But even that was questioned. JNU's Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar who has been facing flak for not doing enough during last week's mob attack at the prestigious university, questioned the support that Deepika Padukone is getting.



"I would like to ask all those great personalities coming to support agitators, what about thousands of students and teachers who are deprived of their rights of doing research and teaching? Why can't you stand with them," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.



Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) has condemned hate against Deepika Padukone.



"We condemn the hate being spewed against Deepika Padukone. It is a sad testament to where we stand as a society. Deepika came and stood with us, the injured and terrified students of JNU. It was an act of humane concern. We thank her," it said in a statement.



We condemn the hate being spewed against Deepika Padukone. It is a sad testament to where we stand as a society. Deepika came and stood with us, the injured and terrified students of JNU.

It was an act of humane concern. We thank her.  JNUSU (@JNUSUofficial) January 8, 2020

Her one visit has moved the entire nation. Did she not know what this will bring to her? She probably did, and so we applaud her for taking a stand. We all wanted a Bollywood star to speak and act strongly against/ in favour of what has been happening, right? Well, Deepika finally did that!



Like Shabana Azmi said, let's not forget that nobody, not even her contemporaries supported her during the release of Padmaavat. She got several death threats openly. She has been through a similar situation before. She knows how it feels to be in that spot.



@deepikapadukone When she was attacked over Padmavat very few came forward to support her. She knows what it feels to be targetted and she has shown exemplary courage by supporting the JNU students with quiet grace,More power to Deepika Padukone  Azmi Shabana (@AzmiShabana) January 8, 2020

What Deepika did is exactly what we wanted from a Bollywood celebrity, didn't we? So why all this drama?




Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], Jan 9 (ANI): Former tourism minister of Jammu and Kashmir Ghulam Hassan Mir on Thursday said that "not a single bullet" had been fired in the Valley since security forces were deployed in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the Narendra Modi government's decision to nullify Article 370 that granted special status to the region.



"Whatever happened was not wanted either by the government or the people. But one thing from the side of the government is that not a single bullet was shot; there was no killing. Credit also goes to the people as well because they did not opt for violence," Mir said after meeting a delegation of foreign envoys who visited Jammu and Kashmir today

The 15-member delegation was here to see first-hand efforts made by the Indian government to "normalise situation" after the Centre revoked the special status of the region in August last year.

"The Indian government has said that Article 370 was a barrier in the development of Jammu and Kashmir. Now it is upto the Central government to prove that. People here live in fear because they feel they will lose their jobs. The Government of India has to show the concern towards them and uplift them," he added.

The former minister said that the foreign envoys, who met security officials and other civil society members from all walks of life, held an interactive session and enquired about the situation in the region before and after Article 370 was scrapped.

Apart from Mir, the delegation also met other political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir including Altaf Bukhari, Shoaib Iqbal Lone, Hilal Ahmed Shah, Noor Mohd Sheikh, Abdul Majid Padder, Abdul Rahim Rather and Rafi Ahmed Mir.

Ahead of announcing the decision to abolish Article 370 from the Union Territory, the central government had deployed additional military troops in order to curtail any possibility of untoward incident.

The government had also temporarily suspended mobile internet in Jammu in view of the security situation in the region which later resumed.

The group of 15 foreign envoys from the United States, South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Maldives, Morocco, Fiji, Norway, Philippines, Argentina, Peru, Niger, Nigeria, Togo and Guyana, are on a two-day visit to the region being facilitated by the Government of India.

"The visit was organised based on request which we have received in the past from several envoys who wanted to visit J&K," MEA spokesperson said in a weekly briefing today.

This is the first visit by diplomats to Jammu and Kashmir since the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir last year that split the state into two union territories.

Last year a delegation comprising members of the European Parliament had visited the Valley after the abrogation of Article 370. (ANI)


The Congress on Thursday alleged that the violence in JNU was "officially sponsored goondaism" and said Home Minister Amit Shah and HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal were responsible for it.

The Congress demanded that those behind the violence must be identified and arrested immediately.

It said normalcy in the JNU campus was not possible till its Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar resigned.

"The violent incident that occurred in JNU was not a sudden development, but was planned. Everyone knows who was behind this violence.

"I make a direct charge that HRD Minister and the Home Minister are responsible for the incident. This is nothing but an officially sponsored goondaism," senior party leader Jairam Ramesh said at a press conference.

He said 72 hours have passed and Delhi Police knows who should be arrested but no arrest has been made so far in this regard.

"This is a deliberate negligence," he alleged.

"We demand that the culprits who have been identified, who are responsible for this violence that occurred 72 hours back, should be arrested without any further delay.

"It has become amply clear that as long the present vice chancellor remains in his position, there is no scope for normalisation of the campus situation. The government should ask the VC to resign forthwith," the Congress leader said.

Ramesh said a few months ago talks were held between Secretary, HRD Ministry and Vice Chancellor and an in principle agreement was arrived at. But, it is strange that the Secretary of the HRD Ministry has since been transferred whereas the VC is still holding on to this position, he wondered.

"The police should arrest the persons responsible for this violence, VC should resign and the demands of the students should be seriously looked into," he said.

Ramesh also said that a team constituted under the chairmanship of Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev will submit its report to the Congress president tomorrow.

The fact-finding team was asked to look into the JNU violence and get to the depth of the issue.

A group of masked people armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus on Sunday night, prompting the university administration to call in the police.

At least 35 people, including JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh, were injured in the violence. They were admitted to AIIMS Trauma Centre and discharged on Monday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Tunisian Interior Ministry Wednesday said it has seized arms and cash en route to troubled neighboring Libya from Turkey.

Khaled Hayoun, spokesman for the ministry told local media Shems FM that security forces have seized arms and that investigations revealed that the shipment was coming from Turkey and meant for Libya.

The weapons and a sizeable amount of cash were found in a car in Medenine, South-west Tunisia. Five smugglers have been detained in connection with the seizure, the spokesman said.

Tunisia has found itself under spotlight in the Libyan crisis after Turkey stepped forward as the main international backer of UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) headquartered in capital Tripoli.

Ankara has begun deployment of forces to prop up the Tripoli weak government trying to withstand fire from rebel General Khalifa Haftar who is backed by UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. Haftar launched in April a surprise offensive to take over the Libyan capital.

The office of the Tunisian President Kais Saied early this week said the North African country has refused to be used as transit country for Turkish deployment and logistical support to the GNA.

Tunisia categorically rejects any foreign interference in Libya, including the Turkish intervention. This is Tunisias position from the start, and has not and will not change, presidential office spokeswoman Rachida Nayfer said earlier this week.

Tunisia cannot allow this and that the answer of Tunisian President Qais Saied was explicit to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his recent visit to Tunisia, she added.

During a meeting of the National Security Council Tuesday, President Kais Saied said that all indications show that the situation in Libya is likely to become more complex, stressing the need for national preparations for these possible developments to be adequate.

Saied voiced hope that the crisis would not degenerate into fighting inside Libya, but stressed that all indications are that the situation is likely to become more complicated, especially in the light of foreign interference, TAP news agency reports.

President Saied also brought up the possibility of an influx of refugees, either Libyans or foreigners settled in Libya, as happened in 2011.

In this regard, he stressed the need to be well prepared for all these developments, which are not only related to security and the possibility of a number of terrorists infiltrating the refugee population in Tunisia, but also to the repatriation of a number of foreigners, who could take refuge on Tunisian soil, as happened in 2011.

Dealing with developments in Libya requires the involvement of a number of organizations and capitals that will be concerned, whether by the possibility of an influx of refugees, or by the possibility of a number of terrorists infiltrating into Tunisia or from Tunisia to these countries, the President said.

The Tunisian President who stressed the importance of coordinating actions at the regional level, indicated that the necessary security and military precautions have been taken to secure Tunisias airspace and coasts, and to safeguard the countrys sovereignty.

The developments in Libya were also discussed at a phone call Monday between President Saied and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The two sides renewed attachment to find a peaceful solution to the Libyan crisis, involving all parties concerned, including Tunisia, while affirming commitment to international legality.

Berlin is planning to host an international conference on Libya, aiming to end the ongoing armed conflict in the country and bring the Libyan parties to dialogue.
Joe Biden has claimed repeatedly on the campaign trail that he reversed his support for the invasion of Iraq as soon as it began, but resurfaced clips from a 2003 interview suggest he continued to defend his pro-war vote for years after the conflict was launched.

Speaking with journalist Fareed Zakaria in September 2003, Biden defended his initial support for the war, saying he still probably would have voted to invade Iraq even if the Lord Almighty had told him the U.S. occupation would go poorly. When asked by Zakaria if it was a good idea for Democrats to take a strong anti-war position in the next election, Biden said I do not.

I think theres a need for more enlightened foreign policy, and I think to make the case that the use of force against Saddam was unjustified is, I think, the wrong case to make, Biden explained.

ZAKARIA: Do you think its a good idea though for the Democratic Party to take a strong anti-war position in the next election? BIDEN: I do not.I think to make the case that the use of force against Saddam was unjustified is, I think, the wrong case to make. (September 2003) pic.twitter.com/0GAN1xNWiZ  Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) January 7, 2020

The interview came two years before Biden first called his 2002 vote to authorize military force in Iraq a mistake.

But the former vice president has suggested multiple times on the campaign trail that he was against the war immediately after it began.

During the Democratic debate in July, Biden said that from the moment shock and awe started, from that moment, I was opposed to the effort, and I was outspoken as much as anyone at all in the Congress and the administration.

In a September interview with NPR which The Washington Post later called him out for, Biden said before you know it, we had shock and awe. Immediately, the moment it started, I came out against the war, at that moment.

Story continues

And on Saturday, Biden told an Iowa voter from the very moment President George W. Bush launched shock and awe Biden opposed what he was doing, and spoke to him.

Biden has repeatedly couched his comments with the claim that his vote for the war happened after Bush privately promised that he was only trying to get weapons inspectors into the country, a characterization that Bush denies.

Im sure its just an innocent mistake of memory, but this recollection is flat wrong, Bush spokesman Freddy Ford told NPR in an email.

During the 2012 race, Biden also seemed to imply that he opposed the war effort, saying that while Paul Ryan voted to put two wars on a credit card . . . I was there. I voted against him.

While campaigning in New Hampshire in August, Biden fabricated a war story about awarding a medal to a reluctant Navy captain by stitching together details from three separate stories.

More from National Review
Gov't departments, SOEs to meet overdue payments to smaller private companies as much as possible before the end of 2020

BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang Wednesday made arrangements for ensuring that government departments and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) clear their arrear payments to private firms and small and medium-sized enterprises, and required that resolute efforts be made to see the work through.

Clearing payment arrears owed to private and small businesses bears on the market economic order, business environment and market expectations. Government's credibility is also at stake.

It was noted at the meeting that by the end of last year, some 75 percent of the more than 890 billion yuan (about 128 billion U.S. dollars) of such arrears identified nationwide had been paid up, exceeding the original target of making no less than half of the arrear payments in 2019.

The meeting urged redoubled efforts to see that due responsibilities be effectively fulfilled and that by the end of this year, all undisputed arrears be cleared as much as possible.

Where dispute exists, the arrears problem should be addressed more efficiently through mediation, consultation and judicial means, and there must be no new arrears incurred.

"Strong efforts have been made in clearing such payment arrears and progress has been made in this regard. Yet the government shall still not let up work on this front. A major part of overdue payments are owed by government authorities and state-owned enterprises to private, small businesses," Li noted. "This has made ill impact to government credit, to our business environment and market confidence, as well as to people's lives."

It was decided at the Wednesday meeting that government departments at all levels must make concrete plans, down to each item and each category, for paying up the outstanding undisputed arrears. Those with large sums of arrears will be subject to the oversight and scrutiny by dedicated task forces.

Provincial governments shall shoulder chief responsibility for the repayment work in their provinces. They will coordinate the effort in formulating plans for subordinate cities and counties which are unable to meet the repayments. Large SOEs must take holistic measures in their subsidiary companies to make sure that the repayment tasks are completed.

The meeting urged effective implementation of the regulation on ensuring wage payments to migrant workers and establishment of an inter-agency mechanism for resolving the arrears issue, especially wages owed to migrant workers.

Intensified efforts will be made with a focus on wage arrears to migrant workers in government-invested projects. Going forward, sufficient funds must be set aside in all construction projects to ensure that wage payments to migrant workers are made on time and in keeping with the contractual terms.

In particular, no government departments, SOEs or public institutions should, for whatever reason, owe migrant workers wages.

The SOEs will be urged to strengthen internal discipline for meeting payments on time, make the control and clearing of due payments part of their internal evaluation. No repayments shall be made in commercial bills or other non-monetary forms without the consent of the recipients.

The meeting also required the issuing of a regulation regarding timely payments to small and medium-sized enterprises. Governments at all levels must tighten their belts, practice frugality and live within their means. No government-invested project without solid funding will be approved. Irregularities such as implementing projects outside the budget plan, starting construction before getting approval, or asking construction entities to make advance payments, will be seriously dealt with.

"We must establish a long-term mechanism to prevent arrears by government departments and SOEs. New government officials must not disavow obligations undertaken by their predecessors. All undisputed arrears must be paid off by the end of this year," Li said.
More measures are needed in the fight against trade fraud and illegal cross-border smuggling between Vietnam and other countries, which continues to be a problem, the General Department of Customs has said.

Speaking at an online conference to review customs work in 2019, general director of the department Nguyen Van Can said the war against commercial fraud had become more sophisticated and dynamic.

In December alone, more than 1,060 violations worth VND177 billion (US$7.6 million) were handled. Legal proceedings have been started against as many as 23 violators.

In 2019, more than 16,660 cases of trade fraud, with a value of goods amounting to VND2.6 trillion ($111.9 million) were discovered. Legal proceedings have been started against 145 violators.

Can said origin fraud was among most common violations. Many cases in which imported goods, mainly garments and textile and electronic appliances, were labelled Made in Vietnam were uncovered.

There was a legal gap in rules of origin of the goods. The unclear legal documents and late response of authorised agencies were among causes of the violations, he said.

Can cited the Asanzo incident as one example. Last June, Asanzo Vietnam Electronics JSC was accused of origin fraud and cheating customers as it imported goods from China but claimed them to be of Vietnamese origin when sold in the domestic market.

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry later announced that it cleared the company following Vietnamese law.

As stipulated, a product can include the Made in Vietnam label if it is assembled from components which are purchased in Vietnam or imported from other countries.

Can said it would be easier the handle the cases if there were clear and comprehensive regulations on origin fraud.

Can said the department had consulted with the Supreme People's Procuracy to deploy measures to deter and seize goods with unclear origin.

Can said in the first quarter of this year, ministries and branches would review regulations on origin fraud to avoid causing confusion for both authorities and businesses, such as in the case of Asanzo.

Drug and wildlife trafficking on the rise

Drug and wildlife trafficking is also on the rise, the department reported.

Inter-provincial and border trafficking rings have been uncovered nationwide.

Early last year, the customs department in central Ha Tinh Province, in co-operation with local police, found seven people smuggling 370 packages of narcotics from Ha Tinh to the northern provinces of Lang Son and Cao Bang.

Two months later, 13 people of Chinese and Vietnamese nationalities were caught transporting 300 kilogrammes of ecstasy from Laos to Vietnam and Vietnam to Taiwan via border gates.

In April, customs officials in An Giang Province found six people hiding 31,850 tablets of ecstasy and 17 kilos of heroin in their luggage while travelling to Cambodia.

Several months later, four Taiwanese people were caught transporting 500 kilos of ketamine  the largest amount of ketamine ever seized in the country  to a warehouse in HCM Citys Binh Chanh District. The drugs were estimated to be worth nearly VND500 billion ($21.5 million).

Reports from customs officials in Da Nang City and Ha Tinh and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces revealed that ivory tusks and pangolin scales were commonly smuggled. Most were found in containers disguised as scrap or cargo.

Can said the department would tighten inspections on goods ahead of the Tet holiday, especially alcohol, food and imported fruits.

It would also increase control over goods transiting through Vietnam to other countries to fight against counterfeit products and origin fraud. VNS

Wildlife trafficking increases in Vietnam as demand continues to rise Vietnam is among 16 countries with a high level of biodiversity and is also among the biggest hot spots for wildlife trafficking.
Enrollment Continues at Midwest College of Theology

Enrollment is now open for the Midwest College of Theology  L.A. campus with classes set to begin on Saturday, Jan. 18, at 5125 S. Crenshaw Blvd. in Los Angeles.

The college, operated by More Sure Word Training Center, offers Associate, Bachelor, Masters and Doctoral degree programs as well as an Associate in Drug Intervention Ministry and various degrees in the field of missions, explained Dr. King D. Felton, campus chancellor, at an orientation session on Jan. 4. The Association of Independent Colleges and Seminaries accredit the school.

If you want to deepen your understanding of biblical knowledge and Blood Covenant of Grace relationship, this school is for you, Felton said. At More Sure Word Midwest College of Theology, we will train, equip and empower those who sense the divine call of God on their lives.

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Agreeing with Feltons comments, several students shared their reasons for enrolling in the college. Minister James Hammonds, who plans to obtain an Associate degree, said, Its a good accredited school and we have a phenomenal teacher and the staff. Dr. Felton wants us to get a deeper understanding of who God the Father is and he spends time to make sure that you get it and that is important.

Pastor Vera Lewis serves as on the ministerial staff at Christ Apostolic Church in Los Angeles and she expects the curriculum to help me in my counseling ministry to help others. You can learn Hebrew, Greek and what Jesus says and I am definitely open to receiving that.

As Joseph Metoyer and his wife prepared to start a marriage ministry, he said God directed him to get credentialed in field, which led him to enroll in More Sure Word Midwest College of Theology. I really wanted to operate under 2 Timothy 2:15  Study to show thyself approved unto Godrightly dividing the word of truth.

We plan to stay enrolled until we receive our Doctorate degrees and these studies will allow us to translate the word of God properly and not put ourselves in it, but reveal what God has said, noted Metoyer.

To enroll or for more information, call (323) 291-2159 or visit moresurewordcot.org.
Several prominent Left leaders, including Sitaram Yechuri and D Raja, on Thursday joined hundreds of JNU and other students, who hit the street to protest against the recent violence at JNU and demand resignation of the varsity vice-chancellor.

Also joined by many civil societies' members, the students began the march from Mandi House to the HRD Ministry in Shastri Bhawan, carrying placards and banners that read 'No CAA, No NRC', 'Ban ABVP from university campuses', and renting the air with slogans like 'Halla Bol' and 'Inquilab Zindabad'.

Banners also carrying messages such as 'Reject Violence' and ' is not a commodity to be bought or sold' dotted the swelling crowd that demanded strict action against those involved in the campus violence on January 5 that left more than 35 JNU students and teachers injured.

JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh, who was one of those injured in the Sunday violence, also joined the march, but left midway after she felt unwell. She later joined the protesters at Shastri Bhawan when a delegation of teachers' association and students' union was taken to meet HRD officials.

Political leaders, who joined the students' march, also included Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat of CPI(M) and Rastriya Janta Dal Loktantrik chief Sharad Yadav.

"People have started speaking up and that is what these people are not able to digest. They are manufacturing stories that the protests have nothing to do with students or workers but are political," said Brinda Karat, referring to the ruling BJP government.

"For three hours, people wearing masks beat up varsity students. They entered the campus despite police being present at the main gate," rued Yechury.

Alleging that the incident could not have happened without the vice-chancellor's knowledge, he said, "The VC has to go".

"The VC is now saying his doors are open. Why didn't the masked persons come to you then? You have to meet students and resolve issues. He is a 'chor' and trying to become 'kotwal'.

"The violence was done by the administration and police," he alleged.

While looking towards policemen, he said, "You would also be wanting your children to be in JNU. Please do not beat your own children. They are fighting for you," he said.

D Raja said the JNU is the pride of nation and the issue concerning the university is a "national issue".

"JNU issue is a national issue. That's why we are with you. Fighting for the JNU is fighting to save the nation. The attack on the JNU is part of a sinister design to convert our secular democratic country into Hindu Rashtra. We, as concerned citizens, should stand up to save our country," he said.

RJD MP Manoj Jha said the VC has to go and the situation in the university cannot be normalised till he is ousted.

JNUSU vice-president Saket Moon said they will ensure that fee hike, 'Mamidala' (Jagadesh Kumar) and hostel manual are thrown out of campus.

"The home minister is again talking about 'tukde-tukde' gang at the time of Delhi elections. He is trying to divert issues from electricity, water, etc. We will not be scared and will not go back and end our struggle. Such violence has never happened on the campus," he said.

JNUSU secretary Satish Chandra Yadav said the violence was a move to divert from the main issue of fee hike.

"Our movement was moving towards success and the government was aware that if we become successful it would also lead to other universities raising their voice. The VC is 'anti student'," he said.

He alleged that the RSS-affiliated ABVP started attacking people from January 4.

"Police are roaming in campus in plain clothes but not to save us. Police escorted the attackers out of campus. The VC is an incompetent person. We will ensure that the VC has to resign today and we will reclaim our campus," Yadav said.

Even as the march was proceeding towards Shastri Bhawan, a student from Punjab University was spray-painting the road with slogans like 'The VC must resign' and 'No CAA, No NRC'.

The student, Vicky Mahesari, a member of the Left-affiliated All India Students' Federation (AISF), said, "We do not have money or propaganda to spread our message. We are using every means at our disposal to spread our message. The people in the government feel they are in majority. But we are the exploited people and we are in majority. This government has to go."



Another group of students was using chalks to write their messages.

'Empire of Vampire, JNU VC must resign' was being written by them.

Azaan, a student of Indra Prastha University, who had written the message, said, "Section 144 might prohibit us from assembling but our message will live on."



On Sunday, a mob of masked men had stormed the campus and targeted students in three hostels, unleashing mayhem with sticks, stones and iron rods and hitting inmates while also breaking windows, furniture and personal belongings.

The JNU students' union has been demanding a rollback of the hostel and mess fee hike and had boycotted the registration process for the next semester.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dozens of local council areas hit by the bushfires will each be given $1 million from the federal government.

Scott Morrison has identified 42 councils eligible for the payments, while $18 million has been set aside to offer extra money to local governments worst affected by the fires.

'This is initial and urgent - there will be more,' the prime minister told reporters on Thursday.

Dozens of local council areas hit by the bushfires will each be given $1 million from the federal government. Scott Morrison is pictured on Kangaroo Island

More than 1600 Army reservists have been dispatched to bushfire operations as conditions worsen along Australia's east coast.

The bushfires have killed 27 people and destroyed 2,131 homes across the country.

'We are a long way from the end of this crisis and this disaster,' Mr Morrison said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stressed on better governance and implementation for realising the dream of $5 trillion economy. Addressing a meeting of economists and industrialists at Niti Aayog today, the Prime Minister said that the idea of $5 trillion economy is not a sudden development and that it is based on a deep understanding of the strengths of the country.

He said that governance is very critical, and implementation of government's policies needs especial focus. He said that there are enough gaps to be filled in implementation (of the schemes). For instance, he said, funds allocated under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) can be used by states for the most needy.

Modi said that rural employment and education need special focus. He said that sectors like tourism, urban development, infrastructure and agri-based industry have great potential for employment generation and nurturing economic growth.

He said that open discussions and brainstorming in such forums lead to a healthy debate and understanding of the issues. He also welcomed constructive criticism to be able to do better than what he can presently do.

The meeting was attended by 38 delegates, including economists, industrialists and venture capitalists. The delegates spoke about the issues their respective sectors are facing and what the government can do to address those issues. Economists largely talked on reviving the investment cycle, creating employment and cleaning up the system.

According to a person who attended the meeting, all delegates spoke for one-two minutes, the Prime Minister and his cabinet colleagues present in the meeting listened to each speaker attentively, and the secretaries present there were taking notes.

The person mentioned above said that the Prime Minister promised that even if all the suggestions given by the speakers do not translate into policies, he would take note of them for future reference.

Stating that India is a land with unlimited possibilities, he requested all stakeholders to do their bit to bridge the gap between reality and perception.

He said, "We must all work together and start to think like a nation."

Delegates present on the occasion included economists Shankar Acharya, R Nagaraj, Farzana Afridi, venture capitalist Pradip Shah, industrialists Apparao Mallavarapu, Deep Kalra, Patanjali Govind Keswani, Deepak Seth, Srikumar Misra, subject experts like Ashish Dhawan and Shiv Sarin.

Also present in the meeting were Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and MSME Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Railways and Commerce Piyush Goyal, and Minister for Agriculture Narendra Tomar. Secretaries from various ministries, Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog Rajiv Kumar and CEO of NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant also attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, whose absence from the meeting had triggered rumours of her being sidelined, was busy from 10:30 am till 2 pm in back-to-back meetings with four groups. One was a media interaction along with BJP leaders, followed by deliberations with the office-bearers of various morchas or wings of BJP. The third meeting was with representatives of think tanks, and the fourth one was a presentation by BJP leadership on the outcome of the party's pre-budget consultations with various sectors carried out by its economic affairs wing.

ALSO READ: Budget 2020: 'FM indisposed' asks Tharoor in Twitter banter over Nirmala's absence as PM Modi meets economists

ALSO READ: Budget 2020: PM Modi meets top economists at Niti Aayog to discuss growth revival
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 22:13:59|Editor: xuxin

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NAIROBI, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Nairobi-based Pan African lender, African Guarantee Fund, on Thursday announced 3.3 billion shillings (about 33 million U.S. dollars) capital injection to stimulate the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises in the continent.

Felix Bikpo, group chief executive officer of the fund, said the new financing will boost the growth of women and youth-led start-ups in Africa and enable them to become key drivers of the continent's socio-economic transformation.

"We are excited about the confidence our shareholders and partners have in what we are doing in Africa," said Bikpo, adding that the lender has so far disbursed about 1.7 billion U.S. dollars to small and medium-sized enterprises that helped create an additional 100,000 jobs.

Bikpo said that African Guarantee Fund aims to provide financial guarantee to over 10,000 small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa annually through a partnership with local and foreign lenders.

He said that about 60 percent of start-ups across diverse economic sectors that have benefited from the Pan African lender's capital injection are owned by youth, while some 30 percent are owned by women.
Police search for man who broke into Taco Bell, made a meal and took a nap originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

One burglar may have been too full to make a quick getaway after he broke in and ate some late night snacks at Taco Bell.

PHOTO: A man entered through a drive-thru window and then prepared food and napped during a burglary at a local Taco Bell in Lawrenceville, Ga., on Dec. 25, 2019. (Gwinnett County Police Dept.)

The Gwinnett County Police Department in Lawrenceville, Georgia shared photos and surveillance video of a suspect who broke into the fast food restaurant around 12:15 a.m. on Dec. 25, in hopes of tracking down the hungry, sleepy thief.

MORE: Man sues Popeyes after missing out on new chicken sandwich

PHOTO: Surveillance footage shows a man who prepared food and napped during a burglary at a local Taco Bell in Lawrenceville, Ga., on Dec. 25, 2019. (Gwinnett County Police Dept.)

The suspect shimmied through the drive-thru window, but didn't appear to be too worried about getting caught.

"After he makes entry, he is seen on surveillance using the fryers to make himself a meal and then eats," police said in a statement on Wednesday.

PHOTO: Police in Georgia are asking the public to help identify a man who prepared food and napped during a burglary at a local Taco Bell in Lawrenceville, Ga., on Dec. 25, 2019. (Gwinnett County Police Dept.)

He then laid down and curled up for a nearly three hour nap, police added, before he eventually fled the scene.

PHOTO: Police in Georgia are asking the public to help identify a man who prepared food and napped during a burglary at a local Taco Bell in Lawrenceville, Ga., on Dec. 25, 2019. (Gwinnett County Police Dept.)

MORE: Popeyes adds staff to control chicken sandwich chaos as they troll Chick-fil-A with announcement

The suspect, described as "a black male wearing black sweatpants, a black hooded sweatshirt, and black sneakers" also stole a laptop and tablet, police said.

The Burglary Unit released the photos and video to enlist the public for help in identifying the suspect.

PHOTO: A man entered through a drive-thru window and then prepared food and napped during a burglary at a local Taco Bell in Lawrenceville, Ga., on Dec. 25, 2019. (Gwinnett County Police Dept.)

If anyone has any information to share in this case, please contact GCPD detectives or contact Crime Stoppers.
According to a grand jury indictment returned Dec. 6 and unsealed Jan. 3, Tabizada allegedly left at least two expletive-laden messages around 5:15 a.m. Eastern time on May 15. The messages came two days after Sister Mary Berchmans Hannan, the prestigious Northwest Washington schools president emerita, announced plans to include news of same-sex unions of alumnae.
WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI - The man killed in Wednesdays multi-vehicle crash on M-14 in Salem Township has been identified, police said.

Anthony David Kelley Jr., 33, of Detroit, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash that occurred early on Jan. 8, Michigan State Police said.

Emergency personnel responded to the rollover crash at M-14 at Gotfredson Road at 4:40 a.m., according to Huron Valley Ambulance Spokesman Matt Rose.

The preliminary investigation showed Kelley was traveling west on M-14 when he lost control of his vehicle due to driving too fast on icy roads, police said. Kelley crossed the median and was ejected from his vehicle onto the eastbound freeway, police said.

A passing motorist on eastbound M-14 then struck Kelley, police said.

A salt truck and three other vehicles were involved in the crash, police said. Three people were taken to area hospitals in stable condition, Rose said.

Alcohol and drugs do not initially appear to be a factor in the crash, police said. Police did not say if Kelley was wearing a seat belt.

M-14 was shut down while the crash scene was investigated and cleared. The freeway reopened about 9:59 a.m., according to the Michigan Department of Transportation.

The Salem Township Fire Department, Plymouth Township Fire Department and Plymouth Township Police Department assisted Michigan State Police at the scene.

READ MORE:

One dead, three injured in multi-vehicle crash on M-14

M-14 closed due to crash, ice and snow causing havoc
A warm front is headed to Massachusetts over the weekend, but dont put away your winter coat just yet as bitterly cold weather is still expected through Friday morning.

Temperatures dropped to the high teens Thursday and will only reach as high as 32 degrees on the Cape and Islands in the afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

Berkshire County communities, including Great Barrington, North Adams and Pittsfield, will see high temperatures of around 25 degrees. The rest of the state should expect highs near 30 degrees.

Expect a cold but fair weather day today, the National Weather Service said in a tweet. Temperatures in the 20s this morning will climb to the upper 20s and lower 30s.

Boston, Worcester and Springfield saw temperatures at or below 20 degrees early Thursday morning. The weather felt colder due to the wind chill. Boston received gusts that reached nearly 30 miles per hour.

The weather will begin to warm up around 5 a.m. on Friday. Temperatures should reach around 45 degrees across the state by nighttime and then reach records highs of 55 to 60 degrees on Saturday.

Warming continues Saturday and Sunday with near record highs possible, the National Weather Service said. A cold front may bring brief downpours Sunday.

Communities across Massachusetts saw snow squalls and strong wind gusts Wednesday that reached 50 miles per hour in some areas on the Cape and Islands.
January 9, 2020 - SEOUL, South Korea - The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) received a $1.4 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to ensure critical standards and reagents are available to low-cost oral cholera vaccine (OCV) manufacturers in the global health market. International standardization in the manufacturing and release of OCV will ultimately ensure sufficient supply of low-cost prequalified vaccines in the 39 Gavi countries, where demand currently exceeds the supply.

There are currently no International Standards or reference reagents available to vaccine manufacturers to test the cholera vaccine antigens containing bulk drug substances or products. This lack of standardization led IVI to organize a meeting in May 2018 on "International Standards for Oral Whole Cell Killed Cholera Vaccines," funded by the Gates Foundation. Representatives from leading research institutions and national regulatory agencies attended the meeting, as well as field experts in inactivated killed OCV from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC), to outline consensus on the specification of reagents for LPS inhibition ELISA to be established as WHO International Standards.

"Making available reference reagents will ensure uniform efficacy and allow multiple manufacturers to scale up production of low-cost cholera vaccine, which currently can't fulfill global demand," says Dr. Ravi Ganapathy, Head of Vaccine Process Development at IVI.

With this award from the Gates Foundation, IVI and NIBSC will develop and manufacture WHO International Standards for 01 Inaba, 01 Ogawa, and 0139 V. cholerae LPS ELISA assay. Eventual availability and use of the International Standards will enable existing and new OCV manufacturers and national control laboratories to calibrate in-house Inhibition ELISAs as well as its life cycle management. This increased in-house capacity will ensure proper regulation at national levels and maintain comparable efficacy of OCV worldwide.

IVI developed and completed technology transfer for the world's first low-cost WHO-prequalified OCV, currently stockpiled by the WHO and deployed to epidemic and endemic settings. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a long-time supporter of the global stockpile, provides doses for use in cholera outbreaks and, increasingly, for preventive vaccination campaigns in high risk communities. As of November 2019, over 42 million doses of Euvichol / Euvichol-Plus have been released, and IVI is accelerating efforts to increase production capacity by implementing International Standards and exploring vaccine reformulation, another initiative supported by the Gates Foundation.

###

About International Vaccine Institute (IVI)

The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is the world's only international organization devoted exclusively to discovery, development and delivery of safe, effective and affordable vaccines for global public health. Established in 1997 as an initiative of the United Nations Development Program, IVI operates as a nonprofit, independent international organization under a treaty signed by 35 countries and the World Health Organization. The Institute conducts research in more than 30 countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America on vaccines against enteric and diarrheal infections, Japanese encephalitis, MERS-CoV, and dengue fever, and develops new and improved vaccines at its headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. For more information, please visit http://www.ivi.int

CONTACT

Aerie Em, Global Communications & Media Specialist

+82 2 881 1386 | aerie.em@ivi.int
Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday urged political parties to consider the option of conducting simultaneous assembly and Parliamentary polls and evolve a consensus.

"I urge upon the political parties to seriously consider the option of simultaneous polls and evolve a consensus," he said.

Naidu was addressing the inaugural session of a conference on 'Indian Democracy at Work' - 'Money Power in Politics' at the Indian School of Business here.

Simultaneous elections would bring the cost of holding the elections down by the Election Commission and avoid frequent diversion of attention of parties and the people, he said.

The government officials also have a responsibility, other than their original responsibility of providing governance and improving delivery systems due to frequent elections, he said.

Expressing concern over populist promises being made by political parties without taking the availability of finances into consideration, he asked if a legislation like the FRBM Act can be made to address the issue.

"Can we legislate that before making promises you must have adequate finances. Can we think of something like FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) Act... Can we think about something like that in the states," he said.

The two-day conference is being co-organised by Foundation for Democratic Reforms, Indian School of Business, University of Hyderabad.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex - Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle - opened a rift in the royal family last night as  without consulting either the Queen or the Prince of Wales  they announced that they were stepping down as senior members, the Times writes.

According to the newspaper, the Queen was understood to be very disappointed that the couple rushed to put out a personal message in which they said that they were planning to divide their time between Britain and North America even though they had not reached any agreement with Buckingham Palace.
The Public Children's Chorale of Pueblo opened the session in the Senate, singing "This is It," the intro song from the Looney Tunes cartoons. "On with the show, this is it," they sang.
Koalas have been caught on camera cooling down in a river to avoid the heat of devastating bushfires that have wiped out their habitats.

Lorene McRae captured the heartwarming sight while camping on the banks of the Murray River at Tocumwal, New South Wales, over Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Ms McRae said that every day several koalas would climb down and dip their bottoms in the water despite boats and jet skis flying past.

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Koalas are seen huddling along a log in the Murray River at Tocumwal, NSW

The koalas dipped their bottoms into the water to cool off from the heat of the fires

'Amidst the horror and heartache of the suffering and death of our beautiful wildlife, I thought it might be nice to share a "feel good" story of hope,' Ms McRae wrote on Facebook.

'Each day they climbed down the river banks at dawn to sit and sleep on the damp logs, on the sand or in the root systems of the fallen trees.

'Occasionally they would back up and put their bottoms in the water and go back to sleep.'

She said the koalas would only cling on tighter to the branches when boats sailed past.

'Not a single person on the water noticed them. When hunched over they really did look just like lumps of wood!' Ms McRae said.

A woman camping out along the river said everyday the animals would sit along the riverbank

Lorene McRae (pictured) saw the animals while camping in the area around Christmas and New Year's Eve

The camper said that when night fell the koalas would return to the trees but would climb down to the river again in the morning.

Photos of the animals show them huddling in groups along the river's edge while others slept while sitting in the water.

As Australia is facing one of its worst ever bushfire seasons, one of the biggest impacts has been on the country's wildlife.

The animals would cling onto the logs while boats and jet skis flew past

The animals would cool down in the river as heat soared from raging bushfires

Thousands of koalas are expected to have died in the bushfires across Australia

About one billion animals are believed to have perished in the fires nationwidse, with 25,000 koalas are estimated to have died on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, alone.

Several groups across the country have made it their mission to care for injured koalas in the wake of the fires.

The Adelaide Koala Rescue are caring for more than 100 animals in a hall in Paradise Primary School.

The makeshift hospital was created to care for koalas that had been burned in the Cudlee Creek blaze.

One couple, Paul and Christeen McLeod, are looking after koalas who had been burned from their own living room, running the Koalas in Care service from their home in Taree.

Along with the animals who have been killed in the fires, 26 people have died and almost 2,000 homes have been destroyed.

Groups around Australia have worked to care for koalas that have been injured in the fires
Crude oil futures slipped 1.13 percent to Rs 4,212 per barrel on January 8 as traders trimmed their position after tracking negative overseas cues. Oil prices fell sharply after Iran and the US signalled the softening of their stance, which eased concerns of larger military conflict and the rise in US crude stock last week.

According to Dharmesh Bhatia, Associate Vice President, FX and Commodities, Emirates NBD, oil steadied below $60 per barrel after US President Donald Trump simmered the impact of missile attacks on American military bases in Iraq, footing away from the prospects of a war along with investors weighing the risk of further escalation in conflict between the US and Iran.

Oil had a boisterous start to 2020 after the killing of Irans most powerful military commander, with Brent nearly surging to $72 and WTI surging till $65 per barrel immediately after retaliatory attacks from Iran on January 9.

Data released by Energy Information Administration on January 8 showed surprise weekly rise in US crude inventories by 1.2 Mbpd vs expectations of 3.6 Mbpd drop along with hefty increases in gasoline and distillate stockpiles contributed to oil's price losses.

However, the focus now returns to the OPEC as officials have said the market is in no danger of a shortage and that they see no reason to reverse their cuts for now that put a further curb on prices, said Bhatia.

In the futures market, crude rate touched an intraday high of Rs 4,302 and an intraday low of Rs 4,189 on MCX. For the January series, the crude touched a low of Rs 3,825 and a high of Rs 4,670.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange, crude oil delivery for February contracts slipped Rs 69, or 1.69 percent, to Rs 4,194 per barrel with a business turnover of 3,532 lots.

The crude for delivery in January contracts was down by Rs 74, or 1.74 to Rs 4,186 per barrel with a business volume of 23,835 lots.

The value of the January contracts traded so far is Rs 14,346.46 crore and those of February contracts saw a value of Rs 586.53 crore.

Axis Securities advised its clients to sell January crude contract at Rs 4,290 with a stop loss at Rs 4,330 and a target of Rs 4,250.

Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude was marginally down 1.58 percent to $58.67 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, slipped 1.25 percent to $64.66 per barrel.
IVF success rates could be doubled by transferring frozen embryos to the womb a day earlier, research suggests.

Currently, medics tend to transfer a thawed embryo into the woman seven days after she goes through ovulation.

At this point, the womb lining is at its thickest, ready for a fertilised egg  or an IVF embryo  to attach and start growing.

But a study of hundreds of IVF procedures revealed women who had the transfer six days after ovulation were more likely to get pregnant.

Forty-five per cent of women who had a frozen embryo transferred a day earlier than standard went on to have a pregnancy beyond 24 weeks.

In comparison, the rate was just 29.1 per cent for women who had it on the seventh day, according to the researchers at the Oxford Fertility clinic.

The success rate of IVF 'almost doubles' when a frozen embryo is transferred to the womb just one day before the standard procedure, a study suggests. (Stock, frozen eggs and embryos)

Debate around the best time to transfer a frozen embryo into the womb is ongoing, and this is the latest study to analyse birth rates.

It compared the success of transfer on day six and seven, after there had been a dramatic rise in levels of luteinizing hormone (LH).

LH triggers ovulation, which is the release of the egg from the ovary, and a build-up of the womb lining, preparing the body for pregnancy.

WHEN IS THE FROZEN EMBRYO NORMALLY TRANSFERRED? An embryo, an egg fertilised by a sperm in a petri dish, is transferred to the womb two to five days after being made during IVF. For thousands of women, good quality embryos are left over. These can be frozen and thawed for use in the future. Frozen embryos can be thawed and transferred in a natural menstrual cycle, or in a hormono-regulated one. Both treatments are equally effective, the NHS says. The natural cycle option avoids medication, which can have side effects, and relies on predicting the women's natural hormones. The women's cycle is monitored for around four weeks. Medics look for a surge in the luteinizing hormone (LH) in urine and the blood. For the purpose of frozen embryo transfer, medics define the day of the LH surge as 'day one'. LH triggers ovulation, which is the release of an egg from the ovary into the fallopian tube. Ovulation happens around 10 hours after LH increases and typically happens about 1315 days before the start of each period. The womb lining also begins to thicken at this point, preparing for a potentially fertilised egg. A few days after the LH surge, the womb is prime for an egg - or IVF embryo - to attach. The timing of the embryo transfer will depend upon the stage at which the embryos were frozen. Embryos frozen at a more advanced stage of development will be transferred later than embryos frozen at an earlier stage of development. Advertisement

Data from 561 frozen embryo transfers were involved in the study, which will be presented at the Fertility 2020 conference in Edinburgh.

The success rates stayed true even when the experts took into account the women's ages and other factors that may affect their pregnancy chances.

The miscarriage rate  how many women got pregnant but then lost the baby  was the same in both groups.

The research, led by Professor Tim Child, medical director at Oxford Fertility, adds to evidence that the day of transfer is important.

Dr Jane Stewart, chairwoman of the British Fertility Society, said the findings were not strong enough to implicate how clinics pick the day of embryo transfer. It varies between each clinic and IVF patient.

Dr Stewart said: 'This research seeks to answer an important question about the timing of embryo transfer when using frozen embryos.

'At present, it doesn't justify a change in clinical practice. It does add an important element to the body of knowledge on this issue.'

The study only looked at women who had their thawed embryos transferred during their natural cycle, as opposed to a hormono-regulated cycle.

In a hormono-regulated cycle, the woman's ovaries and her hormones are effectively 'switched off'.

She is then medicated with synthetic hormones to prepare the lining of the womb so the embryo can attach.

The natural cycle option avoids medication, which can have side effects, and relies on predicting the women's natural hormones.

Medics monitor the woman's hormones so they can implant the embryo at the right time when the womb lining is thick enough.

Both treatments are equally effective, the NHS says, but come with their disadvantages.

One disadvantage to the natural cycle option is that the timing of ovulation is outside anyones control.

The ideal day for embryo transfer may fall on a day when the IVF clinic is not open or able to provide treatment.

Professor Child said the findings also show how successful IVF is using the natural cycle method as opposed to the drug-regulated method.

He said: 'This research not only reveals the best time for implantation in a natural cycle, when the body is most ready to receive an embryo.

'But [it] also demonstrates how we can achieve very good pregnancy rates with a natural, drug-free treatment.

'Most clinics are not doing a natural cycle, they are doing medicated or a natural cycle plus drugs.

'You don't need to be subjecting women to medications, hormones and pessaries.'

Professor Child added that there was an 'assumption' by some clinicians and patients that medications are needed for a frozen embryo transfer.

'We've shown that that's not the case,' he said.
South Korea's Samsung Group, whose leader faces trials over a bribery scandal involving former president Park Geun-hye, has appointed external experts to a new oversight panel to stamp out criminal conduct, the chief of the committee said on January 9.

The move came after a judge overseeing Samsung leader Jay Y. Lee's bribery case in October criticized the top conglomerate for its lack of an effective compliance system, saying one was needed to prevent wrongdoing by executives and its leader.

"The timing Samsung chose to make these changes is not that great... and if this committee fails, I will end up hugely disgraced," said Kim Ji-hyung, a former supreme court judge named to head the compliance and oversight committee, told a news conference.

"Our committee will thoroughly monitor legal risks at Samsung's top management," he said.

He said he initially turned down Samsung's offer, because of worries it would end up failing to make improvements and only be used by Samsung to secure favourable court rulings.

He said Lee, Samsung's de facto leader, pledged to guarantee the panel's autonomy at a meeting, adding that it would monitor potential misconduct at group companies, including flagship Samsung Electronics.

Although Samsung Group already has a compliance program in place, the new panel, which will begin work in February, will be run by seven people, mostly outside experts from legal circles and civic groups.

The compliance panel will comprise seven members, including two from legal circles, two from academia, two from civic groups and one from Samsung Electronics - a former Samsung communications chief.

Governance experts aired scepticism, calling the move a gesture to get lenient treatment in court and citing a repeat of criminal offences at Samsung and other family-run conglomerates, despite pledges to improve governance and transparency.

"An effective compliance program could be operated within the environment, encouraging employees to internally report violation without fearing reprisal. But this is not the case at Korean companies," said Lee Chang-min, a specialist in corporate governance at Seoul-based Hanyang University.

A South Korean civic group released a statement that the committee is merely an outside advisory group with no legal responsibility, adding that reforms at Samsung's board should be made first.

The 51-year-old Lee faces charges that he bribed a friend of former president Park to win government favour over succession planning at the conglomerate.

In August, the Supreme Court overturned an appeals court ruling that had given Lee a suspended jail term, raising the possibility of a tougher sentence and potential return to jail.

Executives at Samsung Electronics and biotech affiliate Samsung BioLogics have also been jailed on charges of sabotaging union activities and accusations about a suspected accounting fraud, respectively.
New Delhi: After the campus violence on Sunday, a four-member delegation of faculty members including Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union president has now demanded the removal of Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar.

The meeting had been called by the Ministry of Human Resource Development on Thursday (January 9), the delegation put forth their demand. Khare has invited the students again for discussion at 3 pm tomorrow (January 10) in an effort to resolve outstanding issues and to ensure that JNU retains its reputation as a premier academic and research institution in the country.

JNUSU chief Aishe Ghosh stood firm in her demand for the removal of the V-C. "We're in no position to compromise with HRD ministry. It's still thinking whether VC should be removed," she said.

The JNUTA delegation led by Prof DK Lobiyal too reiterated the same demand. "We have a demand that the V-C be removed from the post," he said.

Live TV

Speaking on the turn of events, Khare claimed that what happened was extremely sad and that students had a lot of grievances. "Whatever has happened in last few days is extremely sad. Students have a list of grievances. The teachers also have grievances against the administration, we are trying to resolve all of them. I have called the Jawaharlal Nehru University VC and team tomorrow morning. I have also offered the students that I will be meeting them again tomorrow regarding their demands. Such incidents should not re-occur," he told ANI.

Meanwhile, JNU students have been protesting since Monday demanding the removal of V-C M Jagadesh Kumar. On Thursday, they marched towards Rashtrapati Bhavan demanding the removal of the varsity's Vice-Chancellor following the campus violence on January 5.

On Sunday, some masked men with sticks and iron rods entered the JNU campus and launched an attack on students and teachers, they entered students' hostel and caused wide-spread vandalism. Several people, including JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, JNUSU General Secretary Satish Chandra and teachers received grievous injuries.

The attack has been condemned from all quarters with protests and demonstrations being held across the country. Students from various colleges in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal too protested against the violence and stood in solidarity with the JNU.

Politicians, cutting across party lines, had condemned the attack on students which had taken place in JNU on Sunday. They had urged the administration to take nab the culprits and take strict action against those found guilty.

The Delhi Police registered an FIR in connection with the violence on Monday, January 6, but no arrests have been made so far.
Donald Trump at an event to unveil changes to the National Environmental Policy Act at the White House: Getty Images

Donald Trump has moved to soothe the tensions he inflamed with Iran by assassinating Quds commander Qassem Soleimani, saying the regime is standing down after fears a ballistic missile strike on two US military bases in Iraq could escalate into a full blown war.

But the presidents address to the nation on Wednesday, flanked by senior cabinet members and top generals at the White House, was criticised by many for the slurred nature of much of his speech, with commentators again questioning Mr Trumps fitness for office after he stumbled over simple words.

As House speaker Nancy Pelosi prepared for a Thursday vote on limiting his power to launch the US military into further skirmishes overseas, her impeachment stalemate with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell continues and a new poll forecasts the president losing the 2020 election in November to a generic Democrat by a humiliating nine-point margin.

Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats overwhelmingly voted to support a resolution that aims to limit the president's future military actions in Iran, with all but one Democrat supporting a resolution from Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin. The measure directs Mr Trump to "terminate the use of United States Armed Forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran or any part of its government or military" without first receiving Congressional approval.

The vote followed the president's announcement of dramatic rollbacks to environmental oversight for large-scale developments, from roads to oil pipelines, that environmental groups are warning will be irreparably dangerous as the country faces the climate crisis.

Meanwhile, the Senate Majority Leader has indicated he expects to receive articles of impeachment from the House on Friday, with a trial to start as early as next week, though Ms Pelosi and House leaders have not received assurance of an impartial trial with witnesses and evidence.

Mr McConnell also supported a resolution from a fellow Senate Republican that will consider dismissing the impeachment entirely.

In response, Speaker Pelosi said: "If Republican Senators move for a quick dismissal of the charges against the President, with no witnesses or documents, it will be because they are afraid of the truth."

As Mr Trump and Vice President Mike Pence head to Ohio for another raucous campaign rally, nearly 400 protests across the US will demand the administration end its conflict with Iran.

Follow along with updates as they happened:

Read more

Trump falsely accuses Pelosi of 'defending' Iran general Soleimani

Trump to roll back environmental protections

Trumps slurred Iran speech raises concern, 2020 poll predicts defeat

Trump is dangerous and incapacitated, psychiatrists warn

Trump officials give 'worst briefing in history' about Iran attack
Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health assessed the time trends in alcohol and marijuana detected in homicide victims and found that the prevalence of marijuana almost doubled, increasing from 22 percent in 2004 to 42 percent in 2016. Alternately, the prevalence of alcohol declined slightly from 40 percent in 2004 to 35 percent in 2016. The findings are published in Injury Epidemiology.

Despite the growing body of evidence linking alcohol and marijuana to homicide victimization, until now there was little information about the contemporary trends in the prevalence of alcohol and marijuana among homicide victims in the United States." Guohua Li, MD, DrPH, professor of Epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School

The researchers analyzed toxicological data for homicide victims from the 2004-2016 National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), a population-based surveillance system for violent deaths occurring in the U.S. and administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study sample included homicide victims in 9 states that have been participating in the NVDRS since 2004: Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The NVDRS recorded a total of 30,433 homicide victims in the 9 states, of which there were 12,638 homicide victims aged 15 years and older with toxicological testing results available for analysis.

Of the 12,638 homicide victims, 37.5 percent tested positive for alcohol, 31 percent were positive for marijuana, and 11 percent were positive for both substances.

The results also showed that male victims were more likely than female victims to test positive for alcohol, marijuana, and both substances. Over two-thirds of adolescent victims aged 15-20 years in 2016 tested positive for marijuana. "We observed marked increases in the prevalence of marijuana in both sexes and across age and racial groups," said Li, who is also a professor of anesthesiology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

As of June 2019, 34 states and the District of Columba have legalized marijuana for medical use; of them, 11 states and the District of Columbia have also legalized recreational marijuana for adults aged 21 years and older.

"Our findings are of public health significance because previous research has established marijuana use as an important risk factor for homicide victimization. The impact of increased permissibility and availability of marijuana on violence and injuries needs to be closely monitored and rigorously studied," said Dr. Li.
One in six people in the UK suffer with mental health problems. Photo: Getty Images

Given how common mental health problems are, its likely that at some point, employers will find themselves in a situation where a staff member is struggling.

Currently, one in six workers are dealing with a mental health problem such as depression, anxiety or stress, according to the charity Mind. Mental health issues are also a leading cause of long-term absence for employees, with a total of 12.8 million working days lost to mental illness in the UK from 2018 to 2019.

Although awareness and understanding of mental health problems is on the rise, it can still be difficult for an employer to know how to support a staff member with depression. So what should you do if someone you manage has a mental health issue?

Create an open environment to talk

Its never easy to bring up personal issues or your health at work, but giving employees a safe space to talk is crucial for someone with depression, anxiety or any other mental health problem.

Research by Mind found that almost half (48%) of all employees surveyed said they had experienced a mental health problem in their current job, says Emma Mamo, head of workplace wellbeing at Mind. Given that poor mental health in the workplace is so common, employers need to ensure they create mentally healthy workplaces for all their staff.

READ MORE: Why "slow mornings" are the answer to stress-free days

Creating a supportive environment is more than just allowing staff to speak up, though. Its about finding out what that person needs, says Jackie Rogers, a therapist and member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy who also advises employers about mental health support. You need to listen, not just half listen.

However, its also important not to push someone who you think may need help, Rogers adds. Instead, just let them know you are there if they need you  and make yourself available when theyre ready.

It can help to have leaflets around so employees can find information confidentially which can signpost them to support, Rogers says. Mind and the Samaritans can provide advice and support.

Story continues

Know what to say and what not to say

It can be difficult to know what to say or how to react to someone who discloses that they have a mental health problem, meaning even the most well-intentioned managers can slip up sometimes.

Firstly, its important to provide a quiet, private place for personal discussions to take place, as someone is unlikely to feel comfortable opening up about their feelings in the middle of an office. If someone works remotely, you may want to find a suitable place outside of the office or go to where they are, if possible.

READ MORE: How to cope with stress at work

Its also essential to avoid making assumptions. Dont try to guess what symptoms an employee might have and how these may affect their ability to do their job. However, its good to be clear and honest about if you have any specific concerns, for example, about frequent absences. Mind offers some helpful advice about having conversations with a worker about their health.

To learn more about recognising the signs of a mental health problem, employers and employees can do a Mental Health First Aid course. Over two days on MHFA Englands training courses, people are taught to recognise early signs and symptoms, are told about the services available locally, and learn how to listen in an empathetic, non-judgmental way.

Be creative with solutions

Once youve had a conversation with an employee, you should develop an action plan. Allowing flexible hours, working from home and ensuring staff arent inundated with work are all key factors for both protecting workers health and supporting those with an existing mental health problem.

It can be helpful to listen to employees suggestions, as they may well know what will help them. Although giving someone more time off or different hours may seem like an inconvenience, looking after your staff will effectively look after your business. Employers should explore with the individual their specific needs and be as creative as possible when thinking about how to address these issues, Mamo says.

Its also important for leaders to role-model healthy working habits and behaviours, such as taking proper breaks. Wellness Action Plans (WAPs), available for free from Minds website, are useful tools to help facilitate conversations about mental health and can easily be implemented in the workplace.

Allow people to take time off

An employee may well be signed off work by a doctor, but it can also help to offer an employee time off as an option. Not everyone will want this, however - as everyone is different.

If an employee is off work, its important not to bother them too much as it can cause added stress and pressure, Rogers adds. Checking to see how someone is doing is fine - and it can show that you care about their wellbeing - but constantly sending emails, texts or ringing may well contribute to anxiety someone may have about being away from the office.

For some employees, they may be so unwell they will to take time off to recover and it is important to recognise this, Mamo says. Organisations will have sickness absence and return to work policies which should make it clear people must be treated equally whether their sickness absence is for a mental health or physical health problem.
Fifth visitor quarantined over mystery Wuhan virus

BANGKOK: A Chinese traveller arriving in Bangkok from the pneumonia-hit city of Wuhan in central China has been quarantined, bringing the number of people quarantined in the search for suspected cases of the mysterious virus causing the outbreak to five.

healthChineseimmigrationtourismCoronavirusCOVID-19

By Bangkok Post

Thursday 9 January 2020, 09:16AM

The woman was identified as having a high body temperature when she arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport around midday yesterday (Jan 8), Photo: Bangkok Post

The woman, who arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport around midday yesterday (Jan 8), needs a thorough check because she developed fever, Department of Disease Control chief Suwanchai Wattanayingcharoenchai said.

She is being treated at the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute in Nonthaburis Muang district where three other travellers from Wuhan had been quarantined earlier after they were detected with high body temperatures.

"Officials are waiting for lab test results to identify her disease," Dr Suwanchai said.

The three others  a 3-year-old Chinese boy and two Thai female students in China  were found to not be carrying the virus that has caused mysterious pneumonia infections to at least 59 people in Wuhan, he said.

The boy, who suffered influenza A/H3N2 virus, and a 24-year-old student who had type C flu, have been discharged.

The other student, aged 22, is expected to return home today as she is recovering from a Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and bacteria-derived infections.

A Thai man, a tourist in Wuhan who was reported to have fever earlier this week, has been treated privately. His condition is improving but experts need to examine his lab test results before deciding whether to discharge him, the department chief said.

Read original story here.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- FOR RELEASE IN EUROPE - Dutch biotechnology company Micreos is launching its Gladskin brand in the United States. With this step, the company reinforces its commitment to make its technology, set to replace antibiotics, available globally. Chosen as Europe's most impactful innovation of 2018, last year alone Gladskin products helped over 100.000 Europeans suffering from eczema, acne and rosacea. For many of them the endolysin-technology has been life-changing, often within days. Now 30 million Americans with eczema stand to benefit.

Gladskin US has been ramping up operations, to bring its patented science to the US. "Understanding the frustrations that most people with eczema go through every day, and the endless efforts they put forth to find a safe and effective treatment, we're excited to finally bring our technology to the US," says Skyler Stein, President of Gladskin USA. Later this year Gladskin's acne product will also be introduced in the US.

World's first microbiome-friendly alternative to antibiotics

Our skin microbiome comprises billions of 'good bacteria', essential for healthy skin. However, some bacteria - such as Staphylococcus aureus - can cause irritation, flares and outbreaks. Antibiotics do not distinguish between bad and good bacteria, and their use induces resistance and causes side effects. With Micreos' endolysin-technology, for the first time it is possible to kill only the bad bacteria, while leaving the good ones intact. This enables a completely new approach to dealing with inflammatory skin problems, says dermatologist Dr. Peter Lio, Scientific Advisory Board member for the American National Eczema Association: "Be it a baby with the most delicate, sensitive skin or an adult with thick, leathery skin from a lifetime of inflammation and damage, Gladskin is going to help rebalance the microbiome, and it's not going to cause damage because it's preservative-free. This is not something I can say about any other product on the market."

Pharmaceutical products in the pipeline

Micreos-CEO Mark Offerhaus: "The US launch is part of Micreos' mission to help as many as possible as soon as possible and replace antibiotics, step by step. With new satellites in New York, Hamburg and Stockholm, increased manufacturing capacity in The Netherlands and a new, state-of-the-art R&D Campus in Switzerland, we're taking quantum leaps." Based on its endolysin technology, the company's clinical development program includes products for atopic dermatitis, for MRSA in wound infections and against a form of skin cancer associated with excessive colonization by particular bacteria.

About Micreos

Micreos develops technology targeted antibacterial technology set to replace antibiotics. The company runs its own production and R&D centers in Bilthoven, Wageningen and Zurich. It collaborates with ETH Zurich and numerous medical and technology centers. Under the Gladskin brand the company markets a range of OTC products for inflammatory skin conditions. Under the Phageguard brand Micreos Food Safety produces several FDA-approved phage products against Listeria, Salmonella and E. coli.

Websites: www.micreos.com, www.gladskin.com, www.phageguard.com

Press Contact: Melanie Stinn ([email protected]): +49-151-2126-1437

SOURCE Micreos

Related Links

http://www.micreos.com/


Firefighters in Australia are struggling with dousing the bush fires that have been going on for weeks now. In a heartwarming gesture of commardrie, Canadian firefighters are giving up Christmas at home, to fly out to Australia and help tackle the bush fire crisis.

The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, based in Winnipeg, is answering Australia's call to help them with the dangerous bush fire season. Experienced firefighters from across Canada have volunteered to forgo their holidays and battle the fires along with Australian firefighters.

Image Credit: BC Wildfire Service



21 firefighters are going to Sydney for what is expected to be a 38-day deployment. The firefighters were selected for their unique skill set.

Brian Pallister of the Canadian province of Manitoba said, We are pleased to help the people of Australia as they face these devastating fires, especially since Manitoba has been on the receiving end of help from friends and neighbours when wildfires and other natural disasters hit our province.

Manitoba is sending two firefighters, with British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Parks Canada contributing 19 others. Australian in southern hemisphere is burning while Canada is heading into winter. The Canadian firefighters will be assisting with a variety of roles within the incident management team, including planning, aviation and operations.

Image Credit: Reuters



An emergency alert was in place for the 30,000-hectare Currowan bush fire near Batemans Bay on the state's south coast, on Tuesday. Another emergency alert was issued later that night for a bush fire burning near the northwestern outskirts of Sydney.

The Rural Fire Service said on Tuesday, Fire is spotting ahead of the main fire front due to strong winds from the west. The statement also said, The fire has reached the coast in some areas. Firefighters and aircraft are working to protect homes where possible.

Image Credit: Reuters

For the residents in the Kioloa, Pretty Beach, Pebbly Beach, Depot Beach and Durras North areas, its too late to leave, hence they have been asked to take shelter.

The air quality is a part of Australia's suffering, with it being classified as hazardous. And there is still time before the fires are completely brought under control.

It is really a beautiful gesture on the part of the Canadian firefighters who are forsaking their holidays and their hometown, to help Australian firefighters with the bush fires. Here's hoping they all come back home safe and sound.
- Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger described his victory at the Supreme Court as a reaffirmation of the mandate of the people of his state

- Governor Bello said his administration will continue to operate an all-inclusive government that would allow the people to make contributions

- Bello also commended the nation's judiciary for carrying out a ruling that is seen as fair

Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger, in the evening of Wednesday, January 8, reacted to the Supreme Court judgement which earlier in the day affirmed him winner of the 2019 governorship election in his state.

A statement by Mary Noel Berje, Bello's chief press secretary, quoted the governor as saying the victory at the Supreme Court is the will of God as well as the reaffirmation of the people's mandate.

The statement made available to Legit.ng added that Governor Bello said the judgement would enable the government focus on meeting its mandate to the people of Niger.

According to the governor, his administration has remained focused on its principle of an all-inclusive government which allows everyone to make contributions towards the development of the state.

The governor called on every resident of the state to join hands towards moving Niger forward, irrespective of party differences or political ideologies.

He further urged the people of the state to continue to support his government to make it easy for him to meet their yearnings and aspiration. He warned against any disturbance of the peace enjoyed in the state as a result of the Supreme Court declaration.

The governor commended the nation's judiciary saying the arm of government exhibited the expected fairness and restored the hope of Niger people as well as Nigerians in the justice system.

The Supreme Court had, in a unanimous judgement, ruled in favour of Bello as the winner of the governorship election while striking out the petition of Umar Nasko of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which challenged the earlier ruling of the appeal court.

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Legit.ng earlier reported that the apex court also put to rest the legal battle over the declaration of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu as the winner of March 9, 2019, governorship election in Abia state.

The court delivered the judgement on Wednesday, January 8, in favour of Governor Ikpeazu.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) - Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better.

Do you think Tinubu can become Nigeria's next president | Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- King & Spalding today announced that Steven Zager has joined the firms Trial and Global Disputes practice as a partner in the Austin office. Zager is a jury trial lawyer who represents clients in industries including medical devices, telecommunications, computer hardware and software, professional services, transportation, food and beverage, and chemicals.



Steve is an experienced first chair trial lawyer in both business litigation and intellectual property cases, and adds tremendous depth to our trial bench, said Andy Bayman, head of King & Spaldings Trial & Global Disputes practice group. Hes also known as an excellent litigation strategist who is mindful of the cost of litigation and of his clients businesses.

Zager joins from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where he was based in New York and led that firms Intellectual Property practice for many years. He is returning to Austin where he practiced earlier in his career.

Steve is the kind of lawyer that some of our highest-profile clients would turn to for their most significant matters, said Mike Stenglein, managing partner of King & Spaldings Austin office. His national reputation will also help fuel our trial capabilities and Texas growth. Hes a longtime friend and will be a terrific addition to the firm and to our Austin ranks.

Zager has received numerous accolades in recognition for his work, including being named a National Law Journal Intellectual Property Trailblazer, one of the top trial lawyers in America by the National Law Journal, and the Go To Lawyer for Litigation in Texas by Texas Lawyer. He was also named a Trial Ace by Law360. Zager obtained his undergraduate degree and his JD from Vanderbilt University.

King & Spalding is well known for outstanding trial lawyers, and many of them are my friends, Zager said. I am excited about joining them and coming home to Texas after more than a decade in New York.

About King & Spalding

Celebrating more than 130 years of service, King & Spalding is an international law firm that represents a broad array of clients, including half of the Fortune Global 100, with over 1,100 lawyers in 21 offices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The firm has handled matters in over 160 countries on six continents and is consistently recognized for the results it obtains, uncompromising commitment to quality, and dedication to understanding the business and culture of its clients. More information is available at www.kslaw.com .

Media Contact:

Luis Mocete

lmocete@kslaw.com

(212) 827-4008

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b0e53908-6b2d-4354-b7da-abb830a1640c
More and more foreigners are traveling to Vietnam to take advantage of its high quality, highly affordable dental care.

Approximately 100,000 foreigners visit Vietnam each year for dental procedures, raking in over $150 million in revenue, according to Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

Market Research Future has forecast that the Asia-Pacific region would account for around 40 percent of the global dentist tourism market in 2023; and the rising destinations in this regard are Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Vietnams many advantages

Among all the countries that are a magnet for dental tourism, Vietnam stands out for affordability.

Dentistry costs in Vietnam are much lower than many developed or developing countries thanks to cheaper labor and facilities. For instance, a dental implant normally priced at $4,000 in the U.S. and $1,500 in Thailand costs just $1,000 in Hanoi.

A tourist gets dental veneers done in Vietnam.

Dental tourism is rarely a stand-alone deal. There are many things to enjoy in the country when visitors get here and want some dental work done.

Vietnam is well known for its vibrant culture and cuisine, so those seeking dental care in this country can also unwind from their hectic life. They can relax in one of the natural wonders in the world - Ha Long Bay, or head to northern highlands resort town of Sa Pa to see incredible scenes of rice field terraces and stunning waterfalls.

Even if the visitors are short of time, they can spend the day exploring Hanoi roadside eateries and other fascinating aspects of the capital city before and after getting their dental work.

Wide range of quality dental services

Many dentists in Vietnam are trained in developed countries like the U.S., UK and France, and they have a lot of experience.

Vietnam boasts a large number of skilled dentists and the presence of state of the art technology in all aspects of dental care. These include everything from veneers, orthodontic treatment, implants, porcelain crowns, bridges, dentures, fillings, root canal, tooth extraction, and full mouth restoration. Many prestigious dental clinics in Vietnam have human and material resources of global standards.

The Navii Dental Care Clinic in Hanoi is a well-known address for dental treatments. They provide dental vacation packages including the dental care (X-rays, exam, lab work, and the actual procedure), lodging, travel fare, and more.

Dr Le Thi Thai Hoa, who heads the team of dentists at Navii Dental Care, says sterilization is one of the biggest concerns of foreigners have about getting dental treatments overseas. "Our hygienic standards are very high. We use two autoclaves, an automatic sterilizer and chemical sterilizers to prevent any risk of infection," she said.

A sterile area of 32 square meters prevents cross-contamination at Navii Dental Care.

Apart from high-end equipment and skilled practitioners, the establishment also offers hotel accommodation at reasonable prices for stays of 7 nights or longer, and a free shuttle service available at any time within a 5 km radius.

"I got a 3-day-trip to Ha Long Bay with the helpful assistance of this clinic. Thats a nice journey at affordable price again. Cant wait to go back," said one foreign customer who declined to be named.

Visit Navii Dental Care at:

- Location 1: 42 Cua Dong, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi

- Location 2: 36 Hoa Ma, Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi

- Hotline: 0912.60.42.42 & 024.3747.8292

- Website: https://navii.vn/en/

- Email: c.service@navii.vn
New Delhi/UNI: India on Thursday said that the Nankana Sahib attack on Sikhs and murder of a member from that 'minority' community should work as 'mirror' for Pakistan and its Prime Minister Imran Khan.

"A country that cannot take care of its minorities should not tell other countries how to do it. It is not for us to comment every time they say something. Pakistan should focus on ensuring safety and security of the minorities there," MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar told reporters answering questions.

"What happened in Nankana Sahib and murder of a Sikh man is like a 'aaina (mirror)' for Pakistan," he said.

To another question, he said pro-Khalistan elements in Pakistan is only a 'fringe element'.
Navy surface warfare officers can now stand watch in a new leather jackets approved specifically for their community, the service announced Thursday.

A soon-to-be-issued leather jacket has been approved for the SWO community, Vice Adm. John Nowell Jr., deputy chief of naval operations for Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education, wrote in a service-wide Navy administrative message.

The jacket will be made of black leather with a front zipper, knit cuffs and waistband, and a pointed collar. The fully lined jacket will have two patch pockets with flaps on the front and a name patch with Velcro fastener tape on the left side of the chest.

Like the bomber jacket worn by aviators, the new uniform item is meant to build esprit de corps and reflect the warfighter expertise that comes with earning a SWO pin, a Navy statement provided to Military.com says.

Related: The Navy Is Making It Tougher to Earn a Surface-Warfare Officer Pin

"The Surface Warfare community has a long-standing history of excellence, and a uniquely identifiable item is one way to signify the outstanding achievement and professionalism of our Surface Warfare Officers," Vice Adm. Richard Brown, commander of Naval Surface Forces, said in the statement. "Those who wear the jacket will be easily identified as a part of a long lineage of professional ship drivers and maritime warfighters."

The new jacket will be available for issue and wear starting in June. The phased issuance will continue through 2021.

Active-duty, Reserve and full-time support SWOs are authorized to wear the jacket.

The move follows several steps service leaders have taken to reform the surface-warfare community following a pair of deadly 2017 ship collisions. In 2018, the Navy clamped down on who is eligible to earn a SWO pin, limiting it to only those in line to command ships.

The new leather jacket will be considered organizational clothing, so will mostly be worn at sea. Ashore, SWOs will be allowed to wear it as an optional outer garment only with their service uniforms.

The jacket is to be worn "squarely on the shoulders, zipped three-fourths of the way up, collar down and sleeves fully extended but will not extend beyond the lower knuckle of the thumb," according to the NavAdmin. Commanding officers will decide whether the coat will be allowed during General Quarters, when crew members are to man their battle stations, or damage-control evaluations, the message adds.

Those who qualify for the leather jacket will be approved to wear it even after leaving the fleet. If officers separate or retire under honorable conditions, they'll be allowed to sport the jacket they get while on active duty.

That applies only to those who qualify for the jacket now, though. The leather jacket will not be issued to retired SWOs, the NavAdmin states.

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.

Read more: Navy Authorizes Two-Piece Swimsuits, Gold Star Lapel Button
By Express News Service

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Congress leader Ashish Deshmukh has requested the Uddhav Thackeray government to revoke appointments of pro-RSS Vice Chancellors in the state universities. He raised the issue on Thursday as the Gandhi Shanti Yatra organized by former Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha was kickstarted at the Gateway of India by NCP Chief Sharad Pawar.

The JNU VC is pro-RSS. From the JNU incidents, we can imagine what may happen if such persons head our universities. If we dont want JNU-like situation in Maharashtra, the appointment of pro-RSS VCs will have to be revoked, Deshmukh said while speaking at the rally.

I shall meet CM Uddhav Thackeray soon to formally raise the demand before him, Deshmukh told The New Indian Express later.

The RSS now dominates the education field as people with RSS ideology have been strategically appointed on key posts in every university of the state during the five-year tenure of Devendra Fadnavis. If they are not removed, BJP and its affiliates would soon vitiate the atmosphere in our campuses, Deshmukh said.

Earlier in the day, NCP chief Sharad Pawar flagged off the Gandhi Shanti Yatra organized by Sinha. He also walked a few steps with the Yatra.

A large section of society is unhappy with the current situation in the country. They need to be guided on which path to choose. Mahatma Gandhis way is right for them and Sinha has taken the responsibility to do so, Pawar said, adding, the new legislations brought in by the Centre are "divisive" in nature.

Prominent Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar too was present on the occasion. The battle would be prolonged and the government is unlikely to budge soon, Ambedkar said while praising Sinha for undertaking the task at the age of 80. He also said that this is a political battle and needs to be fought on the political arena.

The 21-day yatra against CAA, NRC and NPR will reach Pune on Thursday and go to Nashik on Friday before it reaches Surat on its way to Delhi.
Global corporation tax reforms will see the Exchequer lose out on up to 2bn over the next five years, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has warned.

Mr Donohoe briefed Cabinet on the "significant risks" posed by a fall in corporation tax receipts due to the international changes planned and a possible hard Brexit at the end of the year.

He also gave colleagues an update on an increased expected economic growth figure of 3.9pc and an estimated surplus of around 2.4bn this year.

The Government has been criticised for an over-reliance on corporation tax to plug funding gaps in the health service and other Government Departments.

Mr Donohoe insisted that continued economic growth - and not changing budget strategy in terms of unallocated spending in the coming years - will make up for the fall in corporation tax revenues.

However, he conceded that predicted growth rates of 3pc per year up to 2025 are dependent on and agreement between the UK and EU on a Brexit transitionary period which brings about a smooth trading relationship.

That outcome is by no means certain.

Speaking after Cabinet, Mr Donohoe said he expects an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) agreement on global tax rules to be reached this year.

He said the Department of Finance and Revenue have estimated that corporation tax receipts will fall by approximately 500m a year from 2022 - or as much as 2bn by 2025.

Mr Donohoe said this is "clearly a significant change in respect to tax revenue across the coming years".

The Finance Minister said he updated the growth forecast given that the risk of a hard Brexit - if it were to occur - is more likely to take place at the end of the year or early in 2021.

Growth had been estimated at 3.1pc under a Brexit deal and 0.7pc if there had been a crash out.

With a deal secured Mr Donohoe said the estimated growth is now 3.9pc.

Mr Donohoe said: "That will mean even further job creation as we move through 2020."

He said that a budget surplus of 0.7pc - around 2.4bn - is expected this year.

He said that the expected fall in corporation tax receipts and risk that Brexit still poses "is the reason why I believe getting to such a level of surplus for 2020 is important."

Mr Donohoe said he is targeting a budget surplus of 1pc in 2021 which would be between 3.6bn and 3.7bn and said continued deposits to the Rainy Day fund would see a "buffer of around 4bn.

"I believe that budgetary buffer of 4bn can be reached and accommodate the decline in tax revenue of 2bn," Mr Donohoe said.
Vietnam hopes to have 3,843 products qualified for standards of One Commune-One Product (OCOP) programmes by this year, said deputy minister of agriculture and rural development Tran Thanh Nam at a conference in Hanoi on Wednesday.

Making dried bananas in Vi Huong Commune, an OCOP product of Bach Thong District, Bac Kan Province. VNS Photo Khanh Duong

Among those products, more than 2,200 are food and 397 are drinks. The others are herbal products, textile fabrics, souvenirs, furniture and tourism or service products.

Localities across the country currently have about 2,400 products qualified for OCOP standards.

The programme targets standardising at least 1,200 more products by this year and having about 500 new small and medium-sized businesses and co-operatives making OCOP products.

The OCOP programme was launched in May, 2018 to develop one strong product for each commune. After one year and a half, it has contributed to rural area construction, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The programme has become a widespread campaign in many countries in Asia, Africa and Europe with various names. Although Vietnam kicked off the programme quite late, it has come up with initiatives to connect global network.The values of OCOP, handicraft products and art souvenirs have been recognised, Nam said.

According to the ministry, after the issuance of OCOP certificates, products have been given stamps to trace their origin.

Retailers and e-commerce suppliers have signed consumption contracts to buy OCOP products. Profits from these products have also been on the increase.

Ngo Tat Thang, deputy chief of staff of National Steering Committee on New-Style Rural Areas, said OCOP products have their quality improved and packaging diversified as well as meet standards on stamps and labels.

Nguyen Minh Tien, chief of staff of the committee, said trade promotion at the national level needs to be prioritised. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development plans to work with ministries and agencies to organise national OCOP trade fairs and festivals and three regional OCOP fairs.

The localities should step up provincial trade promotion and expand a network of OCOP product stores and centres as well as foster OCOP e-commerce, he said.

He urged localities to improve market forecast quality, especially long-term and annual forecasts to help enterprises with their business plans.

Authorities should encourage and offer support to people to preserve and develop traditional products. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development recently launched a portal which shares market information to help farmers access markets easier, Tien said. VNS

Hanoi focuses on OCOP efforts Nguyen Van Chi, director of Hanoi Department for Agriculture and Rural Development, talks on what the city has been doing to meet the objectives laid down by municipal city authorities in the programme 'One Commune One Product'
She's getting ready to welcome a little girl with husband Hugo Taylor in May.

And Millie Mackintosh looked fantastic as she cradled her growing baby bump while doing Pilates to stay 'strong' on Thursday.

The former Made In Chelsea star, 30, added that she's 'so grateful' and 'in awe' of what her body can do while pregnant.

'Feeling so grateful for my body': Millie Mackintosh, 30, looked fantastic as she cradled her growing baby bump and said she was in 'awe' of her body during Pilates on Thursday

Sharing a short clip on Instagram, Millie wrote: 'Feeling so grateful for my body and in awe of what it can do! Pilates @corecollective is keeping me strong!'

Millie displayed her bump in a black gym top and leggings, which accentuated the size of her growing tummy.

The blonde beauty stroked her belly and stood sideways while recording in a mirror to show how much bigger her bump was getting.

While in other posts shared to Instagram Stories, Millie revealed that her baby was now the size of a Maltese puppy and between 28-30cm in length.

Expecting: The blonde beauty looked fantastic in tight fitting gym clothes and stood sideways with one hand on her hip to show off her growing stomach

Bumping along: The reality star rested one hand on her tummy (left) before standing side on (right) and said Pilates is keeping her strong during her pregnancy with her first child

It comes after Millie celebrated her 'pregnancy perks' on Instagram on Tuesday as she showed off her new curves in a busty selfie.

Sharing a picture she wrote: 'Pregnancy perks. Please share your maternity/nursing bra recommendations! Looking for ones which are comfy and pretty?'

Millie's blonde tresses tumbled across her shoulders as she looked down towards her ample assets in the cheeky snap, taken from her weekend country break at Soho Farmhouse private members' club.

'Pregnancy perks': Millie celebrated her newfound curves on Tuesday as she shared a busty selfie from her weekend country break

SOS! She captioned her image with these words and asked her fans to help her find maternity bras

And the reality star oozed sophistication in a cowgirl-inspired flowing midi dress on the wooden porch of her cabin at Soho Farmhouse the day before.

She went makeup free for the selfie, displaying her chest in a plunging v-neck navy jumper.

The latest snaps came after Millie showed off her baby bump in a simple black maxi dress as she posed with a mint green bicycle outside her cabin on Saturday.

While earlier in the day, Millie shared sweet snaps with husband Hugo Taylor as they stepped out for pals Rosie and Lily Fortescue's birthday.

Glamour: Millie oozed sophistication in a cowgirl-inspired flowing midi dress on the wooden porch of her cabin at Soho Farmhouse over the weekend

Their outing came after Millie told Hello! magazine she was missing her usual gruelling classes as she adapts to a slower pace of life during her pregnancy.

She said: 'I'm starting to miss exercise. Normally I would do five sessions of weight training a week and HIIT (high intensity interval training) classes. But in the first 12 weeks, I've been told to keep to gentle exercise like walking or swimming.

'You have to listen to your body. At six weeks, all I wanted to eat was beige food. The nausea made me crave toast and pasta.

Glowing: It comes after she showed off her bump in a black maxi dress as she enjoyed a bike ride at the resort in Oxfordshire on Saturday

'I've enjoyed it, but now I'm craving fruit and vegetables so I've gone back to eating normally.'

The television star and her husband Hugo announced they were expecting a baby girl in their interview with Hello! magazine.

Millie told the publication: 'Hearing her heartbeat for the first time with Hugo by my side was one of the most amazing moments of my life so far.

'I feel very lucky. I can't wait to feel that bond and for her to sleep on my chest and breathe in that baby smell.'

Smitten: Millie also shared sweet snaps with husband Hugo Taylor who cradled her bump for a snap they took before heading to pals Rosie and Lily Fortescue's birthday bash

She added: 'I'm so excited it's a girl. I would've been delighted with either, but when I found out we were having a girl, I suddenly realised this is what I really wanted.'

Millie and Hugo tied the knot in June 2018 at Hugo's uncle's country estate Whithurst Park, in West Sussex, one year after he proposed during a holiday to the Greek island of Mykonos.

The couple briefly dated during their Made In Chelsea days back in 2011 and reunited in May 2016 shortly after Millie's split from her first husband, rapper Professor Green, 35.

Millie was married to the musician, real name Stephen Manderson, for two-and-a-half years before they announced their split in February 2016.
The address of Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan to the Presidents of the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran from the peak of Mount Artanish was not important at all. This is what political scientist Armen Badalyan told 168.am and went on to say the following: The statement by the Prime Minister of Armenia has no impact on the intensification of the relations between the US and Iran, be it a statement made from the peak, bottom or plateau of a mountain. Be rest assured that no foreign press noticed that statement. There was no political technology. The Prime Minister simply found it appropriate to make the statement.

Touching upon the call that the Prime Minister made during todays government session to spend a little more money to have proper restrooms in public places in Armenia, Armen Badalyan stated that there are much more important issues that deserve attention.

After the events that took place in April-May 2018, there were many issues in Armenia that the new authorities had to address and solve, especially in terms of strategy. The Prime Ministers notions of an economic revolution begin with restrooms. What can I say? Armen Badalyan said.

The political scientist believes this will continue until the society manages to create a new opposition that will become the alternative to the ruling party and try to come to power through elections.
A court in Uzbekistan on Thursday sentenced a retired diplomat who served in countries including Britain to five and a half years in prison for treason in a case criticised by international rights groups.

Kadyr Yusupov, 68, has been in custody since his arrest in December 2018.

Relatives told Human Rights Watch that he has suffered psychological torture such as threats to harm family members. The rights group has called for his immediate release.

A military tribunal Thursday hearing Yusupov's case behind closed doors in the capital Tashkent found him guilty, the Supreme Court of the Central Asian country said in a statement.

It gave no details of the accusations against him.

One of his sons, Timur Yusupov, who attended court, told AFP that his father "has lost weight but is still smiling." The family intends to appeal, he said.

"We will continue to fight for justice for him through domestic and international mechanisms," his other son, Baibur Yusupov, wrote on Twitter.

Yusupov worked for almost 30 years as a diplomat in Britain, Austria and Sudan, as well as representing the country at the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe before returning to Uzbekistan in 2009, local media reported.

HRW said that he was arrested as he lay in hospital after an apparent suicide attempt.

He was not allowed to meet his lawyer or relatives for almost five months, the rights group said.

After decades of isolation, Uzbekistan has become more open in recent years under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who took charge of Central Asia's most populous country in 2016 after the death of hardline predecessor Islam Karimov.

While Mirziyoyev has been lauded for doing away with many of Karimov's authoritarian excesses, the first parliamentary elections under his rule in December lacked opposition parties and respect for fundamental rights, international observers said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Trans-identifying teen sues New York to change sex on birth certificate

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A trans-identifying teenager is suing the state of New York to change the sex listed on her birth certificate.

In 2014, the Empire state enacted a law that allows adults to change the sex listed on their birth certificate but does not extend that right to residents 18 years old and younger.

The teenager is being represented by LGBT rights group Lambda Legal which argues in the lawsuit that forbidding a minor to change their sex on legal documents violates the United States Constitutions guarantees of equal dignity, equal protection of the laws, fundamental rights to privacy, liberty, and autonomy, and freedom of speech.

Possessing accurate identification documents that are consistent with a persons gender identity  a persons core internal sense of their own gender  is essential to their basic social and economic well-being, the lawsuit reads.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose office is being sued in the legal action, appears to be supportive of the teenager.

From passing GENDA [Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act], to outlawing conversion therapy and eliminating the so-called trans panic defense, New York has always been at the forefront of protecting and advancing the civil rights of transgender and gender nonconforming people, Peter Ajemian, senior deputy communications director for the governor's office, said in a statement.

We are deeply sympathetic to the situation as it has been described to us and are reviewing this lawsuit.

Born in Ithaca, New York, the high school student is female but identifies as male and now resides in Houston, Texas. The teen believes New York's law barring children and teenagers from changing their sex on a birth certificate is a violation of their rights.

Having an inaccurate birth certificate can cause the disclosure of my transgender status when I enroll in college classes or when I get my drivers license, and expose me to possible harm, the teen, who is identified as M.H.W., said in a statement.

The teenager's Social Security records, passport, and other identity documents have already been changed.

Only a handful of states  California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Washington  allow transgender-identifying minors to alter their sex marker on their birth records, according to Lambda Legal.

Meanwhile, James Shupe, who once identified as transgender and was the first person to ever obtain a legal "nonbinary" gender status, now says it was "psychologically harmful" and successfully petitioned the same court to let him correct the sex listed on his birth certificate, changing it back to "male," his original sex.

Filing lawsuits to change the sex listed on government documents is just one tool the transgender movement is employing as it pushes gender identity activism.

Critics say that at the root of this and other conflicts occurring around the country over transgender issues is the legal redefinition of "sex" to mean something other than its biological basis. The precise definition of "gender identity" is not known, and when added as a civil rights category to the legal code, it undermines protections based on biological sex, some feminists and others continue to maintain. Unlike sex, an immutable trait, no brain imaging scan, blood test, or genetic marker has ever indicated the presence of an innate and durable gender identity.

As it pertains to minors, another question at the center of the debate over transgenderism is whether those who identify as trans are capable of giving informed consent, particularly when their bodies are being used as experiments by giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.
A group of citizens staged a silent protest outside John Hall on Thursday morning, where chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar was holding a public grievance redressal meeting. The group, comprising citizens and environmentalists, said they were appealing to the Haryana government to revoke its proposed amendments to the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1900, and also called for re-notification of the PLPA in areas where past notifications have expired.

In Gurugram and Faridabad districts, 88% of all notifications issued under the PLPA, 1900, have lapsed, as per the data obtained from the state forest department. This implies that 20,737 acres of Aravalli land spread across 36 villages of Gurugram and 12 villages of Faridabad are no longer officially notified under the PLPA, which accords them legal forest status with protection under the Forest Conservation Act,1980.

In Gurugram, PLPA notifications for 16,168 acres of Aravalli land have expired and notifications for another 762 acres will expire in 2023. In Faridabad, 4,569 acres of Aravalli land are no longer covered under a valid notification, while notifications for another 5,876 acres are also set to expire in three years. The bulk of these notifications were initially issued in 1970 and were valid for 25 years. The last notifications were issued in 1998, and were valid for 15 to 25 years.

Forest department officials said that there are no plans to re-notify these areas, in light of Supreme Court directions which grant forest status to PLPA lands in perpetuity. Subash Yadav, district forest officer, Gurugram, said, In a 2002 order, the apex court clearly stated that regardless of the date of notification, PLPA lands are to be treated as forests indefinitely. Therefore, re-notifications have ceased.

This view was also echoed by a senior member of the state forest department based in Panchkula, who did not wish to be identified.

Anil Hooda, principal chief conservator of forests, Haryana, declined to comment on the impact of PLPA amendment bill. Instead, reiterating Yadavs point, he said, PLPA areas are considered legal forests as per SC directions. Therefore no re-notifications have happened.

Experts, however, pointed to neighbouring Punjab, where 21,000 acres of PLPA land around Chandigarh (most of it falling in Shivalik mountain range) were re-notified in February 2019, on the day that they were set to lapse.

The same should ideally also be done in Haryana, particularly in Gurugram and Faridabad, where the encroachment of forest land is becoming rampant. While the Supreme Court order from 2002 stands, executive decisions about protection of forests are the purview of the state. It is sad to see that Haryana is not proactively making these decisions, a senior bureaucrat and former forest senior department official, seeking anonymity, said.

Environmentalists have pointed out that Haryanas reluctance to re-notify lapsed PLPA protections is part of a larger move to remove about 60,000 acres of PLPA-notified Aravalli land from legal forest status. In February 2019, the Haryana cabinet passed the PLPA amendment bill, which will effectively circumvent the SCs 2002 order and make all PLPA lands open to real estate interests.

The PLPA amendment also gives the state government authority to revoke any notification at any time. So, one can see how issuing re-notifications would contradict the governments long-term goals, said Neelam Ahluwalia, a city-based environmentalist.

Our demand is that the PLPA amendment act be revoked and that lapsed areas be renotified, as done in Punjab. This would send a serious message that Haryana intends to protect its forests, said Sarika Verma, another protester.
WASHINGTON - The Iranian missile strike on American locations in Iraq on Tuesday was a calibrated event intended to cause minimal casualties, give the Iranians a face-saving measure and provide an opportunity for both sides to step back from the brink of war, according to senior U.S. officials in Washington and the Middle East.

White House officials were bracing as early as Tuesday morning for Iran to respond to the U.S. killing last week of Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force.

U.S. officials said they knew by Tuesday afternoon that Iran intended to strike at American targets in Iraq, although it was not immediately clear exactly which they would choose.

The early warning came from intelligence sources as well as from communications from Iraq that conveyed Iran's intentions to launch the strike, officials said.

"We knew, and the Iraqis told us, that this was coming many hours in advance," said a senior administration official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence and diplomatic communications.

Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford

"We had intelligence reports several hours in advance that the Iranians were seeking to strike the bases," the official said.

At the Pentagon, the most senior levels of U.S. military leadership gathered in a room and waited for the Iranian missiles to head toward their targets.

"It was literally like right before" the Iranians launched their missiles, one senior defense official said. Defense Secretary Mark Esper had convened the meeting with Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with senior civilian leaders of the Defense Department. Esper was pulled out of the meeting when military officials received notification that strikes were underway.

"There was a lot of concern," the senior defense official said. "It was anxious, wanting to get updates." Early reports did not mention any U.S. casualties, "so there was some optimism after the initial rounds."

The advance warning gave military commanders time to get U.S. troops into safe, fortified positions at the bases. According to military officials, troops at bases in Iraq were ordered into bunkers, donned protective gear and were told to "shelter in place."

The troops remained in their protected positions for hours, including after the strike. One official said at least some left al-Asad air base in western Iraq before the attack. That base was targeted, along with a facility in Irbil, in northern Iraq.

"It's not luck that no one got killed," a second senior defense official said. "Luck always plays a role. But military commanders on the ground made good judgment and had good response."

In an address from the White House on Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump credited an "early warning system" for helping prevent loss of life. A defense official later said the president was referring to the radar network the military has searching for potential enemy missiles.

At least two sources of intelligence gave the U.S. time to prepare.

First, there were indications before the launch that Iran was preparing to strike at targets in Iraq, officials said. It was not clear whether that information came from a person or some technical means, such as intercepted communications. A defense official said the U.S. military had "clear indications" of a strike prior to launch from information "internal to [the] U.S. government." Military officials had assessed that Iran would attempt some kind of retaliation at the end of the official mourning period for Soleimani.

The Pentagon "fully expected a retaliation from Iran," the senior defense official said. "What that was was the issue," the official said. "But we fully expected some sort of reaction."

A second source of warning came from what one official described as technical means. The U.S. military has satellites that can detect a missile shortly after it is launched. U.S. officials alerted allies to the launches shortly after they occurred, according to one Western official.

Iran launched 16 ballistic missiles, including 11 that landed at al-Asad air base and one in Irbil, Esper told reporters at the Pentagon. The missile in Irbil landed in an empty area between the facility and the U.S. Consulate, according to residents who live nearby. It was not clear what happened to the other four missiles.

As a precaution after the strike that killed Soleimani, U.S. military officials deployed a brigade of about 4,500 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., to the Middle East and also shuffled some forces within the region.

Commanders on the ground, overseen by Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, head of the U.S. Central Command, also moved some service members off small bases in the region and scattered equipment and people on installations to make them harder to hit.

"Let's get people out of less defensible areas and put them in more easily defended or better-defended areas," the senior defense official said, describing the thinking after the Soleimani strike. "But at the same time, let's not overly mass our personnel as a single target."

U.S. officials began alerting reporters to the possibility of Iranian strikes beginning at 4 p.m. Tuesday, an hour before they occurred. Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to conduct a television interview that evening but canceled earlier in the day.

In Iran, the regime had positioned itself for a public messaging campaign. Late Tuesday afternoon, Iran transmitted a letter to the U.N. Security Council with a legal basis for military retaliation, but it was not made public, said a diplomat familiar with the document.

Military officials were not sure, once the missiles were launched, which locations Iran had targeted.

It was hard to tell at the Pentagon which bases were under attack "until actual impact on two specific bases," a senior U.S. military official said. "The attack spread out for more than an hour. . . . It was more than an hour from the first attack to the last attack."

"This was not a 'boom' and all of this hit at once," the senior defense official said. "This was launch, launch, launch."

Once the bases were taking incoming fire, there was constant communication among the White House, Central Command and two other combatant commands: Northern Command and Strategic Command, the second senior defense official said. They were called in because of their expertise in monitoring and tracking ballistic missile threats.

After the missiles hit, U.S. military officials began to assess the damage.

Pentagon officials called several partner nations and allies right after the Iranian attack, part of a concerted effort to communicate with them in the wake of the Soleimani strike. While some of them questioned what the U.S. strategy is with Iran after Soleimani was killed, they were supportive and grateful for information Tuesday night, the senior defense official said.

By 7:30 p.m. Washington time Tuesday, officials at the White House had briefed Trump and were "able to pretty clearly say we don't think any Americans are going to be killed," the senior administration official said. "We knew that no Americans were hurt, either."

But U.S. officials were not certain there were no fatalities until Wednesday, after service members assessed the wreckage and roll calls were taken. Esper said the missiles hit tents and a helicopter but did not cause major damage.

The lack of casualties gave administration officials more confidence that the Iranians had intended to make a public show of force largely to save face at home, the senior administration official said. The official added that a consensus is building that Iran could have done more damage.

But not all military officials were certain of Iran's intentions. Milley, the Joint Chiefs chairman, told reporters that he assessed Iran had intended to cause material destruction and kill Americans but that an intelligence estimate had not been completed.

"I believe based on what I saw and what I know is that they were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft and to kill personnel," Milley said. "That's my own personal assessment."

Asked what he made of Iran's intentions, the second senior military official said, "You'd have to ask Iran."

Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived at the White House around 7 p.m. Tuesday to be with the president. About an hour later, Trump began calling lawmakers, including allies such as Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and James Inhofe, R-Okla. Trump told them that no Americans had been killed in the missile attacks and that a path to negotiations with Iran had now opened, the senior administration official said.

"The president doesn't want a war, but he doesn't want to tolerate provocation against American interests," Graham said in an interview with The Washington Post.

Graham said he hoped that Iran's attack was "a show of force for domestic purposes."

"They want a show of force," he said, "but they want this to end, because they are scared of the president. I hope that is true."

Matt Pottinger, the deputy national security adviser, told aides in a Roosevelt Room meeting Tuesday afternoon that it would take at least two months to understand whether the U.S. strategy was working.

"Our initial reaction has been, this was a domestic effort from the Iranians to save face, not to go to war, so we have proceeded in that vein," said another senior administration official with knowledge of the analysis.

Esper and Milley returned to the Pentagon about 9 p.m.

Trump had told senior military officials Tuesday evening that he did not want to start a war with Iran and wanted a path to ease tensions, which had been escalating at a frantic pace since the strike on Soleimani, the senior administration official said. When Trump's military advisers told him there was reason to believe the missile strikes were not designed to kill Americans, a way out appeared, the official said.

Even with the advance notice, U.S. military officials were still scrambling after the attack to assess the damage and determine Iran's intentions. U.S. forces in the region remained on high alert after the strikes, but no significant troop movements have been made in Syria or elsewhere, according to military officials.

The second senior defense official acknowledged that officials on Tuesday night intended to limit information released to the public until the extent of the damage and how Trump might respond became clearer.

"We all understood that if the Iranians were to respond next, we owned the shot clock after," the official said. "So, you need to be very thoughtful, very deliberate."

The Pentagon and State Department sent staffers to the White House early Wednesday to write Trump's speech. He made some last-minute additions, including the decision to start his remarks by declaring, "As long as I am president of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon."

"Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world," Trump said.

A third senior administration official said there was a sigh of relief when Trump agreed to read from prepared remarks and not take questions. Some aides were concerned that Trump might deviate from the precise remarks and misspeak if he made extemporaneous remarks to reporters, the official said.

Some officials acknowledged that Iran was likely to continue attacks via proxies and other means. But there was a growing sense among administration officials that killing Soleimani had sobered Iran up to Trump's willingness to act. "We actually believe this will be de-escalation," the senior administration official said. "We're obviously going to be on alert for proxies with one-off attacks. But we think this worked."

- - -

The Washington Post's John Hudson and Karen DeYoung in Washington and Liz Sly in Beirut contributed to this report.
President Rouhani praises IRGC's decisive response to US

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Wed / 8 January 2020 / 14:02

Tehran (ISNA)  Iran's President described the Americans' martyring of the brave general of Islam Martyr Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and his companions in Iraq against all international regulations and norms and an international terrorism and crime, saying, "The Americans failed to achieve their goals by this criminal act".

Speaking at the session of the cabinet on Wednesday, President Hassan Rouhani said, "We are witnessing very important developments in Iran, region and the world since last week. With their criminal act in Baghdad, America martyred a major, great Iranian commander, who was the guest of the Iraqi government and people, against all international regulations".

There is no doubt that the US had goals by this act, he said, adding, "They were after sowing discord inside Iran, creating fear and division in the region and distance between the Iraqi government and people and the Iranian government and people, as well as affecting regional dynamics and efforts that were directed towards full liberation of the region from terrorists, which they failed to do so".

"Of course, it is possible that this action was because of the internal issues and complications in the US and the White House, which will yield opposite results with the awareness of the American people and the public opinions of the world," he said.

The President also praised the greatness of the Iranian people, saying, "People's presence at the funeral of Martyr Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani was not normal, but a miracle".

He added, "I cannot recall anything like this in the history," referring to the fact that people around the world, including Yemen, Syria and Kashmir took to the streets to commemorate these martyrs.

The President continued, "In fact, this unprecedented presence was the manifestation of people's respect for these martyrs' moral values and lofty causes".

"Martyr Soleimani was not just a military commander, but also a capable politician and strategist in negotiating different groups and even high-ranking authorities in the region and outside," he said.

Dr. Rouhani also said that the Americans made a grave historic mistake by this criminal act, saying, "If Gen. Soleimani wished, he could terminate hundreds of American commanders in different parts of the region, but he was one of the most moderate military commanders in the region and the world".

He said, "Gen. Soleimani used to act very carefully and never went to any extreme," adding that he had been making efforts in the path of jihad in the past 40 years with increasing spirit.

"General Soleimani's goal was protecting security of Iran, stability of the region, the freedom of Quds and protecting the security of the region by regional states," he said.

The President continued, "The Americans thought that they burned Gen. Soleimani's body with missile, but they burned the hearts of millions of free people in the world and it is natural that America cannot distance itself from this catastrophe and it will definitely get a response for this crime".

Referring to decisive responses that the US has received until today, the President said, "The first response was the big presence of the people of Iraq in Baghdad, Karbala, Najaf, Basra and other cities of this country".

"This proved that the people of Iran and Iraq are on the same route and jihadist commanders of these two nations are on the same path," said Rouhani.

He also described the Iraqi parliament's ruling of expelling American troops from the country as another response to the US' criminal act, saying, "The Parliament of Iraq courageously paved the path for the permanent expelling of US from Iraq and the region in the future".

The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran also went on to say, "America thought that they could create division in Iraq by killing General Soleimani, but on the contrary, Iraq became more united and stood against the US unanimously".

"If the dear General Soleimani tried months and years to make the region this much united against the US, he would not achieve this goal," he said.

Dr. Rouhani added, "This was a major historical event that made our people more united and integrated than ever".

The President also added, "The prayer that the Supreme Leader said beside the coffins of martyrs was recorded in history".

He also said, "By taking the fifth step of reducing nuclear obligations, the government took a great step in peaceful nuclear activities".

"In the fifth step, we announced to the world that today, the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran considers no limitations in research and development, as well as building different kinds of centrifuges and their installation, the percentage and amount of enrichment, which is happening for the first time," said Rouhani.

He also said, "The Atomic Energy Organisation had prepared itself well in the past couple of years, and we will witness a great development in our nuclear industry with this order".

Appreciating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for conducting an operation last night against a major US based in the region, he said, "If America commits a crime, it will receive a decisive response from our armed forces no matter how much it makes threats".

"If America wants to commit another crime from now on, it must know that it will receive a stronger response," said the President.

Dr. Rouhani also said, "I believe that the US must receive its main response from regional peoples; they cut off our dear General Soleimani's hand, and the response will be to cut America's leg off the region".

He also said that Americans must not make a mistake by claiming that Iranian proxy forces have carried out acts against them, and added, "We do not have proxy forces, because today, all peoples are free and there is no proxy force under our command in any country, in a way that the Popular Mobilisation Forces is an official armed force in Iraq under their command".

"Lebanon's Hezbollah is a part of the Lebanese government, parliament and ruling system and they have their own programmes and goals," he said.

President Rouhani added, "The people of Yemen are not under our command and they are fighting for their own country, and they may make incidents like the ARAMCO happen again, but this has nothing to do with the Iranian people, government and armed forces".

End Item

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Partnership Further Enables the Democratisation of Customer Data Science by Making It Accessible in the Cloud

Microsoft and dunnhumby, the global leader in customer data science, announced today a global strategic partnership, in a move that could transform the $5.9 trillion retail sector. Under the partnership, dunnhumby will move its customer insights products to Azure, Microsoft's cloud platform, giving retailers and suppliers instant and secure access to dunnhumby's data science tools.

Because Azure can handle vast amounts of information securely and can cope with large spikes in demand, the partnership will enable more retailers and their suppliers to gain deep shopper and business insights, better understand their customers and improve collaboration.

"Retailers sit on vast amounts of data but often struggle to create meaningful insights for themselves or their suppliers," said Clare Barclay, Chief Operating Officer at Microsoft UK. "Through this strategic partnership, retailers across the globe will benefit from the powerful intelligence that dunnhumby delivers through its market-leading tools with the scale, security and speed-to-market that has become synonymous with the Azure platform."

dunnhumby works with transformative, iconic brands including Tesco, Meijer, Unilever and McDonald's, using customer data science to help them deliver better shopping experiences for their customers. Retailers and suppliers are using machine learning and analytics to make better and quicker decisions that improve product promotions, assortment, development, and customer acquisition and retention.

dunnhumby analyses more than 395 million shopper baskets and nine billion data records every week so thousands of brands and suppliers in the grocery and drug sectors can understand how each of their individual products is performing with different types of shoppers. Combining dunnhumby's tools, such as Shop on Lab, with the Azure cloud platform will allow many more retailers and suppliers to share critical insights into their businesses. The processing power of Azure and the machine-learning data science of dunnhumby can offer the right insights at the right time, so action can be taken quickly on business performance, new trends and innovation, brand switching and loyalty.

"This partnership will empower more retailers and brands across the globe to more effectively compete in this expansive yet turbulent industry," said Guillaume Bacuvier, Chief Executive Officer at dunnhumby. "By providing access to our science and technology via Azure the most secure cloud platform, favoured by many retailers today our goal is to fundamentally change the way data is used in retail and completely democratise customer data science across the retail industry."

About dunnhumby

dunnhumby is the global leader in Customer Data Science, empowering businesses everywhere to compete and thrive in the modern data-driven economy. We always put the Customer First.

Our mission: to enable businesses to grow and reimagine themselves by becoming advocates and champions for their Customers. With deep heritage and expertise in retail one of the world's most competitive markets, with a deluge of multi-dimensional data dunnhumby today enables businesses all over the world, across industries, to be Customer First.

The dunnhumby Customer Data Science Platform is our unique mix of technology, software and consulting, enabling businesses to increase revenue and profits by delivering exceptional experiences for their Customers in-store, offline and online. dunnhumby employs over 2,500 experts in offices throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas working for transformative, iconic brands such as Tesco, Coca-Cola, Meijer, Procter Gamble, L'Oreal.

About Microsoft

Microsoft enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005567/en/

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New Delhi [India], Jan 9 (ANI): The incidents of violence that took place in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Sunday happened in the space of half an hour in the evening, claim Delhi police sources.



Police sources privy to the matter said that "all fight and attack happened between 7-7.30 pm".

According to police sources, ABVP students gathered near the Vivekananda statue while Left near Jawaharlal Nehru statue at about 2 pm. While getting dispersed, there was a scuffle between the two groups. They told the first PCR call was received from Periyar Hostel at about 3.45 pm.

"The call was responded immediately and police stationed at the Admin Block was sent to the spot. At Periyar Hostel some people, with lathis in hand, were seen. They attacked some students. But this group didn't enter the hostel," police sources claim.

However, around 17 PCR calls were received from Periyar Hostel till 4.15 pm. After dispersing the crowd, the police return to the Admin Block.

"At around 5-5.15pm, the DCP entered the campus. He went to the Periyar Hostel and inspected the situation. He confirmed that everything is normal and returned to the main gate. After the Periyar Hostel incident, the JNU main gate was closed and no one was allowed," they claim.

"The police again received a PCR call at around 5.30-5.45 pm about 700 people entering the university. The police officials at Admin Block are sent again, but nothing is found. No gathering found. The PCR calls back the caller but the phone switched off. The police dismiss the call," police sources shared.

"The students, mostly ABVP, disrupt the peace meeting of JNUTA at the T-point of Sabarmati Hostel. After disruption, the group goes to Sabarmati Hostel, vandalizes gates and windows. There is a scuffle again. At approximately 6.45 pm, the Vice-Chancellor sends a message that the situation could be tensed. His phone is then unreachable. Around 7.30-7.45pm, the police got a written letter to intervene. By the time police intervenes, the mob dispersed," sources added.

They further shared that since October 28, the JNU students have defied the rule six times. They came out of the university, disrupted the traffic and defied Section 144.

On January 5, a masked mob entered the varsity and attacked the students with sticks and rods in which more than 30 students, including the JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh were injured and taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre.

Two separate FIRs have also been filed against Ghosh for allegedly vandalizing the server room of JNU and for attacking staff members. (ANI)


A flight attendant working on the doomed Boeing 737 that crashed shortly after takeoff and killed everyone on board shared a heartbreaking tribute about her job just weeks before her death.

Valeriia Ovcharuk, 28, died alongside eight fellow crew members and 167 passengers when the Ukrainian International Airlines went down moments after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Irans capital of Tehran early Wednesday morning (local time).

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials.

Ms Ovcharuk, who reportedly was an amateur pilot and from Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, shared photo of herself seated in a luxury hotel pool to Instagram on December 22.

Work, I love you, she wrote in the caption, tagging The Grand Fourwings Convention Hotel in Bangkok and using the hashtags #ilovemyjob and #crewlife alongside a red heart emoji.

The crash just before dawn scattered flaming debris and passengers' belongings across a wide stretch of farmland.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries when it went down. Source: AP

It also came immediately after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing US troops amid a confrontation with Washington over it killing an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general in a drone strike last week.

Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Kyiv after visiting with family during the winter break.

The crash ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. The flag over Parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-staff, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed to get to the bottom of the disaster.

Story continues

With Reuters

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New Delhi:

An Iranian military commander has said that missiles fired at bases used by US troops in Iraq were not aimed at inflicting casualties. He also said that Iran launched 13 missiles at bases in Iraq used by US troops early Wednesday "but we were ready to launch hundreds". Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who leads Irans aerospace program, told state television that Iran also carried out a cyberattack on a US military monitoring service in Iraq while the missile were landing at their intended targets.

Ali said that while dozens of US forces were killed and wounded in the attacks Iran was "not after killing anyone in this operation". Ali's statement seems to be another sign that Iran was not intending to escalate hostilities with the United States.

The US has said no Americans were killed in the missile strike.

Iran and the United States had come close to an open war after US military killed Iran's top commander Major General Qasem Soleimani on the orders of President Donald Trump. Soleimani was the commander of the Revolutionary Guards elite expeditionary Quds Force and Irans most prominent military leader.

Iran had launched the missile strikes in retaliation of the killing. The Iranian state television had claimed that "at least 80 terrorist US soldiers" were killed after bases at Ain al-Asad and Arbil in Iraq - which house US and coalition forces - were targeted by more than a dozen ballistic missiles.

Iran Standing Down, Says Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump, however, said that no Americans were harmed in these attacks. In his first address after the attacks, Trump also said that "Iran appeared to be standing down" after launching the missile attacks.

In a direct message to the Iranian leaders and the people, Trump said the United States is "ready to embrace peace with all who seek it". "To the people and leaders of Iran, we want you to have a future and a great future, one that you deserve," Trump said.

Tehran had said it had halted its missile strikes, with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeting that the country does "not seek escalation or war".

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 Flash

Two Katyusha rockets on Jan. 8 landed near the U.S. embassy in the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said.

The attack took place around midnight when the two rockets landed near the U.S. embassy in the Green Zone which also houses some of the main Iraqi government offices, the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

There were no immediate reports about casualties, the source said.

The heavily fortified Green Zone has been frequently targeted by insurgents' mortar and rocket attacks. The roughly 10 square km zone is located on the west bank of the Tigris River, which bisects the Iraqi capital.

The attack came hours after Qais al-Khazali, leader of the Iraqi Iran-backed Shiite militia Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, said the Iranian initial response to the killing of the Iranian military leader is done and it is time for Iraq to respond to the U.S. airstrike.

Al-Khazali's threat came after Iran fired ballistic missiles earlier in the day on military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq's western province of Anbar and near the city of Erbil, capital of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.

Last week, a U.S. drone attacked a convoy at Baghdad International Airport, killing Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces.

More than 5,000 U.S. troops have been deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces in the battles against Islamic State militants.
Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM is reportedly considering leaving the Romanian Neptun Deep offshore project, which is located in the Black Sea. The project has been delayed due to the failure of obtaining timely regulatory approvals. The previous tax regime also created hurdles.

While the largest publicly-traded U.S. energy company possesses a 50% operating interest in the project, Romanian OMV Petrom holds the rest. OMV Petrom is controlled by Austrian company OMV Aktiengesellschaft OMVJF. ExxonMobil has reportedly commenced providing necessary information to potential parties.

Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban expects state-run Romgaz to join the consortium in the Neptun Deep. He wants the buyer to come from the European Union, NATO. ExxonMobil intends to advance the project, while the search for buyer is on.

This divestment will boost the campaign to get rid of non-core assets, while streamlining its portfolio. Per reports from last November, ExxonMobil is looking to divest around $25 billion of hydrocarbon assets through 2025 in order to focus on more profitable projects. The assets to be sold  which are located in Asia, Africa and Europe  are expected to increase competitiveness of the companys portfolio. Its latest reported divestment program targets $15-billion asset sell-off by 2021. This will likely help the company to finance growth projects in Guyana, Brazil and U.S shale plays.

Notably, it expects a gain of $3.4-$3.6 billion from the recent divestment of Norwegian assets to Var Energi, which is jointly owned by private-equity firm Hitecvision and integrated energy firm Eni SpA E. This is expected to give a boost to fourth-quarter 2019 results. The companys recent regulatory filing revealed that gains from this divestment can offset lower margins from chemicals and refining businesses in the December quarter of 2019.

Price Performance

ExxonMobil has lost 4.4% in the past year compared with 3.7% decline of the industry it belongs to.

Story continues

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Iran's next responses will be proportionate to what US will do: Defense min.

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 08 January 2020 1:54 PM

Hours after Iran's missile attack on American bases in Iraq, Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami says Tehran's next responses to the US assassination of a top Iranian general will be proportionate to what Washington will do.

"Our next measure will naturally be proportionate to the ones the Americans will take. Our measures will definitely continue," the minister told reporters on Wednesday on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting, adding that the early morning strike has given the US a lesson that will be etched in its mind.

The remarks came hours after Iran responded to the US assassination of prominent anti-terror Iranian commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis with a barrage of missiles that hit two US bases in Iraq.

The Iranian defense minister said Donald Trump has turned the US government into a terrorist one, as it ordered the assassination of a military official of the Islamic Republic of Iran in a third country where he was a guest of the Baghdad government.

Iran will pursue demands for the expulsion from the region of American forces that have brought about nothing but war, misery and terror for the nations, he added.

Hatami advised world countries to fulfill their responsibilities to condemn the US terror acts, warning that they will not be immune from the adverse repercussions of the US measures should they fail to abhor them.

He also criticized certain countries for supporting the recent US terrorist act against Iran, saying their "bootlicking policies" will get them nowhere.

Army: Iran's slap to turn into iron first if US repeats mischief

In a statement on Wednesday, the Iranian Army warned the US of a more severe response if it makes another mischief against Iran.

"In case of a new mischief by the enemy, the Iranian nation's slap will turn into an iron fist," read part of the statement, saying Iran's missile attack on American bases in Iraq was just a glimpse of the Islamic Republic's prowess and might in the face of the criminal and terrorist US.

It said the country reserved the "inalienable right" to give a crushing response to the US measure in line with its doctrine of self-defense.

The Army said defending the Islamic establishment and the Iranian nation is a red line of the Armed Forces, and they will firmly and with full force pursue the goal.

Earlier in the day, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Iran's early Wednesday missile attack on US bases in Iraq following the American assassination of General Soleimani was just "a slap."

"The talk of revenge and such debates are a different issue. For now, a slap was delivered on their face last night," Ayatollah Khamenei said in remarks broadcast live on national television.

"What is important about confrontation is that the military action as such is not sufficient. What is important is that the seditious American presence in the region must end," he said to chants of "Death to America" by an audience in Tehran.

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The Missoula County District Court dismissed a discrimination suit against the University of Montana and its former head of dining Monday after both parties settled out of court.

The dismissal came after a former UM Dining employee filed a lawsuit in May 2017 alleging that UM and Mark LoParco, who retired from UM Dining that same year, discriminated against her based on gender and disability. The suit also alleged that LoParco was misogynistic and sexist toward other employees.

In October 2019, the parties met to resolve their prior differences and parted company amicably, said a statement from the Boone Karlberg law firm in a joint press release. The law firm represented LoParco and UM during the case.

Before the lawsuit was filed, former UM dining employees Kathleen Kate Slack and Rebecca "Becca" Shern submitted a complaint to the Montana Human Rights Bureau for similar allegations of discrimination in September 2016.

According to the complaint, Slack and Shern alleged that UM and LoParco bullied and belittled women and gave preferential treatment to men regarding promotions. Both employees left their positions in spring 2016, with the complaint saying his sexist, misogynistic, contemptible behavior was too much.

The bureau dismissed the complaint in May 2017 on the grounds that it had been submitted more than 180 days after both women had worked for UM. Two weeks earlier, Slack filed her lawsuit.

Slack worked for the University of Montana from November 28, 2011, until March 6, 2016, when Ms. Slack was laid off. Differences of opinion arose between Ms. Slack and the University, the statement from Boone Karlberg said.

During his 25 years with the university, LoParco was honored for his efforts in sustainability and his contributions to the collegiate food industry. He was also nationally recognized for his leadership skills while heading UM Dining.

The university said it could not comment on the settlement, and referred questions to the statement released by Boone Karlberg.

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Key hires enhance management for next development phase

WINDSOR, England, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Macrophage Pharma Limited ("MPL"), a biotech company focused on the discovery and development of next-generation immunomodulatory small molecules inducing transcriptional reprogramming of macrophage function to combat cancer and other diseases, announced today that it has appointed Venkat Reddy PhD as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and David Moffat PhD, MPL co-founder and former director of chemistry, as Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Commenting on the appointments, Dr Sren Bregenholt, MPL Chief Executive Officer said: "On behalf of the executive team I am pleased to welcome Venkat as CSO and David in his new role as CTO as the Company progresses to its next stage of development. Venkat's deep understanding of pharmaceutical R&D, extensive experience in drug discovery, translational research and early development combined with David's profound knowledge of our foundation Esterase Sensitive MotifTM (ESMTM) technology, which he co-invented, and drug discovery, will continue to be invaluable as we advance towards clinical trials this year, diversify the technology platform and build out the pipeline to address multiple indications."

Dr. Venkat Reddy, CSO of Macrophage Pharma, commented: "I am excited to join Macrophage Pharma as CSO and look forward to advancing and expanding the Company's unique technology platform, exemplified by a drug candidate on track to enter clinical trials. This novel platform allows us to manipulate macrophage and other immune cell functions with the potential to impact areas of unmet need. The differentiation of MPL's foundation technology from contemporary immune-oncology approaches offers an effective route to functional manipulation of macrophages in the tumour microenvironment by inhibiting local immunosuppression and leading to more effective anti-tumour immune responses. I look forward to working with the management and board to unlock the full therapeutic potential of the ESMTM platform to deliver first-in-class therapeutics to patients with significant pathologies."

Dr. David Moffat, CTO, MPL, added: "I am very pleased to be taking the helm as CTO at MPL as we progress our lead asset into clinical trials and diversify and advance our preclinical pipeline to embrace additional drug targets and lead chemistries. The differentiated approach of our technology has the reach to address multiple indications where the immune system is dysregulated by aberrant macrophage activity, for potentially wide-ranging clinical benefit. As co-originator of the ESMTM technology I am proud of MPL's achievements to date and look forward to working with our enhanced team in support of the further growth and development of Macrophage Pharma."

Venkat brings over 15 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry most recently with Glenmark Pharmaceuticals where he was a senior vice president and global head of translational sciences leading the translational programmes of the Company's innovative preclinical and clinical portfolio. He co-founded APC Therapeutics Inc., a small molecule immuno-oncology startup, the lead programme of which was licensed to Glenmark. Previously, Dr Reddy acted as a senior director of strategic partnerships at Pfizer's Center for Therapeutic Innovation. Prior to that he held roles with Sanofi, as head of bio-innovation and as global head of oncology target discovery where he was involved in target identification and validation (TIDVAL) function and progression of multiple programmes from preclinical to clinical trials. Before joining Sanofi, Dr Reddy was a group leader in oncology drug discovery at the Novartis Institute for Functional Genomics, San Diego. He received his PhD in human biology at Ludwig Maximilians Universitat, Munich and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in oncology and immunology at Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla.

Dr Moffat co-founded MPL in November 2014 and is co-inventor in the discovery and development of the ESMTM technology platform. Previously he has been director of chemistry at Chroma Therapeutics from 2004 to 2012, during which three molecules from his chemistry team were progressed to the clinic including the macrophage-targeted histone deacetylase inhibitors CHR-2845 and CHR-5154. He was also head of chemistry at Celltech from 2001 to 2004, prior to its acquisition by UCB, having begun his industrial career there in 1989. Dr Moffat has extensive experience in oncology and inflammation preclinical research and has led groups which have identified numerous clinical development candidates in these therapeutic areas. He holds BSc and PhD degrees from the University of Glasgow and is author and inventor on more than 70 patents and publications.

Macrophage Pharma at JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, San Francisco

Sren Bregenholt and Venkat Reddy will be at the 38th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on 13-16 January 2020 in San Francisco, California.

Sren Bregenholt will also be presenting at Biotech Showcase 2020 (13-15 January 2020) on Monday 13thJanuary 2020 at 3pm in Franciscan B (Ballroom Level).

Please get in touch, details below, if you would like to set up a meeting.

About Macrophage Pharma

Based on its proprietary Esterase Motif Technology (ESM) platform, Macrophage Pharma is developing a novel and unique class of small molecule therapeutics which modulate immune responses though transcriptional reprogramming of monocytes and macrophages to combat disease. The Company's novel ESM technology platform is designed to deliver small molecule drugs to macrophages in a highly selective manner. The Company is developing multiple programs inhibiting key pathways in macrophages in disease including the lead, a macrophage targeted p38 MAPK inhibitor programme.

The Company was founded by the CRT Pioneer Fund (CPF) and concluded a Series A financing in 2017 with CPF, Aglaia Oncology Funds, Novo Holdings A/S and M Ventures. Please visit the company website for further information: www.macrophagepharma.com
RUSHVILLE  A father and daughter accused of animal abuse in Paducah, Kentucky, had a preliminary extradition hearing Wednesday in Schuyler County after their most recent arrest Tuesday afternoon.

Jennifer Campbell, 42, and Harold Campbell, 66, are being held in the Schuyler County jail after they were arrested in Rushville around 1:20 p.m. Tuesday. Both were arrested on McCracken County, Kentucky, warrants for charges of bail jumping in the first degree, according to the Schuyler County Sheriffs Department.

The Campbells appeared in court Wednesday afternoon for an extradition hearing, according to the Schuyler County States Attorneys office. The pair are awaiting extradition back to Paducah to face the charges.

The Campbells face more than 50 counts of animal abuse after McCracken County Animal Control officers rescued more than 40 Chihuahuas in October. At the time, officials said the dogs were living in extremely poor conditions, according to Paducah TV station WPSD. Animal control worked several hours to feed the dogs, administer shots and remove fleas. Some of the rescued dogs later died; many have been adopted.

Jennifer Campbell was an inmate at the McCracken County jail on a charge of shoplifting when the dogs were discovered. Investigators learned that the dogs had not been cared for since she was arrested, according to WPSD.

The Campbells were arrested in December in Cass County by the Cass County Sheriffs Department on a McCracken County warrant for bail jumping after they did not appear Dec. 3 in McCracken County Court. The Campbells were transported to Pike County, where they were hospitalized for medical conditions, according to WPSD.

Pike County was the Campbells last known location as of last week. They were awaiting a Feb. 4 extradition hearing in Pike County. Zachary Boren, Pike County states attorney, said that Jennifer Campbell did not want to waive extradition but the court was waiting to see if Harold Campbell would file for extradition because he still was hospitalized.
Senator Lindsey Graham had strong words Wednesday for his fellow Republican senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee, saying they are empowering the enemy by supporting a Democratic resolution to limit President Trumps ability to respond militarily to Iranian aggression.

Theyre libertarians. I think theyre overreacting, quite frankly, Graham told reporters after a closed-door briefing on Iran with administration officials.

Paul and Lee emerged frustrated from the briefing and announced they would support the War Powers Resolution introduced by Democratic Senator Tim Kaine. The resolution would require that the president obtain congressional approval ahead of further military action against Iran. Democrats drafted the resolution after the administration assassinated top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, the head of Irans elite Quds Force, on Friday in a Baghdad airstrike.

Lee called the briefing insulting due to its brevity and lack of substance and remarked that it was the worst military briefing he has ever attended.

I find this insulting and demeaning to the Constitution of the United States, the Utah Republican said. Its un-American. Its unconstitutional. And its wrong.

Go debate all you want to. Im going to debate you, trust me, Graham said in response to Lees demand that Congress debate the merits of further escalation with Iran. Im going to let people know that in this moment in time, to play this game with the War Powers Act, which I think is unconstitutional, whether you mean to or not, youre empowering the enemy.

Paul hit back at Graham on Thursday, accusing the South Carolina lawmaker of assuming a false drape of patriotism.

I think its sad when people have this fake sort of drape of patriotism and anybody that disagrees with them is not a patriot, the Kentucky Republican said of Graham. He insults the Constitution, our Founding Fathers, and what we do stand for in this republic by making light of it and accusing people of lacking patriotism. I think thats a low, gutter type of response.

More from National Review
So where did the idea for the Freelancers Union come from?

I went to the Kennedy School to take an intellectual sabbatical. That year really helped me put the pieces together to say, If there really is going to be a new form of unionism, what is it going to be? I came out of that year with the germ of the idea of the Freelancers Union, which took many years of different models and testing to actually become a viable, independent union for freelancers.

One of the first things we have to unwind is this idea that the gig economy is just about low-wage workers, because its just broader. Freelancers range from very low-paid workers to very skilled and highly paid workers. Theyre all workers.

It seems like these days inequality is making it harder for the labor movement to succeed.

The story of the labor movement is the story of low-wage and higher-wage workers uniting together. I think that inadvertently, the progressive left has made the mistake of internalizing Reagan and thinking that the labor movement is only made up of low-wage workers.

We have to come together as low-wage workers and higher-skilled workers to talk about the things we need, from training to benefits, to changing the tax code, to really giving power to a new set of labor institutions, like Roosevelt did.

In the 1920s, everyone said labor was dead, and, boy, in the 1930s did they learn that was not true. Things are so cyclical. Just because they dont happen in your lifetime doesnt mean that theyre not going to happen.

Why did you start Trupo?

I started building out different kinds of insurance programs through the Freelancers Union, but it was all under the nonprofit. It became clear that wasnt scalable capital. So now we are starting to really lay the train tracks, like they did in the 1880s, to start to build out this infrastructure and to make it scalable and to recognize that no worker ever knew how to put together their benefits package. Theres too much choice. People need to just answer a bunch of questions and get told whats helpful.

What was your time on the New York Fed like?

I came away with such a deep and abiding respect for the Fed. I think that people can have their criticisms, as they should, but Im right there with Alexander Hamilton. I want a central bank. I dont want to be dependent on kings and queens and super-wealthy people.
A danger to life weather warning has been issued as very windy weather was due to hit Britain today bringing widespread gales and gusts of up to 70 mph.

The warning has been issued covering almost all of England and Wales.

The only exceptions are areas south of the Thames Valley, the east of East Anglia, northern Cumbria and Northumberland, which are still set to be blustery.

A weather warning has been issued covering almost all of England and Wales. Pictured is sunrise at Herd Groyne lighthouse at South Shields earlier this week

The alert lasts between 3am and 6pm today.

In its warning, the Met Office says flying debris from buildings and on sea fronts could cause injuries and danger to life.

As well as potential damage to buildings, forecasters also predict transport disruption due to fallen trees, and restrictions to be placed for high sided vehicles on exposed routes such as bridges.

A Met Office spokesman said: A spell of very strong winds is expected to spread from the south-west across Wales and many parts of England through Thursday morning.

Gusts of 50-60mph are possible for many areas, with gusts of 70 mph in places.

Depending on the level of disruption, the windy spell - caused by a deep area of low pressure - could be the first named storm of the year and the second of the current winter season, after Storm Atiyah at the start of December.

If deemed a named storm, it would be called Storm Brendan - although yesterday the Meteorological Office said it was too early to decide whether the weather system would qualify.

A second spell of windy weather is predicted for tomorrow FRI evening and Saturday, covering north Wales, most of the Pennines, Cumbria and Northumberland.

The warning lasts between 6pm tomorrow and 3pm on Saturday, again with widespread gusts of 50-60mph and extreme winds of 70 mph in exposed coastal or upland areas.

Transport delays and damage to property are thought likely.

To the south of the gales today, it is likely to be very mild but mostly cloudy.

Temperatures this afternoon could reach 12C (54F) in London and the South East today - warmer than Rome, where 11C (52F) is expected.

But further north, highs of 8C (46) are likely in Manchester and Leeds, falling to 6C (43F) in Cumbria and Newcastle.

Some rain could still be around early this morning but the Met Office said it is set to clear eastwards. Pictured is Polzeath Beach in Cornwall earlier this week

The gales are set to follow in the wake of a band of rain crossing the country through last night.

Some rain could still be around early this morning but the Met Office said it is set to clear eastwards.

Tomorrow is set to be a mostly dry and sunny but chilly day, after a widespread early frost.

Winds are due to arrive in the north and west later in the day, continuing into Saturday.

A band of rain is due to move eastwards later on Saturday, while Sunday is due to be a cold day with sunny intervals and blustery showers including hail and wintry conditions over northern hills.

Next week, a north-west / south-east wind split in the weather is predicted, with further spells of rain, sometimes heavy, and strong winds across the northwest, whilst the southeast will be more settled.
Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead(WASHINGTON) -- Vice President Mike Pence says the threat from Iran "continues to be very real," but so far the regime appears to be standing down.



"We're ready. We're making it very clear we're not going to tolerate violence," Pence said in an interview Thursday with ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America.



President Donald Trump took "decisive action," according to Pence when he ordered the airstrike that killed Iran's top military general, Qassam Soleimani, near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq on Jan. 2.



Soleimani had led the elite Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in operations throughout the region over the past 20 years, backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and supporting Shiite militia groups in Iraq, including against U.S. troops during the Iraq War. The U.S. Department of State said Soleimani's forces are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops because of the kind of explosive devices they helped bring to Iraq. The United States designated Soleimani a terrorist in 2011 under then-President Barack Obama.



Pence argued that Trump's directive not only "took the world's most dangerous terrorist off the battlefield," but also "sent a very clear message that the United States will defend our people, will defend our interests."



He was right to act, he had a duty to act, the vice president said, noting that the Trump administration had compelling intelligence that Soleimani was planning imminent attacks on U.S. forces and personnel in the region. The administration, however, has provided no evidence of those plans.



The danger of not acting was greater than the danger posed by acting, Pence added.



Iran called Soleimani's killing an "act of war" and retaliated early Wednesday morning by firing more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases housing American troops and coalition forces.



There were no causalities from the strikes, according to Pence.



"And I'm pleased to report that Iran continues to appear to stand down," he noted. "But we'll remain very vigilant."



In the days after the U.S. airstrike, the Iranian government announced it will no longer abide by any of the operational restraints on its nuclear program under the 2015 deal with the international community, which the Trump administration withdrew the United States from in May 2018. Meanwhile, Iraq's parliament voted on Sunday to expel American troops from the country.



Dozens of people took to the streets in New York City's Times Square on Wednesday night to protest the escalating tensions with Iran. Demonstrators held signs that read, "No more war" and "Peace with Iran." Protests have taken place elsewhere across the country and abroad as people speak out against further military action between the two nations.



When asked whether U.S. troops will be pulled from the region, Pence said, We have no plans to change our military posture in Iraq or in the region.



We want to bring an end to endless wars, he continued. Well wait and see what the Iraqi government chooses to do.



Copyright  2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Michelle Robertson joins as Chief Financial Officer



Manufacturing veteran Harry Gill joins in newly created role of Senior Vice President, Operations

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Editas Medicine, Inc. (EDIT), a leading genome editing company, today announced the appointment of Michelle Robertson as the Companys Chief Financial Officer, and the appointment of Harry Gill in the newly created role of Senior Vice President, Operations, both effective immediately.

We are thrilled to have Michelle and Harry join Editas and round out our executive team. Michelles proven financial acumen, ability to deliver valuable business tools and improve business processes, and strong interpersonal skills will be invaluable in helping drive our growth. Harry is an accomplished leader with significant expertise in quality, plant operations, technical services, and operational excellence, said Cynthia Collins, President and Chief Executive Officer, Editas Medicine.

This is truly an exciting time to join Editas Medicine. As we advance our pipeline of medicines towards the clinic and to the people who need them, I look forward to working with my colleagues to deliver on our mission for patients and stakeholders, said Michelle Robertson, Chief Financial Officer, Editas Medicine.

The opportunity to be on the front-line of making this new class of potentially game-changing medicines for people around the world is unique, and I am looking forward to working with the team to build our capabilities and capacity to manufacture and create a supply chain to move several experimental medicines into the clinic, remarked Harry Gill, Senior Vice President, Operations, Editas Medicine.

Collins added, I look forward to working with Michelle, Harry, and the rest of our strong executive team as progress through the clinical trial for EDIT-101, advance our pipeline, and execute on our bold vision to develop transformative, durable medicines for people living with serious diseases.

Story continues

Michelle Robertson brings to Editas Medicine more than 25 years of biotech finance and commercial operations management experience. Ms. Robertson joins Editas Medicine from Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where she held roles of increasing responsibility, most recently serving as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Momenta, Ms. Robertson was Vice President, Oncology Finance for Baxalta, Inc. (which was acquired by Shire PLC in 2016) following its spin-out from Baxter International in July 2015. Before that, Ms. Robertson served as head of Financial Planning and Analysis and Operations at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, and, prior to that, she held various leadership positions in the Oncology and Biosurgery divisions with Finance and Commercial Operations, focusing on financial analysis for business development, acquisition integrations, and divestitures at Genzyme Corporation. Ms. Robertson earned a BS in Finance from Bentley University.

Harry Gill brings more than 30 years of life sciences experience to Editas Medicine. Throughout his career, Mr. Gill has held leadership roles in quality, plant operations, technical services, and operational excellence, including serving as Senior Vice President of Quality and Continuous Improvement at Patheon Pharmaceuticals (now ThermoFisher Scientific). Earlier in his career, he held various positions at Wyeth (now Pfizer Pharmaceuticals) and Baxter Healthcare Corporation. Mr. Gill received a BS degree in biology from Milligan College and a MS in microbiology from East Tennessee State University.

About Editas Medicine

As a leading genome editing company, Editas Medicine is focused on translating the power and potential of the CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPR/Cas12a (also known as Cpf1) genome editing systems into a robust pipeline of treatments for people living with serious diseases around the world. Editas Medicine aims to discover, develop, manufacture, and commercialize transformative, durable, precision genomic medicines for a broad class of diseases. For the latest information and scientific presentations, please visit www.editasmedicine.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words anticipate, believe, continue, could, estimate, expect, intend, may, plan, potential, predict, project, target, should, would, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. The Company may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in these forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including: uncertainties inherent in the initiation and completion of pre-clinical studies and clinical trials and clinical development of the Companys product candidates; availability and timing of results from pre-clinical studies and clinical trials; whether interim results from a clinical trial will be predictive of the final results of the trial or the results of future trials; expectations for regulatory approvals to conduct trials or to market products and availability of funding sufficient for the Companys foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements. These and other risks are described in greater detail under the caption Risk Factors included in the Companys most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and in other filings that the Company may make with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the future. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release represent the Companys views only as of the date hereof and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. Except as required by law, the Company explicitly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Contacts:

Media

Cristi Barnett

(617) 401-0113

cristi.barnett@editasmed.com



Investors

Mark Mullikin

(617) 401-9083

mark.mullikin@editasmed.com
President Donald Trump on Thursday proposed an overhaul of National Environmental Policy Act rules seeking to ease environmental review requirements and quicken approvals of pipelines, highways, bridges and other major infrastructure projects.

Speaking alongside administration and labor leaders in the White House, the president said the new rules would streamline a burdensome, dysfunctional, bureaucratic system" for federal environmental reviews that have led to Americas most critical infrastructure projects" being "tied up and bogged down.

Trump cited bridge, highway and airport runway projects in North Carolina, Alaska and Washington that were held up more than a decade due to environmental reviews that required a host of red tape and duplicative permits.

These endless delays waste money, keep projects from breaking ground and keep jobs from workers, Trump said. America is a nation of builders. It took four years to build the Golden Gate bridge, five to build the Hoover Dam and less than one year to build the Empire State Building. But today, it takes 10 years to get a simple permit for a road. Its big government at its absolute worst."

The new rules could cut permit timelines by as much as 70%, Trump said, using a one federal decision policy that requires agencies to work closely together on projects as opposed to builders and businesses seeking individual permits from multiple agencies. The rules call on the federal government to gather comments on projects from stakeholders much earlier; to use modern technology; and to rely on state, local and tribal paperwork to avoid duplication.

While the moves were long pushed by the oil and gas industry, Trump, administration and labor leaders tried to reassure Americans that the new rules were designed to eliminate a complex web of well-intentioned rules and requirements, not to gut environmental protections.

Mary Neumayr, chairwoman of the Council on Environmental Quality, said the new rules would not change any substantive environmental law. Nothing would eliminate protections Congress has enacted to safeguard the American people.

She noted that the new rules would still ensure agencies analyze and consider environmental impacts and reasonable alternatives to mitigate those impacts.

Elaine Chao, the transportation secretary, said, We all care about the environment.

But developers deserve a quick no if their projects arent meeting guidelines, she said. Right now, we string along so many people who are waiting decades for answers from the federal government. That is not responsible governing.

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler touted Trumps track record of growing the economy while maintaining environmental standards meeting or exceeding the requirements of the Clean Air and Water acts.

NEPA should have been modernized decades ago, Wheeler said, noting regulations connected to almost every environmental statute have been updated many times over the last half century.

Environmental groups were not satisfied that the moves would sufficiently protect the environment, wildlife habitats and the health of American communities impacted by major infrastructure projects.

They note that the proposed changes could kill obstacles to the Keystone XL pipeline and other projects that have been held up in courts because the Trump administration failed to weigh climate change in environmental reviews.

For half a century, the National Environmental Policy Act has forced our leaders to consider how their policies impacts the health of our communities. Now, Donald Trump wants to change that, the Sierra Club tweeted.

For half a century, the National Environmental Policy Act has forced our leaders to consider how their policies impacts the health of our communities. Now, @realDonaldTrump wants to change that. https://t.co/LpjYPLWYfg #ProtectYourVoice #NEPA  Sierra Club (@SierraClub) January 9, 2020

The Natural Resources Defense Council described the proposal as Trumps latest environmental attack and a change that will affect all of our lives hidden behind complicated policy.

The Trump administration is trying to change this rule so that oil and gas or mining companies dont have to consider environmental impacts in a meaningful way, or share project plans with those who live there, The NRDC tweeted. This is an attack on the health of local communities, especially disadvantaged and communities of color. This is an attack on the environment, and the climate we all depend on. Once again, the Trump administration is favoring polluter-profits over the health of our country and planet.

The New York Times, which has documented several environmental rollbacks pushed by the Trump administration, reported that the new rules do not include the word climate change." Rather, the new rules say agencies no longer need consider cumulative consequences of new infrastructure, which courts thus far have interpreted as a mandate to study projects impacts on greenhouse gas emissions, sea level rise and other effects related to climate change.

Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts said the Trump administrations move was the equivalent of shutting down 911 in the midst of a climate emergency.

We need to consider climate change as part of every single decision made by the federal government, not ban it from the discussion, Markey said on Twitter.

We are in a climate emergency, and the Trump admins attack on the National Environmental Policy Act would be the equivalent of shutting down 911. We need to consider climate change as part of every single decision made by the federal government, not ban it from the discussion. https://t.co/g80eryOztF  Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) January 9, 2020

After a barrage of questions on Iran and impeachment, the president, who has called global warming a total, and very expensive, hoax, responded to the lone environmental question by saying nothings a hoax about global warming.

I want the cleanest air, I want the cleanest water. The environment is very important to me," he said. "I also want jobs and dont want to close up our industry because you have to go with wind or something else thats not gonna have the capacity that you have to do.
More than 400,000 join rallies as transport strike enters 36th day, but broader support for movement dwindles.

Paris, France  More than 400,000 protesters mobilised across France for a fourth round of protests, as talks between unions and the government fail to break the stalemate over plans to overhaul the pension system.

Thursday also saw transport strikes, the longest France has witnessed for decades, enter a 36th day.

Teachers, lawyers, nurses, and pilots joined transport workers at Place de la Republique in eastern Paris, where they called on the government to abandon proposed changes to the national pension system and demanded better working conditions.

France cannot lose its social model, Isabelle Tranquet, a flight attendant for Air France, told Al Jazeera. Im thinking about my son  he cannot lose these social protections.

Under the proposed changes, 42 special retirement programmes would be consolidated into a universal, points-based system.

While the official retirement age would remain at 62, workers would be incentivised to work until 64 in order to receive their full pension. The system would be implemented gradually, starting with those born after 1975.

Self-employed workers also joined the mix over fears of having their pension contributions doubled by the reform.

With the new reform Ill go from contributing 14 percent to 28 percent of my salary, Dominique Bergougnoux, a self-employed speech therapist told Al Jazeera. Its like the government thinks were invisible, but thats why Ive come out today, to say that Im here.

Laurence Derrey, a 55-year-old teacher, told Al Jazeera she feared the reform would force her colleagues to work longer for a lower pension.

We cannot accept this, everyone has a right to earn a decent living, Derrey said. If we let this reform go through, well be sending people into poverty.

Laurent Berger, the head of Frances moderate CFDT union, told reporters on Wednesday that they were still far from an agreement, on the reform.

Meanwhile, his counterpart, Philippe Martinez, of the hardline CGT Union, signalled he had given up on talks with the government, telling French radio station Europe 1: We can see that the door is closed.

CGT called for a four-day blockade of fuel refineries, prompting fears of petrol shortages. Along with other unions, it has also called for a fifth round of demonstrations on January 11.

An Odoxa-Dentsu poll released on Wednesday showed that 61 percent of French people were against making people wait until the pivotal age  64  in order to receive a full pension. They wanted that part of the reform to be scrapped.

At the same time, support for the demonstrations has dwindled.

A recent Ifop poll by the French paper Le Journal du Dimanche found that only 44 percent support the strike, a 6 point drop from the start of the movement on December 5.

The poll also found that 75 percent believed French President Emmanuel Macron would not back down.

Businesses reported major losses during the holiday season as a result of the strikes.

In Paris, retail sales were down between 30 and 50 percent in December, typically one of the most profitable periods for retailers because of the holiday season.

In his New Years Eve address, Macron said he would push through with the reform.

Scrapping it, he said, would be a betrayal to our children and their children after them, who would have to pay the price for our giving up.

A new round of talks is scheduled for Friday.
When driving around Houston, it often feels as if a giant Monopoly board was dropped on the floor and someone hastily placed the hotels and houses together on random properties.

This is the blessing and curse of Houston's lack of zoning laws. Often, businesses and houses coexist on the same street. Other times, disruptive buildings or even facilities like concrete plants can be built right next to homes or parks.
Police are investigating allegations of a hate crime at the House of Commons after a gay MP said a peer had called her a queer.

SNP MP Hannah Bardell said independent unionist peer Lord Maginnis launched a homophobic attack on her after she raised his abusive behaviour towards parliamentary staff when he forgot his security pass.

The HuffPost news website reported that Lord Maginnis did not deny the her claims and quoted him saying: Queers like Ms Bardell dont particularly annoy me. OK, shes got her cheap publicity out of it.

Expand Close Lord Maginnis (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

Twitter

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Speaking during business questions, Livingston MP Ms Bardell said: Im sorry to say that the member from the other place (the House of Lords) who I have complained about has now launched a homophobic attack on me in the press.

This will be reported to the police and I know that I and others consider this to be a hate crime.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed on Thursday evening that it was investigating an allegation of hate crime at the House of Commons.

A spokeswoman said: The Mets Parliamentary Liaison and Investigation Team is looking into an allegation of hate crime at the House of Commons made to them on Thursday January 9.

Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg told MPs: The attack on the honourable lady was unutterably disgraceful and she is clearly owed an apology by the noble lord for what he said about her.

I think everybody who heard about that was shocked by the comments that he is reported to have made and has not denied.

I think they are really appalling, and I know we are not allowed to criticise members of the other house, the other place, except on a specific motion, but I think under these circumstances we are allowed to stretch the rules.

The Lord Speaker, Lord Fowler, said such language has no place in Parliament.

He added: I am deeply concerned by recent reports of a member of the House of Lords directing offensive language towards parliamentary security staff and a Member of Parliament.

The reported behaviour and use of such language is totally unacceptable and has no place in Parliament.

We are working hard to build an inclusive and respectful environment, and behaviour such as this totally undermines our collective efforts.

Security on the parliamentary estate is everyones responsibility.

Any disregard for security rules is against the interests of us all. Our security staff do a difficult job with the utmost professionalism and deserve support from all members.

On Wednesday, Ms Bardell, MP for Livingston, outlined the alleged incident to Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle in a point of order.

Im pretty angry and upset not least because I could at any time bump into this guy in my place of work. However Im very conscious that LGBT people across the UK and beyond face much worse on a daily basis. No one should have to put up with it.  Hannah Bardell SNP MP  (@HannahB4LiviMP) January 9, 2020

She said: Yesterday, on re-entering the building for the first time after Christmas, I witnessed one of the worst cases of abuse of security staff that I have seen in my time here.

One of the members of the other place  who I will name so as not to incriminate anybody else: Lord Ken Maginnis  had forgotten his pass, something weve all been guilty of.

However, instead of taking the advice of the security staff  who, as we all know, are here for our security and our safety  he proceeded to verbally abuse and shout at both the members of staff, calling them crooked, saying did they not know who he was, hed been here 46 years, and refusing to take the advice and assistance of both myself, the security staff and the police that then attended.

Lord Maginnis was formerly an Ulster Unionist Party MP and later represented the party in the Lords.

In 2012, he announced his decision to resign his membership after the leadership distanced themselves when he referred to gay marriage as unnatural and deviant behaviour.

His affiliation in the Lords since July 2013 has been listed as Independent Ulster Unionist.

He has been approached for comment.
VANCOUVER, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The potential downside risks from global trade friction seem to have eased as the United States and China near a deal although much uncertainty remains around implications of any such pact for Canada, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said on Thursday.

Certainly, it seems that the potential downside risks have eased as the United States and China approach a deal. This all bears watching during the coming year, he told a business audience in Vancouver.

Poloz also said there was still plenty of uncertainty about what a U.S.-China deal could mean for Canadian exports and whether any more of the new tariffs the superpowers have imposed on each other could be rolled back.

The Bank has repeatedly expressed concern that Canada, which has an economy heavily reliant on exports, is vulnerable to protectionist actions.

On the surface, there has been some improvement on this front lately, although it remains to be seen whether this will lead to a recovery of trade and investment, Poloz said, noting companies are understandably reluctant to make big investments.
This policy difference became explosive for a reason that feels very modern: It touched on the countrys demographic change. Northern states had grown far more rapidly than the South in population, which gave them increasing political power. The admission of California as a free state in 1850 gave them even more leverage over the South. In 1856, Republican leaders saw an opportunity to win the presidency with Northern votes alone.

White Southern leaders perceived a plot to shut them out of power and believed they would be permanently outnumbered if they were blocked from creating new slave states in the West. They threatened to secede from the Union if Republicans won. Pamphlets made this threat explicit. The fearful issue, one said, was whether the Union would stand or fall  and its destruction would be Fremonts fault if he won, even though white Southerners were making the threat.

Anyone who has witnessed the past decade of American politics cannot be surprised by how destabilizing this demographic change was in the 1850s. Progressives  and Republicans then were the more progressive party  confidently expected that population changes would help them win without having to compromise with conservatives. Conservatives  who then were proslavery Democrats  vowed to wreck the system if they could not reinforce it against the change they dreaded.

Fear prevailed over demographics in 1856. A Democrat won the election: James Buchanan, a Northerner strongly tied to Southern interests. Buchanan then manipulated the courts to entrench his proslavery views. He lobbied the Supreme Court to make its Dred Scott decision in 1857, which proclaimed that black people were not citizens and that the phrase all men are created equal in the Declaration of Independence did not mean what it said.

The true meaning of this story is in its aftermath. Republicans persisted through another election, trying again in 1860 to win the presidency with Northern votes alone. This time their demographic gamble succeeded as their nominee, Abraham Lincoln, prevailed against divided opposition. Southerners followed through on their threat to destroy the system, firing the first shot of the Civil War in 1861. Yet their efforts backfired. The war led to a leap in human progress that few political leaders contemplated at the start: Congress abolished slavery by passing a constitutional amendment soon after the war.

What are lessons for 2020? Expect a terrifying year. What drives Americans to extremes is not losing an election but the fear of losing for all time. As Democrats and progressives count on an evermore diverse population to ensure victory, some of President Trumps supporters foresee permanent defeat. Fox News stokes dread of demographic change with repeated images of migrants climbing fences. The president told supporters as a candidate in 2016 that he was their last chance to save the country.

Some of Mr. Trumps critics fear permanent defeat for their side as he appoints judges who could remake the courts for a generation and dismisses limits on his power by asserting the right to do whatever I want as president. He has tweaked his critics anxieties, once sharing a social media meme that showed him unconstitutionally returned to office after 2020  in 2024, 2028, 2032 and far beyond.

When politicians exploit such fears, voters can find an antidote by recalling the aftermath of 1856. Whatever the result in 2020  and its a safe bet that close to half of us will consider it a disaster  another election will follow. We hope.

Steve Inskeep is a co-host of Morning Edition on NPR and the author, most recently, of Imperfect Union: How Jessie and John Fremont Mapped the West, Invented Celebrity, and Helped Cause the Civil War.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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[January 08, 2020] TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp. Prices Public Offering of Common Stock

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp. (NYSE: TPVG) (the "Company") today announced that it has priced an underwritten offering of 5,000,000 shares of its common stock resulting in net proceeds exclusive of offering expenses to the Company of approximately $68.25 million, or $13.65 per share. In connection with the offering, the Company has granted the underwriters for the offering an option to purchase up to an additional 750,000 shares of the Company's common stock. The Company expects to initially use all of the net proceeds from this offering to repay outstanding debt borrowed under its credit facility. However, through re-borrowing of the initial repayments under the credit facility, the Company intends to use the funds to make investments in accordance with its investment objectives and strategies, to pay its operating expenses and other cash obligations, and for general corporate purposes. Wells Fargo (News - Alert) Securities, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, A Stifel Company, are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Janney Montgomery Scott, JMP Securities (News - Alert), Ladenburg Thalmann and Nomura Securities International, Inc. are acting as co-managers for the offering. A shelf registration statement relating to the securities to be issued in the offering is on file with and has been declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC (News - Alert)"). The offering may be made only by means of a prospectus and a related prospectus supplement, copies of which may be obtained, when available, from any of the following investment banks: Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate at 375 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10152-4077, or by calling (800) 326-5897, or by email: < rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow" href="mailto:[email protected]" shape="rect">[email protected]; Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Attn: Prospectus Department - 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor - New York, NY 10014; Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, telephone: 1-866-471-2526, facsimile: 212-902-9316 or by emailing [email protected]; J.P. Morgan, Attention: Prospectus Department, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717, or by calling toll-free at (866) 803-9204; or Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., Attn: Capital Markets, 787 Seventh Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10019, telephone: 1-800-966-1559.



The preliminary prospectus supplement, dated January 8, 2020, and accompanying prospectus, dated June 5, 2019, each of which has been filed with the SEC, contain a description of these matters and other important information about the Company and should be read carefully before investing. Investors are advised to carefully consider the investment objectives, risks and charges and expenses of the Company before investing. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities in this offering or any other securities nor will there be any sale of these securities or any other securities referred to in this press release in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state or jurisdiction.

About TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp. The Company was formed to expand the venture growth stage business segment of TriplePoint Capital LLC, the leading global provider of financing across all stages of development to technology, life sciences and other high growth companies backed by a select group of venture capital firms. The Company's investment objective is to maximize its total return to stockholders primarily in the form of current income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation by lending primarily with warrants to venture growth stage companies. The Company is an externally managed, closed-end, non-diversified management investment company that has elected to be regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. Forward Looking Statements Statements included herein may constitute "forward-looking statements," which relate to future events or our future performance or financial condition. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, condition or results and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results and conditions may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including those described from time to time in our filings with the SEC. The Company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made herein. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200108005923/en/

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By John A. Tures

This past semester, we had a first-year student class at my college in which we focused on the book Educated by Tara Westover. Since her family members believe in a lot of conspiracy theories, I thought Id have the students myth-test some of these arguments. I had no idea that we would find such a sad case emerge, especially from the South Pacific.

Late in 2019, measles struck the island of Samoa with devastating effects. Normally this would not be a problem, but the island only had less than a third of the population vaccinated. As a result, there were more than 80 deaths, mostly small children. There were also thousands of cases. The island virtually shut down, as businesses and schools closed. The economic effects upon this tourist-dependent locale are likely to be devastating, as many decided to steer clear of Samoa. Theyre ramping up vaccination, but its too little too late for many.

Now you might wonder why so many decided not to take the practical decision to get vaccinated. There are two reasons. Last year, a nurse botched the administration of the measles vaccine, and two people died. But much of the reason stems from a resident who did everything he could to convince everyone not to get vaccinated. All you need to do is drink more papaya juice, he told his online readers.

This scoundrel has been since been arrested (defying a government order). I think thats a little extreme, and might feed into some more conspiracy theorists, making him out to be a martyr. But I can see why a public that was deceived would be a little more upset about this charlatan.

At the same time Samoa was overrun by the measles, two other South Pacific islands (Fiji and Tonga) also experienced measles. But both of these places had 90 percent vaccination rates, and neither had many cases. Fiji, for example, had 15 total cases, without any fatalities.

If you follow other places in the South Pacific, youll find another sad case. The Philippines, led by a president (Rodrigo Duterte) who dabbles in wild rumors and conspiracy theories to make his democracy a lot more authoritarian under his command, has only a 67 percent vaccination rate (public health officials recommend 90 percent vaccination rates to ward off the effects of the disease). As a result, The Philippines led Southeast Asia with the most cases, at 42,000. Singapore and Malaysia, with 95 percent vaccination rates, didnt even top 1,000 cases.

Why are such wild rumors spread? In the case of the anti-vaxxer family Westover writes about, the dad holds many anti-government views. He was abused by his father, a mailman, so that may be the source of such dangerous beliefs, and not rooted in science and evidence.

One of my students gave a strong argument for both sides when she covered the vaccination debate. One view was that measles isnt so bad, and not everyone dies. But then when we looked at what would happen if every American was exposed to it, we would have a year of 60,000-plus deaths in the United States. Those getting adversely affected by a measles vaccine were much fewer in number.

As we face another year in which a series of diseases threaten America, be sure youre getting some good information before making decisions. Such critical choices shouldnt be made just because you dont like another person or government. Lets learn from the Samoa case and look to science for explanations, insisting that such vaccines are held to the highest standards of safety before being employed.

John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His Twitter account is JohnTures2.
- The US-Iran tension erupted following assassination of Iran military leader Qassem Soleimani on Friday, January 3

- Iran government assured Kenyans they were safe and would not be caught up in the conflict

- The Middle East country also thanked Kenyans for their sympathy messages following the death of Soleimani

- Kenyans feared the country could be a target by Iran because of its close ties with the US

The Iranian government has assured Kenyans that they are safe and secure in the wake of the heightened tension between the United States and the Middle East country.

The Iranian embassy in Kenya doused the speculations that Kenya would be affected by the growing tension between the two states and said the country's relations with Tehran would not suffer.

READ ALSO: Netizens come up with hilarious ways Miguna can easily sneak back into Kenya

An Iran official, Tohid Afzali (pictured) said the relations between Kenya and Iran are still tight. Photo: The Standard.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Gor Mahia,Bandari earn nominations for SOYA Awards

Addressing the press on Wednesday, January 8, Tohid Afzali, an official from the embassy, said the Islamic state has never had problems with Kenya and will continue fostering the good relations.

"You are my good friend and I wish all Kenyans a long life. We are here to improve our long historied relations," said Afzali.

READ ALSO: Gavana Sonko asema amefilisika baada ya akaunti zake katika benki 9 kufungwa

Qassem Soleimani was killed after President Trump ordered an airstrike to strike him. Photo: BBC.

Source: UGC

He thanked Kenyans for the messages of sympathy since Soleimani died and reiterated that tea exports to Iran would not be thwarted by the status quo.

"The tea export from Kenya to Iran has not been affected by this tension," he affirmed.

On the death of the military leader, the Iran official said America would bear full responsibility for the assassination which he termed as horrific.

READ ALSO: Parents abandon two children inside house while escaping from landlord

Soleimani was killed on the morning of Friday, January 3, in an airstrike ordered by US President Donald Trump.

Trump said Americas decision to assassinate Irans top commander was taken in order to save lives while announcing Soleimanis reign of terror was over.

Two days after his execution, on Sunday, January 5, al-Shabaab militia launched an attack on Mandu Airstrip, Lamu county in what seemed like a retaliatory attack.

Kenya is perceived as a target for attacks because of its close ties with the United States.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

The Blind Tailor, I don't want people to pity me. I want them to be encouraged by my story | Tuko TV.

Source: TUKO.co.ke
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will not hold a special election to fill the congressional seat that will soon be vacated by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.).

Hunter, who represents the 50th Congressional District covering parts of San Diego and Riverside counties, announced on Tuesday that he is resigning, effective Monday. In 2018, Hunter and his wife, Margaret Hunter, were indicted and accused of stealing $250,000 in campaign funds, which was used to pay for personal items and his extramarital affair.

Hunter made a deal with prosecutors, and in December, pleaded guilty to a single felony count of conspiracy to convert campaign funds to personal use. He could receive up to five years in prison.

In a statement Wednesday, Newsom's office said that "based on the timing of the resignation, a special election will not be called." The state's primary is just two months away, and it would be difficult to either set up a special election or consolidate it with the primary, The San Diego Union-Tribune notes. The seat will stay vacant until after the general election in November, with the eventual winner being sworn in next January.

More stories from theweek.com

Trump now says climate change is 'serious' and not 'a hoax'

Iran denies shooting down Ukrainian airline, Ukraine is unsure, but evidence is mounting

Trump tells Toledo rally he 'saved' Ethiopia, laments he didn't get the Nobel Peace Prize for it


The Chandrapur police in Maharashtra have rescued a woman 10 years after she was abducted and 'sold' to a man in Haryana, an official said on Thursday.

The police arrested two women on December 4 for abducting the victim in 2010 when she was just 11 years old and selling her to a man in Haryana, sub-inspector Chanda Dandwate of Ramnagar police station said.

The woman, who had been sold at least seven times in the last 10 years, was sexually exploited during this period resulting in the birth of two children, she added.

The victim, who was 11 at the time, was playing near a temple in the Bengali Camp area of Maharashtra's Chandrapur city, when she was drugged and kidnapped by Janhvi Roy and Savitri Majumdhar, the official said.

She was first taken to Panipat in Haryana, where she was sold to a man, who confined her at a farm house and sexually exploited her, the official added.

The victim was also raped by other men in the man's family, as a result of which she gave birth to two children, Dandwate said.

The woman was last sold to one Dharmavir at Fatehabad in Haryana, who kept her in a rented room, she said.

It was here that the owner of the accommodation found something suspicious about her and informed the police, following which she was rescued.

A team from Ramnagar police reached Fatehabad and brought the woman back to Chandrapur, the official said, adding that the Haryana police have also arrested 10 persons in this regard.

The police have started investigating cases of girls who have been reported missing in the last few years, Dandwate said.

The accused women have been charged under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, she said.

The case is in initial stages of investigation, the official added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Fox News foreign correspondent and Hershey, Pa., native Trey Yingst is based in Jerusalem, but has been called upon to report live across the Middle East, including in Iraq. Read more

Trey Yingst isnt getting much sleep these days.

The 26-year-old Fox News foreign correspondent is in Baghdad reporting on the tension among the United States, Iraq, and Iran after the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. At one point this week, Yingst said, he stayed awake for more than 48 hours straight, and over that time did more than 50 news hits across various Fox News programs.

But dont feel bad for Yingst  hes doing the job he dreamed of growing up in Harrisburg watching news reports from around the globe. Normally based in Jerusalem, Yingst became focused on Iraq after a tense, two-day siege by pro-Iranian demonstrators at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad earlier this month. Hes remained to cover the killing of Soleimani and a missile attack this week on bases used by U.S. troops.

Im a news junkie, and for me the news is part of my identity, Yingst said in a phone interview. Hes modeled his approach to being a war correspondent after no-nonsense icons like Walter Cronkite, who like Yingst loved a good suit and stuck to the facts.

Despite having just joined Fox News in 2018, Yingst hasnt been afraid to challenge assertions made by the Trump administration on the presidents favorite network. Last week, during a report on Fox & Friends, Yingst called out Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for claiming Soleimanis killing would lead to a de-escalation in Iran.

Lets be very clear about something: The assassination of the most powerful military leader in Iran is not a de-escalating act, Yingst said.

On Tuesday, Yingst again pushed back against the administration, this time on claims made by Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who downplayed a vote by the Iraqi parliament to expel U.S. troops from the country.

Yingst described Espers comments as a shocking lack of understanding from Americas top defense official about whats actually happening on the ground here in Iraq.

No, I havent heard anything, Yingst said when asked if he received any blowback from the Trump administration over his reports.

Yingst has been reporting from dangerous areas since his freshman year at American University, when as a 20-year-old he was the youngest credentialed member of the press to cover fighting along the Gaza Strip. Hes also spent time in Ukraine, Rwanda, and Uganda.

After graduating from college, he took a job with One America News Network, a pro-Trump news channel that rarely bucks the president. But Yingsts bluntness was visible during his 16-month stint as the networks chief Washington correspondent. During one exchange in 2017, Yingst refused to let then-White House press secretary Sarah Sanders off the hook when it came to a false statement made by the president about taxes.

Im not a huge fan of politics  I wouldnt say its my passion," Yingst said. Im much more interested in foreign policy and travel, so the job at Fox News aligned more with what I was interested in.

 READ MORE: Robert Menendez and Andy Kim are playing vocal roles amid the Iran crisis

Speaking from Baghdad on Wednesday, Yingst talked about the dangerous situation on the ground and why its difficult for TV news networks to report there live. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Its become hard to report live from Iraq. In fact, youre one of the few U.S. TV reporters on the ground there.

The visa process is very difficult.  Im using a local crew on this assignment because the visas are so difficult. I normally travel with my crew from Jerusalem.

Also, for the past few days, reporting is really dangerous right now for Americans in Baghdad because theres basically a target on our backs.  Theres a security team with me in Baghdad, four security guards and two armored vehicles. These are all precautions Fox is taking because they understand the risk of an assignment like this.

Whats something going on now in Iraq you think most Americans should know about?

The Iranian presence here in Baghdad is very extensive. Its like an octopus tentacles, its reaching all over.

Who were the correspondents you grew up watching who helped you decide you wanted to do this as a career?

The journalists I looked up to and watched a lot were Arwa Damon, Clarissa Ward, Steve Harrigan, and Anderson Cooper. I always followed war correspondents because I thought it was so cool they could go to a different part of the world where things were totally different from where they lived and grew up.  They all were able to humanize stories in a way I really respected.

How often do you communicate with your parents, and do they worry about your safety?

Oh, yeah. Theyre in Harrisburg and I talk to them all the time, but theyre Mom and Dad, and theyre worried about my safety.  This isnt the only conflict zone Ive reported from, and I cant say theyre always thrilled, but they know this is what Im passionate about and love to do.
Family and friends of former Belfast Telegraph journalist Betty Rainsford (nee Lowry) came together to pay their respects at her funeral on Thursday.

The pioneering journalist died peacefully on Christmas Eve at the sheltered housing facility where she had lived for a number of years.

She was 99 years old.

Officiating at the funeral service, held in St Columbanus' Church in Ballyholme, Co Down, was Rector Simon Doogan, who spoke movingly of the "old-fashioned Christian" he had come to know.

Expand Close Mourners at the funeral of Betty Rainsford, former womens editor of the Belfast Telegraph Kevin Scott / Facebook

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Whatsapp Mourners at the funeral of Betty Rainsford, former womens editor of the Belfast Telegraph

"When I first arrived in Ballyholme in 2008 Betty had just about the shortest commute to church of all our parishioners," the clergyman said.

"She lived just along the road from St Columbanus in the family home on the Groomsport Road, and right up until her move to Abbeyfield the path between the two doors was extremely well-trodden.

"The failing state of Betty's short-term memory became increasingly a factor, but a combination of self-deprecating Ulster modesty and simple, old-fashioned Christian humility, meant Betty never wore her considerable professional achievements on her sleeve. Betty died on Christmas Eve, departing this world the night we celebrated her saviour's arrival into it," the rector told the congregation.

Betty, who was married to decorated serviceman Lt Col (Ret) Bathoe Rainsford, has been credited with helping blaze the trail for other female journalists in Northern Ireland.

She was women's editor of the Belfast Telegraph for 20 years, as well as being a hugely respected drama critic whose reviews could make or break a play.

Betty, who had joined the staff of the Belfast Telegraph as a reporter in 1956, covered a varied mix of stories, including politics.

Several of her analytical pieces are still widely quoted on the internet and in books.

She retired from her post at the Belfast Telegraph in 1981.
Michael Bloomberg Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Not long ago, my teenaged kids and one of their friends asked me what I thought about Michael Bloombergs presidential campaign. The question momentarily took me aback, since even though I spend hours a day following campaign coverage, so little of that coverage is devoted to Bloomberg, who has barely campaigned yet, I almost forgot he declared his candidacy a couple months ago. But ads for Bloombergs campaign  unlike ads for nearly all the other candidates I do read about  have found their way onto whatever screens my kids look at. That is not surprising, since Bloomberg is spending far more than all the other Democratic candidates combined. He is creeping up in the national polls, having crossed the 5 percent mark.

I am not endorsing Bloomberg for president. In point of fact, Ive changed my mind on who I plan to vote for several times and may change it again. But the notion that once struck me as totally ridiculous, and is still not taken seriously by many political journalists or party officials, may not be crazy. Against Bloombergs liabilities  and there are many, which I will discuss below  his candidacy would bring some enormous advantages.

1. Money. Back to School is a 1987 comedy in which Rodney Dangerfield plays a declasse millionaire who buys his way into college. A professor objects to admitting a rich guy simply because he donated to the school, to which the dean replies, I dont think Dr. Barbay understands the actual amounts that are involved here.

You surely realize that Bloomberg is a very wealthy individual with the ability to self-fund, but you may not have focused on the actual amount of money Bloomberg could bring to bear on the campaign. It is beyond any experience in presidential history. In the last presidential election, Donald Trump spent $343 million. Spending by both sides, including outside money, barely exceeded $1 billion. Bloomberg is personally worth $56 billion. If nominated, he could easily part with one-tenth of his fortune and outspend the entire Republican party by five to one.

The evidence of the effect of political spending is mixed. Studies have reached contradictory conclusions on the marginal benefits of voter-registration drives, turnout operations, and paid advertising. But it seems fair to guess that potential outspending your opponent by five or ten to one on all these things is probably worth a couple points in the polls.

2. Climate. Bloombergs commitment to the progressive agenda may be, on the whole, shallower and narrower than other candidates. But climate change is an issue on which the sincerity of his commitment cannot be seriously questioned. He has poured energy and hundreds of millions of dollars into the cause, giving it a singular priority no other candidate (except the departed Jay Inslee) can match.

It may well be true that Bloomberg would give lower prioritization to issues that the Democrats would emphasize  like social welfare spending or regulation of finance and other industries  but he will not give climate change short shrift. And climate change is a very good issue, perhaps the best issue, to emphasize. The next Democratic president after Bloomberg can always come along and crack down on Wall Street, but the timing of the climate emergency presents no such luxury. The losses caused by climate change are irreversible. And since climate change is probably never going to be an urgent first-order concern for voters, having a president with a sincere commitment to the issue over populist reforms with more short-term popularity actually matters a lot.

3. Competence. Bloomberg ran a city with a population that exceeds that of 38 states. It has more than twice as many people as Arkansas, the governorship of which was considered a perfectly satisfactory resume for Bill Clinton. And while his stewardship was not always agreeable, it was generally quite efficient.

The same holds true of his environmental activism. Michael Grunwald reported on Bloombergs Beyond Coal activism, which helped force 300 coal plants to close, and which has caused the dirtiest power source to continue shrinking despite Trumps efforts to revive it. (Bloomberg has since broadened his objective to Beyond Carbon, taking on the harder task of replacing natural gas with zero-emission fuel.) Bloomberg obviously had the advantage of enormous resources to support this project, but the fossil-fuel lobby is hardly poor. In any case, lots of wealthy people have spent lavish sums on political projects to no avail. Bloomberg has quite a lot to show for his money.

++

What about the downsides? There are plenty of them. In general, Bloombergs ideological orientation is an awkward fit for the Electoral College. He leans left on social issues and right on economics, while the states with the greatest chance to swing the election  Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin  have disproportionate numbers of working-class voters whose instincts run in the opposite direction. The kind of populist language to which Trump is vulnerable does not come naturally to Bloomberg.

If elected, Democrats would have good cause to distrust his instincts. Bloomberg is close to Wall Street, which he ludicrously absolved of blame for the financial crisis, and is generally over-trusting of the rich. Only after announcing his candidacy did he offer belated and a patently insincere apology for the stop-and-frisk policy that justifiably angered so many of his nonwhite constituents.

But some of these concerns would be resolved simply by dint of Bloomberg running as a Democrat. This is an era of party government, and while the presidents talents and beliefs matter, the personal idiosyncrasies of any one officeholder are usually swallowed up by his political coalition. This is why Donald Trump defied the distrust of his fellow conservatives and has governed in an ideologically  if not personally  conventional style. Bloombergs platform has largely converged with the Democratic mainstream.

Whether his commitments to party constituencies are sincere hardly matters, because his incentive to hold together his coalition is the binding force. Trump used to identify as a proudly pro-choice Democrat, and then as an independent. No reversal was more laughably insincere than Trumps conversion to the pro-life cause, yet he has held to that stance because it is in his interest as a Republican to do so.

Bloomberg would be a seriously flawed candidate. But the campaign seems to be exposing all the candidates as seriously flawed, while frequently generating new flaws as they and their supporters tear each other to shreds. Whoever survives the primary, which still has months to go, will face a well-funded incumbent president benefitting from a mature economic expansion he inherited. Winning the presidential election is starting to look hard. How about buying it instead?
Kochi, Jan 8 : Fisheries expert John Kurien on Wednesday called the need for a more fisherman-friendly approach which includes apt housing, inclusion of the subject in the Constitution's concurrent lists, fishing zones should be earmarked and their expertise be utilised in the wake of climate change phenomenon.

Kurien made his suggestions while taking part in the ongoing third international marine symposium held at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) here.

A former faculty at the Centre for Development Studies in the state capital and presently visiting professor at the Azim Premji University, Bangaluru, he said that the fishers should be given land for housing on the right side of the coastal road, 200 metres from the sea, and the rehabilitation should never be in such a way that harms their livelihood.

"Many of the coastal villages are increasingly reeling under severe sea erosion and the fishermen community deserves a secure dwelling place, but a sea wall has never become an ideal solution.

"At the same time, the attempts to move fishing community into faraway places from the coastal belt should be avoided, as this will definitely affect their livelihood," he added.

"Marine fisheries should be moved into concurrent list of the Constitution by ensuring enough room for consultation between the centre and states. This would help uniform regulations in the sector. Cooperative federalism in regulation and management of territorial sea would be ideal," said Kurien.

Touching upon the ecosystem destruction and overfishing, Kurien said "that internal waters and territorial sea within 12 nautical miles should be free from trawling, pursue-seining and corporate fishing. These waters should be exclusive zone for small-scale fishing".

He further said that fishermen should be given the right of the first sale of the fish caught by them.

"Against the backdrop of the climate change, the traditional knowledge of the coastal people should be utilised for identifying the indications of ecosystem changes due to climatic reasons. The scientific community should come forward to integrate this knowledge in their scientific studies," added Kurien.
Nearly nine months after the 38-year-old Elite Cafe shuttered on Fillmore Street, a new tenant is looking to move into the vacant spot.

Restaurateur Adriano Paganini, who founded restaurant group Back of the House, Inc., will take over the space at 2049 Fillmore St., according to a report by SFist.

Its unclear at this time what Paganinis newest restaurant will be named, though SFist reports it will serve Italian fare. Back of the House is the restaurant group behind a Mano, barvale, Beretta, Delarosa, El Techo, plus newcomer and vegan concept restaurant Wildseed.

In April, Elite Cafe owner Andrew Chun told the Chronicle the longstanding business would close because of San Franciscos high operating costs. Chun, who took over Elite Cafe in 2016, initially planned to operate the New Orleans-themed restaurant until 2 a.m. to attract the late-night crowd, though that plan was never fruitful.

We really thought we could bring in a drinking crowd, Chun told the Chronicle. But with the neighborhood the way it is, last call was happening like at 10 p.m.

Elements of the former restaurant are also expected to change as the new business moves in. According to by The New Fillmore, renovation of the structure began last month and the dark paint featured on the outside of the building could be restored back to the original Art Deco facade.

We reached out to Back of the House for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication. Well update the story if we hear back.

Susana Guerrero is an SFGATE digital reporter. Email: Susana.Guerrero@sfgate.com | Twitter: @SusyGuerrero3
Find all our Student Opinion questions here.

When was the last time you complained? What was it about?

Do you voice your negative feelings often? Only when something really bad or frustrating happens? Or never? How healthy do you think your habit of complaining  or not complaining  is?

In Go Ahead and Complain. It Might Be Good for You, Micaela Marini Higgs writes about how griping can actually be productive sometimes:

Weve all done it: Whether its about traffic, our boss or our partners annoying habits, complaining is just something we do, like breathing  though hopefully not as often, said Robin Kowalski, a professor of psychology at Clemson University.

Even though it may come naturally, griping isnt necessarily always a good thing. Ruminating on negative feelings, and reinforcing them through constant discussion with other people, can lead to catastrophizing, which is something that can contribute to depression, said Margot Bastin, who studies communication between friends at the department of School Psychology and Development in Context at the Belgian university KU Leuven.

This can happen because the more you do something, the more entrenched that path becomes in your brain and the more you continue to do it, said Angela Grice, a speech language pathologist specializing in the use of mindfulness-based practices and who previously researched executive functions and neuroscience at Howard University and the Neurocognition of Language Lab at Columbia University.

Constantly complaining can be an easy way to frustrate our confidantes, but there is research that shows it can also be a useful tool in bonding and helping us process emotions like stress and frustration.

In short: Yes, its good to complain, yes, its bad to complain, and yes, theres a right way to do it, Dr. Kowalski said.

The trick to doing it right starts with understanding how the word complaining is often misused to describe a variety of behaviors, with some being more harmful or helpful than others. Teasing apart these distinctions requires vocabulary that varies between experts, but there are roughly three categories: venting, problem solving and ruminating, otherwise known as dwelling. Knowing which behavior youre engaging in, and with what purpose, can help you put in place habits that will not only make your complaining much more strategic, but also help improve your emotional health and build stronger relationships with the people around you.
The Albuquerque Police Department has released the names of two men killed in separate shootings in the city over the first week of 2020.

Gilbert Gallegos, an APD spokesman, said Vicente Romero, 23, was slain on Jan. 1 outside a northwest Albuquerque townhouse.

Less than a week later, Thomas Gonzales, 34, was killed in a southeast Albuquerque mobile home park.

No arrests have been made in either case.

It was just hours into the new year when officers responded to the first shooting around 2 a.m. in the 3900 block of Ladera NW, near Atrisco. When police arrived, they found several people at the home and an unconscious Romero lying in the driveway. Paramedics couldnt revive him.

Police say a second man was also injured in the shooting and dropped off at the hospital. That man is expected to survive. His role in the incident is unclear.

The Quay County Sun reported that Romero is a Tucumcari native and a relative told the publication that three suspects are being investigated in connection with Romeros death.

Then, on Sunday night, police responded to a shooting around 9 p.m. at a mobile home park in the 9000 block of Zuni SE, near Wyoming. Officers found Gonzales dead from a gunshot wound.

The incidents came on the heels of a record-breaking year of homicides, with 82 killings in 2019. It was the highest number in recent history, surpassing the previous record of 72 in 2017.
Appointment

9 January 2020

The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, has appointed Chef Davide Allievi to its culinary team. He has arrived on Nusa Dua Bali direct from a period as Chef de Cuisine for the Michelin Plate winning Limoni Italian Restaurant at The Ritz Carlton Guangzhou, China.

As a young and contemporary Italian Chef, Davide Allievi is expected to bring passion, energy and innovation to his new role at the resort. He comes with an impressive background and valuable Michelin Star kitchen experience. Born and raised in Italy, Chef Davide has a Culinary Arts Diploma from the Instituto Paritario Professionale "Michele Pinto". Upon completing his studies, he embarked on a culinary career and fine-tuned his skills with a succession of jobs in Italy and London.

Once armed with a wealth of expertise as a Sous Chef, he relocated to Beijing, China in 2016 where he took charge of the daily operations of a gourmet restaurant and bakery. Chef Davide remained in the Chinese capital for another year before accepting a position as Chef de Cuisine at Il Forno Italian Restaurant in Grand Hyatt Chenyang.

Now Chef Davide finds himself on the island of Bali where he is responsible for Prego, a Westin concept restaurant that puts the fun back into Italian dining. This family-friendly venue satisfies appetites with its generous portions of classic pasta dishes, regional specialties and pizzas that represent real value for money.

Once he is familiar with the availability of local ingredients, Chef Davide is looking forward to revitalizing the menu at Prego and putting his own signature on each dish. He will also take the restaurant's Brunch Infinito to the next level with lots of delicious dishes and live cooking options.
Steve Irwin would be in 'a lot of distress' over the Australian bushfires if he were alive today, according to his son.

Robert Irwin Jr., 16, spoke about the 'heartbreaking' blazes this week in an interview with Access Daily alongside his mother, Terri.

It's estimated that more than a billion animals have perished in the wildfires so far.

'It's heartbreaking': Robert Irwin Jr. (left) spoke to Access Daily about the 'heartbreaking' Australian bushfires this week alongside his mother, Terri (right)

'For us as a family, our mission and our goal has always been to continue the wildlife work that dad started so many years ago,' Robert said.

'And if he was here today, he would be in a lot of distress about what's going on.

'We definitely feel like we're doing everything we can, but it's hard not to feel a little bit hopeless with everything that's happening.'

Steve died in September 2006 at the age of 44, after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming a wildlife documentary in Batt Reef, Queensland.

Legacy: Robert said that his late father, Steve Irwin (pictured), 'would be in a lot of distress' if he were alive to see the devastating wildfires

Sad loss: Steve died in September 2006 at the age of 44, after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming a wildlife documentary in Batt Reef, Queensland. Pictured: Steve and Robert in December 2005

Despite the unprecedented scale of the disaster, Robert said that 'Australians are amazing at banding together' and will eventually 'get through it'.

On Wednesday, Robert's sister, Bindi Irwin, 21, revealed that she wished their father was still alive so they could benefit from his 'advice and strength'.

'Dad spent his life working so hard to protect wildlife and wild places, especially in Australia,' she wrote on Instagram.

Wildlife warrior: On Wednesday, Robert's sister, Bindi Irwin (pictured), revealed that she wished their father was still alive so they could benefit from his 'advice and strength'

'I wish he was here right now to give advice and strength during this time of devastation with the bushfires.'

Bindi added: 'I know that his spirit lives on through our conservation work and I hope together we can make him proud.'

The Australian bushfires have killed at least 25 people and an estimated billion animals, while more than 1,800 homes have also been destroyed.
Ethereum research scientist Virgil Griffith has now been formally charged for allegedly assisting North Korea in learning more about blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

Inner City Press reported the news on Wednesday, saying that Griffith has been indicted for "conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Griffith was arrested in November on federal charges of illegally traveling to North Korea in April and presenting at the "Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference," despite the U.S. Department of State denying his permission to travel to the country.

He was then first denied bail and was later granted bail on a condition that his family secures a $1 million bond. Griffith's lawyer Brian Klein at the time also mentioned that Griffith has been suspended from the Ethereum Foundation, although the foundation is in support of Griffith.



According to Wednesday's report, Griffith has still not been released. "He has not satisfied his bail conditions yet. Still awaiting the approval of his co-signers and the posting of properties as collateral," per the report.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons, the agency under the Department of Justice responsible for the custody of incarcerated individuals, also shows that Griffith is still locked up.
New Delhi: Tamil Nadu Police recently busted a Jihadi Terror Module that was planning to unleash terror attacks in different parts of the country. The police arrested 8 persons- 5 from Tamil Nadu and 3 from Bengaluru, besides recovering weapons and ammunition from their possession. The culprits were later produced before a Chennai court which remanded them to judicial custody.

According to the Tamil Nadu police, three culprits arrested from Bengaluru are Mohammed Haneef Khan (29 yrs), s/o Abdul Hameed, Imran Khan (32 yrs), s/o Usman Gani, and Mohammed Zaid (24 yrs) s/o Abdul Subhanall. These jihadi elements were reportedly arrested by the Q branch of Tamil Nadu police with the assistance of Karnataka Police and other sister agencies.

Tamil Nadu Police had launched the operation to track their activities in various states, which were informed about the movement of these culprits and their cooperation was also solicited.

Live TV

The Intelligence wing of Tamil Nadu Police got the information that few fundamentalist elements were making preparations to wage a Jihad (Fight against the enemies of Islam) at various places in the country. These culprits, however, managed to disappear from the state in the 3rd week of December 2019.

Some of them are also involved in various communal activities including one case of a sensational murder. The module has developed a link with a similar module in Bengaluru, and was spreading its tentacles to different parts of the country, the police said.
The United States and Iran, while appearing Wednesday to step back from the verge of war, offered little indication there was any give in the irreconcilable demands that brought them to the brink in the first place.

On the morning after Tuesday night's Iranian missile attack on U.S. military forces in Iraq - what Iran said was "revenge" for Friday's U.S. drone strike that killed Quds Force leader Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani - both countries indicated that they would stand down.

In an address to the nation, President Donald Trump said the United States was "ready to embrace peace" and that the two countries should work together on shared priorities.

But any thought that he would use the occasion to provide an incentive in that direction was quashed when Trump announced "additional punishing sanctions on the Iranian regime," penalties that he said "will remain until Iran changes its behavior."

No details of new sanctions were immediately provided. Escalating U.S. sanctions have progressively crippled the Iranian economy by sharply curtailing oil exports and trade with other nations.

In his own televised address, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said with apparent satisfaction that Iran had delivered a slap to America's face, though the missile strikes caused little damage and no casualties. But there would be no peace, he said, until the United States changed its own behavior, including by completely withdrawing its military forces from the region.

"The U.S. enmity toward Iran is not temporary. It's inherent," Khamenei said, according to Iranian media reports. "It is a gross mistake to think if we took a step back and compromised, the United States would stop."

Those who may have expected that the possibility of an actual shooting war might push U.S.-Iranian hostility toward an off-ramp had reason to be disappointed.

"The good news is that both sides have added that element of 'we don't want war; we want to avoid escalating further,' " said Ariane Tabatabai, an analyst with the Rand Corporation.

But the reality, she said, is "not just that neither side is changing its demands, it's also that neither side is really changing the way it's been behaving."

There is little expectation that Iran will stop its support for proxy groups that have pushed its interests in the region, often with lethal force and terrorism. Soleimani's direction of those groups, in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen - as well as in Iraq, where the Quds Force supplied sophisticated roadside bombs that killed hundreds of U.S. troops during the American occupation of that country - was the U.S. justification for targeting him.

Most recently, the administration has charged, Soleimani directed a late-December attack by Iranian-allied Iraqi militia forces against U.S. personnel in Iraq that left an American contractor dead and orchestrated a subsequent assault on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

"In recent days, he was planning new attacks on American targets," Trump said Wednesday of Soleimani, as senior administration officials traveled to Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers on the intelligence backing up that claim.

Democratic lawmakers, as well as a handful of Republicans, remained skeptical and charged that the briefers provided little beyond vague intimations of threats. Democrats have called for legislative action to rein in the president, worried that Trump may again move toward escalation.

But as the administration contemplates where its Iran policy goes from here, others continued to applaud the Soleimani strike as long-overdue evidence that Trump was willing to back up his threats against Tehran.

"Before last week, the real danger was that American military deterrence vis-a-vis Iran was in free fall," said John Hannah, who served as Vice President Richard B. Cheney's national security adviser and is now a senior counselor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which advocates a tough line against Iran.

"Any red lines" set by Trump "were increasingly in question in the minds of the Iranian leadership," Hannah said.

Trump came to office focused on Iran, with little give in his position even as he moved to establish closer relations with U.S. adversaries such as North Korea, Russia and China. Just weeks into his administration, his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, called a news conference to put Iran "on notice" that the United States would no longer put up with what it saw as the appeasement practiced by Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama.

In particular, Trump railed against the nuclear deal that Obama, along with major European powers, and Russia and China, had negotiated with Iran.

But for his first year in office, to the dismay of hard-liners who saw his instincts stymied by moderates within his Cabinet, the president seemed to be all talk.

One such moment came in May 2017, as Trump was preparing to leave for Saudi Arabia on his first overseas trip as president. When Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh, the president pressed for options from the Pentagon, including striking Iranian missile factories or hitting Iranian speedboats that routinely harassed U.S. naval vessels, and a plan to kill Soleimani, according to two White House officials at that time.

When the Pentagon, under the leadership of then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, demurred, the options were not pursued, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Events leading to the current crisis were not set in motion until May 2018, when Trump finally took action to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal. John Bolton, his new national security adviser and a longtime advocate of a hard line against Iran, announced the deployment of additional air and naval forces to the Persian Gulf "to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force."

The then-new secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, quickly announced 12 demands Iran would have to meet before the United States would relent, including harsh restrictions within a new nuclear deal, the end of all support for proxy groups, and curbing its development of ballistic missiles.

Within months, the administration had begun a campaign of "maximum pressure" against Iran, including tough economic sanctions.

Early last year, when Iran and its proxies began provocative attacks against U.S. interests and allies, the administration again promised a tough response. But those promises appeared toothless when Trump ordered, and then pulled back from, planned U.S. strikes against Iranian targets after the shoot-down of a U.S. surveillance drone in June.

Through the fall, as Iranian taunts continued with attacks on Persian Gulf shipping and Saudi oil facilities, Trump himself was said to be worried that he appeared weak as he headed toward his reelection. Bolton's promise of "unrelenting force," Hannah recalled, "was almost meaningless."

When an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia group attacked U.S. forces last month, killing an American contractor - followed by an assault by demonstrators on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad - Trump was presented with a new opportunity, and Soleimani was targeted.

Each country has now indicated that the ball is in the other's court.

- - -

The Washington Post's Greg Jaffe contributed to this report.
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], Jan 9 (ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will boycott the next week's opposition meeting in Delhi, alleging that Congress and Left parties are playing dirty politics in the state.



The TMC supremo said that she will fight against the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) alone.

The meeting is scheduled to take place on January 13.

Banerjee has been a vocal opponent of the CAA and NRC. She has also said that both CAA and NRC will be not implemented in the state.

For quite some time, she has been organising mega rallies against the CAA and the NRC and has launched attacks on the BJP-led central government over these issues. (ANI)


- Chad da Don has already moved on with his life after he and Kelly Khumalo ended their relationship

- The two were one of Mzansi's favourite couples and many people were, and still are, upset by the break-up

- Chad, however, isn't at all bothered by it and isn't losing sleep over the hate he's been getting

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Kelly Khumalo and Chad da Don's fans were heartbroken when the couple called it quits - they were seen as perfect.

Since then, Chad has moved on and found himself a new lady to love not long after the break-up.

Chad and Carla Poggenpoel seem to be very much in love, despite some peeps calling their relationship a 'PR stunt'.

Not that he is bothered by any of the bad vibes and hate that he has been getting. In fact, he doesn't lose sleep over it.

READ ALSO: Kayise Ngqula ready to get back to work following loss of husband

One of Chad's fans reached out to him on Instagram, saying that all that really matters is that he is happy.

The muso responded by saying that lions do not lose sleep over the opinions of sheep. That's one way to tell haters to get lost and stop wasting their time.

Clearly, Chad has better things to do than worry about the things that people say.

Chad's not losing any sleep. (Image Source: Chad da Don/Instagram)

Source: Instagram

Meanwhile, Kelly has also moved on with her life and is focusing on her career. Briefly.co.za reported earlier that she is set on making gospel music.

She's even considering giving up any other kinds of music altogether to focus on only religious work.

While she's making the most of her singing talent, Kelly is also enjoying being a mother and adore her children.

Enjoyed reading our story? Download BRIEFLY's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major South African news!

Source: Briefly News
Hardy was inspired by feeling more productive after a nap and also travel, where she had to check out of a hotel but wished she had a spot to rest before a flight. Plus, sometimes she found herself with extra time downtown between appointments and could have used a quiet space.
By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: Happiness of the 20 fishermen, who were released from Pakistan jail, knew no bounds when they met Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at his camp office in Tadepalli on Wednesday.

Not just for coming back to the State after spending 15 months in Pakistan jail, the fishermen were happy as they got a surprise gift from Jagan  Rs 5 lakh financial aid for them to start life anew.

When the fishermen entered the CMs chambers along with Fisheries Minister Mopidevi Venkataramana Rao, Jagan welcomed and interacted with them personally. Jagan consoled them and asked about their whereabouts.

The 20 fishermen conveyed their gratitude to Jagan for keeping his poll promise of bringing them back.

Its a second birth for all of us. We will be indebted to CM Jagan for reuniting us with our families, said fisherman Mailapalli Guruvulu. In November 2018, as many as 21 fishermen from Andhra Pradesh and one from Assam were detained by Pakistan maritime agencies for allegedly entering their territorial waters.

Recalling the fateful day, 18-year-old Narsing from Tippalavalasa village of Vizianagaram said 22 fishermen in four boats went for a hunt in the Arabian Sea from Veraval Port in Gir Somnath district in Gujarat. Due to heavy winds, they lost control of the boat.

When we were waiting for the sea to settle after dropping the anchor, two Navy boats were seen approaching us. But to our shock, we found that the boats belong to Pakistan Navy. We didnt know that we ventured into Pakistan territory.

The Pakistan Navy officials collected details from us and handed us over to police. Two days later, they produced us before a court which sent us to Malir district jail in Landhi town, Karachi, Narsing said.

Recalling horrendous incidents faced in Pakistan jail for the past 15 months, he said that the Pakistan Navy and police treated them inhumanely and they didnt even get sufficient food in the jail.

I was 17 when they arrested me. Now Im 18. We spent sleepless nights in the jail thinking of our families. They have beaten us for no reason, Narsing said with tears in his eyes.

Another fisherman Badi Appanna said that the fishermen from India were being treated harshly in Pakistan jails.

While some were told to clean toilets in jail, the remaining used to clean the jail, he recalls.

We requested Jagan to build fishing points in Vizianagaram and Srikakulam so that no fishermen will face the pain in future, Appana said.
Maharashtra BJP leader Ashish Shelar on Wednesday took potshots at actor Deepika Padukone, who visited Delhi's JNU post violence, saying she should not try to act like warrior Mastani, because "she does not have a real-life director behind her".

Padukone had expressed solidarity with Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students attacked by masked goons inside the campus in Delhi on Sunday night. She also visited the university campus on Tuesday. She was trolled on social media for her gesture.

Speaking in the premises of Vidhan Bhavan here, former school education minister Shelar said, It is easy to portray the character of warrior Mastani, when you have a direct like Sanjay Leela Bhansali behind you.

"But in real-life when she does not have a director behind her, (then) she should not try to portray herself as a warrior or Mastani because it is now clear that she is unable to live that kind of life in reality, Shelar said.

Padukone had featured in Hindi film 'Bajirao Mastani', a 2015 historical romance film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Mastani was a warrior during the Peshwa rule.

He called the actor's act of meeting some JNU attack victims as "insensitive and inappropriate".

The BJP leader said, She has shown insensitivity by meeting just one side of the people in the JNU violence. The incident is being probed by the police. So, meeting just one side of the people is inappropriate, obviously she is in trouble."

We condemn and reject her step. We find it (her act) insensitive, said the BJP leader.

Padukones visit to the JNU brought her under attack on social media, while activists and some politicians applauded her gesture.
U.S. and Iran

Regarding U.S. braces for tit-for-tat strike, (A1, Jan. 7): The killing of Iranian general Soleimani is not a game changer. As we have seen before, the killing of individuals, no matter how important they may have been, does not change the dynamics of the war on terror on the ground. There appears to be no coherent strategy for confronting Iran besides sanctions, bullying, threats and now political assassinations. With his bellicose rants, Trump has painted himself into a corner with Iran. The main hope appears that the Iranian people will demand and institute regime change. Hope does spring eternal.

Gonzalo Martinez, La Porte

Anti-Semitic attacks

Regarding Stand together, (A9, Dec. 31):

The board diagnosed the problem of rampant Jew-hating in this country, which has led to a nightmarish cascade of hate crimes against us. And yet, when looking for the cause,the board simply telegraphed its own timorousness in an attempt to sound nonpartisan.

And even while white supremacists led the chant of Jews will not replace us! at a 2017 Charlottesville, Va., rally, the board wrote, anti-Semitism can come from across the political spectrum.

To reiterate what happened in 2017: Nazis marched in the downtown of an American city, and the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, called them very fine people. And yet, the board seems to think the real problem is coming from Democrats?

The first person against whom the board takes aim is Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., one of the first Muslim women ever elected to Congress, and a favorite target of the alt-right. The board accuses Omar of tying Jews loyalty to Israel, yet it is Trump who has done that time and time again.

In 2018, a domestic terrorist murdered a score of Jews praying at their local synagogue in Pittsburgh. The terrorists manifesto blamed philanthropist George Soros, just as the entire far-right ecosystem does for any and all ills of society. In the aftermath of that tragedy, the board lambasted not only Trump, but the entire GOP, all the way down to now-former Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart, for peddling anti-Semitism.

This time, with the terrorists politics still unclear, the board has seen it fit to peddle the deleterious both sides mantra.

Noah M. Horwitz, Houston
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Trump says US will impose new sanctions against Iran after Tehran's retaliation

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 08 January 2020 5:12 PM

US President Donald Trump says his administration will impose new sanctions against Iran and will ask the NATO military alliance to get more involved in the Middle East following Iran's retaliation for the US assassination of a top Iranian general.

Trump made the comments from the White House on Wednesday after Iran launched more than a dozen missiles on two airbases in Iraq housing US troops.

Trump also called on Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China to break off from the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran.

Trump, a stern critic of the historic deal, unilaterally pulled Washington out of the JCPOA in May 2018, and unleashed the "toughest ever" sanctions against the Islamic Republic in defiance of global criticism in an attempt to strangle the Iranian oil trade.

The Iranian government announced in a statement on Sunday that the country will no longer observe operational limitations on its nuclear industry, including with regard to the capacity and level of uranium enrichment, the amount of enriched materials as well as research and development.

"As we continue to evaluate options in response to Iranian aggression, the United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime. These powerful sanctions will remain until Iran changes its behavior," Trump said in his address.

Trump's latest threat and baseless accusations against Iran comes despite his own massively provocative and unjustified killing of Iran's most prominent anti-terror commander.

The US military carried out an airstrike on the direction of Trump at Baghdad's international airport early on Friday, assassinating Iranian Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and the second-in-command of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, as well as eight other companions.

Early on Wednesday, Iran responded to the assassination of Soleimani, the Middle East's most prominent anti-terror commander, striking the American airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq and another in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

US officials have so far declined to release any information about the damage to their bases or casualties inflicted by the missile strikes.

Iran's missile attack on US bases in Iraq was in defiance of Trump's threats to Iran not to retaliate and presents him with the biggest crisis of his presidency to date, according to an editorial by CNN.

"In effect, Iran called President Donald Trump's bluff, dismissing his warnings that it should not respond to his own massively provocative move of killing" Soleimani, CNN said in its editorial on Wednesday.

In his speech, Trump also said he plans to ask NATO allies to "become much more involved in the Middle East process."

The US-led NATO military alliance announced Tuesday plans for a temporary withdrawal of some of its troops and personnel from Iraq following America's assassination of a top anti-terror Iranian military commander in the Arab country.

Trump's call for NATO's increased involvement in the Middle East came despite his claim in the same speech that "America has achieved energy independence."

"We are now the number one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world; we are independent and we do not need Middle East oil," he boasted.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced in October that the Pentagon would keep some US troops in parts of northeastern Syria near oilfields. The new plan appears to be an attempt by the US to force the Kurds away from the central government in Damascus and retain control over Syria's oil fields.

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Iran dismissed previous reports that a missile brought down a Ukraine airliner with 176 on board as illogical rumours.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday that evidence indicates an Iranian missile downed a Ukrainian airliner on Wednesday and that the strike may have been unintentional.

Trudeau said Canadian and allied intelligence supports that cause. He declined to get into the specific intelligence, but said it appeared it was a surface-to-air missile that struck the plane.

We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. This may well have been unintentional.

Earlier, United States officials said it was highly likely that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed the airliner, killing all 176 people on board. They suggested it could well have been a mistake. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said there was a body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. He added this may well have been unintentional.

Iran had earlier dismissed the reports as illogical rumours.

It is impossible that a missile hit the Ukrainian plane, Irans head of civil aviation was quoted by Irans INSA news agency as saying.

The Ukraine International Airlines plane bound for the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, crashed minutes after takeoff from the Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran on Wednesday amid escalating tensions between the US and Iran. There were 63 Canadians on board.

Iranian investigators released an initial report on Thursday saying that the airliner was on fire and tried turning back but that its crew never made a radio call for help. That report characterised the incident as an accident. In-depth investigations into airline disasters generally take months.

The crash happened hours after Iran launched missile attacks on US-led forces in Iraq. The strikes, Iran said, were in retaliation for the US assassination of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani.

Renewed calls for Canadian investigation

Trudeau stressed the need for a credible and complete investigation and called for Iran to grant access to the crash site to Canadian and international investigators. So far, Iran has only announced an agreement with Ukraine, whose investigators arrived in the country on Thursday.





In a Wednesday night phone call, Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne pushed his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif to allow Canada access to provide consular services, help with identification of the deceased and take part in the investigation of the crash.

Trudeau said that the conversation is ongoing, but attaining such access might prove difficult as Canada closed its embassy in Iran in 2012, expelled Iranian diplomats from Canada and suspended all diplomatic relations.

In the meantime, Italy and other allies with a diplomatic presence in the Islamic Republic are helping Canada with consular assistance for friends and families of the Canadian victims. Canada is also remaining in close contact with Ukraine as they conduct the investigation, Trudeau said.

The prime minister added that Iran has so far declined to send two black boxes recovered from the wreckage to Canada for analysis. Instead, Iran has said that Ukrainian investigators will have access to the devices.

On Thursday, Canadas Transportation Safety Board (TSB) announced that it has accepted Irans invitation to attend the accident site.

We have accepted this invitation and we are making arrangements to travel to the site. The TSB will be working with other groups and organizations already on site.
Inspiration

A luxurious home is for sale in the former Henley-on-Thames golf clubhouse frequented by James Bond author Ian Fleming. The club was referenced in Goldfinger, when 007 tells the villain he played off nine at Huntercombe.

The clubhouse was converted into six homes in the late Sixties and Chiltern House, one of the most coveted, is on the market with Stowhill Estates for 885,000.
The family of the second gay black man found dead in prominent Democratic donor Ed Buck's home have filed a civil lawsuit against the man who allegedly drugged their loved one as part of a twisted sexual fantasy.

Ed Buck is currently facing federal criminal charges for allegedly giving methamphetamine to two men, Gemmel Moore, 26, and Timothy Dean, 55, resulting in their deaths by drug overdose.

The wealthy Democrat donor was arrested in September after a third man narrowly escaped death when he overdosed in Buck's West Hollywood apartment.

Ed Buck is currently facing federal criminal charges in connection to the deaths of two men: Gemmel Moore, 26, and Timothy Dean, 55,

Timothy Dean, 55, was found dead in Buck's West Hollywood home on January 7, 2019

'We're actually filing the lawsuit, a civil lawsuit, against Ed Buck on behalf of Timothy Dean's family,' activist and commentator Jasmyne Cannick said during a Tuesday appearance on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

'We're actually filing the lawsuit, a civil lawsuit, against Ed Buck on behalf of Timothy Dean's family,' activist and commentator Jasmyne Cannick said

Cannick appeared on the episode hours before a vigil was held at the West Hollywood Park to honor the 55-year-old on the anniversary of his death.

'Timothy Dean died on January 7, 2019, which was about six months after we warned Jackie Lacey after Jemmel Moore's death in 2017,' Cannick said of the Los Angeles District Attorney.

'We warned her in 2018 that if you don't stop this man and take him off the street, that another person was going to die and that next person unfortunately was 55-year-old Timothy Dean.'

Cannick expressed her interest in seeing the prominent donor behind bars.

'The hashtag used to be #ArrestEdBUck now the hashtag is #ConvictEdBuck,' she said, adding that it was still possible for Buck to not go to jail.

She continued: 'I am all about getting Ed Buck convicted, he's in jail right now and people should know that from jail you can go to prison or you can go home.

Both Dean and Moore were found in Buck's home wearing minimal clothing. Both victims were unresponsive when police arrived at the scene

Demonstrators visit the West Hollywood Park to remember Timothy Dean on Tuesday

'We want Ed Buck going to Prison for the rest of his miserable life.'

In July 2017, Gemmel Moore was found 'wearing only white socks' and 'unresponsive on the living room floor in Buck's residence and was pronounced dead after the police arrived,' a DEA who interviewed the third victim wrote.

Dean was also found on the apartment floor in January this year 'wearing only white underwear', with a two rubber rings around his scrotum and penis, the document said.

Dean's sister spoke at the vigil and spoke on how much she missed her brother

The wealthy Democrat donor was arrested in September after a third man narrowly escaped death when he overdosed in his West Hollywood apartment

The federal complaint reveals that Buck 'continued to solicit men for sex and drug use' after Dean's death, as recently as July 2019, according to other alleged victims interviewed by the DEA.

If convicted of the federal charges, Buck faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life without parole.

Buck has previously denied any wrongdoing through his former lawyer, Seymour Amster.

Buck, 65, who donated thousands to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, has since hired top attorney Christopher Darden, 63, who was on the prosecuting team in OJ Simpson's 1995 murder trial.
The headmistress of a panchayat union school was found dead in a gutter near here on Thursday, police said.

Kalarani (50), the head of Ponnarampatti Panchayat Union School, was reportedly in the habit of drinking and she was on leave for the past two days, the police said.

Passersby found Kalarani's body in the gutter and informed the police.

The body has been shifted for a postmortem, they said, adding that a case of suspicious death has been registered.

Kalarani, married to Syed Hamid, has three sons and a daughter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
ALBANY  If you predicted Gov. Andrew Cuomo would mention Henry David Thoreau and Leonard Cohen in his State of the State speech Wednesday, go play the lottery. You see the future.

If you predicted he would mention New York's great population outflow, guess again. He didn't go there. This year.

"New Yorkers are voting with their feet," Cuomo said in his very first State of the State, in 2011. "What does this say? It says we need radical reform, it says we need a new approach, we need a new perspective and we need it now."

Well, that was then. Now that the population outflow is happening on his watch, the governor isn't so eager to mention it. Or call for a new approach.

But it's interesting how much things can stay the same, despite the passage of time.

In the 2011 speech, Cuomo talked at length about how New York faced a big budget deficit and how the gap showed the state had a spending problem. On Wednesday, he quickly mentioned the current big budget gap, but didn't dwell on it.

It's a $6.1 billion hole, to be exact.

In 2011, Cuomo said he would clean up Albany corruption with meaningful ethics reform. We're still waiting in 2020, although the governor did propose that legislators who earn more than $100,000 a year be required to release their tax returns.

Let New Yorkers know who is paying their officials, and who their officials and representatives actually work for," the governor said. "Because you cannot serve two masters.

Lawmakers in the audience didn't look pleased. Their applause was tepid.

Our governor likes to attempt eloquence and hit big themes in his speeches. And so it was on Wednesday, when Cuomo described New York as a sturdy ship attempting to navigate across a stormy national sea.

Our ship of state can handle the problems and the waves of anxiety," he said, stretching the nautical metaphor well beyond its limits, "but what is creating the national storm is the winds of division.

It wasn't going to remind anyone of his father's "shining city on a hill" masterpiece, but I suppose we can give the governor credit for trying.

When Cuomo did hit real notes of eloquence, it was about rising anti-Semitism here and across the country. But he wasn't as eloquent as Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg, whose Monsey home was the scene of the horrific rampage on Hanukkah.

"I will never forget the horror of that night," Rottenberg said as he delivered an opening prayer in the Empire State Plaza Convention Center. "But I also will never forget how we continued to celebrate after the attack."

What else did Cuomo say?

Well, he suggested adding "E Pluribus Unum" to the state seal, but I couldn't tell if it was a serious proposal. (Apparently it was.)

He proposed creating a SUNY center for cannabis studies, perhaps unaware that SUNY schools have been centers for cannabis studies for many decades.

He talked about curbing climate change, but also asserted, without irony, that we need more and busier airports.

He talked about Puerto Rico's struggles after earthquakes and hurricanes. It was nice to mention, but it made me wish he'd also talked about the struggles of poor neighborhoods in places like Albany and Buffalo.

He proposed that New Yorkers vote on a $3 billion "Restore Mother Nature" bond, with the money to be used on environmental reclamation. That sounds wonderful, but, as always, the devil may be in the details.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Cuomo speech without shouting. This time, at least, he kept the volume below lunatic levels.

It also wouldn't be a Cuomo speech without some delusional bragging about how he fixed the upstate economy  millennials are moving back!  and accomplished impossible feats that sour-faced pundits insisted could not be done.

If you didn't know any better, you could listen to the boasting and conclude New York really is on the path to perfection. No doubt, the governor does have real accomplishments under his belt.

You even might start wondering about what a Cuomo presidential campaign might have looked like.

But then you remember those population numbers.

Four straight years of statewide population declines, the census says, including a 76,790 person drop in the most recent year measured. More people lost than any other state. Grim, grim, grim.

If so many New Yorkers are voting with their feet, can the state really be doing as well as Cuomo claims? You know the answer, just as he did in 2011.

New York is like a ship of state that's taking on water as it crosses a turbulent sea, and the passengers are jumping off in search of a port in a storm.

More Information Contact columnist Chris Churchill at cchurchill@timesunion.com or 518-454-5442. See More Collapse

Well, maybe it's not that bad. But you get the drift.

cchurchill@timesunion.com  518-454-5442  @chris_churchill. Want more for Chris Churchill? Sign up for his weekly newsletter.
RTHK: Japan urges fugitive tycoon Ghosn to return

Japan's justice minister on Thursday urged Carlos Ghosn to return and make his case in court, after the fugitive former auto tycoon gave an impassioned defence of his decision to jump bail and flee to Lebanon.

Ghosn made his first public appearance since his audacious December escape at a combative press conference in Beirut on Wednesday, where he slammed Japan and said he had been forced to flee because he would not get a fair trial.

The ex-chairman of Nissan-Renault faced four charges of financial misconduct in Tokyo, which he alleges were cooked up by disgruntled executives at Nissan in collusion with Japanese prosecutors.

On Thursday, Japanese Justice Minister Masako Mori called those claims "baseless" and insisted Ghosn's "assertions will not justify his flight from Japan in any way."

"If defendant Ghosn has anything to say on his criminal case, he should make his argument in a Japanese court and present concrete evidence," she added.

"If he claims innocence, he should face a trial under the justice system in Japan, where he was doing business, and he should submit evidence to prove his claims," Mori said.

The former car magnate spent much of his two-hour press conference insisting that justice was impossible for him in Japan.

He argued that the charges against him, including allegedly under-reporting his pay and skimming Nissan funds for his own personal use, were a bid to bring him down for political reasons.

"There was no way I was going to be treated fairly... this was not about justice," he told reporters, responding to questions in English, Arabic, French and Portuguese.

Ghosn said he was "presumed guilty before the eyes of the world and subject to a system whose only objective is to coerce confessions, secure guilty pleas."

Ghosn has argued since his shock November 2018 arrest that the case against him was a bid to block his plans to more closely integrate Nissan with its French partner Renault. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Falun Gong practitioners perform the exercises at a rally commemorating the 20th anniversary of the persecution of Falun Gong in China, on the West Lawn of Capitol Hill on July 18, 2019. (Mark Zou/The Epoch Times)

Chinas Courts Continue to Punish Falun Gong Adherents for Their Faith

The Chinese regime in 2019 sentenced 774 people for practicing their faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual practice that has been intensely persecuted by the communist regime for more than 20 years.

Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa), a meditative practice that includes a set of moral teachings, grew immensely popular in China in the 1990s, with official estimates placing the number of practitioners at 70 million to 100 million by the end of the decade. Threatened by its popularity, the communist regime banned the practice in 1999, deploying the states security apparatus to track down, arrest, and detain Falun Gong adherents.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of practitioners have been detained at labor camps, prisons, and brainwashing centers, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center. While in detention, many have endured torture as part of the regimes efforts to force adherents into renouncing their faith.

To date, more than 4,300 deaths have been confirmed by Minghui.org, a website that serves as a clearinghouse for the persecution of Falun Gong in China. The actual number is believed to be much higher due to the difficulty of obtaining and verifying sensitive information from China.

Minghui.org published the figures in a Jan. 9 report based on Chinese court records. Human rights experts such as Freedom House believe that thousands more are held in black jails, extralegal brainwashing centers, and pretrial detention centers without formal sentencing.

The site also reported that 6,109 practitioners were arrested and 3,582 were harassed by authorities in 2019, adding that 3,400 currently remain in custody.

An influential U.S. congressional commission also recently called out Beijing for its escalating suppression of faith groups in 2019.

Scholars and international rights groups have described religious persecution in China over the last year to be of an intensity not seen since the Cultural Revolution, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) said in an annual human rights report released on Jan. 8.

Over the past year, U.S. officials have repeatedly condemned the Chinese Communist Party for its widespread violations of religious freedom.

The party demands that it alone be called God, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in June 2018.

In China, the governments intense persecution of many faithsFalun Gong practitioners, Christians, and Tibetan Buddhists among themis the norm, he said.

The Falun Gong practitioners sentenced in 2019 came from 28 provinces and municipalities, the website said, with the greatest numbers in the provinces of Shandong, Heilongjiang, and Liaoning. Prison terms ranged from four months to 13 years.

In addition, 271 practitioners were fined by courts, for a total of 3,490,400 yuan ($502,028), the report stated.

Those sentenced came from all walks of life, including accountants, engineers, doctors, executives, teachers, and retired prosecutors.

The youngest was 26-year-old media professional Zheng Feng from eastern Chinas Zhejiang Province, who was given 3 1/2 years in prison for sharing information about Falun Gong with her college classmates and through social media. The oldest was 89-year-old Zhang Xinwei, from the southwestern province of Sichuan, who was sentenced to three years.

Some were handed court verdicts just days after their arrests. Others were tortured in custody and imprisoned despite serious medical conditions, the report noted. For instance, Hu Li, a 46-year-old aviation engineer, was ordered to serve a two-year term even though he was in critical condition after seven months on a hunger strike.

According to the report, authorities violated legal procedure at every step of the prosecution process, from fabricating evidence and witness accounts to holding secret trials and blocking appeals.

The CECC report highlighted several cases of Falun Gong practitioners or advocates representing practitioners who were imprisoned for exercising their human rights. Those examples formed part of the commissions political prisoner database, an online portal that currently contains 1,598 cases.

Jiang Wei, a practitioner from northeastern Chinas Liaoning Province, is currently serving a 12-year sentence in Liaoning Womens Prison. In incarceration, Jiang reportedly endured abusive language, beatings, and 15 days of solitary confinement. In solitary, she was kept in a cell too small to stand in. She was also forced to eat and defecate in the cell, which was infested with flies and mosquitoes.

Middle school teacher Bian Lichao, a practitioner in the northern province of Hebei, is also currently serving a 12-year sentence. In 2014, authorities also detained Bians wife, daughter, and another relative, over Bians daughters attempts to visit him in prison.
If I had superpowers, I'd probably be a hero instead of a supervillain.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not some good-guy, altruistic person who is dedicated to justice and apple pie. (Well, maybe the pie.)

It's just that villainy seems hard, and if the Marvel movies have taught us anything, it's that crime, no matter how well planned, doesn't pay.

I say all this because, sadly, it seems the closest thing to a superpower I might possess is writing stories. I'm not the Superman or Batman or even Ant-Man of writing. My superhero name might be Capt. Comma or Semicolon Fellow or something equally as yawn-inducing.

Anyway, I try to use my powers for good.

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Hey, Kids, Let's Use Hyphens!

Tuesday, I spent some time at Kasson-Mantorville High School with my friend Bernie Beuhler, who is an English teacher there. Bernie teaches a class that includes as a lesson on writing personal essays. As part of that lesson, he wants the students to understand why it is important to edit (or have edited) their stories to make them more clear.

So, I come in and  much to the excitement of a bunch of 14-year-old boys and girls  talk to them about editing.

The cheers from the kids are deafening. Yes, they hang on my every word, furiously scribbling my pearls of wisdom into their notebooks. "Tell us more about the dangers of unintended modifiers!" they exclaim. "We don't want our readers confused."

Actually, I tell a funny story from my 20s that keeps them entertained just enough that none of the kids fall asleep. I read to them a poorly written version of the story followed by a recitation of a well-written version so they can see why it's important to edit and revise.

A Major Award ... Or Two

While I joke about the excitement level of the students, I am proud to say I'm an award-winning writer. Yes, all hail Capt. Comma. I'll save that dangling modifier from peril!

Turns out, I'm one of, well, many Post Bulletin folks who have won awards from the Minnesota Newspaper Association. I've actually won two awards. One as a columnist (for writing this After Deadline nonsense each week) and one for a "Social Issues Story."

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If you'll recall back in September, I was trying to narrow entries for several categories of newspaper writing. I ended up picking a story about nitrates in groundwater and one about migrant farm labor in the "Social Issues Story" category. I'll find out Jan. 30 which one won.

We're hoping we can beat those danged journalists from St. Cloud again. Talk about your evil villains!

Gather Around For Story Time

After some vacation days over the holidays, I'm back at work, plugging away for a full week of news. Sadly, the holidays and immediately thereafter are not exactly times of big doings in my world.

All the government bodies I cover  city councils, school boards, county boards  either skip meetings because everyone's on vacation or their meetings are full of proforma items like picking a newspaper of record, their bank and naming the law firm they plan to use. Those items are almost never exciting for me.

Instead I've found some interesting stories on child care, the new CEO of the National Eagle Center and a sailor from WW II whose remains will finally come home to Wabasha County.

One thing I think is constant is change. Sometimes those changes are big. Sometimes, they are small. Sometimes, they are a long, laborious process.

Who's Watching The Kids?

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Tuesday, I went to a meeting about child care in Winona. When one of the organizers stood before the group  mainly people who work as child care professionals  she said, this is the start of a two-year process.

The county, according to some surveys and stats, is down more than 500 child care slots right now. Today. A two-year process is the long road to change.

But when it comes to big issues, that's what it takes, planning, brainstorming, and slowly changing everything from state regulations to how money is spent to make a problem slightly less worse.

As for me, I'm out here doing my heroic part to tell stories, make sure you are updated on everything from child care to the careful return of a sailor's remains.

And if you've got a personal essay you've written, I'll gladly tell you the same story from my 20s twice so you can see the importance of editing ... it's what all the kids are into these days.
Shobu Japanese Cuisine | Photo: Nicole B./Yelp

So you're hungry  and you're ready for some Japanese cuisine. Good news: We've found the freshest spots to satisfy your appetite. Here are the newest places to check out the next time you're in the mood for Japanese food.

Shobu Japanese Cuisine

6640 N. Blackstone Ave., Hoover

Photo: Nicole B./Yelp

Shobu Japanese Cuisine is a Japanese spot.

Shobu Japanese Cuisine serves authentic sushi, teriyaki and ramen. There are also bento boxes, shrimp tempura, egg rolls, curry and more.

Shobu Japanese Cuisine's current Yelp rating of four stars out of 14 reviews indicates positive attention from users.

Yelper Paris K., who reviewed Shobu Japanese Cuisine on December 29, wrote, "This honestly might be the best Japanese restaurant I've ever been to, which is saying a lot. Their teriyaki beef is unrivaled. Their sticky rice on the sushi is incredibly sticky."

Shobu Japanese Cuisine is open from 11 a.m.9 p.m. daily.

Kikku Kitchen

7785 N. Palm Ave., Suite 101, Bullard

Photo: natali c./Yelp

Kikku Kitchen is a Japanese spot.

This new business offers poke bowls, teriyaki beef, seared ahi, potstickers, miso soup, udon noodles, sake and Japanese beer on tap.

Kikku Kitchen currently holds four stars out of 20 reviews on Yelp, indicating fair reviews.

Yelper Cassie N., who reviewed Kikku Kitchen on December 31, wrote, "I got the tempura udon, which was deliciousthe broth was flavorful, the noodles were cooked perfectly and the shrimp/veggie tempura was served on the side (so it was not soggy!) and was crispy and clearly very fresh."

Kikku Kitchen is open from 11 a.m.8 p.m. on Monday-Saturday. (It's closed on Sunday.)

Nami Japanese Cuisine

8346 N. Fresno St., Suite 101, Woodward Park

Photo: Nami Japanese Cuisine/Yelp

Nami Japanese Cuisine is a sushi bar and teppanyaki spot, offering conveyor belt sushi and more.

The new restaurant serves up sushi, with menu items ranging from rocky shrimp to a butterfly sashimi roll to vegetable tempura.

With a three-star Yelp rating out of 157 reviews on Yelp, Nami Japanese Cuisine is still finding its way, but it's early days.

Story continues

Yelper Chelle Z., who was one of the first users to visit Nami Japanese Cuisine on November 16, wrote, "Miso Soup was light and flavorfulI think it's one of the best I've had in a while. Their salad ressing was tasty, though it was very thin and slightly watery."

Nami Japanese Cuisine is open from 11 a.m.10 p.m. daily.

Looking for the best of the best when it comes to Japanese places? Check out the most popular Japanese spots in Fresno.

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.
MANILA, Philippines  A retired policeman was killed in an ambush in Calasiao, Pangasinan on Thursday afternoon.

Initial police report identified the victim as retired police general Marlo Chan.

Authorities said Chan was onboard his vehicle when he was attacked by still unidentified armed men.

The ambush took place around 2:50 p.m. at Barangay Nalsian in Calasiao town.

Police said investigation is underway to identify the suspects and the possible motive behind the incident.  RRD

The post Retired cop killed in Calasiao ambush appeared first on UNTV News.
I n the run-up to the release of the Pixel 4 smartphone, Google did things a little differently. Instead of waiting for the leaks to come out about the upcoming device, it started publishing information about the new phone on its Twitter account, from releasing the first images to dropping details on the phones new Motion Sense tech.

The Motion Sense feature on the Pixel 4, if you havent come across it before, is focused on improving how people use their smartphone, from speeding up how the phone reacts to being unlocked to skipping songs on Spotify and swiping away alarms without having to touch the screen.

This was all made possible thanks to Soli, a tiny chip which uses radar technology inside the front of the device, created by the Research & Machine Intelligence team at Google, and led by product manager Brandon Barbello. It's worth mentioning that this wasn't the team that made the Pixel's face unlock, which has been criticised for not being secure enough. A solution for this should be shipped early this year.

What makes Soli so exciting is at its core its about making devices more human, Barbello tells the Standard. Where tech is now, the verbal understanding is improving fast but in terms of body language, thats very nascent still.

Barbellos team wants to change that, by using Soli to empower our gadgets to understand us more so they can be more useful in our day-to-day lives. Heres how it all works.

How Soli began

Soli started as a project in Googles Advanced Technology and Projects group (ATAP), the companys in-house tech incubator. The idea was to create a miniature radar that could understand human motion and then use this information to make devices smarter. An early idea for Soli was to feature the tech in a smartwatch though this never came to the fore.

Barbello began working on Soli in 2016, before the first Google Pixel phone was even released, as a way to bridge some of the machine learning research hed been working on with Googles new move into devices. At the time, it was the coolest thing Id ever seen, he says.

The Soli chip in the Pixel 4 uses radar technology. The chip emits electromagnetic waves in a broad beam. When an object moves, say a human hand, the chip interprets what the object is doing. If the hand is swiping to change a song for instance, the chip detects that and then uses AI to carry out the appropriate response for the device.

It sounds relatively straightforward but the process to bring Soli into the Pixel was far from it. To get an idea of how it could work in a phone, Barbellos team hacked together Pixel 2 frankenphones which were modified to include the Soli chip. Shrinking the chip down so it could fit into a smartphone wasnt easy  Google has also been criticised for having a thick frame around the Pixel 4 screen which houses the Soli chip alongside the front camera and speaker. There was a whole phase of chips in big boxes, to phone-shaped things, then to an actual phone hacked with Soli, he explains.

The original Soli chip, shown in the clear box was 11.5 inches, before being shrunk down to a mere 5mm to fit in the Pixel 4 / Google

Choosing the ways Soli works

On the Pixel 4, the Soli-powered Motion Sense works in a few ways. One is the swipe gesture, whilst another way allows the phone to be aware of people around it, so the face unlock function is ready to go when necessary  it takes about one second to unlock.

This doesnt seem like much for now, but Barbello says this is because its a foundational year for the tech. Were trying to introduce people and familiarise themselves with Soli as a new paradigm.

Training the algorithms in Motion Sense to get to this point were also a substantial part of the battle. Take something like the swipe gesture. When you ask someone to swipe, people do it in different ways and in different places. We collected millions upon millions on real swipes, of non-swipes, and training it to the point where moving a coffee cup across the phone wouldnt work but a real one did, he explains.

TODO: define component type brightcove

The radar tech inside that powers Soli is still very much in its infancy. Radar artificial intelligence is where machine vision was 30 years ago. There are no textbooks, no university courses. It took many years internally for us to develop the intuition for what the signal is and what it can do.

So we can expect to see more features and functions from Soli and Motion Sense in the future? Barbello is bullish. Theres a bit of science and a bit of art that is happening here and we intend to build on it and pay forward for years upon years in terms of where technology is going.

Looking to the Soli-powered future

At the moment, Soli is in smartphones. But what about our future beyond smartphones? How can radar tech affect how we interact with future gadgets and devices? There must be a thing that comes after the smartphone, thats even more human and applicable to our lives and how we as people work. We think that Soli could be a big piece of what makes the next device possible.

The Soli chip lives in the top of the Pixel 4 smartphone, next to the camera and speaker / Google

Theres no concrete plans on the other devices a technology like Soli could work in but Barbello says there is potential for other devices in Googles portfolio  imagine waving your hand over a Nest Mini to turn up the volume or a laptop darkening its screen with a gesture  as well as third-party products. Soli could be the new Google Assistant  at CES this week Google announced its AI assistant has 500 million monthly users, thanks to its widespread use in Google products as well as things like smart lightbulbs and laptops.

My Assistant understands the exact words Im saying but the inflection of what my body is doing is missing. Soli could be an extra channel in the bandwidth of how a device can understand me.
Cape May County Regular Republican Organization Chairman Marcus Karavan earned major endorsements for a second four-year term as the leader of the CapeGOP, after recent electoral wins flipped the legislative district and left the party holding all countywide elected positions, according to a Thursday news release.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, state Sen. Michael Testa and Assemblymen-elect Erik Simonsen and Antwan McClellan credited Karavan with shepherding the CapeGOP to electoral success, culminating in the capture of the LD1 Senate and Assembly seats in 2019, according to the statement from the organization.

Cape May County Republican County Committee members will convene shortly after the June primary election to choose the partys leadership slate for the next four years.

Lower to pick new mayor, OC likely to leave seat vacant until election The swearing-in of two new members of the state Assembly on Tuesday will leave vacant seats 

Karavan, an attorney, formally submitted his letter of intent to seek re-election to CapeGOP Vice Chairs Susan Adelizzi-Schmidt and Timothy Donohue on Monday, the release states.
HYDERABAD: The Telangana government on Wednesday filed a writ appeal challenging orders of Justice P. Naveen Rao keeping on hold the election process in Karimnagar Municipal Corporation till rectification of irregularities in voter lists and resolving of errors in delimitation carried out in ward numbers 3, 24 and 25 of the corporation. Justice Naveen Rao had issued a directive to this effect on Tuesday while adjudicating four petitions challenging the alleged procedural irregularities that had taken place in preparing the voters list of these wards in KMC. The single judge had in the open court asked the Karimnagar Municipal Commissioner to keep elections to the corporation on hold. A copy of the order was, however, unavailable.

Following the directive from the judge, the State Election Commission did not issue the election notification for Karimnagar Municipal Corporation on Tuesday, while issuing the same for elections to nine municipal corporations and 120 municipalities in the state after the division bench allowed issue of the election notification. Additional Advocate General J. Ramchander Rao on Wednesday moved the urgent petition and prayed that Chief Justice Bench Raghavendra Singh Chauhan hear the writ appeal challenging the order of the single Judge, even though the certified copy had not yet been obtained. The Chief Justice refused to hear the appeal without the certified copy of the Single Judge being there. He then adjourned the appeal to Friday.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police busted an ISIS terror module on Thursday at the national capital. The security forces arrested three suspected terrorists. As per inputs, over than two teams of the Delhi Police Special Cell were working together, and on the directives of the inputs provided by the intel bureau they carried out the arrests. The three suspects arrested were reportedly influenced by the so-called Islamic State--ISIS.

According to sources, the suspects were recruiting and plotting an attack. Elaborating on the busted module, DCP Special Cell Pramod Kushwah said that the suspects were being handled by foreign-based handlers through social media. He further stated that the investigation is on a preliminary stage. He said, "They are highly radicalised. A foreign-based handler was handling them through social media handles. Three of them had gone to Nepal, they were waiting for instructions here (in India) to strike in Delhi NCR or Uttar Pradesh. The place of terror strike is still under investigation."

READ| With Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's death, what's next for ISIS?

READ| ISIS claims 'Hind Province' in Jammu and Kashmir after clash

ISIS-inspired Terror Module

The Delhi Police back on November 25 said a terror strike was averted in the national capital after it apprehended three persons from Assam with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Pramod Singh Kushwah, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) said the accused -- Mukadir Islam, Ranjeet Ali and Jameel Luit -- all in their early twenties were arrested after a joint operation with the Assam Police. They were taken into custody on Sunday.

The three were inspired by the ISIS module and were planning a terror strike on Monday at a local carnival in Goalpara district of Assam, Kushwah said. They were also planning to conduct terror strikes in heavy footfall areas of Delhi, the officer added. They were classmates and had also radicalised some people in Delhi, the DCP said, adding that one kilogram of explosive material, a sword and a knife were recovered from their possession.

READ| Congress contrasts Obama-Osama & Trump-Baghdadi videos to troll Right

READ| Osama bin Laden toy on sale in Russia; placed next to airplane models
GARDAI are investigating a number of thefts from parked cars which have been reported since the beginning of the year.

In separate incidents, a variety of tools were taken from the boots of cars which were parked in the Castletroy area, in the Ballingarry area at Ellen Street in the city centre.

None of these cars were locked when they were parked up overnight, said divisional crime prevention officer, Sergeant Ber Leetch who is appealing to motorists to ensure that their vehicles are properly secure when parked and that no valuables are left inside.

In another incident, an iPad was taken from an unlocked car which was parked in Murroe while 30 worth of change was taken from another car which was parked at Clare Street in the city centre.

Gardai are also investigating the theft of a handbag from a car which was parked outside a fast-food premises while the owner was inside getting food.

These thieves are incredibly fast so dont give them the opportunity, secure your car before you leave it and remove anything of value from it, said Sergeant Ber Leetch who added there were a number of other similar incidents over the past week.

All of these could have been avoided if firstly the cars were locked and secondly nothing of value was left in the car, said Sgt Leetch.

Gardai are also appealing for information following the theft of a handbag from a car which was parked outside the graveyard in Dromcollogher.

A lady in her 60s parked and locked her car and went into the graveyard. A few moments later she heard a noise and saw a male jump back into another car and drive off. When she got to her car she realised that the male had smashed her car window and had taken her handbag which she had left in the front of the car, said Sgt Leetch.
WASHINGTON  The House will vote Thursday on a measure limiting President Donald Trumps ability to take military action against Iran as Democratic criticism of the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general intensified.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced the planned vote in a one-page statement that said last weeks drone strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani was provocative and disproportionate.

The Democratic war powers resolution seems certain to pass over solid Republican opposition. A similar proposal by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., faces an uphill fight in the GOP-run Senate.

Because of a procedural dispute between the two parties, it was unclear whether Thursday's vote would be a step toward binding Trump's hands on Iran or a symbolic gesture of opposition by Democrats.

Republicans say the proposal  a special type of resolution that does not get the president's signature  does not have the force of law. Democrats say that under the 1973 War Powers Act, it would be binding if also approved by the Senate. The matter has not been definitively decided by federal courts.

 READ MORE: U.S., Iran step back from the brink of war; Middle East still on edge

The House vote was scheduled shortly after a briefing on Iran Wednesday by top administration officials that many Democrats criticized as lacking specific justification for the killing. Iran retaliated early Wednesday local time by launching missiles at two military bases in Iraq that house American troops. No casualties were reported.

Members of Congress have serious, urgent concerns about the Administrations decision to engage in hostilities against Iran and about its lack of strategy moving forward," Pelosi said in her statement.

Congress hereby directs the President to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran or any part of its government or military" unless Congress declares war on that country or enacts legislation authorizing use of force to prevent an attack on the U.S. and its forces, the five-page resolution says.

"I think it's extremely important that we as a country, if we are going to  either intentionally or accidentally  slide into war, that we have a debate about it,'' said freshman Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., the measure's sponsor. Slotkin is a former CIA analyst and Pentagon official who served in Iraq.

"I want to understand  what's your strategy?'' she said, referring to the Trump administration. "How do you know you're succeeding and not just escalating us into something more and more dangerous? We are owed concrete, specific details on strategy.''

The showdown between the White House and Capitol Hill was the latest example of Trumps willingness to break the norms in Washington. Trump did not consult with congressional leaders ahead of the attack that killed the Iranian general and afterward sent Congress a notification explaining the rationale, but kept it classified.

Congress has allowed its war powers role to erode since the passage of Authorization for Use of Military Force in 2001 to fight terrorism after the 9/11 attacks, and passage of another AUMF for the invasion of Iraq in 2002.

 READ MORE: Robert Menendez and Andy Kim are playing vocal roles for Democrats amid the Iran crisis

Fallout from those votes deeply divided Congress and the nation, with many lawmakers, particularly Democrats, now saying they were mistakes. Yet Congress has been paralyzed on the question of whether to repeal or change those authorities.

Trump, facing one of the greatest tests of his presidency, said Wednesday that Iran appeared to be standing down and said the U.S. response would be to put in place new economic sanctions until Iran changes its behavior."

The strikes by Iran had pushed Tehran and Washington perilously close to all-out conflict and put the world's attention on Trump as he weighed whether to respond with more military force.

Republicans have largely supported Trump's actions, saying the president was well within his power to take out Iran's architect of proxy operations against Americans in the Middle East. The U.S. considered Soleimani a terrorist.

"How much is enough? How many more Americans did Soleimani need to kill before somebody supports taking him out?'' asked Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 Republican in the House. The world is a safer place without Soleimani in it, he added.

Democrats were unconvinced that the threat posed by Soleimani was imminent or that other alternatives to the killing were pursued in good faith. By not disclosing many details of the threat, Trump was asking the American public to trust the very intelligence reports he has often disparaged, Democrats said.

Some Republicans also criticized the briefing by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other top officials. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said it was probably the worst briefing I've seen, at least on a military issue," in the nine years he's served in the Senate.

Lee called it "distressing" that officials suggested it would only embolden Iran if lawmakers debated the merits of further military action. He walked into the briefing undecided, Lee said, but left it favoring the war powers resolution being offered by Kaine.

It is not acceptable for officials within the executive branch of government  to come in and tell us that we cant debate and discuss the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran, Lee said. Its un-American, its unconstitutional, and its wrong.

Pelosi said the House may also consider additional legislation to repeal the 2002 Iraq authorization of force and a separate bill to prohibit funding for military action against Iran not authorized by Congress.

Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Padmananda Rama contributed to this article.
If William Shakespeare remains the worlds most performed playwright, he is also the playwright most subject to creative tinkering.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/1/2020 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If William Shakespeare remains the worlds most performed playwright, he is also the playwright most subject to creative tinkering.

Theatre preview Click to Expand ShakespeareFest presents As You Like It

Adapted by Daryl Cloran

Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre

To Feb. 1

Tickets: $27.25-$82.75 at royalmtc.ca or 204-942-6537

Scratch the surface of the classic 1950s sci-fi movie Forbidden Planet and you have The Tempest. Transplant the star-crossed lovers of Romeo and Juliet to the mean streets of New York in the late 1950s and, voila, West Side Story.

The urge to recycle, re-invent and re-interpret the Bard is seen throughout the program of ShakespeareFest, the 20th  and final  iteration of the Master Playwright Festival produced under the umbrella of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. The fests 23 productions  not counting the staged readings  see Shakespeares work subject to extraordinary liberties.

Foremost among these is Royal MTCs flagship production of the pastoral comedy As You Like It on the John Hirsch Mainstage.

Fashions from the British Invasion of the 1960s replace the usual medieval costumes in As You Like It, which launches the Royal MTCs ShakespeareFest. (Dylan Hewlett photos)

In this production, the action is moved to 1960s-era British Columbia, where the characters and sets are dressed in era-appropriate psychedelia, and the plays bucolic setting reflects the back-to-nature hippie ethos.

The show was conceived by director Daryl Cloran for the Vancouver company Bard on the Beach and combines Shakespeares text with two dozen Beatles songs. It was a huge hit under the Vanier Park tent in the companys 2018 season, according to the shows musical director Ben Elliot, who also played Silvius in that production, but assumes only musical director duties for this co-production with Edmontons Citadel Theatre.

Ben Elliot (Supplied)

"We set audience records attendance records and the show was extended an extra two weeks," says Elliot, 35. "We were just so pleased and surprised."

John Lennon once quipped the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus," but it may be, at this point in history, theyre bigger than the Bard. Elliot says the secret of the shows success was that it "opened the door to a different type of audience member that wouldnt necessarily have come to see Shakespeare.

"Every single person knows the Beatles, even if they dont realize its Beatles music."

Its a potential outrage for Shakespeare purists, to suggest an equivalence between "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah," and "All the worlds a stage and all the men and women merely players."

Also on the ShakespeareFest program III

Fill the (W)hole Theatre Co., 200-70 Albert St. (Jan. 23-Feb. 8)

With a cast of three women, this play strips most of the characters from Macbeth to delve deeper into the three witches that compel the plays action. 12th Night: A Musical

By Simon Miron and Paul De Gurse, Village Conservatory for Musical Theatre and the Keep Theatre, Crescent Fort Rouge Church (Jan. 24-Feb. 7)

The classic comedy Twelfth Night is reinterpreted by a pair of local musical theatre vets with a mix of contemporary music and classical text. Featuring original music thats a mix of Hamilton and Meatloaf. click to read more III Fill the (W)hole Theatre Co., 200-70 Albert St. (Jan. 23-Feb. 8)

With a cast of three women, this play strips most of the characters from Macbeth to delve deeper into the three witches that compel the plays action. 12th Night: A Musical

By Simon Miron and Paul De Gurse, Village Conservatory for Musical Theatre and the Keep Theatre, Crescent Fort Rouge Church (Jan. 24-Feb. 7)

The classic comedy Twelfth Night is reinterpreted by a pair of local musical theatre vets with a mix of contemporary music and classical text. Featuring original music thats a mix of Hamilton and Meatloaf. Awaken

By Tracy Penner, Shakespeare in the Ruins/Zone 4, Rachel Browne Theatre (Jan. 15-26)

Local actor-playwright Penner fills in the 16-year gap following that infamous Act III stage direction: Exit, pursued by a bear. Penner also plays Paulina, devoted companion to the presumed-dead Hermione (Daria Puttaert) and the play explores that relationship as never before. (It also acts as something of a preview to SiRs upcoming production of A Winters Tale. Desdemona, a Play about a Handkerchief

By Paula Vogel, R-G Productions, Forrest Nickerson Theatre (Jan. 30-Feb.2)

This comic deconstruction of Shakespeares Othello has a mission to give added dimension to the otherwise tragic heroine Desdemona. Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)

By Ann-Marie MacDonald, Theatre Projects Manitoba, Colin Jackson Theatre (Jan. 30-Feb. 15)

Canadian playwright MacDonald literally created comedy from tragedy with this feminist revisioning of Shakespeares Othello and Romeo and Juliet, as studied by Spinster academic Constance Ledbelly (Robyn Slade). Hamlet

By William Shakespeare, Bunchbackd Toads, The Output at Video Pool Artspace, 2nd floor. (Jan. 31-Feb.8)

This insolent interpretation of the Melancholy Dane takes place at a wedding reception celebrating the incestuous union of King Claudius and his new bride (and former sister-in-law) Gertude. Hamlet (The Rest Is Silence)

Echo Theatre, Dalnavert Museum (Jan. 22- Feb. 9)

Actor Kevin Klassen presents a stripped-down Hamlet with only Hamlets lines spoken. Klassen himself performed this show for the fringe festival, but this time, he presents it in the intimate Dalnavert setting (seating only 15) with five other performers, including deaf actor Jordan Sangalang, Harry Nelken, Marsha Knight, Angela Chalmers and Charlene Van Buekenhout. I, Malvolio

By Tim Crouch, Impel Theatre, Crescent Fort Rouge United Church (Jan. 24-Feb. 7)

Twelfth Nights pompous buffoon gets his own show courtesy of Crouch, who performed this show to acclaim at the Toronto Fringe Festival. King Lear

Providence Productions in association with Looking Glass Productions, Gas Station Arts Centre (Jan. 21-Feb. 2)

Curiously, this apparently straightforward production of Shakespeares tragedy is among the traditionalist outliers in the festival. Macbeth

University of Manitoba Theatre Program, John J. Conklin Theatre (Jan. 22-Feb. 1)

This production takes place in the 1980s, when the toxic masculinity of the drama dovetails with the era in which it is set. Measure for Measure

7 Ages Productions, Forrest Nickerson Theatre, (Feb. 6-9)

Shakespeares dark comedy of morality and mercy in Vienna. O(Phelia)

By Leigh-Anne Kehler, Saucy Gal Productions, Dalnavert Museum (Jan. 24-Feb. 7)

Playwright Kehler also plays Gertude opposite Melissa Langdons Ophelia in a 45-minute unseen scene between Hamlets mother and his unrequited lover. Othello

Beau Theatre & Echo Theatre & Raven, Dalnavert Museum (Jan. 26-Feb. 8)

Winnipeg actor Ray Strachan assumes the titular role of the Moor of Venice in a drama examining the racism and misogyny within Shakespeares text. Queen Lear Is Dead

By Jessy Ardern, the Fox Den Collective, Broadway First Baptist Church (Jan. 21-Feb. 2)

The tragedy of King Lear gets a cheeky darkly comic prequel where audience members are invited to choose thier own pathway among Lears surviving daughters at the celebration of life. Romeo and Juliet

Pocket Frock Productions, Video Pool (Jan. 19-23)

Pockets Frocks production notes claim No Leonardo DiCaprios were harmed in the making of this production. Assume a less-than-serious take on the romantic tragedy. Shakespeare in the Pub

Edited by Dora Carroll, Ian Bastin and Bill Rambo, Little Brown Jug, 336 William Ave. (Jan. 31-Feb. 9)

Shakespeare plus booze equals fun, one assumes. Shakespeares Villains

By Steven Berkoff, Krakt Theatre, Saddlery on Market, 114 Market Ave. (Jan. 21-Feb. 1)

Frequent screen villain Steven Berkoff (Octopussy, Beverly Hills Cop), wrote a play reconsidering some of Shakespeares most notorious villains. Ric Reid performs this masterclass in evil. Shakespeares Will

By Vern Thiessen, Who Knows, Rory Runnells Studio, 503-100 Arthur St. (Jan. 30-Feb. 9)

A one-woman show starring Deb Patterson as Anne Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare, on the day of his funeral. Shakespeares Women  And Their Men

The Adriana Theatre Collective, Dalnavert Museum (Feb. 4-9)

Several of Shakespeares most compelling women as performed by Margaret Groome. Shylock

By Mark Leiren-Young, By the Book Productions, The Bhigg House, 337 Oxford St. (Jan. 24-26)

John D. Huston brings his fringe fave about an actor trying to negotiate the problems of performing the Jewish moneylender from The Merchant of Venice. The Taming of the Shrew

Winnipeg Mennonite Theatre, St. Boniface University, Martial-Caron Theatre (Jan. 29-Feb. 2)

Certainly one of the most problematic of Shakespeares comedies gets taken on by Winnipeg Mennonite Theatre. Upstart Crow

By Sharon Hamilton, Shoestring Players, Forrest Nickerson Theatre (Jan. 23-26)

Five hundred years after his death, Shakespeare and his friend Richard Burbage are beguiled by a random jester to leave their graves and watch rehearsals of Shakespeares plays. Wills Words: A Personal Journey

Compiled by Jon Ted Wynne, the Kings Players, Rachel Browne Theatre (Feb. 4-9)

Winnipeg actor Wynne, who was pretty much born to recite Shakespeare, joins Rhiannon Benedict for an appreciation of the Bards dialogue. Individual tickets for ShakespeareFest start at $15. ShakespearePass is $100 for 10 shows. Close

But apparently, the Beatles and the Bard are a match as contrarily harmonious (if unlikely) as Benedick and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. Shakespeare would have appreciated the power of pop, Elliot says.

"Shakespeare became high art later on, when the scholars really started to get into it," he says. "But he wrote for both the groundlings and the upper class. So I dont think, in his day, it wouldve been seen as very pompous art or super-intellectual.

"And the same with Beatles music," Elliot says. "Scholars came to Beatle music after studying it and realizing: This is actually quite intricate. Their song structure is profound in its simplicity. And so they definitely mirror each other quite well.

"You might not necessarily think Shakespeare and the Beatles go together," Elliot says. "But theres this kind of cool, seamless integration... with As You Like It in particular."

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @FreepKing

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A Colombian runner has lost a sponsorship deal after footage emerged of him kicking a dog during a race.

Jamie Alejandro was competing in the Saint Silvester Road Race, in the town of Neira in Caldas, Colombia, on New Year's Eve.

Video footage shows the moment Alejandro and several others are running up a street, while a brown dog runs to the left of them.

Jamie Alejandro (left) was competing in the Saint Silvester Road Race, in the town of Neira in Caldas, Colombia, on New Year's Eve. Footage shows the moment Alejandro kicks the brown dog across the street (right)

As the group of runners approach a corner, the dog tries crosses in front of them.

Alejandro kicks the dog so hard that it flies forward along the street.

The runners carry on around the corner as if nothing happened and the dog continues jogging after regaining its balance.

Alejandro later posted a video apologising saying: 'I did not consider my actions. I have no excuses and I do not justify what I did.

Alejandro later posted a video apology, saying: 'I have no excuses and I do not justify what I did.' Pictured is Alejandro holding a dog in a photograph uploaded to his Instagram

'I hope I can repay for this somehow, maybe helping dogs in the street. I will not be posting that on social media but I will know what I did.

'I am not justifying my actions but it was a moment of euphoria in the race. I was not thinking and I know I can be a brute when I am competing.'

However, his apology seemingly did not go down well as American sportswear company Under Armour released a statement yesterday distancing themselves from the runner and ending their endorsement deal.

Alejandro and is fellow runners continue with the race after the dog is sent flying. American sportswear company Under Armour released a statement yesterday distancing themselves from the runner and ending their endorsement deal

The statement said: 'Under Armour has ended its relation with Jaime Alejandro after the video came to light in recent days.

'As a company, we do not tolerate any violence or behaviour that may harm or put animals in danger.'

Alejandro has not made a statement since Under Armour's announcement.

The Saint Silvester Road Race is a popular annual race which takes place on December 31 every year.
An expert in classical and quantum communications and professor of electrical engineering at The University of Texas at Arlington has been named a Fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE).

Michael Vasilyev is one of 72 newly elected Fellows and was recognized for his "achievements in nonlinear-optical signal processing." He is the fourth current College of Engineering professor to be honored as a SPIE Fellow; the others are James Coleman, Robert Magnusson and Weidong Zhou.

The society, founded in 1955, has 20,000 members worldwide and serves 255,000 constituents from 183 countries.

Vasilyev said the honor recognizes the work of his students and collaborators on all-optical regenerators and phase-sensitive optical parametric amplifiers, which was published in leading optics and photonics journals such as Nature Communications.

"We have solved the fundamental problem of how to make these devices process more than one data channel at a time, which makes them relevant in practice," Vasilyev said. "The multi-channel capability can drastically reduce the cost, size and power consumption of data networks or be used for noiseless amplification of faint images."

Vasilyev, who has been at UTA since 2003, has written or contributed to more than 200 scientific papers, holds 10 U.S. and three international patents and was a recipient of the 2008 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Young Faculty Award. He also received the 2019 UTA Outstanding Research Achievement or Creative Accomplishment Award.

Peter Crouch, dean of the College of Engineering, said the recognition reflects the excellence of Vasilyev's work.

"Dr. Vasilyev's research bridges the gap between fundamental nonlinear and quantum optics on one side and practical high-speed communication systems on the other," Crouch said. "It is of great importance in increasing the capacity and security of data networks, as our society is critically dependent on data for its everyday functions and future progress."

UTA's Department of Electrical Engineering has a robust photonics portfolio, boasting several leading researchers in the field.

Coleman's work focuses on bringing light and electrical signals down to the integrated circuit.

Zhou works uses quantum sensors for detecting diseases and harmful gases in the air, as well as on-chip systems for use in health care applications.

Catrina Coleman works in the areas of photonic integration, semiconductor optoelectronic devices, diode lasers and mode-locked lasers.

Magnusson leads UTA's Nanophotonics Device Group, which pursues theoretical and experimental research in periodic nanostructures, nanolithography, nanophotonics, nanoelectronics, nanoplasmonics and optical bio- and chemical sensors.

Alice Sun uses lasers to build sensors that detect harmful gases in the air, as well as portable sensors that can be used in a doctor's office to non-invasively detect cancer and other diseases.

SPIE is a not-for-profit educational society organized to advance emerging light-based technologies through interdisciplinary information exchange, continuing education, publications, career development and advocacy.

###
[January 09, 2020] Gynecology Software World Market Analysis 2019-2025: Segmented by Deployment (On-Premise, Cloud-based) and End-user (Gynecology Clinics, Fertility Centers, Hospitals)

DUBLIN, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Gynecology Software Market 2019-2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global gynecology software market is projected to witness considerable growth during the forecast period.



The rising awareness among the female population regarding chronic gynecological disorders is significantly contributing to the growth of the global gynecology software market. Increasing spending on R&D activities by the government for the development of enhanced medical treatment and focus on the integration of the IT sector with the healthcare sector is further fueling the market growth.



Moreover, the growing prevalence of gynecology diseases due to adverse environmental effects and sedentary lifestyles across the globe is leading to the expansion of innovative products by major market players in the gynecology software market. Moreover, the rising pharmaceutical and medical device industry in emerging economies, such as China and India, are projected to offer an ample opportunity for market growth during the forecast period.



Geographically, the global gynecology software market is classified into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest of the World. North America is anticipated to have a significant share in the global gynecology software market. This is mainly owing to the well-developed healthcare infrastructure and the increasing prevalence of chronic gynecological disorders such as cervical cancer and endometriosis. Along with this, the rising government spending on R&D activities for the introduction of a novel treatment of endometriosis and cervical cancer are some factors that are significantly contributing to the growth of the market in the region.



Europe is estimated to have considerable market growth in the global gynecology software market during the forecast period. This growth can be accredited to the rising adoption of the EHR system in developed economies of Europe, particulaly in UK and Germany.







The global gynecology software market is influenced by product development and advancements conducted by the market players. Some of the key players of the gynecology software market include AdvancedMD, Inc., AllegianceMD Software, Inc., athenahealth, Inc., DrChrono Inc., NextGen Healthcare, Inc., NEXUS AG, Practice Fusion, Inc., AS Software Inc., and Kareo, Inc.



These players are playing a significant role in the growth of the gynecology software market by providing various products and adopting several strategies such as merger and acquisition, partnerships and collaboration, technological development, and others.





This report covers: Comprehensive research methodology of the global gynecology software market.

This report also includes a detailed and extensive market overview with key analyst insights.

An exhaustive analysis of macro and micro factors influencing the market guided by key recommendations.

Analysis of regional regulations and other government policies impacting the global gynecology software market.

Insights about market determinants which are stimulating the global market.

Detailed and extensive market segments with regional distribution of forecasted revenues.

Extensive profiles and recent developments of market players. Key Topics Covered



1. Report Summary

1.1. Research Methods and Tools

1.2. Market Breakdown

1.2.1. By Segments

1.2.2. By Geography



2. Market Overview and Insights

2.1. Scope of the Report

2.2. Analyst Insight & Current Market Trends

2.2.1. Key Findings

2.2.2. Recommendations

2.2.3. Conclusion

2.3. Rules & Regulations



3. Competitive Landscape

3.1. Company Share Analysis

3.2. Key Strategy Analysis

3.3. Key Company Analysis

3.3.1. Overview

3.3.2. Financial Analysis

3.3.3. SWOT Analysis

3.3.4. Recent Developments



4. Market Determinants

4.1. Motivators

4.2. Restraints

4.3. Opportunities



5. Market Segmentation

5.1. Global Gynecology Software Market by Deployment

5.1.1. On-Premise

5.1.2. Cloud-based

5.2. Global Gynecology Software Market by End-User

5.2.1. Gynecology Clinics

5.2.2. Fertility Centers

5.2.3. Hospitals



6. Regional Analysis

6.1. North America

6.1.1. United States

6.1.2. Canada

6.2. Europe

6.2.1. UK

6.2.2. Germany

6.2.3. Italy

6.2.4. Spain

6.2.5. France

6.2.6. Rest of Europe

6.3. Asia-Pacific

6.3.1. China

6.3.2. India

6.3.3. Japan

6.3.4. Rest of Asia-Pacific

6.4. Rest of the World



7. Company Profiles

7.1. Advanced Data Systems Corp.

7.2. AdvancedMD, Inc.

7.3. AllegianceMD Software, Inc.

7.4. American Medical Software

7.5. Amolab S.r.l.

7.6. Aprima Medical Software, Inc.

7.7. AS Software Inc.

7.8. athenahealth, Inc.

7.9. DrChrono Inc.

7.10. EndoSoft LLC

7.11. eVisit, Inc.

7.12. Henry Schein, Inc.

7.13. Kareo, Inc.

7.14. Meditab Software Inc.

7.15. NextGen Healthcare, Inc.

7.16. NEXUS AG

7.17. Practice Fusion, Inc.

7.18. RevenueXL Inc.

7.19. Sevocity, a division of Conceptual MindWorks, Inc.

7.20. WRS Health



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/kprbbp Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gynecology-software-world-market-analysis-2019-2025-segmented-by-deployment-on-premise-cloud-based-and-end-user-gynecology-clinics-fertility-centers-hospitals-300984252.html SOURCE Research and Markets

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Some BJP workers allegedly created ruckus on Wednesday at a college here while seeking support to the Citizenship Amendment Act by raising slogans like 'Go back to Pakistan' outside the campus, even as girl students opposed a pro-CAA banner on the wall of their institution.

As the video of the incident went viral in the social media and the matter became a hot topic of discussion, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai unanimously said they would get the matter investigated.

According to information received, a group of BJP workers, all supporters of local party leader M M Govindaraj, had put up a poster "India Supports CAA" on the wall of Jyoti Nivas College near Koramangala.

This was opposed by girl students, who said they would not allow any such poster to be put up on the college property.

The BJP workers then tried to shout down the students.

"You are not concerned about citizenship, you are concerned about yourself. You should be concerned about India first. You are not an Indian then," a BJP worker is heard screaming at the girls in the video.

They also questioned the students if they had valid reasons to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Act and sought to know whether they wanted an argument or a debate.

The BJP workers purportedly told the girls that they were only the students of the college and not the owner.

"What's your problem madam with the CAA? Are you the owner of the college?" they asked.

Amid the heated argument, the BJP workers resorted to sloganeering like 'We want CAA' and "Go back to Pakistan', as seen in another video shot by the students.

Agitated by the incident, students of the college staged a demonstration holding placards and raising slogans.

They asked the BJP leaders not to bring politics into the campus.

They put up posters and held placards reading, Stop turning colleges into war zones, Say no to CAA and You cant force your opinion on us.

They came to the campus, put up the poster and wanted us to sign in favour of the law but we did not agree. Then, they spoke to us in a rough manner, which we opposed, said a student on the campus requesting anonymity.

A posse of police was sent to the college to pacify the agitated students and persuade them to get into the college campus.

BTM Layout Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy visited the college on Thursday after learning about the incident and spoke to its management.

Later, he told reporters that the campus should not be allowed for any political activities.

"Any signature campaign whether in favour or against it (CAA) should be done outside the campus," Reddy said.

He cautioned the pro-CAA protesters he would not let any violent incidents to take place here, like the one happening at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

Reddy's daughter Sowmya Reddy, who is the Jayanagar MLA, tweeted, "A few videos & photos of outside #JyotiNivascollege are being circulated in the social media. "MLA Ramalinga Reddy & I have spoken to cops and the Prinicipal about this incident. Spoke to DCP South East Bengaluru.

She said the Koramangala police went there immediately and they are picketing even now.

Ramalinga Reddys visit to the college did not go down well with Bommai who said Reddy was trying to politicise the matter and trying to find fault with everything when there is no such issue involved.

Commenting on the issue, Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan found fault with the students.

Our workers have not violated any law by spreading awareness on the CAA. So, it is apparent that some people tried to twist the facts. Hence, it should be condemned, said Dr Narayan.

He added that the students should have lodged a complaint with the police if they had any objection and put the blame on the students for tarnishing the efforts of BJP workers.

Dr Narayan even warned the students to be prepared to face the consequences.

Some people are conspiring to oppose this law by tarnishing the efforts (of educating people about the law). Those who are opposing are facing the consequences. If we continue to move in the similar manner then we will be bringing the nation to disrepute, demeaning the nation and indulging in treason and then people will teach them a lesson, Dr Narayan said.

Asserting that there was nothing wrong in the amended law, some vested interests were opposing it and spreading misinformation about it to create confusion, protests and riots.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Lok Sabha had passed the CAA on December 2 and the Rajya Sabha had passed it on December 11.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on Friday the Centres plea seeking the transfer of all cases across the country challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 that are pending in different high courts. A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde agreed to hear the matter on Friday after solicitor-general Tushar Mehta urged the court to transfer all cases challenging the CAA that are pending before different high courts.

We are of the prima facie view that high courts should hear petitions challenging CAA and in case there is a conflict then we may look into it, the CJI said at first.

Mr Mehta sought to justify the transfer of cases pending before different high courts, including Karnataka and Kerala, contending that the Supreme Court was already seized of the matter as 60 petitioners have challenged the law that has sparked protests across the country.

As the court initially did not appear inclined to transfer the cases to itself, Mr Mehta said the high courts may pronounce conflicting order, leading to confusion.

The Supreme Court had on December 18, 2019 sought a response from the Centre on petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the CAA which provides for the granting of Indian citizenship to illegal migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan from the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Christian and Parsi faiths, that is all barring Muslims.

The Supreme Court will hold a further hearing on January 22, when it will also consider a plea for the stay of the CAA, which has been described by the petitioner as contrary to the provisions of the Constitution.

The Centre has opposed any stay of the controversial law contending that the statute could not be stalled as there is an assumption of constitutionality in favour of the statute passed by Parliament.

Broadly, the petitioners opposed to the CAA have said it was contrary to secularism, as mandated in the Preamble of the Constitution, violative of the fundamental rights guaranteeing equality before the law (Article 14), prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of religion, caste, language, colour (Article 15) and the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

It has also been contended that the law under challenge is violative of the basic structure of the Constitution. as secularism, equality before the law, prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth and the protection of life and personal liberty are part of the basic structure of the Constitution.

The Lok Sabha had passed the CAA on December 2 and the Rajya Sabha had passed it on December 11. The gazette notification of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was issued on December 12, which said it would come into force from the date notified by the Centre at a later date.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : The Congress may focus on minority votes in the February 8 Delhi Assembly polls as it feels despite freebies the minority community is miffed with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for not taking a strong stand against the new citizenship law (CAA).

Okhla, Seelampur, Matia Mahal, Ballimaran, Mustafabad and Chandni Chowk seats -- once the Congress stronghold but now represented by the Aam Aadmi Party in the Assembly --fall in minority-dominated areas.

After the massive protest against the CAA, the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Congress is eyeing a comeback on these seats.

However, the party is finding it tough to select consensus candidates amid too many claimants.

In Seelampur, five-time former MLA Matin Ahmed is the top choice. Haroon Yusuf is likely to get nomination from Ballimaran. For the Okhla seat, there are many claimants. While Asif Mohd Khan and Parvez Hashmi have entered the race for the party ticket, Shoeb Danish and Manish Chowdhry (both councillors) are also eyeing nomination.

In Mustafabad, two-time former MLA Hasan Ahmed wants ticket for his son Ali Mehdi, head of the party's minority wing.

In Chandni Chowk, former MLA Prahlad Sahni has quit the party and Alka Lamba has come in. Lamba is likely to get the party ticket as she has been in the forefront of the anti-CAA protests.

The party is also banking on large chunk of minority votes in Sadar Bazar, Kirari, Sangam Vihar, Babarpur and Rithala.

The Muslims account for 13 per cent Delhi population and as many as five seats are considered Muslim seats and is searching for candidates who can help attract the minority community votes.

But Shoeb Iqbal's exit and joining the AAP on Thursday is being seen as a setback.

Meanwhile, the Congress screening committee is busy preparing a list of candidates, to be put before the central election committee on Saturday.
A Huawei logo is displayed at a retail store in Beijing, China on May 27, 2019.

5G refers to next-generation mobile networks that promise super-fast data speeds and the ability to underpin other technologies like driverless cars.

If the bill becomes law, it could have big implications for the intelligence-sharing relationship between Washington and some of its closest allies, particularly in Europe, which have not decided on whether to ban the Chinese firm's gear yet.

A U.S. lawmaker has introduced a bill that would stop the United States from sharing intelligence with countries that use Huawei equipment for their 5G networks.

Huawei, the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker, has been labelled a national security risk by Washington which alleges the Chinese firm's gear could be used by Beijing to spy on U.S. citizens. Huawei has repeatedly denied the accusation.

"The United States shouldn't be sharing valuable intelligence information with countries that allow an intelligence-gathering arm of the Chinese Communist Party to operate freely within their borders," Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), the lawmaker who introduced the bill on Wednesday, said in a statement.

"I urge our allies around the world to carefully consider the consequences of dealing with Huawei to their national interests."

Huawei was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Cotton's bill is the latest move by U.S. politicians to attempt to persuade allies to ban Huawei. Some countries like Australia and Japan have already done so. But two key countries in Europe  the U.K. and Germany  have not made a final decision yet. Britain is expected to make a decision on the future role of Huawei later this month.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to discuss Huawei's role in British 5G networks with U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab at a meeting in Washington on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Thursday support meetings

Alcoholics Anonymous: 6:30 a.m., 917 N. Beech; 8:30 a.m., 500 S. Wolcott; 10 a.m., 342 E. K, ste. 352; noon, 500 S. Wolcott; 2 p.m., 917 N. Beech; 5:30 p.m., 342 E. K, ste. 352; 7 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott, closed; 7 p.m., 917 N. Beech; 8 p.m., 342 E. K, ste. 352; 8 p.m., 4600 S. Poplar, closed. Douglas: 7:30 p.m., 628 E. Richards (upstairs in back). Unless otherwise noted, all meetings are open. Casper info: 266-9578; Douglas info: 307-351-1688.

Al-Anon: 7 p.m., A New Beginning, WBI, 2521 E. 15th.

Narcotics Anonymous: Noon, 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club; 8 p.m., 4700 S. Poplar (church basement). Web site: http://www.urmrna.org.

Nic Anon: 6 p.m., 12-24 Club, 500 S. Wolcott. Call Pam M., (307-577-0518), or Todd A. (cell, 307-248-3089.)

Neverforgoten77 Suicide Loss Survivor Group: 6 to 7:30 p.m., Calvary Chapel, 1725 S. Jackson St. Open to anyone who has lost someone to suicide. Info: 307-251-8231/307-337-7763 or neverforgotten77@gmail.com.

Library winter hours

The Natrona County Librarys main library in downtown Casper has resumed its winter operating schedule. The library will be open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Call 577-7323 for more information.

Final mandatory meetings for kinder parents

Dual Language Immersion (DLI) information meetings for parents of 2020-21 kindergarten students are scheduled for the times listed below. Parents must attend a meeting if they are interested in enrolling their incoming kindergarten child in a DLI program for the 2020-21 school year. These are informational meetings only and parents will still need to use the online enrollment process (available in January) to enroll their child in kindergarten for 2020-21.

All meetings are held at NCSD Central Services Facility 970 North Glenn Road. Thursday, Jan. 9, noon and 6 p.m.

DLI Programs for the 2020-21 school year will be at the following schools: Paradise Valley Elementary School (Mandarin Chinese), Park Elementary School (Spanish) and Verda James Elementary School (Spanish).

If you already have a child in a DLI program, you will not need to attend a meeting. However, please make sure you complete and sign a commitment form. You can get a commitment form from your childs school.

If parents/guardians have questions, please contact Aaron Wilson, director of teaching and learning, at aaron_wilson@natronaschools.org or 253-5305.

Learn Windows 10

The Natrona County Library will offer a Windows 10 class at 3 p.m. in the Crawford Room. During the class, library staff will explain how to navigate the Windows 10 operating system, including the Start menu, Action Center and more. Feel free to come prepared with questions or concerns about Windows 10, and you can even bring your Windows 10 device with you to follow along. Call 577-7323 or visit the website for more information.

Teen Writers

Come check out the monthly teen program, Teen Writers, at 4 p.m. in the Teen Zone. This months meeting will give students a chance to flex their writing skills and share their work with peers. All teens in grades 712 are encouraged to come. Bring your notebook and pen, and come ready to write, share your writing and listen to other writers. Call 577-7323 or visit the website for more information.

Skating rink open

The David Street Station outdoor ice skating rink is open Thursday and Friday, 5 to 9 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 9 p.m. Hours will vary on school breaks and holidays. Admission is $5, adults; $4, youth (12 and under); $2, toddler (4 and under). Ice skate rentals for all ages are $3.

PJ Masks Live returns to CEC

Masks Live: Save The Day! Based on eOnes top-rated animated series, airing daily on Disney Junior, the new show features preschoolers favorite pre-school superheroes and familiar songs from the popular show along with brand new music and a whole new adventure.

See PJ Masks Live: Save the Day! at the Casper Events Center at 6 p.m. Tickets are on sale for $26, $44 and $59 each. PJ Masks Live Meet & Greet Upgrade is available for $50 per person. Tickets will be available for purchase at www.SinclairTix.com, the SinclairTix Box Office at the Casper Events Center, by phone at 800-442-2256 or at any statewide SinclairTix outlet.

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Modern skyscrapers in business district

SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. (TSX:SNC)  the mere mention of the name stirs up visions of Canada at its worse. From the companys historical corrupt practices to the Liberal government controversy surrounding the case, there have certainly been good reason to place SNC-Lavalin stock in the dog house.

But in December, SNC-Lavalin was taken out of the doghouse as the company announced that the federal case against them has been settled. SNC-Lavalin stock price went on to rally an impressive 24.7% in December.

This means that a major overhang that has been keeping the stock down is gone and that investors and the company can now focus on the business of SNC-Lavalin. And what a business it is; with strong growth drivers and a recovering earnings profile, this undervalued stock has plenty of room to grow.

Federal charges are settled, effectively getting rid of a major overhang

The most significant news of December was the news that federal charges related to legacy activities of its construction subsidiary in Libya between 2001 and 2011 have been settled.

The company pled guilty to one charge of fraud, and will have to pay a fine of $280 million as well as serve a three-year probation period. As part of the guilty plea, all other charges against SNC-Lavalin and SNC-Lavalin International have been dropped.

Cleaning up/restructuring at SNC-Lavalin

Another piece to the puzzle is the companys restructuring, which has resulted in a more narrow focus that will lead SNC to exit 15 countries where they are not profitable and concentrate on core geographies that include Canada, the U.S., the U.K., the Middle East, Hong Kong, and Australia.

Also, the company will report on four operating segments, down from seven:

 Engineering, Design, and Project Management (E&C), with projects mainly in transportation (including rail, mass transit, and roads), infrastructure, aerospace defence and security, and technology.

 Infrastructure, which provides end-to-end services to sectors including mass transit heavy rail bridges, airports, water infrastructure, and technology ventures including renewables, energy storage, intelligent networks, and cybersecurity.

 Nuclear, which offers consultancy, reactor support, field services, and technology services, to name a few.

 Resources, which includes upstream, downstream, midstream, and supporting infrastructure projects in the oil and gas sector, as well as engineering for the mining and metallurgy businesses.

Story continues

SNC-Lavalins latest results, the third quarter of 2019, showed us the potential of the company moving forward. The partial sale of the Highway 407 asset, which provided SNC with a net after tax gain of $2.16 billion, strengthened the balance sheet, backlog increased 3%, revenue increased 11% in the engineering services segment, and profitability also increased.

SNC wins a higher-margin nuclear contract

In December, SNC announced that its joint venture with Aecom and Fluor has been awarded a $10 billion contract from the Department of Energy in Washington. This is a significant win, as it shows that SNC is executing on its plan to de-risk its business and reposition the company.

Foolish bottom line

Despite the run-up in the SNC-Lavalin stock price in December, the stock remains undervalued. SNC has plenty of long-term growth drivers, which will continue to drive value as the company continues to execute.

Infrastructure in North America is old, and it needs replacing and improvements. Also, a rapidly changing world will mean increasingly more work will need to be done on newer infrastructure to support renewables, technology, and nuclear power.

More reading

Fool contributor Karen Thomas 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 2020
Theres a shared feeling of helplessness, a destabilizing fear of not being able to control the vast hinterland. And a dazed recognition of the awesome power of wildfires. The aluminum wheels of cars melted into miniature rivers here, just as they have in California, a testament to the fires ferocious intensity.

In the small town of Mogo, Andrew Graham stood in his backyard inspecting the ruins of his home. It had been a sturdy cinder-block structure, but the fire was so fierce it shattered the walls as if it were a missile. The glass from Mr. Grahams windows appeared to have vaporized, leaving only a few curved pieces that could have been mistaken for sea glass collected from the beach.

[Read more about Mogo here.]

Mr. Graham and his wife had moved into their home on Christmas Eve. A week later, on New Years Eve, the firestorm came.

I have two sets of clothes and thats it, he said. I lost everything.

Just as in California, many Australians have moved from cities into more affordable rural areas in recent years. Now Australia, like California, is counting the costs of communities pushing into the fire-prone wilderness.

Firefighters in Australia have similar observations about the infernos they are seeing. Fires are more intense than in the past; they move more quickly, even at night. And just as in the United States there are acrimonious debates between left and right over the role of climate change in creating these conditions.
Shane Cochrane ran a red light and hit a university student, sending her flying almost 60 metres in the air and leaving her to die

A disqualified Melbourne driver ran a red light and hit a university student, sending her flying almost 60 metres in the air and leaving her to die.

Shane Cochrane admitted running down Sri Lanka-born student Nisali Perera who was crossing Wellington Road at Clayton on August 29.

Ms Perera's mother flew from Sri Lanka and was in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday with relatives to hear the guilty plea.

The 37-year-old ran a red light at the intersection and hit the young woman who was crossing at a green signal.

The force of the impact threw the student 59.6 metres into the air and Ms Perera died at the scene, court documents reveal.

Cochrane and his passenger Lauren Hindes drove off and the Mazda station wagon involved was found dumped at an abandoned church.

Five days later officers found the pair at an Officer property.

'I was just driving along that road and ... I don't know just all of a sudden, the next thing I know I've hit somebody, like, I didn't even see her one bit,' Cochrane told police before he was taken to the station.

Though a passing ambulance stopped and paramedics tried to save Ms Perera she had a 'significant' head injury, no pulse and was not breathing.

Cochrane admitted running down Sri Lanka-born student Nisali Perera who was crossing Wellington Road at Clayton on August 29

Her belongings including her shoes, bag, mobile and headphones were strewn along the road, documents show.

The woman was seen 'falling from the sky', witness Reece Hooper told police.

'It was clear to me that this car had hit the object making it fly up in the air and was now coming back to ground behind that as the car sped away,' he said.

Cochrane's passenger Lauren Hindes has been charged with assist an offender by impeding his apprehension and also breached her bail conditions when she spoke to him after he was in custody.

She will face a committal hearing in March over the charges.

Cochrane pleaded guilty to culpable driving, driving in a manner dangerous to the public causing death, failing to stop and failing to help after the fatal crash.

He was also disqualified from driving at the time.

The Bayswater man will face a pre-sentence hearing in the County Court in July.
'The nominations were not meant to last permanently, but depended on the government of the day.'

'There was no question of revoking it during Congress, Janata Dal or even Vajpayee's NDA rule.'

'But Modi is different.'

Ritwik Sharma reports.

IMAGE: Members of the Anglo-Indian community in Kochi protest against the Narendra Damodardas Modi government's decision to end the Constitutional provisions of nominating Anglo-Indian representatives to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, December 8, 2019. Photograph: PTI Photo

When the British left India, the Anglo-Indians felt betrayed.

They feared retribution in an independent nation whose 'purebred' natives had been denied even the paltry privileges that this mixed breed of half-British descent enjoyed under colonial rulers.

Seventy-two years later, the country's Anglo-Indians are sensing a second betrayal after the government decided to do away with nominated seats reserved for members of the community in Parliament and state legislatures.

The Constitution (126th Amendment) Bill, which Parliament passed on December 12, has ended the provision with effect from January 25, 2020.

In the current Lok Sabha, the 17th, the two reserved seats have been lying vacant as the government did not nominate anyone.

However, one nominated Anglo-Indian legislator each is part of 13 state assemblies at present.

The microscopic minority has reason to suspect marginalisation.

And the suspicion can grow at a time when people across India have taken to the streets to protest and accuse the Centre of introducing exclusionary ideas of citizenship through fresh amendments and a proposal to update a nationwide listing of citizens.

The Anglo-Indians, though, are characteristic in their response to the government's decision on reserved seats.

They want a peaceable settlement.

The All India Anglo-Indian Association wrote to Prime Minister Damodardas Narendra Modi, requesting him to reconsider the Cabinet decision.

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad's statement in Parliament that the population of Anglo-Indians was a mere 296, claiming to quote Census 2011 figures, has shocked the community.

According to Charles Dias, a former MP (2009-2014) who heads the Federation of Anglo-Indian Associations in India, there are over 347,000 Anglo-Indians in the country.

Their last Census count as a distinct group was in 1941.

Article 334 (a) of the Constitution relates to the reservation of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in Parliament and in legislative assemblies, while Article 334 (b) concerns with the representation of Anglo-Indians.

Although the initial plan was to do away with reservations after 40 years of the Constitution being adopted on January 26, 1950, subsequent amendments extended them till January 2020.

While the government has extended the quota for SCs and STs by another decade, it has done away with the reservation for Anglo-Indians.

Dias says this decision is unjust and cruel.

"According to Article 331 of the Constitution, the President has the power to nominate two members when the Anglo-Indian community is not adequately represented. In the 17th Lok Sabha no Anglo-Indian has been elected," he says, adding that the government should have at least conducted a study of Anglo-Indians instead of presenting an argument not bolstered by facts.

Dias adds that a 2013 report by the ministry of minority affairs on the community mentions that, among the various problems and challenges the Anglo-Indians face, the more significant ones are related to identity crisis, lack of employment, educational backwardness, lack of facilities and cultural erosion.

The federation's vice-president Augustine Roy Rozario says Anglo-Indian culture and identity will be threatened by the lack of nominated members, as they don't elect anyone to represent them.

Rozario, too, has written to the prime minister requesting a review of the decision.

Although members of the federation staged demonstrations in Kerala, he stresses that the community is not in favour of litigation.

"We are raising objections in a peaceful way. People don't come even if you call them for a dharna," says Rozario, who heads the Anglo-India Suburban Front in Chennai, a member unit of the federation.

In the absence of an MP, they have no one to draw the government's attention to issues concerning them.

Apart from legislative seats, the benefits granted to Anglo-Indians after Independence included employment reservations.

Article 336 of the Constitution granted special provisions for their appointment in railways, customs, postal and telegraph services.

And Article 337 promises allocation of grants for Anglo-Indian schools, provided they enrol at least 40% of other Indians.

Keith Flory, a Bengaluru-based journalist, puts it bluntly, "We lost reservation in jobs earlier. And now we have no reserved seats in the legislatures. So we are nowhere."

He explains that they are too small and scattered a community to protest the denial of political representation that had become more token than genuine.

"In the early years after Independence, the government looked for eminent Anglo-Indians for nomination. Later, when the numbers became very tightly contested, governments began to nominate those seen as their men."

The best known among its nominated representatives was Frank Anthony, the eight-time MP who was part of the Constituent Assembly and a long-serving president of the AIAIA.

He is credited with securing the reserved seats from Jawaharlal Nehru.

Flory says the Anglo-Indian representatives have never been overtly political, unlike other politicians who are associated with parties.

Derek O'Brien -- the Trinamool Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha who has often been vocal against the Modi government -- is an exception.

In July 2014, after Modi first came to power, O'Brien had appealed in the Rajya Sabha to extend the reservation of seats for Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha beyond 2020.

Former MP Beatrix D'Souza, who was nominated to the 12th and 13th Lok Sabha (1998 and 1999), had also raised the issue of the Census count of Anglo-Indians who get absorbed in the larger Christian community during the exercise.

D'Souza says the removal of reserved seats was expected, especially after the National Democratic Alliance government abrogated Article 370 to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir earlier this year.

"The nominations were not meant to last permanently, but depended on the government of the day. There was no question of revoking it during Congress, Janata Dal or even Atal Bihari Vajpayee's NDA rule, when I was part of it. But Modi is different," she says.

Both Dias and D'Souza feel the current government does not care about giving representation to minorities.

"What do they gain by getting rid of two MPs? They don't need the two extra seats," says D'Souza, who was nominated twice as a member of the Samta Party.

She says back then she could speak openly about atrocities against Christians, even though her party was an NDA ally led by the late George Fernandes.

Inclusion at a time of identity crisis, around Independence, was not a colonial legacy, but due to the efforts of figures like Anthony, Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, B R Ambedkar, Vallabhbhai Patel, says Vinisha Nero, the nominated Congress MLA in Karnataka and an AIAIA member.

"Now it appears there is no inclusive India."

With the law minister saying the door isn't shut for a review of the decision, AIAIA members convened in Kolkata on January 6 to deliberate and discuss legal options before them, says Nero.

She iterates that Anglo-Indian MPs and MLAs do not have a constituency view, but a national outlook, and emphasises that their nomination is not merely of token value because they have contributed greatly to nation-building.

Supreme Court advocate Kaleeswaram Raj says the benefits provided in Article 334 were to cease after 10 years of the Constitution coming into force.

The Constitution Amendment Act, 1959, substituted the period of 10 years by 20, which was followed by further extensions.

Before removing the reservation for Anglo-Indians, he says, there should have been a pre-legislative study as well as deliberations on the issue.

Article 336, which provided employment reservations to Anglo-Indians, was similarly intended for 10 years, he adds.

But several state governments count them as 'Other Backward Community' and thus extended the quota benefits to them.

"According to Rule 2 (14) of the Kerala State and Subordinate Service Rules, read with List III of the Schedule attached to it, Anglo-Indians are given the benefit of reservation in public service by treating them as OBCs," he adds.

Although Europeans started arriving in India in the late 15th century, starting with the Portuguese and French, Anglo-Indian history is predominantly linked to British rule.

The Constitution defines Anglo-Indian as a person whose father or patrilineal lineage is of European descent but who is domiciled within India.

Immediately after Independence, thousands left for England.

A second wave of migration occurred in the early 1960s as the English-speaking community faced the possibility of Hindi becoming India's national language.

A third wave is continuing since the 1970s -- with the result that more Anglo-Indians now live abroad than in India.

A lack of understanding of historical reasons among other sections hasn't helped the community as it battles stereotypes.

Cheryl-Ann Shivan, principal of the Kasturba College for Women in Villainur, Pondicherry, points out that a majority of the women are much better qualified than Anglo-Indian men.

"The women were seen as frivolous and happy-go-lucky. However, that stereotype is slowly losing credibility as a more positive stereotype of the hardworking, meticulous worker has emerged."

She explains that when the mixed race in Haiti revolted against their Spanish rulers (1791-1804), the British in India feared the same thing might happen to them because the Anglo-Indians far outnumbered the British in the land.

So, overnight there was an order expelling Anglo-Indians from all posts in the administration.

When the men found themselves unemployed, with a majority having no savings, many must have taken to alcohol in despair, she says.

In all probability that's how the stereotype evolved.

"It is then that the women started going out to work as teachers, nurses and nannies. Because women back then didn't go to work or talk to men on equal terms, they were seen as 'loose'."

Shivan, who has raised two daughters in a social circle full of Anglo-Indians, also rues that children of Anglo-Indian women who have married outside the community are not recognised as one of them.

Shivan is married to a Malayali.

However, AIAIA's youth wing has decided that those born of mixed marriages and aged below 35 will be recognised as Anglo-Indian.

Anglo-Indian identity is complex, but on a day-to-day basis they are not in crisis about who they are individually or as a community, says Robyn Andrews, a senior lecturer, social anthropology programme, at Massey University in New Zealand, who has researched the community extensively.

"That they are more 'Western' than many others does not mean they are aspiring to be something they're not. Rather it is a sign that they are maintaining and augmenting their Anglo-Indianness," she says.

The political representation, she adds, has given them a voice and has been a source of pride for this minority community which has contributed well beyond its numbers.

She reckons they are now feeling confused and dispirited about the sudden change in representation that has come without a warning.

"But whatever happens I am confident that they will resume joyfully celebrating their Anglo-Indianness."

About their un-protesting nature, Shivan says the Anglo-Indians were specifically engendered to be the "go-between" -- the trouble-shooters or negotiators between the British and the Indians.

"They did it best in a non-controversial manner."

This time too they are choosing dialogue over confrontation.
The BJP on Thursday suggested that the masked mob which indulged in violence in JNU was linked to student unions affiliated to the Left and the Congress, saying these bodies were upset because students did not adhere to their boycott call to the semester registration process.

Senior party leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar refuted the Congress's allegation that the violence in the Jawaharlal Nehru University was "officially sponsored goondaism", describing it as an "utterly false allegation" and a case of pot calling the kettle black.

He told reporters that masked people first carried out violence on January 2 as they sought to disrupt the admission process by vandalising the server room at the university after over 1,100 students enrolled for the semester, defying the boycott call.

"If this is not goondaism, then what is this?" he asked.

On Sunday, a masked mob went on rampage on JNU campus for which opposition parties have blamed the RSS-affiliated student union ABVP.

The ABVP has rejected the charge and blamed rival Left groups for the arson and violence in which at least 35 people, including JNU Students' Union president Aishe Gosh, were injured.

A police investigation is on and it will "unmask" these masked people, Javadekar said, adding that a lie will not become truth because of it being repeated by the Congress and other parties.

The Congress on Thursday alleged that the violence in JNU was "officially sponsored goondaism" and said Home Minister Amit Shah and HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal were responsible for it.

The Congress demanded that those behind the violence must be identified and arrested immediately.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The global automotive lead acid battery market is expected to grow exponentially in the years to come. This could be attributed to the ever-increasing urbanization and industrialization, technological advancements, and growing inclination toward electric vehicles. Lithium batteries have been dominating the market since ages. However, lead-acid batteries are reported to be 99% recyclable. This has made them this largest contender with regards to renewable energy solutions and electric vehicles.

The automotive lead acid battery market is segmented based on type of battery, propulsion, vehicle type, and geography. By type of battery, the market spans sealed lead-acid (SLA) battery, lead antimony battery, lead calcium battery, and others. By type of vehicle, the market segmentation of automotive lead acid battery goes like commercial vehicle and passenger vehicle. By propulsion, the automotive lead acid battery market comprises electric vehicle, hybrid vehicle, and combustion engine vehicle. By geography, the market states North America, LATAM, Europe, Asia Pacific, and MEA.

Download PDF to know more details about "Automotive Lead Acid Battery Market" report 2028.

Asia Pacific rules the roost; thanks to higher production as well as sales of vehicles; in Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, India, and China. Moreover, increasing application with respect to energy storage in the industrial sectors is estimated to pave way for automotive lead-acid batteries in the near future. The latest union budget had its bending toward electric vehicles; which call for easily recyclable and economical batteries; which, in turn, is likely to upsurge the demand for automotive lead acid battery. As per experts, cost optimized energy storage installations would prefer using lead as battery storage system. It has also been observed that stationary lead-batteries are much more efficient in terms of energy storage.

The players contributing to the automotive lead acid battery market include Haldex Inc., Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd., Panasonic Corporation, Crown Battery, Exide Industries Ltd., GS Yuasa Corporation, Leoch International Tech, EnerSys, Hitachi, Ltd., Johnson Controls International PLC, and ZF Friedrichshafen AG. Waldies (a specialty lead manufacturer), does state that automotive lead-acid battery will take the market by storm once electric vehicles are all set for mass adoption.

This report provides detailed historical analysis of global market for Automotive Lead Acid Battery from 2013-2018, and provides extensive market forecasts from 2019-2028 by region/country and subsectors. It covers the sales volume, price, revenue, gross margin, historical growth and future perspectives in the Automotive Lead Acid Battery market.

Access 134 page research report with TOC on "Automotive Lead Acid Battery Market" available with Radiant Insights, Inc. @ https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/2013-2028-report-on-global-automotive-lead-acid-battery-market

Market Segmentation:

Leading players of Automotive Lead Acid Battery including:

Johnson controls



Tianneng Power



GS Yuasa



Chaowei Power



Exide Technologies



Leoch



Camel



Narada Power



Enersys



Fengfan



Amara Raja



Sebang



AtlasBX



Furukawa



Sacred Sun Power



Hitachi Chemical



Hoppecke Batterien



Shoto



Banner



AC Delco



Trojan



Fujian Quanzhou Dahua



Coslight Technology



Nipress



Crown Battery Corporation



First National Battery



Yokohama Batteries



Midac



C&D Technologies



North Star

Market split by Type, can be divided into:

VRLA Battery



Flooded Battery



Other Battery

Market split by Application, can be divided into:

Automotive



Bikes and motorbikes



Forklifts / trucks



Utilities



Construction



Telco

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.:

Automotive Adhesives Market

Automotive Die Casting Lubricants Market

Automotive Radiator Market

Automotive Air Filters Market

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New York, January 9, 2020  Kyrgyzstan authorities should conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the assault of journalist Bolot Temirov and ensure that reporters can cover corruption allegations without fearing for their safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

At about 12:30 p.m. today, in Bishkek, the capital, three unidentified men stopped Temirov, chief editor of the independent news website Factcheck, which has recently covered allegations of official corruption, while he was on his way to work, hit him from behind, pushed him down, and kicked him and stole his phone, according to a statement posted to Facebook by his employer and news reports.

Temirov was briefly hospitalized following the attack and was treated for a concussion, said one of his colleagues, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing safety concerns. Temirov lost a tooth in the attack and suffered bruises over his face, the colleague said.

Kyrgyz authorities should conduct a swift and thorough investigation into todays assault of journalist Bolot Temirov, and determine whether it was related to his work, said CPJs Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, Gulnoza Said. Authorities must prioritize journalists safety, especially for reporters covering sensitive issues like corruption.

Bishkek police have opened an investigation into the incident, according to a report by Azattyk, the Kyrgyz-language service of U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Last month, Factcheck and several other news websites experienced cyberattacks after they published investigative reports on alleged corruption and the lavish lifestyles of a former custom officials family members, according to Azattyk. Temirovs colleague said that, because of the general response to Factchecks corruption reporting, they believed todays assault was related to Temirovs work.

On December 20, 2019, CPJ sent a joint letter to the Kyrgyz government urging authorities to investigate attacks against journalists covering corruption. CPJ called the Bishkek police today for comment but no one answered the phone.
Hotel Development Plans in Washington, D.C. Hit a Supply-and-Demand Snag

The Washington, D.C., hotel market has always been a safe bet for developers because the nations capital can usually withstand any economic downturns or political upheaval.

That is still true to some extent. Yet the Washington market struggled for a good part of 2019, based on key industry metrics, making it not so much of a lucrative venture for hotel developers and investors. That leaves developers entering the New Year feeling a bit uneasy about a potential oversupply problem in the nations capital.

Here is some of what they face. The occupancy rate dropped 1 percent from January to November 2019 to 72.1 percent in the Washington metro area, which includes suburbs in Maryland and Virginia, according to industry research firm STR. RevPAR, or revenue per available room, was down for six out of the 11 months reported so far last year. It did rebound by the end of November to an average of $116.62, a 1.3 percent increase.

The occupancy rate in the city of Washington, which STR defines as the central business district, was 78 percent from January through November, down 1.4 percent from the previous year.

RevPAR was down for six months of the year but rebounded to $179.07 by November, a 0.8 percent jump.

Those tepid numbers come even as the number of domestic and international visitors to the city continues to steadily increase. Visitation numbers for 2019 are not available yet, but in 2018, the city had 23.8 million visitors, a 4.4 percent increase over the previous year.

Why is Washington, D.C., such an important hotel industry market now? The city has evolved in the last two decades from a small company town with a population of about 800,000 that is focused on the federal government and the International Monetary Fund to one that is attracting celebrity chefs, entrepreneurs, nonprofit organizations, artists, and financial heavyweights.

It went from having one of the highest crime rates in the United States to now being one of the most affluent cities in the country, with new areas such as CityCenterDC, a luxury retail and dining complex located near the Convention Center that is anchored by brands such as Bulgari, Dior, Hermes, and Louis Vuitton.

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Hotel companies have taken notice and count Washington as one of the U.S. cities in which they have to make their presence known.

If you want an East Coast exposure, a lot of people talk about New York first. After that, Washington, Miami, and Boston are the next tier of major metropolitan areas where you want to be, STR Senior Vice President Jan Freitag said. If you are a foreign brand or even a new brand, (Washington) is one of the markets you want to be in so people know that you exist.

Still, Washington had a few challenges in 2019, and 2020 could also prove to be a difficult one for the hotel industry.

Analysts attribute it to a classic case of supply and demand. As of November, there were 19 hotels in construction in the Washington metropolitan area, and 22 in the final planning phase, which means that construction will begin within 12 months, according to STR. Another 34 are in the earlier stages of planning.

Some notable hotel openings that took place from November 2018 to November 2019 include the Courtyard Washington Downtown Convention Center, the Residence Inn Washington Downtown Convention Center, the Moxy Washington D.C. Downtown, the Hilton National Mall, and the Conrad Washington D.C. The number of rooms ranged from 147 to 367 at each hotel.

Thats quite a few large properties, 350-plus rooms, to open in the space of a year, said Elliott Ferguson, CEO of tourism group Destination D.C.

That should ensure that hoteliers will not be able to boost hotel rates significantly, a phenomenon that has been affecting the city for a few years now. The average daily rate has not budged much since 2017, when it was $159.69. Through November of 2019, the average daily rate was $161.75.

Were basically just at the levels we were at two years ago. Thats nothing to write home about, Freitag said. Room and supply growth are outpacing room demand growth, which means mathematically, occupancy is declining. Its been declining for a while.

The political atmosphere has also taken its toll on the citys hotel market. A partial federal government shutdown from Dec. 22, 2018, to Jan. 25, 2019, meant that the Smithsonian Institution, a group of free museums, was closed during the holidays, a peak travel period.

Clearly, what weve seen is if the government shuts down, it really matters to tourism, Freitag said.

The Smithsonian, he said, is one of the largest draws of coming to D.C. Groups stay away, school groups stay away, and some of them never come back because for schools, this is your window.

Another problem: The number of tourists from China has decreased in major U.S. cities because of tense trade relations with China and anti-immigration rhetoric from the presidential administration. Washingtons top overseas market is China, and the number of visitors from there declined 25 percent to 226,000.

The election this year will likely drive down occupancy even more.

Travel to D.C. during an election year is complex. Hotels are challenged with booking business in a different way, rather than a traditional booking pattern, Ferguson said. Hotels are open with the fact that travel directly tied to Congress tends to slow down in the weeks before an election but still, domestic visitation to D.C. continues to increase year-over-year, even election years.

That doesnt mean that hotel developers are staying away from Washington. It used to be that New York was the city where hoteliers had to plant their flags. Now they also have to have a presence in smaller urban centers such as Washington.

Washington has matured as a city in the last two decades with a booming restaurant scene and entire neighborhoods sprouting. The demand for luxury hotels has grown.

Many foreign-based hoteliers, in particular, are capitalizing on that need. CitizenM, a Dutch hospitality brand, plans to open a 252-room hotel in Washington this year.

Its a small town but it has an international influence, said Geoffrey Griffis, founder and managing member of CityPartners, which is developing the CitizenM. Its growing up and changing so fast.

Europes hip hotel-hostel brand Generator will take over the 148-room Courtyard by Marriott. A German company is expected to introduce another hotel-hostel concept called the Meininger Hotel Washington D.C. later this year. Paris-based chain Mob Hotels will open the first of its five planned North American hotels in Washington.

D.C. has been changing in scenery, going from more conservative to happening, with the latest hotel openings, restaurants, and bars, Mob Hotels CEO Cyril Aouizerate said. D.C. is becoming more than just politics. The art scene is changing, the nationalities and tourists traveling to D.C. are changing, and its becoming a destination for all.

Thats why it made sense to finally open Washingtons very first Conrad, which is located in CityCenterDC. Worldwide, there are only 39 Conrad hotels, which is one of Hiltons luxury brands.

This has become an elite town, said Andy Finn, director of sales and marketing at the hotel. This has become a very cosmopolitan town. It was much more provincial in the 1980s.

Griffis said he has no qualms about investing in Washington hotels despite the anemic numbers.

Hospitality is always that balance of do you want to fill rooms or get a higher rate, he said. You have those kind of blips.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 02:08:24|Editor: yhy

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CAIRO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- China's efforts in fighting poverty has been "a huge success", making the country a major contributor to the world's poverty reduction endeavors, said Tariq al-Kholy, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Committee in the Egyptian House of Representatives.

By continuing with such efforts, China is expected to wipe out extreme poverty in 2020, al-Kholy told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview.

High poverty rates are recorded in many countries, the Chinese experience in tackling the severe problem is an "inspiration to the world," he said.

Calling China's anti-poverty accomplishment a "real miracle", he said China lifted over 800 million people out of poverty during the past several decades, representing over 70 percent of global poverty reduction.

Al-Kholy took part in the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 2019. He said after 70 years China is making success in its main challenge which is lifting the people from the depths of poverty.

He attributed the success to the reform and opening-up policies, noting that China witnessed rapid growth during the past four decades.

The Egyptian parliamentarian hailed the Belt and Road Initiative, a project that aims at bringing win-win interests for countries.

Egypt and other countries along the Belt and Road will achieve economic gains from the project, he added.

Having visited China for five times since 2017, al-Kholy said his interaction with Chinese officials and society has left him a very positive impression about the country's development at all levels.

The Egyptian parliamentarian said what impressed him most during his China visits was that the country is maintaining rapid technological progress while preserving its cultural heritage.
The Independent Investor: China's role in Iran

The de-escalation of the potential conflict between Iran and the United States sent markets higher this week. It could have turned out much differently. The question is why did the situation defused so rapidly, and who really is responsible for that outcome? I'm thinking it was China.

Taking out the number two guy in Iran, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in a U.S. drone attack last week was a highly provocative move. The world expected push-back from Iran and feared a tit-for-tat escalation on both sides. That didn't happen. Sure, the Iranians did lob a dozen-plus missiles at two military bases across their border into Iraq, but relatively little damage resulted from that attack.

The following morning, the president seemed to offer an olive branch to the Iranians. It wasn't quite a kiss-and-make-up moment, given we slapped more economic sanctions on them, but it was dovish enough to calm the nerves of global investors.

Investors feared that, at the very least (after last year's Iranian drone attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities), Iran would respond by either more of the same or attempting to shut down shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. For those readers who aren't familiar with that strategic piece of real estate, the Straits accounts for 35 percent of all seaborne oil traffic, or about 20 percent of oil traded worldwide.

Of all the major powers that could have been hurt by such an action, China stands out as the potential number one casualty in a war of escalation. China is the world's top importer of oil, buying 41 million tons, or more than 10 million barrels a day, with Middle Easten imports accounting for over 45 percent of that total.

China's imports of Saudi oil are at record levels (up 53 percent since 2018), thanks to the decline in Venezuela's output and the impact of America's sanctions against Iran. As of this year, Saudi Arabia replaced Russia as China's number one importer of energy. Iraq is also an important supplier and, although Irans oil exports to China have declined by more than half, they are still substantial.

Given China's reliance on this energy pipeline, ensuring that the Straits of Hormuz remains open is as much in their strategic interest as it is in our own. And when China speaks, Iran listens. Readers may fail to realize how deep and long political and economic relations have existed between these two countries. The two nations, for example, were instrumental in the development of the ancient Silk Road of Marco Polo fame.

In the modern-day era, the break in diplomatic relations between Iran and the U.S. in 1980 only brought Beijing and Tehran that much closer. Trade blossomed in the decades since with petroleum products exchanged for imports of clothing, vehicles, electronics, chemicals, household appliances, telecommunications equipment and, from a strategic perspective, arms and influence. Since 2010 (the sanction era), when the U.S. and the United Nations imposed all sorts of sanctions on Iran to deter the country from building nuclear weapons, Iran's dependence on China escalated.

Bridges, subways, ports, highways, schools, hospitals and so much more in infrastructure projects have been planned, engineered and built in Iran, thanks to China. As in other nation states throughout the world, China has used their expertise and funding in infrastructure projects to cement economic and political ties to countries like Iran.

On the diplomatic front, China, along with Russia, has been against sanctions and trade embargos levied on Iran that hurt their own economic interests. But, at the same time, they do not want to see an Iranian nuclearized threat in the Middle East either.

As such, China has long been willing to be the negotiator behind the scenes, trying to forge peaceful solutions to the issues at hand. Just a week prior to the U.S. assassination of Soleimani, the Chinese, Iranian and Russian navies were conducting joint exercises. A week later, China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, was on the telephone with Iran, Russia and France while Yang Jiechi, the country's top diplomat was urging Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, not to start a regional war in the Middle East.

I would expect that next week's signing of the Phase One China trade agreement here in the U.S. will be accompanied by further diplomacy by China in reducing tensions between the U.S. and Iran, so stay tuned.
Lisa in York where she was crowned 2019s best dressed racegoer after winning a regional heat. Lisa is presented with her prize by the judges.

A STYLISH secretary has been crowned Yorkshires best dressed racegoer.

Lisa Longden (37), of Broom, was top of the frocks at a regional heat in June  and crowned overall winner last month, taking home jewellery worth 2,500.

Rotherham Hospital worker Lisa was crowned the best dressed lady at a Ripon race meeting in the summer after impressing judges with her orange two-piece and blue fascinator.

My husband Robert and I go to the races a lot, weve been all over the world including races in Australia and America, she said.

We go to Ripon ladies day every year and I decided to enter the best dressed this year.

Lisa impressed with her Debenhams headpiece and orange skirt and top from Forever Unique, which she finished off with a Vivienne Westwood brooch and shoes and a bag from Next (below).

Its not something Id normally walk around Rotherham in! she said.

The judges thought it was quite classic and not too over the top.

Ive never worn that bright orange before in my life, normally I like monochrome and Im quite safe  so that outfit was quite a bold statement for me, totally out of my comfort zone.

Lisas prize for her 200 outfit included a gin brewing experience plus a hotel and spa stay in Harrogate.

Last month, Lisa catwalked her way to York alongside eight other Go Racing In Yorkshire winning ladies to compete for the title of overall winner.

She decided to stick with her original winning outfit silhouette but gave it a winter feel, with a dark navy faux fur wrap made out of a scarf and a plum dress, which she altered to be off-the-shoulder.

Lisa said: The judges spoke to all the finalists about our outfits.

When they announced me as the winner I was in shock, I wasnt expecting it, one of the ladies had made her outfit herself, including her bag, everyone had gone to so much effort.

Her prize included a beautiful 2,500 diamond ring and a 500 beauty voucher.

Asked whether she would be defending her title at Mays Wetherby race, Lisa replied never say never.


Editor's note: The story has been updated to correctly reflect the name of the Facebook page the citizen's complaint was posted on.

A group of citizens is accusing Love Overwhelming of fraud and publicly took their case to the Cowlitz County commissioners on Tuesday, even though the county auditors office already found the nonprofit innocent of significant wrongdoing.

However, the Secretary of States office on Nov. 30 did revoke LOs charity standing for failing to file renewal paperwork. LO Executive Director Chuck Hendrickson said Tuesday he had been unaware of the closed status and that it was an oversight. The group filed the paperwork Wednesday.

Charitable status is necessary to accept public or large amounts of private money, and LO has taken in about $2.8 million since 2014, according to its tax returns. Most of that funding came from state and federal programs funneled through the county.

Hendrickson said usually the group gets a reminder in the mail to renew, but he did not see it this year.

However, he acknowledged that LO lost its charity status at the beginning of 2019 for the same reason. It was later reactivated, but Hendrickson expressed frustration with the nonprofits critics.

We should be focusing on the people were serving, not on this, Hendrickson said in a TDN interview. Especially one month after the auditor came out with the findings.

LO board member Shawn Nyman said she felt like Tuesdays release of the citizens complaint on the Cowlitz Citizens Update Facebook page, without mention of the auditors report, was a double whammy.

What Im reading is people are disgruntled about Love Overwhelming and (Kelso-Longview Ministerial Association) for getting funding for the severe weather shelter, Nyman said, referring to the cold weather shelter at Longview Christian Church. Thats unfortunate because the shelter has been a success. ... The community said to step it up, and we did.

The citizen complaint alleges that it was illegal for Hendrickson, a paid staff member, to also serve on the organizations governing board. The complaint additionally states a 5-acre Kelso property gifted to LO in 2017 personally benefited Hendrickson; that LOs 2018 tax form did not list the property as an asset; that it has not paid property taxes on it; and that LO has not disclosed its full board membership on state forms. It also alleged that the coffee shop LO runs operates as a for-profit business under the banner of the nonprofit.

The auditors report was prompted by a complaint filed by Christen Ellis and Christina Wood. Ellis previously was a member of the countys Homeless and Housing Task Force, but her term ended in September 2019.

She told The Daily News she is representing a group of citizens collectively concerned with transparency, fidelity of services, appropriate reporting, noncompliance and consistent issues that arise from actions taken by this agency since its inception in 2011. She said she simply took the lead to file paperwork for the group.

She turned over her allegations to the Cowlitz County Auditors office in early December. On Dec. 19, the auditor refuted most of those claims, although the office said LO could be more transparent.

The auditors report said that it is acceptable for a member of the board to be an employee of the nonprofit, rejecting the claim that Hendrickson cant serve two roles. It also said LO is only required to list one board member on its forms, though all board members are listed in its 2018 tax filing.

According to the report, the auditors office called LO and was given a list of board members, leading the office to conclude that the nonprofit is not withholding information from the public but (is) simply reporting the minimum requirements.

Hendrickson said all board members are listed whenever the organization applies for a grant, and that he used to list board members on LO brochures. He said theres not enough time for him to do that with regularity, but said the organization provides the information if asked.

Were a small agency and I wear so many hats ... Its difficult to keep up with all of that PR, Hendrickson said.

Nyman said she always identifies herself as a board member, as do other members, but there are only so many hours in the day and they want to focus on the programs.

For me as a board member, Im more comfortable just doing the work, and I would say the same for the other board members right now, Nyman said. Our role is to promote and support our programs, not to promote ourselves.

As for the allegation that Hearth Coffee shop meant LO was running a for-profit business under its nonprofit corporation, the auditors office said that Hearth Coffee is not a separate entity from Love Overwhelming, but rather an extension.

They are using Hearth Coffee for employment opportunities for those who are homeless and possibly (have criminal records) that prevent them from acquiring employment, the report said. This would fall under their mission statement.

Regarding the 5-acre Kelso property, the auditors report found that though (the parcels) may be conveniently placed next to Chuck Hendricksons personal property, they cannot benefit him personally.

However, the report also clarified that This is outside of our offices monitoring and auditing authority.

According to the Cowlitz County assessors office, as of January there were $3,130.90 in 2018-2019 taxes due on the property. Hendrickson said he was not aware of the taxes owed and would look into it.

While the complaint said that LOs failure to disclose the property is a clear violation of transparency rules and an attempt to mask assets of determinable value, Hendrickson provided documents showing that LO claimed the land on a 2018 Schedule B 990 tax form with an estimated value of $133,910. The property is located on the 1600 block of South River Road and used to be a scrap metal yard.

It is a brownfield site, meaning it is contaminated with pollutants and requires extensive remediation before it can be redeveloped. Hendrickson said LO has been working with an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to clean the site and would like to eventually use it for an affordable housing project.

On Tuesday, Ellis spoke at the county commissioners meeting and said due to LOs status, by law all county funding to the organization should cease immediately. However, County Commissioner Dennis Weber said after the meeting that he didnt think LO had any active contracts with the county.

In October 2019, the commissioners chose not to renew LOs scattered site permanent supportive housing program, and they also ended the coordinated entry grant to Love Overwhelming at the end of 2019.

If theres a final contract they still have, if that jeopardizes any payments for services they provided, as long as they havent been out of compliance long its a relatively simple form to get them reinstated as a charitable group, Weber said.

Ellis said Wednesday that the group decided to send their information to the commissioners, and the cities of Kelso and Longview, because they felt the auditors report conflicted with statements made to them by the Secretary of State. She also said the report suggested that many of the concerns need to be handled by the State Attorney General, the Secretary of State and the IRS.

The auditors report stated that while the office was in agreeance with your perception of Love Overwhelming not being transparent enough, it found that LO was fulfilling its legal requirements and not breaking state laws.

Hendrickson said he was caught off guard that Ellis would take the citizens groups report public and online.

I have nothing ill to say about her at all, Hendrickson said. She does a lot of good work in the community and good work with me in the past.

Ellis said that she and the group trust that the commissioners understand the gravity of this situation, will follow the law and will represent their fiduciary duties on behalf of their constituents appropriately and wisely.

She also said she anticipated that the Attorney Generals Office and the IRS would investigate LO based on the open complaints the group submitted. The Attorney Generals office was not available to comment on Wednesday.

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WASHINGTON - Through 2019, most House Democrats facing competitive reelection races kept their attention focused on their own brands at home and stayed away from the crowded and hotly contested battle for their party's presidential nomination.

Recently, however, a few vulnerable lawmakers have started jumping into the fray and backing former Vice President Joe Biden. Some strategists say those decisions could end up helping the endorsers as much as Biden, and more may follow.

Backing Biden early may help these lawmakers fend off Republican attacks tying them to more liberal lawmakers often denounced as "socialists," such as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and policies such as "Medicare for All," strategists say.

The endorsements could also signal who is seen by more centrist House members as the most beneficial candidate for the top of the Democratic ticket, with the potential to appeal to independent and Republican-leaning voters who decide elections in competitive districts.

"It may inoculate them a little bit," said California Rep. Ami Bera, who has endorsed Biden. Bera is a co-chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's Frontline program for vulnerable incumbents.

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"But it also suggests how worried they are about some of these other candidates like Sen. Warren or Sen. Sanders being our nominee," Bera said. "And the truth of it is, if they're our nominee, it probably puts our House majority at risk."

Supporters of Sanders and Warren push back on that claim.

"I don't think that that's the case, given the Sanders message, which will mobilize turnout," said California Rep. Ro Khanna, a co-chairman of Sanders' campaign. "(Sanders) is very strong in rural communities. And if you look at the states he's done well in, states like Michigan, states like Wisconsin, those are places where we need to do well."

Massachusetts Rep. Katherine M. Clark, who was vice chairwoman of recruitment for the House Democrats in 2018 and has endorsed Warren, told CQ Roll Call that Warren's message would also resonate in competitive House districts. She noted that Warren's focus on combating corruption, climate change and the high cost of health care were issues discussed in 2018 races.

"These are issues that Elizabeth Warren has fought for her entire professional career and her time as a U.S. senator," Clark said. "And that is why I think she is going to be a great next president and would be equally helpful to people in all parts of this country."

One national Democratic strategist cautioned, "I wouldn't read people endorsing right now as a sign of anxiety." The strategist said Democrats are focused on aspects of their races that they can control, like fundraising and keeping the focus on local issues.

Most Democrats in Congress haven't endorsed in the presidential primary. But Biden has the highest number of congressional endorsements so far, with 33 House and Senate members supporting him.

Since the start of the year, Biden has picked up endorsements from four lawmakers who flipped House seats in 2018: Abby Finkenauer of Iowa, Conor Lamb and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, and Elaine Luria of Virginia. Finkenauer, Lamb and Luria represent districts President Donald Trump won in 2016, and all three are in the DCCC's Frontline program.

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Bera said the recent endorsements were "the tip of the iceberg," and he expects more of the 44 Democrats in the Frontline program to back Biden. Bera pointed to Biden's prevalence on the 2018 campaign trail as proof that he can help Democratic candidates in competitive races.

For the 2018 election, Biden traveled to 24 states to campaign for 65 candidates, a stat he touted at an event with Finkenauer this week. Biden held campaign events for 22 House candidates, according to media reports and the Biden campaign. The majority of those candidates were running in districts Trump won in 2016, and all but two of them won their races two years later.

Of the 20 House Democrats who held events with Biden and are now in Congress, just four - Luria, Finkenauer, Lamb and Pennsylvania Rep. Matt Cartwright - have endorsed the former vice president. The New York Times reported Wednesday that California Rep. Harley Rouda, who was at a rally with Biden one month before the 2018 election, will host a fundraiser for Biden. Rouda's campaign manager, Alyssa Napuri, said in an email to CQ Roll Call that Rouda was not endorsing in the primary "at this time."

Some of the candidates who appeared with Biden in 2018 have endorsed someone else for president. New Jersey Reps. Andy Kim and Mikie Sherrill both backed their home-state senator, Cory Booker, who also campaigned often with them in 2018. California Rep. Katie Porter, who appeared at the same Orange County rally with Biden as Rouda, has endorsed Warren, her former professor and mentor. Florida Rep. Stephanie Murphy endorsed former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who has since dropped out.

"This was a crowded field," Bera said when asked why some Democrats who brought Biden to their districts have not yet endorsed him. "I think folks are now starting to tune in and think about the other races that are ahead of them."

---

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Visit CQ Roll Call at www.rollcall.com

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 23:55:12|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HAIKOU, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Auditing and consulting firm Deloitte China launched its regional headquarters Thursday in Sanya, a coastal city in south China's Hainan Province.

"Hainan is China's pilot zone for deepening reform and the high ground for opening up," said Dong Debiao, general manager of Deloitte China's Hainan office. "Hainan boasts a vast market, which will facilitate Deloitte's innovative projects."

After approved to build a pilot free trade zone (FTZ) and explore the establishment of a free trade port in 2018, Hainan is becoming a magnet for foreign investment with growing openness.

Dong said Deloitte would provide professional services to support the construction of the Hainan pilot FTZ and free trade port in fields including creating a world-class business environment, carrying out global investment cooperation and improving government service capabilities.

Besides Deloitte, a number of the world's top 500 enterprises and industry leaders have invested in Hainan.

SOSV (Sanya) Equity Investment Co., Ltd., invested by the global venture capital firm SOSV, was founded in Sanya in April 2019 as Hainan's first foreign-funded equity investment company.

"Openness and innovation are the important factors that attracted SOSV to enter Hainan," said Joey Zhou, who is in charge of SOSV (Sanya).

"We attach great value to the business environment and the free flow of overseas capital," said Zhou.

SOSV (Sanya) has invested in nine projects since its establishment. "We're still groping our way forward, but we believe the future can be promising," Zhou said.

The latest statistics from the provincial department of commerce showed 338 new foreign-funded enterprises were set up in Hainan in 2019, registering a year-on-year increase of 102.4 percent, and the use of foreign capital reached 1.52 billion U.S. dollars, up 107.8 percent year on year.

Last year, Hainan adopted a series of measures to promote foreign investment, including implementing the negative list of free trade zones and continuously optimizing the business environment.

As Hainan speeds up the construction of the free trade port in 2020, the province has vowed to promote the quality and openness of trade and use foreign capital at a higher level.

Data from the Ministry of Commerce showed that foreign direct investment expanded 6 percent year on year to 845.9 billion yuan (about 122 billion dollars) on the Chinese mainland in the first 11 months of 2019.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 06:23:45|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ALGIERS, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Thursday held talks with visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri, which focused on resolving the Libyan crisis.

Shoukri handed over a letter from Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to Tebboune, expressing the "desire to boost the existing historical relations bounding Egypt and Algeria."

The letter urged "activating existing mechanisms meant to develop bilateral relations and upgrade them to the levels of the two peoples' aspiration," he added.

The two parties also referred to "the importance of coordination between the two countries to face common challenges," and agreed on the necessity to reach a political solution to end the long-term conflict in Libya.

Shoukri said that a political solution must "bring a comprehensive resolution to all pending issues in Libya."

The two sides agreed to work on rejecting any kind of foreign intervention in Libya.

Algeria has been witnessing intensive diplomatic activities this week, aiming at containing the Libyan crisis by preventing military escalation in the neighboring nation.

These diplomatic activities come at a time when Ankara has begun sending troops to Libya at the request of Libya's Government of National Accord to repel the eastern-based army led by Khalifa Haftar who declared war on Tripoli.

Algeria, which shares 1000-km-long border with Libya, fears the fallout of any potential "proxy war" in Libya between influential international powers.

Therefore, Algeria hopes to stop this dangerous scenario on its national security, as it has deployed thousands of its troops to the border with Libya.

Libya has been locked in a civil war since the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Several armed militias of different backgrounds emerged, and have been fighting each other to take power, although a peace deal was signed by the warring parties on Dec. 17, 2015 in the Moroccan city of Skhirat.
One of the convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case, Vinay Kumar Sharma, filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court on Thursday. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: One of the convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case, Vinay Kumar Sharma, filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court on Thursday, days after a Delhi court fixed the date for hanging the four convicts.

A Delhi Court had issued a death warrant against four convicts on January 7 and they are scheduled to be executed on January 22 at 7 am in the Tihar Jail premises.

Besides Vinay, other convicts Pawan, Akshay, and Mukesh Singh are facing the gallows. The court after issuing a black warrant in their name gave them two weeks' time to file both the curative and mercy petition.

A curative petition is the last judicial resort available for redressal of grievances. It is decided by the judges in-chamber.

The mercy petition, on the other hand, is filed before the President who has the power to commute it to life imprisonment.

The case pertains to the gang-rape of a woman by six persons on a moving bus in the national capital on the night of December 16, 2012.

The victim, who was later given the name Nirbhaya, died at a hospital in Singapore where she had been airlifted for medical treatment.
The public relations (PR) industry grew 12 per cent to touch Rs 1,600 crore in FY19, according to the fourth State of the Industry Survey 2019 report by the Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI). While media relations continues to be the largest service, non-media relations services now contribute 53 per cent of the industrys revenue.

The online survey, conducted among 34 PR companies in India between July and August 2019 by i2iResearch, has forecast that the industry will continue to grow at a CAGR of 12.5 per cent, reaching Rs 1,800 crore by 2020.

Nitin Mantri, President, PRCAI, and Group CEO, Avian WE, said, The State of the Industry Survey 2019 findings are important indicators of the excellent performance of the PR industry at a time when most sectors are reporting slow growth. The industry is on the cusp of significant change. For the first time, revenue from non-media PR services (53%) has overtaken revenue from media relations (47%). This shift is also visible in the increase in technology spend by all PR firms and their effort to focus on lateral employment to expand service portfolios to cover more digital, social and data-related services. However, we must not stagnate. If we want to lead in this transformational world and drive our clients businesses forward, we must continue to innovate, engage, and evolve.

Growth drivers

The growth this year has been driven by very large (annual revenue greater than Rs 85 crore) and large (Rs 30-85 crore) firms. Though media relations continues to be the largest service, there has been a decline in its revenue share from 50 per cent in FY18 to 47 per cent in FY19. Three service lines  media relations, digital, and public affairs  contributed as much as 73 per cent to the revenue of PR firms. The second and third largest services are digital and social media and public affairs, respectively. The revenue share of digital and social media services has increased from 12 per cent in FY18 to 16 per cent in FY19. Very large PR firms are doing the maximum amount of policy work, according to the report.

The report highlighted an interesting cultural shift in the industry. While large PR firms are still getting more than 50 per cent of their revenues from conventional businesses, the younger firms have been able to reduce their dependence on conventional media relations in favour of digital, social media, content and design services.

Media relations is still the biggest service offered by very large firms (52%) and large firms (56%).

Non-media PR constitutes 60% of the work performed by smaller firms and freelancers.

Among sectors, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), Information Technology (IT), travel and government (both central and state) have driven the industrys growth, with a 44% contribution to the revenue.

Challenges faced by the PR industry

The availability of talent remains a key issue with PR firms. The average revenue per employee in the last four years has grown by only 2 per cent, resulting in increased employee cost and stress on profitability.

91% of the PR firms surveyed said talent availability was impacting work

79% said data and creative employees were hard to find and retain

76% expressed concern about high attrition at entry levels

64% said there was limited availability of talent in digital and public affairs segments

Pricing under stiff competition continues to be a problem because clients are tightening their budget. Compared to 46 per cent in FY18, 71 per cent of PR firms said price cut was a growing concern in acquiring or retaining new clients.

Key trends for FY20

Increased demand for people who understand the digital space, integrated PR, increased emphasis on campaign-driven work, visual communication and data-driven activities, more investment in technology, and the integration of PR and digital are the key trends foreseen.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday tempered days of angry rhetoric and suggested Iran was "standing down" after it fired missiles at U.S. forces in Iraq, as both sides looked to defuse a crisis over the U.S. killing of an Iranian general. Trump said the United States did not necessarily have to hit back after Iran's attack on military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq, itself an act of retaliation for the Jan. 3 U.S. strike that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani.

Trump said no Americans were hurt in the overnight attacks. The Pentagon said Iran had launched 16 short-range ballistic missiles, at least 11 of which hit Iraq's al-Asad air base and one that hit a facility in Erbil but caused no major damage.

"The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it. American strength, both military and economic, is the best deterrent," Trump said.

"Our great American forces are prepared for anything. Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world," he said.

Trump said the United States "will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime" in response to what he called "Iranian aggression." He offered no specifics.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, addressing a gathering of Iranians chanting "Death to America," said the missile attacks were a "slap on the face" of the United States and said U.S. troops should leave the region.

Also read: Donald Trump says no U.S. troops hurt in Iran strikes, Tehran 'standing down'

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had said the strikes "concluded" Tehran's response to the killing of Soleimani, who built up Iran's network of proxy armies across the Middle East. He was buried in his hometown, Kerman, after days of national mourning.

"We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression," Zarif wrote on Twitter.

Influential Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who casts himself as a nationalist rejecting both U.S. and Iranian interference in Iraq, also said the crisis Iraq was experiencing was over and he urged militia groups not to carry out attacks.

"I call on the Iraqi factions to be deliberate, patient, and not to start military actions,," said Sadr, whom Washington has long regarded as an Iranian ally.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told CBS News in an interview the United States was receiving "encouraging intelligence that Iran is sending messages" to its allied militias not to attack U.S. targets.

But Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he and others in the military "fully expect" Shi'ite militia groups in Iraq, backed by Iran, to carry out attacks against U.S.-led forces in Iraq and Syria.

Two rockets fell on Wednesday in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, causing no casualties, the Iraqi military said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

In a letter to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft said the killing of Soleimani was self-defense and vowed to take additional action "as necessary" in the Middle East to protect U.S. personnel and interests.

The United States also stood "ready to engage without preconditions in serious negotiations with Iran," to maintain peace and security, she said.

U.S. Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans said administration officials had not provided evidence in classified briefings to back up Trump's assertion that Soleimani had posed an "imminent" threat to the United States.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Democratic-led chamber would vote on a resolution intended to limit his military actions against Iran.

Also read: Iran-US conflict: Air India, AI Express reroute flights to avoid Iran airspace

NUCLEAR DEAL

Trump's address contrasted with his recent harsh rhetoric. The Republican, who was impeached in December and faces an election in November, had vowed to respond "disproportionately" if Iran retaliated strongly against Soleimani's killing.

On Wednesday, Trump again vowed he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and urged world powers to quit a 2015 nuclear accord with Iran that Washington abandoned in 2018 and work for a new deal, an issue at the heart of rising tensions between Washington and Tehran. Iran has rejected new talks.

There was no immediate reaction from Iranian officials to Trump's comments. The semi-official Fars news agency described the U.S. president's remarks as a "big retreat from threats."

Soon after Wednesday's attacks, Trump had said on Twitter that "All is well!" and Washington was assessing damage.

That tweet and the comment by Iran's foreign minister eased some concerns about a wider war and calmed jittery financial markets. U.S. stock prices hit record highs before paring their gains, while world oil prices, after an early spike, fell about 4%.

U.S. and European government sources said they believed Iran had deliberately sought to avoid U.S. military casualties in its missile strikes to prevent an escalation.

But an Iranian army spokesman denied "foreign media reports" suggesting there was some kind of coordination between Iran and the United States before the attack to evacuate bases.

Iranian television reported an official in the supreme leader's office as saying the attacks were the "weakest" of several retaliation scenarios. It quoted another source saying Iran had lined up 100 other potential targets.

After the Iranian missile attack, state television showed footage of the Soleimani burial, with hundreds of people chanting: "God is greatest" when the strikes were announced over loudspeakers. "His revenge was taken and now he can rest in peace," Iranian television said.

Hours after the Iranian missile strike, a Ukrainian airliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board. A Canadian security source said Western intelligence agencies' initial assessment was that the plane was not brought down by a missile.

Also read: Iran-US conflict: DGCA asks Indian airlines to avoid Iranian airspace, remain vigilant
Two Indian-origin men on Thursday pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to supply illegal drugs after specialist officers of Scotland Yard made one of the largest seizures of cocaine in the UK, worth more than 20 million pounds, involving the duo.

Baldev Singh Sahota, 53, and Shakti Gupta, 34, appeared before Birmingham Crown Court where they admitted to being involved in the supply of the drugs found by Metropolitan Police and West Midlands Police officers in a vehicle raid last month.

They discovered 168 kg of cocaine, a Class A illegal drug, within the vehicle and a further 4 kg of Class A drugs (cocaine and MDMA) and 1 kg of cutting agent at an address associated with Sahota and Gupta.

This operation has resulted in one of the largest land seizures of cocaine within the UK. It is a significant find which demonstrates the scale of this organised drug supply operation which the Met has successfully dismantled, said Detective Superintendent Neil Ballard, from the Met's Specialist Crime Command.

The distribution of this cocaine would have no doubt had a devastating impact on our communities. We will continue to deal robustly with those who seek to supply drugs, exploit young people and target the most vulnerable within our city for the sole purpose of financial gain often instigating violent acts and placing young people at risk of harm and criminalisation in the process, he said.

The two accomplices were arrested as a result of an operation targeting a sophisticated drug supply chain in an operation was led by detectives from the Met's Specialist Crime Command.

Intelligence gathered throughout the course of the operation led detectives to believe significant quantities of drugs were destined for supply on the streets of London, the Met Police said.

On the back of the intelligence, on 11 December 2019 officers stopped a van on the A45 motorway in England.

On inspection of the van, officers discovered a large quantity of Class A drugs had been mixed among pallets of frozen food.

Sahota was arrested at the scene. Officers then proceeded to carry out a search of a venue where further substances were found and Gupta was arrested at that address.

Both men will be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on February 7.

Detective Superintendent Neil Ballard noted: This should send a clear message to anyone involved in this type of organised criminality that we will not only go after those directly supplying drugs to our communities, but we will use all the powers available to us to dismantle the wider networks and cut off the source of supply.

The audacity of those involved and the lack of consideration for the impact of their criminality is clear. We have continually stated there is an inextricable link between the supply of drugs and the violence we have seen unfolding on the streets of London.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
INTERTANKO releases standardised Gas Form C for LPG and LNG

INTERTANKO has released updated Gas Form C forms for LPG and LNG with the intent on standardising both the forms themselves and the information provided on them.

At present, a large number of Gas Form Cs are company-specific, often referring to commercially sensitive information such as speed and consumptions, which can alter throughout the stages of a vessels life. These new forms will assist INTERTANKO Members, as well as the industry at large, with improving the quality of the documents that are publically available. The role of the Gas Form C was identified as an Owners document that is predominantly used during the negotiation of a deal. Through INTERTANKOs Gas Tanker Committee working group, it was noted that a lack of standardisation was working against the positive changes being made in the wider market to provide consistency and clarity, explains INTERTANKOs Commercial and Markets Manager Claire Georgeson. We focused on removing all commercially sensitive information from these forms and, working with industry partners, aligned them into one easily recognisable form. The key is education and helping Owners to identify what information is standard and what is negotiable. The forms will be co-hosted on the Q88 platform. Fritz Heidenreich, President of Q88 LLC, said: Standardising these forms for the LPG/LNG sectors improves the efficiency of how the industry handles such information. We are pleased to assist INTERTANKO in this project. The two forms are available to download from both the INTERTANKO and Q88 websites: WWW.INTERTANKO.COM Gas Form C for LPG WWW.INTERTANKO.COM Gas Form C for LNG WWW.Q88.COM




Not for distribution to U.S. newswire services or for dissemination in the United States

OAKVILLE, Ontario, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Giyani Metals Corp. January 9, 2020 (TSXV:EMM) (FRANKFURT:KT9) (WKN:A2DUU8) (Giyani or the Company) announces the selection of Botswana based Loci Environmental Management and Consulting (Loci) to conduct the environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) for its K.Hill manganese deposit in Botswana.

A tendering process began in November 2019 with three service providers invited to bid and was concluded in December 2019. Loci was the winning bidder as it was able to submit a comprehensive proposal that satisfied all the requirements set forth in the Companys request for proposal (RFP) at a competitive price.

Giyani will now move to the contracting phase which will be completed in the next few weeks.

Robin Birchall, CEO of Giyani commented:

The relationship between Giyani and Loci is not new. We have been working closely with Loci, for the past year, on the environmental management plans (EMP) for our three manganese deposits in Botswana: K.Hill, Otse and Lobatse. Loci is an established consulting firm in Botswana with deep knowledge of the local environment in the country as well as the requirements and the process at the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA).

Our experience with Loci thus far has been nothing but positive. We are confident the Loci team have the right expertise to deliver a comprehensive ESIA for our K.Hill deposit which, along with the feasibility study which has recently commenced, will advance K.Hill towards production and provide the platform for Giyani to become a leading producer of battery grade manganese for the electric vehicle market.

Giyani places great importance on the Companys relationships with our local communities where we operate as well as with the Government of Botswana and all other stakeholders. This ESIA will help further deepen those relationships and show the benefits Giyani can deliver for the people of Botswana.

Johannes Westra, CEO of Loci commented:

We are grateful that our proposal was selected for this exciting opportunity. It is our pleasure to work with a foreign investor which upholds the highest standards of good corporate practice such as Giyani. Throughout our previous dealings, Giyani and its management have proven to be very professional and we are confident that we will continue to work together in harmony and undertake an ESIA that meets international standards for the protection of the environment and the neighbouring communities. We at Loci are particularly encouraged to be involved with a project of this nature as the manganese mined will have an important application in the clean energy sector as we strive to move away from non-renewable fuels.

Giyani also announces the completion of the EMP for its Lobatse manganese deposit in Botswana. Giyani submitted the original Lobatse EMP to the DEA early in 2019 and was subsequently requested to update it with additional information. The updated EMP was submitted on November 26, 2019 and will undergo a review process at the DEA which is expected to be completed in Q1 2020.

About Giyani

Giyani Metals Corp. is a Canadian junior explorer and developer focused on creating shareholder value by accelerating the development of its high-grade manganese project in the Kanye Basin, Botswana, Africa. Additional information and corporate documents may be found on www.sedar.com and on Giyani Metals Corp. website: http://giyanimetals.com/.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Giyani Metals Corp.

Robin Birchall, CEO

Contact:

Giyani Metals Corporation

Robin Birchall

CEO, Director

+44 7711 313019

rbirchall@giyanimetals.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.



The securities described herein have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act), or any state securities laws, and accordingly, may not be offered or sold to, or for the account or benefit of, persons in the United States or U.S. persons, as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act (U.S. Persons), except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities requirements or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the Companys securities to, or for the account of benefit of, persons in the United States or U.S. Persons.

Forward Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that Giyani expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words expects, does not expect, plans, anticipates, does not anticipate, believes, intends, estimates, projects, potential, scheduled, forecast, budget and similar expressions, or that events or conditions will, would, may, could, should or might occur. Specific forward-looking statements and forward-looking information herein includes statements regarding the size of and completion of the private placement and the intended use of the net proceeds from the financing.

All such forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of the relevant management as of the date such statements are made and are subject to certain assumptions, important risk factors and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Giyanis ability to control or predict. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In the case of Giyani, these facts include their anticipated operations in future periods, planned exploration and development of its properties, and plans related to its business and other matters that may occur in the future. This information relates to analyses and other information that is based on expectations of future performance and planned work programs.

Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information, including, without limitation: inherent exploration hazards and risks; risks related to exploration and development of natural resource properties; uncertainty in Giyanis ability to obtain funding; commodity price fluctuations; recent market events and conditions; risks related to the uncertainty of mineral resource calculations and the inclusion of inferred mineral resources in economic estimation; risks related to governmental regulations; risks related to obtaining necessary licenses and permits; risks related to their business being subject to environmental laws and regulations; risks related to their mineral properties being subject to prior unregistered agreements, transfers, or claims and other defects in title; risks relating to competition from larger companies with greater financial and technical resources; risks relating to the inability to meet financial obligations under agreements to which they are a party; ability to recruit and retain qualified personnel; and risks related to their directors and officers becoming associated with other natural resource companies which may give rise to conflicts of interests. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect Giyanis forward-looking information. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking information or statements.

Giyanis forward-looking information is based on the reasonable beliefs, expectations and opinions of their respective management on the date the statements are made, and Giyani does not assume any obligation to update forward looking information if circumstances or managements beliefs, expectations or opinions change, except as required by law. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. For a complete discussion with respect to Giyani and risks associated with forward-looking information and forward-looking statements, please refer to Giyanis financial statements and related MD&A, all of which are filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

GIYANI METALS CORP.

1155 North Service Road West, Unit 11

Oakville, Ontario L6M 3E3

T: 289-291-4032

www.giyanimetals.com TSX.v-EMM
IMAGE: Michael Levitt, who won the Nobel prize in 2013 for Chemistry, was taking a houseboat ride across the backwaters in Alappuzha when four protesters stopped the boat near Kainakary for nearly two hours. Photograph: Stephen Lam/Reuters

Four people were arrested on Thursday for blocking the houseboat carrying Nobel laureate Michael Levitt in the backwaters in Alappuzha during the nation-wide strike against the Centre's 'anti-labour' policies.

The arrests were made on Thursday morning, police said.

The four are said to be belonging to the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist's union outfit -- Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), one of the 10 trade unions, which were on strike on Wednesday.

Levitt, who won the Nobel prize in 2013 for Chemistry, was taking a houseboat ride across the scenic backwaters in Alappuzha when the four protesters stopped the boat near Kainakary in Alappuzha for nearly two hours.

'Kerala is beautiful. Backwaters are wonderful and the people are very good,' he said on Thursday morning adding he had no issues with regard to Wednesday's incident when his boat was blocked by protesters.

However, in an email sent to his tour agent on Wednesday, Levitt had said, 'Being stopped by criminals on the backwaters sends a very bad message to tourists. It is as if a bandit stopped us at gun point and delayed us under threat of force for one hour.'

He had also stated that the person who blocked them 'ignored all arguments that tourists were exempted' from the strike.

'This person, who did this ignored all arguments that tourists were exempted and that I am a VIP guest of the Kerala government. He is obviously acting knowing that he is safe from prosecution. Sadly this makes me fear that India is sinking into lawlessness,' he added.

Meanwhile, the Kottayam Collector said he had met the Nobel laureate when he reached Kumarakom in the morning after their boat cruise.

'The state government has expressed its grief and concern in the matter. We have also informed Levitt that the government has taken the matter seriously,' Kottayam Collector P K Sudheer Babu told PTI.

The Alappuzha police chief told PTI that four people have been arrested in the case and charged for obstructing a public way or line of navigation.

"We have arrested four persons in this matter. A case has been registered them," K M Tomy said.

The accused have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including causing obstruction in public way and wrongful confinement.

10 trade unions, including Indian National Trade Union Congress, All India Trade Union Congress, and CITU had called for the nationwide strike to protest against labour reforms, foreign direct investment, disinvestment, corporatisation and privatisation policies and to press for a 12-point common demands of the working class relating to minimum wage among others.
Brasilia: After the assassination of Iran's General Qasim Suleimani some time ago, Brazil has supported the move of US President Donald Trump. Iran has summoned the Brazilian in-charge in Tehran. Following this support, the Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras announced on Wednesday, January 8, 2020, that it had stopped sending its oil tankers via the Strait of Hormuz route due to tensions between Iran and the United States.

Britain: Prince Harry will step down from royal family, makes this plan

According to sources, this decision has been taken after consulting with the Navy. However, the company insisted that this would not affect the supply of Brazilian oil. The oil company said that it would not allow the supply to be affected in any way. Petrobras has also assured that the conflict between the US and Iran cannot affect oil prices. It will not increase the prices of oil.

After forest fire in Australia, rain is not expected

The Storm of Hormuz, which stretches between Oman and Iran, is the most important shipping lane in the world. It is a major strait of West Asia, which separates the Persian Gulf from the Gulf of Oman in the south of Iran. To its south are the UAE and Oman's Musandam enclaves. From the point of view of oil exports, this strait is very important, because oil exports to countries like Iraq, Qatar and Iran are from here. At its widest place, it has a distance of 39 km on both its banks. It separates the country of Iran from the country of Oman. After the death of Suleimani, the government of the right-wing President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has said that he has supported President Donald Trump in the US front against terrorism. On this, Iran has summoned the Brazilian in-charge in Tehran, giving its response.

To prevent US-Iran tension, Indian Army took this step
One of the six pillars of the Chester County Historic Courthouse on North High Street will shine in blue light on January nights beginning Tuesday evening in recognition of National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.
Attack on Iraqi military bases: Foreign Secretary's statement

The Foreign Secretary calls for urgent de-escalation following an attack on Iraqi military bases.

8 January 2020

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said:

"We condemn this attack on Iraqi military bases hosting Coalition  including British  forces."

"We are concerned by reports of casualties and use of ballistic missiles."

"We urge Iran not to repeat these reckless and dangerous attacks, and instead to pursue urgent de-escalation."

"A war in the Middle East would only benefit Daesh and other terrorist groups."

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January 08, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - The United States, through its assassination of top-ranking Iranian General Qasim Soleimani, has once again opened Pandoras box in its conduct of foreign policy. How long does Washington think it can enjoy unique monopoly over exercise of these forms of international violence before they are turned against us? For a brief period we had a monopoly on the use of military use of dronesnow everybody is doing it and the US can now fall victim as readily as it uses them against others. Ditto for cyberattacks, pioneered by the US, but now a weapon at the disposal of any number of middle sized countries.

Assassination is not, of course, a new tactic in the annals of wartime. In what technically we must call peace-timedespite the many wars the US has going at the momentassassination is a dangerous tool, especially when used in the conduct of foreign policy against top-ranking foreign officials. General Soleimani was not just the commander of al-Quds military forces. Far more accurately he should be considered the number two figure of importance in the entire Iranian ruling structure, and perhaps the most popular political/military figure in Iran. Or he could be likened to a National Security Adviser in the US, or to a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, or any number of US regional commanders put together. Mark you, this was a blatantly political assassination, and, in the calculations of most practitioners of international law it was an act of war. One can only imagine the US response to a similar Iranian assassination of a top US regional commander.

That General Soleimani was a formidable opponent of the US is beyond question. His strategy, tactics and policies ran circles around the leaden and ill-conceived policies and leaders of the US war in Iraqstill ongoing 17 years later and that has already cost the US dearly in its feckless goal to dominate and master Iraq. The US has long since lost the geopolitical lead in the Middle East as a wholegoing back decades.

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The trembling puffery and outrage on the part of most politicians and commentators in the US that Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of any number of American soldiers in Iraq reflects either childish naivete or massive self-delusion about what the nature of war is all about. Iran knew it was in the US neocon cross-hairs when the US invaded Iraq in 2003; the standing joke in the US then was that war with Iraq is fine, but real men go to war with Iran. The US had fully supported Saddam Husseins vicious war against Iran throughout the 1980s. It was not surprising then that Iran aided the massive uprising of Iraqi Sunni and Shia forces to resist the US military invasion and occupation of Iraqa presence that lacked any legal standing. Naturally Iran provided advice and weapons to Iraqi guerrillas to facilitate killing the soldiers of the American occupation, thats what war is. The US has supported any number of guerrilla forces around the world to fight against enemies and regimes we dont like, starting with military aid, training, intelligence, joint missions, etc., as we have seen most recently in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. There is precious little ground for US moral outrage in all of thisunless one simply assumes, as the US usually doesthat America by definition represents the moral cause, the good guys, and has a god-given right to intervene anywhere and everywhere in the name of freedom, democracy or human rights or to protect whatever it is.

When it comes to lives lost, the US of course has itself been responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths in Iraq as well as generation of massive internal and external refugee flows. Yet we convince ourselves that killing others in the name of the US cause is OK, but anyone resisting, or actually killing Americans represents an outrage.

Lets at least have a little sophistication here about the nature of war and conflict and drop the double standards.

Its chastening to recall that even during the Cold War the US and the Soviet Union, by at least tacit agreement, avoided assassination of significant enemy leadersalthough the US did try repeatedly to assassinate Fidel Castro, among other leaders of smaller hostile states.

So does Washington really want to open the floodgates to a new policyto the assassination of top-ranking officials in countries we dislike? Next thing we know, everybody can play. For that matter, Israel already leads the world in conducting political assassinations according to an Israeli scholar. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180730-israels-mossad-leads-assassinations-in-the-world/

The assassination of General Soleimani also revealed Washingtons continuing assumption of a right to violate the sovereignty of any country in the world if it deems it in its interest to do so. And this time Iraq will surely expel all US troops from Iraq in response to this violation. Not that withdrawal of US troops from this war, ill-conceived from the start, is necessarily a bad thing from the perspective of many, but it surely represents an ignominious end to a failing, pointless, and brutal invasion that Washington had actually believed would swing Iraq over into the pro-US column as an ally of the US in the Middle East.

Such naivete further reflects another American deeply cherished assumption that countries with semi-democratic political systems will automatically be pro-American. Has nobody ever heard of national interests? Or do we believe that US interests globally are now basically coterminous with the global interests of all peoples (deep down)?

A still bigger issue is at stake here. The US is has increasingly come to be regarded with dismay by any number of friends and allies for its demand of support for its dangerous and ill-conceived international policies, threats and wars. To sign on to the US global security vision is to have to sign on to policies many countries are very uncomfortable with. They are not ready to support US routinely hostile policies towards Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, and many others. Nor are they ready to lend the automatic support to Israel that Washington demands. This growing reluctance of one-time friends and allies has grown under Trump, but goes back at the very least to George W. Bush and the Global War on Terroryoure either with us or against us. No one in Europe and few in the world supported Washingtons tearing up of the nuclear treaty with Iran, nor do they support the crushing sanctions the US has imposed upon Iran since then for which it demands compliance. Increasingly Europe and other allies no longer find it comfortable to be allied with a US whose foreign policies are obsessively focussed on identification of enemies and where we expect our allies to fall into linestarting before the US invasion of Iraq.

This latest act of foreign policy by assassination will be largely rejected by most in the world. Only a few craven Gulf kings and princesand Israelwill applaud it. And worst of all, the US has now taken one more giant step towards convincing the world that the US has indeed become a rogue nation no longer willing to follow the rules of international law and procedureand wisdomthat it claims to lead. Fewer and fewer countries anywhere are going to sign up for war or searches for alliances that can be turned against Russia or China.

Indeed, as the era of US global dominance is drawing to an end it looks like the US is taking the process very, very hard indeed. It may soon deprive itself of most influence and respect if policies like the assassinations of top leaders of countries we dont like become the new US norm.

Graham E. Fuller is a former senior CIA official, author of numerous books on the Muslim World; his first novel is Breaking Faith: A novel of espionage and an Americans crisis of conscience in Pakistan; his second one is BEARa novel of eco-violence. (Amazon, Kindle). grahamefuller.com
ST. LOUIS - A man has been convicted in the shooting death of an Ethiopian refugee who was working at a convenience store to earn enough money to bring his wife and children from a refugee camp to St. Louis.

Antonio Muldrew, 41, of St. Louis, was found guilty Wednesday of first-degree murder and five other charges in the July 2014 death of convenience store clerk Abdulrauf Kadir. He faces a life sentence.

Muldrew shot Kadir three times in the chest and abdomen before going behind the counter himself to make change and sales for patrons as Kadir bled, the Missouri attorney generals office said in a news release. Muldrew then grabbed cash and lottery tickets from the register and counter and fatally shot Kadir in the head twice when he sought help from customers.

Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who prosecuted the case, said Muldrew told police, He was going to die anyway. I wanted to make sure he was dead. He said he had two kids but I didnt care, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Muldrew didnt testify this week. His public defender, Sharon Turlington, did not dispute that Muldrew killed Kadir but argued the evidence supported a second-degree murder conviction. She told the jury he was a regular customer of the store and was desperate to get money for his pregnant girlfriend.

Kadir had immigrated to the United States from Kenya after fleeing his home country of Ethiopia in the midst of a civil war. Schmitt said in the release that his life was unnecessarily and brutally cut short.
CRESCO, Iowa, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Exiss, Featherlite and Sooner brands have been acquired from Universal Trailer Corporation (UTC) by a newly formed corporation, owned by Tim Masud and Howard Palmer. Mr. Masud will serve as CEO and has more than three decades of experience and success as an advisor, dealership owner and investor in the trailer industry. The definitive agreement for this purchase was executed on December 31, 2019.

As the new CEO and ownership partner of the Exiss, Featherlite and Sooner brands, Mr. Masud states, "I am extremely excited about the opportunity to own three iconic brands in the industry that I've known and respected throughout my career. Each brand brings something different to the table, and each has served the trailer industry well for many years.

"The Featherlite brand has an amazing history as the first aluminum horse and livestock trailer brand and has been a driving force in multiple trailer segments for more than 40 years. The innovation and creativity of the Exiss brand has been truly impressive, with a 25-year history of producing value-rich trailers to all levels of trailer buyers across multiple markets. The Sooner name is a classic in this industry, and the quality and durability of the Sooner product over the past 50 years is something that has always resonated with me.

"I'd like to thank the past customers, loyal dealerships and talented personnel at Exiss, Featherlite and Sooner for making the brands as strong as they are today. I look forward to the opportunity of building on the tradition of these brands with the help of the people and partners that we already have in place!"

The UTC manufacturing plants in Oklahoma and Iowa are also being acquired as a part of this transaction. Exiss, Featherlite and Sooner trailers will continue to be produced in these plants and will be sold through the established independent network of dealerships that are currently in place.

You can learn more about the Exiss, Featherlite and Sooner brands at www.exiss.com, www.fthr.com, www.featherlitespecialty.com and www.soonertrailers.com.

SOURCE Featherlite, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.fthr.com


House Speaker Pelosi says shell send articles when shes ready, wants to see arena in which trial will take place.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that she will send articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump when she is ready, but it will likely be soon.

Im not holding them indefinitely, Pelosi said, referring to the two articles passed by the House in December. Ill send them over when Im ready, and that will probably be soon.

It has been more than three weeks since the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump for obstruction of Congress and abuse of power related to his dealings with Ukraine.

Since then, Pelosi has effectively blocked the Senate from moving forward with a trial by delaying the transmission of the impeachment articles.

Trump was impeached in mid-December [File: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]

Repeating her view since Trump was impeached on December 18, Pelosi said Democrats need to see the arena in which we are sending our managers. She was referring to the House managers who will act as prosecutors in a trial.

Is that too much to ask? she said.

No haggling

A sticking point between Democrats and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is the question of witnesses. Democrats want the trial to include at least four witnesses, including acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and former National Security Adviser John Bolton. McConnell has indicated he wants a swift trial without witnesses.

The standoff deepened this week when McConnell announced he had the backing of enough Republicans to begin a trial as soon as the Senate received the articles of impeachment.

There will be no haggling on the details of the trial, McConnel said.

Under that plan, the question of witnesses would be addressed after opening arguments.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks with reporters after walking off the Senate floor [File: Patrick Semansky/AP Photo]

Speaking from the Senate floor on Thursday, McConnell said the Senate will move forward with its legislative agenda unless the House transmits the articles.

Theres real business for the American people that the United States Senate needs to complete. If the speaker continues to refuse to take her own accusations to trial, the Senate will move forward next week with the business of our people, McConnell said. Politico reported that McConnell has told Republicans he expects a trial to begin next week.

For his part, Trump railed against Pelosi in a series of tweets on Thursday morning.

He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and has labelled the impeachment a hoax.

Trump is only the third president in US history to be impeached. Democrats say he abused his power of office by pressuring Ukraine to open investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter, who had served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, and a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, meddled in the 2016 presidential elections.

The second article of impeachment  obstruction of Congress  stems from Trumps refusal to take part in the inquiry and his instructions to top administration officials that they do the same.
A newlywed couple who died when a Ukrainian Airlines flight crashed in Iran had only been in the capital Tehran to collect their wedding photos, their distraught family has said.

Saeed Tahmasebi had flown to Tehran with new wife Niloofar Ebrahim for the second leg of their wedding with friends and family after tying the knot at St John's Wood register office in London last month.

Mr Tahmasebi, 35, from Chiswick, was an engineer for building firm Laing O'Rourke and was studying for a PHD as a postgraduate researcher at Imperial College London.

They were among 176 passengers who died when their Ukrainian Airlines jet bound for Kiev crashed shortly after take off in Tehran.

The couple had stayed behind in the region after the rest of their wedding party went home.

Mr Tahmasebi's grieving family last night said that just ten minutes before boarding, they had spoken to friends about their worries of travelling in the region.

Newlywed Tahmasebi, 35, from Chiswick, west London, was celebrating his marriage to bride Niloofar Ebrahim (pictured) in Iran when the pair perished in the Ukrainian Airlines tragedy

Rescue workers search the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday

Mr Tahmasebi, a PHD student who had been living in the UK for 15 years, and his wife were returning to Britain from Tehran this morning when their passenger jet crashed after take off

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph Mr Tahmasebi's brother-in-law, Amir, said: 'They were only in Tehran because they were waiting a few days for their wedding photographs before flying home.

'We all left to come back home earlier and were anxious about the situation because of what's going on in the region. But when we spoke to them 10 minutes before they boarded we thought everything was fine. Then we heard their flight had gone down. It's terrible, absolutely terrible.'

Mr Tahmasebi's sister, Sally, 41 said the situation was 'too terrible for words' and that the family 'couldn't believe what had happened'.

She said they were a 'lovely couple' and added that 'Saeed was the nicest guy you could ever find'.

He and two more Britons - including a dry cleaning firm boss from Brighton, East Sussex and another engineer from London are known to have perished on board.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry says there were three British victims of the disaster near Tehran this morning (pictured: wreckage at the crash site)

Mohammad Reza Kadkhoda-Zadeh (pictured), 40, who ran a dry cleaning firm in Brighton, East Sussex, has been named as the second British victim of the plane disaster in Tehran

Sam Zokaei, 42, pictured, from London, was an engineer at BP where colleagues mourned his 'tragic loss' today. He was on holiday in Iran visiting friends and family when he died

Mohammad Reza Kadkhoda-Zadeh, 40, a father-of-one travelled to Iran to see family over the Christmas period and was returning to the UK via Ukraine.

The businessman, who lived in a three-bedroom terraced house in Brighton, East Sussex runs Smarty's dry cleaner's, in nearby Hassocks.

The third victim was Sam Zokaei, 42, an engineer at BP where colleagues mourned his 'tragic loss' today.

A spokesman for the company yesterday said: 'With the deepest regret, we can confirm that one of our colleagues at BP, Sam Zokaei, was a passenger on the Ukrainian International Airlines plane that crashed in Iran this morning, reportedly with no survivors.

'We are shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic loss of our friend and colleague and all of our thoughts are with his family and friends.'

Mr Tahmasebi, a British national, had lived in Britain for more than 15 years.

His friends described him as a 'very bright, very clever and smart' man who had a promising future as a structural engineer.

A friend speaking at the couple's home near Chiswick, said on Wednesday: 'He was a lovely man. A wonderful human being. One of the nicest people you could meet.

'He was a top engineer and I would say he was a genius and he was so happy and getting married to his girlfriend who had been with for about three years.

'He has a sister who lives in London and she asked me to come to his flat today. We are in shock. We just can't believe it. Nobody knows what happened, but this is a very big tragedy.

Mr Tahmasebi and wife Niloofar, pictured, were married at St John's Wood register office in London last month and had flown to Iran for the second part of their wedding celebrations

Mr Zokaei, a reservoir engineer had worked for BP for four and a half years in London, was travelling home to the UK from a holiday in Iran when he was caught up in the plane disaster

A spokesman for his company Laing O'Rourke said: 'Everyone here is shocked and saddened by this very tragic news.'

'Saeed was a popular and well respected engineer and will be missed by many of his colleagues.

'Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this most difficult time and we will do all we can to support them through it.'

In Sussex at the three-bedroom home of Mr Kadkhoda-Zadeh's parents in Haywards Heath, his father, Mahmoud, 67, was too upset to speak yesterday.

Mr Kadkhoda-Zadeh (pictured) is understood to have travelled to Iran to see family over the Christmas period and was returning to the UK via Ukraine

Fighting back tears he said: 'I have no words sorry. I cannot speak.'

But in a statement later, the family described him as: 'A loving father, son, brother, friend, who will eternally be missed. His absence has shattered many lives. A well humoured passionate soul has lost his life far too soon. Rest in peace Reza.'

A family friend added: 'He was his parents' only son. It is so dreadful. We only heard about it in the morning. It is so, so bad at the moment.'

Friends and neighbours described paid tribute to the 'quiet, polite and lovely' businessman after hearing of the tragedy.

A student who rented a room in his house said: 'He's very lovely man. He is friendly and polite and we get on very well indeed.

'I am renting a room here and studying in Brighton to improve my English and we got along very well right from the start.

'He had gone to Iran to see friends and I think some family over Christmas and was due back today.'

Mohammed, who was known to friends as 'Reza', is divorced and father to a nine-year-old girl.

Another neighbour said: 'He was a really lovely man. This is just so shocking and sad.

'He was absolutely dedicated to his daughter, he loved her so much and they would do all sorts of things together.'

Stephen Edgington, who runs Hassocks Pet Centre next to Smarty's dry cleaner, said: 'It is so shocking and it is very upsetting for everyone who knew him.

'He was a lovely man, very quiet and polite but a really nice guy - we got on very well indeed and it is a tragedy.'

Mr Kadkhoda-Zadeh's daughter would often sit in the pet centre so she could stroke the cats there.

'She is a lovely girl and both his ex-wife and him were very nice people. You couldn't fault him. It is such a shock.'

Mr Zokaei was believed to be on holiday in Iran and was on his way back to the UK when he was caught up in the disaster.

The reservoir engineer had worked for BP for four and a half years, both in the Middle East and London, and was understood to be visiting family.

According to his Linkedin profile, Mr Zokaei had studied petroleum engineering at Herriott Watt University in Edinburgh.

'With the deepest regret, we can confirm that one of our colleagues at BP, Sam Zokaei, was a passenger on the Ukrainian International Airlines plane that crashed in Iran this morning, reportedly with no survivors,' a statement said.

'We are shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic loss of our friend and colleague and all of our thoughts are with his family and friends.'

A neighbour told MailOnline: 'He drove a brown coloured 2016 Range Rover that he sometimes parked in my mother's disabled bay outside my house.

'I asked him if he could move the car and he was always very polite and would often apologise.

'He was an Arabic gentleman, I don't know if he had much family here.

'He was in and out of the house quite a lot. You'd say hello and he'd be gone in the car somewhere. He went away quite a bit as well I think with work.

'The last time I saw him was last November. As far as I know he's been living there for at least a year.'

All three men were on the Boeing 737 which came down just minutes after take-off, sparking fresh alarm in an already tense Middle East.

Iran is blaming 'technical difficulties' and says the pilot lost control after a fire struck one of the plane's engines.

However, Tehran is refusing to say what will happen to the black boxes which were recovered from the crash site.

The Boeing plane was less than four years old and had been checked just two days earlier, with 'one of our best crews' manning the aircraft, a Ukrainian airline official said.

The disaster deals a further blow to Boeing which was thrown into crisis by two plane crashes in October 2018 and March 2019 which killed a combined 346 people.
By IANS

KOLKATA: Iterating that the new citizenship law is not in tune with the Constitution, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has demanded that the legislation be scrapped.

"Under this Act, whether citizenship will be given or not will be decided after ascertaining the religion of a person. This definitely is not in tune with the Constitution," said Sen, who won the Nobel prize in Economics in 1998.

"I feel the law should be scrapped, because such an Act shoukd not have been passed in the first place," he said.

ALSO READ: Complaint against Meerut cop for go to Pakistan remark while manning anti-CAA protestors

Sen said even he did not have a birth certificate.

"I also don't have birth certificate. I was born in Santiniketan (in Bolpur of Birbhum district)," he said.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) seeks to provide Indian nationality to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists fleeing to India from persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh before December 31, 2014.

As per the Act, such communities will not be treated as illegal immigrants now and will be given Indian citizenship.

Condemning the violence at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Sen said the government was now considering the universities as its competitors.

ALSO READ: Congress to call party Chief Ministers to strategise on CAA-NRC-NPR

"The university students are protesting. I was a student of Presidency College (now Presidency University) from 1951 to 1953, the question of students being anti-government were raised then. But unlike those times, now universities are being considered as competitors of the government," he said.

Sen said neither the authorities could not stop the violence perpetrated on the students by outsiders, nor did the police reach the spot at the right time.

"Some outsiders inflicted torture on university students and tried to create lawlessness. The university authorities could not stop it. Police also could not reach at the right time."

Several masked individuals, both male and female, thrashed students, including girls, and teachers inside the JNU campus with wooden and metal rods.

Two officer-bearers of the Jawaharal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU), including President Aishe Ghosh - who was reportedly hit over the eye with an iron rod, received severe injuries. They blamed RSS' student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for the rampant violence in the campus.
U-Haul employees in California made a gruesome discovery when they found a human body tightly wrapped in plastic and cardboard in the back of a truck that had been rented then abandoned on a street.

Police officers were summoned to the scene near Orangethorpe Avenue and State College Boulevard in Fullerton on Wednesday afternoon after receiving a report of a possible body found in the trunk of a U-Haul truck.

The vehicle had been rented in Anaheim and never returned.

Anaheim police officers are pictured on the scene Wednesday investigating the discovery of a human body inside the trunk of a U-Haul truck

U-Haul workers found the body tightly wrapped in plastic, cardboard and duct tape (pictured on a stretcher)

The body, of which nothing is known as this time, was taken to a crime lab to be examined

U-Haul staff tracked down the missing truck to Santa Ana Canyon Road west of Gypsum Canyon in Anaheim just before 11am and towed it to a storage facility in Fullerton.

When workers opened the back of the vehicle to perform an inventory of its contents, they discovered a deceased person wrapped in plastic, cardboard and duct tape, reported CBS Los Angeles.

The body was so tightly packaged that it was impossible to tell the gender, race or age of the deceased, let alone his or her identity, according to Sgt. Shane Carringer, of the Anaheim Police Department.

Someone had rented the truck in Anaheim and failed to return it. It was found abandoned on a street Wednesday morning

U-Haul staff towed the truck to this storage facility in Fullerton, California, to perform an inventory of its contents

The human remains were then loaded into a coroner's van and transported to a crime lab along with the U-Haul truck to be examined.

'We are not calling it a homicide yet,' Carringer said. 'Its obviously a suspicious death, and the circumstances in which the body was found are certainly suspicious, but were going to treat it as if it could potentially be a homicide.'

Carringer noted that even if the person in the vehicle did not die as a result of a homicide, other crimes may have been committed.

'It could be something much less nefarious than a homicide,' Carringer told KTLA5. 'It could just be a natural death in which the body was disposed of or stored improperly.'
Jammu: Diplomats from 16 countries, including US Ambassador Ken Juster, will visit Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday for a two-day visit. This is the first official visit of foreign diplomats after the removal of Article 370 granting special status from the state on 5 August 2019. On Wednesday, the officials said that these diplomats posted in the embassies in Delhi will first visit Srinagar on Thursday and will stay there overnight. After this, the next day will go to Jammu. It has been learned that during these diplomatic visits, Lieutenant Governor GC Murmu and members of civil society will meet. Apart from the US, the delegation will also include diplomats from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, Maldives, South Korea, Morocco, Nigeria and other countries.



EU diplomats to visit later: Sources say that diplomats from EU countries informed the government that they would visit this union territory on a different date. At the same time, diplomats from these countries have also insisted on meeting three former CMs Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, which the government is going to consider.



The demand was made by foreign diplomats: It has been learned that on Thursday, January 9, 2020, the diplomats visiting the state will meet the members of the civil society and they will also be informed about the security situation of the state by various agencies. . Officials said that diplomats from several countries had requested the government to visit Kashmir. The visit is being done as part of the government's efforts to make foreign diplomats aware of the reality of Pakistan's propaganda on Kashmir.

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To prevent US-Iran tension, Indian Army took this step
Four people were arrested on Thursday for blocking the houseboat carrying Nobel laureate Michael Levitt in the backwaters here during the nation-wide strike against the Centre's "anti-labour" policies.

The arrests were made on Thursday morning, police said.

The four are said to be belonging to the ruling CPI (M)'s union outfit--CITU, one of the 10 trade unions, which were on strike on Wednesday.

Levitt, who won the Nobel prize in 2013 for Chemistry, was taking a houseboat ride across the scenic backwaters in Alappuzha when the four protesters stopped the boat near Kainakary here for nearly two hours.

"Kerala is beautiful. Backwaters are wonderful and the people are very good," he said this morning adding he had no issues with regard to Wednesday's incident when his boat was blocked by protesters.

However, in an email sent to his tour agent on Wednesday, Levitt had said "Being stopped by criminals on the backwaters sends a very bad message to tourists. It is as if a bandit stopped us at gun point and delayed us under threat of force for one hour."



He had also stated that the person who blocked them "ignored all arguments that tourists were exempted" from the strike.

"This person, who did this ignored all arguments that tourists were exempted and that I am a VIP guest of the Kerala government. He is obviously acting knowing that he is safe from prosecution. Sadly this makes me fear that India is sinking into lawlessness," he added.

Meanwhile, the Kottayam Collector said he had met the Nobel laureate when he reached Kumarakom in the morning after their boat cruise.

"The state government has expressed its grief and concern in the matter. We have also informed Levitt that the government has taken the matter seriously," Kottayam Collector P K Sudheer Babu told PTI.

The Alappuzha police chief told PTI that four people have been arrested in the case and charged for obstructing a public way or line of navigation.

"We have arrested four persons in this matter. A case has been registered them," K M Tomy said.

The accused have been charged under various sections of IPC, including causing obstruction in public way and wrongful confinement.

Ten trade unions, including INTUC, AITUC, and CITU had called for the nationwide strike to protest against labour reforms, FDI, disinvestment, corporatisation and privatisation policies and to press for a 12-point common demands of the working class relating to minimum wage among others.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BBC Breakfast viewers were quick to notice two of the show's presenters turned up to work in almost identical outfits this morning.

Naga Munchetty, 44, was busy discussing the latest news regarding Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, before passing over to Carol Kirkwood, 57, for the weather.

But rather than focusing on the frosty conditions to come, viewers were instead distracted by their matching black and white polka dot outfits.

'Good morning Naga. Did Carol and you go to the same wardrobe today?' joked one, while a second penned: 'Morning Carol. I've been joining the dots this morning and have come up with you and Naga. Matching dresswear polka dot.'

BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty (pictured) sported a very similar outfit to colleague Carol Kirkwood in today's show

Weather presenter Carol decided to tuck her polka dot blouse into what appeared to be a black pencil skirt or trousers - and accessorised with a waist belt

Many picked up on the similar outfits, with one joking: 'Good morning Naga. Did Carol and you go to the same wardrobe today?' (pictured)

Meanwhile, another picked up on Naga's co-presenter Charlie Stayt similarly trying to wade in on the fashionable efforts.

'I see Charlie got @BBCNaga spot memo and got his best socks out,' wrote one. 'Unfortunately they don't match carol or Nagas chic look good effort though.'

The presenters may have been wearing similar patterns, but they both styled their ensembles rather differently.

Naga opted to keep it simple in her full-length silk dress, which featured intricate tie detail, while Carol decided to tuck her blouse into what appeared to be a black pencil skirt - before accessorising with a belt to cinch her in at the waist.

The matching outfits were more apparent went Naga handed a segment of the show of to Carol (pictured)

Taking to Twitter, one joked: 'I see Charlie got @BBCNaga spot memo and got his best socks out. Unfortunately they don't match carol or Nagas chic look good effort though.'

And while neither decided to comment on their matching outfits, Twitter was awash with complements on Naga's dress.

'Looking gorgeous again Naga in your polka dot attire,' praised one, while a second enthused: 'You always look lovely.'

A third asked: 'Good morning, love your dress today where is it from?' while a fourth commented: 'Beautiful dress (or is it a jumpsuit Naga?) Where is it from?'

After being inundated with praise for her stylish outfit, Naga responded: 'Dress. It's from Warehouse.'
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall told legislators this week in a letter that he opposes a proposal to legalize and regulate marijuana products for medical use in Alabama.

Marshall outlined his concerns and cited sources for studies and research that he said support those concerns.

The attorney general noted his work on Alabamas ongoing crisis of opioid addiction and overdoses and said theres no evidence that medical marijuana could help that problem and could actually compound it.

While I do not question the motives or intentions of any member of the Legislature who does support legislation, the many unanswered questions and potential ramifications are undeniable, Marshall wrote. My fear is that while we fight in court for funding to remediate the opioid crisis, we will exacerbate that problem while creating a new one.

You can read the letter at the end of this story.

Marshalls letter came in response to the report of the Alabama Medical Cannabis Study Commission, which voted last month to recommend a proposed bill for the legislative session that starts Feb. 4. The bill would regulate how patients with certain conditions could use medical marijuana products under a doctors supervision. It would regulate how the products are cultivated, processed, tested, transported, packaged, advertised, sold, and taxed. Alabama would be the 34th state to legalize medical cannabis, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence, who chaired the study commission and will sponsor the legislation, said he did not expect Marshall to support the bill considering that Marshall is the states chief law enforcement officer. Melson said Marshall called him this week to let him know he was sending the letter. But he said he was disappointed that Marshall declined to be involved in the study commissions work. The commission met four times and held three public hearings last year.

I reached out to him numerous times to talk about it and never heard back, Melson said. "I invited him to the meetings or to meet with me to discuss any headaches. I wanted to minimize the headaches on the AG just like I would on the DAs and law enforcement."

Melson said he had been very busy and had not read Marshalls letter, but had heard enough about it to get the gist of it. One of the first points Marshall raises in the letter is that legalizing medical marijuana would conflict with federal law.

Hes worried about it conflicting federal law. But it didnt seem to bother him we passed an abortion bill last year that conflicted with federal law. We havent gotten a letter about that one, Melson said.

Alabama lawmakers last year passed a ban on abortion at any stage of pregnancy except to protect serious health risks to the woman, a move intended to spark a challenge to the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision. A federal judge has blocked the law and Marshalls office is defending it.

Melson, an anesthesiologist and medical researcher, said he respected Marshall and believes he is doing a good job as attorney general.

I just disagree with him on this one, Melson said.

In his letter, Marshall cited six main concerns about medical marijuana:

Marijuana is an addictive drug

Evidence does not show that it will help reduce opioid dependency

It is disproportionately used for chronic pain in states where it is legal, which results in long-term use with potential negative effects

Its benefits have been overstated while the risks have been downplayed

Alabama is not prepared to effectively regulate it

It can cause problems by interacting with prescription drugs

Marshall has served as co-chair of the Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council. Alabama has one of the nations highest rates of opioid use. According to Blue Cross and Blue Shield, its members in Alabama are twice as likely as the national average to be on a long-term opioid regimen, Marshall wrote.

This is relevant to the marijuana debate, given the foreboding similarities between the origins of the opioid crisis and todays aggressive campaign to legalize marijuana for medical use, Marshall wrote. Furthermore, experts have warned against the hazardous outcomes of mixing opioids with marijuana -- something that a state with our rate of opioid prescriptions simply cannot afford to ignore.

Melson said he can cite studies that show medical marijuana products do reduce opioid dependence. He said he will continue to try to talk to those who have concerns about the bill and find common ground. For example, he said he believes business associations are satisfied with protections written into the bill for employers.

I honestly believe the benefits outweigh the risks, especially with this very tight, highly regulated bill," Melson said.
Queen Letizia of Spain appeared business-like this morning in a stylish recycled houndstooth blazer and leather trousers as she returned to work following the Duchess of Badajoz's death yesterday.

The mother-of-two, 47, cut a stylish figure as she attended a meeting for FEDER, the Spanish Federation for Rare Diseases, in Madrid earlier today.

The royal nailed workwear chic, pairing a chic black polo neck and leather trousers with a trendy houndstooth blazer by Spanish brand Uterque, which costs 200.

It comes after she joined husband King Felipe VI, 51, at a funeral chapel last night to pay her respects to his aunt, Infanta Pilar of Spain - the older sister of King Juan Carlos I - who died yesterday.

Queen Letizia, 47, cut a stylish figure as she attended a meeting for FEDER, the Spanish Federation for Rare Diseases, in Madrid earlier today

The mother-of-two appeared focused as she arrived for the meeting in Madrid earlier this morning. She kept her makeup subtle, adding a touch of brown eyeliner to her lids and sweeping a nude colour across her lips

The royal recycled a black and white houndstooth blazer for the occasion, with black leather trousers and a simple polo neck

Queen Letizia appeared focused as she returned to work after the Duchess' death yesterday.

The Spanish royal recycled the white houndstooth blazer, which cost 200, with black leather trousers and a simple black polo neck.

She first wore the double breasted blazer, which is sold-out online, in November as she joined King Felipe to board their flight to Havana for a four day trip to Cuba.

The queen finished her stylish outfit with a large black clutch bag and black stilettos.

The royal paired the trendy houndstooth blazer, costing 200, with a pair of black leather trousers for the meeting

The royal, who is one of the directors of FEDER, kept her makeup to a minimal and accessorised with a simple pair of studs for the event

The royal kept her jewellery minimal for the occasion, donning a pair of simple stud earrings.

Letizia styled her hair with a gentle blow dry, and accentuated her natural beauty with subtle makeup for the meeting.

She could be seen smiling into the sun as she arrived for the meeting at FEDER earlier today.

Letizia styled her hair with a gentle blow-dry for the day of events, and appeared relaxed as she arrived for the meeting in Madrid

The royal showed off her natural beauty by keeping makeup to a minimum, and adding a soft nude lipstick. She The smiled into the warm winter sun as she arrived ahead of the meeting in Madrid earlier today

Queen Letizia cut a stylish figure as she arrived for the event wearing the houndstooth blazer and leather skinny trousers

The former journalist is one of the directors of the Spanish Federation of Rare Diseases (FEDER).

The Spanish Federation of Rare Diseases aims to promote 'the need to work with everyone involved to promote the access to a diagnosis for those people suffering from rare diseases.'

They help people who have contracted a disease that less than five people per 10,000 have. There are more than three million people that fit the bill in Spain alone.

It comes after the royal and her husband Kind Felipe attended a funeral chapel for his aunt the Infanta Pilar of Spain, Duchess of Badajoz, last night.

The mother-of-two could be seen holding a notepad as she walked into the meeting with FEDER today

Pilar de Borbon was King Emeritus Juan Carlos's elder sister and died yesterday aged 83 after being urgently admitted at the Ruber International Clinic in Madrid on January 5, the day of Juan Carlos's 82nd birthday.

Members of the royal family including her brother Juan Carlos and his wife Queen Sofia, 81, as well as her nephew King Felipe and his wife attended a funeral chapel for her yesterday evening.

Although details of her conditions were not confirmed, the Duchess revealed in late May 2019 that she suffered from colon cancer, and has likely succumbed to her illness.
DETROIT  A Michigan man accused of killing a 25-year-old man and eating part of his body will seek an insanity defense, his lawyer said Wednesday.

Mark David Latunski, 50, appeared at court Wednesday via video for a probable cause hearing in the gruesome murder case.

He is charged with open murder and mutilation of a body in the death of Kevin Bacon, who was reported missing on Christmas Day.

Authorities said Bacon went to meet Latunski after connecting with him on Grindr, a dating app.

Bacon was found murdered and mutilated in Latunski's home on Dec. 28 and his naked body was hanging from the rafters by his ankles. Latunski told police he'd slit his throat with a knife. Latunski also allegedly admitted to eating part of Bacon's body.

Mark Latunski booking photo. Latunski was arrested for open murder and mutilation of Kevin Bacon on Dec. 28, 2019.

Latunski's attorney, public defender Doug Corwin, is seeking an insanity defense for his client.

"He believes he's named someone else, he believes he's from a royal family out of Wales, from the Thomas clan, and just the nature of the crime itself ... what he did and how he did it has come out, just by that nature as an attorney, I have to send him for an evaluation," Corwin said.

Judge Ward L. Clarkson ordered a competency test.

Latunski will be sent to the Center for Forensic Psychiatry to determine if he is competent to stand trial. If he is found competent, they will go a step further to conduct a criminal responsibility test, which will test if he was competent at the time of the crime.

"We are alleging that maybe at the time of the offense, he was criminally insane," Corwin stated after the hearing.

Latunski will likely be sent for this evaluation after 60 to 90 days.

Police tape remains around the home of Mark Latunski on Tyrell Rd. In Morrice on Wednesday, January 8, 2020. Latunski is accused of killing and eating parts of his Grindr date, Kevin Bacon of Swartz Creek, at Latunskis home.

"The forensics center is pretty backed up right now so there's a delay in getting people down there to get evaluated," Corwin explained.

Latunski will be held at the Shiawassee County Jail until his evaluation.

Once his evaluation is scheduled, the county jail will transport Latunski, who will be tested and interviewed. The forensics center will also look into his background and prior hospitalizations.

Story continues

Corwin said that it can take 30 days to get the report, but sometimes it can take longer if multiple hospitals have to be consulted.

If Latunski is found not competent, he will be hospitalized in a lockdown facility and be treated until he is deemed competent, according to Corwin.

"He's been very cooperative with our department, very polite," Corwin said when asked about Latunski's demeanor. He also said that Latunski really seems to believe the grandiose stories he's been telling his attorney.

At his arraignment hearing on Dec. 30, Latunski said that his name is Edgar Thomas Hill and Mark Latusnki is his nephew.

According to public records, Latunski has been committed to hospitals four times for his mental health.

Follow Bisma Parvez on Twitter @bismapar

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Kevin Bacon murder: Insanity defense planned for suspect Mark Latunski
Newscity

AG Appeals White Decision

The state Attorney Generals Office is asking a judge to reconsider his decision to drop embezzlement charges against former Torrance County Sheriff Heath White.

According to KRQE, Judge Charles Brown dismissed a number of embezzlement charges against White in November. He criticized the investigation and said that a warrant used to search a store that didn't belong to White was invalid.

Last May, White was serving as a magistrate judge when the Attorney General's Office accused him of stealing $150,000 worth of equipment and guns from the Torrance County Sheriff's Office. According to investigators, White had ordered the itemsincluding night vision goggles, auto parts and a number of gunswhile serving as Sheriff. The items seemingly went missing at the time of his departure from the Sheriff's Office in December 2018. Several of the items were reportedly recovered from White's home and a local store.

According to Brown's ruling last October, the evidence presented against White was not true and misrepresented. He ruled that there had been no probable cause in the case and dismissed all charges against the former sheriff.

Last week, the Attorney General's Office filed an appeal against the ruling.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) will host a 2020 Elections Summit on Tuesday, January 14, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, Washington, DC 22045.

Ahead of the 2020 elections, the EAC is hosting an all-day summit to highlight important issues facing state and local election officials as they work to prepare for the 2020 primaries and general elections. State and local election officials, representatives from federal agencies that support elections, and other key election stakeholders will discuss election security and combating foreign interference in elections, preparing for high turnout, ensuring access for voters with disabilities and limited English proficiency, and recruiting and training effective poll workers, among other topical issues.

Confirmed panelists and speakers include:

Hon. Kyle Ardoin , Secretary of State, Louisiana

, Secretary of State, Hon. Jocelyn Benson , Secretary of State, Michigan

, Secretary of State, Hon. Jim Condos, Secretary of State, Vermont

Hon. Frank LaRose , Secretary of State, Ohio

, Secretary of State, Michelle Bishop , Voting Rights Specialist, National Disability Rights Network

, Voting Rights Specialist, National Disability Rights Network Ron Bushar , Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, Government Solutions, FireEye

, Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, Government Solutions, FireEye Doris Clark , Recorder, Navajo County, Arizona

, Recorder, Geoff Hale , Director, Election Security Initiative, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

, Director, Election Security Initiative, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Patty Hansen , Recorder, Coconino County, Arizona

, Recorder, Keith Ingram , Texas Director of Elections, President of the National Association of State Election Directors, GCC Executive Committee Member

, Texas Director of Elections, President of the National Association of State Election Directors, GCC Executive Committee Member Terrica Jennings , Attorney Advisor, ADA Coordinator, District of Columbia Board of Elections

, Attorney Advisor, ADA Coordinator, Board of Elections Meghan Kelly , State Legislative Affairs Specialist, Federal Voting Assistance Program

, State Legislative Affairs Specialist, Federal Voting Assistance Program Dean Logan , Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Los Angeles County, California

, Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Tammy Patrick , Senior Advisor, Elections, Democracy Fund

, Senior Advisor, Elections, Democracy Fund Shelby Pierson , Election Threats Executive, Office of the Director of National Intelligence

, Election Threats Executive, Office of the Director of National Intelligence Gary Scott , General Registrar and Director of Elections, Fairfax County, Virginia

, General Registrar and Director of Elections, David Stafford , Supervisor of Elections, Escambia County, Florida , GCC Executive Committee Member

, Supervisor of Elections, , GCC Executive Committee Member Barry Stephenson , Chair, Board of Registrars, Jefferson County, Alabama

, Chair, Board of Registrars, Ron Turner , Supervisor of Elections, Sarasota County, Florida

, Supervisor of Elections, Karen Yarbrough , Clerk, Cook County, Illinois

, Clerk, Christy McCormick , U.S. Election Assistance Commission Chairwoman

, U.S. Election Assistance Commission Chairwoman Ben Hovland , U.S. Election Assistance Commission Vice Chair

, U.S. Election Assistance Commission Vice Chair Donald Palmer , U.S. Election Assistance Commissioner

, U.S. Election Assistance Commissioner Thomas Hicks , U.S. Election Assistance Commissioner

The event is open to the public. For those who cannot attend in person, the event will be livestreamed on the EAC's website.

All attendees, including media, are required to register in advance.

To request additional information, please contact Adrian Smith at [email protected] or 202-897-9285.

WHAT: U.S. Election Assistance Commission 2020 Elections Summit

WHERE:

National Press Club

529 14th Street NW

Washington, DC 22045

Livestream available at https://www.eac.gov/events/2020/01/14/us-election-assistance-commission-2020-elections-summit.

WHEN: Tuesday, January 14, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET

Registration opens at 9:00 a.m., program runs from 9:30 a.m.  4:00 p.m. ET

WHO: View the Draft Agenda Here

RSVP: Register Here

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) was established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). It is an independent, bipartisan commission charged with ensuring secure, accurate and accessible elections by developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and serving as a national clearinghouse of information on election administration. EAC also accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, as well as administers the use of HAVA funds. For more information, visit www.eac.gov.

SOURCE U.S. Election Assistance Commission

Related Links

https://www.eac.gov


Days after President Donald Trump ordered a drone strike that killed a top Iranian general, the commander in chief's 2020 campaign turned the attack into a political pitch, purchasing roughly 1,000 ads on Facebook that touted his military credentials - and sought to raise money for his reelection push.

The online advertising blitz began late Monday as Trump's team sought to defend the killing of Qasem Soleimani, a major general in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Many of the ads solicited personal information from voters that could be useful as the campaign seeks to mobilize voters on Election Day.

The digital strategy mirrors Trump's previous social media campaigns concerning impeachment, immigration and other signature issues, relying on a mix of narrowly targeted messages - along with headline-grabbing tweets seen by millions - to command the political conversation, mobilize his base and advance his policy agenda with an eye on the election. Trump's campaign also alerted supporters with a series of similar text messages highlighting Soleimani's death.

RELATED: Satellite photos show damage to base after Iranian missile attack

"From a campaign perspective, any time the president accomplishes something - and fighting terrorism is among his biggest campaign promises, keeping our country safe - that is grounds for making the argument that he should be reelected," said Matt Braynard, the data director for Trump's 2016 campaign who says he is not involved in his reelection effort.

But some experts bristled at Trump's tactics in the context of national security, stressing that the stakes are higher than usual: Every ad, tweet and social media statement from Trump carries significant weight in a rapidly developing conflict, they said.

"Growing campaign email lists based on fear and online fundraising for political gain should hardly be a priority of the commander in chief during a national security crisis," said Graham Brookie, the leader of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, which studies disinformation. He previously served in the Obama administration.

A spokesman for the Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Democrats and Republicans long have sparred over efforts to advertise their military accomplishments in the course of a major election. In 2012, GOP lawmakers and candidates criticized President Barack Obama for running television spots touting his order to kill Osama bin-Laden, which critics said were unseemly.

But Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites have become even more pervasive and powerful in the years since Obama left office, an evolution heralded by the successful digital strategy that catapulted Trump to the White House in 2016.

Tweets helped Trump push his political views to millions instantly, and Facebook ads allowed the president's team to target narrow slices of voters with specific messages that would most outrage, engage or persuade them. Both have been put to great use again by the president's campaign in the days after he ordered the attack on Soleimani, dismaying Democrats, some of whom long have called on tech giants to place limits on Trump, the most prolific and controversial social media user in U.S. politics.

Beginning this week, Trump's team has run scores of Facebook ads highlighting Soleimani's death, many pitching an "Official Military Survey" that asks supporters a series of questions, including whether they agree with the president's "decision to take out the very dangerous Iranian terrorist leader."

Those who fill it out are asked to submit their personal information, including their emails and phone numbers - a standard practice for candidates such as Trump, whose campaign has spent $27 million on Facebook ads since May 2018 in part to build lists of supporters, the company's archive shows. After clicking a button to submit responses, participants are asked for donations of up to the $2,800 per-election maximum.

Trump's campaign and his Republican allies also have sent texts in recent days highlighting the Soleimani killing. "Pres Trump made our Military STRONG again!" began one message from the Republican National Committee, according to Nomorobo, an app that helps smartphone users block robocalls and texts. The texts link to the Trump campaign's data-collection survey.

Another batch of texts - sent Wednesday after Trump spoke about Iran - included a "presidential address approval poll," which asks viewers to rate if he was "historic," "great," "good" or "other."

"A huge piece of Trump's message and platform from day one is about presenting himself as a strong, machismo leader to his base," said Tara McGowan, who leads the progressive-leaning digital group ACRONYM, which estimated that Trump has run roughly 1,000 ads so far.

"It is clear from the amount of messaging and resources the Trump campaign is putting behind this messaging that he sees this as an advantage for his campaign for reelection," she said, decrying what she called the president's "politicizing this military event."

Trump's Facebook ads do not appear to violate its policies. Dozens of his ads have been removed from Facebook, according to the company's public archive, but only because they broke the company's technical rules for how ads with buttons should be formatted.

At least one of Trump's 2020 Democratic rivals, former vice president Joe Biden, has run ads of his own this week touting his experience on the world stage and questioning Trump's fitness as commander in chief.

Other 2020 Democratic contenders have ratcheted up their criticisms of Trump campaign trail. Speaking to reporters after a town hall in Iowa on Sunday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., questioned the timing of the strike, noting that it unfolded "as Donald Trump faces a potential impeachment trial in the United States Senate next week."

Andrew Yang, the entrepreneur and former tech executive who has made prolific use of the Internet to power his outsider bid for the Democratic nomination, said matters of war were a bridge too far for quick advertising tactics.

"You hope that our government is making decisions based upon national security concerns and what's best for the country," he said in an interview, "and not using that as an opportunity to gather voter data."

- - -

The Washington Post's Michael Scherer contributed to this story.
Ho Central Prison in the Volta Region

09.01.2020 LISTEN

A cesspit containing unmeasurable amounts of excreta has been overflowing from the Ho Central Prison in the Volta region, into nearby communities within the area.

Residents are at risk of contracting communicable diseases as the prisons cesspit continues to overflow.

The sludge of excrement also flows into gutters and drains to join streams of nearby waterbodies.

One resident explained that the fetid stench that comes from the sludge drives away clients from her saloon.

Even my clients are complaining when they come to plait their hair because they cant sit here, braid their hair while this [polluted] water is passing, she said.

Another resident who is also a business owner said that he tries to retain his customers by explaining to them that the overpowering stench is coming from the nearby prison.

Sometimes my customers will come and ask What is smelling? What is smelling? I cant stay here and I try to explain to them that this smell comes from the prison, he said.

The Volta Regional Prisons Commander, Deputy Director of Prisons (DDP), Andrews Kwasi Dzokoto explained that the cesspit overflows comes from the overpopulated male yard of the Ho Central Prison.

He further disclosed that it constantly overflows because the sanitary facilities meant to cater to the inmates are too few for the prisoners serving time there.

The Ho Central Prison was originally built to accommodate 150 inmates but instead, it currently houses about 500 inmates.

The Volta Regional Commander said that his team frequently dislodge the cesspit weekly and sometimes bi-weekly in an attempt to try to handle the situation.

The cost of doing so breaks the bank. It costs them 6,500 each time they organise dislodgement.

We have to do it about 13 trips to empty it. In a matter of a week or two, it gets full again and because we dont have money to dislodge it [more] frequently, it overflows, he said.

Due to lack of funds, they are unable to continue financing the frequent dislodging of the cesspit, to try to solve the problem.

DDP Andrews Kwasi Dzokoto appealed to the general public to help the prison raise funds to invest in a bio-digester toilet for his precinct.

We are appealing for assistance to solve this problem. In solving that problem experts told me we need about 50,000 which we dont have.

So we are appealing to the general public. We are appealing to philanthropists and institutions to come to our aid, he said.

---Myjoyonline
Fiance of woman killed in alleged baby-stealing plot says he's still 'waiting to hear her voice' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

The fiance of a Texas woman who was allegedly killed in a plot to steal their baby said he's still in disbelief that someone so close to them may have been involved.

"She deserves more. She deserves way more," Heidi Broussard's fiance, Shane Carey, told ABC News in an exclusive interview airing on "Good Morning America" Thursday. "I'm waiting for that text message, like, 'Hey sweetie, how we doing?'  Just waiting to hear her voice. I still don't believe it. I just don't believe it. It's really not real."

Broussard, 33, and the couple's infant daughter, Margot, had been missing for a week before the young woman was found strangled to death in the trunk of the car of her close friend, Magen Fieramusca, on Dec. 19, according to officials.

MORE: Shocking details alleged in Heidi Broussard, baby Margot kidnapping case

Fieramusca was charged with kidnapping in connection with the case, and police believe she may have abducted Broussard in a plot to take baby Margot as her own child.

Investigators said Fieramusca had allegedly been acting like she was pregnant and telling people that she was expecting a child. Authorities are now trying to determine whether she was pregnant at all.

Margot was found alive and was reunited with her family last month, but those closest to her are still searching for answers.

PHOTO: Fiance Shane Carey, along with his father, holds he and Heidi Broussard's baby, Margot Carey, during an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. Authorities believe Broussard's friend, Magen Fieramusca, killed her and took the child. (ABC News)

"I want to look at her straight in the eyes and ask her why?" Carey said of Fieramusca. "That's all I want to say. There's no reason for any of this. I believe somebody talked her into it. I mean, from knowing Magen, I would never imagine it."

"I don't know what happened.  Heidi is way stronger than Magen. There has to be a second person. There is no way Magen was by herself," he added.

Story continues

MORE: Slain mom was friends for years with suspected kidnapper

Carey told police that on Dec. 8 or 9, Broussard said Fieramusca delivered a baby girl, according to court documents. Carey said he had seen her visibly pregnant, the documents said.

Fieramusca's ex-boyfriend, Christopher Green, told investigators that "he never saw Magen Fieramusca's bare stomach during the pregnancy," but he believed she was pregnant with his child, according to the documents.

The two still lived together, although they were broken up, the documents said.

PHOTO: Police have released this photo of Heidi Broussard and 2-week-old Margot Carey after they were reported missing. (Austin Police Department )

Fieramusca later told investigators that she went into labor on Dec. 12 and went to a Houston-area birthing center, but she could not remember the center's name, according to the arrest affidavit.

Shen told investigators she brought her baby home on Dec. 12, the affidavit said.

MORE: Austin mom strangled to death, baby found alive; friend arrested on kidnapping charge: Official

When investigators spoke with Green, they showed him a flyer of missing baby Margot -- and Green replied, "That's the baby at my house," according to an arrest affidavit.

Investigators say they went to Fieramusca's home where they smelled the "unmistakable odor of decomposing flesh" coming from the trunk of Fieramusca's Nissan Versa.

She was taken into custody on two charges of kidnapping and one count of tampering with a human corpse. Her first court appearance is set for next month.

PHOTO: Magen Fieramusca was charged with tampering with a human corpse and kidnapping. (Harris County Sheriff's Dept.)

Carey, Broussard's fiance, expressed frustration over the way the case was unfolding and questioned why Fieramusca hadn't been charged with murder.

"I guess it's tampering with evidence, [but] how is no one charged [with murder]?  There has to be someone charged," Carey said. "I don't know why this happened. She had my baby in her room supposedly. So it had to be her.  She had to be involved."

For now, Carey said he's trying to stay strong for baby Margot. He's also preparing to launch a foundation in Heidi's memory called "Heidi and Shane's Family Fund," to support families who have suffered traumatic events.

ABC News' Jim Scholz and Kristyn Caddell contributed to this report.
M Ps have voted against an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill on the issue of Erasmus.

The EU programme helps students study in other countries, with thousands from the UK learning abroad through the scheme each year.

Parliament voted against an amendment which would have required the Government to seek to negotiate continuing full membership in the programme after the UK leaves the EU.

Here, we look at how Brexit may affect Erasmus and what we know so far.

Will I be able to study in Europe after Brexit? / Unsplash

How will Brexit affect Erasmus?

At least 53 per cent of UK university students who learn abroad do so through the Erasmus scheme.

In 2016-17, more than 16,500 UK students participated in overseas programmes, while more than 31,700 EU nationals came to the UK.

So when the Brexit date was 29 March 2019, fears grew that there may not be funding for programmes in the 2019-20 academic year.

But the delay to 31 October 2019 has meant this year's funding was assured for those at UK institutions going to EU countries.

The terms of the UK's departure from the EU have still yet to be determined so its future place in the Erasmus programme is still uncertain.

And a decision is needed about what to do in the next Erasmus financing round from 2021 to 2027.

In a statement, the scheme said: "The Erasmus+ UK National Agency is working closely with the Department for Education on how a no-deal scenario would affect Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps (ESC).

How will Brexit affect Erasmus? / Erasmus09012020

"We remain conscious of the uncertainty felt by programme applicants, beneficiaries, and participants, as well as by partners in other participating countries."

What was the Erasmus vote on January 8?

New Clause 10 to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill was put forward by a group of Lib Dem, SNP and Green MPs in a bid to tighten the Government's obligation to negotiate continued Erasmus membership.

MPs like Layla Moran, Christine Jadine, Sir Edward Davey and Caroline Lewis put forward the clause because the WAB did not require the Government to seek an agreement with the EU over keeping the UK as a full member of the scheme.

After MPs voted against a second reading of New Clause 10 by 344 votes to 255, the Government will definitely not be bound by law to negotiate a full membership of Erasmus post-Brexit.

However, this does not mean that the Government definitely won't negotiate a full membership - they are just not obligated to do so.

They are also now free to seek a different sort of membership or participation in the programme - and only time will tell what that might be.

Twitter users were still angry that the Government and now Parliament have not completely committed to keeping the UK in the programme by approving the clause.

Will I be able to study in Europe after Brexit?

After leaving the EU, the UK might pay to continue to participate in Erasmus.

Not all the countries that participate in the programme are EU members like, Turkey, Iceland, Norway and Serbia.

These countries are called "programme members", which means they participate fully.

But these non-EU countries are also either candidates to join the EU or members of the European Economic Area.

There are also partner countries that participate in parts of the programme, such as Kosovo, Armenia and Lebanon.

The government has previously said that if it fails to negotiate the UK's continuing participation in Erasmus, it will speak to individual countries about creating exchange programmes.
January is always a great time to look at where you are, what youve done, where youd like to be and what youd like to accomplish in the new year. Bekkum Memorial Library is here to help you in that quest. We have expanded opportunities to meet with an employment and training counselor from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Rather than the once every two months schedule, Myron Daubert is now able to meet with you on two or three different occasions each month. He will help you explore a change in jobs, discover expanded skill trainings, learn about area openings, create a top-notch resume, fill out an application effectively, and assist in taking the next steps in employment. This service is for all ages of job-seekers  teens and adults, veterans, retirees  we can help you all. Myron will be at Bekkum on Jan. 28 to answer all your questions and provide options for the upcoming months. Please call 608-634-4419 for more information.
T he Instagram grid of Amber Atherton bears many of the hallmarks of the modern influencer: 14,000 followers, a status-confirming blue tick from her Made In Chelsea days, a glossy mosaic of brunch snaps, mirror selfies and geotags from her jet-set tech-founder lifestyle between London, New York and San Francisco.

Which makes her latest venture, Zyper, a marketing platform that purposely eschews influencer culture, all the more surprising. But Atherton, 28, is serious about bringing an end to sponsored posts and follower counts, she tells me from her companys sleek Bay Area-based HQ.

Anybody can buy 10,000 followers in 10 minutes and use a photo-editing app to create great content and anybody can accept $100 to write a post about toothpaste, says the former reality TV star, whos spoken about the silly money she was offered to promote products during her stint on the E4 show.

The idea behind her start-up is simple: mistrust of influencers is growing and young consumers are increasingly more influenced by their peers than celebrity endorsements, so Zyper uses a secret algorithm to connect brands with their true superfans as opposed to paid-for influencers, says Atherton, who coded as a child and founded jewellery start-up, MyFlashTrash, at 17.

California-based Zyper recently completed Silicon Valleys Y Combinator programme, which has nurtured companies from Dropbox to Airbnb, and has raised more than $8.5 million (6.5 million) of investment since launching in 2016. Dior, Topshop and Kelloggs are among its 50-plus high-profile clients so far.

Zypers superfan concept goes beyond identifying public ambassadors for a brand, Atherton explains. This year, her main drive is using Zyper to build interest-based communities.

The benefits are twofold: brands gain customer insights through using their top one per cent of fans as a focus group and fans gain a community of likeminded individuals. Within Bodens Zyper community, for example, there are micro-groups for stripe-lovers, while Venice-based fans of sustainably-minded Toms shoes now meet for regular litter-picks on the beach thanks to Zypers geotag-based algorithm.

Zypers algorithm uses machine learning to scan each users social media images, captions and geotags to find hyper-local tribes of people that can connect with brands (Zyper ) / Zyper

These chat-based spaces will be the future of social media, Atherton predicts, recalling a conversation she overheard at a dinner for tech founders in New York last month. I keep deleting Instagram off my phone because every time I open the app, I buy something, the person said. For Atherton, the comment was reflective of a wider feeling. Instagram isnt a social network any more, its a highly addictive e-commerce company, she wrote on Twitter last month.

Atherton doesnt see a disappearance of Instagram altogether (for now) but believes its role will continue to transform: I think we might look back and be like, I cant believe I shared so much public data, referencing her own change in Insta-approach since leaving Chelsea. She now uses her Instagram as more of a LinkedIn page and predicts people will spend less time on the site as its commercial side grows. She also expects a move towards darker chat-based spaces, with each being super-specific.

Similar niche platforms exist already but while Facebook groups are dying out with the app and Reddit is very male-heavy, Zyper is designed to be a new home for community, whether its dads in their forties talking about hair loss or Gen Z sneaker tribes. To ensure this exclusive-group feel, Zypers algorithm uses machine learning to scan each users social media images, captions and geotags to find hyper-local tribes of people, while the platforms Instagram account has been kept private: each of its 300-plus daily follow requests is manually accepted or declined to retain a quality feel.

Whats it like being a female founder in the tech industry? Atherton says shes used to that dynamic now but has made it a mission put her money where her mouth is, investing in several female-led companies, and making a point of telling girls who message her that you dont have to be technical to be a tech founder in Silicon Valley.
Could speed bumps be damaging our health? (Picture: Getty)

Speed bumps which cause cars to brake or decelerate could be having a harmful effect on our lungs and immune systems, new research suggests.

The metal particles released by car brake pads may have the same harmful effects on our health as diesel exhaust fumes do, the study claims.

The study by scientists at Kings College London found that brake dust doesnt just contribute to coughs and colds, but could be a factor in more serious illnesses like pneumonia or bronchitis.

Their research re-ignites the question mark over the potential health problems that could be caused by speed bumps.

In 2016 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) suggested that speed bumps that encourage people to speed up then slow down should be replaced to minimise their impact on air pollution and in 2017 then-environment secretary Michael Gove said councils could be encouraged to tear up speed bumps as part of a Government effort to tackle air pollution.

Scientists studies the effect of brake dust on people's lungs (Picture: PA)

The latest research by Kings College London looked at the effect of brake pad particles on macrophages - the lungs immune cells that kill bacteria by engulfing and digesting them.

To test the effects of brake pad particles on human lungs, the team collected dust from a brake pad testing factory and exposed it the macrophages - finding that when exposed to particulates from diesel exhaust and brake dust, their ability to take up and destroy bacteria was reduced.

They also noticed that particulates from both sources caused inflammation in the lungs.

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Dr Liza Selley, who conducted the research at the MRC Centre for Environment and Health at Kings College London and Imperial College London, said: Diesel fumes and brake dust appear to be as bad as each other in terms of toxicity in macrophages.

Macrophages protect the lung from microbes and infections and regulate inflammation, but we found that when theyre exposed to brake dust they can no longer take up bacteria.

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Worryingly, this means that brake dust could be contributing to what I call London throat  the constant froggy feeling and string of coughs and colds that city dwellers endure  and more serious infections like pneumonia or bronchitis which we already know to be influenced by diesel exhaust exposure.

It is estimated that metal particles from brake wear is responsible for up to a fifth of fine air pollution particles, known as PM2.5, at roadsides.

Dr Ian Mudway, who led the research at the MRC Centre for Environment and Health at Kings College London, said: At this time the focus on diesel exhaust emissions is completely justified by the scientific literature, but we should not forget, or discount, the importance of other components, such as metals from mechanical abrasion, especially from brakes.

There is no such thing as a zero-emission vehicle and as regulations to reduce exhaust emissions kick in, the contribution from these sources are likely to become more significant.

The scientists, whose research was published in the journal Metallomics, said more studies are needed to understand more about the effects of brake dust on human health.

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The manufacturing of the country's first indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant is currently under phase three which involves setting to work of machinery and other equipment and it is likely to be commissioned by early 2021, sources said on Wednesday.

The nearly 40,000-tonne carrier is being built at the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) in Kochi.

"Currently, phase three of the construction of Vikrant is under progress, which involves setting to work of machinery and equipment, like power generation and propulsion machinery. The carrier is likely to be commissioned by early 2021," a source told PTI.

The third phase of construction will go on till acceptance of harbour and sea trials, sources added.

Aviation trials would also take a year or so after that, they said.

Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh on December 3 had said that Vikrant will be fully operational by 2022 and it will have a fleet of MiG-29K aircraft.

The first indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant along with MiG-29K aircraft will be showcased as part of the Navy's tableau during the ceremonial parade on Rajpath on Republic Day, officials said.

"This not only depicts the strength of the Indian Navy but is representative of the Navy's total commitment to the Make in India initiative of the government," the official said.

The basic design of the indigenous aircraft carrier was done by the Indian Navy's Directorate of Naval Design and was developed into a detailed one by the design team of CSL.

The ship has a length of over 260 m and breadth of 60 m. It has two take-off runways and a landing strip with three arrester wires, capable of operating STOBAR aircraft including the indigenous LCA, as well as a range of helicopters with hangar facilities, officials had earlier said.
Microsoft has released its 'Artemis' tool which scans messaging apps for signs of grooming activity, in a bid to clamp down on paedophiles and sex offenders online.

The tool, which Microsoft has made free to use, has been trialled on Xbox live and could be added to any messaging platform or app.

Artemis will automatically scan and rate the content of conversations and then alert human moderators at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the US if anything appears untoward.

According to Microsoft, moderators will be able to access to the private conversations and, if there is good reason to believe a child is at risk, alert the authorities.

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Microsoft has released its 'Artemis' tool which scans messaging apps for signs of grooming activity in a bid to clamp down on paedophiles and sex offenders online. The tool has been made free to use by Microsoft

HOW WILL PROJECT ARTEMIS WORK? Chat platforms partner with Microsoft and install the free software via Thorn - a non-profit dedicated to protecting children from sexual abuse. Artemis will then automatically scan and 'rate' the contents of conversations in messages. Microsoft has not revealed how the software will detect or rate the conversations for fear of allowing predators to circumnavigate Artemis. If they reach a certain level, set by the individual apps, an alert is sent to a human moderator for review. According to Microsoft, moderators will have access to the private conversations and, if there is good reason to believe a child is at risk, it will alert the police and other appropriate bodies, including child protection services. Advertisement

Users themselves cannot download the software. Instead, it is up to companies to embrace the protective tech.

Microsoft says only 'qualified online service companies that offer a chat function' will be able to make use of the tool.

Each messaging platform that partners with Microsoft and uses Artemis will then be responsible for how they use the programme.

They will also determine what 'rating' triggers human intervention.

Incidents of suspected child sexual exploitation will be referred to the NCMEC for review, as well as the local law enforcement agency.

Andy Burrows, Head of Child Safety Online Policy, told MailOnline: 'Social media and gaming platforms are exploited by abusers to groom young people and we know this is happening on a huge scale.

'Despite this, in the past platforms have been slow to adopt technology that could make their sites safer and protect children.

'There is no excuse for them to not adopt this new tool  it could not only shield young people from abuse, but also pin down predatory adults.'

Although the tool will be ubiquitous to all accounts on the platform, its design means it will only pick up on attempts to groom and manipulate children and not any sordid conversations between consenting adults.

Microsoft has kept the workings of Artemis quiet to ensure paedophiles do not find workarounds but it is believed triggers will involve various combinations of certain messages, phrases and words.

These are calibrated from known techniques employed by sex offenders to trap vulnerable children.

Microsoft says it is unlikely to trigger an alert for review by a human moderator from innocent conversations.

If an innocent conversation does slip through the net and goes to review, the human moderator can deescalate the situation and no authorities will be involved.

Should a conversation be flagged for human review, the participants in the conversation are not made aware, to avoid tipping off the potential paedophile.

Artemis will automatically scan and rate the content of conversations and then alert human moderators for review. According to Microsoft, moderators would have access to the private conversations and, if there was good reason to believe a child was at risk, alert the authorities

Courtney Gregoire, Microsoft's chief digital safety officer, said in a statement: 'Microsoft has a long-standing commitment to child online protection.

'First and foremost, as a technology company, we have a responsibility to create software, devices and services that have safety features built in from the outset.

'We leverage technology across our services to detect, disrupt and report illegal content, including child sexual exploitation.

'And, we innovate and invest in tools, technology and partnerships to support the global fight needed to address online child sexual exploitation.'

Mrs Gregoire says Microsoft has been using the technique for several years on its own Xbox platform, and trialled it on Skype.

The platform will now be made available for use by third parties tomorrow, with interested companies going through Thorn, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the prevention of child sexual abuse.

Mrs Gregoire says: 'Project Artemis is a significant step forward, but it is by no means a panacea.

'Child sexual exploitation and abuse online and detecting online child grooming are weighty problems.

'But we are not deterred by the complexity and intricacy of such issues.'
In Tampa, Florida, a man pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to that trafficked live water monitor lizards from the Philippines to the United States.

The smugglers stuffed the creatures into socks, which were then stuffed inside electronics to be transported from the Philippines to the United States.

Here's more from the Department of Justice announcement:

Akram, 44, pleaded guilty in Tampa before U.S. District Judge William F. Jung to one count of wildlife trafficking in violation of the Lacey Act.

According to plea documents, Akram admitted to illegally importing more than 20 live water monitor lizards from the Philippines between January and December 2016, in violation of United States law and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Treaty. To avoid detection by U.S. customs authorities, the lizards were placed in socks, which were sealed closed with tape, and then concealed inside electronic equipment and shipped under a false label. The equipment was then shipped via commercial carriers to Akram's associate, who resided in Massachusetts.

As part of his plea, Akram admitted that he knew the monitor lizards he received had been taken in violation of Philippine law, and that the import violated U.S. law. Akram also admitted that upon receiving the monitor lizards, he sold some of them to customers, including customers in Colorado, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

"Akram violated Philippine law and U.S. law by illegally trafficking live water monitor lizards," said Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark for the Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "The Department of Justice will continue to prosecute those who flout federal laws and seek to profit from trafficking protected species."

"The illegal trafficking of protected species is a violation of federal law," said U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez for the Middle District of Florida. "We will continue to work with our partners, nationally and internationally, to thwart these crimes."

Monitor lizard is the common name for lizards comprising the genus Varanus. Monitor lizard species (there are approximately 70) are characterized by elongated necks, heavy bodies, long-forked tongues, strong claws, and long tails. Monitor lizards have a vast geographical range and are native to Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Water monitor lizards are semi-aquatic monitor lizards endemic to South and Southeastern Asia. Water monitor lizards, as their name suggests, are water dependent and easily swim long distances. This ability has allowed them to inhabit many remote islands. Some species of water monitor lizard are common and abundant in the pet trade, while others are extremely rare and are found only on specific islands. In addition to suffering increasing habitat loss due to rainforest destruction, water monitor lizards are often illegally collected from the wild and killed for bush meat, traditional medicine, or for their skins. Water monitor lizards are also targeted for their popularity in the international exotic pet trade. Exotic pet traders seek these water monitor lizards due to their attractive patterns, unique colors, intelligence, and rarity. The yellow-headed water monitor (Varanus cumingi), the white-headed water monitor (Varanus nuchalis), and the marbled water monitor (Varanus marmoratus), are species of large monitor lizards endemic to the Philippines.

This case is part of Operation Sound of Silence, an ongoing effort by the Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service, in coordination with the Department of Justice, to prosecute those involved in the illegal taking and trafficking in protected species, including water monitor lizards.

The investigation was handled by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Office of Law Enforcement, the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida, and the Justice Department's Environmental Crimes Section. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Colin McDonell and Environmental Crimes Section Trial Attorney Gary N. Donner.
CASS COUNTY, MI  A fugitive was arrested early Thursday, Jan. 9, after overnight standoff with police, investigators said.

A child was released during the standoff at the home in Cass Countys Milton Township.

Investigators went to a home in the 33000 block of Redfield Street around 12:35 p.m. Wednesday to look for the fugitive, who was wanted by Laporte County, Indiana, Sheriffs Department. His bond had been revoked on charges including robbery resulting in serious injury, Cass County sheriffs deputies said.

Fugitive teams encountered the suspect, who showed a gun, and a woman and young child at the residence. Police backed off and established a perimeter.

Local, state and federal officers responded to the scene. Negotiators from Cass and Berrien counties sheriffs departments and state police stayed in communication with the suspect for several hours.

Around 9:10 p.m., the child was released.

At 1:32 a.m., a tactical team breeched the door of the attached garage. The suspect and the woman left the home at 1:45 a.m. and were arrested. Both face charges in Cass County and Laporte County, police said.
Alias alum Jennifer Garner reunited with her onscreen father Victor Garber for a luxurious Italian meal at Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica on Wednesday night.

The 47-year-old Golden Globe winner and the 70-year-old Emmy nominee played CIA agents Sydney & Jack Bristow on J.J. Abrams' spy show, which aired for five seasons on ABC (2001-2006).

Victor also officiated Jennifer's 2005 wedding to two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Ben Affleck in the Turks and Caicos.

Officiated her wedding: Alias alum Jennifer Garner reunited with her onscreen father Victor Garber for a luxurious Italian meal at Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica on Wednesday night

The twice-divorced mother-of-three dressed her fit 5ft8in figure in a grey turtleneck sweater, blue skinny jeans, and grey Oxfords.

Joining Garber and Garner was his fellow Canadian - comedy legend Martin Short - whom he met in 1972 while co-starring in a Toronto production of Godspell.

Earlier that day, the Texan-born, West Virginia-raised beauty was hard at work on the Los Angeles set of Netflix comedy, Yes Day.

2001-2006: The 47-year-old Golden Globe winner and the 70-year-old Emmy nominee played Sydney & Jack Bristow on J.J. Abrams' spy show, which aired for five seasons on ABC

Raver buns and glasses: The twice-divorced mother-of-three dressed her fit 5ft8in figure in a grey turtleneck sweater, blue skinny jeans, and grey Oxfords

SNL veteran: Joining Garber and Garner was his fellow Canadian - comedy legend Martin Short - whom he met in 1972 while co-starring in a Toronto production of Godspell

Jennifer - rocking colorful ribbons and make-up - produces and stars as married mother-of-three Allison Torres in the adaptation of Amy Krouse Rosenthal's 2009 children's book.

'I'm just looking forward to a whole new decade, it feels like a fresh start,' Garner told People on Wednesday.

'I'm loving working on Yes Day right now for Netflix. It's a movie that I developed and producing as well as am in, and I couldn't love it more. I couldn't love the process more. And just more of the same.'

'I'm loving working on Yes Day!' Earlier that day, the Texan-born, West Virginia-raised beauty was hard at work on the Los Angeles set of Netflix comedy, Yes Day

Rocking colorful ribbons and make-up: Jennifer produces and stars as married mother-of-three Allison Torres in the adaptation of Amy Krouse Rosenthal's 2009 children's book

Saying yes to everything: Joining Garner was her onscreen husband Carlos played by two-time Golden Globe nominee Edgar Ramirez, who also had on blue eye make-up along with PJs

Joining the Wonder Park actress was her onscreen husband Carlos played by two-time Golden Globe nominee Edgar Ramirez, who also had on blue eye make-up along with PJs.

Jane The Virgin alum Jenna Ortega, Les Miserables thespian Julian Lerner, and Everly Carganilla are portraying their children Katie, Evan, and Ellie.

Filming began November 18 on Yes Day, which is being directed by Independent Spirit Award-winning filmmaker Miguel Arteta (Duck Butter, Beatriz at Dinner).

'Happy holidays from our family to yours!' Jane The Virgin alum Jenna Ortega (T-L), Les Miserables thespian Julian Lerner (T-M), and Everly Carganilla (T-R) are portraying their children Katie, Evan, and Ellie (pictured December 20)
As if cybersecurity weren't already a red-letter issue, the United States and, most likely, its allies--in other words, the global economic community--are in Iran's cyber sites, a major player in cyber warfare and politically divisive disinformation campaigns.

The "slap" as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described it was a ballistic missile attack on a target that had three hours to get out of harm's way. It doesn't quite meet the standard of extreme revenge that the Supreme Leader has called for, and which has been echoed by several Middle East players in response to the U.S. drone attack that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Suleimani. Despite assurances to the contrary, it's a fair assumption there is more to come, according to national security experts.

Cyberwar could be a life disrupter as well as a business killer. Iran and its allies have a history of launching attacks that are hard to prove but nonetheless concerning. Top among the threats posed by Iran is the possibility of a massive cyber offensive aimed at critical infrastructure like the power grid, financial organizations, hospitals, election systems, businesses of all stripes, and government agencies.

While you might imagine such an attack would be readily apparent with widespread blackouts and the like, the start of a cyberwar campaign may be more like the contrail of a firework, a subtle streak of smoke in the sky preceding a very obvious conflagration. It could target your employees, not your company. We're all connected.

So, how do you know if it's happening?

1. More Disinformation

While news of missile strikes is clear (the fake news a couple of years ago that Hawaii was under a nuclear attack notwithstanding), the details around such reports are not always accurate.

Immediately following Iran's counterstrike against American military posts in Iraq, a tweet circulated claiming that more than 20 American soldiers had been killed. This immediately caused a mini panic. Memes spread about World War III and the reinstatement of the draft. (There were no American casualties.)

Theoretically, fake news doesn't affect decision making in Washington, because facts are facts (unless they are alternative facts) and one would hope cooler heads might prevail when the worst-case scenario is World War III. That said, we are living in a world where Twitter has become a go-to news source for the United States secretary of state to find he's been fired and Instagram is the source used by the Queen of England to find out a senior royal--her grandson--has essentially quit his job as Duke of Sussex.

We used to call this psy-ops. Tokyo Rose targeted troops in the Pacific theater, making them miserable during WWII. The medium has changed but the mission hasn't.

Tip: As annoying as it may seem, you have to vet your news these days. Take a moment and do a quick search of stories on whatever topic is at hand. Make sure you see the same reporting from more than one reputable source.

2. More Phishing Attacks

Phishing may seem like an ordinary part of online life, but it could also be the initial volley in a major cyberattack. Phishing here is shorthand for the Pantheon of Ishings: generic, spearphishing (personalized), vishing (phone based), and SMishing (text based).

The message could appear be from a government agency, your bank, your place of worship, your gym, a colleague at work. It may look just like the real thing. The only difference may be that it comes at the wrong time of the month, or you're pretty sure the stated problem is inaccurate.

The reason phishing is an issue here is that it could be a way to propagate crippling malware throughout a population.

Tip: Pause before you click on a link in an email or open an attachment. Ask yourself these questions: Am I expecting to hear from this person or organization? Is it possible this is fake? If you have doubts, check it out--go directly to your account or to the source, which you should always independently verify, if the communication refers to anything service or finance related. The best way to avoid getting got is to self-navigate online, avoiding links sent via any media.

3. Missing Data

You go online and you can't access your cloud account, or you can't find data stored on a device or in a specific service. You may have made a mistake. You might need to reboot your device. But, then again, you may have been hacked--"wiped" being the current term of art and something Iran has earned a reputation for. Most likely you didn't pause before you clicked, and got phished or compromised in some other way--possibly by an internet of things device connected to your home network.

Tip: Back up everything (for more, see below).

4. Your Finances Glitch

While not unheard of, it's exceedingly rare for financial institutions to get things wrong. When they do, your first thought should be that there's been some kind of compromise. One model of cyberattack includes sowing confusion in financial markets. While all finance-related industries build in complex data redundancies to protect against this kind of attack, you should still check your accounts daily as part of a personal cyber hygiene routine. You can also enroll in free transaction monitoring programs offered by banks, credit unions, and credit card companies that notify you of all activity in your accounts.

5. Things Stop Working

When I say "things," we're not just talking about the traffic lights. It could be your car, depending on how connected it is. It could be Amazon, The New York Times, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, or Twitter. Distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) are a very likely mode of attack.

There is little you can do in the event we experience widespread DDoS attacks, but one tip is to buy a good book series or a few board games since it might take a while to get the internet working again.

Here are five things you should do today to decrease the risk of a cyberattack affecting your life or your company directly.

1. Reduce Your Attackable Surface

Because the vectors of attack are innumerable, including many everyday items as well online destinations and tasks, it's crucial to reduce your attackable surface. At work, enforce strict cyber hygiene policies, especially for devices that connect to, or travel outside of, the office.

Always create a layer of protection between your most sensitive information and accounts and devices that only need to be connected to the internet for convenience's sake. If you use IoT devices, create a separate network on your router for them since they aren't always the most secure connections to the outside world. Never buy a device that doesn't allow you to set a long and strong password. And be judicious about any app you might download to your mobile device.

Always consider if the convenience afforded by an insecure practice, device, or service is worth the risk and err on the side of security.

2. Update Everything

When your phone or computer alerts you to an available software or firmware update, pay attention and do what you're asked to do immediately (as opposed to clicking "Remind me later") because many of these patches are security-related. Remember, IoT devices also require updating to be as secure as possible, so check to see if all your tech (including that smart doorbell) is up to date.

3. Passwords

Passwords are easy to guess, especially when they are any of the worst that continue to be the favored security solution for a majority of users--i.e., password, 123456, qwerty, etc. Consider using a password manager.

If you want to create your own passwords, go for something completely random, like your grandmother's phone number in a code that uses the second letter of each letter associated with a phone key interface interspersed with the letter of a complex molecule of your choice.

(Or use a password manager.)

4. Back Up Your Files

Ransomware is a very likely form of attack, and no amount of ransom will guarantee that you get your data back. Wiping attacks are also possible, where malware simply deletes everything on your hard drive.

Back up all your data all the time. Consider using the 3-2-1 rule: Store anything important on two different online storage protocols (hard drive and cloud, for instance; or two different cloud services) and a third copy encrypted on a password-protected external drive that is not connected.

5. Prepare for a Snowstorm

If there is a successful attack on the power grid or transportation, it could take hours or days (perhaps even longer) for things to return to normal. There will be a run on grocery stores, and they will be closed. While you may have your book series in hand, do you have candles and matches or a lighter or both? Make sure you have a week's worth of food that does not require refrigeration and an adequate supply of water on hand, since there may not be time to fill your bathtub. As with all things apocalyptic, if you have a car, make sure the gas tank is full.

If all this is too much to keep in mind, business owners might want to try the 3M's approach described in my book Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves:

Minimize Your Risk of Exposure: Put resources into training your staff to recognize phishing scams and to practice good cyber hygiene. Vet contractors and vendors on the basis of their security practices to minimize supply chain risk. Consider requiring employees to log in to a VPN (virtual private network), especially if they're connecting to the company network remotely. It's often the sloppiest of mistakes that give hackers access to your business. Training and sound cybersecurity policies can fill in the gaps where technology often fails.

Monitor Everything: Establish a policy at your business about transferring funds; in the era of deepfakes, it's important to know who is likely to request access to money, and how it should be handled. Always double check by getting confirmation on the phone. All systems can introduce vulnerabilities, especially the introduction of new technology. Create a culture in which employees know that if they see something, they will be rewarded for saying something. Cybersecurity is a team sport.
But even with these options, writing off middle-class tax increases is a mistake. For one thing, raising revenue is not the sole purpose of taxing the extremely wealthy  another goal is to make them not so extremely wealthy anymore. Relying primarily on taxes on accumulated wealth and top incomes to fund government spending would mean that, if these policies succeed in reducing inequality, they would also shrink revenue and constrain public investment over time. Running deficits, though not cause for alarm and sometimes prudent, can also carry a real cost: In 2019, net interest payments to service our national debt approached 9 percent of the federal budget and 60 percent of nondefense discretionary spending, or 1.8 percent of GDP. On our current path, that figure is expected to reach 3 percent of GDP by 2029, eating up a larger and larger share of the budget. The most sustainable approach would be to raise revenue roughly in line with our spending needs.
US Mint begins shipping quarters honoring Maya Angelou AP - Mon Jan 10, 6:14PM CST WASHINGTON (AP)  The United States Mint said Monday it has begun shipping quarters featuring the image of poet Maya Angelou, the first coins in its American Women Quarters Program. $SPX : 4,670.29 (-0.14%) $DOWI : 36,068.87 (-0.45%) $IUXX : 15,614.43 (+0.14%)

Cotton Closes Black on Monday Barchart - Mon Jan 10, 4:48PM CST Cotton futures were off their high at the closing bell on Monday, but were still 10 to 40 points in the black. New crop cotton also bounced on Monday, ending the session 40 to 76 points firmer. The Seam... CTH22 : 115.47 (+0.22%) CTK22 : 113.29 (+0.19%) CTZ21 : 111.55s (+0.25%)

Wheat Markets Close Mixed Barchart - Mon Jan 10, 4:48PM CST Mondays wheat market ended with winter wheat gains to HRS weakness. Spring wheat futures ended the session a nickel to 9 cents in the red. March MPLS wheat has posted losses in 9 in the last 11 sessions... ZWH22 : 762-0 (unch) ZWPAES.CM : 7.2051 (+0.47%) KEH22 : 777-4 (unch) KEPAWS.CM : 7.5951 (+0.45%) MWH22 : 916-2 (+0.22%)

Corn Weakens out of Weekend Barchart - Mon Jan 10, 4:48PM CST Mondays corn trading session left prices 5 1/2 to 7 cents weaker. May futures were able to hold above the $6 mark, while Marcha and July closed less than a penny under. New crop futures were fractionally... ZCH22 : 601-2 (+0.25%) ZCPAUS.CM : 5.8670 (-1.13%) ZCK22 : 602-6 (+0.25%) ZCZ21 : 588-6s (+0.77%) ZCPZ21US.CM : 5.7930 (-0.49%)

Chart of the Day: KLA-Tencor - A Tech Stock Still Worth Looking At Barchart - Mon Jan 10, 4:37PM CST I wanted to find out if there were still any tech stocks that were worth buying so I screened the NASDAQ 100 Index stock for the highest Weighted Alpha and technical buy signals and found one. My Barchart... KLAC : 418.73 (+0.44%)
The University of Alabama at Birmingham will provide matching dollars to the Birmingham Promise scholarship, university officials announced Thursday morning.

Those Promise participants who are first-time freshman choosing to attend UAB will get a one-to-one tuition scholarship match.

UAB is not just in Birmingham, but for Birmingham, UAB President Ray L. Watts said in a statement. We are committed to supporting access to educational opportunities for Birmingham students, for they will be our citys future leaders and workforce. In addition, the program directly aligns with the core principles of the University of Alabama System, which is committed to improving the lives and educational opportunities of all citizens of Alabama.

UAB is the first university to partner with the Birmingham Promise.

UAB will offer a one to one scholarship match with the Birmingham Promise pic.twitter.com/a0QHzqEIe5  Anna Beahm (@_AnnaBeahm) January 9, 2020

UAB is one of the largest producers of talent in our state, and it is also Alabamas largest employer, said Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin. The partnership shows that UAB is invested in developing the hopes, dreams and capabilities of our next generation. UABs partnership in the Birmingham Promise is an example of the collaboration we need to make our community more connected and our economy more competitive.

The scholarship will be available to students who are admitted to UAB as first-time, full-time freshmen in the academic year following high school graduation from a Birmingham City School. The Birmingham Promise scholarship at UAB will cover tuition and may be awarded for up to five years of full-time study at UAB. To maintain eligibility, a student must be enrolled at UAB full time and demonstrate progress toward a degree by passing 67 percent of hours attempted and maintaining a GPA of 2.0 or higher.

In order to qualify for the Birmingham Promise scholarship at UAB, Birmingham City School students must:

Be eligible for UAB admission, which for fall 2020 is a minimum 20 ACT score and a minimum of 2.75 GPA. Learn more about admission requirements at UAB at www.uab.edu/admissions

Be admitted to UAB as a first-time, full-time freshman in the fall semester of the academic year immediately following their high school graduation.

Complete the FAFSA form and UAB application by Feb. 1, 2020. After this year, the deadline will be Dec. 1.

Birmingham City Schools Superintendent Lisa Herring called the partnership between the Birmingham Promise and UAB a game changer.

This partnership, this investment is how we improve this city, how we improve workforce and how we change lives, Herring said.

Around 21 percent of UAB students are first-time college students, officials said. Herring said she anticipates the number of Birmingham City Schools students who choose to attend UAB after high school will increase.

Watts said he anticipates the Birmingham Promise match will cost the university $250,000 per year. Woodfin said he did not know how much the Promise scholarship will cost. He was also unable to provide a figure of how much money has been raised for the Birmingham Promise so far, adding the public fundraising campaign has not yet been launched.

Last year, Woodfin said he wanted to endow the Promise with $35 million.

University officials said more information about the scholarship will be made available in the next few months.

Watts said he expects Birmingham corporations will want to get 110 percent behind this because its the right thing to do.

Have questions about the Birmingham Promise? Send us your questions through this link or through the form below:
LINCOLN  Check your sump pump and be alert if you live near a stream, river or flood-prone area. Forecasters are expecting a strong storm system to dump a months worth of precipitation on Central Illinois in a matter of days, starting Thursday.

A flood watch has been issued for a wide section of Central Illinois from Friday afternoon to Saturday morning, including DeWitt, Macon, McLean, Piatt, Sangamon, Shelby, Coles and Moultrie counties.

Counties from southern Michigan through Missouri's border with Kansas are also listed.

But dont put away your snow shovel: Accumulating snow is expected to follow the rain.

Chris Miller, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Lincoln, said all of Central Illinois, including Bloomington-Normal and Decatur, is expected to get 2 to 3 inches of rain from Thursday through Saturday.

Thats more than we average for the entire month of January, Miller said. I would not be surprised if the area from McLean County eastward gets 3 to over 4 inches.

The exact storm path is still uncertain and as we see this develop, the heavy rainfall axis is creeping farther north, he said. As of Wednesday afternoon, the center of the large storm system was expected to move just north of the Ohio Valley, with possible severe weather in southern Illinois.

The main message we want to get out is the heavy rainfall. We dont want people to get caught off guard, said Miller, adding that flooding could occur along waterways and in low-lying areas. A ton of moisture is coming up from the Gulf of Mexico.

After the main part of the storm passes through on Saturday, cold air will move in, resulting in a brief period of mixed precipitation and sleet before changing to all snow, said Miller.

Temperatures in the mid 50s on Friday and wet ground from the rain will lessen the chance for a lot of snow accumulation because of the warm ground, he said.

Decatur is likely to get about an inch of snow, he said.

This is an active weather pattern were going to have to keep an eye on, said Miller.

Miller said the system will be accompanied by strong winds, with gusts of 35 to 40 mph possible.

We could get another shot of rain on Tuesday, he added.

New laws for 2020

Contact Lenore Sobota at (309) 820-3240. Follow her on Twitter: @Pg_Sobota

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The US will sign the first phase of a pending trade deal with China probably on January 15, President Donald Trump said on Thursday.

Beijings trade envoy Vice Premier Liu He is scheduled to visit the US next week to sign the interim agreements Phase One, marking a pause in the nearly two-year trade war between the two sides.

Were signing, as you know, a very big deal among many other things with China  probably on January 15, Trump told reporters at a White House event in Washington.

Liu will lead a delegation to the US from Monday through Wednesday, Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said on Thursday.

The Phase One of the trade deal, Trump said, is a big percentage of the deal. Some would say half. Some would say a little less or a little more than half, but its a tremendous percentage. Its pretty much all for the farmers, also bankers, he said responding to a question.

We also have regulations for a lot of different things... that people are going to be very surprised to see. But its a big chunk of it, and well start right away negotiating Phase 2, Trump said. However, he said negotiations for the second phase will take a little time. I think, I might want to wait to finish it until after the election because by doing that I think we can actually make a little bit better deal, maybe a lot better deal, Trump said.

The US had postponed planned tariff hikes following the announcement of the deals Phase One in October. However, earlier punitive duties imposed by China and the US on billions of dollars of each others goods stayed in place, affecting global trade.

Phase one of the deal, Trump said, could be up to USD 50 billion in farm product. That is numerous times more than they were buying in the past, the president said. Its going to have a huge impact, and I see farm prices are going way up. I see corn is just--had some big increases over the last little while. Cattle has been doing really well. The farmers liked me anyway. Thats what I like about the farmers, Trump asserted.

The trade deal with China, he said, will be great for farmers and for banks. Great for finance companies. Really a lot. Then were going to be covering the opening of China and various other things in Phase Two, Trump said.
GOMA, Congo - A South African air force plane crash-landed and caught fire Thursday at the Goma airport in eastern Congo but there were no casualties, authorities said.

The C-130BZ military aircraft was transporting 59 passengers and eight crew members from the U.N mission when its left engine caught fire upon landing, said Mathias Gillman, acting spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo known as MONUSCO.

MONUSCO sent a rescue team that brought the fire under control and everyone was safely evacuated,  Gillman told The Associated Press.

The plane was returning from the eastern Congo city of Beni, where it was providing logistical support to the South African contingent deployed in the region, he said.

The South African National Defence Force in a statement confirmed the incident with one of its aircraft and said a board of inquiry will be convened to investigate what happened.

South Africa is one of the top five troop contributors to the U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo.

In November a small civilian plane crashed into homes shortly after takeoff in Goma, killing 26 people, including the passengers and crew as well as residents on the ground. Authorities said the 19-seat plane owned by private carrier Busy Bee had been headed to Beni.
A day after BJP MP Swapan Dasgupta was allegedly locked inside a room at Vishwa Bharati University in West Bengal's Birbhum district, BJP leader GVL Narasimha Rao on Thursday hit out at TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee alleging that there is a 'demon rule' in the state.

"In West Bengal, we have been witnessing how democracy is repeatedly murdered. Gupta was confined in a room in order to prevent him from giving a speech in support of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). This signals not just some kind of military but a demon rule in West Bengal," Rao told ANI.

He alleged that people are being restricted from raising slogans in favour of Lord Ram in the state.

"The public is not allowed to raise slogan in favour of Lord Ram and no procession was allowed for immersion of Goddess Durga idols. It is not even a marshal's rule, it is a demon's rule," Rao said.

"Freedom of speech is only for people who speak in favour of violence and anti- forces. Voices of nationalism are not allowed to be heard in West Bengal," he added.

Citing various incidents of violence in West Bengal, the BJP leader said that "things have gone to an unimaginable and unacceptable level".

"Every time when such misdeeds exceed a particular level, a God has to intervene. Thus, Mamata rule has to end very soon," he said.

On Wednesday, Rao claimed that he was locked inside a room by a mob at Vishwa-Bharati University, where he was addressing a meeting on the amended citizenship law."How does it feel to have a mob attack a peaceful meeting on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and intimidation students? This is what is happening to a meeting I am addressing at Vishwa Bharati now. Locked into a room now with mob outside," he said in a tweet.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
To swear a false oath is perjury  the crime President Bill Clinton was charged with in his impeachment. Yet given the Constitutions speech or debate clause, a senator likely could not be charged with perjury for swearing falsely on the Senate floor. Instead, it is the Senate itself that must police members oaths  as it has in the past. Beginning in 1864, and continuing for 20 years, members had to swear an oath affirming their commitment to the Union. Often when it was clear that a member could not swear that oath honestly, he was not permitted to take it. As Massachusetts Sen. Charles Sumner said, A false oath, taken with our knowledge, would compromise the Senate. We who consent will become parties to the falsehood.
A New York Times columnist has claimed that a hacker attempted to use his IP address to download child pornography.

Paul Krugman tweeted on Wednesday that he understood his IP address had been compromised but it wasn't clear if he had been specifically targeted.

'I'm on the phone with my computer security service, and as I understand it someone compromised my IP address and is using it to download child pornography,' he tweeted.

'I might just be a random target. But this could be an attempt to Qanon me.

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has claimed that a hacker attempted to use his IP address to download child pornography

'It's an ugly world out there,' he added.

Krugman later said that the New York Times were investigating.

He deleted his initial tweet soon after saying the Times believed it was likely just a scam.

'Anyway, will have more security in future,' Krugman said.

Krugman is an economist and Nobel Prize winner who regularly writes opinion pieces for the NYT.

He is often critical of Trump.

QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory that claims President Donald Trump is secretly working to dismantle an underground ring of pedophiles.

The theory is often considered an offshoot of PizzaGate.

Like that theory, the QAnon theory maintains that high-level deep state and Democrat operatives are involved in child sex trafficking.

The FBI classified QAnon extremists as a domestic terrorism threat last May.

Just last week, a Montana mother was arrested for allegedly planning to kidnap her child with the help of a man who is a QAnon believer.

Cynthia Abcug, 50, was arrested last Monday on a charge of conspiracy to commit second-degree kidnapping after her other child - a girl - reported the plot to police and social workers.
The National Universities Commission (NUC) said it has unbundled Mass Communication programme in universities into seven separate degree programmes.

The commission said this was done to meet the growing demand. The development is expected to take effect from 2020 admissions into Nigerian universities.

The Director of Corporate Affairs of the Commission, Ibrahim Yakassai, in a phone interview on Wednesday night, said the commission unbundled mass communication by breaking it into seven programmes.

We did not phase mass communication out, he said.

According to him, mass communication will still be still a course for universities but any university who wants to offer specialised courses can do so in Public Relations, Advertising, cinematography, broadcasting, film and multimedia studies, development communications studies, information and media studies as degree courses.

We have unbundled means we have broken it into seven-degree programmes for universities wishing to adopt it, but, those who wish to retain mass communication as it is, are also allowed to retain it.

This is in line with trends all over the world. We will retain the Mass Communication for those universities that have not yet developed the full competencies in the areas.

In February 2019, a document containing a new curricula for communication studies in Nigerian universities, which seeks to unbundle mass communication and create seven-degree awarding departments to be domiciled under a School/College of Communication in its place, was presented to the Executive Secretary of the NUC, Abubakar Rasheed, in Abuja.

While receiving the document, the Executive Secretary of the NUC, Abubakar Rasheed said a review of the mass communication curriculum was long overdue and promised to expedite action in the process of finalising and adopting the curricula.

Experts react

A media Career Development Specialist, Lekan Otufodunrin, on Thursday said the unbundling of mass communication is a good idea but there is need to have qualified persons teach the new courses.

I think it is a good development, considering that the media industry which the graduates are being prepared for, is no longer what it used to be. For me what is important is not just the policy but the availability of necessary qualified persons to teach the courses. What the unbundling will do is that it will offer the students focused training in a specialised field of their choice, he said.

He said the curriculum must place more emphasis on practical teaching of the courses with more engagement of professionals who operate in the relevant sectors. There must also be more interface with the different speciality to make the unbundling worthwhile, he said.

In his reaction, the executive director of International Press Centre, Lanre Arogundade, described the unbundling as a fait accompli and any comments now may seem like an academic exercise.

He said the unbundling does not answer all questions.

So if we have Journalism and Broadcasting as separate degree programmes, are we saying broadcasting is not part of journalism?

I had thought that instead of the unbundling, the names of the erstwhile Mass Communication departments could have been modified to read Mass Communication and Journalism as a way of emphasising that Mass Communication does not necessarily equate Journalism. Graduates can then proceed to specialise in advertising, public relations, etc, say at Masters level, he said.
In Israel, the death of Iranian Quds-Force general Qassem Soleimani, was received with mixed feelings. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reaction was measured, while a military leader said it was part of the fight between Iran and the United States. But victims of terror organisation Almagor rejoiced. RFI spoke to Meir Indor, Chairman of Almagor.

We've sent a message to President Trump, that he did a big favour, not only to the US, but to the whole free world, says Indor.

Soleimani had a rank, he was a general. But he is not an army man. He was a master of terror.

We suffered from Soleimani's terror actions many times, carried out by Hamas and Islamic Jihad."

While Almagor congratulated Trump, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, in a first reaction to the US action, merely remarked that "just as Israel has the right of self-defense, the United States has exactly the same right, adding that Soleimani had been responsible for the deaths of American citizens and many other innocent people, and that Israel stands with the United States in its just struggle for peace, security and self-defense."

Not the main story

Days later, IDF Southern Command head Major General Herzi Halevi was quoted by the Times of Israel as saying that the Jewish state must look at the assassination as part of a fight between Iran and the United States over Iraq's character. That is the story, stressing that the assassination also has ramifications for us as Israelis, and we must follow it closely, but we aren't the main story here.

Meir Indor takes a more radical view.

The man is responsible for killing American soldiers in Beirut, he argues. He was in charge of killing jews in Argentina. Over a hundred people.

Iranian biographies of Soleimani all stress that since Iran lost a million people during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq, he tried to build a sphere of influence protecting his country in order to prevent a repetition of such a war.

Is that a justification for killing innocent people in Israel? asks Indor. Is it a justification to put bombs in the Israeli embassy in Argentina? Does he protect Iran by doing that?"

Master of terror

The master of terror Soleimani, the second man-dictator in Iran now is out of business. And the free world should be very happy about what happened. So the world is better today after what happened last week, Indor says.

Meanwhile, Soleimani has been replaced by his long-term second-in-command, General Esmail Ghaani.

Does Soleimani's death really improve things for Israel, given the fact that the Iraqi parliament voted to ask foreign military, including US troops, to leave?

Maybe we have to continue with a campaign against the person who replaces him, but if we don't fight against terrorism, who will do it?"

Fighting against evil

Many Iranians say that the death of Soleimani united them and it also gave the younger generation a taste of acts the US is capable of. Doesn't this make Iran more dangerous from an Israeli perspective than it was before when it was divided between so-called reformists and hardliners who seem to have problems that are now forgotten as a result of the death of Soleimani?

That shouldn't prevent us from fighting against evil. If more people join it, it is another reason why we have to fight. If young people are so influenced, they will be brought into the cycle of terrorism.

That only shows us how far they came from a country that was peaceful forty years ago to today, where the fingers and the hands of the Iranians are involved in other countries, creating terrorism.

It will not stop them now, so they youngest will join. But if they see that terrorism doesn't pay, they will not join what their leaders want to them to do.
The Boeing Co. jet that crashed near Tehran on Wednesday tried to turn back after takeoff, Iran revealed in an initial report as Ukraine said its examining scenarios including a missile strike and terrorism.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 disappeared from radar screens at 8,000 feet, and witnesses said they saw it on fire in the air, according to Irans Civil Aviation Organization. The flight-data and cockpit-voice recorders were damaged but their core memory appears to be accessible, the report said.

The findings are the first officially released from a probe fraught with difficulty amid heightened US-Iranian tensions. Ukraine added to confusion around the crash, saying its looking at whether the jet was downed by a missile or bomb after Iran had insisted it fell victim to a technical failure or engine fire.

ALSO WATCH | Ukrainian airplane crashes in Iran, all 176 on board killed

The scenarios are among several that might explain the disaster, National Security & Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on Facebook, pointing to supposed evidence of missile debris found near the crash site and circulated on the Internet. The head of Irans accident-investigation office said no such parts were found and that any images are false.

Alternative possibilities put forward by Ukraine include a collision with a drone or other flying object, as well as destruction of an engine due to technical reasons, Danilov said.

Iran has invoked an international agreement to get assistance from other countries involved in the tragedy, and Ukraine said its contingent includes experts who participated in a probe into Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, downed in 2014 by a surface-to-air missile during the conflict over Crimea and the eastern Donbas region.

American agencies including the National Transport Safety Board are weighing whether its legal to engage with Iranian authorities under terms of sanctions against the country, according to people familiar with the matter. Theyre also concerned about sending people to Iran given recent military strikes.

The latest comments from Ukraine add to confusion about what led the Kyiv-bound 737-800 to plunge from the sky near Tehran minutes after taking off, killing all of the 176 people aboard.

A video purportedly shot by a bystander showed flames coming from the jet as it streaked across the night sky and burst into a fireball on impact. The plane is on fire, an unidentified male can be heard saying. In the name of God, God help, call the firefighters.

Iranian authorities initially blamed technical issues and then an engine fire. Ukraine International said it didnt even consider the possibility of crew error, and the Ukrainian embassy in Tehran ruled out terrorism before amending its statement to offer no comment on possible causes.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday called on parties not to manipulate the events, saying no conclusions can be drawn until experts have considered all of the evidence.

The recently serviced, three-year-old Boeing -- different to the companys grounded Max model -- went down without a distress call and after its global-positioning transmissions were unusually cut off mid-air. The crash came in the wake of an Iranian missile attack on two Iraqi military bases in retaliation for an American drone strike last week that killed one of Irans top generals.

Under the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization, crash probes are led by the nation where a plane was destroyed. In addition, countries where the aircraft and key components were made usually take part.

Canadians Killed in Iran Plane Crash Part of Large Diaspora

The US NTSB routinely participates in dozens of crash investigations around the world under the ICAO process, known as Annex 13.

By notifying ICAO, Iran suggested it might be open to U.S. help in the probe, said the two people. But the Islamic Republic has sent mixed signals, with some officials being quoted as saying they would not allow Americans to analyze the planes two crash-proof flight recorders, for example.

American law also prohibits the NTSB from working in Iran because of longstanding bans on conducting business in that country. The NTSB has occasionally assisted in accident investigations there, but had to obtain special permission from the U.S. Treasury.

The NTSB is monitoring developments surrounding the crash of Ukraine International Flight 752 and is following its standard procedures for international aviation accident investigations, including long-standing restrictions under the country embargoes, the agency said, adding that it was working with the State Department to determine a course of action.

The State Department offered assistance to Ukraine, but notably didnt mention helping Iran. The United States calls for complete cooperation with any investigation into the cause of the crash, the department said.

Some aviation safety experts said the planes sudden fall as it apparently was engulfed in fire might have been from a bomb or missile.

Airplanes dont just catch fire and have that fire spread like that in such a short period of time, unless there was an intentional act causing that fire and explosion, Jeffrey Guzzetti, former chief of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administrations accident investigation division said in an interview.

Its at least theoretically possible for a fast-moving cargo fire to take down a plane, said Roger Cox, a former NTSB investigator. A ValuJet plane crashed in Florida in 1996 after pure oxygen caused a raging inferno, he said. But in that case, the plane flew for about 10 minutes, far longer than the Ukrainian jet.

The tragedy strikes during a deeply challenging period for Boeing, gripped by one of the worst crises in its 103-year history after two deadly crashes involving the 737 Max led to its global idling in March.

Earlier 737s like the one that came down in Iran dont use the flight-control system implicated in the Indonesian and Ethiopian events. The crash was also the first at Ukraine International since it was set up in 1992.

Engines for the single-aisle plane are made by CFM International, a venture of General Electric Co. and Safran SA. A representative didnt comment on the details or possible cause of the crash but said by email that CFM extends heartfelt sympathies to the families and loved ones of those on board.

Boeings shares slid 1.8% on Wednesday, their biggest loss since Dec. 16. The company hasnt commented on possible reasons for the crash.

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Our picks for the best books of January include everything from Matt Parkers bestseller about math gone wrong to a new collection of Zora Neale Hurstons short stories. Exploring diverse topics ranging from opioid addiction to space travel to mother-daughter relationships, these books (listed in order of release date) deliver captivating fiction and nonfiction reads to kick off 2020.

Release Date: January 7th from Riverhead Books

Why Youll Love It: Liz Moores new suspense novel weaves a powerful story of sisterhood and addiction against the backdrop of an intriguing mystery. (We reviewed it here.)

Publishers Description: In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They dont speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling. Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickeys district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culpritand her sisterbefore its too late.

Release Date: January 7th from Tin House Books

Why Youll Love It: E.J. Kohs enthralling memoir about her relationship with her mother examines intergenerational trauma, delivering a necessary read for anyone whos experienced complicated parent-child relationships.

Publishers Description: After living in America for over a decade, Eun Ji Kohs parents return to South Korea for work, leaving 15-year-old Koh and her brother behind in California. Her mother writes letters, in Korean, over the years seeking forgiveness and loveletters Koh cannot fully understand until she finds them years later hidden in a box. As Koh translates the letters, she looks to historyher grandmother Juns years as a lovesick wife in Daejeon, the horrors her grandmother Kumiko witnessed during the Jeju Island Massacreand to poetry, as well as her own lived experience to answer questions inside all of us. Where do the stories of our mothers and grandmothers end and ours begin? How do we find words to articulate the profound ways that distance can shape love?

Release Date: January 14th from Amistad

Why Youll Love It: This essential story collection boasts short fiction by literary titan Zora Neale Hurston, including eight of her lost Harlem Renaissance tales now available to a wide audience for the first time.

Publishers Description: In 1925, Barnard student Zora Neale Hurstonthe sole black student at the collegewas living in New York, desperately striving for a toe-hold on the world. During this period, she began writing short works that captured the zeitgeist of African American life and transformed her into one of the central figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick is an outstanding collection of stories about love and migration, gender and class, racism and sexism that proudly reflect African American folk culture. All are timeless classics that enrich our understanding and appreciation of this exceptional writers voice and her contributions to Americas literary traditions.

Release Date: January 14th from MCD

Why Youll Love It: Anna Wieners must-read memoir delivers a powerful story about finding herself against the backdrop of Silicon Valleys shifting tech landscape.

Publishers Description: In her mid-twenties, Anna Wiener left a job in book publishing for the promise of the new digital economy. She landed at a big-data startup in the heart of the Silicon Valley bubble, arriving amidst a massive cultural shift, as the tech industry rapidly transformed into a locus of wealth and power rivaling Wall Street. But amid the boyish camaraderie and ride-or-die corporate fealty, a new Silicon Valley began to emerge: one in far over its head, one that enriched itself at the expense of the idyllic future it claimed to be building. Part coming-age-story, part portrait of an already-bygone era, Wieners memoir is a rare first-person glimpse into high-flying, reckless startup culture at a time of unchecked ambition, unregulated surveillance, wild fortune, and accelerating political power.

Release Date: January 14th from Del Rey

Why Youll Love It: Simon Jimenezs mesmerizing debut novel introduces a character-driven tale with a refreshing take on space travel, cementing its status as an essential sci-fi read.

Publishers Description: Traveling through the stars condenses decades into mere months for Nia Imani, though the years continue to march steadily onward for everyone she has ever known. She lives only for the next paycheckuntil the day she meets a mysterious boy, fallen from the sky. Nia decides to take the boy in to live amongst her crew, but shes not the only one who wants him. Fumiko Nakajima designed the ships that allowed humanity to flee a dying Earth, but she now regrets what she has done in the name of progress. When chance brings Fumiko, Nia and the child together, she recognizes the potential of his giftsand what will happen if the ruling powers discover him. So she sends the pair to the distant corners of space to hide them as she crafts a plan to redeem her old mistakes. But time is running out.

Release Date: January 21st from Ballantine Books

Why Youll Love It: Beloved author Isabel Allendes latest novel follows a couple [fleeing] the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, resulting in a compelling historical fiction saga spanning decades.

Publishers Description: In the late 1930s, civil war grips Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires. Together with two thousand other refugees, they embark on the SS Winnipeg, a ship chartered by the poet Pablo Neruda, to Chile. As unlikely partners, they embrace exile as the rest of Europe erupts in world war. Destined to witness the battle between freedom and repression as it plays out across the world, Roser and Victor will find that home might have been closer than they thought all along.

Release Date: January 21st from Tor.com

Why Youll Love It: A dystopian story tackling real-world issues (racism, classism, family), Riot Baby weaves a gripping narrative about a girl with unique powers.

Publishers Description: Ella has a Thing. She sees a classmate grow up to become a caring nurse. A neighbors son murdered in a drive-by shooting. Things that havent happened yet. Kev, born while Los Angeles burned around them, wants to protect his sister from a power that could destroy her. But when Kev is incarcerated, Ella must decide what it means to watch her brother suffer while holding the ability to wreck cities in her hands.

Release Date: January 21st from Riverhead Books

Why Youll Love It: Matt Parkers international bestseller highlights examples of mathematical errors that resulted in real-world consequences, offering an entertaining read for anyone curious about maths role in life beyond the classroom.

Publishers Description: Math is easy to ignore until a misplaced decimal point upends the stock market, a unit conversion error causes a plane to crash or someone divides by zero and stalls a battleship in the middle of the ocean. Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near misses and mathematical mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman Empire and an Olympic team, Matt Parker uncovers the bizarre ways math trips us upand what this reveals about its essential place in our world. Getting it wrong has never been more fun.

Looking for more reading recommendations? Check out our lists of the best audiobooks and the best Young Adult novels of January.
It has been a few days since the Golden Globes 2020 awards night, and to be honest, we are still not over all the stunning red carpet look, heartwarming speeches, and of course, the historic victories of winners -- including Asia's very own Awkwafina.

Awkwafina's Golden Globes win as Best Actress in a Motion Picture for Musical or Comedy in her performance for the film "The Farewell" made her the first Asian-American actress to bag such an award. She beat other talented actresses like Beanie Feldstein (Booksmart), Emma Thompson (Late Night), Cate Blanchett (Where'd You Go, Bernadette), and Ana de Armas (Knives Out).

The 31-year-old actress was celebrated by her co-stars, fellow artists, family, friends, fans, and the entire Asian community who extended their congratulations on social media.

One of the many actors who honored Awkwafina's big win is Chinese-Canadian actor Simu Liu, who will be one of her co-stars in the upcoming Marvel film "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings."

Simu Liu expressed her congratulatory message to Awkwafina in the most heartfelt and poetic way. He also expressed his excitement to work with the "Crazy Rich Asians star soon.

The 30-year-old actor, who is also a writer and filmmaker, started his Twitter post by addressing Awkwafina's real name, Nora.

"a toast to Nora, and to taking chances, to throwing caution to the wind, to leaning into failure, to the taking the road less traveled, and to making history," Simu Liu wrote.

"in order to do what has never been done, you have to go someplace nobody has ever been. see you at work @awkwafina," adding a heart emoji in the end.

a toast to Nora, and

to taking chances,

to throwing caution to the wind,

to leaning into failure,

to the taking the road less travelled,

and to making history. in order to do what has never been done,

you have to go someplace nobody has ever been. see you at work @awkwafina <3  Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) January 6, 2020

Some fans were moved with Simu Liu's touching message to Awkwafina, while others could not help but get excited as his tweet could also mean that they will start filming "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" soon.

Although Awkafina's role in the said Marvel Cinematic Universe film had not been confirmed, everyone knows now that Simu Liu will be portraying the part of the superhero Shang-Chi. He was raised to become a deadly assassin and eventually become Marvel's Master of Kung Fu.

Actor Tony Leung will also be in the Shang-Chi film as the villain "The Mandarin," with Destin Danie Cretton directing it.

Just like Awkafina, the "Kim's Convenience" actor also made history as Marvel's first Asian superhero. Simu Liu's road to becoming Shang-Chi could be traced back from his persistence four years ago when he started openly throwing hints that he wants to be part of the Marvel team.

In 2014, Simu casually gave a shout out to Marvel on Twitter and said: "Hey @Marvel, great job with Cpt America and Thor. Now how about an Asian American hero?"

Hey @Marvel , great job with Cpt America and Thor. Now how about an Asian American hero?  Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) July 17, 2014

In 2018, he humorously talked about waiting to have a superhero suit from Holywood, as if he knows very well that Marvel will one day make one for him.

"People ask why I go shirtless a lot; look, I'm just waiting for Hollywood to make me a superhero suit. #stillwaiting" Simu wrote on Twitter.

Hard to believe that a week ago I was just sitting at my desk in my underwear eating shrimp crackers and now... okay well I'm still doing that but I'm also a superhero  Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) July 23, 2019
Several passages on the Rok stone - the world's most famous Viking Age runic monument - suggest that the inscription is about battles and for over a hundred years, researchers have been trying to connect the inscription with heroic deeds in war. Now, thanks to an interdisciplinary research project, a new interpretation of the inscription is being presented. The study shows that the inscription deals with an entirely different kind of battle: the conflict between light and darkness, warmth and cold, life and death.

The Rok runestone, erected in Ostergotland around 800 CE, is the world's most famous runestone from the Viking Age, but has also proven to be one of the most difficult to interpret. This new interpretation is based on a collaboration between researchers from several disciplines and universities.

"The key to unlocking the inscription was the interdisciplinary approach. Without these collaborations between textual analysis, archaeology, history of religions and runology, it would have been impossible to solve the riddles of the Rok runestone," says Per Holmberg, professor in Swedish at the University of Gothenburg, who led the study.

A previous climate catastrophe

The study is based on new archaeological research describing how badly Scandinavia suffered from a previous climate catastrophe with lower average temperatures, crop failures, hunger and mass extinctions. Bo Graslund, professor in Archaeology at Uppsala University, points to several reasons why people may have feared a new catastrophe of this kind:

"Before the Rok runestone was erected, a number of events occurred which must have seemed extremely ominous: a powerful solar storm coloured the sky in dramatic shades of red, crop yields suffered from an extremely cold summer, and later a solar eclipse occurred just after sunrise. Even one of these events would have been enough to raise fears of another Fimbulwinter," says Bo Graslund.

Nine riddles

According to the researchers' new interpretation now being published, the inscription consists of nine riddles. The answer to five of these riddles is "the Sun". One is a riddle asking who was dead but now lives again. The remaining four riddles are about Odin and his warriors.

Olof Sundqvist, professor in History of Religions at Stockholm University, explains the connection:

"The powerful elite of the Viking Age saw themselves as guarantors for good harvests. They were the leaders of the cult that held together the fragile balance between light and darkness. And finally at Ragnarok, they would fight alongside Odin in the final battle for the light."

Parallels with other Old Norse texts

According to the researchers, several points in the inscription have clear parallels with other Old Norse texts that no one has previously noted.

"For me, it's been almost like discovering a new literary source from the Viking Age. Sweden's answer to the Icelandic Poetic Edda!" says Henrik Williams, professor in Scandinavian Languages with a specialty in Runology at Uppsala University.

###

Contact details:

Per Holmberg, professor of Swedish, Phone: +4673-5790687, e-mail: per.holmberg@svenska.gu.se

Bo Graslund, professor in Archaeology Phone: +4670-6663504, e-mail: bo.graslund@arkeologi.uu.se

Olof Sundqvist, professor in History of Religions Phone: +4670-9402203, e-mail: olof.sundqvist@rel.su.se

Henrik Williams, professor of Scandinavian Languages, Phone: +4673-3908630, e-mail: henrik.williams@nordiska.uu.se

Links to article and other media

The Rok runestone and the end of the world (Futhark: International Journal of Runic Studies): https://doi.org/10.33063/diva-401040

English translation of the inscription, with the answer to the nine riddles with textual parallels on Old Norse or Anglo-Saxon poetry (CC-BY: Henrik Williams, Per Holmberg, Bo Graslund, Olof Sundqvist)

(Choose English): https://hum.gu.se/aktuellt/Nyheter/fulltext//svensk-oversattning-av-rokstenens-text.cid1668443

Audio recording of Henrik Williams reading the inscription (CC-BY: Henrik Williams): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:R%C3%B6k_runestone_interpretation_2020.opus
Toblerone has released a honey and almond nougat ice cream modelled off the traditional triangle-shaped bar, and it's now on sale at Woolworths.

Versions of the ice cream have proved popular in the UK and Philippines since its release in 2018 but this is the first time Australians have been able to taste-test the delicious treat.

Facebook page Addicted to Bargains announced the news on Wednesday by sharing a photo of the four-pack box of desserts.

The famous triangle-shaped chocolate Toblerone has released a honey and almond nougat ice cream modelled off the traditional bar in Australia

'Love Toblerone? Now there's an ice cream. It's currently $5 at Woolworths,' she said, pointing out that it's usually $8.50.

It's available both online and in-store and doesn't appear to be a limited release item.

The exciting addition to the freezer section sent Aussies into a spin, with everyone hurriedly tagging their friends in the post to hint at their next supermarket purchase.

'Undoubtedly this will change my life for the better,' one person said.

The exciting addition to the freezer section sent Aussies into a spin, with everyone hurriedly tagging their friends in the post to hint at their next supermarket purchase

'I've been waiting for these to land Down Under! So glad they're finally here,' said another.

Coles does not yet appear to stock the product however it might soon after the viral news spreads even further.

The ice cream promises to have a 'chocolate honey flavour with nougat and Toblerone pieces coated in milk chocolate'.

The ice cream promises to have a 'chocolate honey flavour with nougat and Toblerone pieces coated in milk chocolate'

It's shaped as a triangle to pay homage to the original appearance of Toblerone.

One Australian who has already managed to try the ice cream said it tastes just like the chocolate and was well worth the money.

'They are literally heaven, definitely hurry into your closest store,' he said.
A scuffle broke out between the Delhi Police and protesting JNU students on Thursday after a meeting with the Ministry of Human Resource Development was dubbed 'unsatisfactory' by the varsity's student union.

The Delhi Police lathi-charged and detained Jawaharlal Nehru University students outside the premises of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) on Thursday evening.

This after a meeting between ministry officials and the varsity's student union did not yield a positive result, with JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh calling the talks 'unsatisfactory' and telling protesters that officials had not agreed to suspend JNU vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar for his alleged inaction during the 5 January incident of violence in the campus and calling for the march towards Rashtrapati Bhavan to continue. At least one person was injured in the scuffle.

The rally, which saw the participation of hundreds of students and members of civil society organisations, began at the Mandi House area in the National Capital on Thursday afternoon. Demanding Kumar's resignation, they carried placards and banners and walked towards the HRD Ministry. Slogans of 'halla bol' and 'inquilab zindabad' were raised.

Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University students hold protest at Mandi House demanding removal of the university's Vice Chancellor, following Jan 5 violence. pic.twitter.com/8AjxbkOtT6  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

Banners with messages such as 'No CAA, No NRC', 'Ban ABVP from university campuses', 'Reject Violence', 'Education is not a commodity to be bought or sold' dotted the swelling crowd that demanded strict action against those involved in the campus violence that left more than 35 injured.

JNUSU, JNUTA meet HRD officials for discussion on demands

A delegation comprising members of the JNUSU and JNU teachers' association met officials of the HRD ministry, including the secretary Amit Khare, after the rally was stopped by police at Shastri Bhavan.

Escorted by the police, Ghosh and other office bearers Saket Moon, Satish Yadav, and Danish along with the president of JNUTA DK Lobiyal met HRD officials and reportedly raised the issue of the 5 January violence along with the hotel fee hike, against which there have been sustained protests in the university.

They also put forth the demand to suspend Kumar from his post.

After the meeting, Ghosh briefed the protesters gathered outside the MHRD premises and was quoted by The Indian Express as saying that the meeting had been "unsatisfactory". Stating that the students and faculty will not relent with the protests till Kumar is suspended, she said they had appealed to HRD ministry for the same.

She also added that the ministry had said a dialogue on the issue will be held on Friday. She said, "We will not compromise with HRD ministry over the removal of the VC. It is still thinking whether the VC should be removed."

However, the ministry also issued a statement soon after the meeting and said that the suspension of the vice chancellor was "not a solution" and said that the government's focus is to address the main issues that have cropped up on campus.

Ministry officials, however, asserted that the "formula" (regarding the hostel fee hike) decided during consultations with students and administration needs to be implemented. "Removing the VC is not the solution. The basic issue on which the whole problem has arisen needs to be addressed first. Changing X, Y or Z is not as important as resolving the issues that have come up. The basic bone of contention needs to be resolved," Khare said.

On the issue raised by students of their union not being officially notified by the university, he said, "The ministry's focus is on academic issues on campus and not political".

The varsity administration, including Kumar, have been called for a meeting on Friday over students' claims that the revised fees as decided during HRD intervention are not being implemented. The ministry has also invited the students for another meeting after the one with the administration.

"We will talk to the university administration that the fees changes which were decided last month are implemented. We are working on resolving the issues and restoring normalcy. It is a prestigious university and should remain that way," Khare said. Kumar, however, denied claims that the formula arrived at by the ministry is not being fully implemented and said that there was no deviation from it.

"As far as the fee issue is concerned, there has been no deviation from the formula arrived at the HRD ministry last month. As decided, students are not being charged any services or utility fees," Kumar told PTI. "We have also written to UGC to release funds for covering the utility and service charges as decided."

The HRD ministry had in November formed a three-member panel to mediate between the agitating students and administration and restore normalcy in the campus. According to the formula proposed by the ministry, the JNU administration would charge only the increased room rent and the service and utility charges were to be borne by the University Grants Commission.

Soon after the meeting, Ghosh gave a call to continue the protest march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan as the meeting had not yielded a positive response to their demands. At this point, Delhi Police appealed to the protesters to call of the march, but the protesters were insistent, sources said.

As a result, a scuffle broke out between personnel and students, with the police resorting to lathi-charging and detaining the protesters. Using loud speakers, the police also appealed to the crowd to maintain peace, PTI reported.

Delhi: Police detain protesters near Ambedkar Bhawan. They were marching towards Rashtrapati Bhavan demanding removal of the Jawaharlal Nehru University's Vice Chancellor following Jan 5 violence in the campus. https://t.co/9T6ruAZnf6 pic.twitter.com/mCMtGwi9Zl  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

Opposition leaders criticise Centre over 5 January violence

CPM leaders Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Prakash and Brinda Karat, and LJD leader Sharad Yadav were also part of the march on Thursday, before the meeting between the JNU delegation and the MHRD. Brinda, referring to the ruling BJP at the Centre, said, "People have started speaking up and that is what these people are not able to take. They are manufacturing stories that the protests have nothing to do with students or workers but are political."

Yechury added, "For three hours, people wearing masks beat up varsity students. They entered the campus with police being present at the main gate." Alleging that the incident could not have occurred without the vice-chancellor knowing about it, he said, "The VC has to go."

The Congress also slammed the Centre over the 5 January violence. Addressing a press conference, senior party leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that the violence in JNU was "officially sponsored goondaism" and said Home Minister Amit Shah and HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal were responsible for it.

The Congress demanded that those behind the violence must be identified and arrested immediately. It said normalcy in the JNU campus was not possible till Kumar resigned.

"The violent incident that occurred in JNU was not a sudden development, but was planned. Everyone knows who was behind this violence. I make a direct charge that HRD minister and the home minister are responsible for the incident. This is nothing but an officially sponsored goondaism," Ramesh said.

He added that 72 hours had passed and the Delhi Police knew who should be arrested but no arrest has been made so far. "This is a deliberate negligence," Ramesh alleged.

Former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar also addressed the protesters outside the premises of the MHRD on Thursday. Taking a dig at the Centre, he referred to the row over Deepika Padukone's presence at a protesting sit-in at JNU and said that Padukone was patriotic when she was an ambassador for a Modi government initiative but turned anti-national after visiting JNU.

Padukone and shuttler PV Sindhu were on last year named as ambassadors for 'Bharat Ki Laxmi', an initiative by the Modi government aimed at bringing to light the commendable work done by women across the nation ahead of the festival of Diwali.

On 5 January, a mob of masked men stormed the campus and targeted students in three hostels, unleashing mayhem with sticks, stones and iron rods by hitting inmates and breaking windows, furniture and personal belongings.

With inputs from agencies
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - A former Salvadoran congressman was arrested Wednesday following his deportation from the United States, where he fled in 2007.

Roberto Silva Pereira was a congressman from El Salvadors conservative National Conciliation Party who was stripped of his immunity from prosecution but fled before facing charges of bribery and money laundering.

Silva Pereira was ordered held at the countrys highest-security prison pending trial.

He allegedly bribed local officials to grant unfair contracts to front companies.

He then allegedly laundered as much as $14 million in proceeds from the scheme. Silva Pereira was detained by immigration authorities in Anaheim, California and held in Arizona, where he requested asylum but was denied.
Chennai, Jan 8 : Operations in major ports in south India, barring Chennai Port and also in Odisha, came to a standstill on Wednesday owing to the nationwide strike called by central trade unions against the "anti-labour policies" of the Central government, said a leader of a major union of port workers.

"Port operations in Tuticorin Port (now called V.O. Chidambaranar Port), Cochin Port in Kerala and the Pradip Port in Odisha came to a standstill. The strike was complete in these ports," Narendra Rao, General Secretary, Water Transport Workers' Federation of India told IANS.

He said that the operations at Chennai Port were not affected as the workers belonging to the unions did not participate.

"We had no strike in the Port. We had discussion with the unions. We had requested the unions not to participate in the strike in the interests of the Port and they also agreed to that," P. Raveendran, Chairman, Chennai Port Trust told IANS.
'National risk'

Now more than ever

'Take this very seriously'

(TNS)  No, you're not talking crazy.The threat of regular people having their vehicles carjacked by cyberattackers is real.Fact is, computer hackers on the other side of the world potentially could  while youre driving  crash your navigation system, cut your brakes, disrupt your steering or remotely take control of the entire vehicle. Hackers do not need to be in close proximity; all they need is something as simple as internet connectivity. Cars have become heavily connected to the internet.They are essentially computers on wheels.Thats why automakers in Detroit, Germany, France, China and Japan are aggressively working to monitor technology protections in private cars, trucks and SUVs connected to the global internet to provide navigation assistance and so much more.The awareness of cybersecurity in the entire world has gone up. Its not a secret there is an existing cyberwar between the U.S. and Iran," said Moshe Shlisel, CEO of GuardKnox Cyber Technologies, based in Ramla, Israel. His company is composed of Israeli Air Force veterans who helped pioneer the cyberdefense systems still deployed in their fighter jets and missile defense systems.He travels to Detroit, throughout the U.S. and around the globe working with automakers seeking to eliminate vulnerabilities exploited by computer hackers all over the world. The threat cant be underestimated, Shlisel said.Customers have expressed concerns that, due to the cyberwars taking place nowadays, the automotive market will be exposed to remote cyberattacks, he said. If youre driving a vehicle thats connected to the internet, the security status of current vehicles is pretty much the same as computers in the 1980s. And the reason car manufacturers are worried about that  the vehicle is part of the global internet and you can be in North Korea or Iran and reach any vehicle in the entire world.An even bigger concern is the risk to fleets of vehicles that could cripple the transportation system.This would be a national risk, said Shlisel, who indicated sites of energy companies in the U.S. are also on high alert amid tension between the U.S. and Iran.The Department of Homeland Security warned this week that the current international conflict may result in cyber and physical attacks against the homeland and also destructive hybrid attacks by proxies against U.S. targets and interests abroad.The federal agency urged companies to consider and assess the potential for cyberattacks.In the past, to conduct an attack on a specific individual or vehicle, you needed a person on the ground or a tracking device to identify the target. Today, in the era of connectivity, hackers can penetrate a vehicle remotely to find its location and then execute an attack, Schlisel said.Protecting vehicles is like running security protections on your computer non-stop, Shlisel said.It can be frightening to someone who understands that hackers are working relentlessly from all parts of the world to penetrate our networks and create chaos, and that includes cars.Holly Hubert, a cybersecurity expert who retired in 2017 from the FBI in Buffalo, New York, said, Since cars now are run by computers, vulnerabilities can be patched and mitigated just like any other computer. Automotive companies are aggressive in trying to find mitigation strategy for faulty code.No question, cybersecurity experts said, the issue is top of mind now more than ever.Incredibly, that means competitors in the automotive industry are sharing valuable information and working together on this public safety issue.The bad guys share this information all the time. If the good guys arent sharing the information, theyre going to get hit, said Faye Francy, executive director of the nonprofit Automotive Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Auto-ISAC), which specializes in cybersecurity strategies.Very simply, one companys detection is another companys prevention, she said.One of the reasons the automobile industry brought Francy in to coordinate cybersecurity is she, too, worked in the aerospace industry. Security for cars and jets have a lot in common.Theres an awful lot going on as far as commitment to implementing cybersecurity, Francy said. As far as automakers go, they take this very seriously, as serious as they take safety. Were in a nascent area and theres a great deal of learning going on. Weve made a lot of strides and theres still more to be done.Remember, cybercrime experts pointed out, wireless technology controls thousands of elements in our cities and connected cars and all those areas are potential targets.General Motors said it is intensely committed to defending against attacks.As vehicle connectivity continues to evolve, GM has continued to strengthen cybersecurity measures. We have a three-pillar approach which deploys defense-in-depth, monitoring and detection, and incident response capabilities to protect our customers, their vehicles and their data, said spokesman Chad Lyons.The company plays a leading role in Francys organization, analyzing intelligence and best practices for emerging risks, he said. The industry has taken product cybersecurity very seriously and continues to work quickly on new standards and strategies to continue working to stay ahead of the threat.GM noted that the new Corvette and Cadillac CT5 actually have new cyberprotections.GM, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler executives all serve on the board of directors of Auto-ISAC.FCA US is deploying both hardware and software technologies to protect against cyberintrusions. But we also improve protection by partnering with others, says Sandra Hosler, senior manager, vehicle cybersecurity at Fiat Chrysler.Open collaboration with our industry peers through the Auto-ISAC, trust and transparency with our suppliers, and cooperation with security researchers through our bug bounty program, are all critical components of our vehicle cybersecurity program," she said.It is perhaps because Fiat Chrysler made news in 2015 when Wired magazine wrote about how researchers hacked a Jeep Cherokee and took control of the windshield wipers, climate system, radio and then cut power to the transmission while the vehicle was being driven by a reporter.This particular experiment didn't damage the reputation of Jeep, experts said, it simply illustrated industry-wide vulnerability.T.R. Reid, spokesman for Ford Motor Co., said, Ford is constantly creating new technology that improves mobility. With that comes responsibility for making sure people and their personal information are safe. We take that very seriously.All a hacker needs to identify your vehicle is the computer network.You cant believe how easy it is, Shlisel said. They can penetrate the GPS (global positioning system) and understand your location and get your internet address. You can do it remotely by just penetrating the network and do whatever you want.If you catch hacking, you can retrofit your car with protections device, he said during a break in activity at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.Companies must be on alert at all times, cyberexperts said The key to safety is establishing a strong defense, monitoring carefully and being prepared for attack.
A suspected domestic abuser choked and headbutted his girlfriend after she told him his fart smelled horrible, police say.

Christopher Ragsdale, 41, reportedly erupted with fury while sat next to his partner on a couch at a friends house in Wichita Falls, Texas, on Sunday.

The unnamed victim told police that Ragsdale had passed wind, and that she told him it smelt terrible.

She told detectives her partner responded by grabbing her by the hair and hurling her to the ground.



Ragsdale is then said to have sat on the womans back and wrapped his arm around her neck, before choking her.

His panicked girlfriend is said to have called for a friend for help, before escaping his clutches and going to get her keys, it is alleged.

Ragsdale reportedly continued to abuse his partner even after she went to the other room by screaming abuse at her and headbutting her.

His alleged attack finally ended when the couples friend saw what happened and separated the couple, while Ragsdales girlfriend called police.

She told detectives she was in pain from the assault, with an officer writing: I observed (a) red mark wrapped around her neck and a red mark on her forehead.

Ragsdale was arrested and charged with assault family violence. His bond was set at $10,000.

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They said Mr. Cosby, 82, had also been denied a fair trial when the case was allowed to go ahead even after a former district attorney had given what he said was a binding assurance that Mr. Cosby would not be charged in the case. Mr. Cosby is serving a three- to 10-year sentence at SCI Phoenix, a maximum-security facility outside Philadelphia.

Mr. Cosbys case represented one of the most high-profile convictions of the #MeToo era. His lawyers said that generally, there are sometimes periods of public panic, when the criminal justice system teeters on a dangerous precipice. They said that the Cosby case had pushed the criminal justice system of this Commonwealth, and the bedrock principles upon which it rests, to that precipice.

The Superior Courts ruling, his lawyers added, had far-reaching consequences for all future criminal proceedings, including those that proceed outside the national spotlight.

The panels opinion effectively changed the controlling law and guiding principles that have existed with the Commonwealth for well over a century, they said.

A spokesman for Mr. Cosby, Andrew Wyatt, said in a statement that Mr. Cosbys lawyers wanted the court to review his case to consider the vital important questions about the impact of #MeToo hysteria on the principles of the criminal justice system.
In the wake of an Iranian ballistic missile attack on airbases which house US forces in Iraq, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday he would continue his active engagement to de-escalate tensions and avert full-scale war, which the "world cannot afford."

In a statement released by his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Wednesday, Guterres re-iterated the "passionate appeal for peace" he made on Monday, after tensions rose dramatically across the whole Gulf region, following the killing of top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani, in a US drone strike.

Iran said it had carried out pre-dawn ballistic missile attack on Wednesday against two air bases used by the US and other coalition forces in Iraq, in retaliation for the targeted killing on the outskirts of Baghdad airport on Friday.

Also Read: US-Iran conflict: Both countries signal desire to avoid further tension

The bases struck were the large Al Asad base, west of Baghdad, and another in Erbil, the centre of Iraq's Kurdish region. The strikes came just hours after the burial of the influential general, marked by huge crowds, in Iran.

The UN chief repeated his four-point message to world leaders, to: "Stop escalation. Exercise maximum restraint. Re-start dialogue", and "renew international cooperation."

"This appeal remains as important today as it was on Monday. For his part, the Secretary-General will continue his active engagement with relevant actors," the statement said.

Guterres said it is "our common duty to make every effort to avoid a war in the Gulf that the world cannot afford. We must not forget the terrible human suffering caused by war. As always, ordinary people pay the highest price," Guterres said.

The UN Iraq mission also called for 'urgent restraint'. Citing the missile attacks in Erbil and Anbar governorates, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said the offensive served to "only escalate conflict, and again violate Iraqi sovereignty."

Also Read: US President ordered 'killing' of Iranian commander Qassem Suleimani; Ayatollah Khamenei vows revenge

The mission said in a tweet, "Senseless violence has predictable effects. We call for urgent restraint and a resumption of dialogue. Iraq should not pay the price for external rivalries.

During his daily press briefing, Dujarric added that "we very much support the unity, the sovereignty of Iraq.

He said the UN chief had spoken by phone on Tuesday with Iraq's President Barham Salih, "to whom he expressed the solidarity of the United Nations and continuing support for the Iraqi people.

"The international community should support the Iraqi people as they seek to create the conditions for political dialogue, he added.

Also Read: UN chief Antonio Guterres urges restraint by India, Pakistan over Kashmir

Following a statement made by US President Donald Trump from the White House on Wednesday, Dujarric added: "We welcome any indication that leaders are walking back from major confrontation, and are doing whatever they can, to avoid any further escalation.

Guterres stressed in a tweet that Peace is our most precious value. It is the product of hard work and we must never take it for granted.

He said he is encouraged by signs that the escalating conflict in the Gulf may be subsiding. The world cannot afford another war.
NATICK, Mass., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Natick, Massachusetts based company Reliva CBD  a premium CBD company helmed by 24-year CPG veteran Miguel Martin has quickly emerged as a leader in the burgeoning sphere of retail CBD product sales. Reliva is now the number one-selling retail CBD brand in the United States and has seen five products (among its wide selection of offerings) appear within the top 15 rankings in that field (IRI).

Nearly 7% of American adults report using CBD, and that number is rising quickly. CBD sales in 2018 are estimated to have been between $600 million and $2 billion. By 2025, CBD is conservatively projected to generate sales of $16 billion per year within the United States alone. Google trends show that searches for CBD are rising every year.

In an emerging, already congested (and often confusing) market, Reliva CBD has stepped forward as the foremost CBD retailer a brand synonymous with clarity, consistency, and compliance. Approved by all national wholesalers, Reliva's products are currently sold in over 18,000 retail stores and enjoy exclusive distribution with many national retail chains.

Reliva consistently outsells the competition when it comes not only to its CBD gummies, but also in terms of its shots and tinctures, which sell more units per distribution point than the competition (IRI). Reliva's CBD cream and sticks outsell national non-CBD topical brands  and Reliva CBD Wellness cream currently ranks #1 in overall sales (as well as $/ACV) while Reliva's CBD stick ranks #3 in overall sales and (#2 in $/ACV).

Reliva responsibly sources its CBD from licensed seed-to-flower hemp farms, and each batch of CBD extract that is utilized in Reliva products undergoes rigorous third-party testing, evidenced by a certificate of analysis (COA) for each and every batch. Products are only released to market upon successful completion of this testing, and each Reliva CBD Wellness product carries an item-specific batch code and expiration date as well as a scannable QR code in order to direct consumers to the company's web site, which contains COAs for every batch of product produced.

It is not difficult to see why Reliva has achieved the following and consumer loyalty that it has. What makes this market leader stand apart in a crowded field of competitors is what the company calls the Reliva Difference. From not making outlandish claims about its products (in fact, not making any claims at all, including not even allowing customers to make claims in their product reviews) to testing for pesticides, microbials, and other undesirable elements to age-restricting retail and online sales (e.g., website age gates and non-self-service retail displays), it is clear that Reliva has established the standard for responsible, compliant marketing.

For more information, please visit www.relivacbd.com

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There was a time when advertising used to be the most glamorous part of a brands marketing strategy. But today, its all about fighting an increasingly conservative public sentiment, writes Pranshu Sikka, CEO and Founder of The Pivotals.

The country woke up to yet another trend this week, when #BoycottNirma started trending on our Twitter feed. The reason? An advertisement from the brand has seemingly (and quite unsurprisingly) offended the sentiments of netizens.

In the advertisement for Nirma washing powder, Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar is seen as a king and arrives with his army in a palace. After entering the palace, the actor says, Maharaj aur uski sena dushman ko dhona jaanti hai, aur apne kapde bhi. As a woman points to their dirty clothes, they are then seen washing the clothes with the product.

There was a time when advertising used to be the most glamorous part of a brands marketing strategy. But today, its all about fighting an increasingly conservative public sentiment. In fact, in the Indian market, the biggest tech companies also refrain from doing anything that might make them lose a huge audience. For instance, Google bans retailers from buying ads for erotica, and even Tinder suggests its users should get parental approval for their dates.

India is a crucial market for every brand, with its huge and diverse population. Get this  there are now more Internet users in India than there are people in the United States. And there will be more coming online in the coming years. But as companies pour more and more money into India, they are also grappling with appealing to Indias savvy urban millennials, while also trying to win over the countrys conservative lot.

Where then, must brands draw the line?

Brands have continued to expand in India at an unprecedented rate, thanks to a growing list of potential new users with a big appetite for all kinds of products. An elite class of user base wants advertisements that are unrestricted and uncensored. Case in point  the rise of Netflix in India as the alternate TV/ movie viewing destination, where content isnt dictated by the mafia of censorship.

However, placating Indias conservative majority does appear to make good business sense in these times of instant outrage. A much larger majority of people are usually ready to lash out at any brand that they think has overstepped the line of Indian culture, morals and values. Moreover, Indias governing authorities also seem to react with the same sense of moral justice and outrage, making it even more tough for brands to reclaim any lost ground.

The solution in this case calls for balance. No matter what you create, its crucial to keep your audience and the cultural environment in mind. For more proof, here are some statistics. Harris Interactive, a market research firm, conducted a poll to find out how unethical ads can damage a brand. The result  35 per cent of consumers will not buy products from a company that releases an offensive ad.

Strong images will always evoke strong reactions. Poor language choice, stereotypes, forced humour  all of these carry the risk of sending out the wrong message, no matter the intention. There is a thin line between being controversial or edgy, and being plain offensive. Brands and advertisers need to develop an understanding of the relationship between their messages and their customers, and undertake some social responsibility for the messages that are being resented. Thats the way to be able to truly cut through the clutter in a country like India.
Less than a month after the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center put out a call for blood donations after a single trauma patient wiped out much of the available supply, its making another plea for donors.

Demand from local hospitals and clinics is far exceeding the centers available blood products, straining already low inventories. Its seeking 2,160 donations by the end of the week.

On Tuesday, the bank received requests for blood and platelets totaling 1,300 units, more than twice the amount typically requested.

On ExpressNews.com: Amid shortage, San Antonio blood bank puts out emergency call for donations

That increased demand comes as the bank continues to deal with a shortage. Currently, it has less than 500 units of blood and platelets on its shelves.

As a result, local hospitals may be forced to cancel some surgeries scheduled for Thursday, Elizabeth Waltman, chief operating officer of the blood bank, said in a statement.

Where to donate in San Antonio South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, Donor Pavilion Address: 6211 Interstate 10 Phone: 210-731-5555 South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, Northeast Address: 8500 Village, #102 Phone: 800-292-5534 South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, Shavano Park Address: 4079 N. Loop 1604 West, #102 Phone: 210-736-8920 South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, Westover Hills Address: 10555 Culebra, #107 Phone: 800-292-5534 South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, Southeast Address: 3158 S.E. Military, #104 Phone: 800-292-5534 University Hospital, Blood Donation Services Address: 4502 Medical Phone: 210-358-2812 See More Collapse

The shortage has been exacerbated by the holidays, when donations tend to dip and the need for blood tends to spike. Last month, demand was particularly high, with requests for blood products up 10 percent from December 2018, according to the blood bank.

To replenish its supply, South Texas Blood and Tissue would need 600 people to donate daily through Jan. 10. But Tuesday, only 256 people came in to donate blood.

On ExpressNews.com: A special cooled bed provided San Antonio parents more time to say goodbye after their baby was stillborn

In order to donate, individuals must be at least 16 years old, be in overall good health and meet minimum weight requirements of 120 pounds for 16-year-olds and 110 pounds for those 17 and older.

While donations will be accepted from individuals with any blood type, type O donors are in particular demand.

Lauren Caruba covers health care and medicine in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | lcaruba@express-news.net | Twitter: @LaurenCaruba
A couple who lost their house in the inferno that swept through the town of Mallacoota in Victoria are now stranded in fire-ravaged Western Australia.

Jan and David Wiggins have no idea when they will be able to return to their property with the town still cut off and the Navy having evacuated residents.

They lost their house in the intense bushfires on New Year's Eve as 4,000 people in the Victorian coastal town retreated to seek shelter on the beach.

'I told my husband and we both burst into tears, and we have been crying on and off since that phone call,' Ms Wiggins told 7 News.

Scroll down for video

Jan and David Wiggins have no idea when they will be able to return to their property with Mallocoota still cut off and the Australian Navy having evacuated residents

Jan and David Wiggins lost their house in the intense bushfires on New Year's Eve as 4,000 people in the Victorian coastal town retreated to seek shelter on the beach

The bushfires are estimated to have destroyed nearly 2,000 houses across New South Wales and Victoria (pictured is fire damage on January 03, 2020 in Sarsfield , Australia)

The two are now stranded in the town of Salmon Gums, north of Esperence in Western Australia, after bushfires swept through the Goldfields region.

'We just can't win at this stage. It's very frustrating, we are shattered and devastated that we have lost our little house,' Ms Wiggins said.

The Goldfields bushfires, burning since December 20, have closed the main highway between Western Australia and South Australia, cutting off direct access to the state by road.

Supermarkets in Perth are posting 'bushfire updates' as they expect to run low on fresh fruit and vegetables in the coming weeks with freight deliveries hampered.

The sky in Mallacoota turned red as bushfires swept through the region on New Year's Eve

The smoke from a bushfire near Salmon Gums in Western Australia seen from the air

Meanwhile, in Mallacoota, 142 people are still stranded in the town and will be airlifted out when possible.

The Australian Navy ship the HMAS Choules has been evacuating people from the town for the past few days.

On Wednesday night the last group of 200 evacuees and 66 volunteer firefighters landed at the HMAS Cerberus base in Hastings where relatives, medical staff, food, and water were waiting for them.

HMAS Choules will now return to the coast off Mallacoota and await further instructions having completed the sea-borne evacuation mission.

Evacuees from HMAS Choules are brought to shore on landing crafts in Hastings, Victoria, Wednesday, January 8, 2020




New Delhi:

Indian Army recruitment notification has been released for Short Service Commission NCC (Special) Entry Scheme for Men and Women candidates. All eligible and interested Unmarried Male and Female candidates need to visit the official website of Join Indian Army, i.e. joinindianarmy.nic.in. It is to note that the last date to apply for NCC Special Entry Scheme is February 6, 2020. Candidates need to check the official notification and eligibility criteria carefully before applying for the Short Service Commission NCC Special Entry Scheme.

The online application process for Indian Army NCC Special Entry Scheme has already started and the last date to fill the online application is February 6, 2020. A total of 55 vacant posts are going to be filled through this recruitment drive out of which 50 are for men and 5 for women.

In order to apply for the NCC Special Entry Scheme, candidates need to have Bacheloras Degree from a recognized university with minimum 50 percent marks. Students studying in the final year are also eligible to apply for the post. However, final year students applying for the post need to have secured 50 percent marks in the first two years of Graduation. Candidates in the group of 19 to 25 years as on July 1, 2020 can apply for the respective NCC Post. Candidates should not be born earlier than July 2, 1995 and not later than July 1, 2001.

Candidates will have to clear two stage exams to get shortlisted for the NCC Special Entry Scheme. Candidates who qualify the Stage 1 exam need to appear for the Stage II exam that will be SSB interview. The SSB round will be conducted for 5 days. For more details, candidates need to click on the below mentioned direct link to check the Indian Army Recruitment Notification Released For NCC (Special) Entry Scheme.

Indian Army Recruitment Notification For NCC (Special) Entry Scheme Direct Link
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has convened a second government meeting to discuss the escalation of tensions between the United States and Iran.

He noted that the development of the situation in the region is a matter of concern. Pashinyan stressed that Yerevan's position remains unchanged: "Armenia will not be involved in anti-Iranian actions, Armenia will not be involved in anti-American actions."

"And we hope and urge friendly Iran and the US to immediately begin talks to prevent further deterioration of the situation," the PM wrote on Facebook.
Reacting to the Iranian Ambassadors request for Indias help in de-escalation, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar on Thursday, January 9, remained non-committal about the Centres response. He contended that the envoy had issued a clarification about his original statement.

Highlighting that the peace, security, and stability in West Asia were of utmost importance, he mentioned that the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had spoken to his counterparts from Iran, UAE, Oman, Qatar, Jordan, and the US. Kumar added that India wanted the situation to deescalate.

Read: Iran May Have Intentionally Avoided US Casualties In Missile Attacks: Report

The MEA spokesperson remarked, Number one, we are very closely monitoring the situation which is developing rapidly and there are changes taking place. And number two, as we have articulated in the past- peace, security and stability in the region are of utmost importance to us. We have important interests in the region. And we would like the situation to deescalate as quickly as possible. We are talking to several stakeholders who are in the region. External Affairs Minister has spoken to the players in the region- the Foreign Ministers of Iran, UAE, Oman, Qatar and Jordan. He also had discussions with his counterpart from the US and exchanged perspectives on the situation.

Read: UN Chief Warns World Cannot Afford Another War Amid US-Iran Tensions

He added, On the comment by the Iranian ambassador, he issued a clarification as well. He didnt say what exactly he meant and therefore, it now falls into the category of a hypothetical question. But, at the same time, in our interaction with Foreign Ministers from other countries, we have already conveyed the importance and the priority that India attaches to peace, stability, and security.

Read: Australian Defence Personnel, Diplomats To Stay In Iraq Amid US-Iran Tensions

'We are welcoming any intervention from friendly countries like India'

Speaking exclusively to Republic TV on Wednesday, Ali Chegeni- Iran's envoy to India welcomed the intervention of India to help maintain peace and prosperity in west Asia. He asserted that Iran looked forward to initiatives from friendly countries based on peace and justice. This comes amid the escalation of tensions between Iran and the US over the killing of Quds Force chief General Qassem Soleimani and the missiles being fired at two Iraqi military bases housing thousands of US troops.

Irans envoy to India remarked, We are welcoming any intervention and any initiative from friendly countries like India and other countries based on peace, justice, anything that can help the peace and prosperity in the region.

Read: Iran Repeats S.O.S For 'friendly' India's Intervention After Targeting US With Rockets
NEW YORK, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Questex s Travel & Meetings market, which reaches 90% of the U.S. travel marketplace including qualified travel advisors, meeting planners, and travel industry professionals, begins a new decade with a robust portfolio of events, content, eLearning as well as new, innovative solutions for both buyers and sellers. Leading the team is Ruthanne Terrero , who has been promoted to Vice President of the Travel & Meetings Group.



An expert in the travel and hospitality industries and luxury travel, in particular, Terrero is the founding Editorial Director of Luxury Travel Advisor magazine and the founder of Travel Agent magazines annual 30Under30 program. Throughout her time at Questex she has served as the Travel Markets VP/Editorial Director, overseeing Luxury Travel Advisor, Travel Agent magazine, LuxuryTravelAdvisor.com, Travel Agent Central, and Meeting Spotlight. Earlier in her career, Terrero served as the Editor of Hotel Business and executive editor of Leisure Travel News. She speaks frequently at industry events, educating both suppliers and the travel advisor audience on the latest trends and best practices.

Ruthanne is an industry trailblazer and shes passionate about the industry as well as travel and meeting professionals. Ruthanne is the perfect person to lead our Travel & Meetings group into 2020 and beyond as we launch new products and solutions, said John Siefert, Questex Group President.

Siefert added, At Questex were excited to create new, innovative solutions. We recently launched The Beauty Experience , a digital and live event platform for beauty professionals, and Impact CBD , a content-based live event and digital platform that delves into the evolving and fast-paced world of CBD, in our Beauty and Wellness group. Our mission is to continue to produce innovative solutions that bring buyers and sellers together in the Travel and Meetings industry.

The Travel & Meetings group recently launched Cruise Central , a new destination site that equips agents and advisors with an array of tools to position and sell cruise experiences during wave season. Earlier this month, the Travel & Meetings group launched its annual Awards of Excellence , where Luxury Travel Advisors vote for the best of the best in luxury travel suppliers, destinations, and hotels and the winners are announced at Ultra Summit , which will take place May 31-June 2, 2020 in San Antonio, TX.

In 2020, Luxury Travel Advisor celebrates its 15th anniversary, which will be commemorated with a number of online and print celebrations, including a "Where Are They Now" retrospective in June, which will highlight all of the advisors who have graced the magazine's cover over the years.

Jordan Tielmann has also been promoted to Director, Business Development and Operations for Questexs Prosumer Group where she will develop synergy between the Travel & Meetings groups events, content, and eLearning to create integrated solutions for buyers and sellers. Tielmann led Travel Agent Universitys (TAU) digital education platform designed for travel advisors. TAU has more than 50 training programs for travel advisors to participate in with over 90,000 active US and Canadian members. Tielmann spearheaded the transformation of the TAU business from a sponsorship model funded by destination tourism boards, hotel brands, and cruise lines around the globe into a subscription model. Tielmann will replicate TAUs success to create innovative products in the Travel & Meetings market.

In addition, Andi Washington , who has a proven record of creating integrated solutions for travel companies, has been promoted to Sales Director and will now lead Questexs Travel & Meetings digital and eLearning sales.

Questexs Travel & Meetings market connects buyers and sellers at every point in the buying journey. Questex offers Exhibitions, Conferences, Hosted Buyer, and Networking events in the Travel and Meetings market that brings buyers and sellers together as buyers move from discovering a problem to identifying features and functionality of a solution to selecting a provider to making a purchase through advocacy. Questexs digital properties work in partnership with its events to drive year-round engagement and touchpoints with customers.

Questexs Travel & Meetings portfolio includes:

TravelAgentCentral.com

Travel Agent magazine

Travel Agent University

Luxury Travel Advisor magazine

LuxuryTravelAdvisor.com

Luxury Travel Advisors ULTRA Summit

Travel Industry Exchange

Meetings Spotlight

Global Meetings & Incentive Travel Exchange

Caribbean Meetings & Incentive Travel Exchange

For additional information on Questexs Travel & Meetings market, visit: https://www.questex.com/markets/travel .

About Questex

At Questex, we are passionate about driving business outcomes. We connect buyers and sellers and help both achieve their goals. We are online, on devices and live with experiential engagements. We understand the buyers behavior and evolving needs and connect them with the seller through continual touchpoints. From discovery through purchase and purchase through advocacy, we supply unmatched access, insight, engagement and turnkey solutions all in one place.
NCP spokesperson and state minister Nawab Malik spoke about the Loya death case which had reached the Supreme Court after a party meeting in Mumbai. (Photo Credit: File Photo)

Mumbai:

The Maharashtra government would consider investigation into the alleged suspicious death of special CBI judge BH Loya in 2014 if it gets any complaint with substantial evidence, a minister said on Wednesday. Loya, who was hearing the high-profile Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case of Gujarat, had died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague's daughter.

NCP spokesperson and state minister Nawab Malik spoke about the Loya death case which had reached the Supreme Court after a party meeting in Mumbai.

Speaking to reporters after the NCP held a three-hour-long meeting of its ministers in the Shiv Sena-led government, Malik said, the government will consider reopening of judge BH Loyas suspicious case if any complaint is received with substantial evidence."

The meeting was presided over by NCP chief Sharad Pawar. If the complaint contains some substance, then only investigation will be done. There will be no inquiry in the matter without any reason, he said.

After the Sena-Congress-NCP government was formed in Maharashtra last year, Pawar was asked whether there will be any probe into the alleged suspicious death of Loya, Malik

said.

Pawar had made it very clear that investigation into the case of judge Loya was possible. The state home minister (Anil Deshmukh) had also indicated so, he said.

The Supreme Court had held that Loya had died of "natural causes" on December 1, 2014, and had rejected PILs seeking an SIT probe into the death, questioning their motive. The SC had held that petitions were moved by political rivals to settle scores which was a serious attempt to scandalise the judiciary and obstruct the course of justice through a "frontal attack" on its independence.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Thursday said that Members of Parliament (MPs) should also be allowed to visit Jammu and Kashmir.

The remarks were made in the backdrop of the two-day visit of a 15-member delegation of envoys from different countries to the region.

"If Members of Parliament (MPs) want to go to Jammu and Kashmir, they should also be allowed. It would enable them to know the situation in the region," Singh told ANI.

The delegation, which includes diplomats from the United States, Maldives, Norway, Argentina, Niger, Togo, Vietnam, Bangladesh, South Korea, Peru, Morocco, among others, is visiting Kashmir to see first-hand the efforts being made by the government in the region.

This is the first visit by diplomats to Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution that accorded special status to the region.

Today, they were briefed by Chinar Corps Commander Lieutenant General K J S Dhillon on the security situation in the region.

Prior to that, the envoys met several political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, including Ghulam Hasan Mir, Altaf Bukhari, Shoaib Iqbal Lone, Hilal Ahmed Shah, Noor Mohd Sheikh, Abdul Majid Padder, Abdul Rahim Rather, and Rafi Ahmed Mir.

Last year a delegation comprising members of the European Parliament had visited the Valley after the abrogation of Article 370.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Donald Trump said during an address from the White House Wednesday that the U.S. no longer needs oil from the Middle East, but American refineries still use the kind of oil that region produces.

Thanks to booming shale production, the U.S. reduced shipments from the Persian Gulf to a 30-year low last year. Still, Middle East crude makes up more than 10% of U.S. imports. With new oil production records being set in the Permian Basin, the countrys energy growth engine, Americas thinning reliance on Middle East crude isnt about to reverse course.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Mainly sunny. High 34F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

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Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 29F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
09.01.2020 LISTEN

The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) has called on the government to take immediate steps to hedge the purchase of crude oil from the international market.

It says it will enable the country avoid paying more for the product in the coming days.

Oil hedging is used to reduce or eliminate a company or country's exposure to fluctuating oil prices.

It is a contractual tool allowing a company or country to fix or cap an oil price at a certain level or period of time.

The advice follows heightened tensions between the United States of America (USA) and Iran in the gulf region, a phenomenon which is already beginning to impact the prices of crude oil on the international market.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, the Executive Secretary of the chamber, Mr Duncan Amoah, said the signs on the wall clearly pointed to a situation where the prices of the black gold would be increased and, therefore, there was the need for the government to be proactive in ensuring that the situation did not affect consumers in the country.

The government should be able to hedge the prices on oil imports for at least the next six months.

It should be engaging the crude oil importers now on the issue because paying more for the commodity could worsen the economic conditions of the people, he said.

Processing local crude

Making other suggestions as to how the government could control the prices of the commodity locally to save Ghanaians from paying extra when global market prices of crude oil escalated, Mr Amoah said the time had come for the local refinery, Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), to be retooled and equipped so that whatever we produce here as an oil-producing nation, a certain percentage can go to the local refinery to be processed for the local market.

That, he explained, was to ensure that the international market dynamics did not affect us negatively as we are seeing now.

There is a good reason for having Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) and TOR, and if we go back to the drawing board, we can leverage their full benefit as a country, he argued.

Dual pricing policy

Mr Duncan also pressed home the need for the government to immediately adopt what he described as the dual pricing policy which allowed the government to optimise taxes when prices were lower and ease down on them when the global oil market dynamics seemed unfavourable.

He opines that around these times when Ghanaian workers are not seeing a corresponding increase in their income and fuel prices are galloping upwards, one will expect a quantitative easing on the part of the government to ensure that at least some of the taxes the government can do away with in the interim are done away with.

Mr Amoah did not lose sight of the fact that the government generated a lot of revenue from taxes.

However, he said, When international market prices of crude oil are going up or are soaring, there is always a corresponding increase in government revenue because we are an oil-exporting nation.

As a result, whatever windfall the government makes on the oil exports in good times, one would expect some easing as far as the taxes collected from taxi and trotro drivers are concerned to balance off.

He further noted that such a move would ensure that the economy was not taken off balance or thrown out of gear.

Asked why the government had not heeded the position of the chamber in that regard, Mr Amoah said governments normally only considered what they were generating from taxes and not what the impact really was on the people.

He argued that the more the petroleum prices went up, there was a rippling effect on the economy and the governments revenue would shrink because the general economic activities would be slow.

Tensions in Gulf region

Mr Amoah said the tensions in the Gulf were quite fluid and the earlier the government took pragmatic steps to prevent an escalation of prices on the people, the better.

We cannot tell when Iran will strike again. Lets remember that 20 per cent of the worlds oil supplies go through the Strait of Hormuz and, therefore, any instability in that area will see prices of crude oil escalating, he said.

The Strait of Hormuz is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world's most strategically important choke points.

Mr Amoah reiterated the need for the government to reconsider the option of hedging now to make the prices of petroleum products predictable.

People can plan their lives if there is certainty about the prices oil petroleum products and that is what we need now, he said.

Latest on the tensions

Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at two Iraqi military bases hosting US troops yesterday.

The missiles targeted the Ain al-Assad airbase in Anbar province and a facility near Erbil's airport in northern Iraq early on Wednesday morning; they were fired in retaliation for the killing of top Iranian Commander Qassem Soleimani by the United States, according to Iran.

Oil prices stabilise

Oil prices retreated yesterday, a dramatic reversal from the initial spike caused by Iran's missile strike on bases in Iraq that house US troops, CN Business reports.

The pullback from the initial rally reflects easing fears about the risk of a spiralling tit-for-tat conflict between the United States and Iran. Investors are heaving a sigh of relief that Iran's attack did not do more damage and has so far not drawn a response from President Donald Trump.

US crude fell 1.5 per cent to $61.75 a barrel yesterday. That marks a sharp pullback from the late Tuesday high of $65.65 a barrel.

"The extent of the retaliatory attacks looks to have been limited," JBC Energy wrote in a note to clients on yesterday.

"The market will be watching keenly today for hints as to whether or not President Trump will step into a further cycle of escalation," it added.

Brent oil, the global benchmark, dipped 0.8 per cent to $67.70 a barrel. Brent had traded as high as $71.75 a barrel earlier.

There is a growing sense that Iran's attack was not as bad as initially feared. No casualties have been reported. Some in the Trump administration think Iran intentionally missed areas with Americans.

---graphic.com.gh
Iran will take a 'harsher revenge' on US troops in the Middle East after an initial rocket attack on Wednesday failed to kill anybody, a senior commander has warned.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard general Abdollah Araghi threatened further reprisals against the US on Thursday, despite Donald Trump saying the country 'appears to be standing down'.

Meanwhile air force commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh claimed that Iran had been prepared to launch 'hundreds' of missiles aimed at killing up to 5,000 Americans if Trump had decided to retaliate.

Amir Ali Hajizadeh, Iran's air force commander, claims he was ready to launch hundreds of missiles killing 5,000 Americans within hours - if Trump had retaliated to Wednesday's strike

Iran launched more than a dozen missiles at two bases in Iraq, including Ain al-Asad (pictured), but failed to kill a single soldier

Speaking on Iranian TV in front of a row of flags belonging to Iran-backed militias in the Middle East, Hajizadeh claimed that Iran was not aiming to kill anyone during the missile attack.

'If we were looking to kill, we could have designed the operation in a way such that 500 Americans would be killed in the first step,' he said.

'If they had responded, a further 4,000 to 5,000 would be killed in the next steps within 48 hours.'

He later added: 'We fired 13 missiles and were ready to fire hundreds more in case of any US response.

'We were prepared to respond to each response for days on end.'

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday called the missile strikes a 'slap in the face' against the US, before adding that 'the question of revenge is another issue.'

Yesterday Trump defended his targeting of Soleimani and said the general 'should have been terminated a long time ago'.

'Our great American forces are prepared for anything. Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world,' he said.

'The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it. American strength, both military and economic, is the best deterrent,' Trump said.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard general Abdollah Araghi said Iran would take 'harsher revenge soon' after Tehran launched missile attacks on U.S. targets in Iraq (pictured)

Donald Trump said the Iranian regime 'appears to be backing down' following Wednesday's strike, and said he doesn't want to carry out any more strikes against them

Trump said the United States 'will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime' in response to what he called 'Iranian aggression.'

Iran will likely order more militia attacks and target countries cyber networks after 'revenge', says Middle East Expert By Luke Andrews for MailOnline The Iranian regime will likely swing back to its 'strategic unconventional playbook' involving militia attacks and the targeting of other countries cyber networks, a Middle East expert has claimed. Security expert at the University of Exeter, Tallha Abdulrazaq, also told MailOnline that he expects a continued 'menacing' of America's Arab allies. 'The Iranian leadership's military response to the US killing of Qassem Soleimani fell far short of the vengeance they promised but provided them with an off-ramp to de-escalate with the US by appearing to retaliate while causing as little damage as possible to avert a massive American response,' he said. 'Iranian agitation (will likely be) carried out through terrorist groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon on the Israeli border, increased Shia militant attacks in Iraq and Syria, and a general menacing of Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies of the United States. 'Small scale cyber attacks have also been a feature of Iranian activity in recent days, so we can expect more sophisticated attacks in the future.' It comes after Iran's 'revenge' attack on two Iraqi bases containing US soldiers failed to kill a single American soldier. Advertisement

The president also proposed a new deal with Iran, saying: 'We must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place.'

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations today dismissed Trump's call for co-operation as 'unbelievable'.

More than a dozen ballistic missiles hit the Al Asad air base in western Iraq and the Erbil base in Iraqi Kurdistan during Wednesday's strikes.

Iran warned Iraq about the raids shortly before they happened, the Iraqi prime minister said yesterday.

Adel Abdul Mahdi said Iran's tip-off was passed on to the bases where troops were able to take shelter in their bunkers.

Mahdi said Iran did not give specific locations to him but said they would only target locations where U.S. forces were present.

As the missiles were raining down, Mahdi said he received a call from Washington to say they already knew of the assault.

In their immediate aftermath, foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tehran had concluded its 'proportionate' retaliation.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper cautioned that the U.S. military remained 'poised and ready.'

At least 11 of them hit al-Asad, while at least one other missile hit a facility in Erbil, Iraq. The others failed in flight. Esper said targets hit included tents, a helicopter and a parking lot and there was no major damage.

Army General Mark Milley said the missiles had 1,000 to 2,000-pound warheads on them, each with significant explosive power and 'kill radius.'

'I believe, based on what I saw and what I know, is that (the strikes) were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft and to kill personnel. That's my own personal assessment,' Milley told reporters.

'But the analytics is in the hands of professional intelligence analysts. So they're looking at that.'

Esper and Milley said they were unaware of any heads-up from Iraq about the coming attack, after Baghdad said it was notified by Tehran of the strike.

In a separate report, Tasnim news agency quoted the deputy Guards head, Ali Fadavi, as saying Iranian missile attacks on U.S. targets were a display of Iran's military power and said U.S. forces 'couldn't do a damn thing.'

Soleimani, who was seen as a hero in Iran but regarded as a terrorist leader by the US, was killed him in a drone strike near Baghdad airport last Friday.

His death already has pushed Tehran to abandon the remaining limits of its 2015 nuclear deal, and a series of top Iranian officials have sworn revenge on Washington.

Iranian state TV said the country would no longer respect any of the limits in the deal, which Trump has abandoned but European powers want to preserve.

Under the deal, Tehran had pledged to reduce its nuclear capacities for several years, including by capping its enrichment of uranium at 3.67 percent, far below the more than 90 percent required for a nuclear weapon.

Iran has already overstepped some of the limits since Trump pulled out of the deal in May 2018.
Just because movies spent more than a century as physical objects  as strips of film, not the digital files of the 21st century  doesnt mean they cant disappear. And their loss, to decomposition or to memory, inevitably leaves gaps in knowledge.

Did you know that three sisters made independent features in Australia in the 1920s and 30s with a sophistication to rival the Paramount comedies of the early 30s? That a Frenchman who ended his career in obscurity, working for a chemical company, deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as his contemporary Jean Renoir? That George A. Romeros oeuvre includes a public-service feature on behalf of the elderly?

To Save and Project, the Museum of Modern Arts annual festival of film preservation, offers those lessons and more. The series, running Thursday through Jan. 22, showcases recent restorations from the museum and other archives around the world.

This year, as with the Romero feature, some better-known directors are represented with out-of-character films. (D.W. Griffith shot a 1924 movie, Isnt Life Wonderful, on location in Weimar Germany, applying his suspenseful cutting to show the hyperinflating prices at a butcher shop.) But the biggest revelations in the lineup are the films that challenge established canons: nearly lost movies brought back from the brink, newly refurbished to expand your sense of film history.
China has praised its Muslim re-education camps in Xinjiang, where more than one million Uighurs and other ethnic minorities are said to have been detained.

The facilities, referred to as 'concentration camps' by human rights activists, have made significant contribution to the international counter-terrorism efforts by eliminating extreme thoughts, according to the country's Foreign Minister.

They have safeguarded Xinjiang residents' lives and protected the public's right to religion, said the top official, adding countries opposing Beijing's campaign are those that disrespect Islamic civilisation.

Wang Yi (right), the Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister, praised his country's Muslim 'vocational education centres' while meeting the press with Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry (left). Mr Wang made the comments yesterday during a trip to Cairo

Mr Wang said the facilities, referred to as 'concentration camps' by human rights activists, have made significant contribution to the international counter-terrorism efforts by elimiating extreme thoughts. In this photo taken on December 3, 2018, a guard tower and barbed wire fences are seen around a facility in the Kunshan Industrial Park in Artux, Xinjiang, China

UN experts and activists say at least one million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims have been held in the detention centres in Xinjiang.

Uighur activists say that they have documented nearly 500 camps and prisons run by the country to hold members of the ethnic group, alleging that the number of detainees could greatly exceed the commonly cited figure.

Former detainees claim they were subject to a series of cruel treatment inside the controversial facilities, including gang rape and medical experiments.

They also claim to have been forced to eat pork, speak Mandarin and express their loyalty to the Communist Party and President Xi.

Shohrat Zakir, Xinjiang's Uighur governor, said last month that people who were at vocational training centres had all 'graduated' and were living happy lives. This photo taken on May 31, 2019 shows the outer wall of a complex which includes what is believed to be a re-education camp where mostly Muslim ethnic minorities are detained, on the outskirts of Hotan

This satellite image, taken on September 17, 2018 and provided by Planet Labs, shows buildings around the Kunshan Industrial Park in Artux in western China's Xinjiang region. This is believed to be one of a number of internment camps in the Xinjiang region

After initially denying the existence of re-education camps, Beijing acknowledged it had opened 'vocational education centres' in Xinjiang aimed at preventing extremism by teaching Mandarin and job skills.

The latest remarks defending the establishments came from Wang Yi, who is also the Chinese State Councillor.

He was meeting the press with Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry during a visit to Cairo yesterday, reported Xinhua News Agency.

Mr Wang said that the state-led 'training system' rescued those who had been eroded by extreme thoughts and eradicated terrorism from its source.

He described the campaign as being a 'completely legal' and 'widely recognised' preventative method to curb terrorism.

Mr Wang said no terrorist attacks happened in Xinjiang in the past three years because of Beijing's counter-terrorism campaign. He is seen in a meeting with Sameh Shoukry in Cairo

Mr Wang stressed that Xinjiang, an autonomous province, had been ravaged by 'thousands of terrorist attacks' as well as extreme thoughts in the years before, causing 'thousands of innocent residents to be killed'.

He indicated that the programme had run for around three years, during which time no terrorist attacks happened in the region.

All 'trainees' have graduated from the centres, found jobs through the help of the government and are now living a peaceful life, according to Mr Wang.

He brushed off criticism against his government's clampdown on religious freedom, alleging that China is providing better facilities to believers than many Muslim countries.

A perimeter fence is constructed around what is officially known as a vocational skills education centre in Dabancheng in Xinjiang in China's far west region. Activists have claimed that the number of Muslim detainees in China could greatly exceed the commonly cited figure

Mr Wang claimed that the number of mosques in Xinjiang had reached 24,000, or one for every 530 Muslim residents.

He concluded his speech by blasting 'Western forces' which have condemned Beijing's policy in Xinjiang. He said the opposing countries happened to be the ones that 'respect Islamic civilisation the least, constantly start war in the Middle East and cause casualties among Muslim populations'.

'The aim of their attack on China is to cause chaos in Xinjiang and restrain the overall development of China,' Mr Wang said.

Dozens of students are shown at their desks learning Chinese and law in the programme aired by CCTV that introduced the 'professional vocational training institutions' in Hotan

Beijing said last month that it would continue 'training' residents in the province.

The statement, made by the governor of Xinjiang, came after explosive government document leaks had detailed surveillance and control of the region's Uighur population.

In November, the New York Times obtained 403 documents on Beijing's crackdown on mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in the region, including unpublished speeches by Chinese President Xi Jinping who urged officials to show 'absolutely no mercy' against extremists.

Rights groups and foreign media have reported that official documents and satellite images show the facilities are equipped and run like prisons.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:

Following the attack of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on the Iraqs Ayn al-Asad Air Base, Iran's national army issued a statement on the matter, Trend reports via IRGC's website.

The Iranian people and the Islamic Republic are the red line for the Iranian Armed Forces, said the statement.

The statement also said that Iran will make sure the US troops are withdrawn from the region, and will see through it "until the very last step".

The IRGC launched at least 35 missiles on the Ayn al-Asad air base in Iraq, following the assassination of IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani by the US.

Previous reports said that at least 80 US servicemen were killed in an attack on Iraqs Ayn al-Asad Air Base by IRGC. About 200 people were injured. Ayn al-Asad Air Base was a strategic spot for the US and delivered support to drones from that base.

Fifteen missiles were fired at 20 sensitive locations. Numerous drones and helicopters were destroyed.

On Jan. 8 Iran's government thanked IRGC for the successful operation, spokesman for the Iranian government Ali Rabiei said at the press-conference in Iran.
As the story crawls forward, Alexis Maingauds sometimes lovely, sometimes booming score climaxes every time theres a sniff of the supernatural, whipping itself toward the finale. Melodramatic camera movements keep telling us where to look, and isolated sections of Roses body  her padding feet, her widening eyes  fill the screen. Elevating even the most humdrum effects, the Latvian cinematographer Janis Eglitis gives the movies wraithlike figures a spooky glamour that suggests, were we to spend more time with them, theyd be livelier company than the movies stars. (This is one of Hauers last roles (he died last year), and we barely see him.)

Required to play little more than bratty or baffled, Tingley (best known for television series like Hemlock Grove and Once Upon a Time) is most convincing when sawing on her violin. Her final close-up might be the films most hackneyed moment of all, proving that not only does the Devil have all the best tunes, he also has all the best shades of lipstick.

The Sonata

Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes.
Kottayam : , Jan 8 (IANS) The claim by trade union leaders of having exempted the tourism sector from Wednesday's nationwide protest failed to materialise, giving a taste of the strike to Kerala state guests - the Nobel laureate Micheal Levitt and his wife - when they were left stranded on a houseboat ride.

Seventy-two year old Levitt, winner of the Nobel prize in Chemistry in 2013, was travelling on a houseboat in the lush backwaters near here, when his boat ride could not proceed owing to the strike .

Levitt, along with his wife had started the day's journey from Kumarakom in the morning, but, around 11 a.m, their boat was stopped from plying by those taking part in the protests.

It was only two hours after the boatmen informed the authorities of the stoppage that Levitt and his wife could resume their journey and return later to Kumarakom.

Condemning the incident state Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran later told the media that tough action would be taken against those who had disrupted the state guests' boat ride.

"This was done by some anti-social elements and action would be coming soon. He (Levitt) was in the state to take part in programmes of the state government and was a state guest. A police probe will also be conducted to ascertain if there were any lapses in security," Surendran said.
Alliance backs US president following his assassination of Irans Qassem Soleimani, and Tehrans retaliatory attacks.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg spoke with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday and agreed that the Western allies should take a more prominent role in the Middle East.

The President asked the secretary general for NATO to become more involved in the Middle East, a NATO statement said, after the call between Washington and Brussels.

They agreed that NATO could contribute more to regional stability and the fight against international terrorism.

Earlier on Wednesday, in a statement about Iranian missile strikes on US bases in Iraq, Trump had said: Today, I am going to ask NATO to become much more involved in the Middle East process.

The 70-year-old Atlantic alliance boasts that it is the most successful in history, and was the linchpin of Western European security throughout the Cold War.

But its role, and indeed its founding treaty, has been focused on Europe and North America, despite the challenges facing the allied militaries in Asia, North Africa and the Near East.

NATO has a roughly 500-strong training mission in Iraq, but it has been suspended since Fridays US attack killing Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.

Some of the allied troops attached to the mission have been withdrawn from Iraq for their safety, but Stoltenberg has described this as a temporary measure.

Trump has often criticised Washingtons European allies for not pulling their weight, as he sees it, within the alliance, but Stoltenberg has said they are ready.

The NATO statement did not go into detail as to what more the allies could do in Iraq and the crisis with Iran, but the leaders agreed to stay in close contact on the issue.

NATO plays a key role in the fight against international terrorism, it said, citing training missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and the coalition against ISIL (ISIS).
WAWA, Pa., Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wawa announced today it has reached its goal to provide customers with 100% sustainably sourced coffee through its partnership with certified coffee growers. All Wawa regular brews and espresso-based beverages are now 100% sustainably sourced and all Wawa everyday brews now proudly bear the Rainforest Alliance seal.



The Rainforest Alliance is an international nonprofit organization working to develop and promote farming standards that protect the environment and promote the well-being of workers, their families and their communities. These standards help to ensure farm workers have safe working conditions, housing, and access to medical care and schools for their children. Through achieving Rainforest Alliance certification, farms work to protect ecosystems, including wildlife habitat, water and soil.

Wawa Reserve Origin limited time offer brews will be sustainably sourced through either Rainforest Alliance or other certification. Effective Jan. 1, customers can also enjoy two new Wawa Reserve coffees:

Guatemala Santa Rosa, a Rainforest Alliance-certified medium roast with aromas of caramelized sugar and baking spices with notes of toasted grains, fruit and a milk finish

a Rainforest Alliance-certified medium roast with aromas of caramelized sugar and baking spices with notes of toasted grains, fruit and a milk finish Sumatra Mandheling, a Fair Trade and Organic coffee with rich aromas of sweet cedar and baking spices with finishing notes of dried fruit and molasses

New Red Cup & Pour Bar Makeover

In addition to providing the highest quality of coffee, in more varieties than ever, Wawa is launching a vibrant new red cup with cheerful messages that embody the spirit of Wawas culture and commitment to serving local friends and neighbors.

From the very beginning, keeping up with consumer trends and customer demand has been part of Wawas culture, and were proud to provide more flavors, options and solutions than ever before, said Mike Sherlock, Chief Product Innovation Officer. Its all a part of our ongoing commitment to fulfilling lives in 2020, a year in which we anticipate serving over 235 million cups of coffee to customers across our markets  more than ever before!

In addition, the Wawa coffee pour bar has a new look, including new thermal wraps that visually show the roast intensity from Mild (Regular, Decaf, Hazelnut, French Vanilla) to Medium (100% Colombian, limited time offer Reserve Guatemala Santa Rosa) to Dark Roast (Dark Roast, Cuban Roast, limited time offer Reserve Sumatra Mandheling).



We are excited to offer the most varieties ever available with nine roast blends, 100% sustainable practices, and a fun, new red cup design to provide our customers with the best experience possible, Sherlock said.

About Wawa Reserve Coffees:

Wawa will continue providing its Reserve line of small-batch, limited-time only, specialty-grade coffees. Beans used to make these special varieties that follow a strict industry classification and are chosen according to overall cup quality, consistency, and the unique characteristics of their country of origin.

About Wawas Commitment to Quality Food:

As part of Wawas ongoing commitment to provide safe, fresh, high quality foods, the company has established a fully integrated food and product quality program, and is improving and formalizing the programs, standards, and audit criteria for the vendors who supply the food products we serve. The program builds upon Wawas founding commitment to fresh, safe and sustainable products, dating back more than 100 years ago, when the Wawa Family Dairy was the first to offer physician certified milk.

About Wawa, Inc.

Wawa, Inc., a privately held company, began in 1803 as an iron foundry in New Jersey. Toward the end of the 19th Century, owner George Wood took an interest in dairy farming and the family began a small processing plant in Wawa, PA in 1902. The milk business was a huge success, due to its quality, cleanliness and certified process. As home delivery of milk declined in the early 1960s, Grahame Wood, Georges grandson, opened the first Wawa Food Market in 1964 as an outlet for dairy products. Today, Wawa is your all day, every day stop for freshly prepared foods, beverages, coffee, fuel services and surcharge-free ATMs. A chain of more than 860 convenience retail stores (over 600 offering fuel), Wawa stores are located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida and Washington, D.C. The stores offer a large fresh foodservice selection, including Wawa brands such as custom prepared hoagies, freshly-brewed coffee, hot breakfast sandwiches, specialty beverages and an assortment of soups, sides and snacks.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/acf17859-63d4-4bd6-849e-b6b77aad4cbc

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d990e5de-153f-4842-9cab-3cff21334e8b




Sir,



So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness!

Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt? (Numbers 14:1-3).



In the above text the Israelites murmured against their gracious and loving God. Needless to say, their murmurings displeased Him. When the people complained, it displeased the Lord; and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp, Numbers 11:1.



Sadly, many Christians like to murmur and complain yet our God is disgusted with complainers. At home, work and in church they grumble, murmur and complain. They can see nothing good. To them, everything is bad - their life is miserable and they want to make it that way for everyone else.

Murmuring, complaining and griping are global pastimes. Its so common and pervasive that many arent aware they are complaining.



They complain when its hot; they complain when its cold, even when it rains they still complain. God commands against the spirit of murmuring and complaining, He hates the contagious complaining spirit. An unregenerate man will murmur, complain and gripe because of the unregenerate spirit that dwells in him. Regardless of how much he has, he will always find reason to gripe and complain. Do you know that 150 years ago, the worlds greatest kings could have only dreamt of living the life some of us are living today.



In only one day, and on beautifully smooth highways, we travel the distance it would have taken long-ago kings two weeks and many bumps to accomplish. While comfortably travelling along, we flip a switch and are serenaded by the worlds greatest musicians - and not just any musicians, but musicians of preference. News and weather are delivered on the hour, and we are kept abreast of global events by some of the worlds greatest minds. We eat the finest foods and pick our pleasure from the shelf or case, and prepare it in minutes.



We wear the finest clothing of silk, cotton and wool, and live in finely furnished homes with electricity, running hot and cold water, and heat. Were protected by the worlds greatest military and entertained by the finest athletes, yet there is complaining in the streets. The kings of old would have paid the proverbial kings ransom to have enjoyed all that.



Complaining, murmuring and negative speaking are all done in the devils language and this conversation is harmful to those who speak it and hear it. Complaining, murmuring and negative speaking create despair. As believers, we are directed to separate ourselves from the complaining spirit.

Those of us who have put on the mind of Christ are commanded to give thanks in everything, regardless of what that everything is. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you (I Thess 5:18).



Bopoto Gwinyai
A US federal appeals court on Wednesday put on hold a lower court ruling that blocked Donald Trump's administration from using $3.6bn (2.7bn) in military construction funds to build a wall on the countrys border with Mexico.

The New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay pending the Trump administrations appeal of a decision made on 10 December by a federal judge that barred the funding transfer.

In a 2-1 ruling, the panel noted that the US Supreme Court had stayed an injunction in a similar border wall case from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

The court also said there was a substantial likelihood that the parties challenging the funding transfer  the county of El Paso, Texas, and the Border Network for Human Rights - lacked standing to sue the Trump administration.

Mr Trump has made stemming illegal immigration a major theme of his presidency and re-election campaign. The $3.6bn amounts to a third of the approximately $10bn (7.6bn) that Mr Trump has obtained for border wall construction during his presidency, a total that comes from congressional appropriations and redirected Defence Department and Treasury Department funds.

Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California Show all 20 1 /20 Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California The prototypes for President Trumps border wall are being demolished. AP Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California The US Customs and Border protection had built the eight 30-foot tall steel and concrete models near San Diego on the US-Mexico border. Reuters Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A 2018 report from the Government Accountability Office found that the construction challenges presented by the four concrete models would be extensive and those presented by two of the other models would be substantial. Reuters Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California It was intended that Mr Trump would choose his favourite of the designs after testing had been completed. AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California The President is yet to comment. AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California Each prototype cost $300,000 to $500,000 to build and they are being knocked down in order to make way for the San Diego Secondary Wall project which will see up to 14 miles of barrier being built to support the existing steel border fence. AP Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California The new barrier will not employ the design of any of the prototypes, instead being built of the favoured steel bollards which make up the current section of the wall at San Diego. Reuters Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California The new secondary barrier being built near San Diego. Reuters Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California The rubble of one of the demolished prototypes. Reuters Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A steel wall prototype AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A wall prototype made from a mix of steel and concrete AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A wall prototype made from a mix of steel and concrete AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A concrete wall prototype AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A steel wall prototype AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A concrete wall prototype AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A concrete wall prototype AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A concrete wall prototype AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California A digger approaches the prototype wall AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California Aerial view of the wall prototypes at the US-Mexico border after they were torn down AFP/Getty Trump prototypes for Mexico border wall demolished in California An aerial view showing Tijuana, Mexico on the left and the demolished wall prototypes on the right AFP/Getty

Mr Trump contends the wall will stem illegal crossings and narcotics trafficking. Congressional Democrats have portrayed the presidents signature project as divisive and a waste of resources. Congress has approved funding for wall construction in recent years, but at levels below Trump administration requests.

Frustrated by Congress, Mr Trump declared illegal immigration to be a national emergency in February 2019 as part of a plan to access billions of dollars in Pentagon and Treasury funds to build the wall.

Trump administration officials have pledged to build 450 miles of new and replacement barriers along the border by November 2020, when Mr Trump will face re-election. But a number of obstacles, including legal challenges and resistance from private landowners, have threatened that objective.

Acting US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) commissioner Mark Morgan said in December that the administration may fall short of the 450-mile mark. Mr Morgan specifically cited the federal court injunction blocking the $3.6bn funding transfer as an obstacle to construction.

The Trump administration has erected 96 miles of border wall since the president took office in January 2017, according to CBP statistics from late December. All of those structures replaced existing barriers, but border wall construction in new areas is under way, the agency said.

Mr Trump vowed during his 2016 presidential campaign to build a wall on the US-Mexico border and force Mexico to pay for it. The Mexican government, however, has refused to fund the project.

Reuters
Tehran's action was completed, the diplomat said.

Iran has completed its revenge for the killing of General Qassem Soleimani and will not take any new military steps if there is no U.S. aggression, Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, has said.

"Our action was proportionate to the assassination of Qassem Soleimani. Our action was completed. So if the Americans do not act militarily against Iran, as far as Iran is concerned we are not going to act in return," Takht-Ravanchi told TASS in response to a question about Iran's reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump's public address delivered January 8.

As reported earlier, the U.S. targeted airstrike near Baghdad airport on January 3 killed Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, the elite extra-territorial special forces arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, who reported directly to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Read alsoOngoing turmoil between Iran, U.S. may complicate probe into Boeing 737 crash  media

On January 7, the Pentagon confirmed that Iran had launched more than a dozen missiles at U.S. military and coalition forces in Iraq. No Americans or Iraqi nationals were killed in the attack, U.S. President Donald Trump said in an address January 8.

Also, Trump vowed additional punishing economic sanctions on Iran as a response.

Speaking of Soleimani elimination, Trump said: "Soleimani directed the recent attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq that badly wounded four service members and killed one American, and he orchestrated the violent assault on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. In recent days, he was planning new attacks on American targets, but we stopped him."
What a journey it's been! Thank you San Jose community and the exceptional @sanjosemoti team for a wonderful four years. Sad to leave, but looking forward to my next chapter @plenty! @SJ_DigitalDolan @Kipthinks @knightfdn @BloombergCities @FUSECorps @DataSmartCities @HBSSEI https://t.co/hJZDMtyGHr  Shireen Santosham (@SSantosham) January 8, 2020

Were so grateful to @SSantosham for her transformative leadership over the past 4 years. From the Smart City Vision in 2016 to the #DigitalInclusionFund in 2019, she has impacted thousands of lives in San Jose for the better. Read her blog post here! https://t.co/g9UuDXP4VU pic.twitter.com/WeLoabglph  San Jose MOTI (@sanjosemoti) January 8, 2020

San Jose Chief Innovation Officer Shireen Santosham is departing city government, where she has served since 2016.Leading the Mayors Office of Technology & Innovation (MOTI), Santosham launched the citys Smart City Vision initiative as a mechanism for growing equity and social justice in the Bay Area tech city. She made the announcement on Medium "As I look forward to the arrival of 2020, the moment is bittersweet. I am very proud to reflect on four years of hard work in San Jose as Mayor Liccardos Chief Innovation Officer and leading the Mayors Office of Technology and Innovation (MOTI)," she wrote in the post. "On the other hand, as I move on to my next professional adventure at Plenty, an urban vertical agriculture startup, Im deeply saddened to leave the city and the community that welcomed me with open arms."Shireen has done tremendous work with and for us. She has been a truly valued partner and an impactful leader on the civic technology stage for four years, San Jose CIO Rob Lloyd said, adding the move has been in the works for about a month.Santosham is moving on to assist in growth and expansion strategy at Plenty , a Bay Area-based startup focused on indoor vertical farming to produce sustainably produced healthy, fresh foods.An interim innovation officer has not yet been named, though Deputy Director Carolyn Wu will be managing the MOTI team until that choice is made.The mayors office and our city managers office are still determining what to do next, said Lloyd. A plan is taking shape that should be ready by early next week, but things can always change.Santosham, a graduate of Harvard Business School and Kennedy School of Government, has been instrumental in helping to understand broadband needs in San Jose, and expand free Wi-Fi across downtown, and other initiatives in San Jose like becoming the first city in California to draft a citywide digital privacy policy.
By Bahk Eun-ji



The food and drug authority has found over 150 online ads of weight-loss supplements that make exaggerated claims or provide false information regarding the efficacy of the products.





An advertisement on Instagram shows a false representation of the results of a weight-loss supplement. /Courtesy of Ministry of Food and Drug Safety
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Legend Power Systems Inc. (TSX-V: LPS) has continued enhancing its groundbreaking SmartGATE platform. The platforms management of power quality issues now includes the ability to mitigate the effects of voltage sags and swells, which are key causes of damage to motors, computer system crashes and a general shortening of equipment life.



Voltage sags and swells (defined as a short-term decrease or increase in voltage of more than 10% of nominal), momentary interruptions and other power quality issues are not new; they have been a frustration with electric power systems for a hundred years. What has changed is that the loads customers connect to todays electric distribution systems include advanced, sensitive equipment. This is coupled with the increasing integration of microcomputers in process control and for building automation. The result is that yesterdays grid is causing unnecessary wear and tear, or breakdowns, in todays buildings.

Said Mark Petersen, VP of Engineering for Legend Power Systems, The most visible impact of voltage swells is elevator service interruptions. While less frequent than voltage sags, the inconvenience or potential danger to building occupants makes managing this a priority. With sags and swells impacting sensitive electronics like computers, Legend first assesses the issues with SmartGATE Insights and then has SmartGATE fix or mitigate both conditions in real time. The fact that it does so at a size and price specifically designed for commercial buildings makes SmartGATE an attractive solution compared to more expensive alternatives.

According to the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), voltage sags and swells combined account for 48% of power quality problems. Of the two, voltage sags are more frequent, with a typical facility experiencing 45 voltage sags per year in the U.S. according to the EPRI Distribution Power Quality study. Voltage swells place additional stress on motor windings, leading to failure. Capacitors used in all electronic systems have a specific recommended voltage at which they are designed to operate, and every voltage swell  or high-voltage event  shortens the useful life of costly and valuable equipment. Since all of these events appear to be random failures, costs are often absorbed by the business and are budgeted as an ongoing, recurring expense. In fact, as they are linked to poor power quality, these issues are manageable or even avoidable costs.

About Legend Power Systems Inc.

Legend Power Systems Inc. ( www.legendpower.com ) is a global leader in onsite energy management technology. They help buildings to overcome grid volatility challenges common to utilities around the world. Legends industry-proven SmartGATE enables dynamic power management of an entire building. The proprietary and patented system reduces total energy consumption and power costs, while also maximizing the life of electrical equipment. Legends unique solution is also a key contributor to both corporate sustainability efforts and the meeting of utility energy efficiency targets.

-END-

For further information, please contact:

Steve Vanry, CFO

+ 1 604 671 9522

svanry@legendpower.com

Sean Peasgood, Investor Relations

+ 1 647 503 1054

sean@sophiccapital.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This Press 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 and operating performance 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 or performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Companys future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Such risks, uncertainties and factors are described in the periodic filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities, including the Companys quarterly and annual Managements Discussion & Analysis, which may be viewed on SEDAR 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 be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements other than as may be required by applicable law.
Mr. Trump used a televised statement on Wednesday to call for renewed diplomacy, days after ordering a drone strike that killed Irans top security commander.

Early Wednesday, Irans government indicated that it had concluded proportionate measures, having avenged the killing of the commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, by firing ballistic missiles at two military bases in Iraq that house American troops. The missiles harmed no Americans or Iraqis.

In his statement, Mr. Trump said that Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.

Lawmakers in both parties welcomed Mr. Trumps decision to pull back from further military action, but Democrats expressed dissatisfaction with briefings provided on Wednesday about the supposedly imminent threat of attack cited in justifying the drone strike on General Suleimani. Some Republicans also expressed anger that the White House had not included lawmakers in the decision-making process.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi also announced that the House would vote on Thursday on a measure that would curtail Mr. Trumps war-making power.

Mr. Trump and his Republican allies have justified the strike by noting that General Suleimani, who was designated by the United States as a terrorist, was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops. Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said Tuesday that attacks orchestrated by General Suleimani had been expected within days, and many Republicans, including some who are often critical of Mr. Trump, said that the drone strike made the nation safer. Democrats have also said that General Suleimani should face justice. But other officials have questioned whether an attack was in fact imminent.

All of the leading candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for president have for days excoriated Mr. Trump for his handling of the Iran crisis.
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trustifi, an email security provider, announces its new partnership with Virtual Graffiti, an award-winning specialist in network security and related solutions that is a single go-to source for IT services. Trustifis email security expertise rounds out Virtual Graffitis comprehensive security offering with both outbound and inbound protection in a single solution that offers protection to Virtual Graffitis clients across a lengthy list of threats.



Virtual Graffiti can now integrate Trustifis patented email security that protects what client users send and receive, including threats such as:

Phishing

Malicious links and files

Viruses

Spoofing

Advanced persistent threats

Zero-day attacks

Malware, ransomware, and spam

Evolving threats growing in number and sophistication

Trustifis easy interface alerts users to the presence and nature of threats. It is the first federally-accepted method of sending legal documents online. Working with Trustifi, Virtual Graffiti provides any company dealing with sensitive data with absolute confidentiality, security, and legal compliance. Among Trustifis top solutions are advanced threat protection, data loss prevention, and email encryption.

"Virtual Graffiti works closely with clients to deliver next generation security solutions utilizing firewalls, endpoint antivirus, cloud security, and e-mail protection, said Michael Ellison, Virtual Graffitis Vice President of Sales. Compliance and general commerce drivers are pushing many companies that we deal with to take a close look at how they manage and protect email. Trustifi offers a solid email security and encryption platform. We are excited to partner with Trustifi and have the opportunity to offer this layered security solution to our client base.

Adding email protection to a layered security solution makes sense for Virtual Graffiti and its clients, said Idan Udi Edry, CEO of Trustifi. Security is only as good as its weakest point, which so often is overlooked email vulnerabilities. Virtual Graffiti clients now have comprehensive protection they can depend on.

Trustifis solution was honored this year with Cyber Defense Magazines InfoSec Award, recognizing Trustifis Inbound Shield, Data Loss Prevention, and Email Encryption products as being among the most innovative and cutting edge solutions in the field.

About Trustifi

Trustifi is a cyber security firm featuring solutions delivered on software as a service platform. Trustifi leads the market with the easiest to use and deploy email security products providing both inbound and outbound email security from a single vendor. The most valuable asset to any organization, other than its employees, is the data contained in their email, and Trustifis key objective is keeping clients data, reputation, and brand safe from all threats related to email. With Trustifis Inbound Shield, Data Loss Prevention, and Email Encryption, clients are always one step ahead of attackers. The Trustifi solution was created by Israeli military intelligence engineers and programmers as a hassle-free method to send and receive electronic communications with absolute confidentiality, protection, security, and legal compliance. Trustifi adheres to GDPR, HIPPA, Pii, and CCPA regulations.
Some of the Australia's highest profile It girls, influencers, models and designers have revealed their must-pack beauty products - and they don't all cost a fortune.

Designer Jodhi Meares, model Izi Simundic and fashion brand director Tarra Orssich are among those who have shared their favourite travel products.

From a $14.95 cult lip balm that will keep you hydrated while you fly, to a $10 facial spray, FEMAIL reveals the beauty items you should be adding to your cart right now.

A series of It girls, influencers, models and designers have revealed their must-pack beauty products when travelling - and they don't all cost a fortune (Izi Simundic pictured)

Model and It girl Nadia Fairfax (pictured) said she is obsessed with two items - the Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist, $73, and Lanolips' cult $14.95 lip balms

Nadia Fairfax

The skin mist contains botanical oils, red algae, green tea and rice to deliver immediate and intense hydration and radiance (pictured)

Speaking to beauty store Mecca, model and It girl Nadia Fairfax said she is obsessed with two items - the Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist, $73, and Lanolips' cult $14.95 lip balms.

'I LOVE the mist and I'm always using that and the balm,' Nadia told the publication.

'They aren't just in-flight must-haves, they are whole trip essentials!'

The skin mist contains botanical oils, red algae, green tea and rice to deliver immediate and intense hydration and radiance.

The mist boasts a 4.5 star rating online, while Lanolips remains a favourite beauty product of celebrities the world over.

The co-designers and co-founders of Sir the Label Nikki Campbell and Sophie Coote (both pictured) are used to jetting all over the world for fashion shows and events

Nikki Campbell and Sophie Coote

And there is one product that never leaves their cabin bag: Dr Barbara Sturm's hyaluronic serum (pictured)

The co-designers and co-founders of Sir the Label Nikki Campbell and Sophie Coote are used to jetting all over the world for fashion shows and events.

And there is one product that never leaves their cabin bag: Dr Barbara Sturm's hyaluronic serum - which retails for an eye-watering $453.

'It is the absolute best serum for hydration. We fly so often and never travel without it,' the women told Mecca.

If you don't have the budget for such an expensive product, The Ordinary's hyaluronic acid, for $23.90, is a great option.

The founder of the activewear empire The Upside Jodhi Meares (pictured) has a sensible idea for her go-to product - sunscreen. She loves Dermatologica's option

She is also a fan of Byredo's Gypsy Water perfume, which she said reminds her of travel and adventure (pictured)

Jodhi Meares

The founder of the activewear empire The Upside Jodhi Meares has a sensible idea for her go-to product - sunscreen.

And for this, the designer swears by Dermalogica.

'I love a good serum for hydration, it is so important when travelling and La Mer has always been a long-time favourite. I love the Revitalising Hydrating Serum - so luxe and so effective!' Jodhi said.

She is also a fan of Byredo's Gypsy Water perfume, which she said reminds her of travel and adventure.

Brand director of Faithfull the Label Tarra Orssich (pictured) is never far from a series of sample-sized products for when she's on the plane

Tarra Orssich

One of the items she carries is Dr Dennis Gross' Universal Peel (pictured)

Brand director of Faithfull the Label Tarra Orssich is never far from a series of sample-sized products for when she's on the plane.

This consists of the Korres Milk Proteins Cleansing And Makeup Removing Wipes ($14), Mario Badescu's $10 Rosewater Spritz and Dr Dennis Gross' Universal Peel ($135).

'If I had to narrow it down to one product it would be my tinted moisturiser Mecca Cosmetica In A Good Light Face Tint with SPF 30 in natural ($40). It's been a hero product for me for about two years now as it's lightweight, has SPF and gives me a natural glow,' Tarra said.

Architect Hoda Waterhouse (pictured) has been seen travelling all over the world recently - from London to Italy's coastline and even further afield

Hoda loves La Mer's Renewal Oil ($350), which has a 4.8 star rating online (pictured)

Hoda Waterhouse

Architect Hoda Waterhouse has been seen travelling all over the world recently - from London to Italy's coastline and even further afield.

But she said she never goes far without La Mer's Renewal Oil ($350), which has a 4.8 star rating online.

Hoda said she loves it because it hydrates her skin so well after a flight.

She also loves the Baume de Rose by Terry ($89), which is a lip balm that delivers intense hydration instantly.

The life of a model is always jet-setting, and Izi Simundic's (pictured) is no exception. She said she steers clear of makeup when she can and only wears tinted moisturiser by Laura Mercier

Izi said she uses the Perricone MD cold plasma cream ($228) before bed because it works wonders on tired and sun-soaked skin

Izi Simundic

The life of a model is always jet-setting, and Izi Simundic's is no exception.

Laura Mercier's tinted moisturiser in Tawny is a favourite because it's light on her skin when she doesn't have to wear foundation, but also gives a hint of coverage.

Izi said she uses the Perricone MD cold plasma cream ($228) before bed because it works wonders on tired and sun-soaked skin.

'It just goes straight into my carry on!' she said.

Running a global luxury level comes with a fair few air miles, and so the co-founder of Vestiaire Collective Fanny Moizant (pictured) is always ready with glow-boosting products

'My must-pack beauty product for holidays are YSL Touche Eclat and RMS Living Luminizer,' she said (YSL pictured)

Fanny Moizant

Running a global luxury level comes with a fair few air miles, and so the co-founder of Vestiaire Collective Fanny Moizant is always ready with glow-boosting products.

'My must-pack beauty product for holidays are YSL Touche Eclat and RMS Living Luminizer,' she said.

A fan of the South of France, Fanny said these help to give her a just-back-from-holidays glow all year round.
Lewis Elementary Schools At-Risk Counselor Xochitl Carias has noticed empathy among students increase since rescue dogs started visiting classrooms.

Canine pals Layla and Max were recent guest teachers in a second-grade bilingual classroom at the school. Spring ISD captured the visit in a video about Healing Species of Texas, a character education program that Carias said has been making a difference.

Ive heard about it in the playground  about friendship and, you know, seeing each other with a heart, or I see the kids doing this," Carias said, bringing her hands together in a heart shape. "Because they learned that in the lesson."

Through the program, Healing Species of Texas representatives and rescue dogs visit classrooms. The rescue animals backstories and interactions supplement lessons on social skills such as perseverance and compassion.

RELATED: Spring ISD adds new courses to its education planning guide for 2020-21 school year

Spring ISD was able to provide eight weeks of the program at four of its schools through a Rebuild Texas grant, according to a district press release.

During the recent Lewis Elementary visit, the days lesson was on diversity and respect.

Bringing dogs that dont look like each other and yet still are best friends, thats a super important lesson to the kids that need to get along with each other when they dont look like each other, said Joy Southard, Healing Species of Texas chapter director.

Mutual support is one of the overarching concepts the program aims to instill in students. Using rescue dogs to do so may help drive the point home.

The main focus is to teach them that they have the tools to rescue each other, Southard said. Rescue is super important.

The days lesson on empathy seemed to resonate with second-grader Osthin Bonilla, whose favorite animal happens to be dogs.

RELATED: Spring ISD Police Department K9 graduates training

That means for me to be a good person and respect people, Bonilla said in the press release. It doesnt matter whether people are different or not.

Student Matthew Mayo shared his classmates sentiment.

Even though youre different, you can still be like best friends.

mfeuk@hcnonline.com
WASHINGTON - It is highly likely that Iran shot down the civilian Ukrainian jetliner that crashed near Tehran late Tuesday, killing all 176 people on board, U.S., Canadian and British officials declared Thursday. They said the fiery missile strike could well have been a mistake amid rocket launches and high tension throughout the region.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/1/2020 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bodies of the victims of a Ukrainian plane crash are collected by rescue team at the scene of the crash in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. A Ukrainian passenger jet carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday, just minutes after taking off from the Iranian capital's main airport, turning farmland on the outskirts of Tehran into fields of flaming debris and killing all on board. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

WASHINGTON - It is highly likely that Iran shot down the civilian Ukrainian jetliner that crashed near Tehran late Tuesday, killing all 176 people on board, U.S., Canadian and British officials declared Thursday. They said the fiery missile strike could well have been a mistake amid rocket launches and high tension throughout the region.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops in its violent confrontation with Washington over the U.S. drone strike that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general. The airliner could have been mistaken for a threat, said four U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.

Map shows Ukraine-bound airplane crash near Tehran, Iran.;

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose country lost at least 63 citizens in the downing, said in Ottawa: We have intelligence from multiple sources including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile.

Likewise, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison offered similar statements. Morrison also said it appeared to be a mistake. All of the intelligence as presented to us today does not suggest an intentional act, he said.

The assessment that 176 people were killed as collateral damage in the Iranian-U.S. conflict cast a new pall over what had at first appeared to be a relatively calm aftermath following the U.S. military operation that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Rescue workers search the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed as the bodies of victims in body bags lie on the ground, in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. A Ukrainian airplane with more than 170 people crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff from Tehran's main airport, killing all onboard. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

It was not immediately clear how the U.S. and its allies would react. Despite efforts by Washington and Tehran to step back from the brink of possible war, the region remained on edge after the killing of the Iranian general and Iran's retaliatory missile strikes. U.S. troops were on high-alert.

At the White House, President Donald Trump suggested he believed Iran was responsible for the shootdown and dismissed Iran's initial claim that it was a mechanical issue with the plane.

Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side." Trump said, noting the plane was flying in a pretty rough neighbourhood."

Wax from melted candles and flowers, at the Canadian Embassy in memory of victims of the Ukrainian 737-800 plane that crashed on the outskirts of Tehran, during a national day of mourning in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020. A Ukrainian passenger jet carrying 176 people has crashed just minutes after taking off from the Iranian capital's main airport, Wednesday, turning farmland on the outskirts of Tehran into fields of debris and killing all on board. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Late Thursday, the U.S. House approved a measure that aims to bar any further military action against Iran without congressional approval. However, the resolution approved by the Democratic-majority House is nonbinding and, at any rate, no similar measure could pass the Republican-controlled Senate.

As for the airliner shootdown, the U.S. officials wouldnt say what intelligence they had that pointed to an Iranian missile, believed to be fired by Russian Tor system, known to NATO as the SA-15. But they acknowledged the existence of satellites and other sensors in the region, as well as the likelihood of communication interceptions and other similar intelligence.

The New York Times posted a video Thursday it said it had verified showing the moment the apparent missile struck the plane over Iran. The video shows a fast-moving object rising before a fiery explosion. An object, apparently on fire, then continues in a different direction.

Two women mourn standing in front of a memorial for the flight crew of the Ukrainian 737-800 plane that crashed on the outskirts of Tehran, inside Borispil international airport outside Kyiv, Ukraine, late Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. A Ukrainian airplane carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff from Tehran's main airport, killing all onboard, Iranian state TV and officials in Ukraine said. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A preliminary Iranian investigative report released Thursday said that the airliner pilots never made a radio call for help and that the aircraft was trying to turn back for the airport when the burning plane went down.

The Iranian report suggested that a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines late Tuesday, when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

Investigators from Iran's Civil Aviation Organization offered no immediate explanation for the disaster, however. Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, something backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldn't speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

President Donald Trump delivers remarks on proposed changes to the National Environmental Policy Act, at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Before the U.S. assessment, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted Hasan Rezaeifa, the head of the of civil aviation accident investigation commission, claiming that "the topics of rocket, missile or anti-aircraft system is ruled out.

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6:12 a.m. Wednesday, Tehran time, after nearly an hour's delay at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travellers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.

Then something went wrong, though no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations, the report said. In emergencies, pilots reach out to air-traffic controllers to warn them and to clear the runway for their arrival, though their first priority is to keep the aircraft flying.

This satellite photo provided by Maxar Technologies on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, shows the site where a Ukrainian jetliner crashed late Tuesday near the town of Shahedshahr, Iran, southwest of the capital Tehran. A separate version of this image with annotations showing the location and length of the debris field has also moved. (Satellite image 2020 Maxar Technologies via AP)

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing at 6:18 a.m., the report said. The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

The report also confirmed that both of the black boxes that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost.

Hours before the plane crash the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had issued an emergency flight restriction barring U.S. carriers and pilots from flying over areas of Iraqi, Iranian and some Persian Gulf airspace warning of the potential for miscalculation or misidentification for civilian aircraft due to heightened political and military tensions.

This satellite photo provided by Maxar Technologies on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, shows the site where a Ukrainian jetliner crashed late Tuesday near the town of Shahedshahr, Iran, southwest of the capital Tehran. The AP has annotated the image to show the location and length of the debris field. A separate version of this image without annotations has also moved. (Satellite image 2020 Maxar Technologies via AP)

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's Security Council, told Ukrainian media that officials had several working theories regarding the crash, including a missile strike.

"A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash," Danilov said.

Ukrainian investigators who arrived in Iran on Thursday awaited permission from Iranian authorities to examine the crash site and look for missile fragments, Danilov said.

The Tor is a Russian-made missile system. Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1s to Iran in 2007, and Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades.

Iran did not immediately respond to the Ukrainian comments. However, Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, denied a missile hit the airplane in a comments reported Wednesday by the semiofficial Fars news agency. He dismissed the allegation as "psychological warfare" by foreign-based Iranian opposition groups.

Ukraine has a grim history with missile attacks, including in July 2014 when one such strike downed a Malaysia Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Kyiv after visiting with family during the winter break.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, "Undoubtedly, the priority for Ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash. We will surely find out the truth.

The crash ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. The flag over Parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-staff, and Prime Minister Trudeau vowed to get to the bottom of the disaster.

The U.S. accident investigator, the National Transportation Safety Board, is talking to the State Department and the Treasury Department about travelling to Iran to inspect the U.S.-built aircraft and working with Iranian authorities despite U.S. economic sanctions against that country. In a statement Thursday the NTSB said it continues to monitor the situation surrounding the crash and evaluate its level of participation in the investigation.

U.S. officials have expressed concerned about sending employees to Iran because of the heightened tensions.

___

Associated Press writers Rob Gillies in Toronto, Robert Burns and Matthew Lee in Washington and Jill Lawless in London contributed.
Kantar, the world's leading marketing insights and consulting company, today announced two strategically important hires in the UK. These additions to the senior leadership team in the UK will be instrumental in driving Kantar's ambitious growth agenda. Chris Morley is appointed as Managing Director, UK, Ireland, and USA, for the Worldpanel division. Dom Boyd joins as Managing Director, Offer for the UK Insights division.

Bart Michels, Kantar UK Country Leader noted: "Chris and Dom join us to take up leadership roles for two of our largest business units, in our second largest Kantar market, the UK. As part of our overall growth plan, they will drive the growth of Worldpanel Plus and Holistic Brand Guidance two strategically important offers for our clients. It's great to be able to attract such market leading talent to the Kantar UK business to add to our enviable insights, data and consulting offer."

Chris succeeds Tim Kidd, who is retiring after more than a decade in the role and 27 years at Kantar. Chris's priority coming into the role will be further developing Worldpanel Plus Kantar's smartphone-enabled shopper panel and the UK's largest live community of shoppers.

Prior to joining Kantar, Chris spent 17 years with Nielsen in various leadership positions around the world. He started his career at IRI UK, where his responsibilities included the leadership of a joint Unilever account with Worldpanel. Having then moved to Nielsen in 2002, Chris took up senior roles in Australia, Vietnam and China. He spent nearly a decade in the Asia Pacific region before returning to the UK as Group MD. After leading the turnaround of the UK business, Chris went on to deliver success as the President, Western Europe, and then President, Nielsen USA, with responsibility for in excess of $1 billion revenue in both roles.

Dom's role will focus on helping the teams blend the best of Kantar's knowledge and data for the benefit of its clients, and to ensure that Kantar's offer is always cutting edge. He will report into Amy Cashman, co-CEO of the Insights division.

Dom is former APG Chair and recent Chief Strategy Officer at Publicis Poke, where he moved after 10 years at adamandeveDDB as Group Head of Strategy leading new business and creating award-winning campaigns for the likes of VW, John Lewis, Aviva and Mulberry. He also worked closely with Les Binet to help it win IPA Effectiveness Agency of the Year 2016 IPA Effectiveness Grand Prix winner in 2016 2014. A passionate behavioural economics CX practitioner, he's also a regular awards judge and industry writer who was recently editor of Admap WARC's 'Winning in the CX age' issue.

Both Chris and Dom take up their roles with immediate effect.

---end---

About Kantar: Kantar is the world's leading data, insights and consulting company. We understand more about how people think, feel, shop, share, vote and view than anyone else. Combining our expertise in human understanding with advanced technologies, Kantar's 30,000 people help the world's leading organisations succeed and grow.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005422/en/

Contacts:

Sam Mohr

kantar@axicom.com

+44 207 559 5639
Clearinghouse Community Development Financial Institution (CCDFI) Working in areas like Southern California, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, we are often exposed to affordable housing challenges and issues associated with homelessness. This prompted our decision to focus on lending that specifically addresses these pressing needs.

Clearinghouse Community Development Financial Institution (Clearinghouse CDFI) announced today that it received three Financial Assistance Awards totaling $876,000 from the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). All three awards will be used to further Clearinghouse CDFIs community and economic development mission by providing lending opportunities to organizations assisting homeless, disabled, and otherwise vulnerable individuals.

We are grateful to the CDFI Fund for allocating awards to Clearinghouse CDFI this year. This allows us to provide additional lending to assist our most vulnerable populations, said Douglas J. Bystry, President / CEO of Clearinghouse CDFI. We intend to maximize dollar-for-dollar impact by leveraging this awardvia our matching programs and affordable loan productsto produce more than $10 million in lending.

The CDFI Fund specifically allocated a Base Financial Assistance Award of $525,000, a Persistent Poverty Award of $149,000, and a Disabilities Funds Financial Assistance Award of $202,000. A portion of the award will also be specifically allocated in Persistent Poverty Counties.

The Disability Funds-Financial Assistance (DF-FA) awards allow CDFIs to sustain and expand their financial products and services. CDFIs that qualify for the awards program must match the award with funds from a non-federal source. This helps build capital to attract further investment.

Working in areas like Southern California, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, we are often exposed to affordable housing challenges and issues associated with homelessness. This prompted our decision to focus on lending that specifically addresses these pressing needs, said Bystry.

Clearinghouse CDFI has funded $1.8 billion in total loans for over 1,860 community projects over the past 23 years. These projects have created or retained more than 20,000 jobs and benefit over 1.8 million individuals. This includes the rehabilitation of more than 18 million square feet of blighted properties. These projects have benefited over 670 separate underserved communities throughout California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Indian Country.

About Clearinghouse Community Development Financial Institution:

Clearinghouse Community Development Financial Institution (Clearinghouse CDFI) addresses unmet credit needs in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Indian Country in the Western United States. Since 1996, Clearinghouse CDFI has helped bridge the gap between conventional lending standards and the needs of low-income and distressed communities. Clearinghouse CDFI is also a B Corpa certification received from the nonprofit B Lab. B Corps are companies who meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability, and use business as a force for good. More information is available at: http://www.ccdfi.com.

About the CDFI Fund:

Since its creation in 1994, the CDFI Fund has awarded more than $2.4 billion to CDFIs, community development organizations, and financial institutions through the Community Development Financial Institutions Program and the Native American CDFI Assistance Program. In addition, the CDFI Fund has allocated $57.5 billion in tax credit allocation authority to Community Development Entities through the New Markets Tax Credit Program, guaranteed $1.61 billion in bonds through the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program, and awarded more than $434 million through the Capital Magnet Fund. To learn more about the CDFI Fund and its programs, please visit the CDFI Fund's website at http://www.cdfifund.gov.
LYNDHURST, N.J., Jan. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Dynamic Energy Solutions, LLC announced today the completion of a 965 kW rooftop solar array for Wacoal America at their headquarters and distribution center in Lyndhurst, NJ. Wacoal America is a subsidiary for the Americas of Wacoal Holdings, a global manufacturer of women's apparel products.

The 965 kW rooftop system generates solar energy for Wacoal America's headquarters and distribution center in Lyndhurst, NJ.

Investing in this rooftop solar facility underscores Wacoal America's commitment to technical innovation and environmental stewardship. The project is yet another example of the state of New Jersey's leadership in the global transition to a clean electric grid.

In light of New Jersey's imminent transition to a new solar incentive regime, Dynamic Energy mobilized an accelerated construction schedule to ensure Wacoal America secured the maximum benefits possible for their project, successfully executing contracting, turnkey development, installation, and commercial operation in under 12 months. Dynamic Energy designed and constructed a system that will power nearly all the distribution center's energy needs and enables Wacoal to participate in New Jersey's solar renewable energy credit (SREC) program. The 965 kW system is expected to generate approximately 1.2 million kWhs of electricity annually, avoiding the emission of 935 tons of carbon dioxide per year, while contributing to New Jersey's renewable energy targets.

"Wacoal is excited about the completion of the solar installation and the opportunity to generate solar energy. This solar project with Dynamic Energy moves us in the right direction toward our Sustainability Initiative in support of our Corporate Social Responsibility," said LaRome Talley, Senior Vice President of Finance at Wacoal America.

"It is exciting to see a commercial solar project realize significant economic and environmental benefits within such a short period of time," said Mike Perillo, Founder and CEO at Dynamic Energy. "We applaud Wacoal's investment and we are proud to be their partner to help them achieve their energy and sustainability goals."

About Wacoal America

Established in 1985, Wacoal America is the leading lingerie brand that women trust for fit, quality, and comfort for a wide range of body types from petites through I cup. Cultivated by over 30 years of expertise and dedication to their craft, Wacoal has pioneered the art of bra fitting, and today, their expert fit consultants help women find the sizes that make them look and feel beautiful. Never satisfied with the status quo, their designers keep a finger on the pulse of the fashion industry and are always looking for new and better ways to deliver beautiful bras that meet the expectations of modern women for comfort, quality, and performance. Wacoal's commitment to women extends beyond the design studio and into the community, where they support the fight against breast cancer through their longstanding partnership with Susan G. Komen.



About Dynamic Energy Solutions, LLC

Dynamic Energy is a full-service solar energy provider that brings together the diverse expertise needed to design, finance, build and maintain projects to meet the needs of commercial, industrial and institutional customers. With an in-house team that includes professional engineers, project managers, and master electricians, Dynamic Energy creates high-quality projects that reduce customer expenses, improve operating efficiency, provide an attractive return on investment and achieve sustainability goals. For more information, please visit www.dynamicenergy.com.

Media Contact:

Catherine Kendig

484-323-1176

[email protected]



SOURCE Dynamic Energy

Related Links

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New Delhi:

TNPSC Combined Civil Services Exam Group I Final Result has been declared. All candidates who appeared for the exam need to visit the official website of Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission, i.e. tnpsc.gov.in to check the result. Earlier, the TNPSC 2019 Exam was conducted on July 12, July 13 and July 14, 2019 and the result was declared on December 2019. In addition, the TNPSC Oral Test was conducted from December 23, 2019 to December 31, 2019. The result of the Oral Test was released on December 31, 2019.

TNPSC Combined Civil Services Group I Final Result 2019

Now, the TNPSC Combined Civil Services Exam Group I Final Result has been released for the posts of Deputy Collector, Deputy Superidentent of Police, Assistant Commissioner, Deputy Registrar of Co-Operative Societies, District Registrar, Assistant Director of Rural Development, District Employment Officer and District Officer. In order to check the TNPSC Combined Civil Services Exam Group I Final Result, candidates need to follow the below mentioned steps:

First, visit the official website of Tamil Nadu Public Service Commision, i.e. tnpsc.gov.in

Click on the Latest Result section

Then, click on the TNPSC Group 1 Final Result link

The TNPSC Combined Civil Services Final Result file open in the PDF format

Alternatively, candidates can click on the below mentioned direct link to check and download the TNPSC Combined Civil Services Final result.

TNPSC Combined Civil Services Final Result Direct Link

It is to note that a total of 139 vacant posts are going to be filled through this recruitment drive. For more details, candidates need to visit the official website of Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission.
Lt. Gen. Singh is leading a high level military delegation which also has one major general from North East formation.

New Delhi: In a significant attempt to mend military ties with China post Doklam, Northern Army Commander Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, who is on a strategical five day visit to China, on Wednesday met with Gen. Han Weiguo, Commander of the PLA Ground Forces.

Lt. Gen. Singh is leading a high level military delegation which also has one major general from North East formation.

This means that entire front with China is being covered by the Indian delegation.

He will also visit Western Theatre Command and meet with General Zhao Zongqi, Commander Western Theatre Command in Chengdu. This Theatre is responsible for border with India.

Both these Generals are directly dealing with forces operating against India. Meeting with them will help understand the sensitivities on ground and concerns of each other, said top Army sources.

This visit is the second ever such visit by the Northern Army Commander to China.
Syria expresses full solidarity with Iran's right to respond to US aggression

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 08 January 2020 1:14 PM

Syria has expressed its "absolute solidarity" with Iran in the Islamic Republic's right to respond to US aggression in light of assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and the second-in-command of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

"The Syrian Arab Republic announces its full solidarity with the brotherly people of Iran in what they are facing, and it affirms Iran's right to defend itself in the face of the US threats and attacks," Syria's official news agency SANA quoted an unnamed official source at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said on Wednesday.

"Syria at the same time holds the US administration responsible for all the developments that are taking shape due to the latter's reckless policy and arrogant mentality. Such a policy governs US acts that could be best described as those of gangs rather than states," the source pointed out.

He added Washington should learn how to abandon its approach of subjugation and attempts to impose its hegemony on others.

The Syrian foreign ministry concluded, "The Syrian Arab Republic affirms that free states reserve the right to respond to any act of aggression against them in whatever manner they find suitable.

"The US should learn how to give up its approach of subjugating others and imposing its hegemony. Syria reiterates that the US administration is the foremost entity responsible for the escalation of strife and turmoil in the region.".

On January 3, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad condoled Iran over the assassination of Lt. Gen. Soleimani, saying that the late commander's support for Syria will always be remembered by the Syrian nation.

In a message to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Syrian president expressed his and "the Arab people of Syria's warmest condolences" to the Leader and the Iranian nation.

Assad said the Syrian people would never forget Lieutenant General Soleimani's support for the Syrian Arab Army in defense of Syria and against terrorism.

Describing the assassination of Soleimani as a "criminal act" serving "Zionist and imperialist designs," Assad said his martyrdom would strengthen the will of the resistance axis.

Early on Wednesday, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) targeted the US airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq after launching a wave of attacks to retaliate the US assassination of Lt. Gen. Soleimani.

"Tens of surface-to-surface missiles" were fired at the strategic airbase and the attack was later confirmed by the US officials.

The IRGC has called for a complete withdrawal of US troops from the Arab country, asserting that it would not differentiate between the US and Israel in retaliating against the assassination of the Iranian national hero.

"We warn US allies providing bases for the [American] terrorist army that any country serving as the origin of bellicose and aggressive attacks in any form against the Islamic Republic of Iran will be targeted," read the IRGC statement.

The IRGC added that it would release more details about the strike.

The strike comes as no surprise since Iran had vowed to take a "harsh revenge" in the wake of the US terror attack that led to the martyrdom of Lt. Gen. Soleimani, the second-in-command of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and their companions near Baghdad International Airport on January 3.

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(Newser)  Enormous tragedy followed by enormous good fortune: A Queensland man who lost his family home in New South Wales in Australia's devastating bushfires will be able to rebuild it with funds from the lottery he just won. The man, who doesn't want to be identified, won a million Australian dollars (about $685,000 USD) in Wednesday's Gold Lotto draw, the Brisbane Times reports. "This is a miracle," the lotto winner says in a press release. "My family just lost their home in the bushfires in northern New South Wales and it wasn't insured, so thank you very much."

story continues below

The man, who played his wife's "special numbers" for the winning draw, adds, "This really has come at the most incredible time. All that was left of the home was a few charred teacups. We didn't know if we would ever be able to rebuild, but now we definitely can." (Read more Australia stories.)
India on Thursday said it is closely monitoring the situation in West Asia against the backdrop of the Iran-US standoff because peace and stability in the region is of utmost importance to its economic and security interests.

We are very closely monitoring the situation which is developing rapidly. Peace, security and stability in the region is of utmost importance to us, external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told a regular news briefing.

We have important interests in the region and we would like the situation to de-escalate as quickly as possible, he said in response to questions on the escalation in tensions following Wednesdays Iranian missile strikes on Iraqi bases housing US personnel in the wake of the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in an American drone strike.

India has spoken to key stakeholders in the region, including Iran, the UAE, Oman, Qatar and Jordan as well as the US and exchanged perspectives, he said. These conversations are expected to continue.

We have already conveyed the importance and priority that India attaches to peace and stability in the region, Kumar said.

Asked about the possible need to evacuate the nearly 8 million expatriates in the region in the event of further hostilities, he said: If we see there is a necessity for doing that, that will be done. We are committed to the safety and security of Indian diaspora all over the world.

India has so far issued only a travel advisory for Iraq.

Asked about fresh US sanctions on Iran affecting the Chabahar port being developed under an agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan, Kumar said: In the past, the US has shown understanding of the importance of the Chabahar project to us and for continued connectivity to Afghanistan. It is very important for providing economic assistance to Afghanistan and two-way traffic from the port has picked up.
The National Conference on Thursday said it was "disappointed" with the way the government brought envoys from various countries to Jammu and Kashmir to "endorse" its "claims of normalcy" in the union territory.

The party alleged that the envoys have been brought to the Valley on a "guided tour", where access has been limited to "handpicked individuals who toe the government line".

"The National Conference is disappointed with the way foreign envoys have been brought to the valley to endorse the Centre's claims of normalcy," it said.

Envoys from 15 countries, including US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster, arrived here on Thursday on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the first visit by diplomats since August last year when the state's special status was revoked and it was downsized to a union territory.

"The NC wishes to ask these envoys that if the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is "normal", then why are scores of people, including three former chief ministers, under detention for almost 160 days and why have the people been denied access to the internet for over 5 months?" a statement issued by the party said.

The party described the visit of enjoys from 15 countries to Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday as a "repeat visit" of the European Members of Parliament to the erstwhile state earlier.

The NC said while these visits may provide "short lived propaganda victories", true normalcy will only be achieved when all detainees are released, communications and internet restored and "genuine" political activity resumed.

"While the rest of the country is told that peaceful dissent is the cornerstone of democracy, this right does not seem to extend to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Are the people of J and K expected to live without the fundamental rights accorded to other Indian citizens?" it said.

Officials said envoys of several countries had requested the government for a visit to Kashmir to get a first-hand account of the situation in the Valley following the August 5 decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 and bifurcate it into union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

This is the second visit of a foreign delegation to Jammu and Kashmir since August 5. Earlier, Delhi-based think tank International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies took 23 EU MPs on a two-day visit to assess the situation in the union territory.

The government had distanced itself from the visit with Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy informing Parliament that the European parliamentarians were on a "private visit".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Aodhan Connolly, director of the NI Retail Consortium, said it was "no surprise" that 2019 had been a tough year for retailers, given the challenges of political uncertainty and the need to prepare for changes to trade with the EU as a result of Brexit

Retailers have suffered their worst year on record as overall sales fell for the first time.

Total retail sales over 2019 fell by 0.1% compared with 1.2% growth in 2018 - the first recorded decrease - reflecting ongoing dire conditions for the sector, the latest British Retail Consortium (BRC)-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor shows.

Aodhan Connolly, director of the NI Retail Consortium, said it was "no surprise" that 2019 had been a tough year for retailers, given the challenges of political uncertainty and the need to prepare for changes to trade with the EU as a result of Brexit.

And he said the withdrawal agreement negotiated by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in October and the prospect of a border in the Irish Sea were "not okay for Northern Ireland".

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He added: "With more changes guaranteed by the end of 2020, we need the Government to explain how they will protect Northern Ireland business and consumers from the complexity and cost rises that will come under the current deal.

"It is important to break the narrative that Northern Ireland is okay under this deal. Northern Ireland is not okay.

"That's why we need to minimise any delays, red tape and costs created by an Irish Sea border so that we can continue to provide our households with the choice and affordability they have now."

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: "2019 was the worst year since our records began in 1995 and the first year to show an overall decline in retail sales. This was also reflected in the CVAs, shop closures and job losses that the industry suffered in 2019.

"Twice the UK faced the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, as well as political instability that concluded in a December general election - further weakening demand for the festive period."

Combining November and December together to iron out Black Friday distortions - the sales event fell in December last year rather than November as it did in 2018 - total sales were down 0.9% compared with the same period a year ago.
Conspiracy claims: Carlos Ghosn poses for a selfie with a Lebanese journalist after his press conference in Beirut

Fugitive former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn, speaking publicly for the first time since his dramatic escape from Japanese justice, told reporters in Beirut he had been treated "brutally" by Tokyo prosecutors he accused of conspiring with the car maker to oust him.

Speaking defiantly, the one-time titan of the car industry told a packed news conference yesterday he would not have faced a fair trial in Japan and would have been tied up in appeals there for five years.

The 65-year-old fled Japan last month where he was awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies.

Mr Ghosn said he had fled to his childhood home of Lebanon to clear his name.

"You are going to die in Japan or you are going to have to get out," he said, describing his feelings. "I felt like the hostage of a country I served for 17 years."

Mr Ghosn named Masakazu Toyoda, an independent director at Nissan and a special adviser to the Japanese cabinet; Nissan's ex-auditor Hidetoshi Imazu; and the car company's former executive vice president Hitoshi Kawaguchi as the main architects of his downfall.

"Why have they spent 14 months trying to break my spirit, barring any contact with my wife?" Mr Ghosn said of the Japanese authorities. Turkish and Japanese authorities are investigating how Mr Ghosn was smuggled out to Beirut. Interpol has issued a "red notice" seeking his arrest.

Reuters
Highlighting the richness of Telugu literature and the suitability of the language for music and others, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday stressed the need to conserve and promote it and its culture.

Speaking at Sankranti festival celebrations organised here by Swarna Bharat Trust, which is run by his family members, Naidu said Telugu language was like oxygen for the existence of Telugu race.

"It is the responsibility of every one to promote the language by using it for conversations as much as possible," an official release quoted him as saying.

The harvest festival of Sankranti (which falls on January 14, 15 and 16) symbolizes Telugu culture, he said.

Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Himachal Pradesh Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, Union MoS for Home G Kishan Reddy and several other dignitaries attended the event.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
American tourists were among a group of 39 people rescued on the Langjokull Glacier, in Iceland, after a snowstorm hit during their snowmobile tour on January 7.

The Reykjavik Grapevine reported that about 200 rescue workers hurried to the scene when the distress call was made. It said the tourists included people of all ages, including children, and some of them were treated for frostbite.

Police are now investigating the matter, it added, noting that weather warnings were in place on the day.

Nicole Smith, an American tourist, told the BBC that the group was stranded for over five hours. She said the group hid behind their snowmobiles to protect from the snowstorm.

We actually did think that we were gonna die out there, she added.

In a video shared by Edvard Williamsson, a member of the Air Ground Rescue Team of Reykjavik, numerous emergency vehicles can be seen parked on the glacier with their hazard lights on.

Williamsson, who also provided pictures of the rescue, said he was called to the glacier at around 8 pm local time and arrived at midnight in very bad weather. He said the group of tourists were transferred to a nearby mountain hut and no injuries other than the frostbite were reported. Credit: Edvard Williamsson via Storyful
Beijing: China on Thursday rejected US President Donald Trump's call to "break away" from the Iranian nuclear deal and work for a new one, saying the agreement is a "hard won outcome" adopted by the UN and "all parties" should abide by it.

The nuclear deal called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was reached between Iran and the P5+1, the permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, the UK, Russia, France and China - plus Germany and the European Union in 2015.

President Trump has repeatedly criticised the nuclear deal as "very defective" and "foolish". He has already withdrawn from the agreement arguing that it does not meet the desired objective.

Trump said on Wednesday that "the time has come" for other nations to "break away from the remnants of the Iran deal, or JCPOA, and we must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place."

His call came amid the US and Iran tensions over the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in an American drone strike in Iraq on Friday. Iran retaliated by firing 22 missiles at US military bases in Iraq.

Commenting on Trump's remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told the media here on Thursday that the root cause of tensions in the Middle East was the US' withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

"Now there is an escalation in the Middle East, the Iranian nuclear issue is facing severe challenges. The US unilaterally withdrew from JCPOA in ignorance of international law and obligations and obstructing the implementation by other parties. This (is the) root cause for the tensions," he said.

"This is also the primary circumstance parties should bear in mind while handling the Iranian nuclear issue. The JCPOA is the hard one outcome adopted by the UN and a pillar (of) stability and non-proliferation regime," he said.

"We urge all parties to abide by the deal (and) ease the tensions in Middle East. China will continue to stay in communication with other parties and work (to) realise the settlement for this end," he said.
The case was before Kilmallock District Court (stock photo)

Limerick County Council has taken a farmer to court for alleged water pollution in relation to silage pit run-offs.

The council issued two section 2 notices to Peter OMahony of Glenfield, Kilmallock under the Water Pollution Act which require measures to be taken to prevent water pollution.

Will Leahy, solicitor for Limerick City and County Council, said the notices relate to two separate farmyards at Glenfield and Ballingaddy North, Kilmallock.

There are problems with both of them. The two yards are both full of silage. The matter cant be

fixed until the silage is gone off it, said Mr Leahy.

Mr OMahony represented himself at Kilmallock Court on the day.

He said the run off is not getting into the river.

I have nearly 100,000 spent on those yards. They are built to hold 200 acres of silage but due to the good weather 400 acres was put on them.

There must be a crack in the floor, said Mr OMahony, who applied for an adjournment until late March when the silage will be gone and he can investigate the matter fully.

Aidan Leonard, agricultural scientist with the council, said they received a complaint in July in relation to Glenfield.

It (the complaint) was that effluent was contaminating a drain. We took samples. They were discoloured and there was an odour off it.

There was a pollutant in the drain. It is a threat to the water network, said Mr Leonard.

Mr Leahy asked Mr Leonard where does the silage run-off go?

It enters a drain and spreads out on a field. There is no direct entry to the river Loobagh.

He (Mr OMahony) built a concrete silage base. There is a catastrophic failure in it. It is very difficult to determine where it is coming from, said Mr Leonard.

The court heard that there is a similar situation in Ballingaddy North.

Too much silage went in to the yard. It probably went in wet.

It is potentially more serious because it is upstream of the water plant.

When the alarm went off in the plant, significant works were carried out. He dug trenches and dammed it. There is less effluent going in than before, said Mr Leonard.

Mr OMahony said the effluent is not getting into the river.

The effluent is being sucked out. The pit split. Its not getting into the river. That was my only concern. It is going into a dyke on my land, said Mr OMahony.

Mr Leahy asked if an engineer can go out to investigate the pit.

Mr OMahony said it is under 400 acres of silage.

Were guessing there is a crack in the floor. Until the silage is gone you are wasting your time, said Mr OMahony.

Mr Leonard said the effluent is spreading out diffusely on land.

Judge OLeary adjourned the case until April 21 and in the meantime ordered that the councils engineers and Mr OMahony liaise with each other about the issue.
The besieged council at the heart of the Casey land scandal has sparked fresh controversy by opting to hand-pick its own independent experts to make major planning decisions on its behalf.

And mounting community anger over dodgy planning deals at Casey has extended to faeces being mailed to at least one of the numerous councillors named in anti-corruption public hearings in November and December.

Caseys governance manager Holly De Kretser confirmed that faeces had been mailed to at least one councillor.

At an emergency meeting on New Years Eve, Casey councillors voted to establish a special committee, including two independent experts, to oversee planning while an investigation by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) is under way.
The Peoples Democratic Party has described as an acceptance of failure and lack of capacity, the Presidencys continuous reference to a presidential successor, less than a year into the second term of the President.

The PDP also alleged that the Buhari regime had no capacity to manage the affairs of a nation as complex as Nigeria.

The partys National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, stated this in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday.



He said Buharis apprehension that his party, the All Progressives Congress, could fizzle out before 2023 was also a weighty forewarning to Nigerians not to put any hope in the ruling party.

Ologbondiyan urged the Presidency to immediately apologise to the nation over its comment to hand Nigeria over, insisting that it was a direct affront on Nigerians and a huge insult on their sensibility and sense of sovereignty to freely choose their leader.

He advised Nigerians to note that such continued allusion to a successor by the Presidency showed that the President and the APC had no agenda for the nation for the next three years.

He said it further underscored the hopelessness of the administration and the sorry situation Nigeria was faced with under Buhari and the APC.

He said, The PDP laments that such underlined the pathetic drift in Buharis New Year speech as well as his failure to articulate a clear-cut agenda in critical sectors.

It also exposes the reason behind the APCs resort to blackmail, fabricate and attack on well-meaning Nigerians instead of enunciating a direction for its incompetent administration.

Our party, standing with millions of Nigerians, counsels the Buhari Presidency to bury its confessed interests in the 2023 Presidency and desist from making unsolicited allusions and references to a successor, as failed leaders can only bequeath failure successor on a people.

The PDP, therefore, charges the Buharis Presidency to immediately withdraw the offensive and provocative remark to hand Nigeria over, in its response to Rev. Tunde Bakares comment on the 2023 Presidency.

Our party cautions the Buhari Presidency to note that Nigeria is a sovereign nation, governed by rules and that nobody, no matter how highly placed, has the power to hand her over to anybody.

By insisting that Buhari has interest in his successor, the Presidency is in direct aggression against the will of the people to freely elect a president as guaranteed by the constitution.

Ologbondiyan said the 1999 Constitution (as amended) did not confer the right to install the President of Nigeria on any individual, but on the people of Nigeria through a free, fair and credible election conducted without interference from anybody.

He advised Buhari to end his interest in the 2023 Presidency and use the remaining years of his tenure to get competent hands to assist him to manage the affairs of the nation.

He also urged Buhari to concentrate on his retirement plans, as according to him, Nigerians expect no solutions from him and his party.

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NEW YORK -- Columbia scientists have identified a brain circuit that drives fruit flies' ability to see in color -- and found that it bears a striking resemblance to the circuitry behind our own capacity for color vision. These findings shed light on the fundamental, yet mysterious, process by which information about light waves is transmitted from the eye to the brain. This research will not only fuel new investigations into how color vision works in flies and humans, but could also spur efforts to develop algorithms that help computers see in color.

This study was published today in Current Biology.

"The brain can recognize over a million different colors, an astounding power that we are only just beginning to understand," said Rudy Behnia, PhD, a principal investigator at Columbia's Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute and the paper's senior author. "With today's study, we pinpointed a circuit of nerve cells that act as a color synthesizer for the fly's brain. This discovery is so exciting because such a similar system appears to be at work in the human brain. As we delve deeper into the fruit fly brain, we are discovering more about our own ability to see and process color."

In both flies and humans, color vision starts with the eye, which contains specialized nerve cells called photoreceptors. These color-sensitive cells line the retina on the back of the eye. Most people (except, for example, those with color blindness) have three types of photoreceptors for color vision. Fruit flies have four. In all animals, each photoreceptor type is sensitive to a particular range of wavelengths of light. Light hitting the photoreceptors triggers a series of electrical signals that are sent into the brain.

"We know that the brain compares these electrical signals from the different photoreceptors, ultimately translating them into color, but precisely how this happens has remained elusive," said Dr. Behnia, who is also an assistant professor of neuroscience at Columbia's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. "Thanks to recent advances in molecular and imaging technology, we can now view nerve cells across different areas of the fly's brain in exquisite detail."

The small size and relative simplicity of the fruit fly brain make it an ideal organism to investigate color vision. The organization and structure of its brain are also well documented, thanks to initiatives like the Fly Connectome Project at Janelia Research Campus, which has mapped the location and connections of every cell in the fly brain.

For today's Zuckerman Institute study, Sarah Heath, a doctoral candidate in the Behnia lab and the paper's co-first author, recorded the activity of the fruit fly's photoreceptors, one at a time, while the fly looked at different colored LED sources.

Each photoreceptor had long branches, called axons, that extended into the fly's optic lobe, the brain area responsible for vision. These axons communicated with each other, sending information back and forth about the signals they were transmitting. As the researchers traced each signal's path, they found that these paths led to a type of nerve cell called Dm9.

"We think Dm9 serves as a synthesizer, a place for each photoreceptor signal to be compared to each other," said Dr. Behnia.

This comparison is important. Decades of experiments have shown that signals from just one photoreceptor are not enough for the brain to identify a color. This is why people lacking one or more type of photoreceptor have varying degrees of color blindness.

"Each photoreceptor signal must be quantitively compared and analyzed by the brain for the correct color to be identified," Dr. Behnia continued. "And our work has shown that Dm9 may in fact serve that role."

Using this newly collected data as well as data from the Fly Connectome Project, Matthias Christenson, a co-first author on this paper and doctoral candidate in the Behnia lab, developed a computational model of the fly's color circuit. This model could help scientists predict how flies behave in response to different colors -- filling in the many holes in our understanding of the visual system.

Christenson hopes that a better understanding of how the brain perceives color could also lead to new computer-based technologies for those with vision impairments.

"Today's systems struggle to sort out the panoply of hues that we experience every day," said Christenson. "As we continue to uncover the mechanisms behind color processing, one could foresee vision algorithms that improve the way computers recognize different colors."

This research also revealed an unexpected connection to people. For example, the team found that photoreceptors in the fly actually behave similarly to those in humans.

"Dm9 cells bear a striking resemblance in structure, organization and function to nerve cells in the human visual system called horizontal cells," said Heath. "This likeness could be the result of convergent evolution, a phenomenon in which two evolutionary distinct species -- in this case, flies and people -- evolve the same solution to a common problem."

These and future insights the team uncovers in flies could be used to as a starting point to better understand the human visual system.

"The more we learn about how flies experience the world around them, the more commonality we find to ourselves," Dr. Behnia said. "This makes the fly incredibly informative for answering some of biology's oldest questions."

###

This paper is titled "Circuit mechanisms underlying chromatic encoding in Drosophila photoreceptors." Additional contributors include Elie Oriol, Maia Saavedra-Weisenhaus and Jessica Kohn.

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01EY029311, F31EY029592, 5T32EY013933), the National Science Foundation (GRF DGE-1644869), the McKnight Foundation, the Grossman Charitable Trust, the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Kavli Foundation.

The authors report no financial or other conflicts of interest.

Columbia University's Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute brings together a group of world-class scientists and scholars to pursue the most urgent and exciting challenge of our time: understanding the brain and mind. A deeper understanding of the brain promises to transform human health and society. From effective treatments for disorders like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, depression and autism to advances in fields as fundamental as computer science, economics, law, the arts and social policy, the potential for humanity is staggering. To learn more, visit: zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu.
Steven Mnuchin is looking to delay until after the 2020 election a Democrat demand to require the Secret Service to disclose what it spends to protect Donald Trump and his family when they travel.

The Treasury Secretary sent a letter on December 23 to the Senate Judiciary Committee that said he is seeking the bill be put into effect at the beginning of the fiscal year 2021, according to The Washington Post, which means the first release of information would come in December 2020 at the earliest.

People monitoring Mnuchin's proposal to delay the bill say he is likely trying to reduce Democratic support for the requirement.

The proposal would require the U.S. Secret Service to disclose costs related to the president's travel within 120 days after the bill was passed, people with knowledge of the bill told the Post.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is looking to block a Democratic bill that would require the U.S. Secret Service disclose what it spends to protect the president and his family during travel until after the 2020 election

The conversation between Mnuchin and lawmakers comes as they work on a bill to move Secret Service back to the Treasury Department from the Department of Homeland Security, where it has been housed since it was moved there in 2003

It is unknown what Trump and his family's travel has cost U.S. taxpayers.

The issue of reporting the spending has come up as Treasury confirmed Mnuchin has been working with Secret Service Director James Murrary and lawmakers on a bill that would transfer USSS back to the Tresury Department, where it was housed from 1865 to 2003.

From 2003 until present day Secret Service has been under the Department of Homeland Security's jurisdiction.

'Conversations about the return of the Secret Service to the Treasury Department are ongoing, and we decline to comment on individual aspects of those conversations,' a Treasury official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, revealed.

The Trump administration has been hesitant to disclose how much taxpayer money is going toward the president's personal travel.

Democrats claim the public has a right to know the cost of the president's frequent visits to his Trump-branded resorts in Florida and New Jersey.

Trump has taken more than 50 visits to his properties outside Washington D.C. since taking office, including spending more than two weeks over Christmas and New Years in Mar-a-Lago (pictured)

A Post tally shows Trump has made more than 50 visits to his properties outside Washington, D.C. after promising during his campaign to 'rarely leave the White House.'

Congressional watchdog on federal spending, the Government Accountability Office, estimated that about one month of Trump's travel in early 2017 cost $13.6 million.

Trump's sons Eric and Donald Jr. have also made overseas business trips to places like Ireland, Scotland, Dubai, Uruguay and India since the time their father was elected. In 2017, Eric Trump's visit to a Trump building under construction in Uruguay cost taxpayers $97,000.

After Congress confirms the USSS move back to Treasury, Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein says she wants it to produce annual reports of its travel costs, especially associated with protecting the president and his family.

Secret Service has been slacking in recent years and has either failed or been late in providing limited cost reports. In 2016 and 2017, the agency failed to report, according to the GAO, and it has delayed submitting subsequent reports.

The USSS officials say that staff changes are to blame for its failure to submit two years of reports.
SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MI -- About 250 jobs tied to construction of a massive solar farm covering 1,200 acres in two townships that border western Genesee County are still available with pay starting at $15 an hour.

Ranger Power officials said this week that about 20 workers were hired in 2019 to start on the $250-million project in Hazelton and Venice townships, and McCarthy Building Companies, a contractor on the job, is expected to hire 250 more employees from Shiawassee, Ingham and Genesee counties this year.

Applications can be made online through McCarthys website, and a job fair is planned for 1-3 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Genesee Shiawassee Thumb Michigan Works office in Owosso. The office is located at 1975 West M-21.

The Assembly Solar Project is a big win for our community, bringing jobs and much-needed tax revenue to Shiawassee County, Justin Hovarth, president and chief executive officer of the Shiawassee Economic Development Partnership, said in a news release issued by Ranger.

McCarthys website describes job opportunities in Shiawassee County, including general laborers, pile drivers, operator/forklift drivers and survey/layout.

McCarthy is looking for team members that have a proven commitment to safety, are accustomed to working outdoors, and can be committed to a full-time schedule, the job description says.

This will be the largest renewable energy facility ever constructed in Michigan and offers future employees a chance to get in at the ground level. This is likely the first of many large-scale renewable projects within the region and offers employees access to a new local emerging industry, the job description continues.

The pay rate for the positions start at $15 an hour and wages are determined on current level of knowledge and experience," the website says.

Built on what has been agricultural land, the solar project here involves construction of self-powered, east-west tracking solar panels that are expected to generate up to 239 megawatts of power, making it the largest project of its type on the drawing board in the state, according to MLive-Flint Journal files.

Among the users of that energy will be the Lansing Board of Water & Light, which a spokeswoman said has committed to receive 80 megawatts of power from the solar farm as part of its commitment to provide 30 percent clean energy to its customers by 2020 and 40 percent by 2030.
T he Duke and Duchess of Sussexs announcement that they are stepping back as senior royals has dominated Thursdays national newspaper front pages.

Meghan and Harrys move was branded Megxit on the cover of The Sun, with the Daily Mail opting to highlight the Queens fury at the couples bombshell statement on Wednesday.

The Mirror carried the headline: They didnt even tell the Queen" and reported that the Palace only discovered the duke and duchesss plan when the announcement came.

It said the couple's decision marked "an extraordinary day in the history of the royal family".

The Times wrote that the Monarch was understood to be disappointed that the couple rushed to put out the "personal message".

The Times' editorial said the announcement carried all the signs of the "petulance and hot-headedness for which Prince Harry is sadly becoming well-known".

"This latest outburst appears to have been triggered in part by anger at recent images released by the Palace that signalled a shift to a more slimmed down monarchy," it said.

"This included a photo of the Queen with Princes Charles, William and George. Yet given Prince Harry's own publicly aired frustrations with royal life, he can hardly be surprised at his exclusion."

TODO: define component type apester

The newspaper said it was the second blow to the Royal Family in as many months after Prince Andrew backed away from his public life after a "disastrous" Newsnight interview over his links with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

"Queen's fury as Harry and Meghan say: We quit," is the headline on the front page of the Mails special issue". The paper dedicated 17 pages the the "astonishing statement" by the "rogue royals".

The Sun said the announcement left Harry's brother Prince William and Prince Charles, Harry's father, "incandescent with rage".

Royal aides and the Queen were blindsided as they had only just been made aware of the Sussexes intentions to step back. Thats according to the Telegraph, which described Harry and Meghans statement as extraordinary and unprecedented.

The Guardian wrote that the announcement from the duke and duchess comes after "a period marked by open hostilities with the media, while the i said the monarchy is facing its most "turbulent time" since the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936.

Queens Dismay as Harry and Meghan step back from royal life, is the headline on the front of the Daily Express. It said the Palace was disappointed over the shock announcement.

Harry, Meghan and their son Archie will split their time between the UK and North America and work to become "financially independent" in a bid to "provide our family with the space to focus on the next chapter".

Buckingham Palace said discussions with Harry and Meghan on their decision to step back from the Royal family were at an early stage, warning the situation would be "complicated".
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 14:21:03|Editor: huaxia

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HONG KONG, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Thursday reiterated that foreign legislatures should not interfere in any form in the internal affairs of the HKSAR.

A spokesperson of the HKSAR government made the remarks in a statement in response to a U.S. congressional report, which made groundless accusations on human rights and freedoms in Hong Kong and urged the U.S. government to resort to the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019.

The act is unwarranted, intervenes in HKSAR internal affairs and harms the relations and common interests between the HKSAR and the United States, the spokesperson said.

Since Hong Kong's return to the motherland, the HKSAR has been exercising "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong" and a high degree of autonomy in strict accordance with the Basic Law of the HKSAR, said the spokesperson.

"The HKSAR government attaches great importance to human rights and freedoms and is determined to safeguard them."

"The Basic Law stipulates that permanent residents of the HKSAR shall have the right to vote and the right to stand for election in accordance with law. At the same time, the HKSAR government has a duty to implement and uphold the Basic Law and to ensure that all elections will be conducted in accordance with the Basic Law and relevant electoral laws. There is no 'political screening.'"

Meanwhile, the spokesperson said "any suggestion for 'Hong Kong's independence' is a blatant violation of the Basic Law and a direct affront to the national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of China."

The spokesperson also said universal suffrage for selecting the HKSAR chief executive and electing all members of the Legislative Council is enshrined as an ultimate aim in the Basic Law.

"To achieve this aim, the community needs to engage in dialogues, premised on the legal basis and under a peaceful atmosphere with mutual trust, with a view to narrowing differences and attaining a consensus agreeable to all sides."

As a matter of fact, the HKSAR government took forward constitutional development in accordance with law between 2013 and 2015, and put forward a practicable proposal for selecting the chief executive by universal suffrage. However, the proposal was vetoed by some members of the Legislative Council who claimed to strive for democracy, said the spokesperson.

Regarding the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019, the spokesperson said it is incorrect for the U.S. report to say that the bill, already withdrawn, would "empower the chief executive to make decisions on fugitive arrangements on a case-by-case basis."

"According to the now-withdrawn bill, the chief executive could not bypass the court to surrender a fugitive to any requesting party."

Unfortunately, from June 2019 until now, many public demonstrations, processions and public meetings in Hong Kong ended in violent and illegal confrontations, including reckless blockage of roadways, throwing of petrol bombs and bricks, arson, vandalism, setting ablaze individual stores and facilities of the Mass Transit Railway and Light Rail, and beating people holding different views, the spokesperson noted.

The police have prudent and stringent guidelines for the use of force and will only use appropriate force when it is necessary, said the spokesperson, adding if members of the public could express their views in a peaceful and rational manner, there would be no need for the police to use any force.

The spokesperson pointed out that "the HKSAR government is committed to safeguarding the rule of law and judicial independence in Hong Kong."

"Article 63 of the Basic Law entrenches the constitutional principle of prosecutorial independence. The conduct of all criminal prosecutions of the Department of Justice is free from any interference."

Meanwhile, the spokesperson also said the HKSAR government has all along been combating trafficking in persons and has allocated additional annual funding of over 62 million Hong Kong dollars (nearly 8 million U.S. dollars) starting from the 2019-20 financial year to support various departments to create close to 100 new permanent posts in the civil service dedicated to the fight against the crime.
State Senator Jim Denning and Governor Laura Kelly. Photo: John Hanna/AP/Shutterstock

After the 2010 tea-party wave put Sam Brownback in Kansass governors mansion  and conservative majorities in both houses of its legislature  the states Republican Party decided to implement the American rights blueprint for utopia.

For decades, Democrats (and spineless RINOs) had made it impossible for conservatives to enact their true agenda on the federal level. Under Reagan and the Bushes alike, the right had been forced to compromise its principles and water down its recipes for shared prosperity. But in Brownbacks Kansas, the movement would finally be able to show the world the economic miracles that small government could produce. As Brownback told the Wall Street Journal in 2012, My focus is to create a red-state model that allows the Republican ticket to say, See, weve got a different way, and it works. 

In hindsight, Brownbacks model looks less like a prototype for building Ayn Rands paradise than a framework for how the GOP could one day shrug off the shackles of libertarian economics and become a minimally responsible center-right party again.

Ive recounted the rise and fall of Brownbackistan elsewhere, so I wont retell the story in too much detail here. Suffice it to say: Under the tea-party governors leadership, Kansas Republicans slashed the states top personal-income-tax rate by 29 percent, and eliminated all income taxes on 330,000 farmers and business owners, while tightening welfare requirements, privatizing the delivery of Medicaid, cutting $200 million from the education budget, eliminating four state agencies, and laying off 2,000 government employees. This windfall for the country-club set (and gut-punch for the poor) was supposed to deliver turbocharged economic growth for Kansans of all classes. Instead, the Sunflower State saw its economy grow more slowly than its neighbors, while its schools adopted four-day weeks, low-income residents lost Medicaid, and what remained of its public sector raided the states rainy-day fund just to keep the lights on.

Kansas voters may have found small government appealing as an abstract concept. But when the rubber hit the pothole-filled road, they soured on austerity. Although Brownback eked out reelection in another strong midterm year for Republicans, by 2016 he was the most unpopular governor in the country. That same year, several moderate Republicans unseated conservative incumbents in state GOP primary elections. After taking office, the moderates joined forces with the states legislatures Democrats to reverse Brownbacks tax cuts over the governors veto. And in 2018, Kansas replaced Brownback with Democrat Laura Kelly, as the states historically Republican suburbs turned blue.

Which brings us to the news of the day. Kansas is one of 14 states to have declined to implement the Affordable Care Acts Medicaid expansion. Under Brownback, the state not only declined the opportunity to extend public health insurance to the working class on Uncle Sams dime but actually threw 1,414 Kansans with disabilities off its traditional Medicaid program. In 2017, the state legislatures moderate coalition tried to adopt the expansion, only to run into Brownbacks veto. But on Thursday, Governor Kelly and the Republican leadership of the state senate finally struck a compromise that will provide 150,000 more Kansas residents with affordable health insurance.

By itself, the fact that Kansas Republicans surrendered on Medicaid expansion is unremarkable. The programs strong support among hospitals and other business groups has forced conservatives to acquiesce in other states. Whats striking about the deal struck between Kelly and state senate majority leader Jim Denning Thursday is not its existence but its terms.

In the much bluer state of Virginia, Republicans forced their newly elected Democratic governor to include work requirements in its Medicaid expansion, despite the utter dearth of evidence that such provisions promote labor-force participation or serve any other purpose beyond making it harder for poor people to access medical care. In Kansas, the GOP also sought work requirements initially. But when Governor Kelly rejected that proposal, Republicans settled for a program to refer Medicaid recipients to services to help them find and train for jobs. In other words, the GOP extracted a provision that would actually serve their partys official goal of helping underemployed Americans enjoy the dignity of work, as opposed to one that would use such rhetoric as a smoke screen for restricting coverage.

The GOP pushed for one other concession from Kelly  a program that would raise taxes on cigarettes to increase health-care subsidies for middle-income people. As the Washington Post reports:

The plan from Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning would give Kelly the straightforward expansion of state health coverage that she has advocated  But Denning would get a version of a program that he has proposed for driving down private health insurance premiums to make it less likely people would drop existing private plans for Medicaid. Denning had proposed financing his new program by increasing tobacco taxes, including a $1-per-pack increase in the states cigarette tax, to $2.29. His compromise with Kelly gives the state a year to develop the premium-reduction program and drops the tax increase, which Kelly and many lawmakers thought wasnt likely to pass anyway.

In other words, the Republican state senate majority leader wanted to increase taxes to fund new social spending but dropped the tax-hike bit in the face of Democratic objections.

This is what a functional center-right party looks like: upholding the traditionalist value of hard work, but not by condemning low-income people to preventable deaths. Protecting an incumbent business interest (private insurers), but in a way that nevertheless advances the median voters material interests (through premium subsidies). And trying to finance middle-class benefits with regressive taxation  but with the kind of regressive taxation that that actually saves lives.

The Kansas GOP still has a deeply reactionary right wing (see Kobach, Kris). Further, Dennings caucus did block Medicaid expansion for weeks before finally giving in. And, as far as expansions of the safety net go, allowing the federal government to pay 90 percent of the cost of expanding health-insurance coverage is the lowest of hanging fruit.

Nevertheless, todays compromise affirmed the Kansas GOPs independence from Charles Koch. And it therefore suggests that a better national Republican Party is possible or, at least, that one might be.

In Kansas, voters got a clear sense of the conservative movements economic priorities. Moderate Republican politicians started challenging conservative incumbents while others defected to the Democratic Party, thereby imposing costs on the GOP for sheltering extremism. And, just as theyve been doing in states all across the country, Kansass suburbs moved left. All these developments played a role in making Thursdays agreement possible, but the last one loomed especially large: In the 2018 election, Kelly carried Dennings heavily suburban county by 19 points.

Whether all this adds up to a model for Republican reformation remains to be seen. But, at the very least, the good people of the Sunflower State arent living in the tea partys Kansas anymore.
The details of his early days have always been colorful  like having a clown as his first stepfather, who performed at childrens parties under the stage name Uncle Funny. But Lloyd is quick to acknowledge the darkness lurking there.

It sounds a little bit like some dodgy film, because he was actually a really violent man, he said. And there were times where he was very physically abusive to my mum. There was a sort of atmosphere of violence in that house that was really uneasy. And yet masked with this literal makeup, but also this sense of trying to entertain people whilst enacting terrible brutality behind the scenes.

This is where he locates his own connection to Pinters work.

A lot of that is that the violence is beneath the surface, he said. And on the top there is this sort of, what I call a kind of topspin, a layer of cover-up.

Long relationships

Lloyd was still at drama school when he staged a production of Lapine and William Finns Falsettoland that won a prize: assistant directing a show at the Bush Theater in London. Based on that, Trevor Nunn hired him, at 22, to be his assistant director on Anything Goes in the West End  a job he did so well that Grandage got word of it and hired him to assist on Guys and Dolls. While Lloyd was doing that, he also began directing in his own right.

The costume and set designer Soutra Gilmour, who has been a constant with Lloyd since he cold-called her for his first professional production, Pinters The Caretaker, said theirs is an easy relationship, with a symbiotic transference of ideas. Even their creative aesthetics have evolved in sync.

Weve actually never fallen out in 13 years, she said over mint tea on a trip to New York last month, just before Betrayal closed. Never! I dont even know how we would fall out.

Of course, the one time she tried to decline a Lloyd project five years ago, because its tech rehearsals coincided with the due date for her sons birth, he told her there was no one else he wanted to work with. So she did the show, warning that at some point she would have to leave. Now, she says, he understands that she wont sit through endless evening previews, because she needs to go home to her child.
SPRINGFIELD  A 38-year-old city man was sentenced to state prison Wednesday after admitting to being the driver of the car that struck and killed 13-year-old Nathaniel Acevedo as he crossed a city street in September 2017.

Joshua Cutler agreed to plead guilty in Hampden Superior Court to four charges: motor vehicle homicide while driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, leaving the scene of a crash that resulted in injury or death, operating while under the influence of drugs, and leaving the scene of a personal injury crash.

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors with the Hampden district attorneys office declined to prosecute him on two other charges: vehicular manslaughter and driving to endanger. The vehicular homicide charge carried a sentence of up to 20 years.

Judge Francis E. Flannery sentenced Cutler to serve between 6 to 10 years at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Cedar Junction in Walpole on the charges of motor vehicle homicide and leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death.

He issued a sentence of 2 years for the charges of operating under the influence and leaving the scene of a personal injury crash.

The sentences are all concurrent, meaning they will be served simultaneously.

He was also given credit for the 823 days he spent in custody awaiting trial.

Cutler was arrested on the night of Sept. 24, 2017 at his Quentin Street home, roughly 30 minutes after two boys were struck by a car while crossing Breckwood Boulevard.

Acevedo suffered massive internal injuries and had no pulse when EMTs arrived. Another boy, 12, suffered a broken wrist.

When police examined Cutlers car later, they found samples of Acevedos blood and hair embedded in the windshield.

A blood test for Cutler taken at Mercy Hospital shortly after his arrest showed he had traces of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana in his system.

Cutlers lawyer, Katherine Murdock, had petitioned the court to have the blood test results dismissed, arguing that Cutler had only given police permission to screen him for alcohol.

Superior Court Judge Michael K. Callan in March 2019 rejected that argument and allowed the test results to be used as evidence.

Cutler had been held in custody since Feb. 22, 2018 after a random drug screening that was a condition of his release showed he tested positive for suboxone.
Actor Sonali Bendre has penned a thoughtful post after the attacks on universities and their aftermath. The actor has expressed fears as a parent, wondering what the future holds for her child in such an environment.

She began her post, saying, As a parent as I look out at the world today and I am uncertain of what the future holds for my child. Yes, I am very disturbed - the world is on fire quite literally.

Expressing her concern over the building rage, she wrote, What should have been a chance for an open dialogue turned into a violent push of certain ideologies. The repeated attacks on educational institutions has shaken me and young India. The rage that is building, does not bode well for all of us and I find myself unable to dismiss my fears. Myriad questions crowd my thinking, with no clear answers, Are there any?

The actor has called out for peace as the country gears up to celebrate the Republic Day on January 26. As we unfurl our tricolour on our 70th Republic Day, lets pledge to stem the violence and learn to choose peace, she wrote.

Also read: Will Deepika Padukones JNU visit affect Chhapaaks fortunes? Trade weighs in as film clashes with Tanhaji at box office

Sonali is among several Bollywood celebrities who have raised their voice against the recent attacks on educational institutions. On Monday, Deepika Padukone had visited the Jawaharlal Nehru University to show solidarity with the students after the campus was attacked by a masked mob on Sunday. The actor, however, faced a backlash from a certain section of the society who warned to boycott her upcoming film, Chhapaak that releases on Friday.

Varun Dhawan, who has begun the promotions of his next release, Super Dancer 3D, also spoke on the issue in an interview to PTI, Cannot stay neutral on such issues. Its dangerous & sad if masked people enter an educational institution and all this happens: Actor Varun Dhawan on JNU Violence.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Donald Trump wants NATO to take more responsibility in the Middle East, and said Thursday that he proposed the organization change its name to NATOME.

When asked at the end of a briefing where the administration announced its proposed National Environmental Policy Act regulations about NATO, Trump says he believes they should be doing more in the hotly contested region.

'I spoke to Secretary General yesterday and we had a great conversation. He was very  I think he was actually excited by it. And I actually had a name: NATO, right, and then you have M-E  Middle East. You'd call it NATOME, I said, 'What a beautiful name, NATOME,' Trump said, recalling his conversation with the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Jens Stoltenberg.

'I'm good at names, right?' Trump praised himself.

'USMCA, like the song YMCA,' he said in reference to the United StatesMexicoCanada Agreement name's similarity to the 1978 hit. 'Everybody  nobody could remember remember USMCA, I said, 'Think of the song YMCA.' Now everybody says it.'

Donald Trump said Thursday that he wants NATO to expand to take more responsibility in the Middle East, and said he had an idea to rename the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to NATOME to include the region

The president also said that North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (pictured) is his 'biggest fan in the whole world'

'They don't remember the previous name of the bad deal, OK, commonly known as NAFTA. If you add the two words Middle East at the end of it, because that's a big problem, that's a big source of problems. And NATOME, doesn't that work beautifully Think of that  NATO plus ME.'

NATOME phonetically is said neigh-tow-me.

While addressing the nation on Wednesday regarding the escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran, Trump said NATO had to do more to ease the situation in the Middle East.

While answering reporters' questions Thursday, Trump said he would prefer more NATO personnel in Iran and less U.S. troops.

'Yeah,' he said about more NATO people working there, 'as opposed to us, to be honest with you, because this is an international problem. And we can come home, or largely come home, and use NATO.'

'This is an international problem,' he continued. 'So I think that NATO should be expanded and we should include the Middle East, absolutely. We pay for a big percentage of NATO. And by the way, if you look at and speak to Secretary General Stoltenberg  who's doing a terrific job by the way  he will tell you that I raised $130 billion more than they were getting.'

Trump also claimed Stoltenberg is his biggest fan because of the money he's brought in for NATO.

'I came in, I said, 'You got to pay folks, got to pay. We're working with you, we're protecting you, we're a part of this. You've got to pay. We don't want to be the fools like we have been for so many years.' So we raised $130 billion almost immediately. We had a meeting with all of the countries.'

Trump also praised himself during the White House briefing for comuning up with clever names, including for the USMCA for the United StatesMexicoCanada Agreement, which he said could be linked and remembered by the song 'YMCA'

'I mean I can imagine that they don't like me as much as Obama and other people. But they've got to pay. We're protecting, you've got to pay,' he continued.

'In fact my biggest fan in the whole world is Secretary General Stoltenberg because he can't believe it,' Trump boasted. 'And now he just announced $530 billion we've got under my watch. So we're in good shape with that whole situation. And I think NATO should be helping us now with the Middle East. Having an international flavor there is good.'

Tensions between Tehran and Washington D.C. reached a head last week when Trump ordered a drone strike on an Iraqi airport that took out Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

The attack was directed after protesters who support Iran-backed Shia militia on New Years Eve stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, which has never been breached before.

Iran responded to Soleimani's death by sending almost two dozen ballistic missiles at bases in Iraq that held U.S. troops. No Americans were killed or injured.
Domino's Pizza is planning to run 880 pizzerias in Italy in a bold attempt to sell the product to its inventors.

The US-based company entered the Italian market in 2015 and now wants to expand after the success of its first 28 stores.

The expansion plans have already sparked a backlash in Italy, where the American version of pizza has long been viewed as inferior.

The firm insists that the pizzas it puts on the menu in Italy are 'designed specifically for the Italian market' and 'respect tradition'.

Domino's is planning to run 880 pizzerias in Italy despite the long-held scepticism over American pizza in the country where it was invented (pictured: a Domino's branch in Milan)

The company's Italian chief Alessandro Lazzaroni told Money.it that Domino's wanted 880 pizzerias up and running in Italy within the next decade.

Domino's hopes to reach two per cent of Italy's market share by 2030, Lazzaroni says.

The company is planning to focus on northern Italy, with the south seen as a more difficult market to penetrate, it is believed.

Naples in southern Italy is the home of the Margherita, and Neapolitan pizza has a protected status.

The 28 Domino's stores already up and running in Italy are all in the north, for example in Milan, Turin and Bologna.

Italian social media users voiced fury after the expansion plans were revealed.

Discussing the company's Italian presence, one furious customer said: 'It should be an offence to eat Domino's in Italy.'

Another asked: 'Why is there a Domino's Italy?'.

Domino's insists that the pizzas it puts on the menu in Italy are 'designed specifically for the Italian market' and 'respect tradition'

On its website, the company promises customers that it offers 'classic Italian pizzas' in addition to American creations such as the 'cheeseburger pizza'.

'In Italy the pizza recipe has been designed specifically for the Italian market, with a product that respects tradition, top quality ingredients and a dough that is subjected to a maturation of at least 48 hours, so as to be good and also highly digestible,' they say.

'Compliance with the Italian pizza recipe is also ensured by the use of sourdough from the durum wheat flour of the Altamura bread. This yeast gives an exclusive fragrance to Domino's pizza in Italy.'

Patrick Doyle, the former CEO of Domino's, said in 2014 that he believed there was room in the Italian delivery market.

'Theres a lot of pizza, but theres not a lot of delivered pizza. So there may still be an opportunity,' he said.

The Michigan-based company has 16,500 stores around the world, nearly 6,000 of them in the United States, its website says.

Pizza was brought to the US by Italian immigrants in the 19th century, although Domino's was not founded until 1960.

The next-largest share is in India, which has more than 1,200 Domino's stores, followed by the UK, Ireland and Australia.
You're going to hear a lot more about 5G this year as new phones and other gadgets that support the new wireless network begin to launch.

5G is really confusing because there are three different versions of it that are being built. The networking architecture will eventually work together but most of what you'll get right now, and probably for the coming years, isn't super fast. Even worse, there isn't anything that works with all three right now.

The four major U.S. wireless companies -- AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint -- all have their own plans for how to build out 5G to their customer bases. Their strategies relate both to their current wireless spectrum holdings and future plans to build fiber into the ground, which is essential for the fastest type.

Here's the cocktail conversation summary:

mmWave high-band 5G : T-Mobile (a little), AT&T and Verizon. About 10x faster than LTE with extremely low latency, which means individual messages are transmitted almost instantaneously. But you need to be standing really close to a tower or transmitter to get those speeds.

: T-Mobile (a little), AT&T and Verizon. About 10x faster than LTE with extremely low latency, which means individual messages are transmitted almost instantaneously. But you need to be standing really close to a tower or transmitter to get those speeds. Mid-band 5G : Sprint. About 6x faster than LTE, but with a smaller footprint than low-band.

: Sprint. About 6x faster than LTE, but with a smaller footprint than low-band. Low-band 5G: T-Mobile/AT&T. About 20 percent faster than 4G LTE.

Now let's unwrap that:

Millimeter wave is the "best" 5G. If you download a 4GB file, like a movie, you might be able to do that in about 5 minutes and 19 seconds on today's fastest 4G LTE networks (assuming a 100Mbps connection). On a mmWave high-band 5G connection, that same movie would take only 32 seconds (assuming 1000Mbps). But PCMag says that you have to stay within 80 feet of a tower or transmitter to get those speeds.

Some industries are more excited about other aspects of mmWave 5G because of its improved latency. That's fancy talk for the time it takes for a device to talk to the network. Companies building self-driving cars that may need to stop in a split second will take advantage of those aspects of 5G. Gamers also care about lower latency, so as companies like Microsoft, Google and Sony roll out streaming gaming services, the quality of play will improve.

But most carriers are rolling out millimeter wave 5G in an extremely limited area, and focusing on public spaces like stadiums and arenas. Cities are also rolling out this super-fast 5G in highly dense areas, like downtowns, and some carriers are selling transceivers for home use -- similar to how WiFi works today.

Most of what you're hearing about 5G today actually refers to mid-band or low-band, which won't be that much of a difference from today's wireless connectivity.
The volcano came into the world wailing, but for a while nobody heard it.

It was born in the summer of 2018 just off the coast of the tiny island of Mayotte, a French territory halfway between Madagascar and Mozambique. An earthquake swarm in May of that year precipitated its arrival like a drum roll. Magma rumbled from within a reservoir at the top of the Earth's mantle. The magma migrated up through the crust, sending tremors across the nearby island as it moved - until finally, sometime in late June or early July, with no precise birth date yet recorded, it popped its head out of the ocean floor.

For months, the underwater volcano announced its own birth with mysterious cries: a low seismic humming too faint to feel. It wasn't until Nov. 11, 2018, that anyone noticed. Something strange happened that day. The seismic waves traveled all over the world, to Kenya and Chile, Canada and Hawaii, nearly 11,000 miles away. And the humming got louder, longer, lasting up to a half-hour.

"This is a most odd and unusual seismic signal," a New Zealand earthquake enthusiast wrote on Twitter while linking to a U.S. Geological Survey seismograph.

The post caught the attention of seismologists worldwide, as they tried to pinpoint the source of the bizarre, droning frequency.

It was coming from the coast of Mayotte, they soon learned - and now a team of German geoscientists has pieced together exactly why.

In a paper published this week in the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers have deciphered the tumultuous events in the depths of the Indian Ocean that brought the Mayotte volcano into being, tracing the drainage of the "exceptionally deep" magma reservoir up to the ocean floor while discovering the cause of the mysterious humming.

Simone Cesca, a seismologist at the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences and the paper's lead author, told The Washington Post Thursday that this marks "the first time we've really observed the birth of a volcano on the sea floor." Last year, a team of French seismologists were the first to confirm the existence of the new submarine volcano.

"The whole episode is really, really rare," Cesca said. "Seeing the deep magma chamber, seeing the magma's propagation to the surface, seeing the volcano being born - I think this is unique, absolutely."

Cesca said that what his team tried to do was compile the observations made by numerous geologists over the last 18 months and connect all the dots, starting with the earthquakes.

Mayotte, a volcanic island in the Comoros archipelago home to more than 250,000 people, has not experienced a volcano eruption in approximately 4,000 years, according to the Nature Geoscience paper. Earthquakes with a magnitude over 4.0 have only been recorded several times in history in the region, according to the paper - which is why the series of large earthquakes in May 2018, peaking at a magnitude of 5.9, caught seismologists' attention. It was the largest earthquake ever recorded on Mayotte.

Eleonora Rivalta, a physicist who studies earthquakes and volcanoes at the German Research Center for Geosciences, said that her team began its research that May. A volcanologist on the research team had a sister in Mayotte and worried for her safety, she said.

The earthquakes, they soon learned, were a symptom of something much bigger.

Deep in the crust of the Earth, the magma was stirring. "A pocket of magma decided it wanted to erupt," Rivalta said, and so it started heading for the surface - the sea floor. According to the scientists' estimate, it is one of the largest magma chambers ever discovered, at approximately 15 to 19 miles deep. "Once you create a channel to the surface, then the magma starts to pour out and create the volcano," Rivalta said. "This is the cause of everything."

The magma chamber started to drain as the lava moved toward the ocean floor. And as the chamber became increasingly hollow, its roof started to cave, Rivalta said.

Then came phase two: the mysterious humming - the quiet earthquakes you couldn't feel.

"Every time the rock sags into the chamber, it creates a resonance," Cesca said, "and this produces this strange signal that you see far away."

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The seismologists recorded 407 unusual signals coming from the site of the magma chamber near Mayotte, and nearly 7,000 earthquakes of varying intensity, most of which could not be felt on land. The seismic humming started in June, according to data collected in the paper, before finally being picked up Nov. 11, 2018.

Stephen Hicks, who studies earthquake seismology at the Imperial College of London and who is unrelated to the team of Mayotte researchers, said he does not believe scientists could have made the discovery of the underwater volcano so quickly if the Nov. 11 signal not been detected.

In May, the team of French researchers discovered the enormous newborn volcano, three miles in diameter, rising about half a mile from the sea floor. "We have never seen anything like this," the Nathalie Feuillet of the Institute of Geophysics in Paris, one of the French research organizations, told Science magazine.

The discovery led many scientists to suspect that the seismic hums must have originated from the volcano. Cesca says his team is the first to confirm the connection, while identifying the more exact cause: the magma chamber's sagging roof.

Hicks said that a "unique aspect of this study is it shows how quickly the magma can rise and create either a new volcano or an eruption."

"This paper gives us a framework to interpret these seismic events," he said. "The amount of magma that moved might have been the greatest amount ever observed."

Multiple teams of French researchers have papers forthcoming on their findings, and one was already preprinted last year but not yet peer-reviewed. The preliminary report echoes the findings of the German team.

For now, Cesca said he suspects the young volcano is just about done growing, as most of the magma that built the volcano has probably drained to the surface. But the chamber is so deep inside the Earth's core, he said, that "we never know."
The investment brings together two market leaders: TEAM in North America and Innovise in the U.K. The combination creates a global technology leader providing business critical software solutions for firms in the security guarding, cleaning and facilities management industries.

By joining forces, TEAM and Innovise together have customers on five continents, more than 750,000 end users and 50 years' collective experience serving the cleaning and security industries. Almost three-quarters of the top cleaning and security companies in North America, the U.K. and Ireland use software from TEAM and Innovise.

Innovise is the market leader in the U.K. and Ireland and has customers across Europe, North America and the Australasia region. Innovise supplies business critical workforce management and service delivery solutions to support complex business needs from pre-employment through to invoicing and payroll.

Similarly, TEAM offers market-leading business critical technology that includes a full-service accounting and financial package, operations management, mobile workforce management solutions and business analytics to its customers in North America. The fully integrated platform automates business critical functions, streamlines back-office operations and improves workforce productivity in the field, increasing efficiency, profitability and growth.

"TEAM joining forces with Innovise has a significant impact on industries we serve in multiple geographies," said TEAM CEO John Leiferman. "Together, we strengthen our position as the global technology leader for cleaning and guarding companies, and, with our joint resources, we are well-positioned to accelerate innovation on our fully integrated platform to deliver increased value to our customers and support their global expansion and growth goals."

The new partnership means both TEAM and Innovise clients benefit from enhanced technology expertise and a genuine global partner for those who operate around the world. Both businesses are privileged to work with an enviable portfolio of customers who are typically the largest, most complex and most entrepreneurial organizations in the cleaning and security verticals.

"After more than 15 years of successful growth as an independent business, we are excited to be joining forces with TEAM Software and Accel-KKR," said Innovise CEO Mike Taylor. "This is a merger of market leaders and marks the next phase of our growth journey. Together we can fulfill our strategic ambitions. The Innovise leadership team and I are excited to work alongside our new colleagues at TEAM to set the standard for world-class solutions in our target markets globally."

ABOUT TEAM SOFTWARE, INC.

TEAM Software develops financial, operations and workforce management solutions for contractors with distributed workforces, with a focus on the cleaning and security industries. TEAM's efficiency-enhancing technology transforms business management and drives profitability. TEAM's industry-specific solutions include a complete enterprise software ecosystem that connects the back office to field-based workers along with workforce management software that increases visibility, efficiency and service quality. Founded in 1989, TEAM has customers in North America and Australia. TEAM is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska (U.S.). For more information, visit teamsoftware.com.

ABOUT INNOVISE LTD

Based in the United Kingdom, Innovise develops software applications for businesses in the guarding, cleaning and facilities management industries that increase productivity while reducing risk and the cost of operation. Innovise's product offering includes a workforce management solution purpose-built for guarding and cleaning businesses as well as a facilities management platform to help monitor, measure and manage service delivery. Innovise has customers in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, Continental Europe and the Australasia region.

PRESS CONTACT

TEAM Software

Amanda Sullivan, Director of Marketing and Communications | 800-500-4499 | marketing@teamsoftware.com

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Oil prices rose and fell in the aftermath of the latest escalation between the United States and Iran, but one kind of oil remained more resilient than the rest: heavy crude.

Heavy crude grades traditionally trade at a discount to lighter crudes, and they still are. But if, as some fear, Iraq becomes a battlefield, this may change.

Asian refineries are the main drivers of heavy crude oil demand even after the new sulfur emissions rules of the International Maritime Organisation took effect at the start of this year. Many warned that IMO 2020 will seriously dampen demand for heavy crude but this doesnt seem to be the universal case.

S&P Global Platts reported this week that state-owned and private refiners in China and South Korea are turning their attention to South America and Mexico in order to make sure their supply of heavy crude would remain uninterrupted even if things go south in the Middle East and supplies of Iraqs Basra Heavy are affected.

There is no panic in the industry but there is an increased awareness of the possibility of a supply disruption. To avoid a negative impact on refining activity, Chinese and South Korean companies are making a list of substitutes for Basra Heavy. Top among these are Mexicos Lula, the Colombian Castilla blend, and Mexicos Mayan crude.

Colombias Castilla and Mexicos Lula are already popular among Chinese refiners. Imports of Castilla between January and November 2019 rose 21 percent on the year, for example, and chances are they will continue to rise as a more secure alternative to Basra crude.

For South Korean refiners, Mexicos Mayan crude is the preferred alternative to Iraqi heavy, according to industry sources cited by S&P Global Platts. Despite its high gravity and sulfur content, which make it difficult to process by many refineries, South Korean ones are sophisticated enough to be able to turn it into low-sulfur fuel. Related: Six Of The Hottest Oil Stocks For 2020

Yet, according to other industry sources, heavy crude is not the only problem. Bloomberg reported this week that Chinese and Indian refiners are worrying about the security of supply for another, more popular blend, Basra Light.

Basra Light, a medium sour grade, makes up most of Iraqs oil exports, most of which are going to China and India. Unlike with heavy crude, there are few alternative suppliers of medium sour crudes. Iran is one, but U.S. sanctions have shrunk its exports severely.

Demand for Basrah light from Asian refiners has been particularly strong as Iranian sanctions have limited alternative supplies in the region, Andrew Toumazi, CEO of OTC electronic trading software provider BLOC-X, told Oilprice. Anxious term buyers will be looking to Angola and Latin America for contingency barrels in the coming months.

Toumazi added that a supply disruption scenario similar to the Saudi attacks from last September was a realistic one in the coming months.

Mexico also produces medium sour crude but, according to Bloomberg, output is on the decline. Russia also produces medium grades and Canada is a large producer of heavy crude but, according to Bloomberg, Chinese refiners would find it difficult to switch from Iraqi crude to other medium and heavy grades because it makes up their baseload refining volumes.

Meanwhile, Asian refiners are diversifying their suppliers thanks to the growing shale oil production in the United States. Imports of U.S. crude are growing across the continent, but so are imports from other non-Middle Eastern countries. This could be a long-term strategy to reduce the regions dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

Yet this dependence will remain in place: there is simply too much cheap oil coming out of the Middle East to ignore for developing economies such as China and Indiaboth heavily reliant on imported oil and hence vulnerable to price swingsand even developed economies such as Japan and South Korea.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads from Oilprice.com:
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have claimed their Irish mini-moon was an effort to strengthen the Commonwealth  even though Ireland is not in a member of group.

As part of their new website, the royal couple identify "strengthening the Commonwealth" as a key theme of their work.

The Commonwealth is an association of 53 member states, nearly of all of which are former territories of the British empire.

Ireland left the group of ex-colonies when we became a republic in 1949.

Expand Close Stepping out: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the British ambassadors residence during their visit to Dublin in July 2018. Picture: PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp Stepping out: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the British ambassadors residence during their visit to Dublin in July 2018. Picture: PA

The boast about their trip to Dublin in 2018 will likely be considered one of their first major diplomatic blunders since Ms Markle and Prince Harry announced plans to 'step back' from their roles within the royal family.

On their newly launched Sussex Royal website, which is to be a platform for their attempt to become financially independent, the couple write about their royal work in the past and high profile tours.

These include visits to the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand as well as their two-day tour of Dublin.

At the time, the trip was considered to be part of a soft-PR strategy executed by the British government to bolster Anglo-Irish relations amid growing tensions over the impact of Brexit.

The royals are often asked by the Foreign Office to act as ambassadors and Meghan and Harry, alongside Kate Middleton and Prince William, were seen to be the most effective weapons in the communications team's arsenal.

"During their trips across the Commonwealth, The Duke and Duchess meet with young leaders to hear their insights and propel their vision for lasting change," the site reads, after describing Queen Elizabeth as Head of Commonwealth.

Expand Close Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex arrive at the Book of Kells Exhibition at Trinity College during their visit to Dublin, Ireland, July 11, 2018. Gareth Fuller/Pool via REUTERS / Facebook

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Whatsapp Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex arrive at the Book of Kells Exhibition at Trinity College during their visit to Dublin, Ireland, July 11, 2018. Gareth Fuller/Pool via REUTERS

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"At the age of 21, during a speech in Cape Town, South Africa, she vowed to devote her life to the service of this coalition of nations. Few global entities have a greater stake in that future," she added.

On their website, the couple detail their trip taken weeks after their wedding which was comprised largely of meet and greets and photo opportunities.

Notably they met with President Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina - and their dogs Brod and Sioda - at Aras an Uachtarain.

The visit was generally seen as a success, although it was not without some controversy. The cost of Meghan's wardrobe for the 36-hour venture was an estimated 10,000 and she was criticised for not supporting any Irish designers during the trip.

The couple describe Ireland as "the UKs closest and most important neighbour.

"It was an important opportunity to not only represent the UK government, but also highlight the rich cultural heritage of this amazing country. The visit was seen as an important moment in UK-Ireland relations, helping celebrate the bond between the two nations, and furthering future prospects in trade, tourism and culture, the Sussex Royal website says.

It refers to their visit to the Book of Kells at Trinity College and a visit to Dogpatch Labs, "a startup hub in Dublins Digital Docklands".

However, they neglected to mention a visit to the Irish Famine Memorial neighbouring Dogpatch, meeting Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and signing the visitor book at Government Buildings, visiting EPIC, the Irish Emigration Museum or learning about GAA at Croke Park.

We draw strength from one another as neighbours, partners, and above all, as friends," they included, referring to a quote by the Duke of Sussex during a speech made at the British Ambassador's residence at Glencairn.

The event, attended by hundreds of hand-selected guests chosen by the couple, reflected some of the pool of talent which Ireland boasts, including actresses Amy Huberman and Aisling Bea, retired rugby captain Brian O'Driscoll and activist Sinead Burke.

It also marked the beginning of the couple's now-notoriously scrappy PR approach to traditional media as journalists from around the world who travelled to cover their visit documented their disappointment at the scheduling and arrangements made throughout the trip in their respective articles.
Skeena Intersects 16.64 g/t Au over 5.10 m in 200 Footwall at Snip

Posted by Publisher Internet

Skeena Resources Limited (TSX.V: SKE, OTCQX: SKREF  https://www.commodity-tv.com/play/skeena-resources-exploration-and-development-of-historic-gold-mine-deal-with-barrick/ ) (?Skeena? or the ?Company?) is pleased to announce the remaining analytical results from the 2019 Phase I surface exploration drilling program at the 100% owned Snip gold project (?Snip?) located in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia. The 2019 exploration program consisted of 10 surface drill holes totaling 1,934 m which tested the 200 Footwall Corridor (?200 Footwall?). Reference images are presented at the end of this release as well as on the Company?s website.

2019 Phase I Snip Project Drilling Highlights:

64 g/t Au over 5.10 m (S19-035) Including: 96.20 g/t Au over 0.50 m And 80 g/t Au over 0.85 m

90 g/t Au over 0.65 m (S19-041)

00 g/t Au over 0.50 m (S19-041)

00 g/t Au over 1.35 m (S19-043)

Core lengths are reported due to a lack of supporting data to properly calculate true widths. Length weighted composites were constrained by geological and grade considerations. Grade capping of individual assays has not been applied to the Au assays informing the length weighted composites. Samples below detection limit were nulled to a value of zero.?

New Mineralization Intersected in 200 Footwall

Phase I surface drill hole S19-035 has successfully intersected a new zone of high-grade gold mineralization averaging 16.64 g/t Au over 5.10 m including two sub-intervals grading 96.20 g/t Au over 0.50 m and 39.80 g/t Au over 0.85 m in the 200 Footwall. This zone is located 100 m vertically below surface and 370 m east of the recently reported Phase I 200 Footwall discovery intercept which graded 1,131.91 g/t (36.39 oz/t) Au over 1.50 m (S19-044). The area surrounding the new zone is open down-dip and down-plunge.

The outstanding analytical results for drill holes S19-043 and S19-044 have been received. The high-grade intercept in S19-044 occurred at a depth of 249.60 m. Additional results for this drill hole include 12.60 g/t Au over 0.50 m and 7.41 g/t Au over 0.60 m occurring at 242.35 m and 214.80 m respectively.

Phase I drill hole S19-043 was completed prior to the newly discovered mineralization in drill hole S19-044 and intersected anomalous gold grades associated with sheared veining including 12.00 g/t Au over 1.35 m. Recently completed modelling of the 200 Footwall mineralization indicates that this drill hole did not extend deep enough to adequately test the 200 Footwall and will be deepened during the next phase of drilling at Snip.

About Skeena

Skeena Resources Limited is a junior Canadian mining exploration company focused on developing prospective precious and base metal properties in the Golden Triangle of northwest British Columbia, Canada. The Company?s primary activities are the exploration and development of the past-producing Snip mine and the Eskay Creek mine. In addition, the Company has completed a Preliminary Economic Assessment on the GJ copper-gold porphyry project.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Skeena Resources Limited,

Walter Coles Jr.

President & CEO

In Europe:

Swiss Resource Capital AG

Jochen Staiger

info@resource-capital.ch

www.resource-capital.ch

Qualified Persons

Exploration activities at the Eskay Creek Project are administered on site by the Company?s Exploration Managers, Colin Russell, P.Geo. and Adrian Newton, P.Geo. In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Paul Geddes, P.Geo. Vice President Exploration and Resource Development, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has prepared, validated and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release. The Company strictly adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines in conducting, documenting, and reporting its exploration activities on its exploration projects.

Quality Assurance ? Quality Control

Once received from the drill and processed, all drill core samples are sawn in half, labelled and bagged. The remaining drill core is subsequently securely stored on site. Numbered security tags are applied to lab shipments for chain of custody requirements. The Company inserts quality control (QC) samples at regular intervals in the sample stream, including blanks and reference materials with all sample shipments to monitor laboratory performance. The QAQC program was designed and approved by Lynda Bloom, P.Geo. of Analytical Solutions Ltd., and is overseen by the Company?s Qualified Person, Paul Geddes, P.Geo, Vice President Exploration and Resource Development.

Drill core samples are submitted to ALS Geochemistry?s analytical facility in North Vancouver, British Columbia for preparation and analysis. The ALS facility is accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard for gold assays and all analytical methods include quality control materials at set frequencies with established data acceptance criteria. The entire sample is crushed and 1kg is pulverized. Analysis for gold is by 50g fire assay fusion with atomic absorption (AAS) finish with a lower limit of 0.01 ppm and upper limit of 100 ppm. Samples with gold assays greater than 100ppm are re-analyzed using a 50g fire assay fusion with gravimetric finish. Analysis for silver is by 50g fire assay fusion with gravimetric finish with a lower limit of 5ppm and upper limit of 10,000ppm. Samples with silver assays greater than 10,000ppm are re-analyzed using a gravimetric silver concentrate method. A selected number of samples are also analyzed using a 48 multi-elemental geochemical package by a 4-acid digestion, followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS) and also for mercury using an aqua regia digest with Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) finish. Samples with sulfur reporting greater than 10% from the multi-element analysis are re-analyzed for total sulfur by Leco furnace and infrared spectroscopy.

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

Certain statements made and information contained herein may constitute ?forward looking information? and ?forward looking statements? within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. These statements and information are based on facts currently available to the Company and there is no assurance that actual results will meet management?s expectations.? Forward-looking statements and information may be identified by such terms as ?anticipates?, ?believes?, ?targets?, ?estimates?, ?plans?, ?expects?, ?may?, ?will?, ?could? or ?would?.? Forward-looking statements and information contained herein are based on certain factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, the estimation of mineral resources and reserves, the realization of resource and reserve estimates, metal prices, taxation, the estimation, timing and amount of future exploration and development, capital and operating costs, the availability of financing, the receipt of regulatory approvals, environmental risks, title disputes and other matters.? While the Company considers its assumptions to be reasonable as of the date hereof, forward-looking statements and information are not guarantees of future performance and readers should not place undue importance on such statements as actual events and results may differ materially from those described herein. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or information except as may be required by applicable securities laws.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
A Nigerian MC, Sirkastiq has taken to social media to share his death story and how he resurrected after about 8 hours.

According to the IOAP, he slumped while in school but God brought him back to life for some reasons.

In his words;

Read Also: OAP, Osi Suave Reacts To Video Of Wife Assaulting Her Husbands Side Chick
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 00:03:13|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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SHANGHAI, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- To celebrate the Year of the Rat, Shanghai Disney Resort said Thursday it would hold a series of special events from Jan. 13 to Feb. 9.

On Jan. 23 and 24, Shanghai Disneyland Hotel will offer an exclusive Spring Festival banquet accompanied by Mickey and Minnie.

Featuring a range of classic traditional dishes, the banquet will recreate a traditional Spring Festival atmosphere with plenty of activities, such as papercutting, sugar painting and dumpling making.

A new vibrant fireworks show is also ready to dazzle guests every evening from Jan. 13 to Feb. 9, with projections on the Disney castle featuring families from classic Disney movies and traditional Chinese elements such as calligraphy and lanterns.

Mickey and Minnie will dance together alongside a host of Disney dancers in special Spring Festival outfits every weekend over the Spring Festival period.

China's Spring Festival this year falls on Jan. 25.

According to experts from the tourism industry, since the opening of Shanghai Disney Resort in June 2016, it has launched a range of different cultural activities combining Chinese and Western elements to promote its presence in the Chinese market.
Helping Your Child Succeed

Do you have children who can read, but do not enjoy reading, and almost never pick up a book or anything else to read for pleasure? Would your Read more
A n 18-year-old man is fighting for life after being stabbed in the leg in east London.

The teen was stabbed this afternoon in Chingford Road in Waltham Forest and police were called to the scene at 4.13pm.

A Met Police spokeswoman said: "At the scene, a male, aged around 18, had suffered a stab wound to the leg.

"The injured male was taken by LAS to an east London hospital."

Waltham Forest MPS said the victim's condition was critical.

The incident happened at the junction of Rowden Road and Chingford Road is closed in both directions.

Scotland Yard has launched an investigation following the incident.
Cronkite News

TUSAYAN  In a clearing on Forest Road 305, about 15 miles south of Grand Canyon National Park, an enormous steel headframe towers beside a retention pond. Beneath the headframe, a mine shaft drops 1,400 feet into the earth.

This is the Canyon Mine, which opened in 1986 to extract uranium. A handful of employees work here during the week, but the mine has not produced a single ounce of the mineral, which is used to produce nuclear weapons and keep the countrys 96 nuclear reactors operating.

As demand for uranium has plummeted, the price is too low for U.S. companies to compete with other countries and still turn a profit. Uranium is processed in just seven facilities in the U.S., including the White Mesa Mill in Utah.

Curtis Moore, vice president of marketing and corporate development for Energy Fuels in Lakewood, Colorado, which owns Canyon Mine, said the mines inactivity isnt too concerning.

Weve never produced in Canyon Mine, he said. State owned enterprises from Russia and China, theyve been, we would argue, artificially lowering the price of uranium to put some of their free market competitors out of business in the United States, Canada and Australia.

The price isnt quite there. Its close. Canyon Mine is probably the lowest cost uranium mine in the United States.

As global uranium demand has dropped, mines in free-market economies havent been able to compete with state-subsidized mines in Russia and China, says Curtis Moore of Energy Fuels, which owns the Canyon Mine. Photo by Jake Eldridge / Cronkite News

The U.S. imports most of the uranium it uses because its cheaper to buy from other countries, including Canada. The Trump administration wants to change that and is looking into creating quotas on domestic use. Its waiting on recommendations from the Nuclear Fuel Working Group, which the White House set up in July.

This could also affect the temporary ban now in place on uranium mining in and around Grand Canyon, as well as a bill by U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Tucson, that would permanently ban uranium mining on about 1 million acres around Grand Canyon National Park . The ban, which was passed by the full House, would allow the Canyon Mine to operate because it existed before the temporary ban was enacted in 2012.

similar bill was introduced into the Senate on December 19 by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. The major difference is that Sinemas bill [ S.3127 ] would require a study on the availability of uranium in the U.S.

Clark Tenakhongva, the vice chairman of the Hopi Tribe, said his people have been dealing with the fallout of uranium mining for the past 100 years.

It contaminates once dug up from its natural state of where its at, its always something that contaminates the groundwater, Tenakhongva said. Groundwater then goes throughout the whole region and whatnot and sooner or later, it then affects not just only the people but the environment around their animals.

A statement from Chairman Timothy L. Nuvangyaoma of the Hopi Tribe is being read in support of ban on uranium mining around Grand Canyon. Nuvangyaoma calls Grand Canyon the birthplace of the Hopi people. #KeepItGrand #HonorTheSacred #Arizona pic.twitter.com/tVrVPPyFmV  indianz.com (@indianz) June 4, 2019

Environmental activists and the Hopi Tribe are concerned that the Canyon Mine could contaminate groundwater and, ultimately, the water in the Grand Canyon. They also want Grijalvas ban enacted and Canyon Mines grandfathered status eliminated.

Amber Reimondo, the energy program director for the Grand Canyon Trust, said uranium mining could result in contaminated water in the Grand Canyon and that Energy Fuels cant confidently say that it wont.

The geology in this region is a karst system, which means that its fractured and that you can think of it like a system of pipes where water starts up at one point can flow in multiple different directions and multiple different speeds and its not really well-understood, Reimondo said. So to say that a uranium mine wont impact the Grand Canyon or other water sources, they really cant say that for certain right now.

Moore, however, said Canyon Mine does not pose a risk to the water in or around the Grand Canyon.

The water aquifer underneath Canyon Mine is an isolated aquifer that isnt connected to the Grand Canyon or any other water sources, he said. Its located underneath impermeable rock that locks in the water. Even if it did get through an old drill hole, its located downhill from the Grand Canyon, so it would flow the opposite direction (south of the Canyon).

Low uranium prices make it difficult to justify operating the Canyon Mine, which opened in 1986 but has produced no ore. Photo by Jake Eldridge / Cronkite News

Why uranium is sagging

As of 2018, U.S. nuclear power plant owners and operators imported roughly 90% of their uranium from Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Russia and a handful of other countries. Total production of uranium concentrates in the U.S. was 1.6 million pounds in 2018  33% less than in 2017.

As U.S. allies slow uranium production, Moore said, the country becomes reliant on less friendly nations, putting its nuclear power plants and national security at risk.

Uranium is a critical mineral, he said. Its used for the production of nuclear energy, which I would say is our best way to produce clean, no carbon (emissions) electricity, and its used by our military and defense, it fuels our submarines and aircraft carriers. So theres a national security tie to uranium.

The price of uranium peaked in 2007 at $136.22 per pound but was just $25.45 per pound as of December.

U.S. usage of uranium has decreased in recent years, part of a global decrease in the wake of the 2011 meltdown of Japans Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant after an earthquake and tsunami . As nations sought alternative sources to nuclear power, the uranium market crashed.

The Navajo Nation has suffered profound impacts from uranium mining, says Vice President Myron Lizer. Tribe has banned uranium mining on reservation and supports ban on new development around Grand Canyon. #KeepItGrand #HonorTheSacred @NNVPLizer2019 pic.twitter.com/eoNcjYvbIP  indianz.com (@indianz) June 4, 2019

Fukushima was just the most recent incident that has created a boom and bust cycle for uranium mining. Since the introduction of nuclear power in the mid-1950s, a string of nuclear power plant problems have nearly destroyed the industry and the global interest in uranium.

Although the impacts of U.S. reliance on foreign uranium arent clear, Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy Inc., another uranium producer, in 2018 petitioned the U.S. Department of Commerce, complaining that subsidized foreign uranium is undercutting their business.

The Commerce Department concluded that the federal government should implement quotas for domestic uranium mining and production, which it recommended to Trump. However, Trump opted to have the Nuclear Fuel Working Group take 90 days to prepare its own recommendations based on pressure from nuclear power plant operators who expressed concern over the financial fallout of the potential quotas.

The working group was set to make recommendations in October but was granted a 30-day extension by Trump. The group has not reported as of Dec. 23, and there has been no additional information.

Environmental causes for concern

Although finances are the main concern for nuclear power plant owners, conservationists are concerned about the environmental impact of renewed uranium mining near the Canyon. The mission of the Grand Canyon Trust is to safeguard the wonders of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado Plateau, while supporting the rights of its Native peoples.

Roger Clark, the Grand Canyon program director with the Grand Canyon Trust, also worries about Canyon Mines obstruction of nature.

This is an intrusion, Clark said. So on the surface, its what you see. But the real important problem is the long term contamination and risk to the groundwater.

Clark also said the evaporation pond that holds water pumped from the shaft does not meet Environmental Protection Agency safe water standards , which he said could harm wildlife.

Moore disagrees.

The Grand Canyon Trust uses EPA drinking water standards to claim the water is contaminated, which by that standard is technically true, but thats true for most untouched water sources, he said. The Little Colorado River doesnt meet those standards either, but you wouldnt go drink directly out of that.

The amount of uranium present in that water, Moore said, is comparable to the parts per billion that naturally occurs in water sources in the area, and that many of the environmental concerns surrounding uranium mining are based on incidents from a bygone era.

If we were even doing one tenth of the things that some of those environmental groups claim that were doing, we would have been shut down long ago, Moore said.

From the late 1940s to the mid-60s, 4 million pounds of uranium ore were extracted in the U.S., without safety codes and understanding of the consequences. Mine shafts had little to no ventilation, despite being as deep as 1,500 feet. The miners breathed in the dust, ate lunch in the mine and even drank water coming out of the rock. This led to high quantities of radon in their lungs, a radioactive gas that greatly increases the risk of lung cancer.

EPA regulations now limit the fallout from uranium mining. In addition, the Clean Water Act and the Clear Clean Air Act feature sections or limitations related to the hazardous materials that can come from uranium processing, although these regulations were put in place after the damage had already been done.

As for Canyon Mine, Energy Fuels has the legal authority to begin mining, but the low prices would make it an unprofitable venture, despite the low operating costs.

Note: This story originally appeared on Cronkite News and is published via a Creative Commons license . Cronkite News is produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University

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Eight people were killed on Thursday when the van they were travelling in collided with a bus due to dense fog on the Jaipur-Bikaner national highway, police said.

Six people died on the spot while two succumbed to the injuries on the way to a government hospital here.

The victims are yet to be identified, the police said.

They said the van driver could not see the bus coming from opposite direction due to dense fog.

Police teams from Rajaldesar and Ratangarh police stations were investigating the case, they said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Poor performance in Central Europe and Asia saw Tesco's sales fall over the Christmas period despite the supermarket enjoying its biggest day of food sales in Britain in its 100-year history on 23 December.

The supermarket's banking division also took a major hit over the Christmas trading period, with revenue falling 18.8 per cent to 361million.

But UK and Republic of Ireland sales experienced minor growth, with like-for-like sales in the 19 weeks to 4 January rising by 0.4 per cent.

Tesco saw its biggest day of food sales in Britain in its 100-year history on 23 December

Tesco say a combination of lower prices, 'strong, relevant promotions' and fresh food sales helped it to weather potential problems over the third quarter of the financial year.

Outgoing chief executive Dave Lewis, who recently announced plans to step down in the summer, said: 'In a subdued UK market we performed well, delivering our fifth consecutive Christmas of growth.

'In our centenary year, our customer proposition was compelling, our product offering very competitive, and, thanks to the outstanding contribution of our colleagues, our operational performance was the best of the last six years.

Tesco faces further challenges with its banking arm after the world's largest retail currency dealer Travelex was subject to a ransomware cyber-attack.

'As a result, this Christmas we had the biggest-ever day of UK food sales in our history.'

Third quarter like-for-like sales at Tesco dropped by 0.4 per cent in the quarter ending November 23, with sales in Central Europe and Asia decreasing by 11 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively. Both markets had revenues of 1.9billion.

Group like-for-like sales overall fell by 0.9 per cent in the 19 weeks to January 4 as UK and ROI sales held up strongly.

Tesco recently announced that it wanted to offload its Thai and Malaysian division, Tesco Lotus, where it runs 2,000 stores. A proposed sale could net the supermarket 7billion.

Tesco has sold its South Korean Homeplus business in order to cut debt, which mounted in 2014 after it admitted overstating its profits by 250million

It has already sold its South Korean Homeplus business and its Turkish assets in order to improve its debt problems, which mounted in October 2014 after an accounting error caused it to overstate its profits by 250million.

Eight executives were suspended following the scandal and the supermarket lost half of its value in a year, including 2billion in one day.

Tesco faces further challenges with its banking arm after the world's largest retail currency dealer Travelex was subject to a ransomware cyber-attack.

Travellers are currently unable to buy currency online from Tesco Bank, which is a major business partner of Travelex.

The Sodinokibi gang behind the hack are reportedly demanding a 4.6million ransom or customer data will be released, including social security numbers and payment card information.

The Sodinobiki gang behind the Travelex hack and are reportedly demanding a 4.6million ransom or customer data will be released, including payment card information

Tesco said it was 'regrettable' that it has had to suspend its online travel money and is in 'close contact' with Travelex over the issue, but added that customers can still get foreign currency in 360 of its stores.

Other supermarkets such as Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer (M&S) have struggled in recent years as low-cost competitors Aldi and Lidl have eaten a greater share of supermarket sales. Hedge funds have taken short positions against Sainsbury's and M&S.

M&S also announced anaemic third-quarter revenue numbers today. International sales did grow 2.3 per cent to 251million though, but UK revenue only expanded by 0.2 per cent.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor said despite troubles in the supermarket sector, Tesco remains strong when compared to its rivals.

He said: 'The Booker business in particular continues fully to vindicate Tescos decision to spread its wings and buy the company, while the groups online presence made a meaningful contribution in meeting overall customer order requirements.

'Tesco has likely done enough with this update to cement its place as the preferred play in the sector,' he added.

Shares in Tesco rose in early trading by 3.6p to 256p.
Sanjay Dutt, director at Quantum Securities, said there are clear indications that 2020 would be a better year for equities, which is evident from the fact that despite the Iran crisis blowing out, the Nifty did not go below 11,800-11,900 and the midcaps continued to show strength. In fact, the day before yesterday, midcaps outperformed everything else, he added.

According to him, the cyclicals are going to be the best bets. "Investors must note that all those people who survived this carnage  relating to governance issues, debt, insolvency - over the last two-three years in the corporate sector, are going to make a lot of money in the next five-ten years.

"So, it would be prudent to pick up good names, good managements and just have patience and not worry about these geopolitical tensions. It is not going to change the fundamentals of the market. You could see price damage but one will have to live with the volatility," he said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

When asked what was the biggest risk in 2020, he said: "Ultimately it has all got to do with growth. If we do not have growth pick up, if we do not have things starting to look good over the next two-three quarters, we are going to be in bigger problems. That is the only risk that we are dealing with."

However, it is comforting to know that contrary to what the position was last year in July-August, government is on the levers at this point in time and it is very clear about what it needs to do and everything is focused on growth, said Dutt, adding that basically, the government is ensuring that there is adequate liquidity in the system, is focusing on infrastructure projects and is trying to go to industry to do things.

"A very clear pointer has been that in the last few weeks, the credit market is looking better, companies are able to raise money and things are definitely stabilising. So, the risk definitely remains but it is being mitigated slowly. The last quarter of this calendar year is going to be pretty positive for the markets," he said.

Giving his sector preferences, he said it would be a mix of cyclicals. "Steel is something I like. Construction, select cement stocks are looking pretty good. So it is a wide basket amongst the BSE-500 to pick up and ride out for the next two-three years," said Dutt.

Source: CNBC-TV18
Is the world ready for a whole new generation of Kardashian taking over the internet? Well, it looks like fans should be prepared by now as Kim Kardashian's eldest daughter just debuted herself in the video-sharing app, TikTok.

If Kylie Jenner has taken over Snapchat by fire, Khloe Kardashian leading the pack on Twitter, and her mom Kim Kardashian being the queen of Instagram, it seems like the six-year-old North West is ready to dominate another social media platform after making her first TikTok appearance on Tuesday.

Kim and Kanye West's daughter showed off her adorable dance moves with her so-called "boyfriend" Caiden Mills. The eight-year-old boy is the son of rapper Consequence, who happens to be Kanye's long-time close friend.

In the short clip uploaded on Caiden's TikTok account with username caidentheking817, North and Caiden could be seen dancing to the remix version of Brazilian artist Bonde R300's "Oh Nanana."

The cutie Caiden repeatedly lifted North's legs up and down, swing her with ease, lip-sync, and groove in front of the camera.

Just like their parents, the little influencers also looked lit and cool while sporting fashionable outfits. North was wearing a matching leather jacket and pants, and she completed her look by sporting playful pigtails. Meanwhile, Caiden rocked in a camouflage jacket on top of his white shirt and denim jeans.

Also, it seems like the little ones are inside a playroom, as they were both wearing only socks while performing their short routine.

The "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" star openly admitted long before that she is not gifted in terms of dancing, so can we all assume that North got her grove from her rapper dad, Kanye? Well, the way Kanye moves on stage also speaks a lot, right?

The internet has been pairing Caiden and North long before the viral TikTok video, as they have been most time together as playmates.

But in February of last year, fans labeled him as little North's boyfriend after Holywood Life reported that it seems like Caiden made their relationship official after posting a controversial Instagram photo.

"Shout out to Northie, Babygirl. I'll see you soon," Caiden wrote in the photo of himself beside a small tiffany blue paper bag.

The following Instagram post showed Caiden intently inspecting a Tiffany & Co. necklace. Although he did not mention if the necklace was for North, his caption says: "She's gonna LoVe It. Wrap that up, sir, I'll take it."

Another photo posted on Caiden's Instagram account shows the little man all arms wrapped around little Northie.

Of course, these boyfriend rumors are probably the internet's playful way of shipping the two kids, but we all know that they are too young to be in a relationship.

In February, Kim herself spoke up about those who are taking the rumors seriously and said: "She doesn't have a boyfriend. Like, is that for real? She's five."
Jessika Power has thrown her support behind Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who announced on Wednesday they will be stepping down from their 'senior' royal duties.

Following The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's decision to move away from the spotlight, the Married At First Sight star has revealed she sympathises with them.

'I definitely understand why they're doing this. They've been slammed since the day they got together and have a baby now. Sometimes I want to step away from it all too,' Jessika told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday.

Speaking out: Jessika Power has thrown her support behind Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who announced on Wednesday they will be stepping down from their 'senior' royal duties

The controversial TV personality, 28, said she hopes the Sussexes' decision to live between the UK and North America brings them happiness and privacy.

She often wishes herself that she could escape the public eye, after skyrocketing to fame on MAFS in January last year.

'Every time I go to my local IGA [supermarket] some old man will want to take loads of pictures of me to show his grandchildren,' she said.

'Or a group of young people will want selfies and ask hundreds of questions.'

While she is grateful to have supporters, these fan interactions are sometimes inconvenient when Jessika is in a rush.

'I definitely understand why they're doing this. They've been slammed since the day they got together and have a baby now. Sometimes I want to step away from everything too,' Jessika told Daily Mail Australia. Pictured: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on October 2, 2019

Mobbed: 'Every time I go to my local IGA [supermarket] some old man will want to take loads of pictures of me to show his grandchildren,' said the Married At First Sight star

However, Jessika believes that fame has more positives than negatives, and she is unlikely to follow in Harry and Meghan's footsteps.

She said: 'I'll think about [leaving the spotlight], but then I'll get invited to something great or be able to do something good with my platform.'

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their plans to 'step back as "senior" members of the Royal Family' in a statement on their official Instagram account on Wednesday evening.

In-demand: While she is grateful to have supporters, these fan interactions are sometimes inconvenient when Jessika is in a rush. Pictured: Jessika and Ines Basic meeting fans in June

They wrote: 'After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution.

'We intend to step back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen. It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.

'We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.

'This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.

'We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support.'

Shock: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their plans to 'step back as "senior" members of the Royal Family' in a statement on their official Instagram account on Wednesday evening. Pictured on January 18, 2018
FREMONT, California, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market intelligence report by BIS Research titled 'Global Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Energy Market - Analysis and Forecast, 2019-2024', the artificial intelligence in energy market is expected to reach $7.78 billion by 2024. The market is projected to witness a CAGR of 22.49% from 2019 to 2024. This growth is anticipated to be driven by the demand for increasing operational efficiency, rising concern for energy efficiency, growing market penetration of decentralized power generation, and rising concern for battery storage systems.

Browse more than 60 Data Tables and 150 Figures spread through 259 Pages and in-depth ToC on "Global Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Energy Market".

Artificial intelligence utilizes advanced algorithms and stacks of data accumulated from the source to provide systems and machines with the ability to perceive, think, calculate, and analyze information like a human brain. Moreover, implementing application-specific AI platforms provides real-time insights of industrial applications, thereby increasing the efficiency of the system to meet the energy demand.

Furthermore, the cost efficiency induced by AI in operations is gradually driving the degree of acceptance of AI amongst energy companies. Access to real-time information along with predictive analytics has gained demand, especially to prevent equipment failure, across the supply chain. The technology is enabling decentralized communication and coordination through a connected infrastructure, which allows peers to safely, cheaply, and quickly connect with machines embedded with cognitive algorithms to act efficiently without human intelligence.

The global application of the AI in energy market witnessed a tremendous increase in developments such as investment and funding along with number of players in the market for innovation of related technology during the past three years. Most of the investments and funding by companies in the AI in energy market have been recorded for AI-as-a-Service platforms for the period November 2016-October 2019. The segment recorded for $499.5 million during the same time period.

BIS Research Report: https://bisresearch.com/industry-report/artificial-intelligence-energy-market.html

According to Rakhi Tanwar, Principal Analyst at BIS Research, "Software, hardware, AI-as-a-service, and support services are the types of solutions offered by players operating in the global AI in energy market. In 2018, the software solution accounted for more than 60% of the total artificial intelligence in energy market. During the forecast period, the AI-as-a-service segment is expected to display the highest growth, owing to technological innovations on delivering customized application-specific cloud platform and enhancing the operating systems, which is expected to further help in strengthening the data warehouse architecture of the end users."

Regionally, North America is expected to remain the dominant market for artificial intelligence in energy during the forecast period, with the U.S. being an innovation hub for artificial intelligence technologies. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to witness a robust growth in the next five years, owing to the increasing dependence on decentralized power generation to meet the electricity demand in the region.

The competitive landscape for the AI in energy market demonstrates an inclination toward companies adopting strategies such as partnerships, collaborations, and joint ventures as well as product launches and developments. With the increasing growth in the global market, companies operating in this industry are compelled to come up with collaborative strategies in order to sustain in the intensely competitive market. For instance, in August 2019, AutoGrid Systems Inc. entered into a collaboration with Amazon Web Services for the digitalization of power grid using AutoGrid Flex AI platform to meet the electricity demand.

The major established players in the market are also focusing on product launches and developments to introduce new technologies or developing further on the existing product portfolio. Key players operating in this market have ramped up their product launch activities over the recent years, in order to generate public awareness about their existing and new products and technologies and compete with the competitors' product portfolio. For instance, in January 2019, Kellton Tech Solutions Ltd. launched a cloud-based AI platform with real-time analytics for oil & gas industrial applications.

Request for a Sample Report: https://bisresearch.com/requestsample?id=795&type=download

This report is a meticulous compilation of research on more than 70 players in the AI in energy ecosystem and draws upon insights from in-depth interviews with the key opinion leaders of more than 40 leading companies, market participants, and vendors. The report also profiles 26 leading companies across the AI in energy supply chain. Key profiles include IBM Corporation, Amazon Web Services, SAP SE, Oracle Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Accenture Plc, Cisco Systems, Intel Corporation, Huawei Technologies, HCL Technologies, Kellton Tech Solutions, C3.ai, General Electric Company, Siemens AG, Schneider Electric, ABB Ltd, Honeywell International, Rockwell Automation, Ingersoll Rand Plc, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Schlumberger Limited, Equinor ASA, Actlility S.A, Enel X North America, Inc., and Tokyo Electric Power Company.

Key Questions Answered in the Report:

What is the estimated global AI in energy market size in terms of revenue for the forecast period 2019-2024, and what is the expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during the forecast period 2019-2024?

What are the key trends, market drivers, and opportunities in the market pertaining to AI in energy?

What are the major restraints inhibiting the growth of the global AI in energy market?

What kind of new strategies are being adopted by the existing market players to expand their market position in the industry?

What is the competitive strength of the key players in the AI energy market on the basis of analysis of their recent developments, product offerings, and regional presence?

How is the competitive benchmarking of the key AI-focused IT companies in the energy market on the basis of analysis of their market coverage and market potential?

What is the funding and investment landscape in the global artificial intelligence in energy market?

How much revenue are each of the segments expected to record during the forecast period along with the growth percentage, on the basis of:

Industry Stream, including oil & gas (upstream, midstream, and downstream) and power industry (generation, transmission, and distribution)



Product offering, including software, hardware, ai-as-a-service, support services



Application, including oil & gas, such as fleet and asset management, precision drilling, demand forecasting, and others and power applications, such as renewable energy management, infrastructure management, demand response management, and others



Region, including North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and Rest-of-the-World

, , , and Rest-of-the-World Which type of players and stakeholders operate in the market ecosystem of AI in energy, and what are their significance in the global market?

Which are the leading consortiums and associations in the global AI in energy market, and what is their role in the market?

How does the regulatory landscape differ in different regions for AI in energy?

Related Reports:

Global Blockchain in Energy Market - Analysis and Forecast, 2019-2024

Global Internet of Energy Market - Analysis and Forecast 2019-2024

Global Virtual Power Plant Market - Analysis and Forecast, 2019-2024

About BIS Research:

BIS Research is a global B2B market intelligence and advisory firm focusing on those emerging technological trends which are likely to disrupt the dynamics of the market.

With over 150 market research reports published annually, BIS Research focuses on high technology verticals such as 3D Printing, Advanced Materials and Chemicals, Aerospace and Defense, Automotive, Healthcare, Electronics and Semiconductors, Robotics and UAV, and other emerging technologies.

Our in-depth market intelligence reports focus on the market estimations, technology analysis, emerging high-growth applications, deeply segmented granular country-level market data, and other important market parameters useful in the strategic decision-making for senior management.

What distinguishes BIS Research from the rest of the players is that we don't simply provide data but also complement it with valuable insights and actionable inputs for the success of our clients.

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Note: This is a full Taste Test review, with a star rating based on multiple visits.

The new French-style Julias Bistro & Bar in Beacon Hill continues Jean-Francois Poujols track record of creating solid neighborhood restaurants.

Notice I said French-style and not just French. Thats because Julias speaks French with a Mexican accent for fusion cooking thats sometimes charming and sometimes lost in translation. Either way, its an ambitious approach from Poujol and chef Zack McKinney, a team familiar to fans of Tribeca 212, an Olmos Park favorite that closed last year after Poujol sold it in 2017.

Reinvention is a natural second language for Poujol, a French native whose other San Antonio projects have included the late Soleil Bistro & Wine Bar, Tost BistroBar and Le Midi, as well as SoHill Cafe, a casual Italian spot still going strong since its 2018 debut just two doors down from Julias on the same sidewalk.

Julias  inspired in part by pioneering chef and Francophile Julia Child  combines the French penchant for sauces and braising with the bold spicing and bright flavor spikes of Mexican food. A chile relleno spoke with authority from south of the border, with a poblano pepper fried crispy and finished with chimichurri and goat cheese. Then the French angle kicked in with an aromatic interior of braised lamb.

Julias Bistro & Bar ** 1725 Blanco Road, 210-476-5404, juiasonblanco.com Quick bite: French-style neighborhood restaurant with Mexican influences Hit: Lamb shank, escargot toast, fried apple dumpling Miss: Rabbit, seafood crepe, shrimp and grits Hours: 4-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 4-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday Price range: Appetizers, $8-$15; soups and salads, $8-$11; entrees, $15-$24; desserts, $7 Alcohol: Wine, beer and cocktails **** Superior. Can compete nationally. *** Excellent. One of the best restaurants in the city. ** Very good. A standout restaurant of its kind. * Good. A restaurant that we recommend. (no stars) We cannot recommend this restaurant at this time. Express-News dining critics pay for all meals. See More Collapse

On ExpressNews.com: Review: SoHill Cafe plots steady Italian course with pizza and handmade pasta in Beacon Hill

That same herb-powered chimichurri provided a fresh take on steak frites, draped over flat iron steak with a glowing red center, an approach that worked even if the fries had more in common with fast food than haute cuisine.

Cilantro and lime, the dynamic duo of Mexican garnishes, infused a risotto with the balanced bite of a chefs steady attention for a backdrop both simple and nuanced for lush scallops with a caramelized sear. At dessert, the humble French pudding dessert pot de creme carried the bracing jolt of Mexican chocolate.

Three dishes spoke with the loudest intermingled voices. Tacos, sure. Avocado, pico de gallo and Cotija cheese on three little corn tortillas. Weve been there. But Julias took street tacos a step further with fragrant strands of duck confit.

Same with tostadas. Crispy tortillas, jalapenos, avocado. A familiar start, given a fresh new life with silky cured salmon and a flash of dill creme fraiche.

Seeing Chicken au Vin on the menu, I naturally thought of the French classic with red wine sauce. But Julias brought so much more to the table, starting with juicy chicken and carrying through with a deep mahogany mole any Mexican chef would claim. Coq au vin it was not. But so what?

Miss a review? Catch up with all our recent San Antonio restaurant reviews on ExpressNews.com

But sometimes the French and Mexican influences pushed each other around, flexing in flashes of bravado. No matter how well the kitchen cooked the baby octopus in a seafood crepe slicked with chorizo oil, it still came off as a dish of two worlds that wasnt at home in either one. As Creole crept into the dialogue for the Louisiana French standard shrimp and grits with Mexican chorizo, the conversation fell apart in a soupy mess.

As much as I like cassoulet, a French bean stew with whatever proteins are handy that day, I didnt like Julias interpretation. Stocked with lamb, duck confit and Mexican chorizo, it tasted more like weak white bean chili than full-on cassoulet.

No matter the language, nothing made sense in a bowl of shredded rabbit offered as a special, with hard roasted radishes and rubbery lardons in a salty pile with something like biscuit-dough dumplings.

Some of the best food at Julias flew the French flag without apology. Escargot toast gave snails a rich platform of mushroom puree, brie and butter on toasted baguette. A braised lamb shank needed only a fork under an elegant amber-gold sauce.

Mussels bloomed with garlic in a white wine sauce. Ask for a loaf of hot French bread. Its back there, on request.

On ExpressNews.com: Review: Bistr09 meets and beats expectations for French food in San Antonio

Grilled frisee brought texture and taste to a salad with bacon and a poached egg to start dinner, a nice side for a smart charcuterie plate with housemade country pate and tomato jam. And flaky pastry folded around spiced apples made a fried dumpling the right choice for dessert, fortified with smoked cheddar ice cream.

The atmosphere at Julias isnt as strong as the food, helped not at all by the revolving door of restaurants that came before: a dour steakhouse, a flash-in-the pan Mexican cafe, a burger joint, a barbecue place, the list goes on. The decor is spare to nonexistent, right up to the host stand that looks like a plywood magicians cabinet.

I ran into friends celebrating a birthday with a party of four at Julias and what I heard  besides how great the mussels were  was grousing about trying to get the waiter to come back around for cocktails, for wine, for reassurance. I had the same issue. Not once, but each time I went. They were professional, they were polite, but there just werent enough of them to go around.

But it comes back to this: Id rather watch Julias grow as a bold hybrid experiment than go to any place with a Six Flags menu that tries to please everyone but pleases no one. France and Mexico under one flag? Ill salute that.

Mike Sutter is a food and drink reporter and restaurant critic in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | msutter@express-news.net | Twitter: @fedmanwalking
CARACAS, Venezuela - In a crisp black suit with a bright blue tie, Juan Guaido pushed and shoved his way through rows of helmet-clad national guardsmen, cursing and scolding them like schoolchildren for blocking him from entering Venezuelas congress.

You dont get to decide who gets in! he yelled, inching his face up close to the young man impeding his access to the legislatures ornate halls.

In recent days, the opposition leader who drew thousands of Venezuelans to the streets last year only to see his momentum steadily fizzle as President Nicolas Maduro remains firmly in power appears to have gotten his mojo back.

Images of the man recognized by the U.S. and over 50 other nations as Venezuelas rightful president scaling the National Assemblys spiked iron fence, tussling with national guardsmen and taking a spirited oath, shouted into a darkened congress operating without electricity, seem to have riled up his base once more.

Today hes the star once again, said Luis Vicente Leon, president of Datanalisis, a Caracas-based polling company. But, the analyst added: It wont be enough. He needs to convert his potential energy into kinetic energy.

Much is resting on the 36-year-old lawmakers shoulders: Whether he can capitalize on the new momentum could determine if the oppositions flagging movement reinvents itself or drifts into the sidelines of history.

A significant test will come later this week when Venezuelans decide whether or not to heed his call for a new round of protests. Many are skeptical that Guaido can still mobilize large numbers. An estimated 4.5 million people have fled the country, many of them the young adults most likely to protest. Countless others are too preoccupied trying to meet basic needs like finding food and medicine to turn out for a demonstration that might not change anything.

Guaido will also have to rally disparate opposition factions that united to re-elect him as head of the National Assembly over whether or not to participate in this years legislative elections. Thus far, the opposition hasnt articulated a joint strategy. Many are weary of participating in a vote with Maduro still in power, pointing out that the current National Electoral Council is still stacked heavily in the presidents favour.

Others note that if they dont run, Maduros government could gain control of what many see as Venezuelas last democratic institution.

At the centre of it all is Guaido, who in his new fighting stance appears to be drawing a page from the epic, age-old David and Goliath narrative of the virtuous underdog rushing to the rescue.

Regaining momentum is important, said Maryhen Jimenez, a Venezuelan-born lecturer in politics at Oxford University. But then there is the other side of the story, which is the passion of Venezuelans for a hero.

Guaido leaped into the international limelight nearly one year ago when he climbed up on a stage before thousands of Venezuelans filling densely packed city blocks to declare himself the beleaguered nations interim president on grounds that it was his constitutional right to step in because Maduros reelection was not legitimate.

The previously unknown backbencher was immediately recognized by U.S. President Donald Trump and dozens of other nations stretching from Ecuador to Estonia.

He led a forceful street campaign, but a series of missteps proved costly.

In February, he snuck into Colombia, defying a Supreme Court order prohibiting him from leaving the country, to oversee the entry of international humanitarian aid into Venezuela. But state security forces refused to let the goods in, staying loyal to Maduro, who had prohibited them from allowing supplies in across the border.

Then came a blundered attempt at sparking a military revolt in late April. Though a few dozen soldiers joined Guaido and his mentor, Leopoldo Lopez, in urging the nations armed forces to turn against Maduro, most stayed in their barracks.

Compelled to negotiate, Guaido and the Maduro government sat down for talks in Barbados mediated by Norway that started out promising but went nowhere. A series of corruption scandals involving purported misuse of funds for deserted soldiers and opposition lawmakers secretly doing the bidding of government allies left the opposition decidedly bruised.

By December, Guaidos approval rating had plummeted to 38 per cent, down from a high of 61 per cent 10 months before, Leon said.

Not only had Venezuelans grown distrustful of Guaido, theyd also steadily lost faith that Maduros unpopular government could be removed. Whereas in February over 70 per cent stated in polls that they believed thered be a change within three months, by December only 21 per cent were optimistic, Leon said.

Sunday was expected to be more of the same: A showing of hands in favour of renewing Guaidos term in office as head of the National Assembly, with some abstention or votes against by factions who are upset with his leadership.

Instead, it turned into a galvanizing moment.

Thick rows of green-uniformed national guardsmen blocked Guaido and other opposition lawmakers from entering. At one point, he tried scaling the National Assemblys fence, only to be pulled down by the tail of his suit.

Inside, Luis Parra, a one-time Guaido ally who had been expelled by an opposition party for allegedly taking bribes to favour government associates, declared that he was the new National Assembly president, claiming to have garnered 81 votes of 150 lawmakers present, though a detailed tally has not been provided.

Separately, Guaido held a session at a Venezuelan newspaper in which the opposition says he obtained 100 votes, including from some of his skeptics.

When Parra tried to hold a session Tuesday, Guaido and a caravan of lawmaker supporters stormed past national guardsmen and forcibly entered the legislative building, sending the Maduro-backed leaders inside scrambling.

Today, lawmakers delivered a victory for the Venezuelan people, Guaido said triumphantly.

But how long might it last?

In some ways, little or nothing has changed: Maduro still has control of the military and the backing of powerful institutions like the Supreme Court, while Guaido leads a largely powerless institution with no ability to enforce its proposals.

Once the dust is settled, hell continue to face the same challenges, said Diego Moya Ocampos, a political risk analyst.

In one potentially telling sign, there have been no spontaneous protests in Sundays aftermath, suggesting that the publics anger over Maduros attempted power grab could be limited, or at least still too focused on other pressing matters.

Still, Moya Ocampos said he expects to see more forceful Guaido in the days head, exercising stronger rhetoric. Guaidos decision to leave the party of his mentor, Voluntad Popular, could also free him up to take bolder moves.

I think we are going to see a more independent Guaido, more autonomous in his actions and regaining momentum, Moya Ocampos said.

Guaidos most powerful ally - the United States - also seemed to signal Thursday that it was willing to take a slightly different approach. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that a swift negotiated transition would be ideal and outlined conditions for guaranteeing a fair legislative election. There was no mention of Maduro, who the U.S. has insisted needs to step down as part of any transition.

Guaido supporters like Eduardo Bravo, an actor and activist, said they are elated to see the opposition leader taking riskier actions to salvage his moment.

He knew he had to do something decisive that would generate emotion, because this is an emotional country, Bravo, 49, said Wednesday. It was like watching democracy say: Im here and Im entering because this is my space.

An active protester, Bravo said he considered Guaidos actions a 180 degree shift.

Hes filled with hope people who felt very deceived, Bravo said. Well see it in the streets in the weeks ahead when people turn out again.

_

Armario reported from Bogota, Colombia.
Some legislators and religious leaders question the safety of vaccines, despite scientific evidence to the contrary. In New Jersey, an effort in December to pass a bill that would end religious exemptions and require students enrolled in any school or college, public or private, in the state to be vaccinated failed to get enough votes; supporters say they will try again in the next few days to pass the bill.

Often, skeptics do not appreciate the vastly greater dangers of the diseases that vaccines prevent.

We accumulated and evaluated data from leading medical journals, the most recent edition of the reference work Plotkins Vaccines and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to compare the risks of becoming ill with measles, flu or cervical cancer to the minute chances of experiencing side effects from their corresponding vaccines.

Here is what your odds look like.

Measles Risks: Pneumonia, Infection, Death

The United States eliminated measles in 2000, but in 2019 the number of cases increased greatly, largely because of public resistance to receiving the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.

When the disease was imported from abroad and spread across the country, unvaccinated children (and some adults) got sick. Outbreaks were concentrated in New York, Michigan, Oregon, Texas, California, Illinois, Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington. In some or all of these communities there was a rise in vaccine exemptions.
(Bloomberg) -- With backing from Peter Thiel, Eric Schmidt, Marc Andreessen and other Silicon Valley kings, best-selling author J.D. Vance is spinning up a new Ohio-based venture capital firm.

Vances Narya Capital has raised $93 million from investors for its first fund, with plans to raise as much as $125 million total, according to a regulatory filing. The firm will invest in young startups in the fields of science and advanced technology with a typical check size between $5 million and $10 million, said a person familiar with the plans. It will eschew consumer-focused businesses, the person said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

The fund reunites Vance and Thiel, who worked together on a venture fund called Mithril Capital. After the release of Vances hit memoir Hillbilly Elegy, he joined a fund started by the former head of AOL, Steve Case. Vance took a page from Thiels book by selecting a name for his new firm from the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, as Thiel did for several of his companies including Mithril and Palantir Technologies Inc. Narya Capital is named for the ring worn by the wizard Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Vance declined to provide a comment on the new fund, citing regulatory restrictions around fundraising. The news was reported earlier Thursday by Axios.

While there are many venture firms in the U.S., little investment goes toward companies based outside coastal cities. California firms had $228 billion under management in 2018, and New York had $56 billion, according to the National Venture Capital Association, a trade group. Funds in those states more than tripled their cash from 2004 to 2018. During the same time period, Ohio firms increased 25% to $1.5 billion.

Vances move extends his quest to reinvigorate the countrys heartland, a topic he wrote about in Hillbilly Elegy and then practiced while investing on behalf of Cases Rise of the Rest Fund. Vance started Cincinnati-based Narya Capital with Colin Greenspon, a colleague from Mithril and Rise of the Rest. They will work with Falon Donohue, the former chief executive of VentureOhio who joins Narya Capital as partner.

Story continues

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Its too early to say whether the unschooled student protests at many of the nations universities will impact the countrys politics at a time when the ruling BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah seemed to be fully in control of the national affairs. It is, however, hard to ignore the fact that the protests have cast a shadow in the Modi-Shah power hologram, a tiny one no doubt, but a shadow all the same. At a time when the political Opposition seems all but decimated  despite Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand  the students have in their own small way restored the voice of protest to the country which is so essential in a functioning democracy. The BJP monologue has been turned into a noisy colloquy. Cynics would say, and they may well be right, that the students will soon get back to their studies and they will be busy with their lives and careers after that. The presence of a Kanhaiya Kumar with his political engagement will not make much of a difference. But what is heartening about the student protests, and there is no need to exaggerate its epic proportions, is the energy and innocence they bring to it. These protests are an assurance that democracy is doing fine in the country.

These protests also test the political maturity of Mr Modi, Mr Shah and the BJP. They can call these expressions of political dissent immature, but they would be committing a grave blunder to tag them as anti-national. The temptation of many of the fanatical followers of the Modi-Shah BJP is to repeat the empty canard of tukde-tukde gang against the youth. That would be a callous attempt to smear the innocence of the students with calumny, and it would only end in showing the Modi-Shah foot soldiers to be political automata, who can be turned into masked mobs anytime with or without provocation. The Modi government and the BJP have the responsibility to respond with nuance if not with sensitivity to the protesting students.

It would be futile for the BJP to reach out to those few Hindus who have crossed over from Pakistan and to tell them that after the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, they are the proud and protected citizens of India. The more important and intelligent thing to do would be to discuss with the protesters the concerns of the protesters, not just about the CAA 2019 but also about the future of the country. It is of course unfair to expect the BJP to behave unlike any other political party. It has been customary for all political parties to gather the faithful in the face of challenges and believe that they have reconnected with the people. The door-to-door outreach campaign of Mr Shah and other BJP leaders to defend and explain the CAA is an empty gesture of connecting with the converted.

Meanwhile, the concerns and apprehensions about the CAA will only grow because the government refuses to explain exactly who are the people who will benefit from it  the actual numbers  and how the others who do not have claim to the CAA but who are in a similar condition have other legal ways to get a fair deal. If the intentions of the Modi government are honest, then they would not have much difficulty in explaining their point of view to the people, especially to those who do not agree with them. A loud and clear message must emanate from the party that they will not turn India into a Hindu rashtra. It is the hesitation of the BJPs leaders to state unequivocally that India belongs to people of all faiths that makes the BJP politically suspect in the eyes of the people, who are neither the leftists nor rightists, who are neither narrow-minded nationalists nor cosmopolitans. The ordinary people of India, whose immediate identification is with their own caste, religion and region, are very clear that they do not want a Hindu state. The students are voicing this inherent openness of ordinary Indians. The leaders of the BJP, with their parliamentary majority, cannot hoodwink the people at large on this very basic issue of an open, democratic society.

It is also necessary to consider the criticism of the BJP and its ardent sympathisers that the Opposition parties who had lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election are propping up the student protests to regain lost ground, and that they are trying to wreck the rightful electoral mandate won by the party. There is little doubt that the Opposition parties had failed to take on the BJP effectively in last years general election, and they have not been nailing the Narendra Modi governments substantial failures on the economic and social fronts, and that they hope to benefit from the student protests. The BJP leaders can even extend their argument that it is the Opposition parties that are masterminds behind the protests. But then they will have to remember that they have done the same thing through their student organisations when they were in the Opposition. The argument does not hold beyond a point.

A majority of the students who are shouting slogans, holding placards and marching in the street processions do not belong to the youth wing of any party. And it is for this very reason that these protests are spreading and gathering force across the country. The Prime Minister must remember that it is the youth who had favoured him in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, and they have not been as enthusiastic about him in 2019. The students who are not participating in the protests, and they run into millions, are not with the Prime Minister but with the protesting students.

The signs are very clear. The Modi government has turned complacent and arrogant, and they want to put down the protests by controlling university administration through incompetent vice-chancellors and registrars. The government may succeed in the short term, but there is trouble looming on the horizon. The dissatisfaction with a government of loud claims and unimpressive performance is growing across the country.
The researchers think different social systems in the wild may help explain the different results. African greys live in huge, constantly shifting flocks. It might be important for the birds to immediately build good reputations, so that if they need help in the future  such as extra food, or help chasing off a predator  theyll get it. Blue-headed macaws live in smaller, unchanging groups. So quickly building up a reputation might not be as important.

That is a thought-provoking potential explanation, said Katherine Cronin, an animal welfare scientist at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, who has studied helpful behavior in animals.

Scientists call this kind of helpful behavior prosocial. Dr. Cronin said earlier research might lead to the opposite prediction: that the small-group-living macaws would behave more helpfully, while the African greys might not need to. She also wondered whether the blue-headed macaws just didnt understand their partners needs.

However, Dr. Cronin added, scientists who study such behavior in animals have often come across results that challenge their existing ideas. Finding and testing new hypotheses will help us understand why some animals have evolved to lend a hand.

In humans, its known that we help others because we empathize with them, Dr. Brucks said. But researchers cant tell whether African grey parrots feel the same way, or help others simply because they expect favors in return.

They also dont know how common it is across the animal kingdom for individuals to help each other out. Dolphins, rats and vampire bats have been all observed giving help. Dr. Brucks says only a few apes, though, have acted like the African grey parrots, aiding others with no clear benefit to themselves.

What is clear is that humans arent the only species that helps each other, Dr. Brucks said. Over hundreds of millions of years of evolving separately, we and the African grey parrots both developed the habit of looking out for a neighbor who needs a walnut.
The Indian rupee made gains for the third consecutive day on Thursday, as both the US and Iran seem to be downplaying the recent escalation in the tensions after the former killed top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.

On Thursday, the rupee was the best-performing currency in the emerging markets and second-best performing currency across the world. The domestic currency, during the day's trade, gained 48 paise (0.67%) to close at 71.21 against the US dollar. The only other currency which performed better than Indian currency against the greenback was Korean Wong -- which gained 1% during the day's trade.

On Wednesday, the domestic currency made a smart recovery. In the first hour of the morning trade, the rupee had lost 27 paise as news of Iran launching ballistic missile strikes on US bases in Iraq started pouring in. However, as both sides downplayed the strikes, the rupee started gaining and ended the day with 13 paise gain.

During the three trading sessions, starting from Tuesday, the rupee has gained 72 paise (1.03%) against the US dollar, despite foreign funds pulling out their monies from the Indian markets. The foreign funds, in the past three trading sessions, have pulled out a net of Rs 1,629.19 crore from the Indian equities.

The startling recovery of the rupee has happened purely on the back of the global crude oil prices moderating strongly in the past few trading sessions, according to the analysts. The Brent Crude futures in the international markets are down by 7.3% after testing $70.74 level last Friday. At the time of filing this copy, the Brent futures were trading at $65.53 a barrel.

However, the surge in the rupee prices seems to have hit the companies whose primary revenues come from the exports -- like IT. BSE's Information Technology Index went down by 17.83 points to 15,676 points, despite markets witnessing the broad index level rally on Thursday. "IT was the only loser as rupee rose after crude oil prices fell 5% overnight," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
The New Orleans economy is making progress as the city's revival continues apace, but the rising tide is not lifting all boats equally and more effort is needed on education, training, and physical infrastructure to make sure key sectors are supported.

That was the message from a diverse panel of business and economic development leaders who were taking the pulse of the New Orleans economy and discussing what is needed to build on the progress made at Thursday's Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Economic Summit.

One thing they all agreed on: the digital revolution has far-reaching implications for virtually every sector and will require public- and private-sector joint effort to ensure locals fill jobs.

Some of the city's oldest businesses, such as maritime and rail, are among its fastest-changing, as geographical advantages create opportunities driven by the digital economy.

"We have always been seen as a kind of pass-through gateway, missing out on some manufacturing and distribution opportunities," said Brandy Christian, CEO of the Port of New Orleans and the Public Belt Railroad.

But "the investments weve made over time have made us very well poised for this new 'Amazon World' in logistics," she said. "Southeast Louisiana is now seriously considered for major distribution e-fulfillment centers  we are finally on that radar."

Though the energy industry in south Louisiana has long been on the wane, petrochemicals manufacturing has been a big driver of trade through the port, accounting for a large share of the 12.3% growth in container shipping seen in 2018, the latest year reported.

That growth has come even before new plants under construction in the New Orleans-Baton Rouge corridor have come online, Christian noted.

Other sectors also are helping drive trans-shipping in New Orleans. The decision last year by Illinois-based Medline, one of the world's largest medical products distributors, to locate its one-million-square-feet regional logistics center near Covington is a case in point, she said.

Indeed, digitization of health care generally is an opportunity for New Orleans, said Aimee Quirk, CEO of innovationOchsner, which fosters start-up businesses within the Ochsner hospitals group.

Healthcare has been slow to adapt to "on-demand" consumerism that has transformed industries such as transport and banking, but is catching up fast, with U.S. health care digitization investment last year of $7.4 billion, she noted.

That trend will mean the health care sector will need people with a more diverse range of skills, such as software development and marketing expertise, Quirk said.

The digital transformation extends to the city's music scene, but it still languishes in the "gig economy".

Tara Hernandez, president of developer JCH Properties, who is also a member of GNO Inc. and New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Foundation boards, pointed out that Big Freedia has nine years of work that are out of her control because she did not properly register her intellectual property.

"We all know and the world knows that we have amazing music here," Hernandez said. "The challenge is that we only have one leg of it, and that is the gig economy.

"So, we can throw amazing festivals, we have lots of live music venue opportunities but when it comes to the business side of things  artist management, publishing, and song writing, which is really where the basis of the business is in terms of intellectual property  we're lacking."

The good news, she said, is the influx of technology companies into the city has started to make the music sector more attuned to the opportunities.

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She pointed to The New Orleans Music Economy initiative, which was started last year by GNO and is aimed at bringing musicians together with tech, business, legal and finance people to look for opportunities in areas like publishing, streaming, sound recording and so on.

Education and training is key across all sectors, but New Orleans' academic sector is a business behemoth in its own right.

Anne Teague Landis, CEO of Landis Construction, pointed out that the $1 billion Tulane University plans to spend on construction over the next five years  including its major role as a tenant in the new Charity Hospital rehabilitation and other downtown campus projects totaling 500,000 square feet  is among the "market anchoring" projects that will ensure job growth for her sector over the next couple of years.

Tulane President Michael Fitts pointed out that there are some 40,000 students and academic staff from Tulane and other major universities in the city, which is about 10% of the entire Orleans Parish population.

A recent study estimated that Tulane's statewide economic impact is more than $3 billion a year, with most of that focused on New Orleans.

But the universities could do more, Fitts said, especially by spending on areas of particular interest to the region, such as coastal erosion, water engineering, and infectious diseases. He said Tulane is aiming to increase by 50% the money it spends on research over the next five years.

"Investing in research literally pays off down the line and drives the entire community," Fitts said. He said it also helps attract and retain people in the city who go on to start businesses and grow jobs.

The question remains: what can be done to spread the gains in an economy still dominated by the tourism industry and its relatively low-paying jobs?

While New Orleans has undoubtedly benefited from the broad U.S. economic expansion, now in its 11th year, and from revitalization of the city, the city still trails national averages on economic growth and wages.

The unemployment rate for the New Orleans area is 4.4%  closer to 5% for Orleans Parish  while it averages 3.3% nationally. Average weekly wages for the New Orleans area are $996, compared to the national average of $1,095.

In the audience Thursday, chef and restaurateur Alon Shaya noted that many coming out of the city's schools would not be heading off to Tulane or any other university and need an alternative route to success.

"How do we invest at the high school level to teach our students that there are a lot of opportunities that are way above the minimum wage here in New Orleans and how do we prepare them for that?" he asked.

As with the perennial question of how to address the city's wear-worn infrastructure, the answer is unfailingly a need to invest more money, including vocational training programs, panelists said.

Walter Walt Leger, the former Speaker Pro Tempore of the Louisiana House of Representatives, who now is head of strategy and top legal adviser at New Orleans & Co., said there is a need to "be creative" in terms of raising money for needed education and infrastructure, like implementing a gas tax or public-private partnerships.

He said that investing in commuter rail, non-university training and other such infrastructure will underpin more equally shared economy.

"If you accomplish those basic fundamental things the wage growth will follow," Leger said.
ISTANBUL - An Iranian military commander said Thursday that missiles fired at bases used by U.S. troops in Iraq were not intended to inflict casualties, in the latest sign that Iran was seeking to avoid further escalation of hostilities with the United States.

After more than a dozen missiles slammed into the bases early Wednesday local time, both sides for now appear to be stepping back from further conflict.

"We did not intend to kill," said Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guard's Aerospace Force, according to Iranian state media. "We intended to hit the enemy's military machinery."

However, he repeated the government's claim that "tens of people were killed or wounded." U.S. and Iraqi officials said the strikes caused no casualties.

Iran and the United States had been on a war footing since President Donald Trump approved the killing last week of Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard's elite expeditionary Quds Force and Iran's most prominent military leader. Iran retaliated with the missile strike. By Wednesday, Iranian officials were suggesting that Iran did not intend any further attacks, and Trump said he would not respond militarily to the Iranian strikes.

Trump administration officials have offered conflicting justifications for the killing of Soleimani, saying he was targeted to avert an "imminent" threat and otherwise to retaliate against Iranian aggression more generally. Trump, speaking at the White House on Thursday, said that "we did it because they were looking to blow up our embassy."

It was not clear whether he was referring to previously undisclosed intelligence or to the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad by supporters of an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia a few days before Soleimani was killed.

"We did it for other reasons that are very obvious," Trump added, mentioning the killing of a U.S. contractor in a missile strike on Dec. 27.

"We didn't start it. They started it by killing one of our people and wounding badly other of our people," Trump said. "So that you call retribution."

A senior defense official on Thursday said the imminent nature of the attacks Soleimani was planning can be debated. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. military operations and intelligence, said there was a history of escalating violence attributed to Soleimani and the Quds Force over time. He described killing Soleimani as a proportionate response to Iran's aggression and that the administration had considered other options that would have resulted in more casualties. The official didn't elaborate on what those options were.The official also said, however, that Trump's claim about the nature of the threat at the embassy were true. He did not say how officials think Soleimani would have carried out such an attack.

The soaring tensions had alarmed officials in Iraq, the main stage for the conflict between Tehran and Washington, and spooked governments throughout the region.

Rocket attacks in Baghdad late Wednesday showed that the risk of escalation remained. The strikes highlighted fears that Iraqi militias, backed by Iran, could pursue revenge for the killing of one of their leaders in the same attack that killed Soleimani.

Two rockets struck Baghdad's Green Zone, which hosts the U.S. Embassy and other foreign diplomatic missions, but caused no injuries, Iraqi authorities said.

Jawad al-Talibawi, a spokesman for the network of Iraqi militias known as the Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Forces, told the Iraqi News Agency that the network was not responsible for the attack.

"The bombing of the Green Zone might be an individual reaction, or an attempt by some parties to distort the reputation of the Hashd and shuffle the cards," he said. "We are calling on those behind the bombing to stop these actions that distort the reputation of Hashd factions."

The statement was part of the broader effort to de-escalate tensions, but "we should all take a moment before popping the champagne," Rand Corporation political scientist Ariane Tabatabai said in an email. Even as the violence abated, the Trump administration was "doubling down on the maximum pressure campaign, which got us here to begin with," she said, referring to U.S. sanctions and other measures aimed at isolating Iran.

And Tehran, she added, could take further action. A tweet by Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif that his government had "concluded" its military response "could mean a lot of things: It could mean that Iran is done for now, which is the interpretation many have chosen to embrace. But it could also mean that this specific operation is done. Others may be in store."

Iran tried to counter the United States on the diplomatic front Thursday after Trump called on Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China to "break away from the remnants" of the 2015 nuclear deal Iran struck with world powers. Trump withdrew the United States from the deal in 2018.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, speaking with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday, "underlined the UK's continued commitment to" the nuclear deal and "ongoing dialogue to avoid nuclear proliferation and reduce tensions," according to a British government statement.

Rouhani also called European Council President Charles Michel asking for a response to U.S. sanctions, which Rouhani described as "economic terrorism," the Iranian Fars News agency reported.

In a statement, Michel emphasized the need for de-escalation in the region.

The tensions have continued to affect the main mission of U.S. forces in Iraq - fighting the Islamic State. The coalition said in a statement Thursday that military operations against the extremist group in Iraq would remain "paused" while the coalition focuses on "protecting the Iraqi bases that host Coalition personnel."

The conflict between the United States and Iran sparked concern that operations against the Islamic State, or ISIS, would be sidelined at a moment when the extremists, driven from the vast swath of territory they once held, are trying to regroup in parts of Iraq and Syria.

In Iraq, hundreds of Islamic State fighters have made their way to rural areas in the north, stepping up their attacks in recent weeks, including ambushes and mortar strikes.

U.S. military officials first announced the suspension of anti-Islamic State operations Sunday, as the Trump administration braced for possible Iranian attacks on military bases hosting U.S. troops in Iraq.

The same day, Iraq's prime minister urged parliament to take "urgent measures" to force the withdrawal of foreign forces after the killing of Soleimani.

Lawmakers responded by passing a nonbinding resolution calling on the government to end the foreign troop presence in Iraq.

The coalition's statement Thursday said it was awaiting "further clarification on the legal nature and impact of the resolution on foreign troops no longer being allowed to stay in Iraq." training and support of troops fighting the Islamic State has been suspended, although other activities, including countering the militant group's propaganda, would continue, the statement said.

- - -

Dadouch reported from Beirut. The Washington Post's Louisa Loveluck and Mustafa Salim in Baghdad and William Booth in London contributed to this report.
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha speaks to the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. / Yonhap



By Kang Seung-woo



The foreign minister said Thursday that the country may not be on the same page with the United States on the issue of dispatching a naval force to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, citing the importance of relations with Iran.



The remark came as the government is facing a dilemma over whether to accede to the U.S. request for military support in the Middle East amid escalating tension in the region following the U.S. killing of an Iranian general and Iran's retaliatory missile attack on U.S. bases in Iraq.



"Considering a political analysis and bilateral ties with countries in the Middle East, I believe our stance on the issue cannot be the exactly same as the U.S.," Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee. A meeting of the committee was convened to discuss how to handle that possible fallout from the growing tension between Washington and Tehran.



"We have maintained economic ties with Iran for a long time and currently, we provide humanitarian assistance and educational support to the country," she said.



"As the U.S. has asked the international community, including us, to join its maritime security coalition guarding the waterway, we have taken all the circumstances into consideration such as the safety of Koreans in the region and vessels passing through the strait."





Hormuz mission tests Korea-US alliance US, Iran step back from the brink; region still on edge US increases pressure on Korea to send troops to Middle East Iran missile attacks target US forces in Iraq; Trump says 'All is well!' [VIDEO] However, Kang said Korea has yet to make a decision on the matter.



This the first time for a senior government official to hint that Korea's decision on the issue may not be what its biggest ally wants.



Washington has repeatedly pressured Seoul to send a naval contingent to Hormuz. Earlier this week, U.S. Ambassador to Korea Harry Harri also urged Korea to accept the U.S. request, noting that Korea gets so much of its oil from the region.



However, the government is remaining cautious about any participation, which could endanger its ties with Iran and threaten the safety of Korean residents there.



In response to the U.S. request, broadening the operational areas of the Cheonghae Unit has emerged as the most probable option. The unit is engaged in an anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia.



With regard to speculation that the expanded operation would require parliamentary consent, Kang said this would depend on what kind of roles the unit will assume. According to the relevant law, the unit can carry out missions in the Gulf of Aden and its surrounding regions.



Also, the minister said the government would consider withdrawing Korean residents and companies from Iraq if the situation in the Middle East gets worse  although it assesses that there is no urgent need to pull them out.



"Most Koreans are staying in suburban areas that are out of range of Iraqi pro-Iran Shiite militias' retaliatory attacks, so to date we have just has to monitor the situation," she said.



Currently, 1,574 Koreans are in Iraq, most of whom are construction workers.



The minister added the government will run a 24-hour emergency response system until the situation stabilizes.



Meanwhile, Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul told the parliamentary committee the government is exploring measures for inter-Korean projects that do not violate the United Nations Security Council sanctions on North Korea.




There's no question Tulsi Gabbard and Tucker Carlson are on the same page when it comes to pulling our troops out of Iraq and Syria. During Wednesday night's interview with the presidential candidate, Carlson began by playing videos of Hillary Clinton, Gabbard's nemesis, cackling about killing Libya's Gaddafi and another one where she stated she would "obliterate" Iran if it attacked Israel.

Ever since Hillary suggested that Rep. Gabbard is a Russian spy, there's been bad blood between the two. Gabbard made the most of Tucker's well planned opening, calling Hillary a "warmonger." Tucker, obviously a fan of Gabbard, laughed in agreement. "You're totally right," he said.



YouTube screen grab.

But the congresswoman then used Hillary's support for the Iraq war to criticize President Trump. Many people voted for Trump, she says, because he promised to end "stupid" endless wars. Tulsi told Tucker she hears from Trump voters on the campaign trail who supported him "largely on this issue." (Gabbard's a little off with this, as polls in 2016 showed that illegal immigration, Obamacare, and jobs were among the leading issues for Trump voters.) "Unfortunately," said Gabbard, "President Trump's actions are undermining our national security" by refocusing our troops' attention to defending against Iran, instead of "preventing a resurgence of ISIS and al Qaeda."

Gabbard's military service has always been the centerpiece of her political campaigns. When Tucker asked her what she would do about the situation in Iraq, Gabbard reminded the host she is the only Democratic candidate who has served in uniform in Iraq. "For days now I've been calling for our troops to come home from Iraq and Syria," she said. Many Americans, she said, have told her they are "confident as commander-in-chief she would end the longstanding wars."

Gabbard has gotten quite a bit of political mileage out of her tours overseas, as have many other veterans serving in Congress. The impressive daughter of a prominent Hawaii politician was elected to the Hawaii State House of Representatives at the age of 21 in 2002 and soon after enlisted in the Hawaii Army National Guard. A local Honolulu newspaper published a story on Gabbard in 2003 where she stated, "In history, some generations have been given everything, and now in this generation where there's a war on terrorism, I'm honored to have the opportunity to give something."

Gabbard seems to have held this view up until 2012, when she ran for the Democratic primary in Hawaii's Second Congressional District and won. If she had any doubts about the United States' involvement in Iraq before she ran for Congress, the "rising star" kept them private. That changed in 2012. In an interview with Truthout, Gabbard said she "was against the war in Iraq. We should never have been there in the first place." In 2016, she strongly supported Sen. Bernie Sanders, even starring in a campaign ad for the candidate touting her service to the country.
CALIFORNIA - Governor Gavin Newsom has approved the deployment of four members of California-based Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Task Forces assigned to a FEMA US&R Incident Support Team to provide assistance as a result of the recent earthquakes in Puerto Rico, at the request of FEMA.

On top of that, FEMA is also deploying an Urban Search & Rescue Task Force from Miami, Florida to Puerto Rico. Cal OES announced this on Wednesday morning.

RELATED: Puerto Rico, roughly two-thirds of island without power amid dozens of aftershocks

The four Californians deploying to Puerto Rico on Wednesday come from two of the eight California-based state/national Urban Search & Rescue Task Forces including, California US&R Task Force 5 (Orange County Fire Authority) and California US&R Task Force 7 (Sacramento Fire Department).

During the deployment, the firefighters will use their skills to assist emergency operations in and around the areas affected, including the coordination and support of US&R teams conducting search and rescue operations, Cal OES said.

Cal OES said they will continue to monitor operations and requests for resources for areas impacted by the earthquake in Puerto Rico.
Over 80 persons attended the 3-hour NOAA public hearing on Monday evening. Lisa Manning, an official with NOAA (standing at front) explained the proposed critical habitat rule and heard testimony from the group.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration held a public hearing in Petersburg Monday night on their proposal to establish critical habitat areas for humpback whales in Southeast Alaska including areas from the Alaska Peninsula down the coastline to Southern California. Over 80 persons, mostly fishermen attended the standing-room-only meeting at the Assembly Chambers.

NOAA's fisheries division, the National Marine Fisheries Service proposes to protect the feeding areas of three separate groups of humpback whales, and will not affect anything except for federal agencies seeking to u...
PLYMOUTH, N.H.  Tim Smith is 35, relatively young compared with other voters. He calls himself an independent, which is common here in New Hampshire. And hes uneasy about the political establishment and Democratic Party standard-bearers.

Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that Mr. Smith voted for Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in the 2016 Democratic primary. Mr. Sanders was exactly the sort of outsider Mr. Smith said he was looking to support four years ago.

But he wont be voting for Mr. Sanders this time around. Instead, Mr. Smith said, he is leaning toward two other candidates who have, in their own ways, taken on outsider and anti-establishment labels: the entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.

I dont want Trump to win in 2020, and I want someone who I think can beat him, Mr. Smith said, minutes before Mr. Yang arrived at an event to open a campaign office in Plymouth last week. Though I love a lot of what Bernie says, I think hes not going to pull some of those voters over who are in the middle  especially those a little bit on the right. I think Andrew Yang and Tulsi can; theyre a little more moderate.
Gunmen have killed 12 people in an attack on a village in a region of central Nigeria known for bloody clashes between cattle herders and farmers, police said on Thursday.

Unknown armed assailants "suspected to be herdsmen" attacked the residents of Kulben village in Plateau state on Wednesday night, the regional police said in a statement.

The raid left 12 dead and one person seriously wounded, the authorities said. Local people said 19 people had died.

Plateau state is part of Nigeria's so-called middle-belt that divides the mainly-Muslim north from the predominantly Christian south.

Deadly clashes between nomadic Fulani herders and farmers over land, grazing and water have plagued the area for years.

Aid group Mercy Corps said in May last year that violence between farmers and pastoralists in Nigeria had "contributed to more than 7,000 deaths in the past five years".

Attacks in remote areas often go unreported but the authorities in Plateau state insist the bloodshed has decreased following reconciliation efforts between the communities.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Parrots in distress need not rely on a wing and a prayer for help, as they can get it from other birds.

A groundbreaking study has found that birds - specifically African grey parrots - are willing to help others in need, including strangers.

Clear examples of 'voluntary and spontaneous' altruism were spotted by a team of German researchers.

It was previously believed this kind of helping behaviour was exclusive to humans, great apes, and a small handful of other mammals.

Scroll down for video

The startling discovery was made when a group of African greys and another group, blue-headed macaws, were given tokens they could exchange for nuts if they gave it back to the researcher

Seven out of eight of the birds spontaneously gave the tokens to their partners without having experienced the social setting of the task before

The startling discovery was made when a group of African greys and another group, blue-headed macaws, were given tokens they could exchange for nuts.

Both species were willing to trade the tokens with researchers for a treat but only the African greys transferred a token to a neighbour so they could get a treat.

Seven out of eight of the birds spontaneously gave their token away - without having experienced the social setting of the task before.

When the parrot in need of help was a 'friend', the helper transferred even more tokens.

The birds gave the tokens away to a stranger but would give away more tokens if the other bird was recognised as a friend

The birds parted ways with the token despite not knowing if they would receive a token later on or that the roles would be reversed - a true example of a selfless act.

Co-author Desiree Brucks, of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany, said: 'We found that African grey parrots voluntarily and spontaneously help familiar parrots to achieve a goal, without obvious immediate benefit to themselves.'

Study co-author Auguste von Bayern said: 'Remarkably, African grey parrots were intrinsically motivated to help others, even if the other individual was not their friend, so they behaved very "pro-socially".'

She added that the findings were surprising as the parrots provided help without gaining any immediate benefits and seemingly without expecting any reciprocation.

Importantly, she notes, the African grey parrots appeared to understand when their help was needed.

Researchers observed that when they could see the other parrot had an opportunity for exchange, they would pass a token over, otherwise they would not.

The parrots would help out whether the other individual was their 'friend' or not, Dr von Bayern said.

The researchers suggest the difference between African greys and blue-headed macaws may relate to differences in their social organisation in the wild.

They say further studies are required to investigate the underlying mechanisms of the parrots' helping behaviour.
JEROME  When Royal Bliss, a rock band out of Salt Lake City, played one of the first shows at Diamondz Event Center, there wasnt even a stage. Around the second or third time the band came, there was a small one. Then came sound equipment and lights. Then a bigger stage, more lights and more sound equipment.

Now, the lights will go down on the venue as owners Greg and Julie Dodson made the decision to shutter operations.

After 10 years of bringing live music to the Magic Valley, Diamondz Event Center on West Main Street in Jerome will put on its last show April 11 with the band that started it all: Royal Bliss.

Im feeling sad, Taylor Richards, guitarist for the band, said. Gregs run a fantastic facility and done really well. Hes really grown that music side of things. Thats a feat.

The last year was rough for Diamondz and its sales were not adequate enough to cover the cost of upkeep, employee wages and licensing fees. Dodson said that hes had to donate his own money to the business over the years to keep it afloat, but the venue was ultimately a side venture and he could no longer justify the investment.

Dodson said support for live music hasnt been what it once was.

A friendly warning to fellow residents: If you dont start supporting your local businesses, youll never be in anything more than a residential suburb to Twin Falls, Dodson wrote in a Dec. 17 Facebook post about the venue closing.

With its impending closure, Magic Valley residents last options for dedicated concert venues will be in Boise and Salt Lake City, but Dodson said he hopes someone will be willing to buy or restart the venue.

The fans are going to be bummed, but something is going to pop up  maybe accidental, maybe on purpose  without fail, Richards said. Someones going to step up to fill the void.

Concert venues are often more than a place to listen to live music, Richards said. They offer a place to build community and support artists and other businesses.

He said Diamondz was unique because it catered to a variety of interests and didnt bill itself as a one-genre venue.

(Greg Dodson) dabbled in hip-hop, rock, pop, he did charity events, Richards said. Its a lot more than just a local venue.

City officials said the closure is a loss for Jerome as the city focuses on trying to revamp Main Street, but that the future of downtown still looks promising.

Its unfortunate any time you lose a business on Main Street, Jerome City Administrator Mike Williams said. I still think the future is bright for downtown, and I hope that the community can get out and support more Main Street businesses.

Williams said that he is grateful for the time and energy Dodson put into his business. The city cant necessarily direct businesses to establish themselves on Main Street, so it relies on current and prospective business owners to fill empty storefronts.

The Facebook post announcing Diamondzs closure has received hundreds of responses and wave of emails, calls and text messages. Greg Dodson said the biggest hit will be for the fans.

Its sad for everyone involved, but maybe more so for the local community, he told the Times-News. There was quite an outpouring.

There will be four more shows until the venue permanently closes.

Megan Taros is a Times-News reporter and Report for America corps member covering the Magic Valleys Hispanic community and Jerome County. You can support her work by donating to Report for America at http://bit.ly/supportRFA.

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Jessa Duggar says her son Henry's speech is improving after she revealed that the two-year-old suffered from speech delays and had been in just the sixth percentile of speech ability for his age group.

The 27-year-old had opened up about the toddler's delayed problems on the last season of TLC's Counting On, in which she took Henry to several specialists to determine the root of his slowed development.

But writing on Instagram this week, she told a fan that the little boy is still having his progress evaluated and she believes he is improving.

Improved: Jessa Duggar says her son Henry's speech is improving after she revealed that the two-year-old suffered from speech delays

Getting there: The 27-year-old wrote on Instagram: 'I think Henry is really catching up!'

Jessa had previously revealed that Henry only starting saying a couple of words around his second birthday, and months later, he was still far behind other kids his age.

But things are improving. On January 7, Jessa posted an Instagram photo of her husband Ben, 24, cuddling on the sofa with their smiling sons Henry and Spurgeon, four.

They also have a seven-month-old daughter named Ivy.

When a fan asked how Henry is doing with his speech, Jessa fired off a reply.

'We are going back this morning for a follow-up speech evaluation,' she wrote. 'I think Henry is really catching up!'

She didn't go into more detail, either about what they've been doing to help Henry's progress along or how he compares to other kids his age.

However, she'd previously been a bit more candid about Henry's struggles, allowing TLC's camera to document them on Counting On.

Tough: She previously said it's been difficult to watch her son struggle with speech delays (pictured with husband Ben Seewald and kids Ivy, Spurgeon, and Henry)

Behind: Henry only started saying a few words after his second birthday and was later put in the sixth percentile for speech in his age group

Talking: They have been working with the little boy to get him caught up to his peers

'He's had some speech delays,' Jessa explained in an episode early in the tenth season. 'We realized, probably since he was about 18 months old, that he wasnt communicating like his older brother did at that age, or like other kids his age.

'We realize that each kid develops at their own pace, but hes not been really catching on,' she said. 'Hes not really able to talk and communicate what he wants. A lot of the times its just grunts and pointing and that kind of thing.'

Jessa admitted she has been worrying about Henry's speech delays, but Ben has tried to keep her concern in check.

'I feel like especially as a mom, its easier for me to kind of stress out, like, "Oh no, hes delayed. Whats wrong with him?"' she said. 'And Ben is a little more level-headed, like, "Itll be okay, well figure it out."'

To figure out what was wrong, the couple first took him to an ear, nose, and throat doctor, speculating that his hearing might be at the root of his speech delays  though that didn't turn out to be the case.

When meeting with the doctor, Jessa explained that Henry was born with a 'really bad tongue-tie'  a band of tissue that connects the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth  that had to be clipped.

Expert opinion: In an episode of Counting On, Jessa and Ben took Henry to meet with an ENT to check his hearing

Point of concern: The mother-of-three explained that Henry has 'had some speech delays' while opening up about his development

Difficulties: Jessa said her youngest son was 'not really able to talk and communicate what he wants' like other children his age

Good news: After examining the boy, the doctor said it was likely a speech issue, as Henry appeared to have normal hearing and was not behind developmentally

After examining the little boy, the doctor told the couple that Henry didn't seem to have any issues with his hearing.

'We know that between [age] two and three is a very important time in their development as far as speech goes,' the specialist said. 'So this is the time to probably really focus on getting that development going and really jump-starting it.'

The doctor recommended that Jenna and Ben take Henry to see a speech pathologist and 'go from there'  advice that they followed.

'We were very happy to hear that Henrys hearing is not an issue,' Jessa said. 'His hearing is perfect. Developmentally, hes not behind, hes on track with where he should be. It just seems to be a speech issue.'

In a later episode, she had a family friend and speech pathologist evaluate the little boy, who only starting saying a couple of words around his second birthday.

'Henry is six months delayed with his speech,' Jessa said. 'You never want to see your kids face challenges or delays and it is hard as parent so see that.'

Checking up: She then made an appointment with a speech pathologist, who came to her home to examine Henry

'There are definitely times where I just think, am I doing something wrong as a mom?' she said

To the experts: They enlisted the services of Deedra Branscum, a family friend and speech pathologist, to examine Henry

The Counting On segment was filmed soon after Henry's second birthday back in February.

'Henry just turned two, and most kids his age will have about 20 to 50 words that they can say. Henry, he's got two words. He says mama and dada,' Jessa explained.

Jessa has plenty of other examples of what a child Henry's age should be able to do or say, having grown up in a home with 14 younger siblings.

And she herself has a four-year-old, while her older sister Jill has a four-year-old name Israel (and a two-year-old name Samuel, who is five months younger than Henry) and her older brother, sex pest Josh, has five kids age two and up.

'I really recognize how much he does not talk whenever he is around other kids who are even six months younger than him,' Jessa said.

'Like, his little cousin Mason is already saying more words than he is, and can communicate when he's thirsty or when he's hungry by using words. And so when I see those things happening it more sets in like, OK, this is not normal where Henry is, and I can see why he's frustrated.

Quiz: Deedra spoke to the couple about what Henry can and can't do and tested Henry's ability to identify pictures

'With Henry's very, very limited vocabulary, it seems like his resort is to screaming a lot... that can be frustrating, because he should be able to communicate more of his needs,' Jessa said

'Henry just turned two, and most kids his age will have about 20 to 50 words that they can say. Henry, he's got two words. He says mama and dada,' Jessa explained

'With Henry's very, very limited vocabulary, it seems like [he resorts] to screaming a lot. And so that can be frustrating, because he should be able to communicate more of his needs,' she went on.

'That can really be draining to us as parents,' Ben commented on the screaming. 'That's the time when maybe you have to go in the other room, pray for some patience.'

Jessa added: 'There are definitely times where I just think, am I doing something wrong as a mom? Am I not helping him enough to overcome these challenges in his life? At some point you just need to reach out and get extra help.'

To that end, they enlisted the services of Deedra Branscum, a family friend and speech pathologist. They'd already had doctors check his hearing and other development, and found that speech alone is the problem.

Deedra came to Jessa and Ben's house to evaluate Henry, speaking to the couple about what he can and can't do and testing Henry's ability to identify pictures.

But is he really better off? Jessa noted that her nephew Mason  the son of sex pest Josh  is younger than Henry but knows more words

She eventually told the couple that though Henry had just turned two at the time of filming, he fell at the 18 month range for speech, putting him in the sixth percentile. That's a 'moderate range of delay,' she said.

Jessa appeared unhappy at the news but also determined, agreeing with Deedra that she'd set up weekly therapy if he was still struggling withing four to six weeks.

'He's learning at his own rate and you have to be patient with that,' she said.

Jessa and Ben do appear to have taken some additional guidance from the speech pathologist, and in a video posted in May, they are seen using Preschool Prep Company materials to help with his reading and pronunciation.

'Sight words and letters with the 2-yr-old,' she captioned the clip. 'This is not a sponsored post, but just want to share for other Mamas out there who are looking for educational videos for their toddlers! @preschoolprepcompany videos are our favorites!'
Ukraine jet crashes in Iran, killing at least 170

WORLD: TEHRAN: A Ukrainian plane carrying at least 170 people crashed shortly after take off in Tehran yesterday (Jan 8) killing all on board, Iran state media reported.

accidentsdisasters

By AFP

Thursday 9 January 2020, 10:04AM

Rescuers look at wreckage after a plane operated by Ukraine International Airlines and carrying at least 170 people crashed after leaving Tehran's international airport. Photo: AFP

The Boeing 737 had left Tehran's international airport bound for Kiev, semi-official news agency ISNA said, adding that 10 ambulances were sent to the crash site.

Obviously it is impossible that passengers on flight PS-752 are alive, the head of Red Crescent, Morteza Salimi, told semi-official news agency ISNA, adding that 170 passengers and crew had boarded the plane.

State news agency IRNA said 167 passengers and nine crew members had boarded the plane, which was operated by Ukraine International Airlines.

Press TV, state television's English-language news broadcaster, said the plane went down in the vicinity of Parand, a city in Tehran province.

The crash was likely to have been caused by technical difficulties, it reported, citing Ali Khashani, spokesman for Imam Khomeini International Airport.

The plane caught fire after crashing, said Press TV. But a video aired by the state media broadcaster appeared to show the plane already on fire, falling from the sky.

State television showed footage from the site of the crash of Red Crescent search and rescue teams scouring an open field with debris strewn across it.

Iranian search and rescue teams have found the black boxes, the country's civil aviation authority said.

The two black boxes of the Ukranian 737 aeroplane that crashed this morning have been found, said the authority's spokesman, Reza Jafarzadeh, according to semi-official news agency ISNA.

American airline manufacturer Boeing tweeted: We are aware of the media reports out of Iran and we are gathering more information.

Escalating tensions

The crash came shortly after Iran said it fired missiles at Iraqi bases in revenge for the killing of one of the Islamic republic's top military commanders in a US drone strike on Friday (Jan 3).

Following the missile strikes, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was banning US-registered carriers from flying over Iraq, Iran and the Gulf after rocket attacks on US forces in Iraq.

The (FAA) issues Notices to Airmen tonight outlining flight restrictions that prohibit US civil aviation operators from operating in the airspace over Iraq, Iran and the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, it said in a statement.

The FAA will continue closely monitoring events in the Middle East.

Iran launched the missiles after a US drone strike killed Qasem Soleimani, a hugely popular figure who headed the foreign operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed severe revenge for the assassination and declared three days of mourning following the assassination which shocked the Islamic republic.

The assassination of Soleimani set off an escalating war of words between Iran and the US.

In Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani on Monday warned Trump to never threaten Iran, after the US leader issued a US strike list of 52 targets in the Islamic republic.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The nationwide strike called by various trade unions protesting against the Central government's 'anti-people' policies had only a partial impact on business establishments and educational institutions in the city on Wednesday.

There was no impact on TSRTC, Metro and MMTS services in the city. In fact, fearing the transport strike, many took to the Metro to reach their destinations on time. Apart from a few pockets in the city where auto did not ply as usual, things went on like any other day.

Educational institutions remained unaffected as there were no changes or modifications in their schedules. Except for a few schools, most public and private schools, as well as colleges, functioned as usual. An official from Osmania University confirmed that the university remained unaffected by the nationwide bandh call. However, there was a partial impact on the banking sector, except the State Bank of India, as the workers unions observed the strike. According to reports, over 70 per cent of the banking sectors routine business was dysfunctional.

Protest rallies were held in almost all towns, mandals, and districts in the State. The police detailed a few party leaders from the Communist Party as part of preventative arrest in a few districts. Industries in Balanagar, Jeedimetla, and Nacharam stopped production.

A large number of workers unions, including central trade unions like Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), and Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), along with various independent associations, civil society activists, farmers associations, and journalist unions gathered at Dharna Chowk in large numbers and raised slogans against the Central governments anti-people policies.

Over 30,000 employees belonging to 22 unions of Telangana State Power Utilities too boycotted their duties to join the strike. They said that the strike was against the central governments plan to privatise the public sector power companies by bringing an amendment to the Electricity Act of 2003.peaking to Express, CITU State General Secretary Hari Babu claimed that nearly 20 lakh workers, including beedi workers, and agricultural labourers, among others, participated in the strike by not attending their regular duties.
After bearing the brunt of jihadist dynamite and looting by thieves, the archaeological treasures of Afghanistan's Bamiyan province are facing a new and possibly more daunting threat: climate change.

Nestled in the heart of the Hindu Kush mountains, the Bamiyan valley's picturesque cliffs -- where centuries-old Buddha statues were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001 -- still contain a network of caves housing temples, monasteries, and Buddhist paintings.

The valley is also home to the silk-road era Shahr-e Gholghola fortress and the Shar-e Zohak citadel to the east.

Experts say that a pattern of dry spells followed by heavy rain, and larger than usual spring snowmelts is putting this historic art and architecture at risk of destruction.

Afghan officials warned in a 2016 United Nations report that the structures "may collapse and suffer from severe erosion"due to conditions directly linked to climate change.

"The erosion processes are much faster, the rains more devastating and the wind erosion stronger, which has an extremely harsh impact on the sites," Philippe Marquis, the director of the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan, told AFP.

Marquis -- who has explored and worked in the region for decades -- explains that Afghanistan "is very fragile geologically, especially as vegetation cover has greatly diminished" due to deforestation.

French imaging company Iconem concurred, saying Shar-e Zohak is "very fragile" due to erosion that has increased considerably over the last 30 years.

For Baqe Ghulami, 21, who hails from Saikhand district in northern Bamiyan, climate change has long been a reality residents have had to confront.

"The weather is changing, now summers are warmer and winters colder," he says, while overlooking the empty spaces where the two towering Buddha statues once stood.

Many of the artefacts pre-date the arrival of Islam to the region but despite the fact they come from another religion, the residents who spoke with AFP proudly defended the area's history as their own.

From the empty caves, visitors can see the Cultural Center, which began construction in 2015 but has yet to be completed.

It aims to educate visitors about the urgent need to preserve the area's heritage.

"There is no benefit if people just see (the sites) without information," says Ali Reza Mushfiq, 26, director of the Department of Archeology at Bamiyan University, complaining that a dearth of funding has left many in the dark -- including his own students who lack access to books.

The archaeologist readily admits that "erosion is increasing", but believes the real danger comes from "human influence at the site", including looters, who are rampant in Afghanistan.

The Shar-e Gholghola Fortress and other key sites are now guarded to protect against such issues.

The removal of landmines from the area has seen thousands visit in recent years, but the influx of recent visitors has done little to change the reality on the ground.

"We must start training... (the) local people to teach them how not to destroy the site," says Mushfiq, adding that some residents continue to store feed and house livestock in the historic sites.

A stone's throw from the cave of the great Buddha, Ammanullah, 37, says he and his family have moved into one of the caves, building a home inside made of odds and ends with plastic sheets for windows.

He is not alone, many other poor families have sought shelter next to ancient artefacts and structures.

"There are 18 families here... we didn't have other options," says Ammanullah.

"We would go if we were given a house."



For Marquis, however, the greatest threat does not come from local residents encroaching on the site or from theft.

"Even if it is dramatic, it is much less damaging than the destruction caused by erosion," he said.

Mitigating the impacts of erosion and the effects of climate change would cost billions of dollars in Afghanistan, but the war-torn country has little ability to shoulder such a burden.

The Global Adaptation Initiative, run by the University of Notre Dame in the US, currently ranks Afghanistan 173 out of the 181 countries it scored in terms of a nation's vulnerability to climate change and its ability to adapt.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kushal Punjabi's suicide came as a big shock to everyone. It once again highlighted the dark side of the industry. Behind the glitz and glamour lies depression and heartbreaks.

bollywooduncle.com

It has been over two weeks since the TV actor took the hard decision to end his life. Kushal committed suicide on Dec 26 by hanging himself from the ceiling of his Mumbai apartment. Since then, the horrifying news has kickstarted debate on depression.



Instagram

While his friends including Chetan Hansraj said he was depressed because of finances, his parents and wife in a statement recently have rubbished the claims.



Twitter

"There have been several media reports that have been falsely reported as being given by the members of Kushals family. We, hereby, confirm that all such reports as not being true. Kushal was a very doting father, who shared a close relationship with his son. He was financially stable. Today, we stand together as one family in mourning, in these difficult times. We will always remember him as a "much-loved part of this family," Kushal's family including Vijay Punjabi, Priya Punjabi and Ritika Punjabi, and wife Audrey Dolhen said in a statement as quoted by Pinkvilla.



It was being said that Kushal's failed relationship with wife Audrey Dolhen was the reason for his death. For the unversed, the two got married in 2015. She was living in Shanghai as she was on contract with the company she was working with.



I was on contract with my company and Kushal was not able to understand this. He wanted me to shift to London. It was not possible for me to quit my job. Kushal was a careless father who never bothered about his sons future. I was at the receiving end in the marriage and not him. I was with our son Kian in France for Christmas holidays, she had said according to Peeping Moon in an interview.


[January 09, 2020] Dapasoft Announces Corolar ConnectedCare, a Microsoft Teams Native Application for Clinical Communication and Collaboration

Dapasoft Inc., a leading provider of health data interoperability and clinical systems integration, today announced the launch of Corolar ConnectedCare App for Microsoft (News - Alert) Teams. It is a secure communication solution for clinician-to-clinician collaboration within the Microsoft Teams environment. With Corolar ConnectedCare App, clinicians can easily access patient data from EHRs like MEDITECH, Epic, Cerner (News - Alert), and more within the proven and secure Microsoft Teams collaboration framework. Corolar ConnectedCare will help address immediate and urgent challenges like transitions between care settings and fragmented care through improved clinical integration, by providing the right data securely at a care team's fingertips. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005057/en/ Corolar ConnectedCare is a Microsoft Teams native application (Graphic: Business Wire) "We are excited to bring new capabilities to Caadian clinicians for integrated patient care using Microsoft Teams," said Michael Lonsway, Dapasoft's President. "Healthcare is changing across Canada, and we see many organizations looking to Microsoft Teams as a secure platform for care coordination. We are excited to launch Corolar ConnectedCare to support clinician-to-clinician collaboration for integrated, patient-centred healthcare across the continuum."



Using Corolar ConnectedCare, clinicians can easily view their roster of patients and detailed patient chart information within Microsoft Teams (e.g., visit details, vitals, diagnosis, medications, lab results, clinical documents, etc.).

Corolar ConnectedCare extends the reach of care collaboration with support for mobile devices, desktop application or secure browsers.

Patient information can be shared within authorized multidisciplinary healthcare teams to collaborate securely and provide more efficient patient-centric care.

Bot framework within Microsoft Teams provides advanced searching and proactive notifications for important clinical events. Peter Jones, Healthcare Industry Lead for Microsoft Canada, said, "The ability to integrate electronic health data into Microsoft Teams from EHRs has been a key ask of Canadian healthcare providers. Corolar ConnectedCare App for Teams is launching at a critical time when many Ontario Health Teams are looking to Microsoft Teams. Because of Dapasoft's strong healthcare footprint in Canada and Microsoft technology capabilities we continue to strengthen our partnership with Dapasoft to modernize Canadian healthcare." About Dapasoft Inc.

Dapasoft is pioneering the future of healthcare applications and health data interoperability. Headquartered in Toronto, Dapasoft is trusted by North American healthcare providers, payors and application developers to power their solutions everyday, integrating a wide variety of EHR, EMR and other clinical and analytics systems. About Corolar Corolar is an award-winning Interoperability Platform that can be deployed to your public cloud instance and gives you sophisticated integration features and unmatched control and ownership. Our solution is architected to maximize autonomy, control and data sovereignty. Corolar enables you to develop, deploy, execute, manage and monitor integration processes and flows that connect multiple endpoints so that they can work together. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005057/en/

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When police arrested Luis Melendez on drug charges, they found $2,928 in cash alongside drugs and weapons in his bedroom.

The drugs and weapons became evidence in his criminal case, but prosecutors also went after the money in civil court using a common but little-understood practice called civil asset forfeiture. When Melendez fought to keep the money, they used his statements against him in his criminal case.

New Jerseys highest court on Wednesday declared this practice an abuse of power, though the ruling upheld Melendezs conviction based on the other evidence against him.

The decision places additional limits on New Jersey law enforcements ability to take money from people before they have been convicted of a crime at a time when state lawmakers are weighing additional reforms to the controversial practice of civil asset forfeiture.

In the unanimous ruling, the state Supreme Court found Melendez faced an untenable situation  forced to choose between his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and his right not to be deprived of property in the forfeiture matter without due process.

According to court records, police used a confidential informant to buy drugs from Melendez on four occasions at his Hoboken apartment in 2010. Based on that information, they raided the apartment, finding his parents and a young girl at home and focusing their search on the bedroom they believed belonged to Melendez.

Inside a dresser drawer, they found a large quantity of heroin, a handgun and hollow-point bullets, the cash and, strangely, a pair of handcuffs that belonged to a female police officer who previously had a long-term relationship with Melendez.

Following his arrest, the Hudson County Prosecutors Office  which was also prosecuting his criminal case  tried to seize the $2,928 through civil asset forfeiture, claiming the money was the proceeds of illegal activities for which defendant had been charged criminally.

A spokesman for the Hudson County Prosecutors Office declined to comment on the ruling.

The government practice of using civil courts to seize money from people accused of crimes is controversial. State legislators have for years considered reforms that would rein it in, because under current law, prosecutors can take money from somebody before theyve ever been convicted of a crime.

In court papers, Melendez said the money police seized was legitimate and came from a prison account that belonged to him while serving time for unrelated crimes. The Hudson County Prosecutors Office used that statement in Melendezs criminal case as part of their effort to prove the drugs and weapons seized from the same bedroom as the money also belonged to him.

Alexander Shalom, a senior attorney for the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the tactic amounted to prosecutors using "civil asset forfeiture to gain advantage in a criminal case.

When somebody is accused of a crime in New Jersey, they are entitled to a public defender. But because the seizure of money or property happens in civil courts, defendants have to hire private lawyers or represent themselves  sometimes while being held in jail awaiting trial.

Laura Lasota, an assistant deputy public defender who represented Melendez in the case, said she was pleased the court recognized that its intolerable for one constitutional right to be surrendered in order to assert another constitutional right but was disappointed the ruling did not apply to Melendez, whose conviction was upheld.

The high courts ruling effectively bans prosecutors from using such a tactic in the future. But the ruling also found that because of other evidence against Melendez, the error was harmless in his case.

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Ikea will open its first inner-city store in London in 2021. Photo: Matt Rourke/AP

Swedish retail giant Ikea will open its first inner-city store in the UK in 2021 after its parent company snapped up a west London shopping mall for 170m ($222m).

Ingka Centres, the real estate division of Ikea parent Ingka Group, announced on Thursday that it had acquired Kings Mall in Hammersmith.

Ikea said that its decision to open a smaller store reflects changing shopping habits and the rise in urbanisation, and comes as part of a global plan to open more small-format stores.

People have been eager to see our affordable range and access our life at home expertise on the high street for some time, so were excited to introduce a unique Ikea store to the vibrant local community in Hammersmith and London, said Peter Jelkeby, the retail manager of Ikea UK and Ireland.

Ikea already operates two small planning stores in London  one on Tottenham Court Road and another in Bromley  where customers can get kitchen and bedroom inspiration as well as home furnishing advice as part of a showroom-like experience.

The store in Hammersmith, although similarly small in format, will more closely resemble its larger outlets, but will also focus on home-furnishing offerings.

Ikea already operates such smaller-format stores in Paris and Moscow.

Ingka Centres said that, overall, it will invest 170m in the purchase and redevelopment of the shopping centre, and that it would work with the local Hammersmith community to regenerate Kings Street, where the centre is located.

Our urban projects are all about getting closer to more people, said Gerard Groener, the managing director of Ingka Centres.

More of our customers are living in cities than ever before, and a regenerated Kings Mall will be an ideal location for reaching millions of Londoners, he said.

Ingka Centres acquired the centre from Schroders, an asset management firm. Schroders had purchased the site and a nearby office building for around 150m in 2015.
All is well. Thats not how you address the nation on matters of war. Thats how a sophomore addresses his parents on a postcard from a trip abroad.  SETH MEYERS

Which was hilarious because the tweet was composed like Trump was writing a letter from the front lines of the Civil War. [As Trump] My dearest Twitter, all is well. Missiles launched from Iran. So far so good. I hope to see you soon. Please kiss Ivanka for me and not Eric. Sincerely, Donald hashtag MAGA, hashtag read the transcript.  TREVOR NOAH

Its O.K., folks. Its O.K. Weve achieved Defcon Fine.  STEPHEN COLBERT

Its like that joke about the guy who jumped off the skyscraper  you know that joke? Hes passing the 18th floor, someone yells out the window, Hows it going? and he yells back, So far so good!  JIMMY KIMMEL
New Delhi:

A fire broke out at the ESIC Hospital on Thursday morning and firefighting was underway, officials said. The blaze broke out in the basement of the seven-storey hospital building located in Sector 24, a police official said. Fire tenders were rushed to the spot after the Fire Department was alerted about it around 8 am, the official said.

The cause of the fire was yet to be known.

Around 100-120 people were present at the hospital at the time, officials said, adding that they were evacuated safely from the building. The patients have also been moved to nearby hospitals, they said.

Around 100-120 people present at the hospital when fire broke out, all evacuated



READ full story:https://t.co/fio9Qfuqqr pic.twitter.com/2fod3VMbpD  News Nation (@NewsNationTV) January 9, 2020

Earlier, a man died in a massive fire that broke out in Delhis Patparganj Industrial Area. The fire department has confirmed the death of a man. As many as 32 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. News Nation has learnt that the first call of distress was received by the fire department at 2:48 am. The blaze that started from ground floor a building soon reached the third floor.

The building houses a printing factory. The industrial area located in the east Delhi has several car showrooms and other corporate offices. This is the second such incident of fire in Delhi in last 10 days. Earlier on January 2, a blaze had gutted a battery factory in the Peeragarhi area. A fireman had lost his life while 14 others were rescued.

Anaj Mandi Fire That Still Haunts Delhi

Last year, Delhi witnessed a massive fire in Anaj Mandi area that claimed 43 lives. The Filmistan fire was the worst that the National Capital has witnessed since the Uphaar tragedy that killed 59 people. The tragic incident prompted visit from high-profile politicians, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Union ministers Hardeep Puri and Harsh Vardhan, Lok Sabha MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, Delhi Industry Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari and BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa to the LNJP Hospital.

Almost all the deceased were migrant labourers hailing from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Police and fire department officials said many of the fatalities occurred due to suffocation as the people were sleeping when the fire started at around 5 am on the second floor of the building that did not have fire safety clearance and was packed with combustible material like card boards.

It took over 150 firefighters nearly five hours to douse the blaze. As many as 63 people were pulled out from the building. While 43, including one minor, died, 16 were injured. Two fire department personnel were hurt while carrying out rescue work, officials said.
Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Deputy Assistant to the President at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Michael Kratsios poses prior to the first session of the 2019 Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM) at the OECD headquarters in Paris on May 22, 2019. (ERIC PIERMONT/AFP via Getty Images)

White House Proposes Regulatory Principles to Govern AI Use

LAS VEGASThe White House on Tuesday proposed regulatory principles to govern the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) aimed at limiting authorities overreach, and said it wants European officials to likewise avoid aggressive approaches.

In a fact sheet, the White House said federal agencies should conduct risk assessment and cost-benefit analyses prior to any regulatory action on AI, with a focus on establishing flexible frameworks rather than one-size-fits-all regulation.

The comments come at a time when companies are racing to integrate AI and deep machine learning into their businesses to remain competitive. However, the technology raises ethical concerns about control, privacy, cyber security, and the future of work, companies and experts have said.

Michael Kratsios, chief technology officer of the United States, said at a Web Summit in Lisbon on Nov. 7, 2019: The Chinese government has built an advanced authoritarian state by twisting technology to put censorship over free expression and citizen control over empowerment. Through their massive system of censorship, the Great Firewall, the Chinese government violates the privacy of every person in their country by monitoring online communications and blocking access to information.

Yet, he added, despite this and other grave and documented actions that run counter to the values of America, Europe, and our allies, countries around the world continue to consider opening their arms to Chinese companies in order to build critical infrastructure, like 5G, or develop key technology, like artificial intelligence.

If we dont act now, Chinese influence and control of technology will not only undermine the freedoms of their own citizens, but all citizens of the world, he warned.

Advancing innovation underpinned by American values is critical to countering tech-enabled authoritarianism. New proposed U.S. AI Regulatory Principles promote innovation, human rights, and civil liberties.  Thank you @nxthompson @WIRED for a great conversation! #CES2020 pic.twitter.com/xoqtUolq6K  Michael Kratsios (@USCTO) January 9, 2020

The Trump administration said agencies should promote trustworthy AI and must consider fairness, non-discrimination, openness, transparency, safety, and security.

As an example, the White House cited the Food and Drug Administration which is currently considering how to regulate the use of AI and machine learning technologies by medical device manufacturers.

The White House said, Europe and our allies should avoid heavy handed innovation-killing models. It added, the best way to counter authoritarian uses of AI is to make sure America and our international partners remain the global hubs of innovation.

Last year, the European Commissions High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence issued a set of ethical guidelines and European Union leaders are considering regulatory action.

Threats

Some U.S. states have raised concerns about AI applications. Californias legislature in September passed a three-year ban on state and local law enforcement using body cameras with facial-recognition software, the latest curb on technology that some say poses a threat to civil liberties. Some U.S. cities have also voted to bar facial-recognition technology by law enforcement.

An independent U.S. federal commission had also warned in November 2019 that the Chinese Communist Party has been working to erode Americas military superiority and deterrence capabilities through the integration of AI systems in its own military strategies, operations, and capabilities.

The commission recommended increasing investment in AI technology and use in national security missions.

In February, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order for federal government agencies to dedicate more resources and investment to AI-related research, promotion, and training.

Kratsios, who will talk about the administrations AI strategy at the CES trade show in Las Vegas later this week, said in a statement that Tuesdays principles set the nation on a path of continued AI innovation and discovery.

The White House held a meeting on AI in 2018 with over 30 major companies from a variety of industries, including Ford Motor Co., Boeing Co., Amazon.com Inc., and Microsoft Corp., vowing not to stand in the way of the technologys development.

By David Shepardson. With additional reporting by The Epoch Times staff.
The controversy keeps mounting over a new tax break for investing in poor U.S. communities. But investors keep piling in.

They just pumped $2.26 billion into funds that are planning to take advantage of "opportunity zone" tax incentives, a 51% jump from early December, according to a survey released Thursday from tax adviser Novogradac. To line up the full benefit, investors had to commit their capital by the end of last year. But the figure also rose because the survey's sample included more funds and because respondents updated how much they raised.
Toyota Motor seeks to sell 500,000 electric vehicles worldwide in 2025, Nikkei has learned, a volume that puts it far behind leading global rival Volkswagen but would satisfy environmental rules in China and Europe.

Japan's top automaker will release electric models such as the Lexus UX 300e sport utility vehicle in China and Europe this year. At least 10 new models will debut internationally by 2025.

By comparison, Volkswagen aims to top sales of 3 million EVs in 2025. U.S. electric-vehicle maker Tesla expects eventually to reach an annual capacity of 500,000 units at its new Gigafactory in Shanghai.

Long focused on hybrids and the distant goal of hydrogen-powered fuel cell cars, Toyota needs to boost its output of EVs as it faces stronger environmental standards for automakers in key markets.

"We won't be able to clear forthcoming regulations with hybrid vehicles, and EV and other technology will be necessary," said Executive Vice President Shigeki Terashi, who leads Toyota's electrification effort.

China last year began enforcing a production and sales quota for so-called new-energy vehicles, while Europe will bolster emissions standards in 2021. This regulatory trend is expected to continue beyond 2025.

Yet hybrids will remain the core of the automaker's electrification strategy, so its volume of EVs will be limited compared with rivals. Europe and China occupy relatively small shares of Toyota's overall sales, which factors into the EV target as well.
A judge has criticised motor insurance providers over the premiums charged to young drivers.

Judge Desmond Zaidan said high premiums are forcing young people to take risks and drive without insurance cover.

He was speaking after convicting a 19 year old of driving without insurance on January 8.

Read more County Kildare news

Ernest Bruno, whose address was given as 21 Ballinakelly Edge, Newcastle, Co Dublin, was found driving at Church Street, Kilcock, with no insurance on March 30 last.

Solicitor David Powderly said his client had been quoted 6,000 for an insurance policy.

Mr Powderly added that the youth lost his vehicle as well as a result of the incident

Its more expensive than the car, he told Naas District Court on January 8.

Judge Zaidan said that while there is no doubt that there is a risk associated with insuring inexperienced drivers, not all young drivers are the same and they should not be penalised at the outset.

They should not all be put in the same basket, he said.

Judge Zaidan imposed a two year driving disqualification.
We are very clearthere is no such thing as status quo here. We have to keep looking into the future.

For Mark Evans, deputy chief executive, service delivery at NZ Police, this perspective is important as ICT is increasingly becoming a critical component of policing.

At the recent Technology for Transformation (T4T) Summit in Wellington, NZ Police discussed  and demonstrated  some of these technologies in action, from drones to wearable technologies.

In an exclusive interview with CIO New Zealand, Evans and Superintendent Rob Cochrane, chief information officer at NZ Police, share lessons learned from the conference.

They reveal that an upcoming area of application of technology in policing work is in health and wellness.

We know with a heart rate that is over 160, your decision-making can deteriorate, says Cochrane. It is around understanding that if your heart rate is high, what can you do to reduce your heart rate so your decision-making quality is increased? How do you control your body and heart rate to get the best outcome?

There is no such thing as status quo here. We have to keep looking into the future

It is still early days, he notes. It is a use case of how we can use technology to understand their biometrics, so they know what to do when they make a decision.

It is around how to use technology to keep people healthy, but there is a major safety element to that as well, adds Evans.

Ultimately, when you think about the privacy of that information, we need to work with our staff to understand how we might use that.

The two Police executives apply this insight to other technologies that are being deployed or being considered across the agency and the government sector.

We have got to have conversation around privacy and public as a police service, says Evans.

There is the technology piece, and then part of the conversation is around the community. Whats acceptable? This is quite important. I do not want to lose sight of the fact that we are going to run these things in parallel, he explains.

So, while we are looking at technology, we are looking at privacy and social license aspects.

NZ Police It takes a community: Government agencies that sent representatives to the first NZ Police Tech Summit include Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Ministry of Justice, Department of Corrections, New Zealand Defence Force, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, Ministry of Social Development, Inland Revenue Department, Department of Conservation, New Zealand Transport Agency, New Zealand Custom Service, New Zealand Qualifications Authority, Education Review Office, Capital and Coast District Health Board, and Crown Law. NZ Police

Inaugural tech summit

The two-day Technology for Transformation event was organised to showcase current capability and emerging technology at the NZ Police.

The event, open to all government employees, also aimed to connect with other public sector employees so they could learn how technology creates new ways of working and to encourage greater collaboration across the sector.

According to Cochrane, more than 600 people attended T4T over the two days at the Royal New Zealand Police College. The attendees ranged from Police executives to recruits that have just started their training.

This is the first time the NZ Police has held this type of technology forum, discloses Evans.

It reflects a bit of a sense of technology being fundamentally important to policing, and certainly, of policing in this country, he adds.

We were very keen to lift the awareness of the importance of technology as a business enabler.

He also says that the NZ Police is doing well in a number of areas, particularly digital development, mobility, and service delivery.

He points out the importance of making the technology summit a partnership event.

The future is very much a collaboration with key strategic partners, says Evans, and these range from multinationals to local New Zealand companies.

NZ Police More than 600 people attended T4T over the two days at the Royal New Zealand Police College  the attendees ranged from Police executives to recruits

Not in isolation

The whole theme of the summit is with a combination of technology working together, we are going to get the best outcome, and you need to work with partners to allow that to happen, states Cochrane.

It is picking the right things that are going to make a difference.

5g is really an important part of the Police around actually being able to slice a network and having emergency services dedicated to the spectrum, notes Cochrane, on some of the technologies that stood out for him.

It will open up some avenues for Police, he adds. The ability of Police to stream 4K quality video in real-time back has real value.

He adds that the analytics in CCTV or video data will reduce human costs of trying to analyse the data, versus AI or machine learning running across the video to identify key themes.

The use of drones is another example, says Cochrane.

He notes the cost of running a helicopter with the cost of running a drone, for a lot of police-related incidents, and also for 3D mapping.

If you look at the 5G capability of a drone to actually map the crash site, and allow police to clear the road and get traffic moving, that has benefits on the economy especially in Auckland, he states.

You cant look at technology in isolation.

The mobile advantage

It is really important we made really positive steps around how we built our mobility programme, adds Cochrane.

Our partners, our workforce, and ICT working alongside each other fully allowed them to understand a day in the life of a police officer.

He cites the work by Kiwi firm Smudge. They work with our people from the front end and spend as much time going out in police cars as much as staff operating in the field, to see what is going to make a difference for them.

Evans notes how the mobility programme of the NZ Police was one of five winners in the 1st World Class Policing Awards in November 2019 in London.

The global award cites NZ Police for its more street than station approach mobility programme.

It highlights how New Zealand is leading edge in terms of law enforcement agencies around the world, says Evans, who joined Commissioner of Police Mike Bush in receiving the award.

In some areas, we are bleeding edge.

Smartphones and Police-specific apps allow officers to access and share the latest data and react quickly to developing events and incidents.

The Police estimates mobility has brought productivity gains of at least 30 minutes per officer per shift  totalling over half a million hours per year. These hours are redirected into prevention-focused activities.

A part of the programme, the CheckPoint app, was introduced in the hours following the terrorist attack in Christchurch in March 2019.

It provides officers with quick access to content on policy, procedure, and religious protocols to support them in making reassurance visits to places such as educational facilities and places of worship.

NZ Police You cant look at technology in isolation  NZ Police CIO Rob Cochrane

Continuous learning

Cochrane also talks about their approach to a constantly changing business technology landscape.

We need to think about how we support our staff moving from on premise environment to cloud environment, he explains.

Cochrane says Police has also started planning for its first ICT graduate programme, which will be implemented this year.

According to him, the graduates will provide the ICT leadership with useful, different lenses.

He shares that they also had a good conversation with other companies that have been implementing graduate programmes in their ICT functions.

What was clear was that they werent employing all technology students, says Cochrane. They were employing a broader wide range of qualifications.

You want diversity in your work to come through, he adds.

Evans says one of the things he was encouraged by, was the number of front-line staff that attended the forum and talked to the technology providers.

They work with the device, and they see what it is in front of them that will help them do their job.

They live in a world with smartphones and they expect the systems to essentially replicate what they got into their phones.

Weve got lots of young people, because we are recruiting lots more members into the police service and we are really looking into opportunities in that space, he says.

One of the things that Rob [Cochrane] has been working on is how we can create a positive culture within the technology group.

That is the main thing in the workforce, to be purposeful, agile, and feel confident that they are well supported around doing things differently, he explains.

And, certainly, in policing over the past two years, we are trying to create a more agile, imaginative, and innovative culture.

What I have seen is much more collaboration and partnership together, adds Evans. You can only do that if you have trust and understanding and a common view of the problems you are trying to solve.

Technology is about people  and relationships, he adds.

As for lessons other government agencies can learn from, he says.

The biggest one for us was you need to make really good decisions about who you partner with, who youre going to work with in the tech space, and really understand it is about getting better outcomes for New Zealand.

It is not about buying widgets or being transactional, Cochrane stresses. You really have to make investments on both sides of the organisation to work together for better outcomes. Ultimately, it is going to be good for New Zealand.
Darned if you do and darned if you don't?

When I first started in this business in the 1970's, I remember an editor proclaiming that one shouldn't add editor's notes to letters to the editor. So, I sometimes let things go that I know are incorrect. In these cases, I hope the readers themselves will police the offense.

This happened last week, and I had a call from a reader; I suggested the caller submit a letter, but, alas, it didn't come.

So, with the help of a family member, here's this about a letter printed last week:

The statement, "largest scientific consensus resides with the 31,000 scientists who have signed on to the petition project launched by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine proclaiming the global warming/climate change/carbon emission movement to be a hoax..." is less factual than polemical and political.

Checking the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, one finds this: "Oregon Petition-- The Global Warming Petition Project, also known as the Oregon Petition, is a petition urging the United States government to reject the global warming Kyoto Protocol of 1997 and similar policies. Some consider it to be a political petition designed for disinforming and confusing the public about the scientific results and the consensus of climate change research.

"The petition was organized and circulated by Arthur B. Robinson, president of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (described as "a small independent research group") in 1998, and again in 2007. Frederick Seitz, then chairman of the George C. Marshall Institute, wrote a supporting cover letter, signed as "Past President National Academy of Sciences USA, President Emeritus Rockefeller University." In a highly unusual move, the National Academy held a press conference to disclaim the mailing and distance itself from its former president.

"Robinson asserted in 2008 that the petition has over 31,000 signatories, with 9,000 of these holding a PhD degree. Most signatories with a PhD hold their degree in engineering. The 2009 report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC)a group that "disputes the reality of man-made climate change"lists 31,478 degreed signatories, including 9,029 with PhDs. The list has been criticized for its lack of verification, with pranksters successfully submitting the names of Charles Darwin, a member of the Spice Girls and characters from Star Wars, and getting them briefly included on the list."

If one doesn't trust Wikipedia, one can check with NASA: Scientific Consensus: Earth's Climate is Warming (https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/).

Climate change is real.

And as for Greta Thunberg and her sailing across the Atlantic to demonstrate in favor of reduction of carbon dioxide emissions which exacerbate climate change, good for her.
Fotis Dulos returned to his home on Thursday evening, hours after he and his girlfriend Michelle Troconis were freed on bail after being charged in the murder of his wife Jennifer.

Troconis was taken straight to a hospital from court for undisclosed health problems.

Dulos arrived at his house in New Canaan, Connecticut, in a different car than he left court in, driving directly into his garage accompanied by two police officers.

He reportedly complained to the officers about members of the press gathered outside his house.

The 52-year-old was released from custody on a $6 million bond on Thursday afternoon, two days after his arrest in Connecticut, after being fitted with a GPS ankle monitor at Stamford Superior Court.

His head held high as he walked out of the courthouse, Dulos did not answer questions from the press as he walked briskly to a waiting SUV. When a reporter asked 'Where's the body?' Dulos merely raised his eyebrows.

Troncis, 45, made her own $1.5 million bail on a conspiracy to murder charge, but instead of walking out of the courthouse she was rushed in an ambulance to a nearby hospital.

Jennifer, 50, was last seen alive dropping the couple's five kids off at school on May 24, amid a contentious divorce and custody battle with her husband. Her body has never been found.

Fotis Dulos arrives home on Thursday evening escorted by two officers. He was released on bail after being charged in the murder of his wife Jennifer.

Dulos arrived at home in a different car that he left court in. He drove directly into his garage and then entered his house

Dulo reportedly complained to his accompanying officers about gathered press outside his home after returning on Thursday evening

Fotis Dulos (far right) breathes fresh air after spending two nights in Connecticut jail

Dulos, 52, was released from custody on a $6 million bond on Thursday

Troncis, 45, made her own $1.5 million bail on a conspiracy to murder charge, but instead of walking out of the courthouse she was rushed in an ambulance to a nearby hospital. Photo courtesy of News12

Both suspects paid fees to bail bondsmen who posted their full bonds, with Dulos paying $420,150 and Troconis paying $105,150, according to WTIC-TV.

Dulos' financial woes and deep debt totaling some $7 million were detailed in his arrest warrant.

Sources said a Dulos family friend delivered a cashier's check for more than $100,000 that allowed him to make bail.

Troconis' mother and a sister arrived at the courthouse on Thursday morning, but then rushed to the hospital in their BMW after learning that she would be transported there directly.

Outside Stamford hospital, DailyMail.com spotted a female police officer bringing a bag of clothes that appeared to include a red sweater Troconis was wearing when she was arrested on Tuesday.

Jennifer Dulos (above) disappeared on May 24 and her body has never been found

Left to right in new booking photos: Dulos is charged with murder. Michelle Troconis, 45, and Dulos' former attorney, Kent Mawhinney (right), are charged with conspiracy to murder

Addressing the media outside the courthouse, one of Dulos' attorneys Kevin Smith said: 'He is relieved as you might expect, and we are looking forward to the process of defending this case.'

Civil attorney Kent Douglas Mawhinney, 53, a close friend of Dulos, remains jailed in lieu of a $2 million bail after being charged with conspiracy to murder for allegedly securing a makeshift grave site ahead of the murder.

Meanwhile, it emerged that police seized an ax from the garage of Dulos' home in Farmington when they arrested him on Tuesday.

Connecticut State Police have not publicly disclosed why they seized the ax, or whether they consider it a possible murder weapon.

Dulos' attorney Norm Pattis dismissed the ax as irrelevant and inconsequential.

'We'd heard for weeks that they were looking for an ax,' he said at a press conference on Wednesday. 'If there was going to be significance to it, I doubt it would be sitting in plain view when they came into the house.'

Outside Stamford hospital, a female police officer brought a bag of clothes

The clothes appeared to match those that Troconis was wearing when she was arrested (right)

Michelle Troconis was taken in an ambulance to this hospital in Stamford

Several of Troconis' sisters (left and right) were spotted at Stamford Hospital on Thursday

Arrest warrants reveal for the first time that cops suspect Dulos may have killed Jennifer in order to get his hands on their children's trust funds, worth more than $2 million, which had been set up by Jennifer's parents.

Dulos was deeply in debt with $4.5 million in outstanding loans, and battling lawsuits from Jennifer's mother claiming he owed her another $2.5 million, according to the warrant.

The warrants also reveal that Troconis told investigators that she had intimate relations with Dulos twice on the day Jennifer disappeared.

Once, she said, was that morning before breakfast at around 6.40am  when police believe Dulos was actually driving a borrowed truck to Jennifer's home.

Troconis claimed they became intimate again around 5pm in the driveway of a home Fotis was working on, where they were interrupted by Dulos' employee. Cops suspect that the couple were actually cleaning vehicles involved in the murder.

Fotis Dulos is released from Stamford Superior Court on $6 million bond

One of Dulos' attorneys Kevin Smith said: 'He is relieved as you might expect, and we are looking forward to the process of defending this case'

Michelle Troconis' mother Marisela Arreaza and sister Claudia Troconis-Marmol arrive at court on Thursday morning to greet her as she is freed on bond

Jennifer's nanny Lauren Almeida was revealed as a key witness in the arrest warrants, which stated that she immediately suspected something was wrong when she found that Jennifer was not at home on the morning of May 24.

Almeida told investigators that she found the back door unlocked and Jennifer's tea and granola bar sitting on a kitchen counter, and her handbag lying on the floor in the doorway between the mudroom and the kitchen.

The nanny was shocked to discover there were only two rolls of paper towels in the cabinet, after stocking it with a brand-new 12-pack the prior day.

'I just sat there and wondered what had happened last night that they used ten rolls of towel rolls,' she said in a statement to investigators.

The nanny told investigators that she sent text messages to Jennifer Dulos' phone during that same afternoon, but they all went unanswered.

At around 4pm, Almeida dialed Jennifer's phone, but it went straight to voicemail.

'Immediately my stomach sank, and I had a feeling that something was wrong,' Almeida told investigators.

'In the almost seven years that I have worked for Jennifer I NEVER EVER had a hard time reaching her and NEVER had an issue with her phone being off.'

Dulos, second from right, stands with his crack legal team at his arraignment on Wednesday

Michelle Troconis, center, is arraigned on conspiracy to commit murder charges Wednesday

Attorney Kent Mawhinney is arraigned on conspiracy to commit murder charges in the case of missing mother of five, Jennifer Dulos, in Stamford Superior Court on Wednesday

According to police, when Almeida learned that Jennifer did not appear for a child's orthodontist appointment that afternoon, her 'first thought was that Fotis did something.'

When police showed Almeida investigation photos of Jennifer Dulos' home, the nanny noticed that a cleaning supply bucket with cleaning supplies inside was missing from the garage.

The five Dulos children are in the custody of Jennifer's mother, who is caring for them in her Fifth Avenue apartment in Manhattan.

Troconis and Dulos are both confined to house arrest while free on bail, and subject to GPS monitoring.

Neither are U.S. citizens, and both were warned at arraignment that they could be subject to deportation if convicted.

Fotis is due back in court on February 28. Troconis is due in court on February 7, and Mawhinney is set to appear on February 20.

Jennifer (left) filed for divorce in 2017, and Fotis Dulos became romantically involved with Michelle Troconis (with him right at a work event)
- Senator Murkomen argued the Jubilee administration was not sincere in its rally for peace and unity in the country

- The Leader of Majority in the Senate wondered why the presidents orders on Miguna's return was ignored by government officials

- On Wednesday, January 8, Government Spokesperson Cyrus Oguna said the exiled lawyer's unruly behaviour was a threat to JKIA Category 1 status

Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen has poked holes into the handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga.

The vocal lawmaker argued the duo was preaching peace while drinking wine in reference to the governments efforts in frustrating exiled lawyer Miguna Miguna's return to Kenya.

READ ALSO: Woman who stole KSh 60K from lover as he was showering arraigned in court

Senator Murkomen has said BBI and handshake will be rendered useless if Miguna cannot be allowed into Kenya. Photo: Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Cyrus Oguna says Miguna's unruly behaviour threat to JKIA Category 1 status

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, January 8, the lawyer argued the Jubilee administration was not sincere in its rally for peace and unity in the country.

The frustrations Miguna Miguna is facing epitomises the hypocrisy of Kenyan politics of change and Kenya mpya (new Kenya). It paints ugly BBI and handshake. If we cant embrace him with his divergent ideas how shall we pretend to unite a nation? Miguna should be facilitated, he said.

The Leader of Majority in the Senate wondered why the presidents orders on the barristers return was ignored by government officials.

As far as I am concerned President Kenyatta gave orders which orders he restated publicly that Miguna Miguna, his views notwithstanding, is welcomed back home. Those frustrating him are out rightly sabotaging the head of state, embarrassing his administration and denting his legacy, he argued.

Miguna's attempt to come back to his motherland on Tuesday, January 7, after his deportation in 2018 was thwarted by the state after it issued a red alert to Lufhtansa Airlines and Air France respectively not to carry the self proclaimed general to any African country.

On Wednesday, January 8, Government Spokesperson Cyrus Oguna said Miguna's unruly behaviour was a threat to JKIA Category One status.

Self proclaimed NRM general Miguna Miguna was ejected from a Nairobi bound plane on Tuesday, January 7. Photo: Dr Miguna Miguna.

Source: Facebook

Murkomen's tweet generated conversations on Twitter.

Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly.

I have no vagina, uterus and cervix - Julian Peter | Tuko TV | Tuko Talks

Source: TUKO.co.ke
Beckman Coulter, a global leader in clinical diagnostics, announced today that South West London Pathology (SWLP) has implemented DxH 900 hematology analyzers and the Early Sepsis Indicator across the SWLP network.

SWLP is an award-winning NHS pathology partnership set up by St. Georges University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Croydon Health Services NHS Trust and Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The installation enables SWLP laboratories to provide a single, integrated pathology service to more than 3.5 million people across South West London via three hospitals, 200 GP practices and 30 community healthcare sites.

Beckman Coulters DxH 900 hematology analyzers enable clinical laboratories like SWLP to perform complete blood count and white blood cell differential tests. Demonstrating an industry-leading 93% first-pass yield, the DxH 900 reduces the number of manual slide reviews, helping to generate reportable results as quickly as possible. In addition, the DxH 900 features the Early Sepsis Indicator , the only CE marked and FDA-cleared hematologic biomarker that aids the diagnosis of sepsis in adult patients.

Emergency departments across our network see 370,000 patients a year. And, with conditions like sepsis becoming more and more prevalent, it is mission critical to have the tools and technology to identify, diagnose, and begin treatment as early as possible. We believe that Beckman Coulters DxH 900 and Early Sepsis Indicator will help us detect and the clinical teams manage sepsis more effectively. Our staff is looking forward to seeing the benefits that the technology brings to the growing population being served by SWLP.  Simon Brewer, Managing Director at South West London Pathology

We are proud to partner with South West London Pathology on their mission to reduce the impact of sepsis, said Peter Soltani, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Hematology Business Unit at Beckman Coulter. Our partners count on Beckman Coulter to provide a broad menu of solutions that impact the treatment of the most prevalent and costly health conditions. And in cases like sepsis where every minute counts, having a biomarker included as part of a routine CBC blood test enables detection earlier in the critical care pathway which can make a huge difference.
Syracuse, N.Y.  For the second time in two years, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing that many elected officials across New York make their income tax returns public.

The proposal would require all elected officials who earn more than $100,000 to make income tax returns public. That would include Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh, whose city salary is $115,000.

I dont have any opposition to that, Walsh said. Its not something I have a problem with.

Cuomo, a Democrat in his third term, included the proposal in his annual State of the State address in Albany on Wednesday. Walsh, an independent serving his first term, was at the speech.

Cuomo floated a similar proposal last year, though that one included the requirement for all elected officials.

In addition to elected officials making $100,000 or more, this years proposal would also require the following to release their tax returns: the governor, lieutenant governor, state comptroller, attorney general, all state senators and assembly members.

In Onondaga County, Ryan McMahon would also be required to show his tax returns. McMahon makes about $160,000 as county executive. District attorneys and many judges across the state would also fall under the requirement.

Its unclear, at this point, what making the documents public means. Cuomo has made his tax returns public since running for attorney general in 2006. Reporters are allowed to review the documents and publish the contents without taking photos of the documents. In 2018, Cuomo paid about $51,000 on $211,000 in adjusted income.

Cuomo will reveal more details about the proposal at his upcoming budget presentation, which has not yet been scheduled, according to spokesman Jason Conwall. The New York State Legislature would have to approve the proposal. Their legislative session begins today.

Reporter Mark Weiner contributed to this report.

More coverage of Cuomos 2020 State of the State

Cuomo proposed paid sick leave for most workers

Governor wants to make ghost guns illegal

Tax break would help 4,000 farmers

$3 billion bond act would tackle flooding, protect habitats

Thanks for visiting Syracuse.com. Quality local journalism has never been more important, and your subscription matters. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.
Jackson Garlick will auction off dates with his reality TV star friends to raise funds for bushfire relief.

On Thursday, the former Bachelorette star took to Instagram to announce the fundraiser he organised will take place on Saturday at the Robin Hood Hotel in Waverley.

He revealed that dates with former Bachelor and Bachelorette stars would be up for grabs, all with the aim of raising money for their chosen charities.

For a good cause: Former Bachelorette star Jackson Garlick will auction off dates with his reality TV star friends to raise funds for bushfire relief

Jackson said that he would also be auctioning off a date with himself at a starting bid of $2.50.

Bachelor season six star Brittany Hockley and season seven favourite Elly Miles are also taking part in the win-a-date auction.

A slew of other season seven Bachelor stars are also taking part in the fundraiser include Jessica Brody, Nikki Ferris, Julia Hyde, Sogand Mohtat and Vakoo Kauapirura.

Ready to help: Brittany Hockley, who was infamously dumped by season six Bachelor Nick Cummins, was among the first to put their hand up for the auction

Doing her part: Bachelor season seven favourite Elly Miles will also take part in the win-a-date auction

Clearing the air: Jackson set the record straight on Instagram explaining that he was not 'pimping out the girls for the auction'. He added: 'They have generously offered up their time and we're all doing it for a bit of fun'

Bachelorette stars Adam Sellars and the controversial 'stage-five clinger' Jamie Doran will also take part.

Jackson set the record straight on Instagram explaining that he was not 'pimping out the girls for the auction.'

'They have generously offered up their time and we're all doing it for a bit of fun,' he said.

Raising money: A slew of other season seven Bachelor stars are also taking part in the fundraiser including Jessica Brody (pictured)

Fund raising: Nikki Ferris (left) and Julia Hyde (right) are also pitching in to help raise funds for Jackson Garlick's bushfire appeal

Charitable appeal: Bachelor season seven star Sogand Mohtat will also auction off a date with her for the bushfire appeal

Helping hand: Bachelor co-stars Vakoo Kauapirura (left) and Helena Sauzier (right), will also generously auction off dates for charity. The charities they are raising money for are WIRES, Koala Hospital and the Australian Red Cross

He said that their aim was to raise money for charities - WIRES, Koala Hospital and the Australian Red Cross.

Jackson added: 'Hopefully if you enjoy the show you can have some fun on the day and I guess give a bit of money out of your wallet.'

Jackson's bushfire appeal auction will take place at the Robin Hood Hotel in Waverley on Saturday, January 11 from 12pm to 3pm.
PM Peter Pellegrini considers the strike political.

Trucks blocked the streets of Bratislava again on January 9. (Source: TASR)

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Hauliers continue to occupy the roads across Slovakia for the third day. This time, they have also moved to the border crossings.

They have two main demands: a decrease of the road tax by 50 percent and the suspension of the toll system until a new company is chosen to administer it.

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Border crossings blocked

The strike organised by the Union of Slovakia's Road Hauliers (UNAS) has already impacted Bratislava, the Orava region, and the vicinity of Kosice.

In addition, the central Slovak town of Ruzomberok was paralysed on January 9, the MY Liptov regional newspaper reported.

At the same time, border crossings in Komarno, near Hungary, and Chyzne, near Poland, were blocked on January 9. A border crossing in Kuty on the border with the Czech Republic will also be blocked soon, the SITA newswire wrote.

Negotiations with transport and finance ministers have not brought about satisfying outcomes, UNAS said in a press release issued on January 9.

The Finance Ministry has offered a 12.5 percent decrease when it comes to the motor vehicle tax for lorries.

The strike will thus continue on January 10.

Politics implied

Related article

Related article UPDATED: Hauliers on strike. They met with the finance minister Read more

PM Peter Pellerini (Smer) implied on January 9 that the strike is purpose-built and thus political, SITA reported.

If someone wants to dispute the value of the motor vehicle tax, they should debate the issue and show their discontent before the amount is approved, he told the Pravda daily.

He is, however, leaving talks with the hauliers to transport and finance ministers.
By Trend

As many as 2,381 people have applied for participation in the early parliamentary election in Azerbaijan to be held Feb. 9, head of the Azerbaijani Central Election Commission (CEC) Mazahir Panahov said at the CEC meeting on Jan. 8, Trend reports.

Panahov said that the candidacies of 2,270 people have been approved.

As many as 2,149 of them have received the signatory lists, 1,041 returned those lists and 617 have been registered, head of CEC added.

"Among the registered candidates, 149 people were nominated by 14 political parties, six people - by initiative groups, while 462 people are self-nominated candidates," Panahov said.
A senior Iranian commander has warned there will be harsher revenge soon for the US in retaliation to the killing of general Qassem Soleimani, according to local reports.

Abdollah Araghi, a commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was quoted by Tasnim news agency threatening further reprisals after Iran launched missile attacks on US-Iraqi airbases earlier this week.

His comment came after Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran appeared to standing down following the strikes, which did not harm any US troops in Iraq.

Mr Araghis view appears to go against the position taken by Irans government, which has signalled that it wants to halt the escalation of tensions between the two countries.

On Wednesday, Javad Zarif, the countrys foreign minister, said his government does not seek escalation or war, but will defend [itself] against any aggression in a statement.

Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Show all 24 1 /24 Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions Iranian mourners gather around a vehicle carrying the coffin of top general Qasem Soleimani during the final stage of funeral processions, in his hometown Kerman. Soleimani was killed outside Baghdad airport in a drone strike ordered by US President Donald Trump, ratcheting up tensions with Iran which has vowed "severe revenge" AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranian people carry a coffin of Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani during a funeral procession in Tehran Official Khamenei website via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions The assassination of the 62-year-old heightened international concern about a new war in the volatile, oil-rich Middle East and rattled financial markets AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Mourners packed the streets of Tehran for ceremonies to pay homage to Soleimani, who spearheaded Iran's Middle East operations as commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force and was killed in a US drone strike on January 3 Iranian Supreme Leader's Office/EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranians set a US and an Israeli flag on fire during the funeral procession AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, centre, with Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, second left, and President Hassan Rouhani, third left, standing next to him as he leads a prayer over the caskets of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at Tehran University Khamenei.IR/AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, openly weeps as he leads a prayer over the coffin of Qassem Soleimani AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Mourners holding posters of Qassem Soleimani AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Coffins of Soleimani and others who were killed in Iraq by a US drone strike, are carried on a truck surrounded by mourners during a funeral procession, at the Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) square AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions An Iranian mourner holds a placard AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Downtown Tehran was brought to a standstill as mourners flooded the Iranian capital Khamenei.IR/AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Former Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps chief Mohamad Ali Jafari prays on the coffins of Qasem Soleimani and of other victims during their funeral ceremony EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Official Khamenei website via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Satellite image Maxar Technologies/AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA

The lack of US casualties in the strike has been viewed by some as an opportunity for Mr Trump to calm tensions after he ordered the killing of Soleimani.

Diako Hosseini, an adviser to the Tehran government and director of an Iranian think tank affiliated with the foreign ministry, said on Wednesday that the missile strike was intended to avoid major casualties.

He [Mr Trump] should appreciate Irans ultimate restraint, Mr Hosseini said.

Compared to Irans government, the IRGC is considered more hardline in its domestic and foreign policies.

Soleimanis replacement as head of the countrys Quds Force in the IRGC, Esmail Ghaani, has said he will continue the course pursued by his predecessor.

Following the attacks, world leaders have urged the US and Iran to show restraint and avoid a move towards all-out war.

On Thursday, Pope Francis called on the two countries to avoid further escalation and pursue dialogue and self-restraint to avert conflict in the Middle East.

He added that the tensions risked compromising the gradual process of rebuilding in Iraq following nearly a decade of war.

Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, said he has spoken to Iranian president Hassan Rouhani and urged Iran to come back into compliance with the 2015 international nuclear agreement.

On Sunday, Iran said it would no longer respect restrictions on enrichment of uranium following the killing of Soleimani in the most serious blow to the deal yet.

Mr Trump abandoned the nuclear agreement in May 2018 in favour of a policy of maximum pressure against Tehran.

The deal, which aimed to prevent Iran from building an atomic weapon, had been viewed as a triumph of the Obama administration after years of tension over the countrys nuclear capabilities.

Additional reporting by Reuters
Gina Stewart, best known as the 'World's Hottest Grandma' has offered free access to her OnlyFans account to raise money for bushfire relief.

The Gold Coast-based grandmother has announced she will provide her risque photos and videos for free to anybody who donates over $10 to a list of bushfire-related charities.

The 49-year-old took to Instagram to announce the generous deal, giving fans more than 20 options of foundations and charities to support.

'It's the least I can do': World's Hottest Grandma Gina Stewart, 49, provides free access to her OnlyFans account to anybody who donates over $10 to bushfire-related charities

'Lets make a difference': Gina Stewart, best known as the 'world's hottest Grandma' has offered free access to her OnlyFans account to raise money for bushfire relief

'Lets make a difference and support the bushfire charities in Australia,' Gina wrote.

She added: 'Im sending out a free subscription to my premium Onlyfans account to every person who donates at least $10 to any one of these fundraisers for the wildfires in Australia. Every donation gets the free link to join my premium content from me.'

The gorgeous grandmother explained that participants must send her a screenshot confirmation and donation receipt, before thanking fans for their support.

Generous: The Gold Coast-based grandmother has announced she will provide her risque photos for free to anybody who donates over $10 to a list of bushfire-related charities

'It's the least I can do,' she told Jam Press.

'Its such a catastrophe for the environment here in Australia and our wildlife is so important to us all,' Gina added.

Gina's older brother, actor Aaron Jeffery, has been fighting the fires on the front-line, trying to save his family home and local community in the Blue Mountains.

'Its such a catastrophe': The gorgeous grandmother explained that participants must send her a screenshot confirmation and donation receipt, before thanking fans for their support

Close to home: Gina's older brother Aaron Jeffery has been fighting the fires on the front-line, trying to save his family home and local community in the Blue Mountains

Gina has been widely praised for her generosity on her social media account,.

Her unique fundraising approach follows after 20-year-old Californian Instagram model Kaylen Ward also sold nude photos of herself in order to raise $70,000 towards the bushfire relief, before her account was deleted.

Similarly, Gina had been forced to join the X-rated subscription-based service OnlyFans in 2019 after the Instagram algorithm started hiding and restricting her content for being too raunchy.

'Every donation gets the free link to join my premium content from me,' she told fans

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the mother-of-four said that the ban had stopped her from gaining new followers and affected her ability to make money with sponsored posts, leaving her with no choice but to migrate to OnlyFans.

For $10 a month, Gina's fans can access exclusive 'Playboy-esque' photos and videos of the model that can't be shared on platforms like Instagram due to their explicit nature.

'I decided to start an OnlyFans account this year so I could connect with my supporters without Instagram's unfair censorship,' she explained.

Exposed: For $10 a month, Gina's fans can access exclusive 'Playboy-esque' photos and videos of the model that can't be shared on platforms like Instagram due to their explicit nature

'Instagram has become way too PC and keeps hiding all of my photos even though I'm covered up. It was completely unfair because they let other models get away with much worse.'

Thanks to OnlyFans, the Gold Coast grandmother is now earning thousands of dollars a month and was able to move out of her Sunshine Coast apartment and into a lavish four-bedroom waterfront home with a pool and Jacuzzi.

'OnlyFans is way better than Instagram because I can post whatever I want and interact with my fans on a much more intimate level,' she said.

'I drive a Mercedes and I own two jet-skis!' The mother-of-four now leads a lavish lifestyle thanks to her lucrative OnlyFans account

'Now I live a great lifestyle thanks to my beautiful fans who support me. I've been able to afford a $1.3 million home for myself and my daughter, I drive a Mercedes and I own two jet skis.'

She continued: 'But the best part is that I can work from home and be a full time mother to my daughter Summer. She's only six so being there for her is the most important thing to me.'

The blonde bombshell is now in the top 2.5% of all creators on OnlyFans, but unlike many others on the platform, she claims that her content is tasteful and not pornographic.

If you've got it, flaunt it! The 49-year-old was able to purchase a Mercedes this year

'I keep my content glamorous and sexy unlike other models who bare what they had for breakfast. Its all in the tease,' she explained.

Gina spoke out about Instagram's strict censorship back in July, when a photo she posted of herself posing topless with her blonde hair covering her chest was removed from the site for violating guidelines.

At the time, she accused the social media giant of ageism and claimed an equivalent image showing a younger woman would not have been removed.

'I've been able to afford a $1.3 million home for myself and my daughter': Gina was able to move out of her Sunshine Coast apartment and into a lavish four-bedroom waterfront home with a pool and Jacuzzi (pictured)

'The app was fine with allowing people to freely express themselves while it was building itself as an app, but now it's become authoritative and dictatorial,' she said.

'I think it's the first time in this day and age a celebrity has been shut down and hidden away because their content isn't considered "PC".'

It has long been known images of female nipples may be removed for breaching Instagram guidelines, but in Gina's photo her nipples were covered by her blonde hair.

'I keep my content glamorous and sexy unlike other models who bare what they had for breakfast. Its all in the tease,' she explained

The star added: 'I have felt forced to take a stand as the World's Hottest Grandma, and show what is happening to me. I'm not only fighting for my rights, I'm fighting for everyone.

'Next censorship will tell us what we can and cannot write on Instagram and social media in general.'

Gina, who boasts double E-cup breast implants, skyrocketed to fame in 2018 after racy photos she submitted to a Maxim modelling competition went viral.

She became an overnight sensation on Instagram and made several mainstream media appearances, including Channel 10's Hughesy, We Have a Problem and The Kyle and Jackie O Show.
H arry and Meghan have received strong support in their ambitions for a more independent life split between the UK and North America from Michelle Obama and JK Rowling, the Standard has learned.

Meghan is close friends with the former US first lady, while Rowling has been a strong supporter of the duchess and defended her against claims she was unsuitable as a royal bride.

Meghan also secretly attended a talk Mrs Obama gave at the Southbank Centre in 2018.

The couple have similarly received advice on the move from friends Oprah Winfrey and Amal and George Clooney, sources reportedly told the New York Post.

Friends have encouraged Meghan that she and Harry can step away from the royal family and follow their own path, a source close to the couple told the newspaper.

Clooney has spoken out against Meghans treatment by the media and urged people to be kinder following the birth of her and Harrys son Archie.

While Canada is expected to be the couples base in their new transatlantic lives, they are likely to spend a lot of time in Southern California, where the duchess grew up.
Pope Francis assures the Australian people, especially the victims and all those in the areas devastated by huge wildfires, of his closeness and prayers. He made the comments on Thursday during his annual address to the Diplomatic Corps. Meanwhile, the Australian state of Victoria has extended a state of disaster ahead of forecasted hot weather.

By Lydia O'Kane

Smoke billows into the air as many parts of Australia continue to burn threatening towns and communities.



As the hot weathered returned fanning massive bushfires, Australian authorities on Thursday called for another mass evacuation across the southeast of the country.

Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews said a state of disaster would be extended for the least the next 48 hours.

Warnings were also issued for South Australia and New South Wales (NSW), where fires continue to wreak havoc.

Parts of Kangaroo Island in South Australia, has seen a third of the island destroyed by the wildfires and many residents had decided to pack up their belongings and leave.

Listen to the report

The gravity of these bushfires cannot be underestimated; twenty-seven people have been killed this fire season and scores of animals have died and thousands of Australians have been made homeless.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology reported only 6% of usual annual rainfall last year, while daytime temperatures were more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. Weather experts predict this trend is likely to continue.

With these fires showing no signs of abating, more firefighters from the US and Canada are expected to arrive to provide support. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrision has also pledged 1.4 billion US dollar to a newly created National Bushfire Recovery Agency.
Identity and access management in 2022 - what will the future look like?

As we enter into 2022, there is still a level of uncertainty in place. Its unclear what the future holds, as companies around the world still contend with the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote working has been encouraged by most organisations and the move to a hybrid working system has become business as usual, for the majority of businesses. Some have reduced their office space or done away with their locations altogether. Following best security practices With all this change in place, there are problems to deal with. According to research, 32.7% of IT admins say they are concerned about employees using unsecured networks to carry out that work. Alongside this, 74% of IT admins thought that remote work makes it harder for employees to follow best security practices. This need to manage security around remote work is no longer temporary. Instead, companies have to build permanent strategies around remote work and security. The coming year will also create a different landscape for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). Here are some key predictions for next year and what to start preparing for in 2022: The reality of SMB spending around security will hit home SMBs had to undertake significant investments to adapt to remote working SMBs had to undertake significant investments to adapt to remote working, especially in comparison to their size. They had to undertake significant digital transformation projects that made it possible to deliver services remotely, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Weve seen a shift in mindset for these companies, which are now more tech-focused in their approach to problem solving. According to our research, 45% of SMBs plan to increase their spending towards IT services in 2022. Around half of all organisations think their IT budgets are adequate for their needs, while 14.5% of those surveyed believe they will need more, to cover all that needs to be done. Identity management spending to support remote work For others, the COVID-19 pandemic led to over-spending, just to get ahead of things and they will spend in 2022, looking at what they should keep and what they can reduce their spending on. Areas like identity management will stay in place, as companies struggle to support remote work and security, without this in place. However, on-premise IT spending will be reduced or cut, as those solutions are not relevant for the new work model. Services that rely on on-premise IT will be cut or replaced. The device will lead the way for security We rely on our phones to work and to communicate. In 2022, they will become central to how we manage access, to all our assets and locations, IT and physical. When employees can use company devices and their own phones for work, security is more difficult. IT teams have to ensure that theyre prepared for this, by making sure that these devices can be trusted. Wide use of digital certificates and strong MFA factors Rather than requiring a separate smart card or fingerprint reader, devices can be used for access using push authentication There are multiple ways that companies can achieve this, for example - By using digital certificates to identify company devices as trusted, an agent, or strong MFA factors, like a FIDO security key or mobile push authentication. Whichever approach you choose, this can prevent unauthorised access to IT assets and applications, and these same devices can be used for authentication into physical locations too. Rather than requiring a separate smart card or fingerprint reader, devices can be used for access using push authentication. Understanding human behaviour Alongside this, it is important to understand human behaviour. Anything that introduces an extra step for authentication can lead to employees taking workarounds. To stop this, it is important to put an employee education process in place, in order to emphasize on the importance of security. The next step is to think about adopting passwordless security, to further reduce friction and increase adoption. Lastly, as devices become the starting point for security and trust, remote device management will be needed too. More companies will need to manage devices remotely, from wiping an asset remotely if it gets lost or stolen, through to de-provisioning users easily and removing their access rights, when they leave the company. Identity will be a layer cake Zero Trust approaches to security Identity management relies on being able to trust that someone is who they say they are. Zero Trust approaches to security can support this effectively, particularly when aligned with least privilege access models. In order to turn theory into practical easy-to-deploy steps, companies need to use contextual access, as part of their identity management strategy. This involves looking at the context that employees will work in and putting together the right management approach for those circumstances. For typical employee behaviour, using two factor authentication might be enough to help them work, without security getting in the way. How enterprises manage, access and store identity data There will also be a shift in how enterprises manage, access, and store that identity data over time For areas where security is more important, additional security policies can be put over the top, to ensure that only the right people have access. A step-up in authentication can be added, based on the sensitivity of resources or risk-based adaptive authentication policies might be needed. There will also be a shift in how enterprises manage, access, and store that identity data over time, so that it aligns more closely with those use cases. Identity management critical to secure assets in 2022 There are bigger conversations taking place around digital identity for citizenship, as more services move online as well. Any moves that take place in this arena will affect how businesses think about their identity management processes too, encouraging them to look at their requirements in more detail. Overall, 2022 will be the year when identity will be critical to how companies keep their assets secure and their employees productive. With employees working remotely and businesses becoming decentralised, identity strategies will have to take the same approach. This will put the emphasis on strong identity management as the starting point for all security planning.
According to sources, the Finance Minister was busy with some party-assigned work and could not attend the meeting.

New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's absence from the Prime Minister-led industry meeting on budget suggestions, here on Thursday, created ripples on Twitter as well as in general.

But the explanation failed to wash with the members of Twitterati. They started chirping about the budget being round the corner and the Finance Minister missing the Prime Minister's meeting called, presumably, to garner budget suggestions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a two-hour meeting with 40 industry heads, experts, bankers, entrepreneurs and representative of private equity firms, to gather their views on steps to revive economy.

The meeting also discussed investment climate, credit growth and structural reforms.

Modi addressed the economists on the $5 trillion economy target.

According to sources, the Prime Minister received suggestions on boosting consumption and generating demand in the economy.

Home Minister Amit Shah, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Rural Development Minister Narendra Tomar and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari were present. The five Finance Ministry Secretaries also attended the meeting.

The uploading of the meeting's photographs on the Twitter handle of the PIB, set Twitterati's tongues wagging.

"Where is Nirmala Sitharaman," asked a member of Twitterati.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor asked, "Where is the Finance Minister? Or has the Duo forgotten they have one?"

"Meeting with top economists, but Finance Minister missing" remarked a netizen. "They say top economist and Subramanian Swamy are not in picture. Why?"

Very soon a spate of tweets appeared on the micro-blogging site. While most netizens were wondering about Sitaharaman's absence, some were responding to others.

-IANS

ana/pcj
A new policy by the Trump Administration sparks outrage among immigration advocates and lawyers.

The plan is to allegedly deport Mexican nationals, including families who come to the United States southern border seeking asylum, to Guatemala.

Just last summer, court proceedings began at the migrant tent processing facility in Laredo for hundreds of migrants.

However, according to documents obtained by Buzzfeed News, the program was signed in July of 2019 and implemented back in November.

The idea is to have certain asylum seekers get their protections in Guatemala, instead of the United States.

According to local immigration attorney Stephanie Nguyen, Mexican citizens who seek asylum cannot be taken back by their governments because they declared fear of living in their home country.

The United States and Guatemala went into an agreement to have Mexican nationals, which now include family units that are seeking asylum protections, to have them seek protection in Guatemala instead.

Although the policy was signed in July, Nguyen says those who were seeking protections had no idea about this new policy, and that Guatemala is not a safe third world country.

"I have a lot of people from Guatemala that are fleeing Guatemala, and they don't have the infrastructure, said Nguyen. As much as Mexico, they don't have the infrastructure for the Mexican protocol, you know the Remain in Mexico. I'm assuming Guatemala is worse than Mexico in that regard."

Nguyen adds Guatemala does have a lot of gang related violence and there is not enough protection from their government which is one of the reasons people are fleeing from that country.

The Remain in Mexico program is still in effect, however this new policy now allows those seeking asylum from Mexico and Central America to be sent to Guatemala for protection.

According to Buzzfeed as of late December, 43 asylum-seekers from El Salvador and Honduras have been deported to Guatemala under the agreement.

The plan was initially limited to adult asylum-seekers but was expanded to families on December 10th.
Catalan regional premier Quim Torra. Alejandro Garcia (EFE)

Spains Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Catalan Premier Quim Torra had a telephone conversation at 9.30am on Thursday in which they agreed to hold a meeting following the formation of a new government in Spain.

Together for Catalonia has always insisted on bringing an outside observer to the table

Sources at La Moncloa, the seat of Spanish government, said that Sanchez told the separatist leader that he has the sincere will to try to sort out the political conflict in Catalonia. The seven-minute conversation was described as cordial by these sources.

The conversation is relevant because it breathes new life into a relationship that had suffered badly after the Supreme Court ruling that sentenced leaders of the 2017 failed breakaway bid in the northeastern Spanish region to lengthy prison sentences for sedition and misuse of public funds.

The October ruling was followed by widespread street rioting in Catalonia and Sanchez decided to isolate Torra, refusing to take his calls until the latter openly condemned the street violence by separatist activists.

Searching for a date

On Wednesday, the spokesperson for the Catalan government, Meritxell Budo, said that Torras and Sanchezs teams were searching for a date for a possible meeting between both men. Budo added that this meeting would serve to establish the details and conditions of the talks that are scheduled to take place between the central and Catalan governments over the situation in Catalonia.

Although Sanchezs Socialist Party (PSOE) and the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) have already signed a document laying out guidelines for the talks, some of the conditions could change. Together for Catalonia (JxCat), another separatist party whose best-known member is former Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont, has always insisted on bringing an outside observer to the table. The PSOE-ERC deal does not include such a figure, but Budo on Wednesday said that Torra could potentially make this a demand.

Torras own political future is on the line after the Catalan Regional High Court found him guilty of disobedience

Sanchez on Tuesday obtained parliamentary endorsement for his proposed government after securing a pledge of abstention at the investiture vote from ERC, in exchange for a promise to start holding talks two weeks after the new executive is up and running.

Torras team has also begun contacting various leaders of the independence movement in order to bring a unified proposal to the meetings with the central government.

Torras own political future is on the line after the Catalan Regional High Court found him guilty of disobedience for refusing to remove pro-independence banners from public buildings during an election campaign, which violated regulations on political neutrality. The ruling, which disqualified him from office for 18 months, is not definitive until the Supreme Court issues a decision on Torras appeal.

Catalan politicians could receive as much as 70,000 in back-pay from the European Parliament Puigdemont y Comin recogen la credencial permanente de eurodiputados The Catalan politicians Oriol Junqueras, Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comin all ran as candidates in last year's European elections, and were successfully elected as MEPs. But given their legal issues, there has been an ongoing battle since then for them to take their seats. All three were key figures in the 2017 independence drive in the northeastern Spanish region, and were sacked when the central government in Madrid took control of Catalonia's regional powers under Article 155 of the Constitution. Puigdemont, Comin and several other politicians fled Spain to avoid arrest, while Junqueras and 12 other pro-independence leaders faced trial in the Supreme Court. Junqueras was sentenced to 13 years in jail for sedition and misuse of funds, while Puigdemont and Comin are still sought by the Spanish authorities to face trial. In December of last year, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that Junqueras became an MEP as soon as he was elected on May 26, and should have enjoyed parliamentary immunity from that moment on. But he was unable to be sworn in, neither in Spain nor at the European Parliament, given that at the time he was in preventive custody in Soto del Real prison in Madrid ahead of the conclusion of the Supreme Court trial. The ruling from the European court has not just allowed Puigdemont and Comin to access the European Parliament as fully fledged MEPs, giving them immunity to prosecution as well as a powerful voice in the media. Both of the politicians will also see their bank balances grow considerably in the space of just a few weeks. Sources from the administration department at the European Union have confirmed to EL PAIS that the Catalan politicians will be receiving the salaries and allowances that they would have been paid since July 2, the day when the current political term began in the European Parliament. The net monthly salary of an MEP is  6,824.85, while their allowances  to cover costs such as office hire, phones, IT equipment and conference rooms  total 4,513 a month. Having spent six months as MEPs-elect but without being able to receive these funds, given their legal problems, the pair can expect to receive around 70,000  or as much as 80,000 should they also receive their January pay packet at the same time. Junqueras could also receive the same amount, although his case is still pending a ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court on whether or not he is able to take on his role as MEP.

English version by Susana Urra and Simon Hunter.
Iran's attacks on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops as Tehran announced it will no longer comply with restrictions on uranium enrichment may encourage North Korea to perfect its nuclear and missile technologies, experts said.

"With Iran also challenging the United States, North Korea may feel that terroristlike activities will be less likely to cause U.S. retaliation because the U.S. will be busy with Iran," said Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the Rand Corporation research center.

Multiple rockets hit Baghdad's Green Zone near the U.S. Embassy Wednesday. There were no known casualties, and it is unclear whether Iran or its proxies launched them.

The rocket fire came a day after Iran attacked two Iraqi bases used by U.S. forces. Iran launched multiple missiles Tuesday in response to the U.S. killing of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani Friday. There are no known American casualties from the attacks.

President Donald Trump authorized killing Soleimani to protect American interests from future Iranian attacks, according to the Pentagon.

Although there were fears that Trump would launch a tit-for-tat retaliation against Iran when he spoke Wednesday morning, he did not announce additional military actions.

"Iran appears to be standing down" he said, pledging to issue new sanctions against Tehran.

'Kim would be emboldened'

Joseph Bosco, an East Asia expert at the Institute for Corea-American Studies (ICAS), said if Tehran kills Americans, and the U.S. does not take action against Iran, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un might assume a more aggressive stance against the U.S.

"If the U.S. did not respond, Kim would be emboldened," Bosco said, adding the Iranian attack Tuesday would not have too much impact on the U.S.-North Korean dynamics.

Last week, Kim said North Korea intends to bolster its military forces, take "offensive measures," develop "a new strategic weapon" and "shift to a shocking actual action" without specifying the measures.

Kim's statement came after Pyongyang vowed multiple times last year to take a "new path" if the U.S. does not change its attitude, presumably referring to maintaining sanctions on North Korea.

North Korea conducted 13 missile tests last year in an effort to pressure the U.S. to grant concessions, including sanctions relief. Pyongyang was seeking sanctions relief when Kim met with Trump in Hanoi for a February summit that failed.

In October 2019, the U.S. and North Korea held talks in Stockholm, but the talks collapsed without an agreement. Since then, nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have remained deadlocked.

Ken Gause, director of the adversary analytics program at CNA, said Iran and North Korea are watching each other to see how far they could elevate threats against the U.S.

"They're obviously learning by how the U.S. reacts to one another that it might give the other one some insight on how far they can push the United States up the escalatory ladder," Gause said.

The kinds of threats they raise are different, with Iran using proxies in the region to attack U.S. interests there and North Korea testing missiles on the Korean Peninsula.

Gause said, however, Iran and North Korea have taken similar actions of rescinding commitments made on their weapons program that "will move closer to being viable programs in the future."

After the U.S. killed Soleimani, Iran announced it will no longer adhere to the 2015 nuclear deal limiting it from enriching uranium, a key element for making nuclear weapons. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal in 2018.

Signaling intent on ICBM testing

Kim last week announced that North Korea no longer feels obliged to keep its self-imposed moratorium on testing a long-range missile, signaling he could test an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

"You have a kind of an equivalence here on both sides with two countries that a couple of weeks ago somewhat had a lid on both of these nuclear programs," Gause said. "Now they've become a much more complicated issue to deal with."

The Iranians have yet to develop their technology to the point where they can complete a nuclear weapon, but Iran had already breached the 2015 nuclear deal by enriching uranium in July.

Lawrence Korb, former assistant secretary of defense during the Reagan administration, said if the Iranians restart their nuclear program, it could boost North Korea's ambitions to complete its own nuclear program.

"If they do go that far, it makes it easier for North Korea to claim that [it] should be a nuclear power," Korb said.

Robert Manning, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said if Iran renews its proliferation efforts, it "will reinforce Kim's new strategic choice."

Bennett, of the Rand Corp., said the opposite could also be true.

"Iran has likely concluded that it can also get away with such defiance and breaking of commitments," he said. "And appears to be using the [U.S.] airstrikes on Soleimani to justify similar defiance."

Iran's announcement that it could begin to enrich uranium also provides an opportunity for North Korea to continue developing its nuclear weapons and missiles with the intent of selling them to Iran, Bennett said.

"The law of supply and demand relates to North Korea's supply of nuclear weapons and Iranian demand for them," he said.

"Iran now gives North Korea a clear market for nuclear weapons. North Korea is having problems with inadequate food and electricity and wants the hard currency Iran can supply. That could well lead to nuclear proliferation from North Korea to Iran, some of which likely was going on before," Bennett said.

Sold weapons to Iran, Syria

North Korea has sold ballistic missiles and chemical weapons to Iran and Syria in the past. A U.S. government estimate in 2017 suggested North Korea may be producing enough nuclear material each year for 12 additional nuclear weapons, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

Gary Samore, the White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction in the Obama administration, said, "Iran would welcome North Korean assistance and North Korea could provide very substantial nuclear weapons help to Iran.

"But there is no evidence as far as I know that North Korea and Iran have cooperated on nuclear weapons," he added.

If Iran decides to push forward with its nuclear weapons program, Bennett said the U.S. would face "a four-front nuclear threat: Russia, China, North Korea and Iran."

"The U.S. must now deal with North Korea and Iran while retaining a nuclear deterrent against both China and Russia" he said. "Iran and North Korea have every reason to coordinate their challenges to complicate and deter U.S. responses."

Joshua Pollack, editor of the Nonproliferation Review at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, said, "If Iran represents any sort of opportunity for North Korea today, it might involve deepened cooperation with another international pariah facing off against the United States."

On Wednesday, Trump said, "As long as I am president of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon."

Thomas Countryman, former assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, said, "To go beyond its own national defense and to sell nuclear weapons technology to other states would make [North Korea] a well-justified target of U.S. military action."

This report originated in VOA's Korean Service.
IRGC: No missiles intercepted in attack on US bases, casualties reported

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 08 January 2020 5:51 AM

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says none of its missiles were intercepted during Wednesday's heavy strike that targeted two US bases inside Iraq to avenge the United States' assassination of its senior commander, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.

There have been initial reports of casualties.

Shortly after the strikes, Iranian officials advised US commanders against embarking on any new military action, warning that a more crushing response will be awaiting them. They have been urging US forces to swiftly leave the region.

In a live televised speech on Wednesday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei highlighted the need for the US military presence -- the source of all corruption in the region -- to come to an end.

"A slap was delivered last night, but what is important is that the seditious presence of America in the region should be ended," Ayatollah Khamenei said on Wednesday.

Also speaking on Wednesday, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Baqeri called for the US armed forces to withdraw from the region immediately.

"The time has come for the evil rulers of the United States to withdraw their terrorist army forces as quickly as possible from the region."

US officials have so far declined to release any information about the damage to their bases or casualties inflicted by the missile strikes.

The White House canceled a formal address to the Americans Tuesday night. Reacting to the attack in a Twitter post, President Donald Trump claimed "All is well." He said an assessment of casualties and damage from the strikes was underway and that he would make a statement on Wednesday morning.

The reprisal was staged in the early hours of Wednesday, hitting Ain al-Assad Airbase in the western Iraqi province of Anbar and another outpost in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

The attacks were launched at 1:20 a.m. local time, the exact moment the US military launched drone strikes on Friday that led to the martyrdom of General Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)'s Quds Force, and the second-in-command of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) anti-terror group, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, among others, in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

The missiles were launched shortly before the burial of General Soleimani in his hometown Kerman, which came in the wake of days of enormous funeral processions held in several cities across Iran and neighboring Iraq.

General Soleimani was cooperating with the PMU and the Iraqi government against the most deadly terrorist outfits to ever afflict the region, including the Daesh Takfiri group.

The Islamic Republic has denounced the assassinations as "an act of state terrorism."

Tehran had vowed vengeance for the blood of its commander, with Ayatollah Khamenei warning of a "harsh revenge" in a speech that followed the assassinations.

Iran hit 'command center for US terror operations'

The IRGC's Deputy Commander for Operations Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, meanwhile, has confirmed that Iran's missiles "precisely hit their intended targets."

According to the official, even though intelligence showed that US forces across the region -- including in the Ain al-Assad Airbase -- had been on high alert and fully prepared prior to the strikes, they completely failed to intercept the missiles fired by the Corps.

They failed to even slightly divert the Corps' ballistic missiles, he told Tasnim News Agency on Wednesday. "Not even by a few meters," he said.

The base had in recent days turned into a depot for American arms and military equipment of all sorts, said the official, adding that the IRGC targeted Ain al-Assad because it was the headquarters "for planning and executing the US terrorist operations."

"The IRGC managed to destroy the arrogance's command center in the region," he noted.

Nilforoushan further warned that any potential act of mischief by the enemy would be met with a "staggering, painful, crushing, and regret-inducing response."

"Our response will go as far as getting even [with the enemy]," he added and cautioned the regional countries that whatever part of their soil that could be used by the aggressors already lies within the IRGC's crosshairs.

Nilforoushan said the Islamic Republic was investigating Israel's involvement in the assassination.

"The regime should know that none of its activities and contributions to the atrocity would escape our attention," he said.

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Ecolab Inc. the global leader in water, food safety and hygiene technologies and services, has reached an agreement to acquire CID Lines, a leading global provider of livestock biosecurity and hygiene solutions.

CID Lines primary business offers a full range of cleaning, disinfectant and hygiene solutions for pig, poultry and dairy farms, serving more than 300,000 farms in over 100 countries. Headquartered in Ypres, Belgium, the privately held company's 2019 sales were approximately $113 million.

"CID Lines' strong product portfolio, range of applications and regulatory expertise for farming environments give Ecolab a foothold in the growing livestock and poultry biosecurity segment as well as opportunities to leverage our global presence to drive expansion, particularly in Asia where this segment is rapidly developing," said Nick Alfano, Ecolab executive vice president and general manager of Global Food Beverage.

Larger herd and flock sizes, increasing protein production, reduced use of antibiotics and more stringent regulations are resulting in greater demand for livestock and poultry biosecurity and hygiene expertise and solutions that help ensure animal health and prevent the outbreak of diseases, which can negatively impact a farm's production and profitability.

?"We look forward to continuing this growth trajectory and partnering with Ecolab moving forward," said Koen Brutsaert, co-founder and chief executive officer of CID Lines. "Our focus on animal health aligns with Ecolab's values around safe food and healthy environments."

The acquisition is subject to regulatory clearance, which is anticipated to occur in the second quarter of 2020. Both companies will continue to operate separately until the acquisition has been cleared. No other details were announced.

About Ecolab

A trusted partner at nearly three million commercial customer locations, Ecolab (ECL) is the global leader in driving business performance while protecting people and vital resources. With annual sales of $15 billion and 50,000 associates, Ecolab delivers comprehensive solutions, data-driven insights and on-site service to advance food safety, protect public health, optimize water and energy use, and improve operational efficiencies for customers in the food, healthcare, energy, hospitality and industrial markets in more than 170 countries around the world. www.ecolab.com.

Follow us on Twitter @ecolab, Facebook at facebook.com/ecolab, LinkedIn at Ecolab or Instagram at Ecolab Inc.

(ECL-A)

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005123/en/

Contacts:

Investors:

Michael Monahan

+1 651 250 2809

Andrew Hedberg

+1 651 250 2185

Media:

Roman Blahoski

+1 651 250 4385

roman.blahoski@ecolab.com

Laetitia Tettamanti

+44 (0) 7795300685

laetitia.tettamanti@ecolab.com
Dallas, TX, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The worlds largest barbecue franchise is expanding their global footprint to the Republic of Georgia with the location set to open in the countrys capital, Tbilisi.

Tibua Shalva, owner of the DS Group, inked the deal with the Dallas-based barbecue concept in November and is adding the Texas-style eatery to his portfolio of restaurants.

Dickeys Barbecue Pit, like Georgia, is rich with tradition and a true, culturally-authentic experience, says Tibua Shalva, owner of Georgian construction and development company, the DS Group. Im proud to be the chosen partner to represent this iconic American brand as it expands to Eurasia.

This marks the fifth international location for the 79-year-old barbecue franchise with locations open in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and soon to open in Brazil and Egypt. Jointly, Dickeys Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. is investing in the expansion of their field operations personnel to meet the rapid growth in the region and help train international owner operators in-stores.

As Dickeys takes its next global leap to the Republic of Georgia, we are proud to share this experience with such a terrific partner, says Jim Perkins, Vice President of International Development for Dickeys Barbecue Pit. I look forward to working with Tibua Shalva and introducing Dickeys slow-smoked barbecue to the citizens of Georgia.

To learn more about franchising with Dickeys, visit Dickeys franchising page or call 866-340-6188. Find your nearest Dickeys Barbecue Pit location here.

Follow Dickeys on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Download the Dickeys App from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

About Dickeys Barbecue Restaurants, Inc.

Dickeys Barbecue Restaurants, Inc., the nations largest barbecue chain was founded in 1941 by Travis Dickey. For the past 78 years, Dickeys Barbecue Pit locations across the nation have served guests Legit. Texas. Barbecue. At Dickeys, all our barbecued meats are smoked on-site in a hickory wood burning pit for up to 14 hours. The Dallas-based family-run barbecue franchise offers several slow-smoked meats and wholesome sides with 'No B.S. (Bad Stuff)' included. The fast-casual concept has expanded worldwide with 2 international locations in the UAE and operates over 500 locations in 44 states. In 2016, Dickeys won first place on Fast Casuals Top 100 Movers and Shakers list and was named a Top 500 Franchise by Entrepreneur in 2018. Dickey's Barbecue Pit has also been recognized by Franchise Times, The Wall Street Journal, QSR Magazine, Forbes Magazine and Nation's Restaurant News. For more information, visit www.dickeys.com.



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MyBroadband has released its Q4 2019 speed test report, which shows that Supersonic and Cybersmart are the best Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in South Africa.

MyBroadbands Q4 2019 speed test report is based on 34,799 user ratings through MyBroadbands web-based speed test and its Android and iOS speed test apps.

After users performed a speed test, they rated their ISP based on their overall satisfaction with their provider.

These customer satisfaction ratings are then used to rank South Africas prominent ISPs.

Neutral testing environment

MyBroadbands speed test servers are hosted in Teracos vendor-neutral data centres to ensure a neutral testing environment.

MyBroadband has speed test servers at NAPAfricas peering points in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban.

Through NAPAfrica, all network operators present at its peering points are provided with a free 10Gbps connection to the MyBroadband speed test platform.

This testing platform means that there is an equal playing field which accurately measures Internet speed, rather than on-net speed which is the case with other speed test services.

Best and worst ISPs in South Africa

The table below ranks South Africas prominent ISPs based on the average ratings received through MyBroadbands web-based speed test and mobile app.

Supersonic and Cybersmart retained their positions from the Q4 results, with Cool Ideas falling below some of its main competitors.

Telkom remained at the bottom of the rankings.
: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Thursday asserted in the Assembly that the interests of minorities would be fully protected by his government and urged them to not be swayed by 'politically motivated' rumours on the National Register of Citizens. Winding up the discussion on the motion of thanks to the governor's address, Palaniswami said the House witnessed a debate on the NRC for about two days.

Citing the assurance made in the House by his colleague, Revenue Minister R B Udhayakumar that minorities will not be affected in any way vis-a-vis the NRC, he said his party led regimes have all along served as a "fortification" for the minority people since the days of AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran and later "Amma," (J Jayalalithaa).

"I would like to assert that this government of Amma will continue to be a fortification for the minority people, following the footsteps of the two great leaders."



Further, he said,"the minority people hence need not have even an iota of doubt or apprehension and not believe rumours spread with political motives."



Quoting a saying of Dravidian icon C N Annadurai, he said those against his party and the government will be elbowed out with the people's support.

On January 7, speaking on the NRC, Udhayakumar had said no order had been received from the Centre mandating its implementation.

"Even if such a directive is to come and when it is implemented, even if a single person from the minority community is affected, the first voice against it will be raised by the AIADMK. Their rights will be protected. This is the truth," he said.

DMK had supported an amendment in Parliament in 2003 to the Citizenship Act, he said, adding such tweaking envisaged the maintenance of a National Register of Indian Citizens by the Centre and setting up a National Registration Authority.

"You (Congress-DMK alliance regime at the Centre) initiated it and now you blame the AIADMK," he said,seeking to turn the tables on the principal opposition party which held protests over the CAA-NRC in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The past year ended with a bit of good news.

Iowa land prices stabilized in 2019, according to the annual Land Value Survey conducted by Iowa State University and the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development. (For more details about the survey, check out the Dec. 26 edition of Agri News on Page 2.)

It appears that fears that land values would collapse akin to what happened in the lamented 1980s have not materialized thus far in the economic downturn. The reality is farmers have their economic necks stuck out farther than before as uncertainty builds greater risk for farmers.

A bevy of public and private outlook meetings and webinars that will be held throughout winter can introduce farmers to different practices that may help them financially. An uptick in the farm economy will help most of all.

These 2020 hoped-for developments might change things around:

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1. Be it resolved that the United States and China quickly finalize an end to their nasty trade fight. When its over, the Chinese respond to domestic consumer pressure and dramatically increase purchases of U.S.-produced hogs and soybeans.

2. That Midwest weather returns to something that resembles normalcy after a 2019 that produced rainfall records in both Iowa and Minnesota. The year hopefully will be considered a fluke and not a trend and the meteorologists and scientists are wrong when they predict that we should expect more of the same as climate change plays a greater role in shaping the weather.

3. That the work done by Extension researchers and farmers yields breakthroughs involving the establishment of a viable third crop to make farmers less dependent on mono-crop production. Small grains and alfalfa are well-established, but the potential for industrial hemp and other alternatives remains mostly untapped.

4. That milk producers take the market bull by the horns and use the power of their production to demand and receive a fair price for raw milk. Working together, dairy producers could spend 2020 establishing a collective supply management program that would lift raw milk prices to a profitable level.

5. That comparisons between the current economic downturn and the 1980s farm crisis become less frequent. Its a different era with different and far better outcomes.

6. That lenders  optimistic about farmings future and recognizing the need to help beginning and transitional farmers get a foothold in the industry  liberally grant operating loans. The alternative is a continued loss of farmers and erosion in the viability of rural communities.

7. That any farmer who feels besieged and isolated by financial problems reach out for help. Assistance can come from friends willing to lend an ear to professionals available locally and statewide.

8.That farming lose its place among the nations most dangerous professions. The number of farmers and workers maimed or killed in accidents remains alarmingly high.

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9. That all politicians running for state and national offices pay more than lip service to farming issues in their campaigns. Agriculture will receive attention in the runup to the Iowa presidential caucuses, but little after that.

10. That the Environmental Protection Agency stop fighting President Donald Trumps tepid support for biofuels. The EPA is cutting the Renewable Fuels Standard off at its knees despite the presidents apparent wishes.
How we got here and whats next

Sunnyside Hospital and Clinics first announced plans to purchase what was Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center and Toppenish Community Hospital at the end of 2016. The hospital, by then a nonprofit organization called Regional Health, completed the purchase in late August 2017. Shortly after completing the purchase, Regional Health rebranded itself as Astria Health and all the organization's hospitals and clinics were renamed.

Astria Health experienced difficulties running the two hospitals, which it said were losing money when it acquired them. But an issue with its former revenue cycle vendor caused additional cash flow issues, leading it to file for bankruptcy protection on May 6, 2019.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Whitman L. Holt approved an interim order in December that would enable Astria Health to secure more than $37 million in debtor-in-possession financing from Lapis Advisers LP. That enabled Astria Health to pay off the $37 million it owed former lender JMB Capital Partners Lending and gain another $700,000 that the organization planned to use for operating costs in January.

A status conference for the bankruptcy is scheduled for later this month, where Holt will consider an Astria Health request to borrow another $5 million from Lapis Advisers. Astria Health says it is seeking additional financing to cover operation costs as the bankruptcy reorganization process continues.

Astria Health has been on a dual process of securing exit financing to get out of bankruptcy as well as pursuing a sale of some or all of its assets. The organization previously indicated there are interested buyers, including a large nonprofit health care organization.

Under the current bid guidelines approved at the end of last year, initial bids for some or all of Astria Healths assets are due at 4 p.m. Jan. 30. If needed, an auction will be held on Feb. 5 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Yakima with the sale hearing to follow on Feb. 14. Interested parties have until Feb. 6 to object to any proposed sale.
PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Directors of Northwest Natural Holding Company (NYSE: NWN) has declared a quarterly dividend of 47.75 cents per share on the Company's common stock.



The dividend will be paid on Feb. 14, 2020 to shareholders of record on Jan. 31, 2020. The Company's indicated annual dividend rate is $1.91 per share.

About NW Natural Holdings

Northwest Natural Holding Company, (NYSE: NWN) (NW Natural Holdings), is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and through its subsidiaries has been doing business for 160 years in the Pacific Northwest. It owns NW Natural Gas Company (NW Natural), NW Natural Water Company, LLC (NW Natural Water), and other business interests and activities.

NW Natural is a local distribution company that currently provides natural gas service to approximately 2.5 million people in more than 140 communities through more than 750,000 meters in Oregon and Southwest Washington with one of the most modern pipeline systems in the nation. NW Natural consistently leads the industry with high J.D. Power & Associates customer satisfaction scores.

NW Natural Holdings subsidiaries own and operate 35 Bcf of underground gas storage capacity with NW Natural operating 20 Bcf in Oregon.

NW Natural Water currently provides water distribution and wastewater services to communities throughout the Pacific Northwest. When current outstanding transactions close, NW Natural Water expects to serve approximately 62,000 people through nearly 25,000 connections. Learn more about our water business at nwnaturalwater.com .
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hagens Berman encourages 500.com Limited (NYSE: WBAI) investors who have suffered significant losses to submit their losses now to learn if they qualify to recover their investment losses. The firm is actively investigating whether the company and senior executives violated federal securities laws, and certain investors may have valuable claims.



Relevant Holding Period: Before Jan. 2, 2020

Sign Up: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/WBAI

Contact An Attorney Now: WBAI@hbsslaw.com .

844-916-0895

500.com Limited (WBAI) Investigation:

The investigation centers on whether Chinese online gambling operator 500.com concealed that its executives were bribing Japanese lawmakers to influence Japanese gaming policy and secure the development of a casino resort project in Hokkaido.

On Dec. 27, 2019, media outlets reported that Tsukasa Akimoto, a lower house member of Japans ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was arrested by Tokyo prosecutors and charged with receiving 3 million yen ($27,400) in cash from 500.com. According to prosecutors, the lawmaker was deeply involved in crafting Japans gaming policy. Prosecutors also arrested three individuals from 500.com, including its Japanese representative Zheng Xi and advisers Masahiko Konno and Katsunori Nakazato. Media reports indicated that the investigation could be further expanded- prosecutors had reportedly conducted raids on another member of the Liberal Democratic Party and the office of the party's former lower house member.

Then, on Dec. 31, 2019, 500.com announced the initiation of an internal investigation into alleged illegal money transfers, the concurrent resignation of its Chairman of the Board, and the temporary departure of its Chief Executive Officer pending the outcome of the internal investigation.

News of 500.com illegal money transfers caused the price of WBAI ADRs to decline sharply.

Were focused on investors losses and whether 500.com concealed its involvement in an illicit lobby scheme, said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation.

If you purchased shares of 500.com and suffered significant losses, click here to discuss your legal rights with Hagens Berman .

Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding 500.com should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 844-916-0895 or email WBAI@hbsslaw.com .

About Hagens Berman

Hagens Berman is a national law firm with nine offices in eight cities around the country and eighty attorneys. The firm represents investors, whistleblowers, workers and consumers in complex litigation. More about the firm and its successes is located at hbsslaw.com . For the latest news visit our newsroom or follow us on Twitter at @classactionlaw .

Contact:

Reed Kathrein, 844-916-0895




Every name on the BrandBucket marketplace is exclusively listed with BrandBucket. That means that all of our sellers are very responsive, making for quick domain transfers.

A dedicated BrandBucket agent will manage your domain transfer from beginning to end, ensuring a secure and easy transaction. They will manage the receipt of the domain into one of BrandBuckets secure registrar accounts and then complete the transfer to you.

1. Verification and registrar choice

After we receive the payment and verify it, we will reach out via email to confirm which registrar you want the domain transferred to. We also provide a link to our tracking system, where you can communicate with us, check on the status of your transfer, view your invoice, and download your logo files.

In most cases, if a domain is moved between accounts at a single registrar, the transfer is quick and usually completes within 48 hours. If a domain changes registrars (in other words, you would like to move it away from where it is currently registered), the transfer is slower. The total transfer time can then be anywhere from 48 hours to 7 days.

BrandBucket has vetted and supports the following registrars:



GoDaddy

Namesilo

Uniregistry

NameCheap

Google Domains

Network Solutions

Name.com

Dynadot

Amazon Route 53

123 Reg

Gandi

2. We request the name from the seller.

Once we know where you would like the domain transferred, BrandBucket will request the domain from the seller. All of our sellers are very responsive, making for a quick process.

3. Transfer the name into your account

As soon as we receive the name from the seller, we start the transfer into your account and guide you through the whole process.

4. Verify with the buyer that the transfer is complete

Once we confirm that you have received the name, we consider the escrow process to be complete. Only then do we release payment to the domain seller.
S hadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner has confirmed he is "considering" a late bid for the Labour leadership.

The Brent North MP, who has developed a following on the left of the party for his defence of Jeremy Corbyn's policies, would be the seventh candidate to declare if he formally enters the race.

Asked whether he is intending to stand for Labour leader, Mr Gardiner said he is "considering it at present".

Unite union boss Len McCluskey denied reports that he is trying to get Mr Gardiner to declare for the contest.

Who will replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader? 1 /4 Who will replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader? Rebecca Long-Bailey Getty Images Lisa Nandy REUTERS Keir Starmer PA

Mr Gardiner held government roles under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, voted for the Iraq War in 2003 and backed David Miliband as Labour leader in 2010.

Meanwhile, early front-runner Sir Keir Starmer met union backers on Thursday in a bid to maintain his edge in the competition.

The shadow Brexit secretary said Labour needs to regain the trust of voters after its "devastating" defeat in December, as he visited the headquarters of Unison - the first of the big unions to declare for him.

"I do believe that we can be an effective opposition, that we can take the challenge to Boris Johnson, that we can restore trust in our party," he added. "But we can only do that if we unite, if we put factionalism on one side.

Keir Starmer and Rebecca Long-Bailey are also running to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party / AFP via Getty Images

"Divided parties don't win elections, united parties win elections. I want to be able to pull our party together so we are all in one team batting together.

"We have lost four elections in a row. If you lose an election you are in opposition, if you are in opposition you are not changing lives. So we have got to focus on forging that path to victory.

"You do that not by trashing the last Labour government, not by trashing everything that has happened since 2015, but by focusing relentlessly on the future."

TODO: define component type apester

Would-be candidates have until Monday to secure backing to make it into the second round of the battle which will see the new leader announced on April 4.

He is well ahead in MP endorsements of his main rival, Ms Long-Bailey, who has been dubbed the "continuity Corbyn" candidate by some.

Jeremy Corbyn announced he would resign following Labour's disastrous election results in December / PA

Other contenders to declare for the top job are shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, shadow Treasury minister Clive Lewis, and backbenchers Jess Phillips and Lisa Nandy.

She gave him no more than a two out of 10 rating for tackling anti-Semitism, but top marks for his ability to enthuse the Labour movement.

"Losing an election is probably the most important thing by which you would measure a leader and obviously we lost very, very badly," she told Sky News. "On that basis I would give him, on that, nought out of 10. What else could I do?"

Meanwhile Ms Nandy picked up an endorsement from former Scottish first minister Lord McConnell.

Candidates need nominations from 10 per cent of Labour MPs and MEPs, who total 212, making the required threshold 22.

Contenders who receive enough nominations will enter phase two of the contest, where they have to secure the backing of 5% of constituency Labour branches or at least three affiliate groups, two of which must be made up of trade unions, to get on the final ballot paper to go to the membership.
A group of students, belonging to various colleges, and members of different organisations on Wednesday took out a protest march to condemn the attack on students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi.

The protesters began their protest march from the Institute of Management Development and Research (IMDR) and ended at the main gate of Fergusson College.

Santosh Rasve, one of the student representatives from Fergusson College claimed that he was summoned by the Deccan Gymkhana police station and was detained for an hour.

"We had sought permission from the college authorities to allow us to carry out the protest march from IMDR to the main gate of the campus using the inside route. However, the college denied the permission and locked the gates and did not allow anybody to come inside," he said.

He added that despite not having police permission, the protest march was taken from the IMDR and using the main road, it reached the main gate of Fergusson College.

Despite repeated attempts, principal of the college, Ravindrasinh Pardeshi, could not be contacted.

IMDR is located on the Deccan Society campus, which runs the Fergusson College.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Families are suffering from food poverty because they are having more children than they can afford to raise, according to a Tory council leader.

Mike Bird, of the Conservative-run authority in Walsall, was referring to a report which showed that 63 per cent of children in the Palfrey district of Walsall live in poverty.

He said: There is a cultural issue. Many people who live in Palfrey... have four or five children at a time. And that is their choice. Whereas in other parts of the borough, they will limit their children to one or two.

The crux of that is you can only have what you can afford. The root cause of this on many occasions is that the family is too big.

Sixty-three per cent of children live in poverty in the Palfrey district of Walsall (file image), in the Midlands. The local council is ranked as the 26th-worst performing area for child poverty out of 326 local authorities in England in 2018

His comments came after Labour members called on the council to introduce food collection points in its buildings, as well as encouraging supermarkets to donate unsold food to organisations to distribute to the needy.

An amended motion put forward by the Conservative administration  which pledged to set up a task force to look at reducing food poverty in Walsall  was agreed by all parties.

Walsall council ranked as the 26th-worst performing area for child poverty out of 326 local authorities in England in 2018.

Cllr Mike Bird of Walsall (pictured left) has clashed with Birmingham Labour MP Liam Byrne (pictured right) about his comments on his local area's poverty figures

Figures show that 26 per cent of neighbourhoods in Walsall are among the most deprived 10 per cent in the country. Former Labour group leader Sean Coughlan, who is one of five children himself, said Mr Birds comments were appalling.

He added: In this day and age we should not have to rely on food banks to support the needy.

Mr Bird needs to understand that poverty is often not the individuals fault.

Nearly half of neighbourhoods in Walsall (file image) are among the most deprived 10 per cent in the country, according to figures

Birmingham Labour MP Liam Byrne said Mr Birds view was insensitive and called on him to apologise. The MP for Hodge Hill added: People are turning to food banks because of poverty pay, not because of how many children they have. This is incredibly insensitive and just wrong.

But Mr Bird said an apology wasnt necessary, adding: It is a responsible idea to try to limit the size of your family to your means.

I was not having a go at any particular section of the borough. There are schools in affluent areas here which have vacancies, and yet there are schools in areas where there are larger families, such as Palfrey, where demand is greater. That greater demand also correlates with the demand placed on food banks.

There are nine food banks in Walsall. Garry Lemon, of the Trussell Trust, which operates one of them, said: No one in the UK should need a food banks help, no matter what size your family is.
3 ISIS terrorists arrested in Delhi were conspiring terror attack in UP, NCR

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Jan 09: Ahead of Republic Day, three terrorists belonging to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or ISIS have been arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police on Thursday. The three were arrested following an exchange of fire in Delhi's Wazirabad area, they said. The suspects have been identified as Khaja Moideen (52), Abdul Samad (28) and Syed Ali Navaz (32), police said.

Delhi DCP (Special Cell) P S Kushwaha said,'' Delhi police special cell busted an ISIS terror module and arrested three alleged terrorists from Wazirabad.''

''3 pistols of 9mm recovered. They were conspiring to carry out terrorist strike in UP/NCR. They were receiving instructions from foreign handler via social media. Preliminary probe reveals this is ISIS-inspired module. Investigation underway,'' he said.

''Khwaja Moinuddin, Sayyed Nawaz and Abdul Samad are among 6 people accused in Hindu Munnani leader Suresh Kumar's murder case. They were held after a brief exchange of fire in Wazirabad when they were on the way to meet a contact person today morning.''

According to the information, the Delhi Police had received information from the Intelligence Department in this regard, after which security was beefed up in the entire capital.

Arms have been recovered from them. At present, the special cell of Delhi Police is interrogating three terrorists.

The Delhi Police is already on alert for Republic Day and is keeping a close watch on all the suspects, along with the police is also taking quick action on intelligence information.

Earlier on Dec 26, five people were arrested and 10 detained in a major operation conducted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh today.

The NIA carried out raids at 16 locations in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. The raids were in connection with busting a new IS module called 'Harkat-ul-Harb-e-Islam'.

Last year in November, the National Investigation Agency sleuths had conducted searches in Thanjavur and Tiruchirappalli in connection with its probe into the ISIS module case and seized among others, laptops, mobile phones and an axe from the premises of two suspects.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Wednesday it was launching an investigation into the Dec. 29 crash of a Tesla Model 3 that left a passenger dead after the vehicle collided with a parked fire truck in Indiana.

The crash is the 14th involving Tesla that NHTSA's special crash investigation program has taken up in which it suspects the company's so-called Autopilot or other advanced driver assistance system was in use.

It is the third Tesla crash NHTSA has said it was investigating in recent weeks. Autopilot had been engaged in at least three Tesla vehicles that were involved in fatal U.S. crashes since 2016. Tesla did not immediately comment.

NHTSA is also probing another Dec. 29 fatal crash of a Model S Tesla in Gardena, California. In that incident, the vehicle exited the 91 Freeway, ran a red light and struck a 2006 Honda Civic, killing its two occupants.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: The 24-hour general strike called by various trade unions on Wednesday hit normal life in the district. At some places, protesters blocked movement of vehicles. Officials with the district special branch offices of Kochi city and the Ernakulam Rural Police claimed no untoward incidents were reported within their limits.At some places, protesters forcibly closed private offices like banks and blocked vehicles during protest marches. However, police mobile units intervened and cleared the protesters, said an official with the Kochi City Special Branch office. Several commuters used private vehicles to travel on the day.

No buses or cabs

Passengers travelling to or arriving at railway stations and Kochi airport were affected the worst as buses and taxis, including online cabs, stayed off the road. KSRTC and private buses stopped plying from Tuesday midnight. However, KSRTC operated Sabarimala services. We operated 63 buses from Ernakulam South railway station on the day. There was good rush as pilgrims were aware that protesters will not block Sabarimala buses. With no passengers, most of the services to other routes were cancelled, said V M Thajudeen Sahib, KSRTC District Transport Officer. State Water Transport Department boats also did not operate the entire day affecting the movement of people residing in islands close to the city.

A family from Hyderabad stranded at Ernakulam

South railway station as taxis and buses stayed

off the road

Metro to the rescue

With buses, taxis and boats staying off the road, the Kochi Metro proved to be a lifesaver for people travelling to the main centres of Kochi city and Aluva. Till 7pm, 35,120 persons took the metro. There was good rush in the morning as office-goers used the metro to reach their work places. The rush ceased by evening. Our average daily ridership is around 65,000 and we expected around 30,000-40,000 riders on the day of the strike, said an official of Kochi Metro Rail Ltd.

Low attendance seen in govt offices

Attendance in government offices was low as most employees were affiliated to trade unions that had called the general strike. Attendance at the Civil Station was around 35 per cent and most offices did not function. The High Court, district courts and magistrate courts functioned on strike days. Several cases were adjourned.

Spl Economic Zone also affected

Despite the High Court ordering police protection to ensure the smooth functioning of the Cochin Special Economic Zone (CSEZ), attendance was low owing to the absence of buses. As per the High Courts directive, police protection was provided to ensure protesters did not block the entrance of CSEZ. However, only around 20 per cent of employees could reach the offices functioning on the CSEZ campus due to the absence of buses. CSEZ is one of the key players in export from the state. With the state trying to attract investments, the government should ensure smooth operation of CSEZ, said K K Pillai, president of CSEZ Industries Association.

Attendance in offices

20% Cochin Special Economic Zone

60% Infopark, Kakkanad

Cochin Port

6 ships operated from port as per schedule

Kochi Metro

35,120 riders till 7pm
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday suffered a setback in the second round of Zilla Parishad (ZP) or district council elections in Maharashtra, after it performed poorly in Nagpur  the home district of former CM Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari  where the Congress wrested power.

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, is expected to bag four out of the six ZPs  Nagpur, Akola, Washim, Palghar, Nandurbar and Dhule  that went to polls on Tuesday. This was the first major round of polls in the state after the Assembly elections. The results were declared on Wednesday. Of the total 332 seats in these six district councils, the BJP won 103 seats; Congress got 73, while the Sena and NCP bagged 49 and 46 seats, respectively.

Although, it has won one-third of the total seats in these six ZPs, the BJP is likely to retain only Dhule ZP, while the MVA allies could get together to take control of four other councils  Nagpur, Palghar, Washim and Nandurbar. The Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) emerged as the single largest party in Akola ZP, winning 22 of the 53 seats, with support from four Independents.

The Congress won the Nagpur ZP, getting 30 of the 58 seats, while the NCP won 10 seats and the BJP bagged 15 sets. State home minister Anil Deshmukhs son Salil Deshmukh secured the Mendpajara seat in Nagpur.

The BJPs dismal performance is being seen as an indicator of the simmering discontent against the party at the grassroots level. The party fared poorly in its stronghold Vidarbha region, too, after securing only five seats in the 53-seat Akola ZP and seven out of the 52 seats in Washim ZP. NCP leader and cabinet minister Jayant Patil said the start of BJPs defeat has started from Vidarbha. The grip the BJP had on the local bodies has loosened. The MVA has created an undeniable dominance [visible] through the results of ZP polls, Patil said in a statement. There was no clear winner in Washim as the Sena, NCP, Congress, VBA secured nine, 12, nine and nine seats, respectively. The MVA allies could come together to take control of the Washim ZP.

The BJP, meanwhile, retained control of the Dhule council in north Maharashtra by securing 38 of the total 56 seats. In Nandurbar, the BJP and the Congress secured 23 seats each in the 56-seat council. The MVA could come together in Nandurbar too, as the Sena has seven and the NCP has three seats. In a statement, the BJP said the number of its party members in all six ZPs  103  has doubled from the previous polls, when it had 53 members. The party said the number of members from the Congress-NCP alliance has gone down from 148 to 118. In a tweet, former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said, The BJP has increased its strength to 103 and emerges as the number one party...

The Sena won 18 of the 57 seats in Palghar ZP polls, while the NCP emerged with 14 seats, and the BJP got 12 seats. The Sena and NCP could join hands with the Congress and the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA), which bagged one and four seats, respectively. The Sena is giving attention to widening its base in Palghar district.

Meanwhile, discontent within the Sena resurfaced again as party MLA Tanaji Sawant got six members backing him to support BJPs Asmita Kamble as the president in Osmanabad ZP polls, while Sawants nephew, Dhanajay Sawant, was elected the vice president.

Sawant, a former minister, openly rebelled against the party to show his disappointment on being overlooked during the cabinet expansion. Senior Sena functionaries said Sawant had been asked to toe the party line in the local elections. Disciplinary action could be initiated against him, a senior functionary said.

This is the second time in the past five days when a Sena leader has gone against the party in the local polls. Last week, Abdul Sattar, who was unhappy with the party supporting Congress for the district council presidents post, voted against party lines in Aurangabad ZP. As a result, a BJP candidate was elected as the vice president.

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A US startup is trying putting itself ahead of the smartphone pack at CES this week with a strange-looking circular phone that has two headphone jacks.

Designed as a non-rectangular phone for non-rectangular people, the device is reminiscent of two-way talking devices from 1990s sci-fi movies.

The palm-sized 'Cyrcle Phone' from Washington-based firm dTOOR also has two SIM card slots and a front-facing camera for taking selfies.

But the device is specifically designed for people with smaller hands who want a device that allows a more natural grip than rectangles.

For all the innovations in smartphones this century, few designs have challenged the dominance of the generally-accepted rectangular smartphone shape.

The Cyrcle Phone runs Android 9 and has a front-facing 13-megapixel camera for selfies

Rectangles have served us for years and years, Christina Cyr, founder of the Cyrcle Phone, told the BBC.

But were looking for something that fits better in the hand and also something that fits better in the pocket.

Weve seen companies like Amazon and Google break the rectangular paradigm with circular devices for the home  now is the time to innovate our mobile communication device.

Cyrcle Phone has two headphone jacks so two users can plug in their own pair of headphones and watch films or listen to music together for a more communal experience.

What weve seen is an uptick in people wanting to communicate and be with each other in real life, and I think thats because weve been so isolated with our phones and on social media  we hide behind that wall, said Cyr.

The developers of this device are going in the opposite direction from Apple and Samsung  which have already phased out headphone jacks staring with their respective iPhone 7 in 2016 and Galaxy Note 10 last year.

The device has two headphone jacks and two SIM cards for users to separate their personal and professional contacts and fits neatly in the palm of the hand

The next gen Android 9 4G LTE version of The Cyrcle Phone has a unique, non-rectangular form 'meant for sharing'

The Cyrcle phone features a front-facing 13-megapixel camera and two SIM Cards, for both work and play  in other words dividing friends and colleagues into two separate sets of phone numbers and messages.

In times that require immediate service, professionals are increasingly expected to be on-call and carry multiple devices  forget that, the company says.

The phone supports 4G LTE and runs the Android 9 operating system.

The team plans to modify the phones interface to make sure Android apps will actually show within the circular display when its released.

By Grapthar's hammer, I will return your call! The Cyrcle Phone is not unlike the two-way calling device from Galaxy Quest

Currently, apps currently being used on the phone all open in a rectangle format, meaning that some features are cut off.

The model is just a prototype for now but the designers say it will launch in about a years time, according to the BBC.

The original concept for the device dates back to 2015, and an early 3D-printable prototype was funded through a Kickstarter campaign the following year.

The phone is one of the most unusual smartphone designs at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week

These have included a device from Chinese company TCL that folds down the screen and a 'disappearing' colour-changing camera lens on the OnePlus Concept One prototype.
Liberty Steel has announced 355 jobs will be cut in Yorkshire and Wales. Photo: Lindsey Parnaby/AFP via Getty Images

Liberty Steel has announced it will axe 355 jobs in the UK in response to challenging market conditions and a continuing reduction in demand for UK steel products.

The steel maker plans to cut about 250 jobs at its plant in Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire, 70 in Newport, South Wales, and a few more at two other South Yorkshire sites.

Liberty Steel Group said there will be a consultation process with trade unions and that it is their intention to avoid compulsory redundancies. The company will offer voluntary redundancy to workers at the affected sites.

The firm said the move comes after a review of its UK business, leading to a decision to reduce its workforce at certain plants to match sustainable production forecasts.

READ MORE: Tata Steel to axe 1,000 jobs in the UK

Chief executive Cornelius Louwrens said: Liberty has taken enormous strides in improving the performance of the steel mills it has acquired over the last six years. Weve re-started mothballed plants and demonstrated a commitment to invest in the UK.

Unfortunately, the steel industry in the UK is facing challenging conditions and we have made the difficult decision that there is a need to reduce the workforce at a handful of locations, in order to make them sustainable for the long-term.

Liberty Steel took over the plants in Wales and Yorkshire in 2017 after it bought out Tata Steel's (TATASTEEL.NS) speciality steels division for 100m ($131m).

The Liberty Steel job cuts are the latest blow to the struggling UK steel industry after the owner of Tata Steels Port Talbot steelworks warned on Monday it cant keep funding the losses just to keep it going, sparking fresh fears over the future of the plant.

READ MORE: Manufacturing slump leads to shrinking UK economy

Tata had already announced plans to axe about 3,000 jobs in Europe in November. Last September it also confirmed the planned closure of its Orb Electrical Steels plant in Newport, South Wales, putting 400 jobs at risk.

Story continues

Ross Murdoch, national officer of the GMB union, said: Once again we have more bad news for the UK steel industry. A country that doesnt produce its own steel for key infrastructure projects and shipbuilding is a country thats destined to fail.

Our steelworkers deserve better than this. The government urgently needs to intervene and ensure steel companies in the UK receive the backing they have long called for on energy costs and business rates.

A Downing Street spokesman said the government was in contact with Liberty and trade unions and that Downing Street was "monitoring the situation closely."

The spokesman told the BBC: This is a commercial decision but Liberty Steel Group has reaffirmed their commitment to the UK market and to its Newport, Stocksbridge and Rotherham steelworks, and all those affected will be offered the opportunity to remain in the wider alliance the firm sits in by joining a new company."

READ MORE: Chinese firm to buy British Steel for 70m

Gill Furniss, shadow minister for steel, said: This is devastating for those who have lost their jobs at Liberty Steel in South Wales and South Yorkshire.

The UK steel industry has faced countless challenges and under the Tory government they have received little to no help.

The time for excuses is over. The prime minister must act now to save the UK steel sector and prevent further job losses.
The closest thing to a phone that we could say was from TCL would be all the licensed devices throughout the years for Alcatel, BlackBerry, and Palm. This past fall, TCL produced and sold the Plex phone under its own name in Europe. Now, the company more known for its TVs in the U.S. and Canada will be bringing multiple smartphones to those countries.

The 2020 TCL smartphone lineup is our most ambitious effort yet to bring beautifully crafted, modern smartphones to the masses while keeping our devices accessibly priced, said Shane Lee, General Manager, Global Product Center at TCL Communication. With each of these new devices, we focused on creating a complete smartphone experience capable of meeting the everyday needs of our customers, while delivering on the quality and value consumers have come to expect from TCL.

TCL is previewing its new 10L, 10 Pro, and 10 5G models at CES 2020. The 5G device will run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7-series SoC (the 765 in all likelihood) while the 10 Pro, which is positioned to take top billing this season, will have an AMOLED display produced from its sister company, TCL CSOT, which also fabricates the LCD and OLED panels for its televisions. The 10 Pro will also get an under-display fingerprint sensor to contrast the 10Ls and 10 5Gs rear-mounted capacitive sensors.

All of them will be equipped with four rear cameras, though we only know of some of their abilities: the 10L will come with a 48MP primary camera plus cameras with ultrawide and macro lenses; the 10 Pro leads with a 64MP sensor, another sensor with 2.9m photocells, and the ultrawide and macro cameras, and; the 10 5G will also get a 64MP unit as well as its own ultrawide and macro cameras.

The trio  all of them probably arent getting OLED displays, by the way  will also feature real-time visual and camera color and contrast tuning, a technology the company has branded as NXTVISION.

TCL will officially launch the TCL 10L, 10 Pro and 10 5G at a press event in Barcelona, Spain on February 22, 2020, as part of the Mobile World Congress, along with additional products to be announced.

The phones will be further detailed at MWC, then will go on sale first in the U.S. and Canada starting in the second quarter starting at under US$500. International markets are also getting these models.
The chief executive of the Health Service Executive (HSE), Paul Reid has said he would like to see fewer emergency departments around Ireland.

It would be a policy decision for Government, he told Newstalk Breakfast, but he believes numbers need to be really assessed.

Progress is being made in reducing the number of people on trolleys in hospitals, he claimed.

Mr Reid said there is a need to strengthen community care to provide some relief to hospitals.

If we keep doing everything the same as we've been doing it, we'll continue to have the same answer and have an overcrowding issue.

There are three major strategic elements that need to be implemented, he said.

The first one I'd call improving the capacity that we have in the system - the number of beds and resources to support those beds.

We need about 2,500 beds in the hospital system over a period of years, and that's what we need.

We also need to resource up and strengthen our capacity in the community side to give relief on to the acute hospital system.

That's a major part of our national service plan next year.

More GPs, more diagnostics in our primary care centres, more capacity and capability of pharmacies to look at minor injuries, etc. There's a way of changing the route into the acute system.

The second element is changing the way that the HSE organises its work between the acute system and the community system, he added.

The third one is we do really need to look at the number of emergency departments that we're managing all across the system.

So we're currently managing 29 emergency departments, and that's the route where primarily people go when they need it.

There's a lot we need to do with our current emergency departments, but it has to be part of an assessment we do.

Just to give a simple example, in a national trauma strategy where we're looking at people would be treated in major traumas.

That does have a vision of having a small number of dedicated, major trauma centres across the country with a number of spines and hubs through the country off that.

This morning, there were 520 patients are on trolleys in Irelands hospitals this morning, after a record high 760 earlier this week.

This is still a dangerous number of patients without beds, but any progress is welcome," said INMO General Secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha.

"We must keep a laser focus on driving this figure down in the coming days. The only acceptable figure for patients without beds is zero."

The worst affected hospitals today were:

University Hospital Limerick: 48

University Hospital Galway: 45

South Tipperary General Hospital: 44

- Additional reporting Joel Slattery
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 9)  Devotees of the Black Nazarene who appeared to be intoxicated damaged the police vehicle leading the images carriage and a crowd dispersal device, a police official said.

Mga amoy alak, lumalaki ang mga mata, yan ba ang mga deboto? Sinira at inapak-apakan pa ang LRAD (long-range acoustic device) at lead vehicle ng andas, Makati City Police Station Criminal Investigation chief Gideon Ines Jr. said on Facebook.

[Translation: They smelled like liquor and their eyes were enlarged, are these really devotees? They damaged and stamped on the LRAD and the lead vehicle of the carriage.]

Images shared by Ines showed an orange Nissan Navara labelled as a police vehicle with its right tail light damaged and its windshield shattered.

LtCol Loreto Sara, the militarys ground commander at Ayala Boulevard, also told CNN Philippines that many of those who were rowdy were young devotees who did not seem to be taking the procession seriously.

Parang masaya sila nakakapanakit eh  Sumbag dine, sumbag dito, Sara said. Nananapak ng paa  Marami dito nakainom, so pag nakainom, malakas loob. Di natin alam, naka-drugs, ang tapang-tapang niya.

[Translation: Its like theyre happy getting to hurt people  They tackle here and there  They step on feet  A lot of them have drank alcohol, so theyre emboldened. We dont know, maybe theyre even under the influence of drugs, so theyre so brave.]

Devotees, however, have also complained about the tighter security at the Traslacion, which prevented them from getting close to the Black Nazarene  an image of a dark-skinned Jesus Christ carrying a cross believed by many to be miraculous.

Ibang-iba ang Traslacion ngayon ng Nazareno hindi katulad dati. Ngayon parang Traslacion ng mga pulis, said one devotee.

[Traslacion this year was really different compared with other Traslacion. Now it was like the Trasclacion of police.]

Bong Encarnado, a Black Nazarene devotee also alleged that some police officers have sprayed some participants of the procession with what with what appeared to be water mixed with chilli they came close to the icon.

Bukod sa mahigpit sila (police,) ginamitan nila kami ng spray  Parang tubig na hinaluan ng sili yung i-spray sa mata mo, Encarnado said.

[Translation: Aside from the fact that they are strict, they used a spray on us  They spray us on our eyes with something like water with chili.]

Red Cross Philippines chairman, Senator Richard "Dick" Gordon, said they did not receive any reports about this.

Devotees are also complaining about the polices boots, which they said hurt them when they get stepped on. They said police deployed at the Traslacion should also go barefoot, like many devotees.

Police on the ground are wearing their search and rescue uniform, which includes combat boots. They cannot wear the uniform without it.

Philippine National Police officer-in-charge LtGen Archie Gamboa and National Capital Region Police Office chief PBGen Debold Sinas have called upon the police to maintain maximum tolerance and tight security until the end of the Traslacion.

They also said that they understand that some devotees are frustrated that they cannot show their devotion to the Black Nazarene like they used to.

But like any introduction of change, we can always expect a level of resistance, the PNP said. We appeal to all devotees to remain calm, continue to cooperate and not harm the police security detail.

CNN Philippines Joyce Ilas and David Santos contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled a de-escalation in his conflict with Tehran that has the world on edge about an impending war by hinting he would not use military force to retaliate against Iran for its nonfatal missile attack against bases hosting American troops in Iraq.



Trump mixed words of disgust for Iran's policies of sponsoring terrorism with those of peace and cooperation during a highly anticipated address to the nation from the White House on January 8 as the world wondered if a new Middle East war was about to begin.



Surrounded by Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and top military brass, Trump said the United States would use its economic might to hit back at Tehran for firing ballistic missiles at two bases the previous evening.



"As we continue to evaluate options in response to Iranian aggression, the United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime," Trump said during a 10-minute speech from the Grand Foyer.

While Trump made it clear to Tehran that the United States has the ability to destroy targets in Iran with its "big, powerful, accurate, lethal, and fast" missiles to achieve its aims, he said a military solution was not the priority.



"The fact that we have this great military and equipment does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it," Trump said.

'Leaving The Door Open'



The president said he wanted to make a new deal with Iran on its nuclear program -- one of the issues at the heart of the conflict between Washington and Iran -- that would allow the Middle East country to thrive and prosper," adding that "Iran can be a great country."



Trump's speech "left the door open" to a diplomatic solution with Iran, Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told RFE/RL.



Tehran, though, helped paved the way for Trump to de-escalate by retaliating for the U.S. assassination of its most powerful military commander without taking any American lives, Vatanka said.



In the early hours of January 8, Iran launched about a dozen ballistic missiles at the Ain al-Asad Air Base and Harir Air Base in Iraq that host U.S. and allied soldiers.



The attack was Iran's response to the January 3 assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani, the powerful head of Iran's elite Quds Force in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Trump said the missiles caused "minimal damage" to the bases and that no one died. Iran could have killed Americans if it wanted to, said Vatanka.



Perhaps referring to the lack of damage and death, Trump said that Iran "appears to be standing down."



The United States and Iran "came to the brink [of war], and they looked at what was on the other side and they didn't like it," Vatanka said.



Oil prices tumbled about 5 percent following Trump's speech amid optimism that war is off the table for the time being. The Middle East is the largest oil-producing region in the world, and war could potentially upset oil exports from there.

Deep Fissure



However, the issues that underlie the deep fissure in the U.S.-Iranian relationship have not been addressed and could flare up again, Dalia Dassa Kaye, the director of the Center for Middle East Public Policy at the Rand Corp, told RFE/RL.



"The president's speech this morning suggested that there is no policy shift. While it is certainly welcomed that there are signs that there is interest in diplomacy and de-escalation, I think we are going to have to see more than just talk about talk," she said.



The U.S. killing of Soleimani followed a rocket attack against a U.S. base in Iraq on December 27 that killed one person and injured four.



It also came days after Iran-backed militia supporters stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.



Trump said Soleimani was behind those two attacks and had killed thousands of U.S. troops over the years.

He justified the assassination of Soleimani during his speech, saying the military commander was "threatening American lives."



The killing shocked Iran and the international community and sparked fears of imminent war as Tehran would be forced to retaliate.



Democrats criticized the assassination as reckless and said Trump's Iranian policies were pushing the nation toward war.



Senate Democrats doubled down on their criticism of the assassination following a meeting with administration officials on January 8, saying they gave no proof that Soleimani was about to undertake an attack against Americans.



"This appears to be a strike of choice by this administration," Senator Chris Murphy told reporters following the meeting.

'Cataclysmic' Consequences



Murphy said the killing has led to "cataclysmic" consequences for the United States, with Iraq potentially pushing American troops out of the country and with Iran possibly leaving a landmark 2015 nuclear agreement.



Trump used his speech to blame the deterioration in relations with Iran on his predecessor, President Barack Obama, who had agreed to ease sanctions against Iran in return for greater international control over the nation's uranium enrichment program.



The agreement unfroze billions of dollars in bank accounts belonging to Iran.



"The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration," Trump said.



However, many analysts say Trump's decision to unilaterally withdraw the United States from the multinational nuclear deal with Iran has been the spark for the flare-up in tensions.



That deal -- backed by Russia, China, Germany, France, and Britain -- eased sanctions against Iran in exchange for limits on its uranium enrichment program.



Trump has called the agreement "terrible" and said it would lead to Iran developing bomb-grade uranium.



The president opened his speech by saying he would never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapons program.



Trump imposed crippling sanctions on Iran following withdrawal from the agreement in 2018, sending the nation's economy into free fall. Trump has widened the sanctions on several occasions since then.



Iran has retaliated to the sanctions -- which have caused shortfalls in basic goods and sparked massive street protests -- over the past year by attacking oil tankers and U.S. bases in Iraq. It has also been blamed for strikes on Saudi oil refineries.



Trump's announcement that he is imposing yet more sanctions against Iran shows there is no shift in the U.S. strategy, said Rand Corps' Kaye.



"There is still a maximum pressure campaign against the Iranians. They are facing tremendous economic vulnerabilities. So, the incentives for the Iranians to continue to show there is a cost to this [sanctions] approach is still there," she said.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated that President Trump said he would never allow Iran to have a nuclear program. He actually said he would never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapons program.
The US killing of a senior Iranian commander in a drone strike in Baghdad has sparked fear and ire in the region. Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, was killed alongside Iraqi companions the morning of Jan. 3. This shocking event marks a tipping point, another chapter of tensions in the region and an era of continued enmity between the United States and Iran.

The Middle East, a region that is awash with conflicts and rivalries, will witness the consequences of the daring US decision to eliminate Soleimani. His death has divided the region. While some view him as a killer who has caused deaths in Iran and the region, others consider him a martyr, an icon of resistance.

Yemenis had a host of reactions to the killing of Soleimani. Houthis were shocked and furious, but the Saudi-backed UN-recognized government was euphoric and felt victorious. Both sides' reactions have ideological roots that point to the sectarian schism that has taken over the country the last five years.

Houthis share a close ideology with Iran, while the Yemeni government follows Saudi Arabias approach. Parties to the conflict in Yemen hinge on outside players, and their reactions to regional developments are analogous to those of their foreign backers.

Houthis orchestrated mass rallies Jan. 6 in Sanaa and Saada province, expressing support for Iran and denouncing the killing of Soleimani. The participants chanted anti-American slogans, calling for the expulsion of US forces from the region. They carried pictures of Soleimani and raised placards reading, God is great. Death to America.

The entire [Muslim] umma has the right to respond to the crime of assassinating Soleimani and [Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and all martyrs] to counter the American hegemony, said the Sanaa rally in a statement. Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Units, a pro-Iranian group in Iraq.

Dhaif Allah al-Shami, the information minister of the Houthi government, gave a speech before the gatherings in Sanaa, saying, The blood of Soleimani does not belong to Iran or Iraq. Instead, it belongs to all Muslims and the free people.

The late Iranian commander is now not only a national hero for Iranians but for Yemen's Houthis, who have taken to the streets and displayed his photos.

Abu Marwan, a school teacher in Sanaa, has seen several huge photos of Soleimani in the capital Sanaa. The ordinary people here did not know about him before his killing," he said. "Now, they have come to know about him. Houthis cherish this Iranian military commander, and they have hung his photos because Iran and Houthis have common enemies.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee, urged a "quick reprisal" for the killing of Soleimani in a tweet that he later retracted. "We condemn this killing. Direct and swift reprisals are the answer, he said. In the Houthi view, not exacting revenge would point to Iranian weakness, and this weakness would reflect on its regional allies, including the Houthis.

While the Houthis drown in sorrow and sympathy for Soleimani, Yemen's Saudi-backed government officials believe that what happened is a prologue to peace.

Moammar al-Eryani, information minister of the internationally recognized government, tweeted that Soleimanis killing undermined Irans "expansionist" and policies, and it is "an important step to end wars and conflict [and] bring security and stability to the region.

Eryani told Saba News Agency that the Houthis could turn Yemen into a battleground between Iran and the United States in the aftermath of this dramatic escalation.

The Houthis believe their destiny is tied to Iran, said Mohammed Abdu, a Yemeni journalist focusing on political affairs. According to Abdu, when Tehran is troubled or experiences setbacks, Houthis become frustrated and alarmed.

Abdu told Al-Monitor that the Houthis huge sympathy for Iran means the group is willing to launch attacks to help Iran fulfill its goals.

Without Iran, the Houthis would not bear the war for five years," he said. "Iranian support is the lifeblood of the Houthi movement in Yemen. Houthis minus Iran would collapse in a short time.

Western media sources reported in 2017 that Iran was stepping up its support for the Houthis through its provision of arms, training and financial support. US officials said in December 2019 that the US Navy seized significant caches of suspected Iranian guided missile parts intended for the Houthis. Though Iran has repeatedly denied any connection to Yemens Houthis, in October 2019 Iranian Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Mohammed Bagheri acknowledged that the Revolutionary Guard offered advisory and intellectual support to the Houthis.

Commenting on the Houthis' pro-Iran rallies in Sanaa, Adel Dashela, a Yemeni researcher and writer, reckons that these mass rallies prove the solid connection between the Houthis and Iran  an alliance that is not easily broken.

From my vantage point, the absence of the state in Yemen will continue, and the Houthis will continue implementing what is dictated by the decision-making circles in Tehran," he told Al-Monitor. "Also, attacks on Saudi Arabia will persist and this will make it difficult for political efforts to break the five-year stalemate."

The devastating conflict in Yemen has resulted in tremendous losses, and the civil war has become a proxy war. The consequences of the recent Iran-US escalation may bring further pain and destruction to Yemen unless the parties to the conflict refrain from igniting further violence in the country.

Iran launched over a dozen rockets at two US military bases in Iraq to show that the killing of Soleimani will not go unanswered. The Iranian rockets struck the bases that are thought to have served as launch sites of the drone attack that killed Soleimani. The United States is still evaluating its response to the Iranian attacks. Warlike actions could spark yet more actions, culminating in an endless whirlwind of violence in the region.

Former US Ambassador to Yemen Stephen A. Seche, in an article for the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, wrote that Iran would "employ" its allies in the region, including Yemen's Houthis, to respond to the killing of Soleimani.

The opportunity for tragic miscalculation abounds in the Gulf region," he wrote. "The parties to Yemens conflict have an opportunity to avoid such miscalculation, demonstrate restraint and persist on the path to peace."

The Middle East is at a critical juncture. An all-out war may flare up in a region that teems with rivalries and conflicting agendas. The magnitude of suffering in Yemen, a victim of regional rivalries, will likely worsen in light of the widening gulfs between regional powers.
If Democrats love terrorists so much why dont they marry them? Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/Getty Images

Republican Doug Collins, a congressman from Georgia, said Wednesday that Democrats are in love with terrorists. He also accused his Democratic colleagues of mourning slain Iranian General Qasem Soleimani more than our Gold Star families who were the ones who suffered under Soleimani.

The comments were made to Fox News Lou Dobbs, who asked Collins about House Speaker Nancy Pelosis plans to hold a vote Thursday on a War Powers Resolution to limit President Trumps actions in Iran.

Doug Collins: Democrats are "in love with terrorists, we see that they mourn Soleimani more than they mourn our gold star families." pic.twitter.com/hUIZVl2t3h  nikki mccann ramirez (@NikkiMcR) January 9, 2020

In a tweet Friday, Collins apologized, saying he does not in fact think that Democrats are in love with terrorists.

Let me be clear: I do not believe Democrats are in love with terrorists, and I apologize for what I said earlier this week. (1/5)  Rep. Doug Collins (@RepDougCollins) January 10, 2020

Collins isnt the only one spouting this nonsense. Nikki Haley, also speaking on Fox News this week, said Democrats are mourning the loss of Soleimani. Kellyanne Conway said Democrats are alarmists and apologists who show sympathy for Soleimani.

In reality, no Democrats have shown sympathy for Soleimani, and many went out of their way to note what a bad guy he was before criticizing Trumps decision to have him killed. What makes the comments even more absurd, though, is that Trumps Republican allies are falsely accusing Democrats of doing things Trump has actually done.

He has literally claimed that he and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un fell in love. And as far as respect for Gold Star families goes, theres only one person in Washington whos engaged in a protracted, personal spat with one and hes sitting in the White House.
Kochi, Jan 9 : Kerala aims to be counted among the top five investment-friendly states in the country, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday, inaugurating the two-day investor meet Ascend 2020 here.

Organised by the state Department of Industries, the event is showcasing around 100 projects for investors.

"Various agencies have placed Kerala on top of their lists by various indicators which are considered by investors when looking to invest in India. Today, on account of these, Kerala remains among the top destinations for investors. In a decade from now, we are working to see that unemployment will be wiped out from the state," Vijayan said.

"We have taken numerous steps to speed up the sanctioning of licenses for investors, like having single window clearances and a 30-day clearances for various licenses. We are also contemplating removing restrictions on land holdings for those projects which have an investment of above Rs 250 crore and which provide employment to more than 1,000 people," he said.

He also noted that laws would be rewritten to enable employers to employ women at night, provided their safety is ensured.

"Adequate subsidy will also be provides to employers for five years," he added.

The event, however, appears to have lost its sheen, with the Congress-led opposition UDF boycotting the event, terming it a fraud.

The government has also drawn flak for the way the entire state was brought to a standstill the whole of Wednesday, following the day-long nationwide protest strike called by 10 central trade unions.

In Kerala, ruled by the CPI-M-led Left alliance, the Bharat Bandh strike call witnessed a total shutdown, unlike in other parts of the country.

Another incident on Wednesday, that has shaken the state, saw the 2013 Nobel winner Micheal Levitt and his family cancelling their houseboat ride midway, after their boat on the famed backwaters was not allowed to proceed by striking workers beyond the noted tourist destination of Kumarakom.

On Thursday morning on the instructions of Vijayan, two District Collectors went to apologise personally on behalf of the state to the Nobel laureate for the disruption caused to the latter's boat travel.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
House speaker Nancy Pelosi is feeling the heat.

Just as she thought she had President Trump backed into a corner with impeachment, she smashed herself against a brick wall in Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, who refused to go by her rules, laying waste to all her precious plans.

In the Senate, Cocaine Mitch makes his own rules. But actually, it's not that; Mitch is just using Clinton-era impeachment rules.

Those rules were to invite the Democrats to present their case and answer questions, and then have the Senate decide whether to call witnesses. Pelosi had already gone all out and claimed she wanted the Senate to call witnesses. Mitch was obliged to follow no such diktats. And as a result of staying steadfast on Trump, he now has a quorum to move ahead with those rules.

It's gotten so bad that it's now Senate Democrats who are warning Pelosi to drop the clown show, because her delay as leverage was starting to render Democrats irrelevant.

According to Issues & Insights:

On Tuesday, McConnell announced that he had the votes needed to proceed with the Clinton-era impeachment rules. And soon after, Senate Democrats, in a rare show of bipartisanship, started pressuring Pelosi to stop her pointless delay. "Time plays an unknown role in all of this, and the longer it goes on, the less the urgency becomes. So if it's serious and urgent, it should come over. If it isn't, don't send it over," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein. As CNN contributor Scott Jennings put it, "No Republicans were harmed, pressured, or otherwise inconvenienced in the making of this sad, sad film." This is but the latest in a continually growing line of epic impeachment failures.

Old stegosaurus Feinstein complaining to fellow old tyrannosaurus Pelosi? The pair of them are almost physical neighbors in San Francisco's tony Pacific Heights and have known each other for years. They're textbook old cronies. Feinstein was last seen supporting Joe Biden over her fellow California senator, upstart Kamala Harris, a move to support the Pelosi establishment Democrats if there ever was one. Now she's the first to break rank? Politico says it's bad. This is one fracturing Democratic Party, indeed.

What's more, Feinstein is probably speaking for many more Democrats in the Senate than are coming forward. The impeachment process is not only rendering Democrats irrelevant as voters get bored of hearing each day of Pelosi's delay, coming on the heels of her rush-rush impeachment; it's actually damaging them.

One way is that the long, dragged out, boring as heck process is forcing the five Democrat senators still in the running for president to constantly keep coming back to Washington for the hearings and votes. That's cutting their campaign time. That in fact was the real reason why the ultra-politicized impeachment was supposed to be done so quickly, according to the political observers  couched, of course, in the language of Trump being a danger to the republic and all.

Now she's blown it. Caught between the baying-for-impeachment Squad and the solid wall of Mitch McConnell, who, like her, understands power, she's trapped. It's either get impeachment over with or let it bleed her party out of power. She can't move Mitch. And she's got Feinstein mad at her now, too, and going public, the cracks and crumbles now visible. It's either Feinstein or the Squad. She's caught like a pig in a poke, in a trap of her own making, and now can't please any of them.
The Mizoram government on Thursday drew flak from the opposition Congress over its new rule restricting issuance of blood bags from government-run blood banks without prior permission from the state government.

State Congress youth wing president Dr Lalmalsawma Nghaka claimed that many patients and private hospitals are facing inconvenience in obtaining blood bags from government hospital following the new rule that came into effect on Monday.

According to the new rule, no private hospitals or non-empanelled hospitals are allowed to obtain blood bags from government blood banks unless prior permission is obtained from hospital and medical education director.

Earlier, the official in-charge of blood banks were allowed to issue blood bags to any hospital and needy patients at any time, Nghaka told a press conference here.

Wondering what would happen in the case of an emergency, the Congress youth leader claimed that it was an attempt to force non-empanelled private hospitals to implement government healthcare scheme.

Nghaka Salso slammed the state government for suspending empanelment of private hospitals due to introduction of new healthcare scheme in the state.

This would inconvenience people as they could not claim reimbursement for expenses incurred in private hospitals, he said.

On December 4, the state government had suspended empanelment of 15 private hospitals for allegedly refusing to implement state healthcare scheme, which seeks to grant health assurance to the tune of Rs 2 lakh in a year to the beneficiaries.

He said Health Minister Dr Lalthangliana should resign if he is unable to handle his department.

Non-Government Hospital Association of Mizoram also criticised the state government for the new rules, which was seen as a discriminatory move to restrict private hospitals.

The association demanded that the state government withdraw the new rule and revert to the earlier one.

State health department Deputy Secretary Lalngura Tlau said the new rule would streamline the distribution of blood bags through proper channel.

He said earlier blood bags were issued by respective blood banks at their discretion, which was unsystematic.

Tlau said the new rule would not restrict any private hospital or needy patient to obtain blood bags and permission could be given ex post facto by the director in the case of emergency.

The official said the government will add beds to all government hospitals and urban health centres.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.

We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.

This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.
POSTPONED  The Power, Leadership and Influence of the Black Woman

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March 20, 2020 POSTPONED

The Power, Leadership and Influence of the Black Woman is a sponsor-driven event. Members of the community will be selected at random to attend at no cost. Mothers in Action is our community non-profit partner whose events throughout the year are supported by Bakewell Media and The Los Angeles Sentinel.

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Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson both stepped away from some duties. [Photo: Getty]

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have announced they will be stepping down as senior members of the Royal Family.

This move prompted Buckingham Palace to release a statement saying that they understand the couples decision but these are complicated issues which will take time to work through.

Despite the surprise, this isnt the first time a member of the Royal Family has decided to step away from their duties.

Heres what happened next for the royals who decided to opt out of the Royal way of life.

READ MORE: Whats next for Harry and Meghan?

Princess Diana

Princess Diana stepped away from Royal duties in a similar way. [Photo: Getty]

Princess Dianas divorce from Prince Charles in 1996 left her without an official title (she was known as Diana, Princess of Wales instead of her royal highness) and without some of the royal jewels shed amassed during her marriage.

With a move that echoes Prince Harry and Meghan Markles, Princess Diana was allowed to keep her apartment at Kensington Palace.

During a 2007 inquest into her death, Deputy Coroner of the Queen's Household Baroness Butler-Sloss said, I am satisfied that at her death, Diana Princess of Wales continued to be considered as a member of the Royal Household.

She continued to dedicate her life to charity work, with a focus on Africa, footsteps in which both Prince Harry and Prince William have followed.

READ MORE: Will taxpayers still contribute to Meghan and Harrys life?

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess Of York

Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew were divorced in 1996. [Photo: Getty]

Within the space of a year both Prince Charles and Prince Andrew split from Princess Diana and the Duchess of York.

In an interview with Harpers Bazaar, she said that although they separated in 1992, they didnt get a divorce until 1996 because she wanted to go and get a job.

Much like Harry and Meghan, members of the royal family arent permitted to get jobs outside of their royal duties.

She went on to stay close friends with Prince Andrew as they raised Beatrice and Eugenie.

Now, Sarah Ferguson runs numerous businesses, attends charity (with a particular focus on childrens charities) and business events and has even written books.

Story continues

She still dips in and out of royal events but without the pressure of royal duties.

The Duke Of York Prince Andrew

The Duke Of York stepped away from duties in late 2019. [Photo: Getty]

The Duke Of York stepped away from Royal duties in November 2019 after the Jeffrey Epstein scandal became a major disruption for the Royal Family.

The 59-year-old asked the Queen for permission to withdraw for the foreseeable future which she granted.

His life post-Royal duties has been unlike the experiences other Royals have had when stepping away. This is mainly because of the scandal surrounding his choice to step down.

Since his decision, the likes of BT and Barclays who had previous links to him, have joined universities and charities in distancing themselves.

King Edward VIII

King Edward VIII wanted to marry Wallis Simpson. [Photo: Getty]

King Edward VIIIs decision to abdicate in 1936 set in motion a chain of events that made way for the Royal Family as we know it.

His brother, George VI, took over and in turn his daughter, Princess Elizabeth, became Queen.

Edwards desire to marry a divorced American woman, Wallis Simpson, led him to abdicate the throne and live the rest of his life in retirement in France.

He became known as Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor and continued to live a life of luxury with an allowance from the Royal Family until he died in 1972.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo Style UK:
China on Thursday rejected US President Donald Trump's call to "break away" from the Iranian nuclear deal and work for a new one, saying the agreement is a "hard won outcome" adopted by the UN and "all parties" should abide by it.

The nuclear deal called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was reached between Iran and the P5+1, the permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, the UK, Russia, France and China - plus Germany and the European Union in 2015.

President Trump has repeatedly criticised the nuclear deal as "very defective" and "foolish". He has already withdrawn from the agreement arguing that it does not meet the desired objective.

Trump said on Wednesday that "the time has come" for other nations to "break away from the remnants of the Iran deal, or JCPOA, and we must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place."



His call came amid the US and Iran tensions over the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in an American drone strike in Iraq on Friday. Iran retaliated by firing 22 missiles at US military bases in Iraq.

Commenting on Trump's remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told the media here on Thursday that the root cause of tensions in the Middle East was the US' withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

"Now there is an escalation in the Middle East, the Iranian nuclear issue is facing severe challenges. The US unilaterally withdrew from JCPOA in ignorance of law and obligations and obstructing the implementation by other parties. This (is the) root cause for the tensions," he said.

"This is also the primary circumstance parties should bear in mind while handling the Iranian nuclear issue. The JCPOA is the hard one outcome adopted by the UN and a pillar (of) stability and non-proliferation regime," he said.

"We urge all parties to abide by the deal (and) ease the tensions in Middle East. China will continue to stay in communication with other parties and work (to) realise the settlement for this end," he said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Binh also spoke highly of the DFCs role in the US foreign policy and asked it to expand the list of the projects in Vietnam, especially in the fields of the countrys need like energy, infrastructure, heal care, aviation, and finance.

The official expressed his belief the organisation will serve as a bridge to provide information on investment chances and potential in Vietnam to US firms and investment funds, and that the support by the DFC will be an important catalyst for a stronger wave of investment from the US into Vietnam in the time to come.

For his part, the DFC head pledged support and said the US side will look for chances to invest in Vietnams private economic sector, especially in the fields of energy and infrastructure, thus helping ensure energy security and support to Vietnams key infrastructure projects.
By Rod Nickel EDMONTON, Alberta (Reuters) - A newlywed couple that had travelled to Iran to get married were among the 63 Canadians killed when their Ukrainian Airlines flight crashed early on Wednesday, according to a community leader in the western Canadian city where 30 victims came from. All 176 people on board the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 were killed when the plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran. It had been heading for the Ukrainian capital Kiev.

By Rod Nickel

EDMONTON, Alberta (Reuters) - A newlywed couple that had travelled to Iran to get married were among the 63 Canadians killed when their Ukrainian Airlines flight crashed early on Wednesday, according to a community leader in the western Canadian city where 30 victims came from.

All 176 people on board the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 were killed when the plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran. It had been heading for the Ukrainian capital Kiev.

Arash Pourzarabi, 26, and Pouneh Gourji, 25, who were graduate students in computer science at the University of Alberta, had gone to Iran for their wedding, said Reza Akbari, president of the Iranian Heritage Society of Edmonton.

They were on the plane with four members of their wedding party and another 24 Iranian-Canadians from Edmonton, Akbari said.

"Oh God, I cant believe this," Akbari told Reuters. "Its shocking to the whole community."

Borna Ghotbi, a close friend of the newlyweds since they were all undergraduates at Tehran's Sharif University, said their wedding took place three days ago.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday that the government would reach out to international partners to ensure the crash is thoroughly investigated "and that Canadians' questions are answered."

Trudeau planned to hold a news conference on the crash on Wednesday, his spokeswoman said. Flags flew at half-mast across Canada, including at Parliament in Ottawa, and vigils were scheduled in several Canadian cities.

The flight was a popular transit route for Canadians travelling to Iran, in the absence of direct flights, and carried many students and academics heading home from the holidays. Canada broke off diplomatic relations with Iran in 2012.

"I've had family take the Tehran-to-Toronto route via Kiev in the past year. It's been a new, affordable route for many Iranian-Canadians," Mahsa Alimardani, a student at Britain's Oxford University, said on Twitter.

'EVERYONE HAS BEEN CRYING'

University of Alberta President David Turpin said at least 10 members of the university community had died, including students, faculty and alumni.

"This is a grave loss," he told reporters. "Words simply cannot express the grief that we are feeling on campus."

Among the victims was Mojgan Daneshmand, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Alberta, "a brilliant, brilliant lady, very smart," the Heritage Society's Akbari said.

Her husband, Pedram Mousavi, a professor of mechanical engineering at the same college, and the couple's two daughters, also died in the crash.

Mousavi was "like a father," student Hossein Saghlatoon told Reuters.

The pair had travelled to Iran with daughters Daria and Dorina, aged 14 and 10, to visit elderly parents, Saghlatoon said.

"Everyone has been crying since last night. It's a huge loss and the void is not going to be filled by anyone or anything," Saghlatoon said.

The Toronto District School Board said a number of students and their family members had been killed in the crash while the school board for York region, north of Toronto, said its schools had been "directly affected."

Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said he had been in touch with the government of Ukraine.

"Our hearts are with the loved ones of the victims, including many Canadians," he wrote on Twitter.

The disaster was the largest recent loss of life among Canadians since an Air India flight blew up in 1985 over the Atlantic Ocean, killing 268 Canadians.

According to a 2016 census, around 210,000 of Canada's 38 million inhabitants are of Iranian descent.

(Reporting by Denise Paglinawan, Anna Mehler Paperny and Moira Warburton in Toronto, David Ljunggren in Ottawa; writing by Amran Abocar; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Bernadette Baum and Lisa Shumaker)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Following a $5 billion fine from European Union competition regulators in 2018, Android users in the EU will soon be able to choose their default search engine from a list of four options, including Google, when setting up their new phones or tablets.

DuckDuckGo and Info.com will appear on the set-up page in all 31 markets, Google announced Thursday, but Microsoft's Bing will appear as a choice in just one  the United Kingdom. Search engines like Seznam, from the Czech Republic, Russia's Yandex and France's Qwant will also appear in some markets. These options will be in effect from March 1 to June 30 and new auctions will occur quarterly, Google said.

The three alternative search engines in each market were determined by a blind auction in which search providers that met Google's criteria provide "the price that they are willing to pay each time a user selects them from the choice screen in the given country." A minimum bid was set for each country and the three highest bidders for each market will appear during setup on Android phones in that country.

In a blog post explaining the rules, Google called the auction, "a fair and objective method." The choice screen is one of a number of changes Google has made following the European Commission's 2018 decision that found it had used the mobile operating system to hamper rivals. Google has since appealed the decision.

The auction drew criticism from at least one European search engine that was left off of the default set-up screen.

"We believe this auction is at odds with the spirit of the July 2018 EU Commission ruling," Ecosia CEO Christian Kroll said in a statement to CNBC. "Internet users deserve a free choice over which search engine they use, and the response of Google with this auction is an affront to our right to a free, open and federated internet."

Kroll questioned why Google should be able to decide which choices will appear on its own set-up page and said the German-based company plans to "raise our broader concerns over Google's monopolistic behavior with European Union legislators - we'll also look at other ways to work with regulators to challenge this result. If this were to go unchallenged, we firmly believe that this would set a dangerous precedent over how large technology firms address competition rulings."

DuckDuckGo also criticized the auction, even though it won in all 31 markets.

"We believe a search preference menu is an excellent way to meaningfully increase consumer choice if designed properly," a spokesperson said in a statement. "However, we still believe a pay-to-play auction with only 4 slots isn't right because it means consumers won't get all the choices they deserve and Google will profit at the expense of the competition."

-CNBC's Ryan Browne contributed to this report.

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.

WATCH: How Yandex is beating Google in Russia
Dublin, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "South America Lipstick Market By Product Type, By Distribution Channel, By Country, Competition, Forecast & Opportunities, 2013-2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



According to the report, the market is forecast to surpass $2.3 billion by 2023, majorly on account of continuous innovations in lipstick market. Moreover, working women population is growing across different countries of the region which is pushing demand for lipsticks as women are becoming conscious about the use of lipsticks in routine life.



Additionally, easy availability of lipsticks along with growing penetration of e-commerce is further anticipated to positively influence South America lipstick market over the coming years. South America lipstick market is controlled by these major players, namely - L'Oreal International, Christian Dior SE, Shiseido Company, Limited, The Estee Lauder Companies Inc., and Revlon, Inc.



The report discusses the following aspects of the Lipstick market in South America:

Lipstick Market Size, Share & Forecast

Segmental Analysis - By Product Type (Gloss, Matte & Others), By Distribution Channel (Departmental/Grocery Stores, Supermarkets/Hypermarkets, Multi Branded Retail Stores & Others), By Country

Competitive Analysis

Changing Market Trends & Emerging Opportunities

Key Topics Covered



1. Product Overview



2. Research Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Global Lipstick Market Outlook



5. South America Lipstick Market Outlook

5.1. Market Size & Forecast

5.1.1. By Value and Volume

5.2. Market Share & Forecast

5.2.1. By Product Type (Gloss, Matte and Others)

5.2.2. By Distribution Channel (Departmental/Grocery stores, Supermarket/Hypermarket, Multi branded Stores, Exclusive Stores and Online Stores)

5.2.3. By Country

5.3. Market Attractiveness Index

5.3.1. By Product Type

5.3.2. By Distribution Channel

5.3.3. By Country



6. Brazil Lipstick Market Outlook



7. Colombia Lipstick Market Outlook



8. Argentina Lipstick Market Outlook



9. Market Dynamics

9.1. Drivers

9.2. Challenges



10. Market Trends & Developments



11. Competitive Landscape

11.1. Company Profiles

11.1.1. L'Oreal International

11.1.2. The Estee Lauder Companies Inc.

11.1.3. Revlon, Inc.

11.1.4. Coty, Inc.

11.1.5. Avon Products, Inc.



12. Strategic Recommendations



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/c6uyk9

Story continues

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A landlord violated the law when it evicted a tenant who filed a complaint with the state Human Relations Commission over an order to get rid of his therapy dog, a Commonwealth Court panel ruled Thursday.

That ouster by Village Realty Associates constituted an illegal retaliation against someone who was defending his rights, Judge Christine Fizzano Cannon wrote in the courts opinion.

The case revolves around Village Realtys interaction with former tenant Jonathan Blaine of Manchester regarding a puppy he bought as a therapy animal in January 2015 on the advice of his therapist.

Blaine was living in a dog-free apartment complex at the time and was on a month-to-month lease. After asking Village Realtys permission to have the dog, he provided the landlord with his therapists prescription for the animal.

Yet in March 2015 the apartment manager told Blaine he had to get rid of the dog or move, Cannon noted.

Blaine filed a complaint with the Human Relations Commission about that order. It was resolved in April 2015 via an agreement where Blaine was allowed to keep his dog.

The ink was barely dry on that deal when the landlord began sending letters informing Blaine that neighbors were complaining about his dog urinating and defecating on the property, Cannon noted. It also told Blaine there was a complaint about the dog barking and crying all day.

Repeatedly, Blaine received letters from Village Realty ordering him to clean up the waste. Blaine tried to call Village Realty about the letters but his message was not returned. Nor did the landlord respond to letters he sent to Village Realty, Cannon wrote.

In July 2015, Blaine was told his lease wasnt being renewed and that he had 60 days to vacate his apartment. Blaine complained to the Human Relations Commission again, claiming Village Realty was retaliating against him for filing his original complaint with the agency.

The commission agreed and ordered Village Realty to pay $8,333 in damages to Blaine. In challenging that decision before Cannons court, Village Realty contended the commission was wrong to find it guilty of retaliation.

In upholding the commissions decision, Cannon cited the agencys finding that Village Realtys claim that numerous neighbors were complaining about Blaines dog was dubious at best.

There were no such complaints until after Blaine filed his first human relations complaint, the commission observed. Blaine spoke with his neighbors who denied complaining about his dog to the landlord, the commission noted, and a neighbor Village Realty called to testify in the case told a commission investigator that Blaine had always cleaned up after his dog.

What appears to have happened is that Village Realty was on a mission to make it appear that Blaines emotional support animal had become such a problem that Blaines lease had to be terminated, a commission hearing examiner wrote.

Cannon seconded that conclusion.

She found the evidence supported the finding that Village Realtys proferred reasons for terminating Blaines lease suffered from such weaknesses, implausibilities, inconsistencies and contradictions that the hearing officer could have rationally found them to be unworthy of credence.
Unnikrishnan S By

Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There is a high chance that one would miss the urban areas of Kerala if asked to make a guess on the fastest-growing cities in the world. But Malappuram made a conspicuous entry to the top as the fastest-growing city in the world in terms of population, according to a ranking released by reputed international weekly The Economist on Tuesday.

The ranking also found Kozhikode (rank 4) and Kollam (rank 10) among the top ten on the list. The cities that shared the honours with the three in Kerala are the cities in Vietnam, China, the UAE and Oman. Thrissur was also found to be growing fast with a rank of 13. Surat (ranked 27) and Tirupur (30) are the other two cities from India that featured in the top 30.

The ranking is based on the data collected by United Nations Population Division.

The percentage rate for fastest-growing cities in our Pocket World in Figures Book is taken by calculating the difference between the populations for 2015 and 2020 (for cities with at least 750,000 people), Mark Doyle, editor (The World This Week and Letters) of The Economist, said in an email response to TNIE.

The ranking surprised many as the states population rate is the lowest in the country. Malappuram could be better off with 13.4 per cent against the state average of 4.6 per cent.

But the experts in population and migration studies pointed out that that the heavy internal migration into the state is the real reason that catapulted Kerala cities to the top global ranking. The growth rate could merely reflect people moving from the native places to urban areas within the state, said Doyle. The UNPD has adopted a methodology to include migration as one of the criteria for the preparation of updated population estimates along with data on fertility and mortality.

Migrant-friendly Kerala

Four cities (districts) in Kerala featuring among the fastest-growing in the world also highlight the stature of the state as migration-friendly place internationally. It assumes significance at a time when there is a global trend against migration. It is a positive factor for Kerala. The state is able to attract a lot of migrants with employment opportunities and better living conditions, S Irudaya Rajan, an expert on population studies at the Centre for Development Studies (CDS).

He pointed out the lack of local labour force, international migration and economic activities spurred by NRI remittances made Kerala attractive for migrants from other states. He, however, pointed out that there had been a decline in migration in southern districts when compared to northern parts. According to him, the growth rate of the state would not decline faster if the migrants keep coming. District Labour Officer of Malappuram Haridas said the construction boom and lack of local labourers fuelled the migration.

We can find migrant labourers involved in all kinds of work. Even the brick cutting (from sand mines) which was considered a skilled job of local workers was taken over by migrants, he said. According to him, Valanchery, Kottakkal, Perinthalmanna, Tirur, Edappal and Nilambur are the major pockets in Malappuram where there is a significant presence of migrant labourers from West Bengal, Odisha and Assam.
During his address to the nation this morning about the situation with Iran, President Trump said the ballistic missiles that targeted two U.S. air bases in Iraq were paid for using funds made available by the last administration. This assertion enraged Democrats and their media allies such as the Washington Post.

Is their outrage justified? I see two issues here. The first is whether President Trump should be calling out his predecessor, especially at a time when national unity (however slender the hope for it may be) is particularly important.

I dont think Trump should be. His criticism of President Obama was gratuitous. The purpose of Trumps address was to inform the country about the Iranian attack on our our bases and related matters. There was no reason to take a potshot at Obama.

I should add, however, that, as president, Obama rarely missed an opportunity to blame his predecessor, George W. Bush, for whatever ailed America at a given moment. Until Trump came along, Obama was by far the least gracious president of my lifetime.

The second issue is whether Trump was correct in saying that the missiles Iran fired at our bases were paid for with funds made available by the Obama administration. I think he mostly is.

We cant possibly know which specific monies paid for the missiles in question. But Trump didnt say that those missiles were bought with funds supplied by the Obama administration. He said, in essence, that the monies to purchase them were available thanks to the Obama administrations payments to the regime.

We cant know this for sure, either. However, as David Harsanyi says, we do know that money is fungible and that the Iranian military, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Hezbollah were the major beneficiaries of the funds Obama handed over.

Thus, its reasonable to suppose, at a minimum, that Iran had more missiles available to fire at our bases than it would have possessed if the regime hadnt been bailed out financially by Obama. At any rate, Trumps statement is hardly far-fetched, which is how the Post characterized it.

Media apologists for Obama, and for Iran, such as CNN, Andrea Mitchell, and the Washington Post, counter that the money Obama turned over belonged to Iran. Even if this were true, it wouldnt overcome Trumps claim that Obama made available funds that enabled the attack on our bases. Whatever the equities, Iran didnt have those funds until Obama handed them over.

In any case, I agree with Harsanyi that that the funds in question did not belong to Iran. He explains:

In 2016, the United States was in the middle of an unresolved dispute in front of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal at The Hague over cash advanced by the Shah for military equipment we refused to deliver after the 1979 revolution. . . . It is unlikely that U.S. would ultimately have been obligated to hand over a single deutschmark to the mullahs. For one thing, the U.S. had its own counterclaims over Irans many violations  which, in total, exceeded the amount supposedly owed to it. Obama, in his obsessive goal of placating Iran to procure a deal, unilaterally dismissed a stipulation held by the previous administration that the United States wouldnt release funds until other court judgments held against Iran for its terrorist acts on American citizens were all resolved. Lets remember, until the Wall Street Journal reported that the administration had secretly airlifted $400 million in ransom payments for four Americans detained in Tehran  seven months after the fact  we were never informed about the cash transfers. And Obama never offered any legal justification or accounting for the billions he transferred. Nor did Obama ever explain the fiscal calculation of tacking on an extra $1.3 billion in interest payments. The president, in fact, risibly claimed that the agreement had saved billions of dollars.

I wish Trump hadnt used his address on Iran to score points against Obama. But when it comes to Iran (and not just Iran) the points are there to be scored in abundance.
President Donald Trump is bringing his re-election campaign back to the Midwest with a Thursday rally near the Michigan border.

Trump is heading to the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio for his first campaign rally since addressing the nation about recent hostilities between Iran and the U.S. The president is also heading to Wisconsin next week to campaign on the same night Democratic primary contenders will hold their first debate of 2020.

Thursdays rally in Toledo is only a few miles from the Michigan/Ohio border. The two states will be important battlegrounds for Trump, who managed to flip both in 2016 after voters previously supported former President Barack Obama, a Democrat.

Ohio is historically a reliable predictor of the presidential election winner -- voters sided with the losing candidate only once since 1944. But the state is no longer considered a swing state by Cook Political Report, while Michigan is.

Michigan was part of the Democrats blue wall because it hadnt supported a Republican for president since George H.W. Bush in 1988. While Trump won Michigan by a narrow margin, leaving Democrats optimistic they can mount a comeback in 2020, the president decisively took Ohio.

Another difference between the two states: In 2018, Democrats won big in Michigan but the Buckeye State continued its Republican trend.

Trumps message to Ohio was similar to his pitch to voters in Michigan during the last campaign cycle. The president is expected to tout his work to rebuild the states manufacturing, auto and agricultural industries and celebrate the expected ratification of his United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Ohio is booming thanks to President Trump and jobs are coming back to the state. Since President Trumps election, Ohio has added 94,700 new jobs, including 14,700 manufacturing jobs, said Michael Glassner, chief operating officer for the Trump campaign. President Trump is delivering on his promises, and he looks forward to celebrating those successes with the great men and women of Ohio.

The president visited Michigan at the end of 2019 on the same night he was impeached by the U.S. House. Trump said he created the greatest economy in the history of this country at a Dec. 18 rally in Battle Creek.

The Institute of Supply Management found worsening conditions for the U.S. manufacturing sector in a report released earlier this year. The manufacturing sector has been in contraction for five straight months.

Back in Washington, the U.S. House is expected to vote on a war powers resolution aimed at limiting the Trumps ability to use military force against without approval from Congress. The resolution was introduced by U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, on Wednesday and will likely receive a vote before Trump leaves for his rally.

Vice President Mike Pence is also scheduled to appear at the Toledo rally.

Read more on MLive:

Supporters gathered ahead of President Trumps Michigan rally say there is no proof for impeachment

Trump campaign expects impeachment to mobilize Michigan voters

Michigan Democrats slam Trumps desperate Battle Creek campaign rally

Joe Biden says Trump will face uphill climb in Michigan

Impeachment supporters rally across Michigan before Trump campaign visit
Something is shifting. Young Indians, in growing numbers, are making it clear that they plan to take back their stolen future. In a country where half the population is below 25, two-thirds are less than 35, and which is likely to have the worlds largest workforce in the coming decade, more and more young people  especially young women  are refusing to be pawns in the politics of intimidation.

Young students out on the streets, in protest marches against a controversial citizenship law, young doctors who are volunteering to attend to those who may get wounded at protest sites if things get violent, MBA aspirants reading out the Constitutions Preamble in premier management institutes, young mainstream actresses publicly taking a position risking commercial repercussions, are all part of this emerging trend.

It is too early to say whether any of this will influence electoral prospects. It is also too early to predict whether the trend  most pronounced in cities  will spread to villages. But it is clear that young India is unmasking and taking on the intimidators. And they are not waiting for any political party to show the way. They are charting their own course. They have age and courage on their side.

Last Sunday, in Indias capital, masked, lathi-wielding goons stormed into Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), brutally beat up students and teachers, and left. Much has already been written about it. Images of a savagely wounded Aishe Ghosh, president of the JNU Students Union (JNUSU), and JNU professor Sucharita Sen, with a bandaged head, are hard to forget. JNUSU alleges the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, had orchestrated Sundays attack. Amazingly, even as the violence was unfolding, the police were busy filing two First Information Reports (FIR) that named Ms Ghosh and other JNUSU members following complaints from the university administration about its server being damaged.

But to an ordinary citizen who has no direct connection with this world-famous university, what leaps out is the easy passage that masked intruders got into its precincts. Several conspiracy theories are making the rounds, including one that alleges that left-leaning students staged assaults on themselves to garner sympathy and to malign the ABVP. But the basic questions remain unanswered. In a university campus that has strict security checks at all gates in normal times, how do masked men with sticks and rods get inside, beat up students and teachers, ransack hostels, and leave? The FIR shows that not only did the police wait for nearly three hours before doing anything against the masked mob, policemen who actually saw the masked and armed rioters responded with a warning to cease violence and disperse, delivered by megaphone. But they continued to indulge in violence and in defiance of the lawful direction they fled. The students who were injured were taken to hospitals immediately, the FIR noted, reports news website Scroll.

Equally inexplicable is the role of the JNU administration. What was it doing while the mayhem raged for so long and while students and teachers were being assaulted and property being damaged by masked intruders?

JNU students say the police remained standing by as the stick-wielding intruders exited the campus without any resistance.

I was in the vicinity of JNU the next day. The place looked like a fortress. All approach roads had been barricaded and the police presence was overwhelming. They did not allow anyone to get inside the campus without a JNU identity card. But watching the scene from a nearby terrace, what was astounding was the huge gathering outside the campus main gate and the chants against leftists and anti-nationals along with Jai Shri Ram. An ordinary citizen may ask how such a crowd was allowed to gather and chant provocative slogans when Section 144 is clamped routinely to deter protesters, those who dont see eye to eye with the government on the Citizenship Amendment Act, the National Register of Citizens, or anything else.

This is astounding, coming as it does soon after the violence in another Central university, Jamia Milia Islamia, where the police used teargas and hit with sticks students sitting inside the library, usually considered the safest of places. I used to be a part-time teacher in Jamia a decade ago and many of my students, now Ph.D. research scholars and doctorates, are part of the movement that is asking sharp questions about their future.

This movement to take back what they see as their stolen future is no longer confined to one institution or one community or even one issue. Last week, policemen entered the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and tried to disrupt a student-organised event called IIMA stands up for democracy. The event was meant to be a candlelight vigil and a session where students would read together the Preamble to Indias Constitution.

The policemen pushed us into a classroom. It was an event by the students inside the campus. How can the police come and stop us from holding the peaceful event? We have no idea who informed them or why they came here, one student, told the media. The police did not fully succeed, since the students did go to a classroom and read the Preamble, loud and clear.

In recent days, I have also met several young doctors like Harjit Singh Bhatti, an alumnus of the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences. These doctors have formed a group and are reaching protest sites to tend to the wounded, along with nurses and medical volunteers. Last Sunday, they reached JNU on hearing about the violence. But the mob outside attacked their ambulance.

Dr Bhatti tweeted: Our team of doctors, nurses & medical volunteers who reached JNU to give first aid to injured students & teachers, was attacked by hundreds of goons. Mob manhandled doctors, nurses & threatened them. Our ambulances glass & windows broken, this is totally inhuman & insane. This is not the first time that medical volunteers have been targeted.

Another group, Medic Aid Support/Street Medics India, also on Twitter, seeks to share medical aid resources during the ongoing protests against the CAA and related issues.

Libraries, hostels, ambulances, there are no safe zones immune from those who know only to intimidate vocally and physically, and also know they can count on police support. But many among Indias young are standing up to unmask the intimidators. They want to take back their stolen future.
More than 400 artists have worked at Artpace over the past 25 years, but only a handful have left tangible traces of the work they did in the building.

The artists that come through the lauded residency program typically create installations that are on display for just a few months. But some leave things behind that can be seen outside of the galleries  if you have permission to roam around and know where to look.

Riley Robinson knows where to look.

Robinson, who became the director of Artpace in 2018 and has worked for it through most of its history, agreed to show off the buildings offbeat hidden treasures on a tour that included the galleries, offices, restrooms and the three apartments where artists live during their residencies.

He even pointed out the reminders left behind from the buildings time as a Hudson car dealership and a Firestone tire shop, including a tire rack tucked high overhead in a space that now is used for lectures and workshops, and a drain in the floor in a space where cars were once washed.

Theres also a Hudson hubcap hanging on the wall at the top of the stairs, but thats not a leftover from the Hudson days: I like to tell everybody we found the Hudson hubcap while we were renovating the building, but we actually got it from a hubcap dealer on Austin Highway, he said.

A bit of a history of the buildings transformation into an art center can be found in the restrooms, where Ansen Seales black-and-white photographs of what it looked like before hang on the walls.

The other artwork scattered throughout the building, which opened to the public in 1995, provides thumbnail illustrations of some of the work that has been created there over the years.

So does a shelf behind the desk in Robinsons office. It holds a hodgepodge of small pieces, gifts and mementos from artists who have come through.

Theyre little bits and pieces of ephemera  I dont know if theyre really artwork or not, he said.

The shelf includes a painted 2-by-4 covered in string left behind by sculptor Leonardo Drew, a ceramic plate made by the late Katie Pell and a gag gift of a breath spray claiming to help folks understand modern art.

On ExpressNews.com: Katie Pell remembered for work, impact

Theres also an oversized key  It looks like a cartoon, Robinson said  that is one of 10 he had made as part of the installation that Regina Jose Galindo created during her 2008 residency. For the piece, she locked herself, her husband and her baby into a jail cell in the gallery.

Shes a conceptual artist and doesnt usually end up with an object other than the record of the show. So I was like, Hey, Regina, lets go ahead and make a copy of the key, Robinson recalled. So that is a copy of the jail cell key. This is what a real jail cell key looks like.

A framed light switch plate hangs above working light switches on the wall beside the door. Beyond documentation, its all that is left of Kim Jones 2003 installation Flatland Wars, which depicted battle scenes. The plate is covered in tiny, detailed pencil drawings, as were the walls of the gallery.

When the exhibit closed, Jones told Robinson to just paint over the mural. Robinson got his OK to keep the light plate.

So I took it off the wall and saved it, and this is whats left over, he said. Its part of Artpace.

Another part lies under the floor of that wing of the building. As Artpace founder Linda Pace recounts in her book Dreaming Red: Creating ArtPace, artist Paula Santiagos 1996 residency coincided with the construction of that area. Santiago inserted works of art  bits of plaster casts and clippings of her hair  into the wet concrete foundation of the directors office.

Robinson noted that there is no sign documenting the pieces presence.

For a long time, other works affixed throughout the building didnt have labels, either. That changed starting with the two small urethane balls that Elizabeth McGrath left embedded in the ceiling, an extension of please watch your step, the installation she created during her 1996 residency. The balls can be seen by looking up in the first floor atrium.

On ExpressNews.com: Southwest School of Art show digs into colorism

Were not a collecting institution, but theyve been there a long time, Robinson said. About six or seven years ago, I said its time to own it. So we finally put a label on it. So were claiming it as artwork. I wrote her and told her, Youre the longest exhibiting artist in Artpace.

Theres also a label for Waddle and Daub, a piece suggesting two vessels, one nestled inside the other, that was embedded into the wall just below the stairs by Lily Cox-Richard during her 2016 residency.

And theres a label for a single window pane on the landing between the first and second floors thats coated in delicate silver leaf, a call-back to Rebecca Hollands 2000 residency. The artist painstakingly covered the ceiling of her space with silver leaf, creating a glowing effect. She left behind the window pane as a gift to Artpace.

The original work is still there, too, Robinson said: When she left, it was time to bring the next artist in, we just painted the ceiling over. Theres a layer of silver there; you just cant see it.

A few works upstairs rarely are seen by anyone other than artists and staff, since theyre in areas not accessible to the public. One can be found on the windows of the cozy apartment where Tony Feher stayed during an Artpace stint in 2012. Feher, who died in 2016, typically worked with everyday materials, including the strips of blue tape he used to cover three panes of glass with geometric patterns.

If you know Tony Fehers work, this is a signature blue tape piece, Robinson said. Im not taking this down.

Another hidden work is a series of window panes with small holes drilled into them. Theyre what remains of Rivane Neuenschwanders 2001 piece Omission Points, for which she drilled those holes all the way around the gallery.

I saved em, Robinson said.

Hes also left up a single clay bird in a room just off the Main Space, the downstairs gallery that faces the street. It was part of a collection of birds that Kate Terrell created for an installation about 10 years ago. At the end of the exhibition, Robinson said, we took em down, gave the birds back. But then we noticed we missed one. And its been hanging ever since.

The bird, the silver leaf and all the other pieces left serve as a reminder of Artpaces history, Robinson said, as well as a reminder that the building itself is a catalyst for new work.

Its an envelope that lets people do what they do best, he said.

dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN
Suspected Bangladeshi nationals have attacked a border outpost in Meghalaya, assaulting two BSF jawans and snatching their weapons, resulting in injuries to one of them, police said

Shillong: Suspected Bangladeshi nationals have attacked a border outpost in Meghalaya, assaulting two Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) jawans and snatching their weapons, resulting in injuries to one of them, police said.

Another group from the neighbouring country barged into the house of a Meghalaya resident and looted money, mobile phones and a gun, besides injuring the head of the

family, a senior officer said.

The incidents took place at around midnight on Wednesday at Amdoh and Rongtila, which are about five km from the India-Bangladesh border, West Jaintia Hills Superintendent of Police (SP) Lakador Syiem said.

"A group of 10-15 Bangladeshi nationals allegedly surrounded two Border Security Force (BSF) personnel near the Rongtila border outpost (BOP), assaulted them and snatched their weapons, causing injuries to one of them," he said.

The weapons snatched from the BSF personnel were later recovered from a nearby forest, Syiem said. Prior to the incident, another Bangladeshi group had barged into the house of Pratap Bareh at Amdoh village near the Rongtila BOP and looted money, mobile phones and a gun, he said.

Bareh had fired a round at the intruders in self- defence before his gun was snatched and he was assaulted, Syiem said.

Both Bareh and the injured BSF jawan were taken to Dawki Primary Health Centre (PHC). The deputy inspector general of police (Eastern Range) met the injured persons and visited the places of occurrence along with the district deputy commissioner and senior officers of the BSF and police.

After the incidents, the BSF lodged a protest against the intrusion of cross-border criminals from Bangladesh during a flag meeting with its counterpart, the BGB.

The BGB has promised to intensify patrolling to ensure that no Bangladeshi national crossed over the international border with India, a senior BSF official said. The incident comes a week after another group of persons, also suspected to be from Bangladesh, attacked a car at an area 10 km inside India and decamped with money and

mobile phones after injuring the occupants.

Meghalaya Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui, also the local MLA, condemned the incidents. "I condemn the dastardly and daring attacks on the BSF and villagers living close to the India-Bangladesh border and urge the authorities concerned to step up vigil and thwart attempts to create fear among the border residents," he said.
Deconversions are controversial because the acquisition process often causes fighting among neighbors, and residents who are outvoted can be forced to sell and move. Proponents say deconversions can allow individuals to sell at above-market prices, and a bulk sale provides an exit for owners in an outdated building facing costly repairs.
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US believes Iran 'likely' shot down Ukrainian airliner: Pompeo originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

The United States believes it is "likely" Iran shot down the Ukrainian passenger plane that crashed this week in Iran, killing all 176 on board, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday.

We do believe that it's likely that that plane was shot down by an Iranian missile," Pompeo told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl during a White House press briefing. "We are -- we're gonna let the investigation play out before we make a final determination. It's important that we get to the bottom of it."

PHOTO: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announce new sanctions on Iran, at the White House in Washington, D.C., Jan. 10, 2020. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

Asked by Karl if the United States would allow the National Transportation Safety Board to work with Iran, which is leading the investigation into the Wednesday morning crash, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the U.S. government would permit exceptions to sanctions against Iran.

The Treasury will issue waivers for anybody, whether its Americans or others, that can help facilitate the investigation, Mnuchin told reporters at the White House.

On Thursday, a U.S. official had told ABC News that it was "highly likely" Iran shot down the plane.

The crash happened just hours after Iran had launched more than 20 missiles at U.S. military facilities in Iraq, which fueled speculation the plane might have been shot down inadvertently by the Iranian military. Those missiles were fired at U.S. military sites in Iraq in retaliation for a drone strike that killed one of Iran's top generals.

(MORE: Boeing 737-800 carrying at least 170 crashes in Iran after takeoff with no survivors)

U.S. intelligence is confident that Iran painted the Ukrainian airliner with radar and fired two surface-to-air missiles that brought down the aircraft, a U.S. official told ABC News. The official said that an American satellite had detected the heat signature of the two missiles as they approached the airliner.

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The same assessment was made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

PHOTO: Rescue teams recover debris from a field after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning on Jan. 8, 2020, killing everyone on board. (AFP via Getty Images)

"We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile," Trudeau told reporters on Thursday.

"This may well have been unintentional," he added. "This new information reinforces the need for a thorough investigation into this matter."

President Donald Trump said earlier in the day at the White House that he didn't know whether the airliner had been shot down by Iran, but "I have my suspicions."

"Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side," Trump said. "I have a feeling that something very terrible happened, very devastating."

PHOTO: A child's shoe lies at the scene of a Ukrainian airliner that crashed shortly after take-off near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran, Jan. 8, 2019. (ISN via AFP/Getty Images)

The type of surface-to-air missile used was not disclosed by Trudeau or the U.S. official, but photos taken at the crash scene that have appeared on social media seemed to show the remnants of a Russian-made TOR missile. NATO identifies this air defense system as the SA-15.

Iranian officials were quick to blame the crash on a technical problem and rejected that the aircraft could have been struck by a missile.

"The engine had caught fire. If the reason of the crash was missile, then it would explode in the sky. But the fire was in the plane engine and the pilot's attempt to control the plane was unsuccessful," Qassim Biniaz, a communications chief at the Iranian Ministry of Roads and Transport, told the state news agency IRN shortly after the crash.

PHOTO: People attend a candlelight vigil held at the Edmonton Legislature building in memory of the victims of a Ukrainian passenger plane that crashed in Iran, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, June 8, 2020. (Candace Elliott/Reuters)

Ukraine's embassy in Tehran initially issued a statement confirming the Iranian version of events but then deleted it. Ukrainian officials later said it was too early to rule anything out.

But the U.S. military strongly suspected that the Ukrainian airliner had been brought down by an Iranian air defense system shortly after the plane had gone down, according to a U.S. official.

The launch of the surface-to-air missiles was detected by American satellites used to monitor missiles launches from a number of adversaries around the globe.

The satellites, known as the Space Based Infrared Systems, or SBIRS, use infrared technology to scan landmasses for the heat signatures that indicate missile launches that could pose a threat to the U.S. homeland or American personnel overseas.

PHOTO: Map shows Ukraine-bound airplane crash near Tehran. (J.magno/AP)

Iranian investigators on Wednesday said they had recovered the plane's "black box" flight recorder and were studying it. Iran released a preliminary report suggesting the plane had crashed while attempting to turn back toward the airport to make an emergency landing.

According to FlightRadar24, the Boeing 737-800 airliner bound for Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, took off at 6:12 a.m. from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport. Data from the plane dropped off just two minutes into the flight and suggested something catastrophic occurred.

Footage aired on Iranian television and released by the Iranian Red Crescent showed the plane's wreckage scattered across a field in small fragments.

The incident is the second time in recent months that the Iranian military's air defense systems have sparked an international crisis.

Last summer, a U.S. military drone flying over the Persian Gulf was shot down by an Iranian air defense system that almost led to U.S. retaliatory airstrikes. That incident led to speculation that the Iranian team manning an air defense site had not reached out for authorization to shoot down the aircraft from a higher headquarters.

"They've shown in the past that their command and control is not very good and that operators on the ground often act independently," said Mick Mulroy, an ABC News contributor and former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East policy. "They don't coordinate."

Mulroy added that if it's proven conclusively that Iran shot down the airliner, Iran should have grounded all commercial aircraft after their initial missile strikes into Iraq "to determine the situation because it's just incompetence."

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said 82 Iranians and 68 Canadians died in the crash. Eleven Ukrainians were killed, among them the airliner's nine crew members, he said. Ten other passengers were from Sweden, four from Afghanistan, three from Germany and three from Britain, according to Prystaiko. At least 16 passengers were younger than 10.

Wednesday's crash was the first fatal crash involving a Ukraine International Airlines aircraft.

People were quick to draw comparisons to the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 which was hit by a Russian-made missile while it was traveling over Ukraine in 2014.

ABC News' Mina Kaji contributed to this report.
When Donald Trump's now-or-never moment came, the US President talked tough but essentially opted for the latter. The world can breathe a sigh of relief that it wasn't the former but this game of chicken is far from over.

His highly anticipated address following Iran's ballistic missile strike on Iraqi military bases housing US troops - its most serious act of aggression in this recent chapter of conflict - contained crucial messages for audiences at home, in Iran itself and to America's foreign allies.

The biggest and clearest was that the United States has no interest in fighting another full-blown war in the Middle East. On this, he has good company. Ill-equipped, crippled by economic sanctions and reeling from the loss of General Qassem Soleimani in last week's drone strike, Tehran also has little appetite for a battle.

Faced with the prospect of war, Trump cooled his rhetoric. Credit:Bloomberg

The regime was so keen to avoid one that it went out of its way to make sure the missiles it launched on Wednesday didn't hit anything of significance, let alone actual US troops. Large parts of the Iranian military are a shambles but Iran does possess the capability to hit a target it if really wanted to. Tehran was so keen to make sure US lives weren't lost that it even took the courtesy of an advance telephone call to Baghdad to let them - and presumably the Americans - know the missiles were incoming.
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against New Mexico's largest school district over a 2018 incident where a teacher allegedly cut a Native American student's hair and asked another girl if she was dressed as a 'bloody Indian.'

The ACLU of New Mexico's complaint against Albuquerque Public Schools and the disgraced educator, Mary Jane Eastin, contends she created a hostile learning environment at Cibola High School and discriminated against the then-16-year-old junior McKenzie Johnson, who is Navajo.

The group also claims the school district failed to properly train teachers and provide for student safety.

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The ACLU of New Mexico is suing the Albuquerque Public Schools and former teacher Mary Jane Eastin on behalf of student McKenzie Johnson, who is Navajo (pictured left with her mother), and who was allegedly called a 'bloody Indian' by the teacher in 2018

The lawsuit contends Eastin created a hostile learning environment at Cibola High School in Albuquerque and discriminated against Johnson, then a 16-year-old junior

According to the 11-page lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Second Judicial District Court, Eastin had dressed up as the historic voodoo witch Marie Laveau on Halloween in October 2018 and planned a game for her advanced placement English class, in which she asked students questions and then rewarded those who answered correctly with marshmallows and gave dog food to those who answered incorrectly.

Eastin allegedly reassured her students that the dog food was 'organic,' and some ended up eating it, while others refused.

The lawsuit states that at one point, Eastin approached a Native American student and asked her if she liked her braids.

After the girl answered in the affirmative, Eastin allegedly threatened to cut her braids off with a box cutter, then took a pair of scissors instead and proceeded to take three inches off the student's hair and sprinkle the trimmings on the desk in front of her.

Eastin also was accused of then asking another student, identified as Johnson, if she was dressed as a 'bloody Indian.' The girl's mother later told reporters her daughter was dressed for Halloween as Little Red Riding Hood with a red paw mark on her face.

'In response to the collective gasps from her students, Ms. Eastin doubled down and stated, What? She is bloody, and she is an  Ms. Eastin stopped short of finishing her sentence and allowed her racist comments to linger,' the complaint stated.

The ACLU contends in the complaint that Johnson's reputation was harmed as a result of the interaction, and that the once outgoing teen became withdrawn and suffered personal injuries, including emotional distress.

Eastin's alleged classroom antics during Halloween, which included cutting another Native American student's braids, sparked protests (pictured)

Johnson has spoken about her experience during school board meeting at in other forums

Johnson has since recounted her story during school board meetings and at a Native American community forum hosted by the school district. She has said more needs to be done to address cultural sensitivity in Albuquerque's schools.

The ACLU lawsuit on behalf of Johnson follows discrimination charges filed in May 2019 with the New Mexico Human Rights Bureau by the teen. The school district denied the allegations and the bureau did not reach a determination, clearing the way for the legal action.

The case is aimed at establishing a clear precedent that New Mexico's anti-discrimination protections extend to students in public schools, said Preston Sanchez, an attorney at the ACLU of New Mexico. It also seeks unspecified financial damages.

'Not only must we ensure Native American students feel safe behind school walls, but we must also do everything in our power to ensure that they are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve,' Sanchez said.

School officials declined to comment on the case. Eastin has an unlisted phone number and it wasn't immediately clear if she had an attorney.

The school district's superintendent issued a public apology after the allegations emerged and told parents that Eastin would not return to Cibola High School.

School officials said later that Eastin's 15-year employment with the school district ended in 2018 but did not disclose if she quit or was fired, reported KOB. They also said they would address racism and cultural sensitivity at all schools in the district.

Leaders from the Navajo Nation had called on the district to provide cultural sensitivity training. While they described the teacher's acts as part of a 'Halloween stunt,' they said one teen's parents told them it was traumatizing.
Almost since the clock struck midnight on New Years Eve, Facebook memes and news organizations ranging from USA Today to CNN to local media outlets have been warning consumers not to abbreviate 2020 as 20 when signing the date on checks and legal documents. The idea is that a malefactor could write in two digits at the end and change the date. For example, its theoretically possible for a criminal to find someones uncashed 2020 check lying around next year and change the date from 1/1/20 to 1/1/2021, thus allowing them to cash it in. Or if someone started paying off a debt with a check on 1/1/20, an unscrupulous creditor could modify the date to make it seem like the payback period started on 1/1/2019 and claim that the debtor missed a whole year of payments. While this sort of manipulation could have been possible with checks dated last year as wellfor example, altering 1/1/19 to 1/1/1999it probably would be harder for a criminal to try to claim that a check is 20 years older than it actually is.

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But just because this is all possible doesnt make it a particularly likely scamand it certainly doesnt explain the hubbub. There havent been any confirmed cases of this happening yet, and the scam would seem to only be useful in very specific and fairly unusual circumstances. Law enforcement agencies like the New York Police Department and Maines East Millinocket Police Department have been putting out notices about the hypothetical scenario. Social media has been abuzz with advisory memes spelling out how the scheme works. Several Slate staffers reported that their friends and family members have gravely warned them about the threat.

Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, has been quoted as an expert source in a number of news items about the date abbreviation scare, but told me that hes puzzled by the amount of anxiety and fuss its caused. Theres a lot of consumer fraud that goes on every day that I worry about a lot more than this, he said, pointing to robocalls, account hacking, and mail scams. Its almost like a Y2K thing in some ways, where people are bent out of shape because our numbers are turning over. Rheingold mentioned that hes been getting a surprising number of press inquiries and radio interview requests for his commentary on this particular scam. George Moore, a contract lawyer who reposted a viral meme about the 2020 abbreviation risk on his firms Facebook page (he couldnt remember where he initially found the image), also told me, Ive had police departments from across America, Ive had people from Canada, contact me saying thanks.

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Though there may eventually be some cases of nefarious actors adding digits to checks, it wont likely be a widespread problem for consumers and financial institutions. Its not very common nowadays for scammers to tamper with numbers on checks in general. Checks themselves are also rapidly falling out of favor, with the rise of electronic payment methods. Still, as Rheingold points out, the types of people who still regularly use checks, like senior citizens, are often the most vulnerable to financial scams.

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Its unclear why exactly this theoretical date abbreviation scam has stoked so much concern, but Rheingold ventures that it has something to do with how easy it is to understand. Other forms of fraud, like payday lending and reverse mortgage scams, are more complex and dont fit so neatly into a Facebook post. The fraud prevention measure for the date tampering scam is also a lot simplertelling your friends to just write out 2020 is a quick and easy tip. Advising your friends on how to tell the difference between a valid and fraudulent IRS notice, on the other hand, takes a little more explaining.

In the end, though, some overexaggerated hype about check tampering probably wont do much harm, and you should probably put in a little extra effort to write out 2020 in full, just to be safe. As Rheingold said, Its just an opportunity to warn people that they need to be careful, that they should keep copies of their contracts, that they make sure that anything they sign is filled out carefully, that they double-check their bank accounts. Those are all good things.
Tehran (AFP) - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic republic's response on Wednesday to a US strike that killed one of its generals shows "we don't retreat in the face of America".

"If America has committed a crime... it should know that it will receive a decisive response," Rouhani said in a televised address.

"If they are wise, they won't take any other action at this juncture."

The remarks came hours after Iran fired a wave of missiles at Iraqi bases housing US troops in retaliation for the assassination of Qasem Soleimani.

But Rouhani said it would not be enough if Iran's armed forces hit back for any other action taken by the United States.

"In my view, America must receive the main response from the nations of the region," he said.

The president was repeating a common refrain among Iranian officials since the assassination that Soleimani's death will see US forces leave the region.

"They cut off the hand of our dear Soleimani. The revenge for him is to cut off America's feet from this region," Rouhani said.

"If Americas feet is cut off from this region, and its hand of aggression is cut off for good, this is the real and final response of the nations of the region to America," he added.

Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, was killed last week in a US drone strike near Baghdad international airport.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 9, 2020 - 08:33 | World, All

Japanese Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura and his Chinese counterpart He Lifeng discussed Wednesday the rising tensions in the Middle East, stressing the importance of regional stability in the wake of Iran's missile strikes against U.S. forces in Iraq.

"Rapid fluctuations in financial markets or excessive speculative movements that do not reflect the macroeconomic fundamentals are undesirable," Nishimura told reporters following a working dinner with He in Beijing.

"Since appreciation of the yen and a rise in oil prices can negatively impact the Japanese economy, we want to pay close attention," he said.

(A financial board in Tokyo shows the U.S. dollar falling to a three-month low in the 107 yen level on Jan. 8, 2020, as Middle East tensions escalated after Iran fired missiles against Iraqi bases hosting U.S. troops.)

Nishimura's remarks come amid rising fears over an all-out war after Iran launched missile strikes against U.S. forces in Iraq earlier on Wednesday in retaliation for the recent killing of a top Iranian general by the U.S. military.

The two sides also exchanged views on macroeconomic policies of both countries, mutual efforts on developing the world economy and how to tackle shared issues such as their declining birth rates and aging populations.

Acknowledging a downward risk to the slowing global economy, Nishimura and He agreed to host frequent dialogues.

Related coverage:

Trump denies intent to use military against Iran after missile attack

Japan temporarily closes embassy in Iraq amid U.S.-Iran tensions

Japan's Prime Minister Abe may cancel Mideast trip after Iran strikes
SPRINGFIELD  Lawmakers from both parties are calling for an investigation of a 2012 email exchange between a government insider and then-Gov. Pat Quinns staff regarding a possible cover-up of rape and other criminal activity.

The bombshell report was published Tuesday by Chicago National Public Radio affiliate WBEZ-FM detailing emails from former Commonwealth Edison lobbyist Michael McClain and Quinns staff. WBEZ reported McClain  a close confidant of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago  sought leniency for a state worker facing disciplinary action, calling the employee a good compliance person.

He has kept his mouth shut on Jones ghost workers, the rape in Champaign and other items. He is loyal to the administration, McClain said of the employee, according to an email obtained by WBEZ via an open records request.

No further information about the alleged cover-ups was revealed in the email exchange, and the disciplinary hearing that prompted McClain to email the administration was apparently postponed. McClain responded to the news at the time with an email noting nothing happens accidentally.

Its not clear what [the employee] was accused of or if he ever faced disciplinary action by the state, wrote Tony Arnold and Dave McKinney, the authors of the WBEZ report. The agency he worked for at that time would not say. And officials rejected a request from WBEZ for records of any reprimands he may have received, citing a law blocking the release of such records that are more than four years old.

Lawmakers and advocates responded to the report swiftly.

Quinn told WBEZ he had not heard any of the allegations before the report, Gov. J.B. Pritzkers office said the matter has been referred to investigators, but a spokesperson did not specify which investigatory authority would be taking a look at the matter.

The governor was appalled and disgusted by these allegations, and his expectation is that all state employees will meet the highest ethical standards for their conduct, and anyone who does not meet that standard will be disciplined to the full extent of the law, according to a released statement. The administrations general counsel referred this email to the appropriate investigatory authority, who will make a determination about what next steps can be taken.

WBEZ reported the employee in question  who now has a $40-an-hour consulting contract with the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board  worked for Pritzkers 2018 campaign as a political consultant. The campaign told WBEZ it had no knowledge of the emails.

The Illinois Senate Womens Caucus, among others, called for a criminal investigation.

That email is horrifying. If anyone has any information about this crime, please contact authorities, said Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora, and co-chair of the caucus. Sexual assault will not be tolerated. We need to get to the bottom of this and hold people accountable.

Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, who co-chairs the caucus, agreed.

I am stunned and disturbed that keeping quiet about a rape was so casually offered up as proof of loyalty. This needs to be investigated thoroughly, and anyone who helped cover it up needs to face the consequences, she said.

House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, called the report one of the most disturbing and shocking set of facts hes ever seen and called for accountability.

What society allows that to happen? he said Wednesday at an unrelated Chicago news conference. Its extremely disturbing, but it casts a shadow upon Springfield that has been brought upon by the power brokers that have existed down there for the past many decades who have controlled the legislative process and the passage of bills.

WBEZ also reported a wide-ranging federal probe, one that led to FBI raids of several Statehouse insiders, is investigating allegations that ComEd hired politically-connected consultants in exchange for favorable actions in Springfield. McClains home in Quincy was raided by investigators in July.

Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, asserted on Twitter that McClain still holds sway over Madigan who has been Illinois House speaker for all but two years since 1983. WBEZ and the Better Government Association reported that McClain continued to collect a paycheck from ComEd years after his official retirement from registered lobbying.

And lets stop pretending (McClain is) a former anything. This is the guy who for decades has been seen as the most powerful lobbyist in the state and remains incredibly close to the Speaker, she posted to Twitter.

Cassidy, as well as Alaina Hampton and Sherri Garrett  both of whom made allegations of sexual harassment against top Madigan lieutenants which led to the staffers ouster  issued a joint statement regarding the report Wednesday.

This isnt the first disgusting, dangerous and brazen display of misogyny weve seen from Mr. McClain, but that doesnt make it any less outrageous. If the reports are even partially true, this represents a conspiracy to conceal a criminal sexual assault at the highest levels of state government, they said. We call upon law enforcement leaders, including Champaign County States Attorney Julie Rietz and the U.S. Attorneys Office, if appropriate, to immediately open an investigation into these allegations, and, if necessary, to impanel a grand jury.

Hampton recently reached a settlement agreement with Madigans political campaign and three other Democratic Party organizations in the state regarding allegations of sexual harassment from one of Madigans top aides at the time. Madigan and the campaign committees did not admit liability or wrongdoing in the settlement with Hampton.

Garretts harassment complaints against Tim Mapes, Madigans chief of staff at the time, eventually led to his ouster from the position as well as his role as Illinois House clerk and Democratic Party of Illinois executive director.

Madigan has remained largely silent on accusations pertaining to McClain. He released a statement Wednesday on the cover-up emails.

These are extremely serious and troubling allegations. I had no knowledge of the incident referenced in the story and only learned of this today. I encourage those with any information to come forward, Madigan said in the statement.
A Mexican man has died after slitting his own throat when he was denied entry to the US, according to Mexican officials.

The incident occurred on the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge across the Rio Grande on Wednesday, as the unidentified man in his 30s attempted to enter the US from the Mexican border city of Reynosa.

Officials said the man, who was an asylum seeker, died by "suicide around 5pm local time, according to Reuters,

A short video reportedly shared by a Mexican security source showed the man approaching US officials on the bridge and raising a hand to his neck.

Photos shared by a second security source showed the man lying in a pool of blood. He was just metres away from the international dividing line.

Reuters said it could not vouch for the authenticity of the video or photographs, and that it remained unclear why the man killed himself.

An investigation into the mans death has been launched by the attorney generals office for the state of Tamaulipas, where Reynosa is.

Many Mexicans who seek asylum in the US experience violence and crime from gangs that have made life in some parts of the country increasingly perilous.

Donald Trump announced a crackdown on immigration at the US-Mexico frontier as one of his administrations top priorities.

On the other side of the border from Reynosa is Pharr, Texas. The bridge also serves over 40,000 commercial trucks carrying items such as fruit, vegetables and machine parts every day.

Additional reporting by Reuters

Read more

Trump can use $3.6bn in military funds for border wall, court rules
The devastation from the Australia wildfires has reportedly wiped out a billion animals, leading to what one scientist describes as an extinction crisis.

Professor Chris Dickman told Metro that the fires mean the total dead could rise in the coming weeks and months, as temperatures in the country start to rise again.

Worse still, Prof Dickman, a leading ecologist from the University of Sydney, believes some species may be wiped out for good due to a lack of wet refuges.

He told the paper: Some of the species which are of greatest concern already have small populations and restricted geographical distributions

An injured koala rests in a washing basket at the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park, on the edge of the fire zone (Getty)

Koalas sit inside a home in Cudlee Creek, South Australia, after being rescued from fires at a garden (AP)

In previous fires that have been less intense, you can expect to find an area around a wetland patch or a swamp, but its not clear from what were seeing that those refuges will be found.

Were desperately hoping they will be. If theyre not its going to bad news for a whole range of species.

Previous estimates of animals killed in the fires were in the range of half a billion, with 8,000 koalas wiped out in New South Wales alone - nearly a third of the total population in the region.

Read more from Yahoo News UK:

'Danger to life' warnings as heavy wind and rain set to lash parts of Britain

One in five Brits believe aliens are already living on Earth

Jeremy Corbyn refuses to describe Qassem Soleimani as a 'terrorist'

More koalas  who eat leaves on highly flammable eucalyptus trees  are feared dead in other areas.

Recent video footage showed desperately thirsty koalas clinging to cyclists while being given water to drink, while kangaroos were seen fleeing terrifying walls of fire.

Harrowing images have also showed the cockatoos falling dead out of trees.

Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Capt. Dave Soldavini holds a baby kangaroo that was rescued from a wildfire, in Cobrunga, Australia (AP)

Kangaroos move as nearby property burn in a fire in Lithgow, New South Wales state (AP)

Residents in the path of wildfires razing southeast Australia have been urged to evacuate as hot and windy conditions are forecast to escalate the danger over the next two days.

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) told fire-weary community meetings south of Sydney in the coastal towns of Nowra, Narooma and Batemans Bay that northwesterly winds were likely to once again drive blazes towards the coast.

Story continues

People on holiday have retreated to beaches and into the ocean in the area in recent weeks as destructive fires and choking smoke encroached on the tourist towns, scorching sand dunes in some places.

A large smoke plume is seen over a sheep property in the Parndana region in Kingscote, Australia (Getty)

A firefighter manages a controlled burn near Tomerong, Australia (AP)

This satellite image provided by NASA shows wildfires in Victoria and New South Wales (AP)

In the neighbouring state of Victoria, fire-threatened populations were also urged to act quickly on evacuation warnings.

"We can't guarantee your safety and we don't want to be putting emergency services - whether it be volunteers or paid staff - we do not want to put them in harm's way because people didn't follow advice that was given," Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said.

The unprecedented fire crisis in southeast Australia has claimed at least 26 lives, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and shrouded major cities in smoke.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has come under withering criticism both at home and abroad for downplaying the need for his government to address climate change, which experts say helps supercharge the blazes.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
A trip or a long holiday is a must-have when you have had a hard time in life or a hectic schedule. However, when planning a trip, it is important to know about all the rules and regulations of the place you are visiting especially when you are travelling abroad. The official rules when applying for a visa are often quite complicated in certain countries in the world. This makes it extremely difficult to get a visa and this could even ruin your trip. Here are 5 difficult destinations to visit.

Russia

Russia introduced the concept of biometric applications that made it extremely harder to get a visa. This is because you have to go in person and submit your fingerprints and facial image when you apply. For the visa process, first, you have to find an agency or embassy that will process your biometric application and then you have to wait for a letter of invitation to Russia. This letter is issued by the travel agency that is registered with the Russian Ministry of Foreign affairs.

China

Chinese embassies are quite strict with the documentation when applying for a visa. They require a lot of documents including the flights in and out of China. They also ask for a hotel booking confirmation for every night of your stay. If you apply for a visa for more than 30 days, then it gets difficult to get a visa as you have to provide a day to day itinerary of your trip.

Iran

For Iran, it is extremely hard to get a visa because before applying for a visa application, you will need to get an authorisation code. This is like a pre-approval of your visa by Irans Ministry of Foreign affairs (MFA). This process can take up to a month and this has to be applied for by an official Iranian travel agency in Tehran. Once you have your authorisation code, Iran now requires all visa applicants to apply at an Iranian Embassy in person and submit biometric data.

Also Read| US visa application India | How to apply, documents and details

Turkmenistan

It is one of the most closed countries in the world when it comes to visas and tourism. You can only get a tourist visa if you are going to visit with an official tour company or have hired an individual guide. The visas are also rejected if the hotel booking information is not mentioned in the documentation. In Turkmenistan too, you need a Letter of Invitation with the immigration authorities in Turkmenistan before you can get a visa.

Also Read| Sri Lanka extends free tourist visa facility until April 30: Minister

Nigeria

Nigeria visa requires a lot of paperwork. In addition to your hotel booking confirmation, you'll need to provide bank statements and a letter of employment. You'll also have to make three separate payments: the first to the Nigerian government (which is done online when you fill out your application form); the second to the Nigerian High Commission (which can be done only at the post office as a postal order); and the third to the visa application center when your application is submitted. In addition to this, you will need an embassy to this because Nigerian ministry doesn't deal with applicants directly.

Also Read| Indian Passport users can get free visa on arrival in Sri Lanka till THIS date

Also Read| UAE implements five-year multi-entry visa for all nationalities
A Boeing 737-800 Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed in Tehran shortly after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport on Jan. 8, killing all 167 passengers and nine crew members.

The latest: The Iranian government has agreed to send the black boxes from the downed jetliner to Ukraine, suggesting it cannot be read in Iran and providing little further detail, according to an unnamed Iranian official per AP. American, French and Canadian experts will help analyze the data in Ukraine.

The state of play: Security camera footage obtained by the New York Times shows that the plane was struck by two missiles fired from an Iranian military site about eight miles away.

On Jan. 10 , Iran announced in a statement that its military had mistakenly shot down the jet. Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said in a tweet: "Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster," pinning the blame parly on the Trump administration for escalating tensions with Iran.

, Iran announced in a statement that its military had mistakenly shot down the jet. Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said in a tweet: "Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster," pinning the blame parly on the Trump administration for escalating tensions with Iran. Iran previously denied that one of its missiles took down the plane, per AP. "What is obvious for us, and what we can say with certainty, is that no missile hit the plane," the head of its aviation department previously told a press conference.

What they're saying: "Iran did the right thing and took responsibility for the downing of this plane and this tragedy," Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Jan. 10. "I am of course outraged and furious that families across this country are grieving the loss of their loved ones," he said, emphasizing the strength of the Iranian-Canadian community.

"That is a very real question that many people are asking," Trudeau said in response to a reporter asking how he could trust Iran after the country lied about firing a missile at the Ukrainian plane.

Trudeau first said on Jan. 9 that intelligence from multiple sources indicated an Iranian surface-to-air missile caused the crash. He has continuously stressed the need for a full investigation.

Trudeau told reporters that President Trump did not make any specific requests of Canada when the leaders spoke on Jan. 8, in light of the president's call for NATO countries to increase their involvement in the Middle East.

Trudeau later tweeted a summary of his Jan. 8 call with Trump, during which the leaders discussed the need for an investigation into the cause of the crash.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country would insist on a full admission of guilt by Tehran in his initial reaction to Irans announcement, per the New York Times.

What else we know: Canada is reaching out directly to Iran's government about the crash, Canada's deputy minister of global affairs said Jan. 8. Iran has said it is currently holding onto the plane's black boxes, but will likely grant Ukrainian investigators access, Trudeau stated on Jan. 9.

Ukraine International Airlines said an investigation would be conducted into the crash involving authorities from Ukraine, Iran and Boeing representatives.

The victims: Officials in Ukraine said 82 Iranians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedish, four Afghan, three German and three British nationals were aboard the Kiev-bound Flight 752 when it crashed, per AP. 63 Canadians were killed in the crash, per Trudeau.

Boeing said in a statement: "This is a tragic event and our heartfelt thoughts are with the crew, passengers, and their families. We are in contact with our airline customer and stand by them in this difficult time. We are ready to assist in any way needed."

The big picture: The Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency restriction on Jan. 7 prohibiting U.S. civil aviation operators from flying in airspace over Iraq, Iran and the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman after the Iranian military struck two Iraqi bases where U.S. troops are stationed.

This latest crash could also further complicate things for Boeing, which is already struggling with its 737 Max after 346 people died in two crashes. However, it's not yet clear if this latest crash is related to manufacturer problems, per CNN.

Go deeper: Canadas Justin Trudeau says evidence indicates Iranians shot down airliner

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.
Ayatollah Khamenei: Iran's retaliation against US only 'a slap'

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 08 January 2020 7:02 AM

"The talk of revenge and such debates are a different issue. For now, a slap was delivered on their face last night," Ayatollah Khamenei said in remarks broadcast live on national television Wednesday.

"What is important about confrontation is that the military action as such is not sufficient. What is important is that the seditious American presence in the region must end," he said to chants of "Death to America" by an audience in Tehran.

The remarks came hours after Iran responded to the US assassination of the Middle East's most prominent anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis with a barrage of missiles that hit two US bases in Iraq.

Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran is quite equipped in the face of the global bullying powers. "It is a very blatant mistake that some people think if they take a step back, the Americans will stop their hostility."

"Some people say and even write in newspapers that we should act so that America does not get angry; this is absolutely wrong. This is contrary to the Qur'an commandment," the Leader added.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the overriding responsibility of the masses is to discern their enemies, and "I am firmly saying that the enemy is America, the Zionist regime and the arrogant apparatus of corporations and institutions."

They have brought war, sedition and destruction to the region and "wherever they have put their foot on," the Leader said.

"This must end. This region does not accept the American presence. Governments emanating from their people do not accept this," he added.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the Americans "are now adamant about dealing the same corruption and destruction against the dear Iran and the Islamic Republic."

"They keep insisting on negotiation, but these things are a prelude to intervention," he said.

The Leader hailed the Iraqi parliament's decision ordering US troops to leave the country as well as the Iranian parliament's blacklisting of American forces as terrorists.

"This measure by the Majlis was a very good blow. The Iraqi parliament's act for the expulsion of America from Iraq was also very good. May God help them continue this path."

"The Americans want Iraq to be like the former idolatrous regime in Iran or Saudi Arabia today - a region full of oil to be under their control so they can do whatever they want - a milking cow in the words of that individual," Ayatollah Khamenei said in reference to US President Donald Trump.

"But the faithful elements and the Iraqi youth and their Marja'iya (religious authorities) stood up to these scenarios and Haj Qassem assisted this vast front in the capacity of an active adviser and an honorable supporter," the Leader added.

The US, Ayatollah Khamenei said, has similar plans for Lebanon. "The Americans want to clear Lebanon of the most important factor of independence which is the resistance so that it cannot resist."

However, "thank God, Hezbollah has become stronger day by day and today, both Lebanon's hands and eyes are Hezbollah and the role of our martyr [Gen. Soleimani] is paramount and outstanding," the Leader added.

Ayatollah Khamenei said some of the "hated regimes in the region which say things from time to time against us are not our enemy as long as they do not act against the Islamic Republic" in collaboration with Iran's enemies.

The Leader also said the US assassination of Gen. Soleimani served the Islamic Revolution. "His martyrdom showed to the world the Revolution is alive, just when some were trying to insinuate that the Revolution has died in the country."

"You saw what happened in Tehran and other cities," Ayatollah Khamenei said, referring to several million people who came out to pay homage to Gen. Soleimani in the Iranian capital, Ahvaz, Mashhad, Qom and Kerman.

"Enemies felt humiliated in the face of this glory even though they may try to conceal it," he said. "The lying Americans who are not worthy of being valued tried to portray this brave man as a terrorist but the Iranian nation punched them in the mouth."

General Soleimani, the Leader said, thwarted American plans in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

"The Americans' plan for Palestine was to confine the Palestinian cause to oblivion and for the Palestinians not dare to speak of their struggle. This man had the Palestinians' hands filled and did something in Gaza where a small region stood up against them," he added.

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Bhopal: Senior BJP leader of Madhya Pradesh Gopal Bhargav on Thursday created a flutter when he advised Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone to dance in Mumbai, instead of visiting students in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

Mr Bhargav who is leader of BJP legislature party in MP assembly, was reacting to Deepikas recent visit to JNU to express her solidarity with the victims of attack by masked goons on Sunday night.

Students study will be disrupted if Bollywood heroines will visit them in the university campuses. Instead of visiting JNU, Deepika should dance in Mumbai, Mr Bhargav said. The leader of Opposition alleged that Deepika was doing politics under the pretext of standing by the victims of violence in JNU campus.

If you are so much interested in politics, then quit acting and join politics, Mr Bhargav asked Deepika.

Ruling Congress here slammed Mr Bhargav for giving a statement of this kind, calling it anti-women.

It is ridiculous to say that students study will be disrupted if a film heroine visited them in their institutions, Congress spokesman here Pankaj Chaturvedy said.
With an Interpol red corner notice pending against him, Lakdawala has been associated with various mafia gangs in the past in Mumbai.

Mumbai, Jan 9 (IANS) Notorious mafia operative Ejaz Lakdawala, who was absconding for over two decades, has been arrested by a Mumbai Police team from Patna, official sources said here on Thursday.

In the past couple of decades, he had been on the run and was spotted in locations like Dubai, Bangkok and Ontario.

He was produced before a Mumbai court and remanded to custody till January 21. More details of the operation are awaited.

Intelligence sources said Lakdawala's daughter Sonia was nabbed on a tip-off at Mumbai airport while travelling to Nepal.

On interrogation she revealed that her father was hiding in Nepal which is also the base of operations of allied gangster Chhota Rajan.

Lakdawala had also been allied previously with Dawood Ibrahim in running extortion rackets but later parted ways with him. He later hatched a plot to kill Dawood in Karachi but the plan failed as Dawood did not turn up.

qn/kr
The Northwest Territory states were home to thousands of African Americans in the early 1800s

Anna-Lisa Cox is a non-resident fellow at Harvard Universitys Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Her work has underpinned two exhibits at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Coxs latest book, The Bone and Sinew of the Land: Americas Black Pioneers and the Struggle for Equality (Public Affairs, $28), chronicles how free African Americans helped settle the Northwest Territory in the early 1800s. She says mainstream historians cling to a myth that whites settled the Midwest when long before emancipation the frontier Northwest Territory states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin were home to tens of thousands of free African Americans flourishing on their own land.

Who were these pioneers? Most came as free people, some from families that had been free since the 1600s. A relative few came on the Underground Railroad. By 1860, well over 300 settlements, from southeastern Ohio to Michigans Keweenaw Peninsula, were home to African American farmers working land they owned. Evidence is growing that there is no place in the Northwest Territory states in which free people of African descent were not trying to live and work before the Civil War.

Some were freedom entrepreneurs. These were formerly enslaved people who had worked to earn money to purchase their freedom, often paying dearlyin some cases $1,000, at a time when $900 could buy a farm in Massachusetts. They are truly some of Americas superheroes. Imagine negotiating a price for yourself with someone the law says owns youand, not infrequently, who is your kina white father, half-brother, or cousin! In Bone and Sinew, I tell the story of many of these freedom entrepreneurs, including Major James Wilkerson, whose family in Virginia sold him down the river to New Orleans. He still managed to purchase his and his mothers freedom, moved to Cincinnati, and then led a black militia that defended their neighborhood against armed attacks by whites in 1841.

The 1787 Northwest Territory Ordinance banned slavery and promised equal voting rights there for any land-owning male citizen, regardless of skin color. Did those principles prevail? They didfor a while. Free African Americans were among the founding citizens of this territory, won from the British in the Revolution. Starting in the late 1700s, they could and did purchase frontier land and vote. The Ordinance, which reflected some of the Revolutions most enlightened values, was written during a period that saw the rise of Americas first equal rights movement. In 1776 all 13 original colonies had enslaved people and were involved in the slave trade, but by 1804 eight of those 13 had created paths to ending slavery. By 1792 there were 15 states, and ten of those, including Kentucky, had removed the word white from their constitutions, opening the vote to all men regardless of skin color. Tennessee did so in 1796. Sadly, the backlash against liberty and equality started early in states of the Northwest Territory. By 1803 Ohio had inserted white into that new states constitution, banning African Americans from voting and reversing the intent of the 1787 Northwest Territorial Ordinance. Subsequently, whites in every state carved out of that territory stole the right to vote from fellow pioneers who were black, some of whom had defended those states during the War of 1812.

Most northern whites did not want to live with free African Americans. Racism in the antebellum Midwest arose in the face of black success. We think of lynchings and the like as a post-Civil War southern phenomenonbut by the 1830s many whites in the Midwest and the North were going to war against successful and propertied African Americans and their white allies, trying to negate by violence the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, most notably that all men are created equal.

What were Black Laws? Midwestern states enacted these laws to separate African Americans from the rights outlined in the 1787 Ordinance and to thwart further black settlement. There were many versions. African American children could not attend public schools in Ohio even though black property owners helped fund them through taxes. Some of Americas earliest anti-immigration laws targeted free people of African descent in the Midwest. In 1853 whites in Illinois authorized lawmen there to sell a free African American entering that state into slavery.

Still, African Americans persisted. There are many stories of hope and success. White and black neighbors risked their lives to help each other. African American parents became pioneers so their children could have a better life. In the 1810s Charles and Keziah Grier started with nothing on the Indiana frontier and ended up with a large, successful farm. They risked everything to become Underground Railroad operatives, most notably in the early 1850s when they helped facilitate the escape of members of William Stills family. (Editors note: the recent film Harriet features a character based on William Still, an African-American abolitionist who worked closely with Harriet Tubman.) Charles Moore of Mercer County, Ohio, purchased his freedom and that of all of his family, and by 1840 had founded a thriving Ohio town that he named Carthagena after the African city of Carthage.

What was the Union Literary Institute? Wealthy black farmers and like-minded whites founded that pre-collegiate boarding school in rural eastern Indiana in 1845 to welcome students regardless of color, gender, creed, or social status. This was one of the only establishments of its kind founded and run by a board integrated by race and gender. The Institute encouraged equality on all levels, including cross-racial dating, and by the 1850s was known nationwide. Frederick Douglass covered it in his newspaper.

What were black conventions? This movement arose in the 1830s to fight racial violence and prejudice sweeping the nation, especially in the North. African Americans across Northwest Territory states demanded to regain rights stolen from them. Regional newspaper printed the texts of speeches by African-American equal-rights advocates. At an 1844 Ohio convention, an unidentified speaker said, The Declaration of Independence, the American Bill of Rights, the Ordinance of 1787, as well as the political Creed of every intelligent, generous and patriotic freeman, are clearly violated, nay shamefully desecrated, by that feature of our constitution that renders the color of the skin a qualification for electors and suffrages. We shall urge our second plea upon the ground of justice. . .. [D]o to others as you would have them do to you.

What strikes you most about these American pioneers? They showed incredible courage and perseverance. Despite terrible resistance, they continued to care for and grow their families and their farms while fighting for the best ideals of the United Statesliberty, equality, and justice for all. If we continue to refuse to learn about this history, we lose some of the most tragic and hopeful aspects of our pasta past that continues to shape our nation today, whether we know it or not.
Denise Richards made her first public appearance since it was revealed she had an affair with her Real Housewives of Beverly Hills co-star Brandi Glanville.

The model, 48, is said to have 'walked away' from filming the reality series after the liaison came to light, but seemed in good spirits as she attended the Blow and Darkness screening in Madrid on Wednesday.

Brushing off the drama, the mother-of-three posed up a storm at the event, dressed to impress in a lacy bustier.

Stepping out: Denise Richards seemed in good spirits as she attended the Blow and Darkness screening in Madrid on Wednesday amid claims she had an affair with Brandi Glanville

Denise put her ample cleavage on display in the low-cut garment, that featured sheer panels on the side to highlight her tiny waist.

The Scary Movie 3 star teamed the garment with matching trousers that skimmed over her lean legs and featured a lace adorned panel on the seams.

She finished off the look by styling her glossy golden locks in loose waves that framed her flawless features.

Brave face: Denise made her first public appearance since it was revealed she had an affair with her Real Housewives of Beverly Hills co-star

Affair: A source said Denise and Brandi had been seeing each other from the beginning of 2019 up until the middle of the year, with Denise stating that she was in an open marriage

Denise's outing came after DailyMail.com revealed that she has stopped filming Real Housewives after a nasty showdown with her cast members.

Multiple production sources confirmed that a row broke out after Denise was confronted over having an affair with Brandi, 47.

They claimed that Denise 'has basically walked away from the show' in the wake of the dramatic confrontation, which happened during filming for the new season while the women were on a trip to Rome in late November.

Turning heads: Brushing off the drama, the mother-of-three posed up a storm at the event, dressed to impress in a lacy bustier

Denise and Brandi had been seeing each other from the beginning of 2019 up until the middle of the year, with Denise stating that she and her husband Aaron Phypers were in an open marriage, a source said.

But that wasn't the case and now Brandi 'is upset that Denise lied to her,' the insider said, adding: 'Denise claimed to Brandi that she was in an open marriage, but she wasn't and this has hurt Denise's husband Aaron very much.'

The fallout between Denise and her castmates is expected to play out in the upcoming season, which will premiere early this year.

Stunning: Denise put her ample cleavage on display in the low-cut garment, that featured sheer panels on the side to highlight her tiny waist, as she posed alongside Jane Seymour

The drama was kicked off when the women, including Lisa Rinna, Kyle Richards, Teddi Mellencamp, Erika Jayne and Dorit Kemsley, as well as newcomers Garcelle Beauvais and Sutton Stracke, took a cast trip in late November to Rome.

At one point, they 'confronted Denise about the alleged nasty things she'd been saying about them,' the insider said.

They continued: 'Denise attempted to brush it off and act innocent, but then the women dropped a bombshell. They then confronted Denise about her affair with Brandi.

'The best thing was this was all done on camera and the show's fans will get to see it all go down.'

Feud: Brandi 'is upset that Denise lied to her,' the insider said, adding, 'Denise claimed to Brandi that she was in an open marriage, but she wasn't and this has hurt Denise's husband'

Another production source said: 'It shocked everyone as Denise constantly boasts about how great her husband is, how much she loves him and how large his penis is.

'Clearly she got over his penis and went for something that was being offered on another menu.'

A representative for Denise, said: 'The story isn't true.' Brandi's spokesperson is yet to comment.

Denise, who was married to actor Charlie Sheen from 2002 to 2006, began dating Phypers in December 2017 and they quickly got married in September 2018.

Fallout: The showdown happened on a cast trip to Rome in late November (L-R) Garcelle Beauvais, Sutton Strackein, Erika Jayne, Kyle Richards, Dorit Kemsley, Teddi Mellencamp, Lisa Rinna and Denise Richards

In the summer, Brandi announced she was dating a French man who is 10 years her junior.

Speaking on Bravo's RHOBH After Show in June, she revealed: 'I would not say that he's a boyfriend, because I don't like that word, number one.

'Number two, I don't want him to think I like him that much. Number three, I don't know. He's 10 years younger than me and he's a waiter, so it's just not the best fit right now.'

It is not known if they are still dating.
US Permanent Representative to the UN Kelly Craft has sent a letter to the Organizations Security Council informing of Washingtons readiness for talks with Iran without preconditions to reduce tensions in the region, Reuters reported referring to the document.

According to Kraft, the United States seeks to prevent further threats to international peace and stability or escalation from the Iranian regime.

Tthe Permanent Representative wrote that the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is justified by Article 51 of the UN Charter, which gives the state the right to self-defense.

She also noted that US airstrikes on December 29, 2019 were launched in response to an escalating series of armed attacks in recent months by the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iran-supported militias on U.S. forces and interests in the Middle East.

In early January, Washington conducted an operation to kill Soleimani, Iran responded with a missile attack on Iraqi bases, where American troops are stationed. There were no casualties from US troops.
After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle enjoyed an extended break from royal life over the holidays, they decided to extend that break even more, making it official with the shocking announcement that they will step back as senior royals. Before the announcement came, however, the Sussexes had their first royal engagement since their six weeks off, dropping some subtle hints during their visit to Canada House that they had a big change of plans in their near future.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry | DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS  WPA Pool/Getty Images

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their decision to step back from duties

In a surprising move, Prince Harry and Markle announced they would step back as senior members of the Royal Family.

They shared the news on Instagram, writing: After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. We intend to step back as senior members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.

They added: It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment. We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages. This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.

They also noted: We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support.

Prince Harry and Markle gushed about their time off from royal life

Now that we know that Harry and Markle intend to leave their royal duties, its interesting to investigate their appearance at Canada House in London and see if there were any tell-tale signs of what was to come.

Markle and Prince Harry returned to their royal duties after a six-week break and their first engagement now seems very revealing. During their appearance, they gushed about their time in Canada, thanking the Commonwealth nation for its hospitality during their visit.

Markle spoke to the high commissioner and staff at Canada House, sharing: I want to say happy new year and thank you, and as my husband said, my goodness it was just such an incredible time we were able to have there, and with our son too.

She continued: And just to be able to take in the warmth that we experienced from the people, but also just to walk around and just see the beauty of Canada. To see Archie go ahhh when you walk by, and just see how stunning it is  so it meant a lot to us.

Prince Harry noted, What a beautiful place you live in, saying thank you so much and not that you had anything much to do with it. But the warmth and hospitality we were shown while there was unbelievable, and thats exactly why we chose to go out there.

Were there signs of their shocking announcement?

In addition to the praise they had for Canada, it was interesting to note that Prince Harry and Markle extended their visit by 15 minutes beyond the scheduled time.

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams shared with Express how the couple appeared to be energized after their much-needed break, sharing, There seems no doubt that Harry and Meghan appreciated Canadian hospitality.

He added: They also feel energized and are looking forward to returning to royal duties, something their unwise ITV documentary on their Southern Africa tour put in doubt.

Of course, now that theyve announced this step back, their energy at Canada House was likely a result of their time away from the spotlight.
- The media houses are said to have been funded by former president Omar al-Bashir

- The decision was made by transitional authorities tasked with dismantling institutions linked to Bashir

- By Tuesday, January 7, a number of the media houses had stopped broadcasting

- Bashir was ousted in April 2019 following months of mass protest against his three-decade rule

A month after Sudan's former president Omar al-Bashir was sentenced to two years, the state on Tuesday, January 7, banned two newspapers and two television stations.

According to Sudan authorities, the media houses had received funding from the government of the former head of state who was ousted in 2019 following protests.

READ ALSO: Miguna Miguna, Government spokesman face off over lawyer's troubled return to Kenya

Bashir was ousted in April 2019, when a mass protests against his three-decade rule rocked Sudan for months. Photo: BBC

Source: Getty Images

READ ALSO: Iran hesitant to hand over black box amid probe into plane crash that killed 176

The decision was made by Sudan's transitional authorities who were tasked with dismantling institutions linked to Bashir and his defunct National Congress Party, Daily Nation reported.

"These institutions were funded by the state and we want to return the money to the Sudanese people," said Mohamed al-Fekki, a member of the council.

The ban covers the dailies Al-Sudani and Al-Ray Al-Am and satellite channels Ashrooq and Teeba along with their parent companies, according to committee member Taha Othman.

READ ALSO: Kimada amwanika lofa kilabuni kumtunga mimba

By Tuesday evening, Ashrooq and Teeba channels had stopped broadcasting.

However, Diaa al-Din Belal, Al-Sudani's editor-in-chief, denied receiving funds from Bashir's government.

"We operate under a private company and we did not receive any funds from a party or a government authority," he said.

READ ALSO: Joy for Senator Isaac Mwaura, wife as young son begins school years after couple lost two children

Bashir was ousted in April 2019 following months of mass protest against his three-decade rule.

Sudan is currently ruled by a civilian-majority body formed after a power-sharing deal signed in August 2019 by protest leaders and the generals who ousted Bashir.

He was charged with illicitly receiving millions of dollars from Saudi Arabia.

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US president Donald Trump delivers a statement about Iran flanked by officials: Reuters

Donald Trump has moved to soothe the tensions he inflamed with Iran by assassinating Quds commander Qassem Soleimani, saying the regime is standing down after fears a ballistic missile strike on two US military bases in Iraq could escalate into a full blown war.

But the presidents address to the nation on Wednesday, flanked by senior cabinet members and top generals at the White House, was criticised by many for the slurred nature of much of his speech, with commentators again questioning Mr Trumps fitness for office after he stumbled over simple words.

As House speaker Nancy Pelosi prepares for a Thursday vote on limiting his power to launch the US military into further skirmishes overseas, her impeachment stalemate with Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell continues and a new poll forecasts the president losing the 2020 election in November to a generic Democrat by a humiliating nine-point margin.

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In the past 12 months, Byju's has witnessed strong growth with over 42 million registered users and 3 million paid subscribers in India.

New Delhi: Ed-tech major Byju's on Thursday said it has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Tiger Global Management.

Online education startup Byjus has raised $200 m from Tiger Global Management, ratcheting up its valuation to around $8 billion, said people familiar with the matter https://t.co/IL7I9WKZ6i  CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) January 9, 2020

While Byju's did not disclose the quantum of investment, sources said Tiger has pumped in $200 million into the company.

"We are happy to partner with a strong investor like Tiger Global Management. They share our sense of purpose and this partnership will advance our long term vision of creating an impact by changing the way students learn," Byju's founder and CEO Byju Raveendran said in a statement.

The statement said Byju's launched a product for young learners (Grades 1-3) in 2019. It is also working on launching programmes in vernacular languages.

Additionally, Byju's will be launching online tutoring in the coming months, it added.

"Byju's has emerged as the leader in the Indian education-tech sector. They are pioneering technology shaping the future of learning for millions of school students in India. We are excited to support Byju and the team," Tiger Global Partner Scott Shleifer said.

In the past 12 months, Byju's has witnessed strong growth with over 42 million registered users and 3 million paid subscribers in India.

The average number of minutes a student spends on the app has increased from 64 minutes to 71 minutes per day over the last year too and the annual renewal rates are as high as 85 percent, the statement said.

Byju's has tripled its revenue from Rs 520 crore to Rs 1,480 crore in 2018-19 and turned profitable on a full-year basis. The company said it is on track to double revenues to Rs 3,000 crore in the current financial year.
By PTI

SRINAGAR: US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster and envoys from 15 other countries arrived here on Thursday on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the first visit by diplomats since August last year when the state's special status was revoked and it was downsized to a union territory.

The Delhi-based envoys, who came here on a special chartered flight, landed at Srinagar's technical airport and were taken directly to the army cantonment for a briefing.

Top officials from the newly carved out union territory of Jammu and Kashmir received the delegation, which will be going to Jammu later in the day and stay the night there.

The envoys, who are here as part of the government's diplomatic outreach to rebut Pakistan's propaganda on the Kashmir issue, will meet Lt Governor G C Murmu as well as civil society members and receive briefings on the security situation from various agencies, officials said.

Besides the US, the delegation includes diplomats from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, Maldives, South Korea, Morocco, and Nigeria.

They return to Delhi on Friday.

Brazil's envoy Andre Aranha Correa do Lago was also scheduled to visit Jammu and Kashmir.

However, he backed out because of his preoccupation here, the officials said on Wednesday.

Envoys from the European Union (EU) countries are understood to have conveyed that they will visit the union territory on a different date and are also believed to have stressed on meeting the three former chief ministers -- Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti -- who are under detention.

Officials said envoys of several countries had requested the government for a visit to Kashmir to get a first-hand account of the situation in the Valley following the August 5 decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 and bifurcate it into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

This is the second visit of a foreign delegation to Jammu and Kashmir since August 5.

Earlier, Delhi-based think tank International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, a Delhi-based think tank took 23 EU MPs on a two-day visit to assess the situation in the union territory.

The government had distanced itself from the visit with Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy informing Parliament that the European parliamentarians were on a "private visit".
IFA has warned that proposals to reduce methane emissions from agriculture will cut farm output and will cost jobs.

However, the Green Party has said the proposals are too easy on agriculture.

Debate on climate measures has heightened, as Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton published the first draft of new laws for Ireland to meet climate commitments, including net-zero emissions by 2050.

It includes decarbonisation targets for each sector, such as banning the sale of fossil fuel-powered cars by 2030.

Mr Bruton confirmed that it is priority legislation for the Government in the new Dail term which starts next Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a Fine Gael TD and two of the partys senators called for Ireland to follow the New Zealand model on agriculture emissions.

Marcella Corcoran Kennedy TD said: New Zealand, like the EU, are aiming for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

However, methane has been excluded, and assigned a separate target for reduction by between 24 and 47% by 2050.

This is a sensible approach, which recognises that agriculture and food production is different and must be treated as such, as we look to meet our climate challenge. It is also in line with the recently published advice of the Climate Change Advisory Council.

Two of her fellow members on the Oireachtas climate action committee, Fine Gael Senators Tim Lombard and Michelle Mulherin, also said Ireland should follow the example set by New Zealand.

However, the Climate Change Advisory Councils advice to the Government to treat methane differently from other greenhouse gases is opposed by Green Party leader Eamon Ryan.

The Dublin Bay South TD said: We cannot do what the Climate Change Advisory Council seems to be suggesting, which is to discount methane.

The Climate Change Advisory Council, in a recent published letter to Mr Bruton, said: The IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C finds that global emissions of methane must reduce by between 24 and 47% on 2010 levels by 2050 in order to limit climate change to 1.5C.

A significant portion of the reduction in methane emissions can be achieved through the elimination of fugitive emissions associated with fossil fuel extraction and distribution.

Further reductions need to be achieved through improvements in food production systems and the management of waste.

As methane is a short-lived gas, the remaining emissions of methane, consistent with and foreseen in the 1.5C scenarios, do not need to be balanced by negative emissions.

New scientific findings since the 2015 Paris climate agreement indicate that methane greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture may be hugely overstated.

Dr Michelle Cain of the Oxford Martin Programme on Climate Pollutants says ruminant livestock such as cattle do not cause global warming, if their population is stable or is falling.

IFA environment chairman Thomas Cooney also entered the debate this week, saying methane reduction proposals by Fine Gael will damage Irelands rural economy unless a well-funded climate action strategy is introduced for farmers.

He said: Methane is a short-lived gas, which lasts about 12 years in the atmosphere. Yet it is being benchmarked and wrongly compared to carbon dioxide, which can last up to 200 years in the atmosphere.

He said neither the science nor technology exists to allow farmers reduce methane without cutting production.

Its time we move beyond targets to a clear climate delivery strategy, which improves farm-level profitability, increases economic activity in rural areas, and reduces environmental impact.

Fine Gaels Senator Tim Lombard said: Irish farmers have shown that they are willing and able to adopt green farming practices, and we should be encouraging this approach, rather than creating fear among farmers.

Fine Gaels Senator Michelle Mulherin said: If we treat agriculture in the same way as transport or energy, and simply cut back on production, then we risk off-shoring our food production to countries who do not have such ambitious emissions targets.

For the first time, an Irish government has assigned a target for each sector in the Climate Action Plan, with agriculture asked to reduce emissions by 10-15%, by 2030.
Vehicle fires closed lanes of Route 8 on Thursday morning.

The first fire, reported at 9:34 a.m., closed two right northbound lane of Route 8 in Bridgeport on Thursday morning.

The vehicle fire, reported at 9:34 a.m., brought a quick response by Bridgeport firefighters.

State Police said the two right lanes were closed between Exits 4 and 5. Lanes reopened shortly before 10 a.m.

Traffic was slowed in both directions as firefighters battled the fire.

Troopers said were no reported injuries.

At 9:57 a.m., another vehicle fire in Beacon Falls closed all southbound lanes between Exit 24 in Beacon Falls and Exit 22 in Seymour.

At 10:16 a.m., Beacon Falls firefighters reported the fire out.

All southbound lanes have since reopened.
Sources in the party said that "it will depend on the deliberations in the CWC whether to call the CMs or convey the message directly as the party is consulting and seeking legal advice on the issue of NPR."

New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS) Congress is mulling to call Chief Ministers of the party-ruled states to formalise a strategy on the CAA-NPR-NRC issue after the working committee meeting on Saturday.

Congress has five directly ruled state and in two states it is the junior partner in the government.

Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Puducherry have Congress governments while in Maharashtra and Jharkhand the party is in a coalition. The party may decide after consulting the Chief Ministers on the issue of NPR, said a source in the party.

The Congress Working Committee is meeting on January 11 to assess the political situation in the country.

The party has already supported the protests and shown solidarity with student bodies who are spearheading the protests. Sources say the Congress will come up with a detailed plan on this issue and a statement regarding ongoing unrest in the country and "high-handedness" of the government will also be released.

Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi has already condemned the violence and has sent a fact finding team to JNU which will submit a report on Friday.

Sonia Gandhi in her statement had demanded a judicial inquiry into the JNU violence.

"The entire Congress party stands in solidarity with India's youth and students. We strongly deprecate the sponsored violence in JNU and demand an independent judicial inquiry."

miz/kr
NEW YORK  A gunman killed a man then was fatally shot by police during a confrontation outside a lounge in Manhattans East Village early Thursday, authorities said.

Two uniformed officers were on patrol in Tompkins Square Park at around 3:30 a.m. when they heard gunshots and saw one man shooting at another, police officials said at a news conference.

The officers gave numerous commands for the shooter to get onto the ground, Chief of Department Terence Monahan said.

He refused. He kept on walking, Monahan said. Officers then fired three times, fatally wounding the gunman.

Investigators said the two men had been involved in a dispute that started inside the lounge.

Police found two .22-caliber handguns at the scene of the shooting, one of them beneath the man shot by officers.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 00:19:14|Editor: Wang Yamei

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Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh meets with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Djibouti, capital of Djibouti, Jan. 9, 2020. (Xinhua/Xie Han)

DJIBOUTI, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh on Thursday spoke highly of Djibouti-China strategic partnership and thanked the Chinese government and people for their assistance to Djibouti's economic and social development.

During his meeting here with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Guelleh said the Djibouti-China relationship has developed in depth and yielded fruitful results in various fields, and Djibouti has friendly feelings towards the Chinese people and regards China as a sincere friend and indispensable partner.

The president said the Horn of Africa nation looks forward to expanding cooperation with China in the fields of blue economy and digital economy.

Noting that the Chinese-built Djibouti-Ethiopia railway has been conducive to promoting regional connectivity and economic integration, and has become a model for Africa-China cooperation, the president added that Djibouti is willing to actively participate in the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and implement the projects related to the eight major initiatives agreed upon during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Beijing Summit held in 2018.

On his part, Wang Yi said the strategic partnership between the two countries has maintained a high level of development, noting that President Guelleh has attached high importance to ties with China given that he visited China three times in the past three years.

Wang said that China and Djibouti always respect each other, support each other, and help each other, which has become a model of mutually beneficial cooperation between large and small countries, adding that China firmly supports Djibouti's development path that suits its national conditions.

"China appreciates Djibouti's active participation in the Belt and Road cooperation and regards Djibouti as a good friend, good partner and good brother," Wang said.

He added that China stands ready to align the construction of the BRI as well as the implementation of outcomes of the FOCAC Beijing Summit with Djibouti's development plan Vision Djibouti 2035, and strengthen cooperation in areas including blue economy, telecommunications, and digital economy.

China is also willing to work with Djibouti to allow projects such as the Djibouti-Ethiopia railway and the Doraleh Multi-Purpose Port to bring about more economic and social impacts, so as to make Djibouti a regional trade and logistics hub through promoting the coordinated development of the Djibouti railway, port, and free trade zone, Wang said.

China will continue to support Djibouti's economic and social development, Wang said.

On Thursday, Wang also held talks with Djibouti's Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, and they jointly met with the reporters.
There is no precedent for Harry and Meghans situation.

No senior royals in the past have voluntarily said that they want to remain members of the royal family while also being somehow outside it at the same time. Except for King Edward, later the Duke of Windsor, who was exiled from home but longed to return, no senior royals have lived for any substantial time anywhere but Britain.

Harry and Meghans plan to live part of the time in the United Kingdom and part in North America, as their statement said, seems even more jarring.

And while the other royals who have left the familys viselike embrace have done so reluctantly, unwilling to give up the trappings and remunerations of royalty, Harry  at least judging by his and Meghans Instagram statement  appears to be enthusiastic about the prospect.

Not only does the couple want a new role within the monarchy, the statement said, but they want to work to become financially independent. Thats a radical notion indeed, in a family whose members have long enjoyed public financing.

It is significant that even as Meghan and Harry went to great lengths in their statement to praise the royal family and pledge fealty to Harrys grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and to the monarchy in general, the response from the Queens camp was on the icy end of the temperature spectrum. Buckingham Palace does not like to be taken by surprise.

Discussions with the Duke and Duchess are at an early stage, the palace said in its own statement  meaning, possibly, that discussions, such as they are, started very recently. We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through.

Meghan and Harrys desire to break free from royal traditions and renounce the usual menu of royal obligations speaks directly to the challenges facing the monarchy as the reign of the queen, now 93, enters its final years.
Lome, Togo (PANA) - The National Forum for the Togolese Peasant, intended to promote the agricultural sector, will be held from January 23 to 25 in Kara, in the north of the country, official sources told PANA here Wednesday
Naravane assured that all the efforts are being made to provide the army with all facilities to cope up the hostile conditions. (Photo Credit: ANI)

New Delhi:

Army chief MM Naravane, who is on his first visit to Siachen after taking office, on Thursday said he is aware that the Indian Army operates in a very tough situation, inhospitable terrain and hostile weather condition there. He assured that all the efforts are being made to provide the army with all facilities, including clothing or better rations, to cope up the hostile conditions. Conveying his wishes for the new year, the Army Chief said, Its always been my intention to come here on taking over but weather was not very good in 1st week of Jan. But Im happy that this is my 1st visit as the Chief of Army Staff.

Army Chief General MM Naravane in Siachen: I would like to convey my best wishes&greetings for New Year. It's always been my intention to come here on taking over but weather was not very good in 1st week of Jan. But I'm happy that this is my 1st visit as the Chief of Army Staff. https://t.co/kE4OzPHrAS pic.twitter.com/abEg3qlI8L  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

Manoj Mukund Naravane took over as the 28th Chief of Army Staff after previous Army chief Bipin Rawat was appointed as India's first Chief of Defence Staff. Before taking charge as Vice Chief of the Army Staff in September, Lt Gen Naravane was heading the Eastern Command of the Indian Army. The Eastern Command takes care of the 4,000-km border that India shares with China.

In his 37 years of service, Lt Gen Naravane has served in numerous command and staff appointments in peace, field and highly active counter-insurgency environments in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast. Lt Gen Naravane is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy. He was commissioned into the 7th battalion, the Sikh Light Infantry Regiment in June 1980.

Siachen, the highest battle ground on earth

The Northern Command of the Indian Army is entrusted with manning the countrys borders with Pakistan and China. (Photo: ANI)

Siachen, which is the highest battle ground on earth, has witnessed India-Pakistan disputes over the Siachen glacier. Indias in 1984 had successfully taken control of capture of the Siachen Glacier as part of Operation Meghdoot. The Northern Command of the Indian Army is entrusted with manning the countrys borders with Pakistan and China.

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BEIRUT - Lebanese prosecutors issued a travel ban for fugitive ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn and asked him to hand in his French passport on Thursday, following an Interpol-issued notice against him, a judicial official said.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/1/2020 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nissan's former chairman Carlos Ghosn, center, confers with a media adviser at a press conference in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

BEIRUT - Lebanese prosecutors issued a travel ban for fugitive ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn and asked him to hand in his French passport on Thursday, following an Interpol-issued notice against him, a judicial official said.

The travel ban comes after Ghosn was interrogated by prosecutors for nearly two hours over the notice about the charges he faces in Japan over financial misconduct.

The prosecutors also formally asked Japanese authorities for their file on the charges against Ghosn in order to review the case, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

Ghosn said he wanted to stay in Lebanon and has no issues to hand in his passport. He was speaking on LBC TV after his questioning by prosecutors.

I came to Lebanon and I will co-operate with the Lebanese state and judiciary to make sure that everything is done in a way that can't be criticized, not for Lebanon and not for me," he said.

Ghosn then added that he is a lot more confident in Lebanon's judicial system than Japan's.

He said Lebanese prosecutors questioned him on all the charges, adding that he was ready to hand in all the documents for his case.

Lebanon last week received the Interpol-issued wanted notice, which is a non-binding request to law enforcement agencies worldwide that they locate and provisionally arrest a fugitive.

Carlos Abou Jaoude, left, a lawyer for ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn, speaks to journalist as he leaves the judicial palace where Ghosn was questioned by a Lebanese prosecutor, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020. Lebanese prosecutors issued a travel ban for fugitive ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn, following an Interpol-issued notice, a judicial official said Thursday. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

At the hearing, Ghosn was asked to provide an address he resides at in Lebanon and was banned from travelling out of the country, the official said. He was also asked to hand in his French passport. It was not immediately clear what legal procedures would follow.

Lebanon and Japan do not have an extradition treaty, and the Interpol notice does not require that Lebanese authorities arrest him. The authorities say Ghosn entered Lebanon on a valid passport, casting doubt on the possibility they would hand him over to Japan.

Interpol cannot compel Lebanon to arrest Ghosn and it will be up to the local law enforcement authorities to decide what to do.

On his first public appearance since he fled Japan, Ghosn on Wednesday railed against the Japanese justice system, accusing it of violating his basic rights and disputing all allegations against him as untrue and baseless.

He told a press conference in Beirut that he doesn't trust he would have a fair trial in Japan but said he was ready to face justice anywhere else.

Ghosn, a French, Lebanese and Brazilian national, showed up in Lebanon on Dec. 30, after an audacious and improbable escape from surveillance in Japan. Lebanese officials said he entered legally, with a French passport and a Lebanese identification card.

While a travel ban restricts Ghosn's movement, it also offers him a degree of protection by Lebanese authorities who would presumably ensure he complies with the ban. France also doesn't have an extradition treaty with Japan.

According to the official, Ghosn was also interrogated on a separate report against him over a 2008 visit to Israel. Lebanon and Israel are technically at war. No decision was taken regarding this case, which according to Lebanese law can be punishable between one and 10 years in jail.

Two Lebanese lawyers submitted a report to the Public Prosecutors Office saying the trip violated Lebanese law. The violation may not be prosecutable, given that it has happened 12 years earlier. A famous Lebanese director, who also carries a French passport, questioned over the same violation in 2017 was not prosecuted because the visit was three yeas prior.

Ghosn's lawyer, Carlos Abou Jaoude confirmed that his client was questioned in the two separate cases  the Interpol notice and the Israel trip. He told reporters Ghosn was confident in the Lebanese judicial system.

At Wednesday's press conference, Ghosn apologized to the Lebanese, saying he never wished to offend anyone when he travelled to Israel as a French national after Nissan asked him to announce the launch of electric cars there.

Tokyo prosecutors, who arrested him in late 2018, said Ghosn had only himself to blame for for four-month-long detention and for the strict bail conditions that followed, such as being banned from seeing his wife.

Defendant Ghosn was deemed a high-profile risk, which is obvious from the fact that he actually fled, they said.

Ghosn thanked the Lebanese authorities for their hospitality and defended its judicial system, which has long faced accusations of corruption and favouritism. He said he would be ready to stand trial anywhere where I think I can have a fair trial. He declined to say where that might be.

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With big gestures and a five-part slide presentation, Ghosn brought his case to the global media in a performance that at times resembled a corporate presentation. Combative, spirited, and at times rambling, he described conditions of detention in Japan that made him feel dead ... like an animal in a country where he asserted he had zero chance of a fair trial.

He said he was held in solitary confinement for 130 days, was interrogated day and night for hours, appeared in handcuffs and a leash around his waist and was denied rights to see his wife for months.

In his 150-minutes conference Wednesday, Ghosn attacked Japanese prosecutors, saying they were aided and abated by petty, vindictive and lawless individuals in the government, Nissan and its law firm. He said it was them, not him, who are destroying Japans reputation on the global stage.

In Thursday's interview with LBC TV, Ghosn said his case highlighted the thousands of unfair trials in Japan. It has become now my duty to defend all those people to change this regime that the Japanese are hiding and they claim is a democracy, he said.

On Tuesday, Tokyo prosecutors obtained an arrest warrant for Ghosns Lebanese wife Carole on suspicion of perjury, a charge unrelated to his escape. However, Japanese justice officials acknowledge that its unclear whether the Ghosns can be brought back to Japan to face charges.

Nissan has said it was still pursuing legal action against Ghosn despite his escape.
State Interest And Governance Authority (SIGA) has pledged its support for State-Owned Enterprise (SOEs) and JVCs on the international market in order to achieve their goals.

In a speech delivered by the Director-General of SIGA, Hon. Stephen Asamoah Boateng, said, SIGA will not relent in this effort.

"I want us to set the target of growing some of our businesses and other entities into Global Giants, beginning with the venturing out in the West African market".

Speaking on the theme "Transforming State Entities To Contribute Significantly Towards Ghana Beyond Aid", at the 2020 performance contract signing ceremony for specified entities, Hon. Samuel Asamoah Boateng said SOEs were established to bring in money to drive the economy of the country.

He appealed to Ghanaians not sit passively and only criticize when State Entities do something wrong, rather they must take an active interest and participate in shaping them to deliver.

He stated that SIGA is here to lead the change and work with SOEs and other entities to achieve the 'Ghana Beyond Aid' agenda.

He further stated that SIGA will be proactively working to get the government to recapitalize Enterprises that shows real leadership to turn around their fortunes in the shortest possible time.

"Some SOEs will be divested and others put forward for private sector participation with an emphasis on involving the general Ghanaian public through the Stock market", he said.

ABOUT SIGA

SIGA was established in June 2019 with the passage of the SIGA 2019 (Act 990); after the repeal of the State Enterprise Commission (SEC) and Divestiture Implementation Acts (DIC Acts).

PURPOSE OF SIGA

State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) was established to address the issues of the poor aggregate performance of state own enterprises, weak governance structure and low returns to governance, among others.

SIGA was set up to data on all Specified Entities and shall carry out vigorous monitoring of every entity that is signing the Contract.

SIGA also aims at developing the Regulations for the SIGA Act. This is meant to fill in the gaps in the law as well as to better empower the Authority in its day to day operations.

SIGA would also provide the platform to consumers and other Stakeholders of our State Entities with the view to improving their performance.

ENTITIES THAT SIGN THE CONTRACT

According to a report delivered, 45 entities were taken through negotiation processes in signing the Annual performance contract last year (2019); this year witnessed 80 specified entities that signed the performance contract.

The report stated that some other institutions could not complete the whole process due to huge legacy debts which hindered their smooth operations. It also revealed quite a number of the entities are not able to honour their statutory obligations causing all sorts of unpleasant public discourse and headline news. A sizeable number have also lost business focus and have indulged in activities which are not their core operation.
Students in Pakistan on Wednesday expressed solidarity with their counterparts in Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) who were assaulted violently by masked goons on January 5.

We stand in solidarity with the students of India who are resisting fascism. Students on both sides have struggled in the face of repression, be it the abduction of students, on campus violence or charges of sedition on raising slogans for their democratic rights, said a statement from the Pakistani Progressive Students Collective.

A group of students representing the students union, elders and others gathered in front of the Lahore Press Club in the Punjab province of Pakistan, carrying placards and chanted slogans over the action against students in India as well as Pakistan.

The placards read: Resist, because violence and vandalism of mob exists beyond borders, Students united can never be defeated, Drop charges from all students.

Fascism is as fascism does read another placard, including several others in Urdu at the protest.

In the past two months Indian students across the country (Jamia Millia Islamia, JNU, Aligarh Muslim University and others) have fought valiantly against the fascist demagoguery of Modi sarkar, said the Progressive Students Collectives statement.

The students union also mentioned the name of JNU students union president Aishe Ghosh, referring to the January 5 mob attack in JNU.

Masked men ransacked the JNU campus and hostels. Aishe Ghosh, the president of JNUSU along with several of her comrades was critically injured in this attack, said the Pakistani students union.

It said the call for solidarity from JNU students and alumni has greatly resonated with them, prompting unwavering support for our progressive counterparts in India.

Therefore, we call on all our members, allies and sympathisers to join hands with the Collective to stand with the students of India and record our protest against the happenings of January 5 at the Lahore Press Club, said the statement.

Revealing complete awareness of the goings on in Indian campuses, he continued to say that, In the name of rescuing Hindu minorities in Pakistan, the fascist Indian government is actually targeting Dalits, Kashmiris and women in India itself.

The Pakistani student leader said it is important for the citizens of India and Pakistan to join and stay together to fight the communal forces, be it RSS-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Unless we stand and fight united against such fascist forces in both the countries, there can be no peace in South Asia or the subcontinent, he said in the video.

We were partitioned in 1947 for no reason by selfish people and vested interests kept us apart. We belong to the same country, same sky and same earth, he said as Inquilab Zindabad chants rent the air.

Wearing woollen clothing to beat Lahores cold, the Pakistani students crooned the Azadi song frequently sung on the JNU campus and other Indian universities.

Many girl students also participated in the demonstration in support of Indian students.
NIPTON, Calif. - A 27-year-old man killed his mother and drove about 200 miles (322 kilometres) through the Mojave Desert before he was fatally shot by police on a freeway, stranding motorists for up to 19 hours and backing up traffic for miles on the main route between Southern California and Las Vegas, authorities said.

The investigation began Wednesday when Kern County deputies found 55-year-old Guadalupe Adams dead with traumatic injuries in Tehachapi, which is about 35 miles (56 kilometres) east of Bakersfield.

Kern County deputies believed an armed and dangerous man  identified as the womans son, Madison Adams  driving a 2017 Nissan was involved in the killing and asked the San Berndardino Sheriffs Department to watch out for him.

Officers from the California Highway Patrol found the Nissan stopped on the freeways shoulder in Nipton, which is near the Nevada state line. Authorities from CHP, San Bernardino and the Nevada Highway Patrol conducted a high-risk traffic stop.

Officers from each agency opened fire, according to San Bernardino sheriffs spokeswoman Cindy Bachman. Madison Adams was pronounced dead at the scene.

The motive behind the killing was not immediately disclosed.

Bachman did not have details about the circumstances surrounding the shooting on Thursday, such as if Madison Adams was armed when he was shot.

The investigation closed the northbound Interstate 15 on the California side through 3 p.m. Thursday and caused a backup between 5 and 8 miles (8 and 12.87 kilometres) long. Some motorists were forced to sit at the roadblock through the night and much of Thursday.

Montgomery Granito, of Los Angeles, told The Las Vegas Review-Journal that he and his family waited in their vehicle for nearly seven hours at the roadblock from Wednesday evening to Thursday morning before they learned that drivers were being diverted at an exit miles earlier. He said law enforcement never spoke to drivers stuck there and he finally crossed the median Thursday morning to the freeways southbound lanes to head back.

He told the newspaper that 30 to 60 vehicles sat at the road block all night and many were still there when he left Thursday morning.

Kevin Shea told the newspaper he was stranded on the freeway for more than an hour early Thursday as he tried to drive from Southern California to Las Vegas. He said Google Maps only showed a 24-minute delay.

The California Highway Patrols online traffic log reported that two vehicles ran out of gas on the freeway.

Guadalupe Adams, known as Lupe, had worked for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation since 2006. She was an office technician at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi at the time of her death, according to the department.
I see a lot of pastures as I drive around Coshocton County going to and from various farm visits, and I have noticed that many still bear the scars of the horrid winter of 2018-19.

Near constant rain and temperatures that never stayed below freezing for any length of time created intense problems for anyone wintering livestock on pasture. Mud was the rule, and the resulting compaction from livestock hooves and hay feeding traffic held back plant growth for nearly the entire growing season in affected areas.

Just today I saw that this scenario was starting to happen again on a couple of farms that I passed. I thought that a brief overview of selecting a feeding area for animals wintered on pasture may help some farmers who are already dealing with mud heading into this winter.

Where to feed

The first decision is where to feed the animals, assuming that there is no stockpiled forage available to winter graze. Many folks feed hay where it is easiest to drop bales into the feeder, which is not always a bad thing depending on where the site is located.

A different option of feeding hay on pasture is to unroll round bales down the slope. The trick here is to move every time a bale is unrolled. This not only allows livestock to feed in a more spread out area, but also adds organic matter back into the soil and can reseed the pasture. If this is not possible, or conditions do not allow unrolling bales, then a specific site to feed should be established.

Some factors to consider when selecting a winter feeding area include the following: access to water, soil conditions (does the soil drain well?), topography and proximity to environmentally sensitive areas. Topography and soil conditions generally go hand in hand.

High and dry

We have a saying for our conservation planning work that we want to keep winter feeding areas high and dry. This means the higher up on the slope the better, but not necessarily right on top.

Flat ground on top of a ridge, or in a bottom, can increase water ponding and mud issues. Feeding on a gentle to moderate slope helps water to get away from the feeding area and increases the chances of soil drying out, but be careful because too steep of a slope will be prone to excessive soil erosion.

Selecting these sites on south or east-facing slopes can help shield livestock from cold north and west winds, and also make the best use of sunlight during the winter months.

Environmentally sensitive areas

One big thing to consider is where any environmentally sensitive areas are in the pasture. These can be streams, ditches, springs, ponds, and water wells. Feeding too close to any of these areas can lead to contaminating waters of the state (streams, ditches, ponds, wetlands) with runoff water from the feeding site, and could result in a pollution complaint. It is best to try and avoid this scenario right from the get go.

Get help

If you are struggling with winter feeding then there are several things your local Soil and Water Conservation District or NRCS representative can do to help you. A stone or concrete heavy use pad is a great option to feed on, and can concentrate manure for future removal. Stone access roads can make it much easier to feed hay as well.

Water development to the feed pad, or even just away from the stream or pond, can keep livestock out of environmentally sensitive areas during the winter season, and provide water of higher quality.

Your County Soil and Water Conservation District or NRCS representative can help to plan all of these practices, and through NRCSs EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentive Program) there is cost share available to farmers who qualify. Contact your county Soil and Water, or NRCS office for more details about this program.

I understand that wintering livestock on pasture can be a challenge in the best of years, and most of us are facing an uphill battle maintaining animal condition due to the quality of hay that we made this year.

If anything in this short write up has you thinking you would like to make a change to your winter feeding style please let the Soil and Water Conservation District and NRCS in your county know. They will be happy to help you figure out a solution on your farm.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 22:19:00|Editor: xuxin

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DAMASCUS, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army responded on Thursday to a rebel attack in areas the army has recently advanced to in Idlib province, northwestern Syria, state news agency SANA reported.

The army units in Maarat al-Numan city in the southeastern countryside of Idlib were attacked by rebel groups, said SANA, adding that the rebels took advantage of the fog and bad weather to launch the attack.

Intense battles ensued, which led to the destroying of rebel military gears and the killing and wounding of many militiamen, said SANA.

The Syrian army also carried out intensive strikes by missiles and artillery on the rebel positions and supply routes in the countryside of Idlib.

The report said that the Syrian army has succeeded in retaking over 320 sq km of areas in southern Idlib over the past month.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 45 fighters of both the rebels and the army troops were killed during intense battles on the previous day, adding that airstrikes targeted the rebel positions on Maarat al-Numan and its surroundings.

The Syrian army has made notable progress in recent weeks in the battles against the rebels in Idlib, capturing several areas in the quest to liberate the road linking Hama province with Aleppo in the north.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said recently that the battle against terrorism in Idlib is a priority to the Syrian government.

Assad said the aim behind the battle in Idlib is to eliminate terrorism, adding that counter-terrorism is the priority and comes ahead of anything else.

Idlib has emerged as the main destination of the rebel groups, which have evacuated several positions across Syria after surrendering to the Syrian army.

That province is now considered as the last major rebel bastion in Syria.

Certain parts of Idlib are covered by a de-escalation zones' deal brokered by Russia and Turkey, which backs the rebels.

However, such deals exclude the ultra-radical rebels who are affiliated with the al-Qaida and branded as terrorist groups by the UN.

Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told a press briefing on Wednesday that at least 300,000 civilians have fled the Idlib region since the sharp escalation of hostilities in mid-December.

He said several people in Idlib were sheltered in schools, mosques and other public buildings.

A total of 13 health facilities were recently forced to suspend their work, and airstrikes and shelling were taking place in many towns and villages on a daily basis, he added.

Laerke stressed that during armed conflicts, civilians had to be protected in accordance with the international humanitarian law.
(CNN)  Thousands of activists are set to march across nine cities in Australia on Friday, singling out Prime Minister Scott Morrison for climate inaction amid a worsening fire crisis that has ravaged large swathes of the country.

The protests, organized by national student organization Uni Students for Climate Justice, will take place in cities including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Huge crowds are expected, with tens of thousands marking themselves as attending on Facebook  indicating widespread public discontent after months of increasingly deadly fires.

Morrison has faced heavy criticism for his climate policies and response to the fires. Several of Friday's protests are under the slogan "Sack Scomo."

A total of 27 people have died this fire season, and the blazes are nowhere near done  Australia is only about halfway through its hot, dry summer. State and federal authorities have been scrambling to respond, with thousands of firefighters on the ground and billions of dollars allocated in federal aid. But climate activists say it's not enough.

"We're protesting this Friday because we're outraged about our government's criminal negligence about the bushfire crisis, exacerbated by climate change," said the group on its Facebook page. "We are protesting to give a voice to the tens of thousands of people who want real action on climate change and real funding for relief services."

Friday's protests will also push for five main demands: funding for firefighters, relief and aid for affected communities, land and water sovereignty for indigenous communities, an immediate transition toward renewable energy, and a "just transition" for workers in the fossil fuel industry.

The biggest protest will likely be in Melbourne, where organizers are pushing forward despite authorities urging them to postpone due to dangerous fire conditions and limited resources.

"This week is not a time for public protest," said Victoria Police acting assistant commissioner Tim Hansen on Wednesday, adding that the force had formally asked organizers to move the protest time and date.

He said the police force was already stretched thin and fatigued, and the protests would be a "distraction" and a "resource drain" on a day forecast to be hot and dangerous.

Officers in Victoria are working on evacuations and preparations ahead of Friday, when temperatures are expected to spike  but "now on top of this, we are distracted by having to provide extra resources to support a protest activity," Hansen said.

The organizers pushed back, posting on Facebook that the police were "trying to paint ordinary people  who are fed up with their lies, theft and criminal negligence  as being a drain on emergency services."

Public anger builds against Morrison

Morrison has faced growing anger and frustration from the public this month as the fires continue to spiral out of control.

During a visit last week to the fire-ravaged town of Cobargo, in New South Wales state, Morrison was heckled by furious residents who had lost their homes.

One woman said she would only shake his hand if he gave more funding to the NSW Rural Fire Service. "We need more help," she shouted after him as he walked away.

Another group was more explicit, cursing at him and saying, "You're an idiot."

Morrison has been accused of not doing enough to address climate change, which experts say is making natural disasters like fires go from bad to worse. Summers in Australia are always hot and dry -- but fire seasons have been arriving earlier and spreading with greater intensity.

"The science is telling us ... these extreme heat conditions we've seen this year might occur naturally once every 350 years," said climate scientist and former federal climate commissioner Tim Flannery. "But once you add in the influence of the human-emitted greenhouse gases, we're likely to see those conditions once every eight years."

Flannery added that coal was "a national addiction," and the link between government and the fossil fuel industry was "almost complete."

Critics of the Morrison administration have pointed to his history of climate skepticism and support for coal mines. In 2017, Morrison  then treasurer  made his position clear when he brought a lump of coal into Parliament.

"This is coal. Don't be afraid, don't be scared," he said, to jeers from the opposition. "It's coal that has ensured for over 100 years that Australia has enjoyed an energy-competitive advantage that has delivered prosperity to Australian businesses."

Since then, his climate rhetoric has softened a little  he has acknowledged the link between climate change and extreme weather, and asserted his commitment to reduce emissions. But he also said that the government would only pursue "sensible" policies, and that there wasn't "a single policy, whether it be climate or otherwise," that can fully protect Australia against the fires.

What the climate crisis means for Australia

The fires have been exceptionally bad this year because of severe weather  extreme heat, dry conditions and ferocious winds that whip up the flames and spread embers far distances, which then start new blazes.

But the climate crisis in Australia goes far beyond the fires  it has manifested in various forms, including the worst drought in living memory. The ongoing years-long drought has devastated farmers, whose very livelihoods are disappearing; images from the ground show cracked, barren land and skeletal cattle.

Heatwaves are also becoming more frequent and severe; one in December broke the record for highest nationwide average temperature, with some places measuring temperatures well above 40 degrees Celsius (about 113-120 degrees Fahrenheit). In 2018, one heatwave was so bad that flying foxes died by the thousands, falling out of their colonies in the trees.

Meanwhile, the UNESCO heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef, a 1,500-mile stretch that supports thousands of species, is slowly dying from heating oceans. It lost more than half its coral in two mass bleaching events in 2016 and 2017, and is losing its ability to recover and replenish.

These events have taken a huge toll on wildlife  Australia has the highest rate of species loss of any area in the world. Animals in the country have dealt with natural catastrophes like fires for millennia, but human interference and climate change have changed everything.

"(The animals are) not coping, and now they've got no grass, no water, no habitat," said Janine Green, a volunteer at WIRES Wildlife Rescue. "Who knows if they can breed after this? We've never seen anything like this before."

This story was first published on CNN.com "Climate activists to single out Prime Minister Scott Morrison in marches across Australia as bushfires rage"
I have been following Rep. Ilhan Omar closely since she defeated a 22-term incumbent in the DFL primary to run for the state legislature representing the West Bank/Little Mogadishu neighborhood of Minneapolis in August 2016. The first time I became aware of Omars claim to be a victim of PTSD, however, was just last year, in Benjamin Wallace-Wellss idiotic March 27, 2019 New Yorker profile. W-W snagged an interview with Omar for the profile and quoted her: You know, I have P.T.S.D. around, like, guns and ammunition and bombs. According to the account Omar delivered to W-W, Omars PTSD dates back to her childhood in Somalia.

That was a new one on me, but several elements of Omars interview with W-W represent classic Omar. One recurring element of Omars public face struck me in particular. Any expression of gratitude to the United States for taking her and her family in as refugees to the United States was in short supply (i.e., absent).

As I noted over the weekend, Omar has a habit of making up her life stories as she goes along. Yaakov Apelbaum took a deep dive into Omars compulsive fabrications here this past August.

Omar was back at it yesterday, this time in the context of President Trump and our struggle with Iran. David Aaros FOX News story Omar claim of PTSD offensive to US veterans, Indiana congressman says lays it out in its absurd detail

Omar spoke during a press conference with other Democrats yesterday at which she said she felt ill because of everything that is taking place in the Middle East  a reference to the recent U.S. tensions between the U.S. and Iran, including last weeks U.S. airstrike in Baghdad and Irans missile attacks early Wednesday against airbases in Iraq where U.S. service members are stationed.

And I think every time I hear about  I hear of conversations around war, I find myself being stricken with PTSD, she said. And I find peace knowing that I serve with great advocates for peace and people who have shown courage against war.

In the video embedded in the tweet below we can see Omar struggling with her PTSD later in the Wednesday press conference as she giggles and chats her way through Rep. Sheila Jackson Lees discussion of casualties during the Iraq War.
Coal miners laid off last month from an eastern Kentucky mine have not been paid their final paycheck or money owed to them for unused vacation days. Following the pattern set by Blackjewel Coal last summer, about 75 miners who were laid off from the Perry County Coal Company before Christmas have not received their final paychecks.

Another 24 miners, maintenance crew and security guards who are still working at the mine, have also not been paid since mid-December. The mine is located in Hazard, Kentucky, 55 miles north of Harlan, the site of the Blackjewel mine.

In July 2019, Blackjewel refused to pay nearly 2,000 miners the money they were owed when the company filed for bankruptcy. The company also held up healthcare and pension benefits, and even child support payments.

Blackjewel miners and their supporters

Blackjewel only paid a portion of the back money after a group of miners occupied railroad tracks outside one of the companys Harlan County mines, preventing Blackjewel from selling coal it had been stockpiling before the bankruptcy. The miners in the eastern Kentucky county, once known as Bloody Harlan, have a rich tradition of class struggle dating back to the 1920s and 1930s.

Bobby Stevens, a former Blackjewel miner who also worked for Perry County Coal, told the Lexington Herald-Leader the Blackjewel case set a precedent for coal companies to avoid paying workers during bankruptcy proceedings. I believe these companies are going to keep on doing that until somebody steps forward, Stevens said.

In the case of Perry County Coal, the Indiana-based American Resources Corporation, which owns the mine, has gone even further, refusing to pay their employees before they filed for bankruptcy.

David Mullins, former general manager of Perry County Coal, admitted to the Lexington Herald-Leader Monday that the company had not paid the miners and other employees what they were owed.

American Resources Corporation purchased the mine in September from Cambrian Coal, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year and quickly sold off its eastern Kentucky assets. At the time of the purchase, over 300 miners worked there. Since taking over the mine, ARC began making cutbacks and putting people out of work.

Mullins said the new company twice failed to pay workers compensation insurance forcing workers to be sent home. It also failed to pay for health insurance for many miners. I dont know why the judge let them have it, Mullins told the bankruptcy court. They were never in a position, financially and permit-wise, to be able to take that company.

Like so many other coal companies, Cambrian used the tried and true practice of dumping its obligations to workers and their communities by resorting to the bankruptcy courts. For decades now, coal companies have used federal bankruptcy laws to pass off their liabilities to shell corporations, which then just close up shop, leaving workers without jobs, healthcare or pensions. Communities with massive environmental damage are left with no funds clean up.

When American Resources purchased the mine, federal regulators were blocking ARC from obtaining new mining permits because of 36 outstanding violations by the company. According to court filings, the company should not have been allowed to buy the mine. Yet despite this and the fact that ARC did not have the resources or knowledge to run the mines, they were granted ownership.

The failure of companies to pay miners money owed for time they have already worked is now becoming a new standard as mining companies attack their workers to make the most profits.

Kentucky law requires coal companies to purchase a bond to cover one month of wages in case of bankruptcy. American Resources, like Blackjewel, never purchased the bond. In fact, a review of records by the Herald-Leader after the Blackjewel bankruptcy showed that no new mining operation has purchased the required bond over the past five years.

Layoffs continue to mount in the region. Murray Energy-owned Western Kentucky Coal Company announced the day after Christmas that it was laying off all 300 miners from the Genesis Mine in Centertown, Kentucky. According to a notice sent by the company to the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training, the layoffs will take place on February 24 or within the following two weeks.

Murray Energy, the largest underground coal mining company in the US, filed for bankruptcy last October and is in the process of cutting the healthcare and pension benefits of its current and former employees.

The United Mine Workers union, which was once a major force in eastern Kentucky, has long been a non-factor in the coalfields after decades of betrayed strikes and collusion with the coal and energy corporations.

Despite Donald Trumps promises to revive the coal industry, mining jobs have continued to be destroyed under his administration. Coal production has reached a 40-year low as power generation continues to switch to less expensive natural gas and renewables such as wind and solar.

In addition, the coal industry has been hurt by the slowdown and restructuring of the steel industry. Facing declining demand, the steel industry has been moving away from coal powered blast furnaces to electric furnaces, which, while more expensive when running near capacity, can be brought on- and off-line with less costs.
Morocco has 18 international airports which welcomed in 2019 over 25 million passengers. They are currently capable of handling 40 million travelers.

In order to avoid their congestion due to the growing number of tourists visiting the North African kingdom and continuous opening of routes by the airliners, Moroccos Airport Authority (ONDA) intends to build new terminals over the five coming years in the countrys major cities.

According to local news reports, lOffice National des Aeroports is planning a third terminal in the Mohammed V airport of Casablanca, the largest airport in the Kingdom, to boost its capacity to 23 million passengers before 2025 from the 10 millions served in 2019.

In Marrakech, a second airport will also be constructed to alleviate the pressure exerted on Marrakech-Menara airport, which processed last year 6 million travelers.

It operates close to its capacity, posting an outstanding 14.6 pc annual growth.

In the Atlantic coastal city of Agadir, the Al Massira airport saw in 2019 over 2 million travelers passing through its doors. As the number of its passengers is growing 3 pc annually in upward trend, this airport will be expanded to take up its capacity to 7 million passengers.

In December, the new terminal of Moroccos capital city of Rabat celebrated its one-millionth passenger. It is capable of handling up to two million travelers. To keep up with growth projections, ONDA launched the construction of another terminal to increase its capacity to 6 million travelers in the two coming years.
President Muhammadu Buhari has overruled the decision of Sale Mamman, minister of power, asking Marilyn Amobi, the managing director of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company Limited (NBET) to step down.

The reversal was contained in a memo from the office of the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF).

According to the memo, the agency has also been moved from the ministry of power to the ministry of finance.

Read Also: Buhari Has The Courage, Character To Refuse Third Term Temptation: Tinubu

The minister had asked Amobi in December 2019 to step down with immediate effect in order to restore sanity in the management of the agency.

The minister also directed the constitution of a 5-man investigative committee to look into the allegations against the MD.

With the presidents decision, Nnaemeka Ewelukwa, a general manager of the agency, who immediately assumed office as the acting managing director of NBET after Amobi has been asked to step aside.
Kaels favorite young acolytes received the semi-sneering nickname Paulettes. She could turn on her fellow critics, cruelly, especially if she sensed a lack of shared enthusiasm for films she adored. Her tastes, like those of any distinctive voice, boggled the mind of anyone who disagreed with her judgment. (She also received death threats, she says in one interview excerpted in the documentary.) Kael found solemn legends such as Hiroshima Mon Amour and 2001: A Space Odyssey insufferable. Worse, to many, she was indifferent to Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark and All the Presidents Men and others.
India has seen another twist in the ongoing saga of 5G rollout as local reports indicate that field trials for 5G may be delayed yet again.

The big three operators  Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio Infocomm  are reportedly about to write to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to ask for more time to submit their respective proposals.

Considering that the proposal deadline is 10 January, this is certainly last-minute, though the amount of documentation needed by DoT  relating to plans for rural, semi-urban and urban areas and including vendor contributions  is apparently too demanding to be finished on time. Thus the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) will write a letter to the DoT this week, though its not yet clear what new date COAI will propose.

The trials are now close to a year behind schedule after the first attempt to get them under way was delayed over issues that included pricing and trial tenure. An attempt by Ravi Shankar Prasad to start trials within 100 days of his appointment as minister for communications in June came to nothing as operators requested guidance on whether major Chinese vendors would be allowed to take part. They were, but the guidance came in late 2019.

Further hopes expressed by Anshu Prakash, a secretary in the telecom department of the Ministry of Communications, that trials would be held by this month now look unlikely to become reality, though talks between vendors and operators relating to joint proposals for 5G field trials are apparently under way.

Meanwhile 5G auctions loom in the coming months, though whether the government-set reserve prices or the rumoured date of April will remain the same is a question that cannot be definitively answered.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP)  Illinois House Republicans argued Wednesday that they were left out of a review of the states burdensome property tax system and that their ideas for relief were dismissed.

But the Democratic author of the report replied that the preliminary draft is still undergoing editing and hes waiting for the House GOP to respond with suggested changes, as the three other House and Senate caucuses have done.

The report, required by a state law signed last summer, recommends ways to reduce taxes on real estate in Illinois, which has the second-highest rate in the country.

It says Illinois 7,000 local government taxing bodies should be reduced through mergers, including school consolidation. It also says property value assessments should be standardized to ensure fairness, and rules for appealing assessments and granting tax breaks for redeveloped land should be tightened.

Task force co-chairwoman Rep. Deanne Mazzochi, an Elmhurst Republican, said at a news conference in Chicago Wednesday that GOP ideas werent included in the preliminary report Democrats drafted, and the ideas that did make it dont go far enough.

When you look at what they presented in the draft, you have to ask yourself are these Democrats serious about property tax reform?  Hope for a substantive final report was diminished by the fact that there was little to no chance for members of the task force to debate, to contribute to a final product, she said.

Among other things, Mazzochi said Democrats skipped GOP ideas on overhauling government pensions to save money; making tax bills easier to read, so that taxpayers know where their money is going; and creatinga partial school-tax exemption for seniors who no longer have children in public schools.

She said there was no discussion of the 220 curriculum or administrative requirements the General Assembly has imposed on local schools since 1992, which require local funding and which teachers and administrators often resist as unnecessary.

Rep. Sam Yingling, a Grayslake Democrat who compiled the preliminary report, said the committee in December instructed co-chairs to take the draft to the four caucuses in the General Assembly  House and Senate Democrats and Republicans  for suggested edits. He said hes still waiting to hear from House Republicans.

In order to address the magnitude of the property tax crisis, all four caucuses must be moving forward together, Yingling said. Everything is on the table, everything needs to be discussed and debated.  If something is left out, they (Republicans) need to come back and say, Hey, you need to add this or take that out.

Yingling had hoped to deliver a final draft to Gov. J.B. Pritzker by the Dec. 31, 2019 deadline, but he said that hasnt happened because of the House Republicans delay.

___

Follow Political Writer John OConnor at https://twitter.com/apoconnor.
Nine days after the headless body of a woman was found in Mumbai, police claimed to have cracked the case with the arrest of her 30-year-old son.

Sohail Shaikh, resident of suburban Kurla, allegedly strangulated his mother to death on December 28 in an inebriated state. He later chopped the body and disposed it, an official from Ghatkopar police station said on Thursday.

The victim and the accused used to have frequent fights over his liquor addiction and not doing any job. The accused's wife had also left him some months ago, he said.

According to the official, Shaikh and his mother had a fight again on December 28 night following which the accused strangulated her to death.

"He didn't realise what he had done until the next morning. He first visited a local dargah as he could not figure out what to do with the body. Then, he watched a crime show on television from which he got the idea to chop the body," he said.

"Shaikh later chopped the body into some pieces and disposed the body parts separately," the official said.

The headless torso was found on December 30 on Kirod Road in Vidyavihar area following which police registered a murder case.

The next day, two chopped legs, wrapped in a rexin sheet, were found dumped in a dustbin in suburban Ghatkopar.

On January 4, police recovered the severed head from under a bridge on Santacruz-Chembur Link Road.

"Since the body parts were highly decomposed, it was difficult to establish the victim's identity. We worked on facial reconstruction by drawing sketches of the woman's face based on the skeletal remains," the official said.

Besides, on examining CCTV footage of areas where the body parts were found, the police noticed a two-wheeler near all the three spots and identified Shaikh as a suspect.

"We first enquired with a person in Shaikh's neighbourhood who informed that the latter's mother was not seen since some days. We also found that when Shaikh's sister asked him about their mother, he told her that she had gone to Delhi to meet some family members," he said.

Based on the information, the police picked up Shaikh from his residence on Wednesday afternoon.

"During the course of investigation, Shaikh confessed to have killed his mother," the official said.

The accused was booked under Indian Penal Code Section 302 (murder), he said, adding that further probe in the case was on.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The news Prince Harry and his wife Meghan will step back from being "senior royals" knocked the Iran crisis and Brexit from the headlines in Britain on Thursday. The pair announced Wednesday evening they were quitting to "carve out a progressive new role within this institution" -- but reportedly without the approval of Queen Elizabeth II. That prompted immediate headlines of "Megxit" and palace intrigue. "Queen's dismay as Harry and Meghan step back from royal life," screamed the Daily Express. Every British newspaper, including the Financial Times, put the news on their front pages -- with the country's infamously lurid tabloids getting characteristically creative with their headlines. "Megxit" screamed top-selling The Sun on the day lawmakers will finally approve Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal to leave the European Union. Its rival the Daily Mirror went with "They didn't even tell the Queen". The Daily Star opted for "The Royal formerly known as Prince". Broadsheet The Daily Telegraph -- purportedly the queen's newspaper of choice -- declared "Harry and Meghan quit the Firm", using the nickname sometimes given to the family. The Times said they had quit amid a "palace split". The right-wing Daily Mail echoed the sentiment: "Queen's fury as Harry and Meghan say: We quit." Even the FT, which typically reserves its front page for the world's leading business and economic news, got in on the act. "Royal couple pull out of public eye in search of financial independence," it headlined. - 'Commoner life' - Media around the world also covered the story prominently. Germany's most popular daily Bild declared that the announcement had "fallen like a bomb on the royal family". "The exciting question is: will Buckingham Palace hit back?" the tabloid asked. German broadsheets struck a slightly more serious tone, with Sueddeutsche Zeitung drawing the inevitable parallels with Britain's protracted withdrawal from the EU. Noting Buckingham Palace's response that the couple's future role "would take time to work through", the Munich-based daily quipped: "It sounds as if Megxit could turn out to be as messy and long-winded as Brexit." In the United States, where the duo may now spend more time, the New York Post mocked Meghan and Harry as heading for a "commoner life". The tabloid's eye-catching front page caricatures them as deadbeats sitting on a drab sofa watching TV, Harry in his underpants wearing a stained white undershirt, drinking cheap beer and eating a microwave meal, while a cigarette-wielding Meghan has her hair in curlers. - 'Petulant grandson' - Back in Britain, royal commentators and prominent personalities flooded the airwaves and social media with their takes. "Wow. What a disgraceful way to treat The Queen. Shame on Harry & Meghan," tweeted morning TV host Piers Morgan, a persistent critic of the duchess. Rachael Bletchly, a columnist for the Daily Mirror, said the shock statement from the queen's "petulant grandson must have hit her in the solar plexus". "Harry has selfishly turned his back on the institution she has fought to modernise and secure for him and his children," she added. Meanwhile Peter Hunt, a former royal correspondent for the BBC, told Channel 4 News it was "not a good day for the British royal family". "In the 21st century, in a new decade, they have shown they haven't been able to accommodate in the traditional way their first senior royal from a BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) background," he said, referring to Meghan's mixed race heritage. Royal biographer Penny Junor called the decision "very sad". "Harry and Meghan are very much loved and if we're not going to see so much of them I think that's a real tragedy." burs-jj/phz/wdb
CURRUMBIN, Australia, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 18 million acres of land have been burned in Australia and much of it bushland, forests and national parks, impacting millions of animals and putting a strain on animal hospitals, fire brigades and other charities that are diligently responding to the crisis. Wildlife organizations throughout Australia have been overrun with burnt and injured animals from the catastrophic bushfires devastating huge parts of the country.

Currumbin Wildlife Hospital

Dr. Michael Pyne, head veterinarian, with the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital and his team have been working around the clock for many months, caring for the sick and injured wildlife. He said, "The recent fires have seen a significant increase in native animal admissions. Our hospital is at capacity with injured animals arriving from around Australia daily."

The hospital has grown to be one of the busiest wildlife hospitals in the world, admitting more than 12,000 animals, including 600 koalas each year. This service is provided free of charge to the community. The skilled and experienced veterinary team, supported by volunteers, prides itself on providing the highest level of veterinary care to all of its patients.

The Currumbin Wildlife Hospital Foundation supports and funds Currumbin Wildlife Hospital, and its vital work of treating, rehabilitating and releasing sick, injured and orphaned native wildlife. Currently, it's seeking donations via a GoFundMe campaign to help support the work in the wake of the devastating fires, which are unprecedented in the country.

Australian Firefighters have never faced these conditions before. Years of severe drought have left the country tinder dry. The backbone of the firefighting effort is led by the volunteers of Australia's Rural Fire Brigades, a citizen fire service, which has worked tirelessly to defend their communities. Sadly, many have lost their own homes while trying to save others.

"For Rural Fire Brigade volunteers to see the devastation to the Australian wildlife and the local communities they defend is tragic. This fire season truly reminds us that fire is a force of nature," explained Justin Choveaux, general manager of the Rural Fire Brigades Queensland.

In addition, many organizations have been involved in the response, including the NWS Rural Fire Service, CFA, Salvation Army, and the Red Cross.

About Currumbin Wildlife Hospital

Currumbin Wildlife Hospital is one of the busiest wildlife hospitals in the world. The hospital relies on community donations to support its work tirelessly treating, rehabilitating and releasing native wildlife. For more information or to donate to the hospital directly, please visit http://currumbinwildlifehospital.org.au/.

Media Contact:

David Rogers

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +61 0433 148 744

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A teeming crowd of barefoot Filipinos prayed for peace in the Middle East on Thursday before rushing to try and touch a centuries-old black statue of Jesus Christ during one of the world's largest Catholic festivals.

The day-long procession of the wooden Black Nazarene draws massive numbers of largely poor devotees who pray for the sick and a better life.

This year, widespread fears over the conflict between the United States and Iran were highlighted in a predawn Mass on the streets of the capital Manila.

Millions of Filipino Catholics gathered in Manila on Thursday to offer prayers before rushing to touch the statue of the Black Nazarene during an annual festival

The display of religious fervor by largely poor Filipinos is one of the largest Catholic festivals in the world, and one of Asia's biggest religious events. Pictured: People climb on top of a statue of Black Nazarene as it parades through the streets

Worshippers dress in purple - the colour associated with Nazarene - before rushing to touch a statue which they believe will grant them favours and cure disease

This year prayers were offered for peace in the Middle East as tensions continued between the US and Iran, with many Filipinos working in the region as overseas labour

The Black Nazarene is a life-sized statue of Chris holding a cross on the way to his crucifixion which was carved out of dark wood by a Mexican sculptor before being transported to the Philippines in 1606

Pope Innocent X granted recognition to the lay Confraternity of Santo Cristo Jesus Nazareno, which kept the statue, for the promotion of Christianity through the icon - leading to the belief that the statue itself has miraculous powers

'Let us remember that in other parts of the world, the threat of violence is brewing and, hopefully, this will not lead to war,' Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle told the crowd at a Manila seaside park.

The popular Manila church leader asked the tens of thousands of devotees clad in maroon shirts - the color associated with the Black Nazarene - to briefly pause in silence and pray for peace in the Middle East and the safety of its people, including many Filipino expatriate workers.

'Let us pray ... that the desire to retaliate eases,' Tagle said.

One of the world's largest providers of overseas labour, the Philippines would face a crisis if hostilities between the U.S. and Iran escalate and embroil other countries that host many Filipinos, such as Saudi Arabia and Israel.

The Philippine government on Wednesday ordered Filipino workers to leave Iraq and Iran. The military prepared to deploy navy ships, three cargo planes and one battalion each of marines and army troops to help the evacuations in case hostilities worsen.

Organizers of the Black Nazarene procession expect up to 4 million people to join the procession, which usually ends late at night when the life-size statue of Christ is returned to a church in downtown Manila.

Filipino devotees carry an injured woman to nearby paramedics for treatment after she collapsed amid the throng of people while trying to touch the holy statue

Devotees move a man on a stretcher to a safe area during the annual religious procession in honour of the Black Nazarene

The Black Nazarene statue is housed within the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Manila but a copy is brought out three times a year for festivals, the largest of which occurs on January 9 - the date it was originally taken to the basilica

The Black Nazarene is one of the largest Catholic festivals anywhere in the world and is also considered to be one of the largest religious festivals in Asia

Philippine police riding a vehicle with a broken windshield try to go through crowds of devotees during the procession of The Black Nazarene in Manila

Philippine police officers take care of a fellow officer who was injured during the procession in Manila on January 9

More than 12,000 police, including bomb squads, snipers and helicopter-borne teams, were deployed to secure the procession, though authorities said they have not monitored any specific threat.

Aside from ensuring safety and order, police worked to clear the streets in front of the carriage bearing the statue. Guns and liquor were banned and cellphone signals were jammed in parts of Manila.

Devotees who were pushed back when they tried to touch the statue complained, but despite the security and the tropical heat, mobs of people dangerously squeezed into a tight pack of humanity around the carriage.

They threw small towels at volunteers on the carriage for them to wipe parts of the statue and toss the towels back, believing the Nazarene's powers can cure ailments and do other miracles.

Dozens of people fainted or sustained injuries and were carried away on stretchers by Red Cross volunteers.

Jocelyn del Rosario, a 55-year-old restaurant manager, said she walked barefoot for more than 4 kilometers (2.6 miles) on an empty stomach to show her devotion to the Black Nazarene and pray for her children. Amid the crowd and the heat, she fainted and was carried to a first-aid station.

'My daughter has diabetes and a son of mine has been in and out of jail,' del Rosario said while lying on a stretcher. 'The Black Nazarene has done miracles for me. I need to pray for some more.'

Another longtime devotee, Elena Ornate, believes the Black Nazarene helped her recover from a stroke years ago. But another stroke last December left the 73-year-old widow partly paralyzed, preventing her from working as a food vendor.

Catholic devotees participate the annual celebration of the Black Nazarene in Manila in the hopes that their prayers will help to cure disease and bring them favours

Catholic worshippers flood the streets of Manila as a smaller replica of the Black Nazarene (right) is carried through the streets. A life-sized replica of the statue is the main attraction at the event

Crowds of mostly-barefoot Catholic Filipinos rush to touch a life-sized replica of the statue of Black Nazarene (right) as it is parade through the streets of Manila

Devotees believe that the Black Nazarene grant them favors and cure their diseases whenever they touch the statue

Filipino devotees throw their white towels to be wiped on the Black Nazarene, in the belief that it will also cure their ills

'Lord, please give my strength back. My family needs me,' said a teary-eyed Ornate, who sat on a wheelchair surrounded by more than a dozen of her grandchildren.

Crowned with thorns and bearing a cross, the Nazarene statue is believed to have been brought from Mexico to Manila on a galleon in 1606 by Spanish missionaries.

The ship that carried it purportedly caught fire, but the charred statue survived. Some believe the statue's endurance, from fires and earthquakes through the centuries and intense bombings during World War II, is a testament to its powers.

The spectacle reflects the unique brand of Catholicism, which includes folk superstitions, in Asia's largest Catholic nation. Dozens of Filipinos have themselves nailed to crosses on Good Friday in another tradition that draws huge crowds and tourists each year.

Such religious passion has continued in the Philippines even as President Rodrigo Duterte has stepped up attacks in recent years on the church and bishops, who have criticized the thousands of killings under his anti-drug crackdown.

Duterte sparked outrage among many Catholics two years ago when he called God 'stupid' and later questioned the basic tenets of the faith. He offered to immediately resign if anybody can prove that God exists.
Establishing causes of UIA plane crash in Iran is priority for Ukraine  Zelensky in address to Ukrainians

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that establishing the causes of the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane crash in Iran is a priority for Ukraine, the Office of the President has reported.

"We will definitely find out the truth. For this, a detailed and independent investigation is carried out in accordance with international law," the press service of the office said.

Zelensky expressed his condolences to the relatives of all the dead in the crash of the Ukrainian plane near Tehran (Iran), in particular, 11 Ukrainians on board, as well as citizens of Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan and the United Kingdom.

"The morning of January 8, 2020 became a black page in the history of Ukraine and the whole world. My sincere condolences to the relatives and friends of the eleven dead citizens of Ukraine: Volodymyr Haponenko, Alexei Naumkin, Serhiy Khomenko, Kateryna Statnik, Ihor Matkov, Maria Mykytiuk, Denys Lykhny, Valeria Ovcharuk, Yulia Solohub, Olena Malakhova and Olha Kobiuk," the press service, citing the president.

According to the president, the investigation of the crash will be carried out by a commission created by the Civil Aviation Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran. A total 45 Ukrainian specialists will join them, including from the State Aviation Service, the National Bureau of Air Accidents Investigation of Ukraine and representatives of UIA.

In addition, if necessary, representatives of the National Security and Defense Council, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Emergency Service, the Ministry of Defense, the ministries of foreign affairs, the interior affairs and other government agencies who also arrived in Tehran can be included in the commission.

"These are the best specialists in our country who have extensive experience in examinations. They will identify and repatriate the dead Ukrainians. We expect all of them to be included in the work of the commission, in particular to deciphering the records of "black boxes [flight data recorders]," Zelensky said.

Zelensky also said that on Thursday he intends to talk on the phone with the Iranian president to enhance cooperation with the Ukrainian side to establish the truth. He also called on the international community, in particular Canada, to investigate the circumstances of the crash of the Ukrainian Boeing 737.

The head of the Ukrainian state said that Ukraine would conduct unscheduled and complete checks of UIA and other domestic airlines for airworthiness. Until all the causes of the disaster have been clarified, Ukrainian airlines have been banned from flying in the airspace of Iran and Iraq, and Ukrainian citizens are advised to refrain from visiting this region.

"Before the takeoff of the Ukrainian plane, and after it, the planes of international, including European airlines, landed and took off at Tehran's international airport. Only the United States banned flights. None of the countries prohibited their flights over Iran, but did not cancel flights before the morning plane crash," he said.

Zelensky called on Ukrainians to refrain from unverified information and manipulations until a preliminary investigation report is made public.

"Now our information space is full of numerous theories and myths regarding the tragedy... In such cases, speed can impede finding the truth. We need to wait at least for the preliminary report of the investigation commission. And I ask everyone... to refrain from manipulation, speculation, conspiracy theories, hasty categorical assessments and unverified versions. This is not a topic for hype, 'likes' in social networks, sensations and conspiracy theories. We need patience, self-possession and wisdom," the president said.
In the latest phase of the US-Iran confrontation, who came out on top is not clear-cut; both countries made gains and losses from the crisis and some of its the results are still to come.

By ordering the assassination on 3 January of general Qassem Soleimani, the head of Quds Force, the external arm of Irans Revolutionary Guards, President Trump claims to have eliminated a terrorist mastermind and all-round anti-American monster. In practice, Soleimani had started making mistakes, notably in using extreme violence to quell protesters demanding reform in Iraq, thereby alienating much of the majority Shia community that was previously favourable to Iran.

Operationally, the Iranian state loses little from the elimination of its most famous general who has become a religious and nationalist martyr, enabling the Iranian leadership to rally popular support against the US and US-imposed sanctions. Vast crowds supportive of the government have replaced protesters on the streets of Tehran and other cities.

Trump does gain from his willingness to order the killing of Soleimani, the senior Iranian security official orchestrating the Iranian campaign of limited attacks on US allies that escalated dramatically last summer. While seeking to retain deniability, Iran was clearly behind the harassment of shipping in the Gulf and, above all, the drone and missile strikes on Saudi oil facilities in September. The US had been weakened in the Middle East by Trumps lack of response to these attacks and unwillingness to defend allies. The conviction had grown that he would never risk a war. The killing of Soleimani shows that he is.

The Iranian ballistic missile strikes on two US bases in Iraq, Erbil in Kurdistan and al-Asad in the western desert, were clearly symbolic, pre-announced and geared not to hurt anybody. Significantly, the US did not, so far as it is known, try to shoot the missiles down or retaliate. Iran sent multiple messages through third parties that this was the beginning and end of their military retaliation for the death of Soleimani.

US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Show all 35 1 /35 US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures This photo released by the Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office shows a burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, early Friday 3 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures The wreckage of the car in which general Soleimani was travelling when a targeted US airstrike struck outside Baghdad International Airport on 3 January Ahmad Al Mukhtar via Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Demonstrators burn the US and British flags during a protest in Tehran after general Soleimani was killed in a targeted airstrike by American forces Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike. The Pentagon said Thursday that the US military has killed general Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, at the direction of Donald Trump AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn Israeli and US flags as thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of general Soleimani at the hands of America EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of Donald Trump pray at an 'Evangelicals for Trump' campaign event held on the day following the killing of general Soleimani. At the event, the president praised the "flawless strike that eliminated the terrorist ringleader" AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A huge procession of mourners gather in Baghdad for the funeral of general Soleimani on 4 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of Soleimani during an anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iraqis perform a mourning prayer for slain major general Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards at the Great Mosque of Kufa AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A billboard reading 'Death to America and Israel', installed by Iran-backed shiite armed groups at a street in Jadriyah district in Baghdad, Iraq EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him visiting the family of Soleiman KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US flag as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Jalal Feiruznia, looks to a portrait of Soleimani, as he receives condolences at the Iranian embassy, in Beirut, Lebanon AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures People make their way on the street while a screen on the wall of a cinema shows a portrait Soleimani in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Aziz Asmar, one of two Syrian painters who completed a mural following the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani poses next to his creation in the rebel-held Syrian town of Dana in the northwestern province of Idlib AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A demonstration in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures An anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Mujtaba al-Husseini, the representative of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivers a speech in the holy shrine city of Najaf AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US and Israeli flags as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters demonstrate in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shi'ite Muslims hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, in Peshawar, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters, holding a photograph of the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran Massoud Rajavi, outside Downing Street in London PA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn a US flag in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A Syrian man offers sweets to children to mark the killing AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers attend a mourning prayer for Soleimani in Iran's capital Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shout anti American and anti Israel slogans during a protest AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshipers chant slogans during Friday prayers Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A protest against the USA, in Islamabad, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranians burn a US flag in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin, Germany Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol a road in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel. Following morning's killing of Major General Qasem Soleimani, Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement called for the missile strike by Israel's closest ally, to be avenged AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian women take to the streets in Tehran EPA

The US insisted that this assurance must include Iranian proxy forces, such as pro-Iranian paramilitary groups in Iraq, who have been ordered not to target American forces, according to the Pentagon. The rush of attacks by pro-Iran forces on US or US allies predicted by many commentators is unlikely to occur, at least in the short term.

This is a military gain for the US: devastating attacks on the US or US allies carried out by shadowy but Iranian-linked perpetrators have long been a feature of Irans way of making war. This supposedly gave Iran deniability, but the tactic has been used so often that Iranian culpability was glaringly obvious. Post-Soleimani, it is beginning to look outdated as a military method.

Iranian prestige was certainly dented by the ease with which the US killed its general. On the other hand, the willingness of the US to allow Iran to fire its missiles at its bases and not to retaliate shows that Trump takes Iran seriously and really does not want a war, if he can avoid it. The millions of Iranians in the streets to mourn Soleimani may help dent the credibility of hawks and neo-conservatives, who have claimed that the Iranian regime is about to founder.

Iraq will continue to be the main arena where the US-Iran confrontation is fought out. This has always been in Irans interest because it has far more power in Iraq than the US. This influence was being sapped by the increasingly anti-Iranian tone of the mass protests that began last October. If these ebb because of the changed political situation, this will be an important political gain for Iran.

Trump is increasing sanctions on Iran in response to its missile attack, however ineffective and ritualised it may have been. If these sanctions seriously affect Iraq, which buys many things such as gas and electricity from Iran, this is bad news for Iraqis, but it will take time for it to become clear whom they blame.

As for the 5,200 US troops in Iraq, Iran and its local allies say they want them out, but many Iraqi leaders would like to keep them as a guard against a revived Isis and a counterpoise to Iran. For all the Iranian rhetoric about cleansing the Middle East of US forces, the presence of isolated detachments of US soldiers in Iraq provides Iran with an easy target in any renewed crisis.

The outcome of the latest phase of the crisis is something of a dead heat. The elaborate diplomatic manoeuvres over the Iranian missile attack on Erbil and al-Asad shows how keen both sides are to avoid an all-out war. The chaos and turmoil engendered by the assassination shows how difficult it will be to do this.
Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) yesterday banned night grazing nationwide as part of measures to curb the perennial clashes between herders and Farmers.

The National Secretary of the MACBAN Mr. Baba Uthman told journalists after its Annual General Meeting yesterday in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital that the decision would become an instruction that would be communicated to every member of the group, including those at the grassroots.

This is a decision that has been taken by the highest decision-making body of the association. As it is taken here, it will go down the ladder down to our members at the grassroots. They will be informed and sensitised concerning it, Uthman said.

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- The mother of five defended herself saying she and her late ex-husband jointly hustled for the properties

- Zari shared a throwback photo of herself and her late ex-husband as prove of their joint effort

- Pinto Ntale was named as the official heir of Ivan's multi-million estates by his father's clan

Diamond Platinumz's baby mama, Zari Hassan, has finally responded after news of her eldest son inheriting her late husband's property in Uganda went viral.

Pinto Ntale was named by his father's clan as the official heir of Ivan Sssemwanga's property.

READ ALSO: Keroche heiress Muigai marks 31st birthday with stunning photoshoot

READ ALSO: Comedian Dr Ofweneke announces arrival of third daughter

In a post seen by TUKO.co.ke on her Instagram page, the mother of five made it clear they hustled for the properties with Ivan.

"When they call it inheritance, I say we started from the bottom. You all know us after 2020 and not before," she said.

READ ALSO: Mama mwenye umri wa miaka 25 ajaaliwa pacha mara mbili chini ya mwaka mmoja

To emphasise her post, the Ugandan socialite shared a throwback photo with the late Ivan back in the days before fame.

"Get your facts right. We hustled all the way up. Go get yourself some inheritance too. It should be easy, right?"

Pinto Ntale was named as the heir in a highly attended clan meeting in Kayunga District, Nakaliro where the late tycoon was buried.

Although he was not in attendance, he was represented by Zari and his two brothers who were in Uganda for Christmas holiday.

Ntale's uncle confirmed the news of the inheritance to the press.

Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly.

Kenyans' reactions to Miguna Miguna's denial of entry into his homeland | Tuko TV

Source: TUKO.co.ke
A Ukrainian aircraft with at least 176 people aboard crashed on January 8 due to technical glitches just after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport, according to Iranian media reports. As per the reports, all 176 passengers on board the PS752 airliner have died. A spokesperson for Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation, Reza Jafarzadeh told the media that rescue teams were immediately sent to the spot near the airport where the aircraft belonging to Ukraine International Airlines crashed but they could not assist since the place was ablaze.

READ: Sri Lanka Air Force Plane Crashes. Killing All 4 Aboard

Ukraine International Airlines plane crashes in Tehran shortly after takeoffhttps://t.co/QCz1eRoqbh  Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 8, 2020

Plane was heading towards Kiev

According to media reports citing Ali Khashani, a senior public relations official at the airport, the plane was heading towards Kiev and had 167 passengers and nine crew on board. The Boeing 737 took off early Wednseday morning. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Facebook post that he would cancel the rest of his trip to Oman and would return to Kiev due to the crash. My sincere condolences to the relatives and friends of all passengers and crew, Zelenskiy said.

BREAKING: Iranian news agencies report that a Boeing 737 passenger airplane, belonging to Ukraine International Airlines has crashed near Tehrans Imam Khomeini airport. 180 passengers and crew were onboard. https://t.co/Sl9dDkEM0f  Rana Rahimpour (@ranarahimpour) January 8, 2020

Iran:Ukrainian airplane carrying atleast 170 passengers and crew which crashed near airport in capital, Tehran. https://t.co/fW2TQaURj2 pic.twitter.com/tFWmOD2IkW  ANI (@ANI) January 8, 2020

The Ukraine Embassy in Iran have reportedly ruled out any terrorism cause and said that the plane had suffered engine failure. The Iranian local media reported that 32 of those on board were foreigners. Local media further reported that the pilot of ill-fated plane did not declare an emergency. Ukraine Security Council said that 11 Ukrainian citizens were killed in the plane crash, including nine crew members. According to air tracking service FlightRadar24, the plane was three years old and was a Boeing 737.

The crash comes just days after Boeing fired its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dennis Muilenburg, in an apparent attempt to restore the confidence of the public and the regulators amid the ongoing crisis.

READ: Sudan: 18 Killed In Military Transport Plane Crash In West Darfur

(With inputs from agencies)
Prince William and Kate Middleton remain to be two of the most loyal members of the royal family. The couple may have big plans for 2020, but those might have to take a back seat.

In the wake of the withdrawal of Prince Andrew from his royal duties, the two dedicated royals may take in more work.

In recent years, both Kate Middleton and Prince William have taken on more royal responsibilities. The Duke of Cambridge has begun to attend more meetings as a senior member of the royal family in preparation for his future role as king. The two may have their own set of projects all planned out, but they need to squeeze in a bit more work in the absence of Prince Andrew.

While 2019 can be considered a challenging year for the royals, it was also a success for the ventures of both Kate Middleton and Prince William. The future king and queen consort have become very popular with the British public, and the two have also become so at ease with their growing role in the royal family.

On New Year's Eve, Prince William has made a huge announcement about his ambitious projects. This perfectly sets the tone for what the coming year will be. Willian launched the Earthshot Prize, which goal is to find a solution to climate change as a global threat.

One royal commentator mentioned that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge may be under a lot of pressure at the moment. Since the Duke of York has been relieved of his royal posts, he has left several important patronages empty.

Prince Andrew was forced to drop his role as part of the royal family after his "ill-judged" BBC interview about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Richard Fitzwilliams, a royal commentator, said that the responsibilities left behind by Prince Andrew have been handed to the younger royals to do. Although Kate and William are not the only royals to take on the work, as heir to the throne, Prince William have a little less freedom on his hands to make a choice.

Prince Harry, on the other hand, has more freedom in his hands. He can pursue the projects he puts his eyes on, and the Sussex Foundation is on the top spot. Along with his wife Meghan Markle, the reach of this foundation is potentially vast.

On Tuesday, the royal couple went to Canada House in London to show their appreciation for the hospitality they received while they were there. The Sussex welcomed the New Year in a vacation home in Canada with the family of Meghan. And although they missed the royal celebration of the Holidays in Sandringham, both Harry and Meghan looked refreshed and energized when they got back.

It is also worth noting that the Sussexes recently announced their decision to step back as senior members of the royal family, a move that will likely push more work to Kate Middleton and Prince William.

A lot of work needs to be done, and the royal couple of William and Kate are up for the challenge. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have a busy year ahead of them. Everyone is excited to know of their charitable activities, as well as their other endeavors to improve themselves and the community.

The pressure to do good and be good will always be there. As for Prince William and Kate, all they have to be is ready. When they know what they want and keep their eyes on the goal, everything else will fall right in place.
PC accessory maker Akasa has been offering fanless NUC cases for years. Take the guts of an Intel NUC mini-computer, remove them from the original case and put them into an Akasa chassis and you have a small, silent, passively-cooled PC.

Now Akasa is introducing its first actively-cooled NUC case. Its compatible with Intels new NUC 9 Pro and NUC 9 Extreme Compute Elements. In other words, the new Akasa Venom QX chassis is the companys version of Intels modular Ghost Canyon and Quartz Canyon NUC systems.

Rather than a standard motherboard, the case has a backplane with three PCIe slots, allowing you to connect Intels PC-on-a-module to use one or both of the other slots for a discrete graphics card.

Akasa says its system has an 800W SFX power supply and supports up to a 300mm graphics card (Intels Ghost Canyon NUC only has room for cards up to 203mm).

The aluminum chassis measures 14.8 x 10.2 x 7.1 and features top and side vents and room for 3 8cm fans to keep the system cool.

Theres a plastic panel on the front with a power button and LED light plus two USB-A ports. And the system also has a 2.5 inch drive bay for a hard drive or SSD.

While the Venom QX is Akasas first NUC 9 chassis, the company also plans to release two more later in the first quarter of 2020: the upcoming Akasa Turing QX and Galileo QX are both passively cooled cases designed for Intels NUC Compute Element systems.

Akasa joins several other companies in offering third-party cases for the Intel NUC Compute Element. Razer, Cooler Master and ADATA XPG all have their own solutions.

via @fanlesstech, @Akasa_tw and TechForTechs
(CARICOM Secretariat, January 9, 2020)  The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is deeply concerned at the continuing unsettled political, economic, humanitarian and social situation in its Member State, Haiti. Indeed, we are particularly concerned about the several incidents of violence and the associated and tragic loss of life. The current crisis has adversely affected all sectors of the society and has brought about severe hardship for the people of Haiti.

It is urgent for all stakeholders in the country to engage in constructive and meaningful dialogue, in a spirit of good faith and concern for the nation, and towards resolving this prolonged crisis. The recent decision taken by the major stakeholders to ensure that the children of the country can resume schooling as a new school term commences is an important step forward and should serve as an impetus to addressing other areas of contention in the interest of the well-being of the people and of the country at large.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) considers that our regional organization has a duty to do all that it possibly can to assist the people of our sister Caribbean nation of Haiti. We shall liaise with the Haitian Government to facilitate a visit by an advanced team led by the Secretary-General to explore with the Government and people of Haiti and other interested parties an acceptable way forward towards alleviating the present crisis.
e-Spirit, maker of the industry-leading FirstSpirit Digital Experience Platform (DXP) powered by a hybrid (headless+) CMS, today announced that All for One Group, a leading consulting and IT group, recently launched a newly rebranded mobile-first website (all-for-one.com), microsites and a personalized customer portal powered by FirstSpirit.

All for One marketers use the SaaS-based FirstSpirit DXP and hybrid (headless+) CMS to deliver engaging digital experiences across a myriad of touchpoints, microsites, and landing pages (such as the Mittelstandsforum.de). FirstSpirit serves as a central content hub from which content is managed for multiple websites, increasing efficiency and reducing maintenance of structured data. The company selected FirstSpirit for its legendary ease of use, single sign on, plus its ability to easily integrate with third-party platforms such as Hubspot, SAP and Microsoft solutions; and also for its ability to unify data from these disconnected silos for a holistic view of the customer that empowers marketers to deliver highly personalized digital experiences that turn employees and customers into lifelong fans.

e-Spirits SaaS model allows All for One to concentrate less on the day to day management of the system, and more on its core business strategy, giving marketers the dexterity needed to succeed in todays highly competitive market. e-Spirits enterprise-class security ensures that All for Ones digital presence is always up and running ensuring reliable performance.

In the next phase of the implementation, All for One will work with e-Spirit Advanced Partner Logic Joe to completely modernize and optimize the websites and other channels of its various subsidiaries, as well as investor relations and recruiting sites.

As experts in digital transformation, we have high expectations from the software that we use. Prior to beginning this major rebranding effort, we were impressed with the FirstSpirit DXPs user-friendliness, the ease of integration with our existing SAP systems, and the flexible SaaS operating model. e-Spirit offers much more than a classic CMS, with greater agility and flexibility than expensive 'one-size-fits-all' marketing suites. The solution is a perfect fit for the requirements of our business, said Anja Brey, head of marketing, All for One Group AG.

FirstSpirit offers the right features needed for the All for One Group, a rapidly growing group of companies with many subsidiaries under a common umbrella. We were able to easily integrate FirstSpirit with SAP solutions and existing marketing solutions such as HubSpot to create a coherent digital experience solution. The SaaS operating model offers numerous advantages for the customer and us as a partner, and FirstSpirits hybrid/headless functionality is also instrumental to the efficient design of all content processes in the group, said Torsten Godzisz, development director FirstSpirit from Logic Joe.

About e-Spirit AG

e-Spirits SaaS-based FirstSpirit Digital Experience Platform helps businesses engage customers and increase revenue with personalized, content-rich digital experiences anytime, anywhere. Savvy digital marketers across all industry sectors rely on the FirstSpirit platformwhich includes a hybrid (headless+) CMS, AI-driven personalization and omnichannel marketing capabilitiesfor individualized and synchronized content delivery across all channels to differentiate their companies and turn customers into lifelong fans.

e-Spirit, founded in 1999, is part of the adesso Group and has offices in 16 locations in the US, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and Asia Pacific. Customers include international brands and corporations such as Commerzbank, BASF, Bosch, Belk, Carters, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, GNC, Grohe, Reitmans, Olympus, Santander Bank, Sterling Jewelers, Walbusch and many others. For more information, go to http://www.e-Spirit.com or call us at 781.862.5511.
Harry and Meghan are changing their approach to the media (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are to restrict the national presss access to their official engagements, at the same time as insisting they believe in a free and open media.

The couples new website launched an attack on the UKs newspapers which coincided with their shock announcement they were quitting as senior royals.

In its media section, Sussexroyal.com criticised Britains royal correspondents and said it would no longer participate in the royal rota system which has been used by Buckingham Palace for decades.

The royal rota gives accredited correspondents on UK national newspapers access to royal engagements on a pooled sharing basis to ensure maximum press coverage with minimum disruption to the engagement itself.

It cites the UK media outlets as The Daily Express, The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror, The Evening Standard, The Telegraph, The Times and The Sun.

Other media have access via the royal rota such as news agencies, including PA, photographers and broadcasters.

Expand Close Harry giving a speech in South Africa (Facundo Arrizabalaga/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Harry giving a speech in South Africa (Facundo Arrizabalaga/PA)

The new approach, which will begin in the spring, will deny the automatic access to royal correspondents, and focus instead on social media, credible outlets, specialist media, grassroots media organisations and young, up-and-coming journalists.

Britains royal correspondents are regarded internationally as credible sources of both the work of members of The Royal Family as well as of their private lives, the website said.

This misconception propels coverage that is often carried by other outlets around the world, amplifying frequent misreporting.

Regrettably, stories that may have been filed accurately by royal correspondents are also often edited or rewritten by media editorial teams to present false impressions.

It added: Their sincere hope is that this change in media policy will enhance access and give the duke and duchess the ability to share information more freely with members of the public.

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Whatsapp Harry announcing the birth of Archie (Steve Parsons/PA)

Outlining Harry and Meghans stance on media, it said: The duke and duchess believe in a free, strong and open media industry, which upholds accuracy and fosters inclusivity, diversity and tolerance.

Harrys relationship with the press has been a complicated and difficult one.

His dislike of the media has seemingly intensified following the birth of son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, as he strives to protect his family.

Harry grew up fully aware of the impact of the overwhelming media intrusion on the daily life of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales.

He was only 12 when the princess was killed in a crash after her car, driven at speed by a drunk chauffeur, was chased through the streets of Paris by the paparazzi.

Soon after he began dating American actress Meghan Markle, Harry attacked the media over its abuse and harassment of his girlfriend, with Kensington Palace warning on his behalf: This is not a game  it is her life.

Expand Close Harry and Meghan at the Invictus Games in 2017 before their engagement (Danny Lawson/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Harry and Meghan at the Invictus Games in 2017 before their engagement (Danny Lawson/PA)

In October 2019, the Sussexes overshadowed the end of their official tour to Africa by each bringing separate legal actions against parts of the press, with Meghan suing the Mail On Sunday over an alleged breach of privacy when it published a private letter between her and her estranged father.

The Mail On Sunday said it stands by its story and will be defending the case vigorously.

Harry later filed his own proceedings at the High Court against News Group Newspapers, which owns The Sun and the now defunct News Of The World, and Reach plc, which owns the Daily Mirror, in relation to the alleged illegal interception of voicemail messages.

Along with the legal action, Harry released a scathing attack on the tabloid press, in which he heavily criticised certain sections of the media for conducting what he called a ruthless campaign against his wife.

In the ITV television documentary following the tour, Harry said he was determined to protect his family.

Expand Close Harry follows in Dianas footsteps by walking through a minefield in Dirico, Angola (Dominic Lipinski/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Harry follows in Dianas footsteps by walking through a minefield in Dirico, Angola (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Meghan admitted to feeling vulnerable, and spoke of the pressures of royal life amid intense tabloid interest.

When I first met my now-husband my friends were really happy because I was so happy, but my British friends said to me, Im sure hes great but you shouldnt do it because the British tabloids will destroy your life, she said.

She added: I think I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a stiff upper lip.

I tried, I really tried, but I think what that does internally is probably really damaging, and the biggest thing that I know is that I never thought this would be easy but I thought it would be fair, and that is the part that is hard to reconcile but (I) just take each day as it comes.
The United Kingdom government's bill for Britain's exit from the European on January 31 finally cleared the House of Commons on Thursday as MPs voted for it 330 votes to 231.

The EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill, or the Brexit Bill, passed its third reading in the Commons with a majority of 99 for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had won a landslide election last month with a promise to leave the 28-member economic bloc by the latest end-January deadline.

It marks a historic moment for the bill which has been repeatedly defeated in Parliament in its various forms in the past, creating parliamentary gridlock over Brexit.

The bill will now go to the House of Lords on Monday for voting before royal assent from Queen Elizabeth II to become law.

It is my sincere hope that their lordships will now give due regard to the clear majorities we have seen during the committee stage and establish their endorsement of this bill in a similar, timely, fashion, said UK Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay after the Commons vote.

This bill will secure our departure from the European union with a deal that gives certainty to businesses, protects the rights of our citizens and ensures that we regain control of our money, our borders, our laws and our trade policy, he said.

Meanwhile, Johnson kick-started the process for achieving a new trade agreement with the EU when he met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at Downing Street on Wednesday evening.

He wants to strike a Canada-style free trade agreement with the bloc post Brexit.

However, Von der Leyen, who took over from Jean Claude Juncker last year, has warned that it would not be possible to sort out every aspect of Britain's future relationship with the EU before the December 31, 2020 transition period deadline.

In a statement released after the first face-to-face meeting between Johnson and the new EU President, 10 Downing Street said the discussions had been "positive".

"The PM (Johnson) was clear that the UK would not extend the Implementation Period beyond December 31, 2020 and that any future partnership must not involve any kind of alignment or ECJ (European Court of Justice) jurisdiction, the statement noted.

"The PM said the UK was ready to start negotiations on the future partnership and Canada-style FTA as soon as possible after January 31," it added.
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Green Street Advisors ("Green Street"), the premier provider of research, data and analytics to the commercial real estate industry in North America and Europe, today announced the appointment of Jeff Stuek Jr. as Chief Executive Officer, effective January 13, 2020. Mr. Stuek will succeed Craig Leupold who will be stepping down after twelve years as President and CEO and more than 26 years with Green Street. Prior to joining Green Street, Mr. Stuek served as President, North America of TravelClick, an Amadeus Company, where he led their business operations in the United States and Canada. Mr. Leupold will continue to serve as a Strategic Advisor to Green Street.

Together with Green Street's management team, Mr. Stuek will lead the Company as it prepares to accelerate its organic growth, invest in product innovation and pursue strategic acquisitions. The strategy builds on the successful foundation of Green Street's 30+ years of market leadership and successful history of product expansion initiatives.

Christopher J. Hooper, Lead Director of Green Street Advisors and a General Partner at Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, who acquired the Company last summer, said, "Under Craig Leupold's leadership, Green Street has not only solidified its position as the recognized thought leader on the public side of the commercial real estate industry but has also built upon that foundation to become a preeminent provider of research, data, analytics and trusted insight to the private side of the market. We thank Craig for his invaluable leadership over the years."

"With this strong foundation in place, we look forward to welcoming Jeff Stuek to Green Street to drive the Company's next stage of growth," added Mr. Hooper. "Jeff brings extensive experience and expertise in key areas such as M&A, data, product development and sales and marketing. He also possesses a strong technology focus that will be helpful as Green Street continues to enhance the value and offerings of its proprietary ATLAS platform for clients. We look forward to Jeff's contributions as we look to the future."

Mr. Stuek commented, "I am excited to partner with Green Street's incredibly talented management team to build upon the Company's long and sustained track record of success as the gold standard in the industry. I see significant opportunities to further grow the Green Street franchise in what is a $2 billion addressable marketplace. In doing so, we will further enhance the value proposition we offer to our more than 800 active customers, including some of the world's leading institutional investors, investment banks, brokers and owners."

Mr. Leupold said, "It has been my privilege to lead this exceptional company over the last twelve years. Green Street has achieved a strong track record of consistent growth every year since inception in 1985. I am proud of our team and all we have accomplished in becoming the premier provider of research, data and analytics to the commercial real estate industry in North America and Europe. Green Street is very well positioned for the future, and I am highly confident that it will continue its long history of growth, innovation and providing differentiated insights to our clients."

Brief Bio on Jeff Stuek Jr.

Prior to Green Street, Mr. Stuek worked for TravelClick for seven years. Most recently, he served as President of TravelClick's North American business. From 2015-2017, he served as Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and Emerging Businesses where he was responsible for leading TravelClick's Video Solutions and Guest Management Solutions teams, Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate Marketing, Global Connectivity and Strategic Partnerships. Prior to that role, he led strategy, execution and product development as General Manager of TravelClick's Global Reservations Solutions. Mr. Stuek brings more than 20 years of broad leadership experience in general management, sales, strategy and business development, capital markets, operations and finance.

Prior to working at TravelClick, Mr. Stuek served for 10 years with Dun & Bradstreet ("D&B)" in a vast array of sales leadership, operational and general management roles, including President of D&B Canada. Before D&B, Jeff held several roles in Investment Banking, Private Equity and Corporate Banking with Banc of America Securities and Centura Capital. He received his MBA and BS from Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

About Green Street Advisors, LLC

Founded in 1985, Green Street Advisors is the preeminent independent research and advisory firm concentrating on the commercial real estate industry in North America and Europe. The company is a leading provider of real estate research, analytics and data on both the listed and private markets.

Learn more at www.greenstreetadvisors.com.

About Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe

WCAS is a leading U.S. private equity firm focused on two target industries: technology and healthcare. Since its founding in 1979, the Firm's strategy has been to partner with outstanding management teams and build value for its investors through a combination of operational improvements, growth initiatives and strategic acquisitions. WCAS has raised and managed funds totaling over $27 billion of committed capital. For more information, please visit www.wcas.com.

Contacts:

Green Street Advisors

Katie Clemons

949-640-8780

[email protected]

Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe

Jon Rather

212-893-9570

[email protected]

Greg Lau

212-893-9586

[email protected]

SOURCE Green Street Advisors
The AAP government does not want Delhiites to avail the benefits of PMAY-Urban as the word "Pradhan Mantri" is attached to it and that is why the scheme has not been implemented in the national capital, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday.

Taking to Twitter, the Union housing and urban affairs minister said 1.03 crore houses were sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban across the country so far.

According to the ministry, since PMAY-Urban was launched in June 2015, not a single proposal was received from the Delhi government.

"1.03 crore houses have been sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban across the country. But the Delhi government does not want the people of Delhi to avail the benefits of this scheme as the word - Pradhan Mantri - is attached to it. Hence, they have not implemented the scheme in Delhi," Puri said in a tweet in Hindi.

On December 24, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had launched the "Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana" for the residents of JJ clusters and said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government would provide a "pucca" house to every citizen of the national capital.

Puri had accused the AAP dispensation last month of trying to create hurdles in the implementation of PMAY-Urban and said its political approach was based on a "pack of lies".

"He (Kejriwal) has prioritised his ego in the name of a scheme. He has sacrificed the scheme for his ego," the Union minister had said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
* Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will cancel a planned trip to the Middle East initially planned from Saturday (January 11) amid the escalating tensions in the region, government sources said Wednesday.

* US President Donald Trump on Wednesday tempered days of angry rhetoric and suggested Iran was "standing down" after it fired missiles at US forces in Iraq overnight, as both sides looked to defuse a crisis over the US killing of an Iranian general

* Australian troops and personnel will stay in Iraq to continue their mission, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday (January 9), as tensions eased following an Iranian attack on US forces there.

* US aircraft surveillance firm Aireon has collected the position data from a Ukraine International Airlines jet that crashed near Tehran on Wednesday and is sharing it with the appropriate authorities, a spokeswoman said.

* US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "discussed critical bilateral and regional issues" in a call on Wednesday, the White House said in a statement, without giving further details.

* Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday expressed deep concern over the evolving situation in the Middle East in view of the US-Iran tensions, underlining the imperative of avoiding any further escalation, said a statement from the Prime Minister Office.

* Italy on Wednesday appealed for de-escalating tension between the United States and Iran, after the most recent developments occurred on the Iraqi soil.

* Australian authorities issued new warnings and evacuation notices across the country's heavily populated southeast on Thursday as a return of hot weather fanned huge bushfires threatening several towns and communities.

* As many as 116,951 people out of Bulgaria's seven million population live in places with reduced water supply, the country's Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works said on Wednesday. Restrictions on water use are currently implemented in five Bulgarian towns and 99 villages with a total of 83,037 and 33,914 affected residents respectively, the ministry said in a statement.

* US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Wednesday that Iran launched 16 short-range ballistic missiles from three locations within Iran in Tuesday's attack.

* Iran's civil aviation authority has said it will not hand over two black boxes recovered from an ill-fated Ukrainian airliner with 176 people aboard to the plane's manufacturer Boeing or the United States, but will cooperate with Ukraine. Both of the plane's black box voice and data recorders had been found, Iranian state television reported on Wednesday.

* Jordan on Wednesday denounced Israel's plan to build 1,936 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank.

* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday issued a joint statement on the civil war of Libya, crisis in Iran and developments in Syria after their consecutive meetings in Istanbul.
A Delhi court directed Tihar jail authorities on Thursday to provide treatment for polycythemia to Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad, arrested in connection with violence during anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protest in old Delhi's Daryaganj area

A Delhi court slammed the Tihar jail authorities for not providing the correct medical treatment to Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad despite being aware of his condition and directed them to ensure he gets proper treatment at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Azad, who was arrested last month, for allegedly inciting a mob indulging in violence in Delhi during anti-CAA-NRC protests, is suffering from polycythemia, a disorder that leads to blood thickening.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Arul Verma passed the directions on Azad's plea for proper treatment of polycythemia at AIIMS where he had been undergoing the treatment.

"This court expresses displeasure that despite being aware, as accused had informed jail authorities of his condition, he was not given any specific treatment," Tis Hazari Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Arul Verma said, according to LiveLaw.

Azad's counsel Mehmood Pracha has submitted an application to the court stating that Azad "requires continuous checkup from the doctors concerned from AIIMS, who are supervising his treatment for a long time". If the treatment was not provided urgently to Azad, it might lead to cardiac arrest, the application had stated.

The court had passed an interim order on the application on Wednesday and had directed the Tihar jail authorities to provide urgent medical treatment to Azad and put up the matter for detailed hearing on Thursday.

During the hearing, Azad's counsel reiterated that Azad needs to be treated at AIIMS, as the jail authorities don't know how to treat it. "I'm not asking for bail. Let him get treatment and come back," Pracha argued, adding, "He's not a hardened criminal, he's a political prisoner. He needs proper medical attention."

The Tihar jail authorities objected, but the court rejected it and directed Azad be treated at AIIMS. "It is the duty of the State to preserve life whether a person is incarcerated or outside the prison," the court said in its order.

The Bhim Army chief was sent to judicial custody on 21 December by a Delhi court. Azad's outfit had organised a march from Jama Masjid to Jantar Mantar against the amended Citizenship Act on 20 December, despite not having police permission.

The marching protesters were stopped by the police and paramilitary personnel near the Delhi Gate, after which the protests turned violent, with vandals setting a car on fire and damaging a few other vehicles. The police had resorted to lathi-charge and used a water cannon to control the situation.

With inputs from PTI
The Irish and UK Governments governments have published a draft deal to restore Stormont, with the Assembly to be recalled on Friday to see if the parties will turn up and sign up to it.

The UK's Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith has asked the speaker of the defunct house to hold a sitting on Friday morning, without the Stormont parties having yet agreed to all the proposals.

The bold move comes without the DUP or Sinn Fein having publicly signalled a willingness to agree to the terms of the deal  called New Decade, New Approach.

Friday will see a strike by healthcare workers in the region.

Mr Smith said there was a major financial package on offer from the Government, that would mean the strike would not go ahead if the parties restored the institutions.

We have had three years of talks and there is finally a good deal on the table that all parties can support, he said.

Tanaiste Simon Coveney said the deal was filled with compromises.

Mr Coveney said the people needed to tell their politicians to take the opportunity and seal the deal.

Its now time their politicians stepped up and fully represented their constituents, he said.

Its time to show leadership and get back to powersharing in Stormont.

The deal represents the governments joint assessment of how long-standing wrangles on issues such as the Irish language can be resolved.

Mr Smith said the parties realised they had reached a critical juncture.

We have got one chance to get this right and I am under no doubt that everyone realises that this chance is now, he said.

Mr Coveney said political leaders had a choice  whether to meet the proposals with generosity or negativity.

There is no such thing as a perfect deal and that is why parties have to make choices as to how they respond, he said.

This is the opportunity for people to take  the alternatives are not good.

The impasse has focused on proposals for Irish language legislation; reform of a contentious Assembly voting mechanism; and plans to make the institutions less susceptible to collapse in the future.

The parties had been working to a Monday deadline to restore the institutions.

Earlier, Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUPs Westminster leader, said the party was not yet in a position to sign up to the proposals.

We are in a process of continuing to discuss these matters both internally and externally, he said.

We continue to represent the interests of all of the people of Northern Ireland in seeking to get an agreement that ensures that this place is up and running again on a secure and sustainable basis.

Sinn Fein vice president Michelle ONeill said her party was at Stormont to do the business but stopped short of saying it was content with the governments deal.

Our determination is to make politics work, she said.

It is going to take all of the parties to make the politics work.

It is going to need to be a sustainable and credible government. It is going to need to be a government that actually has equality at its core.

Ms ONeill insisted the deadline was a real one.

On Monday, legislation to give civil servants extra powers to run the regions troubled public services expires and the UK Government assumes a legal duty to call a fresh Assembly election.
Bushfires flared in southern Australia on Thursday as a heatwave expected to bring renewed misery set in, and officials warned some areas are just at the beginning of the devastating crisis.

Soldiers went door-to-door advising residents to leave the South Australian town of Parndana on Kangaroo Island after a large blaze bore down on the area, with temperatures there soaring to 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit).

That came less than 24 hours after police evacuated the picturesque islands Vivonne Bay community, which by Thursday afternoon was also being threatened by fires that were expected to burn for days to come.

The conditions are such that it is continuing to present a significant risk to the firefighters who are working hard to control the fires, and to anyone else in the vicinity, Country Fire Service chief Mark Jones said.-

In neighbouring Victoria state, officials extended a state of disaster declaration for a further 48 hours ahead of scorching temperatures that were due to set in Friday, further stoking massive fires.

Its a very dangerous and dynamic situation that will confront us over the next 12, 24 and 36 hours, Victoria Emergency Management commissioner Andrew Crisp said.

The catastrophic bushfires have killed at least 26 people, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and scorched some eight million hectares (80,000 square kilometres)  an area the size of the island of Ireland.

Scientists say the drought-fuelled blazes are being worsened by climate change, which is increasing the length and intensity of Australias fire season.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews warned residents to brace for further devastation in what has already been a months-long crisis.

Were just at the beginning of what will be a really, really challenging summer, he said.

 Extreme danger 

Despite cooler weather and rainfall providing some relief in some bushfire-affected areas this week, almost 150 fires were still burning in worst-hit New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, the huge continents most populated regions.

Vast tracts of the states are facing severe fire danger Friday, with some areas expected to experience extreme conditions.

Dont get complacent with the rain that weve seen, Victoria police minister Lisa Neville said.

These fires are absolutely still moving, still growing in our landscape and they pose significant risk to communities.

Firefighters have been taking advantage of this weeks milder weather as they race to contain bushfires ahead of Friday.

They have been clearing vegetation and carrying out controlled burns in an effort to protect areas like the coastal town of Eden, where a large bushfire is burning to the south.

It only takes a spark to get a fire burning, and thats our concern for tomorrow, Rural Fire Service superintendent John Cullen told a local council briefing.

The Rural Fire Service said a helicopter pilot who had been waterbombing a fire in the area ditched his aircraft into a dam Thursday afternoon, managing to free himself and swim to shore.

 Hottest ever year 

In some burnt-out areas people have turned to the painful task of rebuilding their homes and lives, with the process expected to take years.

NSW announced Thursday it would spend Aus$1.2 billion (US$680 million) on restoring infrastructure in fire-ravaged areas. That comes on top of a separate Aus$2 billion ($1.4 billion) national recovery fund earmarked to help devastated communities.

We are always standing shoulder-to-shoulder with those who have been impacted by the devastating fires, this catastrophe which has come to New South Wales and we are stepping up to make sure we provide that support, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

The bushfire toll has not been limited to human losses  the blazes have also wreaked wide-ranging environmental damage.

University of Sydney scientists estimate one billion animals have been killed in the fires. The figure includes mammals, birds and reptiles, but not frogs, insects or invertebrates.

Bushfire smoke has shrouded Australias major cities in toxic haze for weeks, causing major public health concerns.

The smoke has also travelled more than 12,000 kilometres (7,400 miles) to Brazil and Argentina, according to weather authorities there.

Australia experienced its driest and hottest year on record in 2019, with its highest average maximum temperature of 41.9 degrees Celsius (107.4 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded in mid-December.

SOURCE: AFP | PHOTO: AFP
The co-founder of a Connecticut hedge fund firm pleaded guilty to charges that he defrauded investors of almost $20 million in a Ponzi-like scheme, prosecutors said.

Jason Rhodes of Sentinel Growth Fund Management LLC was facing conspiracy and fraud charges in Manhattan federal court. Last month, prosecutors filed a new indictment in the case adding more allegations. Trial was scheduled to begin next week.

Rhodes, 47, of Rowayton, Connecticut, is scheduled to be sentenced on April 6, according a statement by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman.

According to prosecutors, Rhodes and his co-conspirators raised funds from about two dozen investors from 2013 to 2016, telling them their money would be invested in the market.

But the money was diverted to a variety of personal uses, including a $1 million payment to settle an unrelated civil lawsuit, a trip to Dubai, a luxury time-share and a trucking company Rhodes co-owned with his wife. Some of the funds were also used to repay $4.2 million to an investor who discovered his money had not been invested.

A lawyer for Rhodes could not immediately be reached for comment. Rhodes had initially sought to challenge the case against him by claiming his due-process rights were being violated by collaboration between prosecutors and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The judge rejected his request to seek evidence to support his theory.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

Another Sentinel co-founder, Mark Varacchi, previously pleaded guilty to fraud and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

The charges against Rhodes carry maximum penalties of between five and 20 years in prison.
Strengthening BrandSafway's position as the premier vertical access solutions provider with enhanced product range, expertise and manufacturing capabilities

Kennesaw, Georgia, USA, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BrandSafway has signed an agreement to acquire AGF Access Group, Inc., headquartered in L'Assomption, Quebec, with two manufacturing sites in Canada and 24 branches across North America. Focused on renting, selling and manufacturing vertical access products through its own branches and an independent dealer network, AGF Access Group provides turnkey solutions for both small-scale as well as multibillion-dollar commercial construction and refurbishment projects.

"This is an exciting opportunity for us to partner with a leader in motorized access equipment, enabling us to grow our market presence in mast climbing, suspended access solutions, elevators and building maintenance units throughout North America," said Dave Witsken, president of Energy and Industrial at BrandSafway. "With a dedicated team of engineers, a strong distribution network, world-class manufacturing and experienced leadership, AGF Access Group will bring great value to BrandSafway. As a combined entity, we will be able to provide an even wider range of access solutions."

AGF Access Group includes four divisions, two world-class product groups - Hydro Mobile and Winsafe - and two successful rental units - AGF Access, which includes recent acquisitions IEQ, Jamco Construction and Noxxent, and Hydro Rents.

"We're thrilled to be joining the BrandSafway team," said Vincent Dequoy, president of AGF Group. "We look forward to working together to leverage our complementary businesses for growth. AGF will be able to expand its mast climbing and suspended access business throughout North America and provide more services and products to existing customers as well. This is an exciting time for AGF, our employees and our customers."

"Our combined customers in North America will benefit from specialized knowledge in vertical access, a broader range of solutions and greater depth of expertise," agreed Witsken. "Together, we can deliver custom and highly efficient access and scaffolding solutions for commercial, infrastructure and industrial projects."

The closing of this transaction is anticipated in early 2020.

About BrandSafway

With a commitment to safety as its foremost value, BrandSafway provides the broadest range of solutions with the greatest depth of expertise to the industrial, commercial and infrastructure markets. Through a network of 330 strategic locations across 30 countries and more than 38,000 employees, BrandSafway delivers a full range of forming, shoring, scaffolding, work access and industrial service solutions. BrandSafway supports maintenance and refurbishment projects as well as new construction and expansion plans with unmatched service from expert local labor and management. Today's BrandSafway is At Work For You - leveraging innovation and economies of scale to increase safety and productivity, while remaining nimble and responsive. For more information about BrandSafway, visitwww.brandsafway.com.

# # #
BIG crowds are expected to attend the two-day Holiday Show which takes place in the South Court Hotel, Raheen this Saturday and Sunday January, 11 and 12.

Entry to the free event, run in association with Shannon Airport, is at 11am each day and continues until 5pm.

Discover the world at your finger tips as The Holiday Show conveniently assembles exhibitors from across the globe, all under one roof. Take the opportunity to secure show-only holiday deals, receive stellar advice from travel professionals, be in with a chance to win holiday prizes.

The event gives you an opportunity to explore hundreds of countries, research different types of holiday packages and places you may have never thought possible, all while receiving one-to-one guidance from experienced and knowledgeable tourism experts.

WIN WIN WIN!



So many offers, prizes and show-only deals up for grabs this weekend at the Holiday Show in association with @ShannonAirport at the @GNsouthcourt !#TheHolidayShow https://t.co/bacc3Mq3FS  TheHolShow (@theholidayshow) January 9, 2020

Weigh up your options with plenty of airlines to choose from including Aer Lingus, Air Canada, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, EL AL Israel Airlines, Ryanair and United Airlines who reach countries far and wide across the world.

"We are delighted to be back for a fifth year with new earlier dates and a new easily accessible venue. Shannon Airport is the preferred airport of choice for Irish consumers outside of Dublin due to its ease of access and range of flight options to the USA, the UK and Europe," said Declan Power, head of aviation development at Shannon Airport.

"This year sees the introduction of new summer services with Aer Lingus to both Paris and Barcelona as well as a new service to Vienna with low-cost Austrian airline Lauda, giving our customers even more choice from Shannon, he added.

The Holiday Show 2020 takes place in The South Court Hotel, Raheen and will be open from 11am to 5pm each day.

Entry and car parking is FREE. Visitors to the show will have the opportunity to discuss and book their holidays with travel experts and will be in with a chance to win one of many prizes on offer throughout the two-day event.

See www.holidayshow.ie and check out social media for updates.
Landlords, as we all, know run the risk of dealing with some obnoxious tenants. While some have the patience to handle the shenanigans others ask them to leave.

This Florida landlord faced the wrath of an angry tenant after being told to empty her rented apartment. The tenant named Joanne Mercader decided to express her anger against the landlord in the nastiest way possible.

YouTube/FoxNews

She flung an entire bucket of human faeces at her landlord and conveniently tried to deny the charges when caught by cops.

According to reports, Joanne Mercader was caught by cops with caked poop on her face and another woman dripping in wet human waste. Mercader eventually told deputies that she had intended to toss a bucket of water on the landlord, whose name was redacted from the arrest report, but she got confused and threw the bucket of faeces at her.

Mercader told deputies she knew the landlord would be angry, so she ran into the bathroom, where the landlord spread excrement on her face.

The landlord told deputies she was met with the bucket of faeces in her face when she opened the door Saturday after no one answered. She said she had prearranged the visit to Mercaders home to look at several broken items.





The deputy is heard on video saying, There is poop everywhere.

Its a really crappy situation, the deputy said. His supervisor paused, then replied: Yeah. Do the right thing.

Mercader is charged with battery on a person over the age of 65. Jail records didnt list a lawyer who could speak on her behalf.





In another disgusting poop flinging incident that took, a California woman claimed she was assaulted by a homeless man who pulled her out of her car, dragged her into the middle of the street and poured a bucket of hot faeces on her head.

She told Fox News, "It was diarrhea. I was soaked, and it was coming off my eyelashes and into my eyes." The incident left the woman with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The man who attacked her was identified in court records as Jere Blessings, a transient with "schizophrenia and psychotic disorders."


The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday decried that President Muhammadu Buharis recent comments on the electoral process under the current Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have raised fresh issues on the credibility of the February 2019 Presidential election.

The party noted that in demanding that INEC and the Police should ensure that the will of the people prevail in free, fair and credible elections immediately ahead and going forward, the President has admitted that preceding elections under the current dispensation have been less than credible.

This is including the recent elections in Bayelsa and Kogi where the All Progressives Congress (APC) turned the respective states to theaters of war, yet the President congratulated the winners of those charades.

PDP observed that in his own words, in a meeting with INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, and the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, at the Presidential Villa, the President said, our elections must be done in violent-free atmosphere. The process must be free, fair, decent and devoid of intimidations and malpractices. It is the duty of the police to accomplish that and this is what I expect in the elections immediately ahead and going forward.

Those that you declare as winners must be candidates that the people have chosen. Democracy is about free will, and the will of the people must be allowed to prevail.

PDP remarked that this is a weighty verdict by the President on the huge electoral fraud perpetrated in the 2019 elections by his party, APC.

Though the verdict of the Supreme Court on the Presidential Election stands, in total obedience to our laws, the fact remains that the violent manipulations of the 2019 elections in favour of the APC and its candidates will continue to stare our nation in the face.

Mr. Presidents remark shows that, in their innermost conscience, beneficiaries of manipulated polls are always confronted with the truth, the party declared.

Furthermore, the PDP tasked the management of INEC and the Police to come clean of the details of their recent meeting with President Buhari which is coming ahead of about 28 impending runoffs and by-elections scheduled for this month.

Our party holds that INEC is an independent electoral commission whose activities and processes are clearly governed by the law and extant rules and not by the dictates or prescriptions of the President.

Mr. President should, therefore, steer clear of INEC while the commission must assert its independence and desist from going to the Presidential villa for instructions on elections. Nigerians have their doubts if the hugely compromised INEC under Professor Yakubu can be anything independent, PDP said.

The party stated that however, if, indeed, the President is committed to ensuring free, fair and credible electoral process, he should reintroduce the 8th Assemblys Electoral Act Amendment bill, which he refused to sign, and make a fresh commitment to sign it into law immediately it is retooled to meet current exigencies and passed by the current National Assembly.

He should order the prosecution of security agents involved in the invasion of polling centers and shooting at voters in recent elections.

He should also reciprocate the benevolence of Nigerians by recreating an electoral atmosphere like the one that brought him into office in 2015.

After that, Mr. President should focus on seeking for solutions to the worsening economic and security challenges that have befallen our nation under his incompetent administration, PDP advocated.
Patrick O'Keeffe to advise on outreach to EU

Axiado Corporation has opened an office in Germany to address the EU market and to hire local firmware and software talent. Patrick O'Keeffe, who has more than 10 years of experience in aerospace, maritime, and cybersecurity strategy and policy, will serve the subsidiary in an advisory role.

O'Keeffe studied aerospace engineering at the University of the German Armed Forces, Munich, and multinational operations and international project management at various NATO and United Nations entities. He is currently serving as a security policy advisor for a number of public and private organizations.

"The significance of data protection for consumers as well as companies has become one of the key drivers of a comprehensive security strategy. Europe has been at the forefront of digital privacy," said O'Keeffe. "The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gave users and consumers the right to find out who is collecting information about them, what these companies did with that information, and under certain circumstances, allowed them to demand the deletion of the data companies had collected."

Axiado's CTO Axel Kloth pointed out that software technologies to facilitate that protection have for the most part failed the industry.

"In order to comply with the GDPR and with US state regulations like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) of 2018, and to safeguard the personally identifiable information of their users, consumers and customers, companies will have to invest in secure digital infrastructure," Kloth said. "Axiado's technology will enable companies to adhere to these requirements, and O'Keeffe will be crucial in rolling out Axiado's solution worldwide."

About Axiado

Axiado is a fabless cybersecurity processor company offering a uniquely secure firewall platform that eliminates breaches at the perimeter of existing networks and cloud infrastructures. The company has re-architected both the computational and networking stacks to remove the security holes that processors and operating systems exhibit today. The company was founded in San Jose, California, in 2017 with a mission to safeguard the privacy of enterprises, organizations, industries, homes, states and governments from internal and external digital threats.

Discover more at https://axiado.com and follow us on Twitter @AxiadoCorp.

Axiado and the Axiado logo are trademarks of Axiado Corporation.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005276/en/

Contacts:

Minna Holopainen, VP of Communication

Axiado Corporation

minna.holopainen@axiado.com

+1 408.768.7983
The largest free amusement park in America is getting a new ride this year.

The staff of Knoebels Amusement Resort has announced that their 2020 season will feature a new ride at the Elysburg park.

The ride will be named Tornado, and as the name suggests, it will involve lots of spinning.

Eight cars hold four passengers each in individual seats facing the inside of the car, said Stacy Ososkie, public relations director for Knoebels, in a press release. Once the ride reaches speed moving in a circle, it tilts 20 degrees and lifts the cars up to 15 feet from ground level.

A rendering of Tornado, the new ride planned for the 2020 season at Knoebels Amusement Resort.

The ride will also allow for passengers to control how the ride spins.

Controlling part of a ride provides a really unique and exciting experience, said Knoebels park president Richard Knoebel in the press release. Riders will be able to spin the cars of our new ride themselves, choosing their thrill level.

Tornado will be replacing the ride 1001 Nacht, which has been a mainstay of Knoebels ride lineup for 20 years. Ososkie said that the rides age and decline in popularity led to the decision to remove it.

1001 Nacht at Knoebels is being removed for their 2020 season to make room for the new Tornado ride.

Knoebels teased changes to the parks ride lineup in December on their Facebook page, asking which of the parks rides that fans would expect them to remove. While the Knoebels staff didnt confirm anything at the time, they did admit that many fans made some very educated guesses regarding what might be replaced.

The new ride will require passengers to be at least 38 inches to ride with an adult, and 48 inches to ride alone. Tornado is expected to open on the parks opening day of April 25.
MIAMI, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Multiple NAACP Image Award-winning actor Laurence Fishburne is the host of the show "Behind The Scenes". The informational program illuminates a vast range of topics influencing people all across the country. Coming soon in an upcoming segment of Behind The Scenes Laurence Fishburne introduces leaders in the medical fields spotlighting screening used in disease diagnosis and prevention.

Behind The Scenes Behind The Scenes

Screening for diseases is one of the most rudimentary tools of prediction and prevention in modern medicine. Disease screening programs have an extensive history in efforts to pinpointing treatment for chronic diseases and controlling epidemics of infectious diseases. Prenatal care for women consists of routinely testing complete blood type and blood count, syphilis, diabetes, and other medical conditions. Newborn babies regularly receive tests for inborn metabolism errors and other diseases. Most of these outcomes are rare, but positive testing leads to interventions that benefit both mother and child, and these efforts are behind the substantial improvements in overall health and well-being. An impressive acquired body of experience is a result of all of the medical screening conducted over the years.

This new segment will feature experts in the industry who will discuss this critical sector of medicine.

Proper medical testing can lead to the early detection of some diseases, which can be curable in an initial state. Medical screening and disease prevention improves and saves lives. "Behind The Scenes" will provide additional details about the medical screening used for disease prevention in a soon to be aired episode.

Celebrated actor Laurence Fishburne, who has also recently been announced as an executive producer for a new comedy in partnership with ABC, serves as host of the program. "Behind The Scenes" is carefully reviewed before broadcast. The educational show has received several awards for its efforts.

www.behindthesceneslf.com





Media Contact:

Tony Williams

561-549-9122

[email protected]

SOURCE Behind The Scenes with Laurence Fishburne
Open Enrollment Runs Through Jan. 23

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.  The Open Enrollment period in Massachusetts for getting (and keeping) ACA insurance coverage runs through Jan. 23, and CHP can help.



Making an in-person appointment with a CHP application counselor is the easiest way to get  and keep  your health insurance in 2020, whether or not you are a CHP patient.



In Massachusetts, more than 95 percent of residents have health insurance. But each year, residents covered by a Massachusetts Health Connector Plan (ACA, or Obamacare) must re-enroll in their existing plans or pick a new one. Those with no coverage must apply for a plan, or face a state tax penalty.



If you are already enrolled in a subsidized plan, you will have received reminder letters in the mail from the Massachusetts Health Connector, urging you to renew or update your plan. If you are confused by multiple letters  or if you have trouble with the online application process  stop right now and ask for help. Community Health Programs enrollment experts are here to assist you at locations throughout Berkshire County.



If you are seeking new health insurance, now is the time to get coverage. If you delay beyond the Jan. 23, 2018, deadline, you may have to wait until November 2020 to enroll, or you are at risk of a tax penalty. Don't let this happen to you  when health benefits are so close at hand.



Visit CHP's Insurance Help page to find a CHP enrollment specialist near you. When you call your preferred location, you will be asked to make an appointment, and you will be asked to bring along certain paperwork  most importantly, your most recent tax returns, identification and other documentation, including proof of residency, such as a lease or utility bill (if you have this).



Appointments fill up in advance. For those already enrolled, make sure there is no lapse in your existing coverage. If you apply in time, your insurance will go into effect Jan. 1, 2020.
A victim of the Australian wildfires, whose uninsured family home was destroyed, has become a millionaire after winning the Australian lottery with his wife's lucky numbers.

The man, from Mount Cotton in Queensland, said the timing of the win was "impeccable" after his house was burnt down in the fires that continue to ravage New South Wales.

All that was left of their home was a "few charred teacups", the man said.

His $1million prize will allow him and his family to rebuild their home from scratch.

"We didn't know if we would ever be able to rebuild but now we definitely can," said the resident, who asked to remain anonymous.

Australian wildfires on New Year's Eve 1 /26 Australian wildfires on New Year's Eve STATE GOVERNMENT OF VICTORIA/AFP AFP via Getty Images STATE GOVERNMENT OF VICTORIA/AFP KURT CRNIC via REUTERS AFP via Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images JOHN WARDLE via REUTERS Getty Images via REUTERS George Mills/via REUTERS George Mills/via REUTERS George Mills/via REUTERS AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images

"This is amazing. I can't get over it."

He was informed of his win, worth about 525,000, after being contacted by a lottery official.

Oblivious to his good fortune, he was already back at work.

He told the official: "Did I win one million dollars? Am I seeing things? Is this real?

Donations let Australian firefighters know that 'the world cares'

He had used his wife's "special numbers" when he played Australia's official lotteries.

"They've delivered in a big way," he said. "I can't wait to go home and give my wife a big kiss and a cuddle."

Across Australia, at least 25 people have been killed and 2,000 homes destroyed by the blazes, with the fires expected to rage for another three to four months.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 08, 2020 | 05:26 PM | PADUCAH





Renovations are ongoing at the former Whaler's Catch building, where Broussard's hopes to open this spring.







Shortly after the first of the year we will begin accepting applications for members of the management team, said general manager Patrick Abbott. Once that team is in place, well determine how many bartenders, kitchen staff and wait staff we will need. Overall, we expect to hire more than 50 team members in Paducah.







Plans for the Paducah location include two levels of dining, a large outdoor patio space, a walk-up bar, outdoor games, and catering.







In a press release, the Broussard's owners said they are grateful for the Paducah community's excitement regarding the new restaurant. Jason Coalter, a partner in the project, said, Its great to see the people of Paducah embracing us and getting excited about our endeavor. People are so eager for us to open the doors! Were working as fast as we can and will open sometime in the late spring. We should have a better handle on a possible date in the coming weeks.







Owners Hunter and Stephanie Clark added, "Our Cape customers are excited too. They think its wonderful to see us expanding. Weve had to reassure a few people that nothing will change in Cape  were not moving, but growing!"







For more information, contact Director of Strategic Development Pam Ogles at 573-489-8150 or by email at pam@jscaa.com

Broussard's Cajun Cuisine in Paducah is almost ready to begin hiring.

On the Net:
A statue of Donald Trump designed to highlight the dangers of populism has been burned to the ground in Slovenia after agitating locals authorities.

The towering 26-foot figure showed the US president, complete with his trademark blonde hair hair, red tie and blue suit, raising his arm high in the air with a clenched fist in a pose reminiscent of the statue of liberty.

And while on weekdays the likeness would remain a relatively calm representation of the 73-year-old, on weekends its closed mouth would, powered by a mechanism inside the sculpture, give way to a row of jagged, shark-like teeth.

However authorities have said they are now looking for an arsonist responsible for torching the artwork, which was found engulfed in flames on 9 January.

Milan Balazic, the mayor of Moravce, said that unknown arsonists burned it  adding that the act was a "symbol of intolerance toward artistic projects in our society."

Melania Trump wooden statue prompts complaints in Slovenia Show all 5 1 /5 Melania Trump wooden statue prompts complaints in Slovenia Melania Trump wooden statue prompts complaints in Slovenia A wooden statue of Melania Trump has been erected in the first ladys home country of Slovenia REUTERS Melania Trump wooden statue prompts complaints in Slovenia The conceptual statue depicts Ms Trump standing in the blue outfit she wore to her husbands inauguration REUTERS Melania Trump wooden statue prompts complaints in Slovenia The monument is set in the fields near the town of Sevnica REUTERS Melania Trump wooden statue prompts complaints in Slovenia Locals have complained that the wooden sculpture does not look like Ms Trump at all AFP/Getty Images Melania Trump wooden statue prompts complaints in Slovenia The statue was commissioned by US artist Brade Downey and created by artist Ales Zupevc AFP/Getty Images

The work was designed by artist Tomaz Schlegl to be a commentary on populism  with the creator saying at the time I designed the statue because people have forgotten what the Statue of Liberty stands for.

I want to alert people to the rise of populism, and it would be difficult to find a bigger populist in this world than Donald Trump.

However even at its inception it faced opposition from locals  with one driving his tractor into the statue before it was completed on private land in the village of Sela pri Kamniku.

After repeated threats to raze the figure to the ground from those who lived in the area, it was moved to the nearby Moravce  where it was ultimately set alight five months after its creation.

The depiction of the President in the eastern European country followed on from a statue Melania Trump  who was born Melanija Knavs in the country in 1970.

Ms Trumps likeness, a life sized sculpture cut from the trunk of a Linden tree with a chainsaw under the direction of US conceptual artist Brad Downey, was unveiled in her home town of Sevnica last year  however the free form representation was not beloved by all, with some saying it bore a closer resemblance to a scarecrow than the first lady.
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Justice Department says the Equal Rights Amendment can no longer be ratified because its deadline expired decades ago, throwing a barrier into the path of activists who want the amendment enacted if Virginia's new, majority Democratic legislature approves it.

The opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel was dated Monday and made public Wednesday, the first day of Virginia's legislative session.

"We conclude that Congress had the constitutional authority to impose a deadline on the ratification of the ERA and, because that deadline has expired, the ERA Resolution is no longer pending before the States," Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel wrote. "Congress may not revive a proposed amendment after the deadline has expired."

Thirty-eight states are required to pass a constitutional amendment, and 35 had approved it before the 1979 deadline and a subsequent extension to 1982.

Since 2017, legislatures in Nevada and Illinois have ratified the ERA, and Virginia is poised to follow suit.

But five of the original 35 states have rescinded their ratifications: Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, Tennessee and South Dakota.

The 38-page opinion, which defines the position of the executive branch on legal issues, came as a result of an inquiry by the National Archivist, which administers the ratification process and was sued in December by the attorneys general of Alabama, Louisiana and South Dakota.

"The people had seven years to consider the ERA, and they rejected it," the attorneys general said in a statement accompanying their lawsuit. "To sneak it into the Constitution through this illegal process would undermine the very basis of our constitutional order."

Advocates contend that because the text of the amendment did not include a deadline, it is eligible for ratification indefinitely. Bills have been introduced in the House of Representatives to remove the deadline and to restart the ratification process.

Julie Suk, a professor at the City University of New York who is writing a book about the ERA, said the legal opinion does not stop Virginia or any state legislature from going forward, or prevent Congress from removing or revising the ERA deadline.

"Once you have 38 states ratifying plus action from Congress on the deadline, it's very clear that the amendment is effective, in my opinion," she said.

Nevertheless, ERA opponents declared victory, even as demonstrators on both sides of the issue tried to rally lawmakers in Richmond.

"The narrative that the ERA is on the verge of ratification is pure political theater," said Douglas Johnson, senior policy adviser to National Right to Life. "This is not a close call. . . . They really do have to start over."

The ERA Coalition said it "strongly disagrees" with the memo. "This OLC opinion is not binding on Congress, the courts, or the states that have expressed their ongoing will to give women constitutional equality," it said in a statement.

"This is one opinion, one memo," said Kati Hornung, coordinator for the VaRatifyERA campaign, who was outside the Virginia Capitol building. "The Constitution is enduring."

Several members of Congress who are trying to either extend or remove the deadline also pushed back at the opinion.

"If this opinion is meant to slow down the momentum toward women's equality, it will not be successful," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. "I do not believe that the OLC has the final word to dictate how Congress or the states proceed in amending the Constitution."

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, a Democrat, accused the Trump administration of opposing women's equality and called the lawsuit by the Republican attorneys general "repugnant."

"I think what you're going to see is a continued commitment to see this through," Herring said. "We are ready to anything we need to do."
Anushka Shetty has not been seen after Bhagamathi. The actress did not even turn up for the first promotional event of her film Nishabdam. But on Wednesday, she sprang a surprise when she came to a private studio to see the post-production work of her film.

A media conference was happening at that time, and the actress attended it, and conveyed her best wishes to director Anil Ravipudi.

Asked about the promotion of her film, she said There is still time. I will start from next week.

Though the media has been reporting that she has weight issues, Anushka not only looked in good shape, but radiant too. Asked where she would be celebrating Sankranti, the actress said I am going to Bangalore to celebrate with my parents.
Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar's capture of the strategic city of Sirte on Monday was a major setback for Tripoli's UN-recognised government, analysts say.

The fresh advance by Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army comes as Turkey deploys troops -- 35 so far, in a training capacity -- to bolster the beleaguered Government of National Accord.

Diplomatic efforts to contain the spiralling crisis saw Turkey and Russia on Wednesday call for a ceasefire, despite supporting opposing sides of the conflict.

But Libya's rival factions have not yet responded.

Sirte was controlled by forces loyal to the GNA after they expelled Islamic State jihadists from the coastal city in 2016.

But after a local Salafist militia switched sides, the city fell without fighting to Haftar's Libya Arab Armed Forces (LAAF), which has been fighting to seize Tripoli from the GNA since last April.

The hometown of Moamer Kadhafi, Sirte paid a heavy price after the longstanding dictator was ousted in a 2011 NATO-backed rebellion.

Many in Sirte welcomed Haftar's forces as they did not support the GNA -- whose forces are mostly former anti-Kadhafi rebels from Misrata, a city between Sirte and Tripoli.

New front?

Along with undermining the morale of GNA forces, "the loss of Sirte will significantly reduce (their) military and strategic position vis-a-vis" the LAAF, said Jalel Harchaoui, a researcher at the Clingendael Institute.

Spokesman for Khalifa Haftar's forces Ahmad al-Mesmari announced the capture of Sirte from forces loyal to Libya's unity government on Monday spokesman for Haftar's forces, addresses the media in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on January 6, 2020.Forces of Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar announced they had taken control of the coastal city of Sirte from factions loyal to the Tripoli government. Sirte, some 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of the capital Tripoli, had been held by forces allied with the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) since 2016.. By Abdullah DOMA (AFP)

Since Haftar launched his Tripoli offensive, his troops have also mobilised to block any potential counter attack on Libya's "oil crescent" in the northeast, under Haftar's control since 2016.

Haftar feared GNA forces could use Sirte's airbase to carry out strikes on his eastern stronghold, according to Harchaoui.

Threats from Sirte against the LAAF, until recently known as the Libyan National Army, "constituted a kind of sword of Damocles hanging over Haftar," he said.

The loss of Sirte also puts pressure on the eastern flank of pro-GNA forces defending the capital in Tripoli's southern suburbs, Harchaoui added.

According to Emad Badi of the Middle East Institute, Haftar is looking to turn Misratan forces towards Sirte in order to weaken Tripoli's defences.

His forces may look to open a new front against Misrata, 200 kilometres (120 miles) east of Tripoli, which previously blocked their advance west, according to Hamish Kinnear, an analyst at Verisk Maplecroft.

"Misratan militias will prioritise protecting their home city" if the LAAF advances on it, he said.

"This will put enormous pressure on the GNA's war effort in Tripoli itself."

'Important setback'

"Strategically, the loss of Sirte makes it much more difficult for GNA-affiliated forces to harass Haftar's supply lines," said Wolfram Lacher, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

The loss of Sirte comes as Turkey is sending troops to support the GNA against Haftar, who is supported by Ankara's rivals the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

Russia is also accused of sending fighters to support Haftar, something Moscow denies.

Libyans burn a picture of strongman Khalifa Haftar during a rally in support of the UN-recognised government in the capital Tripoli earlier this month. By - (AFP)

While Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made grand pronouncements about supporting Tripoli, in reality he will be forced to proceed slowly, Harchaoui said.

Turkey may decide to defend limited territory, such as downtown Tripoli and other enclaves, he said.

But "the loss of Sirte makes Turkish support all the more urgent for the GNA," said Lacher.

While Turkish drones have resumed attacking pro-Haftar forces in recent days, the GNA still needs greater air capabilities, Lacher told AFP.

Advisers are already helping GNA troops fly the drones and jam signals from Haftar's unmanned aircraft, experts say.

The Turkish deployment may in large part be a propaganda move aimed at halting Haftar's Tripoli offensive, the analysts believe.

Erdogan on Wednesday appeared alongside his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Istanbul to call for a ceasefire in Libya from Sunday.

The pair united to issue a joint statement calling for a truce "supported by the necessary measures to be taken for stabilising the situation on the ground".

Haftar meanwhile was in Rome Wednesday for talks with Italian premier Giuseppe Conte.
Kathleen Phalen-Tomaselli reporter - Washington County Follow Kathleen Phalen-Tomaselli 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

"All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence."  Martin Luther King Jr.

It seems to me that sometimes in life wonderful things are born out of the most simple of acts.

When I was traveling south in Mexico with my daughters, our flight stopped at Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juarez in Mexico City. While walking through the concourse, I saw a pair of sunglasses fall from a man's bag. So like most of us would do, I picked them up and ran to catch the man to return his glasses.

A few days later, while staying in an ocean side villa about an hour north of Guatemala, I saw the man with the sunglasses, he owned the villa and was visiting from Guadalajara.

"You're the woman who brought me my sunglasses in Mexico City," he said, laughing. "You remind me of my wife and daughters."

To make sure we were safe on our without an itinerary journey that summer, he gave us the names of friends throughout Mexico. And from the simple act of picking up his sunglasses, he wrote letters of introduction to each of his friends, asking them to watch out for us.

And they did, probably forever changing our Central American experience.

I will never forget my Dad giving away all our Sunday donuts to a transient man we picked up and drove to the train station when I was a young girl.

And when we were living in Pittsburgh, an inebriated homeless man fell down several steps outside the post office right near where we were parked. My husband ran out of the car.

"Hey let me help you up, buddy," he said, gently lifting the man from the ground and helping him get his footing.

"Everyone deserves dignity," my husband said to me later that day.

And while writing this, i looked up the definition of dignity. This is the one I chose: Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically.

Over the years, people continue to teach me lessons in dignity and I have come to learn how much it enriches all our lives.

Last week, while interviewing local civil rights leader Lee Braggs, I was again reminded of its value as he told me about how his life has recently grown by being a friend to older people who might have dementia or failing health.

"I'm just treating people the way I would want to be treated if I was in those circumstances," Braggs told me. "Really, its just me being a friend."

It started for Braggs when his friend, Sara Carpenter, asked him to take her Dad, the late David Eissenberg, for a haircut.

"My parents health had started to decline," said Carpenter of Queensbury, adding that at the time she was Glens Falls NAACP secretary. "I first met Lee at the NAACP ... he could see that something was bothering me and he kept asking if he could do something for me."

On that first day, the two men went to the barber, got lunch at "Dirty Dogs," went to the car wash; just a couple of guys spending the day together.

"Her father was a hydro engineer and my job was water too," Braggs said, referring to his career as director of waste water treatment for Great Meadows. "We just hung out together. We played shuffle ball, got haircuts when we still had hair. Just me being a friend and it blossomed from there ... He was quite the man and I learned so much from him."

The two men spent many days together, even as Eissenberg's dementia worsened.

"Some days I told Lee, 'it was not an easy day,'" Carpenter said. "He never flinched.

In time, her father had to move to a home in Cohoes, but Braggs and his wife Angela Braggs started helping with Carpenter's mother, the late Ethel Eissenberg.

"My mother fractured her hip," Carpenter said.

They spent time with Ethel Eissenberg, shopping and cooking together.

"She'd pick the recipe, Lee would get the ingredients and Angela would cook it," Carpenter said. "They baked cakes."

As their friendship developed, Braggs talked about the Martin Luther King March he led each January through downtown Glens Falls.

And despite a walker, an oxygen tank and sub-freezing temperatures, Ethel Eissenberg walked the entire 2018 MLK March with Braggs. The hot pink lettered sign on her walker read, "The time is always right to do what is right, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."

Yep, the power of dignity.

Kathleen Phalen-Tomaselli is a reporter and photographer covering Washington County, arts and life, features and breaking news.

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By Samia Nakhoul and Eric Knecht

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Carlos Ghosn, speaking publicly for the first time since his dramatic escape from Japanese justice, said on Wednesday he had been treated "brutally" by Tokyo prosecutors and was the victim of an inside job to oust him from the helm of automaker Nissan.

The one-time titan of the car industry said in a two-hour news conference in Beirut that he had no choice but to flee. The alternative was to spend the rest of his life languishing in Japan without a fair trial.

Ghosn, 65, fled Japan last month as he was awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies.

"I felt like the hostage of a country I served for 17 years," he told reporters.

In a combative performance, he gave a point-by-point rebuttal of the charges which he said he had been prevented from doing before, and compared the surprise of his arrest with Japan's preemptive strike on Pearl Harbour during World War Two.

Ghosn said he had escaped to his childhood home of Lebanon to clear his name and declined to say how he fled, noting there were conflicting stories about his astonishing escape.

"The charges against me are baseless," Ghosn said, and he repeated his allegation that Nissan and Japanese authorities colluded to oust him following a downturn in Nissan's fortunes and in revenge for French government interference in the carmaker's alliance with Renault.

Tokyo prosecutors said his allegations of a conspiracy were false and that he had failed to justify his acts.

"Defendant Ghosn's allegations completely ignore his own conduct and his one-sided criticism of the Japanese criminal justice system is totally unacceptable," the Tokyo prosecutor's office said after Ghosn spoke.

The 14-month saga has shaken the global auto industry, jeopardized the Renault-Nissan alliance of which Ghosn was the mastermind and increased scrutiny of Japan's judicial system.

Story continues

Ghosn said he had no intention of merging Renault with Nissan as some in Japan feared, but wanted to put the firms under a holding company that would have maintained a balance between the French carmaker's push for a union and the Japanese company's desire to remain autonomous.

He named Masakazu Toyoda, an independent director at Nissan and a special adviser to the Japanese Cabinet; Nissans ex-auditor Hidetoshi Imazu; and the car company's former executive vice president Hitoshi Kawaguchi as the main architects of his downfall.

Imazu, Kawaguchi and officials at Nissan could not immediately be reached for comment.

"First, if he (Ghosn) has anything to say, he should do that openly in court before he leaves Japan illegally. A conspiracy story without any evidence sounds like a joke," one person referred to by Ghosn told Reuters.

Ghosn declined to name Japanese government officials he said took part in the alleged plot because he said he did not want to embarrass the Lebanese government, but added he did not think the top level of the Japanese government was involved.

LOST WAY

Ghosn covered many subjects, talking about his Marie Antoinette-themed party at the Palace of Versailles in France and describing harsh confinement in Tokyos main jail.

"I was brutally taken from my work as I knew it, ripped from my family and my friends...It is impossible to express the depth of that deprivation," he said.

"I was interrogated for up to eight hours a day without any lawyers present...'It will get worse for you if you don't just confess,' the prosecutor told me repeatedly."

Ghosn became most animated in describing how he thought the Nissan-Renault alliance had lost its way since his departure, saying it had fallen behind in investment in technology, profitability and market value and failed to seize opportunities such as a potential tie-up with Fiat-Chrysler.

"How do you miss that? It's unbelievable," he said.

Nissan has said an internal investigation found that Ghosn had engaged in personal use of company money and had under-reported his income in violation of Japanese law.

Japan's Ministry of Justice has said it will try to find a way to bring Ghosn back from Lebanon, even though it has no extradition treaty with Japan.

"I didn't escape because I was guilty, I escaped because I had zero chance for a free trial," he said, adding that he was prepared to stand trial in any of his three home countries, Lebanon, France or Brazil, none of which have extradition agreements with Japan.

When asked if he had been given any assurances from Lebanese officials about not being extradited, he said: "I am confident that the existing practices and laws will be respected in Lebanon and this is what I heard from all the officials here."

Lebanon's state news agency said a public prosecutor had summoned Ghosn for questioning on Thursday.

NEW WARRANT

Ghosn said the Japanese authorities were intent on preventing him having his say.

"Why have they spent 14 months trying to break my spirit, barring any contact with my wife?" he said.

Tokyo prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Ghosn's wife, Carole, on Tuesday for alleged perjury related to the misappropriation charge against her husband.

Turkish and Japanese authorities are investigating how Ghosn was smuggled out to Beirut. Interpol has issued a "red notice" seeking his arrest.

"This (escape) was the most difficult decision of my life but I was facing a system where the conviction rate is 99.4 pct and I believe the number is far higher for foreigners," he said.

"When I saw I was free it was as if I was born again."

(Reporting by Samia Nakhoul and Eric Knecht in Beirut; and David Dolan, Linda Sieg, William Mallard. and Maki Shiraki in Tokyo; Writing by Tim Kelly and Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Mark Potter and Mike Collett-White)
DUBLIN, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Traffic Sensors Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2020 - 2025)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Traffic Sensors was valued at USD 271.97 million in 2019 and is expected to reach USD 434 million by 2025, at a CAGR of 8.1% over the forecast period 2020-2025. The increasing awareness of the adverse effect of road accidents on GDP is compelling several cities to implement sensor-based smart traffic signals.

Key Highlights



To obtain and enhance real-time traffic information, the utilization and integration of transportation surveillance are necessary wherein currently, the traffic sensors caters as a vital role to fulfill the requirement.

These traffic sensors collect data which is used for several applications such as flow monitor and anticipate any bottleneck and travel time estimation. However, with the limited budget on infrastructure coupled with high initial investment and maintenance cost is likely to hamper the market growth.

Due to the increase in urbanization and population, there is an increase in the number of vehicles. For which government has taken initiatives to modify transport infrastructure. These factors act as a driver for traffic sensors market.

However, the setup cost is very high to implement this infrastructure which is a major challenge for the traffic sensors market.



Major Market Trends



Traffic Monitoring to Witness Significant Growth

Installation of traffic sensors will now be an integral part of traffic monitoring and to analyze the pattern of the moving vehicles and their interaction in the traffic. This is expected to help in enhancing the efficiency in traffic management such as jams.

Since there's a significantly increasing number of commercial vehicles, the players and institutions are coming up with advanced traffic monitoring systems. For instance, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, India completed the prototype of smart traffic monitoring systems on the campus.

(IIT) completed the prototype of smart traffic monitoring systems on the campus. Also, the major players and researchers are testing traffic monitoring using the latest emerging technologies. The researchers from Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) commenced the test of traffic monitoring using AI which in future is likely to increase the utilization of traffic sensors.

The increasing number of passenger cars is driving the need for advanced and optimized traffic management system. Since 2015, the number of passenger cars has witnessed a growth of over 7% and is expected to increase owing to the emerging electric vehicles. As a result, it is likely to boost the demand for intelligent traffic monitor and control system thereby having a positive impact on the utilization of traffic sensors.

As a result, it creates an immense opportunity and potential in the region for the industry players in the region to invest and tap the early market garnering higher market share.

North America to Dominate the Traffic Sensor Market

North America contains the most urbanized landscapes in the world. In the United States and Canada , approximately 80% of the population is in the urban area. These volumes of urbanization create challenges for the government to manage traffic.

contains the most urbanized landscapes in the world. In and , approximately 80% of the population is in the urban area. These volumes of urbanization create challenges for the government to manage traffic. The region is engaged in both internal and external research and development, in an effort to introduce new types of traffic sensors to enhance the effectiveness, ease of use, safety, and reliability of its existing traffic sensors and to expand applications for which the uses of current products are appropriate.

Sometimes the urgent transport of goods, as well as the movement of people, is delayed because of the jams at traffic signals, so today it has been optimized to a large degree using traffic control and safety systems. Traffic sensors are installed at various places in the region for measuring different types of data extracted from the number of vehicles and regulates the signals accordingly. This would also help to maneuver the demand of the traffic sensors in North America .

Competitive Landscape



The major players like Kistler Group, Flir Systems, Inc., TE Connectivity Ltd, SICK AG, Axis Communications AB, Raytheon Company, and Siemens AG, among others. The market is fragmented since the market is competitive without dominant players. Hence, market concentration will be low.



Key Topics Covered



1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Study Deliverables

1.2 Study Assumptions

1.3 Scope of the Study



2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY



3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY



4 MARKET DYNAMICS

4.1 Market Overview

4.2 Introduction to Market Drivers and Restraints

4.3 Market Drivers

4.3.1 Increasing Urbanization and Population

4.3.2 Growing Need for Real-Time Information System

4.3.3 Government Initiatives to Modify Transport Infrastructure

4.4 Market Restraints

4.4.1 High Setup Costs

4.5 Value Chain / Supply Chain Analysis

4.6 Industry Attractiveness - Porter's Five Force Analysis

4.6.1 Threat of New Entrants

4.6.2 Bargaining Power of Buyers/Consumers

4.6.3 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

4.6.4 Threat of Substitute Products

4.6.5 Intensity of Competitive Rivalry



5 MARKET SEGMENTATION

5.1 By Sensor Type

5.1.1 Inductive Loop

5.1.2 Piezoelectric Sensor

5.1.3 Bending Plate

5.1.4 Image Sensor

5.1.5 Infrared Sensor

5.1.6 Other Type of Sensors

5.2 By Application

5.2.1 Vehicle Measurement & Profiling

5.2.2 Weigh in Motion

5.2.3 Traffic Monitoring

5.2.4 Automated Tolling

5.2.5 Other Applications

5.3 Geography

5.3.1 North America

5.3.2 Europe

5.3.3 Asia-Pacific

5.3.4 Latin America

5.3.5 Middle East & Africa



6 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

6.1 Company Profiles

6.1.1 Kapsch TrafficCom AG

6.1.2 International Road Dynamics Inc.

6.1.3 Kistler Group

6.1.4 Flir Systems Inc.

6.1.5 TE Connectivity Ltd.

6.1.6 SWARCO AG

6.1.7 Q-Free ASA

6.1.8 SICK AG

6.1.9 Raytheon Company

6.1.10 Siemens AG



7 INVESTMENT ANALYSIS



8 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES AND FUTURE TRENDS



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/fn4eab

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.



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Speaking to various sources, we can say with a measured degree of certainty that it's not going to be the new generation Explorer. There are three reasons for this, the first being the demand in the U.S. is strong and the initial sales there will undoubtedly be the priority for the Blue Oval.

A few days ago we took a stab at guessing what Ford could be launching next in the Philippines. Based on a recent invite, we guessed it was going to be the new generation Explorer . It was really a shot in the dark, but it appears we we're a bit off the mark.

The second reason is that Ford is reportedly having problems ramping up production to capacity at their factory in Chicago for the all-new Explorer. The shift is proving to be more complex according to several reports, particularly with regards to retooling to assemble the new rear-wheel drive Explorer as opposed to the current generation which was primarily front-wheel drive.

The third reason is that some dealers have told us that there is still a lot of stocks of the current model Explorer that it will be a while before they will roll out the new model.

So, if that's the case, what could Ford Philippines actually be launching on the 23rd of this month?

According to our contacts, there are two possibilities, both of which are pick-ups.

Based on a few dealer principals, they think (or are hoping) it could be the all-aluminum Ford F-150. There are actually quite a few Philippine customers that look for Ford's best selling pick-up truck from North America. All we have is the Ranger and Ranger Raptor; both of which are made in Thailand.

We're not quite sure how likely a local launch of the F-150 could actually be; Ford actually had the model in their lineup about 20 years ago in the Philippines with those big Triton V8 engines. It is worth noting though that the new tax law says that no excise taxes be levied upon pick-up trucks, regardless of where they're made. So that could mean pricing -if they launch it- could be better than it would have been had the model been launched prior to 2018.

The other possibility (which is perhaps more likely) is a new variant of the Ford Ranger from Thailand. There are actually a few new versions of the Ranger being offered in the region, one of them is an updated Ford Ranger FX4; a 4x2 variant of the pick-up which is a high-rider and has bars on the bed.

The other variant is more interesting: it's the Ford Ranger Wildtrak X; basically, it's a more capable variant of the Ranger Wildtrak that has a nudge bar, different fender flares, and even comes fitted with an official Ford air intake snorkel.

We can also toss in another wildcard just because we can: the Ford Everest Sport. The model is basically a de-chromed and blacked out Everest; yes, most of the exterior and interior details have been done in black or dark gray. The Everest Sport was first launched in November 2019 for the Australian market which also gets their units from Thailand.

We'll have to really wait for January 23 to see what Ford has in store; we're hoping that they do introduce the F-150, unlikely as it may be, but we'll be very interested in the Ranger Wildtrak X, especially when the rainy season comes
OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger told Sputnik on Thursday that he had received the letter from Sputnik and RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan on the situation around Tallinn's pressure on Sputnik Estonia employees and had responded to it

VIENNA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th January, 2020) OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger told Sputnik on Thursday that he had received the letter from Sputnik and RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan on the situation around Tallinn's pressure on Sputnik Estonia employees and had responded to it.

Sputnik Estonia staffers have been forced to terminate contracts with the outlet starting January 1 after receiving threats of jail terms of up to five years from Estonian police. Estonian authorities cite 2014 EU sanctions as pretext for legal action against the news outlet.

However, the Rossiya Segodnya Information Agency, Sputnik's Moscow-based parent company, has insisted that is not mentioned in any EU sanctions lists.

Greminger said he was aware of the situation, had received the letter and responded to it on December 31.

Additionally, he said that OSCE Representative on Media Freedom Harlem Desir was closely following the situation and was in contact with Estonian authorities on the matter.
Major General Qasem Soleimani was born in 1957 to a self-described peasant family in Kerman, the sunbaked province in southeastern Iran famed for its pistachios, rose water and hospitable inhabitants. Family debts forced him to leave school and earn a living as a construction worker at age 13. By his late teens, Soleimani was swept up in the countrys growing political fervor that culminated in one of the greatest geopolitical earthquakes of the past half-century: the 1979 revolution that replaced a U.S.-allied monarchy, led by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, with a viscerally anti-American theocracy, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Like young men from poor families throughout the world, Soleimani achieved upward mobility by joining the military. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was set up to supersede a national army Khomeini did not trust, and Soleimani cut his teeth as a soldier by helping to ruthlessly crush a rebellion of Kurds in northwest Iran, an estimated 10,000 of whom were killed. In 1981, he was among hundreds of thousands dispatched to counter the invasion of Iran by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Soleimani served mostly on the front line, distinguishing himself as a leader, then went on to confront drug traffickers in Kerman, the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan and, reportedly, antigovernment protests inside Iran.

Morteza NikoubazlNurPhoto/Getty Images

But Soleimani came into his own after the attacks of 9/11 and the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, which flank Iran. Soleimani was tasked with sabotaging the American effort in Iraq. He did this initially by unleashing al-Qaeda members detained in Iran after fleeing Afghanistanincluding several members of the bin Laden family and Jordanian radical Abu Musab al-Zarqawiand allowing them to inflame Iraq. Then he trained Iraqi Shiite militias, and provided them extraordinarily lethal roadside booby traps that could penetrate any U.S. armor. The efforts took the lives of as many as 1,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq, making Soleimani the single most hated adversary in the world for two generations of American military commanders.

Story continues

So how did the man live to 62? A former senior U.S. intelligence official on Iran told me that when previous Administrations discussed assassinating Soleimani, two questions were usually contemplated: Does he deserve to die? And, is it worth the potential risks? The answer to the first question tended to be affirmative. The answer to the second was always inconclusive.

It still is. The five days after Soleimanis assassination on Jan. 3, by a drones missile fired on the order of President Trump, were among the most fraught in the four decades of enmity between the U.S. and Iranand a bowel-shaking lesson in the speed with which full-blown war can appear all but inevitable, even when neither side actually wants one.

The fact that we have this great military and equipment  does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it! Trump said, in a televised address that had the feel of stepping onto firm ground from a roller coaster.

Soleimani was killed early on a Friday. By Tuesday evening Washington time, Tehran was doing what it had never done beforefiring a barrage of rockets from its own soil toward U.S. troops stationed in Iraq. The time it took to count heads at the bases in Erbil and in the dusty reaches of Anbar province was excruciating for more than the families of service members stationed there.

American blood had emerged as Trumps red line in dealing with Iran. A U.S. death presumably would require a lethal military reply from a President who had entered the spiral of escalation quite late, at the point where the circles narrow and everything moves very fast. For seven months, the normally bellicose U.S. President had declined to answer mounting attacks by Iran with reciprocal U.S. military action. We had nobody in the drone, Trump said, after Iran shot down a massive aircraft in June. It would have made a big difference. Holes blasted in oil tankers and an extraordinarily bold air assault on Saudi Arabias main oil facilities were received as Irans response to the economic sanctions Trump had imposed after unilaterally withdrawing from the international agreement that had arrested Irans nuclear program. If we cannot sell oil, Tehran was saying, no one else should be able to either. The Commander in Chief answered every attack with an eagerness to sit down and talk, just as he had with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Then, on Dec. 27, one of the militias handled by Soleimani killed an American contractor in a rocket barrage on a U.S. base in Iraq. Trump finally retaliated in kind, ordering U.S. warplanes to strike the militia two days later, killing 25. Iran responded by sending unarmed militiamen to swarm the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, where they burned a reception center. While Tehran has a long history of looting embassies, what infuriated Trump was comparisons with the overrunning, by Libyan militants in 2012, of the consular office in Benghazi, where the death of the U.S. ambassador became an obsession for some in the GOP, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The Anti-Benghazi! Trump tweeted. When military advisers brought a menu of options to answer for the embassy vandalism, Trump stunned them by picking the killing of Soleimani. He later said the general was planning an imminent strike on U.S. interests, but has not elaborated.

But if the drone strike sped the U.S. and Iran down the road to war, both sides were looking frantically for an off-ramp. Iran seemingly showed the way, opening the path to de-escalation by the nature of its barrage.

Consider: before launching the strike, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced the retaliation would come from Irans own military, not proxy forces. What form did it take? Iran has weapons precise enough to elude a U.S. Patriot antimissile battery and take half of Saudis oil production offline, which it did on Sept. 14. Instead, Tehran sprayed ballistic rockets toward a vast air base and a token number toward the base in Erbil. Both facilities were braced for the attack. Several rockets failed to explode.

All is well! Trump tweeted a few hours later, radiating relief that no one was killed. The next morning, flanked by generals at the televised address, he announced additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime.

Dangers remain. Still to be avenged is the militia leader killed along with Soleimani, a project more than one Iraq militia vowed to undertake. And Iran may not be finished. It has a long history of indirect covert action, from cyberattacks to terrorism. A former senior U.S. intelligence official said Iran may go further this time, potentially targeting current or former senior U.S. officials of similar rank to Soleimani. But the conflict Tehran favors least is the kind it appears to have avoided: conventional war. So it was no surprise that a couple of hours after launching the rockets, Tehran announced through its Foreign Minister that its retaliation had concluded, and headed for the casino door with its winnings.

Inside the Islamic Republic, the impact of Soleimanis death will take years to appreciate. But its immediate effect was to throw the regime a lifeline. Only weeks earlier, an abrupt hike in gas prices brought into the streets not the elite and middle class who normally protest but tens of thousands of the working-class Iranians whom Khomeini called the real owners of the revolution. The regime answered by shutting down the Internet and killing as many as 1,500 people.

Soleimanis assassination changed the subject. With his cocked eyebrow and soft personal manner, he had been among the most celebrated officials in the country, hailed by moderates and hard-liners alike. In life, he made Iranhowever brutally, especially in Syriathe most consequential player in the Middle East, evoking the days of empire that may reside in the breasts of even many Iranians who despise the theocracy. (Persian General, read one of the posters rushed out.) And in death, he found the place akin to sainthood that prominent martyrdom holds in Shiite Islam, with its narrative that begins with the fatal 7th century defeat of the Prophets family in battle.

Enemies felt humbled by the magnificence of the Iranian nations turnout for the funeral of Martyr Soleimani, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweeted Jan. 8, referring to crowds that included Tehran residents who had marched in 2009, in bloody antigovernment protests dubbed the Green Movement. The surge in unity does not change stubborn realities for Khamenei, 80. Irans economy remains in shambles, and its interference in the region still inspires protests in Lebanon and Iraq, where Soleimani directed militias and snipers to attack and kill demonstrators. But hostile attention from Washington is pure oxygen to a regime founded in opposition to it.

Since the 444-day hostage crisis that ended Jimmy Carters presidency, Iran has exulted in playing an outsize role in American domestic politics. Ronald Reagans presidency was tainted by the Iran-contra affair, George W. Bushs presidency was demoralized by Iranian machinations in Iraq, and negotiations over Irans nuclear program consumed the latter part of Barack Obamas presidency.

Trump ran on an election platform of reducing Americas presence in the Middle East and avoiding stupid wars. But his erratic approachprovoking an escalation cycle while simultaneously making clear his aversion to conflictonly increased Tehrans appetite for risk. And so thousands of U.S. troops have arrived in the region, every one as a buffer against an emboldened Iran. On almost a daily basis, the military has had to react to the Presidents decisions rather than plan for them, says Chuck Hagel, a former U.S. Defense Secretary and Republican Senator from Nebraska.

During the tense wait for Irans retaliation, Trump threatened to counter it by bombing a list of 52 targets in Iran, including cultural sites: a clear violation of international law. Though his Secretaries of State and Defense disavowed this threat, when reporters asked Trump to clarify he first doubled down, then two days later backed off. It is the Trump paradox: everything the President of the United States says must be taken seriously; nothing that Donald Trump says can be taken seriously.

With that paradox comes confusion over why the U.S. has forces in the Middle East. The best reason is to fight ISIS, which lost its caliphate but remains an insurgency, especially in the Iraqi countryside. Soleimani had served to both fuel and fight Sunni extremists, who prey on Shiites. But the backlash from his assassination spurred U.S. commanders to confine their forces to base; operations against ISIS were suspended.

Worse, outrage by Iraqi politicians brought calls to expel U.S. forces from the country, where the U.S. has spent more than $1 trillion and thousands of lives. Expulsion makes no military sense: without U.S. airpower and special operators, ISIS would still hold much of Iraq. But after Iraqs parliament passed a nonbinding resolution ordering American forces out, the U.S. command in Iraq issued a letter suggesting it was packing its bags.

The letter was a mistake, but one that gladdened hearts in Tehran. Getting U.S. forces out of Iraq was, after all, the mission Khamenei gave Soleimani. His mandate expanded to the equivalent of a four-star general, CIA chief and Secretary of State. The Shiite foreign legion of 50,000 he cultivated projected Iranian power across the Middle East. And if his vocation made it unlikely Soleimani would die a natural deathKhamenei had called him a living martyrhis assassination may prove to be a force multiplier. Sensing that the notion of the U.S. leaving Iraq has now become credible, Iranian leaders are upping the stakes, calling for the expulsion of U.S. forces from the entire Middle East.

Fast forward to August 2020. Imagine news from Iran that a dozen U.S. sailors have been detained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards navy. Instead of releasing them in a timely fashion, as it has in the past, Iran demands that all American troops first vacate the entire Middle East, an impossible request. Three months from Election Day, how does Trump react?

With reporting by W.J. HENNIGAN/WASHINGTON

Sadjadpour is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was seen treating himself to an ice-cold beer after a long day of battling blazes in NSW.

Mr Abbott, 62, visited the Snow Goose Hotel in Adaminaby, near the fire-stricken Snowy Mountains region on Thursday, where he poured himself a schooner of Resch's draught.

The former member for Warringah, dressed in his RFS uniform, enjoyed a refreshing drink before chatting to patrons.

Pub owners shared a photo of 'good friend' Mr Abbott on social media, thanking him for his efforts on the fire ground.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott visited the Snow Goose Hotel in Adaminaby, NSW on Thursday where he treated himself to an ice cold Resch's draught schooner

Following his defeat in the 2019 Federal Election, when he lost his seat in Warringah, Mr Abbott has been dedicating his time to fighting bushfires across the state

'A good friend of the Goose called into tonight to have a beer and chat to our patrons. Tony was on the fire ground all day, here in Adaminaby. Thank you mate!

'And certainly we extend the same gratitude to your Northern Beaches Team and all the Sydney crews that travelled all the way out here to help defend our town. Very appreciated,' the Facebook post read.

This isn't the first time Mr Abbott visited the pub, as he was seen having a beer at the Snow Goose Hotel after the Pollie Pedal bike ride in 2017.

Following his defeat in the 2019 Federal Election, when he lost his seat in Warringah, Mr Abbott has been dedicating his time to fighting bushfires across the state.

A volunteer firefighter of 20 years, he was seen arriving at the Rural Fire Service in Nowra on Tuesday morning as he prepared for another day on the front lines.

Mr Abbott has been commended in the media for his efforts, but the modest politician appeared to shrug off the attention when approached by a Today Show reporter.

Mr Abbott at the Adaminaby Rural Fire Service station, 115km south of Canberra on Friday

The former PM stands alongside fellow volunteers as he gets a briefing at the Adaminaby Rural Fire Service station

When asked if he was there to lend a helping hand, he replied: 'Nah, nah, just along with 70,000 volunteers that's all.'

Cameras followed Mr Abbott as he entered the RFS centre, where thousands of other volunteers have convened to help battle bushfires.

He was seen greeting army reserve members troops who have been deployed to the worst fire-stricken areas in the country.

'So ScoMo's troops have arrived, well done! Good on you fellas,' Mr Abbott said, referring to the prime minister's decision to deploy 3,000 members ADF soldiers to fire grounds over the weekend.

Australians have heaped praised on Mr Abbott for his efforts to fight fires, while Scott Morrison has been heavily criticised for his handling of the crisis.

Pub owners shared a photo of 'good friend' Mr Abbott on social media, thanking him for his efforts on the fire ground

Mr Abbott appears to be a longtime customer of the pub as he was seen having a beer at the Snow Goose Hotel after the Pollie Pedal bike ride in 2017

On Tuesday Mr Abbott was seen dressed in a yellow RFS jumpsuit as he made his way into the staging centre in Nowra

Mr Morrison said at the height of the crisis that he didn't 'hold the hose' after he came under fire for his apparent inaction over the fires.

Mr Abbott was PM when the so-called carbon tax aimed at tackling Australia's greenhouse emissions was scrapped and he has long been cast as a climate change sceptic.

In late December, Mr Abbott was pictured at the Bargo BP service station wearing the yellow uniform of his Davidson squadron before battling the Green Wattle Creek fire.

He took a few snaps with fans and the photos quickly went viral on social media.

The next day he helped put out a spot fire and then volunteered for a last-minute emergency relief crew.

Mr Abbott also completed three five-day deployments in northern NSW between September and November, along with others all over the state.
A senior Iranian commander has warned the country will take "harsher revenge soon" after this week's missile attacks on US targets in Iraq.

The killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani last week in an American drone strike in Baghdad prompted angry calls for vengeance and drew massive crowds of Iranians to the streets to mourn him.

Revolutionary Guards commander Abdollah Araghi was quoted by Tasnim news agency after US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran appeared to be "standing down" after the missile strikes that did not harm any US troops in Iraq.

In a separate report, Tasnim quoted the deputy Guards head Ali Fadavi as saying missile attacks on American targets were a display of Iran's military power and US forces "couldn't do a damn thing."

General Qasem Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike / AP

It comes as the US and Iran appeared to step back from the brink of possible war as Mr Trump indicated he would not respond militarily after no-one was harmed in Iran's missile strike on two Iraqi bases housing US troops.

"The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it. American strength, both military and economic, is the best deterrent," Mr Trump said.

"Our great American forces are prepared for anything. Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.

Trump: Iran appears to be 'standing down'

Mr Trump added the US "will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime" in response to what he called "Iranian aggression."

In a letter to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, US Ambassador Kelly Craft said the killing of Soleimani was self-defence and vowed to take additional action "as necessary" in the Middle East to protect US personnel and interests.

The US also stood "ready to engage without preconditions in serious negotiations with Iran," to maintain peace and security, she said.

Aerial images of Iran missile strike 1 /6 Aerial images of Iran missile strike What appears to be new damage at Al Asad air base in Iraq is seen in a satellite picture via REUTERS What appears to be new damage at Al Asad air base in Iraq is seen in a satellite picture via REUTERS What appears to be new damage at Al Asad air base in Iraq is seen in a satellite picture via REUTERS Al Asad air base in Iraq is seen in a satellite picture taken is seen in December, before the missile strike via REUTERS What appears to be new damage at Al Asad air base in Iraq is seen in a satellite picture via REUTERS

Meanwhile Vice President Mike Pence told CBS News in an interview the US was receiving "encouraging intelligence that Iran is sending messages" to its allied militias not to attack US targets.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had said the strikes "concluded" Tehran's response to the killing of Soleimani.

"We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression," Mr Zarif wrote on Twitter.

US President Donald Trump appeared willing to de-escalate the situation / AFP via Getty Images

Iran retaliated to the killing of Soleimani with its most direct assault on America since the 1979 seizing of the US embassy in Tehran, firing more than a dozen missiles from its territory at the US installations.

Mr Trump credited an early warning system "that worked very well" for the fact that no Americans or Iraqis were killed.

He added that Americans should be "extremely grateful and happy" with the outcome.

The Iranians fired a total of 15 missiles in the latest strikes.
A 210-bed co-living development in Castleknock has been granted planning permission.

The five-storey block, that has 182 rooms, is to be built on the site of Brady's pub and includes shared living areas, TV rooms and a roof terrace.

But local representatives have described it as a 'planning disaster', saying the development is entirely inappropriate to the suburban location.

"This disastrous decision is the direct consequence of the new planning guidelines by Minister Eoghan Murphy  these new rules are steadily dismantling high quality, community orientated planning in favour of substandard housing motivated purely by profit," Labour TD Joan Burton told 96FM.

While the development is in Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's constituency, the Fine Gael leader's running mate in the upcoming General Election also criticised the move.

"The concept of co-living is for urban locations with strong transport links and that would appeal to a mobile workforce," Cllr Emer Currie outlined. "This location, in my opinion, is completely at odds with the vision of co-living."
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Health Scares: Im Cancer-Free

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg announced this week that the treatment she has been receiving for pancreatic cancer has been successful after she was diagnosed last year.

Ginsburg, 86, told CNN that her year started fine: Im cancer-free. Thats good.

In August, Ginsburg underwent several weeks of radiation therapy for a malignant tumor on her pancreas, forcing her to miss work. The treatment started Aug. 5 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

In recent years, namely after President Donald Trump took office, the octogenarian associate justices health has been the subject of intense scrutiny because if she were to step down, Trump would be able to name a conservative judge to the Supreme Court. The move would tip the court in favor of conservatives after he appointed Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.

Before that, the tumor was discovered after a routine blood test weeks earlier. A stent was placed and Ginsburg responded well to the treatment, the Supreme Court said.

The tumor was treated definitively and there is no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body, a Supreme Court press statement read at the time.

Last month, she addressed working with the other Supreme Court justices while speaking at a gala.

(Front LR) U.S. Supreme Court justices Stephen Breyer, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito, (Back LR) Neil Gorsuch, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Brett Kavanaugh at the Supreme Court building on Nov. 30, 2018. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

As different as we are, the court is the collegial place Ive ever worked, she said in December. And I can tell you that from a personal experience surviving four cancer bouts with my colleagues around me and made it possible for me not to miss a single case.

In December 2018, Ginsburg, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, was diagnosed and treated for lung cancer. Part of her left lung was removed, forcing her to miss arguments in January.

She also suffered colorectal cancer in 1999 and pancreatic cancer in 2009.

Ginsburg was hospitalized again right before Thanksgiving 2019 with chills and a fever, but she was released a day later. With intravenous antibiotics and fluids, her symptoms have abated, the court said in a statement.

And in 2019, Ginsburg told an audience that she was on her way to being very well, Reuters reported. This audience can see that I am alive. And Im on my way to being very well, she said. I love my job. It is the best and hardest job that I ever had.

Ginsburg has previously stated that she will remain on the Supreme Court as long as her health permits.
18 dead in fire at Pune sanitiser firm, search on for missing staff

In one of the worst fires in NYC, nine children among 19 charred to death

Fire breaks out in Noida ESIC hospital

India

oi-Mousumi Dash

Noida, Jan 09: Fire broke out in ESIC hospital in Noida Sector-24, Delhi on Thursday morning. Three fire tenders rushed to the spot.

Reportedly, the fire broke out at ESIC hospital in Noida Sector-24 this morning in the basement of the seven-story hospital building, the rescue operation is underway. Patients and their family members are being evacuated from the hospital building and are been taken to a safe place.

The blaze reportedly broke out in the basement of the seven-story hospital building located in Sector 24, a police official said.

5 months after J&K special status revoked, foreign panel visits UT | OneIndia News

Fire tenders were rushed to the spot after the Fire Department was alerted about it around 8 am, the official said to PTI.

Black smoke was seen as the fire started to spread the hospital. The cause of the fire is yet to be known.

Police and the fire rescue team are trying to douse the fire and rescue the trapped people from the hospital building.
A five-year-old boy was rushed to hospital on Wednesday for head injuries and a man admitted himself for buttock wounds after a coyote two separate coyote attacks in Chicago.

The youngster was left with head and face lacerations when the coyote savaged him at around 4pm in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Paramedics treated his wounds at the scene and he was taken to Lurie Children's Hospital in a stable condition, according to ABC News.

The second person attacked in the city yesterday was a 32-year-old man who walked into Northwestern Memorial Hospital Wednesday evening with cuts on his rear. He said that a coyote stalked him, pounced and bit him on the buttocks.

Coyote sightings have increased in the Lincoln Park area with five spotted outside a school yesterday. Pictured is one of the coyotes picked up by Chicago Animal Care and Control during the last week

A coyote is pictured after being spotted yesterday in Lincoln Park, Chicago

Pictured are emergency services responding to the scene of a five-year-old boy after he was bitten on the head by a coyote in Chicago yesterday afternoon

The boy managed to escape the ferocious creature by running to a bus shelter with the adult he was with.

The coyote is yet to be caught, police said.

The two incidents happened in completely different areas of the city, a one-hour walk for a person.

Michele Smith, alderman for Chicago's 43rd Ward, which includes Lincoln Park, told residents some days earlier of a dog being mauled by a coyote in the neighborhood.

Pictured: Undated file photo of homes in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois

Earlier in the day, witnesses recalled spotting four or five of the animals outside of a school.

'While it is extremely rare for a coyote to approach or bite a person, residents should take caution if they encounter a coyote and notify Chicago Animal Care and Control by calling 311,' the agency said in a statement.

The hospital is yet to release details on the child's condition.

Coyote's in general are not considered dangerous because they rarely attack humans.

Outdoor experts suggest people not to run away from coyotes as they could consider them prey.

Making noise or yelling at the wolf-like animals is usually enough to keep them at bay.

'Like domestic dogs, coyotes test their limits around humans and learn something from each exchange,' the forest preserve states on its website.

'Unless they associate people with negative experiences, such as loud noises, they can become comfortable walking down streets or sidewalks or near schools, basking in yards or parks, and shortening the distance between themselves and humans.

'A bold coyote does not necessarily mean an aggressive coyote, but a coyote that maintains its fear of humans will be less likely to cause problems.'
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's new website was designed by a digital agency based in Toronto - the same firm behind her now closed lifestyle blog.

The sussexroyal.com page, launched just moments after announcing they were stepping back from royal duties, was created by a company called Article.

It lists its clients as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and Meghan's blog The Tig, which she closed in April 2017, a few months before the couple announced their engagement in November that year.

On Article's website madebyarticle.com, it says it makes 'sh*t happen for clients in any country' adding that their clients range from 'national brands to lifestyle influencers.'

The move suggests Meghan had a controlling hand in the design and implementation of sussexroyal.com, after previously having dealings with them.

It was first registered 10 months ago in March last year, and has been secretly developed since then. It is currently unclear exactly how much it would have cost to develop the page, and who paid for it.

The Duke and Duchess would have had opportunity to plan the page and work with designers during the six week break from official duties, much of which was spent in Canada with son Archie.

Toronto was where Meghan lived for seven years while she starred in US drama suits, and where the couple first started dating back in 2016.

Prince Harry and Meghan unveiled a slick new website just moments after announcing they were stepping back from royal duties

A list of clients on the Article website, showing Meghan Markle's ex lifestyle blog The Tig (left)

An image from the new website carrying a quote from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, which reads: 'Do your little bit of good where you are: it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world'

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex issued a bombshell statement on Instagram saying they plan to 'step back' as senior royals and divide their time between the UK and North America

Under a list of clients, they include The Tig, her old lifestyle blog, alongside sussexroyal.com and a list of other major corporate clients like the fashion firm Diane von Furstenberg, Canadian based fast food chain Tim Hortons and children's television channel Nickleodeon.

On the about page of the website, Made by Article write: 'We make digital products and experiences for every platform, and we make sh*t happen for clients in any country. Those clients range from national brands to lifestyle influencers.

'While we dont choose projects based on size, we are particular about fit. We look for clients who value the same things we do: Good design, strategic innovation, and strong relationships based on mutual respect and collaboration.

'Most importantly, were looking for clients who share our desire to produce great work. Because along with digital products, were also building a reputation.'

Posts on the website detail the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's 'new working model', explaining how they intend to go forward in a 'progressive new role'

They list their new media relations policy, the future of their charities and also explained how they will be funded after claiming that they want to be financially independent.

Sussexroyal.com also said the couple 'value the ability to earn a professional income, which in the current structure they are prohibited from doing

In one astonishing statement, they complained they had been unable to earn their own money as senior royals.

Until now Harry and Meghan have been 'prohibited from earning any income in any form'  as they pointed out last night in the lengthy post on their official website.

They will give up their income from the Sovereign Grant  the money taxpayers give to the Queen every year  and launch themselves onto the international celebrity circuit.

They will need to strike lucrative commercial deals to maintain the lavish lifestyle to which they are comfortably accustomed.

Sussexroyal.com also said the couple 'value the ability to earn a professional income, which in the current structure they are prohibited from doing.

The website added that the Duke and Duchess will also continue to base themselves at Frogmore Cottage, with the Queen's permission.

Taxpayers will also still be expected to pay for their security.

Referring to armed security by the Metropolitan Police mandated by the Home Office, the site said: 'The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are classified as internationally protected people which mandates this level of security.'

Harry and Meghan also aimed another blast at the British media and what they call its 'misreporting'.

They announced they would be withdrawing from the 'royal rota' system, which allows British newspaper, television and radio organisations to cover their work in recognition of the monarchy being a publicly-funded organisation.

UK media are currently entitled to cover their engagements in an impartial manner without control from royal officials.

The couple say they now intend to offer access to specially-invited media and dispense news via their own official communications and social media channels.

On their new website, the duke and duchess said they believe this policy will reflect 'both their forthcoming independence as members of the Royal Family' and their wish to 'reshape and broaden access to their work'.

They also attacked the British media's body of royal correspondents, claiming: 'Regrettably, stories that may have been filed accurately by royal correspondents are also often edited or rewritten by media editorial teams to present false impressions.'

The website added that the Duke and Duchess will also continue to base themselves at Frogmore Cottage, with the Queen's permission

A statement added: 'Their Royal Highnesses recognise that their roles as members of the Royal Family are subject to interest, and they welcome accurate and honest media reporting, as well as being held to account if appropriate.

'Equally, like every member of society, they also value privacy as individuals and as a family.'

The site also listed the various charities that the Duke and Duchess are patron of and explained how they intend to continue representing the Queen and strengthening the Commonwealth.

A statement said: 'As they move to become members of the Royal Family, with financial independence, their commitment to The Monarch is resolute, and they aim to continue to fly the flag for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as called upon.'
London: MPs from both sides of British politics have been accused of "lecturing Australia" after they used a parliamentary debate on the bushfire emergency to urge the Morrison government to lift its game on climate change.

Australia's emissions reduction targets were criticised by Tory, Labour and Scottish National Party MPs during the rare House of Commons debate convened by Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, who called the disaster a "wake-up call for the world".

Nearly three dozen MPs participated in the session, in which it was revealed Britain had dispatched a team of experts to Australia - at the Morrison government's request - to help respond to the crisis which has claimed nearly 2000 homes and 25 lives.

Several members of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's backbench criticised Australia's response to climate change and encouraged the British government to lobby for more action from Australia and the world on lowering emissions.
While wildfires continue to devastate Australia, United Airlines is pitching in, donating to help fight them and offering MileagePlus members a little perk if they do the same.

The airline is offering all MileagePlus members up to 1,000 miles if they donate at least $50 to the relief efforts on Uniteds GlobalGiving page through Feb. 5. That is in addition to the $250,000 United pledged to Ellen DeGeneres GoFundMe campaign on Wednesday.

Luc Bondar, the airlines MileagePlus vice president, wrote in a letter to members that he is watching the wildfires with a heavy heart. Bondar is from Australia himself.

The loss of civilian and volunteer firefighters' lives, the destruction of homes and livelihoods, and the threat to the natural beauty and unique wildlife that's beloved by locals and travelers alike is tragic. Now more than ever, Australia needs our help, Bondar wrote. I am privileged to be in a position to ask for your support. We can always count on the United community to jump to action at a time like thisYour support will fund immediate relief efforts, helping provide emergency supplies like food, water, and medicine, as well as long-term recovery assistance.

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On her show on Wednesday, DeGeneres said that her goal was to raise $5 million to aid the firefighters, the people, and the animals of Australia.

The entire country is being devastated by wildfires and I want to do whatever I can to help, the comedian said while announcing the airlines donation. United wants to protect the environment and the lives of everyone affected by these devastating fires in Australia.

MileagePlus members who donate $50 to $99 will receive 250 bonus award miles; those who donate $100 to $249 will receive 500 bonus award miles; and those who give $250 or more will receive 1,000 bonus award miles, according to the airline. In addition to offering mileage perks, United said it will also match up to $50,000 in donations.

But United isn't the only travel organization stepping up to help. Tour company Intrepid Travel is matching donations to the Red Cross Bushfire Emergency Appeal, and Etihad Airways is waiving flight change fees for Australian residents affected by the fires.
A man who robbed a North Portland convenience store three separate times using makeshift firearms he fashioned at home was sentenced Wednesday to more than 20 years in prison.

Reginald Huricks was convicted in November for the spate of stickups at the ARCO ampm in the 5200 block of North Lombard Street between last January and May.

In each of the robberies, the 38-year-old brandished what appeared to be homemade shotgun or long rifle that could fire live ammunition, prosecutors said.

Circuit Judge Andrew Lavin delivered Huricks 250-month prison sentence inside the Multnomah County Detention Center after the defendant repeatedly threatened a violent escape from the courthouse, the District Attorneys Office said.

Mr. Huricks has an extensive history of hurting, threatening and terrorizing other people, said prosecutor Eric Collins.

Court records show Huricks has felony convictions dating back more than a decade.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632

Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh

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Mysore (Karnataka) [India], Jan 10 (ANI): Mysore University administration has filed a complaint with the police after 'free Kashmir' posters were seen at a protest in the campus here against the recent violence at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.



The university administration also issued notice to the concerned students' organisation seeking an explanation for the incident.

"Some students of the university protested yesterday against violence in the JNU campus. 'Free Kashmir' poster was spotted during the protest. We have issued notices to concerned organisations asking for explanation and complained to the police," Mysore University Registrar Prof R Shivappa told reporters on Thursday.

He said that some students had called the protest to express concern over the recent JNU incident.

"However, they had not taken permission from the university administration for their protest," Shivappa said.

The administration has issued notices to the Research Scholar Association, Dalit Students federation, Bahujan Vidhyarthi Sangh, Students' Federation of India, All India Democratic Students Organisation and other organisations involved in the protest.

Protests were carried out at the university campus after over 30 JNU students were injured and taken to AIIMS Trauma Centre for treatment after a masked mob entered the campus and assaulted them with sticks and rods on the night of January 5. (ANI)


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Linkedin Bagus Muljadi and Rebekah (The Jakarta Post) King Nottingham, UK  Thu, January 9 2020

President Joko Jokowi Widodo recently declared his plan to improve Indonesias competitiveness by refocusing the research and innovation agenda. This initiative needs to be supported.

The key to focus on the right areas lies within two factors. First, we need to identify the strategic research to focus on. To do this, we must understand our competitive advantages that will allow us to contribute to solving global challenges. Second, we need to invest in high quality domestic researchers and research-intensive universities, as they are the basis of the countrys research and innovation architecture.

The country needs to build a robust academic ecosystem centered around empowering its higher education institutions, from which scientific thinking can permeate the substrate of our ethos. Playing to our strengths is the solution-driven strategy.

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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he can understand why Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would want more privacy and wished them well as they "step back" as senior members of the royal family.

The decision has provoked controversy in Britain and it has emerged that Harry's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, was not aware they were going to make the announcement last night.

Harry and Meghan's first trip abroad as a married couple was to Ireland in 2018 where they met Mr Varadkar.

He was asked about their decision at a post-Cabinet press conference.

Mr Varadkar said: "Theyre a lovely couple. I have to say I really enjoyed meeting them - theyre very down to earth."

"But I can totally understand, given each of their different life experiences, why they would like to have more privacy and why they would like to be able to raise their family in their way."

Mr Varadkar added: "I think any normal person can understand why theyve taken the decision theyve made. I wish them the very best."

Last night Harry and Meghan, Britain's Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced in a statement they are working towards becoming "financially independent" and create a new role away from public life.

"After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution," the statement said.

"We intend to step back as senior members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen. It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment."
A case has been registered here against the BJP's Ratlam MP G S Damor and three MLAs of the party for taking out a procession in support of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) without permission, the police said.

The procession was taken out from College Road to the Nagar Nigam square here on Wednesday.

A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against 38 people under IPC section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) on Wednesday night, said Additional Superintendent of Police Indrajit Bakalwal.

The administration had denied permission for the event as prohibitive orders (banning assembly of five or more people) under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) were in force in the district, he said.

Those named in the FIR included Damor and BJP MLAs Chetan Kashyap (who represents Ratlam City), Rajendra Pandey (Jaora) and Dilip Makwana (Ratlam Rural).

Kashyap said the CAA is "part of the Constitution".

"It is the duty and right of every Indian citizen to respect and support the CAA. The action taken by the Kamal Nath government against peaceful and silent support of the public for the CAA is dictatorial," he said.

The controversial amendment offers citizenship to refugees who arrived in India before 2015 from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

On January 7, a similar case was filed against Damor for taking out a procession in support of the CAA without permission in Jhabua city.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Google Nest Protect has an annoying fault that's angering owners around the world. (Image: Google)

The Google Nest Protect smart smoke alarm is a fantastic idea for $189.

A smoke alarm that's internet-connected and can be controlled and monitored via a mobile app brings a very important home appliance into the 21st century.

But a very annoying fault has appeared, which has Nest Protect owners tearing their hair out.

Yahoo Finance has found some Nest Protect devices constantly reporting its backup batteries to be low, even when they're new and full of charge  causing the alarm to beep.

And there is no way to stop the shrill without installation of new batteries.

There are two review units currently installed for Yahoo Finance. One of them has never had batteries replaced more than two years while the faulty one has demanded new batteries three times in the past three months.

A quick internet search shows many owners reporting the problem, with the issue first widely propagating in August. Some users, incredibly, have had to deal with "low battery" chirping only a few days after putting new ones in.

Google has yet to release a working solution to the issue. It has instead put out boiler-plate suggestions that have long been verified by Nest Protect owners as not resolving the issue.

Google Australia did not respond to Yahoo Finance's request for comment.

One of the suggestions Google staff have put on forums is to use a specific brand of battery  Energizer Ultimate Lithium. A second Google suggestion is to ensure the latest firmware version is installed.

Both have been refuted as solutions by users. And the false leads are starting to anger affected owners.

"These suggestions and recommendations are simply shallow and unproductive. Don't understand why someone from Google can't address these issues," said one smoke alarm owner in mid-December.

"For the last several weeks an updated firmware has been talked about by several Community Specialists, but as of today has not been pushed to any Nest Protect to address this issue."

Make your money work with Yahoo Finances daily newsletter. Sign up here and stay on top of the latest money, news and tech news.
michael barbaro

From The New York Times, Im Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Yesterday, we heard the story of Lucia Evans, whose allegation against Harvey Weinstein helped launch the criminal trial that got underway this week in Manhattan. When prosecutors dropped her from the case, it raised questions about how a man accused of sexual misconduct by more than 80 women could end up facing so few of them in court. Today, in Part 2, my colleagues Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey on what happened next. Its Friday, January 10. Jodi, when we left off, Lucia Evanss criminal charge against Harvey Weinstein had just been dropped. Where does that leave the case against Weinstein?

jodi kantor

O.K., so remember, were now in the Fall of 2018. Lucias out. So the prospect of Harvey Weinstein being held criminally accountable seems to now hinge on just two women. One woman has a story of sexual assault, the other woman has a story of rape.

michael barbaro

So everything in this case pretty much revolves around these two women. So who exactly are they?

jodi kantor

So one, the one with a story of sexual assault, is Mimi Haleyi. She was added to the case right before Lucia Evans was dropped.

michael barbaro

And what is her story?

jodi kantor

So Mimi Haleyi works in the entertainment industry in the early 2000s. Shes pretty junior, and she ends up meeting Harvey Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival in France. And its exciting. She is young, she wants opportunity, and they continue to keep in touch because she wants work. So they have a series of meetings in New York, and eventually he invites her to his home.

michael barbaro

Mm-hmm.

jodi kantor

And as far as what happens next, she actually tells the story in a press conference with Gloria Allred.

archived recording (mimi haleyi) It was not long, though, before he was all over me, making sexual advances. I told him no, no, no, but he insisted. And then I said, Im on my period. There is no way this is going to happen. Please stop. He wouldnt take no for an answer, and backed me into a room, which was not lit, but looked like a kids bedroom, with kids drawings on the walls. He held me down on the bed. I tried to get away, or tried to get him off of me, and kept asking him to stop, but it was impossible. He was extremely persistent and physically overpowering. He then orally forced himself on me while I was on my period. He even pulled my tampon out. I was mortified. I was in disbelief and disgusted. I remember Harvey afterwards rolling over onto his back saying, dont you feel were so much closer to each other now? To which I replied, no.

michael barbaro

And Jodi, whats the story of the second accuser remaining in this case?

jodi kantor

So the second woman is anonymous. She hasnt talked to journalists, as far as we know. So weve got kind of a minimal account here, but her allegation is the more complicated story.

michael barbaro

How so?

jodi kantor

Well, as soon as it becomes clear that this case is going to be part of the criminal charges, Harvey Weinstein says to his attorneys, get me my old emails. Get me my old emails. And what the emails show is a kind of warm, friendly tone between these two people.

michael barbaro

The accuser and Weinstein?

jodi kantor

Exactly, including after the alleged attacks took place. In 2017  this is a few years after the alleged attack took place  the woman says: I love you, always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call. :). In another one thats also from after the alleged attack, she talks about introducing Weinstein to her mother. Theres a lot of evidence that this is how Harvey Weinstein operated. There are a lot of stories in which, you know, for a long time after a terrible violation, he maintained kind of friendly relationships with these women. What the women say is that they were under a lot of work pressure to do so. This was the powerful producer. He had the ability to grant them roles, to make them producers, to give them job favors. Some of them say that they felt that their careers depended on kind of keeping up these friendly relationships with him afterwards, because he was in a position to give them work. In fact, there is a text message that Weinsteins lawyers have produced that Mimi Haleyi, that first accuser, sent him months after her alleged attack. The message, which comes to him, I think, through an assistant, says, Hi! Just wondering if u have any news on whether Harvey will have time to see me before he leaves? X Miriam, which is her full name.

michael barbaro

You know, as youre saying this, Im reminded of the reporting that you and Megan have done in which an offer of career help is just central to how Harvey Weinstein lures women into these situations.

jodi kantor

Thats exactly right. I mean, our finding was that the most powerful common strand of all of these allegations is that they involve the use of work as a form of coercion. Im a powerful guy. I can make this happen for you. I have a film role I can give you. Come look at a script. Thats the thing that so many of these stories have in common, but thats what also makes some of these stories complicated, right? One of the many reasons why so many of those cases are not the basis for criminal charges is because theres a kind of veneer of consensuality to them, and the risk for the prosecution is that these messages that were exchanged between Weinstein and his accusers, particularly the kind of I love you between him and the anonymous accuser, they could create that same sort of veneer of consensuality  that, essentially, they could make these cases also look like, hey, these dont belong in the criminal arena. And thats exactly what the defense is going to argue. Donna Rotunno, one of Harvey Weinsteins defense attorneys, had this to say this week to Vanity Fair. She said, I look at Harvey Weinstein and I say, Harvey Weinstein was the guy who held the keys to the castle that everyone wanted to get into, and what people did is that they used him and used him and used him and used him. They didnt look at Harvey and say, oh, god, hes the most gorgeous guy Ive ever seen and I want to go to his hotel room. They looked at Harvey and said, Harvey can do something for me. And so who was using who?

michael barbaro

What she seems to be saying is, he wasnt the predator. In some ways, shes arguing they were a kind of predator.

jodi kantor

Exactly. Thats whats so remarkable about the quote. Shes basically saying the women were the predators, and they used Harvey Weinstein.

[music]

michael barbaro

Im struck that this case thats moving forward feels less than we expected, when you think about the strength and the overwhelming power of the allegations that started to emerge from the reporting that you and Megan did two years ago. And Im having a little bit of a what is going on here? kind of moment in this case. We end up with these three charges. Lucia Evans is dropped because of complications, and the remaining charges may end up asking the jury to grapple with some very thorny and nuanced questions around consent. So how did we end up in this place?

jodi kantor

So let me tell you a story about an alleged Weinstein victim Ive been speaking to for a long time. She wouldnt come on The Daily, because shes still anonymous. In legal documents, shes referred to as Jane Doe.

genie harrison All right. Here we are, ready to go.

jodi kantor

But I was able to speak to her attorney, Genie Harrison

jodi kantor Hi, Genie. Its Jodi Kantor at The Times. How are you? genie harrison Hello, Jodi.

jodi kantor

And Genie Harrison describes a client who, like Lucia Evans, had a very difficult decision to make about what to do with her Weinstein story.

jodi kantor Well, lets just start. I want to ask you today to talk about your client, Jane Doe. Why was she coming to you? genie harrison Jane Doe was coming to me because she really felt she needed a lawyer who could help her navigate her involvement in the criminal investigations that were going on against Harvey, and help her understand her own rights.

jodi kantor

The reason why Jane Does story is so striking is that shes basically telling the story of Harvey Weinstein engaging her in a cycle of sexual abuse that lasts for years. It begins in 2013.

genie harrison At the time, shes 22. She was an aspiring actress and working very hard to try to get her break in the industry. Harvey was the major player in the business.

jodi kantor

He lures her to a hotel room in Park City, says its for work reasons, allegedly abuses her there. And then what she says is that Harvey Weinstein threatens her. You know, you cant tell anybody what happened, and Im going to ruin you if you dont play along.

genie harrison She was very concerned about the negative impact that he told her he would have if she didnt capitulate to his demands  if she didnt act as his friend. jodi kantor I want to ask you to read a couple of lines from the complaint you eventually filed on her behalf. Do you have the complaint in front of you? genie harrison I do.

jodi kantor

Now, one of the worst instances she describes takes place in March 2013 in New York. What she says is that she goes to Weinsteins office, and that hes telling her that hes going to give her a script.

genie harrison So upon entering his office, Jane Doe sat on the couch while Harvey Weinstein claimed to be looking for the script. However, soon after she sat down, he came into the room and kneeled in front of her. She was wearing a skirt, and she became uncomfortable and frightened immediately. Harvey Weinstein started telling Jane Doe that he couldnt find the script, but hed have someone email it to her. And then, immediately, hes telling her that she smells good, and he began touching her and moaning. She tried to scoot away, and she was begging him to stop, but he didnt. Instead, he pulls at her knees, saying, weve been dating for weeks, which was not accurate. And, I have been good to you. Now you need to be good to me. Weinstein then held Jane Doe down, removed her underwear, and instructed her to relax, telling her, relax. Hes much larger and stronger than she is, and when she said no, he again pushes her down, scolding her by saying that hes become irritated with her. And he then forcibly performed oral sex on Jane Doe. When Jane Doe began audibly sobbing, Weinstein told her, there is no reason to scream, and began berating her, saying things like, oh my god, youre so difficult. He told her that she, quote, was being stupid, end quote, and he then began lecturing her about how he and his people were all trying to help her, and asked her, do you even want to be an actress? He expressly reminded her that he was the gatekeeper to her dream by claiming, I slept with Jennifer Lawrence, and look where she is. Shes just won an Oscar.

jodi kantor

So I just want to say here, theres no indication that Harvey Weinstein actually slept with Jennifer Lawrence, and she denies it. What we have a lot of evidence of is that woman after woman says that, in the course of pressuring women, he would say things like, I slept with Gwyneth Paltrow, or I slept with Jennifer Lawrence, or I slept with Charlize Theron, and that it was part of that work, as a form of coercion. It was a message that, hey, if you do this, youre going to be successful.

michael barbaro

So like Lucia Evanss allegation, Jane Does story seems like a pretty strong candidate for criminal prosecution, right? It sounds like it falls within the statute of limitations. It happened in New York, and its an allegation of a criminal act, right?

jodi kantor

Based on what Jane Doe and her lawyer say, the case sounds potentially strong. Shes saved some communications with Weinstein. She told at least one other person afterwards, and also theres some evidence that Weinstein tried to pressure her to stay silent.

genie harrison Weinstein and his team were putting a lot of pressure on Jane Doe for her to mischaracterize what was happening between the two of them, and for her husband to confirm the mischaracterizations.

michael barbaro

And it seems like also, as in the case of Lucia, prosecutors recognize the potential strength of Jane Does case. And thats how she came to be Harrisons client, right? After prosecutors reached out to her.

jodi kantor

Right.

genie harrison So Jane Doe comes to me because shes been interviewed a number of times by the police in New York in relation to Harvey and what he did to her, and she feels really between a rock and a hard place, because she is being asked to be one of the victims on behalf of whom charges could be filed against Harvey  criminal charges  and shes terrified about what that would mean for her, and shes trying to figure out what her rights are and what she should do.

michael barbaro

So what does Harrison say about the conversation she has with Jane Doe once she agrees to take her on as a client?

jodi kantor

She says she tried to be really frank and just lay all of the options out on the table. She said, if you pursue a criminal case against Harvey Weinstein, this is what you will face.

genie harrison The defense attorneys defending Harvey Weinstein are going to hire private investigators, and theyre going to investigate you and everything they can find out about you, and try to find out anything they can use against you.

jodi kantor

Every aspect of your life is going to be scrutinized.

genie harrison The prosecutor is going to have to turn over evidence related to you  everything that they have in their file about you.

jodi kantor

Your personal life, your history, your exchanges with Weinstein  theyre all going to be on the table.

michael barbaro

Mm-hmm.

jodi kantor

And she tells Jane Doe about the process of cross-examination.

genie harrison Its about, attack the victim, blame the victim, malign the victim, and try to convince the jury that the victims the bad person here.

jodi kantor

And that if she wants to go forward, that is almost inevitably whats going to happen to her, no matter how terrible this alleged crime is, no matter how strong the case is.

michael barbaro

And does Harrison actually suggest to Jane Doe what she should do?

jodi kantor

She says she doesnt.

genie harrison What I typically tell clients in a situation like this is that they need to make decisions based on what they think their priorities are, and whats in their own personal best interest. They have to put themselves first, and so I encouraged her to do that. Typically, I proceed by having them outline what their immediate goals are and prioritize those so we can make a plan to achieve those goals. jodi kantor How much thought did she give it? genie harrison A tremendous amount of thought. She really grappled with this. She had a lot of internal conflict.

jodi kantor

So Jane Doe was left to wrestle with this really difficult decision of whether or not she should come forward. On the one hand, it would put her at great personal, and maybe professional, risk. But on the other hand, if women dont come forward, there can be no trial, let alone a conviction, for Harvey Weinstein.

michael barbaro

What does Jane Doe ultimately decide to do?

genie harrison In the end, charges were not filed on her behalf, because she felt that she really could not take the risk.

jodi kantor

She decides not to go through with it.

michael barbaro

Not participate in the criminal case?

jodi kantor

Exactly. And look, this is part of the explanation for how we get from 80-plus Weinstein allegations to two who are at the basis of this criminal trial. And there are a lot of different reasons for that, right? Weve talked about them. There are questions of time and place, and whether these are criminal acts, but theres also the question of the willingness of the women.

genie harrison I think probably the core issue that victims grapple with in sex abuse cases is whether or not to come forward. And if I come forward, how far do I go with this? And a sex abuse perpetrator, the sexual violence perpetrator, really benefits from what happens emotionally to the victims as a result of being victimized, which is the internal blame and shame and confusion and dissociation and repression that occurs inside of a victim. And so all of that is  its like a tornado or a hurricane inside of a victim, and having the clarity to somehow put that all aside and say, here are the specific actions I need to take and the deadlines by which I need to take them, it just doesnt work that way emotionally for victims.

jodi kantor

The kind of poll we heard from Lucia Evans, that determination to participate despite the obstacles  that same determination by Mimi Haleyi and this anonymous woman to remain as part of the process  I have to say, its pretty uncommon. Even after everything weve learned about the Weinstein story, even after all of these women coming forward, what criminal prosecution requires is the willingness of these female victims to participate, and there are so many reasons not to. It really demands so much of them, and what weve been seeing is that there just arent that many who are willing to do it.

michael barbaro

So there may very well be more women like Jane Doe out there who might have a strong criminal case against Weinstein, who clear all of these logistical hurdles and are eligible, but they arent willing to do this.

jodi kantor

There may be. We dont know the full picture, but this certainly helps explain how, with just a few months to go until trial, the prosecution is in a tough spot. But then, theres a development.

archived recording Now, the prosecution are also aiming to and hoping to bring in other women who have made accusations, brought in as witnesses to sort of build a stronger case.

jodi kantor

The prosecution has been very concerned with this paucity of womens voices in the trial, and theyve been seeking to address it through this very particular strategy.

michael barbaro

Mm-hmm.

jodi kantor

They want more women to be able to testify, alleged Weinstein victims who can paint a portrait of his pattern of predation. In New York, these are called Molineux witnesses. You may also see them referred to as supporting witnesses, prior bad acts witnesses. If you know this concept, it may be from the Cosby trial.

archived recording I want talk about this, the Cosby verdict, now 

jodi kantor

Because remember, that was sort of a similar situation. There were dozens and dozens of women who had come forward against Cosby, and yet the criminal trial rested, basically, on one woman. So in the first Cosby trial in 2017, those additional witnesses are not allowed, and it ends in a mistrial.

archived recording There was a big chance that Bill Cosby would walk out of this 

jodi kantor

In the second trial, the witnesses are allowed.

archived recording The five prior bad act witnesses, you know, really, really made a difference. I think the jury based it certainly upon the facts of the case, but I think the five accusers and the prior bad acts had a lot to do with his conviction.

jodi kantor

And Cosbys convicted. So the prosecution in the Weinstein trial really, really wants to include these kinds of witnesses, but for a long time, its not clear whether or not the judge is going to allow them. And then, he rules.

archived recording The Manhattan D.A.s office has said its going to call what we say are three prior bad act witnesses. That means other women 

jodi kantor

More womens voices are going to be heard in the course of this trial.

[music]

michael barbaro

This, Jodi, sounds like a very meaningful development for the prosecution.

jodi kantor

Its absolutely what the prosecution wants, but it cuts both ways, because remember, these witnesses can be cross-examined, and thats exactly what the defense is going to try to do. Theyre going to try to poke holes in these womens stories, as well. So what this means going into trial this week is that we still have no idea which way this is going to go.

michael barbaro

Well be right back.

archived recording More than two years after sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein ushered in the #MeToo movement, the disgraced movie moguls criminal trial is set to get underway in New York. Jury selection begins tomorrow.

michael barbaro

Megan, welcome back.

megan twohey

Hey, Michael.

michael barbaro

So we have been talking to you, Megan, and you, Jodi, over these past two episodes about the lead-up to this trial  how we got to this point in the Harvey Weinstein case, and now the trial is actually underway. And both of you were at the courthouse on Monday when it started. What was that like?

jodi kantor

Well, I was standing with some of Harvey Weinsteins alleged victims. These are women who are not part of the criminal trial for all of the reasons weve discussed, but they kind of want their moment. They want to look at him in the eye as the proceedings are about to begin. So theyve gotten there very early in the morning. Theyve been waiting. Theyre bundled up in the cold. The cars are coming by and they keep looking. Is that him? Is this him? And finally, this big, black S.U.V. pulls up, and Harvey Weinstein gets out of the car. And its like, this is the moment. Hes here.

archived recording [CAMERAS CLICKING]

jodi kantor

And one of the women tells me that she hasnt seen Harvey Weinstein in years and years since her alleged encounter with him. But he gets down out of the car, and hes using a walker. Hes sort of stooped. Hes recently had back surgery. Hes surrounded by his legal team, and he goes straight into the courthouse. He doesnt glance at the women. Its not clear if he knows that theyre there, and they sort of dont get this moment that theyve been waiting for.

rose mcgowan Thank you for being here. Dear Harvey 

jodi kantor

So at this point, the women cross the street, and they give their own press conference.

rose mcgowan I thank those testifying for standing not just for themselves, but for all of us who will never have even one day in court.

jodi kantor

Rose McGowan.

rosanna arquette I stand in solidarity with the brave survivors who will take the stand against Harvey Weinstein in this trial.

jodi kantor

Actress Rosanna Arquette says a few words. And basically, their message collectively is to say, look.

rosanna arquette We arent going anywhere.

jodi kantor

Even though were not part of this trial, our voices need to be heard.

rosanna arquette And times up on the pervasive culture of silence that has enabled abusers like Weinstein.

[music]

michael barbaro

And Megan, whats actually happening inside the courtroom on this first day?

megan twohey

So the courthouse is packed. People have been lining up since the crack of dawn to go in, but its a pretty straightforward proceeding. The judge is spelling out how things are going to unfold in the coming days and weeks as they round the corner into jury selection. So Jodi and I, after a little while, determined that there is actually not that much to see, and we hop on the subway to head back to the newsroom. Shortly after we get back to the office, I look at my email and theres a new message coming in from one of our colleagues whos saying that hes hearing that theres about to be news out of Los Angeles.

archived recording (jackie lacey) Good morning. Im here today to announce that my office has charged Harvey Weinstein with sexually assaulting two women in Los Angeles County.

megan twohey

That the Los Angeles district attorneys office is about to announce criminal charges against Weinstein in L.A.

archived recording (jackie lacey) Once the defendants case is completed in New York, we expect him to appear in a courtroom in Los Angeles County to face these charges.

megan twohey

There is a charge of rape stemming from what sounds like a very forcible and brutal encounter with a woman from Italy, and there is a charge of sexual assault stemming from an encounter that happened with another woman literally the day after the alleged rape.

michael barbaro

Is this something that you had any idea might be coming?

megan twohey

Well, remember that while New York has clearly been the most aggressive, there have been other jurisdictions that have been criminally investigating Weinstein, specifically L.A. and London. And we had actually heard some rumblings that L.A. might be on the verge of bringing criminal charges, but we certainly had no idea that those charges were going to be announced on this particular day  the day that Weinsteins criminal trial begins here in New York.

michael barbaro

So what does this seem to mean for the criminal case in New York, and what does it mean for Harvey Weinstein?

megan twohey

Well, Harvey Weinstein is facing ongoing legal trouble no matter what. Whether hes acquitted or convicted here in New York, hes going to face another prosecution in L.A.

jodi kantor

And big picture what this means is that sense of narrowness we talked about, that feeling that the allegations against Harvey Weinstein are so much bigger than whats on the table in these criminal trials, is now being replaced by a sense of expansion. Take the Molineux witnesses that have now been admitted in New York, add the Los Angeles criminal charges, and it now feels like these criminal proceedings are going to represent the kind of pattern of Harvey Weinstein allegations. So imagine a juror coming in with a truly blank slate and sitting in this courtroom, and shes listening to this anonymous accuser describe the story of rape. And the juror is trying to sort through the holes and the complications in the story. Shes trying to decide if this is really enough to send Harvey Weinstein to jail. But then she hears another witness tell a very similar story, and then another witness, and then another witness. That might matter.

[music]

michael barbaro

Megan, Jodi, thank you.

jodi kantor

Thank you.

megan twohey

Thanks, Michael.

michael barbaro

Heres what else you need to know today.

archived recording (justin trudeau) The news will undoubtedly come as a further shock to the families who are already grieving in the face of this unspeakable tragedy.

michael barbaro

American and Canadian officials have concluded that the Ukrainian passenger plane that crashed in Tehran on Wednesday night, killing all 176 onboard, was shot down by Iran.

archived recording (justin trudeau) The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile.

michael barbaro

The plane was shot down just hours after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at two U.S. bases in Iraq, and may have been confused by Irans military for a U.S. jet or rocket. And 

archived recording (peter welch) We cannot go to war without Congress being involved in the debate and the president telling us what his policy is going to be. I yield back 

michael barbaro

On Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to force President Trump to seek authorization from Congress before taking further military action against Iran. The vote reflects the growing skepticism within Congress over the presidents rationale for killing Iranian General Qassim Suleimani, and over the Trump administrations claim, made in a series of briefings to lawmakers this week, that it does not need permission from Congress to launch such an operation.

archived recording (mike lee) What I found so distressing about that briefing was that one of the messages we received from the briefers was, do not debate, do not discuss the issue of the appropriateness of further military intervention against Iran, and that if you do, youll be emboldening Iran.

michael barbaro

Lawmakers who sat through the administrations briefings, including Republican Senator Mike Lee, describe them as highly disrespectful of Congress.

archived recording (mike lee) I find this insulting and demeaning, not personally, but to the office that each of the 100 senators in this building happens to hold. Its un-American, its unconstitutional, and its wrong.

michael barbaro
Ten Irish businesses are vying to be crowned Ireland's most creative company. But will it be a case of talent scouts unveiling the next David Hockney or unleashing the next David Brent? asks Eve Kelliher

Employees across all sections of these companies have taken on the challenge of creating a piece of large-scale public art as TG4 in conjunction with Business to Arts seeks to find Irelands most Creative Company.

In the first episode The Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney competes against Maurice Ward, based in Dublin and Shannon, for a place in the grand finale of the competition.

Creative Company is a new arts-based competition and six-part series coming starting on TG4 from this Thursday, January 9, on a mission to find Irelands most creative workplace.

Are ordinary workers able to band together and create a piece art? Will a cleaner be more artistic than the CEO? Can a workplace survive the ultimate creative test that is the collaborative production of a large-scale piece of art?

The workers from all levels of the organisations will be encouraged to operate as a team and make the piece of art on their own premises from concept to completion, said Linda Ni Ghriofa of TG4.

Can a group of amateurs be transformed into an arts collective? Will we find the next David Hockney or the next David Brent?

Selecting ten companies and organisations from across the country, Creative Company pairs each with an accomplished Irish artist, throughout the entire process and working with the companies involved will be Dublin-based painter Brid Higgins Ni Chinneide and Liam de Frinse, an award winning multidisciplinary artist from Belfast.

The project is judged by a team of expert art critics, Evelyn ORourke, Broadcaster RTE; Caomhan Mac Con Iomaire, National Gallery of Ireland; and Helen Carroll, Business to Arts.

Five workplaces will make it to the grand final and a public vote will help decide which workplace created the most impressive piece of art and deserve to be crowned Irelands most creative company.

Participating companies are Circle K, Energia, The Gleneagle Hotel, Big O Taxis, Donegal ETB, The Dingle Hub, Standun, Donegal Yarns, Raidio na Life and Maurice Ward Transport. The winning company will not only claim the title of Irelands most creative, but their artwork will be put on public display in Dublins CHQ at the heart of Dublins business district for a period of three months. Who will be crowned Irelands most Creative Company?

Produced by EZ Films for TG4 in partnership with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, the series airs on Thursdays at 9.30pm on TG4.
In a world first, University of Sydney researchers have found evidence of how hydrogen causes embrittlement of steels. When hydrogen moves into steel, it makes the metal become brittle, leading to catastrophic failures. This has been one of the major challenges in moving towards a greener, hydrogen-fuelled future, where steel tanks and pipelines are essential components that must be able to survive in pure hydrogen environments.

Published in Science, the researchers found hydrogen accumulates at microstructures called dislocations and at the boundaries between the individual crystals that make up the steel.

This accumulation weakens the steel along these features, leading to embrittlement.

The researchers also found the first direct evidence that clusters of niobium carbide within the steel trap hydrogen in such a way that it cannot readily move to the dislocations and crystal boundaries to cause embrittlement. This effect has the potential to be used to design steels that can resist embrittlement.

Lead researcher Dr Yi-Sheng Chen from the Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis and Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sydney said these findings were an important step to finding a safe solution to produce, store and transport hydrogen.

"These findings are vital for designing embrittlement-resistant steel; the carbides offer a solution to ensuring high-strength steels are not prone to early fracture and reduced toughness in the presence of hydrogen," Dr Chen said.

Senior author Professor Julie Cairney from the Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis and Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sydney said these findings were a positive step towards implementing clean fuels.

"Hydrogen is a low carbon fuel source that could potentially replace fossil fuels. But there are challenges with the use of steel, the world's most important engineering material, to safely store and transport it. This research gives us key insights into how we might be able to improve this situation," Professor Cairney said.

Working in partnership with CITIC Metal, the researchers were able to directly observe hydrogen at microstructures in steels thanks to Microscopy Australia's state-of-the-art custom-designed cryogenic atom probe microscope.

###
Paving the way for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union later this month, British Parliament has voted in favour of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal.

Thursday's vote followed a third reading in the Parliament in which 330 members of parliament voted in favour and 231 against. With the passing of the deal, the biggest hurdle in the Brexit has been cleared.

It was the last opportunity for the MPs to reject the bill before it is sent to the House of Lords after which it will be put into legislation in the coming weeks. The UK's House of Commons has previously rejected the deal on three occasions.

The development has come following the re-election of Johnson in the election, which was called amid deadlock over Brexit. The ruling Conservative Party had struggled to finalise a Brexit agreement which has faced opposition and rejection by British lawmakers in the Parliament for the past several months.

Johnson had repeatedly said that the UK will leave the EU by October 31, the previous Brexit deadline, before he was forced to seek a three-months extension from Brussels after lawmakers voted against the new withdrawal agreement in the Parliament.

Brexit has dominated British for the last three years which included the resignation of former Prime Minister Theresa May.

Johnson's plan, agreed on last October after months of frosty stand-offs with European leaders, replaces May's Northern Irish backstop mechanism with a de facto customs border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As the Supreme Court opens the Tata-Mistry dispute case on January 10, the immediate relief that the appellants Ratan Tata and Tata Sons seek will be a stay on the order of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), which reinstated Cyrus Mistry as the chairman of $110 billion group. But the apex court's final order in the matter will also be important as the dispute has now boiled down to two key issues - conversion of Tata Sons into a private firm and a board position for the minority shareholder Shapoorji Pallonji group.

The plea will reach a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant. Tata group is expected to line up a battery of top lawyers, including Abhishek Singhvi, Rajiv Nayyar, Harish Salve, Amit Sibal and Mohan Parasaran. Mistry is likely to continue with the same team at NCLAT, which include Aryama Sundaram, Arun Kathpalia and KG Raghavan.

The fact is that both the parties have billions of dollars worth interests at stake. Mistry wants to protect his family's shareholding of 18.37 per cent in the holding company Tata Sons, while Tata targets to block the re-entry of Mistry in the group in any roles.

Also read: Ratan Tata moves Supreme Court seeking stay against NCLAT's order to restore Cyrus Mistry

What do the parties expect from the Supreme Court?

After the ouster from Tata Sons in 2016, Cyrus Mistry has changed a lot, besides growing a salt-and-pepper moustache and beard, says an industrialist in the know. His fight is to restore the rights of his family, which they held before 2011-12. Also, he wants to reconvert Tata Sons into a public limited company from private. The board position will help them to involve in the decision making process of Tata group.

If the Supreme Court grants a director post on the board of Tata Sons, Cyrus Mistry may not mind walking into the board from where he was sacked with less than an hour's notice, another source in Mumbai business circle told BT. "Cyrus doesn't want anything more than that," he said.

Also read: Tata Sons-Cyrus Mistry case: NCLAT dismisses RoC petition to modify order

Mistry said on Sunday that his fight is not for the executive chairmanship of Tata Sons or the directorship in any Tata companies. "I will however vigorously pursue all options to protect our rights as a minority shareholder, including that of resuming the thirty year history of a seat at the board of Tata Sons and the incorporation of the highest standards of corporate governance and transparency at Tata Sons," he said.

Businesstoday.in reported first, immediately after the NCLAT order that Mistry has retired his dreams of going back to Bombay House, the headquarter of Tata group, as the chairman. "Mistry is a mature man, who fought for stitching up the wounded pride of his family. He wanted the family name to come clean and not be perceived as predators by the public," a source close him told BT on December 18.

Also read: TCS moves Supreme Court against NCLAT order reinstating Cyrus Mistry

The 82-year-old industrialist Ratan Tata wants a blanket stay on the NCLAT order. He wants to ensure that Mistrys don't come back to the group in any roles. He moved the Supreme Court, challenging the NCLAT order, which found him guilty of taking "oppressive and prejudicial steps" against Mistry. In the absence of a stay on NCLAT order, there would be chaos in the functioning of the group, he said in the petition. Strongly criticising the judgement, Tata alleged that the appellate tribunal has propagated a selective narrative by glossing over the record.

Also read: Tata vs Mistry case: Supreme Court to hear Tata Sons' petition on January 10

Also read: NCLAT restores Cyrus Mistry as executive chairman of Tata Group
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 07:02:20|Editor: ZX

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said on Wednesday that Iran launched 16 short-range ballistic missiles from three locations within Iran in Tuesday's attack.

Esper told reporters that, among the 16 missiles, 11 hit the Al-Asad base and at least one hit the base near Erbil, adding that the missiles damaged tents, taxiways, parking lots and a helicopter.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Pentagon confirmed Iran's launching of more than a dozen ballistic missiles against at least two military bases housing the U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps claimed responsibility for the missile attacks, saying that they were meant to retaliate the U.S. killing of General Qassem Soleimani.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 15:03:07|Editor: xuxin

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SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Wednesday pledged to address the city's "acute" housing and homelessness challenges by building 50,000 new homes for those in need in the next decade.

In an inauguration speech that marked her first full four-year term as San Francisco mayor following her November re-election, Breed said she is committed to working toward the goal of building more affordable housing and fighting homelessness while she is in office.

"Our housing problems ... are the result of decades of almost intentional under-building, and the decision decades ago to down-zone almost three-quarters of the city and ban apartments," she said.

She said that San Francisco does not have a housing crisis because "crises are unpredictable." Instead, she said, the city is facing "a housing shortage" in connection with policy decision.

"Over the next decade, in addition to our work preserving thousands of permanently affordable homes, we need to build at least 50,000 new homes, at least 17,000 of which should be affordable," said Breed.

During the first two years when Breed served the remaining term of her predecessor Ed Lee, who died suddenly in December 2017, she has set a goal of adding 1,000 new shelter beds for the homeless in the city by the end of 2020.

"Homelessness isn't just a problem, it's a symptom. The symptom of unaffordable housing, of income inequality, of institutional racism, of addiction, untreated illness, and decades of dis-investment," she told about 700 people who witnessed her swearing-in at City Hall in downtown San Francisco.

She said she will work hard to fight homelessness, which is a "national epidemic" caused by low income, rising costs of living, and skyrocketing housing costs, along with the existence of extensive drug use.

"These are the problems. And if we're going to fight homelessness, we've got to fight them all," she added.

Following the death of Lee in 2017, Breed became the first African American woman to be elected into the mayoral office. She won her re-election in November 2019, with more than 70 percent of the vote.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously reversed $35 million in damages against the Jehovah's Witnesses, ruling the church did not violate Montana's mandatory reporting statute when it did not report child sexual abuse by a Thompson Falls congregation member to local authorities.

Two women sued the church in 2016 for failing to report previous abuses by Maximo Reyes to the police and allowing him to return to the congregation, where he preyed on another girl, 8-year-old at the time, for years. Judge James Manley had granted Alexis Nunez her negligence claim against the church for not reporting Reyes' abuses. The jury, left to decide only the damages against the church, awarded Nunez $4 million in compensatory damages and $31 million in punitive damages.

Wednesday's Supreme Court opinion, written by Justice Beth Baker, concluded that Manley erred in ruling that officials in the Jehovah's Witnesses were under a mandatory duty to report two congregants' disclosure of sexual abuse by Reyes. Montana's mandatory reporting statute, Baker wrote, allows exemptions for established church practices  in this case, handling child abuse reports internally  in determining whether reports can remain confidential.

This is a very disappointing decision, particularly at this time in our society when religious and other institutions are covering up the sexual abuse of child victims, said Jim Molloy, the Bozeman attorney representing Nunez in the case.

Through a spokesman for the Jehovah's Witnesses, attorney Joel Taylor said Wednesday there are "no winners" in a case that involves child abuse.

"No child should ever be subjected to such a debased crime," said Taylor, who represented the Jehovah's Witnesses, in an emailed statement. "Tragically, it happens, and when it does Jehovahs Witnesses follow the law. This is what the Montana Supreme Court has established. Jehovahs Witnesses remain committed to helping parents protect their precious children.

Reyes was "disfellowshipped" in 2004 after admitting to molesting a young girl and her brother, according to court documents. An attorney at the legal department of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, headquarters of the Jehovah's Witnesses, relayed to Thompson Falls elders that Montana law did not require them to report Reyes' abuse to local authorities, so they didn't.

In 2005, the elders reinstated Reyes at his request. Nunez, then an 8-year-old girl, would later tell the elders he sexually assaulted her on a near-weekly basis for the next two years.

Nunez's attorneys argued Reyes' earlier admission to church elders should not fall under the confidentiality protections for church doctrine or established church practices, such as a confession. Further, Nunez's attorneys argued that it was ultimately up to the elder to report the child abuse to local authorities.

But the Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that disclosing the abuse to authorities would have been a violation of the church's established practice  that elders handle the matter internally  which falls under an exemption of Montana's mandatory reporting statute.

"This court's task is to interpret what is contained in the reporting statute as written by the Legislature," Baker wrote in the decision. "We do not opine whether that body could have made a different policy choice that would afford greater protection to a child victim. The Legislature is the appropriate body to entertain such policy arguments."

This story will be updated.

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London: Prince Harry and Meghan will dip into a vast personal fortune to pay for their "financial independence" from the royal family but will retain taxpayer-funded security and live in a home recently renovated at a cost to the British public of more than $5 million.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their bombshell split from the House of Windsor on Wednesday, London time, in a statement that blindsided the Queen and forced Buckingham Palace to take the extraordinary step of publicly urging the pair to reconsider.

Declaring their intention to spend more time on their "next chapter" in North America with son Archie, the couple said they would seek financial independence by sourcing their own private income, which senior members of the royal family are prohibited from receiving.

Harry has accumulated substantial wealth after inheriting millions from his mother, Princess Diana, and a large share of the tens of millions of pounds the Queen Mother transferred to a trust fund before her death.
FLINT, MI  An 18-year-old Montrose Township man has been charged with seven felony counts after using a gun to break into a Flushing Township home.

The teen, whose name is not being released as hes not yet been arraigned, is charged with first-degree home invasion, discharging a firearm at a building, carrying a concealed weapon, two counts of felony firearm, and two counts of resisting and obstructing police.

Officers with the Flushing Township Police Department were dispatched around 3 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 7 to the 5000 block of Meadowbrook Lane off Carpenter Road for an unknown trouble call.

We determined it was an occupied home invasion where several shots were fired into the residence, Flushing Township Police Chief Mark Bolin previously said. The shots appear to have been fired to assist in forcing entry in the home.

Suspect in custody after shots fired during attempted Flushing-area home invasion

Two people were inside the home at the time of the incident.

No injuries were reported, Bolin said.

The suspect attempted to take some items from the home, but he was unsuccessful. No information was provided by the police on the items.

It appears that the police intercepted (the suspect) while he was coming out of the garage, said Bolin.

The suspect also allegedly shot at a vehicle in the driveway and resisted officers attempts to restrain him during his arrest, according to a Thursday, Jan. 9 news release from the Genesee County Prosecutors Office announcing the charges.

Without going into too much detail, this was an isolated incident and police indicate the defendant does have a past connection to this particular home although no connection with the current homeowners, said Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton.

The suspect is in custody and is believed to be the only person involved in the incident.

Police did not find any other property damaged by the shots that were fired.

Flushing Community Schools issued a statement Tuesday morning regarding gunfire in the subdivision located across from the districts middle school.

The suspect is scheduled to be arraigned Friday, Jan. 10 in Genesee District Court.
Bhopal, Jan 9 : Soon after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Thursday declared the upcoming Deepika Padukone-starrer "Chhapaak" tax-free in the state even before its release on Friday, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has followed suit.

Like Nath, Baghel also made the announcement on Twitter and praised the film for its subject. The film is based on the life of the acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal.

The film, helmed by Meghna Gulzar, is set to hit the screens on January 10.

"Meghna came to me with the script and I was instantly drawn to Meghna's honesty, to Laxmi's story and her journey. I felt like it was very very powerful and I felt like as an actor, I definitely wanted to be a part of the film. Even as a person, I felt like there's a really strong narrative in Laxmi's life, and I wanted the world to see that," Deepika had told IANS earlier.

It was back in 2005 when Laxmi, then just 16, was attacked by a 32-year-old man who threw acid on her because she had turned down his proposal. She didn't let the incident pull her down.

Laxmi went on to work as director of a non-profit Chhanv Foundation and also associated with campaign Stop Acid Attacks.

Deepika was left so impressed by Laxmi's story, among other things, that she decided to be attached to the film as a producer too.

"We finished the narration and I said yes to the film. I said, 'wait a second, should we produce this film as well?' Meghna was open to the idea. She and I came on board as producers and then we went around to studios and had Fox (Fox Star Studios) join us," she said.

The film's narrative leans on Laxmi but Deepika says it's not a biopic.

"It also throws light on acid violence in our country," she said.
Sir Desmond Swayne pictured in 2016 (Tajikistan Presidency Press Office/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

A Tory MP has said people who receive benefits need help with how to spend their money.

In a blog about local food bank use on his website, New Forest West MP Sir Desmond Swayne called for more understanding of peoples spending habits as he discussed childhood obesity.

He has been MP for the Hampshire constituency since 1997 and won a 24,403 majority in last months general election.

The former private secretary to David Cameron wrote this week: I do believe that we need to get at more a fundamental understanding of how recipients of benefits actually spend the welfare payments that they receive.

A file image of Sir Desmond Swayne asleep in the Commons in 2018 (PA)

The shocking statistic is that one in five of our children is obese by the time they leave primary school, and that this disproportionately affects those children in the lowest household incomes.

He went on: To put it bluntly (and in the terms that elicited shouts of protest at the hustings): the poorest are amongst the fattest.

Sir Desmond Swayne pictured in 2010 (REUTERS/Toby Melville)

The conclusion that I draw is that their families need, in addition to welfare payments, help with how to shop more cost effectively and healthily.

Of food banks, he wrote: There was a measure of surprise when I stated my view that food banks were a proper and welcome response by voluntary organisations and individuals to a need that exists and which it is difficult for state agencies to address.

Read more from Yahoo News UK

The image that shows how powerful Boris Johnson will be in this Parliament

New Tory MP calls for breweries to make 'celebratory' Brexit beer

Scottish Tory leadership hopeful defends saying people on benefits can't have as many children as they like

There never was a golden age when the need that food banks address did not exist. When families or individuals experience a crisis they make use of food banks because they need to, and because they are available. In times before food banks existed they would, in the first instance, rely on the wider family for help, and in desperation they might even have recourse to loan sharks. Food banks address a need, and we should thank those volunteers who give their time, money and substance.

Story continues

On Wednesday, Scottish Tory leadership hopeful Michelle Ballantyne defended past comments in which she said people on benefits cannot be allowed to have as many children as they like.

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Frances petty-bourgeois New Anticapitalist Partys (NPA) statement on the US state murder of Iranian General Qassem Suleimani, is a barely veiled declaration of support for war with Iran that brands the NPA as a bitter enemy of the international working class.

The NPA admits that Washingtons cold-blooded murder of a popular, widely-respected figure was aimed at provoking a major war. Across Iran and Iraq, millions attended funeral processions for Suleimani or protested this terrorist killing ordered and openly glorified by Donald Trump. One thing is certain, the NPA writes. Iran will respond, directly or through one of its armed proxies, since the insult caused by Suleimanis death is too great, both in the eyes of regime and of the population, to be met with inaction.

Nonetheless, the NPA insists Iran should not be defended against military or terror attacks by Washington or its European imperialist allies. Passing over in silence the danger of an all-out war, the NPA instead blares out its own war propagandaadvancing the lie that Iran, a former colonial country, is in fact an imperialist power, and personally slandering Suleimani as a mass murderer.

It asserts, Anti-imperialism cannot ignore contradictions of the international and regional situation and give in to the oversimplification of a black-and-white vision of social and political dynamics. US aggression cannot in that sense lead us to absolve Iran of its reactionary, expansionist policy, both inside and outside its borders, or its alliance with Putins imperialist Russia.

Underlying the NPAs sudden re-definition of Iran and the post-Soviet capitalist regime in Russia as imperialist is the pro-war politics of this pseudo-left party of the affluent middle class. The NPA can barely conceal its outrage at the eruption of opposition among Iranian workers to the murder of Suleimani, who led Iranian units that defeated the nine-year CIA-led war in Syriaa war the NPA ardently supported.

Demanding that Suleimani not be built up as a martyr, the NPA adds: It is he who, among other disgraceful military acts, directed the Iranian intervention, alongside Russian forces, aimed at destroying the anti-Assad uprising, which led to hundreds of thousands of dead and millions of refugees and displaced people.

The NPA shamelessly adds: This nuanced analysis in no way signifies a weakening of our absolute opposition to the imperialist policies of the United States or its allies, on the contrary.

In fact, this analysis is a pack of lies to hide the fact that the NPA sits squarely in the camp of the CIA and allied factions of Frances imperialist ruling elite.

Responsibility for the millions of dead and tens of millions of refugees created by three decades of war from Iraq to Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria lies not with Iran, but with the powers that launched them: Washington and its European allies. They exploited the Stalinist regimes 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, the main political and military counterweight to imperialism, to pillage a strategic, oil-rich region. Underlying mass outrage at Suleimanis murder is deep opposition among workers internationallyincluding in the imperialist countriesto these wars.

The NPAs support for a US war drive against Iran is the outcome of a long, pro-war evolution of the privileged, politically rotten layers of the post-1968 petty bourgeois student movement from which the NPA is drawn. They joined the union bureaucracy and various factions of academia, which are bribed by corporate subsidies and have close ties with the military and intelligence services. Particularly as Washington launched wars in Libya and Syria in 2011, they came out in open support of imperialist wars of plunder.

As NATO started bombing Libya, Bertil Videt, a leader of Denmarks NPA-linked Red-Green Alliance, denounced ready-made slogans about always being opposed to imperialist aggression. He admitted that France, UK, and the US are not driven by some sudden kindnessbut by strategic interest in the oil-rich region and expressed doubts that they were genuinely moved by the human rights situation in Libya. Nonetheless, Videt concluded, none of these points are, by themselves, arguments for opposing the no-fly zone over Libya.

NATO bombings and CIA-backed Islamist militias managed in six months to conquer Libya, which fell into a nine-year civil war. The NPAs fraudulent promises of democratic revolution in Libya gave way to the reality of a reign of terror by rival CIA-linked militias, as the European Union built Libyan concentration camps in which thousands of refugees are enslaved, raped and murdered. The NPA, however, was on to marketing the CIAs next warthis time in Syria.

NPA former presidential candidate Olivier Besancenot, who had vocally demanded that France arm the Libyan militias, came out even more aggressively for arming CIA-backed militias in Syria, dismissing their publicly acknowledged ties to Al Qaeda. Washington, the Persian Gulf sheikdoms and the European powers spent billions arming their proxy militias. Besancenots calls became even more insistent as Tehran, fearing that the devastation of Syria could bring down Assad, intervened militarily against the CIA-backed forces.

Paris, Besancenot stated in 2014, should graciously give weapons to the Syrian revolutionaries. Dismissing the fact that weapons were going to Islamist militias, who less than a year later carried out terror attacks in France itself, he said: To those who say, We should above all not give arms because they will end up with the jihadists, well, that is already the case.  It is my principle as an internationalist to have confidence in the peoples to decide on their own destiny.

The CIAs Islamist proxies in Syria went down in defeat, however, as they lacked any popular base whatsoever, despite the NPAs cynical attempt to pass them off as democratic revolutionaries. With Iranian and Russian forces counterbalancing US and Turkish support for CIA-backed rebel militias, they collapsed, aside from in a few regions near the Turkish border.

The NPAs venomous hatred for Suleimani reflects the bitter frustration of the well-connected middle class elements making up this party, who are livid at the defeat in Syria. This frustration is rooted in their material class interests, hostile to those of the working class. They are angry that their trade unions and universities will now receive smaller payoffs and grants from the French state and oil companies than what they would have received, had Washington and its allies and Islamist proxies succeeded in conquering Syria and Middle East.

The NPAs attempts in its current statement to package its line as an anti-imperialist critique of Trumps Iran policy are laced with deceit. Criticizing French President Emmanuel Macrons statement of solidarity with Washington in a phone call to Trump, it writes: This is the position of a lackey of US imperialism who, after a naked act of aggression, denounces the state that is the victim while supporting the aggressor state.

But it is the NPA that is denouncing Iran and downplaying the dangers posed by the US war drive in the Middle East, because the NPA itself is a lackey of imperialism.

An international radicalization of the working class and resurgence of the class struggle is underway. Just days before Suleimanis murder, mass protests against the Iranian-backed neo-colonial regime set up by the 2003-2011 US occupation of Iraq were erupting across that country, as mass strikes against Macrons austerity policies unfold in France. The NPAs response has been entirely reactionary. When everything depends on unifying workers internationally in struggle against imperialism and the war danger, it has sought to divide them with war propaganda against Iran.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 20:32:46|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Internet businesses made efforts last year to improve cyber and personal information security, according to the 2020 China Internet Industry Annual Conference.

Held by the Internet Society of China, the annual conference also released 10 demonstrative cases showcasing the Internet enterprises' fulfillment of their social responsibilities.

In one case, China's service-focused e-commerce giant Meituan Dianping generated temporary virtual phone numbers for users when they purchased takeout food or booked hotels to protect their privacy.

Qihoo 360, a leading cybersecurity firm in China, blocked about 850 million malicious attacks and 18.75 billion nuisance calls for Chinese mobile phone users last year, as showed in another case.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 9, 2020 - 14:23 | World, All

The Seoul Central District Court on Thursday rejected wartime labor compensation claims against Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. from 54 plaintiffs, citing insufficient evidence to prove their recruitment.

The 54 were among 63 who had filed compensation lawsuits against the company. The court still ordered Mitsubishi Heavy to pay one male plaintiff 10 million won ($8,600) in damages, while rejecting claims by the remaining eight over procedural issues.

In explaining the ruling, the court said the fundamental principle of civil procedure is that to find a defendant liable, plaintiffs must be found to have been forcibly recruited into coal mines or workshops operated by it.

The plaintiffs sued Mitsubishi Heavy in 2013.

In 2018, South Korea's top court ordered Mitsubishi Heavy and another Japanese company to compensate groups of Koreans over forced labor during Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

Since then, lower courts in South Korea have issued similar rulings against Mitsubishi Heavy and a few other Japanese companies.

The rulings and subsequent legal moves against the companies' assets in South Korea have strained ties between Japan and South Korea, whose relations are often roiled by historical disputes.

Japan maintains that the issue of compensation was settled under a 1965 bilateral agreement, and that South Korea needs to take action because the compensation orders are in contravention of the accord.

The plaintiffs in Thursday's case had the backing of a South Korean group that has brought lawsuits against numerous Japanese companies. But they are not included in a list of Koreans certified by the South Korean government as victims of forced labor.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs said those whose claims were rejected Thursday were not able to gather relevant evidence or did not have enough recollections to prove their case.

Related coverage:

South Korea court takes pass on judging comfort women deal with Japan

Abe-Moon talks, Seoul's donation plan could lead to improved ties

Japan, China, South Korea to fortify ties for North Korea denuclearization
Rouhani: Ultimate revenge is to end US presence in region

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 08 January 2020 11:25 AM

President Hassan Rouhani says ending the United States' presence in the region will be the "ultimate revenge" to be exacted on Washington by the regional nations.

President Rouhani was addressing a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday, after Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) struck two US bases in Iraq in response to an American drone strike that assassinated Commander of the IRGC's Quds Force Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad on Friday.

"We believe that the US should receive its chief response from the nations of the region," the Iranian president said. "They cut off dear General Soleimani's hand in this atrocity. The revenge for this is for us to sever and cut off the US's feet from this region."

Among others killed in the drone airstrike was the second-in-command of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Soon after the assassinations, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Washington was to face a "harsh revenge" for the atrocity.

Early on Wednesday, the IRGC fired volleys of ballistic missiles at Ain al-Assad Airbase in the western Iraqi Anbar Province, and another outpost in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, both of which housed US forces. There have been initial reports of casualties.

Rouhani said Washington would not be able to avoid the repercussions of the assassinations as the atrocity had "seared the hearts of hundreds of millions of freedom-seeking people in the world."

Contrary to the US's divisive intentions, Lt. Gen. Soleimani's assassination strengthened the unity between the Iranian and Iraqi nations, President Rouhani said.

The first response the US was dealt with after the assassination manifested itself in the form of arduous millions-strong funeral processions held across Iran and Iraq for those martyred in the assassinations, the Iranian president said.

He also expressed gratitude for Iraq's top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for condoling with Ayatollah Khamenei over Soleimani's martyrdom.

He described the consolatory message as "a big slap on the mouth" of the US given the fact that the religious authority was a figure revered by Iraqis of all religious affiliations and ethnicities.

Warning to America

Rouhani pointed to a recent vote by the Iraqi parliament in favor of withdrawal of all US-led forces from the Arab country and said, "Through its courageous vote, the Iraqi parliament paved the way for the US's eternal expulsion from Iraq, and, God willing, the region in the future."

"Americans would be wise not to perpetrate any more atrocities at this juncture," Rouhani said. However, he added, should they commit any such mistake, the Iranian people and Armed Forces are prepared for countermeasures.

He warned that another act of aggression by the US would be met with "a stronger response."

The chief executive, meanwhile, denounced the US's way of pinning attacks that target its interests in the region on what Washington calls "Iran's proxy forces."

"We do not maintain any proxy forces since, nations today are free, and no force in any country acts under our command," Rouhani said.

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Rohan Patil

Bulls on the Street took a pause due to the geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran.

The session of January 8 was a super volatile one for the benchmark index which opened more than 100 points lower, following the global clues but witnessed sharp recovery in the second half of the trading session.

A gap-down opening on January 6 had forced Nifty to break its falling wedge pattern on the daily chart. Generally, after the breakdown of such a bearish reversal pattern, prices normally face selling pressure in further trading sessions.

The index has broken its 21-day exponential moving average which is placed around 12,125 and is likely to form a bearish candle on the weekly chart ahead of the weekly expiry.

As long as the index trades below 12,150, the probability of retesting the lows of 11,800 remains high. Some relief for bulls can be expected on a close above 12,250.

Overall, the market, at the current stage, is definitely reacting sharply to the US and Iran news, so prices are not respecting any technical and fundamental levels. But certainly, this situation will be short-lived and the market will be back to normal soon.

Here are three buy calls for the next 3-4 weeks:

Phillips Carbon Black | Buy | LTP: Rs 125.15 | Target: Rs 137 | Stop loss: Rs 119 | Upside: 9.46%

After consolidating in a narrow range of Rs 105 - 125, the stock has witnessed a breakout above its downward sloping trendline which is placed at 122.85 level on the daily timeline.

Overall structure looks positive as of now as prices are trading above its 21, 50 and 100-day exponential moving averages.

Momentum oscillator RSI 14 on the weekly chart has given breakout above its horizontal trendline and is currently reading above 50 level with positive crossover.

Jubilant Foodworks | Buy | LTP: Rs 1,731 | Target: Rs 1,880 | Stop loss: Rs 1,640 | Upside: 8.60%

On the Weekly chart, Jubilant Foodworks has given a breakout above its eight-week consolidation range, which is placed around Rs 1,696 levels which is a positive indication for the future.

Moreover, prices are trading above its 50 and 100-day simple moving averages, which is positive for the counter in the medium-term on the weekly time frame.

Momentum oscillator RSI 14 on the monthly chart has formed a double bottom pattern and is currently reading above 65 levels with positive crossover.

The RSI 14 reading is suggesting a reversal in trend from bearish to bullish as the indicator reversed from 50 levels with a positive divergence.

DCB Bank | Buy | LTP: Rs 188.40 | Target: Rs 205 | Stop loss: Rs 179 | Upside: 9%

After a prolonged correction, the stock has given a falling wedge pattern breakout on the daily interval. The stock has retraced almost 78.60 percent which is placed at Rs 163 from a low of Rs 139.85 to a high of Rs 244.65.

Momentum oscillator RSI 14 has rebounded from 35 levels and Is currently reading near 50 level on the weekly chart.

(The author is a Technical Analyst at Bonanza Portfolio)

The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
(CNN)  US forces and air-defense missile batteries across the Middle East were placed on high alert overnight Monday to possibly shoot down Iranian drones as intelligence mounted about a threat of an imminent attack against US targets, two US officials tell CNN.

The alert reflects the heightened tensions between the US and Iran in the wake of last week's US drone strike that killed a top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani. US officials have claimed the strike against the general was carried out to prevent an "imminent" attack in the region that would have put American lives at risk, but have so far declined to provide details about the intelligence.

US intelligence also has observed Iran moving military equipment, including drones and ballistic missiles, over the last several days. US officials said the movement may be an Iranian effort to secure its weapons from a potential US strike, or put them in positions to launch their own attacks.

"There were indications that we needed to monitor the threats" even more closely than is already being done, one of the US officials said, referring to Monday night's state of heightened alert. The second official described it as "all Patriot batteries and forces in the area on high alert" against an "imminent attack threat."

Iran has put missiles on its drones that have been used in other attacks, including a significant attack on Saudi oil installations last year. While forces have already been on high alert for several days, they were even more vigilant Monday night, both officials said.

Based on the intelligence, the US was watching for potential attacks specifically against US locations in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. On Monday, the US Maritime Administration issued a warning to commercial vessels operating in the Middle East that "there remains the possibility of Iranian action against U.S. maritime interests in the region."

On Tuesday Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the US is closely monitoring Iranian activity.

"We watch them very closely, we see their movements. I don't want to get anymore into that because it starts to get into intelligence issues so I'll just leave it at that," he said.

US officials again decline to provide intelligence behind attack

The decision to kill Soleimani has touched off a fresh crisis between the US and Iran. In an interview with CNN's Frederik Pleitgen on Tuesday, Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif called the drone strike an act of "state terrorism."

"This is an act of aggression against Iran and amounts to an armed attack against Iran, and we will respond. But we will respond proportionally not disproportionally," he said. "We will respond lawfully. We are not lawless people like President Trump."

Later Tuesday morning, national security adviser Robert O'Brien said the US had intelligence leading to the Soleimani killing that American diplomats, facilities and military personnel were at risk of attack.

"He was plotting to kill, to attack American facilities and diplomats, soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines (who) were located at those facilities, correct," O'Brien said during a gaggle with reporters at the White House.

O'Brien would not provide additional details on the threat, only saying the US had "strong evidence and strong intelligence."

Pressed as to whether there continues to be an imminent threat, O'Brien said, "I think the Iranians are talking about retaliating every day in the open sources and we're monitoring it and we're taking it very seriously."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also declined on Tuesday to present direct evidence on imminent threats against the US in the region, saying at a press briefing at the State Department that he had answered such questions during TV interviews earlier this week.

"There's been much made about this question of intelligence and imminence," Pompeo told reporters. "Any time a president makes a decision of this magnitude, there are multiple pieces of information that come before us." He added that senior officials presented Trump with the threats "in broad detail."

"If you're looking for imminence, you need look no further than the days that led up to the strike that was taken against Soleimani," Pompeo said, referring to the death of an American contractor in Iraq in late December. He said the action against Soleimani "fit perfectly within our strategy" for countering Iran.
A California school district has become the latest to sue JUUL Labs, saying the e-cigarette maker's online ads and promotions illegally targeted minors.

The lawsuit, from the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD), claims this led to a vaping 'epidemic' that has 'severely impacted' the district by interfering 'with normal school operations.'

JUUL is the most popular e-cigarette brand and currently controls about 70 percent of the e-cigarette market.

Several schools allege they've had to chase students out of bathrooms and install detectors in an effort to prevent teens from vaping.

The lawsuit follows four similar suits filed by schools districts in Los Angeles, Glendale, Compton and Anaheim.

The San Diego Unified School District has sued JUUL Labs Inc for allegedly targeting teenagers and forcing the schools to bear the expense of preventing students from vaping

'As a native San Diegan, this is an important lawsuit for our communities and students,' attorney John Fiske of Baron & Budd, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of SDUSD, told NBC San Diego.

'We are holding JUUL accountable for its unscrupulous marketing practices and dangerous products.'

The district is seeking damages to cover the financial losses it suffered as a result of student absences, because attendance is directly tied to revenue from the state.

School officials also say the district has had to pay for programs about the health risks of vaping, surveillance cameras, vape detectors and extra staff to monitor the school for e-cigarettes.

'Our district is in the business of educating students in a healthy and safe environment,' SDUSD Superintendent Cindy Marten said in a statement.

'This lawsuit supports district goals by holding JUUL accountable for its harmful marketing practices and unsafe products.'

Other lawsuits against the e-cigarette maker have been filed by school systems in St Charles, Missouri; Olathe, Kansas; Long Island, New York; and Seattle, Washington.

A number of states have also filed suits including Arizona, California, New York, North Carolina in addition to the nation's capital, Washington, DC.

This year, an epidemic of mysterious lung illnesses linked to vaping has swept the nation, sickening 2,561 people and killing 55 Americans in 27 states and DC.

Most of the victims who've fallen ill are male and under the age of 35, with the ages of those who have died ranging from 17 to 75.

Health officials have charged that teens and young people account for the majority of illnesses because flavored e-cigarettes were marketed towards them.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say vitamin E acetate, a diluting agent used in many THC vaping products, is the 'cause' of the majority of cases.

Although JUUL's products contain nicotine, not THC, politicians have used the epidemic to try and regulate the e-cigarette maker.

Lat week, the US Food and Drug Administration's announced a ban on most flavored e-cigarettes to curb the rise of youth vaping.

Only two flavors, menthol and tobacco, are being sold in stores.

In a statement to FOX 5 San Diego, a spokesperson for JUUL said the claims from the district were 'without merit.'

'Our customer base is the world's one billion adult smokers and we do not intend to attract underage users. To the extent these cases allege otherwise, they are without merit,' the spokesperson said
The market closed with a marginal loss amid volatility on January 8 with the Nifty defending the psychological 12,000-mark. It started the day sharply lower by falling a percent amid the fear of escalation in geopolitical tensions after Iran forces fired missiles on the US troops at Iraqi airbases.

The BSE Sensex slipped nearly 400 points in the morning but erased most of the losses to end just 51.73 points lower at 40,817.74. The Nifty 50 declined 27.60 points to 12,025.40, forming a big bullish candle as closing was higher than the opening tick.

According to the pivot charts, the key support level for Nifty is placed at 11,954.93, followed by 11,884.57. If the index moves up, key resistance levels to watch out for are 12,070.33 and 12,115.37.

Nifty Bank closed at 31,373.65, down 0.08 percent on January 8. The important pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 31,031.59, followed by 30,689.5. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 31,583.79 and 31,793.9.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, top market experts recommend which stocks to bet on for good returns:

Ashwani Gujral of ashwanigujral.com

Buy Jindal Steel & Power with a stop loss of Rs 172, target of Rs 184

Buy NIIT Tech with a stop loss of Rs 1710, target of Rs 1760

Buy L&T Finance with a stop loss of Rs 116, target of Rs 128

Buy ICICI Bank with a stop loss of Rs 520, target of Rs 545

Buy Jubilant Food with a stop loss of Rs 1710, target of Rs 1760

Sudarshan Sukhani of s2analytics.com

Buy Shree Cements with stop loss at Rs 22000 and target of Rs 23300

Buy Torrent Power with stop loss at Rs 282 and target of Rs 297

Sell Bank of Baroda with stop loss at Rs 96.5 and target of Rs 94

Sell NMDC with stop loss at Rs 123 and target of Rs 119

Mitesh Thakkar of miteshthakkar.com

Buy Bharti Airtel with a stop loss of Rs 454 and target of Rs 474

Buy Ramco Cement above Rs 813 with stop loss of Rs 802 and target of Rs 838

Buy UltraTech Cement with a stop loss of Rs 4284 and target of Rs 4390

Buy Adani Ports with a stop loss of Rs 381 and target of Rs 399

The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
GIVEN THAT IRAN ROCKETS MISSED KANSAS CITY AND EVERY OTHER TARGET: SHOULD WE THANK PREZ TRUMP?!?! OR DID THE U.S.A. JUST GO DOWN THE ROAD TO INEVITABLE NUCLEAR WAR?!?!

PREZ TRUMP SAVED THE WORLD FROM HIMSELF?!?!

Donald Trump Not Causing Nuclear War Is What Now Qualifies as Good News in America, Hooray? White House Says It's Happy to Disclose Secret Service Spending on the Trump Clan-After the Election Fake News Might Have Just Stopped a War What We Know So Far About the Mysterious Plane Crash in Iran Last Night Iran's Missile Attack on U.S.

Left Outrage As MSM Tacitly Admit Prez Trump Victory

Time Magazine Editor's Take On Trump's Handing of Iran Is Probably Going to Anger Liberals Source: AP Photo/ Evan Vucci Ian Bremmer, Time magazine's at-large editor, is no fan of the Trump administration, but his take on how the president has handled the Iran situation should anger liberals. He called it a win for the White House. Last week, President Trump killed Iranian Maj. Gen.

Iran's Options in a Showdown with America Are All Bad | National Review As long as Trump replies with air power disproportionate to any Iranian attacks, he governs the tempo of the confrontation. After losing its top strategist, military commander, and arch-terrorist, Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian theocracy is weighing responses. One, Iran can quiet down and cease military provocations.

GOP Man Of The Hour?!?!

Ann Coulter: 'We Thought Trump Was Different' About Starting Wars Politics (Photo credit PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images) Conservative author Ann Coulter bemoaned President Donald Trump's escalation of tensions with Iran in a tweet Monday, saying that his supporters thought he would be "different." "All Republican presidents run on keeping us out of war, as Eisenhower, Nixon," Coulter wrote. "Reagan actually did.

Tucker Paused Prez Trump

Tucker Carlson delivers program's largest audience during Iranian missile strike coverage Tucker Carlson Tucker Carlson The Hill's 12:30 Report: Trump says Iran 'standing down' after missile strike Lawmakers clash on war powers after Soleimani strike Tucker Carlson: 'America appears to be lumbering towards a new Middle East war' MORE 's primetime Fox News program delivered its highest-rated show during breaking news coverage of Iran's missile attack on military facilities housing U.S.

Fact Check: Many Progressives Also Love Burying The Salami!!!

The case for killing Qassem Soleimani This is the second of a two-part series examining the arguments for and against the Trump administration's decision to kill Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Read the case against the targeting of Soleimani . Last Thursday, the Trump administration authorized a drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's paramilitary forces and one of the most powerful men in the country.

WTF: MSM Public Opinion Polling Still Favors Hillary?!?!

Exclusive: Americans say Soleimani's killing made US less safe, Trump 'reckless' on Iran Americans by more than 2-1 say the killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani has made the United States less safe, a nationwide USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds, amid broad concerns about the potential consequences ahead. A majority of those surveyed, by 52%-34%, called Trump's behavior with Iran "reckless."

Speaker Nancy Targets Prez Trump War Powers With Greater Accuracy Than Iran " Hold Me Back " Attack

Trump calls on all Republicans to oppose Crazy Nancy Pelosis War Powers Resolution President Trump called on fellow Republicans to oppose a resolution meant to place restrictions on his ability to take military action without congressional approval, as the House prepares to vote on the measure late Thursday.

Kansas City nuclear annihilation is postponed until at least after the Super Bowl.In the meantime, locals get to enjoy revamped Bush-doctrinetalking points in defense of Prez Trump -- An unorthodox leader who either literally got away with putting out a successful hit on a terroristjust renewed the American contract as the world's policeman whilstDon't take geopolitical advice from bloggers, TKC is merely a local yokel who thinks that Rachael Maddow guy can be convincing even though the dude seems really mad most of the time. Don't get it twisted, the prostitutes showing tasteful cleavage and just a hint of thigh meat on Fox News also make a lot of great points.But I digress . . .We're here to chew bubble gum and talk politics . . . And so we ask . . .To be fair and apropos for #TBT, Prez G.W. Bush and Gen. Colin Powell probably started the nation down this path long ago with ancourtesy of Saudi "allies" and the space monkeys behind the fake moon landing and Royals World Series victory.And so we share some of our favorite news links from "many sides" on this topic for edification nd to further local understanding of opinions mostly crafted by way of watching the most attractive personcould find to read a teleprompter . . .You decide . . .
Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi on Thursday said the payment of cash equivalent to the quantum of rice for the beneficiaries of free rice scheme is being made as per the directions of the Central government.

In her whatsapp message, Bedi said there were several advantages of remittance of cash to bank accounts of beneficiaries of the scheme.

A difference of opinion emerged between Bedi and the Chief Minister V Narayanasamy on the modality of implementation of free rice scheme.

While the Chief Minister kept insisting that beneficiaries of the scheme should be supplied only rice not the cash equivalent of the quantum of rice, the Lieutenant Governor opposed it saying payment of cash should be adopted.

The matter was referred to the Union Home Ministry in July and the Home Ministry approved of the stand of the Lt Governor and directed payment to beneficiaries through bank accounts.

Bedi said all the families benefiting from the free rice scheme were now receiving cash under the DBT (direct benefit transfer) system and were now having 'a choice to buy rice from the open market at the time when he or she needs the rice and also the quality and quantity the consumer wants.'



The former IPS officer said the money was also going directly to the beneficiaries' accounts without any leakage.

"Every month, crores of rupees are being saved because of direct transfer of money," she maintained.

Referring to the issue over appointment of State Election Commissioner, Bedi said it was another matter wherein the direction of the Home Ministry to select the SEC through a selection committee was being followed.

She said her office worked only for the welfare of all the people ensuring accountability in its functioning.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
To find out more about the direction the Democratic Party in New Mexico is taking as 2020 carries us toward the November election,

Weekly Alibi

chatted with Miranda van Dijk, the new Communications Director for Democratic operations.
The United States had three hours warning of the missile strikes after Iran tipped them off via a European embassy and ensured their plans of an attack were easily detectable, U.S. officials claim.

The Iranians prepared for the missile strikes on two Iraqi airbases housing American troops by intentionally making sure U.S. intelligence could detect the plans via satellites and eavesdropping, the officials told TIME magazine.

Intelligence managed to pick up the threat of strikes about three hours before they actually took place, according to the U.S. officials.

One official said the hours-long warning enabled a U.S. military officer to visit one of the bases in Iraq and warn them of when and where the missiles were expected to strike.

The revelations are in stark contrast to remarks made by the top U.S. military officer on Wednesday just hours after President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested Iran was 'standing down'.

A satellite image (above) of the Ain Al Assad Airbase after Iran's missile attack showing the damage caused to the site after Iran launched ballistic missiles

U.S. officials say they had three hours warning of the Iranian missile strikes after Iran tipped them off about the attacks via a European embassy

Army General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said earlier that Iran's missile attack intended to kill U.S. personnel at Iraq's al-Asad airbase.

His remarks suggested that Iran was, and perhaps still is, willing to risk major U.S. retaliation.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi had earlier revealed that Iran had given him a tip-off about the missile strikes, which they were able to pass on and give troops time to seek shelter in bunkers.

Mahdi said Iran did not give specific locations to him but said they would only target locations where U.S. forces were present.

As the missiles were raining down, Mahdi said he received a call from Washington to say they already knew of the assault.

Trump on Wednesday tempered days of angry rhetoric and suggested Iran was 'standing down' - as both sides looked to defuse a crisis over the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general.

Trump said the United States did not necessarily have to hit back after Iran's attack on military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq, itself an act of retaliation for the January 3 U.S. strike that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani.

Trump said no Americans were hurt in the overnight attacks.

Trump on Wednesday tempered days of angry rhetoric and suggested Iran was 'standing down' - as both sides looked to defuse a crisis over the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general

The Pentagon said Iran had launched 16 short-range ballistic missiles, at least 11 of which hit Iraq's al-Asad air base and one that hit a facility in Erbil but caused no major damage.

'The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it. American strength, both military and economic, is the best deterrent,' Trump said.

'Our great American forces are prepared for anything. Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world,' he said.

Trump said the United States 'will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime' in response to what he called 'Iranian aggression.' He offered no specifics.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, addressing a gathering of Iranians chanting 'Death to America,' said the missile attacks were a 'slap on the face' of the United States and said U.S. troops should leave the region.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had said the strikes 'concluded' Tehran's response to the killing of Soleimani, who built up Iran's network of proxy armies across the Middle East. He was buried in his hometown, Kerman, after days of national mourning.

'We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression,' Zarif wrote on Twitter.

Asked if perhaps Iran would see this as an incomplete mission, given the lack of U.S. fatalities, General Milley said: 'I think it's perhaps too early to tell.'

Iraqi security forces clear away pieces of shrapnel from the Ain al-Asad airbase after it was struck by ballistic missiles fired by Iran as part of operation 'Martyr Soleimani'

Wreckage of a missile that was fired at Ain al-Asad military base in western Iraq but failed to explode on impact

Milley said he and others in the military 'fully expect' Shia militia groups in Iraq, backed by Iran, to carry out attacks against U.S. and U.S.-led forces in Iraq and Syria: 'That's a very real possibility.'

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, standing alongside Milley, cautioned that the U.S. military remained 'poised and ready.'

Milley and Esper offered the most detail to date about the Iranian missile attack overnight, telling reporters at the Pentagon that Iran fired 16 short-range ballistic missiles from at least three locations inside Iran.

At least 11 of them hit al-Asad, while at least one other missile hit a facility in Erbil, Iraq. The others failed in flight. Esper said targets hit included tents, a helicopter and a parking lot and there was no major damage.

Milley noted the missiles had 1,000 to 2,000-pound warheads on them, each with significant explosive power and 'kill radius.'

'I believe, based on what I saw and what I know, is that (the strikes) were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft and to kill personnel. That's my own personal assessment,' Milley said.

'But the analytics is in the hands of professional intelligence analysts. So they're looking at that.'

Milley and Esper said actions taken by military personnel safeguarded lives, as well as early warning from U.S. military systems that detect such missile activity.

Milley noted that bases like al-Asad have scatter plans, bunkers and protective gear to help protect forces that come under attack.

Esper and Milley said they were unaware of any heads-up from Iraq about the coming attack, after Baghdad said it was notified by Tehran of the strike.

'We tried to give them a quick heads-up from here,' Esper said.

President Donald Trump says 'all is well' and 'so far so good' as the damage and casualties continue to be assessed after Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing American troops
Harry Hains, who starred in the TV series American Horror Story: Hotel and The OA, has died at the age of 27.

Harry's mother, 66-year-old Hollywood actress Jane Badler - who is best known for the Eighties soap opera Falcon Crest - took to Instagram on Thursday to share the news.

'He was 27 and had the world at his feet,' she wrote. 'But sadly he struggled with mental illness and addiction. A brilliant spark shone bright too short a time... I will miss you, Harry, every day of my life.'

Jane did not disclose her son's cause of death.

Model and actor Harry Hains, who starred in American Horror Story: Hotel and The OA, has died at the age of 27. Pictured in 2015 in Westwood, California

A funeral service will be held at the Hollywood Forever cemetery in Los Angeles on Sunday, January 12.

Harry shared his last Instagram post - a celebratory New Year's Eve photo with a female friend - just seven days ago.

He wrote in the caption: 'To 2020! The new era has already begun. So let's all keep only moving forward, staying so present to enjoy each and every moment throughout this beautiful new beginning.

'Happy New Year, peeps. So much love and gratitude for all in my life.'

Harry's mother, Hollywood actress Jane Badler who is best known for the soap opera Falcon Crest, took to Instagram on Thursday to share the news. 'He was 27 and had the world at his feet,' she wrote

Harry was best known for his work on American Horror Story with producer Ryan Murphy.

Hains played a victim of Jeffrey Dahmer in the Hotel version of American Horror Story in the episode Devil's Night that aired in 2015.

After appearing in several short films, the actor was seen in three episodes of the TV series The Deleted where he played a desk clerk.

In 2018 Harry was paired with Alexis Nichols in the film I, Matter about a college girl in Los Angeles who contracts AIDS.

Harry was best known for his work on American Horror Story: Hotel. Hains played a victim of Jeffrey Dahmer in the episode Devil's Night that aired in 2015; Hains is pictured here without a shirt next to Seth Gabel, right

He had another break in 2019 when he was cast as Noah an episode of The OA called Angel Of Death.

That led to a bit part in the movie Chase about a hit man.

His future looked promising as he had filmed the movies Mirrors and Caihong City. The budding star was also in the middle of playing Jake Hopper in the movie The Mangled. And he was announced for the TV mini series Xtra Life with Nadine Nicole.

Harry was raised in Melbourne, Australia and was studying pre-med when he decided to move to London to pursue modeling and acting.

Harry shared his last Instagram post seven days ago (above). He captioned it: 'Let's all keep only moving forward, staying so present to enjoy each and every moment throughout this beautiful new beginning'

He later moved to New York, before settling in Los Angeles where he began modeling then turned to acting.

Harry was also a musician performing under the name, ANTIBOY, an alter ego he described as a 'gender fluid robot from the future'.

Harry identified as gender fluid, according to a March 2019 interview with Boys by Girls magazine. The article referred to Harry using 'he' and 'him' pronouns.

'I know that I am born male but I don't think I represent what it means to be a man,' he said.

'I believe we should be whatever we want. It gets kind of confusing when we start labelling ourselves so I try to stay away from labels.

Here the actor is seen with his American-Australian actress mother Jane (left) on her Instagram page

Harry, pictured far left, is seen here in a rare family photo shared by his mother Jane who has her husband Stephen behind her

Claim to fame: Jane is pictured in 1983 as Diana in the American science fiction series V

Hit show: Her name became more recognizable in 1986 when she joined the cast of the soaper Falcon Crest alongside veteran actress Jane Wyman. Badler played Meredith Braxton in at least 22 episodes (not pictured)

In 2010 she had success with the Australian soap opera Neighbours in which she played Diana Marshall

'I grew up in Melbourne and I had a very open and accepting family. Dating someone of either sex didn't make a difference to me.'

He told the same publication that he had suffered from a 'serious sleeping disorder' (idiopathic insomnia) as a child, and had a tendency to be 'self-destructive'.

Harry's mother, Jane, was born in New York City but eventually settled in Australia after she married businessman Stephen Hains.

Harry identified as gender fluid, according to a March 2019 interview with Boys by Girls magazine. The article referred to Harry using 'he' and 'him' pronouns

The social media favorite was raised in Melbourne, Australia. He was studying pre-med there when he decided to move to London to pursue modelling and acting. He later settled in Los Angeles

Jane got her start in 1968 on the soap opera One Life To Live before she landed a role on the series The Doctors in 1982. Next came a smaller role on the series V from 1983 until 1985.

Her name became more recognizable in 1986 when she joined the cast of the soaper Falcon Crest alongside veteran actress Jane Wyman. Badler played Meredith Braxton in at least 22 episodes.

She stayed on TV for several more years as she appeared in The Highwaymen with Sam Jones and then the Mission: Impossible TV series in which she played Shannon Reed opposite Peter Graves from 1989 until 1990.

In 2010 she had success with the Australian soap opera Neighbours in which she played Diana Marshall. She is currently filming the movie The Lies We Tell Ourselves.
HYDERABAD: The Republic Day is just a fortnight away but there is a huge shortage of Tricolour in Hyderabad due to the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, NRC and NPR. According to reports, the supporters and opponents of the controversial citizenship law have been using Tricolour during their rallies and demonstrations, which has led to an acute shortage of the national flag in the Muslim-dominated city.

Hyderabad, which is considered to be a stronghold of Asaduddin Owaisi's party AIMIM, is likely to witness a ''Tiranga Rally'' on Friday and the flag makers are working overtime to meet the demand for the Tricolour.

A huge flag - 25 feet in width and 12 feet in height - is being readied for the Tiranga Rally during which thousands of protestors will hold the Tricolour in their hands to protest against the CAA, NRC and NPR.

Live TV

The AIMIM rally will begin from Mir Alam Idgah to Shastripuram in the city outskirts on January 10. Owaisi, who had announced that he would hoist the National Flag at Charminar on the Republic Day, had ordered 10 feet by 30 feet Tricolour.

Sheikh Osman, proprietor, SK traders, which makes flags of all the parties in India and is also one of the biggest suppliers of Tricolour, said that the sales are high but supply of national flag has been hit.

Osman further said that nearly 10 lakh flags were sold in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh since the CAA, NRC, NPR stir began three weeks ago.

In Hyderabad alone, more than three lakh flags were sold. Owaisi's party has kept one of its activists at this shop to expedite the supply of national flag in view of the proposed mega rally.

Imran, the AIMIM activist, said that the demand for the Tricolour is expected to rise in huge numbers till the Republic Day as well.




The Sussexes have returned to royal life. After a lengthy hiatus away from the cameras and the public, where they spent quality time as a couple and with their infant son, Archie Harrison, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have returned to the U.K. and their royal duties.

The duo kicked off their 2020 schedule with a visit to Canada House. They spoke with Janice Charette, High Commissioner in Canada to the U.K and her staff about their picturesque Canadian holiday. Additionally, the pair got to visit an art exhibit by Indigenous Canadian artist Skawennati.

Though the visit to Canada House was the perfect way to begin their duties in the New Year  things are about to get extremely hectic for the Sussexes.

Prince Andrews scandal has Prince Harry and Meghan Markle working overtime

Just before the Sussexes headed out on their holiday, Prince Andrew was effectively booted out of the royal family (at least publically). The Duke of York had been a senior royal for his entire life. However, following the death of late financier and sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, Prince Andrews relationship with Epstein was called into question.

After a terribly received interview on BBC Newsnight, the duke stepped away from his royal duties. However, this left a gaping hole in the royals organizations and charity work. Prince Charles, Duchess Camilla Parker Bowles, the Cambridges, and the Sussexes will be forced to pick up the slack.

You might see William, Kate, Harry and Meghan involved in this, Daily Mirrors royal editor Russell Myers explained on Pod Save the Queen. They will be lumbered with a lot more work, youd imagine. [Andrew} was a patron of 230-odd charities, it is an awful lot.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle must define Sussex Royal

One of the reasons why 2019 was such a hectic year for Markle and the prince was because they were all over the place. After splitting with Prince William and Kate Middletons organization, they seemed to flounder a bit. In 2020, they must define the Sussex Royal branch of the royal family.

The duo is already making strides. Theyve trademarked Sussex Royal. The trademark covers printed materials  like magazines and booklets  as well as clothing items, education, social care services, and charitable fundraising. Also, it appears that the Sussex Royal Foundation will be a global organization.

They are expected to make their plans clear soon, royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told Express U.K. There are likely to be important celebrity links to their future charitable work such as Harrys collaborating with Oprah Winfrey for a TV documentary series on mental health due to be aired this year.

This is why Meghan Markle and Prince Harrys 2020 schedule will be so hectic

The Sussexes took such a long break because they knew how chaotic this year would be. Theres a hell of a lot of work to be done and things to be talked through but a very useful conversation, Prince Harry said. Additionally, the pair seemed to have calmed rumors that they will be abandoning the U.K. for Canada or the United States.

They also feel energized and are looking forward to returning to royal duties, something their unwise ITV documentary on their Southern Africa tour put in doubt, Fitzwilliams explained. The global reach of their Sussex Royal Foundation is potentially vast. When Harry spoke of a hell of a lot of work to be done he was obviously referring to the importance of helping others. We will see where things go from here but expect a pretty full royal program for the Sussexes after their six-week break. We also look forward to learning details of their future charitable activities and of further patronages.

With Markles nod towards her sister-in-law, Kate Middleton by wearing the Duchess of Cambridges favorite jewelry designer to Canada House, it appears that the Sussexes are also looking to mend fences this year too.
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He was once the fun-loving young royal famously caught with his trousers down playing strip billiards in a Las Vegas hotel suite with his mates.

But Prince Harry has since swapped partying for posturing on a range of 'woke' issues with his wife Meghan Markle.

From preaching about environmentalism to carving emotional messages in cupcake icing sugar, Harry's hobbies have markedly shifted over the years.

His cheeky grin was once a staple at Royal events, and his overseas trips would showcase a charismatic young man who would always try to have a laugh.

And his time touring Afghanistan with the Army displayed a dedicated team player unafraid of mucking in with the rest of the soldiers.

Yet the Prince - who on Wednesday announced he and Meghan will quite public life - has now drawn accusations of grandstanding.

A picture timeline plots Harry's transition from the life and soul of the party to becoming the 'Prince of Woke'.

From fun loving bloke...

Splash Harry: Partying in Las Vegas in 2012 - on the same holiday, leaked pictures saw him playing strip billiards (left). Right: Harry visits a technical school for less privileged students in Nepal in 2016

Happy chap: With Mutsu, six, at a children's home in Lesotho, South Africa, in April 2006. The Prince was in the country to launch his new charity called 'Sentebale', which means 'Forget me not' in memory of his mother Diana Princess of Wales

Cheeky kiss: With then girlfriend Chelsy Davy at the Concert for Diana at Wembley in 2007, ten years after his mother's death

Having a ball: Harry puts the boot into William during a visit to to Semongkong Children's Centre in Lesotho in 2010

Dressing up: With Kates sister Pippa Middleton at William and Kates wedding in 2011 (right). Having a laugh: Harry with his brothers girlfriend Kate Middleton at a service at St Georges Chapel, Windsor, in 2008 (left)

Dashing: Copying spring legend Usain Bolt's iconic pose in 2012 in Jamaica following a race between the Royal and the Olympian

Force of nature: Harry at an Army training camp in Afghanistan in 2013. His time touring Afghanistan with the Army displayed a dedicated team player unafraid of mucking in with the rest of the soldiers

... to the Prince of Woke

Flower power: Harry visits a technical school for less privileged students in Nepal in 2016 (left). In the shades: Watching an aboriginal cleansing ceremony at Lake McKenzie on Fraser Island, Australia, in October 2018

Tear we go: Comforted by host Gaby Roslin as he gets upset at the WellChild awards last October

Healthy obsession: Harrys powerful message on social media in August last year to raise awareness for those with spinal muscular atrophy who cannot afford drugs
Mustafa is no stranger to life as a refugee. Since the start of the crisis in 2011, the 36-year-old from Ras al Ain near Syrias northern border with Turkey has fled to neighbouring Iraq with his family on no fewer than five occasions, only to return when the situation stabilized.

But after escaping the most recent violence to sweep through his hometown in October, this time he says he is not sure when  or even if  they will go home.

Every time we left before, I knew we would be going back soon. We would stay in Iraq for three or four months until the situation improved, then return, he explained. But this time I dont think it will be so easy. Weve lost our home, our furniture, our merchandise, our land, our car. It is a very difficult situation.

Since the outbreak of fighting across north-east Syria at the start of October, some 19,300 people have sought refuge in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).

Mustafa had been braced for the threat of fresh fighting, but was still surprised by how quickly the situation deteriorated. We saw many people fleeing, so we thought there must be something happening, he said. People around us received calls saying that an attack was imminent, but before we were able to flee the bombardment started.

He took his wife and five children in a convoy of cars together with nearly 50 members of their extended family and headed to nearby Tal Tamer. Fearing further attacks there, however, they made their way to the Iraqi border in a stop-start journey of some 200 kilometres, which lasted five days and left his children terrified.

There was chaos, the roads were not safe, Mustafa said. The experience has affected the mental state of my children. Even now, when they see a civilian plane flying overhead, they get scared.

After crossing into KRI, the family were brought to Bardarash refugee camp, which lies between the cities of Duhok and the regional capital Erbil, and is currently host to more than 7,500 Syrians.

"We are fed up."

As with all new arrivals, UNHCR  the UN Refugee Agency  and its partners provided Mustafa and his family with tents, mattresses, blankets, rugs and other essential items including kitchen sets, kerosene heaters and fuel. At least we are safe, but the situation here is still very hard, Mustafa said of the camp.

I feel miserable and weak having to leave my home, as if I am a beggar having to ask people for help, he said. I am 36 years old, but I feel like Im 90. We are fed up."

The owner of a motorcycle sales business back in Syria, Mustafa wanted to do what he could in the camp to alleviate his sense of helplessness and provide an income. He constructed makeshift premises and borrowed money from relatives to purchase stock, and opened a small stall behind the familys tent selling basic groceries, soft drinks and snacks.

Having the shop makes me feel that at least I am doing something useful for my family, he explained. Despite the small profits, I am able to make a living.

"My kids are sick and tired of this life."

Mustafa expressed his concern at the prospect of potentially spending months living in tents, with hazards such as fires and the bitter winter weather playing on his mind. But it is the long-term impact of repeated displacement on his family, particularly his children, that cause him the greatest anguish.

My priority is to provide a living for my family, so they can have what they need  enough clothes, food, and a good education so they can have a better life, he said. My role is to provide for them, but our circumstances keep on getting worse every year, and this time we have lost everything.

My eldest daughter is 14, but she still cant read properly because her education has been disrupted so many times, he added. My kids are sick and tired of this life, and if they cant even go to school, what kind of future will they have?
Heres the thing about wartime presidents: They tend to win re-election.

It isnt always pretty. George W. Bush won the popular vote in 2004 by the lowest margin of victory ever for an incumbent president. And, sure, some presidents have chosen not to run for re-election in the face of low approval ratings  like Lyndon Johnson during the Vietnam War and Harry Truman during the Korean War.

But generally, when the United States is at war, or approaching it, Americans keep their commander in chief.

I thought about that electoral history as I watched President Trump address the nation from the White House this morning, after Iran fired missiles at two bases in Iraq that house American troops.

Standing in front of a phalanx of cabinet secretaries and uniformed senior military officers, Mr. Trump strove to craft an image of unity after days of conflicting and confusing messages about his order last week to kill one of Irans most powerful generals.
As the two Congress leaders met the visiting envoys in Jammu and Kashmir, Congress' top leadership has issued a show-cause notice to them. Sources said that the two leaders include Bilal Ahmed Shah who contested the Lok Sabha election. On Thursday, a group of 15 foreign envoys has embarked on a two-day visit to J&K so that they can ascertain the situation in the region The visit has been facilitated by the government of India. The envoys are from the US, South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Maldives, Morocco, Fiji, Norway, Philippines, Argentina, Peru, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, and Guyana.

Amid foreign envoys' visit to J&K, Supreme Court to deliver verdict on lockdown tomorrow

The scrapping of special status of J&K

A Presidential order combined with the passage of the requisite legislation in both House of the Parliament in early August led to Article 370 becoming virtually redundant. Along with this, the state was bifurcated into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. The restrictions in the region have been reduced gradually with the improvement in the security situation.

BIG: BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi says JNU V-C must resign, calls attitude 'deplorable'

15 member delegation visits J&K

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar on Thursday elaborated on the delegation's visit to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir during his weekly press briefing. Kumar said, "A group of 15 resident heads of Foreign Missions are on a two-day visit to the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. The visit is being facilitated by the government of India. The envoys, who are a part of the group are from US, South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Maldives, Morocco, Fiji, Norway, Philippines, Argentina, Peru, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, & Guyana."

No deviation from HRD Ministry's fee hike 'formula': JNU VC

Specifying the itinerary of the delegation, he said they held high-level meetings with security officials to get a consensus on security measures in Jammu and Kashmir and to understand the threat posed by terrorism while maintaining peace and security in the UT. After the meeting, there was an interaction with civil society members from all walks of life who came from all over the UT. The group also interacted with the local media which was followed by interaction with several political leaders. Kumar stated that they will have more meetings after which they will proceed to Jammu and for a few more meetings, after which they will return to New Delhi.

(picture from ANI)

READ: 'Free Kashmir' Poster Spotted In Mysuru During Protests Against Attack On JNU Students
(Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. is unveiling new cloud tools designed for retail customers, seeking to position itself as an alternative to Amazon.com Inc. and corporate software companies like Slack Technologies Inc. and Salesforce.com Inc.

Microsoft is adding a feature to its Slack rival, the Teams corporate chat program, that lets store workers push a button to turn their mobile phones into walkie-talkies for in-store communications. In a speech on Jan. 12 at a retail industry event, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella plans to discuss how Ikea shifted more than 70,000 workers to Teams, using the service for meetings and chat. The home furnishing giants largest store, in Stockholm, also started using a scheduling feature to manage the shifts of 150 restaurant staffers.

Ikea is also working with Microsoft to determine if Teams can play a role in its store of the future concepts. The Swedish company may put video screens in stores that use Teams to connect customers with kitchen design advisers, said Kenneth Lindegaard, an Ikea vice president. The company plans to have the rest of its 165,000-person workforce on Office 365 cloud software and Teams by the end of spring, although Ikea still has some smaller groups using Slack and Googles G Suite, he said. Ikea also uses Microsofts Azure and Google Cloud, he said.

The retail industry has been one of Microsofts most successful as the software maker tries to gain ground in cloud computing against market leader Amazon Web Services and lure more customers to its internet-based Office products. Some retailers are loath to work with e-commerce rival Amazon. Nadella and Google Cloud chief Thomas Kurian are set to speak next week at the annual show of the National Retail Federation, the biggest retail trade group, underscoring how significant the industry is to Amazons biggest cloud competitors.

A key part of our offering is that we partner and we dont compete, said Shelley Bransten, the vice president who oversees Microsofts work with retailers and consumer goods companies. But there are other benefits to working closely with retailers, she said in an interview. Some of the software products built for retailers will be useful for companies in other industries.

Story continues

For example, the walkie-talkie feature in Teams can help manufacturers, said Emma Williams, a Microsoft vice president who is charged with adding features to Office and Teams for use by customers in health care, retail, manufacturing and finance.

Microsoft explained the new features in a blog post Thursday ahead of Nadellas speech in New York, the CEOs first appearance at the retail conference.

Retail customers are also key to Microsofts competition with Salesforce, the leader in cloud-based customer relations software. Microsoft announced the official release of its Dynamics Commerce software for helping retailers manage inventory, scheduling, call centers, e-commerce sites and in-store operations. The company said outerwear maker Canada Goose Holdings Inc. has been using it.

Microsoft also provided new details on how some previously announced Azure customers are working with its products. One year ago, Microsoft said Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. would begin using Azure and deploy Microsoft 365a collection of software that includes Windows 10, Office cloud services and security and mobile-management softwareto the pharmacy giants more than 380,000 workers. Now Walgreens will try Microsofts HoloLens 2 goggles for worker training and the drugstore chain also is using Microsoft products to anonymously track shoppers steps, in order to better plan store layouts.

Microsoft is also targeting another lucrative Amazon business  digital advertising for products on retailers websites. In August, Microsoft acquired New York-based PromoteIQ, which helps companies like Kroger Co. and Kohls Corp. sell ads on their websites to companies who want prime placement for their goods. Nadella will announce Home Depot has also signed up for the service.

To contact the author of this story: Dina Bass in Seattle at dbass2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Pollack at apollack1@bloomberg.net, Jillian Ward

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

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2020 Bloomberg L.P.
This year may bring sticker shock for publicly traded U.S. companies when they get their insurance bill.

The risks of being sued have skyrocketed and the price of insurance premiums is rising right alongside, especially for liability insurance to cover directors and officers, or D&O.

Insurance broker and consulting firm Woodruff Sawyer said D&O costs for IPO companies have quadrupled in the last two years. Aon, an insurance broker to Fortune 500 companies, said its clients are paying a median 24% more in premiums from a year ago.

The rate of suits filed against companies has soared an estimated 150% over the last decade. In 2018, nearly 1 in 10 S&P 500 companies was the target of a securities class-action lawsuit, according to research published by insurance giant Chubb.

Wildfires, data breaches, air crashes, concert shootings, opioid-related cases and sexual misconduct suits arising from the #MeToo movement have combined to form a trend of large, event-driven lawsuits, which can cost insurance companies hundreds of millions of dollars in settlement money.

"You can expect to see a securities class action filed whenever there is an event followed by a drop in stock price," said Scott Meyer, division president of North America financial lines at Chubb, as quoted in a 2019 Chubb report titled "From Nuisance to Menace: The Rising Tide of Securities Class Action Litigation."

"But now, even events that didn't move the stock price are triggering securities class actions against the board," Meyer said in the report.

Those derivative lawsuits accuse the directors and officers of failing in their fiduciary responsibility and the costs associated with this type of litigation are rising.

Wells Fargo settled a derivative lawsuit in 2019 for an astonishing $240 million. The suit accused then CEO Tim Sloan and his predecessor John Stumpf, along with 18 other executives and directors, of failing to stop the creation of millions of bogus customer accounts.

Insurance picked up the entire $240 million cost of the settlement.
FILE PHOTO: Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte welcomes Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar as he arrives at the venue of the international conference on Libya in Palermo

By Crispian Balmer

ROME (Reuters) - Italy scrambled to salvage diplomatic credibility on Thursday after its bid to play a central role in resolving Libya's long-running conflict came off the rails, revealing failures at the heart of the government.

Libya has been in a state of violent flux since a NATO air campaign in 2011 led to the downfall of its strongarm leader Muammar Gaddafi. Italy was most directly impacted by the resulting chaos, which triggered a wave of migration to its shores, and has sought to lead subsequent stabilisation efforts.

But in an embarrassing snub for Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Libya's internationally recognised leader Fayez al-Serraj refused to see him on Wednesday after discovering that his great rival General Khalifa Haftar had also been invited to Rome.

At the same time, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio found himself isolated at a meeting of counterparts from France, Egypt, Greece and Cyprus, refusing to sign a final communique on Libya because he felt it was biased in favour of Haftar.

The twin developments left the Italian coalition government looking both forsaken on the international stage and divided internally, dealing a potentially fatal blow to diplomatic efforts by Rome to impose peace on a largely lawless Libya.

"What happened yesterday was frankly embarrassing," said Arturo Varvelli, director of the Rome office of the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank.

"Our politicians don't pay enough attention to foreign policy and they are paying the price for it."

Conte and Di Maio, neither of whom had any diplomatic experience when they first entered government in 2018, met on Thursday to try to plot a way forward.

But foreign policy experts said Rome had lost the initiative to more pro-active countries, such as France, Turkey and Russia, while opposition parties accused the government of ineptitude.

"Conte really is dangerous and incompetent," said far-right League leader Matteo Salvini, accusing the prime minister of making a simple error of protocol by receiving Haftar before first meeting Serraj. "We have amateurs on the loose," he said.

Story continues

LOSING STANDING

In July 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump gave Conte the nod to oversee efforts to stabilise Libya, saying he recognised "Italy's leadership role".

But even with this clear backing, Rome failed to secure universal support for its favourite Serraj, as France, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates instead backed Haftar in a proxy conflict driven by divergent economic and strategic interests.

Italy subsequently sought to build its own ties with Haftar, hoping to safeguard its energy concerns in Libya should he win out in the end. But Conte was blindsided when Turkey unexpectedly announced last month it would send military advisers and possibly troops to bolster Serraj in Tripoli.

"The process by which Turkey and Russia are taking the diplomatic space is ruthless and largely irreversible. Italy is improvising alone and it is failing miserably," said Jalel Harchaoui, a research fellow at the Clingendael Institute, an independent, Dutch think tank.

Conte denied on Thursday any government inconsistency over Libya, while Di Maio acknowledged in a letter to la Repubblica daily that politicians had not always known how to harness the expertese of their diplomats and intelligence agency.

Speaking off the record because of the sensitivity of the issue, officials expressed frustration over the political line they had been asked to follow in recent months.

"The order was to maintain contact with everyone, but in an open conflict you need to position yourself clearly," said one intelligence source, complaining that Rome had tried to be friends with everyone, and had lost influence as a result.

Diplomats fear Rome is losing influence beyond just Libya.

That was noticeable last week when U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called officials worldwide after the U.S. killing of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, but did not get in touch with Rome, despite the fact that Italy has the largest Western troop presence in Iraq after the U.S..

Varvelli said Italy was suffering the consequences of inconsistent policy-making and poor political preparation.

"Our political leaders are making blunders on the international stage," he said, adding that Rome would have to stop trying to lead the way on Libya and instead seek European consensus. "We don't have any more cards to play."

(Additional reporting by Antonella Cinelli in Rome, John Irish in Paris, Aidan Lewis in Cairo and Robin Emmot in Brussels.; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Road accidents have become more frequent but less deadly over the last 30 years as developing nations transition to more stable economies, according to a global injury and death analysis released on Thursday.

In 2017, the latest year for which complete data is available, 54 million people were injured in crashes, leading to 1.2 million deaths, said the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), which releases annual assessments of causes of death and injury.

It found that those most likely to be injured in collisions were men aged 25-29, and that accident rates among that demographic were twice as common as among women of the same age.

While the global likelihood of being killed in a car crash has decreased since 1990, in five countries -- Central African Republic, Jamaica, Somalia, Swaziland and the United Arab Emirates -- the risk of death has increased.

Spencer James, senior author of the IHME study, said a number of factors, including vehicle and road safety, as well as proper enforcement of speeding, seatbelt and alcohol laws, contributed to the lower mortality rates.

"It's encouraging to find improvements globally in road injury mortality over the past three decades, though there is still considerable progress to be made since road injuries should be considered preventable," he said.

The global rate of road injuries for all age groups increased more than 15 per cent between 1990-2017.

The probability of dying from a road injury is highest in Haiti (15.6 per cent injured in collisions), CAR (10.4 per cent) and El Salvador (7.3 per cent), the IHME data showed.

China ranked the highest globally for total number of road deaths in 2017 with more than 261,000. Per capita road deaths were relatively low, however.

The data was published in the journal BMJ Injury Prevention.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Fears of conflict between Iran and the US now greatly reduced.

Oil and gold prices reverse sharply lower.

Currency market focus likely to drift back to the US jobs report, and the longer-term issue of trade.

Risk markets snapped back higher sharply on Wednesday as tensions in the Middle East reduced. The missile strikes by Iran on US army bases in Iraq was feared to be a step towards further conflict but the measured response by the US has helped calm nerves. While there is the potential for further incidents and the US says it is ready to strike, an immediate move from either side now looks unlikely.

Thankfully, the Iran missile strike was co-ordinated to avoid any real damage to US personnel or equipment but at the same time gave Iranian leaders the right to claim it had landed a blow on the US in retaliation for the Sulemaini assassination.

We just gave [the US] a slap in the face last night, Khamenei reportedly said on Wednesday.

Perhaps, but it was a very light one. As The Guardian reported,

When Iranian forces launched its missiles, leaders on both sides had a reasonable idea of their impact, both physically and politically. American early-warning aircraft  which had been on 24-hour rotation since Suleimanis death  tracked the launch sites and trajectory and gave warnings of between three and four minutes, which were passed directly to the US bases. There was no attempt to shoot the missiles down in flight, because there were no US assets in place to do so.

With no US casualties, President Trumps address to the nation seemed to draw a line under the event.

"No Americans were harmed in last night's attack by the Iranian regime. Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned," he said.

This was a huge relief for markets as when news of the missile strike broke there was some clear panic across many assets, especially US stocks which fell nearly 2% and oil and gold which surged higher. Throughout Wednesday there was a big reversal in oil which fell from above $64.5 to below $60 per bbl. Gold also dropped sharply from above $1600 an ounce to $1550. Iranian news may dominate for a day or two more, but assuming there are no further events, should fade from view and allow markets to move on. The next major focus will be Fridays US jobs report.

Trade Troubles

The ongoing trade war between the US and China was the main driver of global markets in 2019 and while a trade deal seems close, the impact of the trade war could rumble on throughout 2020. This will affect how currencies trade and it has been a particular weight on the eurozone and the Euro. Of course it also affects the British Pound, but as so much focus has been on the election and on Brexit, the affects have been less pronounced. This could change as time goes on, especially as the UK is in the process of negotiating trade deals with the EU and potentially with the US. This is what ING had to say about global trade in a recent note,

With two months of data for 2019 still to be reported, world trade in goods is on track to have contracted 0.5% for the full year. Industrial production in advanced economies, a major driver of world trade in goods, has been a washout too. The eurozone, US, and Japan all experienced declines over the last 12 months. The outlook for 2020 is not particularly bright either, with manufacturing Purchasing Managers Indexes (PMIs) in the US and China having bottomed out while those in the euro area point to continued contraction. In the euro area, inconclusive trade negotiations with the US and the ongoing threat of auto tariffs, as well as uncertainty surrounding Brexit, continue to weigh on activity. This matters a lot for world trade, where the EU accounts for just under a third of flows.

While broad trade deals could even out and leave exchange rates relatively unchanged, specific trade deals  or lack of them  could have significant effects on local currencies.
Supreme Leader: Gen Soleimani was brave, prudent

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Jan 8, IRNA -- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that the slain General Soleimani was a brave in the battlefield and prudent man in the area of politics.

Gen Soleimani was a man using logic in his actions, he was prudent not in the battlefields but in the area of politics, the Leader said in a meeting with thousands of people from Qom Province, southwest Tehran.

Some are brave but are not wise and prudent enough like Gen Soleimani to show their braveness, the Leader added to his remarks.

Lieutenant General Soleimani and the acting commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) - known as the Hash al-Shaabi - Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandes, separately leaving Baghdad airport in two cars were targeted and assassinated by the US forces on January 3.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, reacting to Gen Soleimani's martyrdom, stressed on January 4 that Iran reserves the right to take revenge by proportionate military action, and will do it.

Elaborating on Gen Soleimani's services, the Leader said that the slain Commander, with the help of regional nations, could foil all illegitimate plans drawn up by the US for the West Asia.

This man (Soleimani) could stand against the US bullying to the world politicians, the Supreme Leader noted.

That they [US, Israel] said they are ready to reach truce with Palestinians within 48 hours was the outcome of Gen Soleimani's services as he made the people in the small region of Gaza Strip stand up to the Zionist regime of Israel, the Leader underlined.

The US officials had a plan making the Palestinians to forget the cause of Palestine and stop fighting, while Gen Soleimani made the Gaza Strip stand up, Ayatollah Khamenei stressed.

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Women face challenges when choosing a specialty: culture, fit and opportunity. As a female applicant in a surgical specialty, I was chosen as one of a handful of women from the pool of applicants for an interview at the majority of my surgical residency interviews. Medical training involves numerous stages, the first of which is medical school. But there are many stages where we have not equalized the playing field. Women are not given their 50.5 percent of opportunity or access during the interview or matching process.
For Sam Karns, his reason for joining a small group protesting a potential war with Iran was a simple one.

I dont want to see one more million people killed, he said as he carried a sign as part of the ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition rally Wednesday evening at the corner of San Mateo and Gibson, near Kirtland Air Force Base.

Sally Hebert was there because she doesnt want to see another endless war.

These wars kill people on both sides and it doesnt seem to do any good, she said. The Bible says we need to love our neighbor.

Many of the protesters said they were shocked by the U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and the missile strike by Iran in retaliation, and believed those were just the first steps for a widening of the conflict between the two countries. They were also critical of sanctions imposed by the U.S. on the Iranian government, which some claimed to be an act of war.

We dont want to be pulled into another war, ANSWER organizer Bex Hampton said. The U.S. is always at war and it doesnt serve any interest of working people. The politicians start the wars and they send the poor to fight.  If there are going to be sanctions, were going to fight those, too. We see sanctions as an act of war, crippling the economy.

A lot of my friends are always asking, What happens if there is a draft?' added protester Chloe Mathers. The reality is that we are always on the verge of war. We have been involved with wars since the 1990s. I dont remember a time in my lifetime when we werent at war. Everyone of my siblings, there are four of them, have served. My stepfather served. The cost of war is not something that anyone should have to pay.

Mathers, who is 22, said she was concerned that family members would be deployed again should the U.S. end up in a war with Iran.
Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and state finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma met Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi late on Thursday evening to discuss strategy to chalk out the roadmap to deal with the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in the state .

Assam is witnessing continuous peaceful protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) of 2019.

The CAA fast tracks Indian citizenship for minorities  Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists  who have faced religious persecution in three neighbouring muslim-majority countries --Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The new law, however, excludes Muslims.

Apart from Assam, other northeastern states too are uncomfortable with CAA. They say the new law will overwhelm the local culture, economy and would go against the interest of the indigenous people.

Earlier, a summit-level meeting between the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe was postponed because of protests .
NASA said Monday that its planet hunter satellite TESS had discovered an Earth-sized world within the habitable range of its star, which could allow the presence of liquid water.

The planet, named TOI 700 d, is relatively close to Earth -- only 100 light years away, NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced during the annual American Astronomical Society meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. TESS was designed and launched specifically to find Earthsized planets orbiting nearby stars, said Paul Hertz, NASA astrophysics division director.

TESS initially misclassified the star, which meant the planets appeared larger and hotter than they actually are. But several amateur astronomers, including high school student Alton Spencer -- who works with members of the TESS team -- identified the error.

When we corrected the stars parameters, the sizes of its planets dropped, and we realized the outermost one was about the size of Earth and in the habitable zone, said Emily Gilbert, a graduate student at the University of Chicago. The discovery was later confirmed by the Spitzer Space Telescope.

A few other similar planets have been discovered before, notably by the former Kepler Space Telescope, but this is the first discovered by TESS, which was launched in 2018. TESS stabilizes on one area of the sky to detect whether objects -- planets -- pass in front of stars, which causes a temporary drop in the stars luminosity.

This allows TESS to infer the presence of a planet, its size and orbit. Star TOI 700 is small, about 40 percent of our Suns size and only about half as hot. TESS discovered three planets in orbit, named TOI 700 b, c and d. Only d is in the so-called habitable zone, not too far from and not too close to the star, where the temperature could allow the presence of liquid water.

It is about 20 percent larger than Earth and orbits its star in 37 days. d receives 86 percent of the energy that Earth receives from the Sun.
A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck Guanica, Puerto Rico before dawn on Jan. 7, and was followed three hours later by an aftershock measuring 6.0. They are the largest in a series of quakes that have struck the U.S. territory in recent days and caused heavy damage in some areas.

Were sister communities Puerto Rico and Massachusetts and Western Massachusetts in particular," State Sen. Eric Lesser said.

According to The Hill, both Gov. Wanda Vasquez and President Donald Trump have declared a state of emergency in Puerto Rico. Vasquez has already allocated $130 million to disaster relief efforts and is in communication with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Thinking of our friends in Puerto Rico as they endure yet another natural disaster. The bond between Western Massachusetts and Puerto Rico is a strong one, we have many residents with family still living on the island. Sending thoughts and prayers. pic.twitter.com/A8ZLRmtsvq  Eric Lesser (@EricLesser) January 7, 2020

We are OK. We dont have [any] power [or] electricity, Carmen Santiago, a Sabana Grande resident, told MassLive in an interview. We are having so many earthquakes. This morning we had two big ones.

Sabana Grande is a small city, a few miles to the west of where the epicenter of the earthquake hit in Guanica.

The people are afraid to enter their homes, said Guanica Mayor Santos Seda in an interview with El Nue Vodia. The emotional health of our town, as I said from moment zero that occurred on Dec. 28, is what concerns me the most because of the immediacy of the emergency. How we are living is horrible.

According to Seda, there are more than 174 homes in the town, and approximately 50 have completely collapsed, with the rest being damaged and close to collapsing.

A collapsed building with car crushed underneath, following an earthquake in Yauco, Puerto Rico, Tuesday Jan. 7, 2020. All the occupants of the home are reported to be uninjured. A 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck Puerto Rico, the largest in a series of quakes in recent days, and caused heavy damage in some areas. (J. Miguel Santiago Twitter via AP)AP

Some cities dont have water like Yauco, Guayanilla [and] Guanica, said Santiago on Thursday. People are coming from those cities are camping here in Sabana Grande because their houses are destroyed, and they are scared.

Lesser posted a tweet on Thursday in solidarity with the islanders.

A lot of our community members have close ties, family or friends on the island and are often traveling back and forth," said Lesser. "For personal reasons, for business and a whole lot of other things, so it's really a community that we're close to as a commonwealth.

There has been a long history of close ties with the island from the Western Massachusetts community in past disasters.

Reynaldo Gonzalez, center, nephew of 73 year-old Nelson Martinez, who died after a wall collapsed during an earthquake, waits with family members for Martinez's body to be removed in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)AP

It was estimated by Gov. Charlie Bakers Deputy Communications Officer Sarah Finlaw that at least 7,000 Puerto Ricans migrated to Massachusetts after Hurricane Maria swept through the island territory.

If in a similar way to what happened with Hurricane Maria, if we see an influx of people or an increase in people coming to Massachusetts, either temporarily or permanently, because of issues that happen on the island, we will be prepared to make sure that that transition is smooth [by] making sure that there is Health Care access [and] housing assistance. [Its] something I'm watching very closely, Lesser said.

One of the most damaging earthquakes occurred in Oct. 1918, when a 7.3-magnitude quake struck near the islands northwest coast that later caused a tsunami that killed 116 people.
A single mother who lost her house and belongings in bushfires was horrified to learnt that her home wasn't insured.

Hayley Ferguson and her baby son fled home in Conjola Park on the New South Wales south coast just ten minutes before fire destroyed the small town.

The 24-year-old was only able to pack a suitcase with bare essentials before her family home, which she shared with her mother, was razed to the ground on New Year's Eve.

Scroll down for video

Hayley Ferguson and her baby son (pictured) fled home in Conjola Park on the New South Wales south coast just ten minutes before fire destroyed the small town

The 24-year-old was only able to pack a suitcase with bare essentials before her house was razed to the ground on New Year's Eve. Pictured: Her destroyed home

Miss Ferguson, a qualified make-up artist, was left devastated when she found out the house was not insured and she has been left with nothing.

She and four-month-old son have moved in with her brother in Mollymook while she works out where to go next.

Miss Ferguson explained her situation in a moving GoFundMe page where kind-hearted strangers have donated more than $38,000.

She wrote: 'Although we just managed to get out and become safe in time the fire roared through our house, we now start the long grieving process of starting from nothing.'

Miss Ferguson said that her father, who usually paid for the insurance, had failed to do so.

'Therefore from this freak accident we can not reap one single dollar to help us re build,' she said.

'The news came at a complete and utter shock as we had been given word from him that the insurance was currently up to date. Unfortunately the insurance company claims otherwise.'

Explaining why she was turning to fellow Australians for assistance, she wrote: 'We sit here and pray for a miracle, a miracle that seems so far from where we currently sit.

Miss Ferguson assesses the damage to her home after bushfires destroyed the town

'With no plan A we sit here and beg complete strangers for help.

'Help us to restart our lives, help us rebuild a place we can call home, help us get through such a tough time.'

Miss Ferguson has had an overwhelming response from strangers who have donated.

On 2 January she wrote a message on her Facebook profile, saying: 'Thank you for all your well wishes and beautiful messages.

'Weve been inundated with messages from close and afar and we truly do appreciate it more then you can imagine.'
Leisure OTA Insight Named Best Rate Shopping & Market Intelligence Solution in the 2020 HotelTechAwards



09.01.2020 02:06:49 -



(live-PR.com) - OTA Insight Named Best Rate Shopping & Market Intelligence Solution in the 2020 HotelTechAwards



London & Dallas, January 8, 2020 - OTA Insight, the cloud-based data intelligence platform for the hospitality industry, is excited to share that its Rate Insight product has been named 2020s #1 Rate Shopping & Market Intelligence Solution by Hotel Tech Report.Each month, more than 65,000 hotel - OTA Insight Named Best Rate Shopping & Market Intelligence Solution in the 2020 HotelTechAwardsLondon & Dallas, January 8, 2020 - OTA Insight, the cloud-based data intelligence platform for the hospitality industry, is excited to share that its Rate Insight product has been named 2020s #1 Rate Shopping & Market Intelligence Solution by Hotel Tech Report.Each month, more than 65,000 hotel industry professionals use HotelTechReport.com to make informed purchasing decisions. The HotelTechAwards are based on customer feedback and have never been influenced by analyst opinion or status as a Hotel Tech Report customer. (To learn more about the HotelTechAwards ranking, check out the HotelTechAwards scoring criteria breakdown.)



Reviews from verified users of OTA Insights Rate Insight tool highlight features like its data accuracy, user friendly interface, with consistent product developments providing users instant access to information on market demand and pricing to ensure they get ahead and stay ahead of the competition. Customers also universally praised the firm for its industry leading customer support and service.



A small selection of what users think about OTA Insights solutions in their own words (all available on this HotelTechReport page):



Extremely easy to use, quick and efficient. OTA Insight is doing my job 100 times easier. The current market is constantly changing and the previous rate shopping company I was using was not accurate and the data was outdated most of the time. OTA Insight provides the best data in the market and keeps adding features to analyse the market conditions (historical graphs), our own performance against the comp set, rankings across the major OTAs, etc. all in one place. The main reason why I love OTA Insight is its design, very simple and intuitive, it reminds me a lot of Google, where everything is thought for the end client, with simple buttons and options.  Cluster Revenue Manager, Branded Hotel, London (UK)

Anytime I have a question, need a hotel added to my group of properties or anything the team respond very fast - almost instantly and it's much easier to get support than other companies, as you dont need to sign into a separate system you can simply get help directly from the regular website. If I could give them 6 stars I would.  Area Director of Sales, Branded Hotel, Macao

Reliability, ease of use and support by friendly humans make this a smooth experience that allows you to keep your focus on optimizing rates and parity.  Senior Director of Channel Strategy, Branded Hotel, Mission Viejo (US)

This award is a great validation of the exciting products and service that OTA Insight works hard to deliver, said Sean Fitzpatrick, CEO of OTA Insight. Our customers are at the centre of everything we do, so the fact that this award is based on their feedback gives us confidence that were on the right path. We would like to say a big thank you to our customers who took the time to share their reviews on Hotel Tech Report.



You can download the official press release here in Word or PDF.



Media enquiries: For further press information please contact us at

industry professionals use HotelTechReport.com to make informed purchasing decisions. The HotelTechAwards are based on customer feedback and have never been influenced by analyst opinion or status as a Hotel Tech Report customer. (To learn more about the HotelTechAwards ranking, check out the HotelTechAwards scoring criteria breakdown.)Reviews from verified users of OTA Insights Rate Insight tool highlight features like its data accuracy, user friendly interface, with consistent product developments providing users instant access to information on market demand and pricing to ensure they get ahead and stay ahead of the competition. Customers also universally praised the firm for its industry leading customer support and service.A small selection of what users think about OTA Insights solutions in their own words (all available on this HotelTechReport page):Extremely easy to use, quick and efficient. OTA Insight is doing my job 100 times easier. The current market is constantly changing and the previous rate shopping company I was using was not accurate and the data was outdated most of the time. OTA Insight provides the best data in the market and keeps adding features to analyse the market conditions (historical graphs), our own performance against the comp set, rankings across the major OTAs, etc. all in one place. The main reason why I love OTA Insight is its design, very simple and intuitive, it reminds me a lot of Google, where everything is thought for the end client, with simple buttons and options.  Cluster Revenue Manager, Branded Hotel, London (UK)Anytime I have a question, need a hotel added to my group of properties or anything the team respond very fast - almost instantly and it's much easier to get support than other companies, as you dont need to sign into a separate system you can simply get help directly from the regular website. If I could give them 6 stars I would.  Area Director of Sales, Branded Hotel, MacaoReliability, ease of use and support by friendly humans make this a smooth experience that allows you to keep your focus on optimizing rates and parity.  Senior Director of Channel Strategy, Branded Hotel, Mission Viejo (US)This award is a great validation of the exciting products and service that OTA Insight works hard to deliver, said Sean Fitzpatrick, CEO of OTA Insight. Our customers are at the centre of everything we do, so the fact that this award is based on their feedback gives us confidence that were on the right path. We would like to say a big thank you to our customers who took the time to share their reviews on Hotel Tech Report.You can download the official press release here in Word or PDF.Media enquiries: For further press information please contact us at pr@otainsight.com Press Information:

OTA Insight







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09.01.2020 02:06:49 -

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Confidence among Americans surged to the best level since October 2000 on brighter views of the economy and finances, adding to signs that consumers will continue to underpin a record-long expansion.

Bloomberg's index of consumer comfort rose 1.2 points to 65.1 in the week ended Jan. 5, according to a report Thursday. All three components improved for a third week, led by the state of the economy measure rising 1.4 points to a nearly 19-year high of 69.7. The readings for personal finances and the buying climate both added at least 1 point.
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Linkedin Ghina Ghaliya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, January 10 2020

Hard evidence: Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) commissioner Lili Pintauli Siregar (center) and General Elections Commission (KPU) head Arief Budiman (left) listen to questions raised by journalists in a press conference in Jakarta on Thursday on the arrest of KPU commissioner Wahyu Setiawan over alleged bribery. The investigators confiscated Rp 400 million (US$28,899) allegedly related to the case. (JP/Seto Wardhana)

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has announced that a politician of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has been implicated in a graft case involving a top official of the General Elections Commission (KPU).

The announcement came a day after the graft busters arrested KPU commissioner Wahyu Setiawan as a suspect in a bribery case.

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Hungarys authoritarian nationalist leader has heaped praise on Boris Johnson, calling him one of the bravest European politicians.

The praise from Viktor Orban comes days after it was revealed that one of Mr Johnsons top advisers had called for a special relationship with the Hungarian government and endorsed its attacks on liberalism.

I believe a generous and strategic cooperation is needed with the British in the coming period when they are no longer members of the EU, Mr Orban told journalists.

I regard Boris Johnson as one of the bravest European politicians, he said, adding that his eurosceptic Conservative party still won a large majority in Decembers general elections despite the whole world being against him.

The right-wing leader described Brexit as a fantastic opportunity, adding: I am sure there is a success story in the making there.

Recommended Blow for Orban as liberal opposition wins Budapest mayoral race

The intervention is the latest episode in the makeshift alliance forming between parts of the Tory party and Fidesz, Mr Orbans nationalist outfit. Conservative MEPs were previously criticised for standing almost alone among mainstream western European conservatives for refusing to censure Hungary over breaches of the rule of law.

Mr Orban was also one of the first world leaders to be invited to Downing Street after Theresa May took office.

At the helm of his far-right Fidesz party, Mr Orban has centralised power around himself and his allies, cracking down on civil society and monopolising the media.

The government has also been accused of running antisemitic and Islamophobic hate campaigns, notably against Jewish philanthropist George Soros.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

In 2018, Mr Orban said his party had replaced a shipwrecked liberal democracy with a 21st-century Christian democracy.

In May, the Council of Europes report on Hungary said that human-rights violations in the country had a negative effect on the whole protection system and the rule of law, adding: They must be addressed as a matter of urgency.
Eaton Hemp's CBD Oils and Salve We are setting the gold standard for CBD quality by releasing one of the first full-spectrum, unfiltered, USDA Organic CBD products in the market.

Eaton Hemp, the first licensed hemp farm in New York state in over 80 years, announces the launch of their USDA Organic CBD line, complete with two full spectrum, unfiltered CBD oils and a topical CBD salve. Available for purchase on January 8, 2020 on the Eaton Hemp website (https://www.eatonhempcbd.com/), the CBD products are made from 100% organic hemp grown, processed, and packaged in upstate New York. Eaton Hemp is co-founded by Mark Justh, Dan Dolgin, and Bryan DAlessandro.

In 2016, Justh and Dolgin, co-owners of JD Farms, worked closely with New York state lawmakers and the governors office to help make New York the epicenter of the hemp industry. That same year, JD Farms received the first and only license awarded to grow hemp under the states research pilot program. In growing this crop, they quickly discovered the plants health benefits as both food and medicine. After a successful harvest, they enlisted veteran branding and marketing expert Bryan DAlessandro to launch the Eaton Hemp brand, which has become widely celebrated for its commitment to organic standards and transparent practices.

We are setting the gold standard for CBD quality by releasing one of the first full-spectrum, unfiltered, USDA Organic CBD products in the market. While many claim to be organic, we believe USDA Organic certification to be the best way to know the products legitimacy. If it isnt certified, it isnt verified. To ensure optimal quality and efficacy, we keep our oil unfiltered, maintaining the full benefits of naturally occurring cannabinoids and terpenes, just the way nature intended. says DAlessandro, co-founder and CEO of Eaton Hemp.

As farmers, they understand the power of whole plants and all the goodness the plant has to offer. Utilizing the whole hemp plant, they infuse their CBD directly into their own 100% organic hempseed oil and balm, creating full-spectrum products that have phytocannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids. The oils are also unfiltered, meaning that zero steps have been taken to remove or alter any of the naturally occurring compounds or terpenes upon extraction. As a result, Eaton Hemps organic full spectrum, unfiltered CBD oils are sold as Regular Strength with 500mg per oz ($65-110) or Extra Strength with 1500mg per oz ($125-200).

The Total Body, Full Spectrum Hemp Infused Super Salve ($25-$299) is made with USDA Certified organic hemp extract infused with arnica, birch bark, and peppermint essential oil. The CBD works in harmony with natural pain and inflammation reducers.

As one of the first USDA Organic Certified CBD oils on the market, Eaton Hemp is New York grown and produced, using their own organic hemp seed oil and utilizing the whole plant synergy. Therefore, consumers are getting the most bioavailable form of CBD on the market, says Dr. Will Cole, one of the top functional medicine practitioners in the country.

For more information about Eaton Hemps CBD products please visit https://www.eatonhempcbd.com. Eaton Hemps current line of whole hemp seed super snacks are available for purchase on EatonHemp.com and in select Fairway, Whole Foods and health food stores across the U.S. To connect with the brand on Instagram, follow @eatonhemp.

ABOUT EATON HEMP

Eaton Hemp is an organic hemp seed super snack company born on the first farm licensed to grow hemp in New York in over 80 years. Eaton Hemps super snacks are made of natures most nutritionally complete food source: hemp, which packs a powerful punch of plant-based protein, high amounts of prebiotic fiber, and the essential amino acids your body needs in the ideal omega 3:6 ratio. In 2016, Founders Mark Justh and Dan Dolgin worked with the Governor and New York State Assembly to write new legislation that allowed farmers to legally grow hemp in New York. They brought on Bryan DAlessandro as co-founder and CEO, leveraging his experience in brand development to launch the Eaton Hemp brand. Today, the farm grows a portion of the hemp used by the Eaton Hemp brand, with the remaining production coming from a network of farmers across the US, in an attempt to use hemp to help revitalize the North American agricultural landscape.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 13:47:59|Editor: ZX

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MAHMUD-E-RAQI, Afghanistan, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Five militants were killed as Afghan security forces stormed a hideout of Taliban fighters in eastern Kapisa province on Wednesday, said an army statement released on Thursday.

The operation was launched in Sultan Khil area of the restive Tagab district late Wednesday. All those killed in the raids were local militants, the statement said.

Taliban militants, who are active in parts of the troubled Kapisa province, have not commented on the report.
The health of one of the five farmers who buried themselves neck-deep in the ground over the alleged land acquisition by the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) for a housing project deteriorated on Thursday but he refused to leave the protest site at Nindar village.

Demanding that their land be acquired as per the revised Land Acquisition Act and compensation be given accordingly, farmers from the village located on the outskirts of Jaipur are holding 'Zameen Samadhi Satyagrah'.

As part of the protest, five people have taken 'Zameen Samadhi' (burying themselves neck-deep in the ground) in the last two days.

"Health of one of the protesters deteriorated but an officer of the JDA today met us. We have apprised him of our demands. He has asked one-day for giving the reply," Nagendra Singh Shekhawat, a leader of Nindar Bachao Yuva Kisan Sangarsh Samiti, said.

"We will continue to hold satyagrah and more people will take 'Zameen Samadhi' till the reply from the JDA comes. If the response is positive then our dialogue with the government will proceed," he said.

Protesters are demanding that state government should implement the amended Land Acquisition Act in the state, which was passed by the Congress government at the Centre and acquire the land as per it.

Shekhawat said farmers will not let the government acquire the land as per the previous Land Acquisition Act, which was running in the country since British rule.

The Jaipur Development Authority, in a statement, had said that it would issue allotment letters to farmers affected due to the Nindar Housing Scheme with mutual understanding.

Deputy Commissioner Manish Fauzdar said those farmers who have surrendered their land for the housing scheme will soon be issued allotment letters and those who have not yet surrendered their land will be issued letters with mutual consent.

The farmers had launched a similar protest in October 2017 and some of them had even gone on a hunger strike.

The protesters are against the acquisition of more than 1,300 bighas of land for a housing project.

The JDA has taken possession of 600 bighas of land so far and deposited Rs 60 crore in a local court as compensation for it after villagers refused to accept the amount, claiming it did not hold up to the prevailing market rates.

Around 10,000 houses will be built under the scheme, which was announced in January 2011.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Queen left in dark over Harry and Meghan's bombshell statement

The Queen was left in the dark about the timing of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs statement that they intended to quit royal duties.

It is understood Prince Harry told senior royals of his intentions but was told to put it in writing.

When his intentions became public yesterday he decided to make his official announcement anyway on his website, sources said.

Harry, Meghan are to work to become "financially independent" as part of the move.

Rockets fired into Baghdad Green Zone 'near US embassy'

Two rockets have been fired into Baghdads Green Zone and one exploded near the US embassy, officials have said.

Air raid sirens sounded in and loud blasts were heard in the area shortly after midnight local time (9pm, Wednesday, UK time)

There was no immediate claim of responsibility

Iran launched missiles at US forces in Iraq on Tuesday night in retaliation for the killing of top Iranian General Qassim Soleimani.

US President Donald Trump earlier signalled he would not retaliate over the strikes on Iraqi bases.

He said it appeared Iran seemed to be "standing down".

Weinstein lawyer accuses rape trial judge of bias

A lawyer for Harvey Weinsteins has accused the judge presiding over his rape trial of bias.

Judge James Burke had threatened to revoke Weinsteins bail after catching him using his mobile phone in the courtroom on Tuesday.

The lawyer said the judge showed animus towards his client by asking the defendant if he wanted to end up in jail for the rest of his life by texting and violating a court order.

Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting two women in New York.

'Danger to life' as strong winds and downpours to strike

Forecasters have warned of a danger to life when strong winds and downpours strike the UK.

The severe conditions are expected to bring travel chaos, with rain and gales up to speeds of 70mph set to sweep in.

Before then, commuters in Scotland and northern England have been warned that snow, ice and heavy rainfall could impact travel in some places on Thursday morning.

Oscars to go ahead without a host for only second time since 1989

The Oscars will again be without a host after last year it went without for the first time since 1989.

It comes after last years show went hostless after comedian Kevin Hart stepped down over years-old homophobic tweets.

On this day...

1684: Puppet shows performed and shopping stalls were set up on the Thames in London during a deep freeze.

1799: Prime Minister William Pitt (the Younger) introduced income tax at two shillings in the pound to raise funds for the Napoleonic Wars.

1902: New York State introduced a bill to outlaw flirting in public.

1957: Anthony Eden resigned as prime minister in the wake of the Suez crisis.

1972: The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth, which had been removed to Hong Kong to serve as a floating marine university, sank after catching fire.

1997: Yachtsman Tony Bullimore was found alive, five days after his boat capsized in the freezing wastes of the Southern Ocean, 2,200km off the coast of Australia.
Five things to do in Singapore over the weekend of January 10-12

This weekend, enjoy a complimentary yoga class at the Fountain of Wealth, or check out the Pongal Street Light Up unique to Singapore's Little India.

More details below:

1. An Intergalactic Odyssey

Photo courtesy: ArtScience Museum

Take an out-of-this-world voyage to the edge of the galaxy and beyond! This multi-media , fully immersive experience will take your breath away with stunning interstellar scenes and a flying saucer ball pit. Strike a pose in space and twinkle brightly against the night sky as part of An Intergalactic Odyssey.

When: January 10-12

Where: ArtScience Museum

Entry: SGD 7

2. The Ritual of Self-Portraiture

Photo courtesy: National Gallery Singapore

What gendered attitudes do we bring to our evaluation of art? Is self-portraiture inherently representative or could it be symbolic? Do we really have control over our image and our narrative?

Four artists will talk about self-portraiture as a genre and the pushback women face for participating in it, and modern curatorial strategies for talking about the work.



When: January 12

Where: National Gallery Singapore

Entry: Free

3. Pongal Street Light-Up

Photo courtesy: unsplash

Unique to Singapore's Little India and recognised globally, Pongal Street Light Up is a must see attraction for all visitors and locals alike. The traditional & colorful motifs of Pongal Pots, Paddy fields, Kolam in the street decor and lighting theme will be mesmerising for all who see it.

When: January 10-12

Where: Little India

Entry: Free

4. Letters from the Prisons - Talk by Eddie Yong

Photo courtesy: Singapore Stamp Club

Did you know that prison inmates are able to send letters for free? Find out more about this and other interesting nuggets of information as speaker Eddie Yong shares tales from his postal material from various prisons and drug rehabilitation centres in Singapore.

When: January 12

Where: The Substation

Entry: Free

5. Complimentary Outdoor Yoga at Fountain of Wealth

Photo courtesy: Platinum Yoga

Kickstart 2020 with friends and family by participating in a yoga session at the iconic Fountain of Wealth. This class will be filled with positive vibes, great energy and the best workout session from the master trainers at Platinum Yoga.

When: January 11

Where: Platinum Yoga

Entry: Free
An angry driver who allegedly drove for a three kilometres with another man clinging to his bullbar after allegedly trying to flee a Christmas Day road rage incident has led media on a chase outside court.

Anthony Pasquale, 45, was allegedly involved in a minor collision with the driver of a Toyota Camry on Centenary Drive at Homebush, in Sydney's west.

Police said that after the two men exchanged words, Pasquale allegedly attempted to flee the scene before the other driver grabbed on to the front of his Toyota Landcruiser in an effort to stop him.

At this point Pasquale allegedly took off, leaving the man to cling for life to the front of his four-wheel drive.

Pasquale faced Burwood Local Court on Thursday, before sprinting out the doors of the courthouse in an attempt to avoid questions from the waiting media.

Scroll down for video

Anthony Pasquale, 45, (pictured rushing out of court) was allegedly involved in a minor collision with the driver of a Toyota Camry on Centenary Drive at Homebush, in Sydney's west

Pasquale (pictured) faced Burwood Local Court on Thursday, before sprinting out the doors of the courthouse in an attempt to avoid questions from the waiting media

Shocking video captured by a passing motorist shows the Camry driver clinging to the front of Pasquale's car for several minutes as he continues to drive down the road.

'What the f**k, he's dragging along the front,' the woman in the passenger seat of the passing car says in the footage

In the backseat the woman's distressed children could be heard screaming as they watch the incident unfold.

The family inside the car then followed the Landscruiser for the next two kilometres while they called police.

Police allege the incident began after a nose-to-tail collision between Pasquale's car and the Toyota Camry on the afternoon of December 25.

After the collision the Camry driver got out of his vehicle to exchange details, when Pasquale allegedly attempted to drive off.

Pasquale is charged with four offences including cause bodily harm by misconduct while in charge of a motor vehicle, negligent driving and not giving particular details to other driver

Police allege the incident began after a nose-to-tail collision between Pasquale's car and the Toyota Camry on the afternoon of December 25. Pasquale is pictured outside Burwood Local Court

At this point the 37-year-old grabbed on to the front of the four-wheel driver.

Pasquale allegedly continued to drive for three kilometres before the man jumped off in Margaret Street, Greenacre.

Pasquale is charged with four offences including cause bodily harm by misconduct while in charge of a motor vehicle, negligent driving and not giving particular details to other driver.

His matter will return before the courts on January 30, with bail to continue.
BPCL's impending privatisation and RIL's stake sale to Saudi Aramco raise questions about the future of the West Coast Refinery, once touted as the world's largest.

Shine Jacob reports.

Photograph: Katja Buchholz/Getty Images

Two events have raised doubts about India's plans to build the world's largest refinery.

The 60 million tonne, $44 billion West Coast refinery project was announced in June 2018 in which Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) hold 50% and Indian oil marketing companies Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation hold the remaining stake.

Since then, in August 2019, the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries announced plans to sell 20% stake in its chemicals and refining business for $15 billion to Saudi Aramco as part of a broader plan to become a zero-debt company by March 2021.

And in November 2019, the government announced it would sell its 53.29% stake in Bharat Petroleum.

Saudi Aramco is one among a raft of bidders such as French major Total, BP Plc, Vedanta, Exxon Mobil, RIL and the Adani Group.

All of this has made the prospects for the West Coast Refinery look bleak since the debate now hinges on whether a greenfield refinery is a better option than a brownfield one.

In other words, is BPCL a better option for buyers than the West Coast one?

Perhaps not, say industry experts citing the fact that BPCL is already a depreciating asset that was probably in its prime 20 years ago.

"If you build a new refinery, you will go for new technologies, more efficient units, production and crude handling will be more geared for the future," says a senior expert from a global consulting firm.

This is valid in theory, but this being India, the West Coast project has been stuck at the first hurdle -- acquiring land for the project.

Protests in the Ratnagiri region had forced the joint venture to shift location 140 km to the north to Raigad district.

The refinery-petrochemical complex of three crude oil units requires at least 15,000 acres of land, including marine storage and port facilities, and is yet to acquire a single piece of land due to protests from locals.

Now, however, the project may run into political problems. The Shiv Sena, which had led the land protests in Ratnagiri, heads a coalition government in Maharashtra.

So acquiring land in Raigad, too, may face problems. "We are going ahead with the technical work for the refinery. However, land has to be firmed up and we are looking at two-three locations. Saudi Aramco is fully part of the ongoing works," says B Ashok, chief executive officer for Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals, the name of the joint venture.

Based on an industry estimate, the value of BPCL's refining segment alone will come to around $400 a tonne, while another $200 to $300 a tonne can be added to the remaining infrastructure -- including terminals, pipelines and retail outlets.

This was reached based on the recent Essar-Rosneft deal and HPCL's plans for its Barmer refinery. BPCL does not have much exposure in petrochemicals.

On the other hand, to set up a greenfield refinery and petrochemicals, the cost may be around $600m to $700 a tonne.

"For any foreign investor, BPCL appears to be an ideal choice because it means immediate cash-flow added by a countrywide presence in marketing too. A project like West Coast may take at least five to seven years to get commissioned," says A K Sharma, former director (finance), IOC.

Based on current market cap, the value of 53.29% government stake in BPCL comes to around Rs 57,000 crore and another 20% to 30% premium is expected to stretch the value closer to around Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 crore.

Investments in IGL and Petronet -- in which BPCL holds 22.5% and 12.5% respectively -- are also factored in, could add to the deal value.

This valuation may not, however, be the price that buyers will pay.

According to a consortium of officers associations -- including the Public Sector Officers Association, Federation of Oil PSU Officers and Confederation of Maharashtra Company Officers Association -- BPCL's assets can be valued at around Rs 9 trillion.

Industry experts think otherwise.

"Looking at a conservative calculation, you will get around Rs 1.5 trillion as a replacement value for BPCL. But a greenfield refinery may give them more flexibility," says the official from the global consulting firm.

The 'greenfield versus existing' debate has been in the air for some time and mostly centred on plans for Saudi Aramco, the world's largest crude oil producer, to invest in India.

In April 2016, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan met its then chairman Khalid al-Falih offered three options: Partnership in the West Coast refinery, participation in the expansion of the Bina refinery in Madhya Pradesh owned and operated by a joint venture between Bharat Petroleum and Oman Oil Company, or a petrochemical plant at Dahej, a port in south-west Gujarat where RIL owns a petrochemical complex.

RIl's deal with Aramco will give an edge to the Mukesh Ambani-led company in its crude sourcing capabilities and help improving its gross refining margin.

Aramco will also supply 25 MTPA of crude oil to Jamnagar refinery, as part of the deal, which will bolster RIL's formidable crude sourcing capabilities that have traditionally given it an edge over many other competitors.

Apart from the added security of supply, the deal could also bring RIL pricing advantages given that a key supplier will now also be an investor in the business.

This will also have a positive knock-on effect on the petrochemicals business, which has crude oil as the main raw material.

It will also, to an extent, cushion RIL from the uncertainties in the global crude oil market due to the US-Iran tensions. (This deal could be under a cloud after the government filed a petition in the Delhi high court seeking to block the deal over dues involving an unrelated case.)

Both the RIL deal and BPCL's impending divestment have changed the dynamics for Aramco. Of course, as an analyst suggests that, thanks to its initial public offering on Wall Street, Aramco has the cash to go ahead with all three deals.

There is good reason for this. India imports around 18% of crude oil requirement from the kingdom and a downstream presence will only firm their foothold in a growing market.

Based on an estimate by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, India's crude oil demand will rise by 5.8 million barrels per day by 2040, and will account for 40% of the incremental demand globally. This explains the rising interest by global players in India.
The conviction of a romance con artist who defrauded a woman of hundreds of thousands of dollars was upheld on Thursday despite his contention that frequent strip searches in detention had violated his rights.

In affirming last years conviction of Shaun Rootenberg, the judge also rejected his arguments of prosecutorial misconduct related to late pre-trial disclosure of materials.

The strip searches were conducted in compliance with the legislation and policies and procedures, Superior Court Justice Beth Allen said in her ruling. I find there were no violations of the applicants rights.

A sentencing hearing is now set for Feb. 10. The prosecutor would not say what punishment he would ask for Rootenberg, who had previously been sentenced in 2005 for fraud to three and a half years behind bars.

Rootenberg, who is in his 50s, had argued for a stay of proceedings because he had been subjected to hundreds of strip searches in humiliating and unlawful conditions. He said they were done in the presence of other inmates and correctional officers, some of whom were female.

But Allen said Rootenberg, for example, opted to work in the detention centre kitchen despite knowing he would be strip searched before and after his shifts. She rejected his arguments that he never complained to authorities or the courts because he feared guards would see him as a troublemaker.

Allen also found no bad faith on the part of a previous prosecutor around the late disclosure issue.

Neither issue, she said, impacted his right to a fair trial that would warrant the extraordinary measure of staying the proceedings in light of his having committed the serious crime of taking advantage of the romantic affections of a woman.

Allen had found Rootenberg, of Thornhill, Ont., guilty of defrauding Victoria Smith out of $595,000. The divorced mother of two, whom he met on the e-Harmony dating site in July 2013, had given him the money to invest on her behalf. Instead, Allen found he had used her funds to buy himself a new BMW and pay off gambling debts, among other things.

Smith, who initially believed she was involved with a Shaun Rothberg, complained to police about 18 months later after discovering his real identity.

The judge had previously refused to declare a mistrial amid Rootenbergs arguments that she was biased. However, she allowed him to mount his now-unsuccessful constitutional challenge over his treatment while in custody and the disclosure issues.

The current case also initially involved another of Rootenbergs romantic partners, Dr. Kim Barker, who resigned in 2015 under a cloud as medical officer of health for the Algoma Public Health Unit in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Barker, who says Rootenberg preyed on her vulnerability, had hired him as Shaun Rothberg to be the units chief financial officer. The Crown did not proceed on those charges.

The Supreme Court of Canada recently refused to weigh in on Barkers years-long but ultimately unsuccessful fight to keep secret an embarrassing forensic report into Rootenbergs hiring. The health unit is expected to release the report within the next several weeks.
LOS ANGELES - A California company that produces Crystal Geyser bottled water pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally storing and transporting hazardous waste and agreed to a $5 million fine, federal prosecutors said.

The waste was produced by filtering arsenic out of Sierra Nevada spring water at CG Roxane LLCs facility in Owens Valley. authorities said.

The company entered the pleas to one count of unlawful storage of hazardous waste and one count of unlawful transportation of hazardous material, the U.S. Attorneys Office said.

The office said the $5 million fine was included in a recently filed plea agreement.

The U.S. Attorneys Office statement noted that the investigation focused on handling, storage and transportation of CG Roxanes wastewater, not the safety or quality of CG Roxanes bottled water.

U.S. District Judge S. James Otero scheduled a sentencing hearing for Feb. 24. A call to a telephone listing for the company facility was not answered Thursday.

Prosecutors say the company used sand filters to reduce the concentration of naturally occurring arsenic in the spring water to meet federal drinking water standards.

To maintain the effectiveness of the sand filters, CG Roxane back-flushed the filters with a sodium hydroxide solution, which generated thousands of gallons of arsenic-contaminated wastewater, the office said.

CG Roxane was accused of discharging the wastewater into a manmade pond for about 15 years.

Pond sampling by local water quality officials in 2013 found arsenic concentrations above the hazardous waste limit, as did subsequent sampling by state authorities and the company, prosecutors said.

State officials instructed the company to remove the pond but that was done by two hired companies without identifying the wastewater as hazardous material, resulting in 23,000 gallons (87,064 litres) being discharged into a sewer without proper treatment, prosecutors said.

The two companies were charged along with CG Roxane in 2018 and await a trial set for April.
Hong Kong police have hacked into more than 3,700 mobile phones seized from protestors, according to local media reports.

The devices were seized during the first five months of anti-government protests prompted by the announcement of the June extradition bill. The bill would have allowed criminal suspects in Hong Kong to be sent to face trial in mainland China, and was considered a substantial erosion of the one country, two systems policy.

Though the bill was scrapped in September, protesters have continued to take to the streets upping their demands to call for democracy and police accountability. Clashes between police and activists have become increasingly violent, with Chief Executive Carrie Lam facing intense criticism from Hong Kong for bowing to China.

Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu claimed that all phones were seized after police search warrants were issued, dismissing concerns that the intrusion amounted to a potential abuse of power.

Mr Lee told the Legislative Council on Wednesday that from June to November 2019, police processed 1,429 cases that involved mobile phones as evidence, as reported by the South China Morning Post.

Among those cases, 3,721 mobile phones belonging to arrested persons or suspects were involved, and the relevant cases were all processed with search warrants issued by the court, he said.

Mr Lee claimed that it was customary practice to seize phones, and not a special tactic used against those arrested for protesting.

While carrying out their responsibilities, [law enforcement agencies] may exercise the search and seizure powers conferred by relevant legislation, and seize and examine various objects of the suspected offence, including mobile phones and other similar devices, he said.

Recommended The people of Hong Kong need more than an end to the extradition bill

Defending police actions, Mr Lee cited a 2017 case which ruled that officers may seize mobile phones from a person under arrest, but a search warrant would be required to examine the contents in a non-emergency situation.

But concerns have been raised by activists that police are hacking into their phones and using their content as evidence against them.

In the case of Joshua Wong, police submitted evidence containing the contents of messages sent from his mobile phone when he was arrested on August 30, in connection with an earlier protest.

In a statement on Twitter, Mr Wong claimed that his phone was seized by police, and despite being password secured, police submitted evidence allegedly containing four text messages sent from his device.

Mr Wong claims that he has never handed over any passwords to the police and believes that authorities gained access with the help of state-sponsored hacking.

It's utterly alarming that police begins to hack mobile devices of (Hong Kongers), just like China hacking iPhones & Android devices to target Uyghurs, he wrote on Twitter.

Mr Wong expressed doubts over the legality of such a search and urged Hong Kongers to strengthen their cybersecurity.

Mr Lee refused to comment on whether police had used spyware to unlock suspects phones.
Nature Matters presents Dr. Kris Homel and Derek Wiley: The History of Chum Salmon in the Columbia River: collapsed populations on the long road to recovery.

In this presentation, Dr. Kris Homel, chum reintroduction coordinator with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), will describe historical and contemporary limiting factors and efforts to recover chum salmon. Derek Wiley, chum reintroduction assistant project leader with ODFW, will show a short film on Oregon Chum, including underwater spawning footage and broodstock collection.

The 7 p.m. presentation takes place Jan. 9 at the Fort George Lovell Showroom, 1483 Duane Street, Astoria. This free event is open to the public. Doors open at 6 p.m. to purchase dinner or beverages at the Fort George Brewery before the event.

Historically, chum salmon represented a significant portion of the annual returns of salmon and steelhead to the lower Columbia River, with peak returns estimated at over a million chum in 1928. Beginning in the 1940s, chum returns declined rapidly to fewer than several thousand adults. In 1999, chum were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Nature Matters, a lively conversation about the intersection of nature and culture, takes place on the second Thursday of each month from October through May. Nature Matters is hosted by Lewis and Clark National Historical Park in partnership with the North Coast Watershed Association, the Lewis & Clark National Park Association, and the Fort George Brewery + Public House.

For more information, call the park at (503) 861-2471 or check out http://www.nps.gov/lewi, follow Lewis and Clark National Historical Park on Facebook and @LewisandClarkNHP on Instagram.
Harda (Madhya Pradesh) [India], Jan 9 (ANI): In a veiled attack at actor Deepika Padukone for visiting Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Leader of Opposition Mohan Bhargava on Thursday said that "heroines should be in Mumbai and dance".



In reply to a question on Deepika's visit to JNU, the BJP leader said: "Heroine should dance in Mumbai. Why should she go to JNU? I do not know. There are many people like her. If they want to do politics then you should enter politics and contest elections."

Bhargava also referred to former JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar who lost Lok Sabha election to Union Minister Giriraj Singh in Bihar's Begusarai.

"Many have fought elections as well. He contested from Begusarai and came at third place," he said.

Deepika Padukone's upcoming film "Chhapaak" which is based on an acid attack survivor, is releasing on January 10.

On January 7, the actor joined the protest at JNU after a masked mob entered the varsity campus and attacked the students and teachers with sticks and rods. (ANI)


Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

Investment consulting firm Aksia LLC, which focuses on hedge funds and private markets, acquired a rival firm called San Diego-based TorreyCove Capital Partners, which is based in San Diego.

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2020. The terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

The combined firm will have more than $160 billion in assets under advisement and some 240 professionals worldwide.

"The combination of Aksia and TorreyCove brings together two specialist investment research and advisory firms serving the needs of institutional investors in alternative investments. Aksia specializes in private credit and hedge fund strategies whereas TorreyCove specializes in private equity and real asset strategies," said a press release from Aksia which provides specialist alternative investment research and portfolio advisory solutions to institutional investors globally.

Following the transaction, Aksia will remain headquartered in New York, with offices in San Diego, London, Tokyo, Boston, Athens, and Hong Kong. TorreyCove's five Managing Directors will be welcomed as partners of Aksia and assume senior management positions.

"Clients are expected to benefit from larger and deeper research teams, broader geographic reach, pan-alternatives expertise, and a focus on technology solutions to access a wide range of research on investments as well as portfolio, accounting, and risk reporting," it said.

Experienced ......................

To view our full article Click here
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab urged the US and Iran to find a peaceful solution to heightened tensions when he met his American counterpart Mike Pompeo in Washington, diplomatic sources said last night.

Mr Raab and Secretary of State Mr Pompeo met in Washington after a week of drama in the Middle East sparked by President Donald Trump's assassination of key Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.

Sources said Mr Raab echoed Boris Johnson's sentiments, after the Prime Minister told Mr Trump in a phonecall that 'urgent de-escalation to avoid further conflict' was needed.

Foreign Secretary Mr Raab, left, met Secretary of State Mr Pompeo at the White House in Washington after a tense week in the Middle East

Mr Raab was expected to use the meeting to stress there is still a path to a peaceful solution if all sides are willing to engage in meaningful talks, sources said.

And he was expected to reiterate that while the UK sees eye-to-eye with the US on the need to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and for Tehran to end 'nefarious behaviour' in the region, further escalation is in no-one's interests.

Earlier Mr Raab condemned Iran's missile attacks on two military bases in Iraq containing US and British troops, which took place on Tuesday in response to Gen Soleimani's killing.

He called the strikes on camps in Erbil in northern Iraq and 200 miles south at the Ain al-Asad airbase 'reckless' and 'dangerous', adding: 'A war in the Middle East would only benefit terrorist groups.'

He also caused confusion by voicing concern at 'reports of casualties' - although the UK, US and Iraq have all said they did not suffer casualties.

Government sources suggested he had been referring to the possibility of local injuries.

The US says Soleimani was plotting terrorist attacks and it acted in self-defence.

The Iranian action appears to have been carefully calibrated to satisfy the anger of hardliners, while minimising the chances of the situation spiralling out of control. Mr Trump had threatened a 'disproportionate' response if any US personnel were killed in retribution.

In his statement yesterday morning, Mr Raab said: 'We condemn this attack on Iraqi military bases hosting Coalition - including British - forces. We are concerned by reports of casualties and use of ballistic missiles.

'We urge Iran not to repeat these reckless and dangerous attacks, and instead to pursue urgent de-escalation. A war in the Middle East would only benefit Daesh and other terrorist groups.'

On the same path: Mr Raab was expected to tell Mr Pompeo the UK sees eye-to-eye with the US on the need to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons

Multiple rockets were launched by Iran at Al-Asad airbase in Iraq (pictured)_ that is home to US and coalition forces, including British troops

Residents inspect a crater caused by an Iranian missile strike on the outskirts of Duhok, Iraq

Some Iranians celebrated in the streets last night as news of the missile attacks emerged

Paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces and local tribal militias participate in the military operations of the Iraqi army Seventh Brigade near the Ain al-Asad airbase in Anbar, Iraq

Iran fired 'more than a dozen' ballistic missiles last night against two airbases in Iraq where US and coalition forces, including British troops, are based.

But Tom Tugendhat, the Tory MP who chaired the defence committee during the last parliament, voiced relief that the reprisals appeared to have been limited.

He said the Iran attack on US military bases in Iraq was 'not hugely surprising', and it would be 'extremely welcome' if both sides could now 'get back to talking'.

PM surfaces to be quizzed by MPs for the first time since the Iran crisis kicked off Boris Johnson finally surfaced to be grilled on the Iran crisis today - five days after the drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani. Mr Johnson took PMQs in the Commons - the first time he has been seen in public since returning from his Caribbean holiday on Sunday. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was sent to update MPs on the situation last night, And Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has been doing most media appearances on the issue since the weekend. There have been claims the government was 'caught short' by the developments over the festive period. But No10 has insisted Mr Johnson has been working with other leaders behind the scenes to defuse the crisis. Advertisement

Mr Tugendhat told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'As far as I'm aware, it is the first time Iranian ballistic missiles have been fired directly at US bases.

'That is slightly caveating it, because of course the Iranians have been firing missiles via proxy for many, many years.' He added: 'If both sides can declare victory and get back to talking, then that would be extremely welcome.'

Boris Johnson will finally face questions from MP over the crisis later as he takes his first PMQs since the election.

The premier has not been seen in public since returning from his Caribbean holiday on Sunday - and yesterday sent Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to update the Commons on the standoff.

Iran branded the UK a 'partner in crime' of the US by Iranian officials who summoned Robert Macaire, Britain's ambassador to Tehran, to the Iranian foreign ministry yesterday.

Mr Wallace told the House last night that non-essential British personnel had now been withdrawn from the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, to a base 40 miles north of the city.

Mr Wallace also told the Commons military helicopters and ships were currently 'on standby', in case British soldiers and civilians needed to be evacuated from the region.

HMS Montrose and HMS Defender will resume their duties escorting British-flagged ships through the Straits of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.

The vital shipping lane became a flash-point for heightened US-Iran tensions when two tankers were attacked and a British-vessel was seized by Revolutionary Guard commandos last July.

Mr Wallace said the assassinated general had not been a 'friend' to peace, and added that Tehran's actions had been stoking problems in the region by coordinating proxy militias.

He repeated Washington's view that Soleimani had been plotting attacks on US targets when he was killed, adding: 'The UK has always defended the right of countries to defend themselves.'

But one Iranian diplomat claimed Britain should have condemned the killing, saying: 'The message was that we expected the British government to condemn the act of terror, and we are not happy that they did not.'

The attack, dubbed operation 'Martyr Soleimani' in Iran, came in three waves just after midnight, sources said.

The Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq and the Erbil base in Iraqi Kurdistan were both struck by the missiles on Tuesday at about 5.30pm (EST)

Nine Iranian rockets hit the Ain al-Asad airbase in the west of Iraq, the largest of the Iraqi military compounds where foreign troops are based

Iran swiftly claimed responsibility for the attack on two Iraqi bases and threatened 'more crushing responses' if Washington retaliated

Iran swiftly claimed responsibility for the attack, with state TV saying it had launched 'tens of missiles' on the base and promised 'more crushing responses' if the US carried out further strikes.

Iran threatened 'more crushing responses' if Washington carried out further strikes, the Islamic Republic's state media said.

It said the missiles were in response to a US strike last week that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi military commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

The Pentagon said Iran had fired more than a dozen missiles against Ain al-Asad and another installation hosting US and coalition forces near Arbil.

It said bases hosting foreign troops had expected an attack and had been on 'high alert' for days.

Mr Trump was 'monitoring the situation closely and consulting with his national security team', according to the White House.

The attack came after pro-Tehran factions in Iraq had vowed to join forces to 'respond' to the killing of Soleimani and Muhandis last week.

Soleimani was seen as the 'godfather' of Tehran's proxy network across the region and Muhandis, one of his top advisors, was the deputy head of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi military network.

An Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting video allegedly showed rockets launched from Iran against the US military base in Ein-al Asad in Iraq

Qassem Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike at Baghdad airport on Friday. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians flooded the streets to follow his funeral procession

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace speaking in the House of Commons yesterday said Britain would do 'what it has to do' to defend itself if Iran attacked its personnel

Many factions within the Hashed, which has been incorporated into the Iraqi state, have ties to Tehran.

A hardline Hashed faction issued its fiercest threat yet to retaliate last night.

'The US Marines must immediately return to their dens to make their coffins,' said Akram al-Kaabi, head of the Harakat al-Nujaba group.

'The International Resistance Regiments have been formed in order to execute a harsh, deliberate response to the American terrorist forces,' Kaabi added.

His deputy had earlier called for an urgent meeting to unite anti-American forces across Iraq.

'We will wage a war against the American presence in all parts of the region that we can reach,' said Nasr al-Shammary.
Dundalk-based international firm National Pen have announced a 'restructuring' which they say will impact 24 employees.

In a statement this morning, the company said that they will be "restructuring" part of their business in Dundalk.

The statement said: "In order to optimize Contact Centre operations, National Pen will be restructuring one Dundalk based nightshift team who support the Australian/New Zealand market. This restructure will effect less than 3% of National Pens Irish workforce (24 employees) and will come into effect in May 2020. The company is committed to working with all those affected by this decision to support them throughout the transition period."

In conjunction with this restructure, National Pen announced the creation of 20 new roles over the next three years.

"As the business evolves, National Pen also announced plans to continue to expand their Online Team in Europe with the creation of approximately 20 new positions in Dundalk over the coming three years. This expansion will include new roles in Paid Search, SEO, UX/UI, Content, Operations, etc. and initial recruitment for these roles has already commenced."

Speaking about these developments, President & CEO Peter Kelly said: National Pens European Headquarters has been operational in Dundalk for over three decades and remains crucial to our global strategy.

"It is regrettable that weve had to implement a restructure in our Contact Centre and we are committed to fully supporting the team affected throughout the transition. In 2019 at the peak of our busy season our headcount in Dundalk exceeded 1000 employees, and we created over 30 permanent roles across departments in the first half of this financial year in addition to the new ecommerce and technical roles we have planned for the future. As a company we are committed to our European Headquarters in Dundalk as Ireland remains the central hub of our international operations.
Brazil's highest court on Thursday rejected a lower court's decision to remove from Netflix a comedy depicting Jesus Christ in a gay relationship. The head of the Supreme Federal Court, Judge Antonio Dias Toffoli, sided with the streaming platform's appeal against a temporary injunction banning the movie. It denied the idea that the movie was insulting to Christians. "One cannot suppose that a humorous satire has the ability to weaken the values of the Christian faith, whose existence is traced back more than two thousand years, and which is the belief of the majority of Brazlian citizens," the judge said. The film, entitled "The First Temptation of Christ", by the Brazilian production company Porta dos Fundos, came out on December 3 and drew strong criticism from conservative politicians in the mainly Catholic country, from the church itself and from evangelicals. It depicts Jesus returning home with his boyfriend Orlando after 40 days in the desert, as Mary and Joseph plan a surprise party for Jesus's 30th birthday. The satirical comedy was still available on Netflix Thursday. Netflix did not respond to AFP's request for comment on Thursday's decision, but came out in support of the show on Wednesday. "We strongly support artistic expression and we will fight to defend this important principle, which is the heart of great stories," a spokesperson for the on-demand platform told AFP. In a statement, Porta dos Fundos said it "opposed any act of censorship, violence, illegality, authoritarianism" and vowed to continue broadcasting its work. On Christmas Eve, the production company's headquarters in Rio de Janeiro were attacked with Molotov cocktails. No one was hurt. Police said several men with their faces covered took part in the assault. Police have identified a man named Eduardo Fauzi as a suspect after analyzing security camera footage. He fled to Russia. The federal police asked Interpol Tuesday to issue a "Red Notice" for Fauzi, Brazil's state media reported on Wednesday. Fauzi still did not appear on the public list Thursday. A "red notice" is a request to police across the world to provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action. It is not an arrest warrant. Federal police did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment. Judge Benedicto Abicair said Wednesday he was ordering the film yanked so as to calm tempers until courts could consider the broader merits of a suit against the movie that was brought by a Catholic association called the Don Bosco Center for Faith and Culture. Porta dos Fundos is an award-winning comedy producer founded in 2012. It garnered an international Emmy in 2018. A scene from the Netflix production "The First Temptation of Christ", which drew strong criticism in Brazil after it first aired in December 2019
English French

MONTREAL, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Velan Inc. (TSX: VLN) (the Company), a world-leading manufacturer of industrial valves, announced today its financial results for its third quarter ended November 30, 2019.



Highlights

Sales of US$88.7 million for the quarter

Gross profit percentage of 25.0% for the quarter

Net loss 1 of US$0.8 million for the quarter

Operating profit before restructuring and transformation costs 2 of US$1.0 million for the quarter

Adjusted EBITDA2 of US$4.3 million for the quarter

Net new orders (Bookings) of US$97.2 million for the quarter

Order backlog of US$432.1 million at the end of the quarter, of which US$145.1 million is scheduled for delivery beyond the next 12 months

Net cash of US$39.0 million at the end of the quarter





(millions of U.S. dollars, excluding per share amounts) Three-month periods ended

November 30 Nine-month periods ended

November 30 2019 2018 2019 2018



Sales $ 88.7 $ 92.3 $ 258.0 $ 261.5



Gross Profit 22.2 22.6 60.2 59.7 Gross profit % 25.0% 24.5% 23.3% % 22.8% % Operating profit (loss) before restructuring and transformation costs2 1.0 0.2 (3.3 ) (6.3 ) Net loss1 (0.8 ) (0.2 ) (5.3 ) (6.4 ) Net loss1 per share  basic and diluted (0.04 ) (0.01 ) (0.24 ) (0.30 ) Adjusted EBITDA2 4.3 3.4 6.2 3.3 Adjusted EBITDA2 per share  basic and diluted 0.20 0.16 0.29 0.15

Third Quarter Fiscal 2020 (unless otherwise noted, all amounts are in U.S. dollars and all comparisons are to the third quarter of fiscal 2019):

Sales amounted to $88.7 million, a decrease of $3.6 million or 3.9% from the prior year. The decrease for the quarter was primarily attributable to the shipment by the North American operations of a large complex Chinese order in the third quarter of the prior fiscal year, partially offset by an increase in shipments of large project orders in the Companys Italian operations due to a record backlog at the beginning of the year.

Gross profit percentage increased by 50 basis points from 24.5% to 25.0%. The increase in the gross profit percentage is mainly attributable to a stronger proportion of higher margin product sales and an increased sales volume in the Companys Italian operations, which allowed the subsidiary to cover its fixed costs more efficiently. This increase was partially offset by temporary factors such as a less efficient product mix in the Companys North American operations, including a lower volume of higher margin spare parts sales. The Company has realized an improvement in the gross profit percentage of its North American operations in comparison to the first and second quarters of the current fiscal year, thanks to improved margins in its project manufacturing business.

Net loss 1 amounted to $0.8 million or $0.04 per share compared to $0.2 million or $0.01 per share last year. Net loss 1 for the current quarter was significantly impacted by the $1.4 million spent on the Companys restructuring and transformative initiative, V20, which aims to improve its operational efficiency and optimize its manufacturing footprint in North America. The Companys current production is being reorganized from four North American plants to three more specialized plants that will be structured to better support the new business units market strategies. The production of certain non-project valves produced in North America, as well as the less complex project valves are also being transferred to India. Restructuring and transformation costs include temporary project resources and their travel and lodging costs as well as the moving costs related to dismantling and transportation of machinery and equipment to reflect the optimized manufacturing footprint plan. Excluding this $1.4 million amount, as well as the after-tax impact of these restructuring and transformation costs incurred during the quarter, the Company would have presented net earnings 1 of $0.2 million compared to a net loss 1 of $0.2 million last year, representing an improvement of $0.4 million in net loss 1 which is primarily attributable to lower administration costs partially offset by higher finance costs.

amounted to $0.8 million or $0.04 per share compared to $0.2 million or $0.01 per share last year. Net loss for the current quarter was significantly impacted by the $1.4 million spent on the Companys restructuring and transformative initiative, V20, which aims to improve its operational efficiency and optimize its manufacturing footprint in North America. The Companys current production is being reorganized from four North American plants to three more specialized plants that will be structured to better support the new business units market strategies. The production of certain non-project valves produced in North America, as well as the less complex project valves are also being transferred to India. Restructuring and transformation costs include temporary project resources and their travel and lodging costs as well as the moving costs related to dismantling and transportation of machinery and equipment to reflect the optimized manufacturing footprint plan. Excluding this $1.4 million amount, as well as the after-tax impact of these restructuring and transformation costs incurred during the quarter, the Company would have presented net earnings of $0.2 million compared to a net loss of $0.2 million last year, representing an improvement of $0.4 million in net loss which is primarily attributable to lower administration costs partially offset by higher finance costs. Operating profit before restructuring and administration costs 2 amounted to $1.0 million compared to $0.2 million last year. Operating profit presents the profitability of a business before taking into account interest and taxes. Adjusted EBITDA 2 amounted to $4.3 million or $0.20 per share compared to $3.4 million or $0.16 per share last year. The increase in operating profit before restructuring and administration costs 2 and adjusted EBITDA 2 is mainly attributable to lower administration costs and an improved gross profit percentage, partially offset by a lower sales volume.

amounted to $1.0 million compared to $0.2 million last year. Operating profit presents the profitability of a business before taking into account interest and taxes. Adjusted EBITDA amounted to $4.3 million or $0.20 per share compared to $3.4 million or $0.16 per share last year. The increase in operating profit before restructuring and administration costs and adjusted EBITDA is mainly attributable to lower administration costs and an improved gross profit percentage, partially offset by a lower sales volume. Bookings amounted to $97.2 million, a decrease of $3.6 million or 3.6% compared to last year. This decrease is primarily attributable to lower order bookings by the Companys Italian operations, which booked a record of large project orders in the prior year. This decrease was partially offset by higher order bookings in the Companys Indian operations.

The Company ended the period with net cash of $39.0 million, an increase of $4.1 million or 11.7% since the beginning of the quarter. This increase is primarily attributable to cash provided by operating activities partially offset by investments in property, plant and equipment. Net cash was also negatively impacted by V20 related disbursements as well as the weakening of the euro spot rate against the U.S. dollar over the course of the current quarter.

First Nine Months Fiscal 2020 (unless otherwise noted, all amounts are in U.S. dollars and all comparisons are to the first nine months of fiscal 2019):

Sales amounted to $258.0 million, a decrease of $3.5 million or 1.3% from the prior year. Sales were negatively impacted by decreased shipments of certain large project orders in the Companys North American and French operations due to various customer-related issues and the timing of the delivery schedule for such orders, partially offset by increased shipments from the Companys Italian operations which continued to deliver the record backlog at the beginning of the year. The decrease of sales in the Companys French operations is due to the timing of the deliveries of certain of its large project orders which have been delivered in part in this quarter and are expected to ship in the last quarter of this fiscal year.

Gross profit percentage increased by 50 basis points from 22.8% to 23.3%. This improvement is due to a higher sales volume and a stronger proportion of higher margin product sales in the Companys Italian operations, partially offset by a lower sales volume and a less efficient product mix in the Companys North American operations. Overall, the Company is still delivering its backlog built during the last fiscal year which means that the margins do not yet reflect the impact of the margin improvement measures launched in the last quarters under the Companys V20 transformation plan. The combined effect of these measures is expected to gradually take effect in the last quarter of this fiscal year and next year but the greater impact of the Companys restructuring and transformative V20 initiatives is only expected late in fiscal year 2021, when the task of reorganizing and reducing the Companys North American footprint is planned to be completed.

Net loss 1 amounted to $5.3 million or $0.24 per share compared to $6.4 million or $0.30 per share last year. Net loss 1 for the current nine-month period was significantly impacted by the $2.5 million spent on the Companys restructuring and transformative initiative, V20. Restructuring and transformation costs include temporary project resources and their travel and lodging costs as well as the moving costs related to dismantling and transportation of machinery and equipment to reflect the optimized manufacturing footprint plan. Excluding this $2.5 million amount, as well as the after-tax impact of these restructuring and transformation costs incurred during the nine-month period, the Companys net loss 1 would have been $3.5 million compared to $6.4 million last year, representing an improvement of $2.9 million net loss 1 which is primarily attributable to lower administration costs and an improved gross margin despite the lower sales volume.

amounted to $5.3 million or $0.24 per share compared to $6.4 million or $0.30 per share last year. Net loss for the current nine-month period was significantly impacted by the $2.5 million spent on the Companys restructuring and transformative initiative, V20. Restructuring and transformation costs include temporary project resources and their travel and lodging costs as well as the moving costs related to dismantling and transportation of machinery and equipment to reflect the optimized manufacturing footprint plan. Excluding this $2.5 million amount, as well as the after-tax impact of these restructuring and transformation costs incurred during the nine-month period, the Companys net loss would have been $3.5 million compared to $6.4 million last year, representing an improvement of $2.9 million net loss which is primarily attributable to lower administration costs and an improved gross margin despite the lower sales volume. Operating loss before restructuring and transformation costs 2 amounted to $3.3 million compared to $6.3 million last year. Adjusted EBITDA 2 amounted to $6.2 million or $0.29 per share compared to $3.3 million or $0.15 per share last year. The improvement in operating loss before restructuring and transformation costs 2 and adjusted EBITDA 2 is primarily attributable to lowered administration and an increase in gross profit percentage.

amounted to $3.3 million compared to $6.3 million last year. Adjusted EBITDA amounted to $6.2 million or $0.29 per share compared to $3.3 million or $0.15 per share last year. The improvement in operating loss before restructuring and transformation costs and adjusted EBITDA is primarily attributable to lowered administration and an increase in gross profit percentage. Bookings amounted to $252.1 million, a decrease of $38.3 million or 13.2% compared to last year. This decrease is due primarily to lower order bookings by the Companys North American operations which had seen an unusually high surge of non-project valve re-stocking orders from its distributors in the first quarter of the prior fiscal year. MRO distributor orders this fiscal year are expected to reflect a more normalized stock replenishment cycle. The decrease is also due to lower large project orders booked by the Companys Italian operations which booked a record of large project orders in the prior year. The Companys project quotation activity has notably increased this year in sectors where margins are healthy, and concurrently decreased in other sectors where the Company experiences the most aggressive competition and where margins are much tighter. The shift is the result of deliberate screening that is expected to take effect gradually as the Company replaces its existing backlog with higher margin orders. The net decrease in bookings experienced in the last nine months, which the Companys plan aims to reverse, must be understood in this context.

The Company ended the period with a backlog of $432.1 million, a decrease of $17.6 million or 3.9% since the beginning of the current fiscal year. The decrease in backlog is primarily attributable to a lower booktobill ratio of 0.98 and the weakening of the euro spot rate against the U.S. dollar over the course of the current fiscal year.

Administration costs amounted to $63.7 million, a decrease of $2.5 million or 3.8% compared to last year. The decrease in administration costs was achieved despite the recording of a $0.9 million provision regarding the settlement of a product claim that was filed against the Company in a prior fiscal year as well as an increase in the costs recognized in connection with the Companys ongoing asbestos litigation. The fluctuation in asbestos costs for the period is due more to the timing of settlements in these two periods rather than to changes in long-term trends. The reduction in administration costs is mainly attributable to lower sales commissions as well as the higher freight charges that were incurred in the prior fiscal year in order to air freight a large delayed order.

The Company ended the period with net cash of $39.0 million, a decrease of $1.9 million or 4.6% since the beginning of the year. This decrease, which occurred mainly in the first half of the fiscal year, is primarily attributable to investments in property, plant and equipment, land restoration costs related to a property, longterm debt and lease liabilities repayments, as well as distributions to shareholders via dividends, partially offset by cash provided by operating activities and an increase in long-term debt. Net cash was also negatively impacted by V20 related disbursements as well as the weakening of the euro spot rate against the U.S. dollar over the course of the current year.

Foreign currency impacts:

Based on average exchange rates, the euro weakened 5.1% against the U.S. dollar when compared to the same period last year. This resulted in the Companys net profits and bookings from its European subsidiaries being reported as lower U.S. dollar amounts in the current period. Based on average exchange rates, the Canadian dollar weakened 2.1% against the U.S. dollar when compared to the same period last year. This resulted in the Companys Canadian dollar expenses being reported as lower U.S. dollar amounts in the current period. The net impact of the above currency swings was generally unfavourable on the Companys results.



During the third quarter, we continued to see the gradual improvement of various operational ratios such as gross margin and SG&A as a percent of sales. Our V20 transformation initiative costs are well underway and we are now disclosing these separately, said John Ball, CFO of Velan Inc. In spite of these costs we managed, as a group, to conserve cash during the quarter. We also note that, following the approval of our Normal Course Issuer Bid in October, we recommenced the repurchase of our subordinate voting shares on the open market at market prices significantly below their net book value.

Yves Leduc, CEO of Velan Inc., said, We have made good progress this quarter in carrying out our V20 strategy, solidly on track with our planned schedule. We were able to extend three labour agreements in Montreal, Granby and Williston following tough and prolonged negotiations. As a result, we are accelerating the consolidation and specialization of our North American plants with the cooperation of all employees. Bruno Carbonaro, our new president, has quickly assumed leadership of the business units market plans and operations, adding tremendous competence and guidance to our transformation effort. Our European subsidiaries, particularly Italy, are having a very strong year, while our Indian plant is gradually expanding its production of non-project valves currently being transferred from Canada. Meanwhile, our margins are improving in our North American operations, thanks to a greater focus on costs and profitable project manufacturing opportunities. Our investments in ERP and processes are bearing fruits; for example, through our new Velan Project Management system, now fully deployed, our customers are benefitting from notable and sustained improvements in our delivery performance. There is progress on many fronts, but we need to bring all the key elements together to accelerate the Companys return to profitable growth, remembering that the most significant impact of the Companys restructuring and transformative V20 initiatives is only expected late next fiscal year, when the task of reorganizing and reducing the Companys North American footprint will be completed.

Dividend

The Board declared an eligible quarterly dividend of CDN$0.03 per share, payable on March 27, 2020, to all shareholders of record as at March 12, 2020.

Conference call

Financial analysts, shareholders, and other interested individuals are invited to attend the third quarter conference call to be held on Friday, January 10, 2020, at 11:00 a.m. (EDT). The toll free call-in number is 18009094164, access code 21939084. A recording of this conference call will be available for seven days at 14166264100 or 18005585253, access code 21939084.

About Velan

Founded in Montreal in 1950, Velan Inc. ( www.velan.com ) is one of the worlds leading manufacturers of industrial valves, with sales of US$366.9 million in its last reported fiscal year. The Company employs over 1,800 people and has manufacturing plants in 9 countries. Velan Inc. is a public company with its shares listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol VLN.

Safe harbour statement

This news release may include forward-looking statements, which generally contain words like should, believe, anticipate, plan, may, will, expect, intend, continue or estimate or the negatives of these terms or variations of them or similar expressions, all of which are subject to risks and uncertainties, which are disclosed in the Companys filings with the appropriate securities commissions. While these statements are based on managements assumptions regarding historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that it believes are reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may differ materially from those expressed herein. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by the applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Non-IFRS measures

In this press release, the Company presented measures of performance and financial condition that are not defined under International Financial Reporting Standards (non-IFRS measures) and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. These measures are used by management in assessing the operating results and financial condition of the Company. In addition, they provide readers of the Companys consolidated financial statements with enhanced understanding of its results and financial condition, and increase transparency and clarity into the operating results of its core business. Reconciliations of these amounts can be found on the following page.

Operating profit (loss) before restructuring and transformation costs and Adjusted net earnings (loss) before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA")

Three-month

period ended

November 30, Three-month

period ended

November 30, Nine-month

period ended

November 30, Nine-month

period ended

November 30, 2019 2018 2019 2018 Operating profit (loss) (0.4) 0.2 (5.7) (6.3) Adjustment for: Restructuring and transformation costs 1.4 - 2.5 - Operating profit (loss) before restructuring and transformation costs 1.0 0.2 (3.2) (6.3) Net loss1 (0.8) (0.2) (5.3) (6.4) Adjustments for: Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 2.9 2.6 8.1 8.1 Amortization of intangible assets 0.5 0.4 1.5 1.3 Finance costs  net 0.7 0.1 0.8 0.7 Income taxes (0.4) 0.5 (1.4) (0.4) EBITDA 2.9 3.4 3.7 3.3 Adjustment for: Restructuring and transformation costs 1.4 - 2.5 - Adjusted EBITDA 4.3 3.4 6.2 3.3

The term operating profit or loss before restructuring and transformation costs is defined as operating profit or loss plus restructuring and transformation costs. The Company opted to not adjust the prior year figures due to the different nature of the expenses, which were more related to the assessment of the required restructuring and transformation plan rather than the execution of the plan itself. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

The term adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income or loss attributable to Subordinate and Multiple Voting Shares plus restructuring and transformation costs, depreciation of property, plant & equipment, plus amortization of intangible assets, plus net finance costs plus income tax provision. The Company opted to not adjust the prior year figures due to the different nature of the expenses, which were more related to the assessment of the required restructuring and transformation plan rather than the execution of the plan itself. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

___________________________________

1 Net earnings or loss refers to net income or loss attributable to Subordinate and Multiple Voting Shares.

2 Non-IFRS measures  see explanation above.







Velan Inc. Condensed Interim Consolidated Statements of Financial Position (Unaudited) (in thousands of U.S. dollars) As At November 30, February 28, 2019 2019 $ $ Assets Current assets Cash and cash equivalents 77,143 70,673 Short-term investments 89 658 Accounts receivable 125,006 137,520 Income taxes recoverable 17,606 16,863 Inventories 180,923 165,583 Deposits and prepaid expenses 4,422 4,612 Derivative assets - 189 405,189 396,098 Non-current assets Property, plant and equipment 98,843 83,537 Intangible assets and goodwill 16,357 18,146 Deferred income taxes 24,667 25,947 Other assets 528 629 140,395 128,259 Total assets 545,584 524,357 Liabilities Current liabilities Bank indebtedness 38,115 29,807 Short-term bank loans 1,534 2,172 Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 76,450 74,910 Income taxes payable 828 495 Dividend payable 501 497 Customer deposits 52,634 40,240 Provisions 7,215 8,494 Accrual for performance guarantees 21,510 23,014 Derivative liabilities 30 83 Current portion of long-term debt 7,967 8,609 Current portion of long-term lease liabilities 1,640 - 208,424 188,321 Non-current liabilities Long-term debt 11,922 13,242 Long-term lease liabilities 14,380 - Income taxes payable 1,576 1,742 Deferred income taxes 3,310 3,738 Other liabilities 8,592 8,481 39,780 27,203 Total liabilities 248,204 215,524 Equity Equity attributable to the Subordinate and Multiple Voting shareholders Share capital 72,906 73,090 Contributed surplus 6,170 6,074 Retained earnings 247,871 254,606 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (33,571 ) (28,990 ) 293,376 304,780 Non-controlling interest 4,004 4,053 Total equity 297,380 308,833 Total liabilities and equity 545,584 524,357







Velan Inc. Condensed Interim Consolidated Statements of Loss (Unaudited) (in thousands of U.S. dollars, excluding number of shares and per share amounts) Three-month periods ended

November 30 Nine-month periods ended

November 30 2019 2018 2019 2018 $ $ $ $ Sales 88,701 92,271 257,984 261,520 Cost of sales 66,548 69,622 197,755 201,791 Gross profit 22,153 22,649 60,229 59,729 Administration costs 21,275 22,467 63,659 66,151 Restructuring and transformation costs 1,406 - 2,480 - Other income (118 ) (63 ) (171 ) (87 ) Operating profit (loss) (410 ) 245 (5,739 ) (6,335 ) Finance income 135 131 870 493 Finance costs 833 221 1,709 1,165 Finance costs  net (698 ) (90 ) (839 ) (672 ) Income (Loss) before income taxes (1,108 ) 155 (6,578 ) (7,007 ) Provision for (Recovery of) income taxes (400 ) 497 (1,368 ) (436 ) Net loss for the period (708 ) (342 ) (5,210 ) (6,571 ) Net income (loss) attributable to: Subordinate Voting Shares and Multiple Voting Shares (819 ) (236 ) (5,274 ) (6,401 ) Non-controlling interest 111 (106 ) 64 (170 ) (708 ) (342 ) (5,210 ) (6,571 ) Net loss per Subordinate and Multiple Voting Share Basic (0.04 ) (0.01 ) (0.24 ) (0.30 ) Diluted (0.04 ) (0.01 ) (0.24 ) (0.30 ) Dividends declared per Subordinate and Multiple 0.02 0.02 0.07 0.07 Voting Share (CA$0.03) (CA$0.03) (CA$0.09) (CA$0.09) Total weighted average number of Subordinate and Multiple Voting Shares Basic 21,617,207 21,621,935 21,616,543 21,621,935 Diluted 21,617,207 21,621,935 21,616,543 21,621,935







Velan Inc. Condensed Interim Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss (Unaudited) (in thousands of U.S. dollars) Three-month periods ended

November 30 Nine-month periods ended

November 30 2019 2018 2019 2018 $ $ $ $ Comprehensive loss Net loss for the period (708 ) (342 ) (5,210 ) (6,571 ) Other comprehensive loss Foreign currency translation adjustment on foreign operations whose functional currency is other than the reporting currency (U.S. dollar) (124 ) (2,454 ) (4,694 ) (9,276 ) Comprehensive loss (832 ) (2,796 ) (9,904 ) (15,847 ) Comprehensive income (loss) attributable to: Subordinate Voting Shares and Multiple Voting Shares (1,002 ) (2,682 ) (9,855 ) (15,582 ) Non-controlling interest 170 (114 ) (49 ) (265 ) (832 ) (2,796 ) (9,904 ) (15,847 ) Other comprehensive income (loss) is composed solely of items that may be reclassified subsequently to the consolidated statement of income (loss).







Velan Inc. Condensed Interim Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity (Unaudited) (in thousands of U.S. dollars, excluding number of shares) Equity attributable to the Subordinate and Multiple Voting shareholders Number of

shares Share capital Contributed

surplus Accumulated

other

comprehensive

loss Retained

earnings Total Non-

controlling

interest Total equity Balance - February 28, 2019 21,621,935 73,090 6,074 (28,990 ) 254,606 304,780 4,053 308,833 Net income (loss) for the period - - - - (5,274 ) (5,274 ) 64 (5,210 ) Other comprehensive loss - - - (4,581 ) - (4,581 ) (113 ) (4,694 ) 21,621,935 73,090 6,074 (33,571 ) 249,332 294,925 4,004 298,929 Effect of share-based compensation - - 2 - - 2 - 2 Share repurchase (16,900 ) (184 ) 94 - - (90 ) - (90 ) Dividends Multiple Voting Shares - - - - (1,048 ) (1,048 ) - (1,048 ) Subordinate Voting Shares - - - - (413 ) (413 ) - (413 ) Balance - November 30, 2019 21,605,035 72,906 6,170 (33,571 ) 247,871 293,376 4,004 297,380 Balance - February 28, 2018 21,621,935 73,090 6,057 (19,790 ) 256,668 316,025 5,592 321,617 Adjustment related to the transition to IFRS 15 4,741 4,741 - 4,741 Adjusted balance - March 1, 2018 21,621,935 73,090 6,057 (19,790 ) 261,409 320,766 5,592 326,358 Net loss for the period - - - - (6,401 ) (6,401 ) (170 ) (6,571 ) Other comprehensive income - - - (9,181 ) - (9,181 ) (95 ) (9,276 ) 21,621,935 73,090 6,057 (28,971 ) 255,008 305,184 5,327 310,511 Effect of share-based compensation - - 13 - - 13 - 13 Dividends Multiple Voting Shares - - - - (1,044 ) (1,044 ) - (1,044 ) Subordinate Voting Shares - - - - (389 ) (389 ) - (389 ) Non-controlling interest - - - - - - (927 ) (927 ) Balance - November 30, 2018 21,621,935 73,090 6,070 (28,971 ) 253,575 303,764 4,400 308,164







Velan Inc. Condensed Interim Consolidated Statements of Cash Flow (Unaudited) (in thousands of U.S. dollars) Three-month periods ended

November 30 Nine-month periods ended

November 30 2019 2018 2019 2018 $ $ $ $ Cash flows from Operating activities Net loss for the period (708 ) (342 ) (5,210 ) (6,571 ) Adjustments to reconcile net loss to cash provided (used) by operating activities 3,590 2,676 10,503 9,679 Changes in non-cash working capital items 7,536 (4,519 ) 8,080 (8,499 ) Cash provided (used) by operating activities 10,418 (2,185 ) 13,373 (5,391 ) Investing activities Short-term investments 2,207 11 569 500 Additions to property, plant and equipment (5,711 ) (1,111 ) (7,425 ) (6,401 ) Additions to intangible assets (175 ) (13 ) (308 ) (112 ) Proceeds on disposal of property, plant and equipment, and intangible assets 109 19 148 144 Net change in other assets (156 ) 18 (1,484 ) 596 Cash used by investing activities (3,726 ) (1,076 ) (8,500 ) (5,273 ) Financing activities Dividends paid to Subordinate and Multiple Voting shareholders (495 ) (484 ) (1,457 ) (2,614 ) Dividends paid to non-controlling interest - - - (927 ) Repurchase of shares (90 ) - (90 ) - Short-term bank loans (146 ) 426 (638 ) 1,411 Increase in long-term debt - 3,509 1,122 4,116 Repayment of long-term debt (579 ) (857 ) (2,438 ) (2,787 ) Repayment of long-term lease liabilities (485 ) - (1,143 ) - Cash provided (used) by financing activities (1,795 ) 2,594 (4,644 ) (801 ) Effect of exchange rate differences on cash (779 ) (711 ) (2,067 ) (3,122 ) Net change in cash during the period 4,118 (1,378 ) (1,838 ) (14,587 ) Net cash  Beginning of the period 34,910 51,334 40,866 64,543 Net cash  End of the period 39,028 49,956 39,028 49,956 Net cash is composed of: Cash and cash equivalents 77,143 68,450 77,143 68,450 Bank indebtedness (38,115 ) (18,494 ) (38,115 ) (18,494 ) 39,028 49,956 39,028 49,956 Supplementary information Interest received (paid) (480 ) 52 (938 ) (116 ) Income taxes paid (1,025 ) (4,422 ) (4,532 ) (8,776 )

For further information please contact:

Yves Leduc, Chief Executive Officer

or

John D. Ball, Chief Financial Officer

Tel: (514) 748-7743

Fax: (514) 748-8635

Web: www.velan.com
XI'AN, China, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- HiHiStop (www.hihistop.com) joined the sexual wellbeing market at the beginning of 2019. Till now, there have been more than 10,000 happy customers who bought at least one toy from this new player. The rapid growth of HiHiStop came from strong needs from the market and the trust earned from customers.

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Thousands of terrorists might have been airlifted out of Kabul: Trump slams Biden

Never in history has withdrawal from war been handled so badly: Trump

All is well, says Trump after missiles attack at US forces in Iraq

International

oi-Deepika S

Washington, Jan 08: President Trump has said that "all is well" after Iran fired missiles at two military bases in Iraq that house US troops and coalition personnel.

"Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good!" Trump tweeted.

"We have the most powerful and well-equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning," he added.

Iran claims missile strikes on US airbase in Iraq

The president's tweet came moments after Iran's top diplomat tweeted that Tehran "took & concluded proportionate measures" with its strikes in Iraq on Tuesday night.

Iran retaliates against US strike, Plane crashes near Tehran airport | OneIndia News

Iran said that it launched tens of surface to surface missiles at Iraq's Ain Assad airbase that houses US troops. The attack was over the killing of Iran's top general Qasem Soleimani.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards has warned the US and its regional allies against retaliating over the missile attack in Iraq.

Oil prices rise after Iran launches missile attack on US air base

On January 3, the US took down Soleimani in a drone strike. Ever since the imposition of strict sanctions against Iran, tensions have been high with the US.
With the Oscars inching closer, the Hollywood press train chugs along as Scarlett Johansson makes her way inside the Whitby Hotel in New York on Wednesday to present a screening of the Netflix divorce drama Marriage Story, followed by a Q&A with co-star Laura Dern.

The Marriage Story co-lead rocked a casual chic look in a burnt orange coat with matching shades, light wash skinny jeans and cream-colored ankle booties.

The actress also wore her blonde hair slicked back into a high bun.

Cute bundle: Scarlett Johansson makes her way inside the Whitby Hotel in New York on Wednesday to present a screening of the Netflix divorce drama Marriage Story, alongside co-star Laura Dern

Despite a prolific acting career, as well as earning the No. 1 spot on Forbes' list of highest paid actresses, the Manhattan native has yet to be nominated for an Academy Award.

But Marriage Story was an early critics favorite this year, and the momentum does not seem to be slowing down for what could be considered director Noah Baumbach's most personal work to date.

Sitting at a coveted 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, Marriage Story was nominated for six Golden Globes and is expected to make a strong showing at the Academy Awards in February.

Lady in waiting: Despite a prolific acting career, as well as earning the No. 1 spot on Forbes' list of highest paid actresses, the Manhattan native has yet to be nominated for an Academy Award

Foot soldier: Johansson has earned heaps of praise for her emotionally raw performance, which means 2020 could be a year of firsts for the blonde stunner

At the Golden Gobes on Sunday, the lone winner on team Marriage Story was Laura Dern for her supporting role as a high-powered divorce attorney.

Both Johansson and Adam Driver also earned heaps of praise for their emotionally raw performances, which means 2020 could be a year of firsts for the blonde stunner.

Speaking to Variety at a round table in November, the 35-year-old reflected on her experience working with such a highly regarded director as Baumbach, considered by many to be the supreme leader of indie film.

What's your process? Senior editor for Backstage magazine Benjamin Lindsay talks with Johansson and Laura Dern on stage for a Marriage Story Q&A at the Whitby Theater

Take half: Dern, pictured here with Johansson at the Whitby Hotel on Wednesday, earned a Golden Globe for her supporting role in Marriage Story as a high-powered divorce attorney who takes on Johansson's character as a client in her increasingly messy divorce

'He will work his actors to an exhaustive state, which is interesting because thats when weird, kind of interesting stuff happens,' Johansson explained. 'You make discoveries that might not be possible if you kind of have your wits about you.'

'Sometimes, I think when you are feeling vulnerable, I dont know, your walls come down. You end up surprising yourself. I was thankful for that even if it was very tiresome.'

As far as the feedback she's received from friends, family and fans alike, the star says the hard work was well worth it.

Drop dead: The Black Widow star killed at the Golden Globes on Sunday in a red ball gown with a plunging neckline by Vera Wang

You love to see it: The Marriage Story actresses are all smiles at the Golden Globes as they celebrate the continued success of Netflix's highly acclaimed divorce drama

'Ive had so many wonderful messages from colleagues and other actors and friends and family members that were just so touched by this film, by the love that remains between these two characters,' Johansson told Variety.

'It has a bitter-sweetness that just really affects them, and I think its wonderful to be a part of something like that.'

Marriage Story is available to stream on Netflix.
Realme 5i launch is scheduled to begin today at 12.30 pm. Alongside the Realme 5i, the company is confirmed to launch three new surprises. We can expect Realme to launch the Realme C2s, a Realme fitness smart-band or watch, and some Realme accessories.

Realme 5i: Where to watch live-stream

Realme 5i launch event is scheduled to begin at 12.30 pm. The company will be hosting a live-stream across all its social media platforms for its online audience. You can check the link below to watch the live-stream.

Realme 5i specifications

Realme 5i has already been launched in Vietnam, meaning that the specifications arent a mystery. The smartphone is a new variant of the Realme 5 with some minor tweaks. On the outside, the Realme 5i features a Sunrise design, instead of the Diamond cut design found on Realme 5 and Realme 5s.

Realme 5i specifications include a 6.5-inch HD+ LCD with a water-drop notch on top. The display has a 720 x 1600 resolution and comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 3+ for added protection. Realme 5i has a screen-to-body ratio of 89 percent.

Under the hood, Realme 5i gets powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 SoC, paired with up to 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. Storage is expandable up to 256GB via a microSD card. The budget smartphone packs a 5,000 mAh battery with a 10W charging brick shipped inside the box.

Quad-camera setup on the back features a 12MP f/1.8 primary sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide f/2.25 lens, a 2MP portrait lens, and a 2MP macro shooter. For selfies, Realme 5i features an 8MP front camera housed inside the teardrop notch.

Connectivity options include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/A-GPS, 3.5mm headphone jack, etc.

Realme 5i expected pricing and storage options

Realme 5i comes in two colours Green and Blue. The smartphone is priced at VND 3,690,000 (roughly Rs 11,500) for the 3GB + 32GB variant, whereas the 4GB + 64GB variant is priced at VND 4,290,000 (roughly Rs 13,500). We can expect the Realme 5is price to be under Rs 10,000, at least for the base variant, in India.

Realme C2s specifications

Realme silently launched the C2s in Thailand. We can expect the smartphone to launch today in India alongside the Realme 5i. Realme C2s is an upgraded version of the Realme C2, which was launched in January 2019 as an entry-level smartphone.

Realme C2s features a 6.1-inch HD+ display with a teardrop notch on top for the front camera. The display has an HD+ resolution of 720 x 1560 pixels and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Realme C2s has a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on the display for added screen protection against drops and scratches.

Under the hood, Realme C2s gets powered by a MediaTek Helio P22 Octa-core SoC, paired with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. Memory can be further expanded up to 256GB via microSD. Realme C2s packs a 4,000 mAh non-removable battery.

For optics, Realme C2s has a dual-camera setup with a 13MP f/2.2 primary lens and a 2MP depth sensor. The smartphone also features a 5MP front camera for selfies.

Connectivity options include 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS/ A-GPS, Wi-Fi, 3.5mm headphone jack, etc.

Realme C2s runs on Android 9.0 based Color OS 6.1 out-of-the-box. The single 3GB + 32GB variant is priced at THB 1,290 (roughly Rs 3,000). We can expect the Realme C2s to be priced near Rs 5,000 in India.



If your New Year resolution is to stay fit then I have the biggest surprise for you! The one you guys have been waiting for long.

RT & reply to win this surprise.

Hint: Watch closely during the livestream of #realme5i launch tomorrow at 12:30 PMhttps://t.co/wsRo8HArnO  Madhav 's Lifestyle (@MadhavSheth1) January 8, 2020

Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth has teased the launch of a fitness-related product in India alongside the Realme 5i launch. From the tweet, Sheth has hinted that the company would unveil its first smartwatch today in India.

Details about the Realme smartwatch are currently unavailable.
 Close Donald Trump claims Nancy Pelosi would have leaked details of Iran raid to media

A judge in New York has refused a request by Donald Trumps legal team to have a defamation lawsuit brought against him by the writer E Jean Carroll dismissed, ensuring her allegations of sexual assault are heard while the president seeks re-election.

Mr Trump went after his domestic rivals over the Iran crisis during a wild campaign rally in Ohio on Thursday night, suggesting House speaker Nancy Pelosi would have leaked the US plan to assassinate Qassem Soleimani to the media had she had prior warning.

The president also told his supporters in Toledo the mission that killed the Quds commander was instigated to preserve peace, took credit for inspiring a revival of Christian faith in America and claimed 44th president Barack Obama had played too much golf in office and violated the carbon footprint.

On Friday, his administration announced sweeping and "punishing" sanctions against Iran, targeting key economic drivers like manufacturing, until the country "changes its behaviour", he said.

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Show all 26 1 /26 Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Donald Trump Accused of abusing his office by pressing the Ukrainian president in a July phone call to help dig up dirt on Joe Biden, who may be his Democratic rival in the 2020 election. He also believes that Hillary Clintons deleted emails - a key factor in the 2016 election - may be in Ukraine, although it is not clear why. EPA Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal The Whistleblower Believed to be a CIA agent who spent time at the White House, his complaint was largely based on second and third-hand accounts from worried White House staff. Although this is not unusual for such complaints, Trump and his supporters have seized on it to imply that his information is not reliable. Expected to give evidence to Congress voluntarily and in secret. Getty Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal The Second Whistleblower The lawyer for the first intelligence whistleblower is also representing a second whistleblower regarding the President's actions. Attorney Mark Zaid said that he and other lawyers on his team are now representing the second person, who is said to work in the intelligence community and has first-hand knowledge that supports claims made by the first whistleblower and has spoken to the intelligence community's inspector general. The second whistleblower has not yet filed their own complaint, but does not need to to be considered an official whistleblower. Getty Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Rudy Giuliani Former mayor of New York, whose management of the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001 won him worldwide praise. As Trumps personal attorney he has been trying to find compromising material about the presidents enemies in Ukraine in what some have termed a shadow foreign policy. In a series of eccentric TV appearances he has claimed that the US state department asked him to get involved. Giuliani insists that he is fighting corruption on Trumps behalf and has called himself a hero. AP Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Volodymyr Zelensky The newly elected Ukrainian president - a former comic actor best known for playing a man who becomes president by accident - is seen frantically agreeing with Trump in the partial transcript of their July phone call released by the White House. With a Russian-backed insurgency in the east of his country, and the Crimea region seized by Vladimir Putin in 2014, Zelensky will have been eager to please his American counterpart, who had suspended vital military aid before their phone conversation. He says there was no pressure on him from Trump to do him the favour he was asked for. Zelensky appeared at an awkward press conference with Trump in New York during the United Nations general assembly, looking particularly uncomfortable when the American suggested he take part in talks with Putin. AFP/Getty Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Mike Pence The vice-president was not on the controversial July call to the Ukrainian president but did get a read-out later. However, Trump announced that Pence had had one or two phone conversations of a similar nature, dragging him into the crisis. Pence himself denies any knowledge of any wrongdoing and has insisted that there is no issue with Trumps actions. It has been speculated that Trump involved Pence as an insurance policy - if both are removed from power the presidency would go to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, something no Republican would allow. AP Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Rick Perry Trump reportedly told a meeting of Republicans that he made the controversial call to the Ukrainian president at the urging of his own energy secretary, Rick Perry, and that he didnt even want to. The president apparently said that Perry wanted him to talk about liquefied natural gas - although there is no mention of it in the partial transcript of the phone call released by the White House. It is thought that Perry will step down from his role at the end of the year. Getty Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Joe Biden The former vice-president is one of the frontrunners to win the Democratic nomination, which would make him Trumps opponent in the 2020 election. Trump says that Biden pressured Ukraine to sack a prosecutor who was investigating an energy company that Bidens son Hunter was on the board of, refusing to release US aid until this was done. However, pressure to fire the prosecutor came on a wide front from western countries. It is also believed that the investigation into the company, Burisma, had long been dormant. Reuters Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Hunter Biden Joe Bidens son has been accused of corruption by the president because of his business dealings in Ukraine and China. However, Trump has yet to produce any evidence of corruption and Bidens lawyer insists he has done nothing wrong. AP Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal William Barr The attorney-general, who proved his loyalty to Trump with his handling of the Mueller report, was mentioned in the Ukraine call as someone president Volodymyr Zelensky should talk to about following up Trumps preoccupations with the Bidens and the Clinton emails. Nancy Pelosi has accused Barr of being part of a cover-up of a cover-up. AP Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Mike Pompeo The secretary of state initially implied he knew little about the Ukraine phone call - but it later emerged that he was listening in at the time. He has since suggested that asking foreign leaders for favours is simply how international politics works. Gordon Sondland testified that Pompeo was "in the loop" and knew what was happening in Ukraine. Pompeo has been criticised for not standing up for diplomats under his command when they were publicly criticised by the president. AFP via Getty Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Nancy Pelosi The Democratic Speaker of the House had long resisted calls from within her own party to back a formal impeachment process against the president, apparently fearing a backlash from voters. On September 24, amid reports of the Ukraine call and the day before the White House released a partial transcript of it, she relented and announced an inquiry, saying: The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law. Getty Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Adam Schiff Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, one of the three committees leading the inquiry. He was criticized by Republicans for giving what he called a parody of the Ukraine phone call during a hearing, with Trump and others saying he had been pretending that his damning characterisation was a verbatim reading of the phone call. He has also been criticised for claiming that his committee had had no contact with the whistleblower, only for it to emerge that the intelligence agent had contacted a staff member on the committee for guidance before filing the complaint. The Washington Post awarded Schiff a four Pinocchios rating, its worst rating for a dishonest statement. Reuters Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman Florida-based businessmen and Republican donors Lev Parnas (pictured with Rudy Giuliani) and Igor Fruman were arrested on suspicion of campaign finance violations at Dulles International Airport near Washington DC on 9 October. Separately the Associated Press has reported that they were both involved in efforts to replace the management of Ukraine's gas company, Naftogaz, with new bosses who would steer lucrative contracts towards companies controlled by Trump allies. There is no suggestion of any criminal activity in these efforts. Reuters Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal William Taylor The most senior US diplomat in Ukraine and the former ambassador there. As one of the first two witnesses in the public impeachment hearings, Taylor dropped an early bombshell by revealing that one of his staff  later identified as diplomat David Holmes  overheard a phone conversation in which Donald Trump could be heard asking about investigations the very day after asking the Ukrainian president to investigate his political enemies. Taylor expressed his concern at reported plans to withhold US aid in return for political smears against Trumps opponents, saying: It's one thing to try to leverage a meeting in the White House. It's another thing, I thought, to leverage security assistance -- security assistance to a country at war, dependent on both the security assistance and the demonstration of support." Getty Images Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal George Kent A state department official who appeared alongside William Taylor wearing a bow tie that was later mocked by the president. He accused Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trumps personal lawyer, of leading a campaign of lies against Marie Yovanovitch, who was forced out of her job as US ambassador to Ukraine for apparently standing in the way of efforts to smear Democrats. Getty Images Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Marie Yovanovitch One of the most striking witnesses to give evidence at the public hearings, the former US ambassador to Ukraine received a rare round of applause as she left the committee room after testifying. Canadian-born Yovanovitch was attacked on Twitter by Donald Trump while she was actually testifying, giving Democrats the chance to ask her to respond. She said she found the attack very intimidating. Trump had already threatened her in his 25 July phone call to the Ukrainian president saying: Shes going to go through some things. Yovanovitch said she was shocked, appalled and devastated by the threat and by the way she was forced out of her job without explanation. REUTERS Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Alexander Vindman A decorated Iraq War veteran and an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, Lt Col Vindman began his evidence with an eye-catching statement about the freedoms America afforded him and his family to speak truth to power without fear of punishment. One of the few witnesses to have actually listened to Trumps 25 July call with the Ukrainian president, he said he found the conversation so inappropriate that he was compelled to report it to the White House counsel. Trump later mocked him for wearing his military uniform and insisting on being addressed by his rank. Getty Images Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Jennifer Williams A state department official acting as a Russia expert for vice-president Mike Pence, Ms Williams also listened in on the 25 July phone call. She testified that she found it unusual because it focused on domestic politics in terms of Trump asking a foreign leader to investigate his political opponents. Getty Images Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Kurt Volker The former special envoy to Ukraine was one of the few people giving evidence who was on the Republican witness list although what he had to say may not have been too helpful to their cause. He dismissed the idea that Joe Biden had done anything corrupt, a theory spun without evidence by the president and his allies. He said that he thought the US should be supporting Ukraines reforms and that the scheme to find dirt on Democrats did not serve the national interest. Getty Images Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Tim Morrison An expert on the National Security Council and another witness on the Republican list. He testified that he did not think the president had done anything illegal but admitted that he feared it would create a political storm if it became public. He said he believed the moving the record of the controversial 25 July phone call to a top security server had been an innocent mistake. Getty Images Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Gordon Sondland In explosive testimony, one of the men at the centre of the scandal got right to the point in his opening testimony: Was there a quid pro quo? Yes, said the US ambassador to the EU who was a prime mover in efforts in Ukraine to link the release of military aid with investigations into the presidents political opponents. He said that everyone knew what was going on, implicating vice-president Mike Pence and secretary of state Mike Pompeo. The effect of his evidence is perhaps best illustrated by the reaction of Mr Trump who went from calling Sondland a great American a few weeks earlier to claiming that he barely knew him. AP Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Laura Cooper A Pentagon official, Cooper said Ukrainian officials knew that US aid was being withheld before it became public knowledge in August  undermining a Republican argument that there cant have been a quid pro quo between aid and investigations if the Ukrainians didnt know that aid was being withheld. Getty Images Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal David Hale The third most senior official at the state department. Hale testified about the treatment of Marie Yovanovitch and the smear campaign that culminated in her being recalled from her posting as US ambassador to Ukraine. He said: I believe that she should have been able to stay at post and continue to do the outstanding work. EPA Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal Fiona Hill Arguably the most confident and self-possessed of the witnesses in the public hearings phase, the Durham-born former NSC Russia expert began by warning Republicans not to keep repeating Kremlin-backed conspiracy theories. In a distinctive northeastern English accent, Dr Hill went on to describe how she had argued with Gordon Sondland about his interference in Ukraine matters until she realised that while she and her colleagues were focused on national security, Sondland was being involved in a domestic political errand. She said: I did say to him, Ambassador Sondland, Gordon, this is going to blow up. And here we are. AP Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal David Holmes The Ukraine-based diplomat described being in a restaurant in Kiev with Gordon Sondland while the latter phoned Donald Trump. Holmes said he could hear the president on the other end of the line  because his voice was so loud and distinctive and because Sondland had to hold the phone away from his ear  asking about the investigations and whether the Ukrainian president would cooperate. REUTERS

Meanwhile, the president's impeachment trial could start as early as next week, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced that she intends to forward articles of impeachment to the Senate and end  for now  her standoff with Mitch McConnell.

The Senator Majority Leader has threatened to coordinate with the White House as the president faces trial, and Speaker Pelosi refused to send impeachment articles passed by House Democrats without assurance from Senate Republicans that witnesses could be called and evidence be presented in an impartial trial. In a statement announcing next week's plans, Ms Pelosi said "McConnell does not want to present witnesses and documents to Senators and the American people so they can make an independent judgment about the president's actions."

Read live coverage as it happened:
Cross examination of prosecution witnesses in terror financing case against Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and his three close aides before an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan concluded on Thursday.

The Anti-Terrorism Court-I indicted Saeed and his close aides - Hafiz Abdul Salam, Muhammad Ashraf and Zafar Iqbal - on terror financing charges on December 11.

"Lawyers of Saeed and his close aides completed the cross examination of the prosecution witnesses in the Anti-Terrorism Court-I Lahore here on Thursday," a court official told PTI after the hearing which lasted for more than six hours.

He said that the prosecution had produced a good number of witnesses against Saeed and others.

ATC Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta directed the defense lawyers Naseeruddin Nayyar and Muhammad Imran Fazal Gul to present its witnesses from Friday, the official said.

The court adjourned the hearing till Friday.

Separately, the ATC-II held the hearing against Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) spokesperson Yahya Mujahid and Hafiz Abdur Rehman Makki in the terror financing case against them and recorded the statements of the witnesses.

The ATC-II adjourned the hearing of this case till January 14.

On Wednesday, the Revenue Department officials were among witnesses who testified against Saeed and others.

The Revenue officials had submitted the record of the JuD centres, seminaries and mosques in Lahore. The witnesses told the court about Saeed's collections of funds for terror financing.

Strict security measures were taken in and outside the court premises during the appearance of the JuD leaders. Journalists had not been allowed to enter the court premises to cover the court proceedings against Saeed and others since they were indicted on December 11.

The CTD had registered 23 FIRs against Saeed and his accomplices on the charges of terror financing in different cities of Punjab province and arrested him on July 17. He is held at the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore.

Saeed-led JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a USD 10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.

The US has also welcomed Saeed's indictment, urging Islamabad to ensure a full prosecution and expeditious trial of the charges against him.

The indictment followed growing international pressure on Pakistan to stop militant groups from collecting funds in the country and to take immediate action against those still involved in militant activities.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
"If needed, I will fight alone," a livid Mamata Banerjee declared in the West Bengal Assembly on Thursday and said she will boycott a meeting called by Congress's interim president Sonia Gandhi on January 13 over campus violence and the CAA, exposing the opposition faultlines on the issues.

Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal and also the Trinamool Congress (TMC) president, was angry over the incidents of violence in her state during a trade union strike called by organisations affiliated to the Left and the Congress over the Centre's "anti-people" policies, including economic measures and livewire issues such as the new citizenship law and a pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC), on Wednesday.

"I have decided to boycott the meeting convened by Sonia Gandhi on January 13 in New Delhi as I do not support the violence that the Left and the Congress unleashed in West Bengal yesterday (Wednesday)," she announced on the floor of the Assembly when the opposition insisted that the House pass a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

The Congress, however, said Banerjee was invited to the opposition meeting and it was up to her to attend it.

"I am not aware of any decision of Mamata Banerjee. As far as I know, the Congress party has raised its voice against the CAA and NRC inside and outside Parliament and opposition leaders have been invited for the meeting on January 13. Whether she will come or not, I cannot say it now," senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told reporters in New Delhi, when asked about the TMC chief's decision.

Banerjee said since the West Bengal Assembly had already adopted a resolution against a pan-India NRC in September last year, which denounced according Indian citizenship to minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan on the basis of religion, there was no need for a fresh resolution.

As opposition MLAs insisted on a fresh resolution, the tempestuous leader launched into a harangue, defending her stance and declaring that she will not attend the meeting called by Gandhi.

"You people follow one policy in West Bengal and a totally contradictory policy in Delhi. I do not want to be on the same page with you. If needed, I will fight alone," she said, as she mounted an onslaught on the Congress and Left members.

West Bengal was rocked by incidents of violence and arson during the strike called by trade unions linked to the Left and the Congress on Wednesday.

Those supporting the strike clashed with police and vandalised public property.

Banerjee had said though she empathised with the strikers and supported their cause, she was against a shutdown as it inconvenienced the common people and adversely affected economic development.

The meeting called by Gandhi is being seen as an attempt to bring together all opposition parties against the Modi government, which is facing unmitigated fire from the opposition over the Sunday night violence at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi.

The opposition has blamed the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student front of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), for the violence.

Banerjee asserted that the TMC will continue with its protest against the CAA and the NRC, but not brook any shutdown over these issues in her state, calling it part of "dirty politics" by the Left and the Congress.

A temperamental Banerjee also sought the "forgiveness" of opposition leaders who will attend the meeting called by Gandhi, saying "it was I who had mooted the idea".

"But, after what happened yesterday in my state, it will not be possible for me to attend the meeting," she added.

Banerjee also dialled Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar to inform him about her decision, TMC sources said.

The Left and the Congress in West Bengal were quick to pounce on Banerjee for her decision to give the meeting a miss, alleging that it was aimed at "pleasing the BJP leadership".

"She is trying to please the BJP leaders. She herself is adopting double-standards. She wants to keep the saffron party leadership in good humour, which is why she is not attending the opposition meeting," Congress's Abdul Mannan, who is also the leader of the opposition in the state Assembly, said.

CPI(M) politburo member Mohammed Salim accused Banerjee of attempting to scuttle the opposition's efforts to come together on a common platform over "burning issues".

"It is clear who is in favour of the RSS. Her acts of protests are just a show-off," he said.

State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh sneered at the opposition over its discomfiture following Banerjee's decision to boycott Gandhi's meeting.

"These parties cannot stay united for long as they do only for the sake of power," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
ROME - The UN-backed Tripoli government "welcomes any appeal for the resumption of the political process that will push away the specter of war, in accordance with the Libyan political accord and the support of the Berlin conference backed by the United Nations". So reads the statement of the Tripoli government after yesterday's meeting between Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan during which the two proposed, among other things, "a ceasefire beginning Sunday at noon". Also today, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said during a visit to Algiers that "there is interference by foreign States" in conflict-hit Libya, adding that "we must find a solution with the EU for the adoption of an arms embargo". "It us a national security problem that we are addressing with all our strength," he added. "We'll push for a date to be identified as soon as possible for the Berlin conference (on Libya). "We have to put all the parties around a table and find a solution".


Abuja, Nigeria (PANA)  The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says that its sustained offensives by against Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) targets in the Northeast region has killed dozens of the terrorists while destroying their facilities especially in the Lake Chad Basin region
AS the death toll staggers at over 3,000, it is worrying for all citizens that those in auth
THIEVES stole old advertising signs worth thousands of pounds from a country estate near Henley.

About 24 enamel signs were taken from the railway station at Fawley Hill, which was created by the late Sir William McAlpine.

The businessman and steam enthusiast, who died in 2018, built the full-sized railway at the estate, which included the original station from Somersham in Cambridgeshire, which was closed in the Sixties.

His widow Lady McAlpine said she was absolutely furious about the theft, which happened during Sunday night.

She said: Im just very grateful Bill wasnt alive to see it happen. My estate manager found out on Monday afternoon when he came down. It was one of those unfortunate things, nobody was around the station.

The signs have been amassed over 50 years. They are collectable and they are very valuable  the big ones are worth a couple of thousand pounds each. It depends on the rarity and the ones they have taken are quite rare. It makes you feel sick because there they were, part of the building, and now they are gone.

Not only do they want the results of our hard-earned money, they also dont understand these things have huge sentimental value. We wont get them back. They will sell them on eBay, I should think.

The stolen signs include those advertising Nestles Milk, Virol, which was a nutritional supplement, G.P. Government Tea, the London Daily Chronicle and Lyons Cocoa as well as tobacco and cigarettes.

Lady McAlpine said she didnt know how the thieves had entered the estate.

Theres no sign of a vehicle on CCTV, she said. Thats the worrying thing. The signs are heavy but they only took relatively small ones, they didnt take the very heavy ones. The estate has removed the remaining signs from the station.

Lady McAlpine added: Everybody looks at increasing security when they lose something. It does make you think we should have yet more security, which is pretty sick.

Sir William started his career at the Hayes depot in Middlesex, a 30-acre site which housed the McAlpine railway locomotive and wagon fleet. He ended up running the companys Scottish and northern business from Glasgow.

He returned to Hayes to find the companys Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST No 31 was due to be scrapped so he bought it for 100 and moved it to his home. This marked the start of the Fawley Hill railway, a private track which is now more than a mile long and features the steepest non-rack gradient in the world.

Lady McAlpine appealed for anyone who sees the signs for sale to call the estate on (01491) 574873 or call Thames Valley Police on 101, quoting reference number 43200006334.
Victoria Police say the fires engulfing the eastern part of Victoria are not being treated as the work of arsonists, as claimed by a widespread social media campaign.

In the past week, a Twitter hashtag #ArsonEmergency  mimicking the popular #BushfireEmergency hashtag  attracted thousands of tweets linking the fires to arsonists and casting doubt on the role of climate change in exacerbating the bushfires' severity.

But authorities have moved to dispel those claims.

"Police are aware of a number of posts circulating in relation to the current bushfire situation, however currently there is no intelligence to indicate that the fires in East Gippsland and north-east Victoria have been caused by arson or any other suspicious behaviour," a police spokeswoman said.

The CFA incident controller in Bairnsdale, Brett Mitchell, backed up that statement on Thursday, saying that none of the recent fires in the East Gippsland area have been started by arson.
(Newser)  Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault trial is in still in the jury selection phase, but the former Hollywood bigwig wants a new judge already. CNN reports that Weinstein attorney Arthur Aidala filed a letter Wednesday asking New York County Judge James Burke to recuse himself after making "prejudicial and inflammatory" remarks the previous day. After Weinstein ignored a request from court officers to stop using his phone before Tuesday's hearing, Burke threatened to revoke his bail. "Is this really the way you want to end up in jail for the rest of your life, by texting in violation of an order?" he asked him. "Is it?"

story continues below

In the letter, which Burke is expected to address Thursday morning, Aidala argues that the remarks have created a situation in which the court's impartiality could be questioned. "Either the Court was suggesting that an appropriate sanction for use of a cell phone in court was life in prison, or, the Court was suggesting that Mr. Weinstein is guilty, would surely be convicted, and that the Court already knew that it intended to sentence him to life in prison," he writes. Weinstein's lawyers also argue that Burke failed to safeguard Weinstein's right to have an impartial jury in the Manhattan trial by declining to grant a "cooling off" period after prosecutors in Los Angeles announced new rape and sexual assault charges Monday, the AP reports. (Read more Harvey Weinstein stories.)
Tehran, Jan 9 : A plane that crashed in Iran with 179 people on board just after take-off was trying to the return to the airport when it crashed, Iranian investigators have said.

A Kiev-bound Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 went down on Wednesday just minutes after taking off from Tehran's airport, leaving no survivors.

An initial probe found the aircraft experienced a problem as it was leaving the airport zone, and was "on fire", the BBC reported on Thursday.

Earlier, Iran said it would not hand over the recovered black box flight recorders to Boeing or to the US.

Under global aviation rules, Iran has the right to lead the investigation, but manufacturers are typically involved.

The crash came at a time of high tensions between Iran and the US -- just hours after Iran carried out missile strikes on two air bases housing US forces in Iraq. However, there is no evidence the two events are linked.

Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation (CAOI) chief Ali Abedzadeh said: "The plane, which was initially headed west to leave the airport zone, turned right following a problem and was headed back to the airport at the moment of the crash." Abedzadeh added that witnesses saw the plane "on fire" before the crash, and that pilots hadn't made any distress calls before trying to return to Imam Khomeini airport.

He said the initial findings had been sent to Ukraine and the US, where Boeing is headquartered. Sweden and Canada had also been sent the findings, as their nationals were on board, he added.

Ukraine has declared January 9 a day of national mourning.

Normally, the US National Transportation Safety Board would have a role to play in any international investigations involving US-made Boeings. But the board must act with permission and in accordance with legislation of the foreign country concerned.

In comments published by Iran's conservative Mehr news agency, the head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation (CAO), Ali Abedzadeh, said: "We will not give the black box to the manufacturer and the Americans." "This accident will be investigated by Iran's aviation organisation but the Ukrainians can also be present," he added.

Abedzadeh said it was not yet clear which country would analyse the black boxes - a cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder .

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a televised statement that "a thorough and independent investigation will be conducted in accordance with international law", and that he would speak to Iranian leaders to step up cooperation in investigating the crash.

Boeing said it was "ready to assist in any way needed", while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country expected to have a role in the investigation and had offered technical assistance.

Ukraine's Tehran embassy initially blamed engine failure but later removed the statement, saying any comment regarding the cause of the accident prior to a commission's inquiry was not official.
The global breast cancer liquid biopsy testing devices market is poised to grow by USD 479.83 million during 2020-2024 at a CAGR of almost 24% during the forecast period. Request Free Sample Pages

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005379/en/

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled global breast cancer liquid biopsy testing devices market 2020-2024. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Read the 151-page research report with TOC on "Breast Cancer Liquid Biopsy Testing Devices Market Analysis Report by Geography (Asia, Europe, North America, and ROW), by Type (CTCs and circulating nucleic acids, and Extracellular vesicles), and Segment Forecasts, 2020-2024".

https://www.technavio.com/report/global-breast-cancer-liquid-biopsy-testing-devices-market-industry-analysis

The increasing preference for non-invasive procedures along with technological advances are factors anticipated to boost the growth of the market.

Breast biopsy is extensively used for screening and diagnosis of breast cancer among patients. Liquid biopsy is gaining traction in the market as it effectively screens and diagnoses patients with early-stage cancer. It is a non-invasive procedure and avoids infections, bleeding, swelling, and bruising that are experienced in traditional biopsy procedures. Liquid biopsy provides enhanced assessment of tumor heterogeneity and is used to detect certain molecular biomarkers. Thus, the increasing preference for non-invasive procedures is expected to drive market growth during the forecast period.

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Major Five Breast Cancer Liquid Biopsy Testing Devices Market Companies:

A. Menarini Industrie Farmaceutiche Riunite Srl

A. Menarini Industrie Farmaceutiche Riunite Srl is headquartered in Italy and offers cutting-edge solutions, pharmaceutical products, and services in the health sector. The company offers CELLSEARCH circulating tumor cell system for detecting and enumerating circulating tumor cells (CTCs).

Biocept Inc.

Biocept Inc. is headquartered in the US and offers products through the following business units: CEE-Sure BCT, Target Selector Kits, and Target Selector NGS Panels. The company offers Target Selector platform, which is used to identify and diagnose breast cancer during CTC-based liquid biopsy testing.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. is headquartered in the US and operates under various business segments, namely Life Science and Clinical Diagnostics. The company offers Droplet Digital PCR for cancer diagnosis, monitoring, and evaluation of treatment modalities.

F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.

F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. is headquartered in Switzerland and offers products through the following business segments: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. The company offers LightCycler HER2/neu DNA Quantification and FoundationOne Liquid.

Genomic Health Inc.

Genomic Health Inc. is headquartered in the US and offers products through its Unified business segment. The company offers Oncotype DX for Breast Cancer, which is a type of test to examine the activity of 21 genes in a patient's breast tumor tissue.

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Breast Cancer Liquid Biopsy Testing Devices Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2020-2024)

CTCs and circulating nucleic acids

Extracellular vesicles

Breast Cancer Liquid Biopsy Testing Devices Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2020-2024)

Asia

Europe

North America

ROW

Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report, such as the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Request a free sample report

Related Reports on Health Care include:

Breast Biopsy Devices Market Global Breast Biopsy Devices Market by product (biopsy needles and systems, biopsy image-guided systems, and others), modality (stereotactic x-ray guided breast biopsy, ultrasound-guided breast biopsy, and MRI-guided breast biopsy), end-users (hospitals, ASCs, breast cancer specialty centers and clinics, and others), and geography (Asia, Europe, North America, and ROW).

Breast Implants Market Global Breast Implants Market by geography (Asia, Europe, North America, and ROW), product (silicone breast implants and saline breast implants), and application (breast cosmetic surgery and breast reconstruction surgery).

About Technavio

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With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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Erdogan on US-Iran Tension: Turkey Doesn't Want Region to Turn Into Area of Military Ops

Sputnik News

16:07 08.01.2020(updated 16:56 08.01.2020)

The Turkish president's comments follow Wednesday's airstrikes on American military bases in Iraq by Iran. The bases house US military personnel.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Turkey does not want the Middle East to turn into an area for military operations, while insisting that tensions between Washington and Tehran have reached a dangerous level.

"We have been going through a difficult time lately. US relations with Iran have reached a level that worries us very much. We do not want our region to become a war zone", Erdogan said.

The Turkish president also said that Ankara was engaged in "active diplomatic efforts" to reduce the tensions in the region, including a constant dialogue with Moscow.

Erdogan's comments were made as he and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin were in Istanbul to launch the new TurkStream gas pipeline, which will transport Russian gas to Turkey via the Black Sea.

Earlier on Wednesday morning, Iran launched two waves of airstrikes against US military facilities in Iraq's Erbil and Ayn al-Asad Air Base, where American military personnel and coalition forces are housed. No information about casualties has been confirmed by Washington so far. The attacks followed the assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani, Commander of the IRGC's Quds Force by US drone strike on 3 January.

Tehran vowed to avenge the killing of its top military commander, while pledging to "remove" America from the region. Iraqi officials also condemned the US airstrike, later passing a motion in Parliament to expel all foreign military presence from the country.

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Former north shore District Attorney Walter Reed should permanently lose his law license for violating the rules of professional conduct, a hearing committee from the state Office of Disciplinary Counsel has recommended.

The 73-year-old Reed, who was the chief prosecutor for St. Tammany and Washington parishes for 30 years, is in federal prison in West Virginia, serving a 48-month sentence for fraud and corruption charges following his 2016 conviction. His law license is currently under suspension.

A hearing committee last month recommended the toughest sanction: permanent disbarment for the former prosecutor, arguing that he abused his position of public trust for his personal financial benefit and that his acts "reflect adversely on his honesty, trustworthiness and fitness as a lawyer."

The committee also pointed to the involvement of religious leaders "who, wittingly or unwittingly, were corrupted into making choice legal referrals which, again, personally benefited (Reed)."

There's a 20-day window to appeal the Dec. 26 recommendation. If Reed does not appeal, the recommendation goes to the state Supreme Court, said Charles Plattsmier of the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.

Reed's attorney, Richard Simmons, said he has not been able to discuss the matter with his client.

The hearing committee's report cites a memorandum from Reed that says he is likely to be released from prison, although confined to his home, after 18 months in confinement, or roughly in November of this year, because of his age, good behavior and medical condition. Reed delayed his May 23, 2019, arrival at the Morgantown, West Virginia, federal prison by some weeks while he recovered from surgery to treat prostate cancer.

The hearing committee report makes special note of the $25,000 in campaign funds that Reed paid to Jerry Wayne Cox, a Franklinton preacher, to help build a church gymnasium after a law firm that Reed was affiliated with declined to pay Cox a fee for referring private legal work to Reed. It also points out other payments Reed made to church officials for private practice referrals.

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The report also singles out Reed's conviction for taking money from St. Tammany Parish Hospital that was meant for the DA's Office, a practice the report notes went on for 20 years.

The committee's recommendation followed a Nov. 13 hearing at which Reed was represented by Simmons and Dane Ciolino. They presented two witnesses to speak on Reed's behalf, including William Schultz, a former New Orleans police officer, who testified about Reed's work as an undercover narcotics detective in the early 1970s, assisting in the arrest of 140 suspects.

Schultz also recounted Reed's role in the Howard Johnson Hotel sniper incident in 1973, when he said Reed flushed out the shooter, Mark Essex, from the top floor of the Loyola Avenue hotel.

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel argued that Reed's conduct met several of the listed guidelines for disbarment, including malfeasance that involves fraud and runner-based solicitation.

But Reed's representatives argued that none of the disbarment guidelines apply to him. They said he did not engage in "widespread" runner-based solicitation and has not been convicted of malfeasance.

Reed's lawyers also pointed to a number of other cases in which the state Supreme Court has not imposed permanent disbarment, including that of Bryan White, an attorney with Al Copeland Investments Inc. who served time as a result of the Jefferson Parish corruption scandal known as "Wrinkled Robe."

The hearing committee disagreed, however. It said it considered Reed's reputation and actions as a police officer and his years of service as DA without disciplinary issues, but added, "This fact weighs more heavily as an aggravating than a mitigating factor: he should have known better than to engage in the crimes for which he was convicted."
Investors infused Rs 16 crore in gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in 2019, after pulling out money from safe-haven assets in the last six years, on fears of a slowdown in the global market and volatility in equity and debt

Going ahead, the segment is likely to gain more traction from investors due to the recent increase in tensions between the US and Iran and the threat to global economy, Himanshu Srivastava, senior analyst manager research at Morningstar Investment Adviser India said.

The inflows meant asset under management (AUM) of gold funds surged 26 per cent to Rs 5,768 crore at the end of December 2019 from Rs 4,571 crore at the end of December 2018, data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) showed.

Over the last few years, retail investors invested more money into equities as compared to gold ETFs, mainly on account of strong returns.

As per Amfi data, investors put in a net sum of Rs 16 crore in 14 gold-linked ETFs last year, while they pulled out Rs 571 crore in 2018.

The safe haven asset had witnessed an outflow of Rs 730 crore, Rs 942 crore, Rs 891 crore, Rs 1,651 crore and Rs 1,815 crore in 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

had seen an inflow of Rs 1,826 crore in 2012.

"Fears of a slowdown in the global market have helped gold find its safe-haven appeal back in the recent times. This has triggered a sharp rally in its prices in 2019 thus catching investors fancy," Srivastava said.

"Gold also adds a different layer of diversification in an investor's portfolio, which has come in full play in 2019 with gold witnessing one of its best years after 2011," he added.

He further said that the rise in AUM is largely due to change in market valuation -- increase in price of yellow metal.

SBI Mutual Fund MD and CEO Ashwani Bhatia said, "Gold as an asset class, preferably in the gold ETF format, should ideally be a part of every investor's portfolio, and is relatively safer compared to other asset classes."



"To that extent, we are not surprised to see inflows into the category. But what we believe created additional interest in was perhaps the volatility in both the equity and debt markets, along with a rise in gold prices," Bhatia added.

Gold backed ETFs are passive investment instruments that are based on price movements and investments in physical gold.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Republican politicians in Alabama, who dominate state and federal offices, largely embrace Trumps America First agenda. It should come as no surprise: The president remains popular with the states voters  59% say they support him.

But when it comes to the issue of tariffs embraced by the White House, Alabama bureaucrats and business executives have largely united with a clear message: Leave us alone.

The latest city to dive into tariff politics is Mobile. On Tuesday, the Mobile City Council voted unanimously to support a resolution that urges Trump and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to continue with a trade policy that doesnt apply tariffs on imported aerospace components from Europe.

This resolution reflects an understandable concern that the Trump administrations protectionism might increase, said Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst for the Teal Group based in Virginia. But I dont think they have much to worry about. Airbus is fortunate to have a plant in the heart of Trumps base.

The Mobile County Commission plans to take the issue up on Thursday, and could vote on its own resolution Monday.

Imposing tariffs on aircraft component parts would drastically weaken and hinder current and future opportunities at the Airbus facility in Mobile, Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement to AL.com. I remain in communication with the Administration regarding this matter and will continue to work to ensure that the operations at the local Airbus facility are prosperous for years to come.

High stakes

The presidents name hasnt come up during the recent tariff talks in Mobile, and White House trade policies havent been debated during public meetings among local elected officials.

But officials arent afraid to toss sharp criticism at the Trump White House for what they view as an unnecessary push to assess tariffs on imported aerospace components that are used to assembly aircraft built at Mobiles Airbus plant.

Alabama State Port Authority CEO Jimmy Lyons accused the administration of putting jobs at risk. Airbus spokeswoman Kristi Tucker takes it a step further by saying the tariffs threaten the entire community.

Our hope is that (Lighthizer) will continue to listen to the people and communities that would be negatively and directly impacted by the implementation of tariffs, said Tucker.

City and county governments are voting on their respective resolutions before a Jan. 13 deadline for public comments on the latest list of additional European goods that could be assessed tariffs. Lighthizers office, in December, published a roster of items upon which the U.S. could place tariffs, including up to 100% assessments on European products such as whiskey.

In Mobile, the fear is that the final tally will include hefty tariffs on the airline parts.

A similar list of items facing tariffs last fall included a 25% tariff for imported airline components. In October, the Trump Administration exempted imported airlines parts as part of a $7.5 billion list of tariffs on mostly agricultural products.

But some experts have said it will be difficult for Mobile to continue dodging the tariffs. One reason is that the entire genesis for the latest tariff considerations was rooted in a high-profile dispute about European subsidies awarded to Airbus, which is headquartered in the Netherlands and operates its largest plants in France and Germany.

In Mobile, Airbus employs 1,000 people and is churning out new planes monthly, and the plant represents the companys largest North American presence. If a tariff is place on the imported airplane parts, the fear is that it could slow productivity and lead to layoffs.

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said on Tuesday he was grateful that the City Council moved forward with the resolution.

These are American jobs, said Stimpson. People look at this as an American plane even though some of the components are made elsewhere. There is a specific demand for planes made in Mobile. I think its incumbent upon us to work in conjunction with Airbus and send that message.

Stimpson said he doesnt believe the city is making an inappropriate request of the White House.

Were not asking the administration to do something that were out of bounds with, he said.

Congressional politics

Bradley Byrne speaks at a Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce event on April 12, 2019. Byrne, who is running for U.S. Senate in 2020, has expressed strong support for the Trump Administration. But he also opposes plans to assess tariffs on the products that are crucial to the Airbus manufacturing plant in Mobile. (Lawrence Specker | LSpecker@AL.com)

The tariff talk is, however, becoming a bit of political wedge issue in the evolving 1st District congressional race to replace U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, who is running for the Senate this year.

In a news release Monday, Democratic congressional hopeful Kiani Gardner blasted Byrne for not doing enough to oppose the tariffs while crediting local leadership.

Now more than ever, we need someone who is more focused on representing our area and putting those needs ahead of partisan politics, said Gardner.

Byrne, who has fully embraced Trump and his agenda during his Senate campaign, has submitted comments with Lighthizers office in support of Airbus and has met with officials in the U.S. Trade Representatives offices to discuss the matter.

His campaign spokesman, Seth Morrow, said, Unlike the radical Democrats who never miss an opportunity to attack President Trump for no reason, Bradley is actually focused on working with the president and his administration to support American workers. Bradley has been a leader on this issue from day one and he will always fight for our Alabama jobs.

Some of the Republicans in the congressional race also weighed in on the issue, including Mobile County Commissioner Jerry Carl who will vote on a resolution in the coming days.

As one of the leading economic engines and job creators in South Alabama, Airbus must maintain their exemption from tariffs on imported aerospace components and assemblies, he said. The significant investments Airbus has made in Mobile would likely force them to lay off workers and slow their continued growth.

Carl said hes doing everything I can to urge Trump and Lighthizer in exempting the aerospace components.

Congressional hopeful and businessman Wes Lambert said Gardners press release represented grandstanding and did not accurately portray the realities of the situation.

As recent as October, Congressman Byrne along with Senator Shelby, Governor Ivey and Mayor Stimpson, worked together successfully to make sure that the tariffs did not affect thousands of Alabama workers connected to Airbus Mobile, Lambert said in an email. This is hardly the lack of real representation that my Democratic challenger suggests, but real results-based representation.

Republican John Castorani, however, sided more with Gardner on the issue. He said he is somewhat displeased that the 1st District congressman appears to be more focused on his Senate campaign than being actively involved with policy that deeply affects our citizens.

The campaigns for two other GOP congressional hopefuls  former state Sen. Bill Hightower and state Rep. Chris Pringle  did not respond to email requests for comment.
On Saturday after she got off work, Betty Hardrick visited with her son in an area he frequented on East Central, near San Pedro.

Two days later, Albuquerque Police Department officers shot and killed him in the same area.

Orlando Abeyta, 28, died at the scene. Police say a handgun was found next to his body.

At a media briefing at the scene Monday, APD Chief of Staff John Ross said that around 3 p.m. officers were on patrol when they saw a man, later identified as Abeyta, crossing the street, waving the firearm in a dangerous fashion.

He said the officers identified themselves and were approaching Abeyta when shots were fired.

Ross said they were still investigating how many officers fired, what kind of gun Abeyta had been carrying and whether any shots were fired at the officers. No officers were injured.

APD officials released Abeytas name Wednesday but havent released any additional details.

As for Hardrick, she said shes still in shock, angry and numb. She said shes talked to Abeytas brother, who was with him when he was shot, and she hopes to see the lapel camera video of the incident.

Everybody is trying to cope, in shock, I guess, about what happened, Hardrick said. I dont really know what happened. Everybodys got different versions of what happened.

She said Abeyta grew up in ToHajiilee and Albuquerque and was the middle child of six siblings.

Hardrick said Abeyta stayed with different people in Albuquerque and had a job at one point but lost it. She said that when she found him Saturday  to give him money  he was helping a woman push a cart across a patch of gravel.

Court records show he was arrested twice in the same part of East Central over the past year and a half, and police said he was intoxicated both times.

In June 2018, Abeyta was arrested after he fought with police on Central near San Mateo. According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, he was heavily intoxicated and approached the officers in an aggressive manner with his fists balled up. Then he pretended to point a gun at an officer, causing the officer to fear for his safety.

According to the complaint, the officer put his hand on his Taser and gave commands to Abeyta until he got down on his knees and was handcuffed. He was charged with assault on a peace officer but ended up pleading no contest to disorderly conduct.

This was the first police shooting of 2020.
A teenage Sikh girl on whose issue Gurdwara Nankana Sahib came under attack last week refused to go along with her elder brother to her parents' house after meeting him in the Lahore High Court premises on Thursday, according to a court official.

During the proceedings on Thursday, Judge Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi accepted Manmohan Singh's plea to have a meeting with his sister Jagjit Kaur (18) in the court premises. However, his efforts to persuade his sister to return to her parents' home couldn't bear the fruit.

Singh after his meeting with Kaur told the court that her sister "is under pressure and she should be given more time to make a final decision."



"After her 40-minutes meeting with his elder brother, Kaur told the LHC that she married to Muslim man Mohammad Hassaan of her free will after converting to Islam and she did not want to go back to her parents' house," the official told PTI.

Earlier, a report of the medical superintendent of Mayo Hospital, Lahore was submitted to the court confirming that Kaur is not a minor. It said her "age is above 18 years."



Kaur was brought to the court from Lahore's Darul Aman (shelter home for women) in strict security.

The investigating officer in the case of abduction lodged against Hassan by Singh requested the judge to adjourn hearing for indefinite period as "law and order situation is tense in Nankana Sahib."



The judge, however, adjourned the hearing till January 23 and ordered sending the girl back to the shelter home.

The issue snowballed into a controversy after the family of Kaur, in a video message that went viral, claimed that she was abducted and forcibly converted to Islam by Hassan in September.

Last Friday, Hassan's elder brother Imran Chishti incited a mob in the name of religion and threatened to destroy the Gurdwara Janamasthan.

Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, also known as Gurdwara Janam Asthan, is a site near Lahore where the first Guru of Sikhs, Guru Nanak, was born.

Chishti was arrested and charged with a non-bailable section of the stringent anti-terrorism act and blasphemy.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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A ticket mix-up left a man stuck at the airport in Iran while his wife boarded the doomed Ukrainian International Airline flight believed to have been shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile system.

When Mohsen Ahmadipour said goodbye to his wife Roja Azadian, he had no idea it would be their last.

The couple had been visiting their families before they prepared to return home to Ottawa, Canada.

But when they arrived at the airport in Tehran, Ahmadipour was told that his ticket was no longer valid, according to the Ottawa Citizen.

The pair had planned to return home together, but instead Ahmadipour told his wife that he would join her in Canada as soon as he could get on another flight home.

Azadian, 43, boarded the flight while Ahmadipour stayed at the airport. The flight took off. And within moments she was gone.

Flight PS752 came down just minutes after leaving the runway at Imam Khomeini International Airport. Fifteen children, including a baby born in 2018, were named among the dead which comprised of 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons.

Ahmadipour learned of the crash from inside the terminal.

'He was the lucky person who didnt get on the plane,' Kevin Manesh, a veterinarian and public relations director of the Iranian Arts and Cultural Society of Ottawa, told the Ottawa Citizen. Manesh explained that Ahmadipour had canceled a portion of his trip, assuming that the flight between Tehran and Toronto was still valid.

The grieving husband's wife was among the 63 Canadians who lost their lives in the horrific crash.

Scroll down for video

A ticket mix-up left Mohsen Ahmadipour (right) stuck at the airport in Iran while his wife, Roja Azadian (left), boarded the doomed Ukrainian International Airline flight believed to have been shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile system

When Ahmadipour said goodbye to his wife Roja Azadian, he had no idea it would be their last. The couple (pictured) had been visiting their families before they prepared to return home to Ottawa, Canada

Canadian newlyweds Arash Pourzarabi, 26, and Pouneh Gourji, 25, from Edmonton, had gone to Iran to be married.

The couple were computer science students from the University of Alberta. Four members of their wedding party were also on board.

Of the 63 Canadians who died yesterday when the jet plu nged to the ground in a burst of flames near Tehran, 24 were from Edmonton and at least 13 were residents of British Columbia.

Siavash Ghafouri-Azar and Sara Mamani, of Montreal, were also recently married. According to LinkedIn, Mamani was an engineer at Bombardier and Ghafouri worked as a performance specialist at Pratt and Whitney Canada.

Many of the dead were Canadian-Iranian's flying back from the winter break.

The University of Guelph in Canada said two PhD students, as well as the partner of one of the students died. Ghanimat Azhdari was a student in the department of geography and Milad Ghasemi was a student in marketing. Azhdari's partner, Hamed Alibeiki, also died.

Sixty-three Canadians, including two recently married couples, were among the 176 passengers who were killed when a Ukrainian jet crashed in Iran on Wednesday. Canadian newlyweds Arash Pourzarabi, 26, and Pouneh Gourji, 25, (both pictured) from Edmonton, had gone to Iran to be married

Dentist, Parisa Eghbalian (top right), and her nine-year-old daughter, Reera Esmaeilion (center), also died in the crash. Eghbalian co-owned Aurora Dentistry in Ontario with her husband (left), who was not on the plane

The University of Guelph in Canada said two PhD students, as well as the partner of one of the students died. Ghanimat Azhdari (pictured) was a student in the department of geography and Milad Ghasemi was a student in marketing. Azhdari's partner, Hamed Alibeiki, also died

Husband and wife, Ardalan Ebnoddin Hamidi and Niloufar Razzaghi, were killed along with their teen son, Kamyar Ebnoddin Hamidi (all pictured), while heading home to Vancouver after a holidays

Another family, from Edmonton, Canada, was also wiped out. Pedram Mousavi (left), 47, and his wife Mojan Deneshmand (right), 43, who both work at the University of Alberta, Canada, also died along with their two young daughters Daria, 14, and Darina 10

Western University said four of their students died. Three were current graduate students and one was an incoming graduate student. They did not name the students.

Doctoral candidate, Mari Foroutan, 37, who attended the University of Waterloo in Ontario, died in the crash.

Payman Paseyan, a member of the Iranian-Canadian community in Edmonton, Alberta, said about 27 people from Edmonton, including international students and a family of four that he knew, were on the flight.

A family from Edmonton, Canada, was also wiped out. Pedram Mousavi, 47, and his wife Mojan Deneshmand, 43, who both work at the University of Alberta, Canada, also died along with their two young daughters Daria, 14, and Darina 10.

Paseyan said he often would go to the gym with Mousavi and described him as a nice guy who often visited his former restaurant with his family.

'I am not aware of any extended family members that they have here. It's just terrible,' Paseyan said.

He said most of victims were visiting family in Iran over the holidays. He said many were dual citizens and many were international students.

'One of the reasons why you take that flight is you wouldn't want to take a flight that has a connection in the United States because international students can't do that,' he said.

Bahareh Haj Esfandiari (right), 41, Mehdi Sadeghi (center), 43, and Anisa Sadeghi (being held by her father), 10, were among the dead

Masoumeh Ghavi (pictured), of Nova Scotia, was studying engineering at Dalhousie University. She and her sister, Mandieh Ghavi, were killed in the crash as they were traveling back to Canada. They were in Iran visiting family for the holidays

Forough Khadem (pictured), who worked in immunology and with CancerCare Manitoba, was also confirmed as one of the victims

Evin Arsalani, 30, her husband, Hiva Molani (both left), 38, and their one-year-old daughter Kurdia (right, with Arsalani) were killed in the crash

Arvin Morattab and Aida Farzaneh (both pictured), of Montreal, were identified by friends as victims from the crash

According to Global News, Masoumeh Ghavi, of Nova Scotia, was studying engineering at Dalhousie University.

She and her sister, Mandieh Ghavi, were killed in the crash as they were traveling back to Canada. They were in Iran visiting family for the holidays.

Husband and wife, Ardalan Ebnoddin Hamidi and Niloufar Razzaghi, were killed along with their teen son, Kamyar Ebnoddin Hamidi, while heading home to Vancouver after a holidays.

A dentistry in Aurora, Ontario confirmed that Parisa Eghbalian, a dentist, and her nine-year-old daughter Reera Esmaeilion died. Eghbalian's husband, Hamed Esmaeilion, is also a dentist at E&E Dentistry, but was not traveling with his wife and child.

According to Global News, Bahareh Haj Esfandiari, 41, Mehdi Sadeghi, 43, and Anisa Sadeghi, 10, were among the dead.

The Winnipeg family's deaths were confirmed by Welcome Place, where Esfandiari worked.

'We are deeply saddened to have learned a recent former employee was on the flight with her husband and daughter travelling back home to Canada after the holidays,' the company shared in a Facebook post.

Forough Khadem, who worked in immunology and with CancerCare Manitoba, was also confirmed as one of the victims.

Evin Arsalani, 30, her husband, Hiva Molani, 38, and their one-year-old daughter Kurdia were killed in the crash.

They were on their way home to Ontario from Iran where they had attended a wedding in December.

The University of Ontario Institute of Technology announced on Wednesday that Dr Razgar Rahimi, an engineering instructor, at the college, was among the victims killed in the crash.

During a press conference in Ottawa yesterday, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (center), said that Canada expects to play a big part into the Iranian investigation into the flight crash due to the sheer number of Canadian victims

A man weeps during a service at Western University in London, Ontario, on Wednesday. The service was held for the four graduate students who were killed in the Iranian plane crash

A woman weeps during a ceremony to commemorate the four graduate students who were killed when a Ukrainian airliner crashed shortly after take-off from Tehran on Wednesday

In a letter to parents, the principal of Northern Secondary School says the school is grieving the loss of Maya Zibaie, a tenth grade student.

Arvin Morattab and Aida Farzaneh, of Montreal, were identified by friends as victims from the crash.

Pedram Jadidi was a civil engineering student at the University of Windsor. He was traveling back to Canada after visiting family for the holidays.

Hamidreza Setare and Samira Bashiri were living in Windsor. Setare was also an engineer student at the University of Windsor.

University of Windsor student, Zahra Naghibi, was a PhD candidate at the college's Turbulence and Energy Lab.

Just before the crash the Iranian Revolutionary Guard launched missile strikes on US bases in Iraq.

These strikes were a direct response to President Donald Trump's assassination of Iranian general Qassam Soleimani with a drone strike in Baghdad on Friday.

Mourners light candles and place flowers outside the Amir Bakery in North Vancouver on Wednesday

Mourners can be seen gathering during a service at Western University in London, Ontario, on Wednesday

A woman mourns outside the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton, Alberta, yesterday. Twenty-four of the Canadian victims hailed from Edmonton

Rescue workers in protective suits gather up the bodies of passengers who were killed in the Boeing 737 crash in Iran

Rescue teams work amidst debris after the Ukrainian plane crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning on Wednesday

Rescue workers recover the bodies of victims of a Ukrainian plane crash in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday

The Iranian regime has insisted the plane's engine caught fire causing a loss of control, but has fueled suspicion of foul-play by refusing to hand over the craft's black boxes.

Video footage appeared to show the plane already burning before it fell out of the night sky, while pictures at the crash site showed the mangled wreckage peppered with mysterious holes.

The Boeing plane was less than four years old and had been checked just two days earlier, with 'one of our best crews' manning the aircraft, the Ukrainian airline said.

On Thursday it was revealed that US officials are 'confident' that Iran shot down the Boeing 737-800 jet after detecting a radar system being turned on before two missiles were launched, shortly before an explosion believed to have come from the jet.

Two Pentagon officials added that the missiles were likely launched in error by Iranian anti-aircraft crews awaiting a US response to Iran's rocket strikes against American bases in Iraq, according to Newsweek.

If true, the incident would be hugely embarrassing for Iran which had sought to avoid killing anybody in Wednesday's strikes, especially since 82 of the plane's passengers were Iranians.

It could also spark fresh tensions in the Middle East just a day after Trump said Iran seemed to be 'standing down'.

The jet which crashed was a Boeing 737-800 - a very common single-aisle, twin-engine jetliner used for short to medium-range flights. Thousands of the planes are used by airlines around the world.

The black boxes (pictured) from the Ukrainian airliner were found but Iran says it will not hand them over to Boeing

Pieces of debris are seen lying at the crash site in a picture released by an Iranian news agency today, showing what appeared to be holes in the fuselage of the Boeing aircraft

Introduced in the late 1990s, it is an older model than the Boeing 737 MAX, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months following the two deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

According to flight tracking data from FlightRadar24, the jet reached an altitude of 7,925ft before tracking suddenly ended after three minutes.

The plane had been delayed from taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran by almost an hour.

'The plane was in working order,' UIA company president Yevgeniy Dykhne told a briefing in Kyiv where he choked back tears.

'It was one of our best planes with a wonderful crew.' It was the Kyiv-based carrier's first fatal accident.

Just hours before the crash, the US Federal Aviation Administration had banned US airlines from flying over Iran, Iraq and the waters of the Persian Gulf due to the Middle East crisis.
As befits their name, Giant Food Stores is preparing for a huge expansion in Pennsylvania.

The grocery store chain announced plans on Jan. 9 at the Farm Show for a $114 million capital investment in their Pennsylvania stores over the course of two years.

The expansion will include two new stores and plans to renovate 35 existing stores between 2020 and 2021. The emphasis of the expansion will be directed toward the city of Philadelphia as well as the brands home market of central Pennsylvania.

One of [the new stores] is pretty close to home, in Swatara Township," said Nicholas Bertram, president of Giant Food Stores. Its going to be opening a little bit later this year. The supermarket will be located at 6301 Grayson Road, in the location of a Weis Markets that had closed last year.

The second new store, Bertram said, will be in Pocono Summit, Monroe County, with a goal of expanding our footprint in the Pocono region.

The plan also includes a new Giant Direct ecommerce fulfillment center at 3501 Island Avenue in Philadelphia, which will assist the company in carrying out online orders. This follows a recent announcement that the company will be adding a new Giant Heirloom Store in Philadelphia.

According to Bertram, the $114 million dollar investment will be carried out and create 550 jobs - not just great jobs, but careers," he said - over the next 18 months.

Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding was among the state and local officials present for the announcement.

This years theme [for the Farm Show] is Imagine the Opportunities, Redding said. And theres not a better backdrop for this announcement than that theme.

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A n alert was sounded on Wednesday over the dangers of e-scooters after the number of riders admitted to hospital soared in the US.

Almost 40,000 people in four years required A&E treatment or hospital admission, with nearly a third suffering head trauma  more than double the rate suffered by cyclists.

A top London neurosurgeon told the Standard he was seeing injuries to e-scooter riders similar to those from high-speed cycle accidents, with some suffering long-term head injuries.

Transport for London said it was aware of 10 serious injuries and 21 slight injuries last year in addition to the death of YouTube star Emily Hartridge, 35, who died in a collision with a HGV in Battersea in July.

Emily Hartridge pictured in 2015 / Anthony Harvey/Getty Images

The London data is thought to be a considerable underestimate as the NHS does not separately record A&E attendances for e-scooter injuries.

Chris Uff, chief of neurosurgery at The Royal London Hospital, in Whitechapel, said riders of electric scooters  which can travel at up to 30mph  should wear motorbike helmets.

He added: The types of injuries we see are similar to those from high-speed cycle accidents.Fortunately none of our patients have died but they have significant cognitive problems.

E-scooters cannot legally be used on roads, pavements or cycle lanes in the UK. Riders face a 300 fine and six points on their licence if stopped by police. They can only be used on private land, like the Olympic Park.

Mr Uff said doctors were also treating pedestrians hit by e-scooters, with similar injury patterns to pedestrians hit by motorbikes.

The US figures, in a study by the University of California, San Francisco, found a 222 per cent increase in scooter-related injuries and admissions across the US between 2014-18.

Lead researcher Benjamin Breyer said: Were very concerned... especially with young people, where the proportion of hospital admissions rose by 354 per cent.

The study, in Jama Surgery, found the e-scooter accident rate rose from six per 100,000 people in 2014 to 19 per 100,000 in 2018.

TfL commissioner Mike Brown has urged a review of the law on e-scooters, while San Francisco has banned them and Paris has fines for riding them on pavements.
The vehicles Dozor-B, Novator, Varta, and Oncilla-M were manufactured by three different producers.

Four Ukrainian military armored vehicles have passed large-scale tests at a shooting range in Ukraine's Zhytomyr region.

The vehicles, namely Dozor-B, Novator, Varta, and Oncilla-M, were manufactured by three different producers. Earlier, they passed off-road tests near the town of Kremenchuk and drove more than 500 km to Zhytomyr, the official government gazette Uriadovy Kurier wrote on January 9.

The armored cars were also tested in extreme field conditions. Besides crew, military paratroopers also tested the vehicles for convenience.

Read alsoNew self-propelled howitzer Bohdana tested in Ukraine

The military vehicles showed their combat capabilities as well since they are designed not only for transporting military personnel, but also for ensuring fire support of troops, with the use of machine-gun and artillery-missile weapons.

Tests will allow in the long run to select the best samples of armored vehicles, as well as detect and fix possible issues in advance.

As UNIAN reported earlier, a bus for special services had been created in Ukraine based on MAZ vehicles produced at Belarusian-based Minsk Automobile Plant. The bus is designed to carry 26 personnel.
Today, Blue Umbrella announced the launch of Blue Umbrella GRC, a modular platform for mid-size enterprises to simplify governance, risk and compliance activities relating to their business relationships. Third-party risk represents the biggest vulnerability to enterprises of all sizes, yet many companies lack a single platform to handle their various compliance-related activities. Blue Umbrella GRC launches with questionnaire modules for Data Privacy (compliance with GDPR), Anti-Bribery and Corruption (includes FCPA and Sapin II) and an industry-standard questionnaire for IT Security compliance.

Blue Umbrella has established its transformative approach to compliance activities in service of its mission to make business better. Their market-leading software, Status, is serving more than 250 large global organizations. Status, deeply integrated with Blue Umbrellas due diligence research, is most suited to enterprises who manage tens of thousands of business relationships. In 2018, Blue Umbrella launched the i3 industry program for Status clients to recognize cost savings through due diligence report sharing.

With Blue Umbrella GRC, companies with revenues between $50M to $1B will now be able to leverage Blue Umbrellas proficiency in third-party due diligence and compliance workflows and the knowledge acquired from working closely with compliance teams at some of the worlds largest companies.

Compliance is an important area of concern for companies of all sizes. Blue Umbrellas experience shows that mid-size companies are using multiple tools to manage compliance-related tasks with their partners, vendors, and agents. This leads to wasted time, disparate data, and departmental silos.

Blue Umbrella GRC customers can buy only the modules they need or purchase bundles and get started right away, without IT intervention. The IT Security, Data Privacy and Anti-Bribery and Corruption modules offer:



Gold standard questionnaires

Centralized data across one or more modules

End-to-end visibility to the responses of your partners, vendors, and agents

Automated reporting and business intelligence

Risk identification and remediation workflows

Blue Umbrella GRC is another leap towards our vision to make business better by pioneering a more ethical, compliant and transparent business environment, said Allan Matheson, CEO of Blue Umbrella. The platform merges compliance and due diligence activities into one platform, available to multiple departments in a mid-size company.

Blue Umbrella GRC resolves the complexity of managing compliance and risk management activities with third-party partners, vendors, and agents with easy-to-use plug-and-play software modules as part of a cloud-based service.

About Blue Umbrella

Blue Umbrella provides due diligence research and innovative third-party compliance technologies. Combining global research excellence with disruptive RegTech SaaS solutions, Blue Umbrella serves multinational corporations and mid-size companies working in technology, manufacturing, life sciences, defense/aerospace, agriculture, energy, finance, and consumer goods as well as top-tier investment banks. With a global presence and local focus, Blue Umbrella helps compliance teams increase automation and efficiency, reduce costs, and gain critical understanding of their partners, vendors, and agents. Learn more at http://www.blueumbrella.com.
- American rap star, T.I, has often expressed his wish to collaborate with African musicians

- He thinks that their talent aligns with his own

- In the list of artists he admires, T.I mentioned the likes of AKA, Nasty and Kwesta as SA stars he has musical connections with

Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in

T.I, American rapper of note, businessman and producer, has stated on more than one occasion that he would like to work with African artists.

He is a respected muso and when he says he likes someone's work, it should be taken as a huge compliment.

As reported on by SAHipHopMag, T.I also spoke about his interest in working with South African rappers.

READ ALSO: Jackie Appiah shares powerful photo with Popcaan; fans react

Although Africa could make use of a boost in the form of even more collabs with US musicians, that's not why T.I wants to make it happen.

The rapper feels that his talent aligns well with the talents of Africans.

He mentioned a handful of Mzansi rappers he would like to work with, such as AKA, Kwesta and Nasty C.

"I align my talents with other talented people  I have relationships with Davido, AKA. I have connections and relationships with people in the music industry from Africa."

READ ALSO: Year of Return: Lupita Nyongo eats fufu in Ghana (video)

T.I has actually worked with Nasty C already, and their collab is expected to be dropped sometime in the new year.

This came after Nasty shared with his fans that T.I had complimented his music, calling it 'fye'. He shared a screenshot on Twitter of a message he received from T.I.

READ ALSO: Beyonce's daughter, Blue Ivy, looks all grown up in rare birthday snap

READ ALSO: Akuapem Poloo to feature Cardi B in an upcoming song

YEN.com.gh earlier reported that during their visit to the Elmina Castle in the Central Region, famous American rapper, T.I. and his wife, were seen in a sorrowful and angry mood after hearing the story of our ancestors during the Slave Trade.

T.I. and his wife's visit to Ghana forms part of the on-going 'Year of Return' campaign as some top American celebrities keep coming down to visit Ghana.

READ ALSO: Sister Derby give tips on dating celebrities; says confidence is key

Photos making rounds on social media show T.I. and his wife in a sad mood, wearing a frown on their faces as the Slave Trade was narrated to them at the Elmina Castle.

Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Enjoyed reading our story? Download YEN's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Ghana news!

Source: YEN.com.gh
ANN ARBOR, MI - If you let a meter expire or park somewhere youre not supposed to on or near the University of Michigan campus, you can expect to pay significantly more beginning next month.

Starting Feb. 1, UM is raising its parking tickets fines, with new rates going into effect Feb. 1. Most increases, which were approved by UMs Board of Regents this fall, will double the fines motorists pay, from $20 if the fine is paid within 14 days currently, to $40 if the ticket is not paid within one business day.

UM spokesperson Kim Broekhuizen said citation rates for UMs Ann Arbor campus were last set in 1997. Rates were determined by benchmarking against peer intuitions and Ann Arbor city fines, she said.

An increase in citation rates is necessary to encourage proper parking as well as assist parking enforcement in gaining voluntary compliance with parking rules and regulations, Broekhuizen said.

One of the more common violations that will see a significant increase under the new rates is the fine for an expired parking meter. The current rate charges violators $10 if they pay the ticket within 14 days, while the new rate will charge $40 if the violation isnt paid after one business day. If the fine is paid the next business day, all new fines are discounted from $40 to $30.

A message from the UM Logistics, Transportation & Parking department website said the goal of the increased fines is to improve access and convenience for permit holders who pay to park within the system, while discouraging those who do not have permits from using a space they are not authorized to use.

The increase is also meant to encourage overall compliance with parking rules and regulations, the department noted.

With an already limited number of spaces available for students, faculty and staff, UM sophomore Alex Windle said she doesnt buy the universitys explanation that the increases are intended to deter people from parking where they shouldnt - especially if its only for a few minutes.

Sometimes you just need to get in and out, so I dont think thats a very good explanation for (the increases), she said. I think its more-so that the university is trying to get more money.

Windle lives off campus and primarily takes the bus to get around Ann Arbor, but she experiences difficulty finding parking, particularly when going to the gym on UMs North Campus.

With parking in Ann Arbor, most of the time its not even worth it, she said. Its impossible to find parking anywhere.

Ann Arbors City Council voted unanimously last year to increase the fine on an expired-meter ticket from $20 to $25, effective August 2018. Fines are $15 if payment is received the next day. Overall, parking tickets in the city range from $35 to $50, if the fines are paid after the following business day.

A distinctive university block M is used on all parking control signs to identify UM parking locations in the city. Parking control signs are installed at the entrances of every UM parking lot and structure and indicate the primary parking type, permits required, enforcement hours and location identification number, according to UM. Maps showing where UM parking is located throughout Ann Arbor are available at UMs website.

Heres a look at the current and new parking violation rates:
The Queen made it clear to her grandson that he should not proceed with any announcement this week about his future after he requested a meeting with her at Sandringham, according to senior sources.

The Duke of Sussexs apparent refusal to comply with an explicit request from the head of the royal family will help to explain the unprecedented expressions of hurt and disappointment from the palace over last nights statement.

The Standard has also been told that Prince William tried to build bridges with his brother in the autumn shortly after the airing of an ITV documentary about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in October.

Queen Elizabeth, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex / AP

It is understood that William wanted to visit Harry at his Windsor home, Frogmore Cottage, but the meeting never happened.

The Standard has learned of the dramatic sequence of events that led to the sixth in line to the throne effectively resigning from his frontline role after many months of reflection and internal discussions in the Sussexes bombshell announcement last night.

But the Sussexes believe they are helping to deliver a slimmed-down monarchy and that they believe they have the ability to reach out to a younger and more diverse audience than other members of the royal family.

It is understood that:

Harry originally contacted Prince Charles about spending more time in Canada and America just before Christmas, but was told he needed to come up with a thought-out plan.

Harry sent a draft proposal about his future role to his father early in the New Year but was again informed that more time was needed to think through the complex implications, particularly over funding.

Harry asked for a summit with the Queen at Sandringham as soon as he, Meghan and their son Archie, arrived back from their long Christmas break in Canada at the weekend.

He was told that while the Queen was happy to meet him, she would not discuss his wishlist before he had discussed it in detail with his father.

The planned meeting was blocked by courtiers, but the Queen made it clear to Harry that he should not go public about his future plans at this time.

Prince Charles and Prince William, the next two in the line of succession, were only sent a copy of Harry and Meghans statement 10 minutes before it was released and without any further consultation.

Senior courtiers have warned that Harry and Meghan will be punished for this.

The announcement on the Sussexroyal Instagram account, which had attracted more than 1.4 million likes by this morning, sent shockwaves through Britains oldest institution.

It read: We intend to step back as senior members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.

It is understood that the focus of their new lives in North America is likely to be southern California, so that Meghan can spend time with her mother Doria Ragland, as well as Canada.

Prince Harry reportedly defied clear instructions from the Queen / AFP via Getty Images

There has been speculation at Buckingham Palace that Harry, 35, and his former actress wife, 38, might have already started discussions on future commercial deals.

One source was quoted saying: Meghan really wants to live in California, its where she is from and where her mother lives. She likes the lifestyle and the privacy there.

Meanwhile, in a statement to American celebrity magazine US Weekly, Thomas Markle, Meghans estranged father, reportedly said he was disappointed with his daughters decision to step away from the royal family.

Last nights statement said the couple plan to balance their time between the UK and North America while continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.

It continued: This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.

The statement was met with a terse response from Buckingham Palace, which said discussions with the duke and duchess on their decision to step back were at an early stage, adding: We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through.

The latest crisis to rock the royal family came after the Sussexes took a long break from their duties to spend some time in Canada with their son, who was born in May.

TODO: define component type apester

They visited Canadas High Commission in London on Tuesday to thank the country for hosting them and said the warmth and hospitality they received was unbelievable.

During the visit, Meghan said it was an incredible time to enjoy the beauty of Canada, adding: To see Archie go ah when you walk by, and just see how stunning it is  so it meant a lot to us.

She lived and worked in Toronto during her time in the popular US show Suits, and she has several Canadian friends.

Prince Harry and Meghan / Getty Images

It is unclear how a part-time member of the royal family might work or how the couple would become financially independent.

Another member of the royal household told the Standard: This hasnt been properly thought through.
The UNP should express its opinion on this incident. This is a threat to the lives of both the leaders and citizens in the countries which speak against imperialism.

The newly elected Government yesterday condemned the US drone attack which killed Irans Major General in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and commander of its Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.





Minister, second on the right





Education Minister Dulles Alahapperuma said in Parliament that the assassination of Soleimani was likely to trigger a war.





"We condemn the actions of the US. This incident could be taken as a threat to the leaders in other countries, especially those who speak against imperialism. This is a very serious matter."





He said that the UNP as a responsible Opposition should not stay silent in this matter.





"The UNP should express its opinion on this incident. This is a threat to the lives of both the leaders and citizens in the countries which speak against imperialism. Everyone should speak for the safety of them.
YEREVAN.  Rafayel Sukiasyan, 27, who is charged with the murder of a 16-year-old girl, does not accept the charges against him. Sukiasyan's lawyer Artashes Hovhannisyan told this to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Hovhannisyan said the decision to arrest his client will be appealed to the Criminal Court of Appeal.

Yesterday, the court granted the investigator's motion to arrest Rafael Sukiasyan as a precautionary measure.

Rafayel Sukiasyan has been charged with the murder of a 16-year-old girl.

The young man, who arrested on suspicion of strangling this girl to death in a downtown Yerevan building on the evening of January 5, is serving in the Ministry of Defense.

The girls body was found in the bedroom of an apartment of this building.
Mexicans seeking refuge in the U.S. could now be sent to Guatemala instead.

That's under U.S. rules made public on Monday (6 January 2020) that have asylum seekers at the border worried.

A deal to send Central Americans to Guatemala to seek refuge was part of a number of policies last year from U.S. President Donald Trump.

The rules now apply to Mexican migrants on top of people from Honduras and El Salvador.

Lizbeth says she and her four children fled violence hoping to enter the U.S.

She's waited in Tijuana for three months...now she faces more uncertainty.

(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEXICAN MIGRANT, LIZBETH, SAYING:

"It hit us like a bomb, I don't think any Mexicans want to go to Guatemala. First of all, we're seeking asylum in the United States because of all the problems we're facing here and second of all, we want to have a better future and sending us to Guatemala is not a good idea."

Guatemala is poorer and more dangerous than Mexico.

The Central American country has consistently had a higher homicide rate than its more prosperous northern neighbour.

Rosario also lives in a Tijuana tent city and feels Guatemala is a dangerous prospect.

(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEXICAN MIGRANT, ROSARIO, SAYING:

"Kids suffer and it doesn't make sense that they want to send us to a country where we also face danger, I don't think so. Supposedly we're seeking asylum for safety and the fact that they want to send us to a country where they're also fleeing violence is not fair."

A pro-migrant activist Jose Maria Garcia Lara says the new rules put immigrants at risk.

He says they won't stop looking for ways to enter America, ways that could be more dangerous.

(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ACTIVIST, JOSE MARIA GARCIA LARA, SAYING:

"They will look for other alternatives and you will see what we've been witnessing in border communities in this country. How do they do it? They will start climbing the border, crossing by sea or the desert or places far from the urban communities, putting their lives at risk. At the end of the day, people will find alternatives to cross to the United States."

It's unclear when the United States may start acting on the new rules and fly people like Lizbeth and Rosario to Guatemala.
Over 300 personnel of Russias Southern Military District held an exercise in North Ossetia to practice missile strike control, employing an Iskander tactical missile system, the Districts press office said.

"Servicemen of the missile formation of the Southern Military Districts 58th all-arms army stationed in North Ossetia held a missile strike control exercise. The drill involved over 300 personnel and about 50 items of armament and military hardware, including an Iskander tactical missile system,"TASS cited the press office as saying.

During the exercise, the troops practiced stealthily moving to designated positioning areas, deploying launchers and transporter-loaders and preparing data for strikes, after which they conducted electronic missile launches against a notional enemys vital facilities to different ranges, the statement says.

During the exercise, the personnel paid special attention to camouflaging combat vehicles and overcoming contaminated terrain, the press office specified.
Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has described some of the beef industry lobbying groups as flying columns.

Holding one or two meetings at a central location nationally, does not a national organisation constitute. We have established farm bodies, we have relatively new established farm bodies, as well, but we also have these 'flying columns' so to speak , he told Newstalks Pat Kenny Show.

The Minister acknowledged the difficulties in 2019 for the beef sector.

That's undoubtedly the case, if you look at figures published yesterday by Bord Bia, the out turn for 2019, the prospects for 2020, it does acknowledge that was a particularly difficult year.

However, I would say that we're at a really critical juncture in the context of the agricultural sector looking to win friends and influence people, the agricultural lobby has been widely recognised over many years as being a predominant lobbying group and an effective one.

The real danger is with fracturing of that strength in terms of its lobbying capacity, the advent of the pop up farmer organisation, which was the hallmark of 2019, a series of strikes by independent, previously unheard of organisations.

We had a situation, for example, in the beef protests in late 2019 where we've had three iterations of a single organisation claiming to be a legitimate national organisation.

"I would make the point that bringing that kind of response and tactic to the centre of Dublin and blocking up the business of the city does not help us in the context of bigger issues that we need to deal with in terms of climate, in terms of a whole host of issues out there, the CAP reform, a host of issues that need addressing, securing additional resources.

I would strongly hold the view that the lobbying capacity and the dividend from that for the farming sector is best served by a coherent, cohesive approach rather than what we saw in the back end of 2019.

The Minister rejected an analogy between minimum pricing for alcohol and the price of beef.

There is a market reality, and the market reality determines the price, what I do and what my role as I see it is, where the market is in difficulty in returning a fair income to farmers, then the State steps in a supports them with income support, it's not a price support, and that's what we did in 2019 in terms of making available an additional 120m.

I've always said we need to have maximum transparency, we need to have the maximum level of engagement with retailers, with processors, and farmers and perhaps take a leaf out of the play book of the dairy industry who have a very sophisticated level of engagement with their suppliers, this industry will not survive except the modus operandi for engagement between the various players improves significantly.

I have regular engagement with established farm organisations on a continuous basis, that is the way that we should proceed and that's the way that farmers and their lobby groups have delivered over many years.

Mr Creed agreed there needs to be transparency about the breakdown of who gets what for a kilo of beef.

Commercial sensitivities are one thing, but having a sustainable engagement with your primary producer is critical - the transposition of that directive is part of that.
The minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, has given directives to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to formulate regulations for the online media.

He also directed the regulation of international broadcasters beaming signals into Nigeria and hate speech.

Others are the regulation of human resources and staff welfare, funding for the implementation of the reforms, monitoring, independence of the regulator and ease of issuing licenses as well as competition and monopoly issues.

The directive was contained in a statement issued by the ministers media aide, Segun Adeyemi, on Thursday.

The minister had, in October 2018, announced that the National Broadcasting Commission will soon publish new regulations to guide online broadcasters in Nigeria.

According to the statement, the minister directed the NBC to implement a measure that will reposition the broadcast industry, create jobs and promote local content.

According to him, the directive became necessary following the approval of recommendations of a committee set up by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The minister said the commission must ensure that broadcasters utilise the content and services of Nigerian independent producers in line with regulatory requirements for 70 per cent local content.

This will empower local producers with proper funding and investment, enhance foreign collaborations, develop the local industry, raise the standard of local productions and ultimately, lead to job creation.

The new regulations will also ensure that producers of content are paid promptly for adverts and sponsored content placed on all TV, radio and broadcast platforms, ensure that the production of adverts are localized to create and promote local production and, where it is not, to attract a charge every time such an advert is aired, with the charge being put into a fund to help develop local expertise in production, he said.

He highlighted that for musical content, a new regulation will ensure that broadcasters are prevented from illegal and unpaid use of musical works without payment of the applicable license fees and/or royalties required by music rights owners.

The minister added that the new regulations will re-energize the broadcast industry, deliver real value in the sector and grow the creative industry for the benefit of the practitioners.
A disabled dog was abandoned twice in one day by heartless owners who left it alone on the streets of Brazil.

CCTV captured the moment a woman dumped the dog on the sidewalk in Sao Leopoldo, in the south of the country, before driving away in her car.

Footage shows the animal - named Tintin - trying to climb back into the vehicle before she pushed it to the floor and sped off.

This is the moment the owner of a disabled dog named Tintin pushed him to the floor before getting into her car and driving away, leaving him alone on the streets of Brazil

The street was located outside her husband's office, who found the unfortunate animal wandering around outside some time later.

But instead of driving him home, the man took Tintin to an animal shelter where he was abandoned a second time.

Anderson Ribeiro, boss of the Secretariat of Animal Protection in Sao Leopoldo, said the man walked in with the animal on a leash and said he found him of the streets.

Ribeiro told Brazilian channel G1 that, because the animal was wearing a collar, he assumed it was a lost dog rather than a stray.

He got in touch with local Ana Paula Scherer, who owns a dog with a similar disability named Berlin, to check whether it belonged to her.

The street is located outside the office where the woman's husband works, and he came out and found his pet a short time later - but took him to a shelter and abandoned him again

Tintin has now been placed up for adoption with 20 new owners vying for him, while the previous owners are being investigated for abuse

But when she told him that Berlin was at home with her, Ribeiro became suspicious of the man's story and decided to alert police.

Officers managed to trace the owners - who admitted to being the same pair who had abandoned Tintin earlier in the day.

Ribeiro says he has passed his information over to police, who confirmed they are investigating on a charge of animal abuse and have called witnesses to testify.

The penalty for animal abuse ranges from three months to a year in jail and a fine.

Tintin has now been placed at an animal shelter and 20 people have inquired about adopting him.

However, authorities say they will take their time in picking a new home based upon who is best able to care for his specialist needs.
The mood in Tehran was tense Wednesday morning when Ukraine International Flight 752 took off, bound for Kyiv. Just hours earlier, Iran had fired missiles at two bases in Iraq that house US troops, and Iranian forces were on alert for an American counterstrike

The mood in Tehran was tense Wednesday morning when Ukraine International Flight 752 took off, bound for Kyiv. Just hours earlier, Iran had fired missiles at two bases in Iraq that house US troops, and Iranian forces were on alert for an American counterstrike.

Nothing was unusual about the planes takeoff and ascent, according to preliminary satellite data. But minutes into the flight, the Boeing 737 was engulfed in flames as it plunged to the ground, killing at least 176 people on board.

In the best of circumstances, determining the cause of an international plane crash can take a year or more of difficult investigative work and involve investigators from multiple governments. Resolving what happened over the skies of Tehran may prove even more complicated given the tensions between Iran, where the plane went down, and the United States, where it was built by Boeing, a company in the midst of crisis after two earlier deadly accidents involving another 737 model.

The immediate aftermath of the crash brought confusing and contradictory statements from Ukraine and Iran. Ukraine's embassy in Iran initially issued a statement ruling out terrorism or a rocket attack. But the statement was later removed from the embassy's website and replaced with one saying it was too early to draw any conclusions.

"All possible versions of what occurred must be examined," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine said in a Facebook post, adding that Ukrainian experts would travel to Tehran to investigate and recover the bodies of Ukrainians.

The uncertainty could also ripple through the aviation industry, which relies heavily on the 737-NG for commercial travel. And for Boeing, the crash is the latest in a series of devastating events that have roiled the company since the first 737 Max disaster in Indonesia in late 2018.

The crash's timing raised immediate suspicions. Iran fired at US forces early on Wednesday in retaliation for an airstrike on Friday that killed a top Iranian general and the leader of Iran-backed Iraqi militias  the latest in a long sequence of escalations.

Investigators should put consideration of an attack "at the top of their agenda", said Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board.

On Tuesday, hours before the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration barred American airliners from flying over Iran, citing a risk that commercial planes would be mistaken for military aircraft. Several non-American carriers rerouted flights Wednesday to avoid Iraq and Iran, according to Flightradar24. In 2014, early in the war in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed separatists, a Russian missile shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, killing 298 people.

A spokesman for Iran's armed forces, Abolfazl Shekarchi, said the crash was not a result of any military action.

"They are spreading propaganda that the Ukrainian flight was targeted," Iranian news media quoted Shekarchi as saying. "This is ridiculous. Most of the passengers on this flight were our valued young Iranian men and women. Whatever we do, we do it for the protection and defence of our country and our people."

Typically, the country where a crash occurs leads an investigation, and includes officials from the country where the plane was produced, as well as countries where the victims were from. With the United States and Iran engaged in an escalating, violent conflict, it was immediately apparent cooperation could be fraught.

The flight data recorders, or black boxes, were recovered from the crash site, and are usually sent to the plane's maker for analysis. However, the head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation, Ali Abedzadeh, told the semiofficial Mehr News Agency that Iran would not send the recorders from the Ukraine International Airlines flight to Boeing.

"We will not give the black box to the manufacturer and the Americans," Mehr quoted him as saying. Ukrainian officials, he said, would be involved in Irans investigation of the crash.

However, the airline promised a full investigation, involving officials from Ukraine, Iran and Boeing. Zelenskiy said that he had ordered Ukraine's prosecutor-general to open a criminal investigation into the crash and that the country's entire civil aviation fleet would be checked.

"In global aviation we would like to think that the technical experts will rule the day," said Michael Huerta, a former FAA administrator. "But given that it's Iran, we'll have to wait and see."

On Wednesday afternoon, the NTSB, which often takes part in aviation accident investigations in other parts of the world, said it had not yet been asked to participate.

The 737 left Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran at 6.12 am on Wednesday. There were 176 people aboard, including nine crew members, according to the airline, which released the names of the dead. Iranian authorities listed 177, while some Iranian news organisations cited other figures.

The plane had reached an altitude of almost 8,000 feet and a speed of more than 300 miles per hour, according to Flightradar24, which tracks aircraft by their radio signals. Two to three minutes after takeoff, it abruptly ceased the automatic transmission of flight data, though it remained in the air for a few minutes longer. Abedzadeh said the airliner had not contacted the control tower about an emergency.

The Iranian Students News Agency, a state-run media organisation, shared a video that it said showed the predawn crash, with an aircraft apparently in flames descending in the distance before a bright burst filled the sky upon impact. The New York Times identified another video that showed the crash from a different angle.

"It woke us up," said Sajad Shirkhani, 29, who lives near the crash site. "We got out of bed and ran outside, and all of the windows on our home were broken. We ran outside, we thought we were hit by a missile, that there was a war."

The plane crashed on agricultural land near the village of Khalaj Abad, about 10 miles northwest of where the planes signal was last logged by Flightradar24. The plane appears to have banked northwest and flown for several miles after its transponder stopped working.

Photos and videos from the crash site showed rescuers in a field littered with plane debris, smouldering fires and the belongings of passengers. An analysis by The Times suggests that the plane was returning to the Tehran airport when it crashed.

There was disagreement on the breakdown of the victims' nationalities, though that may be because some passengers held dual citizenship; Iran's tally included 147 Iranians and two Canadians, while Vadym Prystaiko, Ukraine's minister of foreign affairs, said there were 82 Iranians and 63 Canadians.

"Our government will continue to work closely with its international partners to ensure that this crash is thoroughly investigated, and that Canadians' questions are answered," Justin Trudeau, Canada's prime minister, said in a statement.

Another theory about the crash was that one of the planes two engines failed. Qassem Biniaz, an official at the Iranian Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, told the Islamic Republic News Agency, the government's official news agency, that an engine on the plane caught fire and that the pilot was unable to regain control.

The Fars News Agency, a semiofficial Iranian media outlet, said in an article about the crash that "Boeing 737 passenger planes are notorious for frequent technical issues, an apparent reference to the two crashes involving the companys 737 Max. Later, Abedzadeh told Mehr that so far there was no evidence of technical problems.

Commercial airliners are designed to be able to fly even if one engine fails. Engine fires are fairly common on commercial jets, but rarely result in crashes. An "uncontained" engine failure, in which parts of an engine disintegrate, sometimes spraying debris that can damage or even destroy a plane, is rare. In 2018, a Southwest Airlines flight on its way from New York to Dallas experienced such an emergency, killing one person.

The plane that crashed in Iran, a 737-NG, was manufactured in 2016 and delivered directly from the factory, the airline said, and it had most recently undergone scheduled maintenance on Monday, two days before the crash. The airline offered no theories as to what might have happened and declined to comment on whether it might have been shot down, but noted that the plane was being operated by a highly trained crew.

While airlines in the former Soviet Union generally have poor safety records, Ukraine International Airlines said on its website that its safety was audited and met FAA standards for code-sharing flights with foreign partners. It had not previously experienced a fatal crash, according to a list of Ukrainian aircraft accidents compiled by the Flight Safety Foundation.

The 737-NG is one of the worlds most widely used airliners; more than 7,000 have been built since 1998, and the plane has logged more than 250 million hours of flight time and fewer than a dozen fatal accidents.

But Boeing's engineering has come under scrutiny over the past year, after two crashes involving a different model of jet, the 737 Max. Those accidents, which were caused in part by new software on the plane, have plunged Boeing into its biggest-ever crisis. The Max has been grounded worldwide since March, and the company's chief executive was fired last month.

As the company struggles to get a fix for the Max approved by regulators, new safety risks have recently emerged with the plane. The company may also need to assess those risks in the 737-NG family, which includes the 737-800. Boeing shares were down almost two percent on Wednesday.

If the crash in Tehran turns out to be a mechanical failure, raising questions about the 737-NG, the results could be devastating for Boeing. "We are aware of the media reports out of Iran and we are gathering more information," Boeing said in a statement.

David Gelles, Anton Troianovski and Daniel Victor c.2020 The New York Times Company
Durham, NC- Mohamad Khazaei, Ph.D., scientific associate in Dr. Michael Fehlings' lab at Krembil Research Institute, Toronto, is the latest recipient of STEM CELLS Translational Medicine's (SCTM) Young Investigator Award. Launched in 2013, the award fosters advancements in the field of stem cells and regenerative medicine by honoring a young researcher who is the principal author of an article published in SCTM that, over the course of a year, is deemed to have the most impact.

Dr. Khazaei's work is focused on bringing cell-based strategies into the therapeutic pipeline through generating and differentiating novel cell types using genetic and cell engineering approaches. His experience traverses the range from human primary or stem cell-based neural cell culture, 3D neuronal cell culture models, and developing neurodegenerative disease models in mammalian cells to direct reprogramming toward neural lineages, developing/improving differentiation protocols for neuroglia lines, using single-cell RNAseq and CRISPR-screening for cell fate determination/modification, and more.

"While we currently lack effective regenerative medicine treatment options for spinal cord injuries, Dr. Khazaei's work to create a cell transplantation therapy utilizing neural precursor cells is novel and provides a promising approach," said Anthony Atala, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of STEM CELLS Translational Medicine and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

In his winning paper, "Human Spinal Oligodendrogenic Neural Progenitor Cells Promote Functional Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury by Axonal Remyelination Following Thoracic Spinal Cord Injury," Dr. Khazaei and his team investigated using neurons and oligodendrocytes to obtain better functional recovery for spinal cord injury. Their findings move the science one step closer to clinical trial.

Learn more about Dr. Khazaei's work on treatment options for spinal cord injuries.

###

About STEM CELLS Translational Medicine: STEM CELLS Translational Medicine (SCTM), co-published by AlphaMed Press and Wiley, is a monthly peer-reviewed publication dedicated to significantly advancing the clinical utilization of stem cell molecular and cellular biology. By bridging stem cell research and clinical trials, SCTM will help move applications of these critical investigations closer to accepted best practices. SCTM is the official journal partner of Regenerative Medicine Foundation.

About AlphaMed Press: Established in 1983, AlphaMed Press with offices in Durham, NC, San Francisco, CA, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, publishes two other internationally renowned peer-reviewed journals: STEM CELLS, celebrating its 38th year, is the world's first journal devoted to this fast paced field of research. The Oncologist, also a monthly peer-reviewed publication, entering its 25th year, is devoted to community and hospital-based oncologists and physicians entrusted with cancer patient care. All three journals are premier periodicals with globally recognized editorial boards dedicated to advancing knowledge and education in their focused disciplines.

About Wiley: Wiley, a global company, helps people and organizations develop the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. Our online scientific, technical, medical and scholarly journals, combined with our digital learning, assessment and certification solutions, help universities, learned societies, businesses, governments and individuals increase the academic and professional impact of their work. For more than 200 years, we have delivered consistent performance to our stakeholders. The company's website can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com.

About Regenerative Medicine Foundation (RMF): The non-profit Regenerative Medicine Foundation fosters strategic collaborations to accelerate the development of regenerative medicine to improve health and deliver cures. RMF pursues its mission by producing its flagship World Stem Cell Summit, honouring leaders through the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Action Awards, and promoting educational initiatives.
"This is the 3 rd consecutive year for TTA attending the exhibition, and we just won 8 awards last year," said Dr. Yu-Chin Hsu at the opening on Jan 7 th . "The growth of the numbers of awards shows that Taiwan's scientific and technological innovation power is internationally recognized. It is not only making Taiwan an iconic place for startups, but also highlighting the achievements and determination of TTA to support our teams."

The Teams Who Win Innovation Awards Show Taiwan's Strength in Technology

The TTA delegation ranks the third-largest participating country in Eureka Park this year, second to France and South Korea, and let the world know Taiwan's forward-looking technology with 3 major areas includes AI, intellectual technology and health care.

The winners of Innovation Awards are as below:

LuluPet: AI smart cat litter box is the world's first litter box with built-in stool and urine image recognize and excretory behavioral algorithms.

AgriTalk: Provide s customizable AI that tells the soil microbiome distribution and nutrients left inside the soil.

customizable AI that tells the soil microbiome distribution and nutrients left inside the soil. AuthenTrend: Bring s fingerprint enabled security authenticators from personal to business, from centralization to decentralization.

fingerprint enabled security authenticators from personal to business, from centralization to decentralization. Taiwan user-friendly sensor & technology: Develop s a portable device providing rapidly food test results.

user-friendly sensor & technology: Develop a portable device providing rapidly food test results. ible Technology: Develop s a compact but powerful wearable air purifier.

a compact but powerful wearable air purifier. Brilliant OptronicsProvide s multi-function smart window film can be switched between transparent, tint, privacy protection and image displaying state.

multi-function smart window film can be switched between transparent, tint, privacy protection and image displaying state. Rice Ear: Develop s the world's first Apple home kit and personal air purifier.

the world's first Apple home kit and personal air purifier. Nestech Corporation: Offer s customized access control solution with hardware and software.

customized access control solution with hardware and software. Happy Island Tech: Develop s GALERDO Baker Pro is the world's first headset free swim audio tracker base on real-time AI voice feedback for the lane swimmers.

GALERDO Baker Pro is the world's first headset free swim audio tracker base on real-time AI voice feedback for the lane swimmers. Yun yun AI Baby Camera: Develop s a smart baby monitor using AI to send proactive alerts that safeguard babies and toddlers.

a smart baby monitor using AI to send proactive alerts that safeguard babies and toddlers. Jarvish: Develop s the world's best mass-market smart safety helmets.

the world's best mass-market smart safety helmets. Ganzin: Focus es on creating the next generation eye tracking modules that can be easily integrated into AR/VR modules to help unlock the potential of the eye as a seamless interface into the extended reality world.

on creating the next generation eye tracking modules that can be easily integrated into AR/VR modules to help unlock the potential of the eye as a seamless interface into the extended reality world. Mindtronic AI: Focus es on automotive product design demonstrates us in the highest degree of robustness and reliability, and we are diversifying our offering to mobile and consumer electronics.

TTA Makes the Best Effort to Build Taiwan as Global Technology Startups Brand

Launched in June 2018, TTA is a pioneer program funded by the "MoST", the program aims to connect global resources, build a more high-tech startup friendly ecosystem, and foster high-tech entrepreneurships in Taiwan. TTA hopes to attract global and domestic talents and actively foster the innovation of technology industries by building a co-creation platform for startups, accelerators, venture capital, and corporate partners. Via participating CES 2020, TTA looks forward to connecting global investors for its team, having further industrial cooperation, and enhance Taiwan's reputation in global high-tech ecosystem.

SOURCE Taiwan Tech Arena
The total price tag of the forensic audit ordered by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation in the wake of a deadly New Hampshire crash involving a West Springfield driver is more than $1.4 million.

Grant Thornton, a private consulting firm based in Chicago, spent months interviewing Registry of Motor Vehicle employees to determine what led to a massive backlog of out-of-state violation notices involving Massachusetts drivers.

The RMV had never processed an out-of-state notification for Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, the driver charged in the June 21 crash, showing that he had had an OUI arrest in Connecticut a month earlier and refused a breathalyzer test. That alone should have gotten Zhukovskyys license suspended.

Instead, he was legally authorized to drive when his pickup truck crossed the double yellow lines on a New Hampshire highway and struck a pack of motorcyclists from the Jarheads MC, authorities said. Seven motorcyclists were killed. Authorities believe Zhukovskyy was high and reaching for a drink at the time of the crash.

This photo provided by Miranda Thompson shows the scene where several motorcycles and a pickup truck collided on a rural, two-lane highway Friday, June 21, 2019 in Randolph, N.H. New Hampshire State Police said a 2016 Dodge 2500 pickup truck collided with the riders on U.S. 2 Friday evening. The cause of the deadly collision is not yet known. The pickup truck was on fire when emergency crews arrived. (Miranda Thompson via AP)AP

Once reports surfaced about Zhukovskyys checkered driving history, Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack announced that officials discovered 52 bins of paper-based out-of-state notifications that were sitting unprocessed in a room in the RMVs Quincy office.

Erin Deveney, the registrar at the time, stepped down and was replaced by Jamey Teslar. Pollack also announced MassDOT was hiring Grant Thornton to conduct a forensic audit of the RMVs practices.

Thomas Bowes, head of the Merit Rating Board, was fired in August he testified before lawmakers that he took responsibility of the backlog and re-assigned his employees who were tasked with combing through the unprocessed records.

Emails between transportation officials that came to light during a legislative review of the RMV show the total was closer to 72 bins and that the records date back several years.

MassDOT has paid the firm $1.47 million between July and November, according to invoices obtained by MassLive through a public records request.

In September, MassLive first reported that Grant Thornton had expensed $24,440 for airfare, hotel rooms and cab rides between July 10 and Sept. 7, when the cost of the audit had reached $1.1 million.

MassDOT did not provide documents on itemized out-of-pocket expenses in the latest public records response, except for a sheet from Aug. 27 and Sept. 6 showing Grant Thornton expensed $2,391.35 in expenses related to airfare, cab rides, hotel rooms and meals.

MassDOT did not respond when asked whether documents detailing expenses claimed after Sept. 6 exist and, if so, why the records were not provided.

Grant Thornton found systemic dysfunction throughout the RMV, including officials who passed off the backlog when they learned about it or let it languish. The audit and emails submitted to lawmakers also show the Baker administrations push for shorter wait times at branches took precedent over public safety protocols, even as employees raised safety concerns.

44 Bikers bid goodbye to 7 motorcyclists killed in New Hampshire crash

Deveney told lawmakers in July that she didnt have a direct conversation about the backlog with anyone from the governors office. But Rep. William Straus, chairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation, said months later that the audit report and transcripts that were released suggest Mindy DArbeloff, the governors deputy chief of staff for customer service, knew or at least should have known about the problems at the RMV, according to Rep. William Straus.

The auditing firm also found that an RMV employee had accessed the electronic violation notice for Zhukovskyy on May 29, weeks before the fatal New Hampshire crash. The employee, Michael Noronha, told auditors he doesnt remember why he clicked on the work item on the computer database and that processing those notices wasnt one of his responsibilities in his current role.

Lawmakers struggled for months to obtain materials from MassDOT and even the auditing firm.

A MassDOT spokeswoman told MassLive earlier this year, MassDOT has turned over hundreds of documents to the committee during the last several weeks and the Department is gathering additional documents to comply with the committees request while working to correct deficiencies at the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

But Pollack faced scrutiny in August and again in November over what records it was releasing and when. Grant Thornton initially refused to turn transcripts over to lawmakers, saying it would only do so with a subpoena, the Boston Globe reported. Pollack asked Grant Thornton to turn over the records and ultimately said that MassDOT would share the materials, which the department released the day before Thanksgiving.

Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, defended his mission to improve customer service throughout the RMV. He In the months since the final audits release, Baker has pushed for a bill that would strengthen regulations on commercial drivers licenses. Zhukovskyy had a commercial license and drove for Westfield Transport despite his history of motor vehicle violations.
SEATTLE  After a measles outbreak sickened dozens of unvaccinated children in southwestern Washington State last year, school health administrators around the state went into crisis mode, intent on confronting the relatively low vaccination rates in the region.

First, they got an assist from the State Legislature, which passed a law in May tightening exemption rules for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Then school districts  including Seattles  sent letters asking thousands of families who did not have compliant vaccine records to get them in order.

This week, Seattle Public Schools ramped up its effort even further, telling families that schools would turn away any remaining students who were not compliant.

At a time when states and school districts are exploring strategies to increase vaccination rates and avoid outbreaks, the tactics in Seattle appear to be paying off in a region with plenty of vaccine skepticism. The number of students with incomplete or noncompliant records  once around 7,000  has dropped steadily to just a few hundred on Wednesday, the deadline for students to show their vaccination paperwork.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 20:25:44|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday sent condolences to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani respectively over the crash of a Ukrainian passenger plane in Tehran.

In his messages, Xi said he was shocked to learn about the air crash, which killed all passengers and crew members on board.

On behalf of the Chinese government and people, and in his own name, Xi expressed deep sympathies over the victims and offered sincere condolences to the bereaved families.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) speaks in Washington in a file photograph. He said on Jan. 9, 2020, that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) should send the impeachment articles to the Senate. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

House Democrat Says He Misspoke When He Said Pelosi Should Send Impeachment Articles to the Senate

A Democratic House chairman said he misspoke when he called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to send the impeachment articles to the Senate.

I misspoke this morning, I do believe we should do everything we can to force the Senate to have a fair trial. If the Speaker believes that holding on to the articles for a longer time will help force a fair trial in the Senate, then I wholeheartedly support that decision, Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said in a statement on Jan. 9.

I misspoke this morning, I do believe we should do everything we can to force the Senate to have a fair trial. If the Speaker believes that holding on to the articles for a longer time will help force a fair trial in the Senate, then I wholeheartedly support that decision.  Rep. Adam Smith (@RepAdamSmith) January 9, 2020

I am concerned that Senator McConnell wont have a fair trial and I am with the Speaker that we should do everything we can to ensure he does. Ultimately, I do want the articles sent to the Senate for the very simple reason that I want the impeachment process to go forward.

Earlier Thursday, Smith had appeared on CNN.

I understand what the speaker was trying to dobasically trying to use the leverage of that to work with Democratic and Republican senators to try to get a reasonable trial, a trial that would actually show evidence, bring out witnesses, he said during the appearance.

But at the end of the day, just like we control it in the House, Mitch McConnell controls it in the Senate, Smith said, referring to the Senate majority leader. I think it was perfectly advisable for the speaker to try to leverage that to get a better deal. At this point, it doesnt look like thats going to happen.

It is time to send the impeachment to the Senate and let Mitch McConnell be responsible for the fairness of the trial, he added.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) arrives to meet with other House Democrats on the morning following Iranian attacks on bases in Iraq housing U.S. troops, at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 8, 2020. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

CNN anchor Dana Bash said that the comments from Smith were perilous politically; he and Rep. Ben McAdams (D-Utah) appeared to be the first House Democrats to call for Pelosi to transmit the articles.

I think its time to send over the articles, McAdams said early Thursday.

Bash said one House Democrat texted her saying members of the caucus arent speaking out publicly because theyre afraid of retribution from the Speaker. A number of Senate Democrats said this week that the articles should be transmitted.

The calls from House Democrats comments came after Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) crafted a resolution calling on Pelosi to send the impeachment articles to the Senate.

Pelosi lacks the power to effectively veto a resolution passed by a duly elected majority of the House of Representatives by refusing to transmit such a resolution to the Senate, Graham wrote in the resolution, which he planned on introducing on Thursday.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) walks to the Senate SCIF at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 8, 2020. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

He said Pelosi withholding the articles is a flagrant violation of the separation of powers expressly outlined in the bicameral impeachment process under the Constitution of the United States.

You said it was urgent, Graham said during a Wednesday night appearance on Fox News. If you believe it to be urgent, send it to the Senate for disposition.

Pelosi has said she withheld the articles to try to get a fair trial in the Senate. McConnell (R-Ky.), the Senate majority leader, has repeatedly dismissed claims that Pelosi had any leverage, telling lawmakers this week that there would be no haggling over how the Senate conducts its business.

The House Democrats turn is over. The Senate has made its decision, he said.
Over a hundred students from St Stephen's College boycotted their classes, for the first time in 30 years, and marched with posters chanting slogans of Azadi in solidiarity with JNU, Jamia Millia Islamia, AMU and anti-CAA-NRC protesters

On Wednesday, scores of students at Delhi's St Stephen's College, for the first time in 30 years, boycotted classes to express solidarity with students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University and demonstrate against the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Chants of "azadi" echoed on campus of the college usually considered apolitical, and often aloof from the usually politically-charged atmosphere seen in other Delhi University colleges, slogans like "iss baar nahi hum chodenge, itihas ki dhara modenge (we will not let go this time, we will change the direction of history)" filled the campus as over a hundred students marched around the campus with posters such as "Stephens Against Fascism", "Kagaz Nahi Dikhayenge", "Bure Din Wapas De Do" and "No NRC-CAA".

They later joined other DU colleges and marched towards the Arts Faculty building in Delhi university, the Free Press Journal reported.

Wednesday's boycott was the first time in 30 years  after agitations against the Mandal Commission  that students of St Stephen's College had boycotted classes.

Protests have been happening across the country and we the students in St Stephens didnt want the momentum of the student protests across the country to die. We wanted to join, Meghna, one of the organisers told News18. We were afraid that as soon as college starts, everyone might just go back to usual academic classes and resume a normal schedule. We did not want that to happen. This isnt over yet. People are in danger and the government is not relenting, she added.

According to The Times of India, the students braved the rains as they walked around the campus carrying placards with messages like We are here for rights and not riots, sang Faiz Ahmed Faiz's song Hum Bhi Dekhenge and read the Preamble to the Constitution.

"Students stuck posters on the doors of students common room which read 'hum kaagaz nahin dikhaenge' and 'Chankra Shekhar Azad ko Azad Karo'," the report added. The St Stephens' College joining the protest against the CAA, NRC and NPR was widely covered with one of the English dailies carrying the news on their front page with the headline "Even Stephen's" with the image of an empty classroom.

BJP national secretary slammed for invoking Kashmir

The protest, however, also generated a fresh controversy with BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga tweeting an image of one of the students carrying 'Free Kashmir'.

Again Posters of FREE KASHMIR by Left Terrorists in St Stephen College, Delhi University. Agenda is very Clear, This is not fight against Modi, this ia Fight against India pic.twitter.com/GoVFOroOpS  Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) January 8, 2020

The poster later on led to a Twitter spat between BJP's national general secretary (Org) BL Santosh and the unofficial St Stephen's alumni news handle @CafeSSC after the former invoked the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.

Amid speculation that the Delhi Police might file a case against the student holding the 'Free Kashmir' poster, @CafeSSC had defended the poster saying it simply meant that the Kashmiris don't have the same freedoms that are available to rest of India:

Which part of "FREE KASHMIR" confuses @DelhiPolice and faux-nationalists? India is free, mostly. Kashmir isn't, for five months now. Kashmiris don't have the freedoms those of us in the rest of India take for granted. Give Kashmiris the same freedoms others Indians have. @CPDelhi https://t.co/f2qL6IdLq8  Stephanians (@CafeSSC) January 8, 2020

Santosh responded to the tweet asking where the students were was when Kashmiri Pandits were driven out from the Valley.

Where was your conscious hiding when lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits were driven away or brutally killed ...? This selective aakrosh has made many a liberals irrelevant ... Dont become one ...  B L Santhosh (@blsanthosh) January 9, 2020

His comments drew a sharp reaction with users terming Santosh's reaction 'foolish' for accusing the students' of "selective rage" when they were not even born when the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits happened.

Sir, most of us, the students who protested yesterday, were not born then. Our sincere apologies for that. For our inspiration please tell us how you helped the Kashmiri Pandits in 1990. https://t.co/esPmeAr50V  Stephanians (@CafeSSC) January 9, 2020

Another Twitter user, @vedant123, who claims to be a Kashmiri Pandit said that it was time to stop using the Kashmiri Pandit community as bait to guilt-trip people who are fighting for the rights of people, today,

I myself am a Kashmiri Pandit and I support what the original tweet is saying. Maybe stop using our community as a bait to guilt trap people in fighting for rights of people TODAY. Its been 30 years since Pandits were driven away. We are living in present you should too  Being Second (@vedant123) January 9, 2020

Some slammed Santosh for pointing out how the Kashmiri exodus had taken place when a BJP-supported government led by VP Singh was in power in the Centre while others asked what the BJP national secretary did when exodus took place. To which, he replied:
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Linkedin Apriza Pinandita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020

Living abroad for the next five or 10 years in order to build a career before eventually returning to Indonesia is the aspiration of Fadhil Saptady, a 26-year-old Indonesian entrepreneur in Turkey.

He is one of more than 6 million Indonesians in the diaspora across the globe and among those who have been tasting the fruits of living overseas by running a hospitality business. First arriving in Turkey as a student in 2012, Fadhil decided to open an Indonesian restaurant six years later in Istanbul.

I want to develop myself abroad and then come back to Indonesia to [contribute] to economic development, he told The Jakarta Post recently.

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Thales has signed a contract to partner with Queenslands Department of Transport and Main Roads and local Queensland SMEs, Code Heroes and Aliva, to design, develop and deliver the States first Digital Licence App

The Digital Licence solution will be piloted in the Fraser Coast in early 2020, before extending to other regional locations and becoming available to over 3.7 million Queenslanders state-wide

A first for Australia, the Digital Licence solution will meet International ISO-Compliant Mobile Driving Licence Standards, allowing the States digital drivers licences to be recognised and used in over 18 countries world-wide including the US, UK and France



Thales has signed a contract to partner with Queenslands Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) in Australia and local Queensland SMEs, Code Heroes and Aliva, to design, develop and deliver the States first Digital Licence App.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200107005628/en/

Thales Gemalto Digital ID Wallet (Photo: Thales)

Thales worked closely with TMR and their customers to co-design a fully integrated app-based solution that is able to manage multiple digital credentials from various sources. The comprehensive solution that integrates a backend platform with managed services, builds upon Gemaltos next generation Digital ID Platform and Wallet technology, a globally proven and secure, smartphone-based home for all of the owner's digital identity credentials.

Thales completed the acquisition of Gemalto in April 2019 during the TMR procurement process, acquiring a set of highly complementary technologies and competencies, and reinforcing Thaless status as a world-leader in digital identity and security.

The all-in-one Digital Licence solution utilises a privacy enhanced app that acts as a secure digital vault to store a wide range of digitalized official documents, starting with the owners Drivers Licence, Photo Identification Card, Marine Licence and vehicle registration. The innovative solution delivers ease of access via a smartphone, while ensuring the owner has complete control over their personal data and the freedom to decide exactly what information to share, with whom, and when.

The app will also provide Queenslanders with a secure gateway to access TMRs online services, supporting the opportunity to expand to other State Government online services in the future.

The innovative solution will be piloted in the Fraser Coast in early 2020, before extending to other regional locations and becoming available to over 3.7 million Queenslanders state-wide.

A first for Australia, Queenslands Digital Licence will meet the International ISO-Compliant Mobile Driving Licence Standard, allowing the States digital drivers licences to be recognised and used in over 18 countries world-wide including the US, UK and France.

Thales Australia CEO, Chris Jenkins said

We are excited to be partnering with the Queensland Government to deliver our secure Digital ID Wallet solution. This is the first major contract award in Australia that has resulted from the merger of Thales and Gemalto. The bringing together of two technology powerhouses has strengthened Thaless position as a world leader in digital security. The Queensland Digital Licence end-to-end solution contract is a demonstration of the success of the integration.

Note to Editors

Gemalto's solutions are at the heart of modern life, from payments to enterprise security and the internet of things. They authenticate people, transactions and objects, encrypt data and create value for software - enabling companies and governments to deliver secure digital services for billions of individuals and things.

About Thales

The people who make the world go round  they rely on Thales. Our customers come to us with big ambitions: to make life better, to keep us safer. Combining a unique diversity of expertise, talents and cultures, our architects design and deliver extraordinary, high-technology solutions. Solutions that make tomorrow possible today. From the bottom of the oceans to the depths of space and cyberspace, we help our customers think smarter and act faster  mastering ever greater complexity at every decisive moment along the way.

Thales generated revenues of 19 billion in 2018 with 80 thousand employees in 68 countries.

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VANCOUVERPeople who have never smoked marijuana could be most at risk of overdosing on cannabis-infused edibles that will soon be on store shelves across the country, warns a public health physician who says first-time users may keep noshing away while expecting a high, only to experience a racing heart, anxiety and panic attacks.

Dr. Lawrence Loh, adjunct professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, said overdose from overconsumption often means a trip to the emergency room for those who are unaware that feeling the mellow effects of pot from edibles can take several hours because of the time needed to digest and absorb food into the small intestine versus quickly inhaling the drug through the lungs.

Seniors are especially at risk because of a slower metabolism, Loh said of non-lethal overdose from edibles, which federal regulations limit to an individual serving size of a 10-milligram dose of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

I think the big thing for anyone in the public, especially cannabis-naive individuals or people who have edibles around with children at home, is to first and foremost avoid overdosing, Loh said.

Theres psychotic reactions so people may lose touch with reality, sometimes in the form of hallucinations or delusions and also anxiety or panic attacks along with decreased judgment.

Loh is co-author of a commentary published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on the health risks of cannabis edibles.

Short-term effects of edibles are not the only issue of concern, he said.

There are still those longer term, chronic risks around edibles, particularly around addiction and also the risk of exacerbation of existing mental-health issues that we might be worried about in the longer run with cannabis edibles as well as any form of cannabis, he said.

Regulations governing edibles, beverages, vapes and topical forms of cannabis came into effect last October, a year after Canada legalized fresh or dried bud, oil, plants and seeds.

Cannabis edibles such as cookies, chocolate and gummies were available for sale starting in December in all provinces except Ontario, Quebec and Alberta, where consumers can access them in mid-January.

In Ontario, for example, edibles will be available as of this week in stores, and then online in mid-January through the provincial distributor as a part of a slow rollout over the next few months.

A University of Colorado School of Medicine study published last March in the Annals of Internal Medicine says an increase in emergency-room visits related to edibles prompted health experts to issue warnings about cardiac and psychiatric issues in the state that began selling recreational marijuana in 2014. Packaging, potency and labelling restrictions on edibles did not come into effect until a year later before being tightened to require labels to prominently display the potency of psychoactive ingredients.

Loh said theres a lack of data on edibles in general but consumers should also beware that illicit, unregulated products still exist and could be problematic because of issues such as mould.

The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction recommended last July that anyone who has never smoked or vaped cannabis should not consume more than 2.5 milligrams of THC in a product and wait to feel the effects before taking more.

Dr. Joseph Finkler, an emergency-room physician at St. Pauls Hospital in Vancouver, said he sees plenty of patients, mostly females in their late teens and early 20s, who come in having panic attacks or anxiety from eating too much of a cannabis-infused food and sometimes mixing it with alcohol or other substances.

The thing that people forget is that theres a delayed response, he said, adding users often think the recommended dosage couldnt possibly pack a buzz. They are sometimes given a benzodiazepine to counteract the effects of an overdose before being sent home.

Dont cut off more than the actual dose just because it looks so small. You dont want to eat the whole thing. That little things got eight doses or 10 doses, he said of a package.

Its not like smoking. When you start to feel weird you can stop inhaling. But when you ingest it, man, its on board.

While 10 milligrams of THC is the recommended dosage, the psychoactive ingredient of marijuana in a food is hard to measure, he said.

It requires very sophisticated analytical equipment and its even more complicated when they use chocolate because people think it enhances the viability of the THC but chocolate interferes with the measurement of the actual amount.

Start low, go slow, and wait. Be patient if youre going to take the edibles.

Correction - Jan. 8, 2020: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said the allowable limit in a package can be up to 100 milligrams of THC. In fact, Health Canada regulations limit THC in edibles to 10 milligrams per package. As well, the previous version misstated the given name of emergency-room physician Dr. Joseph Finkler.
What McKenzie Johnson, a Native American student, said happened on that Halloween day at Cibola High School grabbed national attention.

The incident was called racist, and it led to outcry and protest.

Now, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico is filing a lawsuit against Albuquerque Public Schools and a former teacher for violations of the New Mexico Human Rights Act and Tort Claims Act.

The lawsuit recounts Halloween day in 2018 during Mary Eastins Advanced Placement English class, saying Johnson was put in a hostile learning environment.

When Johnson  then a 16-year-old junior  had fake blood on her cheek as part of her costume, Eastin allegedly called her a bloody Indian.

Staring directly at Ms. Johnson, Ms. Eastin inquired, What are you supposed to be, a bloody Indian? In response to the collective gasps from her fellow students, Ms. Eastin doubled down and stated, What? She is bloody, and she is an  the lawsuit says. Ms. Eastin stopped short of finishing her sentence and allowed her racist comments to linger.

The lawsuit lists Eastin and the APS Board of Education as defendants.

APS spokeswoman Monica Armenta said Eastin was employed by the district from 2003 to 2018, but she declined to comment further on the lawsuit. David Peercy, the president of APS Board of Education, didnt respond to a request for comment from the Journal.

The Journal was unable to reach Eastin.

The lawsuit says Johnson was discriminated against based on her race and ancestry.

The lawsuit argues that APS didnt do enough to prevent the incident and says Eastin wasnt properly supervised and trained.

Also, school leaders visited Eastins classroom that Halloween morning and were aware of off behavior, the lawsuit says.

Defendant APS failed to make a reasonable inspection, or ignored other indications, that would have revealed the dangerous conditions it created that lead to this incident of abuse, racial discrimination, and violation of the New Mexico Human Rights Act, the document says.

Johnson experienced harm to her reputation, emotional distress and other damages, according to the lawsuit.

Preston Sanchez, Indigenous Justice attorney at the ACLU of New Mexico, said the lawsuit aims to ensure schools are safe spaces for students.

Where (students) feel respected and empowered by the teachers that are instructing them, he said.

Sanchez said the lawsuit could only be filed after going through an administrative process, which occurred earlier.

The filing seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

The ACLU filed the lawsuit Wednesday morning in 2nd Judicial District Court.
Stocks in the news: Reliance Communications, Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, Tata Consultancy Services, MMTC, NMDC, BHEL among others are the top stocks to watch out for Thursday's trading session

MMTC, NMDC, BHEL: Shares of tthe PSU listed companies, namely Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation Ltd (MMTC), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and Bharat Heavy Electrals Ltd (BHEL) will be in focus today after the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved in-principle strategic disinvestment of equity shareholding in these PSU, including Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd and MECON.

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea: Shares of telecom majors like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are likely to be in focus after they mentioned their review petitions against the apex court's earlier verdict on adjusted gross revenue (AGR), and sought an urgent hearing on Wednesday. The matter was brought before the SC bench led by Justice Arun Mishra for urgent hearing.

Oil Stocks: Shares of crude oil-linked companies such as paints, tyres, oil marketing companies (OMCs) and aviation firms will be focus amid the continuous rise in oil prices on back of ongoing tensions between US and Iran.

Reliance Communications: Company announced that the Meeting Of Committee of Creditors that was scheduled on Wednesday has been postponed & shall be held on Thursday, January 9.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) : The IT major announced that Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has successfully moved its core policy administration system for its travel lines of businesses onto TCS BaNCSTM Cloud for Insurance.

CSB Bank: The lender has appointed BK Divakara as Cheif Financial Officer (CFO) for the company.

Birlasoft: Company announced that CARE Ratings Limited has rated the long term bank facilities as CARE AA- and rated the outlook stable for an amount of Rs 450 crore.

Vedanta: The company after its board meeting said it would issue 20,000 non convertible debentures (NCDs) worth up to Rs 2,000 crore with a maturity of 10 years.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday paved the way for the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, which looks at irregularities in imports and exports (aimed at evading tax, or benefiting from incentives), to restart its investigation against the Adani group in a case concerning alleged overvaluation of coal imports from Indonesia.

The apex court stayed the October 17, 2019 judgment of the Bombay high court which granted relief to Adani by quashing the letters rogatory (LRs) sent to various countries, including Singapore seeking details of the groups coal imports from Indonesia. DRI claims much of the coal was imported through Adanis Singapore subsidiary.

A spokesperson for Adani did not respond to queries.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for DRI asked that the agency be allowed to continue its investigation.

A letter rogatory which is issued by a magistrate under Section 166-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), is a request to a judicial or any other authority in a foreign jurisdiction to gather evidence by examining and recording the statement of any person acquainted with the facts of the concerned case or requiring such person to produce any document or any other object relevant to the case.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde and comprising justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant after hearing the appeal filed by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) stayed the high court verdict and sought a reply from Adani Enterprises Limited, the flagship of the Adani group.

The order passed by the SC effectively gives a green signal to DRI, the apex intelligence and investigative agency for matters relating to violation of

Customs Act, to gather information from foreign countries with the help of authorities in those jurisdictions.

DRI had earlier petitioned the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, 8th Court Mumbai with a request to issue letters rogatory to authorities in Singapore, UAE, Hong Kong, and British Virgin Islands in order to secure necessary information.

The magistrate acceded to the request and issued four letters rogatory under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty on different dates. The letter of rogatory to Singapore which was issued on August 2, 2016 and forwarded to the competent authority in Singapore was challenged by the Adani group before the Bombay high court.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have made the decision to step back as senior members of the Royal Family.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are hoping to be financially independent but, one royal insider believes this will be more difficult than the couple might think.

Of every aspect of this, how theyll be financially independent concerns me the most, Duncan Larcombe, The Suns former royal editor, tells Yahoo UK.

What will Harry and Meghan's announcement mean for the taxpayer? [Photo: Getty]

From Harrys point of view, if this move is the result of them trying to walk away from the scrutiny and perhaps the criticism that they faced in the past few years, setting up their own brand and trying to make their own money is fraught with danger.

As soon as its perceived that theyre effectively cashing in on the royal status when it suits them but not carrying out any royal duties in return, then the proverbial ton of bricks will land on them and they will not escape scrutiny, they will be subjected to scrutiny at a level that they havent even come close to yet.

READ MORE: Meghan's father Thomas Markle 'disappointed' over couple's decision to 'step back' from Royal Family

There are still lots of questions to answer, not least what the couples new life will mean for the taxpayer.

Harry and Meghans new official website Sussexroyal.com explains that the couples plans mean they will no longer receive funding through the Sovereign Grant from the taxpayer.

In 2020, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have made the choice to transition into a new working model, the website reads.

As they step back as senior members of the Royal Family and no longer receive funding through the Sovereign Grant, they will become members of the Royal Family with financial independence which is something they look forward to.

The website explains the couple will no longer receive funding through the Sovereign Grant from the taxpayer for their official office expenses, which it said to account for 5% of their office costs.

Story continues

The Prince of Wales currently pays for the remaining cost of their public duties and some of their private costs from his Duchy of Cornwall income.

Public funding has never been used, nor would it ever be used for private expenditure by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who also do not receive any tax privileges, the statement continues.

But, it is not clear how their work will be funded.

The Sovereign Grant is also used to pay for Harry and Meghans official royal travel and their website states they proudly carry out official overseas visits in support of the Queen, which suggests they will still continue to do so despite the change.

It still isn't entirely clear how Harry and Meghan will fund their new life [Photo: Getty]

The website also addresses whether the couple will be getting paid jobs, which it looks like they may do.

Sussexroyal.com says Harry and Meghan value the ability to earn a professional income, which in the current structure they are prohibited from doing.

For this reason they have made the choice to become members of the Royal Family with financial independence.

Their Royal Highnesses feel this new approach will enable them to continue to carry out their duties for Her Majesty The Queen, while having the future financial autonomy to work externally.

But, will the British taxpayer still contribute to the couples new life?

It seems there could still be some form of contribution in terms of ongoing security.

Even once the couple have relinquished themselves of their royal seniority, Harry and Meghan will likely be classified by the Home Office as internationally protected people, - a statement on their website explains.

The provision of armed security by The Metropolitan Police is mandated by the Home Office, a ministerial department of Her Majestys Government, responsible for security and law & order.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are classified as internationally protected people which mandates this level of security.

READ MORE: Royal finance expert explains how the royal fortune works

Taxpayers contributed 2.4 million to the refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage [Photo: Getty]

The Mirror estimates that the British taxpayer could be looking to fund a 600,000 per year security bill as the couple adjusts to life outside the monarchy.

Theres also the issue of where Prince Harry and Meghan will live.

Though they plan to split their time between the UK and North America, it is understood the couple wish keep Frogmore Cottage.

The Windsor home was gifted to them by the Queen and it is understood they do not wish to return such a generous present.

But, royal accounts show 2.4million of taxpayer money has been put into renovating five-bedroomed Frogmore Cottage, so how will the public feel about funding this, in light of the couples proposed move?

Some believe the money spent on the refurbishment should now be repaid.

You are either a member of the Royal Family or your are not. You cant be one foot in, one foot out, Norman Baker, a Liberal Democrat member of the Privy Council said in an interview with Express.co.uk.

If he is a member of the Royal Family, he has royal duties like most of them.

If he doesnt want that, it is fine. I understand that and good luck to him.

But what he cant do is becoming a private citizen, not doing royal duties and still have the state paying for him.

He should give the money back spent on Frogmore Cottage and pay himself for the jets between the UK and America.

And pay for his security, he adds.

Harry and Meghan challenged by privy counsellor Norman Baker, a former Home Office Minister, to repay 2.4m spent on Frogmore Cottage. Financial independence could prove expensive. pic.twitter.com/8lFRt1Yni2  Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire) January 9, 2020

Some experts believe the duo have the potential to make millions, particularly if they choose to follow in Barack and Michelle Obamas footsteps with public speaking opportunities, books, and TV deals.

It is thought that the pair could charge six-figure sums to speak at events and dinner parties.

There is also speculation they may bring out their own merchandise including T-shirts and magazines.
The change has come on quickly. According to FX, there were 24 series from so-called online services in 2013. That same year, there were 131 series from the broadcast networks and 161 basic cable shows. Five years later, in 2018, the streaming platforms accounted for 160 series, more than the number of shows made by the networks (146) or basic cable (144).

For 2019, FX did not distinguish between streaming and cable  John Landgraf, the FX chairman, has argued that measure was antiquated  but online services are now the dominant players in television.

In 2015, Mr. Landgraf argued there was simply too much television and coined the term Peak TV. He predicted that an inevitable decline was likely to set in soon. Instead, the growth has seemed endless.

And it is not just the streaming services. Even the old guard made more shows last year.

HBO had so much programming in 2019 that, for the first time, first-episode runs of some of its series spilled into Monday, rather than the channels traditional Sunday night slot that was once home to The Sopranos and Sex and the City. Last year, the network said it planned to air 150 hours of original scripted content, a 50 percent increase from 2018. In May, it will fully commit to streaming, with the unveiling of a new platform, HBO Max.

There is now so much TV that even the people who watch it for a living have had a hard time keeping up. The idea that you could cover it all is gone, said Willa Paskin, a television critic for Slate.

Matt Roush, a senior critic for TV Guide Magazine, pointed out a seemingly innocuous upcoming day on the calendar: February 6, a Thursday, there are six major series premiering, he said. A network sitcom, a network drama with Edie Falco, a big USA Network project, plus another season of The Sinner with Matt Bomer in it. Theres a CW show. And this Interrogation thing on CBS All Access.

Netflix and Apple have major releases planned for Feb. 7  Locke & Key for Netflix; Mythic Quest, a live-action comedy for Apple.
Read what is in the news today:

Politics

-- Vietnams Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc welcomed Chairwoman of the Lao National Assembly Pany Yathotou during a reception in Hanoi on Wednesday.

-- The Standing Board of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee in the 2010-2015 tenure and the top Party unit at the municipal Peoples Committee in the 2011-2016 tenure have been found with serious violations during their terms that call for disciplinary measures, according to a conclusion made by the Central Inspection Committee during its 42nd session held in Hanoi from January 3 until Wednesday.

Society

-- A woman who suffered serious burns in a farm fire in the suburbs of Moscow, Russia on Tuesday has been identified as a Vietnamese citizen, according to the foreign ministrys spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang.

-- The General Department of Preventive Medicine under the Vietnamese Ministry of Health has ordered municipal and provincial health departments to strengthen remote monitoring of body temperature of all incoming visitors at Vietnamese border gates in the wake of an unknown pneumonia outbreak first reported in Wuhan City, China.

-- An internal network error of low-cost carrier Vietjet and Vietnams newest airline Bamboo Airways has been determined as the cause of the laggy check-in incident at Da Nang International Airports Terminal 1 in the central city of Da Nang on January 2, the airport authority has reported to the Airports Corporation of Vietnam.

-- One driver was killed and three people are in critical conditions after a pickup truck plunged more than 50 meters into an abyss on a section of National Highway No. 12 passing through Trong Hoa Commune in Minh Hoa District, located in the north-central province of Quang Binh, on Wednesday morning.

-- Many employees of the P&H Seafood Processing Company gathered at the firms facility in Long Xuyen City in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang on Wednesday to ask for unpaid wages and the promised 13th-month pay.

-- Over a dozen Vietnamese migrant workers at a water treatment plant in Fengyuan District, Taichung City in central Taiwan, have been fined a combined NT$1 million (US$33,261) for slaughtering and eating a dog, according to the English-language newspaper Taiwan News.

Business

-- Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Tien Trinh, deputy head at the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies, suggested at a seminar in the southern metropolis on Wednesday an ambitious idea to turn Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street in District 1 into a hub for digital screen and billboard advertisements like the Times Square in New York.

Sports

-- The Vietnam Olympic Committee on Wednesday said that it had received cash rewards for Vietnamese athletes, who had won medals at the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games held in the Philippines in November-December 2019, from Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup after several athletes complained to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that they have not been given the promised cash amounts.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
[January 09, 2020] KIOSK Information Systems Features Next Gen Self-Service Solutions for Retail at NRF 2020

KIOSK Information Systems (KIOSK), and parent company, Posiflex, are demonstrating a full array of retail self-service solutions at NRF 2020 - Retail's Big Show (Booth #5800). Brand new hardware platforms are paired with innovative software applications and technologies from the growing global partner ecosystem of the Posiflex Group (including Posiflex, KIOSK, and Portwell). To meet the increasing demand in quick service restaurant (QSR) ordering automation, KIOSK is featuring several models for self-service ordering. The newest platform provides ticketing, food, and beverage order automation, adding cash and coin payment capabilities into mainstream guest services. Kim Kenney, KIOSK's President, comments, "We are excited to provide a highly reliable and innovative platform that has cash payment automation options in addition to ordering capabilities for the food service vertical, which plays an integral role in the retail environment. Our team has a long history with cash, card, and NFC automation in retail bill payment, and we've seen first-hand the efficiency and profitability benefits for retailers who add cash payment options to universally serve their customer base." In addition, KIOSK is featring new modular card-based ordering models, ranging from compact countertops to dual-sided large-screen pedestals.



Two in-store bill payment models further demonstrate the popularity of kiosk technology for high-volume transaction automation. KIOSK is featuring its proprietary, licensable bill payment application, as well as a premier partner software solution serving major telecommunications and cable retailers, among many others. New interactive digital signage models ranging from countertop to slim freestanding form factors with facial detection technology integrated with AI will be demonstrated to illustrate the power of data-driven targeted ad content and retail customer analytics. Furthermore, a loyalty platform will be featured to show how retailers can leverage kiosk technology to cost-effectively implement customer retention programs as well as engage customers with personalized benefits.

Additional booth solutions include standardized and modular kiosks for scalable flexibility as well as best-in-class point of sale (POS) equipment from parent company Posiflex. Both companies will be demonstrating IoT remote monitoring capabilities, enabling real-time visibility of system, application, and component-level alerts. Kenney adds, "KIOSK's ability to offer active remote monitoring and professional managed services enables us to provide customers the best uptime and SLAs available in the industry. Our team is focused on the customer experience and prides itself on executing wholistic, turnkey solutions including hardware, software, field and managed services. We are delighted to showcase our best Group-level customer and partner solutions from the U.S., Europe, and Taiwan." To learn more, visit NRF booth 5800. About KIOSK Information Systems: As the market leader in self-service solutions, KIOSK provides proven expertise in design engineering, application development, integration, manufacturing, field support, and managed services for even the most sophisticated self-service platforms. A deep portfolio of standard and custom KIOSK designs are deployed among Top 100 Retailers and Fortune 500 clients in a wide array of self-service vertical markets. www.kiosk.com About Posiflex: Since 1984, Posiflex has designed and manufactured award-winning POS terminals and peripherals. Posiflex has since grown exponentially to provide not only full-service POS stations, but also versatile self-service kiosks, state-of-the-art mobile tablets, and scalable embedded PC solutions. Renowned worldwide in the retail and hospitality industries, Posiflex is a proven leader in POS hardware. And, with the acquisition of KIOSK Information Systems and Portwell, Posiflex has become a worldwide force in the kiosk and embedded PC industries. Over 30 patents and numerous awards have been won for product innovation, design and reliability. www.posiflexusa.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005872/en/

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Conservatives have long been concerned about the stranglehold Leftists have had on academia in North America. Recent news from academia should give them more reason than usual to be worried about what's happen to students trapped in these institutions.

The most recent outrage  and it is outrageous  came on Tuesday from the University of Calgary, in Canada. Professor Ted McCoy, the coordinator of the Law and Society Program in the university's sociology department, sent out a tweet clarifying rumors about his classroom polices: "I heard it rumoured students will fail my class if they cite Jordan Peterson and I'd like to clarify that this is absolutely correct," he tweeted.

Jordan Peterson, for those unfamiliar with his work, is a respected professor of psychology with a large body of work that has been cited thousands of times over the years. Normally, assuming the student cites a publication relevant to the student's research, Peterson would be a rational source.

But Jordan Peterson is more than just a scholar. He rose to prominence in two ways. First, he compiled a series of essays that urged people to be responsible for their own lives. These essays in turn led to a bestselling book and worldwide tours to discuss the issues in his book.

Second, he refused to comply with the Canadian government's Bill C-16, which adds gender expression and identity to the list of protected identities under the Canadian Human Rights Act, something that theoretically makes it a crime in Canada to "misgender" a person. Peterson rightly said the law is Orwellian in that it seeks to compel and control speech.

For his intellectual honesty, Peterson, a remarkably articulate and unflappable man, became a hero to conservatives and anathema to Leftists. For that last reason, at least one professor in Canada, namely Prof. McCoy, decided to further demonstrate just how Orwellian the Left is by not only banning mention of Peterson in his class, but promising to destroy the academic careers of those who resist that ban.

Prof. McCoy is not the only academic who went astray this week. In some ways, he can be excused because, as a sociologist, no one expects him to be anything other than a ravening Leftist. What was extremely disturbing, though, was the fact that a physicist also launched herself into the identity politics stratosphere.

University of New Hampshire professor Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (A.B., Harvard; M.S., U.C. Santa Cruz; Ph.D., University of Waterloo) isn't just a core faculty member of the Department of Physics. She also has something to do with women's studies, although it's not entirely clear what.

Perhaps that last affiliation is why, after blacks in New York and New Jersey committed a rash of violent and sometimes fatal attacks on Jews, she assured her Twitter followers that, just as people of color cannot be racist, only white people can be anti-Semitic (although they can infect black people):

University of New Hampshire physics professor Chanda Prescod-Weinstein took to Twitter on New Year's Eve to explain why anti-Semitism is exclusively a "white" problem, and why it is inappropriate to discuss anti-Semitic acts committed by black people. Prescod-Weinstein began her tweetstorm by explaining that it is "anti-Black" and "dangerous both to non-Jewish Black people and to Jews" to consider violent attacks against Jews by Black people "equivalent" to "white antisemitism." "Antisemitism in the United States, historically, is a white Christian problem, and if any Black people have developed antisemitic views it is under the influence of white gentiles," the professor clarified. The professor goes on to explain how "white Jews adopted whiteness as a social praxis and harmed Black people in the process," and that "Some Black people have problematically blamed Jewishness for it." "There is no systemic Black on Jewish violence," the professor clarified before insisting that "Putting more police and people with guns outside of synagogues may make white Jews feel safer but it will endanger Jews of color, especially Black Jews and Middle Eastern Jews."

When called upon to explain her tweets, Prescod-Weinstein made her Twitter account private and refused to respond to any questions.

To round out this Leftist trio, Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard economics professor (and former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund), took to the Guardian to insist that the only way to fight climate change is to transfer American money to third-world countries.

Indeed, he insisted that Americans are guilty of creating even more carbon emissions in China thanks to President Trump's trade policies putting pressure on the Chinese economy. The article is a swirl of economic and climate gobbledygook. It's stunning to think this kind of nonsense is now acceptable for professors from a once-reputable institution.

Rogoff's contentions are not economics; they are socialism. His argument is entirely in line with a U.N. IPCC official's admission, in 2010, that the whole purpose of pushing alleged anthropogenic climate change is to "redistribute de facto the world's wealth by climate policy."

Our children are not getting educated; they are getting indoctrinated, and the indoctrination carries with it a high stupidity factor.
Australian authorities have urgently briefed their Taiwanese counterparts on a suspected plot to bribe and coerce a self-confessed Chinese intelligence operative seeking asylum in Australia.

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald have also obtained text and video messages that shed new light on the plot, which appears aimed at influencing Taiwans national election.

Self-confessed Chinese intelligence operative Wang Liqiang in Sydney in November. Credit:Steven Siewert

The police briefing was deemed urgent and critical because the presidential election is on Saturday, according to multiple sources.

Investigators in Taipei have been told Australian Federal Police (AFP) are collecting evidence about alleged efforts to force self-confessed Chinese intelligence operative Wang Liqiang to read from a script falsely implicating the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in corruption.
Hundreds of Jawaharlala Nehru University students on Thursday marched to the human resource development ministry and were later stopped when they tried to go towards Rashtrapati Bhavan during when some of them were roughed up by police who used mild force, in escalating protests for the sacking of the university vice chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar over the violence in the campus.

IMAGE: Delhi police detain Jawaharlal Nehru University students who were protesting outside the Shastri Bhavan against January 5 violence on the university campus. Photograph: Ravi Choudhary/PTI Photo

As the Delhi police struggled to make any arrest four days after the brutal attack on students and teachers by masked goons, former HRD minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi threw his weight behind the demand for Kumar's removal.

Calling for Kumar's removal, Joshi took to twitter to say it is "shocking" that he is adamant on not implementing a government proposal to resolve the fee-hike crisis in the prestigious university.

The Centre for its part ruled out the removal of the vice chancellor even as the leaders of the protesting students including an injured JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh asserted they will not compromise on their demand despite assurances relating to their security.

Kumar said that the varsity has formed a five-member committee to probe the January 5 violence on the campus that left about 35 people injured, and recommend measures to ensure safety of students.

The panel will also probe lapses, if any, in security, he said.

IMAGE: Hundreds of JNU students marched to the HRD ministry. Photograph: Ravi Choudhary/PTI Photo

The march in which students of other universities also participated started from Mandi House in central Delhi and was first stopped near Shastri Bhavan that houses the ministry of HRD.

Carrying placards and banners, slogans of 'Halla Bol' and 'Inquilab Zindabad' rent the air.

Communist Party of India-Marxist leaders Sitaram Yechury, Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat and CPI leader D Raja also joined the march.

The police, however, allowed the representatives of JNU students and teachers association to meet the ministry officials.

After the meeting that lasted for more than an hour, Aishe Ghosh addressed the gathering and said she told the officials that the attack on students and teachers was a "traumatic incident" something that "they will remember till their last breath".

She asserted they would not settle for anything less than sacking of the vice-chancellor.

IMAGE: Injured students being taken away by an ambulance. Photograph: Kamal Singh/PTI Photo

"The HRD is still thinking whether he should be removed or not. We appealed to the ministry to remove the vice-chancellor. It told us that they will hold a dialogue with us on Friday," Ghosh said.

The ministry too appeared unwilling to relent on the demand for removal of Kumar.

Higher Education secretary Amit Khare said the basic issue on which the problem arose needs to be addressed first.

"His removal is not the solution. Changing X,Y,Z is not as important as resolving the issues that have cropped up on the campus," Khare said.

The demand for Kumar's removal has been growing after the Sunday's mob violence on the campus. Kumar has been accused of not doing enough when the students were being attacked.

IMAGE: JNU students gather at the entrance gate of the university before the march. Photograph: PTI Photo

After the meeting, Ghosh abruptly announced they will proceed to the Rashtrapati Bhavan since the President is the visitor of the varsity.

Later, the protesting students tried to march towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan but were stopped triggering a 30-minute drama.

Some of the students were reported to be injured as police roughed them up.

The police also resorted to mild force to control the crowd who tried to block the traffic at Janpath. Using loud speakers, the police also appealed to them to maintain peace.

Some of the protesters were detained by the police.

Police said the gathering remained peaceful till the meeting of the delegation with ministry officials.

IMAGE: Police personnel deployed at the Vijay Chowk after JNU students attempted to march towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Photograph: Vijay Verma/PTI Photo

However, when the delegation came out after the meeting, one of the student leaders provoked the gathering to move towards Rashtrapati Bhavan, the police said.

Consequently they stopped normal traffic at Rajendra Prasad road and some of them tried to march towards the President Estate.

The police said the protesters were prevented from proceeding further and in the process 11 people were detained and subsequently released.

Attacking the Centre, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Delhi Police is very capable of maintaining law and order but is given instructions to "just stand and not take any action". He said it is not the Delhi Police's fault for not stopping the violence at the universities because they were following the orders they got.

Continuing its attack on the Centre over the JNU violence, the Congress alleged the violence in the varsity was "officially sponsored goondaism" and said home minister Amit Shah and HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal were responsible.

The Congress demanded that those behind the violence must be identified and arrested immediately.
[January 09, 2020] OCC Promotes Carla Dawson to Chief Human Resources Officer

OCC, the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization, today announced that Carla Dawson, previously First Vice President, Talent Management, has been promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. She reports to CEO John Davidson. Dawson previously was responsible for partnering with leaders across OCC to develop and implement comprehensive talent management and development strategies to support OCC's business strategy. This included performance management, employee engagement, training and organization development, and change management. "Carla is well deserving of this promotion. She brings strong leadership skills and an ability to work with her business partners to deliver highly effective human resources strategies as OCC continues on its transformation journey," said Davidson. "As a senior member of our leadership team, Carla will help us achieve a high level of colleague engagement and strengthen our ability to be a destination for the best talent." COO Scot Warren added, "I am pleased that Carla's outstanding work in executing on our talent management and development strategies has been recognized with her promotion. In her new role, she will be a key player in our ongoing work to foster a culture f increased collaboration, teamwork and accountability to benefit our colleagues and attract new talent."



Before joining OCC in 2017, Dawson served for nearly 20 years in a series of roles of increased responsibility at Driehaus Capital Management, LLC, including as the Managing Director, Human Resources, where she was responsible for developing and executing a human resources strategy in support of the firm's overall business plan and strategic direction. Her efforts were focused in the areas of talent management, employee relations, communications, organizational development, compensation and benefits, recruitment and regulatory compliance. Previously, Dawson worked for two executive search firms; Heidrick & Struggles, and Korn Ferry, as well as the financial services firm of Abaco De Bolsa. Dawson received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Industrial Relations from Universidad Anahuac in Mexico, and a Master of Science degree in Organizational Development from the Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University in Chicago. She also holds a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) from the HR Certification Institute.

About OCC OCC is the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization and the foundation for secure markets. Founded in 1973, OCC operates under the jurisdiction of both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC (News - Alert)) as a registered clearing agency and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a Derivatives Clearing Organization. Named 2019 Best Clearing House by Markets Media, OCC now provides central counterparty (CCP) clearing and settlement services to 19 exchanges and trading platforms for options, financial futures, security futures, and securities lending transactions. More information about OCC is available at www.theocc.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005590/en/

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You might assume that if a government agency knows a product is tied to deaths and injuries, it would warn you right away. But in fact, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal agency that oversees thousands of consumer goods, is typically bound by law to stay mum unless the manufacturer of the unsafe product agrees to when and how the news comes out. If the CPSC wants to alert the public and the manufacturer doesnt agree, the manufacturer can sue the agencyso the agency typically keeps quiet.

A new bill, introduced in Congress today by U.S. Representative Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.), seeks to change that.

The current law muzzling the CPSC, known as Section 6(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act, dates back to the 1980s. The idea was to give companies a chance to review and respond to product safety issues before making them public, which proponents say ensures that the concerns are accurate and fair and protect a companys reputation from undue damage. Critics, though, say the law creates significant time delays and puts consumers at risk, particularly when products are causing serious harm.

No other U.S. health and safety government agency must, as a general practice, seek a manufacturers permission before alerting the public of a specific products dangers.

Section 6(b) fundamentally protects manufacturers at the expense of consumer safety, says William Wallace, manager of home and safety policy at Consumer Reports.

It was largely due to Section 6(b) that the CPSC did not warn consumers about fatalities linked to the Fisher-Price Rock 'n Play Sleeper and other infant inclined sleeper products. At least 73 infants have died in the Rock 'n Play Sleeper and similar products made by other manufacturers since they were introduced. Had it not been for an accidental disclosure to Consumer Reports of CPSC data that included fatalities linked to individual manufacturers, the public might still not know the extent of the danger. And the sleepers, now recalled by Fisher-Price and others, might still be on the market.

Story continues

New Bill Would Bring More Transparency

Outrage from child safety advocates as well as parents over how the infant inclined sleeper fatalities were kept secret for so long has prompted significant pushback to Section 6(b).

Sara Thompson, whose son Alex died in a Rock 'n Play Sleeper in 2011, was shocked to learn that the CPSC knew about deaths in infant inclined sleepers but did not warn parents about the dangers for years. Its sad because people count on [the CPSC] to know if products are safe, she says.

Rep. Rushs bill, called the Safety Hazard and Recall Efficiency (SHARE) Information Act, would rewrite Section 6(b), allowing the CPSC to publicly share critical information about unsafe products without risking a lawsuit by the products manufacturer. The legislation would also increase the fines on companies that violate product safety laws, including laws requiring companies to report possible safety hazards to the CPSC.

Section 6(b) undermines an essential function of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, prohibiting them from alerting consumers to hazardous products in a timely manner, said Rush in a statement. This has allowed companies to continue to line their pockets while consumers unknowingly purchase harmful products, completely oblivious to the potentially deadly consequences. The SHARE Information Act would reverse this remarkable injustice, protecting millions of Americans in the process.

The bill is backed by CR and other consumer groups, including the Consumer Federation of America, Kids In Danger, Public Citizen, and U.S. PIRG.

It also has support in the Senate from Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who told CR previously: For too long, Section 6(b) has acted like a gag orderdepriving the CPSC from carrying out its critical mission.

A Broken Safety System

The CPSC currently has few tools to warn consumers quickly about potentially unsafe products. The CPSC rarely releases specific information about a manufacturer or a product without the companys permission, largely out of fear the company will sue, says CRs Wallace.

When the CPSC does release information, Section 6(b) also gives companies the ability to limit the information the agency shares and to negotiate the language used, so consumers may still not get the full story. Thats what happened when the CPSC and Fisher-Price issued a joint alert on April 5, 2019, about the Rock 'n Play Sleeper. It cited 10 deaths linked to the product even though the agency and Fisher-Price knew of many more than that. It was only after CR published an investigation on April 8, reporting on 32 infant deaths known at that time, that the company publicly acknowledged the higher death count and recalled the product on April 12.

In the last year, weve seen the clear consequences of keeping information about injuries and deaths confidential as the death toll from inclined sleepers like the Rock 'n Play continued to climb, says Adam Garber of U.S. PIRG. Rep. Rushs effort to make critical health and safety information transparent will help the CPSC meet its mission of protecting consumers, saving lives, he says.

Parents Call for Action

Parents have also been active in opposition to Section 6(b). Crystal Ellis of Snohomish, Wash., whose 2-year-old son Camden died after an Ikea dresser tipped over onto him in 2014, spoke at a CPSC hearing in May 2019 about how the law kept her from learning about the tip-over risks of the Malm dresser in her sons room, even though the CPSC and Ikea knew the dresser had been linked to deaths.

The restriction of information prevented my family from even having a chance to know that our dresser was unsafe, says Ellis. And it allowed Ikea to delay the recall [of the dresser] with an ineffective education campaign.

Janet McGee of Apple Valley, Minn., was also unaware of the furniture tip-over risk until it was too late. It was only after a Malm dresser fell onto her 22-month-old son Ted in 2016, killing him, that she learned of other deaths connected to the product.

And that was years before McGee found out about deaths linked to the Rock n Play Sleeper, a product she used when Ted and his younger brother Mason were babies.

Teds dresser was recalled because it killed him, and now the Rock n Play Sleeper was recalled because it killed dozens of children, says McGee. It makes you feel so vulnerable. What is safe to use?

McGee feels that with Section 6(b) still in place, her baby Lauren, who was born this past June, remains at risk. As a parent you try your best. But you dont know what you dont know, she says.

Rep. Rush agrees that parents should not be kept in the dark. It is past time that consumers have access to the knowledge they need to make well-informed decisions as to products that affect their health and safety.





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  2020, Consumer Reports, Inc.
A housebound 48-stone man had to be winched from his fifth-floor flat and taken to hospital in a flatbed truck - for the second time in less than two years.

John Grove, 51, was hoisted out of his flat in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, at around 11.20am on Tuesday.

More than 30 emergency service workers attended the six-hour extraction during which specialist rescue crews were forced to remove three windows from Mr Grove's home.

John Grove, 51, (pictured alongside his wife Carrie-Ann Grove) was hoisted out of his flat in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, at around 11.20am on Tuesday

He was winched out of the property and lowered 50 feet to the ground using a hydraulic platform.

Mr Grove was then transported to Russells Hall hospital, Dudley, in a 'general purpose lorry' operated by West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service.

A similar rescue was carried out at the social housing block in June 2018 with each operation thought to be costing the taxpayer at least 10,000.

Mr Grove, who is unemployed, was suffering breathing difficulties at the time that the emergency services were called and is still recovering at the hospital.

More than 30 emergency service workers attended the six-hour extraction during which specialist rescue crews had to remove three windows from Mr Grove's home

Speaking about the operation, his wife, Carrie-Ann Grove, said: 'I dread to think how much it cost to get him out given the number of people that were here.

'We wanted to move two years ago, when John had sepsis and had to lifted out.

'They couldn't find us a suitable property so we had no choice but to come back.

'We would obviously move if they found us somewhere.

'We need a bungalow with wide doors, not to be living on the fifth floor of a tower block.

'John's been housebound for over a year now. He's been a prisoner is his own home because he can't get out.'

Mrs Grove, who wed her husband in a Pagan ceremony six years ago, told how her husband suffers from lymphoedema, which causes excessive swelling.

Carrie-Ann Grove, who wed her husband (pictured together) in a Pagan ceremony six years ago, told how Mr Grove suffers from lymphoedema, which causes excessive swelling

The 50-year-old added: 'He's not necessarily overweight, it's just fluid.

'He weighs 48 stone now.

'He lost 14 stone of this fluid last time he was in hospital.

'Because he's had no aftercare, the lymphoedema has come back and his weight has gone up.

'They are definitely going to find us somewhere else now. He won't be coming back to this flat. It's just a shame it has taken so long.'

Wolverhampton Homes, which runs social housing on behalf of the council, confirmed it was looking to re-home Mr Grove to a more suitable accommodation.

It said the couple had previously turned down a modified bungalow.

A similar rescue had to be carried out at the social housing block in June 2018 with each operation thought to be costing the taxpayer at least 10,000

One of Mr Grove's neighbours from the 11-storey city centre block of flats said that he should never have been allowed to return to the flat after his admission to hospital in 2018.

He added: 'Why would you have a guy that weighs so much living on the fifth floor?

'They can't get him through the doors, even though they are really wide here. They have to take the windows out.

'Even the lift can't take his weight. He can't leave the building.'

A spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: 'We were called to a property in Wolverhampton to a medical incident.

'We sent the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART), one ambulance and three paramedic officers to the scene.'

Wolverhampton Homes said it was 'not possible at this stage' to calculate the costs of the incident.

A spokesman said: 'Following a similar situation in 2018, we worked closely with the family and other support agencies to find them a more suitable home that met their individual needs.

'We offered them a bungalow shortly after the incident in 2018. However, the family chose to remain in the property at Russell Court.

'More recently, the family agreed that a move would be in their best interests and they have been working with us to identify a property that meets their needs.

'We worked closely with emergency services to ensure the tenant was evacuated from the property safely on Tuesday. It's not possible at this stage to comment on the costs incurred as a result of the operation.'
Indigenous persons are people who descend from populations that inhabited a geographical location to which a country belongs at the time of colonization, conquest, or establishment of state borders and who retain some or all their cultural, political, social, and economic institutions irrespective of their legal status. Today an increasing number of people self identify as indigenous. The groups are vastly diverse, and any given country can have a large number of indigenous communities speaking different languages, and with differing beliefs and world views. Indigenous groups around the world have often had to struggle to have their rights recognized. In the Americas, indigenous communities face challenges such as government efforts to homogenize national identities around a common language and culture, among others. According to the Indigenous World 2019 report compiled by the International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs, Latin American nations have the highest proportion of Indigenous communities. Some of the countries in the top ten include Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Chile.

Countries In The Americas By Indigenous Population

Bolivia

According to the 2017 projections from the National Statistics Institute, the indigenous population is 5.5 million making up 48% of Bolivias population. In 2012 the proportion of the population aged 15 and above identifying as of indigenous origin was just 41%, meaning that a growing number of people are self-identifying as indigenous. There are 36 indigenous groups recognized in the country. The Quechua and Aymara speakers represent 49.5% and 40.6% of the indigenous population, respectively. Both groups live mainly in the Andean area, where people self-identify into 16 distinct groupings. In the lowlands, the Chiquitano, Gurani, and Moxeno are divided into the remaining 20 recognized indigenous groups. The groups currently occupy 21% of the nations total area.

Guatemala

Indigenous communities in Guatemala are inadequately documented. In 2018 the Population and Housing census was significantly inhibited by an unprecedented political and institutional crisis. Experts currently believe that indigenous communities are about 5.5 million, making up 45% of the countrys population. The figure mirrors figures obtained from a census conducted in 2002. The main ethnic groups are the Akateco, Achi, Awakateco, Chorti, Chalchiteco, Chuj, Itza, Ixil, Jacalteco, Kiche, Kaqchikel, Mam, Mopan, Poqomchi, Poonam, Qanjobal, Qechi, Sipakapense, Sakapulteco, Tektiteko, Uspanteko, Tzutujil, Garifuna, and Minka. The political and social-economic welfare of most of the groups has not improved in recent years. The groups receive unequal public investment compared to the rest of the countrys population. The groups also suffer discrimination, exclusion, and racism.

Mexico

Mexico is identified as a pluricultural nation. The country is home to the largest population of indigenous people in the Americas and the largest number of native languages spoken; 68 languages and about 364 dialects. About 21.5% (27.5 million) of Mexicos population self identify as indigenous people. About 6.5% of the population uses an indigenous language, while 10.6% of the national population lives in an indigenous household. Poverty remains a significant challenge facing indigenous communities. About 71.9% of the indigenous people live in poverty, while 28% of them live in 28% extreme poverty. The indigenous groups have higher fertility rates (3.1) compared to the national average, which of (2.3). The communities, however, suffer from maternal and infant mortality rates that are three times higher than the national average in several states.

Peru

Peru has an indigenous population of about 4 million persons representing 12.5% of the national population. The largest groups are the Quechua (83.11%), Aymara (10.92%), and the Asaninka (1.67%). Other Amazonian groups make up 4.31% of the indigenous population. The national database currently recognizes 55 indigenous groups that speak 47 indigenous languages. Some of the challenges faced by the communities include the superposition of mining and mineral rights over communal land. About 21% of the nations territory is under mining concessions, which are superimposed on 47.8% of lands that are occupied by peasant communities. About 75% of the Peruvian Amazon is also taken up by oil and gas concessions. The superimposition of rights on territory occupied indigenous people, and a lack of prior consultation has exacerbated the socio-environmental and territorial conflicts in the country.

Chile

Nine indigenous groups are recognized by statute in Chile. The groups are comprised of 1,585,680 people who represent 9% of the nations population. A Census conducted 2017, however, put the figure of indigenous people at 2,158,792, representing 12.8% of the population. The main groups in the country are the Mapuche (1,754,147), Aymara (156,754), Diaguita (88,474), Atacameno (31,800), Quechua (27,260), Colla (16,088), Kawesar (5,298), Rapanui (5,065), and Yamana (131). A majority of the indigenous groups live in urban areas, including the Metropolitan region (30.1%), Los Lagos (13.1%), and Araucania (19.6%), with only 24.7% of them living in rural zones. Indigenous people and their rights are not adequately recognized under the 1980 constitution. A push to create a new constitution in 2016 included efforts for a consultation, but the process was suspended due to a lack of political will by the National Congress and the executive branch. Groups such as Chonos and Changos remain unrecognized.

Ecuador

Indigenous people in Ecuador are estimated to be 1.1 million, which represents 6.4% of the nations population. Fourteen indigenous groupings in the country are under a series of national, regional, and local organizations. The Ecuadorian Amazon is home to 24.1% of the indigenous population. The Andean Kichwa, one of the indigenous groups, mainly lives in six provinces of the Central Northern Sierra. The Shuar community, which has 100,000 individuals, is found in three provinces in Central Southern Amazon. Smaller groups that live in the Amazon include Ai Cofan, Shiwiar, Siekopai, Siona, and the Sapara. The Epera and the Manta occupy the coastal region.

Canada

As of 2016, the indigenous people in Canada were 1,673,785, accounting for 4.9% of the countrys population. They are collectively known as Aboriginal people. The country has three indigenous groups; Inuit, Indians, and Metis, who are recognized in the Constitutional Act of 1982. The First Nations, who are referred to as Indians in the constitution, consists of about 977,230 people who represent over 600 distinct First Nations that speak more than 60 languages. The Metis number about 587,545 people found mainly in urban centers. The Canadian constitution recognizes these aboriginal groups and their rights.

Colombia

According to official data, 1,500,000 people are identified as indigenous in the country, which represents 3.43% of the nations total population. About 78.6% of indigenous groups live in rural areas, while 21.4% live in urban zones. The indigenous population has grown considerably over the years. In 1993, indigenous groups were only about 1.6% of the national population. The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia brings together 80% of the nations indigenous communities.

Argentina

According to the 2010 national census, Argentina had a total of 955,032 people who are identified as descendants or belonging to indigenous groups, representing 2.2% of the national population. The country has 35 different officially-recognized indigenous groups.

United States

There are about 4.3 million indigenous people in the United States, representing 1.3% of the national population. About 23% of the indigenous people live in Alaskan Native villages or American Indian areas. Approximately 573 Native American entities are recognized as Alaskan Native or American Indian tribes. Most of the tribes also have recognized national home-lands. The state of California has the largest population of Native Americans. The poverty rate among the indigenous population is estimated to be around 27%.

Inclusion Of Indigenous People In The Americas

Despite progress made in promoting the involvement of indigenous people in the political sphere and policymaking, they have been left out of the regions social-economic strides that have been made in recent years. Such people remain the least educated and suffer disproportionately from the effects of climate change and natural catastrophes. According to a UNDP report on six countries with the highest proportion of Indigenous people, political participation, especially among women belonging to indigenous groups, remains low. Indigenous women seeking political participation face three forms of discrimination and challenges, and they include being female, poor, and indigenous, making it difficult for them to break the political glass ceiling.
The holiday season is here and suitcases are being packed everywhere. For those looking to escape the bitter cold and enjoy the calm breeze at the beach but some foreign locale, then Thailand is the place to be. With its rustic culture and ancient Buddhist temples, Thailand gives off the perfect tropical aura.

In recent years, it has also become a hot tourist spot being fairly well connected with the world. For those planning for a trip to Thailand, here is how they can reach this tropical beauty by air, rail and road.

Travel to Thailand by air

India is well-connected to Thailand by air. There are flights from all the major cities of the country to Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.

Bangkok has two international airports, Don Mueang International Airport and Suvarnabhumi Airport. All the direct flights from Kolkata, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Varanasi, Mumbai and Chennai arrive at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport. This airport is located 30 kilometres east of Bangkok. The fastest flight to Bangkok is from Kolkata with a travel-time of less than three hours.

Flight fare from New Delhi to Thailand is also extremely low during the offseason, that is summer and monsoon. One can book a flight from Delhi to Bangkok or Phuket as both are well connected to all parts of the country.

From Delhi to Thailand, the travel time is four hours by non-stop flight and eight hours by connecting flights. The airlines one can avail are SpiceJet, AirAsia, IndiGo, Thai Airways, GoAir, SriLankan Airlines, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Air India, Singapore Airlines, Vistara, China Eastern Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways and HAHN AIR SYSTEMS and Emirates Airline.

Also Read: Travel To Rome: Here Are The 3 Best Things To Do While In The City

Travel to Thailand by train

Unfortunately, there are no railway routes from India to anywhere in Thailand. The only way is to go on a trip to Thailand by train is to board the international train from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Padang Besar station at the Thailand-Malaysia border. However, one can commute within Thailand by the rail route which is very well maintained and is said to be a pleasant experience altogether.

Also Read: Budget Trip To Rishikesh: Travel To The Holy City In Under Rs. 7000

Travel to Thailand by road

If one plans to travel to Thailand by the road, then the first and foremost thing they should know is that the journey will be very tiresome, not to mention time-consuming.

A road-trip to Thailand also needs a higher budget than travelling by air. From Delhi to Thailand, the distance is about 4000km. The route for the road-trip to Thailand that one must take is Delhi-Myanmar-Thailand. Many official documents will be required along the way and a Myanmar visa along with a visa for Thailand.

If one is taking a trip to Thailand in their own vehicle, then it also requires security money for the vehicle which is 200% of the vehicles total value.

Also Read: Travel To These Snowy Destinations In India To Have Amazing Winter Experience

Also Read: Travel To Turkey And Experience The Grandeur Istanbul And Popular Turkish Cuisine
Willie Walsh, the controversial airline boss who faced down striking cabin crew at British Airways, is retiring from IAG  the consortium he created from BA and Iberia.

The Irish businessman will stand down from the role of chief executive and give up his seat on the IAG board on 26 March 2020, and will officially retire on 30 June 2020.

His arch-rival, Michael O'Leary of Ryanair, led the glowing tributes: Willie Walsh will be a huge loss to IAG and to the airline industry.

"His drive and vision has transformed both IAG and European airlines for the benefit of passengers everywhere. He has repeatedly proven that 'youll never beat the Irish'. We wish him continued success for the future."

There is some surprise that Alex Cruz, chief executive and chairman of British Airways, will not replace him. Mr Cruz was widely seen as Mr Walshs protege.

Rob Burgess, editor of the frequent flyer website headforpoints.com, said: British Airways may not be popular with the public but it is, financially, remarkably successful.

"With BA remaining the dominant part of IAG, perhaps there was a reticence to disrupt Alex Cruzs ongoing transformation of the business.

Instead, the top job at IAG boss will go to Luis Gallego, who has been Iberias chief executive since 2017. He said: It is a huge honour to lead this great company. It is an exciting time at IAG and I am confident that we can build on the strong foundations created by Willie."

Mr Walsh said: Luis has been a core member of the team and has shown true leadership over the years and I have no doubt he will be a great CEO of IAG."

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Antonio Vazquez, IAG chairman, said: Willie has led the merger and successful integration of British Airways and Iberia to form IAG.

Under Willies leadership IAG has become one of the leading global airline groups.

I am deeply respectful of what he has achieved as CEO of this Group, of his sense of fairness, his transparency and his capacity to integrate people regardless of nationalities or backgrounds.

Mr Walsh, 58, began his career in aviation in 1979 as a 17-year-old cadet pilot at Aer Lingus.

In 2001, he became chief executive at the Irish airline  as it faced intense competition from its rival at Dublin airport, Ryanair.

He is credited with turning Aer Lingus around financially, though there was disquiet at the scale of the job cuts he imposed.

British Airways took him on as chief executive in 2005. He set about cutting costs, by slimming down management and increasing productivity.

The high point of his career should have been the opening of Heathrow Terminal 5 on 27 March 2008, intended as BAs dedicated hub. But within hours the airlines operations collapsed, leading to the cancellation of hundreds of flights.

As the global financial crash of 2008-9 hit the airline industry, Mr Walsh clashed with the cabin-crew union, Unite, over pay and job cuts. A long and bitter dispute ensued, which included the union calling a 12-day strike over Christmas 2009  later overturned by the High Court over ballot irregularities.

After a series of shorter strikes, the two sides agreed to the creation of a new, lower-cost group of cabin crew known as Mixed Fleet.

Union message: a poster from the British Airways cabin crew strike of 2009-10 (Simon Calder)

In 2010 Mr Walsh led the airline industrys response to the Icelandic volcanic ash closure of airspace  flying an empty Boeing 747 to support his argument that the passenger flight ban was an overreaction.

He became the chief executive of IAG in 2011 when British Airways merged with Iberia to form the new company.

In 2015, IAG acquired Aer Lingus.

Since the expansion of Heathrow was given the go-ahead, Mr Walsh has been a vocal opponent of the costs proposed by the airport.
Abu Dhabi's Masdar has signed an agreement with Azerbaijan's Ministry of Energy to design, finance, build and operate a 200-megawatt utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) project in the country.

In the presence of Prime Minister Ali Asadov of Azerbaijan, the implementation agreement was signed at a ceremony held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, by Parviz Shahbazov, Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan, and Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar.

Under the agreement, Masdar will develop, build and operate the 200MW solar PV project, which will be located 75 km southwest of Baku. Financial close on the project is targeted for the end of 2020, while commercial operation is expected to be achieved in 2022.

Shahbazov said: "The diversification of electricity production via utilising renewable energy sources is one of the main priorities of focus by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. By signing this agreement, from now on, we are starting a new phase in the renewable energy sector of Azerbaijan. Our cooperation with Masdar, as one of our first foreign partners in the renewable energy sector, will make a contribution to achieve our goals regarding sustainable and clean energy, and facilitate to deliver our shared interests."

Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar, said: "Todays signing marks a major step forward for Azerbaijan and its ambitions to diversify its energy mix. As a global leader in the development of commercially viable renewable energy projects in more than 30 countries, Masdar is honoured to partner with the Republic of Azerbaijan to develop the landmark 200MW solar project. With more than a decade of experience, we are also proud to be supporting the government of Azerbaijan and its clean energy transition."

The solar project supports Azerbaijans target of producing 30 percent of its domestic power needs from renewable energy sources by 2030.

Masdars expanding renewable energy portfolio, which includes solar, wind and waste-to-energy, as well as Masdars sustainable real estate investments, battery electric storage and other energy-efficiency technologies will be on display at the Masdar stand at the World Future Energy Summit, WFES, from 13th to 16 January 2020. WFES is the anchor event of the Masdar-hosted Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, one of the worlds largest sustainability gatherings. -TradeArabia News Service
Multitalented movie man Buck Henry has died at age 89.

The longtime actor/writer/director died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, Deadline reported.

Henry was nominated for two Academy Awards in his lengthy career. The first was for Best Adapted Screenplay for 1967's The Graduate and the second was for Best Director for 1978's Heaven Can Wait," which he co-directed with Warren Beatty.

Henry co-created the original Get Smart series, which ran on TV from 1965 to 1970, alongside Mel Brooks. Henry was also part of the initial run of Saturday Night Live," hosting the show 10 times between 1976 and 1980. Henry frequently appeared with John Belushi in the Samurai sketches.

The Graduate was one of several films that Henry wrote and played a small role in. That list also includes Catch-22? and Whats Up, Doc? Later in his career, he made guest appearances on 30 Rock and Law and Order: SVU," among other shows.

Actor Buck Henry arrives to the private screening of the "Children of Men" at the Museum of Modern Art, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2006 in New York. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh)AP

In an Archive of American Television interview, Henry said he, director Mike Nichols and star Dustin Hoffman were kindred spirits on The Graduate," a commercial and critical smash in 1967.

All of us, Henry said, "identified, with the sense of alienation of a young man who doesnt really know what hes going to be doing in five years and doesnt know what he wants to do in five years, and doesnt really want to sleep with his parents friends, but still, as long as theyre there ...

In all, Henry  born Buck Henry Zimmerman in New York in 1930  appeared in more than 40 films.

Writer/producer Larry Karaszewski, who wrote the new Eddie Murphy movie Dolemite is My Name, tweeted, R.I.P. Buck Henry - our most fearless screenwriter. Buck was also a big personality & a performer... he gave screenwriting a face. Growing up I could turn on Saturday Night LIve (which Buck hosted 10 times) and point to the funniest, smartest guy and say - thats a screenwriter.

Actress Rosanna Arquette also saluted Henry on Twitter, writing, Rest In Peace dear BUCK Henry you always made me laugh .love love

By Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News (TNS)
[January 09, 2020] SAIC Wins $727 Million Application Modernization Contract for the Department of Defense

The U.S. Air Force has awarded the Common Computing Environment (Cloud One) contract to Science Applications International Corp. (NYSE: SAIC (News - Alert)). SAIC will migrate approximately 800 Air Force and U.S. Army mission applications into the cloud. "The Air Force and Army need speed, scale, and security in migrating their mission apps to the cloud," said Michael LaRouche, executive vice president and general manager of SAIC's National Security Customer Group. "We leveraged the best of our own proprietary solutions and partners' technologies to develop a smart migration approach to address the military's critical needs. We have invested heavily in our IT modernization capabilities, and the opportunity to assist the DOD reinforces the value we deliver to our customers." The contract consists of firm fixed price, labor hour, and cost reimbursement elements with a nine-month period of performance and four one-year options. Though awarded by the Air Force, the contract will also serve Army applications, as part of the Army's cloud strategic framework. SAIC's solution leverages proven success and capabilities in cloud, IT modernization, software, cyber, and data analytics. "We help our clients to realize the full potential of the cloud for their applications," said Josh Jackson, executive vice president and general manager of SAIC's Solutions & Technology Group. "We proposed a forward-leaning and comprehensive model for what they want to achieve, remaining focused on the mission while accelerating and simplifying adoption of DOD's cloud computing options and the associated benefits. Our ustomer-vetted approach provides a fast, affordable, and highly secure migration strategy that protects the current state while accelerating the use of new and emerging technologies."



About SAIC SAIC is a premier technology integrator solving our nation's most complex modernization and readiness challenges. Our robust portfolio of offerings across the defense, space, civilian, and intelligence markets includes high-end solutions in engineering, IT, and mission solutions. Using our expertise and understanding of existing and emerging technologies, we integrate the best components from our own portfolio and our partner ecosystem to deliver innovative, effective, and efficient solutions.

We are 23,000 strong; driven by mission, united by purpose, and inspired by opportunities. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SAIC has pro forma annual revenues of approximately $6.5 billion. For more information, visit saic.com. For ongoing news, please visit our newsroom. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this release contain or are based on "forward-looking" information within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "guidance," and similar words or phrases. Forward-looking statements in this release may include, among others, estimates of future revenues, operating income, earnings, earnings per share, charges, total contract value, backlog, outstanding shares and cash flows, as well as statements about future dividends, share repurchases and other capital deployment plans. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risk, uncertainties and assumptions, and actual results may differ materially from the guidance and other forward-looking statements made in this release as a result of various factors. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause or contribute to these material differences include those discussed in the "Risk Factors," "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Legal Proceedings" sections of our Annual Report on Form 10-K, as updated in any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings with the SEC (News - Alert), which may be viewed or obtained through the Investor Relations section of our website at saic.com or on the SEC's website at sec.gov. Due to such risks, uncertainties and assumptions you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. SAIC expressly disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statement provided in this release to reflect subsequent events, actual results or changes in SAIC's expectations. SAIC also disclaims any duty to comment upon or correct information that may be contained in reports published by investment analysts or others. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005417/en/

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An alleged sympathiser of the terror outfit Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), wanted by the Tamil Nadu and Delhi police, was arrested by the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Gujarat on Thursday, an official statement said here.

Jaafar Ali, resident of Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, was arrested from Gorva area of Vadodara city.

He was allegedly planning to start an ISIS module in Gujarat, the ATS said in a release here.

"ATS received an input from a sister agency that six men from Tamil Nadu are involved in a sensitive murder case and have fled from their homes. They have gone to other states on a secret mission and were heard talking about doing 'Jihad'," the release said.

"The input stated that these wanted men are ISIS sympathisers and highly radicalised. ATS was also asked to do the needful as there was a possibility that these men can be involved in a terror act," it added.

Ali was nabbed with the help of technical surveillance and informers, it said.

He was planning to start a module of the ISIS in Gujarat, the ATS claimed.

He was also involved in a case being probed by the Special Cell of Delhi Police and will be handed over to them soon, the release added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Madhya Pradesh government on Thursday declared Deepika Padukone-starrer film "Chhapaak" as tax free in the state.

Chief Minister Kamal Nath took to Twitter to make the announcement, saying the movie gives a "positive message to the society about acid attack survivors."



"I declare Deepika Padukone-starrer 'Chhapaak', the film based on acid attack survivors and set for release on January 10, as tax free in Madhya Pradesh," Nath tweeted.

"The movie gives a positive message to society about the women who are acid attack survivors, by portraying their story of pain, confidence, struggle, hope and passion, and to bringing about a change in the society's thinking in such cases," he said in another tweet.

Padukone visited the JNU campus in Delhi on Tuesday to express solidarity with students who were attacked by a mob, but did not address the gathering.

After her JNU visit, many appreciated her "silent solidarity", but some others criticised her for "supporting Leftists", saying it was a promotional stunt ahead of her film's release.

"#Boycott Chhapaak" was also trending on Twitter, as was "#ISupportDeepika".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Shraddha Kapoor is in Jaipur doing a bit of action and some romance while filming the last parts of Baaghi 3. The actress was in Serbia with Tiger Shroff until the last week of the previous year, after which she had kickstarted promotions of her film, Street Dancer 3D.

The action flick has Shraddha running and jumping around the pink city. Tiger and Riteish (Deshmukh), who plays her brothers in the film, have already been shooting for the film directed by Ahmed Khan. A large unit has been camped there, and Shraddha joined them recently. She has been taking out time from the promotions of Street Dancer 3D, which is slated to release later this month, and will then be plunging into promotions after this schedule, says our source.

Shraddha has worked with Tiger in the first part of Baaghi and with Riteish in Ek Villain. She is reuniting with Sajid Nadiadwala, whom she has worked with on Baaghi and Chhichhore, with this film.

Incidentally, the makers wanted to shoot in Syria and Iraq because they wanted a terrain that suited the script. They then changed the locations later to Georgia for the first schedule and Serbia for the second schedule, after realising that it was not a feasible proposition.
Representational Image: Goat (Picryl)

The Osmanabad district administration is seeking a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for the region's goat breed, also known as the lifesavers of farmers in the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions, BusinessLine reported.

Farmer suicides in these regions of Maharashtra are particularly high as they face frequent droughts. Unfavourable weather conditions made cultivation unprofitable, forcing many to turn to goat rearing as their main occupation.

The hardy breed has helped families, especially women and landless farmers, tide through tough times as they are disease resistant, grow quickly, adapt with all types of rearing systems, possesses a good reproductive capacity and milk production, the report stated.

The district administration told the paper that GI tagging the breed would help brand it, expand the goats milk and meat markets  including export, and promote economic prosperity of farmers. It hopes to have the tag in the next couple of months.
[January 09, 2020] Pocketstop Announces 152 Percent Revenue Growth

DALLAS, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pocketstop, a communication software solutions company that helps businesses improve employee or customer communication strategies, announced today a 152 percent record in new business revenue growth for 2019.

The growth was fueled by the addition of several key clients across the United States representing a diversity of industries including manufacturing, shopping centers, financial services, healthcare and others. Key client wins included WinnResidential, Subaru of Indiana Automotive and Hexion Inc. Pocketstop also experienced record customer retention rates of 93 percent as compared to industry-wide averages of 80 percent. This has been a year of focus on key industries and weve seen the transformation of our business, said Daniel Wagstaff, Chief Executive Officer, Pocketstop. Our mission is our clients uccess, the same as when we started in 2006. We are well positioned for 2020 with the launch of our new product, which is the only integrated multi-channel marketing platform uniquely targeted to the shopping center industry, along with RedFlag, the top mass notification system addressing the issues of business continuity, crisis management, risk mitigation and keeping operations up and running.



The company has also received a number of awards for its products this year. For Straightxt, its text messaging marketing platform, it has received the Rising Star Award and Premium Usability Award from FinancesOnline. For RedFlag, it has received the Spring 2019 Rising Star from FeaturedCustomers, the Summer 2019 High Performer from G2, Fall 2019 High Performer from G2, and Winter 2020 High Performer from G2. About Pocketstop

Pocketstop is a communication software solutions company who empowers companies to create personalized, automated messages designed to provide rapid ROI backed by the industrys best support at a cost customers can afford. Our commitment to excellence propelled us to become the industrys pioneer in innovative and effective technologies with a portfolio of customer-focused products designed to drive audience behavior, improve efficiency, provide insight and actionable data for decision making and improve ROI to our customers by improving their existing internal or customer communication strategies. For more information, visit https://pocketstop.com .



For more information, contact Melanie Ofenloch at [email protected] or at 214 244 8124.

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BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust plc (LEI: UK9OG5Q0CYUDFGRX4151)



Change in Directorate



9 January 2020

BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust plc ("the Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms Laurie Meister as a non-executive Director of the Company with effect from 1 February 2020. Ms Meister will also serve as a member of the Company's Audit Committee, Nomination Committee, Management Engagement Committee and Remuneration Committee.

Ms Meister has 32 years of financial markets experience, both in New York and in London, with 28 years dedicated to having led and developed Latin American equity and capital markets businesses and other emerging markets. Her most recent position was as the Director of Latin American equity sales for European institutional clients for Deutsche bank from 2008 to 2018. Prior to this she worked for J.P. Morgan Chase as a Director with responsibility for rebuilding the Cemea (Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa) equity business and then become the Senior European Equity Director for their Latin American equity business. Her initial experiences in the Latin American equity arena included the European start up in the early 1990s of the Merrill Lynch Latin American research sales operation. She then moved as a Managing Director to Robert Flemings in 1995 where she co-led the start-up of their Latin American trading sales and research operations across the region.

Ms Meister was the senior broker advising the BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust plc Board when the Company was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1990 and she looks forward to celebrating its 30 year anniversary on the exchange this year.

She received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and her M.B.A. in finance from the New York University Stern School. She is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and French.

Ms Meister has not held any directorships of publicly quoted companies in the last five years.

Ms Meister does not have any interest in the ordinary shares of the Company at the present time.



There are no further details or disclosures required under Listing Rule 9.6.13R in respect of Ms Meister.



Sarah Beynsberger

For and on behalf of BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited, Company Secretary
Spain's Supreme Court on Thursday refused to recognise jailed Catalan separatist Oriol Junqueras as a European MP because of his October conviction over a failed 2017 independence bid. In a long-awaited ruling, the court said it would not authorise his temporary release from prison to collect his parliamentary credentials -- in effect rejecting a December ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The court said its ruling "implies the suspension of his status as a European parliamentarian". Junqueras won a seat in the European Parliament in May elections despite being in pre-trial detention in Spain on charges linked to his role in a banned Catalan referendum and a short-lived declaration of independence. But he was prevented from leaving prison in June to attend a Spanish swearing-in ceremony and from travelling to Brussels to take up his post, prompting him to file an appeal. Last month, the ECJ ruled that Spain should have let him out to receive his credentials after the May elections, saying that even jailed MEPs benefitted from parliamentary immunity -- a ruling hailed by Catalan separatists. But in its response to the ECJ, Spain's Supreme Court decided against allowing him out to collect his accreditation. It said that the travelling privileges recognised by the ECJ were "not a protective shield against the sentence" and rejected any grounds for the invalidation of the Catalan separatists' trial, which finished a day before Junqueras was declared an MEP-elect, nor of the resulting sentence. Speaking to AFP in Brussels, a European Parliament spokeswoman confirmed receiving the ruling and said it would be "read and evaluated" by the relevant authorities. - MEPs surprised - The ruling provoked an angry reaction from Junqueras' ERC party, which helped to get Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez through a tight investiture vote two days ago by abstaining. "Shame on the Spanish justice system, it is a scandal!", top party official Pere Aragones wrote on Twitter. "You cannot ignore the ECJ ruling." And former Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium after the failed independence bid and received his own MEP accreditation last month, denounced it as "another very serious mistake", saying Spain was displaying "flagrant disregard" for the ECJ. The ruling came two days after Junqueras was elected head of the European Free Alliance which with the Greens, comprises the fourth largest group in the European Parliament. Greens/EFA co-president Ska Keller said she was "surprised" by the decision. "The sentence against Oriol Junqueras was imposed after his election to the European Parliament. He should have enjoyed immunity," she said. "As an elected member of the European Parliament, Oriol Junqueras should be able to take his seat and represent those who voted for him." - Political complications - The party's 13 lawmakers agreed on January 2 to abstain during Tuesday's confidence vote in a move that allowed Sanchez to be narrowly confirmed as premier with a margin of just two votes. But holding only 155 of the parliament's 350 seats, Sanchez's new coalition government comprising his Socialists and the radical left-wing Podemos will struggle to push through legislation -- its first order of business to pass the long-overdue budget. It was a dispute over the budget in February last year that ended the fragile alliance backing Sanchez's first government, with Catalan separatists issuing a resounding no in a move that ultimately triggered a general election. Thursday's ruling by the Supreme Court also disregarded an advisory opinion issued late last month by the state prosecutor's office, which said Junqueras should be allowed to travel to carry out the necessary formalities. But it also said the court should approach the European Parliament "as soon as possible" to suspend his parliamentary immunity. Junqueras won a seat in the European Parliament in May elections despite being in pre-trial detention
A spaniel named Josie is helping to save Ireland's bacon by sniffing out illegal imports of pork at Dublin Airport.

The dog is helping the Department of Agriculture guard against the rampant African Swine Fever, which has killed 200 million pigs in China this year.

Rashers, sausages and pudding are the traditional staples of the full Irish breakfast but they would be off the shelves if the disease - which has spread to 10 Asian countries and 14 European countries - hits Ireland.

The virus is harmless to humans but fatal to pigs and could be carried into the country in something as innocuous as a ham sandwich.

Tonight's episode of RTE's farming show 'Ear to the Ground' reveals how Josie is on the front line of Ireland's biosecurity strategy to sniff out pig meat in passenger luggage at the airport.

"Our biggest concern would be people bringing back infected meat from abroad," said June Fanning from the National Disease Control Centre at the Department of Agriculture.

"We would encourage people not to bring pork or pork products from areas affected with the disease.

"It does survive for a very long time, months and months, even in cured products like salami and sausages and can survive for years in frozen products."

She said it could put thousands of pigs at risk of suffering a very painful death.

Record prices due to the worldwide bacon shortage mean Ireland's farmers are 'on the pig's back' if the country manages to keep the highly contagious swine fever at bay. Pork prices have jumped from 1.50 a kg to 2.

'Ear to the Ground' is on RTE One at 7pm tonight.
Iran is home to some of the worlds most ancient historical sites. Among them are 24 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the ancient ruins of Persepolis, the grand mosque of Isfahan and the Golestan Palace in Tehran where Irans last shah was crowned in 1967.

When, in a tweet on Sunday, US President Donald Trump threatened to target 52 Iranian sites, including some of cultural significance, if Tehran retaliated over the assassination of top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, it sparked an international outcry. Legal scholars, national security experts and politicians in the US and beyond, condemned the threat.

.targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2020

Shortly afterwards, the Pentagon distanced itself from it, with US defence secretary Mark Esper saying the military had no plans to bomb Iranian cultural sites.

On Tuesday, Trump appeared to retreat. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, he said: You know what, if thats what the law is, I like to obey the law. But think of it: They kill our people, they blow up our people and then we have to be very gentle with their cultural institutions. But Im OK with it. Its OK with me.

The threat prompted global condemnation, with allied countries including Britain immediately distancing themselves from it. But why are cultural sites so significant and why did Trump inspire such outrage?

A war crime

According to Mark Drumbl, Professor of International Law at Washington and Lee University, Trumps threat to destroy cultural property is hugely problematic.

This is forbidden under various branches of law and amounts to a war crime, Drumbl explained.

Prohibitions against destroying cultural heritage have existed since the 1907 Hague Convention, which requires parties to an armed conflict to take all necessary steps for the protection of buildings dedicated to religion, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not being used at the time for military purposes.

Despite this, international courts have only recently started to prosecute this particular war crime. The first such conviction at the International Criminal Court (ICC) was in the case of Ahmad Al-Faqi Al-Mahdi. In 2016, the Malian member of al-Qaeda-linked group Ansar al-Dine was convicted of the war crime of attacking buildings of religious and historic importance in the Malian city of Timbuktu in 2012.

Colonialism and cultural heritage

According to Eleni Polymenopoulou, an assistant professor of law at Hamad bin Khalifa University in Qatar, the reason for the slow implementation of the law on cultural property is that colonial states  [long opposed] the idea of protecting cultural property.



Rather than protecting cultural property, colonial states have typically looted it, she explained.

The protection of heritage and even the illicit appropriation of cultural objects, such as the Parthenon marbles, is still today largely perceived by states as a matter of diplomacy rather than one that triggers international legal responsibility.

But, Polymenopoulou added: The destruction of cultural or religious heritage is an integral part of armed conflict, and in certain extreme conditions may even constitute cultural genocide.

[Trumps threats] remind one of the destruction of the Two Buddhas of Bamiyan by the Taliban regime. In a way, Trumps threats are legitimising the destruction of heritage by ISIL.

UN peacekeepers stand beside the mausoleum of Alpha Moya in Timbuktu, Mali in 2016 [Sebastien Rieussec/AFP]

International conventions

In addition to the 1907 Hague Convention, the 1977 Additional Protocol 1 to the 1949 Geneva Conventions prohibits any acts of hostility directed against the historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples.

The 2016 US Department of Defense Law of War Manual, an internal directive providing the departments view of the law of war, also contains extensive provisions on the protection of cultural property.

Although the US is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which makes intentional attacks on historical monuments a war crime, the US is a party to the 1954 Hague Convention on Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, which the Senate approved in September 2008.

Since under certain circumstances the Rome Statute allows the ICC to exercise jurisdiction over crimes committed by states that are not party to the ICC, acts of destruction of cultural property by the US could potentially be tried by the ICC.

Kristin Hausler, Dorset Senior Fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL), explained that the protection of cultural heritage has  become an intrinsic part of the fight against terrorism  something the US has itself pointed out.

When explaining the US vote in favour of UNSC Resolution 2347 in March 2017, the first resolution dedicated to the protection of cultural heritage from destruction, the US mentioned the trafficking in antiquities by Abu Sayyaf, the now deceased high-ranking ISIL official, Hausler said.

The site of Persepolis in Iran [Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Corbis/Getty Images]

Push of a button

For Wayne Jordash QC, a UK barrister and specialist in international criminal law, the protection of cultural heritage is tied to the survival of groups.

For many, especially indigenous people, the links between land, culture and survival of the group are especially strong and in need of the same protection as crimes that have traditionally been the core concern of international criminal law, he said.

The protection of cultural property is linked to the common heritage of humankind, a principle of international law that says cultural or natural elements of humanitys common heritage should be protected from exploitation and held in trust for future generations.

Christine Anagnos, the director of the New York-based Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), an organisation of art directors from the US, Mexico and Canada, explained: Cultural sites around the world form part of our shared human heritage and must be protected, even in times of conflict. All are precious, and any steps to harm them violate both a fundamental sense of human dignity and violates international law.

For Drumbl, protecting cultural property is just as important as preserving human rights: Cultural property is seen as part of the biodiversity of the human condition, what differentiates us from other species, and to destroy it is to wipe out part of ourselves.

A countrys cultural, artistic, religious and historical spaces should, he argued, be off limits from the threats of wanton destruction by the simple push of a drone button.
At Fort Bragg, North Carolina, thousands of service members are stationed, ready at any moment for the call they're being deployed. As the saying goes, when the president calls 911, the phone rings at Fort Bragg.

That phone rang when the Pentagon sent more than 3,000 additional soldiers to the Middle East to protect against any possible revenge attacks from Iran. CBS News' Chip Reid spoke with two women who just saw their husbands sent to the region. Both families had just an 18-hour warning before their husbands had to leave home.

Rachelle Hertle and her husband, Sergeant Alexander Hertle, were visiting her family in Ohio when he got the call to head to the Middle East. Just like that, Hertle told Reid, her family life went from normal to chaos.

"The previous two deployments were all planned and so we had time to get ready this one was-- this one threw us for a loop," Hertle said.

Sergeant Hertle is one of thousands of servicemen and women of the 82nd Airborne Division, which specializes in parachute assault operations, responding to emergency crisis situations anywhere in the world.

Rachelle Hertle said she admires her husband for what he does.

"I cannot imagine leaving my children and I know that it breaks his heart," Hertle said. "But this is what we decided as a family we would do. That we would do that we would be a military family."

Jill Jaragoske's husband left for the Middle East on Sunday.

"It's just sad, everything he's going to miss, it's sad," Jaragoske said. "Your heart is swelling with pride, you're so proud of him, but it's shattering at the same time, it is the most unexplainable feeling I can't even really describe it."

"We're at home getting our support system together and being ready for him to be gone," Hertle said.

Hertle and her husband have one biological son who is 8 and three foster children.

"My children have finally bonded with a man that wants to be their daddy," Hertle said. "And if he were not to come home, how would I tell that to them?"

Story continues

"This is what military families go through all the time," Reid said to Hertle.

"It is," Hertle said. "But we often don't say it out loud."

For security reasons, soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division have been told they can't use their cellphones while they're deployed and troops are not allowed to tell their family members where they are. This mission, amid rising tensions with Iran, means they could be away for up to nine months.

Rockets strike Iraqi air bases housing U.S. troops

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A farmer has successfully developed the first seedless lychee in Australia, 19 years after spending US$5,000 on a single fruit tree from China .

Tibby Dixon, from Sarina Beach in Far North Queensland, has since developed multiple lychee varieties through selective breeding and cross-pollinating flowers over the past few decades.

His latest creation is a seedless variety, which he described as 'very flavoursome' and tasting 'a bit like pineapple'.

The seedless variety, which was described as 'very flavourful' and tasting 'a bit like pineapple', is Tibby Dixon's latest creation

Tibby Dixon has developed multiple lychee varieties through selective breeding and cross-pollinating flowers over 19 years

The lychee farmer of more than 40 years told the ABC creating new varieties of lychee has been 'a long, hard slog'.

Mr Dixon said he created the seedless lychee by cross-pollinating - collecting pollen from the male part of the lychee flower and transferred to the female part of the flower - the imported tree to get a small seed.

He kept going until he ended up with a seedless fruit.

Mr Dixon said he developed the seedless lychee variety by cross-pollinating the imported tree to get a small seed

Mr Dixon's next challenge is growing a crop of trees to fruit on Australian farms.

'Within a couple of years we should have enough to sell out in commercial numbers,' he said.

'You have to ensure that the material you're going to sell is highly productive.'
By Ricardo Brito

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's Ministry of Justice said on Monday it fined U.S. tech giant Facebook Inc 6.6 million reais ($1.6 million) for improperly sharing user data.

The ministry's department of consumer protection said it had found that data from 443,000 Facebook users was improperly made available to developers of an App called "thisisyourdigitallife."

The data was being shared for "questionable" purposes, the ministry said in a statement.

Facebook said in an emailed statement that it was evaluating its legal options regarding the case.

"We are focused on protecting people's privacy," the company said, adding that it had made changes that restricted "the information which App developers can access."

The ministry said the world's largest social network failed to provide users with adequate information regarding default privacy settings, particularly related to data of "friends" and "friends of friends."

The ministry said it launched the investigation following media reports of the misuse of data by political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica in 2018.

Facebook has 10 days to appeal the decision. The fine should be paid within 30 days.

(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Writing by Gabriela Mello; Editing by Louise Heavens, Susan Fenton and Dan Grebler)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Army General Mark Milley, at Pershing Park in Washington on Nov. 9, 2017. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Iran Intended to Kill US Personnel in Missile Attack: Top US Military General

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Army General Mark A. Milley, the U.S. militarys top uniformed official, said that while Irans missile attack on Wednesday didnt result in any casualties, he believes it was intended to kill U.S. personnel and cause significant damage at the Al Asad Air Base.

Iran on Wednesday fired a barrage of missiles at two Iraqi military basesAl Asad Air Base in Anbar province and Erbil in the Kurdish autonomous regionboth of which host American forces, in an apparent response to the recent killing of Irans top military general Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3 that was ordered by President Donald Trump.

Speaking to reporters at a Pentagon briefing, Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper appeared to dismiss suggestions that Iran did not intend to kill Americans with its missiles, reported Military.com. Both also indicated they will not draw conclusions as to whether Iran would carry out additional attacks, adding that professional intelligence analysts are working on a final assessment of the latest strikes from Iran.

Esper said that he believes the missiles were intentional, given what was hitthe aim points, the news outlet reported.

In this image from video, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper talks to the press on Iran and Iraq at the Pentagon in Washington on Jan. 7, 2020. (divids via AP)

Meanwhile, Milley noted the missiles had 1,000 to 2,000-pound warheads on them, each with significant explosive power and kill radius, Reuters reported.

The points of impact were close enough to personnel and equipment  that I believe, based on what I saw and what I know, is that they were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft, and to kill personnel. Thats my own personal assessment, Milley said. But the analytics is in the hands of professional intelligence analysts. So theyre looking at that.

Milley noted that bases like Al Asad have scatter plans, bunkers, and protective gear to help protect forces that come under attack. He commended the military commanders on the ground for taking actions that ensured the safety of the troops.

Esper said that Iran launched a total of 16 ballistic missiles from three locations in Iran into Iraq, four of which failed in flight.

According to the Pentagon, at least 11 of the 16 missiles hit the Al Asad Air Base about 175 miles from the Iraq-Iran border, while at least one hit a military installation near Irbil, some 60 miles from the border with Iran. Both locations held American and coalition forces, including from the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Canada.

Al Asad Air Base in the western Anbar desert, Iraq. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File)

Esper and Milleys understandings of the strikes as relayed to reporters on Wednesday stood in contrast with a number of news reports earlier that day that suggested Iran calibrated its attack with the intention to cause minimal harm to American troops.

Trump on Wednesday morning said in a televised address from the White House that Americans should be extremely grateful and happy that no Americans were harmed in the attack.

We suffered no casualties, all of our soldiers are safe, and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases, Trump said.

Related Coverage Trump Opts for Sanctions, Offers Peace After No US Casualties in Iran Missile Strikes

Our great American forces are prepared for anything. Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world, Trump added. No American or Iraqi lives were lost because of the precautions taken, the dispersal of forces, and an early warning system that worked very well. I salute the incredible skill and courage of Americas men and women in uniform.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Irans latest strikes concluded Tehrans response to the killing of Soleimani.

We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression, Zarif wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

Soleimani was considered the architect behind the Iranian regimes foreign influence activities in the Middle East as head of the Quds Force, an elite unit within Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The IRGC is tasked with Irans extra-territorial military operations, including activities to expand Iranian influence in Syria and rocket attacks on Israel. The United States designated the IRGC as a terrorist group in April 2019.

The Pentagon said in a statement on Jan. 2 that Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region, and that he and the Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more.

Reuters contributed to this report.
TWO hunt saboteurs who were arrested by gardai in Bruff for trespassing have vowed to return to County Limerick in the near future.

In turn, Scarteen Hunt, which was targeted by up to 20 sabs over the weekend, has vowed not to let them interfere with their country tradition which goes back centuries.

Hunt Saboteurs Ireland said their purpose is to prevent the murder of wildlife in Ireland by using peaceful direct action. They said they were following the law in County Limerick.

Bruff Superintendent John Ryan said two males were arrested at Boheroe, Dromkeen on Saturday for trespassing. They were brought to Bruff garda station, questioned and released without charge. A file will be prepared for the DPP.

We will certainly be enforcing the legislation in relation to any breaches. We have to ask everybody to operate within the laws of the land. We cant let any particular group step outside it. That is our stance on it, said Supt Ryan.

Chris Ryan, master of Scarteen Hunt, thanked Bruff gardai for their intervention.

It was hugely welcome. We called the gardai. Their (hunt saboteurs) policy is intimidation and they are looking for confrontation.

We felt intimidated and they were trespassing. We get permission for every where we need to go. We are blessed with, and very thankful to, the farmers in our area for access, said Mr Ryan.

He said it is very intimidating to be faced with up to 20 people going around with masks and dressed all in black.

They are frightening young people in the hunt and young people going about their business. There were two young kids on their lawn on Saturday and they were terrified. It is also very intimidating for elderly people, said Mr Ryan, who added that this is the third time in six weeks they have been joined by hunt saboteurs. The previous two instances were in Caherconlish and Hospital.

They carry around sprays to try and prevent the hounds from following the line of the fox. They interfere with the dogs who wouldnt recognise them. Spraying dogs is an animal rights issue in itself, said Mr Ryan, who concluded by vowing that the saboteurs will not stop them hunting.

A spokesperson for Hunt Saboteurs Ireland told the Leader they are an extension of the hunt saboteurs in the UK, formed in the 60s.

Theres always been resistance to hunting. We are simply doing what is necessary. We use a variety of harm free methods to prevent the dogs from killing any foxes by distracting them and blocking the foxes / hares scent. We had over 20 hunt saboteurs (in Limerick) and many vehicles as resistance is growing rapidly in Ireland, said the spokesperson.

Some of the 20 came from Sweden and England.

It was a successful endeavour as we believe there were no kills as we know of and we made our presence felt. They were arrested for trespassing as they left the land as instructed. We will return to Limerick in the near future, absolutely, said the spokesperson.
Expressing concern over rising money power in politics, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday pitched for effective measures, including bold electoral reforms and fixing the governance system.

Addressing a conference here on Indian Democracy at Work - Money Power in Politics, he favoured simultaneous assembly and Parliamentary polls and also said political parties should not shy away from financial accountability vis-a-vis their source of funding.

"I hope that before we begin to celebrate the 75th anniversary of our Independence in 2022, some effective measures would be put in place to checkmate the role of money power in our polity, he said.

Observing that money power cannot be controlled by the Election Commission alone, he said political parties, civil society, corporate and organisations working for electoral reforms have a larger role to play.

More importantly, the citizen-voter should take the lead in preventing abuse of money power and realise selling votes for a few thousand rupees was the highest form of moral compromise that militates against democratic ethics, Naidu said.

We need to fix the governance system along with bold electoral reforms in order to break the vicious cycle of corruption and erosion of the quality of our democratic polity, he said.

Naidu said it was a reality that a millionaire has much better chances of becoming an MP or an MLA at the cost of an honest and more deserving low income citizen.

The Vice-President said political parties should adhere to the code of conduct with regard to their source of funding, expenditure on political training of cadres and funding of elections and candidates among others.

Political parties of the world's largest democracy should not shy away from being financially accountable as it would enhance the transparency of our democratic polity, he said.

He also urged political parties to consider the option of simultaneous polls to Parliament, legislatures and local bodies and evolve a consensus as it would help bring down the cost and also provide space to the government to think about long term measures.

"You will not be compelled to be populist for every six months...," he added.

Naidu opined state funding of elections was not a practical and feasible solution and it would only add to expenditure.

Expressing concern over populist promises being made by political parties without taking into consideration the availability of finances, he asked if a legislation like the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act can be brought to address the issue.

The two-day conference is being co-organised by Foundation for Democratic Reforms, Indian School of Business (ISB), Bharti Institute of Public Policy and University of Hyderabad.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An argument at a base in Deir ez-Zor led to the death of an Arab fighter, which then escalated to armed clashes between two groups reports Jisr.

Jisrs correspondent in Deir ez-Zor has reported that heavy clashes broke out inside the command base of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in al-Sour in northeastern Deir ez-Zor.

The correspondent said that an Arab fighter in the SDF was killed by a Kurdish commander, after an argument between the two, inside the al-Sour base. This led the comrades of the killed man to take up arms and try to take revenge, with the matter then escalated into direct clashes between a group of Arab fighters and another of Kurdish fighters.

The correspondent, quoting eyewitnesses, added that a number of cars carrying military commanders left the base for al-Basira to the south before the Arab group was able to blockade the walls of the building, which is the SDF command base in the area.

SDF military vehicles loaded with fighters were seen leaving the nearby al-Maamal area apparently headed to the command base.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
The global neuroendocrine tumors therapeutics market is poised to grow by USD 1.83 billion during 2019-2023, progressing at a CAGR of almost 9% during the forecast period. Request free sample pages

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005310/en/

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The market is driven by increasing research grants and funding. In addition, rising awareness and strategic alliances will boost the growth of the neuroendocrine tumors therapeutics market.

Many government and non-government organizations across the world are providing funds and grants as well as clinical assistance for the treatment of various neuroendocrine tumors. They are also increasing the awareness about the condition to boost the interest of developing novel treatment options. For instance, in 2017, the Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation (NETRF) announced to fund USD 4 million in collaborative grants for neuroendocrine tumor research. Such initiatives are attracting vendors and resulting in better and quicker development of therapies for the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors. This will strengthen the drug development pipeline of neuroendocrine tumors and drive the growth of the market.

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Ipsen Pharma

Ipsen Pharma operates the business under two segments such as specialty care and consumer healthcare. SOMATULINE DEPOT is the key offering of the company. It is a lanreotide injection, which is available in three strengths: 60 mg, 90 mg, and 120 mg.

Merck Co., Inc

Merck Co., Inc operates the business across various segments such as pharmaceutical, animal health, and other. TEMODAR is the key offering of the company. It is available as capsules in 5 mg, 20 mg, 100 mg, and 250 mg doses.

Novartis AG

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On his maiden visit after assuming office, Army Chief Gen M M Naravane on Thursday visited forward posts in Siachen Sector under the crucial Northern Command.

He was accompanied by Lieutenant General Y K Joshi, Chief of Staff, Headquarters Northern Command and Lieutenant General Harinder Singh, General Officer Commanding, 'Fire & Fury' Corps, an official spokesperson said.

Gen Naravane was briefed on the operational readiness being maintained in the Sector by Commander, Siachen Brigade, he said.

The Army chief also met and interacted with troops deployed at the forward posts in the Siachen Sector, complimenting them for their tenacity and high morale despite the extreme challenges posed by inclement weather, difficult terrain and super high altitude conditions, the spokesperson said.

Gen Naravane said the entire nation is proud of the soldiers deployed in Siachen, defending the territorial integrity of India.

He exhorted them to continue to discharge their duties with the same enthusiasm and zeal, and also assured them the full support of the country as well as the Army in carrying out their duties, the spokesperson said.

At the Siachen Base Camp, Gen Naravane laid a wreath at the iconic Siachen War Memorial in honour of all the brave Siachen Warriors who have made the supreme sacrifice in the country's defence, the official added.

The Northern Command of the Indian Army is entrusted with manning the country's borders with Pakistan and China.

Gen Naravane took charge as the Army Chief from Gen Bipin Rawat on December 31.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Cardi B's announcement that she wants to seek Nigerian citizenship has set off a Twitter feud between her West African fans in friendly rivals Nigeria and Ghana. The Grammy-winning rapper visited both countries last month on her African tour.

Her announcement in a tweet on Friday criticized the U.S. airstrike in Iraq that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani and sent Middle East tensions soaring. "Its sad this man is putting Americans live in danger. Dumbest move Trump did till date... I'm filing for my Nigerian citizenship," she tweeted.

Many in West Africa saw her tweet as proof that she preferred Nigeria. Ghanaians were quick to point out the pitfalls of living in Africa's most populous nation, where traffic jams and power cuts are more visible than opulent nightclubs and luxury hotels.

"Hope you have a generator to power your house [because] they don't have light but we do," one user tweeted, adding an emoticon of a Ghana flag. Some fans in Ghana expressed concern for her safety, warning about the Nigeria-based Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.
LONDON, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The World Copper Conference will once again be hosted in Santiago, Chile during CESCO week on March 23-25, and will reinforce its position as the premier copper event in Latin America.

2020 is an important year as Chile is undergoing a period of social unrest caused by inequality in its society. These underlying collective frustrations are not unique to Chile. Many of the jurisdictions in which the mining industry operates are more volatile and far less developed.

Photo from the 2019 World Copper Conference (PRNewsfoto/CRU)

This year's conference will have a special focus on the challenges of social value that the mining industry creates and how this value is perceived in the long term and away from its operations. There will be a keynote panel discussion on this with Octavio Araneda, CEO of Codelco, Marcin Chludzinski, CEO of KGHM, Aaron Puna, Executive President of Chile, Anglo American, Harry Conger, President & Chief Operating Officer  Americas of Freeport-McMoRan, Jorge Gomez, Executive President of Minera Collahuasi and Diego Hernandez, President of Sonami.

"We estimate that disruptions to global mine production were 6% last year compared to a historical average of just less than 5%, while unforeseen interruptions continued to plague the smelter and refinery sectors across the world from Chile to China. Near-term risks to mine supply remain high. Country-wide civil unrest and several mine labour contract renegotiations in Chile, community protests in the Arequipa region of Peru, operating challenges in the African Copperbelt, and the possibility of profit-related smelter shutdowns could all upset forecasts that otherwise suggest an increase in copper production of almost 1.5% in 2020." Commented Robert Edwards, CRU's Principal Analyst.

The three-day agenda includes key presentations from mining CEOs well as an opening presentation from the Ministry of Mines, Chile.

Additionally, the conference will include sessions on the future of the industry, the impact of technical innovation in the mining process, copper demand, what happens after China's current 5 year plan, International copper scrap trade and developments and Market and price outlook.

Attendees at the World Copper Conference also gain access to the one-day Environmental strategy and technology forum on 23 March and the Sulphuric Acid Seminar on 25 March.

Running alongside the conference is an exhibition showcasing the latest technologies, products and solutions. For exhibition enquiries, please contact Paul Terry at [email protected] or +44-(0)-20-7903-2131.

We are delighted to have Bechtel, Worley, Collahausi, London Metal Exchange and the International Copper Association as key sponsors; as well as industry support from CESCO.

The World Copper Conference will take place in Santiago, Chile on 23-25 March 2020.

Please visit http://bit.ly/2QPLwTQ to find out more and to book your place.

Read more about CRU: http://bit.ly/About_CRU

About CRU

CRU offers unrivalled business intelligence on the global metals, mining and fertilizer industries through market analysis, price assessments, consultancy and events.

Since our foundation by Robert Perlman in 1969, we have consistently invested in primary research and robust methodologies, and developed expert teams in key locations worldwide, including in hard-to-reach markets such as China.

CRU employs over 280 experts and has more than 11 offices around the world, in Europe, the Americas, China, Asia and Australia  our office in Beijing opened in 2004 and Singapore in 2018.

CRU events are well respected for attracting the most senior level professionals and providing valuable networking opportunities throughout the year for global audiences. For more information visit www.crugroup.com/events

CRU  big enough to deliver a high-quality service, small enough to care about all of our customers.

SOURCE CRU
Its not about how bad they are, she said of the Iranians, its about how good we are, protecting the people in a way that prevents war and does not have us producing, again and again, generations of veterans who are suffering because of it.

The acrimony on the House floor on Thursday highlighted the deep mistrust between the executive and legislative branches.

In recent days, Democratic lawmakers, joined by two Republican senators, have accused the president and his top military officials of dismissing Congresss role as a coequal branch of government. Lawmakers were furious at the White Houses failure to confer with Congress before the strike, as well as a classified document notifying them of the move. Their ire was only raised on Wednesday by a pair of briefings with Mr. Trumps national security team.

In one of the briefings, Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah said, administration officials, openly contemptuous of lawmakers, were unwilling to engage in a genuine discussion about a possible military escalation in the Middle East. Their message, Mr. Lee said, was, Do not debate, do not discuss the issue of the appropriateness of further military intervention against Iran. If you do, you will be emboldening Iran.

The resolution passed on Thursday would not constrain Mr. Trumps constitutional ability to mobilize forces to act in the face of an imminent threat. That language has become particularly fraught in recent weeks, as administration officials have insisted that the president approved the strike that killed General Suleimani to guard against a looming attack. They have also argued that the action was covered under an authorization of military force passed by Congress in 2002 to approve invading Iraq.

Republican argued that Mr. Trump acted well within his authority.

If were going to be serious about keeping this country safe, absolutely theres a role for Congress to play, said Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican. But youve got to support the efforts of your commander in chief to carry out his constitutional duty, which he has to keep this country safe.

But with the administration refusing to detail what exactly that threat was, Democratic lawmakers, as well as Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, and Mr. Lee, have grown increasingly skeptical of the justification behind the strike.
Days after the violence at the campus, Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Federation (JNUTF) on Thursday alleged there have been sporadic attacks on teachers and their families and university officials at their workplace on a regular basis since October 29 last year.

Giving a chronology of events since October 28 last year, the JNUTF in a statement said, "Since October 29, 2019, there have been sporadic attacks on teachers and their families and university officials at their workplace on a regular basis."

JNUTF in its statement alleged that the repeated appeal by the university officials to the local police and individual complaints in the police station by the teachers have not been taken seriously.

"The police has not intervened and acted timely to prevent recurrence of such violent incidents on the campus. All this has created an environment of fear in the campus," it said.

Appealing to every stakeholder to cooperate with the law enforcement agencies, the JNUTF said, "The perpetrators of violence must be booked. JNUTF also appeals the JNU community to leave the past behind and restore the academic environment of JNU for which the University is widely acknowledged."

Stressing that differences should be resolved through debate and discussion, the JNUTF said, "Let us understand the right to protest does not include the right to prevent."

In its statement, the JNUTF alleged that wardens have been gheraoed several times since October last year.

On January 5, more than 30 students of the university, including JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, were injured and taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre after a masked mob entered the varsity and attacked them and professors with sticks and rods.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Lucknow, Jan 9 : In a bid to brace up Uttar Pradesh's deteriorating law and order situation, the Yogi Adityanath government has planned to introduce the Police Commissioner system in India's most populated and crime-prone state.

Despite a stiff opposition from the influential IAS lobby, Chief Minister Adityanath has decided to introduce the Police Commissioner system, initially in the capital Lucknow and UP's upscale metro town NOIDA, sources in the government revealed to IANS.

The Police Commissioner system gives free hand to the local police chief to act freely and swiftly, particularly in a law and order situation. In UP, the Superintendent of Police (district police chief), presently seeks permission from the District Magistrate(DM) in most of the decisions concerned with maintaining law and order. A report of the UP government revealed that one of the reasons of a deteriorating law and condition in the metro cities is the absence of the Police Commissioner system.

Earlier, then UP Governor Ram Naik has suggested implementation of the Police Commissioner system to tackle challenges on crime and law and order front. However, the IAS lobby in the state had opposed the move and the proposal initiated from Director General of Police's (DGP) desk was shelved in the Chief Minister's Secretariat.

Sources said that of late, Adityanath, who also holds the home portfolio, was convinced that like other states including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi and Karnatka where the Police Commissioner system is seen as an efficient model of policing, UP should also have the same system for a better and effective police.

Sources said that besides Noida and Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Agra and other big towns could also have a Police Commissioner system under the BJP rule.
Ancient marine fossils led to scientists discovering that rising sea levels helped prevent extinction-level global warming 14 million years ago.

Cardiff University researchers have been studying the fossils from the last known major period of warming, when temperatures increased by 9 Fahrenheit.

During this period, known as the middle Miocene Climate Optimum, there was an increased level of volcanic activity that caused the warming.

Instead of resulting in a mass extinction, the seas were full of life - something that has baffled geologists, according to the Cardiff team.

The team say their findings suggest the worst of the effects were mitigated by rising sea levels caused by globally higher temperatures trapping carbon in the oceans.

Ancient marine fossils led to scientists discovering that rising sea levels helped prevent extinction-level global warming 14 million years ago

During the period, between 14 and 17 million years ago, the position of the continents were similar to today and the seas were flourishing with life.

The temperature increase of 9F is also similar to the increase predicted to happen by 2100 if there is no change in carbon emission levels.

Cardiff researchers said there was a significant oil-rich layer of rock, known as the Monterey Formation, along the coastline of California as a result of the burial of carbon-rich marine life.

'Our planet has been warm before', said Carrie Lear, senior scientist on the study.

'We can use ancient fossils to help understand how the climate system works during these times.'

Professor Lear and her team used the chemistry of marine fossils taken from long sediment cores from the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans to fingerprint the temperature and carbon levels of the seawater.

They found that massive volcanic eruptions of the Columbia River flood basalts released CO2 into the atmosphere and triggered a decline in ocean pH.

'With global temperatures rising as a consequence of this, sea-levels also rose, flooding large areas of the continents', said Professor Lear.

This created the ideal conditions to bury large amounts of carbon from the accumulations of marine organisms in sediments.

It also helped to transfer volcanic carbon from the atmosphere to the ocean over tens of thousands of years.

'The elevated marine productivity and carbon burial helped to remove some of the carbon dioxide from the volcanoes', said lead author Sindia Sosdian.

'This acted as a negative feedback, mitigating some, but not all, of the climatic effects associated with the outpouring of volcanic CO2'.

Lead author Sindia Sosdian said the slow release of carbon helped to minimise the magnitude of environmental change 14 million years ago, but that is not something we can count on in future as the climate is warming 'much faster'

Past large episodes of volcanism throughout Earth's history have been linked to mass extinctions and widespread oxygen depletion in the oceans, Dr Sosdian said.

'There was no such occurrence in the middle Miocene Climate Optimum.'

The presence of the Antarctic ice sheet and the relatively slow release of carbon minimised the magnitude of environmental change, she said.

'Thanks to our findings we now have a very clear picture of what was going on over 14 million years ago and this will change the way that scientists look at this period of global warming.

'We know that our current climate is warming much faster than the Miocene Climatic Optimum so we won't be able to rely on these slow natural feedbacks to counteract global warming.

'This research is still important because it helps us understand how our planet works when it is in a warm mode.'

The study has been published today in the journal Nature Communications.
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By The Associated Press

Jan. 09, 2020 | SAN FRANCISCO

By The Associated Press Jan. 09, 2020 | 06:27 AM | SAN FRANCISCO

Facebook has decided not to limit how political ads are targeted to specific groups of people, as Google has done.



Nor will it ban political ads, as Twitter has done.



And it still won't fact check them, as it's faced pressure to do.



But the company said on Thursday that it is adding some controls for users so they can see fewer political and social issue ads in their news feed.



It is also making it easier to search for ads in its ad library, where it saves political ads for seven years.
Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday night fiercely criticized a recent report that he spent part or all of 93 days out of New Jersey last year, calling it ridiculous and profoundly unfair.

NJ Advance Media published the report Saturday, noting that the tally includes short trips to New York City and Pennsylvania, as well as state business trips to Washington, D.C., Chicago, California, and India. It also included 38 days of vacation to foreign countries.

But Murphy said during his call-in radio show that the math was ridiculous."

He said that included a number of days where I landed in New Jersey at like 7:01 a.m., 6:53 a.m., took a shower, went to work, and worked 10 or 12 hours.

When I go to Washington, I dont go to sightsee, the Democratic governor added during the show on WBGO in Newark. Frankly, I thought it was ridiculous and profoundly unfair."

NJ Advance Media used the same methodology to tally the days Murphys Republican predecessor, Chris Christie, spent out of state while governor.

Christies travel became a focus after he became chairman of the Republican Governors Association in 2014  a year in which he spent 146 full or partial days away from New Jersey.

Christie then spent all or part of 261 days out of state in 2015, when he launched his failed presidential campaign.

Murphy recently became chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, which is likely to include some travel as he tries to help Democrats across the country win governors races.

But Murphy has stressed that he plans to focus on fundraising and does not plan to travel as much as Christie, insisting he isnt planning to use the job as a launching pad for a presidential run.

Job No. 1 is Jersey, Murphy said. Christie did the Republican Governors Association for his own interests. Im doing the DGA for our interests  New Jerseys interests.

When were doing the math on this, lets make sure were doing the new math and not the old math," he added.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.
(Bloomberg) -- A cybersecurity firm has called attention to security holes in TikTok that would have allowed hackers to infiltrate the accounts among its billion-plus users, another black eye for a Chinese-owned social media phenom thats drawn fire from U.S. lawmakers.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. outlined in a report a series of vulnerabilities that cyber-attackers could exploit to manipulate user accounts and information, from revealing personal data and deleting videos to sending text messages on behalf of TikTok. The research firm said it informed TikTok -- owned by Chinese giant ByteDance Inc. -- which deployed fixes. TikTok confirmed the patches and said it was committed to protecting user data, and encouraged researchers to privately disclose flaws.

The revelations may intensify the scrutiny over a social media service thats exploded in popularity globally in past years. ByteDance has emerged as the worlds most valuable startup thanks largely to the platform, where more than a billion, largely young, users share lip-syncing and dance videos. But with escalating tensions between China and the U.S., American politicians have warned the app represents a national security threat and urged an investigation. The Beijing-based company is weighing options to address those concerns.

TikTok videos are entertaining. Theyve created a major trend, a style, even a musical genre, Check Point researchers wrote in the report. But as some have experienced, there is often a fine line between fun clips to private, even intimate assets being compromised while trusting to be under the protection from the apps we use.

Read more: ByteDance Is Said to Weigh TikTok Stake Sale Over U.S. Concerns

To contact the reporters on this story: Zheping Huang in Hong Kong at zhuang245@bloomberg.net;Edwin Chan in Hong Kong at echan273@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan

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Linkedin Adhi Priamarizki (The Jakarta Post) Singapore  Thu, January 9, 2020

Improving defense capability is more than about adding to the number of military platforms, but also about possessing the proficiency to utilize those cutting-edge tools. In addition, the Defense Ministry must play a greater role in guiding Indonesias procurements to ensure the efficacy of any additional platforms.

The recent skirmish with Chinese vessels around the Natuna Islands indicates the growing need for such a role by the ministry as guarding Indonesias vast maritime domain requires cooperation from various services, notably the Navy and the Air Force. A proper procurement vision from the ministry should be the basis for smooth inter-services military platforms interoperability. Furthermore, the Natuna case is a reminder for Indonesia to prioritize the rejuvenation of the Navy and the Air Force, since the two services possess the ability to reach the outer islands efficiently.

The government has announced the 2020 defense budget, which will increase by about 17.5 percent to Rp 131.2 trillion (US$9.4 billion) from this years mark. Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto said the ministry would improve the Indonesian Military (TNI) and provide adequate funds for the purpose.

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Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangalore Peter Machado on Thursday urged the central government for dialogue with those opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act, and come to an agreement about the way forward with justice, equity and fairness.

He said there was no harm in backtracking or changing course if it was necessary for the good of the country and our people.

"It is necessary that the government dialogues with those opposing the Act, and come to an agreement about the way forward with justice, equity and fairness.

There is no harm in backtracking: changing course if this is necessary for the good of the country and our people," Machado, who is also the President of All Karnataka United Christian Forum for Human Rights said.

In the memorandum submitted to the President, Prime Minister and the Governor of Karnataka, he said by doing so, it can mete out justice to all the illegal migrants and thus promote equality among them.

He pointed out that CAA has caused misunderstanding among the people and has led to violence and uproar in Assam, and now slowly spreading to other parts of the country as well.

"While appealing to the citizens to maintain peace and harmony, and that they should not recourse to violent methods to fight for their cause, we appeal to the Centre to grant citizenship to illegal migrants not on the basis of their religions, but on the merit of each individual case," he said.

Religion should never be the criterion for citizenship of a country. Nor is violence a solution when there is a difference of opinion, the memorandum read.

Through this memorandum, we wish to stress the point that the Christian Community will continue to work for the betterment of all the citizens without any discrimination and will continue to build the nation based on equality, justice and fairness, the Archbishop further said.

We also express our solidarity with those who have been discriminated on the basis of religion, and assure them of our support and fellowship that justice may be granted to them and that all of us may live as one family as brothers and sisters in this our mother land, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Embers glowed from Donald Trump's yellow wooden hair and floated into the night sky when a statue mocking the U.S. president burned Thursday in his wife's birthplace.

Firefighters in Moravce, a city in central Slovenia, tried to extinguish the bonfire, but their efforts left charred planks on the ground.

The arsonists responsible for the Christmas nutcracker-like statue's ashes are reportedly still at large.

The nearly 26-foot tall wooden structure that had a mechanism to open Trump's red painted mouth full of pointy teeth was constructed last year in a nation divided over the U.S. president.

The statue of Trump, with the president's signature blue suit and red tie, had been under torch threats since local residents threatened to set it ablaze on Halloween, according to the Associated Press. It was relocated because of the risk.

The artist Tomaz Schlegl, who created the Trump statue, said last August that the figure has two faces, like populism. "One is humane and nice, the other is that of a vampire," he said, according to AP.

"I designed the statue because people have forgotten what the Statue of Liberty stands for," Schlegl told Reuters last year, insisting that the Trump-resembling statue wasn't actually Trump. "I want to alert people to the rise of populism and it would be difficult to find a bigger populist in this world than Donald Trump."

Statue Trump had a raised right hand and papers in his left. He had an intense expression that could be interpreted different ways, former Slovenian politician Igor Omerza said.

Omerza, who has written about Melania Trump, said the statue could have symbolized Trump as Lady Liberty or be interpreted as the look of a dictator.

The first lady has her own controversial statue that was unveiled in her home country in July. The nine-foot high chain-saw carving seemingly commemorates the blue dress the first lady wore at her husband's inauguration. The tourist attraction was assessed as making the former model look more like a "Smurfette" or a "scarecrow" than being a likeness of her.

Milan Balazic, the mayor of Moravce, said police have launched an investigation into the Trump statue arson.

"This is an attack against art and tolerance . . . against Europe's fundamental values," Balazic told Agence France-Presse.
BOSTON, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Mendix, a Siemens business and the global leader in low-code and no-code application development for the enterprise, today announced that it has supplied Rabobank, a leading international cooperative bank headquartered in the Netherlands, with its low-code platform to build a new online-only banking portal called RaboDirect. The portal manages customer-facing and back-office transactions for Belgium- and German-based customers. By providing the low-code platform to create the RaboDirect portal, Mendix has helped to reduce IT costs by 50% and attributed to delivering a seamless digital customer experience.

"Across the financial industry, system updates required by regulatory compliance are often prioritized before improving the customer experience," says Bram Voogel, customer success director at Mendix. "For any bank operating in this market it's a competitive advantage to be able to prioritize customer attraction and retention with new online capabilities for its products. Mendix's low-code platform turned out to be the perfect fit to help achieve this objective."

A platform that empowers coding professionals and business developers

Systems of competitive differentiation, which have a direct impact on the customer experience, were brought in-house. Mendix's low-code platform was used to rebuild the bank's online channel, enabling the IT division to weekly release cycles. The ability of IT coding professionals to collaborate with small teams of nontechnical business developers using Mendix's drop and drag functionality enabled this close alignment with business objectives and customer needs.

"It's a significant milestone that the division's IT department is able to work in short sprints in the application development process. It was rewarding to see developers and business professionals working very closely together with the Mendix platform to create satisfying products for Rabobank's customers in Germany and Belgium," adds Hans de Visser, vice president of product management at Mendix.

Mendix's collaborative approach enabled business experts and professional coders to quickly scale application development. Seeing big savings and fast results from empowered, energized teamwork at Rabobank is a clear demonstration of what the term 'digital transformation' means in practice and how Mendix can attribute to this.

More information about Mendix's work with Rabobank can be found in this blog post and customer success video .

For more information about how Mendix can help transform your business, please visit www.mendix.com .

Connect with Mendix

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About Mendix

Mendix , a Siemens business and the global leader in low-code and no-code application development for the enterprise, is fundamentally reinventing the way applications are built in the digital enterprise. With the Mendix platform, enterprises can 'Make with More,' by broadening an enterprise's development capability to conquer the software development bottleneck; 'Make it Smart,' by making apps with rich native experiences that are intelligent, proactive, and contextual; and 'Make at Scale,' to modernize core systems and build large app portfolios to keep pace with business growth. The Mendix platform is built to promote intense collaboration between business and IT teams, and dramatically accelerate application development cycles, while maintaining the highest standards of security, quality, and governance  in short, to help enterprises confidently leap into their digital futures. Mendix's 'Go Make It' platform has been adopted by more than 4,000 leading companies around the world.

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Las noticias en lengua aimara por @Jiwasanakatvpe. Sigue la transmision EN VIVO en nuestro canal de YouTube aqui ?https://t.co/Plk3oqnGVA #TVPeruInforma #SomosTodos pic.twitter.com/jFPNSXvJfR
Amidst the high-stakes drama that is currently playing out between Iran and the US in Iraq, its easy to lose sight of the main issue fuelling the tension, that is, the pressing need to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons.

Former deputy director-general for safeguards at the International Atomic Energy Agency Olli Heinonen has now raised the alarm, warning Iran could be on a fast track to nuclear breakout  accumulating enough highly enriched uranium to assemble a bomb  within weeks.

Technicians work in the reactor of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant in a 2004 picture, released by Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation. Credit:AP

Heinonen told the Jerusalem Post, that If the recent performance numbers, average enrichment levels, and current inventories quoted by [Iran Atomic Energy Organisation Director Ali Akbar] Salehi hold, the breakout time by the end of January will be around two months.

Whether Iran will pursue enriching uranium to 20 per cent is the question that will have the greatest impact on its breakout time, since attaining this level of enrichment actually means 90 per cent of the work has been done to reach the weapons-grade uranium enrichment levels of 90 per cent.
Eight days after a body of a woman with head and legs severed was found at Vidyavihar, the Ghatkopar police on Wednesday arrested her son for the murder.

According to police, the woman, 45, lived in a slum in Kurla (West). The two fought frequently as Sohail Shaikh, 25, was unemployed. The police have refused to name the woman. Shaikhs mother used to scold and mock him. He used to work as a labourer in the Gulf, but had returned to the city recently, said a police officer, privy to the investigation. Shaikhs father died a few years ago. He was an alcoholic and used to become violent after drinking. He has confessed to the crime, the officer said.

Police said the two fought on December 29, too, and Shaikh, who was drunk, allegedly strangled the woman in a fit of rage. He chopped the body, wrapped it in different packets and disposed it of over the next three days. We are questioning him and will verify his statements, said the officer. He put the packets on his scooter and discarded the parts at three different locations in Vidyavihar and neighbouring Kurla.

Shaikh was picked up on the basis of the leads obtained after scanning footage from CCTVs in the area. He was being questioned at the time of going to press. We have got certain positive leads, said Akhileshkumar Singh, deputy commissioner of police, zone 7, refusing to divulge the details.

On December 30, the torso was recovered from a footpath near state transport bus workshop at Nausena Vihar in Vidyavihar. It was found wrapped in a bedsheet, and the victim had worn a top. The next day, the police recovered both her legs in a garbage bin in Kurla, after a few locals spotted a suspicious packet in a blue tarpaulin sheet. On January 4, the police recovered her head, which was found thrown near the railway tracks in Kurla.

This is the latest case where mutilated body parts were found dumped in the city. In all cases, the accused were close family members.

On December 7, the crime branch solved the mystery of a travel bag found with limbs stuffed in it on the shore near Mahim Dargah. The deceased was identified as a 59-year-old musician from Vakola based on the tailors tag on the sweater in which his limbs were wrapped. Police used his social media profile to confirm his identity. Investigation revealed his 17-year-old adopted daughter and her 16-year-old boyfriend killed him at his Vakola residence on November 26 . The duo took three days to cut the body and stuffed the parts in three different bags and threw them at different places.

On December 3, a mans body was found in a secluded place in Chembur. Five days later, the crime branch identified the man as Devendra Akhade, 32, and arrested his sister and brother-in-law. The accused killed Akhade as the latter was addicted to drugs and harassed them.

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Two men with links to Co Antrim were arrested after three tourists were driven away at high speed in a shuttlebus that was allegedly hijacked at Dublin Airport in the early hours of yesterday.

The incident led to a massive cross border chase.

Cousins John McDonagh (26) and Stephen McDonagh (25) who have an address in Navan, Co Meath, were arrested.

Both remained in custody in Carrickmacross Garda Station in Co Monaghan last night where they were being questioned about the unauthorised taking of a mini bus and suspected false imprisonment of three people.

John and Stephen McDonagh are based in Navan but also have links to Swords and Ballymun in the Dublin area, Co Cavan, and Ballymena in Co Antrim.

They were arrested after a manhunt that lasted for almost two hours in which a number of Garda and PSNI cars were rammed. The incident began when the three innocent passengers were sitting in a shuttle bus owned by the Carlton Hotel parked in front of Terminal 2, at 1am.

The tourists had arrived on a transatlantic flight late on Tuesday and had been due to take a connecting flight to a European destination, but missed this as a result of a delay.

Aer Lingus had planned to put them up in the Carlton Hotel, near Dublin Airport. The suspects are alleged to have got into the front of the bus as it waited with three people aboard.

The Colombian woman and a couple who are understood to be English were then driven off by the men. It was involved in a minor collision with a taxi as it left the airport before fleeing the scene of the collision.

The vehicle was then driven for more than 27km from the airport to a service station in Julianstown, Co Meath, near the City North Hotel off the M1 and the three people were told to get out of the vehicle.

They later told gardai that although they thought the driving on board was "erratic" they were not led to believe they were in any danger. A female tourist has already given gardai a detailed statement about what happened and officers are hoping to obtain more statements.

When they were let off near the City North Hotel they thought they had arrived at their designated hotel and asked to check-in, only to be told they had no booking. The three then decided to get a taxi back to the airport and contact Aer Lingus.

After eventually being brought to the right hotel, they were able to spend the night there and made their flight later yesterday.

As the tourists made their way back to the airport unharmed, gardai and the PSNI were faced with 90 minutes of mayhem.

The two men continued north in the bus and were located by gardai near Drogheda, in Co Louth, where a new garda patrol car was allegedly rammed off the motorway.

The bus then continued on the M1 where it drove north of Dundalk and then crossed the border into Northern Ireland.

In a statement the PSNI confirmed it "received a report from our colleagues in An Garda Siochana that a stolen transit van had been tracked crossing the border". "Officers observed the vehicle in Crossmaglen Square, and upon police entering the car park the transit van collided with the police vehicle causing damage to the front of the car," a spokesperson said. "The transit van then made off from the area and re-crossed the border."

No PSNI officers were injured.

The minibus then diverted back into Co Monaghan where officers were waiting.

A garda operation, involving the air support and the armed Regional Response Unit, then got underway, involving at least 12 patrol cars and specialist units.

The bus crashed after crossing south of the border but the two men escaped on foot and stole a small parked car from a farm while the smashed bus was left blocking the roadway.

The stolen car was intercepted near Castleblayney in Co Monaghan a short time later.

Before the suspects were arrested the stolen car had attempted to ram a garda vehicle.

No one was injured and the incident ended with the arrest of the suspects at around 2.30am.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020

Exports of Indonesian wood products totaled US$11.6 billion in 2019, a 4 percent drop from the previous year due to declining demand caused by the ongoing United States-China trade war and the weak competitiveness of local products. Industry players, however, are upbeat entering 2020 thanks to policy reforms.

Wood veneer, panel and woodwork products suffered the steepest declines, with annual exports falling 20 percent, 16.14 percent and 11.14 percent, respectively, said Association of Indonesian Forest Concessionaires (APHI) chairman Indroyono Soesilo.

Wood panel exports to China are close to zero as Indonesian products have become less competitive than foreign counterparts, while shipments of woodwork products to the US and China were dealt a blow from the ongoing trade war between the worlds two largest economies, an industry player said.

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Weapons the protestors at Dong Tam Village in Hanoi's My Duc District used to attack police forces on January 9, 2020. Photo acquired by VnExpress.

30 protestors were arrested in Hanoi Thursday following a deadly clash over lingering land disputes that killed three police officers and one civilian.

A statement on the Public Security Ministrys website said that several people used grenades, petrol bombs and knives to attack police forces and disrupted public order at the Dong Tam Commune in My Duc District, 40 km (25 miles) south of the capital.

Three policemen and a civilian died and another person was injured, the ministry said.

Thursdays clash happened a week after some units of the Ministry of National Defense, in collaboration with local authorities, began building a fence for the Mieu Mon Military Airport in Dong Tam, the Ministry of Public Security said.

Authorities used loudspeakers to warn protestors not to "push beyond the limit," but to no avail.

The attack on police forces was pre-meditated and the weapons used were prepared earlier, some of the arrested people reportedly told the police. One of them said they were led by a group of unidentified ringleaders on how to use the weapons.

Eight grenades, dozens of knives and 20 unused petrol bombs, among other weapons, were recovered at the scene.

At present, construction of the fence is being carried out in line with the land plan covering more than 236 hectares in communes of My Luong, Tran Phu, Dong Lac in Chuong My District and Dong Tam in My Duc District, said To An Xo, spokesman for the public security ministry.

The wall being built around Mieu Mon Military Airport in Dong Mon Commune, My Duc District, Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress.

The deadly clash was the latest incident in a long-standing dispute over the land. Protestors had said that they were not properly informed that the land was transferred to the military at some point. Generations of villages had been cultivating crops on an area of 50 hectares of 146 acres under dispute, paying land use fees and taxes to the government, theyd said.

Meanwhile, officials said the land belonged to the military.

In April 2017 the Hanoi police detained four people from Dong Tam Commune for allegedly causing public disorder related to land clearance in their commune. Protesting villagers then held 38 district officials and police officers hostage in a communal house.

The standoff was resolved a week later, but in July 2017 Hanoi investigators said the land in Dong Tam had always belonged to the military.

They proposed that city authorities should instruct the My Duc District Peoples Committee to "coordinate with military units to deploy decisive measures forcing citizens occupying military lands illegally to remove their assets and crops and return the land for Viettel to implement defence projects."

While land disputes are not uncommon in Vietnam, it is the first time in years that policemen and civilians have been killed in one.
Indian-American biochemist Har Gobind Khorana, who won the 1968 Nobel Prize for medicine, was on Thursday honoured by a Pakistani university, which announced to set up a Research Chair in his name.

"The Government College University Lahore (GCU) is going to set up a Research Chair at its Chemistry Department in the name of its alumni Prof. Har Gobind Khorana," GCU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Asghar Zaidi said.

Zaidi made the remarks while speaking at a ceremony held at the varsity on Thursday to celebrate the 98th birth anniversary of one of its most eminent alumni of the GCU.

Sharing the inspiring and fascinating story of Prof Khorana, Zaidi said: "A child born in small Raipur village in Multan (now in Pakistan) in 1922 became the world's top biochemist and shared the 1968 Nobel Prize for Medicine with Marshall W. Nirenberg and Robert W. Holley for research that showed the order of nucleotides in nucleic acids, which carry the genetic code of the cell and control the cell's synthesis of proteins."



He said the GCU has always been a mini-Pakistan where youth from different ethnic and religious backgrounds had studied together and excelled in different fields of life.

Later, Dr Zaidi along with other academic and administrative heads cut the Prof. Khorana's birth anniversary cake.

Prof Khorana who breathed his last in November 2011 had won the Nobel Prize in 1968 for unravelling the nucleotide sequence of RNA and deciphering the genetic code. He is known as a scientist who revolutionised biochemistry with his pioneering work in DNA chemistry.

Last year, the Punjab University in Lahore established a Baba Guru Nanak chair.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Jenelle Evans' soon-to-be ex has more legal trouble on his hands.

David Eason, 31, is wanted by authorities in North Carolina following a missed court date in a case involving a 2018 alleged illegal truck-towing incident, according to TMZ.

The New Hanover Criminal Court Clerk told the outlet that after Eason was a no-show in court on Thursday the judge to signed a warrant for his arrest.

Wanted man: David Eason is wanted by authorities in North Carolina following a missed court date in a case involving a 2018 alleged illegal truck-towing incident, according to TMZ (Jenelle and David pictured in 2019)

Eason was due in court over an incident from nearly two years ago where he is accused of illegally towing a mans car who had apparently blocked his boat on the street.

In a bizarre move, Eason had actually shared a video on YouTube taken by Jenelle of him towing the man's vehicle.

'Learn the right way to deal will a**holes who think it's cool to block you in a parking space,' he captioned the video, which is still on his YouTube page.

'Good thing my trailer has a folded tongue that allowed me to get my truck out so I can tow him out of the way, in order to move my boat.'

Court date: Eason was due in court over an incident from nearly two years ago where he is accused of illegally towing a mans car who had apparently blocked his boat on the street - but only his lawyer showed up

Proof? In a bizarre move, Eason had actually shared a video on YouTube taken by Jenelle of him towing the man's vehicle

According to TMZ, cops were only made aware of the incident when David posted the video and the owner of the other truck pressed charges.

Eason was then charged with 'tampering with a vehicle and injury to personal property.'

The outlet reports that the estranged ex of the Teen Mom star made 'constant requests' for court continuances and when the judge ordered him to appear this week, his lawyer was present but he bailed.

This is the latest in a string of legal battles that Eason is dealing with in the wake of murdering their family dog.

'Learn the right way to deal will a**holes who think it's cool to block you in a parking space,' he captioned the video, which is still on his YouTube page. '

In trouble: Eason was then charged with 'tampering with a vehicle and injury to personal property'

The fallout from the killing saw the mom-of-three fired from the MTV series on which she had appeared for most of the past decade.

The fatal shooting of the poor dog also led to Jenelle and Eason losing temporary custody of their daughter Ensley.

The reality star also lost custody of son Kaiser while David lost custody of his 12-year-old daughter, Maryssa. The children returned home in July.

History of violence: This is the latest in a string of legal battles that Eason is dealing with in the wake of murdering their family dog Nugget (pictured)

Jenelle's eldest son, Jace continued to live with her mom, who has had custody over him for much of his life.

In October, Evans filed for a temporary restraining order from her ex due to his alleged violent behavior, which was extended until January 13.

Legal documents obtained by E! News say Evans claimed the legal precautions were made 'because of [Eason's]recent threats, his history of violence, his erratic behavior and his large stockpile of weapons, I am scared for my life and my children's well-being.'

Big problems: Jenelle later filed for divorce from Eason and in October filed for a temporary restraining order, which was extended until mid January

According to the documents, Evans claims Eason both physically and verbally abused her and even acknowledged that he shot and killed the family dog. She claimed that David said: 'You can die for all I care. You're a piece of s***. Biggest piece of s*** I've ever seen.'

Evans also claimed Eason insinuated that he was going to kill himself if they did not reconcile. According to E!, Eason is prohibited from any type of contact with Evans or her children.

The couple is due back in court next week for a hearing about the restraining order.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 9)  Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Thursday said that the mandatory repatriation of Filipinos from Iran and Lebanon has been called off.

Bello said the alert level status in Lebanon was reduced to a level 2 while theres no more alert level raised in Iran. He did not elaborate on why the alert levels were reduced but the announcement was made amid what appears to be a deescalation of tensions between the United States and Iran.

"Initially, the level of alert for Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon are the same[Alert Level] 4. Although it was unofficial, I was informed yesterday that the alert level in Lebanon was put down to level 2 and I understand that there's no more alert level in Iran," he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the mandatory repatriation of Filipinos in Iraq will still take place.

READ: 1,600 Filipinos eyeing to fly home from Iraq amid tensions  Cimatu

Bello said that the government will still continue to send rapid response teams even if the mandatory repatriation has been called off in Iran and Lebanon

He added that the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration will still not process any application for deployment of workers to Iran and Lebanon.

"Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world," CNN quoted U.S. President Donald Trump as saying on Wednesday morning. The night before, incoming messages from Iran sent through back-channels appeared to have offered Trump a new opportunity to deescalate, the report said.

READ: Trump says 'Iran appears to be standing down' following its retaliatory attacks against Iraqi bases housing US troops
Jaseline Nitanga busks in the sun briefly, perhaps to embrace the much-needed warmth in an ordinarily chilly Friday morning. The 16-year-old Rwandese girl was born and raised in Kakuma camp. Born to a Rwandese father and Burundian mother, the third born in a family of three girls attended Luma Academy in Kakuma town and emerged the best student in primary education examinations in her school with 387 out of 500 marks.

Jaseline was among the 1,125 scholars that were commissioned on Friday 3 January 2020 for the Wings to Fly secondary school education scholarship, sponsored by Equity Bank group in partnership with Mastercard Foundation and KfW Development Bank.

It was a surprise to get the scholarship, Jaseline says. I therefore want to study and help my family.

Jaseline explains that initially she wanted to be a lawyer but realized that she does not have the gift of the gab and the confidence for public speaking, hence she decided to be a doctor.

I aspire to be a doctor, because the job does not require speaking in public, a soft spoken Jaseline says.

For the third year running, refugees have been given slots for secondary education scholarship

The soft spoken Jaseline narrates the journey to stardom as having been challenging and rough, but she persevered for the sake of good grades and a better future for herself and her ailing mother.

I want to encourage young people not to give up, my story was not that good, but I made it,  She adds. When we sit for the secondary education exams in 2023, I want to score a straight A in the final exam and make it to university.

As Jaseline walks back to the Kenyatta University Amphitheatre for the official commissioning ceremony, Madhieu Akol Bol, another refugee from Kakuma and recipient of the same scholarship waits in queue for an interview with one of the national media stations. Having scored 400 marks out of a possible 500 marks, 13-year-old Madhieu was the best student in Turkana West and among the one percent who scored 400 marks and above in Kenya. That, and the fact that he is a refugee, made his story appealing to the media.

When I applied for this scholarship, I was not sure of getting it, but God has granted me the chance for full secondary school scholarship, and I will give it my very best says the third born in a family of four children.

Madhieu arrived in Kenya in 2014 at the age of seven having fled conflict from South Sudan. He was enrolled in Kadugli primary school in Kakuma camp. Madhieu explains that the crowded classes and limited number of school books did not dampen his spirits. He notes that that hard work was necessary to excel in primary exams. Madhieu says he is the first one in his family to complete primary school, his siblings in South Sudan have not been that fortunate.

I want to be a doctor so that I can help many people

I want to be a doctor so that I can help many people because a well-trained doctor can treat the whole nation, I am confident that with the Equity Bank scholarship, I can achieve that dream, he adds.

According to the Equity Bank Group Managing Director, Dr. James Mwangi, Wings to Fly provides a full secondary education cycle scholarship, mentorship and leadership trainings. Upon graduation from secondary education, internship opportunities are availed to scholars who excel.

For Madhieu and Jaseline, receiving the secondary school scholarship is no mean feat. Out of the 25,000 children that applied for the scholarship, only 1,125 were selected for the 2020 cohort. In Turkana West Sub  County, eight applicants were selected; two refugees and six children from the host community.

Mohamed Hure, the UNHCR Associate Education Officer and a member of the selection board in Turkana West where Kakuma refugee camp is situated, who was also present at the event, expressed gratitude to Equity Bank for extending this incredible opportunity to refugee children.

This gesture underlies the inclusive approach that UNHCR is seeking to achieve both with Government and the private sector as outlined in the Global Compact for Refugees.

Hure notes, For the third year running, refugees have been given slots for secondary education scholarship. Since 2018, eight refugees from Kakuma have benefitted from the scholarship.

With support from Ministry of Education and working closely with Equity Bank, the two refugees will be admitted to public national secondary schools to begin their four year of academic journey.

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Wife files $9.5M lawsuit against Mormon church for reporting husbands sexual abuse of daughter

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The wife of a Mormon man who confessed to leaders of his church that he sexually abused his underage daughter has filed a $9.5 million lawsuit against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for violating his confidence and reporting him to authorities.

The man, Timothy Samuel Johnson, 47, and his wife, Kristine Johnson, were members of a Stayton ward when his wife learned he had "engaged in inappropriate conduct" with a minor known to him, the lawsuit cited in the Statesman Journal said.

Johnson, the lawsuit explained, told a local church panel in Oregon about the molestation in 2016 to repent for his sins. He also sought spiritual help to bring peace within his life and family.

In 2017, however, he was arrested, charged and later convicted in 2018 of four counts of second-degree sexual abuse and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

"(Clergy) knew or should have known that violating the doctrine of confidentiality under the circumstances alleged in this complaint would most certainly injure (his wife and children) financially," Kristine Johnson's criminal defense attorney, Bill Brandt, told the Statesman Journal.

Also listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit are four of the couples five children whom she says have all been deprived of her husbands companionship, society, love, affection and financial support. The fifth child is the victim who was molested by her father for four years during her pre-teen and teenage years, The Oregonian said.

The lawsuit requests $5.5 million for Timothy Johnsons wife for loss of his income and for extreme emotional distress, as well as $1 million for each of his four children. It also asks for $40,000 to pay for Brandts work on the case.

Brandt told The Washington Post Wednesday night that the impact of losing the familys main breadwinner has been devastating, emotionally and financially.

When she discovered her husbands sin they chose to let the church handle the situation because, They firmly believe that they can deal with their parishioners better than law enforcement.

While Oregon has mandatory reporting laws for certain professions, including clergy and pharmacists, confessional-style "clergy-penitent privilege" is an exemption to mandatory reporting laws and Kristine Johnson's case is arguing that there was a violation of that privilege.

The Utah-based Mormon church listed as the sole defendant in the lawsuit said in a statement from spokesman Eric Hawkins that one of its top priorities is protecting victims and ensuring proper reporting."

The [LDS] Church teaches that leaders and members should fulfill all legal obligations to report abuse to civil authorities, Hawkins said. "In some circumstances, those obligations may be governed by their professional duty and in others by their role as clergy. The Church has a 24-hour abuse help line to help leaders understand and meet both their professional and ecclesiastical obligations to report abuse. We are grateful for the efforts of law enforcement and prosecutors to investigate and pursue justice for those who were abused.
This is the US governments latest move to pressure the countrys politicians to form a unity government.

The United States Treasury Department in a statement on Wednesday said it has imposed sanctions on Taban Teng Gai, South Sudans first vice president, in Washingtons latest move to pressure the countrys politicians to form a unity government.

The Treasury Department said Gai arranged and directed the alleged killings of opposition politician Aggrey Idri Ezibon and human rights lawyer Dong Samuel Luak in a move to solidify his position in the government and intimidate members of the opposition.

South Sudans presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny, told Reuters News Agency after the sanctions were announced that Washingtons move will worsen the situation in the country.

Gai is very helpful in the implementation of the peace and  he should be encouraged, the spokesman said, adding that there was no evidence that any government officials were involved in the killings cited by Treasury.

Gai, former governor of an oil-rich region in South Sudan, has long been a powerful government figure in the country with close ties to President Salva Kiir.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement calling on the government and opposition leaders to create distance from those who spoil the peace process. He said Gai, on behalf of Kiir, acted to divide and sow distrust, extend the conflict in South Sudan, and impede the reconciliation and peace process.

Gai could not immediately be reached for comment.

He is the latest South Sudanese official to be sanctioned by Washington. Last month, the US blacklisted two South Sudanese cabinet ministers, days after slapping sanctions on five lower-level officials it says are responsible for the likely murder of the two human rights activists in 2017.

The sanctions, implemented under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act that targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuses and corruption, freeze any of Gais US assets and generally prohibit Americans from doing business with him.

Taban Deng Gais attempt to silence the opposition party is derailing the countrys ability to implement a peace agreement, said Treasury Deputy Secretary Justin Muzinich in the statement.

Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar signed a peace deal in 2018 to form the unity government by November 12. But days before the deadline, the two leaders gave themselves an extension of 100 days to implement the agreement, a move criticized by Washington.

In November, the US recalled its ambassador from South Sudan and said it was re-evaluating its relationship with the African countrys government.

Civil war broke out in oil-producing South Sudan in 2013, less than two years after the country gained independence from Sudan following decades of war. The conflict has killed an estimated 400,000 people and forced millions from their homes.
tech2 News Staff

For only the second time in history, scientists have used the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) instrument to pinpoint a violent collision of neutron stars, where only two super-dense remnants now exist. Unlike earlier instances where the signal was quickly followed-up, using other telescopes to pinpoint the source of the signal, the collision wasn't recorded by any visual telescopes.

What scientists did manage to record was a ripple in space-time fabric (gravitational wave) experienced on Earth, which suggests the origin are two massive entities that don't fit into the models that astronomers have developed for neutron stars  they're much bigger.

In 2017, LIGO made a historic discovery when it detected a pair of neutron stars for the first time  enormous remnants left behind by massive star when they die. Locked in a spiral dance around each other, the neutron stars eventually merge, and the heavy objects smashing into each other this way causes a ripple in the fabric of space-time to spread out from the collision, and travel far and wide in the galaxy. LIGO was designed to pick up on these super-faint signals from the universe.

LIGO is currently in its third observation run, which is also during which time it picked up on the unusual neutron star collision, on 25 April 2019. The LIGO team reckons the neutron star is 3.4 times the mass of our Sun. So far, our telescopes are yet to catch a neutron star pair with a combined mass greater than 2.9 times that Sun's mass.

Researchers aren't ruling out the possibility that the entities are two light black holes and not massive neutron stars, according to Katerina Chatziioannou, an astronomer at the Flatiron Institute in New York City. Even so, black holes that small haven't been observed by astronomers either.

"This is clearly heavier than any other pair of neutron stars ever observed," said at a press conference on 6 January at the 235th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu.

After LIGO's 2017 discovery of merging neutron stars, astronomers also caught an accompanying burst of gamma-ray light, pointing to the exact source  an old galaxy 130 million light-years from Earth. For the current burst, so far, no such flash has been pick up on by astronomers. Since the signal was picked up, theoretical astrophysicists are considering many explanations for the lack of a light signal  a giant black hole was created quickly enough in the collision that it pulled in any outgoing light, or that the jet of energy was oriented away from our solar system when the collision took place, Chatziioannou said.

Astronomers will continue to study the event, as well as subsequent gravitational wave occurrences. In a few weeks, a new detector is expected to come online in Japan, helping scientists detect and pinpoint even more gravitational waves.
Hong Kong: Ethnic minority youths awarded

Secretary for Home Affairs Lau Kong-wah today presented badges and certificates to 18 youths who obtained lifesaving qualifications through the Lifesaving Training Incentive Programme for Ethnic Minority Youths 2019.

The programme deepened ethnic minority youths understanding of lifesaving and supported them in acquiring the qualifications of a professional lifeguard.

Mr Lau congratulated the participants who passed the examinations of the training courses to obtain the Pool Lifeguard Award at a presentation ceremony.

He said that nine of the participants who obtained the Pool Lifeguard Award have applied for Leisure & Cultural Services Department seasonal lifeguard posts and wished them success.

More than 96,000 people of ethnic minorities benefit from a wide range of services provided by eight support service centres each year.

To encourage interaction and exchanges between ethnic minorities and local communities, the department has engaged district organisations to organise more district-based activities.

Mr Lau said: "With concerted efforts from the community and the Government, I am confident that people of all races can integrate fully into our community and feel at home in Hong Kong."

This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The Police Command in the Federal Capital Territory on Thursday said it arrested 14 suspected touts over assault on government officials on lawful duties.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the FCT, Anjuguri Manza, a deputy superintendent of police, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

He said the suspects were arrested for posing as revenue collectors to extort and assault unsuspecting members of the public.

He said the syndicate is also notorious for assaulting and inflicting injuries on government officials who are discharging their lawful duties.

READ ALSO:

Mr Manzah said the suspects were arrested on January 7 following a distress call that hoodlums were inflicting injuries on some government officials.

He said the officials were attached to the Department of Outdoor Advertisement and Signage (DOAS), Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).

The PPRO said the arrest followed prompt response of police operatives from Wuye Division to the scene of the incident.

Based on preliminary police investigation, the suspects were recruited from different parts of the country to carry out the criminal act. One Toyota Hiace bus used in conveying the suspects to the scene has been recovered as exhibit.

The Command is making a concerted effort to arrest leaders of the syndicate, who are now at large, he said.

Mr Manzah said the suspects would be arraigned in court upon completion of investigation.

(NAN)
Exceeded primary endpoint target with 45.5% overall response rate, including 20% complete response rate, in 145-patient trial



On track for Biologics License Application (BLA) submission in 3Q 2020

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ADC Therapeutics SA, a clinical-stage oncology-focused biotechnology company pioneering the development and commercialization of highly potent antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) for patients suffering from hematological malignancies and solid tumors, today announced positive results from the pivotal 145-patient Phase 2 clinical trial of loncastuximab tesirine (ADCT-402) for the treatment of relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

To date, loncastuximab tesirine has achieved an overall response rate (ORR) of 45.5% (66/145 patients), including 20% complete responses and 25.5% partial responses, across a broad population of relapsed or refractory DLBCL patients, even those who are difficult to treat. Comparably, the ORR in the 183-patient Phase 1 clinical trial of loncastuximab tesirine at the initial dose used in Phase 2 was 41.4% (29/70 patients), including 21.4% complete responses and 20% partial responses. Loncastuximab tesirine has demonstrated manageable toxicity in patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL. The most common grade =3 treatment-emergent adverse events in the Phase 2 clinical trial were neutropenia, thrombocytopenia and increased gamma-glutamyltransferase.

Jay Feingold, MD, PhD, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at ADC Therapeutics, said, "These data exceeded our primary endpoint target and reinforce the significant single-agent anti-tumor activity and manageable toxicity profile of loncastuximab tesirine in patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL who have failed established therapies. Loncastuximab tesirine has demonstrated its potential to fill a critical unmet need for a new therapy and become a key part of the treatment paradigm for all heavily pretreated patients with DLBCL. We plan to present final data from the pivotal Phase 2 clinical trial at a future scientific meeting."

Chris Martin, Chief Executive Officer of ADC Therapeutics, said, "We look forward to submitting a BLA to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for accelerated approval of loncastuximab tesirine for the treatment of relapsed or refractory DLBCL patients who have failed two or more treatment regimens later this year and we are building our commercial organization in anticipation of a launch in the second quarter of 2021."

The single-arm, multi-center, open-label Phase 2 clinical trial evaluated the safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of loncastuximab tesirine as a monotherapy in patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL. Patients received 30-minute intravenous infusions of loncastuximab tesirine once every three weeks at a dose of 150 g/kg for the first two cycles, followed by 75 g/kg for subsequent cycles for up to one year or until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, or other discontinuation criteria, whichever occurred first.

About Loncastuximab Tesirine

Loncastuximab tesirine), a Phase 1b trial in combination with ibrutinib in patients with R/R DLBCL or mantle cell lymphoma) and a Phase 1b trial in combination with durvalumab in patients with R/R DLBCL, MCL or follicular lymphoma). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted orphan drug designation to loncastuximab tesirine for the treatment of R/R DLBCL and MCL.

About ADC Therapeutics

ADC Therapeutics SA is a clinical-stage oncology-focused biotechnology company pioneering the development and commercialization of highly potent and targeted antibody drug conjugates.
A Colorado diner has left the internet in stitches after charging a customer 38 cents for asking 'a stupid question' during the meal.

The customer in question, who failed to reveal the question asked, uploaded an image of their receipt from Tom's Diner in Denver on Reddit, which reads: '1 Stupid Question $0.38.'

Other items on the tab included: '1 Side Mashed Potatoes $2.99, 1 Chick Tenders Basket $9.00.'

Tom's Diner in Denver, Colorado charges customers for asking what it calls a 'stupid question'

A photo of a receipt posted by a customer clearly shows the 38 cent charge

Perhaps surprisingly, some Reddit users who came across the photo, most recently posted in a subreddit called 'me_[in real life],' were incredibly supportive of the waiter's move.

'If I got paid to listen to people's stupid questions I'd probably be a billionaire,' one person wrote.

Another user added: 'They charge you 38 cents? S---, if I charged for every stupid question I was asked, I'd be f-----[g] rich,' and another person commented, 'Omg I love Tom's diner!!'

In fact, some observers said simply asking a server what would qualify as a 'stupid question' warrants a charge all by itself.

And anyone who might have been offended by the humorous move should curb their outrage, because the restaurant is actually incredibly candid about its charging policies when it comes to stupid questions, even listing it in the sides section of the menu.

Tom's Diner in Denver lists the charge for a 'stupid question' on its menu

Known as an 'institution' by fans, Tom's Diner was recently listed on the National Register of Historic Places

'Stupid question' isn't the only unusual and somewhat humorous item on the menu.

Other options include: 'Skip Your Next Meal $ Money Well Saved' and 'Walk Home $ Priceless,' both of which appear under the Healthy Options section.

Known as an 'institution' by fans, Tom's Diner was recently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The diner may soon be under new ownership. The Denverite reports owner Tom Messina may be retiring. If that's true, the new owner may just remove that 'stupid question' charge.
A primary school teacher has had her teaching approval revoked after accusations she grabbed one colleague's buttocks while dancing the Macarena, sexually assaulted another, then walked around naked after a Christmas cruise.

Casual teacher Wendy Dighton's behaviour at the Riverstone Public School 2017 staff Christmas party was investigated by the NSW Department of Education's employee conduct unit (EPAC), which upheld the complaints and put her on the Not To Be Employed List.

Ms Dighton rejected all but one of the allegations - she admitted to being briefly naked in front of several colleagues - and filed an unfair dismissal application, which was rejected by the Industrial Relations Commission on Thursday.

The commission heard Ms Dighton, who had been a teacher for 14 years, was accused of dancing with an assistant principal during a harbour cruise, and rubbing her buttocks "against his genital area in a grinding motion".

He said the incident happened when Ms Dighton offered to teach him a new form of the Macarena, but began "grinding on" him in front of his wife and colleagues. She denied intentionally touching him, the commission heard.
Getting addiction diagnosis or treatment could make the difference between keeping and losing health care coverage for people with substance use disorder in 17 states

Low-income people with addiction, especially those with addiction to opioids, may find it hard to access the kind of care they need to recover no matter where they live, a new study suggests.

But treatment for opioid problems is especially scarce in states that may drop people from their Medicaid health insurance rolls -- unless they can show that they're working, in school, have a disability or are medically frail or receiving treatment for substance use disorder.

In addition, the study shows that states with Medicaid work requirements also have higher rates of opioid overdose deaths than other states - suggesting a need for increased overdose prevention efforts.

In a new paper in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, a pair of University of Michigan researchers looks at data from states that have sought or received federal government permission for Medicaid work requirements, and compares it with data from states that haven't.

They find that work requirement states tend to have fewer substance use disorder treatment facilities that offer care for opioid use disorder. They also have fewer health care providers certified to prescribe the medication buprenorphine, one of the most effective opioid addiction treatments.

High stakes, low availability

The researchers say their findings support a call for more access to substance use disorder treatment, and specifically to evidence-based opioid use disorder care, across the country.

But the stakes for patients are higher in work requirement states, because of the challenges to employment for people with these conditions and the potential for people to lose their Medicaid health coverage if they can't find a provider to diagnose or treat their substance use disorder.

Some states with work requirements apply their policy to all Medicaid enrollees, others only to the population covered by the Medicaid expansion program.

Starting in 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services invited states to apply for waivers to the Medicaid statute that would allow changes to their programs designed to increase employment and community engagement by enrollees.

Seventeen states have applied, and nine have received approval, though most of them have put their programs on hold because of a federal court case contesting the legal basis of the work requirement waiver.

All of the seventeen states except Alabama allow Medicaid participants to count substance use disorder treatment as a form of community engagement to fulfill their work requirement and keep their coverage, or to be exempt from the requirement if they have a formal substance use disorder diagnosis.

"Work requirement states are largely treating substance use disorder as a disability, but many want evidence of a diagnosis, or proof that they're taking part in an approved treatment program," says Paul Christine, M.D., Ph.D., the U-M internal medicine resident who led the analysis of data from several national databases to conduct the study. "If they're requiring this as a condition of eligibility, then it's important to know if treatment resources will be available. And it appears that work requirement states have lower addiction treatment availability, especially in states that have approved waivers."

Renuka Tipirneni, M.D., M.Sc., the assistant professor of internal medicine who worked with Christine on the study, has also studied the effects of Medicaid coverage on enrollees' mental and physical health, and ability to work.

"We know that gaining coverage is associated with better health and ability to be a productive part of society, and that losing coverage can have the opposite effect," she says. "States should increase the availability for substance use disorder treatment, and potentially account for the availability of this care when making decisions about Medicaid eligibility and enrollment."

The prevalence of substance use disorder was similar across states with and without Medicaid work requirements. But states with approved Medicaid work requirement waivers had a higher incidence of both overall overdose-related deaths and opioid-related overdose deaths, compared with states with pending or no work requirements

Increasing the availability of medication-based therapy for opioid use disorder is a priority nationwide, the authors say, and in states with Medicaid work requirements, failing to do so may have health and health insurance repercussions for individuals with substance use disorders.

###

The research was supported in part by the University of Michigan and the National Institutes of Health (AG056591). It was not conducted as part of the official evaluation of the state of Michigan's Medicaid expansion program being conducted by a team at the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation of which Tipirneni is part.

Reference: JGIM, January 2020, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-019-05623-1
BOSTON

Jan. 7, 2020

Ed Hausman

Lexington, Massachusetts

Kathmandu, Nepal

/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Deerwalk, Inc., an innovative population health management, data management, and healthcare analytics software company is proud to introduce new stop loss reporting functionality. This new reporting provides a "one-stop shop" for stop loss reporting and is available with the latest release of Plan Analytics, Deerwalk's interoperable healthcare reporting and analytics application.From within Plan Analytics, clients now have access to a data entry portal and two new reports, Specific Stop Loss (i.e., Individual Stop Loss) and Aggregate Stop Loss. The data entry portal allows users to enter a group's stop loss contract parameters to calculate specific or aggregate stop loss, including custom parameters such as lasered members, run-in and run-out provisions, and uncommon (i.e., non-January) contract renewal months. The reports generate an overall financial picture by combining the input contract parameters with medical/pharmacy claims and eligibility data.Reporting that integrates the actual paid claims experience and accounts for specific contract variables simplifies analysis, allowing for a comprehensive understanding of how a group is performing in relation to its stop loss policy. Armed with this information, healthcare decision makers can more accurately assess exposure to fluctuating claims costs, easily track where a group is in terms of meeting its stop loss deductible and reimbursement levels, and plan accordingly for budgeting for contractual purposes.Deerwalk's Vice President of Productstated, "From our experience working with a client base that includes over 45 third party administrators, as well as brokers and stop loss entities, we were aware of the need for a better, centralized solution for stop loss reporting. We've solved for this by designing a tool that draws on our data expertise to deliver easy-to-use stop loss reporting that is specific to each group's unique situation and can be easily run and distributed."Not only does Deerwalk's stop loss reporting provide a clearer, more detailed overall picture, but having all this data in one place eliminates the need to collect information from disparate sources (such as carriers, claims databases, and numerous reporting tools) that must then be compiled and reconciled with the stop loss contract. Deerwalk's dynamic reporting replaces this manual work, essentially automating this time-consuming process by bringing together all of the critical pieces of information into one place to quickly generate a report that can be shared with stakeholders.To see a live demo of this new functionality, visit info.deerwalk.com/demorequest or reach out to Tim Huke, Chief Growth Officer at Deerwalk, at (949) 233-4908 or thuke@deerwalk.com.About Deerwalk, Inc. Deerwalk is an innovative population health management, data management, and healthcare analytics software company based in. Founded in 2010, Deerwalk is privately held with over 300 employees worldwide, including a technology campus in. We partner with industry leaders responsible for making decisions for the health of a population to optimize costs and improve the quality of care. Deerwalk offers a complete population health management suite built on a foundation of data integrity that delivers reliable data insights and actionable intelligence. To learn more, visit http://www.deerwalk.com.SOURCE Deerwalk, Inc.
A 79-year-old man returning from church tackled a masked intruder he discovered in his rural Co Fermanagh home, the High Court heard today.

Prosecutors said the pensioner managed to rip fingertips off the trespasser's rubber gloves, with subsequent DNA tests confirming a match to the man charged with the burglary.

Silvester Crumlish, of O'Kane Park in Omagh, is accused of stealing a 200 gold watch during the break-in on November 30 last year.

Refusing bail to the 31-year-old, Mr Justice Maguire said: "This offence is of a particularly heinous variety."

Crown lawyer Johnny Connolly said the victim and his 77-year-old wife came back from an evening church service to discover cleaning products scattered in the hall of their bungalow at Rocorn in Belleek.

A masked man then emerged from the couple's bedroom and tried to run past the couple.

"Bravely (the husband) grabbed this male and in the process he ripped two fingertips from the rubber gloves the male was wearing," Mr Connolly said.

The raider, who managed to escape, is believed to have used a screwdriver to gain entry through a bedroom window.

Forensic tests resulted in Crumlish's DNA being found on the pieces of glove, the court heard.

Defence counsel accepted a prima facie case has been established against his client.

According to the judge, however, "strong" evidence links Crumlish to the burglary.

As he denied bail, Mr Justice Maguire stressed the need to protect other vulnerable members of the public.

He said: "This was an elderly man and his wife coming back from Mass in a rural area, and finding somebody had invaded their house.

"(The man) rightly or wrongly tackled him. It may not have been the wisest thing for him to have done, faced with a younger man."
A WSWS reporting team recently spoke with residents from Balmoral, a village some 100 kilometres from Sydney, which is among the many communities ravaged by the intense bushfires of the past four months.

Balmoral has a population of just over 400 people and is southwest of Sydney, in the Southern Highlands region of New South Wales. Between December 19 and December 21, the village was repeatedly hit by fires, resulting in the destruction of 22 houses, or 15 percent of all homes in the community. The area also suffered a widespread power outage.

Fire fighters trying to save homes outside the Balmoral Rural Fire Service Station (Source Local resident)

The defence of the community depended almost exclusively on volunteer firefighters, with little or no assistance from state or federal authorities.

In April last year, Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused to hold a meeting with former fire chiefs who insisted that the states were not adequately prepared for the coming fire season and warned that the potential destruction could surpass previous years.

Morrisons indifference is indicative of the attitude of the entire political establishment, including the opposition Labor Party. Successive federal and state Labor and Liberal-National governments have refused to adequately fund fire-fighting forces or carry out any measures to reduce global warming that may impinge on the profits of the major corporations. As a result, the Rural Fire Service in NSW lacks necessary resources and equipment.

Remains of a Balmoral home

The contrast between the responses of the government and that of ordinary people could not be starker. Workers and volunteers in Balmoral and around the country have courageously sought to defend the homes and lives of those around them. Many have taken weeks off from work, using up their sick leave and holidays to fight the fires. Volunteers have to purchase their own equipment if they want items such as proper fitting gas masks and portable radios.

Balmoral does not have a connection to the state water supply and relies on tanks and private reserves for water. So intense were the fires that the village ran out of water on December 21 and tanks were brought in from other towns to assist, but they quickly ran out as well. The experiences in Balmoral are a microcosm of the conditions facing communities across the country as a result of the current bushfires.

Balmoral Fire Captain Brendan O'Connor

Brendan OConnor is the Balmoral fire captain and works for the local council. He has taken at least four weeks off from work to fight the fires and called a meeting to warn residents of the fire danger and organise for people to evacuate.

OConnor commented on the lack of payments for volunteers, stating: Theres got to be something new. Theres thousands of firefighters on the ground every day and their businesses are suffering. I was supposed to be going to my nieces wedding in Queensland in April but I dont have holidays to do that now. Its hard because we all want to do what we can, not only for our local community but for the greater community.

The impact of the fires, he continued, is a drain on every part of the nation, not only NSW, but were thinking, what is our government doing at the moment? The recovery is hard. Everything we have known and loved, most of its been turned upside down. About 90 percent of our bushland has gone now.

Sydney Childrens Choir

As WSWS reporters were speaking to residents, a group of school students from the Sydney Childrens Choir gave a performance at the Balmoral fire station to raise money for one of their members and his family whose house had been incinerated. The children have raised almost $10,000 for the family, who are not insured.

Residents described how they have received multiple donations of food and water, including from a Lebanese community in Sydney who drove down to Balmoral with supplies.

Donations for fire victims in the Balmoral Fire Station

Rosemary also lost her house and everything in it on December 21. She praised the firefighters and denounced the lack of resources provided to them by the government.

The volunteers are supposed to have the most modern masks and gear and they dont! Its very frustrating. The prime minister said, the volunteers want to be there. These people want to save their community, thats why they are here. That is no justification for them not being properly resourced and certainly no justification for us not to pay them, she said. Where in the world does this happen like it happens in Australia? We seem to take the volunteers for granted?

They were even told to stand down and to leave the village but they wouldnt go. In the end, other firefighters were stopped from coming in because the risk was too high. Later that night, when they finally did get through, I saw them speaking to Brendan, the captain, and crying because they tried to get here, and they couldnt in time. It is very traumatic for lots of people.

Rosemary

Referring to the 2009 Victorian bushfires that claimed 173 lives and destroyed over 2,000 homes, Rosemary said, Did we learn anything from what happened in Melbourne? If they made recommendations it shouldnt be for just one state, its a national issue.

If the premier declared a state of emergency, why doesnt she pull out all stops? Weve seen a few suits come down to the station over the last week but they didnt go and talk to anyone, they were just there for the camera. Politicians talk about fire plans and we are all supposed to have them but Im not too sure that they had a very good fire plan. They didnt plan for the worst case scenario for this village. They just did the bare minimum.

Rosemary and other residents were forced to take shelter in the local fire station. The firie [firefighter] who had told me that they couldnt save my house was standing there [in the station] They walked me across the road and I saw my house burning down. And with what little water they had left they were trying to save the two houses on either side of mine. They [the authorities] didnt even take into account that the village runs on tank water.

Fire fighters battling flames attacking properties in Balmoral (Source Local resident)

The scariest part was being told to get some towels, wet them down and start covering the edges. I was telling myself this isnt good. Then the smoke started to come in and you looked up at the windows and it was just red. We could hear the fire and felt it and saw it coming towards the station. Ive never felt so claustrophobic in my life.

The generator went out, which not only operated the lights but also the sprinkler system on the roof. I heard that we had to be water bombed. It may well not have burnt down but I dont know how well we would have survived with the smoke and the heat.

Paul, a Balmoral resident, school principal and veteran firefighter who volunteered during the 2001 and 2013 fires said, Nothing compares to what we saw. We were attacked by fire from every direction possible. It was determined to get us.

My plan was to stay at all costs. I had a sprinkler system on the house, I have a fire pump, and I had done preparation around the house. That would have worked if it was a normal bushfire but the conditions we had on Saturday were just unbelievable. I dread to think how high the flames were.

At that point I thought this is not defendable so I went to plan B and jumped off the veranda, put the sprinkler system on, and ran up to the Landcruiser. As I drove up both sides of my driveway were on fire and that was within 20 seconds of the fire coming out of the gully.

When you think about 140 houses and two trucks, the resources just arent there. I saw footage of choppers waiting their turn to drop their bucket into a dam and fill it up. On that Saturday afternoon, we ran out of water. There wasnt enough to fight the fires.

Paul

Paul, 51, described the frustration of many residents over the authorities failure to mitigate the effects of bushfires. The fuel load in the bush was nearly knee high so when you get really hot days and theres a fire you cant stop it. Theres only one way you can get rid of that fuel, youve got to burn, theres absolutely no choice in that.

I know people have been trying to burn for years, they have been approaching the local fire brigade, but they have to go further up the food chain, so in the end its bureaucracy and red tape preventing it happening.

Im disgusted with it. Ive come this close to losing everything. Ive lived in the surrounding district all my life and they always back burn. Every year the firies have their set routines but that doesnt happen anymore. The last time would have been 10 years ago in Tahmoor

Its a whole host of events all rolled into one creating catastrophic conditions, climate change, global warming, whatever they want to call it. Weve been through tough times before but nothing like this. The size of fires is unprecedented. All the resources are stretched to breaking point.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are stepping down as "senior" royals. [Photo: Getty]

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have announced they will be stepping down as senior members of the Royal Family.

The news was announced last night, shortly after their six-week break from royal duties.

The couple made the shock revelation both on their new website and on Instagram, explaining how they would be splitting their time between the UK and North America.

They also mentioned that they intend to become financially independent, but questions were asked as to what - if anything - taxpayers will be contributing to.

So, whats next for the couple?

READ MORE: Meghan Markles father disappointed by their decision

Royal expert, Omid Scobie, suspects that 2020 will look almost the same as it did before the news broke.

The focus is very much going to be on Harry and Meghan launching the Sussex royal foundation, theyve made it very clear on their new website that that has major global aspirations.

The pairs charitable endeavours take up a large portion of their new website, which details their plans to shape their charitable entity to respond to these pressing needs.

Theyve been working on what has been described as a charitable entity for some time with an overall aim to advance the solutions the world needs most.

They will continue with their charitable plans. [Photo: Getty]

How will the part-time role work within the Royal Family?

Although theyre not the first royals to take a step back from their duties, it remains to be seen exactly how theyll navigate what theyve described as a new working model.

There has been no mention so far about what the royal protocol will be. For example, whether they will they have to remain neutral on global issues.

They have also trademarked over 100 Sussex Royal goods and services.

This covers social care services like counselling and teaching materials, but also extends to clothing and printed materials. This could suggest a step into a clothing line, merchandise or a book/magazine.

Story continues

READ MORE: A closer look at where their income will come from

Where will they live?

They will split their time between North America - most likely California where Meghans mother, Doria Ragland, lives - and the UK. They will continue to live at Frogmore Cottage while in the UK.

The Queen maintains the upkeep of Frogmore Cottage as part of the Monarchs responsibility to maintain buildings of historical significance.

Meghan and Harry will continue to foot the bill for fixtures, furnishings, and fittings as they have done previously but theres no mention as of yet whether they will be required to give any extra money to the Queen by way of rent.

READ MORE: A look at Meghan Markles first outfit of the year

What will they do for jobs?

There has been public speculation that Meghan Markle might segue back into acting or running her lifestyle blog, The Tig, but this hasnt been addressed by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who remain resolute in their bid to launch their charity.

This is a couple who want to change the world and do it in a way and speed that members of the royal family dont necessarily work. Royal expert, Omid Scobie, continued.

They sense an urgency for some of the issues that they get engaged with, theyre going to focus on that this year, there wont be so much in terms of traditional royal work, I dont think we will see Harry and Meghan taking on new patronages.

But I think they will still go ahead and do a royal route at the request of the foreign office in the name of her majesty, and thats where well see them toe the line between working royals and privately funded officials.

Prince Harry is currently sixth in line to the throne behind Prince Charles, Prince William and his children George, Charlotte and Louis and will continue to hold that position.

Archie was born eight months ago in May 2019. [Photo: Getty]

What does the rest of the Royal Family think about their decision?

Buckingham Palace responded with a statement that they understand the couples decision but these are complicated issues which will take time to work through.

Duncan Larcombe, a royal author and commentator, said the Queen will be perplexed by their decision.

If you ask the Queen this morning what this means and how it will work I think shell look just as perplexed as everybody else, he told Yahoo UK.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo Style UK:
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- RALIANCE, a national nonprofit partnership dedicated to ending sexual violence in one generation, is pleased to announce business leader S. Renee Smith will serve as Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer. Today's announcement follows the recent launch of RALIANCE Business, an innovative resource center that provides companies and organizations with strategies and solutions to help prevent and respond to all forms of sexual misconduct in the workplace and across business operations.

Smith brings more than 20 years of experience in leadership and talent and brand development. As a workplace expert, she has worked with some of the nation's top organizations and distinguished leaders including Cigna, Merrill Lynch, Walmart and the Society for Human Resources (SHRM). As Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer, Smith will play a key role in advancing RALIANCE's efforts to partner with executives and leaders across all industries to create safe and more respectful cultures and customer experiences.

"I was harassed on a job so I committed my life's work to shatter old beliefs and mental constructs that hinder an organization's progress," said Smith. "Sexual misconduct, harassment and assault and how we respond to incidents are among the most urgent and pressing challenges of our time. I'm honored to be a part of this critical conversation and movement."

"We are excited to have S. Renee join our team," said RALIANCE Executive Director Ebony Tucker. "Her impressive leadership experience in business, branding and communications will prove invaluable as RALIANCE seeks to partner with organizations and business leaders from all industries in building stronger, safer and more equitable workplaces and communities."

Smith graduated cum laude from Delaware State University. Previously, she served as director of public relations, advisor to a president in academia and a television host, producer and spokesperson for Paramount (UPN-Philadelphia). She is the author of six self-development books on leadership and communication. She's been an advocate for equal educational opportunities.

RALIANCE is a national partnership dedicated to ending sexual violence in one generation. RALIANCE partners with a wide range of organizations to improve their cultures and create environments free from sexual harassment, misconduct and abuse. Every day, RALIANCE helps leaders establish safe workplaces and strong communities by advancing research, influencing policy and supporting innovative programs. RALIANCE is based in Washington, DC and combines decades of experience and resources from three leading national sexual violence prevention organizations into a single, unified force. Visit us at www.RALIANCE.org for more information.

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Liberal MP Craig Kelly has fired back at 'lefty trolls' on social media after he was slammed for claiming arsonists were behind Australia's bushfire crisis.

The federal politician and climate skeptic 'thanked' his critics in a bizarre Facebook post on Wednesday, before accusing them of being indoctrinated.

'Firstly, thanks for demonstrating how brainwashed you are, and your inability to articulate a single logical alternate argument shows that you are losing the debate,' he wrote.

'And secondly, and more importantly, thanks for helping spread the facts and the data which undermines your simplistic groupthink and cultish beliefs.

'For every time you post a "comment" this helps with the Facebook algorithms and results in the facts in my posts appearing on more and more people's newsfeeds.'

Scroll down for video

Liberal MP Craig Kelly 'thanked' his critics in a bizarre Facebook post on Wednesday, as he accused them of being 'brainwashed'

The social media rant came days after the 56-year-old was involved in an on-air row with British weather presenter Laura Tobin, who accused him of being a 'climate change denier' on Good Morning Britain

The post received thousands of comments with many people voicing their support for the MP.

'Keep sticking it to them Craig. When you know you're hitting a raw nerve, keep on going. We're with you all the way mate,' one said.

Mr Kelly, who has held a seat for NSW electorate of Hughes since 2010, has been a longtime critic of climate change supporters and has opposed government efforts to tackle the issue.

He earlier put forward his opinion on why the country is gripped in a fire emergency during an appearance on ABC's RN Breakfast show.

'Unprecedented' numbers of people had been arrested and charged with arson offences, he claimed. 'The arson is not caused by climate change.'

The social media rant came days after the 56-year-old was involved in an on-air row with British weather presenter Laura Tobin, who accused him of being a 'climate change denier.'

Mr Kelly appeared on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday where he said there was 'simply no' evidence to suggest a long-term trend towards a warming climate.

He also claimed that the idea that lower carbon dioxide emissions could reduce bushfires was 'nonsense'.

'What causes the main thing of the fires is the build up of the fuel on the ground and the drought,' he told Ms Tobin and co-host Piers Morgan.

The post received thousands of comments with many people voicing their support for the MP

Australian backbencher Craig Kelly (pictured) told Good Morning Britain hosts there was 'no link' between climate change and the fires, putting the blame on arson instead

Miss Tobin responded in a scathing Twitter post saying she was a qualified meteorologist with a degree in physics

He also defended Prime Minister Scott Morrison's decision to holiday in Hawaii amid the crisis.

Ms Tobin hit back at Mr Kelly saying: 'We want everyone in the world to lower the global temperature rise by 1.5C, you [Australia] can't even commit to 2C.

'You have the second highest carbon emission on earth and you are burying your head in the sand.

'You're not a climate sceptic - you're a climate denier.'

Following the interview, Mr Kelly took to Twitter to call Ms Tobin an 'ignorant Pommy weather girl'.

He later told ABC News that Tobin 'had no idea what she was talking about.'

Ms Tobin responded in a scathing Twitter post saying she was a qualified meteorologist with a degree in physics, adding: 'I'm not a weather girl.'

Mr Kelly later apologised for his comments.

This map shows the statistics across each state of Australia where people have been charged for lighting fires

Today Show host Karl Stefanovic later praised Ms Tobin for how she handled the stoush and said Mr Kelly 'probably didn't mean the apology'.

Mr Kelly is on the right wing of the Liberal Party and had heavily criticised former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull's controversial plan for a national energy and emissions policy.

More than 180 people have been arrested accused of deliberately lighting bushfires since the start of the horror season which has left 25 dead and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.

On the New South Wales south coast, where at least nine people have died since the fire season picked up in October, 29 blazes have been deliberately lit.

So far 24 people across the state have been charged with starting blazes in the bush, while a further 159 have been charged or cautioned over less serious fire offences.

Scientists believe climate change is amplifying the conditions necessary for firestorms to form.

Physicist Scott Menor said that even if all the fires were started by arson, 'climate change made the difference between throwing a match in water to throwing it in gasoline'.

In addition, analysis by Dr Timothy Graham from the Queensland University of Technology suggests that there may be a deliberate misinformation campaign on Twitter to cast doubt on the effect of climate change.

Small fires along the eastern edge of the Currowan fire still burn on the Princes Highway near in Milton




RTE has been ordered to pay a former senior TV producer 100,000 compensation after forcing her to retire at 65.

The cash-strapped station now faces the threat of further claims after the Workplace Relations Commission made the award to Anne Roper.

It comes as Dancing with the Stars contender and former RTE presenter Mary Kennedy said she was sad to leave Nationwide due to the stations compulsory retirement age.

She said it was ridiculous to be saying to people, just because theyre 65, that thats the end of it. However, she said she would just have to accept it as thats the rule.

Ms Roper took a discrimination claim under equality legislation after the station refused to allow her to work for a further 18 months when she reached 65.

She claimed the decision to terminate her employment discriminated against her on the grounds of her age. In a decision seen by the Irish Independent, adjudication officer

Catherine Byrne said as a result of her compulsory retirement on July 9, 2018, Ms Roper was discriminated against on age grounds.

She said she made the decision although she was "mindful of the finding" in the context of the precariousness of RTE's funding and "the need to find radical ways to reduce costs".

She said the claim was well founded and directed RTE to pay Ms Roper 100,000, equal to a year's salary.

In 1997, Ms Roper was appointed senior producer in television after working at the station for nine years.

Ahead of her 65th birthday, she was invited to attend a retirement planning course and she made it known to the HR department she wanted to stay at work for 18 more months. But by April 2018, it became clear RTE would not allow her to stay on.

Seamus Dooley of the NUJ said her contract made no mention of a retirement date or an age at which she must retire. He said excluding over 65s as producers sent a negative message to the audience.

RTE argued that freeing up Ms Roper's role enabled a younger person to be promoted. Marguerite Bolger, representing RTE, argued there was no other means of achieving intergenerational fairness in the grade.

It conceded that in exceptional circumstances, certain employees have been permitted to remain working beyond 65 but this was not such a case.

Their expertise was used for work such as the Olympics or at election time. While RTE accepted it had discretion to offer her further work after her retirement, it said the exceptional circumstances didn't arise in her case.

However, Ms Byrne said she was not satisfied RTE had shown "there is a connection between the complainant's retirement at age 65 and the broadcaster's objective to encourage intergenerational fairness".

She said it must be the case that the closure in 2017 of the young people's programmes department "had the effect of cutting off the supply of young programme-makers coming up through the organisation".

"While I have no issue with the employment of people in their 70s, the retention of older presenters based on their 'on air' appeal fails to open attractive jobs for younger employees," she said.

She said this must contribute to the career stagnation that RTE's witnesses said closed off promotion for young people.

It is not illegal for employers to set a compulsory retirement age but there has to be "objective justification".

In a statement, RTE said it is reviewing the WRC's decision.
H ouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi is facing growing pressure from her own Democratic Party to stop delaying Donald Trumps impeachment trial in the Senate.

Senior Senate Democrats have urged Mrs Pelosi to end a stand-off with Republicans over how the trial will be run and hand over the articles of impeachment.

The demands came as the Senates Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell accused the House Speaker of shameless game playing and vowed there would be no haggling over the rules with Democrat leaders.

He also accused Mrs Pelosi of trying to keep Mr Trump in limbo.

US President Donald Trump / AFP via Getty Images

Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein said patience was growing thin over the delaying tactics.

The longer it goes on the less urgent it becomes, she told Bloomberg News. So if its serious and urgent, send them over. If it isnt, dont send it over.

Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein / AFP via Getty Images

I respect the fact that [Pelosi] is concerned about the fact about whether or not there will be a fair trial, but I do think it is time to get on with it, added another Democrat Senator, Chris Coons.

Unbowed, Mrs Pelosi last night refused to be drawn on when she would hand over the articles.

They were drawn up after the Democrat-controlled House voted last month to impeach the President for allegedly abusing his power by withholding military aid, in a bid to pressure Ukraine into launching an investigation into his Democrat rival Joe Bidens business dealings.

Only when the impeachment articles are formally delivered to the upper chamber can the trial proceedings begin.

Clearly irked by the row, Mrs Pelosi insisted: I said when we saw what the arena is that we would be sending members in, then we would send over the articles.

"We havent seen that, so I dont know how many more times I have to say that and how many times you want to ask it.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi / AP

Privately, many Democrats have already accepted that the impeachment attempt is doomed to failure.

They were angered by Mr McConnells claim that he will work in total co-ordination with the White House during the trial but the balance of power in the Senate, where the Republicans hold a 53 votes to 47 majority, means it is almost certain that Mr Trump will ultimately be acquitted.
Photo credit: CAPT. ROBYN HAAKE - Getty Images

From Popular Mechanics

Anonymous text messages claiming the receiver has been drafted into the U.S. Army are popping up on cell phones across America.

The Army has disavowed the messages, claiming that its not even the agency that would manage a Draft.

Although U.S. men must register for the Selective Service, it would take an act of Congress to bring the Draft back.

A mysterious set of text messages is making the rounds, telling American civilians to get ready to ship out to Iranor face jail time. The problem: the texts arent really from the U.S. Army or Selective Service. The Army says it didnt send the messages, but doesnt know who did.

The messages started going out across the country after the assassination of Iraqi general Qassem Soleimani. The text messages are vaguely familiar to anyone who has gotten a fake IRS text message, claiming that the recipient is in trouble for non-compliancein this case the draftand faces jail time. Only by complying with the scam can the recipient set things straight. As you'd expect, the texts are in poorly worded English. One variation goes like this:

United States Official Army Draft (sic), we tried contacting you through mail several times and have had no response (sic). Youve been marked eligible and must come to the nearest branch (sic) in Jacksonville Florida for immediate departure to Iran. Please contact us at the following number [redacted] and respond to this message immediately.

US Army Recruiting Battalion. Ask for [redacted] Jacksonville Recruiting Battalion [redacted].

Were aware that this number is not disconnected, youll be fined and sent to jail for minimum 6 years (sic) if no reply.

The U.S. Army has put out a statement on the text messages, saying, U.S. Army Recruiting Command has received multiple calls and emails about these fake text messages and wants to ensure Americans understand these texts are false and were not initiated by this command or the U.S. Army.

Story continues

The Army goes on to state that the federal Selective Service System, not the armed services, is in charge of the draft system. Its a totally different pipeline: Selective Service deals with draftees, while recruiters are responsible for inducting volunteers.

Photo credit: Bettmann - Getty Images

The draft, also known as conscription, has been utilized for almost every major American war, starting with the Revolutionary War, then the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Cold War (Korea and Vietnam). The Draft was ended in 1973 at the tail end of the Vietnam War, but American men are still required to sign up with Selective Service in case the draft is reactivated.

Could government reinstate the draft? It could, but doing so would require an act of Congress. The U.S. military dislikes the draft and would prefer it not return. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Space Force would rather induct willing volunteers than reluctant draftees.

If for some highly unlikely reason the Selective Service did reinstate the draft, the system would probably start assigning numbers to groups of American men by age group and using the lottery system. Although nerve-wracking and suspenseful, a nationwide lottery would probably be the fairest way to run a draft. Its unlikely that such a system would rely on the internet as there would be too much inducement to hack a computer system or bring it crashing down. It will probably, like past drafts, use the U.S. Mail.

Photo credit: Screenshot

The Selective Service System web site has crashed several times since the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, and is down right now.



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OTTAWA - Canadian and foreign intelligence indicates dozens of Canadians were killed by a potentially errant Iranian missile that downed their jetliner near Tehran this week, sparking a quest for answers that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested might take years.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/1/2020 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA - Canadian and foreign intelligence indicates dozens of Canadians were killed by a potentially errant Iranian missile that downed their jetliner near Tehran this week, sparking a quest for answers that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested might take years.

Trudeau said Thursday that multiple sources show that an Iranian surface-to-air missile downed the Ukraine International Airlines flight that crashed near Tehran on Wednesday. It killed all 176 people on board, including 138 passengers bound for Canada.

The crash came after a week of soaring tensions in the Middle East, and just hours after Iran launched missile attacks on bases in Iraq where American and allied troops are stationed. Iran said the attacks were retaliation for the American killing of Maj.-Gen. Qassem Soleimani near Baghdad last week.

Trudeau said it was too soon to blame any particular country for Canada's losses, including the United States. Trudeau repeatedly said there needs to be a complete and thorough investigation to get "a complete picture of what happened."

"The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. This may well have been unintentional," Trudeau told a Parliament Hill news conference Thursday afternoon.

He declined to offer other details about the nature of the information in Canada's hands but added that "the preliminary conclusions we've been able to draw based on intelligence and evidence today are clear enough for me to share them with Canadians right now."

Trudeau said he knows the news will compound the suffering of grieving families. "My thoughts instantly went to how much harder this must make it for those families who are experiencing just a terrible amount of grief right now."

The plane crashed minutes after taking off from Tehran's airport, apparently on fire as it went down.

Earlier Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested he believes Iran was responsible, without laying direct blame.

"Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side," Trump said in a Washington news conference, noting the plane was flying in a "pretty rough neighbourhood."

Rescue workers search the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed as the bodies of victims in body bags lie on the ground, in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. A Ukrainian airplane with more than 170 people crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff from Tehran's main airport, killing all onboard. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

"Some people say it was mechanical," Trump added. "I personally don't think that's even a question."

Trudeau said he had no comment on what Trump had said.

Iran's civil aviation authority is leading the investigation, under international rules for probes of such crashes. Late Thursday Canada's Transportation Safety Board confirmed it has been invited by the authority to "attend the accident site."

"We have accepted this invitation and we are making arrangements to travel to the site," the board said in a statement.

Before the western leaders began saying publicly they believed the airliner had been shot down, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted Hasan Rezaeifa, the head of the Iranian investigation commission, claiming that "the topics of rocket, missile or anti-aircraft system is ruled out."

Trudeau said Canadian consular officials are headed to Turkey and that Iran would be open to issuing visas so they can enter the country. He said Iran has indicated "an openness" to Canada taking part in an investigation. Canada and Iran broke off diplomatic relations in 2012.

Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne spoke to his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, about the need for Canadian officials to be allowed into Iran to provide consular services, help with identification of the deceased and to take part in the investigation.

Champagne also told Zarif that Canada condemned Iran's missile attacks against the military bases in Iraq, one of which holds Canadian troops. He described the conversation as "open and encouraging."

Trudeau spoke to several world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Dutch Prime Minister Marc Rutte and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Trudeau said Zelensky told him that the Iranians planned to keep the plane's black boxes in their country but would allow Ukrainian investigators access to the vital flight data they contain. Zelensky pledged Ukraine's full co-operation with Canada.

Rutte, meanwhile, provided insights into the investigation led by the Netherlands  lasting more than five years and counting  into the similar July 2014 crash of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 after it departed Amsterdam. That airplane was struck by a missile and crashed in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. The plane was travelling at the height of Russia's military action against Ukraine.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a news conference updating the Iran plane crash in Ottawa on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, as Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan looks on. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

"(Rutte) talked about the fact that he had multiple conversations with Russian authorities, including Vladimir Putin in the days following the Malaysian Airlines downing," Trudeau related.

Rutte also told Trudeau of the need to keep families informed, especially in the early stages.

Trudeau said Canada is now embarking on "a difficult process of establishing the truth and the facts of what happened."

The Iranians offered no immediate explanation for the disaster. Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, a notion initially backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldn't speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

The plane was also carrying 82 Iranians, 11 Ukrainian passengers and crew, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons.

Trudeau noted that the majority of the victims were Iranian citizens "and this is something that binds us together in our grief." But he emphasized: "Canadians want answers. I want answers. That means closure, transparency, accountability and justice. And this government will not rest until we get that."

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Canada has pressed Iran on the need for a credible investigation that gives international partners "on site" access to the crash, he added.

"The Iranians have indicated that they understand that," Trudeau said.

The prime minister said Canadian expertise in investigating air disasters is "world class. We have much to contribute and we have lost much in the loss of so many Canadian lives  so many families across this country grieving.

"We will be involved."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 9, 2020.

 with files from the Associated Press
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Members of the British royal family and all those besotted types who watch their every move with bated breath are in quite the tizzy these days.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, otherwise known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have announced that they will give up their royal duties, step away from Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the family, and, horror of horrors, spend a lot of their time in Canada.

Its the biggest royal scandal since Edward VIII gave up the throne for the woman that I love, American divorcee Wallis Simpson, in 1936. Or at least since Yoko Ono and Linda Eastman broke up the Beatles.

Cherchez la femme, as they say. And, hey, Megxit headlines sure beat more chatter about pervy Prince Andrew. This is The Crown as reality TV.

Harry and Meghan, who have captivated the world in that vapid way that only good-looking, rich young people with title can, apparently want to earn their own incomes instead of relying on the largesse of U.K. taxpayers to fund their lavish lifestyle.

Well, bravo for them! Politicians in the U.S. living off our taxpayer dollars could take a lesson from the pair.

Still, the royal household is in an absolute uproar. You dont just leave the royal family. There are rules here. Very old rules. Theres the monarchy to think about. Our loyal subjects, who look up to us as role models as well as tourist attractions. Think of the damage to the family brand! You dont just ponce off to North America with your Hollywood wife.

Royal gossips say that the queen et al are incandescent with rage at Harry. The family accepted Meghan. Gave the couple the fairy-tale wedding they wanted. Gave them the duties that they wanted. Money. Staff. Homes.

And this is how Harry and Meghan re-pay them? Off with their heads!

But you can see where Harry is coming from. Hes never going to be king. Hes got the queen, Prince Charles, Prince William and Williams kids clogging the line of succession ahead of him. Who wouldnt want to strike out on their own? And generations of Europeans have come to the New World to start over. Nothing new here.

Besides, the duke and duchess will still have royal Frogmore Cottage to fall back on as a U.K. base. Only in Merry Olde England can a 200-year-old, 10-bedroom mansion on 33 acres on the grounds of Windsor Castle be called a cottage.

I understand the great royal tradition, the function it can serve. People need a diversion from the nitty-gritty of how a country is really run. And the royal family is a reminder to ordinary Brits of the time when they used to rule the world.

And yes, this younger generation of royals seems more down to earth. At least Wills and Kate and the rest seem to realize that they must appear as if theyre not too snobby. They cant be the off-the-hook tabloid fodder that Charles, Andrew, Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson were (and continue to be, in Andrews case).

But enough is enough. How many royals do we actually need? Nobodys going to miss two fewer mouths at the castle trough.

I wish Harry and Meghan the best. Although they may find that many of their pals might not be so friendly now that the duke and duchess are the outlaws of the royal family. What do you mean you cant get me into Balmoral, mate? That fairy dust is going to wear off a bit.

But earning your own living can be rewarding, kids. Welcome to the working week.
And yet slowly but surely, it seems, that taboo is being broken down by a new generation of workers. Forget talking about our sex lives. The modern woman is talking about money.

And why wouldnt she be?

Talking to a colleague can help pinpoint the going rate or range, particularly in newer industries, or creative fields, where there isnt a precedent (or information on websites like Payscale or Salary.com). For younger workers, one of the ways of moving up is often to take on additional duties, only to then realize, as one friend recently did, that you wont necessarily be paid for the work.

(That friend, who is preparing to negotiate a raise during her annual review, as many of you may now be, told me she had collected the salaries of five of her peers in five different departments, each of whom has a full-time job that encompasses some of the work she has taken on. Each of them makes more money than her.)

And, of course, theres that whole wage-gap thing. How can you know youre being paid less than other races or genders if you dont know what your colleagues make?

[Read more: Want to Close the Pay Gap? Pay Transparency Will Help]

My personality is not to look at it, not to think about it. Its not my goal in life to become rich, and its not what drives me, said Lotte Marie Allen, 31, who works in arts education at the School of Visual Arts in New York. But I know that, especially for women, money is one of the necessary things to talk about  like broccoli or something.

And so, like anything, she has practiced. She said that she and a friend recently shared their salary figures during a walk in the park by her home. I have a very close inner circle of friends, Ms. Allen said. I talk about money, politics and sex with them all the time.
Squirmed for a bit before going still: The final moments of Nirbhayas killers

As Nirbhayas killers get closer to gallows, a look at death sentences in India

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 09: With a Delhi court on Tuesday ordering the hanging of four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case for January 22, here is a look at India's record on death penalties and their execution.

The convicts have time till then to file curative petitions in the top court which may or may not be entertained, legal experts said.

Apart from filing curative pleas, every other legal remedy has been exhausted by them, the experts said.

"They will be filing a curative. That is the only remedy left. Otherwise, everything is final. Nobody can stop it (the curative pleas) but will it be entertained is the question. They have time till January 22," senior advocate Ajit Sinha said.

Nirbhaya case: Ready to hang convicts, will bring 'great relief' to me: Meerut hangman Pawan Jallad

Parliament had last year expanded the scope of the death penalty by introducing it in cases of rape of girls below 12 years under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO).

5 months after J&K special status revoked, foreign panel visits UT | OneIndia News

As per the Project 39A report on the death penalty released by National Law University in Delhi, between 2000 and 2014 trial courts sentenced 1,810 people to death. More than half of these sentences were commuted to life imprisonment, and 443 people or about a quarter of the convicts, were acquitted by the Supreme Court and high courts.

The Supreme Court had upheld the death sentence of 73 of these prisoners, out of which many had already spent a decade on death row.

The Supreme Court in 2018 commuted 11 death sentences to life imprisonment while confirming them in three cases in the review plea hearing of the Nirbhaya gang-rape case.

Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had heard death penalty cases on priority by constituting four benches, each comprising three judges, which sat simultaneously for over 6 weeks to decide the cases of capital punishment.

Tihar jail to conduct dummy execution of Nirbhaya convicts before Jan 22

The Supreme Court had confirmed seven death penalties in 2017 whereas in 2016 it had confirmed capital punishment in one case and commuted seven.

However, the trial courts in India sentenced 162 persons to the gallows in 2018, which was the highest in nearly two decades, since 2000. Of these, 45 included cases of murder and 58 murder-and-sexual offences.

The high courts confirmed 23 death sentences in 2018 whereas they commuted 58 of them and remitted 10 cases. The year saw acquittal in 23 cases in high courts.

As per the Project 39A data on death penalty, as many as 720 prisoners have been executed in India since 1947. Half of these are accounted for by Uttar Pradesh, followed by Haryana, 90 and Madhya Pradesh with 73 executions.

One of the initial executions of independent India was of Nathuram Godse and Narain D Apte, assassins of Mahatma Gandhi; they were hanged to death in Ambala Central Jail in Haryana on November 15, 1949.

The crimes punishable with death term in India fall under The Prevention of Child Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) 2012, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) 1999, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) 1985, among others.

In 2018, with 22 cases of capital punishment, over four times more compared to 2017, Madhya Pradesh topped the list of states giving death penalty.

With 16 convicts being sentenced to capital punishment, Maharashtra was second in the list, closely followed by Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh with 15 cases each of death sentences.

Seven years on, bus stop from where Nirbhaya boarded bus still a dark spot

According to Cornell Centre on the Death Penalty Worldwide, the last execution that had taken place in India was on July 30, 2015, of Yakub Memon, a convict in financing 1993 Mumbai bombings.

Prior to Memon, Muhammad Afzal Guru, who was convicted in the 2001 Parliament attack was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court on December 18, 2002.

He was hanged on February 9, 2013, ten years after his sentencing.

The special court had sentenced Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, the 2008 Mumbai attack terrorist, to death on May 6, 2010, and he was executed two years later on November 21, 2012, after the then President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his mercy petition. The top court had confirmed the sentence on August 29, 2012.

Both Qasab and Guru were executed in secrecy without informing their family members or the public of the President's decision. The world got to know only after the hangings had been carried out.
Iran-US attack in Iraq: Guterres pledges 'active engagement' in further de-escalation efforts

8 January 2020 - In the wake of an Iranian ballistic missile attack on air bases which house US forces in Iraq, the UN Secretary-General said on Wednesday that he would "continue his active engagement" to de-escalate tensions and avert full-scale war.

In a statement released by his Spokesperson, Antonio Guterres re-iterated the "passionate appeal for peace" he made on Monday, after tensions rose dramatically across the whole Gulf region, following the killing of top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani, in a US drone strike.

Iran said it had carried out Tuesday night's ballistic missile attack against two air bases used by US and other coalition forces in Iraq, in retaliation for the targeted killing on the outskirts of Baghdad airport on Friday.

The bases struck were the large Al Asad base, west of Baghdad, and another in Erbil, the centre of Iraq's Kurdish region. The strikes came just hours after the burial of the influential general, marked by huge crowds, in Iran.

The UN chief repeated his four-point message to world leaders, to:

"Stop escalation. Exercise maximum restraint. Re-start dialogue", and "renew international cooperation."

"This appeal remains as important today as it was on Monday.

For his part, the Secretary-General will continue his active engagement with relevant actors", the statement continued.

"It is our common duty to make every effort to avoid a war in the Gulf that the world cannot afford. We must not forget the terrible human suffering caused by war. As always, ordinary people pay the highest price", Mr. Guterres concluded.

UN Iraq mission calls for 'urgent restraint'

Citing the missile attacks in Erbil and Anbar governorates, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said the offensive served to "only escalate conflict, and again violate Iraqi sovereignty."

The Mission's tweet continued: "Senseless violence has predictable effects. We call for urgent restraint and a resumption of dialogue. Iraq should not pay the price for external rivalries."

Solidarity with Iraq

Speaking to journalists in New York, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, reiterated that point, adding that "we very much support the unity, the sovereignty of Iraq".

He said the UN chief had spoken by phone on Tuesday with Iraq's President Barham Salih, "to whom he expressed the solidarity of the United Nations and continuing support for the Iraqi people."

"The international community should support the Iraqi people as they seek to create the conditions for political dialogue", he added.

Following a statement made by US President Donald Trump from the White House on Wednesday, Mr. Dujarric added: "We welcome any indication that leaders are walking back from major confrontation, and are doing whatever they can, to avoid any further escalation."

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A Russian court has extended the house arrest of U.S. investor Michael Calvey and his partner, French national Philippe Delpal, until February 13.

Moscow's Basmanny district court announced the ruling on January 9, four days before the previous extension of the two men's house arrest was set to expire.

The court also prolonged the house arrest of two Russian citizens -- former Vostochny Bank CEO Aleksei Kordichev and former Vostochny Bank investment director Aleksandr Tsakunov -- until February 13 as well.

Calvey and several other executives and employees of the Russian-based private-equity group Baring Vostok were detained in Moscow in February last year and charged with financial fraud.

They all deny any wrongdoing and say the case is being used against them in a corporate dispute over the control of a Russian bank. Calvey was released to house arrest in April.

The arrests stunned many Western investors and drew complaints from high-level Russian business leaders and government officials, who questioned the motivation of the courts and prosecutors.

Baring Vostok is one of the largest and oldest private-equity firms operating in Russia. It was founded in the early 1990s and manages more than $3.7 billion in assets. The company was an early major investor in Yandex, Russia's dominant search engine.

Calvey is one of two Americans currently facing potential trial in Russia on charges supporters say are groundless. Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, has been behind bars since December 28, 2018, when he was arrested on an espionage charge he denies.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax
A Pineville man was indicted Thursday in the September shooting death of a 33-year-old woman in rural East Baton Rouge Parish.

Steven Francisco Ortiz-Morales, 27, is charged with second-degree murder in the Sept. 13 killing of Whitney Lane Durant, of Alexandria, in a home in the 15000 block of Pride-Port Hudson Road.

+5 33-year-old woman killed in Pride area was a loving mother, family says; 'it is heartbreaking' The 33-year-old woman killed in a rural home in East Baton Rouge Parish on Friday morning left behind three young children and a family in dee

Detectives learned that in the hours before the shooting, Ortiz-Morales, Zebbie Berthelot and Durant were using drugs at the house where the homicide took place, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriffs Office spokesperson Casey Rayborn Hicks has said.

Durant, a mother of three young children, struggled with addiction, her family said.

Berthelot and Durant had arrived together at the home, belonging to Berthelots brother, earlier in the week, Hicks said. That evening, Ortiz-Morales allegedly became highly paranoid, she said, prompting Berthelot to warn his brother and his girlfriend to avoid the house because of Ortiz-Morales erratic behavior.

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When the brother returned later, ignoring Berthelots warnings, he found only Durant's body. Both Berthelot and Ortiz-Morales had fled.

+8 Two men arrested in woman's rural East Baton Rouge killing; bleach bottles found near body Two men were arrested Friday just hours after authorities found an Alexandria woman shot to death inside a house in rural East Baton Rouge Parish.

Ortiz-Morales, who was later taken into custody, admitted to killing Durant, Hicks said.

Berthelot, 43, of Pride, admitted to being present when Ortiz-Morales shot Durant. He was arrested but has not been formally charged in the case.

Ortiz-Morales' case is assigned to state District Judge Kelly Balfour.

Berthelot was convicted of manslaughter for his role in the 1992 carjacking and slaying of LSU freshman Kipp Earl Gullett. Berthelot, who was not the shooter in that case, was sentenced to 20 years and was paroled in 2002.
In response to Julie Stewart Ziesman (Waukee):

I assume you are worried about the impeachment trial in the Senate being a "Mockery without Merit" because the impeachment hearing in the House of Representatives was also a "mockery without merit." The entire impeachment is based on a whistleblower who never testified and likely does not exist.

This new impeachment episode follows a two-year "mockery without merit" that the Dems called the Russia collusion investigation. So far the Dems have not provided President Trump with any of the constitutional protections he is entitled to and they also have not provided any real evidence of wrongdoing.

As to "Why President Trump can ignore the subpoena," it's the same reason Obama could ignore the subpoena for Eric Holder during "Fast and Furious," when Obama's gun sales to Mexico resulted in the death of a border agent. The same reason Obama could order the agents who were present and involved in Benghazi debacle not to testify in the Benghazi hearings.

It's called "executive privilege" and when the opposition is trying to railroad a president who is not guilty of anything, his legitimate protection is executive privilege.

Now the Dems are trying to tell the Senate how to run its trial and in my opinion, the Senate should just "dismiss the entire impeachment case" for lack of evidence and failure to follow established policy regarding production of prosecution documents (ie: the Articles being withheld by Nancy Pelosi).

Tom Frank, Mason City

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Abu Dhabi Global Market will host the second edition of the Abu Dhabi Sustainable Finance Forum (ADSFF), held during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW).

This years event, on January 15, will see the participation of the worlds foremost financial professionals who will aim to highlight Abu Dhabis sustainability progress, make key announcements and lead key discussions regarding the realm of sustainable finance.

The event will be held at Conference Hall A of the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Centre (Adnec), Abu Dhabi.

The Abu Dhabi Sustainable Finance Forum is a unique one-day event in support of ADGMs initiative to build a platform for sustainable finance. "We aim to progress the momentum generated by last years inaugural event and reveal the latest progress in Abu Dhabis Sustainable Finance Agenda and launch key initiatives and announcements," a statement said.

The forum will feature key addresses, panel discussions and exciting announcements from leading industry professionals, including Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, UAE Minister of State and chairman of ADGM; Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment; Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, Group CFO of Adnoc; and many more. -TradeArabia News Service
A North Korean mother has been threatened with jail after saving her two children from a house fire but allowing portraits of North Korea's leaders to burn.

The woman has been placed under investigation by the country's Ministry of State Security after a fire broke out in a home shared by two families in Onsong County, North Hamgyong Province, close to the Chinese border.

Both sets of parents were out at the time the fire started, but raced back to save their families after seeing smoke. In the process, one set of portraits was destroyed.

A mother-of-two from Onsong County, North Korea, has been placed under investigation for political crimes after saving her children from a house fire but failing to rescue portraits of North Korea's leaders (file image)

North Korea demands that every home display paintings of its past leaders, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, and sends inspectors to ensure that they do.

According to the Hermit Kingdom's laws, all depictions of the Kim family must be treated with the same reverence as the men themselves - meaning failure to care for the portraits properly is a serious crime.

If found guilty, the mother is facing a lengthy prison sentence with hard labour.

As a result of the investigation, she cannot tend to her children in hospital, nor obtain antibiotics for their burns, newspaper Daily NK reported.

Neighbours were said to be eager to help, but decided to stay away fearing that she will be charged with a political crime.

'The mother will be able to focus on caring for her children once the authorities end their investigation,' the source said.

North Koreans who rescue their Kim portraits from floods and fires are feted as heroes  especially if they die in the attempt.

Jun Yoo-sung, who fled the country in 2005, recalled such an incident in a 2015 interview.

'When a house was set on fire, some child was found to have been burnt to death holding on to those portraits,' she said.

'Of course, such incidents are used for North Korean propaganda.'

Han Hyon-Gyong, 14, drowned trying to save her family's Kim portraits after a flash flood struck her home in Sinhung County, South Hamkyong, in 2012.

Under North Korea's strict laws around the Kim family, all depictions of the leaders - including their written names - must be treated with the same veneration as the men themselves. Desecrating the images is therefore a serious crime

She was posthumously awarded the Kim Jong-Il Youth Honor Award and her school was renamed in her memory.

A hero has even emerged from the blaze in Onsong County. A young farm worker who managed to save the portraits belonging to the other family is now being celebrated, despite recently serving time for a violent crime.

Meanwhile those desecrating depictions of the leaders are harshly punished.

Otto Warmbier, an American student visiting Pyongyang, was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labour for pulling down a poster featuring the name of Kim Il-Sung.

There are also numerous rules concerning how the paintings are hung; they should be on the most prominent wall in the living room and high up, so that nobody can stand higher than them.

They must be kept clean too  a layer of dust is punishable with a fine, with the size of the sum dependent on the thickness of the layer.

Ray Cunningham, from Homer in the US state of Illinois, has visited North Korea six times and witnessed on multiple occasions the reverence with which Kim portraits are treated at home.

He said: 'They're kept on the 'honour wall' in the living room and the wall is clear of anything else except awards from the leadership. Group photos with the leaders are also put up.

'Nation, race and the Kim family are one concept. To degenerate one is to degenerate all.

'We call it crazy Confucianism. It is ancestor worship gone wrong.'

Images of North Korea's former leaders are also prominently displayed in the nation's public places including schools, railway stations and subway trains.

Yet Kim Jong-un's portrait is not usually among them; his first official portrait was only released in 2018 after seven years in power.

It's unclear in the present case why the mother alone is under investigation, however responsibility for tending to the portraits usually falls on the lady of the house.
(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.







FTSE 100 - WINNERS







Tesco, up 2.0%. The supermarket chain's sales in its UK & Ireland region rose over the Christmas period, but total group sales fell amid sharp declines in Central Europe, where it is restructuring. In the six weeks to January 4, total UK & Republic of Ireland sales edged up 0.2% and rose 0.4% on a like-for-like basis, excluding fuel. Total group sales fell by 1.7%, however, and by 0.8% on a like-for-like basis. Over the 19 weeks, the UK & Ireland unit was again the best performing division, registering 0.2% sales growth to GBP16.81 billion, and a 0.4% like-for-like rise. Central Europe sales fell by 14% to GBP1.93 billion in the 19 weeks. The decline was stemmed at 10% on a like-for-like basis. "Considering the difficulty supermarkets are currently facing, as indicated by Marks & Spencer's figures, these results go to show Tesco is still one of the leading figures in the industry. The Booker acquisition is generating strong growth in a difficult environment and an area the group is actively looking to improve moving forward, which should be promising news for investors," said analysts at the Share Centre.







FTSE 250 - WINNERS







Galliford Try, up 11%. The construction firm said it entered the new year with a "high-quality" order book following the disposal of Linden Homes and Partnerships & Regeneration divisions. Last week Galliford completed disposal of its Linden Homes and Partnerships & Regeneration divisions to Bovis Homes, which changed its name to Vistry Group after the deal. In a trading update for the half year ended December 31, Galliford said it began the new year with an order book of GBP3.2 billion, and secured contract wins including appointment to the YORCivil four-year civil engineering framework with Sheffield City Council, in South Yorkshire, England. The company said its underlying construction business has continued to perform in line with management expectations for the financial year ending June 30, 2020.







Mitchells & Butlers, up 3.3%. The restaurant and pub operator reported a strong festive period performance, with food in particular doing well. In the seven weeks to January 4, Mitchells & Butlers achieved 3.5% like-for-like sales growth. Food was 4.0% higher, and drink 2.7% higher. For the seven weeks to November 16, like-for-like sales growth came in at 1.4%. Food like-for-like sales grew by 1.7%, and drink by 0.7%. Overall, for the 14 weeks to January 4, Mitchells & Butlers's like-for-like sales growth was 2.6%. Food, once again, was the stronger performer with 3.0% growth, and drink was 1.8% higher. The company's total sales for its year so far have grown by 2.7%. Its current financial year ends late September.







FTSE 250 - LOSERS







SIG, down 20%. The building products supplier guided for a substantial drop in profit for 2019, amid challenging market conditions and declining revenue. SIG bemoaned tough market conditions, as the group reported an ongoing deterioration in the level of construction activity in key markets, and indications of further weakening - mainly in the UK. There is additional challenges in sustaining sales rates, and profit protection measures implemented by SIG set to mainly take effect in 2020, not 2019 as previously expected. As a result, underlying pretax profit for 2019 is expected to be GBP42 million, a 44% decrease from GBP75.3 million the year before. For 2019, like-for-like revenue declined by 6.1%, as like-for-like revenue from UK & Ireland dropped by 16%, more than offsetting like-for-like revenue growth of 1.2% from Mainland Europe. SIG had previously warned on annual profit amid deteriorating trading conditions in October.







Marks & Spencer, down 10%. The food, clothing and homewares retailer said its performance over the third quarter, which includes the pivotal Christmas period, improved on a like-for-like basis, but total sales slipped as declines in its struggling Clothing & Home unit continued. In the 13 weeks to December 28, total UK sales were down 0.6% year-on-year to GBP2.77 billion, but on a like-for-like basis edged 0.2% higher. Including its international unit, total sales were 0.7% lower at GBP3.02 billion. The international unit had a 2.3% sales fall to GBP251 million. The troubled clothing unit saw a 3.7% sales fall to GBP1.06 billion and on a like-for-like basis, sales declined by 1.7%. "There may be an element of profit-taking behind the fall in Marks' shares this morning but more likely it was because shareholders have perhaps lost faith in the retaileras ability to truly turnaround its fortunes. Perhaps in the long-run, Marks would be better served concentrating on its food business, where it is still a force to be reckoned with. The joint-venture with Ocado should cement its position in that market further," said eToro analyst Adam Vettese. Blue-chip peer Next was down 1.0%.







Tullow Oil, down 3.5%. Barclays cut the oil and gas company to Equal Weight from Overweight.







OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS







Liontrust Asset Management, up 4.7%. The asset manager said its performance improved over the past quarter and in its financial year to-date. Liontrust said assets under management were GBP19.1 billion as at December 31, up from GBP14.65 billion reported on October 1, and GBP11.2 billion a year ago. The fund manager reported net inflows over the three months to the end of December of GBP836 million, almost doubled from GBP471 million for the same period a year ago. For the first nine months of Liontrust's financial year ending March 31, net inflows grew to GBP2.20 billion compared to GBP1.19 billion a year earlier. Market and investment performance added GBP887 million in the third quarter and GBP1.51 billion in the nine months, while the acquisition of a global equity team added GBP2.73 billion to both time periods.







OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS







Card Factory, down 23%. The greeting cards retailer reported a "challenging" Christmas period and said it expects a full-year earnings fall as a result. Revenue in the 11 months to December 31 was up 3.6%, improving from 3.4% growth over the same period a year earlier, but like-for-like sales declined by 0.6%. Over the same period in 2019, like-for-like sales were down by 0.1%. After the tough Christmas period, the company said it expects adjusted underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, also excluding IFRS 16 adjustments, to be in the range of GBP81.0 million and GBP83.0 million in the current financial year. This could represent of a decline of as much as 9.4% from GBP89.4 million last year. Looking further ahead to financial 2021, Card Factory said its adjusted underlying Ebitda could take a hit of up to GBP10 million, amid more declines in high street footfall and a depressed pound.







By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Ottawa is mourning the loss of several residents who died in the Ukraine International Airlines crash at a vigil Thursday night at Parliament Hill.

Several of the 176 victims on board Flight PS752 that crashed outside Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport Wednesday lived in Ottawa.

CBC has so far confirmed the names of three: Carleton University PhD student Fareed Arasteh, denture technician Mansour Pourjam and tech entrepreneur Alireza Pey.

The University of Ottawa said it believes three of its students were in the crash but has yet to identify them by name.

"It's heart breaking I still can't believe it," said Kaveh Shakouri, the arts and culture director with the Iranian Arts and Cultural Society of Ottawa.

The group is organizing Thursday's vigil in Ottawa. It starts at 6 p.m. at Parliament Hill.

"To light a candle and just remember those students and residents of Ottawa who died," he said.

The Ukrainian embassy is also inviting the public to sign a book of condolences from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 310 Somerset St. West.

REUTERS

Among those who died in Wednesday's crash, Shakouri said he helped some of them settle into their new lives as students in Canada.

"As soon as the list of passengers came up, we started identifying our friends and families here," he said.

Shakouri knows eight Ottawa residents on the flight manifesto.

He has since called family of the victims in Iran. Some learned of the crash just as they got home after dropping their loved ones off at the airport, he said.

The Iranian Arts and Cultural Society of Ottawa is planning a memorial service for the victims next week in Ottawa.

Flags at Carleton University and Parliament Hill are among those at half-mast to mark the tragedy.
Former Orissa High Court judge Justice (retd) I M Quddusi appeared before a Delhi court on Thursday for allegedly trying to influence the verdict in a case heard by the Supreme Court by manipulating several "high-level functionaries".

Quddusi and other co-accused appeared before Special Judge Anil Kumar Sisodia in pursuance of the summons issued against them by the court earlier.

During the brief proceedings, the CBI supplied the copy of charge sheet, along with documents through hard copy as well as CDs, to all the accused.

The CBI further stated that no further investigation was pending in the case and, accordingly the trial can proceed.

The court has now put up the matter for further hearing on January 31.

Besides Quddusi, the other accused -- B P Yadav and Palash Yadav of Prasad Educational Trust which runs a medical college in Lucknow, alleged middleman Biswanath Agrawala, alleged hawala operator Ramdev Saraswat, Bhavna Pandey and Sudhir Giri -- appeared before the court.

Advocate Vijay Agarwal, who represented Quddusi, said the charge sheet was baseless and would not stand in court as there was no public servant involved.

The court on November 26 summoned the accused in the case after taking cognisance of the charge sheet.

The CBI has accused all the seven people of criminal conspiracy and corruption.

The agency has alleged that B P Yadav had approached the Supreme Court and the Allahabad High Court after his college Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences was barred by the government from admitting students for 2017-18 and 2018-19.

The case was being heard in the Supreme Court when Yadav allegedly approached Quddusi and Pandey to "get the matter settled" by manipulating "high-level functionaries", the CBI said.

Bhubaneswar-based Agrawala claimed to get the matter settled in their favour by using his close links with senior public functionaries, it said.

The CBI had seized Rs 1 crore from Agrawala, sources said, adding that the money was delivered to him through Saraswat; Rs 91.90 lakh was seized during searches on the premises of the other accused.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
It could cost $350 million to fully restore crumbling foundations of Massachusetts homes built with pyrrhotite-contaminated concrete.

A state task force estimates that about 2,000 central and Western Massachusetts homes were built with the material. The cost of jacking up a home, scooping up the bad concrete and replacing the foundation  still the most proven way to remedy the problem  runs $150,000 to $250,000 per house.

This is all according to the report out Wednesday from the Massachusetts Special Commission to Study the Financial and Economic Impacts of Crumbling Concrete Foundations. State Sen. Anne M. Gobi, D-Spencer, and state Rep. Brian Ashe, D-Longmeadow, served as the commissions co-chairs, with help from state Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow.

Besides releasing that eye-opening estimate, the commission also recommends that Massachusetts follow Connecticuts lead and create a captive insurance corporation to handle payouts for affected homeowners.

The commission, which held a series of public hearings last year, also called for enhanced training programs for home inspectors, town tax assessors and real estate professionals; for the state to continue reimbursing homeowners for visual testing conducted by a licensed engineer up to $400; and also reimbursing homeowners at a rate of 75% for the testing of two core samples up to $5,000.

Massachusetts set aside $50,000 to reimburse homeowners for the testing.

In this July 1, 2019 photo, contractor Don Childree holds a piece of concrete containing the brownish iron sulfide called pyrrhotite that he pulled from the crumbling foundation of a home in Vernon, Conn. After worrying for years about the foundations crumbling beneath their houses, hundreds of suburban homeowners in a large swath of eastern Connecticut are getting help from the state to salvage their properties that had been doomed by bad batches of concrete. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)AP

The commission also recommended that lawmakers require that all Massachusetts home sellers disclose to prospective buyers any testing, inspection or repairs performed on their foundation, and require, at the time of sale, core testing on any foundation built between 1983 and 2015 within 30 miles of Beckers Quarry in Willington, Connecticut. The quarry is the source of the tainted concrete.

Pyrrhotite is a naturally occurring mineral in the stone at the Beckers Quarry. It reacts with water and air over time, swelling and expanding. This reaction creates an unstoppable force that causes concrete to crumble. But it can take decades for the damage to make itself apparent.

The now defunct J.J. Mottes Concrete used pyrrhotite-tainted stone in concrete it sold from 1983 until it was told to stop doing so by the state of Connecticut in 2015. The concrete was shipped to construction sites across eastern Connecticut and central and Western Massachusetts, with documented cases all over eastern Hamden County and western Worcester County and into the Hampshire County town of Ware.

Contamination puts homeowners in an untenable situation, facing a big repair bill while the value of their home is destroyed, and with it their ability to borrow money. Insurers refuse to pay, often saying homeowners policies cover only buildings that have collapsed, not buildings in the process of collapsing.

Towns fear that their property tax base will erode along with the concrete if homeowners who can't finance the repairs simply walk away.

Massachusetts mortgage lenders doing business in affected communities check for damage before lending.

Connecticut funds its captive insurance corporation  called the Connecticut Foundation Solutions Indemnity Co.  with $20 million in state bond money a year beginning in 2018, and with $8.5 million a year beginning last year from a state surcharge on homeowners policies.

The Connecticut captive insurance program has made $34.9 million in construction and reimbursement commitments in about two years, according to its website.
Libyan Government of National Accord Welcomes Russian-Turkish Statement on Libya

Sputnik News

01:36 09.01.2020

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Tripoli-based Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) welcomed the Russian-Turkish statement on the situation in Libya.

"The Presidential Council of the Government of National Accord followed the meeting between presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin ... and the published statement. The Presidential Council is highly assessing and welcomes the efforts of friendly countries, aimed at looking for the solution of the crisis," the GNA said on late Wednesday in a statement, published on the Facebook page.

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on all parties to the conflict in Libya to cease fire from January 12. They also reaffirmed their strong commitment to the territorial integrity of Libya.

Libya has been in a state of a civil war since its longtime leader, Muammar Gaddafi, was overthrown in 2011. Since then, political power in the country has been split between two rival governments: the Council of Deputies based in Tobruk and the Tripoli-based General National Congress. Following the signing of a UN-brokered Libyan Political Agreement in December 2015, a Government of National Accord has been established in the county and started its work in late March 2016.

A Sputnik

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On January 8, the armed formations of the Russian Federation violated ceasefire in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) area in eastern Ukraine five times.

The enemy used 122mm artillery, 120mm mortars banned under the Minsk agreements, grenade launchers of different systems, heavy machine guns and other small arms to shell positions of the Joint Forces, the press center of the JFO Headquarters reports.

As noted, the enemy launched an attack in the zone of action of tactical force East and four more attacks in the zone of action of tactical force North.

Yesterday, January 8, as a result of the enemy shelling, three members of the Joint Forces were wounded.

Today, the Russian-occupation troops have not violated ceasefire yet.

ish
About 30 years before the Wet'suwet'en First Nation faced the possibility of a natural gas pipeline through its territory, members fought a different battle in court.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/1/2020 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A notice to clear the road from RCMP sits in a tree fell across the road block access to Gidimt'en checkpoint near Houston B.C., on Wednesday January 8, 2020. The Wet'suwet'en peoples are occupying their land and trying to prevent the Coastal GasLink pipeline from going through it. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

About 30 years before the Wet'suwet'en First Nation faced the possibility of a natural gas pipeline through its territory, members fought a different battle in court.

Lawyer Peter Grant, who represented the Wet'suwet'en and neighbouring Gitxsan First Nation, reportedly called an elder as a witness and asked her to sing a death song.

The 1991 Delgamuukw case considered the existence of Aboriginal title and Grant told the B.C. Supreme Court that the song was part of an oral history that explained the First Nation's relationship to the territory.

In an exchange widely quoted in legal journals, he was interrupted by Justice Allan McEachern, who said it wouldn't do any good to sing the song because he had a "tin ear."

The tin ear analogy was front of mind for legal expert Doug White as he read a decision issued last week by the B.C. Supreme Court granting an injunction to Coastal GasLink against pipeline opponents in the territory.

The company plans to build a 670-kilometre pipeline from northeastern British Columbia to LNG Canada's $40-billion export terminal on the coast in Kitimat.

It posted an injunction order Tuesday giving opponents 72 hours to clear the path to its work site, although the company said its focus remains on reaching a peaceful resolution. The notice comes a year after the RCMP enforced a similar injunction and arrested 14 people at the site.

At the core of the dispute is the fact that although the company has signed agreements with all 20 elected First Nations along the pipeline's path, the Wet'suwet'en hereditary clan chiefs say the project has no authority without their consent.

"We've got to be able to start to grapple with the reality of Indigenous legal tradition in this country," said White, who is the director of Vancouver Island University's Centre for Pre-Confederation Treaties and Reconciliation.

It's long been a challenge for the Canadian legal system to hear and incorporate Indigenous law and legal traditions in its decisions, and the latest decision reflects the status quo, he said.

But recent developments, like the B.C. government's adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, suggest the time is right to figure it out.

"We have to urgently start to find solutions that work, because the longer we delay finding those solutions or building those solutions together, creating common understanding and pathways, the more we're going to end up in this kind of conflict," White said.

The Dec. 31 decision says the courts need to be flexible in how it approaches proof of Indigenous law, while suggesting the questions raised in the injunction hearing would be better addressed through a constitutional challenge.

"The reconciliation of the common law with Indigenous legal perspectives is still in its infancy," Justice Marguerite Church wrote.

At the same time, she says that while Wet'suwet'en customary laws "clearly" exist on their own independent footing, they are not recognized as being an effectual part of Canadian law because the Wet'suwet'en Aboriginal title claims have not been resolved through litigation or negotiation.

"The defendants are seeking to exclude the application of British Columbia law within Wet'suwet'en territory, which is something that Canadian law will not entertain," Church writes.

From White's perspective, Canada's entire legal model is based on a blend of legal traditions, so it shouldn't be a stretch to incorporate other models too.

In the family law realm, the Canadian legal system has taken Indigenous customary law into account. As early as 1889, Canada recognized Indigenous models of marriage and there were several adoption cases in the 1940s recognizing Indigenous family models, White said.

There's also a comprehensive body of law dealing with Indigenous issues beyond families, especially since the 1960s, but the courts have struggled to deal with one particular area, he said.

"There's one major omission, there's one big huge smoking hole in the middle of all of this. And that is the issue of Aboriginal self-governance or self-determination," White said.

The Tsilhqot'in decision in the Supreme Court of Canada, which recognized the Tsilhqot'in's claim to Aboriginal title to their land, was a significant move in that direction.

But even on that issue, White points out that an earlier judge suggested the court isn't the best venue to pursue reconciliation.

There have been significant strides in recent years towards the recognition of Indigenous law in Canadian legal culture.

Indigenous law classes and programs are increasingly common in universities across the country.

The University of Victoria announced a new program in 2018 that it declared the first of its kind for combining the "intensive study of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous law," promising it would enable students to work fluently across the two realms. Canada's largest law school, York University's Osgoode Hall, also added an Indigenous and Aboriginal law requirement to its juris doctor program that year.

But until the courts learn to better listen to what Indigenous Peoples are saying, or what their legal traditions and authorities are, many like those opposed to the Coastal GasLink pipeline won't feel heard, White side.

"For whatever reason, the Canadian imagination has not had room for dealing with that reality, it's not been part of the official narrative."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 9, 2020.
The owners of the collapsed, six-floor construction site in Kep province were released on bail by the local Cambodian court Tuesday. Many are calling for justice for the confirmed 36 people killed and more than 20 others injured.

Kampot Provincial Court spokesman Mann Boreth told VOA Khmer the court has charged the buildings husband-wife owners, Ek Sarun and Chhiv Sothy, with involuntary manslaughter.

He added that the investigating judge decided not to detain the couple and instead place them on bail for $90,000 and banned them from traveling outside the country.

"The investigation is ongoing, Mann Boreth said. The decision is up to the investigating judge and the investigating judge decided merely not to detain. But the case is not yet ended.

In response to last weeks collapse, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen visited the site of tragedy and said no officials would be removed from their jobs, placing the blame on the construction contractors.

Civil society groups in Cambodia have called on the government to improve construction industry regulation.

Yun Phally, an investigator for rights group Licadho in Kampot and Kep provinces, urged the court to investigate with transparency, including those provincial officials that regulated construction in Kep.

All these [construction regulation] issues are under the management of relevant provincial departments who need to be held responsible, Yun Phally said. If the court finds that [those departments] are involved, the court has to take legal actions.

At a press conference on Wednesday, organized by the Building and Wood Workers Trade Union Federation of Cambodia and the labor rights group Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, also known as Central, civil groups called for the government to take action against the construction businesses and property developers who are cutting corners or behaving illegally during the current building boom and seek accountability for those responsible.

Sok Kin, president of the Building and Wood Workers Trade Union Federation of Cambodia, has claimed that about 900 out of 2000 registered construction companies have valid licenses.

Centrals coordination officer Khun Tharo is confident that transparent legal enforcement will improve the construction industry and is hopeful of the outcome: I believe that the government will enforce the law without using [anyone] as a scapegoat or allowing anyone to escape legal responsibility as the government enforces the law.

Officials at the national and provincial land management and urban planning agencies could not be reached for comments.

Tep Thon, head of a commission that has been set up to investigate the Kep building collapse, told VOA Khmer the investigation is on-going and there are no results yet to be publicly released.

Hem Sophy, the brother of a woman who died in the collapse, along with her husband and two sons, told VOA Khmer that he hopes the court will provide justice to his family.
Zarif: Iran informed Iraqi govt. of missile attack on US bases

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 08 January 2020 3:11 PM

Iranian Foreign Minister says Iran informed the Iraqi government of its retaliatory attack on US bases, reaffirming Tehran's respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Arab country.

This measure was carried out with the information passed to the Iraqi government and armed forces as confirmed by the Baghdad government, Zarif said Wednesday.

"We attach high significance to Iraq's territorial integrity and sovereignty, and we believe security should be [provided] based on mutual respect and [safeguarding] territorial integrity of all regional countries by all," he added.

The remarks came hours after Iran responded to the US assassination of prominent anti-terror Iranian commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and his companions, including Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, with a barrage of missiles that hit two US bases in Iraq.

In the early hours of Wednesday, Iran launched tens of missiles at two bases housing US troops in Iraq's western Anbar Province and Kurdistan regional capital, Erbil, in revenge for the assassination of General Soleimani.

Zarif's remarks came after Iraq's President Barham Saleh and the speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Mohammed al-Halbusi, said the attack violated the sovereignty of the Arab country.

However, earlier on Wednesday, the spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said the premier had received word from Iran that its response to the US assassination of its top general was either imminent or under way.

"Shortly after midnight on Wednesday we received a verbal message from the Islamic Republic of Iran that the Iranian response to the assassination of martyr Qassem Soleimani had started or was about to start," Reuters quoted the spokesman as saying.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Zarif said Iran's missile attack was a military revenge for the top commander, stressing, however, that there is no retaliation proportionate to the assassination of General Soleimani other than the expulsion of US forces from the region.

As declared by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Zarif said, the true revenge for General Soleimani's blood is that the US folly has marked the end of its presence in the region.

"The end of the US presence in the region, which will definitely happen, will herald glad tidings for the region and the generations to come, because the US presence in the region has brought about nothing but destruction and mischief," he noted.

Iraq to summon Iranian envoy over missile attack

Meanwhile, Iraq's foreign ministry said Wednesday it would summon Iran's ambassador over Tehran's ballistic missile attack on bases housing American and US-led coalition troops, for "violation of Iraqi sovereignty."

"We will not allow Iraq to be an arena of conflict, a corridor to carry out attacks or a base to hurt neighboring countries," the ministry said.

The ministry earlier summoned the US ambassador over the American drone strike last week that killed top Iranian and Iraqi commanders and prompted Wednesday's missile strikes.

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex released their first Christmas card as a family last month, and it promptly broke the internet out of pure adorableness. This response comes after a tough year for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry after constant arguments with the media and scrutinizing from the general public. Along with their baby, Archie, the family chose to spend the holidays this year in Canada with Markles mother instead of attending the traditional royal family celebrations around Buckingham Palace.

The familys adorable Christmas card

Desmond Tutu, Baby Archie and the Duke & Duchess of Sussex | Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage

Its clear that the Sussexes have enjoyed their time away from the United Kingdom during their holiday. Their Christmas card featured an adorable photo of Archie crawling toward the camera with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle smiling at him in the background, all in front of a Christmas tree. The card reads, Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, from our family to yours. Archie definitely steals the spotlight from his parents with his eyes locked on the camera and the mischievous smirk that only an 8 month old can pull off.

Followers on social media were quick to take warmly to the photo. Many were especially fond of the candid nature of the shot. The Duke and Duchess look like a very normal family in the Christmas photo, sporting casual outfits and simply smiling and laughing as a family of three, something that the public rarely sees from any members of the royal family.

Baby Archies adorable outfit could be yours

Who caught a glimpse of baby Archie bundled up in Boden? @Telegraph have shared some royally great outfits (if we do say so)  https://t.co/mXyFxl6kjA pic.twitter.com/DbphigXvd6  Boden (@Bodenclothing) January 3, 2020

While no one can take away Archies natural cuteness, another reason hes so adorable in the familys Christmas photo is his polar bear sweater from Boden. The popular British brand was also featured in the Duke and Duchess of Cambridges Christmas card photo, with Kate Middleton wearing one of their dresses (and which has since been sold out).

Archies sweater is 100% cashmere, features a cute polar bear graphic and button accents, and is still in stock on their website in a few available sizes. Whats more, the brand is currently on sale at Nordstrom. While Archies polar bear sweater isnt part of the sale, there are many other available looks that are royal-worthy and just as adorable.

This Mini Boden Fun Stripe Sweater has a nautical feel to it and features the same three-button accent as Archies sweater. Likewise, their Button Neck Sweater is another cute look for your little ones that could someday be worn by one of the royal children. Another piece we could see Princess Charlotte rocking in the future is the Hooded Duffle Coat, an adorable pink jacket that is sophisticated enough for someone who is fourth in line for the throne.

The familys decision to stay away from the U.K. during Christmas was controversial

While its great to see the family smiling in their Christmas photo, it comes at the end of a tumultuous year for the royal family. It was announced before the holidays that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would be taking time away from the U.K. and that time would encompass the holidays. In a statement from royal officials, it was stated that the Queen was aware of their plans to spend Christmas away from the royal family and that she supported their decision.

However, many noticed that the Queen seemed to snub Markle and Prince Harry in her annual Christmas broadcast. Not only did she fail to mention them by name at all during the broadcast, she even left them out of her collection of photos on her desk. Heres to looking forward into 2020 and hoping that the Windsors can continue to keep their family values first and foremost.
tech2 News Staff

Facebook has made changes to its political ads policy. Its Ad Library section has been expanded with features to bring in more transparency over the kind of ads that appear on the users timeline. However, the social media giant wont be clamping down on potential misinformation in ads from politicians.

In a lengthy post, Facebook spoke about how it consulted with several political campaigners, activists, NGOs, nonprofits and volunteers to bring about changes to its ad policy. Claiming that transparency was the most sought after feature, it added several updates to its Ad Library.

Facebooks Ad Library section allows users to see all the ads that have been run on the platform by politicians and all the campaigns actively running on the platform. This includes Instagram as well and also all the previous campaigns. Essentially, its a publicly available database of political ad campaign history on Facebook.

First off, it will display the size of the audience that the advertiser or politician intended to reach with an ad. Better searchability for ads has been added so that users can search for them using exact phrases. The search results can be filtered by parameters including audience size, dates, regions reached, etc. These changes are expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2020.

In the future, Facebook is planning to add the feature to allow users to hide from custom lists of advertisers so that those ads arent displayed on their timeline. Also, the platform will roll out better control over how often users see political ads on their timeline.

Facebook ended the post by addressing its political ads policy. It pointed out that Twitter decided to ban political ads completely and also mentioned about Google which limited its reach. It argued, we dont think decisions about political ads should be made by private companies, which is why we are arguing for regulation that would apply across the industry.

The company has faced serious criticism, even from lawmakers, against its decision to not fact-check political ads on the platform, essentially allowing the spread of misinformation. Although Facebook was expected to make changes to its policy considering the US Presidential election is closing, it hasnt really addressed the main concern.
Trump: Iran 'Appears to Be Standing Down'

By Steve Herman January 08, 2020

"Iran appears to be standing down," U.S. President Donald Trump said in address to the nation the morning after more than a dozen ballistic missiles targeted two Iraqi air bases housing U.S. troops.

"No American or Iraqi lives were lost because of the precautions taken, the dispersal of forces and an early warning system that worked very well," explained Trump, adding only minimal damage was sustained.

In a highly anticipated speech, Trump signaled the U.S. would not take military action in response to the attacks, but instead would impose additional harsh economic sanctions against Iran to further damage its economy.

Iran fired missiles into Iraq early Wednesday following threats by Iranian leaders of retaliation against the United States for an airstrike ordered by Trump that killed Iranian Quds force commander Qassem Soleimani, who the U.S. leader said "was responsible for some of the absolutely worst atrocities."

Trump, in the White House Grand Foyer flanked by Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and military leaders, said he would be asking NATO to become more involved in the Middle East, but he did not give details.

Trump also called for other signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Agreement to follow Washington's lead and abandon the nuclear deal signed with Iran.

"The time has come for the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia and China to recognize this reality," said Trump on Wednesday.

While the president condemned Iran for terrorism, vowed it would never be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons on his watch and announced new economic sanctions on the country, his remarks were also uncharacteristically restrained about an adversary, especially just hours after it targeted bases housing Americans military personnel.

Trump offered an olive branch of sorts to Tehran, saying the two countries could cooperate on issues of mutual concern.

The Islamic State group "is a natural enemy of Iran," said Trump.

"The destruction of ISIS is good for Iran. And we should work together on this and other shared priorities," he said using an acronym for the terror group.

The U.S. president also offered words to the Iranian people.

"We want you to have a future and a great future one that you deserve -- one of prosperity at home and harmony with the nations of the world," Trump said, in his prepared remarks. "The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it."

About the retaliatory missile strikes Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali said "last night we slapped them (the U.S.) in the face," and said the "corrupt presence" of the U.S. in the region should come to an end.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani added later in a tweet that Iran's "final answer" to the killing of Soleimani "will be to kick all U.S. forces out of the region."

The Iraqi prime minister's office said there were no casualties among Iraqi forces, and that it had not received reports of any casualties from the U.S.-led coalition.

The statement said Iran notified Iraq that it was carrying out its response to the U.S. strike.

Iraq also rejected any violation of its sovereignty and aggression on its territory and called for restraint to prevent the U.S.-Iran crisis from developing into a devastating war.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote in a tweet after the missile strikes that Iran had taken and concluded "proportionate measures in self-defense."

"We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression," Zarif said.

The chairman of the Senate's foreign relations committee, James Risch, said he hopes "the Iranian regime has learned a lesson."

The Republican senator said Trump clearly explained the policies his administration has been pursuing against Iran's "unacceptable conduct on all fronts."

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a member of the intelligence committee, said she is "pleased to see that both the United States and Iran are looking to avoid further escalation. I don't believe either nation seeks open conflict."

Feinstein urged Iran to accept Trump's offer of dialogue and to "work with us on shared objectives," describing this as "the time for diplomacy. Anything else doesn't make sense."

Barbara Leaf of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy called it "a draw for the moment" between the United States and Tehran.

"We're by no means out of the woods on all of this. We're at a sort of a steady impasse diplomatically," said Leaf, a former deputy secretary of state for Iraq.

Abbas Milani, director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University, and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution agrees.

"Unfortunately, when it comes to Iran and the United States, there's always a path for escalation," he told VOA following the president's speech.

The Iranian missile attack was the latest step in a series of events that have unfolded in the past two weeks with increasing tensions between the United States and Iran.

The U.S. blamed an Iran-backed militia for a rocket attack on an Iraqi base that killed a U.S. military contractor. U.S. airstrikes then hit that militia's positions in Iraq and Syria, drawing complaints from the Iraqi government and militia-led demonstrations at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. On Friday, a U.S. airstrike killed Soleimani near Baghdad's airport.

A Pentagon spokesman said the missiles launched from Iran targeted the Al-Asad base, located about 60 kilometers west of Baghdad, as well as one in Irbil, part of Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sent out a statement hailing what it said was a successful missile attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops, calling it "revenge for the assassination and martyrdom of Qassem Soleimani."

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Delhi Police arrest 3 IS suspects as TN police bust Jihadi module

The Special Cell of the Delhi Police has busted an Islamic State (IS) terror module in Delhi and arrested three terror suspects. The three IS-linked terror suspects were held after an encounter in Wazirabad area of Delhi in the morning today, police said.

According to the police, the three arrested have IS links and that arms were recovered from the possession of the three. Interrogation of the suspects is on and Police are yet to confirm their plans and intentions.

Television reports citing the National Investigation Agency sources said the ISIS-inspired terror module, operating from Delhi and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, was planning suicide attacks on the country's vital installations and VIPs.

After extensive multi-location searches, 10 people have been arrested and six others detained. The group, led by an Islamic cleric, included a civil engineer, an undergraduate student and an auto-rickshaw driver and got its instructions from a handler based abroad, officials said.

A country-made rocker launcher, 100-odd alarm clocks, pistols and ammunition have been found during the searches.

A special cell of Delhi Police also on Wednesday arrested Indian Mujahideen terrorist Ariz Khan. He was the bomb maker of the terror group and was on the run since the September 2008 Batla House encounter. Khan, an engineering dropout, was involved in 2007 and 2008 in Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan blasts.

The arrest come after the Tamil Nadu Police busted an inter-state 'jihadi' module with nationwide attack plans and arrested eight people, including three radical elements from Bengaluru, and recovered pistols and ammunition from them.

The Tamil Nadu-based 'jihadi' module with links to a similar group in neighbouring Karnataka was planning to carry out nationwide attacks, police said on Wednesday.

The eight people, including three "radical elements" from Bengaluru, were arrested and pistols and ammunition recovered from them by the 'Q' branch police, which handles matters related to extremists and involving national security.

Inputs gathered by the intelligence wing of Tamil Nadu police revealed that "a few notorious fundamentalist elements are making preparation to wage jihad at various parts of the country and (they) have disappeared" from the state in the third week of last month, a police release said.

Some of them belonging to the arrested Tamil Nadu jihadi module were linked to various communal cases, including a sensational murder case in the state.

"This module has developed a link with a similar module in Bengaluru and started moving to different parts of the country," the release said.

An operation was launched to track their activities in various locations and the states concerned were informed about their movement and their cooperation was sought.

Later, three from Karnataka were arrested by the 'Q' branch sleuths with the assistance of neighbouring State's police. Three pistols and ammunition were recovered from them.

The arrest also comes a day after an on-duty police officer of Tamil Nadu was shot dead by two alleged Jihadi gang member near the Padathalamoodu check post near Kaliyikkavila on the Kerala-TN boundary in Kanyakumari about 10 PM on Wednesday.

According to reports, the deceased Special Sub Inspector Wilson of Marthandam was stationed near the check post for vehicle checks when a man got down from a Mahindra Scorpio and opened fire. The assailants shot three rounds on Wilson with a pistol.

Even though he was rushed to a private hospital by fellow police officers, he succumbed.

Following Wilsons death, the Tamil Nadu and Kerala police have launched a massive coordinated search operation to nab the assailants.

Tamil Nadu police is reported to have confirmed that the main suspects are two men from Kanyakumari, Abdul Shameem (25) and Thoufeeq Yusuf (27) against whon the National Investigation Agency and the Kerala police have issued look out notices.

Tamil Nadu police is coordinating with their counterparts in Kerala as the vehicle may have left for Thiruvananthapuram.

Three teams have been formed to nab the assailants and more teams will be added as per requirement.

In signs that the country is getting faster into the terrorist grip, students in select universities and colleges are being dragged into a state of confrontation with the state.
The Ontario ombudsman has announced an investigation into delays at the Landlord and Tenant Board, citing a recent surge of complaints.

A press release from Ombudsman Paul Dubes office Thursday said complaints about long waits for board hearings and decisions have increased over the past year, and case backlogs continue to grow.

According to the release, the office received more than 200 complaints about the board in the past fiscal year, and 80 of them were about delays. In the first nine months of this fiscal year the ombudsman has already received 110 complaints about delays. Of those, 43 came in the last month alone.

What were seeing in some of these complaints is that delays have a very real human impact, Dube said in the release.

He said tenants who are threatened with eviction are being forced to to wait in limbo, waiting for the boards decision, and landlords who rely on rental income are having to forgo collecting it for months before the board even schedules a hearing about a dispute.

The Landlord and Tenant Board was established in 2007, and is responsible for resolving disputes about rent, evictions, and other issues through mediation or adjudication.

The board is one of eight adjudicative tribunals that make up Social Justice Tribunals Ontario, a new body thats overseen by the provincial government. The SJTO was created in January, 2019.

The boards service standards dictate that parties to a dispute should have a hearing scheduled within 25 business days, and be issued a decision within four business days at its conclusion. But SJTOs most recent annual report found the board hasnt met those targets since 2017.

The SJTO has attributed the delays to a shortage of adjudicators.

Kenneth Hale, legal director for the the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, said the ombudsman investigation was very welcome.

The government has not provided a satisfactory explanation for why they havent got the complement of adjudicators, so I think its important that the ombudsman look into what the reason is, Hale said.

They are dealing with vital interests here, particularly of tenants. I know landlords feel economic pressures from these delays, but sometimes (for) tenants, its virtually life-and-death matters that theyre dealing with. So its really important that there be access to justice.

Said a spokesperson for the tribunals: Tribunals Ontario and the LTB are aware the Ontario Ombudsman has launched an investigation and are fully cooperating with his office.

We recognize the impact that service delays have on personal lives and business and are collaborating with our stakeholders to find solutions. We are also working closely with the government to have additional adjudicators appointed.

The ombudsman is an independent officer of the Ontario Legislative Assembly that has the power to investigate and resolve public complaints about provincial government bodies.

The Landlord and Tenant Board investigation will be handled by the Special Ombudsman Response Team, which is tasked with investigations into systemic issues within government. The review will focus on whether the Ontario government is taking adequate steps to address the delays and backlogged cases, according to the press release. It will also consider other factors that could be contributing to delays, such as legislation, training and technological issues.
Many companies are started daily in Kenya, and many of them operate without a permit. It may be taken that obtaining a business permit before entering into a venture should be common sense, but many people do not know that they require one. Some may think that their company is too small to require a permit, or the location does not warrant one, but that is just one of the many ways to get into trouble with the government. Getting a business permit Kenya is a simple process, so why not get started?

Image: wikimedia.com

Source: UGC

Starting a new company is all rosy and exciting until you realize you need a work permit. It is a requirement by law, and failure to comply will cause unwanted interruption of business operations. The license is mandatory for several reasons.

First, once you have it, the government can follow up on your tax compliance and secondly it is used to verify that you are running a legitimate enterprise and not just another conman in town. With a business permit Kenya you are also able to insure your work against unforeseen disasters.

Importance of a business permit Kenya

It is a legal and mandatory requirement for all occupations.

Through your work permit, the government can collect taxes that are used in service delivery to the citizenry you included.

Without the work permit document, you will not be able to apply for government tenders hence cannot do transactions with government.

The company can act as security when a business owner needs a loan to run the business. Also. when looking for sponsors or donors for your company, a permit will be a very welcome document to show them how serious you are about your venture.

A work permit allows you to expand your enterprise, especially if you intend to merge with another company. The document will be vital in ensuring you get a better deal and that your partners wont attempt to shortchange you or even take over your company.

A business permit for foreigners in Kenya can prove that they are in the country legally, and they registered the company as per the law.

How much do business permits cost?

Image: nation.co.ke

Source: UGC

Using Nairobi County business permit rates, a single company permit for a company with up to 5 employees costs Ksh. 15,000. The amount is paid at the cash office within the county headquarters.

Categories of permits required for a business

There are many types of licences one should have to comply fully with both national and county bylaws. The good news is that you do not have to apply for each of these licenses in isolation. The government introduced what is called a unified work permit to ensure ease of doing business. This document is all you require, but you have to renew it annually. These licenses include:

Trading license

Advertising signage license

Health certificate

Fire clearance license

Food hygiene certificate

Essentials of applying for a business permit

Registered company name

Physical address of the company

Company identification number

Company pin certificate

A copy of the certificate of incorporation

A national ID/passport number or asylum pass or alien ID

Procedure for obtaining a business permit Kenya

There are two routes available for you to apply for a single business permit Kenya. The first is going to relevant county offices to apply, and the second is by applying online.

Manual application

The procedure for applying for a business license in person is as follows:

1. Reserve a business name

Go to the department of the registrar of companies within the office of the attorney general and apply for a name search and reservation.

Provide a list of proposed company names in order of preference to enable a name search.

When the name search is completed, the company name is reserved for not more than 60 days.

Before those 60 days are over, you should register the company name.

2. Registration of business name

The registrar of companies will provide you with Form BN/2 Statement of Particulars Registration which you have to fill.

Submit the filled form and pay the required application fee.

A company registration certificate is issued upon verification and satisfaction of details is provided.

3. Application for a single business permit

Visit the nearest county ward office for a business permit application.

Ask for application form BR-1 Form from the ward licensing officer after which you will fill and submit.

Ensure you have the following information with you before you fill the form:

A registered company name

Physical address of the company

Company identification number

A copy of the certificate of incorporation

A copy of your national identification card/passport/ alien ID

Wait for the ward licensing officer to visit the company premise to conduct an inspection.

The inspection officer then determines the amount to be paid as a license fee. He or she will stamp the BR-1 form and refer you to the central licensing office at the county headquarters.

The licensing office approves the work permit and enters the business permit number into the single company authorization database.

An invoice bill is generated after which payment is done at the cash office.

Upon payment, the work license is signed, and you are required to collect it from a dispatch office.

You are good to go once you display the license on the company premises as per law requirements.

Online application

Image: wikimedia.com

Source: UGC

The alternative way of applying for a company license is online and is more efficient. Ensure you know how to print a business permit before starting the process. The procedure for getting an online business permit in Kenya is straight forward and can be done by following the steps below:

1. Online reservation of business name

Go to the E-citizen portal and register an account to facilitate your company name search and reservation.

Pay a fee of Ksh. 150 for the company name search and reservation service.

Obtain name approval through the portal.

2. Register the business name

The company name will be assessed online through the E-Citizen portal.

Pay the company name registration fee as instructed.

Obtain a certificate of registration through the Self Service Portal.

3. Apply online

Go to your respective county and click on add company

Fill relevant information such as company identification, physical address and contact details.

Generate an invoice for your work license

Confirm details and make the payment determined.

Print the payment invoice and work license.

Display the license on the company premises.

Business permit renewal

Work license renewal is simple and is done annually. Follow the procedure below when renewing your single business permit Nairobi:

Provide a copy of the previous license to the licensing officer.

County officials at the cash office will inform you of the cost for renewal then you will pay the amount.

Take the stamped Br-1 form to the main office for approval.

The main office fills the information in the work authorization database.

You will be given an invoice and a signed authorization.

Display the renewed license at your premises.

Using the E-Citizen platform, you can easily renew your work license. Just click on renew and head to the check status link. You will be able to see the status of your company and the amount to be paid for business permit Nairobi county renewal. Follow the procedure to pay and renew after which you will print your license.

If you did not know how to get a business permit Kenya now you can rest easy and follow the simple steps provided above. You can complete the procedure from the comfort of your office by applying online or visit the relevant offices for manual application. Ensure that you comply with all the regulations to avoid unnecessary circumstances that may derail and frustrate your business.

READ ALSO: Single business permit Mombasa county

Source: TUKO.co.ke
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP)  Thousands of people protested in Serbia's capital Wednesday against the alleged suppression of religious and other rights of Serb minorities in neighboring countries, answering a call to action by the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Orthodox priests led a procession through downtown Belgrade to the landmark St. Sava Temple, one of the world's largest Orthodox churches, to pray about the suffering of Serbs living in Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia, Croatia and elsewhere in the Balkans.

The demonstration featured religious iconography, including Serbian church flags and paintings. "It's Time For God's Justice,'' one banner read.

The focus of the protest was a religion rights law adopted last month by the Parliament of Montenegro. Serbian nationalists claim the law, which took effect Wednesday, will lead to the impounding of Serbian church property in Montenegro. Montenegrin officials have repeatedly denied the claim.

Serbian nationalists used similar allegations of minority Serbs being mistreated in neighboring countries to fuel a bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia during a civil war in the 1990s.

Montenegro's national security council said Wednesday that the country remains secure despite the subversive activities from within and from the immediate neighborhood,'' apparently referring to Serbia.

The Montenegrin law says all religious communities need to produce evidence of ownership of their churches from before 1918, when Montenegro joined a Serb-led Balkan kingdom and lost its independence and when Montenegros Orthodox Church was abolished.

Montenegro split again from Serbia in 2006 but nearly 30% of its 620,000 citizens declare themselves to be Serbs and want closer ties with Belgrade. Montenegro defied another historic Slavic and Orthodox Christian ally, Russia, when it joined NATO in 2017.

Led by Orthodox priests and fueled by Serbia's state propaganda, thousands of Serbs in Montenegro have been staging daily protests in the small Balkan state, demanding that the law be annulled.

Story continues

Some 800 known public figures from the region, including writers, law experts, actors, opposition politicians and historians, have signed a petition against Serbian meddling in Montenegros internal affairs.

The petition states that Belgrade and the Serbian Orthodox Church have been working to forcefully destabilize Montenegros pro-Western government and jeopardize its independence.

With the political, church and media campaign of disinformation from Belgrade ... peace has been seriously threatened not only in Montenegro, but throughout the region, the document reads.

Montenegro has accused Russia and a group of Serb nationalists of being behind a 2016 coup attempt that was aimed at preventing the nation's pending NATO membership. Moscow has denied involvement.

Montenegro also wants to join the European Union.
- Dr Justice Issah Surugu Musah is a Ghanaian PhD holder who works at the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn, Germany

- Prior to attaining a PhD, Musah worked as a drivers mate, a cobbler and a scrap dealer to fund his education

- YEN.com.gh features Dr Musah's inspiring story first told by myjoyonline.com

Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in

For many who are born in deprived areas of Ghana, becoming a PhD holder could be a tickle of ones own fancy or a dream they may never wake up to live, but Justice Issah Surugu Musah, is proof that resilience triumphs hurdles.

The journey to the top of the educational ladder did not come on a silver platter for Justice Issah Surugu Musah, who bagged his doctorate degree in style.

He worked his way to the top by becoming a drivers mate, a cobbler and a scrap dealer.

While pursuing his education, he was compelled to drop out of school to find money to pay his fees.

READ ALSO: Omari Hardwick: Top actor opens up about how Denzel Washington saved him from homelessness

Dr Justice Issah Surugu Musah reveals he is the first person in his family to gain admission to the University.

From Widana in the Upper East Region, Justice Issah Surugu Musah is the third of ten children born to uneducated parents.

Justice gained admission to the University of Ghana in 2007 and graduated with a First Class Honours from the University of Ghana Business School.

A young determined Musah continued at the Business School for his Master of Science in Sustainable Development degree.

In 2014, he gained admission to pursue a PhD from the same institution.

Before attaining these feats, Justice struggled at junior high school, performing abysmally in the Basic Education Certificate Examination in 1997.

Surprisingly, he was the best in his school.

His first encounter with failure prior to moving to the next stage of his education did not stop him, gaining admission to the Tempane Senior High School.

However, he faced another hurdle. Surugu Musah could not enroll because his parents could not afford his fees.

In 199, he moved from his hometown to repeat the then Junior Secondary School, improved his performance in the 2000 Basic Education Certificate Examination and subsequently gained admission to the Ejisuman Senior High School but missed out on the opportunity because his parents once again could not afford to pay.

While a teenager, Musah was compelled to work as a cobbler at Cinkase at a popular border city in Togo where he was able to raise enough money to start High School at the Bawku Senior High School in 2001.

He passed his Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination but couldnt pursue his tertiary education because of financial setbacks.

Forced to move to Ejisu owing to financial challenges, Musahs moved to stay with a brother, who at the time drove an articulated truck.

Between, 2004-2007 he was compelled to work as a scrap dealer at the Suame Magazine, a trotro mate on the Ejisu-Kumasi-Kejetia route to raise money for his university education.

In 2016, he benefited from several research grants. In 2017, he was awarded an 18-month fellowship with the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. Few months before he graduated, he was awarded multiple research fellowships.

Currently, Dr Justice Issah Surugu Musah works at the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn, Germany.

Musah is a member of the American Society of Public Administration. He believes education should be made free from nursery to the tertiary level.

In other stories, YEN.com.gh reported that Ghanaian rapper Medikal, proved that he has an unmatched affection for his biological mum after building a mansion for her.

Medikal stated that his mother wont ever have to pay rent again in her life because she has received keys to her own mansion.

In a video that has been shared online, the rapper displayed the housed on his Snapchat handle, showing off the inside features of his mum's new house.

READ ALSO: Omari Hardwick: Top actor opens up about how Denzel Washington saved him from homelessness

Enjoyed reading our story? Download YEN's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Ghana news!

Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Source: YEN.com.gh
Update - 11.27am: The leader of the Rural Independent Group of TDs, Mattie McGrath has said that he supports his colleague Michael Collins proposal for a motion of no confidence in the Minister for Health Simon Harris.

I havent had confidence in Simon Harris in a long time, he told RTE radios Today with Sean ORourke show.

He described discussions between Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin as unseemly and he urged them to throw in the towel.

There was too much spin and the arrogance is palpable, he added.

Danny Healy Rae added his support for the motion of no confidence in Simon Harris.

"Time is clearly up for this Government as they have left the people down badly especially Minister Simon Harris in Health, Minister Eoghan Murphy in Housing and Minister Shane Ross along who along with the Government have done more harm to the people of rural Ireland than any previous Government, he said.

Earlier: 'Somebody must be accountable for this': Michael Collins to propose no-confidence motion in Simon Harris

Independent TD Michael Collins is proposing a no-confidence motion in the Minister for Health Simon Harris.

He met with the leader of the Rural Independent Group Mattie McGrath on Wednesday and told RTE Radios Morning Ireland that he is confident of the support of his colleagues.

There will be an opportunity to put forward the motion at the end of January or in early February, he added. I am hopeful that any self respecting politician will support this motion.

I think it would be carried.

Mr Collins said that the Minister for Health had presided over a major crisis in the health service with elective surgeries being cancelled, record numbers on trolleys, a recruitment embargo, delayed discharges and the highest ever waiting lists.

Somebody must be accountable for all this.

The Cork South-West TD pointed out that he and Rural Independent Group colleague Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae had returned from Belfast earlier this week with the 51st group of patients from the south west who had cataract surgery in Northern Ireland rather than remain on waiting lists.

When asked if he was ready for a General Election in the event that the motion of no-confidence was successful, Mr Collins said: It is up to Leo if an election is needed or not. Simon Harris is not functioning as a Minister. If that means a general election then so be it.

The time of year was not an issue he said as preparations had already begun. Its already started. The sooner the better.

Government Ministers already have 'Vote Number 1' stickers on their cars, he said.
After languishing at a juvenile home in Hoshiarpur for two years for having crossed over into Indian territory, 17-year-old Pakistan native, Mubshar Bilal, is all set to walk free as the Union home ministry has sanctioned his repatriation along with another Pakistani boy, Sajjad Haider, who is in a detention centre in Delhi.

Mubshar, alias Mubarak, was acquitted by the juvenile justice board (JJB) more than a year ago but was not released due to diplomatic hurdles.

He was arrested by the Border Security Force (BSF) when he entered Indian territory through Khem Karan sector in February 2018 and a case under Sections 3, 34 and 20 of the Passports Act and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act was registered against him. Since then, he has been locked up in the juvenile home in Hoshiarpur.

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CAME TO BOYS RESCUE

On September 4, 2018, the Tarn Taran juvenile justice board had acquitted him of all charges, maintaining that the boy had crossed the border inadvertently, yet he was not repatriated. His father Mohamad Akbars efforts also failed to secure his release.

A Bathinda-based lawyer, Harpal Singh Khara, who was recently apprised of the case during his Pakistan visit, filed a writ in the Punjab and Haryana high court seeking the immediate release of the Pakistan national. The court issued summons to the Union government and sought a reply on January 15 but on January 8, the ministry of home affairs ordered the release of Bilal and Haider.

The additional home secretaries of Punjab and Delhi have been directed to bring the children to the Attari-Wagah border under proper police escort at noon on January 14 so that they may be handed over to the Pakistani Rangers and their respective families.

Hoshiarpur juvenile home superintendent Puneet Kumar said that his office had received the orders. We will duly implement the orders, he said.
"REACHING out to people in friendship and in love is a dimension of the bigger peace that we desire."

This was according to Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, who, amid the international conflict between the United States of America and Iran, urged the faithful to pray for peace and to pray for world leaders.

Prayers, he said, have ways to touch the human heart that the human, perhaps, could not fathom.

Palma said the church is praying for the world leaders that they may be guided.

"We have learned a lesson in the past and war is a useless approach to dealing with our concerns with our problems," he said.

Iran struck back at the United States on Wednesday, January 8, for killing a top revolutionary guards commander, General Qassem Soleimani, as it fired a series of ballistic missiles at two military bases in Iraq housing Americans.

Palma said he still believes in leaders sitting together and having a dialogue in solving problems.

"To be able to use weapons and of course resort to killings and threats, of bombing of heritage sites is certainly a madman approach to our relationship with nations, " the prelate added.

Palma also urged the younger generation, especially the youth, to be in solidarity in advocating world peace that, instead of coming up with memes, use the technology for building good relations with "fellow brothers and sisters."

"There is always an invitation to look into the message of life and peace deep in our hearts. Reaching out to people in friendship and in love I think, that should be the dimension of the bigger picture that we desire, " Palma said. (WBS/With a report from AP)
The Duchess of Sussex arriving for her visit to Canada House, central London, to meet with Canada's High Commissioner to the UK, Janice Charette, as well as staff, to thank them for the warm hospitality and support they received during their recent stay in Canada. Photo: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

The Duchess of Sussex arriving for her visit to Canada House, central London, to meet with Canada's High Commissioner to the UK, Janice Charette, as well as staff, to thank them for the warm hospitality and support they received during their recent stay in Canada. PA Photo. Picture date: Tuesday January 7, 2020. Photo credit should read: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

Several national newspapers have launched blistering attacks on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after their decision to step away from royal life, saying they had shown no understanding of what their roles entailed, and had been disrespectful to the Queen.

No one paper emerged as sympathetic to Harry and Meghan, although some were reserved in their assessments, arguing the desire for less scrutiny by splitting their time on both sides of the Atlantic might have been understandable, especially since the birth of son Archie.

But others were far more scathing.

The Daily Mirror, one of three papers facing lawsuits from the couple, often fumed in its coverage about "an extraordinary day in the history of the royal family". One comment piece in particular pulled no punches.

Expand Close The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arriving for their visit to Canada House, central London, to meet with Canada's High Commissioner to the UK, Janice Charette, as well as staff, to thank them for the warm hospitality and support they received during their recent stay in Canada. PA Photo. Picture date: Tuesday January 7, 2020. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arriving for their visit to Canada House, central London, to meet with Canada's High Commissioner to the UK, Janice Charette, as well as staff, to thank them for the warm hospitality and support they received during their recent stay in Canada. PA Photo. Picture date: Tuesday January 7, 2020. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire

"Harry has selfishly turned his back on the institution she (the Queen) has fought to modernise and secure for him and his children," Rachael Bletchly wrote.

"And he didn't even have the guts or decency to tell her, or his own father, of the bombshell he was about to drop in their laps."

"Well, good riddance," Bletchly added. "I for one have had a bellyful of Harry's eco-warrior hypocrisy.

"The tragedy is he was once the most loved of the modern royals - from the moment he walked behind his mother's coffin our hearts ached for him. Then he met Meghan. But boy, she changed our Harry."

The left-leaning Mirror's main editorial was more more tempered, but did round on the couple for not first informing the Queen or other family members.

"It shows shocking disregard for a woman whose entire life has been ruled by a sense of public duty and honour," the editorial said. "This is also enormously hurtful to Harry's father and brother, our future kings."

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The Daily Mail - whose sister publication the Mail on Sunday is also being sued by the couple - devoted its first 17 pages to the "astonishing statement" by the "rogue royals".

Veteran columnist AN Wilson termed their exclusion of the Queen "an atrocious lapse of judgement", although he added the "abdication" would strengthen the institution of the monarchy.

"The truth is that this charming, intelligent, beautiful woman hadn't a clue what the monarchy really is, or what role minor members of the Royal Family have to play in public life," Wilson wrote of Meghan.

"For his part, Harry perhaps didn't fully understand his own role as a younger son. Both seemed oblivious to the fact that the British monarchy is a delicate constitutional miracle, not a vehicle for its members to press home their views on the subjects that interest them, however noble."

He said the couple would now be free of "the awkward sense that you have no clear role to play in British public life".

Mail columnist Sarah Vine said the couple had "hardly had a chance to understand what the job really entails before handing in their resignation".

Expand Close Harry and Meghan with Archie (Toby Melville/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Harry and Meghan with Archie (Toby Melville/PA)

"It's almost as though they never really had any intention of trying to stick it out at all, as though right from the start the notion was always there in the back of their minds that if life as Duke and Duchess didn't live up to expectation, they would simply leave," she wrote.

In its main editorial, the Mail said Harry had pressed the "nuclear button" on his royal career, delivering a hammer blow to the Queen, his family, and the monarchy, and tossing years of goodwill built up since the death of his mother Diana "into the hazard".

"To them, it is 'an exciting next step'. To most of us, it sounds like having your cake and eating it. They want the status of being 'senior' Royals but the privacy and freedom of being private citizens," the editorial said.

The Daily Express was relatively placid in its editorial, aside from highlighting the lack of family consultation. Columnist Margaret Holder, however, said the couple had "consistently failed to understand that a tax-paying public expects the Royal Family to be relevant, relatable and value for money".

"In trying to hide the place of Archie's birth and refusing to name his godparents they pushed aside the public in a way not done by any other royals," Holder wrote.

The Times' editorial said the announcement carried all the signs of the "petulance and hot-headedness for which Prince Harry is sadly becoming well-known".

"This latest outburst appears to have been triggered in part by anger at recent images released by the Palace that signalled a shift to a more slimmed down monarchy," it said. "This included a photo of the Queen with Princes Charles, William and George. Yet given Prince Harry's own publicly aired frustrations with royal life, he can hardly be surprised at his exclusion."
By PTI

NEW DELHI: In a last ditch effort to escape the noose, Vinay Kumar Sharma, one of the four men sentenced to death in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case, filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court on Thursday.

A curative petition is the last legal remedy available to a convict.

On Tuesday, a Delhi court issued death warrants against Mukesh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and said they will be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail.

In his curative plea, Vinay said his young age has been erroneously rejected as a mitigating circumstance.

ALSO READ: Nirbhaya rape case: This is how convicts will be hanged in Tihar jail

"The petitioner's socio-economic circumstances, a number of family dependants including ailing parents, good conduct in jail and probability of reformation have not been adequately considered leading to a gross miscarriage of justice," the plea said.

It said the court's judgment has relied on factors such as "collective conscience of society" and "public opinion" in deciding the sentence to be imposed on him and others.

"The impugned judgment is bad in law as subsequent judgments of the apex court have definitely changed the law on death sentence in India allowing several convicts similarly placed as him to have their death sentence commuted to life imprisonment," the plea said.

ALSO READ | Ready to hang Nirbhaya convicts as desperately need money for daughter's wedding: Pawan Jallad

It further said that after the pronouncement of the apex court's judgment in 2017 there have been as many as 17 cases involving rape and murder in which various three-judge benches of the top court have commuted the death sentence.

The 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 in a moving bus in south Delhi by six people before being thrown out on the road.

She died on December 29, 2012, at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

On July 9, 2018, the apex court had dismissed the review pleas filed by the other three convicts in the case, saying no grounds have been made out by them for review of the 2017 verdict.

One of the six accused in the case, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail here.

A juvenile, who was among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board and was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.

The top court in its 2017 verdict had upheld the capital punishment awarded to them by the Delhi High Court and the trial court.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 11:22:46|Editor: ZX

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NEW YORK, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices plunged over 4 percent on Wednesday after a roller-coaster ride as market participants assessed the possibility of a global crude supply disruption by monitoring the latest development of U.S.-Iran tensions.

The United States killed Major General Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps Quds Force, in an airstrike in Baghdad on Friday, escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Market participants feared that the rising Mideast tensions could impact energy production in the oil-rich region, which accounts for almost one third of global oil supply, analysts have said.

Oil prices surged more than 3 percent immediately after the Soleimani news came out, notching a multi-month high, and continued to rise on Monday.

The market on Tuesday took a little breather over the course of Monday trading. Risk factors were at least temporarily reassessed, and equity markets recovered while oil gave back some of its gains, JBC energy said in a note.

However, Iran launched ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops in retaliation for the U.S. killing of Soleimani between 01:45 a.m. and 2:15 a.m. Wednesday local time (2245 and 2315 GMT on Tuesday).

International benchmark Brent crude surged more than 4 percent in response to the attack to a high of 71.75 U.S. dollars per barrel, its highest since September.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) spiked more than 4 percent in overnight trading, when it hit 65.65 dollars a barrel.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the Iranian missile attack inflicted no U.S. casualties and that "Iran appears to be standing down," calling it "a good thing" for all parties concerned.

Analysts said traders have interpreted the comment as a move toward de-escalation.

Both Brent crude and WTI crude reversed the gains and settled more than 4 percent lower on Wednesday.

Analysts have said that the impact of U.S.-Iran tensions on the market may be short-lived.

"Despite their influence recently, we doubt that U.S.-Iran tensions will play more than a minor role in deciding the best and worst-performing asset classes in 2020 as a whole, at least outside the Middle East," said Oliver Jones, a senior markets economist at the economic research consultancy Capital Economics.

He added that historical evidence shows that market reaction to even major U.S. military interventions in the Middle East is hard to predict, and often quickly swamped by other things.

In addition, comments from the United Arab Emirates (UAE)'s Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei also helped ease fears of supply disruption.

He said on Wednesday that the market is well supplied at the moment and called for de-escalation in order to maintain the security of the oil markets.
Military conflicts  like the one that is sparking between the United States and Iran  are usually surrounded by false images and outdated videos that go viral on social media. It happened in Turkey the other day. To avoid that misinformation scenario, the International Fact-Checking Network developed a step-by-step guide to teach citizens how to verify images, from asking simple and rhetorical questions to using reverse image search on cell phones, Poynter reports in its article How to use your phone to spot fake images surrounding the U.S.-Iran conflict.

Ask simple questions

When you receive an image or a video on social media, be skeptical about the content and consider maybe questioning the person who sent you the file.

When was the picture taken?

Is there any information in the image that allows you to tell when the photo was taken? If not, are there any clues about it? For example, it is winter in Iran now (about 35 degrees F), and the picture you received on Twitter supposedly shows Tehran today, during a protest against the death of Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Are people wearing coats and long sleeves?

Where was the picture taken?

Is there any information in the image that you can use to know where the photo was taken? If not, can you find any clues? How about the name of a store, a building or a sign? Does the language fit what you expected to see?

Who took the picture?

Can you or the person who sent you this photo say who took the picture? If not, ask yourself: who is the source?

Look closely

It can be quite easy to find inconsistent lighting in a photo, indicating manipulation. Check if objects that are close to one another are lit in the same way. If one seems brighter or duller than the other, theres a good chance theyve been added or digitally manipulated.

Why are you receiving this now?

Make sure you are aware of the context. Think about the reason why someone is sending you or sharing on social media a photo today, not yesterday or tomorrow. False news producers take advantage of breaking news to spread disinformation and fool people.

Meet Google Reverse Image Search

Google Reverse Image Search on a smartphone is easy to use and could be taught in schools. Check the results for when and where else the image was used. If you go back far enough, you should be able to find where it was originally used and, possibly, the owner of the copyright to the picture. Select Search Google for this image to initiate a reverse image search.

Meet TinEye

TinEye is a great free tool and works just like Google Reverse Image Search. It allows you to filter the results by the oldest and see previous versions of the image you are searching for. This feature can be helpful when you want to prove a photo is not from today.

Meet Yandex

Yandex is a Russian search engine that can be very helpful when trying to find content from the eastern side of the world. It works just like Google Reverse Image Search.
WASHINGTON  President Trump asserted without evidence on Thursday that a top Iranian commander killed in an American airstrike was plotting to blow up an American embassy.

The presidents unsubstantiated account comes as Democrats are demanding details about the intelligence underlying the Trump administrations decision to kill Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, the leader of the powerful Quds Force of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

We did it because they were looking to blow up our embassy, Mr. Trump said in remarks to reporters during an unrelated event at the White House.

It was unclear whether Mr. Trump might have been disclosing new details about what the administration has called an imminent Iranian plot against American interests in the region, or whether he was referring to the pro-Iranian protesters who stormed the American Embassy in Baghdad last week, a subject he returned to later in his remarks.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 9, 2020) - Argentum Silver Corporation (TSXV: ASL) ("Argentum" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. (the "Exchange") has accepted for filing an amalgamation agreement between Argentum Silver Corp. and Norsemont II Resources Corp. ("Norsemont"), a private British Columbia company, dated May 27, 2019 (the "Agreement"). Norsemont owns a 100% interest in the Cochavara Silver-Lead-Zinc Project (the "Cochavara Project") in Northern Peru. Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, Argentum will acquire all the issued and outstanding securities of Norsemont in exchange for 2,777,778 common shares in the capital of Argentum. In addition, holders of convertible securities of Norsemont will receive 400,000 common share purchase warrants of Argentum, each warrant entitling the holder thereof to acquire a common share at an exercise price of $0.25 per common share on or before the date that is three years following the closing of the proposed transaction. The completed amalgamation was a related-party transaction with Sprott Mining Corp., a company controlled by Eric Sprott, as a control person of both Argentum and Norsemont.

The Cochavara Project consists of six concessions totalling 3,479 hectares located in the Department of La Libertad in Northern Peru, approximately 70 kilometres east of the city of Trujillo. The historical Quiruvilca silver/lead/zinc mine ("Quiruvilca") is located 3.5 kilometres northeast of the northern boundary of the Cochavara Project area. Quiruvilca is a large polymetallic vein deposit with over 130 different mineralized structures. Both Cochavara and Quiruvilca are located within the Mid-Miocene Calipuy volcanic complex that hosts several world-class precious metal deposits such as Newmont's Yanacocha and Barrick's Pierina gold mines, which are located approximately 120 kilometres north and 180 km southeast of Cochavara, respectively. Mineralization hosted at Quiruvilca, Yanacocha and Pierina is not necessarily reflective of the mineralization that may be hosted on the Cochavara silver-lead-zinc project.

According to Bartos (1984), mineralization at Quiruvilca is controlled by a series of east-northeast-striking polymetallic (silver/lead/zinc) vein swarms, which have extensive lateral and vertical continuity with abundant splits and pinch-and-swell structures. The mineralization at Cochavara is similarly controlled and occurs along strike of the Quiruvilca vein swarms. Production from the Quiruvilca mine was first recorded in 1789 and has been mined on an industrial scale since 1924. More recently, Pan American Silver acquired the Quiruvilca mine in 1995 and sold the mine to a private company in 2012. Cochavara currently has a valid exploitation permit to extract minerals for processing at third-party plants. During 2018, Cochavara underground development provided access to the main mineralized vein structure. The development adit was used to drift along the mineralized structure, to provide mineralized material for processing, and to provide access for future underground drilling.

Property Highlights

Several mineralized structures have been identified on the Cochavara Property, with the main mineralized structure occurring over an estimated strike length of 1,500 metres. The main zone (Margarita Mine) has recently (2013, 2015, and 2018) been explored by various companies including Norsemont, by drifting and cross-cutting on three separate mine levels: Margarita Workings (Level 3605), Old Drift (Level 3641), and Level 3663, all accessed by hillside adits. Mostly chip samples taken from mineralized veins ranging in widths from 0.1 to 1.0 metres, returned the following range of values: 6.1 g/t to 1,172 g/t Ag, 0.19%-24.88% Pb, and 0.31%-26.81% Zn. Details of the various exploration and sampling programs are provided in the Cochavara technical report.

The Cochavara Property has not been drill-tested.

NI 43-101 Technical Report

In connection with the completion of the transaction, Argentum has filed on SEDAR and on the Company's website (www.argentumsilvercorp.com), a technical report prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 disclosure standards entitled "NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Cochavara Ag-Pb-Zn Project, Districts of Julcan, Calamarca and Quiruvilca, Provinces of Julcan and Santiago de Chuco, Department of La Libertad, Peru" prepared by James A. McCrea, P.Geo. The report provides a comprehensive review of the exploration activities on the property and provides recommendations for future work.

Proposed Exploration

Argentum's initial exploration and work programs are currently being planned for the Cochavara Project with a budget of $US 300,000 and will consist of two contemporaneous phases.

Phase I - $US 90,000

- Detailed structural mapping and sampling to identify additional vein structures on the property.

- Geophysics: drone magnetometer survey with LiDAR to identify intrusive/geologic contacts and possible vein targets and Alpha Induced Polarization survey to identify possible polymetallic vein targets.

Phase II - $US 210,000

- 225 metres of underground exploration/development on known structures to search for and delineate high-grade mineralization.

About Argentum Silver Corp.

Argentum Silver is a junior mineral exploration company listed on the TSXV under the stock symbol ASL. Argentum hold 80% interest in the Vanadium Ridge Property located at the southern end of the Quesnel Trough 50 km north of Kamloops, British Columbia. The property consists of 20 mining claims covering 2,151 hectares near the town of Barriere. The project hosts vanadium-rich magnetite mineralization in seams and pods in altered ultramafic to intermediate intrusive rocks which form a portion of a large Late Triassic Poison Creek diorite intrusion complex. The near-surface exposure of vanadiferous magnetite is an attractive exploration target that may not require chemical processing for the liberation of a magnetite concentrate.

The technical aspects of this press release have been reviewed and approved by Gary Nassif, M.Sc., P.Geo., President and CEO of Argentum.

For more information contact:

Gary Nassif, President & CEO

416-855-9304

gnassif@argentumsilvercorp.com

* Bartos, P.J (1984) Mineralization, Alteration and Zoning of the Cu-Pb-Zn-Ag Lodes at Quiruvilca Peru, Master Thesis Stanford University.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release includes 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 by applicable laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/51300
Bulls regained control on the Street on January 9 with the Sensex climbing over 41,000 level and Nifty over its psychological 12,200 level. The rally was across sectors, barring IT, - Nifty Bank, Auto, and Realty indices rose more than 2 percent each.

The BSE Sensex jumped 634.61 points or 1.55 percent to 41,452.35 and the Nifty50 climbed 190.50 points or 1.58 percent to 12,215.90.

The broader market also participated in the rally. The Nifty Midcap index was up 1.4 percent and Smallcap index gained 2.1 percent amid strong breadth.

Nearly three shares advanced for every share falling on the National Stock Exchange.

Here are 5 factors that lifted market sentiment after a day of consolidation:

Donald Trump's speech

The national address by US President Donald Trump with respect to escalating tensions with Iran indicated that both countries may want to avoid crisis. The Trump's address came hours after Iranian forces fired missiles on US troops housing in Iraqi facilities.

The attack was in retaliation to the American killing of Iranian major general Qassem Soleimani.

While addressing nation, Trump said, "Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world."

"Iran must abandon its nuclear ambitions and end its support for terrorism. The time has come for the United Kingdom, Greece, France, Russia and China to recognise this reality. They must now break away from the remnants of the Iran deal, or JCPOA. And we must all work together towards making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place," he added.

He said, "As we continue to evaluate options in response to Iranian aggression, the United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime. These powerful sanctions will remain until Iran changes its behaviour." (With inputs from Reuters)

Global Markets

Asian markets recouped previous day's losses after easing geopolitical tensions between United States and Iran as both sides backed away from the brink of further conflict in the Middle East.

Iran offered no immediate signal it would retaliate further over killing of its senior military commanders, reports Reuters.

Japan's Nikkei gained 2.3 percent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng and South Korea's Kospi were up over 1.6 percent each. China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.9 percent at the time of publishing this copy.

Oil Prices Cooled Off

The cooling off of oil prices after ebbing US-Iran tensions also lifted Indian market sentiment as it is a big relief to the country, which imports more than 85 percent of its oil requirement.

International benchmark Brent crude futures fell 4.1 percent amid volatility in the previous session and traded around $65 a barrel (compared to $68-70 levels seen on January 8) amid a rocket attack on Baghdad which triggered fresh worries over likely conflict in the Middle East.

Pre-Budget

The spectacular rally could also be attributed to pre-budget expectations as the government is readying a set of bold initiatives that will likely be announced in the Budget for 2020-21 which could bring a quick turnaround in the Indian economy.

Top sources in the government said that over the last few days the Prime Minister has been brainstorming over a range of issues affecting the economy and thrash out appropriate policy interventions.

He has held as many as 12 meetings so far with groups of industrialists and experts. Each group has had between 10-12 people each and each meeting has been for three hours and more, in what probably is the most extensive ever consultations that Modi has held on matters related to the Union Budget and the economy in the past five years.

Each ministry has been asked to prepare a five-year vision and the Prime Minister is personally reviewing each plan, going through detailed presentations, sources said.

Technical View

The Nifty50 saw a strong gap-opening and started trading near day's high, forming a bullish candle on daily charts.

Experts feel as the index closes above crucial 12,200 level, it could march towards 12,300 level in coming session.

"Technically, this action indicates a strong comeback of bulls and this pattern seems to have nullified the negative status created by the panic selling of 6th Jan 2020," Nagaraj Shetti  Technical & Derivative Analyst, HDFC Securities said.

"The short term trend of Nifty is positive, there is a possibility of further upside in the next session. The Nifty could encounter the upside resistance of 12,290-12,300 levels in the next 1-2 sessions," he added.

Nifty Bank also showed strong strength as it saw more than 350 points gap-up opening and crossed psychological 32,000 level, forming large bullish candle on daily charts.
States like Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal continue to ignore Supreme Court's directive to set up Special POCSO Fast Track Courts (FTC) despite extremely high pendency rates. In some districts in these two states, there are over 1,000 POCSO cases pending for over one year.

The huge number of cases that are pending in the courts under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012 has become a cause of concern as it is making this path-breaking law ineffective. The Supreme Court has been closely monitoring the status of cases filed under POCSO Act as it is concerned with the high rate of pendency which means it does not give speedy justice to victims of child sexual abuse.

Despite the Supreme Court asking states to submit status report, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Haryana haven't submitted any report so far. In fact, the Supreme Court fined Madhya Pradesh Rs 10 lakh for not submitting status report twice  once on 25 July, 2019 and then again on 7 November, 2019.

States like Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal continue to ignore Supreme Court's directive to set up Special POCSO Fast Track Courts (FTC) despite extremely high pendency rates. In some districts in these two states, there are over 1,000 POCSO cases pending for over one year.

It should be noted that as per the Act, trial in POCSO cases should be completed within a year but there are over 1.66 lakh cases of sexual abuse of children and rape cases pending in the courts. To speed up the trials, Supreme Court directed the government on 25 July, 2019 to set up 1,023 special POCSO courts exclusively to reduce the pendency but many states are yet to comply despite the fact that the funds for setting up such special Fast Track Courts (FTC) for POCSO cases will be allocated by the centre. In it's order on 25 July, 2019, the Supreme Court directed officials of each district where there were over 100 POCSO cases pending, telling them to set up at least one special FTC.

While reviewing the compliance status in POCSO cases, Supreme Court noted in its 16 December 2019 order that investigation in 20 percent of the cases were not even completed. It also noted that 2/3rd of the cases were pending trial for more than a year.

However, even if 1,023 fast track POCSO courts are set up, it might not be enough to reduce the pendency of POCSO cases, feel child rights experts. Dr Asha Bajpai, leading Child Rights expert, who is a professor of Law at Center for Law and Society, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, said, "To make Fast Track Courts more effective, judges, prosecutors, and staff of FTCs must be trained and sensitised towards child rights and the objectives and reasons of POCSO and its special procedures."

Adding that there must be witness protection services in place to protect the survivors and witnesses, Bajpai said that the entire criminal justice system must be overhauled and made friendly for child survivors.

There is also the fear that delay in trials will adversely affect victims. Commenting on this, Joseph Wesley, Head, Anti-Child Trafficking Program, World Vision India said, "Delay in the delivery of justice contributes to the continuation of trauma experienced by the survivors. In some cases, it also results in prolonged institutionalisation of children thereby depriving them nurturing family environment. Continuous delay also leads to gradual decline in the survivors' participation in the trial process resulting finally in pendency and acquittals. Relocation of survivors during the trial period also reduces the chance of successful prosecution."

On the other hand, the special Fast Track Courts for POCSO cases which have been set up are making a difference. Delhi-based advocate Chandra Suman, who has represented victims in many POCSO cases, said that there is a difference in Delhi where there are 27 POCSO courts set up. He said that now the hearings are held faster and trials are speeding up in POCSO cases.

The Supreme Court had asked the high courts to submit fresh status reports in POCSO cases in October 2019 but only 18 states and union territories submitted the reports. Observing that two states have huge pendency of POCSO cases, the court had passed special orders for Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Uttar Pradesh accounts for 25 percent of all POCSO cases in India which were pending for over one year and West Bengal also had high pendency of POCSO cases. In Uttar Pradesh, as many as 10 districts have over 1000 POCSO cases pending for over a year while in West Bengal one district has over 1600 pending cases, another has over 1200 pending cases and yet another has over 1,000 pending cases.

In both states, the Supreme Court said that it has passed separate order due to the extremely deplorable state of affairs in POCSO courts there. It said that these states are not concerned with the rights of children. The Supreme Court observed that though four months had passed since it asked the centre to set up special POCSO courts, virtually no efforts were made to set them up in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Infact, the Supreme Court went so far as to say that if special orders were not passed, a situation would be reached where the judicial system in relations to POCSO cases could come to a grinding halt and if that happened then the Rule of Law would break down and people could resort to revenge and violence outside the court rooms.

Whether the steps being taken by the Supreme Court to reduce pendency in POCSO cases will have the desired result will have to be seen in the coming days. But a lot depends on the response of the various state governments to ensure that children who are sexually abused get the justice they deserve.

Here is a table of the status of POCSO cases in states were pendency is high and Supreme Court has observed that the state authorities have not done enough to set up Fast Track Court for POCSO cases exclusively

Sr no States/no. of districts Districts were over 100 cases pending over one year Districts were over 200 cases pending over one year Districts were over 400 cases and above pending over one year Other details and court observations 1 Andhra Pradesh/13 districts 8 2 Assam /27 districts 12 3 No exclusive POCSO courts, no Affidavit filed in SC 3 Bihar/38 districts 17 17 30 courts need to be set up but Bihar has not asked for funds from centre 4 Chhattisgarh/23 districts 11 3 Funds released by centre 5 Gujarat/32 districts 13 10 Haryana/22 districts 12 2 Nominated all sessions courts as POCSO courts but SC said exclusive POCSO courts should be set up. It censured the state and said it was sleeping over the matter. Funds release 6 Jharkhand/24 districts 6 8 POCSO courts set up 7 Karnataka/30 districts 17 8 Funds released for 17 courts 8 Kerala/14 districts 1 13 Funds for 14 courts released 9 Madhya Pradesh/50 districts 18 20 State fined Rs 10 lakhs by SC. State didnt file report on July 25 or on November 13 either so court called it a deplorable state of affairs. 28 POCSO courts functioning and 26 to be set up. Funds released 10 Maharashtra/33 districts 4 26 30 POCSO courts to be set up. Funds released 11 Meghalaya/11 districts 1 1 4 existing POCSO courts, 5 to be set up 12 Odisha/30 districts 4 20 22 courts to be set up. Funds released 13 Punjab/22 district 1 1 Only 2 POCSO courts to be set up. Funds released 14 Rajasthan/35 districts 12 14 56 POCSO courts exist 15 Tamil Nadu/32 districts 16 8 16 POCSO courts exist 16 Telengana/10 districts 1 9 9 Fast track POCSO courts set up 17 Uttarakhand 1 3 4 courts exist and 4 to be set up 18 Mizoram/11 districts 1 3 POCSO courts to be set up 19 Uttar Pradesh/74 district 5 18 19

16->600 cases

06->800 cases

10->1000 case 44,000 cases pending -25% of all pending cases in India. 218 courts to be 74 exclusive POCSO courts 20 West Bengal/20 districts 1 2 9-200-400 cases

4-400-600 cases

1-1000-1200

1-1200-1600

1-1600-2000 SC said both UP and WB had extremely deplorable state of affairs as far as POCSO cases are concerned. It said the two states not concerned about rights of children and that the situation was alarming

This article is part of a media fellowship awarded by World Vision India for doing articles on Child Sexual Abuse and related matters
Wyoming Business Tips for Jan. 13-19

A weekly look at issues facing Wyoming business owners and entrepreneurs from the Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network, a collection of business assistance programs at the University of Wyoming.

By Cindy Unger, business adviser, Wyoming SBDC Network

Although crowdfunding has a long history of supporting books, films, art and music projects, and more, the first online crowdfunding platform companies started appearing around 2001.

In 2012, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act loosened U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules to permit the sale of stock to the general public by way of crowdfunding sites and popularized this new funding mechanism in the media. Today, crowdfunding can be subdivided into four primary categories: reward-based, peer-to-peer, donation-based and equity.

Reward-based crowdfunders typically pledge money to a new project or product with no expectation of anything in return beyond a small token gift. The financier essentially gifts money to the company or individual. This is the most common type of crowdfunding.

Donation-based funding is the second most popular method and is the result of the collective effort of individuals to help a charitable cause. Typically, the funds raised are for social or environmental causes, and there is no reward for donating.

Peer-to-peer lending sites enable borrowers to access loans directly from other individuals. Typically, these sites conglomerate small contributions from a large number of participants to create a loan.

Equity crowdfunding enables nonaccredited individuals to make equity investments in private companies. In other words, a company can actually launch a mini-IPO without all of the traditional hurdles.

A quick search on Kickstarter for Wyoming projects yielded a total of 412 projects since 2010. The highest grossing projects were two different products from Giver. Its frontier mittens raised $986,672, and its four-season gloves raised $224,370. Another company, Foot Flops, raised $179,019.

If you are interested in crowdfunding, get in touch with your local Wyoming SBDC Network adviser for no-cost confidential assistance at www.wyomingsbdc.org.

The Wyoming SBDC Network offers business expertise to help Wyoming residents think about, launch, grow, reinvent or exit their businesses. The Wyoming SBDC Network is hosted by UW with state funds from the Wyoming Business Council and funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

To ask a question, call 1-800-348-5194, email wsbdc@uwyo.edu, or write 1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3922, Laramie, WY 82071-3922.
The prominent civil Rights Advocacy group  HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has asked Nigerians to demand from relevant authorities, details of the unending investigation into the alleged killings of three police detectives in Taraba state to free a suspected kidnapping kingpin Alhaji Hamisu Wadume nearly five months ago.

HURIWA has also condemned the reported invasion by armed bandits and the kidnapping of some Senior Seminarians at the GOOD SHEPHERD MAJOR SEMINARY, BUWAYA GONIN GORA, KADUNA which WAS ATTACKED BY ARMED BANDITS YESTERDAY 8TH JANUARY 2020 BETWEEN 10:30PM-11:00PM.

HURIWA disclosed that the Rector of the Seminary Reverend Doctor Joel Usman stated that AFTER HEAD COUNT OF STUDENTS WITH SECURITY AGENTS, FOUR 100 LEVEL PHILOSOPHY SEMINARIANS HAVE BEEN DECLARED MISSING. HURIWA has called on the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu to ensure that these kidnapped would -be Catholic Priests are freed unharmed even as the spate of targeted kidnappings of Christian clerics and Christian schools in Kaduna state are decisively brought to an end and the perpetrators arrested, prosecuted and punished for these heinous crimes against humanity.

The Rights group affirmed that the reason there is widespread official impunity and lawlessness by supposed agents of law enforcement agencies is the lethargic attitudes of millions of Nigerians who lack the zeal to seek accountability from elected political office holders and officials of state institutions.

HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has also tasked the Inspector General of police Alhaji Mohammed Adamu to discharge his legal obligations to Nigerians by complying with the constitutional demands for full disclosures to the citizens on the current status of the series of investigative activities launched by government in the wake of the dastardly criminal act of cruel assassination of three policemen by soldiers on the argued orders if s serving Army Captain so as to free the suspected kidnapping baron in Taraba state.

Nigerians need to know if the serving Army Captain Tijani Balarabe allegedly accused of ordering soldiers to intercept the cops who had then arrested the kidnappers and freed the key suspected kidnapping chieftain Alhaji Wadume, has been cleared just as Nigerians need to be told what steps have been adopted by the Defence headquarters and the police hierarchy to ensure that all those indicted for the cruel murders of the police detectives are made to face the full weight of the law. Nigerians need closure in this particular case because when it occurred the same Nigerians were inundated with avalanche of information by the relevant authorities on this vicious crime of assassination of armed functionaries of the Nigerian State who were in the line of duty.

HURIWA recalled that Balarabe, a captain with the Nigerian army, until the news broke of how he allegedly ordered the killing of some of the policemen who had gone to arrest Bala Hamisu, a kidnap suspect better known as Wadume, was said to have been arrested and it's unclear whether he is still in detention but certainly there has been no prosecution.

Balarabe, operation commander of the troops who allegedly shot the policemen, is alleged to have had 191 phone conversations with Wadume, and police authorities are said to also believe he was on the suspects payroll.

HURIWA citing a report by Daily Trust, disclosed that the captain was said to have joined the army in 1993.

The Rights group in a statement by the national coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, said it was imperative that Nigerians are told what has become of that case and if the Army captain whose name and image graced the pages of newspaper has been cleared of the alleged crimes or not.

Besides, HURIWA expressed sadness that the entire scenario seems to have been swept under the carpet of impunity just as the police hierarchy appears to have moved on and forgotten about the case.

The Rights group said the consequences of failing to decisively resolve this high profile criminal scandal like many others is that it will create the graphic picture that impunity has become acceptable just as other police operatives would see it that their lives matters not if in the event that they are required to make supreme sacrifices.

HURIWA recalled that three Police officers transporting Wadume from Ibi-Wukari area of Taraba state were killed by some soldiers over 5 months ago.

The killings which led to an outrage prompted a directive for a joint investigation from President Muhammadu Buhari. Also, the suspected kidnapper, Wadume was rearrested by some Police officers led by Abba Kyari in his hideout at Layin Mai Allo Hotoro area of Kano state in the late hours of Monday, August 19.

The Rights group has also charged President Muhammadu Buhari to implement effective security strategy to put an end to the killings of Nigerians by armed hoodlums, armed Fulani herdsmen and bandits as has recently happened in Kogi state.

Nigeria needs to set up a joint security anti-kidnapping, anti-bandits task force to be drawn from all the security agencies and to operate under a single chain of command answerable to the National security Adviser to the president.
Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money.

Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists.
New Delhi, Jan 10 : A meeting of police chiefs of 10 states was chaired by Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik here to discuss the security arrangements for Independence Day parade and Delhi Assembly elections.

The meeting held in the new police headquarters on Jai Singh road on Thursday was attended by the police chiefs of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Chandigarh.

This is for the first time that the Jammu & Kashmir police officials were invited to by the Delhi Police Commissioner after abrogation of Article 370.

The inter-state coordination meeting was organised to discuss the security arrangements for Independence Day parade and Delhi Assembly elections and also to make sure that no one could cross the state borders with objectionable materials like explosives, illegal weapons or even liquor.

It was also discussed in the meeting to keep a vigil on social media, cyber cafe and cyber crime.

The police officials of various states and UTs also agreed to keep an eye on the miscreants so as to make sure that no unprecedented incident happens during Independence Day and Delhi polls.

The police of all the states will also keep an eye on the sale and purchase of old vehicles in their respective states and UTs to avoid any unprecedented incident.

(Sanjeev Kumar Singh Chauhan can be reached at sanjeev.c@ians.in)
The estimates show that the United States took in more than a million immigrants in both 2015 and 2016, but that the numbers have fallen in the three years since President Trump took office, dipping below 600,000 in 2019.

The four states estimated to have lost population this past decade were West Virginia, Illinois, Connecticut and Vermont.

Population loss directly affects political representation. Seats in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College are tied to the decennial census. If the 2019 estimates are extrapolated one more year, the figures suggest that 10 states will lose a House seat. Arizona, Colorado, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon would each get one new seat, while Florida (2) and Texas (3) would divide the remaining five seats.

Population losses can also harm local economies. Companies may relocate or look elsewhere to expand, making it harder for local governments to raise taxes to pay for services like education, which in turn prompts more people to move away.

Over all, the estimates show that the United States grew by 6.3 percent in the 2010s  to a total of 328 million  after an increase of 9.1 percent between 2000 and 2009.

The data also showed a pickup in domestic migration as the decade proceeded, but it never reached the same rate as before the Great Recession. The overall migration has been going down, but the direction of where they move is coming back to where they were, Mr. Frey said of the trend of population moving from Northern and Midwestern states to the South and West.
Officials said the suspects face first- and second-degree murder and other charges. Two of the men  McNatt and Richardson  were hurt during the incident and are being treated, police said. Their injuries are not life-threatening.
A nine-year-old girl was rushed to hospital on Wednesday after being attacked by a shark in Australia's northeast, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

The attack occurred in the early evening as the girl was swimming in waters near North West Island, in the State of Queensland.

It left her with a bite to the back of her leg, and puncture wounds to her foot. Paramedics said she was in a stable condition.

According to reports, the girl was lucky that a registered nurse was nearby when the attack occurred, and the nurse was able to stem the bleeding.

The area where the girl was swimming is remote and it took her 40 minutes by boat to reach Heron Island, where a rescue chopper was waiting.

The creature responsible is believed to have been a lemon shark, a tropical dwelling species which can grow to be over three meters long.

On Dec. 30 last year a man was also transferred to hospital with hand and knee injuries following a suspected shark attack in the same region.
INS Sumedha on anti-piracy patrol in Gulf of Aden.

A traditional wooden vessel known as Dhow, Al-Hamid was detected by an Indian Navy helicopter launched from the deck of INS Sumedha.

New Delhi: Indian Navy ship Sumedha came to the assistance of a stranded vessel near Somali Coast which had Indian crew.

Indian Navy ship Sumedha, currently on anti-piracy patrol in Gulf of Aden, came to the rescue of the crew of the dhow Al-Hamid on January 6. A traditional wooden vessel known as Dhow, Al-Hamid was detected by an Indian Navy helicopter launched from the deck of INS Sumedha. It was confirmed that the vessel was in distress and drifting near the coast of Somalia.

A boarding team along with a naval technical team embarked Al-Hamid for routine checks onboard and render assistance, said Indian Navy spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal. He said that the crew of Al-Hamid comprised 13 Indian citizens.

The technical team assessment revealed that the dhow had suffered a broken main engine shaft, which was not repairable at sea. The dhow was then towed to safety away from the Somali coast, said the Navy spokesperson. Meanwhile, the owner of the dhow Al-Hamid has sent another vessel for towing the dhow to port for repairs. Before departure, Indian Naval Ship Sumedha provided fresh water and medical supplies to the crew of the dhow.

Meanwhile, the Navy has said that its tableau for Republic Day will showcase its fighting capability in air, surface, and under-water. The front part of the tableau will have model of Kolkata class Stealth Destroyer displaying a Brahmos launch and Kalvari class submarine launching the Exocet missile. It will have models of state-of-the-art assets like Boeing P8I Long Range Maritime Patrol aircraft with Harpoon missiles.

The main tableau of Navy showcases the indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant under construction at Cochin Shipyard Limited, along with its complement of MiG 29K FighterAircraft.

This not only depicts the strength of the Indian Navy but is representative of the Navys total commitment to the Make in India initiative. The tableau is in pursuance of the Navy Week theme Indian Navy  Silent, Strong, and Swift.

The benign role of the Navy in terms of safeguarding offshore economic assetsas well as rendering Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) is portrayed through the murals on the sides.
North Atlantic Current may cease temporarily in the next century

The North Atlantic Current transports warm water from the Gulf of Mexico towards Europe, providing much of north-western Europe with a relatively mild climate. However, scientists suspect that meltwater from Greenland and excessive rainfall could interfere with this ocean current. Simulations by scientists from the University of Groningen and Utrecht University showed that it is unlikely that the current will come to a complete stop, due to small and rapid changes in precipitation over the North Atlantic. However, there is a 15 percent likelihood that there will be a temporary change in the current in the next 100 years. The results were published on 30 December in the journal Scientific Reports.

'The oceans store an immense amount of energy and the ocean currents have a strong effect on the Earth's climate,' says University of Groningen Associate Professor in Numerical Mathematics, Fred Wubs. Together with his colleague Henk Dijkstra from Utrecht University, he has studied ocean currents for some 20 years.

Box model

Ocean scientists have found that the Atlantic Ocean currents are sensitive to the amount of fresh water at the surface. Since the run-off of meltwater from Greenland has increased due to climate change, as has rainfall over the ocean, it has been suggested that this may slow down or even reverse the North Atlantic Current, blocking the transport of heat to Europe.

Simulations of the effects of freshwater on the currents have already been performed for some decades. 'Both high-resolution models, based on the equations describing fluid flows, and highly simplified box models have been used,' explains Wubs. 'Our colleagues in Utrecht created a box model that describes present-day large-scale processes in the ocean rather well.'

Total collapse

The idea was to use this box model to estimate the likelihood of small fluctuations in freshwater input causing a temporary slowing down or a total collapse of the North Atlantic Current. The current shows non-linear behaviour, which means that small changes can have large effects. The evolution of the physics described by the box model can only be obtained using simulations. 'As the transitions we were looking for are expected to be rare events, you need a huge number of simulations to estimate the chance of them happening,' says Wubs. However, the Dutch scientists found that a French scientist had devised a method to select the most promising simulations, reducing the number of full simulations required.

Sven Baars, a PhD student of Wubs, implemented this method efficiently and linked it to the Utrecht box model. Daniele Castellana, a PhD student of Dijkstra, performed the simulations. 'These simulations showed that the chances of a total collapse of the North Atlantic Current within the next thousand years are negligible,' says Wubs.

Interruption

A temporary interruption in the delivery of relatively warm water to north-western Europe is more likely: 'In our simulations, the chances of this happening in the next 100 years are 15 percent.' Such temporary transitions may cause cold spells in the North Atlantic, although this needs to be verified in further studies. Therefore, the current study is just a first step in determining the risk. The model does not take into account considerable changes in freshwater in the North Atlantic, which can be caused by the melting of the ice sheets. Wubs: 'Confirming our results through simulation with a high-resolution climate model will be the next challenge.'

###

Reference: D. Castellana, S. Baars, F.W. Wubs and H.A. Dijkstra: Transition probabilities of noise-induced transitions of the Atlantic Ocean Circulation. Scientific Reports 30 December 2019

This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Like many royals, Prince Williams work mostly involves using his position to advocate for various causes. He and his wife, Kate Middleton, have been huge supporters of charities that promote mental health, for example.

However, it looks like Prince William will add more work to his plate in the coming decade. It has recently been announced that he has taken on a big initiative.

For fans, this new initiative is also reminiscent of something that Prince Harry has done. Read on below to find out what Prince William is tackling and what it could mean for his relationship with Prince Harry.

Prince William launches an initiative to tackle climate change

Prince William | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

In late December, Prince William unveiled a new initiative to tackle issues related to climate change.

Called Earthshot, the initiative looks to recognize and award people who have visionary ideas to help the planet. Prince William plans to choose five winners every year with the goal of coming up with 50 solutions by 2030.

Prince William said in a statement: Remember the awe inspiring civilizations that we have built, the life-saving technology we have created, the fact that we have put a man on the moon. People can achieve great things. And the next 10 years presents us with one of our greatest tests: a decade of change to repair the earth.

The space race of the 20th century ultimately inspired a lot of inventions, such as CAT scans, insulin pumps, and laptops. Earthshot seems to be looking at a similar goal, which is to help humankind by spurring innovations that could change the world for the better.

Prince Harry has an initiative to help the environment as well

The Duke of Sussex is in Amsterdam to launch a new sustainable travel initiative with @bookingcom @Skyscanner @TripAdvisor and @Visa. It aims to help the travel industry better protect tourist destinations and the communities that depend on them. pic.twitter.com/byyKF7bdlH  Lizzie Robinson (@LizzieITV) September 3, 2019

A few months ago, Prince Harry also announced his own initiative to combat climate change. He teamed up with companies like Bookings.com, TripAdvisor, and Visa to create an initiative called Travelyst, which hopes to promote eco-friendly tourism.

Tourism is often not brought up when it comes to how damaging it can be to the environment. However, Prince Harry was given a serious awakening about this in 2012 when a young boy from the Caribbeans told him that coral reefs in the region were dying because of tourists from other countries. This led the prince to understand the full impact outsiders can have on a community without even realizing it.

With Travelyst, Prince Harry hopes to inspire others to think about the effect their travels can have on other countries. The Duke of Sussex said in a statement: As tourism inevitably grows, it is critically important to accelerate the adoption of sustainable practices worldwide and to balance this growth with the needs of the environment and the local population.

He also shared that when sustainability is taken into account, tourism can build schools, create jobs, strengthen safety nets, as opposed to destroying local communities to cater to travelers.

Are Prince William and Prince Harry competing with each other?

Prince William and Prince Harry used to be very close and often worked with charity organizations together. However, the brothers have grown apart in recent years, with Prince Harry even admitting that there is a rift between them.

Some sources also say that there could be resentment and a lot of unresolved issues between the brothers. Because of this, onlookers think that their separate climate change initiatives might be a way for the two of them to compete with each other.

Whether they really are competing or not is unknown. It could simply be that both Prince William and Prince Harry are passionate about the environment (after all, their father has been advocating for sustainability for a long time), and they have come up with ways to tackle the issue of climate change from different angles.

At the end of the day, saving the planet is the end goal for everybody, and perhaps that should be all that matters. Hopefully, Prince William and Prince Harry can create a lot of positive impacts from both Earthshot and Travelyst.
The country is witnessing troubled times and petitions in Supreme Court should not exacerbate the situation, Chief Justice of India SA Bobde observed on Thursday on an unusual petition that wants the top court to declare the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act as constitutional.

Parliament last month cleared the law to amend the Citizenship Act that empowers the government to grant citizenship to religious minorities from three Muslim-majority countries in Indias neighbourhood.

The law, seen as a precursor to the rollout of the national register of citizens, has been sharply criticised on grounds that it discriminates against people on grounds of their religion.

Also Watch | Congress-AAP behind violent anti-CAA protests in Delhi: Prakash Javadekar

Country is going through difficult times. As it is, there is a lot of trouble. The object should be to bring about peace. Such petitions dont help, Chief Justice Bobde said, a reference to the widespread protests - some of them violent - that broke out after parliamentary approval to the law.

Several states ruled by opposition parties such as Kerala and West Bengal have already declared that they would not implement this law.

The petitioners lawyer said that he is seeking declaration of the CAA as constitutional apart from seeking directions to be issued to state governments to implement the Act.

The CJI, however, was not impressed.

You know that there is a presumption of constitutionality (of laws). We dont mean to be offensive but we have never heard of petitions like this asking that Act should be declared constitutional, the CJI observed.

The law was notified in the official gazette but is yet to come into force.

Home Ministry officials have said they were still to finalise the rules that would govern implementation of the law.
Breastfeeding Support Groups Launch in South Los Angeles

Soul Food for Your Baby (SFYB) in partnership with the Black Infant Health Program (BIH) at The Childrens Collective, Inc. (TCCI), will launch breastfeeding support groups for African American families starting Monday, January 13th. The groups will be held from 11 am to 12:30 pm on the second Monday of the month through June 2020 and possibly beyond at TCCI, 3701 Stocker Street, Suite 302 Los Angeles, CA 90008.

The meetings offer culturally relevant support to the African American community, which consistently has lower breastfeeding rates compared to other groups, making it a public health concern. Lower breastfeeding can contribute to health disparities, including higher risk of infant death, obesity, and diabetes.

Were excited to launch this important intervention in South Los Angeles to reach families in the communities we serve and to address practical, social and even, cultural challenges they may face when trying to breastfeed, said Elizabeth Woods, SFYB Interim Executive Director. We also look forward to collaborating with Black Infant Health at The Childrens Collective to promote breastfeeding with the mothers they work with.

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SFYB exists to promote breastfeeding in the African American community to bolster support and mitigate health disparities in the Black population. SFYBs focus groups found that Black women dont initiate or stop breastfeeding early for a number of reasons, including pain, lack of support from family, time constraints, public criticism, and need to return to work.

In addition to the support groups, SFYB seeks to raise awareness about breastfeeding through community outreach at local schools, farmers markets, and Nursing Meet Ups. It will also launch online support groups for mothers who cannot meet in person.

The BIH Program is designed to reduce the high infant mortality rate and maternal mortality among African Americans through culturally sensitive case management, support, and empowerment workshops. These efforts have greatly improved health and birth outcomes for Black women and infants under one year of age.

SFYB is grateful for the funding for the support groups, which came from an award from the Barclay-Giel Seed Grants program funded by the Public Health Service Commissioned Officers Foundation for the Advancement of Public Health (COF) to support community-based public health programs. SFYB was one of 15 organizations selected nationwide for the inaugural distribution of the award. The Barclay-Giel Seed Grants program is named after the late Martha Barclay-Giel, a retired Captain of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service who dedicated her lifes work to advancing the health of Americans. After retiring, she generously supported COF through considerable charitable donations.

We are honored to be selected for this award and to be able to use these funds to reach our community with needed breastfeeding services, Woods said.

To keep posted on the launch of breastfeeding support activities, visit SFYBs Facebook or Twitter pages (@SFYB) or www.soulfood4yourbaby.org.

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For more information about the next funding cycle of the Barclay-Giel Seed Grant in February please visit www.phscof.org/seed-grants.
Wednesday, January 8, 2020 at 8:32PM

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold originally made its debut in May 2019. But now, the company is ready to give more details about the foldable Windows machine at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. We now know that the ThinkPad X1 Fold has a targeted release period of mid-2020, and it will go for US$2,499 (around CA$3,256). Unfortunately, we can't pin them down for an exact date yet.

What will that premium price get you? With the announcement of Microsoft Windows 10X, it was assumed that this operating system will be powering this machine. But since Windows 10X isn't available yet, Lenovo is hedging its bets and will be shipping with Windows 10 Pro for now.

The ThinkPad X1 Fold comes with a 13.3-inch 4:3 display, which you can fold into half and place the magnetic physical keyboard on top. When you fold it in half, you get two 9.6-inch 3:2 screens.

You can opt to use the full screen and detach the Bluetooth keyboard, too. The device has a kickstand on one corner so you can prop it up, or you can buy an optional stand from Lenovo for US$23.99 (CA$31).

"The Lenovo X1 Fold is a first experiment of a new category of a device," Frank Gillett, an industry analyst at Forrester Research, told Time. "We're still figuring it out. But, back in the '80s, it took a while to figure out what a laptop was supposed to look like. We're entering a period of multi-year experimentation."

Its compact size makes it easily portable, and the different modes it offers make it an exciting proposition. Lenovo isn't one to shy away from experimenting with various form factors, so we could only hope the company keeps toying around with this idea.

Source: Neowin
Irans economy has been hammered by sanctions, but did they achieve the USs stated objective?

On the last day of 2019, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that successive rounds of United States sanctions on Iran cost the Islamic Republic $100bn in oil revenue and another $100bn of investment money.

In a televised speech to the nation about what he called an economic war, Rouhani blamed the dearth of vital foreign exchange currency on punitive US financial measures on Irans oil and banking sectors.

That speech came just weeks after Rouhani proposed a budget of resistance to offset the maximum pressure campaign unleashed by Washington after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal with world powers in 2018.

What should we do? the Iranian president asked rhetorically. When there is no food and water, you are still in danger no matter how strong you are.

Rouhani said Iran is paying a steep price for defying Trumps will  and that toll could worsen after Trump said during a news conference on Wednesday that the US will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions in response to Iranian missile attacks on US forces in Iraq.

The Trump administration says the goal of sanctions is to deprive Tehran of the capacity to fund destabilising activities and force its leaders back into nuclear discussions.

But the assassination of Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani and its aftermath raise important questions about whether sanctions have achieved those objectives  and whether the strategy is still viable.

The maximum pressure campaign has succeeded in squeezing Iran's economy, but it has utterly failed in making Iran change its policies... Annelle Sheline, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

Maximum resistance

There is no doubt that sanctions have been effective at pressuring Iran economically.

Iran experienced the third-largest contraction of any national economy in the world during 2019, something very close to 10 percent, said Hussein Ibish, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

Iran has run deficits for years, but the governments fiscal gap widened exponentially as sanctions sent oil sales plummeting 90 percent. The Iranian rial, which lost more than 60 percent of its value in 2018, has only partially recovered.

The Rouhani administration has tried to offset the ravages of sanctions by developing internal markets, cultivating new revenue streams and cutting subsidies  without fomenting a backlash from cash-strapped low- and middle-income people.

Such a dramatic transformation is tough for any country, let alone for one effectively isolated from the global economy and loath to reduce the costly enterprise of cultivating regional influence.

The scramble to refill rapidly depleting coffers has forced tough budget choices on Tehran. Over the summer, the government eliminated universal cash handouts to well-off households.

But the belt-tightening proved too much for ordinary Iranians in November, after a surprise government proposal to ration petrol and hike prices to fund cash benefits for the countrys poorest citizens.

I wish economic austerity wasnt only for average people. That way this would hurt less, wrote a journalist on her Instagram account immediately after a fuel-price hike was announced, shortly after midnight on November 15. Were all drowning; its only a matter of time.

The proposal triggered nationwide protests. Blaming thugs linked to exiles and foreign adversaries, the government initiated an internet blackout and security crackdown that human rights group Amnesty International said in December resulted in at least 304 deaths. Iran categorically denied the findings.

Iranian soldiers gather to mourn General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, who was killed in an air strike at Baghdad airport [Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA/Reuters]

But cost-cutting is just one of Irans responses, say observers. Ibish says Irans strategy has evolved  from waiting out sanctions to compelling relief by upping the geopolitical ante for Washington and its allies.

He points to a series of regional attacks attributed to Iran, as well as Tehrans continued spending on military, security and intelligence, which Ibish says the government prioritises over the wellbeing of the ordinary people.

There is a very direct line of causality between the imposition of the sanctions and the situation in which we find ourselves, he said, adding that Tehran has tried to create a political and diplomatic crisis that would result in international intervention to force the US to ease the economic pressure.

Utterly failed

Analysts are divided on whether Tehran might be willing to renegotiate the terms of the nuclear deal with world powers, the limits of which it has now scrapped.

Ibish believes incremental sanctions relief paired with the possibility of a new accord would be the most potent positive inducement Washington could offer to Tehran.

But others believe Iran could be hard-pressed to come to the negotiating table  and stay there  as animosity between the longtime foes deepens.

Direct diplomacy between Tehran and Trump is all but dead now, said Annelle Sheline, a research fellow in the Middle East programme at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

The political realities in Iran will not allow the Iranian government to negotiate directly, she told Al Jazeera. Mediation by third countries can help defuse the tensions, but if Trump was looking for a deal, he just ensured he wont be getting one.

Supporters of an Iran-backed militia group burn a United States flag during a demonstration against US sanctions in Baghdad, Iraq [Alaa al-Marjani/Reuters]

Sheline believes that Trumps tactics have brought the US  and the region  closer to war.

The maximum pressure campaign has succeeded in squeezing Irans economy, but it has utterly failed in making Iran change its policies in the direction Washington wants, said Sheline.

Civilians have been most impacted by higher costs of living, she added, explaining that the general tendency for sanctions is to make a population suffer while the regime remains in place.

Bigger division in society

After the official mourning period for Soleimani ended, Iran took out its revenge on Wednesday by firing missiles at US military bases in Iraq. While Trump promised new sanctions in return, the president also said that the lack of harm to US lives and the minimal damage signal that Iran appears to be standing down.

Ibish suggests the US and Iran will likely return to the low-intensity tit-for-tat of the pre-Soleimani killing era with Iran potentially seeking a longer pause to get some economic relief from non-US powers under the circumstances and even to explore what could be possible with neighbouring states.

A picture of Soleimani  a widely beloved but controversial figure  is seen on a motorcycle in Tehran [Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA/Reuters]

But Ali Khadem, an Iranian pro-democracy and human rights activist based in Nuremberg, Germany, is sceptical about the prospects of a US-Iran detente.

At this stage of escalation, I doubt that Iran would negotiate over economic concerns, he told Al Jazeera.

However, Khadem said that tighter US sanctions are leading to a bigger division in society and between the classes, with the people in the middle class shifting to [become] underclass.

He added that working-class Iranians made up most of those on the streets recently, demanding regime change and, in effect, playing into US hands.

The biggest concern of the state at the moment is domestic  the high number of unhappy people who are getting ready to use violence, in case there will be another mass anti-regime protest, Khadem said.
The West Bengal Assembly on Thursday passed a resolution to ratify the Constitution 126th Amendment Bill, 2019 for continuation of seats for SCs and STs in the state assembly.

The Bill called for continuation of seats for SCs and STs for another ten years upto January 25, 2030 in state assemblies.

The resolution, which was passed by two-third majority, will now be sent to the Centre.

Initiating the discussion on the resolution, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee said the state government will always protect the rights of SCs, STs, OBCs, tribals and minorities and the Bill was timely.

Taking part in the debate, opposition Congress leader Abdul Mannan said the government has alleged that some of the opposition MLAs are conspiring with the Raj Bhavan to hold up some of the bills tabled by the state, including the bill on SC and STs.

"Cutting across party lines we should identify those who have been involved in such an act. I urge the Hon'ble Speaker to call a special session to discuss the issue of some legislators allegedly conspiring with the Governor," he said.

CPI(M) MLA and former minister Ashok Bhattacharya said the ruling BJP at the Centre is against dalits and Christians while the Trinamool government at state is not doing much to address their plight.

Bhattacharya said the previous Left Front government had provided land to 50 lakh farmers and a sizeable part of them were tribals.

Chatterjee, who is also the state higher education minister, in his reply said that in 34 years of CPI(M) rule nothing had been done to improve the conditions of the SCs, STs and tribals in the state.

Chatterjee said that 2.5 lakh persons have got contractual jobs during the TMC rule and many of them are from SC and ST communities. He asked the opposition not to see everything through the "prism of negativism".

He listed a number of projects the TMC government has undertaken for the "marginalised people" and disputed opposition claims that allocation for governments projects has been diverted for other use.

Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay then adjouned the house sine die.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Mexican asylum-seeker slit his own throat on a bridge across the Rio Grande after being denied entry into the United States, two Mexican security officials said on Wednesday.

The man, who has not been identified, tried to enter the US at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge between the Mexican border city of Reynosa and Pharr, Texas.

The officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said around 5pm local time, the man drew a knife and cut his throat when denied access to the US.

Scroll down for video

The man (pictured in blue), who has not been identified, tried to enter the US at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge between the Mexican border city of Reynosa and Pharr, Texas

A short, grainy video shared by one of the security sources showed the man, dressed in a blue shirt, approaching US officials on the bridge and raising a hand to his neck

Both officials said the man was seeking asylum.

'He committed suicide,' one of the officials said. The man killed himself on the Mexican side of the bridge, just meters away from the international dividing line, the other source said.

A short, grainy video shared by one of the security sources showed the man, dressed in a blue shirt, approaching US officials on the bridge and raising a hand to his neck.

Photos shared by the source showed the man's body lying in a pool of blood with his throat cut.

The officials said the man was in his 30s.

Reuters could not vouch for the authenticity of the video or photographs. It was unclear why the man had killed himself.

It was unclear why the man had killed himself. Authorities at the scene shortly after the incident

The officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said around 5pm local time, the man drew a knife and cut his throat when denied access to the US. This image shows a view of the border where the incident occurred

The US Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

The attorney general's office for the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, where Reynosa lies, said it was investigating the man's death.

Many Mexicans who seek refuge in the US say their lives are at risk at home from violent criminal gangs, which have made parts of the country increasingly perilous.

Homicides have reached record levels in Mexico during the last two years.

President Donald Trump has made tightening border security and reducing illegal immigration at the US-Mexico frontier a priority of his administration.
Rs 63 lakh worth gold seized from Mangaluru airport

Mangaluru, Jan 9 (UNI) Around 1.575 kg of gold, valuing over Rs 63 lakh, was seized from the Mangaluru International Airport by the customs officials in three separate cases.

MIA officials said on Thursday that three days back, gold weighing 336.7 grams was found in possession of an inbound air passenger. The passenger who arrived on Air India flight from Dubai had concealed the gold in his socks. The value of the seized gold is estimated to be Rs 13.43 lakhs.


Pamela Smart is doubling down on her claim that she didn't mastermind her husband's death despite spending nearly three decades behind bars in the high-profile case that gripped America.

Smart, now 52, seemed to have an idyllic life in the small town of Derry, New Hampshire with her husband Greggory Smart until he was found dead aged 24 on May 1, 1990.

Three months later on August 1, 1990, Smart was arrested for his murder, accused of seducing 16-year-old William 'Billy' Flynn and threatening to stop having sex with him unless he killed her husband. He later shot Greggory Smart in the head with the help of three friends.

Smart's case was the first murder trial in history to be broadcast on television gavel-to-gavel. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of being an accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and witness tampering.

Pamela Smart is doubling down on her claim that she didn't mastermind her husband's 1990 death, for which she's serving life in prison without parole. When asked if she was behind the grisly death she replied: 'Absolutely not. Its been almost three decades and it hurts'

Smart is defending her name in a jailhouse interview with ABC's 20/20 to air Friday

Today Smart, who has spent the last three decades in prison, is still fighting against that conviction.

Anchor Juju Chang asked in a jailhouse interview for ABC's 20/20 'Tainted Love Murder & Pamela Smart' episode to air Friday: 'Just to be clear, did you mastermind the murder of your husband?'

'Absolutely not,' Smart said adamantly, shaking her head. 'Its been almost three decades and it hurts.'

Speaking on her chaotic case where she became a household name and was dubbed 'America's Most Hated Woman' - she says she's been painted as a villain.

'Ive been incarcerated for 29 years on a life without parole sentence. Ive been portrayed as ice princess, black widow, a killer and none of those things could be further from the truth,' she said.

Shes serving her life sentence at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women, a maximum security prison in Westchester County, New York.

'Ive been incarcerated for 29 years on a life without parole sentence. Ive been portrayed as ice princess, black widow, a killer and none of those things could be further from the truth, Smart says

Smart's case was the first murder trial in history to be broadcast on television gavel-to-gavel. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of being an accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and witness tampering

Smart's salacious case captured the attention of the nation, particularly for her affair with 16-year-old Billy Flynn. The murder case even inspired the 1995 film To Die For starring Nicole Kidman.

She married Greggory Smart in May 1989, but less than a year later, he was shot in the head execution style. Pamela was 22 at the time.

Investigators later determined that Flynn shot Greggory Smart dead with a .38-caliber revolver, aided by accomplices Patrick 'Pete' Randall, Vance 'J.R.' Lattime, Jr., and Raymond Fowler.

Authorities believed that the murder was carried out at Pamela Smart's leading. To keep the relationship, Flynn complied and recruited friends to carry out the deed.

Smart was arrested exactly three months after her husband's death.

Newlyweds: She was arrested exactly three months to the day after her husband was found dead in their home on May 1, 1990 (the Smarts above at their 1989 wedding)

Pamela Smart with husband Greggory Smart in this undated photo

William 'Billy' Flynn pictured testifying in court on his 17th birthday on March 13, 1991 detailing how he shot Gregg Smart in the head and killed him.

In a now-famous recording, the arresting officer said to the widow: 'Well, Pam, I have some good news and I have some bad news. The good news is that we've solved the murder of your husband. The bad news is you're under arrest.'

However, Smart is the only one in the murder plot to remain behind bars.

In 1992, Flynn was sentenced to life in prison for second degree murder. In June 2015 he was released from prison with lifetime parole  just a few days after the 25th anniversary of the murder of Greggory Smart.

Randall and Lattime were also sentenced to life in prison. Randall was released in June 2015 on lifetime parole and Lattime he was paroled in 2005.

Fowler was sentenced to 30 years for conspiracy to murder and paroled in 2003. He violated parole and was sent back to prison then again paroled in June 2005.

Smarts spokesperson Eleanor Pam said Wednesday Smart will once again ask New Hampshires governor and the executive Council for a hearing for parole consideration or sentence reduction.

She plans to refile her petition in 2021 to seek a hearing for 'executive grace', for which there is a two-year required waiting period.

'She will be asking for a hearing, not seeking to challenge or overturn the verdict, only for re-evaluation of the sentence and the opportunity for parole at some time in the future,' Pam said in a statement.

Pam compared Smart's prison time to that of Flynn and his accomplices saying she 'serves their sentences for crimes they committed, not her'.
Iranian Hackers Attack The US, Not Very Badly

United States security agencies are seeing an increase in cyber security threats, as Iranian officials vow revenge against the US, for killing a top general.

The Department of Homeland Securitys cybersecurity team released an advisory on Monday 6th warning public and private sector organisations of increased cyberattacks after the United States using a drone strike in Baghdad killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, a very influential leader in the Middle East.

The guidance from DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is charged with protecting critical infrastructure from cyberattacks, recommended that organisations review their emergency preparedness plans and stay up to date on current threat intelligence.

The advisory comes as CISA and other government entities prepare for retaliatory action from Iran that has attacked US bases in Iraq and other attacks that experts say has already included cyberattacks on the US.

The city of Las Vegas experienced a cyber compromise at 4:30 a.m local time on Tuesday 7th. The citys Information Technologies Department is assessing the extent of the compromise. When aware of the attempt, the city immediately took steps to protect its data systems. People interfacing with the city may experience brief interruptions of service, but so far those interruptions have been minimal. The city will have a clearer picture of the extent of the compromise over the next 24 hours.

The breach in Las Vegas comes amid tensions with Iran and a warning from Homeland Security of "potentially disruptive and destructive" Iranian cyber operations.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott warned citizens to be particularly vigilant regarding potential cyberterrorism from Iran, suggesting that heightened tensions with the country have caused an increase in attempted attacks on state agencies.

This is something that everybody in the state of Texas needs to be concerned, prepared and be able to address, Abbott said Tuesday 7th January during a meeting of the Domestic Terrorism Task Force. This is the force he formed after last years anti-Hispanic deadly mass shooting in El Paso. I think its very important that everybody be particularly vigilant about what may happen out of Iran. he was quoted in the Texas Tribune.

On the same day as he spoke a group of self-described Iranian hackers defaced a Texas government department website.

A website defacement is typically a low-skilled hack in order to spread a particular message and normally doesn't pose any other tangible security risks. However, these defacements are likely to receive more attention at this moment due to heightening tensions between the US and Iran and the fact that they are visible on public websites.

Obviously this come after last weeks US attack when President Trump ordered the assassination of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, which Iran has vowed to respond to. "Hacked by Iranian Hacker," the defacement on the site of the Texas Department of Agriculture reads, along with an image of Soleimani. The defacement claims "Shield Iran" carried it out. Other recent defacements, including those against the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank.

Even though the defacement itself attributed responsibility to a particular group, it is difficult from the outset to know exactly who carried it out.

The defacement shouted-out several different nicknames. A Google search of one of those led to another, previous defacement, which said "Long live Ashiyane." Ashiyane was an established Iranian hacking forum. A Google search for terms included in the defacement led to several other websites with the same or similar image. One for the Parikrma Humanity Foundation, a non-profit in Bangalore, contained largely the same defacement but also included a rap music track. The site for the South Alabama Veterans Council was also hit.

Another US government website was also hit. This was the Federal Depository Library Program, included an image of President Trump being punched in the face. "Hacked by Iran Cyber Security Group Hackers," the defacement read.

Although Iran does not have the same calibre of cyber capability as Russia, China, or the US, its hackers can still do damage and be particularly aggressive.

In 2012 hackers working for Iran knocked out 30,000 computers belonging to Saudi state oil company Saudi Aramco.

Vice Texas Tribune: Fifth Domain: NBC News 3 LV:

You might Also Read:

Iran's Cyberwar Response To Its General's Killing:


Two men have appeared in court charged in connection to the alleged hijacking of a minibus from Dublin Airport.

John McDonagh, 26, and Stephen McDonagh, 25, with an address at The Steeples, Navan, Co Meath, appeared before Cavan District Court.

Both men face charges of the unauthorised taking of a vehicle following incidents at Dublin Airport and Co Monaghan.

The two men, who are cousins, were charged at Carrickmacross garda station on Wednesday. Both men made no reply.

Garda Ciaran Marks told the court that John McDonagh could be seen with Stephen McDonagh at Terminal One at Dublin Airport on Wednesday.

The court heard that the driver of a hotel courtesy minibus had left the vehicle outside the airport while he was assisting passengers.

Expand Close John McDonagh arrives at Cavan District Court (Cate McCurry/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp John McDonagh arrives at Cavan District Court (Cate McCurry/PA)

Three passengers were inside the minibus as they were waiting to be brought to a nearby airport hotel after their flight was delayed.

A Colombian woman, who was living in Germany, had been waiting for her flight home while two young English tourists had been returning home from a scouting holiday in America.

The two men are accused of getting inside the minibus and driving away at high speed with the doors open.

The minibus collided with a taxi as it left the airport and fled the scene in an erratic manner and at high speed.

They drove north on the M1 before stopping close to City North Hotel in Julianstown. It was claimed that the two men demanded money from the passengers, however they refused and got out of the minibus.

They were not harmed during the incident.

The defendants left the area and continued to drive towards the Irish border, however the car failed to stop for gardai and rammed into a garda car.

The pair continued across the border before the car rammed into a PSNI vehicle in Crossmaglen.

Garda Air Support Unit saw the car going back across the border before it crashed in Co Monaghan.

The two men got out and ran away before stealing a car from outside a house near Castleblayney.

The men were then involved in a high speed chase in which they drove erratically and later rammed into an Armed Response Unit.

The two men were then arrested.

The court was told that more serious charges may apply after it is reviewed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

John McDonagh applied for bail, however the court heard that there are issues with his address in Navan.

His defence solicitor Damien Rudden told the court that he is anxious to be released on bail and that he would comply with any bail conditions.

Judge Denis McLoughlin refused the application stating he does not believe the defendant would comply with any bail conditions.

Stephen McDonagh did not make an application for bail.

His defence solicitor asked for her client not to be taken to Cloverhill Prison as he was concerned for his safety, however the judge refused saying that Cloverhill was the assigned prison for the Co Cavan and Co Monaghan area.

Both men have been remanded to Cloverhill prison until January 16.
People across a vast swathe of Victoria received text messages on Thursday afternoon telling them it was time to leave ahead of worsening weather conditions which have seen the state government extend its "state of disaster" powers for another 48 hours.

On Thursday afternoon there were 23 fires burning in Victoria, with 11 of them at "watch and act" alert level and an evacuation alert issued near Abbeyard, about 40 kilometres south-east of Wangaratta.

Fire crews carrying out controlled burning near Corryong ahead of the expected return of fires later this week. Credit:Jason Edwards

Premier Daniel Andrews said hot days on Thursday and Friday with a cool change not expected in the north and east until late on Friday meant that "significant fire activity" was expected. The cool change will also bring strong winds.

Mr Andrews said extending the state of disaster powers would save lives.
Border Force agents seized 23,000 in cash after finding it stuffed inside children's toys in a car trying to cross Channel.

The bundles of banknotes were seized at the Channel Tunnel terminal in Folkestone, Kent, along with a further 10,000 found in a carrier bag.

The 42-year-old driver, Perparim Emini, told officers the toys were unwanted Christmas presents and were going to be given to children in Germany.

Border Force agents seized 23,000 in cash after finding it stuffed inside children's toys in a car trying to cross Channel

The bundles of banknotes were seized at the Channel Tunnel terminal in Folkestone, Kent, along with a further 10,000 found in a carrier bag

Emini had been travelling with a male passenger when they were stopped by Border Force agents in February last year.

The pair told the officers that they were planning to visit Germany to source tyres for a new business.

They confirmed that they had a carrier bag stuffed with 10,000 cash with them inside the vehicle but had claimed that there was no other money.

Emini and his passenger first denied knowing anything about the 23,000 in cash that was stashed in the toys after the officers discovered it but Emini later admitted it was his.

Police were granted a forfeiture order in December by Folkestone Magistrates' Court to take the pair's money away permanently.

The 42-year-old driver, Perparim Emini, who had been travelling with a male passenger at the time, told officers the toys were unwanted Christmas presents and were going to be given to children in Germany

Detective Inspector Annie Clayton of the Serious Economic Crime Unit said: 'While neither were charged with any criminal offences, they were unable to prove to the courts that the money found inside the car driven by Emini was not going to be used in unlawful conduct.

'The magistrates agreed that there was a lack of evidence from the respondents and the cash will now not be returned to them.

'This is yet another great example of how our financial investigators use the Proceeds of Crime Act to ensure people are not allowed to benefit from the use of illegally-earned funds or are able to use cash to commit further offences.'
New Delhi:

An IPS officer's thumb was bitten by a woman protester when he was pushing back agitators, who were trying to march towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan here on Thursday, police sources said. The protesters had gathered after a call was given by JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh to march towards President's House to demand the removal of University's Vice Chancellor, M Jagadesh Kumar.

Ingit Pratap Singh, a 2011 batch officer, who is currently posted as the additional deputy commissioner of southwest district, was injured in the attack.

According to sources, Singh was trying to pull a male protester when the woman, in a bid to shield her friend, bit Singh's left thumb.

No Compromise Over Removal Of VC: JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh

JNU Students Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh on Thursday said the January 5 attack on students inside the university campus was a traumatic experience, which they will not forget till their last breath, while asserting that the students and faculty members will not relent till vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar was sacked. A delegation of the JNUSU and the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA) met HRD Ministry officials on Thursday to put forth their demands.

Also Read: Delhi Police Files FIR Against JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh, 19 Others For Vandalism On Campus

The students, however, were not satisfied after the meeting and Ghosh gave a call for marching towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan. We will not compromise with the HRD Ministry over the removal of the VC. It is still thinking whether the VC should be removed. We will proceed with the march towards Rashtrapati Bhawan and appeal to the President, who is the visitor to the university, to remove the VC, she said.
A lawyer has said that 'companies must catch up with the law' after the Work Place Relations Commission (WRC) found that an RTE TV producer was discriminated against when she was forced to retire aged 65 and won 100,000 compensation.

Pat Mullins, litigation partner at BDM Boylan Solicitors in Cork said their practice has seen a 40  50% increase in cases of retirement and age discrimination in employment law over the last five years  excluding cases which are withdrawn or settled.

People are living longer, healthier lives. Unless you're in a job which requires huge physical exertion, you may be able to work productively up to 70 and beyond," he said.

Mr Mullins said the law has been quite clear since 2018 when the Code of Practice on Longer Working (2017) was incorporated into the Industrial Relations Act, 1990.

The Code sets out best practice in employer - employee engagement in the run-up to retirement age.

It allows employees to request to remain at work beyond the retirement age - whether an age is specified in their contract or not - and it requires employers to engage with this process.

An employer can only oblige staff to retire against their will if they can show that there is objective and reasonable justification for them to cease working in that role.

A breach of the code can be appealed to the WRC. If someone is capable and shows drive and ambition, the onus is on the employer to show why they can justify obliging them to retire against their will," Mr Mullins said.

The Code of Practice is the law, but there seems to be a general ignorance about it and of what employers' obligations are under it.

The law has moved on and employers need to move on with it."

Mr Mullins said that the widening gap between retiring at 65 and the State pension age of 66 (which will increase to 67 in 2021 and 68 from 2028) is a serious issue which is now only starting to rear its head. He said: We now have people forcibly removed from employment at 65 which is not the State pension age.

There are 30,000 people beyond 65 who are retired but are not yet entitled to their pension.

So people are signing on for the dole for the first time in their lives and this can have a huge psychological impact.

It's a challenge for Government."

Neil McDonnell, chief executive of ISME (Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association), echoed Mr Mullins concerns and advised employers to upwardly revise their retirement age "to avoid employee grievances from developing".

He said that although legally there is no mandatory retirement age in the private sector, "it is highly unusual for a contract of employment not to contain a retirement date".

"Like any other type of contract, there should be a term that identifies when the relationship starts and a mechanism to show that the agreement has been fully discharged. Employers need to have a clear policy on retirement that is an established contractual term, and it needs to be applied consistently and fairly."

RTE has, for the second time in three years, been found to have discriminated against staff when they obliged them to retire against their will. The WRC directed RTE to pay TV producer Anne Roper 100,000, or the equivalent of one years salary, in compensation for what it said was discrimination against her on the grounds of her age.
Redding Police looking for shooting suspect, one man injured

Redding police are searching for a gunman involved in a shooting at the Red Lion Inn and suites on Cypress Avenue. First responders took the victim who was shot in both legs to mercy medical center. Police said that person was not cooperative. Back at the hotel, investigators found shell casings, blood, and marijuana in a room. Surveillance video shows a man pointing a gun then leaving with two large garbage bags.

SCSO: Up to $600M illegal marijuana seized, Local State of Emergency approved

The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors declared a local state of emergency over illegal marijuana grows and drug trafficking. The sheriff said public health, welfare, justice, and the environment are all taking a hit due to the illegal industry. Last year, deputies seized over 60,000 illegal pot plants, and 17,000 pounds of processed pot. The sheriff adds several murders and assaults are also linked to the drug trade.

Redding police seek help to find missing woman, surveillance photos released

This morning a renewed call for help in the search for a Northern California woman missing since early December. The last time Danielle Bisnell's family heard from her was Dec. 10. Redding investigators believe she had traveled to central Oregon and was possibly on her way back to Redding, traveling along interstate five. Now, Police released new surveillance photos from a Redding store. Showing a man believed connected to Bisnell's disappearance. If you recognize him or know anything, call Redding police.

Detectives arrest man in Siskiyou county murder case

An almost year-old murder case could be coming to a close. Siskiyou County Sheriff's Deputies have arrested Timothy McDonald of Yreka in connection to the 2018 murder of spencer Hodgeon of Klamath River. Hodgson was found shot to death on April 8. Just last week, investigators offered a $50,000 reward to help crack the case. Deputies have not said if that reward is connected to McDonalds arrest.

The latest: Australia wildfires

Cooler weather and some much-needed rain gave some respite for firefighters struggle with the flames in Australia. Crews are working to shore up protections for when scorching temperatures return in a few days.

Ukraine investigators consider missile strike, terrorism as possible causes of Iran plane crash

An initial report by the Iranian Civil Aviation said a Ukranian jetliner was on fire before it crashed, killing all 176 people on board. The Iranian report, citing witnesses, said the plane also changed directions after a problem and turned back toward the airport.

House to vote to limit Trump's military action against Iran without congressional approval

The House of Representatives is expected to vote on a war powers resolution this Thursday. According to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the resolution will limit President Trump's military actions against Iran. The house rules committee wrote the resolution Wednesday night.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 22:18:00|Editor: xuxin

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MOSCOW, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin attended major drills of the Russian Black Sea and Northern Fleets on Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The ministry's Zvezda broadcasting service said Putin observed launches of missiles, including the Kalibr cruise missiles and the Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missile, aboard the Marshal Ustinov missile cruiser off the coast of Crimea.

The Kinzhal system, developed on the basis of the modernized MiG-31 jet, is designed to hit land and sea targets at a range beyond 2,000 km without entering the enemy's air defense zone.

Over 30 ships, including the newest Admiral Grigorovich and Admiral Makarov frigates, one submarine and more than 40 aircrafts, including Tu-95MS strategic bombers, Su-30SM fighters and Su-24M bombers, were involved in the drills, Zvezda said.
The future of several major stud farms in Co Kildare is under threat from the proposed development of a quarry near Kilcullen, according to leading figures in the horse racing industry.

Former jockey, Ruby Walsh, and racehorse owner, the Agh Khan are among over 200 locals who have become involved in a planning row over plans by Kilsaran Concrete to develop a new quarry near their stables.

A representative of the Aga Khan warned that he might have to consider moving horses used for breeding to stud farms in France if Kilsaran was allowed to proceed with its plans to extract 3 million tonnes of sand and gravel over a 12-year period from a 32-hectare site at Racefield which is located around 10km outside Kilcullen, Co Kildare.

The company, a leading manufacturer of concrete products based in Dunboyne, Co Meath, has submitted an appeal to An Bord Pleanala against the recent decision of Kildare County Council to refuse planning permission for the development.

Mr Walsh, a former champion jockey and the Aga Khan as well as the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association were among over 220 parties including two TDs and 12 councillors, who made submissions to the council opposing Kilsarans plans.

Kildare County Council refused planning permission for the project on the basis that the local road network was inadequate to cope with increased traffic plans generated by the development.

It ruled the resulting traffic hazard would endanger public safety while council planners were also not satisfied that Kilsaran had the necessary consents to carry out road safety measures on approach roads to the quarry site.

In addition, the council said the development would seriously injure the amenities of nearby houses due to increased levels of dust, traffic and general disturbance as well as depreciate the value of properties in the area.

It said Kilsaran had also failed to demonstrate that its plans would not adversely affect EU protected sites in the vicinity.

The manager of the Aga Khans studs in Ireland, Pat Downes, said he had concerns about the potential impact of the proposed quarry on the core business of the Aga Khans four stud farms in Ireland which are all located in the vicinity of the quarry site.

Mr Downes, who is based in the Gilltown Stud in Kilcullen, Co Kildare, said the roads in the area were not suitable for increased volumes of heavy traffic, while he also had fears over noise and dust levels that could be generated by the quarry.

In addition, he claimed there was a significant risk of pollution to local groundwater.

Our business involves the production of top-quality racehorses and a vital part of that production depends on clear, unpolluted water, said Mr Downes.

He added:

This is an area of Kildare that is highly dependent on agriculture, bloodstock and rural employment. The adverse effects, should this application be approved, would be very damaging. Certainly for our business, it could result in a relocation of stock to France with the inevitable result of job losses.

Mr Downes said a development like Kilsarans in the very heart of dense bloodstock activity, where over 160 stud farms were located, could not be consistent with Kildares the identity as the Thoroughbred County of Ireland Mr Walsh, one of the countrys best-known sportsmen who lives outside Kilcullen, said he had chosen the location to rear horses because of its soil, water quality and proximity to the Curragh as well as the need for a relaxed environment for horses.

The former jockey said the road which would be used by trucks accessing the quarry was not capable of coping with any more traffic.

Mr Walsh also quoted a recent NUI Galway study which raised concerns about the long term health implications for humans and animals of exposure to crystalline silica which can result from the quarrying of sand.

He expressed concern for the health of his family and the sustainability of his business.

Investors in thoroughbreds will not want to have horses in such an area as this if the quarry starts, Mr Walsh said.

The Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association said its primary concern was the effect the development could have on the respiratory tract of racehorses through increased dust levels ITBA chief executive, Shane ODwyer, said noise from 32-tonne trucks carrying 20-tonne loads could spook highly sensitive animals.

Mr ODwyer said professional breeders needed the certainty of being able to operate in a clean, green environment which could be severely affected if the proposed quarry was allowed to go ahead.

Fine Gael TD for Kildare South, Martin Heydon, said many locals were concerned that Kilsaran owned and continued to purchase significant land banks in the area close to the quarry.

It is understandable that people would presume that the granting of this single large quarry may only be the start of very significant quarrying activity throughout this area in the future, Mr Heydon observed.

Kilsaran said the proposed facility would provide vital material for the building industry and its plans were designed with consideration of national, regional and local planning policies and objectives.

A ruling in the case is due in early May.
President Putin and Assad discussed the military situation on the ground and visited a number of sights in the capital reports SANA.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Damascus Tuesday on a visit to Syria. Presidents Bashar al-Assad and Putin held a meeting at the Russian forces assembly location in Damascus.

Assad and Putin listened to a military briefing by the commander of the Russian forces operating in Syria.

Putin offered his congratulations to the Russian forces operating in Syria over the Christmas period.

Assad also congratulated the Russian officers and soldiers on the occasion of Christmas, expressing the appreciation of himself and the Syrian people for the sacrifices made by the Russian forces alongside their counterparts in the Syrian Arab Army.

Later, Assad and Putin discussed recent developments in the region, as well as plans to eliminate the terrorism that threatens the safety and security of Syrian citizens in Idleb, and developments in the north of Syria and Turkeys actions there, as well as supporting the political track and preparing suitable conditions for it.

The two Presidents affirmed that the main target of the political track is the return of security and stability to all Syrian regions, the accomplishment of the Syrian peoples interests in preserving Syrias unity, independence and safety of its territories to push towards a better economic environment to start the reconstruction process.

Accompanied by Assad, Putin toured Damascus city, visiting the Grand Umayyad Mosque and the shrine of St. John the Baptist located within it, writing an entry in the visitors book.

Putin also visited the Mariamite Cathedral of Damascus. The two presidents lit two candles for prevailing peace and safety in Syria.

Putin concluded his visit to Syria as Assad bid farewell to him at Damascus international airport.

This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 06:03:15|Editor: huaxia

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CAIRO, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry jointly hosted a diplomatic strategic dialogue on Wednesday in Cairo, Egypt.

Under the strategic guidance of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries has been maintaining rapid development, Wang said.

As two big developing countries and two representatives of the emerging markets, China and Egypt should enhance cooperation to confront shared challenges, he added.

China is willing to work with Egypt to explore ways to jointly build a China-Egypt community with a shared future, Wang added.

Wang urged the two countries to further promote the joint building of the Belt and Road, and push forward cooperation in various fields such as production capacity, trade and economics, culture, and safety.

For his part, Shoukry said Egypt is willing to work with China to implement the consensuses reached by the two heads of state, enhance the joint building of the Belt and Road, and strengthen communication and coordination in multilateral affairs.

The two sides also exchanged views on regional hotspot issues such as the ones concerning Libya and Syria, as well as the Iranian nuclear issue.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 18:33:31|Editor: xuxin

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ULAN BATOR, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Mongolian government has decided to designate the Saturday of the third week of December every year as the Day of Exporters, its press office said Thursday.

The move represents the government's efforts to support exporters, diversify exports and improve the quality of exports, it said.

Exporters' forums are expected to be held on the day to discuss pressing issues -- particularly in non-mining sectors, as the landlocked East Asian country's economy is largely dependent on export earnings from the mining sector.

Official data shows the mining industry now accounts for over 80 percent of Mongolia's total export.
Timothy Samuel Johnson, 47, was arrested months in 2017 and charged with first-degree sodomy, sexual abuse and unlawful sexual penetration for sexually abusing a child under the age of 16 after one panel member, Brian Saari, notified authorities of his confession

The wife of an Oregon man convicted of sexually abusing a minor known to him is now suing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - claiming a clergy member violated the pedophile's right to confidentiality by turning his confession over to police.

Timothy Samuel Johnson, 47, told a panel at his church in Stayton that he molested a young girl familiar to him in 2016, telling the clergy he wanted to 'repent for his sins' and 'bring peace within his life and family'.

Instead, Johnson was arrested months later in 2017 and charged with first-degree sodomy, sexual abuse and unlawful sexual penetration for sexually abusing a child under the age of 16, after one panel member, Brian Saari, notified authorities.

Johnson eventually pleaded guilty to each of the three counts and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

But now his wife, Kristine Johnson, is suing the church for $9.54million, accusing the institution's leaders of violating 'priest-penitent privilege' and depriving her and four of her five children of his 'companionship, love and income', as a result of his conviction.

The lawsuit, filed in Marion County Circuit Court, says that Johnson's confession was meant to be confidential and the clergy's actions 'totally violated church policy'.

After revealing his crimes to his wife, Timothy and Kristine Johnson say they followed church doctrine - which requires disclosure and repentance - by confessing and repenting before the clergy at their church, located at 1400 Western Avenue.

Kristine Johnson is attempting to argue that the church wasn't obligated to report the abuse, going against its own policy of holding confessions in strict confidence.

Kristine Johnson, is suing the church for $9.54 million, accusing the institution's leaders of violating 'priest-penitent privilege' and depriving her and four of her five children of his 'companionship, love and income', as a result of his conviction

However, officials from the Latter-Day Saints say the church considers protecting victims to be a top priority, and that members are obligated to report any instances of abuse to authorities.

'It's been devastating on the family,' the family's attorney Bill Brandt told the Salem Statesman. 'They lost a husband and a father.'

The suit says that the clergy 'knew or should have known that violating the doctrine of confidentiality under the circumstances alleged in this complaint would most certainly injure' Kristine Johnson and her children financially.

As a result, the suit is requesting that Kristine be paid $5.5million for loss of her husband's income and for extreme emotional distress and $1million for four of their five children.

The lawsuit also requests $40,000 to pay for Johnson's criminal defense attorney.

Kristine Johnson's accusations provide a stark contrast to the various lawsuits leveled against other prominent religious institutions in recent years, with accusations that claim they persistently covered up sexual abuse and failed to report the crimes to police.

Oregon is one of 28 states in the US where church leaders are considered mandatory reporters and legally required to notify authorities about any suspected abuse. However, an exception is made in the statute for any privileged communications.

According to Brandt's legal interpretation, a confession made to a priest falls into that category, unless a parishioner indicates an intention to do something illegal - or in Johnson's case, continue the abuse.

Johnson told a panel at his church in Stayton that he molested a young girl familiar to him in 2016, telling them he wanted to 'repent for his sins' and 'bring peace within his life and family'

But Kristine Johnson's lawsuit is further complicated by the fact that Saari, the man who told police, also works as a pharmacist as his day job.

According to state law, pharmacists are not only considered mandatory reporters but they are also obligated to inform police of any potential abuse they hear outside of work as well.

Should the court disagree that Johnson's communications with the panel were privileged, Brandt told The Post he intends to argue that clergy members wronged him by not warning him they were obligated to report him to authorities.

[The leaders should have said] "Look, before you come in here and say this, we need to tell you ...were going to report you,"' Brandt said to the Oregonian.

'The fellow had no history of this,' he later told The Post. 'There were no other victims. It was just a horrible thing.'

Brandt said he's not aware of any other cases of breach of clergy confidentiality in Oregon. He said that many members of the church were 'appalled' by the actions of Saari for reporting Johnson.

The Mormon church has been subjected to a number of lawsuits in recent years, accusing leaders of sexual abuse, as well as accusations they actively helped to prevent perpetrators from facing justice.

The suit says that the clergy 'knew or should have known that violating the doctrine of confidentiality under the circumstances alleged in this complaint would most certainly injure' Kristine Johnson and her children financially. However, officials from the Latter-Day Saints say the church considers protecting victims to be a top priority, and that members are obligated to report any instances of abuse to authorities

Speaking to KUER in 2018, Kristy Johnson said that her father had molested her and her two sisters for years when they were children, however church leaders saw the heinous crimes as a sin that warranted religious guidance, rather than legal intervention.

'It never occurred to me to go to the police,' the activist told the station. 'It never entered my mind because of being raised Mormon. These bishops and leaders are like God  they speak for God.'

Brandt, however, says Johnson's case is different because it involves a parishioner admitting to a crime in a private setting - much like a Catholic confession booth - rather than the victim reporting a crime.

The outcome of Johnson's suit could have a devastating and rippling effect on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, experts have warned.

Should Johnson emerge victorious in the dispute, its feared church leaders would be less likely to report abuse through fear of getting hit with a huge lawsuit as a consequence.

'If successful, this litigation would push courts and these religious organizations toward less transparency than more,' Christine Bartholomew, an associate professor at the University at Buffalo School of Law, told the Oregonian. 'And you have to wonder if that would create the environment where abuse can really fester.'
Theres plenty of precedent for President Donald Trump to order the killing of a top Iranian general accused of involvement in terrorism against the United States interests in the Middle East, Sen. Chuck Grassley said Wednesday.

The president was right to act, the Iowa Republican said, because Qassem Soleimani had his fingers in all of that stuff for the last 20 years.

He was in the middle of every terrorist plot, supporting terrorist activities in almost every country in the Middle East, Grassley told reporters.

Most importantly, he said, was Soleimanis role in the death of 600 Americans in Iraq at his hands  about one-fifth of the service people who died there.

Sen. Joni Ernst agreed, saying on Wednesday the president did absolutely the right thing in killing Soleimani.

Let me be clear, Soleimani was a brutal terrorist who orchestrated attacks around the globe, she said on Twitter. President Donald Trump has shown strong and decisive leadership in his maximum pressure campaign against Iran.

Grassley, who planned to attend a Senate briefing Wednesday afternoon to learn more about the strike, compared Trumps action to those taken by President Barack Obama in response to attacks on Americans and American interests, including the order to kill Osama bin Laden.

Given the warning of imminent danger to Americans, Grassley said, if the president didnt do it, I would be criticizing him for not doing it if I knew he could have taken that mastermind on terrorism out of the picture  and so would the Democrats who are criticizing him now for doing what he was doing.

He believes the president has the authority under the War Powers Act  in place since 1973  to order Soleimanis killing. Grassley said he sees no need to change the act.

Looking ahead. Grassley said there might be legitimate reasons to rewrite the authorization for military action approved after 9/11 that has been the basis of most of what the United States has done in the Middle East since then.

Ernst, who served in the Iowa National Guard in Iraq, had no qualms about Soleimanis killing.

It is easy for me to call General Soleimani a terrorist, a man who orchestrated terrorist proxies all around the globe and supplied them with deadly devices, those IEDs that have killed and maimed hundreds and thousands of Americans, Ernst said on Fox Business Network.

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(CNN)  Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, are tearing up long-standing rules of engagement with the media as they try to bypass "frequent misreporting" by royal correspondents and tell their stories to handpicked media outlets and directly to the public.

In a statement accompanying the shock announcement late Wednesday that they would be stepping back from their duties as senior royals, the couple wrote that they will no longer participate in the Royal Rota system, the pool of British journalists that for decades has covered all royal events and shares information and photos with other media.

Removing themselves from the pool would limit their engagement with what has become one of their biggest headaches  the British tabloids. But the move could backfire, especially as the extraordinary break with the Royal Family is only likely to spark even greater interest.

"The fact is they have made themselves a bigger story than they were this time last week. And everything and anything they do now is of more interest," said David Yelland, who was editor of The Sun from 1998 to 2003 and now runs Kitchen Table Partners, a communications company.

The couple have had a rough time with the media since getting together, speaking out against what they say is the relentless and aggressive coverage of Meghan specifically, some of which Prince Harry has described as containing "racial undertones." Last year, 72 women members of the UK parliament authored a joint letter condemning coverage of her, calling it "colonial," "outdated," and an invasion of privacy.

"Britain's Royal Correspondents are regarded internationally as credible sources of both the work of members of the Royal Family as well as of their private lives," the couple said in their statement. "This misconception propels coverage that is often carried by other outlets around the world, amplifying frequent misreporting."

Three of the newspaper groups represented in the Royal pool are already being sued by the couple. Last October, Meghan sued the Mail on Sunday for publishing private letters to her father, which the couple said were selectively edited. Days later Prince Harry sued the owners of The Sun and the Daily Mirror for allegedly hacking his voicemails.

In a lengthy statement at the time, Prince Harry alleged the British tabloid press was waging a campaign against Meghan that mirrored the treatment meted out to his mother, Princess Diana, who was hounded by the paparazzi until her death in 1997.

"I've seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person," Harry said in October. "I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces."

By writing their own rules of engagement with the media, the couple said they will have more freedom to post their own photos without needing to give them to the British press first.

"This [pool] formula enables these select publications to profit by publishing these images on their websites/front pages," they wrote. "Any breach in this understanding creates long term repercussions."

The News Media Association, which organizes the pool, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Seal of approval

The couple said they plan to engage with "grassroots media organizations and young, up-and-coming journalists," and will invite specialist media to events, and provide access to "credible media outlets."

"The Duke and Duchess believe in a free, strong and open media industry, which upholds accuracy and fosters inclusivity, diversity and tolerance," they wrote, noting their work with outlets such as Time Magazine, Vogue and The Daily Telegraph.

The National Union of Journalists said the couple appeared to be trying to "prevent the media from functioning and compromising the ability of journalists to do their jobs."

"The [pool] system is not perfect, but it does allow UK media to cover the British Royal Family  an institution maintained by the public purse," the Union's general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said in a statement. "We cannot have a situation where journalists writing about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex can only do so if they have the Royal seal of approval."

And some royal correspondents bristled at the suggestion they're not always credible and accurate. Camilla Tominey from the Telegraph tweeted that royal correspondents had "accurately reported that there was a growing rift" in the Royal Family and that the couple were not consulting with the Queen. "Cut these misinformants loose already!" she wrote.

Yelland said the couple had been treated unfairly by the British press, but so had every Royal at some point.

"Clearly Meghan and Harry don't want to go along with what you might call the social contract ... where they get kicked around in the media but it's a stiff upper lip and you carry on," he said.

Yelland pointed out that Wednesday's bombshell announcement may have been rushed, ironically, because of a report in The Sun that the couple was planning to move to Canada for a significant part of the year and were considering their Royal roles.
New artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms can monitor online social media conversations as they evolve, which could lead to an effective and automated way to spot online trolling in the future, according to researchers, including those of Indian-origin.

Prevention of online harassment requires rapid detection of offensive, harassing, and negative social media posts, which in turn requires monitoring online interactions.

Current methods to obtain such social media data are either fully automated, and not interpretable or rely on a static set of keywords, which can quickly become outdated.

Neither method is very effective, according to Maya Srikanth, from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in the US.

"It isn't scalable to have humans try to do this work by hand, and those humans are potentially biased," Srikanth said.

"On the other hand, keyword searching suffers from the speed at which online conversations evolve. New terms crop up and old terms change meaning, so a keyword that was used sincerely one day might be meant sarcastically the next," she said.

The team, including Anima Anandkumar from Caltech, used GloVe (Global Vectors for Word Representation) model that uses machine-learning algorithms to discover new and relevant keywords.

Machine learning is an application of AI that provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed.

GloVe is a word-embedding model, meaning that it represents words in a vector space, where the "distance" between two words is a measure of their linguistic or semantic similarity.

Starting with one keyword, this model can be used to find others that are closely related to that word to reveal clusters of relevant terms that are actually in use.

For example, searching Twitter for uses of "MeToo" in conversations yielded clusters of related hashtags like "SupportSurvivors," "ImWithHer," and "NotSilent."



This approach gives researchers a dynamic and ever-evolving keyword set to search.

However, it is not enough just to know whether a certain conversation is related to the topic of interest; context matters, the researchers said.

For that, GloVe shows the extent to which certain keywords are related, providing input on how they are being used.

For example, in an online Reddit forum dedicated to misogyny, the word "female" was used in close association with the words "sexual," "negative," and "intercourse."



In Twitter posts about the #MeToo movement, the word "female" was more likely to be associated with the terms "companies," "desire," and "victims."The project was a proof-of-concept aimed at one day giving social media platforms a more powerful tool to spot online harassment, the researchers said.

"The field of AI research is becoming more inclusive, but there are always people who resist change," said Anandkumar.

"Hopefully, the tools we're developing now will help fight all kinds of harassment in the future," she said.

The research was presented on December 14 last year at the AI for Social Good workshop at the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems in Vancouver, Canada.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
U.S. intelligence officials are telling news agencies today they are confident that Iran painted the Ukrainian airliner with radar, then fired two surface to air missiles that brought down the aircraft, killing all 176 people aboard.

The footage i've got from a source  the moment the missile hit the #Flight752. I can't verify the video yet! but please let me know if you find anything. I'm in contact with the person who send this video to see if I can get a version of video which has a meta data on it pic.twitter.com/HtesW5uecB  ?Nariman (@NarimanGharib) January 9, 2020

It's a working theory, but based on satellite and other signals and human intelligence.

CNN: US believes that Iran mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner on Tuesday, according to multiple US officials. The working theory is based on continuing analysis of data from satellites, radar and electronic data collected routinely by US military and intelligence.  Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) January 9, 2020

The U.S. officials quoted anonymously say they believe the downing of the Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752, which happened during a time of peak tensions between Iran and the United States after Trump's assassination of top general Qasem Soleimani, was accidental.

BREAKING @VassyKapelos reports Canada has received the information from U-S intelligence sources that its highly likely the Ukrainian airliner was shot down. Remember Transport Minister Marc Garneau said yesterday there were satellite indications"something very unusual happened"  Tom Harrington (@cbctom) January 9, 2020

The U.S. intelligence official says satellite data shows the Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800 bound for Kyiv was airborne for two minutes after departing Tehran, when the heat signatures of two surface-to-air missiles were detected.

That was quickly followed by an explosion in the vicinity of the plane, the official said. Heat signature data then showed the plane on fire as it went down. Iran's head of civil aviation was quoted by ISNA News Agency as saying that it was "impossible that a missile hit the Ukrainian plane." Two U.S. officials said Washington believed the downing of the plane, which occurred at a time of rising tensions between Iran and the United States, was accidental. An Iranian report on Thursday cited witnesses on the ground and in a passing aircraft flying at a high altitude as saying the plane was on fire while in the air.

More from Reuters.

PHOTO by LLBG Spotter, Ukraine International Airlines B738, UR-PSR, TLV. CC BY-SA 2.0

Huge repercussions to the news Ukrainian plane was brought down. Not least domestically in Iran too: they shot down their own people.  Alistair Bunkall (@AliBunkallSKY) January 9, 2020

IRAN'S HEAD OF CIVIL AVIATION DISMISSES REPORTS OF UKRAINIAN PLANE BEING HIT BY MISSILES AS "ILLOGICAL RUMOURS"  ISNA Get our news in real-time: https://t.co/XRHQtaGrwo  Redbox Global (@RedboxWire) January 9, 2020

WSJ: "US Has High Level of Confidence that 2 #Iran Missiles brought down Ukrainian plane." Western intel officials told Sky news yesterday initial assessment is malfunction. Trudeau can't say definitively yethttps://t.co/E6Sj78HsiT  Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) January 9, 2020
Generally, CES is where you go if you want to see uncanny valleys made of gorgeous screens or to try a salad prepared by a robot. Eureka Park, though, is home to oddball projects that often grab you in ways you don't always see coming. That was my experience with Feles, a startup based out of Cambridge, Massachusetts: This small team is hard at work on its first product, an all-in-one home laboratory that gives people the opportunity to get acquainted with biological lab work.

The Feles Box is about the size of a large cooler and contains a thermocycler, incubators for cultivating subjects in petri dishes, a gel dock for electrophoresis, a centrifuge and a spectrometer. Oh, and a tiny fridge to house those tiny tube racks you'll probably be working with. If some -- or most -- of these tools sound complicated -- well, yes. They can be. Feles is trying to take the sting out of figuring them out though, with clever software that guides would-be biohackers through experiments on an integrated touchscreen.

I was never much for the sciences, but I still have fond memories of bio class in high school, meticulously pipetting fluids and waiting to see the distinct bands of DNA in a slab of gel after an electrophoresis experiment. Feles hopes to deliver those kinds of experiences -- plus many more made possible by subscription kits for specific experiments and art projects -- to audiences who may not have had the sort of educational luck I did. And to be perfectly clear, Feles wants to do much more than give people a rudimentary understanding of lab work. The team notes that its lab in a box could be used for, say, microbrewing experiments or feats of molecular gastronomy. In that way, the team is trying to imbue in people that getting involved in the biological sciences doesn't have to be droll.

What gets me, though, is the vaguely Fisher-Price vibe this lab in a box gives off: It imbues the components wedged inside with a sense of accessibility and friendliness that I wasn't expecting. The company's adorable Vitruvian-cat logo doesn't hurt either. Maybe it's no surprise then that many of Feles' early fans are educators looking to give students a non-intimidating first look at serious lab techniques. (The rest are mainly bio-enthusiasts looking to get their hands on clever, well-designed gear.)

The only rub? For now this home lab costs it backers around $1,000, which is obviously a decent chunk of change. Still, for well-heeled fans or schools looking to expand on their biology-education curricula, Feles' work might be worth the splurge.
Myanmar crewman in hospital after Phuket fishing boat fire

PHUKET: One crewman is in hospital recovering from extensive burns to his body from a fire that broke out on a fishing boat he was working on south of Phuket yesterday (Jan 8).

marineSafetyMyanmar

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Thursday 9 January 2020, 10:39AM

The Navy patrol boat Tor 992 returned to Cape Panwa with the injured men on board. Photo: Royal Thai Navy

The Navy patrol boat Tor 992 returned to Cape Panwa with the injured men on board. Photo: Royal Thai Navy

The Navy patrol boat Tor 992 returned to Cape Panwa with the injured men on board. Photo: Royal Thai Navy

The Navy patrol boat Tor 992 returned to Cape Panwa with the injured men on board. Photo: Royal Thai Navy

One of the crewmen suffered extensive burns to his body. Photo: Royal Thai Navy

Phuket Fishery Association President Somyot Wongboonyakul was informed at 10:30am that the fishing boat Sor Pattana 12 had caught fire 16 nautical miles from Koh Racha Noi and needed assistance.

Mr Somyot relayed the call for help to the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command at Cape Panwa, and the Navy patrol boat Tor 992 was soon dispatched with a medical team on board to provide assistance to any injured and to help put out the fire.

The Navy personnel confirmed that the fire had been safely extinguished, and that the boat was being brought back to Phuket.

There were three people on board the Sor Pattana 12: Capt Suren Kiannok, 60, and Myanmar nationals Maung Thein, 46, and Zaw Myo Aung, 27.

One of the Myanmar crewmen suffered only minor injuries, but the other suffered extensive burns to his torso and arms, the Navy reported.

The Tor 992 returned to the Navy base at Cape Panwa, and quickly had the injured man taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital for medical treatment.

Meanwhile, Lt Charus Lemparn of the Chalong Police, who is the officer tasked with investigating the fire, told The Phuket News that he had yet to learn any details of how the fire started or the extent of damage to the boat.

The Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command urged any people in distress on land or sea to call the Navy hotline 1696.
Many questions about the new virus remain. While it appears to be transmitted to humans via animals, the Chinese government has not said which animals, nor has it disclosed other details about the outbreak, like the transmission route, the incubation period or the ages and genders of the patients.

So, there are still a lot of question marks, said David Hui, an expert in emerging infections at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The authorities in Wuhan are still closely monitoring 163 people who were in close contact with the patients, Dr. Hui said. He added that 15 days, the minimum incubation period for some viral infections, had not yet passed since the last reported instance of the disease, on Dec. 29.

Its premature to say that theres no human-to-human transmission, Dr. Hui said.

The Wuhan government confirmed on Dec. 31 that the health authorities were treating dozens of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause. Symptoms of the new illness include high fever, difficulty breathing and lung lesions, according to the Wuhan health commission. Seven people have become critically ill, the Wuhan authorities have said. On Wednesday, the local health commission said eight people had been discharged.

Researchers have been encouraged by the fact that patients relatives and hospital workers have not been reported to have gotten sick, signaling that the virus may not spread easily among humans.

We can assume that this virus transmissibility is not that high, said Guan Yi, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Hong Kong, who was part of a team that successfully identified the coronavirus that caused SARS.

Dr. Guan said he was not surprised that the virus identified was a coronavirus, because coronaviruses can pass from animals to humans easily. But he said it would probably be a while before researchers came up with treatments for the illness.
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their decision on Wednesday, January 8, in a lengthy Instagram post

- The couple said they will now work to become financially independent

- According to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, they will spend their time between the United Kingdom and North America

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have caught many people unaware after announcing that they will be stepping down as senior members of the Royal family.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the announcement on Wednesday, January 8.

READ ALSO: Actress Brenda Wairimu, Juliani reunite to celebrate daughter's 5th birthday

READ ALSO: 29-year-old man marries cardboard cutout of his idol in Las Vegas

In a post seen by TUKO.co.ke on Thursday, January 9, the couple said they wanted to be financially independent and promised to continue supporting the queen.

"After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution.

We intend to step back as senior members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen," read a post on royal's Instagram page.

READ ALSO: Jamaa amlima afisa wa polisi tumboni wakiwa mahakamani

The power couple's plan to balance their time between the UK and North America but will continue to honour their commonwealth duties to the queen.

"We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages," they said.

The couple further revealed that plans were also underway to launch a new charitable entity to continue with their good work.

"This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity," they said.

They urged their loyal supports to keep supporting them as they prepare to reveal more on their plan.

Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly.

I have no vagina, uterus and cervix - Julian Peter | Tuko TV | Tuko Talks

Source: TUKO.co.ke
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Linkedin Norman Harsono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020

Indonesia has set its sights on securing US$3.9 billion from investors in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during President Joko Jokowi Widodos three-day official visit to the Middle Eastern country next week amid Indonesias investment push to stoke economic growth.

Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said on Tuesday evening that the UAEs investments would be funneled into 14 projects, mostly in the energy sector. With a total investment value estimated at $18.8 billion, the UAE would fund one fifth of the projects, while other sources of financing will come from other countries, including Indonesia.

But that value can change. This is still first phase of negotiations, he told reporters after a pre-visit meeting with Indonesias energy minister, foreign minister and Coordinating Investment Board (BKPM) head in Jakarta on Tuesday.

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First, let us spare ourselves of descending into pretentious innocence; and rather call it the way it is: That the countrys major opposition partyNational Democratic Congressis in the iron-clad hands of ex-President John Drama(ni) Mahama (JDM). Moreover, lets also know that the NDC today has been craftily hijacked from its bona fide preeminent founder Mr.JJ Rawlings. The culmination of this development is that the party is now placed at the beck and call of the NDCs presidential flag bearerMr. J.D. Mahama and his hosanna cabals.

The combination of the aforementioned explains why anytime Mr. Mahama or any of his staunched cheerers within the partys hierarchy speaks about their violent past, all peace-loving Ghanaians must take serious notice. For not only is Mahama-controlled NDC perfect the act of crowd exploitations, but also the umbrella groups attitude toward power is grounded in the single-minded outlook that the end justifies the means. Whatever means Mr. Mahama can use to wrestle power, so be it.

Thus, in his infamous destabilizing boot for boot speech, former President John Drama(ni) Mahama impudently revealed to millions of Ghanaians about his partys inbred violent capabilities or innate propensities of his party to sociopolitical disorder. According to Mr. Mahama, the political party he first became head by a tragic accident of history, and now has more or less fallen under his sole control, was reportedly formed out of violence. By JDMs chilling recollection, therefore, no any other political entity in Ghana can rival his NDC, when push comes to shove.

For sure, the NDCs flag bearer is correct that the party he has self-servingly snatched from its founding father (ex-President Rawlings) has violence pedigree, stretching back to the P/NDC era in the 1980s. Interestingly, however, Mr. JD Mahama forgets or fails to mention one intrinsically notable characteristic or game plan of the NDC; and, that is its proneness to tribal politics.

Indeed, besides perpetrating rumors of instability, threats, or actual acts of planning social chaos, the countrys main opposition party is well-versed in playing tribal politics. All the reasonable-minded citizens who would open their ears and eyes quite clearly, may notice former President Mahama and his campaigners rounding around the country and accusing the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) as a tribal political party that does not genuinely welcome other Ghanaian ethnic groups except some selected people from Akan extraction.

In fact, some Ghanaians have been playing tribal politics for decades; pushing tired-old narrative that the UP/NPP tradition is basically an Akan centered, and in the process, these false narrators often pit the northern brothers and sisters against their kinfolks in the south of the country. To that end, Mr. Mahama and his campaign surrogates will definitely use the Vice President Dr. Bawumia as a poster boy in their tribal politics messaging in 2020.

As usual, Mahama-led NDC will go every length to intensify the desperate effort to trivialize the vice presidents position/role within NPP, and attempt to create doubt among the vulnerable Ghanaians that the party of President Akufo-Addo is incapable of taking other brothers/sisters from the north, seriously. Here again, Vice President Bawumia, especially, will become the NDCs cannon fodder in the flawed and cynical viewpoint that NPP is only using the nations current second-in-command for political expediency.

The assumption that NPP is using Vice President Dr. Bawumia or any northerner brother/sister solely for tribal/regional balance purpose can only come from people with limited grasps of critical thinking or true appreciation of contemporary democratic party set-up. How can any individual rise through the ranks of an organization to become the second-highest ranking officer and somehow be seen as a mere dispensable power player? Besides, in all veritable democratic establishments, members are not crowned with titles within the organizations, but positions are keenly contested for. That is the beauty and essence of democratic idealsfree competition of ideas and healthy contest.

For one thing, too, Dr. Bawumia is politically and economically savvy and nimble as a cat around the mouse holes irresponsibly left unsealed by former President Mahamas NDC. On top of that, it is obvious JDM-hijacked party harbors some remnants of anger, begrudge, and also hidden admiration for the current vice president. Because many of us are yet to see this present NDC coming out with any credible intellectual economic heavyweight who can stand toe-to-toe with Dr. Bawumias quick-witted economic analysis and coherent communication of issues of national importance.

Absence of the foregoing, it will not be surprising to hear Mr. Mahama and his hangers-on calling President Akufo-Addos number-two man Wale Wale Adam Smith, Bawuliar and other scornful accolades in that the NDC presidential aspirant simply does not have the manpower match capable enough for the economic prowess of the former United States university professor and now Ghanas VP Dr. Bawumia.

From now onto the general elections time in December this year, former President Mahama and his NDC wild pit-bulls will be trailing Dr. Mumuni Bawumia everywhere he goes. His campaign speeches, as well as his public policy analyses, will be childishly twisted and some of them used as tribal weapons. For instance, Mr. Mahama will let loose some of his privileged educated class from the north and even from across some parts of the country to seize on any legitimate criticism of ex-President Mahama by Vice President Bawumia as self-inflicted family attack on a northern kinsman that is remotely-controlled by the NPP people from the south.

Like all tribal rigmaroles or politics, the perpetrators tend be inward-looking or uninformed about the fact that at the core of human nature is some elements of tribal sentiments and the same time social instincts. Our social nature suggests we need each other for survival and advancement. Hence, we cannot or it is not in our interest as humans or for any group of people to be monolithic in practical sense. In the same vein, Dr. Bawumia as a human being first, Ghanaian second, and if anyone will like to put a vague label on him as northerner will still not in any way mean brothers/sisters from the northern parts of Ghana must behave or think one-way or belong to a particular political tradition.

In short, as the political campaigns gather momentum for this 2020 general elections, Mr. Mahama and his tribal politics proxies will likely call out any of their opponents with northern lineage who dares criticise the NDCs flag bearer as head-butting stooge being used against a fellow brother/sister from the north. The vice president will bear the worst part of this tribal politics abuse because Mahama-run NDC knows Dr. Bawumia is matchless communicator and one of the very few crown jewels of the ruling NPP who keeps giving former President Mahama and his incoherent campaign team nightmarish political experiences!

Bernard Asubonteng is a US-based writer.
Tammy Konkol-Townsend of Lakeland, Florida was arrested after she allegedly helped herself to her patient's fentanyl and hydrocodone, both of which should no longer have been used

A nurse in Florida has been arrested after a Ring camera installed in her hospice patients room to keep an eye on caregivers caught her stealing old pain medication.

Tammy Konkol-Townsend, 55, was arrested after she was filmed helping herself to her patient's fentanyl and hydrocodone, both of which should no longer have been used.

Prosecutors charged the Lakeland resident with two counts of theft of a controlled substance.

She has been released after posting $4,000 bond.

On October 2, Good Shepherd Hospice assigned Konkol-Townsend to provide in-home care to patient ISB, who had stage IV brain cancer.

The patient's son, JB, installed the Ring security camera in the room.

When her son first looked at the video after medication had been delivered at 3am, he said he didn't realize there was anything wrong because he was foggy at that time of the morning.

But when he thought about it on October 4, he said he realized there was no reason for the delivery because the previous hospice worker had just ordered new medication.

JB said the video showed Konkol-Townsend raiding two boxes of old pills, counting them out in a pill bottle cap and then pocketing them.

Good Shepherd Hospice assigned Konkol-Townsend as an in-home care provider to patient ISB, who had stage IV brain cancer

He told police that when he checked the hydrocodone bottle had gone from almost 90 pills to 18 and the fentanyl bottle, which was too strong for his mother, had one pill instead of five.

JB took the video to the sheriff's office, which in turn took it it to Good Shepherd Hospice.

The detective said Konkol-Townsend told him she had a lawyer even before he informed her that she had the right to remain silent.

She was fired and the Florida Department of Health has placed an emergency restriction order on her licenses as a licensed practical nurse and radiologic technician, stating that she cannot practice 'in an environment where she has access to controlled substances.'
An F16 C fighter jet by Indonesia lands on the Natuna islands, January 7, 2020. Photo by Reuters.

Vietnam is following up on information regarding a Chinese coast guard ship approaching Vietnamese waters following South China Sea tensions involving Indonesia.

"Vietnamese authorities constantly monitor all activities on Vietnamese sea regions as determined by the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said at a Thursdays press meet.

The statement came in the wake of Indonesia deploying fighter jets and naval ships to the East Sea, known internationally as the South China Sea, on Tuesday in a stand-off with Beijing.

The actions followed Jakarta protesting Chinese violations of Indonesias exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Reuters reported.

The stand-off began in mid-December when a Chinese coast guard vessel, accompanying Chinese fishing boats, entered waters off the coast of Indonesias northern Natuna islands, prompting Jakarta to summon Beijings ambassador and lodge a complaint.

"Parties should not complicate the situation and should make practical and appropriate contributions to positively develop and maintain peace and stability while fostering friendly, collaborative relations in the region," Hang said.

She was responding to a question about Malaysia submitting a report on extended continental shelf on the South China Sea to the United Nations on December 12 last year. This has sparked concerns that the extended continental shelf as claimed by Malaysia could overlap with claims by other countries.

Hang also drew attention to the Vietnam-Malaysia Joint Submission on the limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from baselines at the southern regions of the South China Sea that both countries submitted to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) at a meeting in New York in August 2009.

"Vietnam reserves sovereignty rights over the extended continental shelf, beyond the 200-nautical-mile [limit] [into] the central regions of the East Sea, as stated in the diplomatic note sent to the CLCS in 2009," Hang said.
Bill Gates is the second-richest man in the world, has built one of the world's premier software companies, and is now deeply engaged in battling such evils as child mortality and climate change. So you might expect him to delegate some of the more mundane tasks the rest of us are stuck with. Like, say, cleaning up after dinner or driving the kids to school.

Not so much. In her book Moment of Lift, Melinda Gates, a generally private person, reveals a lot about their billionaire marriage and how parenting and household chores are handled between the two of them. It's an interesting lesson for all of us, especially those of us who are married.

When the Gateses found that the ideal kindergarten for their daughter Jenn was a 40-minute drive away, Melinda decided it was worth it to make the drive through the Seattle traffic and over a bridge four times a day, one round trip to drop Jenn off in the morning and a second one to pick her up in the afternoon. One day, she complained about all this driving to Bill. Now, it would have been simple for these ultra-wealthy people to have a nanny, or a nanny plus a driver, plus a phalanx of bodyguards, take their kid to and from school. But instead of suggesting any of this, Bill said, "I can do some of that."

Melinda was surprised by this offer. At the time, Bill was still running Microsoft, and from their home it was in the opposite direction from the school. Bill would drive Jenn 40 minutes to school, drive back past their house and continue on to Microsoft. He volunteered to do this two mornings a week because it gave him a chance to spend some time talking with his daughter.

After about three weeks, Melinda noticed that there were fathers dropping kids off at the school when previously there had been only mothers. Melinda asked one of the other mothers about this. She explained, "When we saw Bill driving, we went home and said to our husbands, 'Bill Gates is driving his child to school; you can, too.'" Sometimes a thoughtful billionaire can be a great role model in ways that have nothing to do with making money.

Unpaid labor

Melinda Gates related this story as part of a chapter on the unpaid labor--the housework and child-rearing tasks--that women disproportionately do in most of the world, in particular the United States. In fact, American men lag behind men in France, Japan, Brazil, Spain, and Slovenia in their contribution of unpaid household labor, and they don't do half the housework even in households where the woman is the breadwinner, according to an analysis of the American Time Use study.

Since the 1980s, economists have called for the United States to consider this unpaid work when measuring the U.S. economy, Melinda Gates writes in her book, but it still hasn't happened. One economist traveled the world collecting data on unpaid labor--gathering firewood and fetching water in rural developing countries, or filling lunchboxes and loading the dishwasher in wealthier ones. She calculated that if this unpaid labor were paid for, it would be by far the largest sector of the global economy. Which is why Bill Gates's driving his daughter to kindergarten, a simple act of good parenting, can feel so significant.

Beyond the unpaid labor of housework, there's another type of work that mostly falls on women, commonly called emotional labor, and it occurs in both homes and workplaces. Emotional labor mainly consists of worrying about other people and making arrangements on their behalf. For example, if you're in a couple or family, who makes sure the other family members get to appointments on time? Who remembers when friends or family members have birthdays and makes sure to buy a present or plan a party? In most homes, and most offices too, it is usually a woman.

This question came up for Melinda Gates when a close friend of both her and Bill asked her if she was the "time cop" in their household. Her instinctive answer was yes. She had spent many years of the marriage making sure that homework got done and everyone got where they were supposed to be on time. But she also acknowledged that as the years had gone by, both the children and Bill had begun taking more responsibility for these things. And so she asked the friend to ask Bill the same question. His answer: "We try not to have anybody be the time cop for somebody else. We certainly talk about the calendar, but we never want to have something where one of us is cast in the carefree role and the other is in this bothersome role."
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Nothing unites Washington like war. But then nothing divides it, and scrambles it, quite like Donald Trump.

A Republican senator called the administrations defense of the presidents decision to kill Irans most powerful commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, with a drone strike on Iraqi soil absolutely insane. A Democratic senator, evoking the rhetorical stylings of George W. Bush, called Iran a nation full of malevolent evildoers. People are still trying to make sense of what happened and what it will mean: Was it justified ethically? Was it wise strategically?
Speaking exclusively to Republic TV on Wednesday, Ali Chegeni- Iran's envoy to India welcomed the intervention of India to help maintain peace and prosperity in west Asia. He asserted that Iran looked forward to initiatives from friendly countries based on peace and justice. This comes amid the escalation of tensions between Iran and the US over the killing of Quds Force chief General Qassem Soleimani and the missiles being fired at two Iraqi military bases housing thousands of US troops.

Read: BIG: Ukraine International Airlines Reveals That Crashed Aircraft Was Checked 2 Days Ago

Irans envoy to India remarked, We are welcoming any intervention and any initiative from friendly countries like India and other countries based on peace, justice, anything that can help the peace and prosperity in the region.

Read: China Breaks Silence On Mega Iran-US Escalation With A Message For All Concerned Parties

'All the countries should push for real peace'

Talking to the media earlier, Chegeni defended Irans retaliatory strike by citing the demand of millions of people participating in the funeral of General Soleimani. At the same time, he stressed that Iran did not desire any escalation in the conflict. Irans convoy to India added that his country had never started a war in the last four centuries. In an indirect jibe at the legacy of US intervention in West Asia, Chegeni made it clear that all countries should push for real peace which was not based on lies and misinformation.

Read: Amid Speculation Over Plane Crash, Iran Decides Not To Hand Over Black Boxes To Boeing

Ali Chegeni observed, A part of our response is actually because the retaliation was our right because of the demand of the people. Millions of people participated in the funeral of the hero General Qassem Soleimani. They demanded the government for that. We have done it. But we wish that this should not escalate in the region. We are not looking for war. Iran, during the last four centuries never began any war against anybody. We are living in this region peacefully with our brothers and friends including India. So, this is our region and we dont want any escalation."

He added, Actually, regional peace is something regional. We expect that all the countries of the region, even all the countries of the world should push for real peace based on justice, not based on lies, accusations, wrong information and misusing the media.

Read: Germany Condemns Iran Missile Attacks At Iraq Airbases Hosting US, Coalition Troops
An engine problem may have been to blame for a Ukrainian plane crash near Tehran which killed all 176 people on board, intelligence officials say.

The Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 crashed just hours after Iran fired missiles at bases housing US forces in Iraq, prompting speculations that the aircraft may have been shot down.

However five security officials, including one European, one Canadian and three Americans, told Reuters an initial assessment by western intelligence agencies had shown the jet suffered a technical malfunction.

The Canadian source, who did not want to be named, said there was evidence one of the jets engines had overheated.

However, the maker of the planes engines, French-US firm CFM, co-owned by General Electric Co and Frances Safran, said it was too soon to speculate about the cause of the crash.

Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Show all 18 1 /18 Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran People stand near the wreckage after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran People and rescue teams are pictured amid bodies and debris All 176 people on board a Ukrainian passenger plane were killed when it crashed shortly after taking off, Iranian state media reported ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran One of the engines State news agency IRNA said 167 passengers and nine crew members were on board the aircraft operated by Ukraine International Airlines Iran Press via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Rescue teams work at the scene AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Passengers' belongings West Asia News Agency via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Members of the International Red Crescent collect bodies of victims EPA Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Rescue teams work amidst debris AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran A relative of a victim reacts at Boryspil International Airport, outside Kiev Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Part of the wreckage Iran Press via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran West Asia News Agency via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Officials inspect the wreckage EPA Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP

Earlier on Wednesday, independent aviation operations experts said a shootdown event may have been the true explanation.

The Ukrainian embassy in Tehran initially attributed the crash to engine failure but later retracted the statement and instead said it was for an official commission to determine the cause.

Flight PS752 took off from Tehrans Imam Khomeini International Airport at 06.12 local time [03.12 GMT], losing contact just two minutes later.

It came just hours after Iran fired ballistic missiles at two bases used by American coalition forces in Iraq in retaliation for the US airstrike that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani on Friday.

Airline officials said most of the passengers were on their way to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, where they were planning to go on to other destinations.

There were 167 passengers and nine crew members on board, according to aviation authorities.

Among the victims were three Britons, 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, and 11 Ukrainians.

The British victims were named as engineers Sam Zokaei, from Surrey, Saeed Tahmasebi Khademasadi, from west London, and Mohammad Reza Kadkhoda Zadeh, from Brighton.

A newlywed Canadian couple, who had travelled to Iran to get married, were also on the plane with four members of their wedding party when it went down.

Iran has refused to hand over the planes black boxes  which contain key flight data and cockpit voice recordings  to US-based Boeing or US authorities.

Under International Civil Aviation Organisation rules, investigations into air crashes are led by the country where the accident took place, in this case Iran, but other countries may be involved, including the country of the manufacturer.

Ali Abedzadeh, head of the Iran Civil Aviation Organisation, said it was unclear which country the black box would be sent to for investigation, although Ukraine is expected to be involved in the process.

The crash came after Boeing grounded its 737 MAX fleet after two crashes in 2018 and 2019. The 737-800 is one of the worlds most-flown models with a good safety record and does not have the software feature implicated in crashes of the 737 MAX.

Additional reporting by agencies
(Bloomberg) -- Brazil will not accept any pressure from the U.S. over whether to allow the Chinese company Huawei to bid for its 5G network, Marcos Pontes, the minister for science, technology, innovation and communications, said.

A good partner always understands the needs of the other, Pontes said in an interview in his office in Brasilia. Just as Brazil makes no claim over what business the U.S. does with China and whether this affects or not our agribusiness.

Pontes, responsible for establishing the criteria for the construction of the latest generation of ultra-fast Internet, said that he would not veto any company from the bidding process and that the final decision would be based purely on merit.

With technical criteria, its hard to see how some of these big companies wont have the capacity to participate, he said.

Read more: Brazil Is Weighing 5G Risks Amid U.S-China Spat Over Huawei

More Delays

Scheduled initially for March this year and then postponed until the second half of 2020, the 5G auction could be delayed until 2021, according to Pontes. Thats due to a technical problem as the new network would interfere with the transmission from the satellite dishes that currently relay TV signals in Brazil.

The government is currently studying two alternatives: putting filters on the satellite dishes, or changing the transmission frequency used by the countrys TV providers.

On top of this, the agency which regulates the telecommunications sector was slow to publish the official notice announcing the auction.

Pontes said he prefers to move forward cautiously anyway. The delay, in his opinion, benefits Brazil by allowing it to learn from the mistakes and successes of other countries acquiring their new 5G networks.

U.S. Cooperation

The proximity between the governments of Bolsonaro and U.S. President Donald Trump gives Brazil much to gain in the area of science and technology, according to Pontes. He is currently seeking U.S. cooperation in the fields of artificial intelligence, biotechnology, intelligent cities and the use of advanced materials.

Story continues

But there are also ongoing discussions on similar issues with China. Science and technology works as an excellent component of diplomacy, he said.

The minister, who is Brazils first and only astronaut, said that investment in science and technology in the country is still very low. Such paltry state spending justifies a policy of tax breaks to technology companies, he argued, even if Economy Minister Paulo Guedes wants to limit sectorial subsidies as far as possible.

Israel spends 4% of its GDP on the sector. Brazil spends 1.1%, he said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Martha Beck in Brasilia at mbeck96@bloomberg.net;Simone Iglesias in Brasilia at spiglesias@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Bruce Douglas

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

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So the party is trying to get the courts to do what Congress couldnt. A group of Republican state attorneys generals  including now-Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri  sued to overturn the law, arguing that because Congress had nixed one part of it (the tax penalty for failure to buy health insurance), the rest had to go.

A friendly Texas federal judge bought that shaky argument, sending the case to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which last month essentially kicked most of the case back to the lower court for further review.

Had the appeals court ruled conclusively either way, the case would likely already be on its way to a Supreme Court review. By sending it back down  on a vote of two Republican-appointed judges, against one Democratic appointee  it likely keeps the case off the high courts docket until after the general election, unless justices intervene to hear it sooner.

Democratic state attorneys general are asking the Supreme Court to do exactly that, arguing that people on Obamacare deserve to know as soon as possible whether theyre going to lose their coverage. House Democrats have joined in that call.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed that its barrage of surface-to-surface missiles against two US bases in neighboring Iraq early Jan. 8 killed over 80 US military personnel, leaving some 200 others injured. IRGC commanders announced that "tens of missiles" were launched, all precisely hitting the targets, with none being intercepted.

Yet hours later, in a televised address from the White House, US President Donald Trump denied any casualties, saying the bases had only been slightly damaged. According to Iraqi sources, 22 missiles came from Iran, striking the Ain al-Asad base in Anbar province as well as an air base in the Kurdish city of Erbil.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, the Iranian leadership prided itself in fulfilling a promised "harsh revenge" for the death of its most powerful commander, Gen. Qasem Soleimani, assassinated in a US drone attack outside Baghdad International Airport last Friday.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is also the country's commander in chief, addressed a crowd of supporters in the capital Tehran with a strongly worded message for the arch-enemy. "Last night's strike was a slap [in the face of the US]," he declared. Khamenei appeared to suggest that more was yet to come: "The US seditious presence must come to an end." He did not elaborate whether Iran will pursue the objective militarily or diplomatically.

The early morning strikes triggered brief jubilation, with some Iranians taking to rooftops chanting "God is Great," as they were relieved by the triumph from the promised revenge. There were also expressions of anxiety on social media, however, over a looming US-Iran war for a nation already feeling the pinch of economic sanctions.

Echoing Khamenei's message, President Hassan Rouhani gave a speech that was void of any obvious sign of reconciliation. "In their crime, [the Americans] cut off Soleimani's arm. The revenge will be cutting off their feet from this region," he said, referencing a graphic picture of the slain commander's limb severed in the intense US strike. Rouhani warned Washington not to blame Iran for possible future attacks from other forces. "We have no proxies, because nations are free today and no force in any country is under our command," he noted.

Following the Soleimani assassination, Iraqi parliamentarians passed a resolution calling for the expulsion of US forces from their country. And Tehran-backed Shiite militias are now threatening the United States with Iran-style attacks. One such group, Asaib Ahl al-Haq Brigades, said it was now Iraq's turn to avenge Soleimani's death.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif justified the strikes on the basis of Iran's legitimate right to defense. Zarif noted that the revenge was "concluded" and suggested that the US ouster from the region could be achieved through nonmilitary means.

Hard-liners in Tehran, however, say over 100 targets have already been identified for future attacks if need be. The chief of staff for the armed forces, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, warned that if the United States makes "another mistake," it will have to meet yet more crushing counterattacks from Iran. And Mohsen Rezaee  a former IRGC commander (1980-1997) and now secretary of Iran's Expediency Council  further underscored the Islamic Republic's preparedness: "Hands are on the trigger."
E-Commerce One-Stop Center Kita-Kashiwa transcosmos will expand the E-Commerce One-Stop Center Kita-Kashiwa to meet increasing client demands, which the center is equipped with automated material handling machines with a processing capacity of packing and labeling 720 items per hour.

transcosmos inc. will expand "E-Commerce One-Stop Center Kita-Kashiwa," its logistics center specifically designed for e-commerce business in January 2020 to meet the growing demand for its logistics services. transcosmos will further enhance its logistics services by April 2020 when the extended area will begin full-scale operations.

Launched in April 2014, transcosmos E-Commerce One-Stop Center Kita-Kashiwa is a logistics center designed specifically for e-commerce business. By consolidating all required functions for e-commerce business, the center delivers seamless communication across all operational functions. The center offers one-stop end-to-end services that include contact center functions such as customer support desk, order processing and after-sales services, e-commerce website development and operations, internet promotions and performance analysis, and fulfillment and logistics services. The center optimizes available information comprehensively such as product inventory data, customer data (CRM) and website access logs, thereby assisting clients in expanding their sales and streamlining operations.

By utilizing both its proprietary warehouse management system (WMC) designed for e-commerce and its excellent operations performed by well-trained warehouse staff, transcosmos logistics services offer clients "services that increase the level of satisfaction of customers who receive their products." In addition to its high-quality services that are proven by a shipping error rate as low as 0.00056% (*), the center is equipped with automated material handling machines with a processing capacity of packing and labeling 720 items per hour. With the aim of meeting client demands that continue to grow year after year, transcosmos will expand the E-Commerce One-Stop Center Kita-Kashiwa to 4,110 tsubo from the current 3,155 tsubo.

(*) Average shipping error rate: 0.0094% (source: Japan Institute of Logistics Systems)

 E-Commerce One-Stop Center Kita-Kashiwa basic information

Location: LOGIPORT Kita Kashiwa, 13-1 Matsugasaki Nitta, Kashiwa-shi, Chiba, Japan

Access: By train: 6 minutes' walk from JR Jyoban line "Kita Kashiwa Station"

By car: Near National Route 16 / along National Route 6, approximately 6 km from Kashiwa interchange on the Joban Expressway

Usable area (after extension): 4,110 tsubo

Security: ISO27001 certification (information security managers stationed, indoor security cameras, 24/7 security guards)

Facilities / equipment: Warehouse Management System (WMS), handy terminals, automated material handling systems, shrink wrap machines, air cushion machines, etc.

 About transcosmos e-commerce services

Along with the growth of the e-commerce market, transcosmos has been providing global e-commerce one-stop services to deliver our clients' superior products and services to consumers in 48 countries/regions around the world. We help clients in various ways that best match each client's needs by offering operational services including e-commerce website development and operations, fulfillment (receipt of goods, picking, packaging, shipping), customer service, web marketing, analysis and more for clients to sell their products and services globally. With our services, clients can either launch their e-commerce business by themselves, operate cross-border e-commerce business to sell products and services from Japan to the global market, or sell their products via our e-commerce sales channels. transcosmos provides strong support for clients to sell their products globally by leveraging global sales channels that we have developed including the prominent e-commerce shopping malls, leading e-commerce websites, major retailers worldwide as well as our partnerships with prominent local e-commerce outsourcing businesses in each country. transcosmos will continue to deliver our clients' products and services into the hands of consumers in Japan, Europe, China, Taiwan, South Korea, India, Central and South America and more.



transcosmos is a trademark or registered trademark of transcosmos inc. In Japan and other countries.

Other company names and product or services names used here are trademarks or registered trademarks of respective companies.

About transcosmos inc.

transcosmos launched its operations in 1966. Since then, we have combined superior "people" with up-to-date "technology" to enhance the competitive strength of our clients by providing them with superior and valuable services. transcosmos currently offers services that support clients' business processes focusing on both sales expansion and cost optimization through our 168 bases across 30 countries/regions with a focus on Asia, while continuously pursuing Operational Excellence. Furthermore, following the expansion of e-commerce market on the global scale, transcosmos provides a comprehensive One-Stop Global E-Commerce services to deliver our clients' excellent products and services in 48 countries/regions around the globe. transcosmos aims to be the "Global Digital Transformation Partner" of our clients, supporting the clients' transformation by leveraging digital technology, responding to the ever-changing business environment.

https://www.trans-cosmos.co.jp/english/
US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster along with envoys from 15 other countries arrived in Srinagar on Thursday on a two-day visit to union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. This is the first visit by diplomats since the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmirs special status in August last year.

The Delhi-based envoys arrived by a special chartered flight at Srinagars technical airport where top officials from the newly carved out union territory received them, officials said.

The envoys will meet Lt Governor G C Murmu and civil society members before heading to Jammu later in the day, they added.

Besides the US, the delegation includes diplomats from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, Maldives, South Korea, Morocco, and Nigeria, among others.

Envoys from the European Union (EU) are not a part of the group. They will make a trip to Jammu and Kashmir at a later date, said a person who declined to be named.

Reports that EU ambassadors are not part of the group of envoys visiting Jammu and Kashmir due to certain restrictions in the programme are unfounded and mischievous, the person said.

HT had reported on Wednesday that the EU mission in Delhi is discussing the proposed trip with the external affairs ministry. Dates for the trip are yet to be finalised, diplomats of two EU states had said.

The people cited above said India had wanted to take a global group of envoys to Kashmir with some EU ambassadors, and not all EU envoys were asked to join.

However, the EU envoys wanted to visit as a group, and this was not possible due to restrictions on numbers and to keep the group broad-based, the people said. Some EU envoys also said the visit was being organised at short notice and they didnt have time to seek instructions from their headquarters, the people added.

The people said the envoys would be free to interact with people subject to security considerations.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The latest on Iran-related developments (all times local):

8 p.m.

Iran has invited the U.S. accident-investigating agency to take part in the probe of this weeks crash of a Ukrainian jetliner near Tehran.

The National Transportation Safety Board said late Thursday that it would evaluate its level of participation in the investigation.

The extent of the NTSBs role could be limited by U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Under rules set by a United Nations aviation organization, the NTSB is entitled to participate in the investigation because the crash involved a Boeing 737-800 jet that was designed and built in the U.S.

American, British and Canadian officials say it is highly likely that the Ukraine International Airlines plane was shot down, possibly in an accident, by an Iranian missile. The NTSB says it will not speculate about the cause of the crash, which killed all 176 people on board.

__

7:40 p.m.

President Donald Trump is celebrating the killing of Iran's Quds Force commander and is mocking Democrats for wanting advance notice of military operations.

Trump is in Toledo, Ohio, holding his first campaign rally since the fatal drone strike he ordered against Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.

Trump says he took bold and decisive action to save American lives and is claiming that Soleimani was looking very seriously at further attacks on U.S. embassies beyond Baghdad.

Trump says that, If you dare to threaten our citizens, you do so at your grave peril."

Trump is also mocking Democrats for criticizing his decision to kill Soleimani, and says he didn't have time to give a heads-up call to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, alleging she isnt operating with a full deck."

__

7:20 p.m.

Australias prime minister says his government has received intelligence that suggests the downing of a civilian Ukrainian jetliner in Iran was unintentional.

Prime Minister Scott Morrisons comments Friday come after officials from the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom said it is highly likely that Iran shot down the plane that crashed near Tehran on Tuesday. They said the fiery missile strike could well have been a mistake amid rocket launches and high tension throughout the region.

Story continues

Morrison told reporters: Australia has received similar intelligence to that which has been spoken to by both the prime minister of Canada and from out of the United States. ... All of the intelligence as presented to us today does not suggest an intentional act.

Morrison declined to elaborate further on what intelligence Australia had received.

__

7 p.m.

Canada's Transportation Safety Board says Iran's accident investigation agency has invited it to the site where a Ukrainian plane crashed, killing 176 people, including at least 63 Canadians.

The board says it has accepted the invite and is making arrangements to travel to the site after hearing from Iran's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau. The board says it will be working with other groups and organizations already on site.

Canada's foreign minister held a rare telephone conversation with Iran's foreign minister late Wednesday to stress Canada's desire to be a part of the investigation.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that intelligence sources indicate the plane was shot down by an Iranian missile.

__

3:37 p.m.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose country lost at least 63 citizens in the downing of a jet on takeoff from Tehran, says intelligence sources indicate the plane was shot down.

"We have intelligence from multiple sources including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, Trudeau said during a press conference Thursday in Toronto.

3:25 p.m.

Ukraine's president is calling on other countries to provide any information they have about the fatal crash of a Ukrainian airliner in Iran.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's statement, reported Thursday on his office's Facebook page, came after U.S. officials said it was "highly likely" that the plane was downed by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile.

Zelenskiy's statement did not address the U.S. claim directly. It said we turn to the international partners of Ukraine: if there is evidence that will help the investigation, please provide it.

___

7:25 a.m.

Ukraine's leader says Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has assured him of full cooperation in investigating the fatal crash of a Ukrainian airliner near the Iranian capital and that Iran would provide experts access to all data.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke with Rouhani by telephone on Thursday.

A statement on the Ukrainian presidential website says: The Iranian party assured full cooperation with a view to holding an objective investigation and finding out the causes of the tragedy. Hassan Rouhani stressed that Iran would provide the Ukrainian expert group with prompt access to all the necessary data.

___

7:10 a.m.

The British government says it is investigating very concerning reports about the crash of a Ukrainian airliner in Iran, amid speculation that the plane may have been hit by a missile.

Prime Minister Boris Johnsons office says the reports we have seen are very concerning and we are urgently looking into them."

The Ukrainian International Airlines plane crashed Wednesday soon after takeoff from Tehrans airport, killing all 176 people on board. Ukrainian officials say they have several working theories, including a missile strike.

Johnson spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday and called for a full, credible and transparent investigation into what happened, Downing Street said.

___

7:05 a.m.

Frances military spokesman says that its fighter jets are continuing to make sorties over Iraq and Syria despite the international coalitions suspension in activities.

Col. Frederic Barbry said on Thursday that Frances Rafales, based in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, made 14 sorties this week. Their main job is support, reconnaissance and protection for ground forces.

Like other coalition members, activities of Frances 200 troops in Iraq are currently suspended due to soaring tensions, with their movements significantly limited.

France alone has trained nearly 27,000 Iraqi soldiers over time. Barbry couldnt say how long the suspension might last, but he stressed that France is not withdrawing its soldiers from Iraq and its priority remains the fight against the Islamic State group.

___

6:45 a.m.

Canada's foreign minister held a rare telephone conversation with Iran's foreign minister to stress Canada's desire to be a part of the investigation into the crash of a Ukrainian jetliner that killed at least 63 Canadians.

A readout of the call released by Ottawa on Thursday said Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif exchanged condolences and that Champagne emphasized that Canada wants to be part of the investigation.

He says Canadians have many questions which will need to be answered. There was no indication Iran agreed to allow Canada to take part in the investigation.

Allowing that might prove difficult as Canada closed its embassy in Iran in 2012, expelled Iranian diplomats from Canada and suspended all diplomatic relations.

Champagne also condemned Iranian strikes on bases in Iraq where U.S.-led Coalition forces, including Canadians, are stationed.

Italy and other allies with a diplomatic presence in Iran are helping Canada with consular assistance for friends and families of the Canadian victims.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over it killing an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general in a drone strike last week.

___
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Premier Health Group (CSE: PHGI, OTCQB: PHGRF, Frankfurt: 6PH) (the Company or Premier Health), a company focused on developing innovative approaches that combine human skill-based expertise with emerging technologies for the healthcare industry, is pleased to announce that it has appointed Richard Atkins as the companys Senior Vice President of Sales. Richards responsibilities will encompass sales team leadership, accelerating revenues through optimizing the Companys portfolio, and expanding the Companys presence in both Canada and new geographies together with developing new partnerships.



Richards successful career spans over 30 years in global business development and sales. He has led sales teams in healthcare for the past 10 years, winning omnichannel clinical decision support solutions and services business globally, including in Europe, Australia, Africa and North America. Richard most recently held a senior sales leadership role at Health Navigator, the market leader in clinical content within the digital health market. Health Navigator, recently acquired by Amazon for their Amazon Care service, has been utilized in symptom checkers, healthbots, telemedicine services and voice virtual assistants.

We welcome Richard and are thrilled to appoint a candidate of his calibre as Senior Vice President of Sales, said Dr. Essam Hamza, CEO of Premier Health. As Premier Health continues its growth, we look forward to benefiting from Richards vast experience and network to capture demand and expand our market presence.

I am delighted to be joining Premier Health Group at such a pivotal time, said Richard. The Company is strategically poised, through both its own developments and recent acquisitions, to be a leader in virtual care/digital health which are integral to healthcare systems in this next decade. Working with a superb leadership team, I am excited to be leading their growth and contributing to Premier Health, delivering true patient centric solutions, making a positive difference to physicians and patients alike.

Premier also is pleased to announce that it has retained PI Financial Corp. (PI) to provide market making services in accordance with CSE policies. PI will trade the securities of Premier Health on the CSE for the purposes of maintaining an orderly market. In consideration of the services provided by PI, the Company will pay PI a monthly cash fee of $5,000 for a minimum term of three months and renewable thereafter. Premier Health and PI are unrelated and unaffiliated entities. PI will not receive shares or options as compensation. The capital used for market making will be provided by PI.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dr. Essam Hamza, MD"

Chief Executive Officer

About Premier Health

Premier Health is a Canadian company that is strategically poised to take advantage of business opportunities in the global health care industry. We are focused on innovative health care approaches that combine human skill-based expertise with emerging technologies. In conjunction with its subsidiary Cloud Practice, which offers SAAS based health technology solutions including a cloud based Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software, medical billing software and an online patient portal, the Company is developing proprietary technology to deliver quality healthcare through the combination of connected primary care clinics, telemedicine, and artificial intelligence (AI). We currently have a combined ecosystem of 290 clinics, over 3000 licensed practitioners and almost 3 million registered patients. The Premier Health team has deep clinical, operational and financial expertise and a passion for improving healthcare for all patients.

The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.



FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:

Premier Health Group Inc.

www.mypremierhealth.com

Email: investors@mypremierhealth.com

Renmark Financial Communications Inc.

Bettina Filippone: bfilippone@renmarkfinancial.com

Tel:(416) 644-2020 or (514) 939-3989

www.renmarkfinancial.com




There is increasing evidence to indicate that protest and dissent are not the activity only of the irrational and opportunistic sectors of society. They represent a particular mode of political participation chosen by those of the citizenry who, stilt retaining notions of personal effectiveness, feel that the system can and must be hurried, or pushed, into action.

Election-time is a time for a redefinition of the self and society: it is an exercise In the mobilisation of sentiment. Inadvertently perhaps  but invariably  it provides a setting for the surfacing of collective anxieties. Several of the issues that will manifest themselves during the campaign period will of course be familiar from past elections; but, this may be our first election in which problems of internal law and order, of permissible quantities and qualitative modes of dissent are likely to emerge as major issues. The latent insecurity, especially of the nouveau riches, is more than likely to be translated into political and electoral terms. Demands, rather than debate, may be the emergent political style. It should not be surprising if we encounter in the coming months a harsh, even repressive, tenor injected into the usual combativeness of electoral political discourse. As the volume of political communication between candidates and prospective supporters Swells, and larger numbers of the citizenry are inducted into participating in the electoral process, an increase in the types of available participatory modes is also manifesting itself. Political participation, generally considered to be symbolic of the extensiveness to which democratic ideals are applied, also includes a dimension which, in fact, lies outside the scope of constitutional activity. In this respect mass protests have become a conventional  if not legal  form of participation, and, needless to say, have engendered mixed reactions from specialists In public affairs, the administration, and the public at large. It if that Protests and agitations are becoming increasingly political; that they are becoming Increasingly "programmed", standardised in terms of techniques; and that they are closely linked with the organisational capacities of the political groups which sponsor them. Moreover even as one can say that the total magnitude of agitations and protests have increased in both rural and urban areas, it is clear that the urban is usually better organised, more pervasive and has more staying power. Above all, given the type of communication networks which we have, these urban protests are also the more visible, and thus may evoke the most reaction  both from the public at large, and the government in power. The increasing tendency of political parties toward fragmentation, with its concomitant multiplication of political messages, means that the same people  that is, the general electorate  are increasingly subjected to a wider choice in the form of multiple electoral appeals. Political expression and issues thus appear to be coming closer to the felt anxieties of the people; and in a sense, hitherto unpolitical dimensions of life have gained political salience. In this process, ideology, at least for the short run, has a tendency to become devalued. Instead of political parties garnering beliefs and values, politics becomes more action-oriented. Resentments are nurtured and cultivated; and much of the nurturance takes place, not on an artificial basis, but because the grievances cultivated exist in fact. Fragmentation of political parties facilitates their listening in where no one was listening before. In other words, instead of politics remaining a remote activity, it becomes immediate and actable.

From Protest to Terror
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Good as new: Officials of the Archive Rescue Team provide services for flood victims who want to repair their family documents at the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia (ANRI) on Jl. Ampera, Cilandak, South Jakarta, on Tuesday. ANRI provides free restoration of documents such as birth certificates, family cards and school diplomas to those affected by the floods. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)

Ryan Septian, a 28-year-old from Kemang, South Jakarta, whose residence was inundated during massive floods that hit Greater Jakarta on Jan. 1, did not think his documents that were damaged by floodwater could be saved.

However, thanks to the services of the National Archives (ANRI) in Cilandak, South Jakarta, his documents have been restored.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

By Eldar Janashvili - Trend:

Azerbaijani farmers will be able to calculate their subsidies using a calculator in their personal online cabinets, Trend reports referring to Azerbaijans Agriculture Ministry.

The rules for subsidizing agricultural production, approved by the Azerbaijani presidential decree dated June 27, 2019, are already in force, according to the report.

Under the new subsidy rules, farmers will be able to receive six types of subsidies through Electronic Agricultural Information System (EKTIS).

This rule provides for subsidizing crops, seeds, animals, bees and cocoons, used as state support to farmers. As a first step, sections of subsidies according to types of crop and livestock products have been provided in the farmers personal cabinet on the EKTIS website.

The amount of funds that will be issued to farmers for all types of subsidies has already been determined. In accordance with the new rules, until Jan. 15, the Council of Agricultural Subsidies under the Agriculture Ministry must declare subsidized crop products, coefficients and the amount of subsidies for them.

In order to accelerate transition to the electronic system and timely payment of subsidies to farmers, the Council of Agricultural Subsidies announced in September 2019 the coefficients of subsidies for crops, harvest and seeds, quotas for seeds and seedlings according to plant species and regions.

Each farmer who has filled out a subsidy application in an electronic personal cabinet will be able to calculate his or her subsidy by using a calculator in his or her cabinet until the application is confirmed.

Up to 450,000 farmers are registered in the EKTIS.
San Francisco's high housing prices may be driving some people into the ground, literally.

Developer Chris Elsey of Elsey Partners in Manhattan, Kansas, has plans to build two apartment buildings in San Francisco's Mission District that would each include two basement-level floors with 88 so-called "sleeping pods," measuring about 50 square feet each, just a little bigger than a king-size bed. (See renderings of the plans in the gallery above.)

Tiny living spaces are increasingly becoming a way to add housing in big cities. But this approach seems more extreme  and has yet to receive approval from the San Francisco Planning Department.

"The contentious part is these below-grade sleeping pods," said Elsey, who started the company with his twin brother and has projects around the country. "When youre building something, the plans have to be approved by the Planning Department and the Building Department. These below-grade sleeping pods meet the building codes, but theres this perception from the Planning Department that its not something any human being should be exposed to or allowed to do."

San Francisco's Department of Building said in a statement, "At this point we have not received any permit applications for the project. Until a developer applies for a building permit and submits building plans for DBI review, we are not in a position to say whether the proposed project will comply with San Franciscos Building Code.

The plans to transform two surface parking lots that are kitty-corner from each other at 401 S. Van Ness and 1500 15th St. have been in the works for more than four years. Above ground, the building would feature eights floors with 161 units  each 200-square-feet including a bathroom and kitchen.

In the basement-level floors, the sleeping pods are stacked on top of one another, like bunk beds, with one side opening to a common living space. It has a feel similar to a youth hostel or college dorm. A curtain could provide privacy in the sleeping pods, but the city's building code doesn't allow them to be closed in with a wall and door that closes. The basement-level housing units don't have windows that open to the outdoors, but Elsey argued they receive natural light as they circle common living spaces facing an outdoor courtyard in the center of the building.

With close living quarters, the underground spaces would likely have "house rules" that residents would need to obey.

"Obviously people dont like it when people come home drunk and belligerent," he said. "And no pod sex. I think anyone who has been in college or a dormitory, youve had experiences where you prefer that people do those things in private."

The sleeping pods would rent for $1,000 to $1,375 each and the studios for $2,000 to $2,375. Elsey feels that in San Francisco, where the average rent for an apartment hovers around $3,700 (according to Rent Cafe), the lower-cost units will be in high demand.

"Were trying to build the most affordable market-rate living arrangement," said Elsey. "Thats been our main objective."

He added: "Were trying to utilize this below-grade space that has traditionally been used for accessory uses such as bike parking. Whats more important, beds or bikes? I guess its up to everybodys opinion, but my opinion is theres an incredible housing shortage in San Francisco."

Altogether, the project near the 16th Street BART station has the potential of adding nearly 500 bed spaces. Elsey said it could take at least two more years for the plans to get approved and then another 18 months to build.

"Were in it for the long haul," he said. "Theres a limited amount of land in San Francisco," he said. "By allowing these below-grade units that are 100-percent building-code compliant, youre making the best use of the land. I can see this living arrangement isnt for everyone. But we want a diversity of housing stock. Not everyone can afford to pay for their own studio apartment in San Francisco thats going to run you upward of $3,000."

This story was updated on Jan. 10, 2019, with a statement from the San Francisco Department of Building.

Amy Graff is a digital editor with SFGATE. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com.
The Neches River Wheelhouse restaurant in Port Neches is expanding its popular outdoor seating area in a move owners say will more than double its available seating.

The restaurants palapa, the Spanish word for open beachside structures with thatched roofs, has already started being removed and is slated for complete demolition on Monday ahead of the expansion.

The Wheelhouse on Port Neches riverside has been growing since it opened in 2014, completing at least one capital improvement every other year.

Lance Bradley, one of the co-owners, said the latest project aimed at growing their palapa would help fill a few gaps in the restaurants overall game.

Were looking at increasing the size and a covered area for the bands that play every weekend, Bradley said. Right now, we have to scramble if there is bad weather.

Along with increasing the palapa from about 700 square feet to almost 2,000 square feet, Bradley said the expansion will help the restaurant provide a little more comfort for patrons on hot days with more fans and shade.

Bert Lamson, another co-owner, said contractors who helped install the original palapa and its fixtures will be involved in the rebuild process expected to completed by the time they reopen the space on Feb. 1.

We are scheduled with Gulf Coast Palapas and the demo starts Monday, he said. They said three weeks max, but they could do it sooner.

Lamson said he and his partners found Gulf Coast Palapas after doing some research in Kema. The company guaranteed the leaves on the structure for five years, just in time for the new update.

Lamson said that wasnt a coincidence.

The partners have been meticulous planners, coordinating construction and growth as interest around the restaurant and its riverside home has grown.

Most recently, a developer announced a subdivision of more than 100 homes near the Wheelhouse, and the city of Port Neches approved an extension of a riverside sidewalk. That follows plans from the city to build a new bulkhead on the river

The Wheelhouse already has its next move planned out in the form of a 5,000-square-foot event center on the buildings north side, opposite of the palapa.

Bradley said the building would help bridge a gap the restaurant currently experiences.

The event center has been on our radar for a number of years, Bradley said. We think there is a need for a spot to accommodate 150 or 200 people, but that might not start for another year.

Lamson said the Wheelhouse often gets calls about wedding receptions or class reunions, but cant usually accommodate the space unless they open on their day off.

With the new structure, the restaurant would be able to seat more people during the average business day or close the garage doors around its perimeter for an air-conditioned venue.

jacob.dick@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/jdickjournalism
NEW YORK - Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has unveiled a rough sketch of his plans to create millions of new jobs focused largely in communities left behind by President Donald Trump.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/1/2020 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEW YORK - Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has unveiled a rough sketch of his plans to create millions of new jobs focused largely in communities left behind by President Donald Trump.

The billionaire former New York City mayor discussed his prescriptions for the nation's economy during a Wednesday tour across three Midwestern states, featuring stops on the South Side of Chicago, rural Minnesota and Akron, Ohio.

While Bloomberg's team declined to release many details, the plan calls for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, sending hundreds of thousands of American workers into apprenticeship programs and ensuring collective bargaining rights for all workers. Bloomberg would also make major new investments in research and development directly to local municipalities and put a special focus on improving access to technology in rural communities.

The reason Im releasing this plan is one of the reasons Im in the race: I know that our economy is working fine for people like me  and people like Donald Trump. But it is badly broken for the vast majority of Americans, said Bloomberg, whose net worth is estimated at roughly $50 billion.

Too much wealth is in too few hands, and its concentrated in too few places, he added. There are a handful of big cities that have boomed. But a lot of the country is stagnating.

Bloomberg did not release the cost of the plan on Wednesday. Nor did his team outline its expectation for the expected impact on job growth and the broader economy. He did not address Trump's tariffs or taxes, although an adviser said the Democratic candidate would release those details in the coming weeks.

There were no measurable goals in the plan to address income inequality. An adviser said that improving income inequality was an organizing principle of Bloomberg's plans for the economy and other policy areas.

There was a particular focus on education and training, which Bloomberg said he'd make the top priority of his vice-president.

Apprenticeships, in which students earn pay and academic credit for on-the-job learning, would play a central role. Bloomberg's plan calls for 1 million students to earn apprenticeship degrees by 2030.

Having joined the presidential race just six weeks ago, Bloomberg is the last major candidate to release an economic plan. And his is the least detailed to date, although his advisers indicate he'll be releasing more details in the coming weeks.

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Bloomberg's travel schedule on Wednesday underscored the unusual path to the presidency he's trying to carve. He is bypassing the first four states on the primary calendar  Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina  and devoting the bulk of his time and attention to the many states that hold their primary contests in March.

Those include the three states he's visiting, which he has bombarded with political advertisements in recent weeks.

The 77-year-old Bloomberg is trying to stand out as one of the few candidates with experience in government and business in the Democratic field. He employs thousands today through his media company and non-profit organizations.

I know a lot of candidates say theyre going to create good jobs. But for me, creating good jobs is not something I just talk about. Its something Ive spent my whole career doing, he said. Others shake their fists and point to scapegoats and make promises that they cant deliver on. I think weve had enough of that.

___

Catch up on the 2020 election campaign with AP experts on our weekly politics podcast, Ground Game.
Breda Graham follows the journey of Team Hopes two-millionth shoebox from the hands of one of our own to the hands of a little girl in Romania.

Last Christmas, you gave someone hope. Yes, you who put a smile on a childs face over the holiday season by filling a shoebox with simple but desired gifts.

You, who chose to help a girl, aged five to nine, by printing out a label, ticking an age group, and sticking it on the top right hand corner of a shoebox lid which was carefully wrapped in festive paper, chosen especially by you.

You, who filled your shoebox with a pink flamingo cuddly toy, gloves, hats, sweets, colouring pens, and other essentials that so many of us take for granted.

You, who made a donation of 4 along with your shoebox and dropped it off at Cherrywood distribution centre in South Dublin, one of the many drop-off points around the country.

You did not realise that you had just contributed the two-millionth shoebox to Team Hope on what was the organisations 10th annual Christmas shoebox appeal.

Your special box was checked over and all safety requirements were met before it was sealed and loaded into a truck by the many volunteers who worked tirelessly over the busy festive period.

You are the person responsible for the ear-to-ear smile on a six-year-old girls face when she took your shoebox, which had travelled 2,870km from Dublin to Romania, into her hands.

A sense of delight, similar to that felt by a parent watching the sheer excitement emanate from their children on Christmas morning as they open their presents, was shared among the volunteers who travelled to Romania as they witnessed Aline open the all-important two-millionth shoebox.

A moment that has upsettingly never been experienced by far too many parents and children alike across the globe, and yet a moment that so many of us brush off as the norm without truly appreciating just how lucky we really are.

Receiving a gift like this is a rarity for so many children in need, many of whom will never have received a Christmas gift in their lives and will never have experienced any celebration of Christmas.

Aline, who lives with a foster family, is one of 31,565 Romanian children who had their shoeboxes delivered by Team Hope volunteers on their distribution trip to the Balkan country last month.

The shoeboxes bound for Romania were sent from distribution centres in Donegal, Tipperary, Dublin South, Leitrim, Waterford, and Sligo.

Aline is one of a total of 270,436 children affected by poverty across a number of different countries including Malawi, Burundi, Kenya, Ukraine, Belarus, Kosovo, and Albania, who received gifts from Ireland this year.

Team Hope Shoebox Appeal national manager Carol Hennessey was among the 10 people who travelled to Romania. She said that receiving the two-millionth box made Aline feel so special.

Just as she, along with every other child living in underdeveloped countries deserve to feel.

That feeling is one that has been felt by all the children who have been gifted a shoebox over the years, she said.

Every shoebox has counted.

Young children from a gypsy community in Romania line up to receive their Team Hope Christmas shoeboxes.

So, heres to you, all 270,436 of you, who sourced a shoebox and filled it with special gifts that now mean the world to the children who have received them.

All of you, who included a photo of your own family here in Ireland so children who received your box who may not have a family to call their own still felt a sense of home even from a strange and far away land.

All of you, who got their kids involved so that they too would be touched by the true spirit of Christmas  a time to think of others, share with others, care for others, and spark joy and happiness in others.

All of you, who have been the driving force behind that important sentiment and who have been involved in the successes that Team Hope has achieved over the last 10 years of the annual shoebox appeal.

Team Hope chief executive Peter Heaney expressed his gratitude to everyone who made 2019 a particularly rewarding year with record-breaking numbers taking part in the initiative.

We are hugely grateful for the support we have received for the Christmas shoebox appeal.

Delivering a record number of shoeboxes would not be possible without the tireless work of our volunteers and the generosity of individuals, schools, communities and businesses across the country coming together so that as many children as possible could experience the joy and excitement of receiving a gift at Christmas.

You have put a smile on 270,436 childrens faces. Thank you.

To check where in the world your shoebox was sent this year, click here.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says theres evidence to suggest an Iranian surface-to-air missile brought down a passenger plane this week, killing all 176 people on board including 63 Canadians.

We have intelligence from multiple sources including our allies and our own intelligence, Trudeau told reporters at a news conference Thursday.

The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. This may well have been unintentional.

At a news conference in Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to discuss the ongoing investigation into the crash of a Ukraine International Airlines passenger aircraft in Tehran, Iran. Sixty-three Canadians were among the 176 people killed in the crash.

This new information reinforces the need for a thorough investigation, Trudeau said.

Canadians have questions, and they deserve answers, Trudeau said.

As Canadians continue to grieve the victims of the plane crash early Wednesday on the outskirts of Tehran, the Associated Press was also earlier quoting two anonymous U.S. officials who say that it was highly likely that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed the Ukrainian jetliner.

The news will undoubtedly come as a shock to the families who are already grieving in the face of this unspeakable tragedy, Trudeau said.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over the American drone strike that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general last week.

Also on Thursday, Iran released an initial investigative report about the crash, saying the jetliners crew were trying to turn back for the airport when the burning plane went down, noting that they never made a radio call for help. Irans civil aviation authority says it has invited Canadian investigators from the Transportation Safety Board to join the probe.

The Boeing 737-800 crashed barely two minutes after takeoff Wednesday morning from Tehrans airport en route to Kyiv. The majority of the 176 people on board  138, including 63 Canadians  were headed for Canada.

As mourners prepare for more candlelight vigils across Canada on Thursday more information is coming out on the Canadian victims.

Heres the latest information on victims that hadnt been previously reported in the Star:

The Toronto District School Board confirmed Thursday that at least five of its students were killed in the crash.

Sophie Emami was in senior kindergarten at Lillian Public School. Arsam Niazi was in Grade 6 at Pleasant Public School and Arnica Niazi was in Grade 3 at Finch Public School. Rahmtin Ahmadi was in Grade 4 at Muirhead Public School. Maya Zibaie was a Grade 10 student at Northern Secondary School.

The University of Toronto has identified six students killed in the crash in a Wednesday press release: Mojtaba Abbasnezhad, Mohammad Asadi Lari, Zeynab Asadi Lari, Mohammad Amin Beiruti, Mohammad Amin Jebelli and Mohammad Saleheh.

On behalf of the entire University of Toronto community, I want to say how deeply saddened we are, and how concerned we are for the families and friends of those who lost their lives, U of T president Meric Gertler said in a statement. We are continuing to gather information, and taking care to respect the privacy and wishes of all involved.

Saharnaz Haghjoo, who was the manager of the Jump Scarborough program at the YWCA, was also killed along with her daughter, Elsa Jadidi. The program is designed to help resettle newcomers to the city.

Elsa had gone to school at Wali ul Asr in Brampton up until last year. A Facebook post from Wali ul Asr called Elsa a wonderful girl who was always smiling.

Haghjoos sister is one of Wali ul Asrs central campus teachers. The school called Haghjoo as a great supporter of the school, always making a point to express her gratitude and appreciation to Elsas teachers.

Asghar Dhirani was remembered for his vivacious personality on the golf course. He was a religious leader and supporter of the non-profit Wali ul Asr school in Caledon, close friend Shaiq Ibrahim said. He would lead pilgrimages back to various religious sites in Iraq and Iran with the community.

He was extremely helpful, kind, and polite, the Wali ul Asr school wrote in a Facebook post. He often told the schools management Please to not hesitate to ask, I will help the school in any way I can, whatever little I can do. 

Negar Borghei, a masters student at McGill University, and her husband, Alvand Sadeghi, a web developer working in Toronto, were among those killed.

Amirhossein Maleki told the Star that Borghei had already received a masters in Iran, but was pursuing another in Canada.

Sadeghi, a skilled pianist, came here after her, according to Maleki who is Borgheis cousin.

Everyone liked the couple, Maleki said. They were so happy in Canada. They were excited to come back to Iran, because all the family were getting together for a reunion.

Maleki hadnt met Sadeghi yet, but said that his sister called him a very decent gentleman.

Maleki also told the Star that Sadeghis sister, Sahand, was on the plane, as was her daughter, Sophie Emami.

Amir Ovaysi, 42, is remembered as a proud family man who would often show his colleagues videos and photos of his six-year-old daughter, Asal, and his wife, Sara Hamzeei, 34.

His manager, Troy Futher, says the three were in Iran to visit Ovaysis aging parents. Ovaysi left in mid-December, joining his wife and daughter, who had arrived in November. It was their first visit home since they came to Canada about two years ago.

Futher said he hired Ovaysi at his heating, ventilation and air-conditioning company, Smith Energy Inc., in June. Ovaysi had a masters degree in mechanical engineering. He worked out of the companys Mississauga, Ont., office, but had a house in Newmarket, Ont.

Nasim Rahmanifar, a masters student in the University of Albertas mechanical engineering department, was nervous about her first winter in Edmonton.

She was so excited to go back . . . she planned to surprise her mom, her friend Sina Esfandiarpour told Edmonton media at a news conference.

He said he received a text from Rahmanifar from the airport that she was on her way back and she wasnt looking forward to the cold weather.

In London, Ont., the University of Western Ontario held a Wednesday night vigil for four graduate students who lost their lives in the plane crash:

Ghazal Nourian, a PhD candidate in mechanial and materials engineering, Milad Nahavandi, a PhD candidate in chemical and biochemical engineering, Hadis Hayatdavoudi, a PhD candidate in chemistry and Sajedeh Sareian, an incoming Masters student in chemical and biochemical engineering.

University president Alan Shepard called the deaths devastating.

Its just heartbreaking and difficult to comprehend, Shepard told the Western News. According to the universitys paper, all four were international students.

London mayor Ed Holder was also in attendance.

My heart breaks for the families, friends, and loved ones of all those lost in this horrible tragedy . . . on behalf of all Londoners, our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with you, he tweeted Wednesday.

At the University of Ottawa, a professor of international affairs shared his condolences in a Twitter post for three students  Alma Oladi, Mehraban Badiei and Saeed Kashani  who died in the crash.

Deepest condolences to the families of three uOttawa students and to all the other grieving families, Roland Paris posted.

The university school paper featured Badiei, a first-year health sciences student who said her goals for 2020 were to meet new people and make new friends.

Since the publication of this article on Tuesday, January 7, 2020, we were saddened to learn that Mehraban was a victim in the tragic Flight PS752 accident in Iran. We offer our sympathy and condolences to her family and friends, the updated article read.

Roja Azadian was supposed to travel to Canada for the first time with her husband, who has been studying at Algonquin College in Ottawa, but a mix-up over his ticket meant he could not get on the plane with her.

He was thinking, Im going to send her and then Im going to be back on the next flight, said Leila Hojabri, a friend of Azadians husband.

The Saint Marys University Students Association in Halifax expressed their condolences late Wednesday night for the loss of two students, Maryam Malek and Fatemeh Mahmoodi, who were studying for a masters degree in finance.

We would like to express our thoughts to the families, friends, and colleagues, the association wrote in a statement. If you or anyone else you know have been impacted by this tragedy, we encourage you to reach out for support from the following services.

Masoumeh Ghavi, a masters student at Dalhousie in engineering, and her younger sister Mahdieh were on their way to Halifax.

Sadra Kord-Jamshidi, president of the Dalhousie Iranian Students Society, said Ghavi had just come to Halifax in September.

She was the nicest and also a very hard-working individual. Being a self-funded masters students working two jobs to make ends meet, she also offered the society her help in all of our events, Kord-Jamshidi told the Star.

A Tehran native, Ghavi had been working at MTN Irancell and Huawei previously, according to her Facebook profile. 

Mahdieh was coming to Halifax to begin her own studies.

The university released a statement Thursday that Sharieh Faghihi was also killed in the crash.

Born in Tehran, Faghihi immigrated to Canada in 2011 with her husband and two children. After graduating from Dalhousie in 2016, she returned to the faculty to teach in the Division of Periodontology in 2017 and also worked in private practice in Halifax.

She loved Nova Scotia and her colleagues at Dal and described dentistry as my career of passion all my life,  the school said.

A vigil is planned at Dalhousie University Club on Saturday afternoon.

The University of Victoria confirmed that first-year student Roja Omidbakhsh died in the plane crash.

It is always a profound loss for the entire community when we lose someone, and our hearts and thoughts go out to Rojas loved ones, University president Jamie Cassels wrote in a statement Wednesday.

Omidbakhsh was a very positive student, professor Mark Colgate said.

She was on the pathway to complete a bachelor of commerce . . . were heartbroken that this happened and our condolences go to her family and classmates.

Meanwhile, the initial Iranian official investigative report says eyewitnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above it, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing.

The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Ukraines capital city.

The report also says that both of the black boxes that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane have been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost.

It also says that investigators have initially ruled out laser or electromagnetic interference as causing the crash.

In Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne has spoken to his Iranian counterpart about the deadly crash.

A summary of the phone call released Thursday morning by Global Affairs Canada says Champagne stressed to Mohammad Javad Zarif the need for Canadian officials to be allowed into Iran to provide consular services, help with identification of the deceased and to take part in the investigation.

Canada severed diplomatic ties with Iran in 2012, when it labelled the country a state sponsor of terrorism.

Champagne also told Zarif that Canada and Canadians have many questions about the crash, which killed 138 people who were en route to Canada, and condemned Irans missile attacks against military bases in Iraq.

Canadian soldiers were present in one of those bases.

Under rules set out by the International Civil Aviation Organization, the countries where the crash happened, where the plane is registered, where the planes operator is located and where its manufacturer is based are all part of the investigation.

In this case, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board of the Civil Aviation Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran is in charge, while Ukraine will assist.

In North York, the Iranian Womens Organization of Ontario opened its doors Thursday, holding information sessions to allow community members to meet with representatives from Ukrainian International Airlines.

Most people are worried about their families and the geopolitical situation in Iran and the Middle Eastern region in general, said organization president Sara Alimardani.

Theres a lot of anger, dismay and frustration, she said, noting her office has been receiving phone calls from community members who are trying to find answers about what happened.

Its very heartbreaking to see all these souls that are gone from our community.

The group, which has been working in the community for the past 30 years as a hub and a safe space for women newcomers and seniors, felt it was necessary to be open and available after the tragedy. Theyre hoping to give some comfort to those who have been directly affected by the tragedy, she said.

The group is planning an evening vigil Friday in the courtyard at their office near Don Mills Road and Sheppard Avenue East.

Many of the pressing questions that people have now wont have answers until after the investigations are complete, said Karl Muller, director of Airline Pros, which represents Ukraine International Airlines in Canada.

He said many people want to know what caused the accident, who was responsible for the tragedy, whats contained in the planes black box, and what happens with the insurance process for those whove been affected.

It usually takes five to seven days for the preliminary investigation to be complete, he said.

This was our first-ever tragic incident, he said, noting the flight company has been reliable for safety since launching in 1993.

The investigation will provide answers, but we felt an obligation as an airline to reach out to the community and hear peoples concerns.

Atosa Khalouha, who moved to Toronto in 1998, said she was back in Iran three years ago when her brother died and she took the same travel route.

She especially remembers how family members in Iran have a habit of waiting in the parking garage until the plane takes off.

Poor people who waved that plane off thinking their beloved ones were safe in the sky, she said. Its heartbreaking.

Despite the crash, Khalouha said she would still fly back and use the same itinerary if necessary  especially because it usually offers cheap options. Like many other people, shes anxious to find out what really caused the crash, as speculation grows that it might have been shot down, she said.

Hopefully it was just a human error, she said.

With files from The Canadian Press and Gilbert Ngabo

Read more about:
A Louisiana federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled in favor of President Trump's plan to divert $3.6 billion from military projects to build the border wall.

Why it matters: The New Orleans U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' overturning of a Texas judge's order last month that blocked the plan is a victory for Trump, who's faced legal challenges from several groups and states.

Yes, but: The order is only a stay of proceedings and the case is still ongoing, CNN notes.

Of note: The three judges voted along "ideological lines," Politico reports, with two Republican-appointed judges voting to temporarily halt the nationwide injunction by the El Paso judge, who had ruled Trump's national emergency declaration to fund the law was unlawful. The other judge, a Democratic appointee, dissented.

Read the the court order:



Go deeper:
Mamata Banerjee upset after not being allowed to speak during PMs meet

"Double standards" of the Left Front, Congress: Mamata over WB violence during bandh

India

oi-Mousumi Dash

Kolkata, Jan 09: The sporadic incident of violence and arson across Bengal on Wednesday during the Bharat Bandh irked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Once who joined the hands with Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi to banish BJP now said, "double standards" of the Left Front and Congress will not be tolerated. She denied attending the opposition meeting called by Congress interim president. The state witnessed massive violence during the 24-hour bandh called by the trade union activists backed by Left and Congress members on Wednesday.

On Thursday, said that she will boycott the January 13 opposition meeting convened by Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi to protest against the violence unleashed in the state allegedly by Left Front and Congress workers during a trade union strike.

'Will fight CAA, NRC alone': Mamata Banerjee to skip Opposition meet on Jan 13

Reportedly, sporadic incidents of violence were reported from various parts of West Bengal on Wednesday during the 24 hours strike called by the trade union activists backed by Left and Congress members against the Centre's "anti-people" policies.

Incidents of violence and arson, blocking of railway tracks and roads by protestors trying to enforce the shutdown took place in several places in the state.

In Sujapur area of Malda district in West Bengal massive violence occur during a road blockade by protesters. The agitators vandalised government buses, burnt tires on road and set ablaze several vehicles including a police vans.

The protesters hurled crude bombs and pelted stones at the police. Police tried to control the mob with baton charging, firing tear gas shells and rubber bullets.

Mamata on Thursday said, "double standards" of the Left Front and Congress will not be tolerated.

She also decided to boycott the meeting convened by Sonia Gandhi on January 13 in New Delhi as she doesn't support the violence that the Left and Congress unleashed in Bengal on Wednesday.

On January 13, Sonia has called a meeting of opposition parties, including the Left, to discuss the situation arising out of violence on various university campuses and protests in the country over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

Support protest against CAA, not bandh for the cause: Mamata

On Wednesday, clashes also erupted between CPI(M) and Kolkata police in the Jadavpur area of the city as the cops resorted to baton charge to remove rail and road blockade by CPI(M) workers during the Bharat Bandh.

The Senior CPI(M) MLA Sujan Chakraborty was also arrested amid the protest that took place on during Bharat Bandh.
The Buckingham Palace recently issued a statement regarding Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's decision to step back from their royal duties. The statement mentioned the talks with Prince Harry and his wife Meghan were still at an early stage regarding their stepping back from royal duties.

Stepping back from Royal Duties

The statement from Queen Elizabeth's Buckingham Palace said they were trying to understand the royal couple's decision to take a different approach. The statement also added that there were procedures to be followed and decisions to be made which are very complicated in nature and therefore the talks were still in their early stages.

This statement comes after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on Wednesday night announced their decision to step back as 'Senior members' of the Royal Family. The Duke and Duchess will be dividing their time between the United Kingdom and North America. The couple took to their official Instagram page and stated that they intend to "work to become financially independent."

The couple took to Instagram and issued a statement over their decision to take a step back from royal duties, where they announced that after becoming financially independent they wish to set up a charity of their own as well. In their post, they also stated that this move will allow their family to take the much-needed space to grow into the next chapter of their lives.

Read: Malala Yousafzai And Megan Ranipoe Pose Together, Netizens Pour Love

Read: Megan Rapinoe Asks Lionel Messi, Ronaldo To Speak Up Against Sexism And Racism In Football

In October last year, the royal couple expressed their struggles with media spotlights. Meghan Markle also admitted that motherhood was difficult for her with the media's constant interest.

Further, the Dutchess had reportedly sent out a legal notice against a newspaper in October last year for "unlawfully" publishing one of her private letters. Notably, the couple recently returned from their six-week trip to Canada.

Read: Colin Kaepernick, Megan Rapinoe Among The Most Influential Sports Persons Of The Decade

Read: Meghan Markle And Prince Harry To 'step Back As Senior Members Of The Royal Family'
EPA

Iranians had promised severe revenge for the assassination of their top general Qassem Soleimani, and on Tuesday night they delivered. Missiles were launched from Iranian soil into a large airbase in Iraq where hundreds of American forces are stationed alongside others.

But the high profile attack seemed to have been planned in a way to leave no casualties and rather serve as a warning that although Iran is not able to attack US soil, they have the will and capability to attack US bases in other countries across the region.

The retaliation seemed to be calculated in a way to avoid further escalation and offer an exit ramp for Donald Trump out of this episode. And the American president took it.

Iranians are used to IRGC commanders being killed in battle every year," said Hamzeh Ghalebi, an Iranian political analyst living in France. "But Soleimanis assassination outraged Iranians because of the way it was done, so publicly and with such humiliation, followed by Trumps reaction that basically meant we can do whatever we want and if you respond we will attack you.

Mr Ghalebi told The Independent Iran had to take this step for its survival". "Iranians needed to retaliate militarily because if they didnt, the balance of power in Washington would shift towards those who argue that attacking Iran has no cost. So they had to raise the cost to avoid a war.

In a public address to the American people on Wednesday morning, Mr Trump explained that there have been no casualties from the attack and he is going to respond to Iran with more sanctions and not further military action.

After a long night of fearing an imminent war breaking out between the two countries, many in Iran, Iraq, and across the region will breathe a sigh of relief. But the proxy war between the worlds superpower and the regions power has not ended. And conflict may ensue again soon unless a major shift happens in the long-term policy.

Story continues

The fundamentals of the trajectory of the conflict between the US and Iran have not changed, said Joel Rubin, former deputy assistant Secretary of State in the Obama administration, adding that: We are still on a tinderbox and the Trump administrations goals are neither clear nor is there a plan for how to achieve them beyond the current maximum pressure campaign.

We need a different path to avoid having this repetitive conversation about whether or not we are going to war. Because right now thats the path we continue to be on. One has to question the real objectives of President Trumps policy because if its about reining in Irans regional behaviour and nuclear ambition, it is not achieving those results, Mr Rubin told The Independent.

In his statement, Donald Trump called on other parties of the Iran nuclear deal - UK, France, Germany, Russia, and China - to break away and get on board with him trying to negotiate a new deal with Iran. But right now there doesnt seem to be any chance for serious diplomacy between Tehran and Washington, unless a breakthrough happens after the dust settles.

Read more

Trump officials give 'worst briefing in history' about Iran attack

Satellite images of Iraq missile strike released  Iran news live

How Irans response to US is shaped by American domestic politics
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Press release





Gosselies, Belgium, 9 January 2020, 7 am CET  BONE THERAPEUTICS (Euronext Brussels and Paris: BOTHE), the leading biotech company focused on the development of innovative cell and biological therapies to address highly unmet medical needs in orthopaedics and bone diseases, today announces that Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Miguel Forte, MD, PhD, will attend the 38th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, 13-16 January 2020.

If you would like to meet with Dr. Miguel Forte from Bone Therapeutics at the conference, please contact investorrelations@bonetherapeutics.com.

The Company will also host, in collaboration with Arrowhead Business and Investment Decisions, LLC investor meetings in New York and Boston on 23 and 24 January.





About Bone Therapeutics

Bone Therapeutics is a leading biotech company focused on the development of innovative products to address high unmet needs in orthopaedics and bone diseases. Based in Gosselies, Belgium, the Company has a broad, diversified portfolio of bone cell therapy and an innovative biological product in later-stage clinical development across a number of disease areas, which target markets with large unmet medical needs and limited innovation.

Bone Therapeutics is developing an off-the-shelf protein solution, JTA-004, which is expected to enter Phase III development for the treatment of pain in knee osteoarthritis following the positive Phase IIb efficacy results in patients with knee osteoarthritis which showed a statistically significant improvement in pain relief compared to a leading viscosupplement. The clinical trial application (CTA) to start the pivotal Phase III program has been submitted to the regulatory authorities in Europe and the trial is expected to start in Q1 2020.

Bone Therapeutics other core technology is based on its cutting-edge allogeneic cell therapy platform (ALLOB) which can be stored at the point of use in the hospital, and uses a unique, proprietary approach to bone regeneration, which turns undifferentiated stem cells from healthy donors into bone-forming cells. These cells can be administered via a minimally invasive procedure, avoiding the need for invasive surgery, and are produced via a proprietary, scalable cutting-edge manufacturing process. Following the strong Phase IIa efficacy and safety results for ALLOB, the Company plans to submit a CTA with the regulatory authorities before year-end 2019 to initiate a Phase IIb clinical trial with ALLOB in patients with difficult-to-heal fractures, using its optimized production process.

The ALLOB platform technology has multiple applications and will continue to be evaluated in other indications including spinal fusion, osteotomy and maxillofacial and dental applications.

Bone Therapeutics cell therapy products are manufactured to the highest GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) standards and are protected by a broad IP (Intellectual Property) portfolio covering ten patent families as well as knowhow. Further information is available at www.bonetherapeutics.com.





Contacts

Bone Therapeutics SA

Miguel Forte, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer

Jean-Luc Vandebroek, Chief Financial Officer

Tel: +32 (0) 71 12 10 00

investorrelations@bonetherapeutics.com

International Media Enquiries:

Consilium Strategic Communications

Marieke Vermeersch

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3709 5701

bonetherapeutics@consilium-comms.com

For French Media and Investor Enquiries:

NewCap Investor Relations & Financial Communications

Pierre Laurent, Louis-Victor Delouvrier and Arthur Rouille

Tel: + 33 (0)1 44 71 94 94

bone@newcap.eu

Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect the Company or, as appropriate, the Company directors` current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions 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 should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. As a result, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update 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. 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.
(Bloomberg) -- South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Corp. is preparing for an initial public offering as soon as 2021, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The Seoul-based company, founded in 2010 by Chief Executive Officer Bom Kim and said to be valued at $9 billion in late 2018, has begun working on tax structuring among other changes as it eyes a public listing next year, said one of the people, who requested anonymity because the matter is private. A company representative declined to comment.

Last month, Coupang -- whose investors include SoftBank Group Corp.s Vision Fund, BlackRock Inc. and Sequoia Capital -- appointed Alberto Fornaro as chief financial officer to succeed Richard Song. Earlier in 2019, it hired Jay Jorgensen, a former Walmart Inc. executive, as general counsel and chief compliance officer.

SoftBanks shares were up as much as 3.8% in Tokyo in the wake of the news.

In November 2018, the Vision Fund invested $2 billion in the company in a deal that valued Coupang at $9 billion, people familiar with the matter said at the time. That funding followed $1 billion from SoftBank itself in 2015, valuing the startup at about $5 billion.

Koreas e-commerce market is the fifth-largest in the world and on track to be the third-largest by 2021, behind only China and the U.S., according to Coupang.

Coupang had more than $10 billion in gross merchandise value on its platform as of Dec. 31, according to a person familiar with the company. Sales increased more than 60% year over year in 2019, the person said.

Kim, a Harvard University dropout, had mulled an IPO a few years ago, he told CNBC in December, but opted instead to expand the business with a nationwide fast delivery network. In spite of intense competition from EBay Inc.s Gmarket and family-run conglomerates such as Shinsegae Inc. and Lotte, Coupang has successfully expanded its shopping and delivery services with SoftBanks investment.

Though still unprofitable, Coupang has been pushing a growth narrative when talking to investors and in the summer it launched Coupang Eats as an extension of its delivery services. When South Koreas biggest food delivery app Woowa Brothers Corp. sold an 87% stake to Delivery Hero SE, it alluded to Coupang Eats as a strong challenger.

Story continues

Assuming Coupang lists shares in the U.S., it might get a conservative valuation as a loss-making unicorn, owing to WeWorks IPO failure, said SK Securities analyst Yoo Seung-woo.

(Updates with analyst comment and SoftBank share price)

To contact the reporters on this story: Giles Turner in London at gturner35@bloomberg.net;Gillian Tan in New York at gtan129@bloomberg.net;Sohee Kim in Seoul at skim847@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Goldstein at agoldstein5@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack, Vlad Savov

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

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Its been a while between posts, I know.

Over recent weeks I just havent felt it  writing about wine seemed offensive as Australia burned. Who cares about fermented grape juice when the air here in Sydney is hazardous to your health, lives are lost fighting fires, and billions of animals die.

Wine hasnt escaped either.

2020 is going to be a tough vintage for plenty of producers around the country, with 30% of the Adelaide Hills vineyards wiped out after the Cudlee Creek Fire. Lenswood  one of the coolest parts of the Hills  has been especially hard hit, with some of the oldest vines in the sub-region lost.

Its not just vines that are destroyed either. Dave Bowley at Vinteloper lost his house, vineyards, everything.

For Tillbrook, the fire was so intense that bottles exploded.

At Tumbarumba, fire ripped through several key grower vineyards including Courabyra & Johansen.

The Kangaroo Island fire situation is ongoing, but the whole island remains under threat. Its a wait and see moment. And while the Gippsland fires are not threatening vineyards, theyre now pushing up towards the Alpine Valleys, Beechworth and King Valley in NE Victoria.

In other words, there is fire all over the country. From the Stirling Ranges in WA, through South Australia, throughout eastern Victoria and all the way up the NSW coast and Great Dividing Ranges to SE QLD.

If the fire isnt enough, along comes smoke taint.

Extended exposure to smoke is bad for vineyards at any time, but is particularly problematic for grapes after veraison (so once berries have changed colour and started to soften ready for harvest) as smoke is primarily absorbed via berry skins and it ramps up when skins are soft. Even just a small amount (ie a single exposure of heavy smoke) can ultimately leave wines with undesirable flavours, thanks to the phenols (which comes from wood being burnt) involved binding to grape sugars and then dispersed during fermentation.

The further problem with smoke taint is that it is insidious, regularly not showing up in sensory trials until the wine is finished (and bottled). There are tests available to pickup these known phenol compounds and the AWRI volunteered staff to work through the holidays to deal with samples. Though all it can take is some smoky MOG to introduce the taint to a ferment (which is why handpicking of high risk fruit is recommended).

One of the most exposed regions to smoke taint this year is the Hunter Valley, with close proximity to a number of fires (particularly the giant Gospers Mountain Fire). The main fire front danger was some weeks ago for the Lower Hunter Valley, but given that Chardonnay harvest started last week and nearly everything is at veraison, the risk is high. As Christina Tulloch told The Shout, 110 samples have already been sent to the AWRI for testing. There will be losses, obviously, and as Andrew Margan noted here, some producers have been caught out by backburning operations.

Amidst all this chaos, all this misery there are rays of hope. You only need to look at James Tillbrooks facebook timeline to witness how disaster can bring communities together, with hundreds of strangers donating their time to help out someone who has lost it all, including donating kms of irrigation line that was burnt out.

You can also look towards the experience of Toppers Mountain as a next step too, where devastating bushfires in Feb 2019 took out 13.3% of their total vines. Toppers have now rolled out a My Vine Club crowdfunding campaign that allows supporters a chance to adopt one of the 3000 vines to be replanted.

These unprecedented fires may also serve a higher purpose by pushing the deathly seriousness of climate change into the public consciousness. The tipping point that we so desperately need to budge out so much of the Murdoch press denialism bullshit.

Important also to note the whole 2020 vintage isnt a write off. Its still early days, even for the Hunter and so much can happen. And I need to remind overseas readers that Australia is a huge continent, and lots of wine producing parts of the country are untouched and looking towards a great vintage.

As for now, well, just keep donating to good causes like the Adelaide Hills Wine Region Appeal and make sure you buy wines from affected producers around the country.



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A crab-obsessed photographer and his wife have come up with a novel way of protecting the little creatures as they drive across the island they live on.

Chris Bray, 37, and his wife Jess run two luxury eco-lodges on Christmas Island, a 52-square-mile Australian territory in the Indian Ocean just south of Indonesia.

The island sees an incredible migration of 40million red crabs every year as the species move from the forest to the shore to breed.

A crab-obsessed photographer and his wife have come up with a novel way of protecting the little creatures as they drive across the island they live on. Chris Bray, 37, and his wife Jess live on Christmas Island and invented car 'shoes' to keep crabs from being crushed

During the migration, which began last month, the main roads are closed to protect the crustaceans but Mr Bray and his wife still needed a way to get around the island in their car.

The couple invented a unique solution - four large plastic shoe-like sweepers on the front of their Toyota Land Cruiser to gently push the crabs out of the way without harming them.

Mr Bray told Traveller: 'I made a prototype two years ago and tested it last year. After making a few tweaks and improvements, the latest version was finished a week and a half ago.'

The couple have nicknamed their car the 'crabmobile'.

Mr Bray and his wife (pictured) own two luxury eco-lodges on the island and although the main roads are closed to protect the crabs, the couple still needed a way to get around in their car

Mr Bray told Storytrender: 'I've known about the annual red crab migration since I was a kid and saw Sir David Attenborough's documentary feature, later including it in his top 10 natural wonders on earth.

'I first came to this beautiful paradise as a kid of seven years old in 1990 and remember seeing the red crabs then.

'This year the rains came quite late but the crabs were pretty quick to respond to the rain.'

An estimated 43.7million red crabs live on the island and at the beginning of the wet season, which is usually in October or November, they will migrate from their forest habitat to the shore to mate.

The couple invented a unique solution - four large plastic shoe-like sweepers on the front of their Toyota Land Cruiser to gently push the crabs out of the way without harming them

An estimated 43.7million red crabs live on the island and at the beginning of the wet season, which is usually in October or November, they will migrate from their forest habitat to the shore to mate

Breeding season lasts about a week for red crabs. The males will arrive at the shore before the females.

Once the mating is over, the males will go back to the forest while the females stay on the beach for two weeks to lay their eggs and release them into the ocean.

They will only ever release them into the ocean at the turn of the high tide in the last quarter of the moon's phase.

Red crabs on the island have faced hardship elsewhere on the island and an estimated 10-15million of them have been killed by yellow crazy ants.
You are here: China

The travel rush ahead of the Spring Festival will come earlier than previous years, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) said Wednesday.

The pre-holiday travel rush is expected to last from Jan. 15 to 23, while returning passenger flows will surge during the Jan. 26-Feb. 2 period and Feb. 9-Feb. 13 period, said MOT spokesperson Wu Chungeng.

Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Henan, Sichuan, Anhui, Hunan, Hebei, Beijing and Shanghai will be the top 10 provincial-level regions in terms of passenger flow.

Demand for high-speed railways will remain robust, with middle- to short-haul routes making up the majority, according to China's largest online travel agency Ctrip.

Demand for air travel between key cities will also be strong. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Sanya are expected to be hot destinations, according to Ctrip.

The upcoming holiday for the Spring Festival, a traditional festival for family reunions, will run from Jan. 24 to 30, while the travel rush, also known as chunyun, will last 40 days from Jan. 10 to Feb. 18.




Amidst increasing reports of forcible conversion of minorities in Pakistan, including that of Hindus and Sikhs, a constitutional body tasked with giving legal advice on Islamic issues to the lawmakers has said that such a practice was "un-Islamic and unconstitutional."



The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) during its two-day session took up the matter of forced conversions and decided to include minority leaders in the consultation process, The reported on Thursday, citing sources.

"They (CII) were of the view that Islam does not allow forced conversions. It was also proposed to the Ministry of Religious Affairs to prepare a performa for those who want to change their religion or accept Islam," the paper said.

Addressing a press conference here after the two-day meeting, CII Chairman Dr. Qibla Ayaz said the forced conversion of religion is violation of the Islamic teachings and also breach of the Constitution.

India has repeatedly condemned the abduction, forced conversion, and marriage of minority girls in Pakistan.

In July last, Prime Minister Imran Khan had termed the practice of forced conversions as "un-Islamic" and said there was no precedent in Islamic history for forcefully converting others, according to media reports.

"How can we take it into our own hands to forcefully convert someone to Islam - either by marrying (non-Muslim) women (...) or on gunpoint or to (by threatening to) kill someone because of their religion?" he asked.

"All these things are un-Islamic. If God hadn't given his messengers the power to impose their beliefs on someone, who are we (to do so)?" he asked, explaining that the messengers' duty was only to spread the word of God.

In the same month, the Sindh Assembly unanimously passed a resolution demanding that the practice of forced conversions and abductions of Hindu girls must be stopped and action be taken against those involved in such activities.

The resolution came months after the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in its annual report in April raised concerns about incidents of forced conversions and marriages of Hindu and Christian girls, saying around 1,000 such cases were reported in the southern Sindh province alone last year.

In March last, two Hindu teenage sisters - Raveena (13) and Reena (15) - were allegedly kidnapped by a group of "influential" men from their home in Ghotki district in Sindh on the eve of Holi. Soon after the kidnapping, a video went viral in which a cleric was purportedly shown soleminising the marriage of the two girls, triggering a nationwide outrage.

Hindus form the biggest minority community in Pakistan.

According to official estimates, 75 lakh Hindus live in Pakistan. However, according to the community, over 90 lakh Hindus are living in the country.

Majority of Pakistan's Hindu population is settled in Sindh province where they share culture, traditions and language with their Muslim fellows.

Talking to reporters, Ayaz also said that the council has declared some of the clauses of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) ordinance as un-Islamic and against the Islamic Sharia.

Soon after Ayaz's press conference, Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry expressed "serious concerns" about the council's performance.

"Till today the religious segments [of the country] have not received any guidance from the ideological council," he said, adding that he could not understand the logic behind spending millions of rupees on such an institution.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
[January 09, 2020] Ahead of NRF 2020 Vision, Cradlepoint Announces First Integration of Machine Learning into NetCloud Service to Enable Wireless SD-WAN Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-delivered LTE (News - Alert) and 5G Ready wireless edge solutions, announced new machine learning capabilities for its NetCloud Service, just ahead of January's National Retail Federation (NRF) 2020 Vision: Retail's Big Show, the world's largest retail expo. Designed to assist retail, enterprise and government customers in managing large and distributed wireless WANs, the technology enables NetCloud to learn data usage patterns on wireless links to accurately project future usage and potential overages. As a result, organizations can virtually eliminate the risk of overages by proactively managing their cellular data plans across one or more mobile operators. Retailers are connecting more people, places and things as they deliver new customer experiences within and beyond their brick-and-mortar stores. This includes next-generation display, marketing, shopping and loss prevention technologies as well as deployment of pop-up stores, kiosks and even mobile showrooms. These innovations are driving more cellular WAN endpoints, making it challenging for IT managers to plan and monitor data consumption. Cradlepoint's first implementation of machine learning within its NetCloud Service provides data plan consumption insights and intelligence that would be difficult to discover manually. Cradlepoint is a major provider of 5G Ready wireless edge networking for LTE in the retail space and currently serves 75% of the world's top retailers, including David's Bridal and PANDORA Jewelry. Evolving to Wireless SD-WAN for Retail The integration of machine learning capabilities underlines Cradlepoint's leadership in evolving SD-WAN technology for a wireless world. The retail market, in particular, s poised to make the shift to a more wireless WAN for the following reasons: Increase in network scale. The growth of IoT devices within retail networks and more network-connected, nontraditional locations such as kiosks and pop-up store locations are driving growth in LTE connections; this only accelerates with 5G. With more endpoints and locations come more management challenges that will benefit from increased WAN automation and intelligence.

Uniformity of WAN access. As more activity and applications are deployed across retail outlets to improve customer experience, the need for more agile, reliable and bigger WAN access links at every location is required. Achieving customer experience uniformity in towns large and small requires uniformity of WAN access that only cellular can provide, driving adoption of advanced and Gigabit-Class LTE - and eventually 5G - as the primary WAN access link.

Microsegmentation using wireless. Bringing in IoT can be a security risk, and wireless offers an easy way to create an air-gapped, segmented network that implicitly isolates IoT devices and traffic from the corporate WAN. But managing multiple networks or network vendors can make this difficult from an IT perspective, especially for leaner retail IT organizations. SD-WAN needs to evolve beyond the branch to support different endpoints and device networks from a single pane of glass.

Beyond zero-touch deployment, zero-touch networks. With the addition of machine learning intelligence, orchestration and automation, networks are quickly evolving to require less human involvement to deploy, operate and optimize. 5G will extend this paradigm across the cellular network with capabilities like network slicing. As these technologies advance, the machines that make up the network will be able to learn and take over more mundane tasks. This will result in improved uptime, reduced human capital costs and better end-user experiences.

5G is transformational. The ongoing national rollout of 5G cellular networks, as well as today's Gigabit-Class LTE networks, will enable retailers to confidently implement innovative applications that have the potential to transform their business models and customer experiences, such as recommendation engines, sensor-embedded shelves and aisle robots for inventory management, pop-up stores anywhere, immersive kiosks and virtual changing rooms - as well as other personalized shopping experiences. Therefore, all companies - especially retailers - that are in the process of upgrading or planning to upgrade their enterprise WAN need to have a "Pathway to 5G" baked into the design and economics. "Over 75% of the world's top retailers rely on Cradlepoint today to extend the reach and improve the reliability of their WAN at the store level and beyond," explained Todd Krautkremer, CMO, Cradlepoint. "We are committed to enabling their digital and customer experience transformation journeys. Our NetCloud Service and wireless edge routers combine software-defined networking and new machine learning functionality to unlock the full potential of LTE and 5G cellular networks and help our retail customers evolve to a wireless WAN future, faster." About Cradlepoint Cradlepoint is a global leader in cloud-delivered wireless edge solutions for branch, mobile, and IoT networks. The Cradlepoint NetCloud Service - based on the Elastic Edge architecture - delivers an agile, pervasive and software-defined wireless edge that connects people, places and things everywhere over LTE and 5G cellular networks with resiliency, security and control. More than 18,000 active enterprise and government organizations around the world, including 75 percent of the world's top retailers, 50 percent of the Fortune 100, and first responder agencies in 25 of the largest U.S. cities, rely on Cradlepoint to keep critical branches, points of commerce, field forces, vehicles, and IoT devices always connected and protected. Major service providers use Cradlepoint wireless solutions as the foundation for innovative managed network services. Founded in 2006, Cradlepoint is a privately held company headquartered in Boise, Idaho, with a development center in Silicon Valley and international offices in the UK and Australia. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005178/en/

[ Back To www.mobilitytechzone.com\LTE's Homepage ]
WASHINGTON - In an election year when nobody expects Congress to pass meaningful legislation, lawmakers are feeling strong political pressure to reach a deal on at least one main voter priority: lowering drug prices.

The most likely result could be a small deal that caps out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries but leaves more contentious questions of market intervention until after the election.

The issue is one of few that Democrats and President Donald Trump have vowed to address, even with a rancorous impeachment process, fresh tensions in the Middle East and a presidential campaign getting underway. House Democrats already proved that they're willing to give Trump a major political victory, when they passed his U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement the day after impeaching him.

Any drug pricing bill - and other legislation on issues such as ending surprise medical bills and protecting data privacy - would have to go through a similarly rigorous round of negotiations to find the narrow areas of agreement that might have a chance of becoming law in 2020.

Neither the prescription drug bill from House Democrats nor the bipartisan proposal in the Senate Finance Committee has a path forward in a divided Congress, although they could be the starting points for negotiations. John Jonas, a health care lobbyist at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld, said for any bill to pass this year, it would have to be "close to consensus to get through the buzz saw."

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Government health programs expiring in May give lawmakers one deadline for a possible drug-pricing compromise. Republicans oppose the provision in the Democratic bill that would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, and instead proposed a package of smaller initiatives to increase market transparency and access to generic drugs.

"You could certainly see a bill coming together that doesn't significantly change the landscape," Jonas said. "Stuff on the margin is generally where Congress comes down."

There is also a political calculation for Democrats who are wary of working with Trump but want to show voters - especially in swing districts won by Democrats in 2018 - that they're delivering on campaign promises to lower health care costs.

"The big question is who gets credit in the end," said FTI Consulting managing director Charlene MacDonald, a former House Democratic leadership aide. "Nobody wants to give Trump a win but is there a way to give the especially vulnerable members on the Democratic side a win on drug pricing without scoring points for Trump."

House leaders in both parties say they are open to compromise on major legislation, but a large part of their election-year messaging is based on attacking the other party for being unwilling to cooperate. On drug prices, as on other issues, there are competing incentives to either notch an accomplishment or carry the issue into the next election.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the chamber's second-ranking Democrat, said lowering health care costs by containing drug prices and ending surprise medical bills is a top Democratic priority for 2020. A compromise measure to address surprise medical billing was left out of the year-end spending package last month amid a dispute between two key House committees.

"We are going to be working hard in the early part of the year to get that resolved," Hoyer said in an interview.

Legislation to contain drug prices would save taxpayer money that could be put toward financing the health programs set to expire May 22. But Capital Alpha in a research note to clients this week pointed out that Congress has already paid for a third of the roughly $25 billion needed for a two-year extension.

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"Add to that member distraction with impeachment and the elections, and you have a recipe for what's likely to be a fairly underwhelming set of 'small ball' pricing measures," the group's Rob Smith and Kim Monk wrote in the report.

Republicans view the Democrats' signature drug price bill, H.R. 3, as injecting too much government interference in the marketplace, but there are smaller things that can be done if Pelosi wants to negotiate, according to House Minority Whip Steve Scalise. He cited bipartisan bills to improve price transparency and competition that passed the Energy and Commerce Committee last year but never got a floor vote.

"Where there was an agreement to lower prescription drug prices and Pelosi took parts of that package and made it very partisan," Scalise said in an interview.

Scalise also said it could be possible to reach an agreement on surprise bills and other issues such as data privacy if Democrats embrace approaches that don't constrain private enterprise.

"I think there is a lot of bipartisan support for protecting the privacy of consumers who are seeing more of their data being used in ways that they had no intent of it being used," he said. "You can solve that problem without slowing down innovation, and that is the real balance."

Hoyer also cited possible legislation to protect consumers from the data privacy practices of technology companies such as Alphabet Inc.'s Google, Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. as a goal for House Democrats. The Senate Commerce Committee already unveiled a data privacy proposal to set nationwide rules on how to collect and handle consumer information, in an attempt to preempt states such as California.

(EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

And Democrats plan to present a "major infrastructure" proposal early in the year, Hoyer said, although it appears to be more of a messaging exercise to remind voters that Trump abandoned a plan for a $2 trillion infrastructure package after refusing to detail how he would pay for it.

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"That was one of his pledges, it was one of our pledges," Hoyer said. "It's a shame we have not been able to work on it in a bipartisan basis."

(END OPTIONAL TRIM)

There are two periods in 2020 when real legislating could be accomplished: In the spring after Trump's impeachment trial ends, and in the lame-duck session after the November election.

"Based on exceptionally low expectations, we could be pleasantly surprised," said Jason Grumet of the Bipartisan Policy Center, which seeks to foster cross-party legislating. "Congress has historically been able to have absolutely brutal debates on a Tuesday and then pass a law that they all agree on, on a Wednesday."

Grumet gave the example of Congress passing a major bill to facilitate medical cures in the 2016 lame-duck session despite political acrimony. He said to look for a Senate bill addressing the costs of higher education and student debt, as well as a possible deal on protections for undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children in exchange for border-security enhancements.

"If the courts strike down the DACA program ... in June that could create some incentives," Grumet said.

David Castagnetti, partner at the Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas lobbying firm and former Senate aide, said he is keeping his eye on China trade bills such as restrictions on China's Huawei Technologies Co. and on how technology companies handle data.

"Privacy issues are certainly going to get their day in the sun in this Congress," he said. "It probably will be a setup for action in the next Congress, but you never know how quickly things can come together."

Jonas said that congressional work this year is important to monitor because it will shape any action early in the next administration, regardless of who wins the presidency. He said the Trump tax cuts of 2017 were largely drafted by Republican lawmakers during the Obama administration.

---

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Porrons are hands down the most fun way to drink wine: traditional glass wine pitchers that can be poured into your mouth without touching your lips and are meant for sharing. If youre not yet a porron aficionado, allow Bar Biscay to help during this weekends How To Porron class. The event showcases wines from the Basque region of Spain and also includes some spirits, plus small snacks as well. Plenty to learn, and plenty to porron. 5-6 p.m. Sunday, Bar Biscay, 1450 W. Chicago Ave., $45; eventbrite.com
Fianna Fail has decided to add Cork Mayor Christopher OSullivan to the General Election ticket in Cork South West.

The decision was made following a meeting of the Party's National Constituencies Committee, the party said on Thursday.

He will join sitting TD Margaret Murphy O'Mahony on the party's ticket.

I am delighted to have been added to the ticket to contest the next General Election in Cork South West," he said.

"We have an extremely strong ticket, and I am looking forward to working with Deputy Margaret Murphy OMahony to return two seats in Cork South West."
You may be popular initially because of politics and ideology but if the economy slows down, you will be losing your popularity: Nouriel Roubini.

Indian policymakers have been "distracted" by ideological considerations, when the economic slowdown deserves the most attention, American economist Nouriel Roubini said on Thursday.

Foreign investors get "worried" by scenes of protests on the streets, the professor at New York University's Stern School of Business said, warning that economic slump can make a regime unpopular.

The comments from Roubini come at a time when official data showed that GDP growth may to slip to 11-year-low of 5 per cent this fiscal, and amid growing protests across the country against the Citizenship Amendment Act, which critics allege as being discriminatory against the Muslims.

"The macroeconomic policies are not where they should be, structural policies are not where they should be," Roubini said, while speaking at an event organised by CFA Institute in Mumbai.

In a conversation with global brokerage firm Morgan Stanley's Riddham Desai, Roubini rued that Indian policymakers are focusing on other aspects despite global headwinds like the impacts that can be caused due to a rise in oil prices amidst the US-Iran conflict.

"The attention of the policymakers should have been concentrated on the economy and is instead distracted by political things, ethnic things and other things to do with ideology," Roubini said.

Uncertainties are not good for the economy, he said and referred to President Bill Clinton's famous phrase 'It is the economy, stupid!' to warn that the policies adopted may not pay political dividends as well.

"You may be popular initially because of politics and ideology but if the economy slows down, you will be losing your popularity," Roubini said, adding that this applies to both authoritarian and democratic regimes.

Making it clear that economic weakness is bad regardless of one's views on the policies undertaken, he said foreign investors get "worried" by the sights of "problems on the streets, in what was a reference to the anti-CAA protests across the country.

Roubini said the Indian economy is in a "slowdown" and the declining growth will "probably stabilise" in 2020.

In his speech, he bracketed India among the emerging markets where a growth pick-up is up to two quarters away.

The headwinds which the economy is facing include concerns on the budgeted fiscal deficit and also the impact of oil price hikes following the US-Iran tussle can have as the import bill will go up, pushing up the current account balances, he said.

While speaking on the monetary policy-related aspects, Roubini also flagged up the issue of RBI autonomy.

"There has been some concern on how much the RBI is independent, than what it used to be," he said.

On the oft-repeated strength of demographic dividend, he said it can deliver only if the country can deliver quality education, healthcare and employment to the youth.

India needs to create 1 million jobs on a monthly basis, failing which there can be instability, he warned.

On the positive side, he said India has strengths on the services and offshoring front, but will have to look at how it tackles innovation, he said.

Even though US and China have called a truce on trade front, a "cold war" is a possibility, where the countries will be forced to decide on which of the two superpowers they side with, he said.

India will have to decide on the economic relationship it has to purse with both the US and China, he said, adding that on one side will be democratic ideals and legacy, while on the other, the country has to deal with a strong neighbour.

China has invested and shown its prowess in all that will be important from a future perspective, including 5G technology and artificial intelligence, the economist said.

Just like the US-USSR cold war post the second world war, there will be a de-coupling of nations from one another leading to an eventual Balkanisation, he noted.

There is slim chance of the tensions between US and Iran blowing out into a full-fledged war, but there is a 50 per cent possibility of skirmishes like the one witnessed on Wednesday with missile strikes, continuing through the year, he said.

Such a possibility will take crude to $80 per barrel, which is very bad from India's viewpoint, he said.

Even though many forecasters, including the IMF, are expecting for a pick-up in global growth to 3.4 per cent, Roubini said he expects it to be stable at 3 per cent in 2020.

There are positive factors like the truce on US-China trade and a softer Brexit, but events like the US-Iran tensions will pull down growth, he said.

Photograph: Steve Marcus/Reuters
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Thursday assured strong action in the State Assembly to bring to book those who shot to death a police special sub-inspector, when he was on duty at a checkpoint bordering Kerala.

As many as four teams have been set up to probe his killing and the Director General of Police J K Tripathi has been rushed to the spot, he said.

Palaniswami said two unidentified men shot at the SSI, Wilson using a pistol and stabbed him when he was on duty at the Kaliyakavilai checkpoint in Kanyakumari district on the border with Kerala by 9.30 pm on Wednesday.

"Wilson sustained injuries and fell down," the Chief Minsiter said adding he was rushed to the Kuzhithurai Government Hospital which declared him brought dead.

Two live and two empty bullets were recovered.

Four special teams are investigating the matter while the DGP has rushed to the spot and holding enquiry on the CM's direction.

"The special teams are studying the CCTV footage from that area's shops and houses. The case is under investigation. The government will take stern action to arrest the offenders soon and get them stringent punishment," he said.

Wilson is survived by wife and two daughters, he said and extended his condolences to his family.

Also, Palaniswai said government job will be provided to one of the family members of the deceased sub-inspector on commapasionate grounds besides solatium.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A chilling final tweet has emerged of a Toronto PhD student posted just minutes before the plane he was on crashed in Iran

Mojtaba Abbasnezhad died after his plane crashed minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran at 6.10am local time on Wednesday.

On a Twitter account purporting to belong to the student he wrote: "I predicted that the war would start right before my flight.

"Forgive me for my good and bad deeds."

The Ukraine International Airline's flight, bound for the nation's capital Kiev, contained 167 passengers and nine crew members, none of whom are believed to have survived.

Mr Abbasnezhad was named by the airline as one of the flight's passengers.

The tweet was highlighted by journalist Negar Mortazavi, who provided the translation from the original Persian.

Canadians deserve answers on plane crash, says Justin Trudeau

The University of Toronto paid tribute to Mr Abbasnezhad, along with a number of other student victims of the crash, on its website.

A statement from the University of Toronto said: "We have learned, with profound sorrow, that several U of T students were among the 176 people killed in the crash of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 in Tehran, Iran.

"On behalf of the entire University of Toronto community, I want to say how deeply saddened we are, and how concerned we are for the families and friends of those who lost their lives. We are continuing to gather information, and taking care to respect the privacy and wishes of all involved.

"Many members of our university  and many across the GTA and Canada  have been directly affected by this tragedy.
Helen McCourt's 'devastated' mother will seek to overturn a Parole Board decision to free the 22-year-old's murderer who has never revealed what he did with her body after the 1989 killing.

Ian Simms, 63, was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years after killing Miss McCourt in 1988 as she walked home from work in Billinge, Merseyside.

The Parole Board confirmed it is standing by its original decision to free Simms after refusing the justice secretary's request to keep him behind bars.

Today, Miss McCourt's family have revealed they will seek a judicial review to overturn the decision.

Speaking to LBC's Nick Ferrari, Helen's mother Marie McCourt said: 'I'm absolutely devastated, I really, really believed that having a second parole judge who look at the case and make a decision.

Ian Simms (left, in August 2014), 63, was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years after killing 22-year-old Helen McCourt (right) in 1988 as she walked home from work in Billinge, Merseyside

'I just can't understand how they can both say that they are going with the first decision.'

Mr Ferrari then said that Helen's Law - legislation which would prevent the release of killers who have hidden the locations of their victims' bodies - would not enacted in time to help the family.

Mrs McCourt added: 'No it isn't, it isn't. Not the way it's gone now at the moment, but I am prepared to go to a judicial review and take it there.

'I don't know whether or not, whether they would have to keep him in prison or they could release him. If they release him before we have the judicial review'

She had previously called on Robert Buckland to step in after the board decided Simms had met the test for release three decades after Helen went missing.

Marie McCourt holds a picture of her late daughter Helen McCourt after she gave evidence at a Parole Board hearing on November 7 last year

A Parole Board spokesman said: 'The Parole Board has decided that the original decision to release Ian Simms should stand, after considering a reconsideration application from the Secretary of State.

'Whilst the Parole Board has every sympathy with Helen McCourt's family, if the board is satisfied that imprisonment is no longer necessary for the protection of the public, they are legally obliged to direct release.'

In a statement, Mrs McCourt said: 'I am very disappointed with the Parole Board's announcement and do not accept what they are saying - that Simms is safe to be released.

'I am consulting my legal team to discuss my next steps.'

Mr Buckland said: 'The reconsideration of this case by a Parole Board judge is a process independent from Government but we are obviously disappointed with the outcome.

'I understand this will be extremely upsetting for the family of Helen McCourt and my heartfelt sympathies remain with them.

'Marie McCourt has told me and my predecessors repeatedly of the additional anguish experienced by her and others in similar situations.

'I hope Helen's Law, which is now before Parliament, will serve as a lasting legacy to Helen and to the bravery of Marie and her family.'

Her mother Marie McCourt is pictured at home in front of a collage of a picture of her daughter

Since his conviction in 1989, Simms has shown no remorse and steadfastly refused to reveal what he had done with the insurance clerk's remains.

He has always maintained his innocence over the death of the insurance clerk, who vanished on her way home from work in Liverpool in 1988 and whose body has never been found.

His release has now been approved despite Mr Buckland last month ordering the board to review its decision on the former pub owner.

Mr Buckland's request for a reconsideration was made on grounds including that the original decision was 'irrational' and 'erroneous', according to documents on the application.

WHAT IS HELEN'S LAW? Marie McCourt wants Britain to adopt 'Helen's Law'  legislation which would prevent the release of killers who have hidden the locations of their victims' bodies. She writes on change.org: If parole is granted, my hopes of finding my daughter may never be realised. No other family should live this ordeal. I, hereby, petition the Prime Minister Theresa May and Home Secretary Amber Rudd to acknowledge the pain and distress caused to the families of missing murder victims by: Denying parole to murderers for as long as they refuse to disclose the whereabouts of their victim's remains Passing a full life tariff (denying parole or release) until the murderer discloses the location (and enables the recovery) of their victim's remains Automatically applying the following rarely-used common law offences in murder trials without a body*; preventing the burial of a corpse and conspiracy to prevent the burial of a corpse, disposing of a corpse, obstructing a coroner (*as in the case of R v Hunter, 1974 (from Archbold, Criminal Pleading Evidence and Practice 2015) Advertisement

In his findings, Parole Board chairman Sir David Calvert-Smith, a former director of public prosecutions and retired judge who reviewed the request, said it was 'impossible' to characterise the decision as 'irrational' and therefore the application was refused.

Simms will not be released imminently and it could take weeks to arrange but may be dependent on whether campaigners launch legal action against the ruling, it is understood.

The original decision came after Mrs McCourt's campaign to keep killers behind bars until they lead police to the victim's body, dubbed Helen's Law, failed to be ratified before Parliament on numerous occasions - twice being delayed because of general elections.

The Prisoners (Disclosure of Information about Victims) Bill was brought back to Parliament on Wednesday but a date has not yet been set for it to be properly debated by MPs.

Pub landlord Simms, who was convicted by a jury on overwhelming DNA evidence of Ms McCourt's abduction and murder, is serving his life sentence at HMP Garth in Leyland, Lancashire.

He has always maintained his innocence over the death of Ms McCourt, an insurance clerk who vanished on her way home from work in Liverpool in 1988.

Simms was convicted of her murder the following year, having been told he would serve at least 16 years and one day behind bars.

He was eligible to be considered for release in February 2004.

Mrs McCourt previously said she was 'in shock' at the decision to consider Simms' release.

The summary of the Parole Board's original ruling said Simms was deemed suitable for release due to factors including the 'considerable change in his behaviour'.

The decision to release him was subject to a number of conditions including residing at a designated address, having to wear a tagging device to monitor his whereabouts, observe a curfew and avoid any contact with the family of his victim.

Ian Simms arrives at St Helen's Magistrates' Court in Merseyside on February 15, 1988

The victim's mother Marie McCourt campaigned for four years for a new law which would force the Parole Board to consider a killer's failure to reveal where their victim's body is located before approving their release.

The legislation, dubbed Helen's Law, was just weeks from being put on the statute books when Parliament was dissolved for last month's General Election.

In the meantime, Simms was given a parole hearing and judges agreed he could go free.

They claimed that Simms was low risk, despite agreeing he would probably never reveal what he had done with Miss McCourt's remains because during his three decades inside he has convinced himself he is innocent.

Mrs McCourt said the Parole Board's logic was flawed and its argument proved Simms was a 'psychopath'.

She also cited a menacing letter he wrote to her from jail in 1991, in which he threatened her family and vowed 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,' and to get 'justice' for himself once released.

Under measures introduced last July, following the outcry when the Parole Board incorrectly ordered the release of rapist cab driver John Worboys, the Justice Secretary or a prisoner can make a request for a decision to be reconsidered.

This can be made if someone has reasons to show the decision is either unfair - for instance, important evidence was not shared - or because it was irrational.

The Queen's Speech last month saw Helen's Law return under its official title of the Prisoners (Disclosure of Information about Victims Bill).
09.01.2020 LISTEN

Founder and leader of Authoritative Kingdom Chapel, (AKC) General Elisha Owusu Akyaw has stated emphatically that, President Nana Akufo-Addo will be retained for the second time in this years elections.

The man of God revealed this in his New Year message that the elections will be keenly contested but the sitting President Nana Akufo-Addo will triumph with a one-touch victory.

NPP and Nana Akufo-Addo are winning this 2020 Election; the almighty God has not taken the Leadership mantle from them, so the NPP would definitely win the election and also there will be no run-off in the 2020 election; the NPP is winning one-touch and it will be very difficult if anything changes from what God has told me, the man of God said.

Touching on what God has for his children in the year 2020, he said, this year will be a year of Pentecostal Revival its a year God will uplift powerful leaders which he calls from Jerusalem to Accra.

He explained that the name Jerusalem to Accra means God will use Ghana as a beacon of hope to achieve greater height in the world this year, and its a year every Ghanaian should be mindful and prayerful in achieving what God has for nation this year.

This year will be what I call the Pentecostal Revival; it means God is going to do greater things with this nation, in fact Im proud to be a Ghanaian this year because God has good things in stored for us in the year, he explained

To achieve what God has for his people this year one has to live a Christ-like life and be prayerful because theres always the devil that stands to oppose every good thing, he cautioned.

---AsempaNews.com
Big changes could be coming to the food delivery business, where companies have been struggling with high costs and fickle consumers.

Grubhub Inc.  the second-largest player in the U.S. market by sales  is considering putting itself up for sale, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday, sending shares up almost 13 percent. The stock continued to climb 1 percent to $55.33 Thursday on the news.

Chicago-based Grubhub said it would not comment on speculation.

Grubhub, founded in 2004, was a pioneer in the sector. But since then, it's been joined by Uber Eats, DoorDash, Postmates and others. As of November, DoorDash claimed 37 percent of the U.S. delivery market, while Grubhub held 30 percent, according to Second Measure, a data analysis company. Uber Eats had 20 percent share.

Still, Grubhub is the leader in some key markets, including New York, Chicago and Boston.

The companies are finding that customers jump freely between services to find the best deal, making it difficult to deliver stable sales numbers. Aggressive discounting and heavy marketing costs to win new users have also taken a toll on profits.

Grubhub has also been left out of some big deals. McDonald's began offering delivery through Uber Eats in 2017 but didn't add Grubhub as a partner until last fall. Chipotle has a partnership with DoorDash.

In October, Grubhub reported a third quarter profit of $1 million, down from $22.7 million in the prior year, even though its revenue rose by 30 percent.

At the time, GrubHub slashed its full-year revenue expectations and cautioned on competition, sending its shares tumbling 43 percent. In a letter to shareholders, Grubhub said customers have become "more promiscuous," using multiple delivery services.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

And the services are fighting over a limited number of customers, for now. Delivery represents only about 3 percent of all restaurant orders, according to NPD Group, a market research firm. But that's expected to grow by double digits this year.

Consolidation has happened before in the delivery market. Grubhub merged with Seamless in 2013. DoorDash bought upscale service Caviar last spring. In Europe, rivals Takeaway.com and Just Eat are in the midst of a merger.

But Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak says more consolidation is necessary. A bigger company could optimize driver routes, rely less on discounting and make more deals with big chains, which pay lower rates.

"The runway is long, but generating cash flow in a highly competitive food delivery industry is challenging," Nowak said in a note to investors.
Justice Jude Okeke of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Thursday, sentenced the Director-General of the National ...





Justice Jude Okeke of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Thursday, sentenced the Director-General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Olusegun Runsewe, to prison.





He gave the order while ruling on a motion drawn from a suit filed by Ummakalif Limited against the Minister of the FCT; Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA); DG of NCAC, and the Minister for Culture and Tourism, as the first, second, third and fourth defendants respectively.





In the motion, the claimant sought an order of the court committing Runsewe to prison for contempt of court order made on December 15, 2017.

Justice Okeke described Runsewes action as contemptuous, adding that committing him to the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCS) would serve as a deterrent to others who abuse office and disobey court orders with disdain.




English Lithuanian

Siauliu Bankas AB, company code 112025254, the address Tilzes st. 149, LT-76348 Siauliai, Lithuania.

Siauliu Bankas has signed an agreement with the Lithuanian branch of Danske Bank A/S for the acquisition of the retail loan portfolio of EUR 125 million. The transaction is scheduled to be completed within four months after signing of the agreement.

Siauliu Bankas will acquire the retail loan portfolio including its liabilities of the Lithuanian branch of Danske Bank A/S. Most of the portfolio consist of the mortgage loans.

Siauliu Bankas increased its activity in the mortgage segment last year - new automated processes were implemented and the team of employees was strengthened, therefore this transaction is a consistent step with the Banks plan to become an active participant in the mortgage market.

Upon completion of the transaction, the terms of credit agreements will remain unchanged for the customers of the Lithuania Branch of Danske Bank A/S and the customers will be notified of the transfer procedures by a separate notice.
Mr. Sadjadpour called the speech strategically incoherent. But that can be said about much of Mr. Trumps Middle East policy in the past few months. The president pulled a small, fairly safe American force out of Syria that was primarily engaged in fighting the Islamic State with Syrian Kurdish allies, claiming it was time to halt endless wars. He decided not to respond when Iran first shot down an unmanned American drone and then executed a precision attack on Saudi oil facilities, leaving the impression inside the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps that Americas Middle East ally was not worth defending.

And then, surprising everyone, including his own military advisers, he ordered the targeted killing of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, Irans most important commander, saying that he was planning attacks on American targets, although the administration has offered few details.

Already that decision has led to a host of unintended consequences, including the sending of thousands more United States troops to the Middle East to defend American assets and interests that Mr. Trump only a few months ago suggested are not worth defending.

His answer to that contradiction seems to be to ask NATO to do the job. Presumably he wants allied forces to patrol the Persian Gulf at a time that tanker companies are halting their shipments across the Strait of Hormuz and airlines are avoiding Iraqi and Iranian airspace.

It seems unlikely they will heed his call. NATOs leading members argue that it was Mr. Trump who picked this fight with Iran, by dumping the 2015 nuclear deal reached during the Obama administration that, in their mind, was working. And, as Mr. Trump himself complains, they do not have the military capability to play the role the United States has played.

His failure to consult the allies or take their interests into consideration will make it extremely difficult to get their support, said R. Nicholas Burns, the former American ambassador to NATO during the early days of the Afghanistan war, when Europe did come to Americas aid. Very few of the allies trust him and will not follow blindly the most anti-NATO president in seven decades.

The Iranians are betting on exactly that. Their strategy has been to peel Europe, China and Russia  the other nations involved in negotiating the accord  away from the United States. For a long while, they succeeded as European powers kept devising complex plans to counteract American sanctions on Iran.
A n airliner which crashed in flames minutes after taking off from Tehran killing all 176 people on board may have been hit by a missile, it has emerged.

The focus of the investigation into the tragedy dramatically shifted on Thursday to a missile strike, possibly accidentally by Iran, after initially being blamed on engine failure.

Ukraine security council secretary Oleksiy Danilov said his countrys investigators wanted to search for possible Russian-made missile debris after seeing information about it on the internet.

He highlighted unconfirmed claims that fragments of a possible Tor surface-to-air missile had been discovered.

The plane came down just hours after Iran launched a series of missile strikes at bases in Iraq , housing US troops, in retaliation for last weeks assassination by Washington of Revolutionary Guards general Qassem Soleimani.

Iraqi security forces find and collect the pieces of missiles / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

One theory emerging is that the Iranian military, nervous of a US response to its missile strikes, may have targeted Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 by mistake with its air defence system.

Security expert Professor Anthony Glees, of Buckingham University, told the Evening Standard: Its likely to be a Russian-made missile and that it was the Iranians who downed the plane in error.

My feeling is that this was an accident because the Iranians were so nervous of a US attack.

Iran: Tehran Plane Crash - In pictures 1 /13 Iran: Tehran Plane Crash - In pictures via Reuters AP AFP via Getty Images People stand near the wreckage after a Ukrainian plane crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran ISNA/AFP via Getty Images AP AP via Reuters AP Rescuers check the debris following the plane crash via Reuters Part of the wreckage from Ukrainian plane that crashed in Tehran shortly after take-off via Reuters

Speculation was growing that Tehran was now seeking to cover up the cause of the crash after it said it would not hand over black box flight recorders to the planes manufacturer Boeing or the US authorities.

An initial report by the Iranian authorities confirmed that both of the black boxes that contain data and cockpit communications from the Boeing 737 had been recovered but then claimed that they had suffered damage and some parts of their memory was lost.

The plane was seen falling from the sky in flames just three minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport at 06.12 local time (2.42am UK time) yesterday.

The Iranian and Ukranian authorities swiftly suggested that a technical fault may have caused the tragedy.

Passengers' belongings at the scene of the crash / VIA REUTERS

However, aviation experts and the carrier cast doubt on whether this was likely, especially as the plane was just three years old.

David Learmont, safety editor of Flight Global, told the Today programme this morning: Its incredibly rare for a modern aircraft to have a technical failure, which is what at the moment the Iranians are saying it was, which causes a conflagration (major fire) before the aircraft has even hit the ground.

That will, if it is a technical failure, be quite extraordinary in aviation history.

With just one engine, even if it was not functioning fully, the plane could have flown, he added.

There never has been a catastrophic engine failure which was so bad that the aircraft was completely uncontrollable and caught fire, he stressed.

You have to look at the possibility that it was hit by a missile or that there was a bomb on board.

Rescue teams work at the scene after a Ukrainian plane / AFP via Getty Images

In December 2005, Iran entered into a contract in December 2005 to buy 29 TOR-M1 (SA-15 Gauntlet) mobile surface-to-air missile defense systems from Russia worth more than US$700 million (537 million).

The radar can detect targets up to 300 km away and is believed to now be part of Irans air defense system.

Tor is a surface-to-air missile system designed to bring down enemy missiles, drones, aeroplanes or helicopters.
CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury on Thursday hit out at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice-Chancellor over violence at the campus on Sunday last, saying he should be sacked.

Yechury, who joined protest being held by students at Mandi House here demanding the removal of Vice-Chancellor, said, " We are here to show unity. Those who are teachers today in JNU used to study with us."

Stressing that the students were fighting from last 75 days, he said, " If no results come out of discussions, then your fight must continue. We will stand shoulder to shoulder with you."

"What is the demand? It is being said that VC will have to resign. This VC will have to be sacked by this government. He cannot run away with dignity by resigning," he added.

Referring to the violence which took place in JNU on Sunday, Yechury said, " For three hours goons were let to indulge in hooliganism inside the campus and police was not called. That means this VC is a party to this entire hooliganism. He should be sacked."

The CPI(M) leader said that violence has not taken place on the campus, not even during the Emergency, and added that the students and teachers will not tolerate violence.

He assured that CPI(M) will stand with students in their fight in the future on the issues of rollback of fee hike and other demands.

On January 5, more than 30 students of the university, including JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, were injured and taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre after a masked mob entered the varsity and attacked them and teachers with sticks and rods.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Clare Slipiec



After hearing positive feedback from peers who had taken part in exchanges, Gloria Tsang began researching study abroad opportunities at SFU. In 2011, the Bachelor of General Studies in Education student decided to further pursue her interest in environmental education by taking part in the Indonesia Field School  an experience described as life-changing.

Id heard about great exchange school experiences, but I wanted more direction and guidance with a study abroad experience, Gloria said of her decision to participate in the field school.

Like an exchange, field schools provide students with the opportunity to study and live abroad; however, students participating in a field school generally travel in small cohorts and follow a curriculum directed by an SFU professor. For Gloria, this meant having a more personal experience.

I looked into options and saw that there was an Education-based Field School available and knew that was the type of experience I was looking for to complete my undergraduate degree. I particularly liked that it was a small group which made it more personal and I got to develop a closer relationship with the professor.

Established by Dr. David Zandvliet, professor in the Faculty of Education and Director of the Institute for Environmental Learning, the Indonesia Field School is intended to help aspiring educators to develop new perspectives on environmental and ecological education through hands-on field work in an international setting.

It is an ideal opportunity for students with a keen interest in environmental education, especially those looking to pursue the Professional Development Program (PDP) and a career in teaching, says Dr. Zandvliet.

Now a qualified teacher, Gloria regularly draws on her field school experience in her practice and daily life.

As a whole, it made me appreciate the wonders in life. As a teacher, it inspired me to never stop embarking on adventures and to continue to be a lifelong learner.

Glorias advice to students considering the Field School? Dont overthink it and just do it!
After 10 consecutive trading days which resulted in daily gains and a higher closing price when compared to the open that streak was broken today when gold futures settled sharply lower on today. The price difference between Tuesday evenings high and todays low was just about $60.

Gold futures settled in New York yesterday at approximately $1571. Tuesday evening prices spiked to $1631 when Iran launched a surface to surface missile attack into two airbases in Iraq which housed U.S. troops. Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps took credit for the attack as a retaliatory action from Fridays drone attack that killed their second in command, Major General Soleimani.

Within an hour of the airstrike as the dust settled reports surfaced that there were no U.S. or Iraq casualties, which cause gold pricing to selloff breaking below $1600. Prices remained under pressure throughout the evening as market participants listened intently for incoming news from Irans foreign minister. His statement indicated that his country had taken proportional measures in self-defense and didnt seek further escalation for war. This statement along with a tweet from President Trump which said that all is well, continues to pressure gold pricing.

This morning President Trump announced that, Tehran appears to be standing down and indicated that there would be no reprisal from last nights missile attack. The statements by both the United States and Iran indicated a major de-escalation in the conflict which began at the end of last week.

This caused gold to cascade sharply to lower pricing. After trading to a low of 1553.40, gold recovered slightly and as of 4:30 PM EST is trading at $1557.00, after factoring in todays net decline of $17.30.

On a technical basis, major support for gold pricing does not occur until approximately $1540 to $1535. $1535 is based upon a Fibonacci retracement from $1265 to $1613, the range of the most recent leg of this rally. $1540 is based upon the price top which is just below last years record high of $1565. Gold broke below last years record high at $1565 immediately following President Trumps statement this morning, which is why our technical studies indicate that that price point is current resistance.

For those who would like more information, simply use this link.

Wishing you as always, good trading,
Vietnam has asked all riparian countries of the Mekong River to act together in using its water and other resources in a fair and sustainable manner.

"We believe that along with the legitimate interests in utilizing the water resources of the Mekong River for development, countries need to have a mutual responsibility in using the water source and resources fairly and sustainably, ensuring the balanced interests for all countries, for the prosperity and sustainable development of the region," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said Thursday.

She was responding to questions raised at a regular press meet about the impacts of China launching a trial run of the Jinghong dam from January 1 to 4.

"Vietnam always monitors, studies and evaluates activities regarding the water source of the Mekong River," Hang said.

The dam reduced the waters output from 1,200-1,400 m3/s down to 800-1,000 m3/s during the first three days, before further reducing it to 504-800 m3/s on January 4. The water output was restored to normal levels later, said China's Ministry of Water Resources.

Thailand had previously warned that eight of its provinces along the river would experience water shortages due to the dams trial run, estimating water levels to fall by 40-110 cm.

Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on December 31 warned that the Jinghong dam's trial run would adversely affect the Mekong Delta.

Nguyen Van Tinh from the ministry's Directorate of Water Resources said the delta will experience impacts of the drop in the dam's water discharge between January 22 and 28, as high tides during those days will facilitate salinity intrusion.

Recent studies by the Mekong River Commission have shown that drought in the lower Mekong Basin has increased in frequency and severity in recent decades. Water levels in the river also reached critically low level in summer last year, said the commission in a press release in July last year.

Unseasonably low rainfall, weak water output from upstream areas caused by maintenance work at the Jinghong hydropower dam in China, and severe drought in several Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand, Laos and Myanmar last summer had led to massive declines in water levels and severely disrupted lives of millions who depend on the river for their livelihood.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., arrives for a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus in the Capitol on Wednesday, December 4, 2019.

Smith would have been the highest-ranking Democrat in the House to publicly call for Pelosi to pass the articles along to the Republican-led Senate for a trial that could remove Trump from office.

In a tweet, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz chided Smith's about face: "Did somebody get sent to the Principal's office?"

Less than an hour before Pelosi was scheduled to hold a news conference, Smith tweeted: "I misspoke this morning, I do believe we should do everything we can to force the Senate to have a fair trial." If the speaker thinks withholding the articles will "help force a fair trial in the Senate," Smith added, "then I wholeheartedly support that decision."

Other Democrats have called on Pelosi to let the impeachment process to move to the Senate. She has not done so, trying to gain leverage in setting the rules for the trial.

Smith, a Washington state Democrat, had said on CNN that "I think it is time to send the impeachment to the Senate and let Mitch McConnell be responsible for the fairness of the trial."

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith quickly reversed himself Thursday after saying Speaker Nancy Pelosi should send the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate.

But Smith wasn't the only Democrat to ease his pressure on Pelosi in the lead-up to her presser: Sens. Chris Coons, Dianne Feinstein, Richard Blumenthal and Joe Manchin all said Thursday that they think the decision is Pelosi's to make, NBC News reported.

The Democrat-led House impeached Trump in December on two articles  abuse of power and obstruction of Congress  related to his attempts to have Ukraine announce investigations into his political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

After the articles passed the House, Pelosi said she was in no rush to send them to the Senate until McConnell, the Senate majority leader, shows he will carry out a fair process.

But more than three weeks later, her gamble to withhold the articles has yet to pay off in concessions from the Kentucky Republican. Earlier this week, he said he would move forward on Trump's impeachment trial without any Democratic support.

It's considered highly unlikely that two-thirds of the Senate will vote to convict and remove Trump from office. None of the 53 Republicans in the 100-member Senate have said they support convicting Trump.

Democrats have accused McConnell of planning to conduct a "sham" trial that will quickly exonerate Trump without a serious consideration of the information that continues to be unearthed since the president's impeachment in the House.

"I am concerned that Senator McConnell won't have a fair trial and I am with the Speaker that we should do everything we can to ensure he does," Smith said in another tweet Thursday. "Ultimately, I do want the articles sent to the Senate for the very simple reason that I want the impeachment process to go forward."

Still, some Senate Democrats, such as Dianne Feinstein of California, have already said Pelosi should pass the articles on to the Senate.

"The longer it goes on the less urgent it becomes," Feinstein said Wednesday. "So if it's serious and urgent, send them over. If it isn't, don't send it over."

Pelosi's office did not immediately respond to CNBC's request to comment on Smith's remarks. Pelosi was scheduled to hold a press conference Thursday at 10:45 a.m. ET. A spokesman for Smith did not immediately provide more comment.

The chambers have clashed over whether to guarantee testimony from witnesses.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has called for four witnesses  including former national security advisor John Bolton and Trump's chief of staff Mick Mulvaney  to testify in the trial.

Bolton said Monday he would testify in Trump's impeachment trial if he received a subpoena. But McConnell has rejected Schumer's demand, saying instead that he wants the trial to closely resemble former President Bill Clinton's.

In that instance, senators debated whether to call witnesses after the trial started.

"We need to get folks to testify and we need more information ... but nonetheless, I'm ready," said Sen. Jon Tester, D- Mont., according to Politico.

"I don't know what leverage we have. It looks like the cake is already baked," Tester said.

Before his reversal on social media, Smith was asked Thursday morning if it was time for Pelosi to send the articles to the Senate.

"I think it is," he said. "I understand what the speaker was trying to do, basically trying to use the leverage of that to work with Democratic and Republican senators, to try to get a reasonable trial  a trial that would actually show evidence, bring out witnesses."

"But at the end of the day, just like we control it in the House, Mitch McConnell controls it in the Senate. I think it was perfectly advisable for the speaker to try to leverage that to get a better deal," he said.

Smith added: "At this point, it doesn't look like that's going to happen."
Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers has sought to allay farmers' fears that British food standards could be undermined in a post-Brexit rush to secure new trade deals.

British farmers have raised serious concerns that the farming industry could be sacrificed to seal trade deals with countries like the United States.

Industry groups have been strenuously lobbying to ensure that the UK market is not thrown open to lower standard food imports.

At today's (8 January) Oxford Farming Conference, Villiers insisted that high standards of animal welfare and farming would be maintained after Brexit, telling delegates that backing better standards was a core part of the government's approach.

We can maintain and, indeed, enhance UK standards as we negotiate new trading relationships with friends and neighbours in the EU and other leading global economies, she said.

I will continue to work with you and others across the food and farming sector as these negotiations progress to understand your concerns to make sure your voice is heard loud and clear at the negotiating table in international forums, she said.

Please be reassured. We hear this. We will not imperil our domestic and international reputation built on quality and grounded in our shared national values.

We will not dilute our strong environmental protections. We will not dilute our high standards of food safety and animal welfare.

She insisted that the government would defend the UK's national interests strongly and it would be prepared to walk away from trade negotiations if that was in the national interest.

However, the Secretary of State's reassurance fell short of NFU demands for promises to be enshrined in law.

Speaking at the same conference, NFU president Minette Batters called on the government to commit to introducing a food standards commission to scrutinise future trade deals.

She said the NFU would never accept British farmers being put out of business because of a trade deal that allowed imports of food that would be illegal for farmers to produce in the UK.

A new food standards commission must be a fundamental part of how the government approached trade deals and should be backed by legislation in the Agriculture Bill, she said.

It needed the ability to scrutinise proposals in trade deals and make recommendations on the UKs future food trade policy to ensure that UK farmings high production standards would not be undermined, with a requirement for the government to act on these recommendations, said the NFU president.

This year will be the greatest reset for our food and farming system since the 1940s and the decisions made by this government will be felt for decades to come.

We must once again recognise that there is nothing more important to our economy, our health and our environment than the very food we eat.

She said: This all comes back to how we value our food and farming standards. British farmers are world leading in our standards of animal welfare, environmental protection and food safety.

Farmers and the public want it to stay that way, which is why it is crucial that the government introduces a food standards commission that can scrutinise future trade deals and ensure we do not allow imports of food that would be illegal for our farmers to produce here.

This needs to be backed in legislation by the Agriculture Bill  which will be so significant for our industry.

Minette Batters said the government must ensure that the UK did not end up with a two-tier food system and import food that would be illegal for farmers to produce here. That was something that the NFU will never accept.

The Secretary of State was pressed by conference delegates to commit to creating the commission demanded by the NFU president, but Theresa Villiers refused to do so.

I can see that this is potentially an effective means to ensure that we have appropriate scrutiny and working relationships between government and farmers and experts on trade discussions, but we continue to have this debate within government about whether that is the mechanism we are going to adopt or not.

There are a number of groups already established to engage between government and business, including farmers, on trade negotiations but I will take your message back to my colleagues in Government as we decide whether a trade council needs to be set up.

At one stage during the debate, conference delegates were invited to raise their hands if they believed that the government would protect farmers in trade negotiations. Not a single hand was raised in response to the invitation.

Another speaker at the conference, Craig Bennett, CEO of Friends of the Earth, also aired concerns about British farmers being let down during trade talks.

Trade trumps everything. And I use the word Trump advisedly, he said, If we do trade deals with other countries that allow imports of food produced to lower standards that will undercut our farmers and be devastating to this industry.

We have heard some warm words from the government on trade but they haven't yet said that they would turn down a trade deal with Donald Trump if that would result in importing lower standard food into this country.

At the moment the conversation is about maintaining high standards in this country. That's very welcome. We have to also say that food will not be imported into this country unless it is made to similar standards.

Brexit and eggs

The British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) has recently highlighted research that shows only EU tariffs currently protect British egg products from lower standard equivalents from countries like the US and India.

Mark Williams, chief executive of the group, says that 16 per cent of the cost of producing a dozen or a kilo of eggs in the European Union comes from EU legislation on food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection.

He has warned that pursuing a free trade policy with such countries would result in British farmers being significantly undercut.

But the government has already ignored pleas from the industry in confirming that egg imports will be zero tariff rated post-Brexit.

Under its temporary tariff regime, 88 per cent of total imports to the UK by value will be eligible for tariff free access. Grains, eggs, fruit and vegetables and a number of dairy products will all be tariff free.

Minette Batters has accused the government of betrayal over the decision and Robert Gooch, chief executive of the British Free Range Egg Producers' Association (BFREPA) has said that zero tariffs were a threat to UK egg production.

Removing the current import tariffs on eggs presents an enormous risk to British free range egg farmers who lead the world in animal welfare and food safety standards, he said.

Removing this essential safeguard effectively opens the floodgates for eggs produced to standards that are illegal in this country to come pouring in if a no-deal Brexit materialises.

With lower standards comes a cheaper product, which threatens to displace British eggs, he said.

A recent report from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, produced by egg industry expert Peter van Horne, highlighted the importance of tariffs.

The report concluded that, without import levies, the European Union's egg sector would be under serious threat. In the EU, producers have to comply with regulations concerning environment, animal welfare and food safety.

The report said this raised total production costs by an estimated 16 per cent at farm level.

Peter van Horne said in his report that the production costs of shell eggs produced in enriched cages in the European Union in 2017 were, on average, 88 eurocents per kilogramme of eggs.

Between the main egg producing countries, the production costs of shell eggs in 2017 ranged from 96.3 eurocents per kilogramme of eggs in the Denmark to 82.3 eurocents per kilogramme of eggs in Spain.

The costs in the Netherlands, France and Italy were about the EU average, he said. Compared to the average level within the EU, the production cost of shell eggs in 2017 were 24 per cent lower in the USA, 22 per cent lower in Ukraine, 14 per cent lower in Argentina and 11 per cent lower in India, he said.
The worst wildfires in Australias recent history, which have been burning since September, are finally getting global attention.

So should Rupert Murdochs role in all this.

In the face of a climate crisis, the media moguls newspapers in Australia have been spreading myths like wildfire, too.

Even now, theyre busy peddling the utterly false notion that environmentalists are opposing measures to control these fires, and exaggerating the role of arson.

Anything to divert the conversation from climate change.

This isnt unique to Murdochs Australian papers. A study of his Fox News programs in the United States found that between January and June of 2019, 86 percent of the segments on climate change were dismissive of the crisis.

Of the most frequent contributors on climate issues, none was a climate scientist or appeared on any other network in that period, the nonprofit Public Citizen found.

These talking heads rarely discuss scientific evidence or climate events directly, it noted, but rather project the issue through a political lens. Viewers are left to form opinions about the issues in the absence of facts and evidence.

Perhaps its not surprising that according to a recent poll, one in four Americans think theres a lot of disagreement among scientists about whether global warming is real.

Here is a fact: December was one of the hottest and driest months on record for Australia, thanks to global warming. The intense heat made its forests and grasslands a tinderbox that turned these brushfires into catastrophic blazes.

An area larger than West Virginia has now been reduced to ashes, thousands of people are displaced, 25 were killed, and according to an initial estimate, at least 480 million animals were dead  more than the number of people living in the United States. Now its up to 1 billion.

Some species may be on the brink of extinction. And the fires are still raging.

Give credit where its due: The distorted coverage of the climate crisis by Murdochs papers there, as well as Fox News here, is a major contributing factor.

This was a disaster predicted by climate scientists in countless reports, warning Australias government of the escalating wildfire risk. Yet very little was done.

Rather than challenging those in power, Australias biggest newspaper company underwrote their campaign to scrub out the truth.

The Murdoch media, determined to remove the Labor government at any cost, mounted a savage war on the science of climate change and the structural reforms that needed to be undertaken, wrote Australias former Labor Treasurer, Wayne Swan, in a 2017 article.

The countrys leading climate scientist, Tim Flannery, recently vented to CNN: I cant tell you how it feels to me to wake up every morning, smelling the smoke of my country burning, for month after month, and knowing we could have done something about this had we started 10, 15 years ago.

Meanwhile, President Trump, who dismissed climate change as a hoax, is now offering fire-fighting assistance to Australias prime minister  his climate-denying, fossil-fuel-addicted twin.

Talk about missing the point. This is just the beginning: Australia will continue to burn. Its Great Barrier Reef, the largest in the world, will continue to die off because of ocean warming.

The leaders of both our countries will continue to downplay climate change. They will recruit fossil fuel lobbyists for government jobs, cling to the use of coal, hide out in Hawaii or Mar-a-Lago and insist that they dont need to do more.

And they can thank Murdochs propaganda machine for providing them cover, shifting the blame to various bogeymen, and doing everything in its power to divert our attention.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
A ruling Congress MLA on Thursday sought to raise a privilege issue against officials for issuing an advertisement, calling for applications to the post of State Election Commissioner, though the incumbent was appointed, based on an assembly resolution in July last year.

T Jayamoorthy in his petition submitted to the Speaker V P Sivakolundhu, sought to raise an issue of privilege against the Chief Secretary, Secretary to the Local Administration Department, its under Secretary and Director for their attempt to appoint the SECin violation of the decision of the Assembly and also the cabinet.

The advertisement calling for applications to the SEC post was released in an English daily and some vernacular newspapers here, days after Chief Minister V Narayanasamy issued an order declaring "null and void" the December 20 communication of Bedi annulling the appointment of retired IAS officer T M Balakrishnan as the SEC in July last.

Local Administration Minister A Namassivayam had said he was not consulted and it was "really perplexing" that his department had come out with the advertisement.

Bedi had last month quashed the SEC's appointment based on a Union Home Ministry circular, stating it can be made only through a Selection committee headed by the Chief Secretary.

Narayanasamy, in his January 3 order,said the appointment of SEC was an executive action and the removal of the official can only be through a legislative action as stated in Articles 243 K, 243 L and 243-ZB of the Constitution and also under provisions of the Puducherry Municipalities, Commune and Village Panchayats Act 1973.

Namasivayam maintained Balakrishnan was 'unanimously' selected by the assembly and appointed through a special resolution in July last year to the post of SEC and he had assumed office.

Jayamoorthy, also chairman of the Puducherry Planning Authority,pointed out that the special session of the Assembly had adopted a unanimous resolution on July 22 last year, authorising the cabinet to take steps to fill the post of SEC.

The cabinet had met the same day and decided on appointing Balakrishnan as the SEC.

The appointment was as per rules relating to posting of SEC and also the cabinet decision, Jayamoorthy said, adding that Balakrishnan assumed charge the next day and started the process of posting election officers to conduct civic polls.

Meanwhile the LAD had released the advertisement in the English daily and two vernacular newspapers, he said.

Jayamoorthy alleged that the Chief Secretary, Secretary to LAD and two officials had 'arbitrarily' issued the ad on January 7 'without the knowledge of the Speaker, the approval of the Chief Minister and the Minister concerned



The officials' act of releasing the advertisement was a clear violation of the privilege of the House, he said.

Jayamoorthy requested the Speaker to initiate appropriate action against the officials for breach of privilege of the House, protect members' rights and decorum of the House.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In this Friday, Jan. 18, 2019 image made from video provided by the Survival Media Agency, a teenager wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, center left, stands in front of an elderly Native American singing and playing a drum in Washington. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington in Kentucky is looking into this and other videos that show youths, possibly from the diocese's all-male Covington Catholic High School, mocking Native Americans at a rally in Washington. Read more

Two weeks from now, thousands of pro-life teenagers will converge on the nations capital to rally in support of the unborn at the 47th annual March for Life.

Unfortunately, many people are uncomfortable with the idea that millennials would raise their voices to oppose abortion. The image of young kids standing together with signs that read Choose Life and Abortion Stops a Beating Heart can be disconcerting when you are used to hearing its only old white men who want to strip women of the right to choose.

Thats the only explanation I have for what some people did to a young Catholic student from Kentucky last year, when he and his classmates from Covington Catholic High attended the March for Life. As a bunch of them waited for their bus to pick them up, a Native American activist named Nathan Phillips approached banging his drum. Some of the boys reacted chanting their school song while one of them, Nicholas Sandmann, stood face to face with Phillips. The boy was smiling, although many characterized his expression as a smirk. The screen shot of that encounter went viral, and was used to attack Sandmann as a bigoted, privileged white boy who was mocking both ethnic minorities and a womans right to choose.

Now Sandmann has finally gotten some vindication via a settlement announced this week with CNN, whom Sandmann sued for defamation  and was just one of many outlets and public figures who took shots at the teen.

One of the most offensive comments was from Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who incorrectly tweeted The boys were protesting a womans right to choose & yelled its not rape if you enjoy it.'  She later deleted the tweet.

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times observed that there are dozens of students laughing and egging on the behavior. Will be interesting to see if anyone is actually expelled, as officials suggest is possible, creating the false impression that the Catholic high school students were the aggressors.

HBO host Bill Maher called Sandmann a word normally used to describe a mans sexual organ.

The Washington Post came out with an initial story that falsely claimed the Covington Catholic students, some of whom wore MAGA hats, chanted build that wall without any audio or video corroboration.

Some of the worst offenders were affiliated with CNN. Bakari Sellers, a regular contributor tweeted, [Sandmann] is a deplorable. Some ppl can also be punched in the face. Reza Aslan, another personality who also appeared on CNN, picked up the assault theme by tweeting Honest question. Have you ever seen a more punchable face than this kids? (He reportedly only deleted that tweet this past week.) Conservative commentator S.E. Cupp, who hosts a CNN show called Unfiltered," tweeted Teens in MAGA gear mock a Native American Vietnam vet. She later walked that back and apologized, but the damage was done.

Because of the overwrought, under-researched comments from many in the public eye, Sandmann and his family were subjected to months of harassment. His family had to leave their house for a time, they received death threats, and he was told not to come back to school in the days immediately after the incident. Even a Kentucky Catholic diocese initially condemned Sandmann.

In response, his family filed a defamation lawsuit against numerous media outlets including CNN and the Washington Post. CNN settled for an undisclosed amount, and the Post case is ongoing.

As an attorney, I know settlements are not a legal admission of guilt. But as a human being who understands it is natural to defend yourself when you think you are right, Im convinced CNN believed it would lose where it counts the most: the court of public opinion.

Journalists can be heard wailing these days about assaults on the press. I think it is important, though, to examine those cases where they themselves are the assailants. This is one.

Based on incomplete facts and in a desire to get the story out as quickly as possible, some very powerful media outlets defamed a young boy, and created an environment where he was threatened. I am convinced this was, in large part, because he was a young white man with pro-life beliefs.

Sandmann: 1, CNN: (lots of) 0s.
On January 9, there was a pre-budget meeting which the Finance Minister of the country, Nirmala Sitharaman, seemed to have missed. Now, people can't help but wonder where she was.

People were quick to notice the Minister of Finance missing from the budget meeting where PM Modi addressed the room with Amit Shah and other experts present. I mean, the irony cannot be missed,

ANI

People took to Twitter to question where Nirmala Tai was.

Finance Minister and Nirmala Sitharaman started trending on Twitter and even Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, pointed that Sitharaman was not in attendance.

Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets top economists of the country, at Niti Aayog, ahead of the Union Budget. Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Nitin Gadkari also present pic.twitter.com/fFqqTRqmtQ  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

Among others who were present at the meeting were, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Niti Aayog Vice Chairperson Rajiv Kumar and CEO Amitabh Kant.

PTI reports that the meeting was held to discuss the state of the economy and steps which can be taken to revive growth which is projected to drop to an 11-year low of five percent this fiscal.

Here is how some people have reacted to FMs absence from the pre-budget meeting.

The Prime Minister, Home Minister, Railways & Transport Minister are in a meeting with economists at Niti Aayog.



Stragely, the only one missing from this crucial Budget meeting is the Finance Minister.  Punster (@Pun_Starr) January 9, 2020

Home minister is attending budget meeting in Niti Aayog.



Finance minister is defending govt on Kashmir in Press conference.



Foreign minister is giving moral lecture to JNU students.



And PM is busy watching eclipse with Maybach sunglasses.



God bless this country   IRONY MAN (@karanku100) January 9, 2020

Troll me but I'm going to say it. Nitin Gadkari is the best Finance Minister, India never had. He's a workhorse.  SLICKENTEUR (@slickenteur) January 9, 2020

Beginning to feel like Finance Ministers job is stitching that cloth bag to carry the budget papers https://t.co/KnJmbw9Ki3  Veena Venugopal (@veenavenugopal) January 9, 2020

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see the FINANCE Minister in this meeting of PM & Cabinet Ministers with economists ahead of the Union Budget. Can anyone see her?



Shdn't FM be part of budget talks or is she there only to read out what's told to her? https://t.co/mWuJ5vLfUu  Michelle V. (@VMimi09) January 9, 2020

Patriarchy at the highest level of decision making

Finance Minister is missing in a meeting with economists

She will be given the budget to read out, No role in making

This is how Modi and Shah respects women. The women representaion in the govt. is meaningless#SaveIndianEconomy  LOKAYAT (@lokayat) January 9, 2020

Modiji meets top Economists - Female Finance Minister is missing.



Modiji meets top Corporates to revive Indian Economy -Female Finance Minister is missing!



Why?



Modiji himself ruined Indian Economy!



Now who will #SaveIndianEconomy? pic.twitter.com/edILdmKUTv  SS Kim (@KimHaokipINC) January 9, 2020

An economic meeting with no finance minister in it @nsitharaman

BJP is truly creating history.. pic.twitter.com/VxO33ZYBle   _ (@khan_sajid009) January 9, 2020

Good that @narendramodi govt

has acknowledged the slowdown of #economy.Seems like it has resolved to uplift it.Meeting on economic-policy making leaving Finance Minister @nsitharaman is shocking.#Y is it so ?. It Says smth. @piyush9392 understandable. @AmitShah,@nitin_gadkari? https://t.co/j7ZEK7l0gJ  Ranganatha (@rlranganatha) January 9, 2020

However, ANI seemed to have already answered the much-asked question.

Smt @nsitharaman interacts with the office-bearers, panelists, spokespersons, and members of the morchas and departments of @BJP4India in New Delhi, as a part of the pre-budget discussions. pic.twitter.com/9wkB8fOFFh  NSitharamanOffice (@nsitharamanoffc) January 9, 2020

While the meeting was in progress, Nirmala Sitharaman was meeting some office-bearers of the BJP party and its headquarters.
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FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump delivers a statement about Iran flanked by U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Army Chief of Staff General James McConville and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army General Mark Milley in the Grand Foyer at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 8, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Reuters

After President Donald Trump ordered a deadly strike on Iran's most important military leader, most Americans (55%) feel less safe, according to a new USA Today/Ipsos poll.

The poll also found that a majority of Americans (53%) support Congress taking action to limit Trump's ability to order military strikes or declare war without legislative approval.

The House on Thursday was set to vote on a resolution designed to limit Trump's ability to take military action against Iran without congressional approval, per the War Powers Act of 1973.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Though President Donald Trump and his advisers have contended taking out Iran's top general made the US more safe, a majority of Americans do not feel that way, according to a USA Today/Ipsos poll released on Thursday.

The poll found 55% of Americans believe the US drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani has made the US less safe  this included nearly a third of Republicans. Only 24% of Americans believe the strike made the country more safe, the poll said, and a majority of Americans (52%) also said Trump's behavior with Iran was "reckless."

The poll also found that 52% of Americans believe the attack would make Iran more likely to develop nuclear weapons, 69% said Iran would be more likely to attack US interests in the Middle East, while 63% said there would be terrorist attacks on the American homeland, and 62% said the US and Iran would go to war.

Since the deadly strike on Soleimani, Iran has withdrawn from the 2015 nuclear deal and retaliated via a missile attack on US and coalition forces in Iraq. There were no casualties in the attack, which contributed to Trump's decision to accept an off-ramp away from a wider conflict that had been extended by Iran following the incident earlier this week. But that does not mean the US-Iran confrontation has ceased to exist.

Story continues

As House Democrats move to limit Trump's war powers in relation to Iran, the USA Today/Ipsos poll also found that a majority of Americans (53%) support Congress taking action to limit Trump's ability to order military strikes or declare war without legislative approval. This includes 78% of Democrats, 26% of Republicans and 54% of independents.

In terms of the "wisdom" of the strike, the poll found: 42% supported it, 33% opposed it; 25% said they didn't know what to think. And 47% of those surveyed said they believed Trump ordered the strike to take attention away from his impeachment, while 39% did not.

Other polls also revealed more approval than disapproval for the strike, but also showed Americans generally leaned toward wanting more congressional involvement.

According to a Politico/Morning Consult poll released on Wednesday, 47% of Americans approve of Trump's decision to order the strike on Soleimani, while 40% disapprove. That poll also found 49% felt "Trump should have sought congressional approval before moving forward with the airstrike in Baghdad," and 37% said he was "correct to move forward...without congressional approval."

Read the original article on Business Insider
The best way to begin a new year without feeling overwhelmed by what we dont know is to start with what we do know.

For example, we know the U.S. Department of Agricultures December World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimate shows that about 14%, or one in seven bushels (bu.), of the 2019 U.S. corn and soybean crops will be carried over  remain unsold  when the 2020 harvest begins next fall.

While neither amount is historically large, each is large enough  barring some unpredictable man-made or natural event  to keep the lid on both markets through then, guesses USDA. It estimates the average 2019/20 season price for corn at a rock bottom $3.85 per bu. and, likewise, pegs soybeans season average price at an equally low $8.85 per bu.

Soybeans versus corn

We also know that last years awful spring planting weather dropped soybean plantings from 91 million acres in 2018 to 76.5 million acres in 2019. Given low U.S. prices and forecasted record Brazilian soy production, will U.S. farmers hold 2020 soybean acreage to less than 91 million or will they plant back to 2018s level? No one knows.

We do know, however, that todays revenue (we misname it crop) insurance program will be the key deciding factor. In fact, the big looming market question now is Which crop, corn or soybeans, will deliver the best revenue insurance payout in 2020 given the bleak price outlook?

Prominent unknowns

And, ironically, we also know that some major unknowns could make 2020 a better year than it currently appears. Either of two prominent unknowns  another round of unforeseen government payments like 2019s trade mitigation payments or a return to trade normalcy  could do the trick. Together, though, the combined impact would be a huge game changer.

In 2019, for example, the massive trade mitigation payments alone added 24 percent, or $22.5 billion, figures USDA, to the years forecasted net farm income of $92.4 billion. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has already noted, however, that he hopes no trade payments will be needed in 2020.

Deal not definite

For that to happen, though, he knows China needs to buy pre-Trump levels of U.S. ag exports and the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, USMCA, needs to deliver more U.S. ag sales than most trade analysts predict. Right now, both hopes look forlorn.

First, while China and the U.S. have a Phase One deal in principle, neither has yet to reveal, let alone sign, a detailed written deal to end their bitter, 18-month-old tariff war.

That troubling fact only adds to current speculation that the amount of purchases the White House claims China will make in each of the next two years  $50 billion, or nearly two times Chinas previous record buy  are, indeed, unbelievable.

USMCA lacking

Second, almost every analysis of USMCA shows that any gain in U.S. ag exports to both Canada and Mexico will be so modest that it likely will be unnoticeable. A 2019 International Trade Commission (ITC) report claims USMCA, when fully implemented a decade from now, will deliver $435 million, or just one percent, more in U.S. ag exports than NAFTA.

Worse, that tiny increase shrinks even more when you subtract the expected boost of $80 million in U.S. ag imports under USMCA. After that, the net increase, $335 million, becomes less than rounding error.

The ITC also forecasts USMCA will generate only 1,700 new jobs in (U.S.) agriculture. Interestingly, thats almost the exact number of Wisconsin dairy farms, 1,654, that went out of business in the last three years, according to that states ag department. And thats the good USMCA news.

Heres the bad: In November, USDA predicted Canadas 2020 per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will increase a paltry 0.4 percent while Mexicos GDP likely will be flat after shrinking 0.8 percent in 2019. The USMCA upshot is that neither neighbor will be a bigger buyer next year or in the next decade.

Oh, and we know one more thing: 2020 is a presidential election year. That means, given todays erratic, parochial politics, everything we know today could be absolutely meaningless by tomorrow morning.

And that means that 2019s challenges were just a warm-up act for what appears to be an even more challenging 2020.
BISHKEK -- The trial of former Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev for illegally releasing a jailed organized crime boss in 2013 will be held in absentia as the former leader continues to refuse to take part in the process.



Atambaev's lawyer Sergei Slesarev told reporters that the judge made the ruling on January 9 after his client again left the room when the proceedings began inside the State Committee for National Security (UKMK).



The decision to have the trial at the UKMK headquarters, where Atambaev is being held, was made on December 19 after the former president had declined to attend the trial at the Birinchi Mai district court in Bishkek.



Atambaev's lawyers have filed a motion protesting the decision to hold the trial out of the court's premises.



The charge against Atambaev is linked to the release of notorious crime boss Aziz Batukaev, who was convicted of several high-profile crimes -- including the murders of a Kyrgyz lawmaker and an Interior Ministry official. Atambaev faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.



The former leader was arrested on August 8 after he surrendered to police following a deadly two-day standoff between security forces and his supporters.



He is also suspected of committing 13 other crimes, including the organization of murder, the organization of mass disturbances, and taking servicemen hostage during clashes at his residence in August.



Kyrgyzstan saw a smooth and peaceful transfer of power from Atambaev to Sooronbai Jeenbekov, which was welcomed by the international community after presidential changes in 2005 and 2010 were preceded by violent rioting.



Once close allies, relations between Atambaev and Jeenbekov soured after the state prosecutor charged the former president on the basis of accusations leveled against him by a legislature loyal to Jeenbekov.
'Little Women': The Halberstadter Excuse

The seventh film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women," exquisitely chiseled to fully expected, classic standards by director-writer Greta Gerwig, jogged my memory. I specifically remember the exact day in Dr. Halberstadter's class at Olde Ivy Film Criticism College when the good professor warned us that upon occasion even the best of us would have our objectivity challenged.

Wearing the Mr. Chips-like tweed suit I was certain I'd one day emulate should I follow his path into academia, the doc wrote "In Cold Blood" on the blackboard and launched into his diatribe: "I hate this recently released movie based on Truman Capote's book about the murder of a rural family by two despicable drifters. It gives me, how do you say it, the willies? It was all that I could do to keep from walking out of the theater. But I persisted due to two factors: A) When my best friend Sven back at university walked out on a film and went directly to his sweetheart's house, it wound up that they produced a child and have ever since been fairly miserable in their albeit idyllic cottage in the Swiss mountains, along with the six children that followed Heidi, the 7-pound, 6-ounce rationale for their marriage.

"B) Disturbing as writer-director Richard Brooks' adaptation of Capote's book was, it was expertly filmed. Others will want to know this. Plus, how would it look if someone saw the illustrious Dr. Halberstadter leave a movie prior to the closing credits? No sir  sometimes, when faced with a decently filmed movie that plainly bores you, or that you might actually abhor, you just have to grab the seat rest for all your worth and pray, pray, pray for time to pass. It builds character. And, to quote another college buddy, we should be reminded that, 'This is the work that we have chosen.'"

Later that afternoon in the cafeteria, over a very healthy portion of rice pudding, Dr. Halberstadter treated me to, the lecture unofficially continued, along with a little segue of how my favorite professor's two sons, Bismarck and Phil, hadn't chosen to follow in dad's movie-reviewing footsteps, the former opting to work at NASA following his graduation from MIT, the latter becoming a missionary in Africa after his studies at Harvard Med. "But that's OK, that's OK" repeated Halberstadter in a quiet cadence, and asked if I wanted another helping of Chef Mike's famous rice pudding. I felt so bad.

But soon we were laughing as we talked about the idea of greatness. Who was more important to our society? Orson Welles for making "Citizen Kane" (1941), or Chef Mike for his rice pudding?

The doc summed it up: "So now take the movie that, quite frankly, simply doesn't speak to you. It's all about liberte, egilite and fraternite. Doesn't it deserve a fair hearing? In short, you must invoke the Halberstadter Rice Pudding Fair & Equal Principle."

"Did you develop that when you were in school here?" I asked.

"Actually, no. I've adapted it from my mentor, Dr. Steinmetz's theorem, which used the then Chef Otto's famous chopped liver ... oh, what chopped liver  as the Aristotelian example of perfection. But you know how it is. Times change. That stuff will clog up your arteries. Better off with rice pudding."

Such went my mulling as I agonized to invoke the Halberstadter Rice Pudding Fair & Equal Principle in my evaluation of this latest "Little Women," ever so aware that what I had to say about the franchise was beside the point. The story has its own, long-nourished, dedicated following, its reading a rite of passage for many a little woman. What could this Philistine of a male know about the trials and tribulations of the intrepid March sisters  Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy  and about sisterhood, feminism, devotion to family and the desire to have an identifying career in a stultifying society that believed a woman's place was in the home? In short, while I know, my genes dictate that I don't really know.

Granted, it might be humming the scenery to note that technical advances now more than ever make for era-exemplifying interiors and lush landscapes. But would it be obsequious, or worse yet, patronizing, to suggest in apology that my boredom was in itself proof of Gerwig's ability to lead a committed pilgrimage through the original source material while adding a glossy note of 21st-century sensibility? In any case, placing myself across the altar of cinema critiquing sacrifice, I hope to be better prepared when the eighth interpretation of "Little Women" is released.

"Little Women," rated PG, is a Columbia Pictures release directed by Greta Gerwig and stars Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson and Eliza Scanlen. Running time: 135 minutes
A paedophile priest facing serious jail time over the sexual abuse of six young boys has died before justice could be served.

Disgraced Sydney priest James Cunneen was due to be sentenced on February 14 for a string of historical child sex offences dating back to the 1980s.

But the former Catholic brother died of a heart attack at the Blacktown Hospital on December 28.

Disgraced Sydney priest James Cunneen was due to be sentenced on Valentines Day for a string of historical child sex offences dating back to the 1980s

The behaviour of the disgraced priest was exposed during the Royal Commission into child sex abuse in 2014.

The 60-year-old was subsequently found guilty on ten counts of sexual and indecent assault against six children at the Parramatta District Court in October 2019.

He had originally been charged with abusing eight teenagers, but was only convicted for acts against six of the boys.

Former Catholic priest James Cunneen died at the Blacktown Hospital on December 28, from a heart attack, only weeks away from his court sentencing

Cunneen joined the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor in 1979, before leaving the priesthood and returning to New Zealand in the 1990s, re NewsLocal.

The disgraced Catholic priest was a figurehead at two parishes in the Diocese of Parramatta in the late 1980s- St Andrew the Apostle Church in Marayong and Holy Name of Mary in Rydalmere.

An obituary notice in the New Zealand Herald revealed Cuneen 'suffered a heart attack and passed away suddenly' at the ICU in Blacktown Hospital.

The disgraced Catholic priest was a figurehead at two parishes in the Diocese of Parramatta in the late 1980s- St Andrew the Apostle Church in Marayong and Holy Name of Mary in Rydalmere (pictured)

'We treasured you so much and you will be sorely missed. You will live on always in our hearts, thoughts, conversations,' the obituary reads.

Meanwhile one of Cunneen's victims told NewsLocal Cuneen had 'died in disgrace.'
Economists shared an optimistic outlook for Michigans financial future in 2020 possibly giving President Donald Trump reasons to laud his impact on the battleground states economy during an election year.

Trump hammers one argument repeatedly on the campaign trail: Michigans economy, particularly the manufacturing industry, is faring better under his administration. Martin Lavelle, an economist at the Detroit branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, said the next year should find Michigan continuing growth experienced since the end of the Great Recession, though the state is also facing several challenges.

Lavelle and Michigan Chief Deputy Treasurer Jeff Guilfoyle delivered presentations Thursday at a forum co-hosted by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the Michigan Bankers Association.

Michigans employment is at its highest since 2005, while unemployment is at its lowest since 2000, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Workers are making more and the state economy overall is growing, though the rate of growth is expected to slow down.

Guilfoyle and Lavelle said the state is basically at capacity for employment. Only 1% of the labor force is designated as long-term unemployed," and labor force participation overall is increasing, according to data provided by Lavelle.

However, Trumps ongoing trade battles have caused uncertainty in Michigans manufacturing industry and tariffs have negatively impacted several sectors of the economy, Lavelle said.

Recent college graduates are having a harder time buying starter-priced homes in many Michigan counties, Lavelle said, and the state is continuing to bleed residents while it struggles to find skilled workers to fill well-paying jobs.

When were talking with businesses are various roundtables and conversations, the number one thing -- even with all the trade uncertainty, and then some of the other geopolitical risks that are emerged -- has still been finding workers to fill positions, Lavelle said.

Part of the reason Michigan is losing people could be attributed to lower earnings compared to other states.

Per capita income in Michigan was $48,423 in 2018, compared to $54,446 nationally, according to BLS data. Personal income growth also lagged behind the rest of the country since 2000.

All of Michigans major metro areas lost people from 2011-18, except Grand Rapids, according to Lavelles interpretation of U.S. Census data.

Midway through 2019, some economists saw signs of a recession in the future. Two-thirds of economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics said a slowing economy will lead to a recession in either this year or the next.

Michigan should avoid a recession this year, Lavelle said. His forecast predicts no significant job losses and continued wage gains, meaning consumer confidence and spending should rise in 2020.

Lavelle shared an overall positive outlook for workers and consumers this year. He said theres no doubt that Trumps 2017 tax reforms benefitted consumers, giving residents have more discretionary income to spend.

Trump made big promises to auto workers during the 2016 election, pledging to keep Michigan plants open and bring back jobs that flocked across the border during the last few decades. The president told supporters youre getting your auto industry back at a December 2019 campaign rally in Battle Creek.

The number of people employed in vehicle manufacturing jobs slightly grew from November 2018 to November 2019, a rate of 0.6%. Jobs involved in auto parts manufacturing declined by 5.3% over the same period, according to BLS data.

Annika Doner, an outreach director for Priorities Michigan focused on the state of the economy, said Trump has broken his promise to bolster manufacturing jobs.

Meanwhile, the costs of housing, prescription drugs, and higher education continue to rise faster than Michiganders wages, Doner said in a statement. Our families care far more about the bills on the kitchen table than they do about macroeconomic indicators."

Lavelle said the states auto industry overperformed last year, despite the United Auto Workers union striking for more than a month. Vehicle sales in 2019 topped 17.5 million units for the fifth year and sales are expected to total around 17 million units in 2020.

Trump is poised to score a major policy victory this year with the passage of his United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. In Battle Creek last month, Trump told supporters his renegotiated North American trade deal will include powerful protections to keep auto manufacturing jobs right here in Michigan where they belong.

Lavelle said the ratification of the deal, which had languished in Congress last year, should leave businesses breathing easier.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday observed massive military drills off the coast of Moscow-annexed Crimea that involved test launches of cruise and hypersonic missiles.

Russia's commander-in-chief was on board the cruiser Marshal Ustinov to watch the joint drills by the Northern and Black Sea Fleets, the Kremlin said.

He watched test launches of Kalibr (Caliber) cruise missiles and Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missiles among others, the Kremlin said.

Russia annexed the peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, in a move condemned by the West that was followed by the outbreak of an insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

The conflict has claimed more than 13,000 lives.

Exercises in the Black Sea featured frigates and a large anti-submarine ship as well as a submarine, large landing ships and fast attack guided missile craft, while fighter jets and bombers also took part.

"A pair of MiG-31K interceptor aircraft fired Kinzhal missiles at a target at one of the test ranges," the Kremlin said.

Putin has repeatedly touted the Kinzhal missile, which he first unveiled as part of an array of next-generation nuclear weapons during his annual state-of-the-nation address in 2018.

In late December, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Putin that the first Avangard hypersonic missiles had been put into service, in a move hailed as a major coup for Moscow.

Analysts have said Russia is the first country to put intercontinental ballistic missiles armed with hypersonic weapons in active service.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The State Aviation Administration of Ukraine has banned the Ukrainian Airlines to fly in the airspace both of Iran and Iraq after crash of a Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) passenger plane, Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk reported.

"We are starting an unscheduled audit of flight operations, maintaining the airworthiness of aircraft, performing maintenance of aviation equipment and the flight safety management system of CJSC International Airlines of Ukraine. Also, additional checks of the flight safety status of other airlines will be carried out," Honcharuk wrote on his page in Facebook.

According to him, this ban on flights begins at midnight on January 9, 2020. It applies to all operators of liners registered in Ukraine.

Besides, Honcharuk reported that unscheduled checkup of the aircraft of the UIA has already started.
Earlier this week, the Invesco European Growth Fund (Trades, Portfolio) disclosed its portfolio updates for the fourth quarter of 2019. According to GuruFocus data, European countries are expected to return a higher yield than the U.S. in 2020. In this strong market, the fund established a new position in SBM Offshore NV (XAMS:SBMO) during the quarter and sold out of Bic (XPAR:BB), Micro Focus International PLC (LSE:MCRO) and GEA Group AG (XTER:G1A). It also made significant additions to its positions in Kuehne + Nagel International AG (XSWX:KNIN) and FinecoBank SpA (MIL:FBK) and significant reductions in its Deutsche Boerse AG (XTER:DB1) and Mediobanca SpA (MIL:MB) holdings.





About the fund

Invesco is a global financial services company with headquarters in Atlanta and offices in 25 countries around the world. The Invesco European Growth Fund (Trades, Portfolio) is "an all-cap, long-term investment strategy that seeks exposure to high-quality growth opportunities in the European region, in both developed and emerging markets." During the previous quarter, the fund's portfolio managers noted headwinds from global recession concerns and overall stock market declines in most regions.

As of the quarter's end, the equity portfolio consisted of positions in 55 stocks valued at $1.19 billion, with a turnover rate of 3%. The fund's top equity positions were Sberbank of Russia PJSC (MIC:SBERP) at 6.27%, London-based marketing group DCC PLC (LSE:DCC) at 5.36% and Deutsche Boerse AG at 3.09%. In terms of sector weighting, the fund was most heavily invested in industrials and financial services.

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Bic

During the quarter, the fund sold out of its 152,407-share position in Bic, impacting the equity portfolio by -0.49%. Shares traded at an average price of 60.59 euros ($67.34) over the period.

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Bic is a French company that started out as a fountain pen manufacturer in 1945. Since then, it has expanded its offerings to include stationary, razors and many varieties of pens and other writing utensils.

Story continues

As of Jan. 9, Bic has a market cap of 2.78 billion euros, a price-earnings ratio of 14.47 and a cash-debt ratio of 0.78. Despite a strong balance sheet and a solid company foundation, driven by its powerful brand name that is often used as a synonym for "pen," the company has seen both its stock price and its net income fall more than 50% from mid-2015 to the end of 2019.

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Over the past three years, Bic's earnings per share have decreased approximately 12% while its share price has dived at a steeper rate of around 21% per year. However, according to the Peter Lynch chart, shares were overvalued when the company started bringing in less net income in 2016, so increased negative investor sentiment brought the price down faster.

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Mediobanca SpA

The Fund reduced its holding in Mediobanca by 34.08%, or 667,204 shares, impacting the equity portfolio by -0.56%. During the quarter, shares traded at an average price of 9.56 euros.

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Mediobanca is an Italian investment bank founded after World War II to help with the reconstruction of the Italian economy. It seeks to play an active role in the communities where its branches operate, promoting social and cultural activities as well as environmental friendliness.

As of Jan. 9, the bank has a market cap of 8.64 billion euros, a price-earnings ratio of 10.57 and a cash-debt ratio of 0.18, which puts in in a weaker financial position than approximately 75% of the banking sector. Its earnings have been fairly consistent in recent years with a three-year revenue growth rate of 5.2%.

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The share price, which was around 9.64 euros when the fund first bought shares of the bank, has only shown a change of a few cents since then; GuruFocus data estimates that the investment has returned approximately 4.35%. According to the Peter Lynch chart, the share price has grown more slowly than the earnings, leaving it in the undervalued range.

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Kuehne + Nagel International AG

During the quarter, the fund added 43.64%, or 38,511 shares, to its position in Kuehne + Nagel International, impacting the equity portfolio by 0.52%. Shares traded at an average price of 146.73 Swiss francs ($150.69) over the period.

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Kuehne + Nagel International is one of the world's leading global transportation and logistics companies. The company was founded in Germany in 1890, but it is based in Switzerland in the present day. It offers a full range of forwarding logistics services and fully integrated supply chain solutions from more than 1,300 locations in 100 countries.

As of Jan. 9, the company has a market cap of 19.77 billion francs, a price-earnings ratio of 25.17 and a cash-debt ratio of 0.22. According to the Peter Lynch chart, the stock has climbed into the overvalued range.

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Kuehne + Nagel International has offered positive guidance for its profitability in 2020 due to the expansion of its operations and continued positive growth from the implementation of IFRS 16. IRFS 16 is an International Financial Reporting Standard policy that came into effect in January 2019 and served as a new standard for lease accounting, replacing the old IAS 17 standard. Under IFRS 16, a lease is defined as "a contract, or part of a contract, that conveys the right to use an asset (the underlying asset) for a period of time in exchange for consideration." The new definition translated to increased tax benefits, as the company's Ebitda increased by 118 million francs, but earnings after tax showed no material impact.

SBM Offshore NV

The fund established a new position of 674,083 shares in SBM Offshore, impacting the equity portfolio by 0.97%. Throughout the quarter, shares traded at an average price of 15.48 euros.

SBM Offshore is a Dutch group of companies that sell systems and services to offshore oil and gas operations. Since its founding in 1950, SBM Offshore has become a leader in floating production and single-point mooring systems.

As of Jan. 9, the company has a market cap of 3.44 billion euros, a price-earnings ratio of 20.02 and a cash-debt ratio of 0.06. Since 2015, operations have produced decreased revenue compared to pre-2015 levels, though net income has averaged around the same levels when averaged out over five-year periods.

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Despite the decline in earnings, which more often than not would cause the rapid devaluation of a stock, SBM Offshore has seen the value of its shares increase, perhaps in large part due to the rock-bottom valuation it traded down to during the 2008 financial crisis.

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With worldwide demand for oil predicted to increase 1.3 million barrels per day in 2020, analysts have high expectations for SBM Offshore's future revenue. The mobile construction of its hulls and platforms has the potential to offer a unique competitive advantage in the years to come, which is reflected in Morningstar estimates that revenue will increase to 1.8 billion euros for fiscal 2021 and 2.6 billion euros for fiscal 2022.

Further driving positive estimates is the long-term floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) supply agreement that SBM Offshore signed with Exxon Mobil (XOM) las September. The deal is a non-exclusive general legal framework regarding potential future contracts and serves as a positive signal for the company's future growth.

"We are very pleased with the long-term FPSO supply agreement with Exxon Mobil," CEO Bruno Chabas said. "This agreement is a continuation of our long history of successful team work between our companies, further strengthening our long term cooperation."

Disclosure: Author owns no shares in any of the stocks mentioned.

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Read more here:

Third Avenue Value Fund's Top 4th-Quarter Buys

Tesla Breaks Ground in Shanghai: Deliveries Begin in World's Largest EV Market

Guru Profile: Chuck Akre's Path to Success



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President Donald Trump has signed the Support Procurement of our Nations Stainless Steel (SPOONSS) Act into law, requiring the Department of Defense to buy flatware made in America.

The act, sponsored by Congressman Anthony Brindisi, was included in the National Defense Authorization Act, which was signed by Trump in January.

Callihan Marshall // WKTV Callihan Marshall // WKTV

Sherrill Manufacturing, a local company that produces flatware, said in December they hope the SPOONSS Act will increase sales, perhaps even double them.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar elaborated on the delegation's visit to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir during his weekly press briefing.

READ: Envoys Of 15 Countries Visit Jammu And Kashmir To Assess On-ground Situation

15 member delegation

Kumar said, "A group of 15 resident heads of Foreign Missions are on a two-day visit to the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. The visit is being facilitated by the government of India. The envoys, who are a part of the group are from US, South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Maldives, Morocco, Fiji, Norway, Philippines, Argentina, Peru, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, & Guyana."

Specifying the itinerary of the delegation, he said they held high-level meetings with security officials to get a consensus on security measures in Jammu and Kashmir and to understand the threat posed by terrorism while maintaining peace and security in the UT. After the meeting, there was an interaction with civil society members from all walks of life who came from all over the UT. The group also interacted with the local media which was followed by interaction with several political leaders. Kumar stated that they will have more meetings after which they will proceed to Jammu and for a few more meetings, after which they will return to New Delhi.

READ: 'Free Kashmir' Poster Spotted In Mysuru During Protests Against Attack On JNU Students

Stating the objectives of the visit, he said the government had made efforts to normalise the situation and wanted to have representatives of other countries visit the region and see it first hand. The purpose of the visit was to see how things had progressed and had been restored to a large extent after the revocation of Article 370 in August. There have been several steps taken by the local administration towards that objective. The program kept in mind the threat posed by terrorists and thus adequate steps were taken.

He also added that the visit was organized based on the request received in the past by enjoys who are based in India and wanted to visit Jammu and Kashmir.

READ: Newly Appointed Advisor Meets J-K LG In Jammu

READ: SC Questions Rationale Of CAA Related Petition, Says 'endeavour Must Be To Bring Peace'
Shares the three public sector oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs) rose 1.52% to 2.82% as crude oil prices slumped overnight.

Among public sector oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (up 2.82%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (up 2.08%) and Indian Oil Corporation (up 1.52%) advanced.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2020 settlement was up 13 cents at $65.57 a barrel. Brent Crude for March 2020 settlement lost 4.2% and settled at $65.44 a barrel in previous session.

Lower crude oil prices could reduce under-recoveries of public sector oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs) on domestic sale of LPG and kerosene at controlled prices. The government has already freed pricing of petrol and diesel.

Crude oil prices slumped as comments from US President Donald Trump calmed tensions and diverted a potential war with Iran. Trump also confirmed earlier reports that there were no American casualties as a result of Iran's missile strikes on Iraqi military bases housing US troops.

Earlier this week, Brent crude oil climbed above $70 a barrel after Iran's top military commander was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Special operations soldiers assigned to the Chinese People's Armed Police (PAP) breach a door in pursuit of a sniper from the simulated opposing force during the counter-terrorism training on December 24, 2019. Soldiers from five detachments in Red River Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province under the Chinese People's PAP participated in the week-long training in southwest China. Photo:China Military

Chinese troops are now equipped with portable reconnaissance drones, giving them a significant tactical advantage, including enabling them to shoot enemies behind walls.

A scout battalion of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) 80th Group Army is now operating the drones, as they have been deployed in recent training, according to a China Central Television (CCTV) report on Monday.

This type of drone can be used in a two-person-sniper group - one shooter who concentrates on aiming, and one spotter who provide extra information with the aim.

Traditionally, the spotter is tasked with reporting information like wind speed, humidity and battlefield circumstances to the shooter, who will then calculate the ballistic for the shot. But with the drone, the spotter can see more than both troops can see.

This type of small drone, which resembles a commercial quadcopter, can be carried in a backpack and easily deployed on the battlefield.

When an enemy hides behind a wall, the spotter can release the drone and fly it with a controller, which has a large monitor on it, according to the CCTV report.

The spotter can maneuver the drone to an angle where it can see the location of the enemy. But the drone cannot fly too near, as the enemy might notice, CCTV said.

The spotter will then tell the shooter to shoot at a specific spot on the wall. This spot will be described in a way that the shooter can understand based on the situation: If it is a brick wall, it will be described by rows and lines.

Equipped with an anti-material sniper rifle powerful enough to shoot through walls, the shooter will then blow the target away together with the wall.

Bu Minghui, a scout at the 80th Group Army, said on CCTV that it is challenging to identify the target and requires a very high tacit level between the two.

This tactic is very advantageous on the battlefield, especially in urban warfare and counter-terrorism operations, a military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Wednesday, noting the usage of drone results in an information asymmetry.

Since drone technology is spreading very fast, China should also be prepared to counter this tactic by raising situational awareness and equipping anti-drone devices, the expert said.
Twenty people were wounded on Thursday in northern Malis restive Kidal region, including 18 UN peacekeepers, in a rocket attack on a military base for UN, French and Malian forces, a UN spokesperson has said.

Six of the peacekeepers from the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) mission were seriously wounded by the attack on the base in the town of Tessalit, spokesman, Olivier Salgado, said.

He said it was unclear who was responsible.

Kidal has been under the control of Tuareg rebels since an uprising in 2012, and tensions regularly flare between armed groups and the government.

The MINUSMA mission has more than 13,000 troops in Mali to contain violence caused by various armed groups in the north and centre of the country, including militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.

The French army operates a separate anti-insurgent mission across West Africas arid Sahel region, where militants and ethnic violence is worsening.

(Reuters/NAN)
Vice President Mike Pence applauded President Trump on Wednesday night, saying Americans can "rest easier tonight" because of his leadership.

In an interview with Norah O'Donnell on CBS Evening News, Pence discussed Tuesday's Iranian missile attacks against Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops. He said Trump proved his strength in the wake of the event and praised the "extraordinary and courageous professionalism that our military demonstrated over the last several weeks."

Iran's attacks were in response to the death of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed last week in an airstrike authorized by Trump. Soleimani was the commander of the Quds Force, and the Trump administration has said, without providing evidence, that he was plotting "imminent" attacks against U.S. interests. Pence told O'Donnell he believes "we are safer today than before President Trump ordered our military to take out Qassem Soleimani. This was a man who had been leading a terrorist state sponsored organization in the region, sowing violence. What our commander-in-chief demonstrated is we have a president who is willing to use American military might to protect American lives."

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BEIRUT, Lebanon  A day after commanding global attention with a news conference packed with reporters, Carlos Ghosn was ordered by the Lebanese attorney general to stay in the country as officials begin to consider how to treat the former executive charged with financial misconduct in Japan.

Mr. Ghosn, a fugitive who skipped bail in Japan and fled to Lebanon two weeks ago, was summoned for questioning on Thursday at the instigation of Japanese officials. The attorney general of Lebanons Court of Cassation, Judge Ghassan Oueidat, allowed Mr. Ghosn to keep a residency permit, but barred him from traveling outside Lebanon, according to Lebanese state media.

Mr. Ghosns travel options were already restricted. Interpol, the international law enforcement agency, last week issued a so-called red notice for the apprehension of Mr. Ghosn at Japans request. A red notice is simply a request for help, and countries can act as they wish, but it raised the threat of arrest whenever he traveled.

Until Mr. Ghosn slipped out of Japan on Dec. 29, evading what was supposed to be the close surveillance required by his bail conditions, Japan was set to put him on trial on charges of financial misconduct during his tenure as the head of a global auto alliance including Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stunned the nation on Wednesday after announcing plans to 'step back' as senior members of the Royal Family.

And amid the furore surrounding their shock revelation, Amanda Holden has thrown her support behind the couple, stating that she doesn't 'understand what all the fuss is about.'

The star, 48, was discussing the situation with Jamie Theakston on their Heart radio breakfast show on Thursday, where Amanda also suggested that the couple's decision to quit the Royal Family may be due to their desire to have 'another baby'.

Supporter: Amanda Holden threw her support behind The Duke and Duchess of Sussex on Thursday, stating that she doesn't 'understand what all the fuss is about'

Harry and Meghan 'pressed the nuclear button' on their royal careers by announcing they are quitting their frontline roles on Wednesday night.

Their dramatic decision was taken without the knowledge of the Queen, Prince Charles or Prince William, who learnt about the announcement as it broke on television news channels.

The couple, who plan to split their time between Britain and North America, made the bombshell announcement just days after returning from a six-week break in Canada.

Giving her verdict on the news, Amanda said: 'Honestly I dont really understand what all the fuss is about because before Christmas the Royal Family announced they were going to slim down the Royal Family, just use the main players, and I would imagine that Harry and Meghan dont consider themselves main players so all their doing is stepping back, earning their own money and still going to represent us brilliantly abroad.'

Shock news: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stunned the nation on Wednesday after announcing plans to 'step back' as senior members of the Royal Family

And the Britain's Got Talent judge went to suggest that the reason for the couple's retirement was due to the fact they may be planning another baby.

She continued: 'I suspect that she maybe is, or wants another baby and Im thinking she doesnt want to go through another year of everyone kind of slagging her off, so yeah Im all for it.

'I want them to stay together, I want them to be happy.'

The star then went on to say that while it'll be sad to lose Harry from the front line of the Royal Family, the couple will still be a success.

Speaking out: The star, 48, discussed the situation on Heart radio breakfast show on Thursday, suggesting the couple's decision to quit the Royal Family may be due to their desire to have 'another baby'

Choice: 'I would imagine that Harry and Meghan dont consider themselves main players so all their doing is stepping back, earning their own money and still going to represent us brilliantly abroad'

She continued: 'Its a shame because I feel that Harry is the more fun down to earth one so well kind of lose a bit of sparkle I think but I think well be able to watch from a distance. I think theyre gonna storm it.'

Her co-host Jamie added: 'Lose a bit of sparkle, get a bit of Markle. I met her once, shes a lovely lady. Also she listens to the show so I think we have to tread carefully because this will be on in Frogmore.The boss is keen as well, but also Meghan and Harry, we send our very best to you.'

To which Amanda replied: 'Yes we do. I think had Princess Diana lived, she would have done the same kind of thing, she would have maybe found someone to love her properly, moved out of this country and represented us brilliantly across the globe.'

Baby joy? 'I suspect that she maybe is, or wants another baby and Im thinking she doesnt want to go through another year of everyone kind of slagging her off'

Thoughts: 'Its a shame because I feel that Harry is the more fun down to earth one so well kind of lose a bit of sparkle I think but I think well be able to watch from a distance. I think theyre gonna storm it'

Jamie added: 'I think theyre living their own lives in a way that suits them and who can blame them.'

With Amanda concluding: 'Yeah. And theyre going to make their own money its brilliant!'

The TV personality was later seen leaving the studio, donning a stylish navy blue ensemble.

Keeping warm in the cool winter weather, the star wrapped up in a long navy coat, which she wore over a green short and wide-legged navy trousers.

Amanda boosted her height in a pair of pointed dark blue heels and carried her essentials in a black cross-body bag.

Backing the couple: 'I think had Princess Diana lived, she would have done the same kind of thing'

Fashionista: The TV personality was later seen leaving the studio, donning a stylish navy blue ensemble

Looking good: Amanda wore her smart navy coat over a green short and wide-legged navy trousers

A senior royal source said the Queen and her family were 'deeply disappointed'. Another said the royals were 'shocked, saddened and downright furious' at the couple.

In their extraordinary statement, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said they wanted to 'carve out a progressive new role' and 'step back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family'.

They said they wanted to balance their time between the UK and North America, 'continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages'.

The Mail understands that the couple raised their desire to seek out a new life a week ago and family members agreed to work with them in making it possible.

Finishing touches: Amanda boosted her height in a pair of pointed dark blue heels and carried her essentials in a black cross-body bag
A woman and a male juvenile landed behind bars accused of stealing a motor vehicle, according to Laredo police.

READ MORE: Laredo man allegedly took cellphone, smashed it during domestic altercation

Ruth Guadalupe Fabian, 18, and the juvenile were charged with theft of property.

LPD officers responded to a stolen motor vehicle report at about 5:10 p.m. Nov. 19 in the 500 block of West Calton Road. A woman stated that someone had stolen her Chevy Suburban.

She stated she arrived at her business to drop off some items and left the vehicle running. She then heard screeching tires while she was inside the business, according to police.

She then saw her vehicle driving off. She stated the vehicle had 15 Michael Kors bags valued at $200 to $2,000 in the center console and an additional $600 in her personal purse.

Authorities then located the vehicle at the Gateway to the Americas International Bridge with the assistance of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.

A juvenile was detained in connection with the case. He was turned over to the Webb County Youth Village. Auto-theft task force investigators took over the case.

READ MORE: CBP makes two arrests at Laredo bridge for sexual offenses against minors

Detectives identified Fabian as a suspect. Surveillance video allegedly recorded Fabian in a gray Ford Expedition. The juvenile then exited the Expedition and entered the Suburban to drive off, according to police
Deepika Padukone-starrer 'Chhapaak' tax free in MP

India

oi-PTI

Bhopal, Jan 09: The Madhya Pradesh government on Thursday declared Deepika Padukone-starrer film "Chhapaak" as tax free in the state. Chief Minister Kamal Nath took to Twitter to make the announcement, saying the movie gives a "positive message to the society about acid attack survivors."

"I declare Deepika Padukone-starrer 'Chhapaak', the film based on acid attack survivors and set for release on January 10, as tax free in Madhya Pradesh," Nath tweeted.

Delhi Court directs 'Chhapaak' film makers to give credit to lawyer of Laxmi Agarwal

"The movie gives a positive message to society about the women who are acid attack survivors, by portraying their story of pain, confidence, struggle, hope and passion, and to bringing about a change in the society's thinking in such cases," he said in another tweet.

Padukone visited the JNU campus in Delhi on Tuesday to express solidarity with students who were attacked by a mob, but did not address the gathering.

After her JNU visit, many appreciated her "silent solidarity", but some others criticised her for "supporting Leftists", saying it was a promotional stunt ahead of her film's release. "#Boycott Chhapaak" was also trending on Twitter, as was "#ISupportDeepika".

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Story first published: Thursday, January 9, 2020, 16:48 [IST]
The two-hour public meeting on NorthWestern Energy's latest energy resource plan drew a standing-room-only crowd to Billings Public Library on Jan. 2. But most of the dozens of people who spoke didn't talk as much about what's in the plan as what's not.

The majority of the 150 or so people attending were Billings-area NorthWestern Energy electricity customers concerned about higher power bills and the lack of wind and solar resources in the plan.

More than a few folks at the meeting were there to support continued and increased investment in the Colstrip coal-fired power plant. The resource plan NWE submitted to the PSC last August calls for building several new gas-fired plants; it does not include adding coal-fired generation.

More coal power

However, on Dec. 10, the day after the first public meetings on the plan in Helena, NWE announced that it will increase its ownership stake in Colstrip Unit 4 by purchasing Puget Sound Energy's 25% share for $1. That transaction would bring NWE's ownership to 55% of Unit 4. NorthWestern Energy said it will file a request with the Public Service Commission this month to have its latest Colstrip acquisition added to the rate base that's built into charges paid by its 370,000 Montana electric customers.

It's a curious turn of events. The South Dakota-based utility lobbied the 2019 Montana Legislature to pass a bill that would allow NWE to acquire additional Colstrip ownership from an undisclosed co-owner and add it to the rate base without the usual PSC regulation required by Montana law. The legislation ultimately failed.

Then in August NWE filed the resource plan with no additional coal-fired power proposed. Under Montana law, such a resource plan is supposed to be filed by the utility every two years and approved by the PSC, but NorthWestern hasn't actually had a resource plan approved since 2015. Questions raised by the PSC about the plan filed in 2015 were never answered, according to PSC staff. The PSC concerns with the 2015 plan included that it "did not sufficiently consider multiple sources of uncertainty that customers face, including uncertainties surrounding resource costs, capacity contributions, load forecasts, net energy metering, market price forecasts and the development of a regional market."

The plan filed in August fails to adequately address the future of NWE's stake in Colstrip Unit 4, which Montana customers are paying for right now and for decades to come, even though the plant is likely to shut down in five or six years. The other co-owners have committed to being ready to cease getting power from Colstrip by 2025, leaving open questions of who pays for shutdown, coal ash pond clean up and other pollution mitigation.

Dams sales pitch

In 2014, when NWE was pitching its $900 million purchase of 11 hydroelectric dams, the company declined PPL Montana's offer to make the Colstrip plant part of the deal. As The Gazette and other Montana newspapers reported at the time, NorthWestern attached a negative value to the Colstrip plants, worried that any buyer eventually would have to shut down the plants and bear the cost of remediating the sites. NorthWestern initially bid $740 million for the dams and only $400 million if it also had to take the coal-fired generation PPL owned (half of Units 1 and 2 and 30% of Unit 3).

Public documents filed to support the plan for adding the dams to the rate base estimated that they would provide 38% of the power needed to supply Montana customers, lowering the amount of the supply to be purchased on the open market to 10%.

The chief financial officer for NWE told a Gazette reporter in 2014 that the company considered the coal-fired plants a liability because of expected future regulation of greenhouse gases. The CFO also said that the coal-fired plants would give NWE more power than needed for its Montana customers.

NorthWestern was correct about coming restrictions on greenhouse gases. The states of Oregon and Washington have enacted laws requiring the electric utilities they regulate to shift their supplies to energy generated without burning coal. As a result, all but one of the regulated utilities that co-own Colstrip have filed public plans to be ready to exit the coal plants in as little as five to seven years. The exception is NorthWestern Energy, which now proposes to taking a larger stake in Unit 4 and pass a larger share of operating, maintenance and cleanup costs on to its Montana customers.

Is that a good deal for NWE's Montana ratepayers?

The Billings Gazette

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S cotland Yard is to review the 600,000 round-the-clock security given to Prince Harry and Meghan following their bombshell decision to quit as full-time royals .

A senior source told the Evening Standard: Royal Protection by armed Metropolitan Police officers is mandated by the Home Office.

Until now their official roles mean the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their son are classified as internationally protected people.

"That stays in place for now. But as the circumstances have changed there will now be a full review.

If the Sussexes intend to live abroad, and not just carry out international official visits abroad, it will involve far more resources.

"This will have to be reviewed and signed off by the Commissioner. There is no guarantee it will be granted.

Meghan and Prince Harry pictured with security staff / Getty Images

That operation is understood to have caused some disquiet in the department given the resources needed, and involved more than 10 officers. Replacement officers had to be flown out to maintain the rota.

Another close source told the Standard: This is simply not practical going forward given officers working in the department have families and private lives to consider too. It is also a question of resources.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex / PA

In a statement, Harry and Meghan said they plan to split their time between the UK and North America.

A Met Police spokesman said: We never discuss matters of security.

When Harry visited Meghan in Canada during the early stages of their relationship, security officers outside her apartment were thought to be Canadian, funded by the countrys taxpayers.

The couple have sought to answer queries about their security costs on their new website, sussexroyal.com.

Under the question Does their future financial autonomy extend to covering the costs of security?, the website states: The provision of armed security by The Metropolitan Police is mandated by the Home Office.

"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are classified as internationally protected people which mandates this level of security.
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Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 17:49:26|Editor: huaxia

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China's 10-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River will affect 280,000 fishermen, many of whom are happy to come ashore to protect biodiversity in the country's longest river.
On This Is Us, star Sterling K. Brown plays a character who once struggled to discover where he came from. However, on PBS's Finding Your Roots Tuesday night, Brown actually received some huge revelations about his real-life ancestors and their ties to slavery.

Host Henry Louis Gates Jr. explained that a common dilemma African Americans face is that they are unable to trace their ancestors' history because their stories were obliterated first by slavery and then by Jim Crow. On top of that challenge, Brown, who also opened up about the day his father died when he was only 10 years old, shared that he doesn't know much about his father's side of the family because when he lost his father, he also lost the chance to learn more about his paternal roots.

That all changed when Brown was shown his grandmother's death certificate, which revealed that his father also lost his mother at a young age, and also traced her ancestry back almost a century to Brown's third great-grandparents, Henry Woodley and Sarah Nelson, who married in the year 1870.

"It's like the mystery of it all, like, that people actually existed," said Brown. "You know in theory that, like, you have to come from somewhere, but now you have real people with real names and real birthplaces. It's surreal in its realness, you know, to actually see it. And even if it doesn't go further back than that, the fact that, like, next time I go to Mississippi it's going to be, like, a different sort of thing for me."

The 1900 census was where Gates discovered Brown's third great-grandparents were living with Sarah's mother, Nancy, and that all three of them were born before the Civil War. "So you know what that means," Gates stated to Brown, who replied, "It just hit me, like, they were slaves."

Brown admitted that he had thought about his ancestors being enslaved, but he "never thought" he "would be able to trace it, to actually know it."

However, while his father's ancestry may have been a mystery prior to Finding Your Roots, Brown's mother's roots were even more surprising to the actor, when he learned where his fifth great-grandparents were born.

Story continues

"Birthplace of father, Africa. Birthplace of mother, Africa," said an emotional Brown. The actor added, as a tear fell down his face, "Wow, man. Wow. That's cool."

Since transatlantic slave shipments became illegal in the United States in 1808, Brown's ancestors "likely arrived during the very last few years of the slave trade. Whereas most African Americans descend from people who arrived here earlier, too early to be recorded in the censuses following the Civil War," explained Gates.

"So you're a recent African," Gates told Brown. "Isn't that interesting? Because lots of other people would've, by 1820, would've been descended from generations of Americanized Africans. But you weren't."

"This is, like, I can say, you know, well, you know, my fifth great-grandfather and grandmother, they were from Africa or whatnot," said Brown. Gates confirmed, saying, "You can say, unlike 99 percent of our fellow African-Americans, you could say I know about when my ancestors came because they were my fifth great-grandparents." This made Brown incredibly happy as he thoughtfully repeated again, "That's cool."

Finding Your Roots airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on PBS.

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The team expects to gain access to air traffic control system radar data.

Members of the Ukrainian state commission investigating the crash of the Ukrainian Boeing 737 near Tehran, who had earlier arrived in Iran, have examined the plane wreckage.

The engine malfunction version cannot be confirmed, a Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov said with reference to his source in the team.

"At present, our group has arrived at the site where the fragments of the aircraft are being transported. It is an open area where everything found in the area is being taken.

"Currently, I am observing both aircraft engines  and I don't see any traces of fire on them. Fragments of the right wing were brought here, too  there are also no traces of fire on them, so the version of engine malfunction, engine explosion, can't be confirmed at the moment. The plane was on fire, but the version of engine malfunction is not being confirmed," the source said.

He has added that Iranian officials provided preliminary information they had gathered. The plane took off at 06:13, but after five minutes into the flight, at an altitude of 2,400 meters, the plane began to descend, caught fire, and then crashed.

Read alsoIran invites other countries to join probe into Ukrainian plane crash

"According to Iranian flight control dispatchers, no messages were received from the aircraft crew. The plane allegedly turned back toward the airport, but we don't understand yet whether this U-turn was deliberate or already uncontrolled," he said.

At the same time, the Ukrainians have not seen air traffic control radar data. There is no information on objects that could be flying near the Boeing and collide with it, or if there was a missile launch. This information is yet to be provided to Ukrainians.

According to the source, the Iranians are fully cooperating in the investigation.

"The Iranians don't seem to be going to keep any info from anyone, they are going to provide access to the investigation and decryption of black box flight recorders to all parties, including Americans, aircraft manufacturers, as well as all countries whose citizens died, in accordance with the Chicago Convention... Iranians demonstrate normal dialogue, there are no signals that they intentionally seek to hide any information, so far everything is right and transparent enough," he said.

Read alsoIran releases preliminary accident report on PS752 crash

Butusov, in turn, suggests a fire could break in the cabin.

"The absence of any communications with the dispatcher and the absence of fire in the engines suggests that the version of a terrorist attack, a collision with a drone, or an anti-aircraft missile explosion is very likely," the journalist alleged.
CONCORD  A 21-year-old was arrested and charged with impaired driving after his mothers car was found unoccupied in a creek off Stough Road in Concord Thursday morning.

Police were called to a single vehicle accident on Stough Road just after 3 a.m. between Roberta Road and the entrance of Frank Liske Park.

Police said the vehicle, which was unoccupied when they arrived, caused structure damage to the bridge and continued into the creek.

Officers went to the address of registered vehicle owner on Twin Oaks Court. A woman told police that she was the driver.

Police said it was later determined that 21-year-old Jordan Leake was the driver and was charged with impaired driving.

Police said that when officers located Leake, he appeared to be under the influence of marijuana and alcohol. He was arrested and taken to Atrium Health Cabarrus for a blood test.

Leake was also charged with hit and run leaving the scene of property damage.

The mother, Bridget Leake, was cited for obstruction.
A New Jersey pizzeria manager went on an anti-Semitic rant toward a delivery driver that included saying Jewish people should be set on fire like Hitler was trying to do" when the worker sought a day off for a religious holiday, according to a discrimination lawsuit filed by the employee.

Nicholas Bogan, a 17-year-old high school student, recently started working as a delivery person at Maurizios Pizzeria & Italian Ristorante in Eatontown when he texted his manager stating he would be celebrating the first night of the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah on Sept. 28, the lawsuit says.

His boss, Francesco Scott Di Rinaldi, responded with a string of obscene, hateful, and bizarre anti-Semitic and racist comments, the suit alleges.

Di Rinadli wrote (Expletive) the Jewish. Put them on fire (fire emoji). Like Hitler was trying to do. He had a point," according to a screenshot of the group chat messages attached to the complaint.

Bogan, who is Jewish, sent three crying laughing emojis in an attempt to defuse the situation, but Di Rinaldi continued his tirade, the complaint claims.

Di Rinaldi texted back that he cant stand Jewish people or Indians as well, and that both groups dont belong in America," the screenshot shows.

A message left by NJ Advance Media with the pizzeria was not immediately returned on Thursday. Court documents do not list an attorney for Di Rinaldi or the business. Attempts to reach Di Rinaldi at phone numbers listed in his name were not successful.

The law firm representing Bogan, Red Bank-based McOmber & McOmber, said Bogan was deeply shaken by the incident and did not return to work again.

This type of behavior has no place in a civilized society and Mr. Di Rinaldis virulent anti-Semitism needs to be exposed. We are proud of Mr. Bogan for his courage in bringing this conduct to light, one of Bogans attorneys Peter D. Valenzano said.

The litigation was brought by Bogans parents, Bradley Bogan and Felicia Bogan, in late November and names the pizza shop and Di Rinaldi.

In addition to back pay, benefits and punitive damages, Bogan is asking the court to order pizzeria employees and supervisors to undergo anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training, according to the court document.

(Bogan) suffered additional mental anguish and severe stress due to the fact that (Di Rinaldis) comments were made at a time when anti-Semitic violence has been undergoing a worrisome resurgence throughout the world, the lawsuit said.

Avalon Zoppo may be reached at azoppo2@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AvalonZoppo. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.
According to sources, the CWC, the highest decision-making body of the Congress, will meet on 11 January and give shape to the party's strategy in the wake of widespread student protests over amended Citizenship Act and the proposed National Population Register

New Delhi: The Congress Working Committee under the chairmanship of Sonia Gandhi is likely to meet on Friday to discuss the party's strategy and the political situation arising out of the students' protests and violence in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus.

According to sources, the CWC, the highest decision-making body of the Congress, will meet on 11 January and give shape to the party's strategy in the wake of widespread student protests over amended Citizenship Act and the proposed National Population Register (NPR).

The agenda for the meeting has not been formalised yet and no formal invitation has been sent to CWC members, sources said.

The Congress has come out against the amended Citizenship Act and has supported students' agitation in various educational campuses across the country.
"Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree said Wednesday that the suspects in a deadly bar shooting and the suspect in a deadly arson will face capital charges."

Double Down

2 Suspects In Tequila KC Bar Shooting Now Face Capital Murder Charges The Wyandotte County District Attorney's Office amended the charges Wednesday against the two men suspected in October's fatal shootings at a bar in Kansas City, Kansas. Hugo Villanueva-Morales and Javier Alatorre, now also face capital murder charges in the shootings at Tequila KC that killed four people and injured five.

Hardline In KCK

Wyandotte County DA considering seeing death penalty in deadly bar shooting, arson cases KANSAS CITY, KS (KCTV) - Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree said Wednesday that the suspects in a deadly bar shooting and the suspect in a deadly arson will face capital charges. Dupree said 30-year-old Hugo Villanueva-Morales and 23-year old Javier Alatorre will now be facing capital murder charges for the shooting at Tequila KC last October that left four people dead.

Community En Fuego

Capital murder, second-degree murder, arson charges filed against Ismael Caballero The Wyandotte County district attorney filed capital murder, second-degree murder and arson charges Wednesday against Ismael Caballero in a late December triple homicide in which two children and their mother died.District Attorney Mark Dupree filed the charges against Caballero after he allegedly killed Amerikha Rodriguez, 14, Jean Carlos Rodriguez, 10, and their mother, Yazmin Rodriguez, and then set fire to a home in the 100 block of North Mill Street in Kansas City, Kansas.After he was taken into custody, police said, "this is an incident that originated from a previous dating relationship."

Sometimes local politicos grandstanding for justice isn't such a horrible thing . . .Developing . . .
Summer means vacation and when youre looking to get out of Sydney and head to some farflung destination, its pretty easy to catch a direct flight from Sydney airport to almost anywhere in the world. Direct flights to Tokyo? Check. Easy flights to Los Angeles? Check. A quick pop over to New Zealand? Check and check. If youre driving to the airport, and need affordable airport parking Sydney you can book online with Parkos. If youre looking for a fun and much-needed holiday, then pack your bag and head to one of these easy, direct destinations from Kingsford Smith International Airport.

Tokyo is a bucket list destination for people the world over. Foodies, history buffs and fashionistas alike will all want to visit this amazing city. For those who need to shop til they drop, head to Shibuya and Harajuku for some of the most unique and funky designs that only Japan can offer. Head to Shinjukus Golden Gai for a street filled with local bars and cuisine. Looking for a bit of culture? Ueno Park is home to six museums, including the National Museum of Nature and Science and the Tokyo National Museum.

Los Angeles offers all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood with a laid back beach vibe that makes you understand why Californians are so cool. Remember summer in Sydney means winter in LA, but in SoCal, it never gets too cold. Visit the Griffith Observatory (which has been featured in dozens of movies), take a picture with your favorite celebritys star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame or head to the beach and ride the world-famous ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier.

Dont fancy a long flight? New Zealand is just a quick three hour trip and feels almost a world away. Go hiking through the Fiordland National Park along the famous Milford Track or explore the fjords on kayak. Head to Queenstown for world-class hotels, spas and restaurants and let yourself enjoy a pampered week away from home. Want to get your nerd on? Take a tour through Middle Earth and explore Hobbiton or one of the additional 150 locations where the movie The Lord of the Rings was filmed.

Of course, to get to these dreamy destinations, first, things firstyou need to get through Sydney International Airport. Save time and money before you even get to the airport by making sure you check in online beforehand and . If youre a frequent flyer of a particular airline, or a business or first class passenger, see what your rewards includeyou may be able to skip long economy TSA lines or gain premium entry though international security. If youre going to be using the Airport Link train, top off your Opal card online instead of waiting in line at the onsite kiosks.

Additionally, parking at Sydney airport can be difficult, especially on peak travel dates. If youre driving to the airport, and plan on parking near Sydney airport, check out Parkos. Parkos is a comparing and booking platform for affordable and safe parking near airports. While popular in Europe, theyve just expanded to Australia, and can help you save by booking parking spaces at low prices at airports. The parking facilities near the airport are quite expensive and Sydney airport parking rates can vary greatly depending on if youre flying domestic or international. Saving some money before your trip means more spending cash once you get there!

No matter where youre heading this year, remember to plan out your trip, create an itinerary and have fun! Vacations are an opportunity to learn, escape and maybe come home with a few new stories in the process!
With the CAO deadline looming, choosing the right course really is at the forefront of everyones mind.

While finding the right course is important, so is finding the right college which is a good fit for the students personality and lifestyle. A colleges position on the international university rankings doesnt mean that its the best fit for someone. There are a number of factors to take into consideration.

The first consideration is the location. How close to home is it? Is there a reason to stay at home, or very close by? Looking further afield, what supports and opportunities open up apart from learning to cook and do laundry?

The size and feel of the campus can impact on a students wellbeing. Ideally a student should visit the campus to get a sense of it. Do they feel at home mixing with lots of students with different interests, or would a smaller student community with similar interests be more suitable?

Research living costs

Cost is an important consideration as it affects the whole family. Depending on what source you look at, for a student living at home, the annual cost can range from 4,611 to 6,750. For a student living away from home, the cost jumps to 8,830 to 11,829 per annum.

Thoroughly research costs and financial aid available (susi.ie). Sources used are Zurich Irelands 2019 study and the annual DIT cost of living guide 2018/2019.

Grants are not the only avenue for financial aid. There is also a broad range of scholarships available.

A comprehensive list of scholarships can be found on the careersportal website.

Subjects taught on the course can be the making or breaking of a college career. Third-level institutions are being encouraged to keep first year subjects broad, but they do need to specialise eventually. If you like maths in school and maths is part of the course curriculum, great.

However, if you hate maths and it forms a considerable part of the course you are applying for, perhaps its better to choose something else unless you are really focussed and prepared to work extremely hard at it. It i s important to look at the subjects taught in every year of the course, not just first year, to avoid any nasty surprises.

In the highly competitive US third-level arena, the US College Board advises students not to get stuck on things like the reputation, rank or selectivity of a particular college. They advise that whats more valuable is how a colleges academic style fits the student.

They outline some useful questions.

Do I learn best when Im academically comfortable/challenged?

Do I prefer to be part of small group discussions or listen to lectures?

How much interaction do I want with my professors?

What balance am I looking for between studying and my social life?

Do I want to choose most of my classes myself or do I prefer more structure?

uscollegeboard.org
In another major development with regard to the security provided to political leaders, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on Thursday has initiated the process of withdrawal of security cover from Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and DMK president MK Stalin.

Government sources: Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam and DMK President MK Stalin's central security cover withdrawn. CRPF in process of withdrawal of the security staff. pic.twitter.com/EFQkBYbM5w  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

READ | CRPF Troops Walk 12-km To Help Family Stranded In Jammu & Kashmir Following A Landslide

Decision taken after a threat assessment review

The decision to withdraw the CRPF security cover has been taken after a threat assessment review made by central security agencies. The central government had provided CRPF security cover to the two politicians in 2017, deployed CRPF commandos to take charge of providing security to O Panneerselvam in view of potential threats to him.

READ | Terrorists Hurl Grenade On CRPF Personnel In Srinagar, Vehicles Damaged

While Panneerselvam had a smaller 'Y+' cover of central paramilitary commandos, Stalin had a larger 'Z+' protection.

The central security cover will be formally taken off after the state police takes over their security task.

READ | BJP Dubs DMK's Stalin 'brother Of Owaisi' Citing Communalism, Claims Poll Vindication

Earlier in November 2019, the Government had withdrawn Special Protection Group (SPG) cover of the Gandhi family which includes Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Earlier, the three Gandhis were among the four protectees of the SPG including the Prime Minister. Now the congress leaders have Z+ security cover and are one of about 30 VIPs who have Z+ security. Congress had created a ruckus in the parliament's winter sessions for downgrading the security cover. Congress workers took to streets in Delhi to demonstrate protests against the Modi government's decision to downgrade the security of the Gandhis to Z+.

As of now, the CRPF has four battalions (about 4,000 personnel) inducted for VVIP security duties. The commandos of this unit are armed with Israel-made X-95 and MP5 rifles and Glock pistols apart from an advanced communication system.

READ | DMK Chief Stalin Urges Other States To Follow As Kerala Passes Anti-CAA Resolution
JERUSALEM - A string of heavy winter rains this week has caused deadly flooding in Israel from the Lebanese border to the Negev Desert, increasing tension in a week already filled with threats of war.

With rains continuing Thursday, rising waters had killed at least five people, including a young couple who drowned in a Tel Aviv elevator and a man swept away after trying to rescue a family stuck in a drifting vehicle.

The fierce rainfall has shuttered schools and government offices in some areas, with water levels that submerged cars and low-lying buildings. Some Israelis were forced from their homes, and others were asked not to leave them, even as they were bracing for potential spinoff attacks from spiking regional violence between the United States and Iran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday beseeched citizens to take flood warnings as seriously as they do the incoming-rocket sirens that are a feature of life in many Israeli communities.

"I ask that you follow the instructions from the police and emergency agencies," Netanyahu said after touring an emergency response center in the town of Beit Dagan. "If you hear them, it is exactly like a missile attack. You know that if you follow the instructions, in most cases . . . you will not be in danger."

Netanyahu also warned the adventurous not to venture out to the desert to witness the dramatic - and potentially dangerous - spectacle of dry stream beds reanimated with roaring water. "Watch them on television," he advised.

In Haifa, a port city and petroleum center that had been singled out for threats by Iranian militants, the flooding was a far more consuming threat than war, said Efraim Aharon, a retired computer business owner who lives in the city's center.

"It's all anyone is talking about," he said by phone. "The threats we are used to."

Officials said rescue resources had been redeployed around the country to respond to flooding, which stretched from the coastal plains along the Mediterranean to the area of West Bank down to the Dead Sea.

Israeli media was filled with images of roadways turned to muddy rivers and rescuers wading through waist-deep water with adults on their backs. Rescuers cut though a floor to reach a dog that had become trapped in the southern city of Ashdod, according to reports.

In the coastal city of Nahariya, residents mourned 38-year-old Moti Ben Shabbat, who disappeared into the rushing flow after trying to pull a woman and child from their trapped vehicle. His body was recovered downstream several hours later, and his sacrifice was hailed across the country.

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.

"From time to time, we find heroes glowing in the sky," Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said Thursday after sending a letter of condolence to the Ben Shabbat family. "The act he did to save others was extraordinary courage, real heroism paid for with his life."

The country was even more riveted, and outraged, by the tragic deaths of Dean Yaakov Shoshani and Stav Harari during the first of the flooding over the weekend. The pair had entered an elevator in their Tel Aviv apartment building during the deluge only to have it become stuck at a lower parking level, possibly because of a power outage. As water rose in the garage, passersby who eventually heard the pair banging on the elevator and calling for help phoned fire and rescue services. The pair were eventually pulled from the flooded shaft with help from divers, according to the Haaretz newspaper. One was pronounced dead at the scene and the other after being transported to a hospital.

Officials, including the prime minister, have pledged to investigate the incident following complaints about the response time of rescuers and the drainage capacity of the building and neighborhood.

"I do not think that there is anyone who can remain indifferent to these tragic deaths," Netanyahu said Thursday, promising to release the results of an inquiry. "The matter is currently being investigated and checked."
Some New Jersey leaders say the state Chamber of Commerce is sending the wrong message by banning hard liquor on its annual Walk to Washington train trip, among other steps, after a recent report in which women said they feel unsafe at the event.

Instead, they argue, the focus should be on making more sweeping cultural changes.

State Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle commended the Chamber for taking other measures, including beefing up security on the trip, creating a hotline, increasing education among staff, and adopting a code of conduct.

But the lawmaker said alcohol obviously is not the problem  and were not going to get to the root of the problem by banning hard alcohol."

We all know alcohol doesnt cause harassment or rape, Vainieri Huttle, D-Bergen, said. "Its a tool.

Its not about politics, either," she added. This issue is certainly a symptom of our society as a whole. We need to work to eliminate that rape culture.

Gov. Phil Murphy also criticized the Chambers liquor ban during his call-in radio show Wednesday night.

Limiting hard alcohol on the train aint gonna get it done," the Democratic governor said on WBGO in Newark. This requires a paradigm shift.

Plus, Murphy and others pointe out that Chamber officials said beer and wine will continue to be sold in the trains concession cars and attendees may bring their own beer and wine.

Stopping one part of alcohol  I mean, come on, Murphy said.

Chamber officials did not immediately respond to a request to comment on Murphy and Vainieri Huttles criticism.

Chamber President Tom Bracken said earlier this week the liquor ban was one of several steps the group is taking to address the problems outlined in the NJ Advance Media story.

That includes not only the liquor ban but hiring more security guards on the train and at the hotel, as well as establishing a phone for people to report incidents of harassment directly to security personnel and the organizers. The group also said it would distribute a code of conduct to attendees.

The state Chamber believes that harassment of any kind is unacceptable behavior," Bracken said in a statement.

It is critical that the issue of harassment be resolved, he added. The state Chamber stands ready to work with state leaders to help resolve this problem and we look forward to working with Sen. Loretta Weinberg and her committee as it looks into these issues.

State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, is forming an ad hoc committee to look for ways to change the toxic culture" in state politics in the wake of the report.

Weinberg also criticized the Chambers move to bar liquor.

So we cant expect the kids to behave unless we take (the candy) away from them, she said. What happens when they get to D.C.?

The Walk to Washington," which occurs every winter, is one of the biggest events on New Jerseys political calendar. The Chamber charters an Amtrak train to ferry New Jersey politicians, lobbyists, and business leaders to Washington, D.C. Attendees schmooze while sharing drinks in the crowded aisles of what many call the Chamber train as they head to the nations capital for a dinner at a hotel.

The next Chamber train trip is scheduled for Feb. 27-28.

The Dec. 29 story, published on NJ.com and in The Star-Ledger and its affiliated newspapers, included women who said have been groped, assaulted, or sexually propositioned over the years in state politics. They singled out the Chamber train as an event some avoid because of its reputation for making women uncomfortable.

Murphy said the Chamber train and the New Jersey League of Municipalities annual conference in Atlantic City  another gathering that women in the story singled out as being dangerous or uncomfortable for women  need to get to a meaningfully different place.

Not just a little, tiny baby step, but a big, incremental step, he added on his radio show. "And Im gonna be very anxious to see before either of those events take place exactly whats put together. Because weve gone to a different time and a different place.

The League of Municipalities has also said its open to making changes to protect women in the wake of the report. Two women interviewed for the report said they were raped after attending the cocktail parties held after official events at the Leagues convention.

State Senate President Stephen Sweeney said Wednesday he will continue to skip the Chamber train and the parties during the League conference until more decisive actions are taken to change the culture."

Sweeney said the Chambers changes are not enough to bring systemic change to the pervasive culture of misogyny in New Jersey politics.

Patricia Teffenhart, executive director for the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, who is working with Weinbergs committee, said she was also concerned by the liquor ban.

Alcohol does not assault people. People assault people," Teffenhart said Thursday.

The issue is men who feel entitled to take up space and treat predominantly women inappropriately," she added. "It is also important to recognize both the chamber and the League are institutions comprised of people. The institutions themselves need to figure out how can we hold the people who come to our events and affiliate with our organization to higher standards.

Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage mocked the Chambers liquor ban on his Twitter account, questioning whether still allowing all the beer and wine you can drink will somehow stop rogue behavior.

Next year everyone will have assigned seats, will not be allowed to leave except with permission for bathroom break, Bollwage tweeted.

State Chamber of Commerce bans hard liquor on Walk to Washington...Next year everyone will have assigned seats ,will not be allowed to leave except with permission for bathroom break  Chris Bollwage (@MayorBollwage) January 8, 2020

NJ Advance Media staff writers Kelly Heyboer and Susan K. Livio contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 19:08:34|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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JIANGMEN, China, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- South Korea outlasted Qatar 3-2 in a five-set thriller here Thursday afternoon to secure their berth in the semifinals of the Asian Men's Tokyo Olympic volleyball qualification tournament.

Park Chul-woo had 18 points to lead five South Korean spikers in double scoring digits in the 25-18, 28-26, 22-25, 20-25 and 15-13 victory. Qatar had a 16-12 advantage in blocking, but South Korea were the better defensive team as they finished with 35 digs, compared to 26 for Qatar.

South Korea and Qatar both finished with a 2-1 win-loss in preliminary Group B, while Qatar ranked first after collecting one more 3-0 victory than South Korea.

Eight teams are competing in the qualifications with the winners to claim the only Olympic berth on offer.

Later on Thursday, China will play Iran to vie for the top place in Group A.

The teams will have a rest day on Friday with Qatar and South Korea to clash with the second and first finishers from Group A respectively in Saturday's semifinals.
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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 9, 2020 / Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. (CSE:CMC)(OTCQB:CWSFF) ("Cielo" or the "Company")announces a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") with Renewable U Halifax Inc. ("Renewable U Halifax") to build, at an estimated cost of $50 Million, a renewable diesel refinery in, or within 150 kilometers of Halifax, Nova Scotia.Renewable U Halifax is one of multiple corporations under the "Renewable U" name ("Renewable U Companies"), with which Cielo has entered into memorandums of understanding on substantially the same terms as this MOU (the "Prior MOUs"), as previously announced. Renewable U Halifax and Cielo will be working towards entering into a joint venture agreement ("JV Agreement") contemporaneously with the joint venture agreements to be entered into with the other Renewable U Companies, which will provide the framework to build and operate a 4,000 liter per hour joint venture refinery ("JV Refinery") in Nova Scotia that will be engineered to operate 24 hours a day, 341 days per year. Cielo is expecting to convert 327,360 tonnes of garbage into 163,680,000 liters of renewable fuels annually from the 5 announced JV refineries. It is anticipated that this JV Refinery will create in Nova Scotia 50 full-time jobs during construction and employ 25 full-time people once operational. The JV Refinery will utilize Cielo's proprietary waste to high grade renewable fuel technology being commercialized at the Company's refinery in Aldersyde, Alberta (the "Aldersyde Refinery"), located just south of Calgary.In order to gain direct access to a port to potentially import multiple different waste feedstocks, including the problematic single-use plastics, Cielo has agreed to reallocate the $250,000 Joint Venture Fee ("Fee") previously paid to Cielo, by Renewable U Brooks Inc. ("Renewable U Brooks"), pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding dated April 27, 2019 between Cielo and Renewable U Brooks ("the Brooks MOU") to Renewable U Halifax. In conjunction with the aforementioned reallocation of the Fee, as of January 8, 2020, the Brooks MOU has been terminated.The general terms to be incorporated into the JV Agreement are substantially the same as those previously announced terms for the joint venture refineries to be located in Grande Prairie, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and Calgary, Alberta which include the following guidelines:Renewable U Halifax will be solely responsible for financing 100% of the costs associated with the JV Refinery ("JV Costs") including the acquisition of the land, building and commissioning of the JV Refinery.Cielo will manage the JV Refinery, overseeing its planning, construction, commissioning and operation and will receive a management fee equal to 7% of the JV Costs for the construction of the JV Refinery, subject to certain exclusions, and will continue to receive management fees based on industry standards once the JV Refinery commences producing high grade renewable fuels. Based on the estimated JV Costs of $50 Million Cielo will receive management fees of $3.5 Million over the next several years while the JV Refinery is being permitted, built and commissioned.Unless otherwise agreed, in the event that Cielo does not execute the definitive JV Agreement with Renewable U Halifax, by March 31, 2020, in lieu of returning the transferred Fee, Cielo has agreed, subject to applicable laws and policies, to issue Renewable U Halifax common shares of Cielo equal to the value of the Fee, which shares will be valued at the greater of $0.25 per share and the average closing price of Cielo's shares during the 5 trading days prior to the agreed upon execution date of the JV Agreement.Profits from the JV Refinery will be split 30% in favour of Cielo and 70% in favour of Renewable U Halifax, until Renewable U Halifax has received profits equaling 100% of the JV Costs plus the applicable management fees. Thereafter profits will be split on the basis of 50.1% in favour of Cielo and 49.9% in favour of Renewable U Halifax reflecting the respective interests/ownership of the parties.Raphael Bohlmann, President of Renewable U Halifax and Renewable U Energy Inc. ("Renewable U"), parent company of Renewable U Halifax, commented, "After extensive review of potential waste feedstock arrangements for the four territories previously selected by Renewable U's subsidiary companies, Renewable U is pleased to be able to help Cielo gain access to the port of Halifax, which may result in Cielo being able to sell high-grade renewable fuels into the marine industry, on a cost effective basis." Don Allan, President & CEO of Cielo, stated, "We are pleased that Renewable U was open to helping us gain access to the port of Halifax, which opens up the opportunity for us to broaden our reach of deploying our waste to high-grade renewable fuels technology to the Maritimes and elsewhere, as well as being able to source different waste feedstocks. We appreciate Renewable U's commitment to helping us to deploy our technology globally." Cielo to Host Investor Update WebinarOn Friday, January 10th, 2020 at 11 AM EST (9 AM MST), Cielo's President & CEO, Don Allan, will be providing an in-depth overview of its current operations and upcoming milestones. Management will be available to answer questions following the presentation on the webinar platform. To ask a question, you will need to be logged into the GoToWebinar platform or by emailing your question(s) beforehand to jborde@ rbmilestone.com Date: Friday, January 10th, 2020Time: 11 AM EST / 9 AM MSTRegister: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5132973681304428300 On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Company.Cielo Waste Management Corp.Don Allan, President / CEO / DirectorInvestor ContactsRenewable U Energy Inc.Raphael Bohlmann, PresidentRaphael@ RenewableU.ca RB Milestone Group, LLCTrevor Brucato, Managing DirectorNew York, NY & Stamford, CTtbrucato@ rbmilestone.com About Cielo Waste Solutions Corp.Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. is a publicly traded company with its shares listed to trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") under the symbol "CMC", as well as OTC Markets Group, on the OTCQB, under the symbol "CWSFF". Cielo is a waste to renewable energy company with a game changing technology engineered to help solve
JNU protest LIVE updates: It has been four days since the JNU violence on Sunday unfolded, yet the authorities are nowhere close to nabbing the attackers. On Thursday, protests continued at the varsity and heavy police were deployed outside the main gate. Section 144 has been imposed outside Mandi House. Hundreds of demonstrators, including students and members of civil society organisations, hit the streets on Thursday demanding resignation of the varsity vice-chancellor. The protesters, carrying placards and banners, started a march from Mandi House towards the HRD Ministry. They shouted slogans demanding strict action against those involved in the campus violence of January 5 that left around 35 injured.

Protests across the nation have surged in the wake of the violence. Former minister Yashwant Sinha is planning to take out a march from Mumbai to New Delhi to condemn the several recent attacks on university students. Moreover, Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik will appear before the parliamentary standing committee for home affairs on January 13 over the violence at JNU and Jamia Millia Islamia.

Follow the latest updates on JNU protests here:

3:23pm: Protestors reach ministry of HRD's office





We have reached MHRD. We will sit peacefully. A delegation will go inside with our demands. Our first demand is clear - #VCHatao, JNU Bachao. pic.twitter.com/yI7Fpa8Joc  JNUSU (@JNUSUofficial) January 9, 2020

3:20pm: Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik are scheduled to appear before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs on January 13 over the recent violence in JNU. The committee will be chaired by senior Congress leader Anand Sharma.

3:15pm: Delhi Police stops protesters near Shashtri Bhawan : The Delhi Police has stopped the march by students and members of civil society organisations near Shashtri Bhawan. CPI(M) leaders Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat and LJD leader Sharad Yadav also joined the march.

3:12pm: JNU violence 'officially sponsored goondaism', those behind it must be identified and arrested immediately: Congress

3:10pm: Deepika Padukone visited JNU for publicity, limelight, said Himanta Biswa Sarma, reported India Today.

3:05pm: JNU Vice Chancellor has set up a committee of 5 members to inquire into the whole incident of violence that took place on the campus on 5th January.

3:00pm: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal blamed the Centre for January 5 attack by masked mobs. Kejriwal defended Delhi Police saying that they did not get orders to stop violence on Sunday.

2:55pm: JNUSU raises slogan against VC

2:50pm: Manoj Tiwari takes out bike rally in Delhi: Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari flagged off a mega bike rally from the party office against the violence in JNU and "misuse" of youth by opposition political parties to push their agenda. BJP MPs Harsh Vardhan, Gautam Gambhir, Parvesh Verma and Meenakshi Lekhi likely to participate in the bike rally.

The bike rally was diverted to bypass Mandi House owing to a march by students and teachers in the area.

2:45pm: Congress' fact finding team to submit report of violence at JNU campus to interim chief Sonia Gandhi, according to IANS.

A day after the #Congress fact finding team visited #JawaharlalNehruUniversity (#JNU) campus, the four-member team will submit its report to party interim chief #SoniaGandhi. The report will also be discussed during the party's top decision making body #CWC meeting on Friday. pic.twitter.com/a51LpZvqyZ  IANS Tweets (@ians_india) January 9, 2020

2:40pm: Delhi traffic updates:

Traffic was thrown out of gear in central Delhi due to vehicular restrictions owing to a protest march by students. Traffic was also affected as vehicles were diverted on Sansad Marg where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was attending a meeting at Niti Aayog.

Buses plying on the Rakabganj Road and Pant Marg were also re-routed.

Officials said both carriageways of Baba Gang Nath Marg from Nelson Mandela Marg and Aruna Asaf Ali Marg will remain shut till 8 pm due to students' demonstration.

Traffic Alert



Baba Gang Nath Marg is closed (both carriageways) by local police from Nelson Mandela Marg and Aruna Asaf Ali Marg due to demonstration.  Delhi Traffic Police (@dtptraffic) January 9, 2020

2:33pm: JNU's student union tweeted saying that there president has reached Mandi House.

2:23pm: Hundreds march from Mandi House to HRD Ministry demanding removal of JNU VC: Several students and members of civil society organisations, hit the streets on Thursday protesting the recent violence at JNU and demanding resignation of the varsity vice-chancellor.

2:19pm: Against the backdrop of JNU violence, NCP chief Sharad Pawar says BJP-led central government is using "dictatorial" policies which need to be answered through the non-violent way of Mahatma Gandhi.

2:10pm: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal blamed the Centre on Thursday for not giving orders to Delhi Police to intervene.

2:02pm: According to a report in India Today, Delhi Police was informed of mob at 3pm but there was no additional force deployed till 7:45pm. Delhi Police said that there were forces stationed at JNU admin block as per the Supreme Court's order that said that there can't be any demonstration within its 100 metres. They said they were not authorised to intervene while students were being attacked at Periyar and Sabarmati hostels for two hours.

2:00pm: "JNU has formed a five-member committee to probe lapses in security, if any, during Sunday's violence," said university VC Jagadesh Kumar.

1:54pm: March begins from Mandi House to MHRD

1:50pm: JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh leads the protest march along with Sitaram Yechury.

1:47pm: More visuals from the protests.

Delhi: Protests continue in Jawaharlal Nehru University against the January 5 violence in the campus. pic.twitter.com/ReFcw4TxZn  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

1:45pm: CPI (M) leaders Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat have reached Mandi House to protest.

1:40pm: Protests outside JNU.

Delhi: Protests continue in Jawaharlal Nehru University against the January 5 violence in the campus. Heavy Police presence outside main gate of the University pic.twitter.com/34i0IUhBJa  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

1:35pm: "What happened in JNU was an organised attack on these students to silence their descending voice, But, today one person who stands suspect is the vice-chancellor. I don't think V-C's stand is acceptable," says Congress's PC Chacko.

1:30pm: Section 144 has been imposed at Mandi House. Students continued to protest despite police's warnings.
UTICA, N.Y. -- With the possibility of foreign retaliation via cyber attacks, Homeland Security has urged companies across the nation to update security software, back-up computer data and keep an eye out for signs of a hack.

Anthony Martino, director at Utica Colleges North East Cyber Forensics Center, says all agencies, including local ones like DFAS and Rome Labs, should always follow procedures to ensure cyber safety.

Well certainly all agencies should be concerned about cyber threats, its that a cyber attack can be asymmetrical. It doesnt necessarily have to be on a military target in order to be effective, so I think some of the most critical concerns in any cyber threat is critical infrastructure, Anthony Martino, director at Utica College North East Cyber Forensics Center.

Martino says a cyber attack could create service and operation issues, putting internal and external data at risk. Cyber attacks can create issues sending or receiving data and emails, shut down systems and breach data security.
The Colorado Petroleum Council issued the following statement from Executive Director Lynn Granger regarding Colorado Rising's filed ballot initiatives.

"The existing framework set forth by the various state agencies regulating our industry is intended to protect public health, safety, welfare and the environment, and it has proven to be successful for many years. Colorado's abundant energy resources are keeping costs down for working families and creating opportunities not only within the industry, but for businesses and diverse communities across the state of Colorado. Advancing policies that support, rather than hinder, this progress while protecting public health and reducing emissions is critical to Colorado's economic growth and long-term prosperity.

"The industry is committed to the rulemaking process set forth by Senate Bill 181, and we will continue to engage with all stakeholders. It is unfortunate that this group has chosen to ignore this process. Coloradans voted decisively against Proposition 112, and with good reason. The natural gas and oil industry supports 232,900 Colorado jobs and has provided unprecedented opportunity to countless residents of our great state, while simultaneously reducing emissions and protecting public health and safety."

API released a new report today (1/7) that showcases seven local communities including Aurora, Colorado that have uniquely benefited from American energy production. API also announced the launch of a new campaign, "Energy for Progress," which will begin airing on TV and digital platforms in Colorado this week.

The Colorado Petroleum Council is a division of API, which represents all segments of America's natural gas and oil industry. Its more than 600 members produce, process, and distribute most of the nation's energy. The industry supports 10.3 million U.S. jobs and is backed by a growing grassroots movement of more than 47 million Americans. API was formed in 1919 as a standards-setting organization. In its first 100 years, API has developed more than 700 standards to enhance operational and environmental safety, efficiency and sustainability.
Congress should move past gridlock and take the reins on issues such as privacy, where liberal states have enacted new laws, the leader of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says in a Thursday speech.

"Washington's inability to make progress on data privacy is resulting in a patchwork of state rules and regulations that will stifle the free flow of goods and services across state borders," chamber Chief Executive Officer Tom Donohue said in prepared remarks.

As part of his annual "State of American Business" address, Donohue expressed worry about state-by-state approaches, particularly regarding data protection and worker classification in the gig economy, according to excerpts provided by the chamber, one of the most influential and highest-spending business associations in Washington.

California has enacted laws on both fronts, and a handful of other Democratic-controlled states are considering measures or have passed bills.

Divergent state laws "would create conflict for businesses, confusion for consumers, and increase costs for everyone," Donohue added in his remarks.

Like an array of business groups, the chamber has pushed Congress to pass a privacy law overruling state laws in order to smooth compliance and extend protections across the U.S. Many consumer groups worry, though, any law that gets bipartisan support in Washington would fail to provide the robust protections available in individual states.

California's new privacy law went into effect Jan. 1. Lawmakers on key congressional committees released a number of proposals for privacy legislation at the end of 2019, which revealed divisions between Democrats and Republicans over the role of state laws.

Donohue, in his remarks, also slammed the new California law that could force gig companies like Uber to reclassify their workers as employees, and thus guarantee employment protections for them like minimum wage and overtime.

"The business model that has revolutionized entire sectors of the economy will screech to a halt." he said. "The same is true for the innovation we are seeing in everything from home repair tasks to grocery delivery."

The California labor law dictates that workers can generally only be considered contractors if they are doing work outside the usual course of a company's business.

In his speech, Donohue also rejected the conventional Washington wisdom that Congress rarely passes major legislation in election years.

"It's not going to be a year of inaction," he predicted.

The address comes at a moment of transition for the chamber. Long associated with Republicans and a reliable source of campaign funds for conservative politicians, the group in recent years has expressed frustration with partisan gridlock that stalled its ambitions on issues like infrastructure. It has also objected to the trade-skeptic mood that has taken hold in the capital and in the administration of President Donald Trump.

Donohue, 81, who announced in his 2019 address that his group would evaluate lawmakers' bipartisanship while still emphasizing a pro-business agenda, is planning to step down after 2022. He took over the organization in 1997.

In addition to regulatory issues, Donohue was expected to address trade in his speech. The group has worked for months to secure congressional passage of Trump's revamped North American Free Trade Agreement, known as the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The chamber, which steered a coalition backing the deal, said in December that it had held more than 1,000 meetings with lawmakers and congressional staff-members.

The agreement passed the House in December after Democrats negotiated changes to strengthen its labor, environment, drug patent and enforcement provisions, but a Senate vote may not come before next week.

Trump has also said he will sign the first phase of a trade deal with China on Jan. 15. As part of that agreement, China would increase purchases of American farm goods in exchange for lower tariffs on some of its products.
by Ray Schultz , January 9, 2020

Brands active in India will soon find themselves burdened with a GDPR-style law that, in effect, will create barriers to doing business there.

Worse, the law will create criminal penalties, whereas GDPR provides only civil fines.

The government of Narendra Modi has approved a second draft of the pending Personal Data Protection Act and it will be voted on by Parliament in February, according to The Daily Swig.

It was not clear from this report whether the law demands opt-in for sending emails or allows opt-out.

One feature that upsets observers is the rule that sensitive data on Indian citizens must be stored on servers within India, although non-sensitive information can be kept outside. However, the Indian government will define the difference.

Trade groups, including the US-India Business Council (USIBC) and US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, have balked at such barriers to operating in a country of 200 million internet users and an IT sector with an annual growth rate of 7.2%, the Daily Swig writes.

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The new Indian law establishes fines of 2% of a companys annual global turnover for data breach violations, and 4% for repeat offenses.

However, going beyond GDPR, it also can lead to jail time for company directors, the report says.
Irish Foreign Affairs minister Simon Coveney (left) and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Julian Smith, issue a statement outside Stormont Parliament buildings in Belfast, where meetings with parties involved in talks to resurrect the devolved government in Northern Ireland have been taking place. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire

The UK and Irish governments have published a draft deal to restore Stormont, with the Assembly to be recalled on Friday to see if the parties will turn up and sign up to it.

Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith has asked the speaker of the defunct house to hold a sitting on Friday morning, without the Stormont parties having yet agreed to all the proposals.

Expand Close Sinn Fein deputy leader Michelle O'Neill unveils the partys two newly co-opted Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), Liz Kimmins (left) and Deirdre Hargey (right) outside the Stormont Parliament buildings in Belfast. Niall Carson/PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp Sinn Fein deputy leader Michelle O'Neill unveils the partys two newly co-opted Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), Liz Kimmins (left) and Deirdre Hargey (right) outside the Stormont Parliament buildings in Belfast. Niall Carson/PA Wire

The bold move comes without the DUP or Sinn Fein having publicly signalled a willingness to agree to the terms of the deal - called "'New Decade, New Approach".

Friday will see a strike by healthcare workers in the region.

Mr Smith said there was a major financial package on offer from the Government, that would mean the strike would not go ahead if the parties restored the institutions.

"We have had three years of talks and there is finally a good deal on the table that all parties can support," he said.

Simon Coveney said the deal was "filled with compromises".

Mr Coveney said the people needed to tell their politicians to take the opportunity and seal the deal.

"It's now time their politicians stepped up and fully represented their constituents," he said.

"It's time to show leadership and get back to powersharing in Stormont."

The deal represents the governments' joint assessment of how long-standing wrangles on issues such as the Irish language can be resolved.

DUP leader Arlene Foster has said the represents a fair and balanced way to restore powersharing.
The Ambassador of Ukraine emphasized that the revival and preservation of the national memory of the Ukrainian people is one of the main priorities of the state policy of Ukraine.

Ambassador of Ukraine to Israel Hennadii Nadolenko has told Israeli diplomats that discussing historical figures who were members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) is counterproductive.

"On January 9, Mr. Hennadii Nadolenko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Israel, during the meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel brought to the attention of the Israeli side the Ukrainian position, that the public debate held by Mr. Joel Lion, Ambassador of Israel to Ukraine, on internal issues of Ukrainian politics, in particular in the context of the joint statement by the Ambassadors of Israel and the Republic of Poland to Ukraine, dated 2 January 2020, is counterproductive," the Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Israel wrote on Facebook.

Read alsoPoland's Duda not to attend Holocaust forum in Israel

The Ambassador of Ukraine emphasized that the revival and preservation of the national remembrance of the Ukrainian people is one of the main priorities of Ukraine's state policy.

According to him, discussions in this area should be held at the level of historians and experts.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on January 2, the ambassadors to Ukraine of Poland and Israel expressed concern over the events in Ukraine commemorating OUN and UPA leaders. Diplomats said the activities of OUN and UPA leaders should be condemned.

On January 8, MFA Ukraine summoned Poland's ambassador over the statement.
Aretha Franklin's youngest son Kecalf has slammed a pair of projects about the late Queen of Soul: the MGM film Respect, which stars Jennifer Hudson as Aretha, and The Queen Next Door.

Kecalf, 49, said on his Facebook page that his family hasn't been contacted about either project, adding that 'everything else is being done against our wishes.

'How can you make a movie about a person and not talk to the persons sons or grandchildren about important information?' he asked Saturday in the post, which was written in mostly capital letters.

The latest: Aretha Franklin's youngest son Kecalf, 49, has slammed a pair of projects about the late the Queen of Soul, including the MGM film Respect, which stars Jennifer Hudson, 38

He took photojournalist Linda Solomon to task for the aforementioned book, saying she was unauthorized to use pictures that she placed in her book, which was released this past October.

'How can you put a persons family (image) in a book and not ask permission?' Kecalf said. 'If you are a "real" fan of my mothers.please do not support this. Ask yourself.would you want this done to you?'

In his post, Kecalf said that 'the "only" person' Aretha 'was in favor of for the movie was' Hudson.

He discouraged fans of the late musical icon to boycott both projects, saying, 'If you are a "real" fan of my mothers....Please do not support this.'

Upset: Kecalf said on his Facebook page that his family hasn't been contacted about either project, adding that 'everything else is being done against our wishes'

Making a statement: Kecalf discouraged fans of the late musical icon to boycott both projects, saying, 'If you are a "real" fan of my mothers....Please do not support this'

Proud son: Kecalf accepted an award on his late mom's behalf at Evolution of Gospel - A Tribute to Aretha Franklin at The Kennedy Center in September 2018 in Washington, D.C.

The issue comes amid a complex series of events that have come in the wake of Aretha's death at 76 in August 2018.

Kecalf, through the courts, has sought replace Franklin's niece Sabrina Owens as the executor of her estate in Michigan's Oakland County Probate Court, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Estate lawyer David Bennett told the paper that his complaints about the projects' are reflective of 'his attempts to become the personal representative of the estate.'

Bennett said Kecalf 'does not speak for the family,' as 'the grandchildren have absolutely nothing to do with this.

'What he's really doing is talking for himself,' he said. The lawyer noted that the film is set earlier in Aretha's life when 'Kelf Franklin either was not alive, or was of such a tender young age, that he wouldn't have direct knowledge of matters.'

Legend: Aretha performed in NYC November of 2018, less than a year before her passing

Approved by the Queen: Kecalf said that 'the "only" person' Aretha 'was in favor of for the movie was' Hudson, seen filming with Marlon Wayans

The issue of who would act as executor comes after another will left by Aretha was found last year, and presiding Judge Jennifer Callaghan ordered a handwriting expert to determine if it was authentic; and Franklin's four sons to mediate the issue with Owens.

Respect, directed by Liesl Tommy, features an ensemble cast of Hudson, Marlon Wayans, Mary J. Blige, Forest Whitaker, Marc Maron and Audra McDonald.

It's slated to hit theaters August 14, according to iMDb.
A QUARANTINE official in Cebu said there is no need to panic amid reports of a pneumonia outbreak in mainland China, with foreign media reporting that dozens of Chinese fell ill with the disease.

Terence Anthony Bermejo, chief of the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) Cebu, said on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, that there is no need for the general public to wear masks.

However, he said persons who are immunocompromised, or those who are living with diabetes, human immunodeficiency virus, undergoing chemotherapy and malnourished are advised to wear masks.

The BOQ Cebu personnel are closely monitoring the passengers of flights from China at Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) in Lapu-Lapu City. The MCIA has a passive thermal imaging machine, which reads the body temperature of passengers.

High temperature

Bermejo said they also have a set of protocols to follow when they detect a passenger with high body temperature.

Asked whether turning off air conditioning units in the facilities owned by the Cebu Provincial Government could combat the mysterious respiratory illness by preventing its spread, Department of Health (DOH) 7 Director Jaime Bernadas sees no need to do so.

Cases of pneumonia of unknown cause were first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. Clinical signs and symptoms are mainly fever, with a few patients having difficulty in breathing. As of yet, there are no similar cases detected in the Philippines.

Isolated treatment

In South Korea, the Associated Press reported that a 36-year-old Chinese woman was placed in isolated treatment. The woman was diagnosed with pneumonia on Tuesday, Jan. 7, following two business trips to China last month.

Bernadas said none of the 11 Chinese with severe viral pneumonia cases died. The patients are now undergoing treatment.

Chinese health authorities also investigated more than 40 cases in China, and they found out that the patients were not afflicted with previous types of influenza such as A(H1N1), adenovirus and severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Story continues

He said Chinas health ministry is also doing its best to contain the virus in Wuhan by conducting its own quarantine measures.

The health ministry conducted tests on 121 persons who may have contracted the respiratory illness from the hospitalized patients.

Bernadas advised the public to fortify their immune system by avoiding stress, getting enough sleep, taking vitamins and observing proper hygiene. (WBS)
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump said Thursday he doesnt believe that mechanical failure caused a Ukrainian jet to crash after takeoff in Tehran and suggested that something very terrible happened.

I personally dont even think thats even a question" as to whether the crash was caused by mechanical failure, Trump told reporters at the White House.

It was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood. Somebody could have made a mistake, he said.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashed hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. soldiers. All 176 passengers and crew of the Boeing 737-800 were killed.

Iran blamed the crash on engine failure. But a London-based global information firm says the plane probably was mistakenly shot down by an Iranian missile.

Citing intelligence reports, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that the plane appears to have been downed by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. Sixty-three Canadians were aboard the aircraft. Trudeau also said the downing of the plane may have been an accident but a "full and credible" investigation is required.

U.S. intelligence indicates that the Iranian military accidentally shot down the Ukrainian airliner with a Russian-supplied anti-aircraft missile, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Intelligence sensors showed that Iranian air-defense radar locked onto the passenger plane, the official said. Irans military then launched two SA-15 surface-to-air missiles and brought the plane down in a fiery crash.

The downing of the plane occurred shortly after Iran launched 16 ballistic missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq. Its unclear if the Ukrainian airliner was mistaken as a threat by the Iranian military, the official said.

The SA-15 is a surface-to-air missile system designed to destroy aircraft, cruise missiles and drones.

In Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said that investigators were looking into claims that parts of a Russian-made, surface-to-air missile stocked by Iran had been found near the crash site.

Story continues

President Donald Trump

Trump declined to share his theories around why the plane crashed but said he thought something very terrible happened. Very devastating.

Well, I have my suspicions. It was very  I dont want to say thatbecause other people have those suspicions also.

He also said someone on other side could have made a mistake.

Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Iran plane crash: Trump says something 'terrible' downed Ukrainian jet
by Ray Schultz , January 9, 2020

The Trump campaign is leveraging the killing of Qasem Soleimani in fundraising emails, according to multiple media reports.

Thanks to the swift actions of our Commander-in-Chief, Iranian terrorist Qassem Soleimani is no longer a threat to the United States, or to the world, says the email sent on Monday.

It adds: Finally, we have a President who will do whatever it takes to protect America at home and abroad. Irans Terrorist-in-Chief was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands, including hundreds of Americans in Iraq. He should have been taken out long ago.

The subject line is ANOTHER dead terrorist.

The email also states that Soleimani was a monster responsible for THOUSANDS of American deaths, and the world is a better place without him in it, the campaign email read, with a subject line that declared, ANOTHER dead terrorist.

The Trump campaign also launched a Facebook ad blitz exploiting the killing on Tuesday.
Photo: Giuseppe Milo/Flickr

Read on for the most recent top news you may have missed in Los Angeles.

Buck Henry dies at 89; writer/actor/director was nominated for 2 Oscars

The longtime actor/writer/director died of a heart attack in Los Angeles.

Read the full story on New York Daily News.

Fatal crash temporarily closes northbound lanes of 405 Freeway in Hawthorne

A 35-year-old Los Angeles man was killed in a two-vehicle crash on the northbound 405 Freeway in Hawthorne, authorities said Wednesday.

Read the full story on Daily Breeze.

LAPD looking for armed bandits robbing multiple nail salons, customers

Police are looking for a pair of armed bandits who have robbed at least seven nail salons and their customers in the Los Angeles area recently.

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Brutal road-rage punch leaves man unconscious for a week

A Los Angeles driver was knocked out during a New Years night road-rage incident  and has not regained consciousness since the attack.

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could be setting up home in LA, insiders say

There is word that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may be moving to Southern California.

Read the full story on CBS Los Angeles.

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.
Dubai Airports lauded the announcement of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on the formation of the new Dubai Council and its role in furthering Dubais aspiration to become the best city in the world by providing a high quality of life for all its residents.



Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said that aviation infrastructure forms an essential part of the emirates planning for the next 50 years to help fuel economic expansion, social development and the continued emergence of Dubai as a leading global city. He pointed out that Dubai International Airport (DXB) ranks as the number one airport for international passengers for the sixth year in a row.



Griffiths said: "The considerable achievements of Dubais aviation sector have been the direct result of the insight of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum who was given responsibility for the aviation sector in the mid-1970s by the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai at that time. Since then, Dubais aviation sector has undergone remarkable growth and development hand-in-hand with the ascension of Dubai as a city world-renowned for its importance as a centre for trade, commerce and tourism. This is all thanks to his vision, the Dubai governments timely and considerable investments and the guidance and wise management of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum who was assigned to lead the aviation sector in Dubai in the mid-1980s and has developed a sector which now serves some 90 million passengers annually.



Griffiths added: "The declaration of the Fifty-Year Charter, the formation of the new Dubai Council and the assignment of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed to supervise the management of aviation and other vital sectors of the Dubai economy will become a road map for us to move forward and build on the sectors already significant achievements." - TradeArabia News Service
A Delhi court has directed Tihar jail authorities to provide treatment to Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for polycythemia, a blood related medical condition.

The Court said it is the duty of the state to preserve life, whether a person is incarcerated or outside prison.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Arul Verma expressed his displeasure that despite being aware of the accused's condition he was not given proper treatment for it. The jail authorities embarked on a quest to give him ordinary medication and none of them relates to polycythemia.

Verma in his order said, "The sum and substance of the matter is that there is a report on record of two doctors from the department of haematology AIIMS, who have categorically stated that as per their clinical assessment the accused has polycythemia. The court directs the jail authorities to give the requisite treatment to Bhim Army Chief for Polycythemia. The court said that it is the duty of the state to preserve life, whether a person is incarcerated or outside prisons."

Azad's lawyer Mehmood Pracha said that "His symptoms like blurred vision etc show that he has acute Polycythemia. He is Bhim Army Chief and not a hardcore criminal, he's a political prisoner. The jail authorities don't know how to treat it. I'm not asking for bail."

The medical officer's report claimed that Azad's vitals were stable.

He said that Azad had continuously complained of different medical issues, which show that his condition was deteriorating. The jail medical officer has submitted that Azad can't seek treatment only through AIIMS.

He said that tests need to be done to ensure that Bhim Army Chief does have polycythemia.

Jail authority has said Azad was reviewed in dispensary regarding a couple of symptoms and he was given the required attention.

Yesterday the matter was heard by CMM Verma and the court has passed an interim order that Azad should be given urgent medical care if needed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
USA: Jill Sanborn Named Assistant Director of the Counterterrorism Division

Director Christopher Wray has named Jill Sanborn as the assistant director of the Counterterrorism Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington. Ms. Sanborn most recently served as the special agent in charge of the Minneapolis Field Office.

Ms. Sanborn began her FBI career as a special agent in 1998 and was assigned to the Phoenix Field Office, where she investigated bank fraud and computer intrusion. She joined the Phoenix Joint Terrorism Task Force in 2001 and was named to the Counterterrorism Divisions Fly Team in 2006. As a member of the fly team, Ms. Sanborn deployed to Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Kenya, and Pakistan.

Ms. Sanborn was detailed to the CIAs Counterterrorism Center as the acting deputy director for law enforcement in 2010. The next year, she was promoted to unit chief in the Counterterrorism Division, leading more than 400 extraterritorial investigations covering Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Southeast Asia. She returned to the field in 2012 as a supervisory special agent at the Washington Field Office, where she managed overseas kidnapping cases and the extradition of four high-value terrorism subjects.

In 2015, Ms. Sanborn was promoted to assistant special agent in charge in the Los Angeles Field Office, where she oversaw counterterrorism matters in Orange County and the cities of West Covina and Riverside. She also served as the assistant special agent in charge over the investigation of the 2015 San Bernardino terror attack that left 14 dead and 22 injured.

Ms. Sanborn was promoted to section chief in the Counterterrorism Division at Headquarters in 2016, responsible for overseeing all counterterrorism investigations overseas. Director Wray named her the head of the Minneapolis Field Office in 2018.

Ms. Sanborn earned a bachelors business administration in finance from the University of Portland. Prior to joining the FBI, she was an investigator at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : World Bank has cautioned India that credit flow from the non-bank financial companies (NBFC) is expected to linger while growth will remain subdued at 5 per cent for the current fiscal.

"In India, where weakness in credit from non-bank financial companies is expected to linger, growth is projected to slow to 5 per cent in FY 2019/20, which ends March 31 and recover to 5.8 per cent the following fiscal year", the World Bank said in its January 2020 Global Economic Prospects.

The World Bank assessment may have come from the trail of events where, despite government intervention, credit disbursals by the NBFCs have not taken place satisfactorily to the extent it should be. NBFCs are lifeline of rural demand as much of the Indian economy is informal where taking a bank loan is cumbersome for rural and tier II city population.

Inadequate credit flow from commercial banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to industry has frequently been cited as a major constraint to growth.

The Credit disbursals by the NBFCs have continued to slide despite government measures to boost bank funding to the sector. Loan sanctions fell 34 per cent in the September quarter, a year after the NBFC liquidity crisis that was sparked by the unexpected defaults at the Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS).

Total NBFC sanctions fell to Rs 1.9 lakh crore at the end of September from Rs 2.9 lakh crore during the same period last year, as per data compiled by the CRIF High Mark credit bureau and the Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC).

The NBFCs play a pivotal role driving last-mile credit reach and the government has been ironing out glitches in fund flow and cost of funds to non-AAA-rated NBFCs to fix this issue.

The Bank also painted a gloomy picture for the emerging economies as well as the advanced economies. As per government estimates India is expected to grow at 5 per cent in FY 20, a 11-year low. The Q2 growth has been just 4.5 per cent.

Growth among advanced economies as a group is anticipated to slip to 1.4 per cent in 2020 in part due to continued softness in manufacturing.

Growth in emerging market and developing economies is expected to accelerate this year to 4.1 per cent. This rebound is not broad-based; instead, it assumes improved performance of a small group of large economies, some of which are emerging from a period of substantial weakness.

About a third of emerging market and developing economies are projected to decelerate this year due to weaker-than-expected exports and investment.

"With growth in emerging and developing economies likely to remain slow, policymakers should seize the opportunity to undertake structural reforms that boost broad-based growth, which is essential to poverty reduction," said World Bank Group Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu.

"Steps to improve the business climate, the rule of law, debt management, and productivity can help achieve sustained growth", the World Bank said.
Everything you need/want to know to visit Cuba, 2019/2020, we just returned for a 13 day trip from NJ.

Yes! USA citizens can still legally visit Cuba for the reason of "support for the Cuban people". Visa, you get it at the airport before checking in. $75 for United at Newark($25 fee and the $50 visa card). Your health insurance in Cuba is covered by a mandatary surcharge in the airfare. We had a fantastic time during the Christmas and new year time on the cheap. Averaging more than 20k steps a day, and more than 3 cocktails a day. Had more straight rum than I could have ever imagined. Cuba is extremely safe and it's public health is better than most counties in the Americas.

Important notes!!

A: US credit and cash cards do not work in Cuba. CUC (peso convertible) is pegged 1:1 to USD, but 10% surcharge for exchange USD to CUCs in the airport or other official places. UA uses T2, which is the old terminal. There is an ATM outside, if you have non-US ATM cards, you can get CUCs, 3% commission (I got 400 CUCs, receipt says 412 USD, CMB). there is no line for ATM, so I did not change my euro (as insurance to have enough money, more later) to CUCs. It is said there are always long lines at the money exchange at the airport.

Many restaurants and taxi drivers (but not all!) prefer to get USD (1for1). You will need some CUCs leaving the airport for taxi, but USD should be good as well,flat rate 25 CUCs to town. you can easily get 1:1 conversations with private exchange near city centers or in some restaurants (we changed a few hundreds). We ran out of USD, and got another 400 CUCs from ATM on the tenth day (again, it's 412USD, BOC). Like all trips, you will always spend more money than you think. This is a cheap vacation, we had a great time. It costed ~$150/day/2p (400+400+$800 for 13 days, spent all of the cash, so easy to calculate, Airbnb prepaid $250, visa $150) not including airfare, but bought some liquor and cigars. Please have more means for money or bring more cash than you think you will need and put in different places, otherwise, you will get stuck!!!!! Western Union is extremely costly to get money. We lent 100 CUCs to someone (we did not know) from Miami on blind Faith as he lost his wallet. He paid back through Venmo upon returning.

B: Transportation: we tried everything, bus most comfortable and slowest (station to station, >20% more time), private taxi fastest and most expensive, shared taxi is the best compromise (point to point, and slightly more than bus). Do not rent a car. It's cheaper to get taxi than renting a car. Viazul bus tickets can be booked on the net many weeks before using US credit card (use IE, chrome doesn't work).

C: Stays, use Airbnb to book casa particulars (Cuba does not have the hotel infrastructure to accommodate the tourists, so they let private home owners to rent out their rooms, there are more casas than tourists, so never worry you will arrive without a place to stay. I normally use booking.com, but it doesn't have reviews for Cuba hotels/casas. My 3 criteria for stay: close to town center (all about location!), With private bathroom; and good ratings with good rate. I paid $10-40 a night for a room. Booked five places, all good. I did not see any difference between the $10 or the $40 casas.

D. Internet (wifi) cards, officially $1/h, but if you don't want to be in lines, just pay $5 for 3, or $2 for one from the scalpers, hotels charge $4/ card. Do not buy multiple hour card, as if you forget to log off, you may run out the entire card. Use settings, wifi, forget network to log off. 10-15 minutes is all you need per day for uploads and downloads. You have to have everything written up before. The price is not the worst part, you have to find the wifi spots (maps.me has the info), and you may not be able to log on, even the signal is strong. Even if you get everything right, it may not let you log in, and you will have to find another place(we thought the cards were bad, bought two additional ones at two eqch before realizing the issue). It can be very slow if many people are using the same spot. Do it early in the morning, it is really fast. Somehow we had best luck at the La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana (the Hemingway Mojitos bar), and went there many times for the internet and Mojitos ($5 a piece, Hemingway is right). It's a good place to treat internet or WeChat addiction.

E. Download maps.me and offline Cuba map before you leave. It is a life saver, good for offline use, has ratings on most restaurants and attractions. Contribute by write reviews!! Google maps is not good in Cuba. Make sure everything works in airplane mode before leaving the US.

F. Food, surprisingly good if you do it right, otherwise awful. Some are US prices, you have to do your homework to get good food, and may have to wait in line even in mid afternoon. Drinks: Mojitos is the national drink and it's good. They put in twice as much rum as in the US. I had more cocktails in the trip than I had many years combined. 3 in an average day! They serve rum in the morning! We did one meal a day (I have been doing intermittent fasting for a year, lost 30 pounds), and sometimes go to the next restaurant to eat if first one has small portions (restaurant hoping). We ate well, paid $10-45 for meals for two. More expensive does not mean better. Los Nardos in Havana is the best. Lots of food and 10 CUCs a person with cocktails.

G. Cubans are very nice and helpful! However, there are small time swindlers that try to bring you to really expensive places to earn money. We fell to one, and had mojitos that are 6x more expensive than the cheapest we had. I knew it half way, but went along with it as I was having a great time seeing him acting. So it is worth the time and small amount of money ($15 over spent, but that's big money for Cubans, half a month's salary).

H. Leaving Cuba. Taxi to the airport is 25 CUCs. You can buy some food before entering security, better yet, eat before going to the airport. Make sure to change all your CUCs to dollars! once past security, CUCs cannot be used. Price of liquor at the duty free shop is similar to outside stores, and are marked in dollars, but if you pay with USD adds10% extra. Better to use euro or Canadian. The duty free shop has the name brand cigars, similar price to the city, apparently USD can be used without surcharge, they want to poison the Americans. Off brands are a lot cheaper. We don't smoke, but bought some for friends.

I. Cuban rums are much better than those we get in the US. I tried Bacardi on my flight back for comparison. So buy the most rum in Cuba as the US customs allow (which is a lot!).

J. If you have an over the ear noise cancling headphone, bring it. Will be useful for the noisy taxi rides.
Gold prices were steady on Thursday, retreating from the near seven-year peak hit in the previous session, as a softening rhetoric by the United States and Iran allayed concerns of a larger military conflict.

FUNDAMENTALS

** Spot gold was unchanged at $1,555.51 per ounce by 0031 GMT. Prices hit their highest since March 2013 at $1,610.90 on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures fell 0.3% to $1,555.90.

** President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States did not necessarily have to respond militarily to Iran's attack on military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq.

** Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the strikes "concluded" Tehran's response to the killing of top military commander Qassem Soleimani.

** U.S. private payrolls increased by the most in eight months in December, pointing to sustained labour market strength.

** The World Bank on Wednesday trimmed its global growth forecasts slightly for 2019 and 2020 due to a slower-than-expected recovery in trade and investment despite cooler trade tensions between the United States and China.

** The Perth Mint's gold product sales in December rose to their highest in more than three years, the refiner said on Wednesday, citing higher demand from Germany.

** Holdings of the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund SPDR Gold Trust fell 1.05% to 886.81 tonnes on Wednesday.

** Elsewhere, palladium edged up 0.2% to $2,108.31 an ounce, trading near the all-time peak of $2,108.81 hit in the previous session on supply concerns.

** Silver gained 0.2% to $18.12 per ounce, after hitting its highest since September at $18.85 on Wednesday, while platinum inched up 0.1% to $954.26.
Fire has broken out at an establishment in Patparganj Industrial Area of East Delhi in the early hours of Thursday

New Delhi: A person died in a fire at a printing press in the busy Patparganj Industrial Area early Thursday, a Delhi Fire Service official said. A call to report the fire was received at 2.38 am after which more than 30 fire tenders were rushed to the spot, he said, adding the fire was brought under control by 8 am.

Delhi: Fire broke out at a paper printing press in Patparganj Industrial Area today, one person dead. 35 fire tenders are present at the spot. pic.twitter.com/7syFT5yF7V  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

After that, a search was done to see if anyone was trapped in the building, he said. The cooling process is now underway.

He said the fire had engulfed the ground, first and second floors of the building, except the basement.

Police said they received information about fire at Kaveri printing press at 2:45 am, when the manager Yogesh called them. The press owners have been identified as Atul and Anuj Goyal, residents of Sukhdev Vihar, they said.

The man who died in the fire has been identified as Phool Dev, from Bihar, who used to work as a help there. Dev went inside the building in the night to sleep before the fire started and died due to suffocation, the fire department official said.

The body has been kept at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital and the post-mortem will be done once the family reaches here, police said.
The meeting at 6A Deendayal Upadhyay Marg, the party headquarters, started at 10.30 a.m. and lasted till about 1.30 p.m. Sitharaman listened to what the BJP expects in terms of policy changes which can make its life easy when they hit the ground to campaign. A senior BJP leader cautioned against calling it a "demand" but "policy fine-tuning".

What happened behind the closed doors?

Thursday's meeting of Sitharaman was divided into four segments: meeting with key post holders, heads of different cells of BJP, the media department and finally, intellectuals. The meeting was attended by senior leadership like BJP's Working President J.P. Nadda, General Secretary, Organisation, B.L. Santosh, General Secretaries Bhupendra Yadav, and Arun Singh among others.

In the meeting with different cell heads, they elaborated what they are looking forward to in the budget 2020. For instance, the SC/ST Cell demanded certain 'special concessions' for the Scheduled Caste and Tribe community that may give the BJP an edge while battling parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party or outfits like Bheem Army.

However, in the interaction with the media cell, it was less about taking inputs than informing the army of BJP spokespersons on what to market and how on national television. For instance, a media cell member, who attended the closed door interaction with the Minister told IANS: "She cited the coal auction system as something that has brought transparency and going to generate employment." It was a suggestion to stress this point vigorously in TV debates, making a case for the Modi government.

Industry expresses concern through BJP:

For the first time the party has been holding background talks with industry experts and representatives to understand what they need to activate growth. Seven such meetings are already over. Party spokesperson on economic affairs, Gopal Krishna Agarwal, who has been at the thick of such meetings, told IANS that the outcome of the last seven meetings were conveyed "one by one" which, Agarwal claims, the FM listened "patiently and kept noting".

Four such background meets with industry representatives are yet to take place. Once they are over, another meeting with Sitharaman will be arranged where their basics will be communicated to her. According to Agarwal, 200 individuals are either been asked or in process of being asked for their opinions and requirements for respective industrial sectors during the 11 meetings.

"Gaon, gareeb, Kisan" budget

General Secretary Arun Singh, who attended the meeting told media that it will be a "gaon, gareeb, Kisan" (village, poor, farmer) driven budget. Though he refused to elaborate further, the sense is there is expected to be goodies for the agriculture sector and some relief for farmers, making it look appealing to them.

While, economists that IANS spoke to suggested the government may not go for a big farmer loan write offs, given the fiscal deficit it is facing, it may introduce farmer subsidy for owning certain equipments or obtaining certain facilities. While it may boost rural growth, it also makes political sense for the ruling party.

However, all these behind the doors preparation by the BJP was overshadowed by the Finance Minister's absence from the crucial two-hour long Niti Aayog meeting on Thursday with over 30 industry experts and economists to review and take their views on steps to revive the Indian economy on growth and employment. Home Minister Amit Shah, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari were present at the event too.

(Anindya Banerjee can be contacted at anindya.b@ians.in)
Two tents were destroyed in a minor fire on Thursday morning at the ongoing 'Rann Utsav' in Tent City, a famous tourist destination in Gujarat's Kutch district, a fire official said.

While there was no casualty, an NRI family claimed to have lost all their belongings in the mishap.

Some tourists who had booked the tents claimed that short-circuit in a water heater may have caused the blaze, the official said, adding that an inquiry was on to ascertain the exact cause of the fire.

"Two tents were gutted in a fire at the Tent City in the morning. No one was injured in the incident as the occupants were out for breakfast. Our fire engines stationed at the Tent City brought the blaze under control," fire officer Anil Maru said.

The Tent City, run by a private operator selected by the Gujarat government, is situated at Dhordo, a remote village around 80 km from Bhuj town in Kutch.

Tourists from across the world come to stay at the Tent City, having around 350 tents, during the 'Rann Utsav', a music and dance carnival celebrated between December and February.

While no one was injured, an NRI family claimed they lost all their belongings in the fire.

The family members also claimed that at least four tents were destroyed in the fire.

"The fire completely destroyed four tents. No one from the management made any efforts to douse the fire. We lost all our clothes, valuables, credit cards, driving licenses and two passports," a member from the NRI family said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival Cruise Line has taken steps to prevent cruise-goers from donning lewd and controversial garments on its ships by amending its dress code to ban "offensive" clothing.

The change approved in December ban guests from wearing items that "contain any message that may be considered offensive or contain nudity, profanity, sexual innuendo/suggestions. In addition, clothing/accessories should not promote negative ethnic or racial, commentary, or hatred or violence in any form," according to the company's updated website FAQ.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

Trend:

Azerbaijan has become one of the leading countries in the world in the energy field, President Ilham Aliyev said while receiving Vugar Ahmadov on the occasion of his appointment as chairman of the Azerishig Open Joint Stock Company.

Energy supply is a strategic sector for any country, the Azerbaijani president noted.

In recent years, a lot has been done in this area in our country, Ilham Aliyev said. The creation of generation capacities was envisaged under the first state program on the socioeconomic development of the regions adopted in 2004. We have already fully achieved this. Today we have an additional energy capacity of about 1,000 megawatts, which make up a reserve and also expand our export potential. Last year, our country received about $60 million from electricity exports.

This work is underpinned by the creation of generating capacities, the Azerbaijani president noted. Over the past 15 years, we have created about 3,000 megawatts of new generating capacity and built numerous power plants. Thus, Azerbaijan has become one of the leading countries in the world in this field. At the same time, much attention was paid to the reconstruction and laying of distribution lines. Of course, the distribution network must meet modern standards, which is one of the key issues on our agenda.

There was a time when power supply of our country was in the hands of private companies, and this practice did not justify itself, Ilham Aliyev added. On the contrary, it created great problems for us. Some people have forgotten that TV channels used to be turned off at night due to a lack of electricity. Electricity supply of Baku was in a deplorable state. Barmek, which monopolized energy supply in Baku, completely disabled the energy economy. Many have forgotten that period. I remember it well. It was on my decision and instruction that the unsatisfactory work of foreign businessmen was thoroughly analyzed.

The energy supply of Baku was returned to the state and Azerishig was established, said the Azerbaijani president. It was me who named this Joint-Stock Company Azerishig. Since that time, the state has allocated large funds for this area and managed to create a serious turnaround. Energy sustainability is fully ensured in Azerbaijan today.

But despite all these positive aspects, there have been major flaws and miscalculations, Ilham Aliyev noted. Otherwise, we would not have experienced the breakdown in 2018. The analysis carried out after the breakdown showed that it had happened solely as a result of negligence and irresponsibility. It was informed in detail with pictures and evidence about the terrible state of our Mingachevir thermal power plant. These pictures are horrifying. Incredible negligence and incredible irresponsibility! Therefore, the leadership of AzerEnerji was replaced in full.

Five blocks of the Mingachevir Thermal Power Plant were overhauled, the Azerbaijani president added. It is safe to say that they were reconstructed. The lost capacity was restored. We recovered approximately 400 megawatts of the lost capacity. In other words, our existing power plants lost these capacities precisely because of irresponsibility and unprofessional work.

As a result of repairs, we restored 400 megawatts of power without building new stations, Ilham Aliyev said. On the remaining three blocks of the Mingachevir Thermal Power Plant, reconstruction will be carried out in 2020 and additional generating capacities will be obtained.

In parallel with this, the Shimal-2 power station with a capacity of 400 megawatts was commissioned in 2019. This factor also significantly strengthens our energy potential. At the same time, we are now seriously developing renewable energy.

A 50-megawatt wind farm is already operational. Today, private foreign companies show great interest in this area, want to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in this sector, and we appreciate that, the Azerbaijani president added.

Thus, in order to meet our growing needs in the coming years, it is necessary to create new stations and inspect existing plants that provide electricity, build new substations and repair existing ones, Ilham Aliyev noted. We are doing and will continue to do all this work in a consistent manner. Azerishig should also be guided by the most modern principles in its work. All our energy facilities must meet high standards. It is necessary to ensure the sustainability of electricity  from generation to the last point  peoples apartments.

As part of numerous trips to the regions, I have taken part in the opening of a number of power plants and substations, the Azerbaijani president said. I am always interested in how things are going with electricity in the districts. In recent years, a very large turnaround has been observed in this area, and this process will be continued. There is still an energy infrastructure in need of repair. We will consistently resolve these issues so that there are no problems in this area.

The growing population and industrial potential of our country dictates the need for this area always to be in the spotlight, Ilham Aliyev noted. Therefore, when I started working as president, a lot of attention among infrastructure projects was primarily given to this particular sector. On my instruction and under my control, several power plants were built in the regions. We have built the Khachmaz, Shahdag, Astara, Sheki and Baku stations in order to have and increase generating capacities in each region.

The Janub power plant with a generating capacity of about 800 megawatts was built in the city of Shirvan, said the Azerbaijani president. The Shimal-1 and Shimal-2 power plants were commissioned. All this requires a lot of work and foresight. At one time, we depended on imports, but now we provide ourselves with electricity and even export it. Export is possible only if domestic needs are fully met. We have been able to achieve this.

It is no coincidence that the Davos World Economic Forum praised the work done in this area, Ilham Aliyev added. In terms of the access to electricity, the Davos Forum has awarded Azerbaijan the first place in the CIS, while on the global scale we are in second place. By this indicator, we have overtaken the most developed countries of the world. The main goal of the production and distribution of electricity is to deliver it to enterprises and people. This is what accessibility means.

So energy is available to people and enterprises, and by this indicator we are in second place in the world, the Azerbaijani president noted. This is the result of our work. But we cannot be complacent with the successes achieved. Both AzerEnerji and Azerishig have major tasks. I am sure that these tasks will be fulfilled in a consistent manner and thus the provision of electricity will always be at a high level.
STAMFORD  A Georgia man caught trying to catch a West Coast flight home to his native Nigeria was extradited to Stamford over the weekend where he is facing charges that he illegally intercepted a $30,000 wire transfer from Purdue Pharma.

Emmanuel Mong, 24, of Savannah, was charged this week with first-degree larceny, conspiracy at committing a computer crime and conspiracy at criminal impersonation and was released after posting a $250,000 court appearance bond.

But his Stamford criminal defense attorney, Alan Friedman, insists the police have the wrong man and the real criminal is already under federal indictment in the Southern District of New York.

This guy is innocent, Friedman said.

Mong, whose address is listed as Savannah, Georgia, was trying to catch an Emirates Airlines flight to Nigeria on Dec. 16 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, according to Port of Seattle police. Seeing there was a felony warrant in his name, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers detained him until police arrived at Sea-Tac Airport.

According to the report, Stamford police issued a warrant for Mongs arrest in 2017.

Despite his protests that he has never lived in Georgia and claims that he is not the person wanted in the warrant, Mong was extradited to Stamford.

Friedman said at the time Mong lived in South Carolina and was a full-time student at Claflin University, where he had a 4.0 grade average and graduated with honors.

According to Mongs four-page arrest affidavit, Sean Coughlin, a Stamford police financial crimes investigator, said Purdue Pharma became the victim of what is known as a man-in-the-middle scam, wherein a corporation, usually with business connections to Africa or Asia, have their email systems hacked by a computer virus or some other malware.

In Mongs arrest affidavit, Coughlin explained that once they hack inside an email system, the fraudsters will monitor company email traffic, learning payment behaviors and relevant executives names. Eventually they will direct someone within the company to send a normal accounts-payable wire to an account controlled by the fraudsters.

That is exactly what happened in this case, Coughlin said in the affidavit.

Back in April 2017, Purdue Pharma sent a payment of $30,000 for production materials to a Wells Fargo bank account, the affidavit said. But a month later, the company owed the money said it never got the wire.

Police investigated and discovered the account that the money was sent to was located in Savannah, Georgia, the affidavit said.

An internal Purdue Pharma investigation found that the email requesting the money, ostensibly sent by the outside company, could be traced to a Kuwaiti address at the web housing website godaddy.com, and therefore never came from the company actually doing business with Purdue Pharma, the affidavit said.

Results of a search warrant served on Wells Fargo revealed that the account was opened about a month before the wire transfer was made and was closed in May 2017, the same month Purdue Pharma became aware of the theft, the affidavit said.

The search warrant showed the account was registered to Mong. The account also showed a separate incoming wire transfer of $59,000, likely from an additional victim, the arrest warrant said.

But Friedman said the man under federal indictment illegally used Mongs name, which is even mentioned in the indictment.

My client, Mr. Mong was a victim of this scam. The real perpetrator has was picked up during an international crime syndicate sting in May 2019, for exactly the same allegations as in this case, Friedman said. This is a case of mistaken identity. Mr. Mong had his name used by the criminal syndicate to set up the bank account and withdraw the funds. He had nothing to do with this.

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com
Mack Trucks plans to lay off 305 employees at its Lehigh Valley assembly plant, the company said Wednesday.

Mack blamed the layoffs at its Lower Macungie Township plant on a downturn in the heavy-duty truck market. They will take effect at the end of February, The (Allentown) Morning Call reported. The cuts represent about 13% of the plants payroll.

"We regret having to take this action, but we operate in a cyclical market, and after two years of extremely high volumes, we have to adapt to reduced market demand," said Mack spokesman Christopher Heffner.

Employees, most of whom belong to the auto workers union, were informed of the news Wednesday. Mack Truck workers in Pennsylvania and two other states last fall ratified a four-year collective bargaining agreement reached after a 12-day walkout.

The cuts were expected after Mack said last month that it would need to slow production to cope with reduced demand. Mack expects the North American truck market to be down nearly 30% this year.

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Taiwan's General Election Overshadowed by China Threat, Hong Kong Protests

2020-01-08 -- Taiwan is gearing up for a general election at the weekend that will see more than 19 million voters respond to growing fears of Chinese influence and interference in the democratic island in the wake of months of mass protests and police violence in Hong Kong.

The democratic island, which has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party nor formed part of the People's Republic of China, will nevertheless be choosing between candidates who espouse a closer relationship with Taiwan's powerful neighbor, and those who believe Chinese influence is a threat to its democratic way of life.

Incumbent Tsai Ing-wen of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has seen her support grow as she has repeatedly spoken out in defense of Taiwan's sovereignty and demanded that Beijing -- which has refused to rule out the use of military force to annex the island -- treat Taipei as an equal partner and sovereign state.

Tsai headed out this week for a final tour of the island ahead of Saturday's election, once more hammering home her chief message, that a vote for her is a vote to protect Taiwan's freedom and democracy.

"Taiwan is a free and democratic society: freedom and democracy are our core values," she said. "This election is a crucial one  which will influence the future development of the country."

"I hope young people won't stay away. This election campaign is for young people. Fight for Taiwan!" she said.

Tsai is running against Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu of the Kuomintang (KMT) nationalist party, and veteran candidate James Soong of the People First Party.

No threat to freedoms

Han said his pro-business, pro-China platform wouldn't pose a threat to Taiwan's freedoms.

"If I were president, I would guarantee freedom of speech 100 percent in Taiwan," he said ahead of a planned rally outside the presidential palace to round off his campaign.

"All of our good friends who support [me] have waited a long time for this moment  so let us show our support and faith and love for the Republic of China," he said.

Support for the KMT, the party that fled to Taiwan with the 1911 Republic of China government after losing control of China in 1949 and which still believes in a "unified" China that includes Taiwan, last month hit a new low.

A senior U.S. defense official said Washington wants to see a "free and fair" election in Taiwan, amid warnings from Tsai's administration and Taiwan's security agencies that Beijing has attempted to influence the outcome by proxy funding its favored candidates and spreading misinformation through friendly media organizations and social media.

And a senior U.S. State Department official said officials in Taiwan are "aware of the potential of that sort of influence" when asked about possible Chinese influence in Taiwan's Saturday elections, the island's Central News Agency reported.

He said the key to resolving issues of external interference in the affairs of other countries, such as elections, is to make the population aware of the danger.

"The U.S. takes no interest in who wins; the fact that the process stays sacrosanct is what's important, as it is in our own election process," the official said.

Voting for the first time

Some 1.2 million young people will be casting their votes for the first time in this election, which will also return a freshly elected parliament, the Legislative Yuan.

They are a group more likely to sympathise with the recent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, of which Tsai has been a vocal supporter, warning that China's stated aim to "unify" with Taiwan under the "one country, two systems" framework used in the former colonial cities of Hong Kong and Macau could spell the end of the island's freedoms.

A graduate student surnamed Chen told RFA that he was attracted by Han's offer of interest-free loans for students.

But another student said he had concerns about the threat from Beijing.

"I am just as worried about the cross-straits issue as everyone else," he told RFA. "We see that Hong Kong hasn't gotten along well with the 'one country, two systems' model."

A rough poll of people aged 20-30 showed minimal support for the KMT among them, although many appeared to favor Soong.

Out of one group of three young people who spoke to RFA, two were planning to vote for Tsai, while another was still undecided.

Separately, two men in their late twenties said they would pick Soong and his New People's Party, as they found nothing to like in the two main parties' candidates.

"Probably the New People's Party and Soong for president," one said. "I think the squabbling between the [DPP] and [KMT] is too much."

Another said Tsai "didn't do a good job," but that voting for Han was out of the question.

The new president will take office on May 20, where they will be commander-in-chief of the country's military and appoint the premier, who then forms a cabinet. The president also signs legislation into law.

The winning and losing candidates will either concede or accept victory late on Saturday, local time, in the absence of any dispute around the count.

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.

Copyright  1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content January not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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The Nepal government on Thursday expressed concern over the escalating tensions in West Asia and urged the parties involved to refrain from doing anything that would "jeopardise the peace and stability" in the region.

An unexpected US strike, ordered by President Donald Trump, that killed Iran's most powerful military commander Qasem Soleimani on Friday last brought the entire Gulf region closer to a full-blown conflict. Regional tensions remain high after Iran on Wednesday fired missiles at two bases in Iraq used by US forces in retaliation for the killing of Soleimani.

Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement expressed concern over the situation developing in the region.

"As a large number of Nepalis work in the region, their safety is Nepal's primary concern," the ministry said.

The minister urged "all the (concerned) sides not do anything that would jeopardise the peace and stability of the region".

All issues and differences need to be resolved through peaceful means, it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY  A Bismarck, Missouri, police officer shot and killed a man who pointed a rifle at the officer Wednesday night, the Missouri Highway Patrol said.

The shooting occurred about 7 p.m. on North Cedar Street in Bismarck, about 75 miles south of St. Louis. A Bismarck police officer was sent to a home there for a domestic disturbance involving weapons, said Cpl. Juston Wheetley of the Missouri Highway Patrol.

The officer saw the guy come to the door with a rifle, Wheetley said. The officer ordered the man to drop the weapon but he instead raised it toward the officer, Wheetley said.

Police shot the man, who died at the scene. St. Francois County Coroner Jim Coplin later identified him as 34-year-old Dustin Eaton, who suffered gunshot wounds to the chest.

The unidentified officer suffered a minor cut on his arm when he tried to get into the home to help the man he had just shot, Bismarck police Chief Steve Poole told the Post-Dispatch on Thursday. The officers injuries were minor and he later was released from a hospital.

Bismarck is a city of about 1,400 people. Poole said the city has about 15 officers, some of whom are part-time.
Moroccan MPs have called for the setting up of a Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in the northern town of Fnideq in a bid to combat the smuggling of goods and end the ordeal of the women who carry heavy packages as they cross the border between the city of Sebta, under Spanish control, and Morocco.

In their report released lately after a fact-finding mission carried out between July and October 2018 on the situation of mule women, the MPs stressed the need to set up economic alternatives in the provinces of Tetouan and Mdiq-Fnideq.

The conclusions of the report fuelled debates among members of the foreign Affairs committee at the House of Representatives convened in presence of minister of Solidarity, Social Development, Equality and Family.

The document says that 3,500 women and 200 minors cross daily the Bab Sebta border post, carrying heavy bales of goods and packages on their backs for merchants and retailers in Northern Morocco.

This form of smuggling impacts not only the situation of women and men carrying goods, but also affects trade flows between the provinces of Tetouan and Mdiq-Fnideq, deplored the authors of the report.

They called for encouraging employment-generating activities (EGAs) in Tetouan and Mdiq-Fnideq provinces and the establishment of an industrial zone to combat the illicit trade of goods and smugglers who exploit the vulnerability of poor minors and the porteadoras or mule women, most of whom are widows, divorcees, or have husbands too ill to work or in jail.

Their job is dangerous. In 2018, three women died in a stampede in the rush to get through the Sebta crossing border.

According to the fact-finding mission, the women porters spend sometimes up to three nights waiting to cross the border post wherein they suffer abuse, harassment, robbery 

According to information relayed by Spanish media in December, Morocco has permanently closed the crossing points of Sebta and Melilla to smuggling.

The president of the Sebta residents association has reportedly said that Morocco decided to end the flow of goods through the Sebta and Melilla crossings for several reasons.

Besides, the losses caused by smuggling at the Sebta crossing point were estimated by the Director General of the Customs and Indirect Tax Administration at 730 million.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has been pictured watching a massive military drill off the coast of disputed Crimea.

The commander-in-chief watched Kalibr cruise and Kinzhal hypersonic missiles being launched from the Marshal Ustinov cruiser as he floated with the Northern and Black Sea fleets off the coast of the territory.

Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, in a move condemned by Western nations, and recently held talks with Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan as it cosies up to the NATO country.

The display comes after tensions in the Middle East led the US to parade 52 stealth fighters at their Utah airbase in a show of brute force.

Russian president Vladimir Putin watched from the Marshal Ustinov cruiser as Kalibr cruise and Kinzhal hypersonic missiles were launched off the coast of annexed Crimea

The commander-in-chief also entered the control deck on the cruiser as Moscow demonstrated its military strength in the drill

More than 30 ships, 40 aircraft and one submarine were involved in the military exercises, reported Russian state news agency TASS, including a large anti-submarine ship and landing ships.

'A pair of MiG-31K interceptor aircraft fired Kinzhal missiles at a target at one of the test ranges,' the Kremlin said.

Putin has repeatedly touted the ability of the Kinzhal missile, which is the first intercontinental ballistic missile armed with a hypersonic weapon to be put into public service.

Hypersonic is defined as a speed of five mach, or more than 3,826mph, meaning the missiles fly into space before coming back down to aircraft level and hitting their target.

The lower trajectory makes them more difficult for US missile defence satellites and radars to detect, CNN reported.

The exercises also showed frigates and large anti-submarine ships as well as a submarine, large landing ships and fast attack guided missile craft. Putin is seen giving the thumbs up as he watches the display from the Marshal Ustinov

Putin has touted the Kinzhal missiles as being part of a new generation of nuclear weapons. They are the first intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying hypersonic weapons to go into active service

Putin pictured at the steering wheel of the Marshal Ustinov cruiser ship during the demonstrations

It came after the US showed 52 F-35A aircrafts, which are worth a whopping $4.2 billion, at the Hill Air Force Base in Utah on Monday following an elephant walk down the runway

Putin first unveiled the weapon in his 2018 state-of-the-nation address. They were put into service in December, defence minister Sergei Shoigu said.

When the former superpower invaded Ukraine an insurgency broke out in the Crimean region which has claimed the lives of more than 13,000 people.

A Malaysian Airlines flight was also shot down in 2014 as it flew over the Donetsk region, which had been seized by Russia, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board.

Three Russians and a Ukrainian have been charged by international investigators, and had an international arrest warrant issued against them.

Investigators have also claimed that the missile that shot down the plane belonged to Russia's 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile brigade.

Ukraine has repeatedly called for the region to be returned to the country, and the international community has refused to recognise the annexation.
The 15 countries whose envoys will take the government organised tour are expected to include some in Africa and Latin America.

Some EU envoys also apparently told the MEA that they had not received instructions from their respective capitals at such short notice.

New Delhi: A delegation of 15 foreign envoys will visit the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir on Thursday and Friday as part of the ruling NDA governments outreach to showcase normalcy in the region where several political leaders are in detention and Internet and mobile services remain severly restricted. Envoys belonging to European Union (EU) countries will not be part of the group for several reasons and will be taken later as a single group, government sources said late on Wednesday evening.

The PTI reported that EU nations have stressed on meeting three former chief ministers  Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti  who are in detention since August 5, when the Centre revoked Article 370 and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories.

The 15 countries whose envoys will take the government organised tour are expected to include some in Africa and Latin America. There is also a possibility that some envoys from Middle East countries could also be part of the group. The 15-member delegation is being taken to J&K to see first-hand the efforts being made by the government to bring the situation to normal, sources said.



Government sources said the EU envoys wanted to visit as one group, which was not possible since the government wanted to invite a delegation of foreign envoys from various regions in the world. Some EU envoys also apparently told the MEA that they had not received instructions from their respective capitals at such short notice. Government sources claimed media reports that the EU countries did not want to be part of a guided tour or a restricted programme were unfounded and mischievous.

Several European nations and the United States have been pushing for lifting of the continuing restrictions in the Kashmir Valley, particularly with regard to the Internet. This visit of foreign envoys to J&K is part of Indias message to the world that things are under its control.

On Wednesday evening, government sources said, We have been receiving requests from some envoys based in Delhi to undertake a visit to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Our consistent position has been that we may consider the request only after analysing the security situation and checking the situation on the ground with the J&K administration. Accordingly, a group of around 15 envoys based in Delhi are being taken to the UT of Jammu and Kashmir on January 9-10 to see first-hand the efforts being made by the government to bring the situation to normal.

Sources further said, We wanted to take a global group of envoys to J&K with only some EU ambassadors, and not all EU envoys were asked to join. The EU envoys welcomed this initiative... However, EU envoys wanted to visit J &K as a group, which was not possible to accommodate due to restrictions in numbers and to keep the group broad-based. Some EU ambassadors conveyed that the visit was taking place at too a short notice to seek instructions from headquarters.

Government sources added, The (EU) Group would (also) be free to interact with people subject to security considerations. In any case, no ambassador had specifically asked to meet anyone who was detained. It was therefore decided that a Group of EU ambassadors will undertake a trip to J&K at a later date. Reports that EU ambassadors are not part of the group of envoys visiting UT of Jammu & Kashmir due to certain restrictions in the programme are unfounded and mischievous.

A delegation of MPs belonging to the European Union (EU) had visited Kashmir a few weeks ago in their individual capacity with the permission of the government. The visit had been organised by a private body.

The Islamic world, barring Pakistan, Malaysia and Turkey, has issued statements that are supportive of Indias move, particularly in the context of the cross-border terrorism that India has been facing.
The current Iranian-American conflict is complex. Even geopolitical experts have found themselves unable to predict the next move after the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian intelligence service, by the United States. Soleimani was the second most powerful person in Iran after supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Retaliation is expected; resolution is not.

Trump, in pubertal Twitter bursts, has oscillated between all-out war with Iran or harsher economic sanctions. Many in the international community advocate for increased sanctions in an understandable bid to avoid war. From a humanitarian perspective, this is much preferable. Theoretically, sanctions harm economies, not citizens. Yet the evidence suggests this is not the case.

Modern diplomatic sanctions usually have built-in humanitarian exemptions, allowing international organisations to provide medical aid, food, water and education. However, Americas imposition of so-called secondary sanctions on Iran have rendered such exemptions meaningless.

Whereas Americas primary sanctions on Iran apply to activities that have clear links with the country  for example, transactions by US citizens or companies  its secondary sanctions apply to the activities of non-US organisations. This includes organisations without any ties to the US, who conduct financial or commercial transactions with Iran.

The effect, intentional or unintentional, of these secondary sanctions has been to deter international banks, pharmaceutical companies, NGOs and charities from facilitating the flow of goods and money to Iran, for fear or triggering US sanctions against themselves  provoking what Human Rights Watch (HRW) calls overcompliance.

US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Show all 35 1 /35 US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures This photo released by the Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office shows a burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, early Friday 3 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures The wreckage of the car in which general Soleimani was travelling when a targeted US airstrike struck outside Baghdad International Airport on 3 January Ahmad Al Mukhtar via Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Demonstrators burn the US and British flags during a protest in Tehran after general Soleimani was killed in a targeted airstrike by American forces Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike. The Pentagon said Thursday that the US military has killed general Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, at the direction of Donald Trump AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn Israeli and US flags as thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of general Soleimani at the hands of America EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of Donald Trump pray at an 'Evangelicals for Trump' campaign event held on the day following the killing of general Soleimani. At the event, the president praised the "flawless strike that eliminated the terrorist ringleader" AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A huge procession of mourners gather in Baghdad for the funeral of general Soleimani on 4 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of Soleimani during an anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iraqis perform a mourning prayer for slain major general Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards at the Great Mosque of Kufa AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A billboard reading 'Death to America and Israel', installed by Iran-backed shiite armed groups at a street in Jadriyah district in Baghdad, Iraq EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him visiting the family of Soleiman KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US flag as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Jalal Feiruznia, looks to a portrait of Soleimani, as he receives condolences at the Iranian embassy, in Beirut, Lebanon AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures People make their way on the street while a screen on the wall of a cinema shows a portrait Soleimani in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Aziz Asmar, one of two Syrian painters who completed a mural following the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani poses next to his creation in the rebel-held Syrian town of Dana in the northwestern province of Idlib AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A demonstration in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures An anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Mujtaba al-Husseini, the representative of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivers a speech in the holy shrine city of Najaf AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US and Israeli flags as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters demonstrate in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shi'ite Muslims hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, in Peshawar, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters, holding a photograph of the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran Massoud Rajavi, outside Downing Street in London PA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn a US flag in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A Syrian man offers sweets to children to mark the killing AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers attend a mourning prayer for Soleimani in Iran's capital Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shout anti American and anti Israel slogans during a protest AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshipers chant slogans during Friday prayers Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A protest against the USA, in Islamabad, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranians burn a US flag in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin, Germany Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol a road in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel. Following morning's killing of Major General Qasem Soleimani, Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement called for the missile strike by Israel's closest ally, to be avenged AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian women take to the streets in Tehran EPA

The humanitarian effects have been dire: HRW has reported that the current sanctions on Iran are restricting access to basic healthcare services and life-saving medication.

A recent UN envoy stated that they were not only concerned that sanctions and banking restrictions will unduly affect food security and the availability and distribution of medicines, pharmaceutical equipment and supplies, but [] also concerned at their potential negative impact on the United Nations and other operations and programmes in the country.

Similar sanctions imposed by the US on Iraq during the 1990s suggest the envoys concerns are well-founded. The New York Times reported that up to 576,000 children died in the four-year period following the Persian Gulf War, during which military action ended and UN economic sanctions commenced. Meanwhile, the Red Cross reported in 1999 that infant mortality in most of Iraq has more than doubled during the nine years of sanctions, and that one million people in Iraq were suffering from the effects of food shortages and poor water supply, including 200,000 acutely malnourished children. Of course, sanctions are not the sole reason for such alarming statistics  the Iraq war itself caused long-term healthcare ramifications  but the World Health Organisation was adamant that they played a substantial role.

Diplomatic action is often nobler than war. Yet it is important to note the human rights burden and number of deaths caused by sanctions is a quietly brutal public health tragedy.

This does not have to be the case. Americas recent amendments to sanctions on Venezuela have emphatically stated that Venezuelan banks aiding the flow of humanitarian support to the country would not be penalised. While squeezing a countrys economy is bound to have some humanitarian effect, the impact of sanctions can be mitigated. Those of us with the who have elected politicians to make decisions regarding war and peace must hold them to account to ensure it is.

Salil Patel is an academic junior doctor at Imperial College, London and a neuroscience research fellow at the University of Oxford.
Lawmakers and Chamorro Land Trust Commission members discussed proposed changes to Guam's law regarding the land trust program - including replacing the phrase "native Chamorro" with "eligible beneficiary" during an oversight hearing on Thursday.

The proposed changes in law are a requirement of ongoing settlement efforts between the U.S. Department of Justice and CLTC officials who have been working with the Office of the Attorney General of Guam and other agency directors. The settlement terms, if finalized and agreed upon by both local and federal officials, will allow the CLTC to continue its mission to administer Chamorro homelands, originally modeled after a program in Hawaii, in intending to ensure the people of the island have properties on which to build homes or farm for personal or commercial use.

The DOJ filed a lawsuit in September 2017, saying the CLTC practiced discrimination by limiting eligibility for land leases to native Chamorros in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act.

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Last year, DOJ proposed settlement terms, which in December, CLTC approved. Legislative action is still needed to ensure local rules and regulations are in line with the settlement terms.

A portion of the discussion focused on proposed eligibility requirements and definitions.

In the amendment that would insert into Guam law the term "Eligible Beneficiary," it would be defined as any person regardless of race, color or national origin whose land was acquired by the federal government between 1898 and 1968, descendants of such persons, or those who occupied, farmed or ranched land for residential or agricultural purposes at least one year prior to the land being seized by the government in the stated time frame.

However, persons who occupied, farmed or ranched land on or after Dec. 8, 1941, and the land was seized any time afterward, up to 1950, are also eligible, as are their descendants.

"By this language, you intend to delete the current language that reads 'Native Chamorro' means any person who became a U.S. citizen by virtue of the authority and enactment of the Organic Act of Guam or descendants of such person?" asked Sen. Therese Terlaje.

James Canto III, the deputy general manager of the litigation division at the Office of the Attorney General, said the change would better articulate the intent of the Chamorro Land Trust as a land restoration program, by pertaining to those who had land taken, as well as expanding the eligibility criteria.

Other amendments specify the verification of eligible beneficiaries. An eligible beneficiary does not need to have held title ownership, but must have otherwise occupied the land and must sign an affidavit setting forth certain facts.

Attorney Michael Phillips, also helping defend against the lawsuit, said just about everyone on Guam from 1898 who went through land taking by the U.S. government would qualify under the amendments. It still remains a land restoration program, he added.

"Earlier it was close to it but it was pegged on citizenship and that was not the origin of the law. The law was very close to a carbon copy of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act and remained that way until about 1980," Phillips said.

At that point, the act was amended, which allowed it to withstand Constitutional challenge for another three decades. But the law is now at a point where the "Native Chamorro" definition creates vulnerability in the law, he added.

The amendment "doesn't really change the scope of the act except to expand the beneficiaries and I believe this definition is what's key," Phillips said.

According to Phillps, the proposed amendments will have no effect on current leases.

"This settlement allows the Chamorro Land Trust program to continue for generations. We have done our best to insulate the program from further attacks or challenges," he told The Guam Daily Post.

The CLTC, in December 2019, adopted a resolution in favor of the settlement terms. The Legislature needs to enact proposed changes in order to comply with the agreement terms.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : The winter rainfall across the plains in the north India and other parts has brought cheers for the farmers.

Unlike the notion that unseasonal rain causes damage to the crops, this time it is being welcomed by the farming community, who are saying that it is like "gold falling from the sky" as it will boost the Rabi crop production.

Agricultural scientists say that for all the Rabi crops, it is like raining gold, not water, and farmers have also saved the expenditure on the irrigation of crops.

Gyanendra Pratap Singh, director of the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR), Karnal in Haryana told IANS: "For the Rabi crops, this is not just the water from the sky, but gold is raining. This will speed up crop growth and increase productivity." He said that this rain is very beneficial especially for wheat, because the water that falls from the sky in the form of drizzle is like a spray over the crops.

Wheat is the most prominent crop of the Rabi season and its sowing has been above average this year.

According to the data released last week by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Rabi crops have been sown in 312.81 lakh hectares across the country, an increase of 9.35 per cent from the previous year.

The general acreage of wheat sowing area is 305.58 lakh hectares in the country.

Singh said if the weather remains favourable in the coming days, then the production of wheat could be a record 10.8 million tonnes this year. Last year, the country produced 10.21 million tonnes of wheat.

Gram, lentils and other pulses have also benefitted from this rain. Director of the Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, N.P. Singh told IANS that this rain is like nectar for pulses crop and will increase the yield. He said that winter rains are called 'Mahavat', which is very beneficial for crops.

However, he also said that the farmers have already irrigated the crop by now, and a bit excess may cause some loss.

N.P. Singh said that the frost in some places in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh damaged the pulses crops, but overall, this year the crop was good, and after this rain, the yield will increase.

All the pulses crops, including gram, have an acreage of 146.24 lakh hectare, which is 4.02 lakh hectare more than the last year in the same period.

Another oilseed expert said that the mustard crop will benefit greatly in areas where there has been rain, because this crop will be strengthened by this rain. The acreage of oilseeds in the country is 75.72 lakh hectare this year.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Thursday indicated that he may not travel toDavosto attend the World Economic Forum meeting and said he will be going to New Delhi probably on January 11 or 12 to discuss cabinet expansion with the BJP high command.

"To discuss about cabinet expansion and other important issues, to meet Prime Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister I will go to Delhi.

After the dates are confirmed I will go, probably on January 11 or 12," Yediyurappa said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said the appointment dates were not confirmed from their side yet, and he was awaiting it.

In response to a question about the proposed Davos visit, he said "Mostly I may not go for foreign tour..."



Yediyurappa was expected to join Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Mansukh Mandaviya, as well as Chief Ministers Amarinder Singh (Punjab), Kamal Nath (Madhya Pradesh), and over 100 Indian CEOs atDavosin Switzerland later this month for the WEF's 50th annual meeting.

Recently, Yediyurappa had said he was not keen on travelling to Davos, but was told that a few Chief Ministers needed to attended the important meet.

According to reports, disqualified legislators, who got re-elected during the December 5 bypolls on BJP ticket and are all set to become ministers, had put pressure on Yediyurappa to expand the cabinet before the Davos visit.

On Thursday, two re-elected legislators Gopalaiah and K Sudhakar met the chief minister at his residence and held discussions.

Senior BJP legislator from Haveri, Nehru Olekar too met Yeddyurappa and is said to have discussed his chances during the cabinet expansion.

As Yediyurappa has made it clear that 11 of the disqualified JDS-Congress MLAs who got re-elected on BJP tickets will be made ministers, lobbying has been on within the party for the remaining ministerial berths.

Currently there are 18 ministers, including the chief minister, in the cabinet whose sanctioned strength is 34.

Cabinet expansion will not be an easy task for the chief minister as he will have to strike a balance by accommodating the victorious disqualified legislators as promised and also make place for the old guard, upset at being "neglected" in the first round of the induction exercise.

He also has to give adequate representation to various castes and regions in his cabinet and also deal with allocation of key portfolios.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
USA: William 'Chris' Hoffman Named Special Agent in Charge of the Cincinnati Field Office

Director Christopher Wray has named William Chris Hoffman as the special agent in charge of the Cincinnati Field Office. Most recently, Mr. Hoffman served as an inspector at FBI Headquarters.

Mr. Hoffman started his career as an FBI special agent in 1998 and was assigned to the Durant Resident Agency, Choctaw Nation of the Oklahoma City Field Office. He worked an array of Indian Country crimes, including homicides, crimes against children, and public corruption. In 2003, he transferred to the Guam Resident Agency of the Honolulu Field Office, where he was the coordinator of the FBIs Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force for the Western Pacific.

In 2006, he reported to the Birmingham Field Office in Alabama and was later the first agent from that office to deploy on temporary duty to Iraq. He also served as the Joint Terrorism Task Force coordinator in Birmingham from 2007 to 2011. Mr. Hoffman was promoted to supervisory special agent in 2011 and served on Birminghams Counterterrorism Squad as the program coordinator for international terrorism, domestic terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction.

In 2015, Mr. Hoffman was selected as an assistant inspector and team leader in the Inspection Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington. The Inspection Division ensures that FBI employees follow established policies and guidelines when conducting investigations and operations. In 2016, Mr. Hoffman was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the criminal and administrative branches and the SWAT team for the Memphis Field Office in Tennessee. He was named an inspector in 2018 and returned to Washington.

Prior to joining the FBI, Mr. Hoffman served in the U.S. Marine Corps and as an officer and detective in the Greenville Police Department in South Carolina. He earned a bachelors degree in accounting from Clemson University.

This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Board Governor Lael Brainard speaks at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge

By Pete Schroeder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top U.S. Federal Reserve official said on Wednesday that bank regulators should pursue a more nuanced approach to updating community lending standards for banks.

Fed Governor Lael Brainard argued that a new uniform standard proposed by other U.S. banking regulators would fail to account for differences across communities nationwide, and also said regulators should apply an additional test to larger banks.

U.S. regulators are endeavoring to update rules around the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, which requires regulators to assess how well banks are serving the needs of lower-income communities. The rules were last updated in 1995.

The Fed shares responsibility for enforcing the CRA with two other bank regulators, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. But those two regulators proposed a rule update in December without the U.S. central bank's support, which would establish a uniform standard to evaluate all banks' efforts to support lower-income communities.

But Brainard, who is in charge of the Fed's attempt to update the rule, argued against such a broad-based approach, saying it failed to capture differences in communities with different amounts of lower-income families, as well as changes in the business cycle.

"Any comprehensive and uniform metric does have the risk of unintended consequences (and) of not being responsive to local community needs," she said at an event in Washington.

She added that while the other regulators are moving aggressively to rewrite the rules sometime in 2020, the Fed is not feeling the same pressure despite a desire to ultimately get all three agencies to agree on a consistent rule.

"It's extremely important to eventually find common ground," she said. "It is so much more important, in my view, to get this done right than to get it done fast."

Beyond evaluating a bank's retail lending and banking services, Brainard also said larger banks should face an extra, broader test on how they support communities overall through larger financing projects.

(Reporting by Pete Schroeder; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Paul Simao)
As film culture moves onward, its best to approach 2020 by previous milestones. The past movie decade did not belong to social-justice propagandists but to Alain Resnais, Zack Snyder, Clint Eastwood, and the rise of S. Craig Zahler. What makes those four auteurs the most significant filmmakers of the preceding ten years is that their films were, consistently, the best examples of craft, insight, vision, and imagination  they exemplified the only hope for 2020 film culture.

The many film-publication retrospectives that insist on calling Twin Peaks: The Return the decades best movie, without admitting that its merely a TV series, encourage cinemas demise. They want TV  and the political manipulation that comes with fragmented, isolated audiences (now called diversity).

TVs binge fanatics who have probably never seen cinemas great epics (Griffiths Intolerance, Von Stroheims Greed, or Viscontis La Terra Trema and Ludwig) dont know what extended visual narrative can be  only the excessive, incessant, unenlightening repetition of streaming.

Even Netflix employee Scorsese walked back his tirade against Marvel. It seems that Scorsese forgot what he used to know about movies such as Raoul Walshs The Roaring Twenties (1939) by eventually capitulating to the pointless commercial hackery of binge formula. (Another 70s giant falls.)

Great movies give more than momentary sensation; you continue thinking about them long after watching them for the spiritual expectation and beauty that outlast Internet chatter. Extraordinary works of art also have political impact, so I give you 20 great films from the 2010 decade, if you can keep their essence and learn their lessons.

* * *

Man of Steel (2013) Because Zack Snyders attempted epic of D.C. Comics films turned Hollywoods worst commercial tendencies into astonishing reconsiderations of myth and beauty, Ive dubbed him ZSnyder (in memory of the 2016 passing of Vilmos Zsigmond, groundbreaking cinematographer of the 70s). ZSnyders first Superman film holds up over repeated viewings as the decades most daring and unparalleled expression of our moral and aesthetic needs.

Story continues

Wild Grass (2010) Alain Resnais surpassed his French New Wave legacy, an Old Master attaining fresh relevance. He unexpectedly discovered the common touch. Who knew his modern moral tale was also summing up pop culture itself?

Vincere (2010) Marco Bellocchio understood the Obama phenom best through a Mussolini allegory  fearlessly and thoroughly examining the cult of personality.

Incendies (2011) Denis Villeneuve made sense of Mideast crisis by making powerful, irrefutable parallels to Ancient Greek tragedy.

The President (2016) Moshen Makhmalbaf escaped Iran knowing its treacheries were universal, and this global allegory, about a displaced potentate, pinpoints national tendencies as personal tendencies.

Being 17 (2016) Andre Techine fell out of film-cult favor by refusing identity politics and embracing something richer: homosocial confidence.

You Aint Seen Nothing Yet (2013) Resnais again, with a ZSnyder-worthy acknowledgment of myth and art as our ultimate adieu. (Plus, the best-ever movie use of Sinatra.)

4 Moons (2014) Mexicos Sergio Tovar Velarde anticipated the centennial of Griffiths magnificent Intolerance and made maybe the best-ever movie about passion and compassion in four contrapuntal movements.

Yossi (2013) Israels Eytan Fox made the best follow-up film since the Godfather sequels, charting the spiritual growth of a committed bachelor (Ohad Knoller) outside political fashion.

Dragged Across Concrete (2019) S. Craig Zahler uses pulp fiction to scrutinize American error and aspiration. The very apt title ingeniously describes Millennial experience.

The Adventures of Tintin (2011) Steven Spielberg faced the digital future by contrasting technology and perception and kinetics with amazing clarity and pop-art sophistication. A last hurrah?

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2015) Jean-Pierre Jeunets second American film explored innocence and experience through a ten-year olds invention of a perpetual motion machine  love as the hidden answer to family and worldly grief.

A Quiet Passion (2017) Terence Davies visualizes Emily Dickinsons wisdom so that a bio-pic becomes soulful revelation.

Queen and Country (2015) John Boormans auto-bio-pic sequel exceeds his Hope and Glory, recalling his familial, cultural, nationalist foundation.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) ZSnyder transforms comic-book gimmickry and graphic-novel potential into a powerful ethical query.

Mother and Child (2010) Rodrigo Garcias intertwined stories about spiritual responsibility made the right to life bold, imaginative, and compelling.

Mom and Dad (2018) Brian Taylors wild satire got to the root of Millennial dysfunctional and turned the apocalyptic frown into a grin  but not a smirk.

Vox Lux (2018) Brady Corbet and Natalie Portmans showbiz expose finds personal trauma in contemporary pop spectacle.

The We and the I (2013) Michel Gondrys inventive, funny-sad existential teen flick takes place on a bus on the last day of school and the beginning of our future.

Pain and Gain (2013) Michael Bays masterpiece where dazzling form meets outrageous substance. Bays version of Stroheims Greed.

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Siauliu bankas AB has received the notifications of the person, closely associated with the manager, on transactions in securities issued by the bank (attached).

Director of Securities Accounting Department Jolanta Dobiliauskiene is authorized by the Issuer to provide additional information and is available on tel.: +370 41 595669.

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The mother of Victorian man Milan Lemic, who was reported missing in a Queensland rainforest last month, has made an emotional public appeal for information to find her son.

Mr Lemic, 29, was last seen next to his bogged utility vehicle at Bairds Crossing in Daintree Rainforest on Sunday afternoon, December 22.

SES and police continue to search for Victorian man Milan Lemic who went missing on December 22, 2019 in Queensland's Daintree area. Credit:Queensland Police Service

Searches conducted by police and SES personnel have failed to find him.

Mother Yana Lemic, who travelled from Victoria days after his disappearance, recorded a public message that was released on Thursday.
Through the month of January, the Siskel Film Center is screening a series of new documentary films grouped under the umbrella Stranger Than Fiction. Heres a look at four that are on the schedule.

<a href="https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/recorder-the-marion-stokes-project" target=_blank><b>Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project</b></a><b> (Fri-Tues):</b>

For more than 30 years (until her death in 2012), Marion Stokes would sit in her Philadelphia luxury apartment with multiple VCRs running 24 hours a day, taping everything on television. That resulted in 70,000 VHS tapes  a library like no other that was ultimately donated to the non-profit Digital Archive, which aims to digitize the entire collection and make it available to the public.

Why was Stokes such a diligent recorder of television? She was consumed with the ways mass media could affect how people thought about the world around them, her son Michael says, adding: She was aware of how the raw story gets filtered by the predilections of the people who are producing it. Director Matt Wolf attempts to unravel Stokes obsession  and find meaning in her efforts.

She originally worked as a librarian, a profession that became something of an at-home vocation once she married her second husband, who was wealthy and (just as importantly) her intellectual equal. The taping continued in earnest  even as the couple cut off contact with friends and family  and the documentary attempts to put Marions work in context.

Northwestern University TV historian Lynn Spigel explains it this way: When you have an institution like a museum or a university and they begin to collect, you dont tend to question why theyre doing it  there must be a rational reason. But when youre one lone person, especially a woman, then youre considered to be an outlier. We shouldnt ascribe rationality to those in power and irrationality to those without it.

Media scholar Tom Keenan makes this observation in the film: I presume somewhere in that archive you could pull out a sub-archive of racially motivated police brutality. Going back and watching in detail how those stories get told, what sort of justifications are offered, what sort of unanswered questions remain  

When Stokes died at home, the TV was on and the VCR recording, as always  it was the day of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School and her son gets choked up at the memory. That would have been a rough day anyway. And then: Its kind of like you only knew she was dead when you turned the VCRs off.

<a href="https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/midnight-family" target=_blank><b>Midnight Family</b></a><b> (Jan. 17-23):</b>

Mexico City has a population of 9 million, and according to a figure provided at the films beginning, the government operates fewer than 45 emergency ambulances. Filling those gaps are privately-run ambulances and director Luke Lorentzens high-adrenaline verite film offers an immersive look at this underground economy, as seen through the eyes of one family-run business.

Over the course of three years, the Ochoa family invited the filmmaker to climb into their EMS van with his camera and ride along on their nightly runs to car accidents and other emergencies. Lorentzen  who won the Sundance Special Jury Award last year for his cinematography  doesnt muddy the action (or his complicated visual observations) with talking head interviews or voiceover narration. The film is the opposite of the kind of eat-your-vegetables filmmaking that tends to be prevalent within the documentary world. It has the intensity of an action film and the moodiness of a noir. Its thrillingly-shot and incredibly thought-provoking. Its one of my favorite documentaries in recent memory.

Often Lorentzen films the Ochoas as they sit in the quiet darkness of the night, dozing during long stretches of boredom. And then a call comes in over the radio and theyre off, careening through the streets hoping to beat the competition  and hoping the patients they treat have money to pay for their services. Usually the Ochoas walk away empty-handed  or in the hole, thanks to the cost of supplies and equipment and gas theyve just used  and you feel their despair and frustration deeply. They always provide treatment regardless, and are calm and professional and empathetic with their patients.

You worry for everyone  patients (who are having one of the worst days of their lives) and paramedics alike. The latter are frequently stopped by police, who shake them down for bribes. This becomes a major impediment; the Ochoas are barely getting by. Its suggested that the family will sometimes steer patients to pricey private hospitals where EMTs receive a kickback for any business they bring in. The ethics are complicated and you can see how its an impossible situation for everyone.

The family dynamic is one of casual bickering, exhaustion, sly moments of comedy and close-knit teamwork. The patriarch is a stoic man who is forever swallowing pills for some unspecified ailment. He often rides shotgun, barking instructions to drivers to get out of the way over the ambulance P.A. system: Move to the right  we could be saving your family! His son Juan is the de facto head of the business, even if he is startlingly young for that kind of responsibility; at one point we hear hes just turned 17. Hes lively and clear-headed and remarkably mature. Inevitably hes the one behind the wheel, aggressively maneuvering through traffic. The youngest Ochoa is an easily bored preteen boy who simply rides along during their overnight shifts because  you sense  its better than being left home alone.

<a href="https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/a-house-is-not-a-home-wright-or-wrong" target=_blank><b>A House Is Not a Home: Wright or Wrong</b></a><b> (Jan. 18 & 20):</b>

Sometimes a place just takes root in your imagination. For director Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa (who teaches film studies at Columbia College), that place is the childhood home of friend and renowned Chicago-based film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, who grew up in Florence, Alabama in a house Frank Lloyd Wright built for his parents.

Theres a cumulative power to the documentary, which gradually reveals its preoccupations with memory and disappointment, and how our lives are sometimes literally shaped by the walls around us. Saeed-Vafa is repeatedly drawn back to the house, initially filming it during a 1995 visit  in hindsight she remembers the humidity and the smell of the wooden walls overpowering her and making her sick  and again decades later when the house has been turned into a museum and open to the public.
Two rockets hit the Green Zone where the US Embassy in Baghdad, capital of Iraq, is located. This is the second time the embassy w...





Two rockets hit the Green Zone where the US Embassy in Baghdad, capital of Iraq, is located.





This is the second time the embassy would be attacked within a week. Embassies of several other western countries are also located in the zone.





CNN reports that its team heard sirens after two explosions hit the Green Zone, adding that that there were no casualties in the latest attack on that occurred on Wednesday.





It is not clear if it was Iran that carried out the assault but the attack is coming few hours after US President Donald Trump said his country was ready to embrace peace.





The Iranians had earlier attacked a US army base in Iraq, claiming to have killed 80 American soldiers but Trump debunked the claim.





The earlier attack on the US was in response to the killing of Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Quds Force, by the Americans.





CNN quotes unnamed senior US officials as expressing concerns that Iranian proxy forces in the region are still a threat.




Martin Sorrell

S4 Capital chief Martin Sorrell has acquired Mexico City-based Circus Marketing digital content shop to expand his push into Latin America.

Circus, which will be merged into MediaMonks, has 350 staffers in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Chile, US (Los Angeles) and Spain.

The 15-year-old firm counts Facebook, Google, Uber, Spotify and Netflix among its clients and will kick in a projected $38M in revenues and $20M in profit.

Bruno Lambertini, Circus founder/CEO, said the deal would enable his firm to showcase its unique point-of-view and creativity to the world.

We believe in emotions driven by data and by bringing our talents, expertise and networks into the S4Capital family, were building a solid framework for the new era of advertising, he said in a statement.

Sorrell, former WPP chief, likes Circus because it embraces his "data-driven holy trinity model and embodies faster, better, cheaper or speed, quality and value."

The Circus deal is S4s eleventh acquisition over the past 18 months.

On the Latin American front, S4 in 2019 merged its MightyHive programmatic unit with Brazil-based ProgMedia.
Mumbai, Jan 9 : The Maharashtra government has suspended fugitive Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Motor Transport Dept) Nishikar More, who faces molestation charge by a minor teenager, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh announced here on Thursday.

Besides, police driver Dinkar Salve has also been suspended in the sensational case in which a teenager from Navi Mumbai accused the DIG of molestation.

"Currently, the DIG is currently absconding and police teams are on the lookout for him. The driver who had gone to the victim's residence has also been suspended and further investigations are on," Deshmukh told media persons.

The fast-paced developments came hours after a Raigad Court rejected the DIG's plea for anticipatory bail on Thursday, paving the way for his arrest.

The alleged molestation incident occurred during her birthday party on June 5 last year, which the accused had barged into and reportedly misbehaved with her.

The 17-year old victim has left home four days ago, leaving behind a note threatening to commit suicide and efforts are on to trace her out, police said.
Krishna (Andhra Pradesh) [India], Jan 9 (ANI): TDP leaders and workers on Thursday held a sit-in protest on the national highway near Kanchikacharla against Jagan Mohan Reddy government's proposal to shift state capital from Amaravati.



Former MLA T Sowmya also took part in the protest. Protestors raised slogans against Reddy and in favour of Amaravati capital. They burnt tyres on the highway and blocked the traffic on the stretch for hours.

The GN Rao Committee, which was set up by the Andhra Pradesh government to look into the suggestion of three capitals, has made a favourable recommendation saying it will help in decentralised development and put the available resources to the best use.

It proposed Visakhapatnam as the Executive capital and Kurnool the judicial capital while retaining Amaravati as the legislative capital. (ANI)


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Exhausted firefighters battling fierce blazes on Kangaroo Island rejoiced after rain fell on Friday morning.

All fires have been downgraded to watch and act after a night or horror conditions when multiple fires flared up and a number of properties were destroyed.

A total number of 22 people have been injured in the blazes including two firefighters. Two Country Fire Service trucks were involved in burnovers.

There are an estimated 280 firefighters on the island, many of which looked exhausted on Friday after an 'incredibly difficult' night.

CFS chief officer Mark Jones said: 'Winds were not consistent, they were blustery and came from many different directions.'

They had been gearing up for a nightmarish day of action after multiple fires flared up overnight but all fires have now been downgraded to watch and act.

Assessments are underway, but some homes are believed lost at Vivonne Bay while the town of Parndana was spared, despite fire bearing down on it from several directions.

It comes after properties were been lost, firefighters injured and more land blackened after a night of horror conditions.

Assessments are underway, but some homes are believed lost at Vivonne Bay while the town of Parndana was spared, despite fire bearing down on it from several directions.

Fires were spotting during the night which allowed them to jump containment lines and in that situation Mr Jones said the number of firefighters on the ground almost became irrelevant.

'There's no way to stop those fires from spreading,' he said.

On Friday morning the town of Emu Bay also came under threat, with residents moved to the nearby beach but the CFS said the situation had also eased.

So far more than 170,000 hectares of scrub has been burnt, including most of the famed Flinders Chase National Park, along with dozens of homes and hundreds of other buildings.

Shattered: Firefighters are seen at Kingscote oval after fighting fires through the night, on Kangaroo Island

CFS volunteers along with over 100 Army Reservists and self-sustainment supplies, are on Kangaroo Island as part of Operation Bushfire Assist at the request of the South Australian Government

Long-time local resident Jan Boers and brother BJ Boers take refuge alongside the Kingscote Jetty as bushfire conditions worsen

A young man fishes from the Kingscote Jetty on Kangaroo Island as bushfire conditions worsen in the early hours of Friday in Kingscote, Australia

Kangaroo Island residents gather at a local stock store on Friday in Kingscote ahead of worse bushfire conditions

The township of Parndana in the centre of the island has an emergency warning in place, as does the island's south coast. Residents have been told to evacuate before it's too late

A pile of woodchips burn at the local timber mill in Eden, NSW, Friday. NSW fire crews are bracing for worsening bushfire conditions

In response to the situation, the ferry service from the SA mainland was asked to restrict travel to freight, local residents and emergency service personnel but that decision was expected to be reviewed later on Friday.

The overnight escalation in fire activity cut power to more properties with about 850 now without electricity.

SA Power Networks said its crews had been relocated to Penneshaw for safety reasons and would wait for CFS clearance before re-entering the fire zone.

Smoke from the fires also affected a large swathe of South Australia, with air quality in a number of areas listed as very poor.

The Kangaroo Island blaze first broke out on December 20 from a lightning strike but escalated rapidly last Friday before jumping containment lines again on Thursday.

It claimed two lives last week with outback pilot Dick Lang and his son Clayton killed as they returned to the family property.

Authorities said there were no further reports of missing people.

Cooler temperatures of 21C will bring respite today and tomorrow before the mercury hits 24C on Sunday and 29C on Monday.

The ferry service from the mainland has been asked to restrict travel to freight, local residents and emergency service personnel.

Officials are confident Kingscote will remain a safe place and the road to Penneshaw, another safe haven, was still open early on Friday.

Smoke from the fires has affected a large swathe of South Australia, with air quality in a number of areas listed as very poor.

The Bureau of Meteorology released a map forecasting Friday's weather conditions across Australia

The bushfires sweeping through Stokes Bay in Kangaroo Island, South Australia on Friday

Kingscote, which is home to 1,800 on the island's north-east, has been isolated as spreading fire prompts a watch and act warning for the town. Pictured: Firefighters in the town

Last night terrified residents fled to an evacuation centre on the Kingscote oval while others slept in caravans at the jetty to be close to the water. Pictured: Firefighters in the town

Scott Morrison weighs up royal commission into bushfire crisis Scott Morrison says any national inquiry into the bushfires needs to be wide-ranging and examine what impact climate change has had on the crisis. The prime minister is weighing up calling a royal commission into the disaster, which would also look at hazard reduction burns and national coordination. 'I think Australians, because of the scale of this particular disaster, will be looking for something more holistic,' he told 2GB radio on Friday. 'That's not the focus right now - today there are severe and extreme fire forecasts in Victoria and NSW - but down the track, that's what premiers and I, I am sure will discuss.' Advertisement

More than 50 homes and many more other buildings are already listed as destroyed with that number to grow significantly following a revised damage assessment.

Meanwhile, four evacuation alerts are also in place in eastern Victoria ahead of 40C temperatures and winds of up to 90kmh.

Two bushfires burning along the NSW-Victoria border merged into a terrifying mega blaze after being upgraded to watch and act level earlier Friday morning.

The East Ournie Creek and Dunns Road fires combined around lunchtime as temperatures hit 37C and 20kmh winds fanned the flames.

Together the blazes - including sections that have burnt out - cover half a million hectares, about five times the size of Canberra.

The Rural Fire Service forecast extreme danger for the fireground today and warned of 'erratic behaviour' meaning the flames can move and change direction quickly.

The fire has already passed through the towns of Talbingo, Wondalga, Kunama and Batlow.

Mayor of the Alpine Shire Council Peter Roper said there was no doubt Friday will be a 'bad day'.

'It really is a wait and see. We don't know what's going to happen, we don't know how catastrophic it's going to be,' the councillor said.

The East Ournie Creek and Dunns Road fires near the Victoria border were upgraded to watch and act level this morning. By lunchtime they had merged together

The Victorian government chose to extend its state of disaster warning in light of the predicted weather conditions.

Premier Daniel Andrews said: 'This is a really significant challenge for us. We don't underestimate it. We don't like extending the state of disaster.

'We've done it because we believe that it will save lives, and that after all is the most important thing.'

Residents in the town of Omeo are among those who have been told to evacuate - but some are staying put.

'We'll stay, we'll fight,' said resident Sandi Beltrame, who has run the Omeo Caravan Park with her husband for 12 years.

'It's our livelihood. It's our business,' she told the Herald Sun.

'When I see red flames coming down the hill, I'll put on my fire gear and fight like hell.'

An emergency alert has been issued for Buchan and an evacuation order is in place for Combienbar, both in East Gippsland.

The increased fire activity comes as authorities brace for hotter temperatures and a wind change.

A total fire ban has been declared for Friday in the Mallee, Northern Country, North Central, North East, East Gippsland, West and South Gippsland.

After spending more than a week in East Gippsland helping communities evacuate and get desperately-needed supplies, the defence force is expanding its support to parts of the northeast.

On Friday defence personnel were helping to protect Indigenous cultural sites at Koetong with Parks Victoria, and with evacuations and road clearance.

Ahead of a potential spike in conditions on Friday, Premier Daniel Andrews pleaded with Victorians to leave fire-danger areas when alerts are issued.

About 67,000 people left East Gippsland last week as the fire disaster unfolded there.

Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp backed up Mr Andrews' message to leave fire-danger areas.

'If you are waiting to see the smoke, see the flames, I'd suggest you have left it too late,' he said.

There are 22 fires burning across the state and more than 1.2 million hectares have been burnt since November 21.

Authorities have done about 3000 damage assessments and found 244 homes destroyed and 347 other structures ruined.

The fires have also killed three men, Forest Fires Management worker Mat Kavanagh, 43, died when his vehicle crashed on the Goulburn Valley Highway on January 3.

Mick Roberts from Buchan and Maramingo Creek man Fred Becker were killed in the fires at East Gippsland on New Year's Day.

This map shows where fires are likely to spread in Victoria on 10 January due to hot temperatures and high winds

This map shows where fires are likely to spread in NSW on 10 January due to hot temperatures and high winds

Photo issued by the Ministry of Defence of the Grose Valley fire in the Blue Mountains area of Lithgow and Blackheath, New South Wales on Thursday

Rural Fire Service employee, Allen Madden prepares to be winched down in the Lithgow area by Petty Officer Aircrewman Jason Wickman from an 808 Squadron MRH90 Taipan Military Support Helicopter over the Grose Valley bushfire in the Blue Mountains National Park

Key WA road re-opens The Eyre Highway, the only sealed road linking South Australia and Western Australia, has reopened after it was closed for nearly two weeks due to bushfires. Hundreds of travellers, and trucks carrying supermarket stocks were left stranded when the 1660-kilometre highway was shut because of a large fire burning near Norseman. The Department of Fire and Emergency Services confirmed the road had reopened in a statement released Friday morning. Advertisement

In New South Wales, officials have warned hot, dry and windy conditions could cause 'erratic' bushfire behaviour.

The Rural Fire Service has placed total fire bans on 10 regions across the state on Friday ahead of forecast hot and windy weather.

An extreme fire warning is in place for the southern slopes while severe fire warnings have been issued for the Monaro alpine region, ACT, southern ranges and eastern Riverina.

A southwesterly wind change is expected to impact inland fires on Friday afternoon with a gusty southerly change forecast to impact coastal towns from the evening, the RFS said in a statement on Thursday.

'These conditions will make fire behaviour erratic and dangerous,' the RFS said.

Temperatures are forecast to reach 46C in central NSW, 43C at Tumut in the Riverina, 42C at Penrith in western Sydney and 36C at Nowra on the South Coast.

Total fire bans in place in north western NSW, greater Sydney, central ranges, the Illawarra and Shoalhaven, southern ranges, far south coast, Monaro alpine, southern slopes, eastern Riverina and northern Riverina.

NSW fire crews took advantage of cooler conditions this week by backburning and strengthening containment lines before the forecast heat.

Favourable conditions this week have helped energy crews restore power to most South Coast and Southern Highlands communities where bushfires caused widespread damage over the weekend.

People and animals from the district of Omeo being evacuated from the Bruthen bushfire in a Royal Australian Navy 808 Squadron MRH-90 maritime support helicopter

Burnt property is seen in Clifton Creek on January 9, 2020 in Bairnsdale. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has extended the State of Disaster for the next 48 hours

Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Grahame Reader said hot and dry conditions will fan fires on Friday.

He warned temperatures on the NSW south coast will soar well into the 30s.

There are also concerns about a gusty southerly change expected in the afternoon.

'After a relative respite in the weather this week we are expecting another significant spike in conditions,' he said.

'We will have hot and dry northwesterly winds and later in the day a vigorous southerly change will be moving through.'

Shan with partner Rob and daughters Holly, 17, and Fern Hutchings, nine. The family have returned home in East Gippsland to assess damage from bushfires

Flora is already returning to areas devastated by the Australian wildfires - with the photographer claiming it is 'nature's message of hope' in Kulnura in New South Wales
Tensions in the Middle East are high following the U.S. governments assassination of Qassem Soleimani, Irans top-ranking military general. Iran retaliated in the early hours of January 8, launching more than a dozen ballistic missiles against two military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq.

In addition to missiles and military maneuvers, Iran is also no stranger to cyber warfare. In 2016, the U.S. charged seven hackers linked to the Iranian government with executing large-scale coordinated cyberattacks on dozens of banks, as well as a small dam outside New York City.

Two days before the missile strike, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a bulletin warning of Irans ability to carry out attacks with temporary disruptive effects against critical infrastructure in the U.S., and for American companies to be prepared for cyber disruptions, suspicious emails, and network delays.

Just one day after DHS released the bulletin, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said his state has seen a spike in attempted cyberattacks from Iran on state agency networks at the rate of about 10,000 per minute.
(TNS)  Alameda, Calif., City officials are willing to take a look at installing cameras that can read vehicle license plates at key intersections, though no exact locations have been designated.I think thats what the residents want us to do  to make the island safe for people of all ages, City Councilman Tony Daysog said Tuesday, when the council unanimously decided to ask city staff to come back with a report about the cameras.The city initially considered installing the cameras in February 2018.But it held off moving forward until a city policy was in place to protect peoples privacy by placing restrictions on who has access to any personal information that the city has collected, an action the council took last month, when it also banned the use of face recognition technology.On Tuesday, Councilman Jim Oddie said he was concerned that the license plate readers could undermine peoples privacy, and that the data collected could be misused.Police officers, Oddie said, may detain someone based just on their race or because their vehicle matched one reportedly involved in a crime.That potential for racial profiling is concerning for me, Oddie said.But Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft said people should know that they can be under greater scrutiny in public.Theres no expectation of privacy driving down a street or highway in your car, Ashcraft said, adding: I think we owe it to our police department and to our citizens to make these tools available.The council wants city staff to come back with a report on the effectiveness of the cameras in reducing auto theft and on recovering stolen cars, as well as the impact the devices might have on reducing property crime.The council also wants to hear about error rates and the misidentification of vehicles.In February 2018, the council considered a proposal to install 13 cameras at various locations near Alameda entry and exit points, including at Doolittle Drive and Ron Cowan and Harbor Bay parkways.The effort to have the surveillance devices at key locations follows Alameda police being allowed in May 2014 to equip four cruisers with similar cameras, which register hundreds of license plates per minute on moving and parked vehicles.The collected information includes a photo of each plate, GPS coordinates and the date and time the image was captured. The data is stored for six months and then purged, unless investigators are using it or think they might need it for a case, according to Alameda police policy.The data is also shared with the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, which coordinates information among first responders and other agencies.Vice Mayor John Knox White, who put the cameras on Tuesdays agenda, said he wanted to take the temperature of the council about developing a program for their use.
SPRINGFIELD  Alfonso Sarno, father of Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, has died. He was 84.

The mayors City Hall office announced the death Thursday morning.

Alfonso Al the Barber Sarno passed away peacefully earlier this morning after waging a courageous battle against prostate cancer. He was surrounded by his loving family, the statement read.

Funeral arrangements will be announced at a later date and time.

Sarno dedicated his successful 2019 reelection campaign to his then-ailing father

This is important in terms of my parents coming from another country to make a life here ... Whether people disagree with me on things or not, most everyone knows I live this job, I love this job, 24/7, Sarno said at the time.

At his inaugural on Monday, Sarno took a moment to remember his mother, Clara Sarno, who died in 2018, and his ailing father.

My parents bet their future on America when the courageously set sail from Italy many years ago. Working tirelessly as a seamstress and a barber, they raised three children in Springfield. It is a reflection of the great American dream that one of their children grew up to be the mayor of their new home city, he said. My parents always said they were proud of me, but the reverse is true and I say from my heart that I am so very proud of them and Im profoundly grateful for their boundless love and support.

The Sarnos came from the Italian town of Bracicliano.

Sarno is among an estimated 15,000 city residents who have ties to Bracigliano. The town has roughly 5,000 to 5,500 residents.

The Sarnos had three children, Domenic, Giovanna (Joanna) Cummings and Alfonso (Fonzie) Sarno Jr. of Lonogmeadow.

Calling and visitation hours will be held at Forastiere Funeral Home, 220 North Main Street in East Longmeadow on from 3 to 7 p.m. Monday, January 13.

At a 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14 a procession will leave the funeral home at with a funeral mass to be held at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 123 William Street in Springfield at 10 a.m. Burial to follow at St. Michaels Cemetery in Springfield.
OCEAN WONDERS: SHARKS! at the New York Aquarium (ongoing). For years, the aquariums 14-acre campus hunkered behind a wall, turning its back to the beach. When aquarium officials finally got around to completing the long-promised building that houses this shark exhibition, maybe the biggest architectural move was breaking through that wall. The overall effect makes the aquarium more of a visible, welcoming presence along the boardwalk. Inside, Ocean Wonders features 115 species sharing 784,000 gallons of water. It stresses timely eco-consciousness, introducing visitors to shark habitats, explaining how critical sharks are to the oceans food chains and ecologies, debunking myths about the danger sharks pose to people while documenting the threats people pose to sharks via overfishing and pollution. The narrow, snaking layout suggests an underwater landscape carved by water. Past the exit, an outdoor ramp inclines visitors toward the roof of the building, where the Atlantic Ocean suddenly spreads out below. You can see Luna Park in one direction, Brighton Beach in the other. The architectural point becomes clear: Sharks arent just movie stars and aquarium attractions. Theyre also our neighbors  as much a part of Coney Island as the roller coasters and summer dreams. (Michael Kimmelman)

718-265-3474, nyaquarium.com

T. REX: THE ULTIMATE PREDATOR at the American Museum of Natural History (through Aug. 9). Everyones favorite 18,000-pound prehistoric killer gets the star treatment in this eye-opening exhibition, which presents the latest scientific research on T. rex and also introduces many other tyrannosaurs, some discovered only in this century in China and Mongolia. T. rex evolved mainly during the Cretaceous period to have keen eyes, spindly arms and massive conical teeth, which packed a punch that has never been matched by any other creature; the dinosaur could even swallow whole bones, as affirmed here by a kid-friendly display of fossilized excrement. The show mixes 66-million-year-old teeth with the latest 3-D prints of dino bones, and also presents new models of T. rex as a baby, a juvenile and a full-grown annihilator. Turns out this most savage beast was covered with  believe it!  a soft coat of beige or white feathers. (Farago)

212-769-5100, amnh.org

Last Chance

ARTISTIC LICENSE: SIX TAKES ON THE GUGGENHEIM COLLECTION at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (through Jan. 12). Displays that artists select from a museums collection are almost inevitably interesting, revealing and valuable. After all, artists can be especially discerning regarding work not their own. Here, six artists  Cai Guo-Qiang, Paul Chan, Richard Prince, Julie Mehretu, Carrie Mae Weems and Jenny Holzer  guided by specific themes, have chosen, which multiplies the impact accordingly. With one per ramp, each selection turns the museum inside out. The combination sustains multiple visits; the concept should be applied regularly. (Smith)

212-423-3840, guggenheim.org

VIJA CELMINS: TO FIX THE IMAGE IN MEMORY at the Met Breuer (through Jan. 12). This ravishing show of modestly scaled paintings and drawings connects the realities of the world and of human life to the patient, almost devotional concentration of the artists hand and eye. Subjects include bombers, starry nights, expanses of waves but also the glaze on a fragment of porcelain seen up close that evokes finely veined skin or cracked earth. The show is an extended meditation on natures grandeur and what it means to exist, to see and to be an artist. (Smith)

212-731-1675, metmuseum.org

RACHEL HARRISON LIFE HACK at the Whitney Museum of American Art (through Jan. 12). As seen in this excellent midcareer survey, Harrisons assemblage-style sculptures suggest serendipitous urban still lives, of the kind you see on New York City sidewalks on trash collection day: bottles, bedding, defunct appliances, outgrown toys, discarded Christmas trees in season and, always, sealed garbage bags filled with you dont want to know what. All of these together translate into information about commerce, class, memory, value, accident, appetite, waste, color, shape, zeitgeist  not to mention life and death. But this is an art of questions, not answers. The more you look, the more questions there are. (Cotter)

212-570-3600, whitney.org

ERNST LUDWIG KIRCHNER at the Neue Galerie (through Jan. 13). You could be forgiven for drawing a connection between Kirchners shocking color palette and his character. It would be understandable enough, considering his problems with morphine, Veronal and absinthe; the nervous breakdown precipitated by his artillery training in World War I; and his suicide in 1938, at the age of 58, after the Nazis had denounced him as a degenerate. But to linger on Kirchners lurid biography would be unfair to the mesmerizing technical genius of his style, amply on display in this exhibition. Surrounding more or less sober portrait subjects with backgrounds of flat but brilliant color, as Kirchner did, wasnt just a youthful revolt against the staid academic painting he grew up with. It was also an ingenious way to articulate subjective experience in an increasingly materialist modern world. (Heinrich)

neuegalerie.org



NATURE: COOPER HEWITT MUSEUM DESIGN TRIENNIAL at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (through Jan. 20). Plastics transformed the material world after World War II. Today, they pollute our oceans. A better future will be made with  algae. Or bacteria. Thats the dominant theme of this sweeping exhibition. On display here at the Smithsonians temple to the culture of design are objects you might once have expected only at a science museum: Proteins found in silkworms are repurposed as surgical screws and optical lenses. Electrically active bacteria power a light fixture. The triennial displays some 60 projects and products from around the world that define a reconciliation of biosphere and technosphere, as Koert van Mensvoort, a Dutch artist and philosopher, puts it in the shows excellent catalog. Nature provides us with a post-consumption future, in which the urgency of restoring ecological function trumps the allure of the latest gadget. (James S. Russell)

212-849-2950, cooperhewitt.org
The U.S. is a troublemaker that never provides solutions but always makes things worse, international relations experts told Peoples Daily Online in recent interviews.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced Jan. 2 that U.S. forces had carried out a strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The information on which Trump based his decision to kill Soleimani was unconvincing, said Li Haidong, a U.S. studies researcher at China Foreign Affairs University.

The war the U.S. declared in Iraq in 2003 was based on twisted and politicized information, and it was disastrous for the Middle East, said Li, who added that the reckless operations of the U.S. against Iran will make tragedy repeat itself.

The unilateral act of the U.S. was strongly condemned by the international community. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern over rising global discord, saying, This is a moment in which leaders must exercise maximum restraint," and The world cannot afford another war in the Gulf."

The recent act of the U.S. has blatantly sabotaged international law and is an act of roguery, said Jin Canrong, a professor with the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China and a U.S. studies expert.

As the strongest country in the world, the U.S. chose to assassinate the military leader of a country in a third country, which reveals its vulgar and barbaric nature in dealing with international relations, Li said.

The operation of the U.S. against Iran has drawn anti-war sentiment in the U.S. For days, anti-war groups have taken to the streets in more than 70 cities in the U.S., including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle, opposing the U.S. arms increase in the Middle East and demanding U.S. troops withdrawal from Iraq.

Anti-war voices have also been strong on social media. Tweets with the hashtag #Iran vs USA have totaled 597,000 and continue to rise. Most Twitter users denounced the U.S. behavior and called on the two sides to embrace peace.

The more Washington becomes involved in Middle East affairs, the more insecure the American people will feel, said Li, adding that frequent intervention in Middle East affairs has caused damage to the U.S. itself. The U.S. could have allocated the resources mobilized to create the Middle East situation to solve its domestic issues such as unemployment, health insurance, and polarization of political parties, Li explained.

In 2003, a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was carried out based on an allegation that the government of Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. However, the U.S. has not found the so-called weapons of mass destruction over the following seven years and ended the war with the excuse that the Saddam government had destroyed relevant documents and killed witnesses.

The death toll among Iraqis as a result of the U.S.-led invasion reached an estimated 655,000, according to U.S. human rights records. Also, the U.S. intervention in Iraq proved to be a lose-lose game. The war in Iraq cost the U.S. $800 billion, and left 4,500 U.S. soldiers dead and 50,000 more injured.

The root cause for the U.S. meddling in the Middle East lies in its twisted values of security, said Li.

The U.S. thinks its security risks come from the outside and not from its domestic problems. It believes that it will become safer only when the external world becomes more and more like itself, Li pointed out. Driven by such a philosophy, the U.S. is never tired of meddling in the affairs of other countries, especially countries in the Middle East.

U.S. intervention has made the Middle East situation worse and more complicated. The wars have led to a large number of refugees and the rising influence of the Islamic State group. While its allies in Europe are bothered by the refugee issue, the U.S. has restricted access to asylum seekers.

Facts have proved that the U.S., a troublemaker, has never provided effective solutions, but has always made things worse.

Soleimani was a strong enemy of the Islamic State group. Its hard to say whether his death will lead to a rise of the Islamic State terrorists. Is the U.S. maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East or creating more chaos? The international community knows the answer, Li said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other Western leaders say evidence suggests that an Iranian missile downed the Ukrainian passenger plane that crashed near Tehran.



"We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile," Trudeau said on January 9.



"This may well have been unintentional," he told a press conference, calling for a "complete and credible investigation" into the cause of the crash.



Earlier, unidentified U.S. officials said they were confident that Iranian air-defense systems downed the Boeing 737-800, based on satellite, radar, and electronic data.



Iran has ruled out a missile strike as the cause of the crash, saying such a scenario makes "no sense" and it called on Canada to share any intelligence indicating that Iran had shot down the plane.



Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 en route to Kyiv crashed on January 8 soon after taking off from the Iranian capital, killing all 176 people on board.

The victims included 63 Canadians, 82 Iranians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans, and three Britons. There were also 11 Ukrainians on board, including nine crew.



The tragedy came hours after Iran fired missiles at bases housing U.S. forces in Iraq, prompting speculation that the plane may have been attacked.

Echoing Trudeau's words, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson later said in a statement, "There is now a body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile."



"This may well have been unintentional," Johnson added.



Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had "suspicions" about the crash, saying the plane "was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood and somebody could have made a mistake."



"Some people say it was mechanical. I personally don't think that's even a question," Trump said, adding that "something very terrible happened."



Ukraine's top security official, Oleksiy Danylov, earlier said the country was examining whether a missile strike brought down the aircraft.

Newsweek magazine quoted a Pentagon and a senior U.S. intelligence official, as well as an Iraqi intelligence official, as saying they believed the Ukrainian plane was hit by a Russian-made Tor missile.



CBS News, citing U.S. intelligence, said a satellite detected infrared "blips" of two missile launches, followed by another blip of an explosion.



The Pentagon declined to comment.



Iran's Transport Ministry said in a statement that "this story of a missile striking a plane cannot be correct at all."



"Several internal and international flights were flying at the same time in Iranian airspace at the same altitude of 8,000 feet (2,440 meters)," the ministry said.



"Such rumors make no sense," Ali Abedzadeh, the head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization and deputy transport minister, said in the statement.



The Boeing crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport.



The Civil Aviation Organization said on January 9 that initial evidence gleaned from eyewitnesses on the ground and in a passing aircraft showed that the Ukrainian plane was on fire and had turned back toward the airport before it crashed.



The crew flying the 3-year-old plane, which had its last scheduled maintenance on January 6, initially headed west to leave the airport zone, sent no distress signals, nor did they contact ground control, it said.



A video aired by Irans state broadcaster appeared to show the plane already on fire as it fell from the night sky.

Ukrainian investigators, 45 of whom arrived in Tehran on January 9, said that they were seeking to search debris at the crash site to help determine the cause.



Iran and Ukraine have agreed "to coordinate further actions of our investigation groups closely" to determine the cause of the crash, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystayko.

In a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rohani, "stressed that Iran would provide the Ukrainian expert group with prompt access to all the necessary data," according to Zelenskiys office.



Johnson also spoke to Zelenskiy and called for "a full, credible, and transparent investigation into what happened," Downing Street said.



And Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne held a telephone conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to stress Canada's desire to be a part of the investigation into the crash.

Canada broke diplomatic relations with Iran in 2012, and Italy normally acts as a proxy for communication between Ottawa and Tehran.



Amid tensions heightened by the killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a U.S. air strike in Baghdad last week, Iran has said it will not give the planes so-called black box, which contains flight data and cockpit voice recorders, to either U.S. authorities, nor to representatives of American plane maker Boeing.



Tehran is not obliged to do so and under international aviation rules is expected to be the lead investigator, while Ukraine, as the country where the plane was registered, would participate.



As aviation authorities searched for answers after the crash, Ukraine observed a day of national mourning on January 9, with Zelenskiy saying the state was prepared to provide families who lost relatives in the accident with all the help they need.

He also cautioned that the disaster was "not a topic for social-media hype, sensationalism, or conspiracy theories."

With reporting by AP, Reuters, Newsweek, CNN, AFP, and CBS, Fars, dpa, IRNA, and RFE/RLs Radio Farda
Ahead of the Union Budget 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the top economists of the country to discuss the state of the economy and ways to revive growth. India's GDP growth is projected to drop to 5 per cent this fiscal.

The Niti Aayog meeting was attended by Home Minister Amit Shah, Road Transport and Highways minister Nitin Gadkari, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, CEO Amitabh Kant and other senior officials of the government think tank as well as sector experts.

Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister Bibek Debroy was also present at the high-profile meeting. Issues related to agriculture and infrastructure sectors were among a host of issues discussed at PM Modi's meeting with the economists.

Also read: PM Modi meets business leaders; Ambani, Tata, Adani, Mittal, Mahindra, attend event

The meeting assumes significance as the government is in the process of formulating Budget proposals for 2020-21, the focus of which is likely to be on accelerating economic growth which is estimated to slip to an 11-year low of 5 per cent during 2019-20.

PM @narendramodi chaired a productive interaction with economists and experts to discuss topics ranging across economy, social sector and startups in #NITIAayog today. pic.twitter.com/DoT6rf6NQ1 - NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) January 9, 2020

The meeting comes after PM Modi's interaction with top business tycoons on Monday including Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Bharti Mittal, and Gautam Adani. The state of the economy and measures needed to boost growth and create jobs were discussed at the meeting.

However, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor pointed out in a tweet that the Finance Minister was absent from the high-profile Niti Aayog meeting. "What's going on here? Finance Minister indisposed?" he said on Twitter.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who will be presenting her second Union Budget on February 1 was present at a meeting with BJP office bearers, spokespersons and party organisations at the BJP office along with Working President JP Nadda.

Delhi: Meeting of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was held with BJP office bearers, Spokespersons,Morchas and other party organizations at BJP office, on union budget consultations. Party Working President JP Nadda was also present (earlier visuals) pic.twitter.com/XDxJgUw38v - ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

Also read: Budget 2020: Niti Aayog shocker; Poverty, hunger and income inequality up in 22 to 25 States and UTs

Also read: Budget 2020: Modi govt may cut income tax rate, introduce new slabs to boost consumption
Trump said he would ask the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance of mostly European nations, to become more involved in the Middle East. At the same time, Trump says the United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.
by Sarah Mahoney , Staff Writer @mahoney_sarah, January 9, 2020

There are many reasons to be depressed about journalism these days.

For one, the ranks are thinning, with newsroom employment falling 25% in the last two years. For another, journalists are an increasingly endangered species, from the assassination of columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to murder here, in an Annapolis, Maryland newsroom.

All those fake news tirades from President Donald J. Trump, when theyre not semi-comical, are dispiriting.

Thats why I pounced when Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins came to Hulu. I missed it when it premiered last year. Please dont miss it. Its so much more than a career pep talk for journos, although it's that, too. It's also a celebration of charm, common sense and American vernacular, wrapped in a free-speech taco.

And it felt personal to me.

I moved to Dallas as a young reporter for Ad Age in 1984. I never met Ivins, though I realize a cub reporter at a trade pub is to a syndicated columnist what a Beefeater is to Princess Kate. Still, I pretended to bask in the light she shone over the entire state.

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Acknowledged as pure Texas genius, Ivins columns skewered politicians regularly. This is the woman who said Ross Perot was all hawk and no spit, gave George W. Bush his shrub nickname and who teased the Right with lines like: Im not anti-gun. Im pro-knife.

She was a populist in the best sense of the word, when it just meant not-fancy people. (That was before it came to imply men in red MAGA hats who favor defacing synagogues and mosques.)

She was also brave. And this documentary, which doesnt shrink from her warts, conveys it. That meant something to me back then, when I was, frankly, a mess. Broke and lonely, I had hoped my new press pass would fill me with some Ivins-esque zeal. It never happened.

Here she was, blasting any old Bubba, whether he was a senator, governor or even president. By contrast, my First Amendment gumption wilted every time I got chewed out, either by a source who thought I was too harsh, or an editor who said I was too soft.

Her newspaper columns were a shot in the arm for anyone wondering what it takes to speak truth to power. And Raise Hell is a nostalgic cocktail, reminding me of how the Golden Age of Molly Ivins fortified me. Journalistically, one of her columns had five times the kick of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and seven times the wallop of a Jimmy Breslin piece.

Ivins died in 2007, so we never got to hear what she would have said about Washington today. But give this great film a watch and use your imagination.

To get you started, heres something Ivins wrote back in 1994, inspired by politician Newt Gingrich, one of her favorite foils: When politicians start talking about large groups of their fellow Americans as 'enemies,' it's time for a quiet stir of alertness. Polarizing people is a good way to win an election, and also a good way to wreck a country.
The Sensex vaulted 635 points while the Nifty reclaimed the 12,000-mark on Thursday as global investors heaved a sigh of relief after the US and Iran appeared to be backing off from a wider military conflict.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened on a strong footing and maintained its momentum throughout the session. It finally closed at 41,452.35, up 634.61 points, or 1.55 per cent.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty surged 190.55 points, or 1.58 per cent, to 12,215.90.

Global equities soared after President Donald Trump said the US is "ready to embrace peace with all who seek it", a day after Iran fired rockets at American military bases in Iraq in response to the killing of its top general Qassem Soleimani.

Reports said there were no US or Iraqi casualties, amid speculation that Tehran may have deliberately pulled its punches to avoid a wider conflagration.

Risk sentiment received a further leg up after China said its Vice Premier Liu He will visit Washington next week for the signing of the much-awaited interim trade deal with the US.

ICICI Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying 3.80 per cent, followed by SBI, M&M, IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints and Reliance Industries.

TCS, HCL Tech, NTPC and Sun Pharma were the only laggards, shedding up to 1.73 per cent.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held discussions on the state of the economy with economists, sector experts and entrepreneurs at the Niti Aayog, and promised to take both short-term and long-term measures to revive growth.

"Expectation for initiatives to bring growth in the upcoming Budget and easing tensions in the Middle East seems to cheer investors. Government is poised to bring initiatives and policy measures to support the economic growth to benefit equities for long-term.

"Meanwhile, the short-term market trend will be driven by events like Q3 results which are expected to show some improvement due to low base," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

BSE realty, auto, bankex, industrials, finance and energy indices rallied up to 2.83 per cent, while IT ended in the red.

Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices surged up to 1.55 per cent.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended up to 2.31 per cent higher. European markets too started with significant gains.

Brent crude oil futures rose 0.40 per cent to USD 65.70 per barrel.

The rupee appreciated 26 paise to 71.43 per US dollar (intra-day).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi, Jan 8 : The Union Cabinet has given ex post facto approval to the memorandum of cooperation (MoC) signed between the government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) in the field of health.

A programme action committee (PAC) will be set up to work on details and oversee the MoC's implementation, according to a statement issued after the cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, here on Wednesday.

The MoC was signed by the Department of Health and Family Welfare (DOHFW) and the BMGF in November during the Delhi visit of Bill Gates, Co-Chair and Trustee of the BMGF.

The MoC focuses on reduction in maternal, neonatal, and child morbidity and mortality, improving key nutrition outcomes by improving the reach, coverage and quality of essential primary health, immunisation and nutrition services.

It will also help increase the basket of choices and quality for family planning methods, specially for reversible methods, and improve access among young women as well as to reduce the burden of select infectious diseases -- tuberculosis (TB), visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and lymphatic filariasis (LF).

The MoU also covers health systems, including aspects like budget utilisation, management and skills of human resources for health, digital health, strengthening supply chains and monitoring systems.
PC maker Asus only brought one new premium ZenBook thin and light laptop to the Consumer Electronics Show this year. But the company is adding a bunch of new models to its mid-range VivoBook lineup.

Theyre all powered by 10th-gen Intel Core processors, and many will be available with optional NVIDIA graphics.

Heres an overview of the new laptops.

VivoBook S13 S333 (13 laptop w/Ice Lake)

This is the only model of the bunch thats powered by an Intel Ice Lake processor. The 2.65 pound laptop measures 0.59 inches thick and has a 13.3 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel display with narrow bezels for an 88-percent screen-to-body ratio.

Asus will offer models with two different processor options:

Core i5-1035G1 with Intel UHD graphics

Core i7-1065G7 with Intel Iris Plus graphics

Theres also optional support for the latest (read: not-yet-announced) NVIDIA GeForce graphics, and the notebook will be available with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 512GB of solid state storage and 32GB of Intel Optane memory.

Other features include USB Type-C and Type-A ports, an HDMI port, a microSD card reader, and a headphone jack. The laptop has a 50 Wh battery and comes with a 65 watt power adapter that can give you a 60-percent charge in 39 minutes.

VivoBook S14 S433 (14 laptop w/Comet Lake)

While the specs and design for this model are similar, the guts are a little different. The 3.1 pound VivoBook S433 comes with a choice of an Intel Core i5-10210U or Core i7-10510U quad-core processor and theres optional support for NVIDIA GeForce MX250 graphics.

It has the same port selection, the same battery, charger, and fast charger support, and measures only a little bit thicker, at 0.62 inches.

VivoBook S15 S533 (15 laptop w/Comet Lake)

Same battery, same ports, same processor, memory, and storage options as above. Add a bigger screen and a larger case that weighs in at just under 4 pounds and which measures 0.63 inches thick.

VivoBook 14 (14 laptop w/Comet Lake)

Available with a choice of Core i3-10110U, Core i5-10210U or Core i7-10510U processors and HD or full HD displays, this laptop is obviously a bit more of a budget machine.

But its still available with up to 16GB of RAM, optional support for NVIDIA MX-series graphics, and up to 2TB of storage.

It weighs 3.1 pound, measures 0.75 inches thick, and has a 42 Wh battery.

Specific model numbers include the VivoBook F413FA, F413FF, and F413FP

VivoBook S14 (14 laptop w/Comet Lake)

On paper this model looks pretty similar, but the VivoBook S413FA/FF/FP series laptops area bit slimmer, at 0.7 inches.

Asus will also offer 15 inch models including a 4 pound, 0.63 inch VivoBook S15 S533 and the 4.2 pound VivoBook 15 F513 and VivoBook S513. All of these models feature Intel Comet Lake processors with support for up to a Core i7-10510U chip, optional support for NVIDIA graphics, and solid state storage.

All of the new VivoBook laptops should be available in the first half of 2020.

press release
I fought as a Marine in Vietnam. We had similar problems throughout the Vietnam War because of Vietnams propinquity to China, which along with the Soviet Union provided continuous support to the North Vietnamese, including most of the weapons used against us on the battlefield. China was then a rogue state with nuclear weapons. Its leaders continually spouted anti-U.S. rhetoric. Yet we did not assassinate its military leaders for rendering tactical advice or logistical assistance. We fought the war that was in front of us, and we created the conditions in which we engaged China aggressively through diplomatic, economic and other means.
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria - At least eight Nigerian soldiers were killed in Monguno, a town in the countrys northeast, after extremists staged a deadly attack, according to a witness.

Members of the Islamic State, West African Province ambushed a convoy of travellers being escorted by soldiers near a military checkpoint at the entrance to Monguno, according to an employee of a non-governmental organization who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to speak to the press.

The group claimed the suicide bombing and subsequent clash, according to SITE Intelligence Group.

The attack started late Tuesday the evening, and soldiers and travellers had to flee into the bush surrounding Monguno amid heavy gunfire.

A group of soldiers repelled the insurgents who attempted to invade the town.

About 300 shelters built by the International Committee of the Red Cross were burned down after a rocket-propelled grenade landed in the camp. It was not clear who shot the RPG.

The attack comes after Chadian troops who are part of the Multinational Joint Task Force withdrew from Borno some days ago. There are worries that more attacks will be carried out against key targets in the state.

On Saturday, six soldiers were killed in an attack by Boko Haram near Jakana, a town 45 kilometres (28 miles) away from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, according to Maj. Gen. Olusegun Adeniyi. He called for the evacuation of Jakana and another village, Mainok.

Nigerias President Muhammad Buhari had on Tuesday told citizens not to panic over the withdrawal of the Chadian troops.

The military has not yet officially commented on the soldiers deaths in the attack on Monguno.
Photo: Instagram / Be Fresh

"All we need now is for our community to support the initiative by donating bags as well as by borrowing them, so that we can create real change."

A Vancouver market has come up with a genius way to help people kick plastic bags for good.

Be Fresh Local Market, a grocery store and cafe chain offering local and organic food, has created a free library of reusable bags that customers can borrow from and contribute to at its Kitsilano market.

The market, at Cypress and West 1st, launched its Reusable Bag Library with more than 160 laundered, reusable bags available for borrowing on Jan. 8.

The stores manager Ashley Sugar, who sparked the idea, said both staff and customers had been more than happy to contribute to the project to help get it going.

When I shared the concept of a reusable bag library to my staff, they were very eager to get it off the ground, she said.

I feel very lucky to work with people that see their job as a place where they can promote sustainability and live their values.

Customers [have brought] in five to eight [reusable bags] on average and are so happy when they do.

Now that the library has a large inventory of donated bags, they are inviting the public to use it.

All we need now is for our community to support the initiative by donating bags as well as by borrowing them so that we can create real change, Sugar said.

Customers can ask any Be Fresh staff members at the checkout about the reusable bag program if they forget to bring their own bags. The bags are free to borrow and arent tracked, however, Sugar said the expectation is that they are eventually returned to the store so that the program always has a supply of bags to offer its customers.

Be Fresh staff hope the program will set an example to retailers of how they can eliminate the distribution of single-use grocery bags.

As the City of Vancouver slowly rolls out its single-use item reduction strategy, which calls for a ban on single-use plastic bags in January of 2021, this program highlights a tangible way that businesses can begin transitioning away from single-use, a Be Fresh release stated.

If the program is successful at the Cypress and W 1st location, the Reusable Bag Library will expand to the other Be Fresh stores.
A new report from Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development establishes benchmarks for the vendor qualification process, a critical element of clinical trial set up and execution. According to its November/December Impact Report, the process volume and complexity of the vendor qualification process creates delays in initiation in 7% of clinical trials for biopharma sponsors and 14% of trials for Contract Research Organizations.

The analysis, conducted in collaboration with The Avoca Group, was based on data provided by 76 small, medium, and large pharmaceutical companies engaged in global drug development.

Among the key study findings summarized in the November/December Tufts CSDD Impact Report were the following:



In 2018, global spending for vendor qualification and requalification is estimated to be $375M, with 25,000 qualifications and requalifications conducted.

Vendor qualification assessment costs have large disparities and variances between companies; there is a need to standardize and optimize the process.

There is significant variation across the service provider domains evaluated; a standardized approach would greatly improve the efficiency of evaluations.

A high percentage of assessments, especially those conducted by larger companies, include customized areas of inquiry, which create challenges to streamlining and standardizing the processes involved.

There is no identifiable competitive advantage held by any company based on the approaches to vendor qualification examined; an industry-wide or third-party system might benefit every organization.

Cycle times for vendor qualification are lengthy and growing; the average total cycle time from an RFI request to a signed contract is 19.0 weeks for single-service providers and 26 weeks for multi-service providers.

"Evaluating external service providers is a time-consuming process that must meet the unique demands of each R&D program and account for, among other factors, regulatory compliance, risk management, cost efficiency, information technology expertise, operating, and financial controls and oversight," said Ken Getz, principal investigator and deputy director of Tufts CSDD. "The volume and complexity of assessments needed to qualify and requalify potential vendors is increasing, and the benchmarks from this new study identify opportunities for drug developers to more effectively and efficiently manage this process."

The development of our new Diligent Qualification Platform aligns with the vision we share with our partners to bring optimal efficiency and effectiveness to the quality and compliance elements of the clinical development process. With Diligents intuitive technology and suite of quality assurance assessment and auditing services, sponsors and CROs can rapidly identify, evaluate, and select clinical service providers, said Patricia Leuchten, Founder and CEO of The Avoca Group. Diligent accelerates the prequalification of clinical service providers by leveraging powerful analytical technology and industry-leading standards from the Avoca Quality Consortium. Clients have seen significant reductions in vendor qualification cycle times, in most cases from weeks to days, using the Diligent Platform.

Tufts CSDD, based in Boston, conducts a wide range of in-depth analyses on pharmaceutical issues and hosts symposia, workshops, and public forums, and publishes Tufts CSDD Impact Reports, a bi-monthly newsletter providing analysis and insight into critical drug development issues.

About The Avoca Group

The Avoca Group is a life science consulting firm dedicated to improving quality and compliance in clinical trial execution. Since 2011, the Avoca Quality Consortium, a collaborative of over 100 pharma, biotech, CRO, and clinical service provider companies, has led the industry in developing practical solutions for improving quality and execution in clinical trials. Companies benefit from Avocas insightful research, deep subject matter expertise, industry-leading approaches, and technology. Avoca offers platforms and tailored solutions to help clinical research companies increase quality, ensure compliance, and improve efficiency so that medicines can reach patients faster.

About the Diligent Qualification Platform

The Diligent Qualification Platform is a groundbreaking cloud-based technology platform as a service (PaaS) that streamlines and simplifies provider selection and qualification. Diligent makes identifying, evaluating, and selecting clinical trial providers more efficient and less expensive and meets todays rigorous quality and compliance standards. Built on The Avoca Groups extensive industry standards for clinical service provider qualification, Diligent meets the demands of todays changing clinical trial landscape.
Photo: Alev Takil/Unsplash

If you're a theater fan, mark your calendars: There's plenty to do when it comes to stage performances in Boston this week, from a Shakespeare play to a Blue Man Group concert.

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

'The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)'

From the event description:

"The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)" is a hilarious summary of all Shakespeare's plays, using reenactments and audience participation.

When: Friday, Jan. 10, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Charlestown Working Theater, 442 Bunker Hill St.

Price: $27.50

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

'The Cake'

From the event description:

Written by Bekah Brunstetter and directed by Courtney O'Connor, "The Cake" is a heartfelt new play that tackles the gay-wedding-cake debate with humor and empathy.

When: Friday, Jan. 10, 8 p.m.

Where: Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon St.

Price: $18.50-$37.50

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

'Riot X'

From the event description:

Riot Theater Company brings you "Riot X!"  30 original two-minute plays written by the ensemble. They're at turns funny, dramatic, nostalgic, relevant, irrelevant, abstract, always fresh and never illusory.

When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 10 p.m.

Where: The Rozzie Square Theater, 5 Basile St.

Price: $5

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Blue Man Group

From the event description:

They're bald, they're blue and they're wildly popular entertainers. Paint will splatter, toilet paper will fly and youll be having a total blast!

When: Sunday, Jan. 12, 4 p.m.

Where: Charles Playhouse, 74 Warrenton St.

Price: $55

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.
The latest progress report on the states court mandate to improve its foster care system has some troubling findings, particularly around special needs children.

Officials with the Department of Human Services were forthright in notifying the independent monitors about problems. In the past year, about 50 children were shuffled between several short-term placements without proper services; five children who had experienced success in stable homes were moved to meet a bureaucratic change.

DHS stopped the practice when it was discovered.

In addition, there is a loss of therapeutic homes with foster parents trained to care for children with special needs including physical, intellectual and behavioral disabilities.

These are among the most vulnerable children in Oklahoma, and the state must do better.

The Pinnacle Plan was implemented in 2012 to settle a federal class-action lawsuit that alleged foster children were being abused and neglected while in state care. The ambitious improvement plan set out 31 goals in areas such as worker case load, number of foster homes and emergency shelter elimination.
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Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said that Trump and his administration are intentionally not telling Congress whats really going on with Iran.

Sen. Merkley said on MSNBCs The Beat with Ari Melber:

Specifically, they are addressing the issue of bringing a resolution to the floor, one that discusses, for example, the war powers act or an authorization for use of military force, that this would be very divisive and show division when we shouldnt be showing division.

In other words, theres no respect for the fact that the constitution lays out that no president should be able to take us to war, only a collective decision by Congress because decisions of war involve so much blood and so much treasure that it cant be entrusted to one person. That was our founders fear of the damage of war, and theres no respect or understanding of that. In fact, they proceeded to that in terms of future consultation just talking to us in this briefing was their consultation according to the secretary of state. This wasnt a consultation. This was a  I dont know, a kind of brush over all the facts because theyre not going to really tell us whats going on.

Video:

Sen. Jeff Merkley said that Trump isn't telling Congress what's going on with Iran. pic.twitter.com/dF04QHdIYB  Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) January 8, 2020

Sen. Merkley also called the briefing patronizing and said that the senators were told that debating war powers or authorization to use force resolution would be disrespectful to the troops. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) blew his stack after the briefing for a very good reason. Trump is trying to hide the truth about whats going on with Iran from Congress.

Democrats in the House will pass a war powers resolution on Thursday, and if Trump keeps pushing, the Senate might join them in checking Trumps power.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday denied meeting Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, and said there was no plan to join hands with him as of now.

His party and the MNS did not have any ideological affinity, Fadnavis, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, said.

Speaking at a function here, he said, "I did not meet MNS chief Raj Thackeray and there is no plan to join hands with him as of now.

"They follow an ideology which is different from ours. If they consider expanding their outlook towards various issues, we may join them," the former chief minister said.

"The BJP, as a national party, is in favour of working with various (regional) organisations. We will think about them in future," he added.

A section of media had claimed that Fadnavis met Raj Thackeray recently and the two discussed a possible tie-up to take on the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in the state.

Raj Thackeray had campaigned vigorously against the BJP during the Lok Sabha as well as the Assembly elections.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress on Thursday said the country's economy was in an alarming state and the BJP government was least bothered about it as it was busy indulging in the of polarisation.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the rate of nominal GDP growth in the country has, after a gap of 42 years, reached dangerously low levels that it last touched in 1978.

"While there is turmoil all over the country on CAA and NRC, we should not forget that today the economic condition is very serious and alarming," Ramesh told reporters.

"The Government is least bothered about this situation and has been busy indulging in the of polarization. But the reality is that the economic situation is not only grim, it is assuming dangerous proportions," he said.

The Congress leader said the economic crisis in the country, along with the protests and resentment against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens, would be discussed and debated upon during a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on Saturday.

He said top party leaders would discuss the issues and evolve the party's strategy at the crucial meeting of the CWC, the highest decision-making body of the grand old party.

Ramesh said there is no fresh investment, no new factories are being set up and farmers and farm labour are feeling the pain of the crisis in the agriculture sector.

He also alleged that the states are in poor economic health and "the only reason for this malady is the wrong economic policies and priorities of the Modi Government".

"Though it is a fact that all are agitated in the country on CAA and NRC and the people are raising their voice against polarization, in the midst of all this we should not forget that the economic condition is not only alarming but becoming dangerous. Such a low economic growth has not been recorded during the past 42 years. All these issues shall be deliberated in the CWC meeting," he said.

Ramesh said if investment is not flowing in, employment will not be generated and one can understand its results. He also said when the Finance Minister had presented her budget, some estimates on revenue generation were made but that is not happening.

"The Prime Minister should admit today that their economic policies have failed. There is an economic crisis before the country and if the government invites suggestions from the Congress, we will certainly give them.

"The government should consult noted economist and former prime minister Manmohan Singh, and find a way out of this economic crisis. The Congress knows what to do and it is there in the party's manifesto. If the prime minister asks us, we will certainly give our suggestions," the Congress leader said.

Ramesh also said that in the next few weeks his party will create awareness among people about the economic situation. "We hope the people will also agitate against the dangerous and bad economic situation in the country," he said.

The CWC is meeting on Saturday to discuss the current political situation, including the protests over CAA and NRC and the violence in various campuses including the JNU.

When asked about objectionable posters being shown in some anti-CAA protests, the Congress leader said, "Any poster that is anti-national, any poster that crosses the bounds of decency and legality, the Congress Party is opposed to it. But, there is also a poster, which said 'PM 2.0 is more dangerous than PM 2.5', and I fully subscribe to that.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In the midst of spiralling tension between the United States and Iran over the killing of an Iranian military commander, India on Thursday said it would like the situation to de-escalate as soon as possible and was monitoring the developments very closely.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar also said India has been in touch with key players including Iran, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar as it has important interests in the region.

Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif is scheduled to visit India next week to attend the Raisina Dialogue, the flagship annual event of the external affairs ministry.

Zarif will also hold talks with external affairs minister S Jaishankar during his stay in Delhi.

"Peace, security and stability in the region is of utmost importance to us. We have important interests in the region and we would like the situation to de-escalate as quickly as possible. We are talking to several stakeholders in the region," Kumar said.

"We are monitoring the situation very closely and will see how it develops in the next few days," he said.

His remarks came a day after Iran said it will welcome any peace initiative by India to de-escalate tensions with the US following the killing of Qasem Soleimani.

Maj Gen Soleimani, 62, the head of Iran's elite al-Quds force and architect of its regional security apparatus, was killed when a US drone fired missiles into a convoy that was leaving the Baghdad International Airport early on Friday. The strike also killed the deputy chief of Iraq's powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force.

On Wednesday, Iran launched over a dozen ballistic missiles targeting at least two bases where US military and coalition forces' are stationed in Iraq. Tehran said it was a "slap in the face" of America.

Soleimani's killing was the most dramatic escalation yet in spiralling tensions between Iran and the US.

India has strategic interests in the Gulf region which is a key source of the country's energy security.

Asked whether India would evacuate Indian citizens from Iran if the situation deteriorates, Kumar said necessary steps will be taken depending on assessment.

"We are committed to safety and security of Indians," he said.

On Chabahar port in Iran, Kumar said the US in the past had shown understanding of the importance of the project to India as well as for connectivity of Afghanistan.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : Central GST authorities have started summoning businesses with a set of 12 key documents pertaining to FY17-18, the GST roll-out year, for closer scrutiny suggesting an aggressive approach against suspected tax evasion.

This has left the industry scared with many of them terming the move arbitrary. Many tax experts pointed out that several records called by the department are already with them and hence, such a demand is unreasonable.

Industry sources said that records called by the central GST authorities include various GST returns (GSTRs), GST registration certificate, copies of annual report, Income Tax returns, reports of cost, tax and internal audits, cash ledger and work orders, among others.

Bipin Sapra, partner at EY, said that GST audits are being ordered even where GSTR 9C has been submitted and the GST authorities have reconciliations of the financial data and tax paid.

"The audit should be based on queries if any on the basis of returns already filed. The information sought is elaborate and is available with the authorities. Given that most big units have multi state registrations, it will be an epic task to get the audit done in all the states for each year. There needs to be a centralised audit of these records to avoid undue hardship and promote ease of doing business in India," Sapra told IANS.

With pressure mounting on the field officers for higher GST collection, there has been more focus on curbing GST evasion and leakage. This week, the Revenue Department held a meeting with senior GST officials from both Centre and states and drew up a nine-point strategy to plug loopholes in the system.

Archit Gupta, Founder and CEO, ClearTax, said that government has been taking an aggressive stand against taxpayers.

"However, both government and the taxpayers should place increasing reliance on the systems data and use technology to improve compliance. Harassing taxpayers comes with limited benefits, but using technology for both compliance and audit is beneficial. The government will soon implement rules to make sure provisional ITC credit does not exceed 10 per cent.. this will leave taxpayers with no choice but to use technology for reconciling their data for ITC purposes," Gupta said.

With many states opposing the idea of rate increase to augment GST revenue, the government has directed its focus on anti-evasion measures. From April this year, e-invoicing would be implemented for certain categories of businesses.

Vivek Jalan, Partner, Tax Connect Advisory Services LLP said that the root cause of the notices is the directions given by the Commissionerate and CBIC to the field formations for going all-out on GST scrutiny.

Further, such directions have given field officers the opportunity to take arbitrary actions.

Jalan said that lower GST collection was not the only result of evasion but more of the lower GDP growth and the record-low consumption level.

"The higher GST collection will not happen in this way (sending notices to taxpayers). There has to be higher GDP growth and consumption growth to mop up more revenue," the tax expert said.
The opposition NDC has accused the Akufo-Addo government of seeking to make political gains with the distribution of the ambulances.

According to the NDC, the ruling party intends releasing the vehicles when elections are near so they can use as a campaign tool.

The distribution of the ambulance has become controversial following the changing positions on the reason for the delay in sharing them.

In a statement, the NDC said The NDC is not surprised by these never-ending excuses, which only typify the deception, insensitivity and leadership paralysis that Ghanaians are being subjected to by inept President Akufo-Addo and his wasteful government. Indeed, the governments heartless handling of this ambulance fiasco so far, underscores the fact that President Akufo-Addo has very little regard for the lives of Ghanaians, particularly considering the snobbish remarks by the Minister of Special Development Initiatives, Hawa Koomson that Ghanaians were already dying before the ambulances were procured.

Even more bizarre are the new reasons given recently by the National Ambulance Service, which curiously was routed through the Ministry of Health and not the Ministry of Special Initiatives. The claim that two weeks is required to label 307 ambulances, some of which have been in the country since September last year is preposterous, to say the least.

STOP THE NEEDLESS EXCUSES AND RELEASE THE AMBULANCES NOW MR. PRESIDENT.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) notes with great concern the refusal of the Akufo-Addo government to release ambulances procured with taxpayers money for their intended purpose.

These ambulances, some of which were imported into the country some four (4) months ago, have been lying idle at the forecourt of the State House despite a groundswell of public outcry that they be released.

In spite of genuine calls for these ambulances to be distributed to complement the countrys challenged National Ambulance Service and emergency health system, the vehicles are still parked at the State House amidst a litany of lies that crumble under scrutiny almost every day.

It would be recalled that following public condemnation of the continuous detention of the ambulances last year, the Minister of Special Development Initiatives, Hawa Koomson told the public that the Akufo-Addo government was in the process of training drivers, paramedics and other staff to operate the ambulances, hence the undue delay in distributing the ambulances.

The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, is also on record to have said that the ambulances required digitisation.

But these flimsy excuses, alongside other cock and bull stories from the stables of government, were later to be amended by President Akufo-Addo. In an answer to a question about the ambulances at his last media encounter, President Akufo-Addo confessed that he refused a request from the Minister of Special Development Initiatives to release the first batch of ambulances with the excuse of wanting to ensure an even distribution of same so as to avoid accusations of favouritism against his government.

The NDC is not surprised by these never-ending excuses, which only typify the deception, insensitivity and leadership paralysis that Ghanaians are being subjected to by inept President Akufo-Addo and his wasteful government. Indeed, the governments heartless handling of this ambulance fiasco so far, underscores the fact that President Akufo-Addo has very little regard for the lives of Ghanaians, particularly considering the snobbish remarks by the Minister of Special Development Initiatives, Hawa Koomson that Ghanaians were already dying before the ambulances were procured.

Even more bizarre are the new reasons given recently by the National Ambulance Service, which curiously was routed through the Ministry of Health and not the Ministry of Special Initiatives. The claim that two weeks is required to label 307 ambulances, some of which have been in the country since September last year is preposterous, to say the least.

Like many discerning minds, it is now clear to us that that the several conflicting excuses of the government on this matter are contrived and deliberately calculated to conceal the real intention of the government in this matter; which is to delay the distribution of the ambulances until a few months to the 2020 general elections for cheap electoral gain.

As we mark Constitution Day today, in honour of the adoption of the 1992 Constitution of the Fourth Republic of Ghana, we wish to remind President Akufo-Addo of his constitutional duty under Article 36(1) to take all necessary action to secure the maximum welfare of every person in Ghana.

The NDC joins the media and well-meaning Ghanaians to demand the immediate release of the ambulances to help address the health needs of Ghanaians, with whose taxes these ambulances were procured.

President Akufo-Addo and his government must stop toying with precious lives and release the ambulances without further delay.

Ghanaians deserve better than this mediocrity and insensitivity.

Signed,

SAMMY GYAMFI

National Communication Officer, NDC

---Starrfm.com.gh
New Delhi: Delhi Police arrested three people with suspected ISIS links from Wazirabad on Thursday. The three were detained after a brief encounter, arms and ammunition were also recovered from them. Further investigations are underway and police are conducting raids in several places.

Delhi Police in the press conference claimed that the three terrorists were radicalised and they were a part of an ISIS-inspired module. They were arrested by a team of the Special Cell after 14 rounds of firing.

As per a tip-off, six murder accused in the murder of K P Suresh, leader of Hindu Munnani for Thiruvallur East district, absconded from Tamil Nadu. They went to Nepal and from there they entered India. They had a foreign-based handler who was helping them. They were planning attacks in NCR and Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier, sources with the intelligence agencies had warned that at least five ISIS-trained terrorists had entered India through Nepal and were believed to be in Uttar Pradesh. Following which districts close to the Nepal border like Basti, Gorakhpur, Siddharthnagar, Kushinagar and Maharajganj were put on high alert.

Basti IG range Ashutosh Kumar had confirmed the report saying that they had received information about two terrorists entering the country and that they were currently in Uttar Pradesh.

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Intelligence agencies sources had told Zee News that the two terrorists, identified as Khwaja Moinuddin and Abdul Samad were last seen in West Bengal's Siliguri. In September 2017, Khwaja Moinuddin was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from Chennai. The sources added that Moinuddin is associated with ISIS and has been active in south Indian states.
Public prosecutor reportedly also to keep investigating whether Ghosn helped normalise economic relations with Israel.

Beirut, Lebanon- A top Lebanese judge has issued a travel ban on former Nissan CEO-turned-international fugitive Carlos Ghosn over a non-binding Interpol arrest warrant relating to charges of financial misconduct that Ghosn is facing in Japan.

The state-run National News Agency reported that Public Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat would also continue investigating Ghosn  who has French, Brazilian and Lebanese citizenship  over charges that the former Nissan boss participated in normalising economic relations with Israel during visits there.

Lebanon is technically at war with Israel, and its citizens are forbidden from travelling there or interacting with Israelis. Ghosn visited Israel at least once, in 2008, while CEO of Renault to sign a deal with an Israeli electric car maker. He met with then-Israeli President Shimon Peres.

Ghosn has since said he regretted the trip and did not mean to upset the Lebanese people.

Caretaker Justice Minister Albert Serhan told Al Jazeera that Ghosn would remain under a travel ban until all the details of his case, including the charges against him, arrived from Japan and could be assessed by a Lebanese judge. The judge would then take a decision on whether to send Ghosns case to trial.

Serhan added that Ghosn is receiving no special treatment. You saw this today  he was called into investigation and was interrogated like any other citizen would be, Serhan said.

Asked whether the justice ministry was concerned Ghosn may attempt to flee trial in Lebanon given he fled Japan rather than face trial there, Serhan said it was up to security agencies to prevent that from happening.

Of course, if he leaves Lebanon that would be a problem, Serhan said.

Despite the legal proceedings against Ghosn, Ricardo Karam, a prominent Lebanese media personality and Ghosns close friend, told Al Jazeera that he believed the former Nissan CEO was still happy with his choice to come to Lebanon, given the conditions of his detention in Japan.

He was not escaping justice, he was seeking freedom and is looking for justice, Karam said.

Ghosn had said as much at a long news conference in Beirut on Wednesday  his first since he dramatically evaded Japanese authorities by jumping bail in Japan late last year.

He said his human rights to a fair and speedy trial were not being upheld in Japan and that he is innocent on charges filed against him by Tokyo prosecutors, including allegations that he misstated his income over many years.

Rather than escape justice, Ghosn said he is seeking to stand trial in order to restore his reputation.

The charges against Ghosn have not stopped some prominent Lebanese politicians from calling for him to take on an official government position. But the former auto industry leader on Wednesday said he does not want one.

Druze leader Walid Joumblatt, the head of Lebanons Progressive Socialist Party, is advocating for Ghosn to be given Lebanons energy portfolio, which for 10 years has been held by the Free Patriotic Movement, one of his political rivals.

Lebanon remains without round-the-clock electricity 30 years after its civil war and has seen blackouts spike over the past 24 hours due to austerity imposed on the purchase of fuel for power plants.

In a tweet, Joumblatt said Ghosn built an empire and we should benefit from his expertise.

Many in Lebanon view Ghosn as an archetype of the countrys large diaspora, greater in size than Lebanons population at home and lionised for the success of many of its members.

Soon after Ghosns arrest in Japan in November 2019, images of his face, with the words, We are all Carlos Ghosn, printed below it, went up across parts of Beirut.

But some have also seen his arrival in Lebanon at a time of immense economic and financial crisis as adding to the burdens on the country.

Japan, a major donor to Lebanon that pledged $10m in soft loans for infrastructure projects at a conference in 2018, has urged Lebanon to cooperate on the charges levelled against Ghosn in order to maintain friendly relations.
Hundreds of people gathered in North York Thursday evening to express their sorrow and anger over the air disaster near Tehran that killed 176 people on Wednesday.

Mourners gathered at two separate vigils, one outside in a dark and chilly Mel Lastman Square, and the other inside at the nearby North York Civic Centre. At both events attendees, many of them members of the Iranian-Canadian community, lit candles and laid flowers in front of pictures of the victims. Outside, they played the Canadian national anthem, followed by the Iranian one, as mourners waved red, white, and green Iranian flags.

Sixty-three of those killed on Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 were Canadian citizens, and more had ties to the country.

Many in the crowd said they were friends or coworkers of people killed in the disaster.

Marjan Gholani walked through the crowd outside handing out halva, a sweet thats traditionally served at funerals in Iran. She said she had worked with one of the victims, Parinaz Ghaderpanah, at RBC. Ghaderpanahs husband Iman also died.

I lost a friend, Gholani said.

Mitra Jonoobi said she had been speaking with one of the victims via text message moments before the flight took off. Jonoobi said Sheyda Shadkhoo was a close friend who had been visiting family back home in Iran. Before she boarded the plane Shadkhoo sent a message to friends in Canada saying she and other passengers were nervous, because hours earlier Iran had launched a series of missiles at military bases hosting U.S. forces in Iraq.

The barrage was a response to the U.S. assassination of Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian general.

She told us everybody is frightened, and some of the people are crying because of the situation in the area, Jonoobi said.

I told her, please leave the airplane, tonight is very dangerous. The sky is full of missiles.

But according to Jonoobi, Shadkhoo was worried that the escalating conflict unfolding in the Middle East would cause Iran to close its borders, which would have trapped her there.

She took the risk, and her life was the price, Jonoobi said.

Although the cause of the crash wasnt initially known, on Thursday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that foreign and Canadian intelligence sources had evidence the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, possibly inadvertently. The Iranian government has denied its armed forces took down the aircraft.

Nazanin Babaei was at the vigil inside the civic centre, which was organized by the Iranian Canadian Congress and other groups. She said news that the disaster may have been caused by Iranian armed forces made the tragedy even worse.

It makes me hate the regime even more, she said.

Babaei said she also knew one of the people killed in the crash. She didnt want to give the victims name, but said she was a family friend who had been killed with her 10-year-old child.

Babaei said the Iranian community in Canada is divided, with some people against the current regime and others more supportive of it.

But she said she took some comfort in being with other Iranian-Canadians after what has been a very tragic two months for her home country. In the weeks leading up to the air disaster this week, thousands of anti-government protesters had been killed by Iranian authorities.

I just need to get it out, to see people. Were not alone, she said, speaking through tears.

For some at the vigil, the Iranian governments potential hand in the plane crash had turned sadness into fury. Outside, Mary Shirazi said she hoped Trudeaus government would take action against the Iranian regime.

We need justice. Were expecting our prime minister to support (the Iranian) people, Shirazi said.

Not all those who attended the vigil were Iranian-Canadian. Amir Towheed said he came to Mel Lastman Square to pay his respects to Farideh Gholami, who was one of his employees at the Sherwin-Williams paint company. Her husband, Centennial College professor Razgar Rahimi, was also killed on the flight, as was the couples 3-year-old son Jiwan. According to Towheed, Gholami was pregnant when she died.

They didnt even get a chance to live their life. Thats what really hurts, Towheed said.

He described Gholami as a fantastic mother, fantastic coworker, even better friend.

(She) just really brought the best out in everybody, I think thats why were so impacted, he said.

Although the vigils were mostly peaceful, a skirmish erupted at the doors of the indoor event when a man shouting anti-Iranian regime slogans attempted to push through the crowd and enter. Some attendees told the Star some organizers of the the vigil inside the civic centre were more sympathetic to the Iranian government than those who staged the outside event.

The man wasnt allowed to enter, and after chanting loudly in the lobby of the building, eventually went outside.

A vigil will be held Friday night, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at 1761 Sheppard Ave. E. hosted by the Iranian Womens Organization of Ontario office.

On Saturday afternoon in Nova Scotia, a vigil is planned at Dalhousie University Club.

Hundreds gathered across the country Wednesday night to mourn in the bitter cold in Edmonton and Toronto.

The crash is among the deadliest air disasters involving Canadians.

With files from the Stars May Warren

Read more about:
Two brothers accused of shooting up a Blue Mountains pub after threatening another patron claim they instead went home to watch the romantic blockbuster Titanic.

Nathanael and Aaron Hayes, 26 and 25 respectively, were allegedly involved in an argument with two patrons at the Gardners Inn in Blackheath on the night of September 5 last year, with the younger brother accused of making threatening gestures towards one of the men as the accused pair left.

Nathanael Hayes (left) and Aaron Hayes (right) are charged over a Blue Mountains pub shooting. Credit:Instagram

According to a police statement, the brothers were allegedly caught on CCTV returning to the pub hours later before, investigators say, they took turns firing homemade guns at one of the men, narrowly missing his head.

"I want to show him who he's f---ing with," Aaron Hayes allegedly texted his girlfriend upon returning to the pub and shooting at the man.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

Two days after dismissing the charges, prosecutors relaunched a murder case against a man accused of causing a fatal crash as he led deputies on a chase in August 2018.

The driver of the second vehicle, 66-year-old Robert Chavez, died of his injuries several days later. But it would be months before Jesus Zapata-Beltran was indicted on charges including first-degree felony murder  a count used when a person is killed during the commission of certain felony crimes.

Meanwhile, Chavezs estate is suing Bernalillo County in a wrongful death suit, and it appears the county has already offered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars  but negotiations are ongoing.

The initial criminal case against Zapata-Beltran was dismissed Dec. 18, about six weeks before the trial was set to begin. Defense attorney Douglas Wilber told the Journal on Monday that the state dismissed the case not long after he sought to bar testimony from a medical investigator, partly because he had not been provided with certain medical documents.

Prosecutors wrote in the dismissal document that additional investigation was needed. At a pretrial detention hearing Tuesday, prosecutor Penny Gilbert said the state received additional medical records and realized it would need to review them and add witnesses.

The case was refiled on Dec. 20.

On Tuesday, a district judge said she had concerns about the way the case had been prosecuted, but she determined that Zapata-Beltran has shown he wont abide by court-ordered conditions of release and opted to detain him pending trial.

In a motion seeking detention, prosecutors wrote that when Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office deputies tried to stop the defendant, who was driving a stolen Hyundai on Aug. 6, 2018, Zapata-Beltran fled at a high rate of speed and Albuquerque police eventually joined the chase. The Hyundai collided with a van near Broadway and Cesar Chavez, injuring Chavez, who had been running errands.

Gilbert said Zapata-Beltran admitted stealing the vehicle and fleeing and had been on conditions of release in an unrelated case at the time of the crash.

He is self-admittedly, for lack of a better word, a car thief. He constantly has possession of stolen vehicles, and his intent is to not get caught, she said. He admits himself that he will flee from police if they try to pull him over.

As Zapata-Beltrans case is going through the system, the state Supreme Court is considering whether aggravated fleeing is among the crimes that can be used as a predicate felony in a felony murder case. A state district judge dismissed a felony murder charge against Elexus Groves, who was charged in a wreck that killed a mother and her teen daughter, and the state appealed. It is not clear when the high court will issue its ruling on that case.

Zapata-Beltran has also been charged with depraved-mind murder and vehicular homicide as alternative counts to felony murder.

Meanwhile, the chase and crash are the subject of an ongoing wrongful death lawsuit against Bernalillo County.

Documents recently filed in the case indicate the county had offered to pay $1,050,000 to resolve claims by Chavezs estate, along with claims of a couple of other parties who suffered very minor injuries, plaintiffs said.

But the county has since walked that back and is now offering Chavezs estate $637,000.

County defendants changed their position regarding settling potential claims from other parties involved in the collision who have yet to file a lawsuit, attorneys for the county wrote in a response. County defendants did not change their position regarding settling with plaintiff and offered plaintiff the maximum recovery available to her under the law.

Sam Bregman, who is representing Chavezs estate, has asked the court to enforce the original agreement.

Its bad enough that their deputies contributed to the death of Mr. Chavez, Bregman said. But then it gets even worse when they go and basically tell his widow that Were going to pay you a certain amount of money and then, Never mind; we decided not to. I mean, its behavior that is unexplainable.

Luis Robles, who is representing the county and deputies involved in the chase, said the county has offered the maximum amount the plaintiff is entitled to under the states Tort Claims Act. In an interview Monday, Bregman disputed that assertion. A hearing on the issue is set for Jan. 22.
Former Cyclone Blake brought flooding rain to the desert regions of inland Western Australia on January 9, with more than 150 millimetres falling at Newman in just 24 hours.

Highways were left flooded in stark contrast to the dry red-desert environment of the Pilbara mining town, as seen in a video posted to Instagram by Allysha Murray.

Police in Newman urged motorists to avoid non-essential journeys amid the dangerous driving conditions.

Elsewhere in the state, Marble Bar received more than 220 millimetres of rain in 24 hours, which caused the Coongan River to reach its highest mark since 2001.

The cyclone has brought some relief to the states record dry conditions. 2019 was Western Australias second-driest year on record. Credit: Allysha Muray via Storyful
Man charged with hate crime for allegedly beating Indian motel owner originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

An Oregon man has been charged with attempted murder and hate crimes for allegedly attacking an Indian immigrant due to her ethnicity, leaving her with a broken shoulder and various other injuries.

James Lamb, 53, was charged with attempted murder, two counts of a bias crime, assault, burglary, strangulation, menacing and criminal mischief, for allegedly breaking into the motel office where 70-year-old Meena Puri worked and beating her severely, prosecutors said Tuesday.

MORE: Federal hate crime charges filed in Hanukkah stabbing

Lamb was staying at the Hub Motel in Redmond, co-owned by Puri and her husband, when he allegedly attacked her on New Year's Eve, leaving her with injuries to her throat, a broken shoulder and a black eye, prosecutors said.

He was indicted on hate crime charges early this week in light of comments he made about Puri's nationality. He allegedly made derogatory statements regarding the woman's country of origin and expressed a desire to rid America of people like her, according to the Deschutes County District Attorneys Office.

PHOTO: This Dec. 31, 2019 booking photo provided by the Deschutes County, Ore., Jail shows James Lamb, who has been charged with attempted murder and hate crimes. (Deschutes County Jail via AP)

"The victim of this unprovoked assault provided heroic testimony to the grand jury from her hospital bed. Too many people in Oregon are silenced by intimidation and violence because of how they look, who they love, or to whom they pray," Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said in a statement.

He said the charges were made possible by a recently revised bias crime law in the state that allows a felony hate crime to be charged even if a defendant acts alone.

Previously, felony charges were only authorized if two or more people harmed another based on these motivations.

MORE: Woman mows down 2 children of color in alleged hate crime

"Because of this woman's strength, and because the Oregon Legislature passed a law last year to strengthen Oregons hate crime law, justice will be delivered in this case," Hummel said. "Hate is not tolerated in Deschutes County."

Story continues

Lamb, who was seen smiling in his booking photo, is scheduled to appear in court on Friday. It's unclear if he has retained an attorney.

Puri was still hospitalized as of Wednesday. Her husband, Satish Puri, said she's afraid to return to motel now.

"Our life has changed forever," Satish Puri told The Associated Press Tuesday. "Were not going to be in the motel business running it ourselves now, and shes not going to be coming back to this place, ever, because shes so scared now."
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COLUMBUS, Ohio  Investor and author J.D. Vance has started a new venture-capital fund in Ohio.

Vances Narya Capital will be based in Cincinnati, and will focus on investing in startup companies in locations including Salt Lake City, Atlanta and the Raleigh / Durham area in North Carolina, Axios reported Thursday.

One of Naryas partners is Falon Donohue, an active figure in Ohios venture capital scene. She resigned this week from her position leading VentureOhio, a Columbus non-profit that promotes investing in start-ups and access to venture capital in the state, according to Columbus Business First. Donohue leads an advisory board to InnovateOhio, an initiative led by Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, while Vance is a member of the same board.

Another partner at Narya is Colin Greenspon, who previously worked with Vance at a venture capital fund owned by famed Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel. Thiel is among the backers of the new fund, Axios reported, as is Battelle, a Columbus scientific research non-profit.

Narya has raised $93 million with a goal of raising $125 million, according to a Wednesday FEC filing.

Vance, an Ohio native, became famous in 2016 after his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, became a best-seller. Hes made connections in Ohios Republican political scene since then, and has considered running for political office, including publicly testing the waters for Ohios U.S. Senate race in 2018 before ultimately deciding not to run.

He previously worked for Rise of the Rest, a venture-capital fund focused on the Midwest while splitting time in Washington, D.C. He now lives in Cincinnati. Hes also founded a non-profit that focuses on fighting the opioid crisis in Ohio.

See more recent Ohio political news:

Ballot set for Ohios 2020 primary: Capitol Letter

Ohio elections officials put on guard amid Iran tensions

Federal investigators subpoena campaign spending records for Newburgh Heights mayor

Could Browns blues be cured by medical marijuana?
Regulatory News:

Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (LN:PSHD) (NA:PSH) ("PSH") today announced that it has purchased, through PSH's agent, Jefferies International Limited ("Jefferies"), the following number of PSH's Public Shares of no par value (ISIN Code: GG00BPFJTF46) (the "Shares"):

Trading Venue: London Stock Exchange Ticker: PSH Date of Purchase: 9 January 2020 Number of Public Shares purchased: 37,720 Shares Highest Price Paid Per Share: 1,522 pence 19.86 USD Lowest Price Paid Per Share: 1,492 pence 19.47 USD Average Price Paid Per Share: 1,511 pence 19.72 USD Ticker: PSHD Date of Purchase: 9 January 2020 Number of Public Shares purchased: 51,117 Shares Highest Price Paid Per Share: 19.78 USD Lowest Price Paid Per Share: 19.60 USD Average Price Paid Per Share: 19.70 USD Trading Venue: Euronext Amsterdam Ticker: PSH Date of Purchase: 9 January 2020 Number of Public Shares purchased: 36,755 Shares Highest Price Paid Per Share: 19.88 USD Lowest Price Paid Per Share: 19.56 USD Average Price Paid Per Share: 19.65 USD

PSH will hold these Public Shares in Treasury. The net asset value per Public Share related to this buyback is 27.07 USD 20.64 GBP which was calculated as of 7 January 2020 (the "Relevant NAV"). After giving effect to the above buyback, PSH has 205,891,509 Public Shares outstanding, or 211,553,578 Public Shares calculated on a fully diluted basis (assuming that all Management Shares had been converted into Public Shares at the Relevant NAV). Excluded from the shares outstanding are 5,065,241 Public Shares held in Treasury. The prices per Public Share were calculated by Jefferies.

The number of PSH Management Shares and the one special voting share (held by PS Holdings Independent Voting Company Limited) have not been affected.

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/20200109005766/en/

Contacts:

Media Contact

Camarco

Ed Gascoigne-Pees Hazel Stevenson +44 020 3757 4989, media-pershingsquareholdings@camarco.co.uk
Civil society organisations focusing on human rights advocacy in Ghana, ought to speak out against the attempt by dark forces in our country to use the digitisation of the broadcasting industry, to empower the State to surreptitiously control free-to-air television broadcasting, through the back door.

As a freedom-loving people, Ghanaians do not want their right to express themselves freely, to be restricted under any circumstances. Full stop. And they most definitely do not want the era of the culture of silence to be brought back again by the encryption of digital television decoders, for example, by assigns of the National Communications Authority and the Ministry of Communications. No. Never.

That is why one wonders whether the tussle between the Ministry of Communications and the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), over ultimate control of digital terrestrial television and direct-to-home receivers, is not yet another egregious example of how Ghana's best elected leader, thus far, since the overthrow of President Nkrumah in 1966, President Akufo-Addo, is being sabotaged left, right and centre by our nation's vampire-elites in the higher reaches of the civil service, as some allege.

President Akufo-Addo is a committed democrat and human rights advocate, who understands perfectly that it is only when society fosters competition of ideas in the public-discourse-space, that the best ideas emerge to drive nations forward - in the never-ending-march-towards-progress. How can such back-door control of the digital terrestrial television industry be attempted by elements in a regime led by him?

The question all freedom-loving Ghanaians ought to ponder over is: What ends do those who have been accused of altering the GSAs recently-revised standard GS1099: 2019, on digital terrestrial television and direct-to-home receivers (which ensured a non-mandatory conditional access system for free-to-air television receivers - a development that GIBA apparently welcomed when published on 18 December 2019), actually seek?

The more responsible sections of the Ghanaian media ought to investigate this allegation by GIBA. And, in so doing, the question they ought to ponder over is: What ends do those who allegedly altered the Ghana Standards Authoritys GS1099: 2019, ultimately seek? Hmmm, Oman Ghana eyeasem ooooo - asem kesie ebeba debi ankasa. Yooooo...
This U.S. Air Force file photo obtained Jan. 5 shows a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft as it awaits an engine test prior to Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance operations at Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait, July 23, 2019. AFP-Yonhap



South Korea falls behind in drone deployment



By Jung Da-min



The recent U.S. drone attack that killed Iranian top general Qassem Soleimani has exemplified drones' "game-changing" role in modern warfare.



On Jan. 2, an MQ-9 Reaper drone of the U.S. Air Force demonstrated its deadly capabilities, carrying out the mission within minutes to fire laser-guided Hellfire air-to-surface missiles to vehicles carrying the Iranian commander and other senior military members including Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.



Flying at a medium-altitude of around 50,000 feet with a range of 1,150 miles, the MQ-9 Reaper is an armed, multi-mission, remotely piloted aircraft and is employed "primarily against dynamic execution targets and secondarily as an intelligence collection asset," according to the U.S. Air Force, providing "a unique capability to perform strike, coordination and reconnaissance against high-value, fleeting and time-sensitive targets."



The MQ-9 carries the Multi-Spectral Targeting System as well as synthetic aperture radar that enables targeting using Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), guidance kit units that convert existing unguided bombs into precision-guided "smart" munitions, which employ Guided Bomb Units (GBUs), according to the U.S. Air Force.



The MQ-9 is also loaded with four laser-guided Hellfire missiles which provide "highly accurate" engagement capabilities against armor and personnel with "low collateral damage."





In this file photo taken on Jan. 23, 2018, a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone sits at Kandahar Air base in Afghanistan. AFP-Yonhap



Becoming one of the U.S. military's primary weapon, drones have been employed in their strikes in the Middle East in recent years, including in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Iraq and Syria. As the world's top military drone operator, the U.S. has around 8,000 drones.



The latest U.S. drone strike in the region has brought the military drone technology into the spotlight among others around the world, including South Korea, which hosts 28,500 United States Forces Korea (USFK) troops in its territory.



Some media reported that the USFK has deployed the MQ-9 Reaper to its Gunsan Air Base where 12 of the U.S.' MQ-1C Gray Eagle Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) were deployed in 2018 after they were brought into the country in 2017. The USFK has neither confirmed nor denied the reports, saying, "Per USFK policy, we do not discuss military capabilities or assets on the peninsula due to operational security purposes."



Although the USFK is operating attack drones, military experts pointed out that South Korea falls behind in drone technology compared to other neighboring countries like China and Russia. Shin Jong-woo, a senior researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum, said the South Korean military focuses more on purchasing other bigger-sized weapons from abroad while paying little attention to attack drones.



"The Republic of Korea's military drone technology remains at a rudimentary level due to the military's structural problems. The ROK military is more focused on scaling up its presence by purchasing bigger weapons such as the U.S. AH-64 Apache twin-turboshaft attack helicopter than advanced unmanned aerial vehicles like the U.S. MQ-1C Gray Eagle," Shin said. An AH-64 Apache helicopter can operate together with an MQ-1C Gray Eagle drone.





A MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft / Korea Times file



Shin further pointed out that there is another structural problem in the defense industry under the country's policy that allocates the development of small-sized drones to small and medium-sized companies and big-sized ones to large companies.



He said the U.S. has no such policy which allows for a smoother, more consistent development process. The MQ-9 Reaper is a converted version of a reconnaissance drone.



"Military drone technology cannot be developed when the development projects are carried out separately, scattered among different actors," Shin said.



While South Korea is mostly depending on USFK assets for attack drones, it also operates its own reconnaissance drones such as the RQ-101 Songgolmae, developed by the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and Korea Aerospace Industries as well as another homegrown drone named Remoeye, manufactured by Uconsytem.



South Korea has also brought its first advanced high-altitude unmanned aircraft RQ-4 Block 30 Global Hawk from the U.S to an Air Force base in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, in December last year. It was the first to arrive in the country among the four Global Hawk aircrafts the country has purchased from the U.S.





This screenshot photo from the U.S. aerospace giant Northrop Grumman's website shows its RQ-4 Block 30 Global Hawk aircraft. South Korea's first RQ-4B Global Hawk arrived at a military air base in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, in December. Northrop Grumman-Yonhap
London, Jan 9 : Highlighting female achievements in the workplace makes capable women significantly more likely to want to be the boss, says a new research.

Public feedback about a woman's performance can significantly increase her willingness to lead, even in male-dominated environments, said the study, published in the journal The Leadership Quarterly.

The teams led by these women are subsequently more likely to perform well.

"There are so many capable women, but many do not feel encouraged in their workplace, and this leaves them feeling they shouldn't put themselves forward for leadership positions," said study researcher Jingnan Chen from the University of Exeter in UK.

"There is not enough attention paid to the efforts of high-achieving women, partly because they are less likely than men to self-promote their abilities, but it is very important that their work is equally recognised," Chen added.

In male-stereotyped industries, women in both mixed and single gender groups are twice as likely to shy away from leadership roles.

Men also shy away from leadership positions in female-stereotyped industries, but only when they are in mixed-gender groups.

For the findings, researchers conducted an experiment, using 248 students in groups of four, where they were asked to complete tasks such as answering quiz-style questions, and how likely they were to lead their group on a particular task.

They were also asked if women or men would be more likely to know more about that subject area, and how likely it was that their answer was right.

The study found that increasing the number of men in mixed-gender teams negatively impacts women's willingness to lead, especially on tasks seen as stereotypically male.

Publicly acknowledging women's abilities and achievements, however, helps to alleviate this effect.

The research shows making people's achievements public increases the chance that men in all-male groups will prefer to take the lead.

This has the opposite effect for women in all-female groups -- capable women are deterred from leading, due to women wishing to signal fairness and a sense of cooperation.

In mixed gender groups, however, public feedback significantly encourages the best female performers to lead.

"This research does not suggest anyone should downplay male achievements, but it shows companies should make a commitment to making sure female achievements are not overlooked or ignored. This is especially important in male-dominated industries," Chen said.

"We have shown highlighting achievements is both highly beneficial and often straightforward for companies. The most capable female and male leaders emerge, and consequently the best group outcomes are obtained, when public performance feedback is given," Chen added.
TORONTO, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Xeo Marketing & Strategic Consultancy Inc. announces their next Canadian Channel Partners conference to be held at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel in Vancouver on April 23rd, 2020 making it the first official West Coast event for telecom, IT, cloud & cybersecurity channel partners.



This event gives telecom, IT, cloud & cybersecurity professionals in the channel community a new opportunity to network, gain knowledge, and share experiences about the telecom & emerging tech, VoIP, SD-WAN, cloud and cybersecurity field.

Xeo has been supporting the Canadian channel partners community MSPs, VARs and consultants for the past four years by helping them elevate their business prowess and network through these annual Canadian channel partners conferences.

The telecom and cloud marketplace is evolving to include all global players and the Canadian Channel Partners conference is an excellent way for me to learn what's new and exciting in the Canadian telecom & IT world. Any telecom reseller that wants to survive this fast-changing world must attend these conferences, said Nathan Hashman, VP, Bus Dev for Integrated Telecom Solution Sourcing Inc, Managed Service Providers from Calgary.

Stringent laws and regulations surrounding the Canadian business segments while protecting the consumers and businesses from misuse of digital technology also make it cost-prohibitive for technology vendors to make that initial contact with potential channel partners and prospects. Canadian Channel Partners conference aims at providing technology vendors with a channel-specific avenue where they can meet and engage with prospective MSPs, VARs and cloud & cybersecurity consultants without facing the repercussions of anti-spam laws & regulations.

The Canadian Channel Partners conference was an excellent platform to network with the partner community of Canada and to be part of the evolution of this ecosystem, said Bernard Breton, Chief Executive Consultant for Adaptiv Networks.

Xeo Marketing works extensively to enable the Canadian telecom & IT channel and to support emerging technologies in Canada. From conducting industry surveys to providing analyst reports on emerging technologies, Xeo is continually striving towards delivering value to the entire ICT community  channel partner and technology vendors alike.

While there were several customer/end-user facing events in Canada, we found that there was an evident gap for channel-facing events in the Canadian telecom & IT segment. Canadian Channel Partners conference is our attempt to address this gap and to bring the ICT channel community under a single umbrella for information exchange and peer networking, said Monali Supramanyam, Strategic Marketing & Communications Director for Xeo.

Do not miss out and join Xeo and the extended telecom & IT channel partner community at the Vancouver Canadian Channel Partners West Coast event in April!

About Xeo Marketing & Strategic Consultancy:

Recognized as the top technology marketing company in Canada, Xeo Marketing is a B2B strategic consultancy and marketing organization. Powered by experienced industry experts, Xeo Marketing works with businesses in the fast-paced, high-tech sector and tech & AI start-ups of all sizes. Xeo helps the organizations in the B2B tech-sector capture the market share and grow their revenue, by providing them with affordable growth strategies and marketing services through innovative ways to leverage the modern marketing channels like social media and mobile.

About Canadian Channel Partners Conference

Canadian Channel Partners conference and Xeo.ai is the brainchild of Xeo Marketing.

Working as a catalyst that connects different user groups of the ICT community, Xeo struggled with the lack of transparency within these user groups. Xeo quickly realized the need for a smart, connected platform that would provide a seamless service to buyers, channel partners and technology vendors alike. Xeo recognized the need for various users to connect instantaneously and efficiently to make informed decisions, saving them valuable time and resources. With that in mind, Xeo launched the xeo.ai ICT platform that connects multiple users on a single platform to provide a simplified buying experience for an end-to-end cloud, telecom and emerging tech solutions. Canadian Channel Partners conference is yet another avenue to help connect the channel partners with technology vendors.

For information Xeo Marketing, please visit www.xeo.marketing . For more information on the Xeo AI platform, please visit www.xeo.ai or follow @xeo_ai on Twitter. For information on the Canadian Channel Partners conference visit www.canadianchannelpartners.com

Contact Person:

Monali Supramanyam

Director, Strategic Marketing & Communications

1-844-936-0011

info@xeomarketing.com
The main efforts are aimed at increasing combat and mobilization readiness, training of command and control, reconnaissance, and communications units.

Press secretary of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Mykhailo Sharavara says Russian occupation forces' command in Donbas has reintensified training of illegal armed groups in eastern Ukraine.

In particular, the enemy command is stepping up measures to intensify training of Russia's army corps No.1 (Donetsk) and No. 2 (Luhansk), Sharavara told a briefing on January 9, referring to military intelligence data of Ukraine's Defense Ministry.

"The main efforts are aimed at increasing combat and mobilization readiness, training of command and control, reconnaissance, and communications units. Moreover, combat training activities involving a significant amount of military equipment were rescheduled for the second half of January due to problems with logistics," he said.

Read alsoHouse burnt amid brawl between local militants, Russian mercenaries in Donbas  intel

Sharavara added that the introduction of amendments to the invaders' combat training plans for the winter period was agreed with the headquarters of the 8th Combined Arms Army (based in Rostov region's Novocherkassk) of the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces.
In a massive diplomatic outreach, 15 foreign envoys visited Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on Thursday to get a first-hand understanding of the ground situation. The group primarily comprise envoys from Latin American and African countries. The first meeting was with security officials to understand the prevailing security situation in the region and the threat posed by terrorism in the Union Territory. The group of envoys also met civil officers and interacted with the local media and political leaders. The group of envoy will now proceed to Jammu where they will be interacting with Lt.Governor GC Murmu.

READ: MEA Specifies Objective Of Delegation Visit To Jammu And Kashmir

Republic TV has learnt that the envoys have praised the government for handling the situation on the ground after the historic decision of abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A. As they took stock of the current situation, the envoys agreed there were some difficulties faced by the people of J&K but it was necessary to maintain law and order.

In an interaction with the locals, they blamed Pakistan for the killings in J&K and asked envoys to put pressure on Pakistan. The envoys were told by the locals that not an inch would be given to Pakistan. The envoys witnessed open shops, traffic, and people on the streets of Srinagar. Locals also reiterated that they came forward spontaneously to meet the envoys and were looking forward to the future without interference from Pakistan.

READ: Envoys Of 15 Countries Visit Jammu And Kashmir To Assess On-ground Situation

According to the government, envoys based here had requested to visit Kashmir which also included the European Union as they too wanted to visit but the invitation was not sent to all. The government maintains that the objective for the envoys was to see the effort made by government to normalize the situation and see how things have progressed and normalcy restored after abrogation of Article 370.

The European Union countries are understood to have conveyed that they will visit the Union Territory on a different date. The government maintains that necessary arrangements can be made at a later stage. They also added that the envoys of several countries had requested the government for a visit to Kashmir to get a first-hand account of the situation prevailing in the Valley.

READ: 'Free Kashmir' Poster Spotted In Mysuru During Protests Against Attack On JNU Students

This will be the second visit of a foreign delegation to Kashmir since August 5 last year. A delegation of 23 EU MPs was earlier taken on a two-day visit to assess the situation in the Union Territory. But the government then had dubbed this as a private visit. Earlier, India had reached out to P5 countries putting forward its perspective on its decision to abrogate Article 370.

READ: Newly Appointed Advisor Meets J-K LG In Jammu
More than 300 students from the Student Solidarity Forum in Mumbra came together at Mittal Ground in Narayan Nagar on Thursday to express their support for students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia University, and protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

The students played patriotic songs, shouted slogans, waved the national flag, recited poems and read out the Preamble at the protest.

The forum, which is part of the Student Islamic Organisation (SIO), was formed to highlight the current scenario and create awareness among students. This is an alliance formed against the citizenship law and National Register of Citizens (NRC) and in support of students facing violence. We want the students in Mumbra to understand how CAA and NRC will affect us. We made an appeal to the student community in Mumbra to gather and they turned up in huge numbers, said Adil Azmi, secretary of the forum.

I was agitated to know that students were beaten up in a university, said Fouzia Qazi, 20, a student of Kalsekar Degree College, Mumbra, who was at the protest.

Salman Ahmed, president, SIO, said they highlighted the importance of freedom and basic rights at the protest. Being part of a minority community, it is essential for everyone to understand the laws of the country. This will ensure no one misuses freedom. We hope the government notices the unity within the student community and understands that we will raise our voice against any wrongdoings across the country, he said.
Mark DAmico - one of three characters in the discredited "gas story that flooded a GoFundMe fundraiser with more than $400,000 for a homeless veteran in Philadelphia - was indicted on additional federal charges Wednesday.

Federal authorities charged DAmico in October with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to money laundering. The indictment announced Wednesday added 14 counts, focused on specific transactions within the alleged conspiracy: four wire fraud counts, and 10 for money laundering.

DAmicos ex-girlfriend, Kate McClure, and the vet, Johnny Bobbitt, have pleaded guilty in two courts for their roles in the saga. And DAmico, 40, has pleaded guilty to one crime in New Jersey state court.

In DAmicos federal case, a Facebook message asking a friend to donate to the 2017 campaign resulted in one wire fraud count. Another count came when the friend charged $50 to their Visa card while making a donation. Two status updates on the GoFundMe page were also included in the indictment as wire fraud charges.

The money laundering counts include loading more than $12,000 onto a prepaid card for McClure, a separate deposit of more than $327,000 into her account, the purchase of a Palomino Solaire trailer, a $25,000 transfer to Bobbitt and a BMW purchase.

The viral November 2017 GoFundMe campaign solicited donations for Bobbitt, a homeless former Marine helicopter technician living under an I-95 overpass in Philadelphia, whom DAmico and McClure would pass during visits to the SugarHouse Casino.

Soon, the paying it forward fundraiser emerged, focused on a fake story that McClure ran out of gas on the interstate when the destitute Bobbitt, not wanting her to venture out in the city alone, spent his last $20 so she could fill her gas tank.

Some of the donation funds were used to purchase a trailer for Bobbitt, but, as DAmico admitted in state court last month, donation money was also used on gambling in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, vacations and other expenses.

The money was gone in less than a year. GoFundMe pledged to issue refunds to the more than 10,000 donors.

In December, DAmico pleaded guilty in Superior Court of Burlington County to one count of misappropriating entrusted property, admitting that he spent donation money.

Bobbitt, 36, and McClure, 29, have both pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges for their roles in the scam in both state and federal courts.

Bobbitt is currently serving a five-year special probation in drug court. The courts have delayed sentencing dates for McClure several times this summer, but she is expected to face 27 to 33 months and four years in federal and state courts, respectively.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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(Alliance News) - Shares in SIG PLC plunged on Thursday as it guided for a substantial drop in profit for 2019, amid challenging market conditions and declining revenue.

Shares in the Sheffield-based building materials supplier were 25% lower at 89.74 pence on Thursday in London.

SIG said it had made considerable progress during the year in transforming its business, including the disposal of its Air Handling and Building Solutions businesses.

However, this progress was made against a backdrop of a tough market environment, as the group reported an ongoing deterioration in the level of construction activity in key markets, and indications of further weakening, mainly in the UK.

There is also challenges in sustaining sales rates, and profit protection measures implemented by SIG set to mainly take effect in 2020, not 2019 as previously expected.

As a result, underlying pretax profit for 2019 is expected to be GBP42 million, a 44% decrease from GBP75.3 million the year before.

For 2019, like-for-like revenue declined by 6.1%, as like-for-like revenue from UK & Ireland dropped by 16%, more than offsetting like-for-like revenue growth of 1.2% from Mainland Europe.

"The key challenge for the group in 2020 is to deliver a return to top line growth. Management is taking a number of actions to address sales performance which, coupled with profit protection actions taken in recent months and the annualised benefit of the broader transformation, will leave the group well placed to capitalise on any recovery in trading conditions," SIG said in a statement.

SIG will publish its annual results on March 6.

By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
By Maya Riser-Kositsky

Researchers rely on district-level English-learner data to craft reports and propose policy on the state and national level. The problem is that states may not always report the data the same wayand sometimes it goes missing.

In at least 28 states, more than 1 in 5 districts have no information reported for the past three years of available data. Of the more than 6,600 districts that enrolled more than 1,000 students for the past ten years, 21.6 percent were missing ELL data for at least one of those years, according to an Education Week analysis of the federal database known as the Common Core of Data. The nations 13,500 school districts are required to report those numbers annually to their state departments of education, which then provide the data to the National Center for Education Statistics, the keeper of the Common Core of Data.

The Department of Education created a map using that data in 2018 that showed the percent change in the numbers of English-learners in all the nations school districts between 2009-10 and 2014-15. Big swaths of Mississippi, Illinois, and Maine had missing data, along with other scattered districts.

Click here to view the full interactive map.

Theres so much missing that its going to be misleading because we dont know if theres a pattern as to why some are missing, Julie Sugarman, a senior policy analyst for preK-12 education at the Migration Policy Institute, said, like, if were missing all of the small districts or were missing all of the districts that have some other characteristic.

The Education Department gathers information on the number of English-learners through many different surveys and data-collection programs. In the Common Core database, the year-to-year omissions can be glaring. The 4,000-student Brawley Elementary school district in Southern California, for example, is missing data on the number of ELL students for three years in the last decade. The number of English-language-learner students that were listed range from 1,200 to 1,700. In the 2017-18 school year, the most recent with data available, just over 1,300 of the districts students were English-language learners.

In 2016-17, however, that data was not reported at all.

Brawleys superintendent, Richard Rundhaug, who is new to the district, said he could not explain the discrepancy.

On the opposite coast, more than 30 English-language-learner students numbered among the 2,500 students in the New Jersey Caldwell-West Caldwell district in 2016-17, but there was no data for 2017-18. When it is reported, the districts number of ELLs has been relatively stable except for the 2013-14 school year, when only one English-learner is listed.

Superintendent James Heinegg told Education Week the district currently has 68 ELL studentsand that the numbers are collected during the districts annual enrollment count on October 15 and reported to the state.

While the NCES data is not the only information the federal Education Department collects about English-learners, it is important.

Data about English-language learners is also collected at the school level through the Civil Rights Data Collection. The utility of that data is limited, though, because it cannot be reliably aggregated up to the district level, as it will double-count students who transferred between schools in the same district.

Without the NCES data, researchers would have to request the information from each individual school district. That can be difficult, according to David Lai, a special projects manager for the Council of Great City Schools, because some districts hesitate to give out this data out of concern for students privacy.

Fortunately for districts, the NCES data collection is not tied directly to the federal funding that goes to states for the education of English-learner students. The federal government allocates states money based on data from the American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau. States then distribute the funding to districts, using their own criteria. Colorados department of education, for example, uses the number of English-language learners that districts report in the annual October 15 student count to distribute its funds.

With the new census this year the counting is going to be really important to get the funding, said Matt Weyer, a senior policy analyst at the Education Commission of the States.

Further complicating matters, districts definitions of who is an English-language learnerand whether and how long they remain in that category and continue to receive servicesvary widely.

They just have different figures for how many [English-learners] they have in all of these different reporting mechanisms, said Sugarman of the Migration Policy Institute, and its just completely infuriating.

Maya Riser-Kositsky is a librarian and data specialist at Education Week.
GLEN CARBON  A Tennessee man has been charged with trying to commit a burglary of an armored truck in Glen Carbon.

At about 7 p.m. Jan. 3, officers from the Glen Carbon, Maryville and Edwardsville police departments along with the Madison County Sheriffs Office responded to Walgreens at 2 Cottonwood Road in Glen Carbon for the report of an attempted theft from an armored money transport truck.
This week we look at the Naga peace process, another key result area for the government that is in stall. This is partly on account of the governments own hype since 2015 and complexity of the problem. There is also the cussedness of some key players. And now, the overall side-tracking since December on account of popular protests over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, the National Register of Citizens, and a government engaged in belligerent fightback and focused on imminent elections to assemblies in Delhi and Bihar after losses in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

A government-imposed deadline of 31 October 2019 for concluding talks with Naga groups passedfor reasons we shall soon address. A suggested Christmas gift deadline passed, too, for similar reasons. Its now about either carrying on diplomatically, attempting to bring all Naga rebels and the greater Naga society on board, or, more riskily, moving ahead without those who disagree, by jettisoning them, or neutralising, a term beloved of security-wallahs.

There is a view that, unlike the National Democratic Alliance approach of ramming through the Citizenship Bill into an Act in December 2019 and then seeking popular support, it may have been better to keep the optics of the Naga peace process low-key until it had something to show. Indeed, to sign. It would have been better to celebrate the conclusion of a process, as with the Assam Accord of 1985 and the Mizo peace deal in 1986. To have Prime Minister Narendra Modi watch over the signing of the so-called Framework Agreement with Naga rebel leader Thuingaleng Muivah was premature optics. The agreement, as this column has maintained since its signing on 3 August 2015, is essentially hollow, no more than an intent to work towards an agreement.

Equally, it is also important to acknowledge that a knotty and vexing issue such as the Naga peace process needed that bit of flash to signal the governments seriousness about peace talks. That signal was made more meaningful with the appointment of R.N. Ravi, among the more knowledgeable and even-handed about northeast Indian matters among security veterans, as the governments interlocutor.

However, the framework agreement was half-baked. It was signed only with Muivahs leading faction, National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah), or NSCN (I-M), in uneasy ceasefire since 1997. The agreement excluded half a dozen more groups, besides Naga citizenry in Nagaland and contiguous Naga homelands in the neighbouring states of Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and Assam. This weakened the process.

Coincidentally, and perhaps logically, subsequent developments followed several of the must-dos repeatedly stressed in this column. The government reached out to Nagas across the board. The government reached out to other rebel factions, much to the irritation of NSCN (I-M), and began peace talks with them in end-2017. A breakaway faction of I-Ms arch enemies, NSCNs Khaplang, joined the process in 2019. Government-led outreach attempted to bring on board non-Naga people in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and Assam, promising much development as a trade-off for offering Naga folk in these states more legislative representation and administrative autonomy, besides reversing a narrative of their neglect.

Alongside, talks with I-M spelt out disarmament, rehabilitation and assimilation of cadres and leaders through induction in paramilitary forces and political structures such as an expanded legislature in Nagaland, and more legislative representation and relative autonomy in Naga homelands outside Nagaland, as we just discussed. However, even as other Naga rebel groups agreed, I-M remained intransigent over the dual use of a Naga flag alongside the Indian flag, and its constitutionYezhabo. This I-M-scripted constitution is regressive, offers far less than what Nagas enjoy under Indian constitutional provisions, and effectively proposes Muivah as the over-arching figure of Naga politics, development and destiny. This is evidently unacceptable to numerous Nagaslet alone non-Nagasfor whom Muivah, a Tangkhul Naga from Manipurs Ukhrul region, remains a divisive figure.

From what I understand, Muivah, 85, has dug in his heels, insisting upon integration of Naga homelands in one form or another. An insider told me that it appears Muivah has decided he cannot die leaving a legacy of surrender".

Meanwhile, the government will whittle away at I-Ms political, administrative and military structure, strive to reduce I-Ms heft along with Muivahs, and stoke other lines of leadership. Thats the script, and its beyond messy.

This column focuses on conflict situations and the convergence of businesses and human rights and runs on Thursday

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PLATTSMOUTHIn Plattsmouths Oak Hill Cemetery lies a grave with national historical significance.

Unfortunately, a tombstone that may signify the resting place for a Confederate soldier from the American Civil War has acquired so much moss and algae it is nearly impossible to read the name or any information about the person buried.

A second place where the soldier may lie, with a similar gravestone, is also unreadable because of that stuff.

This came as a disappointment to rural Plattsmouth resident and history buff Jim Pickette, who went out to the cemetery on Monday to find the grave.

About 25 years ago, Pickette and a friend were walking through that cemetery looking at the tombstones and reading their histories.

Suddenly, their attention came upon an old tombstone.

Upon reading it, they realized the man buried there was a Confederate soldier in the American Civil War, which would be confirmed later by a war historian.

The soldiers name, whom Pickette couldnt recall, did come from Louisiana and traveled north after the war. He apparently is the only Confederate soldier buried there, and indeed, very few Confederate soldiers are buried in Nebraska, he said.

The gravestone where Pickette believes the man is buried also showed signs of vandalism with the tombstone tilted slightly sideward.

Unfortunately, theres no easy solution for the removal of that stuff on the tombstone, according to city council member Morgan Muller.

The problem we face is the enormous expense, said Muller, who sits on a three-member committee that is temporarily overseeing cemetery operations. Stone repair can be extremely expensive.

To sandblast old tombstones could also end up destroying them, he added.

Muller also said that while vandalism has happened there, it is not a serious issue.

The fact that the old tombstone was tilted sideward could have been caused by movement in the soil over time, he added.

Mayor Paul Lambert said the city has no involvement in the cleaning of tombstones of any age at the cemetery.

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Australians who are planning to get a taste of property investing this year without breaking the bank should consider some of the affordable locations in regional Victoria, according to a market watcher.

Bendigo and Latrobe Valley are two locations in the regional Victorian market that could be the "best bet" for buyers this 2020, said Terry Ryder, founder of Hotspotting.

Regional Victoria has been the upstanding property market in Australia over the last two years. It's outperformed all the major capital cities, with some regional cities having double-digit annual growth to their median house prices," he told Herald Sun.

Ryder said the region's high rental yields and low vacancy rates, which are no longer achievable in Melbourne, should attract more investors.

Also read: Five Things To Look For Before Investing In Regional Areas

The price upswing in regional Victoria started in Geelong and Ballarat and now flows into Bendigo and Latrobe Valley.

Bendigo, Ryder said, is one of the leading growth markets in Australia. Most areas in greater Bendigo have recorded annual gains, with Heathcote witnessing as much as 21% growth in median values and East Bendigo reporting a 16% increase.

Despite these, Bendigo still offers affordable options, particularly in the markets of Long Gully and California Gully, where median prices are below $290,000.

Bendigos vacancy rates hit as low as 0.5%, indicating a good sign for investors.

"There's almost nothing available for renters. So whenever a property is available, there's competition and that pushes up prices," he said.

The recent developments improving Bendigos accessibility and links to the capital city, including the $5bn Regional Rail Link, make it more attractive to investors, Ryde said.

Latrobe Valley, one of the most affordable parts of regional Victoria, also experiences low vacancy rates, especially in Traralgon and Moe.

With the approval of the undersea power cable linking Latrobe Valley to northwest Tasmania and the improvement in basic services and facilities, Ryder said the region would continue to remain desirable for investors.
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Australians in four states have been warned to brace for hellish conditions on Friday with soaring temperatures and powerful wind gusts expected to fuel existing fires and spark new ones.

The mercury will hit 42C in western Sydney and 36C in south NSW where spreading fires will be fanned by winds of up to 90kmh in alpine areas.

Victorians in east Gippsland are being told to flee, officials on Kangaroo Island are warning of another flare-up and a bushfire is threatening lives and homes across a string of suburbs in Perth's south.

Emergency warnings have been issued in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

At least three people were killed on Saturday, while four people missing in Victoria are feared dead. As a fire front approached the town of Batlow (pictured) on Saturday, the sky was filled with orange flames and thick, grey plumes of smoke

Residents look on as flames burn through bush on January 04, in Lake Tabourie, NSW

The Bureau of Meteorology released a map forecasting Friday's weather conditions across Australia

This map shows where fires are likely to spread in NSW on 10 January due to hot temperatures and high winds

This map shows where fires are likely to spread in Victoria on 10 January due to hot temperatures and high winds

Officials have warned hot, dry and windy conditions could cause 'erratic' bushfire behaviour with total fire bans in place for much of NSW.

The Rural Fire Service has placed total fire bans on 10 regions across the state on Friday ahead of forecast hot and windy weather.

An extreme fire warning is in place for the southern slopes while severe fire warnings have been issued for the Monaro alpine region, ACT, southern ranges and eastern Riverina.

A southwesterly wind change is expected to impact inland fires on Friday afternoon with a gusty southerly change forecast to impact coastal towns from the evening, the RFS said in a statement on Thursday.

'These conditions will make fire behaviour erratic and dangerous,' the RFS said.

Temperatures are forecast to reach 46C in central NSW, 43C at Tumut in the Riverina, 42C at Penrith in western Sydney and 36C at Nowra on the South Coast.

Total fire bans in place in north western NSW, greater Sydney, central ranges, the Illawarra and Shoalhaven, southern ranges, far south coast, Monaro alpine, southern slopes, eastern Riverina and northern Riverina.

People and animals from the district of Omeo being evacuated from the Bruthen bushfire in a Royal Australian Navy 808 Squadron MRH-90 maritime support helicopter

A young man fishes from the Kingscote Jetty on Kangaroo Island as bushfire conditions worsen in the early hours of January 10, 2020 in Kingscote, Australia

Burnt property is seen in Clifton Creek on January 9, 2020 in Bairnsdale. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has extended the State of Disaster for the next 48 hours

Shan with partner Rob and daughters Holly, 17, and Fern Hutchings, nine. The family have returned home in East Gippsland to assess damage from bushfires

Flora is already returning to areas devastated by the Australian wildfires - with the photographer claiming it is 'nature's message of hope' in Kulnura in New South Wales

NSW fire crews took advantage of cooler conditions this week by backburning and strengthening containment lines before the forecast heat.

Favourable conditions this week have helped energy crews restore power to most South Coast and Southern Highlands communities where bushfires caused widespread damage over the weekend.

Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Grahame Reader said hot and dry conditions will fan fires on Friday.

He warned temperatures on the NSW south coast will soar well into the 30s.

There are also concerns about a gusty southerly change expected in the afternoon.

'After a relative respite in the weather this week we are expecting another significant spike in conditions,' he said.

'We will have hot and dry northwesterly winds and later in the day a vigorous southerly change will be moving through.'

On Kangaroo Island off South Australia emergency warnings remain in place for the towns of Parndana and Vivonne Bay while Kingscote is also at risk after a second major escalation of the Kangaroo Island bushfire.

A watch and act warning was issued for the outskirts of Kingscote, the island's largest town, late on Thursday.

Residents of Clifton Creek gather for a community meeting on January 9 in Bairnsdale ahead of bad fire conditions

Kangaroo Island residents gather at a local stock store on January 10, 2020 in Kingscote ahead of worse bushfire conditions

Long time local resident Jan Boers and brother BJ Boers take refuge alongside the Kingscote Jetty as bushfire conditions worsen

It was the first time warnings had extended so far east since the bushfires began in late December.

An emergency warning remains in place for a bushfire threatening lives and homes across a string of suburbs in Perth's south.

About 180 firefighters are battling the blaze, which was reported at midday on Thursday near Baldivis, about 40km south of Perth.

It has since burnt through more than 300 hectares amid strong winds.

The return of extreme weather conditions comes after days of reprieve for firefighters, with a cooler snap and spot showers passing through fire-ravaged communities this week.

But the drizzle did little to put an end to the catastrophic infernos, which have already scorched more than 10 million hectares of land across the country and left 26 people dead.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said navy ship HMAS Adelaide remains on standby off the south coast town of Eden, where locals were being evacuated on Thursday night, and is assisting fire authorities with refuelling and resupplying.

Kiahan Bellchambers (L) and her brother Jesse Bellchambers looking for belongings amongst the ruins of their house destroyed during bushfires in Batlow

Firefighters (pictured at Batlow on Saturday) have spent weeks defending lives and property from the blazes

Dozens of homes are feared lost in Batlow. Pictured: A dwelling completely up in flames on Saturday

In New South Wales early on Friday morning, 132 fires were burning in NSW, with 55 of those still not contained.

The Bureau of Meteorology also issued an extreme fire danger warning for northern Victoria on Friday, with a severe warning for the Mallee and northeast districts.

Mayor of the Alpine Shire Council Peter Roper says there's no doubt Friday will be a 'bad day', but it's yet unclear what that will mean.

'It really is a wait and see. We don't know what's going to happen, we don't know how catastrophic it's going to be,' the councillor said.

The Victorian government chose to extend its state of disaster warning in light of the predicted weather conditions.

Premier Daniel Andrews said: 'This is a really significant challenge for us. We don't underestimate it. We don't like extending the state of disaster.

'We've done it because we believe that it will save lives, and that after all is the most important thing.'

64-year-old orchardist Stephenie Bailey (R) reacting as she describes the impact bushfires have had on her farm in Batlow

A large smoke plume is seen over a sheep property on Kangaroo Island on January 09

NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said early indications suggest hundreds of homes were lost across NSW in Saturday's blaze

Emergency warnings remain in place for the towns of Parndana and Vivonne Bay on Kangaroo Island while Kingscote is also at risk after a second major escalation of a fire on the South Australian island.

A watch and act warning was issued for the outskirts of Kingscote, the island's largest town, late on Thursday.

It was the first time warnings had extended so far east since the bushfires began in late December.

CFS chief officer Mark Jones warned against complacency.

'The condition of the fire is such that it's unlikely that they will be extinguished by the rain, and they will continue to burn,' Mr Jones said.

'These fires are travelling quickly.

'What might have seemed safe this morning may not be safe by evening so we want people to get the message and to move away from the fire areas.'

AUSTRALIA'S BUSHFIRE CRISIS - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Evacuations are underway and emergency alerts are in place in NSW, Victoria and South Australia as authorities predict the devastating bushfires will continue burning until at least March. At least 28 people have been killed in blazes across the country since the bushfire season began in October. NEW SOUTH WALES/ACT Around 90 fires were burning in NSW on Thursday morning

20 people dead

More than 5.2 million hectares burned - equal to the metro areas of the five mainland state capitals

1,870 homes confirmed destroyed, more than 3,774 outbuildings and 200 facilities razed VICTORIA 19 bushfires burning in the Gippsland, northeast and alpine regions as of Thursday morning

Five people dead

More than 1.5 million hectares burnt

387 homes have been damaged or destroyed

602 non-residential structures have also been damaged SOUTH AUSTRALIA Three people, including two from Kangaroo Island, are dead

More than 274,000 hectares burnt

161 homes confirmed destroyed, along with 413 sheds and outhouses QUEENSLAND 2.5 million hectares burnt

48 homes confirmed destroyed WESTERN AUSTRALIA 1.5 million hectares burned

One home confirmed destroyed TASMANIA 30,000 hectares burned

Two homes confirmed destroyed NORTHERN TERRITORY Five homes confirmed destroyed Advertisement

An emergency warning also remains in place for a bushfire that is threatening lives and homes throughout Perth's south.

About 150 firefighters are battling the blaze which was reported at midday on Thursday near Baldivis, about 40km south of Perth.

It has since burnt through more than 300 hectares of land, pushed on by strong winds.

The blaze is moving fast in a northeasterly direction and the emergency warning applies across an area spanning 20km north to Casuarina.

The fires, which have been burning along much of the east coast of Australia since October, have killed 26 people and an estimated one billion animals and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.

A supplied image obtained on Thursday, January 2, 2020, shows smoke billowing from a fire burning at East Gippsland, Victoria

A kangaroo rushes past a burning house in Conjola (pictured) on New Year's Eve, as officials prepare for a 'horrible day' on Saturday, with blistering temperatures and high winds likely to make conditions far worse




Haiti - UN : Security Council concerned about the political impasse in Haiti





Wednesday January 8, 2020, following a meeting of the Security Council of the United Nations (UN), the Vietnamese Dang Dinh Quy President of the Council issued a statement summarizing the position of the members on the current situation in Haiti.



"he members of the Security Council expressed concern regarding the ongoing political impasse in Haiti. They reiterated the immediate necessity for Haitis stakeholders to engage in an inclusive and open dialogue to form a Government that responds to the needs of the Haitian people without further delay.



The members of the Security Council noted the ongoing efforts of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), and the good offices role of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti. They stressed the need for all stakeholders to continue to avail themselves of this opportunity and act promptly.



The members of the Security Council emphasized the urgent need to address deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Haiti through coordinated action by the Government of Haiti, the United Nations and the international community.



The members of the Security Council recalled the need for the Government of Haiti to address the underlying causes of instability and poverty within the country. They urged all stakeholders to refrain from violence and to resolve differences through peaceful means. They stressed the importance of ensuring that those responsible are held accountable and of bringing justice to the victims of the recent spikes of violence, in particular the violent events of 13 and 14 November 2018 in La Saline and 4 to 7 November 2019 in Bel Air.



The members of the Security Council reiterated their commitment to working with Haiti towards a democratic, peaceful and secure future."



HL/ HaitiLibre


















An Australian state premier has warned that the bushfire crisis is 'just the beginning' with a heatwave expected to bring further misery.

Daniel Andrews told residents to brace for further devastation as he extended Victoria's 'state of disaster'.

'We're just at the beginning of what will be a really, really challenging summer,' he said.

Bushfires have flared again today with temperatures soaring to 100F on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, 24 hours after soldiers went door-to-door to warn residents to leave the town of Parndana on the island.

A firefighter backs away from flames in Tomerong, New South Wales, yesterday with fire crews scrambling to contain Australia's bushfire crisis

Fire crews in Victoria work west of Corryong yesterday amid warnings that the bushfire crisis is 'just the beginning'

A wildlife rescuer carrying a koala with burnt hands and feet near Cape Bouda on Kangaroo Island

Fire and rescue personnel run to move their truck as a bushfire burns next to a major road on the outskirts of the town of Bilpin, New South Wales

By Thursday afternoon, Kangaroo Island was also being threatened by fires that were expected to burn for days to come.

'The conditions are such that it is continuing to present a significant risk to the firefighters who are working hard to control the fires, and to anyone else in the vicinity,' Country Fire Service chief Mark Jones said.

In neighbouring Victoria the 'state of disaster' was extended for 48 hours ahead of scorching temperatures that were due to set in Friday, further stoking massive fires.

'It's a very dangerous and dynamic situation that will confront us over the next 12, 24 and 36 hours,' Victoria Emergency Management commissioner Andrew Crisp said.

The catastrophic bushfires have killed at least 26 people, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and scorched some eight million hectares - an area the size of the island of Ireland.

Scientists say the drought-fuelled blazes are being worsened by climate change, which is increasing the length and intensity of Australia's fire season.

Despite cooler weather and rainfall providing some relief in some bushfire-affected areas this week, almost 150 fires were still burning in worst-hit New South Wales and Victoria.

Vast tracts of the states are facing 'severe' fire danger tomorrow, with some areas expected to experience 'extreme' conditions.

A fire burns near Tomerong, New South Wales, yesterday - after it was lit intentionally in an effort to contain a larger fire nearby

Workers cut down burnt trees to clear the roads after a bushfire in Batlow, New South Wales

Strike teams perform controlled burning west of Corryong ahead of dangerous conditions later in the week

'Don't get complacent with the rain that we've seen,' Victoria police minister Lisa Neville said.

'These fires are absolutely still moving, still growing in our landscape and they pose significant risk to communities.'

Firefighters have been taking advantage of this week's milder weather as they race to contain bushfires ahead of Friday.

They have been clearing vegetation and carrying out controlled burns in an effort to protect areas like the coastal town of Eden, where a large bushfire is burning to the south.

'It only takes a spark to get a fire burning, and that's our concern for tomorrow,' Rural Fire Service superintendent John Cullen told a local council briefing.

The Rural Fire Service said a helicopter pilot who had been waterbombing a fire in the area ditched his aircraft into a dam Thursday afternoon, managing to free himself and swim to shore.

In some burnt-out areas people have turned to the painful task of rebuilding their homes and lives, with the process expected to take years.

Firefighters have been taking advantage of this week's milder weather as they race to contain bushfires ahead of another heatwave

A Rural Fire Service volunteer is given instructions by a colleague as he douses a fire near Kulnura, New South Wales

New South Wales announced today it would spend 1.2billion Australian dollars (630million) on restoring infrastructure in fire-ravaged areas.

That comes on top of a separate A$2billion (1billion) national recovery fund earmarked to help devastated communities.

'We are always standing shoulder-to-shoulder with those who have been impacted by the devastating fires, this catastrophe which has come to New South Wales and we are stepping up to make sure we provide that support,' NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

The bushfire toll has not been limited to human losses - the blazes have also wreaked wide-ranging environmental damage.

University of Sydney scientists estimate one billion animals have been killed in the fires. The figure includes mammals, birds and reptiles, but not frogs, insects or invertebrates.

Bushfire smoke has shrouded Australia's major cities in toxic haze for weeks, causing major public health concerns.

The smoke has also travelled more than 7,400 mile) to Brazil and Argentina, according to weather authorities there.

Australia experienced its driest and hottest year on record in 2019, with its highest average maximum temperature of 107.4F (41.9C) recorded in mid-December.
Iran's IRGC Threatens 'Great Satan' US With Crushing Response and Warns Against Any More Provocation

Sputnik News

08:20 08.01.2020(updated 08:45 08.01.2020)

Iranian state TV said missile attacks on two airbases in Iraq housing US troops on Wednesday morning was a retaliation for the killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad by the US.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has threatened "the Great Satan and bloodthirsty regime" of the United States with "painful and crushing responses" and warned the White House against any more provocations in a statement on Wednesday.

"We in no way consider the Zionist regime[of Israel] to be separated from the criminal regime in these crimes", the IRGC said in a statement.

The statement comes after two airbases in Iraq's Irbil and al-Asad came under missile strikes from Iran in what Tehran said was a retaliation against the assassination of top Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed during a US drone strike in Iraq on 3 January. He was promoted posthumously to Lieutenant General. Both attacks took place hours after Soleimani's funeral. It is unclear if there have been any casualties as a result of the attacks.

Commenting on the missile strikes on US troops in Iraq, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tehran does not seek a war [with the United States] and is merely defending itself against aggression.

The Pentagon said it was aware of the attacks and has briefed President Donald Trump about the situation. The DoD said it would take all necessary measures to protect US military forces and its allies amid the tensions with Iran.

President Donald Trump sounded upbeat as he informed about the attacks on US troops in Iraq, saying "all is well". Trump said he would deliver a statement on the situation in the morning.

A Sputnik

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(Natural News) Violates Proposition 209?

Legal action may be taken against the University of California-Berkeley after it released a document showing that mandatory diversity statements may have led to discrimination in hiring.

(Article by Lexi Lonas republished from TheCollegeFix.com)

The six-page document analyzes the taxpayer-funded institutions new focus on hiring job candidates based on knowledge, past contributions, and/or future plans for advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. If candidates didnt meet UC-Berkeleys standards in this area, they werent hired.

The 2018-2019 summary report for the Initiative to Advance Faculty Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Life Sciences was written by two science professors, Mary Wildermuth and Rebecca Heald, who is also regional associate dean. They are co-chairs for the Life Sciences Initiative Committee.

Daniel Ortner, an attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, told two academic blogs that he is looking to challenge the University of California Policy. He wants anyone who was required to submit a mandatory diversity statement and not hired to contact him.

The policy has several serious constitutional problems, Ortner told The College Fix in an email. He started looking into it when [s]ome concerned UC professors contacted him: [T]he more Ive looked into it the worse UCs actions appear.

When applicants are required to submit a diversity statement on their own experience, university reviewers would likely be able to tell the applicants race and gender, allowing those factors to be taken into account, Ortner said.

That is contrary to California Proposition 209, the 23-year-old ballot initiative that amended the state constitution, and potentially the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The Fix emailed and called Heald multiple times asking what hiring officials were looking for in diversity statements and what they meant by past contributions to diversity. She did not respond. Wildermuth did not respond to emails, and her office phone was disconnected.

Hispanic applicants were the big winners

The document says six Life Sciences departments in three colleges agreed to this initiative and will incorporate interventions in all future faculty recruitments.

Some departments have met resistance by a small number of senior faculty members to the initiative, Heald and Wildermuth noted. They did not list any names of such senior faculty members or respond to The Fix when asked to identify them.

A Life Sciences Initiative (LSI) Committee was formed early in the fall of 2018 to implement the initiative and serve as the search committee for our joint open-field faculty recruitment, the document states.

The committee met 19 times over the school year and was made up of 22 faculty and staff members from all departments. It discussed and implemented four interventions: building a critical mass, strengthening applicant pools, improving candidate evaluation processes, and institutional change.

Heald and Wildermuth included tables that show the percentage of each ethnicity and gender represented in the three hiring stages, from the full applicant pool to the intermediate Longlist and the final Shortlist.

University of Chicago biologist Jerry Coyne, whose blog often criticizes perceived attacks on academic freedom, shared his analysis of both tables.

In one of them, the cluster search across Life Sciences departments, Coyne observed that the proportion of minorities increased on both the long and short lists, except for Asian and Native Americans:

White males, who are supposed to be eliminated by this kind of search, were also significantly whittled away. In contrast, Hispanics and African Americans were considerably enriched, with the proportions on the final shortlist (interviewees) enriched by 4.5-fold and 3.25-fold respectively.

The cluster search first reviewed candidates for five full-time equivalent positions based solely on contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion, removing the names to reduce unconscious bias in the evaluation processes. Less than a quarter of nearly 900 applicants who met basic qualifications made it past this first review.

Read more at: TheCollegeFix.com
The aircraft is believed to have been struck by a Russia-built Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile system.

The Ukrainian flight that crashed just outside the Iranian capital of Tehran was struck by an anti-aircraft missile system, a Pentagon official, a senior U.S. intelligence official and an Iraqi intelligence official told Newsweek.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, a Boeing 737-800 en route from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport to Kyiv's Boryspil International Airport, stopped transmitting data Tuesday just minutes after takeoff and not long after Iran launched missiles at military bases housing U.S. and allied forces in neighboring Iraq. The aircraft is believed to have been struck by a Russia-built Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile system, known to NATO as Gauntlet, the three officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, told Newsweek.

Read alsoPS752 crash: Ukrainian experts examining Boeing wreckage in Iran say fire didn't start from engines

One Pentagon and one U.S. senior intelligence official told Newsweek that the Pentagon's assessment is that the incident was accidental. Iran's anti-aircraft were likely active following the country's missile attack, which came in response to the U.S. killing last week of Revolutionary Guard Quds Force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani, sources said.

U.S. Central Command declined to comment on the matter when contacted by Newsweek. No reply was returned from the National Security Council or State Department.

Of the 176 people on board, 82 were Iranian, 63 were Canadian and 11 were Ukrainian (including nine crewmembers), along with 10 Swedish, seven Afghan and three German nationals. None survived.

The incident was first reported by Iranian semi-official media outlets, which cited the country's Red Crescent Society as assessing that the initial cause appeared to be mechanical failure. The Ukrainian embassy in Tehran shared this view in a statement, but later retracted it, with Kyiv warning not to draw conclusions from preliminary assessments.

Images began to circulate Wednesday of what appeared to be fragments of a Tor M-1 missile said to have been found in a suburb southwest of Tehran. Ukraine Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said Thursday in a statement that contact with a Tor M-1 system was among the potential causes for the plane's destruction that his country was looking into.

Other potential scenarios involved a collision with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or another flying object, technical malfunction and a terrorist attack.
NIIGATA, JAPAN - Media OutReach - 9 January 2020 - Niigata Prefecture and Niigata City, in collaboration with JETRO Niigata, will hold a fair featuring rice produced in Niigata Prefecture at Jiuguang department store in Shanghai.





In the Chinese market, food safety awareness has been increasing along with the economic growth. Among Japanese food products that are in high demand, rice grown in Niigata Prefecture, an area that boasts the highest production volume and quality of rice in Japan, is particularly popular.





To respond to the needs, Niigata Prefecture of Japan will hold an event featuring rice produced in Niigata Prefecture for seven days from January 15 through 21, 2020 in the basement floor at Jiuguang department store in Shanghai. For the first time in about nine years, a Niigata rice fair will be held at a department store in China. This also marks the first event since Niigata rice export was resumed in November 2018.





Jiuguang is one of the most luxurious department stores in Shanghai and is known for always being thronged with many customers. As the event coincides with the busy season before Chinese New Year, huge visitor turnout is expected. Niigata rice will be on sale and visitors will also have an opportunity to sample delicious rice.





















[Sampling and sale]

- Date/time: 10:00 - 18:00, January 15 - 21, 2020 (Rice sampling available irregularly)

- Place: Basement, Jiuguang department store, NO.1618 Nanjing West Road, Shanghai

- Event: Sale of Niigata rice




New Delhi:

Deepika Padukone and Vikrant Massey starrer Chaapaak is already the talk of both the tinsel town and the political circle for the actress turned producers bold move of visiting the JNU violence on the wake of the attack on students in the campus. After the Bombay High Court recently dismissed writer Rakesh Bhartis claim of copyright violation against director Meghna Gulzar, lawyer to Laxmi Agarwal on whom the movie is based has decided to take legal action against the makers for allegedly not giving her due credits in the film.

In a Facebook account believed to be belonging to Laxmis lawyer Aparna Bhat mentions that she is deeply disturbed after watching Chhapaak that premieres last night for select audience and media as her name has not been mentioned or any credit hasnt been given to her long-standing contribution get Laxmi justice.

The lawyer mentioned that she would take legal recourse to protect her identity and preserve her integrity. Have never been the one to demand attention to my work. Deeply disturbed by the turn of events post watching Chhapaak. Compelled to take legal action to protect my identity and preserve my integrity. I represented Lakshmi in her criminal trial in Patiala House Courts... tomorrow someone will represent me in my cause...Ironies of life said her post. In another post, she mentioned that she cannot match the power of producer (Deepika Padukone) but wont keep mum about it as it would further endorse injustice. I have decided to take my cause to the next level. Ready to face the consequences. Her post further said.

Aparna Bhat was the one who filed the Supreme Court petition seeking the limits on acid sales and compensation for survivors. She also advised Laxmi to lift her veil during the trial of her assailant in 2009 to let the judge know how gruesome the crime was.

Earlier writer Rakesh Bharti had filed a suit in the HC claiming that he had originally penned a story on the life of an acid attack survivor. Bharti in his suit sought for his name to be included in the credits as one of the creative writers and also sought a stay on January 10, 2020, release of the movie. In reply, Meghna Gulzar filed an affidavit stating that the suit filed by Bharti is 'wholly misconceived, frivolous, legally untenable and unmeritorious.'

After hearing brief arguments on the interim relief sought by Bharti, Justice S C Gupte made prima facie observations that copyright cannot be claimed over such stories. The suit will be going for further hearing after six weeks when the movie was released and both the scripts were compared by Bharatis counsels.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 21:01:50|Editor: huaxia

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HONG KONG, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- An anti-inflammatory protein called TNFAIP3 was found to be a key factor in childhood asthma development and farm dust exposure can restore the level of TNFAIP3, the Chinese University of Hong Kong made the results public on Thursday.

According to researchers of the university, the majority of child asthma cases are allergic asthma and the multifactorial cause of asthma includes genetic factors and environmental exposures.

The Department of Paediatrics and the Department of Chemical Pathology of the university's Faculty of Medicine have collaborated with researchers from Germany, Finland and Chinese mainland in a study that looks into the effect of exposing children to a farm environment to prevent allergic asthma.

From 2013 to 2016, the researchers analysed the blood samples of 2,168 children from Germany, Switzerland, Finland and China. TNFAIP3 expression was studied in asthmatic urban children and results indicated that their TNFAIP3 expression was about 50 percent of the healthy children across different urban areas.

Moreover, the research team stimulated the cells of urban asthmatic children with dust extracted from German and Finnish farms. Results showed that TNFAIP3 expression can be restored to the level of healthy subjects while decreasing the proinflammatory gene expression.

Wong Wing Kin, professor from the university's Department of Paediatrics said that the anti-inflammatory capacities shown after the dust stimulation might indicate a potential therapeutic role for farm dust exposure.

"As beneficial effects of farm dust stimulation were demonstrated, we believe that exposure to farm environments is beneficial for children and potentially for allergy prevention and is even able to decrease the increased inflammatory status of patients with allergic asthma. This may represent a promising future agent for asthma prevention and treatment," Wong added.

The findings have been published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
B ritain and Ireland have published the text of a draft deal to restore the devolved government in Northern Ireland, three years after its collapse.

Sinn Fein and the DUP have been locked in talks this week over the agreement, which was announced during a press conference at Stormont on Thursday night.

It comes three years to the day since devolution collapsed in Northern Ireland.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said the deal, which is called New decade, New Approach, was "filled with compromises".

Irish Foreign Affairs minister Simon Coveney (left) and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Julian Smith / PA

Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith has asked the speaker of the defunct house to hold a sitting on Friday morning, without the Stormont parties having yet agreed to all the proposals.

Friday will also see a strike by healthcare workers in the region.

Mr Smith said there was a major financial package on offer from the Government, that would mean the strike would not go ahead if the parties restored the institutions.

"We have had three years of talks and there is finally a good deal on the table that all parties can support," he said.



Mr Coveney said the people needed to tell their politicians to take the opportunity and seal the deal.

"It's now time their politicians stepped up and fully represented their constituents," he said.

"It's time to show leadership and get back to powersharing in Stormont."

Both the UK and Irish governments had outlined their proposals to restore powersharing to the DUP and Sinn Fein.

The parties had been briefed on the governments' blueprint on Wednesday afternoon and held internal discussions on the proposals.
Montana Senate Minority Leader Jon Sesso, a Democrat who has represented Butte in the Legislature since 2005, is calling it quits at the end of this year and state Rep. Ryan Lynch of Butte is running for his Senate seat.

Sesso cannot seek a third consecutive Senate term in District 37 because of term limits and although he could run for the House again, he has decided against it.

Sesso was first elected to the House in November 2004, served eight years in that chamber  including the last two as minority leader  and was minority leader all eight years in the Senate.

I just think term limits are there for a reason and 15 years is a good run and I feel like I have accomplished a lot, Sesso, who turned 66 in November, told The Montana Standard. Im feeling like my time was well spent.

Lynch, also a Democrat, is in his eighth year representing Butte in House District 76 and term limits prohibit him from seeking a fifth consecutive term. But he can and will run for Sessos Senate seat in a county that is a stronghold for Democrats in Montana.

I was blessed to have served the Butte community and very thankful, Lynch said. I have learned a tremendous amount from my mentors that have included Jon and Edie (McClafferty) and Pat Noonan and Jim Keane and Amanda Curtis. We have a great team and I look forward to being a part of that team and taking my service to the next level.

Sesso leaves very big shoes to fill, Lynch said.

Donavon Hawk, chairman of the Butte-Silver Bow Democrat Central Committee and a board member for the state Democratic Party, is running for Lynchs District 76 seat this year.

Among other Butte legislators, all Democrats, Derek Harvey is seeking a second term in House District 74. McClafferty is seeking re-election in Senate District 38 and Keane is running again in House District 73.

Sesso was planning director for Butte-Silver Bow for 26 years before he retired from that post in 2017, but he has stayed on as Superfund coordinator, overseeing mine pollution cleanup efforts and helping negotiate a proposed consent decree for the Butte Hill. Those duties are winding down, too, he said.

In the Legislature, he carved out a reputation for representing Butte, fighting for his party and Democrat governors when he felt it was necessary but working with members of both parties to forge compromises, especially on major issues including the budget.

When I got to the House in 2005 it was split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans so my upbringing in the Legislature was built on having to work with the other side to get anything done, Sesso said. You can tell the individuals who want to work on problems and solutions and those who dont.

After serving as minority leader during his last term in the House, fellow Democrats in the Senate tapped him as their leader, a position he has held since.

He could run for the House again, he said, but I dont know that I would be fortunate to get back in leadership.

Sesso said there were lots of legislative successes over the years and the 2019 session was especially productive for both Butte and the entire state of Montana.

He helped win final funding for the retirement home for military veterans in Butte, which is now under construction, and helped pass the first infrastructure bonding bill in four sessions.

I made some good contributions to that effort, he said. I feel like my time was well spent and I did my legislative service and Im going out on top, if you will.

The people here have been gracious to give me the chance to serve and it has been a privilege, Sesso said. Its time for new blood.

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Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., arrives for a re-enactment of her swearing-in, Monday Jan. 6, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

After becoming a U.S. senator this week, Kelly Loeffler won assignment to a committee that oversees the agency in charge of regulating her husband's business, setting the grounds for a potential conflict of interest.

Loeffler's husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, which is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and which owns the New York Stock Exchange. The Senate Agriculture Committee, which Loeffler joined following her Senate confirmation, oversees the CFTC.

ICE's annual report notes that the company is "subject to extensive regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission."

Loeffler, R-Ga., and Sprecher married in 2004, before the company went public in 2005. She had worked at ICE, leading the company's investor relations and communications programs for 15 years before slipping into Bakkt, a crypto trading platform created by ICE, as CEO in 2018.

Loeffler's office did not respond to a request for comment from CNBC asking about a potential conflict of interest. But the Republican senator told The Wall Street Journal that "I will recuse myself if needed on a case by case basis."

"I have worked hard to comply with both the letter and the spirit of the Senate's ethics rules and will continue to do so every day," she said.

The committee did not respond to a request for comment from CNBC. But Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., called Loeffler "a welcome addition to the Committee," according to the Journal.

Loeffler was sworn in as a senator on Monday, succeeding Sen. Johnny Isakson, who retired on Dec 31. She was appointed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in December in defiance of President Donald Trump, who had pressed Kemp to appoint Rep. Doug Collins to the seat.

Collins, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, was a full-throated defender of the president during the House impeachment process led by Democrats. His appointment to the Senate could have aided Trump when proceedings move to that chamber.

Loeffler will serve in the role until a special election is held in November 2020 when she will have to win the vote. Collins has not ruled out the possibility of running for the seat at that time.
A fire Tuesday night on a property between Worden and Pompeys Pillar burned 23 round bales of hay, a single-wide mobile home and a garage.

The hay, mobile home and side of the garage were all on fire when the Worden Volunteer Fire Department arrived on scene, said Fire Chief Lance Taylor. The fire was reported at about 4:50 p.m.

No one was injured, and the fire did not go beyond the garage, Taylor said.

The fire burned on a property located on West M Road between North 25th Road and North 26th Road.

The fire chief estimated that winds out of the east were blowing between 10 and 15 mph and contributed to the fire's activity. Taylor said it appeared that once the hay bales started burning it spread through an acre of grass to the mobile home. From there, the fire burned through roughly 10 feet of space between it and the garage.

The fire blew out some windows on the garage, scorched its east side and some of the interior, Taylor said.

Firefighters were able to prevent the fire from spreading to a nearby home.
Mehbooba Mufti's PDP lambasted the visit of international envoys to Kashmir to see the situation in the valley. Throwing a dare at Prime Minister Modi, the mainstream Kashmiri party questioned if the international envoys would be allowed to meet the political detainees jailed for over five months now. Furthermore, it called the visit an attempt by the government to "normalise" its own "clampdown." US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster along with envoys from 15 other countries arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, the first visit by diplomats since the abrogation of the erstwhile state's special status in August last year.

The PDP said, "Today that Prime Minister of India lets the second batch of envoys to "see" the situation in Kashmir, it only seems like an attempt to normalise the government's own clampdown. The dare is on Prime Minister Modi, will they ever let these foreign envoys meet political detainees who are jailed since 160 days now?"

Prominent mainstream leaders, including PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, NC vice president Omar Abdullah, JKPC president Sajad Lone, and others have been detained in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5. Former CM of J&K Farooq Abdullah's detention was extended by another three months by the UT administration in December. The National Conference (NC) patron has been detained in his residence since August 05 under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA), after the BJP-led government revoked the special status from the state by scrapping Article 370.

On January 8, political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, including those who were recently released from their detentions met with the J&K Governor Girish Chandra Murmu to demand the release of all the political leaders, who have been detained without charges.

READ| NC terms Farooq Abdullahs PSA as PSA on mainstream ideology, urges for dialogue

Envoy visit to Jammu & Kashmir

The Delhi-based envoys arrived by a special chartered flight at Srinagar's technical airport where top officials from the newly carved out union territory received them, officials said. Later in the day, they would be going to Jammu, the winter capital of the newly created Union Territory, for an overnight stay.

Officials said envoys of several countries had requested the government for a visit to Kashmir to get a first-hand account of the situation in the Valley following the August 5 decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 and bifurcate it into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. They will meet Lt Governor G C Murmu as well as civil society members, they said. Besides the US, the delegation will include diplomats from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, Maldives, South Korea, Morocco, and Nigeria, among others.

This is the second visit of a foreign delegation to Jammu and Kashmir since August 5. Earlier, Delhi-based think tank International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, a Delhi-based think tank took 23 EU MPs on a two-day visit to assess the situation in the union territory. The government had distanced itself from the visit with Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy informing Parliament that the European parliamentarians were on a "private visit."

READ| 'Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti will have a role to play in J&K politics': BJP's Ram Madhav

READ| Mehbooba Mufti likens current restrictions due to CAA violence to 'Kashmir lockdown'
We recognize that this may have been done accidentally, the Canadian leader, Justin Trudeau said at a news conference in Ottawa. All 176 people on board were killed, including 63 Canadians.

Video verified by The Times appears to show an Iranian missile hitting a plane near Tehrans airport, the area where the jet stopped transmitting its signal before it crashed on Wednesday.

Details: An American official said that two missiles had been fired from a mobile air defense system, the SA-15. It is similar to the one that shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing the 298 people aboard.

From Iran: On Wednesday, a spokesman for Irans armed forces, Abolfazl Shekarchi, was quoted by the Iranian news media as dismissing the idea that the crash was a result of military action: This is ridiculous. Most of the passengers on this flight were our valued young Iranian men and women. Whatever we do, we do it for the protection and defense of our country and our people.
What happened

Shares of stocks across the oil and gas industry surged in December. These included shares of independent exploration and production company Noble Energy (NASDAQ:NBL), and oilfield services companies Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) and TechnipFMC (NYSE:FTI) The three companies' shares were up 19.7%, 16.6%, and 13.8%, respectively, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

This largely mirrored the performance of the oil and gas industry as a whole. Industrywide funds SPDR Oil and Gas Exploration & Production ETF and SPDR Oil and Gas Equipment & Services ETF rose 16.4% and 18.1% for the month, respectively.

So what

The price of crude oil was the major factor in the companies' December outperformance. After a rocky summer in which prices plunged, oil closed out the year with a sustained three-month rally. An early December OPEC production cut helped keep prices on the rise in December. For the month, the international benchmark Brent Crude spot price rose 5.1% to finish the year at $67.77/barrel, while U.S. benchmark WTI Crude was up 9.2% to close out 2019 at $61.14/barrel.

While rising oil prices helped Noble Energy, it also had some good news from its gas operations. On December 31, the company announced that it had begun production at its aptly named Leviathan offshore field in Israel. Leviathan, which the company touts as "the largest natural gas field in the Eastern Mediterranean," is expected to initially produce 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, with further development projected.

While Noble was ramping up production in the Mediterranean, a slowdown in North American drilling activity was weighing down third quarter earnings at both Halliburton and TechnipFMC. However, Halliburton responded by promising aggressive cost cuts to ease what it sees as continued weakness in the sector.

TechnipFMC's December performance lagged its oilfield services peer Halliburton. Although both companies released poor Q3 2019 earnings reports in October, TechnipFMC's bottom line in particular fell way short of expectations. Management hopes to turn things around by splitting into two companies: an oil and gas engineering and construction company, and a more traditional oilfield services company. Investors may be waiting to buy in before the split occurs.

Now what

In the new year, as was true in December, one of the biggest issues that will affect share price growth for these companies -- and the industry generally -- is the price of oil.

In December, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected that Brent Crude spot prices would average $61/barrel in 2020, while WTI Crude would average $55.50/barrel. It cited a forecast of "rising global oil inventories, particularly in the first half of" 2020. Here's how that would compare to averages in recent years:

Benchmark 2017 Average per Barrel Spot Price 2018 Average per Barrel Spot Price 2019 Average per Barrel Spot Price* 2020 Average per Barrel Spot Price* Brent Crude $54.15 $71.19 $63.93 $61.00 WTI Crude $50.79 $65.06 $56.74 $55.50

Those projected average spot prices are lower than they've been for the last two years, and much lower than current prices. However, the EIA's estimate is just that, an estimate, and it could be way off. Nobody knows where oil prices are heading. News of the U.S. drone strike in the Middle East caused oil to briefly spike about 4%, before easing back down. However, the situation remains uncertain and could lead to higher prices -- which would likely benefit these three companies -- or not much of anything.

TechnipFMC hopes to make its split into two pure-play companies in the first half of this year, and until that dust settles, investors bullish on oil prices would be better off considering Halliburton or Noble. Investors who think oil prices are likely to sink probably want to steer clear.
Thirty-one envelopes stacked on a podium could almost be overlooked within a large conference room on the fourth floor on Portland Street in Worcester. Their importance, though, wasnt lost on the dozens that packed inside the space.

Each of them carried hope or dreams in the form of funding for the dozens that packed into the space Thursday morning.

It brings inspiration and hope, because theres growth within the community, said Ana Marie Morales of Make It Springfield.

Within the envelopes contained $1.9 million worth of grants that were meant for entrepreneurs and creative spaces across the state.

For Make It Springfield, the $125,000 grant will allow the organization to relocate to the Springfield Innovation Center and build out that space where opportunities for the community will be endless. They range from writing workshops, bicycle repair shops and art classes.

MassDevelopment President and CEO Lauren Liss introduced each grant recipient. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito stood by her and congratulated each organization with applause and a smile.

I really, really love these spaces because it makes it personal, Polito said. You come together. You work together you share your ideas. And when you do that, you make friendships and you get to know their families and you stay connected. I think thats a real asset.

No better space embodied that idea than the room where Liss and Polito awarded the grants. The conference room on the fourth floor of 44 Portland St. was designed and outfitted with televisions and speakers with the help of MassDevelopment Grants.

A few feet away 3D printers hummed, prototypes were on display and community members presented the work theyve achieved within WorcLab.

It is amazing what has happened with this building, Worcester City Manager Ed Augustus Jr. said. Worcester is going through a renaissance. And this is the epicenter of that renaissance. This building is bubbling with creativity and energy and its spilling out of this building block by block.

Its a feat municipalities across the state want to mimic. Organizations from cities as large as Boston and as small as Belchertown came to Worcester to celebrate the grants.

Its going to be huge for a little town like Belchertown, this creates a huge opportunity to grow, President of the Belchertown Cultural Alliance April Jasak-Bangs said. As a community space but also to drive economic development in town, which we need.

The Belchertown Cultural Alliance will use the $10,000 grant to conduct a feasibility study looking at creating a makers space and community kitchen.

Some of the grant recipients mirrored the Belchertown Cultural Alliance still in the designing phases.

Others like Larry Genovesi, the executive director of WorcLab, said the grant awarded Thursday will be put to immediate use in updating spaces. The $25,000 grant for WorcLab will furnish and update the co-working space.

I want to applaud everyone who is running incubators, Genovesi said. I know first hand how difficult that job is, but were building a better state, a better country, and a better life for a lot of people.
A savvy salesman has gone viral after posting a series of seductive photographs online in a bid to sell his used jeans.

Mario Graziano, who lives in Plymouth, Devon, was branded an 'Italian Stallion' and 'hero' after trying to flog the ripped, bleached jeans for 25 on Facebook yesterday

Mario, originally from Emilia-Romagna, Italy, shared nine photographs of himself wearing the bootcut jeans while seductively posing in various locations around his home.

Social media users were left in hysterics over the hilarious photographs, with one commenting: 'Mario is the hero we deserve.'

Mario Graziano, who lives in Plymouth, Devon, left social media users in hysterics after sharing seductive photographs in an effort to sell his jeans

Mario shared the cheeky and playful photographs on Facebook as he tried to sell his 'Man jeans' for

Sharing the playful photographs on Facebook's Let's Flog It Cornwall group, Mario wrote: 'Men jeans in good used condition can be worn casual or smart.'

One image shows Mario standing on his stairs completely topless, while showcasing his hairy chest, and wearing the 25 'Man jeans'.

Another shot shows him lying back on his bed looking off into the distance with his selling item on clear show.

Several other images show the seller in various poses, such as an arm behind his head and hands in his pockets with the shirt slightly unbuttoned from the bottom - showing off his belly button.

Mario shared a handful of playful photographs on the 'Lets Flog It Cornwall' Facebook group in an effort to sell his 'Man jeans'

He posed the snaps in the 'Lets Flog It Cornwall' Facebook group, revealing the jeans were 'in good used condition'

Since posting online, the advertisement has been shared hundreds of times on Facebook, and has been uploaded to Twitter where more than 24,000 people.

On Facebook, Ryan Lynem wrote: 'Mario is the hero we deserve.'

Brenda Biggerstaff-Sanchez said: 'What is happening? I do believe he has an armadillo in those 'men jeans'.

Marissa Sanna wrote: 'Who's the Italian stallion?'

The man posed for photographs on the stairs of his home, showing off how the jeans looked both with a shirt and topless

Mario also showcased the fit of the jeans while reclining on his stairs, with many social media users left in hysterics over his ad

And Rebecca Campbell said: 'What a way to sell a pair of jeans.'

On Twitter, a page called The State of Selling shared the post, attracting thousands of comments and likes.

One Twitter user wrote: 'I'm nearly 400 miles away and I got pregnant just looking at those photos.'

Another person said: 'Hopefully they come pregnancy kits for any woman that comes in within 200m of this hunk.'

Mario also delighted Facebook users when he shared one picture of the second-hand jeans from the back

A third added: 'Looks like David Banner if he got really angry but didn't turn into the Hulk.'

And another person said: 'Haha. What a legend. Hope he sells them.'

Meanwhile another user wrote: 'This actually might be the best thing I've ever seen.'
China's Vice Premier Liu He, head of the country's negotiation team in Sino-US trade talks, will sign a "Phase 1" deal in Washington next week, the commerce ministry said on January 9.

Liu will visit Washington on Jan. 13-15, said Gao Feng, spokesman at the commerce ministry.

Negotiating teams from both sides remain in close communication on the particular arrangements of the signing, Gao told reporters at a regular briefing.

US President Donald Trump said on December 31 that the Phase 1 deal with China would be signed on January 15 at the White House. Trump also said he would sign the deal with "high-level representatives of China," and that he would later travel to Beijing to begin talks on the next phase.

The Chinese delegation will include 10 officials, among them Zhong Shan, minister of commerce, Yi Gang, governor of the People's Bank of China, Liao Min, vice minister of finance and Zheng Zeguang, vice minister of foreign affairs, as well as China's ambassador to Washington, Cui Tiankai, according to a U.S. source familiar with the preparations.

The United States launched a trade war against Beijing a year and half ago over allegations of unfair trade practices, such as theft of U.S. intellectual property and subsidies that unfairly benefit Chinese state-owned companies.

The Phase 1 deal, reached last month, is expected to cut tariffs and boost Chinese purchases of U.S. farm, energy and manufactured goods while addressing some disputes over intellectual property.

But no version of the text has been made public, and Chinese officials have yet to publicly commit to key points such as increasing imports of U.S. goods and services by $200 billion over two years.

China will not increase its annual low-tariff import quotas for corn, wheat and rice to accommodate stepped-up purchases of farm goods from the United States, senior agriculture official Han Jun said on Tuesday, according to local media group Caixin.

The move could make it harder for Beijing to meet import commitments in a Phase 1 trade deal. Trump said last month the agreement would likely double China's $24 billion in pre-trade war purchases to $40 billion-$50 billion annually.

When asked if China would have to reduce grain imports from other countries in order to meet its U.S. commitments, Gao said that China will continue to improve the administration of tariff quotas for wheat, corn and soybeans in accordance with World Trade Organization commitments, and will make full use of quotas according to market conditions.

This is not inconsistent with expanding agricultural imports from the United States, said Gao.
Turkey Says Its Four Soldiers Killed in Car Bombing in Syria - Reports

Sputnik News

01:16 09.01.2020

The Turkish Defence Ministry has given no further details as to the exact area of the explosion or who is responsible for the attack.

On Wednesday, four Turkish servicemen were killed in a car explosion in the north of Syria, the AFP news outlet reported, citing Turkey's Ministry of Defence.

According to AFP, the soldiers were killed on road patrol in the region where Operation Peace Spring had taken place last October.

On 9 October 2019, Turkey conducted a military incursion, dubbed Operation Peace Spring, into Syrian border areas controlled by the Kurdish militants. Damascus views the Turkish offensive as a violation of Syria's sovereignty.

On 17 October, Turkey agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire for five days to let Kurdish-led forces withdraw from the area.

On 22 October, Russian President Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed that a buffer zone would be set up in northern Syria, running 30 kilometres from the border, with Russia and Turkey jointly patrolling a thinner, 10-kilometre strip along the border.

A Sputnik

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We are excited to bring an institutional investor into our company and are eager to get to work with Ballast Point Ventures. We look forward to this next leg of the journey and to continue to deliver a comprehensive solution to our many customers.

SPOTIO, a Dallas-based software company providing cloud-based sales acceleration and performance management solutions for field sales personnel, is pleased to announce a $4.5 million Series A investment from Ballast Point Ventures. SPOTIO's robust, mobile-first feature set enables sales teams to manage sales territories, execute face-to-face meetings, and optimize the sales pipeline and performance across the outside sales organization. SPOTIO will use the investment to accelerate development of its technology pipeline, add to its sales team, and intensify its marketing efforts.

Built with the field sales representative and manager in mind, SPOTIOs platform delivers a comprehensive mobile solution tailored towards providing actionable leads for outside sales reps in the field and unparalleled insight for managers back at the office. We provide both business-to-business outside sales personnel and residential sales teams the tools they need to execute and manage their outside sales activities, said SPOTIO Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Trey Gibson. We are excited to bring an institutional investor into our company and are eager to get to work with Ballast Point Ventures. We look forward to this next leg of the journey and to continue to deliver a comprehensive solution to our many customers.

As BPV has gotten to know Trey over the last couple of years, we have been very impressed with the growth and success SPOTIO has been able to achieve with minimal outside investment. Given our focus on partnering with rapidly growing private companies with great management teams in the Southeast and Texas, SPOTIO is a great fit for us, said Ballast Point Ventures Sean Barkman, who will join the SPOTIO Board of Directors. We are excited to partner with the entire SPOTIO team to drive continued growth and solidify the platforms position as the leading outside sales enablement software.

We are excited to have another investment in the Dallas area, continued Robert Faber, who will serve as a Board Observer at SPOTIO. Trey is exactly the kind of entrepreneur that we want to work with, and we are excited about partnering with him after building a relationship with him for the last several years.

About SPOTIO

SPOTIO is a mobile-first solution for outside sales teams to eliminate guesswork, and focus on the highest impact activity. The platform provides managers with real-time visibility into their teams activities for improved sales development. Sales reps receive access to the mobile application with targeted prospect data, historical knowledge of each account, and document management functionality. Thousands of customers rely on SPOTIO to accelerate growth with their sales teams. SPOTIO is a privately held company based in Dallas, Texas. For additional information, visit http://www.spotio.com.

About Ballast Point Ventures

Ballast Point Ventures, headquartered in Tampa, Florida, is a later-stage venture capital and growth equity fund founded in 2002 to provide expansion capital for rapidly growing, privately owned companies, with a particular emphasis on companies located in Florida, the Southeast and Texas. The BPV partners have more than 80 years of combined experience investing in and building high-growth companies in several industries, including software, technology-enabled business services, and healthcare. Ballast Point Ventures has $360 million under management across three Funds and seeks to make initial equity investments ranging in size from $4 million to $10 million. For additional information, visit http://www.ballastpointventures.com.
A man found dead in the parking lot of a Northwest Side apartment complex earlier this week has been identified, the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed.

The man was identified as 30-year-old Anthony Sanks and his cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds, officials said.
P olice are urgently trying to find two "callous" robbers who targeted a lone woman during a violent jewellery heist in north London.

The appeal was issued for the pair, who are still at large, after a third accomplice was convicted of snatching more than 20,000 of jewels.

Andrew Elliott, 32, and two unidentified men were captured on CCTV as they ransacked trays of gold rings and earrings at Ital Gold jewellery shop in Haringey, north London, in April last year.

A lone female shop assistant was grabbed and thrown on the floor before the robbers escape after briefly finding themselves trapped behind a security door.

Elliot pleaded guilty to the jewellery robbery / Metropolitan Police

Elliott was arrested after police identified him from a distinctive tattoo on his neck which read I still stand strong.

The prolific criminal pleaded guilty to the jewellery robbery and appeared at the Old Bailey to be sentenced on Thursday.

Speaking outside, Detective Inspector Paul Ridley, from Scotland Yard, called on the public to help identify the other two outstanding culprits.

He said: This was a callous robbery targeting a lone female. Although haphazard and bungling in their approach, they were still able to secure tens of thousands of pounds worth of jewellery.

Im delighted we were able to identify and convict Elliott. However, this case is far from over.

One of the men wanted for the theft / Press Association Images

I would urgently request that any members of the public who recognise the two remaining outstanding suspects come forward to my investigation team.

The court heard how Elliott and his two accomplices had struck while shop assistant Valentina Ivanova, 31, was alone in the Green Lanes store.

Ms Ivanova was put into a headlock and thrown to the ground, suffering a head injury, the Old Bailey heard.

She managed to break free, press the panic button and lock herself into the staff toilet as the robbers grabbed jewellery and attempted to run out of a security door.

Prosecutor Tayo Hassan said the defendant and a man referred to as suspect three panicked as they tried to open the door when they found themselves briefly locked in.

She said: Eventually the defendant and suspect three kicked in the door to try to escape but suspect one managed to open the door.

Police said the men had a "haphazard and bungling" approach / Press Association Images

The pair ran out and the door locked behind them, leaving another man trapped, the court heard.

He banged on the door and eventually a member of the public, who knew nothing of what had happened, opened the door to let him out.

Ms Hassan told the court the robbers made off with more than 20,000 of gold jewellery, causing 5,000 of damage.

Afterwards, Ms Ivanova said she felt scared and shocked and more nervous of dealing with customers.

During the robbery, Elliott, from Luton, disguised a tattoo on his cheek by wearing sunglasses, the court heard

He was on licence at the time of the jewellery shop raid and had previous convictions for four other robberies.

In mitigation, Jide Lanlehin said Elliott had not engaged in any of the violence and was concentrated only on grabbing the jewellery and getting out.
[January 09, 2020] Loadsmart Expands Executive Bench with Trucking Industry Veteran, Affirming a Year of Substantial Business Growth

NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Loadsmart , a digital freight technology company, today announced the addition of Jim Nicholson as vice president of carrier sales and operations. Adding to its already deep bench of industry experts, Nicholson's appointment further underscores Loadsmart's continued growth following a $19 million funding round it closed in September. "Jim is an invaluable addition to our incredibly talented team with a proven track record of developing and nurturing relationships with customers, and an uncanny ability to see the big picture," said Ricardo Salgado, CEO and co-founder of Loadsmart. "Driving meaningful partnerships that enable carriers and shippers to move more with less is the crux of what we do at Loadsmart, and we're thrilled to welcome a well-respected trucking industry veteran to help guide our efforts." With 14 years of experience in the commercial transpotation sector, Nicholson previously served as director of carrier sales and operations at truckload, intermodal and logistics leader Schneider National. He will now lend his deep-seated industry knowhow to the continued enhancement of Loadsmart's relationships with leading carriers.



"Loadsmart is at the vanguard of the evolution that's happening in transportation and logistics, and the company is innovating new approaches to address longstanding challenges and reshape the movement of goods," said Nicholson. "It's a pivotal time in the company's development and I look forward to working alongside carriers as a partner in streamlining their business operations with the very best digital freight solutions available." After over a decade at Schneider, Nicholson joins Loadsmart at the intersection of trucking and technology, bringing with him a first-hand carrier perspective. His addition strengthens Loadsmart's insight into industry challenges and equips the company with the experiences necessary to better help shippers and carriers mature their legacy processes. Nicholson's onboarding comes during an industry crossroads when, now more than ever, businesses are seeking options to improve operational efficiency and guarantee a simplified, more profitable movement of freight in order to thrive.

About?Loadsmart????

Loadsmart?is a digital freight platform that specializes in truckload and intermodal shipping.?Loadsmart?is leveraging data and machine learning to build artificial intelligence processes into the complex freight cycle, allowing shippers to book a truck in seconds and providing instant and targeted loads to carriers.?For more information, please visit: https://loadsmart.com .??? View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/loadsmart-expands-executive-bench-with-trucking-industry-veteran-affirming-a-year-of-substantial-business-growth-300984095.html SOURCE Loadsmart

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The Bihar government has informed the Union Health ministry that the building of Darbhanga Medical Hospital does not fall under heritage category, paving the way for the setting up a second AIIMS in the state in the campus of the medical facility.

The land identified and proposed by the state government for developing an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital campus was earlier rejected by the Centre.

But with the state government giving certain clarifications, including regarding the heritage status of the campus building, and various commitments concerning infrastructure, the proposal has finally been approved by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, officials said.

A proposal will now be sent to the Cabinet and according to sources the construction work for the second AIIMS is likely to start by the end of this year.

The cost for setting up the AIIMS is expected to be around Rs 1,300 crore, an official said. The state government has offered a 200-acre land within the Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital campus.

In the fresh proposal recently sent by the state government, the health ministry has also been assured that the four-lane road connectivity from the institute to NH-57 and a railway over bridge shall be provided.

The Bihar government further made the commitment of making available 75 acres of land in six months and the cost of the required sand filling shall be borne by it.

"The state government has told the health ministry that the building of Dharbhanga Medical Hospital is not heritage," a ministry official said.

The Union government in January 2019 had rejected the proposed land for development of AIIMS after a Central team that carried out an inspection of the site raised concerns and pointed out deficiencies pertaining to its suitability.

The team had flagged lack of proper drainage system for discharge of treated nd storm water and that the present approach roads to the proposed AIIMS site was very congested. It also stated that a four-lane road connectivity to the campus from state roads or national highway and from city arterial road is essential.

The Central team had raised concern over a 20-acres land which falls on the other side of the railway track and observed that in order for it to be of any use, the state government will have to provide at least a 2-lane rail over bridge to give smooth connectivity to the main campus for the faculty and staff.

It has now been decided that the 20-acre land would be utilised for residential purposes.

The Central team had also flagged concerns regarding power availability in the region. It observed that many buildings and offices like bank, post office, BSNL yard and police station, on the land offered are functional in the campus which need to be relocated.

Since making available encumbrance-free site is absolutely critical for the project to take off, the state would need to remove the existing structures in a time-bound manner, the team had stated.

A public interest litigation was filed in the Patna High Court over delay in the setting up of the second AIIMS in Bihar, following which the court directed both the Centre and state to expedite the process.

The project was announced in the 2015-16 Union Budget following which the Centre had asked the state to identify suitable locations of around 200 acres with road connectivity and availability of water.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Billionaire media mogul Barry Diller told CNBC on Thursday that he believes the U.S. should not have paid political advertising.

"What this country should do is get rid of all advertising for politics," the IAC chairman said on "Closing Bell." "We should have a system where in fact the government subsidizes getting the message out."

Diller has been supportive of publicly financed elections in the past, backing an effort in 2012 to bring them to New York State, but his comments take on new light given his support for Facebook's political advertising policy.

The social media company has been heavily criticized for its decision to not fact-check political ads on its platform, but Diller reiterated that he believes it is the right approach due to the difficulty of policing promotional speech.

"When you promote you tend to exaggerate both the negatives and the positives," he said Thursday, the same day Facebook released an updated policy that allows users to see fewer political ads.

Diller is a major Democratic donor and a staunch critic of President Donald Trump. He has labeled Trump an "evil miracle" and called his presidency a "joke."

Some states and municipalities in the U.S. already allow for public financing of elections  and presidential candidates have the option available to them, too. In fact, in 2008, then-Sen. Barack Obama was the first major party candidate to decline public financing since the system was created in 1976.

But candidates generally have to agree to certain restrictions, such as spending limits, which is why Obama said he opted against taking public money.

Lamenting the influence of money in politics, Diller said elected officials shouldn't have to spend significant portions of time fundraising. He also called the current political advertising landscape a "circus."

"The idea that you have money in politics is simply crackpot," Diller said, arguing it has "very, very, very bad consequences."

Diller made four political donations in 2019, according to Federal Election Commission records. Since 2006, Diller has contributed more than $1 million to various campaigns and organizations such as state Democratic parties, FEC records show.

Last year, he made $2,800 donations to the Democratic presidential campaigns of former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

Diller was highly complimentary Thursday of Buttigieg and Klobuchar's primary opponent, fellow billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"You couldn't have a better candidate" than Bloomberg," Diller said, citing his track record of success in politics and business. Bloomberg has already spent more than $100 million of his money on political ads.

Diller also contributed $2,800 to Lindsey Boylan, a Democrat who is running to unseat incumbent Rep. Jerry Nadler in New York's 10th District.

After leading Paramount Pictures and Fox, Diller established IAC. It is the holding company of internet brands such as video streaming service Vimeo. It also recently announced plans to spin off Match Group, which includes youth-oriented dating app Tinder.
Actors Warren Brown and Matthew McNulty are set to make guest appearances in Doctor Who, it was revealed by BBC on Thursday.

The Luther star, 41, and Our Girl actor, 37, will join Jodie Whittaker, 37, as she reprises her role as the Thirteenth Doctor in the new season, which will begin on Sunday after the show's two-part special Spyfall.

Gushing about being a part of the sci-fi classic, Warren gushed: 'I was on such a high when I got the call from my agent, then such a low when I had to keep it top secret and couldnt tell anyone!

Exciting: Luther's Warren Brown (pictured) and Our Girl's Matthew McNulty were CONFIRMED as guest stars in Doctor Who's twelfth season on Thursday

'I can honestly say though it was and has been one of the most fun jobs Ive ever had to date!'

Matthew -who made a name for himself in Versailles and The Mill- reiterated Warren's sentiment, as he said: 'I had such a blast filming the episode and couldnt ask for anything more for my Doctor Who debut.'

The show's Executive Producer Matt Strevens said of the two stars: 'We are totally thrilled to be welcoming Matthew and Warren to the cast. Their talent and versatility sets this action adventure alight.'

Gushing: Matthew (pictured) -who made a name for himself in Versailles and The Mill- said he 'couldnt ask for anything more for my Doctor Who debut'

This comes after it was announced that Inbetweeners star James Buckley will also join the cast in the new season.

Speaking about his new role, James said: 'It was surreal to be on such an iconic show and I'm really happy to be part of something so well loved. Hope everyone enjoys it.'

James is no stranger to television screens and has a wealth of credits ranging from White Gold, Zapped and The Inbetweeners where he played Jay Cartwright.

It is not yet know what role James will play in the hotly-anticipated twelfth season.

Guest star: This comes after it was announced that Inbetweeners star James Buckley (far left) will also join the cast in the new season

However Executive Producer Matt Strevens said: 'It was a real thrill to welcome James to the cast, his dramatic and comic talents are put to fine use in this action packed episode.'

The series kicked off with a two-part special and the first episode will air on New Years Day. After this, the 10-part series will return to its usual Sunday night timeslot.

Stephen Fry and Lenny Henry both appeared in the two-part special Spyfall, and the latter may well reappear in the coming season.
It was early November when the call came through to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's taxpayer-funded home, Frogmore Cottage, at Windsor. On the line, unusually, was the Queen.

It is important to stress from the start of this insight into what has unfolded over the past 48 hours that the monarch doesn't just call anyone, not even her own family. They call her.

But the 93-year-old felt that she had no choice.

Since no one else could get any sense out of her brooding grandson, not even his own father, she had decided to try herself.

Queen Elizabeth watches a flypast to mark the centenary of the Royal Air Force alongside the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from the balcony of Buckingham Palace

'Harry,' the Queen asked, 'will you be coming with the family to Sandringham for Christmas?'

That he hadn't even had the courtesy to tell his own grandmother that he and his family were considering alternative plans for the festive season speaks volumes, I am told.

Finally stung into action, the prince  in conjunction, of course, with his wife, Meghan  realised he had to make a decision.

The message was relayed back to the Queen, two days later, that Harry, Meghan and baby Archie would be spending the 'holidays' (to use an Americanism) abroad and his staff were whiplashed into action to find them somewhere to stay.

On this occasion, the Queen agreed to soothe the inevitable frenzy of speculation the Sussexes' decision would prompt once it became known they would be absent from Sandringham, by allowing Harry to publicly state it was made with her support.

The Queen has learned from past mistakes in cutting off royal brides from their families and understood that Meghan, already so far from home, would want to spend her first Christmas as a new mum with her own mother.

But, sources tell me, the incident was the most telling sign so far of the sixth in line to the throne's growing distance from his own family  which now seemed even to extend to his beloved grandmother.

They plotted to go it alone in Canada

It was on that seven-week hiatus from official duties in Canada that the couple finally decided to go ahead with their much privately talked-about plan to step back from royal life.

They had already been secretly 'plotting' for months, insiders tell me, with a small group of friends and advisers in North America, including the aggressive Hollywood crisis management company Sunshine Sachs where Meghan's friend, Keleigh Thomas Morgan  who represented the former actress when she was appearing in the hit legal drama Suits  works with power-broker attorney Rick Genow, business manager Andrew Meyer and talent agent Nick Collins.

Back in March, Harry and Meghan secretly registered their royal website, sussexroyal.com, and enlisted a small, trendy creative firm in Meghan's hometown of Toronto  the same firm was also responsible for her now defunct lifestyle website, The Tig  to build it for them.

Other sources in the UK have told me that Harry and Meghan first raised the issue of a retreat from royal life with them in May. Nothing, however, had been put into practice  or discussed with the Royal Family. But holed up in splendid isolation, far away from their loyal team of Buckingham Palace advisers (who had a weekly conference call with them but were largely, and humiliatingly, kept out of the loop) and surrounded by 'like-minded' family and friends, the couple made the decision that they were ready to go it alone.

'They were away for seven weeks in a vacuum, thinking and plotting, winding each other up,' says a source. 'This has been a long time coming in many ways, but the conclusion has been worryingly swift.'

The Queen sits alongside Prince Harry and Meghan for a group photo at Buckingham Palace

Then they went nuclear

One of the triggers, it appears, was the release over Christmas of a new portrait of the Queen with her immediate heirs  Charles, William and George  and the focus on them in her annual address to the nation.

But as one source told me yesterday: 'Yes, the Prince of Wales has made clear that he wants a streamlined monarchy in the future, but Harry has always been told that he and Archie, as heirs to the throne, are part of that.

'Of course, this might mean an adjustment to how things are done but they are not being frozen out.'

But other insiders tell me that the couple have long felt that their 'superstar' power is 'rolled out' by the Royal Family when it suits them, only to be quickly 'constrained' because so many of them are 'jealous' of their popularity.

'Whether it's true or not, and people's opinions on this vary, they are very, very exercised about this and very, very angry,' said one. Nine days ago, it is understood they told senior family members by phone, ahead of their return to the UK, that they wanted to step back as 'frontline' royals.

While the Queen, Charles and William were shocked, crucially, however, no one said no.

'The response was, OK, well come back and let's sit down and talk about this,' the source added.

'To say that conversations about this were at an early stage is an understatement. The couple only told everyone just over a week ago. And the reaction was actually very positive.

'Do the family want this? Of course not. But if [Harry and Meghan] do, then we will work this out.'

Unfortunately for the monarch and her heirs, matters weren't moving as swiftly as the Sussexes wanted, it seems. Returning from Vancouver on Monday, energised and raring to go, the couple decided to 'go nuclear' and make their decision public, in flagrant disregard of the Queen's request to let the family sort the matter out before it was revealed to the world.

The pictures that widened the rift: The Queen, Prince Charles, Prince William Prince George pose for a portrait to mark the start of a new decade

A bitter battle with aides

Aides were summoned to Frogmore Cottage on Monday night and informed of their decision  and spent the next 24 hours 'trying their damndest' to persuade them to hold fire.

'Harry and Meghan's team did everything they could to stop the statement from coming out.

'The couple were told that not only was this hugely disrespectful to their family but they were shooting themselves in the foot,' one insider has told me. 'At that stage nothing had been ruled in or ruled out concerning their future roles.

'And they were openly warned that in choosing to say publicly that they wanted to work towards becoming financially independent, for example, several options open to them would be automatically taken off the table.

'But they were having none of it. Their minds were made up.'

Staff put a brave face on the behind-the-scenes turmoil as they accompanied the duke and duchess on a rather bizarre engagement on Tuesday to 'thank' the people of Canada via the country's High Commissioner to the UK for their hospitality for a holiday that the couple fought tooth and nail to keep secret. But the bitter internal battles raged on Tuesday night and through to Wednesday  all without the knowledge of the Royal Family  with Harry and Meghan being strongly advised that their 'hare-brained and unrealistic' plan to forge a 'one foot in, one foot out' approach to being royals was unworkable and potentially catastrophic.

They would listen to no one but each other, however, and decided to 'push the nuclear button' that very evening.

The Queen was hurt ... and furious

As revealed in yesterday's Daily Mail, the couple opted to release their personally penned statement without informing the senior royals first. The Queen, Charles and William all watched it go live at 6.30pm. Immediately, the phones began to ring in London, Sandringham and Charles's Scottish seat of Birkhall. Senior members of royal household staff, on their way home to their families, turned round and raced back to their offices.

One described being forced to take part in two simultaneous conference calls, with a phone on each ear.

At 8.13pm a statement was released by Buckingham Palace  bypassing Harry and Meghan's office, in a sign of the Queen's displeasure  which tersely acknowledged what they had done but stressed that these were 'complicated issues' that still needed to be 'worked through'.

The message was clear. While the family were not angry at them wanting out, they were furious at the way they had done it. And more than that, hurt. 'The Queen has been deeply distressed by this,' one insider told me, 'and more than that, her authority within the family has been directly flouted by her own grandson.

'While the family aren't given to express their feelings in public very often as they know anything that is issued by the Palace has to stand the test of time, everyone was in lockstep over this.

'Harry and Meghan needed to be told.

Queen Elizabeth II records her annual Christmas broadcast in Windsor Castle, Berkshire

SO, WILL WISE HEADS PREVAIL?

'The last 12 months have not been plain sailing for Her Majesty, to put it mildly, and then now this,' the source added. 'Everyone believes the Sussexes have been deeply disrespectful.

'To put out a statement to say they are collaborating with the Queen. Who in the world says that? You are not equal to the Queen, everyone in the family knows their place except, it seems, them.'

Fortunately, after an 'emotional' night, wise heads yesterday appeared to have prevailed.

After conference calls with Charles and William, the Queen called a meeting yesterday afternoon between each of the four royal households  Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, Kensington Palace and the Sussex team  and ordered them to find a workable solution to the problem within days.

Much has yet to be done and whether any of it will placate this hot-headed and emotional couple remains to be seen.

But as Harry and Meghan should know by now, nothing will be allowed to jeopardise the future of the monarchy.
When searching for the stocks that can see explosive growth overnight, look no further than the healthcare industry. Unlike other names, healthcare companies often rely on only a few key milestones like data readouts or FDA approvals. So, when a particular result goes a companys way, the news can act as a catalyst that sends shares soaring. However, investors looking to gain exposure to this space should know that this also makes these stocks riskier as unfavorable outcomes can have the opposite effect.

As a result, the strength of investment opportunities in this sector can be harder to determine. So whats the best way to gauge healthcare stocks ahead of big catalysts? We suggest turning to Wall Street analysts for guidance.

Using TipRanks, an investing platform that measures and tracks the performance of analysts, we were able to access market data on 3 stocks as they approach significant catalysts this month, including what the analysts have to say about each. The platform also revealed that all of these Strong Buy tickers boast impressive upside potential from current levels. Heres the diagnosis.

Acasti Pharma (ACST)

Like headline-making biotech Amarin, Acasti Pharma focuses on the development and commercialization of prescription drugs using omega-3 fatty acids. The companys lead candidate, CaPre, is currently progressing through a Phase 3 program for severe hypertriglyceridemia, a condition that leads to abnormally high levels of triglycerides in the bloodstream. With new CaPre TRILOGY 1 and 2 trial data expected this month, all eyes are on ACST.

While top-line data from the TRILOGY 1 trial was originally slated for December, the company had to delay the readout as a result of a delay in data processing and transfer from the central testing laboratory to the statistical consultants for independent and external validation. Even though the delay was technical in nature, some investors were not impressed.

That being said, Oppenheimer analyst Leland Gershell remains unphased. With the complex logistics and enormity of work required of several people to process Phase 3 trial results bumping up against the holidays and their attendant slowdown, we are not surprised to learn that the report of top-line data from CaPre's TRILOGY 1 will slip past December Our expectation for a positive trial outcome is unchanged, and we recommend investors take advantage of the current weakness, he explained. Bearing this in mind, the five-star analyst maintained an Outperform rating and $7 price target, implying a potential twelve-month gain of 220%. (To watch Gershells track record, click here)

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Like Gershell, Aegis Capitals Nathan Weinstein sides with the bulls. After an FDA AdCom voted unanimously to expand Amarins Vascepa label to include cardiovascular risk, the analyst believes that ACST stands to benefit. In many ways we think its still early days in this brave new iteration of the prescription omega-3 category, where enhanced attention is being paid to composition, potential cardiovascular risk reduction benefits, and potentially other patient benefitsTo the extent there end up being multiple positive outcomes trials in the space across both EPA only and mixed EPA/DHA compositions, we think that could lend credence to the view that cardiovascular risk reduction is a an effect of omega-3 medications not limited to a pure EPA composition, he commented. To this end, Weinstein left his Buy rating and $3 price target as is.

Looking at the consensus breakdown, 100% of the analysts covering ACST see it as a Buy, making the consensus rating a unanimous Strong Buy. Additionally, the $6.02 average price target puts the upside potential at 175%. (See Acasti stock analysis on TipRanks)

VBI Vaccines Inc. (VBIV)

VBI Vaccines is best known for developing vaccines for immuno-oncology and infectious diseases. Its hepatitis B vaccine, Sci-B-Vac, has already been approved in Israel and ten other countries, with it currently in a Phase 3 program in the U.S., Canada and Europe. Ahead of the data readout for Sci-B-Vac in the next few weeks, Canaccord's John Newman likes what hes seeing.

The analyst tells clients that he expects the top-line Phase 3 CONSTANT trial data to demonstrate the efficacy of the vaccine, and should include immune repression measures such as geometric mean concentration (GMC) of antibodies across the three independent manufactured groups of Sci-B-Vac. We continue to believe Sci-B-Vac will be viewed positively by regulators and achieve approval in the US and EU after positive readout in CONSTANT in January 2020. We look forward to an update of two-dose noninferiority data with inclusion of patients from the CONSTANT dataset, he wrote in a note to clients.

On top of this, Newman cites its VBI-1901 candidate for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and VBI-1501A for cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection as key points of strength for the company, expecting continued positive data from each.

He further added, Brii Bio and VBI plan to initiate enrollment of a phase 1b/2a proof-of-concept study in subjects with chronic HBV infection in 4Q19E which could allow for initial first-inhuman proof of concept data readout in 2H20E.

Based on all the above factors, the five-star analyst reiterated his bullish call. While Newman did reduce the price target from $5 to $4, this still conveys his confidence in VBIVs ability to climb 270% higher in the next twelve months. (To watch Newmans track record, click here)

What does the rest of the Street think? Given that 3 Buys and no Holds or Sells have been assigned in the last three months, the stock earns a Strong Buy consensus rating. Not to mention the $3.67 average price target brings the upside potential to 170%. (See VBI Vaccines stock analysis on TipRanks)

Veru Inc. (VERU)

Veru uses a novel approach to develop and commercialize medicines for prostate cancer. According to one analyst, 2020 could be a big year for Veru, starting with the announcement of new top-line Phase 2 data for Zuclomiphene citrate for hot flashes caused by prostate cancer hormone therapy.

The readout, which is scheduled for this month, is an interim topline look at the frequency of hot flashes as well as the safety of the 10mg and 50mg doses. Brandon Folkes of Cantor Fitzgerald notes that a clinically meaningful reduction in hot flashes for Zuclomiphene Citrate is between 11% and 26%, which is how he thinks the treatment will be evaluated by the FDA. In addition, the company's recent FY4Q19 earnings release indicates that there havent been cases of side effects like gynecomastia, breast pain or venothromboembolic events (blood clots in legs or lungs, or stroke) that are typically associated with off label use of steroidal estrogens and progestins for hot flashes.

Thus given the lack of these common side effects being seen in the Phase 2 trial, we expect VERU to move forward to test the 100mg dose, which will require 30 patients. We believe that decision should be viewed as a positive. Given that zuclomiphene is an estrogen, we would expect to see dose dependent efficacy in Zuclomiphene citrate, and the lack of safety concerns which enable VERU to move to test the higher 100mg dose is likely to result in a more compelling product offering, should the product come to market, Folkes stated.

To top it off, Phase 1b data from VERU-111 for castration resistant metastatic prostate cancer is expected in early 2020, with Veru already indicating that theres evidence of substantial antitumor activity.

All of this prompted Folkes to maintain a Buy rating along with a $6 price target. At this target, a 67% twelve-month rise could be in the cards. (To watch Folkes track record, click here)

Turning now to other analysts, they appear to be on the same page. With 3 Buys compared to no Holds or Sells, the message is clear: Veru is a Strong Buy. The average price target of $5.83 suggests 62% upside potential, just below Folkes forecast. (See Veru stock analysis on TipRanks)
(Newser)  A Brazilian judge has ordered Netflix to remove a film depicting Jesus Christ with a boyfriend. The First Temptation of Christ, released as a Christmas special, caused such fury among Brazil's conservative Christians that 2 million signed a petition calling for its removal, while a group lobbed firebombs at the office of the film's creators on Christmas Eve, per the BBC. The final decision on the film from YouTube comedy group Porta dos Fundos rests with a higher court. But Rio de Janeiro Judge Benedicto Abicair made his feelings known Wednesday in issuing a temporary ban, which reversed a lower court ruling.

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The film's removal "is beneficial not only to the Christian community, but to Brazilian society, which is mostly Christian," Abicair wrote, per the AP. "The right to freedom of expression ... is not absolute" and "exhibiting the 'artistic production' ... may cause graver and more irreparable damage than its suspension," he added, per the BBC. The ruling came after President Jair Bolsonaro's son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, berated the film as "garbage" in a tweet. The members of Porta dos Fundos "do not represent Brazilian society," he wrote. His father once said he would rather have a dead son than a gay one. Both Porta dos Fundos and Netflix declined to comment. (Read more Netflix stories.)
EDWARDSVILLE  Three people face charges in connection to a theft at an Edwardsville business.

Kain A. Goodall, 20, of Edwardsville, has been charged with theft, criminal transpass and criminal damage to property. Clifford W. Forsyth, 19, of Troy, was charged with criminal trespass. And Andrew J. Viviano, 19, of Robertsville, Missouri, was charged with criminal damage to property and criminal trespass.

Edwardsville Police report they were called to The Back Bar and Milos Tobacco Road at 228 N. Main St., Edwardsville, for an incident that occurred Jan. 1 at 228 N. Main Street. During the incident, property was damaged and items were stolen. The Back Bar had lighting, signs and a fence post damaged. No Parking signs were stolen from Milos Tobacco Road.

The three suspects were charged after a review of video footage from area cameras.
New Delhi/Srinagar, Jan 9 : On a day when mercury had dipped to 2 degree Celsius, 17 envoys, dressed in their tweed jackets and cashmere mufflers, took pictures and selfies in the backdrop of Zabarvan hills in the summer capital of the newly formed union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The group of envoys representing 17 countries arrived in Srinagar on a two-day trip to Kashmir on Thursday, to get a first-hand experience of the situation since the special status of Jammu and Kashmir state was revoked.

Following the constitutional reorganization of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5 last year, the government, placed the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir under restrictions and a communication blockade for almost a month.

The government anticipated Pakistan-sponsored terror attacks and street violence in view of the threats issued by separatists and terror groups ahead of the decision.

Markets and educational institutions were shut for a couple of months in the valley after separatists and terror groups gave calls against restoration of normalcy.

However Kashmir since August 5, except for a few civilian killings by terrorists, has been mostly calm and peaceful. Although most communication services have been restored, the mobile Internet still remains suspended.

US Ambassador Kenneth I. Juster, is accompanied by the envoys of Vietnam, South Korea, Brazil, Uzbekistan, Niger, Nigeria, Morocco, Guyana, Argentina, Philippines, Norway, Maldives, Fiji, Togo, Bangladesh and Peru on the two-day trip.

Markets, institutions and traffic were running normally on Thursday when the delegation of envoys arrived in Srinagar. Sources said, the common people whom the envoys met told them that though initially there were difficulties but they were relieved that there was no bloodshed and violent protests.

Common people also told the envoys that they were appreciative of the government's handling of the situation since the nullification of Articles 370 and 35A, sources said. The envoys were also asked to put pressure on Pakistan to end cross-border terrorism in Kashmir.

Official sources said, the government decided to organize the trip for the envoys because of several requests received by the Ministry of External Affairs. The Centre approved the request after analyzing the security situation and consulting the state administration.
T he Duke and Duchess of Sussex have announced they are stepping back as senior members of the royal family.

But the shock move raises many questions about their future, not least of all whether Harry and Meghan's attempt to redefine their royal lives is sustainable.

What did Harry and Meghan's statement say?

Meghan and Harry said they would continue to support the Queen / AP

Where will they live?

They said they now plan to balance their time between the UK and North America.

What about their home Frogmore Cottage in Windsor?

They will continue to base themselves at Frogmore Cottage when in the UK.

Taxpayers paid 2.4 million to renovate Harry and Meghan's official residence, which the couple moved into just nine months ago.

The couple during their royal tour in south Africa / Getty Images

Where will they live in North America and will they buy a home there?

This is not yet known. The couple have just spent six weeks in Canada so are expected to base themselves there for part of the year.

TODO: define component type apester

How will they become financially independent?

Their new official website Sussexroyal.com said the couple will no longer receive funding through the Sovereign Grant from the taxpayer for their official office expenses - which it said accounted for 5 per cent of their office costs.

The Prince of Wales currently pays for the remaining cost of their public duties and some of their private costs from his Duchy of Cornwall income.

But it is not clear cut. The Sovereign Grant is also used to pay for Harry and Meghan's official royal travel, and their website said they "proudly" carry out official overseas visits in support of the Queen, suggesting they will still continue to do so.

Harry is a former soldier and Meghan is a former actress but the pair are about to launch their new SussexRoyal foundation / REUTERS

Will they be getting paid jobs?

It looks like it in some form. Sussexroyal.com said the couple "value the ability to earn a professional income, which in the current structure they are prohibited from doing.

"For this reason they have made the choice to become members of the Royal Family with financial independence."

Harry is a former soldier and Meghan is a former actress but the pair are about to launch their new SussexRoyal foundation.

Will the British taxpayers still pay for their security?

They seem to think so. Sussexroyal.com, referring to armed security by the Metropolitan Police mandated by the Home Office, said: "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are classified as internationally protected people which mandates this level of security."

Britain's Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, said they are planning "to step back" as senior members of the royal family and "work to become financially independent" / AP

But they are no longer senior royals?

Yes this creates a problem. Non-senior royals generally don't have full-time royal protection officers.

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie previously faced criticism over the use of taxpayers' funding for police protection, but the Duke of York now pays for their security himself.

The undisclosed cost of guarding the royal family as a whole is estimated to be more than 100 million a year.

What about the cost to the Canadians?

If Harry and Meghan base themselves in Canada - a realm of which the Queen is monarch, it raises the question of whether the Canadians will have to contribute to their security costs as well, or even pay for an official residence.

Harry and Meghan and pictured with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on Christmas Day 2018 / Getty Images

Will they lose their HRH titles?

Their statement makes no mention of them losing their HRH titles nor of Harry being removed from the line of succession.

The duke and duchess said they have chosen to "carve out a progressive new role within this institution".

Does combining private work with royal duties work?

Having a dual role has proved controversial in the past.

Harry and Meghan speak on stage during WE Day UK 2019 at The SSE Arena on March 06, 2019 in London, England. / Getty Images

In 2002, the Earl and Countess of Wessex stepped down from their businesses to become full time royals after they were accused of cashing in on their royal status.

Harry's cousin Zara Tindall earns her own income, but does not carry out royal duties nor live in an official residence.

What about the Queen and the Prince of Wales?

Prince Harry and his then-fiance Meghan, Prince Charles, the Queen, Prince Philip, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William after the Christmas Day service in 2017 / AP

The announcement was made just seven weeks after the Queen's second son Andrew stepped back from royal duties after his disastrous Newsnight interview about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Buckingham Palace has warned that Harry and Meghan's decision to step back will be "complicated" and talks are still at an early stage.

Why did Harry and Meghan take the decision?

The couple spoke of their struggles dealing with royal life and the intense tabloid interest in a television documentary about their Africa tour.
A temporary restraining order is prohibiting the Texas Democratic Party from including Belinda Shvetz on the ballot for state Senate District 19 after another challenger claimed she doesnt meet residency requirements.

SD 19 candidate Xochil Rodriguez, a former city attorney and daughter of Justice of the Peace Ciro Rodriguez, a former congressman, sued the party claiming it wrongly allowed Shvetz to run for the post in the Democratic primary in March.

Luis Roberto Vera Jr. and Robert Woody Wilson, Rodriguezs attorneys, applied for a temporary restraining order Jan. 2, and state District Judge Cathleen M. Stryker granted it Wednesday. A hearing for a temporary injunction is set for Monday.

The suit, filed in December in civil district court, claims the party violated state law and the Texas Constitution by including Shvetzs name on the ballot. It alleges Shvetz is neither registered to vote in the district she is running for, nor does she live in the area she would represent.

Specifically, Shvetz has not been a resident of Senate District 19 for a full year preceding her election, the lawsuit states.

A candidate running for the Texas Senate must have lived in Texas for the previous five years and in the district he or she is seeking to represent for the previous year, according to state law.

According to Rodriguezs suit, Shvetz has given two addresses. One was for an apartment on Gentleman Road in Balcones Heights in Senate District 26. The other was 3627 Roosevelt Ave, which is in SD19 on the South Side, but is a tire shop.

Copies of Shvetzs filing in court records had an address that was redacted.

An affidavit signed by Diana Jennifer Arevalo, a Rodriguez campaign staff member, stated she went to the Roosevelt address.

I talked to the owner of the business, and he stated that no one lives there and that it is only a business address, Arevalo stated in her affidavit, which is included in the petition.

Arevalo said in the document that she noticed a trailer park behind the business, and that the owner told her he did not own it. I went to trailer 1, but there were broken windows and it appeared to be abandoned. There were no visible utilities connected to the trailer, the affidavit stated.

The suit also alleges Shvetz committed voter fraud by casting a ballot in the San Antonio mayoral election last May while her voter registration was suspended. At the time, the suit claims, Shvetz said she was living in SD 26.

Shvetz cannot now claim or be permitted to claim she was a resident of Senate District 19 in May 2019, which is less than the one year requirement to be a resident of the position for which she seeks election and opposite of the fabricated claim on her application of living the past one year and one month in Senate District 19, the suit states.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Vera declined to comment on the petition, stating that answers to all questions were in the lawsuit.

An email sent to Shvetzs campaign account seeking comment did not receive a response. A man who answered a telephone number listed on Shvetzs campaign website Wednesday said she was not available and hung up on a reporter who tried to leave a message. A subsequent call went to voicemail.

Senate District 19, which covers 15 counties, including portions of Bexar and Atascosa, currently is represented by Republican state Sen. Pete Flores. He defeated Pete Gallego in 2018 in a special election prompted by the resignation of disgraced state Sen. Carlos Uresti, who held the seat for almost 12 years.

Uresti gave up the seat after his felony conviction on charges including money laundering and fraud. He is serving time in federal prison.

Besides Rodriguez and Shvetz, lawyers Roland Gutierrez and Freddy Ramirez also are running in the Democratic primary, scheduled for March 3. In November, the winner will face Flores, who is unopposed in the Republican primary.

Elizabeth Zavala covers county and state courts in San Antonio. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863
The whole idea of the law is to give better information in advance to decision-makers and the public. It appears that these changes are an effort to undermine both of those purposes of the statute, Caputo said. It would basically make the federal government become an ostrich, sticking its head in the ground rather than thinking about the environmental impact of its actions.
When Joe Bidens bus tour rolled through Iowa last month in a critical campaign swing, he put his promise of steady world leadership at the forefront.

Biden brought out former Secretary of State John Kerry to vouch for his global standing, and emphasize the importance of experience and know-how as a vital corrective to President Donald Trumps impulsive style. He rolled out a television ad showing foreign leaders mocking Trump, and said world leaders already know and respect him.

Now, the high-stakes conflict with Iran has thrust international affairs and Americas world standing to the top of the national debate, giving Biden an opening to emphasize one of his core arguments just weeks before Iowa holds the first contest in the race for the Democratic nomination.

At the same time, however, the Middle East clash has handed his rivals the chance to undercut Biden on the same issue. And they have run with it, pointing out that despite all of Bidens vaunted experience, he supported the Iraq War that has left America in an intractable fight, and the region as volatile as ever.

The clashes have played out in somber speeches and pointed critiques  and even after tensions eased Wednesday, foreign policy now seems certain to play a major role in next weeks Democratic presidential debate, the last national event scheduled before Iowas caucuses on Feb. 3.

Biden delivered an address in New York on Tuesday, which presented the former vice president and Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman with all the trappings of national leadership  including a backdrop of American flags against a deep-blue background.

Speaking from twin teleprompters and with a grave tone, Biden blasted Trump for haphazard decision-making and a reckless disregard for the consequences" of the attack killing Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani. Noting his 40-plus years in the White House and Senate, he said he aimed to restore sorely missing presidential gravitas.

The argument that he would steady the wheel internationally matches his overall campaign pitch that he stands apart as a safe, tested, and proven antidote to Trump.

Bidens rivals seem just as happy to talk about his foreign-policy record, particularly Iraq.

Joe Biden voted and helped lead the effort for the war in Iraq, the most dangerous foreign-policy blunder in the modern history of this country, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said this week on CNN.

Its an argument Sanders has long made, but one given added relevance as the country is pulled toward another Middle East crisis. Sanders, who opposed the Iraq War, led a group of lawmakers in introducing a bill Thursday to block funding for war against Iran without congressional approval.

The [Iraq] war was a mistake and I think it was a mistake for anyone to vote for that war, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) said on MSNBC this week. Asked specifically whether she meant Biden, she replied: Everyone.

Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., an ex-Navy intelligence officer who served in Afghanistan, previously blasted Biden for supporting the worst foreign-policy decision made by the United States in my lifetime." This week, he said that when you run for office, your record is fair game and your judgment on important issues can be derived based on your record.

Buttigieg has touted his military service and firsthand view of conflict as an asset that distinguishes him from the crowded field.

Biden allies say theyre happy to have that fight, and see the focus on foreign policy, an afterthought for much of the Democratic primary, as a boon just before Iowans begin voting. They believe voters will be more focused on Bidens eight recent years as vice president than his 2002 vote authorizing the war, for which he later expressed regret.

A CNN poll in late November found that 48% of Democratic voters rated Biden as the candidate best suited to handle foreign policy. Sanders was second, at 14%. It was by far the largest lead for any candidate on any of the six issues CNN polled.

"To the extent that foreign policy is at the front of the agenda, and theres no question that Iran has put it there, this is helpful to Biden, because Biden has more experience than all the rest of the candidates combined on foreign policy, said Derek Chollet, executive vice president at the German Marshall Fund. Chollet, who worked in high-level defense roles in the Obama administration and is a visiting fellow at the University of Pennsylvanias Perry World House, is neutral in the Democratic race.

He argued that foreign policy had been pushed unusually far into the background in the 2020 primary campaign compared with past races  until the last week.

Yet Lara Brown, a political science professor at George Washington University, said the debate shows another contrast between the idealized version of Biden and the reality of his results.

He seems strongest when he is a theory, not a fact," Brown said. While his experience sounds reassuring, she said, the Iraq War vote is a major liability. The fact of his legislative record is problematic in todays world.

Brown also said Buttigieg, despite his military experience, could be hurt by the recent developments. Voters might have second thoughts about putting a 37-year-old in the Oval Office after this reminder of the drastic responsibilities the president holds, she said.

At the very least, Brown said, the question is sure to play a newly prominent role as Democrats speed toward a crucial contest in Iowa.
(Photo : Pokemon Go) Catch Piplup on Pokemon GO's Community Day 2020 and Reveal Secret Attack Skill (Photo : Pokemon Go Twitter Account) Catch Piplup on Pokemon GO's Community Day 2020 and Reveal Secret Attack Skill

All hands on deck, PoGo players!

Niantic recently announced details of the first Pokemon GO's Community Day of 2020, and we are all excited to hear great news along with this announcement.

Pokemon GO Community Day 2020 on Jan. 19 (For Three Hours Only)!

One of these is that the said event is only a few days left scheduled exactly on Jan. 19 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. local time. If you are currently living in southern hemisphere countries, the event will happen on Sunday, Jan.19, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. local time.

As usual, Community Day is only scheduled for three hours, so make sure you'll make it count.

No worries, though, you will surely be interested in joining the event as Niantic now announced the featured Pokemon on January's Community Day 2020, the water-type Pokemon Piplup.

Throughout the event, Piplup will be opened to be caught more often on the wild and even on gym raids compared to normal PoGo days.

If you're lucky, you might even have the chance to catch the shinier version of Piplup that is also available to be caught on the said event.

How To Add More Powers To Your Piplup

Make sure to pack your bags with all of your necessities once Community Day is on and hunt all you can for straight three hours by spinning tons of PokeStops and receiving Eggs that may hatch unto Piplup.

Once you got your own Piplup, make sure to evolve it unto Prinplup, then hatch unto Empoleon during the event or after two hours once Community Day starts, and you may receive a secret attack skill that your Empoleon Pokemon cannot normally learn overtime.

Sadly, Niantic has not yet announced the said skill on their website, but it is surely worthy of trying.

Pokemon GO also assures its users that everyone that will attend the event will catch something special since Lure Modules-- an item that can attract wild Pokemon to appear near it-- will last for a longer time for three hours.

Another reminder is that Eggs on Community Day 2020 will require one-quarter the usual Hatch Distance when placed in Incubators during the event.

Hatchathon Event, Legendary Pokemon Heatran, and More Are Still Available for Pokemon GO!

If you are not interested in taking the heat of catching Piplup around the corner with other PoGo players, there are still other game competitions that you can freely join on Pokemon GO.

Some of these are the much-awaited Hatchathon event-- which lets PoGo players earn extra Stardust, Rare Candies, and other surprising rewards until Jan. 16, the return of Legendary Pokemon Heatran to gym raids and a new batch of exciting and challenging Field Research Quests that once successful may allow you to unlock special rewards such as encountering Rare Pokemon on the field.

For other Pokemon GO events, players can easily search on Pokemon GO's website and be updated on what comes next for this new year.

ALSO READ: Check Out These Weird Mods for Pokemon Sword and Shield

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Im extremely pleased to announce this partnership with Al Abbar, a name that has been synonymous with sophisticated construction facades throughout the Middle East and Asia for the past 30 years, said Kevin OSullivan, CEO & President, Tower Holdings Group.

Tower Holdings Group, a worldwide-leading developer, construction manager, contractor and materials supplier has formed a strategic partnership with Al Abbar Group, the largest architectural building enveloping and glazing contractor in the Middle East. As part of the agreement, Tower Holdings, through its newly created entity, Al Abbar North America, will exclusively market, sell and install Al Abbars industry-leading, construction facade systems and products throughout North America.

Under the new partnership, Tower Holdings will offer a full range of Al Abbar design, engineering, manufacturing and installation services for some of the most advanced curtain wall and facade solutions in the world, as well as the companys coatings, architectural glass and stainless-steel offerings. The exclusive agreement will include the United States, Canada and Mexico.

"Im extremely pleased to announce this partnership with Al Abbar, a name that has been synonymous with sophisticated construction facades throughout the Middle East and Asia for the past 30 years, said Kevin OSullivan, CEO & President, Tower Holdings Group. This partnership is a direct result of Tower Holdings ongoing commitment to continuously strengthen our range of services and expertise, and to pass along those benefits to our clients, OSullivan said.

Al Abbar has designed, fabricated and installed facade systems for some of the most iconic projects in the world, including the Burj Khalifa, Bahrain World Trade Center, Emirates Tower, Burj Al Arab Hotel and Dubai International Airport (Concourse 1&2), among many others.

As the trend for environmentally conscious, yet aesthetically pleasing buildings continues to grow in North America, we expect curtain wall and facade systems will increasingly gain widespread adoption in both commercial and residential projects, for both new construction, as well as upgrades of existing office buildings, said OSullivan. We believe Al Abbars innovative systems will prove to be extremely competitive and well-received in these market conditions.

The new Al Abbar systems, combined with the installation services of Tower Holdings Alubuild USA, will provide the company with comprehensive in-house capabilities for both ground up and renovation facade solutions. In addition to Al Abbar serving as the preferred curtain wall design and supply provider for internal projects, Tower Holdings/Alubuild USA will also utilize its network of experts and existing channels to distribute Al Abbar systems to third-party developers, owners and contractors.

Al Abbar Groups entry into the North American market is an exciting time for the company to showcase its expertise in designing and supplying bespoke facade solutions to suit all our clients needs, whether near or far. Al Abbars strengths, which have been developed over the last 30 years, has put it at the forefront of some of the most Iconic buildings in the Middle East; and now we look forward to providing the same service to the new venture, said Dean Cordon, General Manager, Al Abbar Group.

This partnership brings together two industry-leading companies committed to providing the highest quality and most innovative products and services in the market. Both companies also share a proven track record of building long-term relationships with industry partners, including building owners, developers, architects, general contractors and subcontractors.

About Al Abbar Group (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)

Al Abbar is the largest architectural building enveloping and glazing contractors in the Middle East, providing high quality products and services that meet international standards. During the past 30 years, Al Abbar has emerged as not only a leader in aluminum curtain walls, coating, architectural glass and stainless-steel products, but also as a provider of total architectural solutions.

While Al Abbar has been a pioneer in the Facade industry with an extensive list of noteworthy past achievements, the company remains firmly focused on the future  foreseeing it, planning it, and above all, shaping it.

About Tower Holdings Group (New York, NY, USA)

Tower Holdings Group, which operates in North America and Europe, is a leading, integrated developer, construction manager, electrical engineering company and materials supplier, consisting of ten independent, integrated entities, including facade contractor, Alubuild USA/Ireland.

Tower Holdings impeccable reputation has been built on delivering both large and small projects efficiently, on schedule and on budget for more than 30 years. The Companys deep management experience as developers, general contractors and tradesmen has enabled Tower Holdings to proficiently manage all phases of each project on both a macro and micro level to ensure clients receive both the highest quality and personalized service theyve come to expect.
Few cherish the fragility of democracy more than the people of Taiwan. Located perilously close to an adversary seeking to undermine its sovereignty and democracy, Taiwan has developed remarkable resilience to Chinas ongoing threats. This resilience will be put to the test on Saturday as voters cast ballots in Taiwans national elections.

Canada is no stranger to China's bully diplomacy. Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig are entering their second year of arbitrary detention in China in response to the legal arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition request. And just last month, Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu threatened retaliation if Canada imposed Magnitsky sanctions on Chinese officials who are responsible for human rights abuses.

Beijings aggressive influence operations within Canada have targeted elected officials at all government levels and riding level political party structures are under increasing threat of being compromised by groups connected to Chinas local consulates and the United Front. Platforms such as Facebook and WeChat regularly used by Beijing to spread disinformation about Canada, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Even Canadian corporations operating in China are overtly threatened in Chinese state media if they dont toe Beijings line.

Taiwans success in resisting Chinas influence lies in the fact that they have developed defences against Chinas objectives  namely, aggressive expansionism and the subjugation of smaller nations to Beijings direct influence.

As such, Taiwan has taken diversified trade, bolstered domestic defence industries, and reinforced democratic institutions to directly address Chinas influence and information warfare.

This dedication to democracy has been put into action by Taiwanese Minister Audrey Tang, who is Taiwans first transgender cabinet minister and among the first anywhere in the world. She has developed an innovative open government policy that allows all citizens to directly contribute to the countrys policy-making process.

Tang is also responsible for overseeing the development of Taiwans countermeasures against Beijings disinformation attacks  without negatively affecting personal liberties, including freedom of expression.

When I recently met with Tang in Taipei, she explained that the Taiwanese government has developed a protocol for working toward disarming disinformation that does not involve infringing of journalistic freedom.

Within two hours of detecting a disinformation attack, the relevant Taiwanese ministries are required to roll out clarification of 200 characters or less and at least two pictures.

Tang says the Taiwanese counter-disinformation system is now good enough that most [ministries] can deliver the clarifications within 60 minutes. This rapid response is designed to defuse the disinformation narrative by getting ahead of it and stopping its spread on social media.

Through a unique agreement with Facebook, the company has agreed to adjust its algorithms so disinformation attacks no longer reach user news feeds. You have to scroll for two hours to see [the story], says Tang. Its like moving this into the spam folder: once they do that, it stops spreading.

According to a Pew Research study, nearly half of all Canadians receive their daily news from social media, demonstrating our vulnerability to disinformation. While Ottawa introduced significant measures to address disinformation before the 2019 election, it fell short of publicly exposing disinformation campaigns. Nor did the government achieve agreements with social media platforms to protect the Canadian online information environment.

In December, Taiwan took the additional step of banning foreign funding and backing of political parties by hostile external forces, while Australia has passed legislation that requires individuals or groups that are acting on behalf of foreign principals to register with the government.

Despite Beijings efforts to undermine Taiwans elections and threats to unite Taiwan with mainland China by force, Taiwanese leaders are digging in. Former Taiwanese Minister of Defence Andrew Yang suggests Canada do the same, urging us to wake up by reminding our leaders that Beijing does not conduct business abiding to international rules.

The determination and clarity with which Taiwan has confronted the challenges to its fragile independence and democracy are encouraging and can serve as an example for Canada and its allies as they struggle to address their own growing problems with Beijing.
The Met is to review its protection of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after they demanded they keep their 1million-a-year bodyguards despite quitting as full-time royals, it was claimed today.

The armed police provided by Scotland Yard are estimated to cost 600,000 in annual salaries and up to 400,000 in flights, accommodation, expenses and overtime.

Harry, Meghan and Archie each have one officer and are understood to have a team of six protecting the family in any 24-hour period.

A statement on the couple's website yesterday said they are classified as 'internationally protected people' which means they must have an armed security detail anywhere on the globe.

But a senior police source told the Evening Standard: 'That stays in place for now. But as the circumstances have changed there will now be a full review.

'If the Sussexes intend to live abroad, and not just carry out international official visits abroad, it will involve far more resources. This will have to be reviewed and signed off by the Commissioner. There is no guarantee it will be granted'.

Royal protection officers drive through Windsor today as it emerged Harry and Meghan want to keep their taxpayer-funded bodyguards despite quitting as senior royals - but the Met could refuse

Meghan's team including a personal protection officer accompany her yesterday. Security costs the taxpayer in excess of an estimated 100 million a year for the royal family

Who pays for Meghan and Harry's lifestyle - and how much money do they have? Sovereign Grant No one knows how much the grant is worth to Harry and Meghan because it is not published in the Queen's accounts - but some estimates have placed it at around 2million. The 82million pot also covers travel costs for royal duties are also covered by the grant. On the royal register, which reveals all claims over 15,000, there are three claims by the couple totalling 130,000. The 2.4million refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage was also paid for by this pot. More works are pencilled in Windsor Castle's five-year plan meaning costs could reach 3million. Home Office The government department covers Harry, Meghan and Archie's 24/7 Met police security - estimated at 600,000-a-year. With overtime, travel and accommodation expenses this would likely reach 1million. Prince Charles' Duchy of Cornwall estate Harry receives up to 2.3million annually from his father's royal estate. Personal wealth Harry inherited around 20million from his mother, Princess Diana, who died when he was 12. The Queen Mother also left him up to 7million. Much of his cash is tied up in trust funds with some of the money kept from him until his 40th birthday Meghan has a personal fortune of 4million, mainly from her acting work and property in Canada. She also earned six-figures each year from blogging, fashion and modelling. Advertisement

Security costs the taxpayer in excess of an estimated 100million-a-year for the royal family - a Met Police spokesman said today: 'We never discuss matters of royal security.'

Harry and Meghan's decision to step down as 'senior royals' but demand armed bodyguards could also cause a stink with others including Prince Andrew, who is one behind Harry and Archie in the line of succession but must pay for his family's personal protection himself.

But because they claim to have resigned their senior royal status, non-senior royals generally don't have full-time royal protection officers.

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie previously faced criticism over the use of taxpayers' funding for police protection, but the Duke of York now pays for their security himself.

Private protection officers, known as PPOs, are employed to guard their 'principal' around the clock. They work in pairs and if the couple are travelling separately or attending separate engagements it will require at least four of them to do the job.

If Harry and Meghan undertake a large amount of cross-continental travel, this will also make the task of their security detail more complex. Any new routes must be scouted out ahead of time by their bodyguards to identify any possible threats.

Any plans to travel among members of the public will also involve additional scrutiny by their security team.

The couple yesterday said that in their new roles they would travel via commercial air carriers, local trains and fuel-efficient vehicles 'unless advised otherwise on security grounds'.

Armed protection officers are trained in a range of weapons including the 9mm Glock 17 handgun and the Glock 19 pistol.

It would be highly unusual for the British taxpayer to fund an armed security detail for royals based in an overseas country such as Canada, mooted to be the part of North America the couple will choose to live part-time.

When Harry spent time in Toronto when courting Meghan he as protected by Canadian police.

Any new residence of the couple abroad would also need tight security in place.

A passage on their new website, uploaded last night, was posted under the question: 'Does their future financial autonomy extend to covering the costs of security?'

The answer read: 'The provision of armed security by The Metropolitan Police is mandated by the Home Office, a ministerial department of Her Majesty's Government, responsible for security and law & order. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are classified as internationally protected people which mandates this level of security.'

It went on to say that a breakdown of the cost of such a security detail is not available because 'disclosure of such information could compromise the integrity of these arrangements and affect the security of the individuals protected.'
A police officer who was spotted pruning overgrown hedges at an intersection to improve visibility for drivers has been praised online.

An image of the officer standing with clippers in his hand next to the busy Crown Range road connecting Otago with Queenstown was posted to Reddit.

'Top cop 2020 contender - spotted cutting a bush obscuring the view of oncoming cars instead of giving tickets,' the caption read.

The internet is hailing a New Zealand policeman as a 'top cop contender' after an image emerged of him (pictured) pruning a bush to create better visibility for motorists

The officer was eventually tracked down and asked what he was doing.

'I noticed the bush was reducing visibility around that corner a couple of days ago while out and about,' Senior Sergeant Wilkinson told Newshub.

'So I grabbed a pair of secateurs from home and went out there yesterday.'

'It's a busy intersection at this time of year and anything that gives motorists an extra couple of seconds of visibility is a good idea.'

Dozens of people took to the Reddit post to praise the officer for being more concerned with driver safety than revenue raising.

'Dear New Zealand, your cops were the closest to civilized I've encountered in all my travels. Thank you,' one person wrote.

'Bloody legend,' another added.

'Cops in NZ serve and protect?! Amazing!' a third wrote.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: A total of 967 nominations were filed on the first day of filing of nominations on Wednesday to elect corporators and councillors for 129 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the State. Returning Officers of State Election Commission (SEC) registered a total of 976 nominations up to 9 pm on Wednesday. There are 141 ULBs in the state. The election is being held in 129 ULBs.

Nalgonda district registered 117 nominations from political parties and candidates, which is the highest in the state. Followed by 91 nominations in Peddapalli district. Both Bhadradri Kothagudem and Jangaon registered two nominations each. Rangareddy district received 56 and Sangareddy 85.

ALSO READ| Karimnagar Municipal poll candidates confused after Telangana HC halts election process

The nomination process will continue till January 10. SEC will take up an inquiry of nominations on January 11. The appeals, if any, against the rejection of nominations will be disposed on January 12. The list of contesting candidates will be announced on January 14. The ballot will be held on January 22 and counting of votes, declaration of results would be on January 25, according to the notification of SEC.

KCR to give B-forms to MLAs today

A meeting of TRS party MLAs will be held at Telangana Bhavan at 10 am on Thursday. Chief Minister and TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao will hand over B-forms to MLAs for the upcoming municipal elections. The MLAs in turn will handover the B-forms to the contesting candidates in their respective Assembly segments.

Those Assembly segments where TRS has no representatives, in-charges of Assembly segments would collect the B-forms. The Chief Minister will explain the guidelines to MLAs on how to issue A-forms and B-forms. After Rao hands over some forms formally, the rest of them would be given to MLAs and in-charges by TRS office secretary M Srinivas Reddy.

ALSO READ| Telangana government files plea in HC against staying of Karimnagar polls

TDP to go it alone in municipal elections

HYDERABAD: TDP State president L Ramana said his party will contest the municipal elections independently, and stated that they will put up a strong fight wherever the party cadre is strong. At a meeting with party leaders, he asked the party constituency in-charges to distribute the B-Forms to capable candidates. He said that they have constituted a municipal coordination committee with the district and constituency party leaders

Jana Sena not to contest civic polls

HYDERABAD: The Jana Sena party led by Pawan Kalyan will not be contesting the municipal elections in Telangana. Releasing a press statement on Wednesday, party representative P Hari Prasad revealed, Due to some unavoidable reasons, we have decided not to contest the civic polls with the glass symbol. Our president Pawan Kalyan has permitted the aspirants from the party to contest as independents. Hari Prasad said such workers would have the partys support

Polls will wipe out BJP and Congress: Talasani Srinivas Yadav

HYDERABAD: Minister of Animal Husbandry Talasani Srinivas Yadav fired a poll salvo at the Congress and BJP saying political oblivion awaits them after the municipal elections. Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Talasani said that voters would give a clear mandate to the TRS just like they did in the ZP elections. The Minister revealed that there was stiff competition in the ruling party for tickets to fight the municipal elections
After a major annual event in Australia , 2020 is gearing up to be a year of master classes with Bruce Lipton , Enric Corbera and Facundo Manes , among others, as well as a second edition of "Influencers Adventure" in Iceland .

The "Influencers Circle" is comprised of some 50 people, among them CEOs, entrepreneurs, university presidents, diplomats, journalists, attorneys, psychologists and other leaders.

MIAMI, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- "Ismael Cala Influencers Circle" (ICIC), the successful affiliation program for exponentially mindful leaders from all over the world, is celebrating its first anniversary after a 2019 positively brimming with first class events, among them strategic mentoring encounters, exclusive invitations to exotic destinations and VIP access to international events.

The first guests confirmed for 2020 are personalities of global stature: Bruce Lipton, Enric Corbera and Facundo Manes. ICIC members will have access to their master classes.

"Our aim is to raise the level of high-service leadership with high social impact for Hispanic America, working on the changes we'd like to see in the world. We're very satisfied with the results for 2019, and are now looking for new members to live the experience," says strategist, communicator and best-selling author, Ismael Cala.

One of the main events of this past year was the first edition of the "Influencers Adventure" in Australia, a cultural and emotional immersion to help people find their footing as a group of awareness explorers and expand their knowledge and the joy of living.

In October of 2020, the members of a select group will travel to Iceland, one of the world's most exciting natural destinations.

Some fifty people comprise "Ismael Cala's Influencers Circle," among them CEOs, entrepreneurs, university presidents, diplomats, journalists, attorneys, psychologists and other leaders.

In their first year of work, personalities as diverse as Don Miguel Ruiz, Marie Diamond, Robin Sharma, Pilar Sordo and Chris Gardner offered master classes exclusively for members.

The whole program of ICIC benefits is based on the six fundamental pillars of human development:

- Personal awakening

- Relationships and effective communication

- Leadership and social impact

- Wellbeing and perfect health

- Prosperity and wealth

- Our circle: To be part of a community of people of like mind who support each other and grow through the exchange of ideas, experiences and learning.

"It's been a year of discoveries, renewal, fun, expansion and holistic growth. This tribe of aware leaders has had unique experiences merging high impact learning with moments of enchantment. To witness this process of personal and professional transformation of our leaders has been highly gratifying and a source of inspiration," notes ICIC Vice President, Angela Cruz.

More information on ICIC:

[email protected]

+1 (786) 312 3341

https://influencerscircle.ismaelcala.com/

ABOUT ISMAEL CALA

A life and business strategist, Ismael Cala is the host of an interview program that airs in some twenty countries. For five and a half years he was the host of CALA on CNN en Espanol. A businessman and social entrepreneur. Author of eight bestsellers on themes of leadership, entrepreneurship and personal development, including El poder de escuchar ('The power of listening'), and Despierta con Cala ('Wake up with Cala'). Cala was born in Santiago de Cuba in 1969, and holds a degree in Art History from Oriente University. He is the co-author of the book "Beat the Curve," with Brian Tracy. He is the President and founder of the Cala Enterprises Corporation and the Ismael Cala Foundation

SOURCE Cala Enterprises

Related Links

https://influencerscircle.ismaelcala.com/


By David J. Eicher

On Saturday, February 15, 2020, Astronomy magazine will sponsor the eighth annual all-day skywatching party at the East Campus Observatory of Pima Community College (PCC), in Tucson, Arizona. The address there is 8181 East Irvington Road. Activities begin at 2 p.m. and continue all the way through 9 p.m.

The event is hosted by the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association (TAAA), one of the most active astronomy clubs in the United States. Throughout the day, club members will operate several solar telescopes that will give visitors safe, high-quality views of some of the features visible on the Sun. Then, about an hour after our daytime star sets (at 6:08 p.m. Tucson time), well begin the second phase of skywatching: nighttime observing.

And in addition to numerous telescopes set up by the TAAA, the Pima Community College Observatory will be open throughout the day and night. Its solar telescope will follow the Sun in the daytime, and its 14-inch telescope will target deep-sky treats at night.

Venus will be visible in the post-sunset sky, gleaming brightly, and visible in telescopes.

As twilight ends, the Pleiades star cluster (M45) will come into view. This will be a great object to view through binoculars and telescopes with a wide field of view. The Orion Nebula (M42) also will be a highlight. This star-forming region is the middle star in the constellation of the Hunter.

Fellowship with other star-gazing enthusiasts, the opportunity to ask questions about lots of different telescopes, and the prospect of clear skies mean that the 2020 Tucson Star Party is shaping up as a must-see event. So, when you make plans to come out, be sure to bring family and friends. And remember, the star party will be held Saturday, February 15 at the Pima Community College East Campus Observatory, 8181 East Irvington Road, southeast of the center of the city.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's announcement could lead to worse a worse relationship with the media than their strained existing one. (PA Images)

Prince Harry and Meghan Markles attempts to change their frosty relationship with the media has been at the heart of the bombshell decision to quit as senior members of the royal family and become financially independent.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have repeatedly accused sections of the media of inaccurate and vindictive coverage, revealed details of how their interaction with journalists will change in a bid to hand more control to the couple.

They have pledged to allow more niche and grassroots outlets and younger journalists to events, instead of guaranteeing spots to national newspapers as part of the royal rota system, which they will now leave.

But Duncan Larcombe, the Suns former royal editor and author of Prince Harry: The Inside Story, has warned leaving the system to pursue their own way of dealing with reporters is likely to backfire.

Prince Harry appears to be rewriting a chapter on PR and the problem is that it wont make a jot of difference, if anything itll be counterproductive, he told Yahoo News UK.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leaving after their visit to Canada House. (PA Images)

He added: This notion that you can cherrypick the media coverage that you get is frankly absurd and it will never work.

The royal rota allows press from a number of outlets, such as the Times, the Sun and the Daily Mail, to exclusively cover an event provided they share words and photos with other media organisations not present.

READ MORE ON YAHOO UK

Harry and Meghan 'disappoint' Queen by stepping back from the Royal Family

The Queen 'just as perplexed as everybody else'

Will taxpayers still contribute to Harry and Meghan's new life?

Mr Larcombe believes Prince Harry wants to stop the rota journalists from attending every event he goes to.

While that could restrict how he is reported on, the reduced relationship with journalists could hinder the pair.

Its a hell of a lot easier to be critical of someone you know youll never meet, Mr Larcombe said.

He recalled how, when covering the royals as part of the rota, he was asked to meet Prince William to deal with a paparazzi problem.

Story continues

Photographers had shouted slag at Kate Middleton when she was Prince Williams girlfriend in the hope the royal would get angry, thereby producing more sellable pictures.

Prince William was able to use the royal rota to help with a paparazzi problem when he was dating Kate Middleton. (PA Images)

The rota agreed that when pictures were sent to them of Prince William and Prince Harry with their girlfriends, they would clarify with the Buckingham Palace press office that they hadnt been taken while the royals were being harassed or pursued.

Without that relationship, headlines about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex could get worse, Mr Larcombe believes.

Its a bit of a retrograde step for Harry, thats the practicalities of it, but I suspect this is more about the notion of the royal rota expecting to turn up to every event that he does, Mr Larcombe suggested.

Its conceivable if Prince Harrys photographed at an event doing something crazy, whoever takes that picture is going to spread it round.

The royals are currently suing Associated Newspapers for what they have described as a campaign of fake news information against the Duchess of Sussex, which includes the publication of details from a private letter without her consent.

The Mail on Sunday said it stood by the story it published and would defend the case vigorously.

The legal action follows increasing tensions with the press that previously came to a head when Prince Harry released a statement in November 2016 which condemned the smear on the front page of a national newspaper and the racial undertones of comment pieces before asking the press to pause and reflect before any further damage is done.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

A man arrested on Sunday in connection with the alleged kidnapping of a 13-year-old girl has been released from jail and has yet to be charged by the San Francisco District Attorney's Office.

University of California at San Francisco police arrested King John Baylon, 21, on suspicion of 18 felonies and one misdemeanor, including kidnapping, human trafficking involving a minor, having sex with a minor, possession of child pornography, using a minor for sex acts, lewd acts on a child, and meeting with a minor for lewd purposes.

On Wednesday, however, prosecutors said that although charges haven't been filed against Baylon, the case remains under investigation.

The teen girl, a Fort Bragg resident, was first reported missing on Friday near UCSF's campus on Third Street in the city's Mission Bay neighborhood. The girl had apparently been at the UCSF Madison Clinic for Pediatric Diabetes as a family member was receiving treatment.

After photos of the girl were spread on social media, she was eventually located Sunday at the Ferry Building on The Embarcadero, along with a man later identified as Baylon.

Police haven't said exactly how Baylon, a Los Angeles resident, and the girl met or where they'd been hiding out in the days she was missing.

Baylon was initially booked into San Francisco County Jail and held on $1 million bail, but he's since been released.

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Williamson is currently polling at 0.2 percent, so those better be some awesome volunteers.

Except, maybe not? When it was reported earlier this week that she'd laid off her entire campaign staff, she took to social media to report that the rumors about the end of her campaign "have been drastically exaggerated" -- and announced in a subsequent statement that while she "can't afford a traditional campaign it's amazing what you can do with volunteers."

1 A Viral Video Turned Joe Biden into Richard Spencer

Joe Biden has a reputation for speaking before thinking. So few people were shocked last week, when a thirteen second-long video emerged in which Biden started spouting off the white nationalist-adjacent talking point that America is the product of whitey (and whitey only).

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"Our culture is not imported from some African nation, or some Asian nation It's our English jurisprudential culture. Our European culture."

It soon turned out, however, that the video was nothing more than deceptively-edited footage of a rally where Biden spoke for a whole ten minutes, about how rape culture in America descended from the attitudes of Americans' English forebears.

So to allay your concerns, no, Joe Biden isn't about to start proposing policy modelled after the fourteen words -- if for no other reason than his commitment to being an equal opportunities hair-sniffer.

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The Trump administration appeared determined to keep U.S. troops in Iraq, even after its killing of a top Iranian commander in Baghdad last week triggered retaliatory Iranian strikes on bases housing U.S. military personnel in Iraq on Tuesday night.

There are still an estimated 5,000 U.S. troops in the country.

The decision on whether to keep their troops in Iraq may not be entirely up to the United States, though. On Sunday, the Iraqi parliament issued a nonbinding call for the American troops to leave.

The next day, a letter sent by a senior U.S. commander to Iraqi officials seemed to say that U.S. troops would leave in response to the vote. In the letter, Marine Brig. Gen. William Seely had suggested that U.S. troops were preparing to move. Iraqi officials later said that they were interpreting the letter as notification of departure from the country. Defense Secretary Mark Esper dismissed it as "a draft."

After Tuesday night's Iranian strikes, supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned on Wednesday that "these military actions are not sufficient [for revenge]. What is important is that the corrupt presence of America in this region comes to an end."

But what would happen if U.S. troops indeed left the country voluntarily or were asked to leave by the Iraqi government, fully and with immediate effect? We asked five analysts who focus on the region to weigh in.

A counterweight would be lost

Ali Fathollah-Nejad, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center

"The departure of U.S. forces from the Middle East has been a long-standing and core Iranian foreign policy demand, shared by Tehran's moderates as well as hard-liners," he wrote.

According to Fathollah-Nejad, "both the U.S. and Iranian military presence, be it direct or through proxies, is a thorn in the flesh of most Iraqis who have suffered enormously from both countries' self-centered and myopic policies since the 2003 invasion."

But a U.S. troop withdrawal "would expose a weak Iraq to its powerful Iranian neighbor's increasing weight as the Iraqi scene would be handed over to Iran on a silver platter after the American counterweight vanishes. Also, such an outcome would barely be welcomed by the popular uprising in Iraq that has been equally critical of Iranian and American interference," he wrote.

- It would threaten the Kurds

Galip Dalay, fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs specializing on Kurdish politics

Iraq's Kurdistan region is "still by far the most secure part of the country," he said. For that reason, NATO members like Germany have so far only withdrawn their troops from the non-Kurdish areas of Iraq, but have kept some forces in the regional capital of Kurdistan, Irbil.

"Once the U.S. umbrella is completely gone, the Kurds will be much more vulnerable to the central government and much more vulnerable to the Shiite militias' wishes. The sense of security and the sense of autonomy that (the Kurds) enjoy might be put into jeopardy," he said, referring to calls from some Shiites to "take most of their privileges" away.

Like Iraq's Sunnis, "the Kurds would be more at the mercy of the Shia militias, Iran and the central government," said Dalay.

- Counterterrorism efforts could be doomed

Peter Neumann, founding director of the London-based International Center for the Study of Radicalization and author of "Bluster: Donald Trump's War on Terror."

"Among the biggest legacies of the Americans in Iraq has been the training and funding of Iraq's counterterrorism service. It is the country's only counterterrorism force that is multiethnic and largely uncorrupt. In comparison, many of the other militias who have fought the Islamic State are controlled by Iran," he said.

"If the United States were to withdraw its troops from Iraq, the governmental counterterrorism force would likely be merged with Iranian-backed militias. It would both undermine their reputation and constitute a blow to the Iraqi state, which the U.S. has sought to strengthen."

- It may end in humanitarian disaster

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.

Ilan Goldenberg, director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security and a former Defense Department Middle East adviser under the Obama administration

Like Neumann, Goldenberg fears that a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq could result in a resurgence of the Islamic State there. If ISIS were to return to some parts of the country, he cautioned, "then the humanitarian effect will be devastating, putting these people back under ISIS rule, causing major displacement of people again."

According to the United Nations, there are currently around 1.8 million internally displaced people in Iraq. More than 6 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

A U.S. departure from Iraq "makes it harder to do all the humanitarian and diplomatic work that needs to be done to (...) really help sustain in the long term an effective counter-ISIS campaign," he said.

- Russia won't (and can't) step into the vacuum

Becca Wasser, a senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation think tank, researching Russia's role in the Middle East.

"If U.S. troops were to withdraw," she wrote in an email, "Russia will welcome this move and will make noise to fill this vacuum."

"But it won't step up to the plate as Iraq's new security guarantor or seek to build a military presence in Iraq," she wrote.

"Ultimately, Russia does not want to take on an outsized role in Iraq. It wants to remain on the fringes of politics and not get embroiled in disputes among Iraqi stakeholders. It wants to sell weapons to Baghdad to gain money and make them reliant on Russian equipment, but it doesn't want to become responsible for Iraq's security as a security guarantor. It wants to be a presence in Iraq to annoy the United States and take advantage of opportunities created by Washington's missteps, but it doesn't want to be responsible for Iraq in the same manner that the United States has since 2003."
Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has welcomed the Madhya Pradesh government's initiative regarding renovation of a temple of Godesss 'Sita' there, according to an official statement issued on Thursday by the state government.

A delegation led by Madhya Pradesh Public Relations and Endowment Minister P C Sharma visited Sri Lanka from January 4 to 8.

The delegation had fruitful meetings with the Sri Lanka's president and Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunavardhane in Colombo, the statement said.

"President Gotabaya expressed his willingness to renovate Sanchi Chaitya Vihara and to hold regular culture exchange programmes between Madhya Pradesh and Sri Lanka. He also welcomed the initiative of the state government regarding renovation of Sita Mandir situated at Ashok Vatika in Sri Lanka," it said.

Former MP chief Minister and senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan had mooted the Sita temple in September 2012 when then Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Sanchi in the state to inaugurate the University of Buddhist-Indic Studies.

The temple was proposed to come up at Divurumpola in the island nation where Sita is supposed to have undergone an ordeal by fire as per the epic Ramayana.

Giving details of the recent visit by the MP minister, the statement said Sharma and other members of the delegation visited Sita Mandir in Ashoka Vatika.

"They also interacted with the local Buddhist people," it said.

Sharma presented the invitation extended by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath to President Gotabaya to visit Sanchi which he accepted readily, the statement said.

During the visit, several important decisions were taken.

"It was decided to have direct air connectivity between Bhopal and Colombo which will immensely benefit the lakhs of Sri Lankan pilgrims who visit Sanchi," it said.

A detailed discussion was also held on setting up of World Buddhism Museum and Education Institution, Monk Training and Buddhist Chanting Centre at Sanchi by the Madhya Pradesh government.

The curriculum of the Buddhism Museum and Education Institution will comprise Buddhist philosophy, science, art and culture, traditions and festivals from all over the world, the statement said.

International president of Maha Bodhi Society Bhikkku Vangal Uptiss Nayak Thero, Additional Chief Secretary of the MP government Manoj Shrivastava and Advisor V K Amar were also part of the delegation.

Sri Lankan Finance Minister Gunavardhane pledged financial support to the project.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Esper Says US Military Remains 'Poised And Ready' After Iran's Airstrikes on Military Bases

Sputnik News

02:21 09.01.2020(updated 02:23 09.01.2020)

US military facilities in Erbil and the Ayn al-Asad Air Base became targets on early Wednesday in what was dubbed as Operation Martyr Soleimani, an act of "revenge" conducted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' Quds Force for the killing of Iran's top military figure Qassem Soleimani.

US Secretary of Defence Marc Esper said that the US military remains "poised and ready" following Iran's airstrikes that targeted US military bases in Iraq, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Esper said that the damage in the Iranian missile attack was minor, the airstrikes hit tents, a parking lot and also a helicopter. Washington also confirmed earlier that no US personnel was injured in the attack.

At least 11 missiles impacted al Asad Air Base in western Iraq and at least one impacted the US military facilities in Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to the Pentagon chief. On the whole, Iran launched 16 short-range ballistic missiles from at least three locations, Esper said.

US Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley also told Pentagon pool reporters that Iran intended to kill American soldiers by attacking their bases in Iraq.

"I believe based on what I saw and what I know that they were intended to cause structural damage destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft and to kill personnel. That's my own personal assessment", Milley said.

Iran's early Wednesday airstrikes were launched as part of the "hard revenge" for its top military commander, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, killed in the US targeted attack on the Baghdadi International Airport on 3 January.

Addressing the nation on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said the United States was sure the commander was planning attacks for 4 January. He did not explicitly promise any action against Iran except for economic sanctions, adding that the US had "big and accurate" missiles at their disposal but hoped that he wouldn't have to use them against Tehran.

The president also said he would ask NATO to boost its involvement in the Middle East.

 Sputnik

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IAG CEO Willie Walsh Remade European Aviation: Now Hes Retiring

Long-serving IAG CEO Willie Walsh, who started his career as a pilot 40 years ago, is to retire later this year. It brings down the curtain on one of the most influential careers in modern European aviation.

The move was expected. Walsh will stand down from the role and from companys board on March 26 and will officially retire on June 30. Luis Gallego, currently Iberia CEO, will succeed him.

Walsh has been one of the key drivers of consolidation in the European aviation industry. He spearheaded the merger of British Airways and Iberia in 2011 and since then has added a handful of other airline brands to the group. Just last year the company announced a $1.1 billion (1 billion) deal to buy Air Europa.

The timing of the CEO change is sensible. IAG has recently agreed its latest acquisition for Air Europa: a Madrid-based leisure carrier. With the deal targeted to close in H2 2020, having a stable management team to oversee the integration should be preferred, Daniel Roeska, senior research analyst at broker Bernstein said in a note to investors.

Not everyone, however, has been enamored with his way of doing business. He earned the nickname Slasher Walsh for his cost-cutting in a previous job at Aer Lingus and came into conflict with unions while trying to do something similar at British Airways.

Willie has led the merger and successful integration of British Airways and Iberia to form IAG. Under Willies leadership IAG has become one of the leading global airline groups, said Antonio Vazquez, IAG chairman.

Gallego has spent most of his career in the Spanish aviation industry, working at the likes of Aviaco, Air Nostrum and Clickair. He has been CEO of Iberia since 2013.

IAG will name a successor to Iberia in due course.

It has been a privilege to have been instrumental in the creation and development of IAG. I have had the pleasure of working with many exceptional people over the past 15 years at British Airways and at IAG, Walsh said.

Luis has been a core member of the team and has shown true leadership over the years and I have no doubt he will be a great CEO of IAG.

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Muslim community women holds candle during a march against CAA, NRC at Jama Masjid:

On Wednesday, over, hundreds of protesters sat in front of the Jama Masjid in Delhi with candles and condemned the amended citizenship law, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR). Among the demonstrators there were huge numbers ofalso Muslim community women held candle march here.

Activists Of AASU takes out rally against CAA in Guwahati:

The protest against CAA continues in Assam. The activists of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) along with local people of Beltola took out protest rally against CAA at Beltola In Guwahati. Apart from Beltola, in Assam, protests took place at many places like- Sonapur, Narengi, Chachal and Khanapara.

Ex Jharkhand MP Pappu Yadav addresses rally in Ranchi aganist CAA, NRC

Former MP of Jharkhand Pappu Yadav addresses a protest rally against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register Of Citizenship (NRC) And National Population Register (NPR), At Raj Bhawan In Ranchi.

Protesters in Ranchi carrying the triclour display placards:

Protesters in Ranchi carrying the triclour display Ppacards and raise slogans during a rally against the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register Of Citizenship and National Population Register. Here the protesters also expressed solidarity with the students of 33 universities who were protesting against the CAA, NCR.

IPFI leaders stages bare-body protest in West Tripura:

The Indigenous Peoples Front Of Tripura (IPFT) leaders, a junior partner in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in the state, staged a bare-body protest during their indefinite sit-in against the CAA, at Khumulwng in West Tripura.
Madurai: As superstar Rajnikanth`s upcoming flick `Darbar` is set to hit the theatres, his fans on Wednesday offered special prayers at the Amman Temple in Madurai for the success of the film.

Fans also conducted special offerings to temple deity by piercing their bodies and paying unique penance `Man Soru` for the huge success of the movie. A fan who prayed at the temple for the success of the movie, said, "We kept fast for 15 days and performed `Man Soru` (eating food on floor without plate). This will definitely result in the grand success of the movie."

The action-drama is Rajinikanth`s 167th film `Darbar` and fans have prayed in the temple for the movie as well as for the actor`s victory in the upcoming legislative election.

Helmed by AR Murugadoss the movie features actress Nayanthara alongside Rajinikanth. She has previously acted in two films along with Rajinikanth.

Amid the excitement of fans, the Tamil Nadu government has granted permission for a special show to screen Rajinikanth-starrer `Darbar` for four days in the theatres all over the state. There will be one extra show per day for four days on January 9, 10, 13 and 14 for the film.

The movie is slated to be released during the Annual Pongal Festival in January 2020.
SEATTLE - The Department of Homeland Securitys civil rights office will investigate reports that travellers of Iranian descent were singled out for extra scrutiny as they crossed the border from Canada into Washington last weekend, according to U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal.

The Seattle Democrats office said Thursday she had received assurances from DHS the matter is being reviewed and that the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties would send investigators to Washington.

DHS did not immediately respond to an email seeking confirmation and further details.

Civil rights groups and lawmakers have been demanding information from the department following reports that dozens of Iranian-Americans were detained and questioned for up to 11 hours at the Peace Arch Border Crossing in Blaine, Washington. The delays followed security warnings that Iran might retaliate for President Donald Trumps decision to kill a top Iranian general last week.

On Twitter Jayapal called the investigation an important step forward that came because of the courage of those who spoke up to tell their story and our communitys collective ability to quickly draw attention to this.

Lets get answers and make sure it never happens again, she wrote.

Border agents typically have discretion to refer a traveller for additional inspection, such as when a travellers paperwork is not in order or if something raises the agents suspicion. But immigrant rights groups and lawmakers said singling out Iranian-Americans absent such factors was wrong and violated their right to equal protection under the law.
MARQUETTE, Mich., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Easy Ice, LLC ("Easy Ice"), the leading provider of commercial ice machine rental and related services, announced it has been acquired by Freeman Spogli & Co. ("Freeman Spogli"), management and other investors. Easy Ice's co-founders, Mark Hangen and John Mahlmeister, and the rest of the management team will continue to lead and operate the Company. Specific terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2009 and co-headquartered in Phoenix, AZ and Marquette, MI, Easy Ice provides ice machine rental and related services for more than 25,000 ice makers across 47 states. Easy Ice is the only national platform offering a comprehensive subscription service for commercial ice machines that includes installation, cleaning, preventive maintenance, repairs, backup ice, and peak demand ice. This full-service offering allows Easy Ice's customers to outsource this mission-critical function and focus on their core operations. Easy Ice's reputation as the "The Ice Machine Experts" is a result of its scale, unmatched national footprint, broad service offering, ice machine refurbishment capabilities and utilization of timely and high quality in-house and third-party technicians.

"We are excited to be partnering with Freeman Spogli to support the Company's next phase of expansion," said Mark Hangen, co-founder and CEO of Easy Ice. "We look forward to leveraging Freeman Spogli's experience in developing value-added distribution and retail services companies. John and I felt strongly that Freeman Spogli's proven track record of driving strong organic growth and supporting strategic acquisitions would make them an invaluable partner as we continue to execute our multipronged growth strategy."

"Mark Hangen and John Mahlmeister have done a fantastic job building Easy Ice into the only national player in the full-service ice machine subscription market," said John Hwang, a Partner at Freeman Spogli. "A decade ago, Mark and John set out to create a business that addressed the major pain points and challenges faced by owners of commercial ice machines. Since then, they have successfully positioned Easy Ice as a value-added service partner to all its customers. We look forward to supporting Easy Ice and the management team as long-term investors in the Company."

Freeman Spogli's legal counsel was Morgan, Lewis and Bockius LLP. Easy Ice was advised by FocalPoint Securities, LLC and its legal counsel was Queen, Saenz + Schutz PLLC. Varagon Capital Partners and Madison Capital provided the debt financing to support the acquisition.

About Easy Ice

Easy Ice, co-headquartered in Phoenix, AZ and Marquette, MI, is the national leader in the full-service ice machine subscription industry with warehouse and distribution facilities in Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City and Orlando. Since its founding in 2009, the Company has rapidly grown its ice machines under management to 25,000 units across 47 states. Easy Ice's commercial ice machine subscription programs include installation, cleaning, preventive maintenance, repairs, backup ice, and peak demand ice. The Company operates under three brands: Ice Masters in Kansas and Missouri; Automatic Icemakers in Chicago; and Easy Ice in all other cities and states. For more information, please visit www.easyice.com.

About Freeman Spogli & Co.

Freeman Spogli & Co. is a private equity firm dedicated exclusively to investing in and partnering with management in consumer and distribution companies in the United States. Since its founding in 1983, Freeman Spogli has invested over $4.7 billion in 63 portfolio companies with an aggregate transaction value of over $24 billion, and is currently making investments from FS Equity Partners VIII, L.P. Freeman Spogli has offices in Los Angeles and New York. For additional information, visit www.freemanspogli.com.

SOURCE Freeman Spogli & Co.

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Chandigarh The Punjab and Haryana high court has put the Punjab government on notice on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking police probe into alleged plot allotment scam in Punjab State Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC), a body that the government owns. The petitioner, Satinder Singh, a Chandigarh resident, had told court that a legal notice was served on November 1, 2019, but the authorities had not acted so far.

The court was told that vigilance probed the allegations and indicted various officers in its report of April 4, 2018, and in January 2019, the department recommended the registration of FIR. However, same has not been done so far.

The probe had concluded that PSIEC officers misused their position to get industrial plots allotted to their close relatives/friends/unknowns, which has caused financial loss to the tune of crores to the government. The probe report had indicted a dozen officials of the PSIEC, including some senior officers. It was reported that loss of 8.72 crore was incurred by the government just in the allotment of 18-20 plots.

A big financial loss has been caused to the state exchequer by the fraudulent misdeeds of officers of PSIEC in connivance with their family members and peers, it would be in the fitness of things if the loss so caused to the state exchequer is recovered from the beneficiaries, the court said, seeking a response from the government by April 23.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will boycott the next week's opposition meeting in Delhi, alleging that Congress and Left parties are playing dirty in the state.

The TMC supremo said that she will fight against the Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) alone.

The meeting is scheduled to take place on January 13.

Banerjee has been a vocal opponent of the CAA and NRC. She has also said that both CAA and NRC will be not implemented in the state.

For quite some time, she has been organising mega rallies against the CAA and the NRC and has launched attacks on the BJP-led central government over these issues.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani and Irans announcement that it will no longer abide by restrictions on enrichment agreed under the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement mean that its now time for the UK to reexamine its support for that deal.

Agreed in 2015 between Iran, the UK, US, France, Russia, China, Germany and the EU, the nuclear agreement  known officially as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)  provided a basis for a better relationship with the Islamic Republic.

The agreement helped ensure that Iran didnt move forward with its interest in acquiring nuclear weapons. It was painstakingly negotiated by leading powers, benefiting heavily from the UKs technical expertise on nuclear matters, including my own. The deal was hard won  the result of years of increasing economic pressure and coordinated diplomatic initiatives. It effectively cut off every pathway for Iran to get the bomb.

These facts led the UK and its European allies, France and Germany, (known as the E3) to continue to support and champion the agreement even after the US president, Donald Trump, withdrew the US from the agreement in 2018. With the UKs support, the E3 created new mechanisms to skirt reintroduced US sanctions, including a payment system to allow continued trade called INSTEX. The UK took this action in spite of US pressure because it was clear that upholding the JCPOA was in the UKs interests.

We are only a few days into 2020 but already circumstances have changed such that the UKs full-throated support of the JCPOA must now evolve. That is not to say that the UK should withdraw its support  at least not yet. Instead, I believe it should change its stance so that it is reviewing its position while watching for signs that Iran is committed to implement the letter and spirit of the agreement.

This nuanced wording is intended to provide the UK with flexibility while also pursuing specific interests.

Why the situation has changed

Story continues

Before examining these, its useful to recap the two key recent developments. First, regardless of your reaction to the US airstrike in Baghdad which killed Soleimani, this use of force creates a new paradigm for relations with Iran that cannot be ignored. The killing of a uniformed military official of a foreign country is a de facto act of war, and Iran said it would retaliate. While escalation is not in the British national interest, nor would be continuing to support the JCPOA if Iran were to commit egregious acts against the US.

Second, on January 5, a few days after the killing, Iran announced it was taking another step back from full implementation of the JCPOA  this time by unilaterally removing the restrictions on enrichment capacity which were a central element of the agreement. This was but the latest in a series of step backs from Irans commitments intended to pressure other parties to fully implement the agreement including with regards to the easing of sanctions.

It is understood that the Iranian action was already planned before Soleimanis killing to pressure the EU to further facilitate circumvention of the ongoing US economic sanctions. However, the step must also be understood in the context of Irans domestic political need to respond to Soleimanis assassination.

This leads to the question of what approach the UK should now take. Britain is an important player with regards to Iran, not least because of its formal role in the JCPOA and seat on the UN Security Council. Britain holds the power to unilaterally cancel the agreement and reintroduce sanctions against Iran. Britains decision-making calculus will be influenced primarily by Irans compliance (or otherwise) with the terms of the agreement. But in practice, the UKs position will be informed by broader aspects, including Irans actions outside of the agreement.

A nuanced position

It is for this reason that I argue that the UK should now evolve its stance on the JCPOA into one in which it is reviewing its position. This would allow the UK to pursue a number of otherwise competing objectives.

First, this move to review the UKs stance could be taken without prejudice to any E3 decision to formally trigger the JCPOAs dispute resolution mechanism in the weeks and months ahead  an approach which is now being discussed. The modalities of that process mean that, once triggered, it is likely to lead to a formal end of the JCPOA.

Second, it could support maintenance of the JCPOA  at least in the immediate weeks ahead, and perhaps for longer. If the UK were to fail to take any action now to mark its objection to Irans breach of the agreement, its ability to object later on would be hindered.

Third, the UK should state that it is looking for signs that Iran intends to comply with the letter and spirit of the JCPOA in creating an enduring improvement in relations with an Iran free of nuclear weapons. This phrasing is carefully chosen. Iran would understand that any egregious action against US forces would be taken in the UK as a negative sign. But the UK would maintain a degree of ambiguity regarding the level of Iranian action which might trigger it to withdraw from the JCPOA. While the nuclear issue should be kept separate from other issues, for example, the illegitimate imprisonment of British dual-nationals in Iran such as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the Iranian regime would also understand that its actions were under scrutiny.

This approach should buy the UK some time to see how the situation evolves and whether escalation would necessitate a further re-evaluation. But the UK needs to help find a path forward. The purpose of the JCPOA was never to fully solve the Iran nuclear issue in the long term  its purpose was to buy time for relations to improve and broader understandings with Iran to be achieved.

Based on the timeline set out in the agreement, restrictions on Irans activities are scheduled to start easing from later 2020, despite no parallel signs of relations improving. Over the course of the weeks and months ahead the UK must decide whether the JCPOA is salvageable, whether a broader understanding can be achieved and what the implications are if not. The UK will have to engage with the US, its European partners and Iran in order to understand the outlook for the agreement. It cant assume that its a positive one.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Ian J. Stewart runs one the largest non-proliferation research organisations worldwide and receives funding from a wide range of grant-making organisations including foundations and national governments.
Andrew Boff is the Deputy Leader of the GLA Conservatives and a Member of the Council of Europe.

With Brexit now certain to happen at the end of the month, the UK is preparing for the negotiations to move onto the future relationship.

Indeed, Boris Johnson hosted the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Downing Street this week, kicking off a race against time to secure a free trade deal.

With this short timeframe, the last thing we need is the prospect of a major disruption  but Croatias new presidency of the European Union, which began on the first of this month, could pose exactly that risk. Croatias presidency of the Council of the EU, its first since joining the EU in 2013, will last until 30 June 2020. It will also be crucial to the success or failure of Brexit negotiations, which is among Croatias top priorities during its presidency.

Negotiations over Britains future relations with the EU, including a free trade agreement, will begin after January 31. My worry is that Russian influence in Croatia has the potential to derail or obstruct progress towards a viable free trade deal that works for all. There have been numerous worrying developments in Croatia, especially regarding Russian encroachment.

We know that Russia would prefer a fragmented Europe that devolves into in-fighting. A successful post-Brexit free trade deal between the UK and the EU would be anathema to Russia, blocking its hopes of escalating its meddling in the internal affairs of countries across Europe.

The last few years has seen mounting evidence of Russia using its levers within Croatia to influence European affairs.

Croatias biggest multi-billion Euro company, Agrokor, is now partially owned by two Kremlin-backed banks, Sberbank and Vneshtorgbank, which hold a 47 percent stake in Agrokor.

Before they bailed out the ailing firm, Agrokors revenues accounted for some 15 percent of Croatian GDP  the same percentage the City of London represents relative to UK GDP. As such, the deal gave Putin massive indirect leverage on the Croatian economy, and on the largest firm in the former Yugoslavia.

Shortly after the bailout, Gazprom exploited the Russia-friendly political climate by signing a 10-year contract to deliver one billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to Croatia every year, ensuring the countrys dependence on Russia.

More recently, mere days before Croatias ascendancy to the EU presidency, a Croatian court found the head of Hungarian energy group MOL, Zsolt Hernadi, guilty of bribing Croatias former Prime Minister, Ivo Sanader, to allow MOL to take control of Croatian state energy firm INA.

But two legal experts appointed as independent trial monitors in the decade-long legal battle have firmly rejected the integrity of the Croatian state prosecution and trial. Seemingly obscure, the details reveal a dangerous game at work with Putin at its centre.

Kai Ambos, a judge in the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, The Hague, and Lord David Anderson QC of Brick Court Chambers, audited the fairness of the criminal proceedings. Their detailed 182-page trial report accuses Croatian state prosecutors of bias in favour of Croatian national interests, breaching internationally-recognised fair trial standards including violating Article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and violating the fair trial rights of the defendants  by, for instance, not allowing sufficient preparation time and excluding the public from key points in the trial without record in Court minutes, among many other breaches.

Such grave irregularities raise serious questions about Croatias fitness to lead the EU presidency, and the EU overall as a credible institution. But what is particularly concerning is the geopolitical backdrop alluded to by the report suggesting a Russian-backed covert lobbying operation to become the new strategic energy partner for Croatia (and by extension the EU).

The entire bribery story rests on the testimony of a single witness, Croatian tycoon Robert Jezic. During the trial, as the independent trial monitors report points out, his claims were called into question by oil industry consultant Imre Fazakas and Russian oil magnate Mikhail Gutseriev.

Both witnesses told the court the bribe money received by Jezic as an alleged go-between to pass on from MOL to Sanader had nothing to do with either, but instead was given to him by Gutseriev, with Fazekas assistance, as part of a lobbying effort for the Druzba Adria project. The latter was a longstanding Russian pipeline plan to transport Russian energy to Europe.

Gutseriev testified that Jezic had stolen his 5 million; and Jezic admitted to the court that he used the sum to benefit his own companies and never even passed any of it to Sanader. Yet as the trial monitoring report points out, these issues were not properly investigated by Croatias state anti-corruption agency, nor duly considered at the trial.

In short, the verdict from this seemingly obscure trial has huge ramifications: it not only poses disturbing questions around Russias interference in the Croatian judiciary, but by extension about Russian influence on the Council of the EU under Croatias presidency.

On the one hand, we can be glad that Britain is exiting from this melodrama of escalating corruption. But it also means that to ensure a clean escape, the UK must be on its guard against efforts by Russia to derail the Brexit negotiations.

As the Prime Minister has repeatedly stated, the UK is leaving the EU, not Europe. As part of our international and moral obligations we should not be afraid to call out human rights abuses, judicial manipulation, and attacks on the rule of law, regardless of which countries are responsible for them.

We must also be vigilant towards countries that may seek to do us harm and monitor the ways in which they seek to influence our affairs.
BEIJING (AP)  Chinese President Xi Jinping lauded Kiribati on Monday for standing on the right side of history during his first meeting with the Pacific island nation's leader since it severed ties with Taiwan.

Kiribati switched allegiances to Communist Party-ruled China in September, leaving Taiwan with just 15 allies as Beijing has steadily siphoned them off through billions of dollars in aid since Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016.

Tsai is favored to win a second term in this Saturday's election, an outcome that would likely intensify Chinas economic, diplomatic and military pressure over her refusal to accept its insistence that Taiwan is a part of China. Since her election, China has increasingly sought to isolate Taiwan diplomatically while ramping up its threat to use force to annex the self-governing island republic.

Speaking to Xi, Kiribati President Taneti Maamau reaffirmed his administration's commitment to the One China principle and expressed his deepest respect for the Chinese government's sovereignty.

According to China's official Xinhua News Agency, Xi praised Maamau's strategic vision and political boldness, as demonstrated by his standing on the right side of history.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and wants the island to reunite with the mainland, from which it split during a civil war in 1949. Beijing resents Tsai for rejecting its precondition for dialogue that both belong to a single China. It has flown military aircraft near the island and pared back Taiwan-bound tourism to add pressure on her government.

Taiwan has responded by seeking to purchase arms from the U.S., including advanced fighter jets. Despite the absence of formal diplomatic ties, U.S. law requires Washington to ensure Taiwan has the means to defend itself.

Last month, less than two weeks before this weekend's presidential and legislative elections, Taiwan's legislature passed a law aimed at blocking political interference from China.
They say do what you love, and love what you do. And this grandmother is a great example of the motto.

Dr Ao Zhongfang is still working at the age of 92 and enthusiastic about her job as a physician at a hospital in eastern China.

'To be able to serve patients and treat patients brings me the greatest joy,' the medic said proudly.

Dr Ao Zhongfang, 92, continues to work after retirement in the Chinese city of Nanjing

She says she wants to carry on 'contributing my skills and knowledge' to those who are in need

After officially retiring in 1994, the blood disease specialist whose husband was also a doctor decided to return to her former employee, Jiangsu Provincial People's Hospital in the city of Nanjing.

She says she wants to carry on 'contributing my skills and knowledge' to those in need.

Nowadays, she works four to five shifts a week, giving consultations and performing physical examinations to the public.

She says she sees more than 600 patients weekly.

Born in 1928, the experienced doctor says her passion for working is her secret to living a long life.

She says talking to patients keeps her thinking and lets her use her brain daily while walking to work from home gives her the opportunity to exercise.

'I often get asked by others why I can still think so clearly at my age, and this is why,' Dr Ao told Chinese video news outlet Pear.

Nowadays she works four to five shifts a week, giving consultations and physical examinations

Dr Ao calls herself a 'medical soldier' and even says she is willing to 'die on the battlefield'

Having devoted herself to the medical field for more than four decades, the selfless doctor calls herself a 'medical soldier' and even says she is willing to 'die on the battlefield'.

'I am willing to come here to work. I am willing to contribute my skills and knowledge,' she added in the interview. 'To me, working is my biggest source of happiness.'

Over the years, Dr Ao has not only become friends with hundreds of patients, but also supported her doctor husband's work and brought up a son and a granddaughter who are also doctors.

Ao's son works at the same hospital and is a chief physician at the Department of Respiratory Diseases; while her granddaughter studied in the United States and is now a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital of Harvard Medical School.

Her son, Dr Zhang Xilong, says he witnessed his parents giving up their spare time to treat patients when he was little and that inspired him to be a doctor.

Dr Ao's son, Zhang Xilong, became a doctor under the influence of his parents. The physician says from an early age, he witnessed his parents giving up their spare time to treat patients

'I became a doctor under my parents influence. I felt that doctor was a respected occupation and it fulfilled the sacred mission of saving people,' he told the reporter.

In addition to her dedication to her work, Dr Ao spends her free time furthering her studies in her profession.

'I not only study new knowledge in my field, but also keep myself up-to-date with the development of the whole medical industry,' she said in a separate interview with Nanjing-based Jinling Evening News.

Talking about future, Dr Ao hopes to carry on working for as long as possible.

'I want to devote my entire life to a career that is to serve patients,' she told the reporter.

'I feel most happy when I am able to be of assistance to the people.'
An anonymous caller has been threatening to beat up all the white employees for the past month, employees reported the morning of Jan. 1 from Starbucks, 22155 Michigan Ave., Dearborn.

An employee said the business phone does not have caller identification, and the employees did not know the number from which the threats were originating. None of the employees recognized the voice of the individual caller.

Police officers advised the management team to contact their corporate office, to see if they could identify the phone number from which the threats originated, and to then forward the information to the police department.
File image of Mehbooba Mufti

Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Muftis daughter Iltija will seek withdrawal of her security as she was allegedly detained at her residence and manhandled by the police while going out to visit the grave of her grandfather and former J&K CM Mufti Muhammad Sayeed on his fourth death anniversary, The Wire has reported.

According to the report, Iltija Mufti said the police and administration had on January 6 informed her that she could visit Sayeeds grave at Bijbehara in Anantnag district. However, the next day she was told by an official from her security team not to move out of her residence.

When Iltija tried to come out of her residence, the women police on duty manhandled her and pushed her back, she said, adding that she has bruises on her arm and a cut on one of her feet.

The girl claimed to be repeatedly harassed by police for the past five months and has not been allowed to move out of her residence since she was allegedly detained on December 2, 2019.

The eldest of two daughters of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti, Iltija said she is not a politician and doesnt need anyones permission to move out.

She further questioned her detention, saying what would have happened if she was allowed to go there (Sayeeds grave) for 15 minutes?

The Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) can go and visit his mother, why cant I visit the grave of my grandfather? Do they consider it a crime? she asked.

Iltija discussed the issue with her mother later in the day, who has been detained at a government guest house in the summer capital of Srinagar. As a mother, she got worried about my decision (to seek withdrawal of security), but I cant live a life where I am jailed, said Iltija.

Her security is handled by the J&K polices Special Security Group (SSG), the report said.

Besides Iltija, Mehboobas brother and former J&K Minister Tasaduq Mufti was also not allowed to visit Sayeeds grave. However, Mehboobas two sisters, Dr Rubiya Sayeed and Mehmooda, visited the grave and offered prayers, the report added.
GARY  Congress honored late Gary Mayor Richard Gordon Hatcher Wednesday on the U.S. House of Representatives floor.

U.S. Representative Bobby L. Rush, D-Ill., hosted a Special-Order Hour honoring the memory of Hatcher. Hatcher died at age 86 on Dec. 13 and is remembered as a visionary leader by those who knew him.

Richard Hatcher, along with Clevelands Carl Stokes, would be the first African-American to lead a major American city when he was elected mayor of Gary in November of 1967, a news release from Rush's office said. Hatcher would go onto serve the people of Gary for two decades, all while fearlessly fighting for civil rights throughout his tenure there.

The period of remembrance was streamed on C-Span and included Rush, Congressman Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., Congressman Andre Carson, D-Ind. and Congressman Danny Davis, D-Ill. It was also live-streamed at https://www.c-span.org/.

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Police in Georgia are on the hunt for a full-bellied burglar who broke into a Taco Bell in the early hours of Christmas morning, made himself dinner and then brazenly took a power nap.

The incident occurred at around 12:15am on December 25 at a chain of the fast-food restaurant, located at 4880 Sugarloaf Parkway, in Lawrenceville.

Surveillance footage released this week by the Gwinnett County Police Department shows a black male shimmying through a drive-thru window and climbing into the kitchen.

Surveillance footage released this week by the Gwinnett County Police Department shows a black male shimmying through a drive-thru window and climbing into the kitchen, before turning on a fryer and cooking a meal

The incident occurred at around 12:15am on December 25 at a chain of the fast-food restaurant in the 4800 block of Sugarloaf Parkway, in Lawrenceville.

The hungry, sweatpant-clad perpetrator is then seen firing up one of the restaurant's fryers and making himself a meal, which he eats.

Possibly biting off more than he could chew, the man then lays down on the floor of the restaurant and curls up in a ball for an impromptu three-hour nap.

After awakening from his slumber, police say the man stole a laptop and tablet from inside the Mexican fast-food chain before scarpering off into the darkness, sometime after 3am.

The suspected burglar was wearing black sweat pants, a black hooded sweatshirt, and black sneakers at the time of the break-in

Possibly biting off more than he could chew, the man then lays down on the floor of the restaurant and curls up in a ball for an impromptu three-hour nap

The suspect has been described as a black male, wearing sweatpants, a black hooded sweatshirt and black sneakers.

Police have decided to release the surveillance video this week to enlist the public for help in identifying the suspect.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Gwinnett County Police Department at 770-513-5300. Tipsters can also remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477.
Defense Minister: Iran to take further steps in proportion to US behavior

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Jan 8, IRNA -- Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami commented on the IRGC missile attack on the US base in Iraq, saying Iran's further acts will suit US behaviors.

Speaking with reporters, Brigadier General Hatamai described General Soleimani as an international figure for the Axis of Resistance, saying the US martyred him who was the harbinger of peace and security in the region with an incorrect illusion.

Americans imagined that if they martyr General Soleimani, the can create a rift in the region and tell Iranians and Iraqis that they solved their problems.

This is while Iranian and Iraqi people conveyed a message to the US which will not be forgotten in history.

Thanks to the Iranian Armed Force's potentials and their determination to take revenge, their promise came true last night by shooting scores of short-range domestically-made missiles and targeting an important US base.

He urged officials in other countries to know that US terrorist acts are not accepted, adding they will not also be safe of the negative consequences of the attack if they do not comply with their responsibilities.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) targeted the US airbase of Ain al-Assad in Al-Anbar province in western Iraq on Wednesday.

The IRGC said in a statement that it would release more details about the strike.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei commented on the martyrdom of the great commander of the IRGC's Quds Forces and said harsh and severe revenge is awaiting the criminals.

Earlier, Iran's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Majid Takht Ravanchi in a letter to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres underlined Iran's right to self-defense against any threat.

"In conformity with the international law and in exercising its inherent right to self-defense, Iran will take all necessary and proportionate measures against any threat or use of force," Takht Ravanchi said in his letter.

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Kebede died from stab wounds to the torso and upper extremities, a Virginia medical examiner said Thursday. Police said they do not believe Kebedes killing was random, but declined to provide a motive or detail any relationship between the victim and the man charged.
New Delhi:

In a rare show of support, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday defended the Delhi Police for its conduct during the JNU mob attack on January 5. While addressing media in Delhi, Kejriwal indirectly blamed the Narendra Modi government for the way the cops remained mute spectators on the day when the masked thugs terrorised the JNU students. Delhi Police kya kar sakti hai? Oopar se aadesh agar aayega ki aapko hinsa nahi rokni, law and order theek nahi karna hai to vo bichare kya karenge? Agar nahi manenge to suspend ho jayenge (sic) (What would have Delhi Police done? They had the order from the above to not stop the violence, not to restore the law and order. They would have been suspended if they had acted on time), Kejriwal was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Arvind Kejriwal has faced lot of criticism for not visiting the JNU even as news channels flashed the disturbing videos of injured students. However, the Aam Aadmi Party defended the Kejriwal. Sanjay Singh said that had Kejriwal gone to the spot, the BJP would have vitiated the atmosphere there and blamed it on him. "The law and order situation is in shambles in the national capital. Why is Amit Shah sleeping. What has happened is very unfortunate. It has shocked the whole country and it is a very worrying issue for us," he further said.

The night of terror

On January 5, Kejriwal had tweeted: I am so shocked to know abt the violence at JNU. Students attacked brutally. Police shud immediately stop violence and restore peace. How will the country progress if our students will not be safe inside univ campus? Spoke to Honble LG and urged him to direct police to restore order. He has assured that he is closely monitoring the situation and taking all necessary steps (sic). Violence broke out at JNU on Sunday night as a group of masked people armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property on campus, prompting the administration to call in the police.

Aishe Ghosh injured

At least 35 people, including JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh, were injured in the violence in the university. They were admitted to AIIMS Trauma Centre here and discharged on Monday. Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has got vital clues about the identities of masked men who attacked students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and is on the verge of cracking the case, government sources said. Police personnel are on "extra alert" on Wednesday following the mobilisation of students and teachers on the university campus, they said.

Teams of both the Crime Branch and Forensic Science Laboratory have visited the campus to collect evidence. Videos are also being scrutinised, they said. An appeal has already been made to public to share information and video clips of the incident, police added.
Catalan separatist leader Oriol Junqueras.

Catalan politician Oriol Junqueras will not be released from prison to take up his seat as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), after the criminal bench of the Spanish Supreme Court today informed the legislative body of the European Union that he is barred from office after being jailed.

Junqueras is currently serving a 13-year prison sentence after being convicted of sedition and misuse of funds by Spains Supreme Court for his role in the 2017 secessionist drive in the northeastern Spanish region, which saw an illegal referendum on independence held on October 1 of that year and a subsequent unilateral declaration of independence passed in the regional parliament. At the time of the events in 2017, Junqueras was deputy regional premier.

A Spanish court is not complying with the European justice system

Catalan premier Quim Torra

Despite being in pre-trial custody at the time, Junqueras ran as a candidate in last years European elections, and was successfully elected as an MEP. Since then, however, he has been subject to a legal wrangle as to whether or not he can take his seat.

In December of last year, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) appeared to offer the leader of the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) party a lifeline, when it ruled that he became an MEP as soon as he was elected on May 26, and should have enjoyed parliamentary immunity from that moment on.

In fact, in line with the CJEU ruling, the European Parliament on Monday issued an internal communication stating that at its first debate of the year, on January 13, it will take note of the election of Junqueras as well as fellow Catalan politicians Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comin  who fled Spain to avoid arrest in the wake of the 2017 Catalan independence drive  as MEPs, beginning the administrative processes to welcome them in Brussels.

The Supreme Court said Junqueras is serving a sentence based on a definitive ruling whose validity has not been neutralized

The move was made despite the fact that Spains National Electoral Commission (JEC) had sent notification to the European Parliament stating that Junqueras could not be sworn in as an MEP given his Supreme Court conviction. The European Parliament had said that it will not change its position, and would treat Junqueras as just another MEP until the Spanish justice system rules on the matter.

Todays ruling, however, resolves the issue of the CJEU ruling from the Spanish side. The seven magistrates from the criminal bench of the Supreme Court decided that the prison sentence means that, under Spanish law, Junqueras is barred from serving as an MEP, and as such he will not be released from custody, and nor will a request be filed with the European Union for his immunity to be lifted.

Although it found that Junqueras had immunity from the moment he was elected as an MEP, the CJEU left the question of the scope of that immunity in the present moment up to the Spanish courts. The Supreme Court has ruled that Junqueras is not currently subject to provisional custodial arrangements, but rather is serving a sentence based on a definitive ruling, the validity of which has not been neutralized.

Earlier in the day the administrative bench of the Spanish Supreme Court announced that it had rejected Junqueras appeal against the JEC ruling that found that he could not serve as an MEP, ahead of the final decision from the criminal bench.

One of the first public figures to react to todays ruling was the Catalan regional premier, Quim Torra. A Spanish court is not complying with the European justice system, the hardline separatist wrote on Twitter.

With reporting by Fernando J. Perez. English version by Simon Hunter.
4 Betsy DeVos Is Withholding Funds From The University Of North Carolina And Duke University's Middle East Program

UNC and Duke offer a joint program in Middle East studies, which is not particularly radical. Considering how often the U.S. is involved over there, it's probably a good idea for at least a few of us to learn about it. The program focuses on how exactly the region became the quagmire it is today, and students learn its languages, histories, and cultures -- not just those for Muslims, as it is of course extremely diverse. However, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos identified a specific "bias" in the program: It's too positive toward Islam, and not positive enough about Christianity for her liking.

Gage Skidmore "You can see more in my PowerPoint presentation: 'Islam? More like Islame'!"

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The impetus for the scrutiny and initial removal of funding for the program was its position that Palestinians are human beings who deserve basic rights and dignity. Once they started teaching about that particular issue, the Department of Education got involved. It was obvious what was happening, and one professor plainly stated it: "They really want to send the message that if you want to criticize Israel, then the federal government is going to look very closely at your entire program and micromanage it to death."
By Express News Service

In a panel discussion on the topic 'Republic of India 2.0: Is the Change Fundamental?', which touched upon issues like secularism, unity of the country and the recent nationwide protests against the CAA, three out of four panellists noted that India is seeing the worst divisions in its history while the fourth disagreed, saying that the country is more integrated and empowered now. The session was chaired by senior journalist Kaveree Bamzai.

Speaking on the second day of the ThinkEdu Conclave 2020 organised by The New Indian Express, panellist NCP Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule said that India has never been so divided and currently, the country is going through difficult times. "The basic problem of the CAA is not about Hindu-Muslims but smaller communities like Adivasis and the tribals," she said, adding that the current atmosphere feels like the pre-independence period. She questioned why the countrymen couldn't be united.

Agreeing with Sule, DMK Lok Sabha MP Tamizhachi Thangapandian  another panellist  said that India is being disintegrated in the name of religion and social injustice, among other issues. Look at the way we (Tamil Nadu) have suffered in NEET. The exam is correlated with social justice and you cant just take it as education policy, added Tamizhachi.

BJP MP @Tejasvi_Surya says, "New India is a reflection of young Indians wanting to be prosperous and participating in national debates. They are trying to make progress by taking positions."#ThinkEdu2020 @PrabhuChawla @gsvasu_TNIE pic.twitter.com/UfR5t9Ja4a  The New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) January 9, 2020

Actor-turned-politician, Congress leader Khushbu Sundar said that she was glad she lives in Tamil Nadu, pointing out that, across the country, there is a divide while only Tamil Nadu continues to have harmony. "When you talk about the division of Hindu and Muslims, it is the only way you can break the harmony of India," she said, strongly condemning the CAA and the NRC.

The panellists also took note of how democracy was curbed and dissenters were trolled, pointing out a recent incident where actor Deepika Padukone was trolled on social media for visiting JNU to express solidarity. "She is a free citizen of the country and she can go wherever she wants. Why should she get trolled?" questioned Sule, adding that this is the new India that upsets her. The panellists added that the country needs to revive its economy and work on jobs, poverty and hunger.

On the contrary, Tejasvi Surya, the BJP Lok Sabha MP from Bengaluru, said that young India is bold and audacious. The fact that we are vociferously communicating our points of view does not make us divided, said Tejasvi. He added that the integration of Kashmir wholly and constitutionally is a sign of integration of India.

"Young Muslim women feel empowered and they feel they have a government that cares for them. They today have confidence that they can go into a police station and file a case if they are treated badly in a marriage. This is a sign of a new republic," added Surya.

Towards the end of the debate, replying to a question from the audience on why the attendance of MPs in the Lok Sabha is low, the MPs answered that they are oftentimes caught up in bureaucratic work for their constituency and that could be one reason why some MPs have low attendance.

However, they argued that the performance of an MP should not just be measured by their attendance but their fieldwork too has to be taken into account.
Breakneck Ridge is one of the toughest hiking treks located in the Philipstown in western New York. Breakneck Ridge is a mountain range along the Hudson River between Beacon and Cold Spring. It was recently closed for two weeks, due to a large boulder that fell near the trail. However, it is open again for the 2020 hikers.

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The name 'Breakneck Ridge' is a little intimidating, and it does live up to its name. It is one most difficult hikes. The sign at the Breakneck Ridge trailhead says This is not just a walk in the park. Well, the sign reveals it all. Nevertheless, despite the challenges and difficulties, Breakneck Ridge is one of the famous climbs in the Hudson Valley.

Lying within Hudson Highlands State Park, it offers many stunning views of the river and region and is quite popular with hikers. However, here is a list of things you need to know before you start climbing Breakneck Ridge.

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Five things to know before climbing the Breakneck Ridge

It is a stunning and beautiful road trip to the Breakneck Ridge trek point. If you have a car, a road trip is always a great idea. The parking area is right past the Route 9D tunnel, just after Cold Spring. The trailhead is on the northern side of the tunnel.

If you do not have a car, you can also book the train tickets to the trek. Take the MTA Metro-North Railroad from Grand Central to the Breakneck stop (its the Hudson line). Make sure you get round trip tickets at Grand Central because there are no machines at Breakneck. Ticket prices are about USD 20 and trains run every hour.

Take the white blazes that route up the mountain. When you walk up to the mountain, follow the white blazes up to the top.

Expect slippery rocks. To avoid slipping off from the stones, wear proper hiking shoes and do not forget to carry your hiking gear.

The trail is crowded as it is one of the famous treks. However, it is not bad because people are friendly and willing to help you at the tougher spots.

(Image Courtesy: Shutterstock)

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Its a very rare occasion when something as special as this 1995 Ferrari F50 Berlinetta Prototipo shows up with a for sale sign thats open to the public. The F50 Berlinetta, in general, is special in its own right as Ferrari produced less than 350 examples over the course of its life, but this is, arguably, the most special of all. Keep reading to find out why.

This was the car tasked with showing the world just how great the Ferrari F50 really was LISTEN 05:13

The 1995 Ferrari F50 Prototipo is the First, and It Has History

For the uninitiated, Prototipo is Italian for prototype, and thats exactly what this F50 Berlinetta is.

This F50 Berlinetta was the development model.

It was the model that was shown off at auto shows, and it was a media evaluation tool, the latter of which means that this specific car was the basis of any original F50 Berlinetta video or impressions piece. It is the very car that the elite media drove way back in the mid-1990s when Ferrari was trying to spread the word about its latest and greatest.

According to the cars listing on Worldwide Auctioneers, it was the very model that was used for Shin Yoskikawas cut-away illustration. It was even sent around the world to be used in the development of scale models like those sold by Burago, Maisto, and Tamiya. Commemorative postage stamps were even based on this specific model.

Once F50 Berlinetta Prototipo was ready to retire from its world tour, Ferraris factory tore it down and gave it the attention it deserved  a full rebuild. From there, it was sold to Jacques Swaters, a personal friend of Enzo Ferrari and the man that was promised the car from the beginning. Swaters held on to the car for a decade until it was sold off in 2007 to a collector in Burbank, California. From there, it has exchanged several times but, as you can see from the images, it still looks as good as it did the day it rolled out of Ferraris factory the first or second time.

Hows that for history?

Is the Ferrari F50 Berlinetta Prototipo Different From other F50 Berlinettas?

To be honest, theres nothing major that separates this F50 Berlinetta from the rest of the rather small crop that Ferrari Produced. Well, at least not in terms of aesthetics or technology.

Its history alone makes it stand out beyond all others, but beneath that, its an F50 Berlinetta through and through.

It featured Ferraris monstrous 4.7-liter V-12 that delivered a cool 510 horsepower and 345 pound-feet of torque. Considering there are cars with smaller engines pumping out more horsepower today, that might not sound like a lot, but its was damned impressive for the time and, believe it or not, it still holds its own today.

Ferrari F50 specifications Engine 4.7-liter 60-valve V-12 Power (Horsepower) 510 HP @ 8,500 RPM Torque (Pound-feet) 345 LB-FT @ 6,500 RPM 0-60 mph (Seconds) 3.7 seconds Top Speed (MPH) 202 mph

With that kind of power on tap, and a curb weight that tipped the scale at just over 2,700 pounds, the Ferrari F50 Berlinetta was able to get to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds and topped out at 202 mph. Those figures make it still highly relevant today and even competitive with a lot of what the exotic market still has on offer.

Brief History of the Ferrari F50 Berlinetta

When this prototype was introduced at the 1995 Geneva Motor Show, Head of Ferrari, at the time  Luca di Montezemolo  spoke a slogan that has echoed throughout the chambers of time:

Fifty years of racing, fifty years of winning, fifty years of hard work.

And, thats wasnt a joke. Ferraris racing history aside, all that experience went into the F50. As a successor to the Ferrari F40, the F50 naturally had to be better, but in this case, the F50 took all Ferraris F1 know-how and condensed it into street-legal form. Its construction featured a lightweight carbon fiber tub, wishbone suspension at all four corners, and that sculpted bodywork was developed exclusively inside a wind tunnel. Thats why the F50 is nowhere near as aggressive as the F40  it was designed to be as aerodynamic as possible and light. Of course, thats no surprise as the early and mid-1990s served as a temporal home for other great exotics like the McLaren F1 and Lamborghini Diablo VT.

A total of 349 examples of the Ferrari F50 Berlinetta were produced over the course of a couple of years, and this prototype is considered to be the most important road-legal F50 in existence. At one time it was even pushed to the max by drivers like Niki Lauda and Scuderia drivers like Gerhard Berger and test driver Dario Benuzzi. All documentation comes with this example when it crosses the auction block and its legitimacy is intact. No pricing estimate for it has been published, but a 1995 Ferrari F50 was sold by RM Auctions back in 2013 in Monterey at the price of $1.7 million and a 1997 model sold for less than half, $758,000, in 2013 at Villa Erba, somewhat close to the Ferrari factory. Given the very nature of this prototype, expect it to command at least $2 million at the auction block if not more.
On Jan. 6, the head of the Institute for National Security Studies, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, presented President Reuven Rivlin with his think tanks annual strategic assessment for Israel and index of the security threats it faces in 2020. This years report by the leading Tel Aviv University institute, rated among the top 50 in the world in the field of security and international relations studies, was presented three days after the assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

The document was completed prior to Soleimanis killing, but the institute updated it, saying the targeted strike against Soleimani bolstered its assessment about the likelihood of an escalation and the need for Israel to decide on a new security strategy. The assassination creates a new context and could potentially generate a strategic change, the extent of which it is too early to predict, the researchers wrote. The implications of the killing for US policy on Irans regional activity and possible Iranian retaliation must be examined in-depth, they added.

Although the document does not specifically say so, the cautious phrasing essentially indicates that the reports authors  former senior defense officials  believe Israel could find itself under Iranian attack. The chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, said much the same thing in a Dec. 25 speech, noting that Irans policies had become more aggressive, toward Israel, too. There is a possibility that we will face a limited confrontation with Iran and we are preparing for it, Kochavi said.

But despite the growing Iranian threat, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett is mainly busy with rehabilitating his political career, crushed in two successive 2019 elections. As I described at greater length in a previous article, he is dealing mostly with minutia. Bennetts strange recent appointment as interim defense minister has restored him to the leadership of the New Right party and pushed aside his political partner Ayelet Shaked. He now seems convinced that his office in Tel Avivs IDF and Defense Ministry compound is designed more for furthering his political career and less for dealing with the existential threats to the state.

During the campaign for the April 2019 elections, in which voters handed his party a crushing defeat and did not even give it sufficient votes to get into the Knesset, Bennett starred in an embarrassing video clip filmed on Tel Avivs eponymous Rabin Square, named after the prime minister assassinated at the site. Bennett was shown holding a dove and trying to teach it how peace can be achieved while ensuring security for the state. His ongoing video series continues in the same vein, but this time the star is the minister of defense of the State of Israel. He no longer needs to hold a dove; he has the IDF general staff as props and extras. A series of recent decisions he made has generated great anger among top defense officials, who believe he is causing heavy damage to the delicate balance achieved over the years in Israels security conception.

In his most recent video posted Jan. 1, Bennett is seen holding a pen, with the camera catching him by chance engaged in a dramatic signature. Hello everyone, he says, I have just signed an order deducting funds for 32 families of terrorists. In December, Bennett announced the deduction of some 150 million shekels ($43 million) from taxes Israel collects for the Palestinian Authority (PA) as punishment for the regular payments it makes to the families of Palestinians or their families who carried out terror attacks against Israelis. Just two months ago, Israel finally resolved the crisis generated by a similar government decision in early 2019, which led the PA to the brink of collapse.

However, Bennett was apparently not satisfied with this latest offset, perhaps because the polls did not indicate any significant improvement in his partys standing with voters. His latest brainwave, according to a Jan. 7 report in Haaretz, would have Palestinians crossing the border fence from Gaza into Israel classified as illegal combatants. He is also reportedly seeking to push through legislation allowing their indefinite incarceration in order to increase the number of Gazans in Israeli jails and use them as bargaining chips in future negotiations on the return of soldiers bodies and the Israeli civilians being held by Hamas.

These so-called border thieves whom Bennett wants to treat as combatants are mostly a few dozen youths aged 14 to 17 who cross into Israel each year with no malicious intent. The direr the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the greater their numbers. The IDF defines the main reason for their infiltration as misery; the teens wait along the border for an IDF patrol, cross the fence and wait for the soldiers to pick them up and send them to jail  preferable to the misery in Gaza.

None of these teens can serve as a true bargaining chip. On the contrary, they have essentially escaped the Hamas regime and are considered [by Hamas] traitors who have fled to enemy territory. After their questioning in Israel and return to Gaza, they can expect lengthy Hamas interrogations and jail time. The illusion that Bennett could keep them hostage and thus force Hamas to hand back two soldiers bodies and several civilians is a deception and a vain promise to the bereaved and worried Israeli families. Bennett is cynically using them for his political needs when he provides them with a smidgen of unrealistic hope.

In July 2019, Israels former point man on the issue of missing and captured soldiers, Lior Lotan, predicted that the Israeli civilians and the bodies would not be handed back within the framework of a long-term deal with Hamas. "It will never happen, he emphasized. The former official in the Prime Ministers Office said the government was misleading the public by creating the impression that return of the bodies and civilians would be part and parcel of the so-called Israel-Hamas arrangement being hammered out under Egyptian mediation. Israeli security officials are convinced that a separate prisoner exchange deal would be required, one which Israel would make worthwhile for Hamas by handing over large numbers of its members jailed in Israel and the bodies of those Palestinians killed  certainly not in return for teen border infiltrators who fled Gaza.

In light of the growing US-Iran tensions and its impact on Israel, which could find itself attacked by the Iranians or their proxies, Israel needs a defense minister who does not busy himself with minutia while the country faces an existential threat. Meanwhile, Bennett is sitting in the defense ministers chair like a kid with a new toy. Israel might end up paying a heavy price.
A vegan environmentalist has been slammed after he shot dead a wild deer before tucking into a venison burger in a Channel 4 documentary last night.

Journalist George Monbiot, 56, from London, appeared in Apocalypse Cow: How Meat Killed The Planet to warn of the damage that animal farming is doing to the planet.

He explored radical new ways of rejuvenating the environment, including visiting Glenfeshie estate, in the Scottish Highlands, where wild deer are culled to allow tree saplings and forests to grow.

An emotional George joined stalkers to shoot and kill a deer before bursting into tears but later, appeared happy to tuck into a venison burger made from the animal's flesh.

Viewers were shocked by the moment, with many saying they'd lost respect for the vegan and branding him a 'hypocrite'.

George Monbiot, 56, from London, appears in Apocalypse Cow: How Meat Killed The Planet tonight, where he takes part in a shoot as part of a rewilding effort in Glenfeshie estate

Many were horrified when the vegan environmentalist went on to tuck into a venison burger made from the animals flesh

One wrote: 'Good programme but why is George Monbiot killing a deer and eating it? Call himself a vegan? Big hypocrite.'

Another wrote: 'What an absolute crackpot, claims to be vegan and we should stop eating cows, 4 minutes later he's shooting a deer and eating it and claiming it's okay as he's saved some grass.'

Throughout the documentary, George warned of the damage of the farming industry, saying: 'The food industry is destroying the living world and it appears to be insatiable.'

He revealed how 750,000 deer roam freely in the Scottish highlands, with numbers exploding because there are no natural predators to keep them in check.

Many viewers were stunned by the moment, with some calling George 'a hypocrite' for shooting and killing the deer

The high number of animals destroy much of the rest of the environment, including eating every tree seedling that grows in the area.

In 2006, Glenfeshie estate began a sweeping cull of red deer across its 90 square miles.

They have bought down deer population by 90 percent, to allow the seedling trees to flourish, and are now seeing a marked difference in the plants and wildlife returning to the area.

But after arriving at Glenfeshie to take part in the cull, George admitted he felt unsure.

He was disappointed to realise he was a good shot during his shooting practice, leaving him with few excuses not to join the hunt

He said he had never taken a life with a rifle, revealing: 'I'm going to do something that I never thought I would.'

During a quick practice with the rifle, he was taught how to shoot the gun and aim at a certain point in the deer's neck to give it a quick death.

But George revealed he already felt emotional at the thought, saying: 'My head knows it's right, my heart is a different place entirely.

'I know this is the right thing to do but I feel like I'm going to go and commit a murder.'

He admitted during the target practice that he was already emotional about what was to come, and said he felt as though he was going to commit a murder

He went on to shoot two bulls-eyes on a target, and was surprised to learn he is a 'good shot', saying: 'Slightly disappointed to find I might be a reasonable shot. So another excuse has just gone down the drain.'

Driving up through the estate, Thomas MacDonnell, director of conservation at Glenfeshie, said: 'The one thing that I'm sure about nature is we just don't understand it. It's got an answer to everything, it's just giving it the opportunity.'

He went on: 'I think in 50 years time, we'll find a landscape like south-west Norway with a mix of trees and scrubs, able to form itself because deer numbers have been bought down.'

They walked through the wild scenery to track down the deer, with George visibly hanging behind the stalker, apparently nervous.

The men walk up through the estate, with Thomas MacDonnell revealing nature was being given an opportunity now that the deer were being culled

Visibly emotional, he said: 'This goes against every instinct, but I know it's the right thing to do.'

When the stalker pointed out an area where the deer are feeding, George took aim and after firing a quick shot, the stalker told him it was 'beautiful'.

But the vegan was unable to contain his emotion, and put his face in his hands, weeping.

Thomas told him: 'You should take comfort in that it was a nice clean shot.'

After he shot and killed the wild deer, George couldn't contain his emotion and wept into his hands

George explained: 'This is the grim reality of stopping the deer trashing the highlands, One day I hopes natural predators like wolves would do it instead.'

Later, he was seen tucking into a venison burger, saying: 'It feels right to eat this animal because killing it has caused no ecological damage, quite the opposite in fact.'

But viewers were horrified by the moment, with some calling George a 'hypocrite' for trying the burger.

After killing the deer, George was seen approaching it's body and stroking it's neck, before loading it into a van for it's meat to be processed

One said: 'Why kill and eat the deer, when you didnt have to? The other two were going to shoot it anyway. You could of just said no. Youve lost a lot credit there #ApocalypseCow.'

Another wrote: 'Call it gatekeeping, but I really don't think you should be calling yourself a vegan if you arrange to kill and eat a deer on your show, no matter how good you might think it is for conservation.'

One added: 'A great doc but ...deer shooting? Really? Apart from being speciesist (and therefore non-vegan) if we can work out how to produce wheat from electricity and water we must be able to suss out a cruelty-free method of controlling the deer population.'
(Alliance News) - Tesco PLC's UK & Ireland sales rose over the Christmas period, but total group sales fell amid sharp declines in Central Europe, where it is restructuring, and its banking unit which recently halted mortgage lending.

In the six weeks to January 4, total UK & Republic of Ireland sales edged up 0.2% and rose 0.4% on a like-for-like basis, excluding fuel. Total group sales fell by 1.7%, however, and by 0.8% on a like-for-like basis.

Chief Executive Dave Lewis said: "In a subdued UK market we performed well, delivering our fifth consecutive Christmas of growth. In our Centenary year, our customer proposition was compelling, our product offering very competitive and thanks to the outstanding contribution of our colleagues, our operational performance was the best of the last six years. As a result, this Christmas we had the biggest ever day of UK food sales in our history."

In the third quarter, covering the 13 weeks to November 23, the grocer's sales fell by 0.9% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis, with total sales receding by 1.4%.

Total sales over the 19 week period, which includes both the Christmas spell and the third quarter, were down 1.5% year-on-year to GBP21.03 billion and down 0.9% like-for-like.

Over the 19 weeks, the UK & Ireland unit was again the best performing division, registering 0.2% sales growth to GBP16.81 billion, and a 0.4% like-for-like rise.

Central Europe sales fell by 14% to GBP1.93 billion in the 19 weeks. The decline was stemmed at 10% on a like-for-like basis. Tesco Bank sales fell 10% annually during the same period to GBP361 million.

The company announced last May that its banking division, Tesco Personal Finance PLC, will cease new mortgage lending as it explores options to sell its mortgage portfolio. Without the impact of the mortgage lending freeze, Tesco Bank sales grew by 0.1% in the third quarter, by 1.6% over the Christmas spell and by 0.5% over the whole 19-week period.

In Central Europe, the company is pursuing an "ongoing significant transformation", which in turn, subdued sales. The company said it is simplifying its business in Poland. It is also making changes in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, in a bid to improve its "relevance".

In Asia, total sales over the 19 weeks were flat at GBP1.93 billion, but declined by 1.6% on a like-for-like basis.

In December, Tesco confirmed that it is mulling disposing its operations in Thailand and Malaysia, though noted a review of options remained in the early stages.

The company said on Thursday: "No decisions concerning the future of Tesco Thailand or Malaysia have been taken, and there can be no assurance that any transaction will be concluded."

The company will report its full-year results on April 8.

By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
08.01.2020 LISTEN

Odessa Chambers has expressed satisfaction with the decision by Ghana and Jamaica to allow their citizen to travel to the two countries without a visa.

The daughter of renowned international reggae sensation Jimmy Cliff, described the move as the best thing that ever happened as her entry into Ghana this year was a very smooth one.

When I landed, I just showed my Jamaican passport and all they said was you are welcome home, Akwaaba. It was a pretty thing, she told JoyNews on January 8.

I think what needs to be done now is that there should be some sort of a trade between them. A sort of experience whereby you can jump on a plane and go straight to Jamaica within seven hours instead of being on three planes just to get to Jamaica, she advised.

---Myjoyonline.com
Two rockets landed inside Baghdad's Green Zone late Wednesday night, the Iraqi military said.

The Green Zone is a heavily fortified area that is home to embassies for the United States and several other countries. The Iraqi military told CNN there are no reports of any casualties. There have been multiple rocket attacks against the Green Zone in recent months.

It is unclear where the rockets came from or who fired them. On Tuesday, Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at two Iraqi bases hosting U.S. troops, in response to the killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week. Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Wednesday evening that he "fully expects" Iranian-backed militias to "conduct terrorist operations against U.S. forces and coalition forces in Iraq and perhaps even elsewhere."

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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday held talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart Dinesh Gunawardena on a host of topics, including the sensitive fishermen issue.

The Sri Lankan foreign minister, who arrived here on Wednesday night on a three-day visit, during the talks stated that as announced by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa all the 52 boats being held by Lanka will be released, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

"We understand from the conversation that the process to release the boats is ongoing and should happen very soon," Kumar said.

He said the Indian side is also engaged with the Sri Lankan government for the speedy release of 15 Indian fishermen who are still in their custody.

"Productive discussions with FM @DCRGunawardena of Sri Lanka on a range of substantive bilateral issues and regional concerns. Elaborated on the vision of our leaders for further strengthening India-SriLanka relations," Jaishankar said in a tweet.

The Sri Lankan foreign minister reiterated the importance laid by President Rajapaksa on exploring newer areas of cooperation with India with emphasis on skill development, vocational training and capacity building and requested India's support, the MEA said in a statement.

External Affairs Minister Jaishankar assured full support to such initiatives on the basis of the recognised strength of India's institutions in these areas and based on Sri Lanka's requirements, it said.

The two ministers also exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest, including climate change and counter terrorism, the statement said.

The discussions between Jaishankar and his Lankan counterpart Gunawardena revolved around the bilateral economic projects and there are quite a few on the table on India's development assistance, on human resource development, cooperation between India and Sri Lanka, Kumar said.

"At the same time, the EAM did take up the matter of fishermen and boats which are in the custody of Sri Lanka," he said.

This was the Sri Lankan foreign minister's first foreign visit since he assumed this position.

During the visit, he also met Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Mahendra Nath Pandey, and Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Labour and Employment Santosh Kumar Gangwar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The importance of foreign diplomacy to a nation cannot be overemphasised in terms of relationship building with other countries and diplomatic negotiations.

Nigeria, in 2019, was active in the area of foreign diplomacy and as a new year emerges, we review some events that shaped 2019 in the diplomatic space.

Xenophobic Attacks

The xenophobic attacks against Nigerians by South Africans was one of the most pertinent events that shook the nation.

Although such attacks were reported earlier in the year, the attacks that took place in September further strained the relationship between both countries.

Several businesses and homes were affected due to the attacks.

The most popular reason behind the attacks was that Nigerians are taking over the economy of South Africans, and stripping the young men of their nation from the available jobs.

The attacks were condemned by both governments.

In response to these attacks, Nigerians carried out reprisal attacks on South African businesses within the nation. Businesses that were affected include MTN, Shoprite, DSTV and PEP.

These acts were highly condemned by the Nigerian government which quickly arrested the culprits.

To resolve the attacks, the President, Muhammadu Buhari, dispatched a special envoy, Ahmed Abubakar, the director-general of the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) to relay his concerns and also interact with his South African counterpart, President Cyril Ramaphosa, on the situation.

In October, when Mr Buhari visited South Africa, the visit focused on finding common ground for building a harmonious relationship with South Africa.

Geoffrey Onyeama Re-Appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs

In August, Geoffrey Onyeama, was re-appointed into the presidential cabinet as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr Onyeama, who served with President Buhari in 2015, was rated average in the PREMIUM TIMES stewardship analysis.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported that Mr Onyeama in his first tenure failed to address challenges of the countrys diplomatic missions abroad despite promises of reform and rationalisation.

Border Closure

Nigeria partially closed its borders in August. The closure of the border was first confirmed by the Comptroller-General of the Nigerians Customs Service, Hameed Ali, in October who said all goods are now banned from being exported or imported through our land borders and that is to ensure we have total control over what comes in.

One of the major reasons why the borders were closed was due to the lack of compliance by Nigerias neighbouring countries to the rules governing cross-border trade.

The closure affected both Niger and Benin Republic economically because of their inability to export into Nigeria hence leading them (the neighbouring countries) to form a tripartite committee to resolve the conflict.

The committee was put together to address the inadequacies and lack of implementation of the numerous agreements and memoranda of understanding entered by the three countries to check smuggling and other crimes at their common borders.

In October the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emiefele, said closing the borders was yielding positive economic results for the country.

President Buhari has said the borders will be re-opened in January 31, 2020.

Free Visa Policy

The Presidency in December announced at the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development in Africa, which held in Egypt that Africans travelling to Nigeria starting from January 2020 will be able to obtain their visas upon arrival.

This initiative according to the President is a step to further promote the African Free Trade Area Agreement, which not only focuses on free trade but also free movement of people.

Mr Buhari said that we in Nigeria have already taken the strategic decision to bring down barriers that have hindered the free movement of our people within the continent by introducing the issuance of visa at the point of entry into Nigeria to all persons holding passports of African countries with effect from January 2020.

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Meanwhile, in reference to this, a Senator, Olubunmbi Adetunmbi, complained that bill in respect to the visa on arrival policy has not been submitted to the legislature and therefore cannot be implemented.

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Foreign lawmakers demand Sowores release

In December, lawmakers from the U.S. sent in a letter to Nigerias Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, concerning the illegal detention of a political activist, Omoyele Sowore.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how Mr Sowore was arrested on August 3 following his planned #RevolutionNow protest to criticise bad governance.

Despite separate court orders ordering for his release, the SSS refused to release them. When he was eventually released on December 5, the SSS stormed into the courtroom and rearrested him.

The letter cautioned the Attorney General against the disobedience of rule of law under President Muhammadu Buharis administration, and warned that the continued detention of Mr Sowore will only serve to tarnish Nigerias international reputation.

Three days after the letter was sent, Mr Sowore was released.

ECO Currency

While the Ghanaian government has hailed the resolve by eight member nations of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to cut their colonial links with Frances CFA (Communaute Financiere dAfrique) Franc and adopt ECO as their common currency, the Nigerian government is yet to take a definite position on the development.

The President of the Republic Cote dIvoire, Alassane Ouattara, announced the collective decision at a bilateral meeting during the 56th Ordinary session of the ECOWAS in Abuja.

President Ouattara who said the French government consented to the West African States decision to join the ECO, quoted the French President, Emmanuel Macron, as describing the decision as historic reform.

The ECO is the currency all ECOWAS member countries had initially agreed to adopt as a single currency. However, there have been concerns raised that the early adoption by the French-speaking ECOWAS countries was a way for France to have control over the new currency. That concern appears to be one the Nigerian government is reviewing.

More than a week since the eight countries announced the decision, the Nigerian government, through a statement by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning on Monday said it was studying the situation with the hope of coming up with an appropriate response later.
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The Broker Bushfire Appeal was launched earlier this week to mobilise the mortgage broking industry to come to the aid of those affected by the fires raging through much of the country. The goal is to raise $100,000, with donations going directly to the Red Cross. With the support of the FBAA, MFAA, 1st Street Financial, Shore Financial and Astute among others, the initiative has raised $35,000 at the time of writing.

Contributions can be made at: https://fundraise.redcross.org.au/fundraiser/mortgagebrokersaustralia

FBAA

The FBAA has not only thrown its support behind the Broker Bushfire Appeal, but has expressed a desire to directly help brokers personally impacted by the disaster.

Managing director Peter White compared the broking sector to a family, explaining that families look to meet each others' needs wholly and speedily when troubles arises.

I recognise there are many wonderful appeals across the country, and we didnt hesitate to be a part of the broader campaign launched by brokers, but we also know that in many cases, it takes time for appeal money to get to those in need  and some needs are immediate," he explained.

Across the country right now, there will be finance and mortgage brokers who have lost property or maybe even worse, and we want to stand with them and support them personally.

White listed office accommodation, housing, personal items and mental health support among the possible needs the FBAA is looking to meet across the entire broker community, not only within its own association.

Our message to brokers across Australia is to contact the FBAA immediately if you have been affected, or if you know another broker who has been, he added.

This is a time to be an industry not an association, and the broking fraternity share a special bond and understanding. This is a shout out to all brokers everywhere.

Liberty Financial

Liberty has donated $250,000 towards supporting the people and communities affected by the bushfires.

According to CEO James Boyle, the safety and wellbeing of customers is first and foremost.

We will do whatever we can to help customers who are dealing with the aftermath of the fires, he said.

We are conscious the road to recovery can be a long one for communities affected by disasters, and this donation will help provide immediate and practical assistance including psychological first aid and shelter.

Liberty contributed to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery fund, helping equip emergency teams with necessary resources, contributing to the cost of volunteer training, equipment and transport as well as the coordination effort to ensure help is directed where the community needs it most.

Further, Liberty is encouraging its staff, family, customers and business partners to join in support of the cause, matching contributions up to a further $100,000.

The message to our customers is that we are here to help, just call us, said Boyle.

ALI Group

Mortgage protection insurance provider ALI Group also announced they will donate a share of their January and February 2020 profits to those impacted by the bushfire crisis.

For each Loan and Mortgage Protection Plan policy arranged by an authorised broker from 1 January to the end of February, ALI will donate $50. The group expects to donate over $50,000 which will be distributed to a range of volunteer and emergency fire service organisations.

ALI Group CEO Huy Truong said, Our hearts go out to those being directly impacted, including many of our authorised brokers and policyholders residing in the affected regional areas.

We wish to show our support and financial aid to those who are working around the clock, risking their own lives to battle these fires.

Click here to give to the mortgage broker bushfire appeal
Seoul Central District Court



A South Korean victim of wartime forced labor in Japan again won a compensation lawsuit against a Japanese company Thursday.



The Seoul Central District Court ordered Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to pay 10 million won ($8,610) to a South Korean man surnamed Kim to compensate for his forced labor during Japan's brutal colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.



The ruling came after 252 alleged victims of forced labor in Japan and their families filed a joint lawsuit claiming they were forced to work for three Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi, in the early 1940s.



Of them, 40 plaintiffs, including Kim, argued that they were forcibly taken to Japan's Battleship Island to engage in forced labor.



The plaintiffs initially began the litigation to ask for their unpaid wages but later changed it to demand consolation money for their forced labor, citing their unclear memory.



Among them, only Kim was awarded compensation by the Seoul court, as other plaintiffs failed to prove their forced labor by Japanese companies.



In similar rulings, South Korean courts have ordered Mitsubishi to pay around 90 million won to each of its forced labor victims.



In the case of Kim, however, his compensation was determined as he only demanded 10 million won, the court explained.



The Seoul court, meanwhile, rejected Mitsubishi's claim that South Korea has no jurisdiction over the case and the lawsuit be handled according to the Japanese law.



"There may be some legal criticism, but the purpose of the Supreme Court's previous rulings (against Japanese companies) should be respected," the Seoul court said.



In November 2018, the Supreme Court upheld two rulings  one that ordered Mitsubishi to pay between 100 million won and 120 million won each to five women and another that ordered the company to pay 80 million won each to six other forced labor victims.

Following the rulings, Mitsubishi's assets in South Korea have been seized.



But the Japanese companies have not accepted the South Korean court rulings, escalating bilateral diplomatic conflict between Seoul and Tokyo.



Korea was under Japan's brutal colonial rule from 1910-45. South Korea says Japanese leaders and companies do not sincerely repent for the country's past wrongdoings and refuse to take full legal responsibility. Japan claims all reparation issues were settled in the 1965 treaty that normalized their diplomatic ties. (Yonhap)




WASHINGTON - Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday doubled down on presenting himself as the staunchest antiwar candidate in the Democratic field, unveiling legislation to block President Trump from deploying funding for military action against Iran without the approval of Congress.

Flanked by seven Democratic colleagues from the Senate and House in the U.S. Capitol, Sanders, I-Vt., compared the current crisis to the circumstances leading up to two of the most controversial conflicts in United States history.

"Just as we were led into Vietnam and Iraq by lies, the Trump administration is misleading us on Iran," said Sanders. He said the administration has produced "no evidence . . . not even in a classified setting " to back up its claim that Iranian commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, killed by a U.S. strike last week, had been plotting an imminent attack against Americans.

The tensions in the Middle East have altered the course of the Democratic primary less than a month before the first nominating contest, sharpening the conflict between Sanders and former vice president Joe Biden. The candidates' frequent comments on the U.S.-Iran standoff in recent days mark an abrupt turn from months of focus on domestic issues.

"Let's be clear: Another war in the Middle East could cost, once again, countless lives and trillions more dollars, more conflict, more displacement and more misery," said Sanders, who urged Congress to reassert its constitutional war powers authority.

Sanders' highlighting of his opposition to the Vietnam and Iraq wars is a way to emphasize his lifelong antiwar credentials, an implicit contrast with Biden, who initially supported the Iraq War. Biden delivered his own comments on Iran this week, blasting Trump's behavior as reckless.

Thursday's news conference was a rare appearance for Sanders away from the early Democratic nominating states, where polls show he is among the leading candidates. He was joined by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., a former candidate for president who ended her bid last year.

Sanders was also flanked by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a national co-chair of his campaign who has teamed up with Sanders to introduce companion legislation in the House.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., another 2020 candidate, is a co-sponsor of the Sanders bill, but she did not appear with him Thursday. Campaign representatives for former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg did not immediately respond to questions about whether they support Sanders' bill.

Biden has presented himself as an experienced hand with a long resume of dealing with sensitive security matters from his days in the Obama administration and as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The former vice president delivered a speech in New York on Tuesday warning against U.S. military engagement, slamming Trump as "dangerously incompetent" for his handling of the crisis with Iran and saying his "impulsive decision" to order the killing of a top military official from that country put the United States at risk of greater international conflict.

Beyond his comments about war, Sanders has been one of the most vocal critics of Soleimani's killing in particular. He has frequently called the U.S. strike an "assassination" and accused Trump of bringing the United States to the brink of another destructive fight. Biden has adopted a more nuanced stance.
Ren Zhengfei Huawei CEO

AP Photo/Ng Han Guan

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton introduced a bill on Wednesday that would ban the US from sharing intelligence with countries that use Huawei 5G equipment.

The US is in a long-running fight with Huawei, claiming the company acts as a conduit for Chinese government espionage. Huawei denies this.

The US has been desperately trying to convince allies to freeze out Huawei's 5G kit for a year, with limited success.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

US lawmakers are keeping up the pressure on Huawei.

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas introduced a bill on Wednesday which, if passed into law, would ban the US from sharing intelligence with any country that uses Huawei 5G equipment.

"The United States shouldn't be sharing valuable intelligence information with countries that allow an intelligence-gathering arm of the Chinese Communist Party to operate freely within their borders," Cotton said in a statement to CNBC.

The bad blood between the US and Huawei goes back to 2012, but over the last year as the US-China trade war has intensified. The Trump administration has stepped up its rhetoric against the smartphone giant, accusing it of acting as a conduit for the Chinese government to spy. Huawei has repeatedly denied this.

"I urge our allies around the world to carefully consider the consequences of dealing with Huawei to their national interests," Cotton added.

With the advent of 5G technology the US has been on a drive to convince its allies to freeze out Huawei.

Last year Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned allies that it would be "difficult" for the US to partner with countries who allowed Huawei equipment in their infrastructure.

Mike Pompeo

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

The US hasn't had much luck convincing people yet. Australia and Japan both banned Huawei from government contracts, but key allies such as the UK and Germany have remained equivocal on tha subject. The United Arab Emirates, a major ally for America in the Middle East, firmly took Huawei's side in February last year by announcing it would deploy a 5G network built by the company.

Story continues

Part of the issue is that Huawei's telecom equipment is considered both cheap and high quality. Research from Dell'Oro Group in 2019 found that the Chinese firm continues to dominate market share at 28%.

This week seems to signal a Hail Mary for US lobbying efforts. Reuters reported Pompeo was due to meet with UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab on Thursday in a final attempt to make the UK ditch Huawei, but the meeting was moved up to Wednesday. Raab's public statement following the meeting focused on the UK's stance on Iran, and did not mention Huawei.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Donald Trump faces re-election on November 3 2020 - AP

This article was first published in our brand-new US 2020 election newsletter, which is written weekly by our Washington team. To sign up for next week's exclusive newsletter for free, please click here.

This month the US Senate is set to hold a trial to decide whether to remove Donald Trump from office, a spectacle only two other US presidents have endured. It is a moment of history and ignominy.

And yet that is not the big story in Washington. Instead it is the heated stand-off with Iran, laced with threats of retaliation and dire warnings, that dominates the headlines.

Most leading Democrats have steered clear of suggesting Mr Trumps decision to take out Iran commander Qassim Soleimani was in any way linked to his domestic woes.

(Though not all  Democratic senator and presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren lent in during an interview by saying people were reasonably asking about the timing).

Yet it is now becoming clear that the escalating tensions with Iran are influencing the discussion about impeachment. And the beneficiary, it would seem, is Mr Trump.

The Democrats, who used their majority in the House of Representatives to impeach the president in December, were always facing an uphill task to convince the Republican-held Senate to remove him.

Some 67 of the 100 senators need to vote to remove Mr Trump in the upcoming trial for him to go. There are only 47 Democrats and independents, meaning at least 20 Republican votes would be needed.

But now the question is not just whether Mr Trumps behaviour over Ukraine warrants his departure, but whether America should lose its commander-in-chief at a time of possible war.

Consider, for a moment, you are a wavering Republican senator  the ones who ultimately have the Presidents fate in their hands, given the maths explained above.

You know that polls show Republican voters  your constituents, the ones on whom your political career depends  are wholeheartedly against kicking the President from office.

Story continues

Three years into the Trump presidency, you are also all too familiar with the public pummelling heading your way if you turn on the occupant of the Oval Office.

Now imagine deciding to turf out a president while a hostile power in the Middle East is vowing to attack American soldiers at any moment  even while knowing few, if any, other Republicans will join you.

That, in a nutshell, is why the Iran stand-off helps Mr Trump in the impeachment trial to come. It makes voting for his removal much harder for Republicans.

Yet the political impact beyond the trial and for the November 2020 election is much less clear and hangs in the balance.

The public have backed Mr Trumps decision to take out Soleimani according to early polling, albeit narrowly  one survey put support for the move at 43 per cent and disapproval at 38 per cent.

But the dominoes set in motion by the attack are still unknown. Whether Iran and America continue to trade military blows, and what then follows, will ultimately shape the publics view of the Soleimani hit.

Only then will it become clear if Mr Trump benefits from a rallying around the flag moment among most American voters, or is blamed for whatever comes next.
More children are vaping than smoking or drinking, according to a new report. And, while fewer children are having sex, fewer of them are using contraception.

And, of the children polled for the HBSC (Health Behaviours in School-aged Children) 2018 Study, 7% of them reported using cannabis.

Simon Harris, the health minister, said some of the results are worrying, and he plans to introduce measures to deal with those later this year.

These will include banning the sale of e-cigarettes to children, which Mr Harris announced plans for last October.

At the time, Mr Harris said tobacco companies are working around the law to try to get another generation of people addicted to smoking.

He said: The health and wellbeing of our children is a key indicator of the health of the nation, and I am pleased to see many positive trends.

In particular, the good news around smoking and alcohol use by children which both continue to decline.

"However, the numbers of teenagers trying e-cigarettes and vaping products is a cause for concern and will be addressed by measures I will introduce in 2020, including new legislation to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to children under the age of 18.

He added:

However, I am struck by the finding that by far the most common source of alcohol for children is within their family home.

This is an issue that all of us, as parents and adults in the lives of young people, need to reflect on.

We need to change our culture around alcohol in Ireland, if we are to reduce the corrosive effects alcohol has on so many young lives.

The rate of bullying others is stable, but the percentage of children reporting that they have been bullied is higher in 2018 than in 2014.

A new measure of cyberbullying was introduced in 2018, and the rates of cyberbullying are considerably lower than the rates of traditional bullying.

The study, which is published in 49 countries every four years in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Europe, is funded in Ireland by the Department of Health.

The survey of 15,500 children from 255 primary and post-primary schools was carried out by the Health Promotion Research Centre, NUI Galway, led by Saoirse Nic Gabhainn.
The Ukrainian plane that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people on board, was on fire and attempting to turn back to the airport when it came down, according to a report by Iranian investigators.

The report by Irans Civil Aviation Organisation (CAO) has said the crew of the jetliner never made a radio call for help and suggested a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 when it crashed just moments after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

However, no immediate explanation has been given by investigators for the disaster.

Although the report confirmed both of the so-called black boxes which contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, investigators said they were damaged and some parts of their memory had been lost.

Eyewitnesses have described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing, according to the report.

Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Show all 18 1 /18 Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran People stand near the wreckage after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran People and rescue teams are pictured amid bodies and debris All 176 people on board a Ukrainian passenger plane were killed when it crashed shortly after taking off, Iranian state media reported ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran One of the engines State news agency IRNA said 167 passengers and nine crew members were on board the aircraft operated by Ukraine International Airlines Iran Press via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Rescue teams work at the scene AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Passengers' belongings West Asia News Agency via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Members of the International Red Crescent collect bodies of victims EPA Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Rescue teams work amidst debris AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran A relative of a victim reacts at Boryspil International Airport, outside Kiev Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Part of the wreckage Iran Press via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran West Asia News Agency via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Officials inspect the wreckage EPA Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP

Investigators have also initially ruled out laser or electromagnetic interference as a cause for the crash.

The findings follow suggestions by some aviation experts that the crash may have been a shootdown event, similar to the MH17 crash in 2014.

The OPS group, an aviation risk-monitoring group, has recommended taking the starting assumption to be that this was a shootdown event until evidence to the contrary emerges.

Iran has said it will not work with the US in its investigation of the crash.

We will not give the black box to the manufacturer and the Americans, Ali Abedzadeh, head of the CAO, told Irans Mehr news agency.

This accident will be investigated by Iran's aviation organisation but the Ukrainians can also be present.

The US National Transportation Safety Board would usually have a role in international investigations involving US-made Boeings, but Iran has the right to lead the investigation under global aviation rules.

Boeing has extended condolences to the victims' families and said it stands ready to assist.

All of the planes 167 passengers and nine crew members were killed in the crash, which caused a massive explosion as the aircraft hit the ground, likely due to it being fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

The victims of the disaster came from several countries, including 82 from Iran, at least 63 from Canada and 11 from Ukraine, according to officials.

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraines president, has said crash investigators from his country have arrived in Iran to assist the probe.

Mr Zelensky also said he plans to call Irans president Hassan Rouhani to discuss the crash and investigation.

Undoubtedly, the priority for Ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash, he said.

We will surely find out the truth.

Although Ukrainian officials initially agreed with suspicions that the three-year-old plane was brought down by mechanical problems, they later backed away from that view and declined to offer a cause while the investigation is ongoing.

The disaster occurred immediately after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing US troops in retaliation for the killing of military general Qassem Soleimani last week.

Many of the victims are thought to be international students attending universities in Canada who were making their way back to Toronto via Kyiv after visiting family.

Justin Trudeau, Canadas prime minister, has said 138 passengers on the flight were bound for his country and vowed to get to the bottom of what happened.

The crash has ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster.

Additional reporting by Reuters
Wild & Weird: Amazing Footage of Microscopic Water Bears James Weiss spends hours a day observing and recording the behavior of single-celled organisms through powerful microscopes. His apartment, full of hundreds of jars of water from different places, is an informal zoo of the microscopic.



One of his favorite micro-critters is the tardigrade, or "water bear." Nearly indestructible, they live almost everywhere on Earth  and maybe even on the moon.



"My favorite thing about tardigrades is their eyes!" Weiss told the Center. "Those charcoal-black eyes melt my heart like nothing else. They're just photosensitive cells, so tardigrades can't see things in the way we do. But they know when it's day and when it's night."



Take a close-up look at stunning footage on Facebook or YouTube of water bears eating, mating, hatching and more  all captured by Weiss. And if you're on Instagram, follow Weiss to see a new microscope video daily. We bet you'll find tardigrades as adorable as we do.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 02:57:56|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TEHRAN, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Iran's missile attack on two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops on Wednesday could signal the beginning of the expulsion of U.S. troops from the region, Iranian officials and experts said.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on Wednesday fired over a dozen of surface-to-surface missiles on the U.S. bases of Al-Asad and Harir Camp to the north of Erbil, Iraq.

Iran not only aims to take revenge on the U.S. for assassinating a senior Iranian commander last Friday, but also force the U.S. troops to pull out from the region.

"To expel the United States from the West Asia, showering of missiles (on the U.S. bases) is an introductory measure," Ahmad Amirabadi, an Iranian political expert, said in an interview.

With the attack, Iran aims "to force U.S. out of the region," he said, adding that the direct Iran-U.S. military clash "is the beginning of the road."

On Wednesday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the U.S. to pull its forces out of the region, hours after Iran launched missile attacks.

"Military operations of this kind is not enough," Khamenei said, adding that "what is important is to put an end to the corruptive presence of the Americans in the region."

"Americans have brought war, sedition, destruction and division to the region. Our region and the nations of our region no longer accept the presence of Americans," the Iranian leader said in a televised speech in Iran's religious city of Qom.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that the main reason for the Iranian retaliation against the U.S. for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, commander of the IRGC's Quds Force, is that "American forces must be expelled from the region forever."

"They (Americans) cut off the arm of Soleimani in this crime. The revenge is that we cut off the U.S. feet in the region," Rouhani was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

Hossein Baqeri, chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, on Wednesday warned that any new offensive by the U.S. will be met with "stronger, more crushing, and broader" response from Iran.

"The time has come for the evil authorities of the United States to realize the Islamic Republic's capabilities and pull the forces of their terrorist army out of the region as soon as possible," he said.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : Amid escalated tensions between Iran and the US, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday held talks with US counterpart Mark Esper to discuss the developments in the Gulf and shared "India's stakes, interests and concerns".

Esper, who called the Indian Defence Minister to discuss the prevailing situation in the Gulf region, briefed him about the recent developments in the region. Rajnath Singh also resolved to strengthen bilateral defence cooperation.

Rajnath Singh also had discussions with his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono over the regional security situation.

"The two Defence Ministers had discussions on enhancing the bilateral security cooperation under the framework of the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership. They also exchanged views on regional security situation," Defence Ministry spokesperson, Bharat Bhushan Babu, told IANS.

On Wednesday, Iranian Ambassador to India, Ali Chegeni to India, said that Iran will welcome any peace initiative from India for de-escalating tensions in West Asia following the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani.

"India usually plays a very good role in peace in the world. At the same time India belongs to this region. We welcome all initiatives from all countries, especially India as a good friend for us, to not allow escalation (of tensions)," Chegeni told media persons.

He made a statement after Iran launched missile strikes against two US military bases in Iraq in retaliation.

Iran had pledged retaliatory attacks against the US for killing Soleimani, the country's most powerful and revered military leader, whom Washington accused of plotting imminent attacks against US forces in the region.

Iran had launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles at the Ain al-Assad airbase in Iraq's Anbar province and a facility in Erbil which has US Army facilities. To this, US President Donald Trump had said on Wednesday there had been no US casualties and damage was minimal. Trump had also given no indication that the US will respond militarily to Iran's attacks on Iraqi bases hosting US troops.
Colorado has reportedly provided its most advanced surveillance plane to help locate the source of several mystery drones that have been spotted in recent weeks in the night sky over the state as well as over neighboring Nebraska and Kansas.

Residents in multiple counties across the three states have been left baffled after spotting dozens of the aerial-vehicles, which feature six-feet wingspans and fly across the sky in grid-like patterns between the hours of 6 and 10 pm.

The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control confirmed on Tuesday that it had joined several state and federal investigative agencies, including the FBI, FAA, and the military, in trying to find the drones operators.

While the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control would not confirm if it used the aircraft, Fox 31 TV in Denver says that it tracked a fire-tracking plane on the web site FlightAware.com as it flew for five hours on Monday night.

The so-called 'Multi-Mission Aircraft,' a Pilatus PC-12 turboprop plane, was flying in the area where witnesses spotted drones.

Colorado is using a Multi-Mission Aircraft Pilatus PC-12 turboprop plane (as seen in the stock image above) to locate the source of mysterious drones that have been spotted by residents of the state as well as those in neighboring Nebraska and Kansas

Data on the web site FlightAware shows that the plane was flown for five hours over an area where the drones were spotted in recent weeks

The aircraft, which is used by the state to track wildfires, comes equipped with Wescam MX-15HDi sensor balls that feature three separate cameras with infrared and electro-optical technology, according to The Drive.

These cameras can detect a small camp fire from 28,000ft away.

Their medium wavelength infrared sensor could also identify a drone type and track it as it flies low over the ground.

It could also conceivably spot any potential command vehicles on the ground that are used to control the drones.

The plane also comes equipped with onboard broadband internet that allows it to share real-time information.

It can fly up to 20,000ft in the air and can stay up for as long as five hours.

When asked if the plane was involved in the mission to locate the drones, Caley Fisher, a spokesperson for the department, said: We do not discuss the investigative techniques or technology were using.

We are actively monitoring reports of suspicious activity and will take action based on the level of activity and information being gathered by the (Colorado Information Analysis Center, a division of the states Department of Public Safety).

A drone was spotted over an area near Omaha, Nebraska, on Tuesday

Meanwhile, another drone sighting was reported near Omaha, Nebraska, on Tuesday night.

Television cameras for WOWT-TV spotted the mysterious flying object just outside of Mead, Nebraska.

An unmanned aircraft measuring about four-to-six feet was seen flying overhead.

According to the news channel, the drone flew so close to the ground that the sound of the propellers could be heard on camera.

Local officials are baffled as to why anyone would operate a drone over an area that is entirely made up of rural farmland.

Theres not much out here to look at, so it kind of makes you wonder, well, if theyre not looking at anything, what are they planning, you know? Or whoever or whatever is going on? Saunders County Deputy Kyle Kennenbeck said.

It definitely raises curiosity.

On the same day the drones were spotted near Omaha, it was learned that the FBI joined a new task force set up to investigate the mysterious aircraft.

On Monday, around 75 people from a variety of state, local and federal agencies - including the FBI - met in the city of Brush, Colorado, in a bid to uncover the identity of the drones' operators.

CBS reports that 77 different agencies have now joined the task force. No private companies or government agencies have admitted that they are operating the drones.

According to The Denver Post, representatives from the FAA, the Air Force, and the Army - in addition to members of the FBI - were present at Monday's meeting, which lasted around 90 minutes.

One county sheriff who attended the meeting told the publication that the task force is hoping to hunt down a 'command vehicle' which could be controlling the flying objects from the ground.

'A drone 500 feet in the air, we can't do much about that. A suspicious vehicle in the middle of a county road is something we absolutely can[ do something about],' Lincoln County sheriff's Captain Michaell Yowell told The Denver Post.

The vehicle could possibly be a 'closed box trailer with antennas or a large van'.

The FBI has joined a new task force set up to investigate mysterious drones which have been spotted flying over Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas in recent weeks

Residents in multiple counties across the three states have been left baffled after spotting dozens of the drones. Sightings have been reported since December 16

The FBI is investigating the growing mystery of unidentified drones flying over Colorado and Nebraska.



The drones have been spotted buzzing hundreds of feet in the air at night. Investigators are now looking for a suspicious vehicle, to help track down who is responsible. pic.twitter.com/1UMlC5N0QR  CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) January 7, 2020

It's unclear whether the establishment of the task force is going to quell the anxieties of residents - many of whom are growing increasingly agitated by the nightly appearance of the drones.

'It's really concerning,' one worried resident told CBS. 'Do they [the drones] have cameras on them where they're watching us and what we're doing? Can they see into our homes? Are they following vehicles? What are they doing?'

Meanwhile, another resident told NBC's Today Show last Tuesday that he was 'unnerved' by the drones.

'They can sit there and hover,' they stated. 'They can descend very fast. They can take off very fast.'

According to The Denver Post , representatives from the FAA, the Air Force, and the Army - in addition to members of the FBI - were present at Monday's meeting, which lasted around 90 minutes

It's unclear whether the establishment of the task force is going to quell the anxieties of residents - many of whom are growing increasingly agitated by the nightly appearance of the drones. Five separate drones are seen flying over a rural property in Colorado on Monday night

The Phillips County, Colorado Sheriff's Office announced an investigation into the mysterious drones on December 20, saying there have been 'multiple reports of drone sightings in the county over the last week.'

While the drones are mysterious, the task force does not believe that they are malicious.

Further, the person or persons operating them may not even be breaking the law.

The drones are flying well above the 200 feet mark over people's property which is too high for the devices to look into windows and break laws.

Some frustrated residents have threatened to shoot down the drones, but authorities have warned against such action as it is illegal.

Meanwhile, the FAA proposed requiring nearly all drones operating in US airspace to be remotely tracked, a move which sheriffs in the three states have welcomed.

Wyatt Harman, who chased the drones when they flew over his Washington County, Colorado, property, told NBC's Today show last Tuesday that seeing the mysterious aircraft was 'unnerving'




Turkey indicated its willing to mediate between the U.S. and Iran as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan prepares to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Istanbul to discuss escalating tensions in the Middle East and North Africa. Turkey is one of few countries and probably the most important one that can speak both with the U.S. and Iran, Erdogan spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said after a cabinet meeting late Tuesday.

Bloomberg reports in its article Flanked by Putin, Erdogan Offers to Defuse U.S.-Iran Standoff that NATO-member Turkey has cordial relations with its eastern neighbor, Iran, and Erdogan enjoys warm ties with President Donald Trump. Still, Ankaras alliance with Washington has been badly strained by the Turkish governments purchase of a Russian missile-defense system designed to shoot down U.S. warplanes.

Erdogan and Putin are scheduled to meet on Wednesday.

At dawn on Wednesday, Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at U.S.-Iraqi airbases, a direct attack on American forces in the region that risks further action from Trump after a U.S. airstrike killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani last week. Both countries appeared to offer conciliatory messages after the Iranian strike, with Tehran saying it isnt seeking war and Trump declaring, All is well.

Putin and Erdogan are also expected to discuss violence in Libya, where theyre arrayed on opposite sides of a proxy war, and a Russian-backed Syrian offensive on the countrys last major rebel bastion. The campaign to retake Idlib, controlled by onetime al-Qaeda affiliates and Turkish-backed rebels, has unleashed an exodus toward Turkey, which already shelters the largest number of Syrian refugees in the world.

Putin paid a surprise visit to Syria on Tuesday, his second since its civil war began in 2011.

Russia, Syria, and Iran continue their carnage in Idlib province. We stand by Turkeys efforts to stop this senseless violence, the U.S. embassy in Syria said on Twitter late Tuesday. Putin should listen to Erdogan in their meeting on January 8 to end the violence now! The U.S. is watching.

Putin and Erdogan will also inaugurate a third natural-gas pipeline, TurkStream, between their countries that will deepen Turkeys dependence on energy imports from Russia along with growing cooperation in defense and tourism.
UPDATE: You saved my life, deputy tells partner; fatal shooting justified

KENT COUNTY, MI  Prosecutor Chris Becker is to release findings in a sheriffs deputys fatal shooting of Steven Saucier, 34, at Sauciers Caledonia-area home.

Saucier allegedly confronted police with a gun when he was shot.

The shooting happened around 4 a.m. Nov. 24 at 4600 100th Avenue SE in Gaines Township, at the home he shared with his wife, Megan.

Kent County sheriffs deputies were responding to a report of an altercation when Saucier allegedly pointed a gun at police.

Sauciers family was devastated. In his obituary, he was described as larger than life.

Those who knew Steven will forever remember him for being larger than life and how he brought an easiness to achieve the most impossible of dreams. People were drawn to Steves joyful personality, a love for life and, one of a kind, friendly smile and southern charm that pulled everyone in," his obituary said.

Wyoming Department of Public Safety, as part of an agreement with Kent County Sheriffs Department, investigated the shooting as an outside agency.
Leading Australian monarchist David Flint sees "nothing unusual" about the move by Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex to remove themselves from the royal family and believes the decision will "improve the monarchy".

The leader of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy said the couple's decision announced on Thursday morning to split from the family was "just an evolutionary development."

"It is new, but not so stunningly new that people should be so excited," Mr Flint said.

"What Harry and Meghan will be doing is concentrating on essentially what they have already been doing, (such as) the Sentebale charity."
Chick-fil-A inadvertently discredited Salvation Army, Christian orgs in defunding, Dan Cathy says

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Chick-fil-A chairman and CEO Dan T. Cathy has admitted that the company inadvertently discredited several outstanding organizations when it announced last November that it would no longer donate to certain Christian organizations, including the Salvation Army, which have been criticized as anti-LGBT for holding biblical views on sexuality.

Cathys admission comes in response to a petition signed by 116,000 people submitted by the American Family Association and American Family Radio President Tim Wildmon. The petition asked the company for clarification on the rationale behind the companys decision to stop donating to the Salvation Army, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the Paul Anderson Youth Home.

Wildmon asked in the letter if Chick-fil-A would publicly state that it does not believe the Salvation Army and FCA are hate groups because of the ministries' beliefs about sexuality, marriage, and family. He also asked whether the company would state they will not hesitate to fund the ministries again, should the opportunity arise in the future.

Much of the evangelical community raised concerns that the fast food chains philanthropic restructuring was caving to the LGBT lobby in pursuit of higher profits and abandoning its Corporate Purpose  To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A.

In his Dec. 5 letter to Wildmon, Cathy insisted Chick-fil-A is committed to being a faithful steward.

As you have seen, recently we announced changes to our giving strategy at the Chick-fil-A Foundation, Cathy wrote. These changes were made to better focus on hunger, homelessness and education. We understand how some thought we were abandoning our long-standing support of faith-based organizations. We inadvertently discredited several outstanding organizations that have effectively served communities for years. Some also questioned if our commitment to our Corporate Purpose was waning. Let me state unequivocally: It is not.

Chick-fil-A announced in a statement to The Christian Post last year that: Beginning in 2020 the Chick-fil-A Foundation will introduce a more focused giving approach, donating to a smaller number of organizations working exclusively in the areas of hunger, homelessness and education.

The Salvation Army said they were saddened by Chick-fil-As announcement, especially since the organization is a leading provider of social services to the homeless, including the LGBT community.

"We're saddened to learn that a corporate partner has felt it necessary to divert funding to other hunger, education and homelessness organizations  areas in which The Salvation Army, as the largest social services provider in the world, is already fully committed," The Salvation Army said.

"We serve more than 23 million individuals a year, including those in the LGBTQ+ community. In fact, we believe we are the largest provider of poverty relief to the LGBTQ+ population, the group continued.

"When misinformation is perpetuated without fact, our ability to serve those in need, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, religion or any other factor is at risk," they added.

Wildmon called Cathys latest response a welcomed clarification.

It appears that Mr. Cathy understands how many evangelicals perceived the company's decision, as he stated that these Christian groups were inadvertently discredited. The fact that Dan Cathy called these two Christian groups outstanding organizations will mean a lot to evangelicals, Wildmon wrote.

He noted, however, that he still has concerns about the companys giving.

I also mentioned in my initial letter that Chick-fil-A stated that the company would support Covenant House, a ministry to homeless youth, including homosexual young people.

"While it is admirable to help hurting youth in desperate circumstances  including those who are LGBTQ  Covenant House also openly promotes homosexuality as normal, natural, and healthy. This was evident in Covenant House's participation in the NYC gay pride parade and a number of other efforts that make it clear the ministry does not hold to a biblical view of human sexuality, Wildmon said.

As a result, AFA will continue to monitor Chick-fil-A's corporate giving, at least for the foreseeable future. We believe our supporters rely on us to do so.
Protesters hold placards at a demonstration against an attack on the students and teachers at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus, in New Delhi on Jan. 9. (Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images)
Planet WASP-12b is on a death spiral, say Princeton scientists

Earth is doomed -- but not for 5 billion years. Our planet will be roasted as our sun expands and becomes a red giant, but the exoplanet WASP-12b, located 600 light-years away in the constellation Auriga, has less than a thousandth of that time left: a comparatively paltry 3 million years.

A Princeton-led team of astrophysicists has shown that WASP-12b is spiraling in toward its host star, heading toward certain destruction. Their paper appears in the Dec. 27, 2019, issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

WASP-12b is known as a "hot Jupiter," a giant gaseous planet like our neighbor planet Jupiter, but which is very close to its own star, orbiting its sun in just 26 hours. (By contrast, we take 365 days to orbit, and even Mercury, the innermost planet of our solar system, takes 88 days.)

"Ever since the discovery of the first 'hot Jupiter' in 1995 -- a discovery that was recognized with this year's Nobel Prize in Physics -- we have wondered how long such planets can survive," said Joshua Winn, a professor of astrophysical sciences at Princeton and one of the authors of the paper. "We were pretty sure they could not last forever. The strong gravitational interactions between the planet and the star should cause the planet to spiral inward and be destroyed, but nobody could predict how long this takes. It might be millions of years, it might be billions or trillions. Now that we have measured the rate, for at least one system -- it's millions of years -- we have a new clue about the behavior of stars as fluid bodies."

The problem is that as WASP-12b orbits its star, the two bodies exert gravitational pulls on each other, raising "tides" like the ocean tides raised by the moon on Earth.

Within the star, these tidal waves cause the star to become slightly distorted and to oscillate. Because of friction, these waves crash and the oscillations die down, a process that gradually converts the planet's orbital energy into heat within the star.

The friction associated with the tides also exerts a gravitational torque on the planet, causing the planet to spiral inward. Measuring how quickly the planet's orbit is shrinking reveals how quickly the star is dissipating the orbital energy, which provides astrophysicists clues about the interior of stars.

"If we can find more planets like WASP-12b whose orbits are decaying, we'll be able to learn about the evolution and eventual fate of exoplanetary systems," said first author Samuel Yee, a graduate student in astrophysical sciences. "Although this phenomenon has been predicted for close-in giant planets like WASP-12b in the past, this is the first time we have caught this process in action."

One of the first people to make that prediction that was Frederic Rasio, the Joseph Cummings Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University, who was not involved in Yee and Winn's work. "We've all been waiting nearly 25 years for this effect to be detected observationally," Rasio said. "The implications of the short timescale measured for orbital decay are also very important. In particular it means that there must be many more hot Jupiters that have already gone all the way. When they get to the Roche limit -- the tidal disruption limit for an object on a circular orbit -- their envelopes might get stripped, revealing a rocky core that looks just like a super-Earth (or maybe a mini-Neptune if they can retain a bit of their envelope)."

Rasio also edits Astrophysical Journal Letters, the journal in which the new paper appears. The researchers had originally submitted their paper to a less-prestigious sister journal also published by the American Astronomical Society, but Rasio redirected it to ApJ Letters because of the "especially great significance" of the research. "Part of my job is to ensure that all major new discoveries presented in manuscripts submitted to the AAS Journals are considered for publication in ApJ Letters," he said. "In this case it was a no-brainer."

WASP-12b was discovered in 2008 through the transit method, in which astronomers observe a small dip in a star's brightness as the planet passes in front of it, each time it completes an orbit. Since its discovery, the interval between successive dips has shortened by 29 milliseconds per year -- an observation that was first noted in 2017 by co-author Kishore Patra, then an undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

That slight shortening could suggest that the planet's orbit is shrinking, but there are other possible explanations: If WASP-12b's orbit is more oval-shaped than circular, for example, the apparent changes in the orbital period could be caused by the changing orientation of the orbit.

The way to be sure if the orbit is actually shortening is to watch the planet disappear behind its star, known as occultation. If the orbit is just changing its direction, the actual orbital period doesn't change, so if transits occur more quickly than expected, occultations should occur more slowly. But if the orbit is truly decaying, the timing of both transits and occultations should shift in the same direction.

Over the last two years, the researchers have collected more data, including new occultation observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope.

"These new data strongly support the orbital decay scenario, allowing us to firmly say that the planet is indeed spiraling toward its star," said Yee. "This confirms the long-standing theoretical predictions and indirect data suggesting that hot Jupiters should eventually be destroyed through this process."

This discovery will help theorists understand the internal workings of stars and interpret other data relating to tidal interactions, said Winn. "It also tells us about the lifetimes of hot Jupiters, a clue that might help shed light on the formation of these strange and unexpected planets."

"The orbit of WASP-12b is decaying," by Samuel W. Yee, Joshua N. Winn, Heather A. Knutson, Kishore C. Patra, Shreyas Vissapragada, Michael M. Zhang, Matthew J. Holman, Avi Shporer and Jason T. Wright, appears in the Dec. 27, 2019, issue of the Astrophysical Journal. The research was supported by Princeton University, the Heising-Simons Foundation, NASA Solar Systems grant NNX14AD22G, the Pennsylvania State University, the Eberly College of Science and the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Maunakea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community: "We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain."

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This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
In the far northwest of Jordan, along the borders of Syria and Israel, lies Umm Qais, an ancient Roman town which is home to the ancient ruins of the Greek city of Gadara.

The town is just three hours away from the Syrian capital Damascus, and its proximity to the Golan Heights, the strategic, politically contested rocky plateau in southwestern Syria, begs belief.

You look outside the window of the car you are riding in to see the Golan Heights and tell yourself, "I thought this was a war zone, aware that Israel occupies the Golan, though it is internationally recognized as belonging to Syria.

It's shocking to see that life goes on and how many people this place is home to. Indeed, there are no visible signs of war in this town, as it is apparently separated from the battle zones, and it is unscarred from any ongoing military operation nearby.

Yet Umm Qais has certainly escaped the attention of most tourists due to misleading travel advisories painting northern Jordan as a dangerous place.

"Umm Qais is considered a secondary tourism site that tourists rarely visit, or even if they visit, rarely spend more than two hours," said Muna Haddad, an Amman-based social entrepreneur and the head of Baraka, a consulting firm specializing in sustainable tourism.

According to her, the stories being told via tourism in Jordan focus on ancient civilizations but neglect the locals living here today.

"So through a project, we wanted to build a bridge between them," she said, adding that the locals are also telling the story of Umm Qais.

Sustainable better for locals

Sustainable tourism can stimulate economic growth while conserving and protecting the cultural heritage and natural resources. This is what Barakas community-based project, launched in 2015, aims for, she said.

"We partnered with the local community to provide tourism products and experiences clustered around tourists to help them stay up to three days in Umm Qais," she noted.

From her experience consulting on dozens of tourism development projects, she said she encountered many local communities desperate to woo tourists, but without success, even with support from development agencies micro investments.

"Families of seven are common in the town, and theyre often backed by a single income, mostly from welfare or low-paying state jobs," she said.

But sustainable tourism, she explained, would provide them with experiences that provide a needed source of local income as well as a worthwhile cultural exchange.

"We have a policy of hiring and sourcing locally as much as possible to ensure that the money stays in the community," she said, noting that under the project, 73% of the revenue generated remains within the local area, in contrast to global community-based tourism models, where only 16% trickles down to locals.

She added that there are 130 people -- around 30 families -- in the village that work for the Baraka project, and the villagers make 44% more than the average income locally.

"And you should see the pride people have. They walk with confidence, and are proud of themselves," she said.

She also believes that if done conscientiously, tourism projects all around the world could contribute to countries local economies.

Local stories

Exploring the ruins of Umm Qais with Ahmed Al Omari, a guide who was born and grew up in the town, and has been working with the project since its start, said the project changed the way he does his job.

"We got trained through the project, how to do things differently, how to behave and talk with tourists. These are things we didnt know before," he added.

He said the people of Umm Qais own and run a variety of local businesses, including homemade food, beekeeping, hiking, biking, and a recent seed bomb initiative, involving a variety of seeds rolled into a ball of clay with nutrients, and then thrown or dropped into nature to introduce diversity.

Recalling a plant she found half dead when she was a girl, just 11 years old, Wijdan Mousa, who got involved in the project last year, said she took it and replanted it.

Since childhood she has been planting, and her love for what she does is obvious from the look in her eyes.

"I never thought it would be an actual home business," Wijdan said, adding that receiving a $3,500 grant through the project helped her dream come true.

With this seed money she was able to build a build bigger greenhouse and got training from a planting specialist who taught her how to plant more efficiently.

She also developed experience with making seed bombs for tourists visiting the village, giving them lessons in planting and then selling them the plant-based bombs.

She saw her dream came true when she wrote the name of her business on the wall of her house, she added.

Yousef Sayah, who has been a beekeeper for the last 20 years, has been involved in the project since the very beginning, and now tells eager tourists fascinating stories of the life of bees.

Now he sells his honey wares to an expanding customer base from such outlets as museums and local bed and breakfasts, thus expanding his earnings.

He also started learning English after getting involved in the project, meaning thanks to the project, he has a chance to learn about new cultures, ensuring his own personal development.

Tourism is a long-term driver of economic growth in Jordan, making up the largest slice of the country's economy, and the project feeds into the 2017-2021 National Tourism Strategy, which aims at fostering the sector at the local level.

Text & Image: AA
Using data from ESAs Gaia star-mapping spacecraft, a team of astronomers from Austria and the United States has discovered a wave-shaped arrangement of dense gas in our own neighborhood of the Milky Way.

The newly-discovered structure  named Radcliffe Wave in honor of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study  is about 9,000 light-years long and 400 light-years wide.

It contains about three million solar masses of gas and comprises the majority of nearby star-forming regions.

Some of these stellar nurseries were previously thought to form part of Goulds Belt, a band of star-forming regions believed to be oriented around the Sun in a ring.

No astronomer expected that we live next to a giant, wave-like collection of gas  or that it forms the Local Arm of the Milky Way, said Professor Alyssa Goodman, an astronomer at Harvard University, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study.

We were completely shocked when we first realized how long and straight the Radcliffe Wave is, looking down on it from above in 3D  but how sinusoidal it is when viewed from Earth.

The Waves very existence is forcing us to rethink our understanding of the Milky Ways 3D structure.

The research team combined Gaia data from with other measurements to construct a detailed, 3D map of interstellar matter in the Milky Way, and noticed the wave-shaped structure in the spiral arm closest to the Earth.

Gould and Herschel both observed bright stars forming in an arc projected on the sky, so for a long time, people have been trying to figure out if these molecular clouds actually form a ring in 3D, said Professor Joao Alves, an astrophysicist at the University of Vienna.

Instead, what weve observed is the largest coherent gas structure we know of in the Galaxy, organized not in a ring but in a massive, undulating filament.

The Sun lies only 500 light-years from the Wave at its closest point. Its been right in front of our eyes all the time, but we couldnt see it until now.

We dont know what causes this shape but it could be like a ripple in a pond, as if something extraordinarily massive landed in our Galaxy, Professor Alves added.

What we do know is that our Sun interacts with this structure. It passed by a festival of supernovae as it crossed Orion 13 million years ago, and in another 13 million years it will cross the structure again, sort of like we are surfing the wave, he said.

A paper on the discovery was published in the journal Nature.

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J. Alves et al. A Galactic-scale gas wave in the solar neighborhood. Nature, published online January 7, 2020; doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1874-z
VIMC holds stakes in 14 port businesses, which were the groups most profitable arena last year

Having trouble attracting cargo for years, the fate of Cai Lan International Container Terminal (CICT) seems to be inevitable after it reported a poor performance in 2019. CICT, located in the northeastern province of Quang Ninh, is a joint venture (JV) seaport between the Vietnamese state-owned shipping giant Vietnam Maritime Corporation (VIMC) and US-based Carrix, the parent company of SSA Marine.

According to a VIR source, VIMC is considering divesting state stakes in CICT and possibly other JV seaports that are facing difficulties. VIMC has four such ports with foreign partners including CICT, SP-PSA, SSIT, and Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT).

The business performance of CICT in 2019 faced difficulties with container throughput and goods in bulk decreasing due to stiffening competition from Lach Huyen International Seaport, located in the northern port city of Haiphong, which is not very far from CICT, Nguyen Canh Tinh, acting CEO of VIMC, told VIR.

In the long term, CICT will be less competitive in both container throughput and goods in bulk. We plan to consider divesting state stakes in this seaport in the future.

Still in trouble

Statistics from VIMC show that CICT is estimated to see total container throughput reach 57,850 of the TEU cargo capacity rate in 2019, down 47 per cent on-year while handling 2.96 million tonnes of goods in bulk, equal to the 2018 volume.

The Quang Ninh facility is estimated to make revenues of $12.11 million, a drop of 0.5 per cent on-year. In 2018, big improvements were witnessed at the seaport with the US in terms of volume and revenue when it reported a throughput of 62,760 TEU for that years first 10 months, easily surpassing its yearly target of 19,838 TEU. Meanwhile, in previous years, CICT had to handle goods in bulk to survive.

However, the joy has not lasted. CICT is forecast to face further difficulties in the coming months when more terminals are put into operation at Lach Huyen International Seaport.

In 2019, the performance of the other three JV ports improved, although not to the extent hoped for. Their profit remains negative during the year.

SP-PSA, a JV between VIMC and Singapore-based PSA, located in the Cai Mep-Thi Vai area of the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, is also in a hardship despite recent improvements.

Throughout 2019, SP-PSA reported no container throughput while its volume of goods in bulk rose 11 per cent on-year to over 3.43 million tonnes in comparison with the estimated figure at 1.54 million tonnes in 2016. The seaport is also estimated to fetch revenue of nearly $7.5 million during the 12-month span, up 15 per cent on-year. It loss amounted to $9.8 million, up 24 per cent on-year.

Consistently ranking lower than other seaports of the type, SSIT  a JV between Vinalines and SSA Marine  nevertheless witnessed better results in 2019 in revenue, but still incurred a loss of $10.28 million, and an on-year fall of 63 per cent in the volume of goods in bulk. However, the improvement has not been ample enough to help it cover huge losses incurred in the past.

Also located in the Cai Mep-Thi Vai area, SSITs container throughput rocketed 438 per cent in 2019 to 224,120 TEUs. Its goods in bulk ascended 63 per cent to 2.55 million tonnes.

Although being the most profitable JV seaport, CMIT, which has Denmarks APM Terminals as foreign stakeholder, failed to make an expected profit in 2019, although its revenue rose 22 per cent to $36.3 million, and container throughput increased 7 per cent on-year.

Attractive but concerning

The seaport segment attracts the most foreign direct investment (FDI) in the transport sector thanks to its ability to control revenue sources, thus helping Vietnams seaports to become a link in the global supply chains of global shipping lines and seaport operators. VIMC, which has stakes in 14 port companies and operates over 13,000 metres of piers with a total capacity of 75 million tonnes a year, is seen as a springboard for international groups to venture further into the lucrative market amid growing trade.

Recently, a number of international financiers sought opportunities to invest in Vietnamese seaports. In mid-May 2019, Thailands Thoresen Group expressed interest in acquiring a 65-per-cent stake in Cai Cui-Can Tho Port in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.

Earlier, many other investors from Japan, the United States, and South Korea have also expressed strong interest in acquiring state stakes in ports in Haiphong, Ho Chi Minh City, and Danang.

While seaports are VIMCs most profitable business line in 2019, with steady growth of over 6 per cent greatly contributing to business results, worries have also been raised over possible snags.

VIMC once planned to divest state stakes in CICT and others, at that time, international groups were also interested in the move. SP-PSA was reported to want to raise stakes in VIMC while SSA Marine offered to buy VIMCs entire stake in CICT. Vietnam-Oman Investment JSC also proposed buying a stake in Haiphong Port. However, the divestment was delayed for unknown reasons.

Le Duc Khanh, director of market strategy department at PetroVietnam Securities, said that to reduce wide-scale but ineffective investments, and to more effectively use the capital in line with capacity and expertise, VIMC needs to divest some JV seaports. The state stake divestment is more difficult than in other businesses as VIMC will have to find suitable partners with strong experience in seaport management and financial capacity.

However, not all seaports are appealing to investors. Evidently, JV seaports, and regional-standard seaports having strategic important location, advanced technology and capacity to accommodate big vessels are more attractive to investors, he told VIR.

Khanhs thoughts resonated with other industry insiders who said that this move is a golden opportunity for foreign investors to buy stakes in state-run port operators and JV ports at cheap prices, letting them gain the ability to make important decisions in their operations. One concern is the possibility of state stake divestment, and we will have to wait until specific figures are announced.
The crew of a Ukrainian jetliner that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people on board, never made a radio call for help and were trying to turn back for the airport when their burning plane went down, an initial Iranian investigative report said Thursday. Ukraine, meanwhile, said it considered a missile strike as one of several possible theories for the crash, despite Irans denials.

The Iranian report suggests that a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines early on Wednesday morning, when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

Investigators from Iran's Civil Aviation Organization offered no immediate explanation for the disaster, however. Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, something initially backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldn't speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over it killing an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general in a drone strike last week.

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6:12 a.m. Wednesday, after nearly an hour's delay at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travelers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.

Then something went wrong, though no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations, the report said. In emergencies, pilots typically immediately contact air-traffic controllers.

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above it, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing at 6:18 a.m., the report said.

The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

The report also confirmed that both of the so-called black boxes that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost. It also said that investigators have initially ruled out laser or electromagnetic interference as causing the crash.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's Security Council, told Ukrainian media that officials had several working theories regarding the crash, including a missile strike.

"A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash," Danilov said. He did not elaborate on where he saw the information on the internet.

Ukrainian investigators that arrived in Iran earlier on Thursday currently await permission from Iranian authorities to examine the crash site and look for missile fragments, Danilov said.

The Tor is a Russian-made missile system. Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1s to Iran in 2007 as part of a $700 million contract signed in December 2005. Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades as well.

Iran did not immediately respond to the Ukrainian comments. However, Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, denied a missile hit the airplane in a comments reported Wednesday by the semiofficial Fars news agency. He dismissed the allegation as "psychological warfare" by foreign-based Iranian opposition groups.

Ukraine has a grim history with missile attacks, including in July 2014 when one such strike downed a Malaysian Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.

Danilov also said other possible causes under consideration included a drone or another flying object crashing into the plane, a terrorist attack or an engine malfunction causing an explosion. However, no terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. The crash just before dawn scattered flaming debris and passengers belongings across a wide stretch of farmland.

Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Kyiv after visiting with family during the winter break.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he planned to call Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about the crash and the investigation.

Undoubtedly, the priority for Ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash, Zelenskiy said. We will surely find out the truth.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said 138 of the passengers were bound for Canada.. The flight also included a family of four and newlyweds, too. The manifest listed several teenagers and children, some as young as 1 or 2.

The crash ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. The flag over Parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-staff, and Trudeau vowed to get to the bottom of the disaster.

Know that all Canadians are grieving with you, he said, addressing the victims families.

Ukrainian officials, for their part, initially agreed with Iranian suspicions that the 3-year-old plane was brought down by mechanical trouble but later backed away from that and declined to offer a cause while the investigation is going on.

While the cause of the tragedy remained unknown, the disaster could further damage Boeings reputation, which has been battered by the furor over two deadly crashes involving a different model of the Boeing jet, the much-newer 737 Max, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months. The uproar led to the firing of the companys CEO last month.

Boeing extended condolences to the victims families and said it stands ready to assist.
BUA Cement Plc achieved a feat on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) with the listing 33.86 billion ordinary shares at N35 per share, emerging as the third largest company on the bourse.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the listing of the companys shares on Thursday added N1.18 trillion to the NSE market capitalisation.

NSE Chief Executive Officer, Oscar Onyema, while speaking on the listing in Lagos, said it was exciting for the exchange to record such major listing at the beginning of the year.

Mr Onyema said it was another opportunity for investors to have access to a company with good track record.

He explained that the company had plans to move to the Premium Board of the NSE in a very short period of time.

Commenting on the listing, Yusuf Binji, the Managing Director/CEO of BUA Cement, said it was a major fulfillment for the group to have its shares listed after a merger of two companies.

Mr Binji said the listing of BUA followed the merger of Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) and Obu Cement Company Limited that control significant markets in Southern and Northern parts of the country.

We are bringing in about 13 billion shares from the defunct CCNN and 20 billion from Obu Cement and this gives us a total share capacity of about 33 billion shares with a total market capitalisation of N1.8 trillion.

We are coming into the market at the beginning of the year, and since trading has commenced, we expect to see a lot of value added for the shareholders during the course of the year, he said.

Mr Binji said the enlarged firms total installed capacity stood at eight million metric tonnes per annum (mtpa).

He said the company decided to merge to create a single entity that would leverage on all the synergies.

Mr Binji said the merger would ensure increased profitability and dividend for investors.

The essence of the merger is to be able to tap into the potentials and unlock the opportunities that are within the two companies in terms of market size, dealership base, profitability and staff skills.

There will be a lot of positives as we go along the way, he added.

He said with the listing, shareholders should expect better returns because the company would be one of the top best dividend paying companies in Nigeria.

READ ALSO:

Mr Binji said the enlarged company would be positioned to distribute its products in new geographical markets, creating the potential for additional shareholder value creation.

The merger of the two companies to become BUA Cement would provide opportunities for significant cost savings and improved operational efficiencies by streamlining operations and optimising the use of combined resources.

It has also provided a platform where the enlarged company benefits from economies of scale in procurement, distribution and manufacturing of the products offered to our customers.

We expect the benefits accruing from greater economies of scale to accrue to many stakeholders, he said.

(NAN)
DZ BANK AG Frankfurt am Main - Pre Stabilisation

RNS Number: residue number system

Frankfurt am Main, 9. January 2020

Not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful.

Pre-Stabilisation Notice

Merck Financial Services GmbH

DZ BANK AG (contact: Ingo Holzwarth; telephone: +49 69 7447 4812) hereby announces, as Stabilisation Coordinator, that the Stabilising Managers named below may stabilise the offer of the following securities in accordance with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU Regulation 596/2014).

The security to be stabilised: Issuer: Merck Financial Services GmbH Guarantor (if any): Merck KGaA Aggregate nominal amount: EUR benchmark Description: fixed rate, due 16 July 2025 Offer price: Tbc Other offer terms: Senior, unsecured and unsubordinated, RegS Bearer, Denomination EUR 100.000 Stabilisation Coordinator DZ BANK AG Stabilising Managers: BBVA

DZ BANK

LBBW

Mizuho

SEB Stabilisation period expected to start on: 09.01.2020 Stabilisation period expected to end on: no later than 30 days after the proposed issue date of the securities Existence, maximum size and conditions of use of over-allotment facility. The Stabilising Managers may over-allot the securities to the extent permitted in accordance with applicable law. Stabilisation trading venue: Luxembourg Stock Exchange (Regulated Market)

In connection with the offer of the above securities, the Stabilisation Manager(s) may over-allot the securities or effect transactions with a view to supporting the market price of the securities at a level higher than that which might otherwise prevail. However, there is no assurance that the Stabilisation Manager(s) will take any stabilisation action and any stabilisation action, if begun, may be ended at any time. Any stabilisation action or over-allotment shall be conducted in accordance with all applicable laws and rules.

This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an invitation or offer to underwrite, subscribe for or otherwise acquire or dispose of any securities of the Issuer in any jurisdiction.

In addition, if and to the extent that this announcement is communicated in, or the offer of the securities to which it relates is made in, any EEA Member State that has implemented Directive 2003/71/EC, as amended (together with any applicable implementing measures in any Member State, the "Prospectus Directive") before the publication of a prospectus in relation to the securities which has been approved by the competent authority in that Member State in accordance with the Prospectus Directive (or which has been approved by a competent authority in another Member State and notified to the competent authority in that Member State in accordance with the Prospectus Directive), this announcement and the offer are only addressed to and directed at persons in that Member State who are qualified investors within the meaning of the Prospectus Directive (or who are other persons to whom the offer may lawfully be addressed) and must not be acted on or relied on by other persons in that Member State.
The external fund manager backed by Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger, Li Lu, makes no bones about it when he says 'The biggest investment risk is not the volatility of prices, but whether you will suffer a permanent loss of capital. So it seems the smart money knows that debt - which is usually involved in bankruptcies - is a very important factor, when you assess how risky a company is. As with many other companies Shanghai Electric Group Company Limited (HKG:2727) makes use of debt. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?

When Is Debt Dangerous?

Debt assists a business until the business has trouble paying it off, either with new capital or with free cash flow. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. While that is not too common, we often do see indebted companies permanently diluting shareholders because lenders force them to raise capital at a distressed price. Of course, debt can be an important tool in businesses, particularly capital heavy businesses. When we think about a company's use of debt, we first look at cash and debt together.

View our latest analysis for Shanghai Electric Group

What Is Shanghai Electric Group's Net Debt?

The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that at September 2019 Shanghai Electric Group had debt of CN34.6b, up from CN26.6k in one year. However, it does have CN41.7b in cash offsetting this, leading to net cash of CN7.04b.

SEHK:2727 Historical Debt, January 9th 2020

How Healthy Is Shanghai Electric Group's Balance Sheet?

According to the last reported balance sheet, Shanghai Electric Group had liabilities of CN150.0b due within 12 months, and liabilities of CN25.1b due beyond 12 months. On the other hand, it had cash of CN41.7b and CN77.0b worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by CN56.3b.

This deficit is considerable relative to its very significant market capitalization of CN69.8b, so it does suggest shareholders should keep an eye on Shanghai Electric Group's use of debt. Should its lenders demand that it shore up the balance sheet, shareholders would likely face severe dilution. Despite its noteworthy liabilities, Shanghai Electric Group boasts net cash, so it's fair to say it does not have a heavy debt load!

Story continues

On top of that, Shanghai Electric Group grew its EBIT by 78% over the last twelve months, and that growth will make it easier to handle its debt. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But ultimately the future profitability of the business will decide if Shanghai Electric Group can strengthen its balance sheet over time. So if you're focused on the future you can check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.

Finally, a business needs free cash flow to pay off debt; accounting profits just don't cut it. Shanghai Electric Group may have net cash on the balance sheet, but it is still interesting to look at how well the business converts its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to free cash flow, because that will influence both its need for, and its capacity to manage debt. During the last three years, Shanghai Electric Group burned a lot of cash. While that may be a result of expenditure for growth, it does make the debt far more risky.

Summing up

Although Shanghai Electric Group's balance sheet isn't particularly strong, due to the total liabilities, it is clearly positive to see that it has net cash of CN7.04b. And it impressed us with its EBIT growth of 78% over the last year. So while Shanghai Electric Group does not have a great balance sheet, it's certainly not too bad. Over time, share prices tend to follow earnings per share, so if you're interested in Shanghai Electric Group, you may well want to click here to check an interactive graph of its earnings per share history.

At the end of the day, it's often better to focus on companies that are free from net debt. You can access our special list of such companies (all with a track record of profit growth). It's free.

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.



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. Thank you for reading.
52 Places to Go in 2020 is here. Read the full list now.

Where would you go if you could go anywhere?

That was the question I posed to the members of The Times Travel desk back at the beginning of September, at our kickoff lunch for the 2020 edition of our annual 52 Places to Go list. Between that day and the lists publication, there have been almost four months of research, discussion, debate and as many synonyms for argument as you can imagine. In the end, we came down to these 52 destinations that we hope will inspire, delight and motivate you to explore the world.

How did we choose them? After that initial poll, we asked our regular contributors, as well as The Timess foreign and domestic correspondents, to suggest places that seemed newly fresh and compelling. We pestered in-the-know travelers for their 2020 musts. We grilled travel pros about what had them excited. To make the cut, it is not enough for a place to be beautiful, amazing and culturally significant. It also has to answer the question, why now? Why this place, this year?

Tokyo, a great city in any year, is hosting the Summer Olympics in 2020. Its on our list.

The Bahamas, always a pleasure, needs support from tourists in the wake of 2019s Hurricane Dorian. On the list.
More sops for scheduled tribes and castes, the agriculture and the rural sectors, apart from measures to revive the economy were some of the suggestions presented to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman by her party colleagues at a pre-budget interaction on Thursday.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi met economists and several union ministers at the Niti Aayog here, Sitharaman presided over meetings with four groups of spokespersons, party functionaries, heads of cells and intellectuals.

These groups, people familiar with the matter said, had gathered suggestions for the upcoming budget from sectoral meetings held by Bharatiya Janata Party leaders over a period of two months.

A senior party functionary said that the focus of the annual budgetary exercise will be the upliftment of the poor, expansion of the reach of benefits to the poorest and the most deprived and a financial boost to job generating sectors such as like agriculture and small enterprises.

There is no denying that this government has come up with the most people-friendly schemes, but it is imperative that more funds are allocated to schemes that are targeted at the socially and economically backward, said a party functionary who attended the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The suggestions included increasing the scholarship amount for SC/ST students.

Another suggestion was to ask nationalized banks to offer loans to five SCs instead of just one for green field projects under the Stand-Up India scheme. There are over 1.25 lakh branch of nationalized banks; if each bank gives loan facilities to five SCs, the number of entrepreneurs will go up. Also, there is a need to give recognition to as many as 10,000 SC/ST welfare organisations that work in various sectors. Doing this will enable them to be recognised as trade unions and allow them provisions such as offices and salaries for staff, a second functionary who attended the meeting said, also on condition of anonymity.

The groups also suggested that the finance minister clear the air over the Goods and Services Tax, and the concerns raised by the states. GST is not about a single party or leader; there is a GST council that has representation from states that takes all the decisions. But the opposition has been creating confusion by trying to portray that all decisions are taken without consultation. This needs to be checked, a third functionary said, asking not to be identified.

Giving details about the process of gathering feedback that was presented to the FM, Gopal Agarwal, BJPs spokesperson for economic issues said: We met as many as 200 organisations over the last two months from various sectors and detailed reports based on these meetings were prepared. These sectors were identified on the bases of their potential for growth and development and we were given some concrete suggestions for policy inputs.

While the party has met with leaders from the agriculture, real estate, pharma, food processing, automobiles, telecom, and heavy industry sectors, it has also discussed issues such as GST and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). More meetings, especially with small enterprises and companies in the banking and financial services space are scheduled.

BJP working president JP Nadda, general secretary (organisation) BL Santosh, General Secretaries Bhupendra Yadav, and Arun Singh were also present at the meeting.

The finance minister will present the Union budget on February 1.

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A plane caught fire when it crash-landed in the Congo.

A South African air force plane was flying 59 passengers and eight crew from the UN mission to Goma airport in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo when its left engine caught fire upon landing, according to Mathias Gillman, spokesperson for the UNs peacekeeping mission Monusco.

Everyone onboard the C-130BZ military aircraft survived, according to the authorities.

Its understood the plane also had cargo onboard.

Footage from the incident shows smoke billowing from the downed plane.

Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Show all 18 1 /18 Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran People stand near the wreckage after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran People and rescue teams are pictured amid bodies and debris All 176 people on board a Ukrainian passenger plane were killed when it crashed shortly after taking off, Iranian state media reported ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran One of the engines State news agency IRNA said 167 passengers and nine crew members were on board the aircraft operated by Ukraine International Airlines Iran Press via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Rescue teams work at the scene AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Passengers' belongings West Asia News Agency via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Members of the International Red Crescent collect bodies of victims EPA Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Rescue teams work amidst debris AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran A relative of a victim reacts at Boryspil International Airport, outside Kiev Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Part of the wreckage Iran Press via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran West Asia News Agency via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Officials inspect the wreckage EPA Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP

Its not yet known why the plane crash-landed.

Monusco sent a rescue team that brought the fire under control and everyone was safely evacuated, Mr Gillman told The Associated Press.

The plane was returning from the DRC city of Beni.

Its the second plane to crash in the DRC in the same number of months.

In November 2019, at least 27 people were killed, including some on the ground, when a small plane crashed into a densely populated neighbourhood in the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a rescue official.

The propeller plane, which was operated by local company Busy Bee, crashed shortly after take-off en route to the city of Beni, about 155 miles to the north.

The company said the 19-seater Dornier 228-200 had 16 passengers and two crew members on board.

The latest incident comes a day after a Ukraine International Boeing 737 jet crashed after take-off in Tehran.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged Iran's President Hassan Rouhani to end to its confrontation with the United States and stressed Britain's commitments to Tehran's nuclear deal, Downing Street said on Thursday.

Johnson "called for an end to hostilities" and underlined Britain's commitment to Iran's nuclear agreement with foreign powers, calling it "the best arrangement currently available to deliver on our goal of stopping Iran from having a nuclear weapon", his spokesman said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 14:42:05|Editor: ZX

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HOUSTON, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- A person has been shot and taken to hospital after a shooting broke out between two groups at a Walmart store in Houston in the U.S. state of Texas on Wednesday night.

According to Houston police, an argument took place between two groups who know each other, at a Walmart store about 24 km southwest of downtown Houston. The argument escalated, with one male pulling out a gun and firing.

One suspect was taken into custody, after police secured and cleared the store. Two other suspects are still being searched for.

Earlier Wednesday, another unrelated shooting occurred at a different Walmart store in the area, about 27 km northeast of downtown Houston.
Healthcare solutions provider KanDo Medical has acquired Fleetwood Healthcare, a medical device distributor based in Wicklow.

Dublin-based KanDo Medical supports suppliers and manufacturers of medical products from their strategy and business development to sales and customer support.

Founded by Cork native David OKeeffe, KanDo supports its healthcare partners in introducing innovative new products, providing sales expertise, customer services, warehousing, logistics, quality and finance functions, as well as training and educational workshops for healthcare professionals.

David OKeeffe, CEO of KanDo, said: Fleetwood Healthcare is a company I have admired since starting my career in medical device sales in Ireland over 25 years ago. I am really delighted to welcome Fleetwood, which has proven itself as a trusted partner to clinicians across Ireland, into the KanDo family.

Fleetwood Healthcare was founded in 1995 by Conor and Susan Fleetwood. It has partnered with leading endoscopy and surgical device manufacturers.

Fleetwood pioneered the introduction of single-use endoscopy products to Ireland. The company also hosts bespoke clinical workshops to healthcare professionals.

Conor Fleetwood, CEO and founder of Fleetwood Healthcare, said: The global experience within KanDo Medical will ensure Fleetwood has even greater access to cutting edge products and technologies to meet our customer needs.

KanDo was advised by Grant Thornton and by Shannon OConnor solicitors. Fleetwood was advised by FHM Accountants and Felton McKnight solicitors.
Now Open

9 January 2020

Today, Palmaia, The House of AiA, invites guests to celebrate the complexity of the Riviera Maya while reconnecting with nature, the sanctity of life, and the true human spirit. In a region dotted with resorts and hotels, Palmaia stands apart with its location between a pristine white sand beach and cool-water cenotes on the cusp of the undisturbed jungle, and thoughtful programming created for guests to explore and step outside their usual comfort zones.

The founder and visionary behind Palmaia, Alexander Ferri, designed the resort experience after his own way of living, with the belief that inner exploration and respect for nature and community is key to bringing people together to create meaningful change. The resort is a place where visitors can seek personal growth through the property's curated rituals and deep connecting ceremonies.

One of the jewels of the experience is the Architects of Life program led by the in-house Shaman Balder. Alongside hand-selected visiting teachers and guides, Balder will lead guests through rituals such as cacao ceremonies, yoga, multi vibrational sound healing, meditation, plant ceremonies, and ancient practices that inspire reflection, exploration, and connection.

The resort will also feature a Rituals of Sound program that pays homage to the music environment of Tulum and Mykonos, but in a more exclusive relaxed setting available only to guests. Palmaia will become a stage for creative experimental musicians who will transport guests through curated deep beats, and deep-fusion electronic music with acoustic overlays. These music rituals will take place in various forms daily from 4 p.m. until midnight allowing all ages to enjoy some conscious fun.

Perfectly matched to its surroundings of the Caribbean Sea and jungle, Palmaia offers travelers all oceanfront suites, each with its own private terrace for views of the Caribbean ocean in seven distinctive layouts. They include suites for families with bunk-bedding for children as well as open plan suites for adults, suites with swim-out access to one of the hotel's four infinity pools; and suites nestled among the ocean-side jungle - all designed sustainably and without the use of animal products. A Nomadic Guide will be assigned to each traveler to attend to guests needs throughout the stay, and for parents, Palmaia operates the only holistic fun children's activities program in hospitality run by certified Waldorf Educators.

While on property, guests can dine from a selection of four restaurants along with a rotating food truck, each serving ethically sourced food from trusted farms and fisheries around Mexico. Executive Chef Eugenio Villafana, who has trained at numerous Michelin-starred restaurants, oversees the culinary programming. This includes creating parallel plant-based menus for each dining venue, a unique culinary offering in Riviera Maya and throughout the hospitality industry. Leading the plant-based dining programming is Noma alumni, Mauricio Alvarez.

The signature fine-dining restaurant LEK serves gastronomic Mexican; Mar de Olivio is a destination for redefined Mediterranean cuisine; and the Oriental-fusion restaurant Ume merges Thai and Continental cuisines for a la carte dinner experiences highlighting sensual fragrances, exotic flavors, and densely rich hues. Su Casa, an integrated beach bar and restaurant on the dunes offers a laid-back Caribbean beach ambiance, with toes-in-the-sand comforts while El Caminante, offers an authentic food truck experience with a daily rotating menu.

Eolo Beach Club plays beats by visiting sound artists, two pool bars serve fresh fruit cocktails and custom creations based on guests' mood, and the exclusive Atlas Club creates libations late into the night and houses a Health Cafe where guests can relax in a more modern city loft environment while sipping matcha lattes and snacking on avo-toasts.

The resort also includes a jungle spa, Atlantis, where ancient ceremonies like the storied Temazcal are included in the menu of services. At Atlantis, one is guided by the Book of the Nine Paths to Health, designed to treat emotions as root causes rather than physical pain. Treatment rooms feature floor to ceiling windows that look out onto the foliage and are immersed between natural cenotes used for rituals and meditation. The fitness center is also hidden in the jungle.

Guided by the philosophy that personal growth is the path to connect with Nature, Palmaia was conceptualized without disturbing the original landscape of nature. The resort was designed with sustainability in mind and strives to become one of the first true carbon-neutral properties in the world in 2021 by compensating the energy Palmaia uses by building solar panels on the resort and in other parts of Mexico. Additionally, guests will not find plastic water bottles on property and all bathroom amenities will be refillable and made with 100% biodegradable ingredients and essential oils.
These companies will have to pay licence-linked dues based on their overall revenues, which have very little to do with telecom, after the apex court, in an order in October last year, upheld the governments definition of adjusted gross revenues (AGR) for telecom licensees. AGR is the revenue amount used to calculate the licence fee and spectrum charges paid by telecom companies to the Department of ...

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Jersey City residents spoke out Wednesday night against a City Council resolution that would leave it to voters to decide on whether to convert the citys elected Board of Education into one appointed by the mayor.

Over 100 residents filled council chambers with 75 of them planning to speak during the public comment portion of the the city council meeting.

The city council is hours from voting on the resolution, which some residents are calling a power grab by Mayor Steve Fulop.

Yvonne Balcer said that long ago the board was appointed which became corrupted and the reason the state took over the school district.

I do agree with the mayor about the problem with the school, Balcer said. " I do believe he is a part of the problem."

Daryn Martin requested the council discuss the mayors record on appointing others to positions. He referred to the appointment of former Gov. Jim McGreevey and Sudhan Thomas to the Jersey City Employment and Training Program.

Did that turn out well? No, Martin said. " We are going to watch who votes yes here and in 2021 we will see because you got to run for reelection."

Daryn Martin spoke against the resolution to add a public question to convert the elected school board to an appointed bodyJoshua Rosario

Fulop called the transition a necessary change. He referred to the many controversies the Jersey City Board of Education has faced over the past year, including federal and state charges filed against former board president Thomas and a projected budget shortfall of $150 million.

Board member Joan Terrell-Paige made controversial remarks about the citys Jewish population following the mass shooting at a kosher market, leading to calls for her resignation. She has ignored those calls and has yet to comment on the matter.

Thomas was charged by state authorities with accepting $35,000 worth of bribes in the form of unreported election contributions. Weeks later, federal authorities accused Thomas of embezzling funds from the Jersey City Employment and Training Program when he served as its acting director last year.

If the resolution is approved and voters opt to convert the school board to an appointed body, it would be the first time in 16 years that a New Jersey school district makes such a change. Only 14 of the states 600-plus school boards have members who are appointed by mayors, rather than elected by voters.

Sabrina Harrold, a city employee of 29 years, cited that the city has to give the new school board a chance as some of them just began their terms, referring to Lorenzo Richardson, who was elected the school boards new president last week. She asked the council why wasnt this done a year ago.

They are more than qualified probably more than qualified than anybody that will come before you guys to be appointed, Harrold said. Why just now was this idea brought to the table? Its not fair.
Yusuf Faqiri and his family could hardly have imagined that three years after his late brother was carried out of an Ontario jail, that they would still be looking for answers  and justice.

But thats exactly the situation the family finds themselves in today  one that far too many families in this country have experienced despite inquests, human rights complaints, lawsuits, and countless recommendations on how to fix a broken prison system.

Soleiman Faqiris death has become yet another heartbreaking example of systemic failures in Canadas detention and correctional facilities, particularly when those with mental illnesses are held in solitary confinement.

Whats hardly comforting is a provincial audit released earlier this month by Ontarios attorney general that suggests very little has improved: an overburdened corrections system remains ill-equipped to adequately support inmates, particularly whose with mental health challenges.

Correctional institutions are not suited to provide appropriate care to the growing percentage of inmates who have possible mental health issues, reads the report. We also found that correctional officers require more training to be provided so that they can handle inmates with mental health and behavioural issues more effectively and manage work-related stress.

In fact, reading between the lines, one cant help but wonder if another tragedy like Soleimans is inevitable.

Soli, as his family still calls him, was diagnosed with schizophrenia after a car accident while in university. He would struggle to take his medications and have run-ins with the law. Under the Mental Health Act, he would be taken to hospital in most of those instances.

In December 2016, the 30-year-old was once more arrested after an incident with a neighbour. Yet, this time, rather than be taken to a hospital for medical treatment, the young man was taken to the Lindsay superjail where he was put into segregation. It was supposed to be temporary, until a bed became available in a nearby hospital.

Hed never make it out alive. Eleven days after his detention, during which his family was repeatedly denied the right to visit him, he was found dead. A pathologist report confirmed that 50 bruises from blunt force impact trauma were left on Solis body during an altercation that lasted several hours between him and several prison guards.

The cause of death was nonetheless found to be unascertained. While no prison guards have ever been charged for what transpired, the family has brought forward a lawsuit against the government, the superintendent of the jail, seven corrections officers and continues to call for a new investigation.

The third anniversary of Solis premature death recently passed. Vigils were held across the country as more and more Canadians worry about a system that is meant to protect our most vulnerable.

Even as we mourn the loss of my brother, Soleiman, we also remember the families of dozens of other men and women who have died in Canadian jails and correctional facilities  people like Cas Geddes, Justin St Amour, Edward Snowshoe, Abdurahman Hassan, Matthew Hines and many others. Sadly, what started as our familys search for answers has now become a nation-wide campaign of many grieving families, Solis brother, Yusuf, told the vigil in Peterborough.

Its hard to know how many inmates are held in segregation in prisons across the country, or for how long, due to woeful lack of data. There are also no provincial prison ombudspersons who could field complaints and investigate concerns about solitary confinement and the treatment of inmates.

At the federal level, there has been some change, though advocates say it is not enough. Bill C-83 is being touted by the government as putting an end to the practice of solitary confinement. It came into effect on Dec. 1.

Inmates could still be placed in structured intervention units for a variety of reasons, though the new law requires inmates receive minimum amounts of human contact per day.

If adequate, rehabilitative programming is not put in place to support the new units, this will indeed be nothing more than a multimillion dollar exercise in rebranding a harmful, unconstitutional practice, wrote Anita Grace, PhD candidate, in the department of law and legal studies at Carleton University last fall.

Those placed behind bars deserve the same human rights considerations that anyone else in our society expects. This is particularly true when they shouldnt be there in the first place, but in the care of medical professionals. Why is it taking so long to fix this?
President Donald Trump arrives to address the nation from the White House on the ballistic missile strike that Iran launched against Iraqi air bases housing U.S. troops, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Associated Press

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said in an interview Thursday that White House officials refused to say whether President Donald Trump would seek Congress' approval should he order a strike against Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Lee said the refusal came during a Senate briefing on the drone strike Trump ordered against Iran's top military official, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Calling the briefing "terrible" and an "unmitigated disaster," Lee said officials' refusal to answer that particular question was "perhaps the most deeply upsetting thing to me in that meeting."

The interview with NPR came one day after Lee made headlines for saying that the briefing was "probably the worst briefing" he'd ever had on a military issue and that it prompted him to support a resolution meant to limit Trump's ability to take military action against Iran.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah doubled down Thursday on his criticisms of the Trump administration's lack of transparency surrounding the decision to order an airstrike that killed Iran's top military commander, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Lee on Wednesday made headlines when he told reporters that a Senate briefing on the topic from senior administration officials was "probably the worst briefing, at least on a military issue, I've seen in nine years I've been here."

He elaborated on Thursday, telling NPR the briefing was "terrible" and an "unmitigated disaster."

"My anger was not about the Soleimani killing," he said. "It was instead about the possibility of future military action against Iran. And it was on that topic they refused to make any commitment about when, whether, and under what circumstances it would be necessary for the president  for the executive branch of government  to come to Congress seeking authorization for the use of military force because Congress was not using it."

Story continues

In a remarkable statement, Lee added that even when a lawmaker brought up a hypothetical scenario in which Trump was considering carrying out a strike against Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Trump administration's briefers gave "nothing but a refusal to answer that question."

Lee added that their refusal "was perhaps the most deeply upsetting thing to me in that meeting." Such a killing could easily trigger a full-scale war or a regime-change effort that might require tens of thousands of troops.

He also addressed comments from his Senate colleague Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican, who said on Wednesday that national security officials "gave a compelling briefing" to senators.

"They answered every important question," Rubio tweeted. "Anyone who walks out & says they aren't convinced action against #Soleimani was justified is either never going to be convinced or just oppose everything Trump does."

Referring to Rubio's comments, Lee told NPR: "I think he must have been in a different briefing than I attended. I literally find it difficult to imagine how my friend Marco, who is smart, who listens carefully, who cares about these things, how he could emerge from that meeting to say that it was good. It was terrible. It was an unmitigated disaster."

Read the original article on Business Insider
TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian newspapers proclaimed the countrys attack on U.S. forces in Iraq to be a dark night for Americans, and Washingtons first admission of failure in history. On the bustling streets of Tehran, however, there was relief Thursday that neither side appeared primed for war.

War is not something like the Call of Duty game, said Dara Shojaei, a 23-year-old architecture student. Its not a game you can play to win. Theres no winner.

But with the relief came some mixed feelings about how far Iran should go to avenge the killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the countrys most powerful commander who was slain by a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad last week. His death brought an outpouring of grief across the country, and Iran responded early Wednesday by firing a barrage of ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases housing American troops.

The dramatic blast of more than a dozen missiles caused no casualties at the two bases, although U.S., Canadian and British officials said Thursday that evidence showed that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile probably downed a Ukrainian jetliner near Tehran just a few hours after Iran launched its attack on the Iraqi bases. They said the strike, which killed all 176 people on board, could have been a mistake.

Investigators from Irans Civil Aviation Organization offered no immediate explanation for the disaster. A preliminary Iranian investigative report released Thursday said that the airliner pilots never made a radio call for help and that the aircraft was trying to turn back for the airport when the burning plane went down.

Even though American and Iraqi officials said no casualties were sustained in the Iranian missile strikes on the two bases in Iraq, Iranian state TV claimed that some 80 U.S. soldiers were killed  a claim reiterated Thursday by a top Iranian military general, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, He offered no evidence.

At the White House, President Donald Trump said Iran appears to be standing down, while Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described the missile attack as a slap against America.

Across state media, the Iranian government is positioning its retaliatory strike as a victory.

The hard-line Kahyan newspaper proclaimed Irans missiles damaged U.S. dignity, while another hard-line daily, Javan, said it was Americas first admission of failure in its history.

The reformist daily Aftab Yazd led with the headline: Irans slap makes Trump withdraw and declare peace. Another reformist daily paper, Arman Melli, called it A dark night for Americans.

Despite Tehrans claims that the strikes killed Americans, Iranians have access to other sources of information. Although social media sites like Twitter are blocked, Iranians are able to access it and others through virtual private networks, or VPNs.

Ali Azimi, a 41-year-old engineer, said Irans retaliation was excessive.

We shouldnt have taken revenge because they could have hit and destroyed us, he said.

In somewhat mixed messages Thursday, President Hassan Rouhani warned of a very dangerous response if the U.S. makes another mistake, but a senior commander vowed even harsher revenge.

Mohammad Taghizadeh, a 30-year-old resident of Tehran, described the Iranian actions as a good start.

As the supreme leader said, it was a slap. It was not satisfying and bigger things should happen, he said.

He also echoed a familiar refrain of deep suspicion toward Washington.

Trump is trying to boost the self-confidence of Americans, and I think he is lying, Taghizadeh said about U.S. claims of no casualties. He added that because Trump is running for re-election, he cant say that we have had our soldiers killed.

Hajizadeh, who leads the countrys aerospace program, said in remarks carried Thursday by the semi-official Tasnim news agency that the goal of Operation Martyr Soleimani, as the retaliatory campaign was dubbed, was not to kill anyone, but to strike the enemys military machine.

Gen. Ali Fadavi, acting commander of the Revolutionary Guard, was quoted by Tasnim as describing the attack as a clear sign of Irans unique strength.

We stand against the enemy and we respond, he said. No (other) country has the capacity to express its will against the United States.

Across the country, ordinary Iranians are bracing for even more hard times after Trump vowed to keep up the maximum pressure campaign on Tehran.

Tensions have been running high in the Persian Gulf since Trump pulled the U.S out of Irans nuclear deal with world powers in 2018 and re-imposed punishing sanctions. The sanctions have made it difficult for Iran to sell its oil internationally, which has affected the governments ability to pay for subsidies and pushed prices up.

Over the past three days, there was not a single day that we woke up and didnt see negative news, said Shabnam Mohtashami, 43, of Tehran. The thought of what could happen again and what calamities we might suffer is very scary.

But she said that domestic (economic) problems put even more pressure on us than if a war will happen or not.

Irans government faced widespread protests in November over rising prices, with many apparently also outraged by Irans foreign spending on interventions in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and other countries while its own economy falters.

More than 300 people were killed in the anti-government protests, according to rights organization Amnesty International. During the violence and in the days that followed, Iranian authorities blocked access to the internet.

Soleimanis killing, however, helped rally the public around the leadership again.

Millions of Iranians were stunned by Soleimanis killing, and they poured into the streets as his casket was paraded through several cities. The general was seen by many in Iran as a national hero whose command of the Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, which oversees Shiite proxy militias, projected Iranian power in the face of U.S. pressure.

Ali Fathollah-Nejad, an Iran expert at the Brookings Doha Center, said the Iranian government has used Soleimanis death to create a nationalistic moment and keep the flames of conflict with Washington simmering without risking a full-blown war that might endanger the regimes survival.

He said the killing angered people beyond the governments traditional base because of Soleimanis state crafted image in recent years as a patriotic hero defending the homeland from Sunni extremists, like the Islamic State group.

In the short term this leads to regime stabilization, with the deep-seated socio-economic and political grievances that fueled the protests pushed under the surface at a moment when a lot of Iranians fear a full-blown war, Fathollah-Nejad said.

___

Batrawy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran contributed.
A post-Brexit trade deal covering services is needed to ensure basic continuity in an economy where all concrete poured carries a UK kitemark, all Irish actuaries are certified in the UK and the State's service sector exports exceed the trade in goods, the British Irish Chamber of Commerce has warned.

The stark warning was delivered as the new European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, pictured, yesterday said it would be "impossible" for Britain's Boris Johnson to meet his pledge to get a trade deal by the end of this year.

While attention has been focused on the plight of Irish farmers and food exporters trading across the Border and the Irish Sea, services are now a more significant portion of the overall economy.

The State runs a 10.45bn surplus in its services trade with the UK, compared with a 3.86bn deficit in the goods trade. The overall level of trade in services is 46bn, far more than the 36bn in goods.

"The elephant in the room is how we deal with services," said Peter O'Shea, the chamber's president. "The UK is an important services market for most EU member states, including Ireland, which exports more services to the UK than anywhere else in the world."

The trade in services spans everything from banking and insurance to recognising industry standards and professional qualifications, he added.

However, ahead of a first meeting with the UK prime minister in London yesterday, the initial salvoes fired by Ms Von Der Leyen indicated that the path to a deal would not be easy.

"Without a level playing field on environment, labour, taxation and state aid, you cannot have the highest-quality access to the world's largest single market," she said in a speech at the London School of Economics. "The more divergence there is, the more distant the partnership has to be."

Even leaving aside Mr Johnson's pledge to leave the EU without a deal if one cannot be agreed within the year, there has been no major trade-in-services deal ever struck. An EU-Canada deal took seven years and a proposed US-EU deal simply collapsed. Neither went anywhere near a comprehensive services deal.

Services account for around three quarters of a modern economy's output and employment, and so are even more sensitive than goods and agriculture trade deals.

Despite this, Katie Daughen, head of Brexit policy at the chamber, said there were reasons to be optimistic that a services deal could be struck.

While the UK's shock decision to leave the EU is unprecedented in terms of a country tearing up a close political and trading relationship, Ms Daughen, who authored a report by the chamber on services trade, said that the existing comprehensive agreements can be used as the basis of talks.

"Negotiations should be conducted using a 'negative listing' approach to ensure all services would be covered, unless otherwise stated," she said.

That means instead of the usual trade agreement talks in which negotiators start with a blank sheet of paper and build up, EU-UK talks on services would start with a comprehensive list, from which items would then be deleted.

"It would help promote as broad and in-depth coverage as possible," Ms Daughen said.
/ -- Apex Professional University, Arunachal Pradesh in collaboration with National Institute of Unani Medicine, Ministry of AYUSH, Bengaluru hosted a one-day workshop on the topic Medical Astrology 'An Integral Part of Prevention, Diagnosis and Therapeutics of Diseases', which was inaugurated and presided by Dr. S. Sacchidanand, Hon'ble Vice Chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bengaluru. The workshop commenced at 9:30 am on 8th January 2020 in the auditorium of National Institute of Unani Medicine, Kottigepalaya, Magadi Main Road, Bengaluru.

Dr. Sachidananad highlighted that integrated outlook in treatment strategies should be taken on a higher priority instead of remaining as different compartments of medical disciplines. He also added that RGUHS will function as a bridge between various systems and help to break the walls currently existing.

The Resource person of the scientific session of the workshop Acharya Dhanwant Singh who is an IIM Alumnus, a Corporate Yogi and the Hon'ble Founder and Chancellor of Apex Professional University, Arunachal Pradesh., scientifically explained in depth the parameters of the influence of celestial bodies on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

Dr. Abdul Wadud, Director, National Institute of Unani Medicine, Bengaluru delivered the director's address narrating the relevance of Astrology in Unani treatment system. Prof Dr. Mohammed Zulfikar gave a brief talk on the System of Unani medicine and its close relations to the Science of Astrology.

The occasion also marked the release of the book 'Essentials of Research Methodology in Unani Medicine', by the Dignitaries on the Dias.

The Workshop was attended by students, and faculty from various health care institutions and medical officers of ministry of AYUSH wherein the session was concluded by the vote of thanks from Dr. P. Ajith Kumar, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Apex Professional University.

About Apex Professional University



Apex Professional University (APU) has been established by the Government of Arunachal Pradesh as a Statutory University under the public private partnership (PPP) scheme in accordance with the provisions contained in section 2(f) of University Grant Commission Act, 1956 and empowered to award degrees in terms of section 22 of UGC Act, 1956. APEX Professional University is also recognized by the Bar Council of India (BCI), National Council for Teacher (NCTE), Council of Architecture (COA) and Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) for various Degree and Diploma Programs.

Apex Professional University is a member of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), ASSOCHAM and Quality Council of India. Forbes Magazine has recognized Apex Professional University (APU) as a 'Great Indian Institute' and has been acknowledged as 'Best Brand' by Economic Times. The University has initiated the process of its accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).

Apex Professional University has established an Institute of Indian Knowledge (IIK) as a Centre of Excellence to research, standardize and validate ancient Indian Sciences. IIK conducts courses in Indian System of Architecture (Vastu Shastra), Indian Metaphysical System (Shad Darshana) and Indian System of Healing (Siddha, Ayurveda & Yoga) that equips the students to address the issues of the present world in a rationalized manner.

For more details about APU, visit:



http://www.apexuniversity.edu.in https://www.facebook.com/apexuniversity/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8DEslSNZ4AawA9JgLNTeRwPhoto: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1063919/Medical_Astrology_1.jpgPhoto: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1063920/Medical_Astrology_2.jpgLogo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1011744/Apex_Professional_University_Logo.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
He said that Iran, in targeting the al-Asad air base in the western Iraqi desert, "put 11 large rockets with 1,000-pound, 2,000-pound (more than 900-kg) warheads in it, but we took sufficient defensive measures."

No U.S. forces were injured by the 16 short-range ballistic missiles fired from three sites inside Iran, targeting two military bases in Iraq where U.S. armed forces are stationed. But Milley said, the absence of casualties "has more to do with the defensive techniques our forces used than it does with intent."

Pence's assessment echoed comments Wednesday from the top U.S. military leader, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, who told reporters at the Pentagon, "The points of impact were close enough to personnel and equipment and so on and so forth. I believe, based on what I saw and what I know, is that they were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft, and to kill personnel."

The ballistic missiles fired at American bases... we believe were intended to kill Americans," Vice President Mike Pence told the NBC news network on Thursday. "We have intelligence to support that was the intention of the Iranians."

U.S. officials say they believe Iran intended to kill American forces with its ballistic missile attacks on bases in Iraq, even as President Donald Trump said Iran "appears to be standing down" from new conflict with the U.S."

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said damage at the al-Asad base was confined to "tentage, taxiways, the parking lot, a damaged helicopter, things like that. Nothing that I would describe as major. No friendly casualties, whether they're U.S., coalition, contractor."

Iran on Thursday disputed the U.S. accounts of the missile attacks and their intent. Iranian state media quoted Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guard's Aerospace Force, as saying, "We did not intend to kill. We intended to hit the enemy's military machinery." He repeated the Iranian government's claim that "tens of people were killed or wounded."

Trump, in a nationally televised address Wednesday from the White House, signaled the U.S. would not take military action in response to the attacks, but instead would impose additional harsh economic sanctions against Iran to further hobble its economy.

Iran fired the missiles into Iraq early Wednesday in retaliation for the Trump-ordered drone attack last week that killed Iranian Quds force commander Qassem Soleimani, whom the U.S. leader said "was responsible for some of the absolutely worst atrocities" in the Middle East.

The Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives is voting Thursday to curb further attacks on Iran absent congressional approval, with a similar measure under consideration in the Republican-majority Senate. But Trump could veto any such congressional resolution, with lawmakers unlikely to muster the necessary two-thirds majority to override such a move.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters she holds Soleimani responsible for the deaths of American armed forces. Pelosi, however, said she did not believe that in "terms of what is in the public domain" about the rationale for the Trump-ordered drone attack on Soleimani, the U.S. was made safer.

Trump has said Soleimani was planning more attacks on U.S. personnel in the Middle East, which posed an "imminent threat" to the U.S., a justification for the drone attack to kill him. But Trump officials have declined to detail specifics of the threat.

Trump, in his address, said that rather than continued conflict with Iran, the two countries could cooperate on issues of mutual concern.

The Islamic State group "is a natural enemy of Iran," Trump said. "The destruction of ISIS is good for Iran, and we should work together on this and other shared priorities."

The U.S. president told the Iranian people, "We want you to have a future, and a great future, one that you deserve. One of prosperity at home and harmony with the nations of the world. The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it."

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the Iranian strikes a "slap in the face" to the United States and said the "corrupt presence" of the U.S. in the region should come to an end.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani added later in a tweet that Iran's "final answer" to the killing of Soleimani "will be to kick all U.S. forces out of the region."

On Thursday, Rouhani warned the U.S. against a new attack, while a senior commander vowed more retribution for the killing of Soleimani. The Iranian president said that its missile attacks on the U.S. forces in Iraq were a legitimate act of self-defense under the UN Charter, but he warned that "if the U.S. makes another mistake, it will receive a very dangerous response."

The semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Abdollah Araghi, a member of Iran's joint chiefs of staff, as saying that the country's Revolutionary Guard "will impose a more severe revenge on the enemy in the near future."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

On Thursday afternoon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 was struck down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile on Wednesday.

We have intelligence from multiple sources...including our own intelligence, that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, Trudeau said. This may well have been unintentional.

Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne reiterated the prime ministers statement later in the day.

The preliminary conclusions we have been able to draw, based on intelligence and evidence, are clear enough for me to share them with Canadians, the prime minister added in his address.

Trudeaus message follows statements from two U.S. officials that it is highly likely an Iranian anti-aircraft missile took down Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, with Trump suggesting that Iran was responsible, without directly blaming the country, but adding that the plane was flying through a pretty rough neighbourhood.

Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side," the U.S. president said. Some people say it was mechanical...I personally don't think that's even a question."

When asked directly if he believes the U.S. is responsible for this tragic event, Trudeau said it is too soon to be assigning blame or responsibility.

The prime minister stressed multiple times during the press conference that is it imperative that a thorough, credible and complete investigation is conducted, going on to say that the information the government has suggests very clearly a possible and probable cause for the crash but it is all the more necessary therefore to gather all the information.

I want answers. That mean closure, transparency, accountability and justice, Trudeau said. This government will not rest until we get that.

Foreign Affairs Minister Champagne has made it clear that Canadian officials must be granted access to Iran.

I made the case that Canada had the legitimate need to accesswe wanted to bring Canadas expertise and Canadas commitment to be an active participant in the investigation, Champagne said in a press conference.

Story continues

The prime minister said Iran has indicated an openness to Canada being involved in the investigation, but the degree of that involvement is being worked out.

We have consular officials who are en route to Ankara, Turkey and Iran is open to issuing visas so that consular assistance can be given on the ground, Trudeau said.

The foreign affairs minister described his conversation with Iran as open and encouraging, adding that he has received information that the discussion from Wednesday night was followed up on, regarding to the issuing of visas.

A total of 63 Canadians died on the plane, with 138 passengers bound for Toronto on the flight.

The crash occurred merely hours after Iran's missile attacks on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops on Tuesday, following the killing of Iranian military leader Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani by the U.S. last week.

An Iranian investigative report released Thursday indicates that pilots never called for help and claimed the aircraft was trying to turn back for the airport when it crashed.

The report also states that the black boxes have been recovered but have sustained damage, causing some of the memory to be lost. On Wednesday, Irans Civil Aviation Authority said they would not be handed over to Boeing or America, but Garneau said Canada is prepared to with black box data interpretation.
A group of 'grandpa gangsters' aged 79 on average have been sentenced to prison in China after terrorising a village for nearly 18 years.

They unleashed terror in the community in southern China's Jiangxi Province, extorting money, beating the innocent and detaining people at will, a court said.

Over the years, the criminal organisation comprising 19 mobsters became so powerful companies and officials had to pay them protection fees to build or move public facilities.

The group's 19 members stood trial in China on December 31. The leader was jailed for 16 years while the others were given prison sentences ranging from one year to 11 and a half years.

The grey-haired gang stood trial in Yujiang District People's Court on December 31, escorted by SWAT officers.

Its members were found guilty of causing trouble, blackmailing, gambling, brawling, attacking governmental buildings and detaining residents illegally.

The syndicate, known as the 'Liu Family Elderly Association', was founded in 2002.

It branded itself as an 'underground police force' in the Liuken area of the Yujiang district in Yingtan city.

It claimed it could help citizens 'sort out' problems, such as beating doctors, for financial returns. It also controlled multiple village officials through bribing.

During a police investigation, multiple members faked being sick, deaf or suffering from memory loss in a bid to interrupt the probe.

The ring terrorised the Liuken area of the Yujiang district in Yingtan (pictured) for 18 years

One of the senior members, known as Cai, was caught pretending to have breathing problems whenever interrogation started. Court workers took him to a hospital for a physical check-up, which showed he was perfectly healthy.

Another member, known as Xiang, suffered from a serious illness, but police needed him to identify the criminal scene of more than 20 cases. Officers called for an ambulance to go with the investigation team whenever they took Xiang out.

The case was revealed yesterday by the Political and Legal Committee of Jiangxi Province on its official social media account.

The triad leader, known as Fa, was jailed for 16 years, said a statement.

The other 18 criminals were given prison sentences ranging from one year to 11 and a half years.
CHICAGO, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- IFS, the global enterprise applications company, announces that Barnhardt Manufacturing Company, a leading producer of natural fiber and foam products, has chosen IFS Applications 10 as its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system of record.

A fourth-generation family business based in Charlotte, NC, Barnhardt owns and operates eight manufacturing facilities across the United States. With a diverse product line comprising nine different brands, the company needed to consolidate its IT environment, which consisted of a number of disparate systems that did not cover all mission-crititcal processes.

Following a competitive bid that included several global ERP vendors, Barnhardt chose IFS Applications based on its full suite of capabilities and robust cloud delivery architecture through the Microsoft Azure platform. The IFS solution will support all parts of Barnhardt's value chain, from manufacturing, warehousing and product development, project management to financials, quality management, and maintenance.

"We were looking for an end-to-end ERP solution that could help us free up time for our IT staff to focus more on more strategic activities rather than business system upkeep," said Todd Sain, Corporate Director of IT. "With IFS Applications, we will be able to consolidate crucial areas such as multi-company, multi-brand financials to achieve new levels of operational visibility and control-all in a secure cloud environment that is 100 percent managed by IFS."

Cindy Jaudon, IFS Regional President, Americas, added, "We are thrilled to see nearly three quarters of new customers in North America opting to deploy in the cloud, which speaks to the strength of our managed service offering. Barnhardt, like all growing manufacturing companies, will benefit from IFS Applications' robust capabilities that are engineered to handle multi-site and multi-company strategies while ensuring flexibility and choice in terms of architecture and deployment. We look forward to a long and mutually beneficial collaboration with Barnhardt."

Learn more about how IFS supports manufacturers at www.ifs.com/corp/industries/manufacturing/.

CONTACT:

Megan Schwartzer, Marketing Communications Analyst. Phone: 262-317-7488, [email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

The following files are available for download:

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The Supreme Court Thursday sought Uttar Pradesh government's reply on a bail plea of a journalist arrested under the stringent UP Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act for alleged blackmailing and extortion of Noida police officials.

The top court asked the Allahabad High Court to proceed with the similar plea before it concerning the bail of journalist and decide the issue expeditiously.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant issued notice to the state government and sought its reply within two weeks.

Advocates Prashant Bhushan and Govind Ji said the journalist was arrested in August last year but the high court was not deciding his bail plea.

Bhushan claimed the high court has been frequently adjourning the matter and giving opportunity to the state government to file counter affidavit, without appreciating uncontroverted facts on record and baseless, motivated and uncorroborated charges levelled against the journalist.

He said petitioner Nitish Pandey is a journalist and not a gangster that he can be booked under the stringent law.

Bhushan said he had carried several stories on his portal against Noida police exposing corruption in the department.

"The High Court while adjourning the bail application on several occasions failed to appreciate that cases concerning incarceration of an individual and jeopardizing personal liberty based on false prosecution and motivated allegations which are to be viewed seriously and ordinarily Courts ought to lean in favour of guaranteeing personal liberty," said Pandey's plea.

He claimed to be a journalist since 2009 who was previously associated with reputed channels.

"News regarding functioning of police department is often aired on the said news portal. The Petitioner enjoys good reputation, having no criminal antecedent," the plea said.

It said, "News aired on the portal has often been appreciated by police officials of the Respondent State, except that few recent news stories published by the Petitioner, irked senior police officials of Noida police, which ultimately led to registration of the FIR on false pretext and bald allegations, leading to arrest of the Petitioner from his Lucknow residence, within three hours, from the time when FIR was registered in Noida".

Pandey was arrested on August 23, 2019, under various provisions of U.P Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986.

According to the FIR registered in the case, one alleged organized gang of people relating to journalism is acquiring pecuniary material and other benefits in an illegal manner by exercising wrongful pressure over the public officers especially officers of police department and by restraining them in performing their lawful duties.

It was further alleged that the active members of the gang are Susheel Pandit, Udit Goel, Raman Thakur, Chandan Rai and Nitish Pandey which operated largely by luring police officials to act in their favour.

The plea said it was alleged in the FIR that police officials who didn't come under the gang's influence were blackmailed and their image was tarnished through social media by publishing baseless and fictitious information.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
AN INVESTIGATION is underway at University Hospital Limerick after a man was found dead with a broken neck on the ground next to his trolley, in the hospitals emergency department.

The news has emerged in a week in which a new record for people waiting on trolleys was reached in the hospital with a national high of 92 on Monday.

It is understood that the middle-aged man was found to have a broken neck, but exactly how he received the injury has yet to be determined.

He was in an isolated area of the emergency department, a medical source told the Limerick Leader, it appears no one saw him fall from his trolley, but he was found on the ground with a broken neck.

While the hospital will not comment officially on the matter, the Limerick Leader understands that the incident happened just before Christmas.

An investigation is underway, and there will be an inquest into the matter, where the cause of death will be determined, said a high-ranking medical source.

We don't know if he arrived here with the injury or whether it was caused by the fall, but there is an investigation and people have given their version of events, added the source.

When contacted a spokesperson for the hospital said: For reasons of patient confidentiality, we cannot comment on individual cases. All serious incidents are managed through the HSE Integrated Risk Management Policy.

The Limerick Leader has also learned of a 73-year-old woman who awaited a bed for four days in the hospital's ED on blood-stained bedding, despite being diagnosed with a blood infection.

Ann McNicholas' daughter Sharon Noonan said: When they were inserting the needle, on two different occasions she spurted out blood and it went on the sheet and her clothes, yet shortly after the doctor, having looked at her notes from her tests, told her she had a blood infection.

She is surrounded by the other patients and staff with the possibility of exposing them to infection, she said, and that is only her situation - what are all the other patients suffering from and due to the lack of hygiene care, what else is everybody been exposed to?

A ULHG spokesperson said: The Emergency Department has an adequate supply of clean bed linen to provide to patients when required. If any patient has a concern in relation to bed linen, they are encouraged to notify staff.

Earlier this week UHL hit national headlines as it became the most overcrowded hospital in the country, in a week that saw 760 patients awaiting beds nationwide according to INMO figures.

UHLs previous highest figure was experienced less than two months ago on November 25, with 85 people on trolleys.

As the crisis continued this week, 75 patients were left waiting for beds in UHL this Tuesday morning  40 of those in the emergency department alone.

This Wednesday, the number of patients waiting in the hospital's ED at 8am was 32.

This includes 11 patients being appropriately isolated in the ED, and by 5pm the number of patients on trolleys was 63.

The current capacity in UHLs ED is 78, with 49 in designated rooms, areas and cubicle areas and 29 on corridors.

We apologise that patients have faced excessive waits for a bed in recent days, said the spokesperson, however, we would like to reassure them that we are making every effort to alleviate the situation.
The grief-stricken fiance of Heidi Brousard says he doesn't think the woman arrested over her death in an alleged baby-stealing plot acted alone.

Shane Carey says he would like to look Magen Fieramusca, 33, 'straight in the eyes and ask her why' after she was charged with kidnapping and evidence tampering in relation to her friend's death.

But he added: 'I don't know what happened. Heidi is way stronger than Magen. There has to be a second person. There is no way Magen was by herself.'

Broussard was found strangled to death in the trunk of a car outside a home in Houston, Texas, on December 20 after she disappeared with her newborn baby Margot Carey a week earlier.

The baby was found unharmed inside the home where Broussard's close friend Fieramusca was living at the time with her ex-boyfriend Christopher Green.

Carey, speaking out for the first time since Heidi's death, told ABC: 'There's no reason for any of this. I believe somebody talked her into it. I mean, from knowing Magen, I would never imagine it.'

Shane Carey, reunited with baby Margot, says he would like to look Magen Fieramusca, 33, 'straight in the eyes and ask her why' after she was charged with kidnapping and evidence tampering in relation to her friend's death

Heidi Broussard (right) was found strangled to death in the trunk of a car outside a home in Houston, Texas on December 20 after she disappeared with her newborn baby Margot Carey. Her close friend Magen Fieramusca (left) has been charged with kidnapping after police say she faked being pregnant in an elaborate plot to steal Broussard's baby

Heidi Broussard (right) is pictured with Magen Fieramusca (left) in an undated photo

.@ABC NEWS EXCLUSIVE: Fiance of murdered mom speaks out after being reunited with infant daughter. @KayleeHartung

has the story. pic.twitter.com/dREK3ErP1E  Good Morning America (@GMA) January 9, 2020

An arrest affidavit says Fieramusca abducted Broussard on December 12 and packed her into a black duffel. Broussard's body was later found in the trunk of Fieramusca's car, according to the affidavit.

Police say she faked being pregnant in an elaborate plot to steal Broussard's baby.

No one has been charged in Broussard's killing. Police say they are still investigating.

Carey told ABC: 'She deserves more. She deserves way more. Heidi loved Magen, they had a great relationship. She was a friend. You would not suspect this at all. Like, at all.

'I went over about a thousand times in my head, I should have been there, I should have noticed something.

Heidi loved Magen, they had a great relationship. She was a friend. You would not suspect this at all. Heidi Brousard's fiance Shane Carey

'I'm waiting for that text message, like, "Hey sweetie, how we doing?" Just waiting to hear her voice. I still don't believe it. I just don't believe it. It's really not real.'

Carey has since been reunited with his daughter Margot, adding: 'I just wish her mom was her.'

Fieramusca is being held in the Travis County Jail on kidnapping and tampering with evidence charges. She denied being in Austin at the time of Broussards disappearance, the affidavit states.

But Carey questions why no one has yet been charged with murder, adding: 'I guess it's tampering with evidence, [but] how is no one charged? There has to be someone charged.

'I don't know why this happened. She had my baby in her room supposedly. So it had to be her. She had to be involved.'

Broussard gave birth to her daughter three weeks before she was killed. She is pictured above with her fiance Shane Carey who is also the father of her baby

Baby Margot was reunited with her father Shane Carey in Austin after she was found inside the Houston home on December 20

Fieramusca and Broussard were friends and met about a decade ago at church camp. At one point, Fieramusca had a key to Broussard's apartment and the women discussed being pregnant together, even considering that they might give birth on the same day, the court record states.

Carey said Broussard told him on December 8 or 9 that Fieramusca had given birth to a baby girl, but he never saw any photos of the child, the affidavit states.

The record does not make clear whether Fieramusca was ever pregnant, but investigators found discrepancies in her account of giving birth. In one conversation, she told a Texas Ranger that she went to the beach with a cousin on December 12.

But she later told the same officer that she gave birth on that day, although she was unable to provide specifics of her delivery, according to the affidavit.

Green and Fieramusca continued to share a home even after they broke up. On December 13, Fieramusca told Green that she had given birth without his knowledge and that the baby was in their home, the affidavit states.

An investigator later showed Green a missing persons flyer showing Broussard and her daughter. 'That's the baby at my house,' he allegedly responded.

Fieramusca is being held on a $600,000 bond and is set to appear in court on February 3.
The heckling of Union minister Babul Supriyo by Left-backed students union activists inside Jadavpur University in Kolkata on September 19 - an incident that forced governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to rush to the campus and rescue Supriyo - and an agitation by students of Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan on Wednesday over a lecture in which BJP Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta was gheraoed after he spoke on Citizenship (Amendment) Act, have much in common.

Politicians, student leaders and experts feel that both incidents, when seen against the backdrop of Sundays violence at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi, indicate that the student politics in Bengal is going through a churning process. The pace of this churning has apparently gained speed by the Trinamool Congress governments October 2019 decision to allow student union election in colleges and universities after putting it on hold for two years.

The Higher Education Department in mid-October last year sent a letter to the vice-chancellors of four universities - Jadavpur University, Presidency University, Rabindra Bharati University and Diamond Harbour Womens University - to conduct student union elections. At Presidency, the Students Federation of India, the student arm of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) won the elections. Polls are likely to be held in Jadavpur soon.

The agitation at Visva-Bharati took place because vice chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty is trying to let the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) form a base. In 34 years of Left rule, we never tried to hold any political programme at Tagores Visva-Bharati, said CPI(M) politburo member Md Salim. Students across India are rising against fee hike and loss of employment opportunities. The agitations are augmented by this anger and frustration of the young generation, Salim added.

Debjit Sarkar, West Bengal BJPs Yuva Morcha president, feels that the Marxists have lost relevance at the hustings and hence trying to make a comeback by using the campus unrest.

TMC chief Mamata Banerjee is tacitly helping the Left in this because she was scared to see Left votes shifting to the BJP in millions during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and local elections. She feels that if this trend can be reversed in some way her party may have better chances in the coming civic and assembly polls in Bengal, said Sarkar.

Banerjee is shedding tears for JNUs SFI union general secretary Aishi Ghosh but nobody said a word when students in some of Bengals schools were stopped from holding Saraswati Puja last year, said Sarkar.

The fact that the state government has allowed students union elections to be held can be one of the reasons behind these incidents but it is not the sole one. There is an unrest among youths across the nation because of they feel that the Centre should address issues that will secure their future. Students of engineering and science streams are scared by the state of the industry, said Kolkata-based political science professor Udayan Bandopadhyay.

And, it will not be entirely correct to link politics to this unrest. My daughter and all her friends, who study in an institution where there is no political union, took part in a march in protest against the JNU incident, Bandopadhyay added.

SFI national general secretary Mayukh Biswas claims that the students are preparing for a movement against what they see as the BJPs effort to apoliticise student politics and the incidents in Bengal are not isolated cases.

Banerjee also tried to muffle students in Bengal and dissolved college unions. Her party workers vandalized Presidency College in April 2013. What you see now is a festival of resistance, said Biswas.

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Trudeau has called for a thorough investigation into what caused the crash.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that Canadian officials have intelligence from their own sources and Canada's allies that shows Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 was shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile.

"This may have been unintentional," Trudeau said at a press conference in Ottawa, CNN said.

Trudeau has called for a thorough investigation into what caused the crash.

Read alsoNewsweek: Iranian missile system shot down Ukraine flight, probably by mistake, sources say

"The intelligence and evidence suggests that it's a surface to air strike," Trudeau added, though he would not provide additional details.

The U.S. increasingly believes that Iran mistakenly shot down the airliner, according to multiple U.S. officials. The working theory is based on continuing analysis of data from satellites, radar and electronic data collected routinely by U.S. military and intelligence.

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he suspected the crash was not due to mechanical issues, indicating that "somebody could have made a mistake on the other side."

Asked during a White House event what he thought happened to the plane, Trump said, "Well, I have my suspicions."

European security officials told CNN they believe reports suggesting that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile in error are credible.
After a hiatus of more than a decade, English-language editions of two picture books written and illustrated by the late Brooke Goffstein, published under the name M.B. Goffstein, will be back in print next year. New York Review Books will reissue Brookie and Her Lamb, a 1967 release from Farrar, Straus and Giroux; and Fish for Supper, which won a Caldecott Honor after its 1976 publication by Dial Press. The books return to print is due to the efforts of Edite Kroll, Goffsteins former editor, longtime literary agent, and close friend; and David Allender, the authors husband and current publisher of David R. Godine.

The professional relationship between Kroll and Goffstein, who wrote and illustrated more than 30 books for children and adults before her death in 2017, had deep roots. They first met in 1965, when Kroll was working as an assistant editor in the childrens department at Knopf. Editor Michael di Capua, then at Pantheon (Knopfs Random House sister imprint), had acquired Goffsteins debut picture book, The Gats!, which came out the following year, and Goffstein and Kroll became friends.

The two crossed paths again in the 1970s, when Goffstein began publishing with Charlotte Zolotow at HarperCollins, where Kroll was an associate editor. (In the interim, Goffstein had published many books with FSG after following di Capua there after he left Pantheon.) Since Charlotte knew that Brooke and I got along so well, I worked on some of her books, including My Noahs Ark and Neighbors, Kroll recalled. I had discovered years before, when I helped proof The Gats!, that Brooke was a perfectionist, fiercely determined to get her words and art exactly as she wanted them. While she was creating the illustrations for Neighbors, one little line she drew irritated herthe cord of a vacuum cleaner. She told me it took her an entire day to get it just right!

When Kroll opened her eponymous literary agency in New York in 1981, Goffstein became one of her first clients and, Kroll reported, I successfullyand persistentlysold rights to her books in other countries, including France and Germany. (Currently, Goffsteins work is also published in other territories, including Japan, where her books and tie-in merchandise are very popular.)

Charting a Different Course

As the 1990s dawned, Goffstein decided to stop publishing and she persuaded publishers to relinquish rights to her books even before the contracts had expired. This was a hard decision and so unusual that few people understood her reasons, Allender said. Things had changed in childrens publishing in this country, including the spirit of adventure, high-mindedness, and willingness to take risks. Brooke was very sad at first, then angry, then just resigned that it wasnt her world anymore. She was writing about art, artists, and the need to cherish the environmentshe didnt want to hear that children loved dinosaurs so write about that instead. She always believed that when you address a child, youre addressing someone just like yourself. Anything else was dishonest.

Allender noted that while Goffstein then devoted herself to planting trees and animal rescue and tackled an array of projects around their house with the same seriousness she brought to her published work, she did not abandon her craft. Brooke kept on writing and creating artall the way through her last days in hospice care. But she shared it all now with close friends and her students at Parsons School of Design, where she taught the art of childrens books. Her ideal were the poets of ancient China, and she could work and rework a single sentence for many months, seeking the fewest possible words to create the clearest image.

Finding a New Port

After Goffsteins death, Allender and Kroll together decided to pursue republishing some of her picture books, and agreed that New York Review Books, in Allenders words, was an absolute first choice as a publishing partner. No one is better at publishing reprints as if they were new titles.

The NYRB editorial team quickly climbed on board, senior editor Susan Barba reported, noting that she fell immediately in love with Goffsteins early picture books. Their black-and-white art and elemental simplicity seemed especially true to Goffsteins nature as an artist and author, she said, and has a unique, timeless feel that fits especially well with our list. After considering about a dozen and a half titles as potential reissues, Barba said she and her colleagues selected two of Goffsteins early books, Brookie and Her Lamb and Fish for Supper, since there is such a sense of humor in both stories, and it comes across differently in each book.

Allender was pleased to learn of NYRBs choice of titles. These two books have special meaning, he explained. Brookie was Brookes third book, but really the first where shed found her voice in both writing and art. And Fish for Supper came from her most cherished childhood memory of being with her grandparents for the summer on Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota. I hope adults and children will see the beauty and meaning and humor in these books that I do. Brookes voice was unique and beautiful, and Im privileged to help keep that voice in the world. In a world that seems to run on ugly anger, we need that voice now more than ever.

And, perhaps most rewarding for Allender is his sense that Goffstein, too, would be happy with the course the reissue venture has taken. Before Brooke died, she said, take care of my work and my cat,  he recalled. Then she added a lot of other things, but decisions about her work is the most difficult. Thankfully, we were married 30 years so, of course, her voice is always in my head. When Edite told me about NYBRs interest in republishing these books, I could hear Brooke say, Im glad, good going. Then shed ask about her cat.
Meng Jin. Custom House, $26.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-06-293595-3

Jins stunning debut follows 17-year-old Liya on her journey to China with the ashes of her recently deceased mother, a mysterious and mercurial woman whom Liya both loved and resented. Su Lan, her mother, was a former physicist from China who died in America, where she had lived and worked for nearly two decades. Intertwined with Liyas grief-stricken quest is the voice of Zhu Wen, Su Lans former neighbor in Shanghai, whose memory of Su Lan as a beautiful, charismatic, and fiercely brilliant physics student in a happy marriage to a handsome doctor does not square with the woman Liya knows. The third narrative strand belongs to Yongzong, Su Lans husband and Liyas father, who has long lost touch with Su Lan and has never known Liya. Liya arrives in China with only her mothers last known address, in Shanghai, where Su Lan had once lived with Yongzong. On first meeting Zhu Wen there, Liya realizes just how little she knew about her mother. Liya then visits the small mountain village where her mother was raised, and goes to Beijing, where she finds out what happened during the night of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, when she was born and Su Lan began to transform from a promising young student to a living ghost. Artfully composed and emotionally searing, Jins debut about lost girls, bottomless ambition, and the myriad ways family members can hurt and betray one another is gripping from beginning to end. This is a beautiful, intensely moving debut. Agent: Jin Auh, the Wylie Agency. (Jan.)
GST on textiles will not be increased from 5 to 12 per cent: FM Sitharaman

It is not BJP money: Nirmala Sitharaman on IT raids on 'Samajwadi perfume' trader

'Finance Minister' trends on twitter as Sitharaman skips pre-Budget experts meet

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Jan 09: Ahead of the union budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday, brainstormed with top economists at NITI Aayog to discuss the economic slowdown. Interestingly, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was not present.

The Prime Minister took suggestions on boosting consumption and generating demand in the economy. Home Minister Amit Shah, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari were also present.

This did not go well with the netizens as they questioned the travesty of the Modi-Shah government.

Ahead of Union Budget, PM Modi chairs meeting with top economists

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor too pointed that Sitharaman was not in attendance even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, among others, met the experts.

Woh sab toh theek hai, but where the hell is Finance Minister? https://t.co/1gBh77DPgh  Mohit Agarwal (@just_mohit) January 9, 2020

These 2 pics depict the sorry state of d economics of our country. Finance minister is not present where she is the most needed.Or is it like she isn't taken into consideration while making economic policies pic.twitter.com/EIyvAurXfG  Baburao Apte (@Baburao124421) January 9, 2020

And this is utterly crap, Finance minister consulting pre budget meet with @BJP4India people and uneducated modi is consulting with business leaders for budget. You guy gone made.? Is this budget for India or BJP@nsitharaman doesn't you feel cabinet is waste https://t.co/CSql8L6XO2  Vijay Reddy Aenugula (@vijayaenugula) January 9, 2020

Finance Minister missing in meeting with industrialists, just like Sushma Swaraj was reduced to twitter activity as foreign minister. Seems to be a pattern with Modi and women Ministers in his cabinet.  Anil Acharya (@aa3132) January 9, 2020

Where is the Finance Minister? Or has the Duo forgotten they have one? https://t.co/990NEDyQp4  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) January 9, 2020
China's Vice Premier Liu He gestures as he arrives for U.S.-China trade negotiations in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 10, 2019. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)

Chinas Vice Premier Liu to Sign US Trade Deal in Washington Next Week

BEIJINGChinas Vice Premier Liu He, head of the countrys negotiation team in SinoU.S. trade talks, will sign a phase one deal in Washington next week, the commerce ministry said on Jan. 9.

Liu will be in Washington from Jan. 13 to 15, said Gao Feng, spokesman at the commerce ministry.

Negotiating teams from both sides remain in close communication on the particular arrangements of the signing, Gao told reporters at a regular briefing.

President Donald Trump said on Dec. 31 that the agreement with China would be signed on Jan. 15 at the White House. Trump also said he would sign the deal with high-level representatives of China and that he would later travel to Beijing to begin talks on the next phase.

The Chinese delegation will include 10 officials, among them Zhong Shan, minister of commerce, Yi Gang, governor of the Peoples Bank of China, Liao Min, vice minister of finance, and Zheng Zeguang, vice minister of foreign affairs, as well as Chinas ambassador to Washington, Cui Tiankai, according to a U.S. source familiar with the preparations.

The deal reached last month is expected to cut tariffs and boost Chinese purchases of U.S. farm, energy, and manufactured goods while addressing U.S. concerns over intellectual property theft.

Washington, Europe, Japan, and other trading partners have found that Beijing steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology. Washington is pressing China to roll back plans for a state-led creation of global competitors in robotics and other industries that its trading partners say violate its market-opening commitments.

The Trump administration says some tariffs must remain in place to ensure Beijing carries out any promises it makes.

But no version of the text has been made public, and Chinese officials have yet to publicly commit to key points, such as increasing imports of U.S. goods and services by $200 billion over two years.

China will not increase its annual low-tariff import quotas for corn, wheat, and rice to accommodate stepped-up purchases of farm goods from the United States, senior agriculture official Han Jun said on Jan. 7, according to local media group Caixin.

The move could make it harder for Beijing to meet import commitments in a phase one trade deal. Trump said last month the agreement would likely double Chinas $24 billion in pre-trade-war purchases to $40 billion$50 billion annually.

When asked if China would have to reduce grain imports from other countries in order to meet its U.S. commitments, Gao said that China will continue to improve the administration of tariff quotas for wheat, corn, and soybeans in accordance with World Trade Organization commitments, and will make full use of quotas according to market conditions.

This isnt inconsistent with expanding agricultural imports from the United States, Gao said.

The United States began setting tariffs and other trade barriers against Beijing a year and a half ago over Chinas unfair trade practices, such as theft of U.S. intellectual property and subsidies that unfairly benefit Chinese state-owned companies.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Amy Schumer is one of the biggest - and busiest - comedians in Hollywood.

And last May, the 38-year-old took on her most challenging role yet when she gave birth to her first child, Gene.

But with motherhood comes great responsibility and Amy proudly admitted in an Instagram post on Wednesday that she owes her child's nanny a slew of thanks for making 'it possible for [her] to work' while ensuring baby Gene is kept 'happy and healthy.'

Can't do it alone: Amy Schumer took to Instagram on Wednesday to thank her 8-month-old son Gene's nanny for making it 'possible for [her] to work' while still keeping Gene 'happy and healthy'

'This is our nanny' introduced Schumer to her nearly 10million Instagram followers.

'I love her very much and we also both want to have nice skin' concluded the hilarious Trainwreck star.

The loving Instagram tribute included a selfie of Amy with her son's nanny, as they both donned skincare facial masks in Schumer's Upper West Side home.

Tough choice: In October, Schumer opened up on Instagram about how she was torn about returning to work, but believes the time spent apart from baby Gene has only made her appreciate their time more

Amy tagged the skincare giant, La Mer, in the post's caption, along with the Instagram page belonging to celebrity skincare specialist, Georgia Louise.

The I Feel Pretty actress has been extremely open with the public about all of her various thoughts and feelings around being a working mother in Hollywood.

And five months after Gene's birth, Amy got extremely candid on Instagram and explained how it was a bittersweet experience returning to work.

Whole family: Amy and her husband, Chris Fischer, welcomed Gene to the world in May of 2018

Look at that face: Amy is one of the few celebs who has continuously shared baby Gene's face on social media

'I'm feeling strong and good and like Im still a human being with interests and ambitions and goals Im excited to reach...'

She emphasized that it 'felt good to be back at work,' but that prior to her return to the spotlight she was overwhelmed by the fear of leaving Gene and that once she had returned she experienced many moments where she 'cried from missing him.'

But even with the influx of tears, Amy assured herself, and those that follow her on social media, that being a working mom has only energized her 'to be a better mom' and 'appreciate' her and her son's time 'even more.'

She admits that she has 'it a lot easier than many people' given her net worth of approximately $16million.

Family stroll: The family were spotted a few weeks after Gene's May birth enjoying a stroll through New York

Schumer and her husband, Chris Fischer, welcomed their son Gene into the world in May of 2019.

They announced that they were expecting just 8-months after they had tied the knot during a toned-down wedding reception on February 13th of 2018.

The couple were initially set up with one another in 2016 by Schumer's assistant Mary, who happened to be Chris' sister.
The amicable agreement signed by Ukraine and Russia's Gazprom late December 2019 does not foresee the return of assets seized earlier under the decision of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to the Russian company, Executive Officer of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy Yuriy Vitrenko has said.

"Within the framework of this settlement, Gazprom refused this compensation [in a lawsuit filed with the international tribunal for seized property]. It agreed that the value of its assets seized in Ukraine will never be returned and compensated. This story came to a close," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

As reported, the Antimonopoly Committee in January 2016 decided to fine Gazprom UAH 85.966 billion for abuse of its monopoly of the Ukrainian market for transit shipments of natural gas. On April 21, 2017, Ukraine's Justice Ministry initiated the execution of the ruling to collect the fine, a penalty, execution and court fees via freezing of assets of Gazprom in Ukraine. Gazprom's efforts to challenge these steps were a failure.

On October 25, 2018, Gazprom, in accordance with UNCITRAL arbitration rules, has initiated an arbitration settlement against Ukraine with the goal of safeguarding its interest on its territory in connection with Ukraine, in the form of the Antimonopoly Committee, has groundlessly and unjustly levied a fine against Gazprom amounting to more than $6 billion (including penalties) for supposedly abusing its monopoly position on the Ukrainian gas transit market.

The dispute of Gazprom with Ukraine on a $6 billion fine imposed by Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine was to be heard in Geneva.

At the end of December 2019, Gazprom and Ukraine's Justice Ministry concluded an irrevocable amicable agreement, which envisages termination of any current and possible future claims of Ukraine v. Gazprom based on the decision of the Ukrainian Antimonopoly Committee, which obliged the Russian side to pay a $7.4 billion fine.
New Delhi, Jan 8 : The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday gave its approval for the ratification of Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement between India and France.

The agreement, which was signed in March 2018 during the state visit of the French President to India, represents a major milestone in enhancing people-to-people contacts, fostering mobility of students, academics, researchers and skilled professionals and strengthening cooperation on issues related to irregular migration and human trafficking between the two sides.

It is a testimony to India's rapidly expanding multi-faceted relationship with France and symbolises the increasing trust and confidence between the two sides, a Cabinet statement said, adding that the agreement is initially valid for a period of seven years and incorporates provision for automatic renewal and a monitoring mechanism through a joint working group.
A 42-year-old Baton Rouge man accused in a fatal shooting over an alleged bicycle theft was indicted Thursday on a second-degree murder charge.

Johnnie Ulises Santiago is accused of shooting shooting Guillwane Kaufman in the head outside an Airline Highway convenience store the evening of Aug. 24, standing over him and then walking away, "leaving him for dead" on the side of Victoria Drive, an arrest report states.

+2 Man killed over alleged bike theft was McKinley grad, talented pianist: 'We need to value lives more' The man killed over an alleged bike theft last month was a talented pianist and singer who grew up in Old South Baton Rouge and graduated from

Kaufman, 36, died in the hospital several days later.

In the moments leading up to the shooting, Kaufman took a bike from outside the store and started to ride off, police said. Santiago exited the store and started chasing him, then pulled a gun and shot Kaufman.

Santiago faces a mandatory term of life behind bars if found guilty as charged.

+2 Man shot in head dies; charges against suspected shooter upgraded, Baton Rouge police say A man who was shot in the head last month died Friday at the hospital, and counts against the suspected shooter have been upgraded, Baton Roug

The case has been assigned to state District Judge Fred Crifasi.
ATLANTA, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- AAA Scholarship Foundation provides low-income and disadvantaged students the opportunity to attend schools of their choice via K-12 scholarships funded by companies that participate in their Georgia Qualified Education Expense Tax Credit Program. Through this state-approved tax credit program, companies that owe Georgia state income taxes can directly turn 100 percent of their educational scholarship donations into Georgia tax credits. The Georgia QEE Tax Credit Program allows companies to redirect up to 75% of state income taxes to AAA and receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit in return.

"This is a truly unique opportunity for companies to give at-risk students a chance for a brighter future and utilize tax dollars toward building a better-educated workforce," states Kim Dyson, President and CEO of AAA Scholarship Foundation. "Empowering economically disadvantaged parents to choose a school that best fits their child's learning needs helps to break generational chains of poverty and spur economic growth, and we rely on companies to fund these scholarships by partnering with us to redirect their tax dollars for maximum impact."

AAA has leveraged funding from tax credits to assist tens of thousands of economically-disadvantaged students successfully secure the resources needed to access quality K-12 educational options. The typical AAA scholarship student in Georgia is an ethnic minority living with a struggling single parent/caregiver in a high crime community; 84 percent of AAA's scholarships are awarded to students living in households with incomes at or below 185 percent of poverty.

The window to apply for the 2020 Georgia QEE Tax Credits is now open. To learn more about this opportunity and to start your application, visit https://www.aaascholarships.org/donors/Georgia/ .

About AAA Scholarship Foundation

The AAA Scholarship Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit scholarship organization, has invested more than 17 years devoted to passionately advocating for the under-served, under-represented and academically disadvantaged members of our communities. For more information or to learn how your corporation can participate in tax credit scholarship programs, visit https://www.aaascholarships.org/ .

SOURCE AAA Scholarship Foundation

Related Links

https://www.aaascholarships.org


Pakistan garments exports to EU increased

ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Commerce Thursday informed the National Assembly that as a result of Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP+), Pakistans garments exports to European Union (EU) had increased from $6.87 billion in 2013 to $7.98 billion in 2018.



In a written in the National Assembly, the ministry told that under GSP+ Pakistan had duty free access in the EU market for garments and apparel and Pakistans exports in garments and hosiery had increased by 92 percent.



It said the garment sector was one of the major sectors of the Pakistans exports basket and Ministry of Commerce had always undertaken several steps to get market access for the Pakistani garments in international markets through trade diplomacy and trade promotion.



The ministry said in all bilateral arrangements under free and preferential trade agreements with other trading partners textile sector and garments figured prominently.



In order to boost garments exports to China, the government had taken various steps. There was early implementation of the Phase-II of China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) which had been signed during visit of prime minister to China April, 2019 and implemented from January 1, 2020.



The phase II had offered favorable concessions to Pakistan which inter alia include immediate elimination of tariff on 313 tariff lines of Pakistans prime exports which included 91 tariff lines of garments.



In an effort to persuade textile products sourcing from Pakistan to China, the ministry led a delegation of 35 leading enterprises of textile and leather to participate in Li & Fung Vendor summit held in June15-19 in Shanghai.



The event helped in establishing B2B linkages for Pakistani enterprises with their Chinese counterparts. Following that China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) a leading textile and garment association of China had shown keen interest in the joint ventures.



To showcase Pakistani products in Chinese market, Pakistan participated in 1st China international Import Exhibition (CIIE) held in November 2018 in Shanghai wherein large number of Pakistani enterprises including garment industry participated.



In addition to receiving concession on 232 tariff lines under Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Indonesia, Pakistan had also gained unilateral market access on 20 top priority tariff lines at zero duty of these 20 tariff lines.



These 20 tariff lines constituted $ 4 billion of Pakistans global exports and cover over $ 600 million of Indonesias global imports. Concessions on these tariff lines had been come into effect from March 2019.



TEXPO, 2019 which was the biggest government level exhibition specific for the textile sector recently took place in Lahore in which delegates from more than 50 countries participated.



Heimtextil, Frankfurt and Heimtextil Moscow were the big textile exhibitions that Pakistan participated in and was planned for future years as well. This not only promoted our industry but also paved way for future endeavours.



Gatex Pakistan was an international exhibition particularly for garment, textile machinery and accessories. The subject exhibition was scheduled to take place at Lahore Expo Centre from March 11-14, 2020.



In order to boost garments exports to South-Korea, the ministry led business delegation of leading textile and leather enterprises to South-Korea and arranged Trade and Investment Conference in Seoul in August 2019.
The number of people who reach their 90s has risen steeply in the past decade, potentially creating a regional care crisis centred in the South East.

New Forest in Hampshire is estimated to have the highest proportion of over-90s in the UK, with nearly 2 per cent of its population a nonagenarian.

Six areas in the top 10 are concentrated in the same part of the country, according to analysis of official figures by pension firm Aegon.

Aging population: The number of people who reach their 90s has risen steeply in the past decade

This year, the total number of people aged 90 and above is expected to hit 616,000, or 0.92 per cent of the population.

That's up 36 per cent on the 452,800 total in 2010, which represented 0.72 per cent of the population then. The increase vastly outstrips the 7 per cent rise in the overall UK population in this period.

The figures highlight the tricky social care challenge faced by the Government, which promised during the election campaign and the Queen's speech to tackle it.

The Conservatives offered a 'guarantee' in their manifesto that no one needing care will have to sell their home to pay for it, and promised to make an urgent attempt to build a cross-party consensus with this as a condition.

How is care paid for at present? Under the current system someone's assets - including the family home - is depleted down to 23,250 if they need to go into a care home. If you need care in your own home, your assets must be depleted to a level set by your local council, which cannot be lower than 23,250, but your home is excluded from this means test.

While a deal is being sorted out, they will earmark an extra 1billion of funding every year for more social care staff, better infrastructure, technology and facilities.

The Government previously failed to deliver a promised social care plan to replace their unpopular idea in the 2017 election to introduce a 100,000 'floor' on personal contributions to care.

Analysis of where the oldest people in the country are located suggests the south east is under the greatest pressure in meeting their care needs.

Rother, East Sussex has the second highest proportion of nonagenarians, and Eastbourne in the same county is third - see the full list below.

The data also shows that the London borough of Tower Hamlets has the lowest proportion of over-90s, at 0.26 per cent.

East Dunbartonshire, west Scotland saw the biggest jump in its over-90s population between 2010 and 2020, with a 95 per cent increase.

But no regions in either Scotland or Northern Ireland made the top 10 in terms of proportion of population.

One in five baby boys and one in four girls are now forecast to live to 100, according to Office for National Statistics estimates.

Life expectancy: The New Forest in Hampshire is estimated to have the highest proportion of over-90s in the UK

'The South East has traditionally been seen as one of the wealthiest areas of the UK and while there are a number of factors that contribute to longer life expectancy, wealth can have an influence on aspects such as maintaining a healthy lifestyle throughout life and into older age,' says Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon.

'Improved life expectancies across the UK are something to celebrate but as our population ages its important to remember that a longer life requires more money to fund it.

'The latest figures show theres a real possibility well need to plan for an income to last well into our 90s.

'Our ageing society brings with it significant challenges, particularly with issues such as social care and access to public services and its important to recognise that demands will vary across the different areas of the UK.

'In the latest Queens Speech, the government has repeated its commitment to reforming adult social care and we hope this will now lead to a concerted cross-party action to solve this crisis.'

How will the Government tackle the social care crisis?

The Government plans to seek a cross-party deal that allows people who need care to ringfence their property from a means test.

At present, properties eventually have to be sold to cover bills if you need to move into a care home permanently, but not if you have care in your own home.

Property sales are delayed if you move into a care home but your partner still lives there. Age UK explains the rules here.

There have been many previous attempts at reaching a cross-party deal, such as by introducing a cost 'ceiling' to avoid some families facing catastrophic bills.

All have foundered, with proposals designed by government-backed experts ending up ignored or dropped.

It is currently unclear how the Tories' plan to ringfence people's properties might work in practice.

Everyone seems to agree people should contribute something towards their care in old age, while avoiding a health lottery where some end up facing outsize costs.

But there is no consensus that wealthy homeowners should be massively subsidised by other taxpayers who might be struggling financially.

What ideas are being floated to overhaul social care?

A dearth of Government proposals in recent years has led members of the House of Lords, former Tory MP Damien Green and the Association of British Insurers to tout their own plans to overhaul the social care system.

'Social care funding: Time to end a national scandal', published by the House of Lords' economic affairs committee last year, said some 1.4million people had an unmet care need in 2018 and the number of elderly and working age adults requiring help was increasing rapidly.

It called for the launch of universal free personal care by 2025 at a cost of 7billion, and an immediate extra 8billion a year in funding to restore care quality and access to 2010 standards.

Free care would cover 'essential help with basic activities of daily living, such as washing and bathing, dressing, continence, mobility and help with eating and drinking' for people with substantial and critical levels of need.

Green's report said everyone should receive basic care in old age, but fork out individually for extras like a bigger room and better food in a care home.

The ABI proposed tax breaks, a new Isa, and more opportunities for people to tap the value of their homes to help them pay for social care.

Insurer AIG surveyed the public last summer on how they would prefer to pay bills for support as their health declined.

A contingency fund option, where people would fund care needs by saving into a special fund that could be bequeathed to loved ones if it wasn't used, proved the most popular.
The Punjab government has decided to set up seven fast-track courts for speedy trial in rape cases.

Three special courts for the adjudication of sexual offences against children and 10 family courts will also be set up in the state.

These decisions were taken during a meeting of the state cabinet here on Thursday under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

The cabinet approved the setting up of seven fast-track courts to deal with rape cases, with the creation of 70 posts to manage them, an official release said here.

Four of these courts will be set up in Ludhiana and one each in Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ferozepur.

Seven posts of additional and district sessions Judge, along with 63 supporting staff, have been approved by the cabinet, the release said.

The courts, to be set up at an approximate annual expenditure of Rs 3.57 crore, will be implementing provisions of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018.

They will bring down the pendency of such cases, thereby facilitating adherence to the two-month timeline for the conclusion of a trial, the release said.

In another decision, the cabinet approved the creation of 45 posts for setting up three special courts for offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act at an approximate expenditure of Rs 2.57 crore per year.

In addition to the amendment in Section 173 of the CrPc in 2018, requiring the completion of the trial in rape cases within two months, the Supreme Court had desired that state governments should set up exclusive courts for rape cases against children, where the pendency of such case is more than 100.

At present, the pendency of rape cases against children in Ludhiana is 206 and 125 in Jalandhar.

Accordingly, the cabinet approved the establishment of two special courts in Ludhiana and one in Jalandhar to exclusively try rape cases against children.

It also approved three posts of additional district judge and an equal number of posts of deputy district attorney, along with 39 supporting staff, for these courts.

The cabinet also okayed the setting up of family courts in 10 districts of the state at an approximate annual expenditure of Rs 5.55 crore.

It has approved the creation of 90 posts for these courts, to be headed by a district judge/additional and district sessions judge, along with eight supporting staff members.

At present, Punjab has family courts in 12 districts.

The new ones will be set up in the remaining 10 districts of Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Fazilka, Kapurthal, Mansa, Roop Nagar, Sangrur, Sri Muktsar Sahib, SAS Nagar and Tarn Taran.

Family courts deal with matrimonial issues, including the decree of nullity of marriage, restitution of conjugal rights, dissolution of marriage, property of the parties to the marriage, legitimacy of children and proceedings of maintenance.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
MANILA, Philippines  Tons of trash have been collected halfway through this years Traslacion, local authorities said Thursday.

Data form the city government showed that around 70 tons of garbage  enough to fill 14 garbage trucks  were collected as of 10:21 a.m.

The volume of trash which are mostly left by the Catholic devotees participating in the procession were collected along Quirino Grandstand, Luneta Park and Ayala Bridge, the Manila Department of Public Services said.

The garbage collected could double by the end of the procession. Last year, officials said around 387 tons of trash were picked up after the Traslacion.

Manila Mayor Francisco Isko Moreno Domagoso earlier banned vendors from selling their wares along the procession route to reduce trash.

The Traslacion event this year might end a few hours earlier compared to the times recorded in the past years after authorities made adjustments in the security plan and the procession route.  RRD (with details from Correspondent Bernard Dadis)

The post 14 truckloads of trash collected halfway through Traslacion  Manila LGU appeared first on UNTV News.
As investigators sift through the charred wreckage of a jetliner that crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran, contradictory reports have emerged about what might have caused the Boeing Co. 737-800 to abruptly plunge out of the sky.

Iranian authorities initially blamed technical causes then said an engine fire most likely led to the loss of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, killing all 176 people on board. The Ukrainian embassy in Tehran at first ruled out terrorism, then amended its statement to offer no comment on possible causes.

Given that the crash on Wednesday came hours after a barrage of Iranian missiles were fired on U.S. bases in Iraq, speculation also turned to a possible accidental attack by Tehrans own air defense system.

The recently serviced, three-year-old jet went down without a distress call and after its global-positioning transmissions were cut off mid-air  unusual for a crash. A video purportedly shot by a bystander shows flames coming from the jet as it streaked across the night sky and burst into a fireball on impact.

The plane is on fire, an unidentified male voice can be heard on the video. In the name of God, God help, call the firefighters.

Meanwhile, the investigation is being hampered by the tension between Iran and the U.S.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which would normally be invited to participate in a crash of a U.S.-built jetliner, issued a cautious statement saying it is monitoring the situation. Long-existing U.S. sanctions against Iran require the NTSB to seek special permission to participate in any investigations in that country.

Irans Disaster Mitigation and Management Organization said early assessments indicated the cause was a technical issue, while the transport ministry suggested an engine fire was involved.

A veteran aviation accident investigator said the flight-tracking data and amateur video were unlike a typical engine failure or fire scenario. While the evidence is still sparse, its far more suggestive of a bomb or missile, said Jeffrey Guzzetti, former chief of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administrations accident investigation division.

Airplanes dont just catch fire and have that fire spread like that in such a short period of time, unless there was an intentional act causing that fire and explosion, Guzzetti said in an interview.

The tragedy recalled the 2014 downing of a Malaysia Airlines jet by a surface-to-air missile during the conflict over Crimea, eventually blamed by investigators on pro-Russia rebels. Complicating matters, Iranian officials havent been clear about how much access U.S. experts will be given to the probe, or to the 737s flight data recorders.

Ghasem Biniaz, the head of communications for Irans Ministry of Roads and Urban Developments, said reports of a missile attack are false, IRNA reported.

A state-run news outlet cited an official at Irans Civil Aviation Organization as saying the pilots didnt declare an emergency.

If the amateur video turns out to be genuine, it indicates the plane was essentially a fireball as it plunged, Guzzetti said. Bright lights emanating from the aircraft suggest explosions as well, he said.

Two other aviation safety experts urged caution about jumping to conclusions.

I wouldnt take anything off the table right now, said John Cox, a former airline pilot who is president of Safety Operating Systems. When asked about the potential for a bomb or missile, Cox said, Certainly they are going to look at external forces.

Its at least theoretically possible for a fast-moving cargo fire to take down a plane, said Roger Cox, a former NTSB investigator. A ValuJet plane crashed in Florida in 1996 after pure oxygen caused a raging inferno, he said. But even in that case, the plane flew for about 10 minutes, far longer than the Ukrainian plane.

Ukraine International said 167 passengers and nine crew were on the 737, an older version of Boeings narrow-body workhorse that predates the Max model that was grounded last year following two fatal crashes.

The model involved in the Iranian crash doesnt use the flight control system implicated in the Max tragedies and has one of the best safety records of any jetliner.

The Ukrainian jet lifted off and climbed to about 7,900 feet and was traveling at roughly 300 miles an hour when it stopped transmitting its position and disappeared, according to data supplied by FlightRadar24. Other aircraft operating out of Tehran were tracked normally, said FlightRadar24 spokesman Ian Petchenik.

The plane came down at 6:18 a.m. Wednesday in Sabashahr, near the Iranian capital.

Television footage showed recovery efforts at the crash site, with debris spread across a charred field. Ukraines foreign ministry said about half those on board held Iranian citizenship and that there were more than 60 Canadian citizens, as well as Swedes, Afghans, Britons and Ukrainians.

Canadas Transportation Safety Board said it has appointed an expert to review facts released by Iran and monitor the progress of the investigation.

Our government will continue to work closely with its international partners to ensure that this crash is thoroughly investigated, and that Canadians questions are answered, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement.

Ukraine International Vice President Ihor Sosnovskyi said in Kyiv that the plane, delivered to the airline new in 2016, was in good condition and had its last shop visit on Jan. 6. He said the crew was also very experienced and that there were no indications of human error, while declining to comment on possible reasons for the crash, the companys first since it was set up in 1992.

Under established protocols, Iran would lead any investigation because the crash occurred on its soil. Ukraine Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk said his government has informed Iran that its experts should take part.

Few nations have the expertise and technical facilities to conduct a full accident probe, however, so the U.S., France, Britain or other countries have provided assistance in the past. The planes crash-proof recorders will have to be downloaded in a specialist lab.

International rules for air-crash probes mean the countries that made the plane and its engines usually participate, providing technical expertise. But the current turmoil between Iran and the U.S. may complicate the involvement of the NTSB and Boeing.

Black Boxes

Accident investigations should stand above politics, Safety Operating Systems John Cox said. Im hopeful that all the governments will put politics aside and let a transparent accident investigation take place.

Hassan Rezaeifar, head of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organizations accident-investigation office, said its for Iran to decide how and where the planes so-called black boxes are decoded, as per the law, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Reza Jafarzadeh, a spokesman for the aviation organization, told Bloomberg News that his nation observes international protocols, and that Ukraine, as well as the planemaker, can take part in the probe.

Frances BEA hasnt been contacted for assistance but has helped Iran in the past, said a spokesman, Sebastien Barthe.

The tragedy comes at a tense time for both Iran and Boeing.

The Islamic republic fired more than a dozen missiles at U.S. bases in retaliation for the killing of Irans top general, Qassem Soleimani. Just prior to the crash, U.S. aviation regulators issued new restrictions barring civilian flights over Iraq and Iran.

The U.S. State Department issued a statement offering assistance to Ukraine. The United States calls for complete cooperation with any investigation into the cause of the crash, according to the statement.

Boeing is still gripped by one of the worst crises in its 103-year history after the two Max disasters led to the grounding of that fleet in March. The company said in a statement that its thoughts are with crew, passengers and their families after the tragedy, without commenting on the cause. The planemakers stock declined 1.7% to $331.68 at 3:53 p.m. in New York.

Engines for the single-aisle plane are made by CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Safran SA. A representative didnt comment on the details or possible cause of the crash but said by email that CFM extends heartfelt sympathies to the families and loved ones of those on board.

(Updates with additional detail and commentary by experts, beginning in fifth paragraph)

With assistance from Harry Suhartono, Kyunghee Park, Anurag Kotoky, Eduard Gismatullin, Angus Whitley, Layan Odeh, Paul Dobson, Will Davies, Rudy Ruitenberg, Volodymyr Verbyany, Julie Johnsson and Richard Clough.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
Scott Wester, center, chief executive officer for Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, speaks at The Advocate's 2020 Economic Outlook Summit, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020 at the Manship Theatre. Joe Zanco, chief financial officer for Home Bank, is at left, and Jonathan Walker, a senior commercial sales and leasing executive with Maestri-Murrell Commercial Real Estate, is at right.
More rural women are having babies in government hospitals.

Facilities have improved, but Bihar, discovers Archana Masih/Rediff.com, has a long way to go in public health.

Photographs: Archana Masih/ Rediff.com IMAGE: A nurse examines a pregnant woman. Complicated cases are referred to the more equipped referral hospital or the government hospital in the district.

A government ambulance stops outside the primary health centre in Nagra, Bihar. Three women, one of whom is pregnant, step out and make their way in.

The primary health centre is opposite a green field, near a precinct housing government administrative offices for the block. A block is a cluster of villages in a subdivision of a district.

Cycles and motorcycles are parked outside as people register themselves at the reception desk.

The health centre is the first point of contact between the government's health care system and the rural village community.

It is fairly clean. No flies or mosquitoes. Dustbins in different colours are marked for different wastes. A section of the small centre is allocated for maternity facilities.

There are around 5 to 6 deliveries every day, says a health worker. A marked change in recent years has been that home births have reduced drastically in the surrounding villages. Pregnant women come to the government or private hospitals for delivery.

"Institutional delivery has gone up to 70%, 4-5 years ago only around 40% women came to the government facility for delivery," says a health care worker at an NGO which works closely with the government in the health sector

IMAGE: The primary health centre is located by the government's administrative office in the block. It is the first point of contact between the government's health care system and the rural village.

The PHC has a six-bed maternity ward, where Samhita Devi has just delivered her first child, a boy, a few hours ago. She is eager to get back home, but is advised to stay for some more time by the nurse.

When she leaves she will be given a card with dates of future visits and vaccination information for the infant.

A room with a board saying 'cold chain' has two big freezers to store immunization vaccines. The nurse in charge of the cold chain says the PHC has improved considerably over the past few years.

"These rooms were used as godowns to store medical supplies. Hardly any patients used to show up, but now the PHC has patients throughout the day. One or two doctors are present here every day," she says.

As another nurse examines another pregnant woman, village healthcare assistants, called 'Asha didis' -- an acronym for Accredited Social Health Assistants -- accompany some pregnant women.

The maternity section has a number of posters providing information and instructions to staff and patients. From how to wash hands to how to wear gloves and how to revive a baby, some handmade posters in different colours show the baby's position in the uterus and symptoms of sepsis.

An oxygen concentrator, a suction machine and a machine to keep the baby warm are kept in the delivery room, which has a capacity for two tables, but had only one at the moment. Two of the machines were out of order and was expected to be repaired in a few days.

IMAGE: The inquiry desk at a primary health centre in rural Bihar.

The walls are pasted with a number of banners in Hindi with messages about free HIV tests for pregnant women, Kala Azar treatment, the 102 ambulance service, family planning etc.

The banners also provide information that all government primary health centres, district, referral hospitals and medical colleges provide Rs 4,000 to men opting for contraception.

ASHAs are paid Rs 400 for each person they bring to the health centre for contraception and Rs 600 for bringing a pregnant woman for delivery to the hospital. They are responsible for counseling the pregnant woman throughout the pregnancy.

One 'Asha didi' said her dues has been pending for a few months, and the government has not deposited the arrears in her bank account.

ASHAs are the frontline workers providing counselling about pregnancy, vaccines and contraception in the villages.

The onus for contraception is borne largely by women. Very few men opt for vasectomy, which is a 10-minute procedure. A man can go home 30 minutes after the procedure and can resume daily schedule two days later, says a poster at the entrance of the centre.

At this particular health centre there had been negligible contraception procedures done by men. "Women are expected to take care of this," says a young caregiver. "Though the government tries to do outreach work in the villages, this is an area where a lot of established myths have to be dispelled."

The centre's walls have many messages about maternal health and family planning.

The primary health centre has four doctors, including a dentist, who work in shifts. One doctor was on duty and the day's register showed a page-long list of those who had come seeking medical help.

The PHC also had a pathology lab for blood tests. The pathologist, on duty was testing blood samples.

Bihar is one of the two states, along with Uttar Pradesh, where the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has formed a partnership with the state government to improve health related issues in family planning, child immunisation, nutrition and infectious disease control.

IMAGE: The six-bed maternity ward with patients and relatives.

A new medical college is expected to be opened in the district, but despite of improvements in pre and post natal healthcare, Bihar is reeling under a gross shortage of medical staff.

In its reply to a Supreme Court notice after the death of 150 children due to encephalitis last summer, the state government said there was a shortage of 57% doctors, 71% nurses, 72% lab technicians and 50% auxiliary nurse midwives in its government-run health centres.

The government has advertised recruitment of nearly 6,000 posts in the health department. "There has been improvement in 102 ambulance service, the quality of service in hospitals, availability of medicines, but the gross shortage of staff has resulted in health workers operating in fire fighting mode most of the time," says a senior staff working in the health sector.

IMAGE: An ambulance brings a pregnant woman to the health centre.

With some successes and some failures in its health record, Bihar needs to shore up efforts and prioritise recruitment in the health sector and monetise health spending.
T he boss of John Lewis is to quit after sales slumped over Christmas and staff were warned they may not get a bonus for the first time since 1953.

Having started working for the retailer in 1994, she became its first female leader after taking over from Andy Street in October 2016.

But todays figures show that the companys Christmas advertising campaign, starring a fire-breathing dragon called Edgar, failed to ignite sales.

They dropped 2.3 per cent to 1.134 billion in the seven weeks to January 4.

People wait for the John Lewis store to open on Christmas Eve at Westfield / REUTERS

The biggest sales decline was in electrical and home technology, down by four per cent. Sister company Waitrose reported a 1.3 per cent drop in sales to 1.033 billion.

Ms Nickolds was due to become executive director of the brand, overseeing both divisions of the partnership in a newly created role, from February.

Chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield warned that the department stores profits will also be substantially down this year.

As a result, profits across the partnership as a whole will be significantly lower than last years 160 million.

He said: After reflecting on the responsibilities of her proposed new role, we decided that the implementation of the future partner structure in February is the right time for her to move on.

Sir Charlie, who is also quitting having announced his departure in November 2018, added: The board will decide whether it is prudent to pay a partnership bonus which will be influenced by our level of profitability, planned investment and maintaining the strength of our balance sheet.
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An ATF agent arrives on the scene of a reported shooting in the 4600 block of Hawthorne in Frankford on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020. Read more

A standoff between law enforcement authorities and a gunman, who for nearly two hours Thursday opened fire on officers from a second-floor perch in a Frankford rowhouse, ended abruptly when the man was fatally shot.

The firefight broke out just before 1 p.m. as state parole officers and U.S. Marshals arrived at the house in the 4600 block of Hawthorne Street, near Orthodox Street, to serve an arrest warrant, Philadelphia Police Deputy Commissioner Robin Wimberly said.

The man they were there to arrest retreated inside and started shooting. SWAT trucks and dozens of Philadelphia police officers swarmed the block in response.

Investigators had not identified the attacker as of Thursday evening. No other injuries were reported.

But as bullets rained down from above, the chaotic scene sent officers ducking for cover, five neighboring schools into lock-in status, and residents cowering in their homes.

As the shooting continued while classes were due to let out at Allen M. Stearne Elementary School on nearby Unity Street, a crowd of worried parents gathered.

Lakeisha Cleveland, 29, said she heard what sounded like more than 10 gunshots while inside her home on Mulberry Street, a half-block away. She ran toward Stearne, where her 7- and 9-year-old children are enrolled. Before she could get there, police told her to run.

My kids are stuck inside  without their parents, she said. I just want my babies back.

Others reported seeing SWAT officers firing beanbags at the rowhouses windows in an attempt to reach the shooter.

SWAT responded to the job [and] tried to make contact with the male, Wimberly said. [He] came to the window, began firing upon the SWAT officers. They returned fire and he was struck.

Thursdays shooting incident took place nearly six months after another gunman barricaded himself inside a rowhouse less than five miles away and shot at police for nearly seven hours.

Maurice Hill, 36, injured six officers from his perch on the second floor of a home on the 1500 block of North 15th Street in Tioga before he surrendered. He is awaiting trial on several counts of attempted murder.

Staff writers Maddie Hanna, Anna Orso, Claudia Vargas, and Chris Palmer contributed to this article.
The amount of blood that the heart pumps in one minute (cardiac output) can be directly measured safely in newborns by monitoring changes in blood velocity after injecting saline, indicates a paper published online Dec. 17, 2019 in the Journal of Pediatrics and Neonatal Medicine. The research, conducted by Children's National Hospital faculty, is believed to be the first clinical study of direct cardiac output measurement in newborns.

Right now, cardiac output is measured indirectly in the nation's neonatal intensive care units (NICU) using newborns' blood pressure, heart rate, urine output and other indirect measures. However, these techniques can produce imprecise readings in children. And the field lacks a feasible "gold standard" to measure cardiac output in newborns.

The COstatus monitor already uses ultrasound dilution - the expected decrease in the velocity of blood when saline is injected, producing a dilution curve. A Children's National research team used ultrasound dilution in their small pilot study to gauge the feasibility of directly measuring cardiac output in newborns.

Infants who stand to benefit most from directly monitoring cardiac hemodynamics are often so sick they already have central venous access. Using the COstatus monitor in these children would enable the clinical team to personalize care based on the newborn's current hemodynamic status, while introducing minimal fluid during measurements." Khodayar Rais-Bahrami, M.D., an attending neonatologist at Children's National and the study's senior author

The research team recruited 12 newborns younger than 2 weeks old who already had central venous and arterial access. The venous line of the arteriovenous AV loop is connected to the umbilical venous catheter while the COstatus monitor's arterial line is connected to the umbilical arterial catheter. During measurement sessions, two injections of solution are injected into the venous loop, allowing for two measures of cardiac output, cardiac index, active circulating volume index, central blood volume index and systemic vascular resistance index.

Infants enrolled in the pilot study underwent up to two measurement sessions per day for up to four days, for a total of 54 cardiac hemodynamic measurements. The newborns ranged from 720 to 3,740 grams in weight and 24 to 41.3 weeks in gestational age.

The infants' mean cardiac output was 0.43L/min and increased with gestational age. By contrast, the mean cardiac index was 197mL/kg/min and changed little with infants' increasing maturity - either by gestational age or postnatal age. Two of the study participants were undergoing therapeutic cooling for hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and had their measurements taken during cooling and after rewarming.

"Although this study size is small, it demonstrates that this minimally invasive technique can safely be used in newborns to directly measure cardiac hemodynamics," says Simranjeet S. Sran, M.D., a Children's National neonatalogist and the study's lead author. "This technology may allow for more precise and personalized care of critically ill newborns in a range of disease states - real-world utility in NICUs that serve some of the youngest and sickest newborns," Dr. Sran adds.

The research team notes that direct measurement by ultrasound dilution revealed a stark increase in cardiac index as infants undergoing therapeutic hypothermia were rewarmed, raising questions about whether indirect measures using other technology, such as echocardiography, underestimate hypothermia's effect on hemodynamics.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020 19:08 732 48be62e941b44f04afae568c321947e5 4 National rape,life-sentence,Britain,Pramono-Anung Free

Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung has deplored the criminal case involving Indonesian student Reynhard Sinaga who was found guilty this week of raping more than 130 men while studying in the United Kingdom, saying it tarnished Indonesias global reputation.

The case, whether we like it or not, has smeared our reputation, Pramono said as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday.

He said what Reynhard had done was against the norms and ethics held by Indonesians.

Indonesians are known for our eastern ethics, politeness and our respect for one another, he said while also raising concerns over the psychological impact on the victims.

Reynhards case made global headlines after a court in Manchester sentenced the 36-year-old PhD student to life on Monday on 136 counts of rape, eight counts of attempted rape, 13 counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual assault with penetration.

The UKs Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) called him the worst-known sex offender in the countrys history for attacking at least 195 men since moving to Britain as a student in 2007.

Moreover, Judge Suzanne Goddard described the man as an evil sexual predator who preyed on inebriated young men on nights out.

He is thought to have used sedatives to render his victims unconscious before filming the attacks. Most knew nothing about the assaults.

He was arrested in 2017 after one of his victims woke up and managed to snatch his mobile phone and take it to police.

The CPS said detectives discovered 3.29 gigabytes of graphic material of the sexual assaults, equivalent to 250 DVDs or 300,000 photos. (vny)
The beginning of the school year when you got to show off your new duds, new cars, new looks!

Sports! Playing, cheering, watching high school athletics.

The arts: Dramatic arts, musical groups and shows, graphic arts groups, debate, etc.

The prom! No dancing the night away or punch bowl antics.

The daily interactions. Just being with the group, hanging with friends and classmates.

Access to college recruiters and advisors  its harder to line up higher education.

Walking onstage to get a diploma while all the family is watching with everyone elses family.

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The Iranian missile attacks on two bases in Iraq were meant to kill U.S. troops and inflict major damage although they caused no casualties, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said Wednesday.

The ballistic missile launches "were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment, and to kill personnel. That's my own personnel assessment," Milley said of the Tuesday night attacks which hit Al Asad airbase in Anbar province and Erbil in the Kurdish autonomous region.

Related: Satellite Images Show Destruction at Al Asad After Iran Missile Attack

At an off-camera Pentagon briefing, both Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper gave a description of the attacks, appearing to rebut speculation that the Iranians may have intentionally missed targets to avoid an overwhelming retaliatory strike.

"My assessment is that they were intentional, given what was hit, the aim points," Esper said. The avoidance of casualties was "more due to the defensive techniques our forces used" than the intent of the Iranians, Milley said.

Esper and Milley also corrected the initial count of the number of missiles launched given by defense officials. A total of 16 missiles were fired from three locations in Iran, Esper said, rather than the 15 cited Tuesday night by a defense official.

Eleven hit Al Asad, one hit Erbil and four failed in flight, Esper said. He said U.S. forces in Iraq were still on high alert and were "poised and ready" for any additional actions by Iran.

Esper said damage assessments were still being conducted, but preliminary estimates indicated that tents, taxiways and possibly a helicopter and other property were damaged at Al Asad. Milley said there was no damage assessment at Erbil since the one missile landed outside the base.

Both Milley and Esper gave assessments of the way forward in dealing with Iran that appeared to be more guarded that those President Donald Trump gave earlier the same day in an address from the White House.

Trump said the absence of casualties could indicate that Iran was "standing down" from a confrontation with the U.S.. But Esper and Milley said they were focused on deterring future attacks by Iran or proxy groups.

"It's too early to tell" whether Iran will refrain from another attack to avenge the Jan. 3 U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian Quds Force leader Qasem Soleimani, Milley said.

"We've got to see what happens in the succeeding days and months," he said.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.

Read more: The Marines Still Haven't Found 2 Rifles That Went Missing at Lejeune
The Plateau State Police Command has said gunmen, suspected to be herdsmen, on Thursday, killed 12 persons and injured one at Kulben village of Kombun District of Mangu Local Government Area.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the command, Terna Tyopev, made this disclosure to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos.

Mr Tyopev, a deputy superintendent of police, said the incident occurred in the early hours of Thursday.

In the early hours of today, we received a distress call that gunmen, suspected to be herdsmen attacked Kulben community of Kombun District of Mangu.

As a result, 12 persons lost their lives and one severely injured.

Immediately we received the information, the commissioner in charge of the command, Mr Isaac Akinmoyede, directed the DCP in charge of Operations, Mr Aliyu Tafida to mobilise to the scene.

As I speak, our team of detectives and other officers are in the scene of the crime to prevent further attacks, he said.

Mr Typopev said the injured are currently receiving treatment at Mangu General Hospital.

He called on residents of the community to remain calm and be law abiding, adding that the police and other security agencies would do everything possible to bring the perpetrators to book.

No arrest is yet to be made, but we are doing everything possible to ensure the criminals are arrested and made to face the full wrath of the law, he assured.

He called on the public to provide the police with useful information that would enable them track down the perpetrators.

(NAN)
OTTAWA  The Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi had commended Ugandans living in the diaspora for investing in various enterprises back home as well as wooing other business entities to come and engage in public private investment partnerships.

While meeting a delegation of Canadian born Ugandans, who were led by Ugandas Ambassador to Canada Ruth Acheng, the Vice President hailed the diaspora for exhibiting patriotism and nationalism by ploughing back their earnings which contribute both to Ugandas foreign direct investment and economic development.

The Vice President hailed Ambassador Acheng for visiting a number of wineries in Canada and copying their expertise which she is now using to start SMEs for women across the country to start own wineries and boost their welfare.

Mr Ssekandi said that unlike countries in the west, Uganda boasts of a number of fruits that can make both juice, concentrates and wines as well as having two natural planting seasons.

He commended the ambassador and the Canadian Diaspora for organising last years Uganda-Canada Trade Expo which has started bringing positive results.

Ambassador Acheng said that Canada has a number of Canadian born Ugandans who are in influential positions and whose skills can benefit the country.

She introduced Dr. Lawrence Muganga, a Canadian born Ugandan to the Vice President, who is an education consultant and beneficiary of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation education innovation award of US1,000,000US dollar to revamp the education sector in, Africa of which Uganda is slated to be the first trial country.

The meeting was attended by the Deputy Principal Private Secretary to the Vice President, Vincent Kityamuweesi Musubire.

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"Just Mercy" tells the story of a real-life case. In 1987, Walter McMillian, a black woodworker from Monroeville, Ala., was driving home from work, when a police roadblock stopped him, and he was arrested for murdering a white woman.

The evidence against him was laughable, just the testimony of a convicted felon who received a deal in exchange. The evidence in his favor was voluminous, including a dozen eye witnesses that were with him at the time of the murder, miles away from the murder site. So, of course, you guessed it  the state of Alabama sentenced McMillian to death.

As a movie, "Just Mercy" doesn't have quite the punch it should. It could use a little more anger and a little less sentiment. It could be shorter. It could have a less flowery soundtrack. And it could be more pointed in its attack. At times, it seems to want to make a case against the death penalty in general, rather than expressing outrage at flagrant and maddening miscarriages of justice.

But the movie has two things in its favor, which just happen to be the best things it could have. It has strong performances, and it has a good story.

Michael B. Jordan plays Bryan Stevenson, an Ivy League lawyer who passes up the big money in favor of relocating to Alabama and fighting injustice. He books a series of meetings with men on death row and comes upon McMillian, who, at this point in his life, is so spiritually beaten that he's beyond hope. In Alabama, he says, a black man is "guilty from the moment you're born."

The role of McMillian brings out some of the best acting of Jamie Foxx's career. He gets under the skin of the character. He changes the rhythms of his speech and suggests a history of practiced diffidence and a current life of impotent rage. There's turbulence behind his eyes. And everything he does is modulated and thought out, with the character's climactic moment in mind. His performance is all of a piece and always heading somewhere.

The details are illuminating. It's terrible to think that a white sheriff might, for reasons of culture or unconscious racism, assume a black defendant to be guilty. That's bad enough. But it's a crime of a whole other order for law enforcement to frame a man they know to be absolutely innocent, and for a district attorney to know the truth and not care. That's beyond shocking. That's plain evil.

With such a tale of outrage, it's surprising that director and co-writer Destin Daniel Cretton should take such a cool approach. There's a languid feeling to the movie that's dramatically inappropriate, and often the film seems more interested in the larger issues surrounding McMillian rather than the McMillian case itself. Yet at the same time, to the extent the movie has a message, it's scattershot.

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It's one thing to say that the death penalty should be abolished because innocent people, from Jesus all the way up to Mata Hari, have been wrongly executed by the state. It's quite another to say that the death penalty should be abolished because it is, in itself, wrong. Either is a supportable point of view, but they're hardly identical points of view, and the movie's attempt to make two arguments at once is self-defeating. In practice, this means that the filmmaker expects the audience to care about Walter, who's innocent, but also care about Walter's fellow inmate, who blew up a woman with a bomb. Without even seeing the movie, one could imagine that sympathy in the latter case might be something of a stretch.

Still for all its tepidness, vagueness and longueurs, "Just Mercy" holds our attention by its conscientious depiction of a life and death situation. And it more than justifies its existence by making us aware of injustices that most of us have had the comfort never to consider. Michael B. Jordan continues to hold the screen as one of the most promising of young leading men. And Tim Blake Nelson leaps out in a couple of key scenes, as the prisoner whose false testimony sent a man to death row.

"Just Mercy" isn't the best movie that could have been made from its subject, but it's good enough.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- CES, which descends on Las Vegas once a year, is where tech companies showcase to the world what achievements they have made and what they hope will be the next big technical breakthroughs.



At this year's CES, Chinese largest SUV and pickup manufacturer Great Wall Motor (GWM) announced a cemented cooperation with Neusoft, a Chinese leading IT-enabled solutions and services provider, to jointly develop a future-oriented in-car central computing platform based on the latter's self-built VCP (vehicle computing platform).



Adopting the idea of domain control, the platform will integrate the computing power and decision-making capability of ECUs (electronic control units), infotainment system, instrumental panel and body control system into a central computing unit, so as to balance the computing power among cloud, edge and devices. It is equivalent to adding to the auto system another CPUs which are able to swiftly take over the safety functions when the working CPU is in malfunction.



Using the special internal structure, the platform is design to enhance the disaster recovery and fault tolerance of vehicle electrical & electronic architecture for the sake of driving reliability, and boost the iteration of in-car hardware and software in a bid to improve users' driving experience.



According to a strategic cooperation agreement signed before the CES, both parties would join hands to develop in-vehicle computing platform, cloud services, big data and edge-cloud synergy, and deepen the intelligence level of cockpit by ameliorating software and hardware, helping GWM advance its capabilities in data fusion, intelligent decision-making and cooperative control.

The Baoding-based automaker has partnered with Huawei, China Mobile, NavInfo and Baidu to develop intelligent cockpit, which was much discussed by the industry last year due to its attribute to better display the value of a vehicle's internal space and the potential to generate more profits.

Neusoft, the 29-year-old IT-based solutions and service supplier, previously formed collaboration with GWM in fields such as in-vehicle infotainment system and T-Box.
The Thailand Yacht Show is on!

The wait is finally over as the fifth edition of the Thailand Yacht Show, the country's largest marine and luxury lifestyle event, opens its doors to an expected 5,000 visitors at the award-winning Royal Phuket Marina over the next four days.

marinetourismtransport

By Sponsored

Thursday 9 January 2020, 11:01AM

The official schedule of events for the Thailand Yacht Show. (Open image to view larger version.)

Its that time of year again as the Thailand Yacht Show welcomes the worlds leading yachting brands and luxury products to the island of Phuket.

As the world ushers in a new decade, the Thailand Yacht Show has extra reason to celebrate as the 2020 edition marks the fifth anniversary of the countrys premier maritime and luxury lifestyle event.

Since 2015 when the horns blew for the first time, the Thailand Yacht Show has welcomed over 18,000 visitors, showcased over 200 motoryachts, sailing boats, multihulls and RIBs and delivered an interactive experience that goes way beyond that of a boat show.

And, for 2020, both visitors and exhibitors alike can look forward to their best show yet, with a wide range of activities, live demonstrations, festivals and glamorous parties planned as well as the chance to see almost 50 yachts of all sizes in the water plus an enviable range of prestige products, marine equipment and luxury properties situated throughout the stunning backdrop that is Royal Phuket Marina.

Growing from strength to strength, the Thailand Yacht Show continues to attract strong representation from the regions leading brokers and their prestigious international yachting brands and is honoured that over 15 models will make their national, regional or world debuts at the Show! Regardless of individual tastes or budgets, a walk through the marina at the Thailand Yacht Show is one of the highlights of the year in Phuket. And this edition will be no different!

Whilst the main attractions will, of course, be the flotilla of stunning yachts and luxury exhibits, the Show offers its visitors a full programme of art exhibitions, fashion shows, sailing demonstrations and masterclasses for budding artists, sommeliers and photography enthusiasts. Make sure you check out our inaugural Childrens Day Music Festival, held on the Saturday 11th January in the Town Square, and watch local students and professional musicians perform classical scores and jazz compositions.

And, of course, a yacht show wouldnt be a yacht show without a party or two. From the Official Welcome Party to Sundays closing bash, get-togethers on the docks to glamorous yacht parties, there will be plenty of opportunities to mingle, network or simply catch up with friends and family.

Whether youre in the market for your next dream purchase or simply looking to unwind after the busy festive period, the Thailand Yacht Show is the countrys best opportunity to learn more about the yachting and boating lifestyle in a friendly and highly social setting. We hope that you enjoy the Show!

The fifth edition of the Thailand Yacht Show will be jam-packed with exciting side-events, familyfriendly activities, workshops and seminars. Royal Phuket Marinas delicious food and beverage outlets will be open from 09.30-22:00 so you can support the Shows outlets both before and after

The official show opening times are:

11:00  19:00 Thursday 9th January

11:00  19:00 Friday 10th January

11:00  19:00 Saturday 11th January

11:00  18:00 Sunday 12th January



For more information visit www.thailandyachtshow.com or email info@thailandyachtshow.com
A person who managed to get on the BART trackway between the Pleasant Hill/Costa Contra Centre and Concord stations on Wednesday evening has been safely removed from it early Thursday, according to BART officials.

The individual - who wasn't identified - was removed from the trackway around 2:35 a.m. Thursday after negotiations with law enforcement, BART officials said.

The incident started just after 6 p.m. and created a messy Wednesday evening commute, forcing trains to terminate at Pleasant Hill and a bus bridge to be established to the Concord Station.

"It is very difficult to replace BART's capacity and we are thankful for our regional transit partners," BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said Wednesday.

The bus bridges in partnership with County Connection started at 7:37 p.m. and continued past midnight Thursday.

Regular service is expected to resume for the Thursday morning commute starting with the first trains around 4 a.m.

The master developer and the labor consortium poised to build a new 2,300-acre residential and commercial community on the former Concord Naval Weapons Station land were directed by the Concord City Council Wednesday night to resume meeting and redouble their efforts to break an impasse over labor agreements stalling the project.

This move headed off, at least for a while, the possibility of the huge project suffering a major time setback - or perhaps canceling it altogether.

Wednesday night's vote 4

1 vote - Councilwoman Carlyn Obringer abstained - came in response to an impasse between the Contra Costa County Building and Construction Trades Council, a consortium of area labor unions, and Lennar Concord, LLC, the lead developer of the weapons station remake, formally known as the Concord Community Reuse Project.

The crux of the impasse is whether Lennar can afford to use as many labor union workers as county labor leaders propose. Lennar officials have said that the difference between Lennar's overall labor offer and the Building Trades Council's overall request is about $546 million.

Since June 2018, the developer and the union consortium have met nine times, and reached an impasse in October.

The Oakland Department of Transportation and shared-mobility service provider Lime launched the first-ever e-scooter pilot program for riders with disabilities on Wednesday.

Oakland officials said the pilot program features an e-scooter intended for riders who are not comfortable or unable to stand for a long time or have limited capacity for walking.

They said the program will make it easier for Oakland residents with disabilities to travel and commute to work and home.

Former deputy public defender Chesa Boudin has been inaugurated as San Francisco's 30th district attorney.

Boudin was sworn in on Wednesday by Mayor London Breed during a ceremony at the Herbst Theatre, attended by several city and state officials.

During the ceremony, Boudin discussed several goals of his during his time in office, including ending the cash bail system and addressing racial disparities within the criminal justice system that have led to jails overcrowded with African-American and Latino inmates.

Boudin also said he'd like to work with police to reduce property crime, with auto burglaries at the top of his list.

Another flu death was reported in Monterey County on Tuesday night, bringing the total this season to three in the county and at least 55 statewide.

Flu season had an earlier start than usual in 2019 and deaths have occurred faster than last year.

As of Dec. 28, the most recent data released by the state Department of Public Health, there had been 54 flu deaths in California. Through the same period a year ago, there had been 42.

In Monterey County, Tuesday's death is the first of the new year.

State officials warn that there have been above-expected levels of hospitalization this year. The health department recommends everyone six months and older get a flu vaccine.

Vallejo police arrested a suspect Wednesday in the shooting of a 20-year-old man in a vehicle last month.

The victim, a Vallejo resident, was found in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market at 501 Sereno Drive around 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 23 with multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition and is expected to survive, police Lt. Fabio Rodriguez said.

Police detectives located surveillance video that captured the shooting. It showed the suspect walking toward the victim who was sitting in a parked car. The suspect then fired multiple shots into the vehicle, Rodriguez said.

Police identified Spencer Thomas, 42, of Vallejo as the suspect, and he was arrested around 5:20 a.m. Wednesday on suspicion of attempted murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Thursday will be partly cloudy in the morning, then becoming sunny and breezy. Highs will be in the mid 50s. Northwest winds will be 20 to 30 mph, before becoming north winds at 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon.

Thursday night will be clear. Lows will be in the 40s. North winds will be 5 to 10 mph, before becoming southeast winds after midnight.

Friday will be sunny. Highs will be in the mid 50s. Southeast winds will be 5 to 10 mph, before becoming west winds at 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon.

Copyright  2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
Coverys European Holdings Ltd. (CEH), the London-based agency platform that invests in managing general agencies (MGAs) in Europe and the U.K., announced it acquired AEC SpA, a Lloyds coverholder, broker, third party administrator and MGA.

Financial details of the acquisition, which is CEHs first, were not disclosed. CEH specializes in the professional lines sector.

Based in Rome, AEC provides specialist liability products for private and public bodies in Italy. It will retain its existing and established brand.

The AEC team, led by CEO Fabrizio Callara, will continue to manage the business and work with CEH to leverage technology and their combined expertise to enhance underwriting performance, gain operating efficiencies, and drive growth, said a statement issued by CEH, a subsidiary of Coverys, the Boston-headquartered professional liability insurer, which also operates Coverys Managing Agency at Lloyds.

AEC is a business that we have known for some time, and I am delighted they are the first MGA to join the CEH group, said Steven Spano, CEO of CEH. Fabrizio and his team have built an excellent reputation through expert, specialist underwriting. I am certain that our combined strengths will enable us to take AEC to the next level.

AECs CEO Callara said: We are pleased to join the CEH group and look forward to a successful collaboration. Steven and the team are building a world-class underwriting business, and I am confident that their focus on helping entrepreneurial underwriters realize their ambitions will allow AEC to achieve our collective growth initiatives in the Italian market.

Source: Coverys European Holdings

Topics Mergers Agencies Excess Surplus Europe Insurance Wholesale Lloyd's
Up to ten companies selected from this event will move on to the "Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!" on October 4, 2020 in Toronto, Canada to compete for up to $250,000 in grant awards. These companies also receive a spot in the MedTech Innovator 2020 Accelerator  Pediatric Track, which provides a customized curriculum and in-depth mentorship. The goal of the competition and accelerator is to increase the pace of development and commercialization of critically needed pediatric medical devices for the benefit of children everywhere. Applications are currently being accepted until midnight, Eastern Standard Time, on Feb. 15,2020. Results for the March 2020 NCC-PDI pitch event are announced in late May 2020.

Now in its seventh year, NCC-PDI is led by the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children's National Hospital and the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland. Additional consortium members include accelerators Medtech Innovator and BioHealth Innovation, along with design firm partner Archimedic. NCC-PDI is one of five FDA-funded nonprofit pediatric device consortia focused on facilitating the development, production and distribution of pediatric medical devices.

"While there is a great need for pediatric devices in many specialty areas, the development and commercialization process is very challenging because of the small market size and dynamic characteristics of the patient population," says Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., MBA, PMP, vice president and chief innovation officer at Children's National Hospital and principal investigator of NCC-PDI. "To provide pediatric innovators with greater support in meeting these unique challenges, we must go beyond grant funding, which is why we are collaborating with MedTech Innovator to offer an accelerator program with a pediatric track."

To date, NCC-PDI has mentored over 100 medical device sponsors to help advance their pediatric innovations, notes Eskandanian, with six devices having received either their FDA market clearance or CE marking. She says the success of NCC-PDI's portfolio companies is attributed to funding, mentorship, support from partners, facilitated interactions between device innovators and potential investors, and being discovered during their presentations at the signature "Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!" competitions.

While advancements have been made in some pediatric specialties, there is still a critical need for novel devices in cardiovascular, orthopedic and spine, and NICU areas. On average over the past decade, only 24 percent of life-saving medical devices approved by FDA  those that go through PMA and HDE regulatory pathways  have an indication for pediatric use. Of those, most are designated for children age 12 or older. "Devices designed specifically for the younger pediatric population are vitally needed and, at this early stage of the intervention, can significantly improve developmental outcomes for a child," Eskandanian said.

"Innovators who choose to specialize in the pediatric market face a unique opportunity to improve quality of life not only for thousands of children, but also for their families and caregivers," says William E. Bentley, Ph.D., Robert E. Fischell distinguished professor and director of the Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices at the University of Maryland. "We want to help innovators overcome the challenges to achieving this."

The "Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!" final competition on Oct. 4 in Toronto is part of the 8th Annual Pediatric Device Innovation Symposium, a one-day conference organized and hosted by Children's National Hospital, that brings together the full spectrum of stakeholders from the public and private sector to examine the progress and the challenges of bringing pediatric medical devices to market and explore new solutions. For innovators, it provides a great opportunity to network with investors, clinical and regulatory experts, medtech executives and others.

"Our expertise at MedTech Innovator is in identifying the most promising medtech startups and helping ensure that transformative technologies successfully reach patients and improve lives, and that's what we look forward to accomplishing with this cohort of pediatric innovators," said Paul Grand, CEO of MedTech Innovator, the premier nonprofit accelerator in the medical technology industry. "Our pediatric accelerator track will help innovators address their unique challenges and refine their value propositions, in addition to providing mentoring by key industry leaders and investors."

Eskandanian says that enhancing access to resources for pediatric innovators is also one of the aims of the Children's National Research and Innovation Campus, a first-of-its-kind focused on pediatric healthcare innovation, currently under development on the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus in Washington, D.C. With its proximity to federal research institutions and agencies, universities, academic research centers, as well as on site accelerator Johnson and Johnson Innovation  JLABS, the campus will create a rich ecosystem of public and private partners which, like the NCC-PDI network, will help bolster pediatric innovation and commercialization. Opening is scheduled for December 2020.

For more information and to apply for the upcoming NCC-PDI pitch competition, visit https://medtechinnovator.org/pediatricapply/.

About Children's National Hospital

Children's National Hospital, based in Washington, D.C., has served the nation's children since 1870. Children's National is the nation's No. 6 pediatric hospital and, for the third straight year, is ranked No. 1 in newborn care, as well as ranked in all specialties evaluated by U.S. News & World Report. It has been designated two times as a Magnet hospital, a designation given to hospitals that demonstrate the highest standards of nursing and patient care delivery. This pediatric academic health system offers expert care through a convenient, community-based primary care network and specialty outpatient centers in the D.C. Metropolitan area, including the Maryland suburbs and Northern Virginia. Home to the Children's Research Institute and the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation, Children's National is the seventh-highest NIH-funded children's hospital in the nation. Children's National is recognized for its expertise and innovation in pediatric care and as a strong voice for children through advocacy at the local, regional and national levels. For more information, visit ChildrensNational.org or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

About the University of Maryland

The University of Maryland, College Park is the state's flagship university and one of the nation's preeminent public research universities. A global leader in research, entrepreneurship and innovation, the university is home to more than 40,000 students,10,000 faculty and staff, and 280 academic programs. Its faculty includes two Nobel laureates, three Pulitzer Prize winners and 58 members of the national academies. The institution secures $514 million annually in external research funding. The university's Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices seeks to catalyze the transformation of basic research into clinical practice and commercial success. The Institute aims to drive innovation by immersing creative and energetic scientists and engineers in a nurturing and rewarding research environment where engineered health systems are conceived of and investigated. The Institute is comprised of staff, resources, facilities, and a network of experts who not only facilitate prototyping and manufacturing expertise, but who also facilitate venture creation, intellectual property creation, and product passage through various clinical, regulatory and reimbursement hurdles. For more information about the University of Maryland, College Park, visit www.umd.edu

About MedTech Innovator

Based in Los Angeles, Calif., MedTech Innovator is the premier nonprofit startup accelerator in the medical technology industry. Its mission is to improve the lives of patients by accelerating the growth of companies that are transforming the healthcare system. MedTech Innovator matches healthcare industry leaders with innovative early-stage and emerging growth medtech companies for mentorship and support. Founding sponsors include Johnson & Johnson and RCT Ventures, and annual program sponsors include Baxter, Boston Scientific, NIPRO Medical, Olympus Medical Systems, W. L. Gore, Asahi Intecc, BTG, Fujikura, HOYA, Jabil, JOHNAN, Maxim Integrated Ventures, EdgeOne Medical, Experien Group, Greenlight Guru, Proxima Clinical Research, Westwood & Wilshire, and Ximedica. The organization's industry partners include AdvaMed, Health+Commerce, MedTech Strategist, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. For more information about MedTech Innovator, visit https://medtechinnovator.org/ and follow @MedTechAwards on Twitter.

SOURCE Childrens National Hospital

Related Links

https://childrensnational.org


Atlantas police chief has ordered a halt to all police car chases after crashes that killed or injured people.

I dont want to see us cost someone their life in pursuit of an auto theft person or burglar when the courts arent even going to hold them accountable. I mean, how can we justify that? Chief Erika Shields said during a news conference Friday afternoon.

Two men were killed last month in Atlanta when their car was hit by a stolen car evading police, police said.

The chief said the order will stay in effect while she reviews a chase policy that has been in place since 2018. Changes might include allowing only highly trained officers to take part in chases, Shields said.

I have not heard of any department totally restricting pursuits without some exception for extreme situations such as active shooters or terrorists, said Jack Rinchich, president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police in Titusville, Florida. However, he said, restrictions on vehicle chases are not something his organization keeps statistics on.

Bill Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations, said he hadnt heard of such a policy, but it wouldnt necessarily have come to my attention.

Before calling the news conference, Shields sent a department-wide memo about her decision, news outlets reported.

She said she would rather err on the side of safety, even though her decision may increase crime.

Although some of the departments biggest arrests resulted from zeroing in on a specific vehicle, she wrote in her departmental memo, she had to weigh that against factors such as officers pursuit training, the rate of injuries and deaths as a result of chases, and lack of accountability through the criminal justice system.

Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his office is working with the Atlanta Police Foundation to improve the system.

I am not sure of the connection between police chase policies and a flawed judicial system, but I am sure that we will continue to listen to our partners and work with them to make it better, he said.

Shields said she wants more emphasis on investigative techniques.

The policy under review authorized pursuit if a suspect had a deadly weapon, posed an immediate threat of violence to officers or others, or if officers believed the suspect had committed or threatened serious physical harm. Up to three police vehicles could join a chase, and all were required to use headlights, sirens and flashing blue lights.

Restrictions on police chases have been discussed for decades, and many have been implemented. Numerous departments restrict chases to more serious crimes, Johnson said.

Many have also added a requirement during a chase that someone on duty, typically a sergeant or lieutenant, has to be looped in to make decisions on whether the chase continues to be justified, he said.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Auto Law Enforcement
President Donald Trump's killing of an Iranian military leader will haunt him and drag the U.S. into an "endless war," according to one analyst at a Libertarian think tank. The U.S. assassinated Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani late last week with an airstrike on Iraq's Baghdad Airport. Iran retaliated Wednesday by firing missiles at two Iraqi bases where American soldiers are stationed, although no casualties were reported and U.S. forces suggested there had been minimal damage. "Frankly, everything that's happened with U.S.-Iranian relations since the president left the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) and imposed these maximum pressure sanctions, everything since then has failed," Christopher A. Preble, vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, told CNBC's "Street Signs" Thursday. Preble said in an article earlier this week that Trump is "stoking an endless war" in the Middle East for the U.S. and that his attack on Soleimani will "come back to haunt him and us."

Horrible strategy

When pressed on one theory that Trump's targeted killing was part of a strategy to help him win the U.S. election later this year, Preble was dismissive. "If it is, I think it was a horrible one. I think it is quite clear the American people are already tired of the wars in the greater Middle East and adding another enormous conflict is not in President Trump's political interest, and more importantly it is not in America's strategic interest." The JCPOA is an international agreement which obligated Iran to give up 98% of its stockpile of enriched uranium, scrap two-thirds of its operating centrifuges and allow U.N. inspections of the country's now limited nuclear operations. In exchange, international economic sanctions placed on Iran would be removed.
File image

Against the backdrop of JNU violence, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday said the BJP-led central government is using "dictatorial" policies which need to be answered through the non-violent way of Mahatma Gandhi.

He was speaking after flagging of the 'Gandhi Shanti Yatra' of former Union minister Yashwant Sinha in the city, where former Maharashtra chief minister and Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan and state minister Nawab Malik were present.

"The government is using dictatorial policies. What happened in JNU is being opposed across the country. The government's dictatorship needs to be answered with Gandhiji's way of non-violence," a statement said quoting Pawar, after the yatra was launched at the Gateway of India here.

Pawar also said that an atmosphere of fear is prevailing in the country on the Citizenship Amendment Act and the Nation Register of Citizens.

He accused the government of creating a situation where people are feeling that they will have to stay in camps set up by government in case they do not have required documents.

"People are disappointed with the government due to the situation that has arisen in the country. Hence, they have taken to streets in big number. They need to be shown the right path, which is Gandhiji's way of non-violence, which can save the Constitution," the statement quoted Pawar as saying.

The 'Rashtra Manch', led by former Union finance minister Sinha, launched the yatra seeking repealing of the CAA and a declaration from government in Parliament that the NRC will not be registered across the country.

Sinha on Wednesday told reporters that protesters also want the government to ensure a judicial probe into the "state-sponsored" violence like the one in JNU, through a sitting Supreme Court judge.

The yatra will culminate at Raj Ghat in Delhi on January 30, Gandhi's death anniversary.

Apart from Maharashtra, the yatra will pass through Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi covering a distance of 3,000 km, its organisers said.
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students on Thursday held a protest demanding the removal of Vice-Chancellor following the violence in the varsity on January 5.

They held a protest at Mandi House demanding the removal of the university's Vice-Chancellor. Police detained protesters near Ambedkar Bhawan while they were marching towards Rashtrapati Bhavan. A protester was injured during the march towards Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Precautionary deployment of security personnel was done near North-South blocks, as JNU students marched towards Rashtrapati Bhawan. Special CP Law and Order RS Krishnia and two DCPs are taking stock of security measures at North and South Block.

Slogans against Delhi Police and the ruling dispensation were shouted by the demonstrators.

The slogans of "Fasivadi ye sarkar, nahi chalegi abki bar", "Chhatra ekta zindabad", "jab tak zulmi zulm kargea satta ke galiyaron se, chappa-cappa gunz uthega inquilab ke naaron se" were heard during the demonstration.

Earlier, while addressing the protests, JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh hit out at Vice Chancellor saying he was incapable of having any dialogue.

"What we faced is a traumatised experience and which we can never forget. January 5 will be in our memories till we are living because that is the trauma which it has caused," she said and demanded the removal of VC.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Offering HIV screening to new patients in general practice on a routine basis increases testing rates and improves detection and earlier diagnosis, research co-led by Queen Mary University of London and UCL suggests.

HIV testing rates in general practice are low, despite testing being recommended in UK and international guidelines. Lack of testing leads to later HIV diagnosis, poorer clinical outcomes and higher care and treatment costs. It can also increase the chances of an individual passing on the virus.

A paper published in EClinicalMedicine today examines the impact of implementing HIV screening using one-off training for staff, reflecting 'real-world' conditions in 13 east London GP practices.

It compares outcomes with those recorded in the same team's earlier randomised control trial in which staff from 20 practices received initial training plus regular support. The initial trial, which ran between 2010 and 2012, found the approach increased both the number of HIV tests and the number of diagnoses. CD4 counts at diagnosis were high - suggesting that the infection was picked up when the immune system was still healthy.

The study team believes this new analysis is the first comparing results of 'real-world' implementation of nurse-led HIV screening in routine primary care with those of a trial, as well as with practices that received no intervention (the comparator group).

This analysis showed outcomes achieved from routine implementation were comparable to those achieved in the randomised control trial: increased HIV testing rates, resulting in more and earlier diagnoses. The rise in new diagnoses in both practice groups was higher than in a comparator group of ten practices that received no training or support.

All the practices were within the City and Hackney Clinical Commissioning Group area.

People diagnosed during the 'routine implementation' period had average CD4 scores at diagnosis of 425 cells/micro litre - higher than the 351 recorded during the initial trial period and the 327 recorded for newly-diagnosed patients of the comparator group of practices.

HIV testing was 55% higher in implementation practices than comparator practices, diagnosis rates were 106% higher and CD4 count at diagnosis was typically 35% up. The researchers caution that the wide range in confidence levels around data, mean the results on the latter two outcomes are suggestive but not conclusive.

Importantly, most of the new diagnoses were among people in groups at the highest risk of late diagnosis - heterosexuals, and black African and Caribbean adults. Both those groups are under-represented at sexual health services where they would be offered HIV testing - which can mean they are diagnosed later.

The 13 practices did not receive the regular support from the research team enjoyed by the trial practices so the team could study the impact when practices made screening part of their routine registration of new patients.

Study co-lead Dr Werner Leber, a GP and clinical lecturer in primary care at Queen Mary University of London, said the 'implementation phase' confirmed that practices could successfully integrate HIV screening - particularly of new patients - into business as usual.

Dr Leber said: "During our initial research study we found that offering HIV tests to new patients did pick up previously undiagnosed cases of HIV. The data collected outside the clinical trial environment and published today shows that the intervention is effective in routine care within modern GP practices."

The study was funded by the National Institute for Health Research through the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North Thames (formerly NIHR CLAHRC North Thames).

Study co-lead Dr Jasmina Panovska-Griffiths, a Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer at UCL, said: "Our study shows that implementation of nurse-led HIV screening in general practices can be delivered effectively, leading to increased HIV testing that may be associated with increased and earlier HIV diagnosis. It also appears that most of the new diagnoses are amongst people who are less likely to attend sexual health services where they would be offered HIV testing."

Professor Chris Griffiths, Director of the Institute of Population Health Sciences at Queen Mary, said: "General practices across London and in urban areas with higher HIV prevalence in the UK and beyond need urgently to implement HIV screening in routine care. Screening is a key tool which can help realise the goal of eradicating HIV."

Professor Rosalind Raine from UCL and Director of NIHR ARC North Thames, said: "We were delighted to be able to fund this research, which has important implications for people, populations and health care systems internationally. People, particularly those from at risk key populations, are likely to benefit from increased access to testing in a familiar primary care setting with links to prompt treatment and care for those testing positive."

###

Notes to editors

Evaluating the impact of post-trial implementation of post-trial implementation of RHIVA nurse-led HIV screening on HIV testing, diagnosis and earlier diagnosis in general practice in London, UK Leber. W, Panovska-Griffiths J. et al DOI: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2019.11.022

After the embargo lifts the article will be available at: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(19)30234-2/fulltext

For more information please contact: Chris Mahony in the Queen Mary University of London press office at c.mahony@qmul.ac.uk or +44 (0)207 882 5315 or Rowan Walker in the UCL press office at rowan.walker@ucl.ac.uk or +44 (0) 20 3108 8515

About Queen Mary University of London

At Queen Mary University of London, we believe that a diversity of ideas helps us achieve the previously unthinkable.

In 1785, Sir William Blizard established England's first medical school, The London Hospital Medical College, to improve the health of east London's inhabitants. Together with St Bartholomew's Medical College, founded by John Abernethy in 1843 to help those living in the City of London, these two historic institutions are the bedrock of Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Today, Barts and The London continues to uphold this commitment to pioneering medical education and research. Being firmly embedded within our east London community, and with an approach that is driven by the specific health needs of our diverse population, is what makes Barts and The London truly distinctive.

Our local community offer to us a window to the world, ensuring that our ground-breaking research in cancer, cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases, and population health not only dramatically improves the outcomes for patients in London, but also has a far-reaching global impact.

This is just one of the many ways in which Queen Mary is continuing to push the boundaries of teaching, research and clinical practice, and helping us to achieve the previously unthinkable.

About the National Institute for Health Research

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is the nation's largest funder of health and care research. The NIHR:

Funds, supports and delivers high quality research that benefits the NHS, public health and social care

Engages and involves patients, carers and the public in order to improve the reach, quality and impact of research

Attracts, trains and supports the best researchers to tackle the complex health and care challenges of the future

Invests in world-class infrastructure and a skilled delivery workforce to translate discoveries into improved treatments and services

Partners with other public funders, charities and industry to maximise the value of research to patients and the economy.

The NIHR was established in 2006 to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research, and is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. In addition to its national role, the NIHR supports applied health research for the direct and primary benefit of people in low- and middle-income countries, using UK aid from the UK government.

The NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North Thames is a partnership of six leading universities (including Queen Mary and University College London), the NHS and councils across central/east London,

Bedfordshire, Essex and Hertfordshire). It also involves patients, communities, charities and industry who share a commitment to improving health and social care services and people's health.

UCL - London's Global University

UCL is a diverse community with the freedom to challenge and think differently.

Our community of more than 41,500 students from 150 countries and over 12,500 staff pursues academic excellence, breaks boundaries and makes a positive impact on real world problems.

We are consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in the world and are one of only a handful of institutions rated as having the strongest academic reputation and the broadest research impact.

We have a progressive and integrated approach to our teaching and research - championing innovation, creativity and cross-disciplinary working. We teach our students how to think, not what to think, and see them as partners, collaborators and contributors.

For almost 200 years, we are proud to have opened higher education to students from a wide range of backgrounds and to change the way we create and share knowledge.

We were the first in England to welcome women to university education and that courageous attitude and disruptive spirit is still alive today. We are UCL.

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The judge in Harvey Weinstein's rape and sexual assault trial blocked a move to remove him from proceedings Thursday as the lengthy jury selection process entered its third day.

Judge James Burke labelled Weinstein 'non-compliant, defiant and challenging' as he denied the defense team's request that he recuse himself after he threatened to jail the disgraced movie mogul for texting in the courtroom.

Burke admonished Weinstein as jury selection was getting underway Tuesday, asking: 'Is this really the way you want to end up in jail for the rest of your life, by texting in violation of an order? Is it?'

He said Thursday he issued the threat after Weinstein was 'notably non-compliant, defiant and challenging to court officers' when asked to not use his phone. The judge added: 'Theres nothing prejudicial or inflammatory about scolding a recalcitrant defendant for repeated violations of a court order if using strong and even hyperbolic language succeeds after stern admonitions have failed.'

Weinstein, 67, is charged in New York with raping one woman in a hotel room in 2013 and forcibly performing a sex act on Mimi Haleyi in 2006. He has pleaded not guilty.

He has also complained about press attention and being scrutinized for using his walker and tried to ban celebrity attorney Gloria Allred - who represents some of his accusers - from the trial. And Weinstein's lawyers also unsuccessfully tried to delay jury selection in light of the new case filed in Los Angeles on Monday, asking for a 'cooling-off period' to allow the publicity to subside.

But Judge Burke expressed confidence that the jurors would know that defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and he pressed on. He said Thursday: 'All I meant to do was scare him enough to convince him to discontinue using his phone. I certainly never actually meant I was going to put your client in jail for life nor did I mean that I had pre-judged whether he is guilty or not-guilty or innocent of the charges.'

Just 30 potential jurors from a pool of 120 remained at the end of Wednesday, day two of jury selection. On Tuesday 36 remained, meaning there are currently 66 people advancing in the process. They were each given questionnaires featuring 72 questions and will report back for further questioning on January 16.

Thursday was the third day of jury selection in the case, with an additional 120 potential jurors called in for pre-screening. A murmur went through the courtroom when Burke announced the name of the defendant before delivering instructions about jury service.

But Burke was forced to cut the proceedings short before noon because the lead prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi, had a medical issue. The 120 potential jurors are expected to return on Friday morning.

Scroll down for the full questionnaire handed to potential jurors

Harvey Weinstein, center, leaves court Thursday after the judge in his trial blocked a moved to remove him from proceedings

Weinstein, flanked by his attorney Donna Rotunno, has also complained about press attention and being scrutinized for using his walker and tried to ban celebrity attorney Gloria Allred - who represents some of his accusers - from the trial

Burke admonished Weinstein as jury selection was getting underway, asking: 'Is this really the way you want to end up in jail for the rest of your life, by texting in violation of an order? Is it?' He said Thursday he issued the threat after Weinstein was 'notably non-compliant and defiant to court officers when asked' to put it away

Lawyer Damon Cheronis argues in front of Judge James Burke during Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault trial on Wednesday

The questionnaire given to potential jurors asks, among other things, if they could ignore media coverage and decide the case based only on evidence heard in court. They were also told the trial will last six weeks, which could weed out many parents, college students and others with pressing day-to-day obligations.

On Tuesday some said that reading Ronan Farrow's book means they could not give Weinstein a fair trial. Pulitzer Prize winner Farrow's book tells the story of his quest to expose Weinstein, who has pleaded not guilty and maintains that any sexual activity was consensual.

Another potential juror said they had a friend who had an encounter with the former Hollywood mogul.

Jury selection is expected to stretch on for at least two weeks, far longer than for a non-celebrity trial, with lawyers delving into each potential juror's knowledge and opinions about the case. Twelve jurors and six alternates need to be selected.

'The defense team is concerned about widespread media coverage of sexual assault and harassment claims against Weinstein, and of jurors prejudging the case,' said Cornell University law professor Valerie Hans. On the other side of the case, 'prosecutors are wary of prospective jurors who might reveal a predisposition to blame the victims, even in this age of #MeToo.'

In picking a jury, defense lawyers typically want jurors who can 'think outside of the box' and look skeptically at a prosecution case, while prosecutors seek people with a linear and methodical mindset, said Thaddeus Hoffmeister, a jury consultant and University of Dayton law professor.

For insight into prospective jurors' thinking, lawyers have taken to scouring their public social media postings, Hoffmeister said, which is fine under court rules as long as the lawyers don't follow or friend them or send them messages.

Weinstein, 67, brought The Brothers Mankiewicz: Hope, Heartbreak and Hollywood Classics to court

Weinstein brought two books to court. One was The Brothers Mankiewicz: Hope, Heartbreak and Hollywood Classics; the other a vintage edition of Ken Follett's novel The Pillars of the Earth.

The former is a biography about Herman and Joseph Mankiewicz - whose Oscar-winning films included 'Citizen Kane' and 'All About Eve'. One brother fell prey to gambling and alcoholism. The other rose to fame while carrying on sexual affairs with Hollywood actresses and was fired after a period of drug use.

Weinstein founded his film production company Miramax with his brother Bob in 1979.

Weinstein's lawyer, Donna Rotunno, said she did not advise Weinstein to bring outside reading material to court.

'Judge Burke did,' she said. 'During jury selection, Mr. Weinstein has much downtime outside the presence of the jury pool. He is not reading in the courtroom.'

One Amazon critic of the Sydney Ladensohn Stern book said the brothers its about were 'the most brilliant and charismatic men ever to ply their sometimes dubious trade in Hollywood'.

Paul Callan, a former prosecutor and defense attorney, said he did not think the book was part of Weinstein's courtroom strategy.

'It doesn't strike me as a story that has a tale of innocence or redemption, which is the kind of story you would want to present to the jury if you were using this as a mechanism,' said Callan.

Weinstein was charged with sexual assault in May 2018. When he surrendered to New York police, he carried the biography of Elia Kazan, a movie director who stirred controversy for testifying before the House of Representatives' Un-American Activities Committee about communism in 1952.

More than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct dating back decades but he only faces five criminal counts in New York - two counts of rape, one count of criminal sexual act and two counts of predatory sexual assault

Harvey Weinstein is helped by Arthur Aidala, a member of his defense team. Weinstein's lawyers unsuccessfully tried to delay jury selection in light of the new case filed in Los Angeles on Monday, asking for a 'cooling-off period'

Just 30 potential jurors from a potential pool of 120 remained at the end of day two of jury selection, a process that could take weeks. They were given questionnaires featuring 72 questions and will report back for further questioning on January 16

Harvey Weinstein arrives at a Manhattan courthouse for jury selection in his sexual assault trial on Thursday

Why the jury selection process will take up to two weeks and how they will be selected Selecting the jury for the Hollywood mogul's rape and sexual assault trial is likely to be a painstaking, weeks-long process, made complicated by the high stakes, heavy publicity and public revulsion toward him. Jury selection is expected to stretch on for at least two weeks, far longer than for a non-celebrity trial, with lawyers delving into each potential juror's knowledge and opinions about the case. Opening statements shouldn't be expected before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on January 20, the judge said. The prospective jurors were given questionnaires asking, among other things, if they could ignore media coverage and decide the case based only on evidence heard in court. They were also told the trial will last six weeks, which could weed out many parents, college students and others with pressing day-to-day obligations. Jury questionnaires are commonly used to identify subject areas like their knowledge of and potential links to the case or any prior experiences with law enforcement that can then allow follow-up questions back in the courtroom before selection. Potential jurors raise their hands and explain why they can't serve on the jury of film producer Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault trial 'The defense team is concerned about widespread media coverage of sexual assault and harassment claims against Weinstein, and of jurors prejudging the case,' said Cornell University law professor Valerie Hans. On the other side of the case, 'prosecutors are wary of prospective jurors who might reveal a predisposition to blame the victims, even in this age of #MeToo.' Prospective jurors were introduced as a group to Weinstein and were read a list of names that could come up at trial, including actresses Salma Hayek, Charlize Theron and Rosie Perez. 120 potential jurors appeared before the court Tuesday - 36 advanced to the next stage of the process. A further 120 appeared Wednesday with 30 being selected to continue. New pools of prospective jurors will be summoned to court each morning in the coming days - around 120 per day will be called. A jury summons was sent to 2,000 New Yorkers - five times the number for a typical trial. Experts said lawyers for Weinstein and the prosecution would need to be wary of jurors who may try to mask their bias in order to serve on a headline-grabbing trial. Some jurors may seek to use the trial as a means of advancing a personal cause, a concern in a case that has become a flashpoint for ending sexual harassment. Weinstein in October lost a bid to move the trial to suburban Long Island or to Albany, New York state's capital. He said intense media scrutiny made it impossible for jurors to give him a fair trial in Manhattan. The defense asked at Monday's hearing that the jury be sequestered, a request the judge denied. Advertisement

Weinstein transformed the independent film industry with award-winning films like 'Shakespeare in Love' and 'The English Patient.'

Several criminal defense attorneys said it is unusual for a defendant to bring outside reading material to a trial, especially one in which the defendant is facing such serious charges.

Defense attorney Gerald Lefcourt said he generally asks clients to carry a notepad and pen rather than a novel to jury selection so they can participate in the vetting process.

Lefcourt said reading might be a way for Weinstein to cope with anxiety during the trial, which began the same day that the Los Angeles district attorney announced new sexual assault charges against him.

'Maybe he thinks his lawyers have it covered and rather than show any kinds of emotion, he'd rather have his head down,' he said.

Weinstein, who founded Miramax with his brother Robert in 1979, transformed the independent film industry with award-winning films like 'Shakespeare in Love' and 'The English Patient'. He is pictured arriving at court on Thursday

Harvey Weinstein, center, arrives to court for jury selection in his sexual assault trial on Thursday

Harvey Weinstein is reading about two brothers whose Hollywood careers were marred by their personal lives during downtime in court, as jury selection in his rape and sexual assault trial continued Thursday. Weinstein, 67, brought The Brothers Mankiewicz: Hope, Heartbreak and Hollywood Classics to court on Monday

Weinstein is charged in New York with raping one woman in a hotel room in 2013 and forcibly performing a sex act on Mimi Haleyi in 2006. He could get life in prison if convicted. In the Los Angeles case, which will be tried later, he is accused of sexually assaulting two women on back-to-back nights in 2013

Weinstein filed a motion Wednesday to remove the judge from his rape and sexual assault trial after arguing that the justice's comments about him texting in court reveals prejudice. He has also complained about press attention and being scrutinized for using his walker, pictured Thursday

Opening statements shouldn't be expected before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on January 20, the judge said.

Weinstein is charged in New York with raping one woman in a hotel room in 2013 and forcibly performing a sex act on Haleyi in 2006. He could get life in prison if convicted. In a Los Angeles case, which will be tried later, he is accused of sexually assaulting two women on back-to-back nights in 2013.

The former studio boss has said any sexual activity was consensual. Since 2017, more than 80 women, including many famous actresses, have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct dating back decades.

The trial is expected to last at least six weeks.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : The dismal economic growth has forced the government to step on the gas ahead of the Union Budget -- with sources saying that it is not just North Block assigned to the Budget -- but even Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself taking on an active role.

Modi is meeting economists at Niti Aayog on Thursday to be apprised directly about what ails the Indian economy and to find the solution from the industry and experts themselves.

He has in recent times held two mega meetings taking feedback from top industry captains, as well as over 10 meetings with different industrialists.

He has given them a patient hearing and heard their version and suggestions and problems that requires to be sorted.

Each Ministry has been asked to prepare a blueprint of 5-year vision plans and the Prime Minister has also spent considerable time in reviewing them.

Modi himself as PM (not from PMO) sought feedback on Budget demands from the general public.

Said a source though that it was not surprising the amount of time devoted by Prime Minister in trying to understand and find cure to the ailing economy as the budget was just around the corner in about three weeks.

Modi is certainly overseeing the sectoral bottlenecks to revive the economy and what can be done in Budget to help the stressed economy.

India's GDP growth has been forecast to dip to an 11-year low of 5 per cent in the current fiscal, mainly due to poor showing by manufacturing and construction sectors, government data showed on Tuesday.

As per the first advance estimates of National Statistical Office (NSO), the manufacturing sector output growth will decelerate to 2 per cent in 2019-20, down from 6.9 per cent in the previous financial year. Likewise, the construction sector growth is estimated at 3.2 per cent as against 8.7 per cent in 2018-19.

The previous low in economic growth was recorded at 3.1 per cent in 2008-09. The dismal performance for the fiscal was anticipated as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the first quarter was 5 per cent and 4.5 per cent in the subsequent three-months period.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had also lowered its forecast for the economic growth to 5 per cent while announcing its bi-monthly monetary policy last month.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to present the Budget 2020-21 in Parliament on February 1.
Phu Yen Province in the central coastal region is well known for not only its beautiful beaches but also bo mot nang hai suong (beef jerky dried over wood charcoal).

Nguyen Thi Ha, a local chef, said due to the climate of the provinces Van Hoa Plateau, local yellow cows, known as bo co, can thrive.

"It is the main ingredient for us to make bo mot nang hai suong, she said.

Ha said the name expresses the beauty (nang means sun and suong means dew) and how much hard work goes into making it.

The cows are raised naturally in large grass fields so they grow very well and their meat is fragrant and firm.

We often use steers and only take their back thighs and fillet and cut all their veins out and then cut the beef into 10cm by 15cm pieces. These pieces should be soaked in minced garlic, dried onions, pepper and chilli for an hour before being dried over wood charcoal for two hours, she said.

Grilled sharpbelly - A specialty of Phu Yen Province

Dried buffalo meat

Dishing out "buffalo meat hung up in kitchen"

Bo mot nang hai suong (beef dried over wood charchoal), a specialty of Phu Yen.  Photo phuocnguyetseafood.com



The drying process should ensure the beef is done to a turn but not so dried as thit trau gac bep (buffalo meat hanging over wood fire) by the Thai ethnic group in Son La and Lai Chau provinces, she said.

The cook should carefully take care of the drying process to ensure the outside of the beef is dried while its meat inside is still soft and sweet, Ha said.

The dish is much more enjoyable when dipped in muoi kien vang (salt mixed with fried yellow ants) produced by the E e ethnic group in the Central Highlands, she said, adding that: I have to order the special yellow ant salt from Dak Lak, one of the birthplaces of the ants.

Ha recalled a story in her career as a chef she had been taught how to make the dish from her grandmother who lived in the Van Hoa Plateau some 50 years ago.

Drying the food under sunlight before packaging.  Photo ngoisao.net



In the past when wild animals such as deer which were available in the forest, my grandmother made dried deer meat to sell. But since there are have been fewer deer, she turned to use beef in the plateau to make bo mot nang hai suong, Ha said, adding that her items sold very well not only in Phu Yen but also in HCM City and other southern provinces thanks to her fame and quality food.

She always told us that we should not work for profit but have to keep our food, the speciality of Phu Yen, to be known nationwide, Ha said.

Former judge of Vietnams Master Chef Pham Tuan Hai said he had a chance to witness an E De woman making the salt.

The woman said the ants eggs are most tasty and fatty during the fifth to eighth lunar months every year. After catching the ants, their eggs should be soaked in boiled water for a while then fried with salt and ot kim (small chilli grown wildly in the forest). When these ingredients are done they are ground in a stone mortar to mix them together.

Kicker: Salt mixed with fried yellow ants, special sauce that makes bo mot nang hai suong more tasty and unforgetable.  Photo ngoisao.net



Hai said he was impressed by the special mixed salt's sour flavour and the buttery taste of the ants, the fieriness of chili and the wild fragrance of the citronella and lemon.

Apart from being used as a spicy dip for bo mot nang hai suong, the salt can be eaten with rice and boiled vegetables or mixed with young mango to make salad, said Hai, adding that his favourite was papaya salad with the salt.

The dish is so popular that every E De people enjoys it, he said.

An E De woman named H Rut from Dak Laks Cuor ang Village said local people often make the salad for parties such as death anniversaries or Tet holiday.

HRut said the ethnic group also likes to cook fish soup with yellow ants to cool down in the summer.

HRut said many of her neighbours have earned a lot of money thanks to the yellow ants. They can sell a fresh nest between VND 80,000-100,000/kg and VND 180,000-200,000/kg of pre-processed ants. VNS

Ha Nguyen & Ho Hoang

Dramatic images of fishing nets captured from above in Phu Yen The south-central coastal province of Phu Yen is well known among visitors for its stunning romantic landscapes and delicious food, but now beautiful pictures of the daily lives of local fishermen can be added to the list.
At least 2 million Catholic devotees, many of them barefoot, gathered in Manila on Thursday for the annual procession of the Black Nazarene, a statue of an ebony Jesus Christ with the Cross thought to bring miracles.

Troops armed with assault rifles joined police in a security lockdown to protect the devotees from possible threats by Islamic militants. There were no immediate reports of any disruptions during the religious procession in the capital of the mainly Roman Catholic country.

Many in the crowd jostled to get close to and touch the statue as a carriage transporting it passed by. The wooden Black Nazarene was believed to have been carved in the 17th century and was saved from a fire aboard a ship that brought the statue here in 1606, when the country was a Spanish colony.

The capital was virtually closed the whole day as the procession took about 20 hours to wind its way through the streets of downtown Manila, National police spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said.

It was generally peaceful apart from minor injuries, Banac told a local radio station. He estimated the crowd to have reached more than 2 million people at its peak, but it could have been larger, he conceded.

This years procession saw some families of people killed in the governments war on illegal drugs join the massive display of religious devotion. They carried pictures of their loved ones who were slain in the bloody campaign, hoping that the killers would be brought to justice.

Mark Dan, who lost three of his friends in President Rodrigo Dutertes drug war, was among those at Thursdays procession. The throats of Dans friends were slit and their bodies dumped in different parts of Manila, he said.

I was shocked. I cried because of the brutality of their deaths, Dan told BenarNews.

We ask the Nazarene to grant justice  even though it is more than a year now.
YEREVAN.  Zhoghovurd newspaper of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: Davit Tsaghikyan, the brother of Karen Tsaghikyan who died at the Convicts' Hospital on January 7, told the Zhoghovurd daily that his brother had numerous illnesses that were incompatible with his detention. In a conversation with Zhoghovurd daily, he accused RA Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan and the whole RA judicial system in serious crime.

"If there is a man of honor in this country, let him prepare materials, I will substantiate that with the reasons why I accuse them of a crime. This incident put salt on my wound, and accept my statement as a report on crime," he said in a conversation with us.

It turns out that Judge Artur Mkrtchyan presiding over the case and overseeing Prosecutor Artak Karapetyan (), having an inmate who has illnesses incompatible with detention, did not commute the precautionary measure. And it turns out that the death of another inmate remained in the conscience of the law enforcement system.
H ow very sad. Harry and Meghan had so much to contribute to the Royal Family. They brought an informality and a modernity to an ancient institution that has struggled with both.

The couples unrelenting critics in the media dismissed the couple as woke; but their interest in climate change, mental health and disability speaks to millions of people who feel these vital issues are being ignored. The sight of Meghans black mother at her daughters royal wedding sent a powerful message of inclusion to multi-racial Britain.

That is why it is such a tragedy to see this weeks fiasco.

For this is, first and foremost, the tale of a family falling apart. Two brothers, who grew up without a mother but now barely talk to each other. A father and son unable to get on. A grandmother forced to expel her son before Christmas, and now watching her favoured grandson expel himself in the new year.

The Evening Standard has, exclusively, established a clear timeline of what happened. On Christmas Eve, Harry rang his father Prince Charles to tell him that he and Meghan wanted to live largely in Canada, while retaining their home in Frogmore. They would seek to be financially independent of the British state, and find commercial work to support themselves.

Surely this was the model for modern, slimmed-downed monarchy that the Royal Family needs? Didnt it show initiative, getting ahead of the inevitable after the Prince Andrew debacle?

Harry is so unlikely ever to be the king. What are he and Meghan, a young millennial couple, expected to do with their lives?

But there was a problem. They hadnt really thought it all through. So Prince Charles asked his son to email him a detailed plan, and they would discuss it in January.

That plan arrived in the inbox last week and was, we have been told by palace sources, completely incoherent. The money didnt stack up. Taxpayers would still be forking out millions of pounds for round-the-clock security, and the tax perks that go with a grace-and-favour home. The Duchy of Cornwall would still be providing the bulk of the income, hardly most peoples definition of financial independence.

There were basic questions about things like their immigration status in Canada that needed answers.

The family wanted to know too if the couple had already signed commercial deals, with companies like Disney, because they suspected they had.

Explosion

But Harry and Meghan didnt want to discuss any of it. They wanted to get on and make their announcement.

Returning from Canada on Monday morning, Harry hoped to travel to Sandringham to see the Queen and get her blessing. Always happy to see her grandson, the Queen nevertheless made clear that Harry had to agree a plan with his father.

The monarch, we can reveal, explicitly told the Duke, through her office, that he must not make any announcement this week. Then word came that The Sun newspaper was on to some of the story.

Harry and Meghan went into a frenzy and yesterday evening announced, without consultation, that they would step back as senior members of the Royal Family.

A lengthy Q&A about the media and their money was posted on their website  something clearly only the couple could have drafted, without the help of their office, because it was full of factual mistakes. Michelle Obama and JK Rowling texted in support, but the Palace reacted with a terse statement about it all being complicated.

Cue the explosion we see today.

Is it too late to rescue the situation? For the sake of the family themselves, and the country, we hope not.

The fact is that Harry and Meghan speak to a younger, more diverse and more global audience in a way that no other member of their family will ever manage.

Their desire to live in Canada embodies the Commonwealth they want to serve. Their goal is to be a living example of the slimmed-down monarchy the 21st century demands.

Have they gone about it in the best way? Clearly not. Should we help them get it right? Absolutely, we must.

TODO: define component type apester

Listen to The Leader podcast:
Pakistan has described rising tension in the Middle East as harmful to the Afghan peace process. This statement of Pakistan came after the assassination of Iranian commander Qasim Suleimani. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi feared in the Senate of Islamabad that the latest incidents could have an impact on Afghanistan and would take advantage of such elements that have been against the restoration of peace in Afghanistan for a long time.

Blast outside Somalia parliament, 10 injured and four killed

Last year, the United States began a round of talks with the Taliban to restore peace in Afghanistan, and the process is still ongoing. It is believed that Iran has been supporting the Taliban and there have been reports that Taliban militants are provided arms and other help from Iran. On the other hand, Afghan Deputy President Sarwar Danish has expressed confidence that the recent tension will not affect the Afghan peace process.

America warns India about defense purchases, does not want to impose sanctions like Turkey

In December 2018, the Taliban Military Commission delegation went to Iran and it was reported that Taliban militants get help from Iran. It is clear from Qureshi's statement that in the future, in the event of the failure of the US-Taliban dialogue, Pakistan can throw its blame on Iran.

Pak Army Gen Asif Ghafoor gets trolled for making spelling mistake in tweet hailing Deepika


Each year, the consumer electronics show, or CES, presents new technology developments across many industries.

The event is going on this week in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is a chance for companies to launch their latest products aimed at making life easier, more productive and fun.

Here is a list of some of the most interesting products introduced at CES 2020.

8K televisions

The show is always a favorite place for companies to release their latest televisions (TVs). This year was no different. Several manufactures released large models with 8K, which is considered the highest quality standard. Samsung showed off a new 8K version that brings the picture right to the edge of the TV.

A TV that acts like a phone

Samsung also introduced a TV that can be used to watch video designed for a smartphone. The Sero TV does this by turning itself from the normal TV position to an upright position that looks like the shape of a phone. The TV can connect to mobile devices to play video directly from the phone.

The TV is already for sale in South Korea for about $1,600. The company says it is designed to appeal to the mobile generation. Samsung says it plans to expand Seros availability to several global markets in 2020.

Smart waste can

A company called TOWNEW presented a waste can designed for the home that does a lot of the dirty work on its own. When the can is full, the user touches a button to activate the machines smart abilities. The device then completely seals the waste bag inside and puts a new one in place, all by itself. The can then raises its top so the user can pick up and throw away the bag.

Snore stopping pillow

People who snore when they sleep might be helped by the Motion Pillow. This smart pillow is designed to collect information about the sleepers head position and breathing during the night. The system then uses this data to change the shape of the pillow, with the help of built-in air bags. The idea is that by changing the pillow, the sleepers head will move just enough to improve airflow through the nose and reduce snoring.

A sitting Segway

Segway people movers have been around for years, but the company used CES to announce its new S-Pod model. The new transporting pod looks like a small chair with wheels. The company says its new model is designed to be used in enclosed areas such as airports, amusement parks and shopping malls.

Phone charger and car battery saver

Mophie announced a new charging device that can wirelessly charge smartphones, and also be used to start a car with a dead battery. The Powerstation Go comes with two USB openings for device charging, as well as car battery connectors and a powerful light.

AI to block the sun

Technology company Bosch introduced several new products at CES, including its new Virtual Visor for cars. The Virtual Visor is designed to replace the traditional vehicle sun visor. The company says the system uses artificial intelligence to find the exact position of the drivers eyes. It then darkens only a small part of the cars windshield through which the sun could affect the drivers sight.

Invisible car hood

Automobile industry company Continental showed off a new technology that seems to make the front end of a vehicle disappear. Continental says the technology, called Transparent Hood, aims to make driving safer and easier. Cameras provide video of the area underneath the vehicle, permitting the driver to see objects and road conditions that might present danger.

Virtual keyboard

Samsung provided a first look at a technology that can turn just about any surface into a device keyboard. The virtual keyboard is called SelfieType. The system uses a devices camera to analyze finger movements as they type on a flat surface and shows the results on the phone. Samsung says the virtual keyboard does not require any other equipment besides a mobile device. The technology is still being tested.

Wearable air purifier

A company called Ao Air introduced a wearable air purifier. The device is designed to be a high-tech face covering to block pollution. The purifier pulls air through a filtration system and then uses fans to create a small area of clean air at the front of the device. The company says the design permits the air to be purified -- without the need for a solid seal.

Toilet paper robot

And finally, personal products company Procter & Gamble presented a robot that can serve people as they use the toilet. The RollBot was described by the companys Charmin division as a first-of-its-kind invention. The small, self-balancing robot can be controlled by a smartphone to bring bathroom users a fresh roll of paper without ever having to leave the toilet seat.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on information from CES 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.

Quiz - 10 Hot Technology Products at CES 2020 Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

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Words in This Story

standard  n. an idea or thing used as a measure, norm or model for comparative purposes

seal  v. close off

snore  v. to breathe in a noisy way while sleeping

pillow  n. a soft object used to rest the head during sleep

amusement park  n. a large park with rides

battery  n. an object that provides electricity for things

visor  n. something used to block sunlight from the eyes

windshield  n. the window at the front of a vehicle

virtual  adj. something used or stored by means of a computer

analyze  v. to examine details of something carefully

type  v. to write something by using a keyboard

filtration  n. the process of using a filter to remove solids from liquids or gasses

toilet  n. a bowl that you sit on or stand near when you get rid of waste substances from your body
Australia's scorching dry situations that caused its woodland and fields for the bush fires that have been ravaging the country since September is likely to continue, scientists warn. Climate change has probably made the situation worse.

Scientists say that the fire risk in Australia remains high. Dan Pydynowski, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, said Southeastern Australia's "unusually dry" conditions would need more significant rainfalls sufficient to cut down the threat of fires.

Such prolonged rain, unfortunately, doesn't appear imminent in a couple of weeks. Although the region had a few showers early this week, Pydynowski warns that it has "been unimpressive" and is not enough to substantially reduce fire danger. Significant rain from Tropical Storm Blake is also no longer predicted to reach the region most suffering from the fires.

Pydynowski said "everything is so dry now," adding that and it doesn't take much time for a fireplace to spark and blow up and spread.

Climate scientists warn that the size and devastation of the wildfires are clean examples of the way weather trade can intensify forest disasters.

ALSO READ: 2010 Starts the Hottest Decade in History, U.N. Says, As Emissions Rise Again

Stefan Rahmstorf, department head at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, told Time that the Australian bush fires had been exacerbated by two factors which have a "well-established" hyperlink to climate change.

Rahmstorf, who also serves as a lead creator of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fourth Assessment Report, said warmness and dry conditions are the needed factors.

In current years, Australia has experienced long-term dry situations and distinctly low rainfall. Scientists say that droughts within the country have gotten worse over the latest decades. At the same time, the US has recorded report high temperatures; ultimate summer was the hottest on a report in the United States.

ALSO READ: Climate Crisis Is Now Seen in Every Weather Report Across The Planet

Rahmstorf explained the crops and the soils dry out extra quickly due to higher evaporation rates in warmer temperatures. The warming itself, he added, might already cause drying of vegetation and therefore increased fire chance.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who resisted the country's call to reduce its carbon emissions, was accused of underestimating the link among the bush fires and climate alternate.

The Prime Minister said in a November interview that there isn't "credible medical evidence" that curbing emissions might lessen the fires.

However, scientists strain that while many assets may additionally ignite fires - which includes arson - whether the exchange is a significant purpose why recent the blazes in Australia have been so destructive.

There are efforts to downplay the exact position of weather change in worsening Australian bush fires or to blame 'arson' as a manner to distract from the growing threat of climate trade, said Peter Gleick, a climate scientist and co-founder of Pacific Institute in California. The efforts, according to Gleick, should be referred to as out for what they are: gross weather denial.
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In the early 1990s, Wendy Yang left Taiwan with her family. She was a young teen then. And Taiwan was a baby democracy, governing itself even as China claimed sovereignty.

Now 43 and a lawyer in Torrance, Yang has flown back to her home country as voters prepare to pick their president for only the seventh time Saturday. Yang's kept her Taiwan citizenship so she can vote.

"All that we fought for -- so hard and so long ago -- could be lost easily if we don't choose the right leader for the nation," Yang said.

Yang is among the estimated 6,000 Taiwanese in Southern California who have crossed an ocean to vote in a presidential contest that is viewed in large part as a referendum on the island state's relations with China.

The Communist regime has been ramping up claims that Taiwan is China's and says reunification would happen using a "one country, two systems" model. To that end, China has isolated Taiwan internationally. The United States, like almost all of the world, does not recognize the island diplomatically, although it does sell arms to Taipei, angering Beijing.

But China's reunification plan is a non-starter for the pro-independence incumbent, President Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party. Taiwan evolved into a democracy after 38 years of martial law imposed by the opposition Kuomintang party that was founded by Chinese Nationalists from the mainland.

Taiwan's current president and Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate, Tsai Ing-wen, gestures on stage during a Taoyuan rally ahead of Saturdays presidential election. (Carl Court/Getty Images)

Raising the stakes around the Taiwan election are the Hong Kong protests which have fanned fears that heavier involvement by China could disrupt the peaceable way of life on the island of 24 million.

Meanwhile, the Kuomintang and its presidential candidate Han Kuo-Yu have called for closer ties to China. Herman Chen, a 40-year-old portfolio manager from Torrance, supports Han and believes easing tensions with the mainland is wise.

"That doesn't mean I want to be part of the People's Republic of China," Chen said. "The reality is, it's a strong country (located) just next to us."

Chen said he would have made it to Taiwan to vote -- he has dual U.S. and Taiwanese citizenship -- had he not just started a new job.

Yang, the lawyer from Torrance, also has dual citizenship. She backs President Tsai, and is stumping for her at rallies around Taiwan along with a group of about 150 other expats. More than half, she said, are from southern California, home to the largest Taiwanese American community in the country.

Many, she said, have felt their desire to help Taiwan grow the longer they live in the U.S. and enjoy its mature democracy.

"We, as ordinary citizens, can make so much change in the system," Yang said. "I want that for Taiwan."

Kuomintang (KMT) party's presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu attends a briefing at the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents Club (TFCC) in Taipei on November 14, 2019. (SAM YEH/AFP )

Dennis Lu Chung Weng, assistant professor at Sam Houston State University, said that many overseas Taiwanese are more invested in their native country than other immigrants because of Taiwan's precarious geopolitical state.

"The future is always uncertain," Weng said. "Overseas Taiwanese, we always worry about Taiwan and always think about Taiwan."

Supporters of Taiwan's current president and Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate, Tsai Ing-wen, at a rally on January 8 in Taoyuan. (Carl Court/Getty Images)

Weng, who studies Taiwanese politics, says that the diaspora is split over who should lead the island. U.S.-based supporters of the independence-leaning DPP are more outspoken but Weng said there is a quieter, strong cadre of Kuomintang backers here as well. Many Kuomintang-supporting families, Weng said, were more recent arrivals to Taiwan, having left China with the Nationalists who lost a civil war with the Communists in 1949.

"Most of them believe Taiwan is losing the connection with Chinese culture and they don't like to see that," Weng said.

Weng said he does not affiliate with either the DPP or Kuomintang but given a choice between their candidates, he prefers Han. He said the president's party has too much power and blamed her for picking corrupt and incompetent deputies.

Overseas Taiwanese supporters of President Tsai Ing-wen pose together as a group in Taoyuan. (Wendy Yang)

In contrast, Tina Lee, a supply analyst in Irvine, said that she does not consider Han, a former mayor, qualified to be president and is alarmed by his friendly stance toward China.

"China's intentions (for reunification) have become more obvious," said Lee, who's kept close tabs on Taiwanese politics since moving to the U.S. seven years ago.

She is hopping on a red-eye to Taiwan tonight and will touch down on the island Saturday morning -- just in time to make it to the polls.

"If I don't come out," Lee, 33, said, "then people won't hear my voice."

Across the U.S., more than 5,000 overseas Taiwan have registered to vote in the presidential election, said Abraham Chu, Director General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles.

But he said that number does not tell the full picture because thousands more visit Taiwan frequently enough to maintain residency and don't need to register.

He said carriers like EVA have added flights to accommodate the crowds flying back for the election.
Deepika Padukone starrer Chhapaak has opened to a fantastic reception by critics as well as audiences. Many have hailed the movie as being 'brilliant', and showered praises on Deepika for her performance as Malti, an acid attack survivor. Celebrities too had similar reactions to Chhapaak. From Arbaaz Khan to Genelia Deshmukh, Bollywood celebrities have lauded Deepika for backing such a film.

Arbaaz Khan gave a pat on the back for Chhapaak team, tweeting, "#Chhapaak is not just a brilliant film by Megha Gulzar but a heart wrenching and inspiring story of Laxmi Agarwal , a woman who had the courage, dignity and strength to fight against all odds and bring to book her perpetrators. Well done team #Chhapaak."

#Chhapaak is not just a brilliant film by Megha Gulzar but a heart wrenching and inspiring story of Laxmi Agarwal , a woman who had the courage, dignity and strength to fight against all odds and bring to book her perpetrators. Well done team #Chhapaak  Arbaaz Khan (@arbaazSkhan) January 9, 2020

Riteish Deshmukh praised Deepika for a great debut as a producer. "Just watched #Chappak a brilliant film by one of my favourite film makers @meghnagulzar - @deepikapadukone's portrayal of an acid attack survivor, her pain, her courage, her fight is pitch perfect. great debut as a producer @masseysahib is such a wonderful actor," he tweeted.

Just watched #Chappak a brilliant film by one of my favourite film makers @meghnagulzar - @deepikapadukones portrayal of an acid attack survivor, her pain, her courage, her fight is pitch perfect. great debut as a producer @masseysahib is such a wonderful actor-  Riteish Deshmukh (@Riteishd) January 8, 2020

Genelia Deshmukh showered praises on Deepika, director Meghna Gulzar, and Laxmi Agarwal, upon whom the film is based. "More power to these 3 women. @meghnagulzar for making an amazing film on a topic that needed to be discussed. @deepikapadukone for making a brave choice as an actor and producer and acing it to the tee. #LaxmiAgarwal for sharing your story with us. You inspire me. #Chaapak," she wrote.

More power to these 3 women. @meghnagulzar for making an amazing film on a topic that needed to be discussed. @deepikapadukone for making a brave choice as an actor and producer and acing it to the tee. #LaxmiAgarwal for sharing your story with us. You inspire me. #Chaapak  Genelia Deshmukh (@geneliad) January 8, 2020

Calling the film 'soul stirring', Kunal Kapoor tweeted, "#Chapaak is such a powerful and important film. Soul stirring and uplifting! Directed with such sensitivity and beautifully performed. And @deepikapadukone is just incredible! What a brave choice to make as an actor and producer. @meghnagulzar @masseysahib Don't miss this one!!"

#Chapaak is such a powerful and important film. Soul stirring and uplifting! Directed with such sensitivity and beautifully performed. And @deepikapadukone is just incredible! What a brave choice to make as an actor and producer. @meghnagulzar @masseysahib Don't miss this one!!  Kunal Kapoor (@kapoorkkunal) January 9, 2020

Jackky Bhagnani wrote, "#Chhapaak is not just a film, but a reality! A Story of a henious crime, struggle & victory of a brave soul. Hats off @deepikapadukone for such a brilliant performance, huge respect ! @masseysahib you were amazing. @meghnagulzar take a bow for making this."

#Chhapaak is not just a film, but a reality! A Story of a henious crime, struggle & victory of a brave soul. Hats off @deepikapadukone for such a brilliant performance, huge respect ! @masseysahib you were amazing. @meghnagulzar take a bow for making this   Jackky Bhagnani (@jackkybhagnani) January 8, 2020

Neil Nitin Mukesh tweeted, "Just walked out of the premier of #Chappak it is by far one of the most hard hitting films I have ever seen. @meghnagulzar Ji . This is a gem. FANTASTIC writing and direction. Brilliant performances by all. @masseysahib your simplicity is indeed magnetic Amol Ji."

Just walked out of the premier of #Chappak it is by far one of the most hard hitting films I have ever seen. @meghnagulzar Ji . This is a gem. FANTASTIC writing and direction. Brilliant performances by all. @masseysahib your simplicity is indeed magnetic Amol Ji   Neil Nitin Mukesh (@NeilNMukesh) January 8, 2020

(All social media posts are unedited.)

ALSO READ: Chhapaak First Review Is Out: Did Deepika Padukone Manage To Win The Hearts Of Early Moviegoers?

ALSO READ: Deepika Padukone Says Her Depression Spiralled Again During Chhapaak, Had A Counsellor On Sets


DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Kemin Industries, a global ingredient manufacturer that strives to sustainably transform the quality of life every day for 80 percent of the world with its products and services, has announced that Jim Kacmar, a biofuels industry veteran, has joined Kemin Biofuels, which provides ethanol yield and biodiesel antioxidant solutions, as Senior Field Technical Sales Manager.

Kacmar, who has spent 15 years working in biofuels, is a recognized expert in cellulosic ethanol production and a sought-after presenter at industry events. As part of Kemin Biofuels, he will focus on the company's growing portfolio of biofuel production aids, with an emphasis on cellulosic ethanol production.

Prior to joining Kemin, Kacmar was Director of Engineering and Operations at Edeniq, a biotechnology company that develops processes for producing and measuring cellulosic ethanol. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, both in chemical engineering.

"Adding Jim to our emerging Kemin Biofuels business fits perfectly with our emphasis on developing new solutions for ethanol and biodiesel producers," said John Phillips, Senior Sales Manager, Kemin Biofuels. "For over 50 years, Kemin has used molecular science to make advancements and discover new ways to improve animal and human health through enzymes and antioxidants. We are now applying these advancements to bring breakthrough science to biofuels."

In addition to adding Kacmar to its team, Kemin has expanded its Kemin Biofuels business internally.

Kenny Erdoes is Vice President of Corporate Engineering. A U.S. Navy veteran and chemical engineer, Erdoes has significant experience starting up biodiesel plants and has previously worked for biodiesel companies.

Shweta Shah, Ph.D. is Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Manager. Dr. Shah has over 15 years' experience in biofuels and related studies and is a widely cited scientist. For her Master of Technology in Modern Methods of Chemical Analysis dissertation, she focused on optimizing the reaction conditions for biodiesel production from vegetable oils. Dr. Shah received both this degree and her doctorate in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. She completed post-doctoral research at Iowa State University, followed by five years as a staff scientist.

Ye Lao, Ph.D. is Vice President of Worldwide Research & Development. Dr. Lao has been with the company for more than 10 years. She began her Kemin career in R&D at Kemin Animal Nutrition and Health  China. She then took on the role of Vice President of Marketing for the region, which was followed by her current role. Dr. Lao earned her doctorate degree in biochemistry from the University of Iowa and received an Executive Master of Business Administration from Washington University in St. Louis.

Matt Timm is Plant Manager. Before joining Kemin three years ago, Timm spent the bulk of his career at Red Star Yeast, beginning as a process shift supervisor and eventually becoming production manager.

"The biofuels industry is accelerating and has the capacity to make a positive impact on so many aspects of our daily lives and the future of our planet. Because Kemin has decades of experiences with the same enzymes and antioxidants biofuels producers are using, we found this extraordinary synergy between our applied science and the interests of the biofuels industry," said Dr. Chris Nelson, President and CEO, Kemin. "As we work to transform the quality of life, now is the time to grow our presence in an area that presents so much potential for beneficial change."

Kemin uses its technical expertise, extensive testing and industry knowledge to provide biofuels producers with a phytase and protease designed to improve yeast nutrition, as well as an antioxidant blend to improve biodiesel stability. With Kemin's tailored customer laboratory services, Kemin Biofuels can also identify the most efficient application rate of its products for customers.

To learn more about Kemin Biofuels, click here.

About Kemin Industries

Kemin Industries (www.kemin.com) is a global ingredient manufacturer that strives to sustainably transform the quality of life every day for 80 percent of the world with its products and services. The company supplies over 500 specialty ingredients for human and animal health and nutrition, pet food, aquaculture, nutraceutical, food technologies, crop technologies and textile industries.

For over half a century, Kemin has been dedicated to using applied science to address industry challenges and offer product solutions to customers in more than 120 countries. Kemin provides ingredients to feed a growing population with its commitment to the quality, safety and efficacy of food, feed and health-related products.

Established in 1961, Kemin is a privately held, family-owned-and-operated company with more than 2,800 global employees and operations in 90 countries, including manufacturing facilities in Belgium, Brazil, China, India, Italy, Russia, San Marino, Singapore, South Africa and the United States.

Media Contact:

Katie Miner, Communications Marketing Specialist, [email protected], +1 515-559-5183

 Kemin Industries, Inc. and its group of companies 2020. All rights reserved.   Trademarks of Kemin Industries, Inc., U.S.A.

Certain statements, product labeling and claims may differ by geography or as required by government requirements.

SOURCE Kemin Industries

Related Links

http://www.kemin.com


WHEN: Today, Thursday, January 9, 2020

WHERE: CNBC's "Closing Bell"  Live from CES in Las Vegas, Nevada

The following is the unofficial transcript of a FIRST ON CNBC interview with IAC Chairman Barry Diller and CNBC's Julia Boorstin on CNBC's "Closing Bell" (M-F 3PM  5PM) today, Thursday, January 9th, live from CES. The following is a link to video from the interview on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2020/01/09/barry-diller-discusses-the-future-of-iac-from-ces.html.

All references must be sourced to CNBC.

COURTNEY REAGAN: Well, welcome back. IAC slimming down its portfolio, announcing the sale of its' comedy website CollegeHumor yesterday, and spinning off its stake in dating app Match in a deal that is expected to close next quarter. Joining us now from CES is Julia Boorstin with IAC Chairman Barry Diller, in a first on CNBC interview. Hi, Julia.

JULIA BOORSTIN: Thanks so much. Thank you, Courtney. IAC and Expedia Chairman Barry Diller. Barry, thanks so much for joining us here from CES. We appreciate it. Courtney just mentioned the news, just yesterday IAC announced that you're selling out of College Humor. Tell us about what that move says about your sense of this digital video subscription space?

BARRY DILLER: Well, it doesn't really say very much about the space itself. What it says is that we  really had this tiny thing we had  and we found that we really couldn't compete. Because I don't think small players can compete at all in digital media. And so, rather than continue to fight on for no particular reasonI mean, it's not material to our company, at all. We just decided, 'Let's just concentrate where we can hopefully make good things happen.'

JULIA BOORSTIN: I want to hear more about digital media later. But first, to hear more about the future of IAC. You made some really big changes. You completed the sale of your stake in Match Group. You also made this big purchase of Care.com, for half a billion dollars. What do these two dealsthe sale and acquisitionsay about where IAC is going?

BARRY DILLER: First of all, it wasn't a sale. It was a spin-off. That's what our companies do. The concept of IAC is we create companies, we get them to be of a sufficient size where they can be independent, and then we spin them off to our shareholders. We're kind of an anti-conglomerate. So, Match reached the stage, valued itself at, I think, close to $20 billion, that we thought, 'This is a good thing for it now to be completely independent.' So, we are spinning it off. Care, on the other side, which has no connection to Match, other than essentially dispose of one, get another, is  you know, when you think of Care.com and what it conjures in your imagination, is it takes care of people through technology. So, this is an area that is undoubtedly going to grow enormously as the tech platform gets increasing sophistication, and a gig economy comes inside of it, so that if you want somebody to take care of elderly people, you want somebody to take care of your children, your dogs, or whatever, any kind of care, this is the most efficient platform to do so. We think it's a great area for us. So, hopefully what will happen is it will grow and grow, and then, we'll do what we do with everything: spin them off 

JULIA BOORSTIN: Spin them off. Now you've spun off Match

BARRY DILLER: --or everything of real value.

JULIA BOORSTIN: Now, you have completed this spin-off of Match.com, do you think that Facebook and its move into dating will prove to be a real threat to those assets?

BARRY DILLER: Why? Why would that cause  the fact that it's now in the hands of our shareholders, rather than in the corpus of IAC doesn't make any difference. Facebook hasn't  I mean, I would never discount anybody, any competition. It depends on what their innovation is. Thus far, they have not done anything that scares the horses.

JULIA BOORSTIN: Speaking of Facebook, we just ran a clip of you defending Mark Zuckerberg's decision to allow political ads, to not fact check them. Today, they reaffirmed that commitment.

BARRY DILLER: Good.

JULIA BOORSTIN: We have seen -- we have seen Twitter ban political ads entirely and Google place limits on them. Do you still think this is the right call? Or, if you think this is the right call, are there other steps you would like to see Zuckerberg take to protect elections and consumers?

BARRY DILLER: I don't think you can -- if you have basically free speech and you have the ability to advertise something, unless you are so egregiously over the line, you don't have any right to censor advertising, political advertising. What -- and how are you actually going to do it? What kind of slope are you going to slide down when you say, 'Well, you're actually going to'  in a promotional media, what is advertising? It's promotion. When you promote, you tend to exaggerate, both the negatives and the positives. Most television or most political advertising is actually negative. So, you make these argumentsthese negative arguments about your opponents. How are you going to vet those? It's impossible. What you really should dowhat this country should do, is get rid of all advertising for politics. We should have a system where in fact the government subsidizes getting the message out. We have so many actual  we have so many arenas of communication available to us that, why not simply set aside X amount of hours or days or weeks, I don't care, it would be far less than the irritation of being bombarded by political ads, and simply have essentially free elections, free messaging from politicians, and do away with the circus.

JULIA BOORSTIN: So, entirely ban all--

BARRY DILLER: So, clearly, I'm not a television station owner

JULIA BOORSTIN: Yes, clearly. Billions of dollars there.

BARRY DILLER: But even when I was, I advocated this. But I've been advocating so long, and it's obviously

JULIA BOORSTIN: You would entirely ban political advertising, on every platform.

BARRY DILLER: The idea that you have money in politics is simply crackpot. So, it is -- when you think about the idea that our elected officials would spend the amount of time they spend, trolling out for money to it is their message out, when we have so much available quote inventory of time to get the message out, it seems nuts to me.

JULIA BOORSTIN: Mayor Bloomberg

BARRY DILLER: And it has very, very, very bad consequences.

JULIA BOORSTIN: Mayor Bloomberg has recently entered the race. And already been spending millions of dollars in advertising.

BARRY DILLER: Yes. Of course.

JULIA BOORSTIN: What do you think about his entry into the race?

BARRY DILLER: Well, and I have been for a very long time, I'm not only very fond of him, but I think he's a totally credible candidate. I think he has a relatively narrow just because he's starting late and he's not an obvious choice. But he has a narrow corridor. But, if he performs at Super Tuesday, then I think he's -- first of all, I think he starts as the real deal. I can't imagine, in contrast to what we have today anybody better to conduct the affairs of this country then Mike Bloomberg. In every way: integrity, decency, smarts, a great executive, a fantastic record in New York. All of those things. You couldn't have a better candidate. So, I'm hopeful. But

JULIA BOORSTIN: Interesting. Now, going back to Facebook, also Google, I know you've criticized Google for monopolizing search, which has impacted Expedia, as well as your search assets.

BARRY DILLER: Well, I don't criticize them. The truth is that they're a monopoly. And, you know, when you're a monopoly, great. The only thing that comes with monopoly -- like with great wealth, comes great responsibility. I think when you have monopoly status, you've really got to be very careful. Because the inevitable day to day work of everybody in your company is to extend your monopoly. For the people who depend upon it, that's often problematic. So, I think that there will be appropriate regulation, either self-regulation, which has not yet happened, or real regulation is inevitability.

JULIA BOORSTIN: I have to ask you also about the streaming wars. Since you were last on CNBC in October, we saw the launch of Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus. We're about to get the launch of NBCUniversal's ad-supported Peacock, as well as Quibi from Jeffrey Katzenberg, who you've known for a very long time. Which of these platforms is best positioned to exceed, and will we see them drive cord-cutting or impact Netflix?

BARRY DILLER: Well, they are driving the  I mean, people cutting the cord is inevitable. It's just going to keep continuing and continuing. It's not going to go down to zero. But it is--so many people who have the means, would rather watch streaming television than they would linear television, which is basically cable. So, that track is inevitable. As far as who's going to win, look, Netflix has already won. It does not mean that there could be other winners. But if you define winning as binary, win/lose, Netflix is not going to give up very much of its lead, if ever, and I think will continue to enhance it. They're just so far ahead in the number of subscribers, and the amount of money that they are putting into production. it's just not possible to compete with them, I don't believe. Nevertheless, I think Disney has done a spectacular job in announcing pricing and promoting its service.

JULIA BOORSTIN: What about the ones who have let to launch? The Peacock, Quibi's, and the HBO Max's

BARRY DILLER: Well, NBC, Peacock, Comcast's idea of ad-supported is a different than subscription pay, paid subscription. And I think it's a smart idea. Because, first of all, it takes an awful lot less capital intensive, less investment. And I also think there are a lot of people who--given that the ad load is much less than it is on broadcast television or cable television, I think that that's a very good scheme. So, I'm optimistic about that.

JULIA BOORSTIN: So, bullish on the ad-supported streaming. Well, I can keep asking you questions 

BARRY DILLER: What I do think is

JULIA BOORSTIN: Yeah.

BARRY DILLER: One thing is, that I've been thinking about, is that we're going to all be pretty soon disappointed in the output of this, because the truth is, it's -- the workers are getting tired.

JULIA BOORSTIN: The output, meaning of the content?

BARRY DILLER: The actual programming. We are going to have to start to expect less. That doesn't mean you're not going to have a great program every once and awhile. But, there is so much pressure on what is relatively small, creative community, that the pressure on that, and just a drain of pushing it to the extent it's been pushed, is going to reduce quality. We've had kind of a peak of, people have said at different times, "golden television." We've had a peak of that. I think it's going to go down from here.

JULIA BOORSTIN: So, the impact of this explosion in quantity means there will be a reduction in quality?

BARRY DILLER: Inevitably.

JULIA BOORSTIN: Inevitably. I could keep asking you questions for another hour, but you are going to go tour the floor.

BARRY DILLER: I am. I am.

JULIA BOORSTIN: Thank you so much for talking to us here at CES.

BARRY DILLER: My pleasure.

JULIA BOORSTIN: Wilf, back over to you.

For more information contact:

Jennifer Dauble

CNBC

t: 201.735.4721

m: 201.615.2787

e: jennifer.dauble@nbcuni.com

Emma Martin

CNBC

t: 201.735.4713

m: 551.275.6221

e: emma.martin@nbcuni.com
Federal authorities in San Francisco announced charges Thursday against two alleged gang members in a March shootout at the citys Fillmore Heritage Center that left one man dead and five others injured  including a bystander who was shot in the spine and paralyzed from the waist down.

Officials from the U.S. attorneys office, FBI and San Francisco Police Department underscored their collaborative partnership in announcing the charges against Robert Manning, 28, and Jamare Coats, 26, who were indicted by a federal grand jury on counts of using a firearm in a violent crime resulting in death and being felons in possession of a firearm.

The charges carry a possible death sentence.

Thursdays indictment by the feds comes after local prosecutors filed less serious weapons charges against Coats and another defendant shortly after the incident.

Coats and Manning, authorities said, are members of the notorious Mac Block street gang and sprayed bullets at an armed rival on a crowded sidewalk outside the cultural center at 1330 Fillmore St. during a funeral for a self-proclaimed drug kingpin.

An event like this is completely unacceptable, said Jack Bennett, special agent in charge of the FBIs San Francisco field office. The streets of San Francisco cannot and will not be used as a playground for gang warfare. We wont allow it, and we will pursue those who try. Those wannabe kings of the street dont have a throne waiting for them. They will have a federal prison cell waiting for them.

Attorneys for the defendants did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The March 23 shooting stunned the Fillmore neighborhood and stalled the revival of its newly reopened heritage center  an African American cultural center that was built in 2007 to bring jazz and blues back to the district.

The shooting prompted concerns that the nonprofits that had recently been operating the center did not have adequate resources, including security, to run the facility. Supervisor Dean Preston, whose district includes the Fillmore, said he is scheduling community meetings to create a plan to re-open the center.

Thursdays charges came one day after San Franciscos newly elected district attorney, Chesa Boudin, was sworn in to office. Boudin campaigned on a platform of ending the use of gang enhancements, which he has called racist. Statistics show people of color are disproportionately charged with gang enhancements.

Gang enhancements add years to a felony charge, and defendants must be found guilty of participating in a criminal street gang while knowing its members have committed a pattern of criminal gang activity.

U.S. Attorney David Anderson said Thursdays charges highlight that gangs continue to unleash violence in San Francisco.

As long as theyre about their work, well be about our work as well, he said.

San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said his department will continue to investigate gang cases and put resources into its gang task force despite the district attorneys policy changes.

Were going to keep doing what we do, Scott said. Laws change. People change. But our job remains the same  to protect the city. And it would not be wise to back off on how we do business because of a decision by the current district attorney.

The bloodbath happened on a busy Saturday night around 8:30 p.m. Mourners packed the heritage center for the funeral of Ron Newt, a self-styled gangsta pimp and flashy San Francisco businessman, who died at age 69.

Inside the building, 25-year-old San Leandro resident Mister Dee Carnell Simmons III flashed a pistol to Coats and others, who ran outside to their vehicles to retrieve handguns, prosecutors with the San Francisco district attorneys office wrote in court documents.

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.

Two minutes later, Coats and two others ran back to the heritage center to confront Simmons, who had come outside, prosecutors said.

A witness told police that Simmons whipped out his handgun first and bullets started to fly, according to court papers.

Simmons shot at the group as Coats and others returned fire, prosecutors said. In the end, Simmons lay dead on the pavement while five bystanders were wounded, including a 27-year-old man who was shot in the spine and paralyzed from the waist down, police said.

Prosecutors filed gun charges against Coats and Sean Harrison, 25, but did not file murder charges. California law requires prosecutors to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant did not act in self defense in a murder case.

The charges were brought based on the evidence, said Alex Bastian, a spokesman for the San Francisco district attorneys office. We asked to detain both individuals without bail, and the judge agreed. Since then, the federal government has filed charges, and the case is now with them.

Chief Scott said the Police Department is very fortunate to have the partnerships with federal authorities to hold these individuals accountable.

Coats has a criminal history that includes two state prison stints for illegal gun charges. Federal authorities filed gun charges against him in July while he was in custody and unsealed a superseding indictment against him and Manning on Thursday.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Trisha Thadani contributed to this report.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
Imperial Valley News Center

Iranian Strikes in Iraq

Washington, DC - Casualties: The President noted in his remarks that there were no casualties; governments of Iraq, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Spain also reported no casualties among their soldiers in Iraq.

Iraqi Protests Against Iran: Iraqi protesters in Nasiriyah reportedly refused to allow supporters of Iran-aligned groups Badr Organization, Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), Kataib Hezbollah (KH) to lead a funeral for Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis through al-Haboobi Square on January 7. Following this, pro-Iran militia groups reportedly opened fire on pro-reform protesters in al-Haboobi Square and burned their tents. In return, protesters reportedly torched Badr, AAH, and KH offices.

Number of Attacks by Iran/Iranian-Supported Militias on U.S. Forces: Before last nights attack by Iran on the Iraqi facilities, there have been 14 attacks by Iran and Iranian-supported militias on U.S. forces since September 2019.

Highlights from President Trumps remarks on January 8, 2020:

As long as I am President of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.

No Americans were harmed in last nights attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties, all of our soldiers are safe, and only minimal damage was sustained at our military basesNo American or Iraqi lives were lost.

Soleimanis hands were drenched in both American and Iranian blood. He should have been terminated long ago. By removing Soleimani, we have sent a powerful message to terrorists: If you value your own life, you will not threaten the lives of our people.

The United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime. These powerful sanctions will remain until Iran changes its behavior.

Iran must abandon its nuclear ambitions and end its support for terrorism. The time has come for the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and China to recognize this reality. They must now break away from the remnants of the Iran deal  or JCPOA  and we must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place. We must also make a deal that allows Iran to thrive and prosper, and take advantage of its enormous untapped potential.

I am going to ask NATO to become much more involved in the Middle East process.

To the people and leaders of Iran: We want you to have a future and a great future  one that you deserve, one of prosperity at home, and harmony with the nations of the world. The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.

International Reactions:
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle recently returned to England  but their 8-month-old son Archie wasnt with them.

PEOPLE understands that Archie remained in Canada while the couple flew to London, where they made their first appearance of the new year at Canada House on Tuesday to thank the country for hosting them during their holiday getaway. Meghan, 38, and Prince Harry, 35, plan to return to Canada and reunite with their son soon.

It is believed that Archie stayed with Meghans close pal Jessica Mulroney, whose three children served as page boys and a flower girl in the couples royal wedding in May 2018. Shortly after the couple made their shocking announcement that they intended to step back as senior members of the Royal Family in order to carve out a progressive new role within this institution on Wednesday, Jessica appeared to voice her support via an Instagram post.

Sussex Royals

The Canadian stylist shared a quote from American filmmaker Gina Carey: A strong woman looks a challenge dead in the eye and gives it a wink.

Harry, Meghan and Archie spent Thanksgiving and Christmas on Vancouver Island, where they had valuable time with Meghans mom Doria Ragland and close friends who came to visit them at their remote vacation home.

It was there that the couple posed for their family Christmas greetings and an adorable photo  taken by Meghan  of proud dad Harry and little Archie were captured.

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Archie | Toby Melville/WireImage

RELATED: Canada-Bound? Where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle May End Up if They Move to North America

During their visit to the Canada House in London, Meghan revealed that Archie was in awe of the natural beauty of Canada.

Just to be able to take in the warmth that we experienced from the people but also just to walk around and just see the beauty of Canada, she told staff. To see Archie go ahhh when you walk by and just see how stunning it is, so it meant a lot to us.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry | DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/POOL/AFP via Getty

The couple have history with the North American country, which is part of the Commonwealth, a group of nations with close ties to the Crown. Meghan called Toronto home for years while she filmed her hit USA legal drama Suits, and she was living there when she and Harry first began dating. The couples first public appearance together was in support of Harrys Invictus Games in Toronto in 2017.

Story continues

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at 2017 Invictus Games | Tim Rooke/REX/Shutterstock

In their bombshell announcement, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said they are making plans to split their time between the U.K. and North America.

After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex wrote on Instagram. We intend to step back as senior members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen. It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.

We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages. This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity. We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support.
Image Credit: UNI

New Delhi/ IBNS: A group of 15 Foreign Envoys based in New Delhi are on a two-day visit to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on 9-10 Jan, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

The visit is being facilitated by the Government of India.

The countries who are part of the group are United States, South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Fiji, Maldives, Norway, Philippines, Morocco, Argentina, Peru, Niger, Nigeria, Guyana and Togo.

Since their arrival on Thursday morning, the group had a series of meetings.

The first meeting was with the security officials to understand the challenges of maintaining security, including the threat of terrorism in the Union Territory.

This was followed by an interaction with civil society from all walks of life and from all over J&K.

The group also interacted with the local media as well as a group of political leaders.

They will have more meetings on Friday in Jammu before returning to Delhi.

The objective of the visit is for the Envoys to see the efforts being made by the Government to bring the situation to normal and see first-hand the impact of series of steps taken by the local Administration to normalize the situation in recent weeks.

The programme was drawn up keeping in mind the threat posed by terrorism and taking adequate precautions for security, the MEA statement said.

The visit was organized following requests from some Envoys based in Delhi to undertake a visit to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

"Our consistent position has been that any visit to the Union Territory of J&K by foreign dignitaries will be based on assessment by local administration on the prevailing security situation," said the MEA.

Image Credit: UNI
- South Africa government will hire teachers from countries that have established the language in their schools

- The country's Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said Kiswahili will help enhance business ties and social cohesion

- South Africa has 11 officials languages that are being taught in schools and Kiswahili will be the only African language to be incorporated

- Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, parts of Rwanda, DRC Congo and Burundi have adopted the language in their schools and daily interactions

African countries seem to be keen on embracing Kiswahili as the continent's indigenous language recognised and spoken by its people.

South Africa has become the latest country to incorporate the language in its school syllabus in a bid to train her people to embrace it as an alternative national language.

READ ALSO: CS Magoha asks rich Kenyans to abandon expensive breakfasts to support needy children's education

Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga (pictured) said Kiswahili is one of the biggest languages in Africa and were glad to introduce in South Africa Photo: Briefly

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Aisha Jumwa dares politicians seeking to vie against Ruto to publicly declare their interest

Addressing the press, Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said Kiswahili was one of the biggest languages in Africa and were glad to introduce it in South Africa after conducting thorough research on its origin, relevance and viability.

" We have taken long to introduce it because we wanted to do some research to understand exactly what we need for us to implement it and we have approved it after establishing what is required of us," he said.

READ ALSO: MP Ngunjiri Wambugu claims Uhuru has stopped sending Ruto to present donations on his behalf

Mhlanga said Kiswahili will be key on the continent's trade and engagements and exuded confidence the language would enhance unity and social cohesion.

"We are going to spend money ourselves as the South African government to ensure it prospers and it thrives and a lot more people learn it particularly from our schools," added the spokesperson.

TUKO.co.ke editor using a Swahili dictionary. Photo: Original

Source: Original

He noted the government would hire teachers from countries that have established the language in their schools and trained enough teachers so as they can help in rolling out the program in their institutions of learning.

South Africa has 11 officials languages that are taught in schools and has adopted some foreign languages in the syllabus over the years.

Kiswahili will be the only African language to be included in the curriculum.

East African countries have adopted Kiswahili as a unifying language of communication among their citizens and it's being taught in schools.

Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, parts of Rwanda, DRC Congo and Burundi have adopted the language in their schools and daily interaction.

Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly.

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No administrative proceedings will be instituted for failure to air the Armenian national anthem. The issue on failure by television and radio stations to air the Armenian national anthem on New Years Eve was discussed during the session held by the National Commission on Television and Radio today, as reported the Commission.

During the session, Chairman of the Commission Tigran Hakobyan stated that for days, mass media outlets and online presses had been discussing the failure by television and radio stations to air the Armenian national anthem on New Years Eve.

According to the Armenian legislation on the national anthem of the Republic of Armenia, the national anthem of the Republic of Armenia shall be aired by all television and radio stations operating in the territory of the Republic of Armenia, irrespective of form of ownership, on New Years Eve, after the strikes of the clock at Republic Square in Yerevan. Violation of the requirements of the law shall entail liability as prescribed by law.

What was also discussed during the session as the fact that, according to the legislation, a fine is applied for violation of the law, but under the law on television and radio, there is no fine stipulated for failure to air the national anthem of the Republic of Armenia after the strikes of the clock at Republic Square in Yerevan.

Considering all these facts, the Commission stated that even though there had been a violation of the law on the national anthem of the Republic of Armenia, governed by the legislation regulating the sector of television and radio, the Commission is not competent to apply liability measures.
A supermarket employees photos of a skip bin full of spoiled food highlights the impact on local businesses in bushfire-ravaged communities.

The employee explained in the Facebook post he worked at Batehaven IGA, a small town just minutes away from Batemans Bay, which is still under threat from the Clyde Mountain fire.

Due to the bushfires ablaze on Saturday, more than 40,000 people in the area lost power that afternoon, with fires affecting the infrastructure.

The employee said on Facebook, one of the most unfortunate jobs he has had to do while working at IGA is to clear out the stock from the store, which was spoiled due to the power outages.

Fire crews are working frantically to put in containment lines throughout the NSW South Coast region. Source: AAP Image/Dean Lewins

The employee estimates the stock he had to get rid of would have been worth no less that $50,000 and there was enough to fill two skip bins. He added that the loss was not the only setback local owners have had to overcome.

The IGA is owned by three families, according to the employee.

Most of you would know Jim and Dave who have been around for a long time and theres Nathan & Kylie who have been there for a few years now, he wrote.

These guys wouldnt tell the world what they have lost or how its impacted them personally but thats what makes them humble.

According to the post, Jim and Dave lost their homes in the fire, taking the possessions they could carry and losing everything else.

Nathan and Kylies home was spared, but the fires destroyed everything around their home, the only place they could seek shelter was the IGA store.

During a time of crisis, as the fire approached and eventually hit neighbouring towns, the store remained open.

The employee estimates the IGA had to throw out around $50,000 worth of stock, which went off due to power outages. Source: Facebook

As the fires ravaged the coast, we lost power, communication with outside world and we had barely any supplies coming, the main priorities on a daily basis was to open the store and make sure everyone could get water and food, the post reads.

And not once have they [the store owners] complained about what they lost.

Hundreds of stories like this

Story continues

The employee wrote the Facebook post was not for pity, or attention, noting there are a hundred stories just like this, where locals are doing their bit to help the community in a time of need.

Rather the post is to remind people the small towns which were devastated by the fires, and are still under threat, need support from tourists.

Batemans Bay is a popular tourist destination. The bushfires have impacted travel plans for tourists across Australia, with road blocks, evacuations and authorities advising caution.

The employee says the Batehaven community suffers when tourism in the area is lacking, especially during the warmer months.

The post stresses the importance if tourism, especially following the fires, as the community tries to rebuild. Source: Facebook

We are in the process of rebuilding but we need help from our community and from the tourists that love our beautiful coast, the post says, before parting on a message which is relevant to all communities affected by the fires.

Buy local, support small business, keep the community thriving.

Farmer calls for increase in milk price

Its not just retailers who were hit hard by the bushfires, Australias dairy industry is needing help and calling for an increase in milk prices.

About 160 hectares of Robert Millers pasture was destroyed in bushfires and hes unable to feed his cattle because its too dangerous for trucks to bring hay in.

I was saying $1.50 a litre but maybe it needs to go to $1.75, Mr Miller told the ABC.

Woolworths told Yahoo News Australia the fires have not impacted their milk supply, but the head of NSW farmers body Dairy Connect, Shaughn Morgan, told The Guardian last week milk supply could be impacted by bushfires.

There have been appeals from farmers across Australia to increase milk prices, long before bushfires made their circumstances worse.

The NSW South Coast region was devastated by a bushfire on New Year's Eve. The area will be under threat again when temperatures increase on Friday. Source: AAP Image/Dean Lewins

Customers still without power in NSW

The Batemans Bay and Batehaven area is still experiencing power outages.

The Essential Energy map shows there are still numerous unplanned interruptions along the NSW South Coast, many of the incidents report crews are investigating.

"The electricity network has sustained extensive damage with some areas being completely destroyed and needing rebuilding," Essential Energy said in a statement.

Parts of the NSW south coast are experiencing power outages, due to the bushfires. Source: Essential Energy.

"In many cases customers will be without power into late this week, some possibly longer."

The utility company is working with the NSW Rural Fire Service to access and inspect parts of the network.

In addition to the 35,600 Essential Energy users who did not have power in southeastern NSW on Sunday, some 6500 Endeavour Energy customers were also without power mainly in the southern Shoalhaven region.

with AAP

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
The president of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has appointed Prabhash Subasinghe, managing director of GRI, as the new chairman of the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB). The EDBs aim is to position Sri Lanka as a prominent export hub for products and services.

Subasinghe is described as an ambitious and astute entrepreneur. He has a degree in applied economics and business from Cornell University, and undertook subsequent studies at Harvard Business School, and has built a respected career after his education. Currently leading a group of companies, Subasinghe is said to be a proven leader with a steadfast passion in building successful businesses.

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Subasinghe said he was humbled to have been selected to steer the countrys export development initiative and accepted it in the countrys interest.
An Ulster Unionist peer has said Boris Johnson "threw the people of Northern Ireland to the wolves" with his Brexit deal, while few Conservative MPs care about the province.

Lord Rogan also described the "utter distaste" shared by politicians here for the Prime Minister's "wretched Brexit deal".

Speaking in the House of Lords, Lord Rogan said that the outcome of the current Stormont talks was now in the gift of the DUP and Sinn Fein.

He added: "Having had the pleasure of visiting various different parts of Northern Ireland over the festive period, I can report frustration at the failure of these two parties to agree has reached even greater heights."

Lord Rogan cited the growing crisis in the NHS as one of the primary reasons why devolution must be urgently restored.

He said that the withdrawal agreement Boris Johnson had negotiated with the EU "threw the people of Northern Ireland to the wolves".

He added: "Despite his repeated public denials that he would treat the province any differently from the rest of the UK after Brexit, he has chosen to do exactly that.

"There will now be a trade barrier down the Irish Sea and higher costs for consumers and businesses. The Prime Minister chose to renege on his promises, repeated many times, that Northern Ireland would not be treated differently from the rest of the kingdom. But there are no votes for him in Northern Ireland.

"I am sorry to say that, with the exception of a small number in the Conservative Party in the House of Commons, its members there now care little about Northern Ireland."

Lord Rogan concluded that, despite other policy differences, "one subject that unites Northern Ireland politicians is their utter distaste for the Prime Minister's wretched Brexit deal as it affects Northern Ireland."
Mamata Banerjee accused the Left and the Congress of playing 'dirty politics' and said she would fight against the Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC alone.

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she will boycott the Opposition's anti-CAA meeting convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on 13 January to protest the violence unleashed in the state allegedly by Left Front and Congress workers during a trade union strike.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to boycott the January 13 opposition meeting in Delhi, alleging that Congress and Left are 'playing dirty politics in West Bengal' and that she will fight against #CAA and #NRC alone. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/u3L3cKqI1j  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

The 24-hour nationwide strike by central trade unions across the nation on Wednesday was marked by incidents of violence and arson, blocking of railway tracks and roads by protestors trying to enforce the shutdown in Bengal.

Mamata said "double standards" of the Left Front and Congress will not be tolerated.

"I have decided to boycott the meeting convened by Sonia Gandhi on 13 January in New Delhi as I don't support the violence that the Left and Congress unleashed in West Bengal yesterday (Wednesday)," the chief minister said at the state Assembly.

Sonia Gandhi has called a meeting of Opposition parties, including the Left, to discuss the situation arising out of violence on various university campuses and protests in the country over the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.
The president of the European Council has urged Iran not to retaliate to the assassination of its top general with "irreversible acts", in the latest plea for de-escalation.

Charles Michel, who replaced Donald Tusk in the top role at the end of last year, said the Iran nuclear deal, the so-called JCPOA, could still survive.

It comes a week after the killing of Qasem Soleimani, who was killed by a targeted US drone strike while on a visit to neighbouring Iraq.

The killing, ordered by US president Donald Trump, has ramped up tensions in the Middle East and raised fears of an open conflict between Iran and the US.

Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles as bases housing US forces in Iraq earlier this week in response to the killing.

It has also indicated that it will breach some of the terms of the JCPOA, an agreement which was signed in order to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons  but was repudiated by Donald Trump

Iraq's parliament responded to Mr Soleimani's killing by calling for the expulsion of all foreign troops, including Americans.

Mr Michel spoke with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani on the telephone on Thursday morning.

"Following yesterdays statements, Charles Michel expressed hopes that there will be no further attempts to increase tensions in the region leading to a de-escalation of the situation in the Middle East," a statement from the European Council read.

"The Iranian President stated that the European Union has always played a stabilising and responsible role in the region and that Iran stands ready to continue a close cooperation with the EU."

Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Show all 24 1 /24 Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions Iranian mourners gather around a vehicle carrying the coffin of top general Qasem Soleimani during the final stage of funeral processions, in his hometown Kerman. Soleimani was killed outside Baghdad airport in a drone strike ordered by US President Donald Trump, ratcheting up tensions with Iran which has vowed "severe revenge" AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranian people carry a coffin of Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani during a funeral procession in Tehran Official Khamenei website via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions The assassination of the 62-year-old heightened international concern about a new war in the volatile, oil-rich Middle East and rattled financial markets AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Mourners packed the streets of Tehran for ceremonies to pay homage to Soleimani, who spearheaded Iran's Middle East operations as commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force and was killed in a US drone strike on January 3 Iranian Supreme Leader's Office/EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranians set a US and an Israeli flag on fire during the funeral procession AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, centre, with Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, second left, and President Hassan Rouhani, third left, standing next to him as he leads a prayer over the caskets of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at Tehran University Khamenei.IR/AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, openly weeps as he leads a prayer over the coffin of Qassem Soleimani AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Mourners holding posters of Qassem Soleimani AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Coffins of Soleimani and others who were killed in Iraq by a US drone strike, are carried on a truck surrounded by mourners during a funeral procession, at the Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) square AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions An Iranian mourner holds a placard AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Downtown Tehran was brought to a standstill as mourners flooded the Iranian capital Khamenei.IR/AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Former Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps chief Mohamad Ali Jafari prays on the coffins of Qasem Soleimani and of other victims during their funeral ceremony EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Official Khamenei website via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Satellite image Maxar Technologies/AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA

Mr Michel said of the conversation: "I called Iran not to pose irreversible acts."

Since the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency the EU has positioned itself as the guardian of the Iran nuclear deal and taken steps to circumvent renewed US sanctions on the country.

The US says Mr Soleimani was killed because of his role in directly Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria.
SANTA FE  Tonita Gurule-Giron on Wednesday resigned as mayor of Las Vegas, about two weeks after the New Mexico Attorney Generals Office indicted her on charges of bribery and accepting kickbacks.

At the outset of a City Council work session on Wednesday, Councilor Vince Howell, who serves as mayor pro tem, read a letter from Gurule-Giron announcing she would step down as mayor, effective at 11:59 p.m.

The letter, a photo of which was tweeted by KOB-TV, which was first to report the news, mentions that a criminal complaint had been filed against her.

While I have (pleaded) not guilty to those charges, I believe it is in the best interests of the citizens of Las Vegas and, most importantly, my family, for me to resign from the position, she wrote. Those who know me personally know that I am a fighter. However, I believe the citizens of Las Vegas deserve to have city government operate without the distractions that undoubtedly will ensue if I remain in office for the last two months of my term.

She went on to say that she wanted to spare her family the pain of the inevitable media frenzy that would accompany my continued service in my position.

Gurule-Giron had previously said she would not run for reelection.

There are six candidates running in the March 3 mayoral election, including City Councilor Barbara Perea-Casey, who said in a phone interview that she was relieved that Gurule-Giron stepped down.

I think that from now on, we can move forward without controversy and contentiousness weve had at every meeting, she said. But Im also sad because this has been very difficult for everybody, including the mayor. I can understand how difficult this has been for her. But I think she did the right thing.

Perea-Casey said that according to the city charter, Mayor Pro Tem Howell is to call a special meeting of the City Council within 45 days to decide who among the four city councilors will finish out the final weeks of the mayors term.

The criminal case against Gurule-Giron alleges she pressured city employees to give contracts to her boyfriends construction company.
Markets smack in the middle of the so-called "Silicon Prairie"  including Kansas City and Oklahoma City  top the list of those that may appeal to growing tech companies, followed by markets in the Midwest and the South that have the ability to draw talent and the tech companies looking to hire them.

Eroding affordability and relatively lackluster quality of life put the nation's more-stereotypical tech hubs  the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and/or New York  at or near the bottom of the rankings.

Widely recognized tech hubs including the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle are no longer the obvious spots for large tech companies to expand and/or for new startups to set up shop. Rapid housing cost growth in these areas and a saturation of firms competing over limited pools of tech talent may instead push tech companies to shift their gazes elsewhere.

Zillow analyzed market conditions in 42 large metro areas nationwide, focusing on five factors that could suggest a market ripe for tech growth:

housing affordability

market 'hotness'  factors indicating a market has the potential to attract people

demographics and labor market dynamics  factors that indicate a robust local economy

tech availability  factors that indicate a market has less competition for talent

livability  factors that highlight the appeal of living in a given market

Surprisingly, the markets offering the best balance between these five dimensions are not necessarily those that may be top-of-mind when asked to identify tech hot spots. Markets smack in the middle of the so-called "Silicon Prairie" top the list of those that may appeal to growing tech companies, followed by markets in the Midwest and the South that have the ability to draw talent and the tech companies looking to hire them. Eroding affordability and relatively lackluster quality of life put the nation's more-stereotypical tech hubs at or near the bottom of the rankings.

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Oklahoma City and Kansas City lead the list of markets that may be appealing to tech initiatives. These cities rank high in housing affordability: In each, those earning the area's median incomes should expect to spend a comparatively smaller share of their income on housing. They also earn high marks for livability (Kansas City tops the list in this category) and the local availability of workers with in-demand tech skills.

A number of southern markets, including Jacksonville, San Antonio and Austin, as well as Cincinnati, rank among the top 10 in terms of market hotness. Robust rent and/or home value growth, as well as more people from outside the areas looking in instead of people already there looking out, suggest these places are poised for continued growth and an influx of people.

Traditional tech hubs  along with Chicago, not typically considered a tech hotspot  occupied all of the bottom five slots on the ranking. Lack of affordability is a major, unifying concern for tech hubs: Los Angeles and the Bay Area have the worst affordability rankings of all markets examined in this study.

Below, we've highlighted some standouts from each of the five dimensions we examined.

Affordable Markets

In recent years, a handful of tech-dominant markets have become notoriously unaffordable for both the average wage earners and even some traditionally higher-paid workers, like computer programmers. Areas with better affordability  where renters or home buyers can expect to spend less of their income on housing  offer both a lower barrier for newcomers and ensure that current talent can stick around. Topping the list of affordable markets are Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Oklahoma City.

On the flip side, some markets in California are prohibitively expensive. In Los Angeles, for example, a renting household earning the area's median income should expect to spend almost half of their income on a middle-of-the-road rental. In San Diego, the same renter should expect to pay almost 40% of their income on the local median rent. Mortgage affordability in these pricey places is also abysmal. In the San Francisco Bay Area, the average person would need to spend 40 percent of their income on a monthly mortgage payment  and that's after assuming they have $200,000 on hand to use as a 20% down payment on the area's median home, which costs only a cool $1 million.

Hot Markets

"Market hotness" measures the potential of a given market to both retain locals and appear as an attractive destination for others. Healthy rent and home value growth, coupled with a higher share of more people searching in than out, point to a market with staying power. Las Vegas, Jacksonville and Tampa have the highest inbound-to-outbound home search ratios of all the markets studied. Combined with some of the strongest home value and rent growth, these markets are the hottest around.

The coolest markets are those where more people are looking to leave than come. The San Francisco Bay Area, Washington D.C. and New York have between four to five people searching for homes outside of the market for every one looking from the outside in. The San Francisco Bay Area, in particular, is the only market on this list that experienced falling home values over the past year  likely because of mounting housing affordability challenges in the face of unsustainable growth.

Labor-Ready Markets

Markets that can support a robust economy with a ready supply of workers include Austin, Orlando and the San Francisco Bay Area. These areas are notable for their low unemployment rates, strong job growth and large share of the population aged 20-to-35  an indicator of a ready supply of entry-level and middle-management workers that can grow in their roles and help a new company or office thrive over the next several years. This isn't to say that middle-aged.mid-career workers aren't valuable or necessary, only that younger workers are a good proxy for determining the potential for "early career" workers likely to enable company growth. We fully acknowledge that older workers can also start and grow in new careers, too.

On the other end of the spectrum, markets including Detroit and Cleveland have sluggish employment growth and the highest levels of unemployment of all markets on this list. Pittsburgh, another market occupying one of the lowest spots on this sub-list, has among the lowest shares of residents between the ages of 20-to-35.

Tech-Available Markets

In addition to a labor market that can support a growing economy, tech companies specifically look for markets that have access to tech skills. We partnered with LinkedIn and examined their skills gap data to identify areas with a relative shortage or abundance of workers with specialized tech talents, focusing on the core tech skills of software development, artificial intelligence and data science. Another measure of potential tech talent is the local share of residents over the age of 25 that have a bachelor's degree. Markets that scored high on this list  including Kansas City and Milwaukee  had the smallest tech skills shortage (e.g. we didn't observe markets with a surplus of tech skills) and/or relatively high shares of people with bachelor's degrees.

All the markets that scored low on tech availability had massive skills gaps in core tech skills. Demand clearly outstrips supply for tech workers in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Additionally, Los Angeles and San Francisco were among the least affordable markets, so tech companies will likely have to pay top dollar for scarce talent  a tough proposition for cash-strapped startups or those looking at pricey expansions.

Livable Markets

In addition to what appeals to tech companies themselves, their employees must also find good reason to call a place home. Kansas City and Salt Lake City feature some of the shortest commutes of the markets examined, which is likely to appeal to workers of all stripes. And based on internet speed data from our partners at Ookla, Kansas City and Raleigh also have blazing-fast broadband speeds, a great amenity for local residents.

Meanwhile, Chicago has some of the longest commutes of all the markets examined, and Detroit experiences sluggish broadband speeds.

Methodology

To determine the best markets that provide the best environments for tech expansion or start-ups, we examined a number of factors that would attract tech companies and help retain tech talent:

Demographics and the labor market

Non-farm job growth (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Survey)

Unemployment rate (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Survey)

Share of population aged 20 to 35 (U.S. Census, American Community Survey), as a proxy for early career workers. We acknowledge that older workers can also start new careers and grow into them over many years, as well.

Tech skills

Share of population with a bachelor's degree, over the age of 25 (U.S. Census, American Community Survey)

Shortage/surplus headcount of those with Software Development skills (LinkedIn)

Shortage/surplus headcount of those with Data Science skills (LinkedIn)

Shortage/surplus headcount of those with Artificial Intelligence skills (LinkedIn)

Market 'Hotness'

Year-over-year growth in home values (Zillow)

Year-over-year growth in rent estimates (Zillow)

Inbound-outbound home search ratio (Zillow)

Housing Affordability

Share of median income needed to pay median rent (Zillow)

Share of median income needed to pay median mortgage payment (Zillow)

Livability

Broadband speed, mbps upload (Ookla)

Broadband speed, mbps download (Ookla)

Mean commute time for workers that do not work from home (U.S. Census, American Community Survey)

Markets are identified by their larger metropolitan areas. The San Francisco Bay Area includes both San Francisco and San Jose metros. The underlying factors for this region are based on a population weighted average between the two metros

The post Why The Most Favorable Markets for Tech Expansion Aren't Where You Might Think appeared first on Zillow Research.
Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Thursday said that Jawaharlal Nehru Unversity (JNU) Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar should not be allowed to continue on his post as he has been "adamant" on not implementing government proposal to solve the fee hike imbroglio at the varsity.

In a tweet, Joshi termed the decision of Vice-Chancellor as "shocking" and his attitude "deplorable".

Joshi cited media reports that the Human Resource Development Ministry had twice advised the JNU VC to implement "certain reasonable and working formula for resolving the issue of enhanced fees in JNU".

The BJP leader, who is a former HRD minister, said the Vice-Chancellor was also advised to reach out to the teachers and students.

"It is shocking that the VC is adamant for not implementing the government proposal. This attitude is deplorable and in my opinion, such a VC should not be allowed to continue on this post," Joshi said in a tweet.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Citizenship Amendment Act which was passed by Parliament last week is arguably the most divisive and polarising legislation in the history of India. It has divided the country into two - those in support and those against.

And both sides have been trying their best to show that the majority of the country is with them. This is particularly true for the pro-CAA camp led by the BJP and the Narendra Modi government.

Despite the fact that even some of its NDA partners are opposed to the law and BJP-ruled state in the northeast were the first to protest against the contentious law the ruling party says 'all is well' and has been working overtime to show that the people of India support a law that was passed by Parliament.

Several pro-BJP handles on social media conducted online polls to gather support for CAA, but in most of the case the poll did not go as per their plan, and some of them ended up deleting their polls when they did not get the desired result.

But what exposed the BJP's desperation to show that the people support CAA was a Missed call campaign launched by the party, where people could give a missed call to 8866288662 show their support. But hours after the campaign was launched it was posted on social media pretending to be for dating, friendship, sex chat, free Netflix, leaked number of Sunny Leone/ Alia Bhatt and much more.

Despite this being called out, on Monday Home Minister Amit Shah said that the party received 52,72,000 missed calls in support of CAA.

Writing letters congratulating PM Modi

A private school in Gujarat has courted controversy after it allegedly made its students write letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, congratulating him on CAA and expressing their family's support to the law.

According to The Indian Express, the Little Star School, an all-girls school in Ahmedabad made its students write Congratulations. I, citizen of India, congratulate honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act). I and my family support this act, on postcards and submit it to the teachers. However, it did not go according to plan after some parents raised objection to it and the school was forced to apologize for and return the postcards.

Unending stories of intimidation

Over the past few weeks, there have been any number of incidents where those opposed to CAA have been called everything from Anti-India, traitors, Pro-Pakistan, puncturewalas and many more. Even a BJP MLA from Karnataka openly threatened those opposed to saying you have to listen to us if you have to live in 'our' country. On Wednesday the Jyoti Nivas College in Koramangala, Bengaluru witnessed another showdown after students were 'forced to sign' a pro-CAA poster which was put up outside the college by some men. But when some students objected the men began threatening them.

This video is from JYOTI NIVAS COLLEGE, Banglore.



BJP members came into the college and threatened girl students to sign a document which supports #CAA and put up a banner in college which states India supports CAA. @Shehla_Rashid @naukarshah @kavita_krishnan @vakeel_saheba pic.twitter.com/Mfrn9tRxzz   / Jimmy Ansari (@AnsariLadakh) January 8, 2020

Kiren Rijiju's Kerala adventure

Kerala has witnessed some of the biggest protests against the CAA. From civil society to political parties all are on the same page in the state when it comes to opposing CAA.

It is in this backdrop Union Minister Kiren Rijiju went to Kerala on Sunday to kick-start the BJP's door-to-door campaign to create awareness about CAA. The first house Rijiju went to in Thiruvananthapuram was of Malayalam writer George Onakkoor, who welcomed the minister.

But Rijiju was left red-faced after Onakkoor told the minister that he had some reservations about CAA as it excluded only Muslims and included people from six other religions, which he felt was not the right thing. Rijiju left the writer's home saying that it was a welcome suggestion.
Brad Pitt was wearing several different colors as he was seen leaving his New York City hotel on Thursday morning.

The night before he won a Best Supporting Actor award for playing Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the National Board of Review Awards Gala.

And in the 56-year-old star's acceptance speech he thanked pal Bradley Cooper for helping him to face his drinking problem. 'I got sober because of this guy. And every days been happier ever since,' said the ex-husband of Angelina Jolie, with whom he has six children. 'I love you, and I thank you,' Brad added.

Standing out: Brad Pitt was wearing several different colors as he was leaving his New York City hotel on Thursday morning

He's morphing into Johnny Depp! The Troy star had on an old brown hat that went with his stained beige boots, and added an oversized maroon jacket over a green ombre sweater

This is the first time he has credited the A Star Is Born actor/director with helping him out through one of his lowest times in his life.

In 2016 Jolie filed for divorce after an alleged incident on a private jet. The two have since been battling it out for custody and money. Along the way Brad admitted he had a drinking problem and was in therapy.

In September the Ad Astra star told the New York Times that he had a problem and that is why he spent a year-and-a-half in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Bromance vibes: Brad Pitt served bromance vibes Wednesday with pal Bradley Cooper, who presented him with an award at the National Board of Review Awards Gala

BFF goals: Both guys skipped the red carpet before the star-studded event, but were later spotted palling around

And the award goes to: Cooper presented Pitt with the Best Supporting Actor award for his role as Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

And he said he knew it was time to 'remove his drinking privileges.'

'I had taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privileges,' he said.

In AA he said 'you had all these men sitting around being open and honest in a way I have never heard. It was this safe space where there was little judgment, and therefore little judgment of yourself.'

Hug it out: The friends shared a hug onstage, as Cooper handed over the plaque

Best wingman ever: They were reportedly there for each other amid their respective high profile breakups

And he was glad that his addiction became public because he no longer had to feel shame.

'It was actually really freeing just to expose the ugly sides of yourself,' he said. 'Theres great value in that.'

He also said he turned to drugs when fame hit: 'In the 90s, all that attention really threw me. It was really uncomfortable for me, the cacophony of expectations and judgments. I really became a bit of a hermit and just bonged myself into oblivion.'

Good look Brad! Ripped jeans with a big patch on his left knee were rolled up and seemed one size too big

Brad and Bradley looked close at the event on Wednesday.

Both guys skipped the red carpet before the star-studded event, but were later spotted palling around.

Cooper, 45, took the stage in a black suede three-piece suit with a grey dress shirt and no tie.

It's all in the details: He finished the look off with an army green wool scarf and black sunglasses

He introduced Pitt, 56, who cut a sharp look in a navy blue suit with a matching collared shirt.

The guys recently hung out at last Friday's AFI Awards, where the Cooper-produced film Joker was recognized.

Pitt later visited Cooper at his Manhattan apartment Tuesday, following the New York Film Critic Circle gala.

They were also reportedly there for each other amid their respective high profile breakups.

Back in August, they saw the LA Philharmonic Orchestra perform at Hollywood Bowl.

A source told The Sun: They have been busy juggling work with tricky family situations this year, and finally they have some time to themselves to hang out and be there for each other.

Calling quits: Cooper split with model Irina Shayk, 34, in June, having been together since 2015

Bachelor life: Meanwhile, Pitt's divorce with Angelina Jolie was finalized in April, after they fell in love on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2005 and got married in 2014

Both Brads had the best night being away from the normal Hollywood crowd, but they still stopped to talk to a few industry friends in the audience.

Cooper split with model Irina Shayk, 34, in June, having been together since 2015, sharing daughter Lea, two.

Meanwhile, Pitt's divorce with Angelina Jolie was finalized in April, after they fell in love on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2005 and got married in 2014.

They share sons Maddox, 18, Pax, 16, and Knox, 11, as well as daughters Zahara, 15, Shiloh, 13, and Vivienne, 11.

On Thursday, Pitt's look really stood out.

The Troy star had on an old brown hat that went with his stained beige boots, and added an oversized maroon jacket over a green ombre sweater.

Ripped jeans with a big patch on his left knee were rolled up and seemed one size too big. He finished the look off with an army green wool scarf and black sunglasses
Mass casualty events are happening more and more frequently. The year 2019 saw more than 40 school shootings, with many more shootings, stabbings, bombings, and other major incidents taking place at locations from churches to military bases.

Wisconsin Dells and Lake Delton have a combined population of just under 6,000 people, but can receive over 100,000 visitors per day during the summer tourist season. The tourism industry generates billions of dollars in revenue for the area, and employs many foreign students. A mass casualty event in Wisconsin Dells could affect not just the area, but families and governments all over the globe.

For Emergency Manager and Lake Delton Fire Chief Darren Jorgenson, preparing for one of these incidents requires thinking when it will happen, not if.

Rather than have our heads in the sand that this wont happen to us, we take the approach that it will happen to us, Jorgenson said. If this is going to happen we need to be ready for it. We hope, certainly, that it never does, and there is no specific intel that says it would, but we know nationwide things of this nature are happening, theyre happening around us, they happened in Madison and our state.


Thomas Markle is "disappointed" by the news the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are stepping back from their roles in the royal family.

The 74-year-old retired lighting director - who has never met his son-in-law, Prince Harry, or eight-month-old grandson Archie - spoke out hours after his daughter Meghan and her husband announced they plan to work to become "financially independent" and will be scaling down their official royal duties, but didn't elaborate on his feelings.

Asked about the news, Thomas - who has been estranged from his daughter for almost two years - told Us Weekly magazine: 'I'll just simply say I'm disappointed."

The royal couple announced on Wednesday (08.01.20) they plan to "carve out a progressive new role" for themselves.

In a statement posted to their Instagram account, they wrote: "After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. We intend to step back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen."

Harry, 35, and 38-year-old Meghan will be splitting their time between the United Kingdom and Meghan's native America, and the pair hope to still be able to raise their son to "appreciate royal tradition".

They continued: "It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment. We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages. This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity."

However, Buckingham Palace officials later described the move as "complicated."

They said in a brief statement: "Discussions with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage.

"We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through."
The logo of the Chinese social media app TikTok is shown in a picture taken in Paris on Dec. 14, 2018. (Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)

Major Vulnerabilities in TikTok Could Have Let Hackers Control User Accounts: Report

Multiple security vulnerabilities in viral Chinese mobile app TikTok could have allowed hackers to take over user accounts and exploit personal data, according to a new cybersecurity report.

The Jan. 8 report by Israel cybersecurity firm Checkpoint found a series of flaws that could enable attackers to manipulate user content, upload and delete videos, and reveal sensitive data such as birthdates, payment information, and email addresses.

The Chinese-owned short-video sharing platformcurrently under heightened scrutiny over its potential national security risksexploded in popularity in 2019 and was one of the worlds most downloaded apps as of October. It has 26.5 million monthly active users in the United States, according to the company.

The researchers said the security issues had existed for the majority of 2019, raising serious questions as to whether anyone has fallen victim, according to the BBC.

Following the reports release, Luke Deshotels, a TikTok spokesperson, said in a statement that all reported security issues identified by the firm have been fixed in the latest version of the app.

One of the loopholes, dubbed SMS link spoofing, makes it possible for attackers to send fake messages to any phone number posing as TikTok.

The texting function on the apps homepage allows users to send themselves a text to download the app. Taking advantage of the function, hackers could send messages containing a malicious link, which would give away user access once one clicks on it, the report said.

Researchers also found a weakness in TikToks infrastructure that would allow attackers to reroute users to malicious sites that appear legitimate.

Through a loophole in TikToks ad subdomain, the researchers were able to retrieve personal information from user accounts, including date of birth.

Researchers were also able to hijack the app by injecting malicious code, allowing them to perform other functions on the victims behalf, including creating videos, making a private video public, and approving followers requests.

Oded Vanunu, the head of Checkpoints product vulnerability research team, told The New York Times that the vulnerabilities they identified were all all core to TikToks systems.

Malicious actors are spending large amounts of money and putting in great effort to penetrate into such huge applications. Yet most users are under the assumption that they are protected by the app they are using, Vanunu said in a Jan. 8 statement.

Check Point alerted ByteDance, which owns TikTok, in November, the BBC reported.

Security Risks

In recent months, TikTok has been embroiled in controversies over its security risks.

U.S. military branches have asked their personnel to delete the app from their government-issued phones following a Pentagon directive issued in mid-December.

The Defense Department warned about the potential risk of the app exposing users personal information.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States recently opened a probe into the $1 billion acquisition of U.S. app Musical.ly by TikTok owner and Chinese tech firm ByteDance in 2017.

Multiple senators have also publicly criticized TikTok for censoring content that is potentially sensitive to the Chinese regime.

A California college student recently filed a lawsuit against TikTok, alleging that the company had created an account without her knowledge and gathered biometric information about her.

TikTok clandestinely has vacuumed up and transferred to servers in China vast quantities of private and personally-identifiable user data that can be employed to identify, profile and track the location and activities of users in the United States now and in the future, according to the court complaint.
SPRINGFIELD  A chorus of lawmakers is calling for a criminal investigation into a possible cover-up of rape and ghost payrolling that was hinted at in an email from a powerful lobbyist and confidant of House Speaker Michael Madigan.

In a July 2012 email to aides to then-Gov. Pat Quinn, lobbyist Mike McClain advocated for state worker Forrest Ashby in a disciplinary matter, saying he kept his mouth shut about Jones ghost workers, the rape in Champaign and other items. He is loyal to the administration.

The email did not include any other details about the rape, nor was it clear who McClain was referring to in connection to the ghost workers.

Rep. Kelly Cassidy, a Chicago Democrat, issued a joint statement Wednesday with Alaina Hampton and Sherri Garrett, who have both made allegations of sexual harassment within state government and politics, urging an immediate investigation.

They called on Champaign County States Attorney Julia Rietz and the U.S. attorneys office to open an investigation and seek testimony from McClain and relevant members of the former Quinn administration.

The only way to end the rape culture that has fully infected our politics in Illinois is to take bold, unequivocal action to root it out, right now, the statement said, in part.

Madigan called the allegations extremely serious and troubling in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon.

I had no knowledge of the incident referenced in the story and only learned of this today, Madigan said. I encourage those with any information to come forward.

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In a followup email to Quinn staffers on Aug. 1, 2012, McClain noted that Ashbys disciplinary hearing had been postponed.

I do not know what happened but I know nothing happens accidentally, McClain wrote.

Neither McClain nor Ashby could be reached Wednesday for comment.

This isnt the first disgusting, dangerous and brazen display of misogyny weve seen from Mr. McClain, but that doesnt make it any less outrageous, said the statement from Cassidy, Hampton and Garrett. If the reports are even partially true, this represents a conspiracy to conceal a criminal sexual assault at the highest levels of state government.

The WBEZ story sparked a flurry of statements and social media posts from lawmakers in both parties condemning the McClain emails and calling for immediate action.

I am stunned and disturbed that keeping quiet about a rape was so casually offered up as proof of loyalty. This needs to be investigated thoroughly, and anyone who helped cover it up needs to face the consequences, said state Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris.

The Illinois Senate Womens Caucus, among others, called for a criminal investigation.

That email is horrifying. If anyone has any information about this crime, please contact authorities, said Sen. Linda Holmes, an Aurora Democrat and co-chair of the caucus. Sexual assault will not be tolerated. We need to get to the bottom of this and hold people accountable.

McClain, a former ComEd lobbyist, has been under federal scrutiny for months as part of a far-reaching probe that includes the powerful utilitys lobbying practices in Springfield. The Tribune reported in December that FBI agents and prosecutors have been asking about connections between ComEd lobbyists and Madigan, notably McClain.

The probe has rocked Chicago City Hall, the Illinois State Capitol and several south suburban municipalities.

Madigan, the leader of the Democratic Party of Illinois, was named among many others in a subpoena and search warrant executed by the FBI in May at the City Club of Chicago seeking recommendations from the organizations then-president, Jay Doherty, who was also then a ComEd lobbyist. Doherty resigned as the organizations president last month.

Pritzker has tried to distance himself from McClain as hes been drawn into the spotlight by the investigation. After the Tribune reported in November that federal authorities had recorded some of McClains phone conversations, the governor told reporters in Springfield that he doesnt speak with McClain by phone.

Pritzkers campaign paid Ashby $47,500 for political consulting from April through November 2018, state campaign finance records show.

Campaign spokesman Quentin Fulks said Ashby was hired to consult on faith-based outreach at the recommendation of McClain and faith leaders in central and southern Illinois.

Mr. Ashby had a resume that the campaign would have hired him without McClains recommendation, Fulks said.

Ashby went through the same vetting process as all other campaign staffers and consultants, and no red flags were raised, Fulks said. The campaign didnt make any other hires based on recommendations from McClain to my knowledge, he said.

Before his consulting gig with the Pritzker campaign, Ashby worked for the state departments of Veterans Affairs, Human Services and Corrections for 30 years, retiring from a $87,528-per-year job with the prison system in January 2018. Hes receiving a state pension of $5,147.50 per month.

State records show Asbhy is being paid $40 per hour for consulting work for the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board for corrections curriculum and development updates. Hes been paid $14,460 since October, plus $133.96 in travel reimbursements.

As recently as Monday, Ashby was listed on agencys website as the basic correctional officer project coordinator. His name and state email address were removed by Tuesday afternoon.

The governors office referred a question on Ashbys current state employment status to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. The boards executive director did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The governors expectation is that all state employees will meet the highest ethical standards for their conduct, and anyone who does not meet that standard will be disciplined to the full extent of the law, Pritzker spokeswoman Emily Bittner said in a statement Tuesday. The administrations general counsel referred this email to the appropriate investigatory authority, who will make a determination about what next steps can be taken.

The revelations drew the ire of Republicans, who have long been critical of Madigans firm grip on the levers of power in Illinois.

House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs said Wednesday that McClains apparent attempt to protect a state employee for keeping quiet about a pair of possible felonies probably is one of the most disturbing and shocking set of facts that I have experienced as a member of the legislature.

Where does that happen? What society allows that to happen? Durkin said at an unrelated news conference. Its extremely disturbing, but it casts a shadow upon Springfield that has been brought upon by the power brokers that have existed for the past many decades, who have controlled the legislative process and the passage of bills. There needs to be accountability for what happened.

In a Twitter post Wednesday morning, Senate GOP leader Bill Brady of Bloomington called it absolutely disgraceful.

Anyone with knowledge of the rape and coverup referenced in this email must come forward immediately, Brady wrote.

Capitol News Illinois contributed to this report.

15 new Illinois laws for 2020

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(CNN)  Carlos Ghosn has used his freedom to blast Japan's legal system and denounce his arrest as part of a plot to topple him as head of the world's most powerful auto alliance.

"I did not escape justice. I fled injustice," the former Nissan chairman told reporters in Beirut on Wednesday, his first major public appearance since pulling off a stunning breakout from Japan, where he was awaiting trial on charges of financial wrongdoing.

He said his intention in speaking out was not to discuss how he fled the country, but to clear his name and explain why he "never should have been arrested in the first place."

Ghosn was first arrested in Tokyo more than a year ago. Among other charges, prosecutors alleged that he understated his income for years and funneled $5 million of Nissan's money to a car dealership he controlled.

The former auto industry titan has repeatedly denied the charges, and on Wednesday slammed Japan's criminal justice system, which he said "violates the most basic principles of humanity." He pointed to his time in solitary confinement, extended questioning without lawyers present, and the lack of a speedy trial. Japanese prosecutors were intent on extracting incriminating information, not on determining the truth, he claimed.

Tokyo prosecutors said in a statement following the press conference that Ghosn "has only himself to blame for being arrested and detained," and for the conditions of his bail. There was sufficient evidence, they said, to "determine that there was a high probability of obtaining conviction."

Japanese Justice Minister Masako Mori said in a statement that Ghosn "has been propagating both within Japan and internationally false information on Japan's legal system and its practice."

"That is absolutely intolerable," she said.

'I felt I was a hostage'

Ghosn said his lawyers told him he could be held in Japan for five years before he received a judgment, and he became convinced he would die in the country if he did not jump bail.

"I felt I was a hostage of a country that I have served for 17 years," said Ghosn, who became Nissan CEO in 2001.

Ghosn claimed his arrest resulted from a plot to oust him from the automotive empire he built between Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors. Nissan executives were threatened by Renault's growing clout in the partnership, he said.

"Unfortunately there was no trust, and some of our Japanese friends thought that the only way to get rid of the influence of Renault on Nissan [was] to get rid of me," Ghosn said.

He said he favored greater integration between the companies, including the creation of a holding company that would consolidate shares of the automakers under a single name. Ghosn said he did not call for a merger and still wanted the companies to be run separately.

Tokyo prosecutors denied that they conspired with Nissan to prosecute Ghosn.

Nissan and Renault declined to comment. Earlier, Nissan said it would still pursue "appropriate legal action" against Ghosn.

Making the escape

Ghosn dodged questions about the logistics of his escape, which he pulled off despite strict bail conditions including a requirement that he stay in the country.

Japanese officials have been scrambling to contain the fallout from his escape and figure out how he managed to get out of the country.

On Sunday, Mori said Ghosn left the country "illegally by unjust methods," and she ordered Japan's immigration department to "further tighten" rules for leaving the country "so that the same situation won't be repeated."

Lebanon said last week that he entered the country legally, according to the country's national news agency.

Ghosn is a citizen of France, Brazil and Lebanon. Three of his passports had been confiscated and held by his Japanese defense team to prevent him from fleeing the country. But Junichiro Hironaka, his Japanese lawyer, revealed Saturday that Ghosn had a second French passport, with the court's permission. Hironaka said that passport was tucked away in a keyed transparent box that apparently only his lawyers could unlock.

Japanese prosecutors on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for his wife, Carole Ghosn, accusing her of giving false testimony during a court hearing last April. She attended Wednesday's press conference in Beirut.

"You discover this nine months later, one day before this press conference? What a coincidence," Carlos Ghosn said at the press conference, his voice rising. "This is exactly the way it works."

Ghosn has denied reports that his family members were involved in helping him flee.

Interpol has issued a "red notice" for Ghosn confirming he's wanted by Japanese police. Ghosn said Wednesday that his lawyers are looking at next steps, and indicated they may fight back by claiming his case involves "political persecution."

He claims to be open to a trial outside Japan.

"The first forum where I can express myself in front of a justice which is not biased, I'll go for it," he said.

CNN's Chris Isidore, Chris Liakos, Yoko Wakatsuki and Nada AlTaher contributed to this report first published on CNN.com, "Fugitive ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn blasts Japanese justice. It was escape or 'die in Japan'."
Myanmar's former president Thein Sein gives a speech at an event at Union Solidarity and Development Party headquarters in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw, Jan. 5, 2020.

Myanmars former president Thein Sein has called for voters in 2020 elections to back candidates who will protect the military and the county from neocolonialism in the name of human rights, drawing harsh criticism from political observers and rights activists.

Thein Sein, who served as president from 2011 to 2016 under the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and is credited with paving the way for a civilian-led government, made the comments on Jan. 5 at the partys headquarters in the capital Naypyidaw.

In a speech on the current situation in Myanmar, the 74-year-old retired army general also listed qualities that the electorate should look for in candidates running for election.

After calling 2019 a year filled with terror in the form of abductions, thefts, murders, robberies, and rapes, Thein Sein warned that the country faces the danger of neocolonialism from foreign critics of Myanmar military atrocities against ethnic minorities.

Because of this neocolonialism, our country is at risk of expansionism by foreigners who use ideologies like democracy and human rights to promote their agenda, he said during the speech.

It is common knowledge that they are using all kinds of tactics to carve out our sovereign territories, to swallow up our race and majority religion, and to paralyze the military which has been defending the country, he said and appealed for voters to support pro-army parties and candidates in general elections at the end of 2020.

As president, Thein Sein implemented a series of reforms to push Myanmar towards democracy, including ending media censorship and freeing political prisoners from jail, though the changes lost steam late in his administration.

Myanmar has come under heavy criticism by the international community over the militarys mistreatment of ethnic minorities in the countrys far-flung regions, especially in Rakhine state where soldiers brutally attacked Rohingya Muslim communities in 2017. The country and its civilian and military leaders are facing legal action on genocide charges in three international courts.

Sai Nyunt Lwin, vice chairman of the Shan National League for Democracy, said Thein Sein is wrong to blame Western countries for Myanmars current ills.

He should not blame a single entity for all the problems, but rather recognize them as an outcome of misconduct by successive governments, he added.

Sai Nyunt Lwin called the former presidents comments biased and said that politicians should do whatever is in the best interest of Myanmar citizens, regardless of western or eastern ideologies.

We should avoid the blame game, he said.

Both Western countries and Myanmars Southeast Asian neighbors will try to promote their influence, Sai Myunt Lwin noted.

But we should think through who we should be more cautious about  the ones closer or those farther away, he said.

Words of a dictator

Activist Nickey Diamond from the Southeast Asia-based group Fortify Rights said Thein Seins words were those of a dictator.

In U [honorific] Thein Seins speech, he accused foreign countries of using democracy and human rights to promote neocolonialism, he said. These are the words of dictators.

He tried to use colonialism, which is universally viewed negatively, to distract the people away from these values, saying they are a product of Western countries, he said. In fact, dictators always fear ideologies like democracy and human rights.

Diamond went on to say that it was no surprise that the former military general wanted to disgrace the concepts of democracy and human rights.

Now as we all are trying to nurture the young democracy, these former generals are trying to interrupt. This shows their true color, he said.

Myanmar human rights attorney Kyee Myint called Thein Seins speech a joke.

He is just carrying out his mission, not necessarily working for the benefit of the people, he said. They might as well take power back and protect their interests.

People will never forget what they have been through, so I think they will just consider this speech a joke, he said, adding that such words by former generals are nothing new and that their main focus now is protecting the wealth they have amassed through corruption.

Politician Nyan Win, who serves on the Central Executive Committee of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) and is Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyis personal attorney, suggested that Thein Seins speech is an indication of an attempted political comeback.

In one word, he was campaigning for the election, he said. So far, no one has been allowed to campaign. We havent received an announcement from the Union Election Commission yet about the election, so it is illegal to begin campaigning now. 

Reported by Nayrein Kyaw for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
The Visva-Bharati campus at Santiniketan in West Bengal erupted in protests on Wednesday over a lecture, organised by the university authorities, in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta was invited to speak on Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Dasgupta, vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty, some faculty members, staff and local BJP leaders accompanying Dasgupta had to stay inside a room for four hours after the seminar ended with students staging an agitation outside. The doors of the hall were locked from inside.

At 8.35 pm, he tweeted: There are nearly 70 people locked inside a room in Vishwa Bharati (V-B), Santiniketan, for the crime of attending an official, university-convened lecture by me on CAA. This includes the VC. There is a howling mob outside itching for confrontation. Later, speaking over the phone, he said: Under the present circumstances, it will require the police to help us come out. This is for the V-C to decide. I condemn this Left fascism.

The students withdrew the agitation at 9 pm.

Shiba Prasad Patra, additional superintendent of police, Bolpur, said, We cannot enter the campus unless the authorities ask for it. We received no communication from the authorities.

V-B is a central university, with the Prime Minister as its chancellor.

Students belonging to V-B Students Unity Forum called for a boycott of the event, alleging that the university authorities acted in a partial manner by allowing only the BJPs view on CAA to be aired. A section of faculty members, too, supported the students call.

On Wednesday, students blockaded Lipika Sabhagriha, the auditorium where the event was scheduled, shouting Swapan Dasgupta Go Back.

Around 4pm, the varsity authorities shifted the event to another auditorium, which, too, the students shortly laid siege to. District-level BJP leaders Dudh Kumar Mandal and district unit vice president Dilip Ghosh were also inside the auditorium.

At 4.41 pm, Dasgupta took to Twitter and wrote, How does it feel to have a mob attack a peaceful meeting on CAA and intimidation students? This is what is happening to a meeting I am addressing at Vishwa Bharati now. Locked into room now with mob outside.

There are nearly 70 people locked inside a room in Vishwa Bharati, Santiniketan, for the crime of attending an official, university-convened lecture by me on CAA. This includes the VC. There is a howling mob outside itching for confrontation. pic.twitter.com/3eLBHPdIHT  Swapan Dasgupta (@swapan55) 8 January 2020

Student leaders alleged that the programme was political. If a discussion was going to be organised on CAA, why call a BJP leader alone? The VC has brought insult upon the institution founded by Rabindranath Tagore, said Somnath Shaw, a leader of Students Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist).

V-B public relations officer Anirban Sircar did not answer to queries sent via text messages and WhatsApp.

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Dubai, Jan 9 : England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler has been fined 15 per cent of his match fee for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during the fifth day of the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town.

Buttler was found to have breached Article 2.3 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to "use of an audible obscenity during an international match" following an incident with Vernon Philander of South Africa.

In addition to this, one demerit point has been added to the disciplinary record of Buttler, for whom it was the first offence during a 24-month period.

The incident occurred during South Africa's second innings on Tuesday, when Buttler was heard using obscene language against Philander who was at the crease.

Buttler admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee Andy Pycroft.

On-field umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Paul Reiffel, third umpire Chris Gaffaney and reserve umpire Allahudien Palekar levelled the charges against Buttler.

Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and a maximum penalty of 50 per cent of match fee, plus one or two demerit points.
Spoiler:

The next season of The Block is edging closer to production already.

After having been confirmed for a season in Brighton, preparations are underway at New Street.

The Daily Mail reports 5 derelict homes have been relocated to a 2,761-square metre building site which reflects the 2017 Elsternwick season. These homes are understood to all be from the 1930s  1960s.

A two-storey site office sits at the rear of the property, which was previously home a nursing home site. Filming with contestants is not expected to get underway until next month.

Media reports last year quoted Brighton locals objecting to the reality series invading their neighbourhood but the property was also marked for double storey townhouses. Previous Block neighbours have noted that the Nine series tends to complete construction much more swiftly than standard developments, and given access to producers for any complaints.

You can see the Brighton site photos here.
ANN ARBOR, MI -- Regional transit leaders are aiming to launch an hourly bus service between Ann Arbor and Detroit by March.

The proposed express service would run from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and between 9:45 a.m. and midnight on Saturdays and Sundays. One-way base fares would cost $12. Advanced booking would cost $10 and $6 for seniors or anyone with disabilities. The service would be operated by Michigan Flyer and run between the Blake Transit Center in Ann Arbor and Grand Circus Park in Detroit.

The proposed bus service between Ann Arbor and Detroit.Regional Transit Authority

Project partners include the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority (TheRide) and the Regional Transit Authority, which hosted a public forum on the topic Wednesday in Ann Arbor.

Transportation networks propose Ann Arbor-Detroit express route

Fares were set after studying rates charged by other transit providers in and outside Michigan, said Matt Webb, general manager of the RTA. Transit leaders found fares for comparable routes in areas like Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Boston, and Minnesota ranged from $5 to $17.

Windsor, Ontario resident Renee Pitter, who works at the University of Michigan, suggested reducing the fare.

I commute four days a week between Windsor and Ann Arbor ... I hope that this really goes forward. I feel like its extremely overdue, Pitter said. For those of us that use it on a weekly basis, Im hoping it could be lowered.

Eastern Michigan University student Jes Emery supports easing traffic by establishing commuter bus routes, but wishes the bus would stop at EMU.

Obviously, its great to have that line of transit, considering I dont have a car, Emery said. It could benefit from an extra stop. Maybe the (Ypsilanti) transit center isnt the most ideal place for a big bus to start, but I feel like if we had a stop at Ypsilanti to start with, I think itll be very beneficial to us.

The pilot route is expected to run for three years and cost about $2 million annually, using state and federal funds for the service, said Matt Webb, general manager of the RTA.

We do have funding secured for the next three years for the pilot service, Webb said.

TheRide has been working toward an express service between the two cities for two years, said Matt Carpenter, CEO of TheRide,

Theres no similar service to this anywhere in Michigan that Im aware of, Carpenter said. "Hourly (service) is easily memorable for customers. You know it comes at roughly the same time every hour. Its reasonably frequent to start with.

Ann Arbor resident Rebecca Akerman said shes lived in multiple large cities over 15 years with various modes of public transit, and was hesitant to move back Southeast Michigan due to limited options.

I strongly, strongly support this. I dont have a car. I never learned to drive. Im one of those rare Michiganders," said Rebecca Akerman, Ann Arbor resident. One of my major hesitations about moving back to Michigan, especially Southeast Michigan, is that there is no public transit. That any change of jobs would require a massive amount of juggling of where we lived. The ability to go to Detroit without having to find a ride or beg friends and family is an amazing step forward.

Buses will be wheelchair accessible, include seating with arm rests and foot rests, individual light and climate controls, restrooms, WiFi, USB charging ports, cup holders, overhead storage bins and storage for bikes.

Feedback can be sent to info@rtamichigan.org or 313-402-1020 until Monday, Jan. 13. It will be presented to the Regional Transit Authority Board of Directors, who will have the final approval to implement the fares and service.

Washtenaw, Wayne and Oakland counties look to exclude Macomb in transit vote

Regional transit planners to present $10B in ideas at Ann Arbor meeting
Willie Walsh, head of Aer Lingus and British Airways parent firm IAG, will step down in June from the airlines group he helped build and hand the reins to Luis Gallego, current CEO of IAG's Iberia.

Walsh said in November that succession planning was under way as he intended to retire as chief executive in the next two years. Gallego has been CEO of Iberia since 2014.

Irishman Walsh, a former pilot, has spent his career in the industry and has been instrumental in establishing IAG.

He became CEO of British Airways in 2005 and oversaw its merger with Iberia in 2011 to form IAG. He has since expanded IAG through acquisitions.

IAG chairman Antonio Vazquez said that Gallego was the right candidate to lead IAG in the next stage of its development, as did Walsh.

"Luis has been a core member of the team and has shown true leadership over the years and I have no doubt he will be a great CEO of IAG," Walsh said in a statement on Thursday.

Goodbody analyst Mark Simpson said the appointment would mean little change in IAG's strategy and would be welcomed by investors.

Walsh had "fantastic success at building IAG but obviously promoting internally is seen as a positive. The market regards his successor well," Simpson said.

Walsh made his name standing up to unions and cutting costs first at Ireland's Aer Lingus, where he became CEO in 2001, and then at British Airways, earning him the nickname Slasher Walsh in an industry he once characterized as a "fight for survival."

It was at Aer Lingus where he formed the template for his strategy, benefitting from a front-row seat to the rapid expansion of budget rival Ryanair.

Walsh was much quicker than rival European flag carriers Air France-KLM and Lufthansa to embrace budget flying. IAG bought short-haul carrier Vueling in 2015 and set up long-haul low-cost carrier Level in 2017.

He also bought Aer Lingus in 2015, and IAG is currently in the process of a 1 billion euro deal to buy Spain's Air Europa.

IAG said that Walsh, 58, would step down from his role and the board of IAG on March 26 before retiring on June 30.

Gallego's successor at Iberia will be announced in due course, IAG said. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Supporters of Kaohsiung city mayor Han Kuo-yu from the Kuomintang Party display Taiwanese flags during a campaign event in Taipei on June 1, 2019. Daniel Shih/AFP via Getty Images

Hong Kongs Example Hangs Over Taiwans Election

Commentary

OVER THE WESTERN PACIFICTaiwan is holding its presidential election on Jan. 11.

Should you, the American reader, be interested?

Elections are held everywhereor close to everywhere. And we do have a full plate of imminent concernsimpeachment, Iran, the coming election and primaries, and the coming climate armageddon supposedly about to destroy life as we know it, and healthcare, not to mention school choice and the Jeffrey Epstein mystery and all those potholes and and

Well, sorry, you can add Taiwan to your ledger of worries.

Reason: China.

You dont need me to tell you that China is worry number one and every Taiwanese election is primarily (there are other issues, of course) about whether theya prospering capitalist democracywill allow themselves be engulfed by the communist behemoth just a few watery miles to their west.

Not exactly, however, because the consensus on the island, Im told, is that they do not want to fuse with the Peoples Republic. Its just that some people do business with their neighbora lot of people in fact and a lot of business. Its hard to resist, which is why some people find a closer link advantageous.

Which brings us to reason number two, aka the elephant in the room: Hong Kong.

We all know whats been going on therenonstop physically and emotionally demanding protest demonstrations to preserve their autonomy from China. This would be under the one nation, two systems agreed upon when the British left, a structure which, incidentally, Chinas leader Xi Jinping recently offered to Taiwan as an inducement to come aboard.

Some inducement. Whats going on in the streets of Hong Kong, as well as Xis offer, if you can call it that, have helped make the incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen the favorite for reelection, despite having trailed in the polls until recently and her partythe DPPhaving done poorly in (again, a recent) elections. Tsai wants to keep as far from the PRC as possible and the electorate appears to agreeor so I am also told. (Her major opposition is Kaoshiung Mayor Han who is a member of the old Kuomintang Party.)

Taiwans President Tsai Ing-wen (2nd L) and former premier William Lai (R) display a certificate after registering as presidential and vice presidential candidates for the upcoming election at the Central Elections Committee in Taipei on Nov. 19, 2019. Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images

Am I a Taiwan expert writing this?

Not at all. The closest I have ever been to Taiwan is visiting the Peoples Republic of China on an activists tour in 1979! I was a different person thenmore on the leftand the PRC a different place, superficially anyway. Everyone was dressed in Mao suits and the people, who had never seen Westerners before, trailed us down the streets, sometimes in crowds of as many as three hundred.

The only other group of foreigners in China at the time was the Ethiopian volleyball team. (I kid you not.) We would bump into themsupposedly casually on our heavily managed tourat places from the Great Wall to a factory in Manchuria.

Tempus fugit. I am no longer anything close to a leftist and am typing this on a flight from Los Angeles one hour out of Taipei where I am to be a member of a small delegation from the United States to observe their election. Needless to say, its an honor, and Im quite excited.

I cannot remotely guarantee that I will learn much in a few short days, but you will have the good or bad fortune to hear about it. More soon.

Roger L. Simon is a senior political analyst for The Epoch Times.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
By PTI

KOLKATA: "If needed, I will fight alone," a livid Mamata Banerjee declared on Thursday in the West Bengal Assembly where she said she will boycott a meeting called by Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on January 13 over campus violence and the CAA, exposing the opposition faultlines on the issues.

Banerjee, also the TMC president, was angry over incidents of violence in her state during a trade union strike called by organisations affiliated to the Left and the Congress over "anti-people" policies, including economic measures and livewire issues like the new citizenship law and a pan-India NRC.

"I have decided to boycott the meeting convened by Sonia Gandhi on January 13 in New Delhi as I do not support the violence that the Left and Congress unleashed in West Bengal yesterday (Wednesday)," She announced on the floor of the House when the Opposition insisted that the House pass a resolution against the CAA.

She said since the House had already adopted a resolution against a pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC) in September last year which denounced according to Indian citizenship to minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan on the basis of religion, there was no need for a fresh resolution.

As Opposition MLAs insisted on a fresh resolution, the tempestuous leader launched into a harangue, defending her stance and declaring she will not attend the meeting called by Gandhi.

ALSO READ | Congress to call party Chief Ministers to strategise on CAA-NRC-NPR

"You people follow one policy in West Bengal and a totally contradictory policy in Delhi. I don't want to be on the same page with you. If needed, I will fight alone," she declared, as she mounted an onslaught on the Congress and Left members.

West Bengal was rocked by incidents of violence and arson during the strike called by trade unions linked to the Left and the Congress on Wednesday.

Those supporting the strike had clashed with police and vandalised public property.

Banerjee had said though she empathised with the strikers and supported their cause, she was against a shutdown as it inconvenienced common people and adversely affected economic development.

The meeting called by Gandhi is being seen as an attempt to bring together all opposition parties against the Modi government, which is facing unmitigated fire from the opposition over Sunday night violence at the JNU.

The opposition has blamed the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student front of the RSS, for the violence.

Banerjee asserted the TMC will continue its protest against the CAA and the NRC but will not brook any shutdown over these issues in her state, calling it part of "dirty politics" by the Left and the Congress.

ALSO READ | CAA not meant for any Indian, minister tells inter-faith team

A temperamental Banerjee also sought "forgiveness" of opposition leaders who will attend the meeting called by Gandhi, saying "it was I who had mooted the idea".

"But, after what happened yesterday in my state, it will not be possible for me to attend the meeting," she said.

Banerjee also dialled NCP chief Sharad Pawar to inform him about her decision, Trinamool Congress sources said.

The Left and the Congress in West Bengal were quick to pounce on Banerjee for her decision to give the meeting a miss, alleging it was aimed at "pleasing the BJP leadership".

"She is trying to please the BJP leaders. She herself is adopting double-standards. She wants to keep the saffron party leadership in good humour which is why she is not attending the opposition meeting," The Congress's Abdul Mannan, who is also the leader of the opposition in the assembly, said.

CPI(M) politburo member Mohammed Salim accused Banerjee of attempting to scuttle the opposition's efforts to come on a common platform over "burning issues".

"It is clear who is in favour of the RSS. Her acts of protests are just a show-off," he said.

State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh sneered at the opposition over its discomfiture following Banerjee's decision about boycotting Gandhi's meeting.

"These parties cannot stay united for long as they do politics only for the sake of power," he said.
Four men have been arrested by gardai investigating an incident in Wexford.

At a commercial garage in Clonroche, four men entered the premises carrying what witnesses described as a handgun and threatened staff members.

It is understood by gardai that the males left the scene in a silver Hyundai car. No shots were fired and no one was injured during the incident.

Gardai said that during a follow up operation Roads Policing Units observed the car travelling towards Dublin on the M9 motorway.

The car was intercepted a short time later by members of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) on the M7 at the Perpetual motion landmark near Naas and its four occupants were arrested.

The car has been seized for technical examination.

The four men arrested, one aged in his 30s, two in their 40s and one in his 50s, are currently detained under Section 30 of the Offences against the State Act, 1939 across Garda Stations in Co Wexford.

Gardai said that investigations are ongoing.
Robin Hunt Fitzhew put everything she had into starting her business. In 1999, she bought a fixer-upper in East San Jose. After getting the necessary permits, she invested her entire $15,000 savings to convert the houses garage into a small salon. But before construction could be finished, the money ran out.

So Robin went to her local bank. As a homeowner, she figured she would qualify for a business loan. The bank turned her down. Thankfully, Robin learned about Opportunity Fund, a nonprofit community development lender headquartered in San Jose, and within three days of applying, she got a $10,000 loan. A short while later, Braid It Up Hair and Beauty Salon opened in San Jose. Over the years, Robins business has provided employment to more than 40 people and become a vital part of her community.

Robins success would not have been possible without the Community Reinvestment Act, a federal law designed to encourage banks to invest in the low- and moderate-income neighborhoods where they have branches. But under a new set of rules just published in the Federal Register, entrepreneurs like Robin could be left behind.

The CRA is one of our nations most important civil rights laws, created to address geographical, income-based and/or racial discrimination in investments and services offered by banks. Since its passage in 1977, the CRA has spurred more than $6 trillion of investments in low- and moderate-income communities, often in partnership with Community Development Financial Institutions like Opportunity Fund. Right here in California, Opportunity Fund has deployed nearly $500 million in small business loans, with an average size of about $40,000, by leveraging $84 million in investments from banks motivated by the CRA.

However, federal regulators have proposed changes to the law meant to modernize it. Unfortunately, these proposed changes would jeopardize and weaken it instead. When the proposed changes were first announced, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition estimated they could result in the loss of up to $16 billion in small business lending to low- and moderate-income areas over five years.

One key concern is a proposed definition of small business loan that is completely out of touch with the needs of underserved entrepreneurs. Seventy-six percent of small business owners in America seeking financing are searching for loans of $250,000 or less. The proposed changes would give CRA credit for business loans of up to $2 million, and make total dollars lent the primary measure for CRA credit. It would also redefine a small business as one with $2 million in revenue, versus the current standard of $1 million. This would give banks even less incentive to make the smaller loans the majority of small business owners truly need, meaning fewer low-to-moderate income individuals like Robin would receive the loans that propel economic opportunity in their communities.

Theres no doubt that the Community Reinvestment Act could benefit from modernization. As the nature of banking has changed, with more and more physical bank branches closing as customers go online, its critical that regulators modernize this important tool. But those efforts must keep communities front and center. Truly modernizing the CRA means continuing to engage with these populations, rather than creating a distorted rating system designed to minimize the cost to industry.

Whats at stake here is not simply equitable access to capital, but the American Dream. Recent analysis shows that the top 0.1% of the population in the U.S. has more wealth than the bottom 80% combined. Fostering entrepreneurship in low-income communities is a proven path to prosperity, and the CRA  though in need of modernization  is a proven tool.

The proposed rules are not yet final. Lets encourage regulators to strengthen the CRA so thousands of entrepreneurs like Robin find their own path to prosperity.

Eric Weaver is the founder of Opportunity Fund, a leading Community Development Financial Institution with the largest portfolio of micro-business loans under management among nonprofit lenders in the nation. He was a 2017 finalist for The Chronicles Visionary of the Year award.
Around 8:30 a.m. Aug. 30, police said, officers responded to a vacant unit of an apartment building in the 200 block of M Street SW after workers found a body there. When officers arrived, they found a teen  who was later identified as Franklin  with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
In a major setback to Enforcement Directorate in its probe against Mehul Choksi, the Bombay High Court has temporarily stayed the proceedings under the fugitive economic offenders act 2018 against the absconder businessman.

Choksi fled India in January 2018 and is currently based in Antigua and Barbuda. He has refused to return while agencies are pursuing his extradition with the authorities in the Caribbean nation.

The special court under prevention of money laundering act (PMLA) in Mumbai is hearing the proceedings to declare Choksi a fugitive economic offender in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam worth Rs 13,500 crore. Under the FEO act, his properties abroad can be confiscated by the authorities.

The Bombay HC has ordered that the special PMLA court shall not pass the final order on the application filed by ED to declare Mehul Choksi a Fugitive Economic Offender till further orders while adjourning the matter for four weeks.

An ED officer said the HC has only asked the special court not to give a final order for 28 days. Its not a setback and proceedings will continue, the officer added.

Choksi had challenged the proceedings through bunch of petitions in which he argued that he cannot be declared a fugitive economic offender as ED is relying on the statements recorded under PMLA to build a case against him. He had also sought to cross-examine at least 21 witnesses cited by the ED. Both the applications were rejected by the special court in December last year.

His lawyers Vijay Aggarwal and Ashul Agarwal argued before the HC on Monday that complaint under the FEO act should be dismissed as the affidavit filed by ED deputy director is not as per law.

Citing anomalies on part of ED, Choksis lawyers argued that the agency didnt file the FEO complaint in a prescribed format according to Rule 3 of the declaration of Fugitive Economic Offenders (Forms and Manners of Filing Application) Rules, 2018. .The Learned Special Court has failed to appreciate that in the present case the filing of the complaint is in itself bad in law and if a thing is wrong at its very inception then all subsequent actions are illegal. If the foundation is removed then the superstructure automatically falls, Aggarwal stated.

The ED, in an affidavit filed in the high court in December, had stated that Choksi is accused of siphoning and laundering money to the tune of Rs 6,097 crore in the PNB scam, and despite having issued summons directing him to appear before it, he has not cooperated.

He is a fugitive and absconder. He has deliberately and intentionally evaded from appearing before the investigating agency even after a special court has issued non-bailable warrants against him. This shows that he does not have any regard for the law of the land. It is apparent that the applicant (Choksi) has left India to avoid criminal prosecution for the offence of money laundering under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and continues to refuse to return to India to face criminal prosecution, the agency added.
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Students working in their class at the Yang Dezhi "Red Army" elementary school in Wenshui, Xishui county in Guizhou province, on Nov. 7, 2016. (Fred Dufour/AFP via Getty Images)

Beijing Bans Foreign Teaching Materials From Schools

Beijing has officially banned the use of teaching materials from outside China from the countrys primary and middle schools, a move that critics saw as the regimes latest attempt to control Chinese citizens thoughts and minds.

In a guideline published on Jan. 7, the countrys Ministry of Education said that the schools offering the nine-year compulsory educationconsisting of primary and middle schoolsare no longer allowed to use foreign teaching materials for textbooks.

The same ban also applies to high schools, that is, grades 10 to 12, with the exception of those that have partnerships with foreign institutions or approved exchange programs.

The new rule forms part of the regimes growing efforts to tighten controls and censorship on education and civil society, including measures aimed at instilling patriotic education in its citizens from a young age.

The authorities will standardize textbooks on particular subjects such as ideological and political education, literature, history, and those relating to national sovereignty, ethnicity, and religion. Schools are not allowed to use unapproved versions or make casual alterations to the content, according to the notice.

High schools with exchange programs, vocational colleges, and higher institutions can selectively use foreign content provided that the domestic teaching materials really cannot satisfy educational needs, a spokesperson for the National Textbook Committee Office, a department within the Ministry of Education, said in a Tuesday press conference.

In that case, the schools are encouraged to use versions translated and distributed by Chinese publishers, according to the spokesperson.

The spokesperson said the policy was consistent with the correct political direction and value alignment.

The textbooks must reflect the will of the Party and the country, the guideline stated.

In an article on Jan. 8, the state-run broadcaster CCTV said the key to basic education textbooks is to  deeply implant red genes in students, referring to the color of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Students study in their classrooms at night at a school in Yangzhou in Chinas eastern Jiangsu province on May 31, 2017.

(STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Party Slaves

Martin Whyte, a retired Harvard professor and a visiting China research fellow at the Victoria University of Wellington, told The Epoch Times in an email that the incident was as another instance of the increasingly strict crackdown on unorthodox ideas.

He noted the ever-tightening ideological controls on tertiary institutions, such as university professors losing their jobs for expressing thoughts not conforming to the Party lines.

Yang Shaozheng, an China-based scholar and former professor at Guizhou University, said that the goal of such regulation is to further strengthen the CCPs grip over education.

While the traditional role of education is to develop talents in all professions, Chinese schools today are only grooming Party slaves, Yang told the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times.

After schooling, the Partys control extends into the workplace.

Currently among the various trades in society, as long as there is an organization, there will be a party secretary from the CCP, and they assume leadership in everything, Yang added.

Chinese nationals also have an obligation to install apps meant for ideological indoctrination, Whyte noted. Tens of millions of Party officials, civil servants, and journalists were pressured last year to download one such app, called Xuexi Qiangguo, or Study the Great Nation, to immerse themselves in the latest political doctrines daily and answer quizzes. Research has identified backdoors in the app that could give authorities superuser access to spy on the users.

[M]any if not most Chinese intellectuals, as well as foreign observers who hope to see improvement on intellectual freedom find these recent developments very depressing, Whyte said.

Yang said he believed the idea that the Party is absolute authority is likely becoming the norm in China.

The CCP starts from the babies, so that the Party ideology will be deeply ingrained in the youths brains  and eventually they act according to the Partys directives and their goal is complete, he said.

Chinese schoolchildren attending class at a primary School in Chinas Hunan Province, on Oct. 8, 2015. (Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images)

Growing Censorship

The Chinese regime in the past few years has stepped up its regulation of the education sector.

In mid-December, Fudan University in Shanghai, one of Chinas top academic institutions, dropped the phrase freedom of thought in the school charter, which was approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education. In addition to removing all phrases mentioning independence and freedom, the charter also added a pledge to follow the Party leadership.

Higher institutions are no longer a space for freedom and independence, but a CCP concentration camp for brainwashing students, Xia Xiaoqiang, an overseas-based Chinese political commentator for the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times, wrote at the time.

Two workers are seen burning books in front of the Zhenyuan county library in Qingyang City, Gansu Province in the morning of Oct. 22, 2019. (Zhenyuan County official website)

Also in the same month, a state-run library in western China drew wide criticism for its public book burning, a move applying a new government policy. The education ministry had asked libraries in all primary and secondary schools to clean up any books that are illegal or inappropriate.

The library staff burned 65 illegal publications page by page in front of the entrance, including religious books and tendentious magazines or media, according to a local government post praising the act.

In July 2019, Chinas cabinet-like State Council issued an opinion banning schools from replacing national curriculum with regional or school-based curriculum, as well as the use of any unapproved materials.

In September 2018, the education ministry asked education administrators nationwide to have a thorough inspection of the textbooks used in local primary and middle schools to maintain the authority and seriousness of textbooks. It also asked textbook publishers to report on whether they had made unauthorized changes to certain materials. Failure to report accurately would result in serious consequences, it warned.

In January 2015, then education minister Yuan Guiren said that they absolutely cannot allow teaching materials that spread Western values or ideologies into Chinese classrooms, and nor are teachers allowed to vent discontent or spread various negative sentiments to students, according to state-controlled media Xinhua.
A former FBI agent on Thursday outlined one of the worst-case scenarios stemming from elevated tensions between the U.S. and Iran: A potential cyberattack.

Leo Taddeo, the chief information security officer for Cyxtera Federal Group, told Yahoo Finance that, in the aftermath of the U.S. killing top General Qassem Soleimani, cyberspace has become particularly risky for American businesses, consumers and the government.

His main concern is really about the intersection between cyber and the physical world, Taddeo told On the Move in an interview.

So, cyberattacks can collect information on high-profile individuals. And, really, in my view, the risk of a cyberattack is high, but the impact is manageable, said Taddeo, who was charge of the cyber division for the FBIs New York Office.

Stuart Davis, a director at one of FireEye's subsidiaries speaks to journalists about the techniques of Iranian hacking, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. A new report by FireEye, a cybersecurity firm, warned that a suspected group of hackers in Iran are targeting the aviation and petrochemical industries in Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and South Korea. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

While markets have clawed back from a knee-jerk selloff in the wake of the Soleimani killing last week  and this weeks Iranian missile attack against U.S. bases in Iraq  fears are still percolating about what comes next. Most observers think an armed conflict is unlikely for now, but there are other was Iran can extract revenge.

What I think the Iranians are really after in the long term is a tit-for-tat high-profile killing of an American, Taddeo explained.

I mean, its sad to say, but thats really what the regime has been known for and thats really what theyre going after. I think cyber is a way for them to collect the kind of information on our executives, on our high profile Americans that will allow them to properly and effectively target someone in this country or outside the country, he added.

Taddeo added that Iranian hackers are prepared to attack  but its now a matter of deciding how and whether the attack factors into their risk calculation for retaliation.

And, now, their risk calculation has become more complicated because they dont know what the U.S. government is prepared to do in retaliation, Taddeo said. He added that Irans calculations have become a little bit fuzzy because the U.S. used to have predictable responses.

I think the recent attack, whether you agree with the timing and type of attack, has shown the U.S. is a little less predictable today for the Iranians than we were a week ago, he said.



Julia La Roche is a Correspondent at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.
English German

SIKA ACHIEVES SALES RECORD OF CHF 8.11 BILLION  STRONG GROWTH OF 16.3%

Sales growth of 16.3% in local currencies to CHF 8.11 billion (+14.4% in CHF)

Growth in all regions

Organic growth of 3.3%

Growth boosted by acquisitions of Parex, Crevo-Hengxin, King Packaged Materials, Belineco. Signing of Adeplast.

Opening of seven new factories

Outlook: double-digit EBIT growth expected for 2019, consistent implementation of Strategy 2023 for sustainable, profitable growth

Sika records double-digit growth and achieves a new sales record of CHF 8.11 billion in the 2019 business year. This equates to an increase of 16.3% in local currencies, with the acquisition effect accounting for 13.0% and organic growth for 3.3%. Sales growth in CHF amounted to 14.4% (-1.9% currency effect).

Paul Schuler, Chief Executive Officer: With strong sales growth of 16.3% we exceeded our sales target for fiscal 2019 with a sales figure of CHF 8.11 billion. We are also anticipating record figures for the operating result and profit. We will maintain our positive growth dynamic over the coming years. With our new Strategy 2023 we are moving the performance of our organization to the next level, and by consistently pursuing this strategic path we will be able to further exploit the business potential of our markets and generate sustainable, profitable growth. This latest record result was achieved thanks to the great dedication of our global workforce of more than 24,500 employees and their identification with Sika  I would like to thank them all.

The integration of Parex was driven forward in the 2019 business year. Fully integrated management structures are already established in 20 countries in which Parex is present. Combined business and procurement activities ensure that existing synergy potential is fully exploited. The forecasted synergies of CHF 80-100 million will fall in the higher end of this bandwidth thanks to the successful integration. More than 100 shared projects have already been initiated through cross-selling activities alone. In China in particular, the company is tapping into a billion dollar market. Sika solutions are already being sold in more than 2,000 additional points of sale through shop-in-shop concepts.

GROWTH IN ALL REGIONS

In a challenging market environment, Sikas growth in all regions was stronger than the market.

The EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, Africa) reported a sales increase in local currency of 11.5% in 2019 (previous year: 14.2%), and recorded strong growth with double-digit growth rates in Africa and high single-digit growth in Eastern Europe. In Belarus, Sika acquired Belineco, a specialist manufacturer of polyurethane foam systems, while in Romania it has agreed to acquire Adeplast, a leading manufacturer of mortar products and thermal insulation solutions. Closing is expected in the first quarter 2020. Production capacity was expanded in Egypt, Qatar, Serbia, Senegal, Cameroon and Ethiopia, and new factories opened for concrete admixtures and mortars.

The Americas region has focused its business activities even more strongly on the largest markets and urban centers, and generated strong sales growth of 19.3% (previous year: 12.6%). Growth momentum was particularly strong in North America. In Latin America political tensions in countries such as Mexico, Chile and Ecuador are also leaving their mark on local construction industries. Brazil, Colombia and Peru are showing strong growth rates. In Canada, the acquisition of King Packaged Materials in the reporting period brought a market leader in concrete repair systems into the Group.

Growth in the Asia/Pacific region amounted to 35.1% (previous year: 5.4%), a figure that includes a significant acquisition effect of 30.3%. The highest growth rates were recorded in the Philippines, India, and in China. In China, Sika took over Crevo-Hengxin, a manufacturer of silicon based sealants and adhesives. The newly acquired range of products opens up cross-selling opportunities in the extended distribution channels. Furthermore, a new factory in the Bekasi district on the outskirts of Jakarta commenced operations in Indonesia in the reporting period. Sika now produces concrete admixtures and mortar products for the local construction market in three factories.

The Global Business segment recorded a growth rate of 3.0% (previous year: 29.2%). Sika generated further growth in the automotive area in 2019, despite the global stagnation in the automotive sector and the sharp decline in production figures. The megatrends in modern automotive construction, which are dominated by electro-mobility and lightweight construction, are opening up new avenues with long-term growth potential for Sika thanks to new, lighter platforms with multi-material designs and new adhesive technologies, as well as heat management in modern battery technologies for electric vehicles. Sika has just recently received the coveted Swiss Technology Award for an innovative new adhesive technology used in the automotive and transport industry.

OUTLOOK

For the 2019 business year Sika expects double-digit EBIT growth. By investing in seven new factories and five acquisitions, the Group has laid the foundations for continued growth. These twelve key investments, the well-filled product pipeline, and the strong sales organization give Sika reason to look to the future with optimism.

Strategy 2023, which was unveiled in October, is designed to expand the companys growth model and align the organization for continued long-term success and profitable growth. By targeting six key areas  market penetration, innovation, operational efficiency, acquisitions, strong corporate values, and sustainability  Sika is seeking to grow by 6-8% a year up to 2023. It is aiming for a higher EBIT margin of 15-18% by 2021. Projects in the areas of operations, logistics, procurement and product formulation will result in an annual improvement in operating costs equivalent to 0.5% of sales.

KEY DATES

Media conference/analyst presentation Friday, February 21, 2020 on full-year results 2019 Net sales first quarter 2020 Tuesday, April 21, 2020 52nd Annual General Meeting Tuesday, April 21, 2020 Half-Year Report 2020 Thursday, July 23, 2020 Results first nine months 2020 Thursday, October 22, 2020 Net sales 2020 Thursday, January 7, 2021

CONTACT

Dominik Slappnig

Corporate Communications &

Investor Relations

+41 58 436 68 21

slappnig.dominik@ch.sika.com

SIKA CORPORATE PROFILE

Sika is a specialty chemicals company with a leading position in the development and production of systems and products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing, and protecting in the building sector and motor vehicle industry. Sika has subsidiaries in 101 countries around the world and manufactures in over 300 factories. Sika employs more than 24,500 people and generated sales of CHF 8.1 billion in fiscal 2019.

The media release can be downloaded from the following link:
Free Kashmir poster waved during Delhi University protest

ISLAMABAD: A Free Kashmir poster was waved during a protest in Delhi University against the violent attack on students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in the Indian capital.



According to Kashmir Media Service, the students of St Stephens College of Delhi University boycotted their classes and took part in the massive protest to show their solidarity to the JNU students. As pictures of the protest surfaced, a student was seen holding a Kashmir Aazad poster. The students also chanted Azaadi (freedom) slogans, Kashmir Media Service reported.



Earlier, in a protest in Mumbai against the violence on the JNU students, a woman was spotted holding a Free Kashmir placard. JNU Students Union President, Aishe Ghosh, was severely injured in the attack.



After the incident, the Mumbai Police filed an FIR against the woman identified as Mahek Mirza Prabhu. The FIR was filed at the Colaba police station.



On Sunday evening, JNU students were attacked by masked goons affiliated with Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a right-wing all India student organisation affiliated to the extremist Hindu organization, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. As many as said 50-odd goons entered the campus and went on a rampage, attacking people and vandalising cars.
FILE PHOTO: A maze of crude oil pipes and valves at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas

By Jessica Resnick-Ault

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices retreated further on Thursday, adding to sharp losses in the previous session as the market shifted focus toward rising U.S. crude stocks and away from worries about the conflict between the United States and Iran.

Broadly, prices were moving back toward where they stood before a Jan. 3 U.S. drone strike killed a top Iranian general, prompting an Iranian rocket attack on Iraqi air bases hosting U.S. forces. These events pushed crude to its highest in four months.

"The way the market gives a geopolitical risk premium and then takes it right back indicates that the market fundamentally isn't very strong," said Gene McGillian, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. "A lot of participants in the market think that there's a lot of oil around the world that consumption doesn't take care of."

After falling 4.1% on Wednesday, Brent crude futures settled down 5 cents at $65.37 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate fell 7 cents to $59.56 after sliding nearly 5% the previous day.

During European trading hours Iranian media carried reports of military commanders speaking of further action aimed at expelling U.S. troops from the region.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump stepped back from further military action, depressing oil prices and diverting attention to a surprise weekly build of 1.2 million barrels in U.S. crude stockpiles.

The build, reported on Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration, shocked the market after analysts forecast a drop of 3.6 million barrels.

(Graphic : U.S. petroleum inventories click, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/editorcharts/US-PETROLEUM-INVENTORIES/0H001QXMB9NY/eikon.png)

JPMorgan analysts maintained their forecast for Brent to average $64.50 a barrel this year.

Top oil producers led by Saudi Arabia have agreed to reduce output by as much as 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd) through the first quarter of 2020.

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"As geopolitical tensions appear to enter a new equilibrium ... the overall supply conditions in the market tend to favor oil reverting lower," Harry Tchilinguirian, oil strategist at BNP Paribas in London, told the Reuters Global Oil Forum.

"U.S. crude oil production remains at a record 12.9 million bpd ... it is not evident in our opinion that OPEC and its non-OPEC allies will fully implement the incremental supply cuts."

Oil and gas ship owners are bracing for higher insurance bills due to U.S.-Iranian tensions. This could add hundreds of thousands of dollars to shipping costs that would ultimately be passed on to fuel buyers, mostly in Asia.

(Additional reporting by Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo and Shadia Nasralla in London; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)
A NSW Rural Fire Service firefighter desperately trying to put out blazes on the south coast walked away from a helicopter crash unscathed.

The pilot, who was the only one on the plane, was flying around the Clyde Mountain fire, near Ben Boyd National Park, 578km south of Sydney, when a mayday call was issued at 4.20pm on Thursday.

The helicopter crashed into a dam in Boyd Town, spilling fuel and oil into the dam.

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A NSW Rural Fire Service helicopter crashed into a dam on near Ben Boyd National Park

The helicopter crashed into a dam in Boyd Town, spilling fuel and oil into the dam. Pictured: rescue efforts

A New South Wales Ambulance spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia the pilot managed to escape from the helicopter and swim to shore.

'The paramedics on scene said the pilot was conscious, talking and had no visible injuries,' the spokeswoman said.

The pilot was taken to South East Regional Hospital and is in a stable condition.

Before the crash the pilot managed to issue a mayday call.

'We've just reported to us from National Parks that they've received mayday from one of the aircrafts,' the operator could be heard saying, according to Seven.

'I am just trying to work out the location they were working.'

An effort is being made to contain the mess that spilled into the dam, according to the publication.

NSW fire crews are bracing for worsening bushfire conditions with soaring temperatures and strong winds forecast.

The NSW RFS has placed total fire bans on ten regions across the state on Friday before forecast hot and windy weather.

The pilot was taken to South East Regional Hospital and is in a stable condition

A New South Wales Ambulance spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia the pilot managed to escape from the helicopter and swim to shore

Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Grahame Reader says hot and dry conditions will fan fire behaviour on Friday with authorities concerned about a gusty southerly change expected in the afternoon.

'After a relative respite in the weather this week we are expecting another significant spike in conditions,' he told reporters on Thursday.

'We will have hot and dry northwesterly winds and later in the day a vigorous southerly change will be moving through.'

Temperatures could reach the mid-40s in western NSW on Friday with total fire bans in place in north western NSW, greater Sydney, central ranges, the Illawarra and Shoalhaven, southern ranges, far south coast, Monaro alpine, southern slopes, eastern Riverina and northern Riverina.

2019/2020 FIRE SEASON DEATH TOLL The national death toll of Australia's 2019/2020 bushfire season was 33 as of Monday, March 2, with 25 confirmed deaths in New South Wales, three in South Australia and five in Victoria. OCTOBER New South Wales: Robert Lindsey, 77, and Gwen Hyde, 68, were found in their burned out Coongbar home near Casino on October 9th. NOVEMBER New South Wales: The body of 85-year-old George Nole was found in a burnt out car near his home in Wytaliba, near Glen Innes. Vivian Chaplain, a 69-year-old woman from Wytaliba, succumbed to her injuries in hospital after attempting in vain to save her home and animals from the blaze. The body of 63-year-old Julie Fletcher was pulled from a scorched building in Johns River, north of Taree. Barry Parsons, 58, was found in a shed at Willawarrin, near Kempsey. Chris Savva, 64, died after his 4WD overturned near burnt-out South Arm bridge, near Nambucca Heads. A 59-year-old man was founded sheltered in a Yarrowitch water tank on November 7. He died of injuries on December 29. Victoria: David Moresi, 69, died after being involved in a traffic incident while working at the at the Gelantipy fire in East Gippsland on November 30. DECEMBER New South Wales: Firefighters Andrew O'Dwyer, 36, and Geoffrey Keaton, 32, died on December 19 after a tree fell on their truck while they were travelling through Buxton, south of Sydney. Samuel McPaul, 28, was battling a blaze in Jingellic, in Green Valley, about 70km east of Albury on the border of NSW and Victoria, on December 30 when a 'fire tornado' caused his 10-tonne firetruck to roll. South Australia: The body of 69-year-old Ron Selth was found in his Charleston home, which was destroyed by the Cudlee Creek blaze on December 21. NEW YEAR'S EVE FIRES New South Wales: Dairy farmer Patrick Salway, 29, and his father Robert, 63, died trying to save their property in Cobargo, near Bega, on December 31. A 70-year-old man, named by local media as Laurie Andrew, was found dead outside a home at Yatte Yattah, west of Lake Conjola. The body of a 70-year-old man was found in a burnt vehicle on a road off the Princes Highway at Yatte Yattah on the morning of New Year's Day. The body of a 62-year-old man was found in a vehicle on Wandra Road at Sussex Inlet about 11.30am on New Year's Day. A body, believed to be a 56-year-old man, found outside a home at Coolagolite, east of Cobargo on New Year's Day. An off-duty RFS firefighter, believed to be 72-year-old Colin Burns, was found near a car in Belowra after the New Year's Eve fires swept through. Victoria: Beloved great-grandfather Mick Roberts, 67, from Buchan, in East Gippsland, was found dead at his home on the morning of New Year's Day. Fred Becker, 75, was the second person to die in Victoria. He suffered a heart attack while trying to defend his Maramingo Creek home. JANUARY New South Wales: David Harrison, a 47-year-old man from Canberra, suffered a heart attack defending his friend's home near Batlow on Saturday, January 4. A 71-year-old man was found on January 6. Police have been told the man was last sighted on December 31, 2019 and was moving equipment on his property in Nerrigundah. An 84-year-old man who stayed to defend his home in Cobargo, NSW, dies in hospital three weeks after fire hit. His pet dog Bella, who stayed by his side as fires raged, was also killed in the disaster. Three American firefighters are killed when Coulson Aviation C-130 Hercules water bomber Zeus crashed while fighting fires near Cooma on Thursday January 23. They have been named as Capt. Ian H. McBeth, 44, First Officer Paul Clyde Hudson and Flight Engineer Rick A. DeMorgan Jr, 43. On January 24, Michael Clark, 59, was found in a Bodalla home destroyed by bushfires near the NSW South Coast town of Moruya. Victoria: Forest Fire Management firefighter Mat Kavanagh, 43, was killed Friday January 3 when he was involved in a two-car crash on the Goulburn Valley Highway. Bill Slade, a 60-year-old father of two from Wonthaggi was fighting fires with Parks Victoria at Omeo when he died on January 11. He has been remembered as one of the longest serving, most experienced and fittest firefighters. South Australia: Well-known outback pilot Dick Lang, 78, and his 43-year-old son, Adelaide surgeon Clayton Lang, died in the Kangaroo Island bushfire after their car was trapped by flames. Advertisement

An extreme fire warning is in place for the southern slopes while severe warnings have been issued for the Monaro alpine region, ACT, the southern ranges and eastern Riverina.

Bushfire weather across NSW is forecast to ease over the weekend.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday said the navy ship HMAS Adelaide remains on standby off the Eden coast and is assisting fire authorities with refuelling and resupplying.

NSW fire crews have taken advantage of cooler conditions this week by backburning and strengthening containment lines before the forecast heat.

NSW fire crews are bracing for worsening bushfire conditions with soaring temperatures and strong winds forecast after making the most of favourable conditions earlier in the week. Pictured: fires in Eden

Authorities, meanwhile, have confirmed that 1,870 NSW homes have been destroyed since the start of the fire season, with more than 750 damaged.

More than 950 have been confirmed destroyed in 2020 alone.

Almost 200 facilities and 3,774 outbuildings have also been razed.

Governor-General David Hurley on Thursday visited the bushfire-ravaged South Coast with his wife, spending the day with residents, volunteers and business owners in Moruya, Mogo, Malua Bay and Broulee.

Authorities have confirmed that 1,870 NSW homes have been destroyed since the start of the fire season, with more than 750 damaged. Pictured: Eden fires

Mr Hurley urged all those affected by the bushfires to look after their mental health and ask for help.

The couple stopped in at Mogo Zoo and several shops while urging Australians to support small businesses on the South Coast.

'One of the best and most practical ways we can help communities impacted is to support local businesses. That's particularly important for towns along the south coast which would normally be enjoying their busiest time of the year,' Mr Hurley said in a statement.

The favourable conditions this week have helped energy crews restore power to most South Coast and Southern Highlands communities where bushfires caused widespread damage over the weekend.

More than 120 fires continued to burn across NSW on Thursday afternoon, with more than 2,500 firefighters on the front line. Pictured: Eden fires

The NSW government has also announced it will tip an extra $1billion into bushfire management and recovery.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the funding would prioritise infrastructure repair and help stimulate fire-ravaged communities over the next two years.

More than 120 fires continued to burn across NSW on Thursday afternoon, with more than 2,500 firefighters on the front line.

Since July, 20 people have died in the NSW bushfires, as well as 6,200 livestock and millions of wild animals.
The future of several major stud farms in Co Kildare is under threat from the proposed development of a quarry near Kilcullen, according to leading figures in the horse racing industry.

Former jockey, Ruby Walsh, and racehorse owner, the Aga Khan are among over 200 locals who have become involved in a planning row over plans by Kilsaran Concrete to develop a new quarry near their stables.

A representative of the Aga Khan warned that he might have to consider moving horses used for breeding to stud farms in France if Kilsaran was allowed to proceed with its plans to extract 3 million tonnes of sand and gravel over a 12-year period from a 32-hectare site at Racefield which is located around 10km outside Kilcullen, Co Kildare.

The company, a leading manufacturer of concrete products based in Dunboyne, Co Meath, has submitted an appeal to An Bord Pleanala against the recent decision of Kildare County Council to refuse planning permission for the development.

Mr Walsh, a former champion jockey and the Aga Khan as well as the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association were among over 220 parties including two TDs and 12 councillors, who made submissions to the council opposing Kilsarans plans.

Kildare County Council refused planning permission for the project on the basis that the local road network was inadequate to cope with increased traffic plans generated by the development.

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It ruled the resulting traffic hazard would endanger public safety while council planners were also not satisfied that Kilsaran had the necessary consents to carry out road safety measures on approach roads to the quarry site.

In addition the council said the development would seriously injure the amenities of nearby houses due to increased levels of dust, traffic and general disturbance as well as depreciate the value of properties in the area.

It said Kilsaran had also failed to demonstrate that its plans would not adversely affect EU protected sites in the vicinity.

The manager of the Aga Khans studs in Ireland, Pat Downes, said he had concerns about the potential impact of the proposed quarry on the core business of the Aga Khans four stud farms in Ireland which are all located in the vicinity of the quarry site.

Mr Downes, who is based in the Gilltown Stud in Kilcullen, Co Kildare, said the roads in the area were not suitable for increased volumes of heavy traffic, while he also had fears over noise and dust levels that could be generated by the quarry.

In addition, he claimed there was a significant risk of pollution to local groundwater.

Our business involves the production of top quality racehorses and a vital part of that production depends on clear, unpolluted water, said Mr Downes.

He added: This is an area of Kildare that is highly dependent on agriculture, bloodstock and rural employment. The adverse effects, should this application be approved, would be very damaging. Certainly for our business, it could result in a relocation of stock to France with the inevitable result of job losses.

Mr Downes said a development like Kilsarans in the very heart of dense bloodstock activity, where over 160 stud farms were located, could not be consistent with Kildares the identity as the Thoroughbred County of Ireland

Mr Walsh, one of the countrys best known sportsmen who lives outside Kilcullen, said he had chosen the location to rear horses because of its soil, water quality and proximity to the Curragh as well as the need for a relaxed environment for horses.

The former jockey said the road which would be used by trucks accessing the quarry was not capable of coping with any more traffic.

Mr Walsh also quoted a recent NUI Galway study which raised concerns about the long term health implications for humans and animals of exposure to crystalline silica which can result from the quarrying of sand.

He expressed concern for the health of his family and the sustainability of his business.

Investors in thoroughbreds will not want to have horses in such an area as this if the quarry starts, Mr Walsh said.

The Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association said its primary concern was the effect the development could have on the respiratory tract of racehorses through increased dust levels

ITBA chief executive, Shane ODwyer, said noise from 32 tonne trucks carrying 20 tonne loads could spook highly sensitive animals.

Mr ODwyer said professional breeders needed the certainty of being able to operate in a clean, green environment which could be severely affected if the proposed quarry was allowed to go ahead.

Fine Gael TD for Kildare South, Martin Heydon, said many locals were concerned that Kilsaran owned and continued to purchase significant land banks in the area close to the quarry.

It is understandable that people would presume that the granting of this single large quarry may only be the start of very significant quarrying activity throughout this area in the future, Mr Heydon observed.

Kilsaran said the proposed facility would provide vital material for the building industry and its plans were designed with consideration of national, regional and local planning policies and objectives.

A ruling in the case is due in early May.
Weeks after switching on the machines of a new production line near Bangkok, veteran manufacturer Larry Sloven has a quip for the stream of companies leaving China: "Elvis has left the building."

After three decades of building up manufacturing bases in China, Sloven helped Capstone International Hong Kong, of which he is managing director, wind one down. Costs were rising before the trade war, but a 25 per cent tariff on the lighting products the company exports back to the United States helped accelerate a shift that was set in motion 18 months ago " moving its production base to Thailand.

Now, despite the fact that lead time to hit the shelves in US stores can take up to 40 days from Thailand, almost twice as long as from China, few retailers are willing to pay the premium price that needs to be charged to keep production in Guangdong.

"Even if the tariffs went away tomorrow, most people are not coming back," he said. "But I do not believe that most retailers in America understand this process of what a supplier must go through. Nobody will pay the price."

This is a situation playing out in boardrooms around the world, as international companies accept the reality that the US-China phase one trade deal will not materially improve the lay of the land for their Chinese-based operations.

Rising labour and environmental costs, a head-spinning regulatory environment, the ever-looming threat of more and higher tariffs, along with a sharp increase in the perception of risk associated with living and working in China mean that the manufacturing exodus that began at the tail end of the last decade will continue well into this one.

There is acceptance that the "Goldilocks Zone" provided by China's industrial heartlands for the last 30 years " in which the mixture of costs, quality, human resources and infrastructure was just right " will not be matched in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand, Vietnam or anywhere else.

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"This is the right stepping stone, just the start," Sloven said of Thailand. "I believe that Vietnam is already full, it's like having a ticket at a bakery, you have to wait in line. Right now, there's no line in Thailand, but it will get full."

As a direct result of trade war tariffs, China has fallen behind Mexico and Canada to become the US' third largest trading partner. Before the trade war, it was number one.

Tariffs saw China's trade in goods surplus with the US fall by 7.9 per cent in November, according to data released by the US Census Bureau on Tuesday. This was amid a 20.84 per cent fall in Chinese exports to the US from a year earlier, including items like cellphones. US purchases of Chinese goods are now at their lowest point since March 2013.

At the same time, the US has been buying more goods from the countries to which Chinese-based manufacturers are most commonly fleeing.

Compared with June 2018, the month before the trade war began, US imports of goods from Vietnam have soared 51.6 per cent, Thailand 19.7 per cent, Malaysia 11.3 per cent, Indonesia 14.6 per cent, Taiwan 30 per cent and Mexico 12.7 per cent, according to South China Morning Post calculations based on US Census Bureau data for November.

If there were any new year optimism about the US-China trading relationship, it is in scarce supply among foreign manufacturers in China.

This so-called new normal has helped drive a long list of big-name companies out of China, with others choosing to keep a presence but scale back operations to continue selling to the domestic market.

But for every Hasbro, Samsung, Sonos, Sharp, GoPro, Sony or Nintendo, there are a host of small suppliers being forced out due to costs, or because they are pressured to follow their major customers.

"For every foreign company that left China in 2019, there were two to three more seriously contemplating doing so and we expect more companies to leave China in 2020 than in 2019," wrote Dan Harris, founder of Harris Bricken, an international law firm working extensively in China, in a blog post.

A director at a company supplying accessories to Apple " who spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the topic " said the US tech giant had told them that they should plan to leave China if they were to be kept on as a supplier, forcing them to scout for new production sites in Southeast Asia.

Other exporters that have yet to face US trade war tariffs are making contingency plans due to rising costs and the unpredictability of exporting from China. They are not just American firms, but companies from all over the world.

Allar Peetma is the CEO of Estonian manufacturer Gerardo's Toys, which makes rocking horses near Shanghai using moulds made in the European Union. His biggest export market is the US, and his products were due to face a 15 per cent tariff on December 15. This was postponed indefinitely with the announcement of the phase-one trade deal, but Peetma does not seem comforted by the truce.

"Our costs are going up, but our customers want the same price, and they don't understand that the costs are rising," he said. "Our plan is to produce in the EU. We can use automation which can allow us to keep the costs and prices about the same. And it's higher quality than being handmade in China. Our biggest market is the US, so tariffs are of course a worry, but other countries have high [import] taxes for China too, like Brazil and Turkey."

Similarly, Tsutomu Aoi " a manager in the Hong Kong division of Japanese magnetic toymaker Sumaku " said that costs in their plant in the eastern port city of Ningbo have ratcheted up. For some products like action figures, the company has automated processes such as mould injection and spraying at a separate plant in Jiangmen, across the border from Macau. But should the postponed US tariffs eventually hit, production would be quickly switched to Indonesia.

"The labour costs are low, but the process is slow. Currently the US forms a small part of our exports but it is a target to grow there this year," said Aoi. "The 25 per cent [tariff] would be expensive, that's one of the reasons we have set up in Indonesia, to export to the US from there."

French scooter manufacturer Globber, meanwhile, is experiencing "15 to 30 per cent higher costs" at its Dongguan plant, in southern China, compared to its previous production base near Hangzhou in the country's east. New tariffs would make it more expensive to export to the US.

"December 15 was good news for us," said CEO Pascal Comte, but he is already thinking of what might come next. "In the short term, you can't do anything [about tariffs], you have to pay the costs and it affects sales. Long term for sure, or medium term, the best option is Vietnam. It takes a while to transfer tooling, and to find operations and manpower."

Rarely, however, is the divorce from China a clean one. Sloven at Capstone moved to a new base in Thailand with the help of a Chinese manufacturing partner that still provides many of the components used in their products. It can be a delicate balance, working with a Thai manufacturing partner to ensure that enough of the finished product is made of local content, to qualify for a low-tariff "Made in Thailand" label.

"We've worked out a formula that's good for both of them so they both can stay in business," he said. "It's difficult to get out of China without the help of your Chinese partner."

The company needs to ship a particular form of glue from China that cannot be sourced in Thailand and will also import packaging from there.

"You would be amazed at the things that you find out. It's cheaper to produce your packaging in China, put it on a boat, ship it to Thailand than to have a factory in Thailand produce that packaging," Sloven said "My point is you can't do this overnight. This is a two year process."

Consultant Evans said that the "first wave" of companies leaving China started moving 12 to 18 months ago, while the "second wave started mid-2019".

A brief period of armistice in the US-China relationship is unlikely to stop more waves in the future, as foreign companies continue to wean themselves off the Chinese manufacturing dream that has helped shape the global economy for the past 30 years.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2020 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
The former head chef and co-director of a Magherafelt restaurant which was forced to close after he stole more than 7,500 from it to feed his gambling and cocaine addictions is to be sentenced next week.

Brian Taylor (31), from Oldtown Street in Cookstown, had pleaded guilty to stealing 13,000 from his two business partners between November 2016 and March 2017.

However, a barrister for the Public Prosecution Service on Wednesday told Judge Philip Babington at Londonderry Crown Court that they could only prove illegal transactions of 5,127 and the theft of cash of 2,527 - a total financial loss of 7,654.

Taylor stole the money from his two friends after the three of them had set up the El Toro Flame Grill in Magherafelt in November 2016, with the defendant the chef and a co-director.

The prosecution barrister said the business closed in May 2017 as a result of Taylor's offending, which resulted in his former friends and co-directors losing about 30,000.

"One of them describes this as his life savings and says he lost everything," the barrister said.

Taylor ran the business and dealt with payments to suppliers, and employed someone to look after the books.

In January 2017 one of his co-directors noticed a company debit card being used to pay for non-business transactions, one of which was a 500 payment to the Pot Black snooker hall in Cookstown.

At a Christmas party for the restaurant staff in Belfast in the same month, Taylor stayed in the city for three days and used the company's debit card to withdraw up to 1,500 from the business account.

The following month he stole just over 2,500 from the restaurant safe - takings that were due to be paid to staff as wages as well as tips.

"The directors also discovered that the defendant had taken out a loan with one of the company's suppliers, Lynas Food Services in Coleraine," the prosecutor told the court.

"In October 2016 he borrowed 2,500 under the company name of El Toro and gave his own account to pay back the loan.

"But after the first payment bounced he gave instructions to change the direct debit and actually paid the instalments manually using cheques he'd taken from the business in five payments of 500."

The offences were reported to the police in June 2017 and in October of the same year Taylor was interviewed.

He made admissions to the police, telling them: "I had pretty severe gambling and cocaine addiction like, so I used the bank card and all."

A defence barrister said Taylor had "put his hands up to everything" after he had succumbed to temptation.

He said Taylor has been working as a head chef in another restaurant in Magherafelt since last September and his current employer was aware of the proceedings against him.

The barrister said by way of compensation Taylor had with him 1,000 to which Judge Babington replied: "What about the other 6,654?"

The barrister said Taylor earned 550 per week from his current job and was willing to make weekly payments of compensation of 200 per week.

Judge Babington said he took a very strict view of such offending, adding that he viewed the offer by Taylor of 200 per week as an assurance and said he would sentence Taylor next Tuesday.
Hundreds of ethnic Serbs have rallied in the outskirts of Kosovo's capital Pristina to protest against the alleged suppression of religious and other rights of Serbian minorities in neighboring Montenegro.

The protesters on January 9 marched through Gracanica, a small Serbian-populated municipality, holding religious banners and a cross.



"[Kosovo] against ghosts, brothers protect the sanctities," a banner read.



The march was organized by youth organizations and was supported by the Serbian Orthodox Church.



Three similar protest rallies have been held in Serbias capital, Belgrade, against a controversial new law on religion that was adopted by Montenegro's parliament last month.



Under the law, religious communities must prove property ownership from before 1918.



That's the year when predominantly Orthodox Christian Montenegro joined the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes -- and the Montenegrin Orthodox Church was subsumed by the Serbian Orthodox Church, losing all of its property in the process.



The Serbian Orthodox Church, its supporters, and pro-Serbian opposition parties fear the law will enable the Montenegrin government to impound church property, though officials deny they intend to.



Serbia and Montenegro were part of a federation until 2006, when Montenegro declared its independence.



Montenegro is the newest member of NATO and aspires to join the European Union.
By Neil Michael and Eoin English

Agriculture Minister Michael Creed has confirmed the provision of 2.7m of Government funding for the development of a regional development hub at Colaiste Iosagain, Baile Mhuirne, in Co Cork.

The funding is being provided through the Enterprise Ireland Regional Enterprise Development Fund.

The move will breathe new life into the well-known landmark, which has been idle for over 30 years.

After many previous false dawns Im pleased to finally see a project which will deliver a sustainable future for Colaiste Iosagain, said Mr Creed.

I wish to congratulate all the state agencies working on this project, in particular Udaras an Gaeltachta and Enterprise Ireland.

He said Seirbhisi Forbartha Gno will develop a regional development hub in support of enterprise creation.

The hub will provide enterprise development space in Baile Bhuirne through redeveloping an existing state-owned asset in Colaiste Iosagain.

The project will provide a full range of business training and development supports.

It will also provide flexible enterprise space and office accommodation in a rural location with the supporting ICT and broadband infrastructure.

The property is adjacent to an industrial estate where 13 enterprises of scale are located.

A separate element of the same building will be the location of the Udaras na Gaeltachta Regional Office.

The hub will address a significant gap in providing physical space with good fibre connectivity.

Project partners include: Udaras na Gaeltachta, UCC, CIT, Cork ETB, Cork County Council, and South West Gno Skillnet.

Seirbhisi Forbartha Gno is one of 26 successful applicants representing all regions of the country have secured just over 40m Enterprise Ireland Regional Enterprise Development Fund money.

Five projects in Cork and Kerry received a total of 7m in funding.
One of the best investments we can make is in our own knowledge and skill set. With that in mind, this article will work through how we can use Return On Equity (ROE) to better understand a business. By way of learning-by-doing, we'll look at ROE to gain a better understanding of Reckitt Benckiser Group plc (LON:RB.).

Our data shows Reckitt Benckiser Group has a return on equity of 16% for the last year. One way to conceptualize this, is that for each 1 of shareholders' equity it has, the company made 0.16 in profit.

View our latest analysis for Reckitt Benckiser Group

How Do I Calculate ROE?

The formula for return on equity is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations)  Shareholders' Equity

Or for Reckitt Benckiser Group:

16% = UK2.3b  UK14b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2019.)

Most know that net profit is the total earnings after all expenses, but the concept of shareholders' equity is a little more complicated. It is the capital paid in by shareholders, plus any retained earnings. The easiest way to calculate shareholders' equity is to subtract the company's total liabilities from the total assets.

What Does ROE Mean?

Return on Equity measures a company's profitability against the profit it has kept for the business (plus any capital injections). The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that the higher the ROE, the more profitable the company is. So, all else equal, investors should like a high ROE. That means ROE can be used to compare two businesses.

Does Reckitt Benckiser Group Have A Good ROE?

Arguably the easiest way to assess company's ROE is to compare it with the average in its industry. Importantly, this is far from a perfect measure, because companies differ significantly within the same industry classification. The image below shows that Reckitt Benckiser Group has an ROE that is roughly in line with the Household Products industry average (16%).

Story continues

LSE:RB. Past Revenue and Net Income, January 8th 2020

That's not overly surprising. ROE doesn't tell us if the share price is low, but it can inform us to the nature of the business. For those looking for a bargain, other factors may be more important. I will like Reckitt Benckiser Group better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

How Does Debt Impact ROE?

Companies usually need to invest money to grow their profits. The cash for investment can come from prior year profits (retained earnings), issuing new shares, or borrowing. In the first two cases, the ROE will capture this use of capital to grow. In the latter case, the use of debt will improve the returns, but will not change the equity. That will make the ROE look better than if no debt was used.

Reckitt Benckiser Group's Debt And Its 16% ROE

Reckitt Benckiser Group has a debt to equity ratio of 0.85, which is far from excessive. The fact that it achieved a fairly good ROE with only modest debt suggests the business might be worth putting on your watchlist. Careful use of debt to boost returns is often very good for shareholders. However, it could reduce the company's ability to take advantage of future opportunities.

The Bottom Line On ROE

Return on equity is useful for comparing the quality of different businesses. In my book the highest quality companies have high return on equity, despite low debt. All else being equal, a higher ROE is better.

But 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 thisfree list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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.



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. Thank you for reading.
Indians have more confidence in President Donald Trumps handling of world affairs than people of most other countries, according to a new poll of citizens of 32 countries about their views of America and its mercurial president.

Almost six out of 10 Indians - 56 per cent - polled by Pew Research Centre said they felt confident of President Trumps foreign policy chops, which was way more than the median of 29 per cent of the people polled who felt the same way. Most others expressed low to very low level of trust in him, with Mexicans, no surprises here, most leery at eight per cent.

Though not comparable but instructive, Indias level of confidence in Trump far outstripped the presidents job approval at home of 44 per cent in the average of polls aggregated by RealClearPolitics, a leading aggregator, and 41.9 per cent in the weighted average of polls by FiveThirtyEight, a leading aggregator-forecaster.

Also Watch | In Donald Trumps warning to Iran, jibe at Obama, lethal missile threat

Among Indians, those who identified themselves as supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were more bullish on Trump than supporters of the Opposition Congress party by 16 points, 66 per cent to 50 per cent, Pew told Hindustan Times in response to a request for more details about Indian respondents. Trump was more popular among supporters of right-wing parties in other countries as well, including the UK Independence Party and Germanys Alternatives for Germany.

Confidence in Trump has increased in India as he has become more visible to the Indian public, said Jacob Poushter, associate director of global attitudes research at Pew. When first asked about him in 2016 as a presidential candidate, two-thirds of Indians did not share an opinion of Trump. But in the 2019 survey, only three-in-ten did not answer this particular question.

Trump started with one-third recognition among Indians in 2016, went up to 40 per cent name recognition and approval in 2017, which was also the year in which divisive forces unleashed by his election led to the killing of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an Indian engineer, and now 56 per cent, two years later (Pew did not poll the confidence question in 2018).

But Indians had somewhat more confidence in President Barack Obama in 2016, his last year in office, with 58 per cent. This is not a comparison Trump will like, if the Pew poll was ever brought to his attention, given his obsessive drive to either undo his predecessors initiatives or belittle them.

Gallup conducted the poll for Pew in most countries, including India, where 2,476 respondents were interviewed face to face from June end to early October, a period that included the hugely popular Howdy Modi event in Houston in September, an outreach to the Indian diaspora addressed jointly by Modi and Trump. It was aired live in India and was watched by millions of people despite the late hour, given the time difference. Did Trump gain from it?

At 56 per cent, Indians were overtaken only by Philippines (77 per cent), Israel (71 per cent), Kenya (65 per cent) and Nigeria (58 per cent).

Most of the other 32 nations polled felt low to very low confidence in the American presidents ability to do the right thing - only eight per cent of Mexicans said they had confidence in Trump, and not surprisingly, given his nearly constant railing against them from the time he announced his candidature for the White House in the summer of 2015. He had called immigrants from Mexico criminal and rapists at the time, and made building a wall along the border with Mexico a key election promise.

Turks and Germans were the others most leery of Trump with 11 per cent and 13 per cent confidence. And even Russians seemed cool, at 20 per cent, on a man whose election in 2016 had been facilitated by meddling by their government, as alleged by US intelligence and Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller.
(CNN)  Amid simmering tensions between the US and Iran, House and Senate Democrats are pushing to rein in President Donald Trump's military action and halt an escalation of hostilities in a effort that will test the power of Congress to constrain the executive branch when it comes to the use of military force.

The House is poised to vote on Thursday on an Iran war powers resolution aimed at restraining the President's military action against Iran, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Wednesday.

Trump appeared to signal a deescalation of tensions with Iran earlier on Wednesday in the wake of Iran's retaliatory attacks against Iraqi bases housing US troops, which came after a US airstrike killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.

But despite that, Pelosi said in her statement announcing the vote that "members of Congress have serious, urgent concerns about the administration's decision to engage in hostilities against Iran and about its lack of strategy moving forward."

Pelosi had previously said that the House resolution would be similar to a measure introduced in the Senate by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, which calls for the removal of US armed forces from hostilities with Iran not authorized by Congress.

What is the War Powers Resolution?

In their effort to restrain US conflict with Iran, congressional Democrats are invoking the War Powers Resolution, otherwise known as the War Powers Resolution of 1973 or the War Powers Act.

Under the Constitution, the President acts as commander-in-chief of the US Army and Navy, but Congress has the power to declare war.

The War Powers Resolution further stipulates parameters of presidential and congressional war powers, including imposing procedural requirements to ensure that presidents keep Congress apprised of military decisions as well as provisions that provide Congress with a mechanism to suspend military operations initiated by the President in certain circumstances.

It was enacted after Congress overrode a veto from then-President Richard Nixon and is aimed at reining in a president's authority to engage the US in military action without congressional approval.

What does it do?

The resolution requires the President to submit a report to Congress within 48 hours of engaging US armed forces in hostilities in the absence of a declaration of war.

Once a report is submitted to Congress, the President must halt the military action within 60 calendar days with an additional 30-day withdrawal period if necessary unless Congress declares war or enacts a specific authorization for the use of US armed forces with limited exceptions.

The Trump administration sent Congress a formal notification on Saturday regarding the drone strike that killed Soleimani in accordance with the War Powers Resolution.

It was classified, however, and Pelosi said in a statement that the notification "raises more questions than it answers," pointing to the decision to classify it as a "highly unusual" move that "compounds our many concerns, and suggests that the Congress and the American people are being left in the dark about our national security."

What are the House and Senate resolutions to limit conflict with Iran?

The House and Senate are both poised to take up war powers resolutions.

In the Senate, Kaine introduced his war powers resolution last week along with Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois. As a war powers resolution, the measure is privileged, which means that the Republican-controlled Senate will have to hold a vote.

Kaine has made clear that he does not support a war with Iran, but he has also said that it is the responsibility of Congress to publicly debate and vote on the possibility of military action to prevent the President from acting unilaterally.

The resolution will "give all 535 members of Congress the opportunity to declare where they are on the advisability of a war with Iran," Kaine said on Monday.

The resolution directs the President to remove US forces from hostilities with Iran no later than 30 days after the resolution is enacted absent a declaration of war by Congress or passage of a new authorization for use of military force, a type of measure that lawmakers can approve to green-light military action.

The House resolution will be led by Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA analyst and senior Defense Department official.

In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday, Slotkin was asked what she hopes the resolution will achieve.

"I think the intent of it is that we just abide by the constitution, and the constitution was very, very clear about authorization of military force," Slotkin said.

"The President has the responsibility to come back here and have a real conversation with the American people out in the public, with the US Congress as our founders intended," Slotkin added.

Even as the military conflict with Iran appeared to have deescalated on Wednesday, Kaine said that he will continue to press ahead with his effort to limit Trump's authority on Iran.

He added, however, that the timing may be complicated by the fact that it's uncertain when a Senate impeachment trial will begin. But since it's privileged, the Senate must vote on it.

"What we learned from the last 18 months is ... this thing has been going up and down cycles ... and deliberation is the antidote to unnecessary escalation," Kaine said of conflict with Iran.

Has Congress taken action before to rebuke Trump over war powers?

Last year, the House and Senate passed a war powers resolution to curtail US military support for a Saudi-led war in Yemen, a vote seen as a rebuke of Trump's Middle East policies.

Ultimately, however, the Senate failed to override a presidential veto of the bipartisan measure.

The Democratic-controlled House, however, is expected to have the support needed to clear an Iran war powers resolution, but it is unlikely that lawmakers would have the votes needed to override a veto on a war powers resolution related to Iran.

It also not yet clear if such a resolution would have the votes to pass in the Republican-led Senate Senate. But whatever the outcome, the introduction of the measure ensures there will be an ongoing congressional debate over the President's escalation of hostilities with Iran.

This story was first published on CNN.com 'How Congress can limit Trump's power with the Iran conflict'
Mudita Girotra By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Several Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students were detained by the police on Thursday when they tried to march to Rashtrapati Bhavan to protest the Ministry of Human Resource and Developments failure to end the deadlock over the demand for the Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumars resignation.

A delegation of nine, including JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, earlier met MHRD secretary Amit Khare.

After a two-hour meeting, Ghosh said that they put across their demands but the protest will go on. We are being told to have a dialogue with the VC but he is not ready for it. The answer to my injury is not dialogue. We wont let our protest end here, Ghosh, who was hit on the head on Sunday, said.

ALSO READ | JNU V-C sent message to police at 6:45 pm for deployment outside main gate: Sources

After waiting for hours at Shastri Bhavan, which houses MHRD, the protesters started moving towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan via Janpath. They were stopped by the police causing massive traffic jams.

When the protesters refused to disperse and started raising slogans against the police, the police personnel dragged them into the buses parked there.

The detained students raised slogans: Yaad karo apni baari, Tis Hazari Tis Hazari; Delhi Police Haye Haye, they shouted.

At least four students were injured by the police who wielded sticks.

A gathering of JNU students and teachers marched from Mandi House to MHRD via Rajendra Prasad Road... However, when the delegation came out of the meeting, one of the student leaders provoked the gathering to move towards Rashtrapati Bhavan. Consequently, they stopped traffic at Rajendra Prasad Road.

They were prevented from marching towards Rashtrapati Bhawan. In the process 11 persons were detained and subsequently released, they added.

ALSO READ: Delhi Police takes JNUSU, JNUTA protestors to meet HRD officials

This reporter, however, witnessed, at least 50 students being dragged to detention by the police.

No compromise over removal of VC: Aishe

JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh said the students and faculty members will not relent till Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar is sacked adding that they wont forget Sundays attack.
EDWARDSVILLE  Scheffel Boyle CPAs closed out 2019 by completing its annual service project for the firms Scheffel Boyle Shares program, creating and shipping 34 care packages to deployed servicemen and women.

Each year, employees of the firm team together to complete a community service project for the Shares program. For its 2019 Shares, the team decided to organize a Friends Trivia Night to raise funds for care packages for deployed troops. The Trivia Night, held in November, raised more than $1,400 for the project and received a carload of donations for the packages from participants.
[January 09, 2020] Winged Keel Group Announces the Appointment of Four New Principals

Winged Keel Group ("Winged Keel") today announced the appointment of four new Principals: Brian Gartner (News - Alert), Chelsea Maeda, Barbara Novak, and Vikash Haritwal. Each long-tenured member of Winged Keel joined its multi-generational partnership effective January 1, 2020. The promotions follow an exceptional year of growth within the firm's Traditional Life Insurance, Business Continuation Insurance, and Private Placement Life Insurance businesses, as well as its expansion into the Mid-Atlantic region with new offices in Richmond and Washington, D.C. Brian Gartner led an outstanding year for West Coast operations in 2019, culminating in a move to a new office space in San Francisco. As Principal, he will remain head of Winged Keel's San Francisco office and a key contact for West Coast clients and advisors. He will also continue to focus on expanding Winged Keel's California presence as a market leader in the design, implementation, and administration of sophisticated life insurance and annuity portfolios for ultra high net worth families. He joined Winged Keel in 2011 and moved to San Francisco in 2016 to help develop the firm's national presence. Gartner graduated with a BA from University of Pennsylvania. Chelsea Maeda is a Client Relationship Manager responsible for the financial modeling and administration of some of the largest and most complex life insuance portfolios structured by Winged Keel. In 2019, Maeda's expertise in Business Continuation Insurance for key executives led the firm to codify this work into a separate business segment. She joined Winged Keel Group as an intern in 2007 and has advanced within the organization ever since. Maeda graduated with a BA from Columbia University.



Barbara Novak works with many of the firm's largest clients on the structuring, implementation, and administration of their Traditional and Private Placement Life Insurance, while also managing business development, compliance, and operational initiatives. Novak joined Winged Keel in 2008 and has been integral to the successful integration of Winged Keel's Boston, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. operations, leveraging best practices in each new region to optimize the firm's ability to provide best-in-class client service. Novak graduated with a BA from Columbia University. Vikash Haritwal has been Chief Financial Officer since 2017, a role he will maintain as Principal. Haritwal continues to play a key part in the financial structuring and execution of Winged Keel's expansion efforts including new offices in Boston and the Mid-Atlantic region over the past two years. He will continue to be responsible for the firm's accounting, financial reporting, and licensing. Haritwal joined Winged Keel in 2008 and holds an MBA from Rochester Institute of Technology (News - Alert).

The appointments were announced by Winged Keel Group Principal Eric Naison-Phillips, who commented, "I am incredibly proud of Brian, Chelsea, Barbara, and Vikash for their contributions and commitment over the last decade and to making 2019 our most successful year yet. A life insurance portfolio is typically one of the longest-held assets of a family, and these promotions exemplify our strength in providing continuity of service to our clients through multi-generational governance. With a strong, diverse, and growing partnership, Winged Keel is well-positioned for continued growth in 2020 and beyond." About Winged Keel Group

Winged Keel Group is an independent life insurance brokerage firm that creates and implements tax-efficient, multi-generational wealth accumulation and wealth transfer strategies for ultra high net worth families. With offices in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Richmond, and Washington, D.C., the firm specializes in the structuring and administration of large blocks of Traditional Life Insurance and large portfolios of Private Placement Life Insurance and Annuities. For more information on Winged Keel Group, please visit www.wingedkeel.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005830/en/

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The Azerbaijanis tried to disseminate disinformation on various websites to discredit Armenians in Iran, but they failed to achieve their goal due to Armenias actions. This is what Azerologist Taron Hovhannisyan told reporters today.

According to him, there are strong anti-Iranian moods in Azerbaijan, and even the authorities are trying to do everything they can to counteract since they see that the situation might get out of hand. There were even statements that Qassem Soleimani had a pro-Armenian stance in terms of supporting Armenians during the Karabakh war and that he had sympathy for Armenians. The Azerbaijanis were trying to find traces of Armenians in lists and among the last names of victims, Hovhannisyan said.

However, as the analyst assured, in spite of Bakus efforts and disinformation, Armenias operations were more effective and led to the desired outcome. When asked if Iran views Azerbaijan as a potential adversary in the region due to the active cooperation between the US and Azerbaijan, the analyst stated that Tehran might also assume that Baku and Washington are in cooperation, but there is still no need to talk about the presence of US servicemen in the territory since there is no official information about this.
The police has collected dump data of mobile phones of people from campus to identify the culprits behind the Sunday's assault on the Jawaharlal Nehru University students, officials said on Wednesday.

Police said several students have come forward to share information regarding the incident on Sunday after police made a public appeal requesting people to share information, footage and video clips relating to the incident.

"Many students contacted on the given number and came forward to share details of the attack but when asked if they would be able to identify those involved in the attack, they said they would not be able to identify them," a senior officer said on condition of anonymity.

Even some of the teachers with whom crime branch officials spoke to said it would be difficult for them to identify those involved in the violence, the officer said.

Among those who have come forward to share information regarding the incident, no one has shared any mobile footage that they shot themselves during the attack, he said.

Police said it has spoken to the wardens and students of the Periyar and Sabarmati hostels in connection with the incident.

Among the 34 people injured in the probe, police have only been able to record statements of few since most of them have still not returned to their hostels.

So far, statements of over 100 people, including students, teacher and staff, have been recorded in connection with the probe, he said.

The officer said they also sent text message to JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh, but have not been able to record her statement yet.

Ghosh has submitted a complaint to Vasant Kunj (North) police station stating that one of her attackers was not wearing a mask and she can identify him.

She also alleged that some students and a professor had threatened her a day before the incident saying they will 'see her'.

Police have also collected dump data of the mobile phones active in the locations in connection with the probe, the official said, adding they have also sought details of SOS calls made to the PCR to probe the incident.

The police has received 11 complaints, including one lodged by a professor in connection with the violence in JNU on January 5, police said.

Out of these, one complaint has been lodged by a professor while the other complaints have been lodged by the students, they said.

Teams of both the crime branch and forensic science laboratory (FSL) have visited the campus.

According to an FSL official, the cyber forensic and photo teams will be visiting JNU on Thursday to collect more evidence.

According to sources, around 2 pm on Sunday, there was a gathering of students inside the campus.

While the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad students gathered near Vivekananda statue at the varsity, those from the Left gathered near the Jawaharlal Nehru statue.

While getting dispersed, there was a scuffle between the two groups.

Later at around 3.45 pm, the police control room (PCR) received the first call from Periyar hostel.

The call was responded immediately and the policemen deployed at the admin block following the high court direction was sent to the spot, the sources said.

At Periyar Hostel, some people, with batons in hand, were seen. They attacked some students. However, the group did not enter the hostel.

Around 17 PCR calls were received from Periyar hostel till around 4.15 pm, the sources said.

After dispersing the crowd, the police personnel returned to the admin block of the varsity, according to the sources.

However, around 5-5.15 pm, a senior officer of DCP rank entered the campus. He went to the Periyar hostel and inspected the situation.

He returned to the main gate of the university after ensuring that the situation was normal, the sources said.

After the incident at the Periyar hostel, the main gate of JNU varsity is closed and no one is allowed entry and while the police was deployed at the north gate of the varsity, they said.

The sources said the Vasant Kunj North police station in-charge and 20 officials from each station of the district were called in to maintain law and order.

The police again received a PCR call around 5.30-5.45 pm about 700 people entering the university.

The police personnel deployed at the admin block were sent again, but they did not find any gathering. When the PCR was called back the caller, the mobile phone of the caller was found to be switched off, the sources said.

According to the sources, the students, most of them belonging to the ABVP, disrupted a peace march of the JNU Teachers' Association at the T-point of Sabarmati hostel.

After disrupting the march, the group entered the Sabarmati hostel and vandalised the gates and windows. In the meantime, the students from the Left group mobilised leading to a scuffle, the sources said.

At around 6.45, the JNU vice-chancellor sent a message urging police to increase the police deployment at the main gate of the varsity as the situation in the campus could become tense, the sources said.

Later, at around 7.30-7.45pm, police received a written letter from the JNU administration to intervene but by the time police intervened, the mob had already dispersed. All the scuffle and violence took place in campus between 7 and 7.30 pm, the sources said.

The JNUSU president was taken to the ambulance by the DCP from the east gate of the varsity.
MILWAUKEE, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- MGIC Investment Corporation (NYSE: MTG) has announced plans to release its 4th quarter 2019 financial results before the market opens on Tuesday, February 4, 2020. A conference call/webcast has been scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss the Company's results for the quarter ended December 31, 2019.

Individuals interested in joining over the phone should dial 1-866-834-4126 ten minutes before the conference call begins. The call is also being webcast and can be accessed via the company's website http://mtg.mgic.com under Newsroom. A replay of the webcast will be available on the company's website through March 4, 2020.

MGIC also today issued an Operational Summary of its insurance subsidiaries for the month of December 2019 for their primary mortgage insurance. The summary is also available on the company's investor website under Newsroom, Press Releases. MGIC will no longer issue this data on a monthly basis going forward. Instead, MGIC intends to publish data about new delinquency notices, cures, and insurance in force on a quarterly basis in conjunction with the quarterly earnings release.

The information concerning new delinquency notices and cures is compiled from reports received from loan servicers. The level of new notice and cure activity reported in a particular month can be influenced by, among other things, the date on which a servicer generates its report, the accuracy of the data provided by servicers, the number of business days in a month, transfers of servicing between loan servicers, and whether all servicers have provided the reports in a given month.





December 2019

December 2018

Change Insurance in force (billions)

$ 222.3



$ 209.7



6.0 % Flow only

$ 216.7



$ 202.9



6.8 %













Beginning Primary Delinquent Inventory (# of loans)

30,123



33,314



(9.6) % Plus: New Delinquency Notices

4,594



4,752



(3.3) % Less: Cures

3,940



4,389



(10.2) % Less: Paids

301



428



(29.7) % Less: Rescissions and Denials

4



16



(75.0) % Less: Items removed from inventory (1)

444



335



32.5 % Ending Primary Delinquent Inventory (# of loans)

30,028



32,898



(8.7) %



(1) Consists of loans whose insurance was terminated by agreements to settle coverage on certain non-performing and/or performing loans. The agreements did not have a material financial impact.

About MGIC

Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation "MGIC" ( www.mgic.com ), the principal subsidiary of MGIC Investment Corporation, serves lenders throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and other locations helping families achieve homeownership sooner by making affordable low-down-payment mortgages a reality. At December 31, 2019, MGIC had $222.3 billion of primary insurance in force covering over one million mortgages.

From time to time MGIC Investment Corporation releases important information via postings on its corporate website, and via postings on MGIC's website for information related to underwriting and pricing, and intends to continue to do so in the future. Such postings include corrections of previous disclosures, and may be made without any other disclosure. Investors and other interested parties are encouraged to enroll to receive automatic email alerts and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds regarding new postings. Enrollment information for MGIC Investment Corporation alerts can be found at https://mtg.mgic.com/shareholder-services/email-alerts . For information about our underwriting and rate changes, see https://www.mgic.com/underwriting .

SOURCE MGIC Investment Corporation

Related Links

http://mtg.mgic.com


Extortion case against gangster Suresh Pujari in Mumbai on private firm director's complaint

'Bulli Bai' app case: Mumbai police arrest one more student, 3 held so far

Mumbai Police arrests former Dawood aide Ejaz Lakdawala from Patna

India

oi-Deepika S

Patna, Jan 09: The City Crime Branch has arrested fugitive gangster Ejaz Lakdawala from Patna in Bihar. He once worked for underworld don Dawood Ibrahim before forming his own gang.

Wanted in 27 cases, Ejaz Lakdawala has been remanded to police custody till January 21.

The fugitive gangster was wanted in connection with several cases of extortion, attempt to kill and rioting.



Gangster Abu Salem sends legal notice to makers of 'Sanju' movie

In May 2004, he was arrested by the Canadian Police in Ottawa.

A few years back he was believed to be somewhere in North America, although he frequently changed his locations to South East Asia as well.

A Red Corner notice had earlier been issued against him.

His arrest came days after cops nabbed his daughter Sonia Lakdawala was arrested by Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Mumbai crime branch. Sonia was arrested by the AEC officials while she was trying to flee the country.

Soniya was flying to Nepal on a forged passport and was booked and arrested for forgery and passport act.

Last year, Ejaz Lakdawala's brother was arrested for allegedly trying to extort money from a builder.
New Delhi [India], Jan 9 (ANI): Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria undertook a two-day visit to Air Force Stations in Eastern Air Command (EAC). He visited vital air bases and combat units operating at these locations on January 8 and 9.



A press note from the Defence Wing said, "The CAS visited vital air bases and combat units operating at these locations on January 8 and 9."

"Besides reviewing the operational preparedness at these bases, the CAS met local Commanders and interacted with the station personnel. He urged all Air Warriors, NCs(E), DSC personnel and Civilian staff to continue discharging their duties with utmost sincerity and ensure a high state of readiness," the press note said.

The visit to six flying bases of EAC enabled the Bhadauria to share his vision personally with the men and women serving in frontline field units. (ANI)


Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren has revealed that she never washes her face in an interview for her 2020 presidential campaign.

The surprising admission came during a piece for Cosmopolitans series of interviews with presidential candidates, in which Democratic challengers have been consistently asked to explain their skincare routines.

Ms Warren told the magazines editor Jessica Pels that she uses a moisturiser every morning and night but never washes her face.

When Ms Pels appeared to react with surprise at the claim, the Massachusetts senator explained that she was inspired by an older cousin of hers called Tootsie.

Tootsie was beautiful. I looked over at her, and I said, Toots, how do you have such gorgeous skin? She said, Ponds Moisturiser every morning, every night, and never wash your face, Ms Warren said.

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 skincare question has generally divided the Democratic candidates into two categories: female candidates who know how to moisturise and male candidates who do nothing.

Senators Amy Klobuchar and Kamala Harris, who has since dropped out of the race, gave detailed descriptions of their routines when asked by the magazine in 2019.

However, senator Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg both seemed perplexed by the question.

Recommended Julian Castro backs Elizabeth Warren after dropping out of 2020 race

When Ms Pels asked Mr Buttigieg about his routine, he replied: I take a shower every day. I use soap.

The editor then pushed him on what he did to keep his face from getting dry, prompting the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, to ask if aftershave counted as a type of moisturiser.

This is probably not the answer that you were looking for, he admitted.

Mr Sanders told the magazine editor that he was not entirely sure what he did for his skincare routine.

I put something on. I got something, the doctor gave me something years ago, I put it on. Im not quite sure, the Vermont senator said in September.

The only male candidate with a detailed routine so far is senator Cory Booker, who attributed his knowledge to his apparent friendship with professional makeup artist Bobbi Brown.

Joe Biden, the Democratic frontrunner, has not been asked about his skincare routine by Cosmopolitan yet, but he told The Rachael Ray Show in 2014 that he had learned to moisturise from his wife Jill.

"You have the most glowing, perfect skin of any person I've even seen," Ms Ray told the then-vice president.
Negotiators for the Shawnee Mission School District and the teachers union are at an impasse and will now present their cases to a neutral party. On one side are teachers who feel overworked and underpaid. On the other side are school administrators who say the union's demands will ultimately put the district in the red.
Megachurch donates $500K to nonprofits: 'More blessed to give than receive'

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Bishop Van Moodys multisite megachurch in Alabama donated nearly $500,000 to five mission-oriented organizations ahead of the new year.

Moody announced during a Dec. 23 service at the Worship Center Christian Churchs Derby campus that the nondenominational ministry was giving $95,000 to five mostly local nonprofits that serve women, children and the incarcerated.

I pray that you also dont miss the lesson that the real meaning of Christmas is that it is more blessed to give than to receive, Moody told the churchgoers at the service.

Moody explained that the ministry began a process last March of setting aside 10 percent of tithes, donations and offerings given to the church. That money was put into a separate bank account.

The tithe is holy unto the Lord, Moody said. God promises that if we put Him first and set aside that 10 percent, that He will take care of the rest.

So to all of these organizations, we are presenting a check to each one of you today for $95,000, he said, adding that the organizations receiving the donations embody much of what we believe as a ministry.

Those organizations are The Childrens Village, a group home for siblings; the Lovelady Center, a prison reentry and drug rehabilitation program; Maranathan Academy, a private school working with at-risk youth; Einsteins Playground, which provides early childhood education and a summer program for young children; and the United Negro College Fund.

The Worship Center Christian Church has partnered with each of the organizations for years in an effort to make an impact in the lives of those within the community.

It is an honor to be able to give them such an unexpected gift during a time when much of the world is focused on receiving, Moody said in a statement shared with The Christian Post.

It brings me great joy to know that The Worship Center Christian Church is blessing them with a combined financial gift of almost $500,000 to help them start or complete projects that will enhance the lives of those they serve.

Moody is an influential African American church leader who received pushback from other black Christian leaders in 2018 when he was a part of a group of 20 predominantly African American inner-city pastors who met and prayed with President Trump at the White House.

The group also discussed issues pertaining to prison reform, urban economic growth, and workforce development. Moody even thanked Trump for being "compassionate and caring about all people."

Moody responded to critics at the time, saying his caring about all people comment was taken out of context.

"[I]t referred to the people who have been marginalized in the prison systems who can finally be ministered to and have the opportunities they need to succeed outside of prison if the bill is passed, Moody said.

The Worship Center Christian Church is not the only church that exhibited a giving spirit this Christmas season.

Also on Dec. 23, pastor John Gray at Relentless Church in Greenville, South Carolina, announced that the congregation was giving away over $30,000 to community members in need.

Most of the gifts distributed by Relentless Church were monetary contributions to help relieve families of financial burdens.

Among the gifts was a $10,000 donation to a family in which both parents recently lost their jobs and are expecting another child.

For another churchgoer, Grays wife, Aventer, vowed that Relentless would pay his rent for an entire year and help him buy a car.



Another church, the Christian Assembly Church in the Los Angeles area, announced the week before Christmas that the congregation paid off $5.3 million in medical debt for 5,555 households with no strings attached.
Donald Trump Mark Zuckerberg

Getty/Business Insider

During the 2016 US presidential election, the Russian government used Facebook and other social networks to influence the election in favor of Donald Trump. Facebook and the Trump campaign have both downplayed that influence in the years since.

However, in a Facebook internal memo that was leaked to the New York Times this week, Facebook exec Andrew Bosworth said, "Was Facebook responsible for Donald Trump getting elected? I think the answer is yes."

Bosworth was in charge of Facebook advertising during the 2016 campaign. He said Facebook was responsible for getting Trump elected, "but not for the reasons anyone thinks." He pointed to the Trump campaign having run "the single best digital ad campaign I've ever seen from any advertiser. Period."

Bosworth also pointed out that he's "no fan of Trump," and that, after the 2016 election, he "wrote a post about Trump supporters that I'm told caused colleagues who had supported him to feel unsafe around me."

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

During the 2016 US election, the Russian government used Facebook and other social media services to influence the election in President Donald Trump's favor.

In the years since, both the Trump campaign and Facebook have downplayed the role that Facebook played in the 2016 election.

But this week, the Facebook executive in charge of the company's advertising arm during the 2016 election offered a different perspective. "Was Facebook responsible for Donald Trump getting elected?" Facebook VP Andrew "Boz" Bosworth wrote on Tuesday. "I think the answer is yes, but not for the reasons anyone thinks."

Though Russia attempted to influence the election in favor of Trump through various means on Facebook  advertising and fake accounts, among other methods  Bosworth said those attempts weren't particularly effective.

Story continues

Instead, Bosworth said, "He got elected because he ran the single best digital ad campaign I've ever seen from any advertiser. Period."

Andrew Bosworth and Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook

Bosworth wrote as much in an internal Facebook message board, but the post was subsequently leaked to The New York Times; as a result, Bosworth published the post in full on his public Facebook page.

In the post, he said that he's "no fan of Trump," and that he "donated the max to Hillary [Clinton]" in the 2016 election. He also said that, following the 2016 election, he "wrote a post about Trump supporters that I'm told caused colleagues who had supported him to feel unsafe around me."

Regardless of his political affiliation, he said, the Trump campaign "did unbelievable work."

In particular, Bosworth called out Brad Parscale, who ran the 2016 Trump campaign's digital efforts.

"They weren't running misinformation or hoaxes. They weren't micro targeting or saying different things to different people," Bosworth wrote. "They just used the tools we had to show the right creative to each person. The use of custom audiences, video, ecommerce, and fresh creative remains the high water mark of digital ad campaigns in my opinion."

Parscale is in charge of the Trump 2020 re-election campaign. He didn't respond immediately to Business Insider's request for comment, but he did respond publicly to Bosworth's post via Twitter. "One of the many lies from the media about the 2016 election," Parscale wrote on Tuesday evening. "Facebook Exec tears it down in a couple sentences."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Rating: 3.0 /5 Star Cast: Director:

Darbar, the Rajinikanth action thriller has finally hit the screens all over the globe on January 9. The movie marks the superstar's first collaboration with AR Murugadoss, the renowned filmmaker. Darbar has been released in about 7000 screens worldwide, thus emerging as one of the biggest ever releases of Tamil cinema.

Did the Rajinikanth starrer meet the expectations? Read Darbar movie review here to know...

Plot

Hari Chopra (Suniel Shetty), a drug dealer murders a bunch of cops and escapes from the country. Meanwhile, Adithya Arunachalam (Rajinikanth), a highly efficient police officer has been deputed to Mumbai to wipe off the drug mafia from the city.

Adithya shifts to the city with his only daughter Valli (Niveda Thomas), with whom he shares a very strong bond. He first eliminates Ajay Malhotra (Prateik Babbar), one of the top drug dealers of Mumbai, which paves the way for Hari Chopra's come back to Mumbai. What happens next forms the crux of the story.

Script & Direction

AR Murugadoss'Darbar is a treat for the diehard fans of the superstar. The movie is the ultimate celebration of Rajini's impeccable superstardom and mass appeal. The director has also succeeded in narrating a heartwarming story of the father-daughter relationship along with the commercial potboiler narrative.

The combination scenes of Rajinikanth and Niveda Thomas, who plays his daughter, are wonderfully written and a treat to watch. However, the screenplay falls flat when it comes to the character development of the rest of the actors, especially the roles played by Suneil Shetty and Nayanthara. However, the romantic track featuring Rajinikanth and Nayanthara is enjoyable. The way the narrative mentions the age gap between the characters deserves a special mention.

However, Darbar disappoints a bit when it comes to the antagonist. Despite the exceptional built up given to the character, Suniel Shetty ends up as a weak, cliche villain. The lukewarm confrontation sequence between Adithya Arunachalam and Hari Chopra makes the climax less impactful and look rushed.

Performances

Rajinikanth, the superstar who plays Adithya Arunachalam is the heart and soul of the movie. His exuberant performance and charming screen presence make Darbar thoroughly entertaining. Nayanthara, who appears as Adithya's lady love Lilly looks simply gorgeous on-screen and her crackling chemistry with the superstar is a delight to watch. However, her talent is totally wasted in an underwritten role.

Suniel Shetty, who appears as the lead antagonist makes a mark with his strong screen presence but has nothing much to do in the impactless role. Niveda Thomas, who plays Adithya's daughter Valli deserves a big applause for her matured performance. The young actress has truly shined in the emotional sequences. The rest of the star cast including Prateik Babbar, Thambi Ramaiya, Yogi Babu, Sriman, etc., are good in their respective roles.

Technical Aspects

Santhosh Sivan's extraordinary cinematography makes Darbar a complete visual treat. A Sreekar Prasad's editing goes well with the narrative.

Anirudh Ravichander, the music director scores once again with a decent soundtrack. The exceptional background score, especially the remix of the iconic BGM by Deva, totally elevates the mood of the movie.

Pros

Rajinikanth's performance and screen presence

The beautiful portrayal of the father-daughter relationship

Enjoyable romantic track.

Cons

Impactless antagonist

Rushed climax sequence.

Verdict

Darbar is specially made for the die-hard fans of the superstar. However, it might not be a totally satisfying watch for the cine-goers.
Assets worth over Rs 2,500 crore have been attached in connection with a money laundering and fraud case against Haryana-based SRS group, the ED said on Thursday.

"Movable and immovable assets like land, real estate projects, commercial projects, residential houses, school, cinema hall, balances in bank accounts and fixed deposits totalling to Rs 2510.82 crore of the SRS Group, its promoters, their family members and associate companies," the agency said in a statement.

A provisional order for attachment of these properties has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The group and its promoters have been accused of making fraudulent promises to investors of giving high returns in the guise of investments in real estate units like shops, plots, flats and apartments among others.

The Haryana (Faridabad) and Delhi Police have filed separate criminal cases against the group.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
WASHINGTONTwo U.S. officials said Thursday it was highly likely that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner late Tuesday, killing all 176 people on board.

The Iran plane crash came just a few hours after the country launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over the U.S. drone strike that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general last week. The officials, citing U.S. intelligence, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. They had no immediate information on intent.

President Donald Trump suggested that he believes Iran was responsible and wouldnt directly lay the blame on Iran, but dismissed their claims that it was a mechanical issue  and denied any U.S. responsibility.

Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side., Trump said, noting the plane was flying in a pretty rough neighbourhood.

Some people say it was mechanical, Trump added. I personally dont think thats even a question.

The crew of a Ukrainian jetliner that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people on board, never made a radio call for help and was trying to turn back for the airport when the burning plane went down, an initial Iranian investigative report said Thursday. Ukraine, meanwhile, said it considered a missile strike as one of several possible theories for the crash, despite Irans denials.

The Iranian report suggests that a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines early on Wednesday morning, when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

Investigators from Irans Civil Aviation Organization offered no immediate explanation for the disaster, however. Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, something initially backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldnt speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over it killing an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general in a drone strike last week.

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6:12 a.m. Wednesday, after nearly an hours delay at Tehrans Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travellers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.

Then something went wrong, though no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations, the report said. In emergencies, pilots reach out to air-traffic controllers to warn them and to clear the runway for their arrival, though their first priority is to keep the aircraft flying.

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above it, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing at 6:18 a.m., the report said. Flight-tracking data for the plane stopped before the crash, which occurred in the town of Shahedshahr to the northeast of the planes last reported position. Thats the wrong direction of the flight plan, bolstering the reports claim that the pilots tried to turn the aircraft back to the airport.

The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

The report also confirmed that both of the so-called black boxes that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost. It also said that investigators have initially ruled out laser or electromagnetic interference as causing the crash.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraines Security Council, told Ukrainian media that officials had several working theories regarding the crash, including a missile strike.

A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash, Danilov said. He did not elaborate on where he saw the information on the internet.

Ukrainian investigators that arrived in Iran earlier on Thursday currently await permission from Iranian authorities to examine the crash site and look for missile fragments, Danilov said.

The Tor is a Russian-made missile system. Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1s to Iran in 2007 as part of a $700 million contract signed in December 2005. Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades as well.

Iran did not immediately respond to the Ukrainian comments. However, Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, denied a missile hit the airplane in a comments reported Wednesday by the semiofficial Fars news agency. He dismissed the allegation as psychological warfare by foreign-based Iranian opposition groups.

Ukraine has a grim history with missile attacks, including in July 2014 when one such strike downed a Malaysian Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.

Danilov also said other possible causes under consideration included a drone or another flying object crashing into the plane, a terrorist attack or an engine malfunction causing an explosion. However, no terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack and the plane was only 3 1/2 years old.

Oleksandr Zaporozhchenko, a mechanic with the Ukraine International Airlines in 2016-2018, said he knew one of the crew members of the plane and had never heard any complaints about the aircraft.

It is one the most reliable planes out there, Zaporozhchenko told The Associated Press.

The manufacturer of the planes engines, U.S.-French firm CFM, declined to comment. French air accident investigators have not been asked to take part in the investigation so far.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Kyiv after visiting with family during the winter break.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he planned to call Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about the crash and the investigation.

Undoubtedly, the priority for Ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash, Zelenskiy said. We will surely find out the truth.

The crash ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. The flag over Parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-staff, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has vowed to get to the bottom of the disaster.

While the cause of the tragedy remained unknown, the disaster could further damage Boeings reputation, which has been battered by the furor over two deadly crashes involving a different model of the Boeing jet, the much-newer 737 Max, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months. The uproar led to the firing of the companys CEO last month.

Boeing extended condolences to the victims families and said it stands ready to assist. However, it remains unclear if Iran will allow that amid tensions with Washington, given Boeing is a U.S.-based firm.

Read more about:
Distinguished Mr Minister,

Distinguished Ministers,

Excellency, Mr Ambassador with Spouse,

Most Esteemed Professor,

Distinguished Chairpersons,

Excellency, Esteemed Chief Rabbi of the Republic of Poland,

Esteemed Rabbis,

All Distinguished gathered Guests,

Honourable Ladies and Gentlemen,

I thank you very much and I am extremely pleased to host you, yet another time, at our annual meeting in the Presidential Palace. This is our traditional Hanukkah meeting, however, for the second time during my term as President, over the time when myself and my wife have been serving at the Presidential Palace, Hanukkah coincided with Christmas. Therefore, we come together a few weeks later. Let me reiterate, once again, the whishes which I extended to your community on the occasion of Hanukkah. The wishes of every success, the best possible development, all the best, may all your dreams and all that every individual desires and aims at come true.

To me, as President of Poland, this is also a very special time. As it happens, recently the world has confronted us with developments which we might not have entirely expected. We are about to commemorate a crucially important anniversary. We are about to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of prisoners of the German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. This date was also designated by the UN General Assembly in 2005 the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. And indeed, since that moment the 27th January has taken on a global dimension, not merely in the symbolic realm, but also in the official, administrative one. It has become a tradition that those who wished to commemorate the Holocaust victims, those who held such remembrance dear, those who wanted to bow in sorrow over the graves of their loved ones or those they respected, or simply over the ashes of the brutally murdered people, those who wished to pay homage to the survivors and the saved, would meet once a year on the premises of that horrendous factory of annihilation, which the German Nazi camp in Auschwitz was, in order to pay tribute. A number of world leaders would also meet there annually, especially when the anniversaries were round, as we call them in Poland: the 60 anniversary, the 65th, the 70th and the upcoming 75th one.

Frankly, I was hoping, in my capacity as President of the Republic of Poland, that the approaching 75th anniversary would constitute a momentous event, which would bring everyone together at that highly symbolic monument, at that highly symbolic place, at that symbolic time. Usually, as you know, it is very cold there, sometimes bitterly cold. This magnifies the sense of gravity. This stiffening cold makes one truly comprehend the horror of the place. When one imagines that those people stayed there for years, without heating, that the only clothes they had where thin striped uniforms, that they frequently walked on snow barefoot. Many of them did not even experience those horrors for they were immediately taken to gas chambers and subsequently to crematoria. That was the fate of the great European Jewish community. That was also the fate of 3 million Polish citizens of Jewish nationality who were murdered during the Holocaust, hundreds of thousands of whom were murdered precisely at Auschwitz.

I was hoping that this would be the commemoration ceremony which would bring everyone together. I was hoping that that would be the place which, once again, would send the strong message to the world.

I must say that I was astounded to receive an invitation from Jerusalem extended by the World Holocaust Forum to attend the commemoration, at the Yad Vashem Memorial Museum, of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the camp and of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

To me it is precisely here, in Poland, on our soil of today, occupied back then by Nazi Germans, where those ashes are scattered. This is the place of immense symbolism. This is the place where everyone can pray, the way they wish, in different languages, for the deceased, for those who are no longer with us and who were murdered.

Deep within my soul I believe that this is the appropriate place, the best one. I believe that one must not deprive this place of its remembrance by transferring it somewhere else and by stressing somewhere else what happened more than 75 years ago and what took place over that period  from de facto 1940 until 1945.

Still, I decided to go to Jerusalem to avoid the discussion about my supposed unwillingness to acknowledge the remembrance of the Holocaust victims also at Yad Vashem, where also Polish Righteous Among the Nations are commemorated, where, as one of you has recently posted on the Internet, the trees planted for them whisper truth about the stance of Poles in those black years.

I was however astonished by the information that the President of Russia would be invited to speak, of Russia which in 1939 attacked Poland alongside Nazi Germany, carved up our country and, as a matter of fact, co-facilitated the subsequent carrying out of the Holocaust by Germans; that the President of Germany would be given the opportunity to speak; that presidents of other countries would take the floor, whereas the President of the Republic of Poland would not be scheduled to give a speech.

We resorted to different diplomatic channels to obtain the possibility for the Polish voice to be heard. It became especially important to us the moment when the President of Russia, Mr Vladimir Putin, delivered his speech to representatives, to the presidents of the Commonwealth of Independent States on 20 December in which he used horrible words in reference to Poland and Poles  the words which falsify history, which demonstrate a clearly distorted context of events in 1939, which make sweeping generalizations and slander my country and Poles as a society.

Moreover, they give a false picture of the Second Polish Republic as a whole. They furthermore give a false picture of the atmosphere which prevailed in the then Poland. For if it had not been the Republic of many nations living alongside each other, the Polish rabbis would not have made an address, on 2 September 1939, calling for defence of German-invaded Poland. They would not have made such an appeal if Poland had been a country hostile to them, a country which had not granted a good treatment to their community  the one who they had cared for spiritually. A country where that community would not have had their Polin  a good place to live.

I could not agree with those words. We took diplomatic steps, we developed a strategy, however one of its important elements was my strong statement saying: "I will not be able to go to Jerusalem, to the commemoration ceremony unless I can present the Polish point of view in the broad sense of the word". In the sense of 6 million Poles murdered during WWII, citizens of the Republic of Poland, including 3 million Jews. Polish citizens accounted for the biggest number of the Holocaust victims.

And the Polish President should not take the floor? I made it clear: that is a distortion of historical truth. How is it possible that the ones who speak are the Presidents of Germany, Russia and France whose government back then sent people, Jews, to concentration camps, whereas the President of Poland is not allowed to speak, of Poland who never collaborated with Germans, whose Underground State was fighting against Germans and tried to support Jews as resolutely as it could.

Of course many will stand up and say: "But there were also anti-Semites. There were those who were mean". Indeed. I am not denying it, and I never have. Yes, there were anti-Semites and the mean ones. They did exist! There was also a majority of those who simply wanted to survive, to save their lives. Hence, they did not help or even refused to help. They did exist for they wanted to live!

And in Poland, on the lands occupied by Germany, any help to Jews was punishable by death. Everybody knows that. That made a big difference in comparison to occupied France and to other occupied countries. Here, helping Jews was punished by death. That was how the Ulma family died, as well as other Polish families who were totally wiped out, together with their children, for helping their neighbours.

I could not understand why the Polish President was not allowed to take the floor. My declaration made yesterday was decisive: I will not go to Jerusalem to participate in the commemoration ceremony since the place of commemoration of the International Holocaust Day is located on the premises of the former German death camp Auschwitz. And it is there that the commemoration will be held, organized by the Auschwitz Museum with the support of the Polish authorities on 27 December, where of course I will be present, in order to pay tribute, along with others, to those murdered.

I am saying this as I can imagine that within your community this decision and this discussion must have aroused different emotions. However, first of all, I wish to extend my deep gratitude to the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland for their explicit support and their unambiguous backing of the Polish side in terms of where the historical truth is, following the speech by the President of the Russian Federation Mr Vladimir Putin.

I thank numerous representatives of your community, including official organizations, which in these days have advocated my decision. I am profoundly grateful for your understanding. Thank you for being able to understand my great, huge respect, remembrance and homage to the victims of that horrendous extermination, their suffering and the need to take into account my duty as President of the Republic of Poland to remember all Polish citizens who perished, to take into account the remembrance of them. And the need to care for the dignity of my country, Poland, which I must not allow to be tarnished or questioned. I cannot be present in situations where such dignity is being questioned without having the right to speak. I could not have agreed to that.

I am deeply thankful for all your expressions of understanding. I am reiterating this once again very clearly as I would like you to hear it in person at this meeting. Thank you for your presence. There were different options possible. Some persons who did not agree with my decision or who had doubts about it might not have come to today`s meeting. But you are here. I can see so many familiar faces which I see every year. Thank you so much for that.

We are a community of people living in Poland. We differ in our views, we confess different religions but we live together in respect and mutual understanding. I am very grateful to you for that. Whenever I look at you, I smile and say: "I am indeed the President of all Poles". It is a fact since all those who come to the Presidential Palace and feel connected with the Republic of Poland, with my country, where I was elected President, are Poles to me. This is the way I see it.

It is not a matter of nationality. It is a matter of what one has in their heart. It is not a matter of blood. Whenever someone asks about blood, I tend to smile and say: "Show me a Pole who can state with one hundred percent certainty that they don`t have a drop of Jewish blood in their veins after a thousand-year-long common history. I am not able to clearly say that there is Jewish blood in my family. I am not able to do that since we do not have historical sources to that effect. But am I sure? As you know, Ladies and Gentleman, only the mother knows for sure. Especially in times when technology was still imperfect. That is the great wisdom which was there.

Once again, I ask you to accept my cordial wishes for the New Year which has just began. Once again, I want you to accept my deep gratitude for your position and the huge support which I received from you over the last couple of days. I am convinced that today there is no difficult relationship between Poland and the State of Israel, there is no difficult relationship between Poles and Jews today. There might be a troublesome relationship for a certain group of influential circles who organize this commemorative ceremony. That however is not the State of Israel. We know that the ceremony is organized by a private foundation with big influences. I believe that thanks to an honest, diligent, joint and wise action we will succeed also in surmounting this difficult moment. But first and foremost I believe that in connection with the 75th anniversary of the liberation of this horrific place, of the German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, that the tribute and homage which should be paid to the Holocaust victims, to all those who perished, will be paid in an appropriate way. The way it should be and the way every one of us pictures it in their heart. To me this is the remembrance encompassing all Poles. Both, the Poles who do not find in themselves Jewish roots and those who are sure of having them. And of all those who believe to have only Jewish roots and who construe this land and this place as their own. For this is how I define Polish identity  as a sense of connection with your Homeland. If I did not define it in this way, then how could I possibly knee before a grave of a soldier who fell in 1939 or 1920 in defence of the Republic of Poland, a grave which has the Star of David on its tombstone? For who was he  the man who gave his life for Poland, in its defence? He was a Pole, he was a Polish soldier, he is a Polish hero who sacrificed his life for his Homeland. He might have had two Homelands in his heart and in his understanding, but this one he had for sure. Otherwise he would not have died for it.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you again for your presence. We are a great community. Looking at that dreadful time and at the difference between a family who considers itself Polish and a family who considers itself Polish Jewish, when we look through the lens of the Second World War, then I am going to say the following: there is no single Polish family after WWII who did not lose anyone in that war. I also lost a close person  the brother of my grandfather, a partisan who was murdered by Germans. The difference however is that a huge number of Polish Jewish families simply ceased to exist after the Second World War. Altogether. And therefore all of us owe a huge tribute to the Holocaust victims. And therefore these are our common victims since we are a community. Once again, thank you for your presence.
Press Release

9 January 2020

Washington, D.C. - According to the latest travelhorizons survey of U.S. adults conducted by MMGY Global, it is clear many travelers acknowledge their travel may negatively impact the environment. And, nearly four in ten of these travelers (37%) believe that tourism overcrowding is now a serious issue.

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Encouragingly, to help reduce their ecological impact, travelers are willing to change their behaviors when they travel. For example, three in ten (32%) are willing to pay 10% higher rates or fares to patronize travel service providers who demonstrate environmental responsibility. In addition, more than half of travelers (54%) are willing to use less single-use plastics, 41% will consciously choose to visit destinations in the off-season to reduce overcrowding, 27% will intentionally book trips with environmentally-friendly hotels and tour companies, and about one in four (27%) will either rent bicycles or walk more instead of taking automobile transportation.

Despite their concerns, only 12% of those who believe travel negatively impacts the environment have regretted taking a trip afterwards because of the adverse effects it may have had on the planet. This is likely due in part to their perception that the very act of traveling has numerous positive impacts as well. One in three (34%) of travelers believe that travel plays an important role in their understanding of the impact of climate change on the world. And, a similar percentage (32%) say travel increases their desire to help people in other parts of the country or the world. Thus, in these ways, travel is seen as both a problem and a solution in the fight against climate change and global warming.

MMGY Global is the world's leading integrated travel and hospitality marketing agency. This survey questioned 2,302 U.S. adults, 1,649 who have taken at least one vacation during the last 12 months. For more information about these insights, or to obtain a copy of the full travelhorizons report, visit http://www.mmgyintel.com/.

About travelhorizonsTM

TravelhorizonsTM is a quarterly survey of Americans' travel intentions viewed through the lens of emerging economic, social and political developments. This iteration of the nationally representative survey of 2,302 pre-qualified adults was conducted from October 14 - 27, 2019.

About MMGY Travel Intelligence

MMGY Travel Intelligence is MMGY Global's industry research and insights brand, offering proprietary data and research including DK Shifflet, the Portrait of American Travelers and travelhorizons designed to power travel industry decision-makers through consumer insights, travel performance data, and audience modeling and segmentation. To learn more about the extensive collection of research, analytics and strategy services, visit mmgyintel.com or email us at [email protected].
Suffering from a chronic buzzing in the ears can be stressful, and forbearing it better eases the stress

Tinnitus is a buzzing or ringing in the ears that has become a chronic nightmare for millions of Americans, causing undue stress, trouble working, and even sleeplessness. With few possibilities of effective treatment, those afflicted may find it worth pursuing alternative treatments that offer possible relief or a higher tolerance for its effects.

Researchers in Poland examined the effects of 12 weeks of yoga training on 25 patients with chronic tinnitus. Affecting over 50 million adults in the United States, tinnitus can affect one or both ears and can stem from exposure to loud noises, ear and sinus infections, hearing loss in the elderly, heart or blood vessel problems, and Menieres disease.

Ten of the subjects underwent MRI before and after yoga training, while all participants were assessed using the tinnitus functional index. A control group was made up of 13 persons reporting chronic tinnitus.

Following the 12-week yoga course, the researchers identified several areas that benefited most from yoga therapy, namely a sense of control of tinnitus, sleep, quality of life, and intrusiveness. The MRI results also revealed that connections in the white matter of the brain appeared stronger as a result of the training.

Yoga training has good potential to improve the daily functioning of patients with chronic tinnitus and can be considered a promising supporting method for tinnitus treatment, reported the researchers writing in the journal Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice.

What Remedies Can Make a Difference in Tinnitus?

Tinnitus treatment varies depending on the cause, yet there are patients who have found no lasting relief from hearing aids, sound-masking devices, and medication.

Acupuncture, both in manual and electrical forms, has been shown to have therapeutic value in treating tinnitus. In a 2010 study, 50 patients who suffered from the disorder were investigated and assigned to either a manual acupuncture group, an electrical acupuncture group, or a placebo group.

After six treatments, the frequency of tinnitus occurrence as well as loudness appeared to be significantly reduced in the electrical acupuncture group, while quality of life improved at two post-treatment periods in both manual and electrical groups.

Improving levels of coenzyme Q10, zinc, and vitamin B12 have also been linked with the improvement of tinnitus.

Stress Management in Chronic Tinnitus Sufferers

Depending on its severity, chronic tinnitus can lead to distress and anxiety from trouble hearing, working, or even catching sleep at night. Not everyone affected has successfully learned how to cope with the noise, which can come in the form of roaring, hissing, clicking, or other common sounds.

Yoga, an ancient wellness practice, can help immensely in managing stress, whether from conditions like tinnitus or everyday stresses that you encounter. Theres mounting evidence that vouches for its favorable effects against stress and diseases. GreenMedInfo.com has an exhaustive list of studies vouching for yogas therapeutic actions. Other natural remedies against stress, which act as mental wellness tools, include:

Meditation

Deep breathing exercises

Simple exercises such as getting outside for a walk

Solid support system composed of family, friends

Professional counseling, if necessary

Integrating yoga and other natural approaches with additional lifestyle and environmental changes can make a radical difference in your tinnitus experienceeven more so in the lasting, life-disrupting distress that can come with it.

The GMI Research Group is dedicated to investigating the most important health and environmental issues of the day. Special emphasis will be placed on environmental health. Our focused and deep research will explore the many ways in which the present condition of the human body directly reflects the true state of the ambient environment. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of GreenMedInfo LLC. Sign up for the newsletter here.
U.S. Sen Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), seen here in October, has been one of the most outspoken Democrats in Congress in the days since President Donald J. Trump launched a strike that killed a top Iranian military commander. Read more

WASHINGTON  Two New Jersey Democrats have emerged as key voices for their party as lawmakers grapple with President Donald Trumps confrontation with Iran.

One, Sen. Bob Menendez, is a nearly three-decade member of Congress who is now the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee and is an outspoken Iran hawk. The other, Rep. Andy Kim, is a 37-year-old freshman who was previously the Iraq director for the Obama administrations National Security Council aide.

Both have been among the most prominent Democratic voices in responding to Trumps decision to kill Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and his administrations handling of the fallout, including Tuesdays night Iranian missile attack on an Iraqi base hosting U.S. military forces.

They, along with other Democrats, have questioned Trumps judgment and raised concerns that he has opened up another Pandoras box in the Middle East, even as tensions with Iran seemed to cool somewhat on Wednesday.

Menendez said he had more questions than answers after a Senate briefing with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Defense Secretary Mark Esper; Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and CIA Director Gina Haspel.

The questions I went in with, which [were] ... What was the imminent nature of the threat? What was the nature of the target? And what was the intelligence as it relates to eliminating Soleimani alone as the elimination of the whole problem?' I didnt get answers to those questions, Menendez said.

The senator pushed then-President Barack Obama to impose tougher sanctions and was one of the few Democrats to oppose the international nuclear deal championed by Obama.

Kim was one of three House members with national security experience who stood alongside the Democratic Caucus chairman, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, at a Wednesday morning news conference where Iran was a prime subject.

Killing Soleimani, one of Irans most prominent figures, could hamper its cooperation with the United States in the fight against ISIS and prompt Iran to reestablish its nuclear weapons program, Kim warned, even if all-out war seems less likely.

Are we safer if Iran will now press on the gas to be able to achieve nuclear weapons? Kim asked at the morning news conference, shortly before Trump addressed the nation. Are we safer if this gives Shia militia groups greater reason to be able to target our forces and our diplomats in Iraq and the region? So it is not simply a question about how bad a customer Soleimani was. He was obviously a terrible and dangerous person. I often call him the most dangerous person in the Middle East. But it has to be a broader question about our American safety.

While Democrats have spent much of their energy in the current Congress focused on health care, prescription drugs, gun laws, and impeachment, the Iran crisis has turned national attention to an issue at the core of Kims previous work. He was one of a wide group of Democrats who used their national security credentials to help win seats in Trump-friendly districts in 2018; Kim, who lives in Burlington County, is expected to face a tough battle for reelection this fall.

Menendez has been a major Capitol Hill figure on foreign policy for years, but saw that standing threatened when he faced federal corruption charges in 2015 and temporarily relinquished his seat as the top Democratic on the Foreign Relations Committee.

But when his case ended in a 2017 mistrial, Menendez returned to the top post and has resumed his role as an outspoken figure on foreign policy.

Trump has cast the strike on Soleimani as retaliation for recent attacks against Americans. In televised remarks to the country Wednesday he said Soleimani was planning additional actions, though he dropped any mention of imminent threats his administration initially cited in justifying the attack.

Soleimanis hands were drenched in both American and Iranian blood. He should have been terminated long ago. By removing Soleimani, we have sent a powerful message to terrorists: If you value your own life, you will not threaten the lives of our people, Trump said while promising additional sanctions on Iran.

Republicans briefed on the strike offered strong support for Trump, countering Democrats who complained about the lack of answers and specific threat information. Several GOP senators who emerged from the meeting said they were satisfied.

They certainly convinced me that there were very serious, large-scale attacks that were very far along in the planning and were very likely to be executed in the near future, said Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), arguing that killing Soleimani could disrupt those plans and deter Iran from further violence.
AMSTERDAM, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- This morning Everon, a global EV charging platform, announced its partnership with Arcadia (previously Arcadia Power), the only nationwide US technology company focused on clean consumer energy. At a time when consumers' energy consumption changes rapidly, the two companies are planning new solutions for 2020 that will make it easier for all EV drivers in the U.S. to charge sustainably.

Everon allows companies to create their own dynamic charging network and serve businesses and drivers alike. Arcadia leverages combined purchasing power to negotiate lower energy rates for consumers while connecting them to clean, renewable energy from U.S. wind and solar farms.

Kristof Vereenooghe, CEO of Everon says "We have been impressed with Arcadia's vision on building a 100% renewable future and their collective impact approach by offering the best clean energy. The combination of such vision with Everon's charging management platform transforms the way EV drivers experience electric driving and charging, while using clean energy to maximize environmental impact."

"Electric vehicles are a crucial step forward in the fight against climate change, but it can be difficult for drivers to navigate where to charge, how to charge, and what it will cost," said Kiran Bhatraju, CEO of Arcadia. "Together with Everon we're building tools to accelerate EV demand by making charging with renewable energy convenient and affordable."

About Everon

Everon is an EV charging platform that allows businesses to create its own dynamic charging network. It operates in one of the fastest growing sectors, eMobility and serves top tier companies from all over the world. The platform is white label, hardware agnostic, it supports over 21 different languages and allows businesses to integrate with various API's.

Visit www.everon.io for more information.

About Arcadia

Arcadia makes choosing clean energy easy. As the only nationwide tech company focused on consumer energy, Arcadia's software bundles clean energy, energy efficiency tools, rate monitoring and more in a simplified, modern account experience. Founded in 2014, the company's platform integrates with over 125 utilities across 50 states, manages 4.5 terawatt-hours of residential energy demand, is the largest US residential energy broker, and manages the most community solar subscribers in the U.S. Visit www.arcadia.com or follow our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more information.

SOURCE Everon

Related Links

http://www.everon.io


Rescue workers carry the body of a victim of a Ukrainian plane crash among debris of the plane in Shahedshahr, southwest of Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 8, 2020. The plane carrying 176 people crashed on Jan 7 shortly after takeoff from Tehran's main airport, killing all on board. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Canada Pushing Tehran for Direct Access on Iran Plane Crash, Trudeau Says

OTTAWACanada is pushing to be part of the Iranian-led investigation of the plane crash near Tehran that killed everyone on board, including 138 people bound for Canada, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Gaining access could prove challenging because Canada broke diplomatic relations with Iran in 2012, shuttering its Tehran embassy and expelling its diplomats. Trudeau said Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne was to speak with his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif, to stress the need for a thorough investigation into the crashone that included Canada.

The Transportation Safety Board has also assigned an expert to monitor the progress of the Iranian investigation, but it is unclear whether that investigator will benefit from first-hand Iranian information or be forced to rely on other countries.

In addition to Champagnes direct appeal to Tehran, Canada is also relying on allies such as Italy, Britain, France, and Ukraine to ensure a thorough investigation of the crash, the prime minister said.

I am confident that we are going to be able to be part of the investigation. That is certainly something that we take very seriously, Trudeau told a Parliament Hill news conference. We are going to make sure that we are a substantive contributor to this investigation.

The Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800, bound for Kyiv, crashed shortly after taking off from the Iranian capital early Wednesday local time, killing all 176 people on board, including at least 63 Canadians.

Ukraines Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said the plane was also carrying 82 Iranians, 11 Ukrainian passengers and crew, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans, and three Britons.

The vast majority were bound for Toronto on a connecting flight, and as Trudeau poignantly highlighted that plane landed Wednesday minus 138 of its intended passengers because they died in the crash on the earlier leg of their travel. There a number of steps being taken to support the families at Pearson Airport.

Trudeau said he spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson other allies who all offered their sympathies and support.

Ukraines ambassador to Canada said his country would help Canada participate in the Iranian-led investigation of the crash.

The investigation on the ground is conducted by Iran, and Ukraine will of course contribute, envoy Andriy Shevchenko said in an interview. Were ready to do everything we can to help the investigation. We hope that the Canadian offer of contribution into the investigation will be recognized and appreciated.

The crash capped a week of soaring tensions in the Middle East, occurring just hours after Iran launched missile attacks on bases in Iraq where American troops are stationed. Iran said the attacks were retaliation for the American killing of a top general near Baghdad last week.

The Iranian military disputed any suggestion the plane had been hit by a missile, and Iranian aviation authorities said they suspected a mechanical problem brought down the 3 1/2-year-old Boeing 737. Ukrainian authorities initially said it appeared mechanical failure was to blame, but later walked that back, saying nothing had been ruled out.

Trudeau said the government couldnt rule out that the plane had been shot down, but he also cautioned: It is too early to speculate; I would encourage people not to speculate.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau, one of several ministers and government officials to flank Trudeau at his press conference, said satellite data showed the aircraft climbing normally for two minutes after take-off.

However, we lost contact with it, suggesting that something very unusual happened, but we cannot speculate at this point. There are a number of possibilities, he said.

Shevchenko said the plane had passed all the necessary technical maintenance prior to the flight. There was a well-experienced crew. The captain had 12,000 flight hours of experience specifically on Boeing 737s.

Now, he said Ukraine was determined to press for answers, leveraging its embassy in Tehran, and its open diplomatic channels with Iran.

Our minister of foreign affairs had a phone conversation with the Iranian minister of foreign affairs, so we have established contact on this, said Shevchenko.

It is heartbreaking. We have been such close friends with Canada and share so many good things. Now we will have to walk through this pain together.

The Ukrainian offer is significant because Canada has been a vocal critic of Iran since breaking diplomatic ties, including of its record on human rights through numerous interventions at the United Nations. The government cited Irans support of terrorism and concerns for the safety of its diplomats when it severed ties more than seven years ago.

Ukraine officials are also working closely with the Iranians to identify all the victims and repatriate their remains, Shevchenko added. The Ukraine government has dispatched two planes to Iran to help with that grim task.

The Conservative defence critic says he doesnt want the Iranian government to block access to investigators from Canada or any other countries affected.

Families deserve to get a full report on exactly what happened, Tory MP James Bezan said in an interview.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement said his government also wants complete co-operation with any probe into the crash.

By Mike Blanchfield
A billionaire property developer has helped save a small town from destruction thanks to his very elaborate bushfire plan.

Terry Snow, 77, the owner of Willinga Park equestrian centre in Bawley Point, had spent years preparing for a catastrophic bushfire event.

The Canberra-born businessman knew his 2,000-acre property could one day be at risk of being razed by a fire due to its proximity to bushland and national parks.

The equine facility is located near an active fire zone spanning the NSW south coast for weeks.

Billionaire Terry Snow, 77, owns Willinga Park equestrian centre in Bawley Point, near the NSW south coast

The Canberra-born businessman spent years preparing for a catastrophic bushfire event and developed a plan to protect his equine facility (pictured)

The centre is located near an active fire zone spanning the NSW south coast for weeks. The property came under threat last month after the Currowan fire reached the region between Batemans Bay and Ulladulla

The area came under threat last month when the Currowan fire made its way towards Batemans Bay and Ulladulla.

Rather than flee the property, Mr Snow put his plan into action, taking extreme measures to protect his animals, home and staff members.

'We couldn't evacuate. It couldn't be done - we've got 650 cattle, 120 horses and 30 staff,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Mr Snow said he had sought guidance from a fire consultant

'We weren't naive, we'd been expecting and preparing for years and always engaged a fire consultant. We followed his advice to the letter and were so grateful that we did.'

As the dangerous blaze ripped through the region, Mr Snow, his livestock, his staff and their families, took shelter at the centre.

Helicopters flew in to deliver food and necessities, and two trucks stocked with 2,300 litres of water were on hand.

Emergency power sources, including diesel generators and a Tesla battery storage system were also available in the event of an outage.

Mr Snow also ensured there was no material to burn through by using machinery to remove debris along the fire's path.

'When the fire came, it didn't come onto the property because there was no flammable material at ground level so there was nothing to burn,' he said.

Small fires along the eastern edge of the Currowan fire were still burning on the Princes Highway on Sunday

Smoke from the Currowan Fire towers over Nowra, NSW, on Saturday

The fireproof equestrian centre effectively served as a barrier for other homes and properties in the area.

While the neighbouring national park was wiped out by the firestorm, no one in Bawley Point lost their homes or animals.

Earlier in the week, the Currowan fire had destroyed at least one home near the town of Kioloa.

Mr Snow, who has been listed on Forbes' Richest list, made his fortune as executive chairman of Capital Airport Group.

The businessman, who is worth approximately $1.1billion, has spent over $2billion developing Canberra airport and buildings in the surrounding area.
There were 16 minutes gone of the Spanish Super Cup semi-final between Real Madrid and Valencia when Toni Kroos came up with his moment of genius. Referee Gil Manzano blew for a corner out on the left for Real Madrid. The German midfielder headed over to take it and in a flash of foresight and technical ability sent the ball swinging directly into the net, paving the way for Zidanes side to head into Sundays final against Atletico Madrid or Barcelona as they ended up beating Valencia 3-1.

Kroos explains Olympic goal

In an interview on Sport 1, Kroos explained how it had happened: It was spontaneous. I ran to the corner and saw the Valencia keeper talking to his defenders, some five metres from the goal-line. When I put the ball down they were still talking. So of course I took a quick decision. And the shot was good.

You dont have to train that, explained the 30-year-old German. In reality its the same shot as when you hit a free-kick. You just aim at a different target rather than one side of the goal, he said.

This isnt the first time Kroos has tried to score an Olympic Goal, called after Argentine forward Cesareo Onzaris corner kick that went straight in for the reigning Olympic champions Argentina in a friendly against Uruguay n 1924. The Real Madrid player attempted the audacious hit against PSG in the Champions League. "It nearly worked against PSG, but Keylor got the ball at the last moment..." said Kroos.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 13:20:56|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- China's banking and insurance regulator pledged to optimize financial services to facilitate the green development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

Financial institutions will be encouraged to innovate green finance and supply diversified financial products to boost the development of the economic belt, according to a statement on the website of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

Banking and insurance institutions should provide financing support to major projects that serve public interests despite a long period of investment returns.

More efforts will be made to push information sharing to enhance the efficiency and coverage of financial support, the statement said, stressing the importance of cross-region cooperation of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

China earlier this year unveiled an action plan to protect and restore the Yangtze River with goals including eliminating more than 90 percent of "black and odorous" water bodies in cities at or above the prefectural level in the Yangtze River Economic Belt by the end of 2020.

The Yangtze River Economic Belt consists of nine provinces and two municipalities that cover roughly one-fifth of China. It has a population of 600 million and generates more than 40 percent of the country's GDP.
A day after a heated verbal duel with a few BJP workers, students of Jyoti Nivas College (JNC) gathered outside the college in Koramangala on Thursday afternoon in a show of solidarity.

A group of 150 students who gathered a short distance away from the college gates at 12 noon on Thursday, held a silent protest with placards, opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Registry of Citizens (NRC). Among these was a sign which declared: Dont force your opinion on us!

Asked why they were protesting, a student told DH: Today, we are not protesting against the CAA or the NRC. We are here against the BJP men who picked up a quarrel and taunted us for no reason on Wednesday. We are protesting for our basic rights.

The student said many of her college mates, including those who the BJP men took on, were under the age of 18.

Later, about 300 students entered the campus and sat in silent protest from 1.30 pm to 2.30 pm demanding that their voices and rights be respected.

The students protest on Thursday was a result of a confrontation with a group of BJP workers on Wednesday, which, the students said left them traumatised. They said they were forced to extend support to the CAA as they were coming out of the college.

While the students alleged that the men were forcing them to sign and register support for CAA, Mohan Kumar, a BJP worker and who was present during the altercation categorically denied that he and his colleagues tried to intimidate anybody.

We happened to be near JNC collecting signatures in support of CAA in keeping with the BJPs decision to mobilise support in favour of the Act. We were not forcing anybody to sign our petition. Things escalated when several students began to hurl abuses and unparliamentary words at us, Kumar, a resident of nearby Ejipura said.

He added that the BJP men lost their temper when the students brought out a placard against CAA and after they claimed that the JNC administration was against the Act. The situation was defused after police arrived and took stock of the situation, Kumar added.

In a video of the incident captured by a student and which went viral, the men, who were later identified as supporters of local party leader M M Govindaraj, also hung a poster India Supports CAA on the college wall.

In a memorandum submitted to the President of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Governor of Karnataka, the Archbishop of Bangalore, Rev Peter Machado called on the government to grant citizenship to illegal immigrants not on the basis of religion but on the merit of each individual case.

Regarding the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, there is a danger that there could be a polarisation of our people along religious lines, which is very harmful to the country. Religion should never be the criterion citizenship of a country. Nor is violence a solution when there a difference of opinion, the Archbishop said in his memo.

Rev Machado expressed concern that the piece of legislation, when it was still a proposed bill, had caused a misunderstanding among the people and had led to violence in Assam, which is now spreading to the rest of the country. He also broached the matter of government backtracking on the CAA. There is no harm in... changing course if this is necessary for the good of our country and our people, he wrote, clarifying that such a move could mete out justice to all illegal immigrants and thus promote equality among them.
UPDATE: Recent forecasts indicate flooding wont be as severe as initially thought. According to emergency officials, this is because precipitation forecasts are trending more toward freezing rain.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Kent County emergency officials are warning residents in low-lying areas to prepare for flooding on the Grand River that could potentially rival near-record highs in 2018.

The flooding along the Grand River has the potential to be higher than levels we saw in 2019, and more consistent with the level of flooding we saw in 2018, said Louis Hunt, the Kent County Emergency Management coordinator and a lieutenant with the Kent County Sheriffs Office.

Based on this potential, we ask residents who were significantly affected in 2018 to make a plan to temporarily relocate before levels rise to the point of impassable roads and isolation.

Specific areas of concern are Abrigador Trail, Willow Drive, Konkle Drive, St. Lawrence, Forest Ridge and Riverbank Avenue, among others, in Plainfield Township. Other areas include Shady Drive in Ada Township, low-lying open areas near Lowell and low-lying areas and roads in Walker and Grandville.

The worst of the flooding is expected to occur Wednesday, Jan. 15, when the Grand River is projected to crest. In low-lying areas, roads could be flooded over.

Once the roadways to your homes are shut down, the chances of you getting quick public safety response are greatly diminished, Hunt said.

The extent of flooding -- and whether it rivals the 2018 flood -- depends on whether the significant precipitation happening late Friday through late Saturday is mainly frozen or liquid, Hunt said. If largely freezing rain, the flooding impacts will be diminished.

In February 2018, the Grand River reached its second-highest recorded crest ever when it hit 20.7 feet, just 1.2 feet below the record-setting flood of 2013.

Freezing rain brought by the weekend storm has the potential to slick roadways, ice trees and cause widespread power outages, Hunt said.

Hunt recommended that residents have a reciprocal relationship plan with a family member or friend where if one person is unable to stay at their home they can go to the others. Additionally, he recommended residents prepare for outages.

And if travel isnt a necessity this weekend, its best to stay off the roads, he said.

Non-emergency resource needs can directed to United Ways 211 number. The organization will be in contact with the Kent County Emergency Management.
JACKSON, Miss.  Betty Turner dreaded what her son would face in the state penitentiary in Parchman, the Mississippi Delta prison that has, over the course of more than a century, earned a dark and near-mythic reputation for cruelty and institutional racism. Her fears were realized when he described meals of just a slice of bologna with a packet of mustard, sightings of rats and mold, and nights spent on a mat on a cold, damp floor.

But over the last week, such worries have come to feel almost trifling, as Mississippis state prisons have exploded with gang warfare, riots, disorder and killing. Five inmates have died, three of them slain at Parchman. Two inmates escaped. Videos and photos of fires and blood-smeared walls, shot by inmates on smuggled cellphones, have spread across social media.

Now Ms. Turners son, 27 and serving a 15-year sentence related to an armed robbery, is wondering whether he will survive.

When my child tells me hes afraid  and hes not the type to be afraid, said Ms. Turner, her voice trailing off. Thats a problem.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.9

By Leman Zeynalova -Trend:

BP, the operator of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil field has announced on behalf of its partners in the ACG project  SOCAR, Chevron, INPEX, Equinor, ExxonMobil, TPAO, ITOCHU, ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL)  that on 26 December 2019 the field produced the 500 millionth tonne of oil.

The half a billion tonnes of oil produced from ACG since 1997 have been transported primarily via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Western Route Export pipelines from the Sangachal terminal near Baku across Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to the world markets, said the company.

Gary Jones, BP Regional President Azerbaijan Georgia Turkey said that this milestone is a great contribution to the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Contract of the Century which is a landmark event in Azerbaijans new history.

We as operator are proud to have achieved this production milestone in the historical year for the country and for all partners in ACG. I would like to congratulate all people who have contributed to this achievement and thank our operations team for their continual commitment to safety and reliable operations, he added.

Jones noted that ACG is a great field.

As well as achieving this major production milestone, delivering huge profit to the country and to its shareholders and opening major sustainable development opportunities in local communities, ACG has turned the Caspian into one of the leading energy producing areas and technologically most advanced oil and gas development regions of the world. As operator we will continue to work closely with the government, SOCAR and other partners to ensure ACGs contribution to the country for the next three decades, he said.
Debris is seen from an Ukrainian plane which crashed as authorities work at the scene in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 8, 2020. (Ebrahim Noroozi / AP)

US Officials Confident Iran Shot Down Ukrainian Passenger Jet: Reports

U.S. officials are confident that Iran shot down a Ukrainian plane hours after Tehran launched missiles on U.S. military targets on Tuesday, according to numerous news reports.

A Ukrainian International Airlines plane crashed Wednesday right after takeoff from the airport in Tehran, killing all 176 people on board.

U.S. officials told Fox News, CBS News, the Wall Street Journal, and other news outlets on Thursday they believe the plane was mistakenly targeted by Iran.

We have a high level of confidence that this was shot down by Iran, an unnamed American official was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying.

One U.S. official said American satellites had detected the launch of two missiles before the plane went down, according to Reuters.

The Epoch Times could not independently verify the claims, and Department of Defense officials have not responded for comment.

Rescue workers inspect the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran on Jan. 8, 2020. (Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

President Donald Trump was asked Thursday about his thoughts on the crash and suggested he doesnt believe a mechanical failure caused the plane to go down.

It was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood, he said. Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side.

The claims come after a Ukrainian official said investigators are probing the theory that the plane was shot down by a Russian-made missile defense system.

Ukraines National Security and Defence council chief, Oleksiy Danilov, wrote on social media that a strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash, according to a Fox News translation.

One of the engines of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, a Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after taking off from Tehrans Imam Khomeini airport on Jan. 8, 2020, is seen in this still image taken from Iran Press footage. (Iran Press/Handout via Reuters)

Our (investigative) commission is talking to the Iranian authorities about visiting the crash site and is determined to search for fragments of a Russian Tor air defense missile about which there was information on the internet, Danilov also told Ukrainian news site Censor.net, according to a translation.

An initial report by Irans civil aviation agency claimed the plane had experienced a technical problem.

Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne called Irans foreign minister to push for allowing Canadian officials to be quickly granted access to Iran to provide consular services, help with identification of the deceased and take part in the investigation of the crash, a statement said, reported Reuters. Canada and Canadians have many questions which will need to be answered. Sixty-three Canadians were killed in the crash.

Before the crash, Iran had launched more than a dozen missiles at two Iraqi bases that housed American soldiers. Trump said in a televised address that no casualties were reported.
The JD(U), headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, on Wednesday asked its ally - the BJP - to take action against its leaders who had been speaking on issues already settled by the top brass, thereby violating the "coalition dharma".

Party spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Prasad issued a statement here to the effect, taking strong exception to a comment by BJP MLC Sanjay Paswan, who had begrudged his party for reposing its trust in Kumar for the assembly polls, due this year.

"The people of Bihar now want to see a BJP leader as the chief minister... We are in a position to form a government in the state on our own, though we shall abide by whatever decision Narendra Modi and Sushil Modi (Deputy CM and BJP leader) take," Paswan had told a section of media here on Wednesday.

The state BJP was quick to distance itself from the comments of Paswan - a former Union minister who had raised the JD(U)'s hackles a few months ago with similar remarks, following it up with a meeting in the national capital with Giriraj Singh. Speculation was rife that the MLC was being egged on by the Union minister, a known detractor of Kumar.

"Sanjay Paswan is a senior and respected leader of our party. He may have said something in his personal capacity. It is not the party's official stand, though," BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand had said.

Prasad, however, claimed that a JD(U) member would have "faced consequences" in a similar circumstance.

"Had a member of the JD(U) been guilty of repeatedly violating coalition dharma in this manner, he would have faced the consequences for sure. I hope the BJP takes note of leaders who keep shooting their mouths off, despite Amit Shah's intervention, and act against them," he said.

Shah, the party president and Union home minister, has said in more than a couple of TV interviews in the recent past that Kumar - who is serving his third consecutive term as chief minister - will be the NDA's face in the assembly polls.

The JD(U) spokesman also expressed displeasure over statements by some opposition leaders who had alleged that Kumar's acquittal in a two-decades old murder case and the CBI's submission in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal, contending that no inmate of the care unit was killed, were tradeoffs in exchange for the party's support to the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Parliament.

"The Supreme Court should take cognizance of such utterances which are shameful and denote contempt for the court's verdict, besides malice towards the chief minister. We also wish to draw the people's attention towards the hypocrisy of the Congress on this entire episode," Prasad said.

Taking a dig at the Congress, he said its leaders are hitting the streets in protest against the new citizenship law though Shanti Dhariwal, parliamentary affairs minister of Rajasthan -- where the party is in power -- had told the assembly that Hindus who have migrated to the state from Pakistan would be granted citizenship and special camps would be set up for conducting the exercise.

"The Congress has launched a nationwide campaign against the National Population Register (NPR). It should tell the people that the exercise was last conducted in 2010 when the UPA was in power," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
- Bar owners said Keroche and EABL had no right to claim ownership of beer bottles since the containers existed even before they opened shop in Kenya

- They insisted a crackdown on bottles launched by the two manufacturers had caused loss to many distributors and retailers

- According to the investors, the two companies, still use engraved bottles they are confiscating from distributors, a decision they find unfair and confusing

- They pledged to dedicate one day when they will only buy brew from the company that will agree to end the row

Bar owners in the country have threatened to stage a nationwide protest against products of East African Breweries Limited (EABL) and Keroche Breweries following bottles row involving the two manufacturers.

The investors who convened in Nairobi on Wednesday, January 8, accused the brewers of engraving their brand names on the 500ml universal beer bottles, a decision they say has badly affected their businesses.

READ ALSO: Israeli PM Netanyahu warns of dire consequences if Iran attacks his country

Charles Loidima (c) Chairman Narok county addressing journalists during a press conference in Nairobi. Photo: Roberto Muyela/TUKO.co.ke.

Source: Original

READ ALSO: Cyrus Oguna says Miguna's unruly behaviour threat to JKIA Category 1 status

Chairman of bar owners in Narok county Charles Loidima said the two companies had no right to claim patent of beer bottles arguing they existed even before the pair started operating.

Loidima warned that the current system of branding bottles will bring back the old regime where a manufacturer avoided competition by confiscating containers of a rival thus increasing the production cost of the competitor.

READ ALSO: Mwanariadha wa Kenya aangamia katika ajali ya barabarani

"The marking of Euro bottles also brings back memories of their uncivilised beers wars in the 1990s where a dominant player collects a competitor's bottles from the market and destroys them or withholds them occasioning high business costs for the other party.

It creates an artificial shortage of reusable bottles. The practice of making or engraving universal bottles is the same 1990's scheme to gain an advantage over others and cause harassment of other market players," Loidima said in a joint statement from 47 country representatives.

READ ALSO: Willis Raburu's saved wife abandons God, says He let her daughter die

Speaking at the same forum, Boniface Gachoka, Naruku Bar Owners Chairman, warned that they will seek redress in court if the two players did not end the war on beer bottles.

Boniface Gachoka (in blue tie) warned that they will seek redress in court if the row escalated. Photo: Roberto Muyela/TUKO.co.ke.

Source: Original

Gachoka said bar owners will nonetheless dedicate one day when their members will only purchase alcohol from the manufacturer who will agree to end the row.

"We will go to court if they don't want to listen to us. We have the power to convince our members not to buy products from a hardheaded manufacturer.

However, if one of them agrees to ceasefire, then bar owners will dedicate one day when they will only buy from the company that will agree to stop frustrating our members over beer bottles," said Gachoka.

TUKO.co.ke gathers that a court had ruled in favour of the manufactures giving them a green light to continue using engraved containers to bottle their products.

Since then, Keroche and EABL have been going around bars in sting missions confiscating all unengraved bottles containing their beer, terming them as counterfeit.

Bar owners say Keroche and EABL have no right to claim ownership of beer bottles. Photo: Roberto Muyela/TUKO.co.ke.

Source: UGC

Bar owners, however, claimed the manufacturers still use unengraved bottles they net from investors thus creating confusion.

Kiambu Bar Owners Chairman Richard Kagiri slammed the two brewers who he accused of exercising double standards.

He wondered why their businesses were being criminalised by the same people they worked with every day.

"We are their clients and we sustain their businesses. We fail to understand why we do business with them today then they criminalise us the following day.

The bottles they sold to us are ours and we exchange them with different players that we want. Other bottles also come from across the borders and we are surprised the two companies still want to confiscate them," said Kagiri.

The chairman lamented that some vendors had been arrested and charged following the bottle crackdown launched by the two companies.

"We have a number of criminal cases which have been instituted against some of our distributors and retailers.

There are also many retailers who have been extorted and forced to lose their consignments on the unfounded threat that they are dealing with illegal products," said Kagiri.

Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly.

The Blind Tailor, I don't want people to pity me. I want them to be encouraged by my story | Tuko TV.

Source: TUKO.co.ke
[January 09, 2020] DeVry University Receives Guard-Friendly School Designation by the Pennsylvania National Guard Associations

DeVry University was selected by the Pennsylvania National Guard Associations (PNGAS) to receive its inaugural Guard-Friendly School designation for the 2019-20 academic year. DeVry was among the first 30 higher learning institutions to receive the designation out of more than 480 eligible schools. The designation was created to recognize colleges, universities and trade schools who exceed the PNGAS' criteria of creating a supportive learning environment that assists members of the Pennsylvania Guard in pursuing post-secondary degrees. In partnership with DeVry University, the "Advance 500 Scholarship" enables eligible PNGAS participants and a family member to pursue their education at DeVry at 100 percent tuition savings* to the family member. PNGAS family members can pursue an undergraduate certificate, associate degree or bachelor's degree at one of DeVry's 45 locations or online. "DeVry and the 29 other schools have made a deliberate effort to be flexible, accommodating and supportive of guardsmen-students and are deserving of this recognition," said Brigadier General (Retired) George Schwartz, Chairman of the PNGAS Education Action Council. "The PNGAS Guard-Friendly School designation is a testament of the dedication and support offered by these institutions and have earned the right to be named a PNGAS Guard-Friendly School." From training Army Air Corps instructors on electronic devices in the 1940s to being one of the first schools approved to accept the original GI Bill1 after World War II, DeVry has ben educating and supporting America's military personnel and the veteran community for decades.



"We are proud to be one of the first higher learning institutions to be recognized by the Pennsylvania National Guard for supporting the educational needs of our military and veteran population and their families," said James Bartholomew, president and CEO of DeVry University. "What an honor to be named a Guard-Friendly school, and we will continue to work hard to meet and exceed the expectations of PNGAS to support their members." DeVry University offers associate, bachelor and master degree programs, online or at one of its 45+ locations nationwide. For more information on DeVry University or any of its undergraduate or graduate degree programs, please visit www.devry.edu.

*Scholarship equal to tuition charges per session as long as the student is meeting continuing eligibility criteria. Also, this does not include the cost of books and fees. About DeVry University DeVry University's mission is to foster student learning through high-quality, career-oriented education integrating technology, business, science and the arts. Founded in 1931, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs onsite and online within its six areas of study: Accounting, Business, Healthcare, Technology, Liberal Arts, and Media Arts & Technology. The university is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission (HLC, www.hlcommission.org). To learn more about DeVry University, visit devry.edu. 1 GI Bill is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). More information about education benefits offered by VA is available at the official U.S. government Web site at www.benefits.va.gov/gibill. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005629/en/

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Doctors and other healthcare practitioners who write prescriptions bear ultimate responsibility for improper distribution of opioids to patients, not pharmacists who are obliged to fill those prescriptions, a series of pharmacy chains argued in federal court.

The filings, which were submitted Monday to the federal judge in Cleveland who has been overseeing the national opioid lawsuits, asked the judge to rule in the pharmacies' favor and reject claims brought by some Ohio counties.

The counties, including Summit and Cuyahoga, have sued CVS, Rite Aide and Walgreens, claiming they are party to blame for the addictions and overdoses among their citizens because they filled 'excessive' prescriptions.

But the pharmacies are now countering that the buck should stop with the doctors who wrote the prescriptions in the first place.

After facing lawsuits from two Ohio counties over opioid prescription filling, drug stores including CVS (pictured) filed their own lawsuit against doctors who they claim hold the ultimate responsibility for over-prescribing painkillers and fueling the overdose epidemic (file)

The Cleveland judge has scheduled an October trial for claims against CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, HBC and Discount Drug Mart.

The allegations ignore the role that cash-for-medication 'pill mills' played, along with Internet pharmacies, independent pharmacies, clinics and others, the drug stores' filings said.

In many cases, those entities dispensed medications in greater volume than the chains being sued are accused of doing, the pharmacies said.

The allegations by Cuyahoga and Summit counties also ignore the fact that pharmacies dispensed drugs based on doctors' prescriptions, who ultimately must bear responsibility, Monday's filing said.

All those prescriptions were written by practitioners authorized by the state of Ohio and registered with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, according to the pharmacies.

'A prescription for a controlled substance is an order for a medication that may be issued only by a physician or other authorized healthcare practitioner,' lawyers for the pharmacy chains argued.

'While pharmacists are highly trained and licensed professionals, they did not attend medical school and are not trained as physicians.'

Attorneys leading the opioid lawsuits said Tuesday their goal continues to be holding pharmacies accountable for not meeting requirements to actively prevent the diversion and abuse of prescription painkillers.

'Pharmacies saw the devastating consequences of this public health crisis firsthand and we will show they did little to nothing to address them,' the attorneys said in a statement.

The judge was scheduled to hear a broader case last year, but most parties settled.

Talks continue toward a possible national settlement that could end all the lawsuits related to the epidemic, which has killed more than 400,000 in the US since 2000.
[January 09, 2020] Voya Financial Helps Health Care Organizations Benchmark Their Retirement Plans

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), in collaboration with the American Society for Health Care Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA) of the American Hospital Association (AHA), recently conducted its first health care benchmarking survey of hospital administrators and chief financial officers from 95 health care organizations to capture their views on retirement plans.1 Voya has now released a white paper - 2019 Voya Health Care Report: Prescription for Retirement Plans in the Health Care Sector - sharing key findings from that survey to help health care organizations benchmark and strategically evaluate their retirement plans. Key takeaways and findings from the survey include: Financial wellness is a growing priority - 81% of health care survey respondents believe helping their employees with financial wellness is a "very important" (34%) or "important" (47%) priority for them over the next two years.

- 81% of health care survey respondents believe helping their employees with financial wellness is a "very important" (34%) or "important" (47%) priority for them over the next two years. Advisors and consultants play a key role in decision-making - 88% of health care organizations rely on the services of a retirement plan advisor or consultant.

- 88% of health care organizations rely on the services of a retirement plan advisor or consultant. Health care metrics are now closely aligned to corporate plans - On average, 67% of employees participate in their plan and contributions average 8% of pay. 2

- On average, 67% of employees participate in their plan and contributions average 8% of pay. Employers recognize the importance, and challenge, of saving for retirement - 81% of health care survey respondents say motivating their employees to save adequately is their top challenge in managing their retirement plan.

- 81% of health care survey respondents say motivating their employees to save adequately is their top challenge in managing their retirement plan. Employers expect retirement providers to help with retirement readiness - 54% of health care organizations wish their retirement plan service provider would do more to help with the retirement readiness of their employees.

- 54% of health care organizations wish their retirement plan service provider would do more to help with the retirement readiness of their employees. Employers are recognizing the need to better support caregivers - Only 6% of health care organizations currently offer a caregiver financial planning service, but an additional 25% plan to provide this service in the next 12 months. "One interesting takeaway from the Report is the growing importance of financial wellness programs - it's the new frontier for many health care organizations," said Brodie Wood, senior vice president and national practice leader for Voya's Health Care market. "Beyond debt counselling and budgeting services traditionally available in employee programs, many health care organizations realize it's important to think holistically about their benefits offerings. This is critical in helping them retain and attract top talent, especially in today's environment where the competition is fierce with the unemployment rate at a near 50-year low." "Another key finding relates to how health care organizations approach motivating their employees to save for retirement. The majority of survey respondents said this was their top challenge in managing thei retirement plans - yet, participation rates continue to be the yardstick that most health care organization use to measure their plan success rather than a retirement readiness score or average deferral rate," said Wood.



"Perhaps one reason why many health care organizations struggle with motivation is that they have yet to implement lessons learned from behavioral finance: techniques to overcome participant inertia and indecisiveness," explained Wood. "By changing the choice architecture and enrolling participants in the plan by default at a level that will bring them closer to retirement readiness, even those employees not motivated to save adequately will be on a better track to help them build a secure financial future." "The Report also underscores the important role that retirement plan advisors and consultants continue to play," explained Wood. "The majority of health care organizations, 88% of those surveyed, enlist the services of a plan advisor or a plan consultant for guidance - which range from helping them make plan design recommendations, understand the fees providers charge and assist with fiduciary responsibilities."

Voya's Retirement business serves clients of all sizes and across all sectors, including health care organizations ranging from startups to those with $1 billion or more in assets. Specifically, this includes hospitals, medical centers, physician groups and other health and wellness organizations. Voya's average tenure for a health care client is 27 years,3 and the Tax-Exempt Markets segment for Voya's Retirement business supports over 4,800 health care organizations with their retirement planning needs.4 To learn more, visit https://www.voyadifference.com/healthcare/ 1) The 2019 Voya Health Care Report: Prescription for Retirement Plans in the Health Care Sector, presents findings from a survey of 95 health care organizations. The 50-question survey was conducted during a three-week period in July, 2019. It surveyed hospital administrators and chief financial officers about key issues impacting defined contribution and defined benefit plans sponsored by health care organizations. It also explores the key issues in motivating employees to save for retirement and unveils emerging trends that will help human resources professionals of health care organizations, as well as their advisors, consultants and plan providers. 2) Survey findings for retirement plan participation and contribution rates are for non-highly compensated employees (NHCE). 3) Voya plan data, as of 12/31/18 4) Voya plan data, as of 12/31/18 About Voya Financial Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), helps Americans plan, invest and protect their savings - to get ready to retire better. Serving the financial needs of approximately 13.8 million individual and institutional customers in the United States, Voya is a Fortune 500 company that had $8.5 billion in revenue in 2018. The company had $568 billion in total assets under management and administration as of Sept. 30, 2019. With a clear mission to make a secure financial future possible - one person, one family, one institution at a time - Voya's vision is to be America's Retirement Company. Certified as a "Great Place to Work" by the Great Place to Work Institute, Voya is equally committed to conducting business in a way that is socially, environmentally, economically and ethically responsible. Voya has been recognized as one of the 2019 World's Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute; as a member of the Bloomberg (News - Alert) Gender Equality Index; and as a "Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion" on the Disability Equality Index by Disability:IN. For more information, visit voya.com. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (News - Alert) @Voya. About ASHHRA The American Society for Health Care Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA) of the American Hospital Association (AHA) is the nation's only membership organization dedicated to meeting the needs of human resources professionals in health care. Founded in 1964, ASHHRA leads the way for members to become more effective, valued and credible leaders in health care human resources with more than 2,500 members nationwide. As the foremost resource for health care human resources, ASHHRA provides timely and critical support through research, learning and knowledge sharing, professional development, products and resources, and opportunities for networking and collaboration. ASHHRA offers the only certification distinguishing health care human resources professionals, the Certified in Healthcare Human Resources (CHHR). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005496/en/

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Gold Price Forecast Overview:

Gold prices surged at the start of 2020 but have lost some luster in recent days. A near-term top may be in place at the 61.8% retracement of the 2011 high/2015 low range.

The drop by gold volatility over the past few days has coincided closely with the pullback in gold prices. The 5-day correlation between GVZ and gold prices is 0.80 while the 20-day correlation is 0.93

According to the IG Client Sentiment Index , gold prices continue to have a mixed trading bias.

Gold Loses Luster as US-Iranian Tensions Cool

Gold prices started the year with a bang as sharply escalating geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran sparked a rush to safe haven assets. Yet after a meager Iranian response (akin to throwing firecrackers on your neighbors lawn), US President Trumps offer to de-escalate tensions has been viewed as a welcomed off-ramp by market participants.

Gold prices, which were up by nearly 4% this week at their peak, have now pulled back by around -0.2% since the close on Friday, January 3. Such a dramatic expression of volatility at a relative high in price action (gold prices hit a seven-year high on January 8) often coincides with a top (or bottom) in markets; hence the expression, turns in the market are the most violent moves.

Gold Volatility Dives, Weighing Down Gold Prices

Precious metals like gold have a relationship with volatility unlike other asset classes. While other asset classes like bonds and stocks dont like increased volatility  signaling greater uncertainty around cash flows, dividends, coupon payments, etc.  precious metals tend to benefit during periods of higher volatility.

Heightened uncertainty in financial markets due to increasing macroeconomic tensions (like the major escalation in geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran) increases the safe haven appeal of gold. On the other hand, decreased volatility tends to harm gold prices.

GVZ (Gold Volatility) Technical Analysis: Daily Price Chart (December 2016 to January 2020) (Chart 1)

Gold volatility (as measured by the Cboes gold volatility ETF, GVZ, which tracks the 1-month implied volatility of gold as derived from the GLD option chain) is trading at 12.80; in our last update on gold volatility on January 6, GVZ was trading at 14.03. Gold volatility had previously reached its highest level since October.

In turn, the correlations between gold prices and gold volatility have eroded: the 5-day correlation between GVZ and gold prices is 0.80 while the 20-day correlation is 0.93; in the prior gold volatility update, the 5-day correlation was 0.98 and the 20-day correlation was 0.91.

Gold Price Technical Analysis: Daily Chart - Descending Channel (January 2019 to January 2020) (Chart 2)

In our last gold price forecast, it was noted that gold prices have achieved the 61.8% retracement of the 2011 high/2015 low range at 1586.71, indeed clearing the level briefly earlier on Monday, January 6. This is further confirmation that a long-term bullish bottoming effort is still in process. The 61.8% retracement is an important threshold in the near-term for gold prices.

In technical analysis, Fibonacci retracements are based around the concept of the Golden Ratio, 1.618, or phi; the 61.8% retracement is the inverse of phi and is deemed the make or break level to determine if price action is ready to embark on a new trend.

As such, while gold prices are continuing a longer-term bottoming effort, they have not officially transitioned from bearish correction to bullish reversal; as a result, we must treat recent efforts by gold prices as a sign that a near-term top against the 61.8% retracement may be in place.

For now, gold prices are intermingled with the daily 5-, 8-, 13-, and 21-EMA envelope, below the former two but above the latter two. Daily MACD is trending higher, although its gains appear to be slowing down, while Slow Stochastics have dropped out of overbought territory. Momentum is starting to shift in a significant fashion.

Gold Price Technical Analysis: Weekly Chart  Inverse Head and Shoulders Pattern (May 2011 to January 2020) (Chart 3)

The perspective the weekly timeframe provides is necessary given the crossroads at which gold prices find themselves currently situated. The rally and rejection at the 61.8% retracement (1586.71) must be viewed in context of the longer-term technical picture: the gold price inverse head and shoulders pattern that originated earlier this year is still valid and guiding gold price action.

Depending upon the placement of the neckline, the final upside targets in a potential long-term gold price rally vary: conservatively, drawing the neckline breakout against the January 2018 high at 1365.95 calls for a final target at 1685.67; aggressively, drawing the neckline breakout against the August 2013 high at 1433.61 calls for a final target at 1820.99.

Only a break below the August 1, 2019 bullish outside engulfing bar low at 1400.38 would draw into question the longer-term bullish potential for gold prices. If the 61.8% retracement at 1586.71 is indeed cleared out, then the odds of a move up to the head and shoulders targets would increase materially.

IG Client Sentiment Index: Gold Price Forecast (January 9, 2020) (Chart 4)

Gold: Retail trader data shows 64.76% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders long to short at 1.84 to 1. The number of traders net-long is 12.28% lower than yesterday and 6.29% lower from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 3.11% lower than yesterday and 5.90% lower from last week.

We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-long suggests gold prices may continue to fall.

Yet traders are less net-long than yesterday and compared with last week. Recent changes in sentiment warn that the current gold price trend may soon reverse higher despite the fact traders remain net-long.

--- Written by Christopher Vecchio, CFA, Senior Currency Strategist

To contact Christopher Vecchio, e-mail at cvecchio@dailyfx.com

Follow him on Twitter at @CVecchioFX

View our long-term forecasts with the DailyFX Trading Guides
[January 09, 2020] Parexel Unveils Combined Regulatory & Access Consulting Organization to Help Customers Optimize Delivery of New Therapies to Patients

Integration of world-class Regulatory and Market Access teams will help

companies address Clinical, Regulatory and Market Access strategies in parallel

to achieve faster, smarter and patient-led development strategy BOSTON and DURHAM, N.C., Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Parexel , a leading provider of solutions to accelerate the development and delivery of innovative new therapies to improve world health, from Clinical through Commercialization, today unveiled its fully-integrated Regulatory & Access consulting organization designed to optimize clinical development from the earliest stages. Parexels newly formed Regulatory & Access team encompasses more than 1,000 on-staff consultants worldwide, including ~100 former regulators and HTA assessors, with extensive expertise and familiarity with the regulations, guidances and stakeholders that companies must navigate successfully to ensure new therapies reach the patients who need them. Today, achieving market authorization from a regulatory agency is only the first hurdle to a new therapy reaching the market, said Paul Bridges, Senior Vice President, Regulatory & Access. By more holistically considering the diverse requirements of regulators, payers and patients and aligning these insights with clinical development, companies can optimize their plans to drive smarter, more efficient and patient-focused strategies, leading to faster development and improved patint access to new medicines.



Parexels Regulatory & Access consulting organization includes former regulators from global agencies including the U.S. FDA, U.K.s MHRA and NMPA in China, therapeutic experts with deep technical expertise, market access specialists with proven health technology assessment (HTA) success and medical communication experts to position evidence for greater stakeholder engagement. The alignment of these capabilities is designed to ultimately save time and resources across the drug development lifecycle. We understand the goal of every drug development program is to deliver results for a patient in need, added Peyton Howell, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer. Our Regulatory & Access organization was designed with the patient in mind, helping companies advance through regulatory and market access hurdles without unnecessary delay in order to reduce the time that a patient must wait for an innovative new therapy.

For more information about Parexel Regulatory & Access, please visit our website . About Parexel

Parexel is focused on supporting the development of innovative new therapies to improve patient health. We do this through a suite of services that help life science and biopharmaceutical customers across the globe transform scientific discoveries into new treatments for patients. From clinical trials to regulatory and consulting services to commercial and market access, our therapeutic, technical and functional ability is underpinned by a deep conviction in what we do. For more information, visit our website and follow us on LinkedIn , Twitter and Instagram . Parexel is a registered trademark of Parexel International Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Parexel Contact

Media:

Wendy Ryan

[email protected]

(781) 434-5104

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Derry councillors have raged at the ongoing lack of investment in Magee and demanded cross-border policy changes to address the regional imbalance of student numbers.

Senior Economist at Derry City and Strabane District Council (DC&SDC), Michael Gallagher, presented stark statistics following intensive research.

It follows a motion proposed by People Before Profit Councillor Eamonn McCann to explore all options for university expansion, including an independent North West institution.

Mr Gallagher outlined a decline in university places in Northern Ireland overall, particularly in Derry. There are areas of high economic deprivation in Derry and barriers placed in the way of people from those areas are two-fold - Queens University sets the bar high which forces them to British universities, and Britain has higher tuition fees. It is discriminatory against low-income households, he added.

There are just 5 enrolments per 100,000 of the population in Derry, it is drastically lower than Coleraine where it sits at 18, in Belfast 14, Limerick 16 and Galway 23.

DC&SDC Chief Executive, John Kelpie, said the detailed presentation pinpointed why university provision is so vitally important and reminded councillors of the disparities that exist. We have to advance university provision, regardless of the provider.

It is the only city region straddling the border yet no students cross the border to study at Magee because Irish funding doesnt follow them. Therefore, zero students come from the South to study in Derry which is combined with a mass exodus of young people to Belfast and Britain, Mr Kelpie explained.

Four options were put on the table, expansion of UU, a new university at the existing site, a new site with an independent university or a collegiate model in which a universitys functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges.

Universities are economic engines, Mr Gallagher said, using Lincoln as a prime example of a place that has reaped the rewards of proper university expansion. The University of Lincoln has invested nearly 200m in its Brayford Pool Campus which was, less than 20 years ago, derelict railway sidings.

This development has had a profound effect on the city, making it one of the UKs fastest growing cities with a thriving engineering sector. The University now has an annual income of 130million, 14,000 students (from just 2,000 15 years ago), is estimated to contribute at least 300million to the regional economy each year and has created more than 3,000 jobs.

Economic self-harm

One of the primary issues in NI, but felt more acutely in Derry, is the cap on student numbers which was only introduced in Northern Ireland. At present, the higher education systems capacity is managed through the maximum student number (MaSN) control mechanism, under which the number of full-time undergraduate students at each institution is restricted.

MaSN does not apply to part-time students, and it applies only to Northern Ireland universities and colleges.

Commenting on the presentation, Mr Kelpie said the figures were incredibly stark, particularly the fact that 77% of third level students leave to be educated elsewhere and never return.

He said the student cap must be lifted, but for Derry alone, because if it is removed nationwide then students will once again be gobbled up by Queens and UU Belfast.

Speaking at the meeting, SDLP Cllr Sinead McLaughlin, described the student cap as an act of economic self-harm by the Executive. It was short-sighted to save money by not educating people and no other part of the UK would even contemplate it.

Barriers were put in the way of Derry, she explained, and when 1,000 places were finally released, Magee got 500 and the other 500 were endowed to Queens without so much as a business case. Cllr McLaughlin added that most of Magees MaSN places have now been transferred out of Derry.

UU has to be held to account, this decade has to be the one for delivery in this city. It requires UK and ROI policy change. Simon Coveney is supportive, he has to put his money where his mouth is.

In her view, the university can show its commitment by moving 1,500 students from health science courses in Jordanstown to Derry. She requested that council arrange an urgent meeting with UUs interim Vice-Chancellor to see the whites of the eyes of the universitys decision makers.

Image: Artist's impression of an expanded Magee Campus along the riverfront (story continues below)

Charlatans

Independent Councillor Paul Gallagher said the policy issues will exist for UU and an independent university, but a strategy is needed to counter the brain drain. Ulster University has however notoriously invested outside the city, he said, and the Strabane cllr was concerned that the same conversations will be taking place in 10-15 years time.

He said money given to UU could be redirected to a big black hole in Belfast  in reference to UUs 110m overspend on its Belfast campus.

For perspective, a 10-year business plan to expand Magee from its current student total of 4,435 to 9,400 by 2028 amounted to a capital cost of 135 in 2017, with an average MaSN cost of 12.7m over ten years.

Addressing the meeting, Aontu Councillor Anne McCloskey said strenuous objections have been ongoing for 60 years based on absolute discrimination and UUs pro-Belfast/Coleraine bias. There is a moral case for improved university provision due to the financial hardship meted out to people in this city.

She was sceptical of the cap being lifted for Derry alone, believing it will be at the behest of UU management. She criticised whoever gifted Magee to UU in the first instance for handing over a beautiful asset to a crowd of charlatans.

'Scandal'

People Before Profit councillor Eamonn McCann said the 110m wasted in Belfast could have been put to good use in Derry. It isnt as if money is being spent well. We have to be a bit more aggressive about it.

The university has also paid out millions to workers over failures to consult staff around redundancies. He added: The level of discontent amongst UU workers makes the university almost unsustainable.

The time for arguing politely about this is gone, it is a 60-year-scandal. More assurances, more complaints. We need to move towards a formal policy to break away or well get nowhere.

Sinn Fein Cllr Michael Cooper said that if the Executive is restored there needs to be a review of a cross-border approach. He raised concerns that if an independent university is pursued that the gap has to be filled somehow and ties cannot be entirely cut with UU.

As a Magee graduate, Cllr Cooper said he is fed up and frustrated with the situation but sees no easy answer. The university now has to make a substantial commitment.

Independent Cllr Gary Donnelly told the meeting that unlike other representatives he was not at all shocked by the figures as they have been previously reflected in polls in which over 80% of young people envisaged themselves leaving the city.

Derry will also get nothing from Stormont, he believes, unless the entire system is overhauled. Its like rearranging chairs on the Titanic.

Alderman Hilary McClintock of the DUP observed that the presentation had fired everyone up, she described as horrific knowing that so many students leave the area and asked what can be done to stem the tide.

Concluding, Mr Kelpie made clear that a milestone moment has been reached. The initial ambition is for 10,000 but that number should seem unambitious in a few years time, he insisted.

Cllr McLaughlins proposal to invite interim VC Professor Bartholomew was supported and a meeting with the Derry University Group was also arranged.
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Kanye West recently exposed the systemic racism of abortion when he stated, Democrats have 'brainwashed' black Americans and effectively forces them to abort their children." After 45 years and 60 million abortions, abortion is now the most systemic institutional racism in the U.S.

Systemic institutional racism has three components: a minority population is oppressed or disproportionately controlled by a majority population based on racial hierarchy/bias/prejudice; it adversely impacts the social-economic, political, and educational equality of minorities; and government, medical, educational, and judicial institutions promote the racism. Abortion exceeds every definition of systemic institutional racism.

Abortions primary purpose is population control and in the U.S. the black and brown communities are the populations controlled. Sixty four percent of abortions are performed on black and brown women representing 33 percent of the population. Thirty nine percent of abortions are performed on black women, representing 13 percent of the population and 25 percent are brown women, representing 20 percent of the population. Thirty six million black and brown women have had abortions since Roe V Wade. This is 350,000  500,000 minorities per year or 1,300/day (deaths from opioids are 100/day) are aborted. Remember, for every abortion there are two people outside the womb affected. The CDC reports that black women are 3.5 times as likely to have an abortion as white women. These numbers point to a clear systemic institutional racism beyond all others.

A successful Christian black woman in her mid-30s shared her story how at 18 she was pregnant and thought she was in love, only to find out that he didn't love her and he didn't want a child or a relationship. Her "boyfriend" pressured her to have an abortion. She went to a Planned Parenthood Center and was asked, If you cannot afford diapers how can you afford a baby"? This question is used to manipulate women into having abortions. This question devalues human life to the price of diapers. It is not a health care question, and it targets poor women and women of color, which is racism. This is played out thousands of times every day.

Abortion advocates use the phrase, "we want poor women and women of color to have access to abortions to defend their actions. Planned Parenthoods major objection to closing abortion clinics is because it will be a hardship on poor women and women of color. Rep Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) refers to abortion as racism when he proclaims that the Hyde Amendment, which prevents the use of federal funds for abortion except to save the life of the woman or if the pregnancy arises from incest or rape, is racist.

Democratic candidates for president want to overturn the Hyde Amendment so poor women and women of color will have more access to abortions. Bernie Sanders responded to a question about climate change by advocating that poor women in third world countries (women of color) should have access to abortion to help control the population for climate change.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rep. Rashida Tliab (D-Mich.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) want free abortions for undocumented immigrants, who are 90 percent poor women and women of color. There were more black babies aborted in New York last year than were born, and the governor just signed and celebrated a bill for late-term abortions that statistically will abort more black babies.

Abortion is a major reason African Americans are not the majority-minority in the U.S. Systemic institutional racism of abortion must be addressed or it will continue to epidemically oppress the economic, political, and educational landscape of minorities for generations. Kanye is right, there is a disproportionate targeting of black and brown women to have an abortion. Heres a challenge: find another systemic institutional racism that is comparable to the devastating impact of abortion.
Forget standing room only  the Paul R. Spitzfaden Community Center was overflowing with Northshore residents and others Tuesday night, the overwhelming majority gathered to voice their opposition to a proposal to build a hotel and conference center complex next to or within Fontainebleau State Park.

Around 200 people filled the locked community center where Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser was speaking about the proposal, with at least a hundred more crowded outside. The meeting, which was scheduled for 6 p.m., began early because fire marshals locked the building after it reached capacity, according to a spokesperson from the lieutenant governors office.

Residents waiting outside could not hear the meeting, and it was not broadcast by the lieutenant governors office.

At the end of the day, if the public and elected officials say they don't want (a hotel in the park), even if it is favorable, nothing will be done, Nungesser, whose department oversees state parks, said at the meeting. But we owe it to look into it just like we're looking at other opportunities in other state parks all over the state.

Nungesser said 21 states have hotel and conference centers in their state parks and pointed to a Gulf Shores state park as a recent success. In 2018, the $140 million Lodge at Gulf State Park opened on the beach. The lodge, which includes a 350-room Hilton Hotel and conference center, was built to replace one originally built in 1974 but shuttered by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

That facility right there on the beach is the most environmentally friendly building, small resort conference center anywhere in the country, he said.

Some residents argued that the projects would not be comparable because Gulf Shores is a beach town and pointed to a hotel market in St. Tammany where they say supply is greater than its demand. The Clarion Inn & Suites Conference Center in Covington closed in May 2019.

Nungesser said his office plans to hire the same consulting firm who worked on the Gulf Shores hotel to look into a potential development in or next to Fontainebleau State Park by studying the site as a whole. The process of creating the site plan would last 10 months and include public meetings, a website for public input and engagement with environmental groups, he said.

After 10 months, the firm would present a master plan if they think that anything could be developed in the private public partnership that would be environmentally safe at that park, Nungesser said.

Some in attendance opposed even hiring the firm, saying it would be a waste of money considering the strong community opposition. When asked how much hiring the site plan would cost, Nungesser said he did not know and that the firm had not been hired yet.

Residents raised several concerns about any development being built in a 2,800-acre park that is home to a rare habitat and rich with history, particularly that of enslaved and indigenous peoples.

The park is also home to a live oak-pine-magnolia forest, which contains 27 of Louisiana species of greatest conservation needs, including two crustaceans, seven reptiles, nine birds and seven mammals, according to Orleans Audubon Society President Jennifer Coulson.

Mandeville Representative-elect Richard Nelson said he was opposed to the proposed hotel because the park brings in more revenue than it takes in and because he did not think the local lodging market could support it. He noted that as a child he camped in the park and had field trips there.

+3 Is a hotel in Fontainebleau State Park feasible? Study says yes. Others doubt it. St. Tammany Parish's supply of hotel rooms far outstrips the current demand, according to a study paid for by the parish's tourism commission,

Nelson also questioned the findings of the $28,000 feasibility study commissioned by the St. Tammany Parish Tourist and Convention Commission. Tennessee hospitality consulting firm Pinkowski & Co. conducted the study and released its findings last summer, projecting a hotel and conference center in the park would generate almost $2 million annually in cash flow at the end of its first year.

The number one thing on the list of (advantages in the study) is easy access to retail and restaurants, Nelson said. Fontainebleau State Park is the hardest place to get to ever. I take my kids to Pelican Park. It's the most difficult thing, and it's right across the street.

St. Tammany Parish Councilman Rykert Toledano, a Republican representing Mandeville, said he was against both the hotel and hiring the Alabama firm to look further into the project. He said money would be better spent to restore the park's existing features instead of on commercial developments.

A lot of times we see in these public meetings, the only people that come out to the meetings are the people that are against (what is being proposed), and we sometimes find, well, that doesn't represent the majority, Toledano said. I respectfully suggest to you tonight, that way past the majority  way past 60, 70, 80%, probably 90%  of the people in St. Tammany Parish do not want anything done to Fontainebleau State Park that will make it less of a nature park than what it is.
In the early 1980s, a young Taiwanese student newly enrolled at the London School of Economics heard a knock at her dormitory door. A pair of bedraggled British students were there to ask Tsai Ing-wen if she wanted to subscribe to a newspaper. In the spirit of collegiality, she readily agreed. It was only later that I discovered it was a communist newspaper, she tells TIME, laughing. I eventually told them to keep my check but just stop sending the newspaper.

More than 30 years later, Taiwans political leader is still fending off unwelcome leftist overtures. Elected President of the self-governing island of 23 million in 2016, Tsai set out to steer it further from Chinas orbit. Taiwan has its own military, its own passport and the worlds 21st largest economy. But ever since 1949, when Mao Zedongs forces ended a civil war by chasing the Nationalists to the island 100 miles (160 km) off the mainland, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has considered it a renegade province that must be reunited with China, by force if necessary. Through most of the Cold War, the capitalist enclave was shielded by the West. But in a world China now aims to lead after embracing market forces, Taiwans position has grown only more vulnerable.

So has Tsais. The Chinese strongman Xi Jinping in January 2019 declared unification across the Taiwan Strait the great trend of history, and his campaign to that end has gathered in intensity; Tsais first term was marred by diplomatic isolation, tightening economic screws and repeated threats of invasion. Taiwan finds less and less room to maneuver between forced reunification and resorting to force to remain independent. Tsai took a substantial risk in December 2016, when she phoned U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to congratulate him on his election victory. The call was the first between American and Taiwanese leaders since the U.S. recognized the CCPs dominion over China, including Taiwan, in 1979. In an interview with TIME, Tsai called the conversation a very natural thing. But it was deemed an affront by Beijing, one compounded when Trump suggested the U.S. might revisit the question of Taiwans status as a part of China.

Story continues

The mercurial U.S. President adds a new wobble of uncertainty to the tightrope Taiwan has been walking for 70 years. Historically, even after embracing Beijing, the U.S. has maintained a strong, unofficial alliance with Taiwan. But as Trump has become entangled with China on matters from trade to cyberespionage, some in Taiwan worry that the famously transactional American leader might view their country as a pawn to be exchanged for something else, like a preferential trade deal.

President Tsai, photographed in her Taipei office on Oct. 6. | Nhu Xuan Hua for TIME

If Taiwan becomes a major issue between Trump and Xi, nobody knows what Trump might do, says Professor Shelley Rigger, an East Asia expert at Davidson College in North Carolina.

As Taiwan approaches elections on Jan. 11, the question for its people is whether they still trust Tsai to safeguard their democratic way of life. Her main opponent, Nationalist candidate and Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu, hopes to convince voters that working closely with an increasingly influential and assertive Beijing will ultimately better protect the islands de facto sovereignty. Taiwan has one choiceto engage with China, because we cant hide, Han recently told students at Stanford University.

But Tsais Democratic Progressive Party does not endorse the idea that island and mainland are the same country. Formal independence for Taiwan is a key goal in its party charter. Beijing says any move to secede would be met with a military response, and Tsai has pragmatically sidestepped the issue while in power. But her policy of prioritizing ties with other Asian nations has deeply troubled the Communist Party leadership, as has her full-throated support of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

Now the future of Taiwanwithout rival the freest place in the Chinese-speaking worldas a U.S.-allied, liberal, democratic beacon in Asia is under constant assault, Tsai says, as Beijing tightens the noose on restive populations at its periphery, from Xinjiang to Tibet to, of course, Hong Kong. The CCP sees this election as an opportunity to do the same to Taiwan, Tsai sayssomething she is determined to prevent. Beijing would like to see a divided Taiwan, to see our economy and development stall, to create a better foothold to influence cross-strait relations, she says. However, when it comes to Taiwans sovereignty, democracy and freedom, I believe our people are mostly in agreement.

Tsai, 63, is a technocrat and former academic who has tried to shrug off a reputation for aloofness with a dizzying schedule of campaign events. On a single day, TIME followed her to a kindergarten, a farm, a technology conference and half a dozen temples. On another, she inspected frogman drills at military camps before tea at an artists retreat.

She is hoping this kind of retail politics can reverse a decline in her popularity over her first term in office, driven by party divisions; unwelcome pension reforms; and embarrassing scandals, like bodyguards caught using official trips abroad to smuggle cigarettes. Her decision to make Taiwan the first place in Asia to legalize marriage equality sparked a fierce conservative backlash. Still, Tsai, herself never wed, remains proud of the achievement, which shows that Taiwan is an open and inclusive society and a rather mature democracy.

Shes also suffering from the kind of resurgent populism afflicting democracies the world over. The viral rise of Tsais Nationalist opponent has been precipitous enough to be called the Han wave. His chest-thumping speeches and outlandish promises during his successful mayoral campaignto drill for oil in the contested South China Sea and bring casinos and Formula One to Kaohsiunghave naturally drawn comparisons to the 45th U.S. President. You cannot have a conversation about Han Kuo-yu without Donald Trump coming up, says Rigger. Everybody sees the parallels between those two guys.

Kindergarten students welcome the President during an Oct. 5 visit. | Billy H.C. Kwok for TIME

Tsai isnt blind to the risks. The rise of disinformation and populism have brought great challenges to leaders and governments around the world, she says. Yet the challenge is greater for Taiwan with a rapacious Beijing lurking and, she believes, pulling the strings. In the months leading up to the vote, Taiwan has been hit by a tsunami of false reports masquerading as news stories in its partisan and sensationalist media, often targeting Tsai. Her administration and independent analysts say a large proportion originate in the CCPs United Front propaganda department, though the Chinese government denies any such campaign.

So Tsai is fighting back in kind, charming voters with renewed zeal and posting social-media videos of her frolicking with the two cats and three retired guide dogs shes adopted. The key to protecting Taiwans democracy, she says, lies in public participation in our efforts to counter disinformation. It has worked, if her improved numbers are anything to go by.

A widening lead might also be explained by the ongoing turmoil in Hong Kong, which for over six months has been convulsed by increasingly violent pro-democracy protests against encroachment by Beijing. Last January, Xi suggested Hong Kongs system of semiautonomyknown as One country, two systemsmight eventually be a model for Taiwan. But that idea had little support among Taiwans citizens then, and even less now that unrest has engulfed the former British colony. [The Hong Kong situation] has, of course, negatively affected the Taiwanese peoples trust in China, says Tsai.

Still, Taiwan has been sucked into the escalating crisis. Its citizens have marched in support of Hong Kongs right to self-determination and offered safe harbor to fleeing protesters. In October, Taiwan expelled a mainland tourist for vandalizing a public memorial in support of the demonstrations. Tsai sees a dire warning for her people in the leeching of freedoms there. Seeing these developments in Hong Kong, the Taiwanese people feel the need for a leader who can stand firm, insist on what has to be insisted upon and clearly express their will, says Tsai.

Supporters wait for photo opportunities outside a temple on Oct. 4. | Billy H.C. Kwok for TIME

If Tsai is re-elected this month, she will have to helm Taiwan through a period of deep uncertainty, as Beijings geopolitical clout continues to grow. Today, the island, officially known by the archaic pre-civil-war name Republic of China, is blocked by Beijing from joining the U.N. or potentially lucrative free-trade groupings. It is now recognized by only 15 countries after seven switched to Beijing during Tsais first term.

Beijing is also squeezing the island economically. In August, it stopped the free movement of independent Chinese tourists to Taiwan, a free-spending cohort that comprised 82,000 arrivals per month in 2018. The burning question for Taiwan is how far Beijing is prepared to go. China is already taking steps similar to what Russia did in Crimea, says Taiwans Foreign Minister, Joseph Wu, referring to the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula. Moreover, he says, were Chinas slowing economy to foment domestic unrest, then Taiwan might find itself a very easy scapegoat.

In order to mitigate the risk, Taiwan has sought to spread its influence indirectly, building cultural, economic and humanitarian ties. During the recent presidential crisis in Venezuela, for example, Taiwan was one of the few actors able to send much-needed aid over the border from Colombia. To boost its soft power, Taiwan offers international cooperation in unconventional areas such as media literacy and disaster recovery. Many of our allies still support Taiwan because they share the same values with us and will not be swayed by Chinas economic inducements, says Tsai.

Supporters at a swimming pool wait for the President's arrival during a visit on Oct. 5. | Billy H.C. Kwok for TIME

Yet because few small nations can ignore Beijings dollar diplomacy, Taiwans ties with the U.S. have taken on newfound importance. The U.S. has moved in recent years to offset Chinas attempts to isolate its wayward province, much to Beijings ire. In March 2018, Trump signed the bipartisan Taiwan Travel Act, which boosts the exchange of high-level officials. Then, last October, a U.S. bill to protect Taiwan from Chinese diplomatic pressure won Senate approval. That same month, former Republican presidential-primary candidate Ted Cruz became the first U.S. Senator in 35 years to join Taiwans National Day celebrations, cementing a friendship that has never been more important as Taiwan stands up to the Chinese Communist Partys oppression, he tells TIME.

One of Tsais first priorities if re-elected will be to build on these overtures from allies in Congress. She may need them, as Chinas ambitions are widely believed to stretch further still. In the South China Sea, it has militarized disputed islands and reefs into fortifications dubbed unsinkable aircraft carriers. In September, the Pacific nations of Kiribati and the Solomon Islands each restored diplomatic ties with China, a move Tsais government believes may give Beijing an enhanced foothold in the region. China took them by strategic design, Wu says. If the international community does not react strongly, China might make changes to the Pacific in the same way as the South China Sea.

Although Beijing insists these and other fortifications are defensive in nature, Tsai isnt buying it. Chinas military capacity is still growing, and it harbors expansionist intentions, she says. The danger is that the alarm bells might be ignored by a world so entwined with Beijing economically, including the U.S. But for Taiwan, theres no choice. The islanders will, as ever, be standing in the breach.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 9)  Filipinos still have the highest confidence in US President Donald Trump, even as his ratings have remained low internationally.

U.S.-based think tank Pew Research Center showed in its latest survey that 77 percent of Filipinos in 2019 are confident about Trumps actions regarding world affairs.

The Philippines joins the ranks of countries with a generally positive perception on the presidents views  71 percent in Israel, 65 percent in Kenya, 58 percent in Nigeria, and 56 percent in India  all comprising a median of 29 percent who are confident in Trump.

Of the 33 countries surveyed, perceptions on Trump are largely negative. A median of 64 percent say they do not have confidence in the American leader.

Majorities in the Philippines, Israel, Kenya, Nigeria and India have confidence that the president will do the right thing in world affairs. Yet few in Japan, Australia, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Turkey share this view, the survey read.

As in previous years of his presidency, trust is lowest in Mexico. Argentines and Brazilians generally lack confidence in the president as well, it added.

Perceptions of Trump were only generally positive in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa.

The Philippines and Israel are also the most favorable toward the US, with an 80 and 83 percent rating, respectively.

Views of the US are generally positive across 33 countries surveyed in 2019, as a median of 54 percent say they have a favorable opinion of the US compared with 38 percent who have an unfavorable view, the survey added.

Results for the survey are based on telephone and face-to-face interviews conducted from May to October 2019, totaling 36,923 respondents.

This is the third straight year that the Philippines topped the list of countries who have a high confidence in Trump. In 2018, there were 78 percent of Filipinos who showed support for Trump, while 69 percent expressed confidence in the American leader in 2017.

In the past, Trump has been vocal about his favorable views about the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte, who considers Trump as his friend, had revealed in 2017 that the American leader expressed support for the Philippines controversial drug war.

"[Y]ou just set something good here and you're doing great. I know what's your worry about these Americans criticizing you. You are doing good; go ahead," Duterte previously said, quoting Trump.
YEREVAN.  We all expect that 2020 will be a better year in terms of tourism, and there are specific signals for that. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this at today's Armenian Government session.

"Budget airlines flights to Armenia will begin soon," Pashinyan said. Next week Ryanair will launch its first flight; this process is continuous. In the international press, the most prestigious media outlets provide information that advises their audiences to choose Armenia as the main tourist destination. All this is very good, but I would like to emphasize that we have a lot to do in this area, in particular in terms of raising the level of service in Armenia and resolving the quality issue. 

Pashinyan emphasized that two directions of flights will already be implemented in Gyumri, and one should think very seriously about the civilized content, transferring tourists to other areas from the airport.

"Generally, there are still scenes at [Armenias] airports where people leaving the passport area are subjected to group attacks by various service providers," Pashinyan said. Information leaflets on approximate taxi prices, approximate prices for everything, including options and opportunities for using more civilized taxi services, should be prepared for tourists arriving in Armenia. In fact, the agenda of tourists arriving in Armenia has not changed over the last 30 years.
R esidents in fire-weary coastal towns across the south-east were urged to leave their homes today as hot and windy conditions prompted a new disaster alert.

The Rural Fire Service in New South Wales warned that northwesterly winds could drive blazes back towards popular tourists destinations such as Nowra, Narooma and Batemans Bay.

In neighbouring Victoria, communities at risk were told to leave immediately as a state of disaster was declared.

Victoria premier Daniel Andrews said: If you receive instructions to leave, then you must leave, that is the only way to guarantee your safety.

"It is dangerous to be in some of these communities. We cannot guarantee your safety.

A large smoke plume is seen over a sheep property in the Parndana region / Getty Images

Temperatures in the threatened area were expected to reach into the mid-40s Celsius tomorrow, and conditions remained tinder dry.

If you can get out, you should get out, said Andrew Crisp, Victoria emergency management commissioner. Because tomorrow is going to be a dangerous and dynamic day.

Residents in Mallacoota, where thousands of people were stranded on beaches for days until a military evacuation that only ended yesterday, were among those advised to flee.

Australia bush fires hit 'catastrophic level - In pictures 1 /34 Australia bush fires hit 'catastrophic level - In pictures Helicopters dump water on bushfires Getty Images NSW Rural Fire Service crew fight the Gospers Mountain Fire AP Fire and smoke rise from a bush fire at Blue Mountains AP NSW Rural Fire Service crews fight the Gospers Mountain Fire AP An aircrewman monitoring the Tianjara fire from a helicopter in the Moreton and Jerrawangala National Park Getty Images kangaroos move as nearby property burn in a fire in Lithgow, New South Wales AP A man sprays water on a fire in Lithgow, New South Wales state AP A firefighter sprays water on a fire in Lithgow AP A firefighter sprays water on a home on fire. AP A firefighter sprays water on a home on fire. AP A policeman watches bushfires as they approach homes in NSW Getty Images Helicopters dump water on bushfire Getty Images Firemen prepare as a bushfire approaches homes on the outskirts of the town of Bargo Getty Images Firemen prepare as a bushfire approaches homes on the outskirts of the town of Bargo Getty Images A large bushfire burns near houses in Bargo, southwest of Sydney AFP via Getty Images Two bushfires approach a home located on the outskirts of the town of Bargo Getty Images Firemen inspect a house recently destroyed by bushfires Getty Images Firefighters tend to burning property caused by bushfires in Bargo AFP via Getty Images Firemen inspect a house recently destroyed by bushfires Getty Images A burnt bicycle lies on the ground in front of a house Getty Images Firefighter Gary Stokes monitoring bushfires AFP via Getty Images Firefighters making arrangements to secure the residential area from an approaching bushfire AFP via Getty Images volunteer firefighter Andrew Moyles cutting down burned trees in Dargan AFP via Getty Images Volunteer firefighter Andrew Moyles cutting down burned trees in Dargan AFP via Getty Images A smoke haze is seen over the Sydney skyline Getty Images Firefighters tend to burning property caused by bushfires in Bargo AFP via Getty Images

The fires have claimed at least 27 lives since September, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and scorched an area twice the size of US state Maryland.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison was forced on to the back foot today over an exchange he had with locals on Kangaroo Island.

Emergency Management Minister David Littleproud, left, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, center, and National Bushfire Recovery Agency Coordinator Andrew Colvin / AP

In a video of his visit to the island, where an outback safari operator and his son were killed in fires, Mr Morrison was seen telling residents: Thankfully, weve had no loss of life.

After he was corrected, he continued: Yes, two, thats quite right. I was thinking about firefighters, firstly.
By Giulia Paravicini and Dawit Endeshaw

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan remained deadlocked after two days of talks in their disputes over a giant hydropower dam on the Nile though Cairo said it hoped the issues would be resolved by Jan. 15 in line with a deadline agreed with Washington.

"We did not reach an agreement today but we achieved clarity at least on all issues including the filling. We hope to reach a deal next week in Washington," Egyptian Water Minister Mohamed Abdel Aty told Reuters late on Thursday after two days of meetings in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

The countries are due to convene on Jan. 13 in Washington with the aim of resolving their disagreements by Jan. 15 over the filling and operation of the $4 billion hydroelectric dam that Ethiopia is building on the Nile.

They agreed to the timeline after a meeting in Washington with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and World Bank President David Malpass in November.

After the meetings in the Ethiopian capital ended with no progress, Ethiopian Water Minister Sileshi Bekele accused Egypt of coming to the talks with no intention of reaching a deal.

"We didn't agree on the filling of the dam as Egypt presented a new proposal requesting the filling to be carried out in 12-21 years. This is not acceptable. We will start the filling of the dam by July," Sileshi told a news conference.

The dispute over the filling and operation of the massive dam has sparked a diplomatic crisis between Egypt and Ethiopia, who both see existential threats in each other's positions on the project.

Cairo fears the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) will restrict supplies of already scarce Nile waters on which its population of more than 100 million people is almost entirely dependent.

Addis Ababa denies the dam will undermine Egypts access to water and says the project is crucial to its economic development, as it aims to become Africas biggest power exporter with a projected capacity of more than 6000 megawatts.

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One diplomat close to the talks said Ethiopia did not offer sufficient guarantees on water reserves.

"Ethiopia is not willing to commit to any meaningful mitigation safeguards including during extended drought, therefore there was no prospect for an agreement. Next step is going to (Washington)," he said.

If the dispute is not resolved by Jan. 15 the nations will have several options to resolve the dispute, from using an international mediator to involving the heads of states, under the deal the countries reached in Washington.

(Corrects paragraph 12 to reflect options after Jan.15 deadline)

(Reporting by Giulia Paravicini and Dawit Endeshaw; Editing by Maggie Fick and Mark Heinrich)
Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane visited Siachen, the highest and coldest battlefield in the world, on Thursday to boost the morale of the soldiers deployed there. General Naravane paid tribute at the Siachen War Memorial where names of soldiers martyred in the line of duty protecting India in the icy wilderness are inscribed.

"I wanted to visit Siachen soon after taking over. I would like to convey my best wishes and greetings for the New Year. It's always been my intention to come here on taking over but the weather was not very good in the first week of January. But I'm happy that this is my first visit as the Chief of Army Staff," said General Naravane.

He added that the Army leadership is aware that everyone stationed in Siachen operates in very tough conditions, inhospitable terrain and weather. "We are doing our best to make sure that whatever is required by the troops is made available to them including clothing and better rations," he pointed out with Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh present by his side.

The Army Chief also met a group of soldiers deployed in Siachen, which comes under the Indian Army's Northern Command. Siachen is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range of Himalayas and is controlled entirely by India with all the Pakistani military posts west of Saltoro Ridge, which is below the Siachen glacier.

General Naravane took over the head of the 1.2 million force on December 31, 2019, following the elevation of General Bipin Rawat as India's first Chief of Defence Staff. An alumnus of the prestigious National Defence Academy (NDA) and the Indian Military Academy (IMA), General Naravane was commissioned in The Sikh Light Infantry Regiment in June 1980.

The General has held several key command and staff appointments in peace and field, both in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir. He was also deployed in Sri Lanka with the Indian Peace Keeping Force.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 19:36:38|Editor: yhy

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Photo taken on Jan. 8, 2020 shows a fire engine at Fire and Rescue New South Wales Braidwood Fire Station in Braidwood in the southeast of Australia. If without the bushfires, Braidwood in the southeast of Australia would have been busy at this time of the year, greeting tourists going to the beach of Batemans Bay. But the bushfires on New Year's Eve that had burned down houses and stranded holidaymakers in the tourism destination 45 kilometers away not only took a toll on local economy, but also cast a shadow over people's life there. (Photo by Chu Chen/Xinhua)

by Xinhua writers Bai Xu, Yue Dongxing

CANBERRA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- If without the bushfires, Braidwood in the southeast of Australia would have been busy at this time of the year, greeting tourists going to the beach of Batemans Bay.

But the bushfires on New Year's Eve that had burned down houses and stranded holidaymakers in the tourism destination 45 kilometers away not only took a toll on local economy, but also cast a shadow over people's life there.

"It (bushfire) affected all of us. Every single person in the town has been affected in some way, economically, mentally or physically," said Brooke O'Connell.

The young woman is a volunteer firefighter who just returned to the town on Wednesday.

"My grandparents are volunteers, my dad is as well," she said. "So I have been helping out as I can."

She told Xinhua that bushfires close to Braidwood had been going on since November 29. "So I have been to Nerriga, Monga, etc."

Although O'Connell described the fire that she worked on as being "good at the moment," the road is still closed between Braidwood and Batemans Bay. An unnamed traffic control person noted more than 10 kilometers away a fire is still burning.

"Are we afraid? Yes and no," she said. "We are a strong community and we will get it done."

Farmer Peter James is a young father with two kids, who are one and two years' old each.

Although he said "we are used to the variability of the unknown," the family still took precautions against the bushfires.

They have a farm with 190 heads of cattle. But now the kids have left the farm with James' sister and wife. "We have got a rental place in Braidwood to move to," he said. "We wait for it to rain and come back home."

"My wife worries about health and safety of the kids," he said. "She is German and she is not used to it (bushfire)."

As James is looking after the cattle, he got suitcases ready, so that in case of emergency, he could leave quickly.

Barbara Hayes, in her 60s, also left her home to live with a friend.

She ran a gift shop called the Country Workbox. Visitors could be calmed down by the peaceful music, but Hayes would cough from time to time, which was a result of the smoke. "It is better to stay indoor. If you want to get out, you really need a mask," she said.

"Luckily these days we have a bit of calm weather. It's not as smokey as it has been, but it doesn't mean bushfires have already gone away," she told Xinhua. "We are getting it now, coming up from the south, steadily going through our national forest. It's really, really very sad that they can't stop it."

"It is frightening. It has gone through areas and burn down houses," she said. "A lot of properties have been burned down. But we don't know how long will it be before it comes close to Braidwood."

If it's getting worse, Hayes would go to Canberra, which is only an hour's drive away.

But for now, she believed that the most obvious impact was on businesses. "This town does on weekends rely a lot on business going through to the coast. People in Canberra go to Batemans Bay, and they go there every weekend. A lot of them stop and have something to eat here," she said.

Hayes mainly did local business, but she believed that the restaurants and cafes are suffering.

An example is Lenoa Coleman's cafe, where the business lately dropped about 30 percent from last year.

"This is actually our busiest time, but nobody is coming to Braidwood," said the 32-year-old shop owner. In her cafe only a handful of local residents buy a cup of coffee or an ice-cream.

However, with a two-year-old son and expecting another baby in April, the mother believed the risk for Braidwood town is over. "In the rural areas there is still risk."

That was what 93-year-old Paul Dann worried. He was in the cafe, talking with a friend about the fire.

Dann has a house in the woods, which he built in 1993.

"I have taken the most valuable, like the articles I have written and the photos to Canberra," he said. "So when the house is burned down, I don't think I will be terribly sad."

When Xinhua reporters stepped out of the cafe, Braidwood appeared as tranquil as any ordinary small Australian town. Only the national flag at the town center that flew at half-mast reminded people of the losses of bushfires.

The death toll from the unfolding bushfires in Australia, which began unusually early in September, has risen to 27 as the fires continue to burn.

As of Wednesday, more than 10.7 million hectares of land had been burned across the country. On Thursday morning, the state government of New South Wales (NSW) announced that 1,870 homes have been destroyed in the state.

"There has been many warnings," said O'Connell, closing doors of the food van that she ran. "But people are still trying to go on with their daily life and make it as normal as possible."
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth & Sport, would like to inform those concerned, that all schools will be closed on Election Day, Thursday, January 9, but private schools, daycare/playschools, are exempt from this and can close at their own discretion.



Classes will resume as normal on Friday, January 10.
Jordan Cowman, shareholder in the Dallas office of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, has been selected as a member of The Sedona Conference (TSC) Working Group 6 (WG6). The WG6 Cross-Border Privilege Brainstorming Group was created to consider global jurisdictional differences in the standards for recognizing the scope of privilege and other disclosure protections for attorney-related materials and the challenges that these differences create for attorneys, parties, courts, regulators, and others in cross-border matters where one jurisdiction recognizes a privilege that another does not.

TSC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and educational institute dedicated to the advanced study of law and policy in the areas of antitrust law, complex litigation, and intellectual property rights. As a member of Working Group 6, Cowman will play an essential role in the advancement of TSC mission to move the law forward in a reasoned and just way.

Its an honor to have this opportunity to share information, develop best practices, and educate others on matters of national and international law and policy regarding the attorney-client privilege. Cowman said. I am excited to learn and work alongside fellow group members.

Cowman will serve as a Dialogue Leader at the Sedona Conference in NYC February 10-11. Cowman is Co-Chair of the Greenberg Traurig Labor & Employment Practices International Employment, Immigration & Workforce Strategies Group. He represents a broad range of organizations in all facets of management-side labor and employment law.

Cowman also advises employers concerning day-to-day human resources issues, as well as myriad legal requirements in the workplace, particularly related to significant operational changes such as mergers, acquisitions, business relocations, and reductions in force.

To learn more about the Sedona Conference, visit https://thesedonaconference.org/

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP  Texas: Texas is important to Greenberg Traurig and part of its history. With more than 125 Texas lawyers in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, Greenberg Traurig has deep roots in the Texas business, legal, and governmental communities. Greenberg Traurig Texas works with clients to address their interdisciplinary legal needs across the state utilizing the firms global platform. The Texas attorneys are experienced in industries key to the states future, including: aviation, chemicals, construction, education, energy and natural resources, financial institutions, health care, hedge funds, hospitality, infrastructure, insurance, media, medical devices, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, real estate, retail, sports, technology and software, telecommunications, transportation, and video games and esports.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has approximately 2100 attorneys in 41 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com; Twitter: @GT_Law.
Nancy Pelosi isnt wild about the question. The impeachment of President Donald Trump is under way, and Ive asked the Speaker of the House if she thinks its the most important thing shell ever do. Were sitting in her elegant office in the Capitol, on gold-upholstered armchairs around a low table topped with a vase of hydrangeas. Over her shoulder, the sweeping view of the National Mall is shrouded in wintry clouds. For a long moment, the Speaker goes silent as she seems to compile in her mind the list of accomplishments shed rather claim as her legacy.

Apart from declaring war, this is the most important thing that the Congress can do, she finally says. Im most proud of the Affordable Care Act. But this is the most serious initiative that Ive been involved in in my career.

Pelosi has spent decades at the highest levels of politics, but the past 12 months have been arguably her most consequential. Returning to the speakership after eight years running the House Democratic minority, she established herself as counterweight and constrainer of this divisive President. She outmaneuvered Trump on policy, from the border wall he didnt get to the budget agreement he signed loaded with goodies that Democrats wanted. She oversaw an unprecedented litigation effort against the Executive Branch, racking up landmark court victories. And she was the tactician behind the investigation that resulted in Trumps impeachment on Dec. 18.

What is most striking about this moment in Pelosis career is that at the peak of power, she is not protecting her position but rather using it in aggressive, even risky ways. Impeaching Trump is a gamble for Pelosi. It has intensified Republicans fealty to the President, rallying his base and supercharging his campaign fundraising, potentially increasing his re-election chances. The polarizing effort could jeopardize Democrats who hold seats in Trump territory, and thereby endanger Pelosis House majority. With impeachment, Pelosi is betting her own place in history.

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Pelosi has always been a risk-taker, from defying Chinese authorities by protesting at Tiananmen Square in 1991 to pushing Obamacare through the House with nary a vote to spare in 2010. But she is careful to cast impeachment not as a political gambit but as a project to preserve the checks and balances of American democracy. Thats my responsibility: to protect the Constitution of the United States, she says.

That battle is playing out on multiple fronts. As Congress returned and Trump launched the country into a potential conflict with Iran, Pelosi sought to rein him in. The House planned to vote Jan. 9 on a war powers resolution designed to limit the Presidents ability to escalate the conflict. The behind-the-scenes court battle that Pelosi has field-marshaled aims not just to check Trumps current power grabs, but also to set precedents that will stop future Presidents from doing the same, or worse.

And to Trumps annoyance, Pelosi is declining to transmit the Houses two impeachment articles to the Senate. Instead of allowing Republican Senators to end the impeachment discussion with a quick vote, she is insisting that the upper chamber agree on rules for the trial first. That doesnt mean it has to meet my standards. When we see what [Mitch McConnell] has in mind, we will be prepared to send over the articles, she tells TIME on Jan. 8, in her first public comments about the standoff. Weve upped the ante on this.

Pelosi has told colleagues shes had to wear a night guard because the White House makes her grind her teeth in her sleep. But her frustration is born of determination, not unease. In our interview, I asked her if the Presidents nickname for her, Nervous Nancy, is accurate. Pfft, she says, waving a hand. Hes nervous. Everything he says, hes always projecting. He knows the case that can be made against him. Thats why hes falling apart.

But youre not, I ask?

No, she says, her voice steady. Im emboldened.

Photograph by Philip Montgomery for TIME

A year ago, it was hardly a given that Pelosi would emerge as the foil to the Trump presidencyor even that she would be Speaker at all. After Pelosi orchestrated Democrats 2018 midterm wins, an insurgent faction of the caucus moved to replace her with a younger, less polarizing figure. Pelosi squashed the uprising with characteristic discipline. Over the ensuing year, instead of holding grudges, she set to holding her diverse caucus together when ideology and identity threatened to splinter it.

For months, the Democrats biggest division was over impeachment. As colleagues and activists agitated for it, Pelosi spent most of the year resisting on the grounds that it could tear the country apartand hurt her party. All the while, however, she was laying the groundwork behind the scenes to build a case if necessary. It seemed like all of a sudden we were unified around an impeachment inquiry, says Representative Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the vice chair of the Democratic caucus. But that was Nancy Pelosi using individual members and where they were to bring this to ashe always uses this worda crescendo. So what appears to all of a sudden be a big moment is actually based on months of work.

From start to finish, Pelosi has kept a tighter rein on the proceedings than the public realized, from major strategic decisions to minor stagecraft. It was Pelosi who decreed that the Intelligence Committee would take the lead in the inquiry, even though impeachment is generally considered to be the Judiciary Committees purview. (Past Judiciary hearings had devolved into a circusparticularly a Sept. 17 session in which the Presidents former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, openly mocked the proceedings.) It was Pelosi who decided that the Democrats hashtag for impeachment, #TruthExposed, seemed too harsh; they settled on #DefendOurDemocracy instead.

Pelosi refereed contentious disputes between chairmen with discretion. She signed off on every committee report and press release; aides say she caught typos in the Intelligence Committees final report before it went out. She decreed that the articles of impeachment would be limited to Trumps actions in Ukraine rather than incorporating matters related to special counsel Robert Muellers investigation, as some of her members wanted. When Judiciary Committee lawyers debated whether to spend half a day of hearings on a presentation related to Muellers obstruction-of-justice probe, they appealed the question to the Speaker, noting that the staff was split. Tell them Im not split, she replied, rejecting the idea. And while she allowed the committees final report to contain references to Muellers investigation, she demanded they be deleted from the accompanying announcement.

No aspect of the spectacle was too small to escape Pelosis control. When the Intelligence Committee held its public impeachment hearings in November, Pelosi noticed that chairman Adam Schiffs head reached nearly to the top of his high-backed chair. After Intelligence finished its work, Judiciary, chaired by Representative Jerry Nadler, was slated to hold hearings in the same room. Pelosi thought if he sat in the same chair, Nadlera head shorter than Schiffwould look small.

Pelosi sent word down: there would have to be a change of furniture. And when Judiciary convened on Dec. 4, Nadler was seated in a leather-backed chair that reached no higher than his ears.

Pelosi meets with Representatives Richard Neal and Adam Schiff and House counsel Doug Letter in her office on December 5. | Philip Montgomery for TIME

Impeachment was the culmination of Pelosis broader effort to hold Trump in check. For the past year, she has overseen investigations by six different congressional committees digging into everything from Trumps tax returns and allegations of Administration corruption to foreign emoluments and the Russian entanglements Mueller helped uncover. Congressional committees tend to be territorial, but Pelosi convened the six committees chairmen weekly, and sometimes more often, to ensure they didnt duplicate efforts or step on one anothers toes.

She has also guided a far-reaching effort to rein in Trump through the courts. She hired a 40-year Justice Department veteran, Douglas Letter, to head the House general counsels office, a secretive team of nine lawyers, and confers with him on every legal filing, every subpoena. Together they have chosen cases designed to set precedents that affirm Congress powers and shore up the institution. Shes calling the shots, Letter tells TIME, in a rare interview. Starting with his job interview, Letter says, Pelosi correctly predicted that we would get stonewalled by Trump and his lawyers, and would have to litigate in the courts more than usual. She insisted we would try to pick, particularly for subpoena enforcement, really good cases.

Courts tend to view litigation between the Legislative and Executive branches with unease. Judges are leery of refereeing what they view as essentially political disputes. But Pelosi and Letters approach has produced a string of victories. Courts have ruled in favor of releasing Trumps tax returns and other financial records, compelled the release of grand-jury materials from the Mueller investigation and dismissed the Administrations arguments for blocking witnesses. In a blistering November opinion, U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson ruled that Donald McGahn, Trumps former White House counsel, must testify, and that the Administrations argument to the contrary simply has no basis in the law. She added, The primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings.

As those court cases got tied up in appeals, though, progress in the courts did little to satisfy those eager to use the ultimate tool of presidential accountability. Pelosi resisted impeachment throughout the summer, even as more and more members of her caucus endorsed it. Many of them were out there for impeachment like a year ago, right after we won, she says, but she insisted on moving deliberately in order to make the strongest possible case. I said well go down this path when were ready, Pelosi says. She told her colleagues that they had to wait for the investigation and litigation to play out.

The frustration built outside of Congress too. In her San Francisco district in August, Pelosi appeared at a banquet in her honorthe Heart of the Resistance dinner. She had barely begun to speak when a group of young activists rose in the back, standing on chairs and unfurling black fabric banners with white lettering. time to IMPEACH, they said. WE CANT WAIT. A young woman shouted, People are being killed by white supremacists! A man said, We are your constituents! As the crowd chanted, Let her speak, a burly labor organizer got in the activists faces, and for a moment it seemed as if they might come to blows before hotel security escorted the protesters out.

Its O.K., Pelosi said from her position at the front of the room. Im going to speak. Im the Speaker of the House! When she did speak, however, the word impeachment did not escape her lips.

Pelosi's desk in her office at the Capitol on December 5. | Philip Montgomery for TIME

A few weeks later, the Ukraine scandal changed the short-term politics and the long-term stakes. In mid-September, media outlets started to report that Trump had tried to bully his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, into publicly announcing an investigation of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, using White House access and congressionally approved foreign aid as leverage. His actions had alarmed government officials, leading an intelligence-community whistle-blower to file a secret complaint.

Trump had applied the pressure during a phone call in July, the day after Mueller testified before Congress. To House Democrats, it seemed Trump was setting a dangerous precedent of presidential impunity, soliciting foreign assistance in the 2020 election just as hed been accused of doing in 2016. I was one of those who were very reluctant to proceed with impeachment, says Representative Ed Perlmutter, a Democrat from Colorado who is close to Pelosi despite trying to block her from the speakership after the 2018 midterms. But putting peoples lives at risk by holding up that aid money, extorting the Ukrainian President to do the political bidding of the Presidentthat was something that changed the calculation for everybody.

Pelosi had already begun preparations toward impeachment when, at 5 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 23, she took a call from a group of seven freshman Democrats. All of them had military and intelligence backgrounds; all had flipped Republican districts; all had opposed impeachment to this point. Now they told her they were jointly writing an op-ed, to appear that evening on the Washington Posts website, endorsing an impeachment inquiry. We have devoted our lives to the service and security of our country, the op-ed read. These allegations are stunning, both in the national security threat they pose and the potential corruption they represent.

Flying back to Washington from New York City that night, Pelosi began drafting an announcement in her looping cursive hand on a piece of loose-leaf paper. The next morning, the Speaker was in her airy Georgetown penthouse condo when she received an unscheduled call from the President. It was 8:16 a.m. Trump was in New York, preparing for a speech to the U.N. The subject of the call was ostensibly gun control, a topic dear to Pelosis heart. But that turned out to be a pretext.

Trump quickly turned to the subject of the July 25 Zelensky conversation. There was no pressure at all, he insisted, according to a source familiar with the conversation between Pelosi and the President. The call was 100% perfect. I didnt ask him for anything. Trump added, Literally, you would be impressed by my lack of pressure.

Pelosi was unconvinced. Mr. President, she said, we have a problem here. She repeatedly urged the President to release the still hidden whistle-blower complaint that had set off the controversy. And she reminded him that as the longest-serving member of the House Intelligence Committee, this allegation was in my wheelhouse. As the conversation grew tense, she urged him one more time to release the complaint. I have to go give a speech, Trump said, and hung up.

To Pelosi, Trumps belief that the Zelensky call was perfect showed an inability to distinguish right from wrong. For months, she had believed voters in the 2020 election should be the ones to remove Trump from office. Now she was increasingly convinced it would be dangerous to allow him to continue his term without rebuke.

At 4 p.m. that afternoon, she met with her caucus and outlined her plan to announce an impeachment inquiry. There were no objections. As her 5 p.m. announcement drew near, an aide tugged at her sleeve, urging her to go upstairs and run through the speech just once before she went out and delivered it. Finally she turned on him, snapping, I walk into rooms and read teleprompters all the time. Thats what well do.

Then it was time to face the cameras for history. The actions taken to date by the President have seriously violated the Constitution, Pelosi said. The President must be held accountable. No one is above the law.

In a televised address given at the Capitol on the morning of December 5, Pelosi announces that the House of Representatives will begin drafting articles of impeachment. | Philip Montgomery for TIME

Now that the House has impeached Trump in a nearly party-line vote, its fair to ask how much Pelosis careful management of the process achieved. The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, has declared he will work to ensure Trump is acquitted. McConnells Democratic counterpart, Chuck Schumer, seems to agree that Trumps acquittal is a foregone conclusion. I dont want to second-guess the outcome, Schumer tells TIME. But these Republicans are not the Republicans of old. They are totally supine in their obeisance to Trump. Yet Schumer agrees with Pelosi that we have no choice, given the Presidents lack of respect for democracy and the Constitution.

Republicans gloat that impeachment has strengthened Trump politicallythat somehow, a process designed by the founders to constrain a President has perversely achieved the opposite. Trumps re-election campaign has harnessed his supporters outrage over impeachment to raise buckets of money. As the drama played out over the final three months of 2019, Trump raked in $46 million, his best quarterly haul of the year and more than any of his Democratic rivals have raised over a similar period. Within 72 hours of Pelosis Sept. 24 announcement that Democrats would move forward with an impeachment inquiry, the Trump campaign pulled in $15 million in small-dollar donations.

Critics accuse Pelosi of caving to pressure and violating her own conditions to pursue Trumps impeachment. Even Republicans who arent big Trump fans have been sort of driven toward him by thisthey do feel that Democrats overplayed their hand, says Representative Peter King, a New York Republican. This whole thing has been a rush to judgment.

But Pelosis allies say holding out until the Ukraine scandal broke strengthened her hand. Its made her an even more powerful voice in this moment, says Representative David Cicilline, Democrat of Rhode Island. She resisted this for so long because she really understood the consequences to the country. That gives her tremendous credibility with the American people when she came to the conclusion it was necessary.

Pelosi prepares for a press conference on December 5 as an aide looks on. | Philip Montgomery for TIME

Its an open question whether Pelosis gamble has the publics support. In polls, a slight plurality of Americansjust over 49%support Trumps impeachment, according to averages tabulated by FiveThirtyEight. That number shot up after the scandal began, and is historically high, but it has barely budged since October, and Trumps approval rating has remained steady in the low 40s as well. Democratic pollster Geoff Garin says that despite GOP claims to the contrary, theres no evidence that impeachment has changed the fundamental dynamics of the 2020 election. Trumps opponents, he contends, are even more galvanized by impeachment than his supporters are. And by November 2020, Garin says, the data suggest that voters will base their decisions far more on issues like health care than on impeachment.

In mid-December, I sat down with Pelosi again and asked her to respond to some of the criticism of the process. The Speaker was battling a lingering winter cold, and was in the midst of last-minute negotiations with the White House and Senate on a $1.4 trillion spending deal to avert a shutdown while sharply cutting back Trumps requested border funding.

The idea of a rush to impeachment exasperates the Speaker, who points out that the White House limited the evidence available with its unprecedented stonewalling. And Pelosi contends that the process is merely an extension of the prior investigations of Trump. This has been going on for 2 years, since the Justice Department tasked Director Mueller to go into the investigation, she says. Its been going on for a long time. The aha moment was Ukraine. But the pattern of behavior was very self-evident over time.

Many Democrats hoped some Republicans might support impeachment; Pelosi claims nothing ever surprises her. Its disappointing to see that they are ignoring their own oath of office, she says. The President must be held accountable. And the fact that the Republicans are even in denial of the factual basis of what happened is sad for our country.

On Dec. 17, the night before the full House would debate and vote on Trumps impeachment, Pelosi met behind closed doors with top caucus members on the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. She hinted, for the first time, that she was contemplating a curveball: declining to immediately transmit the impeachment articles to the Senate after the House passed them. The rule empowers the Speaker to be able to decide how to send the articles and when to send the articles over to the Senate, she said, according to an aide who was in the room. My view is we dont know enough about what they are going to do. We want to see what [is] their level of fairness and openness and the rest.

Pelosi, according to an aide, had been mulling the tactic since she heard former Nixon White House counsel John Dean float the idea on CNN on Dec. 5. In the committee meeting, she added that she believed McConnell would be motivated to move. Somebody said to me today that he may not even take up what we send. [But] then [Trump] will never be vindicated, she said, according to the aide in the room. He will be impeached forever. Forever. No matter what the Senate does.

The following day, Pelosi presided over the floor vote on impeachment, wearing a striking black suit to project solemnity, accessorized with a large gold brooch of the Mace of the Republic, a symbol of the House. When scattered cheers broke out inside the chamber after the first article was approved, she sternly and silently shushed them with a glare and a sharp gesture. After the vote, she announced that she did not plan to transmit the articles right away, saying she could not determine how to appoint House impeachment managers until the Senate decides on its rules for the trial.

McConnell has mocked the idea that Pelosi or Schumer can shape the Senate trial to their liking. But hes also said he wont start it until Pelosi sends the articles, and its clear from Trumps tweets and statements that the unresolved situation bothers him. Moreover, the delay is allowing facts to emerge. Over the two-week holiday break, newly unredacted emails showed Pentagon officials worrying about the legality of Trumps effort to withhold military aid from Ukraine. And on Jan. 6, former National Security Adviser John Bolton, potentially a key witness to Trumps alleged actions toward Ukraine, announced he would testify before the Senate if subpoenaed. On Jan. 7, McConnell announced that he had enough Republican votes to begin the trial, and Democrats in both chambers appeared to be getting restlessbut still Pelosi refused to budge.

The gambit is reminiscent of another Pelosi maneuver designed to exploit Trumps insecurities. Pelosi retook the speakership a year ago amid a government shutdown triggered by Trumps demand for border-wall funding. She refused to negotiate on the matter until the government reopened. As the stalemate dragged on, Pelosi seized on an unexpected source of leverage: she postponed Trumps State of the Union address to Congress, knowing that he prized it as a televised set piece showcasing his power.

Then she stubbornly waited out her adversary. The President tried to break us in January [2019] by throwing us into a government shutdown at the same time we were transitioning into the majority, says Hakeem Jeffries, a Democratic Congressman from New York who serves as caucus chairman. We held together, and instead of breaking us, we broke him. It ended in unconditional surrender.

Pelosi meets with her staff on Capitol Hill on December 5. | Philip Montgomery for TIME

This power struggle between the branches of government was not Pelosis vision. She preferred the emphasis to be on the Democrats policy agenda. She believed that kitchen-table concerns were more important to voters and wanted to show that Democrats are capable of governing. Despite Trumps criticism of the do-nothing Democrats, the House has passed nearly 400 bills, most with GOP support. If theres a single morning that captures how Pelosi has juggled the priorities of policymaking and oversight, it is Dec. 10, when she led the 9 a.m. announcement of the impeachment articles, then proceeded directly to a 10 a.m. press conference to announce that the House had made a deal to pass the Presidents revision of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Her approach is a stark departure from how the GOP handled Barack Obamas presidencyopposing Obama at every turn, determined not to give him victories even on uncontroversial matters. Pelosi and Schumer have found ways to work with Trump, particularly on trade, prescription drugs and infrastructure, an approach that rankles the left. Democrats should not be giving Donald Trump wins that normalize his presidency and give him a set of accomplishments to campaign on, says Brian Fallon of the liberal group Demand Justice. He benefits vastly more from a bipartisan trade deal than they do. In a stroke of irony, the Speaker whose moderate colleagues tried to get rid of her for fear she struck heartland voters as too far left is now hailedor deridedas a moderating force.

Yet House Democrats from all wings of the diverse caucus say they are more unified than at any time in recent memory. I think were doing the very best we could, says Representative Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, one of the authors of the national-security freshmens op-ed. Liberal Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, agreed: Its been a very disciplined approach.

That comity will be tested as Washington heads into an election year. More is at stake than the balance between the parties. The institutions of American democracy are being tested. The checks and balances designed by the founders depend on the coequal branches ability to stand up to one another. Shes had a herculean task, and shes done it brilliantly, says Jonathan Rose, a former Nixon and Reagan Administration lawyer affiliated with the anti-Trump conservative legal group Checks and Balances. I never thought Id be for Nancy Pelosi in my lifetime.

Pelosi, for her part, wont admit to any preference for her partys 2020 nominee. But the Speaker, as usual, has a strategy for how she believes the Democrats should proceed. The message has to be one that is not menacing, she says. What works in Michigan works in San Francisco, about job creation and the rest. But what works in San Francisco may not work in Michigan. Michigan is where we must win, and we must win in the Electoral College. We won the House last year by having mobilization at the grassroots level. We have to do that again. The question for Democrats now may have less to do with the effects of Pelosis actions than whether they heed her advice.

With reporting by Alana Abramson and Brian Bennett/Washington
A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama on Thursday convicted and sentenced the Director-General, National Council for Arts and Culture, Olusegun Runsewe, to jail for contempt of court.

The judge, Jude Okeke, who gave the order on Thursday, said Mr Runsewe should be kept in the facility of the Nigerian Correctional Service in Kuje until he purges himself of contempt.

Mr Okeke further ordered that the Inspector General of Police should give effect to the order committing Mr Runsewe to custody.

According to the judge, this would serve as a deterrent to others who abuse office and disobey court orders with disdain.

Mr Okeke described Mr Runsewes act as highly contemptuous.

The judges order on Thursday emanated from motion from a suit filed by Ummakalif Ltd.

The suit is against the DG NCAC, the FCT Minister, the Federal Capital Development Authority, and the Minister for Culture and Tourism, over the sealing of the Arts and Crafts village in Abuja.

The motion dated June 21, 2019 was brought pursuant to Order 47 rule 10 subrules 1, 2 and 3 of the High Court of the FCT Civil Procedure Rules 2018.

The claimant in the motion sought an order of court admitting Mr Runsewe to prison for contempt of the order made on December 15 2017, which had insisted that status quo be maintained.

The former judge who was in charge of the case, Salisu Umar, had on March 6, 2018 lambasted the council.

Mr Salisu said at the time that the councils action in sealing up the village had shown that it had no respect for the rule of law by going against the injunction that status quo be maintained.

Mr Umar was elevated to the bench of the Court of Appeal in 2018 and the case was subsequently transferred to Justice Okekes court.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the 2017 audit report recently released by the auditor-general indicted the NCAC and its director-general of financial irregularities in contract awards and payments. According to the report, the financial irregularities were committed in 2015, 2016 and early 2017.

Mr Runsewe has however written the Auditor-General of the Federation over the audit report that indicted his agency.

In the letter dated January 2 to the Auditor-General, Anthony Anyone, Mr Runsewe expressed deep concern at what he regarded as image tarnishing reports making rounds that he was indicted and undergoing an investigation for a multi-million naira scam.

I would like to draw the attention of the Auditor-General for the Federation to an online publication that claimed that the Director-General of National Council for Arts and Culture is under an investigation and has been indicted in a multi-million naira scam.

We would normally have ignored such reports but considering the image of the organisation before the general republic, he said in the letter seen by PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr Runsewe in a telephone interview said his concern was not about PREMIUM TIMES report but how people on social media and other blogs twisted the report without context.

In the letter to the auditor-general, Mr Runsewe said the contracts were awarded by his predecessor, as he only assumed office in 2017

I would like to inform the Auditor-General for the Federation that I was appointed as Director-General of the Council in 2017. The reports, however, focused on 2016 and the early part of 2017 but the writers do not understand the difference between ongoing projects and new projects in Accounting procedure.

PREMIUM TIMES efforts to reach Mr Runsewe over the latest ruling were not successful. He did not answer telephone calls or reply messages.
BERLIN, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Germany's Federal Office for Motorized Transportation, the KBA, has published figures showing a massive percentage increase in the use of electric and hybrid vehicles.

239,250 new hybrid vehicles were registered in the country last year  a rise of 83.7 percent over 2018. Among those vehicles were 45,348 plug-in hybrids, which saw new registrations rise by 44.2 percent. 62,281 new purely electric vehicles were registered  an increase of 75.5 percent.

Hybrids accounted for 6.6 percent and EVs 1.8 percent of new vehicles on German roads last year. The rise of alternatively powered vehicles coincides with the start of major initiatives among Germany's big carmakers to transition away from combustion-engine vehicles. The German government offers subsidies of up to 6000 euros for the purchase of a new plug-in hybrid or EV.

"The increased number of fully and partially electric vehicles is part of the ongoing trend in the German automotive industry, and you can expect further rapid growth in future," says Germany Trade and Invest automotive expert Stefan Di Bitonto. "Electric mobility is a booming sector and offers excellent investment opportunities."

For further information on Germany's automotive industry: https://www.gtai.de/gtai-en/invest/industries/mobility/automotive.

Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI) is the economic development agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. GTAI supports German companies setting up in foreign markets, promotes Germany as a business location and assists foreign companies setting up in Germany.

Contact:

Jefferson Chase

Senior Manager

Corporate Communications

GERMANY TRADE & INVEST

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T +49 30 200 099 170

[email protected]

www.gtai.com

SOURCE Germany Trade & Invest

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'Shivaji Maharaj paid his tributes to Tanhaji's bravery by placing his necklace on the martyr's body.'

He then uttered those famous words: 'The fort is captured, but our lion has fallen.'

Who was Narvir Tanhaji Malusare, the legendary warrior, on whose life and battles Ajay Devgn has produced a film, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior?

Historian Dr Sheetal Malusare -- whose doctoral thesis was on Tanhaji -- is married to Shivraj Malusare, a direct descendant of Tanhaji.

"Tanhaji's tale is the story of raw bravery, unflinching loyalty and daredevilry for the cause of swaraj espoused by Shivaji Maharaj," Dr Malusare -- who was actively involved with the making of Devgn's film and has written Narvir Tanhaji Malusare and Shivshahi -- tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com.

My husband Shivraj is the 12th direct descendant of Tanhaji Malusare.

This is how we are related to Tanhaji: Kaloji (Tanhaji Malusare's father)-Tanhaji-Raiba-Mumbaji- Yesaji-Suryaji-Yesaji-Appaji-Balvantrao-Narayanrao-Balkrishna-Shivraj Malusare (my husband). My son Raiba Malusare is the direct 13th descendant of Tanhaji.

How the Battle of Kondhana was won by Tanhaji

Shivaji's mavlas (the soldiers in Shivaji's army were called mavlas) were expert mountain climbers. It was a tradition that was developed especially to help Shivaji's troops catch the enemy unawares during guerrilla fights.

Tanhaji Malusare and Shelar mama (another trusted Shivaji aide and an expert climber), along with a band of 150-odd mavlas climbed atop the Kondhana fort from its steepest side (since named in Tanhaji's memory as Tanhaji kada or cliff).

Tanhaji's younger brother Suryaji climbed the fort from Kalyan darwaja, another entrance to the fort, along with 200-odd soldiers.

As soon as they reached atop the fort at midnight, they raised the Maratha war cry of 'Har Har Mahadev' and the fight against the Mughals, led by Uday Bhan, began on February 4, 1670.

Tanhaji fought like a lion

The place where you now have Tanhaji's samadhi is the exact place where the battle between Tanhaji and Udhay Bhan took place.

One of the blows from Uday Bhan's sword struck Tanhaji's dhal (a protective shield that is used during sword fights) so hard that it broke, but the resourceful Tanhaji rolled the cloth tied around his waist around one of his hands and used it like a dhaal.

He kept fighting bravely against such odds and finally laid down his life for the cause of Shivaji's swaraj (self-rule).

One of the blows from Uday Bhan's sword took his life away.

When Shelar mama saw this, he came down heavily upon the hefty Uday Bhan and killed him during the Battle of Kondhana.

When the rest of the Maratha soldiers saw their leader on the ground they were so shocked that they began retreating from the fort. They had plans to climb down the fort using the ropes that they had used to climb up.

At this moment, Tanhaji's younger brother Suryaji sprang up to boost the morale of the Maratha troops. He told his soldiers that either they die fighting for the cause of swaraj or lay down their lives on the fort just like Tanhaji and become immortal in history.

Suryaji gave them two options: They were asked to either jump off the steep cliffs and die or fight bravely against the Mughal army.

Suryaji later told them that he had cut the ropes they had used to climb up the fort leaving no other option before the Marathas but to fight to win or die.

How Shivaji found out about the victory at Kondhana

Shivaji was waiting for a signal at Rajgadh -- not too far from Kondhana; barely a distance of 16 km -- from the Kondhana fort that would convey to him about the victory of the Marathas.

Once the battle was won, it was an old tradition to burn huge piles of dry grass (easily available atop forts to be used as fodder for horses and other milch cattle) atop forts at night so that the smoke from this fire would become visible far away during day time.

When Shivaji saw the smoke atop Kondhana at daybreak he knew that Tanhaji Malusare and his band of brave fighters had won the last fort of Shivaji's kingdom that was given to the Mughals as part of the Treaty of Purandar signed with Mirza Raje Jaisingh, a Rajput general from the Mughal army.

Shivaji Maharaj made preparations to welcome the victors without knowing that Tanhaji had laid down his life for the cause of swarajy and fulfil Jijabai's wish of winning the last of the Maratha forts under the possession of Mughals.

After unfurling the bhagwa (saffron) flag of the Marathas, Shivaji's brave mavlas returned to Rajgadh along with Tanhaji's body in a palanquin.

How Shivaji Maharaj paid his tributes

Shivaji Maharaj paid his tributes to Tanhaji's bravery by placing his Raj maal (the king's necklace) on the martyr's body.

He then uttered those famous words: 'Gadh aala pan sinh gela (The fort is captured, but our lion has fallen).'

Kondhana's name was changed to Sinhgad (lion's fort) in Tanhaji Malusare's memory.

We (the Malusares) have preserved the necklace in his memory, along with the sanad (see photo) (a certificate issued by the British in 1718 certifying that Shivaji had given Pargadh fort in Kolhapur district to Tanhaji Malusare's son Raiba) letter so that generations to come in Maharashtra can seek inspiration from it.

Respecting your enemy

Keeping up with the tradition of Shivaji Maharaj and the Marathas of treating their enemies with respect, Uday Bhan's body was buried respectfully at Kondhana before the victorious party returned to Rajgadh.

Tanhaji was not just a brave soldier, but also strongly believed in Shivaji Maharaj's principles of paying respect to the enemy and so Uday Bhan was given due burial by the battle-weary Marathas even as they grieved over the martyrdom of their leader.

The importance of Kondhana for the Marathas

Shivaji Maharaj had fought and won back 22 out of the 23 forts surrendered to the Mughals according to the Treaty of Purandar. Kondhana was the only fort that Shivaji could not capture and that kept him worried.

Jijabai, Shivaji's mother, wanted the fort to be captured from the Mughals to restore the glory of the Maratha kingdom.

When Tanhaji visited Shivaji to invite him for his son Raiba's wedding, he heard how Kondhana's capture troubled the king and his mother. The brave mavla that he was, Tanhaji volunteered to win the fort for Shivaji Maharaj.

Tanhaji's tale is the story of raw bravery, unflinching loyalty and daredevilry for the cause of swaraj espoused by Shivaji Maharaj. He calmly told Shivaji that his son's wedding could wait, but not the capture of Kondhana.

IMAGE: Dr Sheetal Malusare with Ajay Devgn, left.

There's more to Tanhaji than the Battle of Kondhana

Tanhaji had accompanied Shivaji during the conquest of Raireshwar and Torna forts.

He also accompanied Shivaji on his conquest of Surat.

When Afzal Khan was killed atop Pratapgadh fort, Tanhaji was given the difficult responsibility of finishing off the huge army that had accompanied Afzal Khan at Pasarnicha Ghat (the plains at the foothills of the fort) from where the soldiers were expected to flee the Deccan after hearing about Afzal Khan's death.

When Shivaji chopped off Shaistekhan's fingers in Pune's Lal Mahal, Tanhaji was given the responsibility of arranging the decoy in the form of a marriage party so that Shivaji and his troops could enter the palace without attracting any attention.

Tanhaji knew the entire coastal belt of the Konkan like the back of his palm, so he was appointed to look after the construction of Sindhudurg fort in Maharashtra's Malvan district.

Lead image: Kind courtesy intelligent2/wikimedia commons

Other images: Kind courtesy Dr Sheetal Malusare
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Maruti Suzukis parent Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) has decided to go ahead with its target of selling five million cars in India despite the ongoing slowdown and rising competition from Korean and European brands.

The sales target is nearly triple than what Maruti sold in India during FY19. The Delhi-based maker of Swift and Brezza clocked sales of 1.75 million units, a growth of 6 percent year-on-year.

Toshihiro Suzuki, representative Director and President, SMC, stated in the latest annual report, Around 2030, the Indian market may grow to a scale of 10 million units. If the group can maintain its current share of 50 percent, it will have a size of five million units. With the assumption that the group will sell two million units in other markets, overall sales of the group will be seven million units.

Maruti closed FY19 with a market share of 51.21 percent. By November-end, its share fell 50 percent as the drop in volumes was higher than that of the industry at nearly 21 percent compared to 18 percent recorded by the industry, data supplied by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) revealed.

While battling the dilemma over its future presence in the diesel engine category for small cars, Maruti has to also boost its presence in the rapidly evolving electric vehicle market. India is set to get about half a dozen electric vehicles in 2020 itself, including one from the auto major.

The automobile industry is undergoing a period of great transformation. In this period, it is necessary to have a concrete vision of what the company should be 10 or 15 years into the future and go back to the present from there to consider what the company should do from now, instead of merely continuing as we are, Suzuki added.

Marutis volumes fell 20.77 percent to 941,776 units during the April-November period, while that of its closest rival Hyundai dipped 8.3 percent to 339,044 units. Industry volumes during the period fell to 1.88 million units.

Among other factors that impacted Marutis volumes was the heightened levels of competition, especially from Hyundai and Renault. Newer companies including Kia Motors, PSA (Citroen) and MG Motor as well as existing companies like Volkswagen, Honda and Renault will crank up rivalry further. Nearly half a dozen carmakers from China are also waiting to enter India.

We believe that committing to the Indian market will lead to growth in other markets, through deploying the developed products worldwide. Compared with now, it is totally uncharted territory that is more than twice as large. All employees, including the management team, will be required to change their mindset and distribute the management resources effectively . Instead of top-down management waiting for direction, each and every member of the Team Suzuki will be responsible to propose voluntarily, have numerous discussions, set the vectors in the same direction, and tackle challenges as one, Suzuki added.
Thursday, January 9th, 2020 (1:23 pm) - Score 4,036

Belfast-based UK ISP Fibrus, which last year started the 85m+ roll-out of a new 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband network in Northern Ireland (here) and has also been linked to Project Stratum (here), has today unveiled the next batch of areas in County Down to benefit from their infrastructure.

At present an impressive 31% of premises in Northern Ireland (Ofcoms September 2019 data) can already access a full fibre network, which has risen sharply since 16% in January 2019 (here) but most of that is as a result of private investment from Openreach (BT) and Virgin Media. Otherwise the region has tended to lack much choice in terms of alternative FTTP ISPs, until now.

Fibrus hopes to change that and as such they recently began their first pilot deployment in Dundrum. Today the ISP has confirmed that several more locations in County Down will be joining their first during H1 2020, including Castlewellan, Newcastle (not to be confused with the big city in England) and Ballynahinch.

Assuming all goes to plan then the provider should have built their coverage out to around 15,000 premises by mid-2020. Eventually they also intend to offer wholesale access to this network, albeit while continuing to run their own retail division.

Dominic Kearns, Fibrus CEO, said: This is a big year for Fibrus as we begin a major investment programme in full fibre infrastructure in Northern Ireland. Our challenge is to build a scalable organisation that will assist delivering the next generation of digital infrastructure that will future proof communities for years to come. Fibrus is about creating an opportunity for the industrys best talent to address the biggest opportunity in telecoms for decades and I think todays announcement proves that we are well on our way. We have just commenced our build activity for the year and are on course to deliver 15,000 homes in the first half of this year. As the organisation matures and we bring in more people we hope to keep improving on our homes delivered year on year to assist the Government with its targets for 2025.

Prices start from 39 per month (currently discounted to 19.50) for an unlimited 100Mbps package with a router and free installation (its only free with a gigabit voucher), which rises to 75 per month (discounted to 50) for their top 1000Mbps tier. All of these are on 24 month contract terms.

Since the last update Fibrus has also made the following additions to their senior management team.
Australia is going through a severe drought amidst the wildfires and a lot of people and animals are paying for the unfortunate circumstances there, losing both lives and property.

Animals too have succumbed to their fate as more than 500 million animals have died due to these bushfires, and many more will be injured or dead, till these fires stop. In all this madness, Australia has decided to kill about 10,000 camels, and we really can't understand why!

 Twitter

Thousands of camels will be shot dead from helicopters, as a result of extreme heat and drought. While the bushfires have been on for a few months now, the culling isn't dependant on that. They're being culled because of the drought situation prevailing in Australia currently and there are complaints that camels are endangering locals as they desperately search for water.

"They are roaming the streets looking for water. We are worried about the safety of the young children" - a woman named Marita Baker, who lives in the community of Kanypi, told the BBC in an interview.

The five-day cull has already begun and a lot of aboriginals have complained about camels damaging towns and building trying to look for water. Australia has hired a professional marksman, who will shoot the animals, and ironically, he comes from Australia's department of environment and water.

They will eventually be slaughtered in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) area, which is a sparsely-populated part of South Australia which is home to a number of indigenous groups.

 Twitter

"There is extreme pressure on remote Aboriginal communities in the APY lands and their pastoral [livestock] operations as the camels search for water," says APY's general manager Richard King in an interview with BBC.

"Given ongoing dry conditions and the large camel congregations threatening all of the main APY communities and infrastructure, immediate camel control is needed," he added.

Camels, though, don't originally belong to Australia and are not native species. They were brought to Australia by British settlers from India, Afghanistan and the Middle East. Although we're not sure how many camels have made Australia their home, more than a hundred thousand camels inhabit parts of central Australia. They're believed to cause havoc in farmlands by damaging fences and farm property and are also believed to drink excess water which is needed by people who live there. And apparently, they also emit methane, a greenhouse gas which contributes to climate change.

But even so, are these reasons good enough to kill animals, regardless of how they behave or how much they consume? Well, if that's the case, humans should stand in line next, ready to be executed!

 Twitter

While camel culling is absolutely unfair in Australia, there is nothing much we can do about it, except just watch and wait. Australia has lost a phenomenal amount of wildlife and even after such devastation, they're ready to kill some more of their animals, which says a lot about how humans actually handle sensitive situations, which need a strong scientific approach to it. But Australia alone has a history of culling its animals due to various circumstances, which we can't seem to overlook.

Around 1932, Australia literally went into war with emus while soldiers armed with Lewis Guns were killing emus as they were causing too much havoc and crop destruction. Before seal culling was banned in 2018, Australia was a big advocate for killing seals due to the increased interaction of the long-nosed fur seal. And recently in 2013, Australia was culling (shooting) kangaroos, as the population of 500 million kangaroos was becoming an erstwhile problem for the Aussies. They killed 90 million Kangaroos and wallabies, lawfully, for commercial purposes.

 Twitter

Seemingly, the only way Australia can handle a crisis amongst the wildlife is by taking extreme measures and this time, 10,000 camels are targeted for the same. We really hope and wish Australia and other nations find a more respectful way of solving a crisis, that does not involve the specie to give its life for it.
NBCs Weekend Today is swapping one Philly woman for another.

NBC News Kristen Welker, who has roots in the Fairmount section of the city, will take over as cohost of Weekend Today for fellow Philly native Sheinelle Jones, NBC has announced. Jones recently said that she would step back from her duties on the show after five years to spend time with her family but will continue cohosting the third hour of the Today show during the week.

Im so excited and honored to join @PeterAlexander and the @TODAYshow team, Welker tweeted following the networks announcement Wednesday.

A graduate of Germantown Friends School and Harvard University, Welker began her career as a reporter at ABC affiliate KRCR-TV in Redding, Calif., in 2001 and later returned to her hometown in 2005 to work at NBC10 as a reporter and weekend anchor. She remained in Philly until 2010, when she signed on with NBC News as a correspondent based out of Burbank, Calif. The following year, Welker became a White House correspondent for the network.

Since joining the NBC News team, Welker has also worked as a fill-in anchor for Weekend Today, but the networks move puts her in the role full-time.

Jones, who was born in Philly but raised in Kansas, spent nearly a decade at Fox 29 as cohost of Good Day Philadelphia before moving on to NBCs Weekend Today in 2014. Last year, she joined Today as cohost of the third hour of the program, prompting her to work six days a week. In late December, Jones announced that she would leave Weekend Today to be more present in the lives of her three children.

Despite her national network gig, Welker still spends some of her time in her hometown. In April she returned to emcee the Madam C.J. Walker Awards Luncheon. In 2017, Welker married husband John Hughes at the Bellevue Hotel in Center City.
MEDFORD, Ore.  After many months of building (pun intended) anticipation, the first-ever Chick-fil-A location in Southern Oregon says that it's almost ready to open for business.

Chick-fil-A "Crater Lake & Pacific Highway" is in the finishing stages of construction at the corner of N Pacific Highway and Rossanley Drive. The estimated opening day is Thursday, January 23.

Our New Years resolution? Be as awesome as Jeremiah.  https://t.co/EQ9wf2dDh5  Chick-fil-A, Inc. (@ChickfilA) January 3, 2020

According to the company, the franchise owner will be Oregon native Chris Peyton, who has lived in Virginia for about 20 years after his career in the Navy brought him to the East Coast.

My family and I are thrilled to return home to Oregon and join the Medford community, said Peyton. I look forward to welcoming everyone into our restaurant and having a positive impact on the Team Members, guests and community that my family and I call home.

The restaurant is currently in the process of hiring 115 full and part-time employees to operate the new location, and listings put the pay for all positions at $13 an hour or higher. Chick-fil-A says that it also offers flexible pay, competitive benefits, opportunities for leadership growth and college scholarships for employees.

Chick fil-A also says that at least some of the food and ingredients will come from farmers in the area.

"Chick-fil-A Crater Lake & Pacific Hwy will partner with regional farmers and suppliers to source as many regionally grown ingredients as possible," the company said in a statement. "All of the apples used in the restaurants salads and fruit cups are grown in the Pacific Northwest, and the potatoes used to make hash browns and Waffle Potato Fries are sourced from the Columbia River Basin."

There are several Chick-fil-A locations in Portland, but this will be the first location south of that metro area. According to Chick-fil-A's website, there is another location opening soon in Bend.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchezs confirmation in office this week may have ended eight months of a caretaker administration, but several relevant issues are likely to remain on hold due to lack of cross-party agreement.

PP leader Pablo Casado said he wants to attract any Socialists who are feeling ashamed at Sanchezs drift

After earlier suggesting the possibility of cooperation on a number of issues, the new strategy of the Popular Party (PP) appears to be one of steadfast opposition to the new coalition government made up of the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the anti-austerity Unidas Podemos. The conservatives accuse the PM of having left the country in the hands of terrorists and coup plotters after Sanchez won the investiture bid thanks in part to abstentions from Basque and Catalan parties with separatist sympathies.

PP president Pablo Casado said on Wednesday that he wants to bring together all the moderate and centrist forces in parliament, including any Socialists who are feeling ashamed at Sanchezs drift. But this new, more confrontational attitude is dividing opinion within the ranks of the PP, whose leaders are scheduled to meet next Monday to discuss the best way forward, keeping in mind the need to differentiate themselves from the far-right Vox, which surged at the November 10 election to become the third-largest force in Congress.

CGPJ and budget

High-placed PP sources have confirmed their refusal to cooperate with the Socialist Party to renew the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Spains legal watchdog, which has been acting in a caretaker capacity since December 2018, and which is currently dominated by a conservative majority.

Voting independence Javier Casqueiro The new coalition partners PSOE and Unidas Podemos on Wednesday signed a 20-point document pledging mutual loyalty but also underscoring each partys freedom to vote their own way on issues that do not affect the executives actions. Both parties are trying to avoid the image of a government made up of two parallel executives. On the morning show Los Desayunos de TVE, on state broadcaster TVE, Deputy PM Carmen Calvo reiterated that there is only one government and one government leader. Calvo did admit that the PSOE was displeased that Unidas Podemos had announced the names of its own ministers, even though Sanchez will not formally release the makeup of the entire Cabinet until next week. Avoiding these sorts of situations has led to the 20-point working protocol, which emphasizes the need for internal communication.

The PP will also not be facilitating the passage of a new budget, which directly affects governability and Spains ability to meet EU economic targets. Sanchezs earlier failure to secure approval for his 2019 budget blueprint led to early elections in April of last year, followed by the repeat vote of November.

Sanchez won both elections, but he fell short of a parliamentary majority and after the second vote was forced to seek endorsement for his proposed government from an assortment of smaller regional parties, including the pro-independence Catalan Republican Left (ERC). He also agreed to a joint administration with Unidas Podemos in what is Spains first coalition government since the days of the Second Republic in the 1930s.

Sources at the PP said that the Socialists governing deal with the Communists of Unidas Podemos will not yield a responsible policy on the deficit, debt and spending. The conservatives disagree with the new administrations plans for tax hikes on higher earners and large corporations, as they believe that they will scare off investors.

PP leaders also say that the new governments actions will be affected by Sanchezs negotiations with the ERC, which abstained at the investiture vote in exchange for talks on the political conflict in the northeastern region. The PP has suggested that Sanchez has given in to the Catalan separatists, who are pushing for a legal referendum on independence. Sanchez has said that such a vote is not an option.

Withdrawing support

Before the investiture vote took place, PP president Pablo Casado had offered Sanchez assistance with the governability of Spain if the Socialist leader managed to get himself confirmed in office. Casado said he would support the budget plan if Sanchez agreed to enter into national pacts on a variety of issues.

But many of these offers have been withdrawn following the PSOEs coalition deal with Podemos, as well as its negotiations to secure abstentions at the investiture vote from ERC and from EH Bildu, a far-left Basque party with roots in groups that supported the now-defunct terrorist organization ETA.

Spain will have four deputy prime ministers EL PAIS Women will hold three of the four deputy prime ministerial position in the new Spanish government, according to sources from the Spanish executive. The positions will be held by the current Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo, Economy Minister Nadia Calvino, Unidas Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias, who will also be responsible for Social Rights and the 2030 Agenda, and Teresa Ribera, who will be in charge of measures concerning climate change and the environment. Ribera is a leading experts in climate negotiations and has been present at almost all United Nations climate summits since 2001.

English version by Susana Urra.
The gunman whose murder of a Border Patrol agent nearly a decade ago exposed the federal governments controversial Fast and Furious operation was sentenced Wednesday to life imprisonment.

U.S. District Judge David Bury sentenced Mexican national Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes to a mandatory life sentence for the December, 2010 shooting death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in Arizona.

Terrys killing publicly uncovered the botched Fast and Furious operation, in which U.S. federal authorities allowed criminals to buy firearms in hopes of tracking them to criminal organizations. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives eventually lost track of most of the weapons, however, including two found at the scene of Terrys murder.

The Obama administration was heavily criticized for the mismanaged operation. Terrys family later sued managers and investigators at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for their roles in the Fast and Furious operation, as well as a prosecutor and the owner of the gun shop who sold the two guns at the scene of Terrys death.

On December 14, 2010, Terrys four-man team attempted to arrest a group of men near the Arizona-Mexico border whom they suspected of robbing marijuana dealers. When the group refused to stop, the agents fired bean bags at them, prompting the group to fire back with AK-47-type assault rifles. Terry was fatally shot in the back during the shoot out.

Osorio-Arellanes, one of seven defendants in the case, was extradited from Mexico in 2018 and charged with first-degree murder, among other charges. Five of the men are currently in prison, and one was arrested in 2017.

Osorio-Arellanes claimed that his rights are being violated and he has not received a fair trial, but the judge rejected his arguments.

I think you know what the law is of the United States but you refuse to accept it, the judge said. In the United States if you take the life of a human being while committing another felony, thats murder in our country by statute.

More from National Review
Ilana with friends in Argentina. She is second from the right (in the Bowdoin sweatshirt).

She wrote up her findings in a paper, which was recenly published by Universidad ISALUD's journal for faculty and student research, Revista Isalud. Olin is fluent in Spanish, and also received writing assistance from a Spanish tutor to polish her piece.

It is rare for SIT studentswho are all from the United States and who are only in Argentina for a short timeto have work published by ISALUD, the nation's top health university. Olin said she thought her philosophical approach to the topic, as well as her perspective as an American, gave her work wider appeal.

"I arrived with my [American] understanding of rights relating to health care and sought to understand a system in which fundamentally different assumptions are made, and that makes the case study more interesting," she said.

Within the field of philosophy, Olin has been particularly drawn to the study of bioethics, as it brings together her interests in both philosophy and medicine. "I am interested in the principles underlying health care systems. My philosophy education at Bowdoin has focused on moral theory, and that was something I was interested in when I went to Argentina: seeing how different beliefs around morality influence health care," she said.

She is currently applying to MD/PhD programs to pursue a career as a physician-scientist involved in both research and patient care. She also hopes to work in a diverse community where her fluency can better serve Spanish-speaking patients.

Olin anticipates that her experience in Argentina will shape her path in the years to come. "It was fascinating to see how moral judgments can influence what healthcare policy looks like in practice," she said. "As I look to enter the worlds of medicine, science, and health care, seeing how the cultural values we have can determine patient outcomes is something that I feel like I am now better equipped to face."
A man has been charged with murder following the fatal shooting of young Yarraville couple Veton and Lindita Musai on New Year's Eve.

Osman Shaptafaj, 55, was on Thursday charged with two counts of murder. He remains under police guard in hospital with gunshot wounds.

Lindita and Veton Musai. Credit:Facebook

Mr Shaptafaj, from Altona North, is Ms Musai's estranged father.

He did not appear in court on Thursday and his case will return to court on May 14 for a committal mention.
As a longtime supporter of a republic, the Herald would not usually be too concerned about the decision by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan to exit the British royal family and live a tiny bit more like the rest of us.

But with bushfires threatening again and the Middle East on the brink of war, a juicy scandal in Buckingham Palace is a great way to take our minds off the state of the world, at least for a day.

The shock news is that the sixth in line for the throne and his wife have announced in a post on their new website that they will step back from their official duties.

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The couple has decided they cannot stand the British tabloid press snooping through their private letters and making veiled racist comments about the Duchess, a former actor whose mother is African-American. So they will split their time between Canada and Britain.
Over 20 Muslim organisations and outfits on Thursday petitioned the Tamil Nadu government to urge the Centre to withdraw the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Representatives of 23 organisations, accompanied by AIADMK leader and state Labour Minister Nilofer Kafeel and opposition IUML legislator KAM Muhammed Abubacker, met Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam in this connection.

A brief release from the deputy CM's office said the representatives submitted a memorandum to Panneerselvam on "cancelling" the CAA.

The meeting comes amidst stiff opposition to the amended Citizenship Act, with scores of protests being held so far, including by the Opposition DMK.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit in his customary address to the state legislative Assembly, had asserted the government was committed to protecting the interests of all citizens irrespective of their religion.

The CAA envisages providing Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities--Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis and Christians, from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who had arrived in the country prior to December 31, 2014.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A military draft has not been enacted, federal military officials assured Americans this week following a series of fake text messages that stoked fears of a possible pending military conflict with Iran.

Text messages were sent to people across America this month, igniting fears of a draft.

Hello, we are contacting you in regards to the United States official army draft, we tried contacting you through your email several times and had no response," one text message read. "Youve been marked eligible and must come to the nearest branch in the New Jersey Area for immediate departure to Iran. Please contact us at the following number immediately [redacted number] United States Army Referral Program. Ask for [redacted name] Ext [redacted number] Thank you

Several variations have been reported, including ones that threaten jail sentences of a minimum of six years if the recipient doesnt reply.

The number of such messages sent is not clear, however the U.S. Army Recruiting Command said it has received multiple calls and emails about the messages. The command issued a message this week assuring citizens that these texts are false and were not initiated by this command or the U.S. Army.

The draft has not been in effect since 1973. It was abolished following mass protests against the war in Vietnam as fighting drew to an end.

In decades following, service has been on a voluntary basis.

The Selective Service System - a federal agency outside of the Department of Defense - handles registration for the Selective Service, which requires men ages 18 to 25 to register should a draft be reinstated. Such registration does not enlist a person into the military.

The Selective Service System is conducting business as usual, Selective Service System said in a statement. In the event that a national emergency necessitates a draft, Congress and the President would need to pass official legislation to authorize a draft.
More than 750 violations against media workers were recorded in 2019, according to an annual report published by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS). While the number of violations decreased slightly compared to last year (909), the International Federation of Journalists remains deeply concerned about the "unacceptable level of attacks " on Palestinian journalists and its impact on press freedom.

An Israeli border guard scuffles with Palestinian journalists gathering during a demonstration in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank on November 17, 2019, in solidarity with Palestinian cameraman Mu'ath Amarneh. Credit: Hazem Bader / AFP

The PJS report records 760 violations against journalists, including 260 photojournalists and 46 female journalists. The majority of violations were due to electronic blocking of Palestinian journalists social media accounts and preventing media covering events (343 cases). The total number of violations has decreased, compared to 2018, when 909 cases were reported.

Media professionals still have to face many dangers in Palestine, as 210 violations were related to cases of physical bodily harm. There were accounts of gas inhalation, dozens of injuries caused by rubber-coated steel bullets, and at least ten serious injuries by live ammunition. There were also injuries caused by sound bombs going off during protests and journalists getting hit by teargas canisters aimed directly at their bodies.

One of the most notorious cases was that of photojournalist Moath Amarneh, who lost an eye due to a rubber bullet shot by Israeli soldiers on November 15. There were also cases of detained journalists and arrests made by Israeli security forces. The IFJ has recently reported on the arbitrary arrest of Palestinian journalists in Jerusalem.

Despite the majority of the violations having taken place in territories under Israeli control, the PJS monitoring team also recorded violations carried out by Palestinian authorities in Gaza and the West Bank. Gaza witnessed a significant number of violations (160), most occurring during the We Want to Live protest movement. These included arrests, invasions of journalists houses and at least 20 counts of physical assault and even torture. In the West Bank there were a total of 94 violations registered, mostly the blocking of websites.

IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger, said: This unacceptable level of attacks against Palestinian journalists must end. We are extremely concerned by the constant dangers Palestinian media workers have to face every year. We stand in solidarity with our Palestinian collegues, and call on the Israeli authorities to stop targeting journalists and on the Palestinian authorities to protect the right of journalists to carry out their duties safely.
Thacos president spent big money to rescue Hoang Anh Gia Lai, while Vingroups president transferred the retail division to Masan to gather strength on automobiles and technology.

Five dollar billionaires were recognized in 2019. Vingroups president Pham Nhat Vuong, Vietjet Airs CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao and Thacos president Tran Ba Duong were the familiar names, while Masans president Nguyen Dang Quang and Techcombanks president Ho Hung Anh for the first time joined the list of the worlds billionaires.





The great ambition of the female billionaire



Vietjet Air continued to hold the largest market share, 41.7 percent, in 2019. However, Thao cherishes a greater ambition of providing international flights.



Our strategy is to expand to markets within the radius of 2,500 kilometers, she told Vietjets shareholders.



By the end of Q3 2019, Vietjet was exploiting 127 air routes, or 24 more than the same period 2018, mostly international routes. Not only targeting the destinations in Asia, Vietjet Air also plans to fly non-stop from HCM City Melbourne and Australia, slated for Q2.

Thaco rescues Hoang Anh Gia Lai, exports cars

One year after signing the strategic cooperation agreement, Thaco billionaire Tran Ba Duong has fulfilled his commitments, pouring $1 billion to Hoang Anh Gia Lai to help the group overcome its difficulties.



After sending representatives to Hoang Anh Gia Lai Agrico, Thaco set up Thadi, an agriculture company, in March 2019 to support Hoang Anh Gia Lai.



Thaco took over three rubber companies from Hoang Anh Gia Lai Agrico and received all the three real estate projects in Myanmar from the group. With the deals, Thacos ownership ratio in Hoang Anh Gia Lai Agrico has increased to 35 percent.



Regarding its core business field ofautomobile manufacturing, Thaco made a breakthrough when exporting 120 Kia cars assembled at its factory in Quang Nam province to Myanmar.



Masan expands, Techcombank still leader



Masan Group owned by billionaire Nguyen Dang Quang became one of the most mentioned brands in December 2019 thanks to the admission of VinCommerce and VinEco, which belonged to VIngroup.



With the deal, Masans leadership confirmed its ambition to form up a leading consumer goods retail group in Vietnam.



Also in December, Masan MEATLife, a subsidiary of Masan, listed shares on UpCom.



While Masan was seeking a new driving force for growth, the other business in the ecosystem of the billionaire duo Nguyen Dang Quang and Ho Hung Anh, Techcombank, continued to be No 1 among private banks.



In the first nine months of the year, Techcombank reported pre-tax profit of VND8.86 trillion, an increase of 14 percent compared with the same period last year.

Kim Chi

2019: Pham Nhat Vuong is richest Vietnamese billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong, president of Vingroup, and Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, CEO of Vietjet Air and vice president of Hdbank, top the 2019 list of Vietnamese stock billionaires.
Five people are killed every year by a former or current partner or family member in Northern Ireland.

The British Department of Justice revealed the statistic as it said it wants to recruit for a review of domestic homicides.

Officials hope to establish what lessons can be learned about how local professionals and organisations worked to safeguard victims.

It will also consider any contact or work with the alleged perpetrator or perpetrators.

Peter May, the departments permanent secretary, said: Since 2010, on average five people are killed every year in Northern Ireland by a current or former partner or close family member.

Each homicide is a tragedy and it is essential that we do all that we can to learn lessons, ultimately with a view to preventing domestic violence and abuse and domestic homicide happening in the future.

The department wants to establish a pool of three individuals to independently chair and undertake reviews locally, with the assistance of an expert panel.

Each review will be allocated to an independent chair.

The establishment of a pool of independent chairs is a key stage in the introduction of a Domestic Homicide Review (DHR) model to Northern Ireland.

This was a commitment of the previous justice minister.
By Pushkala Aripaka

(Reuters) - SIG Plc <SHI.L> shares tumbled as much 26% on Thursday as the building materials supplier warned on 2019 profit for the second time in three months, after December sales were hit by a long-running weakness in European construction markets.

Demand in the UK and Germany has taken a beating from political uncertainty and fears of a recession respectively, prompting SIG to focus on streamlining operations, switching to higher-margin sales, and cutting down costs and debt.

The British company, which previously issued a profit warning in October, said its sales rate in December was about a quarter lower than the previous month.

The downturn in Britain's construction industry deepened last month, driven by the sharpest drop in civil engineering activity since 2009, a survey showed https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-economy-pmi/decline-in-uk-construction-gathers-pace-in-december-pmi-idUSKBN1Z20UY last week, underscoring the economy's frailties at the end of last year.

Sheffield-based SIG, which supplies insulation, energy management and roofing products, said it expects underlying pretax profit of about 42 million pounds ($55 million) for the year to December.

SIG's profit forecast was well short of the analyst consensus of 68 million pounds, Peel Hunt analysts said.

The brokerage, which cut its rating on SIG's stock to "hold" from "buy", said the company's trading position in December was "much worse" than expected, further exacerbated by wet weather in November and December.

The forecast was also over 40% lower than SIG's 2018 profit, hurt by a fall in like-for-like sales at its unit focusing on insulation products and interiors and its UK business in the second half of the year.

The company also pointed to a delay in the impact of measures it took earlier in the year to offset the slump in construction markets. It now expects those benefits to show up in 2020 instead of 2019.

Story continues

SIG shares were down 25.8% at 88.40 pence as of 0928 GMT.

Its warning spooked rival stocks as well, with shares of Travis Perkins <TPK.L>, Howden Joinery Group <HWDN.L>, Grafton Group <GFTU_u.L> and B&Q-Owner Kingfisher <KGF.L> all 1-4% lower.

SIG also said the disposal of its air handling division would be completed later this month, and that it expects the sale of its building solutions business to close in the first quarter.

The company is banking on cash from these transactions to cut down debt, having reduced borrowings at the end of last year to 162 million pounds from 189 million pounds a year earlier.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Jan Harvey)
New Delhi: The Delhi police on Thursday claimed to have arrested three members of an ISIS-inspired module that was planning a terror strike in the National Capital.

Police claimed to have arrested the men after a brief shootout in Wazirabad early Thursday. No one was injured in the exchange of fire. Senior officers said two of the arrested men were on conditional bail in the 2014 murder of Hindu Munnani general secretary K P Suresh Kumar.

Deputy commissioner of police (special cell) PS Kushwah said the three men are Khaja Moideen, 52, Syed Ali Navas, 32, and Abdul Samad alias Noor, 28, all from Tamil Nadu.

Kushwah said his team received inputs that a group of highly radicalised people from Tamil Nadu who were also involved in the 2014 murder of Hindu Munnani leader, KP Suresh Kumar, and have been absconding after they jumped conditional bailhave reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

We had information that all the three entered eastern Uttar Pradesh through Nepal and that they may move to Delhi-NCR to carry out terror strikes. We found the suspects had already reached Delhi with the help of their foreign-based handler, the DCP said.

Kushwah said continuous surveillance revealed that Khaja Moideen, Syed Nawaz and Abdul Samad had taken a room on rent near Wazirabad and procured arms. In an early morning raid, we caught all the three suspects following a brief exchange of fire, he said.

The officer said, interrogation of the trio revealed that Moideen has links with ISIS. Once out on bail in the murder of KP Suresh Kumar, he planned to revive ISIS in India. He was guided by a foreign-based handler. Moideen along with Nawaz and Samad went to Kathmandu, Nepal, illegally and set up a hideout there. After some time, they crossed over into UP and reached Delhi. Weapons were arranged by their foreign-based handler and they were awaiting orders from their handler to carry out a terror strikes in Delhi, he said.

Kushwah said that in 2004, Moideen was arrested for organising a training camp at Nellikuppam wherein people were allegedly converted to Islam and trained in handling weapons and martial arts. In 2017, Moideen was also arrested by National Investigation Agency in a terror case.
As tensions flare with Iran, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says Iranian cyber attacks are attempted against state government systems as often as 10,000 a minute. Meantime, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller says the FBI is investigating an Iranian inspired attack against his agency's website. Plus, Democrats running for the White House are campaigning in Texas perhaps more than ever.

All that and more as we go behind the headlines for a look at what's really going on at the Texas Capitol and in Washington with the state's #1 political podcast: The Texas Take. Join the conversation featuring Scott Braddock, editor of The Quorum Report, Houston Chronicle political writer Jeremy Wallace, and San Antonio Express News reporter Allie Morris.
Stephen Miller (left) and Ian Olasov speak with a Jenkintown woman at their "Ask a Philosopher" booth at Suburban Station in Center City Philadelphia on Wednesday. The booth has previously taken questions from visitors in New York, but is now in Philly for the first time. Read more

Anything on your mind?

For Brandon Burwell, who was standing in front of the Ask a Philosopher booth in Suburban Station on Wednesday afternoon, there was.

A lot of different things, Burwell, 30, replied, as if he was thinking out loud. Supposedly, time travel is possible.

Posing the question was Ian Olasov, an adjunct philosophy professor at Brooklyn College, who created the Ask a Philosopher booth in New York in 2016 to bring philosophy to the public. Other philosophers have set them up elsewhere: beachside in Santa Cruz and on campus at Seton Hall University. This is the first time that the free booth has come to Philly, with a table in Suburban Stations concourse until Saturday, thanks to the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association meeting.

Olasov dug into the topic. Burwell, of Nicetown, who works in the citys human resources department and was on his lunch break, started to talk through theoretically how that would work: Time could pass by for different people at different rates, Burwell posed. For some people, that means time could move at a slower pace.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the booth, another passerby was tossing a question into air:

Whats with the president and Iran?

Bryan Sacks, a Drexel philosophy professor had a quick answer: Ask a psychiatrist.

During Wednesdays four-hour session, many rushed by to their trains. Others dropped in for free sweets in a candy bowl but didnt linger to pose a question. Others came with their thinking caps on.

Burwell and Olasov kept chatting. The philosopher, in turn, raised the Grandfather Paradox, or the notion that traveling to the past opens the possibility of reshaping the future, like if someone were to kill their ancestor and zap their own existence. There are physicists who point to that paradox to challenge the logic of being able to go backward in time. But what Burwell was talking about, Olasov assessed, was different and didnt have the same logical roadblocks.

If its logically possible, nine times out of 10 its physically possible, Burwell said. He mused on the possibility of harnessing the perspectives of people whod seen more years, who could speak to more history. Were taking about trying to build up a better future.

Thats interesting. Ive never thought about it like that, Olasov responded, nodding. The same way that it would be useful to have a baby Yoda.

The American Philosophical Association (APA) and the Public Philosophy Network are sponsoring this event. Professors and students attending the conference are dropping in to field questions. At the table, the curious can either ask their own questions, pick others to ponder or select thought experiments printed on strips of paper. Here are some examples:

If you could live forever, would you?

What was the last major moral dilemma you personally experienced?

Suppose that one day we learn to create extremely detailed computer simulations of entire universes. Once we create one, we can create as many as we like. There would be many simulated worlds, but only one non-simulated world. Would that mean that we probably live in a computer simulation?

Often, Olasov said, visitors wind up speaking about the concerns, problems and puzzles that [they] are walking around with, that preoccupy them.

Richard Riley Jr., a law student who works for the city, walked up to the booth with this: What do you think is the difference maker between those who are poor and those who are wealthy and those who remain poor and those who remain wealthy?

Stephen Miller, who teaches philosophy at Oakwood Friends School and Marist College, answered with another question.

Is it a good thing to have people who are poor? Miller asked. Most philosophers would say no.

Through that lens, Miller explained, theres then a societal problem and a question of how to fix it. Miller later mentioned the Easterlin Paradox, a theory that holds that people with higher-than-average incomes are often happier.

Riley so enjoyed the conversation, he told them hed be back.

Before the 2016 booth concept, Olasov curated a series of talks at the central branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, hoping to bring philosophy to a wider audience. He saw that people were coming to hear what sparked the interest of philosophy professors.

When people come to the Ask a Philosopher booth, its them driving the conversation, he said, explaining the contrast. Its kind of nice to meet people where they are.
LOS ANGELES  A federal judge is likely to approve a $215 million class-action settlement with thousands of former patients of a campus gynecologist at the University of Southern California who has been accused of sexual abuse and misconduct, The Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

Dr. George Tyndall is separately facing criminal charges from the Los Angeles District Attorneys Office regarding 16 patients. He has pleaded not guilty and is out on bond as the case proceeds.

In federal court in Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson said he was inclined to accept the settlement, The Times reported.

The universitys payouts to about 18,000 women who saw Tyndall at USC will range from a guaranteed minimum of $2,500 to $250,000. The payouts will be given regardless of whether the women formally accused Tyndall of harassment or assault. A panel of experts will decide how much each patient is paid.

In a statement, USC said it was pleased with the decision, calling it a settlement that provides respectful and confidential relief to Tyndall patients at the student health center and formalizes a broad array of campus reforms.

Tyndall will not contribute to the settlement, under its terms, nor will he admit liability or wrongdoing. His attorney said Monday that her client continues to deny wrongdoing.

About 800 people opted out of the federal settlement, The Times reported. About 600 of them are part of separate civil lawsuits filed against USC in state court. Lawyers said an additional 30 to 50 women were expected to sue the university soon.

It is not clear when Wilson would formally approve the settlement.

Separately, USC has also agreed to pay up to $25 million in legal fees and other costs to the attorneys representing former patients, the newspaper reported. Wilson would also have to approve those payments.

About the photo: In this July 1 file photo, Dr. George Tyndall, 72, listens during an arraignment at Los Angeles Superior court in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Greenberg Traurigs reputation, deep experience in Washington, D.C., and the long-standing relationships I have had with many members of the firm made the firm particularly attractive, Smith W. Smitty Davis said.

Smith W. Smitty Davis, a former counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and its Crime Subcommittee, has joined the Washington, D.C. office of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP as a shareholder in the Government Law & Policy Practice. Davis joins from Akin Gump where, over the course of his career, he served in several management positions including practice manager of the firms Public Law and Policy Group and a member of its firmwide management and compensation committees.

Greenberg Traurigs reputation, deep experience in Washington, D.C., and the long-standing relationships I have had with many members of the firm made the firm particularly attractive, Davis said. Equally important to me are the firms collaborative culture and global footprint and its strategic expansion of an already dynamic Government Law & Policy Practice.

Smitty is somewhat of an icon in Washington, D.C. He brings not only experience but wisdom and a high degree of respect from peers and clients alike. We are excited to welcome him to the firm, said Richard A. Rosenbaum, Greenberg Traurig Executive Chairman.

It is a pleasure to add Smitty to our team. He will continue the strategic growth of our Government Law and Policy Group and add depth to our strong bipartisan practice. Smitty will immediately enhance our ability to serve clients on Capitol Hill, in the Executive branch, and in the major state Capitals across the country, said Robert C. Jones and Robert Mangas, co-chairs of the firms Washington, D.C. Federal Government Law & Policy Practice, in a joint statement. Jones, who was Counsel to the Senate Appropriations Committee from 1986 to 1988, joined the firm in June 2019. Mangas also serves as the co-managing shareholder of the Washington, D.C. office.

Among other things, Davis helps clients with matters involving legal reform across a broad range of sectors and issues related to natural gas pipelines. He has been most active in four areas of legal reform: false claims, asbestos tort reform, litigation funding and antitrust. His work with respect to pipelines has centered on multiemployer pension policy and environmental issues.

Smittys decades of experience dealing with some of the most sophisticated policy issues facing industries resonates with the mission of our Washington, D. C. office and is additive given his capability of helping clients navigate the Administration's inner workings for developing policy, said Ernest L. Greer, Greenberg Traurig Co-President. In the past year, more than 15 new attorneys and lobbyists chose Greenberg Traurigs Washington, D.C. office as their new home. This is a collaborative office that attracts those who comprehend the value of their impact on clients, the community, the firm, and beyond.

Throughout his career, Davis has served as public policy counsel before a variety of congressional committees, including the Judiciary Committees, House Energy and Commerce Committees, House Education and the Workforce Committee, and House Financial Services and Senate Banking Committees.

Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig, Davis represented the worlds premier voice, video and data communications companies before the House and Senate Judiciary committees in matters involving telecommunications issues. He has advised consumer lending companies in bankruptcy reform legislation and helped companies and a major trade association regarding the False Claims Act, corporate speech, and other legal policy issues. He has also provided advice to foreign and domestic investment firms and commercial banks, consumer lending companies, and private equity firms on issues including mergers and acquisitions and bank holding company and securities law reform. He also assisted clients in matters involving the House Education and House Workforce committees, addressing pension reform issues related to multi-employer pension plans.

Davis received his J.D. and B.A. from Yale University, magna cum laude. He previously completed a clerkship with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, where he is admitted to practice.

About Greenberg Traurigs Government Law & Policy Practice: Greenberg Traurigs Government Law & Policy Practice combines the capabilities of its Federal Practice in Washington D.C. with its state and local practices across the country. The firms national team of governmental affairs professionals and attorneys spans major political and commercial capitals throughout the United States, including: Albany, Austin, Denver, Las Vegas, Nashville, New York City, Philadelphia, Sacramento, Tallahassee, and Washington, D.C. Most recently, Greenberg Traurigs Government Law & Policy team was Top Listed for Government Relations in Best Lawyers in Americas 2018 edition. The team was also named Law Firm of the Year for Government Relations by the U.S. News-Best Lawyers 2014 edition of Best Law Firms. The practice also received the most first-tier Government Relations rankings in the U.S.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has approximately 2100 attorneys in 41 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com, Twitter: @GT_Law.
 Close Brexit bill allowing Britain to exit EU on 31 January passes Commons

Boris Johnson's Brexit bill has passed its Commons stages with an overwhelming majority after months of turmoil.

MPs voted to give third reading to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) by 330 to 231 - a majority of 99 - which allows the bill to sail through to the House of Lords where peers will begin line by line scrutiny next week.

It comes as EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier issued Mr Johnson with a fresh warning over the possibility of the UK crashing out of the bloc without any arrangements if a trade deal cannot be done by the end of 2020.

Meanwhile, shadow trade secretary Barry Gardiner, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, said he is considering entering the Labour leadership contest, as Lisa Nandy, Jess Phillips and Rebecca Long Bailey joined Keir Starmer in passing the first hurdle of the contest.

To follow events as they unfolded, see our live coverage below:
New Delhi:

In a massive success, the special cell of the Delhi Police arrested three suspects busting an ISIS terror module on Thursday. Police said that the three suspects were inspired by the ISIS and were planning attack in the Delhi-NCR region. It also claimed that the three were given directions by an unidentified foreign force. According to reports, these three suspects were arrested after an encounter with the Delhi Police.

In November last year, the Delhi Police had nabbed three men, suspected to be inspired by the ISIS, who were planning to carry out attack on a local carnival in Assam's Goalpara district. Last week, a high alert was sounded in Uttar Pradesh that two suspected ISIS terrorists may have entered the state via India-Nepal border area.

Once controlling large swathes of Iraq and Syria, the ISIS has lost the clout in recent years. Last year in November, the National Investigation Agency sleuths had conducted searches in Thanjavur and Tiruchirappalli in connection with its probe into the ISIS module case and seized among others, laptops, mobile phones and an axe from the premises of two suspects.
YES Bank share price rallied over 5 per cent in intraday trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Thursday ahead of its board meeting to discuss fundraising. The board of private sector lender will meet on 10 January in Mumbai to discuss and consider raising of funds.

"The meeting of the board of directors of the company is scheduled on 10 January 2020, in Mumbai to discuss and consider raising of funds by issue of equity shares / depository receipts / convertible bonds / debentures / warrants / any other equity linked securities, through permissible modes, subject to necessary shareholders/regulatory approvals, as applicable," YES Bank said in an exchange.

Continuing its previous session rally, share price of YES Bank rose as much as 5.21 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 48.45 against previous closing price of Rs 46.05 on the BSE. Trimming early gains, YES Bank shares closed Thursday's trade at Rs 47.30, up 2.71 per cent. In contrast, the BSE Sensex ended 634 points, or 1.55 per cent, higher at 41,452.

The stock was trading 66 per cent higher than its 52 week low hit on October 1, 2019, and 83 per cent lower than its 52 week high of 285.90 touched on April 3, 2019. In the last one year, YES Bank stock has lost 74 per cent.

In a similar trend, shares of YES Bank ended 2.93 per cent higher at Rs 47.40 apiece on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The stock opened higher at Rs 47 and hit a high of Rs 48.50 during the day's trade.

Earlier today, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma refuted rumours that his company was planning to buy a stake in Yes Bank. Sharma denied holding any talks with Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, reported Mint. Paytm founder said that he would prefer converting Paytm into a small finance bank (SFB) after it completes five years as a payments bank.

Also Read: Why YES Bank share price rose over 4% today

"It wasn't confirmed or correct. If we as a group have a bank and, I as a chair of the bank, own 51 percent of the bank, it sounds too far-fetched for an individual or company (to pick up Kapoor's stake)," Sharma told the daily.

In the last board meeting in December, YES Bank board had said that its board would consider investment offer of $500 million from Citax Holdings and Citax Investment Group and the final decision regarding allotment to follow in the next board meeting. The board had also maintained that it would continue to evaluate other potential investors to raise capital up to $2 billion.

Also Read: Capital raise is just a matter of time, says YES Bank CEO Ravneet Gill

On investment offer of $1.2 billion by SPGP Holdings and Canada's Erwin Singh Braich, the board had said this would "continue to be under discussion". SPGP Holdings and Erwin Singh Braich had submitted the binding offer of $1.2 billion, which accounts for 60 per cent of its planned $2 billion capital raising.

On November 30, 2019, YES Bank had disclosed the list of potential investors willing to infuse funds into the bank. The bank mentioned that the US-based Capital International has announced to invest at least $120 million in the bank. Among others who showed willingness for fund infusion were GMR Group and Associates ($50 mn), billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's wife Rekha Jhunjhunwala ($25 mn) and Aditya Birla Family Office ($25 mn).

By Chitranjan Kumar
Meanwhile the BJP has also started a campaign to send a congratulatory message to the prime minister and Union home minister, thanking them for introducing the CAA by involving intellectuals, writers, professors, doctors, advocates and chartered accountants.

Bengaluru: With an aim to make one crore voters aware about the positive side of the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA), the Karnataka BJP has undertaken multi-level outreach programmes.

In a span of three days after it was launched on January 5, BJP workers have been able to contact five lakh houses across the state, claims party state general secretary N. Ravikumar, who is overseeing the outreach programme. The missed call campaign of the party has received 43,000 missed calls supporting CAA.



The party has also started a signature campaign across the state from January 7 and in one day, party the signatures of 21,000 people supporting CAA have been received, he claimed. The BJP plans to involve the chief minister, ministers, Union ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs and local body members in the programme. Meanwhile the BJP has also started a campaign to send a congratulatory message to the prime minister and Union home minister, thanking them for introducing the CAA by involving intellectuals, writers, professors, doctors, advocates and chartered accountants.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, BJP state secretary Bharathi Magdum and the partys media representative, S.A. Hemanth claimed the party has received a good response to its outreach campaign with workers reportedly able to clear the doubts about CAA during the door-to-door campaign.
RTHK: Airlines change routes to avoid Iran, Iraq airspace

A growing number of airlines said on Wednesday they were avoiding Iranian and Iraqi airspace or flights to the region after Tehran fired ballistic missiles against bases housing US troops in Iraq.

Shortly after the missile attacks, the US Federal Aviation Administration said it was banning US-registered carriers from flying over Iraq, Iran and the Gulf.

The regions is an important corridor for flights travelling between Europe and Asia, although planes can be rerouted.

Cathay Pacific and Japanese airlines ANA said their planes do not fly through airspace affected by latest flare-up.

But many European airlines said they will change flight paths to avoid that area.

"As a precautionary measure and following news of air strikes underway, Air France has decided to suspend until further notice all flights through Iranian and Iraqi airspace," it said.

A KLM spokesman said: "Until further notice, KLM has no flights over Iranian or Iraqi airspace. All flights to different Southeast Asian destinations and other destinations in the Middle East will be flown through alternative routes."

In Germany, Lufthansa said it had cancelled its daily flight to Tehran in addition to halting overflights of Iran and Iraq until further notice.

It added that Saturday's twice-weekly service to northern Iraqi city Erbil would also not depart.

UAE carriers Emirates Airline and low-cost Flydubai said they had cancelled flights to Baghdad for "operational reasons".

Australia's Qantas said one of its London-Perth flights would be rerouted, with the other already flying an alternative route.

"We're adjusting our flight paths over the Middle East to avoid the airspace over Iraq and Iran until further notice," said a spokesman.

Both Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines said they would divert flights from Iranian airspace.

Vietnam Airlines said it will make "appropriate adjustments" of routes to avoid areas of potential instability although its regular flight paths to Europe do not pass over Iran and Iraq. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The Rivers State Independent Publishers Association (RIVPA) has described the appointment and swearing in of Pastor Paulinus Nsirim as the State Commissioner For Information and Communications as duly earned and well deserved.

Pastor Nsirims appointment, according to a statement by RIVPA signed by the Chairman, Pastor Jerry Needam and Secretary, Solomon Parakom, is not only a plus to the Journalism profession but also an appreciation of the media practitioners for their efforts in the promotion and sustenance of democratic leadership in the society.

The statement further said the appointment of ace journalist, and former Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Rivers State Council as the new Information and Communications Commissioner is a reminder that in life, its not what we take up, but we give up that gives us due recognition.

Pastor Nsirim has proven himself as a prominent member and trail blazer in the journalism profession having served as Chief Press Secretary to the Rivers State Government at different times with remarkable records.

We also give kudos to His Excellency, Gov Nyesom Ezenwo Wike for his magnanimity and hindsight to select one of the best brains and a core professional journalist to man the Information machinery of Rivers State government, RIVPA declared.

The RIVPA Leadership assured of their unalloyed support to the new Information Commissioner to ensure that Rivers people are well informed about public affairs for a better understanding between them and their leaders.

Signed:



Pastor Jerry Needam

Chairman





Solomon Parakom

Secretary
Chinas Vice Premier Liu He, head of the countrys negotiation team in Sino-U.S. trade talks, will sign a Phase 1 deal in Washington next week, the Commerce Ministry said on Thursday.

Mr Liu will visit Washington on January 13-15, said Gao Feng, spokesperson for the commerce ministry.

Negotiating teams from both sides remain in close communication on the particular arrangements of the signing, Gao told reporters at a regular briefing.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on December 31 that the Phase 1 deal with China would be signed on January 15 at the White House. Mr Trump also said he would sign the deal with high-level representatives of China, and that he would later travel to Beijing to begin talks on the next phase.

The Phase 1 deal reached last month is expected to cut tariffs and boost Chinese purchases of U.S. farm, energy and manufactured goods while addressing some disputes over intellectual property.

But no version of the text has been made public, and Chinese officials have yet to publicly commit to key points such as increasing imports of U.S. goods and services by 200 billion dollars over two years.

The United States launched a trade war against Beijing a year and half ago over allegations of unfair trade practices, such as theft of U.S. intellectual property and subsidies that unfairly benefit Chinese state-owned companies.

(Reuters/NAN)
It would take enormous courage to predict what the new decade holds for nations and their foreign policies. Pundits would be well-advised to remain calm and not seek refuge in giddy formulations such as escalation" and its antonyms that in the past few days have been rendered dangerously irrelevant.

The relationship between nations is not event management, much less a public relations exercise. It is the sum and substance of histories, shared and sparred over. The days of winner takes it all" may be limited, as historical perches shake and new ones struggle to emerge. Future battles will most likely be fought over trade, not territory and self-respect.

The absence of peace is not warit is negotiation. And sound foreign policy will have to be based on negotiated trust. This is because a younger world is more ambitious and better connected, and guns are not its first choice.

The assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and its aftermath capture this transition. The shock apart, the roller coaster reactions from national capitals are instructive. They show that the person who speaks the loudestin this case US President Donald Trumpor the country with the fiercest firepower may not always be right. While the world was told that Soleimani was killed as he was preparing to attack US interests in West Asia, subsequent facts show this claim was incorrect.

We live in times when information travels at speeds previously unknown, making it virtually impossible for any organization to capture data sets and respond with accuracy. Warfare, the last piece of diplomacy, is all about accuracy. Diplomacy, or anti-war, is geared to acquiescence and accommodation. Rarely has the planet been so militarized, yet we are not on the brink of World War III. In fact, we are nowhere near where we were about a century ago, when World War I had just ended.

Iran retaliated, something that Trump was probably not expecting. In fact, it may be the first time in recent memory that a country has retaliated against US aggression in such a manner. Soleimani was a hero in the region, a man credited with making both Syria and the ISIS buckle, and Washington saw him as a thorn in its math with Israel and Saudi Arabia. According to Iraqs caretaker Prime Minister, Soleimani was carrying a response to a Saudi initiative on reducing tension between Riyadh and Tehran, exposing Trumps narrative as a lie," said Rania Khalek, journalist and producer of the widely watched Soapbox programme on the In The NOW channel. Whats striking is that more punishing sanctions will be praised as de-escalation because its not hot-war. But sanctions are war," she said.

It is important to note that western Anglo-Saxon media failed once again to pick up local signals, preferring instead to be briefed by largely clueless officials in Washington. As Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Washington-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft tweeted: Iran said it will retaliate, it did. It said it will not use proxies. It didnt. It said itll target military assets. It did. Message is clear: They will do what they say. Now they say theyll target all US bases in the region if Trump escalates further. Take them at their word."

In his address to the world on Wednesday evening, Trump said he would impose sanctions on Iran and urged other countries to back him. He also held out a rare olive branch to the United Nations. The climb down is noted, but heres the problem. You cant cherry-pick in diplomacy or expect self-respecting nations to help after you have killed their allies. Saving American lives is as important as saving all lives, and the only way forward is a reconstruction of multilateralism with new cards in hand.

European leaders, including those of France and Germany, are meeting later this week in Europe. Foreign policy watchers will tell you that discussing peace when theres no war (as Trump claims) is bad news. It seems unclear what, if anything, they can do to push back a belligerent Trump whose biggest problem with Iran is its geography and leadership over the Strait of Hormuz, through which some 60% of global oil trade transits.

More than ever, the European Union has an opportunity to pick up the pieces and move ahead. Being former colonizers, they have the pulse of countries and understand the strings of multilateralism. The new decade will need a lot of building and healing, hand-holding and confidence-building. Much has happened between the 1979 Iranian Revolution and 2020. Trust is low, and global institutions need an overhaul, beginning with the UN, which has to seriously look at expanding its Security Council to reflect todays world.

Russia and China have commented on Soleimanis assassination, but they have not spoken. Such is the nature of their diplomacy. Some countries use speech to express themselves; others teach us something by remaining silent. Whose side India would take in case of an escalation of the conflict is a question that has already been asked. Foreign minister S. Jaishankar has made it clear that India will be on Indias side. New Delhi needs Washington as much as it needs Tehran, and vice versa.

Staying away from the arc lights is the best thing Indian diplomacy has done.

Chitra Subramaniam is an award-winning journalist and author

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Amid Sharpening US-Iran Conflict, Europeans Try Diplomacy

By Lisa Bryant January 08, 2020

European Union foreign ministers meet later this week on the escalating crisis between Iran and the United States, but EU executives already have set the tone, calling Wednesday for dialogue and salvaging the Iran nuclear deal.

Speaking from Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the use of weapons in the Middle East must stop.

"We are called upon to do everything possible to rekindle talks," she said. "There cannot be enough of that."

In many ways, Europe is caught in the crossfire of the mounting tensions. It has condemned Iran's missile attacks in Iraq, and offered cautious support of the U.S. strike that killed top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani  but it also urged restraint on both sides.

As part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, experts say, Europeans are worried about the fallout. Germany is moving troops out of Iraq. At the same time, the Europeans strongly support the Iran nuclear agreement that President Donald Trump withdrew from two years ago, and are urging Iran to stick to it.

"I think they [Europeans] are stuck between a rock and a hard place," said Julien Barnes-Dacey, Middle East program director at the European Council on Foreign Relations. "On the one hand, they do not want to create transatlantic divisions, whatever their frustrations with President Trump. And they also have significant issues with the way Iran has conducted itself in the region."

As part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, experts say, Europeans are worried about the fallout. Germany is moving troops out of Iraq. At the same time, the Europeans strongly support the Iran nuclear agreement that President Donald Trump withdrew from two years ago, and are urging Iran to stick to it.

"I think they [Europeans] are stuck between a rock and a hard place," said Julien Barnes-Dacey, Middle East program director at the European Council on Foreign Relations. "On the one hand, they do not want to create transatlantic divisions, whatever their frustrations with President Trump. And they also have significant issues with the way Iran has conducted itself in the region."

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Union Minister Smriti Irani on Thursday hit out at Congress and DMK for spreading false information regarding Citizenship Amendment Act.

Addressing a public meeting here in support of the new citizenship law, the union minister said, "Today there are those in the Congress party and DMK who say that CAA is an act to protect the interest of Hindus only. Today I have come here to dispel this myth."

"I can proudly say that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi we have ensured the respect of citizenship to be given to those who are persecuted in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan," she added.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 grants citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist, and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Online dating site becomes one of the most popular ways of single people who are looking for partners in life.

One of the most visited websites in today's era is a dating website. Most singles who are looking for someone who can share the same experiences with them and can appreciate their culture and lifestyle landed most of the time on a dating site.

In a 2019 report from Quartz, it is estimated that around 40 percent of American couples met online. Online dating sites have become the best avenue to look for friends or sometimes to look for someone that you can love. To help Latino singles find their match, here are the eight dating sites that Dating Advice recommends:

Match.com is one of the best dating sites for single Latinos and Latinas. It has 30 million members and 13.5 million visitors every month. This has the highest success rate among all dating sites. Match offers free sign up, creation of a profile, browsing, and flirting.

This app can be downloaded through Google Play and iTunes. You the choice either to sync your facebook or your google account. Once you sync one of these, it will pull your information and will ask your ideal match. This dating website is visited by more than 28.9 million people.

This website has millions of members that allow Latinos and Latinas to connect with them. One of the special features of this website protects its members from fraud and scammers because it has an identity verification system. Moreover, AmoLatina offers free, lifelong membership, receive matches, chat, and more.

This is one of the most popular dating sites among Latinos. This website is known for its niche which states, "Where love is more than skin deep," Its members will help find its match from other parts of the world. No need to pay also for any amount in creating your account.

This dating site is considered to be the best online dating site for Latinos. It has 1.2 million members and is adding more than 800 pictures every week. The most interesting part of this dating site is it offers chat in various ways like instant messaging and group forums.

This is not the same with other dating websites because this site is filled with members who are beautiful, confident and nice women, and hardworking men. Members usually call this a go-to online Latina community. It only takes a minute for you to join this site without paying anything.

This online dating site is intended for Black Latinos who are looking for someone to love or someone who is looking for a Balck Latino. Membership in this site is free and members can also browse who they are looking for.

This online dating website is free. This website has thousands of Mexican and Hispanic singles every day who are looking for their match. Join now by creating your account and browse the people that you would like to meet.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Cleveland police homicide detectives solved two-thirds of the citys homicides in 2019, an improvement from the past three years, according to data provided by the city of Cleveland and an analysis by cleveland.com.

The units end-of-year solve rate hovered around 50 percent in each of the last three years and brings the department more in-line with the national average of 66 percent reported by the FBI in 2018. The rate typically increases throughout the year after detectives solve cases from previous years.

Cleveland police reported 118 homicides in 2019, but that number is expected to increase to about 126 after the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner makes official rulings on several outstanding cases. Cleveland police also do not typically count justified homicides, killings committed in self-defense or police-involved shootings a prosecutor rules was justified.

An additional factor that contributed to the homicide units increased success was the fact that detectives solved five of the seven homicides that had more than one victim, including including an Oct. 30 double homicide, followed two days later by a triple homicide.

Homicide detectives also solved a July 9 quadruple homicide in Clevelands Slavic Village neighborhood that included the deaths of a woman, a bystander and two children.

Cleveland police count a death homicide case closed when someone is formally charged in court. Convictions in court are not factored into the solve rate. When prosecutors charged Armond Johnson Sr. with aggravated murder in the quadruple homicide in Slavic Village, it counts as four homicides.

The two multiple victim cases that remain unsolved is the September quadruple slaying of four people, including a pregnant 18-year-old woman, in an abandoned home in the citys Mount Pleasant neighborhood, and a Feb. 10 double shooting.

Cleveland police solved 68 percent of their cases when the numbers are adjusted to count by case and not the number of people killed.

The homicide unit operated most of 2019 with a critical staffing shortage. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael OMalley in November criticized the department for having only 13 homicide detectives to investigate more than 100 cases each year.

The department is budgeted for 23 detectives. Homicide detectives since 2015 averaged about nine new cases per year, well above the best-practices standard of four to six, according to a 2016 study by the Washington D.C.-based Police Executive Research Forum.

Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams added four detectives to the unit a few days before a Nov. 25 Cleveland City Council Safety Committee meeting in which council members questioned low-staffing levels in the homicide, sex crimes and domestic violence units. The unit now has 18 homicide detectives.

Cleveland police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia confirmed the percentage of cases solved, but did not respond to messages seeking more specific information, comment on the increased solve rate or say if the new detectives helped increase the solve rate.

Detectives are working hard with the task they have in front of them, even though they havent had the amount of detectives in that unit that they need, Cleveland Police Patrolmens Association President Jeff Follmer said.

To comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments page.

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Apple Inc.s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook will meet with the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dublin this month.

Cook will receive an award from Varadkar on January 20, in recognition of the companys 40 years of investment in Ireland, according to IDA Ireland.

While Apple is one of the nations biggest employers, some tensions have emerged. In 2018, the company shelved a plan to build $1 billion data center in the west of Ireland amid difficulties with the planning system.

In addition, the European Union has slapped Apple with a multi-billion euro bill, saying Ireland granted the company unfair deals that reduced its corporate tax rate. Apple and Ireland are appealing that decision.
Kuwait City: Kuwait on Wednesday denied reports that the United States had decided to withdraw its troops from the Gulf state, saying the Twitter account of its official news agency had been hacked.

The state-run Kuwait News Agency tweeted that the Kuwaiti defence minister had been informed by the commander of US forces in the emirate of their intention to withdraw from the Arifjan base within three days.

The news, published in both Arabic and English, was deleted within minutes.

"The (Twitter) account of Kuwait News Agency was hacked... The report about the intention of the US troops to pull out is untrue," government spokesman Tareq al-Mazrem said in a statement.

KUNA also said it had been hacked and noted that the report was not published on its general wire.

The United States said on Friday that it was deploying up to 3,500 more troops to the Middle East with reprisals expected after an American drone killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad.

The Kuwait incident comes after a US letter apparently signalling a pullout of forces from Iraq caused alarm, before the White House and the Pentagon said there were no such plans and that the letter was merely a draft.

Kuwait's Arifjan Base, which lies 70 kilometres south of the capital and close to the border with Saudi Arabia, is the main US base in Kuwait. It houses several thousand US troops and serves as a military transit point to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Kuwait and the United States are bound by a 10-year defence pact that expires in 2022.

The pact was originally signed following the first Gulf War in 1991 after a US-led international force expelled Iraqi troops from Kuwait ending seven months of occupation.
On Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, Dyheam Williams, 18, of Lindenwold, right, who was arrested and charged with murder and weapon offenses in the fatal stabbing Jan. 3 of Shamrock Deli owner Jerome Pastore, 57, in Audubon, appears with defense attorney Brad Wertheimer, left, in Camden County Superior Court. Read more

A South Jersey teen was ordered detained in custody Thursday in last weeks fatal stabbing of the owner of a popular deli in Audubon, Camden County.

Dyheam Williams, 18, of Lindenwold, dressed in a dark-blue prison jumpsuit, stood emotionless in a Camden courtroom, with his hands cuffed in front, for his first appearance before a judge. He faces murder and weapon charges in the stabbing of Jerome Pastore, 57, at the Shamrock Deli at Cuthbert Boulevard and Davis Avenue.

Defense attorney Brad Wertheimer told Camden County Superior Court Judge Edward McBride Jr. that the defense was not contesting Williams pretrial detention. He said Williams agreed to waive a detention hearing that had been scheduled for Thursday.

Asked by the judge if it was his wish not to contest his detention, Williams replied: Yes.

Assistant Camden County Prosecutor Christine Shah said in court that Pastore, of West Berlin, whom everybody called Jerry, was a father of five children and had three grandchildren. He was well-respected and loved by the community where he lived, and he was well-respected and loved by the community where he operated his business, she said. Shah said Pastores wife, Ethel, his oldest son, a brother, and brother-in-law were in the courtroom.

Pastores relatives declined to comment after the brief hearing.

Williams supporters also declined to speak outside the courtroom, except for one woman who said: God got it. He has the last say. Thats all.

Both attorneys declined to comment to reporters.

Authorities did not detail their evidence in court, but documents in the case obtained afterward from the Camden County Prosecutors Office reveal that detectives have surveillance video, eyewitness accounts, and a fingerprint match that suggest Williams stole the delis tip jar Jan. 3, then fatally stabbed Pastore outside his deli.

A worker in the deli said that the suspect had been there multiple times over the last three weeks inquiring about a job, according to the probable-cause statement in Williams arrest. A customer in the deli at the time said she overheard Pastore speaking about a job and advised the suspect to check back the following week because a decision had not yet been made.

The customer and a second worker said the suspect then grabbed the tip jar from the counter and ran from the deli.

A third employee told detectives that Pastore, yelling at the suspect, chased him outside to the Cuthbert Boulevard side of the deli. The employee followed and saw the suspect wrestling with Pastore. The suspect was holding a knife, with a 4-to-5-inch blade, in his left hand. The employee then saw blood coming out of Pastores neck.

The suspect, wearing a ninja mask, a hoodie-style sweatshirt, and a puffy jacket, then fled on an orange bicycle, according to that witness account.

Police officers were called to the deli about 4:50 p.m., then took a wounded Pastore to Cooper University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly afterward.

An autopsy found that Pastore had 11 stab wounds, including two in his liver and one in his neck.

Surveillance video captured the suspect on the unit block of Kraft Avenue, a few blocks from the deli. He was seen in the video taking money from a jar and putting it in his pocket, then discarding the jar on the ground before riding away on an orange bicycle, the statement of probable cause says.

Detectives zeroed in on Williams after sifting through the delis job applications. One employee also identified him in a photo array as the man who allegedly stole the tip jar.

A fingerprint analysis of the jar, recovered from the driveway of a home on Kraft, found a fingerprint that matched Williams', the statement says.

Williams was arrested Sunday at his home. He remains in custody at the Camden County Jail.

In an interview Monday at the deli, Steve Ginn, who works there and said he is Pastores best friend, said the tip jar contained at most $20. If he needed money, Jerry would have given him the money, Ginn said.

Pastore was a good person, said Ginn. He had a heart of gold.
New York, US (PANA) - The top UN official in West Africa and the Sahel updated the Security Council on Wednesday, describing an unprecedented" rise in terrorist violence across the region
DECATUR  James A. Lewis, former U.S. attorney for the Central District of Illinois, will serve as guest speaker for the city's annual luncheon honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The 34th annual luncheon, planned by the Decatur Human Relations Commission and city of Decatur, will be Saturday, Jan. 18, at the Decatur Club, 151 W. Prairie Ave. Doors open at 11:15 a.m. and lunch is served at noon. This year's theme is "Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream with 20/20 Vision."

Early in his legal career, Lewis represented civil rights workers in court, including "those that were wrongly accused during the freedom fight," said Derrick Thaxton, chairman of the commission. Lewis worked in Mississippi from 1966 to 1973, promoting voting and other civil rights for several groups.

He joined the U.S. Justice Department in 1983 and moved to Springfield, where he had been an assistant U.S. attorney. He took the top job for the Central District from 2010 to 2016.

In August 2010, a State Journal-Register profile of Lewis mentioned that his office contained a picture of King with the quote: Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man cant ride you unless your back is bent. The picture was a gift from his children, Lewis told the newspaper.

The luncheon is part of a weekend of events in Decatur honoring King. The annual Freedom March is Monday, Jan. 20, starting at the Decatur Civic Center. Participants will gather at 11 a.m. and march at noon. The route will begin east on Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. and then go north to the Church of the Living God, where a ceremony is held.

"The purpose is to always remember the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King," said Thaxton. "He stood for better lifestyle not just for people of color, but for all color. We've come a long way, but we still have a ways to go."

Tickets for the luncheon are $40 for one and $400 for a table. The last day they will be available is Monday, Jan. 13. To purchase tickets or get more information, contact Sherry Beasley of the city Human Resources Department at (217) 424-2805.

IF YOU GO WHAT: 34th annual Martin Luther King Jr. luncheon WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 18. Doors open 11:15 a.m., lunch at noon. WHERE: Decatur Club, 151 W. Prairie Ave. COST: Tickets are $40 for one or $400 for a table. To buy tickets, call (217) 424-2805 or visit Human Resources on the second floor of the Decatur Civic Center, 1 Gary K. Anderson Plaza. Monday is the last day tickets will be sold.

Contact Garrett Karsten at (217) 421-6949. Follow him on Twitter: @GarrettKarsten

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TORONTO - Ontario's auditor general says she will examine the costs associated with the cancellation of an eastern Ontario wind farm, as the opposition New Democrats call for a special investigation of a move they say could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/1/2020 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO - Ontario's auditor general says she will examine the costs associated with the cancellation of an eastern Ontario wind farm, as the opposition New Democrats call for a special investigation of a move they say could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Bonnie Lysyk confirmed in a letter to the NDP on Tuesday that she will be looking at the costs to scrap the project near Cornwall, Ont., in her annual audit. But in order to conduct a full probe, Lysyk said she would need a request from a cabinet minister, the legislative assembly or a legislative committee.

Environment Minister Jeff Yurek revoked the Nation Rise Wind Farm project's approval late last year, citing the risks to three bat species. The company has launched a legal challenge of the decision, asking the Ontario divisional court to set it aside.

The auditor said her review of the cancelled deal will be similar in scope to one her office conducted into scrapped energy agreements by Premier Doug Ford's government in 2018-2019.

"We assessed the reasonableness of the province's estimate for the cancellation of other energy contracts," Lysyk said. "As part of this, we looked at contract cancellation terms, liability limits, and supplier claims."

NDP energy critic Peter Tabuns wrote to the auditor general last week to request that she review the cancellation costs, which the government has not disclosed.

Party Leader Andrea Horwath said Thursday she is concerned the cancellation could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, given a recent revelation that the province is spending $231 million to cancel more than 750 renewable energy contracts.

"The public has a right to know the cost of tearing down and scrapping the Nation Rise project," Horwath said. "That's why the NDP ... wrote to the auditor general requesting an investigation into the costs as well as an investigation into the flimsy excuse given by the environment minister to justify this cancellation."

Yurek's decision last month came despite a ruling from the provinces Environmental Review Tribunal that determined the risk the project posed to the bat population was negligible.

A spokesman for Yurek said Thursday the government cannot comment on the wind farm matter because of the pending court challenge.

The Progressive Conservative government has blamed the previous Liberals for signing the bad energy deals while the province had an oversupply of electricity.

It has also said that by cancelling contracts last July, it would ultimately save ratepayers $790 million  a figure industry officials have disputed.

At the time, the government also said it would introduce legislation that would protect hydro consumers from any costs incurred from the cancellation.

It has since acknowledged it will have to pay some companies to cancel the deals and set aside $231 million to reach agreements with those firms.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 9, 2020.
Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy (red tie) chairs the UN Security Council Briefing on the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel. (Photo: VNA)

Chairing the UN Security Council Briefing on the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) on January 8, the diplomat stressed that in the context of the worsening situation in the region, countries should join hands to resolve the unstability there, including organised crime and the impact of climate change on regional security.

According to Mohamed Ibn Chambas, UN Special Represenative and Head of the UNOWAS, the region has experienced a devastating surge in terrorist attacks against civilian and military targets, with Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso suffering the most.

Recurring attacks have triggered population displacements of more than 5.1 million people, led to the prolonged closure of health and education facilities, and in certain areas reinforced the role of militias and self-defence groups for security, he said.

On behalf of UNOWAS, Chambas spoke highly of agencies in Guinea-Bissau for ensuring safety for the second round of the countrys presidential elections on December 29. However, he warned of the threat of increasing violence when presidential elections take place in Burkina Faso, Cote dIvoire, Ghana, Guinea, Niger and Togo.

He also mentioned other threats to the nations, including racial conflict, territorial disputes between Nigeria and Cameroon, as well as breakaway activities in other countries.

Terrorism, organised crime and intercommunal violence are often intertwined, especially in peripheral areas where the States presence is weak.

In those places, extremists provide safety and protection to populations, as well as social services in exchange for loyalty, he informed the Council, echoing the Secretary-General in saying that for these reasons, counter-terrorism responses must focus on gaining the trust and support of local populations.

The Special Representative outlined that governments, local actors, regional organisations and the international community are mobilising across the region to respond to these challenges.

Calling now the time for action, Chambas drew attention to the importance of supporting regional Governments by prioritising a cross-pillar approach at all levels and across all sectors.

Other members of the UNSC also voiced their concerns over rising violence in West Africa. Niger, South Africa and Tunisia lauded UNOWASs efforts and roles, and reiterated African countries commitment to handling the situation in the region. They also asked the UNSC for further support for UNOWAs activities in the area.

Other representatives at the event said UNOWAS should focus on helping regional countries successfully hold presidential elections.
IMAGE: Rescue team members and other people check the debris of the plane. Photograph: Nazanin Tabatabaee/West Asia News Agency via Reuters

US officials believe that a Ukraine airliner that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people aboard, was most likely brought down accidentally by Iranian air defense.

United States President Donald Trump also said that he had "suspicions" about the crash as US media reported it had been mistakenly shot down by Iran.

"I have my suspicions," Trump said.

"It was flying in a pretty rough neighbourhood and somebody could have made a mistake."

Trump's remarks came as Newsweek, CBS and CNN reported that the plane had been accidentally shot down by Iranian air defense systems.

The flight had crashed near the airport in southern Tehran minutes after take-off killing at least 167 passengers and nine crew members.

The plane, which was reported to have been a Boeing 737, was on its way to Kiev in Ukraine from Tehran.
Fugitive underworld don Ejaz Lakdawala, wanted in connection with several cases of extortion and attempt to kill, has been arrested by Mumbai Police's anti-extortion cell, a top official said on Thursday.

Lakdawala, 50, was detained at Patna by the anti-extortion cell with the help of Bihar Police on Wednesday. He was then brought to Mumbai and placed under arrest late Wednesday night, Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve told reporters here.

Once a close aid of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Lakdawala was wanted in at least 27 cases in Maharashtra, including 25 in Mumbai, he said, adding that as of now 80 people have come forward with complaints against him.

After being arrested, Lakdawala was produced in a Mumbai court which remanded him in police custody till January 21, the official said.

"He was wanted in various cases under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) cases. All these cases will be investigated concurrently," he said.

In May 2004, Lakdawala was arrested by the Canadian Police in Ottawa.

A few years back he was believed to be somewhere in North America, although he frequently changed his locations to South East Asia as well.

A Red Corner notice was earlier issued against him.

On the operation to nab Lakdawala, Joint Commissioner of Police Sanjay Saxena said their efforts to nab the fugitive gangster were on since the last six months and the city police force was working closely with central agencies.

"Our efforts gained momentum after the arrest of Lakdawala's daughter Shifa Shahid Shaikh at the Mumbai International Airport on December 28 while she was travelling to Nepal on a fake passport," he said.

Shaikh was travelling with a passport in the name of Soniya Manish Advani, he said.

During her interrogation, police got some important information aboutLakdawala's movements following which he was nabbed at Jakkanpur village in Patna, he said.

Lakdawala has been arrested on a complaint filed with the anti-extortion cell by a businessman from Khar in Mumbai.

His daughter has also been arrested in the same case, the official said.

After splitting with fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim, Lakdawala started operating with gangster Chhota Rajan. He, however, parted ways with Rajan in 2008 and started running his operations independently, Saxena said.

"We have information that he stayed in Canada, Malaysia, USA, London, and Nepal and we will confirm this information during an investigation," he said.

He was operating under various fakes names, passports and travel documents, the official said.

"Mumbai Police will examine all those documents," he added.

-PTI

Also Read: Budget 2020: Parliament Budget Session to start from January 31, all eyes on income tax relief
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Thankfully, Trumps foolhardiness with Iran did not result in loss of life among our troops. When even Senator Mike Lee (R) Utah called the Trump administrations intel briefing on the Soleimani assassination the worst hed ever seen before Fox cut him off, you know that criticism of Trumps conduct is about national security, not partisanship.

GOP Sen. Mike Lee railing on the Iran briefing just now from senior administration officials, calling it the worst briefing Ive had on a military issue in my nine years in the Senate  Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 8, 2020

Lee and Democrat Jeff Merkley both described the briefing as insulting and demeaning. This may be the first time since Trump took office that a Democrat and a Republican agreed on anything of substance.

So when I say that Iran won this last round, I do it with sadness and with concern for our national security. Aside from the fact that Trumps conduct did not result in the deaths of American troops, nothing else that happened was in our favor.

Sure, Trump united previously divergent political factions. The only problem is they were Iraqis and Iranians  not Americans. That put Iraqis squarely on Irans side, score one for Iran. Iran called Trumps bluff about retaliation by dropping missiles close enough to American bases to make it look like Iran was standing up to America and getting away with it. Trump, for all his bluster, backed down from threats to commit the war crime of targeting cultural sites and ended up looking hollow over his threat of consequences if Iran retaliated.

His morning address was, without question, the sort of hot mess that weve been reduced to expecting from this president  but the fact, is no amount of spin could remove the fact that Iran out-maneuvered Trump this time.

And Trump is so obsessed with erasing Barack Obamas presidency that he cant see it, even though its painfully obvious to everyone else.

This was supposed to be an address to the nation. Instead, it was another embarrassing reminder of @realDonaldTrumps absurd fixation on vilifying @BarackObama. Making matters worse, its obvious this man cares more about appearing tough than keeping the American people safe. https://t.co/NnJVUA7nrQ  Rep. Jimmy Gomez (@RepJimmyGomez) January 8, 2020

That obsession is Trumps Achilles heel, and could be ours as well unless someone not named Vladimir Putin reels him in.

Throughout his presidency, Trump obsessed over ways to show Obama up  be it in his pathetic campaign to be Time Magazines Person of the Year (an accolade won by teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg) or more substantive matters, like debasing then erasing the Obama Administrations foreign policy.

That Obama made a major international agreement with Iran was always a sore point for Republicans and it was always debased with lies suggesting that Obama paid Iran off. Trump took that lie to a more obscene level by saying https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/01/08/trump-claims-win-iran-he-accuses-obama-funding-its-attacks/ Obama funded Irans attacks.

Hes desperate, looking for an escape route from impeachment, obsessing over ways to erase the Obama presidency that will forever outshine Trumps in every area that matters.

He probably felt good after Soleimanis assassination, having people killed off just like would be done by the strong men he so admires.

But like so many of Trumps power rushes, the high didnt last. Iran all but laughed at his post-kill bluster with the appearance of retaliation. One can only imagine how many aides it will take to peel Trump off the walls when he finds out about the real retaliation, be it in the form of cyber warfare, or perhaps Iran will have its Wikileaks moment by outing Trumps tax returns.

The point is we came out of this chapter without our troops getting hurt but with less influence than before. Trump can insult and yell at our traditional allies all he wants, but the odds of NATO intervening in the Middle East to save Trumps backside are virtually nil. In short, he has cost us influence around the globe with old allies and with foes. All are laughing at the presidents best words that dont even fool or impress congressional Republicans anymore.

The America Barack Obama led understood why taking out Soleimani was a bad idea, and we understood that getting people talking is the first real step toward achieving foreign policy goals. They understood that taking out Soleimani amounted to a declaration of war  as did everyone else.

Trump, being the narcissist he is, was certain that Iran would jump to his whims simply because he is Donald Trump. Iran proved him wrong and presented itself as the rational actor by comparison. Iran talked about responding in a proportionate and lawful manner.

Some will point to the fact that Trump did back down as an indication that he actually does know what hes doing. The thing is, he didnt back down because he read the tea leaves and recognized that Irans symbolic retaliation was an attempt to turn the temperature down.

Trump saw that he was standing alone and that his support among Republicans in Congress is symbolically softer than usual. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to result in Republican support for the House war powers resolution https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/08/politics/house-democrats-finalizing-details-iran-war-powers-resolution/index.html thats scheduled for a vote on Thursday.

One reality is painfully clear: Congressional Republicans are as much a part of the problem as Trump is, because in their cowardice, they enable him. Anytime anyone shows even the slightest amount of pushback, Trump backs down. Speaker Pelosi proved this time and again over the past year and now, so has Iran.
A former Justice Ministry official related to Hrayr Tovmasian was arrested on Thursday as part of criminal proceedings launched against the embattled chairman of Armenias Constitutional Court.

Norayr Panosian was already arrested in late September. Armenias Court of Appeals freed him in early November, questioning the credibility of the accusations of abuse of power leveled against him.

Prosecutors altered those accusations and indicted Tovmasian as well late last month, saying that the latter abused his powers when he served as justice minister from 2010-2014. In particular, they alleged that Tovmasian colluded with Panosian to illegally privatize an office in Yerevan. They said that in 2012 he also forced state notaries subordinate to the Justice Ministry to rent other offices de facto belonging to him.

Tovmasian rejected the accusations, saying that they are part of intensifying government efforts to force him to resign as head of the countrys highest court. Also, his lawyers said that Prosecutor-General Davtian had no right to charge him without the consent of most of the eight other members of the Constitutional Court.

The prosecutors have refrained from arresting Tovmasian so far, seeking to imprison Panosian instead. A district court in Yerevan allowed them to do so on Thursday.

Panosian denied the accusations brought against him when he briefly spoke to RFE/RLs Armenian service in the court on Wednesday. His lawyer, Tigran Atanesian, said the authorities are prosecuting the ex-official to step up their pressure on Tovmasian.

Atanesian similarly accused the court of acting on government orders when it sanctioned his clients arrest the following day. Sadly, our judicial system is in a much more deplorable state than it was under [former Presidents] Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian, he said.

Heriknaz Tigranian, a parliament deputy from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians My Step alliance, dismissed any parallels between the current and former authorities. I dont see any similarities at all, she told RFE/RLs Armenian service.

Both the government and law-enforcement authorities deny political motives behind the high-profile case.

Pashinian implicitly demanded the resignation of Tovmasian and other Constitutional Court members in August. He accused them of maintaining links with Armenias former leadership and impeding reforms which he says are aimed at creating a truly independent judiciary. His critics say that he is on the contrary seeking to gain control over all Armenian courts.

Tovmasian was indicted on December 27 one day after President Armen Sarkissian signed into law a controversial government bill giving seven Constitutional Court judges financial incentives to resign before the end of their mandate.
The rapid social and economic development of China in recent decades has allowed this country to become one of the world leaders and centers of power. China currently holds key positions in the world in the production and consumption of the most important mineral raw materials. The diamond market is not an exception, in which China, having surpassed Japan, confidently ranks second behind the USA. With a further increase in the well-being of the population, and having an enormous potential in increasing the consumption of luxury goods, the country has every chance to take first place in future both in the consumption of diamonds and diamond jewelry and in the production of laboratory-grown diamonds (LGD). Moreover, now in China, the production of the LGDs for technical purposes has reached stratospheric levels and their cost has decreased so much that the diamond mining for technical purposes is already a thing of the past.

Diamond deposits in China

China has the largest diamond reserves in Asia. Over the past 50 years, over 20 kimberlite pipes and 100 diamond placers have been discovered in China. Currently, the diamond reserves of the fields discovered are estimated at 23 million carats. About 50% of these discovered diamond reserves are concentrated in the Liaoning Province and are estimated at 11 million carats. In the Shandong Province, the diamond reserves are estimated at more than 9 million carats. The reserves in the Changde area of the Hunan province and the Xinyi district of the Jiangsu province are estimated at 0.5 million carats. Today, exploration is intensively carried out in the area of the South China platform. In 2010, a deposit was discovered in the Wafangdian region with the reserves estimated at 210,000 carats.

Diamond mining

At the same time, in 2011, the production was extremely insignificant and amounted to 201 carats only (Table. 1, Fig. 1). In the Liaoning Province, 9 deposits were under development: 6 kimberlite deposits and 3 open-cast ones. The fields are concentrated in the the Wafangdian region. Their development has been underway since 1987. On average, up to 60,000 carats of rough diamonds were mined per year. Kimberlite pipe No.50 has been developed for 20 years and was closed in 2004. More than 65% of the diamonds mined in the Wafangdian region, are gem-quality one, nearly 95% of which are exported to the United States, Belgium and Hong Kong.

One of the key deposits in the Shandong province is Mine No.701 in Mengyin. It has been developed since 1976. Up to 50,000 carats of diamonds were mined annually. In 1995, when volumes mined reached a minimum level, more than half of the operations were suspended. In 1998, with the participation of the Canadian company Abacus Mining and Exploration Corporation, an underground diamond mining system was installed at the mine, which made it possible to achieve a production level of 50,000 carats of diamonds per year. Most of the diamonds mined here are for industrial use, and only 20 percent diamonds are suitable for cutting and polishing. Of these, most of the stones are exported to South Korea, Japan, the USA, Belgium and India.

The deposits in the Changde area have been developed for over 50 years. On average, up to 20,000 carats of diamonds were mined per year, and currently the diamond production almost stopped (Fig. 1, Table 1).

Cutting and polishing industry

Back in 2004, China ranked second in the world after India in the diamond manufacture. At present, the number of workers at the Chinese diamond cutting unis is over 30,000 people, 20-25% less compared with the pre-crisis 2008. The Chinese cutting and polishing industry is mainly concentrated in the Shandong province (5,000 cutters), Guangdong province (12,000 cutters) and Shanghai province (2,000 cutters) that form three large diamond clusters. Most Chinese diamond cutting and polishing units, especially those located in the Guangdong province, currently use the most advanced equipment at all the main stages of the diamond manufacture - determining the stone design, laser cutting and polishing of the facets. Among them, there are giant plants with up to 4,000 personnel. A significant number of factories are owned by foreign investors from Hong Kong, Israel, Belgium, India, Thailand, etc. As a rule, managers and highly qualified specialists at these companies are the invited foreigners. In addition to them, there are a large number of national enterprises with state and private ownership.



Fig. 1. China's diamond industry

Depending on a diamond size, the cost of cutting is $10-15 per carat, which is comparable to the cost in India, and they are of higher quality and 3 times cheaper than in Israel or Belgium.

Jewelry manufacture

About 150,000 people are currently engaged in the jewelry production, a significant part of which is concentrated in 2 districts of the Guangdong province: approximately 80,000 people in the area of the Shenzhen city and 40,000 people in the area of Panyu. Being one of the first free economic zones (FEZ), Shenzhen is adjacent to Hong Kong and processes 70% of the Chinese gold, with half of the goods exported through Hong Kong.

Diamond trading

In 2009, China became the second largest consumer of diamonds, overtaking the Japanese market. The Shanghai Diamond Exchange alone currently has a turnover of around $1.8 bn.

Table 1

Diamond mining, imports and exports in China, 2006-2018



According to the Kimberley Process data

The table shows that China has firmly become one of the leading centers in the global diamond trade. Despite the fact that diamond mining in the country is insignificant, in 2018, the PRC exported 12.56 mn carats of diamonds worth $2,193.89 mn, which is comparable with the figures of Canada, one of the top diamond-mining countries in the world.

Synthetic diamonds and LGDs as the first black swan of the global diamond business

At the current stage of the global economy development, most major industries faced with global problems that will inevitably lead them to another crisis. According to estimates, the LGD jewelry accounts for more than 2% of the Indian gem and jewelry exports to the United States, which equals to $14 bn. This year, the synthetic diamond jewelry exports are likely to be around $280 mn, according to Business Standard.

China is currently the world's largest producer of synthetic diamonds. Over 600 companies work in the industry. They manufacture up to 400 mn carats of the man-made diamonds annually. The synthetic diamonds in many ways can satisfy the needs of the industry. But there are still areas where the synthetic stones are not able to replace the natural diamonds, so among many challenges, China has a task of the development of its own diamond mining sector, which would reduce the dependence on the rough diamond imports.

Prospects for the development of the diamond business in China

The following factors contribute to the effective development of the diamond business in China:

1. High growth rate of the Chinese economy that contributes to higher well-being of the population and higher consumer demand for the polished diamonds and diamond jewelry. It is worth noting that the diamond jewelry has now become an integral part of the wedding ceremonies in China.

2. Broad support is given by the Chinese government to the diamond jewelry industry development by reducing taxation and supporting the domestic demand.

3. Cheap labor force, the introduction of advanced technologies, a highly developed and dynamic infrastructure for conducting the diamond business and strict quality control allow China to become one of the leading diamond centers in the global economy.

Yury Danilov, Ph. D. in Economics, independent analyst and expert




A Mexican migrant trying to request asylum in the United States slit his throat at the border after being turned away, authorities said Thursday.

The suicide occurred after the man was denied entry to the US at the bridge between the Mexican city of Reynosa and Pharr, Texas, said officials in Mexico.

"He was attempting to cross to the US side to request asylum. When he was denied entry, he walked several meters (yards) toward the Mexican side and cut himself with a knife," the prosecutor's office for the Mexican state of Tamaulipas said in a statement.

The tragedy came two days after the United States announced it would begin sending some Mexican asylum-seekers to Guatemala, the latest move by President Donald Trump's government to reduce the number of undocumented migrants entering the US.

The policy has drawn criticism from rights groups, who argue that Mexicans fleeing a wave of brutally violent crime in the country could face similar dangers in neighboring Guatemala.

Trump has been pressuring Mexico to stem a surge of asylum-seekers crossing the border, often fleeing poverty and violence in Central America.

Under threat of US sanctions, Mexico has deployed 27,000 National Guardsmen to its northern and southern borders to stop them, and begun allowing the United States to send Central American asylum-seekers back to Mexico while their cases are processed.

The US said Thursday it had arrested or stopped 40,620 migrants along the southern border in December.

The figure -- a widely watched indicator of how many undocumented migrants are crossing the border -- was down more than 70 percent since May.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
OTTAWA - The crash of an airplane, anywhere in the world, launches an investigative process with standards for what evidence needs to be collected and who can be involved. Here's how it might work after the crash of a Ukrainian airliner flying from Tehran to Kyiv, with many Canadians aboard.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/1/2020 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bodies of the victims of a Ukrainian plane crash are collected by rescue team at the scene of the crash in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. A Ukrainian passenger jet carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday, just minutes after taking off from the Iranian capital's main airport, turning farmland on the outskirts of Tehran into fields of flaming debris and killing all on board. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

OTTAWA - The crash of an airplane, anywhere in the world, launches an investigative process with standards for what evidence needs to be collected and who can be involved. Here's how it might work after the crash of a Ukrainian airliner flying from Tehran to Kyiv, with many Canadians aboard.

Who is involved?

Under rules set out by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the countries where the crash happened, where the plane is registered, where the plane's operator is located, and where its manufacturer is based are all brought in. In this case, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board of the Civil Aviation Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran is in charge. Ukraine assists because the operator is based there, and so should the United States because that's where Boeing, the manufacturer of the 737-800 aircraft, is located.

The lead country can call in other outside experts to look more closely at the engines, the pilots and maintenance, among other areas, said Barbara Dunn, president of the Canadian Society of Air Safety Investigators.

As well, the country suffering the most fatalities from the crash is usually invited to take part, said Daniel Adjekum, an assistant professor of aviation at the University of North Dakota.

Canada's Transportation Safety Board, in a statement, said it has an expert who will review factual information released by the Iranians and monitor progress on the investigation "by virtue of fatalities to Canadian citizens."

The host country can also turn to Interpol for assistance identifying victims, which could include help from the RCMP. In a statement Wednesday, the Mounties said they co-ordinate help coming from the military, forensic odontologists (experts on identifying people via teeth) and provincial pathologists. The RCMP said no such request for help has yet come in.

When a Malaysian Airlines plane crashed over Ukraine in 2014, flying from the Netherlands to Malaysia, the safety authorities from the Netherlands led the investigation; more than two-thirds of the passengers were Dutch.

What are the first steps in an investigation?

Investigators collect pieces of the plane, interview as many people as possible  including witnesses, air-traffic controllers and any survivors  and collect evidence, including any information from air-traffic control. They will also map the crash site to determine details about the impact.

Documents, too, are collected by other countries involved, including those related to pilot training and maintenance logs.

For instance, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued a directive in October 2019 that airlines needed to inspect the 737-800, among other 737 models, for cracking. Adjekum said investigators would look for how Ukraine International Airlines responded to this issue to see if that provides clues.

But he cautions about jumping to conclusions about what downed the plane: "You don't want to speculate. You want to be guided by the evidence."

What about the "black boxes"?

The flight data and voice recorders, commonly known as "black boxes" (even though they are orange), record the sounds of the pilots' voices, alarms and engines that could give investigators clues about what happened. The recorders also keep track of external factors, such as the weather.

Dunn said it can take days to find the recorders depending on the wreckage field, though Iranian authorities said they'd found the ones from the Ukrainian plane quickly.

Dunn said the recorders are sent to an independent authority, such as the Transportation Safety Board in Canada, which Dunn said has among the best labs in the world to do the work. The idea of sharing the work is to "get as much information and as much causal factors as we possibly can because that's how we stop it from happening again," she said.

Others with noted reputations are the French and the Americans, but sending the recorders to the U.S. may be politically problematic with tensions high between Washington and Tehran; Iran says it won't do so. Likewise, having American crash investigators in Tehran could be difficult.

But Dunn and others said it's likely the Iranian investigators will turn to outsiders for help.

Is there a role for Canada here?

Transport Minister Marc Garneau has offered Canada's technical expertise, and this country may be asked to review the recorders as a third party, said Elaine Parker, vice-president of the Canadian Society of Air Safety Investigators. Such a setup would also allow Boeing to be involved in analyzing data, because investigators would want the company's expertise, she said.

Boeing is a major American defence contractor, which might complicate Iran's willingness to co-operate with it as the crashed plane's manufacturer.

What else might investigators do behind the scenes?

Parker said one thing investigators try to do is slow things down so no one gets hurt going to the scene of the crash and the scene is preserved. Slowing things down is critical because of the clamour from the public and politicians after a high-profile crash, she said.

"Everyone would like answers right away. I know they're not going to get them," Parker said, putting herself in the position of an investigator beginning work.

"The politicians are saying what they're saying because this isn't their area of expertise. I know they're going to say things that are not going to be accurate and so I'm going to set up briefings for them, I'm going to set up briefings for the media."

How long do investigations take?

It could be weeks, months or years before the details of what brought down the plane are learned, if they are learned at all. Normally, though, a final report is expected after two years.

"Aviation is a complex system and complex systems do not fail because of one thing," Parker said.

Adjekum noted that if the plane came down for nefarious reasons, such as sabotage or a bomb, then a criminal investigation would begin with prosecutors and other law enforcement involved.

The investigation of the Malaysian Airlines crash in Ukraine took about two months to produce a preliminary report and 15 months to reach a final conclusion that the plane had been shot down by a missile.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 8, 2020.
It is a very exciting time to be a part of Veros Credit and the improvements we continue to make for both the dealer and customer experience will continue to drive growth that is scalable and sustainable

In a hyper-competitive market space, Veros Credit experienced a record-breaking year in 2019 and is positioned to deliver even better results in the coming year. Its commitment to technological enhancements in all stages of each account is relentless and continues to be the driving force behind the recent growth. By leveraging technology to enhance the dealer experience, Veros Credit captured a 20% increase in loan origination year-over-year, while cutting dealer funding time by 50%! These critical enhancements have boosted dealer satisfaction to an all-time high. According to Harvey Singh, the Chief Operating Officer of Veros Credit, We made the process as seamless and as painless as possible for our partnered dealers so that they can expect a positive, fair, and efficient outcome every time. Experience and feedback taught us what our dealers needed, and we simply invested intelligently to meet the demand.

Technological innovation and implementation are just a part of the business strategy at Veros Credit; maintaining positive and mutually beneficial relationships with dealers remains paramount. Veros Credit provides extensive dealer support in all phases of the origination process. Said Harvey Singh, We do not just deliver technology to the doorstep of our partnered dealers; rather, we show them how to use it to better their business.

This strategy has enabled Veros Credit to enter six new markets in 2019, experiencing 20% growth over 2018, and is expected to exceed that accomplishment in the coming year with additional territories that are expected to open in 2020. Opening new markets will include the roll out of new programs for independent and franchised dealers alike. The Veros Credit Franchise Dealer Program was another enhancement of 2019 that will be a point of emphasis in the years to come. Veros Credit designed a model that provides quick decisions with competitive rates while dovetailing complete dealer support throughout the program.

It is a very exciting time to be a part of Veros Credit and the improvements we continue to make for both the dealer and customer experience will continue to drive growth that is scalable and sustainable, said Mr. Singh.
The Congress on Thursday accused the government of "adopting double standards" by organising "guided tours" to Jammu and Kashmir for foreign envoys, but not allowing Indian politicians to visit there.

The party launched a broadside against the government hours after envoys from 15 countries including United States Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the first by diplomats since August last year when the then state's special status was revoked and it was downsized to two union territories.

"The government is adopting double standards by allowing foreign envoys to visit Jammu and Kashmir, but not Indian politicians," senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said at a press conference.

He, however, clarified that the Congress party was not opposed to such a visit, but Indian politicians should also be allowed to visit there.

Ramesh said this was the second such attempt by the government, after the one planned for delegates of EU Parliamentarians on October 29 last year.

At that time after facing criticism, the government had to say that it was an informal visit and not an official one, the Congress leader said.

"We do not oppose this visit of foreign envoys. But when our own politicians are not allowed to go to Jammu and Kashmir to meet people there, what is the purpose of taking foreign envoys there?" he posed.

Ramesh said three former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir were still under house arrest and one ex-CM, who was also the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha -- Ghulam Nabi Azad -- had to seek the permission from the Supreme Court to visit the Union territory.

When a Parliamentary delegation, opposition leaders, former Congress president and CPI(M) general secretary, could not go to Jammu and Kashmir, then what was the purpose of taking foreign envoys there, Ramesh asked.

"We demand that the government allows unfettered access to Jammu and Kashmir to all politicians and not resort to guided tours for envoys," he said.

Ramesh said the Congress wants that meaningful political activities start in Jammu and Kashmir immediately and "political tourism" for foreign envoys stops. "It is important to stop such guided tours."



"In the last five months, no meaningful political activity has taken place in Jammu and Kashmir. The Congress party wants that meaningful political activities start in Jammu and Kashmir immediately. Political tourism of taking envoys to Jammu and Kashmir should stop," Ramesh said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The reason: a problem with the cars doors.

The authority said that two incidents involving door mechanisms had led it to sideline the 298 cars, a major setback to efforts to modernize the subway system.

My colleague Emma G. Fitzsimmons, who has reported on the subway, called the decision to yank the cars a really troubling sign for the M.T.A.

The most basic thing you need to run a subway is train cars that work, she said, noting that cars are really complicated. Theyre really gigantic pieces of machinery. They have lots of small, intricate components.

[The subway pulls 300 cars for fear doors would open during rides.]

The problem

The M.T.A. said it had started to remove the cars, which make up less than 5 percent of the systems total fleet, from the A, C, J and Z lines for inspection on Tuesday night. It temporarily replaced them with spare cars that were some of its oldest models. The authority also modified service on the J and Z lines so that trains were running less often.
According to breeder/owner Cindy Tupper, nine-year-old homebred La Diva De Rosa has turned out to be her Lucky No. 3.

La Diva De Rosa, who is currently trained by Richard Bertrand and driven by Jacob Cutting, has banked over $90,000 in earnings and has made 22 trips to the winners circle over the course of her career.

Shes turned out to be my Lucky No. 3, Tupper said when asked about the bay. Shes the third foal out of Keystone Rosedale, who we call Rosie, by Little Steven.

She was born on June 3, 2011 and has been performing very well. She set her lifetime mark here (Cal Expo) on April 2, 2018, with Ryan Grundy driving.

La Diva De Rosa prefers to save her best for last, which was the case in [her] victory two starts back over a good track. Jacob said shes a pleasure to drive, doesnt do anything wrong and gives her all, said a proud Tupper.

Shes a small mare, but shes mighty when she races!

Brighten Your Life Eying A Hat Trick

Brighten Your Life, fresh from back-to-back scores, will look to keep the momentum going in Friday nights featured $6,700 Filly and Mare Open at Cal Expo.

Watch and Wager LLC will present 12 races during the card and first post will be at 6:10 p.m. The main event has been programmed as the third contest of the evening.

Brighten Your Life is a seven-year-old daughter of Shark Gesture that is owned by Tyler Gunderson and trainer Jenna Cornelison. James Marshall IV will once again perform the driving duties Friday.

In last weeks assignment, Marshall shot right to the front with the dark-hued mare, and the issue was never in doubt as she came to the wire three lengths the best and notched the win while racing as the 7-2 third choice. Brighten Your Life did her work from Post 5 in a seven-horse field that night. She is scheduled to start from the outside Post 6 on Friday.

Danciningthesound put in her usual strong finish in last weeks clash at this level, but had to settle for the place money for the second consecutive time. The Alan Cooper colourbearer is conditioned by Kathie Plested and will once again have Mooney Svendsen guiding.

Completing the lineup will be Virgin Eyes with Jacob Fox; Capitol Hill, Steve Wiseman; Shock N Awe, who will have the services of Nick Roland; and Brians Magic Girl, who will start from the cozy rail with Gerry Longo giving directions.

There are two wagers offered at Cal Expo each night with a reduced 16 per cent takeout rate  the 20-cent Pick 5 and the 20-cent Pick 4. The Pick 4 comes with a $30,000 guaranteed gross pool on Fridays and a $40,000 guarantee on Saturdays.

(With files from Cal Expo)
During a reception in Hanoi for visiting Japanese Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Takaichi Sanae, head of the Organisation Commission of the Party Central Committee Pham Minh Chinh, who is also a Politburo member, member of the Committees Secretariat and head of the Vietnam - Japan friendship parliamentarians group, expressed his delight at the strong and substantial development of the relations between the two countries.

He spoke highly of the ministers role in and active contributions to the development of the bilateral strategic partnership, and asked her to support Vietnam in training the human resources and building an e-government.

For her part, the Japanese minister informed her host that her ministry and the Ministry of Information and Communications of Vietnam will intensify cooperation in the time to come, focusing on the ICT, postal services and building an e-government.

She also pledged that as the minister and with her fine sentiment for Vietnam, she will continue contributing to the development of the bilateral in the time to come.
The leading civil Rights Advocacy group  HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has applauded the decision of the political leadership of the South West of Nigeria to formulate a home-made security strategy to tackle the increasing threats to the security of lives and property of law abiding citizens of their federating units.

The rest of the federating units such as South South; South East; North central; North West; North East should similarly adopt same approach because safeguarding the security of the citizenry and coming to the aid of state institutions such as the Nigerian Police Force and other sister security institutions is the fundamental task of a good citizen. A bottom to the top approa h to security and the formulation of security strategy to make the people the owners of the process is the best intelligence gathering tool.

We have watched with overwhelming excitement the collective resolve of millions of people of South West origin including millions of other law abiding citizens of other segments of the Nigerian federation doing legitimate businesses in the South West, to collectively restore sanity, security and societal harmony in that part of the country that remains the industrial and commercial hub of the Nation, is highly commendable. We hereby urge governors of other federating units to follow the good model of the South West joint security architecture, to bring about the restoration of security, peace, unity and economic advancements in all other parts of Nigeria.

HURIWA recalled that the governors of the South West will on January 7, inaugurate Operation Amotekun, a security strategy meant to combat killings and kidnapping in the zone.

The Ekiti State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Muyiwa Olumilua, who said this in an interview with one of our correspondents on Wednesday, said vehicles and equipment for the security outfit were ready.

He stated that the inauguration was delayed by the need for all the states to be adequately ready in terms of meeting the requirements.

HURIWA sated thus: "We commend the South West governors who had, in September, after a meeting in Akure, said they would set up Operation Amotekun, following serial killings and kidnapping in the zone by Fulani herdsmen. There is every justification for the establishment of this model security architecture following a relentless gale of armed attacks by bandits and suspected armed Fulani bandits. In June, gunmen, suspected to be herdsmen, killed Funke Olakunri, a daughter of the Afenifere leader, Reuben Fasoranti, on the Ondo-Ore road.There were cases of kidnapping, including the abduction of a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Prof. Olayinka Adegbehingbe, in May, at the Ikoyi/Apomu junction of the Ibadan-Ife Expressway in Ikire, a border town between Osun and Oyo states. We in the organised human rights community are happy that the governors have taken the bull by the horns and are now doing something to checkmate the rising scale of threats to the security of lives and property of the good people of the South West."
Photo: Israel Palacio/Unsplash

If you love to take advantage of the music offerings near you, this weekend offers several great reasons to leave the house.

From an oboe recital to a blues concert, read on for a local music to-do list to fill your calendar this week.

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

Bhavani Kotha Oboe Recital

From the event description:

Rising star Bhavani Kotha has recently released a solo album "Bhavani's Oboe" under the Crystal Records label. She is the winner of the 2019 Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition and National Federation of Musicians Nelson Double Reed Award. She will perform music by Poulenc, Cimarosa, Haydn and Dring and will be accompanied by pianist Maria Garcia and bassoonist Lucas Zeiter.

When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 2-4 p.m.

Where: The Old Church Concert Hall, 1422 S.W. 11th Ave.

Admission: $15-$20

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Cedric Burnside

From the event description:

Grammy-nominated in 2015 for Best Blues Album for the Cedric Burnside Projects Descendants of Hill Country, as well as the recipient of the Blues Music Awards honor as Drummer of the Year for four consecutive years, Cedrics latest album offers a showcase for his electric and acoustic guitar, recording 26 tracks in just two days with drummer/slide guitarist Brian Jay in the latters Brooklyn home studio in a rush of creativity.

When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 8 p.m.- Sunday, Jan. 12, 12 a.m.

Where: Mississippi Studios, 3939 N. Mississippi Ave.

Admission: $17

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Buzz Holland 5 with Paula Sinclair

From the event description:

Country, Jazz, blues, folk, bluegrass, reggae, retro pop, Western swing and the hybrids of their interplay.

When: Sunday, Jan. 12, 6-7:45 p.m.

Where: Alberta Street Pub, 1036 N.E. Alberta St.

Admission: $5

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.
Both of the so-called "black box" flight recorders that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they had been damaged and some parts of their memory were lost.

Pilots of a Ukraine International Airlines plane that crashed shortly after its takeoff from Tehran Airport Wednesday reportedly tried to turn the plane for the airport of departure when it hit the ground, that's according to a preliminary report of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran.

The report says that, after taking off, a sudden technical issue emerged, due to which the plane turned back toward the airport. At the same time, the pilots did not report any problems to the tower, CAOI experts say.

Head of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran Ali Abedzadeh, citing eyewitness accounts, said the Ukrainian plane caught fire in midair before plunging to the ground, Kommersant reports.

The report also confirmed that both of the so-called "black box" flight recorders that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they had been damaged and some parts of their memory were lost. It also said that investigators have initially ruled out laser or electromagnetic interference as causing the crash, according to the Associated Press.

A preliminary report was submitted to Ukraine, which owns the aircraft, the United States (the manufacturing country of Boeing), as well as Canada and Sweden, whose citizens were on board.

Read alsoUkrainian experts leave for Iran to join probe into PS752 crash

Iranian authorities previously ruled out a missile hit. Local airport authorities alleged engine fire as the cause of the crash. Reuters sources said that, according to Western intelligence, the plane crashed as a result of a technical malfunction. Meanwhile, Ukraine began its own probe into the crash.

Ukrainian officials, for their part, initially agreed with Iranian suspicions that the plane, manufactured in 2016, was brought down by mechanical trouble but later backed away from that and declined to offer a cause while the investigation is going on.

President Volodymyr Zelensky in his address to the nation has called on everyone to refrain from spreading conspiracy theories regarding the cause of the crash.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, the United States banned civil aviation flights over Iran, Iraq, the Persian and Oman gulfs. Several European carriers also suspended operations in said territories.

Ukraine's Aviation Administration banned all Ukrainian carriers' flights in Iranian airspace pending the investigation.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday to end the confrontation with the United States and underlined Britain's commitments to Tehran's nuclear agreement, Downing Street said.

Johnson "called for an end to hostilities" and said Britain viewed the 2015 nuclear deal as "the best arrangement currently available to deliver on our goal of stopping Iran from having a nuclear weapon", his spokesman said.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said "the time has come" for Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China to follow Washington's lead and abandon the 2015 nuclear agreement, which sets limits on Iran's enrichment levels.

Iran began breaking the deal's rules once Trump pulled the US out in 2018, resulting in a new wave of tension.

The US launched a drone attack in Iraq last week killing Iran's top military commander.

In a 20-minute call, Downing Street said Johnson wanted to "deliver the clear message" to Iran that "there is an urgent need for de-escalation".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Once upon a time in Singapore, William Farquhar was doing his 10,000 steps challenge along Rochor river when his dog leapt into the water and was promptly eaten by a crocodile.

Incensed by the death of his canine friend, Farquhar dammed the river and lead a search party to hunt down the recalcitrant reptile. When the group caught up with the croc, they speared her to death, then hung its body from a tree in Bras Basah for all to see.

The question is, why? What does this story, as recounted by Munshi Abdullah, tell us?

Crocodiles have no concept of justice and surely cannot understand English Common Law. And in any case, this public execution was not an effective deterrent. Some 50 years later, in 1907, a taxidermist discovered 4 dog collars when he opened the stomach of a Punggol crocodile. The owners were contacted. Hence, perhaps only one purpose was served by Farquhars Croc vendetta. It was a symbolic act to assert the dominance of man over nature, and of civilisation over savagery.

Farquhar v. Crocodile is just one of the many stories found in Professor Timothy P. Barnards new book Imperial Creatures: Humans and Other Animals in Colonial Singapore 1819  1942.

Although its a serious academic study of British Imperialism, the book makes for great bedtime reading because it is also 200 pages of fun facts about animals.

Did you know, for example, that Tigers were not truly native to Singapore? Weve all seen that pitiful picture of Singapores last wild Tiger, shot dead at Choa Chu Kang. But the truth is, they did not arrive until 1831. They might be present on our national crest, but only because land clearing for plantations created the perfect big cat habitat.

A dense jungle does not have enough food to support large predators, but deforestation creates large areas of underbrush that attract wild boar and deer, which in turn attract Tigers to make the swim from Johore.

Perhaps we should replace the Tiger and Lion on our national crest with flying foxes and fruit bats. There were once so many bats that millions were found hanging in the mangrove forest. When they took wing, they formed one vast uninterrupted cloud which darkened the skies.

Story continues

Did you also know that Amoy Food Centre used to be an unregulated pig farm? I didnt, but its true. In 1886, the municipal authority shut it down because they found the filth highly-objectionable.

When the pigs were bacon-ready, they were sent to Pulau Saigon, a tiny island located in the river, between Clarke Quay and Robertson Quay. This islandnow the site of a condo you can never affordhosted Singapores first public abattoir. Before Pulau Saigon, butchery was an amateur sport practised in the private slaughterhouses found everywhere from Chinatown to Tanglin.

For those less interested in Bak Kut Teh and more keen on profit, ornamental wildlife was a good bet. You could purchase a parakeet for 25 cents while a talking Cockatoo which shouted fuck at your colleagues would cost about $6.

For those with more cash, there were also tigers, leopards, Orang Utans, parrots, kangaroos, and even dugongs. They were sold cheaply by Bugis traders and bought mainly by European seamen, who re-sold them for a tidy profit when they reached home. To offset the huge capital investment demanded by, say, an Orang Utan, they would pool their money and divide the profits.

ACRES, had it existed then, would be absolutely furious. In those early years, Singapore became so popular a destination for exotic wildlife that not a month passed without some representative of a foreign zoological society calling on Singapore in search of animals, reptiles and birds.

Hence, it was no surprise that Singapore also boasted a variety of private zoos and menageries. Before the Singapore Zoo and Inuka the Polar Bear, there was Punggol Zoo and Apay the Tiger. The zoo was founded by Indian entrepreneur William Basapas, who bought the 27-hectare site and turned it into an attraction complete with elephants, monkeys, and even a restaurant.

Unfortunately, those zoo animals became the first Singaporean casualties of WW2 when the British Army commandeered the site in anticipation of a Japanese landing in Punggol. They shot all of the animals, but not the Japanese soldiers, who invaded at Kranji instead of Punggol.

I could go on, but you get the point: Singapore has a fascinating relationship with wildlife.

However, my childish account does the book no justice because it is more than just a collection of trivia. There is a larger point here, and it is that human-animal relationships reveal much and more about colonial Singapore. There is a small mountain of literature about the relationships between coloniser and subaltern, but little has been said about how the elephants and jackals fared.

The answer is not well. In the early years, there was a notable reduction in biodiversity as a result of Singapores rapid development. Within a few decades, having deforested and shot their way through Singapores ecosystem, many were complaining that Singapore was no longer the place for sportsmen. One hunter, G.P Owen, lamented that there was nothing to shoot except wild boar.

Relationships between the natural world and the human one also came under increasing control from Whitehall. Dogs, which had been native to Singapore since the Majapahit Empire, and freely roamed the streets and plantations, were culled to prevent the spread of Rabies, even though Rabies was found mostly in European pure-breds. Slaughterhouses became regulated to limit their nauseating discharge, and the concept of animal cruelty was introduced, albeit with some difficulty. In short, the natural landscape of Singapore was remade to serve the market forces which became Singapores new raison detre. Tamil water buffalo replaced the fruit bats, and the provision of beefBritains favourite proteinbecame a pressing concern.

Imperial Creatures is not an angry book, but readers familiar with Singaporean history might notice more than a few similarities in the way London tackled public policy for animals and humans.

Take, for example, the aforementioned Rabies outbreak. The source could be traced to one particular ship, the Oxfordshire, which had sold fancy dogs to Tanglin residents but failed to disclose suspicious deaths on board. However, when people began dying of Rabies, the municipal government refused to accept that fancy English dogs could be spreading Rabies, even when its own officers began dropping dead.

Instead, it was blamed on the innocent strays, which were culled in great numbers, to little effect. If you are vaguely familiar with the history of public health in Singapore, then this episode might remind you of how the municipal government tackled infectious diseases like Cholera or Tuberculosis. As in the case of Rabies, the government seemed to assume that disease originated in some vague notion of Asiatic filth.

Likewise, the story of Farquhars crocodile recallsuncomfortablya similar hanging of the Merchant Syed Yasin, who attacked Farquhar in a personal dispute. Like the Rochor crocodile, he was killed and his corpse was strung up in Tanjong Malang as a warninguntil it was reduced to nothing but a cage of bones.

Was it violence in service of separating civilisation from nature, or violence in service of separating the governors from the governed? Is there a difference? Imperial Creatures does not make the comparison, and I dont have the qualifications to say otherwise, but its hard to erase the thought after youve read the book.

For modern historians suckled on Foucault and weaned on Deleuze, this book will read like one of those ever-popular Peter Ackroyd histories written for the general public. There is a conspicuous dearth of post-structuralist critical theory and the word deconstruction does not appear even once.

If the last paragraph sounded like total gibberish, then congratulations, as a member of the general public, you might find Imperial Creatures instructive and interesting.

Much and more has been written about the people of colonial Singapore. So much, in fact, that we often forget that Singapore was once considered a naturalists wet dream. It is hard to imagine nowunless youre doing reservistthe dense jungle, and its abundance of birds and bats, and the idea of English gentlemen shooting tigers in Yishun for sport, and cattle causing traffic jams as they are driven from Australian ships to the abattoirs of Jalan Besar. Imperial Creatures is the story of that oft-forgotten past, and of how the British Empire changed not just the human societies of South-East Asia, but also its natural heritage.

Today, the government is building an eco-friendly resort in Mandaiat no small expense to the environment which it hopes to showcase. The irony of all this has thus far gone unacknowledged. It seems to me that we have travelled a long way and learnt a great deal, only to end up where we started. God Save The Queen.

No. I have no idea how Farquhar was able to ascertain which crocodile was responsible. Imperial Creatures is available at Kinokuniya and NUSpress.

For other showerthoughts, please write to community@ricemedia.co.

The post Mad Dogs And Englishmen: How The British Empire Changed Our Natural Landscape appeared first on RICE.
Recent press announcements from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the regulator for the converging communications and multimedia industry in Malaysia, indicate a ramping up of 5G activity in the country.

The recently published Final Report on the allocation of spectrum bands for mobile broadband service in Malaysia identified 700 MHz, 3.5 GHz and 26/28 GHz as the pioneer spectrum bands for the rollout of 5G in the country.

The report states that the 700 MHz and 3.5 GHz bands are being considered for allocation to a single entity comprising a consortium formed by multiple licensees, instead of individual licensees, while the 24.9 GHz to 26.5 GHz frequency bands will be assigned through a tender process.

The 26.5 GHz to 28.1 GHz frequency bands will be assigned on a first-come first-served basis and will be open to any party (including non-licensees) for the purpose of deploying localised and/or private networks. Commercial deployment of 5G in Malaysia is expected to begin by the third quarter of 2020.

In a follow-up announcement this week a report from The Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) on the economic impact of 5G implementation in Malaysia is quoted as predicting that the implementation of 5G would contribute up to RM12.7 billion (about $3.1 billion) between 2021 and 2025 to the nations economy and create more than 39,000 new job opportunities during the period.

Meanwhile MCMC is reportedly organising what it calls the 5G Malaysia International Conference on 20 January 2020, featuring speakers and panellists from Malaysia and around the world.
But if the program has a failing, its that it dangles the question of what happened to Jenkins for far too long for the sake of suspense when it could make clear throughout that Jenkins death wasnt a homicide and never was despite suggestions otherwise. The mystery was solved once the Cook County medical examiners office conclusively ruled that Jenkins death was due to hypothermia, along with intoxication from alcohol and the medication topiramate, and therefore was an accident. The concept of an imperiled young person trapped and unable to free herself is something that will resonate with any parent.
President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled the dismissal of Marilyn Amobi as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Tr...





President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled the dismissal of Marilyn Amobi as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company Limited (NBET).





Sale Mamman, Minister of Power, had asked Amobi to step down with immediate effect. He also ordered her probe.





Buharis decision was contained in a memo by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).





The agency has also been moved from the Ministry of Power to the Ministry of Finance.





Nnaemeka Ewelukwa, who had assumed office as the Acting Managing Director of NBET, has been asked to step aside for Amobi to resume.





On Tuesday, Buhari overruled Mamman on the suspension of Damilola Ogunbiyi as the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA).





Ogunbiyi, had before btye ministers action, tendered her resignation to take up a job as the UN special representative for sustainable energy and CEO of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll).





Ministry workers had accused Mamman of moving against top staff of the agency as though he was on a vendetta mission.





Mamman dismissed both Ogunbiyi and Amobi within 24 hours.




Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/1/2020 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg is apparently hungry for pub food.

So hungry, it seems, that the brass of Leopold's Taverna Saskatchewanian chain that made its first entree into the city a little under two years agois already preparing to open its third location by March, this time, in the growing suburban neighbourhood of Bridgwater.

"It's a fast-paced, growing area, and we wanted to be a part of it," said Kurtis Tokarchuk, the company's city lead and the local restaurants' general manager.

The restaurant's origins are in Regina, where in 2013, a small hole-in-the-wall seemed to strike a chord with local consumers. Under seven years later, there are 12 locations in Canada, including spots in Edmonton, Calgary, and Victoria, and by the end of 2020, there are plans for as many as 17.

The dive-bar group opened a location in South Osborne in the summer of 2018, bringing what Free Press restaurant critic Alison Gillmor called at the time, "the kind of neighbourhood joint the South Osborne stretch really needs right now." By the following November, the Leopold's crew was hoping to satiate a similar appetite on Academy Road, another stretch of retail space largely devoid of unintimidating places to grab a pint and gorge on poutine.

Submitted The new restaurant will feature a large patio, as well as the cover-the-wall kitsch  posters, licence plates and vintage photos  which Leopolds is known for.

With two well-established neighbourhood markets entered, Tokarchuk said, the chain had to ask itself, "Where could use a pub?" Or in other words, which neighbourhood could play host to the next of what's become a fairly lucrative readymade neighbourhood-pub concept.

In Bridgwater, found in the Waverley West ward and developed over the past decade by Manitoba Housing, Leopold's will take a stab at one of the city's newest areas, one whose motto is "Designed to be neighbourly." It appeared to be primed for a pub, Tokarchuk said.

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"We'll be one of the first restaurants there," he said, adding that it will be located next to the Orangetheory Fitness facility on North Town Road, in a recently built strip mall.

"The biggest thing for us is we're small, we're cozy, we're a little loud, and we like people coming in for a good time," Tokarchuk added.

He said that the new restaurant will feature a large patio, with nine to 10 tables, and inside will be the cover-the-wall kitschposters, license plates, vintage photosthat Leopold's has leveraged to create a lived-in feeling inside spaces it has only briefly occupied, which has led to good business on Academy and Osborne.

By the time the restaurant opens, which Tokarchuk hopes will be in mid-March, there will be approximately 75 Leopold's employees in Winnipeg, spread across the three locations.

As for future expansion, he said the chain is already looking for its next link in the city.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca
Connecticut beer lovers have something to look forward to in 2020two things actually.

Southern Connecticut is looking to welcome a couple new breweries in the coming months. Stamford's popular Half Full brewery is opening a second location at 575 Pacific St. in the South End Stamford this year.
Photo: Courtesy of DreamWorks

Whether youre hitting the slopes in Aspen in the winter or escaping to a faraway beach in the summer (or winter), getting out of town requires the right gear. That of course includes the stuff youll need when you get wherever youre going, but just as important are the things youll use in transit  because everyone knows that getting there is half the battle. In our ongoing search for the best travel gear (see what our editors cant get on an airplane without, and our roundup of the best rolling luggage), one item thats always top of mind is a good pair of shoes to travel in  as in, ones that can withstand both airplanes and cobblestones, and are nice-looking enough to wear straight from the plane, or a day on the streets, to dinner. So we asked some people who get around a lot  including travel writers, photographers, tour guides, globetrotters, and other frequent fliers  about their favorites. Read on for their 28 picks, which include sandals, flats, sneakers, and boots. Quick shopping note: A lot of these shoes come in both mens and womens, or in unisex, sizes.

Best sneakers for travel

ADIDAS Womens Cloudfoam Racer From $65 From $65 Travel blogger Annette Richmond calls these Adidas Cloudfoam Racers her go-tos because they are super lightweight and breathable, which makes them perfect to wear on a flight or walking around a new city, she says. I pair them with leggings or shorts for an athleisure look thats perfect for hiking, sightseeing, or a travel day. From $65 at Adidas Buy

Allbirds Mens Wool Runners $95 For another lightweight, easy-to-put-on pair of sneakers, Grant Nyquist, the director of adventure at the Outbound Collective, recommends Allbirds, hands down. Wearing these makes airport security a breeze, he promises, and like the Adidas pair above, the Allbirds can be worn with most anything  including slacks. Plus, you can even wear them sockless because the wool wicks away any unwanted moisture. For the price, the quality, and the style, nothing comes close, Nyquist says. $95 at Allbirds Buy

Adidas Alphaboost Parley Shoes $180 If you are the sort of person who needs to fit in a workout while on vacation and would prefer not to pack two pairs of shoes, this Adidas pair works equally well on the streets or a treadmill, according to Ben Pundole, the editor-in-chief of travel magazine A Hotel Life. Their super-lightweight mesh upper allows feet to breathe during speed training, while still looking cool enough to pass for streetwear. Plus, theyre a part of Adidass Parley collection, which means theyre made using recycled plastic found in the ocean. $180 at Amazon Buy $180 at Amazon Buy

No Bull Project Dark Grey Gum Trainers $129 Matt Smith, a co-founder of bespoke luxury travel company Black Tomato, told us he prides himself on being a highly efficient traveler who very rarely checks a bag. Thats why he loves No Bull trainers, which he says are like four pairs of shoes in one. (No Bull trainers took the runner-up spot on our lists of status gym sneakers for both men and women.) Like Pundoles favorite Adidas pair, Smith says these are comfortable enough to fly in, durable enough to work out in, and have a design thats sleek enough to bridge the gap between going out to dinner with clients or taking meetings at the office. $129 at No Bull Buy

Filling Pieces Low Curve Iceman Trimix 2.0 Sneakers $294 The Filling Pieces shoes are the most comfortable Ive ever encountered and incredibly durable, according to David Prior, the founder of travel club PRIOR. The keys to a good traveling shoe, he says, are being able to get it on and off quickly, and for it to still feel comfortable when your feet inevitably swell while in the air. They also need to be presentable enough when youre getting off the plane and need to go straight into something, Prior adds, noting that his favorite pair from Filling Pieces meets his criteria for ease of use and comfort, but still look super stylish with their fun colors and chunkier sole. $294 at Filling Pieces Buy

Salomon Sense Ride Sneakers $120 If you are planning your upcoming trip to commune with nature, Finton suggests the Salomon Sense Ride sneakers. She wore them to hike and run along a river trail in north Vancouver and she says the grip made her feel secure: I was especially pleasantly surprised that the grip held over larger wet boulders. She also wore the same shoe to explore Runyon Canyon, which she describes as being a super-hardpack, dry, sandy, trail. I thought I was going to go down because everyone was slipping on the sand layer, but nope  I felt secure, cushioned. And as a bonus, she loves the techy cool look of the bright color and quick laces. $120 at Backcountry Buy

Common Projects Achilles Grained Leather Sneakers $410 They may cost as much as some plane tickets, but according to Flight 001 co-founder John Sencion, you will not find a more stylish travel shoe (thats also comfy) than the Achilles sneakers from status brand Common Projects. From the jetway to the boardroom or the beach, this shoe has the broadest style spectrum than any other shoe, Sencion says, adding that hes felt as comfortable wearing them to a meeting at the companys Tokyo office as he has to the beach in Tulum. $410 at Mr Porter Buy

The Royale $179 Photo: Retailer For a less expensive travel shoe thats just as good-looking, Mike Arnot, the founder of luggage company Owen & Fred, suggests Greats. I see tourists wearing Crocs, and a few pilots wearing black Danskos, he says. No. Just, no. I wear a pair of Greats, which, Arnot adds, hes been complimented on more than once at an airport  including by some hard-to-impress TSA agents. $179 at Greats Buy

Best slip-ons for travel

Sanuk Vagabond Slip-on Sneaker $45 For a recent two-week stint in Cusco, Peru, Schonwald told us he packed these and another pair of running shoes. But he barely used the running shoes, he said, because the Sanuk slip-ons were so comfortable for walking around town. In addition to being good for sightseeing on foot, he says these easily transition into beachwear if youre going somewhere thats part city, part sand. They also pack up well, he adds. $45 at Sanuk Buy

Womens Lucky Brand Emmie Flats $44 Foods of New York Tours creative director Am Bandolik only takes one pair of shoes with her when she travels: the Emmie flats from Lucky Brand, which shes worn over the concrete of NYC and the cobblestones of Rome. She loves that they are casual, but still feel feminine and stylish. Plus, theyre foldable, so it is easy to fit a few colors  your basic black or brown and a fun color  in your suitcase without going over the weight limits on your bags. $44 at Zappos Buy

Clarks Womens Kinzie Light Skimmer $85 now 38% off From $53 In our roundup of the most comfortable shoes (according to people who stand all day), flight attendant Crystal Roseberry told us about her favorite comfy flats from Clarks, which she wears during long shifts in the air because they are well made and cute, provide good support, and last forever. From $53 at Amazon Buy From $53 at Amazon Buy

Sabah Felli Red $195 Abra Boero, the founder and creative director of Off Season Rockaway, calls Sabahs the ultimate travel shoe, because they not only slip on and off with complete ease, but are suitable for so many different climates. I wear the same pair to the beach that I wear in the winter with wool socks. Their supple leather molds to your foot, making them super comfortable even after a long flight, and the unfussy design keeps them very lightweight, she promises. $195 at Sabah Buy

Best boots for travel

A New Day Womens Chelsea Rain Boots $25 If youre headed someplace known for rainy days, these weatherproof Chelsea-style rain boots are the ones that travel blogger and photographer Samantha OBrochta relies on. She says theyre extremely comfortable and an easy way to rock a cute pair of shoes that also double as something useful against inclement weather. Plus, they cost a fraction of the price of a pair of Blundstones. $25 at Target Buy

White Mountain Womens Santiago Ankle Boot From $33 Richmond says that most people think orthopedic or ugly whenever she says the words comfortable shoe, but assures that these boots are neither. White Mountains are comfortable shoes with style. The ankle boots rise a bit lower on the leg than a Chelsea boot, and have a stacked heel that makes them great on trips where you might need to dress up a bit, she says. The heel isnt too high, though  just enough to give you extra inches without killing your feet, according to Richmond. From $33 at Amazon Buy From $33 at Amazon Buy

Tods Short Suede Ankle Boot $545 I dont consider myself a big shopper, so finding one pair of shoes I can count on time and time again is essential, especially when traveling, says James Merrett, the third co-founder of Black Tomato. During the winter months, he loves these boots from Tods, which offer more protection from the colder elements, but most importantly dont make you look like a tourist due to their more modern aesthetic. $545 at Tod's Buy

Danner Mountain Light Cascade Boots $360 If youre looking for one boot to rule them all, the vintage styling of the Danner Mountain Light is iconic, and the one-piece leather design makes for a sturdy boot that can handle anything from a casual walk around Telluride to a thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, says mountain climber Zina Bougri. (These also happen to be the boots that Reese Witherspoon wore in the movie Wild.) Once these babies mold to your feet, youll have a pair of boots to adventure in for years to come, promises Bougri. She adds that the boots should be completely comfortable within a month. To best break them in, Bougri recommends wearing them around the house for a few days (even just while watching TV for a few hours at a time), then go on a few short hikes. $360 at Zappos Buy

Danner Mens Mountain 600 4.5 Hiking Boot $210 Alex Howard, the editor of Lonely Planet magazine, is also a fan of Danner boots, which he wore on a recent research trip to Alaska. Im a light packer, so I need a pair of shoes that can do double duty on trips where Ill be spending as much time on the trails as I do in the city. He says that these worked great as lightweight, waterproof hiking boots, while still being stylish enough to wear while checking out the craft-brewery scene in Anchorage. Other hiking shoes are function over form, but these Danner boots have trendy leather uppers and red accents with all the support and ruggedness of proper trail boots. $210 at Zappos Buy $150 at Backcountry Buy

Mens Asolo Agent Evo GV MM $210 For another pair of town-to-trail boots, REI category merchandising manager Tad Summersett likes the Agent Evo from Asolo. Like the Danner boots above, Summersett says these are super versatile  stout enough to help support while carrying a pack between towns, but stylish enough to not look out of place in the pub that afternoon. $210 at Zappos Buy

Best sandals for travel

Womens Chaco Z/1 Classic $95 National Geographic explorer Erika Skogg says she is a huge fan of Chacos because you can wear them with a casual dress, take them hiking, go for long city strolls, or hang out around the campfire. Plus, theyre weatherproof and last forever: The only time Ive ever had to buy a new pair is when I somehow left one sandal in a hotel room in Reykjavik. While they may seem like a shoe that would only work in sunny locales, Skogg recommends throwing a pair of wool socks under them if the temperature dips. $95 at Zappos Buy

Teva Original Universal Premier From $50 Rose Annis, a strategist and writer for CNNs Great Big Story, wasnt sure if she could pull off her ugly cute Teva sandals. But after buying them, she fell in love. They are incredibly comfortable, dont rub or cause blisters, are waterproof, and I feel like the thick, sole makes them look kind of fashion-y. Annis has worn them to explore everywhere from Oman to the Everglades and even threw them on in L.A. with a silk jumpsuit. Teva sandals were also a favorite of Strategist staffers this past summer, with both managing editor Maxine Builder and Rotunno picking up new pairs (and Rotunno using an old pair to hike the Great Wall of China). From $50 at Amazon Buy From $50 at Amazon Buy

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RTE has been ordered to pay a former senior TV producer 100,000 compensation after forcing her to retire at 65.

The cash-strapped station now faces the threat of further claims after the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) made the award to Anne Roper.

It comes as Dancing With The Stars contender and former RTE presenter Mary Kennedy said she was sad to leave Nat- ionwide because of the station's compulsory retirement age.

Ridiculous

She said it was "ridiculous to be saying to people, just because they're 65, that that's the end of it".

Ms Roper took a discrimination claim under equality legislation after RTE refused to allow her to work for a further 18 months when she reached 65.

She claimed the decision to terminate her employment discriminated against her on the grounds of her age.

In a decision seen by the Herald, adjudication officer Catherine Byrne said that as a result of her compulsory retirement on July 9, 2018, Ms Roper was discriminated against on the grounds of her age.

She said she made the decision despite being "mindful of the finding" in the context of the precariousness of RTE's funding and "the need to find radical ways to reduce costs".

Ms Byrne directed RTE to pay Ms Roper 100,000, which is equal to a year's salary.

In 1997, Ms Roper was appointed senior producer in television after working at the station for nine years.

Ahead of her 65th birthday, she was invited to attend a retirement planning course but made it known she wanted to stay at work for 18 more months.

By April 2018, it became clear that RTE would not allow her to stay on.

Seamus Dooley, of the Nantional Union of Journalists (NUJ), said her contract made no mention of an age at which she must retire.

RTE argued that freeing up Ms Roper's role enabled a younger person to be promoted.

Marguerite Bolger, representing RTE, said there was no other means of achieving inter-generational fairness.

It conceded that in exceptional circumstances, employees had been permitted to remain working at the station beyond 65, but this was not such a case.

Their expertise was used for work such as the Olympics or at election time.

While RTE accepted that it had discretion to offer Ms Roper further work after her retirement, it said the exceptional circumstances did not arise in her case.

However, Ms Byrne said she was not satisfied that RTE had shown "there is a connection between the complainant's retirement at age 65 and the broadcaster's objective to encourage intergenerational fairness".

In a statement, RTE said it was reviewing the WRC's decision.
An outspoken Greens Councillor has described Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest's donation to the bushfire crisis as 'chump change'.

The mining magnate pledged his support for the recovery effort on Thursday - to the tune of $70 million dollars.

But Brisbane Greens Councilllor Jonathan Sri described the donation as 'stingy' and labelled it a publicity stunt.

Controversial Greens Councillor Jonathan Sri has described a $70 million donation to the bushfire crisis as 'chump change'

The Councillor lashed out at Mr Forrest in the widely criticised Facebook post on Thursday afternoon.

'Andrew Forrest has an estimated net worth of $8.8 billion USD ($12.8 billion Australian). This supposed $70 million donation to bushfire relief is chump change to him,' he wrote.

'In fact, he's only putting $20 million into immediate mitigation, and the other $50 million into talk-fests and policy lobbying.

'A pensioner with $1000 in the bank who donates 50 cents to bushfire victims is making a far bigger sacrifice and showing far more generosity than Andrew Forrest.'

Despite criticism on social media the Councillor has doubled down on his stance regarding the donation.

The political figure told the Courier Mail Mr Forrest was attempting to 'leverage political influence'.

Brisbane Greens Councilllor Jonathan Sri (pictured) has described mining magnate Andrew 'Twiggy' Forest's $70 million bushfire relief donation as 'stingy' and labelled it a publicity stunt

'Billionaires use chump change donations like this as a PR exercise to argue that they shouldn't pay their fair share of tax,' he said.

'If a boss underpays you for years, you don't describe them as 'generous' just because they gave you a box of chocolates for Christmas.'

The post received a mixed response on social media.

Green Councillor Jonathan Sri (pictured) argued a $70 million dollar donation from mining magnate Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest was a way to 'leverage political influence'

'We don't have to laud him as a hero but don't discredit the donation,' one user wrote.

'It's not a pi**ing contest,' wrote another.

The Fortescue Metals boss and his wife Nicola opened their wallets for the cause earlier on Thursday.

Mining magnate Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest (pictured) pledged his support for the bushfire recovery effort on Thursday - to the tune of $70 million dollars

The announcement is the largest single contribution to bushfire recovery or firefighting capabilities since the crisis began.

'With incredible courage and determination, Australians have united to help those devastated by these bushfires,' Mr Forrest said in Perth on Thursday.

'We recognise that we don't have all the answers, but we want to understand what communities need and do our bit to help them.'

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to councillor Jonathan Sri for comment.
As Governors of South-West States launched a Joint Security Task Force codenamed 'Amotekun' today to tackle crime in the region, a Security Analyst, Mr John Ogunlela said the concept is good even though many people are apprehensive.

Ogunlela said the guidelines for the activities of the Amotekun should be made known to the public so that people would not be in the dark about their activities.

According to him, "Nigeria is huge and growing necessitating the need for more effective policing. Decentralization of the policing effort is a critical aspect of creating such effectiveness and Nigeria should have addressed that decades ago."

"However, the day is now upon us. The rise in organised crimes of kidnapping for ransom, and assaults by a network of aliens usually thought to be associated with itinerant herdsmen has introduced a new dimension to the crime environment all over the country."

"In addition, clashes between farmers and herdsmen over grazing lands continues to threaten the very fabrics of peace in the land. The fallout of these particular crimes is injurious to economic development in a special way as it creates an extraordinary atmosphere of fear and of financial ruin for the victims."

"Policing against such crimes demand a constant feed of local intelligence and familiarity with the uninhabited terrain of the forests. Only the local people - the farmers and hunters who explore such remote terrains - have capacity to supply such intelligence."

"Of course, the only other group who have information on the details of the lay of the land are the herdsmen or criminals associated with them because they crisscross these forests daily as they lead their herds about."

Ogunlela said Fears of abuse of the force have been the biggest hindrance to the creation of the local police hitherto.

He said "It is feared, particularly, that such a force can be used to acquire arms with which rebellion may be orchestrated against the lawful government. It is also feared that a sitting governor or even a Local Government chairman may use such a force to constrain the opposition, which translates to holding the people in bondage."

"Whatever these fears may be, the dimension and dynamics of crime in the society has proven to be much more telling and to justify the need for local policing. All the fears of the negative possibilities will be addressed as we go on, but first of all, let us have a bulwark against invading criminal forces, especially those led by organised, armed aliens. When we get to the bridge of other fears, we shall cross it!"

"But there are issues we must sort out if this new security set up will be of benefit to society and will not start off as a liability to social order. Where is the rule book? How are these men commanded. What are the dos and donts. How may they be reported in case of infractions? Where do their powers begin and end? Can they detain? Will they be checking the particulars of vehicles. If not, what can they do if they suspect, with reasonable grounds, that a vehicle is stolen? Under what circumstances can they open fire on their local (Dane) guns? How will they relate with existing security structures like the conventional police force?"

"To sum up, my opinion is that this local police force planned to take off on January 9 is a good idea. It could be wobbly at the beginning, but it will continue to be refined and it will keep getting better. We should only make sure we are united to see that they are nonpartisan and they are well educated to understand why they must extort the people", Ogunlela said
Shards of broken window panes at Sabarmati Hostel, heavy police deployment at the main gate of the university and a heaviness in the air described the day in the JNU campus on Thursday, four days after a masked mob went on a rampage on the premises.

An uneasy lull prevailed in the campus as very few people were seen in the streets and eating joints, otherwise brimming with students, saw sparse crowd.

The unease at Sabarmati Hostel, which bore a heavy brunt of the violence unleashed by masked people on Sunday evening, was palpable as a few students were seen leaving the campus fearing for their safety.

Inside the popular hostel's mess, a stark silence welcomed visitors, no readers were seen at newspapers' podiums, and graffiti scrawled on walls and pillars described the January 5 incident as a 'Black Sunday 2020'.

'Jan-5-2020 JNU will never forget' read another graffiti, screaming in bold red, as students passed by in silence.

While the atmosphere inside the sprawling campus, otherwise vibrant, remained in the grip of uneasy calm, outside the main gate (North Gate of the JNU) a posse of police personnel kept a tight vigil to prevent any untoward incident.

On the Baba Gang Nath Marg, students had to face hardship in hiring cabs or auto-rickshaws as barricades put up on both ends of the road, a little ahead of the North Gate, forced people to walk on foot for long before taking any public transport.

Charukeshi Bhatt, 24, pursuing Master's in Political Science from the university, said the "atmosphere of fear" in the campus is "still palpable".

"What happened on Sunday was sheer horror. I was on way to Delhi that day from Varanasi, and I was getting messages on my phone about the attack. I was frantically reaching out to my friends, many of whom lay huddled in one area, fearing for their safety," she told PTI.

Bhatt said the violence inflicted by the mob wanted to instil fear among the students, and on Wednesday night the library was totally deserted, "something I have never seen in JNU" as a student.

However, she asserted that though the incident may have affected the psyche of the students, "they cannot break the spirit of JNU".

Jyoti Kumari, another student who resides in the Sabarmati Hostel, recounted the horrific evening when she had seen "JNU girls in grip of abject fear".

"This was not to just commit violence, to damage and vandalise property, but to terrorise us into submission. I was there when the mob attacked our hostel, who were armed with shovels and other sharp objects, and as I was shooting a video to capture their act, one of the attackers threw a stone that injured my hand. But we will not relent, and continue to fight against what us wrong and unjust," she told PTI.

On Thursday, hundreds of JNU students marched to the HRD Ministry and were later stopped when they tried to go towards Rashtrapati Bhavan during when some of them were roughed up by police who used mild force, in escalating protests for the sacking of university Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar over the violence in the campus.

As students protested, streets of JNU were largely deserted, while banners put up in the campus screamed -- 'JNU VC Must Resign' to ;Not an Inch Back! No to Fee Hike #FeeMustFall'.

The JNU students' union has been demanding a rollback of hostel and mess fee hike, and has boycotted registration for the next semester.

Bhawana Jha, a masters student in English literature at the JNU, said, "JNU students held a huge protest today. Though I did not attend it, but we stand in solidarity always, in this agitation."



"Protesters when they returned to the campus again raised slogans seeking the VC's ouster," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Researchers have devised a straightforward technique for building a laboratory device known as an electroporator - which applies a jolt of electricity to temporarily open cell walls - from inexpensive components, including a piezoelectric crystal taken from a butane lighter.

The goal would be to make the low-cost device available to high schools, budget-pressed laboratories and other organizations whose research might otherwise be limited by access to conventional lab-grade electroporators. Plans for the device, known as the ElectroPen, are being made available, along with the files necessary for creating a 3D-printed casing

"Our goal with the ElectroPen was to make it possible for high schools, budget-conscious laboratories and even those working in remote locations without access to electricity to perform experiments or processes involving electroporation," said M. Saad Bhamla, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech's School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. "This is another example of looking for ways to bypass economic limitations to advance scientific research by putting this capability into the hands of many more scientists and aspiring scientists."

In a study to be reported January 9 in the journal PLOS Biology and sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, the researchers detail the method for constructing the ElectroPen, which is capable of generating short bursts of more than 2,000 volts needed for a wide range of laboratory tasks.

One of the primary jobs of a cell membrane is to serve as a protective border, sheltering the inner workings of a living cell from the outside environment.

But all it takes is a brief jolt of electricity for that membrane to temporarily open and allow foreign molecules to flow in -- a process called electroporation, which has been used for decades in molecular biology labs for tasks ranging from bacterial detection to genetic engineering.

Despite how commonplace the practice has become, the high cost of electroporators and their reliance on a source of electricity has kept the technique mostly within the confines of academic or professional labs. Bhamla and undergraduate student Gaurav Byagathvalli set out to change that, with help from collaborators Soham Sinha, Yan Zhang, Assistant Professor Mark Styczynski and Lambert High School teacher Janet Standeven.

"Once we decided to tackle this issue, we began to explore the inner workings of electroporators to understand why they are so bulky and expensive," said Byagathvalli. "Since their conception in the early 1980s, electroporators have not had significant changes in design, sparking the question of whether we could achieve the same output at a fraction of the cost. When we identified a lighter that could produce these high voltages through piezoelectricity, we were excited to uncover new mysteries behind this common tool."

In addition to the piezoelectric lighter crystal - which generates current when pressure is applied to it - the other parts in the device include copper-plated wire, heat-shrinking wire insulator and aluminum tape. To hold it all together, the researchers designed a 3D-printed casing that also serves as its activator. With all the parts on hand, the device can be assembled in 15 minutes, the researchers reported.

While the ElectroPen is not designed to replace a lab-grade electroporator, which costs thousands of dollars and is capable of processing a broad range of cell mixtures, the device is still highly capable of performing tasks when high volumes are not required.

The researchers tested several different lighter crystals to find ones that produced a consistent voltage using a spring-based mechanism. To understand more about how the lighters function, the team used a high-speed camera at 1,057 frames-per-second to view their mechanics in slow motion.

"One of the fundamental reasons this device works is that the piezoelectric crystal produces a consistently-high voltage, independent of the amount of force applied by the user," Bhamla said. "Our experiments showed that the hammer in these lighters is able to achieve acceleration of 3,000 Gs, which explains why it is capable of generating such a high burst of voltage."

To test its capabilities, the researchers used the device on samples of E. coli to add a chemical that makes the bacterial cells fluorescent under special lights, illuminating the cell parts and making them easier to identify. Similar techniques could be used in a lab or in remote field operations to detect the presence of bacteria or other cells.

The team also evaluated whether the device was easy to use, shipping the assembled ElectroPens to students at other universities and high schools.

"The research teams were able to successfully obtain the same fluorescence expression, which I think validates how easily these devices can be disseminated and adopted by students across the globe," Bhamla said.

To that end, the researchers have made available the plans for how to build the device, along with digital files to be used by a 3D printer to fabricate the casing and actuator. Next steps of the research include testing a broader range of lighters looking for consistent voltages across a wider range, with the goal of creating ElectroPens of varying voltages.

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This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant No. 1817334, the Mindlin Foundation under grant No. MF19-1T1P03, the National Institutes of Health under grant No. R01-EB022592. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsoring organizations.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) meets with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Istanbul, Turkey, Jan. 8, 2020. Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called for restraint and diplomacy to avoid "a new cycle of instability" in the Middle East amid growing Iran-U.S. tensions. (Turkish Presidency/Handout via Xinhua)

ISTANBUL, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday issued a joint statement on the civil war of Libya, crisis in Iran and developments in Syria after their consecutive meetings in Istanbul.

The two leaders called on all parties in Libya for the establishment of an immediate cease-fire and to stop all hostilities.

They said the cease-fire should be sustainable and "supported by the necessary measures to be taken for stabilizing the situation on the ground and normalizing daily life in Tripoli and other cities."

The North African country has been torn by a raging civil war, between the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) based in the capital Tripoli and the Libyan National Army and its allies based in the east.

On Sunday, Erdogan said Turkey is "gradually" sending troops to Libya under a deal inked with the GNA.

On the growing aggression between the United States and Iran, the two presidents called on both sides to act with restraint and prioritize diplomacy.

"The use of force does not contribute to finding solutions to complex problems in the Middle East, but ... would lead to a new cycle of instability," the statement said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iran fired missiles targeting U.S. military in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, near the Baghdad airport in Iraq in a U.S. drone strike.

Erdogan and Putin also reiterated their commitment to the preservation of sovereignty, independence, political unity and territorial integrity of Syria.

Turkey and Russia are at odds over the offensive of Russian-backed Syrian government forces on the country's last rebel-stronghold in the northwestern province of Idlib, which prompted a new flow of refugees toward the Turkish border.

"We underscore the necessity to establish calm in the Idlib de-escalation area by fully implementing all agreements on Idlib," the statement said.
An MP has accused a peer from Northern Ireland of "abusing" security staff on the parliamentary estate.

The SNP's Hannah Bardell used a point of order to name Lord Ken Maginnis as the subject of her allegation.

She claimed Lord Maginnis had forgotten his pass to enter Parliament and called security workers "crooked" when they offered him advice about what to do.

Peers, MPs and others who have undergone security checks are among the parliamentary passholders, which enables them to enter the estate at several points provided they have their pass with them.

Lord Maginnis served as the UUP MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 1983 until 2001.

After standing down as an MP he was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Maginnis of Drumglass.

Speaking in the House of Commons chamber, Ms Bardell told Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle: "Yesterday on re-entering the building for the first time after Christmas I witnessed one of the worst cases of abuse of security staff that I have seen in my time here.

"One of the members of the other place (Lords), who I will name so as not to incriminate anybody else, Lord Ken Maginnis, had forgotten his pass, something we've all been guilty of.

"However, instead of taking the advice of the security staff, who as we all know are here for our security and our safety, he proceeded to verbally abuse and shout at both the member of staff, calling them 'crooked', saying 'did they not know who he was, he'd been here 46 years', and refusing to take the advice and assistance of both myself, the security staff and the police that then attended.

"I have reported this incident to the authorities but I seek your advice as the member is not elected, so I'm interested to know to whom he is accountable and what can be done to make sure no member of staff on the estate is ever treated in that way or abused in the manner which I and others witnessed yesterday."

Sir Lindsay replied: "No member of staff of either House should have to put up with abuse.

"I would say we have a policy that runs through all of this estate and I'd always encourage members to respect the people carrying out their duties to make sure we are safe.

"What I would also say is normally we would not name a member of either House in this way, but what I do take very seriously is that staff carrying out their duties should not have to put up with abuse.

"We are aware of the situation. I'd expect those in another place (the Lords) to look into that and I want to reassure those staff that it will not be tolerated and we will ensure that message goes across to all members of both Houses."

In 2012 Lord Maginnis announced his decision to resign his membership of the UUP after then leader Mike Nesbitt distanced the party when he referred to gay marriage as "unnatural and deviant behaviour".

His affiliation in the Lords since July 2013 has been listed as Independent Ulster Unionist.

In August 2013 Lord Maginnis was found guilty of assaulting a man in a road rage incident.

He was fined in 2016 after boarding a train in London with the incorrect ticket.

Lord Maginnis and the House of Lords have been approached for comment.
Attacks on New York Jews continue unabated in the New Year. A Jewish teen was threatened with a knife by a mob on New Years Eve, and a Jewish man was attacked by two women on the street on New Years Day. Many of the attacks are simply not reported out of fear.

No wonder -- unless the attack causes serious injuries, most of the suspects have been released without bail and are walking the same neighborhoods as their victims, unlikely to serve any time or even make their court appearances. One of the attackers, who allegedly slapped three Orthodox Jewish women while yelling, F--- you, Jews, was released and rearrested three more times for new assaults. She was unrepentant, telling the cops: Yes, I slapped them. I cursed them out. I said F-U, Jews. A Jewish man who was beaten with a chair by a mob on December 24 told the New York Post that he felt there was no use reporting the beating, given new bail reform legislation that bars judges from detaining suspects in assaults that dont result in injury  even in the case of hate crimes.

Thanks to the new bail law, Jews are now being beaten in the streets with impunity. The law eliminates bail and requires pre-trial release for those charged with many violent and heinous crimes, such as second-degree manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, criminal possession of a gun, and dozens of other serious charges.

Yet it was New Yorks establishment Jewish leadership that led the lobbying effort to pass bail reform. On September 15, 2019, the UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of New York, and a national umbrella group of 125 Jewish community relations councils that calls itself the Jewish Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) held a conference celebrating the role of Jewish organizations in getting criminal reform legislation passed. Among the accomplishments touted at the conference were the new bail laws. Here in Massachusetts, the local JRCR head, Jeremy Burton, has also been pushing for bail reform.

The JCPA, led by David Bernstein, is the central Jewish organization driving criminal justice reform campaigns. In 2016, the JCPA launched its Criminal Justice Initiative, mobilizing dozens of its member community relations councils in cities across America to demand criminal justice reform to end mass incarceration. Jewish community relations councils serve under Jewish federations as outreach organizations in most big American cities.

In 2018, the JCPA hired New York activist Roy Waterman to lead its the initiative. Waterman would seem a strange hire for an organization focused on Jewish issues. In the mid-1990s, the future JCPA official was a crack dealer in Queens. Waterman spent his teenage days walking with guns and hurting people, until going to prison for masterminding an armed bank robbery and being an accomplice in the brutal torture and murder of an innocent man over drug money.

On July 29, 1996, Waterman accompanied a heroin dealer trying to collect a $180 drug debt to an Albany apartment, hoping to "beat the guy up and get the money." Not finding him there, they instead began beating his roommate, Anthony Ingoldsby. The ringleader took Anthony into a bedroom and began torturing him as Waterman and the other men kept watch outside. Waterman could hear loud booming noises, as well as the victim crying and begging, but did nothing to stop it. The victims body was discovered the following morning with multiple stab wounds to the neck, shoulder and chest...

As an accomplice to first-degree murder, pled down to first-degree burglary, Waterman served twelve years. On the inside, he benefited from mental therapy programs, Narcotics Anonymous mentorship, skills training, and correspondence paralegal courses. After being released, he started a successful food truck and catering business, hiring young formerly incarcerated men like himself.

Some might argue that New Yorks criminal justice system treated Waterman quite well -- certainly better than Waterman treated Ingoldsby. Waterman served what many might consider a lenient term of twelve years, received free treatment and education, and was welcomed back into society with open arms.

On the other hand, some might argue that Americas criminal justice system does need rational reform. The War on Drugs has been a disaster. There are too many criminal statutes on the books. Criminal laws are enforced too arbitrarily, and, when it comes to drug laws, often with racial disparity.

All this is arguably true, yet Waterman and the JCPA promote neither of these moderate arguments. Waterman believes that he was unjustly victimized by a criminal justice system that is illegitimate at its core, by a society motivated by racism, and by laws that should not exist. As Waterman writes about himself:

Roy strongly believes that the racist criminal justice system which never had a level of humanity or equality to begin with cannot be tweaked or reformed. He continuously asks us all to reimagine a society without jails or prisons.

Slavery never ended, Waterman claims, because mass incarceration is just a manifestation of what slavery is. He claims hes been saying this for years, that [i]f we actually want to end mass incarceration, we must have the courage to talk about reforms that are for EVERYONE behind bars, not just those convicted of low-level drug offenses. Watermans solution is radical: What we have to do is break the system that was created, which was built off of institutional racism, and now reimagine what it looks like to be incarcerated in America.

Yet all this talk of anarchy and lawlessness is music to the ears of the leaders of Americas most powerful Jewish institutions, so many of whom have come to favor progressive ideology over fundamental Jewish (and classic liberal) principles. Roy Waterman is an all[y] in pursuit of the American dream, tweeted ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt after inviting Waterman to speak at ADLs 2018 National Leadership Summit. Jewish leaders from Cleveland to St. Louis sing Watermans praises.

The situation contains an element of absurdity. Why would Greenblatt and David Bernstein recruit a jailhouse radical who helped torture someone to death to lead a revolutionary project to break Americas criminal justice system by emptying all the prisons and jails? Is this really the best use of the American Jewish communitys political power? And how will the American public react to Jewish leaders heading such an effort, which, among other things, brands all Americans, especially those in law enforcement, as irredeemably racist?

The reality is less absurd than it is tragic. Jewish leaders like Greenblatt and Bernstein dont do their work for the good of the Jews. Mainstream Jewish organizations like the ADL, the Federations, and the JCRCs have been usurped by far-left extremists who view themselves as the vanguard of a progressive intersectional movement first, and as Jews dead last. Their belief system has much more in common with Watermans than it does with the religion of the Orthodox Jewish community of Brooklyn. Like the Hellenizing elite of Maccabean times, they have set themselves against their own people. More and more Jews are now questioning if they too must now be chased out of power. Commentary Magazine editor John Podhoretz is furious with Greenblatt and wants him replaced. (Todays podcast.)

Judaism abhors violent crime and values human life. As a minority, Jews have thrived in societies with a strong rule of law, and died en masse in places where governments refused to protect them. There were remarkably few policemen on the streets, reported the Telegraph from Berlin on Kristallnacht. Those who were there, when their attention was drawn to the outrages which were proceeding before their eyes, shrugged their shoulders and refused to take any action. Thanks to the destructive efforts of Jewish leaders like David Bernstein, the same reporting may now accurately describe New York in the 2020s.

On February 27, 2019, Roy Waterman was charged with two class 2 misdemeanors in North Carolina for reckless driving and for going 90 in a 65 mile per hour zone. Not quite torture and murder, but not role model material, either. The reckless driving charge was dismissed, and the speeding downgraded to a non-criminal infraction. Once again, Waterman was treated fairly by the criminal justice system, even though he has since skipped out on paying his fine.

The JCPA allowed Waterman to continue pushing for bail reform until its passage last April, and then parted ways with him amicably last May. The JCPA and the ADL should now part ways with David Bernstein and Jonathan Greenblatt as well, repudiate their reckless bail reform agenda, and get back to protecting the Jewish people from the manye threats we face.
Wang Liqiang claimed in November that he was a former Chinese intelligence operative seeking asylum in Australia

Allegations in the Australian media that a Chinese spy was pressured to smear the Taiwanese ruling party with bribery charges has prompted accusations of meddling in the Taiwanese election.

The island of 23 million is already on high alert for any signs of Chinese interference in its presidential and legislative polls on Saturday, amid mounting fears of targeted disinformation campaigns to undermine Tsai Ing-wen, the incumbent president who Beijing deeply mistrusts. China denies trying to do so.

In the latest allegations of dirty tricks, reported in The Age, Wang Liqiang, a self-confessed Chinese intelligence operative seeking to defect to Australia, was warned in December that he could be sent back to China and killed if he did not publicly recant his story.

In November, Mr Wang sparked an international furore by claiming that he had worked for a Beijing-directed operation to target independence and democracy movements in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and to promote Communist Party influence.

Beijing immediately dismissed his story and said he was a convicted criminal, and Taiwans main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), whom Wang said Beijing was supporting, has strongly denounced the claims, as has Han Kuo-yu, its presidential candidate.

Supporters of Han Kuo-Yu, presidential candidate for Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party Credit: SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images

The KMT favours stronger trade ties with China although it maintains it will not do so at the cost of Taiwanese sovereignty. The island, which China claims as its own territory and threatens to annex, functions as a de facto independent nation.

However, the Australian Security Intelligence Operation issued an earlier rare statement to say it took the claims of foreign interference seriously.

Security agencies later uncovered a list of threats against Mr Wang on Christmas Eve, the Age reported.

He was allegedly asked to recant his accusations by Alex Tsai, a senior KMT official, and directly threatened by a Chinese businessman.

Story continues

He was reportedly told that his family would be spared punishment if he backtracked on his spy claims.

It is also claimed he was provided with a script and told to record a video message in which he would falsely claim that Taiwans governing Democratic Progressive Party had bribed him to lie with a large sum of money.

Wang Liqiang is seeking asylum in Australia, where he has offered a trove of secrets about Chinese political interference

Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Alex Tsai, the KMT official named in the story, confirmed he had spoken to Mr Wang, but denied threatening him or offering inducements. It has nothing to do with Taiwans elections, he stressed.

"Wang Liqiang is not a spy. That is sure, he said, claiming that he had contacted Mr Wang to negotiate to clear the name of a Chinese businessman he had implicated in his espionage accusations.

Both are not Communist spies. Some people say that they're spies working to infiltrate Taiwan, but they've got the wrong person. It's a serious violation of human rights, he said.

The DPP, which has repeatedly warned throughout the election campaign that China wants to impose authoritarian rule on Taiwan, expressed shock over the controversy and accused Mr Tsai of not revealing the whole truth. This is an international scandal, Kuan Bi-ling, a DPP legislator said.

In Australia, the federal police force told local media that it was aware of threats made against a man currently residing in Australia. A spokesman added: "The AFP takes threats of this nature seriously and has commenced an investigation."
The wife of an Oregon man serving a 15-year prison sentence for sexually abusing the couples daughter has filed a $9.5 million lawsuit against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, saying a clergy member violated a promise of confidentiality by reporting her husband to authorities.

The husband told a local church panel about the molestation in 2016 to repent for his sins under the eyes of God and to seek spiritual healing to bring peace within his life and family, the lawsuit says. Instead, he was arrested and charged in 2017 and convicted in 2018 of four counts of second-degree sexual abuse.

The couple were part of a ward in the Marion County town of Stayton, home to about 8,100 residents 15 miles southeast of Salem.

In addition to herself, the woman also listed four of her children as plaintiffs, saying they all have been deprived of her husbands companionship, society, love, affection and financial support. Not listed is the couples fifth child, who was molested by her father over four years when she was a pre-teen and teenager, according to criminal case records.

The lawsuit seeks $9.5 million for the familys emotional distress and lost income and $40,000 for the money spent on a criminal defense lawyer to represent the husband on the child molestation charges.

The Oregonian/OregonLive isnt naming the woman who filed the lawsuit or her husband because that would identify their daughter, who is a victim of sexual abuse.

A spokesman for the Utah-based Mormon church, which is listed as the sole defendant, said in a statement that one of its top priorities is protecting victims and ensuring proper reporting."

The Church teaches that leaders and members should fulfill all legal obligations to report abuse to civil authorities, said spokesman Eric Hawkins, in the statement. "In some circumstances, those obligations may be governed by their professional duty and in others by their role as clergy. The Church has a 24-hour abuse help line to help leaders understand and meet both their professional and ecclesiastical obligations to report abuse. We are grateful for the efforts of law enforcement and prosecutors to investigate and pursue justice for those who were abused.

This Google Maps photos shows the congregation in Stayton, which is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Google Maps)

Its unclear how Oregons mandatory reporter law will affect the lawsuit, filed last Friday in Marion County Circuit Court.

The law requires a list of private or public officials to report suspected child abuse to the Oregon Department of Human Services or local police. The list includes doctors, firefighters, teachers, social workers and clergy.

But the law carves out some exceptions, including that clergy members arent required to report child abuse if they learn of it through a privileged communication.

Further complicating matters, the lay clergy member who reported the abuse outlined in this lawsuit, Brian Saari, is a pharmacist, according to the plaintiffs lawyer. Pharmacists also are listed as mandatory reporters of child abuse in Oregon -- whether theyre on the job or not when they learn about alleged abuse, according to state officials.

But Bill Brandt, the Salem attorney representing the woman and her four children, said the lawsuit isnt basing its claims on the mandatory reporting law. Rather, it faults the church for a breach of confidentiality, he said.

Brandt said the church teaches members that they must confess their transgressions to get back in good favor with the church. After they do, the church will offer counseling and set requirements that must be met to address the transgressions, Brandt said. That all is supposed to happen within the confines of the church, which assured the family that the confession would remain private, he said.

That was a promise, Brandt said.

Brandt said church leaders had an obligation to warn the husband: Look, before you come in here and say this, we need to tell you ...were going to report you.

Brandt said the family has struggled financially since the husband was sent to prison. Now 47, he resides at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton.

The lawsuit drew outrage in Oregon and elsewhere from nonprofit organizations that support child abuse victims. Officials said failing to report pedophiles can enable them to operate unfettered and victimize more children.

The clergy member who tipped off investigators should be thanked for doing the right thing, said David Clohessy, former national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which supports victims from all religious organizations.

Its not just a parents job to protect their kids from predators, its the job of every single adult, Clohessy said. So adults who do put the safety of kids first should be applauded not penalized.

Clohessy said he believes the woman in this lawsuit has misplaced her blame. She should be grateful to the church officials, rather than bitter, he said.

Legal observers noted the juxtaposition of this lawsuit with thousands of others that have followed sex abuse scandals in many faiths, claiming clergy remained silent, hid abuse or did nothing to prevent it. Most notably, the Catholic Church in the U.S. has paid out more than $3 billion in settlements, according to BishopAccountability.org.

Legal experts said the Oregon lawsuit is rare because it faults a clergy member for doing the opposite -- speaking up about a crime.

Christine Bartholomew, an associate professor at the University at Buffalo School of Law, said while it might be surprising, many clergy do want to testify about supposedly privileged communications, especially if the information they have to share is about violent crimes that have been committed.

Bartholomew has reviewed every accessible claim filed in U.S. courts alleging communications were made in confidence to clergy from 1811 to 2017. Thats more than 700 cases, including divorces, civil disputes and criminal prosecutions in which clergy members were called as witnesses.

In a small number of those cases, church officials or religious institutions as a whole were sued for alerting authorities to a crime, such as child sexual abuse or murder. Most often, Bartholomew said, plaintiffs lost those lawsuits based on their inability to make a case under the laws of their states.

Bartholomew said the lawsuit against the Mormon church could discourage clergy members from reporting child abuse out of concern that theyll be sued.

If successful, this litigation would push courts and these religious organizations toward less transparency than more, Bartholomew said. And you have to wonder if that would create the environment where abuse can really fester.

-- Aimee Green

agreen@oregonian.com

o_aimee

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.
(ANSA) - Sassari, January 9 - A 40-year-old Sardinian woman was arrested Wednesday night on charges of vehicular homicide while allegedly driving drunk in the north of the Italian island.

The woman, identified only by her initials, M.P., ran over and killed a 76-year-old pensioner, Paolo Canavese.

Canavese was originally from Cuneo in the north of Italy but had been living at Trinita d'Agultu for many years, police said.

He was hit by the car at Badesi, in the central Via Nazionale, and died in the ambulance taking him to hospital The woman driving the Volkswagen Polo failed a blood alcohol test.

She was placed under house arrest on suspicion of vehicular homicide.

The woman stopped the car immediately after the impact and called emergency services.

An autopsy has been ordered.


A Slip Almost

Cost Her the

Olympics. Then

the Winner

Stepped In
A Bondi party girl was all smiles as she left court unshackled with mum and dad by her side despite serious accusations of her involvement in a Sydney drug ring.

Event planner Danielle Hogan, 24, faced court on Thursday after she was released on bail last year following a 12-day-stint in Silverwater prison.

Hogan was arrested at her North Bondi home on November 7 over her alleged involvement in drug delivery service across the Harbour City.

Danielle Hogan, 24, (pictured) has been charged with five offences, including two counts of ongoing drug supply and participating in a criminal group

Police prosecutors asked for more time to process the evidence against the alleged drug-runner at the Central Local Court on Thursday, according to the Daily Telegraph.

'Due to the quantity of the drugs and the way it's been packaged, it's going to take some time for testing to occur,' police prosecutor Liam Edwards said.

The judge agreed to a two month adjournment, meaning Hogan will next face court on March 11 with her co-accused.

Police allege the glamorous event planner supplied 380g of cocaine to Sydneysiders between August and October 2019.

During this period the party girl was posting photos to Instagram of her glamorous life involving jaunts to waterside bars and ocean swims in bikinis.

She was one of seven arrested by police in raids across Sydney in a strike force operation targeting an alleged drug runner operation across the city.

She has been charged with five offences, including two counts of ongoing drug supply and participating in a criminal group.

Hogan, from North Bondi, spent 12 days behind bars after she was arrested at her apartment on Thursday November 7

Hogan began to tear up when the court heard her anxiety and depression has gotten worse as a result of the police charges and incarceration.

During Hogan's previous court appearance, the prosecution argued against bail, telling the court the 24-year-old was allegedly caught by police surveillance telephoning others with accused of involvement in Sydney's drug ring.

Hogan (pictured) was one of seven arrested by police in raids across Sydney in a strike force operation targeting an alleged drug runner operation across the city on November 7

Hogan is required to follow strict bail conditions, including residing at her family home and reporting to Chatswood Police Station

But magistrate Michael Crompton decided it was 'not justified' to keep Hogan locked up before her trial, as she is young, has a lack of criminal history and is suffering from mental health issues.

'Whilst these are serious charges indeed  I'm satisfied the risks can be can be mitigated by the imposition of conditions,' he said.

Hogan is required to follow strict bail conditions, including residing at her family home and reporting to Chatswood Police Station.

She is only allowed to leave the house between 10pm and 6am in the company of her parents and she is prohibited from contacting her co-accused or using any encryption apps on her mobile phone.

Hogan was also required to surrender her passport.
The operation was conducted from late 2009 to early 2011 by Phoenix-based agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who were looking into a gun-smuggling network linked to a Mexican drug cartel.

Suspected straw purchasers for the network acquired about 2,000 guns, most of which were presumed to have reached drug gangs. In December 2010, two weapons that had been bought by one of the suspects were found at the site of the shootout in which Agent Terry was killed, setting off a scandal.

Mr. Osorio-Arellanes, who was taken into custody by Mexican authorities in 2017, was the sixth of seven defendants convicted and sentenced in the case. Prosecutors said that Jesus Favela-Astorga, the sole defendant still facing trial, was also arrested by Mexican authorities in 2017 and was awaiting extradition to the United States.

Agent Terrys sister Michelle Balogh said Wednesday that she had traveled from her home in Michigan to witness the sentencing of Mr. Osorio-Arellanes in Tucson, along with another sister, Kelly Willis. Ms. Balogh, 51, said she had not missed a single hearing in the criminal cases stemming from the killing of her brother, and was satisfied that Mr. Osorio-Arellanes was sentenced to life in prison.

Its only fair, Ms. Balogh said. Brian doesnt get to walk among us, so why should he?

Mr. Osorio-Arellaness lawyer did not respond to messages seeking comment on Wednesday.
Actor Deepika Padukone's upcoming film "Chhapaak" has been declared tax-free in Madhya Pradesh.

The announcement in this regard was made by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath.

In a series of tweets, the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister announced that the movie which is set to release tomorrow has been made tax-free.

"I announce that the Deepika Padukone starrer "Chhapaak", the movie which is based on an acid attack survivor, releasing on January 10, will be tax-free in Madhya Pradesh," he said in a tweet.

"The film apart from a positive message about women victims of acid attacks in society....is also based on a story of confidence, struggle, hope, and determination to live with that pain and also on bringing a change in the thinking of society in such cases," he added.

The film has also been declared tax-free in Chhattisgarh, announced CMO Chhattisgarh on Twitter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
KYODO NEWS - Jan 9, 2020 - 22:25 | All, World

Japan and China have decided to craft a new major political document that will lay the foundation for their future relations, to be unveiled when Chinese President Xi Jinping visits as a state guest in the spring, sources close to the matter said Thursday.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Xi agreed to create the document, the fifth of its kind since the countries normalized diplomatic relations in 1972, in a meeting in December last year in Beijing, the sources said.

While relations between Japan and China have often been frayed by differing views of wartime history and territorial disputes, ties have improved in recent years amid Beijing's trade spat with the United States.

To start the drafting process for the document, Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Akiba will visit China possibly on Monday, one of the sources said. Another said the document will likely include a reference to the "responsibility" both countries should bear to maintain peace and stability in East Asia.

There are currently four political documents that are considered to be the foundation of Japan-China relations. The first, a joint communique signed in 1972 between then Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, ended the "abnormal state of affairs" between the countries following the end of World War II and resulted in China renouncing its demand for wartime reparations.

The second, a peace treaty concluded in 1978, affirmed the countries would settle all disputes by peaceful means and refrain from using force, while the third was created when then Chinese President Jiang Zemin visited Japan as a state guest in 1998.

The fourth, created when Xi's predecessor, Hu Jintao, visited as a state guest in 2008, said the countries would promote a "mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests."

Japan, for its part, is seen as hoping the drafting of a new document will help keep China committed to the international rule of law and rein in its economic and military expansionism. It will be looking to cover environmental issues and North Korea's nuclear program in the upcoming discussions.

But the drafting process could be complicated by outstanding differences, including China's dispatch of government ships to waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands. The islets in the East China Sea are controlled by Tokyo but are also claimed by Beijing, which calls them Diaoyu.

The countries are also at odds over China's detainment of Japanese nationals who Tokyo argues are being held on unclear charges.

While Abe has been eager to invite Xi as a state guest, some conservative lawmakers in his Liberal Democratic Party have urged for the trip to be canceled, citing such outstanding issues as well as the human rights situation in Hong Kong and the far-western Xinjiang region.

Japan is hoping to avoid the new document including keywords espoused by Xi such as the Belt and Road initiative and the concept of a "community of shared future for mankind" out of concern it would give the impression China had taken the lead in its creation.
Mumbai, Jan 9 : Actress Sunny Leone took a neutral stance on Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) violence by saying that she doesnt want to comment on the anti-CAA protest and fee hike issue in JNU, adding that she is pro-peace and she hopes that all concerned parties will come out with a solution on the matter.

"I don't want to share my opinion on an actual thing that people are fighting over. I feel there are many things that we can do if we put our foot down, if we speak to each other and stop the violence, because violence is something that our children see and learn. Violence doesn't affect just one person. It affects the entire family because it also emotionally hurt them. I am pro-peace and I do not endorse violence. I am sure that there will be some solution that can come without violence," said Sunny, while interacting with the media at a promotional event, when she was asked to comment on Sunday's attack on JNU students by unidentified masked men.

Watch the video

At the event, Sunny also spoke about the devastating wildfires in Australia. "I think we have created this path of destruction, and wer are destroying things that are so beautiful in our world. I do believe that we have the ability and the means to clean up our cities and homes. I feel we have to keep our beaches clean, and provide education to children about what it means to throw your thrash in the garbage box." She continued: "I think it's time that we start respecting mother earth and giving back to her basically what she has given us, which is the ability to live on this planet. I know we practice certain things in our homes that help the environment, and I really hope that people start paying attention to these things because it is only going to get worse." Talking about the web series "Ragini MMS: Returns" season 2, which released on December 18, she said: "I am really happy that people have liked season 2. I haven't got the chance to see it. I have seen only my portions while dubbing but I have heard nice things about it. I wish success to Zee5 and ALTBalaji and I hope it does well for them." "Ragini MMS Returns Season 2" features real-life couple Divya Agarwal and Varun Sood. Sunny Leone plays a paranormal expert in the series.

-- Syndicated from IANS
New Delhi: In the episode, Preeta and Srishti trick the robber and while they are doing their act to lock the robber inside a room, Prithvi follows them. In this hustle-bustle, the leader of the robbers turns up and takes Rakhi's Mangalsutra. Rishabh and Karan beat up the robbers' gang. Janki tries to save the Luthras and throws chilli powder at them. One of the robbers takes Rakhi as a hostage and the Luthras find themselves in a tight spot.

Watch the latest episode here:

In tonights episode, The robbers decide to focus on finding the person who was pretending to be the fake boss. They decide to take Rakhi along with them so that no one tries to escape. They lock Rakhi in another room and keep her. Preeta sees the room and realises that there is a secret way to reach Rakhi and rescue her.

Preeta goes under Rakhis room and opens a door hidden under the floor carpet. Srishti and Rishabh argue with each other to distract the robbers and let Karan escape. He tries to search for Rakhi too. Rakhi is shocked to see Preeta and Srishti, but she agrees to escape with both of them. Karan makes noise outside the room by mistake. The robbers not only find Karan but also catch Rakhi along with Preeta and Srishti.

The robbers bring Karan to Rakhis room and find her trying to escape. Preeta and Srishti also get caught with Rakhi and Karan. Srishti tells the kidnappers where they can find the fake robber. When the robber reaches the washroom where Prithvi is hiding, he takes Prithvi at gunpoint and makes him a hostage. Preeta tries to stop the robbers from taking Karan and Rakhi away. The robbers realise that Preeta and Karan love each other.

Sarla finds out that there are robbers in Kumkum Bhagya hall. Preeta manages to get all the robbers together and electrocutes them by surrounding them with water and throwing a live wire in the water. The robber who makes Prithvi hostage gets saved from the shock but Sarla pushes him in the water too. The police arrest the robbers but will this make Karan trust Preeta again? Find out tomorrow.

Watch the latest episodes of Kundali Bhagya, now streaming on ZEE5.
Tokyo, Jan 9 : Tokyo prosecutors on Thursday dismissed former Nissan chairperson Carlos Ghosn's claims that he was subjected to eight hours of interrogation while in detention in Japan, and added he was allowed to meet his lawyers.

Ghosn, during one of his first press conferences since his November 2018 detention in Tokyo, said on Wednesday in Lebanon capital Beirut that he underwent long interrogations.

Takahiro Saito, deputy chief of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, responded to some of the allegations made by Ghosn in a media appearance, Efe news reported.

After his arrest, Ghosn -- who is accused of financial irregularities -- was in detention for 130 days and released on bail April 25 after being detained a second time.

Saito said Ghosn was interrogated for more than 70 days in average sessions held daily for little under four hours.

He added that during those 130 days of detention, Ghosn was allowed to meet his lawyers and did so 120 times.

He could not meet with them on Sundays as the Tokyo detention centre was closed to visitors.

In his media appearance, Ghosn criticised the Japanese legal system, said that he was forced to confess and claimed he was interrogated daily by prosecutors for more than eight hours and in absence of his lawyers.

According to Ghosn, the interrogations to which he was subjected and the restrictions on meeting his wife Carole sought to force him into confessing to crimes of which he stands accused, however, the prosecutors denied the claims.

The prosecution added it was obvious he was not forced to confess and said that they had video and audio recording of his interrogations.

In Japan, Ghosn had restrictions on his movements and a ban on leaving the country.

The former Nissan boss said he was subjected to "relentless, shameless, baseless media attacks orchestrated by Japanese prosecutors and Nissan executives".

Ghosn is accused in Japan of alleged financial misconduct.

The Lebanese public prosecutor's office has received an Interpol red notice requesting authorities to preventively arrest Ghosn while he awaits extradition (or a similar procedure, seeing as Japan doesn't have an extradition treaty with Lebanon).
The disastrous fires that have devoured southern Australia this summer seem to be entirely without precedent. Yes, there are bushfires every summer and almost inevitably the tragic loss of life and property. But no bushfire season in living memory comes near the dimensions of this catastrophe; its scale and its flow-on effects across NSW, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT have been unique. Calls for a national inquiry are growing louder.

But should any inquiry be national? Why wouldn't the states hold their own? Or, as The Sydney Morning Herald editorialised on Wednesday, make it a state-run royal commission with broad powers, modelled on Victoria's inquiry into the 2009 Black Saturday fires.

In the face of our worst bushfire calamity, it is the states that need to conduct their own inquiries. Credit:Nick Moir

If it is to be national, lets hope its terms of reference do not include investigating the establishment of a national civil emergency authority, which would consume the usual millions of dollars, be based in Canberra and require either extensive constitutional reform or a complex set of arrangements with the states to be effective.

Remember, civil emergency and law-enforcement responsibilities and land-management (including environmental) planning powers currently almost entirely sit with the states. Giving Canberra further environmental or planning powers would need a mother of a referendum and constitute a significant centralisation of power.
Justin Trudeau has vowed that his government will not rest until it has achieved justice for the 176 people who died when a Ukrainian passenger jet near Tehran  most of whom were traveling to Canada.

Speaking on Thursday, the Canadian prime minister called for a thorough investigation of the disaster as he endorsed mounting intelligence that the Ukrainian passenger jet was accidentally shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile.

We have intelligence from multiple sources  including our allies and our own intelligence: the evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, Trudeau said. This may well have been unintentional.

He said that evidence only strengthened the need for a full investigation into the disaster.

It is now more important than ever to know exactly how this tragedy happens. Canadians want answers. That means transparency, accountability and justice, he said. This government will not rest until we get that.

Iran has disputed reports it accidentally brought down the plane, and suggested mechanical failure and a fire onboard the aircraft was the cause of the crash.

News that the disaster may have been caused by a missile strike caused further distress for members of the Iranian community in Canada mourning the loss of friends and relatives.

This is new and incoming disturbing information  but if true, Im not surprised; especially given the actions of the Iranian regime, said Payman Parseyan, the former president of Edmontons Iranian Heritage Society.

Related: Newlyweds and family of four among 63 Canadians killed in 'devastating' crash

But Praseyan said that no amount of blame would bring back the victims. We loved our community family and  whether the Iranian government was involved or not  theyre not coming home.

Sixty-three Canadians were onboard the Boeing 737-800, operated by Ukraine International Airlines, when it crashed near Tehran on Wednesday. One hundred and thirty-eight of the passengers were destined for Canada, making the crash the countrys worst aviation disaster since the 1985 Air India bombing, which killed 268 citizens.

Story continues

Victims included Mansour Esnaashary Esfahani, 29, a civil engineering doctoral student in Ontario who had flown to Iran in December to get married.

Esfahani had been due to return on 2 January to resume studies at the University of Waterloo, but decided to extend his ticket to 8 January.

His wife, Hanieh, had planned to begin a new life in Canada with him in February  a reunion that is now impossible.

Roja Azadian and her husband, Mohsen Ahmadipour, had expected to travel back to Ottawa together  but when they arrived at Tehrans bustling Imam Khomeini airport, airline staff told them a prior cancellation to part of Ahmadipours ticket rendered the remainder of his journey invalid.

He planned to follow his wife on a separate flight and be reunited in Canada.

He couldnt get on the plane. His wife could get on the plane, unfortunately, Kevin Manesh, who knew the couple, told the Ottawa Citizen. He was the lucky person who didnt get on the plane.

Ontario resident Hamed Esmaeilion lost his wife, dentist Parisa Eghbalian, 42, and nine-year-old daughter, Reera, to the fatal crash.

On Facebook, Esmaeilion posted tributes to his daughter - including a video of her playing the piano and a photo of the two reading the newspaper.

What should I do? What should I do? he wrote. What should I do with the magazine subscriptions that are coming for you?

Moments before takeoff on #FlightPS752: Sahar Haghjoo and her daughter Elsa Jadidi in their seats ready to fly home to Toronto. @globalnewsto #UkrainianPlaneCrash pic.twitter.com/5InrvWhJzr  Caryn Lieberman (@caryn_lieberman) January 9, 2020

Sahar Haghjoo, 37, helped settle immigrant and refugee women, working at the YWCA in Toronto  a job she held for five years. She was travelling in Iran with her only child, eight-year-old Elsa. Haghjoos husband was expecting to greet his wife and daughter on Wednesday at Pearson airport, but the pair never arrived.

Mourners attend a vigil for the victims of a Ukrainian plane crash in Iran at University of Toronto student housing, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on 8 January. Photograph: Chris Helgren/Reuters

Across the country on Thursday, schools flew their flags at half mast, honouring the grim news that many of the victims were students, researchers and academics.

It is an unspeakable loss, said Neda Maghbouleh, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto who studies Iranian migration through the US and Canada. Four University of Toronto students were killed in the crash.

The people we lost in the plane truly represented the smartest young researchers in the entire world, Maghbouleh told Reuters.

Late Wednesday, Canadas foreign minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, spoke with his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif  a rare formal communication between countries with no diplomatic relations. The two nations severed diplomatic ties in 2012 under the Canadas Conservative government  rendering any investigation by Canada exceedingly difficult. Despite previous pledges to revive relations, Trudeau has failed to do so.

The response by the Iranian government, the Iranian foreign minister, was open, was encouraging, said Champagne, who expressed optimism that consular officials would soon receive visas to go to Iran.

A series of vigils and memorials are scheduled to take place across the country in the next few days to honour victims of the crash.
Anna Henly/Getty Images

Houston oilfield service company Enterprise Offshore Drilling is laying off more than five dozen oil-rig workers in the Gulf of Mexico.

In a letter filed with the Texas Workforce Commission, Enterprise reported that the company is laying off 61 people working aboard Enven Energy's DD 202 offshore drilling rig about 100 miles off shore. Enven is shutting down the rig Jan. 31, Enterprise Offshore Drilling Vice President of Human Resources Amy Warner wrote in her letter.
Anti-Semitism is best fought with "fear" of a future tragedy, the head of the European Jewish Congress said ahead of events to commemorate the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. "When we speak about what was the reason for the war, how to make peace, how to avoid a future war, we have to have in mind one strong instrument: our fear," said Moshe Kantor, founder of the World Holocaust Forum. "Leaders and populations, Jews and non-Jews, should be very much afraid of tragedy," he told AFP in an interview. Leaders and dignitaries from 40 countries -- including Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and Britain's Prince Charles -- are set to travel to Jerusalem later this month to mark 75 years since prisoners were freed from the Nazi extermination camp. The gathering seeks not only to remember the Holocaust and the killing of more than one million Jews at Auschwitz during World War II, but to unite leaders in the fight against anti-Semitism. "The story should be frightening because mankind shall be frightened," said Kantor, adding that the fact the world now has weapons of mass destruction made it "more dangerous than in the 1930s". - 'Anti-Semitism crisis ' - Recalling the horrors of the death camp in then Nazi-occupied Poland is vital to avoid further atrocities, Kantor told AFP on Monday. "The story should be frightening," said the Russian-Israeli billionaire. The idea to organise the first in a series of events to remember the Holocaust came to Kantor 16 years ago when, he said, anti-Semitism was latent but still appeared like a "microscopic" problem. Kantor blamed the 2008 financial crisis for sparking a new "crisis of anti-Semitism", because it hit the middle class hard, widened the wealth gap and gave rise to various types of political extremism. "The middle class is very much polarised... either very poor or very rich, so they are not delivering the function of social stabiliser," said Kantor. France, home to Europe's biggest Jewish community, in 2018 saw a 74 percent rise in the number of anti-Jewish offences reported to police compared with the previous year. Kantor said such attacks were one reason for Jews opting to emigrate to Israel or other countries. Tel Aviv University's Kantor Center said in 2018 there was a 13 percent rise globally in the number of "major violent cases" against Jews. The Jewish population could "disappear completely as a people in Europe" for the first time in thousands of years, Kantor warned. - Political problems - The January 23 commemoration in Jerusalem is set to focus on remembering Holocaust victims and combatting anti-Semitism, but it will not be divorced from current political events. Foreign leaders will have to decide whether to hold bilateral meetings with Netanyahu, just weeks ahead of Israel's election in which the veteran premier is a candidate. Confirmed guests include German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, while the United States is yet to announce who will attend the event at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre. In a significant blow for organisers, Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday pulled out in protest at not being allowed to make a speech at the service. Poland is in a bitter dispute with Russia, after Putin accused the country of having colluded with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and of having acted in an anti-Semitic way at the dawn of the devastating conflict. Duda said denying him the opportunity to publicly honour Polish citizens who perished in the Holocaust was tantamount to a "distortion of the historical truth". For the moment, the key speeches will be delivered by Russia, Israel, France, the United States and the United Kingdom. Moshe Kantor, the head of the European Jewish Congress, during an interview with AFP in Jerusalem The former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz II - Birkenau with its SS guards tower, now a museum and memorial site
Two of three incumbents on the Katy City Council whose terms expire this spring said that they plan to seek re-election.

The third, Ward B incumbent Durran C. Dowdle, who was first elected in 2016, said he will announce his decision in mid-January.

Jan. 15 is the first day to file for a place on the May 2 City of Katy ballot. Feb. 14 is the deadline to file.

Both Ward A Councilwoman Janet Corte and Councilman at-large Chris Harris said they plan to file to run for re-election. Both were first elected in May 2018.

Both want to work on unfinished business.

Corte said, I feel like we done a lot of good things. But theres more to be done with drainage, infrastructure and development of the downtown area, she added. Theres a lot of things going on internally that were working on to move the city for the future coming up, she continued. Corte talked of reviewing policies and codes.

Theres still a lot of work to be done that Id like to be a part of, Corte said.

Harris, who is also mayor pro-tem, lists accomplishments as including starting a citywide flood mitigation plan, improving public safety services, expanding parks and greenspaces and reducing the city tax rate to a historic low.

"Serving the citizens of Katy, this past term, as the councilmember at-large has been an honor, he said in a statement. If re-elected, I plan to continue working on flood mitigation projects, both locally and with other regional entities, and supporting our city's emergency services all the while enhancing our neighborhoods, downtown, and parks that offer the small-town feel that Katy families have grown accustomed to, said Harris. I pledge again, if returned to City Council, to continue all my efforts in positively representing the City of Katy.

In a Jan. 7 phone interview, Dowdle said hes weighing his options. He said he enjoys serving on City Council. Im the longest tenured and the most experienced one of the bunch, said Dowdle.

Formerly, council members were limited to three consecutive two-year terms by the city charter. Katy voters approved changing the charter in May 2017 to make the terms of councilmembers three years instead of two effective Jan. 1, 2020. Tenure now shall not exceed two consecutive three-year terms.

Dowdle said he talked both with the city attorney and city administrator and understands that because of the charter change, hes allowed to run again.

Criteria to run for office include being a U.S. citizen whos at least 21 years old and being a qualified voter living within the city at least 12 months prior to the election. For more information, contact City Secretary Becky L. McGrew at 901 Ave C, Katy, Texas 77493, citysecretary@cityofkaty.com or 281-391-4815

karen.zurawski@chron.com
Since the passing of Gertrude Himmelfarb I have been reflecting on just how much she taught me through her voluminous historical scholarship. In this weeks Acton Line Podcast I interviewed Yuval Levin, Resident Scholar and Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at AEI, who was also her student. Levins recent essay in the National Review, The Historian as Moralist, is the best introduction I have ever read to Himmelfarbs intellectual project, her major works, and her lasting influence.

My conversation with Yuval Levin was wide ranging discussing the basic outlines of Gertrude Himmelfarbs life, her view of the proper role of historical scholarship and the vocation of the historian, and the reasons behind her fascination with the Victorians. We spend a lot of time discussing her masterful biography of Lord Acton, Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics, which serves as both the best single introduction to Lord Acton and the key to understanding Himmelfarbs own intellectual project.

Levins explanation of the enormous influence of Himmelfarbs scholarship on the American conservative movement inspired me to dive deeper into the biography of this deeply fascinating woman. In an illuminating essay in National Affairs, The Brooklyn Burkeans, Jonathan Bronitsky argues that Himmelfarbs first student was her husband Irving Kristol:

 Kristols introduction to and extensive education in that classical liberalism came, above all, from his wife of 67 years: Gertrude Himmelfarb. As such, Himmelfarb  known to her friends as Bea  should be understood to be not only an internationally esteemed historian of Victorian England but also a pivotal figure in the trajectory of neoconservatism and post-war American conservatism. The influence of her passion for British moral and political thought can be discerned in practically every position Kristol maintained on culture, economics, religion, history, philosophy, and politics.

Gertrude Himmelfarbs own introduction to the liberal tradition began with Lord Acton:

Critically, Acton led Himmelfarb to Edmund Burke, who soon became one of her and her husbands foremost historical and intellectual inspirations. Burke and Acton, according to English historian Archbishop David Mathew, were master and disciple. Acton himself had lauded Burke as the teacher of mankind and exalted his parliamentary speeches from 1790 to 1795 as the law and the prophets. Himmelfarb defined Acton as a liberal with a difference and cautioned her colleagues in 1949 to avoid the temptation to fit him into a familiar pattern of thought or a ready-made philosophy or school.

The historically sensitive anti-ideological conservative liberalism of Acton and Burke animated the scholarship of Gertrude Himmelfarb. Her immense learning and generous teaching spirit introduced so many to this enduring vision. Those committed to a free and virtuous society remain her students.


BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

Trend:

Some 831 Azerbaijani citizens voluntarily returned from Europe to Azerbaijan in 2019, Trend reports on Jan. 9 referring to International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The IOM rendered assistance to 831 Azerbaijani citizens as part of assistance programs on the voluntary return and reintegration in the country of origin.

According to the report, 460 people voluntarily returned from Germany, 264 people from the Netherlands, 27 people from Latvia, 16 people from Turkey, 13 people from Austria, 10 people from Georgia, nine people from Belgium, eight people from Lithuania, seven people from Poland, six people from Switzerland, four people from Hungary, three people from Finland, two people from Ireland, one person from the Czech Republic and one person from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Department of Correction is not providing inmates with health care in a timely manner, according to an audit released Thursday by state Auditor Suzanne Bump.

The audit found that the lapse in health care services creates a risk that inmates health care conditions will worsen, and puts the department at risk of legal liability.

Inmates have a right to timely health services while incarcerated, and we all have a vested interest in their successful reentry into society. Its concerning that the Department of Corrections lax oversight in these areas may have negatively affected inmate treatment and rehabilitation, Bump said in a statement.

The audit covered the period of July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2018, and the Department of Correction has since switched its contract for health care vendors away from Massachusetts Partnership for Correctional Healthcare, which was providing health care at that time.

The Department of Correction is committed to the timely healthcare and well-being of those in our custody and we work with medical contractors to ensure that this goal is met, said Department of Correction spokesman Jason Dobson. "In 2018, DOC contracted with a new medical vendor, which has implemented a new electronic medical record database that assists staff in maintaining accurate information, such as medical appointment dates.

State policies require that if an inmate fills out a form requesting a sick call, the request has to be reviewed within 24 hours, or 72 hours on weekends, and inmates should be seen by a health care professional within seven days.

The audit looked at 60 randomly selected files of inmates who were seen by a health care professional. In 18 of those files, there were requests that were processed between one and 31 days late. Many of the requests did not include the date on which they were processed. Portions of the sick call requests in many files were not filled out completely by jail officials.

In 72 sick call requests  contained in 19 of the 60 files  there was no evidence that inmates were seen by a professional within seven days.

The Department of Correction, in a written response to the audit, said it is making improvements in response to the findings. But the department said some of the requests were apparently processed late because inmates wrote the wrong date on sick call slips. The department said some of the cases in which inmates were not seen by health care professionals were because their requests did not warrant it  for example, an inmate was requesting a hearing aid battery or an eyeglass repair, which was provided.

Bump also faulted the department for not keeping documentation to show that health care reentry services were provided to inmates  things like scheduling physical or mental health appointments with an outside doctor before the inmate is released, or reviewing a reentry plan with an inmate to make sure the inmate knows their insurance status or how to get medication refilled.

The Department of Correction told Bumps auditors that not all staff are properly trained on reentry standards and procedures. The department said it is reviewing its reentry policies and staffing.

Bump also tried to examine services specific to womens health, focusing on preventative gynecological care and pregnancy-related care. She did not find any deficiencies, but she wrote that auditors were unable to complete their audit of womens medical files at MCI-Framingham, a womens prison, because some files were quarantined due to a mold infestation.

Elizabeth Matos, executive director of Prisoners Legal Services, which provides advocacy and legal representation for prisoners, said the organization has seen consistent problems with medical care through the years at state prisons.

Our clients suffer tremendously with not just a lack of adequate health care but really medical negligence, Matos said.

Matos said inmates frequently have to put in repeated sick slips to be seen for serious and chronic conditions. Prisoners Legal Services must send advocacy letters to jail officials seeking medical care for potentially life-threatening symptoms.

Separately, a lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court against the Department of Correction over inadequate health care provided to an inmate at MCI-Framingham.

This story has been updated with a comment from the Department of Correction.
The Polisario has recently threatened to sap the UN-peace process through violating ceasefire in the Sahara. Morocco unrelenting on its sovereignty over all its historical territories has responded so far peacefully by showing the growing support for its territorial integrity especially among African countries.

Gambia, on the footsteps of Comoros, has taken its support for Moroccos territorial integrity to a tangible level opening a consulate in Dakhla. A move that puts the Polisario to look at itself in a mirror reflecting an Algeria-backed militia lacking all attributes of a state.

The Gambian decision is also a slap in the Algerian face. The Algerian regime, as it seeks to divert attention from a diverting internal crisis typical of an illegitimate military regime, has openly expressed its disapproval of the Comoros decision to set up a consulate in the Sahara. Few days later, Gambia brings Algiers to terms with the reality of a growing awareness among African states of the unfeasibility of Algerias chimera of having a separatist state in Moroccos south.

Opening consulates by African states in southern Morocco is also reflective of waning interest in the Algerian-funded Polisario within Africa.

It is true that Algerian oil-money earned the Polisario self-proclaimed republic a recognition in 1984, but the sands have shifted violently recently in favor of Morocco whose return to the African Union in late 2017 was preceded by a motion signed by 28 African states calling for a freeze of the separatist entitys membership within the pan-African organization.

Moroccos return to the African Union was a bulwark against attempts to use the African organization to serve separatist aims. Morocco and its friends on the continent managed to secure the African Unions neutrality.

Ethiopia, Nigeria and Rwanda and other English speaking states in Africa have all refrained from backing the Polisario claims while supporting the UN efforts and UN Security Resolutions, which all stress primacy of Moroccos autonomy initiative as a credible solution to the over-four decade conflict.

Thirty-seven countries from across Africa, making up two-third of the African Union members, do not recognize Polisarios statehood.

Many African states deplore the membership of Polisario in the African Union as it represents an aberration that prejudged the outcome of negotiations in total disregard for the UN process and for Moroccos historical rights as a country that was divided by two colonial powers.

However, the AU started remedying its past biases towards Morocco through decision 693, which states clearly that the Sahara should be tackled only within the UN framework barring the road to adversaries of Moroccos territorial integrity within the African Union who sought to create a parallel mechanism.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex depart Canada House on January 07, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Harry and Meghan's decision to step back as senior royals has made newspaper headlines on the other side of the Atlantic where the couple intend to spend part of their time.

In the US, the Chicago Tribune tweeted a link to their coverage, writing: "Northwestern graduate moving closer to home after spending time abroad."

The tongue-in-cheek line refers to Meghan's previous studies at the university, which has a Chicago campus.

The New York Post's front page pokes fun at the couple, featuring a mocked-up image of them looking dishevelled and drinking on a sofa.

Tomorrow's cover: Whats next for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after royal family exit https://t.co/HFKsfoFVMM pic.twitter.com/1YmBaPN2g1  New York Post (@nypost) January 9, 2020

Its headline reads "Meghan and Harry leave royals for 'commoner' life".

Its website dedicates several articles to the royal couple's announcement, asking questions about their finances and where they will live.

"The family will still need a full security detail to follow them around North America," a piece suggested.

Another story quoted unnamed sources saying Harry and Meghan will set up home in Los Angeles.

Expand Close Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House on January 07, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House on January 07, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Celebrity magazine US Weekly featured a comment from the duchess's father Thomas Markle, who said he was "disappointed" by the couple's decision.

The Washington Post said the couple's plans to move abroad would be "bold and remarkable".

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It added that it signalled "two of the younger, more popular royals may be fed up with an anachronistic, cosseted life of endless ribbon-cutting and fusty, scripted engagements - and the scrutiny that comes with all of that".

A comment piece in the New York Times said Harry and Meghan's desire to "break free from royal traditions... speaks directly to the challenges facing the monarchy as the reign of the queen, now 93, enters its final years".

Expand Close 'Transition': Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wish to raise son Archie in both the UK and North America. Photo: Reuters / Facebook

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Whatsapp 'Transition': Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wish to raise son Archie in both the UK and North America. Photo: Reuters

It said the couple face a "tricky balancing act" of remaining part of the royal family "while also being somehow outside it at the same time".

Focusing on Meghan's treatment by the British press, it argued that she had been portrayed as "inferior" to the Duchess of Cambridge and a "ungrateful royal bride".

The European version of USA Today's website features an extensive Q&A, asking in its headline: "What are Harry and Meghan thinking?"

In Canada, where the duke and duchess recently enjoyed a six-week break in British Columbia, a Toronto Star opinion piece led with the headline: "Harry and Meghan, you're finally free - now come to Canada, where you belong."

In another article, the paper noted speculation the couple could move to Toronto, where former actress Meghan filmed the TV series Suits, or Vancouver.

The Globe and Mail newspaper, based in Toronto, initially had more muted coverage on its website.

An article on the royal couple highlighted their comments praising the beauty of Canada and speculation they could move to the country.
The Ministerial boycott of Today continues as Downing Street is suspected, by some, of seeking to weaken the lobby system by changing its daily briefing procedure. During the election, Boris Johnson was criticised for his refusal to be interviewed by Andrew Neil.

To cut a long story short, Number Ten stands accused of seeking to ensure that the Government avoids legitimate scrutiny. What is Team Johnsons side of the story? And what should we make of it all?

The different elements need disentangling.

First, Downing Street is excoriating about Today. Its take is that the programme is Londoncentric, reflexively left-leaning, staffed by Guardian readers (they must account for 20 per cent of the papers sales) and incapable of thinking outside its own bubble.

If you want to get a sense of what Team Johnson thinks, read this article by a former senior member ofTeam May. Robbie Gibb was her Director of Communications and is a former head of BBC Westminster  so he has played, as it were, for both teams.

[Today] spectacularly misread the politics of the election with endless outside broadcasts in universities, full of interviews with Left-wing, entitled, virtue-signalling students, he wrote. Number Ten speaks in much the same terms.

Second, it says that the Government is not seeking to avoid scrutiny  no surprises there  though it admits to making exceptions of Kay Burley (with whom there is a stand-off over her treatment of James Cleverly), Piers Morgan (its view is that he simply provides TV clips for Twitter)and Today.

Talking of which, its worth noting that Boris Johnson was interviewed on the programme by Nick Robinson during last years Conservative conference. We knew that although the interview would be tough it wouldnt be an exercise in Gotcha Journalism, this site was told.

Number Tens account of the daily lobby briefing is that it wants a more formal process and that the change of venue will allow lobby journalists to have more briefings from advisers and officials. The Lobby correspondents committee is pressing for a compromise over the venue, which has been moved to 9 Downing Street.

Third  and most interestingly in our view  Team Johnson wants an overhaul of the Governments communications. This should be seen in the light of the Prime Ministers call in Cabinet this week for the slaughtering of sacred cows  i.e: the culling of spending programmes.

The Conservative election campaign showed how alert the Party now is to getting its message out on Facebook and YouTube. This site was told that when Dominic Cummings was at the Education Department, there was a cull of press officers. There is a belief that government can get a better bang for its buck with fewer staff.

Whether civil servants can or should be able to operate like Topham and Guerin  see Johnsons campaign tea break interview or the Love Actually parody  is an interesting question. But Downing Street believes that Government communications are ripe for radical change and new thinking.

So what to make of it all? The place to start is with the election campaign. Johnson was given a rough ride by much of the media  which is just as it should be. The reason isnt primarily that these were hostile to him (though bits were; others parts, of course, were hostile to Jeremy Corbyn).

Rather, it is that journalists believe that politicians, and those who work for them shouldnt dictate the terms of election campaigns. The collective view of our fellow hacks was that control of Decembers should lie with them  not Isaac Levido. Particularly since Johnson was seen as the front runner throughout, pretty much.

So there is a strong sense at the top of the Conservative Party that the election found much of the media wanting. It wanted to focus on whether, for example, the Prime Minister hid in a fridge  or on his response to the story of a sick child who had to sleep on the floor of a Leeds Hospital.

The mass of voters by-passed nearly all of this, and gave Johnson a near-landslide. No wonder that Number Ten seems to think that the Ministerial boycott of Today is sustainable. More broadly, it wants the Prime Minister to do less media and other Ministers to do more.

This is a familiar refrain from the centre at the start of a new Government. But it just may be that Johnsons response to the Iran crisis  namely, to let Dominic Raab and Ben Wallace take the public strain  turns out to be the part of a sustained shift. Downing Street is in a mood to take complaints about Johnsons holiday in its stride.

It knows very well that fewer people are reading newspapers; that younger people dont consume TV news in the way that older people do, and that social media continues to change the way people consume politics. The site suspects that the rumpus over Today and that Andrew Neil non-interview are the wave of the future.

And we confess to having mixed feelings about it.

On the one hand, the broadcasters can get too big for their boots. (As a non-broadcaster, by and large, this site is doubtless biased.) Some behaving as though, for example, TV debates should frame election campaigns.

They shouldnt  and nor should interviews with politicians degenerate into variations of Gotcha Journalism. Unless we want political journalism in Britain to vanish into a perpetual Fake News row. A Michael Goves Channel 4 interview during the campaign, in which precisely that happened, may be a sign of things to come.

On the other hand, Johnson ducking the Neil interview was ominous. Admittedly, there was something slightly absurd about the latters public challenge to the Prime Minister during the campaign. After all, no-one has elected Neil, for all his merits as an interviewer, to run the country.

But there is an impalpable yet powerful benefit to having impartial broadcasters who hold politicians to account in ways that command public consent  and can pull big audiences. Unless we want a culture in which people of different political views consume news that exists only to inflame their own prejudices.

The danger for the BBC as a public service broadcaster is that this consent will erode if it cant adapt to the coming post-Brexit Britain. Particular since it depends on a form of funding, the licence fee, whose level is soon up for negotiation  and which is unsustainable even in the medium-term.
The UK and Irish governments have tabled a draft agreement to restore the power-sharing at Stormont, which the DUP have accepted.

DUP leader Arlene Foster said the deal "is not perfect", but is the basis upon which the Assembly and Executive can be re-established in a "fair and balanced way".

In a statement, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said: "The governments have chosen to publish this text which we have received in the last hour.

"We are studying the text and will give it careful consideration. The Sinn Fein Ard Chomhairle will meet tomorrow to fully assess it."

The news comes exactly three years after Stormont collapsed, however parties will now have to formally sign up to the deal to restore the institutions.

It includes a "new cultural framework", setting up an Office for Identity and Cultural Expression, alongside an the introduction of an Irish Language Commissioner and an Ulster Scots Commissioner.

"This will be made law through an integrated package of legislation that will establish new parts of the Northern Ireland Act," the deal states.

Arlene Foster said they would not have agreed to Irish language legislation as set out by the culture minister Caral Ni Chuilin in 2015.

"It would have elevated the Irish language above English, forced its use upon communities and reduced career opportunities for those who did not speak the language. We note that this is not the case in this paper," she said.

"Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and will remain so for as long as people are content and at home living here. Our place in the United Kingdom must not be diminished and thats where an Ulster British Commissioner can look at ways to strengthen our place in the United Kingdom.

"I value people who cherish their Irish identity. I want them to feel at home in Northern Ireland. I do not want them to feel second class citizens but equally I do not want people, like me, who are British to feel uncomfortable celebrating their Britishness. The way forward must be about facilitation rather than imposition."

The deal also states there will be "meaningful reform" of the petition of concern, which "will not be a veto for any one party".

The Northern Ireland office has published the 62-page text of the deal, entitled "New Decade, New Approach".

Its priorities include:

Transforming the health service through settling the ongoing pay dispute, introducing a new action plan on waiting times and creating an extra 900 nursing and midwifery undergraduate places over the next three years.

through settling the ongoing pay dispute, introducing a new action plan on waiting times and creating an extra 900 nursing and midwifery undergraduate places over the next three years. Transforming other public services through resolving the teachers' industrial dispute, addressing resourcing pressures on schools and increasing police numbers to 7,500

through resolving the teachers' industrial dispute, addressing resourcing pressures on schools and increasing police numbers to 7,500 Investing in the future through developing a regionally-balanced economy and delivering on essential infrastructure projects, including the York Street Interchange project.

through developing a regionally-balanced economy and delivering on essential infrastructure projects, including the York Street Interchange project. Delivering a fair and compassionate society though developing an ant-poverty strategy, extending welfare mitigation measures beyond 2020 and investment in social housing

Secretary of State Julian Smith said: I have written to the Speaker asking him to call the Assembly tomorrow to enable the restoration of the Executive.

"This is a moment of truth for the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. It is a fair and balanced deal that will ensure key decisions about peoples lives can be made.

"It immediately ends the health strike, focuses on reforms to health and social care, ensures more sustainable institutions, better politics and greater transparency and a new framework on language, arts and literature.

"I urge the parties to come together and to form an Executive in the best interests of NI.

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said the deal is based on the "extensive discussions and collective work undertaken by the parties since May last year, following the awful murder of Lyra McKee".

"The Governments believe that it represents a fair and balanced package. There is no need, and no public patience, for more process and more discussions," he added.

"It is time for political leadership and a collective commitment to making politics work for people.

Ulster Unionist Party leader Steve Aiken said: "The Ulster Unionist Party has been given sight of the text of the 'New Decade, New Approach' deal. We will consider this complex and far-reaching document carefully and consult widely within our party before making any further comments.

"If the Assembly is recalled on Friday, the Ulster Unionist Party MLAs will attend and consider the business put before them. "The Ulster Unionist Party is committed to a return of devolution that is fair and sustainable."
When Sherrie Alexander needed books for her anthropology thesis, she couldnt turn to the shelves at UABs Mervyn Sterne Library  the three-story building that houses its humanities collection.

The books had been moved to make way for classrooms and offices created in partnership with a for-profit company that inked a confidential deal with UAB in 2015. To get what she needed, Alexander made an electronic request for the volumes, which arrived a few days later.

It was an inconvenience, but not a terrible one, Alexander said.

Still, Alexander missed browsing the stacks.

I do still appreciate having physical copies of books available and wish more students would use them, Alexander said. I have run across books that I would not have come across with a computer search.

Instead of books and study space, much of Sternes second floor now houses classrooms, offices, a language lab and lounge built in collaboration with United Kingdom-based INTO University Partnerships  a $17 million business that specializes in international student recruitment. UAB became the eighth U.S. university to partner with INTO, one of several private companies that popped up since 2005 to capitalize on a surge of foreign enrollment.

The changes at Sterne are part of a UAB strategic plan that placed more emphasis on international students, who pay twice as much to attend as Alabama residents. It comes at a time when public universities in Alabama increasingly rely on tuition revenue to bolster budgets. Between 2008 and 2018, the states universities lost more public funding per student than anywhere else in the country, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Universities across the country have been eager to tap international demand for higher education. For-profit companies offer to match students with American universities, often in exchange for a portion of tuition.

The INTO UAB deal aimed to increase the number of international undergraduates and grad students in an effort to globalize the campus, administrators said. UAB officials initially blacked out payment information in response to a public records request, but later divulged the details of the deal. The company earns 6 percent of tuition for each student it attracts UAB, increasing its profits as enrollment grows.

From the U.K. to UAB

On a December morning the week before finals, people trickled past a long information desk staffed with multilingual student workers toward the INTO UAB lounge. The modern space contains TV screens, risers and snack machines. A hallway led to more than a dozen classrooms and a corner sitting area overlooking the Mini Park. On the other side of a narrow window stood shelves stacked with newspapers and journals, the remnants of unconverted second floor stacks.

Companies such as INTO have ushered in more than just changes to a library. International enrollment in American universities spiked between 2007 and 2015, and partnerships with private companies began spreading, with 45 universities inking deals  including UAB and Auburn University. Companies brought established agent networks to the table, along with expertise and start-up capital to quickly get programs up-and-running.

Many international students pay out-of-state tuition, which ranges from $25,000 to $30,000 a year at UAB. Some of that money would go to INTO for students recruited by the company.

Thats not the only way the companies generate revenue. In Alabama, both INTO UAB and Auburn Global, operated by another recruitment company called Shorelight, offer pathway programs for international students who dont qualify for regular admissions. Students admitted to pathway programs typically spend a year studying English and academic subjects before enrolling as regular students, and the companies earn most of the tuition from that initial year on campus. At UAB, the tuition for a year in the pathway program is about the same as the schools listed out-of-state tuition.

Philip Altbach, an expert on international education at Boston College, has been critical of privately-run pathway programs. He said such programs create incentives to recruit and admit large numbers of students, some of whom may flounder on American campuses.

Full-tuition paying international students are the product these companies are selling, Altbach said.

Critics of such programs say they create a back door for less qualified students, but proponents argue that many strong students simply lack English skills and can thrive with the additional instruction received in a pathway.

UAB Senior Vice Provost Suzanne Austin said the school sets admissions requirements  not INTO. About 90 percent of those who complete the pathway become eligible for enrollment at UAB, and 98 percent of those who do enroll graduate.

We are very pleased with the partnership, Austin said. The students that we have received, the students that we enroll are very strong students. The last thing any university wants to do is admit students who are not prepared to succeed on that particular campus.

Most students enrolled at INTO UAB come from India and China, and Austin said they also have several from places like Kuwait and Bangladesh. In 2015, the year before the launch of INTO UAB, the school had 657 international students in undergraduate and non-medical graduate programs. In 2019, the school had 1,110.

INTO University Partnerships has 12 partner campuses in the United States  and several more in Asia and the UK.

According to its contract with UAB, INTO provided startup funding for the program. British financial documents filed by company officials show that debt associated with INTO UAB has grown since 2016. But the company touts large revenues from its most successful programs, citing as an example on its website $100 million generated annually for the University of South Florida.

Successes and failures

Across the country, other similar partnerships have started to falter. Rahul Choudaha, who studies international education, said the spread of pathway programs stopped after 2016 as enrollment by international students declined. Changes in the political climate  which became more hostile to immigrants  collided with the high price of U.S. universities to drive students to places such as Australia and Canada.

They were spreading rapidly, but have basically stopped in the last couple years, Choudaha said.

This year alone, eight pathway programs have closed in the United States. None have been operated by INTO, which also has eight programs in the U.K. Shorelight operates pathway programs at Auburn, University of Mississippi and Louisiana State University, along with several others. That company fell short of enrollment targets at the University of Kansas, according to news stories that reported the school cut its budget to make up for the lack of tuition revenue. The University of Kansas deal is one of the few to come under scrutiny in the U.S.

Tyler Greer, a spokesman for UAB, said the school set goals for international enrollment when it signed the deal with INTO.

We have not met all of our initial recruitment goals," Greer said. "That said, we recognize that the landscape of international student recruitment has shifted since our partnership with INTO launched, and we continue to be very pleased with INTOs performance to date.

Auburn provided an unedited contract in response to an open records request. That document showed that Boston-based Shorelight provided full start-up funding for Auburn Global when the program launched in 2014. It draws students from 52 countries, said spokesman Mike Clardy, with the largest number coming from China, India, Saudi Arabia and South Korea.

According to Auburn University spokesman Mike Clardy, the investment has paid off to the tune of $69 million.

The institutional metric set for this goal was to increase the number of international undergraduates to approximately 1,000 in 2018 (up from less than 200 in 2013), Clardy said. The 1,000-student goal equated to approximately 5 percent of the undergraduate population at that time (approximately 20,0000 undergraduate students in 2013). Via Auburn Global, AU reached that goal before 2018 and has remained at about 1,000 undergraduate international students since then. So, yes, we consider the program very successful.

Still, administrators for both UAB and Auburn said revenue did not drive the decision to partner with private companies. They emphasized that neither program takes seats from Alabamians, who still comprise an overwhelming majority of students.

About 80 percent of our students come from the state of Alabama and we really wanted them to have a global experience while they were here, Austin said. Of course, we want as many of them to do some kind of education abroad experience as possible. But its really important to bring that experience to them. So that was the primary driver. But, yes, there have been financial benefits to having some more international students on campus.

Who benefits?

Austin said the classrooms and lab developed in partnership with INTO dont just serve international students. English tutoring can be used by any non-native speaker affiliated with UAB, including researchers, faculty and staff.

INTO UABs location inside the library capitalizes on its placement near the center of campus, Austin said.

That was intentional because its too easy sometimes for international students to stay with their peers from their home countries, to continue speaking their native languages and not really ever fully integrate into the U.S. university experience, Austin said. And weve been very, very committed to that.

But that location has triggered conversations about the role of libraries and for-profits on campus, now and in the future. An earlier plan to increase INTO UABs footprint was put on hold, but the planned demolition of nearby buildings could move more offices into areas that once held study areas and books. This is happening just two years after the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries placed UAB on probation due to low funding.

Pam Murray, a history professor, said previous and proposed changes at Sterne raise questions about UABs priorities.

It is sad to see Sterne Library's ability to fulfill these functions being taken away or further diminished by the current plan to repurpose some 13, 000 square feet of library space for offices, Murray said. I would love to see Sterne Library grow and thrive so that it might someday realize the central role it was designed to play as the intellectual heart of a comprehensive research university.

Benoit said the university has increased library funding by more than $2 million, and the association ended UABs probation. Benoit said the renovations dont threaten the library or universitys standing with accreditors.

I see the library as a critical resource to the institution, Benoit said. Ive only been at UAB for a little over two and a half years, but its been one of my primary areas that Ive worked on to continue to ensure that our library measures up to the quality of our institution. And we are an incredible institution and an incredible library.

Sade Williams Clayton, president of UABs Graduate Student Government, said the students she represents rely heavily on the resources and workspace available at Sterne, and are worried about losing them to future changes.

Weve reached out to the provost to let her know we are really concerned, Clayton said. Its definitely very much on our radar.
MIAMI, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL;NYSE: CUK), the world's largest leisure travel company, today announced that the corporation's philanthropic arm, Carnival Foundation, and five of its global cruise line brands together with the Micky and Madeleine Arison Family Foundation have collectively pledged over US$1.25 million to support disaster recovery efforts from raging bushfires causing widespread devastation throughout Australia.

The pledge includes US$1 million from the family foundation of Carnival Corporation's Chairman Micky Arison and his wife Madeleine, in addition to US$250,000 (AU$350,000) from Carnival Foundation and five of the company's brands  P&O Cruises (Australia), Carnival Cruise Line, Cunard, Holland America Line and Princess Cruises. All five brands have ships based year-round in Australia or homeport seasonally in the country.

Similar to donations following recent hurricanes and typhoons, support is being directed to both immediate and long-term relief efforts. Based on input from local officials and community leaders, the US$1 million donation will be provided to support the most timely and urgent relief needs throughout the country. As previously announced, the US$250,000 donation has been committed to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund.

"Our cruise lines carried hundreds of thousands of Aussies and international guests on voyages this summer, and this gesture is a sign of our solidarity with the local community," said Sture Myrmell, president of Carnival Australia, which comprises several of the corporation's brands operating in the country. "As a cruise shipping organization with close ties to Australian communities developed over many years, we have been shocked by the devastation from this ongoing disaster. Our cruise lines are contributing to the Australian Red Cross' Disaster Relief and Recovery work because of the organization's experience in dealing with the effects of natural disasters and its national reach."

Added Myrmell: "Communities affected by the bushfire crisis are in immediate need, and we are pleased to be able to contribute in a way that ensures help can be delivered where it is needed most and as quickly as possible. This contribution is being made on behalf of all of our guests who are no doubt equally shocked and concerned at what has happened to their fellow Australians."

The company's commitment follows the combined AU$50,000 donation from P&O Cruises (Australia) and its guests to the St Vincent de Paul Society in late 2019 to support residents of New South Wales and Queensland impacted by the local bushfires at that time.

Information on the Australian Red Cross, its recovery efforts and ways to provide support can be found at https://www.redcross.org.au/.

About Carnival Corporation & plc

Carnival Corporation & plc is the world's largest leisure travel company and among the most profitable and financially strong in the cruise and vacation industries, with a portfolio of nine of the world's leading cruise lines. With operations in North America, Australia, Europe and Asia, its portfolio features Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, P&O Cruises (Australia), Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises, P&O Cruises (UK) and Cunard.

Together, the corporation's cruise lines operate 105 ships with 254,000 lower berths visiting over 700 ports around the world, with 16 new ships scheduled to be delivered through 2025. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour company in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and the FTSE 100 indices.

With a long history of innovation and providing guests with extraordinary vacation experiences, Carnival Corporation has received thousands of industry awards  including recognition by the Consumer Technology Association as a CES 2019 Innovation Awards Honoree for OceanMedallion. A revolutionary wearable device that contains a proprietary blend of communication technologies, OceanMedallion enables the world's first interactive guest experience platform transforming vacation travel on a large scale into a highly personalized level of customized service. The prestigious CES Innovation Awards honor outstanding design and engineering in consumer technology products.

Additional information can be found on www.carnival.com, www.princess.com, www.hollandamerica.com, www.seabourn.com, www.pocruises.com.au, www.costacruise.com, www.aida.de, www.pocruises.com and www.cunard.com.

SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc

Related Links

http://www.carnival.com


STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- In a year where 13 people were killed on Staten Island  from a mob-boss murder to the remains of a beloved teacher discovered at a storage facility  five homicides remain unsolved.

The unresolved murders, which, according to police, remain open and active investigations, come after a 2018 in which all 10 homicides resulted in charges being filed against an alleged perpetrator.

Three murders from 2017 are still unsolved, and one remains unsolved from 2016.

In each case from 2019, significant questions remain.

16-year-old Shane Kelly was killed in a shooting in West Brighton. (GoFundMe)

WHAT DISPUTE LED TO SHANE KELLYS DEATH?

Shane Kelly was shot and killed outside of his West Brighton home on Dec. 16, 2019 after a dispute, law enforcement sources previously told the Advance.

The nature of that dispute  and who was involved in it  still remain potent questions in the investigation into the 16-year-olds death.

Police were unable to provide updates to the investigation, which began after officers found Kelly with a gunshot wound to the chest on a tree-lined, residential stretch of Castleton Avenue, but investigators believe that the dispute occurred moments before the shooting, making it an integral element of the homicide.

One possibility being probed is whether a connection exists to a shots fired incident in the early-morning hours of Dec. 16 about a mile away, sources said.

Detectives do not believe Kellys slaying is connected to the unsolved murder of a man in Stapleton a week prior.

No arrests have been made in the case.

One person was shot on Osgood Avenue near Vanderbilt Avenue in Stapleton on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. (Staten Island Advance/Irene Spezzamonte)

DID DAVID PENAS PAST PLAY A ROLE IN HOMICIDE?

David Pena, 30, who was gunned down on the 100 block of Osgood Avenue on Dec. 10, 2019, died with a firearm not believed to be the murder weapon under his body, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

Detectives are considering several possibilities in the case, including whether gangs or drugs could have played a role in the victims demise, the source said.

A motive for the homicide remains unknown, and police are probing whether Penas criminal history, which includes at least five arrests in the 120th Precinct that resulted in robbery, weapon and drug charges, also played a role in his death, according to the source.

Pena was sentenced in 2008 to 41 months to four years in prison on convictions of attempted robbery, attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance and robbery. He returned to prison as a parole violator at some point, and was released on parole in 2013, according to public records.

Police said that there are no updates available in Penas homicide. No arrests have been made.

The death of Ola Salem, who was found at Bloomingdale Park, has been deemed a homicide.

DID OLA SALEM KNOW HER KILLER?

Ola Salems body was found covered by leaves and fully clothed in Bloomingdale Park by a passerby on Oct. 24, 2019.

The 25-year-old was an advocate for women embroiled in domestic violence as a volunteer at the Asiyah Womens Center, the head of the shelter previously told the Advance. A Facebook post by the center  which is the only safe house dedicated specifically to Muslim women fleeing domestic violence in New York City  indicated that Salem lived within its walls for months."

Police did not have an update on Salems case, but sources previously told the Advance that authorities spotted clues including possible drag marks on the ground near the victim, indicating she could have been killed elsewhere and dumped in the popular park.

The source said its unlikely the killing was random.

It has not been publicly determined where Salem was killed.

No arrests have been made in this case.

An investigation remains ongoing into the shooting death of 23-year-old Carlos Alfonso near the Staten Island Expressway. (Facebook)

WHOSE CAR WAS CARLOS ALFONSO IN BEFORE DEATH?

Carlos Alfonso, 23 and a soon-to-be father, was killed late on Labor Day, Sept. 1, 2019. His body was found on the ramp of the Slosson Avenue exit of the Staten Island Expressway.

Mystery surrounds the car ride that led to the shooting, as authorities say Alfonso was shot multiple times on the westbound expressway exit ramp where he was found, indicating he was riding in the car with his killer before the shooting.

Sources told the Advance that Alfonso had a troubled past with links to drugs and gangs. He was arrested multiple times on charges of selling and possessing narcotics. He allegedly also was a known associate of a street crew on the North Shore.

However, his family said that Alfonso was turning his life around and was about two months away from becoming a father to a baby boy.

No motive has been provided by police in relation to Alfonsos death. A reward for information regarding Alfonsos case has been posted by police.

No arrests have been made in this case.

Gregory Fortson, center, with his mother Clara Moore and XXX.

WHAT LED TO MEMORIAL DAY BRAWL?

On May 27, 2019, the night Gregory Fortson was fatally stabbed, he was involved in a group of people fighting about a block away from a Memorial Day party in Port Richmond, then struggled around the corner toward his home, a source with knowledge of the investigation previously told the Advance.

The 23-year-old was found stabbed in his torso and had a laceration to his head in the vicinity of his home on the 1600 block of Castleton Avenue. Police roped off the site of the party on Harrison Avenue during their initial investigation, but attendees at the cookout previously said they watched a group of people fighting down the block, and the altercation had nothing to do with the gathering.

The nature of the brawl, or what led to it, is currently unknown.

Fortsons death led to the heartbreak of his family. I know its not something mothers usually do, but just like I carried him for nine months, Im gonna carry him again for the last time," said his mother, Clara Haynes Moore, of her plans to carry his casket at his funeral.

Its not worth it to be in the streets, and to be away from home, Fortsons sister, Rodneka Gray, 26, said. Spend every day like its your last because you dont know if it will be.

There have been no arrests in this case.
Red Cross Donations Encouraged from Customers and Retailers

LONDON, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In partnership with the Red Cross, Afterpay, known as Clearpay in the U.K., is encouraging its global customers and retail network to donate to bushfire-affected communities through the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund. The funds will go directly to supporting businesses, communities and volunteers in affected areas around Australia. On behalf of its global employees, the business will donate A$200,000 to the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund.

Clearpay customers can make their own donations by visiting www.redcross.com.au/afterpay and select the amount they would like to donate directly to the Australian Red Cross.

Afterpay and Clearpay are also encouraging their 40,000+ merchant partners to promote the donations page to their own customers around the world.

Red Cross Acting CEO Noel Clement welcomed the partnership with Clearpay and Afterpay saying, "The fund helps Red Cross teams to support people affected by disasters, including in evacuation centres and recovery programs. It also covers emergency grants to people who have lost homes in the recent bushfires."

Afterpay Global CEO Anthony Eisen commented, "We know that when a disaster happens, especially on our doorstep, Australians have an incredible ability to band together to help one another."

"Our thoughts go out to all the families and individuals that have lost their homes or local businesses, as well as all the firefighters and volunteers working around the clock."

"Our retail partners in the US and UK are also keen to help, and we are excited that ASOS, Boohoo, The Hut Group, Missy Empire, and others will be encouraging their customers to donate and that we can provide a global solution to our 6.6 million customer base to pledge."

About Afterpay Limited

Afterpay Limited (ASX: APT) has transformed the way people pay by allowing shoppers to receive products immediately and pay in four simple installments over a short period of time. The service is completely free for customers who pay on time - helping consumers spend money responsibly, without incurring interest, fees or revolving and extended debt. Afterpay is offered by more than 42,500 of the world's best retailers and has more than 6.6 million active customers globally. The solution is currently available in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom where it is called Clearpay. Afterpay is on a mission to be the world's most loved way to pay.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday attended the Sankranti Celebrations organised by Swarna Bharat Trust in Hyderabad on Thursday and conferred 'Muppavarapu Award for Social Service' on Gutta Muniratnam.

Eminent Agricultural Scientist M S Swaminathan and well-known social worker, Gutta Muniratnam were respectively chosen as the first recipients of 'Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu Award for Excellence' and 'Muppavarapu Award for Social Service''.

The National Award for Excellence was instituted by the Muppavarapu Foundation, while the one for Social Service was launched by the Swarna Bharat Trust.

Swaminathan was awarded for his distinguished contributions to the field of agriculture while Muniratnam, was awarded for his extraordinary contribution in improving the quality of people's lives through social service.

A plant geneticist by training, Professor Swaminathan's contributions to the agricultural renaissance of India have led to him being widely referred to as the scientific leader of the green revolution movement.

Muniratnam is Founder Secretary of Tirupati -based Rashtriya Seva Samiti and an exemplary social worker who has been working towards transforming rural India by empowering people.

The announcement on the awards was made during the 10th Anniversary Celebrations of Muppavarapu Foundation and Sankranthi Sambaralu (festivities.

Each award carries a cash prize of Rupees Five Lakh and citation.

Addressing the gathering, the Vice President said that respecting and recognising talent and knowledge was inherent to Indian culture. He said awards were meant to inspire others to emulate the awardees.

Referring to the importance of mother tongue in the promotion of culture and traditions, Naidu said that he wanted the medium of instruction up to the primary school to be in the mother tongue.

Naidu said that festivals like Makara Sankranti were occasions to rekindle people's association with nature and its relationship with Indian culture.

The Governor of Telangana, Tamilisai Soundararajan, Governor of Himachal Pradesh, Bandaru Dattatreya, acting Chief Justice of Telangana High Court, Raghavendra Singh Chauhan, Minister of State for Home Affairs Government of India, G Kishan Reddy among others were present during the event.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
North Dakota's Supreme Court plans to reconsider what degree of remote access should be available for public court records and to make it easier for people to get certain private information redacted.

The court suspended online access to more than 10 years of court documents that went live on Jan. 1, after what State Court Administrator Sally Holewa said were dozens of phone calls complaining of privacy concerns.

More documents than expected were noncompliant with a privacy rule that took effect March 1, 2009, for redacting information such as Social Security numbers, birth dates, minors' names and financial accounts, according to Holewa. It is the responsibility of filers to adhere to the privacy rule, she said.

The remote access came after a yearslong process to rewrite the court's administrative rule that governs public access to court documents. Justice Jon Jensen, now chief justice, had told the Tribune the remote access aligns with national state court groups' best practices to eliminate physical barriers to public records, such as driving many miles to courthouses.

Jensen told the Tribune on Wednesday that the five justices had met to discuss the remote access concerns. He said the court's Legal Self Help Center staff have devised a short form for people to file with a clerk of court for redacting private information in noncompliant documents.

He expects the form to be online within a week. Holewa said it awaits the court's approval.

"Instead of having to do a formal motion where you have to serve all parties to the case and then get a court order redacting something, the purpose of this form is if it's something that should have been covered under our privacy rule and for whatever reason the filing party didn't follow that rule, would allow the clerk to go in and make that change," Holewa said.

It's unknown how many noncompliant documents containing private information there are, she said. Court documents don't have data fields for searches, she said.

Jensen said the court has no definite time frame for restoring remote access to records.

The court will determine what types of documents are compliant with the privacy rule and therefore safe for remote access, he said. The court had made remote access available for cases since the rule's 2009 effective date. Older documents will be falling off retention schedules.

Holewa said the court doesn't want to put "artificial barriers or expenses" on the public to view court records.

The court released a statement on Wednesday that it "remains committed to eliminating barriers to accessing public information."

Concerns of personal privacy in remote access to court documents are not new. The court received public comments in 2018 that pointed out identify theft, data mining and online stalking as potential dangers.

Some crime scene pictures and autopsy photos that are ordinarily restricted from the public went online Jan. 1, according to Aaron Birst, executive director of the North Dakota State's Attorneys' Association. Victims in a high-profile case were checking the status of the case and saw sensitive photos they werent mentally prepared to see, he said.

Holewa said she's not aware of any photos that incorrectly became public, but she does know of jury exhibits that became public, as they were part of a trial.

"Exhibits that jurors see are always public unless there's been a motion to restrict it and the court has ordered it restricted," she said.

North Dakota Newspaper Association attorney Jack McDonald said he favors remote access to public documents but agreed with the court's suspension to "work out these bugs."

The court could consider a system that forces people to comply with redaction requirements before they're able to file documents, he said.

"I think it's more of a process issue than anything else, that we've just got to get all the different parts rolling together," McDonald said.

He pointed out that court documents are still available from courthouses even though electronic access is down.

Many county clerks of court will email requested documents, but they are under no obligation to do so.

Amy Dalrymple contributed to this story.

Reach Jack Dura at 701-250-8225 or jack.dura@bismarcktribune.com.

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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday held a telephonic conversation with his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono and exchanged views on regional security scenario.

"The two defence ministers had discussions on enhancing the bilateral security cooperation under the framework of the India-Japan special strategic and global partnership," the defence ministry said.

It said the two ministers also exchanged views on regional security situation. It is not immediately known whether they deliberated on prevailing security situation in the Gulf region.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi: Megastar Rajinikanth's films always open to a thunderous response by his fans across the country and his stardom can never be compared. Rajinikanth has a massive fan base who worship him and pray for him every time his films hits the screens.

Now, as 'Darbar' opens in theatres, fans of the superstar began gathering and celebrating outside theatres in Chennai. Large queues were seen outside the ticket windows. Twitter today is filled with hashtags dedicated to Rajinikanth and 'Darbar' and all the top trends as of Thursday morning is 'Darbar, Darbar and Darbar'.

Pictures and videos posted on social media show that his fans celebrated the release of 'Darbar' by cutting cakes outside the theatres, donning T-shirts with Rajinikanth's photo imprinted on them. People are also bursting crackers and beating drums outside the theatres to welcome the film's release.

Amid the excitement of fans, news agency ANI reports that the Tamil Nadu government has granted permission for a special show to screen 'Darbar' for four days in the theatres all over the state. There will be one extra show per day for four days from January 9 to 14.

Ahead of the release, Rajinikanth's fans also offered special prayers at the Amman Temple in Madurai for the success of 'Darbar'.

'Darbar' is an action-drama directed by AR Murugadoss. The film also features Nayanthara, Suniel Shetty, Prateik Babbar and Nivetha Thomas.

(With ANI inputs)
At least three operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) were shot dead by Boko Haram fighters in Borno state on Monday. ...





At least three operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) were shot dead by Boko Haram fighters in Borno state on Monday.





They were killed in an exchange of gunfire between security operatives and the insurgents at Kundori village in Konduga local government area of Borno.





While mourning them, Muhammed Ibrahim, commander of SARS in Borno, described the deceased officers as great fighters who have made the squad and the Nigeria police command proud in previous encounters.





Below are the pictures of the officers identified as: Abdul Adam, a police sergeant; Gabriel Amos, also a sergeant; and Kenneth Amos, an inspector.
Twenty minutes before the plane took off from the Iranian capital, Sheyda Shadkhoo called her husband from aboard the flight. She wanted him to reassure her that everything would be fine, he said.

Shed taken three weeks off from her job in Toronto to visit her mother and sisters in Tehran. Her vacation was over, and she was heading back to Canada to her husband, Hassan Shadkhoo. Her flight was leaving from Tehran to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev early Wednesday.

I spoke to her  20 minutes before the plane took off, he said Wednesday night in Toronto. She was worried about the tensions between Tehran and the United States after President Donald Trump ordered the killing of a top Iranian general last week.

She wanted me to assure her that there wasnt going to be a war. I told her not to worry. Nothings gonna happen, her husband told CNNs news partner CBC. She said, OK. Theyre telling me to turn off my phone. Goodbye. That was it.

The Kiev-bound Ukraine International Airlines flight never made it to its destination. It crashed in Tehran minutes after takeoff, killing all 176 people aboard, including Sheyda Shadkhoo and 62 other Canadians.

Hassan Shadkhoo said his wife had a premonition the plane was going down, and was worried about the people she was leaving behind. She posted a selfie on Instagram expressing her fears before she left Iran.

She knew. Look at her face, look at the poem that she wrote, he said as he held up his phone to show the photo she posted. Then he read the words she wrote, his voice breaking.

Im leaving but  whats behind me worries me, he read. Behind me, behind me. Im scared for the people behind me.

Hassan Shadkhoo said hes devastated and cant imagine life without his wife of 10 years. He was on his way to see his wifes relatives in Tehran on Wednesday night.

She was an angel, he told CBC.   I wish I didnt exist right now.

There are conflicting reports on what caused the plane crash, and Iranian and Ukrainian officials have said theyre not going to speculate.

The crash came hours after Iran fired a number of missiles at two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops in retaliation for the generals killing, sparking questions over the timing of the incident.

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The Industrial Security Agreement (ISA) represents a historic progression between India and the US, and is set to facilitate close technology transfer with the Indian private industry, a top Lockheed official has said.

The agreement, which was signed during the December 2019 2+2 Dialogue, will also ease the process of doing business, including applying for licences to support mutual interests, said Vice President (Strategy and Business Development) at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Vivek Lall.

In Washington DC this week to attend the farewell of outgoing Indian Ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Lall will be heading to New Delhi to speak at the Raisina Dialogue.

ISA "represents a historic progression" between India and the US, he told PTI in an interview on Wednesday. "This agreement will facilitate close technology transfer with private industry in India and ease the process of doing business including applying for licenses to support mutual interests, Make in India, increased industrial and defense cooperation, and regional stability," Lall said.

Lockheed Martin has proposed to move its entire F-16 manufacturing base to India, if it gets a critical mass order for the fighter jets that India is planning to acquire for its defence forces.

"To further our relationships, the ISA will enable high-end technologies and defence collaboration to be shared amongst the industry to further leverage Indian industry capabilities and indigenise future R&D and production activities to support mutual US-India interests, he said.

The signing of ISA will provide additional benefits for securing data in the manufacture of defence platforms, Lall said.

He said the US defence industry is very encouraged by the positive trend being seen in relations between the two countries, including on the defense-industrial partnership front.

The Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative and India's designation as a major defence partner of the US are two historic milestones that signal how important both countries are to one another, he said.

The Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), INDOPACOM and Major Defense Partner status, End-Use Monitoring Agreement, Industrial Security Agreement (ISA), and Tiger Triumph, a major joint military exercise, elevates India's emergence as a stronger strategic partner and represent foundational agreements and exercises that will further future US-India bilateral, industrial and military cooperation, Lall said.

Noting that the Indo-Pacific region is indeed a top priority of the current US administration, and New Delhi is a central player in its strategy, he said India, the world's largest democracy, shares common values with the US.

Numerous countries in the Indo-Pacific region are recapitalizing their fighter aircraft fleets, including Taiwan. The recent signing of the LoA for 66 F-16 Block 70 F-16 aircraft will further increase US-Taiwan cooperation and stability within the region, the Lokheed Martibn official said.

Regarding Japan, "we look forward to constructive dialogue between the US Government and the government of Japan as they approach a decision on the path ahead for their Future Fighter", he said adding that Lockheed Martin continues to leverage technologies across its portfolio and the F-21 is no different.

"We believe, the F-21 is the best solution to meet the Indian Air Force's capability needs, provide Make in India industrial opportunities, and accelerate India-US cooperation on advanced technologies," said the Lockheed official.

"No other company has the experience in next-generation technologies, including but not limited to fighter aircraft, Lockheed Martin can offer to India. We designed, developed and produced the world's first operational stealth aircraft, the F-117, and the world's only two current operational 5th Generation fighters: the F-22 and F-35," he asserted.

Lall said the F-21 delivers an advanced single-engine, multi-role fighter at the most optimal Life Cycle Cost for the Indian Air Force, with the longest service life of any competitor till 12,000 flight hours.

The F-21 goes further, faster, and stays longer than the competition, he said asserting that the F-21 will meet all of India's performance, capability and advanced technology requirements, and provide unmatched opportunities for Indian companies of all sizes and suppliers throughout India.

"The F-21, in concert with the Rafale and Tejas, will provide an operational gap filler and will be a game-changer for the Indian Air Force, Indian industry, and India-US strategic ties",Lall said.
A bright spot in the middle of this dark month, Alison Reids unabashedly sincere documentary offers gentle comfort even when it brushes up against tough subjects. The Woman Who Loves Giraffes is Dr. Anne Innis Dagg, though a more accurate  if admittedly impractical  title might be The Woman Who Once Loved Giraffes, Then Lost Them, and Finally Found Them Again.

The movie traces the length of her remarkable journey beginning in 1936, when her mother took her to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. Just three years old, she gazed at a group of giraffes  what she now calls a symphony of perfection  and knew that she wanted to dedicate her life to them.

And so she did, at least at first. Dagg made her way to Africa for the rigorous study of wild animals in their native habitat years before Jane Goodall or Dian Fossey or many other peers who earned greater renown. It wasnt easy to be the groundbreaker, of course: she was so consistently rejected as a young, single woman that she began applying for positions by using her initials.

Also Read: 'The Elephant Queen' Film Review: Apple TV+ Nature Documentary Hits the Right Tone for Young Viewers

The one offer she received was rescinded when the South African park manager discovered she was not, as he had automatically assumed, a man. But she persisted, and after becoming the first person to study giraffes in the wild, she moved back to her native Canada and wrote the seminal book on her subject.

She didnt find much civility back in civilization, however. She secured a teaching spot at the University of Guelph, a job she loved until the male administration blocked her path forward. Despite her essential work, she found herself with no position, no funding, and no official support. Just like that, her career was over.

Watch Video: Nat Geo Documentary Filmmakers on Battling the Elements to Capture Nature's Extremes

But pioneers will always find new trails to blaze, and soon she discovered another calling: feminist activism. She brought her rejection of tenure to the Supreme Court of Ontario and spent years fighting for justice. Though she eventually lost, she also used that time to write independent books like The Fifty Percent Solution: Why Should Women Pay for Mens Culture?

Story continues

This alone would make her a compelling documentary subject. But unbeknownst to her, generations of zoology students, including increasing numbers of young women who followed in her lonely footsteps. had become reliant on her classic study, The Giraffe: Its Biology, Behavior, and Ecology. Given that Reid gives the charismatic Dagg copious screen time from the start, and also that she favors a steadily positive tone throughout, its not much of a spoiler to say that both Dagg and the movie are blessed with a thrilling third act.

Also Read: 'Penguins' Film Review: Ed Helms Narrates a Plucky Pygoscelis in Disneynature's Latest Doc

Indeed, despite some grim ecological statistics and a conservationist message, the movie is so inspirational it feels like the sort of old-fashioned family film that can now be excavated on Disney+. Its interesting that Reid was originally planning to make a fictional biopic about Dagg, because she does an excellent job braiding the documentary materials. Her contemporary interviews are concise and insightful, and shes lucky to have the original 16mm footage Dagg shot on her 1956 trip.

Reid also uses actors to narrate old letters between Dagg, her supportive fiance Ian, and her unusually liberal mother Mary, who pushed her daughter away from the safety of early marriage and into a high-risk career at a time when few parents would do the same. The voiceovers themselves are a bit uneven: Victor Garber represents Annes original boss, Alexander Matthew, with a warm mix of practicality and affection. As young Anne, Tatiana Maslany brings a naivete and overeagerness that doesnt seem to suit the straightforward scientist we get to know.

But the South African footage, from both the past and present, is transportive, as is Daggs uncontainable delight when she finds herself back where shes always belonged.

Read original story The Woman Who Loves Giraffes Film Review: Stirring Documentary Captures Pioneering Zoologist At TheWrap
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday said work on the Potin to Panging stretch of the ambitious Trans Arunachal Highway (TAH) project is delayed due to compensation issue.

The 407-km Potin-Pangin stretch of the TAH which is mired in controversy is considered as the lifeline for six districts of the state.

Replying to a question by BJP member Lokam Tassar in the Assembly, the chief minister said the state government had already constituted a fact-finding committee to go into the details of the "compensation scam".

He said the road project has been divided into nine packages and tenders have already been called.

Khandu said contract works for package 1, 2 and 7 have already been awarded while for package 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9, the evaluation process is going on.

The chief minister replying to another supplementary from BJP member Nyato Rigia assured to constitute a committee to monitor the execution of works of the road project.

"The state government is very serious and will start work on the project soon," the chief minister added.

The tender process for this stretch of the TAH was started way back in 2012. The project ran into rough weather because of inflated compensation amount on land acquisition, leading to arrest of several people, including then Lower Subansiri Deputy Commissioner Kemo Lollen.

PPHL, a Hyderabad-based construction company, left the project in 2018 citing numerous hurdles, including the inability of the state government to hand over land on time.

After the project was terminated in 2018, it was decided that it would be done in nine packages on the same stretch. The DPR was submitted to the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highway (MoRTH).

The Trans-Arunachal Highway covers 1,559 km and extends from Tawang in western part to Kanubari in the eastern side of the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
NEW YORK  The election was always going to be about Donald Trump.

But over the span of a few days, the yearslong focus on the Republican presidents performance on the economy, health care and immigration has been overtaken by an urgent debate over foreign policy and war. And as the sprint to Iowas Feb. 3 caucuses begins, both Trump and his Democratic rivals are being forced to navigate a delicate and dangerous military conflict with Iran that injects a new level of uncertainty into the 2020 contest.

For Democrats, the politics of war now could play a major role in shaping how voters view the winnowing field. And for Trump, who relentlessly cheerleads the American economy, it marked a departure from the standard fare of his rallies and tweets and became the most dangerous moment of his 3-year-old presidency.

In a carefully scripted speech, the brash president met the moment with a rare dose of restraint. Less than 24 hours after missiles from Iran rained down on military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq, he downplayed the impact of the attack.

The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it, a solemn Trump declared.

The measured approach reflects the political sensitivity of a situation that Trump helped create by ordering the killing of Irans top general late last week.

The Republican president is leading a political party openly feuding with itself over Americas role in global affairs. One faction is cheering his America First campaign promises to stop endless wars. Another wants Iran to pay a painful price for an attack that violated the clear red line Trump outlined in a social media post days earlier.

For a day at least, Trump appeared to placate both factions with a speech that toed the line between humility and strength.

Fox News host Sean Hannity, who appeared to be cheering for a fierce U.S. counterattack before Trumps speech, was unusually silent in the hours afterward. Sen. Rand Paul, perhaps the Senate GOPs most fervent isolationist, tweeted that he was pleased that President Trump has pulled back and taken the preferred path of no further military action.

This phase of the conflict has only just begun, however.

The presidents actions in the coming days and weeks will mean far more than the scripted words in one speech. Trump, of course, has struggled with discipline and consistency throughout his presidency  especially on social media.

One misplaced tweet or off-handed comment at a political rally could shatter the fragile peace. He is scheduled to face thousands of his supporters Thursday night in Ohio, where his thoughts on Iran almost certainly wont be as scripted.

Trumps not out of the woods, said Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who predicted that remnants of the military conflict would help shape the 2020 election even if no further military action takes place.

Indeed, even if the infighting within his party dies down, Trump will face legitimate questions in the months ahead about his muddled foreign policy, which has scrambled alliances across the globe and emboldened some of Americas most dangerous adversaries, including Russia and North Korea.

After maligning NATO for much of his presidency, Trump on Wednesday called for the alliance of Western nations to take a greater role in the Middle East. And he falsely blamed the Obama administration for providing funding for the Iranian missile attack, ignoring his own 2018 decision to abandon the international agreement to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

During a campaign appearance in Chicago, Democratic White House hopeful Michael Bloomberg urged Trump not to act rashly or recklessly.

The prospect of a wartime election may be new in 2020, but the shift would mark a return to normalcy of sorts in presidential politics, at least in this century. International affairs and military conflict have played a central role in almost every presidential contest since 2000.

The 2004 contest came just a year after President George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq. Obama beat Republican war hero John McCain in a 2008 election shaped by voter fatigue over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And in 2016, Trump effectively turned the tables by casting Democrat Hillary Clinton as an establishment-minded globalist who would pursue endless wars.

While Trump sought to de-escalate on Wednesday, Democratic candidates sorted through what the conflict means for them. No one stands to gain  or lose  more in a foreign policy election than former Vice President Joe Biden.

Biden just won the nomination, South Carolina-based Democratic strategist Boyd Brown, a Biden supporter, said as the first news reports revealed the extent of the Iranian missile attacks.

While Brown is far from objective, variations of his idea rippled through the political stratosphere as Democratic voters paused to rethink the terms of a 2020 nomination fight through the lens of war. The partys far-left wing, in particular, was forced to face the fact that the overwhelming strength of their preferred candidates, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, lies in their grasp of domestic priorities like health care and income inequality, not international affairs.

For all his experience on the world stage, however, Biden has yet to put to rest stubborn questions about his 2002 vote as a Delaware senator to authorize military force against Iraq. It was that vote, followed by Bushs invasion, that triggered nearly two decades of military conflict that shapes conditions in Middle East today.

But despite any questions Democrats will face, do not expect Trump to cede his leading role in the 2020 drama anytime soon.

As the world waits to see whether the peace with Iran will last, Trumps impeachment trial in the Senate is just days away.

___

EDITORS NOTE  National Political Writer Steve Peoples has covered presidential politics for The Associated Press since 2011.

___

This story has been corrected to show that the year of Joe Bidens vote to authorize military force against Iraq was 2002, not 2003.

___

Catch up on the 2020 election campaign with AP experts on our weekly politics podcast, Ground Game.
The wax figures of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been removed from the royal set at Madame Tussauds London.

The museum has separated Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan Markle, 38, from the rest of the royal family following the couple's bombshell statement that they are to 'step back' as senior royals.

Wax replicas of the pair previously stood next to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, with Kate Middleton and Prince Wiliam on the other side, but have now been moved.

The museum has separated Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan Markle, 38, from the rest of the royal family following the couple's bombshell statement that they are to 'step back' as senior royals

Steve Davies, general manager at the attraction, said: 'Alongside the rest of the world we are reacting to the surprising news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be stepping back as senior royals.

'From today Meghan and Harry's figures will no longer appear in our Royal Family set.

'As two of our most popular and well-loved figures they will of course remain an important feature at Madame Tussauds London as we watch to see what the next chapter holds for the them.'

Wax replicas of the pair previously stood next to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, with Kate Middleton and Prince Wiliam on the other side, seen, but have now been moved

On Wednesday evening the Sussexes took to the Sussex Royal Instagram account to announce the decision that they would be stepping back from royal duties and focus on low-key charity work.

Sharing a picture of their engagement annoucement in November 2017, their statement reads: 'After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution.

'We intend to step back as senior members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.'

It continues: 'It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment. We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.

The wax figures of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been removed from the royal set at Madame Tussauds London

'This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.

'We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support. - The Duke and Duchess of Sussex'.

The announcement racked up 1.4 million likes, and 80,000 comments, with some reacting with disappointment, and others with understanding.

On Wednesday evening the Sussexes took to the Sussex Royal Instagram account to announce the decision that they would be stepping back from royal duties and focus on low-key charity work

Buckingham Palace later released a statement confirming that discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were at an 'early stage'

Reacting to the news, mental health writer Matt Haig defended the couple, writing: 'Meghan and Harry [are told that if they] dont like the attention they should take a back seat. [Then] Meghan and Harry: *take a back seat* [and are told] How dare they take a back seat!'.

Elsewhere another follower wrote: 'Best decision you can make for your family Harry, good on you'.

'Good for them', another said. 'If Princess Diana had done the same thing she'd still be alive. Harry has always been the black sheep of that family, and has always wanted to leave. Well done!'.

Buckingham Palace later released a statement confirming that discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were at an 'early stage'.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have said that they will step back as "senior royals" and work to become financially independent, creating tumult in the British royal family, which said they were "not consulted" and were "hurt" at the sudden announcement.

In a statement, Buckingham Palace said: "Discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage. We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work though." The news has draw a flood of reaction from social media users.

One Twitter user wrote, "I really hope Megan and Harry are able to independently support themselves financially. However will they cope?" "How funny. Use public money to fund your wedding, do f**k all public work and then decide to 'step back' from it. Hilarious...#Harrymeghan," added another.

A post read, "Not sure their marketability will last their 'NonRoyal' type status. Have they not worked out that they're famous because they're Royals & receive non stop Free Press as a result? How long will their product remain of interest? They aren't celebrities they r Royals! #HarryMeghan." A Tweeple remarked, "This morning I warned my son that if he throws one more tantrum before school, I will be resigning from the family cos that's totally a thing now #Harrymeghan #MeghanMarkle."
T he extent of destruction cause by Irans missile strike on US forces at an air base in Iraq has been shown in satellite images taken in the aftermath of the attack.

Iranian rockets damaged or destroyed seven buildings in the part of Ain al-Asad air base that houses US troops, the dramatic photos appear to show.

The pictures show bomb craters from the missile barrage, which Iran claimed was a slap in the face for the US following the attacks on two bases.

No Americans were harmed in either of Tuesday nights strikes.

What appears to be new damage at Al Asad air base in Iraq is seen in a satellite picture / via REUTERS

The missile launches were carried out in retaliation for last weeks killing of a top Iranian general in a US drone strike.

Two images provided by commercial satellite company Planet Labs Inc show five missile impact points on the Ain al-Asad base

At least three of the structures appear to be aircraft maintenance hangers.

Some of the buildings or structures have completely disappeared and only parts of the others remain.
Turkeys government has been bitterly criticized for a systematic disregard for nature during its more than 17 years in power. Its multi-billion-dollar vanity projects, including Istanbuls newly opened third airport and controversial plans for the so-called "crazy canal" duplicating the Bosporus, are decried for their horrific environmental costs. So it came as something of a surprise when the spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Omer Celik, took to Twitter today to air his outrage over Australias culling of camels.

Celik lambasted the move in a seven-tweet thread, saying, We are deeply concerned at news that Australia will be shooting dead as many as 10,000 camels and call upon the Australian government to find a different solution. To kill thousands of camels in the belief that it will restore natures equilibrium and preserve water sources is not a humane approach."

Australian authorities began shooting the beasts on Wednesday in southern Australia, where Aboriginal communities suffering from chronic drought have reported large camel herds rampaging through towns as they seek water. The mass slaughter, which is to last five days, is not directly linked to the countrys deadly bush fires, the authorities said.

Celiks tirade will have heartened Turkeys swelling legion of animal defenders, but it left some observers scratching their heads. The AKP, a pro-Islamic party, occasionally makes positive noises about animal rights but it has never prioritized them. Draft legislation introducing stiffer penalties for animal cruelty, including abandoning and raping them, has been languishing in the AKP-dominated parliament.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogans wife Emine has called for the law to be expedited. In an Oct. 4 Instagram post marking World Animal Rights Day, the first lady shared pictures of Pasha, an Anatolian shepherd mix saying, I wish for the animal rights bill to be adopted as soon as possible and for animals to be shielded from all evil and to be allowed to live in their natural habitats with all their needs attended to. The stray was found as a puppy wandering the 1,100-room presidential palace while it was still under construction (around 10,000 trees were cut to make room for it) and is being cared for by Erdogans staff.

Celik made no mention of the bill in his tweets. Nor has he uttered a word about the hundreds of thousands of animals that perished in the bush fires, said Ayse Cavdar, an anthropologist who has closely studied Islamist dynamics in Turkey. The camel is a symbol in Islam. The apparent sensitivity stems from this, I guess, she told Al-Monitor. Celik, counted among the oldest and most trusted of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans lieutenants, prides himself on keeping the pulse of the people. It's an example of banal populism.

Has Celiks account been hacked? asked a pious opposition lawmaker, commenting on the condition that he not be identified by name. He noted, however, The average Muslim is environmentally friendly and and shows solidarity with fellow creatures. In that sense, Celiks words are Muslim in approach but do not match his partys deeds.

Levent Gultekin, a prominent conservative intellectual who has emerged as one of the fiercest critics of political Islam, said Islamic sensibilities in and of themselves fail to adequately explain Celiks outburst. The camel carried our prophet on its back and as such has a place in Islamic lore, but thats it, he told Al-Monitor.

The camel, which is popularly associated with Arabs and the Middle East in general, is mentioned in collected sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, known as the the Hadith. Brannon M. Wheeler, a renowned expert of Quranic manuscripts, wrote in a paper, Gift of the Body in Islam: The Prophet Muhammeds Camel Sacrifice and Distribution of Hair and Nails at his Farewell Pilgrimage, In both pre-Islamic and Islamic times it is clear that the camel was the preferred animal of sacrifice at the Meccan sanctuary.

With this in mind, Turkeys largest pro-Islamic relief charity, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), suggested via Twitter that the meat of the camels being culled in Australia be distributed to the needy. IHH official Osman Atalay told Al-Monitor, It's an idea. The meat could be given to the poor in Africa. It could be refrigerated and transported. Atalay admitted that the animals being shot dead by snipers posed a problem for Muslims, who only eat halal products. But Christians could consume it, he said.
Written and designed by Myers, directed by Schaal and conceived by both of them, Cartography presents a group of fictional young migrants. The play is set partly in a waiting room like so many that migrants pass through, where they fill out forms, whittling the details of intricate lives into facts terse enough to fit in the space provided. Another section takes place in an inflatable raft, the kind that desperate people pile into, trying to reach a new land.

In an interactive interlude, audience members are invited to take out their cellphones and add their families migration histories to a map of the world, which lights up onstage with a profusion of far-reaching paths.

Less apparent to spectators but also built into the production is sound-sensor technology that responds to the actors voices. Allowing them to control the level of the sea projected on the set, it inverts the experience of migrants who find themselves, perilously, at the mercy of the water they cross.

Cartography is the third theatrical collaboration between Schaal, who comes from the world of experimental downtown performance, and Myers, an author and artist from the world of childrens books. The first, Go Forth, in 2016, was inspired by the Egyptian Book of the Dead and Schaals mourning for her father. Then came Jack &, a piece about re-entering society after prison. Starring an amateur actor, it was part of the 2018 Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

That show, Schaal said, was her take on community theater. Cartography, developed in part at the New Victory, is her first foray into childrens theater, and she has not dumbed it down. Sunny and cerebral, Schaal is dismissive of assumptions about what kind of work is for whom.

Young people can be at the center of a contemporary art conversation, she said, and young people can be primary viewers of contemporary performance.

Wherever they have taken Cartography, which so far has toured to Cleveland, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., with dates in Abu Dhabi and Toronto coming up, Schaal and Myers have worked with student groups.
That cold front could pose a new challenge for fatigued firefighters by increasing the size of the firefront when the changed wind moves the blaze in a different direction.

A strong south-westerly change is expected to sweep through the state's north-east, East Gippsland and surrounds from the afternoon, bringing gusts of up to 90km/h.

Bushfires tearing through Victoria could flare when a wind change brings dangerous gusts to the disaster zones.

"Any change of direction can be pretty dangerous for any firefighting, especially a really strong one like this," said Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Keris Arndt.

A severe weather warning for damaging winds has been issued, naming Wodonga, Wangaratta, Sale, Bairnsdale, Orbost and Falls Creek.

Winds are expected to average 50 to 60km/h and bring gusts of up to 90km/h, before finally easing by midnight.

Mr Arndt said the change would hit the western parts of the firegrounds about 4pm and clear the state by 7pm or 8pm.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday morning flagged off 21-day-long Gandhi Peace Yatra, a 3,000-km march from Mumbai to New Delhi, led by former Union minister Yashwant Sinha to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019, the National Register of Citizens (NRC), and to protest against states violence.

Pawar flagged off the event at Gateway of India in South Mumbai by unravelling a green-coloured flag. The march will end at Rajghat in Delhi on January 30. It will travel through six states, including those ruled by the BJP like Gujarat, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

The steps taken by the Indian government are threatening the unity of India. Many communities including minorities do not have the capability to prove where they come from, or how long they have stayed in India. Even though they are part of free India, they will be forcefully put in detention camps. They will never see a worse fate than that, and all this is because of the decisions of the Indian government. We have to build unity and strength in the country, said Pawar.

The NCP chief added, The government has harmed that unity with this new law, and misused the power they have. What happened in JNU has hurt sentiments of many Indians. Many parts of society are upset, but they need direction. Only Mahatma Gandhis ideology can show them the way. It is the only thing that will help us save the Constitution.

Speaking at the flag-off ceremony, Yashwant Sinha said, This is to protest the CAA, NRC and the NPR brought by the government, and the violence it has unleashed on many sections of the society. Many state governments are also participating in this violence. The message we are giving through this march is that we are united and will always stand united.

Also present at the Gateway of India were former chief minister of Mahrashtra Prithviraj Chavan, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi president Prakash Ambedkar, and All India Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament, Nadimal Haque, who was representing party chief Mamata Banerjee, and Maharashtra minister Nawab Mallik.

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National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah received unexpected support on Thursday from his political adversary, senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussian Baig, who criticised the government for slapping the stringent Public Safety Act against the former chief minister, saying that he always stood for India.

He said Abdullah was initially detained under Section 107 of the RPC (now IPC), but was later booked under the PSA after MDMK leader Vaiko had filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking that the Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar be produced before a court.

The Public Safety Act enables authorities to detain any individual for up to two years without trial.

"Under 107 IPC, people are being arrested for any law and order problem. Those who took oath of the Indian constitution, stood up against Hurriyat while their family members were killed by militants have been arrested. Why don't you leave them? If you have some proof of their involvement in militancy or law and order, then put them in jail



"Farooq Abdullah is the person who always raised Bharat mata ki jai slogans," Baig said.

He said other people who have been jailed or detained should be immediately released.

The senior PDP leader also batted for granting domicile rights to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir to protect their jobs and land ownership rights on the lines of Himalayan and Northeast states.

He also said it will be a call of the Centre on restoring the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.

"The domicile, protection of property and jobs of J and K people should be ensured as per the Article 371 of the Constitution or otherwise as applicable in Himalayan and Northeast states," Baig said.

"There was nothing left in Article 370. Unfortunately, some leaders of local parties also did some blunders by giving a wrong impression to the people by saying that Article 370 is giving the state a separate identity," he said.

Baig, a former deputy chief minister, met reporters here on a day when envoys from 15 countries were in the newly carved out union territory, and it was the first interaction by any PDP leader with mediapersons since August 5 when the Centre announced nullification of the erstwhile state's special status.

Officials had on Friday last said the Centre was examining the option of introducing mandatory requirement of 15-year residency in government jobs, ownership of land, seats in professional and college education in Jammu and Kashmir to allay apprehensions of locals.

The move came after several organisations in Jammu and Kashmir expressed fears of outsiders grabbing jobs, lands and seats in academic institutions after the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territories.

On Tuesday, eight former legislators led by Syed Altaf Bukhari had met Lieutenant Governor and made a slew of demands including restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.

The delegation had submitted a 15-point memorandum demanding rights of people over land and jobs be safeguarded, detainees be released and cases against youth be withdrawn among others.

Baig criticised the PDP and the NC for boycotting the panchayat polls and said it was a "wrong decision".

He blamed the division of pre-Independent India on British.

"Two Nation Theory was neither created by Jinnah nor Savarkar, but this theory was formulated by the British. Under this, they divided Hindus and Muslims," he said.

On the role of Pakistan in Kashmir, Baig said the country should stop aiding and abetting terrorism and abide by the Shimla agreement for a dialogue to resolve issues.

"During the visit of foreign diplomats to Kashmir last time. I interacted with five or six EU MPs. They asked me one question only. 'What is your take on Kashmir?', I said that Pakistan is bound by the Shmila agreement to resolve this issue through dialogue. Pakistan should take effective steps to stop the influx of terrorists (bundookwala) into Kashmir and hold a dialogue," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi [India], Jan 9 (ANI): Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said here on Thursday that politicians who have always kept their personal interests above that of Jammu and Kashmir have been sidelined and now there is a corruption-free environment in J&K.



"It is good that Jammu and Kashmir is moving towards development. Corruption had hampered development in Kashmir in past. Jammu and Kashmir has corruption-free environment now. Politicians who used to keep personal interest over Kashmir's interest are now sidelined," Naqvi told ANI.

Speaking on the students' protest in various universities across the country including Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Naqvi said: "We all were students. They can protest but they should have solid issue and not fabricated issues. It is our constitutional and social responsibility to tell them that they are misguided. Lies will soon be defeated by truth."

A group of around 15 foreign envoys based in New Delhi will be taken to Jammu and Kashmir on January 9-10 to see first-hand the efforts being made by the Government in the region.

The decision was taken after some envoys based in the national capital requested to visit the region.

Sources said that accordingly, a group of around 15 envoys -- from the United States, Maldives, Norway, Argentina, Niger, Togo, Vietnam, Bangladesh, South Korea, Peru, Morocco, among others -- who are based in Delhi, are being taken to the Union Territory.

They will meet civil society leaders and will be briefed on the security situation by the Army and intelligence services.

Last year a delegation comprising members of the European Parliament had visited the Valley after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution which accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir. (ANI)


Proof-of-concept project shows finds involuntary dilation upon hearing sounds matches up with traditional testing and offers an approach to assess hearing in those who cannot respond

EUGENE, Ore. - Jan. 9, 2019 - University of Oregon neuroscientists have shown that a person's hearing can be assessed by measuring dilation of the pupils in eyes, a method that is as sensitive as traditional methods of testing hearing.

The approach is being developed as a potential way to test hearing in babies, young adults with developmental disabilities and adults suffering from a stroke or illness - populations where direct responses are not possible.

In the experiments, changes in pupil size of 31 adults were monitored with eye-tracking technology for about three seconds as they performed a traditional tone-based hearing test while also staring at an object on a monitor. Dilation in all subjects matched their subsequent push-button responses, when prompted by a question mark on the screen, signifying whether or not a tone was heard.

The project, detailed in an open-access paper published online last month in the Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, was inspired more than a decade ago when the study's lead author, Avinash Singh Bala, noticed changes in the pupils of barn owls in response to unexpected noises in their environment.

In the interim, Bala and co-author Terry T. Takahashi - whose lab studies how owls hear and process sounds - researched how an eye-focused hearing exam could produce results with the same sensitivity as traditional tone-based exams.

"This study is a proof of concept that this is possible," said Bala, a researcher in Takahashi's lab in the UO Institute of Neuroscience. "The first time we tested a human subject's pupil response was in 1999. We knew it could work, but we had to optimize the approach for capturing the detection of the quietest sounds."

In the research, a traditional hearing exam and eye-tracking methods were done simultaneously to allow for comparison. A dot appeared on the screen, and tones at 1, 2, 4 and 8 kilohertz were played at randomized delays to make sure subjects couldn't predict when the sound would appear.

Pupil size was tracked for at least one second before the sound, and two seconds after the sound. Then, the dot on the screen changed to a question mark, cuing participants to push one of two buttons to indicate whether or not they heard the sound. Since just pushing a button can change pupil size, the button press task was delayed until after pupil size had been tracked for two seconds.

"In this project we randomized the timing of the tone's pulsing in relation to the dots, which also helped us avoid the expectation of a tone within a pattern," said Takahashi, a professor of biology and member of the Institute of Neuroscience.

Pupils began to change within 250 milliseconds, about one quarter of a second, of the sound stimulus. The swiftness of the response, Bala said, allowed the team "to see and establish causality."

"What we found was that pupil dilation was as sensitive as the button-press method," Bala said. "We had presented early data analyses at conferences, and there was a lot of resistance to the idea that by using an involuntary response we could get results as good as button-press data."

Internal grants from the UO supported the research. Elizabeth A. Whitchurch, a former doctoral student now at Humboldt State University, was a co-author.

"A pupil dilation test is not as useful in adults, who can communicate with the tester," Takahashi said. "The utility of the method is in testing people who can't tell us whether they heard a sound - for example, babies."

Takahashi and Bala are now part of a university-supported collaboration with Dare Baldwin, a UO psychology professor, to test the approach in babies. The two neuroscientists also have formed a UO spinout, Perceptivo LLC, to pursue development of an infant-hearing assessment.

###

Sources: Avinash Singh Bala, Institute of Neuroscience, avinash@uoregon.edu, and Terry Takahashi, Department of Biology and Institute of Neuroscience, 541-346-4544, terry@uoregon.edu

Note: The UO is equipped with an on-campus television studio with a point-of-origin Vyvx connection, which provides broadcast-quality video to networks worldwide via fiber optic network. There also is video access to satellite uplink and audio access to an ISDN codec for broadcast-quality radio interviews.

Links:

About Terry Takahashi: https://ion.uoregon.edu/content/terry-takahashi-0

Takahashi lab: https://pages.uoregon.edu/owllab/

About Avinash Bala: https://pages.uoregon.edu/avinash/
This article is based on a presentation I gave as part of AdevintaTalks in Barcelona on November 2019. Im experimenting with this format: I went through the slides typing what Id speak over them, edited the text, and added some of the most relevant slides inbetween paragraphs. Let me know how it works.

Discussion in Hacker News



Todays topic is about Technical Infrastructure, a term I found first in a great talk by Will Larson. He defines Technical Infrastructure as the software and systems to create, evolve, and operate our businesses. That includes Cloud services, build tools, compilers, editors, source control systems, data infrastructure (Kafka, Hadoop, Airflow), routing and messaging systems (Envoy, gRPC, Thrift), Chef, Consul, Puppet, Terraform, and so on.

Companies that reach a certain size typically create one or more teams that take care of different subsets of those tools. They get named something like infrastructure, platform, foundations I will use Platform team in this text.

If you have been part of one, you will know that life for a Platform team is tough. I could find an actual picture that shows one of them on the field:

Pieter Brueghel the Elder - "The Triumph of Death" (1562)

A good deal of the job is ultimately about finding the right balances between standardization and autonomy. To make meaningful impact, Platform teams depend on having standards in their organization. Trying to too support every possible language ecosystem, framework, DB, messaging system, and whatnot spreads Platforms teams too thin to be effective.

On the other hand, it is also wise to respect every other teams autonomy to make their own technical decisions. Oppinionated Platform teams risk coming across as a patronizing, ivory-tower-dwelling jerks that impose capricious choices on other engineering teams. Standardization and autonomy are complex factors to juggle.

What if you multiplied this problem by 20? What if you had 20 companies to support, each with their own cocktail of technologies, cultures, philias and phobias, genealogies of decisions and their own Platform team!

Thats my teams job at Adevinta. Adevinta builds online marketplaces. Each of them are and need to be special in their own way. At the same time, they all share many other bits and pieces that dont need to be different. That are, in fact, more cost-effective if they are built once and shared by all. Much of this falls in the category of Technical Infrastructure. My team works on that type of plumbing.

Generating value as a Platform team

You know who these people are?

They are the way fiction represents a profit centre. Those are parts of a company that bring money in, they generate revenue.

You know who these other people are?

They dont smell of money, right? Fiction represents them in this way because they belong to a cost centre. They pay AWS bills, buy computers. In other words, money exits the company through them.

Profit centres tend to have a crisp value proposition that is easy to see and understand. Its the opposite for cost centres. This doesnt mean that they give no value to the company. On the contrary: that Kubernetes cluster is critical for the business. What is hard is explaining to the people in the first picture why the engineering team should spend cycles migrating from EC2 to Kubernetes instead of just shipping more money-generating features.

In a way, cost centres are valuable to the extent that they power-up the profit centres. This is why Platform teams should be aware that they live under constant scrutiny, visible or not. The business will always wonder, why are we paying this team of expensive engineers? Cant Amazon, or Google, or Microsoft, or Digital Ocean, or Heroku, or whoever else, provide whatever these people do? Cant we make use of those many open source projects funded by dozens of commercial companies, and use the headcount elsewhere?

In 2020, Technical Infrastructure is a hot market. While I gave this talk, Amazon was running Re:Invent in Las Vegas. The first day they announced Quantum computing as a service. They continued for an entire week running presentations that felt like..

So when a Platform team comes with their quarterly demo the perception is hopelessly.. small.

And those internal demos are great, dont get me wrong, a lot of effort and that. But when a Platform team is (intentionally or not) building systems that have 3rd party alternatives they are competing in an uneven playing field. A Platform team should really avoid competing against AWS, Google, or any commercial company. It doesnt matter if their homegrown CI system is superior, today, to $commercial_ci_system . The market will catch up, faster than expected, and make that team redundant. Every Platform team should be asking themselves: what is our differentiator? What do we offer than makes it worthwhile for our company to invest in our team, rather than throwing those engineers at the product?

To recap so far: because Platform teams are cost centers, they must really focus on formulating a clear and realistic value proposition that is relevant to the business. They must also ensure that their impact is intelligible to the business, and visible. Finally, they must ensure that those properties remain within a fast-moving industry.

Our PaaS

My team focuses on a PaaS that helps engineers across Adevinta build, deploy and operate software in the cloud. We focus mainly on stateless workloads (e.g. microservices.)

Our pitch for product engineers is simple: look, we know youre fighting in a competitive market. Our mission is to help you win that competition. You prefer to do the plumbing yourself? Its your call, we respect that. But if you prefer to focus your attention on your product we have a team of domain experts that do the heavy lifing for you. We take care of providing you with the technical infrastructure that you need so you can focus on winning races.

We define a Golden Path: a reduced set of sane, proven choices of tools that are effective to build, deploy, and operate microservices (the core systems we support are in the left-hand side slide below). Is each tool the best in their category? Probably not. But we know they get the job done, are well supported, maintained, and standardised in the industry. Its not about local optimums, but global maximums.

It also not about chosing a bunch of random pieces and give product teams an Ikea-like platform that they must assemble piece by piece.

We bundle GitHub, Travis, Artifactory, Spinnaker, FIAAS, Kubernetes, Prometheus, Datadog, Sumologic, ELK.

The main value we provide is in the joints, the articulation, the glue. In how we integrate together all these systems. Our PaaS favours composition of multiple modular components, trying to become a pierceable abstraction. The main benefits are:

Avoid losing battles with commercial companies. Each of our components has at least one whole company behind it. Its hardly realistic to expect that we can dedicate 5-7 of our engineers (1/4th of the team!) to build in-house alternatives to a CI system, a CD system, a metrics platform, etc. against businesses that have 20 or 50 times that capacity. Instead, we focus on what is specific for our company, tailoring off-the-shelf solutions to our needs. Commercial competitors are more likely to focus on whats generic to larger portions of the industry.

Well defined articulations become escape hatches for those teams that cant or wont use the entire bundle. This is a requirement to be able to support a highly heterogeneous population of companies and teams as we do. But its also good for us as it increases adoption, and creates low-friction gateway drugs to the full PaaS. We often see how teams that adopt one tool gradually adopt more organically as they gain trust and realize we can relieve them from doing a lot of undifferentiated heavy lifting.

The same flexibility enables us to replace individual pieces when it makes sense, causing minimal impact for the users. One of our current initiatives is to ensure that upgrading or switching any of those pieces is completely transparent to users.

Small impact, repeated many times

One of the strategies we use is to spot where we can introduce tools that generate small impact to a wide surface. This worked quite well applied to reducing toil on the development process.

Of most of the tasks involved in getting a new change merged to the main tree, there may be only two that really need involving human brains: writing the code, and reviewing it. We set out to automate lots of the other small chores in the dev process: assigning reviewers, analyzing coverage and static analysis reports, propagating dependency updates, keeping branches up to date with their base, merging approved PRs Each of these actions may have a tiny impact. But multiplied by a population of hundreds of engineers, month after month, you get economies of scale.

The image above is the profile for the service user that executes all these actions in our internal GitHub Enterprise instance. Assuming each action is worth 1 minute (many of them are actually more than that) it adds up to 62 engineer-days per year. Thats impact that can be very easily translated to money, to terms that the rest of the business can understand.

At this point you should have a siren wailing in your heads. Wait, you said before that we should avoid competing with commercial companies. GitHub released Actions earlier this year, and some of the automation you just mentioned seems very similar to what is available in the public GitHub. Does that mean your team has just become obsolete?

Remember the point about creating differentiators. The core functionality that makes the PaaS (things like running builds or store these metrics and let me query them, or do $something when a PR is created) will become commoditized sooner or later. But glue is a different story. Our differentiator here is simple: GitHub Actions can only react to GitHub events. Our automation can react to events in the entire Adevinta development ecosystem. All of it.

Because we didnt spend that much time building the core tools, we could focus on the glue. The slide above shows Devhose, a component that collects events from every tool in our dev ecosystem (GitHub, Travis, Spinnaker, Artifactory, JIRA, Slack, Kubernetes and even several tools outside of the Golden Path), stores them in a log, and broadcasts them in an engineering event bus. We also built some tooling around it that gives us the ability to easily implement new functionalities that interact back with the ecosystem. For example, one bot we prototyped recently listens to events in Kubernetes, detects killed pods, collects troubleshooting information and ships it to a Slack channel so the team that owns the service is alerted.

Thanks to having invested in glue, when GitHub Actions reaches the Enterprise version, it will bring value that we can leverage, rather than an existential threat.

Virtuous feedback loops

Having everything that happens in our dev ecosystem registered and broadcast in an event bus turned out to be valuable for multiple purposes. One of them was to build insights into the development process itself.

We built a system called Ledger to help with this. It is an event consumer that reads from Devhoses event bus and crunches all types of productivity metrics. Which ones? One of our references is Accelerate and their annual State of Devops reports (2018, 2019). Their main claim is that the performance of software delivery teams can and does provide a competitive advantage to companies. This is backed by extensive industry research that links specific practises to the most effective and efficient ways to develop and deliver technology. This is precisely our teams mission.

The authors identify four key metrics that capture the effectiveness of the dev & delivery process: Lead Time for Changes, Change Failure Rate, Deployment Frequency, and Time to Restore. These can be used as high level performance indicators that reliably gauge the ability of an organisation to achieve its goals.

Because we provide the plumbing for most engineering processes, we are in the right place to measure them. Here is one of our dashboards about Continuous Delivery, including Deployment Frequency, one of the Accelerate indicators.

Teams that use our PaaS get these out of the box. Along with a lot more metrics. Build durations, code coverage, static analysis issues, security issues, lead time for changes, stats about the code review process, etc.

I have a certain liking to the Code tab, that shows the correlation between Pull Request size and time to merge in their team. Here is an example:

You have surely noticed at least two interesting details:

Its obvious that small PRs get merged faster. In fact, differences of just a couple dozen lines double the time to merge from hours to days.

Even though time to merge grows with PR size, it looks like very large PRs (the last bucket) take a lot less to merge. You can guess why.

This example is a good way to show how Ledger helps us influence best practises without confrontation, enforcement, or alienating engineers. We bring no opinions to the table. We show over 2 years worth of data that is contextualized for a whole team, a whole company, but never exposes personally identifiable information. We care about how teams perform, not how many points of code coverage are accountable to $engineer . This is not a tool for managers to measure performance, but for teams to understand and make informed decisions about their processes.

Again, does this have some overlap with tools like SonarQube? Definitely. But we have differentiators. We can analyze everything in the dev process, not just code quality. We can tailor to the deploy and release workflows most common to our teams. We can enrich data with organisational information specific to Adevintas org chart. We can correlate quality with other phases in the process (e.g. the space we want to move into next is answering questions like Does high code coverage correlate to less incidents?). We can reprocess over 2 years of raw data on demand and generate new stats as we develop them (or fix bugs :).

The Accelerate report notes that these indicators can be used in two ways. Teams can inform improvements in their software delivery performance. Organisations can learn how to support engineering productivity with metrics that are intelligible to non-technical stakeholders. In other words, by providing these metrics, we facilitate a conversation between tech and business, between cost and profit centres. And precisely because we measure the productivity of teams, we can also measure in what degree our job delivers on our mission: support teams to deliver at their best.

Investing in a component

Sometimes we do invest in components of the Platform.

In the talk I didnt have time to go over Spinnaker, where weve been (and remain) active contributors for ~4 years along with Netflix, Google, Target and many others. Being part of the community made it easier for us to upstream features that made sense for us, such as Cloud Formation support or integrations with Travis, as well as dozens of bug fixes and other improvements.

But the best example of in-house investments are the Kubernetes clusters we build and operate on EC2. The inevitable question is: why not use EKS, GKE, or other managed solutions?

The glue strategy should already come to mind.

Below is a simplified comparison of what a raw installation of Kubernetes provides, and what our clusters provide. A bare Kubernetes cluster works, you can schedule containers, but thats pretty much it. GKE, EKS, etc. provide slightly more than the left picture: they may autoscale nodes and handle other basic ops burden. But they are still far from covering the typical needs of product teams that wish to run production workloads securely, with little to no operational burden.

Some examples:

Our clusters are multi-tenant, allowing several marketplaces to share infrastructure securely while optimizing costs through higher density. We deal with all the cons of multitenancy. We handle network isolation for each tenant. We provide sensible defaults, pod security policies, etc. We added a validating webhook to the NGINX ingress controller that we contributed upstream, to reduce the blast radius of ingresses that break the NGINX configuration.

We maintain clusters in several geographical regions. This is instrumental for some of Adevintas central teams that build centralised functions like Messaging, Reputation systems, etc. that are meant to be used in several marketplaces that serve users in distant geographical locations (from Europe to Latin America). Our clusters offer a homogeneous, managed runtime environments, close to all Marketplaces, where central functions can be deployed.

In every cluster we provide integrations that work out of the box. You get automatic certificates leveraging cert-manager and Lets Encrypt. Users can use authentication tokens generated through our companys SSO. They get metrics automatically scraped and sent to Datadog or our internal Prometheus, as they chose with a simple config option. The same feature is provided for logs.

Users can avoid learning the full Kubernetes and use FIAAS, a commodity abstraction on top of Kubernetes. It was created in-house at one of our marketplaces ~7 years ago and was OSSd in early 2019.

In every cluster we run automated canary tests periodically that deploy canonical applications and test connectivity and most integrations, we try to detect problems earlier than our users. Our team provides dedicated, 24/7/365 on-call.

We do full-stack aware upgrades. Because Google or AWS may upgrade your Kubernetes version, but will not care about the integrity of everything youve got running there. We upgrade at a slower pace than GKE/EKS, but when we do we ensure that the entire stack bundled in our cluster works, not just the core of Kubernetes.

And we provide insights into your costs down to the pod level, informing users about potential savings if they are over-provisioning. Here is a PoC of a Grafana dashboard with this info:

I made a point before about creating articulations that facilitate pivoting to commercial choices once they become commoditized. Thats our strategy with EKS. We keep a close eye on its roadmap and have given feedback about our needs to AWS. As soon as EKS is a suitable base Kubernetes installation for us, we are ready to lift-and-shift our integrations on top.

Zero-friction onboarding

All this is (possibly) quite cool, but if engineers need weeks or months to start using it, nobody will. That was one of our top challenges a year ago. The core components in the PaaS were mostly there, but each team would have to spend days or weeks configuring each of them by hand on their repositories. Throughout the last year weve invested heavily in streamlining the onboarding process. We turned what was an Ikea-like experience into an almost seamless process. Users get a web interface, enter their repository URL, click on a button, and our automation takes it from there. It takes ~10 minutes for their repository to be automatically configured with CI/CD pipelines, deploying to their teams private namespace, and integrated with metrics and logging systems. If something fails or manual action is required from our Platform teams, the onboarding tool notifies, keeps track of the issue in JIRA, and resumes the process when weve unblocked it.

There is a point about the importance of automation here, but I want to stress something else. If you buy the proposition that Platform teams have a significant degree of competing scope with commercial companies, UX spacialists are a must-have. A team big enough to serve hundreds of engineers must reserve headcount for a good UX designer. It will pay off. Not only will you stop inflicting backend-made-UIs to your engineers, but also because the Platform team will learn how to understand the needs of their users, test their assumptions (most of which will be wrong), the impact they make with their work, and deliver a more professional product.

The team in charge of those automation and UIs has been using instrumentation data collected in the onboarding process to polish the experience, improve the failure rate and cover corner cases. Last quarter they moved on to solving other pain points in the platform. For example, troubleshooting a failed deploy. Right after Christmas we plan to release a team dashboard with all applications maintained by a given team. It summarizes status for each, and highlights when something fails in the build, deployment pipelines, or runtime, with relevant information collected from any system in the PaaS. Again, glue.

Change hurts, we should feel it too

Regardless of the effort we put in to improving the onboarding experience for our users, at the end of the day were moving engineers from a known territory, their on-prem infra, EC2, or wherever they run their services today, to an unknown one. At some point, every migration feels like this.

Theodore Gericault - The Raft of the Medusa. (1819)

When this happens, someone from our team should sail in that raft with them.

Specially for mid/large sized migration projects, we allocate at least 1-2 of our engineers to support teams on-site. To give an example, we now have an ongoing migration project for ~200 microservices from all the Spanish sites. For several months weve had engineers from our team, as well as the local Platform team inside Adevinta Spain sitting together in a shared seating area. Both share OKRs, regular plannings, weekly syncs, etc. In our previous engagement with the Subito.it team, three of our engineers travelled to Italy for several weeks during the quarter. We are also creating different workshops that we reuse and adapt for newly onboarded teams, including Kubernetes basics, hands-on exercises, etc.

There are two key outcomes to working closely to our users:

Trust: engineers in the product teams stop perceiving those in the Platform teams as a Slack handle, but actual people with faces that they can confidently ask questions to. The local Platform teams in the marketplaces start seeing us as partners rather than an existential threat.

Engineers in our Platform team learn the needs of product engineers, and gain experience on how it feels to use the tools we build. They also leverage the expertise of local Platform teams that have been working in this space for years in their respective marketplaces. While its hard to leave your team for weeks or months, the experience is an eye-opener and everyone brings invaluable insights back to our teams.

Is it working?

Its a bumpy ride by nature, but yes. How do we measure it?

As I mentioned above, metrics like those proposed by Accelerate seemed relevant as they measure precisely the properties we wish to improve. After getting some help from a Itamar Gilad, a professional product management consultant, we settled for Successful Deployments per week as our North Star.

We believe it is a good proxy for productive habits that we want to incentivise: deployments are easy and automated, work reaches users early, and defects can be repaired quickly. For us, more frequent deployments have two positive implications: more services use our PaaS, and those that use it behave productively by deploying more often. We only count Successful deployments to ensure that our tools help and incentivise pushing healthy code out.

Here is our North Star tracking dashboard for the past year (the dip at the right is just the last incomplete period.)

This quarter weve spent time collecting a whole set of other metrics that influence the North Star (e.g. number of active repos, build durations, etc.) and are fundamental to defining good OKRs.

Harder to quantify, but easier to appreciate, is feedback from our users. A couple of days before the talk we found this in Twitter from an engineer in one of the Spanish marketplaces that were onboarding the Platform in those days.

Translation: "The transition to Kubernetes is going so well that I'm not feeling it. Basically everything works perfectly. Hat tip to everyone who made it."

We have lots of rough edges and potential for improvement, but it feels we are in the right track. My +10 for that hat tip to all the excellent colleagues that have contributed to making this possible, from infrastructure to UX and everything inbetween.
US Ambassador to India Kenneth Ian Juster along with envoys from 15 other countries arrived in India on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, January 9, the first official visit by Diplomats since the abrogation of the erstwhile State's special status in August 2019.

READ: EXCLUSIVE: Army Chief General Naravane Speaks On India's Strategy, CDS & Kashmir And More

First official visit

The Delhi-based envoys arrived by a special chartered flight at Srinagar's technical airport where top officials from the newly carved out Union Territory (UT) received them, officials said.

READ: 'Free Kashmir' Poster Spotted In Mysuru During Protests Against Attack On JNU Students

Later in the day, they are expected to visit Jammu, the winter capital of the newly created UT, for an overnight stay, where they will meet Lt Governor GC Murmu as well as civil society members, they said.

Besides the US, the delegation will include diplomats from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, Maldives, South Korea, Morocco, and Nigeria, among others.

Speaking about the visit, Union Minister of Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, "It is good to know that Jammu and Kashmir is progressing at a good pace. Till now, the progress was hampered by corruption and now the people of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh have been given relief. A clean, corruption-free environment is visible in Kashmir. Those people who were disturbing the people for their own personal benefits are now suffering the consequences."

In October, a delegation of 23 European Union MPs visited Sri Nagar for a first-hand assessment of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir following the revocation of the State's special status under Article 370. The team originally comprised 27 parliamentarians, mostly from extreme right or right-wing parties, among those, four members did not travel to Kashmir and had reportedly returned to their respective countries, officials said.

READ: Kashmir To Get Connected With Rest Of India Through Rail By Dec 2021

A statement by the Prime Minister's office at the time said, "Their visit to Jammu and Kashmir should give the delegation a better understanding of the cultural and religious diversity of the region of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, apart from giving them a clear view of the development and government priorities of the region."

READ: 'Tried To Persuade Him To Surrender But He Refused': Kashmir I-G On Awantipora Encounter
PUEBLO, CO, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE  SGD Holdings, Ltd. (OTC PINK: SGDH), a Lessor, Consultant, and Property Manager in the Cannabis Industry in the State of Colorado, announces a First Right of Refusal agreement has been reached with NuGro Industries, Inc., Land Owner and Developer of the retail recreational cannabis store property located at 601 Hwy 85/87 in Walsenburg, Colorado.

Delmar Janovec, CEO, stated, "Securing this First Right of Refusal for the entire property at 601 Hwy 85/87 is a move toward securing the future for SGD Holdings and shareholders. Regulations and Policies have changed significantly within the Cannabis Industry in the State of Colorado, and with the recent passage of Colorado House Bill 19-1090 allowing publicly traded corporations more direct access, opportunities will accompany those changes. Financial Institutions are beginning to ease policies in regard to the Cannabis Industry, and with that, the option to secure more traditional non-diluting financing should become available. Buying the Dispensary Property in Walsenburg has always been a part of our master plan, changes in State Regulations and possibly even Federal Policies will certainly expedite the implementation of that plan.

Janovec went on to say, We are working diligently to complete the renovations at the Retail Store in Walsenburg and once all of the final inspections have been performed with acceptance, a Certificate of Occupancy will be issued. A hard date for a Grand Opening will then be announced.

SGD Holdings, Ltd. encourages the public to read the above information in conjunction with its year-end statement for December 31, 2018, and the quarterly statements filed in calendar year 2019, at www.otcmarkets.com

Forward-Looking Statements: The statements in the press release that relate to the Company's expectations with regard to the future impact on the Company's results from acquisitions or actions in development, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The statements in this document may also contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. When used in this press release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "may," "intend," "expect" and similar expressions identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in such statements. Such risks, uncertainties, and factors include, but are not limited to, future capital needs, changes and delays in plans and schedules, or market acceptance. SGD Holdings, Ltd. undertakes no duty to update these forward-looking statements.
Three years after Colombias peace deal, the country still doesnt know exactly how former rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and members of the Armed Forces who committed war crimes during the countrys 52-year-long armed conflict will be punished. Detailing these sanctions is probably the biggest challenge for the countrys transitional justice system this year. It will also become a litmus test for how legitimate its efforts to judge perpetrators are, in a fractured society where citizens still equate justice with prison and the governing party campaigned against a novel approach to accountability that it has portrayed as impunity.

Even though Colombias Special Jurisdiction for Peace  or JEP, as it is locally known  began working in early 2018, it has yet to determine the precise guidelines for its alternative sanctions.

Colombias sanctions on paper

This delay has to do with the fact that the Colombian transitional justice model devised an innovative formula that hasnt been tested elsewhere, combining elements of retributive and restorative justice. The result is a two-track system that will mix both types of penalties  punishment and repairing harm. Former FARC combatants, as well as members of the military and other persons, may receive more lenient sentences for serious and representative crimes, such as murder, kidnapping or sexual violence, if  and only if  they fulfil three conditions. They must acknowledge their responsibility, tell the truth, and personally redress victims. In the end, when they fulfil this checklist, they qualify for a special sanction of 5 to 8 years in a non-prison setting. Should they not, they will face sentences ranging from 5 to 20 years under ordinary prison conditions.

The idea behind this incentive is that those persons responsible may come forward and own up to their role, allowing the JEP to build its cases quicker than in an adversarial system. In turn, this should avoid the tribunal from collapsing on account of the enormous legacy of atrocities it has to prosecute in a country where 8,9 million persons  out of a population of 48 million  are officially registered as victims.

and in real life

However many details on sanctions have not been specified. What kind of non-prison settings will be chosen is still a mystery. Will a person have to redress his or her own direct victims or may repair other communities that endured the conflict? Will those who have already entered politics be forced to abandon elected office once they are convicted?

This conundrum exists in part because several institutions, including the Constitutional Court and the Congress, have kicked the ball forward to the JEP without addressing the issue. At the end of the day, it will be up to the JEPs 38 justices to determine what sanctions will look exactly like. So far the special peace tribunal is taking its time, in part because it seems unlikely that it will present its first indictment before mid 2020. Currently its Judicial Panel for Acknowledgment is building seven macro-cases detailing different representative crimes and identifying those responsible for them. Two of these focus on FARCs involvement in kidnapping and forced recruitment of child soldiers; another case details extrajudicial executions by the military, while several regional cases document human rights violations carried out by various actors.

Simultaneously, the JEP created a task force comprising one magistrate from each of its judicial panels and chambers to begin discussing sanctions. In a bid to ensure they abide by both Colombian law and international standards, they have met with lawyers from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in San Jose. They even discussed sanctions over lunch with the latter courts nine justices last September in Bogota.

No timeline in the horizon

In the JEPs view, defining the alternative sanctions regime has to be the result of a complete legal process for each case, including its investigative and judgment phases. Its magistrates believe, for example, that it would be difficult to outline sanctions before identifying the victims or the harm they suffered in each of the macro-cases it will open. They also think it is still not possible to gauge how many of the 9,713 former FARC members and 2,291 members of the armed forces who have requested to be under the JEPs jurisdiction will be deemed most responsible of committing international crimes. Or that much crucial information will only arise as perpetrators are confronted with victims accounts.

In cases where there is an acknowledgment of responsibility and full contribution to truth, the resolutions will include a proposed sanction, built not only on attending to what victims understand as redress but also in a dialogic exercise with perpetrators, says Juan Ramon Martinez, a professor in international law and one of the five justices on the JEPs First Instance Chamber in Cases of Acknowledgement of Truth and Responsibility, in charge of defining sanctions.

One of the JEPs concerns is to be able to consider ideas of redress tabled by victims. For example, relatives of a group of state legislators kidnapped by FARC in 2002 and murdered by them five years later agreed on requesting that their perpetrators build a school in either Pradera or Florida, two towns in their home state of Valle del Cauca heavily ravaged by war. In the victims families vision, it would double as a memory site, with each classroom donning the name of the twelve assemblymen. For me, redress that endures over time is more important than a jail sentence, says 22-year-old Sebastian Arismendy, whose father Hector Arismendy was one of the victims. My father used to say that the only thing he could leave us was an education. It seems fitting that the sanction for everything that happened to us is a school built by former combatants hands to provide education in an area ravaged by war.

Listening to victims demands means that most restorative sanctions would be defined on a case by case basis. It also poses a significant practical challenge, given the number of them who have come forward. In the single case on kidnappings, 1,276 victims have been certified. Sanctions cannot be written in stone. They require flexibility, given the complexities regarding the universe of victims, the amount of offenders and the diversity in actors involved in our conflict, says Justice Martinez. This would mean that the first sanctions ordered by the transitional justice system would not be ready before late 2020 or early 2021.

When legal and political timeframes clash

Defining the alternative sanctions regime is perhaps not the most urgent task from a legal standpoint. But politics may suggest otherwise. Colombians seem hardwired to the retributive aspect of them. Polls throughout the Havana peace talks showed that they overwhelmingly disagree with the possibility of FARC members eventually entering politics without going through prison.

This reality became evident during the campaign for the peace deal referendum in October 2016, as current President Ivan Duque and his political party centred part of their campaign against the accord on the vagueness of sanctions for FARC commanders. After 50.2% of Colombians rejected the original deal, this became a critical issue during the ensuing renegotiation. Marta Lucia Ramirez, then one of the opposition leaders and now the countrys vice-president, proposed that these sentences be carried out in agricultural penal colonies.

Duque and Ramirez have shied away from the topic of sanctions since winning the 2018 elections, but it would be politically naive to ignore that large segments of Colombian society are still asking questions on this issue. Many cannot understand why ten former FARC commanders were elected to Congress but have yet to acknowledge their responsibility and show remorse. Or how Guillermo Torres will become the first ex-FARC member to hold public office locally as mayor of Turbaco without redressing any victim. What might seem like a merely technical or legal discussion in fact has political ramifications that could affect the JEPs legitimacy.

Not only Colombians are pressuring the JEP on this. Fatou Bensouda, prosecutor of the ICC, included the issue in her end-of-year report, stressing that her office considers the imposition of effective penal sanctions that serve appropriate sentencing objectives of retribution, rehabilitation, restoration and deterrence a relevant benchmark for 2020.

Recommended reading Colombia: They were enemies, now they make laws together

Can pre-trial detentions apply?

One issue threatens to become a time bomb: what happens to former FARC rebels who have been convicted by Colombian courts in absentia, while they await their sanctions in the transitional justice system?

The Constitutional Court allowed for the suspension of previous sentences. The peace accord does not include any remand provisions but it allows them to deduct time from their sanctions provided that they redress victims and meet the conditions relating to the effective restriction of liberty, including that they should remain in a specific location where they can be monitored and any movement is authorized.

The problem is that this hasnt really started happening because there is no system in place to monitor who is complying and who isnt. Theoretically, this task should be carried out by the United Nations mission in Colombia that verified their disarmament and destroyed their weapons. But this part of their mandate has not been negotiated yet. The result is that many of the 13,046 FARC members who laid down their weapons in 2017 and began their reincorporation are roaming around the country freely. By August this year only 25% of them remained in the 26 original encampments established by the Government, a Congressional report found. This situation represents a significant risk for FARC members, given that they will probably be denied the deduction benefit for the time they spent in the reincorporation camps due to the lack of any verification mechanism.

In light of this, JEP presiding judge Patricia Linares insisted on the need for the UN mandate to be addressed during a UN Security Councils official visit to the country last July. All 15 members pledged their support on this, which we expect will duly materialise, says Justice Martinez. Six months later it still is a pressing question.

The uncertainty could prove dangerous at a moment when one faction of the former guerrilla chose to rearm and is actively seeking new recruits. The important thing is to have clearly defined parameters and a sanctions regime, says Luis Alberto Alban, a former FARC commander who participated in the peace talks and currently sits in the Senate. What is clear to us is that the early activities redressing victims must be duly certified and taken into account, he adds.

Recommended reading Colombian transition gets confusing with a disarmed FARC and an armed one

The JEPs quandary about the government

Another dilemma is that the JEP needs the political support of President Duques government, which has been openly hostile to it. Several key provisions on alternative sanctions are impossible to determine without active collaboration from the government. For example, one idea justices are considering is choosing the current reincorporation camps where former rebels are transitioning to civilian life as potential locations for their punishment. Even though its up to the JEP to decide where ex-FARC commanders will be penalised, upkeep of these spaces and its inhabitants is the governments legal responsibility.

Likewise, negotiating with the United Nations a mandate that enables it to monitor former rebels compliance with sanctions, as the peace accord states, is the sole responsibility of Duques Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For the JEP to offer a novel theory for many budding peace processes around the world, it needs to define what sanctions will look like.

So far the JEP has met five times with Emilio Archila, Duques official in charge of the peace deals implementation, to determine how restorative sanctions can go hand in hand with the special development plans that are also considered as reparations for regions heavily affected by war. They have also spoken with Environment Minister Ricardo Lozano on possibly signing up former rebels to conservation efforts as a form of reparation. There are legal and constitutional obligations that must be fulfilled. We are fully confident that the Government will understand them, downplays Justice Martinez. But few other instances of cooperation with the government are being seen.

In the end, much of the JEP and the entire transitional justice systems legitimacy hinges not only on its ability to strike a balance between retribution and restoration, but also in offering Colombians a clear definition of its alternative sanctions that can allay their fears. For the JEP to offer a novel theory for many budding peace processes around the world, it needs to define what sanctions will look like, says Santiago Pardo, who leads the Access to Justice Design Lab at Los Andes University. Thats whats really a novelty.
CAIRO, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- China and Egypt have agreed to boost bilateral ties through enhancing cooperation in all fields, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday.

Wang made the remarks at a joint press conference with Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo, Egypt.

After holding a strategic dialogue, a set of consensus were achieved by the two ministers.

The two sides agreed to boost bilateral ties with the aim to build a community with a shared future in the new era, Wang said, adding that China is the largest trade partner of Egypt with its investment to Egypt growing by over 60 percent in 2019.

"The two sides will deepen political mutual trust and enhance mutually beneficiary cooperation in all fields," he said.

The two sides also agreed to further promote the Belt and Road construction. "We will promote greater synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Egypt's Vision 2030," Wang said.

The two ministers also agreed to establish a intragovernmental cooperation committee to coordinate and promote bilateral cooperations in different areas, he said.

Wang said the two countries will also make joint efforts to fight terrorism and extremism, while carrying out cooperation in terms of intelligence sharing and capacity building.

Additionally, the two sides agreed to promote the implementation of the fruits of the 2018 Beijing Summit of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, according to Wang.

Calling Egypt as China's "good friend, good partner and good brother," Wang pledged China's continued support to Egypt, led by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in its efforts to protect its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, achieve successful development, and seek national rejuvenation.
New Delhi:

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar on Thursday said the visit of 15 foreign envoys to Jammu and Kashmir is being facilitated by Government of India. Raveesh, who was addressing a press conference, said the visit is aimed at making the envoys aware of the efforts made by government to normalise the situation in the valley. On reports of EU diplomats refusal to be part of foreign delegation visiting Jammu and Kashmir with their apprehensions of it being a guided tour, the MEA spokesperson said, We wanted this group to be of manageable size and make it broad based representing different geographical regions.

Envoys from 15 countries which include US, South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Maldives, Morocco, Fiji, Norway, Philippines, Argentina, Peru, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, and Guyana are on a visit to Kashmir to assess the situation there.

India slams Pakistan over Nankana Sahib Gurudwara attacks

Earlier, Pakistan's Char d'affaires Syed Haider Shah was summoned by India over Nankana Sahib attacks. (File Photo)

The MEA spokesperson also slammed Pakistan for the recent Nankana Sahib Gurudwara attacks and killing of a Sikh youth saying, A country that cannot take care of its minorities should not tell other countries how to do it.

Closely monitoring the situation in Middle-East: MEA

When asked about the situation in Middle East which escalated after the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, Raveesh Kumar said India is closely monitoring the situation. He added, We would like the situation to de-escalate as quickly as possible. We are talking to several stakeholders. EAM has spoken to players in the region.

On the query over Chabahar port, he said, In the past US has shown understanding on the importance of Chabahar project. How the whole thing is going to impact is hypothetical, we'll have to see. But, we do appreciate US exempting Chabahar port from the sanctions.

Moreover, the Delhi-based envoys, who went Srinagar on a special chartered flight, landed at Srinagars technical airport and were taken directly to the army cantonment for a briefing. Top officials from the newly carved out union territory of Jammu and Kashmir received the delegation, which will be going to Jammu later in the day and stay the night there. This is the first visit by diplomats since August last year when the states special status was revoked and it was made a union territory.

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[January 09, 2020] The Hartford Joins PlanSource Boost to Offer a Streamlined Benefits Experience

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PlanSource , a leading provider of cloud-based benefits software, announced today that The Hartford has joined PlanSource Boost, a partnership program created to enhance the benefits experience through optimized benefits shopping, simplified billing, preferred pricing, and real-time data integrations.

We continue to invest in partnerships that enable us to deliver our industry-leading suite of solutions through integrated benefits technology for our employer clients and their employees, said CrisDee Plambeck, head of voluntary benefits and external partnerships for Group Benefits at The Hartford. We are pleased to partner with PlanSource to deliver the streamlined digital benefits experience our customers expect. One of the goals of the Boost program is to ease the administrative burden on HR teams by providing them with services that remove time-consuming tasks, such as reconciling and paying carrier bills. Companies participating in Boost receive billing and payment services at no extra charge, which takes care of the process from end to end. The PlanSource system auto-generates a monthly bill, which eliminates the need to reconcile carrier bills. Customers pay PlanSource directly and PlanSource pays the insurance carriers. This can sae HR teams a significant amount of time and allows them to focus on taking care of their employees.



In addition to billing services, when employers purchase one or more products from participating Boost carriers, they receive: An optimized employee experience - Consumer marketing experts enhance the employee shopping and enrollment experience for the products offered by Boost carriers, incorporating best practices and relevant content to help consumers find the benefits that are right for them.

- Consumer marketing experts enhance the employee shopping and enrollment experience for the products offered by Boost carriers, incorporating best practices and relevant content to help consumers find the benefits that are right for them. Preferred pricing - A simple, preferred price for the PlanSource benefits technology platform.

- A simple, preferred price for the PlanSource benefits technology platform. Industry-leading integrations - PlanSource and its Boost partners will be rolling out state-of-the-art integrations that improve the experience for employees and HR teams. Examples include APIs to automate the configuration of benefit plans, streamline Evidence of Insurability and enrollment transactions and provide easy access to insurance carrier member portals. The Hartford has a long history of helping businesses attract, retain and protect employees with industry-leading employee benefits products and services, said Bradley Taylor, Executive Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at PlanSource. We are excited to partner with The Hartford and look forward to working with them to enhance the benefits industry.

About PlanSource

PlanSource is a technology company driven to create a better benefits and HR experience for employers and their employees. Nearly 4.5 million consumers receive their benefits through the PlanSource platform, which provides flexible and intuitive software and services for benefits administration. By combining industry-leading software and a full suite of professional services, PlanSource provides companies of all sizes with a complete solution for benefits shopping, enrollment, billing, compliance and administration. Learn more at www.plansource.com. The Hartford is The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries, including underwriting companies Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company and Hartford Fire Insurance Company. Home Office is Hartford, CT. PlanSource is a registered trademark of PlanSource, Inc., and PlanSource owns other registered and unregistered trademarks. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Press Contact Kate Achille The Devon Group for PlanSource +1-732-706-0123 ext. 703 [email protected] Bill Fryman Director of Communications, PlanSource +1-843-697-8792 [email protected]

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New Delhi [India], Jan 9 (ANI): BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi on Thursday conducted a bike rally from Pant Marg here to seek the support of the people for the next month's Assembly elections in Delhi.



"This is a formal start for Delhi's elections. Everyone is in favour of BJP's policies. People will make BJP win in Delhi," Lekhi told ANI.

Cornering the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Lekhi said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal spent huge money on advertisements.

"There is a difference between advertising and the reality on the ground," she alleged.

"As far as Delhi elections are concerned, I have complete faith that the people are standing with us as they have been oppressed by the AAP," Lekhi said.

The Delhi Assembly elections will be held on February 8 and counting of votes will take place on February 11. The Model Code of Conduct has come into force in the national capital with the announcement of the poll schedule.



The Election Commission (EC) said that notification will be issued on January 14 and the last date of nomination of candidates is on January 21.

The scrutiny of nominations will take place on January 22 and the last date of withdrawal of candidature is on January 24.



In the 2015 Assembly elections, AAP won 67 of 70 seats while the BJP managed only three. Congress, which was in power for 15 years in Delhi between 1998 to 2013, drew a blank in the polls. (ANI)


Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday launched his governments flagship scheme - Jagananna Amma Vodi (Telugu for Mothers Lap) - a direct cash transfer scheme to encourage women to send their children to schools.

Under the scheme, an amount of 15,000 would be directly transferred into the accounts of women enrolled for the same, as an incentive for sending their children to schools - both government and private.

The scheme would cover 42,12,186 mothers to benefit 81,72,224 children studying from Class 1 to 12 with effect from the present academic year 2019-20. An amount of 6,455 crore has been allocated by the government in the current year budget.

The scheme is not applicable to dropouts from school or colleges. The government employees and income taxpayers are also not eligible for the scheme.

Launching the scheme at a colourful function in Chittoor, the chief minister said that he had noticed during his year-long padayatra between 2017 and 2018 how mothers were unable to send their wards to school due to poverty. I felt that poverty should not be a hindrance for educating children and it was then I had visualised this scheme, he said.

Stating that every parent should be in a position to educate his children, Jagan said the Amma Vodi scheme would help the poor parents fund their childrens education. He said the government had ensured that the money deposited under the scheme would not be adjusted by the bankers towards outstanding loans taken by the women.

The chief minister announced that in the coming days, his government would bring in radical changes in the schools, standardise the syllabus and improve the quality of the food to be supplied under the mid-day meals scheme.

He also announced that under Mana Badi - Nadu, Nedu (Our school - then and now), more than 15,000 schools would be provided necessary infrastructure and compound walls in the first phase. All the students would be provided school kits containing three pairs of uniform, books, shoes, socks, belt and a bag, he said.

Jagah also said that as part of meeting the requirement of students pursuing higher studies, fee reimbursement would be provided and 20,000 given to each student to meet hostel and mess charges.

The scheme was launched across the state simultaneously by Jagans cabinet colleagues in their respective districts.

Opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislator and former minister K Atchen Naidu alleged that the scheme was launched by diverting funds from various welfare departments to gain political mileage in the ensuring local body elections to be held later in month.

TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh tweeted a series of government orders indicating that funds amounting to nearly 6,110 crore from various welfare departments towards the implementation of the Amma Vodi scheme.

The diverted funds include 568 crore from the Backward Classes department meant for Kapu welfare schemes, 3,432 crore from funds meant for other backward classes, 1,271 crore from the Social Welfare department, 395 crore from the Tribal Welfare Department and 442 crore from the Minority Welfare Department.

Minister for municipal administration Botsa Satyanarayana, however, said Amma Vodi was a historic scheme and first of its kind in the country. The TDP leaders are not able to digest the goodwill the scheme has generated among the people towards the YSRC government and are making false allegations, he said.

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The European Union last year accounted for 35pc of Irish food and drink exports, more than sales to the UK for the first time. Global exports reached the 13bn mark.

Within the EU, the Netherlands - which mainly imports dairy products from Ireland - was the top destination for Irish food exports. The market there was last year worth 1.1bn, up 11pc year-on-year.

France and Germany made up the top three EU destinations for Irish food and drink exports, buying some 887m and 774m worth of our produce respectively.

Elsewhere, the rest of the world accounted for 31pc of exports, up 2pc year-on-year.

Despite the strong performance in the EU, where exports were up 1pc year-on-year, the UK still accounted for 34pc of exports, down by 3pc on 2018.

This comes on the back of increased uncertainty around what level of access Irish food and drink producers will have to the UK market following Britain's exit from the EU.

Overall, food and drink exports reached 13bn in 2019, up 7pc on the prior year. This is the highest level of exports in Bord Bia's 25-year history.

Tara McCarthy, CEO of the State agency, said it was a "watershed year" for the industry, "not only in the total value of exports achieved, but also in the make-up of their destination".

Beef exports to the UK were down 7pc, with its beef market now worth 990m.
VACAVILLE (BCN)

A male driver suffered broken legs Thursday morning when his BMW crashed sideways into a tree on Leisure Town Road near Hawkins Road in Vacaville, a fire battalion chief said.

The crash happened around 7 a.m., and it took around 45 minutes to free the injured, trapped driver from the vehicle, Vacaville Fire Battalion Chief Matt Lage said.

The driver was conscious and alert when he was taken to Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center, and the crash closed the road until around 8 a.m., Lage said.

Copyright  2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
Midland County Hospital District officials are taking the temperature of the community about another revenue source to help with declining federal reimbursements.

Russell Meyers, president and chief executive officer of Midland Health, told the Reporter-Telegram this week that the hospital district has commissioned a poll on whether Midland residents would support a quarter-cent increase in the citys sales tax for Midland Memorial Hospital operations. The polling results will be provided to the board so members can decide whether to call an election, which could be as early as May.

Currently, taxable items inside the city are taxed at 8 percent. That means for every dollar something is priced, the sales tax is 8 cents. For every $100, the sales tax is $8. The cap for sales tax inside a city in the state of Texas is 8.25 percent. A quarter-cent inside the city raised more than $15 million last fiscal year.

Meyers said a May election must be called by Feb. 14.

He said the district is paying for the polling, which is legal if there is not an active election taking place. He said he expects several hundred residents of Midland would be polled.

More Information Midland Health President and CEO Russell Meyers plans to talk with the Reporter-Telegram more about the hospital's situation with federal reimbursements and possible alternative sources of revenue. See More Collapse

In addition to asking about a potential voters stance on a quarter-cent of sales tax being allotted for the hospital district, the poll asks Midlanders their feelings about certain political figures, the quality and number of doctors in Midland, health care providers, specialties and the hospitals ability to recruit and retain doctors. The poll also asks about certain statements related to the current state of health care in Midland.

The poll does not ask about the hospital dividing the available quarter-cent with the city of Midland. There were conversations in the past, including with state Rep. Tom Craddick, that the hospital district and the city could each ask for an eighth of a cent. The hospital district would use the revenue collected for its financial situation, and the city could use its money for infrastructure.

That conversation happened early in the process, Meyers said.
Boeing Co. could face another major reputational hit after the crash of a Boeing 737-800 jetliner shortly after takeoff in Iran Wednesday, but experts say the extent of damage to the public trust depends on what caused Ukraine Airlines Flight 752 to go down.

The Ukrainian government initially ruled out an act of terror and cited engine failure in the aftermath of the crash, but subsequently clarified that any statements about the reasons for the crash made before the commissions decision are unofficial.

Two flight recorders have been recovered and the results of an initial investigation could be available within 30 days.

Meanwhile, carriers in Canada expressed confidence in their fleets and said they are monitoring the situation closely. WestJet operates 48 Boeing 737-800s, Air Transat currently operates eight and Sunwing flies up to 40 depending on the time of year. Air Canada has none in its fleet.

The safety and security of our planes, passengers and crew is of paramount importance to us, a Sunwing spokesperson said in an email. We conduct regular inspections and employ a strict maintenance program on all our aircraft including the Boeing 737-800s, as mandated by Transport Canada.

The 737-800 is the most popular aircraft in use today, an industry workhorse that brings Boeing significant cash flow. The plane that crashed early Wednesday morning, killing the crew and all 176 passengers (including 63 with Canadian passports), is a different model but belongs to the same family as Boeings grounded 737 Max jet.

Two Max series jets crashed within five months, the first in October of 2018, killing 346 people. Those crashes were blamed on design flaws, and led to a halt in all sales of the Max. They also triggered lawsuits, Congressional hearings and a criminal investigation.

That legacy has heightened anxiety around the latest incident, and left some passengers at Toronto Pearson Airport apprehensive Wednesday about travelling on any Boeing jet.

The ones last year, and now this? I know its a different model, but its definitely got me nervous, said North Bays Tony Harrison who was getting ready to fly to Varadero, Cuba with his father.

And with everything else thats going on the world today, that doesnt make me feel any safer about travelling either.

David Wong, who was preparing to board a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong, added that he tried not to give it much thought.

Theres not really a lot you can do about it, right? he said.

California-based travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt said concern about the 737 Max has intensified scrutiny around the latest crash, adding that authorities should be allowed to conduct their investigation and release their findings as soon as is practical to do so.

Whether this will affect the publics trust in the 737 will be a function of what caused the accident, said Harteveldt, who is president of the Atmosphere Research Group in San Francisco.

The 737 Max has been grounded for nearly 10 months, and the plane that crashed was not a Max. Though the FAA identified a problem with the pickle fork  a part of the fuselage that attaches the wing to the aircraft body  on the 737NG series (which includes the 737-800) only 5 per cent of the 737NGs in service were found to have this problem.

McGill University aviation expert John Gradek added that Canadian aviation authorities would have access to contents of the black box recorder on Ukraine Airlines Flight 752 should Iran decide to release the contents. He said if an investigation points to mechanical issues, Transport Canada could order the planes grounded.

Irans aviation authority has reportedly refused to hand over flight recorders from the Boeing 737-800, saying information in the black boxes would be assessed in Iran, but that Ukrainian officials could take part in the evaluation of the Kyiv-bound flight.

We need to examine every possible version, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Whatever the conclusions over the reasons for the crash in Iran, we will check the entire civil aviation fleets flight capability.

By the time of the crash, major airlines had already begun rerouting or cancelling flights to avoid the airspace over Iraq and Iran after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration banned U.S. carriers from the area in the wake of Irans missile attack on U.S. targets in Iraq.

Transport Canada says Air Canada has complied with U.S.-led restrictions on commercial airlines operating in the Persian Gulf region, though neither the government nor the airline has provided further information.

Air Canada is the only Canadian airline affected by the ban on flights by U.S. commercial carriers operating in Iran, Iraq and over the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Iran.

The airline hasnt provided details but Associated Press reported that Air Canada rerouted its flight from Toronto to Dubai through Egypt and Saudi Arabia to avoid travelling over Iraq.

WestJet partner Emirates Airline said its scheduled flights between Dubai and Baghdad were cancelled Wednesday for operational reasons.

With files from Josh Rubin and The Canadian Press

Read more about:
It means that Venus is a lot more like Earth than we thought, Dr. Filiberto said.

Some scientists considered this new timeline remarkable.

What were talking about now is some decent evidence that these things are not just geologically young, but young on the human scale, said Noam Izenberg, a planetary geologist at Johns Hopkins University who was not involved in the study.

But Dr. Gregg, who praised the research as a great example of the scientific method, worried that the team did not look at the precise chemical makeup of the Venusian atmosphere, including sulfur, which might affect the chemical reaction. She also noted that scientists dont actually know what the atmosphere looks like on Venuss surface because the closest measurement was taken miles above the ground.

To confirm the findings, scientists will have to send a probe to Venus  an argument that is beginning to sound like a broken record. The last spacecraft with a primary mission of mapping the planets topography was NASAs Magellan orbiter, which launched more than 30 years ago. Since then, two missions have been sent to study our sibling, but with the primary purpose of analyzing Venuss atmosphere.
People across India seem to be in a celebratory mood following the decision by a Delhi court to hang the four convicts in the sensational Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case. Its being suggested that justice has finally been served to Indias Daughter and though the decision came after a staggering seven years, it will help secure the safety of women and prevent rape cases in the future.

But we seem to be further from the truth as the very first few days into the new year of 2020 has seen a slew of rape cases as crimes against women continue unabated.

Here are nine gruesome rape cases that have been reported in a matter of nine days:

1. Woman kidnapped from Patna mall, raped at gunpoint

A woman was allegedly raped at gunpoint after being kidnapped from the parking lot of a mall in Patna. One person has been arrested out of four persons named in the FIR.

"We have identified the four accused persons who were the (rape) victim's acquaintances. One man raped the girl while others were part of the conspiracy," City Superintendent of Police (Central), Patna, Vinay Tiwary was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Asked whether it is a case of gangrape, Tiwary said, "No, it is not gangrape. It is rape but others were part of the conspiracy." Raids are being conducted to nab other culprits, the City SP said.

2. Two arrested for a gang-raping 19-year-old student in Bhopal

Two men were arrested for allegedly gang-raping a 19-year-old student in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

"The accused spotted the girl, a Class XII student, with a man at an isolated spot. They forcibly took the couple to an abandoned house near and shot obscene photographs of the girl. The two accused then raped the girl after threatening to circulate the pictures," said Inspector Ashok Singh Parihar of Govindpura police station said.

After the girl and her male friend approached police on Saturday, the accused, identified as Ram Babu (35) and Rajkumar (45) were arrested a few hours later, and charged under section 376D (gang-rape) of the IPC, Parihar said.

3. Man 'sexually assaults' 5-yr-old girl in Hyderabad

A 5-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by a construction worker in Nacharam area, police said. The accused, who is absconding, lived in her neighbourhood.

The 30-year-old man lured the girl by offering chocolates and took her to a newly constructed house and allegedly sexually assaulted her there, police were quoted as saying by PTI.

4. Two held for abducting, raping minor in UP

Two persons have been arrested for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl after abducting her in Uttar Pradesh's Chitrakoot district, police said. The accused, Angad and Bhadauti, allegedly raped the girl on Friday night when she had gone to the fields, they said.

The girl returned home on Saturday morning and narrated her ordeal to the family members, following which an FIR was registered and the accused were arrested, police said.

5. 14-days judicial custody for ASI arrested on rape charge

A suspended assistant sub-inspector of police in Odishas Puri district was on Saturday sent to jail after being arrested on the charge of raping a married woman.

AFP

The ASI identified as Chittaranjan Dash was produced before the Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Isha Patis court which rejected his bail petition. The judge sent the suspended ASI to 14 days judicial remand, a government advocate was quoted as saying by PTI.

Earlier, the state government had suspended the ASI after he was arrested on allegation of the 30-year-old woman. The woman on January 2 had lodged a written complaint before the SDPO, Pipili alleging that she was raped by Dash. The woman alleged that the ASI raped her at his residence when she visited the place in connection with a case.

6. Man absconding after raping minor daughter in Punjab's Ferozepur

A man is on the run after he allegedly raped his minor daughter at home in Punjab's Ferozepur district, police said. The incident happened at the home of accused Seera of Sodhi Nagar village, they said.

In her statement to the police, the 14-year-old victim said her parents quarrelled after which her livid mom left home for a relative's place. Later, the accused is said to have committed the act, police said adding that the girl narrated the ordeal to her mother the following day.

The father was booked under Section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The accused is absconding and police have launched a manhunt to nab him.

7. Two minors among six held for teenage girl's rape in Meghalaya

Six persons, including two minor boys, were arrested on the charge of gangraping a teenage girl in Meghalaya's West Jaintia Hills district, a senior police officer said. According to a complaint filed by the 16-year-old girl's family, she was returning home from a community feast on January 1, when a group of seven offered her company.

As all of them hailed from her village, the girl agreed, following she was allegedly attacked and taken to an isolated place by the group and gangraped, Superintendent of Police Lakador Syiem said.

BCCL

A cognizable case has been registered under various sections of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the SP stated.

"Six accused, including the two minor boys, were arrested by a team of officers, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (Traffic) D Moksha, based on the complaint filed by the girl's family on Thursday, while a manhunt hunt has been launched for the seventh man," Syiem told reporters.

8. Four-year-old girl abducted, raped by a relative

A 4-year-old girl has allegedly been kidnapped and raped by her close relative in a village in Jayashankar Bhoopalpalli district of Telangana, police said. The girl, along with her mother and grandmother, was asleep in their house in Konampet village on when the relative Rasa Komuraiah (36) entered the house, took the child away and allegedly raped her, the police said.

BCCL

The girl's mother woke up and found that her daughter was missing and started a search, they said. Later, the girl was found in a nearby cotton field and she narrated the incident. The child was taken to a hospital for a medical examination.

A case under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act has been registered and a search was on for the accused who was absconding.

9. Man held for raping colleague on the promise of marriage

A 45-year-old employee of an insurance company has been arrested in Mumbai for allegedly raping his colleague after promising to marry her.

The MIDC police on Monday arrested Harikrishnan V H for allegedly raping the 43-year-old complainant on several occasions between November 2017 and September 2019 at the latter's flat in the western suburb of Andheri. The married accused allegedly assured the woman that he was planning to divorce his wife, who was living in Kerala with their six-year-old daughter.

The accused has been arrested under sections 376 (rape), 417 (punishment for cheating) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, senior inspector Anil Koli of MIDC police station said.

We're thriving towards a country free of crimes against women but these cases only make us think otherwise.
Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India], Jan 9 (ANI): Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLAs along with district TDP leaders held a silent protest on Thursday against the arrest of former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday night in Amaravati.



Visakhapatnam East MLA Velagapudi Rama Krishna, South MLA Vasupali Ganesh Kumara and West MLA Ganababu participated in this protest .

Visakhapatnam West MLA Ganababu said: "Everybody has a right to protest against the government decision. We live in a democratic country. There is no reason why anybody should be prevented from staging a peaceful protest."

"In a democracy, the opposition parties have the right to oppose the decisions of the government. Moreover, the development of the state has come to a standstill in the last seven months," he alleged.

N Chandrababu Naidu was detained by police in Vijayawada on Wednesday and was released later in the day when he was dropped off at his residence in Undavalli in Amaravati.

Police had detained Naidu ahead of the flagging-off ceremony of Amaravati Parirakshana Samiti's bus yatra against YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led state govt's decision of three state capitals. (ANI)
Moon's 'parachute appointments' under fire



By Lee Min-hyung





Industrial Bank of Korea CEO Yoon Jong-won Export-Import Bank of Korea CEO Bang Moon-kyu Korea Development Bank Chiarman Lee Dong-gull

A growing number of bureaucrats are taking control of state-run financial organizations despite concerns that the government's intrusive personnel policy is damaging the morale of staff.



Leaders of the three major government-controlled banks  the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank), Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) and Korea Development Bank (KDB), are often dubbed "parachute bureaucrats" who were able to land at the top of the organizations due to their political connections with the Moon Jae-in administration.



Before taking office in May 2017, President Moon vowed to eradicate the unfair culture of appointing those with political ties to the incumbent government as chiefs of major state-run organizations. In 2013, then-main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) called bureaucratic politics "poison and cancer-causing agents."

Moon, however, failed to keep this promise by allowing former government officials to lead major organizations, even if most of them were deemed unqualified for the posts due to a lack of prior experience.



"The biggest problem of bureaucratic politics is that the so-called parachute leaders cannot freely exercise leadership in a progressive and innovative manner, as they have to remain very sensitive to the policies of the incumbent administration," a former senior official from a state-run bank said.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar three times failed to rule out dissolving the Dail before its scheduled return next Wednesday.

Ahead of his meeting with Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, Mr Varadkar said he believes he can continue in office but that the numbers in the Dail are very precarious.

The Cabinet is due to meet on Tuesday, the Dail will be reconvened on Wednesday and that is the position until such time as it may change, he said when pressed by reporters.

It is the case that with Fianna Fail continuing to abstain that the government can continue and that we have, I believe, sufficient votes to get our legislative program through. But obviously, the numbers are also very precarious, he told reporters following a special Cabinet meeting in Dublin.

I can't predict the outcome of the conversation I'm going to have with the leader of Fianna Fail tonight. And it's not just about Fianna Fail obviously,

"I need to consult with Fine Gael, with the Independent Alliance with other independent ministers, independents who support the government and indeed, for the parties. So you know, that's that's where the situation lies, he said.

Mr Varadkar said he is opposed to the idea of the Dail being wound down.

My strong view, though, is that a government should never be wound down. I've heard Micheal Martin use them turn on several occasions, that somehow the government or the Dail would be wound down, he said.

He said he has spoken with some independent TDs and he spoke to the leaders of Labour and the Greens just before Christmas. So obviously, there's plenty of time to have further conversations with independent leaders of other parties, he said.

I believe a government and adopted always be active until the last minute in doing the people's business. So we've demonstrated how a minority governments without a majority of adult can actually get a lot done.

"And that has to continue. So you know, I can only see this government continuing if I have the competence and have the assurance that for the next couple of months, we won't be wound down. But that will be really busy focusing on the issues that people care about, he said.

Earlier: Varadkar does not rule out election being called before Dail reconvened

The Taoiseach says the Dail is currently due to reconvene next week but has not ruled out an election being called before that.

Leo Varadkar is due to meet Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin tonight, amid continuing speculation over when the upcoming general election will be held.

Fianna Fail wants voters to have their say in April, however, Mr Varadkar has previously expressed his preference for a vote in May.

The Taoiseach suggested his Government can continue over the coming weeks if Fianna Fail sticks with the confidence and supply arrangement of abstaining in key Dail votes.

Speaking after a Cabinet meeting in north Dublin today, Mr Varadkar said: "The Cabinet's due to meet on Tuesday, the Dail will be reconvined on Wednesday and that is the position until such a time as it may change."

As reported earlier, several

Read More:

The pair are expected to meet in an office on the corridor that links Leinster House and Government Buildings this evening to discuss the letters they have sent to each other.

Mr Martin has ruled out any suggestion that Fianna Fail would do anything other than abstaining on key votes, and Fine Gael sources have suggested an election on Friday February 7 is possible.
The New York Times

TikTok, the smartphone app beloved by teenagers and used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, had serious vulnerabilities that would have allowed hackers to manipulate user data and reveal personal information, according to research published Wednesday by Check Point, a cybersecurity company in Israel.

The weaknesses would have allowed attackers to send TikTok users messages that carried malicious links. Once users clicked on the links, attackers would have been able to take control of their accounts, including uploading videos or gaining access to private videos. A separate flaw allowed Check Point researchers to retrieve personal information from TikTok user accounts through the companys website.

The vulnerabilities we found were all core to TikToks systems, said Oded Vanunu, Check Points head of product vulnerability research.

TikTok learned about the conclusions of Check Points research on 20 Nov and said it had fixed all of the vulnerabilities by 15 Dec.

The app, whose parent company is based in Beijing, allows users to post short, creative videos, which can easily be shared on various apps.

It has also become a target of lawmakers and regulators who are suspicious of Chinese technology. Several branches of the US military have barred personnel from having the app on government-issued smartphones. The vulnerabilities discovered by Check Point are likely to compound those concerns.

TikTok has exploded in popularity over the past two years, becoming a rare Chinese internet success story in the West. It has been downloaded more than 1.5 billion times, according to the data firm Sensor Tower.

But new apps like TikTok offer opportunities for hackers looking to target services that havent been tested through years of security research and real-world attacks. And many of its users are young and perhaps not mindful of security updates.

TikTok is committed to protecting user data, said Luke Deshotels, the head of TikToks security team.

Like many organisations, we encourage responsible security researchers to privately disclose zero-day vulnerabilities to us, he added. Before public disclosure, Check Point agreed that all reported issues were patched in the latest version of our app. We hope that this successful resolution will encourage future collaboration with security researchers.

Ronen Bergman, Sheera Frenkel and Raymond Zhong c.2020 The New York Times Company
Newswire Supports cPanel by Providing the Expertise, Tools and Results to Deliver More Media Exposure in the Web Hosting Space

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The Earned Media Advantage Guided Tour empowers businesses like cPanel to penetrate new markets while lowering new customer acquisition costs by complementing their going-to-market strategies across the globe with Newswire's people, plan, platform, production, and performance to produce targeted campaigns that are concurrently running at all times. Technology companies can now transform their owned media into the Earned Media Advantage using Newswire's integrated media and marketing communication utility on-demand. Customers enjoy EMA GT services, which include assessment, plan and production provided by Newswire for a fraction of the cost to do it themselves. Newswire works closely with existing staff, extending their reach to rapidly deploy media campaigns that generate results. Time to market and value is accelerated while customers continue their focus on product innovation and obtaining more new accounts.

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Download How the Earned Media Advantage is Transforming Business and discover how to empower your go-to-market strategies with the Earned Media Advantage: greater brand awareness, increased traffic, generate greater return on media and marketing communications spend and increased sales.

About Newswire?

Newswire delivers press release and multimedia distribution software and services (SaaS) that empower the Earned Media Advantage: greater brand awareness, increased traffic, greater return on media and marketing communications spend and the competitive edge. With over a decade of experience, Newswire continues to provide its customers with the ability to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time through the right medium.?

To learn and experience Newswire, visit http://www.newswire.com.

Contact Information

Anthony Santiago

Vice President of Marketing

Newswire

Office: 917-398-2622

Email: anthony@newswire.com

SOURCE: Newswire

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/572299/Newswire-Helps-Hosting-Automation-Platform-cPanel-Improve-Media-and-Marketing-Communications-Strategy
Mumbai, Jan 8 : Actress Tanushree Dutta has compared Nana Patekar to self-proclaimed saint Asaram Bapu, who was found guilty of raping a minor girl in year 2018. She also slammed celebrities of Bollywood for continuing to work with choreographer Ganesh Acharya, who is also an accused in her case.

Tanushree was interacting with the media along with her lawyer Nitin Satpute in Mumbai.

She filed a protest petition against the B-summary report filed by the Mumbai Police in connection with her complaint against actor Nana Patekar.

The Oshiwara police, however, had filed a B-Summary report seeking closure of the case on grounds that no evidence to support her claims had come to light in their investigation.

In October 2018, Tanushree had filed a complaint following which the Oshiwara police registered an FIR against Nana Patekar, accusing him of sexually harassing her on the sets of the movie "Horn Ok Pleassss".

The complaint also named director Rakesh Sarang, producer Samee Siddiqui and choreographer Ganesh Acharya of the film, as co-accused in the case.

Tanushree said: aceIf you have money, you will get justice and respect but if you donaAt have money then you will not get that. He has money and he got that money from Naam Foundation. It collects crores of rupees from corporate sectors for the upliftment of poor farmers. He has created his image as a poor man who lives in a small house. It's a big lie and he is doing all this for show." Tanushree added: "It is very easy to fool people. You just have to wear a white Gandhi topi and white kurta. Asaram Bapu also wore white kurta. He used to fold his hands in front of a temple and then he became a saint. Who is checking whether he (Nana Patekar) is actually giving that money to farmers?" Tanushree continued with her allegations against Nana: "A few months ago, I heard that he is building 500 homes for flood victims. Who is checking? Tomorrow, I will say I am queen of Timbuktu, I have made big house on moon and I have built 500 homes for aliens, would you believe me? He has collected funds to build 500 homes for sure, but we don't inspect people who are running NGOs." Tanushree and her lawyers said that they have filed a protest petition with the Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in Andheri, and that the first hearing was scheduled for January 17.

Demanding a lie detector test, and a narco-analysis test of those named in the FIR, TanushreeaAs lawyer Nitin Satpute asked for the case to be transferred to the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, and a financial compensation for the actress.
[January 09, 2020] TDK announces T5818: industry's widest dynamic range PDM microphone

TDK Corporation (TSE: 6762) announces the T5818 Pulse (News - Alert) Density Modulation (PDM) microphone with a dynamic range of 107dB at 590A, the widest dynamic range in the industry at the lowest power. This allows for excellent acoustic performance in environments that shift from very quiet to very loud, such as far field voice pickup barge-in for Smart Speaker applications. The T5818 microphone features 66dBA SNR, 135dB SPL AOP, at 590 A in High Quality Mode (HQM), and decreases power consumption to 215 A in Low Power Mode (LPM). This microphone is essential for capturing high quality audio inputs, which plays a vital role for AI engines and cloud-based applications that require a PDM microphone interface. Current analog output wide dynamic range microphones require expensive ADCs to take advantage of full acoustic capabilities. The T5818 provides this ADC (News - Alert) conversion while maintaining excellent dynamic range with the benefits of a PDM low latency bit stream. This makes the T5818 suitable for a wide range of applications, from mobile phones to ANC headsets. "We are very excited about the advances in PDM performance included in the T5818," said Hiro Hayashi, Vice President, Audio, InvenSense, a TDK Group Company. "This microphone compliments our market leading analog portfolio, solidifying TDK's performance leadership in MEMS microphone technology." TDK will be demonstrating the T5818 microphone along with the industry's most comprehensive portfolio of passive components, sensors, power supplies and batteries in its booth #11448 at CES (News - Alert), Central Hall (LVCC), Las Vegas Convention Center, January 7-10, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. T5818 is currently in mass production and will be available through distribution in Q1 2020. For samples and additional information, please contact [email protected] or visit www.invensense.com. Glossary HQM: High Quality Mode

LPM : Low Power Mode

Low Power Mode AOP: Acoustic Overload Point Main applications Smartphones

Microphone Arrays

Tablets

Cameras

Bluetooth Headsets

Notebook PCs

Security and Surveillance Key features 3.5  2.65  0.98 mm surface-mount package

Low power: 215 A in Low-Power Mode

Extended frequency response from 40 Hz to >20 kHz

Sleep Mode: 8 A

High power supply rejection (PSR): -98 dB FS

Fourth-order S-? modulator

Digital pulse density modulation (PDM) output

Compatible with Sn/Pb and Pb-free solder processes

RoHS/WEEE compliant Key data







Product Packaging Dimensions (mm) SNR dBA Acoustic Overload Point dB SPL Low Power Mode A Bandwidth (News - Alert) kHz Low Frequency Corner Hz Digital Interface T5818 3.50  2.65  0.98 66 135 215 20 40 PDM

About TDK Corporation TDK Corporation is a leading electronics company based in Tokyo, Japan. It was established in 1935 to commercialize ferrite, a key material in electronic and magnetic products. TDK's comprehensive portfolio features passive components such as ceramic, aluminum electrolytic and film capacitors, as well as magnetics, high-frequency, and piezo and protection devices. The product spectrum also includes sensors and sensor systems such as temperature and pressure, magnetic, and MEMS sensors. In addition, TDK provides power supplies and energy devices, magnetic heads and more. These products are marketed under the product brands TDK, Chirp, EPCOS, InvenSense, Micronas, Tronics and TDK-Lambda. TDK focuses on demanding markets in the areas of information and communication technology and automotive, industrial and consumer electronics. The company has a network of design and manufacturing locations and sales offices in Asia, Europe, and in North and South America. In fiscal 2019, TDK posted total sales of USD 12.5 billion and employed about 105,000 people worldwide. About InvenSense InvenSense, Inc., a TDK Group company, is a world leading provider of MEMS sensor platforms. InvenSense's vision of Sensing Everything targets the consumer electronics and industrial areas with integrated Motion, Sound, and Ultrasonic solutions. InvenSense's solutions combine MEMS (micro electrical mechanical systems) sensors, such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, compasses, microphones, and ultrasonic 3D-sensing with proprietary algorithms and firmware that intelligently process, synthesize, and calibrate the output of sensors, maximizing performance and accuracy. InvenSense's motion tracking, ultrasonic, audio, fingerprint, location platforms and services can be found in Mobile, Wearables, Smart Home, Industrial, Automotive, and IoT products. InvenSense became part of the MEMS Sensors Business Group within the newly formed Sensor Systems Business Company of TDK Corporation in 2017. In February of 2018, Chirp Microsystems joined the InvenSense family through its acquisition by TDK. InvenSense is headquartered in San Jose, California and has offices worldwide. For more information, go to www.invensense.com. You can download this text and associated images from http://www.invensense.tdk.com/news-media/tdk- announces-t5818-industrys-widest-dynamic-range-pdm-microphone Further information on the products can be found under https://www.invensense.tdk.com/technology/sound/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005158/en/

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In the months ahead, there are two schemes specifically designed to help broaden access to third-level for students who have a disability, or who are from a disadvantaged background.

However, students and families should double-check their eligibility on such schemes and work with their school to arrange all the necessary paperwork required for the application process.

Set up to tackle educational disadvantage, the Higher Education Access Route (Hear) is a third level alternative admissions scheme open to students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Likewise, the Disability Access Route to Education (Dare) is a similar alternative admissions scheme open to students with a disability. Both schemes are operated at the majority of universities, institutes of technology, and teacher education colleges.

To apply for both schemes, the students must live in the Republic of Ireland and must be under the age of 23 as of January 1 this year.

Operating on a reduced points basis, students who qualify for Hear, Dare, or both schemes in some cases, may be offered a course even if their total Leaving Cert score is lower than the general admissions cut-off.

This means that students may be offered a place even if they do not have enough points for their preferred course.

This is to take into account the evidence that shows students who are disadvantaged socio-economically  or those who have a disability  face greater obstacles when it comes to progressing on to higher education.

As research shows that students with disabilities from disadvantaged backgrounds face a double disadvantage, students who qualify for both Hear and Dare are prioritised by colleges when it comes to allocating reduced points places.

However, its important to note that many students who qualify for the schemes are offered a place without this benefit as their points exceed the cut-off threshold.

Another benefit of both schemes is that students are offered extra support and assistance by their college throughout the academic year, should they qualify. These include individual meetings with student advisors and help with study skills.

Its also important to note that students with a disability do not have to be eligible for Dare to get support in college.

All students with a verified disability, regardless of whether they come through Dare or not, can avail of a variety of different supports while studying at third level.

In order to qualify for the Hear scheme, students must meet a range of financial, social, and cultural indicators.

In order to qualify for the scheme, the student must come from a family whose income is less than 45,790. This income threshold is higher for families of more than three children, or if there are two or more family members already at college.

At the same time, two other indicators must also be met in order for a student to qualify for Hear, including medical card status, social-welfare payments, socio-economic group, disadvantaged status of school or local area and the occupation status of a parent or guardian.

Hear-supported students may also be prioritised by their colleges for any additional financial support but should apply separately to Student Universal Support Ireland (Susi) for Government-funded maintenance grants.

There is a separate range of criteria that a student must meet in order to qualify for Dare support.

This is assessed through an educational impact statement completed together with a students school.

This statement allows a student and their school to provide details of how a students disability has impacted on their second level experience.

A combination of two of the six criteria must be met, including any additional supports or interventions already provided at schools or in exams, an impact on attendance, exam results, or the ability to take part in extracurricular activities.

Students thinking about applying for support through the Hear or Dare scheme first must register their general CAO application by February 1.

Full applications must be completed by March 1. Students will then have another month to submit any of the necessary paperwork and supporting documents, due by April 1.

Upcoming information days about HEAR and DARE supports are planned at participating institutes nationwide.

More details about the schemes and their requirements can be found on:

www.accesscollege.ie
The bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde said it will hear the petitions challenging the validity of CAA when the violence stops

Chief Justice of India SA Bobde on Thursday expressed regret over the violent protests against Citizenship Amendment Bill and the National Register for Citizens. The CJI's remarks came as a petitioner sought urgent hearing of a plea seeking to declare the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as constitutional. The plea also sought court's direction to all states to implement the law.

The bench headed by CJI Bobde expressed surprise over the petition and said this is the first time that someone is seeking that an Act be declared as constitutional.

"This court's job is to determine the validity of a law and not declare it as constitutional," the bench also comprising justice BR Gavai and Surya Kant said.

"The nation is facing difficult times...the attempt must be to bring peace...these petitions don't help the cause," said the bench. The observation came after advocate Vineet Dhanda sought urgent listing of his plea to declare CAA as constitutional and a direction to all states for implementation of the Act. The plea has also sought action against activists, students and media houses for "spreading rumours".

The bench also said that it will hear the petitions challenging the validity of CAA when the violence stops.

A similar observation  that the court would only intervene once violent protests stop - had been made by the CJI last month too when the court was urged to take suo motu cognizance of the violence in Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University against students.

The apex court is currently faced with a bunch of petitions, both pro and against the citizenship act. Some petitioners have also urged the court to take notice of violence during protests and the alleged police excesses.

On 18 December, the apex court had agreed to examine the constitutional validity of the CAA, but refused to stay its operation. The hearing is slated for 22 January.

The apex court will also hear Centre's petition seeking transfer of several related petitions in different high courts to the top court, on Friday.

The newly amended law seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi communities who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before 31 December, 2014. President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on 12 December, turning it into an Act.
Now that the haze of the holiday season is over and both students and those in the working world are back to their daily grind, finding spaces to study or work can be a challenge. This is where cafes and coffee shops are a usual go-to resource. Whether you are part of a study group or a freelancer working on your own, these spaces offer the opportunity to be around people while immersed in your own projects. There's even science to it: according to a study done by the University of Illinois, the constant hum of these spaces boosts creativity and encourages efficiency. Win, win!

What makes a coffee shop a good one for getting work done? A lot of it is a personal preference, but we narrowed down spots that stayed open past 5 p.m., are independently owned, and are not directly on college campuses (see: access for non-students). Check out some of our picks for cafes in the region where you can not only score food and drink, but stay connected and focused.

Albany (University at Albany, The College of Saint Rose, Siena College)

Perfect Blend Cafe & Bakery is a 15-minute drive from downtown Albany and is a sweet spot to catch up on work. In the Five Corners area of Delmar since 2015, the expanded space offers laptop-friendly space along with cozy high-tops and main street views. Known for their baked goods, this small town spot offers a full menu in addition to their sweet and savory treats. In warmer weather, their back patio offers additional seating if you are looking to study in the sun.

376 Delaware Ave., Delmar. 518-439-6537

With a whimsical name like Professor Java's Coffee Sanctuary, one might think they were stepping into a caffeinated version of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. That is not the case but you will find extravagant coffee drinks and a study-friendly space. Located on Wolf Road, the spot has been a place to catch up on work since opening in 1995. (The business has a for-sale sign out front, with a plan to move further down Wolf Road, but is still operational.) In addition to an expansive food menu, it offers an impressive list of espresso drinks, Italian sodas and over a dozen specialty coffee and tea lattes.

217 Wolf Road, Colonie. 518-435-0843

Troy (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Russell Sage College, Hudson Valley Community College)

Looking to get some work done but also get out of the traditional coffee shop routine? Then Bard & Baker Board Game Cafe in downtown Troy is the place to be. Open until 10 p.m. most weeknights, the region's first board game cafe offers oversized tables, free Wi-Fi, and did we mention their pizza bagels? The menu features grilled sandwiches, pastries, six types of mac & cheese as well as an assortment of coffee drinks, teas, and lattes. After your work is over, you only have to pay the $5 cover fee for access to over 600 games on-site. Work before play? Play before work? You choose.

501 Broadway, Troy. 518-948-6693

Are you looking for indie rock vibes, and craft beer cool? Check out Superior Merchandise Company on Fourth Street in downtown Troy. The spot has made avocado toast look cool since 2015 and serves perfect pour-overs and specialty drinks made with their in-house brand, Touchy Coffee, roasted right in Troy. Noncaffeinated beverages include a selection of craft beer and fermented beverages, including the local Yesfolk kombucha. Once you're done working, check out their modern design shop for post-study or step out onto the patio.

147 4th St. superiormerchandise.co

Schenectady (Union College, SUNY Schenectady, and the Clarkson outpost)

Graham's Coffee Parlor opened last September on State Street. Bright colorful art and tables dot the space, perfect for getting work done. They use beans from Hex Coffee (North Carolina) and offer espresso drinks, teas, juices and smoothies and a full food menu and baked goods. Not looking to get caffeinated? Check out no their non-alcoholic mixed drinks including their version of morir sonando (a traditional drink from the Dominican Republic) made from fresh orange juice, condensed milk and vanilla.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

3406 State St., Schenectady. 518-527-1202

Open since last March, Storied Coffee in Scotia is a spot to settle into study or work time. Offering a streamlined beverage menu with coffee from Kru Coffee in Saratoga Springs and tea from Short & Stout Tea Co from nearby Guilderland, bubble tea is available for those who aren't looking for that caffeine boost. Food options include sandwiches and breakfast eats. After your work is done, check out their Curated Corner, which features a rotating selection of artisan wares.

109 Mohawk Ave., Scotia. 518-387-3210

Saratoga Springs (Skidmore College, SUNY Empire State College)

Looking for literary inspiration? Check out the recently opened Walt + Whitman Beer Hall & Coffee House. Located in the the former Saratogian newspaper building, the cafe and beer hall was inspired by the famed American poet, and the spot is the newest on our list, opening in December. Located upstairs from the brewery, the cafe sources coffee from Ceremony Coffee Roasters in Maryland and features a curated selection of food and beverage offerings. Cozy couches are inviting for lounging while working. When you're done, don't forget to check out Whitman-inspired art around the space.

20 Lake Ave., Saratoga Springs. 518-682-3602

Are you looking to get caffeinated? Like really caffeinated? Then head over to Saratoga Coffee Traders. It touts itself as the official home of Death Wish Coffee, the highly potent, extremely caffeinated brew that's Super Bowl-level famous. Located on Broadway in Saratoga Springs, this hip spot owned by Death Wish Coffee founder Mike Brown is where the hyper-caffeinated coffee came to be. Today, you can stop in for a spell, grab a coffee and food and get your work done (even if you decide to not caffeinate).

447 Broadway, Saratoga Springs. 518-584-5600

Stephanie Gravalese is a freelance writer splitting her time between the greater Capital Region and western Massachusetts. You can reach her at sgravalese@gmail.com. stephanita.com, @stephanita
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Technavio has been monitoring the global aortic stent grafts market since 2014 and the market is poised to grow by USD 690.09 million during 2020-2024 at a CAGR of over 5% during the forecast period. Request Free Sample Pages

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005361/en/

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled global aortic stent grafts market 2020-2024. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Read the 153-page research report with TOC on "Aortic Stent Grafts Market Analysis Report by Geography (Asia, Europe, North America, and ROW), by Application (AAA and TAA), and Segment Forecasts, 2020-2024".

https://www.technavio.com/report/aortic-stent-grafts-market-industry-analysis

The rising preference for MI endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) to treat aortic aneurysms and technological advances are anticipated to boost the growth of the market.

EVAR as an MI procedure is preferred over traditional open surgeries because it involves smaller incisions, lesser risk of complications and blood transfusions, and reduces the mortality rate. Performing EVAR is convenient and comfortable for both surgeons and patients as it can be performed under local anesthesia and involves shorter duration of hospital stay. Since 2011, EVAR holds 70% to 80% share of all abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) treatments around the globe. Thus, the rising preference for MI endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) to treat aortic aneurysms is expected to drive market growth during the forecast period.

Buy 1 Technavio report and get the second for 50% off. Buy 2 Technavio reports and get the third for free.

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Major Five Aortic Stent Grafts Market Companies:

Becton, Dickinson and Co.

Becton, Dickinson and Co. is headquartered in the US and operates the business under various segments such as BD Medical, BD Life Sciences, and BD Interventional. The company offers FLAIR Endovascular Stent Graft and FLUENCY Plus Endovascular Stent Graft.

Cardinal Health Inc.

Cardinal Health Inc. is headquartered in the US and offers products through the following business units: Pharmaceutical and Medical. The company offers INCRAFT AAA Stent Graft System, which is an advanced EVAR technology.

Cook group Inc.

Cook group Inc. is headquartered in the US and operates under various business segments, namely Medical devices, Life sciences, Services, Property management, and Resorts. The company offers Zenith Flex AAA Endovascular Graft and Zenith Alpha Thoracic Endovascular Graft.

CryoLife Inc.

CryoLife Inc. is headquartered in the US and offers products through the following business segments: Medical Devices and Preservation Services. The company offers E-vita OPEN PLUS, E-vita THORACIC 3G, E-tegra, and E-vita ABDOMINAL XT.

EndoLogix Inc.

EndoLogix Inc. is headquartered in the US and offers products through the Unified business segment. The company offers AFX Endovascular AAA System.

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Aortic Stent Grafts Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2020-2024)

AAA

TAA

Aortic Stent Grafts Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2020-2024)

Asia

Europe

North America

ROW

Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report, such as the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Request a free sample report

Related Reports on Health Care include:

Nephrostomy Devices Market Global Nephrostomy Devices Market by product (guidewires, drainage bags, nephrostomy catheters, balloon dilators, and others) and end-user (hospitals, ASCs, and others).

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005361/en/

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Road injuries have become more frequent but less fatal over the past three decades, according to a new scientific study.

The probability of dying from a road accident increased in only five nations since 1990 - Central African Republic, Jamaica, Somalia, Swaziland, and United Arab Emirates.

Disability from road injuries is multifactorial, and largely driven by injuries such as lower limb fracture, traumatic brain injury, open wounds, digit amputations, and muscle and tendon injuries. These conditions often require medical treatment to prevent long-term disability, which is not always available in areas with high rates of road injuries.

Many factors affect the risk of road injuries, including vehicle and road safety and engineering; enforcement of speeding, seatbelt, and alcohol laws; and access to medical care. It's encouraging to find improvements globally in road injury mortality over the past three decades, though there is still considerable progress to be made since road injuries should be considered preventable." Dr. Spencer James, study senior author and Lead Research Scientist, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington School of Medicine

In 2017, 54 million people worldwide were injured in road accidents, leading to 1.2 million deaths. Regions with the highest incidence rates in 2017 were Central Europe, Australasia, and Eastern Europe.

Road injuries become more burdensome as countries transition to more stable economies, according to James. He and the study's coauthors found middle-income nations experienced the greatest increases in incidence between 1990 and 2017.

Men ages 25-29 are most likely to be injured, with a global incidence rate that is more than double the rate for women in the same age group.

Published today in the international medical journal BMJ Injury Prevention, the study is part of the annual Global Burden of Disease (GBD).

The analysis provides comparable estimates of road-injury-related mortality and morbidity across 195 countries and territories. Road injuries were defined as involving motor vehicles, pedestrians, motorcyclists, and cyclists.

"While individuals injured in road accidents today are less likely to die, their injuries can still result in short- and long-term disability," said James. "This places a substantially higher burden on both individuals and health systems, with especially dramatic increases in costs related to care."

Additional findings include:

Globally, the incidence rate for road injuries for all ages combined increased by 15.7% from 1990 to 2017. The greatest increases in the all-ages incidence rate during the time period were observed in Sri Lanka (143.3%), China (130.3%), and Marshall Islands (121.5%). By comparison, Portugal, Ethiopia, and South Korea saw the largest declines in the all ages incidence rate, at -40.9%, -38.3%, and -35.9%, respectively.

In 2017, the probability of dying from a road injury was highest in Haiti (15.6% of those injured, or about one in seven), Central African Republic (10.4%), El Salvador (7.3%), Afghanistan (7.2%), and Guatemala (7.0%).

For males aged 20-24 and 25-29, global incidence rates were double those for females. Among females ages 20-24, the rate was 585.8 new cases of road injury per 100,000, versus 1,229.2 for males. Among 25-29 year-olds, the female rate was 660.5, versus 1,354.0 for males.

At 261,802 deaths in 2017, China ranked highest globally in number of total deaths, but 48th out of 195 countries in terms of death rate for all ages combined.

Road injury death rates, 195 countries and territories, 2017

Highest death rates:

1.Central African Republic: 75.6 deaths per 100,000 people (all ages combined)

2.Oman: 43.0

3.Lesotho: 41.2

4.Haiti: 37.9

5.United Arab Emirates: 37.5

6.Saudi Arabia: 35.0

7.Swaziland: 33.0

8.Tunisia: 32.1

9.Yemen: 31.4

10.Papua New Guinea: 30.7

Lowest death rates:

1.Singapore: 3.53 deaths per 100,000 people (all ages combined)

2.Ireland: 3.86

3.Sweden: 3.88

4.Switzerland: 3.89

5.Malta: 3.97

6.United Kingdom: 4.02

7.Norway: 4.09

8.Iceland: 4.24

9.Greenland: 4.28

10.Andorra: 4.67

Risk of death given a road injury, 2017

Highest risk of death given a road injury:

1.Haiti: 15.6% of road injuries resulted in death

2.Central African Republic: 10.4%

3.El Salvador: 7.3%

4.Afghanistan: 7.2%

5.Guatemala: 7.0%

6.Bolivia: 6.8%

7.Ecuador: 6.7%

8.Burkina Faso: 6.5%

9.Guyana: 6.4%

10.Dominican Republic: 6.1%

Lowest risk of death given a road injury:

1.Slovenia: 0.44% of road injuries resulted in death

2.New Zealand: 0.45%

3.Switzerland: 0.49%

4.Czech Republic: 0.51%

5.Ireland: 0.52%

6.Singapore: 0.52%

7.Iceland: 0.55%

8.Andorra: 0.56%

9.Croatia: 0.57%
New Delhi:

Ananya Panday has time and again become fodder for troll for belonging to a privileged Bollywood family and getting her big break with Karan Johars Student of the Year 2. Recently netizens had their share of laughter when during an actors roundtable, she equated struggle to appearing in a popular celeb chat show, Koffee with Karan and was shut down by another fellow actor, Siddhant Chaturvedi with a befitting reply. Now Ananyas dad and actor Chunky Panday has come out in her defence lending her a piece of advice on how to not be trolled on social media.

In an interview with Mumbai Mirror Chunky said that he has asked Ananya to no longer take his name. The two times she really got trolled was when she called me Tony Stark and the second was this episode. I want to tell her to stop taking my name, he confesses. On enquiring about Ananyas relationship status the Housefull actor said it is normal of her to have a boyfriend at this age. Shes 21, it would be abnormal if she didnt have a boyfriend, he reasons, adding, I have been through this in my time, so I know how much of it is true. Youre ready for these things as an insider, he signs off.

Ananya will be next seen in Ishaan Khattar starrer Khaali Peeli as the female lead and Shakun Batraa upcoming with Siddhant and Deepika Padukone, Chunky will co-star Saif Ali Khan in Jawaani Jaaneman. View this post on Instagram Driving into 2020 YsYAaAAiAA #KhaaliPeeli A post shared by Ananya YY (@ananyapanday) on Jan 1, 2020 at 1:14am PST

Chunky will share screen space with Pooja Bedis daughter Alaya Furniturewala. I see Poojas lovely eyes in Alaya. She is a fabulous actor and it felt like I had my own daughter on the set. She is like a package of fire, he beams.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Erdogan, Putin issue joint statement on Libya, Iran and Syria

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 07:25, January 09, 2020

ISTANBUL, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday issued a joint statement on the civil war of Libya, crisis in Iran and developments in Syria after their consecutive meetings in Istanbul.

The two leaders called on all parties in Libya for the establishment of an immediate cease-fire and to stop all hostilities.

They said the cease-fire should be sustainable and "supported by the necessary measures to be taken for stabilizing the situation on the ground and normalizing daily life in Tripoli and other cities."

The North African country has been torn by a raging civil war, between the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) based in the capital Tripoli and the Libyan National Army and its allies based in the east.

On Sunday, Erdogan said Turkey is "gradually" sending troops to Libya under a deal inked with the GNA.

On the growing aggression between the United States and Iran, the two presidents called on both sides to act with restraint and prioritize diplomacy.

"The use of force does not contribute to finding solutions to complex problems in the Middle East, but ... would lead to a new cycle of instability," the statement said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iran fired missiles targeting U.S. military in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, near the Baghdad airport in Iraq in a U.S. drone strike.

Erdogan and Putin also reiterated their commitment to the preservation of sovereignty, independence, political unity and territorial integrity of Syria.

Turkey and Russia are at odds over the offensive of Russian-backed Syrian government forces on the country's last rebel-stronghold in the northwestern province of Idlib, which prompted a new flow of refugees toward the Turkish border.

"We underscore the necessity to establish calm in the Idlib de-escalation area by fully implementing all agreements on Idlib," the statement said.

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Domestic abuse through technology ranges from revenge porn to account hacking, online identity theft or even monitoring a victim through covert recording devices.

Even owning a smartphone leaves victims susceptible to further torment, with abusers subjecting them to repeated phone calls, social media harassment or installing spyware to track their whereabouts.

Refuge, the UKs largest provider of shelters for domestic abuse victims, says the problem is growing. It found that 4,004 women seeking help last year  around three-quarters of the total  had faced abuse from their ex-partner perpetrated via technology.
Under a state of emergency, after it was hit by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake, Puerto Rico has at least one person dead and millions have no electricity.

Planning to sleep in a parking lot, Maria Quinones Santiago was abruptly woken up on Tuesday morning and said her home in Guanica was crushed.

Many people that consist of roughly two-thirds of Puerto Rico still don't have water and frightened residents were staying outside as a series of aftershocks rocked the island following the earthquake.

The quake was deemed as the most damaging of hundreds of temblors that have struck the island since December 28.

According to the Puerto Rico Seismic Network, there have been over 900 tremors there since December 28.

Punta Ventana was reported to have been destroyed by Monday's earthquake. This is the earlier 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck nearby on Monday, resulting in the collapse of Punta Ventana, a coastal rock formation and popular tourist destination.

This resulted in the collapse of Punta Ventana, a coastal rock formation and popular tourist destination.

With a man dead, dozens of homes and structures crumbled.

According to resident Samantha Cortez, "It was like a horrible noise, basically you're like I don't know like something exploded and then after that, just everything started shaking." Between the shaking and everything breaking, she didn't know what was worse.

The earthquake was centered off Puerto Rico's southern coast, 6 miles south of Indios.

Thus, Gov. Wanda Vazquez Garced declared a state of emergency in Puerto Rico and activated the Puerto Rico National Guard. The governor is urging people to remain calm but remains vigilant. You can replace property, but you can't replace lives, she added.

The residents put mattresses in their front yards while others spent the night Tuesday under white tents and tarps.

Resident Noelia de Jesus has been sleeping at an outdoors shelter with her granddaughters, terrified of returning to her Guanica home.

As of now, Puerto Rico does not have an earthquake preparedness plan, two years since Hurricane Maria hit the US.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck at 4:24 a.m. near the city of Indios.

The 6.4 magnitude earthquake rattled the southwestern region of the island on Tuesday and knocked much of Agripina Seda Middle School, with its gleaming cream-and-blue walls, to the ground.

Neighbor Maribel Baez said her 14-year-old son was scared. He joked that he might not be studying anymore.

They are now not only without a school but also among the thousands of Puerto Ricans who are living out of their cars or under tents because they are too fearful of the structures where they live.

The natural disaster robbed Puerto Ricans of any belief that their leaders could manage another natural disaster.

Lenda Torres Rodriguez and some of her neighbors sought refuge on Tuesday in the auditorium. The windows made ominous cracking sounds with each aftershock.

Affected Puerto Ricans lost their homes when Hurricane Maria hit the island two years ago and Hurricane George struck in 1998.

RELATED ARTICLE: Millions of Americans at Risk from Strong Earthquakes
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Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) called the Trump administrations Iran briefing the worst he has ever had, and Fox News cut away from his remarks.

Sen. Lee said:

The briefing lasted only 75 minutes whereupon the briefers left. This is not the biggest problem I have with the briefing which I would add was probably the worst briefing I have seen at least on a military issue in the nine years I have served in the quite senate. What I found so distressing about that briefing was that one of the messages we received from the briefers was do not debate, do not discuss the issue of the appropriateness of further military intervention against and that if you do youll be emboldening Iran. I find it insulting and not personally but to the office that each of the 100 senators in this building happens to hold.

.

It is not acceptable for officials within the executive branch of government, I dont care whether with the CIA, with the Department of Defense or otherwise, to come in and tell us we cant debate and discuss the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran. Its wrong. Every time they pull a stunt like this, Im willing to consider and introduce any and every war powers act resolution.

Video of Sen. Lee:

Fox News cut Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) as he was ripping Trump and his administration a new one for the worst briefing that he has ever had. Here is a longer clip. pic.twitter.com/PXKB60xDRj  Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) January 8, 2020

Heres Fox News cutting Lee off:

Fox News cut away from Republican Sen. Mike Lee as he excoriated the Trump admins Soleimani briefing as probably the worst briefing at least on a military issue Ive seen. pic.twitter.com/736Qtd6bWZ  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 8, 2020

There are a few different factors at play in Lees remarks. Sen. Lee is expressing the frustration of many in the Legislative Branch over the constant disrespect being shown to them by the Trump administration. Sen. Lees statements show the constitutional friction between Trumps executive power grab and Congress.

Lee suggesting that he is being pushed to introduce a war powers resolution limiting Trumps power was not accidental. The House will be voting on such legislation on Thursday.

Fox Newss decision to cut Lee off shows that it is no longer just Republican or conservative propaganda. The network has changed to being Trump propaganda, and anyone who criticizes Donald Trump, Democrat or Republican, is at risk of having the plug pulled on them.

Sen. Lee was correct to be angry. Nothing less than war and peace are at stake in this conversation. Trump doesnt get to tell Congress what they can and cant do, and when a Republican speaks out against the president, Fox News cuts away from their remarks.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Cosmic bubbles reveal the first stars

Astronomers using the Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a program of NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, have identified several overlapping bubbles of hydrogen gas ionized by the stars in early galaxies, a mere 680 million years after the Big Bang. This is the earliest direct evidence from the period when the first generation of stars formed and began reionizing the hydrogen gas that permeated the Universe.

There was a period in the very early Universe -- known as the "cosmic dark ages" -- when elementary particles, formed in the Big Bang, had combined to form neutral hydrogen but no stars or galaxies existed yet to light up the Universe. This period began less than half a million years after the Big Bang and ended with the formation of the first stars. While this stage in the evolution of our Universe is indicated by computer simulations, direct evidence is sparse.

Now, astronomers using the infrared imager NEWFIRM on the 4-meter Mayall Telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory of NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (OIR Lab), have reported imaging a group of galaxies, known as EGS77 [1], that contains these first stars. Their results were announced at a press conference held today at the 235th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Honolulu, Hawai'i.

"The young Universe was filled with hydrogen atoms, which so attenuate ultraviolet light that they block our view of early galaxies," said James Rhoads at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who presented the findings at the AAS press conference. "EGS77 is the first galaxy group caught in the act of clearing out this cosmic fog."

The team began with an imaging survey designed to detect high redshift galaxies and combined these data with corresponding images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. This enabled the team to compute what is known as a photometric redshift, a proxy for estimating distance. At these redshifts, a galaxy's light is shifted completely out of the range of wavelengths to which the human eye is sensitive (the visible spectrum) to longer (infrared) wavelengths. The criteria for selecting distant galaxy candidates included a clear detection of them in the special infrared narrowband filters used with NEWFIRM on the Mayall 4-meter telescope and a complete non-detection in the shorter wavelength optical filter bands used by Hubble. "The discovery of the two fainter galaxies in the group was only possible because of the special narrowband filter used with NEWFIRM," said team leader Vithal Tilvi, a researcher at Arizona State University in Tempe.

"Intense light from galaxies can ionize the surrounding hydrogen gas, forming bubbles that allow starlight to travel freely," said Tilvi. "EGS77 has formed a large bubble that allows its light to travel to Earth without much attenuation. Eventually, bubbles like these grew around all galaxies and filled intergalactic space, clearing the way for light to travel across the Universe."

EGS77 was discovered as part of the Cosmic Deep And Wide Narrowband (Cosmic DAWN) survey, for which Rhoads serves as principal investigator. The team imaged a small area in the constellation of Bootes using a custom-built filter on the National Optical Astronomy Observatory's Extremely Wide-Field InfraRed imager (NEWFIRM). Ron Probst, a DAWN team member who also helped to develop NEWFIRM, adds, "These results show the value of maintaining instruments at our national observatories that are powerful and can flexibly adapt to pursue new scientific questions, questions that may not have been in mind when an instrument was originally built."

Once identified, the distances and hence the ages of these galaxies were confirmed with spectra taken with the MOSFIRE spectrograph at the Keck I telescope at the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea in Hawai'i. All three galaxies show strong emission lines of hydrogen Lyman alpha at a redshift (z = 7.7), which means we are seeing them at about 680 million years after the Big Bang. The size of the ionized bubble around each was derived from computer modeling. These bubbles overlap spatially, but are large enough (about 2.2 million light-years) that Lyman alpha photons are redshifted before they reach the boundary of the bubble and can thus escape unscathed, allowing astronomers to detect them.

"We expected that reionization bubbles from this era in cosmic history would be rare and hard to find," said Sangeeta Malhotra, a collaborator at NASA GSFC, "so confirmation of this transition is important." This "cosmic dawn", the intermediate state between a neutral and an ionized Universe, is something that has been predicted. Such discoveries are made possible by the availability of powerful astronomical instruments that can probe the Universe in a way unimagined by past generations of astronomers.

###

Notes

[1] EGS, or the Extended Groth Strip, is a region imaged by HST in 2005; it corresponds to a narrow strip of the sky about the width of a finger held at arms length. There are at least 50,000 galaxies known within the strip.

More information

This research will be presented in a forthcoming paper and is currently close to acceptance.

The research team is composed of:

V. Tilvi, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ; S. Malhotra, Astrophysics Science Division, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD; J. E. Rhoads,Astrophysics Science Division, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt; A. Coughlin, Chandler-Gilbert Community College, Chandler, AZ; Z. Zheng, CAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Shangha, People's Republic of China; S. L. Finkelstein,Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX; S. Veilleux, Department of Astronomy and Joint Space-Science Institute, University of Maryland, College Park, MD; B. Mobasher, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside, CA; J. Wang, CAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, People's Republic of China; Rob Probst, NOAO, 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719.

NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, the US center for ground-based optical-infrared astronomy, operates the international Gemini Observatory, Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). It is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF and is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. The astronomical community is honored to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research on Iolkam Du'ag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, on Maunakea in Hawai'i, and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachon in Chile. We recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that these sites have to the Tohono O'odham Nation, to the Native Hawaiian community, and to the local Communities in Chile, respectively.

Contacts

Peter Michaud

NewsTeam Manager

NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory

Gemini Observatory, Hilo HI

Desk: +1 808-974-2510

Cell: +1 808-936-6643

Email: pmichaud@gemini.edu

Vithal Tilui

Arizona State University

Tempe, Arizona

Email: titui@asu.edu

James Rhoads

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt MD

Email: james.e.rhoads@nasa.gov

This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Nielsen and Publicis Execs Join Kantar Leadership

Kantar has appointed long-time Nielsen exec Chris Morley as Managing Director, UK, Ireland and USA for its Worldpanel division; while former Publicis behavioural economist and CX practitioner Dom Boyd joins as Managing Director, Offer for the UK Insights division.



Morley takes up his new role after seventeen years at Nielsen, where he held various leadership positions. He began his career at IRI UK, before moving to Nielsen in 2002, and there held senior roles in Australia, Vietnam and China. He spent nearly a decade in the Asia Pacific region, before returning to the UK as Group MD, then became President, Western Europe, and then President, Nielsen USA.



In his new role, Morley succeeds Tim Kidd, who is retiring after more than a decade as MD, UK, and 27 years at Kantar. Morley's focus will be to further develop Worldpanel Plus - the group's smartphone-enabled shopper panel, which it claims is the UK's largest live community of shoppers.



Boyd is the former Chief Strategy Officer at integrated agency Publicis Poke, where he moved after a decade at adamandeveDDB as Group Head of Strategy leading new business and creating campaigns. At Kantar, where he reports to Amy Cashman, co-CEO of the Insights division, Boyd will help the teams integrate Kantar's knowledge and data for the benefit of its clients.



Bart Michels, Kantar UK Country Leader, comments: 'Chris and Dom join us to take up leadership roles for two of our largest business units, in our second largest Kantar market, the UK. As part of our overall growth plan, they will drive the growth of Worldpanel Plus and Holistic Brand Guidance - two strategically important offers for our clients. It's great to be able to attract such market leading talent to the Kantar UK business to add to our enviable insights, data and consulting offer'.



Web site: www.kantar.com .




Turkeys burgeoning economic ties with Russia were on parade again during President Vladimir Putin's visit to Istanbul on Jan. 8 to launch the TurkStream natural gas pipeline connecting the two countries.

This was Putins first meeting of the year with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The two met no less than six times in 2019, underscoring the close relationship they have established.

Notwithstanding the economic dimension, which both sides clearly value, Putins visit was significant because of the latest developments in Syria and Libya.

Erdogans talks with Putin were also held under the dark shadow cast by the assassination of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani by the United States.

Announcing the results of the talks in Istanbul, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Russia counterpart Sergey Lavrov said the leaders had agreed to call on the warring sides in Libya to declare a cease-fire at midnight Jan 12.

They added that it was agreed that the sides would also work for a political settlement to the dispute in Libya.

The foreign ministers added that the leaders had also vowed to work for a cease-fire in Idlib, where Syrian regime forces, with backing from the Russian military, have been advancing against Turkish-backed opposition groups.

These points agreed on by the sides may not be enough to alter the situation on the ground in Syria or Libya, where dynamics that may be hard to roll back are in motion.

Although the friendship between Erdogan and Putin looks stronger than ever, as demonstrated by the niceties exchanged in Istanbul, political relations between the two countries are not as smooth as this camaraderie suggests.

Significant cracks have emerged in Syria  where Ankara and Moscow support opposing sides. Analysts point out that the same could happen in Libya, following Turkeys decision to send forces to that country to bolster the UN-recognized Government of National Accord against attacks by the Libyan National Army headed by Khalifa Hifter.

Moscow did not welcome Turkeys move in Libya and used diplomatic language to criticize it. "We believe that foreign interference will hardly help settle the situation, Kremlin Spokesman Dimitry Peskov told reporters Dec. 26.

Officially speaking, Moscow is not supporting the Government of National Accord or the Libyan National Army. Nevertheless, the Russian mercenary outfit known as the Wagner Group has been actively supporting Hifter.

This group headed by a former Russian special forces commander with links to the Kremlin is ostensibly independent. Multiple reports indicate, however, that it receives logistical support from the Russian military.

The meetings between Erdogan and Putin in 2019 were aimed, among other things, at managing their differences over Syria. In January 2017 Turkey and Russia  together with Iran  initiated the Astana process with a view to starting an alternative track for peace in Syria.

This process also helped Ankara and Moscow give the appearance of working together to resolve the crisis in Syria, even if they are at odds on numerous issues in the country.

Erdogan and Putin have also held multiple bilateral meetings to address the situation in Syria. A notable case was their talks in the Russian resort city of Sochi in September 2018, where they arranged a cease-fire in Idlib between Russian-supported regime forces and Turkish-supported Syrian opposition groups.

That cease-fire never held as the latest developments in Idlib show. These developments also demonstrate how these accords between Turkey and Russia have largely worked to Moscows benefit.

Veteran foreign policy commentator Sedat Ergin argued that Operation Peace Spring, which Turkey launched in October in northeastern Syria against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), was also capitalized on by Moscow.

Turkeys Peace Spring operation may have upended Syrias geopolitical environment, but it also enabled Russia to settle in the region in a forceful manner, Ergin wrote in Hurriyet.

Ankara had hoped that US President Donald Trumps promised withdrawal from Syria and the subsequent defeat of the YPG by the Turkish military would give Turkey control over a 450-kilometer long and 30-kilometer deep (280 by 19 mile) swath of Syrian territory along Turkeys border.

It intended to not only clear this territory from all vestiges of the YPG but also to settle hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in this safe zone.

What happened instead was that Russia settled into areas formerly held by US forces, locking Turkey into a stretch of land only 110 kilometers (68 miles) long. Ankara is also annoyed because Russia is allowing some YPG elements to remain in these regions.

An asymmetrical situation in which the advantage has turned toward Russia is emerging [in Syria] out of this relationship [between Ankara and Moscow], Ergin said.

During a television interview Jan 5, Erdogan reflected on that not all is well in the Turkish-Russian relationship.

He said he would discuss the the regime's massacres in Idlib with Putin when they met in Istanbul. Given that the Russian military is involved in these massacres, Erdogans remarks can be taken as an indirect criticism of Moscow, too.

Erdogans also lambasted the Wagner Group's involvement in Libya, adding that he would discuss this matter in depth with Putin.

Ankara and Moscow are clearly working on a diplomatic mechanism for Libya, similar to the Astana process, which could help them establish a modus vivendi in this crisis without endangering their ties.

Galip Dalay, a senior associate fellow at the Al Jazeera Center for Studies, has underlined the similarities between Turkeys experience with Russia in Syria and the emerging situation in Libya. Although Turkey and Russia are effectively supporting opposing sides, they appear set on a deeper engagement over Libya, Dalay wrote in the moderate Islamist daily Karar.

Moscow may have turned a reluctant blind eye to Turkeys gaining a limited military foothold in northern Syria, but its strong backing of the Assad regime has undermined all of Turkeys main expectations in that country.

Ankara was convinced in 2011 that the Assad regimes demise was only a matter of time. It believed this would be followed by a democratically elected party, similar to Erdogans Islamist Justice and Development Party, which would reach out to Turkey for help on multiple levels. Russia put an end to that dream.

Moscow is supporting Erdogans regional archenemy Bashar al Assad more than ever today. This was also evident after Putin arrived in Istanbul this week directly from an unexpected visit to Damascus.

Prior to his visit, Turkish officials were boasting that Putins first travel abroad in 2020 would be to Turkey. Putins call on Assad before meeting with Erdogan caught these officials unawares.

Put briefly, there is no guarantee that Russia will deliver what Turkey wants in Libya any more that it did in Syria. Ankaras dilemma, however, is that it could end up as dependent on Russia in Libya as it is in Syria.

Meanwhile, Erdogan clarified in his Jan. 5 TV interview that the limited number of Turkish military personnel to be sent to Libya would go to train and advise Government of National Accord forces only. He was clearly eyeing the fact that the notion of sending Turkish combat troops to Libya has been met with opposition in Turkey.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu explained Jan. 6 that Turkeys aim in Libya was to establish a cease-fire as soon as possible and to contribute to the revival of the political process.

Statements by the two foreign ministers following the Erdogan-Putin talks are in line with this. If Ankara can bring this about, then its military move in Libya will be seen as a masterful diplomatic step that expedited peace talks in that country. That, however, remains an open question.

Another problem for Turkey is that Russia is not the only stakeholder in Libya. Ankara has to also contend with the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and European powers such as France in that country.

Turkey signed a separate accord with the Government of National Accord in November for an exclusive economic zone between the Mediterranean shores of the two countries.

This was designed to rattle Greece, Cyprus, Egypt and Israel, who are engaged in joint energy exploration projects in parts of the eastern Mediterranean where Ankara says it also has rights.

Given that the UAE and Egypt are actively supporting Hifter  and are openly hostile toward Turkey  this may pose more obstacles for Ankaras Libya plans.

Turkey and Russia will undoubtedly want to build on the results of the talks between Erdogan and Putin in Istanbul in the coming days and weeks.

Whether Moscow will deliver what Ankara wants in Libya any more than it did in Syria, however, remains uncertain.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has become the 40th member of the Council of Europes Co-operation Group to Combat Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Drugs (Pompidou Group), the CoE said in a statement.

The Governments decision takes effect from 1 January 2020.

Paruyr Hovhannisyan, Permanent Representative of Armenia to the Council of Europe, sent the official letter to this effect to the Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic Buric on 7 January 2020.

On December 26, 2019, the Armenian government approved the proposal on Armenias joining the Pompidou Group.

The Pompidou Group is the Council of Europes drug policy co-operation platform established in 1971 at the initiative of the then French President Georges Pompidou. It promotes a balanced approach in the response to drug use and illicit trafficking in drugs, supporting both demand and supply reduction. The Pompidou Group offers a forum for open debate, exchange of experiences between its member States and, as a platform for science and evidence-based innovation, it links policy, research and practice.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
Cold Feet is set to return for its ninth series next week.

And the comedy-drama will make an explosive comeback with a shocking fight scene between Adam (James Nesbitt) and David (Robert Bathurst).

In scenes due to air on Monday, the pair come to blows in a vicious punch-up after rowing over sexism.

Shock: Cold Feet is set to return for its ninth series next week. And will make an explosive comeback with a fight scene between Adam (James Nesbitt) and David (Robert Bathurst)

According to Daily Express, David causes a ruckus by snapping at Adam 'Do you have a problem with women?' after the Irish charmer dismisses an idea put forward by his colleague Mary.

Delivering a low blow, Adam snips back 'I had no problem pulling yours', referencing last season's shock storyline that saw him seduce David's ex-wife Karen (Hermione Norris).

The pair then end up fighting in the street, with Pete (John Thomson) and Karen forced to pull them apart.

Ouch: In scenes due to air on Monday, the pair come to blows in a vicious punch-up after rowing over sexism, amid Adam's relationship with Karen (Hermione Norris)

Last season saw Karen and Adam - who have been friends for a number of years - finally admit their romantic feelings for each other.

After discovering David's financial struggles, the couple called time on their relationship, but later decided to give their love another try.

The storyline divided viewers, with some pleased at the pair's budding romance, whilst others felt sorry for David, who was battling homeless.

Fuming: David causes a ruckus by snapping at Adam 'Do you have a problem with women?' after the Irish charmer dismisses an idea put forward by his colleague Mary

Discussing the plot, Nesbitt told What's On TV magazine: 'Hermione and I were surprised by the creation of that story and were quite scared of it.

We felt it might put us in a vulnerable position and that an audience wouldn't go with it and we weren't sure how it would work. I just didn't get it  I thought they were clutching at straws...

'Now it makes perfect sense. Karen and Adam bring out good things in each other, there's great chemistry and Hermione and I love working together.'

Whose side are you on? Adam and Karen's storyline divided viewers, with some pleased at the pair's budding romance, whilst others felt sorry for David, who was battling homeless

Season nine will look into the fallout of their relationship, and the affect it has had on David's wellbeing.

The show will also look at the aftermath of Jenny's (Faye Ripley) treatment for breast cancer.

Speaking on The One Show, Ripley revealed: 'Jenny's story is about post-treatment, it's a rather untalked about thing. She has been through the treatment and is in this limbo phase where she doesn't know what life holds.

'It's so personal, if the statistics are one in two for cancer, in general that means we all are affected in some way by cancer, so it would be strange if Cold Feet didn't approach it.'

Asked what the hardest part of portraying the storyline was, Fay confessed: 'I didn't want to let anyone down.'

Cold Feet was originally broadcast for five series on ITV from 1998 to 2003 before the show was revived in 2016.

Series 9 of Cold Feet airs on Monday 13 January at 9pm.
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"SkinCeuticals SkinLab not only marks an exciting, brand-first retail opportunity for SkinCeuticals to engage with the aesthetic enthusiast alongside our partner physicians, but also with consumers who are new to the brand and medical aesthetics in an approachable way," says Christina Fair, General Manager of SkinCeuticals. "We were founded by dermatologist Dr. Sheldon Pinnell and are currently in over 5,000 physician offices nationwide. In the past 5 years, we successfully rolled out our flagship-physician partner program with over 100 dermatologists and plastic surgeons who trust in our science and business expertise enough to exclusively sell our brand. With SkinCeuticals SkinLab's approachable aesthetics, we are bringing in the next generation of aesthetic enthusiasts to our doctors and brand to further our ultimate goal of sharing the wealth of knowledge that our physicians have and our experience with advanced skincare combined with professional aesthetic treatments."

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Irans hard-liners and conservatives appear to have failed to reach a unified platform ahead of the Feb. 21 parliamentary election, though they face no serious competition, as Reformists are mostly determined to boycott the ballot boxes.

For a year, conservatives and hard-liners have sought to set their differences aside and form a united front. Senior conservatives established the unofficial Council of Unity to manage the election. The council was at first successful in attracting influential faces. But many of these figures left, including former presidential candidate and nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, along with the hard-line Endurance Front. However, the council continued to meet, presenting itself as the only major coalition of hard-liners and conservatives.

The council has been renamed the Council for the Coalition of the Revolutionary Current. While at first hard-line former parliament speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel played a significant role in the council and planned to run in the election as the ticket leader, he suddenly withdrew from the race. His decision seemed to be the result of a deal for three-time conservative presidential candidate Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf to replace him.

Currently, Ghalibaf is the central figure in the coalition, though traditional conservative groups including the Islamic Coalition Party are determined to promote their candidate, Mostafa Mir-Salim, and Ghalibaf had indicated that he would run on an independent ticket under the name of Neo Principlism. Ghalibaf, a former mayor, is more powerful than Mir-Salim, so the coalition may unite behind him. However, doing so could prove costly for the fragile coalition, as it may cause traditional and moderate conservatives to run on an independent ticket.

Ghalibaf has another rival: hard-liner Alireza Zakani. Ghalibafs inner circle is concerned about how well they would get along. Nonetheless, Morteza Talai, Tehran's police chief who is close to Ghalibaf, believes that they will eventually reach a deal, as they have similar goals and Zakani was Ghalibafs campaign manager in the 2005 presidential election. A large number of hard-liners and conservatives dont consider Ghalibaf to be an insider and loyal to the ideals of the 1979 revolution because he has been accused of corruption and has repeatedly spoken in favor of the 2015 nuclear deal and interaction with the Western world. Hard-liners have frequently called him a liberal.

Meanwhile, the hard-line Endurance Front, which stands fiercely against the nuclear deal and any relationship with the West, has made it clear that it won't be part of the coalition and will run in the election on a separate ticket. The Endurance Front is led by hard-liner Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, a staunch enemy of moderate Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Reformists. The front has proved inflexible and the conservatives have repeatedly failed to reach an agreement with them. The Endurance Front complains that the coalition won't accept its demands, which include omitting pro-nuclear deal candidates from the coalition's ticket.

Meanwhile, many young hard-liners and conservatives are reportedly planning to run in the election on independent tickets.

The disagreements have led some senior conservatives to warn of a possible loss. Mohammad Reza Bahonar, secretary general of the Islamic Society of Engineers, stated Dec. 28, "It is highly likely that we will commit a strategic mistake, leading us to lose to ourselves.

Nonetheless, the hard-liners and conservatives seem assured they have no significant rival in the race. This time, the Reformists probably won't win a majority in parliament, as many voters have been disappointed with their performance. Many Reformist politicians say they won't run in the election, as they don't expect to be able to enact the reforms the country needs. At the same time, many Iranians, especially in Tehran, are adamant that they won't take part in the election. A survey conducted by the Iranian Students Polling Agency showed that only 21% of respondents in Tehran are expected to take part in the election. Tehran had around 50% turnout in the previous parliamentary election in 2016. Whenever turnout has been low, hard-liners and conservatives have won, as their supporters tend to see voting as a religious duty.

Meanwhile, hard-line former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to back certain candidates who have kept a low profile so as not to alert the conservative-dominated Guardian Council, which vets the hundreds of candidates who apply to run in each presidential election. Apparently, following the councils announcement of approved candidates, Ahmadinejad will announce his own ticket of candidates from his circle. While he remains a hard-liner, when Ahmadinejad turned against the Iranian leadership, the Guardian Council disqualified him in the 2017 presidential election.

In sum, given the disputes and disagreements, it's likely that conservative and hard-liner candidates will run on four or five separate tickets. When the Guardian Councils approved list of candidates is announced in February, they will decide whether to work together or separately.
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Linkedin Ardila Syakriah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020 21:32 732 48be62e941b44f04afae568c3219554b 2 National Komnas-HAM,student-protest,National-Police Free

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) claims to have found procedural violations by the National Police in the detention of demonstrators following student protests in September of last year.

University students rallied across the country in September 2019 to protest problematic provisions in proposed legislation. The protests in Jakarta took place from Sept. 24 to Sept. 30 in front of the House of Representatives. Some of the rallies, joined also by members of the general public and senior high school students, turned violent and led to rioting, with five fatalities recorded in Jakarta and Kendari, South Sulawesi, and hundreds injured.

The police arrested 1,489 people during the Jakarta protests and prosecuted 380 of them as of Oct 15, 2019, according to data collected by the commission.

Komnas HAM deputy chairman Hairansyah said at a press briefing on Thursday that the commission alleged the police had violated the institution's permanent procedures: Protap.

These violations included the alleged use of violence and force, limiting detained and injured protesters' access to medical treatment, limiting detained protesters access to their families and other visitors and limiting legal aid access for the detainees.

"The police have adopted the permanent procedures. The use of violence has been regulated under the procedures [to be applicable] only in urgent cases, such as to protect themselves. It needs to be proven whether their actions followed the regulations and were necessary," Hairansyah said.

The commission concluded that there had been five alleged human rights violations: the right to life  given the fatalities  children's rights, the right to health, the right to justice and the right to feel safe.

The commission urged the government and the police to hold the police or other parties accountable for the casualties through an investigation as the causes of the four deaths remained unknown. Otherwise, history was bound to repeat itself, he said.

"Law enforcement should be equal for all actors, including for law enforcers themselves. This is what has never been done to them. They simply have their ranks lowered instead of facing criminal charges that may have deterrent effects," he told reporters on the sidelines of the briefing.
Rotunda Rumblings

Just in case: Ohios elections officials have been put on guard to be alert for possible hacks amid Iran-U.S. tensions, cleveland.coms Andrew Tobias writes. Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Wednesday his office had shared a list of Iranian IP addresses with county boards of election to add to their computer networks firewall.

He loves it here: Ohio will see a lot more of President Donald Trump between now and the presidential election, starting with tonights rally in Toledo. Cleveland.coms Sabrina Eaton chronicles the many times Trump has been here since he became president in 2017.

Bloomberg in Akron: Democratic presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited Akrons Bounce Innovation Hub Wednesday night with a fresh endorsement from Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan. As cleveland.coms Robin Goist reports, Bloomberg was there to promote his job-creation plan and his vision for an All-in Economy.

Pardon the interruption: Gov. Mike DeWine has announced plans to accelerate the process for granting pardons to ex-inmates who have had a good record since their release. But how does that process work? Does it mean the governor will forgive Ohioans of their crimes? Cleveland.coms Jeremy Pelzer has answers to those questions and more.

Judge Sutton? Betty Sutton, a former member of the U.S. House and one-time lieutenant gubernatorial candidate with Richard Cordray, is running to unseat 9th District Court of Appeals Judge Julie Schafer, writes Dave OBrien of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram. The court hears appeals from courts in Lorain, Medina, Summit and Wayne counties.

Scheduled: Fifteen judges on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments at 1:30 p.m. March 11 on the state law banning abortions when medical tests have indicated a fetus has Down syndrome. In October, two judges on a three-judge panel ruled the law is unconstitutional and cannot go forward. But Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has asked the full court to consider the case.

Exchange rate: The number of Ohioans who enrolled on the Obamacare insurance exchange for 2020 is 196,805, according to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The open enrollment period was from Nov. 1 to Dec. 21. Enrollment numbers include new plans or automatic reenrollment of 2019 plans.

Info coming your way: Pollsters at Baldwin Wallace University are teaming with two other schools to expand their presidential race polling beyond Ohio. The new Great Lakes Polls will dig into the minds of registered voters in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin  all states that flipped from Democrat to Republican in the 2016 presidential election, reports cleveland.coms Rich Exner. Results from the first of four polls are due out before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3.

Race tip sheet: The Cincinnati Enquirers Jason Williams handicaps a couple of competitive Ohio Senate Republican primaries in Southwest Ohio. In the Senate District 4 GOP primary, Williams gives state Rep. Candice Keller the edge, citing her social conservatism, her gender, and that state Rep. George Lang and West Chester Township Trustee Lee Wong could split the vote in West Chester. In Senate District 14, incumbent Sen. Terry Johnson is favored over ex-Clermont County Commissioner David Uible, who was endorsed by his countys party despite pleading guilty to records tampering.

For whom the bellwether tolls: Ottawa County has sided with the winning candidate in the last 18 presidential elections, and its being watched closely now for clues both about who will win in 2020 and whether Ohio has become a solidly red state. Liz Skalka of the Toledo Blade interviewed voters and candidates there to get an on-the-ground feel for how the county is trending politically this year.

Rubber/glue: Pharmacy benefit manager OptumRx, which the state accuses in a lawsuit of false dealing, is now accusing the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation of the same thing, according to Marty Schladen of the Columbus Dispatch. In its response to the lawsuit, OptumRx claims state officials, during the middle of contract negotiations in 2016, unilaterally changed rules about how much PBMs such as Optum paid the BWC for drugs. Attorney General Dave Yosts office, which represents the state, says thats not true.

A first: Reem Subei, a Toledo-area Democrat who seeks to unseat Republican Sen. Theresa Gavarone of Bowling Green, will be the first Muslim to run for the Ohio Senate, according to WTOL-TV. Subei is a civil rights attorney.

Lobbying Lineup

Five groups that lobbied on House Bill 19, which seeks to eliminate sales tax charges for feminine hygiene products (lawmakers ultimately passed the measure as part of Senate Bill 26). State lobbying forms dont require people to disclose which side theyre on.

1. Girl Scout Council of Ohio Legislative Network

2. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, Inc.

3. Columbus City School District

4. Dayton Right to Life Society

5. Pfizer Inc.

On the Move

Tyler Fehrman, a veteran Republican consultant, has been hired as special projects coordinator for Clean Fuels Ohio.

Kurt Thiede of Wisconsin has been appointed as the U.S. EPAs regional administrator for Region 5, overseeing environmental protection efforts in Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana. He served as chief of staff to regional administrator Cathy Stepp, who is leaving the post.

Gov. Mike DeWine has been elected by his fellow governors as the states co-chairman of the Appalachian Regional Commission, according to a release. The joint federal-state commission works to encourage economic development in 13 Appalachian states.

Birthdays

State Rep. Jamie Callender

Straight from the Source

The expectation always is that well drop everything for our husbands. I dont hear that being the mantra for the men.

- Columnist Connie Schultz, who is married to U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, telling the Washington Posts Jada Yuan that shes frustrated that -- unlike most wives of politicians -- male spouses of 2020 presidential candidates have gotten positive media attention for keeping their day jobs.

Capitol Letter is a daily briefing providing succinct, timely information for those who care deeply about the decisions made by state government. If you do not already subscribe, you can sign up here to get Capitol Letter in your email box each weekday for free.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday pledged for the second year in a row to legalise recreational cannabis, looking for his state to become the nations 12th to do so and saying that it could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

Mr Cuomo, a Democrat, made the legalisation of cannabis a key priority as he outlined his agenda for 2020, saying taxes imposed by a regulatory scheme could bring some $300m (230m) into the states coffers and confront injustices in enforcement of drug laws.

For decades, communities of colour were disproportionately affected by the unequal enforcement of marijuana laws. Last year we righted that injustice when we decriminalised possession, Mr Cuomo said in his annual State of the State address, according to a transcript of the speech released by his office.

This year lets work with our neighbours New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, to coordinate a safe and fair system and lets legalise adult use of marijuana, Mr Cuomo said.

Last year, in his 2019 State of the State speech, Mr Cuomo had also declared his intention to legalise cannabis, citing the potential revenues and harm to poorer communities, but the effort foundered in the Democrat-controlled state legislature.

Where is cannabis legal in the US? Show all 11 1 /11 Where is cannabis legal in the US? Where is cannabis legal in the US? Alaska Recreational cannabis use was made legal in Alaska in 2014 Getty Where is cannabis legal in the US? Washington Washington was among the first states to legalise cannabis in 2012 Getty Where is cannabis legal in the US? Michigan Recreational cannabis use was made legal in Michigan in 2018 Getty Where is cannabis legal in the US? Massachusetts Recreational cannabis use was made legal in Massachusetts in 2016 Getty Where is cannabis legal in the US? Colorado Colorado was among the first states to legalise cannabis in 2012 Getty Where is cannabis legal in the US? Vermont Since January 2018 it has been legal to posses up to one ounce and two cannabis plants in Vermont. Commercial sales are not legal Getty Where is cannabis legal in the US? California Recreational cannabis use was made legal in California in 2018 Getty Where is cannabis legal in the US? Illinois Recreational cannabis use was made legal in Illinois in 2019 Getty Images Where is cannabis legal in the US? Oregon It was made legal in Oregon to possess up to one ounce of cannabis in 2014 Getty Where is cannabis legal in the US? Maine Recreational cannabis use was made legal in Maine in 2016 Getty Where is cannabis legal in the US? Nevada Recreational cannabis use was made legal in Nevada in 2016 Getty

In addition to the 11 states where recreational use of marijuana is already legalised, New York joins several others expected to make that push in 2020, including neighbouring New Jersey, which tried and failed to pass such a bill last year.

Cannabis remains illegal under federal law and critics say legalisation at the state level is bad health policy, citing studies which show that the drug can be addictive and affect brain development in young people, in addition to the dangers associated with any kind of smoking.

Officials at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have said that vitamin E acetate, a cutting agent used in cannabis vape cartridges, may play a role in an outbreak of vaping-related lung injuries.

Mr Cuomo in his State of the State speech boasted that New York had led the way in banning flavoured vaping and urged passage of laws restricting the sale and advertisement of flavoured e-cigarettes.

After all the millions of lives lost, big tobacco has come back to life in a different wrapper. They are now in vaping products. We know well the danger of nicotine addiction and we dont yet know the dangers of vaping, but young Americans are dying to find out, Mr Cuomo said in his speech.

Reuters
It has been a busy news week for coyotes, beginning Tuesday when one was rescued from Monroe Harbor after it fell into the water near the 100 block of North Lake Shore Drive. The animal was loaded onto a stretcher and wrapped in a blanket by responding emergency crews. Chicago Animal Care and Control took possession of the coyote and it was scheduled to be picked up by Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation, which has facilities on Northerly Island and near Barrington where it cares for coyotes, other wild mammals, birds and reptiles.
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Racing through a desert on a motorbike, leaping across rooftops or simply removing a bra!

Freedom means something different to each of these 50 photographers who have made it to the final of a global competition.

The spectacular images were among almost 20,000 entries in the 'World's Best photo of #Freedom2020' contest run by free-to-use photography app Agora.

Voting is open now and the winner will be announced on January 23 and will get a prize of $1,000 (767).

Agora has a community of more than 3.5million users from 193 countries where people create, vote and curate the best images made worldwide.

CEO and co-founder Octavi Royo said: 'We're creating a global democratic system where everyone can create, vote and enjoy the best creations of Humanity.'

A motorcyclist enjoys the isolation of a desert away from any roads or traffic in this photo called 'Free'

This photo is called 'Happy High Jump' and shows a boy joyfully leaping across MyaTheinTan Pagoda, in Saggaing, Myanmar

This humorous snap by a French photographer shows a woman standing at her window after removing her bra and is simply entitled: 'Liberte'

Children leap in the air as they play with hoops and balls on the crest of a sand dune in this entry called 'The children play on the sand hill'

Freedom means having a duckling on your head for this photographer who snapped two boys playing in a river

This photo was taken in Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Italy. and shows a man on a cliff top dwarfed by the surrounding mountains and is called 'Free as a Bird'

A joyful child leaps and throws a traditional umbrella in the air in North Bengal, India, in a snap called 'Free Jump'

This image was captured in Lake Konigsee, Bavaria, Germany, and is called 'Free Like a Boat'

This beautiful image of a kayaker is called 'Freedom at Sea' and was taken in Stow, Massachusetts, in the United States

An incredible silhouette of a family on a rocky outcrop was captured by the photographer in this image called 'Free'

A bird soars over the sea in Sorrento, Italy, in this image called 'Freedom in the sky'

A woman practices Tai chi in the water near Athens, Greece, in this peaceful black and white image called 'Freedom Ena'

For this photographer 'Freedom is a state of mind' as a man is seen meditating in front of the Taj Mahal in India

A loan man raises his arms aloft in the wilderness of Daguestan, Russia, in this entry titled 'Freedom Road'

He's Free! There's nothing like the freedom of doing somersaults on a trampoline as this young boy knows in Northwest Illinois, in the US

This spectacular image was taken in Western Australia and is called 'Have you ever seen so many turtles in the wilderness?'

A fire-eater leaps in the air on Labadi beach, Ghana, in this incredible photo called 'Like a Phoenix'

This extraordinary image shows a figure silhouetted in front of the moon in Utah, in the US. It is called 'Full Moon Over Goblin Valley'

A woman captured mid-jump as she leaps across a viewing point in the mountains of Montenegro in this image titled 'Jump'

Freedom is being above the clouds for this photographer who captured a walker peering into a valley in Loser, Austria. The incredible photo is called 'Head Above The Clouds'

This mesmerising image shows the sun going down over the Merzouga desert, in Morocco, and is called 'Magic Sunset'

There's nothing like the freedom of the open road! This image from the Valley of Fire State Park, in Nevada, USA, shows a driver with the roof down and is cheekily called 'F*** Yeah!'

Water cascades down a cliff face at Katora Lake Trek, Pakistan, in this beautiful photo called 'Katora Waterfall'

A horse gallops on the shoreline in Lombok, Indonesia, in a spectacular image called 'Freehorse'

Don't look down! A man stands precariously on a cliff edge in Yosemite National Park, in California's Sierra Nevada mountains, in this image called 'On the Edge'

A brave acrobat performs high above the ground in Moab, Utah, USA, in this entry titled 'Silks'

Colourful canoes create a striking shape in the water as they are photographed from above in this entry called 'Oceans Free'

A man enjoys the spectacular view from a mountain top in this image called 'Standing in the Free World'

This joyful image was taken by the little boy's aunt in Ghana, Africa, as he splashed in puddles. The photographer said she wanted to capture 'the joy, happiness and freedom' of the moment

A walker has this isolated road all to himself as he strides along the central lines in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, in this image called 'Road to Freedom'

A man lies flat on his back as he takes an extraordinary selfie with a drone. He called the photo 'The world was meant to explore'

A man paddles a boat with his dog on board in Tuyen Lam Lake, Vietnam

A farmer and his son set a bird free in Myanmar in this poignant image called 'To Give Free'

This beautiful rain-specked photo is simply called 'Somewhere in Iceland'

A woman stands on a ledge in Yosemite National Park, USA, in this image called 'Valley Glow'

A woman leans out of an old abandoned train in Tbilisi, Georgia

Wild horses run free in Kalmykia, Russia, in this photo called 'To Meet the Wind'

This image called 'Why Walk When You Can Fly' shows a dancer in midair
Invesing.com  The U.S. dollar inched higher Thursday, on improved risk sentiment amid optimism that the U.S-China trade war may be nearing an end and easing tensions in the Middle East.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose by 0.17% to 96.17.

China's commerce ministry said on Thursday that Vice Premier Liu He is set to sign the phase one trade deal in Washington next week, stoking hopes that the partial deal will eventually pave a path for both nations to end their months-long trade war.

As well as positive trade news, de-escalating tensions in the Middle East kept safe-haven currencies on the back foot, underpinning the move higher in the greenback.

USD/JPY rose 0.34% to Y109.47.

The pound, meanwhile, continued to wobble after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney suggested the central bank was mulling near-term stimulus as its economic forecasts may have been somewhat lofty.

"The takeaway is that the Monetary Policy Committee could be more inclined to ease policy further," Rabobank's Jane Foley said. "These policy risks are likely to be accentuated if political uncertainty builds again in the U.K."

GBP/USD fell 0.32% to $1.306 and drew little reaction on news that U.K. lawmakers backed Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal agreed with the EU last year.

The outcome of the vote was largely expected, however, following the ruling Conservative party's commanding win in the general election last month.

The euro was roughly flat at $1.111 even as German industrial output topped economists' forecasts.

USD/CAD rose 0.35% to C$1.308, as weaker Canada housing data did little to ease investor jitters that the recent downtick in economic growth would persist.

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At least 1 dead after M 6.4 earthquake rocks Puerto Rico triggering islandwide blackout

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At least one person is dead after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked Puerto Rico Tuesday morning, triggering an islandwide blackout and significant damage to buildings, including churches, in several of the hardest hit areas.

The United States Geological Survey said in a release Tuesday that the quake struck at about 4:24 a.m. local time offshore of southwest Puerto Rico just a day after a magnitude 5.8 quake erupted from the same area.

Over the past several weeks, hundreds of small earthquakes have occurred in the region, the USGS said. The seismic activity began with a magnitude 4.7 earthquake late on Dec. 28 and was followed by a magnitude 5.0 tremor just a few hours later. Since Dec. 28, the USGS said, more than 400 magnitude 2+ earthquakes have occurred in the region. Some 10 of them registered stronger than magnitude 4, including Tuesdays tremor.

Puerto Ricos largest newspaper, El Nuevo Dia, reported 73-year-old Nelson Martinez Guillen as the first casualty of the earthquake. A wall from his home in Ponce collapsed on him as he slept.

"There was a wall that divided the wall of the house above, he slept on one of those sides and in one of the movements the wall came off and fell on his back. He broke the bed and everything," Guillens brother-in-law, Reynaldo Gonzalez, told El Nuevo Dia.

"This was too strong, I didn't expect such a thing, but things happen and nobody knows why," he added.

Victor Huerfano, director of Puerto Ricos Seismic Network, told The Wall Street Journal that a complete picture of the damage or injuries suffered is still unclear because communication for much of the island is down, but officials in Ponce have reported widespread damage.

We expect that this will be the largest quake for now, he said. The aftershocks will continue for some time.

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority also confirmed that the earthquake triggered an islandwide blackout, but noted they would be working to restore power throughout the day.

In a statement on Twitter, acting head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, said the federal government is in touch with officials on the island and stands ready to assist with the recovery.

I am monitoring the earthquake and after-shocks in Puerto Rico closely. @DHSgov stands ready to assist with assessments and recovery. @FEMA has been in touch with the governor and other PR officials and is responding appropriately, he added.

Multiple images and video of damage in the wake of the earthquake were shared online by many on Tuesday, including by former Speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives Jaime Perello.

Me envian esta foto una amiga de GUAYANILLA . Me informa que es la iglesia del centro urbano . Ella y su familia estan bien Gracias a Dios. pic.twitter.com/ufqf7qjp3i  Jaime Perello (@jrperello) January 7, 2020

A photo worth 1000 words - Hospital patients taken out because of distrust in the structure's reliability #PuertoRicoEarthquakepic.twitter.com/Zud9uKZFf6  Eddie M. Guerra (@eddiemguerra) January 7, 2020

If you have a Puerto Rican co-worker or employee understand if they are nervous and on their phones. Our families back in the island have not recovered from a category 5 hurricane and now have suffered a 6.6 earthquake. We are worried about our families. #PuertoRicoEarthquakepic.twitter.com/NEwEXNPgob  Daya Vera (@dayainjapan) January 7, 2020

Glidden Lopez, spokesman for Guayanilla municipality, told the Miami Herald that the earthquake destroyed the citys colonial-era church that was built in the 1840s.

All thats left is one wall and half of another wall, he said of the church that was an attraction in the citys main plaza. The hospital was damaged and there were several houses that have collapsed but we dont know how many yet.

Puerto Ricos Gov. Wanda Vazquez ordered government offices to remain closed Tuesday except for those working on the emergency.

Its important for the people of Puerto Rico to remain calm and to secure their lives and property, she said in a statement. Citizen security is a priority for me, so we are inspecting vulnerable areas and were taking all the measures necessary to guarantee the safety of Puerto Ricans.
EDWARDSVILLE (AP)  Police say the man accused of killing prominent Edwardsville attorney Randy Gori often moved around but stayed in the St. Louis area. Court records show he was evicted in December from his St. Louis apartment.

Timothy Michael Banowetz, 28, is accused of fatally stabbing Randy Gori and holding two children captive Saturday night at Goris home in Edwardsville, Illinois, a city across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. Gori, 47, had two children, but authorities have not said if they were the minors who were held captive.

Police believe Banowetz acted alone. Investigators would not comment on any motive, but the crime also included the theft of Goris 2020 Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV, along with cash and the childrens cellphones.

Gori had a passion for collecting vehicles, especially Ferraris. He owned 20 Ferraris and served as vice president of a local chapter of the Ferrari Club of America, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Banowetz, who was enrolled in the fall at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, was in jail without bond on charges of first-degree murder and nine other counts. Online court records Wednesday didnt indicate whether he has a lawyer who could comment on the allegations.

Goris actions during the attack, and an interruption of the crime by a woman, likely saved the childrens lives, said Madison County Sheriffs Office Capt. Dave Vucich, who declined to elaborate.

In my 22-year career as a law enforcement official, Ive seen a lot of gruesome cases, Vucich said Monday. But this one elevates to the top of heinous and senseless crimes.

Police found Banowetz Sunday in a wooded area near Goris home, with the stolen SUV nearby.

Goris law firm specializes in asbestos litigation nationwide, with offices in Edwardsville, St. Louis, New Orleans, Washington, Los Angeles, New York and Orlando, Florida. Gori also founded a real estate and property management company.

Gori was also known for large charitable donations, including a recent $2.5 million pledge to the city of Edwardsville to help build an ice rink.

Banowetz previously attended the College of the Ozarks near Branson, Missouri, from 2010 through 2014, a college spokesman said Tuesday.
The state Department of Health on Thursday reported the death of a year-old Roosevelt County child from influenza-related illness.

The boy is New Mexicos first pediatric influenza death of the 2019-20 season, which already has registered 52 pneumonia- and influenza-related deaths since October, officials said in a news release.

(The) seasonal flu vaccine covers multiple strains, including the ones currently circulating, and it is not too late to get vaccinated, Health Secretary Kathy Kunkel said in a statement. The flu vaccine is the best way to protect yourself and your family from influenza and, given the fact that this season hasnt peaked yet, we strongly encourage you to get vaccinated if you havent already.

Flu is still spreading in all regions of the state.

Also, the head of New Mexicos largest Catholic diocese has issued directives aimed at protecting parishioners during flu season.

Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester is urging people not to shake hands or hug when they attend Mass. Parishioners also are being asked not to hold hands while reciting the Our Father and that those who are ill should stay home to avoid spreading the virus.

Priests and other church officials are also being asked to wash their hands before and after distributing communion.

During the first week of January, the percentage of visits to outpatient medical clinics for flu-like symptoms was higher and earlier than the peak in the 2017-18 season, which was the most severe season in 10 years, health officials said.

Flu hospitalization rates are also higher than expected for this time of year, especially in children through age 4, and the rate of hospitalization is more than double the national rate in the age group.

Multiple strains of influenza virus are circulating nationally, with the dominant strains being B Victoria, a type that normally does not predominate until springtime in a typical season,

To find out more about flu vaccination clinics throughout New Mexico, go to HealthMap Vaccine Finder at vaccinefinder.org or to the NMDOH website, nmhealth.org, and go to Immunization Program and then Influenza Vaccinations.
President Trump brought the United States to the "brink of a disastrous war with Iran," Seth Meyers said on Wednesday's Late Night, and now it's up to Congress to make sure he doesn't trigger another unnecessary conflict.

Despite what Trump and his allies are trying to say, the crisis between the U.S. and Iran "was completely Trump's doing," Meyers said. In response to Trump authorizing an airstrike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Iran on Tuesday launched missiles at Iraqi air bases housing U.S. troops. As Americans watched footage of the missiles streaking through the sky, waiting to see how Trump would react, "you think, 'God, I hope we have smart and steady leadership,'" Meyers said. "Then you say, 'Oh no.'"

On Wednesday, Trump gave an "incoherent" speech claiming "credit for ending a crisis he started." He made threats, then offered peace, all while making sure to absurdly and falsely blame former President Barack Obama for the current tense state of affairs. Presidents of both parties have been accumulating unconstitutional war powers, Meyers said, but Trump sees himself as being above the law, and that's why now is the time for lawmakers to step up.

Congress has to stop Trump from unilaterally waging a war or triggering another conflict like this again, and can "pass a war powers resolution, block war funding, and repeal both Bush-era authorizations for the use of military force," Meyers said. "They can even keep Trump distracted by tying a chicken nugget to a Roomba and letting it loose in the White House." Watch the video below.

More stories from theweek.com

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Here's what might have happened to the Ukrainian airliner that crashed in Tehran

Iran denies shooting down Ukrainian airline, Ukraine is unsure, but evidence is mounting


The government bill paving the way for the UKs exit from the European Union on 31 January has completed its passage through the House of Commons, amid warnings that it may lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom.

The EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill passed its third reading in the Commons by 330 votes to 231  a government majority of 99.

The bill now goes to the House of Lords on Monday and is expected to reach the statute book in time for Boris Johnson to hit his target of delivering Brexit by the end of this month.

No non-Conservative MPs voted for the bill, with 167 out of the 202 Labour MPs  including all six contenders for the party leadership  voting against, along with 45 of the Scottish National Partys 47 MPs and all 11 Liberal Democrats. The DUPs eight MPs  who object to the prime ministers plans for a customs border in the Irish Sea  did not vote.

Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Show all 76 1 /76 Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Crowds march through central London Getty Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Protesters gather in Parliament Square Led By Donkeys Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Mayor of London Sadiq Khan joins protesters PA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Anti-Brexit protesters fill Parliament Square in London PA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march A demonstrator marches EPA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Protesters push a float depicting Dominic Cummings using Boris Johnson as a puppet during the Final Say Brexit march in London PA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march EU supporters react after the result of the vote on the deal delay was announced at the House of Commons REUTERS Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march A demonstrator carries his dog draped in EU flag AP Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Thousands of people taking part in a People's Vote march AFP/Getty Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Protesters use their flags to shelter from the rain Getty Images Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Protesters march towards Parliament Square Getty Images Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Anti-Brexit demonstrators carry placards and EU flags AP Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Sir Oliver Letwin MP in Parliament Square, London, during an an anti-Brexit, Let Us Be Heard rally, after it was announced that the Letwin amendment, which seeks to avoid a no-deal Brexit on October 31, has been accepted PA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Thousands of people taking part in a People's Vote march UK BROADCASTERS POOL/AFP via Get Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march A protester with "Bollocks to Brexit" stickers on his head Getty Images Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Demonstrators march EPA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Britain's main opposition Labour Party shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the EU Keir Starmer, shadow Home Secretary Dianne Abbott, shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell, shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry speaks on stage in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Images Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Anti-Brexit supporters cheer outside parliament AP Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march A EU supporter waves flags REUTERS Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Anti-Brexit supporters AP Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Protesters shout and chant demanding a final say Getty Images Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Police look towards protesters Getty Images Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Pro-Brexit protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in London PA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march People taking part in an Anti-Brexit, Let Us Be Heard march head to Parliament Square in London PA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march People taking part in an Anti-Brexit, Let Us Be Heard march in Trafalgar Square PA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Anti-Brexit supporters cheer outside parliament AP Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march People taking part in an Anti-Brexit, Let Us Be Heard march past Trafalgar Square PA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Protesters shout and chant Getty Images Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Cory (7) sits on his father's shoulders as protesters march towards Parliament Square Getty Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march People attend the 'Together for the Final Say' march EPA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Protesters march towards Parliament Square Getty Images Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks on stage PA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march A woman in EU costume EPA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Anti-Brexit protesters fill Parliament Square in London PA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Anti-Brexit protesters AP Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Anti-Brexit protesters hold an Independent banner Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Protesters hold an anti-Brexit placard by The Independent stall during the Final Say Brexit march in London Tom Richell Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Anti-Brexit protesters in Parliament Square, London, PA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Demonstrators hold placards and EU flags AFP/Getty Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march An anti-Brexit protester joins in the Final Say Brexit march on 19 October AP Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march EU supporters march in London REUTERS Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Sir Patrick Stewart and Paul McGann join in the Final Say Brexit march in London on 19 October PA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march EU supporters march Reuters Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march A demonstrator shouts into a megaphone as she marches AFP via Getty Images Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march A dog dressed in an anti-Brexit placard is walked in the Final Say Brexit march in London EPA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march EU supporters march REUTERS Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march A morris dancer takes part in the Final Say Brexit march in London PA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Whippets are dressed in EU flag clothing during the Final Say Brexit march in London AP Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Protesters march towards parliament in the Final Say Brexit march in London on 19 October 2019 PA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march An anti-Brexit demonstrator takes part in the Final Say Brexit march in London AFP/Getty Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march EU supporters call on the government to give Britons a vote on the final Brexit deal Reuters Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Anti-Brexit protesters Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march An anti-Brexit protester Angela Christofilou/The Independent Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate in London during the Final Say Brexit march on 19 October AP Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Protesters push a float depicting Dominic Cummings using Boris Johnson as a puppet during the Final Say Brexit march in London AFP/Getty Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Protesters march towards parliament from Park Lane in the Final Say Brexit march in London on 19 October 2019 PA Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march Marchers visit The Independent stall during the Final Say March in London Tom Richell Best pictures from Final Say Brexit march An anti-Brexit protester holds a sign calling for a Final Say during a march in London EPA

Ian Blackford, the SNP leader in Westminster, said the bill had created a constitutional crisis which would bring nearer a referendum on Scottish independence and the break-up of the UK, while Labour Brexit spokesman Paul Blomfield warned that ministers would have to proceed with senstivity and caution to avoid endangering the union.

Mr Blomfield warned that the UKs departure from the EUs political structures on 31 January would not mean that Mr Johnson had got Brexit done.

Well have completed the first step  departure  but the difficult stage is yet to come, he told MPs.

Mr Johnsons election victory did not give him a mandate to bulldoze through his version of Brexit, said the Labour frontbencher, adding: The next few months need to be approached with sensitivity and with caution if we are to stay together as a United Kingdom.

Mr Blackford was jeered by Tory MPs as he told the Commons after the vote: We do not consent under any circumstances to the people of Scotland and our country being taken out of the European Union against our will. Lets make no mistake  thats exactly what is happening.

To shouts of sit down from the Tory benches, he added: Yesterday, the Scottish parliament voted overwhelmingly not to give its consent. This is a constitutional crisis because we will not and we cannot accept what is being done to us.

I say to the prime minister  respect the right of the Scottish people to choose our future. We will have our referendum and Scotland will remain an independent European country.

An SNP amendment urging MPs to vote down the legislation because the Scottish parliament has withheld its consent was defeated by 329 votes to 62.

Brexit secretary Steve Barclay warned peers not to hold up the bill, saying: I anticipate constructive scrutiny as we would expect in the other place, but I have no doubt that their lordships will have heard the resounding message from the British people on 12 December.

And they will have seen the clear will of this House as expressed by the sizeable majorities in the committee votes.

Tory chairman James Cleverly said the Conservatives had reinstalled their Brexit countdown clock, posting a picture on social media of it standing at 22 days, 5 hours and 9 minutes with the message: Look whats back.

Brexit secretary Steve Barclay warned peers not to hold up the bill (Getty) (Getty Images)

But pro-EU Labour MP David Lammy voiced dismay at the passage of the bill: The consequences are that thousands of jobs will be lost, young people will lose the right to live and work freely in 27 EU countries, our rights and freedoms will be eroded, and our NHS is at risk. All we will get in return is a third-rate trade deal with Donald Trump.

Armed with an 80-strong majority following last months general election, Mr Johnson decided to fast-track the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) through its remaining stages in the Commons in just three days, where it has faced little substantial opposition.

However, it could face a rougher ride from pro-European peers, who are scheduled to debate it over seven days.

The prime ministers decision to strip out commitments in the bill to allow child refugees to reunite with their families has been branded disgraceful by opposition MPs, and is likely to prove a crunch point for peers.

Labour peer Alf Dubs, who fled the Nazis on the Kindertransport when he was six years old, had urged Tory MPs to back efforts to reinstate the protections in the Brexit legislation. However, the attempt was heavily defeated in the Commons on Wednesday.

The bills smooth passage comes in stark contrast to the trials Theresa May endured during her premiership.

Rebel Tories joined forces with opposition MPs to reject Ms Mays deal by 230 votes in January 2019  the worst government defeat in history  before inflicting two further defeats on the beleaguered prime minister.

Ms May was then forced to ask the EU to delay Brexit beyond 29 March, sowing the seeds for her resignation in the summer.

Mr Johnson secured the support of hardline Brexiteers by removing the controversial Irish backstop from Ms Mays deal, and later redrafted the WAB to strip out parliamentary oversight on trade negotiations, protections for workers and the commitments to child refugees. Downing Street insists these matters will be dealt with in separate legislation.

The PM was in the Commons to vote for the bill, but did not speak.

His official spokesman said: The prime minister obviously made it a priority after winning a majority to get Brexit done and to move the country forward, and securing the legislations passage through the Commons is a significant positive step for delivering on that.

The bill also enshrines in law the prime ministers pledge against extending the transition period beyond December 2020. This new deadline increases the risk of a no-deal Brexit, as it leaves Mr Johnson only 11 months to negotiate a trade deal with Brussels.

Ursula von der Leyen, the new European Commission president, said the timetable to get a trade deal agreed and ratified by the end of the year was very, very tight.
Chhapaak: High Court Rules In Favour Of Deepika Padukone's Film, Says No Copyright Claim On A Story Inspired By True Events
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 20:53:49|Editor: xuxin

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ALGIERS, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum Thursday said Algiers and Rome share convergent views over the necessity to reach a cease-fire in war-ridden Libya.

Coordination between Algeria and Italy on Libya is "very good," Boukadoum told a joint press conference attended by his Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio in Algiers, APS news agency reported.

He said that "a political solution is the most appropriate to Libya."

He further noted that negotiations between the conflicting Libyan parties "are necessary at this time because they are the first concerned with what is happening inside their own nation."

For his part, Di Maio said that all the countries he visited, including Turkey, Egypt, Belgium and Algeria, "agree on the necessity of reaching a peaceful solution and a cease-fire in Libya."

He stressed that "everyone agrees on the need to reach a solution that guarantees stability in the region."

Algeria, which shares 1,000 km-long border with Libya, fears the fallout of any potential "proxy war" in Libya between influential international powers.

Therefore, Algeria tends to stop the dangerous scenario on its national security, as it has deployed thousands of its troops to the border with Libya.

Libya has been hit by civil war since the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011.
LANSING -- More than 550 Michigan farmers grew industrial hemp" last year. That figure is only expected to rise as the newly legal industry takes hold in Michigan and across the nation.

Surging interest in the formerly illegal cannabis crop -- essentially marijuana with a negligible amount of the high-inducing compound THC -- is evidenced by the number of tickets already sold for an upcoming hemp farming expo in Lansing on Friday, Jan. 10 and Saturday, Jan. 11.

Sold out, sorry, the expo website says beneath the VIP all-access pass section to the event. The VIP tickets cost $349 and sold out weeks ago, said David Crabill, the spokesman for iHemp Michigan, the trade organization hosting the event in the Lansing Convention Center, 333 E. Michigan Ave. in Lansing.

Nearly 320 of those attendees will have special access to speakers and other amenities unavailable to the general public. However, public tickets remain available.

Two-day public passes, which include entrance to the expo floor with nearly 80 exhibitors and dozens of speakers, including presentations by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) and a Friday networking cash-bar event, are being sold for $70. Single-day Saturday tickets cost $30 and members of iHemp Michigan, an organization with nearly 100 business members, receive a $25 discount.

Memberships to iHemp Michigan cost $50 per year for individuals and $100 per year for businesses.

Theres a lot of enthusiasm for hemp and a lot of investment coming into Michigan as the industry develops, Crabill said. " ... Were building a new industry, so we need people from all skill sets to come together and make this happen.

He expects speakers and as many as 1,000 attendees to come from as far as California and Oregon.

Since hemp farming is in renewed infancy -- it was made illegal to grow in the 1938 Marijuana Tax Act and remained a controlled substance until the passage of the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill -- new farmers and support businesses have a lot to learn, Crabill said.

Michigan quickly created a state licensing program following passage of the 2018 federal farm bill that legalized commercial hemp. MDARD charges $100 for hemp grow applications and $1,350 for processor-handler applications.

While there is a lot of excitement around the states newest crop, many questions remain on the long-term, overall regulation of hemp, CBD and hemp products, MDARD spokeswoman Jennifer Holton said. "There is a steep learning curve for everyone involved in this budding commodity  farmers, federal and state regulators and local authorities.

MDARD looks forward to seeing where this new commodity goes in 2020 and beyond.

Last year, Michigans 572 licensed hemp farmers, with the help of 423 processors, harvested 30,000 acres of land. How much hemp that land yielded is expected to be released as part of an MDARD first-year pilot program report this spring, Holton said.

With hemp planting season remains months away, 238 hemp farming licenses have been issued so far for this years growing season. Holton said there are no estimates as to how many licenses the agency expects to issue.

Hemp and marijuana, which remains an illegal controlled substance alongside heroin at the federal level, although its legal for recreational and medical use in Michigan, come from the same plant, cannabis sativa. The plants look and smell very similar; however, theyre regulated completely differently.

MDARD regulates hemp as a crop. The Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency regulates marijuana as a product like alcohol.

The similarities have led to some confusion among law enforcement. New York police in November boasted about the seizure of a 106-pound marijuana shipment destined for our city streets.

Officers Greenidge and Ganshaw from the @NYPD75Pct used precision policing and relentless follow-up, along with a great working relationship with @FedEx and other local law enforcement officials, to confiscate 106 pounds of marijuana that was destined for our city streets. pic.twitter.com/OnRyLsH90D  NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) November 5, 2019

It was later determined the marijuana was actually legal industrial hemp.

Hemp is defined as containing less than .3% of tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly known as THC, the compound in marijuana that causes an intoxicating high.

The proliferation of lucrative CBD oil, a loosely regulated cannabis extract used as a natural remedy for anxiety, insomnia, depression and pain, among other ailments, is credited for piqued interest in hemp farming.

CBD products are readily available for sale at convenience stores across Michigan -- even at the Family Video movie rental chain -- as concentrates added to drinks, food and tinctures, a liquid form that can be placed under the tongue with a dropper.

Crabill said most of Michigans new hemp farmers entered the market with CBD profits in mind, but hes excited to watch the industry morph as demand for hemp and its extracts increase to include countless other products, including lubricants, textiles and to replace oil-based plastics.

Crabill said a lack of processing facilities, which can cost millions of dollars, and immature farming technology that allows for large-scale harvesting, are delaying expansion.

Right now, many first-time hemp farmers are employing laborers to manually and tediously tend or harvest crops.

Companies like Colorado-based Formation Ag, one of the exhibitors and sponsors of the Lansing hemp farming expo, are quickly advancing the industry by designing hemp-specific, large-scale farm equipment to increase efficiency, Carbill said.

Genetics are also a big topic of discussion, since the presence of more than .3% of THC may result in the total loss of a farmers crop.

In a couple of years, were going to be growing more for fiber and grain, and that (will be done) on a large scale, mechanically," Crabill said. Those who are able to figure it out and are able to scale up are going to be very successful."

-- Gus Burns is the marijuana beat reporter for MLive. Contact him with questions, tips or comments at fburns@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, @GusBurns. Read more from MLive about medical and recreational marijuana.

More on MLive:

Hemp could become huge industry in Michigan

USDA releases preliminary hemp farming rules

Hemp program shrouded in secrecy

Family Video all in on CBD oil
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During the first Portland City Council meeting since Commissioner Nick Fishs death, his chair and nameplate remained in their usual spot on the far right side of the council dais.

His four colleagues held a 20-second moment of silence to honor him Wednesday, then shared their memories of working alongside him. The commissioners posthumously appointed Fish as council president, a rotating position he had been next in line to receive before he died of abdominal cancer Jan. 2.

Commissioner Amanda Fritz said she knew Fish for 12 years and that it was still hard for her to put into words how large of a lost his presence is to her and all of those who knew him.

She said most people wouldnt have known how sick Fish was over the last two years because he was present so often. Fritz thanked Fishs family for sharing him with the city and said he often was open to hearing from constituents whenever they spotted him in public and went out of his way to let people know that hes been listening.

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty said shell miss Fish and his tenacity, noting he ran for Portland City Council three times until he was elected and that he personally insisted on being on the campaign trial in 2018 despite his illness.

Sometimes he sent surrogates, but most of the time, he showed up, said Hardesty, who was running for city council herself at the time. I told him, People will forgive you for not being here. But it was important for him, wanting to be reelected, that he showed up in public forums.

Hardesty was named council president Thursday after commissioners briefly appointed Fish to the position.

Fritz and Mayor Ted Wheeler said that before Fish died, the four members of the council had planned for him to be council president for the first half of the year as part of their regular rotation. The commissioner who holds that six-month designation acts as the de-facto mayor if Wheeler is absent.

Commissioner Chloe Eudaly said she wasnt able to meet with Fish in the time shortly before he died because she was in a hospital over the holidays with her son.

I was still hoping against hope that he would be coming back to us or that he would finally take the break that we all encouraged him to take to focus on himself, she said. He carried himself with such strength and dignity through this illness that I dont think even people quite close to him realized how dire his condition was.

Eudaly said shell never forget showing up to her first council meeting in 2017 after being elected and Fish being the first to welcome her. She said he left his mark on Portlands affordable housing, environmental services, parks and cleanup and restoration of the citys waterways. She said Fish brought institutional knowledge, humor, civility and a willingness to compromise to the council.

Wheeler said he appreciated Fishs intelligence, thoughtfulness and humor. The mayor said Fish introduced him to some of his best and closest allies and that he really embraced the good things a politician should be, including meeting with supporters and opponents.

Fish could have been in any political office in the country, but he chose to be a Portland city commissioner, the mayor said.

He gave the best years of his life in that seat over there, Wheeler said gesturing toward Fishs empty chair. And he did it because he loved it. He loved this city. He loved you. And it was genuine.

Wheeler said he often saw Fish meeting one-on-one with constituents at Caffe Umbria in downtown Portland. The mayor vowed to hold one-on-one meetings with constituents to honor the late commissioner.

-- Everton Bailey Jr; ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 | @EvertonBailey

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Weeks after nailing down a contract to keep operating here, San Francisco-based Lime abruptly announced it was pulling out of San Antonios electric scooter scene Thursday, citing low ridership and high city fees.

A Lime spokesman who asked not to be identified said the company is laying off 14 percent of its workforce and also would be withdrawing from Atlanta; Phoenix; San Diego, Calif.; and eight other cities in Europe and Latin America.

The spokesman said Limes departure will involve closing its regional repair center in San Antonio and moving those operations to Austin.

Lime will stay in more than 120 markets in 32 countries, but Thursdays move was the latest corporate adjustment to months of steady decline in scooter ridership in San Antonio and elsewhere.

It left the Alamo City with two remaining scooter companies, Bird and Razor, each permitted to deploy 1,000 of the rentable dockless vehicles  compared to about 7,000 from nine competitors that clogged downtown sidewalks a year ago.

Monthly scooter ridership in San Antonio has declined from a peak of 300,000 in December, 2018 to 82,000 in November, city figures show.

Top hits: Get San Antonio Express-News stories sent directly to your inbox

As part of our path to profitability, Lime has made the difficult decision to exit San Antonio and focus our resources on markets that allows us to meet our ambitious goals for 2020, the firm said in a statement Thursday. We appreciate the partnership weve enjoyed with San Antonio and remain hopeful we can reintroduce Lime back into the community when the time is right.

Valued at about $2.4 billion and claiming to have passed Bird as the leader in the American market, Lime had secured a two-year contract in December to operate here, one of only three firms chosen as the city narrowed down the local competition.

A month earlier, after being ranked No. 1 in the citys competition for the contracts, Lyft also suddenly pulled out of San Antonio, citing similar concerns about profitability and ridership. That move caused a musical chairs rearrangement of scooter companies that had submitted proposals to the city, elevating Bird to the No. 3 spot after Lime and Razor.

San Antonio officials who administer the scooter program said they learned of Limes exit shortly before noon Thursday. Though the City Council has consistently said it wanted three companies, a city statement didnt suggest the next-highest ranked company, Spin, would automatically be elevated to the third spot.

The city will continuously monitor the market and collect data on dockless vehicle usage, and in the event the data supports additional permits, city staff will present City Council with a recommendation, the statement said.

On ExpressNews.com: For poorer San Antonians, scooters are hard to find, hard to use

Though surprised by the news, Councilman Roberto Trevino said Limes withdrawal perhaps is a routine business move in a young and disruptive industry that only started in late 2017, in Santa Monica, Calif.

Theres always a buzz when something new captures our attention, said Trevino, who has courted the scooter firms as a welcome addition to downtown mobility since their arrival in San Antonio in June 2018. But the business model has to be sustainable.

Trevino said Limes suggestion that high city fees had played into its decision to leave would concern him more if San Antonio was the only city that had been jilted.

On ExpressNews.com: Scooter companies want their San Antonio proposals kept secret

If it were just about fees, that would be surprising, but its a complex issue, he said. Theyre leaving other markets as well. We should always take a look at the fees and see if there are any barriers, but I think the program has been well handled.

After a seemingly meteoric launch into the urban transportation scene, scooter ridership has settled down in dozens of cities across the country over the past six months.

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
- Wolliston, who is a single mother, gave birth to her first set of twins in March 2019

- She welcomed the second set in December 2019

- The mother of twins already has a three-year-old daughter

- Wolliston has since opened a GoFundMe asking for help

After welcoming a set of twins on March 13, a single mother in Florida identified as Alexzandria Wolliston welcomed another set of twins on December 27, 2019.

Wolliston believes the boys were a gift after recently learning that her paternal and maternal grandmothers had lost twin boys at birth.

READ ALSO: Woman celebrates son who accompanied her to interview and prayed until she landed job

Alexzandria Wolliston and her new set of twins. Photo credit: WPTV

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Miguna Miguna, government spokesman face off over lawyer's troubled return to Kenya

According to a report by CNN, Wolliston gave birth to her first set of twin boys, Mark and Malakhi, in March 2019 and second set, Kaylen and Kayleb, in December 2019. All of them were conceived naturally.

The last set of twins, Kaylen and Kaleb, were born prematurely at 34 weeks.

"I always say that I feel like my grandmothers gave me their kids because two sets of twins and their twins passed away. I feel like they just sent them down for me," she said.

READ ALSO: Sudan bans newspapers, TV stations over ties to former president

Alexzandria Wolliston and her first set of twins. Photo credit: WPTV

Source: UGC

The 25-year-old said prior to giving birth to Mark and Malakhi, she was unaware twins ran in both sides of her family.

"When my mom told me, and my aunties and uncles on my dad's side told me, I was like shocked," she said.

The single mother of twins, who also has three-year-old girl, said she learned in June 2019 that she was expecting her second set of twins.

READ ALSO: Picha ya wanafunzi wa Pembroke House wakiripoti shuleni wakitumia ndege yazua gumzo

"I never thought that it could happen that fast and it did. I was worried about how my body would be able to handle a back-to-back twin pregnancy," she said.

Wolliston disclosed her doctor told her she had better chances of winning the lottery than having two sets of twins and delivering them in the same year.

Her first set of twins were considered high risk because they were in the same sac using only one placenta.

READ ALSO: Magical tree, gourd behind Kalenjin's mursik delicacy

However, the second set of twins each had their own sac and she was only required to visit her doctor once a month throughout her pregnancy.

She has since opened a GoFundMe page asking for help to raise $10,000 (KSh 1.1 million) but not everyone is happy about the idea.

Reacting to public criticism about the page, Wolliston said people had so many opinions about her family and she, therefore, asked them to help out.

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Sylvia Campoy, a representative for the Mendoza plaintiffs, said TUSD has not complied with the desegregation court order. There is a continued racial disparity in student discipline and the district hasnt properly implemented a plan specific to Mexican American Student Services, she said.

The academic achievement of Mexican American/Latino students continues to be of monumental concern to the Mendoza plaintiffs, Campoy wrote in an email. The seemingly casual abandonment of these type of academic services manifests the districts ongoing lack of good faith effort in implementing important elements of its desegregation court order.

Since the inception of its desegregation court order some 40 years ago, TUSD has denied any wrongdoing and has consistently argued its full compliance.

The district receives more than $60 million annually from a tax levy to cover expenses in the desegregation effort.

Once the case is closed, TUSD will still have the funds available to them for a time, but Trujillo said the district will only ask the taxpayers for the funds necessary to keep successful student programs.
The mother of a 2-year-old girl who was found unresponsive in Whitman and later died has been arrested on a charge of reckless endangerment of a child, authorities announced.

Shaniqua Leonard, 29, was arrested by Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the Plymouth District Attorneys office Thursday.

The state police detectives and Whitman police obtained an arrest warrant charging her with reckless endangerment of a child, the Plymouth District Attorneys office said.

Leonard was arrested in Dorchester.

On Dec. 28, authorities received a 911 call around 12:02 a.m. for a report of an unresponsive child at 863 Washington St. Apt. 3 in Whitman.

Police and firefighters arrived at the scene and took the child, identified by authorities as Lyric Farrell, to Brockton Hospital. The little girl was then flown to Boston Childrens Hospital in critical condition.

Lyric was taken off life support on Dec. 31 around 3 p.m., the district attorneys office said.

WCVB reports the child had been recently returned to her mother from foster care by the state Department of Children & Families.

Leonard will be arraigned in Brockton District Court.

The cause and manner of Lyrics death are yet to be determined.
I wonder if any of us have learned from the past, Ofra Bloch, the director of Afterward, says upon hearing the agonizing story of Abir Aramin, a 10-year-old Palestinian girl who was shot and killed by Israeli forces in 2007.

Yet when watching Abirs father speak of forgiveness, and discovering that more than 100 former Israeli soldiers and officers later worked to plant a garden in the childs name, optimism flickers. Such moments keep this tough documentary from sinking into despair.

Bloch was born in Jerusalem, served in the Israeli military and later moved to the United States. To explore her own history, and to better understand rising anti-Semitism around the world, she travels to Germany, where she and other Jews are treated as victims. Elsewhere, she speaks with Palestinians, who curse Israelis as occupiers.
Presidente @MartinVizcarraC: Ponemos al servicio de los ciudadanos, este nuevo puente que cuenta con las caracteristicas necesarias de acuerdo a los factores climaticos y geograficos de la zona. pic.twitter.com/mRcyK14viS
TDP leaders and workers on Thursday held a sit-in protest on the highway near Kanchikacharla against Jagan Mohan Reddy government's proposal to shift state capital from Amaravati.

Former MLA T Sowmya also took part in the protest. Protestors raised slogans against Reddy and in favour of Amaravati capital. They burnt tyres on the highway and blocked the traffic on the stretch for hours.

The GN Rao Committee, which was set up by the Andhra Pradesh government to look into the suggestion of three capitals, has made a favourable recommendation saying it will help in decentralised development and put the available resources to the best use.

It proposed Visakhapatnam as the Executive capital and Kurnool the judicial capital while retaining Amaravati as the legislative capital.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Russian government proposes severe penalties for online drug propaganda

 RIA Novosti, Aleksey Druzhinin

13:55 09/01/2020

MOSCOW, January 9 (RAPSI)  Russian government has submitted a bill setting fines of up to 1.5 million rubles ($24,500) for publishing banned information on drugs and psychotropic substances on the Internet to the lower house of parliament. The document has been published on the official State Duma database.

Amendments are proposed to the Code on Administrative Offenses.

Fines for online propaganda of drugs, psychotropic substances, their precursors, plants containing narcotic or psychotropic substances and new potentially dangerous psychoactive drugs would be punishable by fines ranging from 5,000 to 30,000 rubles for individuals, from 50,000 to 100,000 rubles for officials, from 50,000 to 100,000 rubles for unincorporated business, from 1 to 1.5 million rubles for legal entities or suspension of their operation for up to 90 days.

Moreover, the draft law envisages penalties varying from 4,000 to 30,000 rubles plus possible deportation from Russia or administrative detention for up to 15 days for promotion or illegal advertisement of drugs by foreigners or persons without citizenship.




[January 08, 2020] atta Inc., a travel tech start-up that uses big data and AI, has raised 3 million USD in Series A round of investment

TOKYO, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- atta Inc. (represented by CEO & President: Yoshihisa Haruyama), a travel metasearch application that uses big data and AI (https://atta.ai), has announced the successful completion of its Series A funding of 3 million USD. List of new investors (In Alphabetical Order) Mitsubishi UFJ Capital VII , Limited Partnership (Managed by Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co., Ltd.)

, Limited Partnership (Managed by Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co., Ltd.) Mynavi Corporation

Nagoya TV Ventures, LLC

Sansei VI , Limited Partnership for Investment (Managed by Sansei Capital Investment Co.,Ltd.)

, Limited Partnership for Investment (Managed by Sansei Capital Investment Co.,Ltd.) Suneight OK Partnership ( Managed by OMURO WORKSHOP Co., Ltd.)

Managed by OMURO WORKSHOP Co., Ltd.) Suneight - PS1 Investment Partnership ( Managed by Suneight Investment Co., Ltd. )

PS1 Investment Partnership Managed by Suneight Investment Co., Ltd. 31VENTURES Global Innovation Fund (CVC Fund of Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. and managed by Global Brain Corporation) History of Company & Purpose of fund-raising atta Inc. (formerly WithTravel) was founded on 12 March 2018. On 12 March 2019, atta Pte. Ltd. was established in Singapore as a wholly owned subsidiary of atta Inc. There are 2 offices which supports atta's operations, one in Tokyo and one in Singapore. In July 2019, the atta app was launched after a year of development. In 2020 and beyond, to further accelerate the growth of users and improve our metasearch services, atta Inc. will recruit engineers, stregthen digital marketing efforts, grow PR engagements, and increase regional and local partnerships for the Japanese and Southeast Asian markets.



In response to this release, CEO Haruyama said, "We have received positive updates from shareholders, and we have continued to upgrade existing services and we will continue to develop new products that will satisfy travellers." In addition, CEO Haruyama added that, "We are glad that through our push notifications and price alerts, we have saved our travellers 1.275M USD in total since our launch. We continue on our mission to deliver the best experience to save our users time and money in the process!"

Web landing page: https://atta.ai/

iOS app: https://apps.apple.com/app/atta-get-hotel-flight-deals/id1406244428

Android app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.atta * Search for atta in each app store * Features of atta Global coverage

Search for flights to and from 4400 airports globally. Search from more than 2.3 million hotels, ryokan, private lodgings, villas and inns around the world.





Search for flights to and from 4400 airports globally. Search from more than 2.3 million hotels, ryokan, private lodgings, villas and inns around the world. Search just once for various travel sites

Easily compare and search flights and hotels on offer from many travel sites all at once.





Easily compare and search flights and hotels on offer from many travel sites all at once. Predicting the probability that the accommodation and flight ticket prices will be cheaper in future

Utilizing AI to analyse the demand trends of accommodation and flight ticket prices and predicting the probability that the current price will drop further in the future.





Utilizing AI to analyse the demand trends of accommodation and flight ticket prices and predicting the probability that the current price will drop further in the future. PriceAlerts and vacancy alert functions

Notifications sent to user's smartphone when the price of the desired accommodation or flight ticket price has dropped or when a vacancy opens up in a previously unavailable accommodation.





Notifications sent to user's smartphone when the price of the desired accommodation or flight ticket price has dropped or when a vacancy opens up in a previously unavailable accommodation. "Search All Destinations" Flight Ticket Search Functionality

Simply enter the departure place and desired travel date, and the list of available travel destinations will be displayed in ascending order of the ticket price, making it easy to find your desired destination. About atta Inc. (https://atta.ai) atta Inc. is a travel tech start-up with offices in Tokyo and Singapore. The Singapore office has been incorporated as atta Pte. Ltd., which operates as a wholly owned subsidiary company of atta Inc. Using innovative technology, atta attempts to solve the pain-points that a traveler feels during the travel booking process. atta uses big data and AI to analyse the prices of airline tickets to and from 4400 airports and the room rates from more than 2.3 million accommodations around the world and predicts the probability that the price will drop in future. In addition, we offer a PriceAlerts function that will notify smartphones in real-time when the price drops. The atta app is available in both iOS and Android app stores and is currently available in Japanese and English, with more languages to be offered in the future. atta was part of Facebook's startup support program FbStart, the Asahi Media Acceleration Program as well as the Grasshopper Program operated by Dentsu. atta was the only Japanese company that was invited to the pitch battle at RISE Conference Event 2019 in Hong Kong, the world's largest tech start-up event. atta was invited to speak at ITB Asia 2019 on the topic of innovation in travel and was a finalist of the ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards 2019. Most recently, atta was among the Top 100 Global Start-ups chosen to pitch at the finals of SLINGSHOT 2019 at SFF x SWITCH 2019 and was awarded the Mediacorp prize worth 300,000 SGD of media budget. <Company Profile> Name: atta Inc.

Established: March 12, 2018

President: Yoshihisa Haruyama

Capital: Approximately 5.6 million USD (including capital reserve)

(including capital reserve) Tokyo Location: 5F gran + NISHINIPPORI, 5-6-10 Nishi-Nippori, Arakawa-ku, Tokyo 116-0013

Nishi-Nippori, Arakawa-ku, 116-0013 Singapore Location: 115 King George's Avenue, 03-02, Singapore 208561

208561 Corporate site: https://atta.ai/company/en/ Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20200108/2685544-1

Logo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20200108/2685544-1LOGO SOURCE atta Inc.

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Bank of Ireland is warning customers to be aware of a text message scam in circulation.

It says a fraudulent SMS is currently doing the rounds.

The bank is reminding people it will never ask customers to disclose personal information such as PINs by text or email.

In a tweet, the bank stated: "We are aware of a smishing/fraudulent SMS in circulation.

"Please be aware BOI will never ask you to disclose any of your personal information, PINs or login details by SMS /email.

"Always check with us here if you're unsure. We're here 24/7.

"You can also email 365security@boi.com."
The House has concluded its Constitutional responsibility by adopting Articles of Impeachment related to the Ukraine matter. It now falls to the Senate to fulfill its Constitutional obligation to try impeachments, and it does not appear possible that a final judicial resolution of the still-unanswered Constitutional questions can be obtained before the Senate acts. Accordingly, since my testimony is once again at issue, I have had to resolve the serious competing issues as best I could, based on careful consideration and study. I have concluded that, if the Senate issues a subpoena for my testimony, I am prepared to testify.

The President & Sen. McConnell have run out of excuses. They must allow key witnesses to testify, and produce the documents Trump has blocked, so Americans can see the facts for themselves.



The Senate cannot be complicit in the President's cover-up. #DefendOurDemocracy https://t.co/TQLJsfn0f5  Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 6, 2020

On Monday, former National Security Advisor John Bolton threw the media into a tizzy with a simple announcement: he would testify before the Senate, he said, if subpoenaed. The media responded with two predictable reactions. First, they suggested that Bolton had somehow undercut his own case with regard to not testifying before Congress; second, they suggested that Bolton was now preparing to scuttle Trump. Both reactions were premature.First, Bolton did not undermine his own actions with regard to the House of Representatives. According to Democrats , Bolton had stated back in November, through his lawyer, that if subpoenaed, he would join a lawsuit by one of his aides, Charles Kupperman, seeking a judgment from a court as to whether he would be violating executive privilege by testifying before Congress. Congress refused to subpoena Bolton at all, instead moving forward with impeachment without his testimony. After Congress moved forward, Kupperman's lawsuit became moot. This prompted a statement from Bolton This is not inconsistent. In the case of the House, the judiciary had time to weigh in with regard to an executive privilege claim; the same is not true in a Senate trial. Even in the Senate, the White House might sue to quash to subpoena, which would take Bolton off the hook. So nothing much has changed here - except when it comes to public perception.Which brings us to narrative #2: the supposed Bolton turn against Trump. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is attempting to use Bolton's statement that way:Procedurally, Bolton's statement changes nothing. Senate Majority Leader McConnell is in charge. Pelosi is not. She has no tools at her advantage to use against him. If the House had wanted Bolton's testimony, they had plenty of time to go through the process. They didn't.But Bolton's statement obviously cuts against Trump's interests - it does make the Senate look as though they're dismissing the charges without hearing a relevant witness, which serves the interest of Democrats. That's Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's pitch:Unless Bolton is planning not to give the Democrats what they want. Which they might already know, and which would explain why Democrats didn't go through the process to subpoena Bolton in the House.Here's the bottom line: we don't know what Bolton is planning to say. Some of the Republican Senators - Collins, Murkowski, and Romney most prominently - have hinted that they'd like to hear from Bolton. Most Americans would. But we're still a few weeks away from all of that. And McConnell is under no obligation to do Pelosi's dirty work when she refused to even run the House impeachment investigations with any semblance of propriety.
Confronting a wave of public anger over its initial indifference to the countrys bushfire crisis, the Australian government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison is now engaged in an exercise of damage control to salvage its standing with limited promises of aid and assistance.

The federal Coalition government rejected expert advice that the 20192020 fire season would be catastrophic and refused to finance even limited increases in firefighting capabilities. Moreover, working people have watched with growing fury as Morrison and his ministers responded to the outbreak of unprecedented blazes by dismissing overwhelming evidence that the fire crisis is linked to global warming.

On Tuesday, with his government under siege, Morrison announced that $2 billion in assistance will be provided over the next two years, dispensed by a newly-established National Bushfire Recovery Agency. The money will be focussed in particular on business with emergency financial grants to farmers and small business owners, the rebuilding of damaged roads, bridges and infrastructure and the provision of mental health services in affected communities. Funds will also be used to promote tourism in the numerous tourist-reliant towns ravaged by fire.

Wildfires rage under plumes of smoke in Bairnsdale, Australia. (Glen Morey via AP)

The announcement followed the governments unprecedented mobilisation of 3,000 army reservists without bothering to notify fire services as to how they would be deployed. Most have no training in firefighting and are being used to fill in the gaping logistical holes that exist because of the underfunding of civilian emergency services. They are loading and unloading trucks, delivering supplies, clearing roads and burying the carcasses of thousands of livestock killed by the blazes.

State governments have also brought forward their own relief measures. In Victoria, the Labor government of Premier Daniel Andrews, which has presided over the running down of the state fire services, has announced the establishment of Bushfire Recovery Victoria. The agency has been allocated an initial budget of just $50 million with other money to come from a government-run charity collecting donations.

In New South Wales, where the losses have so far been the worst, the state Coalition government today announced a $1 billion package to assist in the rebuilding of fire devastated communities. It also unveiled a scheme that allows affected farmers, businesses and non-profit organisations to apply for up to $15,000 in assistance. The South Australian government is soliciting corporate and private donations for a State Emergency Relief Fund.

In contrast to these limited government measures, there has been an outpouring of public sympathy and support for those impacted by the fires. Charities appealing for food and clothing to send to the fire victims have been overwhelmed with contributions. An online appeal launched by comedian Celeste Barber, with an initial aim of raising $750,000 for the volunteer NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS), has collected over $45 million so far. A Red Cross fire assistance appeal has raised a similar amount. A Salvation Army appeal has collected over $15 million.

Australian and international artistic celebrities, including Nicole Kidman, Kylie and Dannie Minogue, Russell Crowe, Chris Hemsworth, Pink, the rock band Metallica and Elton John, have all announced large personal donations. The Business Council of Australia, representing the largest companies in the country, has asked its members to finance a modest $25 million trust to provide long-term education and other support to the children of firefighters who have lost their lives. Major Australian-based banks and corporations have announced donations of between $1 million and $5 million.

Donations from around the world are also flooding into animal welfare organisations, in response to the footage that has been broadcast of the fire impact on koalas and other native wildlife, and the estimate that at least 500 million animals have been killed.

The financial assistance will, at best, only deliver relief for some of those affected by the fires. Many victims will receive little or no financial assistance.

More than 2,000 homes have burnt to the ground and hundreds more have been damaged. Hundreds of vehicles have been destroyed. Affected people will have to wait for insurance pay-outs before they can even begin to consider whether they rebuild their lives. A Victorian government survey in 2017 found that 26 percent of households in the state had no insurance, and 28 percent were underinsured. So far, 8,000 fire-related insurance claims have been filed across the country, totalling barely $700 millionan average of just $87,500 per claim.

Farms have lost not only livestock, outbuildings, equipment and fencing, but the land itself will take time to recover. Even the most comprehensive insurance pay-outs will not cover the full losses. Many farmers face the wrenching decision of whether re-establishing their operations is even worth the years of financial hardship and stress.

People who suffered physical injuries defending their homes or evacuating from them are not eligible for compensation. Tens of thousands of casual and contract workers who have not been able to work for weeks due to the fires will not be compensated. Unemployment and poverty will soar in affected areas. The tourism will take years to recoverregardless of government-funded advertising campaigns.

Moreover, the federal and state governments have no plan, let alone funding, for the urgently needed expansion of fire and other emergency services and fire prevention measures. The 20192020 fire season has already been devastating and the most intense summer months have only begun. The reality, however, is global warming means conditions will only worsen in future years.

Billions of dollars are required to finance the immediate recruitment and training of a standing, professional national firefighting force, equipped with its own fleet of aircraft and helicopters and array of heavy earth-moving and clearing vehicles. Local volunteer fire brigades and overstretched national and state park services are unable to carry out necessary hazard reduction measures during the winter months. More funding is required to ensure that local volunteer fire brigades have up-to-date firefighting vehicles and equipment and to fully pay their members for the time they take away from their work or businesses.

The entire political establishment is complicit. Both the opposition Labor Party and the Greens far from condemning the Morrison government are pushing for another Royal Commission inquiry into the fire crisis as a means of defusing public anger.

Yet the lack of preparedness for the scale of the 20192020 fires is in part due to the fact that federal and state governments, both Coalition and Labor, have ignored the main recommendations of previous inquiries into the impact of previous fires and other disasters on the grounds they would be too costly to implement.
For a former Jacksonville resident living in Australia, the wildfires now devastating his home have brought tragedy to his new neighbors, although the fires have not reached his home.

Kerry McCombs and his family moved back to Australia earlier this year. They live in Queensland, roughly 70 miles from Australias eastern coast.

We have had fires near us; however, all the risk has been to those who live in isolated areas where resources are naturally thin on the ground, McCombs said.

Australia has experienced months of wildfires brought on by drought, strong winds and record-breaking temperatures. A heatwave  fed in part by fires so intense that theyre generating their own weather patterns  has created average highs around 107 degrees.

We have been in drought conditions for a number of years now and it has affected everybody, especially our farmers who are doing it tough, McCombs said.  With the drought conditions and so much bush, a lot of fuel for fires is created on the ground.

Fires have been burning in the country since September, when a fire in the mountains of Queensland destroyed Binna Burra Lodge, according to The New York Times. There are about 90 fires burning in New South Wales alone.

With the months-long burning, at least 24 people have died, nearly 18 million acres of land have burned and millions of animals have died or been displaced. At least 24 people have been arrested for intentionally starting fires in New South Wales. Officials have taken action against 183 people, either bringing criminal charges or issuing warnings for not complying with a total fire ban or discarding a lit cigarette or match on land, according to police.

Regardless, there are numerous lives that have been lost and an enormous amount of private and public property destroyed, McCombs said. This is a tragedy similar to what those people on your (U.S.) West Coast have endured over the years. It is difficult to predict and almost impossible to stop.

McCombs said he is thankful for those who are working to control and put out the wildfires and hopes the country can find a way to curb the growing threat of wildfires.

The weather conditions are cyclic and probably before records were kept the same conditions prevailed maybe 200 or 300 years ago, McCombs said. Given the situation and the expanse of the area involved there is nothing that anyone can do, despite the heroic efforts of all our volunteers and emergency service workers. It is natures way of reminding us we are not in control of what happens and that we had better prepare better in the future.
One of the engines of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, a Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport on January 8, 2020, is seen in this still image taken from Iran Press footage. (Iran Press/Handout via Reuters)

Iran Likely Shot Down Ukraine Airlines Flight With Canadians Aboard: Trudeau

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the plane that crashed in Iran on Jan. 8, killing 176 peopleincluding dozens of Canadian nationalswas likely shot down by an Iranian missile.

We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. This may well have been unintentional, the prime minister told reporters Jan. 9 at a news conference.

Ukraine Airlines flight PS752 crashed near Tehran shortly after takeoff, hours after Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops.

Trudeau was asked about whether the downing of the plane was an intentional act; he replied that he wasnt ruling that out.

It is really too early to draw any conclusions, he told reporters. The families of the victims and all Canadians want answers. I want answers. That means closure, accountability, and justice. We will not rest until we get that, he added.

While Iranian officials had originally suggested that the Boeing 737-800 fell from the sky because of a technical problem, President Donald Trump suggested Jan. 9 that he didnt believe the plane went down due to a mechanical error.

Its a tragic thing. But somebody could have made a mistake, on the other side, he told reporters.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a file photo. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

According to officials, 63 passengers on the plane had Canadian passports, and many others were living in Canada as permanent residents or had visas.

Unnamed U.S. officials told Fox News, CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, and several other news outlets Jan. 9 they believe the plane was mistakenly targeted by Iran.

We have a high level of confidence that this was shot down by Iran, an unidentified American official was quoted by the Journal as saying.

The Epoch Times couldnt independently verify the reports, and Pentagon officials didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.

Data showed the Boeing 737-800 was airborne for two minutes after departing Tehran, when the heat signatures of two surface-to-air missiles were detected, Reuters reported, citing an unidentified U.S. official.

Following the reports of Iranian involvement, the countrys head of civil aviation denied the reports as illogical rumors.

Scientifically, it is impossible that a missile hit the Ukrainian plane, and such rumors are illogical, Irans Civil Aviation Organisation (CAOI) chief Ali Abedzadeh told the ISNA News Agency.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a statement that he had spoken to Irans foreign minister.

Iranian officials should allow Canadian investigators to be quickly granted access to Iran to provide consular services, help with identification of the deceased and take part in the investigation of the crash, according to a statement, Reuters reported.

Canada and Canadians have many questions which will need to be answered.
John McDonagh (left) and Stephen McDonagh (right) of The Steeples in Navan, Co Meath, appeared before Judge Denis McLoughlin at Cavan District Court today

Two men have been charged with vehicle theft after a minibus was stolen from outside Dublin Airport with three passengers on it which was then involved in a cross border chase involving gardai and the PSNI.

The stolen minibus was eventually crashed in Monaghan before a car was stolen and chased by gardai.

Stephen McDonagh (25) and John McDonagh (26), of The Steeples in Navan, Co Meath, appeared before Judge Denis McLoughlin at Cavan District Court today on multiple charges arising from the airport incident and other incidents allegedly committed in recent weeks in counties Monaghan and Meath.

Detective garda Ciaran Marks from Carrickmacross garda station said John McDonagh made no reply when charged with two counts of unauthorised taking of vehicles in Dublin and Monaghan on January 8 as well as two counts of burglary, three of theft, an unauthorised taking of a vehicle and four road traffic offences in recent weeks in counties Meath and Monaghan.

Detective garda Karen Mullen said Stephen McDonagh made no response when charged with two counts of unauthorised taking of vehicles in Dublin and Monaghan on January 8 as well as one count of burglary, two counts of unauthorised takings of vehicles, and one theft in recent weeks in counties Meath and Monaghan.

John McDonagh wore a green jacket with a hood, and green trousers while being led to court.

Stephen McDonagh wore a dark grey zip-up fleece and navy blue tracksuit bottoms but then changed to light grey tracksuit bottoms.

Two men were arrested after three tourists were driven away at high speed in a shuttle bus that was hijacked at Dublin Airport in the early hours of Wednesday.

Having offloaded the three tourists the minibus was involved in a pursuit to the border, after which it engaged with the PSNI before being driven back to Co Monaghan and crashed during a garda chase.

A car was then stolen nearby and involved with a pursuit with Gardai until it too crashed and the accused were arrested.

John McDonagh made an application for bail which was objected to by detective Garda Marks.

He outlined the seriousness of the charges against McDonagh, and outlined how the accused can be seen on CCTV at the Carlton hotel and Dublin Airport on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

Det garda Marks told how it is alleged that the driver of the bus left it at Dublin airport and the accused and his co-accused drove it away with the side door open while there were three other passengers on board.

Two were UK students returning from a scouting trip to the US.

The third was a Colombian woman travelling to Germany.

The minibus collided with a taxi near the airport and then let the scene driving erratically towards the north.

He said demands for money were made of the passengers, who declined to pay before exiting the vehicle.

He said the vehicle was then driven north and rammed a garda patrol car before driving across the border and ramming a PSNI vehicle.

Det garda Marks said the vehicle then returned to the Republic into Co Monaghan and was followed by gardai before it crashed.

He said two men were seen running from it to a private house where a Seat car was stolen and involved in a high speed pursuit before ramming a garda armed support unit vehicle resulting in both vehicles to crash into a barrier.

He told the judge it was also likely that further charges would follow.

Judge McLoughlin denied John McDonagh bail, and both men were remanded in custody to appear again at Cloverhill District Court on January 16.
He is one of Britain's most celebrated actors with a career spanning four decades.

And Gary Oldman looked well and truly in character as he filmed scenes for his latest film Mank, in which he plays screenwriter Herman J Mankiewicz.

The actor, 61, looked nearly unrecognisable as he filmed outside the Biltmore Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles this week.

Filming: Gary Oldman ,61, looked well and truly in character as he filmed scenes for his latest film Mank in which he plays screenwriter Herman J Mankiewicz

Gary donned a dark green blazer and matching trousers along with a white shirt and dark tie as he shot the scene.

The Oscar winner also sported a bowler hat and smoked a cigarette while in character as the writer.

The film follows Herman as he battles with film director Orson Welles for screenwriting credit for Citizen Kane (1941).

Citizen Kane would go on to be considered one of the best films of all time, although its script was the only part of the picture that won an Academy Award.

On location: The actor looked nearly unrecognisable as he filmed outside the Biltmore Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles this week

Dapper: Gary donned a dark green blazer and matching trousers along with a white shirt and dark tie as he shot the scene

Mank is directed by David Fincher, his first feature film since Gone Girl in 2014 and is based on a script by David's father Jack who penned it before his death in 2003.

The film, like Citizen Kane, will be shot in black and white and also stars Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins and Tuppence Middleton.

Cean Chaffin is set to produce the picture with Douglas J. Urbanski, Gary's work partner who was Academy Award-nominated for producing Darkest Hour.

Gary won a number of best actor accolades for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, including an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and a Screen Actors Guild award.

He also won a number of nods for best actor for Darkest Hour, including from the Alliance of Women Film Journalists and the Black Film Critics Circle.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, who is on a two-day visit to India, met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar here on Thursday.

The meeting between the two leaders took place at the Hyderabad House in the national capital.

Earlier today, Gunawardena had met Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale here and is set to hold multiple other meetings during the visit, including with Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Mahendra Nath Pandey and Minister of Labour Santosh Kumar Gangwar.

This is Gunawardena's first official visit after taking over as the Foreign Minister last November following the formation of the new government under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Gunawardena is also scheduled to visit Mahabodhi Temple in Bihar. He will emplane for Sri Lanka on January 10.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Jim Sciutto, Pamela Brown, Barbara Starr, Zachary Cohen and Maegan Vazquez, CNN

(CNN) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that Canadian officials have intelligence from their own sources and Canada's allies that shows Ukrainian International Airlines flight 752 was shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile. "This may have been unintentional," Trudeau said at a press conference in Ottowa.

A candlelight vigil is held at the Edmonton Legislature building in memory of the victims of a Ukrainian passenger plane that crashed in Iran this week. It is "highly likely" that the plane was shot down by Iran, a U.S. official tells @ABC News. https://t.co/iikXWyDjAh pic.twitter.com/vrwmAG1Bmb  ABC News (@ABC) January 9, 2020

Trudeau has called for a thorough investigation into what caused the crash.

"The intelligence and evidence suggests that it's a surface to air strike," Trudeau added, though he would not provide additional details.

The US increasingly believes that Iran mistakenly shot down the airliner, according to multiple US officials. The working theory is based on continuing analysis of data from satellites, radar and electronic data collected routinely by US military and intelligence.

A US official familiar with the intelligence said the plane was shot down by two Russian made SA-15 surface to air missiles. The US saw Iranian radar signals lock onto the jetliner, before it was shot down.

The morning after the incident, US analysts discovered the data but took another day to verify, the official said.

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he suspected the crash was not due to mechanical issues, indicating that "somebody could have made a mistake on the other side."

Asked during a White House event what he thought happened to the plane, Trump said, "Well, I have my suspicions."

European security officials told CNN they believe reports suggesting that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile in error are credible.

The timing of the crash has fueled speculation about its cause, coming just hours after Iran fired missiles at two Iraqi bases housing US troops in retaliation for the killing of its top general, also in Iraq. The exchange of attacks between Tehran and Washington on Iraqi soil was a dramatic escalation of tensions between the adversaries, and is raising fears of another proxy war in the Middle East.

The head of Iran's Civil Aviation Authority is questioning the US allegation.

Speaking to CNN, Ali Abedzadeh said, "If a rocket or missile hits a plane, it will free fall."

Abedzadeh asked, "How can a plane be hit by rocket or missile" and then the pilot "try to turn back to the airport?"

Newsweek was first to report US and Iraqi sources believe Iran shot down the plane by mistake.

"I don't want to say that because other people have their suspicions," Trump said, but added, "Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side ... not our system. It has nothing to do with us."

"It was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood. They could've made a mistake. Some people say it was mechanical. I personally don't think that's even a question."

Asked if he thought it was downed by accident, Trump said, "I don't know. I really don't know ... that's up to them. At some point they'll release the black box."

"Ideally they'd give it to Boeing," he said, but said giving it to France or "some other country" would be fine, too.

"Something very terrible happened, very devastating," he concluded.

The Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA) flight PS752 came down just minutes after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday local time, killing all 176 people on board, including dozens of Iranians and Canadians. The Boeing 737-800 was headed for Kiev, where 138 passengers were expected to take a connecting flight to Canada. Ukrainians, Swedes, Afghans, Germans and British nationals were also aboard.

One possibility being considered is that an Iranian missile unit saw something on their radar, thought they were under attack and fired.

"If it is true that an Iranian missile brought down a civilian airliner, it points to exactly the sort of miscalculation and recklessness that attends the cycle of escalation and violence we've been seeing in the region. The innocent people killed in this tragedy would then, sadly, not be the only victims. Iran must fully cooperate with investigators and be willing to account for their actions," CNN national security analyst retired Adm. John Kirby said.

Investigation underway

Iran's Civil Aviation Organization head, Ali Abedzadeh, said it would not hand the flight data recorders to Boeing or the United States after they were found on Wednesday.

One of the officials said the US is working closely with the Canadians on the intelligence. US officials have also shared officials with UK officials, according to sources familiar.

Ukrainian officials on Thursday were considering terrorism, a missile strike and catastrophic engine failure as potential causes for the crash, as aviation authorities in Tehran said the jetliner was on fire before it came down.

Ukraine's National Security and Defense council chief, Oleksiy Danilov, said a meeting was taking place with Iranian authorities, where various causes behind the crash were "being studied," including a theory that the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile, according to a statement on Facebook.

Conflicting claims about potential causes for the disaster began hours after the crash, when Iranian state media blamed technical issues and Ukraine ruled out rocket attacks. Within hours on Wednesday, officials in both countries had walked back those initial statements.

An initial report by the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization on the crash cites witnesses as saying the airliner was on fire while in the air and changed directions after a problem, turning back toward the airport. People on other aircraft at higher altitudes also saw the flames, Iranian officials say. Images of the wreckage show the plane torn to piece, its parts charred and strewn across a field.
Almost half the police complaints made in India between 2016 and 2018 were oral distress calls over the phone. However, less than 1% of these complaints got registered as FIRs. Contrast this with the fact that almost 60% of written complaints to station house officers (SHOs) and senior officers got registered as FIRs.

These numbers are from the 2018 Crime in India report released on Wednesday by the National Crime Records Bureau, which works under the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA). (Chart 1)

The report shows that Gujarat and Maharashtra saw the highest increase in Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes between 2017 and 2018, while six major states saw a decline in number of IPC crimes during this period. To be sure, state-wise crime numbers show a large degree of inter-temporal volatility. 21 out of 29 states saw an opposite tend in number of IPC crimes between 2016-17 and 2017-18.

The report also shows that crimes against women, children and senior citizens have increased at a much faster rate than all other IPC crimes between 2016 and 2018.

One reason for this could be lower conviction rates of persons arrested for these crimes compared to all IPC crimes (Chart 2A and 2B)

While number of crimes against children has increased, crimes committed by juveniles has decreased from 35,849 in 2016 to 33,606 and 31,591 in 2017 and 2018. The report says that 94% of the rapes in 2018 were committed by an offender who was known to the victim (Chart 3)

The report also shows that in 2018 crimes against Dalits (excluding IPC crimes where Prevention of Atrocities Act was not applied) decreased for the first time in three years (absolute values) since 2016.

The number was 42,793 in 2018, compared to 43,203 in 2017, 40,801 in 2016, and 38,994 in 2015. 2018 is also the year when provisions of the SC/ST act were diluted by the Supreme Court for a short period before the government brought an ordnance to reverse the courts order.

The report also gives statistics on civilians killed and injured in police operations in 2018.

While Jammu & Kashmir had the highest number of civilian deaths and injuries in police operations, Delhi had the third highest number of civilian injuries  103 out of 627in police action. Interestingly, the report does not give the exact cause of these injuries in Delhi (Chart 4)

A total of 55 state police personnel were killed in duty in 2018, while 2,408 of them were injured, the report says.

Abhishek Jha contributed to the story

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According to the Brazos County District Attorneys Office, Brazos County sheriffs deputies noticed a defective tail light on Charles Dutchers truck on April 21, 2017. When authorities attempted to stop Dutcher, who was on Texas 6 near OSR, he exited the highway and turned onto F.M. 2818. He then increased his speed in an attempt to avoid deputies, reaching speeds over 100 miles per hour and driving on the wrong side of the road. The chase continued onto Mumford Road, where authorities say he ran several stop signs. He eventually turned down a dead-end road and stopped when the roadway ended. He was not cooperative and had to be subdued with a taser, officials said.
Ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections, the Delhi Police held an interstate coordination meeting with its counterparts of 10 states on Thursday. The main focus of the interaction was strengthening policing in NCR and sharing information with one another.

A statement released by the Delhi Police said the forces of 11 states decided to work together to prevent the movement of illicit liquor, firearms, illegal cash and musclemen into the National Capital Region ahead of polls. Stress was laid upon intensive and co-ordinated checking and patrolling at vulnerable points..., the statement read.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Delhi Police chief Amulya Patnaik. The other states that participated in the meeting were Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Chandigarh.

The police forces also focused on strengthening counterterrorism measures such as mandatory tenant verification, guest house checking, sensitization of cyber cafe owners and second-hand car dealers.

It was also resolved to launch a concerted drive against interstate crime gangs and taking preventive steps to curtail the supply of firearms, ammunition, sharp-edged weapons and smuggling of illicit liquor across the border towards Delhi, especially during election time, the police statement said.

All officers were also briefed on sharing intelligence having interstate ramifications on law and order, the police said, adding that security for the Republic Day celebrations were also discussed during the meeting.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 18:07:28|Editor: mingmei

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CAIRO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is heading to Algeria over the recent escalations in Libya, said the country's Foreign Ministry in a statement on Thursday.

"Shoukry carries a message from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmadjid Tebboune," said the Foreign Ministry in a statement.

Shoukry will discuss with the Algerian foreign minister means of enhancing and pushing forward the mutual ties in all fields as well as consult over the Libyan crisis, the statement added.

Concerned about its 1,200-km western border with Libya where the smuggling of arms and militants has been very active since the ouster and killing of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Egypt has been pushing for diplomatic ways to settle the Libyan crisis without foreign intervention.

On Wednesday, the foreign ministers of Egypt, France, Greece and Cyprus described the two deals signed between Turkey and Libya's Tripoli-based government on maritime boundaries delimitation and security as "invalid."

Last week, the Turkish parliament approved a motion authorizing the government to deploy Turkish troops in Libya, which was considered by several states as Turkish intervention in Libyan domestic affairs.

Libya has been engaged in a civil war since 2011. The Libyan conflict escalated in 2014, splitting power between two rival governments.
NUS scientists create world's first monolayer amorphous film

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have synthesised the world's first one-atom-thick amorphous material. Previously thought to be impossible, the discovery of monolayer amorphous carbon (MAC) could finally settle a decades-old debate of exactly how atoms are arranged in amorphous solids, and open up potential applications.

This major research breakthrough was led by Professor Barbaros Ozyilmaz, Head of the NUS Department of Materials Science and Engineering. The results were published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature on 8 January 2020.

The NUS team grew the material and studied its properties and potential areas of application. In addition, atomic resolution imaging was performed by the group of Professor Kazu Suenaga from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan, and Professor Junhao Lin from Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTECH), China. Furthermore, theoretical simulations were carried out by the group of Professor Sokrates Pantelides from Vanderbilt University, USA.

"With MAC, we have shown for the first time that fully amorphous materials can be stable and free-standing in single atomic layers. Amorphous materials are of great technological importance, but surprisingly, they remain poorly understood from a basic science point of view. This breakthrough allows for direct imaging to reveal how atoms are arranged in amorphous materials, and could be of commercial value for batteries, semiconductors, membranes and many more applications," said Prof Ozyilmaz, who is also from the NUS Department of Physics and the NUS Centre for Advanced 2D Materials.

The structure and synthesis of monolayer amorphous carbon

In the study of amorphous materials, there are two opposing groups. One says that it is possible for materials to have a fully-disordered, completely random structure. The other, says there is always nanometre-sized order, of tiny crystallites, that is surrounded by random disorder.

The newly synthesised MAC films show the latter arrangement. The researchers see nanometre-sized patches of strained and distorted hexagonal carbon rings, but there is random disorder between these patches. Hence, the MAC films also contain 5-, 7-, and 8-membered rings too.

These atomically-thin sheets of amorphous carbon are synthesised by using a laser vaporising a carbon-containing pre-cursor gas into an atomically fine mist. This turns the carbon precursors into highly reactive, energetic species which immediately form a MAC film when they hit the surface of almost any substrate.

The revolutionary properties of monolayer amorphous carbon

Despite having a disordered atomic structure, MAC is capable of some truly incredible behaviour. Dr Toh Chee Tat, the first author of the paper, said, "What is amazing about MAC is that it exhibits some properties that are totally different from traditional monolayer materials."

One such exceptional property is that MAC films can be 'plastically deformed'. This means that they can be stretched into irregular shapes, and stay conformed to that position. There is no other single-layer material in existence that displays significant plastic deformation.

The fact that MAC behaves this way, compared to nanometre-thick crystalline materials which would easily snap when stretched, significantly expands the number of industrial applications it could be suitable for.

Holes can even be punched into the material, or it can be torn, and yet the film will retain its key properties. Also, MAC can be grown on many different substrates including copper, gold and stainless steel. "Everything that is understood from atomically thin crystals -- in terms of their properties and how they are analysed -- does not apply here. It is a completely new material that we are studying," shared Dr Toh.

Industrial applications of monolayer amorphous carbon

"MAC is much more hardy and cheaper to make than conventional crystalline two-dimensional films. The laser-assisted deposition process through which MAC is synthesised is already commonly used in industry. Hence, we can grow a large-area, defect-free, monolayer film on a wide variety of substrates with high throughput and at low temperature," explained Prof Ozyilmaz. This makes MAC a potential low-cost material to address industry needs, and for some applications, it may be an alternative to two-dimensional crystals such as graphene.

For example, ultrathin barrier films are sorely needed in many industries -- for next-generation magnetic recording devices, copper interconnects, flexible displays, fuel cells, batteries and other electronic devices. However, the performance of conventional amorphous thin films is poor when made very thin, and other atomically-thin films cannot be produced according to stringent industry standards without compromising their qualities.

"Our monolayer amorphous films not only achieve the ultimate thickness limit, but also do not compromise on uniformity and reliability, and are generally considered viable for industry," said Prof Ozyilmaz.

Next steps

Prof Ozyilmaz is the lead Principle Investigator of a multidisciplinary team that was recently awarded a grant under the National Research Foundation Singapore's Competitive Research Programme to investigate the properties of monolayer amorphous materials. The research team will be studying the many possible applications of this material and will be collaborating with industrial partners to accelerate the commercialisation of monolayer amorphous materials such as MAC.

###

This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
In December 2012, a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern was brutally raped and attacked in a moving bus in South Delhi by six men. The victim had boarded the nearly vacant bus in Munirka in South Delhi along with her male friend on her way back home on 16 December that year.

One of the four convicts, Vinay Sharma, in the 2012 Delhi gangrape and murder case has filed a curative petition, the last legal option against death warrant, before the Supreme Court on Thursday.

2012 Delhi gangrape and murder case: One of the convicts, Vinay Kumar Sharma has filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court. A Delhi Court had issued a death warrant against all four convicts on January 7 and they are scheduled to be executed on January 22 at 7 am pic.twitter.com/Sb2fGXRDId  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

A Delhi court, on 6 January, ruled that all the four death row convicts will be hanged on 22 January at 7 am. The order was issued by Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora.

The convicts  Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26), and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) will be executed at Tihar jail, where officials had started preparing a month ago, the court had said on Tuesday.

On 18 December, a three-justice bench of the Supreme Court had dismissed the plea filed by Akshay seeking review of the apex court order of 2017 confirming the death penalty for him.

The bench headed by Justice R Banumathi said the court would not allow the petitioner to cast doubts on the evidence against him as it was already heard. It further stated that the circumstances of the case against Akshay were the same as those against the other three convicts.

In December 2012, a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern was brutally raped and attacked in a moving bus in South Delhi by six men. The victim had boarded the nearly vacant bus in Munirka in South Delhi along with her male friend on her way back home on 16 December that year. After raping and brutalising the woman and beating her friend, the assailants had thrown them out of the bus.

After receiving initial treatment in New Delhi for a few days, she was shifted to the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, where she succumbed to injuries on 29 December, 2012.

Six people were arrested in the case, including a minor. During the trial, the driver of the bus, Ram Singh, was found hanging in his cell. While the sixth, who was found guilty of gangrape and murder by the Juvenile Justice Board finds the minor guilty, was released after three years at a probation home.
Mr Winchester, 55, was found with two gunshot wounds to the head in his car outside his home in the inner Canberra suburb of Deakin soon after 9pm.

An assistant commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, Mr Colin Winchester, was shot dead in the drive of his Canberra home last night. Police said early today they were treating the shooting as murder.

In one of the biggest murder manhunts in Canberra, police early today were stopping all vehicles on the four main routes leaving the Australian Capital Territory, and detectives were scouring nearby streets for the murder weapon.

A Federal Police spokesman in Canberra said that Mr Winchester's wife Gwen had alerted police after hearing gunshots outside their Lawley Street house. She had found Mr Winchester slumped in the drivers seat. He had been shot twice in the back of the head.

It is believed Mr Winchester died immediately or soon after he was shot at close range. Police did not know what type of weapon was involved.

Incoming Assistant Police Commissioner Colin Winchester (right) with outgoing Val McConaghy. Credit:Canberra Times

Although there were no clear indications of the circumstances of Mr Winchester's death, the details known early this morning bore one characteristic of a professional hit: in almost all the gangland murders in recent years, the victims have been shot outside their own homes.
BOSTON, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Liberty Mutual Insurance has appointed Amy Gross to the newly created role of Practice Leader, Private Equity and Mergers & Acquisition. Gross will collaborate with teams across Liberty Mutual's Global Risk Solutions (GRS) division to drive a single, coordinated strategy that enhances growth in this key segment.

"Liberty Mutual has the products, flexibility, experience, and geographic scope necessary to effectively meet the unique needs of private equity and M&A clients across the globe," said GRS General Manager, Field Distribution Marc Orloff. "Amy has the ideal experience and skills to manage strategy for this key sector across GRS, helping craft solutions for private equity and M&A companies, and the brokers who support them."

Gross has 15 years of experience developing solutions for complex large risks at Liberty Mutual, including more than a decade focused on growing Liberty Mutual's private equity business. Prior to her new position, she was Vice President and Division Underwriting Manager of GRS's National Insurance Risk Management unit. Before that, she held a number of commercial underwriting and leadership roles at Liberty Mutual.

About Liberty Mutual Insurance

Liberty Mutual's purpose is to help people embrace today and confidently pursue tomorrow. The promise we make to our customers throughout the world is to provide protection for the unexpected, delivered with care.

In business since 1912, and headquartered in Boston, Mass., today we are the fifth largest global property and casualty insurer based on 2018 gross written premium. We also rank 75th on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2018 revenue. As of December 31, 2018, we had $41.6 billion in annual consolidated revenue.

We employ nearly 50,000 people in 30 countries and economies around the world. We offer a wide range of insurance products and services, including personal automobile, homeowners, specialty lines, reinsurance, commercial multiple-peril, workers compensation, commercial automobile, general liability, surety, and commercial property.

You can learn more about us by visiting www.libertymutualinsurance.com.

Contact:

Richard Angevine

617-574-6638

[email protected]

SOURCE Liberty Mutual Insurance

Related Links

http://www.libertymutual.com


He missed their 10-year anniversary to be on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

But Miguel Maestre didn't forget about his beautiful wife Sascha while in the jungle, sending her a huge bouquet of red roses and an adorable ladybug balloon.

On Thursday, Sascha took to her husband's Instagram to share the sweet gift.

'Can't believe you organised this': On Thursday, Miguel Maestre's wife Sascha shared the adorable gift the celebrity chef sent her after missing their 10-year wedding anniversary to be on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

Long distance love: He missed their 10-year wedding anniversary to be on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! Pictured: Miguel and wife Sascha Maestre

'Happy tenth wedding anniversary to my gorgeous husband,' she wrote. We love you so much and missing you.'

'Cant believe you organised these beautiful flowers and balloons before you left. So lucky and special. We love you,' she concluded, referring to their two children Morgan and Claudia.

Speaking to Network Ten, Sascha explained that Miguel's affectionate nature helps keep their marriage strong.

'We love you so much and missing you': They share two children, Morgan (left) and Claudia (right)

'Miguel is always showing affection and is always saying beautiful things to me,' she swooned.

She went on to recall how they first met while she was on a working-holiday in Edinburgh, revealing that Miguel was a doorman at the bar she was a waitress at.

The Spanish chef couldn't speak a lot of English at the time, but had apparently been taught to say, 'You have beautiful eyes', to attract women.

Affectionate: Speaking to Network Ten, Sascha explained that Miguel's affectionate nature helps keep their marriage strong

In true Miguel style, Sascha revealed that he would tell all the women that they were 'beautiful'.

'All the girls were getting so excited. I said to my friend, "Check out the doorman, he just told me I had beautiful eyes!" and she goes, "Oh, he told me that too!",' Sascha said, laughing fondly at the memory.

The loved-up couple moved to Australia 19 years ago.
The president has also addressed the nation, noting that the tragedy is not a topic for hype, likes in social networks, sensationalism, and conspiracy theories.

In Ukraine, January 9 was declared a day of national mourning in connection with the Ukraine International Airlines passenger jet crash near Tehran.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a relevant decree, the President's Office website reports.

"To commemorate the victims, the President orders that the state flags of Ukraine be flown at half-mast on the headquarters and offices of state authorities, local governments, state-owned enterprises, institutions and organizations," the statement said.

Also, Zelensky recorded a video address to the nation, expressing condolences to families of the victims and promising government assistance to relatives fo Ukrainian nationals who perished in the crash.

"Of course, the priority for Ukraine is to establish the causes of the crash. We will certainly find out the truth. To this end, a detailed and independent investigation will be carried out in accordance with international law," the president said. Also, he recalled that the Commission created by the Iranian side to probe the crash will include Ukrainian officials, who have already arrived in Tehran.

"Today I will have a telephone conversation with the president of Iran on strengthening cooperation with the Ukrainian side to establish the truth. I urge the international community, in particular Canada, to join the probe into the circumstances of the crash," Zelensky added.

Read alsoUIA publishes full passenger list for flight PS752 crashed in Iran

The president announced unscheduled inspections of Ukrainian air carriers and advised Ukrainians to refrain from visiting Iran and Iraq for the time being.

"This is not a topic for hype, likes in social networks, sensationalism and conspiracy theories. We need patience, endurance, and wisdom. And also this terrible story should teach us all, every citizen of Ukraine, and every world leader, to value human lives. It should be done before they are taken so quickly and painfully," Zelensky said.

The president also visited Boryspil Airport in Kyiv where he laid flowers to commemorate the victims of the crash.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on January 8, an UIA-operated Boeing 737-800, flight PS752 Tehran-Kyiv, crashed in Iran shortly after takeoff from Tehran Airport. All 167 passengers and nine crew on board died.

On board the airliner were 11 citizens of Ukraine, including nine crew members, as well as 82 Iranian citizens, 63 Canadian citizens, 10 Swedish citizens, four Afghan citizens, three German citizens, and three British nationals.

Read alsoPompeo says U.S. stands prepared to offer Ukraine assistance in flight PS 752 probe

All Ukrainian air carriers have been banned from flying in Iranian airspace pending the investigation.
SAO PAULO, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In the year in which it reaches its 50th anniversary, the World Economic Forum, a big annual event that reunites the main leaderships and authorities of the planet in the political and economic scenes will count on Stefanini s participation, one of the most important providers in global business solutions based on digital technologies. The event will take place from the 21st to the 24th of January 2020 in Davos in the Swiss Alps. Marco Stefanini, Global CEO and founder of the Brazilian multinational, will be present along with Felipe Monteiro, Strategy professor at INSEAD and Director of The Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI).



During the annual event, which will have as a central theme Stakeholders for a more cohesive and sustainable world, the INSEAD 2020 GTCI Report will be launched on January 22nd at the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Tent. The report will showcase an article titled Latin America: The next source of talent in AI? written by Marco Stefanini in partnership with Fabio Caversan, Artificial Intelligence Research & Development Director of Stefanini USA.

On Chapter 2 of the important global report, the Brazilian multinational evaluates the scope of the Science of Artificial Intelligence and technology in Latin America. Additionally, it highlights Marco Stefaninis vision for the current and future scenarios of this theme, which has been the keynote of the disseminated digital transformation.

For several years, Stefanini has been maintaining a solid partnership with INSEAD, one of the worlds largest and most prestigious business schools and will promote in 2020 the 3rd class in the Leadership Transformation Program, which will take place from March 28th to April 4th on INSEADs Fontainebleau campus in France. The Leadership Transformation proposes a journey of discoveries and knowledge so that high leaderships can surpass limits through collaboration and innovation amongst each other.

About Stefanini

Stefanini (www.stefanini.com) is a Brazilian multinational with over 30 years of experience in the market, investing in a complete innovation ecosystem to meet the main verticals and assist customers in the process of digital transformation. With robust offerings aligned with market trends such as automation, cloud, Internet of Things (IoT) and user experience (UX), the company has been recognized with several awards in the area of innovation.

Today, the company has a broad portfolio of solutions that combine innovative consulting, marketing, mobility, personalized campaigns and artificial intelligence services for traditional solutions such as service desk, field service and outsourcing (BPO).With a presence in 41 countries, Stefanini was named the fifth most internationalized company, according to the Dom Cabral Foundation ranking in 2017.

Editorial Contacts

Vanessa Morais

Vanessa.morais@stefanini.com

+1 248 263.8612
Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar has been caught in the throes of controversy after many netizens found an advertisement he featured in to be disrespectful towards Maratha workers.

In the Nirma washing powder ad, Akshay Kumar plays the role of a Maratha ruler who has just returned victorious from a battle. He and his men are jubilant about the victory and wish to spend some time in merrymaking, but the queen is dismayed by their soiled clothes, anxious about the effort they might have to put in to clean them.

At that moment, the king intervenes and assures the royal household that he and his men are capable of cleaning out the enemies as well as clothes and get on to soak their white clothes in Nirma washing powder.

This, many social media users, found condescending. The users called out the advertisement for making a mockery of the valiant Maratha warriors and sought a boycott of the detergent brand.

Soon, the hashtag #BoycottNirma began trending on the microblogging platform Twitter and has received more than 22,000 tweets already.



#BoycottNirma

Nirma makes a mockery of Maratha soldiers, to sell washing powder !*

Remove Nirma advertisement immediately

Not at all tolerate insult of Great Maratha Warriors pic.twitter.com/7Rp3oGhPzo  kirtirajsingh (@kirtirajsingh11) January 8, 2020



#BoycottNirma

We are demanding Nirma to withdraw the offensive advertisement in which the great Maratha soldiers shown wrongly, they have made use of our brave Maratha Soldiers to sell their product and tender an unconditional apology immediately ! pic.twitter.com/XCv2g1HvGH  Prachiti (@prachiti13) January 8, 2020



Candian Tu Nrc Ke Baad Desh Se Nikala Jayega Tu Refugee Hai

How Many People Want Akshay To Leave India And Go Back Canada #BoycottNirma pic.twitter.com/l8ifH3oPjc

 Devil Virpalsinh (@virpalsinhjetha) January 8, 2020



#BoycottNirma

Hindu Janajagruti Samiti demands that,

1.Nirma Limited and Akshay Kumar should apologies publicly

2.Withdraw the advertisement from all media #BoycottNirma pic.twitter.com/VbxxPVeFpH

 Datta Gaikwad (@Dattatr70830898) January 8, 2020



Beautiful message through Nirma ad, we should all appreciate the message of 'Gender equality'.#NirmaAdvanceSochAdvance

#BoycottNirma pic.twitter.com/W4E5ZSFLCv

   (@giveaward) January 8, 2020



Inspirational post #NirmaAdvanceSochAdvance is always acceptable for everyone. Really a creative and eye-catching ad. #BoycottNirma pic.twitter.com/bwqKZxzPkS

 ROMEN KONER (@Romen_kr) January 8, 2020



Amazing ad by nirma and Akshay Kumar nailed it ! Check this out guys ! #BoycottNirma #NirmaAdvanceSochAdvance pic.twitter.com/H8Av4uzqA7

 Manish Prasad #20xZoom (@i_manishp95) January 8, 2020



I think this ad sends a very strong message for all the people.#NirmaAdvanceSochAdvance & #BoycottNirma pic.twitter.com/T1DMq0XlZu

 Vishal shaw (CRYPTO) (@ItzvishalRo45) January 8, 2020



Gender equality matters a lot. So nice ad this is #NirmaAdvanceSochAdvance #BoycottNirma pic.twitter.com/1LdOJuXZg0  Ankita Garg (@NonyGarg3) January 8, 2020

According to a Navbharat Times report, a complaint has been filed against Akshay Kumar at Worli Police Station in Mumbai by one Suryakant Jagannath Jadhav. He mentioned in his plaint that advertisement makes a joke at the expense of Marathi culture.Meanwhile, a section of Twitter users has come out in support of the advertisement for promoting gender equality, with some users promoting it with the tagline "Great warriors always help their family".
Nearly 160 savers who transferred stocks and shares Isas into failed investment firm London Capital & Finance will be compensated by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme it announced today - but most investors will not receive any money.

The government-funded safety net which protects savers and some investors up to 85,000 had been looking into the 236million collapse of LCF since last May, and today announced the results of some claims.

Nearly two-thirds of the 442 bondholders who made claims to the FSCS will not be due compensation, having invested before 7 June 2016, when the firm was authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.

The deposit protection scheme announced this morning that 159 investors in London Capital & Finance would be due compensation

The FSCS said it was unable to protect these 283 claimants, and also that it was unlikely the customers who claimed they had been given misleading advice from either LCF or marketing agency Surge Financial would be due compensation.

However it said there will be 'some' customers who were given misleading advice and have valid claims for compensation.

While the mini-bonds that London Capital & Finance was offering are unregulated and unprotected investments, the marketing and promotion of them is a regulated activity, which is why the FSCS may be able to compensate some investors.

The FSCS said it would review advice claims 'on a case-by-case basis' and aimed to start doing so in the first three months of 2020.

Caroline Rainbird, the chief executive of the FSCS, said: 'I regret that LCF investors impacted by the firm's failure have been waiting several anxious months to find out whether or not they may be eligible to receive compensation from FSCS.

'I appreciate that the initial decisions and outlook we are announcing today are likely to be disappointing to many LCF customers.'

London Capital & Finance went bust almost 12 months ago, taking 236million from more than 11,000 people, mainly ordinary savers, with it.

Administrators continue to look into the firm in a bid to try and reclaim money to pay back investors, while an independent inquiry into the regulator's handling of the scandal is currently ongoing.
Boris Johnson said there was now a body of information that indicated the Tehran airliner crash was caused by an Iranian missile.

The Prime Minister made the announcement after US officials and the Canadian leader said Iran looked to have been involved in the downing of the Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752.

In a statement, Mr Johnson said: There is now a body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile.

This may well have been unintentional.

We are working closely with Canada and our international partners and there now needs to be a full, transparent investigation.

Mr Johnson also confirmed four Britons died in the plane crash, up from the earlier reports of three.

The Conservative Party leader said the Government was providing support to their families at this most terrible time.

The three known British victims included engineer Sam Zokaei, from Surrey, Saeed Tahmasebi Khademasadi, from west London, and Mohammad Reza Kadkhoda Zadeh, from near Brighton.

In total 176 people were killed when the plane crashed moments after it left Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran at 6.10am local time (2.40am GMT) on Wednesday, bound for the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

At least a third of the deceased held Canadian passports and Prime Minister Mr Trudeau told a press conference that the news of a missile being responsible was likely to comes as a shock to the grieving families.

He made his comments after two US officials said it was highly likely an Iranian anti-aircraft missile brought down the passenger plane.

The New York Times published a video which the newspaper said showed the moment an Iranian missile hit a plane above Parand, near Tehrans airport, the area where the Ukrainian airliner stopped transmitting its signal before it crashed on Wednesday.

Boris Johnson had used a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday to call for a full, credible and transparent investigation into what happened.

Ukraines Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, posted on Facebook that a missile attack was one of the possible causes of the fire that caused Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) PS752 aircraft to break-up as it gained height after taking off from Tehran airport on Wednesday.

The Iranian military had disputed suggestions the airliner was brought down by a missile, with officials in Iran blaming an engine fire.

But Mr Danilov said information about the detection of the shards of a Russian missile  understood to be a Russian Tor M1 missile  meant an attack on the plane could not be ruled out.

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The Prime Minister pushed for the facts to be established during his conversation with Mr Zelenskyy on Thursday.

Mr Zelenskyy ordered a criminal investigation soon after the details of the tragedy emerged this week.

He has invited United Kingdom aviation experts to join the investigation into the crash.

A spokesman for the president said: The President invited the United Kingdom to join the investigation.

Boris Johnson supported this idea and stressed that the best British experts should be involved in clarifying all the circumstances of the tragedy.

Expand Close Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said evidence pointed to Iran involvement in the plane crash (Sean Kilpatrick/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said evidence pointed to Iran involvement in the plane crash (Sean Kilpatrick/AP)

The airline ruled out human error in the aftermath of the incident, and crew were not said to have made an emergency call.

The crash comes amid escalating tension in the Persian Gulf following the killing last week of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani by the US, prompting several airlines to reroute flights away from Tehrans airspace.

Iran fired missiles at army bases in Iraq were both US and UK troops were stationed, although both Number 10 and the White House said there had been no casualties incurred.

Mr Johnson, in his statement, added: The UK continues to call on all sides urgently to deescalate to reduce tensions in the region.
T he proposals to ban and/or restrict buskers are concerning [Shows (almost) over for West End buskers , January 8]. Busking is open and spontaneous  there is no fee and anyone can perform  and licensing a small number of pitches would curtail such freedom.

A ban on amplification misses the mark if noise is a problem. Often, the loudest instruments (bagpipes or drums) need no amplification, and quieter instruments do not carry in the same way when amplified. Westminster council would be better off considering a code of conduct. Collective responsibility and consideration is better than heavy-handed action.

Dr Paul Simpson, Associate professor of human geography, University of Plymouth

The show will go on: reports of a busker ban are premature. All but the grumpiest appreciate the buzz created by talented performers, but were also familiar with the misery of a ropey rendition of Wonderwall. Our plans for a light-touch licensing scheme will allow us to control the few who cause a nuisance.

Ian Adams, Cabinet member for licensing, Westminster council

Editor's reply

Dear Paul and Ian

Nile Rodgers has his pick of the worlds stages yet on his last trip to London he chose to busk, rocking the South Bank. Busking is democratic, anyone can perform and watch, and even in the age of TV talent shows and YouTube its still where stars are made. So it is music to my ears that Westminster council says the show will go on.

For every budding Janis Joplin however, theres an obnoxious pretender with no volume control, playing a poor imitation of Despacito on loop outside your office until you want to pay them to pipe down.

Consideration is not incompatible with artistic freedom so choose your arena carefully and know your audience. After all, when she was starting out, Tracy Chapman sought permission from Cambridge Arts Council to perform in Harvard Square.

Susannah Butter, Comment Editor

Dom is right to embrace weirdos

The British philosopher John Stuart Mill was surely right when he said every true genius is an eccentric, and that the more a society tolerates eccentricity the more geniuses it will produce. Thats why I take my hat off to Dominic Cummings for trying to recruit weirdos and misfits to No 10. Our celebration of eccentricity is a key aspect of British character.

John Hudson

Schooled on false eyelashes

Would David Boyle, headteacher of Dunraven primary, care to explain how a girl wearing false eyelashes is being disruptive [We believe that no child should be left behind, January 7]? As a libertarian Conservative, I believe school rules should be based on the principle that only acts infringing the valid rights of others are worthy of punishment.

Mark Tara

Vegan fightback

Stan Labovitchs comment that the vegan ruling is nonsense [The Reader, January 7] completely misses the point. There is a huge difference between his right to sunbathe and cruelty to defenceless animals. Factory farming is repugnant and I, for one, could not attach my name to it by eating animal products.

Kate Brazil

Labour hopefuls must show vision

We are getting a sense of the divides the Labour leadership contest is likely to magnify.

Rebecca Long-Bailey pitches herself as the continuity Corbyn candidate, outdoing Clive Lewis. Keir Starmers launch video dispels a moderate persona. Emily Thornberry distances herself from an unconvincing manifesto and Jess Phillips embraces her past as an outspoken voice. Commanding unity and credibility is a crucial task  but this requires strategy for country as well as party. Candidates need a vision that doesnt read as a shopping list of undeliverables to sceptical voters.

Lisa Nandy has perhaps delivered the most in terms of policy so far. But without a solid base on either side of the party, will that be enough to jump the first hurdle  getting on the ballot?

Alex Porter

Harry's finances
Thames Valley Police have launched a murder investigation (GETTY)

A man has been stabbed to death and two others seriously injured during a fight in an Oxfordshire town.

The victim, said to be in his 40s, died in hospital after being discovered with multiple stab wounds at Mendip Heights in Didcot at 3.46am on Thursday.

The two other victims - a man in his 20s and another man in his 30s - are in a serious but stable condition in hospital, Thames Valley Police said in a statement.

Detectives have launched a murder investigation.

Read more from Yahoo News UK:

Police investigate 'unexplained' deaths of mum, 84, and daughter, 63, found dead in house

'Danger to life' warnings as wind and rain to lash parts of Britain at the weekend

Police hunt wedding guest caught on CCTV throwing bottle of wine at Tesco staff

Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Blaik of Thames Valley Police said: This is a tragic incident in which a person has lost their life after being attacked with a knife.

This murder will shock the local community, but I want to reassure residents that we are carrying out a thorough investigation and we are determined to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Mendip Heights is currently closed as we carrying out vital forensic examinations at the scene and conduct house to house enquiries in the area. I would like to thank residents for their ongoing cooperation and patience.

Police are urging anyone with information to contact them via their website, by calling 101 or to speak with officers at the scene.
Office of President advises against manipulating information until circumstances of air crash in Iran clarified

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky heard a report of the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) flight PS752 accident response team, the Office of the President has reported.

"Several versions of the causes of the crash of the plane are being worked out. At the same time, during the meeting chaired by Zelensky, it was noted that while experts do not investigate the circumstances of the tragedy, it is not worth manipulating the information," the press service of the office said.

Relatives of Ukrainians who died in Iran are provided with psychological assistance.

"The state will make sure that families receive all insurance payments," the press service said.

In addition, DNA reference samples are being collected from relatives of the deceased Ukrainians. One of the main tasks of the response team is the identification and repatriation of bodies from Iran.

Iran, in turn, has announced readiness to extend all necessary assistance in order to ensure a thorough investigation into the catastrophe.

On January 9, Zelensky is due to have phone conversations with officials of the countries whose citizens were killed in the crash.

An airplane landed in Iran at 3:30 a.m. on Thursday, delivering 45 different Ukrainian specialists with a vast record of investigating air accidents and industrial disasters, the Office of the President said.

A Boeing 737-800 passenger plane operated by UIA crashed shortly after takeoff from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran early on Wednesday morning, killing all passengers and crew onboard, more than 170 people.

The Ukrainian embassy to Iran said that according to tentative information, the crash was due to engine failure, ruling out a possible terrorist act for now.

Carrier UIA, in turn, has said that it does not see crew error among the possible causes of the Boeing 737-800 crash. In the wake of the accident, Zelensky cut short his visit to Oman. He has advised against putting forth unverified theories for the plane crash.
Urgent $1 million payments will land in local councils' bank accounts within days as the Morrison government moves to get money flowing in devastated towns.

An initial $60 million will be distributed across 42 local government areas, with each council getting $1 million and a further $18 million to be distributed at the discretion of the new National Bushfire Recovery Agency.

The funding is aimed at allowing councils to start paying for road and bridge repairs, and the reconstruction of local infrastructure. Credit:Getty

"This is initial and urgent. There will be more," Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.
Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh is on a rare visit to China's politically significant Xinjiang province, bordering Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, during which he will hold talks with top Chinese generals.

Lt Gen Singh's visit is the second-ever by a Northern Army commander to China, earlier being in 2015 by his predecessor Lt Gen B S Hooda.

The visits of the Northern Army Commanders to China are significant as one of its previous heads Lt Gen B S Jaswal was denied regular visa in 2010 on the ground that the Northern Command covered the "disputed" Jammu and Kashmir, which led to an angry reaction from India and disruption of ties between the two militaries.

The issue was resolved with Lt Gen Hooda's visit in 2015 leading to the normalisation of ties between the two militaries.

Lt Gen Singh in the last three days has visited Beijing and Chengdu. On Thursday, he reached Urumqi, the provincial capital of Xinjiang, which borders PoK.

He is due to interact with the top officials of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Urumqi and visit local military installations on Friday, sources here told PTI.

Technically China and Pakistan have no borders but only connected through PoK.

Xinjiang is the starting point for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor over which India has protested to Beijing as it is being laid through the PoK.

Singh's visit to Xinjiang also assumed significance as it comes in the backdrop of India's move to revoke Article 370 which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcate the state into two Union Territories.

China has said that bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories is "unlawful and void", and it "challenges" China's sovereignty.

India has told China that the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir is an internal matter and sole prerogative of the country and has no implication for either the external boundaries of India or the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The boundary issue is being discussed through the Special Representatives (SR) mechanism. The SRs - National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi - held the 22nd round of border talks in New Delhi last month.

Xinjiang has been in the in recent months over allegations that China has interned more than a million Uighur Muslims, a claim Beijing deny.

Earlier, Lt Gen Singh met Chinese ground forces' commander Gen Han Weiguo and discussed issues having strategic ramifications and measures to enhance peace and tranquillity along the sensitive borders.

The visit would "serve as a milestone" by cementing mutual ties. "This will achieve the twin aims of high level military co-operation and stabilizing the sensitive borders of both the countries," an Indian army official said.

The visit comes close on the heels of Joint Military Exercise 'Hand-in Hand 2019' held recently between the two countries in eastern theatre in Meghalaya.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Probe into former officials of Amur Region prison keeping notorious convict completed

 RIA Novosti, Tatyana Kuznetsova

11:46 09/01/2020

MOSCOW, January 9 (RAPSI)  Investigation into ex-officials of an Amur Regions penal colony where a notorious gang member Vyacheslav Tsepovyaz is serving sentence for involvement in mass murder has been completed, the Russian Investigative Committees news release reads.

Ex-chief of the penitentiary facility Sergey Kartavtsev and his deputy Vladimir Vasilyev are charged with abuse of office.

Investigators believe that the defendants have illegally established bee farms, poultry houses, car services and souvenir workshops in the colony by signing contracts with the friends and relatives of certain inmates including Tsepovyaz for their employment, relaxed jail conditions and further possible release on parole.

Previously, another case was launched over abuse of powers by the prison authorities.

Examination conducted by prosecutors throughout 2018 revealed that prison officials made it possible for Tsepovyaz, an imprisoned member of Sergey Tsapoks gang, to systematically violate the rules: eat gourmet food, have additional visits, freely use prohibited items.It was also found that the penal colonys administration unlawfully mitigated the inmates prison conditions.

Earlier, Russian media published photos of Tsepovyaz eating crabs, caviar and barbecuing in the colony. Authenticity of these photos was not disputed.

In 2013, Russias Krasnodar Regional Court found gang leader Sergey Tsapok guilty of mass murder and sentenced him to life in prison. Tsapok and his group have been found guilty of other numerous crimes, including grave and exceptionally grave ones. Tsepovyaz was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison.

On November 4, 2010, 12 people, including four children, were brutally murdered in the village of Kushchevskaya in the Krasnodar Territory in southern Russia. The family of a wealthy local farmer Server Ametov was stabbed to death along with visiting friends and a bystander. The convicted killers started several fires around the house before fleeing.

That murder became one of the most high-profile cases in modern Russia. The investigation revealed that the thugs had terrorized the village for years, and that some local police officers had covered up their activities.
A rape victim has attacked a sham investigation that cleared a former Tory cabinet minister of lying over his aide allegedly sabotaging her trial, revealing that she was not asked to give evidence.

The woman, who also worked for Alun Cairns  who dramatically quit as Welsh secretary in November  accused the Cabinet Office of wanting to deflect the controversy until the general election was out of the way.

Boris Johnson forced him out after the BBC revealed Mr Cairns had been told that evidence given by the aide, Ross England, led to the collapse of the case, after he had denied knowing.

Despite the controversy, however, the Conservatives allowed Mr Cairns to stand in the election, increasing his majority in his south Wales seat of Vale of Glamorgan.

And, one week later, he was cleared of breaching the ministerial code when the prime minister's adviser on standards concluded that he did not know the details of the case until they become public.

The rape victim told the BBC: The whole thing feels like a sham. What kind of investigation doesn't contact the person who is most affected?

It makes me question how seriously it was actually carried out. This was a deflection until after the general election, not a genuine investigation into Alun's truthfulness.

She added: I would have hoped Alun would have used the inquiry as an opportunity to be honest, and it's regretful that he did not. Fortunately, nobody with an ounce of common sense believes his ludicrous claim that he did not know.

The woman claimed that Mr Cairns told her he thought she was being a bit harsh in pursuing the rape complaint against Mr England's friend, James Hackett, who was eventually found guilty of rape and jailed.

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She also said she was subjected to a smear campaign by individuals inside the party who accused her of being a liar.

The BBC unearthed an email sent to Mr Cairns by a different adviser stating that he had spoken to Mr England and he was confident no further action would be taken against him for collapsing the trial.

The Cabinet Office inquiry concluded: I find it unlikely that Mr Cairns would not have been told something about Mr England's role when he was told about the collapse.

However, it added: All those involved state that they had not informed Mr Cairns of Mr England's role, and there is no direct evidence to contradict this.

On that basis, I do not find that the evidence upholds the allegations of a breach of the ministerial code.

In a statement issued to the BBCs Victoria Derbyshire Show, Mr Cairns said he was extremely sorry for the trauma and suffering suffered by the victim, adding: Rape is a heinous crime.

I believed that my parliamentary staff and I had supported her in a caring and compassionate way throughout.

The Cabinet Office declined to comment. A Welsh Conservative Party spokesman said: Mr England has been suspended and a full investigation is under way.
Airport International Group, the Jordanian company responsible for the rehabilitation, expansion and operation of Queen Alia International Airport, has appointed its former chief operations officer, Nicolas Claude, as its new chief executive officer.

Claude assumes his current role in succession of Kjeld Binger, who shall remain associated with Airport International Group as senior advisor to the board.



Leveraging a longstanding 28-year career within the global airport industry, Claude has held numerous C-suite positions, most recent of which was CEO of the Nuevo Pudahuel concession in Chile, where he guided the expansion of Santiago International Airport, which has crossed the 23 million passenger milestone. During his 2010-2015 tenure as COO of Airport International Group, Claude oversaw six key departments representing a total of 330 employees responsible for various operations; maintenance; commercial and real estate; information technology and telecommunications; security; and quality and safety functions. Prior, Claude acted as COO of Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte - a group operating and managing 13 airports in Mexico - and previously contributed to multiple projects at Aeroports de Paris, namely devising planning studies on several French and global airports.



Commenting on his appointment, Claude said: I am delighted to be returning to Jordan - a country I called home for five years - and to the Airport International Group family with whom I have witnessed some of the most pivotal stages of the QAIA New Terminal project. I would like to thank my colleague Kjeld Binger for his exemplary leadership over the past eight years, and I look forward to building on the proud achievements the team has marked since being assigned the project in 2007. We have many new plans to implement, milestones to reach and records to break, and I am confident that, with the support of the Government of Jordan and the employees, partners and shareholders involved in the project, the sky is the limit. We will continue to work together to reaffirm QAIAs standing as the Kingdoms prime gateway to the world for the benefit of our passengers and the Jordanian public at large. - TradeArabia News Service
In December, Parsons office announced that 20 projects will receive the $50 million in matching state funds, for a total of $131 million in upgrades to roads, bridges and intersections.

The difference is that the money came out of the states general checkbook, rather than out of funds generated by fuel taxes.

The cost-share program came about after voters rejected an increase to the states 17-cent fuel tax in November 2018.

Parson supported the tax increase at the time. But on Tuesday, he dismissed the idea of trying again this session, saying that it would be foolish to be wasting a lot of time on that right now.

Likewise, Haahr said there was not a lot of appetite for a gas tax increase in the House Republican caucus.

Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, has filed legislation that would increase the gas tax by 2 cents without putting a question on the ballot. The tax rate for diesel would jump 6 cents. Democrats in the House also have filed several bills that aim to increase the fuel tax.
Highlights include:

Drill hole SDD-002; 12.9m grading 3.80 g/t gold

Drill hole SDD-005; 18.1m grading 2.75 g/t gold

Drill hole SDD-008; 11.5m grading 4.25 g/t gold

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Velocity Minerals Ltd. (VLC.V) (Velocity or the Company) announces that it has received initial drill results for the Sedefche Gold Project (Sedefche), Bulgaria (Table 1, Figures 1 to 4).

The Companys initial verification drilling at Sedefche has broadly confirmed historical drilling results and identified higher-grade zones associated with areas of silica-gold replacement mineralization.

The results support the potential to fast-track development of the Sedefche deposit along the lines of an existing, permitted Mine Design Plan completed by Bulgarian partner Gorubso-Kardzhali A.D. (Gorubso).

The Sedefche project is permitted for development and Velocity is moving quickly to complete exploration drilling and resource verification, as well as engineering due diligence and metallurgical test work, stated Keith Henderson, Velocitys CEO. These initial drill results provide the Company with a very positive start to the year.

Velocitys results to date have broadly confirmed the grade and tenor of previous results and identified a number of higher-grade zones within the existing resource envelope not previously identified by historical exploration. In addition, mineralization has been extended along a parallel trend west of the previously defined Bulgarian State Resource in drill hole SDD-012 which returned 11.0m grading 0.98 g/t gold and 87.80 g/t silver from 62.4m (Figures 1 and 3).

Drill hole SDD-002 (Figures 1 and 2) returned a high-grade intersection of 12.9m grading 3.80 g/t gold and 38.68 g/t silver. On the same section, drill hole SDD-004, returned 23.7m grading 1.17 g/t gold and 49.64 g/t silver, while drill hole SDD-005 returned 18.1m grading 2.75 g/t gold and 55.71 g/t silver.

Drill hole SDD-008 (Figures 1 and 4) returned 11.5m grading 4.25 g/t gold and 87.80 g/t silver from surface.

Story continues

Additional drilling and engineering due diligence is planned with the aim of reaching a decision point on the project in H1, 2020.

Figure 1:

Map of the Sedefche Gold Project, showing the drill traces of completed and planned drilling. The drill hole locations are displayed on a geological map of the deposit including positions of previous drill collars. Section locations are included for Figures 2, 3 and 4:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b125cdb1-9fcb-4dff-8a33-7ae003bb1c16

Figure 2:

Cross Section at Sedefche Gold Project showing results for drill holes ODD-01, -002, -003, -004 and -005:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ca3b1bbe-f12e-4515-8202-88d106330e4e

Figure 3:

Cross Section at Sedefche Gold Project showing results for drill holes ODD-06, -007, -012 and -013:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d1bf6b48-92b7-4538-95b6-2ed9bdc26338

Figure 4:

Cross Section at Sedefche Gold Project showing results for drill holes ODD-08, -009 and -010:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2e2c95e7-86f7-42f2-adf2-cf280da124e2

Table 1:

Significant Drill Results at Sedefche Gold Project:

The drill intersections disclosed here have not yet been included in a resource model and true thickness of mineralization has not yet been determined. Drill holes are designed to intersect mineralization perpendicular or close to perpendicular. Drill intersections are calculated using a top-cut of 20 g/t gold, a 0.3 g/t gold trigger, a minimum 0.7 g/t gold composite, and a maximum of 1.5 metres consecutive waste:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/96200b7c-6c64-4ec8-9992-0f73649b5323

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

Velocity have not assessed the Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QAQC) of historical results and as such historical results are not consistent with the standards of disclosure defined by NI 43-101 and may not necessarily be consistent with CIM best practice with respect to reporting.

The work program at Sedefche was designed and is supervised by Stuart A. Mills, CGeol, the Company's Vice-President Exploration, who is responsible for all aspects of the work, including the quality control/quality assurance program. On-site personnel at the project rigorously collect and track samples which are then security sealed and shipped to ALS Global laboratory in Romania. Samples used for the results described herein are prepared and analyzed by fire assay using a 30-gram charge in compliance with industry standards at ALS Romanian laboratory. A sample split of the milled material is shipped to ALS Irish laboratory for multi-element analysis using an inductively coupled Mass Spectrometer. Field duplicate samples, blanks and independent controlled reference material (standards) are added to every batch. Drill intersections in this news release are calculated using a 0.3 g/t gold trigger, a minimum 0.7 g/t gold composite, and a maximum of 1.5 metres consecutive waste.

Qualified Person

The technical content of this release has been approved for disclosure by Stuart A. Mills, BSc, MSc, CGeol, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and the Companys Vice President Exploration. Mr. Mills is not independent of the Company.

About Velocity Minerals Ltd.

Velocity is a gold exploration and development company focused on southeastern Bulgaria. Velocitys strategy is to develop a low cost centralized Hub and Spoke operation whereby multiple projects within this emerging gold district produce gold concentrates for trucking to a central processing plant for production of dore. The Company envisions staged open pit mining of satellite deposits and processing in a currently operating carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant. Velocity has a 70% joint venture interest in the Rozino gold project and has entered into option agreements to earn a 70% interest in the Obichnik, Makedontsi and Sedefche gold projects, with Gorubso, an established and respected mining company in Bulgaria. Velocitys management and board includes mining industry professionals with combined experience spanning Europe, Asia, and the Americas as employees of major mining companies as well as founders and senior executives of junior to mid-tier public companies. The team's experience includes all aspects of mineral exploration, resource definition, feasibility, finance, mine construction and mine operation as well as a track record in managing publicly listed companies.

About Bulgaria

Bulgaria is a member of NATO (2004) and a member of the European Union (2007). The local currency (BGN) has been tied to the Euro since 1999 (1.956 BGN/EUR). The country is served by modern European infrastructure including an extensive network of paved roads. Bulgaria boasts an exceptionally low corporate tax rate of only 10%. The countrys education system is excellent with good availability of experienced mining professionals in a favourable cost environment. Foreign mining companies are successfully operating in Bulgaria. The countrys mining law was established in 1999 and updated in 2011. Mining royalties are low and compare favourably with more established mining countries.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Keith Henderson

President & CEO

For further information, please contact:

Keith Henderson

Phone: +1-604-484-1233

E-mail: info@velocityminerals.com

Web: www.velocityminerals.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION:

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future exploration, testing and Initial Drilling and, if applicable, the Additional Drilling carried out at the Project, the exercise of the Option, the entry into of the Joint Venture and any payments in connection with same and the future business and operations of Velocity. Often, but not always, forward looking statements can be identified by words such as pro forma, plans, expects, may, should, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates, believes, potential or variations of such words including negative variations thereof, and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, that market fundamentals will result in sustained gold demand and prices, the receipt of any necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals in connection with the future development of the Companys Bulgarian projects, the availability of financing on suitable terms for the development, construction and continued operation of the Companys projects, and the Companys ability to comply with environmental, health and safety laws. Forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors include, among others, operating and technical difficulties in connection with mineral exploration and development and mine development activities for Sedefche and the Companys projects generally, including the geological mapping, prospecting and sampling programs for the projects, the fact that the Companys interest in Sedefche is only an option and there is no guarantee that such interest, if earned, will be certain, actual results of exploration activities, including the Initial Drilling and, if applicable, the Additional Drilling, estimation or realization of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, the costs and timing of the development of new deposits, the ability of the Company to obtain access to the CIL Plant and to have ore from the Project (and the Companys other projects) processed at the CIL Plant on profitable terms, the availability of a sufficient supply of water and other materials, requirements for additional capital to fund the Company's business plan, future prices of precious metals, changes in general economic conditions, changes in the financial markets and in the demand and market price for commodities, possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates, possible failures of plants, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, delays in obtaining governmental and regulatory approvals (including of the TSXV), permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations, hedging practices, currency fluctuations, title disputes or claims limitations on insurance coverage and the timing and possible outcome of pending litigation, environmental issues and liabilities, risks related to joint venture operations, and risks related to the integration of acquisitions, as well as those factors discussed under the heading. "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual management's discussion and analysis and other filings of the Company with the Canadian Securities Authorities, copies of which can be found under the Company's profile on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking information in this news release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise required by law.

NR-20-01
By Rasana Gasimova

China started shipping dried fruits to Turkey via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway.

In late December, a train carrying 44 containers loaded with 40 foot of walnut from Urumqi, the administrative center of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwestern China, crossed Kazakhstan and reached Baku International Sea Port, local media reported.

The cargo will be delivered to the city of Mersin in Turkey via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway in the next few days. ADY Container, a subsidiary of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC, is one of the freight carriers.

Over 984 tonnes of walnuts have been delivered to Turkey from Hotan, Kashgar and Aksu prefectures. The next train, loaded with walnuts, is scheduled to depart Turkey In February.

Commissioning of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which provides the shortest railway link between China and Europe, has opened up more favorable opportunities for the transportation of goods from China to Europe. It has made shipping cargo to Europe more time and cost efficient.

The BTK railway was put into operation on October 30, 2017. The total length of the railway constructed on the basis a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement, is 826 km.

The project implementation began in 2007 and construction began in 2008. The line is intended to transport one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of freight at the first stage. This capacity will then reach 3 million passengers and 17 million tons of cargo.

The main purpose of the project was to improve economic relations between the three countries and attract foreign direct investment by connecting Europe and Asia.

Providing the shortest rail link between Europe and Asia, BTK plays an important role in the implementation of China's "One Belt, One Road" strategy and International North-South Transport Corridor.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
JKBOSE on Thursday declared the Secondary School examination of Class 10 annual examination results 2019 for Kashmir division. Students who had appeared in the Jammu and Kashmir State Board of School education Class 10 annual examination 2019 from Kashmir division can check their results by visiting the official website of JKBOSE at jkbose.ac.in.

Steps to check JKBOSE Class 10 annual exam results 2019:

1.Visit the official website of JKBOSE 2) Click on the link for result for Secondary School examination (Class 10th) annual 2019 Kashmir division 3) 4.Key in your roll number in log in page that opens 4. Your JKBOSE 10th result will appear on the screen.

Here is the direct link to check JKBOSE Class 10 annual examination results 2019 for Kashmir division.

In November last year, JKBOSE declared Class 11 bi-annual exam results for Jammu private students.
Start the year off with a variety of fun, educational programs at the Library. All events are free to attend, and materials are provided.

For inquiries or requests, contact: Christina Sacco, Library Public Relations coordinator, at 643-7711 or cpsacco@chattanooga.gov.

New Teen & Tween Weekly Series

Monday - Thursday @ Downtown // 5-6 p.m.

Our teen and tween staff Downtown is kicking off the new decade with weekly topics designed to help kids learn life skills, new cultures, art, literature and more. Each week, well be exploring a different topic, so check out the schedule below.

Jan. 6-9: Games Week - This week starts off with multiple game tournaments on Monday, followed by Escape Boxes, Magic the Gathering and Catan.

Jan. 13-16: DIY Week - This week, well be making really cool crafts like floating wood shelves, t-shirt rugs, lanterns and lamps.

Jan. 21-23: Unity Week - Join us this week as we play games and meet new people who will help us create closer connections and more empathy in our community.

Jan. 27-30: Cooking Week - Come with an appetite this week, as well be making some tasty treats with our Flavor Lab.

Sew What Service Project Month

Every Tuesday @ Downtown // 4-5:45 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 11 @ Downtown // 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Join us on the 4th Floor of our Downtown Branch every Tuesday for a fun and exciting sewing workshop. Cant make it during the week? We also have a Sew What event the 2nd Saturday of every month.

This January, were giving back to the library community with the first ever Sew What Service Project. Well learn how to make fleece hats, scarves and wrist warmers of all sizes. At the end of the month, all hand-made items will be displayed on the 1st Floor Downtown, free to anyone who needs them. Come help us spread some joy and warmth this winter.

All ages are welcome, but those under 10 need an adult with them. Materials are provided, and no registration is required.

Action Packed Tuesdays: Movie Series

Tuesdays @ Downtown // 2-4 p.m.

Get your adrenaline pumping in 2020 by watching an action adventure movie with us every Tuesday in January. Each week, well screen a different film in our 1st Floor Auditorium.

Jan. 14: Mission: Impossible Fallout (2018)

Jan. 21: True Grit (2010)

Jan. 28: Wonder Woman (2017)

Movies are free and open to adults 18+. Popcorn will be served.

Whats Up Wednesdays

Every Wednesday @ Northgate // 4-4:45 p.m.

Whats up, Kindergarteners through 3rd Graders?

Thats what well be asking each Wednesday at our Northgate Branch. What will be the topic? It could be homemade volcanoes, life-sized portraits, cooking, beekeeping or anything else. One thing you know, itll be a fun surprise.

This program is STEAM-based learning and fun for early elementary-aged children. All materials will be provided.

The Northgate Branch is at 278 Northgate Mall Dr #6906, Chattanooga, TN 37415.

Art Therapy

Teens: Wednesdays @ Downtown // 4-5 p.m.

Adults: Fridays @ Downtown // 1-2:30 p.m.

Join us for the therapeutic benefits of art-making, facilitated by masters level art therapist Hannah Ligon. Reduce stress and anxiety, express yourself, learn new skills and meet new people.

For teens (ages 13-18): Group will meet in the 2nd Floor Alcove, and no reservation needed.

For adults (18+): Group will meet in the 1st Floor Classroom. Due to the size of our classroom, we ask that you reserve your spot via Eventbrite.

This free expression group activity is designed to be therapeutic, so we ask that participants respect each others privacy.

Chat N Play

Fridays @ South // 10:30-11 a.m.

Our popular Chat N Play program is now at the South Branch.

Designed with parents and caregivers in mind, Chat N Play is a time when children ages 0- 5 years old can build their social skills and enjoy free play, while you get to chat with friends, both old and new. Chat N Play happens at the South Chattanooga Library on Friday mornings, immediately following Baby Bounce.

The South Branch is 925 W 39th St, Chattanooga, TN 37410.

Seniors Ready to Play!

Mondays - Thursdays @ Avondale // 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

Fridays @ Avondale // 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

The Avondale Branch welcomes all seniors to join us Monday through Friday for fun morning and afternoon activities.

Well be pouring free Shush! Coffee (specially roasted for the Library by Mad Priest), and offering newspapers, magazines, computers, puzzles, board games, coloring and fellowship.

The Avondale Branch, in the new YFD Center, is at 1305 Dodson Ave, Chattanooga, TN 37406.

New Children and Teen Programs @ Avondale

Dates/Times Vary

Were excited to announce some favorite programs are coming to the new Avondale Branch: Baby Bounce, Preschool Storytime and STEAM Thursdays.

Baby Bounce is an exciting program for parents and caregivers of tiny tots, from newborn to 18 months. With your baby on your lap, well sing and play and begin the fascinating and lifelong journey of joyful learning. Baby Bounce happens at the Avondale Branch every Saturday from 10:30-11 a.m.

Preschool Storytime is designed to nurture your childs love of books and the Library while having a great time! Have fun with your child by engaging in stories, songs, rhymes, fingerplays, crafts and so much more. Preschool Storytime takes place every Wednesday from 11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

STEAM Thursday offers fun, interactive ways for kids in 1st grade through 7th grade to learn collaboration and problem-solving while exploring the world through Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. STEAM Thursdays are every Thursday at the Avondale Branch from 5-6 p.m.

Baby Bounce, Preschool Storytime, and STEAM programs are also available at our other branches, so be sure to follow the link at the bottom to visit our event page for more dates and times.

All classes are free, and no registration is required.

The Avondale Branch, in the new YFD Center, is at 1305 Dodson Ave, Chattanooga, TN 37406.

Crafting with Craft Beers

Every 3rd Sunday @ Barley Chattanooga // 5-7 p.m.

If you like making upscale arts and crafts, enjoying cool, local bars and hanging with your friends, then you are in luck.

Crafting with Craft Beers meets every third Sunday of the month at Barley Chattanooga from 5-7 p.m. During this program, you are encouraged to enjoy Barleys wide selection of craft beers while also partaking in a seasonal make and take craft.

This month, well be hand-painting stemless wine glasses. All crafting materials and instructions will be provided by the Library. All that we ask is that you please craft responsibly.

Lego Party

Saturday, January 25 @Eastgate // 2:30-4:30 p.m.

Got the winter blues? Come on down to the Lego Party at Eastgate and build some fun! Lego free play, crafts and activities will be going on throughout the afternoon, so drop in any time.

The Eastgate Branch is at 5705 Marlin Rd, Chattanooga, TN 37411.

Weekend Craft Club

Saturday, Jan. 25 @ Downtown // 1-3 p.m.

If you haven't heard the news, crafting isn't just for kids. On the last Saturday of every month, we get together on our 4th Floor to make a useful craft.

Join us for our January project: Wire-wrapped gemstones. This is a quick and fun activity, and would make a perfect handmade Valentines Day gift.

No registration is required and materials will be provided.

Symphonic Tales Presents Pete the Cat

Every 3rd Sunday @ Barley Chattanooga // 5-7 p.m.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanoogas Department of Performing Arts in partnership with the Chattanooga Public Librarys Childrens Department presents Symphonic Tales, a music and literacy series for young children.

Join us on Saturday, Jan. 25, for Rossinis comic aria, Two Cats, followed by a sing-a-long reading of two Pete the Cat favorites. Games and crafts will follow this comical performance that you dont want to miss.

There are two chances to catch this special event:

1-2 p.m. at our new Avondale Branch

3-4 p.m. at our Downtown Branch

Symphonic Tales is made possible thanks to the generous support of The Tennessee Arts Commission, the Francis Hall Hill professorship, UTC Department of Performing Arts, the Chattanooga Public Library and the Friends of the Library.

The Studio @ the Downtown Branch

Did you know The Studio features a main control room, vocal booth, drum room and live room? Library card holders have access to the Downtown Branchs professional studio featuring industry standard equipment, professionally led workshops and learning opportunities.

For inquiries about partnership with The Studio or open studio times, contact our new Studio Engineer Sam Mentzer, spmentzer@chattanooga.gov or 643-7720. You can also learn more at chattlibrary.org/thestudio.

Holiday Hours

Please be aware that all library branches will be closed on Monday, Jan. 20, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
The councillor for the fast-growing Yonge-Eglinton area wants to see developers denied the right to push their construction out onto public sidewalks and roadways except in exceptional circumstances.

Coun. Josh Matlows (Ward 12 Toronto-St. Pauls) request for a report back in the second quarter of this year on a new policy for right-of-way occupancy permits that defaults to a denial of requests, except when no other options are available, was approved unanimously at infrastructure and environment committee on Thursday. It will go to council for final approval later this month.

If you are in the development business, the burden of responsibility should be on you, when you are speculating and you are considering what properties that you want to buy and then make a lot of money, that you should be able to figure out whether youre going to be able to develop it or not without assuming that you have some divine right to occupy somebody elses property to stage the construction for often two to three years, Matlow said.

Anyone wishing to occupy the public roadway, sidewalk or other part of the citys right-of-way must apply for an occupancy permit and pay the applicable fees. A staff report to committee notes the city has no legal obligation to grant that use to developers and only does so when the citys criteria are met.

Matlow said the citys default position is to permit closures to allow for development, which can last upwards of two years depending on the building. He said developers often need part of the public right-of-way because their project is designed to completely fill the footprint of the lot, instead of including setbacks that would leave room for construction equipment and hoarding on their own property.

Matlow said hes not suggesting the city be unreasonable, and acknowledges there are circumstances where permits should be allowed. But that should only be done, he said, in exchange for a percentage of the gross floor area that allowing use of the public right-of-way creates to be used for affordable housing, child care or seniors services.

If the city does, in some instances, provide land to facilitate a larger building, it should be done in the public interest, Matlow wrote in a letter to the committee.

In their report, city staff recommend keeping the current system in place.

Following consultation with the development industry, city planning, Toronto Building and transportation services staff do not find it practical or feasible to eliminate the occupation of the public right of way, the report begins. Eliminating the use of the right of way for construction purposes would cause development restrictions, impact construction costs, result in longer development horizons and cause potential health and safety concerns on certain sites.

Staff also said that if the city didnt permit the prolonged use of the public right of way, temporary closures would still occur because paid duty police officers assigned to construction sites have the discretionary authority to close live lanes of traffic when materials need to be hoisted into the site or for concrete pouring.

Staff did say they will now require developers to address preliminary construction considerations at an earlier stage in the process, as part of rezoning applications, including the impact on the citys right-of-way.

Chief planner Gregg Lintern said there was an inevitability to developers using the public right-of-way during construction.

You can only set the building back so far, he said. Positioning the building is not going to get you away from the problem of getting into the right-of-way during construction.

Coun. Mike Layton (Ward 11 University-Rosedale), who moved Matlows request at committee, said this issue has been a struggle for the city.

The use of the public right-of-way by developers is a constant annoyance of residents in the city of Toronto, he said, and is therefore often the target of councillors and media. It is sometimes a necessity ... But I think where Coun. Matlow wants to go with this is that it cant always seem like we start at a position favourable to developers.

Mayor John Tory told reporters he can get behind the intent of Matlows motion, but needs to examine the specific wording. The notion of reducing it? Im all in favour of, Tory said. How you do it is something you have to be careful about.

Andrew Pariser, vice-president of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON) and chair of its health and safety committee, said it would be impractical for developers to be unable to use the right-of-way, and with buildings designed to the lot line, not possible to protect the health and safety of workers and the public without needing to push out onto the sidewalk and/or roadway.

This just doesnt seem to be the right answer, he said after the vote. We have a duty as employees and constructors to ensure the health and safety of all workers as well as the public.

On providing community benefits, he noted the existing process is currently being remade by the province, and said any concerns about appropriate benefits for the public in exchange for growth should happen as part of that review.

Asked why developers could not design buildings that dont require the full site and allow for construction on their own property, RESCON president Richard Lyall said it comes down to money. It can completely change the economics of a project and you have to maximize the footprint.

Lyall said he doesnt know for what percentage of buildings the use of the public right-of-way would be do or die for getting a building off the ground versus just hurting developers profits, but said it would be pretty high.
Pakistan said on Thursday that any visit by foreign envoys to Kashmir should take place without any restriction and the diplomats should be allowed to meet the Hurriyat leadership.

In the first such trip by foreign diplomats post August 5, envoys of 15 countries, including the US, visited the Kashmir valley on Thursday where they interacted with select political representatives, civil society members as well as military top brass with the Indian government rejecting criticism that it was a "guided tour".

"We hope that the visit would take place without any restriction by the Indian Government so that envoys would have access to all areas," Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said.

"They may also be allowed to freely interact with Hurriyat leadership and Kashmiri people in an atmosphere free from intimidation and coercion, she told the media, commenting on the envoys' visit to Kashmir.

She also rejected the reports of the persecution of minorities in the country and vandalism at the Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, describing them as part of a smear campaign against Pakistan.

When asked about a letter written by Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Gillani to Prime Minister Imran Khan last year, Farooqui said the response had been "conveyed to him in line with Pakistan's historical and steadfast support and commitment to the Jammu and Kashmir cause".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The FBI Cleveland Citizens Academy Alumni Association (FBICLECAAA) announced Glenn Smith as the organizations new Chairman.

Today, the FBI Cleveland Citizens Academy Alumni Association (FBICLECAAA) announced Glenn Smith as the organizations new Chairman. Smith joined the FBICLECAAA Board of Directors after graduating from the FBI Citizens Academy in 2018 and took on the role of Vice President of Communications soon after.

I am honored to have been voted in as Chairman of the FBI Cleveland Citizens Academy Alumni Association, said Smith. I look forward to working with my fellow committee and board members to foster awareness with programs and services that help the Cleveland FBI build safer communities.

As the CEO of World Synergy, Smith looks forward to leveraging his companys integrated business services to offer a unique, customized combination of marketing and technology solutions for the FBICLECAAA. Specifically, he has donated inkind services which have already improved the organizations marketing, operations, and accounting processes by implementing Oracle NetSuite ERP software. The FBICLECAAA will be able to achieve its growth, longevity, and fundraising goals with this cutting-edge program in place.

The appointment of Glenn Smith as President of the FBICLECAAA is outstanding, says Richard Schwalberg, COO of Menorah Park and former FBICLECAAA Chairman and Regional Chapter Coordinator. Since serving on the FBICLECAAA Board, he has shown a strong commitment through his work in fundraising, website development, and other important services. Glenn will bring the organization to a higher level through his business leadership accomplishments and his community service efforts. As CEO of World Synergy, he will bring leadership, management, marketing, planning, and technological skills and expertise to the organization. These skills will be of critical value to the FBICLECAAA Board, and to the work of the Cleveland Chapter and the Northern Ohio community we serve.

About the FBI Cleveland Citizens Academy Alumni Association:

The FBICLECAAA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public service organization separate and apart from the FBI. The organization was formed in 2004 to promote safer communities in the greater Cleveland metropolitan area through community service projects and by educating citizens and community leaders about law enforcement, with particular emphasis on the FBI. In part, the FBICLECAAA accomplishes their goals by hosting several events throughout the year, including educational conferences, informative seminars, and outstanding fundraising events. Learn more at fbiclecaaa.org.
Plateau Governor Simon Lalong on Thursday visited Kombun community in Mangu Local Government which came under attack by unknown gunmen few days ago.

Thirteen people were confirmed killed in the attack that left many injured and many houses razed down. The News Agency of Nigeria had earlier reported that 12 people were killed.

Mr Lalong, while commiserating with the families that lost loved ones, cautioned youth of the community against the temptation to attack people suspected to have a hand in the incident.

He urged the youth to remain calm and not allow the situation to escalate to other communities by taking laws into their hands.

The governor assured the residents of protection against further attacks, promising that security personnel would be deployed to areas where there was tension.

I urge the youths not to be in a haste to block roads during such attacks because that usually delay security agencies from coming to tackle the invaders. We must cooperate with the authorities, he said.

He said that it was unfortunate that evil perpetrators were trying to disrupt the fragile peace on the Plateau, and urged Plateau residents to support the quest to end the violence by remaining steadily alert.

In his remarks, the District Head of Kombun, Audu Tetmut, said the community had been peaceful without a record of a dispute with anyone.

He commended the governor for his prompt response to their plight and assured him of the peoples cooperation with security agencies.

Distress call

The Plateau State Police Command had earlier said that gunmen, suspected to be herdsmen, on Thursday, killed 12 persons and injured one at Kulben village of Kombun District of Mangu Local Government Area.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the command, Terna Tyopev, said the incident occurred in the early hours of Thursday.

In the early hours of today, we received a distress call that gunmen, suspected to be herdsmen, attacked Kulben community of Kombun District of Mangu.

As a result, 12 persons lost their lives and one severely injured.
For years, they urged America to take a harder line on Iran, dissed its decision to ink a nuclear deal with Tehran and cheered when a tough-talking Donald Trump won the presidency.

Now, Americas closest Middle East allies are practically ducking for cover.

In recent days, as the U.S. killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iran fired back with a missile barrage in Iraq, Gulf Arab states and Israel were expressing second thoughts about what theyd helped unleash.

Saudi officials called for restraint to avoid aggravating the situation. The United Arab Emirates stressed the importance of dialogue and political solutions. Even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who publicly praised Trumps decision to take out Soleimani, privately told aides that the killing isnt an Israeli event but an American event according to Israeli media accounts. We were not involved and should not be dragged into it.

These U.S. partners caution is remarkable given their past calls for America to cut off the head of the snake in Tehran, including by attacking Iranian nuclear sites.

It reflects pointed Iranian threats  and the recognition that a war could upend their economies and threaten their governments. But it also reflects uncertainty about whether the famously fickle Trump will stand by them in the long run.

Its a reality check, said Kristin Diwan, an analyst with the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

An Arab official stressed that while Riyadh and others sought a hard U.S. line, theyve never pushed for war. Were thinking about ourselves, the official said. Iran has been a destabilizing force in the Middle East, but they are still a neighbor we have to live with.

Concerns from these Middle Eastern countries, some of which spend significant amounts on lobbyists in Washington, might have affected Trumps decision Wednesday not to take immediate U.S. military action in response to an Iranian missile barrage hours earlier.

Story continues

In the days after the strike that killed Soleimani, U.S. officials reached out to their counterparts in Israel and Arab Gulf capitals. And this week, Trump quietly welcomed a Saudi defense official to Washington, a meeting the White House did not disclose until Riyadh announced it.

For months, the U.S. has been surging troops to the Gulf region in dribs and drabs as attacks traced to Iran have hit international oil tankers and other targets  an unmistakable signal, U.S. officials say, of the type of carnage Tehran could inflict.

In its latest bellicose threat, Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned its U.S.-backed neighbors that they would not be immune from further escalation if Washington responded militarily to its missile attacks in Iraq.

U.S. allies who gave their bases to its terrorist army that any territory that in any way becomes the starting point of hostile and aggressive acts against the Islamic Republic of Iran will be targeted, the IRGC statement said. We in no way consider the Zionist regime [of Israel] to be separate from the criminal U.S. regime in these crimes.

Some U.S. officials and other observers of the Middle East say that, in a way, Israel and the Iran-wary Gulf states can point to silver linings from recent days events.

For one thing, by ordering the strike against Soleimani, who was visiting Baghdad when he was killed, Trump proved he was willing to make a high-risk move against Iran.

That was somewhat reassuring in particular to Arab leaders, who were surprised and disappointed when Trump refrained from striking Iran earlier this year after it downed a U.S. drone and struck Saudi oil facilities.

Gulf states are worried (less now after Soleimani) that the U.S. will desert them when the going gets tough, a person familiar with the Saudi royal court wrote in a text to POLITICO.

Trump has heaped economic sanctions on Iran in what the administration describes as a maximum pressure campaign aimed at bringing Tehran to heel.

On Wednesday, the president announced that new sanctions were on the way after the Iranian missile assault. But his past hesitation about confronting Iran militarily is thought to have spurred recent diplomatic discussions among Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Tehran, including hopes for progress in the conflict in Yemen.

In fact, after the U.S. strike against Soleimani last week, Iraqs prime minister claimed the Iranian general had been in Iraq as part of talks to reduce tensions with Saudi Arabia. (Pompeo has mocked that assertion and declared it not true.)

At the same time, while those same countries are happy to see Trump punch Iran, they dont want the confrontation to evolve into a full-blown war.

Coffins of Gen. Qassem Soleimani and others who were killed in Iraq by a U.S. drone strike, are carried on a truck surrounded by mourners during a funeral procession, in the city of Kerman, Iran, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020.

Irans neighbors want Iran deterred but they dont want Iran to be lashing out, and the question is How you can deter an adversary without ever striking that adversary? said Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Barack Obama, Trumps Democratic predecessor, used sanctions and partnered with other countries to cajole Iran into negotiations that led to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. For many Arab countries, as well as Israel, curbing Irans nuclear program was for years a top priority.

But by the time the nuclear deal was reached, Irans non-nuclear behavior in the region  especially its ballistic missile program, support for proxy militias and intervention in Syrias civil war  had become almost as infuriating as its alleged nuclear ambitions.

The nuclear deal essentially didnt cover those other issues, so the Saudis, Emiratis and others were ultimately unhappy with it. Israels Netanyahu did virtually everything he could to get the nuclear deal derailed, including delivering a blistering address to Congress in which he said the agreement paves Irans path to the bomb.

At the same time, Obamas ongoing outreach to Iran put Americas longtime Arab partners on edge. Some questioned Obamas commitment to their safety  a question Obamas supporters say is ridiculous  and viewed his diplomatic efforts as a tilt toward Tehran.

Trump abandoned the nuclear agreement in May 2018, and began reimposing sanctions on Tehran that had been lifted under the deal.

The Arab official told POLITICO that what Irans opponents in the region want now is for the U.S. to keep pressuring Iran  preferably through sanctions and diplomacy  to sit down and hammer out a more comprehensive agreement that covers its nuclear efforts, its missile program and its aggressive regional behavior.

The official also said Arab countries need to have a seat at the negotiating table. The last agreement was crafted through negotiations involving Iran, the U.S., China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany.

On Wednesday, Trump urged those countries to break away from the remnants of the Iran deal and work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place.

Many Iran observers say that's unrealistic.

After all, they point out: For reasons ranging from sovereignty to pride, Iran is unlikely to sit down for such far-reaching talks; the Trump administration has done little of substance to engage Iran diplomatically; and the president has badly damaged relations with some staunch U.S. allies, making a multilateral effort harder.

Some point out that they have warned for years that Trumps sanctions-heavy approach to Iran would eventually lead to a military confrontation. So its rich to see Gulf Arab states and Israel suddenly blanching at the consequences.

What did they expect would happen? tweeted Dina Esfandiary, a fellow at The Century Foundation.

Despite its fiery rhetoric, there are signs Irans leaders appear wary of taking things too far.

Thanks largely to U.S. sanctions, Irans economy is in dire shape. In October, the International Monetary Fund predicted Irans economy would shrink by 9.5 percent in 2019.

Many Iranians also are tired of the regimes oppression. Only weeks ago, the country experienced widespread protests that alarmed the clerics in Tehran so much they shut down the internet for days.

In one of multiple signals from Iran that the escalation would end if Trump didnt fight back using military force, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted after Irans missile strike: We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression.

But Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggested further Iranian moves could be in the works. They were slapped last night, but such military actions are not enough, he said on Wednesday.

Soleimani led Irans elite Quds Force, a kind of expeditionary unit that ran operations outside Irans borders. He oversaw allied militia groups in other countries and was said to keep a tight grip on them.

Some of the militia elements that are now viewing him as having been martyred could become rogue, a former U.S. intelligence official told POLITICO.

Thats the one piece that worries me, the former official said, is that a rogue element does something that is truly escalatory and we react to it not knowing whether its sponsored by the supreme leader or some other person.

As if to illustrate the potential for continued danger, a pair of rockets were reported to have been fired Wednesday at the Green Zone, the area in Baghdad where the U. S. Embassy is located.

Martin Matishak contributed to this report.
Montreal: There was the family of a prominent Iranian writer who had emigrated to Canada a few years ago. There was a newlywed couple. And there were international students and children traveling with their families.

The victims of a crash Wednesday morning of a Boeing 737-800 included passengers and crew members from at least seven countries, among them at least 63 Canadians.

It is unclear what caused the crash.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 went down amid tensions between the United States and Iran over the American drone strike last week that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a key leader of Irans Revolutionary Guard. Early Wednesday, Iran attacked two bases in Iraq that house US troops.

The plane was bound for Kyiv and crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran. All 176 people on board were killed.

Vadym Prystaiko, Ukraines minister of foreign affairs, said the victims included 82 Iranians and 11 Ukrainians, including nine Ukrainian crew members. Sixty-three passengers were from Canada, 10 from Sweden, four from Afghanistan, three from Germany and three from Britain, he said.

For Canada, the crash was one of the worst losses of life in an aviation disaster. In 1985, a bomb exploded and killed 329 people aboard an Air India flight, most of them Canadians of Indian ancestry.

Canada has one of the worlds largest shares of the Iranian diaspora; 210,000 people who identify as Iranian live in the country, and many of them fled their homeland after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Others arrived more recently, often drawn by education or employment opportunities.

Iranian immigrants in Canada live largely in the suburbs of the countrys three largest cities  Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

Mahsha Alimardani, a doctoral student at Oxford University, wrote on Twitter that the route from Tehran to Toronto, through Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, had become affordable for many Iranian-Canadians who did not have access to direct flights.

Payman Parseyan, an Iranian immigrant in Edmonton, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that the disaster was devastating for the citys close-knit Iranian community. People were glued to their televisions sets and seeking one another out in search of news about loved ones, he said.

As many as 30 victims came from Edmonton.

Parseyan said they included two young girls, 9 and 14, as well as international students from Iran.

Reza Akbari, president of the Iranian Heritage Society of Edmonton, told The Edmonton Journal that the victims included doctors as well as a newlywed couple, Arash Pourzarabi, 26, and Pouneh Gorji, 25, computer science students who had traveled to Iran for their wedding.

Its been a shock, he told the newspaper. I know some of these people in person. I had a chance to see them at different parties, gatherings.

I can tell you pretty much every Iranian in Edmonton knew some of them, Akbari said. So its very devastating.

The crash also took the lives of the wife and daughter of an Iranian author, Hamed Esmaeilion, a dentist celebrated as a leading writer of his generation.

Husband-and-wife engineering professors at the University of Alberta, Mojgan Daneshmand and Pedram Mousavi, and their daughters Daria and Dorina Mousavi, were also killed. The university described Daneshmand as a pioneering researcher in microwave sensors who had been making advances for a variety of products, including wearable health monitors.

In North Vancouver, Arash Azrahimi, owner of Rosewood Photography, said several of the victims had been his customers. Two of them, he said, Mohammadhossein and Zeynab Asadilari, who were in their 20s, were children of a member of the Iranian government and had been living in Vancouver.

Other victims from the Vancouver area included a couple, both doctors, and the wife and daughter of a bakery owner, he said.

Majid Mahichi, a Vancouver-based television producer of a Farsi language program, knew the doctor couple, Firouzeh Madini and Naser Pourshabanoshibi, for 40 years. He said they had gone to Iran to visit their parents and had one daughter, who did not travel with them.

The pair moved to Canada about five years ago, Mahichi said. They were a very happy couple, he said. They were so happy to have moved to Canada.

He said, We have some friends who just wanted to visit their families  but now unfortunately, their bodies are coming back.

Laing ORourke, a construction company based in Britain, confirmed in an email on Wednesday that Saeed Tahmasebi Khademsadi, 35, who worked at the company office in Dartford, died in the crash. Tahmasebi, a civil engineer, was a doctoral candidate at Imperial College in London, according to his LinkedIn page.

Sam Zokaei, a reservoir engineer for BP, was also killed, the company confirmed Wednesday. Zokaei, who spoke Arabic and Farsi, was on holiday in Iran and had been with BP for the past 14 years, according to his LinkedIn profile.

At a news conference, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said his government would ensure that the incident was fully investigated. Canadians have questions, and they deserve answers, he said.

Francois-Philippe Champagne, Canadas foreign affairs minister, said he was in touch with the Ukrainian government and that he would keep Canadians informed as the situation became clearer.

Our hearts are with the loved ones of the victims, including many Canadians, he wrote on Twitter.

The Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned Canadians to avoid nonessential travel to Iran, citing the volatile security situation, the regional threat of terrorism and the risk of arbitrary detention.

Canadians, particularly dual Canadian-Iranian citizens, are at risk of being arbitrarily questioned, arrested and detained, the travel warning says. Iran does not recognize dual nationality and Canada will not be granted consular access to dual Canadian-Iranian citizens. Canadian-Iranian dual citizens should carefully consider the risks of traveling to Iran.

Transport Canada, the countrys transport ministry, said that Air Canada, the only Canadian air carrier that operates in the region, had altered its routes to ensure the security of its flights into and over the Middle East.

Dan Bilefsky and Ian Austen@c.2020 The New York Times Company
A Portlaoise man who was drunkenly roaring and shouting on Main Street has been warned that if he comes before the court again he could go to prison.

At last weeks sitting of Portlaoise District Court, Thomas Delaney (31), with an address at 11 The Hermitage, Portlaoise, was charged with being intoxicated in a public place, on Main Street, Portlaoise.

Sgt JJ Kirby gave evidence that on November 17, 2019, at 2.20am, at Main Street, Portlaoise, the accused was in a highly intoxicated state and being abusive to both gardai and members of the public. He was roaring and shouting in a loud manner and had to be arrested.

The accused had 31 previous convictions, 21 for public order matters.

Defence, Mr Gerry Meagher said that the accuseds father had gone missing in the last few months, which had caused a lot of anxiety for him following an extensive garda search.

Mr Meagher said the accused had unfortunately struggled with controlling his alcohol intake and had managed to get through Christmas without a relapse or coming to garda attention.

Defence asked the court to allow the accused time to prove his good intentions and remain sober.

Judge Flann Brennan convicted and fined the accused 100.

The next time you come before me Im thinking of imposing a custodial sentence, Judge Brennan said. I have to warn you, youd want to address your drinking - just give it up.
UK's Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle have announced quitting their front-line roles to focus on the "next chapter", stunning the monarchy and drawing sharp criticism from the British media which has been reporting of a widening rift within the Royal family.

In an extraordinary statement released on Wednesday night, the couple announced plans to step back from their current roles and split their time between the UK and North America with their son Archie.

Buckingham Palace described the process as "complicated" as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex issued the statement to reveal their intention after months of "reflection" to become financially independent and set up their own charitable entity as they carve out a new role for themselves in the New Year.

"We intend to step back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen, their statement notes.

It adds: We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth and our patronages.

"This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity."



The Royal Family was said to be "hurt" and "deeply disappointed" after the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes' decision which they took without consulting the Queen, the Prince of Wales or the Duke of Cambridge, the Telegraph reported.

As the couple, Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, unveiled their "exciting next step", it seemed that the other royals, including 93-year-old Queen Elizabeth II, were taken by surprise.

Their announcement, branded online as Megxit, has been described as "personal" and had not been approved by the palace.

According to the BBC, Prince Harry spoke about a rift between him and his elder brother William, the Duke of Cambridge, by saying they were on "different paths".

Also, Duke and Duchess of Sussexes' absence from Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton's last two birthdays has stoked rumours of a royal rift between Prince William and Harry, the Daily Express reported.

"Discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage. We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through," a Buckingham Palace statement noted in response.

Harry is the sixth in line to the British throne and how the new plans are likely to impact the line of succession remains unconfirmed. He married former American actress Meghan Markle in May 2018 and the couple had son Archie in May last year.

They had a particularly difficult year in 2019 when they spoke out about the media glare on their role in a television documentary and decided to take legal action against British tabloids over breach of privacy.

The latest move was finalised during a six-week sabbatical by the royal couple on Vancouver island in Canada over Christmas. Their future plans are roughly outlined on their Sussex Royal website, where it says they will be making a transition to a new working model and not be dependent on the Sovereign Grant of UK taxpayer funding to the royal family.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Protests continued to take place in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Thursday against the violence on the campus earlier this week.

Students raised slogans and banners against the administration during the protest.

There was a heavy police presence outside the main gate of the university.

Apart from JNUSU, several civil organisations and citizens have joined the protest, demanding strict action against those involved in campus violence.

On January 5, more than 30 students of the university, including JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, were injured and taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre after a masked mob entered JNU and attacked them and professors with sticks and rods.

The JNU administration and politicians, cutting across party lines, condemned the attack on students and urged the police to take strict action against the perpetrators.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A faction of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) has accused south-west governors of recruiting political thugs for Amotekun, the regio...





A faction of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) has accused south-west governors of recruiting political thugs for Amotekun, the regional security outfit.





Worried by the high rate of banditry and kidnapping, the governors of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti and Lagos had come up with the idea of floating a regional security group.





The project facilitated by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) will be launched on Thursday.





In a statement on Wednesday, Prince Osibote, OPC worldwide president, said the governors had negotiated with another group that does not represent the OPC.





To avoid all doubts, the OPC, which I lead, will not do anything tantamount to destruction of Yoruba interest. We are at great pains to disclaim, for the umpteenth time, that Adams does not represent the OPC, Osibote said.





Having said that, we must commend the Amotekun initiative by governors of the South-west states. While it is a timely, novel and necessary initiative, we believe the contribution(s) of all stakeholders must be sought and in particular, in our own case, with the legitimate OPC, to achieve an unqualified launch.





The OPC under my leadership is ready to work with the governors and other constituted authorities to secure Yorubaland in particular and the rest of Nigeria in general.





The political class in Yorubaland wants to hijack the OPC for their selfish purpose, particularly those entertaining the ambition of ruling the country or their states. We have told them that the OPC will not transform into a political party.





What the South-west governors are doing now is far from the Operation Amotekun that we suggested. They are recruiting their political thugs and people of questionable character, largely from the pool of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).





If this operation goes ahead in the manner the governors are presently prosecuting it, I am concerned that the outcome will lead to more complex security issues than it was meant to solve.





The police and army have reportedly refused to carry out joint patrols with the security outfit, citing lack of proper training of its officials.




STAMFORD  Fotis Dulos walked out of the courthouse Thursday afternoon, weaving through a maze of media before being ushered off in an awaiting SUV.

Wearing a grey shirt, dark blue blazer and jeans, the 52-year-old Farmington resident did not answer any questions as he was freed on bail after putting up more than $400,000 in cash on a $6 million bond for the latest charges of felony murder, murder and kidnapping in the Jennifer Dulos homicide.

However, Fotis Dulos will be on house arrest and the new charges will likely affect his pursuit to challenge his mother-in-laws custody of his five children.

His divorce attorney, Richard Rochlin, was scheduled to argue before a Stamford juvenile court judge Thursday that his client deserves contact with his children and he wants an appeal of the probate court ruling.

After the latest charges were filed on Tuesday, the hearing was postponed and the fate of the appeal is unknown since Judge John Blawie, overseeing the criminal case, issued a protective order that bans Fotis Dulos from contacting his children, his mother-in-law and the family nanny.

Fotis Dulos former girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, was also freed Thursday on $1.5 million bond, but was quickly escorted to Stamford Hospital.

Stamford Police Capt. Diedrich Hohn said Troconis was transported to the hospital for an evaluation for treatment she said she was not able to receive while held the previous two nights at the York Correctional Institution for women in Niantic.

Because Troconis was transported to the hospital, she avoided the swarm of media waiting outside the front entrance.

Defense lawyer Kevin Smith, representing Fotis Dulos, spoke briefly outside the courthouse, but did not address any of the evidence in the case because of the gag order.

He said Fotis Dulos was relieved to be going home as anybody would in this circumstance.

Fotis Dulos will only be allowed to leave his Jefferson Crossing home to attend medical appointments, church services and court-approved work appointments.

Fotis Dulos spent a second night in jail Wednesday after his bond paperwork could not be filed in time following his arraignment at state Superior Court in Stamford.

Troconis and Kent Mawhinney, a longtime friend and former civil attorney for Fotis Dulos, have each been charged with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with Jennifer Dulos death.

Mawhinney is not expected to post his $2 million bond.

Blawie refused to lower the bond for Mawhinney, who was arrested Tuesday at gunpoint, according to sources, and was considered by the prosecution as a flight risk.

Mawhinney, knowing about this warrant, did evade state police for a period of time (Tuesday) and was found near the Massachusetts border, States Attorney Richard Colangelo told the judge.

Staff writer John Nickerson contributed to this story.
Maharashtra government is open to re-investigating the death of special Central Bureau of Investigation judge B H Loya in 2014, state home minister Anil Deshmukh said in Mumbai on Thursday.

Loya, who was hearing the high-profile Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case of Gujarat, died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague's daughter.

"Our government is open to re-investigating the Loya death case. Some people are meeting me today to demand that the case be reopened. I will hear them out and if necessary, the case will be re-investigated," Deshmukh told reporters.

Asked if Loya's family members were meeting him, the minister said, "I don't want to disclose that."

Meanwhile, Deshmukh praised the police officers who were part of the operation to nab fugitive gangster Ejaz Lakdawala from Patna on Wednesday night.

He said the gangster's daughter Shifa Shaikh had put 'Manish Advani' as her father's name in her passport.

"She was arrested in the fake passport case and Lakdawala was nabbed after the police came to know of his whereabouts. The police are investigating who is Manish

Advani," he said.

Asked if the police officers who nabbed Lakdawala will be rewarded, he said, "They have gone a good job and a decision on rewarding them will be taken."

Lakdawala, who was earlier an associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and gangsters Chhota Shakeel and Chhota Rajan, was operating on his own since 2008-09, Deshmukh said.

"He has 26 extortion cases, four cases under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and 80 other complaints against him," the minister said.

On Bharatiya Janata Party's criticism that police were under political pressure to withdraw cases against those who protested the Jawaharlal Nehru University violence at Gateway of India in Mumbai, Deshmukh said the police were probing from where Mumbai resident Mehek Prabhu got the placard with the message 'Free Kashmir', and what were her intentions behind displaying it.

"She has given her side of the story and after investigations are completed, a decision on the FIR will be taken," he said.

Deshmukh also said that he has sought a report on the status of probe into the Koregaon Bhima violence on January 1, 2018.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached movable and immovable assets worth Rs 2,511 crore of the SRS Group, its promoters and their family members and associate companies under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in a cheating and fraud case.

The assets attached consist of land, real estate projects, commercial projects, residential houses, school, cinema hall, balances in bank accounts and fixed deposits.

ED is investigating SRS Group and its promoters on the basis of numerous FIRs filed at various police stations in Faridabad, charge sheets filed by Haryana Police as well as FIR filed by Economic Offence Wing (EOW), New Delhi.

Also Read:15 companies show interest to buy debt-laden SRS Ltd under IBC

During its investigation, ED found out that promoters of SRS Group - Anil Jindal, Jitender Kumar Garg and Praveen Kumar Kapoor - and their associates lured investments from several individual and institutions on fake promises of high returns from investments in shops, plots, flats, apartments etc.

The money thus collected was then siphoned off to other group companies through various shell companies controlled indirectly by the promoters of the group through dummy directors.

Also Read: DHFL scam: ED begins probe in money laundering of UPPCL provident fund

The promoters also showed inflated assets and turnover through fake and fabricated balance sheets. They kept investors in the dark by not giving them specific investment plans. To keep the companies afloat, they further availed loans, which were used for repayments to investors.

The investigation by ED also revealed that movable and immovable properties were illegally acquired in the name of various companies of SRS Group and family members of the promoters.

Also Read: Amrapali Redux: SRS Group promoters likely to have siphoned off over Rs 1,000 crore
A Lebanese prosecutor imposed a travel ban on former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn on Thursday, judicial sources said, after he was questioned over an Interpol warrant issued by Japan seeking his arrest on financial misconduct charges. Ghosn fled Japan to Lebanon, his childhood home, last month as he was awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies. The Lebanese judicial authorities also asked Japan for its file on Ghosn, including the charges against him, and will not question him again until the ...
Many investors regard Canada-based Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC) as one of the best cannabis companies. CGC is the largest marijuana stock by market cap. But in 2019, its large size did not help support Canopy Growth stock, as the shares fell 21% last year.

Source: Shutterstock

Although 2020 may turn out to be a better year for Canopy Growth stock, I believe its still too early to invest a meaningful amount of money in CGC stock or in most of its peers. CGC is expected to report its fiscal third-quarter earnings in February. Id encourage potential investors to analyze the companys Q3 results before buying Canopy Growth stock.

Canopy Growths Q2 Results

On Nov. 14, CGC released its Q2 results. Investors were disappointed as its revenue and loss per share were were weaker than analysts, on average, had expected.

InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips

During the quarter, Canopys loss from operations totaled $265.8 million CAD. Its gross margin came in at negative 13%, considerably below the positive 33% figure it had reported a year earlier.

One bright spot was that CGC still had 2.7 billion CAD of cash and cash equivalents as of Sept. 30. Canopy Growth still had a great deal of cash because it had received a $4 billion investment from alcoholic beverages giant Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ) in 2018. Constellation now holds a 38% stake in CGC, which had trouble managing its cash flow.

New Leadership at CGC

In mid-January, Canopy Growth will be welcoming a new CEO, David Klein, who will step down from his current position as CFO of Constellation Brands to take the post at CGC. InvestorPlace columnist Jonathan Berr has written a detailed piece on what shareholders could expect from CGC stock in the early days of Kleins tenure.

Kleins appointment shows that CGCs board would like the company to tighten its belt and put its financial house in order.

Story continues

Canopys loss from operations hit 388.9 million CAD in the first six months of fiscal 2020. Wall Street has been increasingly concerned that Canopy Growth and other cannabis companies are spending too much money.

Although CGC may not not achieve profitability in the near future, its cash burning will have to come to an end.

The owners of Canopy Growth stock hope that the cannabis-infused beverages and food that CGC will begin selling in Canada soon will enable it to grow more rapidly.

Investors are also hopeful that the companys international operations will become more successful in 2020. More countries are legalizing the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. And Canopy Growth has a presence in 16 countries other than Canada.

However, in Q2, CGCs international medical cannabis business only generated 18.1 million CAD of revenue. That number has to grow substantially before investors can get excited about its overseas business.

Supply and Demand Issues

Producing cannabis is capital-intensive. As a result, cannabis firms make substantial initial and ongoing investments.

They are also vulnerable to supply and demand issues. In 2019, a wide range of Canadian regulatory logjams resulted in supply problems for CGC and its peers.

Plus, most of the demand for cannabis is currently limited to Canada where there is still a resilient black market. Wall Street is now seriously questioning whether the revenue of CGC and its peers can grow much, given the weakness of the Canadian cannabis market. Consequently, the Street has become much less upbeat on Canopy Growth stock and other cannabis stocks.

In Q2, CGC sold only about 25% of the cannabis it produced. In its earnings release, CGC said:

The last two quarters have been challenging for the Canadian cannabis sector as provinces have reduced purchases to lower inventory levels, retail store openings have fallen short of expectations, and Cannabis 2.0 products are yet to come to market.

Although marijuana is still illegal under U.S. federal law, for over a year hemp has been legal under U.S. law. And in January 2018, Canopy Growth obtained a license to process and produce hemp products in New York State.

U.S. hemp production has not yet contributed to Canopys bottom line. CGC and its peers may indeed ultimately benefit from the legalization of hemp However, it will probably be several quarters before Canopys investments pay off and turn into profits that could positive impact Canopy Growth stock.

The Performance of CGC Stock

Canopy Growth stock and its peers can be quite volatile.

Over the past year, CGC stock has tumbled 30%. On Apr. 29, Canopy Growth stock reached a 2019 high of $52.74. Its now trading below $20.

After hitting a 52-week low of $13.81 on Nov. 18, CGC stock rebounded. Investors who bought Canopy Growth stock near its lows and are still holding onto the shares may want to lock in some profits at this point. I believe the recent rally of CGC stock was partly due to investors hope that Constellation Brands could acquire the shares of Canopy Growth stock it doesnt already own.

However, that is not likely to happen any time soon. Constellation is likely to give CGCs new CEO ample time to streamline the cannabis producer and wait for a more opportune time to acquire the company. By then, CGC stock may be lower than it is now.

Those considering investing in Canopy Growth stock may want to start buying shares when the stock is trading for $15 -$16 . They should expect to hold the position for several years. In the meantime, expect CGC stock to be very volatile.

The Bottom Line on CGC Stock

There is still a lot of confusing hype surrounding the potential of cannabis leaders like Canopy Growth. After most marijuana stocks tumbled 60% to 90%, it certainly looks like the bubble has popped.

But CGCs revenue and cost structure issues may not disappear in 2020.

Hope springs eternal. Yet CGC stock will need a strong catalyst to make it attractive in the eyes of many long-term investors. Until then, CGC is likely to be volatile with a downward bias.

Eventually, Canopy Growth has to align its practices with the reality of the marijuana market. For now, Id keep Canopy Growth and the industry on my watch list.

As of this writing, Tezcan Gecgil did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

More From InvestorPlace

The post Could the Pain Finally Be Over for Canopy Growth Stock? appeared first on InvestorPlace.
Mary Berry was left extremely unimpressed at Lorraine Kelly's piping skills during an awkward cake icing competition on Thursday.

The 84-year-old baking queen's ire was raised when daytime TV host Lorraine, 60, attempted to create an elegant frosting pattern on a Victoria sponge - but ended up with a slightly wonky design.

Mary first took a swipe at Lorraine's method of holding the piping bag, with the presenter saying: 'Right so were going to pipe these cakes' with the chef biting back: well, we would be if you held it correctly!'

Scroll down for video

Hmm: Mary Berry was left extremely unimpressed at Lorraine Kelly's piping skills during an awkward cake icing competition on Thursday

Standards: The 84-year-old baking queen's ire was raised when daytime TV host Lorraine, 60, attempted to create an elegant frosting pattern on a Victoria sponge - but ended up with a slightly wonky design

As Lorraine was icing alongside actor Shayne Ward and Dr Hillary Jones, Mary came over and said:Well what did I say about holding it from the top?

An enthusiastic Lorraine said: 'This actually isn't as bad as I thought it would be, is this good?' with a barbed Mary responding 'Not particularly, no.'

Dashing Lorraine's hopes of being the star baker in the competition once and for all when it came to judging, ex GBBO judge Mary branded the host's cake 'a mess all-round. It's pretty rubbish.'

This led to an awkward silence before Mary turned her attentions to the other bakers.

Oh dear: Mary first took a swipe at Lorraine's method of holding the piping bag, with the presenter saying: 'Right so were going to pipe these cakes' with the chef biting back: well, we would be if you held it correctly!'

No: An enthusiastic Lorraine said: 'This actually isn't as bad as I thought it would be, is this good?' with a barbed Mary responding 'Not particularly, no'

Delivering a final steely remark, Mary said: 'Some of them would be very nice for a child.'

Fans on Twitter were quick to weigh in on the scathing exchange, with one writing: 'I love Mary Berry! Being sassy and giving zero f****'.

Another added: 'Give it to her straight Mary lol it's rubbish.'

Awkward: Dashing Lorraine's hopes of being the star baker in the competition once and for all when it came to judging, ex GBBO judge Mary branded the host's cake 'a mess all-round. It's pretty rubbish'

Oh dear: The cake featured wonky frosting and a trio of raspberries

Decorating: Delivering a final steely remark, Mary said: 'Some of them would be very nice for a child' (above with Shayne Ward and Dr Hillary)

Sassy: Fans on Twitter were quick to weigh in on the scathing exchange, with one writing: 'I love Mary Berry! Being sassy and giving zero f****'

The group were decorating the cakes in honour of the Duchess of Cambridge's 38th birthday.

Last month Mary joined forces with Kate Middleton for hit show A Berry Royal Christmas.

The festive BBC special saw the baking legend shadow the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as they attended royal engagements with their respective organisations - and culminated in Mary helping them prepare the menu for a charity event.
MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON Oklahoma (in previews; opens on Jan. 15). Elizabeth Streets novel, conceived by Rona Munro as a solo show, arrives on Broadway via the Manhattan Theater Club. Ben Brantley, who saw Laura Linney perform in the one-hander last year, wrote, This is writing  and acting  that grows in power without your being aware of it, and the tears it elicits feel both surprising and natural.

212-239-6200, manhattantheatreclub.com

TIMON OF ATHENS at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center (previews start on Jan. 11; opens on Jan. 19). The extraordinary actress Kathryn Hunter returns to Theater for a New Audience in Shakespeares vexed and little-performed tragedy. Hunter, a veteran of gender-flipped Shakespeare, plays Timon, who alive all living men did hate. Polonskys production with Shakespeare Theater Company, in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company, is directed by Simon Godwin.

866-811-4111, tfana.org

Last Chance

FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME at the Booth Theater (closes on Jan. 12). This improvised hip-hop comedy drops the mic. Created by Thomas Kail, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Anthony Veneziale, the show uses audience suggestions to create a different concert each night. Ben Brantley wrote that it suggests that theres no feeling, thought or experience so anxious or so random that it cant be translated into infectious, neon-bright rhythms.

212-239-6200, freestylelovesupreme.com

GREATER CLEMENTS at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center Theater (closes on Jan. 19). Samuel D. Hunters community tragedy, set in a small, industry-starved Idaho town, goes down the silver mines for the last time. Jesse Green compared it to a mine elevator: creaky and skeletal but with intermittent access to wonderful things. He added, If you are looking to cry, as I always am, Greater Clements will give you more than one reason to do so.

212-239-6200, lct.org

OKLAHOMA! at Circle in the Square (closes on Jan. 19). The wind will whistle down Broadway for just a few more performances as Daniel Fishs audacious version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic comes to a close. This isnt an act of plunder, Ben Brantley wrote, but of reclamation. And a cozy old friend starts to seem like a figure of disturbing  and exciting  depth and complexity.

212-239-6200, oklahomabroadway.com

ONE IN TWO at the Pershing Square Signature Center (closes on Jan. 12). Donja R. Loves new drama about queer black men living with H.I.V. ends its run. Laura Collins-Hughes wrote that because of this New Group production by Stevie Walker-Webb, the play has entered the world in a state of quiet glory, equal parts laughter and pain.

917-935-4242, thenewgroup.org

SLAVE PLAY at the John Golden Theater (closes on Jan. 19). A work that has changed the Broadway conversation around race, sex, audiences, ticket prices and even talkbacks, Jeremy O. Harriss barbed comedy ends its run. Jesse Green wrote that in its depiction of three interracial couples, Robert OHaras production lets us all see ourselves in the muddle that is race in America now.

212-947-8844, slaveplaybroadway.com

THE SOUND INSIDE at Studio 54 (closes on Jan. 12). Adam Rapps twisty drama about a creative writing professor (Mary-Louise Parker) and her student (Will Hochman) closes its books. Jesse Green, who had also seen the play at the Williamstown Theater Festival, described David Cromers production as even more resonant on Broadway: a tragedy about fiction, both the kind we read and the kind we live.

212-239-6200, lct.org
The House of Representatives voted 224-194 Thursday to limit President Trump's ability to wage war with Iran.

The vote on the War Powers Resolution included some notable defections, with Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican and top Trump ally, voting with the Democrats.

'If our servicemembers have the courage to fight and die in these wars, Congress ought to have the courage to vote for or against them. Im voting for this resolution,' Gaetz pledged earlier Thursday.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saw eight defections from Democrats, though passed a War Powers resolution Thursday that would limit President Trump's ability to go to war with Iran

The War Powers Resolution passed the House of Representatives Thursday evening, with 224 lawmakers voting for it and 194 against it, mainly along party lines

Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican who normally sides with President Trump, announced earlier Thursday that he planned to vote alongside the Democrats

President Trump had tweeted about the resolution early Thursday, saying that he 'hope[d] that all House Republicans will vote against Crazy Nancy Pelosi's War Powers Resolution.' Republicans lost three members, while Democrats saw eight defections

President Trump encouraged all House Republicans to vote against the Democrats War Powers Resolution in an a.m. tweet

Rep. Max Rose, a Democratic freshman from New York who represents a purple district, announced earlier Thursday that he would be voting alongside the GOP.

Rose's bone to pick was that the resolution was non-binding.

'Unfortunately, todays War Powers Resolution is a non-binding resolution that simply restates existing law and sends the message that war is imminent,' Rose said in a statement. 'I refuse to play politics with questions of war and peace and therefore will not support this resolution.'

Rose, who served in Afghanistan, also said the president had not authority to engage in a war with Iran without Congressional approval.

'That is the role Congress must play,' he said.

Overall, 8 Democrats defected from the party.

Three Republicans and Independent Rep. Justin Amash voted with the Democrats, who made up the majority, allowing the resolution to pass.

Earlier Thursday, Trump had encouraged House Republicans to vote against it.

'Hope that all House Republicans will vote against Crazy Nancy Pelosis War Powers Resolution. Also, remember her speed & rush in getting the Impeachment Hoax voted on & done. Well, she never sent the Articles to the Senate. Just another Democrat fraud. Presidential Harassment!,' the president tweeted.

On Wednesday, on the heels of a Congressional briefing on the president's decision to kill Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, Pelosi announced that the vote would come Thursday.

'The House will move forward with a War Powers Resolution to limit the president's military actions regarding Iran,' Pelosi said.

The speaker also left the door open for future resolutions, including one that would repeal the 2002 Iraq Authorization for Use of Military Force, and one that wouldn't allow any money to fund military actions in Iran not authorized by Congress.

Senators Mike Lee and Rand Paul came out of the Senate's briefing on killing Soleimani saying they would support a War Powers resolution in their chamber.

White House counselor Jared Kushner spoke to Lee Wednesday night and told the senator he would relay his concerns to the president.

Jared Kushner called Sen. Mike Lee Wednesday night to talk about the War Powers resolution

Sen. Rand Paul said he would now support a War Powers resolution

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine introduced a War Powers resolution to limit Trump's power

'Sen. Lee was planning on reaching out to President Trump but then Jared Kushner called Sen. Lee last night, and they talked, and Kushner said he would share Sen. Lees concerns with the president,' a Lee aide told DailyMail.com.

Lee, a conservative Senator from Utah, came out of Wednesday briefing in a storm of fury about the way the senators were treated and vowing to support a War Powers Resolution in the Senate.

'That briefing is what changed my mind. That briefing is what brought me on board,' Lee told reporters after it concluded. 'I'm now going to support it. I walked into that briefing undecided and I walked out of that briefing decided specifically because of what happened in that briefing.'

He said a request by administration officials to not debate Trump's action in Iran in public is what pushed him over the edge.

He wouldn't say what officials made the request by the briefing was conducted by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, and CIA Director Gina Haspel.

But Vice President Mike Pence said the officials couldn't share more details because it would compromise intelligence gathering methods.

'Some of the most compelling evidence that Qassem Soleimani was preparing an imminent attack against American forces and American personnel also represents some of the most sensitive intelligence that we have. It could compromise those sources and methods,' Pence told NBC's 'Today' show Thursday morning.

Lee did not mince words about his feelings on how the Trump officials treated him when he left Wednesday's briefing.

'They had to leave after 75 minutes while in they're in the process of telling us we need to be good little boys and girls and not debate this in public. I find that absolutely insane,' Lee said.

'One of the messages we received from the briefers was do not debate, do not discuss the issue of the appropriateness of further military intervention against Iran, and if you do, you'll be emboldening Iran,' Lee added. 'I find this insulting and demeaning.'

It is not acceptable for executive branch to tell us 'we can't debate the appropriateness of military intervention in Iran. It's unAmerican, it's unconstitutional and it's wrong,' the senator from Utah noted.

Lee called the briefing 'probably the worst briefing at least on a military issue I've seen.'

'The administration was ill-served by this briefing today,' Lee said.

His fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul agreed.

'I join Senator Lee in also deciding to support the War Powers resolution,' he said.

He said the administration's request lawmakers not to debate military action in public as 'particularly insulting.'

'I think we need to debate about separation of powers,' he said.

Both men stated they support President Trump politically but could not in this matter.

Lee doubled down on his criticism in an interview with NPR on Thursday morning, calling the briefing an 'unmitigated disaster.'

The two senators said they would support Sen. Tim Kaine's version of the War Powers resolution that he introduced on Friday, on the heels of the U.S. strike that killed Soleimani.

The Senate version differs from the version of the War Powers resolution that the House voted on Thursday in that it includes a timeline, saying U.S. forces must disengage from hostilities against Iran 'by not later than the date that is 30 days after the date of enactment of this joint resolution unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force.'

The text of the resolution also points out that Trump has stated in the past that he believes he has the authority to initiate military action against Iran without Congressional approval.

'The question of whether the United States forces should be engaged in armed conflict against Iran should only be made following a full briefing of Congress and the American public of the issues at stake, a public debate in Congress, and a congressional vote as contemplated by the Constitution,' the resolution says.

After 10 days, Kaine can force a vote on his motion in the Senate.
French New Wave icon Jean Seberg is being portrayed by Kristen Stewart in 'Seberg'. (Credit: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images/Universal)

The tale of Jean Seberg is one of Hollywoods most tragic true stories, and it is now coming to the big screen in Seberg, with Kristen Stewart portraying the cinema icon.

Her story is one of glittering stardom as one of the bright lights of the French New Wave movement, which was soured by the subsequent actions of the FBI. She was doggedly pursued by the bureau during the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a wide-ranging campaign of harassment, defamation and intimidation aimed at discrediting groups and people who were deemed to be subversive.

Read more: Exclusive clip from biopic Seberg

Seberg first rose to fame in 1960 as the star of Jean-Luc Godards lauded feature debut A bout de souffle, known in English as Breathless. Born in Iowa in 1938, she was plucked from a group of 18,000 hopefuls to appear in Otto Premingers 1957 film Saint Joan, which she hoped would be her big break. Poor reviews greeted her role and her subsequent collaboration with Preminger the following year  Bonjour Tristesse.

It was during the filming of that second movie that Seberg met her first husband Francois Moreuil and became based in France. As well as her star-making turn in Breathless, Seberg starred in numerous French films while also working in Hollywood. New Wave filmmaker Francois Truffaut at one point called her the best actress in Europe. He would later, unsuccessfully, attempt to cast her in his 1973 film Day for Night.

Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg in 'Breathless'. (Credit: UGC)

Seberg caught the attention of the FBI in the late 1960s when, as part of her support for numerous civil rights organisations, she made contributions worth $10,500 (8,050) to the Black Panther Party. She became a target of the bureaus COINTELPRO program, which was overseen by then-director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover. According to a 1976 Senate report into COINTELPRO, the aim of the campaign was "protecting national security, preventing violence, and maintaining the existing social and political order" by neutralising or disrupting groups and individuals considered to be a threat.

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The actions of COINTELPRO took the form of constant in-person surveillance of Seberg, as well as eavesdropping on her private phone calls. FBI records show that Hoover kept President Richard Nixon informed of the work to neutralise Seberg.

Read more: Movies arriving in UK cinemas in 2020

The most infamous example of the FBIs work around Seberg, though, was a fake news story published in May 1970 by outlets including Newsweek and the Los Angeles Times. It was alleged  on the information of an FBI informant  that the child Seberg was carrying at the time was not conceived with her then-husband Romain Gary, but with leading Black Panther Party member Raymond Hewitt. Joyce Haber, who wrote the original LA Times gossip story, always maintained that the FBI was not her source.

Seberg went into premature labour in August of that year and gave birth to a girl weighing just four pounds, who died two days later. At the funeral, Seberg opened the casket to prove the baby was white.

Jean Seberg and Romain Gary attend party hosted by fashion designer Valentino in 1978. (Photo by Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images)

Seberg and Gary sued Newsweek for libel, seeking $200,000 (153,000) in damages. They claimed that the shock and upset by the story had triggered her premature labour and therefore the less of their child. The couple were ultimately awarded $10,800 (8,284) by a French court. Separately, Sebergs career was stagnating and numerous people have since stated she was unofficially blacklisted by Hollywood as a result of the FBI attention.

On 8 September 1979, Sebergs body was found wrapped in a blanket in her Renault car, parked close to her Paris apartment. She had disappeared just over a week prior, with her fourth husband, Ahmed Hasni, reporting that he believed her to be suicidal. A bottle of barbiturates, as well as an empty bottle of mineral water was also found, along with a note addressed to her teenage son, which included the words: Forgive me. I can no longer live with my nerves. She was just 40 years old.

French police ruled the death a suicide, but did later file charges against persons unknown for non-assistance of a person in danger. They discovered a high level of alcohol in Sebergs bloodstream, which would have rendered her unable to climb into her car without assistance. Their belief was that someone must have either assisted her in taking her own life or allowed her to do so rather than seeking medical help on her behalf.

At a press conference shortly after her death, Romain Gary stated that Seberg had never recovered from the turmoil of the false story and said she had frequently attempted suicide around the anniversary of her baby girls death. Gary took his own life in December 1980, aged 66.

Kristen Stewart as Jean Seberg in 'Seberg'. (Credit: Universal)

A week after Sebergs death, the FBI admitted spreading the false story and trying to discredit the star, in response to a Freedom of Information request. They revealed memos in which it was stated that publication of the story could cause her embarrassment and cheapen her image with the general public. Meanwhile, LA Times editor Jim Bellows has since said he should have taken more responsibility and, in 2002, admitted that he did not vet the Seberg story enough, describing it as his biggest mistake in a 40-year editorial career.

Sebergs legacy in the subsequent decades has been wide-ranging. Madonna was inspired by the stars Breathless look in her pixie-cut makeover for the Papa Dont Preach music video in 1986 and Sebergs hometown of Marshalltown in Iowa holds an annual film festival bearing her name.

Read more: Kristen Stewart wants to play a gay Marvel superhero

The latest memoriam to Seberg is the new, Stewart-starring film, directed by Benedict Andrews. Zazie Beetz, Vince Vaughn, Anthony Mackie and Jack OConnell are also part of the cast. Since it premiered at the Venice Film Festival last summer, the movie has received mixed reviews, but Stewart has come in for praise. Variety lauded her peculiar star magnetism, while Rolling Stone said she gives a fully-inhabited, body-and-soul performance.

Seberg is in UK cinemas from 10 January.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 22-year-old man previously convicted in a major debit-card scam now is accused of slashing another man in Mariners Harbor.

Gordon Browne, 22, of Mersereau Avenue in Mariners Harbor, was arrested last Thursday for assaulting a 23-year-old man on Dec. 24 at about 4 p.m. on Andros Avenue, according to the criminal complaint and police.

A verbal dispute escalated into a physical confrontation when Browne used a knife to slash the victim across the face, the complaint alleges.

The victim suffered serious physical Injuries, including a laceration and bleeding from the lip and mouth and substantial pain, the complaint states.

Browne has been charged with assault, criminal possession of a weapon and harassment.

Browne is due to appear in Criminal Court on Wednesday and his bond has been set at $25,000, according to public records.

He was previously convicted of enterprise corruption in state Supreme Court in Manhattan in November 2017, according to the complaint. Browne was one of 39 people, including 31 Staten Islanders, who were busted in a debit-card-cracking ring that led to more than a million dollars in stolen funds, officials announced in May 2017.

The defendants used various social media sites, including Instagram and Snapchat, to attract participants to give up bank account information in exchange for quick cash, authorities said.

The suspects allegedly used the information to deposit forged checks into accounts provided by co-conspirators, then used debit cards to withdraw the funds before the fraud could be detected by banks, said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. during a press conference at his office in Manhattan in May 2017.

The scheme ran from January of 2013 to April 2017, authorities said at the time.

An attorney for the defendant in the slashing case did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CARACAS (Reuters) - Twitter Inc has suspended more than a dozen accounts associated with Venezuela's government and military, including the OPEC nation's oil ministry and the armed forces' operational command. Officials criticized the move shortly after the accounts were first suspended on Tuesday, without explanation or any announcement from Twitter. Some of the accounts initially suspended, including those of the central bank and finance ministry, were later restored

CARACAS (Reuters) - Twitter Inc has suspended more than a dozen accounts associated with Venezuela's government and military, including the OPEC nation's oil ministry and the armed forces' operational command.

Officials criticized the move shortly after the accounts were first suspended on Tuesday, without explanation or any announcement from Twitter. Some of the accounts initially suspended, including those of the central bank and finance ministry, were later restored.

"Alert! People of Venezuela, the oppressive government of the USA blocked the Twitter account for CEOFANB and others," military commander Remigio Ceballos wrote on Twitter, referring to the Bolivarian Armed Forces' Strategic Operational command.

Twitter did not respond to requests for comment on why the accounts had been suspended. It often discloses takedowns of information operations that seek to manipulate its platform.

In December, the company suspended tens of thousands of accounts linked to a Saudi company digging up political dissidents' personal data, and in September it blocked the account of Cuban Communist Party leader Raul Castro.

It also announced three separate removals of Venezuelan accounts last year, two in January and one in June, representing a total of nearly 2,000 accounts, some of them part of "a state-backed influence campaign targeting domestic audiences."

While Twitter initially suspected the removed Venezuelan accounts were associated with Russia's Internet Research Agency, in June it said it had new indications they were being operated by "a commercial entity originating in Venezuela."

Social media companies globally are under pressure to stem illicit online political influence campaigns.

Twitter's suspension of the official Venezuelan accounts came about two months after the country's foreign ministry briefly lost access to its account with the social media service. At the time, a Twitter spokeswoman said the account was accidentally caught in a spam filter, which occasionally happens when an account tweets in sudden high volume.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen; Additional reporting by Katie Paul in San Francisco; Editing by Tom Brown)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Christians Are Slowly Returning to Iraq, Says Syriac Patriarch

( Aid to the Church in Need) Reporting on his December 2019 fact-finding mission to northern Iraq, Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan said that Qaraqosh, the largest Christian town on the Nineveh Plains, is "slowly returning" to what it was before the invasion of ISIS in the summer of 2014, which triggered a mass exodus of the region's Christians to Kurdistan.

The Patriarch celebrated Mass in Mosul's rebuilt Syriac Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation. It was the first Mass said there in more than five years. More than 500 faithful from across the Nineveh Plains attended. The church is the first, and so far only, rebuilt church in the city since it was taken by ISIS in June 2014.

The Patriarch recently spoke with Aid to the Church in Need about his priorities for 2020:

"At least 50 percent of the 12,000 Syriac Catholic families who were uprooted have returned to Qaraqosh. Schools are open, some of them are rebuilt.

However, charitable assistance is still needed to rebuild houses and to create jobs, since the Iraqi government is unable to respond to the needs of those who have been hurt, oppressed or uprooted.

Our big challenge now is to convince the young generation to stay in their homeland to share in the restoration of peace and progress in the country. They have lost hope for the future. This is our biggest challenge: how to tell them that their presence is needed to bear witness to the Lord, living among a majority not sharing the faith with us.

We are the remnants of Apostolic Churches and our very survival is threatened. If these Churches do not exist anymore in the Middle East, it will be a big loss not only for Christians in the Middle East but for all of Christianity.

Our mission is to preach hope to our people. We have to always hope, against all hope. I keep telling our faithful to remember the sacrifices of our forefathers who endured oppression, hardship and persecution for their faith. We owe our faith to the endurance of our forefathers.

It's very sad to say, and I've said this many times: Christians of the Middle East have not only been abandoned; they have been betrayed by the civilized countries of the West.

This is not just a theory. It's the sad reality that we Christians in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Syria, have become endangered and our very survival is threatened. The responsibility of Western nations is very real and indisputable. Their opportunism created conflicts that have led to chaos. It's very sad.

If the international powers want peace, they can make it happen. Because of their opportunism they don't work for the stabilization of the region."
A U.S. Army veteran killed in a hail of gunfire Wednesday night is being remembered as a faithful servant to his country and his family.

Army Sgt. Tristian Jackson, 36, was shot to death as he arrived at an east Birmingham home to visit a relative. Birmingham police responded just after 9:30 p.m. to a home in the 300 block of Killough Springs Road. That house is between Five Mile Road and Orchid Lane.

The gunfire erupted in the garage area and Jackson was able to make it inside before he collapsed in or near the living area. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

Jackson joined the U.S. Army when he graduated from high school. He was previously stationed in Iraq and Germany before joining the Montgomery Recruiting Battalion. He had been in the military for 18 years at the time of his death.

He was a military man, not just at work but off work, said a close family friend, who asked that her name not be used. He was a career military veteran who was murdered. Theres not a strong enough word to describe what happened to him. It doesnt make sense.

More than a dozen of Jacksons family members and friends rushed to the scene Wednesday night, visibly upset by the crime. The family friend said Jackson was devoted to his mother and his 4-year-old daughter. He was the one that always wanted to the family to be together, she said. He was a good dad and the life of the party.

He just radiated love, she said. He was someone you couldnt be mad at, thats we were all so shocked. Thats why so many people went to the scene. It still doesnt feel real.

I think everybody is in a state of shock, she said. Never in a million years would they have expected to get that phone call. He was always happy, always smiling.

Birmingham police have not announced any updates in the investigation. We want people to come forward who may have information about what may have occurred here tonight, said Sgt. Johnny Williams.

Jackson is Birminghams third homicide of 2020, all of which took place in just over a 72-hour period. Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham homicide detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
Watching Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) and Sidney Parker (Theo James) clash and then slowly come together is as appealing an experience as any Austen adaptation in recent memory. Photo: PBS

The vast majority of Sanditon, a new Jane Austen adaptation debuting this Sunday on PBSs Masterpiece, will fulfill everything you could ever want in a miniseries version of an Austen novel. Its an exquisite production, both beautiful and thoughtful. Its adapted in ways that feel smart and human, while also pumping some helpful friction into the story. Then, at the end, Sanditon makes choices that will leave most viewers feeling, at best, extremely perplexed. At worst, it may feel like a betrayal.

Sanditon has an unusual history compared with the more familiar Austens  your Pride and Prejudices, your Emmas. Its Austens last novel, and she had barely managed to get the main characters and plot mechanisms in place before she stopped working on it in March 1817, likely due to illness. Austen died that July, and the novel she left behind, which she originally called The Brothers, establishes much of the groundwork also deployed in this Sanditon adaptation.

Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) is the young daughter of a gentleman farmer, naive but well-read. After a chance encounter she leaves her home and travels to Sanditon, a sleepy seaside town that her host, Tom Parker (Kris Marshall), is obsessively intent on developing into a renowned coastal resort. Parkers brother Sidney is, and I cannot say this firmly enough, an absolute hunk. (Sidney Parker is played by Theo James, who Masterpiece viewers may recognize as Kemal Pamuk, the Turkish aristocrat Lady Mary kills via sexual intercourse in the first season of Downton Abbey.) He broods. He is gruff and patronizing, even though his family swears that hes actually quite loyal. He goes sea bathing and leaves his clothes in a heap on the beach, ready to be stumbled upon by Charlotte as shes out for an innocent cliff walk.

Watching Charlotte and Sidney clash and then slowly come together is as appealing an experience as any Austen adaptation in recent memory. Charlotte, especially, feels more relaxed than the more buttoned-up Austen protagonists, and she rebels against some of Sidneys ideas in ways more loaded than the familiar he should be nicer to people territory. Over the series eight episodes, they fight, they ignore each other, they try to piece through dramatic twists together, theyre enemies, and theyre eventually friends. Sanditon gives them quite a bit to wrestle with, more than many Austen couples.

Some of that comes from Sidney Parkers ward, Georgiana Lambe, a character Austen describes as a half mulatto in the novel. Lambe, played in the series by Crystal Clarke, doesnt hide her disgust with Sanditons racist gentry, even to the point of insulting Lady Denham, the storys cranky, wealthy patroness. Sanditon also insists on weaving the sugar trade and Georgianas background into the romance between Charlotte and Sidney, a move that forces the series to address Englands colonialist history head-on and gives the relationship more heft. (In this way, its most like the 1999 Mansfield Park, one of the few major Austen adaptations that indicts the storys villains with crimes beyond social impropriety.) By the time the miniseries arrives at its final installments, the level of anticipation for the moment Sidney and Charlotte fall into each others arms reaches painful heights.

This series has already aired in the U.K., so if you want to look up the ending, all of that information is available to you. If, like me, it doesnt even occur to you to look up how Sanditon ends because its conclusion feels absolutely inevitable, you may find yourself taken aback by the choices this series makes. You may find yourself so taken aback that your mouth falls open in shock as you frantically scramble to figure out whether it was actually the last episode. You may look up the Sanditon Wikipedia page to see how much of this novel Jane Austen finished, and how many versions of the ending have been written by other authors. You may do some digging to try to figure out if this series was canceled unexpectedly, or if this was always meant to be the last installment. You may wonder if you are being punked.

The previous paragraph does not sound like a recommendation for Sanditon, and its tough to say how to square the final episodes ending with the truly lovely production that precedes it. Because regardless of what Sanditon does at the end, the first episodes are completely enjoyable, and as Charlotte says to a friend when the series comes to a close, I do not regret the time I spent there. If you come to a Jane Austen story demanding a very specific kind of resolution, though, it may be worth preparing yourself for something quite different than what you want.
(Bloomberg) -- Uber Technologies Inc. made changes to its ride-hailing app in California, tweaking fares and features to respond to a new state law designed to reclassify gig economy workers as employees.

Changes for passengers include a shift from showing upfront pricing on trips to showing an estimated price range, the ability to schedule rides with favorite drivers and adjustments to a rewards program. For drivers, the revamp includes an end to flat surge pricing and the ability to quickly see how much they will make on each ride.

Critically, drivers wont get punished for rejecting trips they dont want to make. Uber included a cautionary note, however, that drivers shouldnt refuse trips solely to avoid certain neighborhoods as doing so would violate the companys policy and California law.

While the San Francisco-based company announced many of the changes last month, a Wednesday morning email to California riders heralded they were now live and explained that the changes were due to a new state law. The labor law, Assembly Bill 5, went into effect a week ago. Uber and Postmates sued the state last week and on Wednesday asked a federal judge in Los Angeles to block the law.

Uber, along with Lyft Inc. and DoorDash Inc., is also working to put an initiative on Californias November ballot that would roll back the law while guaranteeing minimum pay of $21 an hour and some benefits for drivers. A group backed by the companies said it began collecting signatures this week for the ballot initiative. It has until June to collect the necessary number to qualify for this years election.

While Uber has publicly downplayed the impact of A.B. 5, some analysts have said its a concern. Prices for California rides could increase as much as 30% as a result of the new law, according to industry estimates.

(Updates with legal filing in the fourth paragraph.)

--With assistance from Joel Rosenblatt.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lizette Chapman in San Francisco at lchapman19@bloomberg.net

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To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mark Milian at mmilian@bloomberg.net, Molly Schuetz

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Multiple people were injured in a major pileup involving about 30 vehicles during the Tuesday morning commute on a highway in Maine, state troopers said.

There were no fatalities, but several ambulances and a medical helicopter were dispatched to the crash site on Interstate 95 near Bangor, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Initial reports were that some motorists were blinded by the morning sun, contributing to the chain-reaction pileup as a stream of motorists headed toward Bangor, he said.

It was initially reported that up to 60 vehicles were involved, but the figure was revised downward, McCausland said.

The weather didnt appear to be a factor in the crash, which was reported at about 7:45 a.m. There had been some slight snow that ended at midnight, hours before the pileup, the National Weather Service said.

There was a massive backup up of cars, and troopers were trying to sort out the best way to reroute the vehicles off the highway. The northbound lanes were closed for more than three hours.

Tuesdays mass collision is not the first on the interstate in Maine. More than 30 people were injured in a pileup that involved 102 vehicles over a 4-miles stretch of I-95 during light snow in February 2015.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Auto Law Enforcement Maine
Advertisers All Over the World, Including U.S. DTC Brands, Leveraging Partnership as a Gateway into the European Market

TVSquared the global leader in TV attribution, and RTL AdConnect, the international Total Video sales house of RTL Group a leader across broadcast, content and digital have partnered to provide RTL AdConnect's global advertisers with always-on proof of performance across more than 150 TV channels and BVOD (broadcaster VOD) platforms throughout Europe. This marks the first time a media owner has launched a European TV attribution initiative for advertisers.

RTL AdConnect's global advertiser base can now leverage TVSquared's always-on attribution platform to understand the same-day performance of campaigns airing across RTL's broadcast channels, which reach 160 million consumers in 12 countries each day. From a single platform, advertisers can evaluate TV performance by day, daypart, creative, program, station and region. Working with RTL AdConnect, they can use those insights to inform optimizations that will maximize business-specific KPIs, including sales, website traffic, search, app activity, call center/SMS response and more.

"This partnership brings together the best of TV's reach and campaign performance," said Stephane Coruble, Managing Director, RTL AdConnect. "Brands that want to expand from U.S. into Europe can take advantage of RTL's massive broadcast and digital footprint, and measure the same-day impact of those single- or multi-country campaigns via TVSquared's global platform."

RTL AdConnect has increased its North American presence significantly in the last two years, helping U.S. brands navigate the complex European TV ad market. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands have become one of RTL AdConnect's fastest-growing customer segments as they look to grow their businesses abroad. By partnering with TVSquared, RTL provides the real-time, transparent performance analytics that digital-native DTCs have come to expect for all media channels, including TV.

"RTL AdConnect is bringing a level of transparency and accountability never before available for European TV advertisers," said Calum Smeaton, CEO, TVSquared. "We have seen many of our U.S. DTC clients begin to explore European expansion, and this partnership is an easy and impactful way to launch into that valuable market. Whether a brand is running a campaign in one country or multiple, they can enjoy the reach TV brings, while also understanding and optimizing its direct impact on business outcomes."

About TVSquared

TVSquared is the largest global enterprise platform for linear and digital TV attribution. TVSquared's always-on analytics platform empowers brands, agencies, networks and publishers to quantify TV's impact, tie TV to business outcomes and optimize ad performance across TV everywhere. Thousands of advertisers in more than 70 countries work with TVSquared to measure TV across millions of households and billions of ad impressions. Learn more at www.tvsquared.com.

About RTL AdConnect

RTL AdConnect is the international Total Video sales house of RTL Group and beyond. It provides international advertisers a simplified access to a global premium and brand-safe total video inventory ensuring that the right media decisions are made for European campaigns. Thanks to its media partners from RTL Group and beyond, RTL AdConnect reaches around 165+ million potential consumers in Europe every day. RTL AdConnect offers exclusive solutions around high quality content across an extensive portfolio of media partners consisting of more than 150+ TV channels, 500+ digital platforms and 30+ radio stations in 12 countries. With 360-degree solutions, RTL AdConnect supports brands on every step of the way, offering full support from start to finish, ensuring high reach, deep market insights and cross-screen solutions.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005104/en/

Contacts:

Media:

Megan Garnett Coyle

TVSquared

+1 347 603 5096

megan@tvsquared.com

Carine Jean-Jean

RTL AdConnect

+33 6 30 51 58 73

cjeanjean@rtladconnect.com
Downing Street said reports a Ukrainian passenger jet which crashed in Tehran yesterday may have been shot down were 'very concerning' as the UK called for a full investigation.

Some 176 people were killed when the Ukraine International Airlines flight crashed and it emerged this afternoon that US intelligence officials believe the plane may have been accidentally hit by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile system.

Boris Johnson used a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this afternoon to back a 'full, credible and transparent investigation' into the incident.

The Prime Minister had earlier spoken to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for 20 minutes as he demanded the regime back down in its confrontation with the US over the assassination of a top general.

Mr Johnson said there had to be 'an end to hostilities' in the Gulf, a Downing Street spokesman told reporters this morning.

It comes after the US took out senior general Qassem Soleimani in a Baghdad rocket strike last week, prompting Tehran to fire rockets at US bases in Iraq.

The Prime Minister spoke to Hassan Rouhani for 20 minutes and said there had to be 'an end to hostilities' in the Gulf, his official spokesman told reporters this morning

It comes after the United States took out senior general Qassem Soleimani in a Baghdad rocket strike last week, prompting Tehran to fire rockets at US bases in Iraq

There is growing scrutiny of the circumstances surrounding yesterday's plane crash just outside of Tehran.

US officials are 'confident' that Iran shot down the Boeing 737-800 jet after detecting a radar system being turned on before two missiles were launched, shortly before an explosion believed to have come from the jet, CBS reported.

Two Pentagon officials added that the missiles were likely launched in error by Iranian anti-aircraft crews awaiting a US response to Iran's rocket strikes against American bases in Iraq hours earlier, according to Newsweek.

Asked whether there were any concerns about the cause of the crash, a Number 10 spokesman said: 'I'm not going to speculate on this but the reports we have seen are very concerning and we are urgently looking into them.'

Three Britons were among the dead after the Ukraine International Airline (UIA) plane crashed moments after take-off in Iran, with investigators now focused on how the aircraft fell out of the sky.

The Iranian military had disputed suggestions the airliner was brought down by a missile, with officials in Iran blaming an engine fire.

The victims included engineer Sam Zokaei, from Surrey, Saeed Tahmasebi Khademasadi, from west London, and Mohammad Reza Kadkhoda Zadeh, from near Brighton.

All three were named on the list of 167 passengers on board flight PS752 by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), which crashed moments after it left Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran at 6.10am local time (2.40am GMT) on Wednesday, bound for the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

The Prime Minister pushed for the facts to be established during his conversation with Mr Zelenskyy today.

Mr Zelenskyy ordered a criminal investigation soon after the details of the tragedy emerged this week.

The airline has ruled out human error, and crew were not said to have made an emergency call.

A Downing Street spokesperson said: '[The PM] offered his condolences to the president for the loss of the Ukraine International Airlines plane and for all those who were on board.

'President Zelenskyy updated the Prime Minister on Ukrainian efforts to establish the facts and the Prime Minister offered UK support.

'The Prime Minister said that there needed to be a full, credible and transparent investigation into what happened.'

Detailing the PM's call with Mr Rouhani, the spokesman said this morning: 'They discussed the situation in the region following the death of Qasem Soleimani and the Prime Minister called for an end to hostilities.

'The Prime Minister underlined the UK's continued commitment to the JCPoA and to ongoing dialogue to avoid nuclear proliferation and reduce tensions.

'He raised the continued detention and mistreatment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other dual nationals in Iran and called for their immediate release.'

The Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq and the Erbil base in Iraqi Kurdistan were both struck by the missiles on Tuesday at about 5.30pm (EST)

It came after Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab held talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington on Wednesday night.

Mr Raab called for restraint from both sides and welcomed Donald Trump's calls earlier in the day for a diplomatic resolution, while also stressing the need to restrict Iran's nuclear ambitions.

'We made clear we recognise the danger and threat that Iran poses to the region. We also recognise the US right to set its self-defence (but) at the same time, of course we want to see the tensions de-escalated,' Mr Raab said in a broadcast interview.

'We want to find a diplomatic route through and that's why I think the president's remarks today about a diplomatic resolution were so important.

'Of course it also means the government in Iran needs to be willing and committed to the outcome as well.'
Washington: The alert came to the White House shortly after 2 pm Tuesday (12:30 am Wednesday IST), a flash message from US spy agencies that officials sometimes call a squawk. In the coming hours, it warned, an Iranian attack on American troops was almost certain.

A blizzard of potential threats had already come throughout the day  of attacks with missiles and rockets, of terrorist strikes against Americans elsewhere in the Middle East, even one warning that hundreds of Iran-backed militia fighters might try to assault Ain al-Asad Air Base, a sprawling compound in Iraqs western desert.

But the specificity of the afternoons latest warning sent Vice President Mike Pence and Robert OBrien, the White House national security adviser, to the basement of the West Wing, where aides were assembling in the Situation Room. President Donald Trump joined shortly after wrapping up a meeting with the Greek prime minister.

Three hours later, a hail of ballistic missiles launched from Iran crashed into two bases in Iraq, including Ain al-Asad, where roughly 1,000 American troops are stationed. The strikes capped a frenetic day filled with confusion and misinformation, where at times it appeared that a dangerous military escalation could lead to a broader war. Trump spent hours with his aides monitoring the latest threats. Military planners considered options to retaliate if Iran killed American troops.

This account of the tense hours surrounding Tuesdays attacks is based on interviews with current and former American officials and military personnel in both Washington and Iraq.

As it turned out, the missile strikes might end up being a bloodless close to the latest chapter in Americas simmering, four-decade conflict with Iran. Trump declared Wednesday that Iran appears to be standing down after days of heightened tensions since the killing of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, although few who closely follow the dynamics of the United States relationship with Iran foresee a peaceful future.

If this is indeed the sum total of Irans response, it is a big signal of de-escalation that we should gratefully receive, said Kirsten Fontenrose, who handled Middle East issues on the National Security Council earlier in the Trump administration.

Bracing for Retaliation

Hours before officials at the White House and Pentagon arrived at their desks Tuesday, American troops in Iraq were preparing for Irans retaliation to avenge the death of the general.

Spy satellites had been tracking the movements of Irans arsenal of missile launchers, and communications among Iranian military leaders intercepted by the National Security Agency had indicated that the response to Soleimanis killing might come that day.

Ain al-Asad base in Iraqs Anbar province was the focus of numerous vague threat reports, including one warning that hundreds of fighters from Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi militia trained and equipped by Iran, might launch a frontal assault on the base.

The base was relatively vulnerable; no Patriot anti-missile systems protected it, according to an American military official. They had been deployed to other countries in the Middle East deemed more susceptible to Iranian missile attacks. So American commanders prepared to partly evacuate the base and assigned most other remaining forces to hardened shelters to ride out whatever attack would come.

By morning in Washington, the intelligence was still vague enough that White House officials decided to keep Trumps planned schedule, including the meeting with the prime minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Administration officials resumed their defense of Soleimanis killing amid increasing criticism that they lacked, or were unwilling to share, the intelligence that they said prompted the strike. At the State Department, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters at a packed news conference that killing Soleimani was the right decision.

Hours later, as Trump met with Mitsotakis, the White House received the squawk alert about a likely missile strike. Pence and OBrien led the initial discussion in the Situation Room about how to confront the threat, assessing the intelligence about the Iranians likely targets.

Upstairs inside the Oval Office, Trump sat beside Mitsotakis as reporters peppered him with questions about the Iran crisis. The president hedged about threats he had made days earlier that the United States might consider targeting Iranian cultural sites  but he maintained a menacing tone.

If Iran does anything that they shouldnt be doing, theyre going to be suffering the consequences, and very strongly, Trump said. Were totally prepared.

Confusion and Misinformation

After the brief news conference ended, Trump descended several flights of stairs to the Situation Room.

With sandwiches piled on a sideboard in the room, the group that advised the president at different times throughout the day included a handful of seasoned national security officials, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, an Army veteran of nearly 40 years; Keith Kellogg, a retired Army lieutenant general who serves as national security adviser to Pence; and Joseph Maguire, acting director of national intelligence.

It also included Pompeo, who has become a driving force in the Trump administrations Iran policy and an advocate of what he often calls restoring deterrence against Tehrans aggression in the Middle East. As a forceful proponent of the Friday strike that killed Soleimani, Pompeo had played an instrumental role in bringing Trump to the crisis point.

But others around the long, rectangular table in the Situation Room had only modest foreign policy experience  including Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff and a former congressman from South Carolina; and OBrien, who was a Los Angeles lawyer before spending 2 1/2 years as Trumps chief hostage negotiator and assumed the post of national security adviser in September.

Appearing on a video screen was Gina Haspel, the CIA director, who was monitoring the crisis from the agencys headquarters in northern Virginia. In the days before Soleimanis death, Haspel had advised Trump that the threat the Iranian general presented was greater than the threat of Irans response if he was killed, according to current and former American officials. Indeed, Haspel had predicted the most likely response would be a missile strike from Iran to bases where American troops were deployed, the very situation that appeared to be playing out Tuesday afternoon.

Although Haspel took no formal position about whether to kill Soleimani, officials who listened to her analysis came away with the clear view that the CIA believed that killing him would improve  not weaken  security in the Middle East.

But at that moment days after his death, the president and his aides were confronting a flurry of conflicting information. Around 4 p.m., reports came in that a training camp north of Baghdad might have been hit. Officials at the White House and the State Department waited anxiously for the Pentagon to provide damage reports about the camp, Taji air base, where American troops are stationed. It was a false alarm, although American officials said Wednesday that they believed that several missiles fired in the barrage a day earlier were intended for the base.

As the reports about Taji came in, loudspeakers at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad announced that an attack could be imminent. As they had in the previous days, American and Iraqi personnel inside the compound raced toward bomb shelters.

Roughly one hour later, the first missiles bound for Ain al-Asad streaked over their heads.

A Hail of Missiles

At about 5:30 p.m. in Washington, the Pentagon detected the first of what would be 16 short- and medium-range Fateh 110 and Shahab missiles, fired from three locations inside Iran.

Several slammed into Ain al-Asad but did only minimal damage. They hit a Black Hawk helicopter and a reconnaissance drone, along with parts of the air traffic control tower, according to a military official familiar with a battle damage assessment of the strike.

The attack also destroyed several tents.

Minutes later, a salvo of missiles hit an air base in Irbil, in northern Iraq, which has been a Special Operations hub for hundreds of American and other allied troops, logistics personnel and intelligence specialists throughout the fight against the Islamic State. The damage to that base was unclear, although no personnel were killed or wounded.

Why did the Iran strikes do such little damage? Trump attributed it to the precautions taken, the dispersal of forces and an early warning system that worked very well. A senior American military official dismissed the idea that Iran had intentionally avoided killing American troops by aiming instead for uninhabited parts of the two bases.

After the attacks subsided, Trump and Pence made a round of calls to congressional leaders, and even some of the presidents hawkish allies said that Trump should be measured in his response to the Iranian strikes.

Recounting his conversation with Trump, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he told the president, Lets just stand down and see what happens for a few days.

Mark Mazzetti, Eric Schmitt, Lara Jakes and Thomas Gibbons-Neff c.2020 The New York Times Company
BRUSSELS - The EU ''reiterates that all settlements in occupied Palestinian territory are illegal according to international law and represent a grave obstacle to reaching a two-State solution and just, long-lasting and global peace, as stressed by a UN resolution'', the European External Action Service said Thursday. It recalled that on January 5-6 ''Israeli authorities approved the construction of nearly 2,000 housing units in the illegal settlements of the occupied West Bank''.

''Israel must fully abide by international law'', it continued. ''We ask the Israeli government to fully comply with international legislation, to end all settlement activities on occupied or contested lands and connected actions'', according to the statement. ''Settlers' violence on Palestinian civilians and their property needs to be stopped and prevented. The European Union moreover stressed that it will not recognize any change to borders prior to 1967, also concerning Jerusalem, different to the ones agreed by both sides''. The European Union will continue to ''support the resumption of a meaningful process towards a two-State solution, the only realistic and feasible way to satisfy the legitimate aspirations of both populations''.
Iran launched missile attacks on US-led forces in Iraq in the early hours of Wednesday. (Photo: File)

Baghdad: Iran fired a volley of missiles on Wednesday at Iraqi bases housing US and other foreign troops, the Islamic republics first act in its promised revenge for the US killing of a top Iranian general.

Launched for the first time by forces inside Iran instead of a proxy, the attack marked a new turn in the intensifying confrontation between Washi-ngton and Tehran and sent world oil prices soaring.

Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against US military and coalition forces in Iraq, the Pentagon said.

It is clear that these missiles were launched from Iran and targeted at least two Iraqi military bases hosting US military and coalition personnel.

The missiles targeted the sprawling Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq and a base in Arbil, both housing American and other foreign troops deployed as part of a US-led coalition fighting the remnants of the Islamic State group.

Iranian state television claimed that the strikes killed 80 Americans, in a report citing what it called an informed Revolutio-nary Guards source.

In addition, it said, unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters and other military equipment had been severely damaged in the attack.

Irans supreme leader, who has the final say in all matters of state, said it was a slap in the face for the US but that revenge was yet to come.

US President Donald Trump, who initially resp-onded to the strikes by tweeting all is well, however, said no American or Iraqi lives were lost.

All of our soldiers are safe and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases. Our great American forces are prepared for anything, Mr Trump said in an address to the nation from the White House. Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.

Mr Trump announced the United States would be imposing additional punishing sanctions on Iran but made no mention of possible retaliation to Tuesday's missile attacks.

The Pentagon said the facilities had been on high alert after days of steadily mounting tension.

The office of Iraqs premier said it had received an official verbal message from Iran informing it that a missile attack on the American forces was imminent.
COLLINS, Miss.  A man walked into a nursing home for military veterans two days before Christmas, picked up Jerry Holliman's legs and left.

Holliman, 69, had hopes of moving back to his home in Hattiesburg and returning to an independent lifestyle with his new prosthetic legs.

Then they were repossessed.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs wouldn't pay for his prosthetic legs, Holliman said, and Medicare wanted him on the hook for co-pays. As Holliman tried to navigate what felt like a maze of paperwork, it felt like his country was forgetting him.

"Medicare did not send me to Vietnam," Holliman said. "I was sent there by my country... with the understanding that if something bad happened to me, that it would be covered by the VA."

Jerry Holliman, 69, reviews medical paperwork on Jan. 2, 2019, in his room at the Veterans Home in Collins, Mississippi.

Holliman served active duty in the U.S. Army twice  as an 18-year-old specialist who volunteered to fight in Vietnam and as a 53-year-old master sergeant in Iraq. He earned Bronze Stars in both wars, according to his discharge papers. Between active duty and the U.S Army National Guard, Holliman said he served 40 years in the military.

While in Vietnam, Holliman said he was exposed to Agent Orange, a chemical the American military used to kill vegetation. The chemical also caused diseases to Vietnamese and U.S. Service members, including cancers and diabetes.

Holliman said he's survived three forms of cancer, but in recent years, diabetes began affecting his legs.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs paid for a motorized wheelchair for Holliman a few years ago, he said. It helped get him into the kitchen of his Hattiesburg home using a ramp in his garage, but the rest of his house is not wheelchair accessible.

At the time, Holliman could still walk a bit, and he never expected he would lose his legs entirely.

Then they got worse. Gangrene set in, which meant emergency surgery.

Doctors amputated his right leg in November 2018, and the left leg in April. Holliman came to the Veterans Home in Collins for what he thought would be a temporary stay  just until he got his mobility back.

Story continues

Who should pay?

Holliman said he got a pair of prosthetic legs in August from a company called Hanger, which has offices in Hattiesburg.

He held onto paperwork, including handwritten notes on how to use and clean his prosthetic legs. He started going through rehab at the nursing home.

After a few sessions with the Hanger staff, Holliman said he was told the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs would not pay for his prosthetic legs.

A Bronze Star Medal hangs in a display showcasing various U.S. service medals at G. V. Sonny Montgomery VA Medical Center in Jackson, Miss. on Friday, Nov. 8, 2019. The Bronze Star Medal is a decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either achievement, merit or valor in a combat zone.

He tried to raise the alarm with staff at the Veterans Home in Collins, a state-run facility, but Holliman said he knows the ultimate decision to pay for his prosthetic legs lies with the VA  an entity he compared to Goliath.

Susan Varcie, a spokeswoman at the VA Medical Center in Jackson, said she could not comment on Holliman's case due to privacy laws.

Hanger declined to say how much a typical prosthetic leg costs, but a 2013 report from ABC News said the cost for a single leg can range from $5,000 to $50,000 for adults.

Holliman said he was encouraged to use Medicare to pay for the prosthetic legs, but he was never shown a total cost, and the forms indicated he would have to pay a co-pay.

So he refused, never expecting what would come next.

On Dec. 23, an employee from Hanger came to the Veterans Home to see Holliman. Holliman said the man was adjusting his prosthetic legs, then asked himto sign some paperwork for Medicare.

Holliman said he declined because the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs should pay for the legs in full.

"This is their responsibility," Holliman said.

The man responded by taking the legs and leaving.

Jerry Holliman, 69, sits in a wheelchair on Jan. 2, 2019, in his room at the Veterans Home in Collins, Mississippi.

The only evidence that remained were the papers Holliman held onto and a pair of new black gym shoes sitting underneath a table in his room he had to buy for the prosthetic legs.

Their only purpose now seemed to be a reminder of what he had lost.

Holliman's son, Jerald, said he was "shocked" to learn his father's legs had been taken.

He was always under the impression, 'These were my legs,' Jerald said. "...What he's done for his community, his country ... for them to have taken these legs is an insult."

With his legs gone, Holliman felt like he was falling through the cracks of the American health care system. He called the Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network, which in turn reached out to Hanger prosthetics about the case.

A reporter and photographer from the Clarion Ledger went to the Veterans Home in Collins to meet with Holliman on Jan 2. Hours after they left, a man came to Holliman's room.

Holliman said it was the same employee from Hanger who took his legs. This time, he was bringing them back. He asked Holliman about his Bronze Star awards.

"He didn't know that I received those things," Holliman said.

There was a problem with the legs, though. No adjustments had been made to them, Holliman said, and he can't walk without one leg folding in on him.

'You can have em, Holliman recalled the man saying, but they're not going to do anything to them until the VA pays them.

The prosthetics company responds

When the Clarion Ledger initially reached out to Hanger, spokeswoman Meghan Williams did not deny Holliman's account of having his prosthetic legs taken. She said she could not confirm or deny it because federal privacy laws prevented Hanger from speaking about individual clients.

She said Hanger could comment on the case if Holliman had signed a waiver of his privacy rights, but Holliman said he received no communication from Hanger asking for him to waive those rights.

"Hanger Clinic does not take back prosthetic devices after final delivery to a patient has been made," Williams said in a statement.

However, Williams said "final delivery" is only complete when "a patient has signed a verification of receipt that allows a claim for payment to be submitted to the applicable insurance payer."

Jerry Holliman has a house in Hattiesburg, but he's currently living in the Mississippi Veterans Home in Collins.

Because Holliman didn't sign the Medicare paperwork, it appears that Holliman had possession of the prosthetic legs, while Hanger simultaneously considered those legs undelivered.

Now, Holliman has the legs back, but it's unclear why. Holliman thinks it's because he contacted the media.

When the Clarion Ledger reached out to Hanger about the return of the legs, Williams reiterated that federal privacy law prevents Hanger from talking about Holliman's case.

"We understand how critical the devices we build are for our patients rehabilitation," she said in a statement. "It is our policy, in accordance with regulatory guidelines, to follow up with every patient we see and make necessary device adjustments through delivery and for at least 90 days afterwards. We are committed to empowering human potential, and want to see our patients regain their mobility and independence."

That's not what Holliman said he was told.

The legs are basically useless if Hanger won't make any more adjustments, Holliman said, and without those adjustments, he's stuck at the Veterans Home. Depression and anxiety are setting in, he said.

At 69, Holliman said he's one of the youngest residents at the home. He said his roommate died last month.

I was here for one thing  to get my prosthetic legs, learn how to walk in em, and go home," Holliman said. "...Ive been here over a year. I wanna go home. This place is not for me. Its a dignified place for these guys to die, thats what it is... Its probably every other month somebody dies here. And you know what they do? Put a flag over them, and play 'Taps' and take them outta here.

When asked about his future, Holliman said he wants to live another 20 or 30 years, enjoy his retirement and go fishing.

Im like a cat. I got nine lives. I think Im on the last one, though, Holliman said. After a pause, he added: Its not my time. You know, we go through a lot. Some of us can go out there and slip on a piece of bubble gum, and we die. But its not meant for me to go yet.

Follow Giacomo "Jack" Bologna on Twitter: @gbolognaCL.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: VA, Medicare dispute leaves Bronze Star vet without prosthetic legs
BJP leader Uma Bharti on Thursday took "Jinnah" jibe at Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi while accusing the Opposition party of peddling rumours over the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Speaking at an event in Panna, she said the newly amended Citizenship law will not affect Indian citizens.

"Nobody will have any problem due to CAA. It will not have any effect on Indian citizens' rights. But some evil-minded people are peddling rumours. India was partitioned due to rumours. Tell me who got benefit from partition... People like Jinnah emerged," the BJP leader said.

"Now, Jinnah is not there but Rahul Jinnah and Priyanka Jinnah are there who are disturbing environment and instilling fear among Muslims on CAA," she said.

Attacking Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the BJP leader said: "Did anyone of us say that Sonia Gandhi's father was a soldier in Mussolini's army in Italy? Since she (Sonia Gandhi) is our daughter-in-law and married in our country, we respect her from the bottom of our hearts.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
HAMILTON, ON, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - The Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization (CPDC), a global leader in the development, production and commercialization of radiopharmaceuticals, is announcing today that, following a successful U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspection in July, CPDC's site in Hamilton, Ontario, is cleared to ship products to the U.S.

Justyna Kelly, interim CEO of CPDC, stated, "We are delighted with the outcome of the FDA inspection. We look forward to continuing to support the clinical development efforts of our many global partners and we're thankful for the excellent support from all of our staff."

FDA's inspection of CPDC closed with no 483 observations and was classified as NAI (No Action Indicated).

About CPDC

The Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization (CPDC) is a Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) located at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. CPDC is a private, not-for-profit company and global leader in the discovery, development and commercialization of next-generation radiopharmaceuticals that was created with the support of multiple stakeholders, including the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE), McMaster University and The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR). Since its foundation in 2008, CPDC has established a pipeline of products along with a robust and reliable global supply of innovative diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals used daily for the detection and treatment of human diseases such as cancer. For more information about CPDC, please visit: www.imagingprobes.ca.

SOURCE Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization

Related Links

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The shooting of special sub inspector (SSI) of police Y Wilson by two radicalised youth at a checkpost in Kaliyakavilai on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border in Kanniyakumari district late on Wednesday night could be a terror attack, according to the police.

Following preliminary investigations, the Tamil Nadu and Kerala police cite the murder as a possible retaliation for the recent arrest of three terror suspects in Bengaluru by the Tamil Nadu Q Branch police.

The duo, who fired the bullets at Wilson who was trying to search the SUV of the assailants, are wanted by the police. The police also released the pictures of the youth identified as Abdul Shameem of Thiruvithancode under Thuckalay police limits and Thoufiq of Ilangkadai in Nagercoil.

While Shameem is a suspect in the 2014 murder of Hindu Munnai functionary KP Sureshkumar in Chennai, Thoufiq is an accused in the case pertaining to the murder attempt on a BJP leader in Kanniyakumari in 2017.

Wilson was on a routine vehicle check-up at Padanthalumoodu checkpost. When he attempted to stop the SUV coming from Thiruvananthapuram, one of the occupants got off and fired three rounds at him and then fled in the vehicle to Kerala. The SSI, who received bullets in his chest and abdomen, was rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

The police recovered three empty shells and two live .32 pistol ammunition from the spot. CCTV footages secured from a nearby location showed the assailants fleeing the spot with one of them carrying a hand gun.

Tamil Nadu DGP, JK Tripathy who inspected the spot visited Wilsons home and consoled the family.

Both Tamil Nadu and Kerala police have launched a joint operation to nab the killers.

Meanwhile, condoling Wilsons death, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami told the state assembly that besides financial assistance to the family, a government job would be given to either his son or daughter. He also assured that all efforts would be made to nab the killers and bring them to justice.
The trade unions were protesting as part of the nationwide general strike against labour law reforms proposed by the Central government.

Hyderabad: Many students from the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), and University of Hyderabad (UoH) turned up at Dharna Chowk to express solidarity with the members of workers unions holding a protest there.

The trade unions were protesting as part of the nationwide general strike against labour law reforms proposed by the Central government.

Some of the participants, however, were confused about what the protest was for. They believed there would also be discussions about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Virendra Singh and Samiya, both IT professionals, had worked the night shift and come to the protest after leaving their office. Singh said he hoped there would CAA-related protests. When he saw none happening, he marshalled others like him who came there for the same reason for an impromptu protest. Many students joined him and held up placards criticising the BJP-led government for passing the controversial law.
Robots. These humanoid machines aren't just science fiction anymore. In fact, they are relatively common in everyday life, popping up in grocery stores, hospitals, airports, even in many homes. If you don't believe it, just ask Alexa or Siri.

A startup with roots at the University of Connecticut is now bringing robots into special education classrooms around the world. Movia Robotics, Inc. (Movia), based in Bristol, Connecticut, has developed technology that helps children on the autism spectrum with social skills, learning readiness, and academics.

"As far back as the 1970s, research has shown that children with special needs respond well to robots and that their interactions are effective," says Tim Gifford, president and chief technical officer of Movia. "Adults and other children can be very off-putting for an autistic child. Interacting with the robots is more consistent, simpler, and is never judgmental. It makes interactions less stressful."

Robots also have a 'cool factor' that makes them attractive educational aids for kids and adults, whether or not they have special needs, says Gifford.

Gifford had the initial idea and began developing Movia's technology in 2008 when he was researching social robotics as a grant-funded researcher in UConn's Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP). His wife, a teacher, was commenting on the scarcity of trained therapists to handle what seemed like a surge in autism diagnoses. Gifford thought his research could help.

Leveraging his background in business and technology commercialization, Gifford knew he could accelerate this idea with UConn's assistance. He brought the product idea to the technology transfer team within UConn's Office of the Vice President for Research to help protect his intellectual property and to advance the technology.

"This was always our goal - to take this out of the lab and into the classroom. But we knew we needed a strong management team to make that happen and UConn helped connect us with the right people," he says. "Making a commercially viable product that was both robust and easy to use was the surest way to get it into the hands of as many schools and students as possible, where it could do the most good."

Since then, Gifford and his business partners have kept moving forward and are growing their company in Connecticut and abroad. So far, Movia has licensed the use of its software to the Bristol, Suffield and Wallingford school systems, where it will be used for special education with about 75 students. They have also licensed the tech to manufacturers that make and sell robots to schools nationwide and in Canada to reach a global clientele.

Most recently, Movia and their distribution partners, the Bolat Group, LLC, and RobotLAB, Inc., got a major boost having won a $6.4 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) to help military families with autistic children. Movia's software will be used in bases around the world to enhance communication, social interactions, and executive functioning for children in the DoD schools on bases all around the world.

"We're really excited about this new contract and what it means for the future of our company," says Jean-Pierre 'JP' Bolat, CEO of Movia. "This accelerates our tech development roadmap and will allow us to fully deploy additional innovations originating from Tim's time at UConn."

"An idea with roots at UConn is now having tangible, positive impacts for families in our state and those serving our country around the world. Movia Robotics exemplifies the types of innovative companies that UConn is committed to helping succeed and grow in Connecticut," says Radenka Maric, vice president for research, innovation and entrepreneurship at UConn and UConn Health.

Over the past several years, Movia focused its tech development on building a viable and robust, semi-autonomous platform that requires little intervention from the teacher. The company is confident that their technology roadmap will greatly expand this core capability and will focus on greater autonomy, leveraging the internet of things, and utilizing advanced sensor capabilities to enhance their products and offerings.

"With the implementation of the IP we developed at UConn, the robot is able to run the process in a semi-autonomous fashion and the teacher or therapist is able to devote even more attention to the children, their progress and documentation," says Gifford. "With this semi-autonomous capability, schools can treat as many kids as needed. It's a much more streamlined approach."

One day Gifford hopes this technology will become accessible enough for families with special needs children to have a Movia robot right in their homes.

"Ultimately, this system is about how people and robots can work together," says Gifford. "The fact that our technology and our business can help improve academic and social outcomes for these families is what keeps us going."

###

DOD Project: HE1254-19-D-0019_HE1254-19-D-0020.
Since Donald Trumps election in 2016, the left has obsessed over which voters to mobilize and how to do so. One camp wants to concentrate on moderate white voters. Another says white suburban women are the key to victory in 2020. Yet what may be the most effective use of resources is to reach out to a group few strategists are talking about: infrequent voters, who are disproportionately women, people of color and young people.

Before the midterm elections in 2018, my organization and three others led an experiment to turn out these voters in Michigan, Nevada and Florida. Seventy percent had never cast a ballot in a midterm election. One in five were new voters. The result? They greatly over-performed and voted at far higher rates than they had in the past. And in so doing, they offered valuable lessons for how Democrats can win in November.

A typical get-out-the-vote campaign would ignore these voters, who are often deemed as too hard to reach and not worth the effort. Any such campaign that did do outreach would emphasize TV ads and mailers. If by some miracle the campaign included a face-to-face canvass, outside firms would be hired and college students imported from other parts of the country.

Instead, we tried something different. We trained people in these swing states to knock on the doors of the people they know, or call or text them with selfie videos where theyd say: Im a voter. Come join me at the polls. Then these people would contact their own neighbors and friends, and so on. This is grass-roots organizing, which has won big progressive victories in the past.
Archbishop Warda: US-Iran Tensions Threaten Iraq's Assyrians

Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil, Iraq. ( CNS/Tyler Orsburn) After Iran attacked an air base in Erbil early Wednesday, the Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil said the current tensions between Iran and the U.S. threaten the fragile Christian communities in Iraq's Nineveh Plains.

"The current tensions between the two powers must not escalate. Iraq has been suffering from proxy wars for decades; they have torn our country apart," Archbishop Bashar Warda told CNA on January 8.

In retaliation for the U.S. drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, Iran fired a more than a dozen ballistic missiles at the Al Asad and Erbil air bases, where U.S. troops are stationed. There were no casualties from the attacks, according to U.S. and Iraqi forces.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in a speech on Wednesday that he is asking NATO to become much more involved in the Middle East, and said Iran appears to be "standing down."

Warda said his Catholic community in Iraqi Kurdistan is tired of war and its tragic consequences. "They have continually suffered far too much and can no longer face an unknown future," he said.

"We are a courageous people of hope. Since the defeat of ISIS in May 2017 by the coalition forces, our archdiocese has been working with other church leaders, Christian agencies, humanitarian agencies, governments and NGOs to help rebuild our fractured communities in Mosul and Nineveh Plain. It has been a very challenging road to raise funds and international support to help us to physically regain what we lost starting in August 2014. The current tensions are threatening the serious fragility of the communities," Warda said.

Iraqi Christians "need the certainty, reassurance, hope and the belief that Iraq can be a peaceful country to live in rather than being victims and endless collateral damage," he said.

The Archbishop of Erbil said he was united with the appeal from Cardinal Louis Raphael I Sako, Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon, prudently to seek civilised dialogue and to pray for peace.

"As Church leaders we will always follow the path of God in seeking peace, reconciliation, mutual dialogue and not conflict," he said.

Fr. Benham Benoka, a priest of the Syriac Archeparchy of Mosul, said that he hopes the situation of Christians in the Nineveh Plains will be taken into consideration as Iran and the United States confront one another.

"We feel increasingly insecure, especially now that we are talking about the withdrawal of military forces," Benoka said in an Italian interview with Vatican Radio on January 8.

Fr. Benoka is currently based in Bartella, a Christian city fewer than 20 miles east of Mosul controlled by Shia militiamen.

Following Islamic State's occupation of the Bartella, the city's Christian population has been reduced to less than a third of what it was, according to the Associated Press, who reported in 2019 that Christians families were afraid to return to Bartella due to intimidation by the Shabak, a Shia ethnic group who make up the militias controlling the town.

"Since we returned, even if only partially, to our land, after the defeat of IS in October 2016, we have been engaged in the reconstruction of houses and churches. But there are other forces, such as the so-called 'Thirty Brigade' of Shiite Shabak Muslims, who have taken control of the Christian city of Bartella and every day we must suffer their aggressive acts against churches and against our Christians, especially against women. This is why we have been asking for a solution to our situation for some time," Fr. Benoka said.

The Iraqi priest said that he was particularly concerned to hear that the Iraqi parliament voted to ask the government to end the presence of international coalition forces.

"We only have 24 soldiers from the so-called NPU, the Protection Units of the Nineveh Plain, that is, Christian popular mobilization forces, and these 24 soldiers will never be able to defend us. So how can we do it? Where should we go?" he said.

"We truly pray that the military solution is not the only solution, but that there is a diplomatic solution to protect Iraqi blood," the priest said.

Fr. Benoka said that his community prays the rosary every day for solutions to the problems facing the Iraqi people: "We ask that everyone agree -- politicians and everyone else -- to solve the problems that our Iraqi people suffer from, instead of chasing the interests of other foreign agendas."

"We ask that the situation of us Christians here in the Nineveh Plain be taken into consideration: we have neither weapons nor anything," the priest said.
9th January 2020

Runtime 13:51





There's a perception out there that North Sea Oil & Gas is struggling, but that's not the case at all. So says the new Norwegian CEO of Longboat Energy.

In an interview with London South East, the former COO of Faroe Petroleum Helge Hammer explained that having sold the well regarded E&P business for 640M last year the management team had unfinished business in the North Sea.

"In the Norwegian sector there will be 60 exploration and appraisal wells drilled last year, and there will be a similar level this year. Production is heading for 5 million barrels of oil per day, which is a record, ever."

"It's a similar story with the UK sector where production has grown every year for seven or eight years. The North Sea is very, very active. " Helge Hammer and the management team IPO'd a new investment vehicle called Longboat Energy #LBE in November, raising 10M on flotation and taking some of the old Faroe institutional shareholders with them. The plan now is to build a medium-sized E&P business similar to Faroe in two or three years with two or three significant deals. "It's also good to have private retail shareholders as well, its good to have a mix."

According to Mr Hammer, the American majors have largely left the North Sea to focus on shale gas fracking opportunities, the European majors remain and 15 billion dollars of Private Equity capital has arrived with several medium-sized E&P companies rapidly created. "These new companies have to allocate resource, can't fund it all, and like the majors they have to allocate capital, and need to streamline their portfolios. Smaller projects and smaller fields need equal amounts of attention. We have been having meetings with these players and have a target list of opportunities."
NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The beginning of a new year brought a fresh start for Catholic school students in the Archdiocese of New York thanks to a generous $2 million donation to Inner-City Scholarship Fund (Inner-City) and the School of the Blessed Sacrament from the John and Daria Barry Foundation. The donation from the Barry Foundation includes $1 million for scholarships assisting low-income students and an additional $1 million to support capital improvements at the West 52nd Street Upper School campus of Blessed Sacrament, with a focus on much-needed school repairs in the pre-war building.

The Barry Foundation's donation to support the capital projects at the Blessed Sacrament campus is the second installment in a three-year, $3 million dollar pledge. Due to recent enrollment growth at Blessed Sacrament, the school has expanded to a second campus on West 52nd Street in order to admit more students. Without the campus renovations funded by the John and Daria Barry Foundation, Blessed Sacrament would have continued turning families away. The two campuses have provided Catholic education to thousands of children on the West Side of Manhattan for over a century.

The scope of the full renovation includes new learning spaces, renovated outdoor playgrounds, a student information center, a guidance suite, and a renovated basement. These repairs also include interior and exterior security doors, which will help provide a safer learning environment for students and faculty. The goals of the renovations are to enhance the visibility of the school in the community and increase long-term enrollment.

"John and Daria have given the greatest gift for the new year, the gift of education," said Susan George, Executive Director of Inner-City Scholarship Fund. "I am so grateful for the Barry Foundation's continued generosity year after year. The future renovation plans will make a substantial difference in the lives of our students, our teachers and our Catholic schools."

For the second year in a row the Barry Foundation has designated approximately $1 million to provide need-based tuition assistance to qualified Catholic school families through Inner-City's scholarship programs. Students receiving this support are designated as Barry Scholars.

Since 2012, the John and Daria Barry Foundation has made gifts to veterans, education and environmental organizations. John Barry is the Chief Executive Officer of Prospect Capital Management where his wife, Daria, is the Head of Administration.

John and Daria Barry, the trustees of the foundation, have been long-time supporters of Inner-City. For over a decade, the family has generously supported Inner-City's scholarship programs.

"A good education is the great equalizer," said John Barry. "Catholic schools have done an amazing job of providing quality schooling to thousands of New York's kids and we are proud to partner with them."

About Inner-City Scholarship Fund

Inner-City Scholarship Fund was founded in 1971 by the late Terence Cardinal Cooke and a group of prominent executives of many religious beliefs. Inner-City provides tuition assistance to over 11,000 students (91% minority and 39% non-Catholic). An astonishing 99% percent of seniors attending inner-city Catholic high schools graduate, and 98% are accepted to colleges and universities across the nation.

SOURCE Inner-City Scholarship Fund

Related Links

http://www.innercityscholarshipfund.org


Amicus Therapeutics FOLD announced clinical, regulatory and manufacturing advancements for AT-GAA, its investigational therapy for Pompe disease.The company is utilizing its biologics capabilities and CHART platform to develop AT-GAA to treat Pompe disease.

AT-GAA is a novel treatment paradigm that consists of ATB200, a unique recombinant human acid alpha-glucosidase (rhGAA) enzyme to enhance uptake, co-administered with AT2221, which is a pharmacological chaperone. In February 2019, the FDA granted a Breakthrough Therapy designation (BTD) to AT-GAA. The candidate is the first-ever investigational product for Pompe disease to receive BTD.

The company completed and exceeded patient enrollment in the global phase III PROPEL study for Pompe disease. The study enrolled 123 patients globally. The study is intended to assess the superiority of AT-GAA compared to the current standard of care, alglucosidase alfa, in both enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) switch and ERT-naive patients.

Amicus plans to apply for and initiate a rolling submission of the Biologics License Application (BLA) for AT-GAA in late-onset Pompe disease and complete the final submission in the first half of 2021.

Shares of the company have lost 18.3% in the past year compared with the industrys decline of 2.9%.

Further, the company has two gene-therapy programs in the pipeline for two different types of Batten disease.

Amicus entered into several partnerships for gene-therapy manufacturing and expansion. In July 2019, it inked partnerships with Catalent Biologics and Thermo Fisher for clinical and commercial gene-therapy manufacturing. Brammer Bio, a part of Thermo Fisher, will assist Amicus gene therapy programs in CLN6 and additional forms of Batten disease with clinical and commercial-scale capabilities. Paragon Gene Therapy, a unit of Catalent Biologics, will provide clinical manufacturing capabilities and capacity for multiple active preclinical lysosomal disorder programs in collaboration with Penn.

Story continues

Amicus has exclusive worldwide rights to Penns next-generation gene therapy technologies for a majority of lysosomal disorders and 12 additional rare diseases, including Rett Syndrome, Angelman Syndrome, Myotonic Dystrophy and select other muscular dystrophies.

Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. Price

Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. Price

Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. price | Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. Quote

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

Amicus currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the biotech sector are Agenus Inc. AGEN, Amarin Corporation Plc. AMRN and AquaBounty Technologioes Inc. AQB, all sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Alexions earnings per share estimates have increased from $9.95 to $10.35 for 2019 and from $10.87 to $11.32 for 2020 in the past 90 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in the trailing four quarters by 12.50%, on average.

Amarins loss per share estimates have narrowed from 9 cents to 2 cents for 2019 in the past 90 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in three of the trailing four quarters by 109.17%, on average.

AquaBountys loss per share estimates have narrowed from 70 cents to 59 cents for 2019 and from 44 cents to 36 cents for 2020 in the past 60 days.

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A school district in Salem County has closed on Thursday after receiving an overnight bomb threat.

Classes in Woodstown-Pilesgrove Regional School District are canceled Thursday, the district said in a statement on its website. After school clubs and activities will also not be held.

Officials couldnt immediately be reached for additional information.

The district includes four schools.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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President Trump has responded to Iran's attacks against two Iraqi bases hosting U.S. troops, tweeting on Tuesday night, "All is well!"

He added: "Assessment of casualties and damages taking place now. So far, so good!" Trump said the U.S. has "the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far!" and he will be making a statement about the attacks on Wednesday morning.

The Pentagon has confirmed that Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at bases in western and northern Iraq. The attacks were in response to the death of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed last week in an airstrike authorized by Trump. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps called the attacks "fierce revenge."

More stories from theweek.com

Iran has offered Trump an 'off-ramp' from war, and there's growing speculation he might take it

Pence says Americans are 'safer today' following Soleimani's death

Joe Biden's free ride is over


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ALTON  Caleb Lenhardts defense attorney on Wednesday said he backed his car into Katie Bunt by accident. But a prosecutor said an enraged Lenhardt purposely backed into Bunt, who became wedged under the car as its tires spun.

Lenhardt, 22, of Bethalto, was charged with two counts of first degree murder on July 23, 2018, the day after he allegedly killed Bunt between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. while celebrating his birthday at several bars in downtown Alton. He allegedly backed his car into a group of people in a downtown Alton parking lot adjacent to Dannys Lounge, killing Bunt, 21, and injuring Ashley Allgood, 25 at the time.

He had no intention of hurting anybody, Lenhardts attorney Scott Rosenblum told the jury in his opening statement Wednesday.

Rosenblum said a group of women had been harassing Lenhardt all night over an affair of the heart. He was just trying to enjoy the evening with his (new) girlfriend, Rosenblum claimed.

Assistant Madison County States Attorney Katie Wycoff told the jury Lenhardt had had enough after numerous run-ins throughout the evening with a group of women friends of his old girlfriend, Kelsey Barnes.

He pulled up five or six feet, looked behind him, Wycoff said. He shifted into reverse and floored the gas pedal.

He slammed into Katie (Bunt), dragging her, spun his tires and stopped over her, then left her on the pavement to die, Wycoff said.

Bunt became lodged under the car, she said, her friends yelling at him to get off her while Lenhardt was spinning his tires.

Then he drove off, leaving Katie to die, Wycoff said.

The incident crushed Bunts liver, broke 12 of her ribs and broke her pelvis in three places. Dr. Gersham Norfleet, a forensic pathologist, testified Bunts lung, liver and pelvis injuries were each sufficient to kill her. The incident also caused her to lose several liters of blood, he said, citing the cause of her death as blunt trauma and the manner of her death as homicide.

Alton Police Lt. Kurtis McCary testified Wednesday that he was the first officer on the scene and Bunt appeared in critical condition.

After the collision, Lenhardt allegedly took off down 4th Street, hitting a pole near Piasa Street and fleeing on foot. A police dog reportedly tracked him down, hiding in an alley near the Lenhardt Tool and Die building.

Lenhardt is charged with two counts of first degree murder, one count of failure to report a traffic crash involving injury or death and aggravated battery. The first degree murder counts represent two different legal theories of the same act.

A court document claims Bunt was standing near Barnes the night of July 21-22 when Lenhardt allegedly drove a car into Bunt. Barnes had received an order of protection forbidding Lenhardt from being near her. She allegedly had told police she feared Lenhardt, with whom she had a troubled relationship.

Rosenblum claimed Bunt joined a group of angry women harassing Lenhardt throughout the evening. He claimed Bunt was an aggressor and was pounding on the window of Lenhardts car. Lenhardt backed his car, Rosenblum said, because he came to a one-way block of Belle and 4th streets. He said Lenhardt had no idea he was backing into the people; the car has black tinted windows and his client could not see well.

Alton Police Detective Mike Roderfeld testfied that, when Lenhardt took off south on Belle, he could have avoided the one-way block of Belle by turning on 4th Street instead of backing up.

Testimony is scheduled to continue Thursday. Several people involved in the incident are scheduled to testify. Lenhart is free after posting a $100,000 cash bond.
Deforestation is changing the way monkeys communicate in their natural habitat, according to a new study.

This study, led by an anthropologist at the University of Waterloo, offers the first evidence in animal communication scholarship of differences in vocal behaviours in response to different types of forest edge areas.

Working in a tropical lowland rainforest in Costa Rica, the researchers examined how human-caused forest habitat changes have affected vegetation and, in turn, the rate and length of howling by the group-living howler monkey species.

Led by Laura Bolt, an adjunct professor of anthropology at Waterloo, the study compared how the communication behaviour of the mantled howler monkey differs in forest edges impacted by human activity, known as anthropogenic edges, compared to natural forest edges.

"Howler monkeys are well-known for making very loud, long-distance vocalizations called howls," said Bolt. "While howls are only produced by adult males, howl function is not entirely known, so we conducted our study to test the hypothesis that the intensity of howling by monkeys relates to defending ecological resources such as areas of richer vegetation or preferred feeding trees."

Anthropogenic areas were identified as areas within 50 meters of barbed wire fences marking the edge of the forest and the start of coconut plantations or cattle pasture, and natural forest edges as areas within 50 meters of a river.

The study found that males howl to defend high-quality resources, with notably longer durations of howling in the forest interior and at river edge areas where vegetation resources are richer. The researchers also found differences in howl length between river edge and anthropogenic edge areas, which is an important insight for conservation planning.

"Howler monkeys eat leaves and fruit, and if they are howling to defend these resources, we predicted that males would howl for longer durations of time when in a forest interior or near the river edge, where vegetation is richer compared to anthropogenic edge," said Bolt.

To conduct their study, the researchers collected data on mantled howler monkey howling behaviour from May to August in 2017 and 2018, following groups as they travelled across various edge and interior habitat zones. All monkey groups were well-habituated and did not react to the visible presence of the researchers.

With their evidence showing that anthropogenic deforestation is altering howler monkey behaviour, Bolt and her colleagues say that long-term howler monkey conservation initiatives should prioritize preservation of forest interior and river edge regions and re-forestation of human-caused forest edges.

"While it is yet unknown what implications these behavioural changes across different edge zones may have for monkey fitness," says Bolt, "our findings show that it is proximity to anthropogenic forest edge, rather than to naturally-occurring forest edge, that is changing howler monkey communication behaviour. This is just one of the many ways that howler monkeys are affected by deforestation."

###

Howling by the river: howler monkey (Alouatta palliata) communication in an anthropogenically-altered riparian forest in Costa Rica is co-authored by Bolt with Dorian G. Russell (American University), Elizabeth M.C. Coggeshall (Central Washington University), Zachary S. Jacobson (University of Calgary), Carrie Merrigan-Johnson (University of Toronto at Mississauga), and Amy L. Schreier (Regis University). The study will be published in the journal Behaviour in spring 2020.
This is the hilarious moment a newsreader's young daughter enters the screen during a live broadcast to tell her mum that she had just received a text message.

The incident took place at the studio for local channel TaghilTV in the city of Nizhniy Taghil located in the south-western Russian region of Sverdlovsk Oblast

In the footage, the anchor, named Anna Kizilova, reads out the news before a little girl enters the frame and tries to hand her a phone.

Anna Kizilova, reads out the news on live Russian TV before her daughter enters the frame and tries to hand her a phone

When the mortified presenter tries to gently push her daughter Elizaveta out of shot, the girl says: 'But mum, you have a message.'

The TV presenter told Central European News (CEN) that she had to collect her daughter from nursery and quickly return to work when the incident happened.

She said: 'I wasn't married at the time and my mum lived on the other side of town so there was no one I could leave her with when I had to go to work.'

Kizilova said that she was not punished by channel bosses for the live mishap.

The incident took place at the studio for local channel TaghilTV in the city of Nizhniy Taghil

When the mortified presenter tries to gently push her daughter Elizaveta out of shot, the girl says: 'But mum, you have a message'

She commented: 'I was worried about losing my news role, but the producer asked the team about the public reaction and was told that it had been positive.

The incident took place in 2012, but has been shared on social media now.

When asked about the delay, Kizilova told CEN: 'I just posted the old video, filmed in 2012, not realising it would be so popular.

'It quickly spread online and a local journalist was told about it and called me to ask for the permission to use it.'

The incident took place in 2012, but has recently been shared on social media and the newsreader was amazed by the response

According to Kizilova, she dug out the video after channel bosses asked employees to recommend their favourite moments from the last decade.

The presenter said that little Elizaveta, who is 12 years old now, wants to be an actress when she leaves school.

The video brings to mind the viral 2017 clip in which analyst Professor Robert Kelly was interrupted by his children when appearing on BBC World News during an interview about South Korean politics.
A video purportedly showing a motor transport department driver threatening the family of a minor girl, who has accused Maharashtra DIG Nishikant More of molestation, has surfaced, prompting the police to launch a probe.

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Thursday said the police are investigating the incident captured in the video and the driver, Dinkar Salve, has been suspended.

The incident took place in June last year, but came to light recently when the video became public.

Talking to reporters, Deshmukh said he had seen the video.

"The police are investigating why Salve visited the family and why he threatened them," he said, responding to questions.

More, DIG (Motor Transport) - accused of molesting the 17-year-old girl - is absconding, the minister said.

Salve, who was a driver in the Chief Minister's convoy, has been suspended, he said.

According to the police, the alleged molestation took place at the birthday party of the teenage girl at her home in Navi Mumbai in June 2019.

However, the case against the IPS officer was registered only in December-end.

According to the complaint registered by the girl's family, the police officer and the victim's fathers were friends.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
It is 56 years since the first Young Scientist Exhibition was first held in Dublin and the signs are that it will continue for another 56.

Thanks to the vision of the founders of the exhibition back in 1965, the annual event has become a showcase for young Irish talent.
President Donald Trump, a self-described germophobe, has made no secret of his disgust with California's growing homeless problem, which he has called a "disgrace" and "inappropriate" and equated to "living in hell."

"We should all work together to clean up these hazardous waste and homeless sites before the whole city rots away," Trump tweeted about San Francisco on Oct. 26. "Very bad and dangerous conditions, also severely impacting the Pacific Ocean and water supply."

San Francisco officials were quick to dispute Trump's claims. But some of California's most prized rivers, beaches and streams are indeed contaminated with levels of fecal bacteria that exceed state limits, threatening kayakers, swimmers - and the state's reputation as a bastion of environmental protection.

The presence of fecal bacteria in water is usually the result of problems with sewer systems and septic tanks. But water quality officials agree that the source of at least some of the fecal bacteria is California's growing homeless population, most of whom don't have reliable access to toilets.

"I've carried 5-gallon buckets that were unambiguously being used as toilets," said David Gibson, executive officer of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, describing his experience cleaning up homeless encampments. "They were taking it to the San Diego River, dumping it there, and rinsing it out there."

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Fecal contamination of waterways is a widespread problem and becoming more urgent in states with large homeless populations. In Seattle, homeless people living in RVs are accused of dumping raw sewage straight into storm drains, which flows directly to local waterways. In Oregon, workers cleaning up homeless camps along the Willamette River in Eugene routinely find feces and needles.

California has the largest homeless population in the nation, estimated at more than 151,000 people in 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. About 72% of the state's homeless slept outside or in cars rather than in shelters or temporary housing.

The Trump administration has fixated on California's homeless population in particular as a potent source of pollution.

In addition to Trump's tweets, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 26 alleging that the state's lack of urgency on homelessness threatens public health by polluting nearby water with untreated human waste. It then issued a notice to San Francisco accusing it of violating the federal Clean Water Act.

Jared Blumenfeld, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, responded by accusing the federal EPA of retreating on clean water protection, and called the administration's focus on the environmental impact of homelessness "sensationalized" and "misguided."

But concerns extend beyond the Trump administration. A record number of Californians - about 1 in 4 - believe homelessness and housing is the top issue facing the state today, up from 1% in 1999, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

When it comes to water, scientists look for E. coli and other bacteria to determine levels of fecal contamination. While E. coli is present in both human and animal feces, human fecal contamination is particularly dangerous because it can transmit diseases that affect people, including hepatitis A and cholera.

Most people are not at risk of getting sick unless they drink the water, or if pathogens enter open cuts or sores, said Richard Ambrose, a professor in the department of environmental health sciences at UCLA. Homeless people face the highest risk because they are more likely to wash or wade in the water and have less access to toilets and showers, he said.

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In the city of San Francisco, Trump's favorite punching bag on the issue, fecal pollution on the streets gets swept into the storm drains after it rains and is routed to the same treatment plants as toilet water, which means Trump's claims about the city's water were inaccurate, officials say.

But that isn't the case for most of the state's cities and sewage systems. In San Diego, the state's second-most populous county, dozens of homeless encampments line the 52-mile-long San Diego River, which flows into the Pacific Ocean. Officials have for decades recorded high levels of fecal bacteria in the river that exceed state standards, Gibson said.

Last year, the regional water board ordered San Diego County, several cities and municipal agencies to determine the source of the contamination. In addition to investigating the condition of leaky sewage infrastructure, which fails when it rains, the order requires municipalities to evaluate how homeless people living on riverbanks, in parking lots, trailers and RVs may be contributing to the problem, Gibson said.

Farther north, in Sacramento, regulators have been measuring elevated fecal bacteria levels in the lower American River for more than three years. Located near downtown Sacramento, it is a popular destination for water sports, even as hundreds of homeless people camp nearby.

Some recreational areas, including Tiscornia Beach, where families picnic, BBQ and wade in the river, had E. coli levels so high in the past year that they hit the upper limits of what the water board's laboratories could measure - more than seven times higher than the state standard, said Adam Laputz, assistant executive officer of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.

The board is conducting a three-year DNA analysis to determine whether the bacteria comes from people, birds or dogs, he said. "That source could be from a sewage collection that's leaky, or it could be from leaky septic systems," in addition to homeless encampments, he said.

If the source is human, the water board will embark on a new study to determine whether the source is an infrastructure failure or individuals.

In the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California, which have the largest homeless populations in the state, some cities conduct routine water monitoring. But the regional water boards, which make key water quality decisions for their regions and take enforcement actions when necessary, aren't testing to determine if and how homeless encampments affect water quality.

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Contamination from homeless camps is so easy to observe - and smell - that there is no "need to monitor to know there's a problem," said Thomas Mumley, executive officer of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, which stretches from Napa County to Santa Clara County.

If there are no bathrooms in or near a homeless encampment, "we can assume there's a discharge of waste" where there shouldn't be, he said.

Bay Area regulators are working with some cities that are conducting pilot projects, such as offering free RV dump stations and providing sanitation services for encampments.

The board could one day require municipalities to adopt such projects or face fines, Mumley said.

"We're cautious about using that authority," he said. "We want public dollars going toward solutions, not just paying penalties."

The Central Coast Water Board has already issued an order to the city of Salinas to map homeless encampments and focus more resources on their sanitation needs.

In Los Angeles, hundreds of homeless people camp within the Los Angeles River channel itself and thousands live nearby.

Along a stretch of the river that runs through Atwater Village north of downtown, one man, who called himself P. Dogg and said he had been homeless for three years, said that he bathes in the river when the water is "clear, not murky."

Asked if he's ever gotten sick from bathing in the river, he answered proudly: "Never once."

While local testing of the Los Angeles River, San Gabriel River and the Ventura River Estuary wasn't designed to measure the effects of homelessness, results suggest there have been significant impacts in some areas due to homeless encampments, said Renee Purdy, executive officer of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Purdy is working with area communities that have installed portable toilets and organized trash cleanups with money initially budgeted for water infrastructure maintenance.

"The long-term solution is really to address the societal issue of homelessness," she said.

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(Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.)

---

(c)2020 Kaiser Health News

Visit Kaiser Health News at www.khn.org

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Three police officers were killed after being attacked by a group of people armed with grenades, petrol bombs, and knives in an outskirts neighborhood of Hanoi, the Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday.

The incident happened in Dong Tam Commune, My Duc District on Thursday morning, according to a statement published on the ministrys website.

One of the attackers was also killed and another injured in the incident, the statement reads.

According to the announcement, several units under the Ministry of National Defense, in coordination with local authorities, have been building security fences around Mieu Mon Airport, a military airfield located in Dong Tam Commune, since December 31, 2019.

On Thursday morning, a group of people tried to obstruct the construction and stir up public disorder, the ministry said.

Police officers who were tasked with guarding the project were attacked by the mob, who were armed with grenades, petrol bombs, and knives.

Local authorities have apprehended multiple suspects involved in the serious offense and have initiated legal procedures against them in accordance with the law.

The construction of the security fences has resumed following the incident.

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Fugitive gangster Ejaz Lakdawala was arrested from Patna on Wednesday by the Mumbai police.

The police produced him in a local court here on Thursday, which remanded him to police custody till January 21.

"Gangster Ejaz Lakdawala, who used to make extortion calls to people in Mumbai from outside India, was arrested by Mumbai City Crime Branch yesterday from Patna. Today, he was produced before a court which has remanded him to police custody till January 21," said Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve.

"Lakdawala had 25 cases registered against him in Mumbai city. We have contacted various units in Maharashtra as well as other states to find out how many cases in all are against him," Barve added.

Lakdawala's daughter was arrested on December 28 for using fake passport, Barve said.

Sharing further details, Joint Commissioner of Police Crime, Santosh Rastogi said, "His daughter was in our custody. She gave a lot of information to us. Our sources also told us about his arrival in Patna. Ejaz Lakdawala was arrested in Jattanpur police station limits.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Express News Service

The day governments get voted in and out of power based on the state of primary schools in the state and other such issues, that day we will know our democracy is functioning well, Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot said while speaking at the ThinkEdu Conclave 2020 on Thursday. The Minister spoke about the relationship between the state and the Centre and what challenges the political leaders of today face, among other issues, at the event.

"If I decide tomorrow that I want to bring down infant mortality, I can. All a person needs is determination, political will and commitment. We can say things like 'we have low resources and our schemes are not well-formed', but if a political leader sincerely decides to do something, I can assure you that we have the wherewithal to do it. If people believe in your cause, they'll support it," he said, while in conversation with Shankkar Aiyer, popular columnist and author.

He also passionately spoke about how it is impossible for us to move forward as a country, if we continue to have people living in abject poverty and starving every day. "Forty per cent of children under the age of five continue to be malnourished. This is a major part of our population. They have to be part of the country's growth story. I'm not trying to be a socialist but how can we move on when people are dying of hunger in our country?" he asked. He said that we have to come up with policies that will provide money to the poorest of the poor and also give them access to education, health and other welfare needs. "I think a deprived life is not something a politician should accept, no matter what his party is," he stated. He also added that boasting about a five trillion dollar economy when children are dying of starvation is disturbing.

"We have to be the best that we can as politicians. Issues like children, schools, women issues, safety  all these deserve human intervention. But in those cases, we want to pass the buck to someone else. If a programme/scheme is sincere, like the polio campaign, then people will willingly participate and that's how we became a polio-free country," he explained. He added that a politician's job is to get everyone on board and that what is best should be prioritised.

"When the government starts getting voted in and out of power based on issues like the quality of the midday meals and absence of Math teachers from a class, that is when real change will happen," he said. He reminded the audience that politicians are very smart people and that the minute they realise that a topic is becoming 'electorally important', then they will ensure that they take care of the issue. "I don't know a single government in India that has been voted out because the state of primary schools is bad. It just doesn't happen but that's how a democracy should function," he explained.

What is the point of being a Chief Minister several times, if they are unable to fulfil the basic task of a policymaker  to ensure a safe, secure and healthy life, he said. "No amount of obstacles or shortage of funds will stop people from coming forward to support a cause that is genuine. It would be a collaborate effort of the state and the society," he appealed.

Speaking about the relationship between the state and the Centre, Shankkar asked if non-BJP ruled states were the ones who were complaining more about not getting the required funds, "I don't think there is any state that is completely happy with what was promised to them and what they got. I guess maybe today it is not the time when they can stand up and say that they didn't get their share but it is wrong to say that only non-BJP ruled states are agitating."

The Minister who has been running the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj department since December 2018, spoke about the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) to give us an example, "The number of people employed on the last day of the BJP government was 9 lakh. I believe that if we have to handle the economic slowdown, I feel that we have to put money in the hands of people who will spend it on consumption items. If one gives a higher income to a farmer or a lower middle-class family, they will go out to buy household goods and this is how we can get the economy back on its feet again," he explained.

"India is a consumption-based economy and so, if we want to give the economy a headstart, we have to give money to the poorest of the poor because they occupy the largest space in the spending community. People think that the NREGA is about freebies but we are creating real tangible assets in the villages. We build playgrounds, buildings and many physical assets. So in three months, we reach 35 lakh employees. Even with the same bureaucracy, same babus and same officers, we were able to achieve that in just three months. It all depends on priorities," he added.

If an NREGA employee doesn't get his salary within the 15th of the month, they are supposed to be paid with interest, Pilot said. "If you pay people three months late, then it's useless. Today, we are talking about everything else  JNU, the student movement, so on and so forth, but we are not talking about the price of onions, not about how people are saying that the economy won't even grow by five per cent. Unless we do that, we can't bring justice to current and future generations of India," the Minister said.


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Linkedin Adrian Wail Akhlas (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020 17:48 732 48be62e941b44f04afae568c32190d7f 1 Business omnibus-bill,omnibus-law,labor-union,protest,Jokowi,job-creation,labor-law,Reform Free

A Jakarta labor alliance went on strike on Thursday to protest the governments omnibus bill on job creation, fearing it would deprive workers of their rights and would benefit only investors and employers.

Approximately 100 protesters, representing about 20 labor groups within the Jakarta Labor Movement (GBJ), marched on the streets of Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta in response to the government's plan to reform current labor regulations. The changes are expected to involve severance pay, working hours and minimum wage, among other points.

We are suspicious that the omnibus bill will bring about a flexible labor market by depriving workers of their basic rights, including the reduction of severance pay and a proposal on wage calculations based on working hours, said GBJ spokesperson Jumisih during the protest.

The omnibus bill on job creation, she added, would threaten workers as it would allow employers to hire outsourced workers without giving them certainty for a longer time than the current regulation stipulates.

Workers will be forced to work without certainty because the bill will make them more vulnerable to layoffs and outsourcing. These patterns of modern exploitation will make workers wages far from decent, she said.

The government plans to address issues related to foreign workers, severance pay, minimum wage and working hours deemed unfavorable to investors in the omnibus bill on job creation, according to several high-ranking officials.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo instructed his ministers on Monday to finish the draft of the omnibus bill on job creation next week.

Jumisih added that the government had skirted the democratic process in formulating the bill, adding that workers main enemy is the regulation that hampers the fight for prosperity.

The formulation process of this bill is being conducted behind closed doors and does not take into account the publics perspective, she added.

The job creation bill will address 11 issues, including simpler licensing procedures and labor and land procurement, as part of a broader effort to improve competitiveness.

According to the World Banks ease of doing business index, which ranked Indonesia 73rd, the countrys rigid employment and minimum wage regulations are among the factors causing the countrys stagnating rank.

Strict employment protection legislation shapes firms incentives to enter and exit the economy, which in turn has implications for job creation and economic growth [] a 10 percentage-point increase in the minimum wage in Indonesia was associated with a 0.8-percentage point decrease in employment on average, the report reads.
He was the founding father of Research & Analysis Wing, or RAW (Indias external intelligence agency), Rameshwar Nath Kao, who is foundly called Ramji by his friends and family, was the first chief of RAW since its founding in 1969 to 1977. He was hailed as India's first super spy.

His story is so inspiring that every Indian must know and a movie based on his life story is being made by Karan Johar.



Twitter

He was man of such a stature that when Sri Lankas Rohan Gunaratna, one of the few journalists to interview the former RAW chief, he said, R.N. Kao is the most remarkable spy in the history of modern India. If not for his contribution to Indias formidable RAW, South Asias geographic, economic and political landscape would have been markedly different.



superstarsbio.com

Announcing the project, Karan Johar revealed that movie will be based on Nitin Gokhales book R.N. Kao: Gentleman Spymaster.



Turning pages into frames, one thrill at a time. Bringing to you an adaptation of Nitin Gokhales book - R.N.Kao: Gentleman Spymaster to the silver screen. More information coming soon, Karan wrote in a tweet.



Turning pages into frames, one thrill at a time.

Bringing to you an adaptation of Nitin Gokhales book - R.N.Kao: Gentleman Spymaster to the silver screen. More information coming soon!@apoorvamehta18 #AmritpalBindra @anandntiwari @DharmaMovies #StillAndStillMediaCollective pic.twitter.com/gsHoWIHknn  Karan Johar (@karanjohar) January 9, 2020

Karan Johar also shared the information about the forthcoming movie. The project description reads, "An adaptation of the book R.N. Kao: Gentleman Spymaster written by Nitin Gokhale, the film will tell the story of Kao who founded Indias external intelligence agency - R&AW and how he went on to become a success story in the world of international espionage."


The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has tackled President Muhammadu Buhari over his recent comments that he would not pick any successor before leaving office.

The presidency on Monday had replied a popular cleric, Tunde Bakare, who advised President Buhari to pick his successor for the 2023 presidential election.

President Buharis spokesperson, Femi Adesina, however, said the president though interested in who would succeed him, will not pick a successor.

PDP responds

However, the PDP, in a statement by its spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, said Mr Buhari had failed.

The opposition party said the continuous reference to a presidential successor, less than a year into his (Buhari) second tenure, is a direct acceptance of failure and lack of capacity of the Buhari administration to manage the affairs of a nation as complex as Nigeria.

The party said President Buharis apprehensions that his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), will fizzle out before 2023 is also a weighty forewarning to Nigerians not to put any hope whatsoever in the APC.

The PDP also charges the Buhari Presidency to immediately apologise to the nation over its comment to hand Nigeria over. That such is a direct affront to Nigerians and a huge insult on their sensibility and sense of sovereignty to freely choose their leader.

The party invites Nigerians to note that such continued allusion to a successor by the Buhari Presidency shows that the President and the APC have no agenda for the nation for the next three years.

It further underscores the hopelessness of the administration and the sorry situation our nation is faced with under President Buhari and the APC, the party, which lost the presidential tussle in 2019, he said.

Pathetic drift

The PDP described as a pathetic drift, President Buharis New Year speech as well as his failure to articulate a clear-cut agenda in critical sectors.

It also exposes the reason behind APCs resort to blackmail, fabrication and attack on well-meaning Nigerians instead of enunciating a direction for its incompetent administration.

Our party, standing with millions of Nigerians, counsels the Buhari Presidency to bury its confessed interests in the 2023 Presidency and desist from making unsolicited allusions and references to a successor, as failed leaders can only bequeath failure on a people.

The PDP therefore charges the Buhari Presidency to immediately withdraw the offensive and provocative remark to hand Nigeria over, in its response to Rev. Tunde Bakares comment on the 2023 Presidency.

Words of caution

The PDP cautioned the Buhari Presidency to note that Nigeria is a sovereign nation governed by rules and that nobody, no matter how highly placed, has the power to hand her over to anybody.

In insisting that President Buhari has interest in his successor, the Buhari Presidency is in direct aggression against the will of the people to freely elect a president as guaranteed by the constitution.

The 1999 constitution (as amended) does not confer the right to install the President of Nigeria on any individual, but on the people of Nigeria through a free, fair and credible election conducted without interference from anybody, it said.

The party urged the President to use the remaining years of his tenure to get competent hands to assist him to manage the affairs of the nation, while he concentrates on his retirement plans, as Nigerians expect no solutions from him and his party.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 00:27:16|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TEHRAN, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Minister of Road and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami rejected the speculations that the crash of a Ukrainian airplane in Tehran has anything to do with the launch of Iran's missiles at a U.S. base in Iraq, Press TV reported on Thursday.

"There are rumors that a terrorist attack, explosion or shooting at the plane may have caused the incident, but they are not true. Technical failure has been the cause of the incident," Eslami was quoted as saying.

"Had it been the case, the plane must have exploded up in the air, but that has not happened, because the plane caught fire due to a technical failure. The problem first caused its communication and control systems to stop working, and subsequently resulted in its crash," Eslami said.

Iran will not hand over the black boxes recovered from the crash site to the American Boeing company or any other countries, he said.

The Iranian technicians and experts from Boeing will recover data from the black boxes in Iran, he added.

On Wednesday, a Boeing 737 aircraft, operated by Ukraine International Airlines, en route to Kiev with 176 people onboard, crashed hours after Iran fired missiles at bases housing U.S. forces in Iraq. All people onboard the plane were killed.
Colleagues of Stephen Clements from Q Radio and the BBC paid poignant tributes to the star yesterday on emotional shows dedicated to their lost friend.

Mr Clements spent eight years at Q before moving to Radio Ulster last summer to present The Stephen Clements Show.

On the stations yesterday, the usual levity that the much-loved broadcaster brought to both shows was absent, replaced by a sombre mood as colleagues shared their memories.

On Radio Ulster, stand-in presenter Steven Rainey spoke of his sadness over his friend's death.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Stephen Clements with his wife Natasha and their children Poppy and Robbie Dream job: DJ Stephen Clements with his son Robbie Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Beach life: Stephen Clements, with his daughter Poppy, has fond memories of Barrys in Portrush Leading man: Stephen Clements taking part in The Royal Does Strictly with Brenda Creaney of the Belfast Trust in 2012 Sunday Life News brenda shankey, eamonn holmes, Q Radio Stephen Clements and Cate Conway recording the Christmas Special. Picture Colm O'Reilly Sunday Life 19-12-2015 Stephen Clements is set to present his own show on BBC Radio Ulster Dream job: Stephen gets settled in Kevin Scott Stephen with wife Natasha The RUAs Annual Exhibition takes place at the award-winning Ulster Museum. Northern Ireland Tourist Board Great cause: Stephen Clements with Children in Needs Pudsey Stephen Clements with wife Natasha and children Poppy and Robbie BBC Children in Need are presenters Holly Hamilton and Stephen Clements with Pudsey Bear. Twitter postings: Stephen Clements Kevin Scott The BBC NI studio with presenters Stephen Clements and Holly Hamilton William Cherry/Presseye / Facebook

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Whatsapp Stephen Clements with his wife Natasha and their children Poppy and Robbie

"I know that I am not the voice any of us were expecting to hear this morning," he said.

"So many of us were affected by the terrible news. Stephen Clements was a one-off, a brilliant broadcaster who brought so much to so many of us."

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The 90-minute show was also inundated with tributes from listeners.

The choice of music was at times sombre, including the U2 ballad One and David Bowie's Heroes.

One listener, Charlie from Carrowdore, said he loved Mr Clements' banter.

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"Ninety minutes wasn't long enough. He will be greatly missed by us all," he said.

Mr Rainey said the number of people getting in touch was overwhelming.

"The messages that we are getting through are heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. He hadn't been with us for a long time, but he made such an impact," he added.

"It has been very emotional and everybody is very sad. We were just getting to know him and he was taken from us.

"We will treasure the time that we spent with him. He was very important to all of us."

On Q Radio there was also a deep sense of sadness.

As was said many times yesterday, Stephen was listeners' "best friend, who travelled with them in the car to work in the morning, keeping them laughing and sending them to work with a smile".

Yesterday's morning show was dedicated solely to him, with morning presenters Ryan Annett and Jordan Humphries taking a hugely emotional hour-long trip down memory lane.

The pair, who took over from Stephen and Cate Conway, said it was a huge privilege to be able to pay tribute to a friend who "lit up every room".

From his comedy sketches about Peter and Iris Robinson in their caravan in Millisle to stories from his own family life, the presenters reminded listeners of Mr Clements' talent.

In a montage of some of his moments, listeners heard him tell a story, set to dramatic music, of rescuing his wife's new cushions from a downpour in his underwear while shouting to his neighbours, "Sorry about the boxers, but it's an emergency".

On the hour newsreader Hannah Spratt read a story detailing the death of her dear friend and colleague, during which 'on-air wife' Cate poignantly referred to him as her "soulmate, best friend and brother" and said her heart was "broken into a million pieces".

Ryan told listeners, thousands of whom texted about their sorrow over Stephen's death, that he was devastated.

His co-presenter Jordan, meanwhile, said Stephen was a "special man".
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma's cousin and Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) member Boston Marak has been allegedly kidnapped from his residence in Tura district and his whereabouts were not currently known, police said on Thursday.

Marak's wife has claimed that NPP MLA Benedict Marak, also member of the GHADC, kidnapped him on Tuesday, a day before the Meghalaya High Court ordered a floor test for the ruling party to prove its majority in the 30-member council, West Garo Hills Superintendent of Police MGR Kumar said.

Apart from Benedict, she has also named another council member, Sengnal Sangma, in her police complaint.

Dikchelisa M Sangma said the two accused had visited her husband on Tuesday evening, and all three of them left home around midnight.

She also said that her husband, a Congress leader, had called her the next morning to say he had to leave for Shillong to attend to a pending matter.

Since then he went untraceable, she added.

Kumar said an investigation has been initiated and more details would be available in a short while.

"We are verifying whether the act is cognizable... As the case is very sensitive, we will act only after verifying every detail," Kumar explained.

The NPP, however, denied the allegation and said its members were not involved in any such case.

"I am not aware of any such incident. There was no such order issued (to kidnap any one)," National People's Party (NPP) state president W Kharlukhi said.

The GHADC floor test, which was scheduled on Thursday as per the high court order, has been stayed by the Supreme Court, taking cognizance of a plea moved by the ruling NPP.

In the last session of the district council, held in December, a no-confidence motion tabled against the NPP-led executive committee got stalled after its members staged a walkout, apparently for not having adequate numbers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After originally recommending leniency, federal prosecutors on Tuesday told a judge they believe former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn should be sentenced to up to six months in prison for lying to the FBI about the nature of his conversations with Russia's ambassador to the United States.

Flynn, President Trump's first national security adviser, pleaded guilty in 2017 and began cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office. Prosecutors said his assistance was valuable and he should receive probation, but last year, his new legal team switched tactics, accusing prosecutors of misconduct. The government wrote in its sentencing memo that Flynn "ultimately hindered" the prosecution of his former lobbying partner Bijan Rafiekian and no longer deserves any credit for working with them.

"Far from accepting the consequences of his unlawful actions, he has sought to blame almost every other person and entity involved in his case, including his former counsel," the prosecutors wrote. Because of Flynn's initial cooperation, his sentencing was pushed back several times, but last month, a judge rejected his allegations of prosecutorial misconduct and scheduled his sentencing for Jan. 28.

More stories from theweek.com

Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah puzzle over Trump's odd Iran 'victory' address

America is guilty of everything we accuse Iran of doing

Joe Biden's free ride is over


Results for Class 10 board examinations were announced on Thursday but thousands of students were making frantic efforts to know their result by calling their relatives and friends outside Kashmir in the wake of the internet blockade in the Valley.

Hundreds of students visited the office of the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School office at Bemina here to get their result but were turned back by the officials.

"We were told to check the result from the board website. It sounded like a cruel joke as there is internet blockade in Kashmir," Saniya Hamid, a candidate, said.

She said she had to call her cousin in Delhi to get her result checked.

Tabeen Ahmad, another student, said he will have to wait till the official gazette is made available by the board to know his result.

Journalist and analyst Arjimand Hussain took to Twitter to voice his concern about the lack of internet facilities.

"As the world navigates the Forth Industrial Revolution, the age of Artificial Intelligence and all, 160,000 students of 10th standard in Internet-barred Kashmir this evening are calling people with Internet access outside Kashmir to just know their exam results," he wrote.

"Thousands of students, who can't call anyone outside Kashmir, are shuttling from pillar to post to access old-fashioned printed "gazettes" to know their result. Will this Kashmiri millenial generation, aspiring high-quality education, forget this humiliation? Perhaps never," he added. PTI MIJ



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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Work is a mean for the citizen of Armenia to overcome poverty, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during todays Cabinet meeting, touching upon the formula of changing peoples life.

We stated that clients visit Armenia via various budgetary airlines who are potential customers of small and medium business. They visit Armenia not to stay in five-star hotels, eat in luxurious restaurants, but to walk, climb mountains, see a river, an animal, the PM said, reminding that from January 1 the micro-business has been exempt from taxes. Pashinyan said the government has created a sufficient field, and if no self-regulations take place, the state will impose certain standards.

Our task is to create all possible conditions for work. I repeat the government will not overcome the poverty of a man lying on a sofa, that man should at least hold the hand of the government and get out of the sofa, he said, adding that the man who doesnt work cannot live a better life.

Now we have created a favorable field for work, and if no self-regulations take place in that sufficient field, we must impose certain standards. We tell people that we exempt them from taxes and bring them potential clients from different parts of the world. Now you have the field where not the government or certain people should pay you money to live better, but a field has been created so that you will have an opportunity to work. This is our formula to change the life, the Armenian PM said, adding that from long-term perspective education is the imperative of living better.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump discussed the situation in the Middle East with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday and "emphasized the value of NATO increasing its role in preventing conflict and preserving peace in the Middle East," the White House said.

A summary of the call from NATO said Trump asked Stoltenberg to "become more involved in the Middle East," and they agreed NATO "could contribute more to regional stability and the fight against international terrorism."

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization "plays a key role in the fight against international terrorism, including through training missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and as a member of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS," the summary said, using a common acronym for Islamic State.

In a Wednesday morning address after Iran launched missiles at U.S. forces in Iraq overnight, Trump said he would soon ask NATO "to become much more involved in the Middle East process."

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Arshad Mohammed; Writing by Mohammad Zargham and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Peter Cooney)
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) public policy think tank took a deep dive into the concept of personalized learning driven by individualized instruction in a recently published report. Resident scholars from AEI visited high schools in the Learn4Life network, which focus on helping at-risk students and re-engaging dropouts.

A central and distinct element of Learn4Life's model is that each student is paired with a single "supervisor teacher" to serve as an instructor, guide and mentor from enrollment to graduation. The report by the American Enterprise Institute cited the wide-open instruction spaces and small-group classrooms at Learn4Life as a marked contrast to typically structured schools.

The report points out that "relationships are key" in pursuit of true personalized learning. "A central and distinct element of Learn4Life's model is that each student is paired with a single 'supervisor teacher' to serve as an instructor, counselor and mentor from enrollment to graduation."

"Learn4Life's model hinges on teachers who approach their job differently from traditional classroom teachers. They must be able to undertake one-on-one academic instruction, manage student schedules, track course completion and know when to direct a student to other resources, from advanced courses to counseling."

Learn4Life's national superintendent, Caprice Young, agrees that the student-centric role of the supervisor teacher is critical. "It's why our model works, because students are forming this one-on-one bond. The teacher is both their education and their case worker on a personal and an academic basis," she explains.

The AEI report discusses the advantages of flexible schedules and personalized curriculum, especially for the struggling students Learn4Life serves. Those who fell behind or dropped out of the public school system typically need the ability to build their own timeline to complete high school. Most of these students have adult responsibilities, like working, caring for younger siblings; or  in the case of 22 percent of Learn4Life students  raising their own children.

AEI visitors immediately noticed the wide-open instruction spaces and small-group classrooms, which are a marked contrast to traditionally structured schools. Some students work on assignments in the central area, while others meet individually with teachers at one of the many faculty desks that circle the room. Still others work in small groups with a teacher. Each teacher manages about 35 individual student plans, which significantly contrasts a typical public high school teacher, who might interact with 140 or 150 students every day. "Learn4Life's philosophy is that the smaller ratio will allow teachers to give each student sufficient attention and assistance."

Learn4Life is a network of 85 charter schools, serving 49,000 students each year, primarily in California. Eighty-nine percent of those students are successful  either catching up on credits to graduate with their class or continuing with Learn4Life in pursuit of a diploma. Forty-six percent of Learn4Life graduates go on to post-secondary education. Read the full report here or visit www.Learn4Life.org.

About Learn4Life

Learn4Life is a network of non-profit public schools that provides students personalized learning, career training and life skills. Each school is locally controlled, tuition free and gives students the flexibility and one-on-one attention they need to succeed. Serving more than 49,000 students across California, we help students prepare for a future beyond high school. We are proud to be a GuideStar Platinum Seal of Transparency recipient for our ethical, transparent and effective organizational practices. For more information, please visit www.learn4life.org.

MEDIA CONTACT

Ann Abajian, Learn4Life

(844) 515-8186

[email protected]

SOURCE Learn4Life
The tableau of the Indian Navy, to be showcased at the Republic Day Parade on January 26, 2020, at Rajpath, was unveiled in the national capital on Wednesday. The tableau is in pursuance of the Navy Week theme Indian Navy - Silent, Strong, and Swift.

The forward part of the tableau showcases the might and firepower of Navy in all three dimensions viz surface, sub-surface and air. This is portrayed through models of state-of-the-art assets like Boeing P8I Long Range Maritime Patrol aircraft with Harpoon missiles, Kolkata class Stealth Destroyer displaying a Brahmos launch and Kalvari Class Submarine launching the Exocet missile.

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On the trailer, the tableau showcases the indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant under construction at Cochin Shipyard Limited, along with its complement of MiG 29K Fighter Aircraft. This not only depicts the strength of the Indian Navy but is representative of the Navy's total commitment to the Make in India initiative of the Government.

The benign role of the Navy in terms of safeguarding offshore economic assets as well as rendering Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) is portrayed through the murals on the sides. These depict flood relief operation undertaken in Maharashtra on Mahalaxml Express (Operation Varsha Rahat) in July 2019, escort operations undertaken in Persian Gulf (Operation Sankalp) and defence of our oil platforms by Fast Attack Craft and employment of MARCOS.

Overall, the tableau aims to showcase the Navy as a credible and combat-ready military force, which in service of the nation, protects its economic assets and provides succour to its populace in times of crisis and natural calamities.

The officers who would be leading the Naval contingent as Contingent Commander, Platoon Commanders and the Naval Tableaux during the parade and the Drum Major who would be leading the Indian Naval Band were also introduced on Wednesday.
It is easier to run a political party than fight elections for smaller political outfits like AIMIM due to paucity of election funds, party chief Asaduddin Owaisi said here on Thursday even as he opined there should be a ban on corporate and NGO donations to political parties.

Speaking atthe first edition ofIndian Democracy at Work conference at Indian School of Business (ISB), he said electoral bonds "defile" as far as transparency is concerned.

There was no level playing field, he said, adding that the real cost of sustaining a political party was in competing with disproportionately richer political groups, which are now backed by corporate donations.

This means that parties would not only have to compete for voters, but also for being in the good books of large businesses, he said.

"Therefore the most urgent reform, I am of the opinion, is to prohibit all forms of corporate donations and prohibit NGO donations. Let citizens of India contribute," he said.

Describing donations through electoral bonds as a "mystery", Owaisi said they lack transparency.

"If electoral bonds are being given to big political parties like Congress and BJP,they will be answerable to those mysterious organisations which we do not know who is giving what.

That is why I feel that running a political party is not a herculean task but fighting elections is getting difficult for smaller parties," the Hyderabad MP said.

He saidthere is no possibility of obliging donors for parties representing marginalised groups as they don't enjoy power nor do they have caste and community networks that can mobilise large sums of money.

"The party which I represent (AIMIM),we do a lot of work apart from fighting elections and giving so called hate speeches," he said.

Congress Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Gowda suggested the creation of a national election fund to support political parties during polls and opined that it would curb money flow.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Raipur: As many as 176 teachers were blacklisted by the Chhattisgarh Board of Secondary Education for not checking the exam papers properly. The incident came to the fore after students that had applied for re-evaluation found that there was a massive difference in their marks allotted to them by the examiners.

They were given lesser marks by the examiners associated with the state board whereas teachers who rechecked the papers gave them at least 40-50% more marks.

After receiving complaints, the Board of Secondary Education constituted a committee to investigate the matter following which the negligence of the 176 teachers came to light.

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It is said that during the examination of the examination copies, the teachers allegedly gave the marks without looking at the answer sheets properly.

These accused teachers will not be able to evaluate copies again. The roles of the teachers in a corruption scandal is also being investigated.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday accused the Centre of giving a jolt to the country's unity with the Citizenship Amendment Act, and called for answering the government's "dictatorial" policies with Mahatma Gandhi's way of non-violence.

Pawar made the remarks as he flagged off the 'Gandhi Shanti Yatra' -- undertaken by former Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha against the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens and violence at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) -- from the Gateway of India here.

He said the recent violence at JNU has hurt sentiments of the students' community.

"The government is using dictatorial policies. What happened in JNU is being opposed across the country. The government's dictatorship needs to be answered with Gandhiji's way of non-violence," a statement said quoting Pawar.

The Maratha strongman termed all Indian citizens as "representatives of independent India and shareholders of the country", and claimed the government has left people disappointed with its move like the CAA.

He claimed that a big section of society was feeling disappointed with the government, as he referred to protests over CAA.

"Some steps taken by the central government have given a jolt to the country's unity. Members of some small sections of the society feel their interests are not being protected," Pawar said, apparently referring to the CAA.

The former Union minister noted there are members of several sections of societies, including the minorities, who cannot tell where they came from and where they will live.

"They will be forced to live in some camps (detention centres allegedly to be set up by the government). The government has left disappointed representatives of the Independent India and shareholders of the country. Hence, we need to create awareness in society, need to ensure unity among all sections of society," he said.

The government needs to be shown the right path of Gandhi's non-violent way, which only can help save the Constitution, Pawar said.

On the occasion, Sinha said, "We will protect the Constitution drafted by Ambedkarji. We will not let the country be partitioned again. We will not let Gandhi be murdered again. We are all one and will remain one."



Congress leader Ashish Deshmukh, who also participated in the yatra, reiterated his demand that the Maharashtra government remove all those vice chancellors from state universities who have links with the RSS and were appointed during the previous Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP regime.

He alleged that whatever happened in the JNU recently was because the university administration has people who follow ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Deshmukh said JNU Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, too, is believed to be following the RSS ideology.

"So, to avoid any JNU-like incident in Maharashtra universities, the government should remove the vice chancellors who have RSS links," he said.

Former Maharashtra chief minister and Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan, state minister Nawab Malik, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi leader Prakash Ambedkar, Trinamool Congress MP Nadimul Haque and others were also present on the occasion.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Gunn Memorial Library in Washington will present a discussion on the New York Times bestseller The Dutch House by Anne Patchett Jan. 14 at 6:30 p.m.

A snow date of Jan. 21 is planned at the Wykeham Road library.
Napa Valley College President Ron Kraft said the school could possibly host St. Helenas City Hall at its Upper Valley Campus because there is room to spare.

The college has plans to expand its Upvalley educational offerings, but for now there is space for a relocated city hall, Kraft said in an interview Tuesday.

The St. Helena City Council would like to move city offices, displaced last month when City Hall was damaged by smoke, into temporary facilities while finding a permanent solution.

Currently, the small number of spring classes at the Napa Valley College Upper Valley Campus are going ahead as scheduled, while the cooking school is going on hiatus due to lack of enrollment, Kraft said.

The food enthusiast classes and edu-travel programs in the campus culinary building are also going ahead as scheduled, he said.

That said, Half of the campus is unused and is planned to be unused for at least another year as we start to develop, so some presence of the city under a short-term lease creates synergy, Kraft said.

Its very fitting that the college help provide collaborative structures, as long as it retains its integrity as an educational training center, he said. It could certainly do that while accommodating a collaborative effort with the city, which makes great sense to me.

A temporary City Hall would also add some life and energy to the campus and generate income to develop it toward its next phase, Kraft said.

He stressed that formal negotiations are still weeks away. He will invite City Manager Mark Prestwich to make a presentation to the college Board of Trustees on Jan. 16, and the matter could come return to the board as an action item on Jan. 23. At that time, the board could direct Kraft to enter into lease negotiations with the city.

Kraft did offer city officials what he called an unofficial tour of the campus on Dec. 27, but there have been no formal talks, he said.

The city as a neutral third party decided to move forward with an unsolicited conversation, he said. Theres no negotiation because theres not even an official inquiry yet. The city hasnt done anything except decide that they want to approach the college.

Not for sale

Kraft said the campus is not for sale, and even a long-term lease of more than 36 months would be much more difficult for the board and me to lean into.

The available space would amount to no more than half of the 10,000-square-foot campus. The college would reserve the use of the kitchen, its associated teaching and hospitality center, the art classrooms at the south end of campus, and the outdoor space used for events like the Napa Valley Writers Conference and Dia de Los Muertos.

The remainder of the main campus building  including the unused northern classrooms, the unused library that doubles as a polling place, and the admissions and administrative space near the entrance  could be available to the city for a lease of less than 36 months, if college trustees deem it appropriate.

Prestwich said last week that based on preliminary talks, leasing the campus could be half the cost of what representatives of the former St. Helena Catholic School had been asking.

Kraft said he told Prestwich that the college typically leases space from $2 a square foot up  compared with the $4 the Catholic school was asking.

Whether we land on $2 or $3 or $4 or whatever  that would all be negotiation in the future, Kraft said.

In the meantime, the campuss four or five spring classes will go on as scheduled, with the possible exception of a computer class. If the city leases the northern classrooms, that class could be moved to another part of campus or to St. Helena High School.

A campus in transition

When it was built in the 1980s, the facility was intended to be a full-fledged campus. Enrollment projections turned out to be extremely optimistic given the Upvalleys population and demographics, so the campus was eventually re-imagined as a non-credit, community education center and a base for a culinary program.

After running the Napa Valley Cooking School for 16 years, Executive Chief Barbara Alexander left in 2018. The program switched from one year to one semester, and attendance dwindled to three students last fall, well short of the 13-15 needed to break even. No students enrolled for the coming semester, despite what Kraft called a marketing blitz.

Kraft said the trend is consistent with challenges faced by other cooking schools. He said demand has shifted away from programs geared toward professional cooks and chefs, in favor of training in more basic kitchen skills.

Ever since Alexander left, Kraft has been working on a new vision of the campus as a hospitality-oriented educational center offering community and civic events, food enthusiast and edu-travel programs, and student-catered wine, culinary, arts and musical events, perhaps in partnership with organizations like Festival Napa Valley.

Those events would be served by the students were training (at the Napa campus) in hospitality, tourism, travel, business, culinary and viticulture, Kraft said. They could go up there for a lab space where they could work or do internships. That remains the vision to this day, and were headed in that direction.

Kraft also envisions a tasting room pouring wines from the colleges estate winery.

With fewer than 20 students per week, the Upvalley campus no longer has its own dean. Lissa Gibbs filled in as interim director of the campus for a one-year term that ended last June. The last dean, Mechele Manno, went out on extended leave and is now returning to take on other assignments for the college.

Were not replacing the dean up there, Kraft said.

You can reach Jesse Duarte at 967-6803 or jduarte@sthelenastar.com.

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Part of the wreckage from Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, a Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport on Jan. 8, 2020, is seen in this still image taken from Iran Press footage. (Iran Press/Handout via Reuters)

Ukrainian Official Probing Theory That Missile Took Down Ukrainian Plane in Iran

Investigators in Ukraine have considered the possibility that a missile strike or terrorism brought down a Ukrainian-operated Boeing 737 plane just minutes after takeoff in Iran, leaving all 176 passengers and crew members dead.

Ukraines National Security and Defense Council Chief Oleksiy Danilov wrote on social media that a strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main [theories], as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash, according to a Fox News translation.

Ukraine hasnt yet looked at the crash site for missile debris, officials said.

According to the Moscow Times, Russia in 2007 delivered 29 Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile systems to Iran under a $700 million contract.

Our [investigative] commission is talking to the Iranian authorities about visiting the crash site and is determined to search for fragments of a Russian Tor air defense missile, about which there was information on the internet, Danilov told Ukrainian news site Censor.net, according to a translation.

Rescue workers carry the body of a victim of a Ukrainian plane crash among debris of the plane in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 8, 2020. (Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

The crash came a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on two Iraqi bases that house U.S. troops. President Donald Trump later confirmed there were no casualties in the missile strike on the two bases and vowed to implement more sanctions on Tehran in response.

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6:12 a.m. Jan. 8, after nearly an hours delay at Tehrans Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travelers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data, The Associated Press reported.

The planes black boxes, which contain its flight recorder and cockpit voice recorder, were recovered. However, Iranian officials have said they wont hand them over to Boeing.

Debris from the plane crash on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran, Jan. 8, 2020. (Mohammad Nasiri/AP Photos)

The head of Irans Civil Aviation Organization, Ali Abedzadeh, said, We will not give the black box to the manufacturer and the Americans, reported the BBC. This accident will be investigated by Irans aviation organization, but the Ukrainians can also be present.

Iranian officials havent given a reason for the crash. Initial reports suggested the plane may have malfunctioned.

The plane, which was initially headed west to leave the airport zone, turned right following a problem and was headed back to the airport at the moment of the crash, Abedzadeh said, according to the BBC.

It isnt clear if Iran will attempt to analyze the black boxes or if it will tap another country to help. At the same time, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has demanded a significant role in the probe after numerous Canadian nationals died in the crash.

Canada is one of a handful of countries with a high degree of expertise when it comes to these sorts of accidents, and therefore we have much to contribute, Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. I am confident that in our engagement both through our allies and directly, we are going to make sure that we are a substantive contributor to this investigation, he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump (L) and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg attend the plenary session of the NATO summit at the Grove hotel in Watford, northeast of London, on Dec. 4, 2019. (Tobias Schwarz/AFP via Getty Images)

NATO Concurs With Trump That It Could Do More in Middle East

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg agreed with U.S. President Donald Trump that the alliance could contribute more to regional stability and fight against international terrorism in the Middle East.

The two leaders spoke by phone on Jan. 8, according to a NATO release.

The president asked the Secretary General for NATO to become more involved in the Middle East. They agreed that NATO could contribute more to regional stability and the fight against international terrorism. They also agreed to stay in close contact on the issue, the release states.

The release didnt confirm whether NATO is set to take more action; its unclear what immediate steps NATO intends to take.

I condemn the Iranian missile attacks on US and [coalition] forces in Iraq. [NATO] calls on Iran to refrain from further violence. Allies continue to consult & remain committed to our training mission in Iraq, Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter on Jan. 8.

White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere confirmed the conversation took place. The phone call came after Trump said during an address to the nation earlier on Jan. 8 that he would ask NATO to become more involved in the Middle East.

Today, [President Donald Trump] spoke with [NATO] Secretary General [Jens Stoltenberg]. The two leaders discussed the current situation in the Middle East. The President emphasized the value of NATO increasing its role in preventing conflict and preserving peace in the Middle East, he wrote on Twitter on Jan. 8.

Just a day prior, Iran fired missiles at Iraqi military bases where U.S. troops were stationed, in apparent retaliation for the killing of Irans top military commander Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 2.

During the speech at the White House, Trump referred to Soleimani as the worlds top terrorist. Soleimani led the Quds Force, a part of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the United States designated as a terrorist group in early 2019.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about the situation with Iran in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington on Jan. 8, 2020. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump noted in his address that no Americans or Iraqis were injured in the latest attack from Iran, and the strikes caused minimal damage. The president also said that he would seek peace with Iran.

The United States has big and powerful missiles, but does not want to use its military and equipment, Trump said, adding that American strength, both military and economic, is the best deterrent.

The United States has achieved energy independence by increasing domestic production, Trump said, adding that we do not need Middle East oil.

In the fight against international terrorism, NATO currently conducts training missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and is a member of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. The intergovernmental military alliance recently announced that it has temporarily suspended its training operations in Iraq to ensure the safety of its personnel, amid tensions in the Middle East after Soleimanis death.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
The army have given families five minutes to evacuate as they desperately knock on the doors of homes amid fears of worsening fire conditions.

The bushfire threat has escalated on Kangaroo Island in South Australia on Thursday with a watch and act warning issued for a flare-up near Parndana.

The Country Fire Service says the fire in scrub is uncontrolled, is burning in a southeasterly direction and may threaten the safety of people in the area.

The Australian Defence Force were seen moving door-to-door in a bid to ensure residents were evacuated before the blaze hit

Local farmer John Stanton looks on as smoke from the Kangaroo Island bushfires rises

The Australian Defence Force were seen moving door-to-door in a bid to ensure residents were evacuated before the blaze hit, Nine News reported.

The evacuation alarm was also heard ringing throughout Parndana, urging residents to flee.

There are more than 145 Army Reservists and vehicles with supplies on Kangaroo Island for initial recovery efforts.

A Water Treatment Plant has also been established and can produce up to 250,000 litres per day.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young wrote on Twitter The Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park had been evacuated as the fire approached.

It comes as people across the island are bracing for another day of severe fire risk with fears the major blaze will jump containment lines and surge a second time.

A helicopter drops water on bushfires that are sweeping through Stokes Bay on Kangaroo Island, southwest of Adelaide, on Thursday

A general view of the bushfires swepping through on Kangaroo Island on Thursday

A Volkswagen Combi sits in a paddock as bushfires burn around Kangaroo Island

The fire has already destroyed 160,000 hectares including most of the famed Flinders Chase National Park.

As a precaution, police and the Country Fire Service evacuated the town of Vivonne Bay on the south coast amid fears homes could not be protected should the fire move quickly into the area.

Made up of mostly holiday shacks, it's thought less than 100 people live there at any given time.

Police went door to door, calling on residents to head for Kingscote or Penneshaw, but some still chose to stay.

Those who left will not be allowed to return until Friday, but only if it is then deemed safe.

'This is a pre-emptive relocation due to the increased fire risk,' the CFS said.

The army have given families five minutes to evacuate as they desperately knock on the doors of homes amid fears of another fire flare up at Kangaroo Island

'Currently, there is no immediate threat to life or property but with increasing wind, warmer weather and ongoing fires on Kangaroo Island, this situation is likely to change.'

The fire also claimed two lives with 78-year-old pilot Dick Land and his 43-year-old son Clayton killed as they tried to return to the family property on Friday.

In Victoria, residents were warned to stay away from East Gippsland as blazes continue to rip through the region.

Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said there were 23 fires burning across Victoria, 13 watch and act messages in place and 1.2 million hectares had been burnt.

The number of fires has increased from 12, but Mr Crisp said said there were not new fires, the information was just being broken up so communities could better understand threats from the merged blazes.

'In the lead-up to the spike day, on the Monday 10 days ago, we stood here and talked about people should not be in East Gippsland,' Mr Crisp said.

The fire also claimed two lives with 78-year-old pilot Dick Land and his 43-year-old son Clayton killed as they tried to return to the family property on Friday

The Country Fire Service says the fire in scrub is uncontrolled, is burning in a southeasterly direction and may threaten the safety of people in the area

'Our message this time is clear and simple, it is exactly the same message: You should not be there.'

The state of disaster declared in parts of Victoria will remain in place as fire conditions are forecast to worsen in coming days.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the declaration, which increases government and agency powers to move people out of affected regions, would continue for East Gippsland and the northeast.

'We have forecast conditions of extreme danger, very significant fire activity is likely off the back of a hot day today, a hot day tomorrow,' Mr Andrews told reporters on Thursday.

'A change is not coming through in the east of the state until late afternoon tomorrow and in the northern part of the state not until the evening on Saturday.

'This means that we have every reason to believe there will be significant fire activity over the next 48 hours and that means it is appropriate that we continue the state of disaster.'

In Victoria, residents were warned to stay away from East Gippsland as blazes continue to rip through the region. Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said there were 23 fires burning across Victoria, 13 watch and act messages in place and 1.2 million hectares had been burnt

There have been 244 houses and 400 other structures destroyed and three people killed in the fires in Victoria.

The third victim was confirmed on Wednesday - Forest Fires Management worker Mat Kavanagh, 43, died when his vehicle crashed on the Goulburn Valley Highway on January 3.

The Bureau of Meteorology on Wednesday issued an extreme fire danger warning for the north of the state on Friday, with a severe warning for the Mallee and northeast districts.

Temperatures nearing 40C are also forecast in some areas on Friday, along with northerly winds, ahead of a change in the afternoon.

Victorians are being told to heed 'life or death' warnings as extreme fire danger returns to fire-affected regions on Friday, following calm and mild weather conditions on Thursday.
CHICAGO (AP)  Illinois' first day of legal recreational marijuana generated nearly $3.2 million in sales, state officials announced Thursday.

There were 77, 128 transactions on New Year's Day, when the law legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes took effect, according to Toi Hutchinson, senior adviser to Gov. J.B. Pritzker on cannabis control.

Dispensaries reported long lines the first day of sales and expected them to continue through the weekend.

Those lines actually show there's an incredible opportunity to grow this industry,'' Hutchinson told reporters Thursday in Chicago. There's new room for new people to come in.

By comparison, neighboring Michigan, which made recreational marijuana legal starting Dec. 1, generated $3.1 million in the first two weeks of sales. First-day sales in Colorado, the first state to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use, were over $1 million on Jan. 1, 2014.

Hutchinson said Thursday marked "phase two'' of the Illinois legalization law, with the day being a deadline for applicants under the so-called social equity provisions of the law to apply.

Designed to help minority applicants who've been most adversely affected by law enforcement efforts to fight the drug, the provisions include ways for qualified applicants to pay lower licensing fees and get business loans and technical assistance.

Also under the law, some marijuana sales revenue will be earmarked for neighborhood development grants, and low-level marijuana convictions will be expunged. Pritzker granted more than 11,000 such pardons Tuesday.

People began lining up on Wednesday at 6 a.m., the earliest that Illinois' new law allowed such sales.

Among those who bought on the first day was Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton who purchased edible gummies in Chicago.

Im here to celebrate a big day in Illinois, Stratton said.

Illinois already allowed medical marijuana, but it is now the 11th state to allow its use and sale for recreational purposes. The law approved by the Democratic-controlled Legislature and signed byPritzker allows people 21 or older to possess of up to 30 grams (1.06 ounces) of cannabis flower and up to 5 grams (0.17 ounces) of cannabis concentrate.

Pamela Althoff, executive director of the Springfield-based Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, said she spent much of Wednesday morning in Chicago and its northwestern suburbs. She said wait times of up to three hours were getting shorter as the day progressed.

Story continues

It has been joyous and well-run, she said. People are extraordinarily courteous and civil.

Police were on-hand at most shops mostly to control traffic.

Althoff cautioned that recreational marijuana may not be consumed in public and added that like all new products, it may be a little expensive.

We hope that down the line it will become less expensive, she said. The message from the industry is not promoting or opposing, its the state of Illinois made it legal and were here to provide a safe and a quality product for those who wish to consume.''

In Illinois, nearly three dozen dispensaries have been issued licenses to sell recreational marijuana. State officials said up to 75 additional licenses will be granted by May.

Cannabis sales couldgenerate $250 million for Illinoisby 2022, according to estimates by state officials.

But not everyone is on board.

A national alliance that opposes marijuana legalization believes marijuana commercialization is a bad idea.

In the end, big pot only cares about being able to peddle its addictive, highly potent products in disadvantaged communities as it takes its playbook from big tobacco, said Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana. This what we have seen in every single state that has gone down this road, and we have no reason to expect Illinois' experience to be any different.

__

Williams reported from Detroit.
"If this is indeed the sum total of Iran's response, it is a big signal of de-escalation that we should gratefully receive," said Kirsten Fontenrose, who handled Middle East issues on the National Security Council earlier in the Trump administration. Bracing for retaliation Hours before officials at the White House and Pentagon arrived at their desks on Tuesday, American troops in Iraq were preparing for Iran's retaliation to avenge the death of the general. Spy satellites had been tracking the movements of Iran's arsenal of missile launchers, and communications among Iranian military leaders intercepted by the National Security Agency had indicated that the response to Soleimani's killing might come that day. Ain Asad base in Iraq's Anbar province was the focus of numerous vague threat reports, including one warning that hundreds of fighters from Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi militia trained and equipped by Iran, might launch a frontal assault on the base.

The base was relatively vulnerable; no Patriot anti-missile systems protected it, according to an American military official. They had been deployed to other countries in the Middle East deemed more susceptible to Iranian missile attacks. So American commanders prepared to partly evacuate the base and assigned most other remaining forces to hardened shelters to ride out whatever attack would come. This aerial photo taken from a helicopter shows Ain al-Asad air base Credit:AP By morning in Washington, the intelligence was still vague enough that White House officials decided to keep Trump's planned schedule, including the meeting with Greece's Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Administration officials resumed their defence of Soleimani's killing amid increasing criticism that they lacked, or were unwilling to share, the intelligence that they said prompted the strike. At the State Department, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters at a packed news conference that killing Soleimani "was the right decision". Days earlier, he had said the killing had been necessary to prevent "imminent" attacks. On Tuesday morning, he gave a different message, citing the death of an American contractor killed in late December when Iranian-backed Shiite militias fired rockets at a military base in Iraq.

Loading "If you're looking for imminence, you need to look no further than the days that led up to the strike that was taken against Soleimani," Pompeo said. Hours later, as Trump met with Mitsotakis, the White House received the "squawk" alert about a likely missile strike. Pence and O'Brien led the initial discussion in the Situation Room about how to confront the threat, assessing the intelligence about the Iranians' likely targets. Upstairs inside the Oval Office, Trump sat beside Mitsotakis as reporters peppered him with questions about the Iran crisis. The President hedged about threats he had made days earlier that the United States might consider targeting Iranian cultural sites  but he maintained a menacing tone. "If Iran does anything that they shouldn't be doing, they're going to be suffering the consequences, and very strongly," Trump said. "We're totally prepared."

Confusion and misinformation After the brief news conference ended, Trump descended several flights of stairs to the Situation Room. With sandwiches piled on a sideboard, the group that advised the President at different times throughout the day included a handful of seasoned national security officials, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, an Army veteran of nearly 40 years; Keith Kellogg, a retired Army lieutenant general who serves as national security adviser to Pence; and Joseph Maguire, acting director of national intelligence. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has become a driving force in the Trump administrations Iran policy. Credit:Bloomberg

It also included Pompeo, who has become a driving force in the Trump administration's Iran policy and an advocate of what he often calls "restoring deterrence" against Tehran's aggression in the Middle East. As a forceful proponent of the Friday strike that killed Soleimani, Pompeo had played an instrumental role in bringing Trump to the crisis point. But others around the long, rectangular table in the Situation Room had only modest foreign policy experience  including Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff and a former congressman from South Carolina; and O'Brien, who was a Los Angeles lawyer before spending 2 years as Trump's chief hostage negotiator and assumed the post of national security adviser in September. Appearing on a video screen was Gina Haspel, the CIA director, who was monitoring the crisis from the agency's headquarters in northern Virginia. In the days before Soleimani's death, Haspel had advised Trump that the threat the Iranian general presented was greater than the threat of Iran's response if he was killed, according to current and former American officials. Indeed, Haspel had predicted the most likely response would be a missile strike from Iran to bases where American troops were deployed, the very situation that appeared to be playing out. Although Haspel took no formal position about whether to kill Soleimani, officials who listened to her analysis came away with the clear view that the CIA believed that killing him would improve  not weaken  security in the Middle East.

But at that moment days after his death, the President and his aides were confronting a flurry of conflicting information. Around 4pm, reports came in that a training camp north of Baghdad might have been hit. Officials at the White House and the State Department waited anxiously for the Pentagon to provide damage reports about the camp, Taji air base, where American, Australian, British and New Zealand, troops are stationed. It was a false alarm, although American officials later said they believed that several missiles fired in the barrage a day earlier were intended for the base. As the reports about Taji came in, loudspeakers at the US Embassy in Baghdad announced that an attack could be imminent. As they had in the previous days, American and Iraqi personnel inside the compound raced toward bomb shelters. Roughly one hour later, the first missiles bound for Ain Asad streaked over their heads. A hail of missiles At about 5.30pm in Washington, the Pentagon detected the first of what would be 16 short- and medium-range Fateh 110 and Shahab missiles, fired from three locations inside Iran.

Several slammed into Ain Asad but did only minimal damage. They hit a Black Hawk helicopter and a reconnaissance drone, along with parts of the air traffic control tower, according to a military official familiar with a battle damage assessment of the strike. The attack also destroyed several tents. Minutes later, a salvo of missiles hit an air base in Erbil, in northern Iraq, which has been a Special Operations hub for hundreds of American and other allied troops, logistics personnel and intelligence specialists throughout the fight against the Islamic State. The damage to that base was unclear, although no personnel were killed or wounded. Satellite image shows the damage caused from an Iranian missile strike at the Ain Asad Air Base in Iraq. Credit:Planet Labs Inc./Middlebury Institute of International Studies via AP Why did the Iran strikes do such little damage? Trump attributed it to the "precautions taken, the dispersal of forces and an early warning system that worked very well." A senior American military official dismissed the idea that Iran had intentionally avoided killing American troops by aiming instead for uninhabited parts of the two bases.

Still, American officials acknowledged that Iran's leaders showed restraint in planning the missile strikes, especially after the fiery talk from Tehran after Soleimani's killing. Loading "We're receiving some encouraging intelligence that Iran is sending messages to those very same militias not to move against American targets or civilians. And we hope that that message continues to echo," Pence said during an interview on CBS News. After the attacks subsided, Trump and Pence made a round of calls to congressional leaders, and even some of the President's hawkish allies said that Trump should be measured in his response to the Iranian strikes. Recounting his conversation with Trump, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, said he told the President, "Let's just stand down and see what happens for a few days".
The Orange Order has dismissed a suggestion by Sinn Fein's Mary Lou McDonald that the Twelfth of July could be celebrated in the event of a united Ireland.

The Sinn Fein president told the Irish Independent that "everything should be on the table" when asked specifically about the Protestant celebration of William of Orange's victory at the Battle of the Boyne.

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However, the Orange Order has told the Belfast Telegraph that it is not interested in engaging in conversations or responding to statements which "merely assist Sinn Fein and nationalists as they continue to talk up the inevitability of a united Ireland".

"Orangemen in many communities across Ireland have experienced republicanisms intolerance and hatred first-hand," a spokesman said.

The Orange Order's comments come amid controversy over the now-postponed State commemoration in Dublin Castle of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and Dublin Metropolitan Police.

Sinn Fein led calls for the event to be cancelled, saying it would amount to the Irish Government celebrating the Black and Tans.

"Ironically, despite these comments, recent developments in the Republic of Ireland have shown us the reality that Sinn Fein and others are not really interested in equality  or the historical commemoration of anything deemed to be British," the spokesman added.

On whether the Twelfth would be marked in the event of Irish Unity, Ms McDonald said she believed people will "surprise themselves" with what they find acceptable in a united Ireland.

"We, more than any other political party in the Oireachtas, are used to working with, living with, dealing with our unionist neighbours and the Twelfth of July is very widely celebrated as we currently speak."

She added: "Generally speaking, people are decent and reasonable and they want a good life for themselves and for their families and they are happy to accommodate and respect their neighbours so long as that accommodation and respect comes back to them.

"They're kind of the go-to issues when people talk about Irish unity, and that's fine."

Former Ulster Unionist MLA and Orangeman Tom Elliott said that it was a "bit rich" for Ms McDonald to include the Twelfth parades in any Irish border poll debate as people already have the right to march.

"It just shows the twisted nature of Sinn Fein representatives," he said.

"It's almost unbearable to think that as part of a border poll they would look at the right to parade.

"Such nonsense."
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SEATTLE  An office building at 4209 21st Ave. W. sold for a little over $4.6 million, according to King County records.

The seller was a family group that acquired the property in 2008 for about $3.6 million.





. . .
So thats why we always try to, the best course of action, the best practice is to swarm these individuals either before they get started on these rides, when theyre at the outlying rally points in the outer parts of Chicago, or, say, if theyre in a rally point, theres a few identified rally points downtown as well, he said.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the UP government's reply within two weeks on a plea seeking bail for a journalist arrested under the UP Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act for alleged extortion of Noida police officers.

A Bench of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and Justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant issued the notice.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan said the journalist was arrested last year but the high court was yet to decide on the bail plea.

Stating that petitioner Nitish Pandey is a journalist and not a gangster, Bhushan claimed the high court had been adjourning the matter frequently, which was allowing the state opportunity to file counter affidavit. Uncorroborated charges had been levelled against the journalist, he added.

Pandey was arrested on August 23, 2019, under various provisions of the UP Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986.

Bhushan said the journalist had actually exposed corruption in the Noida police department through many stories on his news portal.

"The high court while adjourning the bail plea on several occasions failed to appreciate that cases concerning incarceration of an individual and jeopardising personal liberty, based on false prosecution and motivated allegations, are to be viewed seriously. Ordinarily, courts ought to lean in favour of guaranteeing personal liberty," he said.

According to the FIR, one alleged organised gang, comprising journalists, had been acquiring pecuniary material and other benefits in an illegal manner by exercising wrongful pressure over the officers, especially officers of the police department.

The police identified the active members of the gang as Susheel Pandit, Udit Goel, Raman Thakur, Chandan Rai and Nitish Pandey and alleged that it operated largely by luring police officers to act in their favour.

Police officers, who refused to be influenced, were blackmailed and their image was tarnished by publishing baseless and fictitious information on social media.
An official of the State Bank of India (SBI) in Chhattisgarhs Balrampur district has been arrested for allegedly fraudulently sanctioning four loans to the tune of Rs 9.10 lakh in the name of a dead person, police said.

Earlier, one of the sons of the deceased man, Ramgulam Gupta, was arrested in connection with the fraud.

Amol Gulshan Kujur (35), posted as deputy manager at SBI's Balrampur branch, was apprehended on Wednesday after an investigation into the case that was registered last year, a police official said.

Balrampur is located around 250km away from Korba in northern part of the state.

During his tenure as a field officer at the Rajpur branch of the bank in 2017-18, Kujur had sanctioned four loans, including through Kisan Credit Card (KCC) and for tractor purchase, collectively to the tune of Rs 9.10 lakh in the name of Ramgulam Gupta, a native of Pakdandi village, he said.

Kujur allegedly committed the fraud in connivance with Guptas son Shailesh Gupta, who reportedly provided fake documents to show his father was alive, he said.

When Ramgulam Guptas another son, Santosh, came to know about the loans, he reported the matter to police, he said.

After an investigation, Shailesh Gupta was booked under IPC sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and arrested in October last year, he said.

Meanwhile, Kujur was transferred to the Balrampur branch of the nationalised bank.

After collecting evidence against Kujur, he was placed under arrest, the official said, adding further probe was underway.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In the aftermath of the killing, US Embassy in Iraq has come under attack once. But more prominently, on January 5, Iran announced it would abandon limitations on enriching uranium, taking a further step back from commitments to a 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers. (Image: Reuters)

The killing  or the assassination, depending on who's speaking  of one of Iran's topmost security official, General Qassem Soleimani, has plunged the region into what observers have called "uncharted" waters.

This is because even as the region was on boil, and tensions between Iran and the United States were evident, killing Soleimani was a steep slide into escalation of the conflict.

While experts have suggested that a proxy war between Iran and the US in the region and not in the least in Iraq and Syria was always on, Soleimani's killing started ringing warning bells regarding a conventional war, because assassinating a top Iranian military official, and the head of the Quds Force no less, could be perceived as an act of war one that will be met with repercussions.

But first, why was it a big deal?

Soleimani has been, for years, the go-to man for Iran when it came to matters of intelligence, security and military in the Middle East. He had risen through ranks to cultivate influence within the Iranian political, religious and military establishment.

Soleimani had also, over the years, supported and propped up influential groups  including the Shia Kataib Hezbollah, whose militias were killed in a US airstrike and which had in turn prompted protests at the US Embassy in Baghdad and had been the source of several vital financial transactions related to military operations in the region.

Being the head of the Quds Force, the foreign wing of the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also meant that Soleimani was responsible for the spread of the Shiite influence and building what the Iranians called the Shiite axis of power in the Middle East.

Overall, Soleimani was a 'shadow' commander who wielded a lot of power both overt and covert  in the region.

What has been the reaction to Soleimani's killing?

Countries have been divided over the killing and the man, which is why a number of them have "expressed concerns" regarding the rising tensions.

However, apart from the global reactions, experts have said the important thing to observe now is the way Iran reacts. While top officials of the Iranian government have said there will, indeed, be some kind of a retaliation to the killing of Soleimani, it is unclear as to how they would choose to respond.

So, what is expected to happen now?

The way Iran reacts, experts have stated, will decide the future course of events in the Middle East.

According to CNN, the military adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini said the country would be responding militarily.

Maj. Gen. Hossein Dehghan told the news channel that Tehran would be responding directly against US' "military sites", which, if it happens, would further escalate tensions in the volatile region.

However, it is widely expected that Iran would take its own time in retaliating to the killing. Experts have also stated that considering that Tehran cannot, at this time, afford an all-out war, the country will have to choose its reaction carefully.

Reports suggested that after the US strike, Iran had indicated that its own militias and organisations sympathetic to Iran should be activated across the Middle East to respond to the US, perhaps by targeting the American forces in Iraq.

Another factor, experts have observed, is the killing of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis along with Soleimani. Muhandis, according to reports, had fought against both the ISIS and the American forces in the region, and being the second-in-command of a coalition of militias fighting against the Islamic State, his killing would not go down well either.

This effectively means that the US interests in the Middle East will have to be on alert. The American administration on January 7 issued warning to ships across the Middle Eastern waterways of a "possibility of Iranian action against US maritime interests".

The US had already asked its citizens in Iraq to depart "immediately" post the Soleimani hit. Moreover, with Iraq Parliament voting to expel the US troops stationed in their country in an emergency session, it remains unclear what would happen next.
Oman Air has taken a major step forward in its growth and service, debuting its first codeshare flights connecting Oman and the US, which streamline travel from Muscat to New York and Miami, via Milan, through its partnership with Air Italy.



Additional US destinations, which are expected to be announced in the coming months, are anticipated to be added in time for the summer season.



Abdulaziz Al Raisi, Oman Air CEO, commented: This is a noteworthy development for Oman Air and an excellent way to start another strong year for the Sultanates airline. These flights make it considerably quicker and easier for our guests to reach these popular U.S. destinations and for people in these cities to visit Oman."



We look forward to welcoming more business and leisure travellers to the Sultanate and help our guests rediscover the joys of travelling  in style to and from these international centres of trade, tourism and culture," he said.



Under the initial agreement, which was established in December 2019, Air Italys IG code was placed on Oman Airs flights between Milan Malpensa and Muscat. At the same time, Oman Air put its WY code on Air Italy flights between Milan Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino, Naples, Cagliari (Sardinia), Palermo and Catania (Sicily) and Lamezia Terme (Calabria).



Oman Air operates 10 round-trip flights each week to Milans Malpensa Airport, with daily service to the Italian city.



Air Italy offers daily round-trip flights from Milan to New York and six flights per week from Milan to Miami, all using Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft. - TradeArabia News Service
To the editor:

President Obama attempted to strengthen our diverse population with better health care, education and jobs. He cooperated with our allies to more effectively participate in global markets, resources and talent pools. He understood our population is suited to prosper with more inclusion. His goal was to move our country forward into a better future for all.

President Trump ran his campaign on a goal to "Make America Great Again." But those who are well-experienced and politically informed know it really means "Make America White Again." He wants to lead our country back to the pre-1965 days when our economic and political leadership was dominated by white men.

America was "great" before 1965, but it was even better in 1975, 1985, 1995 and onward. I do not want to go back to the 1950s. Back then, most women and minorities suffered discrimination in employment, housing and education in most parts of the U.S. There is much less segregation today, and our country is a better place for all who live here. Yet some resent the progress minorities/women have made.

Obama's goal was to help all Americans work together to make our ''pie" bigger and better. Everyone could then enjoy bigger pieces of the "pie." Trump's goal was to spread fear that he and his chosen people could only have their much bigger pieces of the ''pie" if they pushed most other people away from the table.

Obama built on President Bush's programs. He wanted to stop the Great Recession, and his economic policies formed the base of economic growth that continues today.

Conversely, Trump began his presidency with a goal to dismantle everything Obama did (destroying the Affordable Care Act). He has yet to present a realistic plan to provide equivalent health care benefits to Americans.

From reviewing a diverse number of news reports, and reading the Mueller Report, it's clear Trump has committed impeachable acts. He is unfit to be our president.

Readers, urge Congress to remove Trump from office now. If your lawmaker doesn't listen, vote against them in November.

RONALD S. HAUGHTON

Midland
A statement issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urges all parties, in these critical days, to embrace peace rather than violence.

By Linda Bordoni

US Bishops have expressed concern following the escalation of violence between their country and Iran and appealed for the pursuit of dialogue and a peaceful resolution to conflict.

In a joint statement signed by the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the chairman of the Conferences Committee on International Justice and Peace, the bishops urge all parties involved to embrace peace rather than violence.

Archbishop Jose Gomez and Bishop David Malloy noted that U.S. bishops have spoken out regularly to encourage the pursuit of peace in the Middle East.

Once again, they say, in these critical days, all parties involved are called upon to work tirelessly  with diplomacy and dialogue - in the quest to resolve conflict.

Growing acts of violence

Peace has been all too elusive  in recent memory alone, war has caused hundreds of thousands of lives to be lost, as well as untold suffering and endemic instability. We have particularly witnessed and addressed growing acts of violence in recent weeks, most recently with the attack on the United States Embassy in Iraq, the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani last Friday, and the missile attacks on Iraqi bases yesterday. We have called for necessary diplomacy, courageous dialogue, and tireless efforts toward peace to resolve such global conflicts. We do so now, and we will do so always, they say.

The statement continues imploring the Lord to help all parties in this time of growing belligerence to peer through one anothers transgressions and appreciate the legitimate fears that lie behind them.

Humble pursuit of the common good



All must discover islands of trust in a sea of distrust, do the hard work of reasoning together, acknowledge the futility of further violence and military action, and humbly pursue the common good together, the bishops write.

They call for reflection on Pope Francis World Day of Peace message for 2020 and for prayers to overcome evil with good and respond to hatred with love.



Archbishop Gomez and Bishop Malloy conclude saying they join in the hope expressed that the people of Iran share in the promise of a great future, and that the United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.



In this spirit, we fervently believe, hope, work for, and indeed anticipate, days of peace ahead. We have just celebrated the birth of our Lord with Christmas. Jesus, as the Prince of Peace, calls us to the renewal of the heavens and earth. Let us bear witness to this truth, beginning with each of us.


SACRAMENTO  California homeowners with big home loans and vacation properties would owe higher taxes under new legislation to raise money for programs to get the states homelessness crisis under control.

The bill by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, would cap a state tax break for mortgages to the interest paid on the first $750,000 of a loan for a primary home. It would eliminate the deduction altogether for mortgage interest on second homes.

Chius office estimates the changes would bring in $400 million to $500 million per year, which would be set aside as dedicated funding for shelters, permanent supportive housing and other homelessness services.

These are the individuals who own the most expensive homes in California, Chiu said. Its a small price to pay among a small number of wealthier homeowners to establish a permanent fund for homelessness prevention.

Legislators and Gov. Gavin Newsom are coming under growing pressure to reduce homelessness, which many voters now consider the biggest problem facing the state. The latest count taken in 2019 found 151,278 homeless people in California, an increase of 16% since 2018.

The Legislature approved $650 million in emergency aid for cities and counties last year to combat homelessness, and Newsom proposed a $750 million fund this week to get homeless people off the streets and into housing and treatment programs.

But Chiu noted that the money set aside in recent years has been in the form of one-time appropriations, a piecemeal approach that he said was not enough to address the most intense homeless crisis that California has ever experienced.

Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

Under his bill, AB1905, about 175,000 taxpayers would lose their mortgage interest deduction for second homes and owe approximately $1,000 more on their taxes, according to Franchise Tax Board estimates.

It has made no sense for our government to subsidize secondary vacation homes when 150,000 people dont have a place to sleep at night, Chiu said. Everyone should have a roof over their head before we help people buy two.

The cap on primary-home deductions would apply to loans larger than $750,000 that homeowners have taken out since Jan. 1, 2018, conforming to a change made by President Trump and congressional Republicans in their 2017 tax overhaul.

California now allows homeowners to deduct the interest on up to $1 million in mortgage debt. Reducing that limit would affect about 224,000 taxpayers and cost them approximately $750 more in taxes annually, according to the Franchise Tax Board.

In this odd turn of events, it turns out I may agree with one thing the Trump administration pushed for, Chiu said.

Any tax changes require a two-thirds vote in both houses of the Legislature, a heavy lift even with Democrats holding more than a supermajority in the Senate and the Assembly.

In 2017, Chiu tried to eliminate the mortgage interest deduction for second homes to fund affordable housing. After passing three committees, the bill died on the Assembly floor without a vote.

Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images

The California Association of Realtors and its local affiliates led the opposition, arguing that it would cost the state thousands of home sales each year. The organization declined to comment on Chius new proposal until it had reviewed the bill language.

Conforming to the Trump tax overhaul would create an additional political complication. That law, which also capped state and local tax deductions on federal returns, was unpopular in California, and Democrats campaigned against it on their way to winning seven Republican-held House seats in the 2018 elections. When Newsom sought to adopt some of its provisions at the state level last year to expand a tax credit for the working poor, even some Democratic legislators supportive of the idea worried about the appearance of siding with a Trump policy.

Chiu said the mortgage interest deduction, which costs California more than $4 billion per year in tax revenue, is essentially the states biggest housing program. But if lawmakers today could choose how to spend those resources, he said, wed never decide to subsidize second vacation homes over helping homeless people.

Eliminating this tax break is simply the moral thing to do, he said.

Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff
TOKYO - Though former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn is unlikely to stand trial in a real court, he has made himself a key witness in putting Japan's justice system on trial.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/1/2020 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In this Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, photo, Tokyo defense lawyer Seiho Cho speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Tokyo. Though former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn is unlikely to stand trial in a real court, he has made himself a key witness in putting Japan's justice system on trial. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

TOKYO - Though former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn is unlikely to stand trial in a real court, he has made himself a key witness in putting Japan's justice system on trial.

In his first public appearance after fleeing to Lebanon, Ghosn lambasted what he called unfair detention and bail conditions, saying he was presumed guilty and had zero chance of a fair trial in a system rigged against him.

I didn't run from justice, I left Japan because I wanted justice," the former auto industry icon said at a spirited two-hour news conference in Beirut.

With little chance they can extradite him, Japanese authorities struck back with words Thursday.

Tokyo prosecutors, who arrested him in late 2018, said Ghosn had only himself to blame for being detained 130 days before being released and for strict bail conditions like being banned from seeing his wife.

Defendant Ghosn was deemed a high-profile risk, which is obvious from the fact that he actually fled, they said.

Justice Minister Masako Mori denounced Ghosn's comments as erroneous and credited Japan's extremely low crime rate to a judicial system rooted in its history and culture.

Ghosn's remarks, however, highlighted many of the issues human rights advocates call problematic in Japan's justice system.

Because of Japans extremely low crime rate, how suspects are treated is surprisingly unknown to Japanese, who tend to trust authoritative figures and assume no one gets arrested without a reason.

In Japan, suspects can be detained in solitary confinement without charge for up to 23 days. Charges can be filed piecemeal to prolong incarceration. Suspects are routinely grilled for hours each day without a lawyer present. Critics call the detention conditions mental torture.

Japans conviction rate is higher than 99%, a number that critics, including Ghosn, say indicates unfairness.

Japanese officials insist the conviction rate is so high because they dont make mistakes and only guilty people are prosecuted. At the same time, they insist theres a presumption of innocence.

Nissan's former chairman Carlos Ghosn arrives for a press conference in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Its an entrenched system that not only leads to confessions but also has judges thinking suspects are guilty, says Tokyo defence lawyer Seiho Cho, who has been trying to change it.

They really believe that this system is functioning efficiently and correctly, he said.

Cho said Ghosn was a high-profile case and the way regular suspects are treated is worse.

Those who insist they are innocent especially are detained longer, some for hundreds of days. Bans on contact with family members are also common, he said.

The ban in Ghosn's case cited the risk his wife Carole might tamper with evidence. An arrest warrant was issued this week for Carole Ghosn on suspicion of perjury.

Carlos Ghosn argued the ban on contact with his wife was illogical because he was allowed to meet with other family members, implying the decision was meant to wear him out. His decision to escape was driven by his desire to be with his wife, he said.

The preparation for Ghosns trial had already taken a year, and the date for his trial was undecided. He was charged with underreporting of future income and breach of trust in diverting Nissan Motor Co. money for personal gain, the two separate charges complicating and prolonging his trial process.

If convicted, he could face 15 years in prison. Prosecutors also can appeal district court decisions.

Even when they are eventually exonerated, they have already lost so much, Cho said, noting some suspects have lost their jobs, their reputation, even their families.

Among the famous cases of wrongful convictions is Iwao Hakamada, who spent 48 years in prison until new DNA evidence won his release from death row in 2014. He had been questioned, beaten and bullied by police daily in detention and confessed to murdering a family of four, but asserted his innocence when his trial began.

Frenchman Mark Karpeles was arrested in 2015 after his bitcoin exchange collapsed. He spent 11 months in detention, although he was eventually cleared of embezzlement and fraud allegations. He got a suspended sentence, meaning no additional jail time was required, on a conviction on charges of manipulating electronic data. He is appealing. Karpeles said he was an innocent victim of hackers.

A true-life story of a man who refused to sign a confession that he groped a woman on a crowded commuter train became a popular 2007 movie. The film depicts a five-year legal battle for exoneration, highlighting the burden of proof of innocence was on the accused rather than police and prosecutors proving guilt.

Although Ghosn has drawn attention to the systems possible flaws, Cho was worried about a backlash, with release on bail getting tighter.

We had gradually been making progress, but this could set us back, Cho said.

For example, with the idea of introducing an electronic tether, which Japan lacks and Ghosn had proposed to get bail, fewer people could end up getting bail, and, on top of that, be electronically monitored.

Interpol has published a wanted notice for Ghosn but it is non-binding. Chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said whether Ghosn would be extradited was Lebanon's decision but that Japan would co-operate with international organizations "so that Japans criminal justice system can be operated appropriately.

Jacques Deguest, an expert on Japanese law and business, thinks Ghosns case is so embarrassing for Japan it may discourage some non-Japanese from wanting to invest or live there.

Prosecutors are regarded as guardians and protectors of Japanese culture, said Deguest, an investor and consultant.

Their super-efficient, but often brutal, practices have resisted change, but sometimes pressures from abroad can bring it about, Deguest said.

Change happens often through crisis because it forces people to be uncomfortable with the status quo and forces them to move on, he said.

This Ghosn case is great in terms of magnitude because it has the power to put the external pressure on Japan, that we all love, Deguest said.

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Ghosn was careful not to blame the people of Japan for what he called the nations injustices.

He led Nissan for two decades, steering the automaker back from near-bankruptcy to a thriving brand, although sales and profits have tumbled since his arrest.

Ghosn said people on the streets who spotted him while he was out on bail would come up to him.

They would tell him, he said in Japanese, Ghosn-san gambatte kudsai, using the honorific for his name, saying: Hang in there.

___

Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
My father, Michael Enright, decided to become a policeman in the 1940s and joined the guards.

Forty years earlier, his uncle - also called Michael Enright - decided to become a policeman and joined the RIC. The only difference between them was that my father was fortunate to be making his decision after a revolution, and not before one. On Tuesday, May 13, 1919, my granduncle and several RIC colleagues were escorting an IRA prisoner, Sean Hogan, by train.

At Knocklong railway station in Co Limerick, the IRA rescued their comrade and shot dead Sergeant Peter Wallace and my granduncle, Constable Michael Enright. The people who killed them were Irishmen doing what they believed was right, just as my granduncle and his RIC colleagues were Irishmen doing what they believed was right. A century on, we should be able to accept that.

John Enright

Lucan, Co Dublin

Honouring RIC a slap in face to those who left on coffin ships

As I hear the discussions by politicians on the commemoration of the RIC, and the row over interpretations of history, I recall the views of the late Dr Ronan Fanning on historians expressed in his book 'Fatal Path'. He wrote then of historians, who "write and interpret history not as it was... but as the politicians would prefer it to have been".

The RIC was formed in 1822 and assisted in the post-Famine evictions and organised the transportation of the tenants to the third world in coffin ships. Later it enforced the collection of absentee landlords' rents. The RIC imprisoned Parnell in Kilmainham Gaol in 1882 and later, after his release, the RIC, with the help of Richard Piggott, tried to link him with the Phoenix Park killings of 1882, but the evidence against him was shown to be false.

After the 1918 elections, it harassed the new TDs, especially Arthur Griffith because he "typified Dublin's completely unparalleled housing and sanitation problems as a total vice-regal microbe". The Dublin Chamber of Commerce had become a moribund body and the well-off associated the poor with City Hall. It is little wonder that City Hall would not attend the commemoration. I hope for the future that our diaspora don't hear that the police that evicted them and packed them into coffin ships are to be honoured.

Hugh Duffy

Cleggan, Co Galway

Arrogance of Government groupthink is breathtaking

That the Government could consider remembering the RIC at a ceremony is breathtaking in its arrogance. What next, medals of honour for the Auxiliaries for Bloody Sunday at Croke Park? This is the same RIC which helped to put destitute people out on to the streets. The same RIC/Black and Tans/Auxiliaries who were prepared to go to any lengths to eradicate any attempt at Irish independence. Leo Varadkar's logic for it all seems based on the assumption 'we find it ok to wear a poppy now and at one stage we did not'.

But what he is ignoring is that those who fought for Britain in trenches thought they were helping Irish freedom. They never turned a gun on fellow Irishmen. But this is in line with the Government groupthink.

David Smith

Tallaght, Dublin 24

FG walked wide awake into debacle as if it wants to lose

Perchance, the discombobulated look on the face of Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan is down to the fact that he, like the entire Fine Gael parliamentary party and its HQ and staff, resides in a self-perpetuating glorious bubble?

For how else could they have walked wide awake into such a (public) debacle? One wonders what will be the next suggested commemorations? German Vicky or Cromwell, followed by the Normans? How on Earth does any Irish person overlook the fact that the 'R' in RIC is 'royal', whose oath of office was not to serve people of the island of Ireland, rather "to serve, honour and obey".

Then again, a cynic might say Fine Gael wants to lose the forthcoming election.

Declan Foley

Berwick, Australia

Saoirse's body of work at 25 speaks louder than any gong

The headline on Paul Whittington's article (Irish Independent, January 7) tells us 'Don't feel too down for Saoirse after latest award snub (which I did) - the real prize for her is doing great work'. How right you are, Paul. Her body of work, at only 25 years of age, is already great. We, her audience, look forward to more in the years to come.

Brian McDevitt

Glenties, Co Donegal
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, has expressed concerns over alleged attempts to tamper or destroy evidence concerning the December 2015 massacre of members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN).

No names of those behind the alleged evidence tampering were given, but top Nigerian military and political leaders were among those reported to the ICC over the mass killings.

The 2015 killings and subsequent attack on IMN members across the country is one of the cases being probed by the international court, in Nigeria.

A commission of inquiry empaneled by the Kaduna State Government established that 347 civilians were killed in the course of a three-day standoff in the city of Zaria.

Victims were later buried in a mass grave along Birnin Gwari forest.

However, in its 2019 end of the year assessment report, the office of the ICC prosecutor said it was alarmed by allegations of tampering with evidence.

The ICC has identified three potential violations for which charges could be pressed against the Nigerian security forces, as exclusively reported by PREMIUM TIMES on Monday.

It also enumerated seven possible crimes for which Boko Haram is culpable.

The IMN killings is another case the court is investigating outside of the war in the North East.

Other allegations that the Office has been reviewing include allegations with respect to the conduct of the NSF against members of the Indigenous People of Biafra and communal violence in Nigerias North Central and North East geographical zones, the report said.

The IMN issue was among subject matters being interrogated for jurisdictional assessment.

Shiite muslims in Zaria

But the prosecutors office said it noted with deep concern allegations of ongoing evidence tampering and of the alleged destruction of evidence.

It also expressed concern that Nigerian authorities have not taken adequate judicial action against persons indicted for serious crimes.

In the 10 tentative crimes identified against Nigerian forces and Boko Haram, the office said Nigerian government has not done enough in prosecuting the crimes.

The information available suggests while some investigation and/or prosecutorial steps have been or are being taken by the authorities to ascertain the criminal responsibility of suspected Boko Haram members, these appear limited in scope and depth.

With respect to allegations against members of the NSF, the information available similarly indicates only a limited number of proceedings have been conducted against members of the NSF.

READ ALSO:

Recalling assurances given by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during a visit by ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, in October 2019, the ICC officials say the governments words do not match so much with its action.

To date, the repeated commitment of the Nigerian authorities to provide the Office with relevant information in this respect has not materialised, the report said.

The prosecutor noted that it does not appear that the authorities are investigating and/or prosecuting cases concerning substantially the same conduct or cases the ICC identified.

Constraints for justice

The ICC prosecutor said the Nigerian authorities are constrained in many respects in their ability to combat criminal activities.

The constraints identified include absence of legislative provisions addressing certain categories of conduct; the persistence of the armed conflict; inadequate investigation files; an over-reliance on confession-based evidence and lack of forensic evidence.

Other challenges were limited cooperation between investigators and prosecutor at pre-investigation stages; logistical difficulties, inadequate security for counsels, and the challenges of converting military intelligence to admissible evidence.

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The ICC said it hoped to engage Nigerian authorities more this year to take more actions beyond the current ones that the ICC described as limited both in their scope and depth.

During 2020, the Office will continue to urge the Nigerian authorities to tangibly demonstrate that they are indeed fulfilling their primary responsibility to investigate and prosecute ICC crimes, in the absence of which the Office will need to come to its own determination with respect to the admissibility of the potential cases it has identified and on whether the requirements of article 15 have been met.
(Newser)  Even as the leaders of Canada and Ukraine pledged Wednesday to find the cause of the 737-800 crash that killed 176 people near Tehran, Iran announced that it would not turn over the airliner's flight recorders to Boeing. "We will not give the black boxes to the manufacturer and the Americans," the head of Iran's aviation authority said. "It's not yet clear which country the black box will go to for the investigation." Iran will conduct an investigation, the Guardian reports, and officials said Ukraine representatives "can also be present." International rules make the investigation the responsibility of Iran, per CNN. But the plane was registered and operated out of Ukraine, and it was designed and built in the US, so both countries are supposed to be involved in the investigation.

story continues below

The victims included 63 of his countrymen, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government would work to make sure that "Canadians questions are answered." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: "Our priority is to establish the truth and those responsible for this terrible catastrophe." The US offered help and urged cooperation. Iran and Ukraine first said they suspect a mechanical problem is to blame but then changed their positions. The crash took place just hours after Iran's missile strikes in Iraq, but an independent expert said he saw no evidence the plane was shot down. The pilot was experienced. "It was one of the best planes we had, with an amazing, reliable crew," said the head of Ukraine International Airlines, adding, "It is impossible that there were mistakes by the crew." (Airlines have changed routes that had crossed Iran and Iraq.)
The Regional Transit Authority expects to spend $109 million to run New Orleans' public transit system in 2020, or almost $9 million more than it spent last year when it ran a mostly privatized operation.

The increase, reflected in a budget the RTA's board approved last month, is happening largely because the agency added more than 70 public employees to its payroll but hasn't significantly decreased its payout to its private contractor.

The hike also reflects the costs of added transit service to Algiers and New Orleans East and other service improvements.

RTA Chief Financial Officer Mark Major said the budget includes the cost of a full year of salary and benefits for 70-plus employees the RTA hired after Aug. 31, 2019, when the board stripped its private contractor, Transdev, of much of its managerial responsibility.

+6 In 2019 budget, RTA eyes new projects as it prepares for management changes New Orleans Regional Transit Authority officials are aiming to improve bus service and expand connections into surrounding parishes with a $11

Last year's budget included only a few months of those new hires' salaries, he said.

But that explanation didn't satisfy some members of the agency's board, who said the figures suggest that a sharp knife should be taken to either the RTA's or Transdev's operations.

"I want to make sure there's no redundancies between the staff at RTA and the staff at Transdev," said Laura Bryan, who also heads Mayor LaToya Cantrell's Office of Transportation.

Major said RTA leaders intend to meet with Transdev in coming weeks to discuss potential budget changes.

Mayor-elect Cantrell asks RTA to delay new management hires Mayor-elect LaToya Cantrell has asked the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority to put a pin in its search for a new executive director as we

The RTA announced last year that it would change its management structure to bring more senior administrative functions under the agency's direct control. Officials cast the move as a way to better hold the private contractor that actually runs the buses to account.

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The French conglomerate Transdev had been running every part of the RTA's operation, and some transit advocates complained that the private firm's local executives were more beholden to their corporate supervisors than they were to the riding public.

The new employees will cost the agency $8.3 million in 2020. They include new CEO Alex Wiggins, who is being paid $225,000, and 75 others.

+2 New Orleans RTA taps Alex Wiggins as CEO, Transdev as private contractor under restructuring The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority took two key steps Tuesday toward re-establishing public control over its operations, appointing a 

At the same time, the RTA is paying Transdev $78.9 million to run its buses, streetcars and paratransit vehicles this year, or only about $800,000 less than it paid the firm in 2019, even though the new RTA staffers supposedly have relieved Transdev of a considerable amount of its responsibilities.

The agency separately gets about $7.6 million from the state to operate its ferry system, and it has hired Labmar Services to do that job in 2020.

The higher public payroll, plus smaller hikes in insurance and other costs, will cause an overall budget increase of almost $9 million from 2018's $100 milion.

Major cast the payout to Transdev as a necessary consequence of putting more buses on the streets in Algiers, New Orleans East and other areas  route changes the RTA board approved in the latter half of 2019 that the agency is continuing in 2020. Transdevs base rates for various types of services also rose with its new contract.

New Orleans RTA putting more buses on Algiers, New Orleans East routes Starting Sunday, buses serving New Orleans East and Algiers will begin running more often and the Canal Street-Algiers Point ferry will begin 

Still, Bryan and Sharon Wegner, one of the board's Jefferson Parish representatives, urged the staff to try to trim expenses.

A study of transit routes due later this year could prompt further changes to the spending plan.

For now, the RTA plans to spend $109 million against $107 million in operating revenue  cash that largely comes from sales taxes. Its overall budget, including capital projects and debt service, totals roughly $181 million, or about what it will take in once it refinances bonds to help balance its budget.
US President Donald Trumps threat to destroy cultural heritage, which includes religious places in Iran, gives a more ominous twist to the crisis.

Nothing is more dangerous for world peace than a bully in the White House. President Donald Trumps bellicosity has pushed the Middle East to the brink of another war. Although acrimony between Washington and Tehran had been building up for quite some time, the killing of a top Iranian general in a US drone strike has thrown regional geopolitics into a whirl.

The brewing conflict has already taken on a wider regional dimension with Iraq calling for the withdrawal of American troops from its territory. The US rocket attack that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani and several Iraqi officials occurred on Iraqi soil. The incident has further fuelled anti-American sentiments there. Not surprisingly, thousands of Iraqis attended the funeral procession in Baghdad.

Meanwhile, Lebanons pro-Iranian militia Hezbollah has threatened to target US military interests in the region. The escalation is also causing concern in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries despite their anti-Iran position. They have adopted a very cautious stand, calling for restraint by both sides. Further escalation could suck them into the conflagration. The presence of American forces in these countries has made them more vulnerable. As tensions mount, the US has reinforced its troop deployment in Kuwait and other Gulf countries.

President Donald Trumps threat to destroy cultural heritage, which includes religious places in Iran, gives a more ominous twist to the crisis. Any such action will constitute a war crime according to several international laws that the US has both sponsored and signed. It may just be a threat but given his irrational behaviour anything is possible when it comes to the US President. The backlash in the Muslim world against any American attack on religious sites would be uncontrollable.

Since taking over the US presidency, Mr Trump has been increasing pressure on Iran. He unilaterally withdrew America from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran. In retaliation to the recent assassination, Tehran has revived its suspended nuclear weapons programme. Predictably, Americas action has unified the Iranians. Even those who had been protesting against the Iranian government are now united in their grief for the slain general. One American columnist described the mammoth mourning processions in Iran and other countries as the start of Iranian retaliation.

Obviously, the escalation in the Middle East will give militant groups such as the so-called Islamic State a new lease of life. Although the group has been eliminated from most of the territories it once controlled, it remains a potent force in some areas. Interestingly, Iran and the US had cooperated in fighting the IS in Iraq.

Gen. Soleimani had played a key role in the military campaign against the IS. He had led Iranian military personnel that fought alongside the Iraqi forces. It has never been easy to navigate the labyrinth of the Middle Easts ever-changing politics, but it is becoming even more challenging with the latest escalation. The alignment of forces has often produced strange bedfellows, underscoring the complexity of the Middle East political maze.

One of the strongest condemnations of the death of the Iranian general has come from Afghan leaders. It shows Irans formidable influence in Afghanistan. Worsening relations with Tehran could make things more difficult for Americans trying to exit from that war-torn country.

The latest development has also worsened Pakistans predicament. Surely Pakistan needs to tread a very cautious path so as not to get sucked into the conflict in any way. But as usual, there is no clarity in Pakistans policy. It is very strange that even Afghanistan has condemned the unprovoked US action, but not Pakistan. It is not enough to say that Pakistan does not support unilateral action. Far stronger condemnation of Trumps action has come from Democratic Party presidential candidates in the United States.

Condemning an act of aggression does not mean taking sides in a conflict. In fact, docility raises questions about Pakistans independence. The statement issued by the ISPR has made things more confusing. The issue here is not that Pakistan would not allow any country to use its soil against another; it is more a matter of taking a clear position on an act of aggression.

More importantly, it is the responsibility of the foreign minister and foreign office, and not the military spokesperson, to give policy statements on such sensitive matters. Policy statements issued through Twitter make things more complicated and add to the confusion. America does not need to use Pakistani territory for any military action against Iran. Such statements dont make sense.

Intriguingly, instead of calling his Pakistani counterpart, the US secretary of state chose to brief the Army Chief. One is not sure that it was done purposely. It is also intriguing that the US decision to revive a training programme for Pakistani military officials that was taken months ago was highlighted again a day after the killing of Gen. Soleimani. Was it just a coincidence?

It has become a habit with the PTI government to delay taking policy decisions and to deliberately keep things vague. The policy statements, particularly by the foreign minister, are generally rhetorical and lack clarity. The way Pakistan backed out at the last moment from the Kuala Lumpur Summit under Saudi pressure is an example of the prevailing disarray in Pakistans foreign policy. Debate on foreign policy in Parliament lacks seriousness and substance.

The latest escalation in the region has a direct bearing on Pakistan and it was an oversimplification on the foreign ministers part when he told senators that Pakistan would not pick sides. There is need for a comprehensive debate in Parliament on the developments and repercussions for Pakistan of Mr Trumps actions. It would have been more prudent for the government to lay down all the facts and clearly articulate its own stance.

By arrangement with Dawn
Experts are studying various versions of the tragedy.

Ukrainian experts are eyeing a possible Russian-made Tor anti-aircraft missile hit as one of the versions of the flight PS752 crash near Teheran.

The team of experts that has arrived in Iran earlier today will seek to search for missile fragments at the crash site, that's according to Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov.

The 45-strong Ukrainian team consists of representatives of 12 ministries and departments, Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov wrote on Facebook.

Read alsoIran releases preliminary accident report on PS752 crash

Experts are studying various versions of what actually caused the crash, including:

- Shooting down by an anti-aircraft missile, including the Tor, after unconfirmed reports emerged in media that fragments of the Russian-made missile were allegedly found near the crash site;

- Collision with a UAV or other flying object;

- Destruction and explosion of the engine for technical reasons;

- Explosion on board the aircraft as a result of a terrorist attack.

"Our commission is currently coordinating with the Iranian authorities the issue of gaining access to the crash site, intending to search for the fragments of the Russian-made Tor anti-aircraft missile according to the data published on the internet. We will use all results of the investigation into the attack on the Boeing MH17 to establish the truth in the case of the crash of the Ukrainian plane in Tehran," Butusov quoted Danilov as saying.

The Ukrainian team includes experts who are taking part in an international probe into the downing by Russian troops of the Malaysian Boeing MH17 in 2014.

Read alsoUIA publishes full passenger list for flight PS752 crashed in Iran

"At the moment, we are conducting effective diplomatic negotiations with the Iranian side and there is every reason to hope for cooperation on all issues, including participation of our commission in decoding of black boxes. The investigation into the deaths of Ukrainian citizens is under personal control of the president of Ukraine. We will immediately inform the Ukrainian public and media on all information that can be released," the NSDC secretary said.

Iranian authorities previously ruled out a missile hit. Local airport authorities alleged engine fire as the cause of the crash. Reuters sources said that, according to Western intelligence, the plane crashed as a result of a technical malfunction. Meanwhile, Ukraine began its own probe into the crash.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Kyiv-bound Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport in the early hours of Wednesday, January 8. It was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members on board. Two passengers and the crew members were Ukrainians. There were also 82 citizens of Iran, 63 citizens of Canada, 10 citizens of Sweden, four citizens of Afghanistan, three citizens of Germany, and three citizens of the United Kingdom. There were no survivors.
The NYPD is urging New Yorkers to stay vigilant following the Iranian attack on U.S. military bases in the Middle East.

Despite there being no credible threat, the Counterterrorism Bureau on Jan. 7 said they have increased their presence around key landmarks. Earlier this week, the mayor said theyre in it for the long term.

We cannot for a moment think, If it doesnt happen soon, then its not gonna happen,' said Mayor Bill de Blasio. We have to be very, very vigilant.

The NYPD is closely monitoring the events in the Middle East. There are no specific or credible threats to #NYC. The #NYPD continues to have increased deployments & has adjusted resources across the city out of an abundance of caution pic.twitter.com/8ZCufzDRHc  NYPDCounterterrorism (@NYPDCT) January 8, 2020

President Trump, on the other hand, said on Jan. 8 that Iran appears to be stepping down. However, he said hed imposed further sanctions on the regime.

Terror Target

Shortly after an American airstrike killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, the mayor said people did not need to be reminded that the city is the number one terror target in the United States.

No one has to be reminded that New York City is the number one terror target in the United States. We're taking escalation in the Middle East seriously  and I have absolute faith in the NYPD to protect this city and keep every New Yorker safe. pic.twitter.com/rX3VrCDAZL  Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) January 4, 2020

In December, a member of the Iranian terrorist group Hezbollah, who was living in New York City, was sentenced to 40 years in prison, according to a press release from the State Department. Ali Kourani, 35, was convicted for acting as a sleeper agent for the Iranian-backed terrorist group.

The lengthy prison term imposed today on Kourani sends an important message to Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad Organization: If you are caught planning harm against this city and its residents, you will face justice and be held accountable, said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman for the Southern District of New York.

Kourani gathered information and identified people who could be recruited or attacked, among other things, with the intention of committing a future terrorist attack.

Since 2017, three sleeper Hezbollah agents have been arrested in New York City, according to an op-ed by Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism at the NYPD, John Miller.
A total of 176 people were killed when a Ukraine International Airlines plane went down after takeoff near Tehran Wednesday, but there is still some uncertainty on the number of Canadian casualties.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/1/2020 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A total of 176 people were killed when a Ukraine International Airlines plane went down after takeoff near Tehran Wednesday, but there is still some uncertainty on the number of Canadian casualties.

The plane was carrying 63 Canadians, according to Ukrainian officials, but the number of passengers with Canadian connections is expected to be much higher. A total of 138 passengers aboard the plane were connecting to Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a news conference.

Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois-Philippe Champagne said in an earlier statement that "at least" 63 Canadians were among the dead, but that the situation remains "extremely fluid."

Many on the flight were students and researchers at Canadian universities, while some may have been working in the country under temporary visas, meaning they would not be included among official lists of Canadians. The residency status of all the passengers is not yet clear.

Another factor in the uncertainty around the toll is that Iranian officials don't recognize dual citizens, and has not necessarily included Canadians with dual citizenship in its tally. Iranian news sources said 147 passengers were Iranian while just 32 passengers were foreigners. That conflicts with the number released by Ukraine's Foreign Ministry, which listed 82 Iranians.

Since 2016, Canadian citizens, including dual Canadian citizens, need a valid Canadian passport when travelling to Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 8, 2020.
An enormous mushroom cloud went up several metres high as firecrackers, seized by police, went off while being defused on the banks of Ganga in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on Thursday, shattering window panes of houses even on the other bank of the river -- Chinsurah in Hooghly district.

Official sources said the explosion happened in the district's Naihati town when police were defusing a large quantity of firecrackers they had seized from illegal manufacturing units in the area.

The impact was so huge that window panes of houses even in Chinsurah in Hooghly district were shattered, besides damaging several buildings in the Ramghat area of Naihati.

Protesting against the authorities over the explosion, locals set two police vehicles on fire and also blocked some roads in the area, said Dhrubojyoti Dey, deputy commissioner (headquarters) of Barrackpore Police Commissionerate.

He said two personnel of Naihati police station were injured as protesters manhandled them.

Last week, four persons, including two women, were killed in an explosion at a fireworks manufacturing factory in the area, following which police started raiding illegal units and seized a huge cache of firecrackers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China's economy czar will visit Washington next week for the signing of an interim trade deal, the government said Thursday. Vice Premier Liu He, Beijing's chief envoy in talks with Washington over their tariff war, had been expected to attend the signing but the Commerce Ministry's statement was the first official confirmation.

Washington postponed planned tariff increases following the announcement of the Phase 1 deal in October. But earlier punitive duties imposed by both sides on billions of dollars of each other's goods stayed in place, dampening global trade and threatening to chill economic growth.

Liu will lead a delegation to Washington from Monday through Wednesday, said ministry spokesman Gao Feng.

Under the Phase 1 deal, Beijing agreed to buy more American farm goods and Washington's chief negotiator, Robert Lighthizer, said it would make changes to respond to complaints about its industrial policies. Details have yet to be announced and Chinese officials have yet to confirm any regulatory changes or the size of purchases of American soybeans and other exports.

Both sides have soothed financial market jitters by announcing conciliatory steps including postponing planned tariff hikes. Beijing also has resumed purchases of soybeans, the biggest American export to China, and pork.

Washington, Europe, Japan and other trading partners complain Beijing steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology. Washington is pressing China to roll back plans for state-led creation of global competitors in robotics and other industries that its trading partners say violate its market-opening commitments.

President Donald Trump announced last month he would sign the Phase 1 agreement Jan. 15 and travel to Beijing after that to start the second stage of talks.

Trump hailed the interim agreement as a step toward ending the tariff war, but Beijing has been more measured in its public statements.

Economists say concluding a final settlement could take years. Potential hurdles include Chinese insistence that U.S. tariff hikes be canceled once an agreement takes effect. The Trump administration says some must remain in place to ensure Beijing carries out any promises it makes.
When Deepika Padukone unveiled her look in "Chhapaak", based on the life of an acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal, people saw the beautiful actress' decision to do the film as "gutsy", "brave" and "life altering". Deepika, who has also turned a produ Image Source: PK

New Delhi, Jan 8 : The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM), here on Wednesday, warned the makers of film 'Chhapaak' of countrywide protests if the name of acid attacker was not changed within 48 hours.

"I have learnt through the media that the religion of the attacker has been concealed in the film by changing the name. I have also come to know through social media that his name was Naeem Khan, but in the film that character has been called Rajesh Sharma.

"If you are making a film based on real life, keep all the characters real," Swami Chakrapani Maharaj, national president of Hindu Mahasabha, told IANS. It's a calibrated propaganda of 'tukde tukde gang' of Bollywood to defame Hindu religion, he added.

Unless the name was changed, Hindu Mahasabha workers would stage protests and won't allow film's release, he said.

"We will take legal action. I will meet the Home Minister and the censor board officials. We will do everything in our capacity if the makers of 'Chhapaak' didn't listen to us," said the swami.

Based on the life of acid attack survivor Lakshmi Agarwal, the Deepika Padukone-starrer is due for theatre release on Friday.

According to some reports, film's director Meghna Gulzar changed the name of acid attacker Nadeem Khan, 32, to Rajesh. Other reports say the name was changed from Naeem Khan to Babboo aka 'Bashir Khan', and Rajesh was the name of protagonist Malti's boyfriend in the film.

Nadeem, Naeem and Rajesh started trending on micro blogging site Twitter as soon as Deepika Padukone visited the JNU campus.
A man allegedly told by his new wife to kill her ex-partner had a to do list in his phone that included household chores and what to do with a dead body, a court has heard.

Biannca Edmunds is charged with murder because police allege she had her husband of two weeks drive from Shepparton to the Melbourne home of her ex-partner to kill him in March 2016.

Ms Edmunds, 33, pleaded not guilty on Thursday following a committal hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court. She will face a Supreme Court trial likely to run later this year.

Biannca Edmunds (left) has been committed to stand trial for murder, with prosecutors alleging she directed, encouraged or assisted her husband, Glen Cassidy, (right) to kill her ex-partner.

Her barrister Richard Edney told the hearing before magistrate Roslyn Porter on Thursday that Glen Cassidy  her new husband  had a list in the notes section of his phone.
LONDON, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the holiday season, Chinese officials were busy with dealing the logistics of signing the US-China Phase I deal, reached on 13 December 2019. The long-waited deal is now expected to be signed by both parties in Washington D.C. on 15 January 2020. Trump also said he will travel to Beijing at a later date to start Phase II talks.

Besides trade, The People's Bank of China (PBOC)'s two policy changes caught our eyes and we think you should be aware of.

LPR will be applied to all outstanding floating-rate loans

On 28 December 2019, PBOC announced that the application of LPR (Loan Prime Rate) will be expanded to all outstanding floating-rate loans (previously it was only applied to new loans) starting from 1 March 2020. By the end of August, borrowers and banks need to renegotiate new loan contracts based on LPR - a bank offered rate linked with PBOC's MLF which effectively functions like a new policy rate - rather than the rarely-change and non-market PBOC base rate. The current LPR is 4.15% while one-year base rate is 4.35% which kept the same since October 2015. The aim is to improve monetary transmission mechanism so that any policy rate change (MLF) will be reflected in the loan market.

What does it mean to us? The policy change is likely to affect an estimated 60.8 trillion CNY or 40% of the total outstanding 152 trillion CNY loan (approximately $ 22 trillion). We expect this new policy will generally lower the borrowing cost for all firms as the reformed LPR has been lowered by 16bps since its inception in last August. The total impact on the economy is likely to be limited as not all banks are willing to cut its lending rate and it all depend on each's bargaining power (large firms will have much more benefits than SMEs), without mention 16bps cut is minimal compared to other major economies. It is also worth noting that change of the loan reference rate will not affect mortgage rate per government's policy to tame housing price.

Read the full story:

https://www.crugroup.com/knowledge-and-insights/insights/2020/what-happened-with-chinas-monetary-policy-during-the-holiday-season/

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Myth 5: Someone living with a mental illness is more likely to commit a crime or be violent | A mere 7.5 percent of violent acts are committed by people experiencing symptoms of mental illness, according to Bulthuis. More often than not, individuals with mental health issues are not violent. Someone with a mental illness is actually nearly 4 times more likely to be a victim of crime.(Representative Image)

Gangster Ejaz Lakdawala, wanted in several cases of extortion and attempt to murder, has been arrested by the Mumbai police's Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) after being on the run for two decades, a top official said on Thursday.

Lakdawala, 50, was detained at Patna by the AEC with the help of Bihar Police on Wednesday, Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve told reporters here.

As he called and threatened builders in Mumbai, seeking protection money with impunity, the police were trying to hunt him down for the last many years. Finally, the arrest of his daughter led to a break-through, officials said.

Once a close aide of gangster Dawood Ibrahim, Lakdawala was wanted in at least 27 cases in Maharashtra, including 25 in Mumbai, Barve said, adding that as many as 80 people had filed complaints against him.

After being brought here, he was produced in a Mumbai court which remanded him in police custody till January 21. In May 2004, Lakdawala was arrested by Canadian Police in Ottawa but was released later. A few years ago he was believed to be somewhere in North America, though he visited South East Asia often.

A Red Corner Notice seeking help from the agencies in other countries to nab him had been issued against him.

"Our efforts gained momentum after the arrest of Lakdawala's daughter Shifa Shahid Shaikh at Mumbai Airport on December 28 when she was travelling to Nepal on a fake passport," said Joint Commissioner of Police Sanjay Saxena. From her, the police got some important information, following which he was nabbed from Jakkanpur near Patna, Saxena said.

Lakdawala was arrested in connection with a complaint filed with the AEC by a businessman from Khar in Mumbai. His daughter was arrested in the same case.

After falling out with Dawood Ibrahim, Lakdawala started operating with Dawood's aide-turned-foe Chhota Rajan. In 2008 he parted ways with Rajan and started operating independently, Saxena said.

"We have information that he stayed in Canada, Malaysia, USA, London and Nepal," the officer said.

According to another official, to evade arrest as well as a possible attack by the Dawood gang, he kept moving from one country to another for nearly two decades. In 2002, while he was with Rajan in Bangkok, Lakdawala was attacked by Chhota Shakeel gang members.

The assailants shot him seven times, but as the incident took place near a hospital, Lakdawala got medical help immediately and survived the attack, the official said.

In the last few years, he targeted builders in Mumbai for extortion, the official said. Lakdawala was tech savvy, and used social media apps to make extortion calls which made it difficult for the police to trace their origin, he added.

His brother Akil was arrested in February 2019.

Shifa, who was born in Mumbai but studied in Nepal, used to visit her grandmother who lives in Mahim in Central Mumbai. Shifa would travel using a fake passport, the official said. She was arrested from the airport by AEC team led by senior inspector Ajay Sawant and inspector Sachin Kadam on December 28. The information she gave during questioning finally led the police to her father.

According to the police, Lakdawala committed his first crime during his school days when he allegedly stabbed a teacher with a measuring compass.

In 1987, he was held for robbery by Dongri police here and sent to a children's home.

He came in contact with Rajan's close aide Kashi Pashi, who was in the cable business. The two were allegedly involved in the murder of the son of a corporator in 1989.

In 1998 Lakdawala allegedly shot the brother of one of the accused in the Mumbai blasts case and was arrested.

But he managed to flee from the J J Hospital here and since then he was on the run.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 9)  Around 1,600 Filipinos in Iraq want to return to the Philippines through the government's repatriation program, amid tensions between the United States and Iran, Special Envoy to the Middle East Roy Cimatu said.

The Cabinet secretary said these Filipinos in Iraq have expressed intent to avail of repatriation, with 29 of them ready to fly home as early as Thursday.

"We have to start moving them out habang open pa ang airport, clear pa ang mga kalsada. Kung mag-deteriorate ang situation, mas mahirap nang ilabas sila," Cimatu said during a briefing before he heads to Qatar as President Rodrigo Duterte's envoy. "I would still really suggest we have to move them out already even if there's no conflict yet."

Data from the Department of Labor and Employment showed there are 2,191 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Iraq, while records from the Department of Foreign Affairs counted 4,204 Filipinos in the Middle Eastern country as of June 2019.

TIMELINE: US-Iran conflict and how it gravely affects Filipinos

Tensions are high in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, as it became the battleground of United States and Iranian forces over the past week.

CNN reported that major international airlines have begun diverting flights from Iranian airspace after Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at two Iraqi military bases that house US forces. On Wednesday afternoon, small rockets landed near the Green Zone in Baghdad an area hosting the embassies of the US and other western nations.

On Wednesday, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the mandatory repatriation of Filipinos in Iraq, although his spokesman Salvador Panelo later clarified that the workers can opt to evacuate to a safe place instead.

Cimatu said rapid response teams have been deployed in Qatar and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to assist Filipinos who would be flying out of Iraq. The team would be in charge of booking flights to Manila, as well as securing transit clearances and hotel bookings should it take a long wait to book plane seats for OFWs.

Cimatu said they are operating on the premise that the Baghdad International Airport would stay open, but said Philippine authorities are also prepared for land travel northeast to Erbil or even to Jordan should the main gateway be shut. The vehicles would carry the Philippine flag as an indication that they are civilians not part of the armed conflict.

He welcomed statements of the competing nations that they will stand down, calling them "very comforting." But he added there could be bigger incidents to come.

"In my opinion, I don't believe that's it. There's another one coming, bigger probably," Cimatu said, noting that the US has sent additional troops to Iraq.

Cimatu said it's best to wait for at least two weeks to see if the situation has really cooled. "The situation is unpredictable, sometimes there are some instances of a very surprise missile attack," he added.

Meanwhile, the special envoy appealed to undocumented Filipinos in Iraq to get in touch with authorities.

READ: Duterte to side with Americans if Filipinos harmed in US-Iran conflict  Panelo

"We cannot account undocumented OFWs... We don't know where are they, but we can communicate with them through their families here in the Philippines. We'd like to request their families to move them out and take advantage of this repatriation for their own safety," Cimatu added.

OFWs who cannot retrieve their passports would be allowed to return home, with Cimatu saying that they will have to secure a travel document from the DFA. He cited that some employers do not return the passports of their Filipino employees.

The Environment Secretary and retired military general said the worst-case scenario they are seeing is that US bases in nearby Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar would also be attacked. Filipinos in Iran and Lebanon have also been told to fly home on Wednesday, but Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the alert level in these areas have been scaled down.

As for Filipinos in Iraq, Panelo said evacuation and repatriation efforts will continue until they "are no longer in peril."

There was no explanation why Manila called off mandatory repatriation of Filipinos from Iran and Lebanon, but the announcement was made amid what appears to be a deescalation of tensions between the United States and Iran.

"Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world," CNN quoted U.S. President Donald Trump as saying on Wednesday morning. The night before, incoming messages from Iran sent through back-channels appeared to have offered Trump a new opportunity to deescalate, the report said.
Tim Cook, Apple CEO, wrote in an open letter in 2016 regarding the FBIs request that Apple help break into a cellphone following a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif. In 2016, Apple replied to the request, saying that backdoor method to get into the devices would threaten the security of its customers. On Monday, the FBI sent another letter to Apple requesting that the company unlock two iPhones that were believed to have belonged to the suspected gunman from the Pensacola, Fla., Naval Air Station shooting that occurred in December. ( Business Insider  January 8, 2020)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 00:58:18|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan visits an elderly care center during a research tour to Changping District in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 9, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Vice Premier Sun Chunlan on Thursday called for greater efforts to put in place an elderly care system to help senior citizens live a happy life.

Sun gave the instructions in a research tour to Beijing's Changping District. While commending measures taken by Beijing municipal authorities in this regard, Sun said a combination of elderly care services that are based on families, supported by community-level institutions and supplemented by other elderly care centers is in line with the conditions and people's habits in China.

Sun noted that China is a country with more than 166 million elderly people aged above 65.

She underscored efforts to streamline policies to facilitate the entry of various forces of society into the elderly care areas and the integration of diverse elderly cares services available at communities and elderly care institutions.
We are excited to begin the year by adding these two businesses to our national network. The decision to acquire 4 Eco Services and Blue Apple Electric corresponds with our strategic vision for continued nationwide growth, said Dave Slott, Chief Executive Officer, ARS/Rescue Rooter.

American Residential Services (ARS/Rescue Rooter), a privately-held Memphis based company, and one of the nations largest providers of air conditioning, heating and plumbing services, announced today that it has enhanced its national footprint with the acquisition of two businesses: 4 Eco Services, Inc. of Lenexa, KS and Blue Apple Electric, LLC. of Las Vegas, NV.

4 Eco Services provides residential and commercial heating, cooling, and plumbing services in the Kansas City metro and surrounding areas under the names 4 Eco Services, All Seasons Heating & Air Conditioning, and Roger the Plumber. The company employs approximately 30 employees and maintains a fleet of 19 service, installation, and sales vehicles. 4 Eco Services, Inc., was formed by the combination of two acquired legacy companies, Roger the Plumber and All Seasons Heating and Air, and was rebranded two years ago to become 4 Eco Services.

Blue Apple Electric provides residential and commercial electrical services in the Las Vegas metro and surrounding areas. The business operates from one facility located in Las Vegas, Nevada and employs approximately 24 employees, and maintains a fleet of 17 vehicles. Blue Apple Electric, LLC. was created through the purchase of a local electrical business, Electric Service Company, and rebranded eleven months ago to become Blue Apple Electric.

I am very proud to have our two companies join the ARS/Rescue Rooter family, said Jeremy Prevost, owner 4 Eco Services and Blue Apple Electric. Our home services businesses have always focused on customer service, and ARS/Rescue Rooter values these same ideals. Now, with their support, we will be able to provide even more advantages to our current customers, employees, and new customers.

We are excited to begin the year by adding these two businesses to our national network. The decision to acquire 4 Eco Services and Blue Apple Electric corresponds with our strategic vision for continued nationwide growth, said Dave Slott, Chief Executive Officer, ARS/Rescue Rooter.

4 Eco Services and Blue Apple Electric align with ARSs commitment to quality and service. Supported by our national network, 4 Eco Services and Blue Apple Electric will continue to provide exceptional stand-alone service in markets where we are already operating," said Slott. "We are very pleased to partner with the talented management teams and exceptional service and sales technicians of these two companies and warmly welcome them into the ARS Network.

ABOUT AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL SERVICES (ARS/Rescue Rooter):

Based in Memphis, Tenn., privately-owned ARS operates a network of more than 70 locally-managed service centers in 24 states, with approximately 7,500 employees. The ARS Network features industry-leading brands including, A.J. Perri, Aksarben ARS, Allgood, Andys Statewide, ARS, Aspen Air Conditioning, Atlas Trillo, Beutler, Blue Dot, Blue Flame, Bob Hamilton, Brothers, Columbus Worthington Air, Comfort Heating & Air, Conway Services, Florida Home Air Conditioning, Green Star Home Services, Hauser Heating & Air Conditioning, McCarthy Services, Rescue Rooter / Jack Howk, Rescue Rooter, RighTime Home Services, RS Andrews, Unique Services, "Will" Fix It, and Yes! Air Conditioning and Plumbing. As an Exceptional Service Provider, the ARS Network serves both residential and light commercial customers by providing heating, cooling, indoor air quality, plumbing, drain cleaning, sewer line, radiant barrier, insulation, and ventilation services. Each location has a knowledgeable team of trained specialists. ARS requires background checks and drug tests on all employees. We hire professionals with the highest level of integrity. Providing exceptional service and ensuring the highest standards of quality, ARS has the experience to do any job right  the first time, with all work fully guaranteed. ARS: "Making it work. Making it right."
Agartala, Jan 9 : Likening the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to Adolf Hitler, CPI-M Tripura secretary Gautam Das said here on Thursday the ruling party was curbing and choking the opposition voices.

In the past three days, five Left party offices in Dhaleswar, Dukli, Narshingarh in western Tripura, Kailashahar in northern Tripura and Hrishamukh in southern Tripura were attacked and raged, destroying documents, books and literatures, he said.

"German autocratic ruler Hitler always tried to destroy and suppress the opposition voices. Like the Hitler, the BJP and its goons are attacking opposition workers and destroying their party offices since it came to power 20 months ago," said Das.

According to the CPI-M central committee member, despite the spate of attacks and arsoning, the police had remained inactive. "We have demanded high-level inquiry into the role of the police," Das said.

Criticising Chief Minister and state BJP chief Biplab Kumar Deb, he said the attacks were being conducted on his directions. The CPI-M offices were also being attacked in Banamalipur, the Assembly constituency of Deb, he said.

Criticising the government's "hire and fire" policy, the CPI-M leader said, "Through outsourcing and tender systems, over 3,300 people have been engaged in electricity, social welfare and other departments. "The BJP government before the 2018 Assembly polls promised to fill 50,000 vacant posts in a year. But they are doing otherwise," he said.

The CPI-M also demanded alternative arrangements for the 10,323 ad hoc government school teachers, facing termination in March due to court verdicts.

"The Left Front government had created 13,000 government posts to absorb these 10,323 ad hoc teachers. But the BJP leaders had spoiled that efforts through litigation in the Supreme Court," the CPI-M state secretary said.
There is a rise in cult related killings in Rivers State, Amnesty International, a non-governmental organisation focused on human rights, has said.

The organisation said at least 60 were killed in ten months in Khana and Gokana LGA and at least five killed in two days in Rumuodogo, Emohua local government area.

According to the organisation, there has been no investigation or justice for victims.

The failure of authorities to protect people from attacks and intimidation by violent gangs is leading to loss of lives and rising impunity that is making life precarious in some communities across Rivers state, said Amnesty International today.

At least 60 people were killed in 2019 alone in various communities of Rivers state, especially; Khana and Gokana local government areas.

Our findings show that government is still not doing enough to protect people in these communities from attacks. The killers are literally getting away with murder, while no one is being arrested or punished for these crimes.

The authorities have failed to bring those responsible for these horrific crimes to justice and have allowed a climate of impunity to fuel further violence. We call on the Nigerian authorities to take more robust action to stop these attacks by investigating every clash and bringing perpetrators to justice. said Osai Ojigho, Director Amnesty International Nigeria.

The government has an obligation to defend and protect the people; its failure to provide security for people in Rivers state especially in Emohua, Khana and Gokana local government areas and its failure to investigate and prosecute those responsible for these killings created an atmosphere of fear and bloodshed in the region, the statement highlighted.

Read the full statement below:

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL NIGERIA

Press Release

9 January 2020

Nigeria: Rise in Cult Related killings in Rivers state

At least 60 killed in ten months in Khana and Gokana LGA

At least 5 killed in 2 days in Rumuodogo, Emohua LGA

No investigation or justice for victims

Bodo community targeted, activist killed

The failure of authorities to protect people from attacks and intimidation by violent gangs is leading to loss of lives and rising impunity that is making life precarious in some communities across Rivers state, said Amnesty International today.

At least 60 people were killed in 2019 alone in various communities of Rivers state, especially; Khana and Gokana local government areas.

Our findings show that government is still not doing enough to protect people in these communities from attacks. The killers are literally getting away with murder, while no one is being arrested or punished for these crimes.

Some of the people that flee their residence as a result of cult violence Some of the people that flee their residence as a result of cult violence

The authorities have failed to bring those responsible for these horrific crimes to justice and have allowed a climate of impunity to fuel further violence. We call on the Nigerian authorities to take more robust action to stop these attacks by investigating every clash and bringing perpetrators to justice. said Osai Ojigho, Director Amnesty International Nigeria.

The government has an obligation to defend and protect the people; its failure to provide security for people in Rivers state especially in Emohua, Khana and Gokana local government areas and its failure to investigate and prosecute those responsible for these killings created an atmosphere of fear and bloodshed in the region.

An investigation by Amnesty International reveals that the rise in cult related violence is as a result of governments failure to investigate, arrest and prosecute perpetrators, as the culture of impunity continues to embolden further attacks. Residents also alleged that influential politicians often provide arms and protections to violent youth groups.

In few cases where the Nigerian security agencies did respond to the armed gang clashes, their response is always slow and inadequate. Residents informed Amnesty International that gang clashes usually last for 2  3 hours while security forces always arrive hours after the clashes ended.

Communities affected by these clashes said despite fatalities authorities have not taken any concrete actions to protect them from violent gangs.

Whenever there is an attack by the armed gangs, we usually call the police and other security agencies to come to our rescue, but they only arrive when the gangs have left. When they come, they will arrest innocent villagers, mount road blocks and send security men to the villages, but after two weeks they dismantle the road blocks and leave the community until another violent gang attack, said a resident of one of the affected communities.

Perpetual fear of attacks:

People have been linking the rise in violence to arming of youths by politicians for electoral purposes.

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A youth leader in Khana community blamed politicians for providing arms to the youths during elections.

Different political parties use different criminal cult groups for their selfish interests. If they think their group is not strong enough to deliver, they empower them with more weapons. But they dont think about the aftermath of everything. They dont care what happens after elections.

At least 49 people have been killed in different communities in Khana local government area in series of attacks between April and September 2019, according to villagers and community leaders.

On 9 April 2019 a criminal gang invaded Bere community and shot dead 9 people, residents told Amnesty International. Mr Sorle Deekae and Chief Lucky Micah were some of those killed. At least, 20 other people were reported to have been killed in other communities including Kaani-babe in series of attacks. In May 2019, 20 people were murdered in an attack on Kono-boue community, according to villagers and community leaders.

Forced to Flee

The invasion of Kono-boue community in May 2019 forced the community, especially women and children, to flee their villages.

After gang members operated for hours unhindered, killing and burning houses and looting shops locals told Amnesty International that their children could not go to school, shop owners had to flee and people were forced to leave their homes and take refuge at an IDP camp set up by churches in Bori, Rivers state.

Bodo Community in Danger:

At Bodo community, in Gokana local government, a villager told Amnesty International:

The armed gangs operate around here all the time, whenever they start, we all go in and lock our doors, they dont normally come after villagers on purpose but rather in search of rival cult groups. But when a bullet moves, it does not ask questions, it brings down anybody on its path

Residents told Amnesty International that on 4 August 2019, 3 people were shot dead in Bodo, when armed gangs attacked the community. An environmental activist Baribefe Bornu (39) was one of the victims killed alongside 2 others; Giobari Thomas Eele and Barivale Amos.

Eye witnesses and relatives of the deceased told Amnesty International that Baribefe was shot at close range at about 10:00pm in front of his house as he begged for his life.

Baribefe Bornu played a key role in Bodos battle to seek justice from the oil company Shell, following two devastating spills, caused by operational failure, in the area in 2008. Their case was eventually heard in the High Court in London. Shell acknowledged responsibility and agreed to pay 55m as compensation to the community and also to clean-up the affected areas in 2015.

Bodo became the only community in the Niger Delta to be subjected to an internationally recognised clean-up operation, the Bodo Mediation Initiative, sponsored by the Dutch Government. Baribefe was involved in the clean-up process until he was murdered.

According to locals about 11 persons, all men, have been killed in Bodo in three separate attacks this year.

These gangs should not be allowed to be killing people wantonly. Those who killed Baribefe Bornu and others must be brought to justice, and security measures stepped up to protect the people of Bodo and other communities.

In Bodo, families of victims complained of being left with the burden of burying their loved ones without hope for justice since authority rarely investigate attacks by the armed gangs.

In Bodo and other communities visited by Amnesty International, residents said the police did not do anything concerning the killings and no investigation was carried out after the death of their loved ones.

The police station is not far from here, but they never came during or after the attack. They didnt even come to investigate attacks

The Nigerian authorities must perform their duty of providing security, and must ensure justice through impartial and independent investigation, and adequate reparations for the victims of this violence, including the families of those killed, said Osai Ojigho.

Rumuodogo Community in Danger:

The year started in a bloody way for Rumuodogo community. Ongoing spate of killings left at least 5 people dead in Rumuodogo community in Emohua Local Government Area. The killing and beheading of members of the government backed vigilante group OSPAC on 6 January led to retaliatory killings by OSPAC operatives.

Amnesty International Nigeria was informed that most communities in Emohua local government area decided to engage the service of a local vigilante group in the state, ONELGA Security Planning and Advisory Committee (OSPAC) to help restore peace in their communities due to the rise in gang related crimes in their communities.

A villager informed Amnesty International that On 6 January 2020, three OSPAC members including the bike man carrying them were killed in Rumuodogo and most of the villagers are on the run because OSPAC came to the village picking up people who are related to known gang members and killing them.

Amnesty International is deeply concerned that the authorities are doing little or nothing to address the ongoing violence.

The Rivers state authorities should as a matter of urgency put an end to the ongoing unrest in Rumuodogo community and take all feasible measures to restore peace in the community, said Osia Ojigho

Background

The frequent fight for supremacy by rival armed groups has created an atmosphere of fear in different communities in Rivers state especially in Khana and Gokana local government areas. Clashes between the gangs are frequent, and people, as well as gang members have been killed.

The Governor of River state signed the anti-cultism bill into law in March 2018. The bill proscribes the death penalty for any cultist who kills during a cult activity and life imprisonment for any cultist apprehended. While Amnesty International continues to oppose death penalty in all circumstances, it is necessary to state that despite these stringent measures, cultism is in the rise in the state.

Isa Sanusi

Media Manager, Amnesty International Nigeria
A South African air force plane caught fire upon landing on Thursday at the Goma airport in eastern Congo but there were no casualties, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission said.

The C-130BZ military aircraft was transporting 59 passengers and eight crew members from the UN mission when its left engine caught fire upon landing, said Mathias Gillman, acting spokesperson for the UN mission known as MONUSCO.

"MONUSCO sent a rescue team that brought the fire under control and everyone was safely evacuated," Gillman told The Associated Press.

The plane was returning from the eastern Congo city of Beni, where it was providing logistical support to the South African contingent deployed in the region, he said.

The South African National Defense Force communications office said they had seen the images from Goma and were working to confirm details.

South Africa is one of the top five troop contributors to the UN peacekeeping force in Congo.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The bills giving three years extension to General Qamar Bajwa as army chief was "rushed" through parliament without debate, a group of dissident Pakistanis said.

The bills to extend the retirement age from 60 to 64 years for the chiefs of army, navy and air force, and the chairman of the joint chief of staff committee sailed through the Senate or the upper house despite protests from minor parties, Geo said.

Under the banner of the South Asians Against Terrorism and For Human Rights (SAATH) Forum, the group on Wednesday voiced concern at the manner in which the Pakistan government and main opposition parties rushed through parliament amendments to the Army Act.

The bills were passed without debate as to the desirability or necessity of such legislation, and without due consideration to the implications of such an action on the future of democracy in Pakistan, the group that includes former journalists and envoys said in a statement.

Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani adjourned the session as soon as the bills were passed. The Senate session lasted only 20 minutes and no other agenda other than the laying of a few reports was taken up, the Dawn said.

The bills were already approved by the Standing Committee on Defence.

It is a fact of history that the desire to perpetuate personal power, army chiefs of Pakistan have time and again disrupted the democratic project in Pakistan.

"While in the past the military has carried out coups, and its chiefs have extended their tenures themselves by force, and while one example also exists where the president of Pakistan extended the tenure of an army chief under duress, there is no example of parliament undertaking such an adventure, it said.

SAATH condemned the unprecedented surrender of the political class and the sacred House that represents the will of the people and attributed it to political expediency and personal short- term gains of Pakistan's political leaders.

Such actions should have no place in a genuinely democratic dispensation, it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A man was flown to a Brisbane hospital after his arm was caught in a meat slicer at a business in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman said the patient, aged in his 60s, suffered "significant arm injuries" at the workplace in Plainland, 45 kilometres east of Toowoomba.

FILE IMAGE: The Rescue 500 helicopter flew the man to Brisbane for further treatment. Credit:Rescue 500 Brisbane

Police officers, firefighters and paramedics were called to the business, along the Warrego Highway, about 8.30am on Thursday.

The man's arm was freed within six minutes of firefighters arriving at the scene, once the machine's guard was removed, and he was treated by advanced care paramedics.
Three policemen and a civilian were killed Thursday in a clash at a controversial military airport construction site in Hanoi.

A road running through Dong Tam Commune in My Duc District, Hanoi, January 9, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Viet Duc.

The clash took place a week after some units of the Ministry of National Defense, in collaboration with local authorities, began building a fence for the Mieu Mon military airport in Dong Tam Commune, My Duc District, 40 km (25 miles) south of the capital, the Ministry of Public Security said.

"On Thursday morning, some people resisted, using hand-grenades, petrol bombs and knives to attack police forces, fighting officers on duty and disrupting public order," the ministry said on its website. As a result, three policemen and a civilian died and another person was injured.

"Authorities have launched an investigation into the case and have arrested the lawbreakers," the ministry said.

To An Xo, spokesman of Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security, said the incident in Dong Tam was under control and police forces continue to be present at the scene to maintain stability.

Regarding the number of people arrested, Xo said an announcement would be made later.

At present, construction of the fence is being carried out in line with the land plan covering more than 236 hectares in communes of: My Luong, Tran Phu, Dong Lac in Chuong My District and Dong Tam in My Duc District, Xo said.

The wall being built around Mieu Mon military airport in Dong Tam Commune, My Duc District, Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress.

Long-standing dispute

The land in question has been a subject of major controversy and a long-standing dispute.

Protestors have said that they were not properly informed that the land was transferred to the military at some point. Generations of villages had been cultivating crops on an area of 50 hectares of 146 acres under dispute, paying land use fees and taxes to the government, theyd said.

While villagers said it was their agricultural land, officials said the land belonged to the military.

In April 2017 the Hanoi police detained four people from Dong Tam Commune for allegedly causing public disorder related to land clearance in their commune. Protesting villagers then held 38 district officials and police officers hostage in a communal house.

The standoff was resolved a week later, but in July 2017 Hanoi investigators said the land in Dong Tam had always belonged to the military.

They proposed that city authorities should instruct the My Duc District Peoples Committee to "coordinate with military units to deploy decisive measures forcing citizens occupying military lands illegally to remove their assets and crops and return the land for Viettel to implement defence projects."

While land disputes are not uncommon in Vietnam, it is the first time in years that policemen have been killed in one.
The Queen has called an emergency meeting with the royal family after being completely blindsided by Prince Harry and Meghan Markles decision to quit their roles as senior royals.

With Prince Charles currently visiting Scotland, Prince William residing at Kensington Palace and Prince Harry being in Windsor, the Queen is believed to have set up a four-way call with all three of them to discuss the crisis at hand.

Queen Elizabeth has reportedly called an emergency meeting with Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry. Photo: Getty Images

Yesterday, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they are stepping down as senior royals. Photo: Getty Images

The Queen announced she would be working "together at pace" with the Sussex household, with a source telling People magazine the changes are expected to take days, not weeks.

The Queen left in the dark

It comes after reports emerged yesterday that the monarch had no idea the Sussexes were about to cause a furore with their announcement over Instagram and senior members of the family only found out about it ten minutes before the post went live.

A short statement released by the palace just hours after the news broke seemed to back up claims the whole family had been left in the dark.

Discussions with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage, the statement begins read.

We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through.

Prince William and Prince Charles are said to be livid after the announcement. Photo: Getty Images

Reports from the BBC stated that no royals were consulted before the pair went public, describing the palace as disappointed and hurt.

Royal correspondent, Jonny Dymond, added that the show of public disharmony confirmed a major rift.

"This is clearly a major rift between Harry and Meghan on one part, and the rest of the Royal Family on the other, he wrote.

Royals at war

According to reports, Prince Charles and Prince William have been left absolutely livid by the shock news but came together over the phone to talk the whole thing through.

Its believed the discussions, set to take place over the coming days, will include members of the government from both the UK and Canada.

Prince Harry Meghan Markle step back

Story continues

Prince Harry and Meghan shocked the world when they announced they will "step back" as senior members of the royal family and will now divide their time between the UK and North America on Thursday morning.

The couple's groundbreaking decision came in a statement shared to Instagram, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said they will work to become financially independent while continuing to "fully support" the Queen.

"After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution," the couple said in their statement.

"We intend to step back as 'senior' members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty the Queen.

"It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.

The Sussexes will split their time between the UK and Canada. Photo: Getty Images

"We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.

"This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity."

The couple also unveiled a brand new website following on from their announcement, which detailed plans for their "new working model" as the couple intend to move into a "progressive new role".

The website explains the pair's new media relations policy, as well as looking at the future of their charities and explaining how they will be funded.

At one point, the site explains: "Under the current structure and financing arrangements, they are prohibited from earning any income in any form."

The new system will see them give up their Sovereign Grant income - which comes from the money the Queen gets from taxpayers each year - and instead earn money through commercial deals and charity work.

Sussexroyal.com noted that Harry and Meghan "value the ability to earn a professional income, which in the current structure they are prohibited from doing" - although they will still continue to base themselves at Frogmore Cottage with the Queen's permission, and taxpayers will fund their security.

The detailed website also addresses changes to their approach to the media, including stepping away from the 'royal rota' system and offering access to invited media, as well as offering news via their own official channels and communications.

With extra reporting by Bang Showbiz

Got a story tip or just want to get in touch? Email us at lifestyle.tips@verizonmedia.com.
It has been nearly a week since the killing of Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, and the justification for the strike is still clear as mud.

The Trump administration initially said Soleimani was planning "imminent" attacks on Americans and U.S. interests in the Middle East, but it hasn't provided much in the way of elaboration. It has since oscillated between pointing to the imminence of such attacks and suggesting the strike was retaliatory for what Soleimani had already done. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined to say whether the attacks were days or weeks away. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, unambiguously endorsed the idea of imminent attacks, but he also said the intelligence didn't "exactly say who, what, when, where."

And now, in the last 24 hours, it has become even more opaque.

Coming out of a private briefing on the subject Wednesday, GOP Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., decried the lack of information. Lee called it "probably the worst briefing I have seen, at least on a military issue," and said the administration had "not really" done anything to establish the imminence of the attacks.

Paul added: "I didn't learn anything in the hearing that I hadn't seen in a newspaper already. None of it was overwhelming that X was going to happen."

Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, in contrast, called it "one of the best briefings I've had since I've been here in the United States Congress." Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., called it "a compelling briefing" and said it was unthinkable that anyone wouldn't support the strike based on the information presented.

It's important to note that the libertarian-minded Lee and Paul are big proponents of congressional authorization for military action, so it's perhaps not surprising that they would be some of the more difficult gets for the administration on this subject. But that's still two GOP senators who say a GOP administration just hasn't provided the goods - or anything close.

With that as the backdrop, Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump on Thursday piled on the uncertainty. Appearing on the "Today" show, Pence said the Trump administration did not share some of the most important information because of its sensitivity.

"Some of the most compelling evidence that Qasem Soleimani was preparing an imminent attack against American forces and American personnel also represents some of the most sensitive intelligence that we have," Pence told NBC's Savannah Guthrie. "It could compromise those sources and methods."

Pence added on Fox News that "we're simply not able to share with every member of the House and Senate the intelligence that supported the president's decision to take out Qasem Soleimani," but "I can assure your viewers that there was - there was a threat of an imminent attack."

So to recap: The White House is now saying the information provided to lawmakers indeed might not have been as compelling as it could have been, but that Congress and the American people just need to trust that it's there.

And then, to top it all off, Trump around noon on Thursday came out and disclosed one of Soleimani's alleged plots: to blow up a U.S. embassy.

"We did it because they were looking to blow up our embassy," Trump said. "We also did it for other reasons that were very obvious."

Trump has the ability to declassify anything he wants to, but it was a curious sudden disclosure for an administration that had for six days resisted saying much of anything. It's also difficult to believe lawmakers were told about a potential embassy attack in any real detail and then would come out and say it was a nothingburger - no matter their political leanings.

As The Post's Shane Harris noted, the idea that such information can't be shared with Congress is also difficult to swallow. Even if an administration doesn't share all the information widely with Congress for fear of leaks, it generally shares highly classified information with a smaller group of high-ranking lawmakers who are experienced in intelligence matters.

At the same time, the White House has already frozen out Democratic members of the "Gang of Eight" by not informing them of the attack in advance, as is normal practice. And Trump has sent signals that perhaps he doesn't intend to be terribly forthcoming with the Democrats in the group, retweeting a claim from conservative provocateur Dinesh D'Souza that sharing such information with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., would be akin to sharing it with the Iranians.

Looming over all of it are the circumstances in which the strike was launched. Trump's advisers reportedly delivered the president a series of options to deal with an escalating situation with Iran, and killing Soleimani was the most extreme one included. Such an option is generally used to push the president toward a more moderate course of action. Trump, though, chose the extreme one.

If the attacks were so imminent and the strike so necessary, then why was that labeled the extreme option? Given that Trump's unwieldy actions and declarations often force those around him to struggle to justify them after the fact, it's not illogical to suspect there is a similar effort afoot here. That would sure explain the lack of transparency - even with Congress - and the conflicting signals.

Soleimani has indeed been estimated to have been behind the killing of hundreds of Americans, so the idea that he might be planning more such operations - especially at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and Iran - is certainly logical. That appears to be why the administration is emphasizing what he has already done. But this was sold as something that was imminent, and there are plenty of indications that the information as we understand it might not be overly specific. Milley's comments certainly indicated as much, and Lee and Paul say there has been basically no new information shared with them to back up that claim.

It's difficult to believe there isn't more that could be shared here - at least with a limited group of lawmakers - that could calm fears about the United States using yet another pretext for military action in the Middle East, as it did in Iraq. But for now, the Trump administration is doing a great job of seeding doubts. In the hours ahead, a big question will be whether top administration officials confirm and expand upon his embassy claim.
With last weekend's assassination of the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, President Trump has torn up the rulebook governing the managed conflict that has characterised relations between Tehran and Washington. Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the arch-enemies have largely been content with sponsoring proxy wars using surrogate armies, establishing influence via regional clients and, in Washington's case, waging an on-off economic war of attrition.

Just 18 months after coming to power, Trump unilaterally withdrew from the 2013 international nuclear treaty with Tehran (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), an agreement reached after years of excruciating negotiations which set the antagonists on a path of rapprochement. He followed it up by re-imposing crippling economic sanctions targeting the country and states that traded with it.

The restoration of sanctions was supposed to bring Iran begging on its knees to the negotiating table where it would meekly abandon its civilian nuclear programme and sign up to Trump's "deal of the century" for Middle East peace  essentially financial inducements for the Palestinians and neighbouring Arab states in exchange for accepting the political status quo.

It has proved to be every much as foolish a miscalculation as Trumps more of the same speech today in which he urged the other signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to follow his lead. At a White House press conference a few hours ago, he said that the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia and China [should] break away from the remnants of the deal and work with him on a new one instead.

Leaving aside the fact that the Palestinians themselves rejected Trumps initial deal of the century outright, there was no reason to think that a country that defied two previous paralysing rounds of US sanctions  and an eight-year long US-inspired war waged by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, in which it lost a quarter of a million lives  would simply raise the white flag. Other international powers have come round to recognising this fiercely independent national spirit and built it into their diplomatic strategies.

Trump broke from the policy of his predecessor, Barack Obama, not because the nuclear deal is full of holes as he claims, but because his administration cannot countenance the existence of a non-compliant Muslim country in western Asia. This is the reason why dozens of US military bases continue to encircle Iran. They are a daily reminder to Tehran of US regional hegemony and the existential threat it poses to the Islamic Republic.

Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Show all 24 1 /24 Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions Iranian mourners gather around a vehicle carrying the coffin of top general Qasem Soleimani during the final stage of funeral processions, in his hometown Kerman. Soleimani was killed outside Baghdad airport in a drone strike ordered by US President Donald Trump, ratcheting up tensions with Iran which has vowed "severe revenge" AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranian people carry a coffin of Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani during a funeral procession in Tehran Official Khamenei website via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions The assassination of the 62-year-old heightened international concern about a new war in the volatile, oil-rich Middle East and rattled financial markets AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Mourners packed the streets of Tehran for ceremonies to pay homage to Soleimani, who spearheaded Iran's Middle East operations as commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force and was killed in a US drone strike on January 3 Iranian Supreme Leader's Office/EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranians set a US and an Israeli flag on fire during the funeral procession AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, centre, with Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, second left, and President Hassan Rouhani, third left, standing next to him as he leads a prayer over the caskets of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at Tehran University Khamenei.IR/AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, openly weeps as he leads a prayer over the coffin of Qassem Soleimani AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Mourners holding posters of Qassem Soleimani AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Coffins of Soleimani and others who were killed in Iraq by a US drone strike, are carried on a truck surrounded by mourners during a funeral procession, at the Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) square AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions An Iranian mourner holds a placard AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Downtown Tehran was brought to a standstill as mourners flooded the Iranian capital Khamenei.IR/AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Former Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps chief Mohamad Ali Jafari prays on the coffins of Qasem Soleimani and of other victims during their funeral ceremony EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Official Khamenei website via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Satellite image Maxar Technologies/AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA

Trump was, however, right about one thing in his speech. The response of the international community is crucial to peace. Not by exhibiting a vicarious satisfaction in his illegal use of military force, as the British government has done, or demanding Tehran return unilaterally to the nuclear deal as France and Germany have done (after Soleimani's killing, Iran announced that it will no longer be bound by any of its restrictions) but by convincing their most powerful ally that the way forward is to stop bullying Iran and respect its sovereign right to develop a civilian nuclear programme.

Tehrans retaliation may have satiated the Iranian publics thirst for revenge while being measured enough to allow Trump to claim victory in this latest duel. But if history has demonstrated anything, it is that Iran is a deft hand at asymmetric warfare. The longer Washington attempts to intimidate Iran, the more likely it is that the long hand of Tehran will seek soft targets outside the immediate theatre of conflict.

When suspected Israeli assassins killed an Iranian nuclear scientist in rush hour traffic in Tehran in 1982, retaliation came in the form of bomb attacks against Israeli diplomats in Thailand, Georgia and India. Ten years later when the IDF assassinated the secretary general of Hezbollah, Abbas al-Mousawi, in Lebanon, revenge came in the form of car bomb attacks against the Israeli embassy and the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association in Buenos Aires two years apart.

The US has cast Iran as the Great Satan ever since the 1979 Islamic Revolution which saw the overthrow of the Shah, the fulcrum of Washingtons Middle East policy. It undoubtedly sees its work in Iran as unfinished business. But by playing the long game, the Islamic Republic has outlasted six US presidents and not only survived but grown to become the dominant regional player. There is every likelihood that it will also outlast the bumbling administration of Donald Trump.

Faisal Bodi is the media officer of the Islamic Human Rights Commission as well as a former senior editor for Al-Jazeera
With the passage of House Bill 3 last year in the Texas Legislature, public school districts are now required to start offering all-day pre-kindergarten. Districts that arent set up to offer all-day pre-k can apply for a waiver, but in order to do so must partner with local all-day pre-k providers.

In November, Conroe ISD officials went to its trustees to get permission to solicit proposals from public and private providers in the area to help it provide all-day pre-k and apply for a waiver. Proposals were accepted from Nov. 20 and Dec. 9.

The plan was to use partners, if need be, until the district can come up with a solution using its own facilities. The ultimate goal is to provide all-day pre-k in CISD without using partners.

The district received five proposals and is in the process of evaluating them. However, the districts plan always has been, and continues to be to provide pre-k classes for its qualifying students without contracting with an outside vendor, said Katie Morton, CISD communications specialist, in a statement from the district.

In a presentation to the board in November, Deputy Superintendent Chris Hines explained what the district would need to be able to provide full-day pre-k. The district currently has 1,382 students enrolled in half-day pre-k and 167 in a full-day program. The additional classroom space needed to provide full-day pre-k to all pre-kindergarten students the district is 48 classrooms.

The district already provides full-day at Houston and Houser elementary schools. According to the statement from Morton on behalf of the district, CISD is very optimistic that it will be able to fully implement the full-day program next year.

However, in the event the district is unable to do so, it has sought proposals from possible vendors, as required by the new law, Morton said in the statement. The submitted proposals are being reviewed with consideration given to several criteria, including whether the vendor can provide certified/qualified teachers, can meet the statutorily required program standards for space and staffing, can provide a competitive cost, can offer a researched-based curriculum, can serve students with language or other special needs, can provide a nutritional meals, and can serve an appropriate number of qualified students.

According to the November presentation to the board, to provide a full-day program the district might have to bring in more portable classrooms or cluster with other schools. The change, and moving students around, could have Title I (federal funding) impacts.

In essence there are two processes under way, one is planning for how we can implement full day pre-k programs throughout the district next fall, and the other is evaluating and considering partnership options in the event we believe we are not able to do so and we need to file a waiver with the state, Morton said in the statement.

A recommendation on whether or not the district will need to contract with a partner and apply for a waiver is expected to be brought to the board in January or February.

jamie.swinnerton@chron.com
BRIERLEY HILL, United Kingdom, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovise, a United Kingdom-based technology leader specialising in software for security guarding, cleaning and facilities management businesses, has been acquired by TEAM Software, the leading provider of technology solutions for contractors in the North American cleaning and security guarding markets. TEAM is backed by Accel-KKR, a technology-focused investment firm with US$9bn of committed capital across its funds.

The investment brings together two market leaders: TEAM in North America and Innovise in the U.K. The combination creates a global technology leader providing business critical software solutions for firms in the security guarding, cleaning and facilities management industries.

By joining forces, TEAM and Innovise together have customers on five continents, more than 750,000 end users and 50 years' collective experience serving the cleaning and security industries. Almost three-quarters of the top cleaning and security companies in North America, the U.K. and Ireland use software from TEAM and Innovise.

Innovise is the market leader in the U.K. and Ireland and has customers across Europe, North America and the Australasia region. Innovise supplies business critical workforce management and service delivery solutions to support complex business needs from pre-employment through to invoicing and payroll.

Similarly, TEAM offers market-leading business critical technology that includes a full-service accounting and financial package, operations management, mobile workforce management solutions and business analytics to its customers in North America. The fully integrated platform automates business critical functions, streamlines back-office operations and improves workforce productivity in the field, increasing efficiency, profitability and growth.

"TEAM joining forces with Innovise has a significant impact on industries we serve in multiple geographies," said TEAM CEO John Leiferman. "Together, we strengthen our position as the global technology leader for cleaning and guarding companies, and, with our joint resources, we are well-positioned to accelerate innovation on our fully integrated platform to deliver increased value to our customers and support their global expansion and growth goals."

The new partnership means both TEAM and Innovise clients benefit from enhanced technology expertise and a genuine global partner for those who operate around the world. Both businesses are privileged to work with an enviable portfolio of customers who are typically the largest, most complex and most entrepreneurial organizations in the cleaning and security verticals.

"After more than 15 years of successful growth as an independent business, we are excited to be joining forces with TEAM Software and Accel-KKR," said Innovise CEO Mike Taylor. "This is a merger of market leaders and marks the next phase of our growth journey. Together we can fulfill our strategic ambitions. The Innovise leadership team and I are excited to work alongside our new colleagues at TEAM to set the standard for world-class solutions in our target markets globally."

ABOUT TEAM SOFTWARE, INC.

TEAM Software develops financial, operations and workforce management solutions for contractors with distributed workforces, with a focus on the cleaning and security industries. TEAM's efficiency-enhancing technology transforms business management and drives profitability. TEAM's industry-specific solutions include a complete enterprise software ecosystem that connects the back office to field-based workers along with workforce management software that increases visibility, efficiency and service quality. Founded in 1989, TEAM has customers in North America and Australia. TEAM is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska (U.S.). For more information, visit teamsoftware.com.

ABOUT INNOVISE LTD

Based in the United Kingdom, Innovise develops software applications for businesses in the guarding, cleaning and facilities management industries that increase productivity while reducing risk and the cost of operation. Innovise's product offering includes a workforce management solution purpose-built for guarding and cleaning businesses as well as a facilities management platform to help monitor, measure and manage service delivery. Innovise has customers in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, Continental Europe and the Australasia region.

PRESS CONTACT

TEAM Software

Amanda Sullivan, Director of Marketing and Communications | 800-500-4499 | marketing@teamsoftware.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1064203/Innovise.jpg

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The Tennessee Valley Authority announced Thursday that Dr. Noelle Currey, a TVA project engineer with eight years of service, earned the utilitys highest engineering honor  the Ike Zeringue Engineer of the Year.

Dr. Currey received the award for a programming solution that checks electrical drawings with 100 percent accuracy to eliminate errors and rework. In under a minute, the program can evaluate thousands of wires contained in switch house panels  previously reviewed one at a time. The estimated cost savings for TVA is several million dollars. Her work helps TVA deliver 99.999 percent power reliability as it has for the last 20 consecutive years.

TVA is built on the work of dedicated employees, and each year, we have the distinct pleasure of recognizing an individual who exemplifies excellence in the engineering field and commitment to TVAs mission of service, said TVA President and CEO Jeff Lyash. Noelles innovation is helping TVA to continue to generate low-cost, reliable, clean energy  a key factor when companies choose to relocate or expand in our region.

Each day, Dr. Currey makes sure TVAs transmission power supply projects are completed on-time and on-budget in order to keep TVA power rates some of the lowest in the nation.

Noelle has distinguished herself as a leader who tirelessly helps keep electricity flowing to our homes and businesses, said Bob Dalrymple, TVA senior vice president, Transmission & Power Supply. More importantly, her automated solution ensures the continued safety and high performance of TVAs grid through lower production cost and error reduction.

The award is TVAs highest honor for an engineer and named for O.J. Ike Zeringue, a former TVA president and chief operating officer, and chief nuclear officer.

Dr. Currey is also one of the finalists for the Federal Engineer of the Year Award, which will be presented Feb. 14 in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Currey is a graduate of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga with a bachelors degree in electrical engineering. Currey earned her Masters and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.
It was not immediately clear how the U.S. and its allies would react. Despite efforts by Washington and Tehran to step back from the brink of possible war, the region remained on edge after the killing of the Iranian general and Iran's retaliatory missile strikes. U.S. troops were on high-alert.
Ashutosh Gowarikar's 'Panipat' will be tax-free in Maharashtra, the makers of the period-drama made the announcement on Thursday.

Bollywood movie critic and influencer Taran Adarsh took to Twitter to share the news along with sharing a recreated poster of the movie.

The director took to twitter as well to thank Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for the initiative. He wrote: "Heartfelt Gratitude!! Thank you Hon'ble CM @OfficeofUT ji for imparting TAX FREE status in our attempt of bringing the Maratha Glory to the screen through #Panipat!"

The 163-minute movie features Arjun Kapoor (as Sadashiv Rao Bhau), Sanjay Dutt (as invading Afgan king Ahmad Shah Abdali) and Kriti Sanon (Parvati Bai).

The film that has been made on a budget of around Rs 92 crore, has so far has collected a total of Rs 33,37,00,000.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Its been a whirlwind 24 hours for the royal family, after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their plans to step down as senior members of the royal family.

The Queen is said to have summoned the family to have crisis talks over the future of the Sussexes and Prince Charles and Prince William are believed to be absolutely livid, after only hearing about their plan ten minutes before they posted it to their Instagram page.

The Queen is believed to have been left 'hurt' by Meghan and Harry's shock decision to quit as senior royals. Photo: Getty Images

However, while Dianas sons may be at loggerheads and the Queen hurt by Harry and Meghan leaving her in the dark about their plans, it seems there was still time for the monarch to throw a little shade at the Sussexes in the form of a birthday message for Kate Middleton.

In a Twitter post wishing the Duchess of Cambridge a Happy Birthday, the royal family linked out to an official portfolio of all the work Kate does for the Firm.

Wishing The Duchess of Cambridge a very Happy Birthday! Find out more about The Duchess and her work here, the message read.

It linked out to The Duchess of Cambridges personal bio on royal.uk, which lists all the charitable causes the Duchess supports.

Wishing The Duchess of Cambridge a very Happy Birthday! 



Find out more about The Duchess and her work here: https://t.co/rymtd1BBdp pic.twitter.com/9obQlVEgLw  The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) January 9, 2020

Many people online took this as a dig at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who received no mention of their work when the Queen wished them well on their birthdays last year.

HRH showing that American how to be a member of the royal family and doing it with grace and poise. If the Sussexes want to leave, strip them of their titles, cut the royal purse strings and let them fend themselves, oh by the way, kindly refund the tax payer for Frogmore, one angry royal fan tweeted.

Story continues

Kate is the epitome of elegance, grace & hard work, shes a credit to the Royal family. Shame the other two, another person wrote.

Others were furious that the Sussexes had overshadowed the Duchess of Cambridges 38th birthday with their announcement.

So, there we have it...Harry and Meghans statement deliberately made to overshadow this birthday and spoil it. Darling Kate will always be our favourite, such a stalwart...HAPPY BIRTHDAY you wonderful lad, one person wrote.

Happy Birthday . So sorry you sister in law and brother in law have cast a shadow on your day. You are a credit to yourself, your family and the royal family, another fan of Kates said.

In August, the royal family didn't mention anything about Meghan's charity work. Photo: Instagram/theroyalfamily

In September, no link was given to Prince Harry's charity work. Photo: Instagram/theroyalfamily

Prince Harry Meghan Markle step back

Prince Harry and Meghan shocked the world when they announced they will "step back" as senior members of the royal family and will now divide their time between the UK and North America on Thursday morning.

The couple's groundbreaking decision came in a statement shared to Instagram, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said they will work to become financially independent while continuing to "fully support" the Queen.

"After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution," the couple said in their statement.

"We intend to step back as 'senior' members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty the Queen.

"It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.

"We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has caused a ruckus in the royal family. Photo: Getty Images

"This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity."

The couple also unveiled a brand new website following on from their announcement, which detailed plans for their "new working model" as the couple intend to move into a "progressive new role".

The website explains the pair's new media relations policy, as well as looking at the future of their charities and explaining how they will be funded.

At one point, the site explains: "Under the current structure and financing arrangements, they are prohibited from earning any income in any form."

The new system will see them give up their Sovereign Grant income - which comes from the money the Queen gets from taxpayers each year - and instead earn money through commercial deals and charity work.

Sussexroyal.com noted that Harry and Meghan "value the ability to earn a professional income, which in the current structure they are prohibited from doing" - although they will still continue to base themselves at Frogmore Cottage with the Queen's permission, and taxpayers will fund their security.

The detailed website also addresses changes to their approach to the media, including stepping away from the 'royal rota' system and offering access to invited media, as well as offering news via their own official channels and communications.

With extra reporting by Bang Showbiz

Got a story tip or just want to get in touch? Email us at lifestyle.tips@verizonmedia.com.
Channel 10 bosses are not going easy on this year's I'm a Celebrity campmates.

During Wednesday's episode, the cast were all forced to hand over the contraband items they had snuck into camp.

The likes of Charlotte Crosby and Miguel Maestre surrendered their secret stashes in exchange for the entire group receiving their single approved luxury item each.

Hand it over! I'm a Celebrity bosses forced the contestants to hand over the contraband items they had snuck into camp on Wednesday. Pictured: Charlotte Crosby

After being told by retired AFL star Dale Thomas that all of the campers had to place their contraband into an 'amnesty bin', there was a mixed response.

Celebrity chef Miguel said: 'Spartans don't surrender, Spartans die in battle!'

But when it was revealed that by doing so each cast member would receive the single luxury item they'd had approved before filming, they all agreed

Love Island's Erin Barnett reluctantly handed over her much-loved eyebrow brush.

'I tried to sneak like 18 in here': Love Island's Erin Barnett reluctantly handed over her much-loved eyebrow brush

No more shut eye! Charlotte also placed her padded sleep mask into the 'amnesty bin'

'I tried to sneak like 18 in here,' she confessed afterwards.

Former Geordie Shore star Charlotte also placed her padded sleep mask into the 'amnesty bin'.

Married At First Sight's Ryan Gallagher appeared to hand over two knives, while Dale gave up some rope and family photographs.

Radio star Myf Warhurst then declared her stash of tea bags and sachets of salt.

Give it up! Radio star Myf Warhurst then declared her stash of tea bags and sachets of salt

Sneaky! The Living Room star Miguel spent some time unpacking his contraband

The Living Room star Miguel spent some time unpacking his contraband.

He had brought in sealed food bags containing pomelo fruit, chicken salt, spice paprika, chocolate and coffee.

'Where'd you smuggle of all of these, Miguel? In your bum?' asked Charlotte.

Miguel responded: 'I had them in my boots. My feet will smell like chicken for the next three days!'

I'm a Celebrity continues Thursday at 7:30pm on Channel 10
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 9, 2020 / Skeena Resources Limited (TSX.V:SKE)(OTCQX:SKREF) ("Skeena" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the remaining analytical results from the 2019 Phase I surface exploration drilling program at the 100% owned Snip gold project ("Snip") located in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia. The 2019 exploration program consisted of 10 surface drill holes totaling 1,934 m which tested the 200 Footwall Corridor ("200 Footwall"). Reference images are presented at the end of this release as well as on the Company's website.

2019 Phase I Snip Project Drilling Highlights:

16.64 g/t Au over 5.10 m (S19-035) Including: 96.20 g/t Au over 0.50 m And 39.80 g/t Au over 0.85 m

57.90 g/t Au over 0.65 m (S19-041)

57.00 g/t Au over 0.50 m (S19-041)

12.00 g/t Au over 1.35 m (S19-043)

Core lengths are reported due to a lack of supporting data to properly calculate true widths. Length weighted composites were constrained by geological and grade considerations. Grade capping of individual assays has not been applied to the Au assays informing the length weighted composites. Samples below detection limit were nulled to a value of zero.

New Mineralization Intersected in 200 Footwall

Phase I surface drill hole S19-035 has successfully intersected a new zone of high-grade gold mineralization averaging 16.64 g/t Au over 5.10 m including two sub-intervals grading 96.20 g/t Au over 0.50 m and 39.80 g/t Au over 0.85 m in the 200 Footwall. This zone is located 100 m vertically below surface and 370 m east of the recently reported Phase I 200 Footwall discovery intercept which graded 1,131.91 g/t (36.39 oz/t) Au over 1.50 m (S19-044). The area surrounding the new zone is open down-dip and down-plunge.

The outstanding analytical results for drill holes S19-043 and S19-044 have been received. The high-grade intercept in S19-044 occurred at a depth of 249.60 m. Additional results for this drill hole include 12.60 g/t Au over 0.50 m and 7.41 g/t Au over 0.60 m occurring at 242.35 m and 214.80 m respectively.

Phase I drill hole S19-043 was completed prior to the newly discovered mineralization in drill hole

S19-044 and intersected anomalous gold grades associated with sheared veining including 12.00 g/t Au over 1.35 m. Recently completed modelling of the 200 Footwall mineralization indicates that this drill hole did not extend deep enough to adequately test the 200 Footwall and will be deepened during the next phase of drilling at Snip.

About Skeena

Skeena Resources Limited is a junior Canadian mining exploration company focused on developing prospective precious and base metal properties in the Golden Triangle of northwest British Columbia, Canada. The Company's primary activities are the exploration and development of the past-producing Snip mine and the Eskay Creek mine. In addition, the Company has completed a Preliminary Economic Assessment on the GJ copper-gold porphyry project.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Skeena Resources Limited,

Walter Coles Jr.

President & CEO

Qualified Persons

Exploration activities at the Eskay Creek Project are administered on site by the Company's Exploration Managers, Colin Russell, P.Geo. and Adrian Newton, P.Geo. In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Paul Geddes, P.Geo. Vice President Exploration and Resource Development, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has prepared, validated and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release. The Company strictly adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines in conducting, documenting, and reporting its exploration activities on its exploration projects.

Quality Assurance - Quality Control

Once received from the drill and processed, all drill core samples are sawn in half, labelled and bagged. The remaining drill core is subsequently securely stored on site. Numbered security tags are applied to lab shipments for chain of custody requirements. The Company inserts quality control (QC) samples at regular intervals in the sample stream, including blanks and reference materials with all sample shipments to monitor laboratory performance. The QAQC program was designed and approved by Lynda Bloom, P.Geo. of Analytical Solutions Ltd., and is overseen by the Company's Qualified Person, Paul Geddes, P.Geo, Vice President Exploration and Resource Development.

Drill core samples are submitted to ALS Geochemistry's analytical facility in North Vancouver, British Columbia for preparation and analysis. The ALS facility is accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard for gold assays and all analytical methods include quality control materials at set frequencies with established data acceptance criteria. The entire sample is crushed and 1kg is pulverized. Analysis for gold is by 50g fire assay fusion with atomic absorption (AAS) finish with a lower limit of 0.01 ppm and upper limit of 100 ppm. Samples with gold assays greater than 100ppm are re-analyzed using a 50g fire assay fusion with gravimetric finish. Analysis for silver is by 50g fire assay fusion with gravimetric finish with a lower limit of 5ppm and upper limit of 10,000ppm. Samples with silver assays greater than 10,000ppm are re-analyzed using a gravimetric silver concentrate method. A selected number of samples are also analyzed using a 48 multi-elemental geochemical package by a 4-acid digestion, followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS) and also for mercury using an aqua regia digest with Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) finish. Samples with sulfur reporting greater than 10% from the multi-element analysis are re-analyzed for total sulfur by Leco furnace and infrared spectroscopy.

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

Certain statements made and information contained herein may constitute "forward looking information" and "forward looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. These statements and information are based on facts currently available to the Company and there is no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward-looking statements and information may be identified by such terms as "anticipates", "believes", "targets", "estimates", "plans", "expects", "may", "will", "could" or "would". Forward-looking statements and information contained herein are based on certain factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, the estimation of mineral resources and reserves, the realization of resource and reserve estimates, metal prices, taxation, the estimation, timing and amount of future exploration and development, capital and operating costs, the availability of financing, the receipt of regulatory approvals, environmental risks, title disputes and other matters. While the Company considers its assumptions to be reasonable as of the date hereof, forward-looking statements and information are not guarantees of future performance and readers should not place undue importance on such statements as actual events and results may differ materially from those described herein. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or information except as may be required by applicable securities laws.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Table 1: Snip Project 2019 Phase I length weighted drill hole gold composites:

HOLE-ID FROM (m) TO (m) CORE LENGTH (m) AU (g/t) AREA S19-035 128.65 133.75 5.10 16.64 200 INCLUDING 128.65 129.15 0.50 96.20 200 AND 129.15 130.00 0.85 39.80 200 S19-041 80.00 81.50 1.50 5.89 HW S19-041 83.85 84.50 0.65 57.90 HW S19-041 94.10 94.60 0.50 57.00 200 S19-041 106.40 106.90 0.50 6.74 200 S19-042 63.32 67.00 3.68 6.72 HW INCLUDING 65.50 66.00 0.50 15.95 HW AND 66.00 66.50 0.50 18.45 HW S19-042 112.00 112.50 0.50 10.85 200 S19-043 167.65 169.00 1.35 12.00 HW S19-043 177.60 178.10 0.50 4.42 HW S19-044 214.80 215.40 0.60 7.41 UPPER S19-044 216.30 217.15 0.85 4.41 UPPER S19-044 242.35 242.85 0.50 12.60 LOWER

Core lengths are reported due to a lack of supporting data to properly calculate true widths. Length weighted composites were constrained by geological and grade considerations. Grade capping of individual assays has not been applied to the Au assays informing the length weighted composites. Samples below detection limit were nulled to a value of zero.

Table 2: Mine grid coordinate system Phase I drill hole locations and orientations:
Hsinchu, Taiwan , Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Andes Technology (TWSE: 6533), a leading supplier of high efficiency, low-power 32/64-bit RISC-V processor cores, has cooperated with more than 70 universities worldwide to date, after signing the first contract of industry-academia cooperation with National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) in 2010. Andes continues to provide CPU IP AndesCore licensing, software development tool AndeSight, and hardware development platforms to schools with licensing series from AndeStar V3 architecture to V5 version RISC-V processors. To promote sustainable development in academia, Andes Technology has actively invested various resources in colleges and universities for many years, including supporting schools with software/hardware equipment and participating establishment of joint laboratories with universities, etc. The total number of contracts with universities around the world is currently over 120. Andes believes in the concept of "technology comes from education" and hence has been working with various academic institutions for several years. It gives back to the academia through providing the most advanced RISC-V computing processor cores, SoC technology, complete training materials, professional teaching programs, practical industry experiences, unique certification exams, and many other technologies and services.

RISC-V draws increasing attention due to its market potential and future development with features such as open-source ISA, which is compact, modular and extensible. Many RISC-V enthusiasts in the industry and academia, whether in the United States, Europe, or Asia, are actively involved in developing an extensive range of RISC-V applications, which leads to a flourishing RISC-V ecosystem. With all 120 contracts, Andes provided the latest RISC-V software development tool, RISC-V ISA, debuggers, examples of project implementation, verification and performance analysis of algorithm to schools. In the course teaching section, National Tsing Hua University is the first one using the RISC-V software development tool AndeSight provided by Andes for compiler design courses, and further purchasing the RISC-V development platform Corvette F1 for teaching experimental courses and development of student projects. National Taiwan Universitys Computer Science and Information Engineering department has also started to use AndeSight for compiler design courses.

In the cooperation of CPU IP Cores licensing, the team led by Wai-Chi Fang, Professor in Department of Electronics Engineering (EE), NCTU, obtained the license of AndesCore V5 RISC-V N25 core computing processor through the cooperation. It is mainly used for security research and development. Currently, it has been successfully taped out at Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute; Professor Chen-Yi Lee's team in NCTU adopted Andes RISC-V DSP instruction extension core, to create a face recognition system with artificial intelligence, and published it at 2019 RISC-V Taiwan workshop. "We were surprised that a real-time face recognition system can effectively work with a single RISC-V digital signal processor and DSP-AI program development environment provided by Andes Technology. This means that in many emerging system applications and services, the platform can provide both low-cost and low-power solution, which is a big step forward in developing AIoT ecosystem", Professor Lee said. Yier Jin, Professor at the University of Florida, US, used AndesCore A25 processor core for research projects of IoT platforms and adopted the FPGA platform ADP-XC7K160 for development and verification. Dr. Yier Jin said:" Glad to have the opportunity to use Andes RISC-V A25 processor core in our IoT platform project. IoT data computing is very focused on security and reliability, and A25 meets the needs. We hope to carry on more researches through this platform, especially from the security perspective. "

AI has led a worldwide technology trend. Andes RISC-V instruction set architecture features the flexibility to allow developers to quickly implement many creative designs in the field of AI and IoT. Its high-performance and low-power are the keys to success. At present, in addition to the real-time face detection of Professor Lee's team from NCTU, the team of Professor Shanq-Jang Ruan from National Taiwan University of Science and Technology has also collaborated with Andes for AI to have deep learning accelerators using Andes Custom Extension (ACE) technology. With the ACE instructions, customers can add their own instructions to AndesCore. Users only need to create an ACE description file and related concise Verilog file to generate CPU with extended instructions and related software toolchain in a few tens of seconds.

Frankwell Lin, President of Andes Technology, said: "Education is the foundation of industrial development. The huge reason why Silicon Valley in the United States has become a center of information technology is that it has close ties with the researchers and talents from industry-academia cooperation with neighboring higher education institutions. Andes Technology has similar advantage in place, located at Hsinchu Science Park, and close to first-class universities. We are also devoted to expanding the range and the number to sign the industry-academia cooperation projects with the worlds top universities. Through the long-term cooperation, we hope to achieve talent cultivation, interact with higher research institutes, and fulfill corporate social responsibilities. Andes Technology will continue to invest human and material resources to support the RISC-V industry-academia cooperation project. "

For more information about Andes RISC-V processors, click http://www.andestech.com/markets.php

About Andes Technology

Andes Technology Corporation is a public listed company with well-established technology and teams to develop innovative high-performance/low-power 32/64-bit processor cores and associated development environment to serve worldwide rapidly growing embedded system applications.

The company delivers the best super low power CPU cores, including the new RISC-V series with integrated development environment and associated software and hardware solutions for efficient SoC design. Up to the end of 2018, the cumulative volume of Andes-Embedded SoCs has reached 3.5 billion with 2018 alone contributing over 1 billion.

To meet the demanding requirements of today's electronic devices, Andes Technology delivers configurable software/hardware IP and scalable platforms to respond to customers' needs for quality products and faster time-to-market. Andes Technology's comprehensive CPU includes entry-level, mid-range, high-end, extensible and security families to address the full range of embedded electronics products, especially for connected, smart and green applications. From 2017, Andes expands its product line to RISC-V processors and provides a total solution in V5 family cores, including N22, N25F/NX25F, D25F, A25/AX25, A25MP/AX25MP, A27/AX27/NX27V, A45/D45/N45 and AX45/DX45/NX45.
A broader Asia that broke away geographical boundaries is now beginning to take on a distinct form.

The rise of China as an economic powerhouse has enormous implications for the international order. Nowhere else is this more visible than in Asia, where the economic dependency of smaller states on China, and an interdependent and competitive economic policy vis-a-vis the West, has allowed Beijing to re-imagine a new normative order. It is undeniable that China is pushing its own agenda with a velocity and determination that has no parallels in the post-war era. Writing in his widely acclaimed book The China Dream, retired PLA colonel Liu Mingfu outlines the Chinese conception: 'In East Asias tribute system, China was the superior state, and many of its neighbouring states were vassal states, and they maintained a relationship of tribute and rewards... This was a special regional system through which they maintained friendly relations and provided mutual aid... The universal spread of China's civilisation and the variety of nations that sent emissaries to China were simply a reflection of the attractiveness of the central nation, and the admiration that neighbouring countries had for China's civilisation.'

The South China Sea: A Battle for the soul of the international order: Indeed, Asia is emerging as ground zero for the contest over the rules, norms and power relations that will define the international order. Already, Asia is characterised by two competing hierarchies. The first is the security hierarchy currently dominated by the United States. Since the 1950s, the United States built defence and economic ties with countries in the region through what is commonly referred to as the hub and spoke system. Through security treaties with Japan and Korea, America guaranteed the security of the East Asian order, allowing Japan, Taiwan, and other East Asian tiger economies to liberalise their markets and follow export-oriented development strategies. Today, most of these countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the Philippines, now have China as their leading trade partner. While the United States is still indispensable to the world economy, the economic heart of Asia lies in China, a trend that is likely to continue. The proliferation of colossal infrastructure schemes is only the most visible manifestation of the economic power China wields. New and shiny transcontinental rail lines across Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos; massive ports and sea routes passing through Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and culminating in Djibouti, all lead back to Beijing.

A rules-based order in the Pacific: India as a normative power: China's maritime history was never limited only to the South China Sea. From 1405, the intrepid commander Zheng He would sail towards the Indian Ocean with an armada that rivalled even the largest of the European fleets: the largest of his ships was 440 feet long, making Christopher Columbus's 85-foot Santa Maria look miniature in comparison. They sailed past India, and through the Persian Gulf, and went as far as present-day Somalia and Kenya in East Africa, carrying about 27,000 soldiers on 250 ships.

Twenty-first century China is no different. Through economic statecraft and military muscle-flexing, Beijing, as has been pointed out, has created a network of physical infrastructure and strategic dependency across the Pacific and Indian Ocean... China intends to create institutions, rules, and norms which give it the ability to enforce its preferences across the region. From territorial reclamations, rejection of maritime-dispute arbitration, establishment of an air-defence identification zone, and confrontations with regional powers, a Sino-centric regional order suggests an authoritarian approach to the region.

Speaking about this region in Washington, former US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson put it quite bluntly: The worlds centre of gravity is shifting to the heart of the Indo-Pacific. Interestingly enough, even until a few years ago, the phrase Indo-Pacific' was scarcely used. Depending on whom you asked, the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean were largely considered two separate spaces, with governments and scholars choosing to use the term Asia-Pacific instead In a 2007 speech delivered at the Indian Parliament, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke of the confluence of two seas. The Pacific and the Indian Oceans are now bringing about a dynamic coupling as seas of freedom and of prosperity, he said. A broader Asia that broke away geographical boundaries is now beginning to take on a distinct form.

How world leaders and states conceptualize geography is not a matter left simply to cartographers; it creates a mental map of how powerful nations understand the world. The idea of the Indo-Pacific breaks down the idea of East and South Asia being two separate areas. At the same time, it captures three interrelated patterns of interactions between the region's powers: the first is China's declared intention of developing a blue water navy and becoming a transcontinental economic giant. The second is India's emergence as a power to be reckoned with and a possible counterbalance to China. And the third, the role that the United States will play in shaping the contours of the seemingly irresistible shift in power from the Atlantic to Asia-Pacific. Taken together, the ideation of the 'Indo-Pacific region' captures the growing might, geopolitical interests, and normative visions of these powers, and its consequences for what is arguably the most dynamic region of the twenty-first century.

Continuing with his address, Tillerson outlined a vision for the United States and India, arguing that the two countries, with our shared goals of peace, security, freedom of navigation, and a free and open architecture-must serve as the eastern and western beacons of the Indo-Pacific. As the port and starboard lights between which the region can reach its greatest and best potential. Tillerson sought a rules-based order, which by its very definition denotes a predictable legalistic order. It implies that states will behave according to basic norms and standards. Clearly, Chinas aggression in the South China Sea, and its expansion into the Indian Ocean, is what prompted such calls.

That Tillerson should look to India to maintain this order is rather ironic considering India's ambivalence towards security pacts in Asia early in its history. In fact, in April 1955, Jawaharlal Nehru, prime minister of a poverty-stricken state still reeling from the violence of Partition and having only recently achieved independence, addressed the Asian-African Conference in Bandung. Here he denounced security pacts and great power politics, arguing that institutions such as Seato and Cento, the Central and South-East Asian counterparts to Nato, turned countries into camp followers Since the articulation of its policy of nonalignment, India has a long history of vetoing the exercise of unilateral power by the West. While India is not a revisionist power that seeks to completely redefine the contemporary international order, it does not seek to simply be co-opted into the existing international order that is controlled by the West as former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal noted. India is now ready to move from being a rule-taker in the international system to a rule-maker in its own right.

It is unquestionable that India will have an outsized role to play in regional and global governance. As the worlds largest democracy, and one of the leading economic powers, India's status on the global high table is increasingly being institutionalised. Gaining a seat on the G20, the global management table post 2008, itself reflected a shift from its usual solidarity with the G77, or the global trade union of developing countries It has simultaneously invested in institutions that have called for a greater voice for emerging powers in global governance such as BRICS and the AIIB, despite the fact that these groupings and institutions were designed fundamentally to challenge some of the biases of the liberal world order. In today's multi-conceptual world, India's foreign policy is best described by what the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee once called alignment with all. It is fair to argue that New Delhi has evolved well beyond non-alignment to what may be dubbed multi-alignment.

Excerpted from The New World Disorder and the Indian Imperative with permission from the publisher, Aleph
A police detective who fabricated a fake assault and lied under oath in order to imprison an innocent man has been spared jail time.

Former NYPD officer Michael Bergmann, 34, filed a criminal complaint claiming that a burglary suspect  whose car he had reportedly been pulling over for months in order to find grounds for his arrest  had tried to run him over in such a manner that the offending vehicle left skid marks on the ground.

The defendant locked eyes with me, turned the car into reverse, floored the vehicle into reverse approximately seven feet, Bergmann told the grand jury in a trial over the alleged attack.

As Im still yelling, the defendant put it in drive, turned the vehicle towards me to the point where I was in between his headlights, and if I didnt jump out of the way, I would have been under his vehicle.

Bergmann also claimed he sustained injuries to his elbow while diving out of the way. But surveillance footage unearthed by the defendants lawyers showed none of those stated claims to be true.

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The defendant, 44-year-old Pedro Barbosa, is reportedly seeking help with a drug problem that led to him falling behind on child support payments and had sometimes resorted to stealing change from apartment buildings laundry rooms, but had never been accused of violence, according to the Washington Post.

A suspended sentence for drug possession meant Bergmann could pull over Mr Barbosa whenever he saw him driving.

They would follow me wherever I went. Theyd tell me, Were going to get you off the streets, he told The Post. If they found anything in my car, even a screwdriver, theyd arrest me for possessing burglary tools.

As a result of Bergmanns claims, Mr Barbosa was charged with attempted first-degree assault of a police officer and various other offences, and faced a maximum jail sentence of 15 years, and a minimum of three and a half years.

But while he was remanded in New Yorks notorious Rikers Island prison, Mr Barbosas public defenders office in Brooklyn discovered footage of the incident.

It clearly shows an unmarked police car stopping alongside Mr Barbosas parked car. Appearing to recognise Bergmann as he steps out of the car, Mr Barbosa hastily drives off, neither reversing nor taking aim at the detective.

The charges were dropped and, in November, Bergmann pleaded guilty to perjury, making a false statement and official misconduct. Prosecutors asked for Bergmann to receive jail time of one year.

The district attorneys office expected Judge Danny Chun to sentence him to six months in prison, according the New York Daily News.

But on Wednesday, Mr Chun ruled that jail time was unnecessary, sentencing Bergmann to one day in prison, which he had already served. He will spend four years on probation.

Considering the crime that the defendant committed, I do find a six month incarceration ... would be unduly harsh, Mr Chun said.

Bergmann has been fired from the NYPD, but is reportedly looking for work as a firearms inspector.

 Nearly three-quarters of sex offenders removed from register by asking police

Michael Bergmann did one of the worst things a human being could ever do to another: give false testimony that would put them in jail wrongfully, said Mr Barbosas public defender, Scott Hechinger.He did so brazenly and maliciously. He lied in sworn testimony before a grand jury.

While Mr Hechinger describes the judges decision to undercut the prosecutions recommended sentencing as a rare step, he revealed it is not the first time Mr Chun has spared convicted police officers jail time in favour of probation.

One such case involved two NYPD officers convicted for having sex with a teenager in custody in exchange for her freedom, with the New York Post reporting Mr Chun questioned the victims credibility and said that both sides had been guilty of crimes relating to the bribe.

In another instance, he allowed a former NYPD officer who twice shot a man in the face and then tampered with the evidence to walk free.

Police lie because they know theyll rarely if ever be held to account, Mr Hechinger said. It is a good thing Bergmann was fired and prosecuted. But probation? I just hope that this punishment sends the necessary message of zero tolerance to all on the force. I fear it wont.

Police lying is an epidemic not just in the NYPD, but in police forces around the country.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 20:54:49|Editor: xuxin

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DHAKA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have begun arriving on the banks of the Turag River on the outskirts of Bangladesh capital Dhaka for the first phase of the second largest annual Muslim congregation called "Biswa Ijtema" after holy Hajj.

The three-day congregation will begin at Tongi Friday morning with religious sermons for millions of devotees from home and abroad.

The grand prayer at the congregation at Tongi will be held on Sunday, seeking divine blessings and welfare of all mankind.

The second phase of the Biswa Ijtema, which is being held in two phases since 2011 to avoid rush of pilgrims, will begin on the same venue on Jan. 17 and it will conclude with the offering of Akheri Munajat (concluding prayer) on Jan. 19.

Bangladeshi Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said that stringent security measures have been taken ahead of the Bishwa Ijtema.

Control rooms, watch towers and close circuit camera have been installed to avert any untoward incidents there to oversee people's movement.

To ensure safety and security of the devotees and maintain law and order, thousands of different law-enforcing agencies have been deployed in and around the 60-hectare Ijtema ground, the main venue of the congregation.

Alongside CCTV, Bangladesh's anticrime elite force Rapid Action Battalion Director General (DG) Benazir Ahmed said, helicopters, drones and patrol boats will be deployed to ensure full-proof security.

Organizers say standby airport transport service has been arranged for tens of thousands of devotees expected from at least 27 countries and regions.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - The fourth and final round of talks between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan on Ethiopias construction of a controversial dam on the Nile River concluded Thursday without producing an agreement.

The two days of negotiations in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, of top officials from the three countries were hoped to reach agreements on technical issues related to the $4.6 billion dam that Ethiopia is building along the Nile River, which flows into Sudan and Egypt.

The Egyptian delegation came up with a new matrix for the dam filling process, Sileshi Bekele, Ethiopias Minister for Water and Energy, told reporters. He said that Egypt asked Ethiopia to extend the time it takes to fill the dam from 12 years to 21 years.

This was not acceptable to us at all. I dont think the Egyptian delegation was in a spirit of reaching an agreement when they came here for this meeting, said Bekele.

Egypt wants the dam to be filled more slowly in order to reduce the restriction on the flow of the Nile through Egypt, which depends on the river for the irrigation of its agriculture.

The Ethiopian minister disclosed that his country will nonetheless start filling the dam in July 2020 at the start of the countrys rainy season.

We have narrowed our differences on many other issues, including the drought mitigation strategy, he said. However, he complained that the Egyptian delegation had an attitude that this dam was not necessary for Ethiopia.

The water and energy ministers from the three countries are now expected to meet in Washington D.C. on Monday to report on the progress they made so far. The United States and The World Bank observers to the talks.
Jellyfish numbers have exploded all around Australia's coastline and climate change is to blame, according to experts.

The gelatinous blobs shed 'polyps' as part of their life cycle, which attach to hard surfaces in the sea, like coral reefs and jetties.

In warmer weather the polyps can spawn baby jellyfish called ephyra larvae. This usually occurs when the water temperature hits around 26 degrees.

Scientists say that, thanks to climate change, this is happening more regularly making the waters around Australia the perfect breeding ground for stingers.

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Jellyfish numbers have exploded all around Australia's coastline and climate change is to blame, according to experts (Bondi beach pictured on Christmas Day 2019)

Jarvis Aland, a jellyfish handler at the Sea Life Aquarium in Melbourne, said higher temperatures speed up both processes, creating rapid population growth.

'There are much bigger blooms of jellyfish because warmer weather encourages the release of polyps. It speeds up the lifecycle a little bit more,' Mr Aland told WAtoday.

'Thats when you start to get massive productions  once they release,' he said.

Their food source, plankton, a water-dwelling plant that grows from sunlight, has also become abundant with warmer temperatures.

There are more than 2000 different kinds of jellyfish, with 70 kinds harmful to humans.

Some jellyfish, including bluebottles, are a collection of organisms living together which each perform a different role. Some organisms catch the food while others digest it.

Warmer temperatures are speeding up the life-cycle processes of jellyfish and creating the perfect environment for them to reproduce (stock image)

Jellyfish only live for nine months but can breed very well and also live longer in the right temperature conditions.

Scientists believe jellyfish numbers have been been driven by humans who have overfished their natural predators.

Too many jellyfish are detrimental for the ocean's ecosystem as they consume food that other fish could eat and release stingers into the water.

Claire Rowe, who studies jellyfish at the Australian Museum in Sydney, said humans are encouraging jellyfish domination.

'Were kind of helping them along. If anything, were making the environment better for them,' she said.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday said he will not quit till he has ensured the welfare of every citizen of the state.

Addressing the Punjab Youth Congress' (PYC) newly elected office-bearers including its president Barinder Singh Dhillon here, Singh said that he will "continue to lead the state towards growth and development".

Scion of the erstwhile Patiala's royal family, Singh had earlier announced that the 2017 Assembly polls would be his last political battle. However, in 2018 Singh said that he would not hang up his boots until the state was taken out of the "mess".

The Congress had stormed to power in Punjab, under Singh's leadership, by winning 77 of the 117 seats and wrested power from the SAD-BJP combine in the 2017 polls.

"This is my state, you are all my people... I will always be here for you and will not go anywhere till I have ensured the welfare of every citizen, jobs for the youth and opportunities for all to grow in a progressive state," the 77-year-old senior leader said.

He assured the newly elected office bearers of his support in ensuring holistic development of the state.

The chief minister further exhorted the youth to come forward to protect and safeguard the nation and its Constitutional principles of democracy and secularism.

"The Congress was the only party that can provide secular, democratic rule," he said, describing the situation prevailing in the country today as "extremely distressing".

The Congress fought for India's independence and the Constitution was framed on the Preamble of a socialist secular democratic republic, he pointed out.

Although various Articles of the Constitution have since been amended but the Preamble has remained untouched, he added.

The Preamble cannot be allowed to be tinkered with, said Singh, lashing out at the alleged "current attempts" by the BJP government to "divide" the nation.

"What prevails today is not Lok Raj but goonda raj. We all know what happened with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Uttar Pradesh," he said, underlining the need for youth to take the lead in saving the country.

Referring to his government's development agenda for Punjab, the chief minister said he was thinking of ways and means to revive the state's economy.

He also accused the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) of "ruining the state to promote their self-interest".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chennai, Jan 9 : The value of direct holdings of Ambadi Investments Ltd in the listed companies of the Murugappa Group was about Rs 9,484 crore, states a November 2019 credit rating report by Crisil Limited.

The Ambadi Investments is the family holding company of the promoters of the Rs 37,000 crore industrial conglomerate Murugappa Group which is now caught in the midst of a gender bias controversy.

However, a perception strategist is of the view that the controversy will not have any impact on the group or its brand in the short or in the long run.

The Murugappa Group and Ambadi Investments hit the headlines recently with the US-based Valli Arunachalam, the daughter of late M.V. Murugappan, alleging that the group promoters have a gender bias against women getting into family business and hence she and her sister were denied a board berth in Ambadi Investments Ltd after their father's death in 2017.

According to Arunachalam, her family holds about 8.15 per cent stake in Ambadi Investments.

According to the Crisil report, Ambadi Investments' financial flexibility is healthy, supported by the market value of its investments in group's listed companies - E.I.D. Parry India Ltd (38.47 per cent shareholding), Carborundum Universal Ltd (29.63 per cent), Tube Investments of India Ltd (36.36 per cent), Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company (4.31 per cent) and Cholamandalam Financial Holdings Ltd (37.91 per cent).

"The market value of AIL's (Ambadi Investments) direct shareholding in these companies was Rs 9,484 crore, as on October 14, 2019. This provides healthy cover of over 20 times for the rated debt. AIL may retain its current holdings except to retire the rated debt," Crisil said.

In its report on Ambadi Investments, the credit rating agency Crisil, on November 13, 2019, reaffirmed its A1+ rating for the company's Rs 150 crore commercial paper programme.

According to the report, Ambadi Investments is likely to receive steady dividend inflows from its direct shareholding in the Murugappa group's operating companies.

The credit rating agency said the dividend inflow for Ambadi Investments is expected to be sufficient to meet internal fund requirements.

Crisil said Ambadi Investments has strong liquidity supported by debt free balance sheet and healthy cash accruals of over Rs 80 crore annually.

For the year ended March 31, 2019, Ambadi Investments had a total income of Rs 145 crore and a profit after tax of Rs 128 crore.

According to Crisil, Ambadi Investments has a diversified investment portfolio and benefits from strong risk profiles of the listed companies in the group as well as the strong reputation of the Murugappa group.

To a query on how the 'gender bias' allegation to impact the Murugappa group's reputation Jhon Arokiasamy, perception strategist, Persona Leaders told IANS that "there are two aspects to the issue, legalese and the public perception that is playing out for both the parties concerned".

"Unfortunately, when it comes to female gender diversity of corporate boards the Indian average is abysmally low in comparison to the western average which is even around 40 per cent where some companies even meet the critical mass capacity,", said Arokiasamy, who has handled corporate crisis scenarios in the past and is now a noted poll strategist.

According to him, the holding company of Murugappa group family Ambadi Investments may have a temporary setback of being perceived as one lacking gender diversity or being biased to female gender despite the fact that it may not be a mandatory requirement probably as in this case.

"Also, I don't think it would have any major adverse impact on the other brands of the group now or in the longer run," Arokiasamy added.

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)
There has been an escalation of industrial action by school secretaries with a one day strike called for this Friday, January 10, the first week back from the school break. This will be followed by a withdrawal from all work on public service systems and local databases.

At a meeting last Saturday in the Forsa union offices in Dublin, some of the details of the action were clarified, and following the meeting, all marched down to the Department of Education and Skills offices in Marlborough Street to mark the start of their action.

Frank Considine from St Clares PS in Manorhamilton and Largy NS, Kinlough, and all other school secretaries were full of optimism as their Forsa negotiating team entered into discussions under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission with the Department of Education and Skills and employers representatives, certain that the New Year of 2020 would bring a final resolution for them, and equal recognition as their DES 78/79 colleagues, of Grade 3/4 Public Services pay-scales and terms and conditions.

With such enormous enthusiasm right across the country following the rousing debate in the Dail at the end of October, and Minister Joe McHughs firm commitment to school secretaries, how sickening it was, to learn only the week before Christmas, that talks had broken down as a result of the derisory and insulting offer of simply a percentage increase in their rate, said Frank.

For so, so many, a 1.5% increase of nothing was still nothing. It did not pretend to address the core issue of equality for all, and the final end of this national disgrace, as described by so many TDs that afternoon in the Dail.

Forsa had no choice other than to leave and call on members to step up their campaign, explained Frank.

Frank will be demonstrating outside of St Clares PS on Friday morning, and is looking forward, as on the one hours demonstration last year, to welcoming his fellow colleagues, parents and friends who are able to join him in the morning.

Frank will then be joining dozens of more school secretaries and their supporters at a rally outside Minister McHughs constituency office in Letterkenny at 1pm that afternoon.

The withdrawal of all work on public services systems and local databases will have a much more significant impact.

The routine operations of the school, along with, for example, substitutes salaries in particular, will be hugely impacted, and with the INTO promising that their members will not interfere in any way, it is sincerely hoped that the Department will very quickly realise that school secretaries mean business this time.

"We will seek to return to negotiations with a genuine resolve to conclude them properly, and quickly, and thereby minimise the serious disruption the withdrawal of labour is sure to cause a great many others, said Frank.
Bitcoin is a famous cryptocurrency, though it is mysterious at the same time. Bitcoin has been ruling our economic infrastructure for 10 years now. Bitcoin is the first choice of traders and businessmen. You will be amazed to know that despite the presence of the stock market, people are more interested in investing in digital currencies like Bitcoin, Litcoin, and Ethereum among others.

It will not be wrong to say that Bitcoin has been the king of cryptocurrencies ever since its origin. Having that said, it is quite surprising that the people have little or no idea about Bitcoin and its whereabouts.

Well, worry not if you too are one of those living under the rock! This article shall be eye-opening for you. Trust me, you wont yawn to sleep and Bitcoin is not that boring as it sounds. There are a lot of cool, interesting facts about it.

Who invented Bitcoin? Nobody knows!

However, one name is remembered a lot when it comes to Bitcoin and that is Satoshi Nakamoto. Weird, right? Now, you may think that why is it so? The reason is pretty simple that when the whitepaper for Bitcoin was released to the public, it was under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto. He is said to be one of the program developers of the project Bitcoin. However, this person named Satoshi Nakamoto never came out in front of the public and thus his identity remains a mystery to date. He is accused of disappearing leaving the project.

Many people like Craig Wright, an Australian entrepreneur tried to gain fame and use the popularity of Bitcoin by claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto, but he was soon busted. The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto remains a mystery till date.

While reading this articles if you are thinking of investing in Bitcoin, then you can start bitcoin trading online today. Visit any online trading website like Bitcoin Era App today to earn money easily.

Keep special care of your private key

You need to take special care of your private keys. Without these private keys, you cannot get access to your own Bitcoin account and all your Bitcoin and efforts will be wasted. Neither you nor any other person will be able to use Bitcoins and they will be gone forever.

You will be shocked to know that till now 25 percent of Bitcoin is forever lost.

Do you know what is May 22 celebrated for?

Do you know what May 22 stands for? Think harder! You almost got itStill cant get it? Well, 22 May is celebrated as Bitcoin pizza day. Sound amazing, right? Now, you may be busy brainstorming that why is it celebrated as a Bitcoin pizza day?

The reason is pretty simple! On 22 May 2010, two pizzas were purchased by Laszlo Hanyecz for 10,000 BTC at Papa Johns pizza. Shocked, right? Ten years ago in 2010, the value of Bitcoin was pretty less. At that time 10000 Bitcoins were 41 dollars. However, now the price of Bitcoin has hiked up and the value of 10000 BTC is $25.8 million.

Bitcoin cannot be banned!

Just like lovers, there are also too many haters of Bitcoin because it works outside the jurisdiction banking system. Many of the countries like Bangladesh, Bolivia, Thailand, and Vietnam have already tried to block Bitcoin but have been successful because the design of Bitcoin is such that it cannot be banned as long as there are an internet connection and Bitcoin wallets, there is no stopping you. You are good to go! On the other hand, some countries like Australia, Russia, and Japan have made Bitcoin their official tender and are regulating it.

Having said that at last, I would like to say that Bitcoin is one of the most revolutionary technology breakthroughs of the 21st century. Many cryptocurrencies came and left after Bitcoin, but Bitcoin stood the test of time and firmly held its ground. Bitcoin is here to stay!
Many of Moores students have never been to the Smithsonian, which is not surprising considering their school, on the grounds of U.S. Naval Hospital Guam, is 7,900 miles away from Washington, D.C. But thanks to a little-known program involving the worlds largest museum complex and the Department of Defense, these military-connected students are treated to a treasure trove of art that many other American students never get to see.
Venezuelan philosopher, Antonio Pasquali, who wrote extensively about how media and society affected each other, passed away on Oct. 5, 2019, in Spain.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/1/2020 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

Venezuelan philosopher, Antonio Pasquali, who wrote extensively about how media and society affected each other, passed away on Oct. 5, 2019, in Spain.

In 1984, Pasquali was appointed Deputy Director General of the Communications Sector of UNESCO and Regional Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean of UNESCO from 1986-1989. He played an important role in UNESCOs New World Information and Communication discussions.

Pasqualis contributions to media studies are well-known in Latin America, but his research is less known in the English-speaking world. His research on media and communication inspired many Latin American scholars and media practitioners  including myself  who place ethics at the centre of the discussion.

Pasquali was a fierce critic of Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhans view that "the medium is the message"  that the medium in which things are disseminated determines their meaning. Always returning to human communication as the basis of relationships between people, Pasquali warned us about the necessary conceptual and practical difference between communication and media.

For Pasquali, the ability to communicate is inherent to the formation of society. And so, any modification or control of communications becomes to a modification or control of society itself. He argued that technological changes, with their benefits and disruptions, have yet to transform the essence of human communication.

Pasqualis work is important to consider because he warned us about some troubling challenges that we can see around us.

Six trends that will change communication

Pasquali wrote about the ethics of communication, or what he called "the moral dimension of communication." In his book 18 essays about communications, he identified "six hard trends" that would mark humanitys future:

1) A process of human-made environmental degradation that approaches the point of no return, as in the impending ecological crisis brought about by climate change and its consequences;

2) Human interference in natural evolutionary processes. He warned of advances in genetic engineering that bring hope for the treatment of diseases and also open the door to sophisticated mechanisms of social engineering and control;

3) Challenging the very idea of what being human is by: a) machines combined with living beings (cyborgs), and b) by the shift of human decision-making to artificial intelligence that could make humans irrelevant and even disposable. This will require new ways of understanding the relations between digital machines and humans;

4) The persistence of nuclear, bacteriological, chemical and terrorist dangers, in a context of political polarization coupled with the emergence of extremist ideologies that could lead to internal and external violent confrontations;

5) The consolidation of the disparity between rich and poor that is already generating social unrest in different regions, as we have seen recently in Latin America and the Middle East;

6) The transformation of democracy into a plutocratic dictatorship (the government by the wealthy) based on the technological manipulation of social consensus, as illustrated in the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal.

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The importance of public media

Pasquali was persistent in his struggle to establish a public broadcasting service in Latin American countries. His passion in defence of the need for a public media service never declined, and seems to be more relevant than ever in the midst of the Internet explosion.

Pasquali observed that the internet is now largely controlled by monopolies such as Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple, and manipulated by big emerging powers like China. He vehemently denounced the "communication hegemony" of the authoritarian government of Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro. Pasquali documented the setbacks that the regime has inflicted on Venezuelan society from the point of view of telecommunications, the media and transportation infrastructure.

Renouncing communication?

At the end of his essay "Will we communicate or inform ourselves?," Pasquali wondered if we are ready to give up a fundamental condition for our existence  the ability and experience of communication. For him, communication was a mixture of intellect, passions and will that was intrinsic to how people made meaning, personally and socially. He asked: "Are we going to give up without a fight the possibility of communicating to another human being that we love him/her?"

The great body of work that Pasquali produced will help us to answer these fundamental questions about the future of communication. Pasqualis intellectual legacy will live on through his writings and teachings.

Isaac Nahon-Serfaty is an associate professor at the University of Ottawa.

This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca.
Chinas stellar rise from backwater to economic and technological powerhouse has dramatically transformed the worlds energy markets. Especially the oil sector has been affected due to the Middle Kingdom's impressive growth in demand. Size matters when youre a large producer or importer. In 2017 China dethroned the U.S. as the worlds largest importer of the most important commodity. While the Asian country's economic expansion is an opportunity for producers, traders have a much harder time when it comes to deciding on a fair price based on simple supply and demand principles.

For decades the preeminence of the U.S. as the world's biggest consumer and importer of oil satisfied traders' desire for detailed information to determine the price of oil. Until recently China wasnt able to match the same level of exposure. However, technological developments have improved the availability of timely data that is more complete and trustworthy.

Chinas effort to diversify

In general energy dependence on foreign producers is regarded as a weakness due to two reasons: production and transportations risks. The former concerns reliance on external political entities who could by nature of the dependence extract concessions such as the alleged Russian dominance of the European gas market. The second involves supply disruptions where an entity can disrupt logistics with disastrous consequences for the importer.

A majority of Chinas seaborne oil goes through the Strait of Malacca which is regarded as one of the worlds most important chokepoints. Beijing, therefore, has made it one of its foreign policy objectives to diversify and reduce the risk of supply disruptions. Related: Billions In Worthless Assets Plague The Oil & Gas Industry

Although China is the biggest importer of oil, the country is blessed with several large producers on its doorstep (albeit not in a geographically favorable location). Several significant pipeline projects are funded with Chinese money and constructed by largely Chinese companies to diversify export routes and bring energy to inland regions. Thus, it serves two goals at the same time.

Three corridors can be identified originating from Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, and Central Asia. Pipelines have the advantages that they can be monitored with relative ease compared to ships, which improves the availability of data that can be used for determining accurate supply and demand insights.

Improving the flow of information

Until 1993 China was self-sufficient when it comes to oil. The rapid growth in demand has created many opportunities for producers. While domestic production has seen moderate growth over the years, imports have risen to approximately 10.04 mb/d in 2019. Consumption data from the worlds most populous country tends to be slow and without many details. Therefore the availability of more information promises to be a boon for traders. Related: The Middle East Oil Conflict That Could Be Bigger Than The Iran Crisis

Technological developments are improving market participants understanding of the import of crude oil in China and the export of refined products. A large portion of the countrys energy is shipped by relatively small tankers that are more difficult to track. Hence knowing how many vessels arrive in China, gives a more detailed view of imports.

Also, the monitoring of ship-to-ship transfers has shown that a considerable amount of oil originating from Iran and Venezuela ends up in China. Consequentially, the U.S. imposed sanctions on an affiliate of COSCO which was dealing in illicit oil trade from the Middle East.

Besides information on volumes, technological developments are also improving the availability of data concerning the type of crude grades carried into mainland China. Traders will see an improvement in their ability to estimate the global availability and demand for energy.

Going into 2020, China will remain the most important market for energy. The improvement of the flow of information is a key characteristic of an advanced economy. Therefore, it is not a matter of "if" but a matter of "when" the world's second-largest economy will provide more tools to monitor in detail the movement of energy in and out of its borders.

By Vanand Meliksetian for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
For 50 minutes on a recent weekday morning, Debora Moore's digital photography students received a private tour of the Smithsonian - from their classroom in Guam.

Using high-end videoconferencing equipment, Smithsonian American Art Museum educator Peg Koetsch showcased two dozen carefully selected photographs from SAAM's world-class collection - including works by Walker Evans, Man Ray and Barbara Morgan, renowned for photographing dancers - to illustrate a lesson about composition, camera angle, and positive and negative space.

Many of Moore's students have never been to the Smithsonian, which is not surprising considering their school, on the grounds of U.S. Naval Hospital Guam, is 7,900 miles away from Washington, D.C. But thanks to a little-known program involving the world's largest museum complex and the Department of Defense, these military-connected students are treated to a treasure trove of art that many other American students never get to see.

"I wasn't familiar with the images, but I was inspired to go look at those artists," junior Khyla Jones, 16, said after the class. Jones has never visited the Smithsonian, but the lesson inspired her to change that. "Once I get to the States, that is something I want to do," she said.

The partnership between the Smithsonian museum and the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), the unit responsible for 163 schools on military bases in the United States and around the world, began quietly in 2004. It has reached more than 40,000 military-connected students in 71 elementary, middle and high schools in Italy, Japan, South Korea and throughout the United States.

In addition to providing videoconferences for students, SAAM's educators provide professional development seminars for teachers working at the schools. The partners signed another five-year contract this summer, ensuring the program continues through 2024. DoDEA pays the museum about $150,000 annually.

The museum's educators provide lessons in art and art history as well as English language arts, social studies and even science and math. Teachers in DoDEA schools submit requests to the museum's education department specifying the topics they want to cover, and the museum staffers mine the collection for ways to address them. The list of past subject areas includes surrealism, the Harlem Renaissance, the art of persuasion, the Civil War and Italian mathematician Fibonacci.

"Everything is customized, for the teacher, the class, the region," said Chris Phillips, DoDEA's Specialized Content Program Manager."It has a very positive impact on our students and their learning. They are enhancing what we are doing already, not supplementing or taking the place of something. They make it interactive, and it brings (the lessons) to life."

The foundation of the program is the museum's collection, said Carol Wilson, SAAM's head of education. There are more than 40,000 digitized images available for lessons, representing 88 percent of the museum's holdings.

"We treat it like a primary source - like a journal or a letter. You're seeing what's on the mind of artists during the Civil War, or Reconstruction, or the Great Depression," Wilson said of the artwork. "There are so many ways to pull the thread through our collection. It's learning about who we are as Americans through the things we have made over hundreds of years."

The museum was already providing some distance learning when it first submitted a proposal to the Department of Defense. "It was a way to broaden our reach and make American art more available to Americans living in other places," Wilson said.

It was a Monday evening in the District of Columbia when Koetsch connected to Moore's classroom in Guam, where the 15-hour time difference meant that it was 8 a.m. on Tuesday. Koetsch stood before a green wall - think of a TV forecaster standing in front of a weather map - and gestured to the photographs she knew her remote audience would be seeing on a large video monitor in their classroom.

Her lessons ended at 7 p.m. her time, after six videoconferences in a 12 1/2-hour workday that began with back-to-back 90-minute classes. She sometimes works through the night, she said, giving classroom conferences and professional development seminars at 3 and 4 a.m. if that is the best time for schools in other parts of the world.

At least the technology has improved. When the program started, the museum would ship special equipment from base to base to allow the schools to receive the audio/visual feed. Now, they email an internet link to the teacher, who uses a computer and webcam to connect.

On occasion, a teacher will request a videoconference that the museum can't deliver, Koetsch said. When a teacher asked for a lesson on the Tuskegee Airmen - the African American World War II fighter pilots - Koetsch said the collection wasn't suited for that. But after a discussion of the teacher's goals, they decided to use SAAM's extensive holdings of paintings by 20th- century African American painter William H. Johnson to illustrate the different ways African Americans served in the war.

Moore, the Guam High School art teacher, said the program benefits her students because it offers new perspectives along with exceptional art.

"(I) might be teaching the lesson one way and then a museum educator or curator has a different viewpoint. They always bring in fresh ideas," Moore said. "And it's really nice that they can bring in artists that we might not know about. It pushes the kids to the next level of thinking, about what kind of photographer they might want to be."
Five years ago this week, the Said and Cherif Kouachi brothers walked into the offices of the illustrated French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and opened fire with Kalashnikovs. This act itself was brutal and disgusting. And it was also absurd: a massacre of a dozen cartoonists and satirists.

But Western politics has been being transformed by this act, and the year it ushered in, 2015, was the year that the Tories won a surprise majority in Parliament, setting in motion the Brexit referendum of 2016. It was the year of Angela Merkels statement We can do it  when she offered to welcome 1 million refugees in defiance of the Dublin accords. It was the year Donald Trump took his ride down the escalator and into the presidential race. It was the year in which Abdelhamid Abaaoud used the flow of refugees to travel between Syria and Europe while he masterminded the Bataclan-theater massacre that claimed 131 victims that November. It was after the Bataclan that Ann Coulter said, They can wait if they like until next November for the actual balloting, but Donald Trump was elected president tonight. People laughed. But she was right.

Some reacted to the Charlie Hebdo massacre by asking for more restrictions on speech that punches down or criticizes groups of people who are on the margins of society. But for a larger set of people, the event joined the cause of free speech with open and hostile criticism of Islam and Islamic immigration. It linked free speech with criticism of a dunderheaded and naive elite. Without a robust culture of free speech and offense-giving, terrorists would dictate the limits of permissible debate and speech. Without free speech, a mandarin political class would continue to impose the open borders agenda that they deemed good even if all the consequences of it were intolerable.

There were, I think, two distinct manifestations of this new politics. Most substantially, there was the rise of populist nationalism and the center bending toward it. Hungarys Viktor Orban was already steering in this direction from the start of the migration crisis, and his stature in Europe rose as a result. European political parties such as Polands Law and Justice or Italys Lega rose as well. If one word could be used to describe their political project it is custodianship: custodianship of a nation-state, a culture, or a people. For nationalists, the nation matters because it is theirs. Putatively liberal leaders including Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel have responded to this challenge by making a show of becoming hawkish about borders. Macron engaged in practically staged confrontations on the issue, and Merkel made a deal with Turkey to keep refugees from continuing to flood into Europe.

Story continues

Second, Charlie Hebdo seemed to radicalize a certain type of liberal and even push them toward the political Right. These men and women are generally upwardly mobile, secular in outlook, and iconoclastic, and theyve become convinced that social egalitarianism is now an obstacle between a sound mind and the truth about the world. And perhaps its also an obstacle to equality before the law. The progressive project of achieving equal esteem was taking the form of special rights for marginalized groups. For these radicals of the center, the truth is that there are better and worse cultures, better and worse religions to have in your society, better and worse people. Or, most dangerously, better and worse groups of people. If multiculturalism means anything, it means that cultural differences matter. Does it not.? The newly radicalized are deeply offended by identity-politics movements that would forbid the free interplay of cultures by policing appropriation. For them, cultural appropriation is a source of strength, confidence, genius, and a sign of good humor. This radical liberal is embarrassed by populist nationalism insofar as it resembles identity politics to him. Although many of these liberals might be lumped into parties that have nationalist convictions, they are cosmopolitans of a sort. Their nation matters to them because they deem it good. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is far more likely to fit into this camp than with Orban-style nationalists.

But even five years on from Charlie Hebdo, Im not sure that our politics has developed a sufficient response to the problems this terrorist attack revealed to us. The secularism of France and the English-speaking world was built to contain and constrain the Christian church as a vehicle of majoritarian prejudice. How can secularism be applied to members of the Islamic ummah, a minority who dont easily fit into its categories? Islams understanding of the world and the state differs in profound ways from the one that is the inheritance of the Christian West.

This absurd and appalling event revealed to us a profound and distressing fissure in the life of the West, and while the political consequences keep rolling in, we are still far from comprehending the depth of the chasm opening before us.

More from National Review
NORMAL  A Bloomington man has been arrested in connection with the New Year's Eve shooting death of Tariq L. Houston.

Dewon I.C. Griffin, 19, was arrested late Wednesday afternoon on first-degree murder charges related to the death of Houston, Normal police announced late Wednesday night.

Normal police made the arrest, in collaboration with the U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force, at a residence in the 400 block of West Chestnut Street in Bloomington.

Griffin is being held in the McLean County jail in lieu of bond on a first-degree murder charge, Normal police said.

The McLean County State's Attorney's Office is reviewing the case to determine if additional charges are appropriate.

Houston, 17, of Springfield and recently of Decatur, was shot in the abdomen and died of the wound, McLean County Coroner Kathy Yoder has said. Police found Houston in a parking lot outside Heartland Village Apartments in the 1700 block of Putnam Avenue in northwest Normal after someone called 911 at 11:40 p.m. on New Year's Eve.

Normal Police Chief Rick Bleichner said that Houston attended a party, a disagreement between two groups escalated, shots were fired and Houston was struck.

Last Friday, Garrett R. Ahlfield, 18, of Bloomington, was arrested for allegedly firing shots near Houston after Houston was fatally wounded but those shots didn't hurt anyone and did not result in Houston's death.

Contact Paul Swiech at 309-820-3275. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_swiech.
Every band member is included in every step of the process. A band member might bring something to the group, which then comes together to listen and throw out new ideas. Described as a Nashville-like recording process, Holly aims to keep everyone included in the songwriting process. It obviously helps when youve played so long together, said Bednar. You get those second nature kind of understanding of each other rhythmically, as well as where youre going next and what kind of songs youre writing.
Ask Clayton Conway about the worst seat on a plane, and he'll tell you about the time he flew from Denver to Seattle on Frontier Airlines.

"It was the worst flight experience I've ever had," says Conway, who manages a digital marketing agency on Camano Island, Washington. "I was seated in a bulkhead seat that not only didn't recline, but was also kitty-corner to a restroom. So every restroom visitor would inadvertently waft the nose-wrecking toilet stench directly toward me. It was horrific, and there was no escape."

Which airline seat is the worst? That's a hard question to answer with any specificity. On an American Airlines Boeing 737-800, for example, the seat-rating site SeatGuru warns of several "bad" seats, denoted in red. They include all the seats in row 30, at the back of the aircraft. The reasons are obvious: Like Conway's, the seats in row 30 are next to lavatories and don't fully recline.

But all the row 30 seats aren't equally bad. The middle ones - 30B and 30E - are particularly torturous. You're unable to recline, subject to the smell of an airline lavatory and confined on both sides by other passengers. It doesn't get much worse than that.

If you're worried about getting a bad airline seat, it pays to check multiple sources before booking. Consult SeatGuru or another site, such as SeatMaestro, or talk to a travel adviser. Here's a short list of "don'ts":

-Don't buy the cheapest ticket. "Step back from the computer and the thirst to score the lowest fare," says Jeff Klee, CEO of CheapAir. Instead, he says, make a list of "must-haves" when picking a flight. Do you need an assigned seat? Do you need a window or an aisle? Extra legroom? Make sure the flight you book has all of your must-haves. Sure, you'll have to pay extra. "But you'll be glad you did on your travel day," Klee says.

Years ago, when my family lived in Austria, my parents found the cheapest fares from New York to Vienna on Tarom, the Romanian flag carrier. Our seats were in the back of the aircraft, next to the lavatories, with zero recline - and in the smoking section.

-Don't wait until the last minute to book. If you buy a cheap ticket at the last minute, you're practically asking to end up in 30B. Exception: If you book an unrestricted economy class or business class seat, you're in luck. Most airlines set aside a few choice seats for big spenders.

-Don't forget to vet your carrier. Not all airlines are the same, says Tim Leffel, author of "The World's Cheapest Destinations." For example, domestic airlines such as JetBlue and Southwest have reputations for providing more legroom. For some trips, Leffel also suggests looking at a low-cost airline such as Mexico's Interjet that's "known for not jamming in so many seats."

-Sometimes it's not a matter of avoiding a particular seat, but an entire airline. Conway's experience is a case in point. Frontier Airlines - part of a group of ultra-low-cost carriers that includes Allegiant Air and Spirit Airlines - is not known for seat comfort or amenities.

-If you don't have a seat assignment, mind your manners. "Don't dress badly, be rude, loud or otherwise self-important," says frequent flier Matt Woodley, who writes a blog about international moves. According to Woodley, nothing says "I belong in the middle seat" like "traveling in your jammies, being loud and obnoxious or incessantly bugging the gate agents about how important you are, how long you've been waiting or how important your appointment at the other end is." Ticket agents can and do judge you based on your appearance or behavior. They're only human.

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.

It's worth exploring why air travel somehow feels worse these days. My family's flight on a communist-era Romanian airline was, in many respects, less degrading than air travel today. No one demanded that we pay extra to sit together. The seats, despite their undesirable location, came with a humane amount of legroom, even in economy class. The flight attendants served two meals and drinks at no extra cost.

Airlines use our collective fear of the worst seat to prod us into paying extra for seats that have the same amount of legroom we had on that Tarom flight. They know we'll fork over more money to avoid the 30Bs of the world, or to avoid being separated from our kids. In short, our fear of getting stuck on the worst seat on the plane is a powerful tool for increasing profits. But now you know how to avoid it.

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Elliott is a consumer advocate, journalist and co-founder of the advocacy group Travelers United.
Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Areas talks on his resolve to support pig farmers following the African swine fever crisis.

Nguyen Xuan Cuong. Photo danviet.vn

What has Vietnam been doing to ensure there will be no shortage of pork during the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) in late January?

In early 2019 Vietnam was hit by African swine fever. In the fight against African swine fever, Vietnam learned four important lessons.

First, we learned that we needed a thorough concept of food security in agriculture. African swine fever has affected about 9 per cent of our pork production. Yet, its impacts are very serious.

In 2019 we had to destroy 6 million pigs infected with African swine fever, equivalent to some 340,000 tonnes of pork.

The people who were hardest hit were small household farmers.

Luckily, by now the outbreak has almost ended. During the peak time of the pandemic in May, almost 1.3 million pigs were destroyed. Yet, luckily in November only some 40,000 pigs were destroyed. The good news is that up to 80 per cent of communes have declared the pandemic completely eliminated.

Second, though Vietnam was hit by African swine fever, we were still able to keep some 109,000 parent pigs for future reproduction. We have a total of 2.7 million swine  a good source for us to multiply the number of pigs in the future.

Third, the eco-systems for pig raising nationwide have been mostly well protected.

And the last lesson is the need to raise awareness among farmers about the need to practise bio-security in pig raising, including giving vaccine injections for the piglets.

From last October till now, many provinces have reported no cases of African swine fever in their localities. If things go smoothly, by February and March, everything will return to normal in the pig raising industry.

Does the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have any plans to help pig farmers restore their production?

We have already recommended small households who are raising pigs to switch to raising big animals such as cows or buffaloes or others. This is a good lesson that we have learned from previous pig pandemics. We should only provide conditions for farmers to continue their pig raising when the issue of bio-security is ensured.

Many people have expressed anxiety about the hike in pork prices ahead of Tet. Do you have any advice for them?

As the commander-in-chief of the agriculture industry, I declare that there will be no shortage of food, including meat or other items for the upcoming Lunar New Year. Due to the recent pig pandemic, we still face the problem of pork shortage. Luckily, some big pig farms have told me they will increase their pork supply to the market at an acceptable price to stabilise the market price. This is good news for us, particularly for consumers.  VNS

Vietnamese farmers keen on upsizing pig herds as prices skyrocket Local pig farmers desperately wanted to recover their pig herds amid the pig undersupply and price upsurge on the local market, but existing conditions are not favorable for the effort.
Donald Trump dismissed criticism from senators in his own party about a closed-door briefing on the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, saying other lawmakers told him it was the 'greatest presentation they ever had.'

Republican Senators Mike Lee and Rand Paul came out of Wednesday's briefing on Capitol Hill with Trump administration officials to complain about congressional authority being pushed aside and vowing to vote for a resolution that would limit the president's power in Iran.

Trump said other lawmakers praised the presentation.

'I had calls from numerous senators and numerous congressman and women, saying that was the greatest presentation they ever had,' the president said at a White House event where he was announcing new environmental regulations.

President Donald Trump dismissed criticism from senators in his own party about a closed-door briefing on the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani

He said he thought the senators wanted more detailed military intelligence, which the military was unable to give for security reasons.

'Mike and Rand Paul disagree because they want information that, honestly, I think is very hard to get. It is okay if the military wants to give it, but they didn't want to give it and it really had to do with sources and information we had that really should remain at a very high level. Could we individually maybe give one or two of them some information? Possibly if we can do that. I get along great with Mike Lee. I've never seen him like that. But other people called and said it was the best presentation they ever have seen,' Trump added.

After Lee blasted the briefing, White House counselor Jared Kushner held talks with the conservative Republican senator Wednesday night.

Kushner told the senator he would relay his concerns to the president.

'Sen. Lee was planning on reaching out to President Trump but then Jared Kushner called Sen. Lee last night, and they talked, and Kushner said he would share Sen. Lee's concerns with the president,' a Lee aide told DailyMail.com.

Jared Kushner held talks with Mike Lee after the senator expressed his fury with an administration briefing on the killing Iranian General Qassem Soleimani

Sen. Mike Lee was upset when an official wouldn't answer when asked if Congress would be consulted if President Trump decided to kill Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

Despite the outreach, Sen. Lee is not falling into line.

The conservative senator from Utah told NPR Thursday morning that he was upset when one of the administration officials in the briefing was asked if Congress would be consulted if President Trump decided to kill the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the official refused to answer.

'As I recall, one of my colleagues asked a hypothetical involving the Supreme Leader of Iran: If at that point, the United States government decided that it wanted to undertake a strike against him personally, recognizing that he would be a threat to the United States, would that require authorization for the use of military force?,' Lee said.

'The fact that there was nothing but a refusal to answer that question was perhaps the most deeply upsetting thing to me in that meeting,' he added.

Lee also expressed his disappointment that fellow Republican Sen. Marco Rubio

President Trump wants Republicans to vote against the War Powers resolution

Lee also expressed his disappointment that fellow Republican Sen. Marco Rubio praised Wednesday's closed-door briefing on the president's decision to kill Iranian General Qassem Soleimani as informative.

'I literally find it difficult to imagine how my friend Marco, who is smart, who listens carefully, who cares about these things, how he could emerge from that meeting at say that it was good. It was terrible. It was an unmitigated disaster,' Lee said.

Rubio, after Sen. Lee and and fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul expressed their disappointment with what they heard, took to Twitter to defend the briefing.

'Natl Security officials gave a compelling briefing to Senators just now. They answered every important question. Anyone who walks out & says they aren't convinced action against #Soleimani was justified is either never going to be convinced or just oppose everything Trump does,' Rubio wrote.

Lee and Paul exited Wednesday's briefing -which was conducted by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, and CIA Director Gina Haspel - and went straight to the television cameras to rail about what they heard.

Both senators also said they would now support a War Powers resolution that would limit President Trump's military power there.

Republican Sen. Mike Lee said the administration briefing on Iran convinced him to support a War Powers resolution limiting Trump's power

Jared Kushner told Sen. Mike Lee he would pass on his concerns to the president

Sen. Rand Paul said he would now support a War Powers resolution

'That briefing is what changed my mind. That briefing is what brought me on board,' Lee told reporters after it concluded. 'I'm now going to support it. I walked into that briefing undecided and I walked out of that briefing decided specifically because of what happened in that briefing.'

He said a request by administration officials to not debate Trump's action in Iran in public is what pushed him over the edge.

He wouldn't say what officials made the request but ABC News reported it was Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

Jonathan Hoffman, chief Pentagon spokesman, told the network Esper was responding to a 'direct question' on the matter when he expressed concern 'about unintentional messages to the force' if Congress attempted to repeal an existing authorization for military force in Iraq 'at the same time that American troops are in harm's way.'

'In follow up questioning, the Secretary made it clear that he was not questioning the appropriateness of Congressional debate on military force, but rather he stated a concern about how such a debate would be interpreted by the force,' Hoffman said in a statement.

And Vice President Mike Pence defended the briefing, saying the officials couldn't share more details on the risk Soleimani posed because it would compromise intelligence gathering methods.

'Some of the most compelling evidence that Qasem Soleimani was preparing an imminent attack against American forces and American personnel also represents some of the most sensitive intelligence that we have. It could compromise those sources and methods,' Pence told NBC's 'Today' show Thursday morning.

Lee did not mince words about his feelings on how the Trump officials treated him when he left Wednesday's briefing.

'They had to leave after 75 minutes while in they're in the process of telling us we need to be good little boys and girls and not debate this in public. I find that absolutely insane,' Lee said.

'One of the messages we received from the briefers was do not debate, do not discuss the issue of the appropriateness of further military intervention against Iran, and if you do, you'll be emboldening Iran,' Lee added. 'I find this insulting and demeaning.'

It is not acceptable for executive branch to tell us 'we can't debate the appropriateness of military intervention in Iran. It's unAmerican, it's unconstitutional and it's wrong,' the senator from Utah noted.

Lee called the briefing 'probably the worst briefing at least on a military issue I've seen.'

'The administration was ill-served by this briefing today,' Lee said.

His fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul agreed.

'I join Senator Lee in also deciding to support the War Powers resolution,' he said.

He said the administration's request lawmakers not to debate military action in public as 'particularly insulting.'

'I think we need to debate about separation of powers,' he said.

Both men stated they support President Trump politically but could not in this matter.

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine introduced a War Powers resolution to limit Trump's power

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper leave the Capitol after spending the afternoon briefing members of Congress

The two senators said they would support Sen. Tim Kaine's version of the War Powers resolution that he introduced on Friday, on the heels of the U.S. strike that killed Soleimani.

President Trump on Thursday urged House Republicans to vote against Nancy Pelosi's attempt to limit his military power in Iran but failed to mention two GOP Senators who are backing the legislation.

'Hope that all House Republicans will vote against Crazy Nancy Pelosis War Powers Resolution. Also, remember her speed & rush in getting the Impeachment Hoax voted on & done. Well, she never sent the Articles to the Senate. Just another Democrat fraud. Presidential Harassment!,' the president tweeted.

The House will vote Thursday afternoon on a War Powers resolution that would limit the president's ability to go to war with Iran. It is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled chamber but Republicans want to keep all their members in line and voting against it.

The Senate version differs from the House version of the War Powers resolution in that it includes a timeline, saying U.S. forces must disengage from hostilities against Iran 'by not later than the date that is 30 days after the date of enactment of this joint resolution unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force.'

The text of the resolution also points out that Trump has stated in the past that he believes he has the authority to initiate military action against Iran without Congressional approval.

'The question of whether the United States forces should be engaged in armed conflict against Iran should only be made following a full briefing of Congress and the American public of the issues at stake, a public debate in Congress, and a congressional vote as contemplated by the Constitution,' the resolution says.

After 10 days, Kaine can force a vote on his motion in the Senate.

Trump officials spent most of Wednesday afternoon on Capitol Hill, giving separate briefings to House and Senate lawmakers on the administration's justification for the killing of Soleimani.

'I thought we had a good set of briefings today,' Esper told DailyMail.com.
Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani is calling for the Supreme Court to intervene and declare the House Democratic impeachment effort 'unconstitutional.'

Giuliani, a former high-level Justice Department official, laid out his reasoning in an op-ed in the Washington Examiner, where he wrote that abuse of power and obstruction of Congress  the two articles voted out of the Demoratic House  'are not crimes of any kind, high or low.'

The president's lawyer, who featured prominently in House impeachment witness testimony as the driver of a back-channel foreign policy on Ukraine, accused unnamed Democratic committee chairmen of acting 'like a rogue judge who announced in advance Trump will be executed, but they will still grant him a trial of some kind.'

Rudy Giuliani writes in an op-ed that the Supreme Court to intervene and declare the House Democratic impeachment effort 'unconstitutional'

He acknowledged that the Constitution is 'silent' on the role of the Supreme Court in impeachment, other than to say the chief justice would preside over a Senate trial.

But he also cited a landmark Supreme Court case, Marbury v. Madison, which established the principle of judicial review, claiming it could be extended to the impeachment fight.

His article was published Thursday, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she 'may' send House-passed articles to the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he has the votes to set up rules for a trial, presumably without hearing from witnesses.

Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts will preside over a Senate impeachment trial

Giuliani invoked Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, (1755-1835) and the principle of judicial review

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is withholding House-passed articles of impeachment

Giuliani also argued the House impeachment articles stating that Trump obstructed Congress and abused power don't amount to 'high crimes and misdemeanors' that the Constitution lists as impeachable offenses

'If this impeachment is not declared illegal it would remove the constitutional limitation of crimes on the power to impeach. It would allow the House to impeach for policy differences or political leverage,' Giuliani wrote.

The Constitution already provides a method for throwing out an impeachment: the House or Senate can vote it down. That is what happened when there weren't sufficient votes in the Senate to convict President Bill Clinton.

President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has coffee with Ukrainian-American businessman Lev Parnas at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, U.S. September 20, 2019. Parnas has been indicted on alleged campaign finance violations

Bloomberg News reported in November that Giuliani is being probed for possible campaign finance violations. His associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman have been indicted on alleged campaign finance violations and assisted his efforts to dig up information in Ukraine, where Giuliani pushed for the firing of the U.S. ambassador and has urged investigations of the Bidens.

Giuliani also argued the House impeachment articles that Trump obstructed Congress and abused power don't amount to 'high crimes and misdemeanors' that the Constitution lists as impeachable offenses.

Giuliani tweeted Thursday: 'The Supreme Court should step in and rule this impeachment unconstitutional, to prevent a precedent from forming which would allow the House to overstep its bounds and impeach for policy differences or political leverage.'

The former New York mayor referenced the Hillary Clinton email scandal when he wrote: 'Awaiting proper judicial review, no documents were destroyed, cellphones were not smashed with hammers, and servers were not bleached' in the Ukraine affair.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has recently said that the Iranian regime has been in conflict with the international community for all of its 40 years. Ever since the rise of this regime, we have witnessed war and death in the Middle East.

At first, the Iran-Iraq war left nearly one million dead on each side. The former Supreme Leader of Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini, said that we would fight for the last remaining brick of our houses in Tehran. Yet even after the eight-year war of Iran and Iraq, countries like Iraq, Syria, and others in the region are still at war.

Since the emergence of this regime, we have also witnessed the emergence of militant groups in the Middle East that have slaughtered people in Iran, Iraq, and Syria. The assassinations and explosions have become something normal. All of these incidents are Qassem Soleimani's achievements.

The mid-November uprising in Iran and Iraq got bloody. At least 1,500 people were killed in Iran and at least 400 in Iraq. Under the shadow of this same regime, many people are being sacrificed every day.

When the United States occupied Iraq and dismantled its army and all of its defense structures, it actually presented Iraq to the Iranian regime on a silver platter. Qassem Soleimani killed many Sunnis in Iraq by creating militias like Hashd al-shaabi and others. He kidnapped or assassinated Sunni figures who did not want to fall under the control of the regime. He forced the Sunnis of Dayali, Kirkuk, Baghdad, and other areas to flee their hometowns. He drove the Palestinians out of Iraq. Thousands of assassinations and explosions in Iraq have been the result of the existence of such militias there.

The Quds terrorist force mistreated the entire Iraqi political and religious class -- by bribery, murder or intimidation -- in the service of the Iranian regime. Iraq was practically occupied by Soleimani-led militias. This rich and cultural land that has thrived for thousands of years, then turned into a poor and corrupted country.

When Soleimani arrived in Syria, he eradicated the liberation movement of the people by mass murder. As mentioned earlier, Khamenei had said that if they had not fought in Syria, they would have fought in Tehran. The killing of tens of thousands of children in the Syrian cities of Halab and Edlib and beyond are undoubtedly one of Soleimani's deliverables. He was the person who paved the way for Russian airstrikes populated areas, killing innocent children. The faces of children in the chemical bombings are still remembered. In Iranian assemblies, he is referred to as a child killer. He was the only person who showed such cruelty.

The Iranian regime, which was derived from medieval religious dogmas had entered the life of the Iranian people in a historic event. Yet it has been a government that has failed to meet the cultural, economic and political demands of its people, seeking war outside of the country and repression inside. These two strategies are their two main pillars of survival.

Soleimani was one of these two pillars. At a staggering cost, he created all kinds of militias in the Middle East. He led Iranians to poverty and misery. In a country full of rich resources and vast mines of oil and gas, two thirds of the people are living below the poverty line.

It has been constant war in the Middle East with millions of people wounded or dead. Therefore, with the demise of Soleimani, who was one of the founders of this war, it is now possible that the Iranian regime's war machine and its terrorism are going to stop. This is the main reason that people in Iraq, Iran, and Syria took to the streets to celebrate their happiness at Soleimani's death as they heard the news.

Therefore; one could say that those who are happy about this assassination are on the side of the people of the region, and those who are sad are among the warmongers and enemies of the people.

Photo illustration by Monica Showalter with use of CNN screen shot via shareable YouTube and public domain images
Looking forward to making India a 5 trillion dollar economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said all stakeholders needed to make concerted efforts to achieve the target. The prime minister also reiterated that the fundamentals of the Indian economy were strong and it had the capacity to bounce back from the current slowdown.

Unwavering in our commitment to become a five trillion dollar economy! Today had in-depth consultations with economists, business leaders and policy experts from various fields on a diverse range of subjects. Such synergy augurs well for national progress, the prime minister said in a tweet.

The prime minister had a two-hour long discussion with economists, private equity and venture capitalists, business leaders and agricultural experts on Thursday and called for focussed efforts to achieve the target of nearly doubling the size of the Indian economy to USD 5 trillion by 2024.

The meeting was held at Niti Aayog in Delhi as part of a pre-budget exercise.

Prime Minister Modi has held as many as 12 brainstorming meetings with different stakeholders over various issues affecting the Indian economy and also to thrash out appropriate policy interventions before the upcoming Budget.

Economists like Shankar Acharya, R Nagaraj, Farzana Afridi, venture capitalist Pradip Shah, industrialists Apparao Mallavarapu, Deep Kalra, Patanjali Govind Keswani, Deepak Seth, Srikumar Misra, subject experts Ashish Dhawan and Shiv Sarin were among the 38 delegates, who participated in the discussions.

The idea of an USD 5 trillion economy is not a sudden development and is based on a deep understanding of the strengths of the country. The strong absorbent capacity of the economy shows the strength of basic fundamentals of the Indian economy and its capacity to bounce back, the PM said adding sectors like tourism, urban development, infrastructure, and agri-based industries have a great potential for taking forward the economy and for employment generation.

He said open discussions in such forums often lead to a healthy debate and understanding of crucial issues. This would also foster a positive mood and can do spirit in the society, he said.

The participants urged the Union Government to focus on credit expansion, exports growth, governance of Public Sector Banks (PSBs), increasing consumption and job creation. As many as 40 experts and economists attended the meeting.

PM Modi assured the gathering that he would act on suggestions that can be implemented in the short-term and also consider long-term suggestions in due course as these require structural reforms.
Dana Gingras focuses on extremes in her choreography: from everyday moves like walking and running (though very, very fast) to virtuosic jumps with dazzling twists and turns.

This is as much a sound and light show as a dance piece. While 10 dancers  in styled street clothes and heavy-duty sports shoes  form an action-packed core, the pounding music from four onstage musicians and curtains of light that reshape the space are integral elements.

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For much of the time they happen together in a mesmerising staging of individually moving bodies criss-crossing the dimly lit space at hectic speeds and defined trajectories that nonetheless leave you fearing collisions at any moment  though there were none that I saw among this skilled, bold Canadian company, Animals of Distraction.

Its concerns with the state of humanity could be read in this sequence as has the world gone mad? in its digital reach that appears to have no barriers. But the dancers also present the physical opposite: national borders being tightened and terrified refugees attempting to get out.

In this case the walls are formed by a row of spotlights that pierce the gloomy light as dancers hurl themselves back and forth across them. Later, individuals are mercilessly followed by a single spotlight and a narrow band of light rakes the dead struck down in action like the human remains of Pompeii under volcanic ash.

Through all this the band  named Fly Pan Am  hammers out its message of horror on guitars, drums and percussion. It is loud and inescapable, the sound vibrating through the theatre seats for added effect.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

An Albuquerque man says he was hauled back to jail from a community custody program when a search of his home turned up medical marijuana and a pipe  a punishment he and his attorney say violates state law.

According to a petition filed Tuesday in state District Court, Joe Montano suffers from chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder and is a qualified medical cannabis patient. The 48-year-old had been sentenced to 90 days for aggravated drunken driving, and he was serving his time outside the county jail through the Community Custody Program.

In November, two community custody officers searched Montanos home and charged him with a disciplinary infraction when they discovered and confiscated a pipe and bag of marijuana that Montano says he purchased lawfully.

As a result, he was returned to the Metropolitan Detention Center for close to a month. Montanos attorney, Jacob Candelaria, a state senator from Albuquerque who has sponsored medical marijuana legislation, is asking for a court order forcing the county to permit Montanos use of marijuana. Candelaria says Montano, who is expected to complete his sentence next Thursday, is not now using marijuana.

I think the county is going to have to (explain) why in a state where we recognize that cannabis is medicine, why an individual under their supervision should not be able to access that medicine if their doctors say they should, Candelaria said in an interview Wednesday.

MDC Chief of Corrections Ralph Fernandez said in a statement Wednesday that the facility does not have a written policy regarding the use of medical marijuana by inmates participating in the Community Custody Program; however, staff advises those inmates that use of medical marijuana is prohibited.

This is because CCP participants are considered in jail custody and medical marijuana use is prohibited in MDC, Fernandez said. Bernalillo County will, of course, comply with the ruling of the court on this issue.

New Mexicos medical marijuana program started in 2007; the law is called the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act. As of December, there were 80,257 active patients in the program, according to the Department of Health.

Candelaria writes in the petition that the Legislature amended the act in 2019 to further protect the rights of persons, such as petitioner, under the supervision of the state or local governments to engage in conduct permitted under the act.

State law guarantees his right as a medical cannabis patient to continue using his medicine and accessing adequate and reasonable medical care, Candelaria said. Its pretty clearly spelled out in the statute that Mr. Montano is entitled to these protections. And so were at a loss trying to understand exactly what forms the basis of the countys objection.
Death of man not being treated as suspicious by police

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Jan 9th, 2020

North Wales Police have issued the following statement following an incident last week in Pont Wen, Police investigating the death of Darren Richards 41, following a disturbance in Pont Wen Wrexham on January 1 are not treating his death as suspicious and will be taking no further action with regards to a 37 year old man arrested and bailed in connection with the incident.

DCI Gary Kelly added; We are not looking for anyone else in relation to Mr Richards tragic death and officers will be compiling a report for the coroner in due course.

We extend our condolences to his family and would like to thank them for their cooperation at this difficult time.

On Thursday, Jan 2nd North Wales Police issued a public statement, along with a further update, saying they had attended the Whitegate area of Caia Park at around 8.15pm the night before to reports of a disturbance.
Predicting the beautiful game can be a fools errand, but fortune favors the bold. Yahoo Soccer has run the stats and analyzed the form books for five of the biggest games this weekend 

Tottenham vs. Liverpool

Liverpool will make their first visit to Tottenhams new stadium this weekend, seeking their 12th consecutive Premier League win. That winning streak, incidentally, began when Tottenham visited Anfield in October.

Jurgen Klopps side are 13 points clear atop the table with a game in hand, and have only lost one of their last 26 matches in all competitions (the poorly timed League Cup defeat to Aston Villa, which shouldnt really count anyway).

To say the Reds are on a hot streak is something of an understatement.

Tottenham, meanwhile, are not in such rude health. Jose Mourinhos highly inconsistent team boasts just a single win in its last five outings and hasnt kept a clean sheet in seven games.

Spurs are also on the less favorable end of the head-to-head stats: They have lost each of their last four meetings with Liverpool  including the 2019 Champions League final  and have only beaten them once in their last 16 meetings, dating back to 2012.

Jose Mourinho and Tottenham won't have the services of Harry Kane at home against Liverpool. (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Harry Kanes injury, which led Mourinho to bemoan his lack of strike options after last weekends draw with Middlesbrough, wont help the hosts. And neither will The Special Ones historical record against Klopp: Hes beaten the German only twice in 10 meetings.

Accordingly, Liverpool are priced as the heavy favorites here. Mourinhos Spurs have lost to all Big Six competition they have faced so far, and there is little to suggest that pattern will change.

Prediction: Tottenham 0-2 Liverpool

Best Bet: Liverpool to win to nil at +220 on BetMGM. The Reds have kept clean sheets in their last five matches and Tottenham are limited in their attacking options.

Manchester United vs. Norwich

The latest episode of The Continually Underwhelming Adventures of Manchester United airs this weekend when the Red Devils invite rock-bottom Norwich to Old Trafford.

Story continues

Ole Gunnar Solskjaers side are winless in their last three outings and are facing increasing injury problems  Harry Maguire is the latest player to be unavailable for selection.

Even more troubling is Uniteds recent record against struggling teams. They have lost three of their last five matches to sides starting the day in the relegation zone, and are developing a reputation for poor performances against teams lower than them in the table.

Norwich have a tendency to over-perform against big sides (they have taken points from Manchester City, Leicester and Arsenal) and the Canaries won 2-1 in their most recent trip to Old Trafford in December 2015.

Solskjaers side are heavy favorites for the win at -304 on BetMGM, but this match offers great value for an upset. Admittedly, Norwich may be without star striker Teemu Pukki, but they are an incredible +775 at Bet MGM for the win at Old Trafford.

Given Uniteds troubles and the Canaries recent form, this is too tempting not to back.

Prediction: Manchester United 1-2 Norwich

Best Bet: Norwich to win and both teams to score is priced at a massive +1250 on BetMGM. United have kept only one clean sheet in their last 16 league games and Norwich have only failed to score in one of their last 10 matches.

Manchester United should be on upset alert against Norwich City. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)

Roma vs. Juventus

Inter Milan have let their lead at the top of Serie A slip in recent match weeks, so reigning champions Juventus sit behind them only on goal difference as the calcio season reaches its 19th round.

This weekend, the Old Lady visits the Stadio Olimpico to face Roma, who are looking to consolidate fourth place and stay on the heels of co-tenants Lazio.

Juve are the narrow favorites in this one, which belies their away form against Roma. They have beaten Lazio on each of their five trips to the Stadio Olimpico, but havent mustered a league win over Roma at the stadium since May 2014.

In their most recent meeting, Roma emerged winners thanks to unanswered goals from Alessandro Florenzi and Edin Dzeko. However, this match was in May when Juventus had already wrapped up the league title.

Inter face a tough challenge in Atalanta this weekend, so Juventus will be yearning to return to the top of the table with a win. Maurizio Sarris side are in better form (four wins from five, while Roma lost at home to Torino last weekend) and they are well-positioned to end their streak of misfortune away to the Giallorossi.

Prediction: Roma 0-1 Juventus

Best Bet: Juventus to win and under 2.5 total goals at +450 on BetMGM. Five of the last six league encounters between these sides have featured under 2.5 goals.

PSG vs. Monaco

Ligue 1 makes its welcome return this weekend, and the headline match sees Paris Saint-Germain host Monaco.

The Parisians sit seven points clear at the summit with a game in hand, while Monaco are down in seventh, some five points off the pace for Champions League qualification.

El Cashico was once a well-balanced encounter between two sides who didnt have to worry about keeping the lights on, but the balance of power has very much shifted toward Paris in recent years.

PSG have won the last nine editions of this rivalry, including both league encounters during Monacos title-winning season of 2016-17. Accordingly, the hosts are heavy favorites at -385 on BetMGM and theres little reason to believe they will not secure another three points this weekend.

With Neymar recovered and refreshed, a lopsided scoreline could be a safe bet in this one.

Prediction: Paris Saint-Germain 4-0 Monaco

Best Bet: The multiple correct score of 4-0, 5-0 or 6-0 is good value at +600 on BetMGM. The aggregate score in the last four meetings between the sides is 21-2. In those five games, PSG have kept three clean sheets and scored four or more on three occasions.

More from Yahoo Sports:
Boris Johnson said there was now a body of information that indicated the Tehran airliner crash was caused by an Iranian missile.

The Prime Minister made the announcement after US officials and the Canadian leader said Iran looked to have been involved in the downing of the Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752.

In a statement, Mr Johnson said: There is now a body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile.

This may well have been unintentional.

We are working closely with Canada and our international partners and there now needs to be a full, transparent investigation.

Mr Johnson also confirmed four Britons died in the plane crash, up from the earlier reports of three.

The Conservative Party leader said the Government was providing support to their families at this most terrible time.

The three known British victims included engineer Sam Zokaei, from Surrey, Saeed Tahmasebi Khademasadi, from west London, and Mohammad Reza Kadkhoda Zadeh, from near Brighton.

In total 176 people were killed when the plane crashed moments after it left Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran at 6.10am local time (2.40am GMT) on Wednesday, bound for the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

At least a third of the deceased held Canadian passports and Prime Minister Mr Trudeau told a press conference that the news of a missile being responsible was likely to comes as a shock to the grieving families.

He made his comments after two US officials said it was highly likely an Iranian anti-aircraft missile brought down the passenger plane.

The New York Times published a video which the newspaper said showed the moment an Iranian missile hit a plane above Parand, near Tehrans airport, the area where the Ukrainian airliner stopped transmitting its signal before it crashed on Wednesday.

Boris Johnson had used a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday to call for a full, credible and transparent investigation into what happened.

Story continues

Ukraines Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, posted on Facebook that a missile attack was one of the possible causes of the fire that caused Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) PS752 aircraft to break-up as it gained height after taking off from Tehran airport on Wednesday.

The Iranian military had disputed suggestions the airliner was brought down by a missile, with officials in Iran blaming an engine fire.

But Mr Danilov said information about the detection of the shards of a Russian missile  understood to be a Russian Tor M1 missile  meant an attack on the plane could not be ruled out.

(PA Graphics)

The Prime Minister pushed for the facts to be established during his conversation with Mr Zelenskyy on Thursday.

Mr Zelenskyy ordered a criminal investigation soon after the details of the tragedy emerged this week.

He has invited United Kingdom aviation experts to join the investigation into the crash.

A spokesman for the president said: The President invited the United Kingdom to join the investigation.

Boris Johnson supported this idea and stressed that the best British experts should be involved in clarifying all the circumstances of the tragedy.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said evidence pointed to Iran involvement in the plane crash (Sean Kilpatrick/AP)

The airline ruled out human error in the aftermath of the incident, and crew were not said to have made an emergency call.

The crash comes amid escalating tension in the Persian Gulf following the killing last week of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani by the US, prompting several airlines to reroute flights away from Tehrans airspace.

Iran fired missiles at army bases in Iraq were both US and UK troops were stationed, although both Number 10 and the White House said there had been no casualties incurred.

Mr Johnson, in his statement, added: The UK continues to call on all sides urgently to deescalate to reduce tensions in the region.
[January 09, 2020] D.A. Davidson & Co. Serves as Exclusive Financial Advisor to Work World

D.A. Davidson & Co. announced today that it served as exclusive financial advisor to Work World, a leading work wear retailer on the West Coast, in its sale to Gart Capital Partners, a private equity investment partnership located in Denver. Founded in 1990, Work World is a California-based specialty retailer focused on providing customers a one-stop shopping experience with the right gear, in the right size, at the right time. The company is dedicated to the complete outfitting of the working person with the best safety footwear and work apparel brands in America, including Carhartt, Timberland Pro, Dickies, Keen Utility, Wolverine, Caterpillar, Ben Davis, Wrangler, Levi's, 5.11, Ariat and others. "We were pleased to work with Work World on this transaction," said Brien Rowe, managing director at D.A. Davidson. "The company is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the large, growing and under-penetrated work wear specialty retail market." "Management could not have picked a better partner - Gart Capital Partners have enjoyed great success in retail and development for almost 100 years," added Mike Smith, managing director at D.A. Davidson. "We are pleased for both organizations and look forward to the next phase of growth for Work World." "The D.A. Davidson Consumer Investment Baking Team's industry knowledge, transaction expertise, and commitment to our success has resulted in us finding the right partner that will help take Work World to the next level," said Dan Meyer, co-owner and general manager of Work World. "From the outset, the D.A. Davidson team was dedicated to delivering the highest level of service necessary to successfully close this transaction."



D.A. Davidson's investment banking division is a leading full-service investment bank that offers comprehensive financial advisory and capital markets expertise. The group has extensive transaction experience serving middle market clients worldwide across five industry verticals: consumer, diversified industrials, financial institutions, real estate and technology. Together with its European strategic partner, MCF Corporate Finance, D.A. Davidson originates and executes transatlantic M&A transactions under the common brand of D.A. Davidson MCF International.

About D.A. Davidson Companies D.A. Davidson Companies is an employee-owned financial services firm offering a range of financial services and advice to individuals, corporations, institutions and municipalities nationwide. Founded in 1935 and headquartered in Montana, with corporate offices in Denver, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle, the company has approximately 1,350 employees and offices in 25 states. Subsidiaries include: D.A. Davidson & Co., the largest full-service investment firm headquartered in the Northwest, providing wealth management, investment banking, equity and fixed income capital markets services and advice; Davidson Investment Advisors, a professional asset management firm; D.A. Davidson Trust Company, a trust and wealth management company; and Davidson Fixed Income Management, a registered investment adviser providing fixed income portfolio and advisory services. For more information, visit dadavidson.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005824/en/

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Notorious mafia operative Ejaz Lakdawala, who was absconding for over two decades, has been arrested by a Mumbai Police team from Patna, official sources said here on Thursday. With an Interpol red corner notice pending against him, Lakdawala has been associated with various mafia gangs in the past in Mumbai.



In the past couple of decades, he had been on the run and was spotted in locations like Dubai, Bangkok and Ontario.



He was produced before a Mumbai court and remanded to custody till January 21. More details of the operation are awaited.



Intelligence sources said Lakdawala's daughter Sonia was nabbed on a tip-off at Mumbai airport while travelling to Nepal.



On interrogation she revealed that her father was hiding in Nepal which is also the base of operations of allied gangster Chhota Rajan.



Lakdawala had also been allied previously with Dawood Ibrahim in running extortion rackets but later parted ways with him. He later hatched a plot to kill Dawood in Karachi but the plan failed as Dawood did not turn up.




The Bright Armenia faction of the National Assembly is organizing meetings with heads of the security sector of the Republic of Armenia. This is what head of the Bright Armenia faction Edmon Marukyan wrote on his Facebook page.

The Bright Armenia faction is organizing meetings with the heads of the security sector of the Republic of Armenia to consider issues related to internal and external security and share our approaches to the challenges for the security of our country and people, he wrote.
After Qassem Suleimani, the Iranian commander who led the elite forces of the Revolutionary Guard, was killed by an American drone strike in Baghdad last week, Lindsey Graham, a US senator, was the first to say that Suleimani had American blood on his hands.

The phrase spread quickly through the reactions of Republican members of congress and Fox News pundits who sought to defend Donald Trumps decision to order the killing. (By one account, assassinating Suleimani had been presented to the president as the most extreme option on a menu of responses to an Iranian-backed assault on the US Embassy in Baghdad days earlier. By another, the action was taken to prevent an imminent attack.)

Democratic politicians and presidential candidates like Cory Booker and Pete Buttigieg worried that the assassination represented overreach of the presidents war powers and would destabilize the Middle East. But in their statements, they hedged that the world was a better place without Suleimani, repeating the line that he had American blood on his hands.

NEW AT CJR: A former journalist speaks for Mexicos anti-press president

Even analysts from mainstream and moderate publications that worried We Cannot Afford A War with Iran (Washington Monthly) or warned that The U.S. Public Doesnt Want a War with Iran (Foreign Policy) recycled the blood on his hands comment. Writing for Time.com to describe the assassination as a tactical success but a strategic miscalculation, James Stavridis, a retired admiral, called the blood on his hands phrase hackneyedbut only because it didnt begin to describe the level of death and destruction he left in his wake in the Middle East.

Killing and, metaphorically speaking, getting blood on their hands, is what soldiers devote their professional lives to. Since 2003, when the United States invaded Iraq, Iran and the US have been engaged in a proxy cold war, and there has been ample opportunity for Suleimani to get his hands wet.

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The main American charge against him is that under his command Iran flooded Iraq with powerful explosives capable of penetrating armored vehicles and, when deployed by Iraqi anti-American Shiite militias, killed hundreds and wounded thousands of American soldiers. As a correspondent for Time magazine in Baghdad in 2004, I survived a roadside bombing while traveling in a Humvee with American army engineers through a Shiite neighborhood. It could very well have been the downstream result of a Suleimani operation. (As we were aware then, though it often gets forgotten: Suleimani, and the Islamic Republic, represent the Shia part of the Islamic faith. It is distinct from, and sometimes stands in opposition to, Sunni Islam, from which extremist groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS spring.)

The invasion of Iraq is now widely seen as a disaster, resulting in hundreds of thousands of needless deaths. But few in the US political and media mainstream would describe former President George W. Bush, who started that war, or the American generals who waged it, as having blood on their hands. Nor would it be said of successive American administrations that have collaborated on covert operations in Iraq with the Mojahedin-e Khalq, a cult-like anti-Islamic Republic terror organization in Iran responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths. Nor would it be said of George H.W. Bush, who, while campaigning for president in 1988 ostentatiously refused to apologize for the killing of 290 Iranians aboard a civilian jet-liner that was shot down that year by the US Navy in the Persian Gulf.

Blood on his hands is, clearly, a political cliche. For the right, it is an expression of their politics of grievance, an assertion that Americans are the victims of irrational, baseless Middle Eastern Islamic terrorism and hatred. The right is attempting to use conflict with Iran to assert the moral high ground of American military violence, despite decades of evidence to the contrary. For the mainstream media and what remains of Americas foreign policy elite, calling out Suleimani as having blood on his hands allows them to warn about the consequences of a war with Iran without seeming to sympathize with the enemy or ask deeper questions about the morality of American force. It calls out the killing as perhaps unwise, but legitimate, even inevitable. Qassem Soleimani was never going to die peacefully in his bed, Bobby Ghosh wrote for Bloomberg Opinion.

But as we brace for the possibility of war with Iran, brought by a president who promised to get American soldiers out of the Middle East, its important to recognize that tropes demonizing Iranas irrational, volatile, inherently violentmask our responsibility for 40 years of conflict with the Islamic Republic. At this point it may be too late for any American leader, let alone one who famously never apologizes, to reset that relationship. But it is very much possible for our media to acknowledge the biases and amnesias that have helped propel us into conflict with Iran and trap us in forever wars in the region.

What follows is a list of points to keep in mind, and useful things to read, as we try and navigate the story.

The significance of 1979:

When President Trump initially threatened to destroy 52 of Irans most important cultural sites he was referring to a seminal moment during the Iranian Revolution of 1979: the takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran that set America and Iran on a collision course. Student revolutionaries involved in overthrowing the US-backed dictatorship of Shah Reza Pahlavi held 52 American diplomats hostage for 444 days.

That event, which ultimately helped bring down Jimmy Carters presidency, seared into American memory the imagine of Iranians as a bearded and turbaned mob of zealots burning US flags and chanting Death to America. But what got lost in the coverage of the event was that the students had targeted the embassy because it had been used back in 1953 by the Central Intelligence Agency as the headquarters of an operation to overthrow Irans democratically elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, who had earned Western ire for nationalizing Iranian oil. The students were worried that history would repeat itself.

The history of the Iranian-American relationship:

In All the Shahs Men (2003) perhaps the single most important book to read about the fractured about Iranian-American relationship, Stephen Kinzer, a former New York Times correspondent, charts how the US coup against Mossadegha move sold by the British to the Eisenhower administration as necessary to prevent Iran from falling to communismand US support for an oppressive security state run by the Shah, paved the way for the Iranian Revolution, the Islamic Republic, and the invention of Middle Eastern terrorism.

Suleimani himself:

If the Islamic Republic is the institutional result of blowback from American policy towards Iran, Suleimani is the personification. As Dexter Filkins, a writer for The New Yorker, described in a comprehensive profile, in 2013, Suleimani was a former construction worker who began his military career during the Iran-Iraq War, which started in 1980 when the US encouraged Saddam Hussein to invade Iran and crush the newly founded Islamic Republic.

That conflict caused an astounding slaughter in Iran, including from Iraqi chemical weapons purchased from France. It solidified hardliners in the Islamic Republic and reinforced a siege mentality among them. The conflict also encouraged Suleimani and others in Iran to deepen their relationship with anti-Israeli militant groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, as a way of developing regional deterrence against future American threats.

But Suleimani wasnt a simple enemy to America. Recently, when Vice President Mike Pence accused Suleimani of helping the 9/11 hijackers, he did so either in ignorance or cynicism. In his profile, Filkins recounts how, after September 11, 2001, Suleimani led Irans cooperation with the US in Afghanistan against Al Qaeda. (As a Sunni extremist group, Al Qaeda was a mutual enemy of both nations.) But that cooperation ended when President Bush included Iran in his 2002 Axis of Evil speech. And the relationship turned to outright hostility in 2003, when the US threatened to follow up its invasion of Iraq with an invasion of Iran.

To further complicate matters, Suleimani was the point man for Irans relationship with Bashar al-Assad in Syria, as that government perpetrated a gruesome campaign of violence against democratic campaigners. But he also led Irans coordination with the US and Iraq in the fight against ISIS. And on Sunday, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, the Iraqi prime minister, told his parliament that Suleimani had arrived in Baghdad, the venue for the US strike that killed him, in order to address a proposal that the Iraqi government broker a de-escalation between Iran and the US. Abdul-Mahdis statement, of course, undermines the Trump administrations justification that killing Suleimani was a preemptive strike meant to save American lives.

The futility of decapitation:

National security experts have pointed out that killing leaders of covert operations rarely stops the operations from happening. In a proper interagency review, the intelligence community could have pointed out that decapitation is a patently unreliable means of pre-emption, Jonathan Stevenson, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, writes in a New York Times opinion piece. Particularly, he added, when the organization in question is the Revolutionary Guard, an integral part of a well-honed security state with considerable depth of command talent.

Narges Bajoghli, a Johns Hopkins professor who studies the Revolutionary Guard, writes in another Times opinion piece that, although the Islamic Republic promoted the Suleimani legend, his reputation belies the fact that the militant organizations he helped establish can continue fighting against larger forces.

Besides, according to a recent cache of Iranian intelligence documents obtained by The Intercept, Suleimani was the subject of criticism within Irans military apparatus, for being too aggressive and creating too many enemies, as Iran extended its military presence across the region.

The escalation:

Rather than deter Iranian action against US forces, the Suleimani assassination has become the first link in what may be a chain of escalating conflict between America and Iran. It began this week with a retaliatory Iranian missile strike on US bases in Iraq.

The two nations have been on a collision course since May 2018, when Trump pulled the US out of a nuclear deal that allowed Iran to return to international oil markets in exchange for shutting down its nuclear energy program. The Trump Administrationwhich seemed to withdraw from the deal simply out of visceral hatred of the Obama administration, which had formed itargued that scrapping the agreement and imposing maximum pressure on Irans economy would stop Irans nuclear program and end Irans support for regional militant groups.

Iran voluntarily abided by the nuclear deal despite Trumps backing out. But now its president, Hassan Rouhani, has declared that his country will no longer honor it. The Iranian government, which has been coy about its nuclear program, may now open upand make enough weapons-grade uranium to serve as a deterrent to American aggression. Its plausible that pressure will begin to build on the US to stage an assault on the countrys nuclear facilities.

Strengthening the hardliners:

Neocon zealots in and around the Trump administration are pushing for more US action, which they believe could spark an internal uprising against the Islamic Republic. Hope this is the first step towards regime change in Tehran, John Bolton, Trumps former national security advisor, told Twitter.

But after a brutal government crackdown on protests against the regime last fall, leaving hundreds dead, and the ramping-up of Irans surveillance apparatus, the countrys oppositional politics are essentially over. (My wife, Nahid Siamdoust, a post-doctoral fellow at Yale, pointed that out in a Foreign Affairs article.)

And now the Islamic Republic has been provided the vivifying force of a dramatic enemy. It is likely that the Trump administration has empowered the very extremists it sought to punish.

ICYMI: The White House wages war on transparency: Iran edition

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Andrew Lee Butters is a former Time magazine Beirut bureau chief and Middle East correspondent. He now teaches journalism at Yale College. He graduated from Columbia Journalism School in 2003.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 08, 2020 | 02:42 PM | MURRAY

Two people charged in a murder investigation from November were arraigned Tuesday in Murray.According to the Calloway County Circuit Court Clerk, Charles Harding and Deneyar Kim Puckett appeared before Judge James Jameson, and not guilty pleas were entered on their behalf. They are both scheduled to appear in court for a status hearing on March 5.Harding and Puckett were arrested November 24 by Murray Police after Ricky Puckett was found dead in an apartment on South 5th Street. Deneyar Kim Puckett was found in another apartment without permission and was arrested for burglary. Harding was arrested on a manslaughter charge after he reportedly confessed to striking Ricky Puckett in the head with a pipe-style object on the previous day. The two men were reportedly arguing over the woman.After testimony was presented on December 17, a Grand Jury indicted Harding on an amended charge of 2nd degree assault, and indicted Deneyar Kim Puckett for murder (domestic violence), in addition to the burglary charge. The Pucketts had previously been married.

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BOSTON (Reuters) - Top asset manager BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) said on Thursday it has joined the Climate Action 100+ investor group seeking emission curbs.

A spokesman for New York-based BlackRock said via e-mail that evidence of the impact of climate risk on investment portfolios is building rapidly and reiterated past comments the company will accelerate its talks with corporate executives on climate risk.

Climate Action 100+ was begun in 2017 and includes nonprofit organizations and investors including units of HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA.L), Manulife Financial Corp (MFC.TO) and the California Public Employees Retirement System.

With some $7 trillion under management BlackRock has an influential voice on how large corporations act on climate matters such as greenhouse gas emissions.

However to date BlackRock has taken few steps sought by critics such as backing shareholder resolutions calling for more emissions disclosures or giving details of its specific talks with corporate executives.

The BlackRock spokesman, Farrell Denby, did not provide more details or make executives available for comment

Several activists said they welcomed BlackRocks step but are waiting to see what specific actions the asset manager might take.

BlackRock needs to lend its voice to the many involved in CA100+ calling for no new investment in expanding fossil fuel production, said Mark Campanale, chairman of London-based climate researcher Carbon Tracker, via e-mail.

In a statement on its website Climate Action 100+ steering committee member Mindy Lubber said that With BlackRocks commitment to the goals of the initiative, we will assuredly see more impactful results in tackling the global climate crisis.
This Mornings Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby have apologised after Miriam Margolyes delivered a four-letter outburst live on air.

The pair gasped audibly as the Call The Midwife star described herself as a twat while recalling how she embarrassed herself in front of the Queen.

Schofield and Willoughby promptly apologised to viewers, although Margolyes did not appear to notice their shocked reactions.

'It's a national catastrophe... and a planet catastrophe'.



Miriam Margolyes responds to the devastating bushfires in #Australia, a place she calls her second home. pic.twitter.com/RkoMA0hZg4  This Morning (@thismorning) January 9, 2020

Describing her encounter with the Queen, she said: Well, I have talked about this before on television, and I feel awkward saying it again.

But I was invited to the palace as part of British Book Week and when the Queen came over to me, and she asked me what I didin a very nice way, you know.

And I said, like a twat, Im the best reader of stories in the whole world.

Margolyes recalled how the Queen rolled her eyes and moved on to the next person waiting in line, a man who taught dyslexic children to read.

Impersonating the teacher, she said: Maam, weve noticed that if you put the letters in different colours and the pages are printed in different colours, it helps the children absorb the information more quickly.

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She said she had interrupted the pairs conversation, saying: And I said, Really? Thats fascinating, I didnt know that.

And she turned to me and went, Be quiet. She had every right to do it but it was a bit discombobulating.

It is not the first time Margolyes, best known for playing Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films, has sworn live on air.

In January last year, she uttered the F-word on the Peston On Sunday show, while regaling an anecdote involving Hollywood star Warren Beatty.

The swearword left the studio guests  Tory MP Sarah Wollaston and Lord Adonis  giggling, while Robert Peston was forced to apologise.
Francis said that a more robust international response is most urgent in the Middle East and in the Mediterranean, the deadliest area in the world for migrants. He said that the humanitarian crisis in Yemen is being met by general indifference, and that a pall of silence risks falling over Syria, where war has been waged for years. The pope also highlighted the intensification of violence in Libya, and the way in which the country had become a fertile terrain for the extortion of migrants, who are commonly subjected to sexual violence and torture.
By Jim McGreevey

New Jersey has made remarkable strides in the past six months to help those reentering society after incarceration. Much more remains to be done for those reentering who continue to suffer from addiction.

As part of his ambitious Second Chance Agenda, Gov. Phil Murphy signed three important bills:

Restoring voting rights to those on parole or probation;

Creating a progressive expungement process, including a clean slate provision for those who have led law abiding lives for a decade;;

Eliminating mandatory drivers license suspensions for certain non-moving offenses. Many thanks to Governor Murphy, Senate President Sweeney and Speaker Coughlin for making criminal justice reform generally  and reentry services, in particular  a priority.

But there is still much to be done. The unaddressed risk factors for addiction continue to haunt those who are trying to start over again. Many of our 7,000 formerly incarcerated participants have been exposed to childhood trauma, chaos and violence of the streets. As a result, they have terribly shameful self-images, limited impulse control, and consistently engage in self-defeating behavior. The statistics are staggering.

According to a Rutgers University study, more than half ( 56%) of male inmates reported experiencing physical abuse as children, while 47% of female inmates reported experiencing childhood sexual abuse. Other studies estimate the incidence of trauma to be as high as 92% among incarcerated persons.

How does this happen? Young victims of trauma, left without a support network, will invariably turn to self-medication, which leads to addiction. A Kaiser study found that a child who experiences four or more traumatic events is five times as likely to become an alcoholic and up to 46 times as likely to become an injection-drug user compared to the general population. It is therefore no surprise that addiction rates are exponentially higher among the incarcerated. Upwards of 85% of incarcerated persons are classified as substance-involved, and nearly two-thirds (65%) are drug addicted.

Incarceration only make things worse. Rather than addressing the underlying problems of trauma and addiction, our prison system exacerbates it because of the violent environment in most prisons, coupled with the lack of sufficient social and medical services. Upon release, there are limited options, often leading right back to prison. If an individual violates by using an illegal substance, he or she is given a choice: either attend a residential drug program or an intensive outpatient program, or return to prison. He or she is variably reincarcerated when he or she reuses after completing a program. The cycle continues. Every day our criminal justice system routinely returns people to prison or jail for drug abuse. There has to be a better way.

Swift, Certain, and Fair

The United States Department of Justice implemented a pilot program in partnership with the State Parole Board and New Jersey Reentry Corporation, known as Swift, Certain, and Fair (SCF). It is a team-based approach to addiction recovery. From day one, each man and woman understands the consequences of reusing, but each is given a clear, workable and individualized plan to stay drug-free.

Each re-entry participant, in collaboration with Community Behavioral Health Clinics, has access to 12 to 18 months of psychiatric care for mental health and behavioral treatment, medication assistance treatment, and a continuum of care from detox to Intensive Outpatient to outpatient care, and ongoing medical care. Participants are paired with a peer recovery specialist with firsthand experience dealing with a substance use disorder. If a participant reuses drugs there is swift penalty -- perhaps a weekend in jail for the first violation, but not a return to a lengthy prison term of incarceration.

But it doesnt end there. Recovery specialists, who have been in recovery for years, coordinate high-touch care with a team that includes parole officers, while NJRC provides intensive services that include counseling with social workers, job training and placement, legal assistance, and referrals to housing programs. Trauma is addressed. Individualized plans are developed. Each person is given time to heal and an opportunity to succeed. Communication is a priority and the team is in weekly contact with each participant. And not surprising, there is even an app to allow each person to participate in and take control of their recovery. The results are impressive: since January 2019, out of 44 participants only two have had his or her parole revoked.

SCF is the direction in which New Jersey needs to go. It is a great addition to a wide range of criminal justice reforms that make New Jersey a leader in combating the systemic problems of addiction treatment and reincarceration.

Former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey is the chair of the New Jersey Reentry Corporation.

The Star-Ledger/NJ.com encourages submissions of opinion. 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.
A mother-of-two's breast implant fell out of her chest weeks after botched surgery in Turkey.

Angelica Isaksen, from Stockholm, Sweden, forked out 6,000 for her second boob job last June at a cut-price clinic she found on Instagram.

The 27-year-old  desperate to get her body back in shape for bikini competitions  claims she chose the unnamed clinic after seeing celebrities promote it on the social media site.

Ms Isaksen also had a Brazilian butt lift and tummy tuck during her six-day stay in Turkey. She was immediately unhappy with her results.

Within days her right breast had ballooned, turned bright red and was throbbing in pain but the clinic told her the side effects were 'normal'.

After two weeks, while back home in Sweden, the scar underneath her right breast had began to open up and the implant  covered in brown liquid  was poking out of it.

Ms Isaksen has since had both implants removed and is back to a B-cup. It is not clear what size her implants were.

Angelica Isaksen, 27, forked out 6,000 for her second breast enhancement in June 2019, along with a Brazilian butt lift and tummy tuck

Ms Isaksen also had a Brazilian bum lift and tummy tuck during her six-day stay in Turkey and was initially happy with her results

But within days her right breast had ballooned and was throbbing in pain. After two weeks the scar underneath her right breast had began to open and the implant was protruding from it

Ms Isaksen said she has shared her story to warn other women against choosing budget boob jobs to save money.

Doctors in Sweden revealed the purchasing assistant had contracted MRSA, an antibiotic resistant bug, while under the knife.

Ms Isaksen has since had both implants removed and claims she is unable to look after her children until the highly infectious infection clears up.

She said: 'Immediately after surgery, I knew something wasn't right as my right breast was swollen and sore.

'I have had surgery before and a caesarean so I can handle pain, but this was horrendous.

'After two days, my breast started leaking with blood, but I was told it is "normal" and was made out to be overreacting.

'They didn't remove the tape to see what was going on - I assume the tape was holding the incision together.'

Ms Isaksen has since had both implants removed and is back to her natural B cup-sized breasts

The mother said she has shared her story to warn other women against choosing budget boob jobs (pictured with 18-month-old son Tristan)

Ms Isaksen added: 'After six days in Turkey, I returned home and I took the tape off - the stitches were opening, and my breast continued to bleed - it was so scary.

'I added pressure to it with a towel and started panicking as I could see the implant coming out. I was so worried in case it fell out on to my lap.

'By the time I got to the hospital, it was pouring with blood - they took me straight in for tests - they came back saying I had MRSA.'

Ms Isaksen was kept in hospital for five days in Sweden before being sent home to wait for an appointment with a plastic surgeon to remove the implant.

She had to wear a special bra and lie down to stop the implant from falling out.

Ms Isaksen said: 'Every step I took the hole in my breast got bigger - I was bedbound for two weeks whilst I waited for the removal.

'I felt better as soon as it was out - the implant was covered in a brown liquid from the infection.'

The right implant was removed on December 2 and the left was removed January 7.

Ms Isaksen had her first boob job four years ago in Sweden but after giving birth to her twins Milan and Tristan, 18 months, she wanted a 'mummy makeover' and to get back in shape for bikini competitions.

Doctors in Sweden revealed she had contracted an antibiotic resistant bug while under the knife

She was kept in hospital for five days in Sweden before being sent home to wait for an appointment with a plastic surgeon to remove the implant

One in five beauty clinics in UK are UNSAFE and let untrained staff perform breast enlargements A report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) last year warned too many clinics were carrying out unsafe facelifts, nose jobs, breast enlargements, weight loss surgeries and hair transplants. It found the procedures at these clinics were often performed by untrained staff who did not follow infection prevention standards. The report also revealed some clients were given out-of-date medicine and left in danger while sedated during liposuction. It is the latest blow to the clinics, which have been accused of preying on the body-conscious by offering them buy-one-get-one-free surgeries and ignoring the psychological impacts of the alterations. The health regulator has threatened to shut down the businesses, part of a booming industry, following its report published on Tuesday. It found that 20 per cent of the services it licenses to carry out cosmetic surgeries showed multiple 'areas of inadequate practice'. Advertisement

After seeing multiple celebrities promote the clinic and reading positive reviews, she opted to go ahead with the surgery.

She said: 'I found the clinic in Turkey through Instagram; I had seen a lot of celebrities promoting it so I trusted them and thought it must be good.

'All of the reviews online were great - I later discovered this is because they ask you to write a review whilst you are in the clinic - they obviously delete the bad ones.

'I initially went to the clinic for a breast uplift, volume added to my bum, loose skin removed from carrying the twins and my abdominal muscles tightened.

'None of these things were achieved, I looked the same, so I complained, and they offered me a free revision.

'I assumed the uplift was unsuccessful due to the weight of the implants so the second time round, I went for implants which were half the size and an uplift.'

Ms Isaksen added: 'I was picked up from the airport and taken straight to the hospital - I didn't even get chance to drop my luggage off nor shower. Within ten minutes, I was getting ready for surgery - I felt very uneasy.'

Ms Isaksen is now back to her natural B cup size after the implants were removed. But she is still dealing with the repercussions.

She added: 'MRSA is resistant to many antibiotics - I have become house-bound and unable to look after my children due to the bacteria.

'I have been through a horrific ordeal and the surgery are not taking responsibility for their actions - I have been blocked on WhatsApp and Instagram by them.

'I want to save lives by sharing my story and prevent this from happening in the future.

'The MRSA is still in my system and it will be until the wounds clear up. I went under the knife to get my body back in shape for bikini competitions but now I regret it more than ever.'
LISBON, PortugalNominations are now open for the 6th annual Live Cam Awards, which will take place on March 1, 2020, during the European Summit in Lisbon.

The nomination site Vote.LiveCamAwards.com gives each registrant the opportunity to submit a nomination for up to two individuals or companies per category until the end of January, when standard voting will commence until March 1.

Being the first event dedicated to honoring excellence in the adult live cam industry, the Live Cam Awards includes several model categories, such as:

 Best Female Live Cam Model

 Best Male Live Cam Model

 Aspiring Live Cam Model of the Year

 Best Live Cam Model Personal Site

 Best Live Cam Model Brand

 Best Model Content Creator

Excited to host the "Step Into The Future"-themed gala which will take place during the European Summit in Lisbon, this year, Alexandra Georgia, founder and organizer of the Live Cam Awards, talked about her goals for the show.

"Since Live Cam Awards' first edition, my aim was to bring recognition to cam models," she said. "That's still my main drive, the goal that I strive for with every edition. As a cam model and studio owner myself, this is somehow my legacy and the way of giving something back to the industry who made me the woman that I am today.

The Live Cam Awards have the support of some of the most important players in the cam industry, such as Chaturbate, BongaCams, Best Studio, Flirt4free, Live Cam Mansion, Bucharest Summit, Jasmin and Glam Chat Studio, with more expected to be added soon.






By Anna J. Park



Some of the leading asset managers in Korea marked substantial growth in their assets under management (AUM) in 2019, due to diversification strategies.



According to data from the Korea Financial Investment Association, out of the top 10 asset managers here, NH-Amundi Asset Management recorded the highest year-on-year growth last year, with its AUM growing 26 percent or 8.83 trillion won ($7.57 billion) to 43.27 trillion won as of Dec. 31.



KB Asset Management ranked second with a 16 percent growth in AUM, followed by Korea Investment Management (15 percent), Kiwoom (11 percent) and Kyobo AXA (11percent).



CEO Bae Young-hoon of NH-Amundi Asset Management, the seventh-largest asset manager in Korea, told The Korea Times that such a record was possible due to an increase in their diversified asset classes.



"In 2019, we saw balanced growth in all our asset classes: stocks, bonds, alternative assets, money market funds (MMF), etc. In order to log sustainable growth this year, we plan to add more alternative investments such as infrastructure and exchange-traded funds (ETF), while strengthening cooperation with Amundi  the largest asset manager in Europe and our second-largest shareholder  to expand the scope of our global investments," Bae said.



Other major asset managers, including Shinhan BNP Paribas and Kiwoom, also have similar diversification strategies as a key source for their solid growth in 2019. They plan to continue to focus on alternative, overseas investments in 2020 as well.



"A substantial part of last year's AUM growth came from buoyant sales of overseas bond funds, which we developed as our strategic product for medium risk with medium returns. Another part came from an increase in target-date funds (TDF) sales, as we focused on the retail retirement market. Institutional investors' funds also constitute a major part of the growth," Song Han-jin, head of the Corporate Management Division at Shinhan BNP Paribas Asset Management told The Korea Times.



"In 2020, we aim to continuously provide medium-risk, medium-return products for individual clients. We also plan to develop strategic products with a focus on overseas markets, employing BNP Paribas' product sourcing power. A strengthened emphasis will also be placed on expanding our alternative assets," Song added.



Lee Chang-jin, head of the Strategy and Planning team at Kiwoom Asset Management also explained that diversifying and expanding asset classes were key to the company's stable growth.



"One of the most popular funds in 2019 was the Kiwoom Global Alternative Fund. Just several months after it began to be sold in May, the fund garnered about 400 billion won, and logged a 16 percent profit last year alone," Lee said. The fund invests in global major hedge funds to stably realize diversified investment.



The top three asset managers in Korea  Samsung, Mirae, and Hanwha  solidified their leadership positions last year, way ahead of competitors.


Plus, Bill's Message of the Day, we are living in the United States of Propaganda.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Iranian senior commander Abdollah Aragh said that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will take 'harsher revenge soon', The Mirror reported.

Iran plans to take "harsher" revenge "soon" over the death of its top general, a senior commander has warned.

On Wednesday night, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliation operation for the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani as a result of an American special operation in Iraq. Land-to-ground missiles were fired from Iran at Ain Assad Air Base in western Iraq and the base in Erbil, where the US military contingent is located. According to Washington, none of the US citizens was injured in the blow, only material damage was done.

US President Donald Trump made a public statement on Wednesday, where he said that Washington would limit itself to introducing new sanctions and continuing the policy of maximum pressure on Iran. Media later reported that the US Permanent Representative to the UN, Kelly Craft, sent a letter to the UN Security Council, in which she said that the US was ready for talks with Iran without preconditions to reduce tensions in the region.
West Oaks requires a car for most errands, has minimal bike infrastructure and has a few nearby public transportation options, according to Walk Score's rating system.

So what does the low-end rent on a rental in West Oaks look like these days  and what might you get for your money?

We took a look at local listings in West Oaks via rental sites Zumper and Apartment Guide to find out 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.

1910 Westmead Drive

Listed at $695/month, this 521-square-foot studio apartment, located at 1910 Westmead Drive, is 28.7% less than the $975/month median rent for a studio in Eldridge/West Oaks.

Building amenities include assigned parking and a swimming pool. The apartment also features a balcony and a dishwasher. For those with furry friends in tow, this property is pet-friendly. The listing specifies a $400 pet deposit.

(See the complete listing here.)

Westheimer Road and Briarwest Boulevard

This one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, situated at Westheimer Road and Briarwest Boulevard, is listed for $696/month.

In the unit, look for a dishwasher, hardwood flooring and a walk-in closet. The building features on-site laundry. Pet lovers are in luck: This rental is both dog-friendly and cat-friendly.

(See the complete listing here.)

12630 Ashford Pointe Drive

Here's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment at 12630 Ashford Pointe Drive, which, at 689 square feet, is going for $733/month.

The building has secured entry. The apartment also has a dishwasher, a walk-in closet and hardwood flooring. For those with furry friends in tow, this rental is pet-friendly.

(See the full listing here.)

4040 Synott Road

Then there's this 760-square-foot apartment with one bedroom and one bathroom at 4040 Synott Road, listed at $739/month.

The apartment has hardwood flooring, a walk-in closet and a dishwasher. Pet lovers are in luck: This rental is both dog-friendly and cat-friendly. Building amenities include on-site laundry and secured entry.

(See the listing here.)

This story was created automatically using local real estate data from Zumper and Apartment Guide, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Additionally, if youre in the real estate business learn how to do local real estate advertising in your ZIP codes.

Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
GREENWICH, Conn., Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- XPO Logistics, Inc. (NYSE: XPO), a leading global provider of transportation and logistics solutions, today announced the appointments of Kurt Rogers as chief legal officer and corporate secretary, and Karlis Kirsis as senior vice president and European chief legal officer. Both positions are effective February 3, 2020.



Bradley Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of XPO Logistics, said, Kurt is a results-oriented leader with a talent for aligning legal functions with strategic and organizational goals. He brings extensive expertise in areas important to our strategy, including M&A, intellectual property and international law, and will be supported by Karlis team in Europe. We have a deep bench of transatlantic talent in place.

Rogers joins XPO from Stericycle, Inc., a global leader in medical waste management, where he served as executive vice president and general counsel from 2017 to 2020. He was previously chief legal officer of cloud communications leader Vonage Holdings Corp. for seven years. At Stericycle and Vonage, he led the negotiation and execution of numerous strategic initiatives. Earlier, he was a partner at Bingham McCutchen LLP and at Latham & Watkins LLP, specializing in intellectual property and litigation. He received his juris doctorate degree from Cornell Law School and his bachelors degree from Cornell University.

Kirsis, who joined XPO in 2016, has led the companys legal matters as corporate counsel since 2017. Prior to XPO, he advised businesses on strategic transactions at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. He received his juris doctorate degree from New York University School of Law and his bachelors degree from Amherst College.

About XPO Logistics

XPO Logistics, Inc. (NYSE: XPO) is a top ten global logistics provider of cutting-edge supply chain solutions to the most successful companies in the world. The company operates as a highly integrated network of people, technology and physical assets in 30 countries, with 1,531 locations and approximately 100,000 employees. XPO uses its network to help more than 50,000 customers manage their goods most efficiently throughout their supply chains. XPO's corporate headquarters are in Greenwich, Conn., USA, and its European headquarters are in Lyon, France. xpo.com

Investor Contact

XPO Logistics, Inc.

Tavio Headley

+1-203-413-4006

tavio.headley@xpo.com

Media Contact

XPO Logistics, Inc.

Erin Kurtz

+1-203-489-1586

erin.kurtz@xpo.com
By Brittny Mejia, Los Angeles Times

Californias oldest weekly newspaper, which once published Mark Twain, will keep printing after a retiree stepped in to save the day.

Carl Butz, a fourth-generation native Californian, is taking over the Mountain Messenger, which is based out of his hometown of Downieville.

The 71-year-old has been friends with Don Russell, the editor-publisher of the paper, since moving to the town in the 1990s and was aware of his troubles trying to sell the paper over the last year.

Russell planned to retire by the middle of January. On Thursday, he told the printer the paper would soon cease publication. Russell ran the numbers and told Butz, Its hopeless  dont do this.

The next day, Butz came in with a check.

I said, OK, its not going to cost that much  Im going to save it, Butz said. Im going to try and make sure the thing survives.

Butz is aiming for a nonprofit model and wants to rely on more volunteers to help fill the paper, which for a long time has fallen on the papers two full-time employees, Russell and Jill Tahija.

Hes already found a woman in Sierra City who wants to cover the Board of Supervisors meetings, he said, and staff will send out subscription renewal cards once more.

As newspapers shut down nationwide, Butz is happy to keep the Mountain Messenger going.

Theres just been this rash of these things across the country; you lose the community, Butz said. I think we need to have newspapers.

The Mountain Messenger, which publishes on Thursdays, has a circulation of about 2,400. The paper dates to 1853, when it was started as a twice-monthly publication.

It became the Mountain Messenger in 1854 or 1855 and moved to La Porte and then to Downieville, a Gold Rush community about 110 miles northeast of Sacramento.

The papers claim to fame is that Twain once wrote there while hiding out from the law. He was only there for a couple of weeks, writing under his real name, Sam Clemens, according to Russell, who read some of his articles on microfilm.

They were awful, Russell said in a previous interview with the Los Angeles Times. They were just local stories, as I recall, written by a guy with a hangover.

Russell became co-owner of the paper, known around the area as the Mountain Mess, in the early 1990s. The Jan. 16 edition will be his last in his current role.

I dont have to clean out the office. Thats a huge relief, Russell said.

Its the absolute best thing I could have hoped for, he said. I get to do the stuff I like to do and not have to do the stuff I dont like to do.
In a recent letter to The Daily News, Dominic Ciancibelli asked "what have the local mainstream churches done to support the homeless and disadvantaged?"

I share his concern for the tragic problem of homelessness, and agree that the faith community should be responding to it.

To answer his question, I offer the following: Ten churches have opened their hearts, wallets and buildings to shelter the homeless. Others host addiction recovery programs or offer free clothing.

St. Vincent de Paul (a Catholic affiliate) and The Salvation Army (as mainstream as it gets) provide free food and other needs.

FISH of Cowlitz County works through 18 local Christian churches, providing free emergency food, dental care, prescriptions, propane, work clothing and help with utility bills.

More than 1,000 homeless people received food from FISH in 2019. Three hundred plus volunteers and generous financial supporters make it happen. Many other examples could be listed (shout out to the 13 churches of Family Promise).

Political opinions never enter into our efforts.

Bob Theriault

Volunteer and board president, FISH of Cowlitz County
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday made a strong pitch for ending a legal ban which prevents women workers from doing night shifts in factories.

Vijayan said the CPI(M)-led LDF government headed by him is planning to grant permission to women workers to do night shifts beyond 7 p.m as it would help empower women.

"We talk about equality but a ban is in place preventing women workers to do work between 7 p.m and 6 a.m. This is not good for a society like ours. If men can work between 7 p.m and 7 a.m, women can also work in these hours," he said inaugurating the two-day Global Investors Meet here.

Vijayan, who is also a senior leader of the CPI(M), said his government is planning to permit women factory workers to do night duty.

"I think such a step is necessary as part of empowering women," he said.

The Chief Minister said the employers should bring women-friendly facilities in the factories for women working in the night shifts.

They should ensure safe stay and travel of women working in night shifts, he added.

Last year, the Karnataka government had issued a notification allowing women to work in night shifts (7 p.m to 6 a.m) in all factories registered under the factories act.

The Karnataka government, in the notification, had cited Madras High Court judgement striking down Section 66(1) (b) of the Factories Act, 1948, which prohibited employment of women to work in night shifts.

Section 66(1)(b) of the Factories Act, 1948 states that no woman shall be required or allowed to work in any factory except between 6 a.m and 7 p.m.

In 2015, Kerala High Court had ordered that women employees cannot be asked to do nigh shifts extending beyond 10 p.m.
Debris is seen from a plane crash on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. AP



DUBAI/KIEV - Ukraine outlined four potential scenarios on Thursday to explain the deadly crash of one of its airliners in Iran, including a missile strike and terrorism, as Iranian investigators said the plane was on fire before it fell to the ground.



Kiev said its investigators wanted to search the site of Wednesday's crash southwest of Tehran for possible debris of a Russian-made missile used by Iran's military. An initial report by Iran's civil aviation organisation said the plane had experienced an unspecified technical problem.



The Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800, flying to Kiev and carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians, crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport, killing all 176 people on board.



The Iranian report cited witnesses on the ground and in a passing aircraft flying at high altitude as saying the plane was on fire while still aloft.



It said the three-year-old airliner, which had its last scheduled maintenance on Monday, encountered a technical problem shortly after take-off and started to head toward a nearby airport before it crashed. The report said there was no radio communication from the pilot and that the aircraft disappeared from radar at 8,000 feet (2,440 m).



It is so far unclear if any technical issue could be related to a maintenance fault or defective part.



The disaster puts a renewed spotlight on Boeing, which faces a safety crisis over a different type of 737, though the plane that crashed in Iran does not have the feature thought to have caused crashes of the grounded 737 MAX.



The Iranian report referred to the crash as an accident.



Investigations into airliner crashes are complex, requiring regulators, experts and companies across several international jurisdictions to work together. It can take months to fully determine the cause and issuing an initial report within 24 hours is rare.



A Canadian security source told Reuters there was evidence one of the engines had overheated.



The crash happened hours after Iran launched missile attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq, leading some to speculate that the plane may have been hit.



The initial assessment of Western intelligence agencies was that the plane had suffered a technical malfunction and had not been brought down by a missile, five security sources  three Americans, one European and the Canadian  who asked not to be named, told Reuters.



Ukraine Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danylov said the country's investigators wanted to search for possible Russian missile debris after seeing information on the internet.



He referred to an unverified image circulated on Iranian social media purportedly showing the debris of a Russian-made Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile of the kind used by the Iranian military.



Ukrainian investigators into the crash include experts who participated in the investigation into the 2014 shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, Danylov said.



The Malaysian airliner was shot down on July 17, 2014, over territory held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine as it was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 people on board.



In a televised statement, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier asked people to refrain from speculation, conspiracy theories and hasty evaluations regarding the crash. He declared Thursday a day of national mourning.



Zelenskiy said he would speak by telephone with the Iranian president to step up cooperation in investigating the crash.



Ukraine is looking at various possible causes, including a missile attack, a collision, an engine explosion or terrorism.



Countries recognised under a UN-administered convention as participants should nominate who they wish to be involved in the Iran-led investigation, the Iranian report said.



As the country where the plane was designed and built, the United States would usually be allowed to be accredited but neither side has said whether U.S. investigators will be dispatched to Iran.

Iran's aviation body could not be reached for comment to clarify its position.



Tensions between Washington and Tehran have risen with the United States' killing of a top Iranian general on Friday. Tehran retaliated with a missile strike on U.S. targets in Iraq.



The Ukrainian airliner took off at 6:12 a.m. local time and was given permission to climb to 26,000 feet, the report said. It crashed six minutes later near the town of Sabashahr.



Bodies and body parts recovered from the site of the crash have been taken to the coroner's office for identification, the report said.



Smouldering debris, including shoes and clothes, was strewn across a field where the plane crashed on Wednesday. Rescue workers in face masks laid out scores of body bags.



Onboard were 146 Iranians, 10 Afghans, 11 Ukrainians, five Canadians and four Swedes, the report said, but said some may have held citizenship of other countries.



Ukrainian authorities have said those on board included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, and 11 Ukrainians. (Reuters)


South Koreas largest cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb is set to invest 10 billion won (~$8.6 million) in Busan citys regulation-free zone for blockchain development.

The countrys Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the news on Thursday, saying that Bithumb will invest via its subsidiary GCX Alliance.

Bithumb and Korea's Financial Services Commission will discuss more details about the investment later this month, according to a report from News1 Korea. With the investment, Bithumb could launch several blockchain-based financial services in Busan, per the report.

Busan, Koreas second most populous city, was declared a regulation-free zone for blockchain development by the ministry in August. At the time, the ministry said that Busan would host a wide range of blockchain offerings related to finance, public safety and tourism.

Just last month, Bithumb was hit with a massive tax bill of around $69.5 million by the country's National Tax Service.
When was the last time a PM could not visit a state because of public anger, asks Yechury

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Jan 09: When was the last time a Prime Minister could not visit a state, which is also ruled by his party, because of public anger, asked CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Thursday.

His statement came a day after BJP Assam unit spokesman Rupam Goswami said no confirmation for PM Narendra Modi''s visit to Guwahati to inaugurate the 3rd Khelo India Youth Games 2020 on January 10 has been received.

"The extent and intensity of anger on the streets against CAA-NRC-NPR scheme is so high that Modi has had to cancel his visit to Assam twice. When was the last time a PM could not even visit a state, which is also ruled by his party, because of public anger?," Yechury tweeted.

Kashmir: Sitaram Yechury reaches Srinagar, whisked away to meet Tarigami amid tight security

Earlier, Modi was to attend the annual Indo-Japan Summit there, which was postponed in the wake of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, January 9, 2020, 14:31 [IST]
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020 09:51 733 48be62e941b44f04afae568c3217bc93 1 Business ferry,sea-transportation,travel,ASDP-Indonesia-Ferry,state-owned-enterprise,year-end-holidays Free

State-owned ferry operator ASDP Indonesia Ferry saw a spike in revenue during the year-end holiday season, helping to boost the companys earnings in 2019 with improved road connectivity across Indonesia positively impacting the popularity of sea transportation.

ASDP director of finance and information technology Djunia Satriawan said the holidays were expected to result in a 10 percent spike in the companys revenue, helping it meet its Rp 3 trillion (US$214 million) revenue and Rp 271 billion net profit targets for 2019.

The projected earnings represent a 7 percent increase in revenue from Rp 2.8 trillion and a 6 percent rise in net profit from Rp 255 billion in 2018.

Ferries were frequently overloaded during the night [over the holidays], Djunia told a press briefing at the end of December.

ASDP offered special advantages to passengers who booked tickets online to reduce congestion at ports, with ferry passengers up 5 percent during the Christmas and New Year holidays. The advantages include shorter queues, separate lanes for cars as well as exclusive loading zones with boarding priority, he added.

The company expects to serve 2.2 million passengers, 306 thousand automobiles and 184 thousand motorcycles during the high-demand holiday season across 12 ferry ports in Indonesia.

The use of ferries is expected to increase with destinations across Indonesia benefiting from improved land connectivity.

One example is a ferry route between Merak port in Banten and Bakauheni port in Lampung, which was expected to see a significant increase in popularity after the completion of a toll road between Lampung and Palembang in South Sumatra, said Djunia.

The busiest ferry routes during the holidays are expected to include Merak to Bakauheni; Ketapang, East Java, to Gilimanuk, Bali; and Lembar, West Nusa Tenggara, to Padangbai, Bali, according to company projections.

Corporate secretary Imelda Alini Pohan said earlier this month that she foresaw a 5 percent increase in passenger numbers between Merak and Bakauheni to about 1.01 million, with the number of automobiles and motorcycles also increasing 5 percent to 173,000 and 31,000, respectively.

Therefore, the ASDP has prepared supporting infrastructure to handle increased demand, from ticket booths and motorcycle and car gates to added personnel at ports, she added. (mfp)
Two US officials said Thursday it was highly likely that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner late on Tuesday, killing all 176 people on board.

Washington: Two US officials said Thursday it was highly likely that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner late on Tuesday, killing all 176 people on board.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing US troops amid a confrontation with Washington over the US drone strike that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general last week.

The officials, citing US intelligence, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. They said they had no certain knowledge of Iranian intent. But they said it could very well have been a mistake, and that the airliner was mistaken for a threat.

US president Donald Trump suggested that he believes Iran was responsible and wouldnt directly lay the blame on Iran, but dismissed Irans initial claim that it was a mechanical issue.

Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side, Trump said, noting the plane was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood.

Some people say it was mechanical, Trump added. I personally dont think thats even a question.

The US officials wouldnt say what intelligence they have that points to an Iranian missile. But they acknowledged the existence of satellites and other sensors in the region, as well as the likelihood of communications intercepts and other similar intelligence.

The US assessment comes after a preliminary Iranian investigative report released Thursday said the pilots never made a radio call for help and claimed the aircraft was trying to turn back for the airport when the burning plane went down. Ukraine, meanwhile, said it considered a missile strike as one of several possible theories for the crash, despite Irans denials.

The Iranian report suggests that a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines late Tuesday, when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

Investigators from Irans Civil Aviation Organization offered no immediate explanation for the disaster, however. Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, something initially backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldnt speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6.12 am Wednesday, Tehran time, after nearly an hours delay at Tehrans Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travellers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.

Then something went wrong, though no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations, the report said. In emergencies, pilots reach out to air-traffic controllers to warn them and to clear the runway for their arrival, though their first priority is to keep the aircraft flying.

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above it, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing at 6.18 am, the report said. Flight-tracking data for the plane stopped before the crash, which occurred in the town of Shahedshahr to the northeast of the planes last reported position. Thats the wrong direction of the flight plan, bolstering the reports claim that the pilots tried to turn the aircraft back to the airport.

The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

The report also confirmed that both of the so-called black boxes that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost. It also said that investigators have initially ruled out laser or electromagnetic interference as causing the crash.

Hours before the plane crash the US Federal Aviation Administration had issued an emergency flight restriction barring US carriers and pilots from flying over areas of Iraqi, Iranian and some Persian Gulf airspace warning of the potential for miscalculation or mis-identification for civilian aircraft due to heightened political and military tensions.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraines Security Council, told Ukrainian media that officials had several working theories regarding the crash, including a missile strike.

A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash, Danilov said. He did not elaborate on where he saw the information on the internet.

Ukrainian investigators that arrived in Iran earlier on Thursday currently await permission from Iranian authorities to examine the crash site and look for missile fragments, Danilov said.

The Tor is a Russian-made missile system. Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1s to Iran in 2007 as part of a $700 million contract signed in December 2005. Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades as well.

Iran did not immediately respond to the Ukrainian comments. However, General Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, denied a missile hit the airplane in a comments reported Wednesday by the semiofficial Fars news agency. He dismissed the allegation as psychological warfare by foreign-based Iranian opposition groups.

Ukraine has a grim history with missile attacks, including in July 2014 when one such strike downed a Malaysian Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.

Danilov also said other possible causes under consideration included a drone or another flying object crashing into the plane, a terrorist attack or an engine malfunction causing an explosion. However, no terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack and the plane was only 3 and a half years old.

Oleksandr Zaporozhchenko, a mechanic with the Ukraine International Airlines in 2016-2018, said he knew one of the crew members of the plane and had never heard any complaints about the aircraft.

It is one the most reliable planes out there, Zaporozhchenko told The Associated Press.

The manufacturer of the planes engines, US-French firm CFM, declined to comment. French air accident investigators have not been asked to take part in the investigation so far.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Kyiv after visiting with family during the winter break.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he planned to call Iranian president Hassan Rouhani about the crash and the investigation.

Undoubtedly, the priority for Ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash, Zelenskiy said. We will surely find out the truth.

The crash ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. The flag over Parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-staff, and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has vowed to get to the bottom of the disaster.

While the cause of the tragedy remained unknown, the disaster could further damage Boeings reputation, which has been battered by the furor over two deadly crashes involving a different model of the Boeing jet, the much-newer 737 Max, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months. The uproar led to the firing of the companys CEO last month.

Boeing extended condolences to the victims families and said it stands ready to assist. However, it remains unclear if Iran will allow that amid tensions with Washington, given Boeing is a US-based firm.
Drama ensued at the Milimani Law courts in Nairobi Wednesday after a felony suspect swore that he would rather die than pay Sh30,000 cash bail to secure his release.

Daniel Njonjo Mwangi was facing a felony charge after police found him in possession of a rungu and kitchen knife on Kimathi Street in Nairobi on Tuesday, January 7 at 12:45 pm.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the offense of attempting to commit a felony. But as Senior Resident Magistrate Muthoni Nzibe was preparing to free him on cash bail, all hell broke loose.

Njonjo started shouting: Afadhali nikufe. Sikufanya chochote na sina pesa(I would rather die. I didnt do anything and I dont have any money).

The suspect further resisted attempts by a police officer to handcuff him and even headbutted the law enforcer.

It took at least 5 court orderlies to drag Njonjo out of the dock and into the court holding cells. All this while, Njonjo continued to resist and plead his innocence.

Nonetheless, Magistrate Nzibe granted Njonjo a cash bail of Ksh30, 000 and set the date for mention on January 22.

Mwangi told the court he was arrested by police while on his way to a funeral. He claimed the cops clobbered and pushed him into a sewage tank before handcuffing him.

But the cops who arrested Mwangi said they grew suspicious of his motive when they met him on Kimathi Street and he started running away.

In a report filed at Central Police Station, the officers claim Mwangi threw himself into a pool containing wastewater before they subdued him and found a rungu and kichen knife on him.

Watch the dramatic court incident below. Video courtesy of K24 TV.

Sidenote: If you listen carefully, you might hear someone mumbling Katoto Hodari at the beginning of the video in reference to Magistrate Nzibe. Smh!!
During his speech on the Iranian ballistic missile strike on military bases in Iraq, President Trump once again looked and sounded like a man who has either suffered one or more small strokes, appears to be senile or is snorting Adderall. His speech was so slurred, while he sniffed and snorted 58 times during his speech.

By James DiGeorgia



Tens of thousands of people around the country find themselves wondering and commenting on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook if the national security of the United States may be compromised by a senile sociopath who is addicted to and snorting Adderall.

Adderall is a combination of two stimulant drugs, amphetamine, and dextroamphetamine. It belongs to a class of drugs called central nervous system stimulants. The drug works by increasing levels of the brain chemical dopamine, which stimulates the brain. Its a drug that abused by all sorts of people including college and graduate students, law students, and even interns to help them stay up long hours and remain focused while studying for exams or maintaining a grueling schedule. Its a highly addictive drug that can manifest its usage by grinding it up and snorting it like cocaine.

As a result of those who abuse Adderall often look burned out, sniff and snort constantly, and not the only slur their words but sound disjointed.

Today, President Donald Trump addressed the nation about the orders he gave to assassinate the second most powerful man in Iran, Major General Qassem Soleimani and the ballistic missile strike launched by Iran against U.S. military bases in Iraq.

In the speech, Trump began by repeating his mantra that Iran would never develop a nuclear weapon while he was in office, but outside of that, his speech was a restrained response, one that avoids any promise or pledge of further military action by the United States. Yet, while that put people at ease and sent the U.S. stock markets major indices to new highs, Trumps speech contained a steady stream of mispronounced words, slurred speech, and constant sniffing.

Trump even botched the word tolerated.

Actor and comedian Tom Arnold accused President Donald Trump of previously abusing Adderall on the set of NBC's The Apprentice.

"Donald Trump abused Adderall on the set and it made him crazy. He even snorted Adderall. Mark Burnett knew it. It's scary,"

Tom Arnold's tweet came in response to allegations from stand-up comedian Noel Casler back in 2018, who claimed while he worked on The Celebrity Apprentice for six years Donald J. Trump snorted crushed-up Adderall and called the now commander-in-chief a "speed freak."

Editorialists are starting to notice President Trumps jumbled speech, incongruent thought patterns, stammering, consistent sniffing, and snorting

Even Joan Walsh, the National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation, and CNN political contributor noticed the hints of Adderall abuse.








Rejected Stone Christian Fellowship Plans 2020 Prayer Breakfast

Pastor Walter Davis and the members of Rejected Stone Christian Fellowship will salute the outstanding community record of Ward Wesley at their 2020 Prayer Breakfast.

The event takes place on Saturday, Jan. 18, at 10 a.m., on the church campus at 4700 Avalon Blvd., in Los Angeles. According to Pastor Davis, Wesley will receive the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award in recognition of his positive efforts on behalf of youth and adults.

Ward has helped so many people in his roles as an esteemed veteran, community advocate, citizens activist, mediator and youth developer, Davis said. We are honored to acknowledge his commitment and dedication to improving the neighborhoods of South L.A.

ADVERTISEMENT

The program will also feature an inspiring message by Minister Mark Auston of Southern Saint Paul Church. In addition, Steve Carlston, president and general manager of KNBC television station in Los Angeles, will be the guest of honor.

Davis added that the prayer is open to the public and the ticket donation is $10.

To learn more, call (323) 830-7800 or email [email protected]
Fire Chief Thomas Sammons is warning residents not overload power strips and extension cords after a rash of electrical-related fires in the city.

Pittsfield Fire Chief Gives Advice After Rash of Electrical Fires

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Fire Chief Thomas Sammons is hoping to stop the wave of electrical fires that have forced people to flee their homes in recent weeks.

Standing next to a fire truck at the main station on Columbus Avenue on Wednesday morning, the chief shared some preventive measures to avoid catastrophe.

"We had five fires in nine days. They were fires where we actually had to pull hose lines. We go to a lot of small electrical instances all of the time where we get in and shut the circuit breakers off. For us, they are insignificant," he said. "But these ... four of them were electrical in nature so that was significant for us to reach out to the community."

The chief said no one was hurt in these series of fires that resulted in a total loss of a garage, and the displacement of four families (three from a four-family home and one from a single family home).

Sammons did not go into the specifics of the fires but indicated that some of them were caused by the misuse of power strips and extension cords.

Never overload a power strip and make sure it is rated for what you are using, he said. Never plug an extension cord into a power strip or cover it with carpet.

As a rule, he said, anything that heats, cools, or cooks should be plugged directly into the wall.

"They use a lot of juice," Sammons said.

Extension cords should never be used as permanent wiring because they are designed for temporary wiring. They should never be stapled to a floor or wall.

"They are temporary and you have to have the right size for the device," he said. "The wiring in your house was designed by engineers so it is going to work when you plug it in."

Sammons said much of Pittsfield's housing stock is older and does not have a lot of outlets. Contemporary code calls for an outlet every 12 feet and at least one on every wall. Because of the dearth of outlets in older structures, people sometimes get creative with power strips and extension cords.

"These days the codes are different and there has to be outlets every so many feet," he said. "That wasn't the case back then when a lot of these houses were built. There may be two outlets in a room. The way we are with electronics these days, people want 10 things plugged in in one room."

When it comes to space heaters, Sammons said make sure there is 3 to 4 feet clearance around the unit and that it is on level ground. Never leave a space heater unattended.

He said for any device: When in doubt unplug it.

Sammons said if a circuit breaker continually pops, whatever is plugged into that outlet is overloading it. This increases the odds of it failing.

He said never use a cooking stove to heat a room and make sure all fire and detectors have fresh batteries. He said in the case of some of the aforementioned fires the detectors had dead batteries.

"That is a critical message," the chief said. "You have your kids and you are asleep in your apartment or house  this critical stuff."

He also urged renters to get renters' insurance.
A Richmond startup company has received a Defense Department contract to test a gel patch for eardrum repair in field settings to treat military service members.

Tympanogen was awarded nearly $250,000 as a Small Business Innovation Research contract from the Department of Defense to support safety testing the companys gel patch for eardrum repair.

The Defense Department is interested in the product because military personnel sustaining perforated eardrums is one of the most common blast injuries.

By making eardrum repair faster, easier, and more accessible at the time of injury, we can prevent the complications that lead to this disability for tens of thousands of service members, said Elaine Horn-Ranney, the companys co-founder and CEO. We are excited to work with the DOD to develop our eardrum repair gel for field use.

Tympanogen was founded in 2014 by Horn-Ranney and Parastoo Khoshakhlagh, who both received doctorates in biomedical engineering from Tulane University. The company set up research operations in the Virginia Bio+Tech Park in downtown Richmond early in 2018 when Horn-Ranney moved to the Williamsburg area.

The company has developed a type of polymer hydrogel that it calls Perf-Fix, which can help with the repair of perforated eardrums by encouraging natural regeneration of the tympanic membrane.

It wants to simplify surgical procedures using the gel, which can be applied in an office setting without the need for surgery or general anesthesia.

The Defense Department contract comes after Tympanogen was awarded in August a $1.48 million Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders to help the company further its research.

The testing for that contract is expected to take about 12 months. The companys goal is to submit its product to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2020 and advance into clinical trials after that.
TORONTO - Some of the most active companies traded Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/1/2020 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO - Some of the most active companies traded Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:

Toronto Stock Exchange (17,167.82, down 0.24 of a point.)

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (TSX:ACB). Health care. Down 12 cents, or 5.02 per cent, to $2.27 on 12.1 million shares.

Baytex Energy Corp. (TSX:BTE). Energy. Down 15 cents, or 7.28 per cent, to $1.91 on 10 million shares.

Encana Corp. (TSX:ECA). Energy. Down 47 cents, or 7.4 per cent, to $5.88 on 9.5 million shares.

Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B). Industrials. Down six cents, or 3.11 per cent, to $1.87 on 8.2 million shares.

Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB). Energy. Up 38 cents, or 0.74 per cent, to $52.03 on 8.1 million shares.

The Toronto-Dominion Bank. (TSX:TD). Financials. Up 57 cents, or 0.78 per cent, to $73.86 on 6.5 million shares.

Companies in the news:

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Bombardier Inc.  New York City's transit authority has pulled nearly 300 newly delivered subway cars made by Bombardier Inc. due to safety concerns. Two recent incidents "raised questions about the reliable operation" of the car doors, prompting the authority to remove all 298 of them from service Tuesday night, president Andy Byford said in a statement. The incidents caused no injuries and New York City Transit redeployed spare cars to service the morning rush hour, he said. Bombardier said two doors on cars in the New York City fleet "failed to function as intended" because they were not properly calibrated by the supplier.

Air Canada (TSX:AC). Up 80 cents to $49.04. Air Canada says it is rerouting its flights to Dubai amid uncertainty in the Middle East due to a military confrontation between the U.S. and Iran. The airline says it hasn't used Iranian airspace since the middle of last year and will now also avoid Iraq's airspace  affecting its five-times per week service to Dubai, a major commercial hub in the United Arab Emirates. The Associated Press reported Air Canada had rerouted a flight Wednesday from Toronto to Dubai through Egypt and Saudi Arabia to avoid travelling over Iraq. The airline does not fly directly to locations in Iran or Iraq.

Cott Corp. (TSX:BCB). Up 71 cents or four per cent to $18.48. Cott Corp. says it is considering the sale of its coffee and tea business as it evaluates whether to transition into becoming a pure-play water provider. The beverage company says it's evaluating strategic alternatives for its S&D Coffee and Tea subsidiary as part of its strategic planning process. The Toronto-based parent company says it has hired a financial adviser to help evaluate the coffee and tea business, but adds there's no assurance that any alternative will be pursued.

Pembina Pipeline Corp. (TSX:PPL). Up seven cents to $48.01. The cost of a petrochemical project near Edmonton designed to turn propane into plastic pellets to be shipped to manufacturers around the world has risen to about $4.9 billion, up about $400 million from original estimates. Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corp. says the adjustment is a result of the awarding of a lump sum engineering, procurement and construction contract for one of two integrated petrochemical plants in the facility. CEO Mick Dilger says the decision to award the contract to Fluor Canada Ltd. and Kiewit Construction Services ULC is prudent because it removes uncertainty and risk by locking in 60 per cent of the capital cost of the project expected to be in commercial service in the second half of 2023.

Colabor Group Inc. (TSX:GCL). Down one cent to 55 cents. Colabor Group Inc. is closing its distribution centres in Ottawa and London as a result of the end of a supply contract with Recipe Unlimited. The distributor and wholesaler of food and related products says it will consolidate the Broadline distribution activities of its Summit Foods division in Ontario into its Mississauga distribution centre. The number of jobs affected by the decision was not immediately released. Colabor says sales and marketing activities will be maintained in Ottawa and London, as well as administrative activities in London.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 8, 2020.
It would take a heart of granite not to be moved by the words of the mother of little Avery James Greene, from Cork, who died in a swimming pool in Spain last summer.

I dont get to kiss my child goodnight anymore. I just get to blow a kiss to a box of ashes.

"All I have are the memories, Amanda Cambridge told Neil Prendeville on Corks Red FM radio station.

I fell next to him and was just shaking his leg and rubbing his hand and telling him to wake up and to stop playing games, she said, describing the tragic event that claimed the life of her child.

I never thought that we would end up with the outcome that we did.

The tragedy was made all the more poignant by the fact that Avery was due to begin swimming lessons after his family returned from holiday on the Costa Brava.

Less than a week later, another Cork toddler met a similar fate. Emmy Sophia Eckert was only five when she drowned in a lake in Germany.

These untimely deaths recall that of three-year-old Ronan Kennedy who drowned in a hotel jacuzzi in Youghal in 2015.

The deaths of those young children, whose lives had barely begun, has thrown into sharp focus the need for parents and guardians to give their youngest family members the ability to stay safe in the water.

Children of less than a year old can be taught the rudiments of swimming.

It is a skill that could save their lives.
South Africa: 34 Free State students complete studies in China

The Hubei University of Technology, a public multi-discipline institution specializing in engineering in the Peoples Republic of China, has conferred various degrees to 34 Free State students.

The 34 Free State students were awarded Bachelors Degrees in International Economy and Trade; Chemical Engineering and Technology; Environmental Engineering; Computer Science and Technology; Human Resources Management; Biotechnology; Bioscience; Marketing Management; and Pharmaceutical Engineering.

Free State Premier Sisi Ntombela has applauded the students, whose ceremony comes just a day after the province celebrated being number one in the country in terms of the Grade 12 pass rate, with a record breaking 88.4 %.

This achievement by our students abroad emphasizes the Free State Governments passion for education and our collective desire to leave a lasting legacy that will increase the number of appropriately skilled people that will, in the future, meet the provinces demands, the Premier said in a statement on Thursday.

In total, 65 Bachelors Degrees and three Masters Degrees were conferred to international students from various countries and 20 students were awarded for outstanding performance.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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The share price of IndusInd Bank gained 2 percent in the morning trade on January 9 after global research firm BofAML upgraded the stock to buy and raised target to Rs 2,000 from Rs 1,500 per share. The firm is of the view that macro and micro factors are likely to turn tailwinds in 2020.

It says IndusInd Bank offers the best risk-reward in the sector and most investor concerns are to be addressed positively in a couple of quarters.

BofAML has raise FY20-22 earnings estimates by 1-13 percent and sees a further upside if macro normalisation is stronger.

IndusInd Bank reported a 3.4 percent sequential decline in the September quarter profit, dented by higher provisions and slow net interest income growth. The profit during the quarter declined to Rs 1,383.37 crore compared to Rs 1,432.5 crore in the June quarter, while the year-on-year (YoY) rise was 50 percent.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew by 2.3 percent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) (32 percent YoY) to Rs 2,909.5 crore in Q2, with 5bps improvement in net interest margin at 4.10 percent QoQ.

At 0924 hours, IndusInd Bank was quoting at Rs 1,488.40, up Rs 29.60, or 2.03 percent. It has touched an intraday high of Rs 1,500 and an intraday low of Rs 1,483.65.
The Presidency has frowned at the activities of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying the party represents the single biggest obstacle to good governance and change in the country.

The Presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, said the countrys main opposition party had no business in the internal affairs of the governing party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said: As the Peoples Democratic Party, the countrys main opposition party grapples with deeply troubling questions about its terminal decline and future in national politics, Nigerians must be surprised reading a statement issued by them, assuming the role of spokesmen for President Muhammadu Buhari.

What business do they have talking about alleged love lost between President Buhari and the APC? What do they know? Who sent them?

Today, the PDP represents the single biggest obstacle to good governance and change that the country needs and the people are yearning for.

Both self-respect and sound political judgement demand that the Party takes an introspective look at itself after two successive defeats in national elections, asking what went wrong and how to fix its battered image.

READ ALSO:

They need to go back to the people, in towns and villages, to know what the people want and what the country needs. Instead of doing that, they are taking roles for themselves that are not mandated by law, morality or political gamesmanship.

What business do they have issuing a statement on the love or the lack of it between the President and his party? This is not why they lost elections.

The party needs a reboot that aligns with current national mood and aspirations, to focus on their grim future after two successive defeats.

It is an issue they need to focus on if they are to be taken as a serious opposition party again.

He said a tough task awaits anyone leading a party with nothing to offer to contemporary Nigerians but corruption, mis-governance and division.

As for the APC, the geographical expansion of the party is nothing short of a testimony to the rosy future that lies ahead. The party has come to stay, and the President and the country will ensure that this is achieved, he added.

(NAN)
Northrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/08/2020 -- According to the new market research report "Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment Market by Front-end Equipment (Lithography, Wafer Surface Conditioning, Deposition), Back-end Equipment, Fab Facility Equipment, Product Type, Dimension, Supply Chain Participant, Region - Global Forecast to 2025", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment Market is projected to grow from USD 66.1 billion in 2020 to USD 103.5 billion by 2025; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.4% from 2020 to 2025.



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In 2019, IDM firms captured the largest share of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment market. Most of the IDM players such as Samsung (South Korea), Texas Instruments (US), Song (Japan), and STMicroelectronics (Switzerland) are tire 1 companies and have a significant presence across the world, with a vast customer base. These companies are investing heavily in their R&D activities to develop technologically advanced, energy-efficient, and miniaturized products, such as RFID circuits, smart ICs, ultra-low-power microcontrollers, sensors for consumer electronics, automotive, and industrial applications. IDMs use semiconductor manufacturing equipment for fabrication, testing, assembly, and another process of complicated semiconductor equipment with high accuracy, driving the growth of the market. Also, the dominance of IMDs is expected to remain constant in the near future due to the increasing number of semiconductor fabrication plants all over the world.



Market for memory is projected to grow at highest CAGR during forecast period



Among product type, the market for memory is projected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2020 to 2025. New technologies in memory, such as MRAM, ZRAM, PCRAM, and RRAM, are expected to replace most of the traditional technologies. This shift in the memory market has demanded the change in dynamics of manufacturing equipment, enforcing semiconductor manufacturing equipment providers to develop more efficient designs for the device manufacturers.



APAC is expected to hold largest share of semiconductor manufacturing equipment market in 2025



APAC is expected to hold the largest share of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment market in 2025. The commanding position of APAC is due to the presence of a large number of OSAT companies in the region. More than 60% of OSAT players present across the world have their headquarters in the APAC region. These OSAT companies use semiconductor manufacturing equipment in the semiconductor fabrication process. Taiwan and South Korea contribute to a large number of semiconductor foundries, showcasing greater demand for equipment. The Chinese market is showing impressive growth owing to the cheap labor cost in the country. These factors help the semiconductor manufacturing equipment market to grow in the APAC region.



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Tokyo Electron (Japan), LAM Research (US), ASML (Netherlands), Applied Materials (US), KLA-Tencor (US), Screen Holdings (Japan), Teradyne (US), Advantest Corporation (Japan), Hitachi High-Technologies (Japan), and Plasma-Therm (US) are the key players in the semiconductor manufacturing equipment market. These players are increasingly undertaking strategies such as product launches, expansions, agreements, partnerships, collaborations, and acquisitions to increase their market share.



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Soleimanis role in Syria  especially when it comes to intensifying the brutality the Assad regime has inflicted on innocents there  cannot be overstated. He orchestrated the campaign to fight the rebels by attacking civilian populations, using tactics that include war crimes and crimes against humanity. He called on all the proxy militias connected to his Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard Corps to join the fight. And he facilitated the flow of weapons and cash to them from Iran.
The Devil face seen in smoke from the east Gippsland bushfire in New South Wales, Australia, 3 January 2020. Photo: Channel 7 News Melbourne

By Joelle Gergis

2 January 2020

(The Guardian)  I had goosebumps watching surreal footage of the mass evacuation of people stranded on the south-east Australian coast.

Once again, catastrophic bushfire conditions are bearing down on communities during increasingly horrific summers in Australia. It has been an unprecedented continuation of the horrendous bushfires that started as early as spring in south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales.

As I write this, the Australian navy is evacuating more than 800 people from the bushfire-ravaged town of Mallacoota in eastern Victoria. Holiday makers are being forced to abandon their cars, complete with kids bikes strapped to the roof racks, ice melting in Eskies. People hoping for a carefree break over the new year are instead faced with the extraordinary position of having to flee for their lives. []

Its confronting to see military evacuations, usually reserved for developing regions of the world following natural disasters, happening right here in 21st-century Australia. The sheer scale and severity of the emergency has actually overwhelmed our capacity as a nation to deal with the unfolding events. Not just in one area following a single event, but across multiple disasters occurring simultaneously in every state and territory of our nation.

As a climate scientist, the thing that really terrifies me is that weather conditions considered extreme by todays standards will seem sedate in the future. Whats unfolding right now is really just a taste of the new normal.

At this point I could restate all the lines of scientific evidence that clearly show the links between human-caused climate change and the intensification of extreme weather conditions not just in Australia, but all over the world.

To avoid sounding like a broken record, instead I will say that as a lead author on the forthcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes (IPCC) Sixth Assessment report of the global climate due out next year, I can assure you that the planetary situation is extremely dire.

Its no exaggeration to say my work as scientist now keeps me up at night.

A policeman watches bushfires as they approach homes located on the outskirts of the town of Bargo on 21 December 2019 in Sydney, Australia. A catastrophic fire danger warning was issued for the greater Sydney region, the Illawarra and southern ranges as hot, windy conditions continued to hamper firefighting efforts across NSW. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a state of emergency on Thursday, the second state of emergency declared in NSW since the start of the bushfire season. Photo: David Gray / Getty Images

As Ive watched the events of this summer unfolding, Ive found myself wondering whether the Earth system has now breached a tipping point, an irreversible shift in the stability of the planetary system.

There may now be so much heat trapped in the system that we may have already triggered a domino effect that could unleash a cascade of abrupt changes that will continue to play out in the years and decades to come.

Rapid climate change has the potential to reconfigure life on the planet as we know it.

We know this because the geologic record contains evidence that these events have occurred in the past. The key difference is that weve never had 7.5 billion people on the planet, so the human species really is in uncharted territory. [more]

We are seeing the very worst of our scientific predictions come to pass in these bushfires
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Is the Democratic impeachment of President Donald Trump officially a joke yet?

Its starting to look that way, even to some Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi better figure out her next move.

Pelosi led the House impeachment of Trump last month. It was vital that Trump be removed from office, we were told. Hes a threat to the nation.

Right. So vital that Pelosi has for weeks refused to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial.

But Pelosis fellow Democrats, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, of Pelosis home state of California, are finally and publicly growing impatient with Pelosis sitting on the articles.

If its serious and urgent, send them over, Feinstein said on Wednesday, according to Politico. If it isnt dont send it over.

And this Feinstein quote is a dagger: The longer it goes on the less urgent it becomes.

Ouch.

Now, Pelosi and Feinstein may have accrued some California bad blood between them over the years. Big political fish from the same state often do.

But its a pretty damning breach of the Democratic firewall to have Feinstein rail at the speaker this way. Dems must have a unified front against Trump if theyre to have any hope at all of actually removing him.

The dustup came after GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell secured the votes necessary to proceed with the trial without an agreement on witnesses. In other words, McConnell has kept his caucus in line, while cracks are showing on the Dem side.

And dont forget: Pelosi already lost a Dem House seat when New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew switched parties rather than back impeachment.

Feinstein is not alone in her impatience.

Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), John Tester (D-Mon.), Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) were also quoted as saying they are ready to accept the case from the House already.

Even some House Dems have acknowledged that their leverage against McConnell has all but evaporated and that its time to move the process along. And while pro-impeachment moderate House Dems in Trump districts havent broken ranks with Pelosi, theyve got to be feeling some agita.

Pelosis response? Shed rather talk about the effort to limit Trumps powers to make war with Iran. Thats a good distraction, right?

Wrong. Because the heat has gone out of that topic too.

It was just a couple of days ago that Trump was plunging us into World War III, thanks to his fatal strike against terrorist general Qasem Soleimani of Iran.

This was what Trump opponents had been talking about from the beginning. Trump is crazy. Hell lead us into war. He put the country at risk in order to secure his own re-election. The Iranians will strike back. The homeland is under unprecedented threat.

But it hasnt worked out that way so far. Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes at U.S. bases in Iraq. Minimal damage was done.

The Iranians had to act, if only to show their own people that they werent taking the Soleimani assassination lying down. But they didnt want to provoke the U.S. too much. The regime has enough internal dissent to deal with at home. They dont want to set off a global conflict.

So, a missile strike that was as low-key as a military strike can be. Trump said he would ratchet up sanctions, but said he was open to negotiations with the Iranians. Carrot and stick. Just like U.S. presidents have been doing for centuries.

Things could always go sideways. Iran could retaliate again. Terrorist groups could carry out attacks, with or without the regimes sanction.

It appears that trigger-happy Iranians may have accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet in the midst of all this, killing 176.

Given that the plane was from Ukraine, Im surprised that impeachment-deluded Dems havent tried to pin it on Trump somehow. A new wrinkle in the quid-pro-quo saga.

Maybe thats Pelosis next move.
A woman branded 'crater face' by bullies has her lumps 'snipped' off during bloody surgery in Dr Pimple Popper.

In tonight's stomach-churning episode of the TLC show, Traci, from the US, explains how she has been living with severe, fleshy bumps all over her face for over 20 years.

Having had the bumps from a young age, her condition worsened considerably when she hit puberty, spreading to her nose and forehead.

Making matters worse, Traci admits her attempts to seek medical advice haven't been productive.

'I had a specialist that I went to, I really wasn't very pleased about it,' she reveals. 'He said he got 90 per cent of them but I've got a scar across here [her forehead] and it doesn't look like he touched anything.'

In tonight's episode of TLC's Dr Pimple Popper, Traci (pictured), from the US, explains how she's had fleshy bumps over her face for 20 years

Traci says that while she's had the bumps from a young age, her condition worsened considerably when she hit puberty - and they eventually spread to her nose and forehead. Pictured, with Dr Sandra Lee

Dr Lee (pictured) explains the spots are 'trichoepitheliomas' - firm and rubbery bumps that can occur in tightly packed concentrations on the skin

As a result of her lumps and bumps, Traci struggles with her confidence.

'I really try to be outgoing but it's all a show, because I just want to cover up,' she admits. 'I feel like I'm constantly being judged.'

Having lived with lumps for most of her life, Traci reveals they made going to college particularly difficult, and that she suffered from bullying as a result of her appearance, which stills affects her deeply to this day.

'In about the eighth grade I got dubbed "crater face" by a bully, that's when everything took a toll,' an emotional Traci reveals. 'Words are really deep-seeded, you sit and dwell on them and they take hold of your life. I don't feel beautiful in any way shape or form.'

Traci's insecurities are so severe that she struggles to believe her husband when he compliments her.

'He tells me all the time how beautiful I am, and I just think he's crazy,' she says.

Speaking of the emotional abuse she's received because of her skin, Traci says: 'In about the eighth grade I got dubbed "crater face" by a bully, that's when everything took a toll.' Pictured, the bumps on Traci's forehead

Traci's insecurities are so severe she says she struggles to believe her husband when he compliments her. Pictured, the lumps on Traci's chin

At the end of her tether, Traci bravely makes the trip from Idaho to California to visit dermatological surgeon Dr Sandra Lee, aka Dr Pimple Popper, to see if she can help get rid of the bumps once and for all.

After taking one look at her face, the expert already has a good idea what the bumps are.

'I see all these flesh color bumps on her face, but I really pay attention to the distribution of the bumps,' Dr Lee says, before offering her a spot diagnosis: Trichoepitheliomas, firm and rubbery bumps that can occur in tightly packed concentrations on the skin.'

The bad news for Traci is that there is no quick fix for this condition, and it can take multiple sessions to see a difference.

But the good news is that Dr Lee is ready to start straight away, helping to remove the bigger lumps and flatten down the skin on Traci's face.

Lying down on the operating table, Traci is given a local anaesthetic to numb her face, before the expert methodically starts slicing, cutting and snipping away at the lumps, carefully removing them.

It's a messy procedure, leaving bloody blemishes on Traci's skin as Dr Lee works her way down her face.

Dr Sandra Lee gives Traci (pictured) a local anaesthetic to numb her face, before she methodically starts slicing, cutting and snipping away at the lumps and carefully removing them

Traci is left with bloody blemishes on her skin as Dr Sandra Lee works her way down her face (pictured)

With the bulk of the big bumps removed, Dr Lee starts smoothing out the affected area by using a CO2 laser, which finely burns away at the raised patches of Traci's skin.

Overwhelmed, Traci cannot thank Dr Lee enough and says tearfully: 'I can't even express how grateful I am for what she was willing to do to help me. I think finally I'm at a point where I can let the past be in the past and start fresh and new.'

Fast forward a couple of months and a second round of treatment later, Traci looks and feels like a new person.

'Holy moly, I almost don't have the words to articulate right now just how incredible I feel and how much better I look!' she enthuses. 'I've never felt beautiful until now!'

The new series of Dr Pimple Popper premieres at 10pm tonight exclusively on TLC

After removing the majority of Traci's big bumps, Dr Lee starts smoothing out the affected area by using a CO2 laser (pictured)
Wynn Resorts, Limited WYNN is riding on non-gaming revenues, expansion in domestic market and rise in visitation pattern in Las Vegas. Consequently, the companys shares have surged 28.1% in the past year compared with the industrys rally of 14.9%. However, the U.S.-China trade war, high debt and stiff competition remain concerns. Lets delve deeper.



Factors Likely to Drive Growth



Wynn Resorts, one of the leading companies in the gaming and lodging industry, is well-positioned to gain market share with the gradual revival of the U.S. economy. Notably, Wynn Resorts can command a premium rate compared to its peers in the gaming and lodging industry courtesy of its strong brand name. Moreover, the company recently opened Encore Boston Harbor in Massachusetts. The company intends to upgrade Encore Boston Harbor to a top performing casino in the northeast.



Moreover, the company generates a significant part of revenues from Macau resorts. Apart from the gaming business in Macau, it has been increasingly focusing on driving non-gaming revenues. Given the decent visitation pattern in Macau, and infrastructure development and governments efforts to boost tourism, non-gaming sources are expected to drive revenues in the days ahead.



Moreover, the companys full-scale integrated resort in Cotai, Macau, is poised to witness increased visits from tourists and leisure gamblers over the long term, which is likely to strengthen its position in the Cotai strip. Notably, such projects are expected to draw business and leisure travelers, and provide a solid platform for growth. In fact, building resorts in Boston and Macau will help Wynn Resorts capitalize on strong consumer spending trend in the region.



The inauguration of the world's longest sea-crossing bridge and tunnel in the prior year, which connects Macau to Hong Kong as well as mainland China's Pearl River Delta, is likely to prove beneficial to the casino operator. The company stated that it is redesigning Wynn Macau, the entirety of the original casino, and remodeling the Encore Tower Suites.



The company is also focusing in domestic expansion. In order to enhance performance in Las Vegas, the company has remodeled rooms at its properties and the baccarat pit. Though tourism in Las Vegas has not yet reached the pre-recession level, the company is on its way to recovery. The number of visits has been improving every year.

Story continues





Hurdles to Cross



The U.S.-China trade war has been hurting gambling stocks, and Wynn Resorts has been no exception to the trend. Meanwhile, the flagging China property price has adversely impacted the high-end VIP segment. However, Wynn Resorts has been offering various promotional allowances and undertaking initiatives to attract gambling patrons in Macao.



Nevertheless, Wynn Resorts heavy reliance on debt financing remains a concern. At the end of third-quarter 2019, total outstanding debt amounted to $9.54 billion, which includes $4.06 billion of Macau-related debt, $3.11 billion of Wynn Las Vegas debt, $1.76 billion of Wynn Resorts Finance debt, and $611 million of debt held by the retail joint venture.



Zacks Rank & Key Picks



Wynn Resorts has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks worth considering in the same space include Boyd Gaming Corporation BYD, Churchill Downs Incorporated CHDN and Penn National Gaming, Inc. PENN. All these stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Boyd Gaming has an impressive long-term earnings growth rate of 13.8%.



Churchill Downs has reported better-than-expected earnings in three of the trailing four quarters by 17.9%, on average.



Penn National Gaming has an impressive long-term earnings growth rate of 33%.



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Kensington Palace has released a striking new portrait of the Duchess of Cambridge to mark her 38th birthday, showing the the future Queen dressed down in jeans and a jumper.

The image taken by Matt Porteous was released on the Kensington Royal Instagram page, with a message of thanks for those who have wishes the Duchess Happy Birthday.

It's believe to have been taken at Kate's Norfolk home, Anmer Hall, in September 2018 and shows the Duchess looking relaxed in the countryside, wearing her 130 Fjallraven Ovik Re-Wool Sweater and jeans.

It is thought it was taken at the same time as a family photo that was shared as the Cambridge's 2018 Christmas card.

Kensington Palace has released a striking new portrait of the Duchess of Cambridge to mark her 38th birthday, showing the the future Queen dressed down in jeans and a jumper

The photo was shared with a simple message: 'Thank you everyone for all your lovely messages on The Duchess of Cambridges birthday!'

Members of the Royal Family have shared their well-wishes to the Duchess amid fan fears that the event would be overshadowed by the announcement by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

The Royal Family Instagram account, which is run by the Queen's staff at Buckingham Palace, posted a series of photos of the monarch with the Duchess.

Clarence House, run by the household of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, shared a similar tribute, including photos of Kate with both Charles and Camilla.

The Royal Family Instagram account, which is run by the Queen's staff at Buckingham Palace, posted a series of photos of the monarch with the Duchess

Clarence House, run by the household of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, shared a similar tribute, including photos of Kate with both Charles and Camilla

It comes as royal fans were left reeling after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made their announcement on the eve of the Duchess of Cambridge's birthday - joking it is 'quite the present'.

Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan Markle, 38, last night announced they will be stepping back as 'senior royals', will split their time between the UK and North America and will walk away from Royal funds in order to become 'financially independent.'

However some royal watchers were struck by the timing of the statement, pointing out that it came on the eve of Kate's 38th birthday today and saying it would 'overshadow' the Duchess's celebrations.

Royal fans were left reeling after Harry and Meghan (right in October 2019) made their announcement just hours before Kate's birthday (left with Charlotte in September 2019)

Royal watchers were left confused over the timing of the statement - pointing out that it came on the eve of Kate's 38th birthday today - and said it would 'overshadow' the celebrations

Others were hooked by the apparent drama, with one writing: 'THEY QUIT THE FAMILY THE NIGHT BEFORE KATE'S BIRTHDAY I AM LIVING FOR THIS.'

Another tweeted: 'Anyhow, let's hope Kate's birthday isn't at all over shadowed today,' with a crying laughing emoji.

A third added: 'They chose to make the announcement hit the press on Kate's birthday! Lovely present from them to her.'

Others were hooked by the apparent drama of the situation and said they 'couldn't get over it'

Other royal watchers flooded Twitter and Instagram with well-wishes to the Duchess.

Prince Harry and Meghan unveiled a slick new website just moments after announcing they were stepping back from royal duties.

Posts on the website, sussexroyal.com, detail the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's 'new working model', explaining how they intend to go forward in a 'progressive new role' following the announcement that they are quitting the royal family.

They listed their new media relations policy, the future of their charities and also explained how they will be funded after claiming that they want to be financially independent.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : The Centre has withdrawn the VIP security of Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O. Paneerselvam and Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam (DMK) leader M. K. Stalin, officials said on Thursday.

Paneerselvam had "Y+" category security cover while Stalin had a "Z+" protection being provided by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) -- a paramilitary force mandated to provide VIP security as well as internal security across the country along with hyper sensitive areas such as Maoist-affected states and Jammu and Kashmir.

The government took the decision to remove the security cover of the two politicians following the threat assessment review based on Central security agencies report and approved by the Union Home Ministry, said the officials.

The CRPF were providing security to the two leaders of Tamil Nadu and it is learnt that the paramilitary forces's cover of the two leaders were withdrawn after the state police took over the charge of providing protection to them.
Bishops call on support for interim premier Diab and that the "requests" of the people accepted. Patriarch Rai attacks politicians who "continue to block" the formation of the executive. UN Special Coordinator: "Irresponsible" to keep the country without a government.

Beirut (AsiaNews) - In Lebanon, the formation of a new executive must be encouraged, to respond to the requests of a people exasperated by months of serious political and economic crisis, which has resulted in hundreds of layoffs, cut wages and pushed the banking system to collapse.

"The mission of the Prime Minister in charge [Hassan Diab] of forming a government - write the prelates at the conclusion of the monthly meeting in the patriarchal see of Bkirki - must be facilitated, while the requests made by people in public squares must not be rejected".

The bishops attack the measures introduced by the banks (including limits on the withdrawal of money or transfers of capital abroad) which, in fact, prevent citizens from disposing of them freely and independently. In response, they call for an "integrated financial policy, to limit citizens' humiliation" in front of credit institutions. At the same time, attacks on banks are condemned, which remain a fundamental pillar for the economy of the state and individuals.

The Maronite patriarch, Cardinal Beshara Rai, also intervened on the crisis situation at the Epiphany mass, re-launching his appeal for the birth of a government that is not affiliated to leaders or political parties.

"It is always our duty - recalls the cardinal - to appeal to the political leaders who continue to block the formation of the government". It is they, he continued, who "brought the country to this state of degradation" at an economic, financial and social level following clientelist and partition policies "in repeated violation of the Constitution".

"We pray to God - concluded Card Rai in his homily - that he will pull Lebanon out of its crisis and for the formation of a government independent of the influence of those responsible and political parties, who pay no attention to anything other than their own interests. ".

Economic difficulties and anti-government protests against corruption and malfeasance saw an escalation of tension in mid-December further hindering the difficult process towards the formation of a new government, called to revive a country from 29 October without an executive following the resignation of the then Prime Minister Saad Hariri. The Lebanese patriarchs and bishops spoke about these issues on the occasion of the celebrations and Christmas homilies, calling political leaders to their responsibilities in the face of the popular revolt.

The UN Special Coordinator Jan Kubis also spoke on the political situation in Lebanon, who stressed that keeping the country without a government is "increasingly irresponsible". Given the situation and developments across the region, the diplomat stressed, "I call on leaders to act without further delay."

At the time of his appointment, on December 19 last, the prime minister in charge Hassan Diab has promised to form a technocrat executive independent of factions and parties within the next six weeks. A difficult task in a nation where, usually, it takes months to see a new government formed.
Mohammed Abdullah Al Araimi was murdered outside Harrods on December 5

A 23-year-old man has been charged with the murder of an Omani student who was stabbed to death outside Harrods late last year.

Mohamed Abdulllah Al Araimi, 20, was killed in an 'extremely violent' robbery near the Knightsbridge department store on December 5.

Scotland Yard confirmed Badir Rahim Alnazi, 23, has been charged with murder, attempted robbery and possession of a bladed article.

Alnazi is expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court later today.

He was arrested on Wednesday, January 8 after handing himself in at a central London police station.

The victim, a King's College politics and economics student, was knifed to death as he made his way home from a meal out with friends.

The Omani national, who was living in London, was pronounced dead in the early hours of Friday December 6.

In a statement following his death, his brother Salem Abdullah Al Araimi said: 'Our hearts are eternally broken'.

Scotland Yard is still searching for a second suspect in connection with the attack.

A reward of 20,000 is being offered for information leading to the killers arrest and prosecution.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Partridge, who is leading the investigation, said: 'The attack on Mohammed and his friend was a planned robbery that was truly shocking and extremely violent.

'I am convinced that the public can provide names for those males featured in the CCTV images we have released today.

Scotland Yard is still looking for a second suspect, pictured right, wearing a green jacket and a cap in connection with Mr Al Araimi's murder

Badir Rahim Alnazi, 23, has been charged with the Omani student's murder following the attack near Harrods in Knightsbridge on December 5, pictured

On the night of his murder, Mr Al Araimi leaves a restaurant with a friend on Pavilion Road in Knightsbridge. He is attacked on Basil street and collapses and dies at Hans Crescent

'My team have secured hundreds of hours of CCTV footage. The suspects involved in the attack travelled on foot from the Edgware Road / Marble Arch area of London to Knightsbridge prior to carrying out the attack.

'This location is therefore potentially very significant, with the persons we are seeking to identify having a connection to this area.

'There is a substantial reward being offered in this case and I ask that anyone who knows the identity of the two males makes contact with my team. All calls will be treated in the strictest confidence.'

Mr Al Araimi was pronounced dead at the scene less than an hour after the attack. His friend, 20, who was also stabbed was treated in hospital and has since been discharged.

Anyone with information can call police on 020 8358 0300 or 101 quoting the reference CAD 3/6Dec, or to remain anonymous contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or online.
The Small Firms Association (SFA) has today released its latest Small Business Sentiment Survey report.

The survey tracks key trends in the small business sector. It is based on responses provided by SFA member companies (less than 50 employees) across all sectors and in all parts of the country.

A number of risk factors for 2020 have been identified in the survey, such as Brexit, the ability to attract talent and slower economic growth all of which have the potential to reduce growth and confidence in the small business sector.

Separately, the SFA warns that the increase in the National Minimum Wage to 10.10, from February 1st, will further hinder small businesses ability to Brexit proof their businesses and maintain cost competitiveness. Increasing costs and regulatory burden, Brexit related uncertainty, global trade tensions and a tightening labour market are other concerns.

Despite this, the survey shows that two thirds of respondents indicated their intention to invest in their business and recruit over the coming year.

Commenting on the survey, SFA Director, Sven Spollen-Behrens said, "The fundamentals of the Irish economy are strong and economic growth and job creation are forecast to continue in 2020. However, Brexit poses one of the biggest challenges faced by small businesses in years and the SFA will remain focused on preparing members for the opportunities and risks to their businesses."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Dear Alibi,

Why is Albuquerque a crime mecca? Cops, courts and politicians.

Cops: Prior to the reign of Marty Chavez, ABQ cops were required to have a college education. This not only resulted in some degree of meritocracy, but also in more mature cops than if we took them straight from high school. There were not as many as we wanted.

With typical liberal "quantity over quality" thinking, Marty decided to rapidly expand the force by dropping the college requirement. I don't have statistics, but the scuttlebutt I have heard over the years is that these "lowered expectation" [for] cops have accounted for a disproportionate amount of the problems APD has had.

Enter the Berry regime. In an overreactive response to complaints from criminals, the ACLU, and yes, even some regular people, Berry and the Council decided to invite the US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, to come in and dictate a consent decree providing for extended oversight of APD by someone agreeable to DOJ.

I have dealt with the Civil Rights Division for 3 local governments. The first two cases resulted successfully for my clients, and unhappily for DOJ. On the third, they saw the light and modified their demands to something my client thought was reasonable. We reached an amicable settlement.

What I learned from this: DOJ Civil Rights Div. attorneys, who I think of affectionately as OLFs (Obnoxious Little Feds), are full of bluster and BS. They tend to be way out over their skis, making outlandish demands backed up by little to no evidence. They "count coup" in their settlements by how much money they can force local governments to waste on activities whose only benefit is to make Feds feel good.

When confronted with a local government that won't back down, they end up fleeing back to Washington, with their tails between their legs. Appeasing these people when they attack is unwise and expensive. Inviting them to boss you around is Political Malpractice.

The million-plus per year that ABQ is spending on Ginger could pay for 10 cops, maybe in Homicide. If, in fact, APD has six times as many cops in Internal Affairs as in Homicide, this is a gross misappropriation of resources, unless APD is 6 times as big a threat to the public as murderers. If this is true, no wonder people don't want to join the force! If it is only what the powers that be think, no wonder people don't want to join the force!

Wolves would like to outlaw sheep dogs. Sheep are too stupid to realize they need them.

Courts: The biggest problem in talking to the public about courts is that the average citizen has the impression that judges are some sort of high priests, carrying stone tablets down from the mountain. They are not. Judges are lawyers. As an occupational group, the only group that competes with lawyers on liberalism is journalists.

Unlike math or physics, law has few if any provable "right" answers. Law is politics and philosophy written down on paper. Given the divergence of lawyer politics from regular people's politics, it should come as no surprise that judges picked from lawyers, by lawyers, would have a different view of "justice" than regular citizens. Most of the judges arousing the public's ire with their squishy soft sentences and addle-headed release decisions rate "well qualified" in the opinions of the criminal defense bar. That bar far outnumbers the prosecution bar.

When the citizens of New Mexico were conned into so called "Merit Selection" by the bar in 1988, the selection of a left-leaning judiciary in the Rio Grande Valley was virtually guaranteed.

"Merit selection" gives us the worst of both worlds. We get a large part of the "God complex" of Federal judges, without true independence. They still have to keep the criminal defense bar happy to get those approval ratings so well covered by the press, and important to their periodic retention elections.

Politicians: When Toney Anaya ran for Governor in 1982, he said he would not execute anyone. However, he promised the voters he would not issue any blanket commutations. He lied.

When Bill Richardson ran for Governor, he promised the voters he would not sign any repeal of the Death Penalty. He lied.
One Nsem Godwin has been arrested by the Ondo state police command for allegedly kidnapping two kids in Okitipupa local government of Ondo state.

Confirming his arrest, CSP Femi Joseph, the state Police Public Relations Officer said he was arrested with a nine-year-old and four-month-old kids on Monday while trying to escape.

Godwin was arrested while trying to run away with the children. We have commenced an investigation into the matter and the suspect will be charged as soon as the investigation is concluded.

Read Also: 95% Of Arms Used For Kidnapping, Banditry Come Through Land Borders: Minister

That is why we want to appeal to parents and guardians to take proper care of their children and wards.

An eyewitness said the suspect allegedly abducted the four-month-old baby, while he was playing outside with his brother.

The eyewitness said, the suspect carried the baby and was trying to escape through a shortcut to the Onaopemipo Street in Okitipupa and some people accosted him and questioned him, but he could not give any answer on how he came about the baby.

At a point, he started acting like he was menta
Fear, not hope, reigned in Australia on New Years Day. A string of fires all the way down the South Coast region of New South Wales and Victoria are burning at emergency levels . This years bushfire season is widely regarded as one of the most severe on record. Since September, fires have spread across much of south-eastern Australia following a period of extreme drought and record-breaking temperatures.

At least 25 people killed and ecologists at the University of Sydney estimate more than one billion birds, reptiles and mammals in New South Wales alone are likely to have died in the rapidly spreading wildfires. Reuters reported that by January 7, the fire had expanded to 10 million hectares or an area the size of South Korea.

The direct cost of the fires to the Australian economy has been estimated to be at least $2 billion and rising. With summer only one-third over, the situation is likely to grow even grimmer in Australia.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, torrential rains, which began on New Years Eve, set off deadly flash floods in the capital Jakarta and elsewhere on the island of Java, killing at least 66 people and sending over 173,000 residents to temporary shelters.

Jakarta is a sinking city built on swamps, riddled with punctured aquifers, clogged waterways, and weighed down by an unwieldy population that is regularly inundated by floods as sea levels rise steadily. This is why Indonesian officials are already seeking to relocate the countrys capital to East Kalimantan Province, on the island of Borneo.

However, the deluge in the first week of 2020 was the heaviest in the capital since record-keeping began in the 19th century. This rain is not ordinary rain, warned a statement from Indonesias Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency.

As always multiple factors are at play in this annual cycle of fires and floods on the Australian continent and the Indonesian archipelago, but the scale and intensity of this years unfolding disasters unequivocally reiterate that the link between the current extremes and anthropogenic climate change is scientifically undisputable.

If Indonesia is naturally prone to floods, Australia is naturally primed to burn. Every year there is a fire season in the summer, with hot, dry weather making it easy for blazes to start and spread.

More than a decade ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that ongoing anthropogenic climate change was virtually certain to increase in intensity and frequency of fires in Australia and flooding in Indonesia. This assessment of the science evidence has been repeated in countless reports, including the IPCCs Climate Change and Land report, released in August.

Yet neither the Australian nor Indonesian governments have announced any significant changes to their climate policies. Australia produces iron ore and a third of global coal exports and the Indonesian economy is fuelled by export of palm oil and coal. Both countries are also among the top 20 CO2 emitters.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison openly promotes coal industry, which is allegedly a major funder to his party. I am not going to write off the jobs of thousands of Australians by walking away from traditional industries, he told Australian broadcaster Channel Seven.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has pledged to rein in the illegal expansion of palm oil sector, the largest driver of deforestation, but at the same time in a bid to bring development to remote regions, he is accused of surreptitiously allowing vast tracts of peat land forests to be cleared for palm oil in the Indonesian part of Papua New Guinea.

Australian fires and Indonesian floods are merely a glimpse of a world careening irreversibly into a climate emergency that appears to be set to unfold across the planet in 2020.

As Cate Blanchett put it so succinctly at the 77th Golden Globe Awards night, when one country faces a climate disaster, we all face a climate disaster, so we are in it together.

The question is if Morrison and Widodo are willing to accept that climate change is aggravating natural disasters in their own countries, that they urgently need an alternative business model to shore up their GDPs, that bold and decisive action to end coal extraction and deforestation once and for all will go a long way in helping the world survive the ongoing climate crisis.
(L) President Donald Trump in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Nov. 30, 2018. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) (R) Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani attends an annual rally commemorating the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, in Tehran, Iran on Feb. 11, 2016. (Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

Trump Says Soleimani Was Killed Because Iran Was Looking to Blow Up Our Embassy

President Donald Trump elaborated more on the threat posed by Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, saying Iran was aiming to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.

Soleimani was killed in a drone strike in Baghdad last week, prompting Iran to launch missiles at Iraqi military bases that contained U.S. troops on the night of Jan. 7. No casualties were reported.

I will say this, we caught a total monster. We took him out, Trump said of Soleimani, who was the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force. That should have happened a long time ago. We did it because they were looking to blow up our embassy.

Trumps remark about Soleimanis alleged U.S. Embassy plot is the clearest comment yet from the White House about what Soleimani was intending to do in Iraq. Top Pentagon and State Department officials have revealed little about the details, which has drawn criticism from several members of Congress who have said they should have been briefed before the Soleimani drone strike.

We also did it for other reasons that were very obvious. Somebody died, one of our military people died, Trump told reporters, referring to the U.S. military contractor who was killed in an attack launched by the Iran-backed terror group Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq in December 2019.

Trump told reporters that if Soleimani were to continue unchecked, a hostage situation may have unfolded.

The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Tehran on Sept. 14, 2013. (Mehdi Ghasemi/ISNA/AFP via Getty Images)

I believe that we wouldve had a hostage situation, or we would have had worse, a lot of people killed, he said.

In the days leading up to the airstrike, mobs of people tried to breach the U.S. Embassy in Iraq after the United States struck several Kataib Hezbollah targets in the country.

About an hour before Trump spoke, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she is aiming to push to vote for a resolution meant to place restrictions on the White Houses ability to take military action without congressional approval.

The administration conducted a provocative and disproportionate airstrike against Iran which endangered Americans, she said. We have no illusions about Iran. But its not about how bad they are. Its about how good we are, Pelosi also told reporters.

When she was asked about whether a debate on war powers would embolden Tehran, she offered a strong response.

Thats foolish, she said. Thats completely foolish.

The United States will not seek to retaliate against Iran after it launched more than a dozen missiles at two Iraqi bases, Trump said in a televised address on Jan. 8. Instead, his administration will place stronger sanctions on Tehran.
Good listeners ask good questions. One of the most valuable lessons Ive learned as a journalist is that anyone can be interesting if you ask the right questions. That is, if you ask truly curious questions that dont have the hidden agenda of fixing, saving, advising, convincing or correcting. Curious questions dont begin with Wouldnt you agree? or Dont you think? and they definitely dont end with right? The idea is to explore the other persons point of view, not sway it.

For example, when trying to find out why people might go to the grocery store late at night, a focus group moderator told me, she didnt ask leading questions like, Do you shop late a night because you didnt get around to it during the day? or Do you shop at night because thats when they restock the shelves? Instead, she turned her question into an invitation: Tell me about the last time you went grocery shopping late at night. This, she said, prompted a quiet, unassuming woman who had hardly spoken up to that point to raise her hand. I had just smoked a joint and was looking for a menage a trois  me, Ben and Jerry, she said. Grocers, take note.

You also want to avoid asking people personal and appraising questions like What do you do for a living? or What part of town do you live in? or What school did you go to? or Are you married? This line of questioning is not an honest attempt to get to know who youre talking to so much as rank them in the social hierarchy. Its more like an interrogation and, as a former C.I.A. agent told me, interrogation will get you information, but it wont be credible or reliable.

In social situations, peppering people with judgmental questions is likely to shift the conversation into a superficial, self-promoting elevator pitch. In other words, the kinds of conversations that make you want to leave the party early and rush home to your dog.

Instead, ask about peoples interests. Try to find out what excites or aggravates them  their daily pleasures or what keeps them up at night. Ask about the last movie they saw or for the story behind a piece of jewelry theyre wearing. Also good are expansive questions, such as, If you could spend a month anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Research indicates that when people who dont know each other well ask each other these types of questions, they feel more connected than if they spent time together accomplishing a task. They are the same kinds of questions listed in the widely circulated article 36 Questions That Lead to Love and are similar to the conversation starters suggested by the Family Dinner Project, which encourages device-free and listening-focused meals.

Because our brains can think a lot faster than people can talk, beware of the tendency to take mental side trips when you should be listening. Smart people are particularly apt to get distracted by their own galloping thoughts. They are also more likely to assume they already know what the other person is going to say.
(Newser)  "It's cute whenever thirty-something rich kids want to become financially independent of their parents." So begins Kim Janssen's call for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to "have the courage of your convictions" and "renounce your snobby, stupid titles." Prince Harry and Meghan's stunning announcement of their intention "to wean themselves from the teat of the British state, upon which they have feasted for far too long" doesn't go quite far enough, Janssen, a London native, writes at the Los Angeles Times. She allows that it's tough for Americans to really get the harm at playin a nutshell, the country's royals "serve as a bulwark to the ugly British class system." But some Americans got it: those men behind the US Constitution, which bars such titles.

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Kaitlin Menza of the "Royally Obsessed" podcast is a bit more sympathetic, focusing on the "relentless media attention" the couple has received. "By stepping back, Harry can allow his brother, his father, and his grandmother to shine, as they were born to do, while protecting his wife and their son from further pain," she writes at NBC News. At Bloomberg, Sarah Green Carmichael argues "this is one spinoff that could work for everyone involved." Not only is it in keeping with a long-term plan for a more focused, "slimmed-down monarchy," but it seems best for Harry and Meghan. Why not leave them to the "issues they care deeply about"? writes Carmichael. "They have clearly struggled to balance the public and private aspects of royal life, and frankly, seem pretty miserable." (The decision reportedly came as news to the queen.)
Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 is tipped to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset in all regions, including Asia. Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 is tipped to sport a 10MP selfie shooter. Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 is said to reduce, if not eliminate, the crease.

Samsung is expected to introduce a new foldable smartphone - tentatively called the Galaxy Fold 2 - at their Unpacked 2020 event on February 11. The smartphone is tipped to feature huge design changes from the first-gen Galaxy Fold. It is rumoured to drop the first-gen Galaxy Fold aesthetics in favour of a Motorola Razr (2019)-like clamshell form factor. Now, a new report as allegedly revealed more information about the upcoming device.

According to a report from MySmartPrice, Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 could be powered by a generation-old Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset. Further, tipster Ishan Agarwal tweeted Galaxy Fold 2 will get the Snapdragon 855 SoC in all regions. For reference, Galaxy Fold 2 is expected to launch alongside the Galaxy S20/Galaxy S11 series, which is tipped to be powered by the latest silicon - Snapdragon 865 chipset.

Moreover, Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 is tipped to sport a 10MP selfie shooter, which is likely to borrow its hardware from the 10MP selfie camera on the Galaxy Note10. Unlike the original Galaxy Fold, Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 is said to turn to ultra-thin glass as the display covering. Industry insiders say that using ultra-thin glass would make mass production of such panels even more expensive than they are at the moment.

Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 is said to reduce, if not eliminate, the crease. The next Samsung foldable phone is rumoured to be made available for sale "immediately" after its official unveiling. However, whether or not it will go on sale in markets outside South Korea before the end of February is not yet known.

Samsung Galaxy S20/Galaxy S11 trio is expected to come in 6.2/6.4 inches, 6.7 inches, 6.9 inches display sizes. More rumours are expected to reveal the specifications of upcoming smartphones leading up to the February 11 event.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry sent shockwaves around the world when they released a statement about their future. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they were taking a step back as senior members of the Royal Family. In the statement released on Instagram, the couple also said they intended to become financially independent. Where could that possibly lead them? The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, of course!

Andy Cohen and Meghan Markle | Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images / Samir Hussein/WireImage

Andy Cohen, the producer behind all the Housewives franchises is giddy about Markle and Harrys announcement. With the pair relocating to North America from the U.K., the Watch What Happens Live host wants Markle to join the cast of RHOBH.

Open invite for The Duchess to join RHOBH, Cohen wrote on Instagram.

With Markles career in acting, she would be a perfect fit in the cast that includes other actresses. If Markle were to decide to accept Cohens invite she would join the likes of Kyle Richards, Denise Richards, Lisa Rinna, Dorit Kemsley, Sutton Stracke, Erika Jayne, Teddi Mellencamp, and Garcelle Beauvais.

Cohen was not the only one with the idea of the royals joining RHOBH. Trevor Noah also quipped about the thought on The Daily Show.

I think theyll move to L.A. because Meghan is an actor, Noah said. And then Harry can just join the cast of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

TONIGHT: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex declare their independence. pic.twitter.com/55q8deFHR9  The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) January 9, 2020

Prince Harry and Meghan Markles full statement

The royals made their shocking announcement via a statement on Instagram that was quickly picked up by media around the world.

After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex wrote on Instagram. We intend to step back as senior members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen. It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.

We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to [honor] our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages. This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity. We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support.

Royal Family react

After the statement was released, Buckingham Palace released a reaction statement clarifying the situation.

Discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage, the statement read. We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through.

A source close to the Royal Family is now saying that they were taken aback by the announcement.

There were talks over the Christmas break between the couple and the family, over the phone because the Sussexes were away, but they were very early stage talks, nothing had been agreed, an insider told Vanity Fair. Some of what [Harry and Meghan] are proposing is very complicated and isnt just something that can happen overnight.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not reveal when they planned to set their move in motion as of yet.
The BJP government in Gujarat will bring a resolution in the assembly during its day-long session on Friday welcoming and supporting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, whose passage in Parliament last month triggered widespread protests across the country.

The special house session has been convened to approve a constitutional amendment bill recently passed by Parliament to give a 10-year extension to reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

The government-sponsored resolution on CAA, which is to be discussed for about 120 minutes before passing it, congratulates Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for their bold and historic decision in bringing the legislation and securing its passage in Parliament.

The BJP government's move comes days after the assembly of Kerala, ruled by the CPI(M)-led LDF, passed a resolution demanding scrapping of the controversial Act, becoming the first state in the country to do so.

The new law promises Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. CAA's critics say the law is discriminatory and violates the core values of the Constitution.

Policy of appeasement of earlier governments had kept such people (persecuted minorities of these three countries) devoid of citizenship and other rights, says the BJP government-sponsored resolution, which is unlikely to face any hurdles in the assembly given the saffron party's majority.

As the nationalist government of the BJP has come to power in the country, it has implemented the new law to help such persecuted minorities of the three neighbouring countries, it further says.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have shown far-sightedness by taking a bold and historic decision to amend the Citizenship Act by which Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians and Parsis of three neighbouring countries will be able to get India citizenship, it says.

This step will bring stability in the life of migrants from these three countries and fill their life with joy as they would not be considered to be illegal migrants any more, according to the proposed resolution.

The resolution slams those denouncing CAA, saying some anti-nationals and political parties opposing it are silent on the persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan.

On the other hand they are also spreading rumours that CAA will snatch citizenship of minority community, it says.

The resolution goes on to assure minority community members that CAA is for giving citizenship and not for snatching their Indian nationality. It says the assembly should welcome and lend its support to CAA.

It says, Minorities living in Pakistan have no other options but to take shelter in India as their women are being abducted and converted and thrown into flash trade, their temples and religious places attacked and destroyed, their properties are being taken away."



Indian culture is of inclusivity and it not only provides shelter to all but also helps them settle in business and jobs and allows them to stand on their own feet, it adds.

Last week, the Gujarat government had announced its decision to bring the pro-CAA resolution in the day-long assembly session.

The new law seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31,2014, to escape religious persecution in their home country.

However, the controversial legislation has sparked widespread protests across the country, including in Gujarat.

"To extend our support to Prime Minister Modi and his government's decision to bring CAA, a resolution supporting the new law will be brought during the assembly session," Pradeepsinh Jadeja, Minister of State for Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs, had said last week.

The Congress has said it will oppose the resolution in the house.

This resolution is not necessary and it is being just brought to reap political benefits. The Congress will oppose the resolution in the assembly, Gujarat Congress chief whip and MLA Sailesh Parmar said.

Since it is the first assembly session of the New Year, Governor Acharya Devvrat would inaugurate it with his address.

The government will subsequently bring a resolution to thank the governor for his address to the house, Jadeja said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Qasem Soleimani, the popular head of the Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations arm, was killed in a US drone strike outside Baghdad airport. (Photo Credit: File Photo)

New Delhi:

Two rockets crashed late Wednesday into the Iraqi capital's Green Zone, the high-security enclave where foreign embassies including the US mission are based. The attack came nearly 24 hours after Tehran launched ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing American and other coalition forces in retaliation for the US killing top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.

Qasem Soleimani, the popular head of the Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations arm, was killed in a US drone strike outside Baghdad airport on Friday, ratcheting up tensions between the arch-foes.

This attack comes amid President Trump offering to embrace peace with the Iranian leadership, in a significant move to de-escalate spiralling tensions in the Middle East.

In a direct message to the Iranian leaders and the people, Trump said the United States was ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.

To the people and leaders of Iran, we want you to have a future and a great future, one that you deserve, the president said.

Trump said Iran appeared to be standing down, which was a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.

For far too long, all the way back to 1979 to be exact, nations have tolerated Irans destructive and destabilising behaviour in the Middle East and beyond. Those days are over, he said, adding that peace and stability cannot prevail in the Middle East as long as Iran continues to foment terrorism.

Trump also asked NATO to become much more involved in the Middle East process.

He vowed that he will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

As long as Im President of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, Trump said.

Who Was General Qasem Soleimani?

Soleimani was one of the most popular figures in Iran and seen as a deadly adversary by America and its allies. General Soleimani, who headed the external operations Quds Force for the Guards, had wielded his regional clout publicly since 2018 when it was revealed that he had direct involvement in top-level talks over the formation of Iraq's government. It was no surprise at the time for a man who has been at the centre of power-broking in the region for two decades.

Soleimani has been in and out of Baghdad ever since, most recently last month as parties sought to form a new government. Where once he kept to the shadows, Soleimani has in recent years become an unlikely celebrity in Iran -- replete with a huge following on Instagram.

His profile rose suddenly when he was pushed forward as the public face of Iran's intervention in the Syrian conflict from 2013, appearing in battlefield photos, documentaries -- and even being featured in a music video and animated film. In a rare interview aired on Iranian state television in October, he said he was in Lebanon during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war to oversee the conflict.

To his fans and enemies alike, Soleimani was the key architect of Iran's regional influence, leading the fight against jihadist forces and extending Iran's diplomatic heft in Iraq, Syria and beyond. "To Middle Eastern Shiites, he is James Bond, Erwin Rommel and Lady Gaga rolled into one," wrote former CIA analyst Kenneth Pollack in a profile for Time's 100 most influential people in 2017.

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The domino effect: Villanuevas move to the Senate chamber  a poorly kept secret in political circles  means her seat is up for grabs, though a succession plan seemed to already be in place. As Petrella writes: Edgar Gonzalez Jr., a constituent services staff member for U.S. Rep. Jesus Chuy Garcia, is the only candidate who has filed petitions to run for Villanuevas House seat in the March primary. Committeemen in the 21st House District will meet within the next 30 days to pick who will serve out the remainder of Villanuevas term, which runs through January 2021.
The Gandhi Shanti Yatra (peace march) organised by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and union minister Yashwant Sinha to demand withdrawal of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) reached Pune from Mumbai on Thursday evening with a public rally at Gandhi Bhavan, Kothrud.

The yatra was flagged off by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai on Thursday morning and will proceed to Nashik on Friday morning. It is set to culminate at Raj Ghat in New Delhi on January 30, after passing through Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

Sinha, who was accompanied by former BJP leader and actor Shatrughan Sinha and senior Congressman Prithviraj Chavan, said that the BJP was trying to polarise and divide the country to mask its failures on the economic front.

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan, Sinha said, The existing provisions in the law are adequate to provide citizenship to people from other countries. However, two egoist leaders want to divide the country.

He said that the government was completely silent about the large-scale migration of Tibetans, and Tamils from Sri Lanka and was raising questions over a specific community. There are many Muslim countries, why then are only Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan mentioned in the Act? he asked.

He said that the Gandhi Peace March will spend the maximum number of days in Gujarat which has many places associated with the father of the nation. The West Bengal chief minister Mamta Banerjee and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal have already supported the yatra and we are hopeful that more people will join us till January 30, when we reach Delhi, he said.

Former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said that there was fear that the government will abuse detention camps to harass citizens. Sharad Pawar and I will attend the rally in New Delhi on January 30 and many other leaders are expected to join, he said.

Former minister Shatrughan Sinha said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah were giving contradictory statements on the NRC (National Register of Citizens) and were polarising the country. We want peace and therefore, this Gandhi peace yatra has been organised, he said.
She's tipped to have a jungle romance with Ryan Gallagher on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! Australia.

And Geordie Shore's Charlotte Crosby has revealed that the Married At First Sight star is just her 'type'.

Speaking to OK! Magazine before entering the jungle, the 29-year-old immediately picked Ryan, 31, as the Australian celebrity she wished she could meet at the camp.

'Tarzan met Jane in the jungle, so why can't I?' Charlotte Crosby reveals her true feelings about Ryan Gallagher before she entered the jungle

'I've had a little flirt with Ryan Gallagher on social media and he's just my type,' she admitted.

The blonde bombshell continued: 'If he ends up in camp, I won't be able to control me-self around him!'

Charlotte certainly wasn't opposed to finding love in the jungle, recently single after her split from her Ex On The Beach boyfriend Josh Ritchie in November.

Jungle romance? Speaking to OK! Magazine before entering the jungle, the 29-year-old immediately picked Ryan, 31, as the Australian celebrity she wished she could meet at the camp

Broken: Charlotte certainly wasn't opposed to finding love in the jungle, recently single after her split from her Ex On The Beach boyfriend Josh Ritchie in November

'Tarzan met Jane in the jungle and they had a lifelong romance, so why can't I find my soulmate in camp?' Charlotte asked.

Ryan won't be opposed to being the British reality star's new romantic interest, having admitted on Tuesday's episode that he has a 'massive crush' on her.

His co-star and confidant Tanya Hennessy, 34, encouraged him to be more 'direct' with Charlotte.

'You're meant to be together': Ryan's (left) co-star and confidant Tanya Hennessy (right), 34, encouraged him to be more 'direct' with Charlotte

'You're meant to be together,' Tanya told the love-struck celebrity.

The YouTube star later told Charlotte of their secret conversation, but the Celebrity Big Brother winner didn't seem so keen on-air.

'He is so nice, nice to everyone, looking out for people. He is a good looking lad and I fancy him, but I don't want it to be a big thing and all that pressure,' Charlotte explained.

She eventually decided she would make the 'first move' as an 'independent' woman, but didn't have any plans to participate in 'open-mouth kissing.'
A day after President Trump backed away from further military conflict with Iran, a commander of the countrys Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps declared that Iran would soon take harsher revenge on the United States for a drone strike last week that killed a top Iranian general. But another Iranian military leader said his countrys missile attacks targeting Americans in Iraq this week had not been intended to kill anyone.

The remarks were just some of the mixed messages put forth by Iranian leaders on Thursday after Iranian missile strikes, which hit two military bases in Iraq housing American troops.

The slain commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, had led the Quds Force, a powerful branch of the corps, and his death reverberated across the country, prompting calls for revenge and the retaliatory strikes by Iran.

The barrage of missiles on Wednesday took no American lives, Mr. Trump said, and appeared to have inflicted little damage on air bases in Asad and Erbil that house thousands of Iraqi and American servicemen and women. And though Tehran said afterward that it had concluded proportionate measures to avenge the killing of General Suleimani, officials in the region cautioned that Iran might not be done maneuvering and had not abandoned its goal to drive the United States out of the Middle East.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WPD Pharmaceuticals (CSE: WBIO) (the Company or WPD), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company, is pleased to announce that on December 31, 2019, Wake Forest University received a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for patent 105019210 (issued under application number 16/262,195v) licensed to WPD. The patent is in respect to a protein critical in the development of Th2 immune responses, which are associated with allergy, asthma, fibrosis and aggressive forms of cancer.



IL-13 proteins were shown to be important factors in eliminating tumor cells related to various forms of cancer. Recombinant IL-13 protein armed with potent bacteria toxins preferentially bind to tumor-specific receptors and selectively deliver highly cytotoxic payload to tumor cells. This highly specific targeting of aggressive brain tumor glioblastoma (GBM) and other tumor cells is designed to allow for selective elimination of tumor cells by bacteria-toxins-induced cytotoxic effects without affecting normal cells. IL-13 protein can also assist in the survival and the development of tumor-associated immune cells, which could be beneficial for individuals with autoimmune diseases and forms of cancer associated with Th2 immune responses.

Mariusz Olejniczak, CEO of WPD commented, WPD continues to develop its robust drug portfolio and the patent granted for our cancer targeting IL-13 proteins strongly protects our IP as we advance development of our brain cancer focused therapeutic program. We will continue to work closely with Wake Forest University on the IL-13 and Ephrine technology platforms to rapidly advance our current pre-clinical studies.

About WPD Pharmaceuticals

WPD is a biotechnology research and development company with a focus on oncology, namely research and development of medicinal products involving biological compounds and small molecules. WPD has 8 novel drug candidates with 4 that are in clinical development stage and 4 in pre-clinical development. These drug candidates were researched at institutions including MD Anderson Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic and Emory University, and WPD currently has ongoing collaborations with Wake Forest University and leading hospitals and academic centers in Poland.

WPD has entered into license agreements with Wake Forest University Health Sciences and sublicense agreements with Moleculin Biotech Inc. and CNS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., respectively, each of which grant WPD an exclusive, royalty-bearing sublicense to certain technologies of the licensor. Such agreements provide WPD with certain research, development, manufacturing and sales rights, among other things.

On Behalf of the Board

Mariusz Olejniczak

Mariusz Olejniczak

CEO, WDP Pharmaceuticals

Contact:

Investor Relations

Email: investors@wpdpharmaceuticals.com

Tel: 604-428-7050

Web: www.wpdpharmaceuticals.com

Cautionary Statements:

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the Companys CSE listing statement, prepared in accordance with the policies of the CSE, any information released or received with respect to the transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that contemplate activities, events or developments that the Company anticipates will or may occur in the future. Forward-looking statements in this press release include those regarding the Companys plan to continue to work closely with Wake Forest University on the IB-13 and Ephrine technology platforms. These forward-looking statements reflect the Companys current expectations based on information currently available to management and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause outcomes to differ materially from those projected. Readers should refer to the risk disclosure included from time-to-time in the documents the Company files on SEDAR, available at www.sedar.com. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, they are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, they should not be relied upon and there can be no assurance that any of them will prove to be accurate. Finally, these forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and the Company assumes no obligation to update them except as required by applicable law.
Is Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA) a good dividend stock? How can we tell? Dividend paying companies with growing earnings can be highly rewarding in the long term. If you are hoping to live on the income from dividends, it's important to be a lot more stringent with your investments than the average punter.

With Apache yielding 3.9% and having paid a dividend for over 10 years, many investors likely find the company quite interesting. We'd guess that plenty of investors have purchased it for the income. The company also bought back stock equivalent to around 3.2% of market capitalisation this year. When buying stocks for their dividends, you should always run through the checks below, to see if the dividend looks sustainable.

Click the interactive chart for our full dividend analysis

NYSE:APA Historical Dividend Yield, January 7th 2020

Payout ratios

Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. As a result, we should always investigate whether a company can afford its dividend, measured as a percentage of a company's net income after tax. Although it reported a loss over the past 12 months, Apache currently pays a dividend. When a company recently reported a loss, we should investigate if its cash flows covered the dividend.

Last year, Apache paid a dividend while reporting negative free cash flow. While there may be an explanation, we think this behaviour is generally not sustainable.

Is Apache's Balance Sheet Risky?

Given Apache is paying a dividend but reported a loss over the past year, we need to check its balance sheet for signs of financial distress. A rough way to check this is with these two simple ratios: a) net debt divided by EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation), and b) net interest cover. Net debt to EBITDA measures total debt load relative to company earnings (lower = less debt), while net interest cover measures the ability to pay interest on the debt (higher = greater ability to pay interest costs). With net debt of 2.16 times its EBITDA, Apache's debt burden is within a normal range for most listed companies.

Story continues

Net interest cover can be calculated by dividing earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) by the company's net interest expense. Interest cover of 1.44 times its interest expense is starting to become a concern for Apache, and be aware that lenders may place additional restrictions on the company as well.

Remember, you can always get a snapshot of Apache's latest financial position, by checking our visualisation of its financial health.

Dividend Volatility

One of the major risks of relying on dividend income, is the potential for a company to struggle financially and cut its dividend. Not only is your income cut, but the value of your investment declines as well - nasty. Apache has been paying dividends for a long time, but for the purpose of this analysis, we only examine the past 10 years of payments. During this period the dividend has been stable, which could imply the business could have relatively consistent earnings power. During the past ten-year period, the first annual payment was US$0.60 in 2010, compared to US$1.00 last year. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 5.2% a year over that time.

Dividends have grown at a reasonable rate over this period, and without any major cuts in the payment over time, we think this is an attractive combination.

Dividend Growth Potential

While dividend payments have been relatively reliable, it would also be nice if earnings per share (EPS) were growing, as this is essential to maintaining the dividend's purchasing power over the long term. It's good to see Apache has been growing its earnings per share at 51% a year over the past five years.

Conclusion

Dividend investors should always want to know if a) a company's dividends are affordable, b) if there is a track record of consistent payments, and c) if the dividend is capable of growing. Apache's dividend is not well covered by free cash flow, plus it paid a dividend while being unprofitable. Next, growing earnings per share and steady dividend payments is a great combination. Ultimately, Apache comes up short on our dividend analysis. It's not that we think it is a bad company - just that there are likely more appealing dividend prospects out there on this analysis.

Companies that are growing earnings tend to be the best dividend stocks over the long term. See what the 18 analysts we track are forecasting for Apache for free with public analyst estimates for the company.

If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of dividend stocks yielding above 3%.

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.



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. Thank you for reading.
CCEA approves sale of stake in 5 mining PSUs

The union cabinet has approved in principle divestment of government equity stake in Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation Limited (MMTC), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), MECON, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd and Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited, which is a joint venture with two Odisha state undertakings.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) at its meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its 'in principle' approval for strategic divestment of equity shareholding in the five public sector companies.

The government plans to sell up to 49.78 per cent share of MMTC, 10.10 per cent of NMDC, 0.68 per cent each of MECON and BHEL, 12 per cent stake in Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (IPICOL) and a 20.47 per cent stake in Odisha Mining Corporations Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) to a strategic buyer.

Buyers will be identified through a two-stage auction procedure. NINL is a Joint venture, in which four CPSEs, namely MMTC, NMDC, BHEL and MECON and 2 State PSUs of Odisha government, namely IPICOL and OMC are shareholders.

The proposed strategic disinvestment of NINL would unlock resources to be used to finance the social sector/developmental programmes of the government benefiting the public. It is also expected that the successful strategic buyer may bring in new management/technology/investment for the growth of the company and may use innovative methods for the development of the business operations of the company, which may generate more employment opportunities.

The CCEA also today granted approval to the North East Gas Grid project of Indradhanush Gas Grid Limited with viability gap funding/capital grant at 60 per cent of the estimated cost of Rs9,265 crore (including interest during construction). Quantum of VGF would be capped at 60 per cent of estimated project cost and would not be linked with upward capital cost variation.

MoPNG shall identify milestones for major activities for this project and link the same for releases of capital grant of the project.

For effective monitoring of the project implementation, a committee comprising of officials from ministry of petroleum and natural gas, department of expenditure, ministry of development of north east region, ministry of environment, forest and climate change, and department of fertilizers, may be formed, which would periodically review the progress in implementation of the project and take steps to smoothen out any issues in execution.

Total length of pipeline is 1,656 km and tentative project cost is Rs9,265 crore. As per the plan, gas pipeline grid would be developed in the eight states of the north-eastern region, ie, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.

The Capital Grant will provide natural gas supplies to various types of consumers viz. Industrial, PNG (Domestic), CNG (Transport) etc and would immensely help in substituting the liquid fuels. The pipeline grid would ensure reliability and uninterrupted natural gas supplies to the consumers which otherwise gets severely affected due to various reasons in this part of the country.

Availability of Natural gas across the region is expected to boost industrial growth without impacting the environment and would offer better quality of life to the people in general due to use of cleaner and green fuel.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Korea has put a 36-year-old Chinese woman under isolated treatment amid concerns that she brought back a form of viral pneumonia that has sickened dozens in mainland China and Hong Kong in recent weeks.

The Korea Centers of Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that the woman, who was diagnosed with pneumonia on Tuesday following two business trips to China last month, represented the countrys first possible case of the respiratory illness whose cause remains unknown.

The unidentified woman, who works for a South Korean company near capital Seoul, has experienced cough and fever since returning from a five-day trip to the Chinese city of Xiamen on Dec. 30, the KCDC said in a press release.

She had also visited Wuhan, the mainland Chinese city where the outbreak originated, for five days in mid-December. She told South Korean doctors she made no contact with animals while she was there and didn't visit a seafood market in Wuhan's suburbs where most of the cases have been traced to.

The KCDC said the woman was in relatively good condition and undergoing tests at a hospital south of Seoul to confirm whether she has the same illness as the Wuhan patients. South Korean officials have tightened monitoring of people entering from China and advised travelers to avoid contact with animals and take extra care in personal hygiene.

The disease  an unidentified form of viral pneumonia  has sent 59 people to the hospital in Wuhan in central Hubei province. As of Sunday, seven were in critical condition, while the rest were stable.

In Hong Kong, a total of 15 patients were being treated Sunday for symptoms including fever and respiratory infection after recent visits to Wuhan. It is not clear whether they have the same illness as the Wuhan patients.
In a relief to CG Power's sacked chairman Gautam Thapar, the NCLT on Thursday termed an audit report by Vaish Associates on the firm as "bogus", saying it will only rely on the report conducted independently or by a government agency in the matter.

CG Power's board sacked Thapar after Vaish Associates' audit report, which itself is based on as many as 23 disclaimers, claimed that Thapar swindled Rs 3,000 crore from CG Power.

The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) said it will not rely on this report, unless done independently or after being ordered by the corporate affairs ministry or government agencies like Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).

Only the government's investigation will be taken on record, the bench comprising Bhaskara Pantula Mohan and Rajesh Sharma said.

The tribunal kept the matter on alleged financial irregularities at CG Power for further hearing on January 23.

Based on the Vaish's report, the corporate affairs ministry on November 25 sought to reopen the books of the company for the past five years ending March 2019. But, the NCLT had rejected this petition as well on the December 16.

Markets regulator Sebi banned Thapar and entities associated with him for three years, following which he moved the Securities Appellate Tribunal, which has asked the company to provide relevant documents to him.

In November, the SFIO began a probe against CG Power and 15 group entities.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An outbreak of bird flu has been reported from a state-run poultry farm in Chhattigsarh's Korea district, prompting the authorities to cull over 15,000 birds and step up vigil on poultry birds within 10 km radius of the affected area, officials said on Thursday.

So far, 15,426 chickens and quails have been culled and 30,000 eggs destroyed after the highly contagious H5N1 virus was detected among birds at the poultry farm and hatchery in Baikunthpur town, located around 300 km from here, they said.

There has been no case of infection in humans so far due to the outbreak of the avian influenza, they said.

"After some chickens and quails were found dead on December 7 last yearin the farm, their samples were collected and sent to local laboratories for testing," Dr R S Baghel, deputy director, veterinary department, Korea, told PTI.

When the disease was not properly detected, samples were further sent to Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh where veterinarians suggested symptoms of chronic respiratory disease, following which their line of treatment was followed.

"Despite the treatment, the abnormal deaths of birds continued," Baghel said.

Later, the samples were sent to Bhopal-based National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases where tests were found positive for the H5N1 virus on December 23, he said.

"Immediately after getting reports of bird flu, we took permission from the Korea district administration, as per the standard procedure, and culled all 15,426 birds (chickens and quails) and destroyed 30,000 eggs in the farm and its adjoining areas," the official said.

Of the total culled birds, nearly 641 chickens were being reared by locals within one km radius of the farm. The locals were given compensation for the culling of their birds, he said.

"We have completed the culling process and sealed the farm. After sanitising the area in 10 km of its radius, we submitted a report to the state's directorate of veterinary services on Wednesday," Baghel said.

"No human has been affected due to the outbreak and the situation is under control. We are waiting for further directives from the higher authorities," he said.

The official said for the next three months, they will be conducting surveillance in 10 km radius of the affected area during which blood samples of birds will be regularly sent to Bhopal for testing.

"We will continue our observation for next three months," he added.

Meanwhile, state veterinary services director C R Prasanna said, "No human has so far been affected due to the avian influenza and workers at the poultry farm at Baikunthpur have been given medicines as a precautionary measure."



Nearly 40 villages fall within the purview of 10 km radius of the affected area from where random sampling of poultry birds will be done for next three months to check whether they are infected with the avian influenza, he said.

"Necessary steps are being taken to prevent bird flu from spreading to other areas," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After the Iranian response this week to the killing of its top general Qassem Soleimani last week, an uneasy truce seems to have developed between the United States and its main adversary in the region. For now, it appears that President Donald Trump will not order a retaliatory strike for what Iran considers its retaliatory strike. Also unknown is whether Irans fanatical leaders are planning any other attacks on this country or our allies  or whether theyll just continue terrorism as usual.

But no Americans should believe that the potential for conflict between our country and Iran has ended. Weve been dealing with  and often fighting  Irans extremist leaders since they seized power in 1979. That tense relationship is likely to last until Iran returns to some form of democratic rule, a change that is unfortunately many years into the future.

In the meantime, in times of crisis like this, Americans look to the Oval Office for stability and trustworthiness. We want to feel in our hearts that we can trust the words our president utters. For all but the most diehard supporters of Donald Trump, its impossible to see that credibility.

Over and over, he has shown a distressing tendency to say things that are simply not true  and which he knows are not true. Many politicians have bent the truth occasionally, but Trump seems to regard it as just another option when hes planning on saying or tweeting something.

Even with this crisis, Trump has made claims that were never followed up on. He vowed an immediate response if Iran took any kind of military action against us, but the missile attacks on two U.S. bases in Iraq did not produce that. He said he would consider attacking Iranian cultural sites, but then his own Defense Department spokesmen said our military would do no such thing.

His supporters try to finesse these discrepancies by claiming the president likes to be unpredictable, but thats too generous. Three years into his presidency, its clear that the president lives from moment to moment, saying or tweeting whats in his head one day and then willing to do something else later on.

Its bad enough when this happens with other issues, like health care, where the president blithely promised a replacement to Obamacare that would cost less and provide more coverage. The fact that this mythical plan never appeared clearly doesnt bother him.

Now the American people are facing the possibility of deadly attacks on U.S. troops, diplomatic sites or even companies abroad. It is vital that we can believe our commander in chief when he talks to us about these threats and how we might respond. But given Trumps record, thats just not a given. We still dont know whether Soleimani was killed because he was planning imminent attacks on U.S. interests as Trump claimed or whether the drone strike was ordered for the many other things Soleimani had done.

This crisis is the biggest challenge the president has faced, and he must understand the seriousness of the moment. His advisers and top Republicans must impress upon him the need to weigh his words carefully  and to think out the ramifications of those words beforehand. Americans of all political beliefs deserve that now, more than ever.
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.
Hyderabad: Around 100 members of National Students Union of India (NSUI) on Wednesday took out a rally from JNTU Hyderabad to Nizampet X Roads for their Union leaders, who were injured in a clash with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members in Ahmedabad during a protest against violence in JNU campus a couple of days ago.

Ajay Kumar, NSUI state secretary, said, Senior members of our organisation were injured after ABVP attacked them in Ahmedabad. We condemn these attacks.

The protest in the city on Wednesday was not without incidents. KPHB Colony police made preventive arrests of three senior members as they did not have permissions for the protest.

S. Laxmi Narayana, SHO said, They did not have permission. We detained them for some time and released them.

However, Kumar, who was also arrested, said the police is rarely giving permissions for protests. For many weeks, we have been trying to get permissions but we are always denied. For todays protest, we didnt even bother since we knew we would not get one. In any case, I dont know why they cant let us protest. We didnt bother anyone, the student leader further said.
Assays received for a further 16 RC and diamond drill holes at Twin Hills Central

26 of 31 holes from the Phase 1 and 2 drill programs intersected significant gold mineralization, with several exceptional new intercepts including wide zones of mineralization with high-grade shoots

Highlights from the latest results include: 92m @ 1.40g/t (20  112m), incl. 35m @ 2.54g/t 37m @ 2.58g/t (173  200m), incl. 8m @ 7.50g/t 68m @ 0.99g/t (8 - 76m), incl. 24m @ 2.07g/t 54m @ 0.89g/t (90  144m), incl. 13m @ 1.44g/t and 5m @ 2.03g/t

Highest individual meter assays include 52.0g/t, 18.3 g/t, 15.8g/t and 15.2g/t

The strike of confirmed gold mineralization has now increased by 50% from 800m to 1200m and remains open to the east, west and at depth

The objectives of the drill program included defining higher grade shoots, testing strike extensions at Twin Hills Central and completing initial drill traverses at Twin Hills West, Barking Dog and Clouds

The balance of Phase 2 drill results from all targets is expected before the end of January 2020

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Osino Resources Corp. (TSXV: OSI) (FSE: RSR1) ("Osino or the Company), is pleased to announce the receipt of assays for a further 16 holes at its Twin Hills Central discovery (THC), including high grades over significant widths contained in structurally controlled shoots.

Significant intersections include 92m @ 1.40g/t (OKD024) and 37m @ 2.58g/t (OKD022). The latest results increase the strike length of gold mineralization by 50% to 1200m (open both east and west and at depth). The Company is anticipating receipt of additional results from 2 holes at THC as well as 14 holes at Twin Hills West, Clouds and Barking Dog. Previous results were reported in news releases dated September 26 and November 14, 2019.

David Underwood, Osinos VP Exploration commented: These new drill results at Twin Hills Central expand the gold mineralization to a strike length of 1200m so far and include our best intersection yet of 92m @ 1.40g/t in hole OKD024. This exceptional intersection is situated at the south west end of the THC drill coverage, approximately 1000m from another exceptional new assay result in OKD022, demonstrating the continuity, scale and economic potential of the growing Twin Hills gold system. We are excited about the prospect of extending the various new high-grade shoots and wide zones of gold mineralization further to the east, south and west in the next drill program. Once we have received the assays from the remaining two drill holes the next steps include updating the geological, structural and mineralization models for THC and planning for the next round of drilling.

Heye Daun, Osinos CEO commented further: To put the results of our Twin Hills drill program to date into perspective, we compared the assay results from our initial 31 drill holes with the first 31 exploration holes drilled at B2 Golds Otjikoto Gold Project after discovery, between 1999 and 2004. This analysis is based on Osinos own Twin Hills assay results to date, and the reported borehole intercepts as contained in the Independent Technical Report on the Otjikoto Gold Project, by SRK Consulting in August 2009. Based on this analysis, Twin Hills average gold mineralization intercept multiplied by the average unconstrained borehole grade is 51 Gram-Meters (using the commonly used shorthand method of multiplying intersection width with grade). This is about 50% more than Otjikotos average intersection width multiplied by average borehole gold grade of 33 Gram-Meters for the initial 31 holes drilled at Otjikoto. What this demonstrates is that the early exploration success at Twin Hills is indeed similar and arguably better than the early exploration success at Otjikoto. It took the previous owners of Otjikoto 4 years from initial discovery in 1999 until the completion of the initial 50 RC & diamond exploration holes, and another 2 years until September 2005 to declare the maiden inferred Otjikoto gold resource of 871,795 ounces at 1.06 g/t, based on drill coverage of 100 x 50m. Since June 2019 Osino has already drilled 33 holes at Twin Hills Central for coverage of about 200 x 100m and we are going to move to 100 x 50m drill spacing later in 2020 in anticipation of a maiden resource at Twin Hills Central. Twin Hills is proving to be a large mineralized system with the strike length, thickness and gold grades which hold the promise of rapid conversion and bulking up of resource ounces as the next phase of drilling at Twin Hills Central advances to the resource definition stage.

Assay Results for Twin Hills Central Drilling

Assays have been received to date for a total of 16 reverse circulation (RC) and 8 diamond (DD) holes from the Phase 2 drill program at Twin Hills Central which ended in early December 2019  see Figure 1. The Phase 2 program included step out and in-fill drilling to follow-up the successful Phase 1 program reported on September 26, 2019 which consisted of 7 DD holes. All holes at THC were drilled at an azimuth of 160 degrees (SSE) with the exception of OKD022 which was drilled in the opposite direction (340 degrees) in order to check down dip continuity. Significant intersections for the Phase 1 and 2 programs are presented in Table 1.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/35570b83-ed83-405f-a1cc-6b5fc776047d

In the diagram above, borehole collars have been color-coded according to a commonly used shorthand method of ranking gold intercepts: Multiplying intercept average grade (g/t) by width (meters) resulting in a g/t x meter intercept measure (combining both average gold grade and intercept width into a single metric known as Gram-Meter). On this basis, Osino considers any intercept of more than 50 as very good and any intercept of more than 100 as exceptional.

Using this metric, Osino has a total of 9 exceptional and very good intercepts out of 31 holes drilled so far (since June 2018), compared with Otjikotos 7 exceptional and very good intercepts achieved out of the initial 31 boreholes drilled between 1999 and 2004.

Twin Hills Central remains open along strike towards the east and west, and down dip at depth below 200m.

The next phase of drilling at Twin Hills Central will focus on closing off the mineralization towards the south, following the emerging high-grade shoots towards the south west and east as well as ongoing infill drilling.

Initial results for Twin Hills West, Clouds and Barking Dog will be reported once the balance of assays have been received. The next phase of drilling at these targets will be planned to follow up all significant assay results.

Following receipt and interpretation of all remaining assay results, Osino will compile and announce the expected 2020 work program. This is expected to be published in January/February 2020, with the next round of drilling to commence late Q1 2019.

Table 1: Summary of All Drill Intercepts from Phase 1 and 2 Drilling at Twin Hills Central

Hole ID From (m) To (m) Width (m) Au (g/t) X UTM 33S Y UTM 33S RC Drilling OKR001 22 122 100 0.68 600634 7584745 incl. 67 70 3 1.33 incl. 88 91 3 1.38 incl. 117 122 5 2.89 OKR002 No significant intercepts 600386 7584818 OKR003 179 197 18 0.85 600421 7584729 incl. 196 197 1 5.47 OKR004 77 83 6 1.78 600455 7584633 124 131 7 1.02 OKR005 No significant intercepts 600761 7584968 OKR006 134 166 32 0.60 600794 7584874 incl. 134 138 4 1.28 incl. 163 166 3 1.57 OKR007 57 106 49 1.04 600827 7584779 incl. 57 73 16 1.23 incl. 83 99 16 1.58 OKR009 145 149 4 1.68 601086 7584986 incl. 145 147 2 2.82 OKR010 No significant intercepts 599716 7584580 OKR011 148 171 23 1.121 601120 7584891 incl. 155 171 16 1.44 or 158 166 8 2.03 OKR012 72 74 2 3.27 599682 7584675 181 188 7 1.19 OKR013 68 83 15 0.651 601154 7584798 Incl. 76 78 2 1.68 OKR017 8 76 68 0.991 600741 7584743 incl. 21 23 2 1.03 incl. 28 52 24 2.07 or 46 51 5 3.73 incl. 63 65 2 1.80 incl. 72 76 4 1.00 OKR018 68 70 2 1.02 600698 7584834 93 151 58 0.781 incl. 99 101 2 1.03 incl. 104 107 3 1.08 incl. 113 120 7 1.00 incl. 126 131 5 1.22 incl. 138 140 2 3.01 incl. 147 151 4 2.08 OKR019 33 38 5 1.19 600924 7584820 incl. 33 35 2 2.41 90 144 54 0.891 incl. 100 109 9 1.03 incl. 113 118 5 2.03 incl. 131 144 13 1.44 or 136 140 4 3.05 OKR020 14 31 17 1.141 600960 7584724 incl. 14 17 3 1.90 incl. 27 30 3 3.39 63 67 4 1.91 incl. 65 67 2 3.33 89 93 4 2.12 OKR021 Assays pending 600890 7584914 Diamond Drilling OKD001 115 263 148 0.651 600240 7584658 incl. 115 125 10 1.27 incl. 197 222 25 1.03 incl. 246 258 12 1.00 OKD002 21 262 241 0.651 600275 7584559 incl. 106 120 14 1.14 incl. 190 197 7 1.42 incl. 205 217 12 1.11 incl. 231 236 5 1.51 OKD003 91 169 78 0.641 600616 7584794 incl. 93 116 23 1.01 OKD004 16 81 65 1.371 600649 7584703 incl. 42 73 31 2.2 OKD005 178 180 2 2.38 600203 7584746 OKD006 105 106 2 1.53 600991 7584952 160 168 8 0.80 OKD007 16 23 7 1.10 601024 7584861 87 197 110 0.791 incl. 87 90 3 2.73 incl. 116 133 17 2.17 incl. 165 176 11 1.76 incl. 182 188 6 1.29 OKD008 83 101 18 0.84 600308 7584471 incl. 86 98 12 1.08 OKD009 No significant intercepts 600017 7584666 OKD010 96 98 2 1.44 599971 7584803 OKD012 Assays pending 600051 7584577 OKD018 59 64 5 1.15 601060 7584767 86 89 3 1.22 OKD020 99 210 111 0.811 600085 7584481 incl. 58 65 7 1.04 incl. 110 112 2 1.03 incl. 118 129 11 1.12 incl. 136 151 15 1.00 incl. 157 181 24 1.00 incl. 184 188 4 4.04 incl. 194 198 4 1.07 incl. 208 210 2 1.02 OKD022* 47 49 2 1.17 601076 7584724 67 79 12 1.66 incl. 73 79 6 2.63 116 125 9 1.69 incl. 116 122 6 2.38 173 200 37 2.58 incl. 182 190 8 7.5 OKRD023 53 58 5 1.10 600364 7584588 72 83 11 0.601 incl. 72 74 2 1.65 131 142 11 0.841 incl. 131 133 2 1.84 incl. 137 140 3 1.06 179 181 2 2.22 OKRD024 20 112 92 1.401 600119 7584388 incl. 20 27 7 1.00 incl. 34 69 35 2.54 or 34 54 20 3.54 or 45 54 9 6.99 incl. 72 83 11 1.12 incl. 99 108 9 1.04

1 Unconstrained intersections

*Drilled in NNW orientation (opposite to all other holes) to ascertain continuity

Notes: All reported intercepts are apparent widths rounded to the nearest meter. True widths are unknown at this stage. Included intercepts are at 0.4g/t cut-off, minimum 2m wide and no more that 2m internal dilution.

Geology and Structure

The Twin Hills Project lies within the Kuiseb Formation, a sequence of turbiditic marine sediments several kilometers thick, which was folded during the Damaran orogen. The gold mineralization at Twin Hills Central is hosted by a meta-greywacke unit which has been tightly folded into an overturned syncline. The mineralization is contained within the southern limb of the syncline in millimeter to centimeter scale quartz-sulphide veins, which are parallel to the steeply NNW dipping foliation.

The meta-greywacke unit is underlain by biotite schist and cordierite schist. Sulphide minerals include pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite and pyrite in veinlets and as disseminated alteration. Geochemical data indicates a strong correlation between gold and arsenopyrite within the meta-greywacke unit.

The assay results to date clearly indicate the presence of structurally controlled high-grade shoots within the larger mineralized halo. The process of modelling geology, structure and grade in 3-D has now commenced prior to the planning of the next drill program.

Qualified Person

David Underwood, BSc. (Hons) is Vice President Exploration of Osino Resources Corp. and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information related to geology and exploration in this news release, and is a registered Professional Natural Scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (Pr. Sci. Nat. No.400323/11) and a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

Quality Assurance

All Osino sample assay results have been independently monitored through a quality assurance / quality control ("QA/QC") program including the insertion of blind standards, blanks and duplicate samples. QA/QC samples make up 10% of all samples submitted. Logging and sampling is completed at Osinos secure facility located in Omaruru near the Twin Hills Project. Drill core is sawn in half on site and half drill-core samples are securely transported to the Actlabs sample prep facility in Windhoek, Namibia. The core is dried, crushed to 95% -10mesh, split to 250g and pulverised to 95% -150mesh. Sample pulps are sent to Actlabs in Ontario, Canada for analysis. Gold analysis is by 30g fire assay with AA finish and automatically re-analysed with Gravimetric finish if Au >5g/t. In addition, pulps undergo 4-Acid digestion and multi-element analysis by ICP-AES or ICP-MS. RC drill samples are prepared at Actlabs sample prep facility in Windhoek, Namibia. The RC chips are dried, crushed to 95% -10mesh, split to 250g and pulverised to 95% -150mesh. Sample pulps are sent to Actlabs in Ontario, Canada for analysis. Gold analysis is by 30g fire assay with AA finish and automatically re-analysed with Gravimetric finish if Au >5g/t.

About Osino Resources

Osino is a Canadian gold exploration company, focused on the acquisition and development of gold projects in Namibia. Our 23 exclusive prospecting licenses are located within Namibias prospective Damara mineral belt, mostly in proximity to and along strike of the producing Navachab and Otjikoto Gold Mines. Osino is targeting gold mineralization that fits the broad orogenic gold model. We are actively advancing a range of gold discoveries, prospects and targets across our 6,577km2 ground position by utilizing a portfolio approach geared towards discovery.

Osinos focus in 2019 is on further advancing the Twin Hills and Goldkuppe discoveries within the developing Karibib Gold District, testing our Otjikoto East and Otjiwarongo targets and generating new ones on our remaining licenses. Our core projects are favorably located north and north-west of Namibias capital city Windhoek. By virtue of their location, the projects benefit significantly from Namibias well-established infrastructure with paved highways, railway, power and water in close proximity. Namibia is mining-friendly and lauded as one of the continents most politically and socially stable jurisdictions. Osino continues to evaluate new ground with a view to expanding its Namibian portfolio.

Further details are available on the Company's website at https://osinoresources.com/

CONTACT INFORMATION

Osino Resources Corp.

Heye Daun: CEO

Tel: +27 (21) 418 2525

hdaun@osinoresources.com

Julia Becker: Investor Relations Manager

Tel: +1 (604) 785 0850

jbecker@osinoresources.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.
PM Modi to inaugurate 11 new medical colleges in Tamil Nadu on Jan 12

Ahead of Union Budget, PM Modi chairs meeting with top economists

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Jan 09: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met top economists and experts at the Niti Aayog to discuss the state of economy and steps to be taken to revive growth which is estimated to drop to 5 per cent during the current fiscal.

Among others, the meeting is being attended by Home Minister Amit Shah and other cabinet ministers, besides Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, CEO Amitabh Kant and other senior officials of the think-tank

The meeting assumes important as the government is in the process of formulating Budget proposals for 2020-21.

Modi on Monday interacted with top business tycoons to discuss issues facing the economy and measures needed to boost growth and create jobs.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her second Union Budget on February 1 with an eye to reviving growth.

7th Pay Commission: Budget may not announce pay hike, but this good news likely

The latest GDP data for the July-September quarter showed a significant further moderation in the pace of economic growth to 4.5 per cent -- the weakest in six years, with a key contributory factor being a slump in manufacturing output.

5 months after J&K special status revoked, foreign panel visits UT | OneIndia News

The Modi government has undertaken a number of measures to arrest the growth slowdown. In September 2019, it announced a cut in the corporate tax rate to 22 per cent from 30 per cent. The government also lowered the tax rate for new manufacturing companies to 15 per cent to attract new foreign direct investments. The tax rate reductions bring India in line with rates in other Asian countries.

The government's other initiatives include bank recapitalisation, the mergers of 10 public sector banks into four, support for the auto sector, plans for infrastructure spending, as well as tax benefits for startups.

But experts say none of these measures directly address the widespread weakness in consumption demand, which has been the chief driver of the economy.

Also, financial sector fragilities continue to weigh on the economic growth momentum, with the high level of non-performing loans on the balance-sheets of the public sector banks, constraining their fresh lending.

Budget 2020 session from Jan 31; Union Budget on Feb 1

Furthermore, there are also risks from potential contagion effects from troubled non-bank financial companies (NBFCs) to the balance-sheets of some commercial banks, which could further weigh on the overall pace of credit expansion.

In response to the growth slowdown, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has eased policy rates significantly during 2019, with a series of rate cuts since February 2019.

Further stimulus measures are expected in the upcoming Budget where the focus is likely to be on reforms, including some structural measures such as reducing red tape and boosting foreign direct investment.

The Monday's meeting with industrialists is in the series of discussions that Modi has had during the last couple of weeks to seek suggestions to revive growth.

In the previous meetings, he met Kotak Mahindra Bank CEO Uday Kotak, State Bank of India head Rajnish Kumar, HDFC Bank managing director Aditya Puri, IT industry veteran TV Mohandas Pai; former finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia; Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani, Intel India general manager Nivruti Rai and Tata Consultancy Services chief executive Rajesh Gopinath.

Modi has so far met over 60 entrepreneurs and businessmen from sectors such as FMCG, finance, renewable energy, diamond, retail, textiles, MSMEs and startups and technology.
AKRON, Ohio -- A 20-year old man was killed and a 24-year-old man was injured after a group of men shot at them late Wednesday on Akrons West Side, according to police.

The Summit County Medical Examiners Office has not publicly released the victims name, pending family notification.

Investigators learned the victims were outside a home on the 700 block of Noah Avenue around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, when an unknown number of men approached and opened fire, police said.

The victims got into an SUV and tried to drive away, but crashed into the front porch of a neighboring home, police said. The suspects ran north on Noah Avenue.

Police and paramedics arrived and found the driver had suffered multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 24-year-old passenger was brought to Cleveland Clinic Akron General for treatment for a graze wound to his arm.

Anyone with information is asked to call Akron police detectives at 330-375-2490, Summit County Crimestoppers 330-434-2677 or text TIPSCO with your tips to 274637. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

To comment on this story, visit Thursdays crime and courts comment section.

Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.coms Rubber City Daily, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan has taken to the skies, as scientists began tracking new snowy owl on its flight path over the Great Lakes and the Midwest.

Buckeye and Wolverine are snowy owls fitted with special backpacks by Black Swamp Bird Observatory in Oak Harbor, Ohio, as part of Project SNOWstorm, a nationwide snowy owl research and conservation project.

Buckeye, tagged five years ago, recently reconnected with the lab after disappearing in 2016. Wolverine was tagged Jan. 3 at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

One of the goals of the project is to better understand the winter behavior of snowy owls, who during the winter travel south from the Arctic to the northern United States. Project SNOWstorm tracks owls originating from 14 states.

People live on the shores of the Great Lakes, like Clevelanders, may be more familiar with snowy owls migration patterns. The large, fluffy white birds show up as part of their winter migration. They like open space, like Whiskey Island or Lake Erie Bluffs in Lake County, where they can hunt at night and spend the day cat-napping as they roost, on the ice, rocky breakwalls or poles.

This year, the first bird arrived in November, reported WEWS.

But we havent seen an irruption of owls like we did during the winter of 2017-2018.

Wolverine is now tracked heading north, parallel to I-75.

From the transmitter, researchers know that Buckeye spent the summer of 2015 in the Boothia Peninsula in the Canadian Arctic, and the winter to southern Ontario and northern Ohio. Researchers lost contact with Buckeye when her transmitter failed March 2016 on the shore of Lake Erie.

They organized a trapping expedition to try to replace her transmitter, but it failed. On Christmas Eve, Buckeye, now 7 years old, showed back up to the Detroit airport, and researchers were able to switch out her tracker.

Wolverine is currently moving north parallel to I-75, according to a recent news release. Buckeyes location has not yet been updated online.

You can see the owls paths online on Project SNOWstorms website.
People in need of immediate mental health services could soon have an additional resource in Michigan.

House legislation approved in the Senate Thursday would create a 24/7 crisis and access line available statewide. Once installed, operators could connect callers with local care providers and resources, including up-to-date availability of psychiatric and substance abuse services.

The legislation, House Bill 4051, is sponsored by Republican state Rep. Mary Whiteford, R-Casco Township. The statewide hotline proposal stems from a pilot program approved by lawmakers in 2018 that tested the concept in a handful of Michigan communities.

Under the legislation, Michigans Department of Health and Human Services would contract out and oversee the hotlines operations, which is expected to cost between $1 million to $2.5 million annually.

The contractor chosen to operate and maintain the hotline would be tasked with collecting data to track its success and identify emerging trends. Practices would have to comply with all applicable laws respecting individual and patient privacy, according to the bill language.

Versions of the bill have passed with wide majorities in both the House and Senate, although the House still needs to adopt changes made in the Senate before the bill can advance to Gov. Gretchen Whitmers desk.

Whiteford, a former emergency room nurse, has said a statewide hotline could go a long way towards helping people in need and potentially saving lives.

The hotline will be a place for people to go who do not know where to turn when experiencing a mental health crisis, Whiteford said in a statement after her bill passed the House.

Michigans effort to implement a statewide mental health phone line comes as other states and the federal government are working to improve resources for those in need of immediate mental health services.

In December 2019, the Federal Communications Commission proposed rule changes that would make 9-8-8 the national suicide prevention line. According to the Washington Post, the commission believes a shorter number will be easier to remember if someone is experiencing a crisis.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255.

As part of an ongoing investigation into Michigans mental health system, MLive is seeking personal stories from readers facing mental health issues  either their own or with family and loved ones.

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India seems to have lifted a page from Chinas playbook on diplomacy in Xinjiang proving by arranging the visit of 15 New Delhi-based envoys to Kashmir, the first such visit by foreign diplomats following the revocation of Jammu & Kashmirs special status last August.

China has organised similar tours  as many as 70 since December 2018 -- -- in the far-flung northwestern province of Xinjiang where more than a million Muslim minorities have been interred in high-security camps or, as per Beijing, in vocational training institutes for livelihood training and preemptive deradicalisation.

Beijing admitted the existence of the camps in October 2018 after facing sharp media and international criticism over months for cracking down on minorities, a majority of them from the Turkic Uyghur community.

ALSO WATCH | Indian govt clarifies on absence of EU envoys in delegation visiting J&K

By the end of December that year, the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs had organised the first chaperoned tour to Xinjiang for 12 Beijing-based diplomats including one from India.

The Chinese foreign ministry told HT on Thursday that so far  since the first tour in December 2018  Beijing has organised 70 similarly guided tours, expanding the profile of participants from China-based diplomats to officials from international organisations, foreign journalists and scholars from abroad.

Since the end of 2018, more than 70 groups of foreign delegations including from the international organisations, foreign government officials, envoys to China, media, scholars and so on have visited Xinjiang, the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs told HT in a written Chinese statement.

The objective: To show the world how Chinas policies had brought peace and prosperity to the province on the frontline of Beijings fight against terrorism, extremism and separatism; to advertise that the camps arent centres for brainwashing but an example of government policy bringing hundreds of thousands of misguided minorities into the mainstream.

The visits have also been criticised as choreographed and as an effort to propagate Beijings narrative that theres no crackdown on minorities in the border province.

They (the groups) witnessed the good situation of Xinjiangs stable and prosperous development and praised Xinjiangs experience in anti-terrorism and deradicalisation work as worthy of learning and drawing lessons from, the foreign ministry said.

China welcomes foreign people who hold an objective and impartial position to visit Xinjiang but will never allow external forces to interfere in Chinas internal affairs by visiting Xinjiang or taking advantage of Xinjiang-related issues, the statement said.

The ministry didnt share details but the Communist Party of China (CPC)-led country has evidently spent a huge sum of money to sponsor tours  the groups are large, many of them flown in from other countries, the tours are generally last for three to five days and the touring members are well looked after.

It is a good model; seeing means believing. China can do. India can follow especially under such circumstances of the dominance by the western media and culture, Feng Qian from the National Strategy Institute of the Beijing-based Tsinghua University said.

The objective is to show a clearer picture and also the Narendra Modi-governments confidence, Feng added.

I think it is very interesting that India is doing something like China has done in Xinjiang. There are some similarities ...in this kind of plan to organise foreign envoys, diplomats to Kashmir. This must be very helpful for Indians to ease the pressure from the international community. To some extent, it can ease some pressure and suspicion about Indian actions in Kashmir, Long Xingchun, director of the Centre for Indian Studies at the China West Normal University in Sichuan said.

For Liu Zongyi from the Shanghai Institutes of International Studies, it is important for China to organise tours for diplomats to Xinjiang.

The western countries treat India and China differently on Kashmir and Xinjiang issues. As we know, the western countries criticise China on the Xinjiang issue very much but do not criticise India on Kashmir, Liu said.
Two key areas in need of systemic reforms are enforcement of contracts and resolving insolvency

The country's business environment suffered from a familiar problem in 2019. On the one hand, India now stands at a credible 63 out of 190 countries in the World Banks Ease of Doing Business rankingsa fifth consecutive year of improvement. More crucially, Indias overall doing business scorea more accurate reflection of its performanceis 71. On the other, there is an important caveat here: the governments changes appear to be task-based and do not effectively tackle the structural reforms that are at the heart of investments and business.

India has improved its rankingsfrom rank 137 to 22 in getting electricity, 184 to 27 in dealing with construction permits and 126 to 68 in trading across borders. Yet, broader structural issues such as judicial inefficiencies, the difficulty of setting up a business and ease of exits are still cause for concern. Targeted changes are both important and necessary, but they must not distract from the core issues that facilitate ease of doing business.

Two key areas in need of systemic reforms are enforcement of contracts and resolving insolvency. While on paper there has been progress, there are several issues still that prevent these changes from being reflected in ground realities.

First, a complaint of several investors in India is that the judicial system fails to protect businessmen. Enforcement of contracts is a fundamental requirement of a stable and attractive business and investment destination. The World Bank Groups Doing Business 2020 report notes that it takes 1,445 days to obtain a judgment and enforce a contract; the cost of litigation for the aggrieved party is 31 percent of the claim amount. This problem of contract enforcement feeds into a larger issue of judicial reform.

NITI Aayog and IDFC Institutes 2017 report, Ease of Doing Business: An Enterprise Survey of Indian States, found that for pending legal disputes, enterprises reported an average duration of four years from the time the matter was taken to court.

With cases languishing in courts for years on end with multiple appeals, legal costs escalate. The Economic Survey 2017-18 estimated that the cost of infrastructure projects of six ministries in 2017 inflated by Rs 52,000 crore because of extended stay orders issued by courts. In the case of debt-financed projects, litigation-related delays raise costs by as much as 60 percent. Investors shy away from India due to this slow resolution and high case pendency. Therefore, to build trust in the business environment, carrying out structural reforms such as mindful acceptance of appeals by higher courts from lower courts, filling vacancies across the judicial system and augmenting the pecuniary jurisdiction of high courts is critical.

Second, while investors cheered the introduction of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in 2016, the massive backlog of companies going through the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for liquidation or resolution shows that there are plenty of kinks in the system. So far, only 150 cases have been resolved and 600 companies have been ordered to liquidate out of the 21,000 cases that were referred to the NCLT. Moreover, the NCLT has only 27 benches to handle these cases. While more benches are being added, it is a slow process. Often, a single borrower with very little exposure stalls the resolution to the chagrin of other creditors.

The recently introduced amendments have upheld a secured creditors priority right on the liquidation and sale proceeds of companies in the IBC. This amendment will hopefully improve sentiment in the credit market. In addition to this amendment, a 330-day timeline for resolving bankruptcy including any litigation was also introduced. But this was struck down by the Supreme Court and is only the recommended course of action, but not mandatory. This was a significant game changer as the average time taken under the IBC is 1.6 years or 548 days against the envisaged timeline. The lack of legal precedents in the NCLT also makes it susceptible to litigation.

After the introduction of the IBC, a healthy market for bad loans emerged. At the same time, however, the backlog of cases and slow resolution has undercut this market, too. In some cases, there was interest from potential buyers but the process at the NCLT was so drawn-out that eventually, the credit dried up.

While the IBC was a structural reform that gave much-needed respite to ailing companies and their creditors, today there is an urgent need to boost the bankruptcy infrastructure, increase the scope of the IBC to cover group and individual insolvency, reduce the time taken to resolve cases and enhance the bench strength of the NCLT even further.

Plainly, while 2019 has seen considerable strides on the ease of doing business front, there are still several issues that require immediate attention. Successful structural reforms will have a cascading effect. By boosting business sentiment, they can create cross-sectoral buoyancy. Even if it doesnt necessarily reflect in the World Bank rankings, that is perhaps the most important factor for enabling Indian firms to see business and productivity growth.

(Mistry is Co-Lead Programmes and Senior Associate and Shah, Senior Associate at IDFC Institute, a Mumbai-based think tank)
After his journey from Jersey Shore baker to internationally acclaimed chef, the famed pizzaiolo is embarking on a new chapter back in his home state

Last June, New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells wrote that Anthony Mangieri, self-taught pizzaiolo and owner of Manhattans Una Pizza Napoletana, makes what is unmistakably the finest sit-down pizza in the five boroughs. High praise in the city that is arguably the countrys pizza capital, although Mangieri is renowned on a global level. Pizza pope, prodigy, legend, maestro, and virtuoso are among the many laudatory terms that have been used to describe the New Jersey native over the past 20 years.

A pioneer of Neapolitan-style pizza in the United States, Mangieri crafts pies with a blissfully tender crust, marked with blackened bubbles when they emerge from the wood-burning oven. The carefully selected, minimal additional ingredients leave nothing to hide and come together in delicate, delicious harmony.

Mangieri opened the original Una Pizza Napoletana in Point Pleasant Beach in 1996, then relocated to Manhattans East Village in 2004, where he earned rave reviews. He closed that location and opened in San Francisco in 2010, and the third iteration of Una Pizza Napoletana continued to dazzle critics and pizza lovers alike.

He returned to New Yorks Lower East Side in 2018, and for the first time, he is about to open a simultaneous second Una Pizza Napoletana in New Jerseys Atlantic Highlands.

I tasted Mangieris superb pizza at his previous East Village location of Una Pizza Napoletana in 2005, although I didnt meet Mangieri himself until last spring. Ill admit I was a little nervous about my first encounter with the pizza luminary.

But his warm, down-to-earth nature put me immediately at ease, and we were quickly trading stories about our childhoods in New Jersey. The next time I met him to interview him for this article, I felt like he was a friend whom Id known for years. We talked about some of our favorite old-school Italian shops in the cityand while he is clearly very particular about how he makes his own pizza, he hasnt written off the New York slice.

I had two at Joes last night at midnight on my way home, he told me. There a place and a space for everything.

Family Ties

Mangieris path to pizza stardom is a rather remarkable one. Now 48, he grew up in an Italian-American family in Beachwood, N.J., and spent many hours in the kitchen with his grandmother, who was born in Naples. He was named after his grandfather, a respected ice cream and candy maker in Maplewood, who passed away before he was born.

I was always kind of obsessed with family and history, Mangieri recalled. And I was pretty obsessed with food even as a young kid, to the point that I wouldnt even eat at other peoples houses. My mother used to be worn out from me and my pickiness, he said with a laugh.

Frequent trips to Italy with his parents fueled his passions. Growing up eating Italian-American food and then going to Naples, it was like, holy cow! It was all the food I grew up eating but done in a completely different way, and so much lighter and alive. He could see the connections and was fascinated by how the culinary traditions that Italian immigrants brought to the States had been translated and transformed.

He was drawn to pizza in particular since he was a child, and has vivid memories of the pizzeria in his hometown. In that pre-Internet era, he devoured books from the county library, such as Carol Fields The Italian Baker and Dan Leaders Bread Alone.

I would ask my mom to drive me to every pizzeria I read about, all over the place.  We went to Frank Pepes and Sallys in Connecticut, and Totonnos in Brooklynthat was probably the pizzeria that touched me the most, before I had a pizzeria. It was the closest thing Id had in America to great pizza in Naples, Mangieri said.

He continued building his knowledge by practicing making pizza at home, baking bread and making pastries in his grandmothers kitchen, reading, talking to family members, and asking questions of pizzaioli (usually via his mother) when he returned to Naples.

A Culinary Crossroads

By the time Mangieri was in high school, his obsession with cooking had intensified. Its funny, I was also super into skateboarding and punk rock music, so my friends were all eating at 7-Eleven and drinking Big Gulps, and Id want to go eat Parmigiano, he recalled.

In the early 90s, he scraped together the money to open a small Neapolitan-style bread bakery, Sant Arsenio, in Red Bank, N.J. He and his father built everything themselvesthe boards he used for the bread to rise on were pieces of wood they purchased at the hardware store.

He worked completely alone, mixing all of the dough by hand, starting at 10 at night and baking until 8 in the morning when he opened, then selling bread until 2 in the afternoon. But the bakery didnt quite take off the way hed hoped it would, and after a few years, he was very close to giving up on his culinary career.

I was working like crazy, making no money, he said. The bakery was way before its time. While some customersincluding Asbury Park Press food editor and restaurant critic Andrea Clurfeldappreciated the large, crunchy loaves baked in a wood-fired oven, others assumed the bread was stale.

Mangieri was seriously considering getting a job as a janitor, so that he could earn a steady income and do the things he loved for himself at home. But he ultimately decided he would always regret not giving opening his own pizzeria a try.

I really did want to do pizza, even before the bakery, but I thought it was more than I could take on  I was very shy and I hated talking to people, I was basically a nerd, and I was afraid of that concept of having to actually deal with customers on a face-to-face level. But then I thought to myself, let me just take a chance. Ive got to at least give it a shot.

A Pizza Perfectionist

In 1996, Mangieri signed a one-year lease for the original Una Pizza Napoletana, in what he describes as a dead zone in Point Pleasant Beach near the ocean. At that point, Neapolitan pizza was essentially unknown in the United States. He bought the specialty Italian 00 flour traditionally used in the dough from a guy who sold it out of the trunk of his car.

When I opened, I only made marinara and margherita pizzas, and in the beginning I didnt use buffalo mozzarella because you couldnt get it in America, he recounted. You gotta think, when I opened you couldnt buy broccoli rabe in the food store, you couldnt even buy cherry tomatoes year-round!

He says he was fortunate to be able to continue honing his pizza-making abilities and zeroing in on what worked best, even after the pizzeria was open for business.

The beautiful thing back then was that you could open up and not really have your skills and just keep tweaking, because there wasnt the immediacy of the Internet. Now if you open up a place and you suck, everyone in the world will know about it in five minutes. You could end up out of business.

I wanted to be the best in the world at what I was doing, for meI didnt know what the best was, but I put every ounce of my everything into it and I just kept going with it, and then I started to gain a real following.

Mangieri decided he wanted to bring Una Pizza Napoletana to New York City in 2004, so he closed the original and opened the pizzeria in Manhattans East Village. Around the same time, he was featured as one of the best of the best in Ed Levines book Pizza: A Slice of Heaven. He quickly had lines out the door almost consistently until he closed in 2009, to reopen in San Francisco the following year.

By that point, the Neapolitan pizza craze was rapidly growing on the West Coast as well, attracting diners with its hallmark thin, chewy base with a puffy cornicione, or rim, and spare, top-quality additional ingredientsthink San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala, fresh basil. The round, roughly 12-inch pies are cooked in a wood-fired oven for 6090 seconds and typically eaten with a knife and fork.

While traditional Neapolitan pizza often includes commercial yeast in the dough, Mangieris is naturally leavened, made with a starter of just flour and water, harnessing wild yeasts from the environment. The dough is never refrigerated.

Its the only way Ive made [the dough] since I opened, he emphasized. Its a much healthier product, way easier for your body to digest. But I originally started doing it because it just seemed so magical and interesting and historical, and kind of a mystery and an unexplored way of making pizza in America. You are dealing with something thats slightly unpredictable, but its also what keeps it so exciting and beautiful, the adventure in trying to harness that little piece of nature.

After nearly eight years in San Francisco, Mangieri and his wife felt it was time to move back to the NYC area. He opened the fourth Una Pizza Napoletana on Orchard Street in late spring 2018, but this time with two partners, chefs Fabian von Hauske Valtierra and Jeremiah Stone. They ran it together for a few months and realized they had their separate ways about many things, Mangieri explained, and by October of last year, he was running the restaurant solo.

There are five pizzas on the menu, with two additional pizzas, named for Mangieris cousin and daughter, offered on Fridays and Saturdays. The policy on substitutions is no, grazie! but Mangieri is quick to point out that this stance is not meant to be harsh or hurtful to people.

Theres a real reason and thought behind it, [from] 30 years of thinking about stuff. I feel like the place is at its best when its left to be what its meant to be, he said.

He recognizes that people have a multitude of dining options to choose from, and says its his hope that those who choose to give Una Pizza Napoletana a try will come in with an open heart, and decide for themselves whether or not its for them.

I just think the pizza becomes a different product when you start adding other things to it, and theres room for thatand I dont think theres anything wrong with that. But if everybody just keeps jumping on every bandwagon that comes along, whats left? Theres no individuality, theres nothing unique, theres nothing special, if we all do the same thing and no one sticks to what they started out doing, or tradition.

The pies are cooked in a wood-fired oven for 6090 seconds. (Chung I Ho/The Epoch Times)

Returning to His Roots

The new Atlantic Highlands Una Pizza Napoletana is scheduled to open in February and has been eagerly anticipated by Jersey Shore residents for months.

Mangieri told me he didnt set out to have two locations and had been considering closing the Manhattan restaurant when he put things in motion for the space in New Jersey. But Pete Wells glowing New York Times review in Junehis second after a mixed review of the pizzeria less than a year earlierhelped solidify the choices and changes that Mangieri made when his partners stepped aside.

I just ran it in the way that I felt it should be, for Una, he said. And then in doing that, we were lucky and blessed enough that we got re-reviewed, which was completely unexpected and kind of unheard of, and many things started to happen and we got it going again in a good way.

Mangieri says he has gradually built a beautiful team of people at his Manhattan restaurant and plans to spend four nights a week at the second location when it opens, at least in the beginning.

This has been a very slow, organic process for me Up until a year and a half ago, I made every single dough ball and every single pizza since the place opened in 1996, so this is definitely not like an overnight success where Im snowballing into a franchise, he said, laughing.

While he admits that the small town of Atlantic Highlands may not be the most strategic spot for the second pizzeria, he chose it because its an area that he lovesfor the outdoors, the people, and the energy he feels inside the space itself.

I think the new place will be a beautiful oasis for me and for the pizzeria; Im really excited to spend time down there and do what I love doing in a place that I love being [in]. I think its cool to go back to an area that youre from, and its been a good reception so far, people are really excited. I hope it can be a place that brings not only something thats really special, but also just brings a lot of cool people together.

I dont think Ive ever been more excited about the actual space itself as I am for this one, and then after that, I dont know I dont see this being the end of the road for Una Pizza or for me. I dont know where Im gonna end up, but Ill just keep on rolling.

Kristine Jannuzzi is a New York City-based bilingual (English and Italian) freelance writer, content creator, and social media strategist. Her work has been published in La Cucina Italiana International, Culture: The Word on Cheese, Italy Magazine, British Heritage Travel, and Listen Magazine, among others. Follow her on Instagram @nyccheesechick
ATLANTA, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta (FHLBank Atlanta) today announced the promotion of Reggie OShields to Executive Vice President and Director of Enterprise Solutions, and the promotion of Alp Can to Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer. Both appointments are effective January 1, 2020.



OShields will continue to serve as FHLBank Atlantas General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, a position he has held since March 2011, and has been responsible for oversight of Strategic Planning, Human Resources, and Staff Services and Property Management since December 2018. In his new role as Executive Vice President and Director of Enterprise Solutions, OShields will now also oversee Corporate Communications, Marketing, and Government and Industry Relations. OShields joined FHLBank Atlanta as a senior attorney in May 2003. Prior to joining the Bank, he was in private legal practice with Eversheds Sutherland in Atlanta, Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd in Greenville, South Carolina, and with Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett in New York. O'Shields holds a Juris Doctor from Vanderbilt University Law School and earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Furman University.

Can was promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Risk Officer in June 2017, having previously served as Manager of Financial Risk Modeling since May 2011. In his new role as Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer, Can will lead Enterprise Risk Management and have oversight over the Banks Credit and Collateral functions. He joined FHLBank Atlanta as an Asset Liability Analyst in 2007. Can earned a Bachelor of Science in economics from the University of Istanbul, and a Master of Business Administration in Finance and Master of Science in mathematical risk management from Georgia State University.

Reggie and Alp have shown incredible dedication to the Bank over the years and their familiarity with our business will serve us and our membership well, said FHLBank Atlanta President and CEO W. Wesley McMullan. I look forward to working with them in their expanded roles.

About FHLBank Atlanta

FHLBank Atlanta offers competitively-priced financing, community development grants, and other banking services to help member financial institutions make affordable home mortgages and provide economic development credit to neighborhoods and communities. The Banks membersits shareholders and customersare commercial banks, credit unions, savings institutions, community development financial institutions, and insurance companies located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. FHLBank Atlanta is one of 11 district banks in the Federal Home Loan Bank System. Since 1990, the FHLBanks have awarded approximately $6.2 billion in Affordable Housing Program funds, assisting more than 911,000 households.

For more information, visit our website at www.fhlbatl.com.

CONTACT: Peter E. Garuccio

Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta

pgaruccio@fhlbatl.com

(404) 888.8143
NAIROBI, KenyaA car bomb exploded at a checkpoint in Somalias capital Wednesday morning, killing three people and wounding six others, a local official said. The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab terrorist group quickly claimed responsibility.

Salah Omar, a spokesman for Mogadishus mayor, told The Associated Press the blast occurred as soldiers conducted searches at a checkpoint. He said the bomb attached to the vehicle was remotely detonated.

Among the dead were two government officials, including an advisor of the parliament speaker and a ministry department director, said Ahmed Mohamednur, a Somali lawmaker.

Al-Shabab often targets checkpoints, hotels, and government offices in Somalias capital despite being pushed out of Mogadishu years ago.

Wednesdays attack follows a devastating truck bombing in Mogadishu on Dec. 28 that killed at least 78 people, including many university students. It was the worst attack in Mogadishu since the disastrous 2017 truck bombing that killed hundreds.

On Sunday, al-Shabab fighters overran a key military base used by U.S. counterterror forces in neighboring Kenya, killing three American Department of Defense personnel and destroying several U.S. aircraft and vehicles. The United States later sent in additional troops to increase security at the base and adjacent Manda Bay airfield.

It was the first attack by al-Shabab against U.S. forces in Kenya, a country long targeted by the extremist group for sending troops to Somalia to fight it.

The latest attack in Mogadishu again raises concerns about the readiness of Somali forces to take over responsibility for the Horn of Africa countrys security in the coming months from an African Union force.

Al-Shabab, the target of a growing number of U.S. airstrikes since President Donald Trump took office, controls parts of Somalias southern and central regions.

By Abdi Guled
This years turbulent events in the Middle Easta major source of oil supply for the worlds largest oil importer, Chinahave had Beijing scrambling to salvage the Iran nuclear deal after the U.S. assassinated Tehrans top military commander.

At the same time, China has significantly reduced its crude oil imports from Iran in recent months because of the U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil exports.

China doesnt need Irans oil as much as it used to, Kenneth Rapoza writes for Forbes.

Yet, China is interested in having crude oil supplies from the Middle East uninterrupted and oil prices not too high so it can continue importing record amounts of crude oil.

So China is appealing for calm in the Middle East and says it is doing everything it can to save the Iran nuclear deal.

China, Russia, and Europe stayed in the so-called Iran nuclear deal after the United States withdrew from it and re-imposed sanctions on Irans oil exports.

The killing of Irans most powerful and visible military leader, Qassem Soleimani, forced Iran to end its pledges under the deal, but it has shown restraint and willingness to not violate its non-proliferation obligations, Geng Shuang, a spokesman for Chinas foreign ministry, said at a press conference earlier this week, as carried by South China Morning Post. Related: UN: Houthis Didnt Launch Attacks On Aramco

China urges the US to seek resolutions through dialogue instead of abusing force. China will continue to uphold an objective and just position and play a constructive role in safeguarding peace and security in the Gulf region of the Middle East, Chinas State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a telephone call with Irans Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in the weekend.

The Chinese minister also spoke to his French counterpart and said in that conversation that It is of vital importance to maintain the JCPOA under the current circumstances.

The Iran nuclear deal, as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is commonly known, is also a key pillar for peace and stability in the Middle East, Wang Yi said.

Currently, the Middle East is anything but stable, with the U.S.-Iran standoff reaching a new high late on Tuesday after Iran fired ballistic missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq, in apparent retaliation for the killing of Soleimani.

As the worlds largest oil importer and a key buyer of Middle Eastern oil, China is interested in continuous oil flow out of the Middle East. Therefore, any threat to supply, be it at facilities or along the shipping lanes, including the most important oil chokepoint in the world, the Strait of Hormuz, could threaten Chinas oil imports.

China may have cut back on Iranian oil imports, but it continues to rely on Middle Eastern oil producers for a large part of its crude oil imports. Related: Billions In Worthless Assets Plague The Oil & Gas Industry

The worlds biggest oil exporter and Irans bitter rival in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, saw its crude oil sales to China surge by 76 percent year on year in October, driven by increasing demand and U.S. sanctions restricting Chinese imports of Iranian and Venezuela crude.

Chinas imports from Saudi Arabia jumped to a record high in January-November, surging by 53 percent year on year, according to Chinese customs data reported by Caixin Global.

While Saudi Arabia easily beat Russia to the top spot of Chinese crude oil suppliers at the end of last year, Chinas imports of Iranian oil slumped by 47 percent annually between January and November.

Despite the U.S. crackdown on Chinese tanker companies dealing with Iranian oil, China continues to import oil from the Islamic Republic, but in much smaller volumes than it used to, before the U.S. ended all waivers for all Iranian oil customers in May last year.

Chinas appeals for restraint and avoiding the use of force in the Middle East align with its interest to have oil supply uninterrupted and oil prices in a relatively stable range without price spikes.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Published On Jan 03, 2020 11:32 AM By Sonny for Kia Seltos

The compact SUVs top-spec variant now has an ex-showroom price tag of over Rs 17 lakh

Seltos entry-spec petrol variant pricier by Rs 20,000.

All other petrol variants of Seltos, pricier by Rs 30,000.

All diesel variants now pricier by Rs 35,000.

Seltos prices now range from Rs 9.89 lakh to Rs 17.34 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The Kia Seltos compact SUV has moved on from its introductory prices and now costs up to Rs 35,000 more than before. Kia has kept the Seltos entry-spec petrol variant under the Rs 10 lakh mark with an increase of just Rs 20,000 while the diesel variants attract the biggest premium.

The new prices (ex-showroom Delhi) for the Kia Seltos are as follows:

Petrol

Variant Old Price New Price Difference HTE 1.5 MT Rs 9.69 lakh Rs 9.89 lakh Rs 20,000 HTK 1.5 MT Rs 9.99 lakh Rs 10.29 lakh Rs 30,000 HTK+ 1.5 MT Rs 11.19 lakh Rs 11.49 lakh Rs 30,000 HTX 1.5 MT Rs 12.79 lakh Rs 13.09 lakh Rs 30,000 HTX 1.5 CVT Rs 13.79 lakh Rs 14.09 lakh Rs 30,000 GTK 1.4 MT Rs 13.49 lakh Rs 13.79 lakh Rs 30,000 GTX 1.4 MT Rs 14.99 lakh Rs 15.29 lakh Rs 30,000 GTX 1.4 DCT Rs 15.99 lakh Rs 16.29 lakh Rs 30,000 GTX+ Rs 15.99 lakh Rs 16.29 lakh Rs 30,000 GTX+ DCT Rs 16.99 lakh Rs 17.29 lakh Rs 30,000

Diesel

Variant Old Price New Price Difference HTE 1.5 MT Rs 9.99 lakh Rs 10.34 lakh Rs 35,000 HTK 1.5 MT Rs 11.19 lakh Rs 11.54 lakh Rs 35,000 HTK+ 1.5 MT Rs 12.19 lakh Rs 12.54 lakh Rs 35,000 HTK+ 1.5 AT Rs 13.19 lakh Rs 13.54 lakh Rs 35,000 HTX 1.5 MT Rs 13.79 lakh Rs 14.14 lakh Rs 35,000 HTX+ 1.5 MT Rs 14.99 lakh Rs 15.34 lakh Rs 35,000 HTX+ 1.5 AT Rs 15.99 lakh Rs 16.34 lakh Rs 35,000 GTX+ 1.5 AT Rs 16.99 lakh Rs 17.34 lakh Rs 35,000

The Kia Seltos is offered with three BS6 compliant engines - 1.5-litre petrol and diesel units and a 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine as well. All of these engines come mated to a 6-speed manual as standard. The 1.5-litre naturally aspirated motor is also available with a CVT automatic but only offered in the Tech Line HT variants. The 1.5-litre diesel has a 6-speed AT option and is also offered in the Tech Line variants.

Meanwhile, the 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine gets the choice of a 7-speed DCT auto, although limited to the GT Line variants. The GTX+ variant is the top-spec Seltos with all the comforts on offer and thats why it is also offered with the 1.5-litre diesel engine mated to a 6-speed automatic. This variant gets features like 360-degree parking camera, ventilated front seats, blind view monitor, smart air purifier and a sunroof too.

Also read: Kia Seltos And MG Hector Rivals Youll Get To See In 2020

The Kia Seltos will continue to rival the Renault Captur, Nissan Kicks, Tata Harrier, MG Hector and even the second-gen Hyundai Creta that is due to arrive soon.

Read More on : Seltos on road price
The University of Windsor will hold a memorial service for five Windsor victims of a plane crash that happened in Iran on Wednesday.

The service will be held at 1 p.m. in the university's Alumni Auditorium, on the second floor of the CAW Student Centre.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 left Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport bound for Boryspil International Airport in Kiev, Ukraine, around 6 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

A few minutes later, the flight crashed into the ground near Shahriar, Iran, killing 167 passengers and nine crew members.

Among the dead are Samira Bashiri who worked in a lab at the University of Windsor; her husband Hamid Setareh Kokab, who was a PhD student in mechanical engineering at the same institution; Zahra Naghibi a PhD student at the university's Turbulence and Energy Lab; Naghibi's husband Mohammad Abbas Pourghaddi; and Pedram Jadidi, who was a PhD student in civil engineering at the university.

U.S. officials said on Thursday that it's "highly likely" an Iranian anti-craft missile brought down the passenger plane.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

Trend:

Assistant to the President, Head of the Department for Foreign Policy Affairs of Azerbaijans Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev gave an interview to French Radio Courtoisie, Trend reports on Jan. 9.

Hajiyev spoke about comprehensive reforms under the leadership of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the work carried out in the direction of economic development, and further improvement of the judicial system and public administration.

The head of the department also told about the historical roots of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the process of negotiations between the two countries, Armenias destructive position and the fact that Armenia undermines the negotiation process by making contradictory statements.

Hajiyev emphasized Azerbaijans fair position and stressed that the country intends to resolve the conflict peacefully.

The head of the department said that it is necessary to call a spade a spade.

The fact of the occupation is obvious, Hajiyev said. More than a million Azerbaijanis have been expelled from their houses and live as refugees and internally displaced persons. These people have the right to live on their lands and use their property.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and the world community must strengthen their political and diplomatic influence and demand Armenia to withdraw its troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, the head of the department said. The historical borders of the countries cannot be changed by force in the 21st century.

The head of the department also touched upon Azerbaijans foreign policy.

While talking about the country's bilateral relations with France, Hajiyev emphasized Azerbaijani First Vice President Mehriban Aliyevas key role in, and invaluable contribution to, the development of these relations.

Hajiyev stressed that there is great potential for strengthening the cooperation.

The head of the department also noted Azerbaijans role in ensuring Europes energy security and gave information about TANAP and TAP projects.

During the live interview, Hajiyev answered the audiences questions.
D espite the words coming out of Iran there is strong evidence to support Donald Trumps claim Iran and its client militias are standing down in their confrontation with US forces in Iraq.

It is now evident that the missile attacks from Iran on the two bases at Irbil and al-Asad in Anbar were signalled well ahead, so no one was seriously hurt, and none killed.

Vice president Mike Pence says he has reports that the militias have been told not to attack Americans and their allies ... for the time being.

The dead leader of the Al Quds force, Qasem Soleimani has left a strange, tangled legacy.

General Qasem Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike / AP

He did more to create, promote and fund the Shia pro-Iran militias across an arc from Lebanon to the Gulf than any other.

But global strategist he was not, by all accounts. The militias, including Hezbollah, founder member of the Iranian-sponsored militia alliance, are running out of money.

The understanding was that Iran would pay the bills for commander salaries, pensions of wounded veterans and widows, and new weaponry.

But with the noose of American-backed sanctions tightening, Iran cannot access the currency to fund the militias.

They have to find money through the pro-Iranian elements of the Iraqi government, an Iraqi business source explained this week.

Iranian Missile Attack - In pictures 1 /16 Iranian Missile Attack - In pictures Pieces of missiles are seen at the rural area of Al-Baghdadi town after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq Anadolu Agency via Getty Images An explosion is seen following missiles landing at what is believed to be Ain al-Asad Air Base in Iraq Iraqi security forces find and collect the pieces of missiles as they gather to inspect the site after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq Anadolu Agency via Getty Images A protester waves the Iraq flag while demonstrators set fire to close streets near Tahrir Square during a demonstration to protest against the Iranian missile strike, in Baghdad, Iraq AP Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him addressing a meeting in Teharn Getty Images An explosion is seen following missiles landing at what is believed to be Ain al-Asad Air Base in Iraq via Reuters Iraqi security forces and soldiers gather to inspect the site after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq, a facility jointly operated by U.S. and Iraqi forces, at Bardarash district of Erbil in Iraq Anadolu Agency via Getty Images An explosion is seen following missiles landing at what is believed to be Ain al-Asad Air Base in Iraq IRIB/AFP via Getty Images Multiple rockets are launched at Al-Asad airbase Multiple rockets are launched at Al-Asad airbase A protester sets fires to close streets near Tahrir Square during a demonstration to protest against the Iranian missile strike AP A man holds shrapnel from a missile launched by Iran on U.S.-led coalition forces on the outskirts of Duhok ,Iraq Reuters

Iran is now selling less than 250,000 barrels of oil per day on long-term contract to China.

The other main earner is smuggled oil from the residue of storage tanks  literally scraping the bottom of the barrel.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- PNM Resources (NYSE: PNM) management will meet with analysts and investors this week in Arizona.

The presentation materials are available on the company's website at http://www.pnmresources.com/investors/events.cfm.

Background:

PNM Resources (NYSE: PNM) is an energy holding company based in Albuquerque, N.M., with 2018 consolidated operating revenues of $1.4 billion. Through its regulated utilities, PNM and TNMP, PNM Resources has approximately 2,701 megawatts of generation capacity and provides electricity to more than 785,000 homes and businesses in New Mexico and Texas. For more information, visit the company's website at www.PNMResources.com.

CONTACTS:



Analysts Media

Lisa Goodman Ray Sandoval

(505) 241-2160 (505) 241-2782

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

Statements made in this news release for PNM Resources, Inc. ("PNMR"), Public Service Company of New Mexico ("PNM"), or Texas-New Mexico Power Company ("TNMP") (collectively, the "Company") that relate to future events or expectations, projections, estimates, intentions, goals, targets, and strategies are made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned that all forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations and estimates. PNMR, PNM, and TNMP assume no obligation to update this information. Because actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, PNMR, PNM, and TNMP caution readers not to place undue reliance on these statements. PNMR's, PNM's, and TNMP's business, financial condition, cash flow, and operating results are influenced by many factors, which are often beyond their control, that can cause actual results to differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. For a discussion of risk factors and other important factors affecting forward-looking statements, please see the Company's Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which factors are specifically incorporated by reference herein.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

GAAP refers to generally accepted accounting principles in the U.S. Ongoing earnings is a non-GAAP financial measure that excludes the impact of net unrealized mark-to-market gains and losses on economic hedges, the net change in unrealized gains and losses on investment securities, pension expense related to previously disposed of gas distribution business, and certain non-recurring, infrequent, and other items that are not indicative of fundamental changes in the earnings capacity of the Company's operations. The Company uses ongoing earnings and ongoing earnings per diluted share (or ongoing diluted earnings per share) to evaluate the operations of the Company and to establish goals, including those used for certain aspects of incentive compensation, for management and employees. While the Company believes these financial measures are appropriate and useful for investors, they are not measures presented in accordance with GAAP. The Company does not intend for these measures, or any piece of these measures, to represent any financial measure as defined by GAAP. Furthermore, the Company's calculations of these measures as presented may or may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. The Company uses ongoing earnings guidance to provide investors with management's expectations of ongoing financial performance over the period presented. While the Company believes ongoing earnings guidance is an appropriate measure, it is not a measure presented in accordance with GAAP. The Company does not intend for ongoing earnings guidance to represent an expectation of net earnings as defined by GAAP. Since the future differences between GAAP and ongoing earnings are frequently outside the control of the Company, management is generally not able to estimate the impact of the reconciling items between forecasted GAAP net earnings and ongoing earnings guidance, nor their probable impact on GAAP net earnings without unreasonable effort, therefore, management is generally not able to provide a corresponding GAAP equivalent for ongoing earnings guidance.

SOURCE PNM Resources, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.pnmresources.com


SALINAS (BCN)

A Seaside man was sentenced to two years in state prison for fleeing the scene of an injury traffic collision in Salinas in 2018, according to the Monterey County District Attorney's Office.

Tyrone Anthony Hall, 36, was the driver of a 2006 Ford Expedition that struck a pedestrian at the intersection of West Laurel Drive and Tyler Street on the night of Aug. 18, 2018, prosecutors said.

The victim was transported to a hospital. Later that night, a passenger in the vehicle reported to police that Hall was the driver of the vehicle. Officers were able to "ping" his phone, and found him in Gilroy still driving the vehicle, prosecutors said.

According to the district attorney's office, the victim was forced to have surgery and continues to need physical therapy.

Hall was ordered to pay $40,322.02 in restitution to the victim.

Copyright  2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
My opinion is in response to the editorial in the Sunday, Dec. 15, issue of The News-Times, Welcoming refugees part of our history.

I agree that, from the beginning Americans culture, language, political and religious beliefs have differed, even as we always shared a common humanity. When the immigrants came to our shores until about 1960 they wanted to be part of the American experience. Since that time much has changed, mostly thanks to our politicians currying favor for votes.

Prior to 1960 immigrants had to have a sponsor, a $10,000 bond was required and the promise of a job. In addition, they had to pass a physical to verify they were not carrying any communicable diseases. Also they were not eligible for public assistance services and other government hand outs, let alone Social Security and Medicare, even though the have not paid anything into the system. I have been paying into it my entire working life. There is also Medicaid, Section 8, food stamps and the other many government hand outs, which should be for U.S. citizens.

The reason to severely restrict illegal immigrants is now there are no enforceable restrictions to prevent this flood of immigrants from financially destroying our system by receiving, but not having contributed anything, to the various coffers. There are exceptions but many of the illegals find jobs, do not contribute to taxes of any sort. They send as much money as they are able to their families in the country they came from. All they are doing is taking.

Apparently Gov. Lamont is welcoming all to Connecticut, which is spending our hard-earned money and meager Social Security dollars but little if any of his own income that could change his lifestyle. If Gov. Lamont wishes he can sponsor and pay for all the illegals coming to Connecticut, including the school children who materialized in the Danbury school system this year, most of whom do not speak English. That means the same applies to their families.

Our Democratic leaders have become Socialists, they spend other peoples money until there is no more. Then they go to the federal government for more. Wait a moment, that is the tax-paying citizens hard-earned money also.

I also take umbrage with the photo on the front page of the Dec. 18 News-Times which shows a large impeach Trump photo. What is the basis to impeach President Trump? Look what he has accomplished, not what he says or tweets. You cannot convict someone of a crime with only rumors, supposition, innuendo but no hard evidence. We should all give President Trump a vote of thanks in appreciation for what he has accomplished and continues to do for the United States of America and the citizens therein.

Thomas Oppermann is a resident of Danbury.
PARIS (AP)  He was the leader on the world stage, visiting troops stationed in a far-flung war zone for the holidays, shoring up alliances and economic deals in the Mideast, requesting a meeting with the German chancellor in his capital, portraying himself and his country as reliable partners in an increasingly uncertain world.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has had a busy week, stepping into the aftermath of the American drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Putins visit Tuesday to Syria was emblematic of a reality that has been playing out in recent months: The U.S. strategic position in the Middle East is a mystery to many of its allies, and Russia is more than ready to fill any vacuum.

The shift has, in many ways, left U.S. allies in a bind  or turning to Russia themselves in search of a partner.

Putin was the first world leader French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with just after learning about the drone strike on Friday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, is traveling to the Kremlin to discuss the crisis in the Mideast.

Canada, Denmark and Germany moved their troops in Iraq to safety, as did NATO, which has forces stationed there as part of the international coalition against the Islamic State group. There was no sign that any had been warned by the Trump administration of the drone strike. Coalition activities froze, and NATOs secretary-general described the killing as a U.S. decision. It is not a decision taken by either the global coalition nor NATO. But all allies are concerned about Irans destabilizing activities in the region.

The base targeted in northern Iraq was filled with coalition troops.

Putin offered an alternative to perceived chaos.

Unfortunately, the situation in the region we are in tends to escalate. But Turkey and Russia are demonstrating different examples  examples of cooperation for the sake of our nations and all of Europe, he said Wednesday in Turkey.

Israel, which has criticized the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, has been quiet about the drone strike aside from a brief statement of praise from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seemingly disinclined to escalate an already volatile situation between its closest ally and its sworn enemy. Trumps first face to face meeting with an ally came Monday with the Saudi deputy defense minister, Khalid bin Salman. But he didnt confirm it until a day later, after the prince revealed it in a tweet.

Story continues

We discussed Trade, Military, Oil Prices, Security, and Stability in the Middle East! Trump tweeted.

The American president spoke by phone with Macron on Sunday and with Merkel on Tuesday.

Putins travel plans have continued apace. His visit to Russian troops for the Orthodox Christmas came unannounced, as was his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who owes his continued rule to a combination of Russian and Iranian intervention. The message was unmistakable.

Even NATOs Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, always ready to play along with the U.S., found it necessary to distance himself from the killing of the Iranian general by saying that the U.S. made this decision without NATOs involvement. So Washingtons attempts to ex post facto shore up their European allies failed, Alexei Pushkov, lawmaker in Russias upper house of parliament, wrote in a tweet Tuesday.

He added, Its emblematic that right in the middle of a pre-war crisis around Iran Merkel is heading to talks with Putin and not Trump. There is no point in talks with Trump.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper refused to say whether Trump had warned allies before the strike: Im not going to get into the details of our consultations."

Stoltenberg said several U.S. briefers explained the rationale behind the Trump administration's decision to kill Soleimani, but he declined to provide details or timing.

Trump campaigned on an America First policy and long has said he wants to reduce U.S. involvement in foreign wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

But his decision to bomb pro-Iranian militias and then to kill Irans best-known general in a missile strike outside Baghdads airport caught Middle Eastern and European allies unaware and confused. Since then, the U.S. also has given off conflicting signals on its intentions to exit Iraq even while it deploys more troops immediately for protection against a possible Iranian response.

Amelie de Montchalin, a top French diplomat, told lawmakers Wednesday that France's solidarity was based solely on the international coalition against the Islamic State group.

This was a decision made by the United States without consulting France for national security reasons, and it's therefore an American initiative and it's their sole responsibility, Montchalin said.

The administration has held up Soleimani's death as a master stroke that eliminated a region-wide troublemaker and saved American lives. Trump insisted that the United States would leave Iraq eventually, but that the Iraqi people wanted American soldiers to remain: At some point we want to get out but this isnt the right point.

Putins trip to Turkey was planned a month ago, even if its timing this week was fortuitous. And his visit to Damascus was simply a continuation of the Kremlins growing reach in the Mideast and the diminishing sway of the United States, said Marc Pierini, a former EU ambassador to Turkey and a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe. Merkel's trip to the Kremlin was scheduled late last month, but Iran has always been the main topic on the agenda.

Putin doesnt need to do much. Hes just watching. Everything youve seen for the past year or so, since December 2018 when Trump first announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, everything has gone the Kremlins way. Theres not much to do, theres nothing to activate. The Russian policy in that region has been to talk to everybody, to capitalize on an American vacuum, Pierini said.

The December 2018 announcement was widely criticized as an American abandonment of its Kurdish allies, who fought alongside U.S. forces against the Islamic State group in northeast Syria. After U.S. forces withdrew, Turkey launched an offensive and the Kurds turned to Russia and the Syrian government for protection. It was a Russian deal with Turkey that ended the invasion. What little presence the U.S. military retains in Syria depends heavily upon logistical support from its bases in Iraq, and the outgoing Iraqi prime minister said Tuesday that American forces must leave.

We have no exit but this," said Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, otherwise we are speeding toward confrontation.

___

Daria Litvinova contributed from Moscow, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, and Lolita Baldor and Kevin Freking from Washington.
The government's imposition of restrictions on imports of refined palm oil is product-specific and not country-specific, but the state of relationship between countries does impact business decisions, the External Affairs Ministry said on Thursday amid suggestions that move was targeted at Malaysia which has criticised India over issues such as the CAA.

According to a notification of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), the "import policy" is amended from "free to restricted" for refined bleached deodorised palm oil and refined bleached deodorised palmolein.

Asked if India has imposed a trade curb on Malaysia, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the notification issued is not country-specific, but product specific.

"When you are looking at issues pertaining to the import of any product from any country, there are basically two factors -- one is the commercial decision and the other could be defined by the trade policy and in this case it is being defined by the trade policy," he said.

According to a notification of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), "import policy" is amended from "free to restricted" for refined bleached deodorised palm oil and refined bleached deodorised palmolein.

There are three different categories under which items can be imported --open, restricted and prohibited, he said.

"This is not under prohibited category. Why do you presume imports will be stopped. It is just that a certain procedure will be put in place and there are hundreds of products that are under this category," Kumar said.

"But, at the same time, the status of the relationship between any two countries... naturally any business will look at it before they get into trading. So the state of relationship is important. That happens to be a factor," he said.

Sources said the government's move is not likely to impact Nepal much which also exports the commodity to India.

Putting the commodity in restricted category means an importer will require licence or permission for the inbound shipment.

India, the world's largest importer of vegetable oils, buys nearly 15 million tonne annually. Of this, palm oil comprises 9 million tonne and the rest 6 million tonne of soybean and sunflower oil.

Indonesia and Malaysia are the two countries which supply palm oil.

Malaysia produces 19 million tonne of palm oil in a year, while Indonesia produces 43 million tonne, the trade data showed.

The move comes in the backdrop of remarks by Malaysia on the new citizenship law and Kashmir issue.

India had last month summoned the Charge d'Affairs of Malaysian embassy and lodged a strong protest with him over Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's "insensitive" comments criticising the new citizenship law.

Asked about India-Malaysia ties, Kumar said in the past, there have been statements by the Malaysian Prime Minister on which India has reacted sometimes very strongly.

"We have told them that we have age-old ties and have had a very good relationship. We have told them that they should keep in mind the sensitivity that we have on some of these topics," he said.

"Unfortunately despite our statements, we keep on getting similar statements and sentiments from their side. We so hope that at some point, they will realise that this is not the appropriate thing to do," Kumar said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - January 9, 2020) - Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd. (TSX: TVE) ("Tamarack" or the "Company") is pleased to confirm its 2020 capital budget, announce its associated 2020 guidance and provide an operational update on the continued success of its Veteran waterflood project.

Incorporating December field estimates, Tamarack's 2019 average production volumes were within the annual guidance range of 23,500 to 24,500 boe/d. In addition, the Company exited the year with an oil and natural gas liquids ("NGL") weighting unchanged from Q1/19, despite the production curtailments imposed by the Government of Alberta, which impacted oil volumes for the majority of the year.

2020 Guidance

The Company's 2020 guidance and assumptions are outlined below:

Capital budget is between $170 and $180 million which is forecast to maintain volumes consistent with the Company's 2019 annual average production of 23,500 to 24,500 boe/d (64% to 66% oil and NGL), with further increases in the oil and NGL weightings by the end of the year.

Oil weighting to increase by 7% to 12% in 2020. Anticipated increases in waterflood response at Veteran are expected to partially offset Tamarack's corporate oil decline rate, resulting in the Company exiting Q4/20 with an oil weighting ranging between 59% and 62%, an increase from 55% in Q3/19, while its total liquids weighting at exit 2020 is expected to range between 65% and 68%, increasing from 62% in Q3/19.

Year end 2020 estimated net debt to Q4 annualized adjusted operating field netback ratio is forecast at less than 1.0 times, with a minimum of $150 million of liquidity on existing credit facilities.

Average 2020 commodity price assumptions of WTI US$55.50/bbl, a MSW / WTI differential of US$6.85/bbl, AECO $1.75/GJ and a Canadian/US dollar exchange rate of $0.7675.

2020 Capital Program Highlights

Over the past several years, Tamarack has maintained a disciplined capital allocation strategy designed to achieve sustainability through environments of weak and volatile oil prices, while continuing to direct excess adjusted operating field netback to purchase its common shares (the "Shares") under its normal course issuer bid ("NCIB") program. During the 12 months ended December 31, 2019, Tamarack invested $7.67 million to purchase and cancel 4,181,000 Shares. In addition, the Company further invested $3.4 million to purchase an additional 1,639,764 Shares to be held in trust by Tamarack's trustee and used to settle restricted share units ("RSUs") upon future exercises, offsetting future RSU dilution and supporting debt-adjusted per share growth.

Tamarack's 2020 budget of $170 to $180 million is forecast to drive average production volumes consistent with 2019 guidance levels, ranging from 23,500 to 24,500 boe/d, and is expected to be funded entirely by the Company's adjusted operating field netback. The program is focused on increasing oil and liquids weightings at year end 2020 as outlined above. This positive impact is a direct result of slowing down the Company's corporate oil decline rate due to an increasing anticipated response from the waterflood development at Veteran, which will continue to enhance Tamarack's longer-term sustainability.

The 2020 capital budget of $170 to $180 million includes maintenance capital estimated to range between $112 and $115 million which is designed to keep production flat, while approximately $50 to $58 million has been earmarked for Viking waterflood development projects, anticipated to positively impact decline rates and production later in the year and into 2021. In addition, Tamarack plans to direct between $5 and $8 million to expenditures for land and seismic, approximately $3 million for abandonment projects, and $2 to $3 million in initiatives designed to reduce emissions as part of the Company's ongoing commitment to its environment, social and governance responsibilities. Tamarack's 2020 capital program assumes a decrease in corporate declines from 38% in 2019 to 34% in 2020, with corporate declines expected to fall below 30% in 2021 as a result of the positive response from ongoing waterflood development.

Tamarack's 2020 maintenance capital budget anticipates the drilling of 90 to 100 net wells, including 80 to 90 Viking light oil wells, seven to nine Cardium light oil wells and two to five wells at Penny targeting the Lower Mississippian development. The Company's $50 to $58 million of planned waterflood investment in 2020 is expected to include 14 to 16 well conversions in 2020 and the drilling of 15 to 20 additional injection wells at East Veteran.

Based on the current 2020 plan, Tamarack expects to fully fund its capital expenditure program at commodity prices below the current forward strip, and to generate approximately $28 to $32 million of adjusted operating field netback in excess of its required capital expenditure levels assuming the commodity prices outlined above. As a result, Tamarack plans to invest approximately half of the adjusted operating field netback in excess of the 2020 capital budget to continue to purchase Shares for cancellation through the NCIB program and to offset future RSU dilution. This strategy supports the Company's commitment to optimize per share metrics and underpin shareholder value creation. The balance of Tamarack's excess adjusted operating field netback can be earmarked for debt repayment or continued accretive tuck-in acquisitions.

The Company remains well positioned to withstand further crude oil price volatility given approximately 35% of its first half 2020 production is protected with fixed price contracts at US$60.20/bbl.

Viking Waterflood Operational Update

Tamarack's ongoing investment in the Viking waterflood program at Veteran is a result of the positive waterflood response experienced to date. Oil production improvements as a result of waterflood projects in East Veteran and the Veteran Unit are currently between 800 to 900 bbls/d of oil.

The Company's original 200 meter-spaced East Veteran waterflood pilot (with two producing wells on the 12-19 pad supported by 4 injectors) averaged 340 bbls/d of oil in December 2019 from an initial base production rate of 50 bbls/d in March 2019. Since late February 2019, the four injector wells injected an average of 3,800 bbls/d of water, which stabilized during Q4/19 to an injection rate of 2,500 bbls/d.

The Veteran Unit waterflood pilot originally featured an injector pattern including 12 producing wells (12-29 and 14-29 pads) and three supporting injectors that covered approximately one section in area. The first two injectors have been continuously injecting since August 2018 and Tamarack added a third injector well in late March 2019. In aggregate, these injectors averaged 1,700 bbls/d of water since August 2018. Production has doubled on the 12-29 pad and 14-29 pad from 100 bbls/d in Q3/19 to over 200 bbls/d in late Q4/19.

During Q3/19, 11 new injector wells were brought on-stream in the Veteran Unit, bringing the total number of injectors to 14, with eight of the 11 commencing water injection in Q4/19. Through December of 2019, these new 11 wells injected an average of 10,000 bbls/d of water. Within Tamarack's 2020 budget several initiatives have been included that are designed to increase pattern injection rates in the Veteran Unit waterflood. Such initiatives are expected to increase water injection, ultimately causing a waterflood response in the Veteran Unit that is more consistent with the response realized at East Veteran in 2019.

Executive Change

The Company also announces the resignation of Mr. Ron Hozjan as Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of the Company. Mr. Hozjan has accepted the role of Chief Financial Officer of a private oil and gas services company that is focused on growing its US business. Tamarack would like to thank Mr. Hozjan for his contributions to the Company, which span more than ten years since its inception, and wishes him well in his future endeavors. Tamarack is in the process of identifying a successor. The Company has always planned for staff depth and Mr. Hozjan's duties will be executed efficiently in the interim by Tamarack's quality staff.

"On behalf of the entire board of directors, executive management team and all of our staff, I would like to extend sincere thanks to Ron for his many contributions to Tamarack," said Brian Schmidt, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We wish him well with this new opportunity."

About Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd.

Tamarack is an oil and gas exploration and production company committed to long-term growth and the identification, evaluation and operation of resource plays in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. Tamarack's strategic direction is focused on two key principles: (i) targeting repeatable and relatively predictable plays that provide long-life reserves; and (ii) using a rigorous, proven modeling process to carefully manage risk and identify opportunities. The Company has an extensive inventory of low-risk, oil development drilling locations focused primarily in the Cardium and Viking fairways in Alberta that are economic over a range of oil and natural gas prices. With this type of portfolio and an experienced and committed management team, Tamarack intends to continue delivering on its strategy to maximize shareholder returns while managing its balance sheet.

Abbreviations

bbls barrels bbls/d barrels per day boe barrels of oil equivalent boe/d barrels of oil equivalent per day GJ gigajoule WTI West Texas Intermediate, the reference price paid in U.S. dollars at Cushing, Oklahoma for the crude oil standard grade AECO the natural gas storage facility located at Suffield, Alberta, connected to TransCanada's Alberta System IFRS International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board

Disclosure of Oil and Gas Information

Unit Cost Calculation. For the purpose of calculating unit costs, natural gas volumes have been converted to a boe using six thousand cubic feet equal to one barrel unless otherwise stated. A boe conversion ratio of 6:1 is based upon an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead. This conversion conforms with Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 51-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities. Boe may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation.

Any references in this press release to production rates are useful in confirming the presence of hydrocarbons, however, such rates are not determinative of the rates at which such wells will continue production and decline thereafter. While encouraging, readers are cautioned not to place reliance on such rates in calculating the aggregate production for Tamarack.

Forward Looking Information

This press release contains certain forward-looking information (collectively referred to herein as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "guidance", "outlook", "anticipate", "target", "plan", "continue", "intend", "consider", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "should", "could" or similar words suggesting future outcomes. More particularly, this press release contains statements concerning: Tamarack's business strategy, objectives, strength and focus; the ability of the Company to achieve drilling success consistent with management's expectations; commodity prices; market conditions impacting realized prices; the Company's ability to withstand commodity price volatility; risk management activities, including hedging; oil and liquid production levels; increase in oil and liquids weightings at year end 2020; increasing injection rates at the Veteran waterflood; increase in waterflood response and timing thereof; a decrease in corporate decline rates in 2020 and 2021; the 2020 drilling program and capital budget; the Company's expectations in 2020 to invest in initiatives designed to reduce emissions, to be fully-funded by its adjusted operating field netback and continue to purchase Shares for cancellation and to offset future RSU dilution; liquidity on existing credit facilities; timing of 2019 year-end filings; and shareholder returns.

The forward-looking statements contained in this document are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by Tamarack, including relating to: prevailing commodity prices, price volatility, price differentials and the actual prices received for the Company's products; the availability and performance of drilling rigs, facilities, pipelines and other oilfield services; the timing of past operations and activities in the planned areas of focus; the drilling, completion and tie-in of wells being completed as planned; the performance of new and existing wells; the application of existing drilling and fracturing techniques; prevailing weather and break-up conditions; royalty regimes and exchange rates; the application of regulatory and licensing requirements; the continued availability of capital and skilled personnel; the ability to maintain or grow the banking facilities; and the accuracy of Tamarack's geological interpretation of its drilling and land opportunities, including the ability of seismic activity to enhance such interpretation.

Although management considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because Tamarack can give no assurances that they may prove to be correct. By their very nature, forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties (both general and specific) that could cause actual events or outcomes to differ materially from those anticipated or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: risks associated with the oil and gas industry in general (e.g. operational risks in development, exploration and production; and delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures); commodity prices; the uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to production, cash generation, costs and expenses; health, safety, litigation and environmental risks; and access to capital. Due to the nature of the oil and natural gas industry, drilling plans and operational activities may be delayed or modified to react to market conditions, results of past operations, regulatory approvals or availability of services causing results to be delayed. Please refer to Tamarack's annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2018 (the "AIF") and management's discussion and analysis for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 (the "MD&A") for additional risk factors relating to Tamarack. The AIF and the MD&A can be accessed either on Tamarack's website at www.tamarackvalley.ca or under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com.

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

This press release contains future-oriented financial information and financial outlook information (collectively, "FOFI") about Tamarack's prospective results of operations, production, net debt, debt to Q4 annualized adjusted operating field netback and components thereof, all of 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 Tamarack's future business operations. Tamarack 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.

Non-IFRS Measures

Certain financial measures referred to in this press release, such as net debt, adjusted operating field netbacks and net debt to annualized adjusted operating field netback ratio are not prescribed by IFRS. Tamarack uses these measures to help evaluate its financial and operating performance as well as its liquidity and leverage. These non-IFRS financial measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers.

"Net debt" is calculated as long-term debt plus working capital surplus or deficit adjusted for risk management contracts.

"Adjusted operating field netback" is calculated as net income or loss before taxes and adding back items including: transaction costs; and deducting non-cash items including: stock-based compensation; accretion expense on decommissioning obligations; depletion, depreciation and amortization; impairment; unrealized gain or loss on financial instruments; and gain or loss on dispositions.

"Net debt to annualized adjusted operating field netback ratio" is calculated as net debt divided by annualized adjusted operating field netback for the most recent quarter.

Please refer to the MD&A for additional information relating to Non-IFRS measures. The MD&A can be accessed either on Tamarack's website at www.tamarackvalley.ca or under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com.

For additional information, please contact:

Brian Schmidt

President & CEO

Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd.

Phone: 403.263.4440

www.tamarackvalley.ca

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/51303
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 22:38:03|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIRUT, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn vowed on Thursday to cooperate "fully" with the Lebanese judiciary system, LBCI TV channel reported.

"I feel very good about the Lebanese judiciary system, much better than I was feeling about the Japanese judicial system," Ghosn said following his interrogation.

"Remarks by Japanese justice minister about me are ridiculous," he said, adding that there exist a lot of victims in Japanese prisons.

Japanese Justice Minister Masako Mori said on Thursday that Ghosn's accusations against Japan's legal system are "absolutely intolerable."

Ghosn accused the Japanese legal system a day earlier of being unfair, adding that he was being treated brutally by prosecutors in Tokyo.

Ghosn arrived in Beirut from Japan by the end of last month to escape what he called "an unfair justice system."

Nissan accused Ghosn last year of understating his salary while he was the chief executive, and transferring 5 million U.S. dollars of Nissan funds to an account in which he had an interest.

Ghosn held a press conference on Wednesday in Beirut, denying all accusations issued by Nissan against him while vowing to fight to prove his innocence until the end.
Kitna achha hota agar acid bikta hi nahi...milta hi nahi toh...fikta bhi nahi"

Meghna Gulzar and Deepika Padukone's Chhapaak dives deep into something that needed to be shown on the big screen. The topic is so sensitive that very few filmmakers have had the nerve and the vision to approach it, but Chhapaak leaves you feeling broken yet empowered at the same time, while opening your eyes to the world of acid attack survivors.

The movie is based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal and Deepika steps into her shoes to show us the ordeal of an acid attack survivor. And what a stellar job she has done.

The movie begins with a protest, which will make you realize that cinema mirrors society and Chhapaak captures the real-time emotion of the country well.

As Malti (Deepika) is introduced, Meghna Gulzar makes sure that the viewer knows that it's all about his or her perspective of seeing the character who has gone through a gruesome and heinous acid attack.

Chhapaak avoids taking the stereotypical route of just focusing on 'why' she was attacked and what was the real 'motive' behind him throwing the acid. The movie, instead, throws light on male violence that comes after being rejected by a woman. Chhapaak's focus is on the ups and downs of Malti, most importantly how she needs to procure money for multiple surgeries and court hearings, which is a herculean task for her.

 Fox Star Hindi

Years after her attack, you see Malti working at an NGO where she meets Amol Dixit (Vikrant Massey) who is also working for the cause of contributing as much as he can towards bettering the lives of acid attack survivors

Interestingly, Amol is not someone who's overtly sacrificial but he is shown to have flaws. He does come across as condescending at times, but is shown his place by the people who work with him, especially Malti.

The movie not only talks about acid violence but also shows the real deal of gender politics, although very subtly, through the scenes involving Malti's lawyer played by Madhurjeet Sarghi. There are moments when she's at home working on the case and her husband is taking care of the household chores which does add value to the movie. It's not shown in a way that's celebratory but that it should exist and somewhere, it does exist. Simply put, equality.

In her career-best performance, Deepika has, clearly, given her all to make Malti look real and convincing on the big screen. She is able to move the human in you, especially when you see how she reacts for the first time when she sees her disfigured face. Slowly and gradually, you see Deepika evolving into someone who's gracefully showing the character's journey into becoming someone more accepting of her new face.

She is simply powerful in most parts of the movie but in the flashback scenes where she is a 19-year-old, I, felt that Deepika was trying too hard to look or act like a teenager, which felt unsettling. However, it is almost forgettable as Deepika's holistic performance is mind-blowing.

 Fox Star Hindi

Vikrant adds life to Meghna's vision of Amol and captures the screens with his brilliance in the craft. He does manage to teach men some lessons, especially about accepting rejections and not letting their egos drive them crazy. In one of the dialogues, he says that before one throws acid on someone, it's their mind that has been overpowered with acidic thoughts. His dialogue delivery is perfect and in-line with the director's vision.

 Fox Star Hindi

Madhurjeet Sarghi also does a powerful job as the lawyer defending Malti's case and makes sure that she is a powerhouse in the courtroom scenes.

Despite the power-packed performances by the cast, Chhapaak does have its shortcomings. Somewhere, you feel that the direction is a bit weak and rushes through to get to the end.

Talking about the score, I felt that the movie overused Arijit Singh's songs which became quite irritating after a certain point in time.

The movie does move you to your core but somehow, you walk out with the feeling that it could have been a bit better.

In a nutshell, I would recommend you watch the movie for its message and understanding the pain acid attack survivors go through.
Omoniyi Ilesanmi spent three months on the sickbed where he incurred N393,000 to treat himself of arthritis  the inflammation of one or more joints, causing pains and stiffness, which worsens with age. He served the Osun government for over 30 years.

In 2013, I was on the hospital bed for three months nursing arthritis and spent N393,000 as medical expenses, he narrated his post-retirement story.

This is where we less our thinking and wind away time, Mr Ilesanmi said adjusting his cloth to position himself for an interview.

He had invited this reporter over to a drinking joint in Osogbo, the state capital, where he and old friends who retired from the state civil service have made a tradition of drinking away their sorrows every evening.

Retired as an assistant director in 2012, he could only account for the medical bills and not miscellaneous expenses. If my family were not around me, I would have died, he lamented.

Another retiree and friend of Mr Ilesanmi also narrated his experience. The retiree, who asked not to be named, said he has been disposing of his properties to fend for his family. He retired in the security department of the state house of assembly.

In 2014, when nothing was forthcoming from the government, I had to sell my building in Owode Ede at a cheap price in order to keep my family, he said.

Both men complained of not being paid their gratuity  the statutory lump sum paid to an employee to sustain life after retirement  saying it worsened their predicament.

The amount paid as gratuity could be in millions of naira depending on years of service and the position held before leaving the civil service.

Those who want to complete their building projects will be able to. Those who want to start a business will be able to get capital, those with ailments will be able to take care of themselves, Mr Ilesanmis friend murmured while taking a look at the remaining drink.

They retired under the Defined Benefits Scheme, one that preceded the new Contributory Pension Scheme.

Although Mr Ilesanmi and his colleagues have been receiving their monthly pensions from the government, the Aregbesola-led government, during the years of modulated salaries, paid them modulated pension. Thus they await their arrears.

Rauf Aregbesola bowed out of office as Osun governor in 2018 after an eight-year rule and was appointed the Minister of Interior in 2019. He handed over the affairs of Osun to Gboyega Oyetola under the same All Progressives Congress after a keenly contested election in September 2018.

Old retiree who suffered backbone injury leaning on his walking stick

During the interview with this reporter, the old retirees talked about some colleagues who had died, were bedridden, ejected from their houses and those who withdrew their children from school.

We left when we were given the option to retire under the old scheme or join the new scheme. About 17,352 of us left in 2012. Nearly 5,000 of us have died, untimely death, Mr Ilesanmi said.

More lamentation

With stories similar to those who retired earlier, many of those who retired between 2015 and 2018 under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), have neither received any monthly pension nor the lump sum that ought to be paid as Bond.

Introduced through the pension reform act of 2004, the contributory pension scheme was signed into law by a former president, Goodluck Jonathan, in 2011, to further strengthen pension administration in Nigeria. It was domesticated in Osun State in 2012.

According to a former Director-General of National Pension Commission, Muhammed Ahmad, while addressing governors in Abuja on the benefits of CPS, under the former Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS), most public sector schemes were unfunded and with unsustainable pension liabilities.

CPS provides for a mandatory minimum contribution of 10 and 8 per cent by the employer and employee respectively out of the employees monthly emoluments.

According to the Act, an employee is to open a Retirement Savings Account (RSA), into which the contributions are to be paid, with a Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) licenced by the National Pension Commission. The PFA is to manage and invest the fund in the RSA, from where a contributor will draw benefits on retirement.

Upon retirement, a certain percentage will be paid as Bond (lump sum) and the remaining will be collected monthly based on the agreement between the PFA and the employee.

The Bond varies based on length of service, age and salary level before retirement.

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For those who migrated from the old scheme to CPS before retirement, there is a demarcation between the two. The exact valuation of DBS will be lodged in the Central Bank of Nigeria while the CPS funds is with the PFAs. Both will be collected upon retirement.

Grouse

The spokesperson for the Forum of Contributory Pensioners in Osun State, Gbenga Adeosun, said the state government refused to pay them despite the series of measures taken by the unions.

Mr Adesoun, in a statement obtained by this reporter, said, The contributory pensioners comprising civil, secondary and primary schools services of July 2016 for civil and secondary schools and July 2015 for primary schools are yet to be paid by the government.

He stated that the statements received by the majority of the forums members from the PFAs showed the government funded the account till July 2015, in respect of the primary schools, and July 2016 in respect of civil and secondary services.

Vulnerable teachers

Alabi Atanda retired as a head-teacher in Demonstration Elementary School in Osogbo in 2016.

Rafiu Atanda

(Out of the four categories of state workers), we primary school teachers are the most suffered by the Osun State government, Mr Atanda decried one sunny Friday.

While speaking with this reporter, he mentioned some of the primary school teachers across different local government areas who had died because they could not afford medical treatment.

Many of us have died. Seventy out of 400 primary school teachers who retired in 2016. We are walking corpse(s). To get three square meals, they have to beg. We can only beg to eat, are we going to beg to sponsor our children to school?

Mr Atanda, however, said his survival at the moment depends on his siblings who send financial aid.

Also, Sobaloju Imago who retired as a school principal in Ile-Ife explained his helpless state as he is yet to get the five-month and four-month salary arrears the (ex) government owed before he left service not to mention any of the retirement packages.

I retired in march 2016. I hope God will intervene in our case because the pain is killing and we are dying. Currently, about 15 principals have died. I still have two children in the university. In fact, I fell sick in 2017-2018. All my savings were consumed in the process, Mr Imago, who retired under the CPS, said.

Another, who begged that his name should not appear in print for fear of victimisation, could barely stand because he suffered a backbone injury in 2016.

I retired on July 31st 2011. I have been paid monthly pension but I have not been paid a kobo of my gratuity up till date. There was a time when the government under the administration of Aregbesola embarked on payment of half-salaries. I am being owed 37 half salaries, he said.

Seeking redress

Tired of peaceful rallies and unfruitful negotiations, some of the retirees have approached the Industrial Court in Akure to seek redress.

According to section 210 of the Nigerian Constitution, any benefit to which a person is entitled shall not be withheld or altered to his disadvantage.

Ganiyu Salawu and Dele Aina, the state leaders of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP), said that the union has embarked on various strategies aimed at addressing some of the issues including a recent court action at National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Akure.

Gbadebo Adegboye, the state coordinator of retired civil servants under CPS, disclosed that a recent transfer of the judge handling the case delayed the hearing, which was earlier slated for the last week of October 2019.

As I am talking to you, we are supposed to be in Akure but the chairman of the forum just informed me that the judge handling the case has been transferred, he told this reporter during an interview.

Meanwhile, a lawyer and activist, Yemi Abiona, applauded the move of the deprived retirees.

The Osun-based lawyer condemned the delay in the payment of the senior citizens entitlements and described the act of owing entitlements and salaries arrears as being criminal.

Questionable accountability

Checks revealed that Osun State, under Mr Aregbesola, received several bailout funds from the federal government, still, he defaulted in payment of salaries and arrears.

As a relief for payment of salaries and owed arrears, President Muhammadu Buhari disbursed N338 billion to states owing workers and pensioners in 2015. Osun State got N34.9 billion.

Also, in November 2016, the Osun government received N11.74 billion as refunds from the Paris Club.

Mr Buhari again approved the release of more funds from the London-Paris Club refund to state governors across the country in 2017 out of which Osun State received N6.3 billion as the second tranche of Paris Club refund in July.

The president had insisted that in spending the money, priority should be placed on offsetting unpaid salary arrears as well as pension and gratuity liabilities.

[Infographics] Bailout funds Aregbesola received from Buhari from 2015- 2017

Meanwhile, in 2016, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, alleged that the Aregbesola-led administration only disbursed N16.3 billion out of the N34.9 billion bailout released in 2015.

The report added that the commission was investigating allegations that the state had not paid salaries since July 2015.

According to Punch newspaper, the ex- governors aide countered the allegations of diversion but did not contest the fact that only N16.3 billion was disbursed.

Also, in reaction to the ICPC report, former Senate President Bukola Saraki ordered the Senate Committee on State and Local Government Administration to investigate how the Aregbesola administration spent the cash.

Although a senator, Abdullahi Gumel, the chairman of the committee, promised to visit the state in December 2016 for further investigation, nothing was heard of the probe.

However, a few days to the 2018 gubernatorial election, Mr Aregbesola paid four out of the 34 half- salaries owed, a move the opposition termed as buying off the electorate.

Infrastructure above workers entitlements

When Mr Aregbesola was contacted for comments on the modulated pensions and salaries arrears, this reporter was sent a video of the ministerial screening in the Senate in which he said he gave huge investment in the infrastructure as perhaps an excuse for the poor treatment of Osun workers.

Responding to a question from Bashir Gasau (PDP-Zamfara) on why he paid modulated salaries during his tenure, Mr Aregbesola said in the video This was because we invested heavily in infrastructure.

In the video, the new interior minister added that Osun under his leadership fell victim of economic recession in 2014, but was able to manage the situation with initial payment of half salaries depending on grade levels.

When further clarifications were sought, Head of Strategic Communications to the former Governor, Kikiowo Ileowo, directed this reporter to the incumbent Oyetola-led administration.

Oyetolas intervention

While Governor Adegboyega Oyetola has begun to look into the plight of these deprived retirees, his efforts appear inadequate.

Mr Oyetola, in July 2019 presented bond certificates worth over N1.01 billion to retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme. According to the report, the affected pensioners were drawn from local government and primary school retirees.

Mr Oyetola said that the beneficiaries were the 8th batch of pensioners that would be presented with bond certificates.

Giving the breakdown of the beneficiaries, the governor explained that 84 of them were retired primary school teachers, while 105 others were former local government workers.

He added that the bond certificates distributed to the pensioners were worth N1.01 billion and promised to always give priority to the welfare of the senior citizens in the state.

The bond certificates allows the retirees to collect money from designated banks.

The governor also complained of how the gratuity of some of the pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) is being balkanised with the payment of irregular meagre sums.

(At a point) they started N50,000. When the N50,000 went around, they started paying them N100,000. As at last Monday, another list has been paid N200,000. That is how the amount is being balkanised, he lamented.

When contacted, Governor Oyetolas Chief Press Secretary, Ismail Omipidan, explained the efforts of the state government to salvage the plight of the old citizens.

He acknowledged that there are backlogs from the Aregbesola-led administration and that Mr Oyetola will ensure that everyone is paid.

If you know Osun very well, you will know that we have a peculiar situation, he said.

It is not as if we are not paying at all and we can not clear everything at once.

Anybody, who has not gotten (his/her entitlements), certainly, (such person) will get, he said.

How CPS has fared in Osun

Meanwhile, in its second-quarter 2019 report, the National Pension Commission published states that were not remitting pension under the Contributory Pension Scheme.

In an analysis by this reporter, 24 states including Cross River, Enugu, Abia, Ebonyi, Taraba, Bauchi, Borno, Adamawa, Ogun, Niger, Imo, Sokoto, Kogi, Bayelsa, Nasarawa, Oyo, Katsina, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Kwara, Plateau and Taraba have not been remitting Pension contributions to the PFAs.

[Infographics] Performance of Nigerian states in the remittance of Pension contributions

According to PenCom, only four out of the remaining 12 states that are remitting pension contributions, had been remitting the pension of their workers regularly.

Only Lagos, Edo, Kaduna and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had an up-to-date remittance in the report released in August.

Osun State, according to the report, remitted pension contributions but in an inconsistent manner resulting in a backlog of pension contributions.

It described the state governments funding of accrued pension rights as inadequate, noting that this had resulted in huge arrears of accrued rights. Osun State, it added, had no group life insurance policy.

Meanwhile, in an interview with this newspaper, the PFA manager for Fidelity Pensions in Osogbo, Ayodeji Emmanuel, attested to the fact that the remittances were irregular at a time.

The only thing is that the contribution was not coming the way it should because of some financial challenges, which I think they (Osun State) are already getting out of it.
WASHINGTON  Senator Mike Lee of Utah, a libertarian-leaning Republican, has always been a loud but lonely voice in his party clamoring to rein in presidential war powers, so it came as little surprise on Wednesday when he questioned President Trumps decision to strike Irans most important general.

But as Mr. Lee emerged from a closed-door, classified briefing with Mr. Trumps national security team, he launched into an uncharacteristically indignant tirade that went well beyond his usual staid constitutional arguments about war powers. He blasted the administration for what he called a shoddy briefing on the presidents strategy on Iran, delivered in what he described as an insulting and demeaning way by administration officials he said were unwilling to engage in a genuine discussion about a possible military escalation in the Middle East.

The message, Mr. Lee said, was: Do not debate, do not discuss the issue of the appropriateness of further military intervention against Iran. If you do, you will be emboldening Iran.

The briefing, scheduled after Mr. Trump ordered a drone strike on Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani in Iraq last week, was led by Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state; Gina Haspel, the C.I.A. director; and Mark T. Esper, the defense secretary. It was, Mr. Lee said, probably the worst briefing Ive seen, at least on a military issue, in the nine years Ive served in the United States Senate.
She has been enjoying a relaxing retreat in Mexico following a turbulent 2019.

And Demi Rose continued to share insights into her sun-soaked getaway, as she posted a series of sultry bikini snaps to her Instagram page on Wednesday.

The British beauty, 24, flaunted her more than ample assets in a tiny metallic bikini, as she pouted up a storm wearing a feathered 1920s-inspired headdress.

Wow! Demi Rose continued to share insights into her sun-soaked getaway, as she posted a series of sultry bikini snaps to her Instagram page on Wednesday

Demi wore her brunette tresses in loose beachy waves, while highlighting her pretty features with a soft pallet of make-up in neutral hues.

In more vibrant snaps, Demi posed in an eye-catching rainbow ensemble, which showcased her killer curves with its figure-hugging style.

Working her magic for the camera while soaking up the rays on her balcony, Demi flaunted her very peachy posterior for the series of photos.

Work it! In more vibrant snaps, Demi posed in an eye-catching rainbow ensemble, which showcased her killer curves with its figure-hugging style

Smoulder: Working her magic for the camera while soaking up the rays on her balcony, Demi flaunted her very peachy posterior for the series of photos

The series of shots comes after Demi declared she was 'looking after her mind, body and spirit' as she posed topless against an idyllic backdrop on Monday.

In a selection of stunning but equally revealing photos, the British beauty playfully posed wearing nothing but skimpy blue crochet bikini bottoms.

In one photo, Demi stood with her arm across her bare chest, showcasing her curvaceous figure and ample assets.

Wow: The series of shots comes after Demi declared she was 'looking after her mind, body and spirit' as she posed topless against an idyllic backdrop on Monday

Her glossy chestnut locks were pulled to one side as the loose waves cascaded down her neck and over the front of her cleavage.

In a bid to show off all her angles, the bombshell also sat on the edge of the water with her back to the camera looking over her shoulder in a sultry manner.

Suggesting she was taking some down time to relax, the Instagram star, captioned the photo: 'Looking after my mind, body & spirit.'

Cheeky: In a selection of stunning but equally revealing photos posted to Instagram on Monday, the British beauty playfully posed wearing nothing but skimpy blue crochet bikini bottoms

Turbulent: The past 12 months has seen Demi travel the world, book high profile modelling jobs and launch a fashion collaboration yet but it was also the year of her mother's death

Taking a break from the sea side snaps, Demi also took some time for a stroll around the town of Tulum.

The star continued to show off her ample cleavage in a busty tube top which she paired with a flowy black maxi skirt and sandals.

The steamy snaps come after a candid Instragram post that saw Demi reflect on her 2019.

Revealing that 2019 had been both the 'hardest', yet also 'best' year of her life, she penned: 'Wow what a year. It definitely has been the hardest year of my life but the also the best year of my life.

'Im proud of myself for getting through the hurdles Ive faced and the growth that Ive experienced. Im ready to say goodbye to 2019 and Im SO excited for whats to come in this new year.

'I wish you all an amazing 2020 filled with lots of blessings and love. Thank you for all your support, always. Love you guys!'

Highs and lows: Demi reflected on the past year with a candid post, revealing it had been both the 'hardest', yet also 'best' year of her life

Demi has been travelling the world in recent months following her amicable split from boyfriend DJ Chris Martinez in October.

Before Mexico, Demi enjoyed a break in Jordan and before that, she was posting pictures from Sri Panwa Phuket and Las Vegas.

Demi also saw her career surge in 2019 as she booked several high profile modelling gigs, and launched a swimwear collection with Oh Polly.

However, Demi also struggled with an intense loss last year, announcing the death of her mother Christine Mawby who passed away aged 64 in July.

The tragedy came just eight months after her beloved father Barrie died in October 2018.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- FAW-Toyota reported a year-on-year growth of 2% with 737,500 vehicles sold in 2019, making its market share rise to 3.5% from 3.2% in 2018. TNGA (Toyota New Global Architecture)-based models accounted for 86.7% of the total cars sold in December.

The annual sales of the Corolla stood at 357,798 units. The all-new Corolla, with 38,868 units sold in October and roughly 40,000 units sold in December, was crowned the monthly sales champion among TNGA-based models in China.

The Avalon had a sales volume of 62,329 units through 2019, which was 20% more than the original target. Its 2.0L gas-powered variant, launched in September 2019, saw the sales increase month by month with 7,970 units sold in October and 9,074 units in November and December averagely.

The 2019 sales of the RAV4 totaled 125,977 units. 35,000 new-generation RAV4s based on TNGA were ordered in the first month after its launch in October last year. Moreover, the joint venture also sold 35,401 Prados, 52,989 Izoas and 4,954 Vellfire Hybrids. The annual sales of the Vios and Vios FS amounted to 84,361 units.

According to Toyota, through TNGA, the Japanese automaker can increase its vehiclespower performance by 10% and the fuel efficiency of its gas-fueled and hybrid electric vehicles by 20% and 15% respectively, while the production cost will be cut by 20%. Meanwhile, Toyota plans to improve overall body rigidity and make more individualized exterior design through the architecture.

Several months ago, the joint venture targeted 745,000-unit 2019 sales, which were around 7,500 units more than the actual sales volume. Amid the release of production capacity of the JVs TNGA plant this year, it is expected to have a better performance (photo source: FAW-Toyota's WeChat account).
Jordanian entrepreneur Nour Al Hassan is founder and CEO of Ureed, a digital editorial marketplace that connects businesses across the globe with freelance linguists in the Arab world. PrezLab

The mounting tension between the U.S. and Middle East adds to the long list of challenges citizens there are facing. Lack of jobs is another. This is especially so for women, who face even more obstacles  from access to finance to freedom of movement  when it comes to making money separately from their husbands and families. Thanks to Jordanian entrepreneur Nour Al Hassan, thousands of women there are now making a substantial income. In 2017, unable to find consistently high-quality, on-demand Arabic translation services for her nine-year-old translation agency Tarjama  which means "translate" in Arabic  she launched Ureed, an online editorial marketplace that connects businesses all over the world with Arabic writers and editors who work from home. Most of Ureed's freelancers are women who, until now, had been prohibited from working outside the home in a traditional setting. To date, Al Hassan says Ureed, which means "I want" and is based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, provides work in the linguistic services for some 17,000 freelancers across the region. "A lot of women in the Middle East are super-talented and highly educated," said Al Hassan, "but unfortunately they are not given the opportunity to work for valued companies or 9-to-5 jobs. We can balance that by giving them flexibility and guaranteeing that they will be paid in a seamless manner. Freelancers worry about getting paid, but the minute a customer signs onto our platform and assigns a job, payment is held in an escrow account for the freelancer."

Tapping Arab brainpower

Although almost all girls in the Middle East and North Africa now attend school, and more women than men go to university, according to the World Bank, women's participation in the workforce remains among the lowest in the world, hovering around 20%, according to the latest data from the International Labour Organization. In other regions it is roughly 40%. Fewer than 20% are believed to hold college degrees. What's more, a global report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development found that women often do not share the same rights as men when pursuing a profession and that "protective" labor laws restricted women's work hours and the sectors in which they could work. "There are two kinds of women  women and stubborn women," observed Amal Drahmeh Masri, the founder of "Middle East Business Magazine and News." "In this part of the world, you need to be a stubborn one to succeed," she said. Whether stubborn or simply determined, Al Hassan has been extraordinarily successful. After graduating from Ahlia University in Manama, Bahrain, with a law degree, Al Hassan founded Pinkmoon Events, a luxury events company. In 2008, while running the company and working as a consultant for the United States Agency for International Development, also known as USAID, she started Tarjama, which quickly grew from two women to 160 full-time employees. By 2016, Tarjama was turning down work due to capacity workload and limited human resources. "Even when we wanted to use freelancers," Al Hassan recalled, "it was always a struggle to know how to pay them, how to vet them, how to make sure they're good."

Expanded and seamless employment for women through technology is Ureed's business model. But empowerment is the company's underlying mission. The women shown here are trainees for full-time employment at Tarjama. PrezLab

With the gig economy on the rise and freelancers increasingly in demand, the solution was to spin off a new company that would use a digital platform for companies seeking writers and translators and educated women seeking work in those areas from home. The result was online freelance platform Ureed. Upon signing up, companies have immediate access to a global network of remote workers whose services range from writing, content creation and SEO blogging to editing, translating and adaptation. The companies then post a job, including details and specifying required skills, and invite freelancers from Ureed's extended network of workers to bid. After accepting a bid posted by a freelancer that's a match between the company's budget and the freelancer's qualifications, the two collaborate until the job is done and the writer or translator is paid. Expanded and seamless employment for women through technology may be Ureed's business model. But empowerment is the company's underlying mission and, for Al Hassan, the primary driver of the business.

A lot of women in the Middle East are super-talented and highly educated, but unfortunately they are not given the opportunity to work for valued companies or 9-to-5 jobs. We can balance that by giving them flexibility and guaranteeing that they will be paid in a seamless manner. Nour Al Hassan founder and CEO of Ureed

Technology has allowed Al Hassan to reach and recruit thousands of potential freelancers, largely through social media. The company also partners with universities in the region, including Saint Joseph University and University of Sharjah, to offer courses in writing and translating and provides additional courses and webinars online through UReed Academy. In November, Tarjama acquired Captivate Arabia, an audio-visual translation and subtitling agency, to enhance the company's position in the audio-visual translation domain. "Technology has allowed us to scale," Al Hassan said. "Without it we could never have reached that number of women, or efficiently taken on more work or been able to pay them so seamlessly."

Workforce of the future
South Africa: 2019 Matric class scores 81.3% pass

The 2019 Grade 12 class has scored an impressive 81.3% National Senior Certificate pass, the countrys highest achievement ever.

Releasing the results on Tuesday evening at VodaWorld, in Midrand, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga saluted the 2019 class for recording the achievement.

A total of 790 405 candidates sat for 147 question papers in 7 416 examination centres nationwide. A further 212 learners wrote at correctional facilities.

In another groundbreaking development, the Minister revealed none of the countrys 75 districts scored lower than 60%.

A breakdown of the results saw the Free State (88.4%) reclaim the top spot it relinquished to the Gauteng province in the previous year. With 87.2%, Gauteng dropped to second place. The North West (86.8%) and the Western Cape (82.3%) followed, respectively.

With 81.3%, KwaZulu-Natal followed, thanks largely to a marked 5% improvement from the 2018 class.

Mpumalanga (80.3%) was next, followed by a tie of Eastern Cape and North Cape with 76.5%. Limpopo came in last with 73.2%.

Motshekga said: Districts are a crucial interface of the basic education sector in identifying best practice, sharing information and providing support to schools. The continued growth in the performance of districts is closely monitored and evaluated by both provincial and national departments.

Ten districts, six in Gauteng, scored above 80%. In poll position is Tshwane South with 93%, followed by Gauteng North (90.7%) and Tshwane (90.6%), all from Gauteng. The top 10 included Fezile Dabi, 90.3% (Free State), Namaqua, 89.9% (Northern Cape), Bojanala Platinum 89.6% (North West), Sedibeng 89.6% (Gauteng), Xhariep 88.9% (Free State), Ekurhuleni North 88.8% and Johannesburg West (88.7%).

The results, she said, were a further indication that the countrys basic education system has been on a steady rise.

The MECs are here, when we started this term we agreed that education would be the architecture of this country. We have to make sure that we improve, she said.

As you can see, all our provinces have performed above 70%, which is what we have been aiming for, the Minister said, singling out Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal for their marked improvements.

To colleagues in the sector, Im ready to leave  you can go tell the President, said the Minister jokingly.

Gauteng has the highest number of bachelor passes, while the Western Cape recorded the highest number distinctions. The 2019 class secured an 8% increase in bachelor passes from the previous year, while distinctions increased by 2%. The class secured 186 058 NSC bachelor passes.

A majority of our learners  65% - passed with a bachelors or a diploma. It is very important to note that 337 730 candidates, achieved these and are eligible to study at institution of higher learning, she said.

A total of 78 984 are can study at technical and vocational education training.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., joined by Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., left, and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, tells reporters he has secured enough Republican votes to start President Donald Trump's impeachment trial and postpone a decision on witnesses and documents Democrats want, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday Jan. 7, 2020. The trial could start as soon as this week if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi releases the articles of impeachment. Read more

WASHINGTON  A turf war over who should defend President Donald Trump in a Senate impeachment trial is raging behind the scenes in Congress as House Republicans push to join Trumps legal team  an idea that piques the presidents interest  over the objections of Senate Republicans.

House GOP leaders in recent weeks have advocated for Trumps most aggressive defenders  Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, and Douglas Collins, R-Ga.  to cross the Rotunda and help White House counsel Pat Cipollone rebut the charges that the president abused his power and obstructed Congress.

Trump, partial to blunt tactics and top-rated TV performances, loves the idea, according to four administration and congressional officials familiar with his thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk frankly.

Jordan, for example, is a mainstay champion of Trump's on Fox News, where the president once mused that "he's a warrior for me!"

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and his fellow GOP senators have expressed concerns to Trump that a House-led defense could offend moderates, including Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. Trump, they argue, has already won the backing of the GOP base, so he and his team need to focus on ensuring Republican unity on an acquittal.

McConnell has been advising Trump and his legal team not to think of the trial as a made-for-TV-type House setting, said one individual familiar with the leaders thinking, but rather one where ultimately your audience is senators in the middle on both sides, who are actually listening to the arguments here.

The individual, like others, was not authorized to speak publicly.

Others in the GOP have publicly suggested House Republicans may lack the right temperament to be persuasive for a Senate constituency that expects a no-nonsense trial.

One thing Im not eager to do is re-create the circuslike atmosphere of the House  thats not what were going to do here, if we can avoid it, said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a McConnell ally. So I think it seems obvious to me that if the president picks a team that does not include House members, that wed be more likely to have the dignified process that the Constitution calls for.

Senior administration and House GOP officials indicated Wednesday that no final decision had been made on whether House Republicans would be part of the defense team.

"There are a lot of rabbits running around claiming to be the very best bunny, but the president hasn't yet decided which set of fuzzy tails he'll use," said one official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The debate highlights the inherent divide between Trump and his instinctive scorched-earth approach and McConnells insistence on a strategy geared toward holding his GOP conference together as well as keeping his majority in Novembers elections.

While Trumps gut reaction has been to push for the most aggressive defense possible, playing to his base, McConnell is operating with a narrow margin of 53 Republicans, several up for reelection in 2020 in swing or Democratic-leaning states.

In recent weeks, the president has floated several ideas for his impeachment trial only to see them rebuffed by McConnell, whom the president has repeatedly deferred to on impeachment.

When Trump wanted Senate Republicans to dismiss the charges against him immediately without a trial, McConnell explained to him that was not possible. When Trump then proposed using the trial to ensure that his 2020 rival Joe Biden and the former vice presidents son Hunter Biden were called as witnesses, it was McConnell who convinced him to back a no-witnesses plan.

More recently, McConnell and several Senate Republicans have pushed back on the idea of House Republicans on the defense team. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Trump that senators  who typically abhor being dictated to by House members  will not take kindly to representatives arguing the presidents case.

"It hasn't been decided, but he's listening to senators," said one person familiar with Graham's conversations with Trump.

All parties agree that Cipollone will take the lead defending the president, alongside his deputies, Pat Philbin and Mike Purpura. Jay Sekulow, Trump's personal attorney who represented him during the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, will also weigh in.

But some House Republicans, such as Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and Trump ally Mark Meadows of North Carolina, have argued that Cipollone needs assistance from House members who are deeply familiar with the Democrats case against Trump. Jordan and Ratcliffe, for example, both sat through hours of closed-door depositions with witnesses testifying about Ukraine; Collins led the unsuccessful effort in the House Judiciary Committee to stop the articles of impeachment from advancing.

All three men also have legal backgrounds and reputations for being aggressive questioners. Jordan, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, offered many of the key talking points rebutting Democratic accusations, some that Trump himself touted on Twitter. Ratcliffe, whom Trump briefly nominated to become director of national intelligence last year, was a former U.S. attorney in Texas.

He withdrew from consideration amid questions about his qualifications and whether he had embellished his resume.

Regardless of what other team he has, they should be in there helping because they have so much information, McCarthy said. Added Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a close ally of Jordan: He has probably the most in-depth knowledge of any member of the entire proceedings.

Perhaps most important to Trump is the three House members' flair for the dramatic, which the president often says makes for good TV. The Senate trial will be broadcast on national television, and some House Republicans have privately suggested that Cipollone's approach may be too bookish.

Indeed, those who know Cipollone say he is quiet and careful, often shunning the spotlight. A former U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals clerk who went on to be an assistant to the attorney general before joining private practice, he is not an ebullient showman and, while approachable, can seem rigid at times.

Senate Republicans argue that doesnt matter  and in fact, it may be preferred. In interviews with six senators Tuesday, all praised Cipollone and said he will be a solid defender of Trump  and may even help convince Democrats such as Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to vote to acquit.

"It's a different calculus than it would be for a public hearing that is ultimately more about public consumption than it is about the members themselves," said the individual familiar with McConnell's thinking. "The concern you would have in venturing down some of those more aggressive roads is that you lose the people who ultimately you're going to need most."

Other Republicans expressed reservations about House members joining the team, even one who was a congressman for six years.

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said his former colleagues are obviously some talented guys, but Trump needs the best defense team he can put together  and not so much a PR team.

I just think the House process is very different than the Senate process  the responsibilities and authorities are very different, he said. In the House, the audience was the country and the political base of the parties. In the Senate . . . the responsibility of the 100 senators is pretty sobering, and I think the defense would do well to make their case to the 100 jurors.
Pelican Water Systems, now a part of Pentair, is pleased to offer its exclusive in-home services in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the surrounding areas of Powell, New Hopewell, Karns and Arminda. With a quick phone call, residents of Knoxville can now schedule a complimentary consultation with a certified water expert. Homeowners interested in Pelican water filtration and softening systems are promptly met by one of our talented Pelican Water in-home consultants. Experts arrive in a mobile retail center that includes essential tools to test and treat all types of home drinking water  a water test station, a stocked mini showroom and a variety of Pelican water filtration and softening systems to address specific water quality issues.

The public drinking water in Knoxville is treated by the Knoxville Utilities Board. The water comes from the Tennessee River, a source that can be affected by sewage overflow and agricultural runoff. The aging water infrastructure in the region also has an impact on the quality of your drinking water. As part of the Century II system replacement program, Knoxville replaces 1% of the water system with new, sustainable pipes.

Approximately 10,000 private wells are in use around Knoxville, which are not monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency. Scheduling an in-home service consultation is a holistic solution to take the time to thoroughly test the water from each homes tap and treat water supplied by a private well or by a local municipality. Trained professionals from Pelican Water discuss lifestyle, budget, and the water profile of the home with customers to determine the most affordable and effective water treatment solutions to keep you and your family safe. Experts correctly size and securely install a new system in three days so homeowners can enjoy great-tasting, higher-quality water.

Knoxville homeowners with questions about their general water quality can call now to schedule a free in-home consultation. All installations of Pelican water filter systems are performed with white-glove service, and every consultation in Knoxville is backed by a 90-day labor guarantee. For a full list of locations where in-home services are offered, visit the Pelican Water in-home services page.

About Pelican Water Systems

Pelican Water Systems provides professional knowledge and leading technologies in whole house water filtration, countertop water filtration systems, UV bacteria disinfection systems, and salt-free water softener alternative systems. Pelican Waters mission is to help families enjoy cleaner, safer, better-tasting water in their homes in an environmentally friendly way. Pelican Water is proud to offer under-counter reverse osmosis systems that are small enough for practical use in RVs and marine vessels. Acquired by Pentair in February 2019, Pelican Water continues to be the global market leader in salt-free water treatment technology. For more information about Pelican Water Systems in home services in Knoxville, visit PelicanKnoxville.com.

About Pentair

At Pentair, we believe the health of our world depends on reliable access to clean, safe water. We deliver a comprehensive range of smart, sustainable water solutions to homes, business and industry around the world. Our industry-leading and proven portfolio of solutions enables our customers to access clean, safe water. Whether its improving, moving or enjoying water, we help manage the worlds most precious resource. Smart, Sustainable Water Solutions. For Life.

Pentair had revenue in 2018 of $3 billion, and trades under the ticker symbol PNR. With approximately 110 locations in 30 countries and 10,000 employees, we believe that the future of water depends on us. To learn more, visit pentair.com.
As Revenue Secretary of the Government of India and former CEO of Unique Identification Authority of India, Ajay Bhushan Pandey has little time to indulge in leisure. Amid the gloom and doom of a slowing economy, muted growth in GST revenues, and the controversy around Aadhaar and citizenship, Pandey is left with no time to unwind. But when the technocrat-turned-bureaucrat does get time, he likes to 'go back to his roots' - literally.

While working for the Maharashtra government - he was the MD of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Corporation and Secretary to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, among other positions - Pandey and a dozen of his friends bought a 2.5-acre plot of land for farming in Raigarh district, about 100 km from Mumbai, where they grow mostly fruits and vegetables. "We wanted to remain connected with the ground, and understand the problems of farming and farmers that we often fail to see otherwise," says Pandey.

Pandey used to visit Raigarh frequently when he was in Mumbai. However, after relocating to Delhi, he has not been able to visit the farm for the past one year. Once he is free from his responsibilities in Delhi, that will change, he says.
HRD to come up with announcement for students who are not in same district of board exam centre

JNU VC gets advise from HRD ministry

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 09: HRD Ministry officials on Wednesday "advised" JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar to increase communication with students, take the faculty into confidence and facilitate the semester registration process, days after violence ran amok on the university campus.

The VC, who has been severely criticised by students and faculty members for not taking immediate measures when they were brutally attacked on campus by a masked mob, told the officials that efforts were being made to facilitate semester registration for "willing" students.

"Higher Education Secretary Amit Khare and G C Hosur had a meeting with JNU VC at the Ministry today about the efforts being made to restore normalcy on campus. He ( the VC) informed the officials about efforts being made for facilitating semester registration for willing students and a conducive environment for their academic pursuits," a senior ministry official said.

JNU violence: Delhi Police collecting data of mobile phone location to nab culprits

The VC was advised to communicate more with students and take faculty members into confidence, the official added. "Communication gaps create unnecessary doubt. There should be less pressure to hurry up registration but facilitate smooth process for all. JNU is a premiere university with international repute and it should remain that way."

After the nearly two-hour meeting, Kumar tweeted that he briefed HRD officials on the steps being taken to bring normalcy. JNU Rector Satish Chandra Garkoti also attended the meeting.

5 months after J&K special status revoked, foreign panel visits UT | OneIndia News

The meeting came two days after Jawaharlal Nehru University Registrar Pramod Kumar and other officials visited the HRD Ministry and submitted a detailed report on the sequence of events that triggered the violence on the university campus on Sunday. Kumar did not attend that meeting.

"The last date for registration for the winter semester without fine has been extended up to January 12. As part of this registration process about 3,300 students have since deposited fee for online registration. University administration has appealed to all the stakeholders to maintain peace in the campus and not to get provoked by any misinformation," the VC told the officials.

Kumar also informed the HRD officials that the Communication and Information System (CIS), which was damaged last week allegedly by students opposing the registration process, has been repaired and is now functional. He has assured the funding for utility and service charges will be borne by the UGC as decided previously, officials said.

On Tuesday, two days after masked people armed with sticks attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus, Kumar urged students to "put the past behind" and return to studies.

"Our heart goes out to all the injured students. The incident (violence) is unfortunate. I would like to tell students that JNU campus is a secure place. I urge all students to come back to the campus. Let us put the past behind," the vice-chancellor had said.

Which section of JNU students is Deepika Padukone showing her solidarity with, asks VHP

At least 35 people, including JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh, were injured in the violence. They were admitted to AIIMS Trauma Centre and discharged on Monday.

The Left-controlled JNUSU and the ABVP blamed each other for the violence that continued for nearly two hours. That night, the HRD Ministry sought a report immediately from the registrar.

Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank,' who was in Bhubaneswar a day after the incident, said educational institutions cannot be allowed to become "political adda". He vowed "strong action" against the perpetrators of the violence at JNU.
A Ukrainian International Airlines flight with 180 passengers and crew onboard crashed just after takeoff from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport early Wednesday, en route to Kiev, Iranian state media reported. The Iranian news reports attributed the crash to unspecified mechanical problems, and civil aviation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh said a team of investigators is at the site of the wreckage. "The plane is on fire but we have sent crews," Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran's emergency services, told state TV, "and we may be able to save some passengers." Iran's Red Crescent later said there's no chance of finding survivors.

FlightRadar24 said the airliner appeared to stop sending data about two minutes into the flight.

We are following reports that a Ukrainian 737-800 has crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran. #PS752 departed Tehran at 02:42UTC. Last ADS-B data received at 02:44UTC. https://t.co/qXWHUPGDTu pic.twitter.com/vuAi6TOqTp  Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) January 8, 2020

Hours before the crash, Iran had fired more than a dozen missiles at Iraqi military bases that house U.S. and other allied forces. No U.S. casualties have been reported. There is no apparent connection between the two events, but the crash does contain elements from the largest news stories of 2019: U.S.-Iran hostilities, Ukraine, and Boeing's 737  though this was a 737-800 jet, not the troubled 737 MAX, which has been grounded worldwide for 10 months.

More stories from theweek.com

Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah puzzle over Trump's odd Iran 'victory' address

America is guilty of everything we accuse Iran of doing

Joe Biden's free ride is over


CHICAGO, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Practifi, a business management platform for financial advisors, today announced its $16.3 million Series B funding led by Updata Partners, with participation from existing Series A investors Equity Venture Partners (EVP). With this investment, Practifi plans to scale the team, expand presence around the globe, and invest in the software platform to further elevate the client experience.

Practifi's executive leadership team discuss the opportunities ahead for driving growth in financial services technology.

"I'm tremendously proud of how much we've accomplished in the U.S. since establishing our Chicago office in 2018, but this is only the beginning. Our continued partnership with EVP and our new partnership with Updata will help us drive even more growth. Our vision is to create the most efficient business management platform possible for financial advice firms," stated Glenn Elliott, co-founder and chief executive officer of Practifi.

Adrian Johnstone, co-founder and chief commercial officer, added, "With so much pressure across advice firms, we are deeply committed to extending our platform to add even more value. We've been hard at work on some truly amazing new features and integrations, and this investment will propel our product development even faster."

Driven by a passion for the client experience, Practifi's collaborative platform connects the tools needed to drive efficient operations so advisors can concentrate on building trust and positive relationships with their clients.

Carter Griffin, general partner of Updata, added, "In a competitive market, Practifi has created a tool that enables growth, compliance, and efficiency for financial advice firms. We invested in Practifi because they have a genuine vision for an industry that needs revolutionizing. We're excited to be partnering with them as they build exciting new features and create a more innovative financial services solution."

About Updata Partners

Updata Partners is a leading technology growth equity firm based in Washington, DC. Led by an investment team averaging more than 25 years of technology experience, Updata invests in high-growth software and software-driven businesses where the combination of its capital and operating experience will help accelerate success. To learn more, visit updata.com.

About Practifi

More than a CRM, Practifi is a business management platform designed for growing financial advice businesses around the world. Practifi allows financial advisors, family offices and broker dealers to effortlessly manage their client relationships, monitor compliance and automate workflows, all through an easy-to-use interface. To learn more, visit practifi.com.

CONTACT:

Kim Dazey

312.535.3783

[email protected]

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A huge crater left by one of the largest known meteorites to hit Earth may have been finally found in Laos after years of searching.

Scientists have known that a two-kilometre (1.2mile) wide meteorite crashed into Earth nearly 800,000 years ago, but the exact spot of where it landed has been a mystery for decades.

However, there is now strong evidence to show the crater may lie beneath lava in a 910-cubic-kilometre area of a volcanic field in Laos, southeast Asia, according to a new research paper.

The hidden impact crater is thought to be about 13 kilometres (8 miles) wide and 17 kilometres (10.5 miles) long, based off the research teams calculations.

Researchers were led to the impact site by a set of small black glassy objects called tektites, which scientists believe were formed from Earth material that melted from the meteorites impact.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Tektites ranging from 750,000 to 35.5 million years old have been discovered across the planet in areas known as strewn fields, which can be found on every continent except Antarctica.

Professor Kerry Sieh, principal investigator for the Earth Observatory of Singapore who worked as one of the papers authors, told CNN that the existence of the objects meant the meteorite was "so large and its velocity so fast that it was able to melt the rocks that it hit.

Recommended Impact crater of largest meteorite to ever strike UK discovered

Although scientists have been able to determine most of the source craters for tektites, the Australasian field that extends from southern China to south Australia was a mystery.

Mr Sieh and his team believe their research has identified the best candidate yet for the Australasian strewn field, which is the largest known tektite field and covers about 10 per cent of the Earths surface.

The paper author said there had been many attempts to find the impact site, with suggestions ranging from northern Cambodia to central Laos and southern China.

Our study is the first to put together so many lines of evidence, ranging from the chemical nature of the tektites to their physical characteristics, and from gravity measurements to measurements of the age of lavas that could bury the crater, Mr Sieh said.

However, he noted more research was required to confirm the theory and scientists will need to drill through volcanic rocks to see if they can find the sort of rocks which are expected at an impact site.

This would require finding lots of evidence for melting and shattering, Mr Sieh added.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.
Director of the Social Displacement Unit (SDU) of the Ministry, Ms Loraine Reyes-Borel shares with Minister Camille Robinson-Regis information on the street dweller who was voluntarily placed in a shelter.
The speech delivered Wednesday by US President Donald Trump in the wake of Irans firing of ballistic missiles against US bases in Iraq has been greeted by the corporate media as the easing of tensions that have brought the world to the brink of a catastrophic new imperialist war.

Trump Backs Away From Further Military Conflict With Iran, the New York Times proclaimed. CNN said that the US president was taking the off-ramp in confrontation with Iran. Others spoke of relief and the war drive appearing to deescalate.

All of the talk of the war threat receding lacks even a shred of credibility. It has no more objective foundation than the claptrap in Trumps speech about his desire for a great future for Iran and his readiness to embrace peace with all who seek it.

The war threat that was initiated with Trumps abrogation of the 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and the major world powers is only intensifying, as all the essentials of his remarks made clear. No one should have the slightest doubt that, to the extent that a direct military assault on Iran has been temporarily postponed, it will be all the more bloody and destructive when it comes.

Irans attack, in response to the assassination of General Suleimani, clearly was not intended to inflict casualties. But Washington views this not as a reason to deescalate, but as a tactical opportunity to pursue its strategic goals. The fact that there were no American casualties lessened pressure on Trump to order an immediate counterattack under conditions in which the United States was not prepared for all-out war. Because of the suddenness with which Trump ordered the assassination of Suleimani, the US military did not have time to undertake an offensive redeployment of forces. When the next inevitable provocation is staged, that tactical weakness will have been addressed.

Much of what Trump had to say was recycled from previous speeches and tweets denouncing and slandering both Iran and General Qassem Suleimani. But more important than anything that Trump said was the way in which his speech was staged. In an unprecedented violation of constitutional protocol, Trump addressed the nation flanked by the entire uniformed Joint Chiefs of Staff as well as Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. On all previous occasions, the announcement of a major crisis or a military engagement has been made by a president, seated at his desk in the Oval Office. This image was intended to present Trump as the leader of a military junta.

What was the message being sent by the military presence this time? Trump delivered an abrupt prelude to his remarks after walking to the podium: As long as I am President of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. He thus laid out a key pretext for a further attack on Iran before even saying Good morning.

The appearance of Trump was that of a man struggling to maintain control over himself. He was red-faced and breathing heavily. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the public appearance had been preceded by furious arguments behind closed doors.

Over the previous week he had delivered numerous threats, vowing to hit Iran harder than they have ever been hit before and delivering via Twitter a notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any US person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner.

Why did Trump fail to act on his threats? It is more than likely that the Joint Chiefs of Staff warned Trump that precipitous action could result in a military disaster.

The Pentagon needs time to prepare the defense of some 70,000 US troops deployed on Irans borders from Afghanistan to Turkey, along with tens of thousands more military contractors and naval personnel stationed in the region. The military knows that the next round of US attacks will probably be answered with a rain of Iranian missiles on US bases, airfields, battleships and aircraft carriers. In the run-up to the US wars against Iraq in 1991 and 2003, Washington needed several months to prepare against a far less potent enemy.

There are also political considerations by Washingtons war planners. More time is needed to develop pro-war propaganda and psychologically condition the population for levels of violence unknown since the end of World War II. This propaganda will include efforts to condition the American people to accept the use of nuclear weapons by the United States, with the assistance of the pliant corporate media. The mass protests in Iran and throughout the Middle East provoked by Suleimanis killing provided an indication of the upheavals that will be unleashed by an all-out US war, especially as the working class is entering into mass struggles across the globe.

The only two substantive elements of Trumps speech were his vow to impose additional punishing economic sanctions and his demand that NATO become much more involved in the Middle East.

No details were given about the new sanctions, and it is difficult to imagine how much further Washington can intensify its maximum pressure campaign to crash Irans economy and starve its people into submission.

As for NATO, Washington is once again attempting to assemble its coalition of the willing as in 2003. It has every reason to believe that it can bring the European powers on board in its preparations for a criminal war, given their craven response to the Suleimani assassination, in which they concentrated all their denunciations on Tehran. Like US imperialism, capitalist Europe is being driven to war by its own internal contradictions and mounting social tensions.

A war against Iran would inevitably be accompanied by the abrogation of the most elementary democratic rights at home. One of the extraordinary passages of Trumps speech, delivered before the military high command, accused the Obama administration of funding terrorism and paying for the missiles fired at US bases by signing the 2015 nuclear accord that unfroze Iranian deposits in US accounts. This amounts to an accusation of treason against a former American president and is only a foretaste of how the US government would deal with mass opposition to war among American workers and youth.

A US war against Iran would far eclipse the catastrophe inflicted upon the region and the more than one million killed in the war against Iraq launched nearly 17 years ago. It would threaten to drag in the entire region and, indeed, the entire world.

No one should be under the slightest illusion that this will stop Washington from launching this war. Millions of people all over the world are watching with horror as the US ruling class, to use Trotskys phrase from 1938, toboggans with closed eyes toward... catastrophe.

All claims that Trumps delay of military strikes against Iran opens up a path toward peace makes the mistake of separating Trumps actions from the underlying crisis that has driven American foreign policy for 30 years.

Nothing that has happened in the last two days has changed the military objectives of the United States. The same geopolitical imperatives that brought about this weeks crisis will bring about new ones.

This war threat is the end product of the entire reckless militarist policy pursued by US imperialism since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. A series of wars of aggression and regime-change operations, from Afghanistan and Iraq to Libya and Syria, has produced only disasters while achieving none of Washingtons strategic aims. The US now faces even the prospect of its troops being thrown out of Iraq.

Preparations for war against Iran are bound up with the global strategy announced by Washington in 2018 based on a shift from the war on terrorism to the preparation for wars arising from great power competition. The imposition of a colonial-style puppet regime in Tehran and control over the Persian Gulfs energy supplies are seen by Washington as an essential preparation for war with Russia and China.

And, while a war against Iran may prove tremendously bloody, that not will stop a ruling class that is preparing for a nuclear conflagration.

There is no longer any question if a war will be launched against Iran, but only when. Just as a pretext was invented for murdering General Suleimani based on a fabricated imminent threat, so a real or fabricated attack on US forces by anyone, anywhere in the Middle East, or another claim of a supposed threat, will be enough justification for imperialist aggression.

A war will not be stopped by the cowardly ostensible political opponents of Trump in the Democratic Party, who have served as the political mouthpieces of the military and intelligence apparatus in opposing his administration for being not sufficiently aggressive against Russia.

Nor will it be halted by any of the worlds governments, including the maneuvers of the bourgeois clerical government in Tehran, which seeks to reach an accommodation with imperialism even as it confronts mass opposition from below.

Any appeal to the rationality of the world bourgeoisie against war is pointless, as war itself arises directly out of the irrationality of capitalism and the insoluble contradiction between the nation-state system and world economy.

Trumps delaying tactic must not lead to any letup of the fight to build a socialist movement against war. The most urgent and immediate task is to connect the struggle against war with the global upsurge of working class struggle, which provides a powerful foundation for the emergence of a mass antiwar movement directed at putting an end to imperialism and reorganizing society on socialist foundations.
Amid the wide-spread protests against recent changes in the citizenship law, the prospect of Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee sharing dias with Prime Minister during the 150th anniversary function of Kolkota Port Trust here on Sunday remained uncertain on Thursday.

There was neither any confirmation nor denial on whether Banerjee would attend the programme, said a senior Trinamool Congress leader.

Prime Minister Modi will be on a two-day visit to Kolkata from November 11 and is scheduled to attend 150th anniversary function of Trust (KOPT) on January 12, among many other scheduled programmes.

According to KOPT sources, Chief Minister Banerjee has also been invited for the programme.

But TMC top brass remained tight-lipped on whether the chief minister would attend the event.

"It is not clear if our party supremo would attend the programme. Nothing has been decided so far. The picture would be clear only after Friday afternoon," a top TMC leader said.

"The situation right now is very fragile, given the intensity of protests we have launched against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Our state (TMC) government had openly said we would not implement the Act in the state. So now whether the top leaders of both the parties would share dais or not is a million dollar question," another senior TMC leader said.

Ever since the BJP emerged the main contender of the TMC in the state during the recent Lok Sabha polls, Modi and Banerjee have not shared the dais at any government programme.

Banerjee had gone to New Delhi last September and met Prime Minister Modi in a "courtesy call" after the Lok Sabha polls.

The changes in citizenship law have emerged as the latest flashpoint in the state, with the TMC opposing the legislation tooth and nail, and the BJP pressing for its implementation.

Banerjee had gone hammer and tongs against the present BJP dispensation over the issue of CAA and proposed pan-India NRC, accusing the saffron camp of dividing the masses on religious lines.

The West Bengal BJP leadership said it is for the chief minister to decide whether she would attend the programmer.

"She keeps on lecturing us on federal structure. Now it is to be seen if the chief minister attends the programme and maintains the cohesiveness of federal structure or gives it a miss," a senior BJP leader said.
HONG KONG  Who says I cant sell an ice cream cone and add a gas mask on the side? Chung Yiu-wa, the co-owner of Sogno Gelato, said. I have a license to sell, and I can attach free gifts if I want. Im not breaking any laws.

At first glance, Sogno Gelato, an ice-cream shop in a mall in a working-class neighborhood in the New Territories, could be mistaken for a tween girls dream bedroom. The walls are covered with little squares of canary yellow, robins egg blue and baby pink  from hundreds of Post-it notes with pro-democracy messages. There is a giant stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh, a cheeky reference to President Xi Jinping of China. Its right eye is covered with a bloodied bandage in homage to a first-aider who was partially blinded by a police projectile during a demonstration.

Mr. Chung, who goes by Ah Wa, and his co-owner have turned Sogno Gelato into a makeshift rear-guard supply station, counseling space and surrogate living room for Hong Kongs democracy movement. The store gives out free ice cream to supporters. It serves late-night meals to battle-worn front liners, including home-cooked dishes dropped off by neighbors. (The menu one recent night: chestnut and chicken stew, pan-fried pork chops with onion, buttered corn.) It hosts know-your-rights workshops. It distributes donated protective gear, including gas masks and bike helmets of the sturdy kind, which many young protesters cannot afford, at least not if they still want to be able to feed themselves.

A few days before Christmas, Ah Wa added a few limited-time-only holiday flavors to the menu: chocolate and rum, Christmas pudding, ginger snap and tear-gas. He pledged to continue serving the tear-gas gelato  its made with black pepper  as long as the government keeps shooting gas canisters at protesters. Or as long as Sogno Gelato manages to remain open.
WASHINGTON  U.S. Sen. Cory Booker cut short a campaign trip to Iowa to hear from top Trump administration officials about the conflict with Iran.

He emerged from the closed-door briefing unhappy with what he had heard about the imminent danger to the U.S. that President Donald Trump cited in ordering the killing of top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.

Iran then retaliated by firing missiles at two Iraqi military bases housing American troops.

This was a wholly unsatisfying briefing where there was 75 minutes where it was presented with no evidence about this threshold of imminence, Booker, D-N.J., told reporters in the Capitol after the briefing.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., wasnt satisfied either.

It just makes me concerned that we cannot have clarity on those key questions, said Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. You cannot keep from members of Congress who have to make votes on war and peace the information thats necessary.

The two lawmakers were among the U.S. senators who met Wednesday with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and Gina Haspel, director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Booker, a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, cut short his latest trip to Iowa, where he is concentrating his efforts in advance of the Feb. 3 caucuses. He said Iran took precedence.

This is a major issue for our nation in an area that increasingly under this president becoming less stable and less secure, said Booker, who also sits on the Foreign Relations Committee. This is very important to be here, obviously.

Booker and Menendez went separate ways when it came to President Barack Obamas international agreement to relax sanctions against Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. Trump unilaterally scrapped the deal.

We have been plunged into more uncertainty and potential for violence because we are out of that deal, said Booker, who supported the agreement.

Menendez, who voted no, said that previous administrations could have killed Soleimani but chose not to.

They judged that the consequences that flowed from that were greater than the benefit from eliminating Soleimani, Menendez said. I would try to determine why this administration came to a different conclusion, other than that they wanted to.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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Apples chief executive officer, Tim Cook, will meet with the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, in Dublin, later this month, to receive an award from the Government. It is in recognition of the companys 40 years of investment in Ireland, according to IDA Ireland.

While Apple is one of the biggest employers in Ireland, some tensions have emerged.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 08, 2020 | 04:52 PM | DRAFFENVILLE

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, owner Melissa Hale shared that the decision was made due to a mixture of an unforeseen and unresolved plumbing issues, rising costs, out of control maintenance, debt from the closure of their Reidland location, and overall cost of operation.







Hale wrote, "I leave this business after 21 of the 32 years of operation. I have truly tried to put my heart and soul into this business on a daily basis. It has seen me through some of the darkest times in my life with the guests smiling faces and encouragement, to my valued employees keeping things afloat during those events. It has truly been what has helped me keep going."



Hale continued, "I hope that each of you have some fond memories of dining with us and that we have somehow touched your life in a positive way that you may remember us by."







Hale thanked her employees, vendors, "tried and true" guests, and the Marshall County community as a whole. Hale ended by saying, "Please keep each of us in your thoughts and prayers as we pave new roads to our futures. As we all must accept the end of something in order to begin something new."







You can see more details at the link below.

After 32 years in business, the Ponderosa Restaurant in Draffenville is permanently closing.

On the Net:
This article, Mysterious drone swarms in three states prompt FAA, FBI investigations, originally appeared on CNET.com.

Federal agencies and local law enforcement in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska met this week to investigate a mystery that's generated buzz in those states: swarms of drones . So far, the inquiry has failed to reveal who's behind the formations.

Since mid-December, sheriff's departments in the border area of the three states have been flooded with at least 30 reports of drone sightings, sometimes groups of a dozen or more machines. The FBI, Federal Aviation Administration and US Air Force have been called in and are reportedly investigating the drone swarms. As of now, no one knows who owns or has been operating them.

The Air Force has denied any involvement with the drones, according to the Morgan County Sheriff's Office, which hosted a meeting Monday with dozens of law enforcement partners. Several agencies at the meeting, including the FAA, agreed to continue investigating the drone sightings.

RELATED: Constable uses drone to catch suspected car thieves

"Multiple FAA divisions are working closely with federal, state and local stakeholders to try to determine whether the reported sightings in Colorado and Nebraska are drones and, if so, who is operating them and for what reason," the FAA said in a statement Monday.

The FAA also said it's contacted unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) test sites, drone companies and companies authorized to operate drones in the area, but hasn't been able to determine if any of these are responsible for the drone swarms.

The FBI and US Air Force didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

John Dermody, a lawyer at O'Melveny & Myers who previously was a legal advisor to the National Security Council, said solving the mystery might prove difficult.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Road deaths rise in Houston region, despite new efforts to end fatalities

"Drones can be operated with limited infrastructure and relative anonymity, and they can pose a real threat," Dermody said in an email. "Counter drone efforts continue to be a priority for the federal government, but solutions are often difficult to implement."

Though these drone sightings have prompted concern, unmanned aerial vehicles zipping across the sky could one day become more common. Companies like UPS, Amazon and Google have been testing drone deliveries. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in November challenged the industry to get tens of thousands of daily drone flights over at least one US city by 2028. But before they can really take off, people and politicians will need to be convinced that the benefits of drones outweigh privacy intrusions and noise.
Im here today because my cancer was caught early. We need to educate more men about this disease, and why early testing is crucial to survival. The fact that Im still here today is proof.

Family history of prostate cancer

African American ancestry

History of prostate disease

Family history of the BRCA 1 or 2 gene mutations

Military veterans

San Francisco, CA (UroToday.com) -- Despite most cancers seeing a drop in deaths, prostate cancer deaths are on the rise in the U.S. New reporting from the American Cancer Society shows that in 2020, the number of men who will die from prostate cancer will hit a record high over the last two decades, with an increase of 5 percent since just last year.The annual report  was released, and states that disease reductions halted for prostate cancer. Other troubling findings include a prediction that in 2020, prostate cancer will receive the most diagnoses among male cancers, with 21 percent of new cancer cases being prostate-related, compared to the next highest, lung and bronchus, at only 13 percent. Of those diagnosed with prostate cancer, 10 percent are expected to pass away from the disease.These statistics are unacceptable and show the urgency for men to get tested early, given the high likelihood of men developing prostate cancer during their lifetime, said ZERO CEO, Jamie Bearse. The 2020 Cancer Facts and Figures report says that screening only probably reduces mortality rates for prostate cancer. This irresponsible claim made in the report and by opponents of the PSA test is simply untrue. Early detection saves lives, but unfortunately, decades of mixed messaging about the PSA test have left both doctors and men confused about the importance of testing. As a result, fewer men are taking initiative regarding their prostate health, which is directly contributing to more deaths from prostate cancer year over year.In 2020, men will still be diagnosed at a rate of 1 in 9 men. This makes prostate cancer the most likely cancer diagnosis among men, followed by lung and bronchus at a rate of 1 in 15.The risk of death from prostate cancer is highest among men who develop metastatic and/or castrate disease, said ZERO Medical Advisory Board Member, Dr. Kelvin Moses, an associate professor of urology at Vanderbilt University. There have been multiple treatments approved in the metastatic and castrate-resistant space in the past decade, and yet the mortality rate from prostate cancer has plateaued, and possibly increased in recent years. The prevailing paradigm among the opponents of prostate cancer screening has been that the significant decline in prostate cancer mortality in the so-called PSA era was also attributed to better treatment. Yet the proliferation of treatments specifically directed to late-stage disease has not made a dent in mortality rates. This fact, along with the continued decrease in mortality in other screened cancers (lung and colorectal), further proves the utility of PSA screening in appropriately selected patients.Rising prostate cancer deaths correlate to medical bodies  such as the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force  discouraging the life-saving PSA blood test. When caught early, prostate cancer has a 99 percent chance of survival; this is three times higher than when prostate cancer is found in an advanced stage, which has only a 30 percent rate of survival.When I found out I had prostate cancer, I just wanted to live, said Jeffrey Wilde, a prostate cancer survivor in North Carolina.ZERO recommends that doctors and men follow the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guidelines for Prostate Cancer Early Detection, which calls for a discussion of the risks and benefits of testing for men beginning at age 45 if they fall into any of these categories:Read the full 2020 Cancer Facts & Figures report here . The report and its data are a product of the American Cancer Society from National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, and the Centers for Disease Control. To see this release on the web, click here ZERO  The End of Prostate Cancer is the leading national nonprofit with the mission to end prostate cancer. ZERO advances research improves the lives of men and families and inspires action. Were building Generation ZERO, the first generation of men free from prostate cancer, through our national run/walk series, education and patient support programs, and grassroots advocacy. ZERO is a 501(c)(3) philanthropic organization recognized with four out of four stars by Charity Navigator, accredited by the Better Business Bureau, with regional chapters across the country. We dedicate 86 cents of every dollar to research and programs. For more information, visit zerocancer.org.Source: "2020 Prostate Cancer Death Tolls To Be Highest In Two Decades". 2020. ZERO - The End Of Prostate Cancer.
Turk tourist under investigation over death of Patong ladyboy in seven-story hotel fall

PHUKET: A Turkish man remains under investigation as a possible suspect involved in the death of a 28-year-old Thai ladyboy who fell from a seventh-floor balcony at a hotel in Patong on Tuesday night (Jan 7).

patongdeathpolice

By The Phuket News

Thursday 9 January 2020, 03:26PM

Police and Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers at the scene on Tuesday night (Jan 7). Photo: Kusoldharm Foundation Phuket / Patong branch

Patong Police Deputy Chief Lt Col Jetsada Seangsuree said he was notified of the incident at about 11pm.

Police together with Kusoldharm rescue workers and an emergency team from Patong Hospital arrived at the scene, a driveway between buildings off Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd, to find the body of Aphinyo Kaewkhaw, 28, originally from Songkhla, face down on the ground with severe head trauma.

Lt Col Jetsada explained that police were told that the Turkish man and his friend on Tuesday night went to Bangla Rd, where one of them met Aphinyo and the other met a woman who Lt Col Jetsada named only as Miss Prisana.

From our investigation, the Turkish tourist [under investigation] and Aphinyo met on Bangla Rd, and they went back to a room at the hotel together.

The mans friend met a woman named Miss Prisana, and they went to another room on the same floor at the hotel, he said, declining to give Miss Prisanas full name or age.

Prisana told police that Aphinyo had knocked on the door to her room. She opened the door and Aphinyo and the Turkish tourist came in.

She said that Aphinyo walked around the room and opened the balcony door. He then came up to her, held her hands and said Im leaving, and then ran to the balcony and jumped, Lt Col Jetsada added.

However, Lt Col Jetsada said that police had yet to confirm any part of the version of events provided by Miss Prisana.

Miss Prisana is not Aphinyos friend or related in any way. We have yet to confirm anything we have been told. This is just what Prisana told us, None of this has been proved yet, he said.

Lt Col Jetsada also declined to reveal what the Turkish tourist or his friend told police.

Reports online cite Miss Prisana as explaining to police that the friend who was in the room with her had left to go to the hotel lobby when Aphinyo and the Turkish man arrived at her room  explaining why the friend at this stage appears not to be under investigation.

Lt Col Jetsada also declined to confirm or deny reports online explaining that the Turkish man was taking a shower when he heard a noise like a door opening, and returned to the room to allegedly find that Aphinyo had stolen some of his belongings and was trying to flee.

The reports online also claim that the Turkish man had caught Aphinyo and accused him of the theft, with Aphinyo knocking on the door to the room Miss Prisana was staying in to get inside.

We have not concluded whether Aphinyo committed suicide or was murdered. I need to work on the investigation more to confirm what caused the fall, Lt Col Jetsada told The Phuket News.

We cannot make any conclusions about the Turkish man until we have more evidence to prove what happened, he said.

Lt Col Jetsada declined to confirm whether police considered the Turk to be a flight risk. He also declined to confirm whether police were holding the Turkish mans passport.

Asked whether Phuket Immigration had been informed about the investigation, Lt Col Jetsada said Not yet.

Lt Col Jetsada did confirm that Aphinyos body had been taken Patong Hospital for further examination.

We are checking CCTV footage at the hotel and in the area, and we are questioning witnesses, to try to find what led to Aphinyos death, Lt Col Jetsasda said.
New Delhi:

As the protests continue over the citizenship law across India, looks like the global reputation of the country has taken a beating or so feels industry legend Kishore Mariwala. In a recent Facebook post that has gone viral, Mariwala of the Marico family, narrated his shocking experience during a holiday in Thailand. What Mariwala told social media was an account of skewed perception that goes against the very grain of Indias ethos of unity in diversity and multi-polarity. What is surprising is the fact that this is one of the rare occasions when an industrialist has spoken about an issue, which has deep political resonance.

In a Facebook post on January 5, Mariwala, who has a net worth of $1.7 billion, recalled the ordeal. I was ashamed! I have come to Phuket, Thailand for a sailing holiday. I have chartered a yacht with a skipper for sailing for a week. On arrival here yesterday, I went to the chartering companys office to finalise the arrangements. At the office, the receptionist took down all the necessary details & then asked me : Sir, you are from India. Are you a Hindu? I said yes, why are you asking this? She just called her boss, the manager. He came out & they both talked something in Thai language, the Facebook post said.

Mariwala went on to say that, The manager turned to me and said Sir, all our skippers except one have gone with our other yachts. The only one left is a Muslim. I hope you dont mind that. I was shocked and asked why are you asking this? Why should I mind? Sir, he said, we read in the newspapers that Hindus dont want Muslims near them so we were worried about it! I was ashamed beyond words. I explained to him that not only I, but most of the cultured Hindus dont behave like what you mustve read! IS THIS IS OUR REPUTATION ABROAD- AMONGST COMMON PEOPLE? I was really ashamed.

The post has gone viral at a time when the country is witnessing protests over CAA and NRC. The agitation erupted after the Narendra Modi government passed the contentious legislation in Parliament on December 11. Two days later, President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent and making it a law on December 13. The Citizenship Act grants Indian nationality to Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Parsis and Sikhs who fled Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan in half the time of other groups if they can argue they suffered religious discrimination in their country of origin.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Update: The 10-year-old boy has been located. No further information was immediately available.

--------

Houston police are seeking help finding a 10-year-old Houston boy.

Guillermo Herrera was last seen about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at his home in the 8900 block of Glencrest Street, in the Hobby Airport area.

He is about 4 feet, 3 inches tall, weighs about 60 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes.He was wearing a blue uniform, tan pants and yellow socks.

Anyone with information should contact Houston police at 832 394-1840.

STAY INFORMED: Sign up to receive breaking news alerts delivered to your email here.
The mother of the man who abducted Jayme Closs prays for her son's salvation daily and regards the moment that she learned of his guilt as 'a sort of death,' DailyMailTV can reveal.

It is one year since Jayme Closs escaped from the remote cabin in rural Wisconsin in which Jake Patterson held her captive for 88 days. Her kidnapping was the brutal culmination of a crime spree that saw Patterson gun down first James, 56, then Denise Closs, 46, at their home in Barron, Wisconsin in a senseless and single-minded mission to take their daughter, Jayme.

Now these pictures, obtained exclusively by DailyMailTV, provide the first glimpse of Patterson's mother, Deborah Frey, 50.

An elusive and secluded figure, DailyMailTV has learned that Frey is struggling to rebuild a life shattered by her son's crimes and, twelve months on, remains tormented and confused over how his heinous acts could have passed unnoticed in the family's midst.

Jake Patterson's (right) mother Deborah Frey, 50, (left) is struggling to rebuild her life that was shattered by her son's crimes

Jayme Closs (center) managed to escape on January 10, 2019. Pictured above after her escape with her cousin Bailey Lynn Sikora (left) and another relative days after her escape on January 13

Frey recently returned to work as a school bus driver for Rice Lake District and keeps the bus in the driveway of her Wisconsin home

According to one close to her, 'She's trying to live her life. She's trying to get past so much. She spends hours reading the Bible and seeking out strength in Jesus.

'She just prays for her son to know Jesus too. She prays for Jayme and her family  for strength and forgiveness. She's a victim too. When everything came out it was like her life had ended too. She didn't come out of the house for weeks. She was a ghost.'

Something 'broke' in Jake Patterson (pictured in a mugshot) after his parents divorced when he was 12, friends and family say

The friend added, 'She's just started trying to put what's left of her life back together. She's gone back to work, she's trying to move forward, but she prays more than anything for Jake to walk with Jesus because that's what she does now.'

Frey's once bleach blonde hair has been dyed dark brown. She did not stop to comment when approached by DailyMailTV at the Haugen home that she shares with second husband Kevin.

Instead she busied herself warming up the school-bus which sits in her driveway once more after Frey recently returned to work as a school bus driver for Rice Lake District.

Jayme never rode a bus driven by his mother but, in a chilling twist, Patterson admitted to having targeted the girl after seeing her getting on her school bus in neighboring Barron County. He said that he knew in that moment that she was the girl he was going to take.

This is just one of a myriad disturbing details contained in thousands of pages of recently released evidence gathered during the high-profile investigation into the Closs killings and Jayme's abduction.

Among the often heavily redacted pages, reviewed by DailyMailTV, Patterson's fractured homelife and his parents' horror and guilt at their youngest son's actions are laid bare.

Deborah and Patterson's father, Patrick, divorced in 2007 after a turbulent marriage. Patterson was 12 years old.

The couple had filed for divorce once before, in 2005, but the suit was dropped as they endeavored to try to save the marriage that had had brought them three children  Jake, 22, Erik, 25, and sister Katie, 27.

Following Patterson's arrest, Frey told officers that she felt that her divorce from Patrick had 'messed up' her kids and that she 'felt truly guilty because of it.'

In a DCI report outlining an interview with Frey it is noted, 'She was very aware of the Closs case and often prayed for Jayme's safe return.'

In fact, Frey was so conscious of the case that she even spoke to her son about it.

Friends tell DailyMailTV that she regards the moment that she learned of her son's guilt as 'a sort of death' and prays for his salvation every day

Patterson admitted to abducting Jayme on October 15, 2018 after killing her parents, James and Denise Closs (pictured above), at the family's home near the small town of Barron

Two sketches done by Jake Patterson on the day of his arrest for investigators. The first outlines the layout of the Closs's Barron home the second crudely shows the positions of them as victims

Closs was held in Jake Patterson's home (pictured above) for 88 days, only occasionally allowed to leave for walks in the yard escorted by her captor

The inside of Jake Patterson's Gordon, Wisconsin home where he kept Jayme Closs captive is pictured above

The report stated, 'Frey recalled asking Jake, no more than a couple of weeks after Jayme was abducted, if he had heard about the girl that was kidnapped. Jake said that he had not heard about it in a matter-of-face manner which is a ''normal'' response for him. Frey remembered saying how sad she was for the Closs family and how concerned she was for Jayme.'

Frey went on to tell investigators that 'a couple of days' before Jayme's escape, 'She was overcome with a desire to pray for Jayme that she would come home safely, and she did pray for that. When she heard Jayme was found he praised God for bringing her home.'

Former teachers and classmates echoed his mother's sense that 'something broke' in Patterson after his parents' divorce.

Closs, right now lives with her aunt, Jennifer Smith in Barron, Wisconsin. This pictured was snapped just after she returned home

They paint a picture of Patterson as a once promising student whose grades suffered post the family split.

One teacher recalled talk of 'mental health issues' in the home, another noted that a school project requiring students' family members to write about them elicited only two sentences from Patterson's sister Katie and nothing at all from any other family.

Patterson's only ambition, according to several, was to become a Marine. He had, one teacher noted, 'no Plan B,' and according to his mother when those dreams foundered due to ill health less than three months after enlisting, Patterson was so 'lost' that she feared he might rather die than carry on.

But none who knew Patterson, and certainly not his own family, have offered any understanding of why he did what he did or how the truth could have been missed so completely.

For her part Frey expressed 'confusion' at how Jayme could have been hidden in her husband's remote cabin in Gordon, while he and others visited and spent time both with and without Patterson himself being present.

Investigators noted that his father, Patrick, 'wept' when he learned the devastating truth that he had been within feet of the abducted teenager.

Patterson hid Jayme under his bed during his father's weekly visits during which Patrick gave his son $100 for food and, increasingly, attempted to talk to him about getting a job.

The last time Patrick had been out at the house with his son was December 30, 2018.

According to a report filed by Wisconsin DCI, 'Patrick fixed dinner. At about noon he told the kids they should go visit their mother in Haugen. They left about noon and returned about 4-5pm. Patrick stopped what he was saying, dropped his head and said that he must have left him there with the girl (Jayme Closs). Patrick was very upset and wanted everyone and Jayme's family to know that he was sorry and could not understand how this happened.'

One other occasion in particular stands out in Patrick's mind according to the DCI records. He told officers that he never went into his son's room  save for once occasion that December when he went in 'to turn down the radio.' He registered nothing other than the fact that the room seem 'trashed.'

Jayme Closs was presented with the Hometown Hero award by the Wisconsin Assembly in May

In a separate interview Patterson told investigators that he turned his radio up loud to drown out any possible noise Jayme might make. The idea that he had not only been in the same room as Jayme but that he had left her there unwittingly was, it seemed, a source of great pain to Patterson's father.

Patrick also told officers that he had tried to talk to his son about 'moving forward with his life,' that same month, concerned at his inability to get and keep a job.

On the day of Jayme's escape Patterson applied for a job at a local liquor store.

Both Frey and her ex-husband wrote letters to the Closs family in the days following their son's arrest and swift confession.

In one report Frey's is described as referencing, 'her apologies to the family [of trying] to find the words to express the sympathy and empathy for the family at this time. It references prayers and healing for the family.'

Frey dropped this letter at Barron County District Attorney's office. Similarly, her ex-husband Patrick, who spends his weeks with his girlfriend in Duluth, Minnesota where he works, penned a personal letter of condolence and apology which he asked investigators to pass on to Jayme's family.

Patterson is currently in prison in New Mexico where he is serving out two life sentences with no hope of parole and counts his parents as his only visitors.

He attempted to write to Jayme while being held in jail in Wisconsin, slipping a letter to her inside one to his father but it was discovered and confiscated.

The house in which Jayme was raised, her parents shot and from where she was abducted has been razed and the investigation that captured the nation has been closed. Yet still there is nothing to really makes sense of Patterson's crime and no clear red flags that might have been caught ahead of his actions.

Indeed a former English teacher described as 'particularly close to Patterson' told investigators that, 'If Jake Patterson had a super-power that super-power would be flying under the radar and going undetected.'
The government has expressed the fear that different high courts may pronounce conflicting judgments.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said efforts should be made to douse frayed tampers in the wake of the agitations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and to normalise the situation.

As it is the country is going through difficult times. The object should be to bring about peace. Such petitions dont help that. There is a presumption of the constitutionality of law, said Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, who was heading a three-judge bench which comprised Justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant.

The strong observation from the bench came in the course of the hearing of a petition by one Puneet Kaur Dhanda seeking a declaration that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was constitutional.

We have never heard of a petition like this  to declare an act as constitutional, the Chief Justice said, adding: The job of the court is to determine the validity of a law, not declare it constitutional. The CJI then permitted the petitioner to withdraw the plea, with the liberty to intervene in a similar matter which the court is seized with.

On Friday, the Supreme Court is likely to hear the Centres plea seeking the transfer of all cases which are the challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act pending before high courts across the country. The Centre has sought the transfer of cases contending that the Supreme Court is already seized of the matter as 60 petitioners have challenged the law that has led to protests across the country. The government has expressed the fear that different high courts may pronounce conflicting judgments.

The Supreme Court had on December 18 sought a response from the Centre on a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the amended citizenship law that provides for the grant of Indian citizenship to illegal migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Christian and Parsi religions, barring Muslims.

The court will hold a further hearing on January 22, when it will also consider the plea for a stay of the which, has been described by one of the petitioners as contrary to the provisions of the Constitution.
'We Need Everyone in the Streets': More Than 180 Events Planned Across US to Protest Trump's March to War With Iran

January 09, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - After Iran's retaliation for the killing of Gen. Qasem Soleimani intensified fears of another catastrophic Middle East war, a coalition of progressive advocacy groups Tuesday reiterated their call for massive demonstrations across the U.S. to protest President Donald Trump's "military brinksmanship" and demand immediate de-escalation of tensions.

"We will not be forced into another war," said the coalition, led by MoveOn, Indivisible, Win Without War, and other groups. "On Thursday, January 9, at 5 p.m. local time, the anti-war majority in this country will get visible to oppose Trump's war and say #NoWarWithIran."

As of Wednesday morning, more than 180 demonstrations have been planned across the U.S.up from just 50 when the protests were first announced Tuesday afternoon.

Find a local event here .

Iran's missile attacks on two U.S. airbases in Iraqretaliation that was widely expected and promised by Iranian leadersbrought new urgency to the planned day of action, which will demand that Congress intervene to stop Trump from taking the advice of war-hungry right-wing pundits and launching a devastating war with Iran.

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"America, this is an emergency," said activist Kai Newkirk. "If we spiral into war with Iran, millions could die. We have a short window of time to stop it. We need a massive protest. Everyone, if at all possible, must come out this Thursday, nationwide."

In the wake of retaliation for Trump's warmongering, it's more important than ever to commit to showing up this Thursday to say #NoWarWithIran. RSVP now: https://t.co/ulDB879Qy7 https://t.co/CAC8qxodjd  Indivisible Guide (@IndivisibleTeam) January 7, 2020

"We need everyone in the streets," tweeted Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "This is a critical time for the American people to be heard."

In a statement Tuesday night, Indivisible national policy director Angel Padilla said the missile attack by Iran was an "entirely predictable" and "avoidable" consequence of the White House's hawkish policies toward Iran and urged Congress "act decisively and fast to stop Trump's warmongering."

"Every day we wait is a message from Congress to Trump to continue his march to war," said Padilla. "We urge the House to immediately pass a strong war powers resolution, as well as the bills offered by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) that would prevent war with Iran, and urge the Senate to take those critical measures up immediately upon passage."

"The anti-war majority of Americans will be paying close attention to what their members of Congress do," added Padilla, "not what they say."
YEREVAN.  Supporters of Armenia's second president Robert Kocharyan held a protest in front of the Yerevan court today in support of Kocharyan.

"There is no court, law and justice in Armenia," said one supporter. Today our judicial system will once again prove that there are judges who delightfully whimper under this or that persons walls. Those who break the law for the sake of their safe life, who fear the authorities and kneel for the sake of political interests. Law and right in Armenia has long since disappeared. It is a legal boundlessness in Armenia because we are present and see what is happening in Armenia.

According to one other supporter, in Armenia, people are arrested, kidnapped and charged for their political but, but there is nothing as grounds for these charges.

"You will not become a hero by arresting the heroes," he added. From 1998 to 2008 [when Kocharyan was in power], we have seen how a dignified Armenia is built. And what we have today speaks directly of the fact that the authorities not only do not want the development of Armenia, but also try to humiliate, to exclude anyone who is ready to develop Armenia."
The Montana Supreme Court has unanimously overturned the largest civil verdict against the Jehovah's Witnesses in U.S. history in a closely-watched case on the requirements of religious leaders to report suspected incidents of child sexual abuse.

The ruling, issued Wednesday, erased a $35 million jury verdict to Alexis Lexi Nunez, who was abused by a member of the Thompson Falls, Mont, congregation. Elders at the local Kingdom Hall knew of separate allegations against the man, but did not report those to law enforcement after relying on legal advice from headquarters that clergy in Montana are not required to report allegations deemed by religious organizations to be confidential.

The case  followed intensely by survivors, advocates, religious organizations, scholars, & lawyers across the country  was featured in one of the installments of a four-part 2019 Hearst Television National Investigative Unit series called, Silent No More, which uncovered new allegations of child sexual abuse and decades-long cover ups inside the Witnesses organization nationwide.

NIU cameras were granted rare access to bring cameras into a state supreme courts oral arguments in September to report on the Nunez hearing in Montana.

Justices Rule Clergy Excepted

The 18-page opinion upholds a state law that says religious leaders are not required to tell authorities about confidential child abuse allegations.

The justices wrote, "We hold that Jehovahs Witnesses are excepted from the mandatory reporting statute under  41-3-201(6)(c), MCA, because the undisputed material facts in the record show that Jehovahs Witnesses canon law, church doctrine, or established church practice required that the reports of abuse in this case be kept confidential.

At oral arguments on Sept 13, one of Nunezs attorneys, Jim Molloy, told the justices, "the defendants did not report a known child abuser and then Lexi continued to be abused."

But Justice Laurie McKinnon expressed skepticism at the time, asking during the hearing, "Do we really want to be looking into what's going on within church circles? And doesn't that bring us right up against the First Amendment?"

In the courts decision, the justices found the trial court erred in ruling that Jehovahs Witnesses were under a mandatory duty to report an initial allegation of abuse against the man who would also abuse Nunez.

This is a very disappointing decision, Molloy said in a statement, particularly at this time in our society when religious and other institutions are covering up the sexual abuse of child victims.

Witnesses: There are no winners

In a statement to the NIU Thursday, the Jehovahs Witnesses organization, based in New York, said, There are no winners in a case that involves child abuse. No child should ever be subjected to such a debased crime. Tragically, it happens, and when it does Jehovahs Witnesses follow the law. This is what the Montana Supreme Court has established. Jehovahs Witnesses remain committed to helping parents protect their precious children.

In September, an elder at the Thompson Falls congregation, Glenn Wilson, said when asked in an interview in front of the Kingdom Hall whether the elders should have done anything differently when handling the Nunez allegations, he answered, I dont know what it would have been.

Nunezs attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the Montana Supreme Courts ruling.

Nunez and her attorneys could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court for relief, but the highest court in the land rarely overturns state supreme court rulings.

Mark Albert is the chief national investigative correspondent for the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit, based in Washington D.C. Travis Sherwin and April Chunko contributed to this report.





Know of abuse, fraud, waste, or other stories of national importance? Send investigative tips, information, and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.
A year ago, Taiwan's leader was on the ropes. Then she got a boost from an unexpected corner: Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Polls indicate that President Tsai Ing-wen is poised to win a second four-year term on Saturday, a remarkable turnaround for a leader whose future was in doubt after voters dealt her Democratic Progressive Party a major loss in November 2018 local elections.

Since then, Tsai has capitalized on three developments: the fears generated by China's tough words on Taiwan, protests in Hong Kong that have reinforced those fears and U.S. government actions that reassure voters that America will have Taiwan's back if the going gets tough.

All the factors that help Tsai Ing-wen are happening: the China factor, the U.S. factor and the Hong Kong protests," pollster You Ying-lung, chairman of the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation, said at a conference late last month.

A victory for Tsai and her independence-leaning party would likely herald continued tensions and a further souring of relations with China, which considers self-governing Taiwan a renegade province.

Her main opponent, Han Kuo-yu of the Nationalist Party, won the mayor's race in the Democratic Progressive Party stronghold of Kaohsiung in the 2018 local elections and held a comfortable lead over Tsai in early 2019.

Tsai began chipping away at his lead in the spring and pulled ahead for good in August. She was the clear leader by the end of the year, according to an aggregation of polls by The Lens, an independent youth-oriented media outlet.

A Tsai victory is the last thing that Xi wants, yet it was his major policy speech on Taiwan at the start of 2019 that many analysts point to as the starting point for her political recovery.

The Chinese leader upped the pressure on Taiwan to join China under the one country, two systems framework that governs Hong Kong. He called for talks on the issue, while saying that China would not rule out the use of force to achieve unification.

Tsai responded immediately, saying Taiwan's 23 million people would never accept one country, two systems and launching a four-day media blitz. Three weeks later, her support rating was 10 percentage points higher than after the November 2018 election setback.

She also benefited from a revamp of her public image that used memes, animation and social media to reach young voters. Campaign spokeswoman Lien Yi-ting credited the strategy with playing an important role in boosting Tsai's approval ratings.

Then came the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, which erupted in June. Tsai has repeatedly pointed to the unrest as proof that the one country, two systems approach pushed by China doesn't work.

Taiwan's presidential elections generally revolve around the island's relationship with China. Voters have gone back and forth between the tough line that the Democratic Progressive Party says is best to defend Taiwan's sovereignty and the cooperation with China that the Nationalist Party says will foster economic growth.

I think, because of the recent months of the Hong Kong protests and Tsai's successful strategy of playing the anti-China card, these practical issues are played down and voters are swayed into this scare mentality," said Jason Hsu, a Nationalist Party lawmaker who is a member of Han's policy advisory team.

The economic argument has lost some of its potency as Taiwanese companies move manufacturing out of China because of rising labor costs and the U.S-China trade war, which has led to tariffs on Chinese goods. China has made it more difficult for Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan.

The U.S., which does not recognize Taiwan but sells it military equipment for defense, has passed laws and taken other steps that while largely symbolic have demonstrated support for the island. That emboldens voters to stand up to China, despite the risks..

"These make people believe that the U.S. is a factor that Taiwan can rely on," said Wong Ming-hsien, a professor at Tamkang University's Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies. And if Taiwan can rely on that, it can sustain pressure from China." Han's predilection for verbal gaffes, and a primary challenge from business leader Terry Gou that divided the Nationalist Party, have also helped Tsai, said Lev Nachman, a Fulbright fellow researching in Taiwan.

He sees these factors and the remaking of Tsai's image as equally if not more important than the Hong Kong protests in restoring Tsai's popularity.

She's like the coolest politician in Taiwan," he said. Young people really love her again, which is amazing because a year ago, no one liked her.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Here are some of todays top headlines.

Iran plane crash with 176 on board: Live updates  CNN By Jessie Yeung and Tara John, CNN Updated 4:22 a.m. ET, January 8, 2020 Iran plane crash: A Kiev-bound Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 plane crashed after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board.

Police in Australia are accusing 24 people of deliberately setting bushfires The Australia wildfires are a countrywide catastrophe, mainly caused by drought and extreme heat, but dozens of people are directly to blame for some of the problem, officials say.

A third of an Australian island wildlife haven has burned One third of land on an Australian island that is a refuge for some of the countrys unique and endangered wildlife has been scorched by raging bushfires, NASA satellite images show.

Top Facebook exec: Yes, we got Trump elected and it may happen again A Facebook executive who backed Hillary Clintons 2016 election campaign told colleagues in an internal memo last month that the platform could ultimately be responsible for President Trumps reelection.

More than 500 earthquakes have rattled the Puerto Rico region in 10 days. There may be more to come A 6.4 magnitude earthquake that killed one person in Puerto Rico on Tuesday is one of hundreds of tremors that have rattled the island for more than a week. And experts say the shaking is not over yet.

Photo of Donald Trump Jr. holding a rifle raises flags with hate group researchers A photo of President Donald Trumps oldest son smiling while holding a semi-automatic rifle bearing medieval symbols and a cartoon of Hillary Clinton behind bars drew swift attention over the weekend, with hate group researchers pointing out that the medieval symbols have been embraced by extremist groups.

10,000 camels at risk of being shot in Australia as they desperately search for water About 10,000 camels are at risk of being shot and killed in a drought-ravaged region of Australia, after complaints that the thirsty animals are endangering locals as they desperately search for water.

What do you do about a piracy crisis? Encourage people to fish Fair Fishing is an NGO aiming to turn Somali pirates into fishermen and improve lives on the Horn of Africa by creating jobs in sustainable fishing.

US airbase in Iraq hit by rockets  reports An airbase housing US and coalition troops in Iraq has been hit by rockets, according to US security sources. The Al-Asad base was reportedly hit by multiple rockets. It is unclear if there have been any casualties. It come after top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani was killed in a drone strike in Baghdad on Friday, on the orders of US President Donald Trump.

How the world has responded to Australias fires The world has watched with horror as bushfires have torn across Australia, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. The blazes have razed almost 2,000 homes, and killed at least 25 people and hundreds of millions of animals since they began in September.

Africa Live: Joy as Nigerian doctors separate conjoined twins  BBC News Thats all from the BBC Africa Live team for now. There will be an automated service until Tuesday morning. You can keep up with news from the continent by downloading the Africa Today podcast and checking the BBC Africa news site.

Ivanka Trump unfazed by critics at CES tech show Ivanka Trumps appearance at the CES tech show went smoothly, despite controversy surrounding her invitation. Some had criticised a decision to give her a keynote slot, saying other women had more expertise in the field.

Stephen Colbert mocks Trumps weird claim that he knows all Greek Americans Its just our second show of 2020, and so far were not doing too well on the New Years resolution of Dont go to war with Iran, quipped Late Show host Stephen Colbert during his opening monologue on Tuesday. The segment appears to have been filmed prior to Irans retaliatory missile strikes on U.S.

New renders shows what Apples new budget phone could look like, whatever its called A reputable leaker has got 2020 vision of the  iPhone 9? iPhone SE 2? Lets just call it Apples latest attempt at a budget phone. On Tuesday, Twitter user @OnLeaks shared renders of the iPhone SE 2.

Mercedes concept car is Avatar-inspired. Yes, were talking about the 2009 movie. Mercedes-Benz is stuck on Pandora, the fictional world from the 2009 Avatar movie directed by James Cameron. So much so that the German carmakers newest concept car is called Vision AVTR. Its supposed to demonstrate how Mercedes is embracing sustainability goals.
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. EPD recently shipped the first cargo of ethylene from its Morgans Point marine terminal. The facility is a 50-50 joint venture with U.K.-based Navigator Holdings Ltd. NVGS, a LNG carrier provider. The shipment of 25 million pounds of ethylene in Navigator Europa tanker will reach Japanese company Marubeni Corporation.

The terminal can load 2.2 billion pounds of ethylene per year from two docks. The facility is connected with Enterprise Products Mont Belvieu complex in Texas. Currently, a new refrigerated storage tank is being built at the site with 66 million pounds of ethylene capacity, which is expected to be completed in the December quarter of this year. This move can ramp up the facilitys loading capacity rate to 2.2 million pounds of ethylene per hour.

Moreover, the partnership is further extending its pipeline and logistics system for ethylene in South Texas with two projects. It is developing a 24-mile pipeline connecting Mont Belview and Bayport, which will support the Morgans Point terminal. In addition to that, Enterprise Products is planning to develop the 90-mile Baymark Pipeline connecting Bayport to Markham. Both the pipelines are expected to come online in fourth-quarter 2020, which will help local producers to reach the partnerships trading hub easily.

The Morgans Point export facility taps domestic NGL growth, which is powered by the shale revolution. Owing to this, the United States became a global leader of ethylene output, which is vastly used in the petrochemical industry. Production of the organic compound is expected to surpass the 100 billion pound per annum mark by 2025. Moreover, rising production of petrochemical gases is expected to create a lot of skilled jobs in the locality.

The partnership has around 50,000 miles of pipelines, along with 260 million barrels of liquids and 14 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage capacity. The stock has risen 5.4% in the past year against the 3.9% decline of the industry it belongs to.

Story continues

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

The partnership currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the energy sector include CNX Resources Corporation CNX and Antero Midstream AM, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

CNX Resources earnings for the current year have witnessed four upward revisions in the past 60 days versus no movement in the opposite direction.

Antero Midstreams fourth-quarter 2019 earnings growth is expected to be 130%.

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TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Abacode, Inc., a Cybersecurity and Compliance services firm based in Tampa, FL, is excited to announce a $4.85 million Series A growth equity investment led by Ballast Point Ventures. Abacode will leverage the investment to scale its sales, security operations center and project execution teams, broaden its marketing efforts, and further enhance its technology-enabled service offering.

Abacode, a Managed Security Services Provider ("MSSP"), is a five-year-old company that is transforming the way businesses implement cybersecurity and compliance programs throughout the U.S. and abroad. Abacode has specific expertise in proactively monitoring, detecting, and responding to cyber threats in real-time through the Company's 24/7 Security Operations Center. Abacode also provides a suite of Governance, Risk, and Compliance ("GRC") Readiness services helping companies prepare for third-party audits and certifications. Among its many other professional services, the Company has a premier vulnerability assessment package along with digital forensic teams to assist companies in case of a suspected incident or breach. Abacode works with organizations ranging in size from mid-market businesses to publicly traded global enterprises.

CEO and Co-Founder Mike Ferris commented, "We are extremely excited to partner with Ballast Point Ventures as we continue our focus on building a world-class MSSP and invest heavily in scaling our service offerings. BPV was the right partner at the right time. Our visions are perfectly aligned in order to add unique value to our clients and partners alike."

Current and emerging compliance mandates are forcing companies to take a different approach to how they manage internal data risk and cybersecurity needs going forward. This reality, combined with the flood of new technology products in the marketplace, has added additional complexity and confusion and is one of the primary reasons organizations are working with Abacode. "It's very fulfilling to see so many market-leading companies reach out to us to help them consolidate their cybersecurity programs under one roof. Cybersecurity and compliance isn't just a component of what we do, it's our sole focus. We not only help drive enterprise strategy but also deliver and implement the most appropriate services and solutions. This is very unique in the market and the real value is providing client leadership a way to finally make holistic business-driven decisions instead of tactical product-driven decisions," said Ferris.

"The Abacode team has made great progress growing its customer base, service offering, and organization during the Company's short history," said Ballast Point Ventures' Sean Barkman, who will join the Abacode Board of Directors. "This is an exciting opportunity for BPV to partner with an impressive management team we have known for a few years now who are building a leading compliance-oriented cybersecurity business in a dynamic industry segment," Sean also commented.

About Abacode

Abacode is a Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP). The Company addresses client risk from a business strategy first and cyber technologies second (product agnostic) standpoint. This methodology ensures that technical and non-technical leadership teams are able to make unbiased business decisions that positively impact the entire organization. Abacode has become one of the fastest-growing MSSPs by empowering companies to have a Cyber Capability Maturity Model (CCMM) and consolidate all cybersecurity & compliance initiatives under one roof. Abacode has offices in the Americas and Europe. Learn more at https://abacode.com, https://www.linkedin.com/company/abacode-llc or [email protected].

About Ballast Point Ventures

Ballast Point Ventures, headquartered in Tampa, Florida, is a later-stage venture capital and growth equity fund founded in 2002 to provide expansion capital for rapidly growing, privately-owned companies, with a particular emphasis on companies located in Florida, the Southeast and Texas. The BPV partners have more than 80 years of combined experience investing in and building high-growth companies in several industries, including software, technology-enabled business services, and healthcare. Ballast Point Ventures has $360 million under management across three Funds and seeks to make initial equity investments ranging in size from $4 million to $10 million. For additional information, visit www.ballastpointventures.com.

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LIMERICK TD Maurice Quinlivan has said the Health Minister is living in cloud cuckoo land, and needs to come to Limerick to see the current overcrowding situation in University Hospital Limerick for himself.

Deputy Quinlivans call comes in the week where 92 people lay on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick  an all-time record high for any hospital in the State.

The Sinn Fein TD said: This is the highest number ever recorded in the state and it is a damning indictment of Fine Gaels health policies. For perspective, thats the same number of people packed into UHL on trolleys, as there are beds in Croom and Ennis hospitals combined, he added, its absolutely scandalous.

These arent just statistics, these are real people in need of urgent medical care.

The personal stories I am hearing every day from patients, and from families of loved ones are absolutely heart-breaking.

Minister Harris needs to get his head out of the sand, and travel to Limerick to meet with these people, he continued, adding that he needs to hear first-hand the desperate and tragic stories of people in Limerick who are really suffering due to this outrageous overcrowding.

We need urgent action now, not the usual spin and empty words from the Minister.

Minister Harriss comments suggesting he is now delivering a quality health service for Limerick and the mid-west is absolutely laughable.

Someone should probably inform Minister Harris that his two immediate predecessors were also Fine Gael Ministers; Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Senator James Reilly; and while we knew they didnt deliver for the mid-west, its refreshing to see he now agrees.

The health system in the mid-west has never been in such a bad state. In 2019 UHL had the highest number of patients ever recorded on trolleys in a single hospital, 13,941. A scandalous statistic, he added.

Harris is living in cloud cuckoo land if he thinks this is progress, he continued, people in Limerick are literally afraid of attending our main hospital due to the dangerous overcrowding. Fine Gaels health policy has been a catastrophic failure for Limerick and the mid-west

Its an outrageous situation which has been escalating in the last few years.

There were 63 patients of trolleys at UHL this Wednesday.
There will be more New Orleans in Huntsville soon, at least temporarily.

In 2014, Huntsville began hosting a Mardi Gras parade each year. Although the concept felt somewhat parachuted-in for the Rocket City, each year since thousands of locals enjoyed the floats and partying. The parade also raises funds for Blount Hospitality House, which provides lodging and supportive companionship for out-of-town relatives of patients in Huntsville area hospital. Bars and restaurants along the parades downtown route get a nice bump in business those days, too.

This year, a new free event, called Mardi Gras at MidCity, held the same day as Huntsville's parade, Feb. 22, brings legit music, food and culture to the mix.

The music headliner features New Orleans music royalty. Ivan Nevilles funk band Dumpstaphunk is a fixture of the local music scene/festivals there and performs the kind of jubilant, agile R&B Nevilles dad and uncles bands The Meters and Neville Brothers invented. Dumpstaphunks songs include Justice, a 2017 Trombone Shorty collabo. Neville is also a member of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards solo band, X-Pensive Winos.

Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk at the New Orleans Jazz FestNOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

Truckloads of New Orleans crawfish, po-boys, Pat OBriens Hurricanes, Manny Randazzo King Cakes, etc. are being brought in for MidCitys event, centered around charming intimate outdoor venue The Camp, address 5909 University Drive.

Food and beverage prices will range from $5 - $15.

A group of four Mardi Gras Indians, known for their flamboyant regalia and dancing, and a brass band will lead a second-line parade to kick things off, around 1 p.m. The second-line begins and ends at The Camp, located at the former Madison Square Mall site.

Live music onstage starts at 3 p.m. with a set from Huntsville funk combo The Quantaphonics. The lineup also boasts promising locals Lamont Landers Band (5 p.m.) and New Orleans group Flow Tribe (7 p.m.). Dumpstaphunk's set begins at 9 p.m. and will be punctuated with fireworks around 10:30 or 11 p.m.

So why is MidCity jumping on the Huntsville Mardi Gras bandwagon? Max Grelier and Remy Gross, co-founders of MidCity developed RCP Companies, were roommates at New Orleans' Loyola University. Both men have family roots down there too.

Max and Remy have a deep love for New Orleans culture having both spent portions of their lives there, says RCP project coordinator Nadia Niakossary. Max says he wants to make the Mardi Gras event one of MidCitys larger annual programs, incorporating authentic elements and bringing New Orleans culture to North Alabama.
A Delhi BJP leader on Thursday demanded action against a woman IPS officer for allegedly "mocking" Hindus on Twitter.

Aslam Khan, who has served as deputy commissioner in Delhi Police, however, claimed that her twitter handle was facing some problems and she had deleted the contentious tweet.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga had on Wednesday tweeted: "Leftists Are Cancer....." to which Khan had allegedly replied: "Can't we cure them with cow urine."



On Thursday, Bagga requested Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy to initiate action against Khan.

"@kishanreddybjp Ji this is not 1st time @aslam_IPS has bruised, mocked or contemptuous about other people's religion, specially Hindus. Just as candle cannot burn without fire, humans cannot live without a spiritual life. Officers like her must be punished as per the law of land," Bagga tweeted.

Khan said that her Twitter account was facing problems since December.

"I was facing problems in restoring my account since Dec 3rd week. Today it was brought to my notice that a tweet has been posted using my Twitter handle which was not done by me. Took up the matter with Twitter eeter and restored my acnt and deleted the said post," she said in a tweet.

However, Bagga urged Reddy to order a "fair investigation" into Khan's claim to reveal the "truth".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The caste (jati)-based practice of untouchability in India, shifting the focus from the victims of this practice, the ex-untouchables (Dalits), to the perpetrators, the non-Dalits is examined by identifying and disaggregating communities that continue to practise untouchability. The second wave of the India Human Development Survey data has been used to generate a socio-economic profile of those who practise untouchability in India, and check the hypothesis that households with a wider network outside the community than with one within the community are less likely to practise untouchability, and uses a logistic regression model to measure this effect at the all-India level.

India, the largest democracy of the world and the second most populated nation (comprising 17.5% of the worlds population) (Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India 2011), is also home to the largest concentration of Hindus in the world. According to the 2011 Census of India, the Hindu population is 79.8%. One of the defining features of the Hindu religion is the division of the Hindus into numerous jatis or castes. The Encyclopedia Britannica (2019) gives the following definition of the word jati: Jati, also spelled jat, refers to caste in Hindu society. The term is derived from the Sanskrit jata, born or brought into existence, and indicates a form of existence determined by birth. In Indian philosophy, jati (genus) describes any group of things that have generic characteristics in common. Sociologically, jati has come to be used universally to indicate a caste group among Hindus.
Texas teen arrested for sending mass shooting threat to church during worship service livestream

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A 19-year-old has been arrested for sending a mass shooting threat to a Texas church during a Sunday morning worship service.

The Liberty Police Department arrested Brady Michael Martinez of Kountze on Sunday afternoon on Charges of Terroristic Threat after he posted the mass shooting threat on Open House Ministries' Facebook page during their livestream.

Martinez will be transported back to Liberty County where he will face these charges. There is expected to be charges coming in Hardin County as well for a similar incident on the same day, the Liberty Police Department said in a statement posted on its Facebook page Monday.

In an earlier statement, the police department said they had conducted a Terroristic Threat Investigation connected to the threat Martinez sent to the church.

Initial investigation determined that a male identified as 19 year old from Kountze, Texas area made a comment on Facebook during a church service live stream causing a scare, authorities said in an earlier statement.

Officers with the city of Liberty Police Department and surrounding agencies arrived on scene and determined there was no active threat to the church members or public.

In a video posted on their Facebook page Sunday, Open House Ministries commended both their own building security team and the response of the local police department in the situation.

What happened this morning only happened because weve stirred the devil up, said pastor Donald Scott in the video. When you make him mad, hes going to show up and hes going to try to disrupt.

Scott went on to declare that he and his congregation are going to go on and they are going to keep doing what were doing.

In addition to the charges he's facing for the threat against Open House Ministries, Martinez faces misdemeanor charges for a similar incident against Crestwood Baptist Church in Hardin County, according to news station KBMT 12 News Now.

The threat against Open House Ministries came just a week after a gunman entered West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas, and killed two people before being killed himself by a security guard.

The gunman, identified as 43-year-old Keith Thomas Kinnunen, opened fire at West Freeway Church during a Dec. 29 worship service that was livestreamed on Facebook.

After murdering two men, Kinnunen was shot by Jack Wilson, a 71-year-old firearms instructor who also served as a reserve sheriffs deputy.

The events at West Freeway Church of Christ put me in a position that I would hope no one would have to be in, but evil exists and I had to take out an active shooter in church, Wilson said in a post on Facebook after the shooting.

Im thankful to GOD that I have been blessed with the ability and desire to serve him in the role of head of security at the church. I am very sad in the loss of two dear friends and brothers in CHRIST, but evil does exist in this world and I and other members are not going to allow evil to succeed.
No immediate military response for Iran form US: Donald Trump 09 January, 2020



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Woke Bingo WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Iran appeared to be "standing down" after missile strikes against Iraqi bases that caused no US casualties, indicating there would be no immediate new military response.



In a televised address to the nation from the White House, Trump emphasised that there were "no Americans harmed" in the salvo of missiles aimed at two bases.



While he promised to immediately impose "punishing" new economic sanctions against Iran, Trump welcomed signs that Iran "appears to be standing down" in the tit-for-tat confrontation, signalling that the United States did not plan a new military riposte. Trump closed his remarks by addressing Iranians directly, saying that he was "ready to embrace peace with all who seek it."



However, the US president, facing both an impeachment trial in Congress and a tough re-election in November, touted his decision to order the killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani last Friday -- the operation that prompted Tehrans missile strike.



Soleimani, a national hero in Iran, was "the worlds top terrorist" and "should have been terminated long ago," Trump said. Although Trump ended his remarks with the call for peace, he opened by stating bluntly that he would never allow Iran to procure a nuclear weapon. He then urged European allies and other world powers to follow Americas lead in abandoning a teetering international agreement on managing the countrys nuclear ambitions.



Irans missiles targeted the sprawling Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq and a base in Arbil, both housing American and other foreign troops deployed in a US-led coalition fighting the remnants of the Islamic State militant group. Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the missiles a "slap in the face" for the United States and indicated that more was to come."An important incident has happened. The question of revenge is another issue," Khamenei said in a speechbroadcast live on state television.



Iranian state television claimed that missile strikes on bases in Iraq killed 80 Americans, in a report citing what it called an informed Revolutionary Guards source.



"At least 80 American military (personnel) were killed in this attack," the state television website reported. In addition, it said, unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters and other military equipment had been severely damaged in the attack. The Revolutionary Guards source said at least 140 targets of the US and their allies had been identified in the region and would be attacked "if the Americans commit any kind of mistake again".



The office of Iraqs premier said it had received "an official verbal message" from Iran informing it that a missile attack on US forces was imminent. "Iraq rejects any violation of its sovereignty and attacks on its territory," the statement said, without specifically condemning the missile strikes.



Iraqi President Barham Saleh denounced the attack and said it rejected attempts to turn Iraq into a "battlefield for warring sides". Iraqs military said it sustained no casualties in 22 missile strikes, most of them hitting Ain Al-Asad.



"Ballistic missiles openly launched from Iran onto American targets is a new phase," said Phillip Smyth, an expert on Shiite militias. But as the dust settled, it appeared that Irans strike -- coming soon after the burial of General Soleimani at a funeral in front of vast crowds -- might have been more symbolic than anything.



Irans Revolutionary Guards Corps warned any US counter-attack would be met with an even "more crushing response" and threatened to strike Israel and Americas "allied governments."



However, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif seemed to indicate that Iran was satisfied for now. "Iran took and concluded proportionate measures in self-defence," Zarif said on Twitter.



Meanwhile, Cyprus said it had accepted a US request to station a rapid response team on the island in case American diplomatic personnel or civilians need to be evacuated amid rising US-Iranian tensions. Cyprus "gave its consent for the temporary stationing in Cyprus of a rapid response unit whose task will be to evacuate US diplomatic missions to the region, as well as US citizens, if necessary," said government spokesman Kyriacos Koushos.



He stressed that the request was accepted "for exclusively humanitarian operations". Koushos said the request was made through the US embassy in Nicosia.



The strikes sparked worldwide condemnation, including from Nato, Germany, France and the UK. France said its forces deployed in Iraq sustained no casualties while the UK was concerned about "reports" of victims as British troops are stationed there. The Norwegian military said coalition troops were warned of the attack in advance through intelligence channels.



The apparent de-escalation did not remove pressure from approximately 5,200 US troops stationed across Iraq, where Iran has close links to powerful armed Shiite militias. And Iranian allies in the country said they still intend to take revenge for Fridays US attack in which top Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was killed alongside Soleimani. Muhandis was the deputy head of Iraqs Hashed al-Shaabi, a military network incorporated into the Iraqi state whose factions are backed by Tehran.



Paramilitary chief Qais al-Khazali -- blacklisted as a "terrorist" by the US -- said his sides response to the United States "will be no less than the size of the Iranian response."



The Iraqi parliament has called for expulsion of US troops in the wake of the operation last week and there was embarrassing confusion at the Pentagon over the US response.
A mother may reportedly face legal action in North Korea after she failed to save the portraits of her countrys leaders in a house fire, despite getting her children out safely.

The unidentified woman is currently under investigation by the Ministry of State Security (MSS) for the Dec. 30 incident, according to Daily NK, a news outlet based in South Korea that reports on North Korea, which controls press coverage inside the dictator-run nation.

A source told the outlet that only the children were home when a fire broke out in the residence shared between two families. The mothers, who were out together with their husbands at the time of the incident, immediately rushed home when they learned of what happened.

As the flames engulfed the residence, the women reportedly attempted to save their children, according to Daily NK.

Though one of the mothers was able to successfully rescue her children, she apparently did not have time to also save the portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. She is now under investigation by the MSS and facing possible jail time, according to Daily NK.

RELATED: Trump Sets Foot in North Korea as Critics Slam Him for Getting Cozy with Dictator Kim Jong Un

The other mother was able to save her children and Kim family portraits after a young farmworker somehow managed to get the portraits out of the house, the Daily NK reported. Because of this, the second family is reportedly not under investigation.

According to the outlet, North Koreans who save the Kim familys portraits from fires are revered as heroes in their country. Meanwhile, those who fail to do so may face legal consequences.

In this particular case, a source told Daily NK that the young farmworker who rescued the portraits had recently been released from prison for a violent offense. Despite this, he is now reportedly being hailed as a hero for his actions.

RELATED VIDEO: Utah Student Missing Since 2004 Is Believed to Be in North Korea with a New Wife and Family

Story continues

The investigation by the MSS isnt the only problem that the one mother is currently facing. According to Daily NK, she has also been having trouble properly caring for her children, who were both hospitalized for their burns and require antibiotics.

Sources told the outlet that in the wake of the incident, the mother has been unable to obtain the prescribed medication to treat her childrens wounds due to the ongoing investigation.

Neighbors of the family have reportedly wanted to help by covering the cost of the medication. However, given North Koreas laws, they are reportedly hesitant to do so in fear that she will be charged with a political offense.

As of Tuesday, the mother still remained separated from her children, according to Daily NK.
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...The Flood Warning is extended for the following rivers in Kentucky...Illinois...Indiana... Ohio River at Olmsted Lock and Dam. Ohio River at Mount Vernon. Ohio River at Shawneetown. Ohio River at J.T. Myers Dam. Ohio River at Newburgh Dam. Ohio River at Paducah. ...The Flood Warning continues for the following rivers in Kentucky...Illinois...Missouri... Ohio River at Golconda. Ohio River at Cairo. .Heavy rainfall and recent snow melt will continue to keep water levels on the lower Ohio River in or near minor flood this week. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Motorists should not attempt to drive around barricades or drive cars through flooded areas. Caution is urged when walking near riverbanks. Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Additional information is available at www.weather.gov. && ...FLOOD WARNING NOW IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING... * WHAT...Minor flooding is forecast. * WHERE...Ohio River at Paducah. * WHEN...From this evening to late Wednesday evening. * IMPACTS...At 39.0 feet, Minor flooding occurs affecting mainly bottomland and surrounding low lying areas. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - At 11:00 AM CST Sunday the stage was 38.0 feet. - Forecast...The river is expected to rise above flood stage late this evening to a crest of 39.5 feet early tomorrow afternoon. It will then fall below flood stage Wednesday afternoon. - Flood stage is 39.0 feet. - http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood &&
Duane 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' Chapman defended his romance with his son's ex girlfriend Moon Angell on Wednesday, saying that he's an empty nester in need of companionship as he mourns his late wife Beth, who died last June after battling throat and lung cancer for two years.

'Who knows what my future holds, but right now I need her,' the reality TV personality, 66, told Radar. 'There will never be another Mrs. Dog but that doesn't mean I have to be so sad.'

The veteran bounty hunter praised Moon as 'a trustworthy and loyal friend to [him] for over 20 years,' and 'experienced' with him and the family dynamic.

The latest: Dog the Bounty Hunter, 66, defended his romance with his son's ex girlfriend Moon Angell on Wednesday, saying that he's in need of companionship as he mourns his late wife Beth. Dog on Tuesday posed in a selfie with Angell on Instagram.

'She has been with my family through many ups and downs,' the Dogs Most Wanted personality said. 'All my children are grown and gone on their own, there's no one left to help me!'

Chapman told the outlet he believes the lord answered his prayers in the wake of Beth's June 26 passing at the age of 51 at Queens Medical Center in Honolulu.

'I know Almighty God hears my broken heart and I didn't ask him for another Mrs. Chapman, but I asked him for a friend and He gave me Moon,' said Chapman, who on Tuesday posed in a selfie with Angell on Instagram.

The relationship between Dog and Angell is not a romantic one, an insider told People on Tuesday, calling her 'a family friend to Beth and Dog for years.

Not happy: Lyssa has called Angell 'disgusting' and slammed her for preying on a widower

All in the family: Lyssa has been seen on TV working with her dad in the past

'Since Beth's death, she has stepped in to help Dog in his time of need,' the insider said. 'There will never be another Beth.'

Chapman's statements came in the wake of bad blood between Angell and his daughter Lyssa, who called Angell 'disgusting' and has slammed her for preying on a widower in his most tender of times.

She added: 'Any person who moves in on a man weeks after losing his wife, who you were supposed to be a "friend" to, Is the lowest scum on the planet-Which for you wasnt that far of a step down from where you were before. God will get you MARY!!!'

Outspoken: Lyssa has gone public with her beliefs about Dog and Moon's relationship

Lyssa again referred to the relationship between Angell and her father in a tweet Monday.

'Happiness is granted to all, and all I wish is happiness for my family,' she said. 'When a person who has ill intentions, that my mother specifically warned me about before her passing tries to enter, the war is on.

She added: The devil ALWAYS goes for the weakest link. Not today satan.'

Staying strong: The widower said, 'There will never be another Mrs. Dog but that doesn't mean I have to be so sad'

Tragic: Beth died June 26 at Queens Medical Center in Honolulu following a two-year battle with throat and lung cancer

Lyssa, who's mother is Dog's third wife Lyssa Rae Brittain, later said that she entrusts her father to decide what is best for himself, but will not endorse any type of romantic relationship between the two.

'My dad is a GROWN A** MAN,' she said. 'His money. His dynasty.

'But you can guarantee that my name is not going down in history as a person who supported this.'
Envoys from 15 countries, including US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster, arrived on Thursday on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir

Srinagar: The National Conference (NC) on Thursday said it was "disappointed" with the way the government brought envoys from various countries to Jammu and Kashmir to "endorse" its "claims of normalcy" in the union territory.

The party alleged that the envoys have been brought to the Valley on a "guided tour", where access has been limited to "handpicked individuals who toe the government line". "The National Conference is disappointed with the way foreign envoys have been brought to the valley to endorse the Centre's claims of normalcy," it said.

Envoys from 15 countries, including US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster, arrived on Thursday on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the first visit by diplomats since August last year when the state's special status was revoked and it was downsized to a union territory.

"The NC wishes to ask these envoys that if the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is "normal", then why are scores of people, including three former chief ministers, under detention for almost 160 days and why have the people been denied access to the internet for over five months?" a statement issued by the party said.

The party described the visit of enjoys from 15 countries to Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday as a "repeat visit" of the European Members of Parliament to the erstwhile state earlier. The NC said while these visits may provide "short-lived propaganda victories", true normalcy will only be achieved when all detainees are released, communications and internet restored and "genuine" political activity resumed.

"While the rest of the country is told that peaceful dissent is the cornerstone of democracy, this right does not seem to extend to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Are the people of Jammu and Kashmir expected to live without the fundamental rights accorded to other Indian citizens?" it said.

Officials said envoys of several countries had requested the government for a visit to Kashmir to get a first-hand account of the situation in the Valley following the 5 August decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 and bifurcate it into union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

This is the second visit of a foreign delegation to Jammu and Kashmir since 5 August. Earlier, Delhi-based think tank International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies took 23 EU MPs on a two-day visit to assess the situation in the union territory. The government had distanced itself from the visit with Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy informing Parliament that the European parliamentarians were on a "private visit".
MADISON  Just shy of two years ago, this column explored the heightened importance of open government when public health is at risk. Multiple examples showed the government was not sharing timely information with the public, or even other branches of government, on issues such as clean drinking water and chronic wasting disease.

Some progress may be on the horizon, however. A bipartisan group of legislators has introduced a bill, AB 700, which would require the state Department of Natural Resources to notify counties within seven days when a water discharge permit-holder has violated groundwater quality standards. It also directs the department to create a notification system for other interested parties, such as residents, regarding the same violations.

Known as the Water Pollution Notification Act, the bill aims to prevent what happened in La Crosse in 2016. Then, La Crosse County health officials worked in vain for months to get information from the DNR about potential groundwater pollution from a local Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO). It turned out that pollution had been ongoing for years.

The bills co-author, Rep. Jill Billings, D-La Crosse, worked with county and DNR officials to draft the bill.

The intent of this legislation is not to go after farmers, Billings told Wisconsin Public Radio. It merely ensures that people who live near problem wells be notified so that they can test their wells and make sure that they have clean water.

This makes sense, and it is in keeping with the ideal of maximum transparency. As one county official expressed: We make decisions based upon the best information that we have available at any point. So there cannot be a decision made to notify the public if were not aware of a problem.

The bill is not limited to farm contamination; it would require disclosure of contaminants from industrial or other sources as well.

The bill is co-authored by Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, whose district has experienced groundwater pollution from a class of contaminants called PFAS, and who has criticized withholding information about groundwater pollution.

A similar bill was proposed in early 2018, but failed to pass. Lets hope this bipartisan effort fares better in 2020.

Sadly, not everyone agrees that sharing information about groundwater contamination is a good idea. Officials in Lafayette County were roundly criticized in November for proposing to prosecute media and discipline board members who reported results from a three-county groundwater study in a manner not favored by county officials. While that sweeping proposal did not pass, a scaled-back version received approval from a county committee, and some county officials still supported releasing results only to local media.

Scientists working on the study pushed back against the county proposal.

We are public employees, and our work is public work, said state geologist Ken Bradbury. We cannot choose to release some data to some parties and not to others.

Thats the spirit. Information about clean drinking water and clean air is of fundamental importance to the public. That alone is reason for proper communication about testing results, instead of trying to withhold studies that taxpayers are funding.

We hope policymakers resolve in 2020 to bring additional transparency to matters of public health.

Christa Westerberg, an attorney at Pines Bach law firm in Madison, is co-vice president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council (wisfoic.org), a group dedicated to open government. This is part of the groups monthly Your Right to Know column distributed by the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.
State senators pressured communication companies and regulators at a hearing this week about how to prevent the failures of the past fire season.

More than a million Californians lost cell phone, cable and landline service during PG&Es fire-prevention blackouts, despite promises by companies that they could maintain service. The network failures risked interfering with 911 calls and emergency evacuation notices.

This is really sort of a crisis situation because theres no way, no way, we should have another year like we did in 2019, California Governors Office of Emergency Services Director Mark Ghilarducci said at Wednesdays oversight hearing in the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee. Its unacceptable. We cant let that happen. Time is of the essence. We need to move forward with a definitive plan working together to get what we need.

Ghilarducci and Marybel Batjer, president of the California Public Utilities Commission, said companies need to be more tightly regulated with requirements to report outage information to first responders, provide backup power, and maintain networks in emergency conditions. Ghilarducci said companies should have backup power for three to seven days with permanent generators or solar power.

State Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, told state regulators he isnt confident the industry is going to move without a mandate. He said companies told representatives before last years shut-offs they were prepared for the worst  but when it happened, service failed across the state.

We need to be prepared for the worst, no matter if youre a cell or a cable provider, whether a power shut-off, an earthquake, a cyberattack, we have to be prepared with resilient and redundant systems, McGuire said.

Communication companies said Wednesday it was feasible to come up with a plan with the California Governors Office of Emergency Services to fix problems. The agency is already working on implementing a new law, sponsored by McGuire, to specify what companies need to report to first responders within an hour of an outage.

Service failures because of power outages arent new, but the need for a solution is more pressing as wildfires worsen and more shut-offs loom. After last years shut-offs, the utilities commission held a hearing that called for action and potential requirements for backup power and information sharing. The commission issued a ruling and will hold more hearings and possibly enact new regulations by next fire season. This year, the commission has new authority to regulate internet-powered landline phones.

The burden is on the communications providers and accountability and responsibility is on them to ensure the network is working, Ana Maria Johnson with the commissions Public Advocates Office said.

Communication companies said last years shut-offs were unprecedented.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

It is unfair and unreasonable of the Legislature and (commission) to allow the electric utilities to de-energize their network and expect that the communications network will keep working, said Carolyn McIntyre, president of the California Cable and Telecommunications Association.

McIntyre said its reasonable to provide backup power at main offices but almost impossible to back up as many as 50,000 smaller network hubs that serve about 300 households apiece. Powering them with generators would pose emissions, safety and quality-of-life concerns.

Jeff Luong, AT&Ts vice president of radio access network construction, said the companys plan is to build more than 1,000 fixed generators at new sites but the challenge to obtaining permits in California is a monumental undertaking that could take three to five years. He suggested streamlined permits. The company is also trying out hydrogen fuel cells and solar panels.

Jesus Roman, legislative counsel for Verizon, said the company was the first to come forward with data on specific numbers of cell towers down and would continue to do so.

Mallory Moench is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mallorymoench
WASHINGTON, DCDoes Donald Trumps response to Iran change, now that we know its missiles likely killed 176 people, including 63 Canadians?

Some experts who spoke to the Toronto Star say probably not.

I dont think its going to have a major impact in changing the basic calculus of both Trump and the supreme leader, says Aaron David Miller, an expert on the Middle East and U.S. Foreign Policy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Some Canadians might have hoped it would, especially as the stories of the civilians who died roll in, and the shock of the news that it was likely caused  perhaps unintentionally, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday  by a surface-to-air missile.

A day earlier when Trump announced what amounted to a military de-escalation with Iran, it appeared that the death toll of the standoff between the two countries would be no more than the handful of people directly targeted by the U.S. No Americans or Iraqis were killed by Tuesdays Iranian missile strikes on Iraq bases where U.S. and its allies were housed. The crash of the Ukrainian jet was not clearly linked to the standoff between the two nations.

But that changed when Trudeau became the first world leader to publicly acknowledge that intelligence reports suggest Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was hit by an Iranian missile.

Tom Karako, who heads the missile defence project for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says the U.S. approach likely wont be changed by the latest intelligence.

From a policy perspective, I dont think youre gonna see a big change on the part of the United States, because although this is a tragedy, its not something that could or I think should disrupt the relationship between the United States and Iran. Its a tragic situation, he said, I think it would be another tragedy if the United States were to, you know, ramp things up just as theyre cooling off.

It appears most likely to Karako that this was accidental in some way, either due to technological limitations or factors stemming from being on a heightened state of alert as Iran had just attacked the U.S. military.

Miller, who worked for the U.S. State Department on Middle Eastern issues between 1978 and 2003, says that rather than leading to any immediate military escalation, the Americans can use it to bolster their own political narrative.

I think this will play to what I guess the Pentagon would call the psy-ops, psychological warfare, component of what is going to be an intensely competitive, combustible U.S.-Iranian relationship, Miller said. But its largely in the political, PR domain.

Its simply going to put additional pressure on the Iranians, who unless they fess up very quickly, are going to play into the hands of anyone who was prepared to basically say, You see? Which is where the administration will likely go with it. This is a lying, perfidious regime who, you know, claims great competency in shooting ballistic missiles at American forces in Iraq and yet demonstrates callous disregard for civilian life. Thats the way its going to be pitched. And they wont necessarily be wrong.

Karako also stressed that theres a strong onus on Iran now to admit to what it knows about the situation and make amends.

I would point to the fact when the United States accidentally shot down an Iranian jetliner 1980s, at a state of heightened tension between the two countries, the United States acknowledged it, fessed up and then paid compensation to the victims, Karako said.

The Iranian leaders, the foreign minister and the Ayatollah, what have they been doing the past couple days? Theyve been quoting the UN Charter and talking all this language about proportionality and taking on the trappings of being a normal nation. Well, if they want to be a normal nation, now would be a good time to take responsibility for their actions. And to acknowledge what happened, explain what happened, turn over the black boxes, and then frankly compensate the victims.

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Australian supermarket Coles has announced it will triple the half a million dollars donated by customers for bushfire victims.

The supermarket giant started collecting donations from patrons at checkouts at 800 stores in November for the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund.

On Thursday, Coles pledged $2 for every one of the $522,010 given by customers, taking the donation to more than $1.5million.

The bushfires have killed 27 people, razed more than six-million hectares of land and destroyed almost 2,000 homes so far.

Firefighters are pictured with Coles employees at Batemans Bay after receiving donated groceries

Coles CEO Steven Cain said employees were overwhelmed with customers wanting to provide meaningful support.

'It's been a devastating start to the year for families and communities across Australia affected by the bushfires,' he said.

'We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the people affected, including a number of our own Coles team members who have lost their homes.

'We thank our customers for their incredible generosity at this very difficult time.'

RFS members are pictured with Coles employees with crates of food and water donations

The donation is in addition to the $3million in gift cards Coles gave to rural fire brigades.

Liquorland, First Choice and Vintage Cellars have joined with Coles to take donations for the recovery fund.

The majority of permanent Coles team members already have access to unlimited paid leave to participate in emergency response efforts.

The company also increased paid emergency services leave available for other permanent team members to 20 days.
Total positive effect on Ukraine's economy from gas transit during five years to be some UAH 150 bln  GTSOU head

The total positive effect on Ukraine's economy from the contracts on extension of transit of natural gas signed on December 30, 2019 during five years is estimated at some UAH 150 billion, Head of Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) LLC Serhiy Makogon has said

"We have calculated that the total positive effect on the economy during five years, apart from the revenue from transit itself, will be around UAH 150 billion," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.

It was also said that thanks to the preservation of transit, in particular, entry tariffs for the gas transmission system (GTS) for mining companies will not be significantly increased, which in turn will lead to subsequent savings by industry and the country's population. The tariff for entering the Ukrainian GTS also affects the final cost of gas imported by the country.

"That is, mining companies will be able to invest about UAH 1 billion in their development and increase production of Ukrainian gas," Makogon said.

At the same time, the total revenue of GTSOU in five years will be about UAH 115 billion, and most of it will be from the transit component.

As reported, transit of natural gas through the GTS of Ukraine on January 1, 2020 amounted to 49.3 million cubic meters, which is 81.1% less than the average daily rate for December 2019 (261 million cubic meters), or 77.8% lower compared to December 31 (220.1 million cubic meters).

The transit contract concluded in 2009 between Naftogaz Ukrainy and NJSC Gazprom expired at 9:00 on January 1, 2020. A new agreement between Naftogaz and Gazprom on the organization of transportation, a transport agreement between Naftogaz and GTSOU, as well as an interconnection agreement between GTSOU and Gazprom were signed late on December 30, 2019, following the results of the trilateral gas negotiations between Ukraine, Russia and the European Commission.

The agreement provides for the transit of at least 65 billion cubic meters of Russian gas in 2020, which is 178 million cubic meters per day. In 2021-2024, transit will amount to 40 billion cubic meters. Payment for these volumes is guaranteed even in case of less pumping through the Ukrainian GTS.
The U.S. militarys Jan. 3 airstrike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani and the subsequent Iranian missile strikes on two Iraqi air bases that host U.S. forces have placed Washington and Tehran on the brink of war and focused attention on Iranian military capabilities.

Here is what the armed forces of the United States longtime rival in the Middle East look like.

How is Irans military organized?

Technically Iran has two militaries: the Artesh, which is the regular military that traces its lineage back to the 1920s, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was created in the wake of the 1979 revolution that brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power and established the Islamic Republic. The Artesh is tasked with defending the homeland, and the IRGC is in charge of preserving, protecting and defending the Islamic Revolution, said Behnam Ben Taleblu, an expert on the Iranian military at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Since its creation in 1990, the Quds Force has been responsible for building up, advising and supplying the various Shiite militias that act as surrogates for Iran across the Middle East. Its closeness to the regime and perceived ideological purity means the IRGC has the larger share of the military budget and gets the better equipment, making it the star of Irans military, Taleblu said. Nested inside the IRGC is the Quds Force, which Soleimani commanded and which combines intelligence collection, covert action and special operations missions.

Iranian troops march outside of Tehran in April 2019. (Photo: Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

How many people are in the Iranian armed forces?

The Artesh has a strength of 420,000, the vast majority of whom (350,000) are in the Islamic Republic of Iran Ground Force, the remainder being split between its air force (37,000), navy (18,000) and air defense force (15,000), according to Iran Military Power, an in-depth overview published last year by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. The IRGC ground force has an estimated 150,000 troops, its navy has 20,000 personnel, while 15,000 are assigned to its aerospace force.

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Iranian warships sail in the Sea of Oman during joint Iran, Russia and China naval war games on Dec. 28, 2019. (Photo: Iranian Army via AP)

The Quds Force, although the best-known Iranian military element abroad, is by far its smallest, with an estimated 5,000 personnel. However, through its vast network of Shiite militias, the Quds Force adds tens of thousands of fighters to Irans real combat strength. The Quds Force, for example, has managed Irans role in the Syrian war, which together with Russias intervention in that conflict, enabled Bashar Assad to remain in power.

To fill their ranks, the Artesh and the IRGC both rely on Irans universal conscription, which requires men over the age of 18 to serve for two years in a branch of the security services.

What type of military gear does Iran use and where is it from?

The Artesh and the IRGC are equipped with a mix of Soviet/Russian, Chinese and American equipment, the latter dating back to the United States support of Shah Reza Pahlavi. It is a grade-A 1970s military, Taleblu said. This means, according to Iran Military Power, that the Islamic Republic is the only country in the world still flying U.S.-made F-14 Tomcats, which form part of a motley fleet of fixed-wing attack aircraft that also includes U.S. F-4 and F-5 fighters, Russian MiG-29 Fulcrums and Su-24 Fencers and Chinese F-7 Airguards. (Iran gained some of its Russian-made aircraft when the Iraqi military flew at least 115 jets to Iran during the first Gulf War).

Iran's F-14 fighter jets fly during the annual Army Day military parade in Tehran in April 2012. (Photo: Atta Kenare AFP/GettyImages)

Irans ability to modernize its armed forces has been hobbled by a Western arms embargo and a United Nations ban on selling conventional weapons to the Islamic Republic. However, according to Taleblu, the U.N. ban is scheduled to end in October. There is much speculation as to when the arms ban lapses, what will Iran do, he said. Some people say that Iran will go on a shopping spree and become a conventional military power overnight. But according to Taleblu, it is more likely that Iran will continue its policy of selective modernization, focusing on capabilities like cruise missiles.

What are Irans military strengths and weaknesses?

Irans military strength does not lie in its conventional forces, despite their size, something that Iranian leaders fully realize, according to Taleblu. Never have I seen a country more cognizant of its conventional military deficiencies, he said. Irans leaders know their obsolescent fleets of aircraft and armored vehicles are no match for the modern equipment fielded by their Arab rivals, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, let alone Western armed forces. Out of necessity, therefore, Iran has focused its resources and energies on developing what the Pentagon calls asymmetric capabilities that allow Iran to counter its enemies strong conventional forces. These capabilities include the Quds Force and its network of Shiite militias, as well as what a Brookings Institution report described as the largest and most diverse missile force in the Middle East.

Iranian servicemen on a BTR-80 amphibious armored personnel carrier. (Photo: Vitaly Nevar/TASS via Getty Images)

Dating back to the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, there has been an aura about missiles in Iranian political and military culture, Taleblu said. In an indication of their value to the regime, the missiles fall under the control of the IRGCs air force, not the regular military.

The longest-range ballistic missiles in Irans inventory have a range of about 2,000 kilometers, meaning they can target locations virtually anywhere in the Middle East and as far away as Russia, India, western China and southeastern Europe, according to Iran Military Power. Irans missiles are both military weapons and political weapons, said Taleblu, adding that simply developing and flight-testing the missiles was designed to send a political message, while their use, particularly in the hands of Irans proxy forces in the region, is designed to affect local outcomes.

A Sayyad 2 missile is fired by the Talash air defense system during drills in an undisclosed location in Iran in 2018. (Photo: Iranian Army via AP)

The missile force has delivered a high return on investment, according to Taleblu. By investing in something like ballistic missiles, which can be relatively cheap, it can force its adversaries to spend larger sums of money on ballistic missile defense, he said.

Lacking a modern air force, Iran has embraced ballistic missiles as a long-range strike capability to dissuade its adversaries in the region  particularly the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia  from attacking Iran, says Iran Military Power. It was missiles from this arsenal that Iran used Tuesday night to strike at U.S. forces at Erbil and al-Asad air bases in Iraq. The strikes caused no U.S. casualties, but satellite photographs appear to show significant damage to the bases, giving an indication of the missiles accuracy.

Irans strategy for the past 20 years has been to use its asymmetric capabilities to bait and bleed America in different theaters in the Middle East, Taleblu said. In this kind of fighting, raw capability  numbers, assets  matters a lot less than resolve.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attends a military parade held to mark the National Army Day in Tehran in April 2019. (Photo: Iranian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is encouraged by US President Donald Trump's latest statement on Iran, the UN chief's spokesman said.

"We welcome any statement that shows that there is a step away from escalation and from direct confrontation," said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, on Wednesday, when asked whether the secretary-general was encouraged by Trump's statement, Xinhua news agency reported.



In a televised White House address after Iran launched ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing US troops in retaliation for the U.S. killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, Trump said he would impose additional sanctions against Tehran, but also indicated de-escalation.





Trump said in the remarks that "Iran appears to be standing down," calling it "a good thing" for all parties concerned.



"Finally, to the people and leaders of Iran: We want you to have a future and a great future ... and harmony with the nations of the world. The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it," said Trump.



"Tens of thousands of ISIS (Islamic State) fighters have been killed or captured during my administration. ISIS is a natural enemy of Iran. The destruction of ISIS is good for Iran, and we should work together on this and other shared priorities," he added.



Dujarric said: "We welcome any indication that leaders are walking back from major confrontation, and are doing whatever they can to avoid any further escalation."



In a statement earlier Wednesday, Dujarric said the UN secretary-general will continue to mediate.



"For his part, the secretary-general will continue his active engagement with relevant actors. It is our common duty to make every effort to avoid a war in the Gulf that the world cannot afford. We must not forget the terrible human suffering caused by war. As always, ordinary people pay the highest price," he said in the statement.



The US Pentagon on Tuesday confirmed that Iran had launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against at least two military bases housing US and coalition forces in Iraq. Trump said Wednesday that there were no casualties on the US side.



Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps claimed responsibility for the missile attacks, saying that they were meant to retaliate the US killing of Soleimani in Iraq.
President Trump's decision to kill the terrorist Qassem Soleimani reveals how alienated Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) is from America. Normally, a young woman who was welcomed into this country as a refugee and then ascended to one of the highest offices in the land might show some gratitude for its stand against the same kind of fanaticism that drove her out of her homeland. Not Omar, though. She has nothing but disdain.

Omar's latest anti-American behavior occurred during a press conference on Wednesday, when Omar and Rashida Tlaib were seen laughing and joking as Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) somberly discussed American casualties in the Iraq War. It was disconcerting to watch Lee state, "We left four thousand plus, maybe even forty four hundred dead, and over sixty thousand who came back injured in some form, and the war never ended" while Omar giggled, then turned to Tlaib, and shared a joke with her:

Ilhan Omar laughs and jokes around as her colleague discusses U.S. casualties in Iraqhttps://t.co/LfpLyXLPQG pic.twitter.com/R28SVlIqq5  RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 8, 2020

When it was Omar's turn at the microphone during the same press conference, she asserted that her responses to President Trump's strike against Soleimani had triggered her PTSD:

Rep. Ilhan Omar complained shes stricken with PTSD because of recent events in the Middle East.



This is a disgrace and offensive to our nations veterans who really do have PTSD after putting their life on the line to keep America safe. pic.twitter.com/twhZDuUDu0  Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) January 8, 2020

I feel ill a little bit because of everything that is taking place. And I think every time I about ... I hear of conversations around war, I find myself being stricken with PTSD. And I find peace knowing that I serve with great activists for peace and people who have shown courage against war.

In response to Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), a veteran, having called her out, Omar responded that she came by her PTSD honestly, thanks to a childhood in Somalia:

Hi Jim,



I survived war as a child and deal with post-traumatic stress disordermuch like many who have served or lived through war.



Its shameful that you as a member of Congress would erase the PTSD of survivors. pic.twitter.com/QdDBKDSOCS  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 8, 2020

The obvious answer, of course, is that if Omar suffers from PTSD such that any mention of war triggers it, leaving her emotionally weak, she should never have entered the race for Congress. She has admitted that she is incapable of handling her job.

But that's not really what's going on, and everyone knows it. What riles Omar is that Trump is taking a firm stance against Iran, the world leader in Islamic terrorism. From the moment Soleimani was killed, she has issued tweet after tweet railing against Trump and supporting Iran. In these tweets, she's revealed her hostility to American norms and her ignorance about the Constitution.

Ilhan began by parroting the Democrat line that killing a terrorist on Iraqi soil was an act of war:

We are outraged the president would assassinate a foreign official, possibly setting off another war without Congressional authorization and has zero plan to deal with the consequences.



But of course you know that. https://t.co/GzfdKilV4t  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 3, 2020

She insulted Trump:

Trump and his followers will just say our allies are siding with our enemies.



But we know they are abandoning an irrational and incoherent man who has no ability to be the leader of the free world! https://t.co/sDQlZu0Wrc  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 4, 2020

She invoked the 25th Amendment because Trump tweeted, without any further elaboration, that Iran's cultural sites were targets.

The President of the United States is threatening to commit war crimes on Twitter.



God help us all! #25thAmendment https://t.co/nYZSvpo8rG  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 5, 2020

As an aside, Trump's tweet was bluster, and Trump-watchers know it. We also understand two other things: First, there's a difference between Persepolis and a palace the despotic mullahs have built to their own glory. Second, one of the first things Islamic conquerors do is destroy icons of the culture they conquered (e.g., destroying statues, destroying ancient ruins, turning churches into mosques, defiling churches, trying to destroy Jewish civilization in Jerusalem). Trump was speaking in Islam's language when he made his threat.

Omar believes that it is Congress's job to "stop a war."

This is a major test for our country.



Will we allow decades of executive overreach and militarism to continue? Or will Congress step in and perform our Constitutional role to stop a war? The world is watching.  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 5, 2020

A final example of Omar's political agenda is her outrage over sanctions meant to change Iran's terrorism policy:

This makes no sense. Sanctions are economic warfare.



They have already caused medical shortages and countless deaths in Iran.



You cannot claim to want deescalation and then announce new sanctions with no clear goal. This is not a measured response! https://t.co/sGWtwXuNDT  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 8, 2020

At a hearing last week, Ms. Omar spoke out forcefully against Israel, and the resolution. "We should condemn in the strongest terms violence that perpetuates the occupation, whether it is perpetuated by Israel, Hamas or individuals," she said. "But if we are going to condemn violent means of resisting the occupation, we cannot also condemn nonviolent means."

If nothing else, the last two weeks have revealed Omar for what she is: someone who is ignorant about American institutions, holds maniacal hatred for President Trump, and supports "Death to America" Iran. Given all that, her PTSD claim rings hollow.
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The Shiv Sena on Thursday hit out at BJP leader and former CM Devendra Fadnavis for targeting Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over the "Free Kashmir" placard displayed by a woman at a protest in Mumbai against the JNU violence.

When Mehek Prabhu, a Marathi woman from Mumbai stood up for the pain of Kashmiris by holding the placard, the opposition termed it as "sedition, the Shiv Sena said, adding that there cannot be a "dirtier example of irresponsibility".

In remarks laced with sarcasm, an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said the placard "shocked the opposition leaders and awakened the nationalist sentiment in them."

"They attacked Chief Minister Thackeray and asked how this anti-national activity can happen right under his nose. The allegation was so frivolous that the opposition leaders made a mockery of themselves," it said.

"This is not good for the state...we are worried for the opposition," the Shiv Sena tauntingly said.

After the placard with "Free Kashmir" message was seen at the protest at Gateway of India here against the JNU violence, Fadnavis had asked what exactly was the protest for and if Chief Minister Thackeray will tolerate this "anti-India campaign" right under his nose.

The Sena said Mehek Prabhu, a Maharashtrian, came out before TV channels after her placard kicked up a row and gave her side of the story, saying her intention was about freeing Kashmir from communication restrictions faced by people there.

"A Mumbaikar Marathi woman could understand the pain of Kashmiris. The opposition feels this is sedition. There can't be a dirtier example of irresponsibility," it said.

"If the opposition and its supporters feel expressing yourself fearlessly is sedition, it is not good for them (opposition) and the country. The opposition has fallen flat on its face after Mehek Prabhu's clarification," the Marathi publication said.

It also asked former chief minister Fadnavis to exercise caution and restrain, and respect his current post as leader of opposition (LoP) in the Assembly.

"We understand his pain. He should apply balm on his wounds and stay quiet for sometime," it quipped.

The Sena said the opposition BJP "needs counselling" as it has become "directionless" since Fadnavis became LoP.

Everyday, the Fadnavis-led opposition feels the state government will collapse and they would return to power, the Shiv Sena said.

"The opposition raises flimsy issues in an attempt to corner the Uddhav Thackeray-led government. But nothing of this sort will happen. In fact, the three parties (Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress- allies in the state government) will come closer and become stronger," it asserted.

The Shiv Sena asked the BJP to organise a counselling workshop on "duties and responsibilities of opposition" at Rambhau Mhalgi Prabhodini, a RSS-affiliated research institute located in niehgbouring Thane district.

It also took a dim view of BJP leader Chandrasekhar Bawankule asking Congress' Vijay Wadettiwar to join the saffron party, amid speculations that the latter was upset with the portfolio allocated to him in the Thackeray-led state government.

"This is too much. Did Bawankule quit the BJP and join the Congress after he was denied ticket in the Assembly polls (held in October last year)?" the Sena asked.

Maharashtra cannot afford loss of face and trust of the opposition parties, it added.
Netflix has been ordered to remove a programme portraying Jesus as a gay man from its streaming service by a Brazilian judge.

A Rio-based Catholic organisation brought the case arguing 'The First Temptation of Christ', which shows Jesus introducing his implied boyfriend to his family, hurt the 'honour' of millions of Catholics.

Two million people signed a petition to have the show, produced as a Christmas special, removed after it was uploaded.

The production company, Porta dos Fundos, had molotov cocktails hurled at its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro on Christmas Eve.

Netflix has said it will not comment on the judgement.

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Netflix was ordered to take the show off its platform by a Brazilian judge who alleged that the right to freedom of expression 'is not absolute'

The First Temptation of Christ, pictured, appears to show Jesus introducing his 'boyfriend' to his family on his 30th birthday

Judge Benedicto Abicair, ruling in Rio de Janeiro, said the programme's censorship will be 'beneficial' to the Christian community and Brazilian society.

'The right to freedom of expression ... is not absolute,' he said. 'I understand, yes, that there must be reflection so that excesses do not occur, avoiding nefarious consequences for many, due to eventual foolishness by a few.

'Exhibiting the 'artistic production' ... may cause graver and more irreparable damage than its suspension.'

The decision has been condemned as censorship by The Order of Attorneys of Brazil, the Brazilian Bar Association.

'Any form of censorship or threat to this hard-won freedom means a setback, and cannot be accepted by society,' Felipe Santa Cruz, the Order's president, said in a statement.

The injunction is valid until the merits of the lawsuit are determined.

The studio of the show's creator, Porta dos Fundos, was attacked by three masked men in Rio de Janeiro last month (pictured)

They hurled at least one molotov cocktail at the building and set fire to its entrance (pictured). The judge granted an injunction after it was initially turned down on appeal

The three men claiming responsibility for the attack (pictured) in a video on social media

The injunction was initially denied by a lower court but, after Catholic organisation Centro Dom Bosco de Fe e Cultura appealed, it was successful. Two million people signed a petition calling for its removal.

Three masked men attacked the headquarters of the show's creators in Rio de Janeiro last month.

Footage shows three masked men claiming responsibility for the attack, while CCTV caught them hurling Molotov cocktails at the building.

An image posted on social media afterwards alleged they only damaged the entrance-way.

One man suspected of having been part of the attack has fled to Russia, and Brazilian authorities have issued a request for the international police organisation Interpol to help apprehend him.

The three men were alleged to have only done damage to the backdoor of the HQ (pictured)

Brazil is home to the world's largest Catholic population as well as a growing evangelical Christian community supportive of the right-wing government of President Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro once said he would rather have a dead son than a gay son.

His son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, has called the Porta dos Fundos' show 'garbage' on his Twitter account, saying the filmmakers 'do not represent Brazilian society'.
Izzy Judd has shared a heartfelt message and sweet snap with her brother Rupert who suffered a serious head injury in a car accident in 1997.

The musician, 35, who is married to McFly drummer Harry, admitted that she had 'lost her way' with visiting her sibling with the 'sadness of it all just being too much in the midst of becoming a mum myself.'

She added that although he lives in a residential home with 24-hour care, Rupert can 'light up any room' and 'finds humour in any situation'.

Sibling love: Izzy Judd, 35, has shared a sweet snap with her older brother Rupert, who has a brain injury, and revealed that she 'lost her way' with visiting him over the past year

Izzy also praised her parents in the touching Instagram post, writing that she has 'so much admiration for my their love and strength'.

She wrote: 'As we drove home on Sunday I couldnt help but find my thoughts turning to my parents, the emotion of it all feeling even more painful, to think of what they have been through and continue to go through must be unbearable, their first born, their son.

'Living with grief and watching Rupert living a life he wasnt supposed to live, wishing they could change it and make it all better.'

The proud sister also wrote how Rupert is 'an inspiration and a reminder to live life every single day' and said she is 'eternally grateful to Rupert for being such a fighter'.

Proud: The musician, who is married to McFly drummer Harry (pictured together), said she is 'eternally grateful to Rupert for being such a fighter'

Izzy could be seen embracing her big brother in the sweet snap of them outside a bowling alley, both with large smiles on their faces.

Violinist Izzy, who is mother to Lola and Kit, has spoken about Rupert's brain injury before and wrote about him for the Daily Mail in 2017.

The younger sister, who also has brothers Magnus and Guy, explained how she believed Rupert's accident was the 'catalyst for me developing the anxiety.'

Izzy wrote: 'On 7 February 1997, two weeks before my 13th birthday, everything changed. My eldest brother Rupert had an accident that has had a deep and lasting effect on my family, and I believe that this was the catalyst for me developing the anxiety that has been a companion for much of my life.

Proud sister: Izzy also praised her parents in the heartfelt post, writing that she has 'so much admiration' for their 'love and strength'

'Inspiration': Izzy added that she feels 'eternally grateful' for her brother, who is a 'fighter'

'Rupert was 18 and studying at Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. He was wild and charismatic, talented, energetic and full of life.

'It was Rupert who gave me my nickname Izzy. My birth name is Brittany but when I was young Mum used to say a little rhyme to me: Izzy whizzy, lets get busy. Rupert couldnt say Brittany, so he picked up on Izzy and it stuck.'

Discussing the night of his accident, Izzy said that Rupert had been out with pals but later decided to drive to Somerset, which was two and a half hours away, to see one of their cousins.

Family: Violinist Izzy is married to drummer Harry and they have two children, Lola and Kit

After arriving at roughly 1am Rupert stayed for around an hour before heading back to Harpenden in Hertfordshire as he had a horn lesson at the Guildhall later that day.

Izzy said: 'Many days later, we learned that Ruperts music teacher had left a message to say that the lesson was cancelled. But Ruperts phone was out of battery and he never received it.'

She then explained that the family believe Rupert started driving back at about 3am and was only ten minutes from home when he drove into the back of an articulated lorry.

Candid: The couple have always spoken openly about parenthood and their struggles with anxiety, with Harry previously revealing he often feels guilty for being a 'working dad'

She said: 'We think he probably fell asleep at the wheel but well never know. He was dead at the scene but was brought back to life by a defibrillator.'

After the accident Rupert had to give up his musical career and be cared for in a residential home.

However Izzy wrote in her Instagram message on Wednesday that she is still grateful that her brother is 'such a fighter'.

She said: 'However much I wish he hadnt had to go through such trauma and that his life and freedom hadnt been taken away from him, I feel eternally grateful to Rupert for being here, for being such a fighter, such and inspiration and a reminder to live life every single day and to not care about what others think. Just be yourself and keep telling those you love how much they mean to you.'

Doting: Izzy said it had become too 'sad' to see her brother after becoming a mother herself in the Instagram post (pictured with her children Lola and Kit)

Harry and Izzy have always been open about their lives, with them previously discussing parenting with anxiety and the dangers of social media.

The McFly star and his musician turned writer wife spoke out on the pressures of 21st century parenting as part of their new #ThisIsParenthood project with WaterWipes.

Izzy has been open about living with anxiety since she was a teenager, with Harry admitting that hearing his wife say she felt she was 'failing' as a mother during the early days of parenthood, was heartbreaking.

'We're sharing the realities of parenthood, there's been some scary statistics uncovered by WaterWipes and a particular one that stood out for me was that two thirds feel they're failing,' Izzy explained.

Family-of-four: Harry and Izzy have both spoke candidly about their journey to parenthood in the past after they struggled to conceive using IVF for their daughter

'Certainly after Lola was born I was suddenly thrown into this world of being a mum and feeling like I'm not doing a good enough job.'

Harry thinks social media is partly to blame for these feelings of failure, pointing out that 'a lot of the way parents are portrayed these days is through social media by people of influence or even if it's just your friends and family.'

He said one of the reasons he and Izzy are both so open about the tougher times when raising children is because they don't want to contribute to the pressure on parents.

'I heard Izzy so many times in the first year of being a mum say "Oh my god I've failed". That genuine feeling that she'd failed.'

'Hopefully I was able to reassure her. That has made us both conscious now to not put across this message of "Oh haven't we got this amazing life", which we have but there's a reality too.'
The pan-European Stoxx 600 gained around 0.3% higher at the closing bell, with tech and telecoms stocks adding more than 1% while basic resources slid 0.8%.

It comes after comments from President Donald Trump which served to cool panic over rising tensions in the Middle East. Trump said Wednesday that Tehran "appears to be standing down" following missile strikes on Iraq airbases housing U.S. troops in retaliation to the killing of Iran's top military general, Qasem Soleimani.

Trump added Washington would "immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime" and called on U.S. allies including Britain, Germany and France to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and work to form a new agreement.

Separately, a report out Wednesday said two rockets hit the Green Zone in Baghdad, a day after the Iran retaliatory attacks. But Iraq's military reportedly said there were no casualties.

China announced on Thursday that Vice Premier Liu He will travel to Washington to sign the much-touted "phase one" trade deal with the U.S. next week, cementing Beijing's commitment to the formalization of the deal.

Stocks on Wall Street reached record highs on Thursday as investor sentiment was lifted by apparently easing tensions between Washington and Tehran.

Back in Europe, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that the U.K. would find it "basically impossible" to negotiate all aspects of its future relationship with the EU by the end of 2020. The bloc's recently appointed leader also said the relationship between the two countries "cannot and will not be the same as before."

As for economic data, German factory output posted its biggest increase in a year and a half in November, rising 1.1% on the month to beat expectations and provide a signal that Europe's largest economy gained momentum at the end of 2019.
Michael's responsibilities include establishing the global Mapp brand and expanding the insight-based customer engagement platform to respond to constantly evolving customer needs. His expertise in data analysis and customer intelligence built while leading at Webtrekk, will play a key role in the further development of Mapp's service portfolio. In his new position, Michael oversees eight countries.

At Webtrekk, Michael held various positions, first as Senior Consultant Digital Analytics and since 2015 as Head of Pre-Sales Consulting. He accompanied the Berlin-based company through a phase of exceptionally strong growth that contributed to the acquisition by Mapp. Previously, he worked at IT news portal WinFuture.de and digital agency Aperto, among others.

Steve Warren, CEO of Mapp, comments: "Michael is the perfect addition to our global leadership team. As a high-profile data expert and proven expert on the European marketing landscape, he will significantly increase Mapp's profile and further develop our cross-channel marketing offering to ensure that our platform optimally meets our customers' requirements."

Michael Diestelberg adds: "I am very excited to share my long experience in analytics with Mapp's global team and set the course for sustainable international success. As part of my role, I will complete the integration of Webtrekk's innovative Customer Intelligence technology into Mapp's product offering and align it with marketing analytics for the benefit of our customers."

About Mapp

Marketers and data specialists should be able to focus on what will make a difference for their business, instead of spending all their time taming the technology behind it. With the insight-led customer engagement platform Mapp Cloud, they can focus on what really counts  and the exciting insights that come with it. Thanks to customer intelligence and marketing analytics, companies can easily and effectively gain data-driven customer insights across all channels in order to trigger highly personalized marketing activities. Customers benefit from AI-supported forecasting models that enable targeted and self-optimizing cross-channel campaigns. Automated messages are sent via the most suitable marketing channel, at the right time, with the optimal contact frequency. Thanks to advanced one-to-one personalization, the highest levels of engagement and long-term customer loyalty are achieved.

Mapp has global offices in eight countries. Mapp's digital marketing platform helps more than 2,500 companies break away from the pack by uncovering missed opportunities, including Xerox, PepsiCo, LG, Qantas, Infinity, and Lloyds Banking Group.

Press contacts:

PR agency: schoesslers GmbH

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+49 151 625 200 51

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www.schoesslers.com

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+49 30 755 415 120

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On May 22, 2017, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Henderson v. Adams, a challenge to an Indiana law barring same-sex couples from appearing on their childs birth certificate. The three-judge panel hearing the case appeared hostile to the plaintiffs claim that Indiana had unconstitutionally discriminated against same-sex couples. But in the months following arguments, it did not issue a decision. A year passed, then two. Now it has been 32 months, and the court has failed to decide the case.

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It is extremely unusual for a federal appeals court to take this longor anywhere near this longto issue a ruling. The average gap between argument and decision on the 7th Circuit is about three months, and the court almost never takes longer than a year to decide a case. In Henderson, the courts baffling silence has an unknown number of same-sex couplesperhaps hundredsin legal limbo. For now, a lower-court order compels Indiana to place these couples names on their childs birth certificate. By doing so, the state recognizes both individuals as the legal parents of their child. But if the 7th Circuit lifts that order, the state may remove the non-birth mother from those documents. As a result, that parent will become a legal stranger to her child. She will be forced to undergo the arduous process of stepparent adoptionwhich requires, among other things, a criminal background check, a home study, and $4,200.

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The consequences of an anti-gay ruling for childrenas well as parents like Jackie and Lisa Phillips-Stackman, one of the married couples who brought this casewould be dire. Their child, who has a rare chromosomal disorder, could lose health insurance obtained through Jackie, her non-birth mother. Birth certificates bestow a plethora of other rights upon parents, who use these documents to register a child in school, confirm their right to make medical decisions for their child, claim their child as a dependent for federal income taxes, and obtain their childs passport. Moreover, if a parent dies, the childs birth certificate may be necessary to obtain Social Security survivor benefits. Because of their legal precarity, the Phillips-Stackmans carry copies of their daughters birth certificate wherever they go.

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Married opposite-sex couples face no such burdens to claiming legal parenthood. When a woman gives birth in Indiana, her husband is presumed to be the childs second parent. The child is also deemed to have been born in wedlock. Indiana does not require a DNA test to confirm a husbands paternity. The only individual who can rebut this presumption is the biological father, who can initiate a legal action claiming true paternity. But these challenges are exceedingly rare. The upshot of this regime is that when a heterosexual woman uses a sperm donor, Indiana deems her husband to be the father of the child.

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By contrast, Indiana claims that the child of same-sex couples are, by definition, born out of wedlock. It refuses to extend the presumption of parenthood to non-biological parents and non-birth mothers like Jackie Phillips-Stackman. The Phillips-Stackmans argue that Indianas scheme violates Obergefell v. Hodges and Pavan v. Smith, two Supreme Court decisions that required states to recognize same-sex marriages on the same terms and conditions as opposite-sex marriages. In Pavan, the court clarified that states must provide same-sex couples with the constellation of benefits that the States have linked to marriage. It ruled that Arkansas must list same-sex couples on their childs birth certificate.

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The Supreme Court handed down Pavan just one month after the 7th Circuit heard oral arguments in Henderson. The Phillip-Stackmans attorneys asked the court for permission to provide further briefing in light of the ruling, but it did not respond. Pavan should resolve the Indiana case. Like Arkansas, Indiana lists married opposite-sex parents on their childs birth certificate, no questions asked. Like Arkansas, Indiana grants a presumption of parenthood to the birth mothers spousebut only if he is a man. If Arkansas rule is unconstitutional, Indianas should be as well.

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Indiana insists that it is merely recognizing a biological fact. But if that were true, the state would prohibit married opposite-sex couples from falsely claiming a biological link to their child. As the district court correctly noted, Indiana does no such thing. Women married to men who use artificial insemination can enter a legal fiction by claiming their husband as the father. Meanwhile, women married to women who use artificial insemination are not allowed to enter into the same legal fiction. This unequal treatment of same-sex married women plainly violates Obergefell and Pavan.

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During oral argument at the 7th Circuitwhich, again, took place just before Pavan came down in June 2017the court resisted this logical application of Obergefell. The plaintiffs had the bad luck of drawing Judges Frank Easterbrook, Diane Sykes, and Joel Flaum, all conservative Republican appointees. Easterbrook and Sykes sounded hostile to the rights of same-sex couples. Sykes claimed that Obergefell and its predecessors were marriage cases and not parenthood cases, a dubious claim that, a month later, was flatly contradicted by Pavan. Easterbrook accused the plaintiffs of trying to conflate facts of biology and facts about parental rights, suggesting that this blend could actually harm children.

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Sykes and Easterbrooks real quarrel was not with the plaintiffs but with Obergefell itself.

Contrary to Sykes claim, that decision did involve parenthood: It explicitly recognized the profound benefits to children when their same-sex families receive full legal recognition, citing that interest as a constitutional basis for protecting the right to marry. Indianas refusal to extend the presumption of parenthood to same-sex couples clashes with this holding. It gives the children of opposite-sex couples conceived through artificial insemination a benefit denied to the children of same-sex couples conceived the same way. This discrimination cannot be squared with Obergefell.

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But if Sykes and Easterbrook intended to mount an assault on the constitutional rights of same-sex families, why would it take them more than two years? Anthony Michael Kreis, a visiting professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law who specializes in LGBTQ rights, told me that delaying a decision by years when there is controlling precedent from the Supreme Court is nothing short of bizarre. Kreis noted that theres no requirement that federal courts rule on cases within a particular time frame, but added that the courts lollygagging raises a real question about whether this panel takes LGBTQ rights seriously.

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Indianapolis lawyer William Groth, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs and their children, said hes never seen a lag like this in over 40 years practicing in the 7th Circuit. This extraordinary 32-month post-argument delay in issuing the panels opinion is unprecedented, Groth told me. Its harmed our clients by causing them needless stress and anxiety.

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Collins Fitzpatrick, the 7th Circuits executive, told me in an email that he does not know why its taking so long for the panel to decide the fate of Indianas same-sex parents, but agreed that the delay was unusual. Fitzpatrick also told the Indiana Lawyer that the court has a tradition of issuing a decision in every case.

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It appears that the 7th Circuit has just one undecided case older than this one, involving a voter suppression law in Wisconsin. The district court blocked large portions of that law, and in February 2017 it came before a panel that also included Sykes and Easterbrook. Both judges appeared unsympathetic to the plaintiffs seeking to topple the law. But that case has also disappeared.

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Reached by email on Wednesday, Easterbrook declined to comment, writing that judges cannot comment on pending litigationor for that matter their own opinions. But, he added, I can say that these are difficult cases being actively worked on. The other judges on the panel did not respond to inquiries.

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The 7th Circuits delay in both cases does have an upside for the plaintiffs: Until it acts, the lower courts injunctions remain in place. So Indiana must continue to list same-sex parents on their childs birth certificate and grant them full rights of parenthood unless Sykes, Easterbrook, and Flaum rule otherwise. But the possibility remains that, if Indiana eventually prevails, the state will promptly revoke those rights.

As the 7th Circuit maintains its silence, parents like the Phillips-Stackmans are anxiously waiting to learn whether Indiana must continue to recognize their daughter as their own. With fundamental rights hanging in the balance, the court has no plausible excuse for keeping mum.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to visit Iran, Saudi Arabia and the US as part of Pakistan's efforts to defuse the tensions in the Gulf region following the killing of a top Iranian general in a US drone strike.

Khan has also asked Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to contact "relevant military leaders" to convey Pakistan's willingness for peace.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Khan said, "I have asked FM Qureshi to visit Iran, KSA & USA to meet with respective foreign ministers, Secretary of State; & COAS Gen Bajwa to contact relevant military leaders to convey a clear message: Pakistan is ready to play it's role for peace but it can never again be part of any war."



Earlier, Foreign Minister Qureshi also said Pakistan would not become part of any war.

"The region cannot afford a war. It is not in anyone's interest and will impact the global economy," he said.

The unexpected US strike, ordered by President Donald Trump, that killed Iran's most powerful military commander Qasem Soleimani on Friday last brought the entire Gulf region closer to a full-blown conflict. Regional tensions remain high after Iran on Wednesday fired missiles at two bases in Iraq used by US forces in retaliation for the killing of Soleimani.

Earlier, Qureshi told the Senate that Pakistan was keeping close look at the situation and would try that it should not escalate.

"Such matters need to be resolved through dialogue. The UN Security Council and the international community need to play a role in resolving tensions in the region," he said.

According to a Pakistan Army statement on Wednesday, US Defence Secretary Mark Esper telephoned General Bajwa and discussed the situation in the Middle East.

"We would like the situation to de-escalate and shall support all initiatives which bring peace in the region. We call upon all concerned to avoid rhetoric in favour of diplomatic engagement. We all have worked a lot to bring peace in the region by fighting against terrorism, Bajwa told Esper.

"We will continue to play our constructive part towards success of Afghan reconciliation process so that it doesn't get derailed and the region goes towards conflict resolution instead of new conflicts," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The process to extradite Akhmet has been under way in Ukraine since October 2017.

Activists in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, have urged Ukraine not to extradite Kazakh opposition blogger Zhanara Akhmet over safety concerns.

Dozens of activists rallied in central Almaty on January 8, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service said.

Read alsoRFE/RL: Ukraine deports Azerbaijani opposition blogger to Baku

They were holding posters saying "Do Not Extradite Zhanara Akhmet," "Akhmet's Extradition Is Kazakh Government's Political Order," and "Stop Extradition Process!"

The process to extradite Akhmet has been under way in Ukraine since October 2017, after she was arrested in Kyiv on the basis of a Kazakh arrest warrant that accuses her of fraud.

In November 2017, a court in Kyiv released Akhmet at the request of Ukrainian lawmaker Svitlana Zalishchuk, pending a decision on her extradition.

Akhmet fled Kazakhstan in March 2017 with her son, who was 9 years old at the time, saying she feared for her safety if she remained in the Central Asian nation.

Akhmet has said she decided to flee when she learned from sources that she could face charges of "organizing an illegal group" that uses the Internet to advocate self-immolation.

She previously faced a series of court hearings in Almaty for alleged infractions, including jaywalking, that she considered politically motivated retaliation for her criticism of authorities.

At least four other Kazakh opposition and rights activists  Ermek Narymbaev, Moldir Adilova, Aidos Sadyqov, and Natalya Sadyqova  also have fled to Ukraine in recent years.
Alex Scheinberg swipes on his profile on Philly Tinder in his bedroom in his parents' Collingswood home, with his photo showing Bernie Sanders in 1991. Read more

Philadelphia singles searching for love on Tinder have had the chance to swipe right when faced with a photo of a certain Medicare-for-All-loving, Larry David doppelganger presidential candidate.

But theyre not getting a date with Bernie Sanders. Instead, they have a chance to find a soul mate in a Collingswood man who wants to make them Feel the Bern.

On Tinder he calls himself Daddy Bernie. And some are liking what they see.

Hey, Daddy, wrote 20-year-old Connor. Can I get some of that socialized health care?

Alex Scheinberg, 26, is not a senator from Vermont. Or any other state. He actually doesnt have a job. And he lives in his childhood home. But, Scheinberg said, that gives him more time to mix politics and pleasure in order to promote his favorite candidate in a forum thats increasingly becoming a venue for political endorsement and engagement.

It started as a joke, and a way to put to use some of his acting skills from Rutgers University, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in theater. Scheinberg created the Daddy Bernie Tinder profile in November, using the moniker rapper Cardi B assigned to Sanders when telling people to vote for him in 2016 (Cardi B has continued to push out the vote for Sanders, with his support).

Scheinberg has his Tinder profile set to see all genders and sexual orientations, though he is straight. This way, he said, he can maximize the number of people seeing Sanders campaign message. Thats the same reason he swipes right on almost everyone, to reach as many people as possible. (For those who dont have to experience the horror show that is modern online dating, swiping right on a profile means youre interested. Swiping left, not so much.)

If we stand together, believing in justice and human dignity, believing in love and compassion; if we stand together, the future of this country is extraordinary, and there is nothing we will not be able to accomplish, Scheinberg wrote in Daddy Bernies Tinder bio, cribbing straight from Sanders speech that launched his 2020 campaign.

But this isnt just about Daddy Bernie, the profile reads. It is about US. Go to Berniesanders.com and join the movement.

Soon, Scheinberg began matching with people, mimicking Sanders speech patterns, and reminding them of voting registration deadlines.

Unlike previous generations who may have been less enthusiastic to mix politics with dating (or a one-night stand), those in their late teens and early 20s are embracing their political stance on Tinder.

Theyre mentioning political figures in their bios, according to Tinders annual report, like Democratic presidential candidates including Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Joe Biden. Bios also referenced Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Donald Trump, Greta Thunberg, Nancy Pelosi, Robert Mueller, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Generation Z, ages 18 to 24 on the app, is also more likely than millennials to have Tinder bios that note causes, according to the report. Top phrases last year include climate change, social justice, the environment, and gun control.

This young generation of voters propelled Sanders 2016 campaign. Scheinberg knows that in order for his favored candidate to get the Democratic nomination, he needs their support again.

Sanders supporters took to Tinder before, accumulating matches and attempting to convince strangers to become Bernie Bros. This was so widespread in 2016 that a Tumblr account called Tinder Campaigning popped up with screenshots of conversations of a Bernie supporter asking matches if they were willing to talk about our savior Bernie Sanders."

But these people were using photos of themselves, swiping right under the pretense of wanting to flirt, meet up, hook up, or whatever people do with Tinder matches. At the time, Reuters reported that two women, one from New Jersey and one from Iowa, said Tinder locked their accounts after they were repeatedly reported for sending Bernie Sanders campaigning messages to matches.

Scheinberg is different. Hes using photos of Bernie Sanders, not himself, and because of that, people swiping right know they are getting a parody Sanders account.

Still, a Tinder spokesperson said this profile would be considered impersonation, which violates community guidelines. People wont be finding the real Bernie Sanders on dating apps. A Sanders aide confirmed in an email that Senator Sanders is happily married and not on Tinder. The campaign declined to further comment on Scheinbergs profile.

Daddy Bernie recently sent a GIF of the candidate saying HELLO! to a match, Sammy, 25, who identifies as queer.

Sammy replied: I just donated to the campaign yesterday! Thanks for doing the creative campaign work!!

Daddy Bernie also matched with Asha, 18, whose bio says i can be your good time or your long time" and posed a pressing question, one which he said the corporate media would not ask her: are you willing to go all the way with Daddy Bernie?

He continued: Are you willing to tell all of your friends, your family, your neighbors, people you dont know, that you are with daddy Bernie?

And when the time comes, are you willing to pull the lever and go downballot on daddy Bernie?

Asha responded: i am willing to go all the way with daddy bernie 

Before long, though, Daddy Bernie cut to the chase: "As you may know," he wrote, "I am running for president of the United States."

But my true passion, and why I am on Tinder tonight, is to talk to hot young singles.

Daddy Bernie has done a lot of talking with singles but hasnt met up with any, except for this reporter who saw his profile, and swiped right for journalism.

He insists he isnt necessarily trying to find dates, though he wouldnt mind if that happened. Hes focused on his graduate school applications and figuring out if he would like to study linguistics, applied linguistics, or journalism.

Maybe, his acceptance and Bernie in the White House would give him more time for a dating life.
Carlos Ghosn has been banned from foreign travel by Lebanon after he fled to the country from Japan while awaiting trial for corruption.

Judicial sources in Beirut, where the former Nissan executive is hiding out, say the ban will be in effect while they investigate whether to put him on trial.

Officials have requested his file from prosecutors in Japan, and say Ghosn may still have to face justice if they decide he has a case to answer.

It comes after authorities took 65-year-old Ghosn for questioning over an Interpol 'red notice' issued by Japan.

Carlos Ghosn was banned from international travel on Thursday as he was hauled in for questioning by Lebanese authorities while they decide whether to put him on trial

'The state prosecution issued a travel ban for Ghosn, and asked for his file from the Japanese authorities,' a judicial source said.

'According to what is inside the file, if it appears that the crimes he is accused of in Japan require being pursued in Lebanon, he will be tried.

'But if it doesn't require being pursued under Lebanese law, then he will be free.'

Ghosn claims he fled Japan to escape a 'brutal and ruthless' legal system where 99 per cent of cases end in conviction - claims that he repeated at a lengthy press conference on Wednesday.

But he was slammed by the media, officials and even his protege on Thursday who said that 'the real reason he ran away is because he was afraid of being found guilty.'

Ex-Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa, 66, dismissed his former boss's claims as Japan's justice minister said his allegations were 'baseless' and urged him to return and fight his case in court.

Mr Saikawa, who rose through the ranks at Nissan under Ghosn's guidance, added: 'I feel like I have been betrayed again.'

The country's media also rounded on him with one commentator saying he can't be trusted 'because he fled illegally abroad.'

Ghosn escaped house arrest in Tokyo before New Year and fled to Lebanon hidden in a music case to avoid trial on 65million corruption charges.

During an emotional two-hour press conference in Beirut yesterday he claimed a fair trial was impossible under Japan's justice system and that he was interrogated for eight hours a day without a lawyer.

He also claimed prosecutors threatened to go after his family if he didn't confess.

Asked Thursday whether he intends to comply with requests to return to Japan, he called them 'ridiculous.'

The Japanese 'judicial system is completely backwards,' Ghosn said in an interview with Lebanese LBCI television channel.

'I will fully cooperate with the Lebanese judiciary, and I'm much more comfortable with it than with the Japanese judiciary.'

Ghosn's claims were rejected today by Japan's justice minister Masako Mori (left) and his former protege, ex-Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa (right)

But Japan's justice minister Masako Mori said today: 'Most of his comments were abstract, unclear or baseless assertions.

'Those assertions will not justify his flight from Japan in any way.

'Furthermore, he has been propagating both within Japan and internationally false information on Japan's legal system and its practice. That is absolutely intolerable.'

She said all defendants have 'rights to a fair and public trial' and that trials are 'administered properly to clarify the truth in cases while guaranteeing basic individual human rights.'

Ms Mori added: 'If defendant Ghosn has anything to say on his criminal case, he should make his argument in a Japanese court and present concrete evidence.

'If he claims innocence, he should face a trial under the justice system in Japan, where he was doing business, and he should submit evidence to prove his claims.'

The Tokyo prosecutor's office hit back, saying 'Ghosn's allegations completely ignore his own conduct.'

A spokesman added: 'His one-sided criticism of the Japanese justice system is totally unacceptable.'

Businessman Carlos Ghosn - who escaped by hiding in these music cases - said he had no choice but to flee Japan because he claimed he had no chance of a fair trial

Ghosn and his wife Carole (pictured together at today's press conference) were barred from speaking to each other for months while he was under house arrest in Tokyo

Ghosn claimed in Beirut yesterday that his shock arrest in November 2018 was part of a sinister 'plot' against him by 'a handful of unscrupulous, vindictive individuals' in the car industry and the Japanese government.

The tycoon said the corruption charges were made up to block his controversial plans to merge Nissan with its French partner Renault.

He refused to give any details of how he managed to escape tight surveillance in Tokyo saying: 'I am not here to talk about how I left Japan, I am here to talk about why.

'I am here to shed light on a system that violates the most basic human rights.'

But Turkish police released an image of the music case, used to carry speakers, that Ghosn was said to have been smuggled inside as he made his daring escape bid to Lebanon via Istanbul.

Ghosn said his decision to skip bail was the 'most difficult' of his life but he thought to himself: 'You are going to die in Japan or you are going to get out.'

He said: 'I was brutally taken from my work as I knew it, ripped from my work, my family and my friends.

'It is impossible to express the depth of that deprivation and my profound appreciation to be able to be reunited with my family and loved ones.'

Ghosn said he was stopped from seeing his fashion designer wife Carole, 53, and his four children for months at a time since his arrest in November 2018.

He was finally reunited with them in Lebanon, where he grew up, after his escape the day before New Year's Eve.

'They all endured unimaginable pain, they were barred to see me or even speak to me for months,' he said.

'I am here to clear my name. These allegations are untrue and I should never have been arrested in the first place.'

Carlos Ghosn used a slide presentation to illustrate the 'plot' against him by 'a handful of unscrupulous, vindictive individuals' in the car industry and the Japanese government

Ghosn fled to his home in Lebanon (pictured) where he joined his wife after fleeing Japan

Ghosn took a bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka (inset) before flying from Kansai Airport onto Beirut via Istanbul

Carlos Ghosn was pictured celebrating New Year's Eve with wife Carole (right) in Beirut after he managed to escape from house arrest in Japan

The residence of former auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn is seen in Tokyo on January 3

Ghosn claimed he was targeted by Nissan executives and Japanese officials who were against his plans for closer ties between the car company and French giant Renault, of which he was also chairman.

'Unfortunately there was no trust. And some of our Japanese friends thought that the only way to get rid of Renault in Nissan is to get rid of me,' he said.

The tycoon publicly named several Nissan executives as being part of the plot but didn't name any members of the Japanese government as he feared that could cause difficulties for his Lebanese hosts.

Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan and has so far refused to hand over Ghosn despite an Interpol arrest warrant being issued.

Lebanon has said Ghosn entered the country legally in possession of a French passport and a Lebanese identification card.

The former Nissan tycoon's wife Carole pictured at today's press conference

Ghosn, who is Lebanese and also holds French and Brazilian passports, was set to go on trial in Tokyo in April.

Ghosn said that he alone organised his departure from Japan and that his wife Carole played no role.

Mrs Ghosn has also denied being involved, telling Le Parisien newspaper: 'I didn't know about anything. I was in Beirut with my children to celebrate Christmas.

'Someone called me, saying: 'I've got a surprise for you.'

'It was the most beautiful surprise of my life. We met at my parents' apartment. I held Carlos very tightly in my arms for at least five whole minutes before I could even speak.'

On Tuesday, Tokyo prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Mrs Ghosn on suspicion of perjury claiming she gave false information to a court in April.

Mrs Ghosn claimed Japanese prosecutors 'are seeking revenge' and trying to 'put pressure' on her husband.

Lebanon's justice minister said Lebanon has not received any extradition request related to Mrs Ghosn's arrest warrant.

Japanese justice officials acknowledge that it is unclear whether Ghosn can be brought back to Japan to face charges.

Nissan said it was still pursuing legal action against him despite his escape.

Japan's Ministry of Justice has said it will try to find a way to bring Ghosn back from Lebanon even though it has no extradition treaty with Japan.

Carlos Ghosn, 65, fled japan where he faced corruption charges. He is pictured here arriving at a Tokyo court in April last year

Turkish and Japanese authorities are investigating how Ghosn was smuggled out to Beirut. Interpol has issued a 'red notice' seeking his arrest.

Ghosn's news conference marks the latest twist in a 14-month saga that has shaken the global car industry, jeopardised the alliance of Nissan and top shareholder Renault and increased scrutiny of Japan's judicial system.

This morning, private security personnel guarded the villa in central Beirut where Ghosn is believed to be residing as reporters and photographers camped outside.

Journalists, including several from Japan, watched as vehicles - some with tinted windows - came and went from the premises.

Ghosn's bail jump has prompted outrage from the Japanese government, which has called his escape 'unjustifiable' and from Nissan which labelled the getaway 'extremely regrettable'.

According to Japanese media, he slipped out of his house in Tokyo, boarded a bullet train to Osaka and then a private jet to Istanbul, evading customs by hiding in a box, before reaching Beirut on December 30.

Ghosn says the charges against him stem from a 'coup' inside Nissan by disgruntled executives and Japanese officials who feared his plans to more closely integrate the car giant with its alliance partner, French firm Renault.

Nissan has continued to insist it has 'incontrovertible evidence of various acts of misconduct by Ghosn'.

But his legal team in France hit back at those remarks just hours before Ghosn was due to speak.

The carmaker's claims that it has conducted a thorough investigation into its former boss is a 'gross perversion of the truth', they said in a statement.

The probe was 'initiated for the specific, pre-determined purpose of taking down Carlos Ghosn,' said the lawyers.

Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business said Ghosn had told her over the weekend that he has 'actual evidence' and documents proving there was a plot to 'take him out' in response to his plan to merge Nissan and Renault.

He had also told her he would name those behind his November 2018 arrest for alleged financial misconduct, including some officials in the Japanese government.

Ghosn's high-profile arrest and his long detention - 130 days in total - under severe conditions were widely considered draconian compared with the West.

He twice won bail by persuading the court he was not a flight risk - decisions seen as controversial at the time.

His latest release came with conditions that included a ban on overseas travel and limited contact with his wife, Carole, who insisted this week she had no advance knowledge of the escape plan.

Japanese prosecutors are also seeking to arrest her, alleging she 'made false statements' during April testimony to the Tokyo district court.

As Japan grapples with the fallout from the embarrassing security lapse, prosecutors on Wednesday attempted to raid the offices of one of his lawyers, Junichiro Hironaka, to seize computers.

However, the lawyers refused them access, citing 'attorney-client confidentiality'.

Ghosn himself has said he left Japan because he was no longer willing to be 'held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system'.

'I have not fled justice - I have escaped injustice and political persecution,' Ghosn said in a statement on December 31.
ShowKids Invitational Theatre (SKIT) will present six performances of Frozen JR. in the Voorhees High School auditorium on Route 513 in Lebanon Township.

SKITs Frozen JR. debuts 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 18, followed by another show that night at 7:30. The next show is 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 19, along with performances at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25 and the finale at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26.

You havent seen it until youve seen our version, said Carolyn Newman, producer-director of the nonprofit youth theater troupe, which has earned 177 Perry Award nominations for New Jersey community theater excellence. This show is powerful, so much more spectacular than any other, except Broadway.

Its simply above and beyond anything else youve seen.

Among the highlights of the show, which runs about 90 minutes, will be special effects including animated screen projections and snowfall on stage, along with lavish costumes and the appearance of Sven the Reindeer, whos made the trip all the way from Florida.

Were making this show as beautiful and strong as we possibly can, said Newman, who founded SKIT in 1987. Its going to be wonderful and not to be missed for any person of any age.

While Frozen JR. is appropriate for all ages, parents are requested that their young children sit quietly and enjoy the shows without distraction to other audience members. Age 3 is the recommended limit. Young guests will be able to meet and take photos with the cast members following the show.

The SKIT ticketing system can be accessed via showkids.org, allowing guests to select their seats and print their own tickets. The SKIT ticket office can be reached at 908-638-5959.

Frozen JR. is based on the original 2013 movie as well as the 2018 Broadway musical, bringing Elsa, Anna and the magical land of Arendelle to life on stage. The show features all of the songs from the animated film, with music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, along with five new tunes written for the Broadway production.

A story of true love and acceptance between sisters, Frozen JR. expands upon the sometimes-chilly emotional relationship and journey between princesses Anna and Elsa. When encountering danger, the two discover their hidden potential and the potent bond of sisterhood. Theyre supported strongly by a cast of beloved characters who bring plenty of magic, adventure and humor to the show.

Bolstering the SKIT show is a bevy of volunteers, including three choreographers  Perry Award-winning Maria Mantak, Jaclyn A. Smith, a dance studio owner in Philadelphia, and Krisy Nasto, a Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia pediatrician.

As usual, SKITs 45 actors participating in the production are high school-age and younger from mostly Hunterdon and Warren counties, with several lead roles double-cast.

Elsa, who sings the iconic Let It Go, will be portrayed by 17-year-old Allisa Conover of Ringoes during the Jan. 18 evening performance and the 2 p.m. shows Jan. 25 and 26. Abbie Griffin, 16, of Hillsborough, is cast as Elsa for the 2 p.m. shows Jan. 18 and 19 and the 7:30 performance Jan. 25.

Joining Conover in the Summer Cast (7:30, Jan. 18 and 2 p.m. Jan. 25 and 26) are Sera Bunca, 18, of Asbury, as Anna; Julianne Magistrado, 15, Washington, as Middle Anna; Maddie Nasto, 10, Mount Laurel, as Young Elsa; Emma Nasto, 13, Mount Laurel, as Young Anna; Aidan Lavigne, 16, Bethlehem Township, as Hans; Harrison Fox, 17, Phillipsburg, as Weselton; Dakota Krouse, 13, Alexandria Township, as Steward; Andrew Pedri, 9, Drums, Pennsylvania, as Olaf and Sabrina Bunca, 15, Asbury, as Mrs. Oaken.

Besides Griffin in the Winter Cast (2 p.m. Jan. 18 and 19 and 7:30, Jan. 25) are Hannah Willsey, 17, Clinton Township, as Anna; Olivia Terpin, 14, Clinton Township, as Middle Anna; Aubrey Whitmore, 11, Lebanon Township, as Young Elsa; Julia Morrissette, 13, Clinton Township, as Young Anna; Harrison Fox, 17, Phillipsburg, as Hans; Aidan Lavigne, 16, Bethlehem Township, as Weselton; Andrew Pedri, 9, Drums, Pennsylvania, as Steward; Dakota Krouse, 13, Alexandria Township, as Olaf and Abby Okupski, 17, Clinton Township, as Mrs. Oaken.

Portraying Sven the Reindeer for all the shows is Riley Conaty, 12, of Clinton Township.

This SKIT production is made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment of the Arts, through the funds administered by the Hunterdon County Cultural and Heritage Commission.
The plane carried 167 passengers and nine crew members from different nations. It's one of the worst loss of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. In 1985 a bomb exploded and killed 329 people aboard an Air India flight. Air India Flight 182 from Montreal to New Delhi exploded over the Atlantic Ocean near Great Britain on June 23, 1985. Most of the victims were Canadian.

"I join Canadians across the country who are shocked and saddened to see reports that a plane crash outside of Tehran, Iran, has claimed the lives of 176 people, including 63 Canadians," Trudeau said in a statement. "I offer our deepest condolences to those who have lost family, friends, and loved ones in this tragedy. Our government will continue to work closely with its international partners to ensure that this crash is thoroughly investigated, and that Canadians' questions are answered."

The crash of the Ukraine International Airlines plane came hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. soldiers, but Iranian officials said they suspected a mechanical issue brought down the 3-year-old Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Ukrainian officials initially agreed, but later backed away and declined to offer a cause while the investigation is ongoing.

Trudeau said Wednesday his foreign minister is in touch with the government of Ukraine and his transport minister is reaching out to his international counterparts. Getting answers from Iran might prove difficult as Canada closed its embassy in Iran in 2012 and suspended diplomatic relations.

Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau said Canada is offering technical assistance to the upcoming investigation in Iran. The Tehran to Toronto route via Kyiv is an affordable route for Iranian Canadians. There are no direct flights.

Hamid Gharajeh, of the Iran Democratic Association of Canada, said he's spoken to families and friends of some of the victims. Many aboard were students on their way back to Canada after the holiday break, he said. "Our hearts go out for all these young people who are just trying to get back to their lives," Gharajeh said in Toronto. "It's unfortunate."

Payman Paseyan, a member of the Iranian-Canadian community in Edmonton, Alberta said multiple people from the city, including many international students, were on the flight and he knew many of the passengers.

"They leave behind families and people they love and they come to Canada and often they're second-guessing, 'Should I leave my family behind to do this?'" Paseyan said. "Then they move here and they do all this just to board a plane and have it all washed away. It's devastating." "Iran does not recognize dual nationality and Canada will not be granted consular access to dual Canadian-Iranian citizens," Global Affairs said.

Paseyan said members of the Iranian-Canadian community learned of the crash while being glued to the news after Tuesday's missile attacks in Iraq. "Many were expecting their friends and families members to come back" and were aware of the flight they were on, said Paseyan, a former president of the Iranian Heritage Society of Edmonton. "They were worried about their family members that were in Iran, and now this has compounded that with worry for the community."

Canada is urging Canadians to avoid non-essential travel to Iran due to the volatile security situation, but the travel advisory makes no mention of the plane crash. "There are no words. 176 lives lost. 63 Canadians won't be coming home," Opposition New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh tweeted. "These families deserve clear answers, but whatever the case, this is devastating."

Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine's ambassador to Canada, also expressed condolences. "My heart is broken. We will have to go through this terrible pain together with our Canadian brothers and sisters," he tweeted.
The Great Hall has already largely ceased to be a place where people linger, and has instead become only a place they pass through, unless they are paying for an exclusive event, Dan Malouff, an Arlington transportation planner and an adjunct professor at George Washington University who contributes to The Washington Post, said in comments submitted to the commission. (Among the private events taking over the space? Al Gore IIIs wedding.)
DUBAI/WASHINGTON/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has stepped back from new military action against Iran after its missile strikes on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops caused no casualties but he told Iran he would tighten already crippling U.S. sanctions.

Trump and Iranian officials looked to defuse a crisis that on Wednesday had threatened to spiral into open conflict after the killing of a prominent Iranian general in Iraq on Jan. 3 in a U.S drone strike was followed by Irans retaliatory attack.

The tit-for-tat military action, after months of rising tension since the United States withdrew in 2018 from Irans nuclear pact with world powers, had stoked global concerns that the Middle East was heading towards another war.

But both sides drew back from the brink, while Arab and other international leaders called for restraint. In Iraq, Muslim Shiite groups, opposed to the U.S. presence in Iraq, also sought to cool passions.

The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it, Trump told the nation after saying Iranian ballistic missiles fired in the early hours of Wednesday caused no casualties and limited damage.

He said Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned but he said the United States would impose additional sanctions on Iran, adding to measures that have slashed its oil exports and crippled its economy.

Trump, who faces re-election this year and who accused predecessors of dragging the United States into unnecessary regional wars, did not say what new sanctions would involve.

His comments came hours after Irans foreign minister said Iranian missile strikes concluded its response to the killing of Qassem Soleimani, a powerful general who masterminded Irans drive to build up proxy armies abroad.

The minister, Javad Zarif, said on Twitter that Iran did not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had called Irans missile attack a slap on the face for the United States and said Iran remained determined to drive U.S. forces out of the region, a policy that analysts say it has pursued via its proxy forces.

But Washington said it had indications Tehran was telling its allies to refrain from new action against U.S. troops.

CALLS FOR PATIENCE

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told CBS News the United States was receiving encouraging intelligence that Iran is sending messages to its allied militias not to attack U.S. targets.

Moqtada al-Sadr, an influential Shiite cleric opposed to U.S. and Iranian interference in Iraq, said the Iraq crisis was over and called on Iraqi factions to be deliberate, patient, and not to start military actions.

Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia the United States blamed for an attack in Iraq in December that killed a U.S. contractor, said amidst these conditions, passions must be avoided to achieve the desired results of expelling U.S. forces.

That contrasted with fiery comments early on Wednesday from Qais al-Khazali, leader of another Iran-backed militia, who said Iraqi forces should respond to the killing of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who died with Soleimani in the Jan. 3 U.S. strike.

Arab states, which lie across the Gulf from Iran and feared their region was being dragged into another conflict, also called for cooler heads to prevail in Iraq and beyond.

The brotherly Arab nation of Iraq today is in need of solidarity among its people to avoid war and becoming the site of a battle in which it would lose most, Saudi Arabias Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan wrote on Twitter.

In Trumps address on Wednesday, he repeated his promise not to allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon - an ambition it denies ever having - and called for world powers to quit the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran that he abandoned.

Trump said world powers should negotiate a new nuclear deal with Iran to replace the one set in place under Barack Obama.

Iran has rejected new talks and said negotiations could not be held without an end to sanctions, which have sent Irans currency plunging and slashed vital oil revenues.

There has been no immediate reaction from Iranian officials to Trumps address. The semi-official Fars news agency described the U.S. presidents remarks as a big retreat from threats.

Analysts have said Iran, despite its strident words, has wanted to avoid a conventional war with superior U.S. forces.

U.S. and European government sources said they believed Iran had deliberately sought to avoid U.S. military casualties in its missile strikes to prevent an escalation.

An Iranian army spokesman denied foreign media reports suggesting there was some kind of coordination between Iran and the United States before the attack to evacuate bases.
January 09 : The action hero Tiger Shroff is currently into a busy shooting schedule for his upcoming film Baaghi 3. The War actor, who will be seen in a rebellious avatar in the film, is currently shooting in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

The actor, who was earlier shooting in Serbia, took to his Instagram handle and posted some pictures from his Jaipur sets. Be it his performances, dance moves, six-pack or style statement, Tiger has immensely impressed his fans.

The Heropanti actor looked dapper in his tanned look as he is seen sporting a charcoal-coloured denim sleeveless buttoned shirt. His look in his black sunnies and two-day-old stubble leave his fans in awe.

Also Watch the video

Tiger is currently shooting with co-star Shraddha Kapoor for the third schedule of the Baaghi franchise. Helmed by Ahmed Khan, the film will hit the screens in March 2020. Baaghi 3 also features Riteish Deshmukh, who will play Tigers big brother. While Shraddha Kapoor will play an air hostess, Ankita Lokhande will play her sister. Tiger was last seen in War, which turned out to be 2019s highest grosser film. Tiger will also be seen in the Hindi remake of the 1982 classic film Rambo.
PRINT | EMAIL | PERMALINK Reel World A Look Underwater The newest documentary from nature photographer, conservationist and filmmaker Ian Shive starts screening Friday, Jan. 10 at the DynaTheater at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science (1801 Mountain Rd. NW). Hidden Pacific features never-before-seen footage of the marine national monuments in the Pacific Ocean and provides audiences with a glimpse of healthy tropical ecosystems that are relatively untouched by humans and the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. The film is geared toward students, educators, families and general audiences. For complete times and ticket prices, go to nmnaturalhistory. org. To learn more about the film, go to hiddenpacific.com. View in Alibi calendar

Madrid Movies Move The Madrid Film Festival (thats Madrid, N.M.not Madrid, Spain) goes on tour starting this Thursday, Jan. 16. That night, at 7pm, the Jean Cocteau Cinema in Santa Fe (418 Montezuma Ave.) kicks it off by playing host to a one-night-only showcase of offerings from last years second annual festival. Organizers say they saw an astonishing number of high-quality films from all over New Mexico in 2019 and are now highlighting the best of the best award-winners in this new statewide tour. Comedies, dramas, thrillers and documentaries are among the genres represented. Impresario Joe West and author Andrew Wice, who founded the Madrid Film Festival in 2018, will host the screening. West is bringing along his band as well and will offer up some live musical accompaniment. Tickets are $10. For more info go to jeancocteaucinema. com. View in Alibi calendar

Crime Time The locally lensed short film Get Tony Scarboni is having its premiere screening this Sunday, Jan. 12, starting at 1pm at Guild Cinema (3405 Central Ave. NE). This 30-minute crime thriller tells the story of a mob boss climbing to the top of his gameonly to find trouble in the form of a supernatural enemy from the past. The film is shot in black and white and features a cast of very colorful characters. Writer-director Spike Michaels will be on hand along with several other members of the cast and crew. Admission is free. View in Alibi calendar
Videos depicting an Egyptian mob sexually harassing women in the first hours of the new year have drawn widespread public anger, but the attackers have managed to escape.

The videos, which went viral on social media last week, show two women being harassed by a group of young men in the city of Mansoura, north of Cairo. Egypt has long struggled with harassment of women on the streets and many similar incidents took place during the January 25 Revolution.

The Egyptian authorities opened an investigation into the incident and arrested seven suspects. However, all were released the next day after the two women, both 20, said that they are not the men who harassed them. No new arrests have been made.

The videos showed dozens of young men verbally and physically harassing one of the women as she screamed. Then a second group of men rushed in to protect her and helped her escape in a car as the attackers climbed on top of it.

The Dakahlia governorate prosecutor took statements from the assaulted woman and her friend. According to detectives, the young woman explained that the two had been walking when a group of young men behind them started taking photos and one of them tried to touch her leg. When she swore at him, his friends circled around her.

She said, "We tried to take shelter in a mobile shop that was in front of us, and we actually entered it, but the owner of the store asked us to leave because of the youths gathering in front of the shop and saying bad words and whistling."

She added that she did not report the incident to the police because she was traumatized and mentally exhausted when she returned home.

Women's rights activists have condemned the incident and called upon the authorities to hold those responsible accountable. Hadia Abdel Fattah, a human rights activist who runs an initiative called We will not Keep Silent on Sexual Harassment," told Al-Monitor that the incident is a result of "an extremist social culture" and "how bullies are glorified in TV series and movies.

She went on, This is in addition to the frequent fatwas of Salafist sheiks that allow the beating of wives, the marriage of minors, female circumcision, requiring the niqab  all of these in the name of religion.

Despite Egypt passing tougher laws against sexual harassment with a series of amendments beginning in 2014, harassment during holidays and special occasions are common despite an increased police presence including policewomen specifically deployed to the streets to protect women. The National Council for Women has set up centers to take complaints of sexual harassment. However, many women are afraid to speak out.

Randa Fakhr El Deen, chair of the NGOs Union Against Harmful Practices on Women and Children, said that despite increasing awareness of violence against women and the issuance of a number of laws to deter it, the crimes are still increasing.

This is a warning, and we must study the phenomenon from all economic, cultural, moral, religious, criminal and psychological aspects, she told Al-Monitor.

She said that the figures are alarming. In Egypt, 46% of women experience violence from a partner, 27% of girls marry before reaching the age of 18  the legal age of marriage in Egypt  and 87% of girls are subjected to female genital mutilation.

Fakhr El Deen called for increasing penalties against gender-based violence and harassment and enforcing the law. She also urged action by civil society organizations in cooperation with state institutions concerned with defending women's rights on reforming laws to ensure equality between women and men.

We also need to present a positive image of women in the media, cinema and radio and television series, she added. Without all these efforts at once, such incidents will continue in Egypt."
A masseuse who worked for Jeffrey Epstein has claimed she was instructed to give Prince Andrew a massage, three years before he says he met the paedophile.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed she gave Prince Andrew a massage in a five-star hotel in Los Angeles in 1996, after she was told by Epstein that the Prince had 'hurt his back'.

The alleged meeting took place three years before Prince Andrew claimed to have first met Epstein, in 1999.

A masseuse who worked for Jeffrey Epstein has claimed she was instructed to give Prince Andrew (pictured) a massage, three years before he says he met the convicted paedophile

The anonymous masseuse claims she gave Prince Andrew a massage at the Bel Air hotel in Los Angeles 1996, after she was told by Epstein that the Prince had 'hurt his back'

The masseuse told the Sun Online: 'Jeffrey called me, I do remember, and he said, "My friend's coming into town, will you massage him?" And I said, "You know it's just [innocent]", and he was like, "Of course". That's all, it was normal.'

She claimed that she massaged the Duke of York at the Bel Air Hotel, 23 years ago.

'[Epstein] just said, 'Will you work on one of my friends, he's hurt his back and he needs a massage'. I went over and that was it, it was a thousand years ago.'

The therapist also cast doubt over claims by the Prince that he and Epstein were never close, telling the publication that the two men had been 'good friends' and that Epstein was often trying his best to please the Duke.

Jeffrey Epstein is said to have sexually abused dozens of teenage girls. He was found dead on August 10 in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan and an autopsy concluded that he hanged himself

The anonymous woman added that during her time for working as Epstein when she was in her 20s, the billionaire never 'came onto her'. 'I would remember if he came onto me because I used to get really p****ed off when guys would, but he never did, and there was nothing weird,' she said.

Last month, Virginia Roberts, who now uses her married name Giuffre, accused the Duke of knowing she been trafficked to the UK when they allegedly met when she was 17.

She has previously claimed Andrew bought her alcohol in London's Tramp nightclub before they had sex at Ghislaine Maxwell's home.

Prince Andrew pictured with Virgina Roberts, who was 17 at the time, at Ghislaine Maxwell's townhouse in London in 2001

The Duke has repeatedly denied the allegation, insisting he spent the evening at home after taking his eldest daughter Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking, Surrey.

Epstein is said to have sexually abused dozens of teenage girls. He was arrested on July 6 and pleaded not guilty to federal charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of girls as young as 14.

He was found dead on August 10 in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan and an autopsy concluded that he hanged himself.
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Abilita Bio, Inc. , an innovation-driven biotechnology company focused on enabling discovery and development of drugs targeting challenging membrane proteins, today announced a series of corporate updates that includes an expansion of scientific scope, personnel, and infrastructure.



In 2019 Abilita executed three research collaborations with leading biotech companies, including a deal signed with Amgen in February. The latest collaboration, a multi-target deal inked in November with a leading public biotech company, is focused on using EMP technology to enable therapeutic antibody discovery for challenging targets and includes research funding, as well as milestone payments tied to drug development and commercialization. In order to accommodate rapid business growth, the companys operations have moved from the JLABS incubator within the Johnson & Johnson San Diego facilities, to a 2,500 sqft private laboratory space located within the San Diego biotech cluster.

The resource and infrastructure improvements will support the strategic expansion of Abilita Bios business model from a target-centered research collaboration model, to the discovery and early development of proprietary assets targeting intractable membrane proteins in therapeutic areas with profound unmet medical need.

To accelerate discovery efforts, the company has in-licensed a number of different biologic agent libraries from UK-based Cyclogenix Ltd., and hired its scientific founder, Duncan McGregor, to lead implementation of the technology. Dr. McGregor has a proven track record of innovation, with more than 20 years of biologics discovery experience in display technologies and antibody engineering, including the invention of the CIS-display technology at Isogenica Ltd (UK).

"This is a landmark period for Abilita Bio commented Dr. Mauro Mileni, CEO. We are in a unique position to exploit the synergy between our EMP platform and different biologics discovery technologies. The added depth will position us to lead in the field in discovering and developing novel drugs that target tough membrane proteins such as GPCRs and ion channels.

In another development, Abilita initiated its newest discovery program in Alzheimers Disease (AD) in September 2019, with the award of the companys third SBIR Phase I Grant from the NIH. This research effort, funded by the National Institute on Aging, will explore a new approach to treating AD by stimulating natural myelin repair mechanisms to reverse white matter damage in the brain.

About Abilita Bio, Inc.

Abilita Bio, Inc. was founded in 2014, and is an innovation-driven biotechnology company focused on leveraging its EMP platform and deep membrane protein expertise to enable drug discovery and development. The company has established multiple research collaborations with global pharma and biotech partners and is building an internal portfolio of preclinical assets around high-value targets.
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Linkedin Marchio Irfan Gorbiano (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020 13:41 733 48be62e941b44f04afae568c321860c6 1 World Jokowi,economic-diplomacy,Indonesian-missions-overseas,current-account-deficit,investment-policies Free

Indonesias diplomatic missions overseas should focus heavily on economic diplomacy, President Joko Jokowi Widodo instructed on Thursday, with the primary aim of increasing trade and investment flows between Southeast Asias largest economy and its partner countries.

This shift in foreign policy priorities would fall in line with the governments overarching goal of swinging Indonesias current account and trade balance positions into the green, Jokowi said in a speech to more than 120 Indonesian envoys.

We all should focus on economic diplomacy. I want that 70 to 80 percent of what [resources] we have [in our overseas missions] to focus on that because that is what our country needs, he said at the State Palace, underscoring the diplomatic corps task of becoming investment ambassadors who must lure in more investors.

Our goal is to reverse the current account and trade balance into surpluses. Once we post a current account surplus, that is when we are truly independent because then we truly wont be dependent on anyone financially and economically.

Jokowi called on the chiefs of mission to attract more investors, particularly those who showed interest in investing in industry sectors that have high import contents, such as the petrochemical or oil and gas sectors. He also asked them to attract investors who would dole out funds for the downstream natural resource sectors to help diversify Indonesias exports portfolio.

Exporting raw materials, such as coal and CPO [crude palm oil] is already out of fashion. We want our export products to be in the form of semiprocessed or finished products, he said.

Increasing investments in the downstream natural resource sectors would also make the trade balance become more resilient from outside pressures, the President said, citing the recent example of the state biodiesel policy as a way to absorb increased CPO production amidst an ongoing spat with the European Union over one of the country's main export commodities.

Indonesia is still on course to continue the negative trend in its trade balance that started in 2018, when a decline in exports, partly caused by the trade war between the United States and China, contributed to a US$8.6 billion trade deficit, the largest in 44 years.

Throughout 2019, Jakarta rolled out several policies to court investments, particularly for the production of goods that substitute imported raw materials for export-oriented companies. (tjs)
India imposed restrictions on imports of refined palm oil and palmolein on Wednesday, a move sources said was retaliation against top supplier Malaysia after its criticism of India's actions in Kashmir and a new citizenship law.

The Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued a notification declaring that the import of refined palm oil "is amended from 'Free' to 'Restricted.'"

Four industry sources told Reuters that the memo was an effective ban on imports of refined palm oil, meaning India can now only import crude palm oil. It will hit Malaysia, the main supplier to India of refined palm oil and palmolein, but is likely to help Indonesia, the biggest exporter of crude palm oil.

Indian government and industry sources told Reuters that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government was seeking to target Malaysia after recent criticism of India by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir said in October that India "invaded and occupied" Kashmir, a disputed Muslim-majority region also claimed by Pakistan. Last month he said India was stoking unrest with its new citizenship law, which critics say undermines the country's secular foundations.

Palmolein is a liquid form of palm oil used in cooking.

New Delhi had earlier this week informally asked palm oil refiners and traders to avoid buying Malaysian palm oil.

The decision to restrict all imports of refined palm oil is also likely to boost business for Indian refiners of the vegetable oil.

Indian crude palm oil, soyoil soybean and rapeseed prices jumped after the announcement.

"This move in a way will punish Malaysia and will help local refiners as well," a Mumbai-based refiner, who declined to be named, said.

The Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry did not respond to a request for further information. Malaysia's Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok, who is responsible for the palm oil industry, declined to comment.

"Malaysia is in a lose-lose situation with this ruling," said Sathia Varqa owner and co-founder of Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics, adding "India will ramp up buying of CPO from Indonesia."

Indonesia traditionally corned around two-third of India's palm oil imports, but a lower duty on refined palm oil helped Malaysia to overtake Indonesia as India's biggest supplier in 2019.

Palm oil is crucial for the Malaysian economy as it accounts for 2.8% of gross domestic product and 4.5% of total exports. State-owned and private Malaysian refineries will likely have to scramble to find new buyers for their refined product.

Indian refiners need the boost as refining activity in the country has been hit in the past year by imports of cheaper refined palm oil, said B.V. Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA), a Mumbai-based trade body.

"Indian refiners were struggling for survival ... The ban on refined palm oil imports will help refiners, local farmers and help in creating new jobs," Mehta said.

Palm oil accounts for nearly two-thirds of India's total edible oil imports. The country buys more than 9 million tonnes of palm oil annually, mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia. Indonesia is the world's biggest producer of palm oil, followed by Malaysia.

Also read: Govt cuts import duty on crude, refined palm oil; move to hurt domestic refiners

Also read: India continues to buy Malaysian palm oil amid discounts by Kuala Lumpur
The next time you fill up your gas tank, think twice before using a debit card to pay for your purchase.

We all know youll pay less for gas if you use cash, yet many consumers use plastic anyway. But if you use a debit card instead of a credit card, youre taking another risk, according to a warning by the New Jersey Cybersecurity & Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC), a division of the states Division of Homeland Security and Preparedness.

Thats because gas stations arent yet required to use chip readers, the devices that require you to insert a credit or debit card into a machine. Instead, gas stations can still use swipes  which are more vulnerable to hacking because data is not encrypted.

The warning isnt talking about skimming at fuel pumps  when a bad guy hides a device to steal your information right at the pump. Instead, its about the risk to your credit or debit card information when its stored on a gas stations servers.

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When a card is swiped, the data from the stripe on the back of your card is sent unencrypted to the gas stations network where it can be stolen, NJCCIC said.

If crooks get into the servers, youre more at risk if your debit card data is stolen because it gives thieves direct access to your bank account, compared to credit card accounts, which offer more protections.

The warning comes after VISA published the details of a few hacks at gas stations at undisclosed locations in North America.

It said cybercriminals are installing point-of-service (POS) malware in the gas stations networks to access the information transmitted from card swipes.

In the first incident, the computer network of a North American fuel dispenser merchant was compromised after an employee opened a phishing email.

The email contained a malicious link that, when clicked, installed a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) on the merchant network and granted the threat actors network access, VISA said. The actors then conducted reconnaissance of the corporate network, and obtained and utilized credentials to move laterally into the POS environment.

Basically, the crooks were able to steal customer card information.

In a second incident, the cybercriminals also gained access to a fuel merchants POS environment.

The actors again obtained network access to the targeted merchant, although it is unclear how the actors gained this initial access, and moved laterally within the network to the POS environment, VISA said.

The criminals used malware to harvest payment card data. VISA said the merchant accepted both chip transactions at the in-store terminals and magnetic stripe transactions at fuel pumps, and the malware injected into the POS environment appears to have targeted the mag stripe/track data specifically. Therefore, the payment cards used at the non-chip fuel pumps were at risk in the POS environment.

So how can you protect yourself?

First, you can choose only to purchase gas from merchants who already use chip technology at the pump.

Or, use cash.

But if you find yourself at a gas station that still swipes at the pump, use a credit card rather than a debit card so you have enhanced protections.

Gas stations have until October to upgrade to chip readers. If they dont, theyll be responsible for fraudulent transactions caused by any breach.

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.
Xiaomis Mi Band 4 is one of the best selling fitness trackers on the market thanks to its aggressive price, decent feature set and global availability. Its one of the reasons for Xiaomis continued success in the wearable market throughout the second half of 2019 and the brand will undoubtedly look to carry this success in 2020.

A set of leaks has shed some light on the upcoming Mi Band 5 - insiders reveal a larger 1.2-inch display as well NFC on the global version.

The new addition will allow for more payment options including Google Pay support. Xiaomis Mi Pay is the only payment option supported on the Mi Band 4 but this will change when the Mi Band 5 is launched.

Pricing is rumored to start at CNY 179 ($25) in China but as usual, we should expect a price hike for the international version. Xiaomis subsidiary Huami has already confirmed it's working on the Mi Band 5 and we can expect the Chinese launch to take place in June.

Via
Acting selflessly to help others in need was long thought to be a trait confined to mammals, in particular humans and great apes. But a new study has found that African grey parrots volunteer assistance to both their good friends and mere acquaintances -- even when there is no expectation of personal gain. The paper, published in the journal Current Biology on Thursday, advances our knowledge of the evolution of cooperation and social intelligence, co-author Auguste von Bayern of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Starnberg, Germany told AFP. Both parrots and corvids (like crows and ravens) are renowned for their extraordinary problem solving skills, and are sometimes called "feathered apes." Alex, the famous Harvard-based African grey parrot that died in 2007, developed a vocabulary of over 100 words, could identify colors and quantify objects up to the number six, among many other accomplishments. But despite their impressive intelligence, earlier experiments have failed to show crows helping other crows -- leading von Bayern and first author Desiree Brucks of ETH Zurich to wonder whether the same was true of parrots. Working at the Loro Parque research station in Spain, they placed pairs of grey parrots and blue-headed macaws in boxes alongside each other with an exchange hole between the two, and a hole facing a human experimenter that was either kept open or closed. Both parrot species quickly learned that they could exchange tokens with the experimenter for a nut treat -- but only the grey parrots helped their neighbors when their own opportunity for gain was taken away. In the first round, seven out of eight grey parrots were willing to transfer tokens in their possession to their neighbors so that their friends could feast when they could not. The fact they did so without knowing they would later be tested in the other role showed that those giving were not expecting the favor to be returned, said von Bayern. Significantly, the grey parrots appeared to understand the nature of the task, as opposed to acting out of playfulness. When they saw the other parrot had an opportunity for exchange, they'd pass a token over -- but otherwise, they would not. - Lending a wing - And, like humans, the grey parrots appeared to favor their friends, sharing significantly more tokens with birds they had previously closely associated with, though they still gave some to acquaintances. The experimenters did not test whether the effect would occur with perfect strangers. It is not fully clear why the grey parrots acted "prosocially" while the macaws did not, but the researchers suggest it may be linked to how the two species organize themselves in the wild. African greys live in huge flocks of up to 1,200 individuals, Brucks told AFP, and this may require greater social cognitive abilities than macaws that live in much smaller groups of 10 to 30 individuals. The team would now like to investigate how widespread cooperation is among the world's 393 parrot species and examine what evolutionary pressures led to it. They'd also like to learn how exactly the birds empathize with each other and whether the level of help given is proportionate to the need of the recipient -- for example, will a parrot who just had a meal receive the same level of assistance as one which is hungry?
Two Minnesota leaders are proposing a change to the state's constitution that they say would address and solve the state's persistent achievement gap.

Former Supreme Court Justice Alan Page and Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis, say they want to change the constitution so it would guarantee children an "equal right to a quality education."

The current language states that Minnesota should have a "uniform system of public schools," which has been interpreted to mean an "adequate education system."

The two argue that elevating public education to a civil right would hand families the power to hold the state accountable for its results. It would require the state to meet measurable standards. And if the state leaders fail at that, it gives parents and children legal recourse.

"We could use the legal system to truly put children first in the eyes of the law," Page said.

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The two leaders want the amendment put before voters in November. The proposal comes amid fresh evidence that Minnesota's achievement gap remains among the widest and worst in the country.

The Fed issued a report in October that said Minnesota has some of the worst disparities in educational achievement, with low-income and students of color far behind their peers on state standardized tests, graduation rates and markers of college readiness.

Joe Nathan, director of the St. Paul-based Center for School Change, said he was largely "ambivalent" about the amendment proposal. Research has already highlighted a handful of ideas and reforms that would produce "dramatic reductions in achievement gaps" and help all kinds of students, he said.

One is to increase the number of students who earn college credit while they are in high school. "Dual credit" opportunities have been shown to have a "huge positive impact," particularly on low-income students and students of color.

Another is a high-quality, early childhood education. Another is increasing the number of strong teachers of color in the schools. And a fourth idea is an emphasis on service learning, where students combine classroom work and community service.

"My gut feeling is we know a number of things for certain that would produce major changes, many of which we aren't doing," Nathan said. "I wish we could could focus more attention on that."

State Rep. Gene Pelowski, a Winona Democrat and retired public school teacher, said there needs to be more debate "as to what this means should it become part of the constitution."

"Putting it in the constitution isn't necessarily a guarantee that it'll do exactly what they think it's going to do," Pelowski said.

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Pelowski also noted that constitutional amendments, which require passage by the Legislature before they can appear on a ballot, are the "most difficult to do," especially in a short session.

Rochester Superintendent Michael Munoz said he supports a constitutional amendment that addresses education disparities.

"To me, the critical step is ensure follow-through with legislation," Munoz said. "(Kashkari) speaks to legislative changes that follow the amendment. Some of the case studies he sites demonstrate success, because there were actionable steps and resources allocated to achieve the outcomes."

The state's public teachers union, Education Minnesota, said it opposes the idea, which they say will pave the way for taxpayer-funded vouchers for private schools.

"Every Minnesota student deserves to learn in a building with a nurse, a counselor and class sizes small enough for teachers to give individual attention," union president Denise Specht said. "Many students are missing those things now. Imagine how much worse it would get if the funding requirement was removed from the state constitution."

Others says the changes are badly needed and would force reforms on the public schools. Generation Next, a Minneapolis nonprofit focused on closing the achievement gap, and the Minnesota Business Partnership, said they support the idea.

"This constitutional amendment will compel our state to enact the types of systemic reforms in K-12 education that will ensure we are preparing every child for future success in the global economy," said Charlie Weaver, executive director of the business partnership.

Kashkari argues that when other states have made similar updates to their constitutions, lawmakers have responded with changes to their education systems. The current language was enacted in 1857. Those reforms have included more funding for schools, expanded enrollment options for families, and publicly funded transportation to higher-quality schools.

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Page said making education a civil right could result in changes to teacher preparation programs that would better equip teachers to educate diverse students.

"The possibilities are endless, I suppose," Page said. "I can't tell you what it would look like, but I can tell you the changes would be dramatic."
The U.S. House will vote Thursday on a War Powers Resolution aimed at restricting President Donald Trump's ability to strike militarily against Iran, following a pair of missile strikes by Tehran against U.S. bases in Iraq, UPI writes in the article U.S. House to vote on limiting Trump's power to hit Iran militarily. The vote follows a national address by Trump in which he warned that U.S. missiles are "big, powerful, accurate, lethal and fast."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the lower chamber will vote on the resolution, sponsored by freshman Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, to end the president's ability to launch military actions without express congressional approval. Pelosi announced the vote Wednesday after angry Democratic leaders emerged from a closed-door meeting with top administration officials that addressed the justifications used for last week's airstrike that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq. Soleimani's death prompted Tehran to retaliate Wednesday with missile attacks on two U.S. military bases in Iraq. Iranian media reported dozens of American troops were killed, but U.S. defense officials said no service members were even hurt by the strikes.

Echoing earlier statements by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Trump dismissed Iran's counterattack in a nationally broadcast response Wednesday in which he justified Soleimani's death by calling him a "ruthless terrorist" with American and Iraqi blood on his hands. Trump also warned Iran against further provocation. "Our missiles are big, powerful, accurate, lethal and fast," he said. "We do not want to use it. American strength, both military and economic, is the best deterrent."

Trump has previously threatened military action against foreign adversaries like Iran and North Korea, but House Democrats want to ensure he won't act unilaterally. After Wednesday's private meeting, they said they were disconcerted the administration's argument for killing Soleimani wasn't more concrete. "There was no raw evidence presented that this was an imminent threat," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington. "I didn't hear anything in the briefing that there was a lawful basis for the attack and that the threat was imminent," added Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island. "Members of Congress have serious, urgent concerns about the administration's decision to engage in hostilities against Iran and about its lack of strategy moving forward," Pelosi said Wednesday. "Our concerns were not addressed by the president's insufficient War Powers Act notification and by the administration's briefing today."

The Republican-held Senate introduced a bipartisan resolution on Wednesday that underscores the fact Trump does not have congressional authorization to pursue military action against Iran. Introduced by Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., the resolution warns that government authorizations to use military force against terrorists and the state of Iraq, adopted in 2001 and 2002 in the early stages of the U.S. war on terror, legally permit the Trump administration to launch military action against Iran.

Meanwhile, in his address, Donald Trump demanded the withdrawal of the international mediators from the Iranian nuclear deal. Recall that on January 5, Tehran decided to continue the suspension of its obligations in the framework of the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan for the Iranian Nuclear Program (JCPOA). However, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Irans statement that it is no longer bound by certain restrictions stipulated in the JCPOA should be considered in the context of the developments since May 2018, when the United States unilaterally stepped out from the deal.

Tehrans refusal from the restrictions stipulated by the JCPOA for the development of its capacities and technological capabilities of uranium enrichment does not in itself pose any threat in the context of the nuclear weapons proliferation. Iran carries out all its activities in close cooperation and under constant supervision of the IAEA. This is a temporary suspension of the JCPOA provisions that go beyond the NPT and the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement. Iran agreed to them in 2015 in order to achieve a compromise based on the balance of interests and principle of reciprocity in the framework of the transaction. This balance was broken and it cannot be attributed to the country.

According to Smolenskaya Square, Moscow remains fully committed to the JCPOA and its goals. The challenges that the international community has to face in the process of implementing comprehensive agreements require political will and a strong collective response, primarily from the main parties of the JCPOA. The Russian Foreign Ministry is convinced that when these challenges are overcome, the Iranian side will have no reason to deviate from the agreed requirements. Moscow called on all partners not to turn off the path set by the JCPOA and create conditions for its further stable implementation.
Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - The CEO of the Tunisian airline company, TunisAir, Ileys Mnakbi, announced at the company's general meeting on Wednesday that 4,800 employees would be laid off to enable the company to recover financially
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Warsaw  Thu, January 9, 2020 09:00 733 48be62e941b44f04afae568c3217ac7b 2 News Auschwitz,travel,destination,Germany Free

A record 2.3 million visitors toured former Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau last year, the museum said on Tuesday, as the site gears up to mark 75 years since its last prisoners were freed.

The figure was an increase of 170,000 on the visitor numbers from 2018, the previous record year.

Almost 400,000 Poles toured the complex in 2019, while foreign visitors included 200,000 Britons, 120,000 Americans and 73,000 Germans.

The site in southern Poland has come to symbolize the Holocaust -- the killing of more than six million Jews by Nazi Germany.

Read also: Amazon pulls Auschwitz Christmas decorations from site

Auschwitz Memorial officials have appealed to VIPs and celebrities including Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates and Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio to help the site to reach one million Twitter followers by the 75th anniversary of the camp's liberation on January 27.

On that day, some 200 Auschwitz survivors and delegations from over a dozen countries will gather at the former death camp for ceremonies marking the milestone.

Some 1.1 million people, including a million Jews from across Europe, were killed by the Nazis at the camp from 1940 to 1945.

The other victims were mostly non-Jewish Poles, Roma and Soviet prisoners.

Topics : Auschwitz travel destination Germany
Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden talks with a protester objecting to his stance on deportations during a town hall at Lander University in Greenwood, S.C., on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019. Read more

An immigrant-rights protester whose recent confrontation with former Vice President Joe Biden made headlines was hired this week by rival Bernie Sanders campaign.

Carlos E. Rojas, who previously helped lead Movimiento Cosecha, a left-wing group that advocates for undocumented immigrants, will be a Latinx community organizer in Iowa for Sanders. Rojas hiring prompted criticism among Biden supporters and some independent political analysts, who accused the Sanders campaign of promoting someone who has personally attacked a Democratic rival.

But Sanders supporters celebrated the hiring of Rojas, an experienced activist who previously volunteered on the Obama campaign. Sanders has a history of hiring activists to join his ranks. His deputy press secretary is an undocumented immigrant.

Biden and Sanders are on opposite ends of the political spectrum in the Democratic presidential primary, polling first and second in most surveys. While tensions between their supporters make sense for that reason, theres also some overlap in their constituencies, especially among minority and working-class voters. In a Morning Consult poll released this week, one-third of Biden supporters said their second choice was Sanders, the independent, self-identified socialist senator from Vermont.

As someone who is part of the immigrants rights movement, I believe Sanders has the most progressive platform when it comes to immigration, foreign policy and the best approach when it comes to basic needs like healthcare and education, Rojas said in a statement on Facebook.

The Sanders campaign confirmed Rojas hiring Thursday and said he was not on the payroll when he disrupted a Biden rally in November.

At that event, Rojas drove down to South Carolina from Elizabeth, N.J., with an undocumented woman to challenge Biden on the three million deportations during the Obama administration. Biden initially engaged Rojas in debate, but when the exchange grew tense, Biden cut Rojas off and told him to go vote for Trump.

Movimento Cosecha also held a small sit-in protest at Bidens campaign headquarters when the Philadelphia office opened in July.

In March, the Sanders campaign had to defend its hiring of a veteran investigative journalist, David Sirota, as senior adviser and speechwriter. Sirota had been blasting other Democrats on Twitter and in columns at the Guardian prior to his hiring.

The hires prompted critics to recall the fallout of the 2016 Democrartic primary, when Sanders lost the nomination to Hillary Clinton and some of his most fervent supporters exacerbated rifts within the party by continuing aggressive online attacks.

Sanders himself launched his 2020 campaign pledging not to attack, bully, or harass any fellow candidate.
Forensics officials in the western Mexican state of Jalisco said that 26 bags body parts were found in a ravine, and officials are now trying to determine how many victims there are (Google Maps)

Bodies Found in 26 Bags Dumped Near Major Mexican City, Causes of Death Under Investigation

Forensics officials in the western Mexican state of Jalisco said that 26 bags containing body parts were found in a ravine, and officials are now trying to determine how many victims died.

The Jalisco state prosecutors office said in a statement on Thursday that authorities began to collect the bags Tuesday in the municipality of Tonala near Guadalajara.

During the first day, they managed to extract 14 bags, the office wrote in the statement, according to a translation. It added that the rough terrain forced officials to suspend their work.

On Wednesday, about 12 more bags were located, the state prosecutors office wrote.

The remains were transferred to the facilities of the institute of forensic sciences where they will be analyzed to determine the number of bodies and the causes of death, the office said.

A homicide investigation unit was deployed and is now working on the case to identify any potential suspects, the office said.

A stock photo shows forensic experts are seen at the scene of the crime in Guadalajara, Jalisco state, on Jan. 18, 2019. (Ulises Ruiz/ AFP/Getty Images)

Officials have not suggested who might have been responsible. Mexican cartels have dumped large numbers of dead bodies in remote areas in Jalisco state in recent months.

In September 2019, at least 44 bodies were found dumped in bags near Guadalajara, officials said.

The remains were discovered on Sept. 3 in a well near the city of Guadalajara in Jalisco State after residents reported a foul odor, reported the BBC.

It saddens me to speak in this way, but society has a right to know what is happening, Jalisco security cabinet chief Macedonio Tamez Guajardo told Mexican news website Milenio.

Elaborating on the grisly discovery, Guajardo said the bodies were in various states of decomposition. The Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences said on Sept. 14 that 44 people have been identified, Fox News reported.

Jalisco has experienced increased violence and disappearances in recent years as the Jalisco New Generation cartel has grown in strength.

In October 2019, 42 bodies were found in a mass grave near the U.S.-Mexico border.

A group of Mexican mothers with the group Madres Buscadoras de Sonora, or Searching Mothers of Sonora, found the grave near the town of Puerto Penasco, reported the Arizona Republic. The Sonora Attorney Generals Office said the women were searching for remains of missing family members and discovered the grave in a desert area near a state highway east of the town, the paper reported.
- The Christmas comedy movie portrayed Jesus as a closeted gay person

- Two million believers signed a petition against its producers arguing it was a wrong depiction of the Christian faith

- The judge, in his ruling, said the freedom of expression is not absolute and ordered Netflix to temporarily halt its release

A judge based in Brazil has ordered Netflix to pull down a Christmas movie that infuriated Christians across the world for depicting Jesus as gay.

Two million believers signed a petition calling for the deletion of the film called The First Temptation of Christ.

READ ALSO: Waziri Mkuu wa Israeli aapa kukabiliana vilivyo na Iran iwapo itashambulia nchi yake

Church of God. A judge ordered Netflix to pull down movie after Christians signed a petition. Photo: OGS Capital.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Netizens come up with hilarious ways Miguna can easily sneak back into Kenya

According to a report by BBC, the judge while giving his ruling said the movie infringed the right to freedom of expression.

"The right to freedom of expression is not absolute," said the judge.

READ ALSO: Do home remedies for chlamydia work?

However, the ban is only temporary and a final decision will be made later.

The movie portrayed Jesus as a closeted gay person. Photo: UGC.

Source: UGC

The Netflix Christmas comedy from a Brazil-based YouTube comedy group, Porta dos Fundos, left over one million Christians outraged after it portrayed Jesus as a closeted gay person.

The videotape made its debut on December 3 and shows Jesus in a sexual relationship with a man named Orlando.

Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly.

Raila Odinga is behind Miguna miguna's problems - Moses kuria | Tuko TV

Source: TUKO.co.ke
Photo: Wayne Moore/file Bruce Hamilton

Kelowna Rockets general manager Bruce Hamilton has been busy retooling his roster over the past eight months as the club prepares to host the 2020 Memorial Cup.

Nine players were added through the trade route, although two of those, defenceman Carson Sass and forward Kobe Mohr, have also since moved on.

Hamilton has also moved first-round bantam picks in 2021, 2022 and 2023, second-round selections in 2021 and 2022, and third-rounders in 2022 and 2023.

However, with the CHL trade deadline looming Friday, Hamilton says he would entertain a deal for a defenceman if the opportunity is there.

An upper body injury that will keep defenceman Sean Comrie on the shelf for another one to three weeks has left the Rockets, who are carrying only six blueliners on the roster, thin at that position.

Hamilton says he's still looking, but admits the team has used up some assets already.

"Other than that, I don't think there's going to be a lot," says Hamilton.

He adds the likelihood of defenceman Lassie Thomson rejoining the team from Finland doesn't appear to be in the cards.

"All our communication with him is that he's staying there," says Hamilton. "Not much interest in coming back."

The Rockets also have until Friday's deadline to decide which three overage players they will keep.

The Rockets currently have four, including forward Kyle Topping, who continues to recover from a broken ankle suffered in Victoria at the end of October.

Hamilton says Topping has been skating a lot the past week and expects him to be ready to return in about two weeks.

"He'll see a doctor before the week is finished to see where he's at."
Foodies looking to satisfy cravings by sampling the best offerings from local restaurants will have a varied menu to choose from Jan. 16 at The Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerces 34 annual Taste of the Town.

Best thing about this event is, of course, the food, JJ Hollie said, CEO and president of The Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerce. But its also a good event for the community to gather and enjoy the different kinds of food.

Lauren Joerg, director of marketing and communications at The Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerce, says shes most excited to try the food, too. Her job is promoting the event and working with the media partners for Taste of Town.

Ive lived in The Woodlands now for two years and still havent visited all of the restaurants the area has to offer. Taste of the Town gives you a chance to try some of the new restaurants that have recently popped up, Joerg said.

Hollie says there are about 40 restaurants or so that participate every year.

Theres a tremendous food scene here that we are privileged to have and we are very glad to be able to put up an event that showcases that segment of our economy, Hollie said.

The event attracts 2,000-3,000 people each year and attendance has remained steady throughout the years.

More Information Want to go? What: The Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerce's 34 annual Taste of the Town When: 4-9 p.m. Jan 16. Where: The Woodlands Waterway Marriott, 1601 Lake Robbins Drive The Woodlands, TX 77380 Phone: 281-367-5777 Website: https://www.woodlandschamber.org/events/details/2020-taste-of-the-town-8999 See More Collapse

Residents will again cast votes for the Peoples Choice Award for whom they think has the best food. They will also be able to choose their favorite booth. Another award is Best of Taste where competitors will be competing for best dessert, best entree and best appetizers.

This years list of celebrity judges are: Francine Spierging, Edible Houston editor and contributor; Kerry Stessel, Foodie Club blogger and founder of Hot Line Pepper Products; Nick Rama, Nicks Local Eats founder and Hello Woodlands and Link Local contributor; Shane McAuliffe, The Texas Bucket List host; Metta Archilla-Ishida, PinPointe Magazine food blogger and contributor.

Last years winners were Broken Barrel for best appetizer, Trulucks Seafood Steak and Crab House for best entree and Robards Steakhouse for best dessert.

Hollie says that without their sponsors and volunteers, they wouldnt have been able to do this event.

Theyre serving some of their signature dishes that you get to try and it only costs you $35 and you get to try 40 different restaurants, Hollie said.

Its also a great place for people to discover new eateries that they might not have known about before.

Its just a great event for the community to come out and see a whole bunch of restaurants that are right down the street from them that they may not know was there, Hollie said.

Joerg says proceedings from the event go back to the chamber for future events.

laraib.hashmi@chron.com
Thailand Yacht Show officially underway

PHUKET: The fifth edition of the Thailand Yacht Show officially opened at the Royal Phuket Marina today (Jan 9). The on-water display is a first-class array of over 50 luxury yachts and boats, including several world and Asian premieres, from the regions leading brokers and the worlds best-known boat builders.

marinetourismtransport

By The Phuket News

Thursday 9 January 2020, 05:52PM

During four days from Jan 9-12, the Yacht Show turns the marina into a bustling hub for all things luxury, highlighting Phuket as Asias premier cruising destination and a maritime heaven for leisure boating enthusiasts, said a release announcing the show opening today.

Targeting yachting aficionados and wealthy lifestyle enthusiasts from all over the region, the Thailand Yacht Show is positioning Thailand in its rightful place as the primary Asian destination in the global yachting arena, the release added.

Andy Treadwell, CEO of event organiser Verventia, said, The Thailand Yacht Show is an international showcase for Thailands yachting and luxury lifestyle, and its world-renowned hospitality culture. We are here to promote Thailand and Phuket as the main hub for high-spending yacht tourism and for the international yachting industry in Asia.

This island is now recognised as the centre of one of the most beautiful yachting destinations in the world  the ASEAN seas rank alongside the Mediterranean and the Caribbean in terms of destinations, dive spots, beaches and tropical islands just waiting to be discovered.

At the opening ceremony, Governor Phakaphong noted, We are delighted that the Thailand Yacht Show is becoming an event of international standing, bringing together brands and dealers of the highest quality and international repute to present their best products at the Show.

Through the Thailand Yacht Show, Phuket gets closer to its objective of becoming the preferred winter destination for high-value international yachting tourists. The global spotlight shines on Thailand with the Show combining the very best aspects of the yacht and superyacht lifestyle, bringing the biggest and most important brands to showcase their newest products and to do business on the beautiful shores of Phuket. All of this translates into direct and indirect economic benefit for our local economy.

Richard Allen, General Manager of Simpson Marine, was proud of his offices involvement with the show. We are very pleased with our confirmed line-up at the 2020 Thailand Yacht Show. We will present six yachts including at least three Asia Premieres which is a great achievement and a showcase of Simpson Marines rich portfolio of the worlds leading brands.

There will be something for everyone with models from San Lorenzo, Monte Carlo Yachts, Fairline Yachts, Benneteau, Lagoon Catamarans, and Aquila Power Catamarans. In addition, we will be promoting our own services with great offers on Yacht Charter both in Thailand and the rest of the world. Our Yacht Care Team will have packages for yacht owners seeking care-free ownership and we will also be offering advice on yacht registration as Simpson Marine is an authorised agent for the Langkawi Yacht Registry.

As in every year, the show is a great chance to meet new and existing owners and yachting enthusiasts from Thailand and abroad. I look forward to seeing everyone there, Mr Allen said.

Leading superyacht broker and Ferretti dealer Lee Marine will be displaying Asia Premieres from Custom Line, Riva and Riviera, as well as two large yachts under the Northrop & Johnson flag.

CEO Joshua Lee commented, "We are continuing to support the Thailand Yacht Show as it is the main platform for our industry here. We also believe the show organiser's efforts to open Thailand to foreign superyacht tourism will one day be rewarded, and we will all benefit hugely from that  most of all Thailand!

Boat Lagoon Yachting will showcase a Thailand premiere, the Princess Y85, a special edition from a collaboration between Pininfarina and Princess design studio, with the latest in technology and advanced build-quality Princess is known for, as well as another new special edition, the Princess F62.

The company is also the distributor of the ocean-going luxury RIBS from Sacs Marine, and will be presenting a Sacs Rebel 47, flagship of the Sacs range, the most stylish and luxurious 15m RIB on the market. Completing their front-row line-up is the Jeanneau Cap Camarat10.5Wa  another Thailand premiere.

One of Thailands major dealers of ever-more popular sailing and power catamarans, Multihull Solutions, will present Asian and world premieres from NEEL Trimarans and Asia Catamarans respectively.

Looking forward to the fifth edition of TYS is General Manager Andrew de Bruin. "We have some terrific boats at TYS this year, and were finding the market demand for our speciality catamarans keeps on growing. Weve always had good results from this show, and its really important that everyone continues to support  one day it will grow into something really special for the region.

First time exhibitor at TYS 2020 is Asia Yachting, the fast-growing and highly successful dealer of Monte Carlo Yachts and Prestige Yachts from Hong Kong, now with an extended territory including Thailand and Singapore.

CEO Olivier Besson is enthusiastic about the opportunities in the region that the Thailand and Singapore Yacht Shows present.

We are excited to be opening a new office in Phuket which will enable us to focus on sales in Southeast Asia, where we expect the market to grow considerably over the next few years. We are aware of all the efforts that TYS and SYS show organisers Verventia have been putting into developing the industry here, and we are delighted to support that effort  and hopefully make a few sales.

Lovers of all things Italian will rejoice as famed boat builder Azimut Yachts will display two brand-new models, and another highly successful British brand Sunseeker will also have a front-line showpiece yacht to demonstrate the ultimate in high-fashion luxury boating.

Visitors to the Thailand Yacht Show 2020 will find a whole host of new features, including interactive demonstrations, special Childrens Day events, art exhibitions and an artistic masterclass, live music, fashion shows and a veritable smorgasbord of food and beverage options  including a brand- new Floating Bar in the heart of the marina.

The shows main draw, of course, is the world-class selection of yachts and boats of all shapes and sizes for visitors to admire and, no matter what your budget, to charter or purchase. From small sailboats to superyachts, RIBs to jet-skis, navigation systems and chandlery to the latest water-sports toys, its all there. The Thailand Yacht Show is an immersive experience, offering the opportunity for first-timers to actually participate in the excitement of sailing a yacht from our Demonstration Platform.

For more information visit:

Website: www.thailandyachtshow.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thaiyachtshow/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thaiyachtshow/

Email: info@thailandyachtshow.com
A Florida couple brought together by their love of threesomes has revealed they've been sexually intimate with more than a hundred women over the course of their sexually-charged relationship.

Elan, a professional pickup artist, and his bisexual girlfriend, Kat, open up about their love of bringing other women into their bedroom on Friday night's episode of the We TV reality series Extreme Love.

'Since we've been together, we've been with over a hundred partners,' Kat boasts in a preview clip from the episode. 'Our success rate is extremely high.'

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Open: Elan and Kat, a couple from Florida, open up about their love of threesomes on Friday night's episode of the We TV series Extreme Love

Win-win: Elan's fantasy is to have 'two girls at the same time,' while Kat wants a partner who will let her continue to explore her sexual interest in women

Impressive: Kat boasts that they've 'been with over a hundred partners'

Elan was previously in a monogamous marriage, but after his divorce, he found himself a new lifestyle  and a new career.

'I'm a professional pickup artist. I have a proven method of meeting new women,' he explains. 'I've developed this system over many years of going out and field testing, using my techniques and then coming home and analyzing.'

Elan sees Kat as his 'partner in crime,' and she also believes they're a perfect match.

'He's hilarious, very intelligent, and I think we're just extremely compatible,' she says.

New life: Elan was previously in a monogamous marriage, but after his divorce, he found himself a new career as a pickup artist

Wild: Elan and Kat met online and were pleased to find they have similar desires. 'We would have four or five different girls from every night,' she recalls of the start of their courtship

The couple met online two years ago, and they were both pleased to find that they have similar desires.

'As a bisexual woman, it's definitely important for me to be with a partner who is open to still letting me explore my interest in women,' Kat says.

Her preference is perfect for her partner, whose 'fantasy is two girls at the same time.'

Elan says being 'socially acute is like having a magic power,' and since he's been in a relationship with Kat, he has been using his talents to find women for the both of them.

Social life: Elan says they now have threesomes about two or three times a week, which still a lot for most people

Proud: Kat says their 'success rate is extremely high' thanks to Elan's pickup skills

Lucky: Kat says she was 'thrilled' to find Elan because not every guy is comfortable bringing another woman into the bedroom

'He has it down in a way that's totally different than other people will do it, and it works significantly better,' she says of his pickup technique.

'When we first started dating, we were like insane. We would have four or five different girls from every night,' she recalls.

Elan says they now have threesomes about two or three times a week, which still a lot for most people.

'Not every guy really wants that kind of relationship or is comfortable with it,' Kat explains. 'So I was thrilled to find Elan.'
The U.S. assessment comes after a preliminary Iranian investigative report released Thursday said the pilots never made a radio call for help and claimed the aircraft was trying to turn back for the airport when the burning plane went down. Ukraine, meanwhile, said it considered a missile strike as one of several possible theories for the crash, despite Iran's denials.

The Iranian report suggests that a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines late Tuesday, when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

Investigators from Iran's Civil Aviation Organization offered no immediate explanation for the disaster, however. Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, something initially backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldn't speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6:12 a.m. Wednesday, Tehran time, after nearly an hour's delay at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travelers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.
Leo Varadkar is to meet Micheal Martin to discuss a date for the general election (PA)

TAOISEACH Leo Varakdar has not ruled out calling an early election ahead of his meeting with Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin this evening.

Speaking after Cabinet he repeatedly failed to guarantee that the Dail will return from its Christmas break next week.

Mr Varadkar said he couldn't predict the outcome of his meeting with Mr Martin which is aimed at agreeing an election date.

He also said that the restoration of the power-sharing institutions in the North is not a prerequisite for holding an election here.

However, he appeared to allow some wriggle room on his demand that Fianna Fail to vote with the minority government to ensure key legislation is passed suggesting the Dail could continue with Mr Martin's party abstaining in votes.

He said: It is the case that with Fianna Fail continuing to abstain that the government can continue and that we have, I believe sufficient votes to get our legislative programme through but obviously the numbers are also very precarious.

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That's something obviously I'll have to discuss with the leader of Fianna Fail tonight.

Asked if he could guarantee that the Dail will return next week Mr Varadkar replied: "I cant predict the outcome of the conversation Im going to have with the leader of Fianna Fail tonight".

He said he'll also have to consult with Fine Gael, the Independent Alliance, other independent ministers, independents who support the government and other parties.

Asked again if the Dail will return from its recess next Wednesday, he said: "The Cabinet is due to meet on Tuesday.

"The Dail will be reconvened on Wednesday and that is the position until such time as it may change."

He also insisted it was not a yes or no answer and said: "If I thought I could predict the future Id have a column in a newspaper

"Well have to see what happens over the next couple of days."

Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have been told by the opposition parties to stop play-acting and call a general election now.

Labour and Sinn Fein intensified pressure on Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to set a date for the election ahead of a meeting between the Fine Gael leader and his Fianna Fail counterpart Micheal Martin to discuss the matter on Thursday evening.

Labour leader Brendan Howlin said that limping on for a number of weeks is a waste of time and that everyone in the Dail agrees that its lifespan has run its course.

Speaking on the plinth at Leinster House Mr Howlin said: I think you don't limp on in a dysfunctional parliament. Everybody is in election mode, everybody is looking over their shoulder.

I think you will see very unsatisfactory arrangements with a constant election mode set of promises that will undermine further public confidence in public administration.

So a sort of a phoney election for a number of weeks would be infinitely worse than an actual election that allows people to present their policies and how they're going to solve the real issues and ask people to support them.

Sinn Fein TD David Cullinane said the meeting between the two leaders was more play-acting, more political drama to create false tension between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.

Mr Cullinane told journalists at Leinster House: People are sick of the play acting from these parties. If there is going to be an election, then there should be an election.

We believe that it's time now to bring an end to a government that has run its course, it has run out of road, confidence and supply hasn't worked from our perspective and we think that leaders should call the election and let the people have their say.
P olice have appealed for information after an elderly man was followed and brutally attacked in west London.

Detectives released a CCTV image of a man they wish to speak to in connection with assault outside a supermarket in Fulham on August 14 last year.

The 71-year-old man was leaving a Tesco in Fulham Road when he had a brief verbal exchange with another man, Met Police said.

The man then followed the victim down the road before turning and punching him in the face without warning.

He then fled the scene, leaving the 71-year-old with a broken cheekbone and eye socket.

So far there have been no arrests, police said.

Scotland Yard has now released a picture of a man they wish to speak to in connection with the attack.

Detective Constable Jack Emly, from the Mets Central West Command Unit, said: "We urge anyone who recognises this man to contact us.

The victim sustained serious facial injuries and is still suffering from the emotional effects of this assault to this day."
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 08, 2020 | 06:41 PM | MURRAY

Joseph W. Bolin's case came up in Calloway County Circuit Court on Tuesday. According to a court clerk, a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf. He faces two counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of property.





Previously, Bolin pleaded guilty to two counts of theft over $10,000 and received a ten-year sentence.





The charges came after a victim told Kentucky State Police last year that Bolin had not made required payments related to a probate case he was overseeing. Investigators found find similar activity in several probate cases.

A western Kentucky attorney already sentenced to prison is facing more charges.
Al Jazeera takes a look at the foreign actors invested in the Libyan conflict and who they are siding with.

Since renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive on Libyas capital Tripoli in April, the conflict in the North African country has ground to a standstill.

After months of fighting, forces aligned with the United Nations-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), based in Tripoli, have largely prevented Haftar, who is affiliated with a rival administration in the east, from seizing the city.

Following a recent escalation in fighting, the UN on Wednesday welcomed calls by Turkey and Russia  who support opposing sides in the conflict  for a ceasefire amid warnings that Libya faced becoming a second Syria.

As more foreign actors jostle for influence in Libya, Al Jazeera takes a look at the powers looking to shape events in the war-wracked country and who they are siding with.

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is seen by many experts as one of Haftars main supporters, having supplied him with advanced weapon systems in violation of a 2011 UN arms embargo imposed at the beginning of an uprising that toppled longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Haftars self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) has relied heavily on UAE air support, which includes the suspected deployment of Chinese-made Wing Loong II drones during its months-long offensive against the GNA.

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A UN report released in November said the UAE also supplied Haftar with the Russian-made Pantsir S-1 advanced air defence system that was installed at the al-Jufra base near the town of Gharyan.

The complexity and costs of the system make it very unlikely that the United Arab Emirates has supplied it to any other entity who could have subsequently transferred it to Libya, the report said.

A separate UN report in 2017 said the Gulf country built an airbase at Al Khadim in eastern Libya and provided Haftar with aircraft as well as military vehicles.

The UAE considers Haftar a trusted partner capable of curbing the spread of political Islam, most notably the Muslim Brotherhood.

Abu Dhabi has no tolerance for political Islam, including its most moderate manifestations, Jalel Harchaoui, a research fellow at the Clingendael Institute and Libya expert, told Al Jazeera.

The only way for them to sleep easy at night and be sure proponents of political Islam do not wield any power in Libya is to prop up strict autocracy instead.

The fact that the Muslim Brotherhood happens to be very weak politically in Libya is not going to reassure or appease the Emiratis. The latter prefer erring on the safe side, by combating any form of democratic opening, whether legitimate, corrupt or dysfunctional.

Egypt

Like Abu Dhabi, Cairos aversion to the Muslim Brotherhood has meant that it found in Haftar a natural ally.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took power after a 2013 military coup that toppled Mohamed Morsi, Egypts first democratically elected head of state and a member of the Brotherhood. The group was outlawed that same year and declared a terrorist organisation by Egyptian authorities.

For Cairo, the GNAs makeup, one that accepts the participation of groups such as the Brotherhood  already an important component of the UN-recognised government  in the political decision-making process, constitutes a major red line.

Haftars endorsement by wealthy Gulf states, his military background and ability to rein in armed groups in eastern Libyas sparsely populated desert region have also earned him the support of el-Sisi.

Egypt has used its vast border with Libya to funnel weapons and provide logistical support to Haftar, according to Libyan officials and Egyptian foreign ministry documents seen by Al Jazeera.

During a recent trip to Cairo, Haftar  who received part of his military training in Egypt  said he would take over Tripoli within hours if Egypt were to send troops to assist his forces.





France

French President Emmanuel Macron has officially backed efforts for a peaceful solution to the conflict in Libya.

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That stance, however, is counterweighed by Frances diplomatic support for Haftar, which includes the blocking of a European Union statement calling on the renegade military commander to halt his assault on the capital, prompting GNA Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj in April to accuse the Macron administration of backing a dictator.

There are also concerns that France is providing Haftar with military support.

Tunisias border guard in April denied entry to 13 French nationals attempting to cross into its territory after the group failed to disclose weapons it had in its possession.

Quoting a well-placed source at Tunisias presidential palace, Radio France International reported the men were not diplomats as claimed but intelligence agents.

In June, US-made Javelin missiles belonging to France were found at a base used by Haftars troops in the town of Gharyan, located some 80km (50 miles) south of Tripoli.

In 2016, a French helicopter crashed near Benghazi, killing three soldiers, during what then-President Francois Hollande described as a dangerous intelligence operation. The GNA said the incident was a violation of its sovereignty.

Russia

Much like France, Russia has publicly supported the UNs mediation efforts led by Special Envoy Ghassan Salame. Moscow, however, in April blocked a UN Security Council statement that would have called on the Libyan commander to halt his advance on Tripoli.

Russian mercenaries from the private Wagner group have also reportedly joined the battle alongside Haftars forces.

Analysts say that, if true, this could not have happened without the Kremlins greenlight and suggests a push by Russia to establish itself as a new power broker in the region.

While Russia may lack the political capital to launch an Astana-like process in Libya, its gamble on the inaction of its counterparts may still position it as a power broker, wrote Emadeddin Badi, a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute, recently.

Moscow denies sending troops to back Haftar.

United States

The US was among the states that supported the efforts that led to the GNAs creation in late 2015. But soon after taking office in January 2017, US President Donald Trump said he did not see a role in Libya.

I think the United States has right now enough roles. We are in a role everywhere, Trump said in April, 2017.

But Washington began to send mixed signals shortly after Haftar launched his offensive on Tripoli.

In an April 19 phone conversation with Haftar, who is also a US citizen, Trump recognised Field Marshall Haftars significant role in fighting terrorism and securing Libyas oil resources.

Washington in July blocked a UNSC statement condemning an air raid on a migrant detention centre that killed more than 40 people, which the GNA blamed on the US ally UAE.

Saudi Arabia

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported in April that Saudi Arabia offered tens of millions of dollars to help fund Haftars Tripoli offensive.

According to the US publication, the offer came during a visit by Haftar to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in late March 2019, days before the launch of his assault on Tripoli.

Citing senior advisers to the Saudi government, the WSJ said the offer of funds, which Haftar accepted, was intended to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders, recruit and pay fighters and other such military purposes.

However, Riyadh, which views the Muslim Brotherhood with the same level of apprehension as the neighbouring UAE, has been bogged down by a conflict of its own in Yemen.





Sudan/Jordan

A report by the UNSC Libya sanctions committee in November accused Sudan and the head of Sudans Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemeti, of violating UN sanctions by deploying 1,000 troops to Libya.

Citing Sudanese military commanders in Libya, The Guardian said in December that as many as 3,000 Sudanese soldiers were participating in Haftars military campaign. They included fighters from the impoverished Darfur region.

Jordan is another country that is mentioned in the report.

Turkey

Turkey has been one of the GNAs foremost supporters since its inception in 2015.

Ankara has stepped up its military support for the GNA in the face of Haftars military campaign.

In addition to armoured vehicles, the GNA was reported to have bought 20 Bayraktar TB2 drones from Turkey last summer.

Ankara has started deploying troops to Libya, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday, after parliament recently approved the move. He said the objective of the deployment was not to fight but to support the legitimate government and avoid a humanitarian tragedy.

The move follows the signing of two agreements in November relating to maritime border demarcation and enhanced security cooperation between Ankara and the GNA.





The maritime border delineation deal is a way for Ankara to affirm its position as a leading power in the region, according to analysts, who are quick to point out that drilling rights in the contested seabed only tell part of the story.

Turkey is going to Libya to make sure that any discussion in the Mediterranean includes Ankara because neighbouring countries are trying to exclude it, Samdi Hamdi, the editor in chief of the International Interest, told Al Jazeera.

If Libya falls under Haftar, who is an ally of the UAE, which in turn is antagonistic to Turkey, that essentially puts all of Turkish maritime interests in the Mediterranean at the mercy of the UAE, Egypt and Greece.

Qatar

Qatars dispute with its Gulf neighbours is reflected in the Libyan theatre where Doha supports a Tripoli government that is more tolerant of Islamist elements  such as the Muslim Brotherhood  than the Haftar-affiliated House of Representatives (HoR), which in turn enjoys the support of the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Doha had played a key financial and military role in the 2011 overthrow of Gaddafi but has since taken a backseat with its support for GNA tempered and limited to diplomatic backing.

Italy

Italy has maintained strict neutrality throughout the conflict raging across the Mediterranean.

Though supportive of the internationally-recognised GNA, Rome advocates for a comprehensive peace process that would incorporate all segments of Libyan society, which it knows well as the countrys former occupying power.

In April, Italys then-Interior Minister Matteo Salvini warned France against supporting any of the warring factions for economic or commercial reasons after Paris blocked the EUs call for restraint.

Analysts say Italy is concerned France is trying to usurp Italian oil giant ENIs privileged position in the North African country.
BEIRUT - Former auto executive Carlos Ghosn was placed under a travel ban in his native Lebanon on Thursday, six days after the country received an Interpol red notice for the fugitive Lebanese national.

On Dec. 30, Ghosn made a stealthy exit from Japan, where he was under house arrest facing trial on four charges of financial misconduct during his tenure as chairman of auto company Nissan. He suddenly showed up in Lebanon, sending shock waves throughout Japan as officials scrambled to understand how he had escaped.

Ghosn said the procedures after his arrest in Japan in November 2018 were "anachronistic and inhumane." He said he was held for 130 days in solitary confinement in a tiny cell, allowed outside for only half an hour a day on weekdays. He said his interrogations extended into the night, sometimes reaching eight hours and in the absence of a lawyer, with lights left on round-the-clock.

"It's not very difficult to come to the conclusion that you're going to die in Japan or you have to get out," he said Wednesday during a news conference in Beirut, his first public appearance since his escape. He insisted that he was innocent and the target of a conspiracy to bring him down, and called Japan's justice system corrupt.

Japanese Justice Minister Masako Mori responded that Ghosn was spreading false information about the country's justice system and that his audacious escape could itself be a crime.

Ghosn appeared at a hearing in Lebanon on Thursday, two days after Lebanon's caretaker justice minister, Albert Serhan, said the country's public prosecutor had received the Interpol red notice about Ghosn and would be taking the necessary steps. He was placed under house arrest.

A few days after his arrival in Lebanon's capital, Ghosn found himself in more legal trouble: A group of lawyers last Thursday lodged a legal complaint against him for visiting Israel as chairman of Renault and later Nissan. Lebanon and Israel have been in a state of war for the past six decades, and Lebanese law considers interacting with Lebanon's southern neighbor and sworn enemy a crime.

Ali Abbas, one of the two lawyers who filed the Israel-related complaint against Ghosn, said the travel ban was a formality that usually comes after receiving Interpol notices, especially red notices, which alerts police about internationally wanted fugitives but does not compel any country to arrest the fugitive.

The Lebanese lawyer said evidence of Ghosn's dealings in Israel were in a legal memorandum he submitted, including a contract signed in 2015 that came into effect in 2017.

Abbas said that he and his colleague filed the complaint because no one should be above the law and that all nationals should be treated equally before the judiciary, regardless of economic class or social standing. It's an issue that Lebanon grapples with - "wasta," a mix of nepotism and connections, frequently helps some people avoid legal complications.

Abbas also said different rules should not apply for those fortunate enough to possess multiple passports. The court said Thursday that it is continuing investigations into Ghosn's Israeli connections.

Ghosn is a Lebanese, French and Brazilian national, and was asked to surrender his passports to his lawyers under the terms of his bail in Japan. But he was allowed to keep a spare French passport at his home in a locked case, the keys of which were held by his lawyers. His lawyers maintain that they did not assist in and were not aware of his escape.

During Wednesday's news conference, Ghosn said the allegations against him in Japan were "untrue, and I should never have been arrested in the first place." He claimed collusion between Nissan and Japanese prosecutors to edge him out to prevent closer relations between Nissan and French partner Renault.

Ghosn was charged with underreporting his income and diverting company funds for his own use. He said that not only had the income never been paid but that the final amount had not even been decided.

Speaking in a packed conference room from Beirut, Ghosn said he was happy to be in Lebanon.

"I don't consider myself a prisoner," he said. "I prefer this prison to the one I was in."

- - -

The Washington Post's Liz Sly in Beirut contributed to this report.
TORONTO - Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan's decision to "step back" from royal duties and make North America their part-time home has spurred much speculation about where the royals will settle.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/1/2020 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex smile during their visit to Canada House in thanks for the warm Canadian hospitality and support they received during their recent stay in Canada, in London, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. (Daniel Leal-Olivas/Pool Photo via AP)

TORONTO - Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan's decision to "step back" from royal duties and make North America their part-time home has spurred much speculation about where the royals will settle.

Not surprisingly, Canadian cities are high on the list of possibilities, especially given the couple's decision to spend Christmas and New Year's in the Great White North.

Hours before the announcement, rumours emerged online and in tabloids that the duo were planning a move to Canada, which Buckingham Palace refused to comment on.

But there are plenty of reasons such a move would make sense, aside from the fact it allows the royals to remain residents of the Commonwealth. Before marrying Prince Harry, the actress formerly known as Meghan Markle spent seven years living in Toronto while filming the TV series, "Suits," and was a prominent celebrity champion of local hotspots and fashion brands.

Of course, it can't be discounted that Meghan was born in California, where her mother Doria Ragland lives. Could the Duchess of Sussex be lured back to the Golden State to raise baby Archie near his maternal grandmother?

The royals' sparse statement Wednesday offers few clues, other than the assurance that they will maintain their duty to "The Queen, the Commonwealth and our patronages."

Canada would seem to be an ideal spot for such efforts. Here's a look at the couple's various ties to Canada:

MEGHAN HEARTS TORONTO

There's no doubt Toronto made an impression on the Duchess of Sussex during her "Suits" days  her residency was marked by social media shoutouts to favourite restaurants and hangouts, and she reportedly volunteered at a local soup kitchen.

By 2016, Meghan was practically an honorary Canadian thanks to being named the promotional face of the long-established wardrobe retailer Reitmans, for which she designed a capsule collection, and the Christian charity World Vision Canada.

Harry, too, has displayed a fondness for Toronto during his visits, which included the time the city hosted his beloved Invictus Games for wounded military personnel in September 2017.

CANADIANS HAVE RESPECTED THEIR PRIVACY

Toronto resident Tiffany Babiak recalled a sudden preponderance of black SUVs in her normally quiet downtown neighbourhood when Prince Harry confirmed the romance in late 2016.

Media scrutiny of the tree-lined enclave where Meghan lived exploded, Babiak said in an interview before the couple's wedding in 2018.

Nevertheless, she said neighbours closed ranks and kept mum on anything they'd seen of the couple, ensuring they'd have as much privacy as possible under the circumstances: "Everyone got very protective of her because it was just like, it's our neighbourhood, and we didn't want these kind of paparazzi driving around and harassing anybody," says Babiak said at the time.

THEY HAVE FRIENDS IN TORONTO

Meghan is said to have close pals in Toronto, including Soho House consultant Markus Anderson, who was among those rumoured to have introduced the duo. Then there's bestie stylist Jessica Mulroney, wife of TV personality and former prime minister's son Ben Mulroney.

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According to "Harry: Life, Loss and Love," a biography by royal author Katie Nicholl, the couple hid out at the Mulroney home after news of their relationship broke, and Harry and Ben Mulroney supposedly bonded over Mulroney's memories of meeting Princess Diana, Harry's mother, as a child.

Jessica Mulroney held a prominent role in the royal wedding, with the Mulroneys' twin sons notably among the page boys at the star-studded nuptials.

THEY (APPARENTLY) SPENT THE HOLIDAYS IN BC

The decision to celebrate a Canuck Christmas and ring in a Maple Leaf-tinged New Year reportedly took Harry, Meghan and baby Archie to the other end of the country  British Columbia's majestic mountains and clear waters are on full display behind Prince Harry's New Year's greeting on Instagram.

Their first official duty upon their return to the U.K. was a visit to Canada House in London, where Harry reportedly joked about a soggy vacation on Vancouver Island, but gushed in a statement about "the warm Canadian hospitality and support they received during their recent stay in Canada."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 8, 2020.
June Bacon-Bercey, Americas 1st female TV meteorologist, dies at 90

June Bacon-Bercey was a pioneering meteorologist. She was the first African American woman meteorologist and the first woman television meteorologist in the US.

Dr. June Bacon-Bercey, a world-renowned meteorologist who was the first woman and African-American to be awarded the American Meteorological Societys (AMS) Seal of Approval for excellence in television weathercasting, died over the summer, her daughter Dail St. Claire told AccuWeather.

The legendary forecaster died on July 3, 2019, at the age of 90, but her death went unreported until St. Claire reached out to AccuWeather with news of her passing late last month.

Bacon-Bercey was named Minority Pioneer for Achievements in Atmospheric Sciences in 2000 and is remembered for a groundbreaking legacy that includes being the first African-American woman to receive a degree in meteorology (in 1955) and Americas first female TV meteorologist.

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In 1977, she also won $64,000 on the TV game show The $128,000 Question, which she used to start a scholarship fund for women studying atmospheric sciences, hoping the money would help women become meteorologists. Education was No. 1, so scholarship was a passion and she always wanted to share it with those who were less fortunate, St. Claire said.

Twelve women received scholarship assistance from 1978 through 1990, and achieved advancements in the fields of geochemistry, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and oceanography, advancing to senior positions with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, MIT and several television stations across the country.

I was discouraged (from becoming a meteorologist), and other women were discouraged, Bacon-Bercey told The Washington Post in 1977. If they feel theyve got some money behind them, it might be better.

Bacon-Berceys own career included working for NOAA, the National Weather Service (NWS), and eventually an NBC TV station in Buffalo in 1970 as a scientific news correspondent. Bacon-Bercey became an emergency replacement as a weathercaster one day and kept the job, becoming the stations chief meteorologist.

She wasnt in Buffalo very long, but she made Buffalo broadcasting history as the first woman of color to be on a TV news anchor team here, said Buffalo-area historian Steve Cichon. She was also the first scientist to have the job here. She was an important trailblazer in many ways.

My mom was my mentor and my role model in my life, said St. Clair, who is the Chief Operating Officer at Park Avenue Finance. I always speak about my mom in my life whenever I have a chance to speak in different venues. Theres no question that my career, while different, the work ethic and discipline and persistence and uncompromising goal to be excellent at all costs is what I learned from my mom.

Bacon-Bercey helped found the AMS Board on Women and Minorities to increase the number of women and minorities in the atmospheric sciences.

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She was obviously extremely successful. NOVAs director of education and outreach Ralph Bouquet told AccuWeather. She did so much and also gave back in so many prominent ways  with a scholarship, with setting up a meteorology lab at Jackson State University, just really impressive things that one person was able to accomplish.

How many people could have done that, could have been in that position to produce so much but also give back so much?
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Thursday that there is now "a body of information" that the Ukrainian Boeing 747 that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people aboard, was brought down by an Iranian missile.

His comments follow a similar message by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"There is now a body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian Surface to Air Missile. This may well have been unintentional," Johnson in a statement on the air disaster in which four British passengers died.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
VANCOUVER, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - CANNAMERICA BRANDS CORP. ("CannAmerica" or the "Company") (CSE: CANA) (OTCQB: CNNXF) is pleased to announce that its partners, Total Herbal Care, LLC (THC Inc.), a woman owned and family operated licensed cannabis operator in Oklahoma, have completed extensive training on production and distribution of CannAmerica edible products and have begun distribution of products in dispensaries across the state of Oklahoma.

"With the launch of our Gummies this week in the great state of Oklahoma, we have now established sales of our products in all four time zones in the United States and can truly call CannAmerica a 'national brand'," said Dan Anglin, CEO and founder of CannAmerica Brands Corp.

Anglin continued: "Our partners, THC Inc., have worked diligently over the course of the last six months to meet all of the state and local requirements for cannabis licensure and training as a CannAmerica licensee. Things always seem to take longer than anyone expects in the Cannabis space, but since announcing our agreement with THC Inc. our goal has been to introduce the products to the market in this region in Q1 of 2020. As with all our goals to date, we've met that expectation and look forward to meaningfully connecting the brand with dispensaries and patients in the great state of Oklahoma."

"In a time when many cannabis companies are downsizing, reorganizing their corporate structures or reducing expectations for growth, CannAmerica continues its expansion as planned since going public. We've set our sights on very specific markets with carefully selected operational partners, and have remained focused on the areas of expertise that our team has deep knowledge of: manufacturing great CPG products for a loyal and always growing consumer base who understands that our products are not only consistent in efficacy and made with quality ingredients, but also affordable. As the cannabis marketplace continues to mature across the United States, far too many consumers are realizing that their preferred cannabis products come with an enormous tax associated with them, and have begun to steer away from regulated and safe cannabis products due to the high cost at the cash register; our goal has always been to provide patients in medical cannabis marketplaces with access to quality cannabis products, or consumers in the adult-use markets across North America with affordable options that bring them back to the dispensary and out of the black markets. We believe our continued growth proves that model to be what consumers and dispensaries are seeking in 2020," concluded Anglin.

For more information, please visit www.cannamericabrands.com.

On Behalf of the Board,

Dan Anglin

CEO and Director

1(844) 484-3996

About CannAmerica Brands Corp.

CannAmerica is a U.S. marine veteran founded and managed portfolio of cannabis brands with licensing agreements in the states of Colorado, Nevada, Oklahoma, Maryland, Massachusetts and the Country of Canada. The Company aims to maximize the value of its brands by employing strong brand management teams, marketing and licensing the brands through various distribution channels, including dispensaries, wholesalers and distributors, in the United States and internationally. The Company's core strategy is to enhance and monetize the global reach of its existing brands, and to pursue additional strategic acquisitions to grow the scope and diversity of its brand portfolio. For more information, please visit www.cannamericabrands.com.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE CannAmerica Brands Corp.
JNU protesters detained by police as they march towards Rashtrapati Bhavan

JNU protests: Yechury, Sharad Yadav join citizens march at Mandi House

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Jan 09: Hundreds of people, including students and members of civil society organisations hit to streets against Sunday's mob violence on the varsity campus and demanding the resignation of the varsity vice-chancellor.

CPI(M) leaders Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat and LJD leader Sharad Yadav also joined the march.

The protesters, carrying placards and banners, started a march from Mandi House towards the HRD Ministry.

Protest against CAA, JNU campus violence held in Mumbai

Slogans of 'Halla Bol' and 'Inquilab Zindabad' were raised as the agitating people waited for JNU students to arrive at the protest venue.

Banners with messages such as 'No CAA, No NRC', 'Ban ABVP from university campuses', 'Reject Violence', 'Education is not a commodity to be bought or sold' dotted the swelling crowd that demanded strict action against those involved in the campus violence of January 5 that left more than 35 injured.
BOCA RATON, FL, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- What a difference a year makes?

The U.S. Congress in late 2019 passed the Farm Bill that removed the obstacles to selling CBD oil products in America.

A year later, there is no doubt that CBD is one of the fastest-growing consumer industries in the United States. Today, according to Forbes, one in five Americans use hemp-derived CBD for mental health reasons.

That number, which only addresses mental health issues, is expected to grow significantly in the years to come. People already are using CBD products for many other wellness reasons.

It is evident that American consumers want CBD products. The demand proves that, said Sam Kearley, head of sales for Reakiro Europe. Analysts are predicting the CBD market, which in 2018 totaled about $3.1 billion in the U.S, will exceed $20 billion by 2024.

Reakiro Europe plans to introduce four high-quality CBD and three skin/body care products to the U.S. markets in 2020:

Full Spectrum, 5% CBD Oil

Full Spectrum, 15% CBD Oil5

Full Spectrum CBD Spray with Peppermint

CBD Capsules with Black Pepper Extract

Goddess Sativa Nourishing Night Cream

Goddess Sativa Body Butter

Goddess Sativa Muscle Relief Cooling Gel

Reakiro CBD products meet the needs of American consumers who today are concerned about the social and environmental impacts of the products they buy.

Our products use environmentally-friendly raw ingredients, Kearley said. Our CBD is grown without pesticides, herbicides, fungicides. They are not genetically modified. Reakiro products are gluten-free, vegan-friendly, biodegradable, and sustainable.

The CBD products Reakiro plans to bring to America are high-quality CBD oils, sprays, capsules, and skincare products.

We are a seed-to-sale company, which allows us to make the highest-quality CBD products, Kearley said. Reakiro CBD Oil is a full-spectrum oil that comes from the highest-quality industrial hemp cultivated in the European Union. Our CBD products are tested by independent third-party labs to ensure their efficacy.

For more information, check out Reakiros CBD products at cbdreakiro.com.

Attachments
A UK soft fruit producer based in Herefordshire has won a High Court battle against countryside campaigners.

Withers Fruit Farm has successfully challenged a judicial review against Herefordshire Council, led by Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).

Campaigners sought to overturn a planning decision that would allow the construction of 11 blocks of polytunnels on 37 hectares of farmland.

The council decision also permitted the provision of caravan accommodation for 350 seasonal fruit pickers on a nearby 145 hectare site.

One of the UKs largest producers of soft fruits, Withers Fruit Farm supplies supermarkets such as Tesco, Waitrose, Co-op and Asda.

The use of polytunnels allows the extension of the harvest season beyond the summer months.

Herefordshire Council, whom the claim was first brought against, conceded on CPREs ground that the guidance set out in the councils own Polytunnel Planning Guide created a legitimate expectation as far as the application procedure was concerned

Law firm Thrings, which was advising Withers Fruit Farm on the dispute, recommended that its client step into the role of defendant.

The firm helped the fruit producer to defend CPREs claim on all grounds, including that, where adopted policy prescribes action, the question of weight given by planning decision makers to documents other than policy papers is discretionary.

The judge, Justice Stuart-Smith, agreed that the guidance document, not having faced public scrutiny, could not be given the same importance as a formal policy.

The countryside campaigner group failed to convince the judge that, in its decision, the council had ignored the visual impact of the project, as well as its effect on local biodiversity, particularly in relation to the bat population.

The final ground to be defended against was procedural unfairness, with CPRE accusing the council of making the planning applications accompanying reports available too close to the council meeting date.

CPRE also criticised the absence of an economic need assessment among those reports.

Deeming the time allowed for the review of documents to be reasonable, the judge also held that there was no expectation to make commercially sensitive documents public, provided they were considered by the council officers.

Fred Quartermain, associate planning solicitor at Thrings, advised Withers Fruit Farm. He said: We are pleased to see the courts confirm what we knew to be true: that guidance is guidance, and not prescriptive policy.

George Leeds, who owns and runs the farm with his family, is an active member of the NFU in Herefordshire, which provided financial support towards Withers Fruit Farms legal costs.

He said: While this challenge to our planning application has been frustrating and delayed investment in the farm, work with local businesses and employment by approximately one year, we are delighted with the overall result. It was particularly reassuring for us to see every single point in the judicial review brought by the CPRE rejected by the judge.

Zack Simons of Landmark Chambers was instructed by Thrings to represent the defendant in court.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Over the weekend, the Honorable Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs and the National Recovery Program Bureau (NRPB) have taken note of the personal and slanderous nature of some of the statements made on social media regarding an alleged decision of the Council of Ministers to demolish the library building for an amount of 1.2 million Guilders. According to the statements, this amount would be paid for by the NRPB from the Sint Maarten Trust Fund. The Prime Minister and the NRPB emphasize that these statements are incorrect and that no such decision has been taken.

Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs stated that the general public should be aware that the decision to start the demolition process of the library, former post office and old government building was initiated by the former Minister of VROMI Mr. Miklos Giterson, who enacted a bidding procedure by invitation as it was deemed urgent at the time. The demolition project would have been financed from the proceeds received by Government from the insurance settlement. The advice for said demolition has not yet been finalized nor handled by the current Minister of VROMI nor the Council of Ministers. When that is the case, if the correct procedure hasnt been followed, it will be rectified. said Prime Minister Jacobs.

Considering the potential negative effects these statements can have for all residences, the Prime Minister and the NRPB deem it appropriate to caution the general public against making misleading and defamatory statements on social media. The relevant authorities will be approached if further defamatory statements are made and legal actions will be taken in accordance with the Civil and Criminal Code of Sint Maarten prohibiting personal insults and defamation.

The general public is encouraged to visit the NRPBs website and social media platforms to stay informed about the Sint Maarten Trust Fund. They are also encouraged to follow the Council of Ministers weekly press briefings, tune into SXMGOV radio 107.9 FM and visit the St. Maarten governments website and social media platforms as updates are also given via these mediums.
The N-word was written on Natrona County High property on Wednesday, the school district confirmed Thursday.

This is absolutely unacceptable behavior and it will not be tolerated, the school districts spokeswoman, Tanya Southerland, wrote in a statement. Upon becoming aware, NCHS took immediate steps to remove the racial slur from school property and began an immediate investigation.

Southerland confirmed the word was the N-word.

A source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the word was written in the student parking lot at NC.

Southerland said in a follow-up statement Thursday that appropriate disciplinary consequences will be provided in alignment to district behavioral guidelines for any person(s) found to be responsible.

The incident comes a few weeks after two students were disciplined at Riverton High School for coming to school in white robes and white hoods. School district officials there said they would not tolerate anything that even begins to look like what it looked like. The Riverton school district, citing privacy laws, declined to detail what punishment the students involved faced.

Last year, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reported that black and LGBTQ students were the target of racist and homophobic flyers at a middle school in Cheyenne. The incident, described by the Tribune Eagle as part of a long pattern of abuse toward certain groups of students, prompted meetings and changes at the district level.

The Natrona County School District previously investigated an incident at NC in February 2018, when a group of students were reportedly chanting the South will rise while displaying Confederate flags. The district said then that it would use security cameras in NCs parking lot to investigate.

District officials ultimately determined in that case that students couldnt be disciplined because the incident happened just off of school property, on a nearby side street.

According to enrollment numbers released earlier this week, the Natrona County School District has 161 African-American students enrolled out of more than 13,000 students. In all, the district has more than 2,600 students who are not white, out of 13,300.

The districts leadership has prioritized bullying prevention in the past two years, relying on more training, consistency and the use of the Safe2Tell app to better keep tabs on student behavior.

In early August, senior administrators told the school board that bullying was down 20 percent across districts nearly 30 schools. The district revamped its bullying policy over several months in 2018 in an effort to improve consistency and more directly describe what constitutes bullying and harassment.

In its definition of harassment, intimidation and bullying, the district includes creating an intimidating, threatening or abusive educational environment for a student or group of students through sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive behavior.

The districts leaders have also approved discipline guidelines that, while flexible, apply to a broad array of student misbehavior, from minor offenses to fighting.

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They are gearing up to bring the Strictly live tour around the U.K.

And Dianne Buswell and Katya Jones appeared in high spirits as they arrived for day three of rehearsals in London on Wednesday.

The red-headed professional dancer, 30, looked ready to practice the intense routines as she headed into the studios in a cosy black jumper and grey leggings.

Thumbs up! Strictly's Dianne Buswell appeared in high spirits as she arrived for day three of rehearsals for the show's live tour in London on Wednesday

Giving a thumbs up the camera, Dianne tied half her red hair up in a yellow scrunchie and held a pink bomber jacket in her arms.

Katya, 30, meanwhile, cut a chic figure in a long grey polo neck dress, which she teamed with a bright pink bobble hat.

She shrugged an oversized coat over her shoulders and finished off her stylish look with black military boots.

Stylish: Katya Jones, 30, meanwhile, cut a chic figure in a long grey polo neck dress, which she teamed with a bright pink bobble hat

Katya's partner Mike Bushell, 54, put on an animated display for the camera.

Karen Hauer, 37, was also spotted making her way into rehearsals, ahead of the live tour which kicks off next week in Birmingham.

The Venezuelan professional Latin dance specialist donned a pink jumper which had the slogan 'Ready, Sweat Champagne' emblazoned on the front.

Neil Jones and his celebrity partner Alex Scott flashed smiles as they headed into a studio.

AJ Pritchard, Emma Barton, Janette Manrara, Luba Mustuk and Strictly judge Craig Revel-Horwood also attended the rehearsals.

Sweat and Champagne: Karen Hauer, 37, was also spotted making her way into rehearsals, ahead of the live tour which kicks off next week in Birmingham

High spirits: Neil Jones and his celebrity partner Alex Scott flashed smiles as they headed into a studio

Last month, the creators behind the annual extravaganza revealed the names set for the string of performances.

Set to raise the roof, winner Kelvin Fletcher and Karim Zeroual will be joined by professional dancers Janette Manrara and Amy Dowden respectively.

Also featuring will be Saffron and AJ Pritchard, Emma Barton and Graziano Di Prima, Mike and Katya Jones, and Catherine Tyldesley and Johannes Radebe.

Low key look: Janette Manrara was casually-clad in navy leggings and a green jacket with a faux fur trim

Keep dancing! AJ Pritchard joined his Strictly co-stars for rehearsals

Monochrome: Luba Mushtuk looked stylish in a white polo knit and a black pea coat

Time to get into costume! Emma Barton lugged a large suitcase and carried a black Gucci bag as she arrived

Statement: Craig Revel-Horwood channelled Dorothy from the Wizard Of Oz with his red sparkly shoes

The celebrities will be joined by professional dancers Luba Mushtuk, Karen, Dianne Buswell, Joshua Keefe, Jake Leigh and Robbie Kemetoni.

2019 champ Stacey Dooley will be hosting the events, while Shirley Ballas and Bruno Tonioli join fellow judge and director Craig Revel Horwood on the panel.

The tour kicks off on January 16 in Birmingham and will run for 33 sequin-filled shows across the UK, ending in London on February 9.

As part of the live shows, there will be a special Relaxed Performance in association with the National Autistic Society at Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena on February 5 at 2pm.

The performance is created to be accessible to those with autism, learning disabilities or additional sensory needs.
(TNS)  When you request an Uber, you get a driver who is already nearby.When you call 911 in Albuquerque, any officer might be dispatched, regardless of how far away he or she is.Uber is tenfold in technology ahead of our current CAD (computer-aided dispatch) and RMS (record management system), said Cmdr. Chris George of the Scientific Evidence Division. Right now, the dispatcher says OK, this officer is not on a call, well use him or her. Theyll be on the way over.He said other police departments across the country have computer systems with GPS so the officer closest to a call is the one sent. The hope is one day the Albuquerque Police Department will, too.George, along with Mayor Tim Keller, Chief Administrative Officer Sarita Nair and Chief Policy Adviser Damon Martinez, met with Journal editors and reporters Tuesday to provide details on the citys priorities for the upcoming legislative session.The city will ask for $20 million to upgrade its existing crime-fighting technology, such as the computer and records systems used by officers every day and its mobile crime scene units, as well as to implement new technology, such as gunshot detection devices and license plate scanners.As weve gone through different aspects of the department, we keep coming across this problem on the back end thats running underneath everything at APD, Keller said. I believe that it affects almost every aspect of criminal justice  . What I mean by that is when and how and what the courts get, what the district attorney gets, what we get and how we actually allocate our officers.Keller and his staff visited cities across the country, including Detroit and Oakland, as well as Chihuahua, Mexico, to look at the technology their police departments employ and realized APD has a long way to go.For example, each time a call currently comes into dispatch, it can get routed through the Real Time Crime Center, where analysts work through several different records systems to find out as much background as they can.If there is one call, one welfare check, our team in the RTCC of four analysts can work up a 20-page dossier on the history there and get that to the officer before that call, Keller said. But if you have thousands of calls a week, its impossible. Thats the issue.The hope is, by improving existing software and purchasing new software, the systems APD uses will be able to talk to each other and will be able to quickly compile information on an address or a call before an officer heads out.Well need to invest time in developing the system thats the best for us and New Mexico, and using the most of what we already have, CAO Nair said.In addition to the $20 million, the city is also asking for $10 million to fund Violence Intervention Programs statewide  $2 million of which would go to Albuquerque  as well as funding for the Gateway Center for Behavioral Health homeless shelter, $22 million to widen Paseo del Norte on the West Side, $1.5 million to improve school crosswalks and more.
Heavy deployment of security personnel is in place at Mandi House owing to a march called by JNU students and teachers on Thursday.

Some students have started assembling for the march which will proceed towards the HRD Ministry to demand removal of the vice-chancellor in the wake of the January 5 violence on campus that left around 35 people injured.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Demonstrators on Wednesday gathered on the University of Michigan campus in the US city of Ann Arbor to protest the threat of war between the United States and Iran. The protest comes ahead of a Thursday vote on a measure limiting President Donald Trump's ability to take military action against Iran as Democratic criticism of the US killing of a top Iranian general intensified.

Iran retaliated for the killing of General Qassem Soleimani early on Wednesday by launching missiles at two military bases in Iraq that house American troops.

The strikes by Iran had pushed Tehran and Washington perilously close to all-out conflict and put the world's attention on Trump as he weighed whether to respond with more military force.

Trump, facing one of the greatest tests of his presidency, said later on Wednesday that Iran appeared to be standing down and added the US response would be to put in place new economic sanctions on Tehran.

(Picture Credit: AP)
Channel 10 surprised everyone last year when they announced Matt Agnew - an astrophysicist and university lecturer - as The Bachelor.

And it appears the hit dating show is once again looking for a brainy leading man.

According to Aus Doc, producers have contacted the Australian Medical Association trying to 'secure a male doctor who can pack a stethoscope as well as a six pack'.

Move over Matt Agnew! Producers are looking for a doctor to be the new Bachelor... so can YOU 'pack a stethoscope as well as a six pack?' (Matt is pictured on the show last year)

Filming is reportedly set to begin next month, with the age range for applicants being 27 to 40.

It comes after last year's Bachelor officially changed his Instagram handle to 'Dr Matt Agnew' to reflect that he'd obtained a PhD.

Whether an academic chooses to adopt 'Dr' before their name is a personal choice, but it seems Matt wears the title with pride.

Incoming: Filming is reportedly set to begin next month, with the age range for applicants being 27 - 40 (pictured is host Osher Gunsberg)

'Hot nerd': Matt Agnew is an astrophysicist and recently changed his Instagram handle to be 'Dr Matt Agnew'

His social media handle also draws attention to the fact Matt, 31, is to date the first and only university researcher to front an Australian reality show.

According to his LinkedIn, Matt obtained his PhD at the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at Swinburne University of Technology.

While he may glowing academic credentials, Matt's search for true love on The Bachelor was sadly unsuccessful.

He's got the looks and the brains! His new social media handle draws attention to the fact Matt, 31, is the first university researcher to front an Australian dating show

He announced his split from winning contestant Chelsie McLeod in November.

'These past six months since filming have been a very unique experience,' the wrote on Instagram at the time.

'Chels and I have made some beautiful memories together that I'll always cherish, and I wish her nothing but the absolute best.

Done and dusted: However his search for true love on the show failed, after he broke up with winner Chelsie McLeod (pictured) in November

'However, it's with a heavy heart that I write this. For Chels and me, our relationship hasn't translated from filming to the real, every day world as we had hoped.'

Meanwhile, Chelsie also told her followers: 'Matt showed me what it was like to be respected in a relationship and I am so thankful for that.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel 10 for comment.
Isil suspect and former soldier Lisa Smith has asked prosecutors to review the evidence against her and "discontinue" the charge.

A lawyer for the ex-Defence Forces member (37) made the request as she appeared in court for the first time since her release from custody.

Judge John Hughes said it was a matter for the DPP and granted prosecutors more time to prepare their case.

He remanded her on continuing bail, to appear in Dublin District Court again in March for the service of a book of evidence. Ms Smith is charged with membership of a terrorist group outside the State between October 28, 2015, and December 1 last year. She denies the charge.

The Co Louth mother of one, who left Ireland and married after converting to Islam, was returned here from Turkey last month after spending time in a Syrian refugee camp.

She was arrested at Dublin Airport on December 1, later charged and refused bail before being granted it in the High Court and taking it up on December 31.

When she came back before the court yesterday, a State solicitor said the book of evidence required before the accused can be sent forward for trial was not ready.

She sought an extension, saying it was a "complicated, substantial case".

Information and statements were recently received from outside the State and further charges were contemplated.

It was expected the investigation file would be received by the DPP in the coming weeks and the book would be ready by March 4, she said. Peter Corrigan, for the defence, consented to the adjournment, but asked the DPP to "consider the evidential threshold" in relation to the charge.

It was the defence's view that it "does not amount to evidence that gives a realistic prospect of a conviction". He asked for this to be "actively reviewed" and the charge discontinued in the interim.

There was not a single piece of evidence amounting to a charge that the defendant was a member of Isil, he said.

Adjourning the case, Judge Hughes said whether a prosecution was taken was a matter for the DPP and not for the court.

The charge alleges Ms Smith was "a member of a terrorist group styling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) also known as Dawlat al-Iraq al-Islamiyya, Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) and Dawlat al Islamiya fi Iraq wa al Sham, otherwise known as 'Da'esh' and the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham".
AFL legend Billy Brownless has said his wife Nicky left him after an affair with his friend Garry Lyon because she 'fell out of love'.

The 52-year-old former Geelong forward discussed his failed marriage during a chat with entertainer Rhonda Burchmore in the I'm A Celebrity jungle.

In a clip set to air on Channel 10 tonight, Burchmore asked Brownless if his wife was happy with him going to South Africa to film the show.

Brownless said they were estranged before he opened up about the split which shocked the nation in 2015.

The 52-year-old former Geelong forward discussed his failed marriage during a chat with entertainer Rhonda Burchmore (pictured together) in the I'm A Celebrity jungle

In February 2016 news broke that Lyon (second right), who had separated from wife Melissa (right) in 2014, had been having an affair with Nicky (second left with Billy in 2012)

'It was public, very public. Front pages and all that,' he said.

'We had separated which surprised a few. Well she left me, really. She just fell out of love which happens, you know?'

Burchmore asked how long they were together for and Brownless replied '18 years'.

He continued: 'I didn't expect it. You think she'll come back and all that, but she didn't. So that was a good kick in the guts.'

The clip then cuts to another section of the conversation that shows Brownless saying: 'She's shacked up with one of my good mates and he's in the media too.'

Brownless said he was well on the way to getting over the affair - but admitted he was out of sorts for two years after finding out.

'But it's been four years now so you get through it, you know?

'I reckon it takes you two years when you split, when you bounce back and to be yourself,' he said.

Lyon and Brownless had been friends for 15 years and worked together on the popular AFL Footy Show between 2009 and 2015.

Billy Brownless and Nikki Brownless arrive at a Ellen DeGeneres Welcome Party on March 26, 2013 in Melbourne, Australia

In February 2016 news broke that Lyon, who had separated from wife Melissa in 2014, had been having an affair with Nicky.

In March that year, father-of-four Brownless opened up about the toll the affair had on his family, saying 'a good mate wouldn't do that'.

He said he believed the secret relationship could have been going on for up to four years.

'I couldn't believe it. I found out three or four months ago. I asked Garry and Nicky earlier on what is going on and they said they were just good friends. That's what hurts the most,' Brownless told the Footy Show.

'By law it's legal. Morally it's wrong. We all know our rights and wrong. You don't touch a man's wallet, you don't touch his wife.'

In a radio interview in January 2017, father-of-three Lyon said he had texted Brownless to say sorry but did not get a reply.

He said: 'I know I've caused a lot of pain for the people I've been close to, in particular my ex-wife Melissa.

'If people think I haven't recognised that, they would be wrong.'
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump backed away from further military action against Iran and called for renewed diplomacy Wednesday as the bristling confrontation of the past six days eased in the aftermath of an Iranian missile strike that seemed intended to save face rather than inflict casualties.

Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world, Trump said in a televised statement from the Grand Foyer of the White House, flanked by his vice president, cabinet secretaries and senior military officers in their uniforms. The United States, he added, is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.

The president sounded as eager as the Iranians to find a way out of a conflict that threatened to spiral out of control into a new full-fledged war in the Middle East. While he excoriated Irans campaign of terror, murder, mayhem and defended his decision to order a drone strike killing the countrys top security commander, he dropped for now his bombastic threats of escalating force, vowing instead to increase economic sanctions while calling for new negotiations.

The presidents statement came hours after Irans government indicated that it had concluded proportionate measures avenging the killing of the commander, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, with the launch of ballistic missiles at two military bases in Iraq that house U.S. troops. The missiles did not result in any American or Iraqi deaths, an outcome interpreted by some analysts as a deliberate attempt by Iran to claim it had responded, but without provoking Trump.

But analysts cautioned that even as the two sides edged away from a military clash in the short term, the conflict could very well play out in other ways in the weeks and months to come. Iran has many proxy groups in the Middle East that could stir up trouble for U.S. troops or U.S. allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia, and experts remained wary of a possible Iranian cyberstrike on domestic facilities.

President Hassan Rouhani of Iran made clear that his country still saw its mission over the long run as driving the United States out of the Middle East after the killing of Soleimani. Our final answer to his assassination will be to kick all US forces out of the region, Rouhani wrote on Twitter.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the countrys supreme leader, hailed Irans missile strike as a slap in the face of the United States and suggested Wednesday that it would not be the end of the clash. What matters is that the presence of America, which is a source of corruption in this region, should come to an end, he said in a televised speech to a hall filled with imams and others, who chanted, Death to America! and Death to Israel!

And the top U.S. military officer disagreed with those who saw the missile strike as halfhearted and unintended to kill. The points of impact were close enough to personnel and equipment, I believe  based on what I saw, and what I know  that they were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft, and kill personnel, Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.

The operation against Soleimani may also prove to have consequences beyond the direct relationship with Iran. Outraged that the general was killed after arriving at Baghdad International Airport, Iraqs parliament voted to expel the 5,000 U.S. troops from the country. Such a decision would still have to be enacted by the caretaker government, but the Pentagon has begun preparing for the possibility of losing its bases in the country nearly 17 years after the invasion ordered by President George W. Bush.

Lawmakers in both parties welcomed Trumps decision to pull back from the brink, but Democrats and even some Republicans expressed discontent with closed-door briefings provided on Wednesday about the supposedly imminent threat of attack cited in justifying the drone strike on Soleimani.

Several lawmakers said the presentations were unpersuasive. Two Republican senators, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah, said afterward that the administration officials offered mainly generalities rather than concrete new information about any coming attack.

Drive-by notification or after-the-fact lame briefings like the one we just received arent adequate, Lee told reporters.

He also complained that one of the officials warned senators against publicly debating the administrations actions because it would embolden the enemy, calling that insulting and demeaning to the Senate and the Constitution. Its un-American, its unconstitutional and its wrong, Lee said.

A Democrat, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly of Virginia, called the briefing sophomoric and utterly unconvincing, and said that he believed more than ever the Congress needs to act to protect the constitutional provisions about war and peace.

Even though the threat of further conflict with Iran appeared to recede for now, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House would vote Thursday on a measure curtailing Trumps war-making power by requiring him to halt military action against Iran within 30 days unless Congress votes to approve it.

Such a measure has little chance of becoming law given Republican control of the Senate and Trumps veto pen, although Lee said he had been persuaded to vote for a similar resolution being offered by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., because of the administration briefers effort to silence him.

Trumps 10-minute televised statement Wednesday morning was his most extended effort to explain last weeks drone strike on Soleimani. He surrounded himself with his national security team, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Milley and Robert C. OBrien, the national security adviser. They stood stoically around the president without commenting.

The administrations messages have been conflicting and confusing. In recent days, the president was forced to walk back threats to target Iranian cultural sites after the defense secretary made clear that doing so would be a war crime. The American headquarters in Baghdad had written a letter indicating it was withdrawing from Iraq, only to have the Defense Department say it was a draft document with no authority.

In his statement Wednesday, Trump sought to pin the current crisis on a predecessor, blaming former President Barack Obama for striking a foolish nuclear agreement with Iran in 2015 that unfroze billions of dollars of money for Tehran that could be used to finance ballistic missiles and terrorist activity. The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration, Trump said.

There was no way to know if that was literally true, because money is fungible, but some of the presidents claims about the nuclear agreement were false, exaggerated or unsubstantiated claims. He asserted, among other things, that Irans hostile acts against the United States and its allies increased after the deal, rather than after the Trump administration withdrew from it in 2018, as statistics indicate.

Either way, he urged Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China to recognize that it was effectively dead and called on those countries to join him in negotiating a replacement for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the agreement is officially known, that would go further to constrain Irans nuclear ambitions.

They must now break away from the remnants of the Iran deal, or JCPOA, and we must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place, Trump said.

The call on Europeans may fall on deaf ears. Only hours before Trump spoke, European leaders repeated their commitment to the pact and urged Iran to return to compliance despite U.S. sanctions. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and Josep Borrell Fontelles, the EU foreign policy chief, both said the deal should be preserved.

Similarly, Trump in his statement called on NATO, an alliance he has regularly scorned, to take on a larger role in the Middle East, and he spoke by telephone with Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary-general, about the idea.

But NATO allies have little interest in following Trumps lead, and in recent days they have been withdrawing troops from Iraq to avoid becoming entangled in the conflict between the United States and Iran.

The president defended the drone strike, calling Soleimani the worlds top terrorist responsible for some of the absolutely worst atrocities of recent years.

In recent days, he was planning new attacks on American targets, but we stopped him, Trump said without elaborating or offering evidence. Soleimanis hands were drenched in both American and Iranian blood. He should have been terminated long ago.

But Trump emphasized that he did not want a wider war despite his efforts to build up American combat capacity. The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it, the president said. We do not want to use it.

He said instead that he would ratchet up sanctions on Iran, although administration officials said later that they had no specific plan to do so. The administration has already imposed so much economic pressure on Tehran that it was unclear if additional measures would make a meaningful difference.

Still, in Washington, Republicans and Democrats alike breathed sighs of relief that the two nations seemed to be pulling back from violent confrontation, at least for now.

I applaud the president for de-escalating the situation and putting us back on the path of diplomacy, said Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. We do not seek conflict, but the United States will not be deterred from protecting American lives and our vital national security interests.

But Democrats faulted Trump for stoking that eyeball-to-eyeball face-off in the first place and said that the United States would still reap negative consequences. I am glad that the road to war may be narrowing, said Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., but the damage done to U.S. national security interests is enormous and potentially irreparable.

Soleimani, commander of the elite Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard, helped direct wars in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen and was held responsible for attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq that killed at least 600 during the height of the Iraq War. More recently, U.S. officials blamed him for a Dec. 27 rocket attack on a base in Iraq that killed an American civilian contractor.

The Iranian missile strikes, which began early Wednesday morning local time  late Tuesday in Washington  targeted Ain al-Asad Air Base, long a hub for U.S. military operations in Iraq, and another base in Irbil in northern Iraq, which has been a home for Special Operations forces in the fight against the Islamic State.

The Pentagon said 16 short-range ballistic missiles were fired from three locations in Iran and that 11 of them struck Ain al-Asad and one hit Irbil, with the rest missing the bases. Milley attributed the lack of casualties not to lack of intent but to the militarys own early-warning systems and bunkers.

Esper said the missiles damaged tents, taxiways, a parking lot, a helicopter and other targets. Nothing, he said, that I would describe as major.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Pakistan is funding terror group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to foment trouble in India. According to Indian intelligence agencies, Pakistan's notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is using the fund to train a group of Rohingyas in Bangladesh to carry out terror strikes in India.

The report accessed by Zee Media states that ISI has recruited at least 40 Rohingyas staying in Bangladesh's Cox Bazar for its nefarious mission. The training is being imparted by JMB, which is the most deadly terror group in Bangladesh.

Sources claim ISI has received funds from groups in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and Pakistan for the training. The Pakistani intelligence agency has already given Rs 1 crore to JMB as part of the first tranche.

The intelligence report has been shared with the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Border Security Force and Research and Analysis Wing who are keeping a close watch on the activities of JMB terrorists and Rohingyas. India banned JMB, which is also known as Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen India or Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Hindustan, for its terror activities in May 2019.

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A 22-year-old suspected JMB terrorist was arrested in West Bengal, which shares a large and porous border with Bangladesh, by NIA in December 2019 in connection with a terror module in Bengaluru. The suspected terrorists identified as Mosaraf Hossain alias Moosa is reportedly involved in a terror module. The module was busted in Bengaluru in May 2019 after a large quantity of arms and ammunition including hand grenades and circuits of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were recovered from a house, which was allegedly rented by JMB terrorists, in Bengaluru's Chikkabanavara in July 2019.

JMB was formed in April 1998 near Bangladesh capital Dhaka in Palampur by Abdur Rahman. The terror group has been actively involved in pushing fake Indian currency through the international border in West Bengal and Assam with the help of ISI.
The Reserve Bank of Australia believes that although there may be risks associated with a digital Australian dollar, it is exploring whether there is potential value in developing a digital currency that could be used by wholesale participants in the payments sector.

The RBAs assessment is that there is not currently a case for creating a so-called central bank digital currency (CBDC)  an alternative to a privately issued cryptocurrency but still potentially leveraging blockchain  for household use.

In a submission (PDF) to a Senate inquiry examining fintech and regtech the bank said that there may be very little demand among consumers for a CBDC given Australias relatively stable banking system and the availability of interest-bearing accounts. In times of uncertainty such a digital currency might facilitate bank runs, and if it did enjoy widespread adoption, it might mean a drop in bank deposits that could flow through into fewer funds available for household and business loans.

However, the banks in-house innovation lab, which was established in 2018, is examining the potential of an Australian CBDC but specifically in the context of wholesale settlement. The RBA labs work in the area has included developing a proof of concept of a wholesale settlement system using a CBDC.

The RBA said the lab used a private, permissioned Ethereum network for the project, simulating a central bank issuing tokens to commercial banks, as well as those tokens being exchanged among banks and eventually redeemed with the central bank. That research is expected to continue in 2020, with the RBA potentially bringing external partners on board to participate.

A national digital currency fully integrated into a blockchain platform could allow 24/7 payments between participants without relying on an external payment system, the RBA said. Other benefits include facilitating so-called programmable money and atomic transactions (which only allow a transaction to go ahead if all parts of an exchange are executed, reducing settlement risk).

When it comes to cryptocurrencies in general, the RBAs view is that so far they do not provide the usual functions of money, although the bank noted emerging cryptocurrencies seek to address some shortcomings such as price volatility.

In that context the bank noted that the Facebook-backed Libra Association was planning to launch a global stablecoin dubbed Libra.

This has the potential to become widely used given the involvement of various companies such as Facebook that may be able to leverage their large existing user bases and technological capabilities, the bank said.

Based on what is known publicly about Libra, it will be distinguishable from existing cryptocurrencies as it will be fully backed by an asset reserve comprised of a basket of bank deposits and short-term government securities denominated in a range of national currencies. This is designed to instil confidence in the cryptocurrency and reduce price volatility, though the value of Libra units will still fluctuate with respect to any given currency.

The RBA said that it endorsed the view of the G7 that global stablecoins should not be permitted to launch until risks relating to consumer/investor protection, data privacy, monetary policy, and financial stability are addressed.

A key consideration for regulators is to ensure that private sector stablecoin initiatives operate under a comparable regulatory regime to existing payment systems, and in particular, that they do not fall outside the existing regulatory framework, the RBA said.

The Bank is working closely with relevant agencies domestically and internationally to understand recent proposals to ensure they will be adequately regulated and supervised.

The RBA said it was unclear if there would be strong demand for Libra-style stablecoins, given the availability of low-cost real-time payment methods, such as the New Payments Platform.
Lesotho's ruling party on Thursday asked Prime Minister Thomas Thabane to resign over alleged links to the 2017 murder of his wife, calling him a "threat to the nation."

In court documents seen this week, the country's police chief accused Thabane of involvement in the killing of Lipolelo Thabane on the outskirts of the capital Maseru two days before her husband's inauguration.

The accusations came after the prime minister suspended police commissioner Holomo Molibeli whose investigations revealed that communication records from the day of the murder picked up Thabane's mobile phone number.

Thabane, who is now 80, and wife had been embroiled in bitter divorce proceedings.

"It's obvious that the prime minister is a suspect in a horrendous criminal matter that involves his estranged wife," said Nqosa Mahao, deputy leader of the ruling All Basotho Convention (ABC) party.

"And most importantly, the action he took to remove Molibeli from office is an attempt to defeat the ends of justice and frustrate justice being done," he told a news conference in Maseru.

"It is on this basis that the party ... urges him to step down as prime minister.

"He has become a threat to the nation and the country".

The killing of Thabane's 58-year-old wife shocked the tiny poverty-stricken country, which is ringed by South Africa.

Thabane's spokesman Sentle Rabale did not respond to calls.

The ruling party leads a coalition government in a country with a long history of political instability and coups.
TORONTO and TAMPA, FL and BUDAPEST, HUNGARY, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Cott Corporation (NYSE: COT; TSX: BCB) (the "Company" or "Cott"), a leading provider of home and office bottled water delivery services in North America and Europe and a leader in custom coffee roasting for the U.S. food service industry, today announced that Cott and Eden Springs, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cott, have acquired 100% of the shares of Hungarian company, Clearwater Kereskedelmi es Szolgaltato Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag ("ClearWater").

Through the acquisition of ClearWater, Eden Springs will enter the Hungarian market and add approximately 14,000 machines on location. The transaction also includes intellectual property for a carbonation technology patent that will provide customers with carbonated water through water filtration dispensers and bottled water coolers. Eden Springs plans to introduce ClearWater's carbonation technology to other markets.

"ClearWater is the market leader in providing water across Hungary, with significant density in Budapest, and shares our commitment to excellence," said Antonio Alarcon, President of Eden Springs Continental Europe. "We are excited to expand our presence to Hungary and look forward to welcoming ClearWater's customers and associates to the Eden Springs family."

"Eden Springs has a strong reputation of quality and commitment to service," said Scott Nicol, owner of ClearWater. "Moving forward into 2020, in addition to our sparkling water and technology, our customers will now benefit from even more water and coffee solutions for their hydration needs."

For more information on the hydration solutions Eden Springs offers, please visit www.edensprings.com.

ABOUT COTT CORPORATION

Cott is a water, coffee, tea, extracts and filtration service company with a leading volume-based national presence in the North American and European home and office bottled water delivery industry and a leader in custom coffee roasting, blending of iced tea, and extract solutions for the U.S. foodservice industry. Our platform reaches over 2.5 million customers or delivery points across North America and Europe supported by strategically located sales and distribution facilities and fleets, as well as wholesalers and distributors. This enables us to efficiently service residences, businesses, restaurant chains, hotels and motels, small and large retailers, and healthcare facilities.

Website: www.cott.com

ABOUT EDEN SPRINGS

Eden Springs is Europe's leading provider of workplace drinks solutions, offering a complete, one-stop service to meet every organization's water and coffee needs. Eden supplies integrated water and coffee service solutions to over 800,000 customers in 18 countries, including a broad range of bottle-fed water coolers, plumbed-in water coolers and small pack bottles as well as hot beverages solutions including coffee machines, high quality coffee, tea and other accessories. Eden Springs has been a part of Cott Corporation since 2016.

Safe Harbor Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 conveying management's expectations as to the future based on plans, estimates and projections at the time Cott makes the statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and Cott cautions you that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such forward-looking statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements related to the completion of the transaction on the terms proposed, the anticipated timing of the transaction, expected synergies and contribution to Cott's performance, and the potential impact the acquisition will have on Cott and related matters. The forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the time necessary to satisfy the conditions to the closing of the transaction and management's current plans and estimates. Management believes these assumptions to be reasonable but there is no assurance that they will prove to be accurate.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in this press release include, among others: changes in expectations as to the closing of the transaction; integration problems, delays or other related costs; and unanticipated changes in laws, regulations, or other industry standards affecting the companies.

The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Readers are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures, including but not limited to risk factors contained in Cott's Annual Report on Form 10-K and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other filings with the securities commissions. Cott does not undertake to update or revise any of these statements in light of new information or future events, except as expressly required by applicable law.

SOURCE Cott Corporation

Related Links

http://www.cott.com


How Investigators Solved the Stabbing Murder of a Young Mass. Educator 25 Years Later

Investigators looking into the 1992 rape and murder of 24-year-old Lisa Ziegert knew they would need DNA evidence to solve the case. But the written confession from the killer fell into their laps unexpectedly.

Their big break came decades later, in 2017, when Gary Scharas girlfriend provided investigators with the incriminating evidence.

There were three separate letters, Massachusetts State Police Trooper Noah Packer said in the interview with NBCs Dateline, which will air Friday at 9 p.m. ET/8 CT. One of them was essentially a confession letter. Another letter was a last will and testament. He also left a apology letter for the Ziegert family.

In September of 2017, authorities sealed their case against Schara after searching his home and finding DNA samples matching the crime scene.

Says Pack, We knew that we were gonna solve this case with a DNA match. We didnt expect to solve this case by somebody writing confession letters.

Lisa Ziegert | Handout

RELATED: Suspect Arrested in Kidnapping, Rape and Killing of Mass. Teachers Assistant

Ziegert, a recent college graduate and teachers assistant, went missing from her second job at a gift shop in Agawam, Massachusetts, on April 15, 1992. Her car, keys and coat had been left at the store and authorities were notified when she didnt show up to her job at Agawam Middle School the next day, MassLive reported.

Gary Schara | Hamden District Attorney/AP

Four days later  Easter Sunday  Ziegerts body was found off the side of Route 75 in a wooded area. She had been sexually assaulted, and an autopsy report later revealed that she had died of a single stab wound to the neck.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLEs free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

Schara had been a person of interest in Ziegerts death since 1993.

Last September, Schara pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. His arrest and conviction brought closure to one of the states most famous cases.

Dateline: The Music Box airs Friday, January 10 at 9 p.m./8 p.m. CT.
Looking to up your appreciation of the arts?

We've rounded up four creative events around Denver this week that will scratch your cultural itch, from multiple art exhibitions to a live stage production.

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.

Denver Graffiti Tour

From the event description:

Denver Graffiti Tour is a two-hour walking showcase of the best street art in the city. Learn the story behind the murals, graffiti and street art, and how the rapidly changing RiNo neighborhood has affected the art and its long-time residents. The tour ends at Denver Central Market in the heart of RiNo, from where guests can enjoy great bars, breweries, galleries and restaurants.

When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 10 a.m.-noon

Where: 2314 N. Broadway

Price: $30

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Debut Solo Exhibition by Christopher Clark: Discovery at Abend Gallery

From the event description:

Abend Gallery is pleased to start the year off with a debut solo exhibition by Christopher Clark, titled Discovery. In this showing of new work, Clark will captivate visitors with a variety of subjects, telling mesmerizing stories for them to discover.

When: Saturday, Jan. 11, noon-Saturday, Jan. 25, 6 p.m.

Where: Abend Gallery, 1412 Wazee St., Unit 1

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Elementals: Adrienne Stein's solo exhibition at Gallery 1261

From the event description:

Adrianne Stein is an award-winning painter and Gallery 1261 is thrilled to exhibit her very first solo show. The title of the exhibit derives from the Renaissance concept of the four elements being embodied in mythic beings, known as Elementals. The paintings in this show depict figures that correspond with the elements of Earth, Fire, Water and Air.

When: Saturday, Jan. 11, noon-Saturday, Feb. 1, 6 p.m.

Where: Gallery 1261, 1412 Wazee St.

Story continues

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Crushes: Stories on Stage with Buntport Theater Company at Su Teatro

From the event description:

Stories on Stage collaborates once again with the ever-eclectic Buntport Theater Company in Crushes. This performance features a little bit of everything, from flash fiction to memoir to vignettes. Some of our stories have been contributed by local writers who've shared their own tales, real or imagined, about their crushes!

When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 1:30 p.m.

Where: Su Teatro, 721 Santa Fe Drive

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

40% off art class at Sipping n Painting Highland

From the Sipping n' Painting Highland deal description:

During these two-hour class sessions at Sipping n' Painting, Instructors provide step-by-step guidance while guests of all skill levels create their own canvas paintings, sip on a glass of wine, beer or non-alcoholic beverage and enjoy light snacks. Painting materials, tools and an apron are supplied.



Where: Sipping n' Painting Highland, 4995 Lowell Blvd.

Price: $25 for one guest (40% 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.
Mike Pence has insisted the Trump administration had compelling evidence of an imminent threat posed by the Iranian general who was killed in an airstrike last week but that he cannot share the information.

In a series of interviews, the vice president has defended the administrations failure to explain its rationale for the killing of Qassem Soleimani after members of Congress criticised a reportedly scant military briefing on Wednesday.

Mike Lee, a Republican senator for Utah, described the meeting as the worst briefing Ive seen at least on a military issue in his nine-year career in Congress.

Mr Pence has claimed that revealing the administrations evidence, even in a classified briefing, could compromise sources and intelligence collection efforts.

Some of the most compelling evidence that Qassem Soleimani was preparing an imminent attack against American forces and American personal also represents some of the most sensitive intelligence that we have, he told NBCs Today.

US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Show all 35 1 /35 US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures This photo released by the Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office shows a burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, early Friday 3 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures The wreckage of the car in which general Soleimani was travelling when a targeted US airstrike struck outside Baghdad International Airport on 3 January Ahmad Al Mukhtar via Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Demonstrators burn the US and British flags during a protest in Tehran after general Soleimani was killed in a targeted airstrike by American forces Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike. The Pentagon said Thursday that the US military has killed general Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, at the direction of Donald Trump AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn Israeli and US flags as thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of general Soleimani at the hands of America EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of Donald Trump pray at an 'Evangelicals for Trump' campaign event held on the day following the killing of general Soleimani. At the event, the president praised the "flawless strike that eliminated the terrorist ringleader" AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A huge procession of mourners gather in Baghdad for the funeral of general Soleimani on 4 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of Soleimani during an anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iraqis perform a mourning prayer for slain major general Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards at the Great Mosque of Kufa AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A billboard reading 'Death to America and Israel', installed by Iran-backed shiite armed groups at a street in Jadriyah district in Baghdad, Iraq EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him visiting the family of Soleiman KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US flag as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Jalal Feiruznia, looks to a portrait of Soleimani, as he receives condolences at the Iranian embassy, in Beirut, Lebanon AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures People make their way on the street while a screen on the wall of a cinema shows a portrait Soleimani in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Aziz Asmar, one of two Syrian painters who completed a mural following the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani poses next to his creation in the rebel-held Syrian town of Dana in the northwestern province of Idlib AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A demonstration in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures An anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Mujtaba al-Husseini, the representative of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivers a speech in the holy shrine city of Najaf AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US and Israeli flags as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters demonstrate in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shi'ite Muslims hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, in Peshawar, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters, holding a photograph of the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran Massoud Rajavi, outside Downing Street in London PA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn a US flag in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A Syrian man offers sweets to children to mark the killing AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers attend a mourning prayer for Soleimani in Iran's capital Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shout anti American and anti Israel slogans during a protest AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshipers chant slogans during Friday prayers Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A protest against the USA, in Islamabad, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranians burn a US flag in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin, Germany Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol a road in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel. Following morning's killing of Major General Qasem Soleimani, Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement called for the missile strike by Israel's closest ally, to be avenged AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian women take to the streets in Tehran EPA

I can assure your viewers that those of us who have seen all the evidence  know that President Trump made the right decision, he added.

The briefing on Wednesday was supposed to enlightened members of Congress on the justification for the airstrike, which has drastically increased tensions between the US and Iran.

However, Democrats and Republicans derided the briefing, calling it insulting and utterly unconvincing.

In particular, Mr Lee took issue with administration officials who refused to answer key questions on the legal and moral justifications for the killing.

Were in a secure underground bunker where all electronic devices have to be checked at the door and they still refused to tell us. I find that really upsetting, the senator told reporters.

Donald Trump has come under pressure to reveal evidence to explain why Soleimani posed an imminent threat to American forces.

On Thursday, Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen published a redacted copy of the letter Mr Trump sent to Congress after the airstrike took place.

From all weve seen, including the redacted parts here and the briefing, the facts do not show an imminent threat, Mr Van Hollen wrote on Twitter.

Mr Pence has also faced criticism over his unwillingness to share evidence due to his support for the Iraq war.

In 2004, as a US congressman, he declared that weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) have been found in Iraq in a speech supporting the invasion.

However, the CIAs final report on the issue in 2005 concluded that the search for WMDs had gone as far as feasible and found nothing.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020 16:31 732 48be62e941b44f04afae568c3218ea8c 1 People Arctic-Circle,travel,hiking,Dewi-Anggraini-Nurfadilah Free

Thirty-year-old explorer Dewi Anggraini Nurfadilah is set to conquer the Arctic Circle on Fjallraven Polar 2020, an annual international expedition held by Swedish outdoor brand Fjallraven.

Dewi, who was chosen through online voting, will represent the Asia-Oceania zone (Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand) alongside Singaporean explorer Hadi Rosman, who was picked by the jury.

In a statement released on Thursday, Dewi expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to fly the Indonesian national flag on the expedition.

Read also: What Agnez Mo got right about being Chinese-Indonesian

Alhamdulillah [thank God], my dream to fly our red and white flag on the global scene through Fjallraven Polars Arctic Circle Expedition has come true. I am also proud to be the first Indonesian woman to take on the Arctic Circle in this event, she said.

Dewi has previously climbed 20 mountains across the nation, including Mount Slamet, Mount Sumbing, Mount Gede Pangrango, Mount Kerinci and Mount Ambon. She regularly shares her travel experiences to her 46,900 followers on Instagram, with her Fjallraven Polar 2020 announcement post commented by more than 300 people.

To be able to participate in Fjallraven Polar 2020 proves that results will never betray hard work, she stated. (vel/kes)
Dublin, Jan. 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "US Food Market Outlook 2019" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



This report provides a single, fully up-to-date resource on the top 14 food categories, presenting comprehensive insights on where the market growth will be and why. Packaged food marketers and retailers are challenged in that most of the large categories are mature with limited overall organic growth, yet opportunities abound.

This report focuses on the market for selected food products sold to consumers in the United States through retail channels. All retail channels of distribution are covered in market sizing and discussion, including supermarkets and grocery stores, mass merchandisers and supercenters, warehouse clubs, natural food stores, convenience stores, drugstores, dollar stores, and direct-sales channels including online.

Market size data and projections are provided at the retail sales level for 2013-2018 and 2018-2023, with channel and marketer shares figures for 2018.

Key Topics Covered



1 Executive Summary

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Cereal

1.3 Chocolate Candy

1.4 Cookies

1.5 Fresh Bread

1.6 Fresh Packaged Salads

1.7 Frozen Dinners/Entrees

1.8 Frozen Pizza

1.9 Ice Cream and Frozen Novelties

1.10 Meal and Snack Bars

1.11 Meat and Poultry

1.12 Natural and Specialty Cheese

1.13 Salty Snacks

1.14 Soup

1.15 Yogurt



2 Cereal

2.1 Scope

2.2 Methodology

2.3 The Market

2.3.1 Retail Sales of Cereal Nearly $11 Billion in 2018

2.3.2 Market at $10. 2 Billion by 2023

2.3.3 Key Opportunities for Future Growth

2.3.4 Volume Sales

2.4 Market Segmentation

2.4.1 Category Sales

2.5 Factors to Market Growth

2.5.1 Innovation: Cereal not Just for Breakfast Anymore

2.5.2 Innovation: Gut Health Getting Attention in Cereal

2.6 Macroeconomic Context for Sales Growth

2.6.1 Robust (if Disjointed) Economic Growth

2.6.2 Unemployment Rate Declines to 50-Year Lows

2.6.3 Median Household Incomes at All-Time High in 2017

2.6.4 Sluggish Growth of Household Formations

2.7 Marketer Competition

2.7.1 General Mills and Kellogg Control Over 50% of Total Market

2.7.2 M&A Activity

2.8 New Product Trends

2.8.1 Opportunities for Next-Generation Product Innovation

2.8.2 Organic Trends

2.8.3 Sweetening the Cereal Bowl to Drive Kid Appeal

2.8.4 Healthier Kids Cereal

2.8.5 Incentive to Reduce Sugar

2.8.6 Clean Label Equals Healthy and Nutritious

2.9 Marketing Trends

2.9.1 Opportunities for Marketing Innovation

2.10 Retail Competition

2.10.1 Channel Shares

2.10.2 Opportunities for In-Store and Online Innovation

2.10.3 Role of Online and e-Grocers

2.10.4 Opportunities in Private Label

2.11 Consumer Trends

2.11.1 Cold Cereal Consumption Declining but Eaten by 84% of Households

2.11.2 More Consumers Prefer Pre-Sweetened Cold Cereal

2.11.3 Cold Cereal Eaters Eat a Lot of Cereal

2.11.4 Highest Percentage of Hot Cereal Eaters Consumes Lowest Volume

2.11.5 Biggest Cold Cereal Gainers are Sweetened

2.11.6 Quaker Dominates Hot Cereal

3 Chocolate Candy



4 Cookies



5 Fresh Bread



6 Fresh Packaged Salads



7 Frozen Dinners/Entrees



8 Frozen Pizza



9 Ice Cream & Frozen Novelties



10 Meal & Snack Bars



11 Meat & Poultry



12 Natural & Specialty Cheese



13 Salty Snacks



14 Soup



15 Yogurt



Companies Mentioned



Bimbo

Breyers

Edy's

Campbell Soup

Chips Ahoy

Chobani

CLIF

ConAgra

Dannon

DiGiorno

Flowers

Hershey

Hillshire Farm

Jimmy Dean

Kellogg

Kit Kat

Kraft

Marie Callender's

Mars

Mondelez

Nature Valley

Nature's Own

Nestle

Oreos

Pure Protein

Quaker

Sargento

Stouffer's

Swanson Broth

Unilever

Wrigley

Yoplait Decline

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/n92rue

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
Bengaluru, Jan 9 : The Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangalore, Peter Machado, on Thursday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind and the Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala to grant citizenship to illegal migrants on the merit of individual cases but not on religious basis.

"Religion should never be the criterion for citizenship of a country. There is a danger that there could be a polarisation of our peoples along religious lines, which is very harmful for the country," said Machado reiterating the statement that the Metropolitan Archbishop of Bombay, Oswald, Cardinal Gracias made in December.

Referring to the Citizenship Amendment Act, Machado said it implies that any other group or community other than illegal Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian migrants will not be eligible for citizenship.

The CAA excludes persecuted Muslims of all kinds such as Shias, Ahmediyas and others from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan from the citizenship offer.

According to Machado, CAA caused misunderstanding among the Assamese people, leading to an uproar and violence which now is slowly spreading to other parts of India.

He also appealed to the citizens to maintain peace and harmony, shunning violent methods to fight for their cause.

The Archbishop called the government to strike a dialogue with people opposing CAA and come to an agreement about the way forward with justice, equity and fairness.

"By doing so, it can meet out justice to all the illegal migrants and thus promote equality among them. More so, it can also convince the citizens of the country that it upholds the sacredness of the Constitution and respects the rights of all the linguistic and religious minorities without any discrimination," he said.

Empathising with the victims of religious discrimination, Machado said: "We also express our solidarity with those who have been discriminated on the basis of religion and assure them of our support an fellowship that justice may be granted to them and that all of us may live as one family as brothers sisters in this our motherland." He pledged that the Christian community will continue to work for the betterment of all the citizens without any discrimination and will continue to build the nation based on equality, justice and fairness.
Y our dinner will now be served  by a robo-waiter that responds to being stroked like a cat.

The droid can hold trays of food, glasses, bottles and cans on its shelves, finding its way through the restaurant using guiding markers on the ceiling.

The 9,000 robot was one of thousands of gadgets unveiled in Las Vegas at CES, the worlds biggest tech showcase. Ben Zheng, marketing director of Chinese robotics firm Shenzhen Pudu Technology, said: She works in restaurants, like a delivery robot from the kitchen to the table. The customers are really happy to see her, they think its something that only happens in the movies.

The firm behind the BellaBot says the rising popularity of such droids is set to transform the service industry.

When the meal is ready to leave the kitchen a worker punches in the table number on the robots screen and it rolls over to the diner. Customers then see a cat-like face on its screen and can pet a touch-sensitive panel and ears. It has already been deployed at Haidilao Hot Pot in the Trocadero in Piccadilly Circus.

Mr Zheng added: People are still needed to help the robot take the food from the tray, we dont want to replace people, we want to help them so waiters dont have to walk so much every day.

CES Las Vegas 2020 - In pictures 1 /42 CES Las Vegas 2020 - In pictures Reuters "Reachy," an open-source robot by Pollen Robotics, displayed at CES Reuters Reuters Reuters AFP via Getty Images Reuters AP AP PA PA Lovot companion robots by Groove X wander in front their booth at CES Reuters Zarate of Massachusetts uses a virtual reality headset at the Orbi booth Getty Images The app for the CarePredict Tempo Series 3 appears on display at the CarePredict booth during CES AP Francesca Vengel demonstrates the YouCam makeup App at the Perfect booth during CES AP Cosmo Connect 's Cosmo Ride is displayed Getty Images Pix Inc shows off its latest in digital customizable backpacks with an app allowing for design changes at the CES Unveiled AP An attendee adjusts a mirror on the Wello Solar Electric Assistance Tricycle during the CES Unveiled event at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada AFP via Getty Images Roybi robots are displayed at the Roybi booth during a press event for CES 2020 Getty Images The Sureflap Microchip Pet Door Connect is on display at the Sure Petcare booth during CES Unveiled AP Chad George models a smart anti-snore pillow, which automatically gently inflates to change the head angle if snoring is detected, in the Ten Minds booth at CES Reuters A Yummly wireless, smart meat thermometer is displayed at CES Reuters Violette LeFranc and Timoti Prigent model augmented reality glasses in the KistaKlub booth at CES Reuters Shifu shows off the latest in educational interactive teaching games for children, as an app and globe allow children to check on where dinosaurs were in the world AP Stopskate, inline skates with an electronic breaking system operated by a handheld controller are displayed at the CES AFP via Getty Images The Neofect Smart Glove stroke rehab device is demonstrated AP The Animo pet behavior monitor AP Langualess shows off a monitor harness for your pet to track how your pet is feeling through heart rate analysis shown here at the CES Unveiled media preview event AP Journalists take photos of the the Byton M-Byte all-electric SUV, expected to enter mass production this year, after the car's unveiling at a news conference during the 2020 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada Reuters

It comes amid concerns that the growing artificial intelligence sector is removing jobs as it undertakes administrative tasks for a fraction of the price of a human. McDonalds is testing voice artificial intelligence to take drive-thru orders while people bag up the burgers.

Steve Koenig, of the Consumer Technology Association, said: By adding intelligence to automate one part of this task, taking the order, we really ameliorate the stress of this job.
The Trade Union Congress has asked all states governments that have not complied with the implementation of the N30,000 new National Minimum Wage to do so before January 31 to prevent industrial action.

In a communique sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday evening after a National Executive Meeting (NEC) in Lagos, the president of TUC, Quadri Olaleye, said the union has directed all states to start mobilisation for strike ahead of January 31.

As at now and by our record, only six states have signed and commenced implementation, 15 states are in the process of negotiation, while the rest are yet to commence negotiation. We want to assure them this is not an empty threat. Labour will shut down any state that has not yet started the implementation or negotiation, the Nation newspaper quoted Mr Olaleye as saying after the NEC meeting.

Speaking on the insecurity in the country, Mr Olaleye called on the Federal Government to intensify practical efforts towards wiping out killings, kidnapping and insurgency.

He said the congress had resolved to participate in a global rally against war slated for January 25.

He also said the union also condemned all forms of casualisation and slave labour in Nigeria.

READ ALSO:

The Government is hereby advised to extend Local Content Policy as applied in the oil sector to be applicable to other sectors of the economy, he said.

Industrial peace

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), had also in a communique issued at the end of its meeting with the state council chairmen on December 12, said it would not be able to guarantee industrial peace and harmony in states that failed to conclude negotiations and begin payment of the new minimum wage by December 31.

The new wage structure was signed into law by the president, Muhammadu Buhari, on April 18, 2019, while both the Federal Government and labour unions agreed on consequential adjustments on October 18, 2019, after negotiations.

After the agreement between the FG and labour, negotiations shifted to states, with the NLC directing its state leaders to commence negotiations with their governors.

However, the unions had said negotiations must be completed on December 31, 2019, which was not done.

Currently, no fewer than 15 states are yet to conclude negotiations on the N30,000 new minimum wage two days after the expiration of the initial deadline.

States like Ekiti, Cross River, Benue, Gombe, Osun, Sokoto, Oyo, Niger, Ogun, Enugu, Bayelsa, Rivers, Kwara, Taraba and Anambra are yet to agree on the consequential adjustments of salaries as a result of the new minimum wage.
An entire class of second-year nursing students at Brandon University is facing disciplinary action over a final exam the school has deemed compromised.

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This article was published 9/1/2020 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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The Brandon University Health Studies Complex. (Drew May/The Brandon Sun)

An entire class of second-year nursing students at Brandon University is facing disciplinary action over a final exam the school has deemed "compromised."

"There is strong evidence to corroborate the fact that the 71:250 Nursing Foundations II course (Fall term, test II, Final Exam) was compromised by a large number of students," reads a letter from the dean of the faculty of health studies at BU to the class.

A copy of the letter sent by the dean of the faculty of health studies to students in the affected class provided by an anonymous source. Brandon University confirmed to the Sun that the letter is authentic. (Submitted)

The letter was given to the Sun by a source who wished to remain anonymous.

"Please be aware that any further acts of academic dishonesty and/or misconduct will result in more severe penalties being imposed," the letter continued.

According to the university, there were between 46 and 48 students enrolled in the course in question, taught by Dr. Ali Salman.

Students have the option of retaking the exam with a penalty applied to make it so that the maximum possible attainable mark is 70 per cent. If after the retaken exam a student believes that the penalty was too harsh, they can file an appeal.

They are also able to appeal the discipline altogether, but risk receiving a grade of zero on the exam in the event their appeal is denied.

Penalties for academic dishonesty at Brandon University for cheating include receiving a mark of zero, receiving a failing grade for the course, being expelled or suspended from the school, class or school team and receiving a permanent mark of academic dishonesty on a transcript.

"Brandon University is committed to maintaining academic integrity," the university wrote in a statement provided to the Sun. "The value of every BU degree is built on meeting a common standard of knowledge and behaviour. Integrity is especially critical in a field like health care, where trust relationships are central.

"Recently, Brandon University learned that a final exam in a nursing class was compromised by a large number of students. Academic dishonesty is always subject to penalties on a scale appropriate to the level of the infraction, possibly including a grade of F and a permanent mark of Academic Dishonesty on a students transcript.

"Given the circumstances of this particular case, BU has worked with the faculty member, the students union and the students in the class to fairly and appropriately deal with this serious infraction."

According to the universitys policy on academic dishonesty posted on its website, there are several steps an instructor accusing a student of dishonesty has to go through.

The instructor must inform a student they are being accused in writing and set up a meeting to discuss the matter. The department chair or dean may be present for this meeting.

If the student admits to dishonesty, they will discuss an appropriate punishment for the action. If the punishment is agreed upon by both parties, it will be forwarded to the appropriate dean for review.

When an instructor and student agree on guilt but do not agree on a punishment, the matter is sent to the department chair for them to mediate an appropriate punishment which will then be reviewed by the dean.

In the case of a student being accused of dishonesty by a professor and not admitting guilt, a subcommittee is formed to adjudicate the matter.

Students who receive a penalty for dishonesty by a dean or the schools president can file an appeal to the universitys senate.

The Sun reached out to Whitney Hodgins, the vice-president internal at Brandon University Students Union, for comment, but she declined to speak on the matter.

Multiple attempts were made to speak with members of the class, but no requests for comment were returned.

If any students would like to come forward to speak on the matter, please contact Sun education reporter Colin Slark at cslark@brandonsun.com or by phone at 204-571-7444.

 cslark@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ColinSlark
Iran writes to UN: We're not after war but reserve right to self-defense against US threats

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 08 January 2020 5:34 AM

Iran's United Nations mission draws the world body's attention to the US's repeated threats of using force against the Islamic Republic in the aftermath of Washington's assassination of senior Iranian commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.

The Islamic Republic's Ambassador to the United Nations, Majid Takht-e Ravanchi made the remarks in a letter, which he addressed to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday.

The letter called attention to the "unlawful" and provocative nature of the threats issued over a considerably short period of time by United States President Donald Trump, only days after US drone strikes led to the martyrdom of General Soleiman, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)'s Quds Force, and the second-in-command of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) anti-terror group, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis among others in the Iraqi capital.

It said the Islamic Republic reserves its right to defend itself against any threats or actual deployment of force targeting the country.

Here is the full text of the letter:

Pursuant to my letter dated 3 January 2020 regarding the terrorist attack by the armed forces of the United States of America against Martyr Major General Qasem Soleimani, the Commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and his companions on 3 January 2020 at the Baghdad International Airport, I am writing to draw your kind attention to yet another provocative statement by the United States threatening to use further force against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

On 3 January 2020 and almost immediately after the terrorist attack, the President of the United States threatened Iran "in particular," stating, "We have all of those targets already fully identified, and I am ready and prepared to take whatever action is necessary."

On 4 January 2020, the President of the United States once again threatened to "hit very fast and very hard" "52 Iranian sites," including some very important to "the Iranian culture."

After a few hours on the same day, he threatened Iran again by stating, "We will hit them harder than they have ever been hit before."

On 5 January 2020, when faced with the criticism that targeting Iran's cultural sites would be considered a war crime under international law, he asserted anew that, "We're not allowed to touch their cultural site? It doesn't work that way."

On the same day, he yet again brazenly threatened that "the United States will quickly [and] fully strike" Iran "in a disproportionate manner."

Overall, only in three days, the President of the United States, through extremely provocative and harsh statements, has threatened five times to use force against a founding member of the United Nations.

Publicly repeating such provocative statements and unlawful threats are without a doubt a clear call for lawlessness, chaos, and disorder at the international level, particularly with respect to a highly important common good such as peace and security.

Such unbridled threats by the President of the United States indisputably constitute a gross violation of the peremptory norms of international law as well as the very fundamental principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter, particularly its Article 2(4) that clearly prohibits the threat or use of force.

Given the confrontational nature of these inflammatory statements and threats, as well as the broad and adverse ramifications of the military adventurism of the United States on regional and international peace and security, it is crystal clear that this country bears the full responsibility for all consequences.

It is also evident that the threat to target Iranian cultural sites is certainly a flagrant violation of the basic norms and principles of international law, and any attack against such sites would be a war crime. Additionally, it should be born in mind that "damage to cultural property belonging to any people whatsoever means damage to the cultural heritage of all mankind."

Recalling that the current insecurity and instability in the broader Persian Gulf region is the direct result of the unlawful invasion of Iraq by the United States in 2003 as well as its massive military presence and its "divide and rule" policy in the region, it is also worth noting that all the abovesaid threats, including to dispatch more troops and "brand new beautiful equipment" to this already volatile region, would indeed further complicate the current tense situation.

I must also stress that the aforementioned statements and actions are only the tip of a submerged iceberg of hostile policies and unlawful practices, as well as the threats and plots of the United States against Iran over the past 40 years.

While the Islamic Republic of Iran does not seek war, it seriously warns against any further military adventurism against it. Iran is determined to continue to strongly protect its people, to vigorously defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity and to fully secure its national interests.

Accordingly, in conformity with international law and in exercising its inherent right to self-defense, Iran will take all necessary and proportionate measures against any threat or use of force.

This is in accordance with its inherent right under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, and Iran will not hesitate to exercise it when required.

The irresponsible policies and unlawful practices of the United States continue to not only endanger the very foundations of international law and order but also pose a real threat to international peace and security.

The international community should not condone or tolerate this situation and must demand that the United States put an end to its continued unlawful and destabilizing measures in such a volatile region as the Middle East, particularly by withdrawing all its forces from the region.

Likewise, the United Nations Security Council must condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the unlawful threats and unfettered policies of the United States as well as hold it accountable for all of its wrongful acts and unlawful practices while compelling it to abide by the principles and rules of international law.

I should be grateful if you would have the present letter circulated as a document of the Security Council.

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A mysterious box of Marilyn Monroe documents sealed until 2039 could prove she was murdered by her obsessed psychiatrist, claims a private investigator.

The papers belonged to Dr Ralph Greenson, who found her body and who is suspected by some of administering the barbiturate overdose which killed her in 1962.

Private detective Becky Aldrige found 'Box 29' stored at UCLA library where it will remain sealed to the public for another two decades, despite a list of contents showing it contains a trove of files about Monroe.

Aldrige claims that Dr Greenson killed Monroe after she threatened to reveal affairs she'd had with the Kennedy brothers and he remained haunted by the actress.

The official account says Marilyn Monroe was found dead by Dr Ralph Greenson (left) but private detective Becky Aldrige believes a sealed box of his papers holds answers and that he administered a fatal injection that killed her

'I have always believed Marilyn Monroe was murdered,' Aldrige writes. 'If you look at all of the stories, books, testimonies, and even evidence then there is no reason that Marilyn Monroe's death certificate should not be changed from probable suicide to murder.'

Aldrige has opened a petition asking for the finding of 'probable suicide' to be struck from Monroe's death certificate and for the death to be re-investigated as homicide.

She is asking that the Attorney General speak to two people who she says are alive today and who were never asked to give a statement but 'were present when Marilyn Monroe took her last breath.'

They are LAPD Sgt. Marvin D. Iannone, later promoted to Chief of the Beverly Hills Police Department, and Patrica Newcomb, a friend of Monroe.

According to Aldrige, Newcomb left the country after Monroe's funeral in 1962 and traveled through Europe for six months.

Meanwhile she claims that Iannone dismissed the other officers from Monroe's home on Helena Drive, Brentwood, on the day the screen siren died.

Aldrige says 'time is running out' because Iannone is now 83-years-old and Newcomb is 88.

There have long been conspiracy theories surrounding Monroe's death. The official account says Monroe was found dead by Dr Greenson who broke into her bedroom after being called to the home by the housekeeper in the early hours of the morning.

Medical attendents removing the body of Marilyn Monroe from her home at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood, Los Angeles, in 1962

Monroe had died from acute barbiturate poisoning as a result of an overdose of chloral hydrate and pentobarbital. Due to well-documented bouts of depression and prior overdoses a finding of 'probable suicide' was made by the coroner

Monroe had died from acute barbiturate poisoning as a result of an overdose of chloral hydrate and pentobarbital.

Due to well-documented bouts of depression and prior overdoses a finding of 'probable suicide' was made by the coroner.

However, investigators like Aldrige believe Monroe's alleged affairs with the Kennedy brothers, John F. Kennedy - then President - and his brother Bobby, could provide a motivation for Dr Greenson being asked to give her an overdose.

Aldrige told The Sun that she was stunned to find that Dr Greenson, who died in 1979, had a sealed box of papers.

'I spent hours looking at everything I was allowed to - I couldn't make copies or take pictures so I just took notes,' she told the paper.

Aldrige claims that Monroe's housekeeper Eunice Murray said she became concerned about the light being on in the star's bedroom (pictured: Monroe's home in Brentwood

'I discovered he was obsessed with Marilyn Monroe because he had every book, every magazine, every newspaper that was ever written about Marilyn Monroe, everything.

'Then there were letters that were written to him, people telling him to kill himself because they thought it was his fault, she was dead. I remember thinking "Why did you save this?" ...

'There is also letters in there to Marilyn Monroe from other people - and letters she wrote to other people - why does he even have those? There's also some of his confidential medical files, and another file that doesn't say what it is.'

Investigators like Aldrige believe Monroe's alleged affairs with the Kennedy brothers, John F. Kennedy (pictured) - then President - and his brother Bobby, could provide a motivation for her murder

Aldrige says that in Monroe's previous suicide attempts she had left a note, but on the night of her death there was none.

She also notes mysterious bruises found on Monroe's hips, a common place for injections, but which could also indicate violence.

In addition she claims that Monroe's housekeeper Eunice Murray said she became concerned about the light being on in the star's bedroom.

But even if this had concerned her, Aldrige finds it strange she called Dr Greenson before the emergency services.

Furthermore, she says that Murray had a master key and it would not have made sense for Greenson to break into Monroe's bedroom.

Aldrige also says that Newcombe told her Monroe had a diary at the time of her death but this 'disappeared.'

Aldrige claims that Monroe was killed after threatening to go public about her affairs with the Kennedy brothers.

She claims that an ambulance had arrived at the home but that before she could be taken to hospital Dr Greenson intervened, taking charge of Monroe and giving her a fatal injection.

'The one thing that has never changed in over 53 years is the people involved, the time frame of events and the real manner of death.' Aldrige writes.

'Marilyn deserves this change.'
A Modern British passion: The Allen and Beryl Freer Collection

Assembled over a lifetime, works from this famous collection of Modern British paintings, prints and drawings  many of which were bought directly from the artists  come to auction on 23 January in London

Until recently Allen and Beryl Freer lived in a detached Sixties house in a suburb south of Manchester, in the northwest of England. The modest frontage of their home offered no clues as to the treasures inside. The hallway, sitting room and large dining room extension were densely hung with pictures, including works by some of the most celebrated names of Modern British art  Ivon Hitchens, Winifred Nicholson, Prunella Clough, John Piper, Eileen Agar and John Craxton, among others. So too were the bedrooms upstairs, with the main bedroom containing some of the best and most intimate of the Freers substantial collection of paintings by John Nash, one of Allens favourite artists. There was so much to admire, that trying to list it in my mind afterwards, I scarcely knew where to start, recalls art critic Andrew Lambirth, who first visited the Freers in October 2007.

Collecting pictures was not the couples only passion. Ceramics, glassware, art books and Allens own bookbindings and treen (wood turnings) adorned the shelves and mantlepieces. There [were] no empty spaces  pictures [were] even hung on the sides of bookcases and beside windows, recalls Dr Catharine Davies, the Freers eldest daughter. Having a mirror or a cupboard was much more of an issue growing up  that meant a challenge to much needed wallspace!

Allen and Beryl Freer at home. Courtesy of the Freer family

Allen Freer began his working life as an English teacher, and then, from 1962, as an Inspector for English for the Manchester Education Committee, where his job involved ensuring poetry and art were part of the school curriculum. For much of their married life, Allen and Beryl Freer surrounded themselves with art. The origins of their splendid collection of 20th-century British art are found in Allens early interest in all types of printmaking. One of the first prints to enter the collection, in 1951, was an original lithograph by Vanessa Bell. Works by Edward Bawden, William Scott, Eileen Agar and others soon followed.

The sitting room of the Freers home in Cheshire, in which a trio of works by Ivon Hitchens  from left, Larch Wood, Still Life with Azaleas and Summer Steps  feature above the fireplace

This interest went hand-in-hand with a passion for private press books and the art of illustration, explains Lambirth. From that base, [Allens] collecting branched into painting and drawing, and he bought widely but discriminately, whenever possible from the artists themselves. Only buy what you like to live with, Allen once replied to an enquiry about which artists to invest in. There are no guarantees. For the Freers, meeting artists and exploring their workplaces was an integral part of the collecting journey. The artist and his/her world was just as important [as a purchase] and many became friends, recalls Mary Freer, the couples youngest daughter.

Allen and Beryl would journey across the country, often with their children in tow, to visit artists they admired in their studios. Along the way they met John Nash, Henry Moore, Josef Herman, Winifred and Kate Nicholson, Ivon Hitchens and Michael Ayrton, among others. As the collection expanded, so did its notoriety. Keen to share it with as many friends and acquaintances as possible, the Freers delighted in throwing open their doors. As a consequence, a cohesive display became increasingly important. Like the best flower arrangements, a display of pictures needs to be carefully done but appear to have come together naturally, notes Mary. Dad was very good at this.

The dining room of the Freer home in Cheshire

It is not the only thing that he is very good at, for Allen Freer is also a distinguished watercolour painter, specialising in landscape subjects and miniatures. He has exhibited widely and enjoyed a succession of solo shows across the country. It was the experience of painting that gave him the knowledge and confidence to relate to the artists whose work he collected, affirms Catharine.

In addition, Freer purchased and commissioned art on behalf of Manchester City Council and organised exhibitions of artists he admired, including John Nash, Winifred Nicholson and Edward Bawden. In 1993 he authored The Delighted Eye, a monograph on John Nash, and in 2007 published an annotated edition of Nashs wartime letters to his fiance. The Allen and Beryl Freer collection grew and fluctuated as needs required, but it has always remained what Catharine describes as a lively and vivacious creation, a series of interactions of pictures, objects and people. On 23 January, works from The Allen and Beryl Freer Collection are offered in a dedicated auction in London. Everything has been lived with, has lovely provenance and is beautifully presented, says Rachel Hidderley, Senior Director of Modern British Art at Christies. With many works offered at accessible price points, we expect interest from both new and well-established collectors in the category. Collection highlights Leading the Freer collection is an important group of paintings (including early watercolours) by Ivon Hitchens, best known for his panoramic canvases celebrating the Sussex landscape of woods and water. Allen Freer knew Hitchens for the last seven years of his life. As a consequence, Lambirth explains, he was able to build up a holding of Hitchens paintings and works on paper of considerable range and interest.

Still Life with Azaleas (above), painted by Hitchens in 1931, is one of the standout works in the collection. It has a hard-edge definition of form not found in his later work, explains Lambirth of this early flower painting. The colour is carefully arranged in rich contrasts, but does not yet have the spontaneous brushing and soft edges of the later flower pictures. Further Hitchens works coming to auction include Woman and Child (John by Jordan Series) (1942), one of an extended series of paintings of Mollie Hitchens and their son John; and two further flower paintings in oil  Still Life with Lilies (1935) and Two Poppies (1935).

Other notable highlights include Red and Black (1953), a small but magnificent painting by Terry Frost, dating to his Corsham period; and Winifred Nicholsons The Kings Road, an abstracted still-life set on a window sill from 1925. This composition is one of only a small number of townscapes painted by the artist. All painting is to me painting of air and sky  that holds colours and light  not pictures of objects, the artist once said.

A grouping of early watercolours by John Nash (1893-1977), the younger brother of the more famous Paul Nash, will also be offered for sale. Among the highlight lots are Interior of a Wood, Whiteleaf (1919), an attractive landscape depicting the beech woods at Whiteleaf in the Chilterns; Misbourne Valley, Chalfront St. Peter (1915), an unusual study of a landscape executed in what Lambirth describes as bruise-blue ink; and Tuscan Landscape (1915), above.

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The inspiration for the latter dates from a trip Nash made to Florence in 1914 after the success of his joint exhibition with his brother Paul at the Dorien Leigh Gallery in London (November 1913). Clarity of drawing and controlled use of colour add to the images authenticity and appeal, says Lambirth.
In line with Sebi's guideline to separate the roles of chairman and managing director/CEO of all listed entitied by April 1, Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani is in search of a new managing director (MD) within Reliance Industries (RIL) to lead India's most valuable company. A family member taking over the CEO's role, however, is ruled out.

According to sources, Ambani will shed his executive tag and become non-executive chairman of the company in compliance with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) guidelines if they come into effect on April 1, as scheduled.

"There are many senior executives, who have proven their potential, in the company. Ambani is likely to turn to a senior person, who has age on his side. Since the law doesn't permit the to take up the MD's role, the person cannot be from the Ambani family," said a source close to the development. He also rubbished the chances of roping in anybody from outside for the MD's role. "Historically, Ambanis prefer their men over outsiders," he added.

ALSO READ: Mayhem on Dalal Street: Mukesh Ambani loses $1.3 bn; Jhunjhunwala $19 mn in a day

The new rule mandates that the chairperson of the board should be a non-executive director and not related to the managing director or CEO. The aim is to segregate the board of a listed company from its management and improve corporate governance. Banker Uday Kotak-headed SEBI's corporate governance committee had first proposed the segregation idea in 2017. The market regulator made it a rule in 2018 and gave top 500 listed companies (by market capitalisation) two years to move to the new structure.

It is not clear if SEBI will give more time to companies for separating the roles. Industry experts claim separating top roles in large companies is legally complex in nature.

Ambani, 62, has been on the board of RIL since 1977. He was elevated as the executive chairman and MD after the death of his father and group patriarch Dhirubhai Ambani in July 2002. His younger brother Anil Ambani became the vice-chairman and MD. But, legal dispute followed between the brothers as Dhirubhai had not left behind a will.

ALSO READ: PM Modi meets business leaders; Ambani, Tata, Adani, Mittal, Mahindra, attend event

Finally, their mother Kokilaben intervened to stop the feud, splitting the group into two in 2005. Mukesh Ambani got control of RIL and retained his roles in the company. In 2018, the shareholders of RIL approved Mukesh Ambani's continuation as the CMD for another five years. Besides Ambani, his wife Nita and cousins Nikhil Meswani and Hital Meswani are on the board of RIL.

Under Ambani's leadership, RIL's turnover went up nearly 10 times to Rs 6,22,809 crore in 2018/19, compared to Rs 65,061 crore in 2002/03. The profit jumped to Rs 39,588 crore from Rs 4,104 crore in the 16 years. The market capitalisation shot up to Rs 10 lakh crore in November 2019 from around Rs 40,000 crore in 2003.

The elder Ambani diversified the company into retail and digital and telecom businesses. The consumer business contributed 33 per cent to the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amoratisation (EBITDA) of RIL in the second quarter of the current financial year. The company completed the construction of the second refinery in 2009 and forayed into exploration and production (E&P) of hydrocarbon business at Krishna Godavari (KG) basin. RIL has invested a total of Rs 5.4 lakh crore in the last five years as capital expenditure.

ALSO READ: Reliance announces entry into online grocery business with JioMart; to take on Amazon, Flipkart
In coded diplomatic missives, in messages sent through intermediaries and in statements from their leaders, both Iran and the United States have signalled their desire to step back from a confrontation that had sparked fears of a wider conflict  at least for now.

But the events of the past week have dashed any small hope of diplomacy that might have eased tensions between the two enemies.

The killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani by the US, and Irans retaliatory missile strikes on American bases in Iraq have piled the pressure on a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, which the international community had largely agreed was working.

In what was billed as an overture intended to de-escalate tensions, the US said on Wednesday it was ready to engage in serious negotiations with Iran.

In a letter to the United Nations Security Council, ambassador Kelly Craft said the US was ready to talk without preconditions, with the aim of preventing further endangerment of international peace and security or escalation by the Iranian regime.

Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Show all 24 1 /24 Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions Iranian mourners gather around a vehicle carrying the coffin of top general Qasem Soleimani during the final stage of funeral processions, in his hometown Kerman. Soleimani was killed outside Baghdad airport in a drone strike ordered by US President Donald Trump, ratcheting up tensions with Iran which has vowed "severe revenge" AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranian people carry a coffin of Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani during a funeral procession in Tehran Official Khamenei website via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions The assassination of the 62-year-old heightened international concern about a new war in the volatile, oil-rich Middle East and rattled financial markets AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Mourners packed the streets of Tehran for ceremonies to pay homage to Soleimani, who spearheaded Iran's Middle East operations as commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force and was killed in a US drone strike on January 3 Iranian Supreme Leader's Office/EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranians set a US and an Israeli flag on fire during the funeral procession AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, centre, with Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, second left, and President Hassan Rouhani, third left, standing next to him as he leads a prayer over the caskets of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at Tehran University Khamenei.IR/AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, openly weeps as he leads a prayer over the coffin of Qassem Soleimani AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Mourners holding posters of Qassem Soleimani AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Coffins of Soleimani and others who were killed in Iraq by a US drone strike, are carried on a truck surrounded by mourners during a funeral procession, at the Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) square AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions An Iranian mourner holds a placard AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Downtown Tehran was brought to a standstill as mourners flooded the Iranian capital Khamenei.IR/AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Former Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps chief Mohamad Ali Jafari prays on the coffins of Qasem Soleimani and of other victims during their funeral ceremony EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Official Khamenei website via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Satellite image Maxar Technologies/AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA

It came hours after similar remarks by Donald Trump in his first public address since ordering the assassination of Soleimani, the leader of Irans Quds Force, a week ago.

We must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place, the president said, while blaming the 2015 nuclear deal for emboldening Iran in the Middle East.

But many were quick to cast doubt on the sincerity of his calls for talks, delivered in a speech in which he announced the US would be imposing additional punishing sanctions on Iran.

Tehran sharply dismissed the possibility, citing the killing of Soleimani and crippling US sanctions on the Iranian economy. Majid Takht Ravanchi, Irans ambassador to the UN, called the suggestion of new talks unbelievable, Irans state news agency IRNA has reported.

In what appeared to be Irans first official reaction to Mr Trumps address, he was quoted as saying Washington had initiated a new series of escalation and animosity with Iran by killing Soleimani.

As long as the US continues its hostilities, the talk of cooperation is not comprehensible and the Iranian people will not be deceived by such remarks, he said.

Analysts, too, suggested that negotiations may not be a priority for Washington now.

Aaron David Miller, a former State Department analyst and negotiator in Democratic and Republican administrations and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, described Mr Trumps speech as a combination of crowing, accusing and explicit threats plus more sanctions. This is a speech for continued confrontation. And the message to the regime is change or else.

Even by reading tea leaves, coffee grinds and goat entrails, its hard to identify in Trumps speech any trace of serious intention to negotiate with Iran. Only in America does the pendulum among the chattering classes go from World War Three to negotiations, he said.

Mr Miller told The Independent that serious negotiations require an enormous investment and a team of individuals who know what they are doing, which the Trump administration has not put together.

Despite publicly showing a willingness for reconciliation, there appears to be little sign of a departure from the administrations maximum pressure approach intended at forcing Iran back to the negotiating table.

Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group, said the door to diplomacy has been shut for now.

There is no way that [Iranian] president [Hassan] Rouhani would meet with his American counterpart who ordered Soleimanis assassination. And without the pageantry of a summit, Trump seems uninterested in dealing with Tehran, he told The Independent.

What happens to the 2015 nuclear deal now, formerly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is unclear. Mr Trump pulled the US out of the agreement in 2018, despite US allies insisting that it was succeeding in its primary purpose of halting Irans ability to acquire nuclear weapons. That move was seen as the starting point of escalating tensions between the Trump administration and Iran, which reached a crescendo this week.

The Trump administration has repeatedly called on other world powers who signed up to the deal to also abandon it, and Mr Trump did so again on Wednesday.

The time has come for the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia and China to recognise this reality. They must now break away from the remnants of the Iran deal, he said.

Vice-president Mike Pence doubled down on those remarks on Thursday.

The president is going to call on our allies, in the days ahead, to join the United States to withdraw from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal and demand that Iran abandon its long history of sowing terrorist violence, abandon its nuclear ambitions and join the family of nations, he said in an interview on Fox & Friends.

European powers have resisted such calls, however. Boris Johnson distanced the UK from its transatlantic ally on Thursday in a phone call with Irans president.

Mr Johnsons spokesman said the prime minister underlined the UKs continued commitment to the [deal] and to ongoing dialogue to avoid nuclear proliferation and reduce tensions.

The 2015 deal gave Iran sanctions relief in return for imposing restrictions on its nuclear programme. But the sanctions imposed on Tehran by Washington since the US abandoned the deal have led to Iran taking its own steps to withdraw from parts of the deal.

And in the aftermath of Soleimanis killing, Iran announced that it will roll back its commitments even further, among them restrictions on the number of centrifuges it could operate and the level of uranium enrichment.

The JCPOA has been in a coma since the US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, said Holly Dagres, a non-resident fellow specialising on Iran at the Atlantic Council think-tank.

Having said that, its not dead. Iran has repeatedly said it would return to aspects of the JCPOA if the US lifts sanctions and/or returns to the deal.

But, she added, the chances of that happening are slim.

I dont find the US calls for negotiations to be genuine, given that the Trump administration has continuously changed its preconditions, she told The Independent.

The administration has pursued a reckless and inconsistent policy that shifts depending on what side of the bed the president wakes up on.
Calgary has a sex doll rental service and, yes, they clean them

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear about a sex doll rental service?

If you're like most of the clients or would-be clients of Calgary-based Natrl Dolls, it's: "How are they cleaned?"

So, OK, the cleaning process first.

The whole thing takes place while the body of the doll hangs from a hook over a tub to catch the water and soap, its head removed, legs bent.

"The first thing we do is we bring the doll back here and begin our cleaning procedure immediately," says one of the new service's co-owners, whom CBC News has agreed not to identify because he feared repercussions at his other job, but who we'll call Steve.

"So we disassemble the doll, we take out any removable orifices, we take off the head, then we proceed to do a rinse with hot water to get any surface bacteria or surface solids off.

"Then we begin with our anti-bacterial soap."

Deep cleaning

Of course, this being a service that delves below the surface, the scrub down does not stop there.

"Later in the cleaning process, what we'll do is we'll go over it with a black light to make sure we didn't miss anything and then we'll go over it with a UVC light to eliminate any microbacteria," said Steve.

"After we do the surface wash, then we'll move to the orifices. So we'll basically [give it] an enema, and we'll insert it into the doll's orifices and this is filled with anti-bacterial soap and it's also filled with hydrogen peroxide."

Monty Kruger/CBC

Then there's the sponge on the medical pincers and more peroxide and more cleaning.

A similar process happens in a smaller sink for the head and the inserts that fill the orifices.

"Obviously, this cleaning procedure, no one does this to themselves in the shower, which just proves another point that these are cleaner than any person or escort that you could find," said Steve.

And yes, there is documentation of the cleaning process.

Story continues

But it's not just about the cleaning, is it?

What to do?

The dolls are incredibly life-like, particularly to the touch. They have soft skin and joints and high quality wigs. They can be placed in any number of positions.

Clients can rent one of 14 dolls  13 women and one man at last count  at a cost of $189 for two hours or $289 per night.

Each doll costs between $2,500 and $3,000 to buy.

The company will show up in a discreet car with a box that looks like it holds a musical equipment. The staff follow the instructions left for them on the booking website  whether that includes dropping off the box for you to set up or setting the scene for you.

They will put on makeup and spritz a bit of perfume tailored to each doll's personality  for Meisa, a bit of Elie Saab, which Steve describes as a more "erotic scent."

Personalities

Beyond just the physical features, like different bodies and hair and even elf ears, each doll comes with its own story and personality.

Ariana, for example, is a 26-year-old bikini model from Venezuela, while Bella "comes from an Icelandic clan of mushroom forest elves where women are forbidden from refusing sex to their lovers."

Cameron, the sole male of the bunch, is pretty much up for anything, and while he's not as popular as the women, Steve says he's been kept pretty busy.

Monty Kruger/CBC

Once a doll is delivered to a client, they are free to do with it what they will, as long as that conforms to the lease agreement.

"So that basically states if you damage the doll, you are liable. It states that the dolls are cleaned very particularly. It's required that you do wear a condom," said Steve.

"Other certain regulations are how you have to handle the doll, so you can't treat them any differently than a regular person really, because they are fragile, they do have skin and the skin can tear, just like getting a scrape from tripping on the sidewalk."

Who rents them?

Steve says there's no particular demographic among his clients. They range from 21 to 65, he says, and include men and women. He also highlights the power of the dolls to help those recovering from injuries, or with disabilities or struggling with mental health.

"They're not just sex dolls, they're also great for companionship," he said.

"They're someone to talk to, they're someone to listen to you, they're someone to cuddle with and, of course, they're just someone to be there with you in an empty room."

He also says his business doesn't exploit anyone, while still providing a sexual service.

"These are a much safer and legal alternative [to prostitution]," he said.

"They don't have any feelings, they can't be abused. They aren't real. So there is no objectification."

Steve says business is good and they're expanding to Vancouver on Friday, with an eye to expand across Canada next year.
The rebel song 'Come out Ye Black and Tans' by The Wolfe Tones has hit the top of the iTunes charts in both the UK and Ireland.

It comes after the Government was forced to postpone a commemoration ceremony for the Royal Irish Constabulary in Dublin Castle.

The plan faced a major public backlash due to the RICs association with the Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries during the War of Independence.

The band have since announced that they will be donating proceeds from the single to charity.

"We will be donating the proceeds of the success you made by downloading Come out ye Black and Tans to the Peter McVerry Trust who do great work to aid the homeless," read a statement on the band's Twitter page.

The Wolfe Tones thank you for your support of the campaign to stop the RIC/Black n Tans commemoration. We will be donating the proceeds of the success you made by downloading Come out ye Black and Tans to the Peter McVerry Trust who do great work to aid the homeless, Brian W. pic.twitter.com/qITpAAxsr0  The Wolfe Tones  (@wolfetones) January 9, 2020

The Government says it still wants to go ahead with the ceremony in the months ahead.

Before the planned commemoration was abandoned, a number of mayors had said they

Read More:

Dublin City Council also voted to boycott the event.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said the State created "unnecessary controversy" with its announcement, while the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar defended it, saying it is not a celebration and that all traditions should be respected.

The iTunes charts.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said in a statement that the disappointing response to the planned event means it can no longer go ahead in an atmosphere that meets the goals of the overall programme of commemoration.

He said the Government has at all times sought to have a national programme of commemorations that is authentic, sensitive and inclusive.

This story was updated at 7.40pm.
An investigation is underway in an officer-involved shooting which reportedly occurred in Bismarck Wednesday night, leaving one local man dead.

The fatally-wounded man has been identified by the Missouri State Highway Patrol as 34-year-old Dustin M. Eaton of Bismarck.

According to a press release from the Bismark Police Department, at approximately 7 p.m. Wednesday, officers were dispatched to a report of a domestic assault at a residence in the 1400 block of Cedar Street.

The initial report was that a female was being assaulted, and the assailant was armed with a firearm.

The press release further states that upon arrival, officers were met by a man who was holding a firearm. The officers ordered the man to drop the firearm, at which time he pointed the firearm at an officer. The officer fired upon the man, fatally wounding him. The individual was pronounced dead at the scene.

The officer sustained a minor laceration in the incident when he reportedly tried to gain entry to the residence to aid the man who had just been shot. The officer was treated at a local hospital and later released.

Bismarck Police Chief Steve Poole stated in the press release that in accordance with department procedures, the incident is being investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Cpl. Juston Wheetley of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said the agency is only investigating the use of force by the Bismarck officer. He said the details of what led up to the interaction and the initial disturbance will be investigated by the Bismarck Police Department.

"We're only looking at justification for the use of force and the events that led up to the shooting itself," explained Wheetley.

Wheetley said the amount of time it will take to complete the investigation will depend on how quickly investigators can get all of the information and evidence processed, which could potentially take a few weeks.

The results of the agency's investigation will be sent to the St. Francois County Prosecuting Attorney's office for review. Once the prosecutor has fully reviewed the details, the findings of the inquiry will be released and a determination will be made as to whether or not any violations have occurred in the incident.

Additional information will be released as it becomes available.

His obituary will run on page 4 of Friday's Daily Journal or click here.

Bobby Radford is a reporter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at bradford@dailyjournalonline.com

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New Delhi: Considering the fanfare over the release of megastar Rajinikanth's much-awaited film 'Darbar', it will be totally justified to say that January 9, Thursday, is 'Darbar' day. Fans made sure that Rajinikanth's film gets a thunderous response and so did his family. As the first show opened in theatres, his wife Latha Rajinikanth, daughters Aishwaryaa and Soundarya, with their respective families, checked into a Chennai theatre to watch 'Darbar' first day first show.

Aishwaryaa, Soundarya and the others also picked out customised T-shirts to cheer for their father and 'Darbar'', which is Rajinikanth's 167th film.

Sharing a picture of herself from the theatre, Soundarya tweeted, "And that's how my day began. SUPERSTAR!!!!! #DarbarFDFS."

Here are the photos of the family enjoying the first show the film with Rajinikanth's fans.

Meanwhile, Aishwaryaa shared a picture of herself twinning with Soundarya in customised 'Darbar' jackets. "We live you ....love you Appa," she wrote.

As 'Darbar' opened in theatres, fans of the superstar began gathering and celebrating outside the theatres in Chennai and other cities. Large queues were seen outside the ticket windows. Twitter, too, is filled with hashtags dedicated to Rajinikanth and 'Darbar'.

Pictures and videos posted on social media show that his fans celebrated the release of 'Darbar' by cutting cakes outside the theatres, donning T-shirts with Rajinikanth's photo imprinted on them. People are also bursting crackers and beating drums outside the theatres to welcome the film's release.

Ahead of the release, Rajinikanth's fans also offered special prayers at the Amman Temple in Madurai for the success of 'Darbar'.

'Darbar' is an action-drama directed by AR Murugadoss. The film also features Nayanthara, Suniel Shetty, Prateik Babbar and Nivetha Thomas.
The Houthi rebels in Yemen were not the ones who launched the drone and missile attack on Saudi oil infrastructure last September, a confidential report from the UN has revealed.

Reuters, who saw the report, quoted its authors from the UN Security Council Yemen sanctions committee as saying That despite their claims to the contrary, the Houthi forces did not launch the attacks on Abqaiq and Khurais on 14 September 2019.

These findings will lend strength to U.S. and Saudi claims that the attacks originated in Iran, even though some disputed the evidence that the Saudi military presented for this claim. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia blamed Iran for the attacks soon after September 14, and Iran vigorously denied any responsibility.

The drone and missile attacks caused a fire at the Abqaiq oil processing facility and a production outage at the Khurais field, taking 5.7 million bpd in daily production offline. This caused a temporary spike in oil prices as Aramco struggled to restore production as quickly as possible.

At the time, media reported that the White House had ordered the Pentagon to plan several alternatives for a response to the Saudi attacks. However, President Trump warned that steps were not to be taken before Riyadh decided how to respond to the attacks.

"No knee jerk reactions to this - it's very systematic - what happens with patience is it prevents stupid moves," an unnamed source familiar with the discussions told CNN a week after the attack.



Related: The Real Reason The U.S. Is Interested In Iran

Indeed there were no knee jerk reactions to the attacks, but the report from the UN Security Council Yemen sanctions committee comes at a time of much heightened tension between the United States and Iran. Interestingly enough, an earlier media report on their work said they had been unable to corroborate Irans involvement in the attacks.

In December, the BBC reported on a leaked report compiled by the UN Secretary General, which said the investigators from the Security Council Yemen sanctions committee had failed to confirm that the drones and missiles used in the Saudi attacks were made in Iran.

Now, according to the report Reuters had seen, The panel notes that Abqaiq and Khurais were approached respectively from a north/northwestern and north/northeastern direction, rather than from the south, as one would expect in the case of a launch from Yemeni territory.

The investigators also said they doubted the missiles have a sufficient range to have been launched from Yemeni territory under the control of the Houthis.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020 11:37 733 48be62e941b44f04afae568c3217fe21 1 News Borobudur-Temple,temple,tourism,destination Free

Borobudur temple in Magelang, Central Java, has long been one of the most popular tourist destinations in Indonesia. The largest Buddhist temple in the world offers breathtaking sunrise views with lush green hills providing a beautiful backdrop to its ancient stupas.

Those planning to visit the temple should note that starting Jan. 1 the prices of tickets to marvel at the sunrise or sunset have been increased for both domestic and foreign tourists.

According to Emilia Eny Utari, the company secretary of PT Taman Wisata Candi (TWC), the state-owned company that manages the temple, ticket prices for foreign tourists have been increased from Rp 475,000 (US$43.10) to Rp 500,000; and Rp 350,000 to Rp 370,000 for domestic tourists. Meanwhile for students and children, the prices are now set at Rp 400,000 and Rp 250,000 for foreigners, respectively, and Rp 280,000 and Rp 185,000 for locals.

Other than enjoying the sunrise and sunset at the temple, ticket holders will also be given special access to explore the site, souvenirs, breakfast and dinner.

"Breakfast will be provided for tourists coming to see the sunrise, meanwhile dinner will be for visitors during the sunset," said Emilia as quoted by kompas.com.

The so-called Sunrise Borobudur tourism package will invite tourists to depart from the lobby of Hotel Manohara, owned by the company, at 4:30 a.m. and walk to the temple using a flashlight. They will then be taken to climb the temple's steps up to the ninth level. At exactly 5:30 a.m., they can expect to marvel at the golden moment when the sun rises from the east between Mount Merapi and Mt. Merbabu, casting its light over vast misty paddy fields.

Read also: Five things to do in Borobudur, besides visiting the temple

As reported by kompas.com, TWC also announced two new tourism packages this year, namely Paket Cinta Budaya (Love of Culture Package) and Paket Peduli Budaya (Care for Culture Package), as well as a new service named Borobudur Breakfast.

According to Emilia, the two packages, which are being offered for Rp 60,000 per person for groups with a minimum of 30 people, feature special access to the temple and Borobudur Museum, as well as invite visitors to enjoy a documentary screening on the cultural heritage site. The prices also include a tour guide service, mineral water and the chance to explore the area aboard a park train.

Meanwhile, the Borobudur Breakfast boasts features similar to Borobudur Sunrise, as well as additional services such as courses on batik painting, traditional music and gerabah handicraft and traditional food tasting.

"Tourists can also enjoy breakfast at the Manohara Restaurant," said Emilia, adding that the prices for the breakfast package were set at Rp 500,000, Rp 400,000 and Rp 250,000 for foreign adults, students and children, respectively. Meanwhile, domestic visitors will be charged Rp 370,000, Rp 280,000 and Rp 185,000. (gis/kes)
Asserting that violence in any form is not acceptable during protests or demonstrations, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said political parties and leaders should behave in a more responsible way.

Banerjee Thursday held a protest rally from Madhyamgram to Barasat in North 24 Parganas district, her tenth against Citizenship Amendment Act.

Addressing the protest march, she announced that her party's student wing - the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad will organize an indefinite sit-in in Kolkata till the Centre withdraws the amended Citizenship Act.

Banerjee said that she is against the violence that had been reported from various parts of the state during the anti-citizenship bill protests.

The TMC supremo, who has also held four public meetings across the state against the contentious Act, said "As long as I am alive, I will not allow CAA, NRC, NPR.

"But we (TMC) don't support violence during anti-CAA protests. Political parties and leaders should behave in a more responsible way. Violence is not the right form of protest," she said, referring to the reports of arson and vandalisation in the state during Wednesday's nationwide central trade union strike.

"We were the first ones to raise voice against the Citizenship Act, NRC and the NPR. This time, the NPR form has sought six new personal details. I will request all of you (people) not to share your details with anyone," she said.

Dubbing the National Population Register(NPR) updation process as "a prelude to pan-India NRC" Banerjee asked people not to share personal details with anyone.

"If someone comes to your place and seeks details, just decline their request," she said.

The state government had in December stayed all activities related to the preparation and updation of NPR.

"Work to revise the voters' list is going on. You must all include your names ... However, if anyone comes from outside and asks your name, your father's and grandparents' names, their birthplace, do not share details.

"To get citizenship, you will be first declared a foreigner for five years. So, they (BJP government at the Centre) will take away your citizenship and all the services you receive. They want to deceive people. Poor people will stand in queues and they will discriminate among people on the basis of political affiliations to grant citizenship," said Banerjee, who is a strident critic of the saffron party.

Reacting to allegations that she was trying to stall the process by which refugees would be granted citizenship, she said those bringing the charge should know that her government has legalised refugee camps in the state.

Without mentioning any party, the chief minister said people are being "misled and misinformed" about the amended Citizenship Act and urged them not to pay heed to the "misinformation campaign".

Referring to reports that the Centre was planning to conduct the entire process of granting citizenship online, Banerjee said the BJP government was coming up with "one lie after another every other day".

"In some places, they are saying it (NRC, citizenship) will be done online. Can rice be cooked online? One can apply online, but there is a need for physical existence too. Without the active support of the state government they can never implement CAA. Rest assured we will never allow that to happen," she added.

The amended citizenship Act has emerged as the latest flashpoint in the state, with the TMC opposing the legislation tooth and nail, and the BJP pressing for its implementation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
EDWARDSVILLE  Unspent Madison County funds totaling $21.3 million were approved for reappropriation Wednesday by the county boards Finance and Government Operations Committee.

Much of the discussion centered on money from the countys Law Library Fund to be used to update electronics in one of the courtrooms. The issue must now be considered by the full county board.

Reappropriation takes unspent money from the previous budget year and allows it to be carried over to the next year. Much of the time it is for a specific project or program that are either multi-year, have been delayed or have been completed but not paid for.

The 2020 budget is $140,269,561, up from last years $139,102,377.

For the current 2020 fiscal year, county departments had requested reappropriations totaling $22.325 million. The committee approved a total of $21.354 million.

Most of this years reappropriations were for Highway Department funds that are budgeted over multiple years.

General county policy is to allow departments to reappropriate half of any unspent money budgeted the previous year to encourage cost savings. However, there are some exceptions.

One receiving the most discussion was a request to reappropriate $65,896 from the Law Library Fund, with most of that going toward upgrading electronics in one of the courtrooms. Committee Chairman Don Moore, R-Troy, originally opposed allowing the total reappropriation, but committee members later asked that it be reconsidered and the full amount was approved.

One of the arguments was that the money was coming from special funds. Many of the more fiscally conservative board members have emphasized the need to use money from the countys many special funds rather than general fund monies.

Another issue discussed at the meeting was a request for about $299,000 as an emergency appropriation for additional payments for last years Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund debt. Officials said the need stems from county employees who retired last year and had increases in their pay over the last several years of their employment.

Madison County Administrator Doug Hulme said it is triggered when there is a 6 percent or greater change in salary. When that occurs, the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund will request more money which must be paid.

It was noted that sometimes it can be hard to predict. One issue is that, under union contracts, employees with more seniority have first shot at any overtime.

Reach reporter Scott Cousins at 618-208-6447.
Trump stumbling in public response to Soleimani's assassination

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 08 January 2020 10:30 AM

US President Donald Trump's public response to the American assassination of Iranian Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani has been chaotic and embarrassing, raising questions over the administration's preparation to deal with the crisis, according to US media reports.

Trump's mistake-prone response comes despite his effort to demonstrate strong and decisive leadership in the killing of Soleimani, The Washington Post said in an editorial Tuesday.

Trump and top US officials have refused to provide details of what prompted the decision to attack Soleimani and have offered conflicting accounts over whether the Iranian commander was coordinating imminent attacks on US facilities in the Middle East, the Post said.

The lack of clear information continued late Tuesday in Washington even after Iran retaliated for Soleimani's death with missile attacks on US military bases in Iraq, the report said.

The White House first announced Tuesday night that Trump or other senior administration officials would make no public remarks in response to the retaliation. Hours later, Trump tweeted that he would address the nation Wednesday morning.

The Trump administration was also embarrassed after the US Defense Department sent a letter to Iraqi officials this week stating the US military would comply with the prime minister's demand to pull US troops out of the country, only to call it a draft copy released by mistake.

The US military carried out an airstrike on the direction of Trump at Baghdad's international airport early on Friday, assassinating Soleimani and the second-in-command of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, as well as eight other companions.

Early on Wednesday, Iran responded to the assassination of Soleimani, the Middle East's most prominent anti-terror commander, striking the American airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq and another in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

Trump caused an international condemnation after threatening to attack Iranian cultural sites if Tehran retaliates for the top general's assassination. He had to retreat Tuesday following statements from US Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other officials rejecting such actions as illegal.

Senior US officials also said Trump had surprised his own aides by publicly threatening to impose sanctions against Iraq if the American troops there are forced out of the country.

The flurry of events has led to a sense of confusion in the White House and a lack of clarity following the US assassination. Two administration officials conceded that some of Trump's messages over the weekend were unhelpful.

Even Washington's allies, including Israel and several European nations, expressed concerns over the military strike, with some objecting outright and complaining they were not consulted.



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Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) - The council of ministers, at the end of a meeting held here Wednesday, approved of a plan to ensure the competitiveness of Air Cote d'Ivoire, the national airline company
By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan has directed officials not to accord red carpet welcome to him during his district visits henceforth.

The Governor, who in December last visited an Adivasi area to interact with the Tribals in their congregation regarding their problems at Srisailam, had expressed his strong displeasure to the red carpet arrangement made for him.

The arrangement has been made for the Governor as a mark of respect for the highest dignitary and Head of State.

Harichandan instructed Mukesh Kumar Meena, Secretary to Governor, to issue necessary guidelines to do away with the practice of laying red carpet for the Governor during his visits to the districts, an official release said.

He desired that the practice, which was a tradition of the erstwhile British rule, should be done away with.

It may be recalled that on the first day itself, he asked officials to not to use the customary title of His Excellency and appealed to the people not to address him as His Excellency through the media.

As Administrator of Scheduled Tribal Areas, he lays special focus on what best can be done for the welfare of tribal population, by utilising the special discretionary powers available to him.

The decision to do away with red carpet arrangement during district visit was taken after his visit to Palasa Agency area and Srisailam tribal area and interaction with Tribals.

The Governor had also instructed that no flower bouquets or other gifts be brought while meeting him and instead plants be given, so that they can be planted within Raj Bhavan premises.
A private school in the city had to face angry parents after it asked students to write congratulatory pastcards to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

The trustee of Little Star School in Maninagar area said later that it was only a writing exercise, and the cards were not meant to be posted.

The school is affiliated to the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Board.

A video on social media showed parents protesting against the school's initiative, and tearing up a few postcards themselves.

One of the postcards read, "I, citizen of India, congratulate honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). I and my family support this act".

After facing backlash from parents, Jinesh Parasram, the school trustee, said the purpose was merely to improve English writing skills of class IX and X students, and the postcards were not going to be sent to the prime minister.

The school had no intention to force students to write a message in favour of the CAA, he said.

"We conduct many essay and composition exercises in the class to improve language skills of our students and this was part of such exercises," the trustee said.

"When some parents learnt about it, they came to us saying this may give the wrong impression that they were supporting the CAA. They wanted to make sure that nothing in favour or against the Act is written by students. So as per their wish, we destroyed all the postcards," he added.

The act, which offers citizenship to non-Muslim refugees who came to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh before 2015, had led to protests across the country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress leader Rashid Alvi on Thursday urged the Central government to send representatives from political parties to Jammu and Kashmir and said their statements will be believed by people of the country.

He said the two-day visit of envoys of 15 countries to the region was "guided by the (Central) government".

"They (the Centre) should ask each party in the country to send their representatives to Jammu and Kashmir. The statements given by them after their visit will be believed by the people," Alvi told ANI.

The Congress leader said that the Central government cannot make the situation better in the Union Territory "by manipulation".

A delegation of 15 envoys including those from United States, Maldives, Norway, Argentina, Niger, Togo, Vietnam, Bangladesh, South Korea, Peru and Morocco visited Kashmir on Thursday to see first-hand the efforts being made by the government to normalise the situation after the abrogation of Article 370, which gave the erstwhile state special status.

A delegation comprising members of European Parliament had earlier visited the Valley after the abrogation of Article 370 in August last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dividend paying stocks like SSE plc (LON:SSE) tend to be popular with investors, and for good reason - some research suggests a significant amount of all stock market returns come from reinvested dividends. If you are hoping to live on the income from dividends, it's important to be a lot more stringent with your investments than the average punter.

In this case, SSE likely looks attractive to investors, given its 6.9% dividend yield and a payment history of over ten years. It would not be a surprise to discover that many investors buy it for the dividends. The company also bought back stock equivalent to around 1.4% of market capitalisation this year. Some simple research can reduce the risk of buying SSE for its dividend - read on to learn more.

Click the interactive chart for our full dividend analysis

LSE:SSE Historical Dividend Yield, January 9th 2020

Payout ratios

Companies (usually) pay dividends out of their earnings. If a company is paying more than it earns, the dividend might have to be cut. So we need to form a view on if a company's dividend is sustainable, relative to its net profit after tax. SSE paid out 55% of its profit as dividends, over the trailing twelve month period. This is a healthy payout ratio, and while it does limit the amount of earnings that can be reinvested in the business, there is also some room to lift the payout ratio over time.

Another important check we do is to see if the free cash flow generated is sufficient to pay the dividend. SSE paid out 1031% of its free cash last year. Cash flows can be lumpy, but this dividend was not well covered by cash flow. Paying out more than 100% of your free cash flow in dividends is generally not a long-term, sustainable state of affairs, so we think shareholders should watch this metric closely. SSE paid out less in dividends than it reported in profits, but unfortunately it didn't generate enough free cash flow to cover the dividend. Cash is king, as they say, and were SSE to repeatedly pay dividends that aren't well covered by cashflow, we would consider this a warning sign.

Story continues

Is SSE's Balance Sheet Risky?

As SSE has a meaningful amount of debt, we need to check its balance sheet to see if the company might have debt risks. A rough way to check this is with these two simple ratios: a) net debt divided by EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation), and b) net interest cover. Net debt to EBITDA measures total debt load relative to company earnings (lower = less debt), while net interest cover measures the ability to pay interest on the debt (higher = greater ability to pay interest costs). SSE has net debt of 4.10 times its EBITDA, which is getting towards the limit of most investors' comfort zones. Judicious use of debt can enhance shareholder returns, but also adds to the risk if something goes awry.

We calculated its interest cover by measuring its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), and dividing this by the company's net interest expense. Interest cover of 4.21 times its interest expense is starting to become a concern for SSE, and be aware that lenders may place additional restrictions on the company as well.

We update our data on SSE every 24 hours, so you can always get our latest analysis of its financial health, here.

Dividend Volatility

From the perspective of an income investor who wants to earn dividends for many years, there is not much point buying a stock if its dividend is regularly cut or is not reliable. SSE has been paying dividends for a long time, but for the purpose of this analysis, we only examine the past 10 years of payments. The dividend has been stable over the past 10 years, which is great. We think this could suggest some resilience to the business and its dividends. During the past ten-year period, the first annual payment was UK0.66 in 2010, compared to UK0.97 last year. Dividends per share have grown at approximately 4.0% per year over this time.

Slow and steady dividend growth might not sound that exciting, but dividends have been stable for ten years, which we think is seriously impressive.

Dividend Growth Potential

Dividend payments have been consistent over the past few years, but we should always check if earnings per share (EPS) are growing, as this will help maintain the purchasing power of the dividend. Strong earnings per share (EPS) growth might encourage our interest in the company despite fluctuating dividends, which is why it's great to see SSE has grown its earnings per share at 38% per annum over the past five years. Earnings per share are sharply up, but we wonder if paying out more than half its earnings (leaving less for reinvestment) is an implicit signal that SSE's growth will be slower in the future.

Conclusion

Dividend investors should always want to know if a) a company's dividends are affordable, b) if there is a track record of consistent payments, and c) if the dividend is capable of growing. First, the company has a payout ratio that was within an average range for most dividend stocks, but it paid out virtually all of its generated cash flow. We like that it has been delivering solid improvement in its earnings per share, and relatively consistent dividend payments. In sum, we find it hard to get excited about SSE from a dividend perspective. It's not that we think it's a bad business; just that there are other companies that perform better on these criteria.

Earnings growth generally bodes well for the future value of company dividend payments. See if the 15 SSE analysts we track are forecasting continued growth with our free report on analyst estimates for the company.

We have also put together a list of global stocks with a market capitalisation above $1bn and yielding more 3%.

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.



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. Thank you for reading.
The relationship between Britains royals and the media is awkward, mistrustful  and seemingly inescapable. But now Meghan and Harry want out.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/1/2020 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FILE - In this Monday, Dec. 25, 2017 file photo, front from left, Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Rear From left, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, Price William, Meghan Markle, and her fiancee Prince Harry, following the traditional Christmas Day church service, at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, England. In a stunning declaration, Britain's Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, said they are planning "to step back" as senior members of the royal family and "work to become financially independent." A statement issued by the couple Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020 also said they intend to "balance" their time between the U.K. and North America. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, file)

The relationship between Britains royals and the media is awkward, mistrustful  and seemingly inescapable. But now Meghan and Harry want out.

After years of growing tension with the press, the prince and his wife have announced plans to quit their senior royal duties, move part-time to North America, seek financial independence and withdraw from regular media scrutiny.

The couple  who have complained of intrusive media coverage and accused some British media commentators of racism  slammed the country's long-standing arrangements for royal media coverage, saying they prefer to communicate directly with the public through social media.

The British press was stung by the snub, reacting Thursday with articles, columns and editorials that ranged from disappointment to fury.

The Daily Mirror said in an editorial that the couples failure to tell Harrys grandmother Queen Elizabeth II about their plans shows shocking disregard for a woman whose entire life has been ruled by a sense of public duty and honour. The Times of London accused Harry of petulance and hot-headedness, while the Daily Mail said the couple wanted the status of being 'senior' royals but the privacy and freedom of being private citizens."

The Sun and the New York Post both described the departure as Megxit," a play on Brexit, Britain's impending departure from the European Union.

The 93-year-old monarch moved Thursday to take control of the situation. Britains national news agency, Press Association, reported that the queen had ordered officials representing the monarch, Charles, Prince William, and Harry and Meghan to meet and find "workable solutions" within "days not weeks."

Harry and Meghans shock announcement drew comparisons to the abdication of the queen's uncle King Edward VIII, who gave up the throne in 1936 so he could marry divorced American Wallis Simpson. Once again, waspish commentators noted, an American woman has caused a ruction in the British royal family.

But the relationship between royals and the media has changed dramatically in the intervening decades. Before the abdication, the romance between Edward and Simpson was headline news in the United States but went largely unreported by a deferential British press.

The trauma of World War II and the social revolution of the 1960's demolished that tradition of deference to royalty. For decades, the U.K. media has proclaimed its reverence for the queen while treating the travails of her family as fair game, from the divorces of three of her four children to second son Prince Andrews troubling friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

After Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, the media charted every twist in the marriage: the births of sons William and Harry, Diana's glamour and charity work, the slow public crumbling of the relationship.

Charles and Diana both used the media as a weapon as their marriage foundered, giving TV interviews to present themselves in a sympathetic light. But Diana  a global megastar, followed by paparazzi wherever she went  was never fully in control of the media attention. She was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997 while being pursued by photographers.

Royal souvenirs for sale in London, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020. In a statement Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, said they are planning "to step back" as senior members of the royal family and "work to become financially independent."(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Diana's death provoked a crisis for the monarchy  which was portrayed as remote and cold at a time of national grief  and for the media, accused of hounding a vulnerable woman.

In the wake of Dianas death, the palace and the press reached an uneasy truce. The British media left young William and Harry alone in exchange for carefully staged interviews and photo opportunities as they grew up. That practice has continued with the three young children of William and his wife Kate.

Harry, however, still blames the media for his mothers death, and since meeting his wife  the former actress Meghan Markle  he has become less willing to play the game.

In 2017, the prince accused the media of directing "a wave of abuse and harassment" at the biracial Markle, including "racial undertones" in articles. Last year the couple launched a lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday newspaper over its publication of a letter written by Meghan. Harry said he feared history repeating itself.  I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.

Yet using the media has been a key part of Harry and Meghans strategy, just as it was for Diana. When they wanted to make their unhappiness public, the couple gave an interview to a sympathetic journalist from broadcaster ITV.

In that interview, Meghan said that very naively, she had been unprepared for the intense media scrutiny she would receive once she married into the British royal family.

I never thought that this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair, she said.

Harry and Meghan now want to use the media on their own terms, dropping out of the royal rota, a pool system that organizes media coverage of the royal familys public events. On a newly launched website, they said the system hampered their ability to personally share moments in their lives directly with members of the public" via social media.

They said in the future they would engage with grassroots media organizations and young, up-and-coming journalists. They also slammed the misconception that the British media's royal correspondents were credible sources of information.

Freddy Mayhew, editor of the Press Gazette, a newspaper industry trade publication, said the royal couple was aiming for a much more controlled, much more private approach to the media, drawing on Meghans experience as a U.S. television star.

I think they are perhaps seizing an opportunity with the decline of print media to break away, he said. Thats something they couldnt have done before, when papers were at their full strength. But now that a lot of it is moving online, theres the ability for people like Harry and Meghan to take control of what they put out there."

Harry, 35, is Elizabeth's grandson and sixth in line to the British throne, behind his father, brother and his brother's three children. With his ginger hair and beard, he is one of the royal family's most recognizable and popular members and has spent his entire life in the public eye.

Before marrying the prince in a wedding watched around the world in 2018, the 38-year-old Meghan was a star of the TV legal drama Suits. The couple's son Archie was born in May 2019.

Less than two years after that fairy tale wedding, the couple was enmeshed in an uproar that began Wednesday with a statement from Buckingham Palace, described as a personal message from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. It said Harry and Meghan intend to become financially independent and to balance their time between the U.K. and North America.

In a subsequent statement just 90 minutes later, though, a difference of opinion was laid bare. The palace said many issues still had to be worked out before the couple's plan could be realized and discussions with the couple were at an early stage.

That communique suggested that Harry and Meghan's statement had caught the royal household by surprise.

We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through,'' it read.

The announcement left a slew of questions: Where exactly do Meghan and Harry plan to live, and how will they earn private income without tarnishing the royal image? At the moment, they are largely funded by Harry's father, Prince Charles, through income from his vast Duchy of Cornwall estate.

The move dominated the news in Britain, and divided opinion. Some blamed Meghan for the troubles. A social media storm compared her to Yoko Ono, the widow of Beatles singer John Lennon, who was blamed for the breakup of the famous band.

Madame Tussauds, the famed London waxwork attraction, moved the couple out of the royal section, where they had previously stood next to the monarch and Prince Philip.

Others offered sympathy for the queen, who remains a revered figure.

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We dont mind them having an ordinary life. What we dont like is the queen not being informed about nothing," said royal super-fan John Loughrey, adding that the British public did not want to see the royal couple isolated" abroad.

It is a crisis,'' he said. We have got a crisis here. Seriously."

___

Associated Press reporter Gregory Katz contributed to this report.

___

Follow full AP coverage at https://www.apnews.com/PrinceHarry
Storytelling Arts of Indiana is giving a platform to two storytellers who will contribute to the broad conversation about racial disparity in America.

Charlotte Blake Alston, a Black woman, and Bill Mettler, a white man, will present Growing Up Black and White in America 7-9 p.m. Jan. 11 at the Frank and Katrina Basile Theatre in the Indiana History Center, 450 W. Ohio St.

Tickets are $20 in advance at storytellingarts.org or 317-232-1882. Tickets are $25 at the door and $15 for students with a valid ID.

The idea for a shared stage came in 2013. Alston was commissioned by the Singing City Choir in Philadelphia to observe the 1963 childrens march in Birmingham, Alabama. Mettler attended with his wife, Bonnie, who said she hadnt heard of the childrens march, according to Alston.

Bonnie then created a series of paintings called My Racial Ignorance  which will be part of the storytelling event  and Bill approached Alston with the idea of crafting a storytelling project.

Their stories are set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, Vietnam War and womens movement in the 1960s.

It was a time of sensory overload, Alston said.

Alston and Mettler have been friends since the 1980s and have a lot in common. Both of their fathers were in the Air Force and stationed in the Philippines. Both of their parents were married in 1944. They both came from families of five children.

Alston said it was a reminder that she and Mettler  and many others  do share more life experiences than they might think.

Still, Alston understands her experience growing up in America was different.

Our experience in America is invisible, she said of Black Americans. Its only one part of the story that America gets to hear.

She remembers, for example, former President Barack Obama singing Amazing Grace during the eulogy for Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was killed in a 2015 shooting at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, and the organist joined in.

Many white people were confused by the spectacle, Alston said, but there was nothing confusing about it if you were brought up in the Black church.

Following the event, Alston said she and Mettler will stay for anyone who wants to participate in a Q&A.

Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.

GROWING UP BLACK AND WHITE IN AMERICA

Storytellers Charlotte Blake Alston and Bill Mettler will share their respective experiences growing up in America.

 When: 7-9 p.m. Jan. 11

 Where: Frank and Katrina Basile Theatre in the Indiana History Center, 450 W. Ohio St.

 Cost: $20 in advance at storytellingarts.org or 317-232-1882, $25 at the door, $15 for students with valid ID.
Following the political and popular backlash in Iran over details of its plans to make the Islamic Republic effectively a client state through various multi-layered oil and gas deals, China has switched its attention for the moment to Irans close ally and neighbour, Iraq. Like Iran, Iraq has enormous and still relatively underdeveloped oil and gas reserves, it is an irreplaceable geographical stepping stone in Chinas One Belt, One Road programme, and it is in need of major ongoing funding. China already has leverage over Iraq as the leading oil company (Rosneft) of its close geopolitical ally, Russia, already has effective control over the oil and gas infrastructure of the north Iraq semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, and Chinese companies operate on a number of fields in south Iraq. Last week saw key developments in Chinas cornerstone project of making Iraq into a client state.

The first of these developments was the announcement from Iraqs Finance Ministry that the country had started exporting 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to China in October as part of the 20-year oil-for-infrastructure deal agreed between the two countries. As highlighted by OilPrice.com, the broad framework of this arrangement was agreed last September during a visit by Iraqs then-Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to Beijing, with the purpose of expanding Chinas then US$20 billion of investment in Iraq in addition to the US$30 billion or so in annual trade between the two countries. According to last weeks statement, Chinese firms Zhenhua Oil and Sinochem were the importers of the Iraqi barrels involved, and OilPrice.com understands that all trade financing surrounding these exports  and many of those to come  have been done by the China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation.

This arrangement neatly rolls into Chinas wider plan for Iraq (and Iran) as it aims to gradually increase its presence across the country, just as it has done in many countries in Africa in what has been regarded by many as a new wave of colonisation, as analysed in depth in my new book on the global oil markets. For Iraq and Iran, Chinas plans are particularly far-reaching, OilPrice.com has been told by a senior oil industry figure who works closely with Irans Petroleum Ministry and Iraqs Oil Ministry. China will begin with the oil and gas sector and work outwards from that central point. In addition to being granted huge reductions on buying Iranian oil and gas, China is to be given the opportunity to build factories in both Iran and Iraq  and build-out infrastructure, such as railways - overseen by its own management staff from Chinese companies. These are to have the same operational structure and assembly lines as those in China, so that they fit seamlessly into various Chinese companies assembly lines process for whatever product a particular company is manufacturing, whilst also being able to use the still-cheap labour available in both Iraq and Iraq. Related: Oil Giant Sees Stock Soar 20% On Unexpected Oil Find

The railway infrastructure in Iraq, such as it is, will be built out after the completion of the network in Iran by China, allowing for the transport of all manufactured products from China into, ultimately, Europe. In this context, late last year saw Irans Vice President, Eshaq Jahangiri announce that Iran had signed a contract with China to implement a project to electrify the main 900 kilometre railway connecting Tehran to the north-eastern city of Mashhad. Adjunct to this, Jahangiri added that there are also plans to establish a Tehran-Qom-Isfahan high-speed train line and to extend this upgraded network up to the north-west through Tabriz. Tabriz, home to a number of key sites relating to oil, gas, and petrochemicals, and the starting point for the Tabriz-Ankara gas pipeline, will be a pivot point of the 2,300 kilometre New Silk Road that links Urumqi (the capital of Chinas western Xinjiang Province) to Tehran, and connecting Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan along the way, and then via Turkey into Europe. Once the plans for this are making substantial progress then China will extend the transport links into Iraq to the West.

In the meantime, Iraq has been working on new laws that will regulate the operation of a reconstruction agency, the primary function of which, according to the source, will be ensure that China is allowed to just get on with things, without the usual red-tape. Only recently, for example, Iraqs Electricity Minister Louay al-Khateeb wrote: China is our primary option as a strategic partner in the long run...We started with a US$10 billion financial framework for a limited quantity of oil to finance some infrastructure projects...[but] Chinese funding tends to increase with the growing Iraqi oil production, [and is] to be used differently from the previous policies, through construction, investments and operationalization [sic] of the reconstruction council. Related: Russia And Turkey Call For Ceasefire In War-Torn Libya

The second key announcement in this vein made last week from Iraq was that the Oil Ministry has completed the pre-qualifying process for companies interested in participating in the Iraqi-Jordanian oil pipeline project. The U$5 billion pipeline is aimed at carrying oil produced from the Rumaila oilfield in Iraqs Basra Governorate to the Jordanian port of Aqaba, with the first phase of the project comprising the installation of a 700-kilometre-long pipeline with a capacity of 2.25 million bpd within the Iraqi territories (Rumaila-Haditha). The second phase includes installing a 900-kilometre pipeline in Jordan between Haditha and Aqaba with a capacity of 1 million bpd. Iraqs Oil Minister  for the time being, at least - Thamir Ghadhban added that the Ministry has formed a team to prepare legal contracts, address financial issues and oversee technical standards for implementing the project, and that May will be the final month in which offers for the project from the qualified companies will be accepted and that the winners will be announced before the end of this year. Around 150,000 barrels of the oil from Iraq would be used for Jordans domestic needs, whilst the remainder would be exported through Aqaba to various destinations, generating about US$3 billion a year in revenues to Jordan, with the rest going to Iraq. Given that the contractors will be expected to front-load all of the financing for the projects associated with this pipeline, Baghdad expects that such tender offers will be dominated by Chinese and Russian companies, according to the Iran and Iraq source.

It will allow for infrastructural diversification for the China-Russia partnership that is now really gathering pace across the centre of the Middle East, to add to the plans we are seeing being put into place for Syria, he told OilPrice.com last week. Specifically, the entry of the hitherto virtually unknown Russian company, Stroytransgaz, into the hitherto equally unknown Block 17 of Iraqs barren and lawless Anbar region recently: Is the absolute clear sign that the Iran-Iraq-Syria oil and gas pipelines system is now going ahead, according to the Iran and Iraq source. This whole area is right in the centre of what the U.S. military used to call the spine of Islamic State where the Euphrates flows westwards into Syria and eastwards into the Persian Gulf, extremely close to the border with Iran, he said. Along the spine running from east to west are the historical ultra-nationalist and ultra-anti-West cities of Falluja, Ramadi, Hit and Haditha, and then were into Syria, and a short hop to the key strategic ports of Syria  Banias and Tartus - that also happen to be extremely important to the Russians, he underlined. With access to Jordan as well, China and Russia will have all of the key export and transport routes covered, he concluded.

By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The Trump administration is considering using its favorite form of financial bullying, the tariff, against the European wine industry.

One of its strongest opponents?

The California wine industry.

The administration is threatening tariffs up to 100% on all wines imported from the European Union. In doing so, it has presented U.S. consumers with an excellent opportunity to understand how wrongheaded and self-defeating Trumps tariff economy has been for them and the entire world.

The tariffs are being considered as retaliation for a new European tax that the administration says is unfair to U.S. technology companies, as well as European subsidies for Airbus, a European aerospace company. The administrations assumption must be that the tariffs will benefit U.S. business.

But the most vocal opposition to them has come from U.S. winemakers, distributors and restaurateurs, especially in California.

Thanks to the realities of our global beverage supply chain, the tariffs will result in the loss of American jobs. Salespeople, transportation suppliers, and even warehouse workers all will be affected.

In addition, California winemakers depend on distributors, importers and restaurateurs  just as European winemakers do. The global wine industry depends on the same networks. When these critical links find themselves unable to turn a profit, local winemakers will also find themselves unable to get their goods to market and into restaurants.

For U.S. consumers, the tariffs will mean skyrocketing prices and fewer choices. European wines go a long way toward quenching the thirst of U.S. wine drinkers, who drink more bottles annually than the U.S. industry can produce. These are the reasons why our states wine industry has encouraged the public to speak out against the tariffs, and why the Trump administration needs to find a new tool  like negotiation  to resolve its trade disputes.

This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters.
The Quebec Superior Court has found a former senior executive of the Montreal-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin guilty of fraud, corruption and laundering proceeds of crime for his role in the companys multimillion-dollar bribery scheme to secure contracts in Libya.

Sami Bebawi, 73, who served as head of SNC-Lavalins international construction division, faces a possible nine years imprisonment for having paid millions of dollars to Libyan officials to help SNC-Lavalin win lucrative construction projects. Most of the money, paid through a shell company in Switzerland, reportedly went to Saadi Gaddafi, one of the sons of Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader killed by Islamist fighters at the conclusion of the 2011 US-led war against the country.

Bebawi and Riadh Ben Aissa, another former SNC-Lavalin executive at the time who was already convicted in 2014 for the same crimes, used the shell company to reward Saadi Gaddafi with luxurious gifts such as a C$25 million yacht and lavish trips to Canada. Bebawi also used the shell companys account to personally pocket millions of dollars, resulting in the money-laundering conviction.

While Bebawi has been thrown to the wolves, SNC-Lavalin and its big bosses have been left largely unscathed and can continue business as usual. Two days after Bebawis conviction, the company reached a court agreement under which its construction subsidiary pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud over C$5,000. It will have to pay a C$280 million penalty and will be subject to a three-year probation order. All the other charges against SNC-Lavalin Group and SNC-Lavalin Internationalincluding those related to their having paid nearly C$48 million to public officials in Libya between 2001 and 2011 to influence government decisions, and having defrauded various Libyan organizations of about C$130 millionhave been dropped. Both divisions can thus continue to bid on federal contracts.

Many details remain unclear in this sordid case. The company claims that it was not aware of Bebawis money laundering and is a victim. According to the defense, however, the millions amassed by the two executives were bonuses authorized by then SNC-Lavalin CEO Jacques Lamarre.

According to the Crown, Bebawi was behind a business model that began in the late 1990s and functioned until the fall of the Gaddafi regime in 2011, involving kickbacks to foreign agents. During that period, SNC-Lavalin won Libyan contracts totaling at least C$1.85 billion.

Most bourgeois commentators agree that the plea deal was the most positive possible outcome for the company, which saw its share price jump by 20 percent following its announcement. Expressing the ruling elites relief that one of the crown jewels of Quebec Inc. and one of Canadian imperialisms most globally active firms got off virtually scot-free, Quebec Premier Francois Legault commented, So far Im happy, because thats what we were asking for.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who found himself roiled by the SNC scandal last year, also expressed satisfaction with the outcome. Asked by a reporter what he thought about the plea deal, Trudeau declared, You only do the best you can to protect jobs, to respect the independence of the judiciary and thats exactly what we did every step of the way.  This process unfolded in an independent way and we got to an outcome that seems positive for everyone involved, particularly for the workers.

What hypocrisy! In reality, following last years media exposes and the testimony of Trudeaus former justice minister and attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, it became public knowledge that the Liberal government acted at the beck-and-call of SNC-Lavalin. The prime minister and a dozen other top officials worked frantically behind the scenes to block the company from being criminally prosecuted.

This included trying to bully Wilson-Raybould into ordering the federal Prosecution Service to offer SNC-Lavalin a Deferred Prosecution Agreement, or DPA. This would have allowed the company to pay a fine and make a pledge of good conduct rather than face a criminal trial for its corruption racket in Libya. The DPA option was itself only available because the Liberals amended the Criminal Code in 2018, in a piece of legislation that was so obviously tailored to the needs of SNC-Lavalin that it was described by Ottawa insiders as the SNC-Lavalin bill.

Underscoring the erosion of the separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches of Canadas government, one of Trudeaus top officials warned Wilson-Raybould that the Liberals might lose the upcoming election if they failed to rescue SNC-Lavalin. In the midst of a discussion as to why she should revisit her decision not to offer a DPA, Trudeau himself reportedly reminded Wilson-Raybould that he is a Quebec MP.

The Trudeau governments criminal maneuvers to secure a DPA ultimately proved unsuccessful. But as Peter Zimonjic of CBC News observed, the Quebec engineering firm at the centre of the controversy walked away today with a plea deal that looks a lot like what it asked the government for in the first place.

As for its preoccupation with defending workers jobs, nothing could be more demagogic coming from a government that did not lift a finger to save thousands of jobs in the auto industry as GM was closing the Oshawa plant. Moreover, the Liberal government has cut billions in federal transfers to the provinces for health care and education, while at the same time increasing military spending by 70 percent over the next decade to join US-led imperialist military offensives around the globe.

One issue swept under the rug in the course of the SNC-Lavalin-Libya affair is how the company conducted similarly corrupt actions in Quebec with the complicity of the political establishment to rake in vast profits. In the course of the Charbonneau Commission on corruption in the Quebec construction industry launched in 2012, it was revealed that SNC-Lavalin, in violation of provincial law, financed municipal and provincial political parties (including the Parti Quebecois and the Liberal Party) and paid bribes in exchange for lucrative construction contracts.

It was also revealed in what has been dubbed the greatest fraud in Canadian history that the company and the then president of its construction division, the same Riadh Ben Aissa, paid more than C$22 million in order to win the C$1.34 billion contract to build Montreals English-language mega-hospital.

In the end, the Charbonneau Commission targeted some corrupt individuals but whitewashed the big corporations and top politicians. It was ultimately used to attack workers rights in the name of combatting union bullying on construction sites.

The SNC-Lavalin case is no aberration, but illustrates how Canadian corporations and their bought-and-paid-for politicians operate on a daily basis. Like all that of the other imperialist powers, the Canadian ruling elite bribes, bullies, and breaks the law to advance the interests of its own corporations.

Muammar Gaddafis bourgeois-nationalist Libyan regime was a major target of US imperialism in the 1970s and 1980s. However, at the end of the Cold War, it offered its services to the imperialist powers, opening up economic sectors to foreign investment and, post-2001, working with Washington in the so-called war on terror.

A frenzied race among the imperialists to gain control of the countrys vast oil resources broke out, with Canada an eager participant. In 2004, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin met Gaddafi in Libya to develop business ties on behalf of big oil and construction corporations such as Petro-Canada and SNC-Lavalin.

In 2011, Canada, in league with the US-led NATO alliance, launched a savage air bombardment of the country on the bogus pretext of protecting the Libyan population from an alleged impending massacre by Gaddafi. Canadas central role in the conflict, which included a Canadian general commanding the NATO air war, was fully endorsed by the entire political establishment, including the New Democrats.

The attempt by the imperialist powers to rely on CIA-backed Islamist militias to pillage the countrys wealth and resources has proven to be a catastrophe for the Libyan population, which has lived in a virtually uninterrupted civil war for the past eight years.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: New Zealand MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan on Wednesday called on IT Minister KT Rama Rao at Pragati Bhavan where the latter explained to her the benefits of investing in Telangana. He said that New Zealand would benefit greatly if it invests in industrial and education sectors in the State and added that both the countries can work in agritech, start-up and innovation sectors.

While talking about the IT sector in the State, Rama Rao highlighted the T-Hub and We Hub and said Telangana would soon house the worlds largest start-up incubator in the form of T-Hub 2. He said that agricultural and irrigation sectors have been the priorities for the State government, and that has led to an increase in crop production, giving a huge scope for agritech and food processing industry to grow.

On the occasion, Rama Rao was in praise of the works of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and said the country was fast progressing under her leadership. Priyanca Radhakrishnan invited Rama Rao to New Zealand and said she would organise a formal meeting with the New Zealand PM. She said the NZ government was working closely with the Telangana NRIs.
Laura Whitmore has revealed that Caroline Flack texted her to say she was her first choice to step in as replacement Love Island host.

The former MTV host is fronting the winter series of the ITV2 dating show, after regular presenter Flack stepped down following an assault charge.

Speaking to ITVs This Morning during her debut broadcast from the Love Island villa in Cape Town, South Africa, the Irish presenter said Flack had got in contact after announcing she was stepping down.

The stars of Love Island Winter 2020 (Joel Anderson/ITV/PA)

Whitmore said: It was a little bit of a whirlwind. When Caroline stepped down she actually sent me a text message saying: I really hope that you get to do this series.

But then theres the speculation in the papers and I dont really know anything, I know as much as everyone else knows.

It was just before Christmas and I was flying back to Ireland because it was my mums birthday, and I was at the airport and I got a phone call from my agent saying: The producers from ITV would like to see me with you in a few hours.

Whitmore, who is dating Love Island narrator Iain Stirling, said she had postponed flying home to Ireland for her mothers birthday to meet with show bosses at the last minute.

She told hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby: I thought, oh, Im at the airport and its my mums birthday so I cant make that meeting.

Caroline Flack was in court over assault charges (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Then I thought, hold on a second, I will ring up mammy Whitmore, which I did.

I said: How would you feel if I came tomorrow instead of today? And she said that was okay, thankfully, and that is why I am here now.

I had to get a cab back from the airport, back to my house, then go to the meeting. I was quite quick.

It had only really been two or three weeks then it was Christmas so its all been a bit of a whirlwind.

But I am a massive fan of the show. When I came to the villa yesterday, I have been running around in the bedrooms and all the little hideaways.

Story continues

I just need to remember that I have to host and not be a fan.

The doors to our shiny new villa are (almost) open.  Take a look inside #LoveIsland pic.twitter.com/eoRnKsPKDX  Love Island (@LoveIsland) January 9, 2020

It comes as images of the newly renovated winter Love Island villa were unveiled for the first time.

The property was used to film an episode of Netflixs Black Mirror called Rachel, Jack And Ashley Too, which saw Miley Cyrus, playing burnt-out pop star Ashley O, held against her will inside the house.

Whitmore also rubbished rumours that she and Stirling could host spin-off Love Island: Aftersun together.

As Stirling is needed in Cape Town to record the voice-over every day, he will be unable to help present the show which is filmed in the UK.

Iain Stirling (Ian West/PA)

She quipped: I said I will take one for the team and host Aftersun.

Flack has denied assaulting boyfriend Lewis Burton in an incident that allegedly left them both covered in blood in scenes likened to a horror movie.

She is alleged to have hit Burton over the head with a lamp, causing a head injury.

After entering a not guilty plea to the assault charge at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court, Flack was released on bail with conditions that stop her having any contact with Burton ahead of a trial on March 4.

Love Island starts Sunday at 9pm on ITV2.
UPDATE 8:09 a.m. Friday, Jan. 10 - Redding Police Officers have identified the suspect in the shooting that occurred at the Red Lion Inn on the evening of Wednesday, Jan. 8, as 38-year-old Terrell Kurt Myers, of Fresno.

Authorities said he left the scene of the shooting in either a blue or gray 2011 Ford Fusion with a California plate "7UHH373."

The vehicle was found abandoned on Cedars Road and El Reno lane in Redding on Thursday evening. However, Myers is still on the loose.

He is described as an African American, 5'7" tall, about 170 pounds, wearing a white shirt, blue jeans, and black shoes, officers said.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Myers, he's being charged with assault with a firearm, shooting into an inhabited dwelling, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, possession of ammunition by a prohibited person, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and robbery.

Anyone with information regarding this case or the location of Terrell Myers is asked to contact the Redding Police Department at 530-225-4200.

---

REDDING, Calif. - A man is in the hospital and the suspect is still on the loose following a shooting at the Red Lion Inn on the evening of Jan. 8.

Officials say they were called to the hotel at about 6 p.m. to the report of a gunshot victim who, they were told, was being loaded into a vehicle and was bleeding from his lower abdomen.

As officers arrived at the East Cypress location, they learned a gunshot victim arrived at Mercy Medical Center. Additional officers were sent to the hospital to investigate.

The victim, 39-year-old Udom Chao, was found to have a through gunshot wound to both legs. Officials say his injuries are not life-threatening.

Chao, though uncooperative, provided information to officers and officials say the information was later determined to be false after reviewing surveillance video.

At the crime scene, officials say a shell casing, projectile, blood, and marijuana were all found both in and outside the room.

In surveillance video, they found what they say looked like a marijuana-related robbery. Officials say an African-American man can be seen in the video pointing a handgun at the men in the room before walking out carrying two large garbage bags.

Redding Police provided a suspect description saying the man is in his late-thirties to early-forties, wearing a white shirt, blue jeans, and black shoes.

The vehicle that the suspect left in is described as a blue or grey 2011 Ford Fusion bearing California license plate 7UHH373.

Officials say the suspect is considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached.

With an investigation ongoing, officials ask if you have any information regarding the shooting to contact them at 530-225-4200.
Trinamool Congress boss Mamata Banerjee on Thursday declared that she will stay away from an opposition meeting called by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on January 13.

The Bengal chief minister, who has been angry at the Left parties and the Congress over their attacks at her government, told the state assembly that she had decided to boycott the meeting over violence in the state during the 24-hour nationwide strike call by central trade unions, according to news agency Press Trust of India.

Opposition parties, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M) and Congress leaders, had blamed Mamata Banerjees TMC for staging violence to implicate their workers.

Also Watch | Mamata Banerjee holds rally to protest against Citizenship law & NRC

Mamata Banerjees decision is seen to deliver a huge blow to effort to unite opposition parties over the violence in university campuses and the amended Citizenship Act that has been criticised for introducing religion as a criteria for Indian citizenship.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had once taken a lead role to unite opposition parties, has always been uncomfortable about partnering with the Congress and the Left at the national level though they attempt to be her sharpest critics back home.

In the assembly on Thursday, Banerjee said she will not tolerate double standards of the Left Front and Congress.

I have decided to boycott the meeting convened by Sonia Gandhi on January 13 in New Delhi as I dont support the violence that the Left and Congress unleashed in West Bengal yesterday (Wednesday), the chief minister said.

Sonia Gandhi has called a meeting of opposition parties, including the Left to discuss the violence on university campuses and protests in the country over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury is playing a lead role to organise the January 13 strategy meet chaired by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and had recently spoken to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Erdogan, Putin Launch TurkStream Pipeline, Talk Regional Crises

By RFE/RL January 08, 2020

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, have inaugurated a dual natural-gas pipeline that will open up a new export route for Russian gas into Turkey and Europe.

Putin joined Erdogan in Istanbul on January 8 for the official opening of the TurkStream pipeline -- a project that is part of Moscow's efforts to reduce shipments via Ukraine. The construction began in May 2017 and cost nearly $8 billion.

The pipeline was a sign of "interaction and cooperation for the benefit of our people and the people of all Europe, the whole world," Putin said at the inauguration ceremony.

Spanning more than 930 kilometers under the Black Sea, it will carry 31.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Russian gas annually to Turkey's western province, with half of the volume flowing further to the Balkans and Central Europe, including Bulgaria, Serbia, and Hungary.

The ceremony in Istanbul was also attended by the leaders of Serbia and Bulgaria.

Russia has already started European gas deliveries through the pipeline, Bulgarian gas operator Bulgartransgaz said on January 5. The pipeline terminal is near the Turkish village of Kiyikoy, some 20 kilometers from the Bulgarian border.

It's part of Russia's long-term goal of reducing or ending gas transit through Ukraine with alternate pipeline projects, such as Nord Stream 1 and 2.

Both connect to Germany underwater but the near-completion of Nord Stream 2 has been delayed due to U.S. sanctions.

Russia, which exported nearly 200 bcm to Europe last year, has been supplying gas to the Balkans and Turkey overland though Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania.

Putin and Erdogan are also expected to discuss Syria and Libya, where the two countries support opposing sides, while addressing regional tensions in Iraq and Iran, which have escalated after the U.S. killing of a top Iranian commander.

Putin came to Turkey straight from Syria, where he met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"The leaders heard military reports on development in various regions of the country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa, TASS, and Interfax

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-arrives-in -turkey-for-inauguration-of-turkstream -pipeline-/30365460.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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So many animals lose their lives every day for meat and it's actually such a cruel practice. No, we're not trying to spread some vegan agenda, but this one particular animal pleading to be spared is too heartbreaking.

Reportedly, a cow in China literally begged to be spared from being slaughtered by kneeling down in front of the butcher with tears in its eyes. To make matters worse, the cow was also pregnant.

The incident happened in Shantou in Guangdong Province of China and even though it's very sad how the cow had to beg to stay alive, the entire thing at least has a happy ending.

An insider named Lin Wangbo told Chinese news outlet The Paper, according to a translation provided by Daily Mail, that "After it arrived at the slaughterhouse and when the butcher tried to drag it off the truck and into the house to be butchered, it knelt and kept crying."

 YouTube

In the end, the people of China came to the cow's rescue. After the video of the entire thing was uploaded on Chinese social media platforms, it went viral and people came together to save the poor cow.

Reportedly, everyone managed to collect 24,950 yuan - 2.5 lakh - to buy the cow and was released at a local Buddhist temple where it was happily adopted. Another 4,000 yuan - 41,000 - were also raised to give to the temple to cover all the expenses.

 YouTube

See, great things can be achieved when people work together. I'm just glad the cow is alive and at a better place where it will hopefully receive the love and care it needs.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan directed Attorney General Brian Frosh on Wednesday to pursue legal actions against Pennsylvania and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in order to protect Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts.

Hogan said in a release on his website that since his campaign for governor in 2014, he has repeatedly called on upstream states  including Pennsylvania  to step up and take responsibility for sediment and debris that pours into the Chesapeake Bay via the Susquehanna River.

We have a generational responsibility to protect the Bay, and we simply cannot afford to fall short of these shared obligations, Hogan wrote. Therefore, I ask that you commence litigation against the EPA and Pennsylvania, and in close coordination with the Maryland Department of the Environment.

Heres a link to the letter that the governor sent to his attorney general.

In August, after watershed states submitted their final Chesapeake Bay clean-up plans to the federal administration, the governor expressed alarming concerns about Pennsylvanias lack of progress on clean water goals, the release said, and called on the EPA to use its robust oversight powers to hold states accountable.

Pennsylvania, which is under enhanced or backstop federal oversight due to failed pollution reduction efforts, "has proposed a draft Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) under which it would fall drastically short of its agreed-upon 2025 pollution reduction targets, Hogan wrote. The EPA currently appears to have no intention of taking the necessary action to ensure Pennsylvanias compliance with its commitments.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) on Wednesday night sent out a release expressing its support of Hogans efforts to pursue legal actions against the EPA and Pennsylvania.

Its release said that Pennsylvania last year submitted to EPA its most recent plan to reduce Bay pollutants, which included an annual estimated funding gap of more than $300 million and fell 25 percent short of the states requirement for reducing nitrogen. Maryland and Virginias plans were mostly on track to meet their pollution reduction goals by 2025, the release added.

The CBF called Pennsylvania the lynchpin of the Chesapeake Bay cleanup, since it makes up the bulk of the Susquehanna Rivers watershed and the Susquehanna supplies about 50 percent of the freshwater that enters the Bay.

CBF President Will Baker issued the following statement: We commend Gov. Hogan for pursuing legal options. The Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint requires all states in the watershed to do their part and EPA to hold them accountable. So far, Pennsylvanias elected officials have not made the investments needed to meet their clean water commitments. And EPAs failure to impose consequences puts the entire cleanup at risk.
The top 17 best UK hotels for families have been revealed by the AA, which also pinpointed where family-friendly hotels can be found in the highest concentrations.

It found that London has the most family-friendly hotels, with Devon in second place and Cumbria and North Yorkshire joint third.

The travel firm says that top-ranked London has 26 AA-rated hotels that are family-friendly while second-place Devon has 25.

The Grove, pictured, is a historic hotel in Hertfordshire that has been singled out as one of the best family-friendly hotels in the land by the AA. It is praised for its 'extensive creche facilities and family activities'

Calcot in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, pictured, makes the top 17 ranking. The AA notes its 'supervised creche and playzone are a real bonus for families'

Out of these 25 hotels in Devon, 44 per cent offer babysitting or listening services and 96 per cent have cots, highchairs and children's menus or portions.

North Yorkshire and Cumbria both have 18 hotels each offering family facilities, according to the AA.

In North Yorkshire, 100 per cent of the family-friendly hotels offer highchairs, while 94 per cent offer cots and child-friendly menus or portions.

The Bedruthan Hotel and Spa in Mawgan Porth, Cornwall, pictured, is described by the AA as a 'very child-friendly hotel'

The Woolley Grange Hotel in Wiltshire, pictured, is described as being 'very well kitted out for children'

THE TOP 10 DESTINATIONS FOR FAMILY-FRIENDLY HOTELS 1. London (26 hotels) 2. Devon (25) 3. Cumbria (18) 4. North Yorkshire (18) 5. Gloucestershire (16) 6. Hampshire (15) 7. Cornwall & Isles of Scilly (14) 8. Suffolk (13) 9. Cheshire (12) 10. Norfolk (11) Source: The AA Advertisement

Meanwhile, at Cumbrias family-friendly hotels, 67 per cent offer highchairs, cots or child-friendly menus.

Completing the top five is Gloucestershire with 16 child-friendly hotels. Out of these, 88 per cent offer highchairs, cots and child-friendly menus and 19 per cent have a babysitting or listening service.

The rest of the top 10 comprises Hampshire (sixth, 15 hotels), Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (seventh, 14 hotels), Suffolk (eighth, 13 hotels), Cheshire (ninth, 12 hotels) and Norfolk (10th, 11 hotels).

One of the top 17 hotels, meanwhile, is Calcot, a 'luxury English farmhouse', located in Tetbury, Gloucestershire.

The AA notes its 'supervised creche and playzone are a real bonus for families'.

Another property on the list is Bedruthan Hotel and Spa in Mawgan Porth, Cornwall, which is described as a 'very child-friendly hotel'.

The AA says: 'It has kids' clubs for various ages, play areas, childcare, a baby-listening service and equipment such as pushchairs that guests can borrow for free.'

The Grove, a historic hotel in Hertfordshire, is praised for its 'extensive creche facilities and family activities'.

And the Woolley Grange Hotel in Wiltshire is described as being 'very well kitted out for children' thanks to its Bears Den child-minding facility and indoor and outdoor swimming pools.

Bovey Castle in Devon, pictured, makes the AA's list of family-friendly hotels. It provides cots, highchairs and a babysitting service

Stoke Park in Stoke Pogues, Buckinghamshire, has a babysitting service as well as a children's play area

The Trefeddian Hotel in Gwynedd, Wales, pictured, is named as one of the AA's favourite family-friendly hotels. It provides cots and highchairs

The Moonfleet Manor Hotel in Dorset also makes the list with the AA pointing out that 'children are especially welcome'.

While Fowey Hall in Cornwall is described as a 'very family-friendly hotel with a creche, babysitting and listening services, plus many other facilities for children'.

The other hotels in the ranking are The Celtic Manor Resort, Wales; The Ickworth, Suffolk; Four Seasons Hotel, Hampshire; Bovey Castle, Devon; Chewton Glen, Hampshire; The Fish, Worcestershire; Trefeddian Hotel, Wales; Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire; Rockliffe Hall, County Durham; Gleneagles Hotel, Scotland, and The Vale Resort, Wales.

Simon Numphud, managing director at AA Media, said: 'There are a huge variety of hotels suited to families in the UK with over 400 establishments offering child-friendly facilities.

'From the heights of the Highlands to the coasts of Cornwall, there are hotels to suit all tastes, and we hope many more families will enjoy discovering the incredible hospitality of the UKs hotels in 2020 and beyond.'
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of making India a $5 trillion economy by 2024 can only be achieved if India becomes an 'education superpower' by then, said Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Minister of Human Resource Development at the ThinkEdu Conclave 2020, hosted by The New Indian Express on January 9.

The New Education Policy (NEP) is going to be implemented and there can be no better time to have a conclave like this, which is completely dedicated to education. India has a rich tradition of imparting high-quality education through its ancient institutions, like Nalanda and Takshasila. I am glad that this conclave is happening in Tamil Nadu, a state that has gifted the world excellent personalities like Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Venky Ramakrishnan, Srinivasa Ramanujan, General Cariappa and the like, said Pokhriyal at the event.

ALSO READ: JNU violence not a national issue, college gang wars are quite normal in India, says Kangana Ranaut

Emphasising on the fact that India's rich traditions have only made other countries look up to it, he added, We follow the tradition of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, which in Sanskrit means 'the world is one family'. We have considered the entire world as our family and we have dedicated our efforts towards the well-being of others. Education guides us to the truth, from death to eternity. The Indian system of education is designed to guide us from darkness to light.

Shifting to a slightly controversial topic (possibly as an answer to critics who say that the current government is intolerant), he said that India cannot be considered conservative in nature.

We are one of the most broad-minded nations in the world. As I had pointed out earlier, we have considered the entire world to be our family. India has been a source of hope for the whole world. Our ancient wisdom and our traditions have been spectacular, whether it is Ayurveda, Yoga or the like. We have the legacy of great personalities like Lord Krishna and Lord Ram. Our rich heritage has inspired the whole world. We are the ones who taught immortality of the soul through the Gita. So, how can we be considered close-minded in any context? he asked.

ALSO READ: India will be top 10 in Olympics 2028, says Kiren Rijiju

Reiterating that the NEP will serve as the foundation for a new India that is strong, healthy and united, he told a cheering audience that India is one of the youngest countries in the world and will continue to remain so for the next 25 years.

We have the power to be young, healthy and successful. When I told the education ministers of all countries, except Pakistan and the US, who had gathered at a UNESCO event in Paris that India has 1,000 universities, 45,000 colleges, 16,000 schools and 10 million teachers...all of them were surprised. They all look up to us, he stated.

He assured the young crowd present at the conclave that the NEP will be India-centric, innovative, research-based and practical, and incorporate all the values that Indians are known for. It is the result of more than 3-and-a-half years of hard work. It is one of the biggest innovative exercises in the world. We have received over 5 lakh suggestions for it so far and we have tried to reach each and every stakeholder  students, chancellors, teachers, experts, policymakers, village committees, he said.
Since pledging last fall to set up an independent commission to review cases of wrongful conviction, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal government have been painfully silent about what they are prepared to do and when they are prepared to do it.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/1/2020 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

Since pledging last fall to set up an independent commission to review cases of wrongful conviction, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal government have been painfully silent about what they are prepared to do and when they are prepared to do it.

That is why the victims of wrongful conviction and their advocates have decided to take matters into their own hands and keep the issue alive.

A special one-day conference (Jan. 17) is planned for Winnipegs Canadian Museum for Human Rights, where four victims of wrongful conviction  who together have served more than 60 years in prison  will gather to share their experiences.

The event will include appearances by David Milgaard, wrongly convicted of murder in Saskatchewan in 1970, along with James Driskell, Thomas Sophonow and Frank Ostrowski, all of whom have seen their homicide convictions erased in Manitoba.

Also appearing is Brian Anderson, convicted of murder in Winnipeg in 1974, and whose bid for exoneration has been taken up by Innocence Canada.

Thomas Sophonow was tried three times for the 1981 murder of 16-year-old Barbara Stoppel. (Phil Hossack / Winnipeg Free Press files)

Calgary civil lawyer Greg Rodin, a former Winnipegger, said the event is timed to remind Justice Minister David Lametti, the federal government and general public just how important it is to follow through on the promise of an independent review body.

Rodin handled civil compensation claims for Milgaard and Kyle Unger, wrongly convicted for a 1990 Manitoba murder and later freed following a federal review. He will be joined at the event by Gavin Wolch, who worked with his father Hersh Wolch on the Unger case, and Toronto lawyer James Lockyer, who has successfully freed 10 victims of wrongful conviction (including Driskell, Ostrowski, and Guy Paul Morin of Ontario) and is working on at least two Manitoba cases.

"There isnt a question about what (the federal government) is going to do, but there are questions about how theyre going to do it and what rules and resources their going to come up with," said Rodin.

Rodin noted Winnipeg, and the CMHR, were obvious venues for such a gathering.

For reasons that are not entirely clear, Manitoba has developed a reputation for producing more than its fair share of wrongful convictions.

Adding to the provinces infamous profile is the fact a single prosecutor  the long-retired George Dangerfield  was responsible for all four confirmed cases, with two of those (Driskell and Sophonow) sparking judicial inquiries and multimillion-dollar compensation settlements. Three other cases Dangerfield prosecuted are currently subject to review by the federal justice department.

David Milgaard spent 23 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of the 1969 murder of Gail Miller in Regina. (Chris Young / The Canadian Press files)

The CMHR event comes at a critical moment in the gestation of the 2019 Liberal campaign pledge. Little has happened since the initial pledge, which contained no firm details or timelines, was made.

Ottawa already has the power under provisions of the Criminal Code to review individual cases (even when the person involved has exhausted all normal avenues of appeal) and order remedies that range from the quashing of convictions to retrials and appellate hearings on new evidence.

However, the system is complex and can take years, even decades, to complete. Individual applicants, most of whom are denied any kind of legal aid, must find lawyers willing to work for free. It all adds up to a system that discourages many people from even trying to seek a remedy.

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.

Adding to the challenge of establishing an independent commission to review wrongful convictions is the fact most provinces would likely oppose it in principle.

Although criminal law is largely the responsibility of the federal government, prosecutions fall under the purview of the provinces. In past discussion, they have resisted the creation of an independent review commission as a form of intrusion on an area of provincial responsibility.

A federal review commission would also have to address the issue of resources to help applicants access legal representation and investigation services. Ottawa has slowly abandoned its support for provincial legal aid programs, leaving most scrambling to keep up with increasing demands. It remains unclear whether the federal level would be willing to provide money, on its own, to allow applicants to get legal support.

On the positive side of the equation, should the Liberal government decide to proceed, it will likely find support in the House of Commons, even with a minority mandate. Both the NDP and Green party pledged support for an independent commission, when the topic came up in the election campaign.

The timing is spot on; the location is strategically and symbolically appropriate. One can only hope decision makers in Ottawa are paying attention.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
Will Meghan star in a future season of "The Crown"? How will Harry get a job without a proper last name? Here are answers to all your most burning questions.
Accurate budgeting also ensures that the city does not have to face a budget shortfall: If the projections are too low, the District must find contingency funds after the budget has already been approved and committed, Kihn said in a letter responding to the auditors study. We look forward to working with our schools, school communities, and agencies to continue to improve upon our processes and help plan for the future.
Chhapaak: Deepika Padukone's Film Made Tax Free In Madhya Pradesh Even Before Release
Those looking for new job and career opportunities will have a chance to directly hand a resume to hiring employers this month in Conroe.

For the eighth year, a free job fair will be held from 1-5 p.m. on Jan. 28 at the Lone Star Convention Center at 9055 Airport Road. Job seekers will have a chance to browse booths and interact with employers in welding, machining, sales, health care, engineering, accounting along with educational opportunities and community resources.

This year we are looking forward to a very diverse group of companies offering a wide range of job opportunities for job seekers, said Jennifer Matthews, Associate Director of the Conroe Economic Development Council. In addition we will have resources available as well to assist with job training, transportation, veterans services and more.

This year, Conroe/Lake Conroe Chamber of Commerce Director of Special Events Courtney Galle said there are approximately 20 companies that will be participating with even more expected by the event. Galle said last years record-breaking event had over 60 booths and 600 job seekers. Preregistration is not required. Job seekers are encouraged to bring lots of resumes and to dress appropriately.

Job seekers will also be able to apply for scholarships to Lone Star College, Matthews said. We will also have an onsite computer lab for online applications and there will be four free workshops held at the Chamber prior to the event.

The event is hosted by the Conroe/Lake Conroe Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Conroe Economic Development Corporation, Lone Star College, Lone Star Convention Center and Workforce Solutions. The event is presented by Cork & Seal and sponsored by ResourceMFG/Crown, Spectrum Catering, Cantel, and ColorTech Direct.

Booths are still available for $200 for Chamber members and $250 for not-yet chamber members. Booths with electricity are an additional $25.

Job Fair Workshops

Four free job fair workshops will be held at 505 West Davis Street in Conroe. Three workshops will be held from 1:30-4 p.m. on Jan. 14, 21, and 23. An early session is also available from 9 a.m. to noon on Jan. 16.

The workshops or a great way for job seekers to prepare for the job fair in advance, Galle said in a previous article.

Register for a booth or apply for a scholarship at www.conroe.org. For more information, contact Courtney Galle at courtneyg@conroe.org or 936-538-7111.

mellsworth@hcnonline.com
China has called on Iran and the US to resolve the existing contradictions through dialogue and talks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Thursday.

His remarks came commenting on a statement by US President Donald Trump about plans to introduce new economic sanctions on Iran.

China has consistently advocated the settlement of international issues based on the UN Charter and the fundamental principles of international relations, it is necessary through dialogue, talks and other peaceful means to resolve existing mutual contradictions, he said calling on all parties to adhere to the political vector of resolving the problem and to take real steps to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East and the Gulf region.

US-Iran relations have further escalated after the death of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Iraq in early January as a result of an American special operation. Iran fired missiles at bases in Iraq, where the US military is located. According to Washington, none of the US citizens were injured. After the strike, Washington said it would limit itself to introducing new sanctions.
New Yorks plastic bag ban is rapidly approaching, so shoppers need to start preparing now for post-plastic life.

The ban goes into effect March 1. Starting that day, any store that collects sales taxes, including groceries, retailers and small businesses, will no longer hand out any single-use plastic bags to carry out goods.

Wegmans has already said it is implementing the bag ban early. The Rochester-based chain has also said it will charge 5 cents a bag for paper bags.

Counties have the option to charge a fee for paper bags under the state bag ban law, but not many have moved to do so.

This is a big transition for New Yorkers. I'll be writing a bunch on the ban in the coming weeks, so if you have questions about how all this is going to work, how it's going to affect you or how it's going to change day-to-day life, send them my way.

You can reach me by email at ktampone@syracuse.com or find me on Twitter @ktampone.

State lawmakers agreed to the plastic bag ban as part of negotiations during budget season last year.

Environmentalists have pushed for a bag ban for years as a way to cut down on the amount of environmental harm they cause. Business groups opposed the move.

The bag ban might not be the end of this sort of thing. Gov. Andrew Cuomo also wants to outlaw single-use polystyrene containers.

Proposed legislation would ban foam containers for prepared food at restaurants, grocery stores, delis and food trucks.

Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-282-8598

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 10:58:43|Editor: Xiaoxia

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LAS VEGAS, the United States, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- China remains a "top international market" at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020 with broad participation of Chinese companies, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) said Wednesday.

On the event and the participation of Chinese exhibitors, the organizer told Xinhua that fewer smaller Chinese companies attended the show due to the trade disputes between China and the United States, but big Chinese tech firms kept their passions for the event to "build their brand and forge global partnership."

Some new big brands were present for the first time, the CTA said, citing Tik Tok and Sogou as examples, adding that all the major Chinese exhibitors in 2019 "are returning to CES 2020."

As a leading global tech show, the CES attracted 1,120 Chinese companies last year. At the CES 2020 being held this week in Las Vegas, over 4,500 exhibitors would launch nearly 20,000 new transformative tech products to more than 170,000 visitors, according to the CTA.
Putin, Erdogan Urge Restraint in Iran Crisis, Cease-Fire in Libya

By Dorian Jones January 08, 2020

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a joint call for restraint by Washington and Tehran. The declaration made Wednesday in Istanbul is the latest sign of deepening regional cooperation by the leaders, symbolized by the inauguration of a Russian-Turkish gas pipeline.

"We are deeply concerned about the escalation of the tension between the U.S. and Iran, as well as its negative repercussions on Iraq," read a joint statement by Putin and Erdogan.

The statement criticized last week's killing of the Iranian General Qassem Soleimani by an American drone as "an act undermining security and stability in the region." Criticism also was aimed at Tehran for Wednesday's missile strike against a U.S. military base in Iraq.

"We believe that exchange of attacks and use of force by any party do not contribute to finding solutions to the complex problems in the Middle East, but rather would lead to a new cycle of instability and would eventually damage everyone's interests," the statement said.

Erdogan, addressing an inauguration ceremony of a gas pipeline between Russia and Turkey, criticized Solemani's killing." Nobody has the right to throw the entire region, especially Iraq, into a ring of fire for the sake of his or her own interests," said Erdogan.

The Turkish president pledged to work to defuse tensions. "We will use all the means available to prevent our region from bursting into tears and bloodshed," he said.

"Our purpose is to de-escalate and to let common sense prevail again. At this critical moment where the war drums play, we want to de-escalate tension by using all the diplomatic channels," Erdogan added.

Erdogan said he had spoken to regional leaders and would dispatch Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to Baghdad on Thursday.

Putin and Erdogan held more than an hour of talks before attending the inauguration ceremony of the Turk Stream gas pipeline. The pipeline delivers Russian gas to Istanbul's 15 million inhabitants, as well as Europe. Erdogan described the pipeline as a "beacon" of Turkish-Russian cooperation.

Turk Stream is the target of American sanctions, as part of broader economic measures aimed at Moscow. Ankara's deepening cooperation with Moscow is causing concerns among Turkey's western allies.

Senior Russian ministers and military officials accompanied Putin in his visit to Istanbul. "I am surprised Putin brought so many high-ranking officials from foreign ministry to the military for such a ceremony. This is a message to Washington and Turkey's western allies," said Professor Mesut Casin, a foreign affairs adviser to Erdogan.

Wednesday's talks appear to have secured a diplomatic breakthrough, with Putin and Erdogan calling for a cease-fire in the Libyan civil war.

"I would like to emphasize the call that Presidents Putin and Erdogan addressed to all the Libyan sides  to immediately stop fighting, starting from 00:00 on Jan. 12," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Wednesday in a joint press conference in Istanbul with Cavusoglu.

"We have been especially working with our Russian partners to achieve a cease-fire in Libya," Cavusoglu added.

Cavusoglu said the cease-fire is aimed at helping to secure the success of a planned meeting in Berlin later this month to resolve the Libyan conflict.

Moscow and Ankara are backing rival sides in the Libyan civil war. Erdogan sent military forces on Sunday to support the internationally recognized Government of National Accord in Tripoli.

Russian mercenaries of the Kremlin-linked Wagner group are fighting with General Khalifa Haftar, whose forces are laying siege to Tripoli.

The cease-fire call is seen as a diplomatic win for Erdogan, who was expected to lobby Putin to support such a move. "A cease-fire is important for Turkey, as it does not want to be drawn into a war in Libya," said former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende. "Its deployment of forces to Libya is to secure a cease-fire. Otherwise, this becomes a risky operation, given the distances involved."

Supporting a significant force in a combat zone nearly 2,000 kilometers way is widely seen as posing a significant challenge for the Turkish military's logistic capabilities.

But with Haftar forces at the gates of Tripoli and having powerful backers other than Russia, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, it remains unclear whether the cease-fire call will be heeded.

Syria also was on the agenda for Putin and Erdogan, and in particular, the future of Idlib. The Syria province on Turkey's border is the last stronghold of rebels, with about 3 million people trapped in the enclave.

Erdogan is lobbying Putin to end a Syrian regime offensive backed by Russian jets in Idlib. The joint statement issued after Wednesday's talks, however, appears to fall short of Turkish hopes, with no specific call for a cease-fire, other than a call for "calm."

"Turkey is concerned about a new mass migration of hundreds of thousands of people from over the border [from Idlib], but it appears Putin has not given anything," said Casin.

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Last fall, Prince Harry seemed to have everything a person could want: A luminous wife, a perfect baby and an extended stay in Africa, a region he has always loved.

And yet, when he spoke to his old friend, the journalist Tom Bradby, he sounded traumatized, as if the events of the previous two years had dragged him back to the hell of his 13th summer, when his mother died in a car crash, speeding away from paparazzi.

Every time I see a camera, every time I hear a click, every time I see a flash, it takes me straight back, he was quoted as saying in Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, a documentary of their time in Africa.

His wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was also grim about the life she had chosen, telling Mr. Bradby that she should have paid more attention when friends warned her about getting involved with Prince Harry.
The 2019 Frances-Anne Solomon film "HERO: Inspired by The Extraordinary Life and Times of Ulric Cross" is set to be the opening film of the largest black film festival in America, also known as the Pan African Film & Arts Festival (PAFF).

PAFF will showcase over 200 films around the world from February 11 to February 23, 2020. It will be held at the Cinemark Rave 15 Theaters and the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in Los Angeles.

Opening Act

The feature film under the CaribbeanTales Media Group, California Pictures and Imagine Media International will be shown on the first day at the Directors Guild of America Theater, 7920 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles.

In an interview, Canadian-Carribean filmmaker Frances-Anne Solomon said that it is truly an honor to be a part of such a huge festival and to have Hero's world premiere during the opening of the largest black film festival in the country.

"To be selected as the opening film for this prestigious festival is an honor," Solomon said.

"It's a go-to event for Black Hollywood, and to be recognized in this way by an audience of my peers is important to me as a Caribbean filmmaker of African descent."

PAFF Executive Director Ayuko Babu said that they are very excited to feature "Hero" as the opening film for the upcoming cultural festival.

"We are very excited to screen HERO and share the triumphs and victories of Judge Ulric Cross and his Pan African brothers, which led to the creation of our modern world," Ayuko said.

"It is truly an honor for me personally, as well as the Pan African Film Festival to present and create awareness about this great, important, enriching, and entertaining story."

What Is "Hero" About?

The Carribean film "Hero" is a story of a Trinidadian judge and diplomat Ulric Cross whose journey paved the way for many independence movements and today's rise of Black power and leadership across the world.

The film features the Caribbean war hero's life, which peak moments occur during the 20th Century, in the middle of World War 2. It highlights Ulric's time as a member of the highly decorated group of Caribbean pilots who survived a mission for the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force during the second World War.

His journey continued even after his service, as he played an essential role in the Pan Pacific Movement that led to the creation of 28 modern Caribbean and 54 modern African nations.

Aside from the great story of Ulric Cross, the film was also brought to life by outstanding international actors, including Nickolai Salcedo Ulric Cross, Peter Williams (Stargate SG1), Joseph Marcell (Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), Fraser James (Resident Evil), Pippa Nixon (John Carter), John Dumelo, Adjetey Anang and Prince David Oseia.

Meanwhile, "Hero" is the third feature film of Solomon, who is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, curator and entrepreneur. Since its release, the said film has received critical acclaim and has been included in a theatrical run in the U.K.

Moreover, it has also been nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Picture Editing - Feature Film in the 2019 Directors Guild of Canada.
The MEA said the envoys visit was organised given the prevailing situation in J&K.

Srinagar/New Delhi: A delegation of 16 New Delhi-based envoys and other senior diplomats on Thursday began a two-day visit to Srinagar and Jammu for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation in Kashmir in the backdrop of New Delhi stripping the erstwhile state of its special status and splitting it up into two Union territories.

The delegation, which includes US ambassador to India Kenneth Juster, is touring J&K at the invitation of the external affairs ministry, which said they wanted to see firsthand the efforts by the government to normalise the situation in the UT. The other envoys and senior diplomats who are part of the delegation are from South Korea, Brazil, Bangladesh, Peru, Argentina, Niger, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Morocco, Vietnam, the Philippines, Norway and the Maldives. During their day-long stay in Srinagar, the envoys met security officials, political leaders, civil society groups, artistes and the media, officials said. In the evening, they flew into the UTs winter capital Jammu, where they met lieutenant-governor Girish Chander Murmu, his advisers and senior officials over dinner.

On the second leg of their trip, the team will meet leaders and representatives of various political parties, social organisations, civil society groups and media persons. They will also visit the Jagti migrant camp of displaced Kashmiri Pandits before flying back to New Delhi.

Soon after their arrival in Srinagar in a chartered plane, the delegation was briefed by the Armys Chinar Corps commander, Lt. Gen. Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, at the Badami Bagh cantonment on the overall security situation in the hinterland and along the Line of Control, cross-border terrorism and frequent ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops.

The MEA said the envoys visit was organised given the prevailing situation in J&K. A report from Delhi said European Union ambassadors were not a part of the group due to certain restrictions. But officials said this was unfounded and mischievous.

The MEA said the EU envoys wanted to visit Kashmir in a group but we did not extend an invite to all. It said the envoys visit to J&K was not over, adding similar visits to Kashmir can be organised in future, including by EU envoys.

It is more than five months after the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcating J&K that the government invited the first group of New Delhi-based diplomats to travel to Srinagar and Jammu.

The visit, however, evoked criticism by the Congress, National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, CPI(M) and some other mainstream parties, terming it a guided tour aimed at misleading the world about the ground realities in J&K. The Congress also questioned the governments wisdom and probity in inviting foreign diplomats to visit J&K when the countrys political leaders, including Members of Parliament, were being denied access to the erstwhile state. State CPI(M) leader Muhammad Tarigami said: I fail to understand why the government is conducting such tours of foreign diplomats to J&K, whose political leaders remain incarcerated for more than five months, no political activity is allowed, the Internet remains shut and no interaction is taking place with the average citizen. He added: Also, the government should know the issues confronting J&K can be resolved only by taking its people onboard and not hosting lunches and dinners for foreign envoys.

The absence of EU ambassadors from the delegation has raised eyebrows. In response to media reports that the EU envoys did not want to be part of a guided tour, the MEA said this was factually incorrect. It said the EU envoys wanted to visit J&K as a group, but the MEA wanted the group visiting on Thursday to include envoys from several regions in the world.

The MEA said: We need to correct a perception. There are reports EU ambassadors did not go as they thought this was a guided tour. Our understanding is very different. We wanted this group to be broad-based. And there were restrictions in numbers. You cant take too large a number, when you are moving and organising meetings. So we wanted this group to be a manageable size. We wanted this group to represent different geographical regions.

Subsequently, we will try to organise similar visits to J&K. On EU, when we approached them, they welcomed the decision as many of their ambassadors had requested a visit to J&K. Our understanding is that they wanted to visit in a group. On many issues, they take a group position. The invitation was not sent to all members of the group as it would have clearly made the group too big. We were also told by some of the members that this was organised at short notice. At no stage did we tell them a certain meeting cannot be organised... We are looking at the possibility of organising a visit by EU ambassadors. Lets see how it works out.
- Nexus Dx IB10 POC immunoassay platform (formerly branded as Samsung LabgeoIB10) including its entire test portfolio for critical care environments will be marketed through sphingotec's distributor network

- After introducing the assay for DPP3, a biomarker for short-term organ dysfunction, sphingotec will continue to add novel critical care tests to the IB10 test menu in 2020, including penKid, a proprietary kidney function biomarker and bio-ADM, a proprietary endothelial function biomarker

Hennigsdorf, Germany, and San Diego, CA, USA, January 09, 2020 - The German diagnostics company sphingotec GmbH (Hennigsdorf, Germany) today announced that through its network of regional and local distribution partners it will exclusively offer the Nexus Dx IB10 immunoassay platform together with a broad portfolio of commonly used tests for acute and critical care. The biomarker company has also started to launch a series of novel proprietary tests on the Nexus IB10 point-of-care platform to aid in the diagnose and monitor life-threatening conditions such as sepsis, acute kidney injury and heart failure.

Following the acquisition of Nexus Dx from Samsung in 2018, sphingotec has obtained all rights to Nexus Dx's unique IB10 immunoassay platform for simple and rapid testing of diagnostic parameters for acute and critical care utilized in point-of-care settings such as emergency departments (EDs) and intensive care units (ICUs). Using disposable low-cost reagents discs, the instrument can perform up to three diagnostic parameters on one test disc in only 20 minutes using routinely available whole blood samples. The Nexus IB10 platform, formerly branded Samsung LabgeoIB10, has sold more than 1,800 systems since its introduction in 2012. The IB10 instrument is one of the most commonly used point-of-care immunoassay platforms throughout Europe and beyond. The CE-IVD-marked IB10 analyzer and test portfolio, which was previously commercialized by Samsung's partner ThermoFisher Scientific, will now be exclusively represented by sphingotec and made available through sphingotec's global network of distribution partners.

While initially marketed with a broad range of blood tests and test panels routinely used in EDs and ICUs such as tests for Troponin I, NT-proBNP, D-Dimer, sphingotec has begun implementing a series of new CE-IVD-marked assays for its proprietary biomarkers for the diagnosis and monitoring of life-threating acute and critical care conditions. This includes the recently introduced IB10 sphingotest DPP3, an assay for Dipeptidyl Peptidase 3, a protein whose elevated blood levels are a major cause for heart and kidney dysfunction in patients with acute heart failure, sepsis and other critical conditions. Further, near-term launches include an IB10 assay for penKid, a novel biomarker for the real-time assessment of kidney function, and an IB10 assay for bio-ADM, a biomarker for real-time assessment of endothelial function, planned to be launched in early and mid-2020, respectively.

Using the assays for DPP3, penKid and bio-ADM on the IB10 platform, clinicians will have parameters available that provide actionable information needed to aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of critically ill patients and may significantly improve the management of patients with sepsis, septic shock, cardiogenic shock, and organ failure.

"With the integration of Nexus IB10 platform and the set-up of our own distribution-based sales channel, sphingotec has transformed from a developer of unique biomarkers to a fully integrated commercial provider of complete solutions for innovative rapid diagnostic testing at the point-of-need in acute care settings," said Dr. Andreas Bergmann, CEO of sphingotec GmbH. "Providing rapid and novel solutions needed by clinicians in managing critically ill patients is part of our long-term strategy to reduce mortality in the ICUs and EDs."

sphingotec will ensure continuous supply of IB10 consumables to all former ThermoFisher Scientific customers. Customers can place supply requests through sphingotec's website at sphingotec.com for referral to the sphingotec IB10 distributor in their respective region.

###

About sphingotec

SphingoTec GmbH ("sphingotec"; Hennigsdorf near Berlin, Germany) develops and markets innovative in vitro diagnostic (IVD) tests for novel and proprietary biomarkers for the diagnosis, prediction and monitoring of acute medical conditions, such as sepsis, acute heart failure, circulatory shock, and acute kidney injury in order to support patient management and provide guidance for treatment strategies. sphingotec's proprietary biomarker portfolio includes bioactive adrenomedullin (bio-ADM), a unique biomarker for real-time assessment of endothelial function in conditions like sepsis or congestive heart failure, Proenkephalin (penKid), a unique biomarker for real-time assessment of kidney function, and Dipeptidyl Peptidase 3 (DPP3), a unique biomarker for cardio-renal pathway disruptions leading to acute organ dysfunction. In addition, sphingotec develops a portfolio of novel biomarkers, which predict the risks of developing obesity, breast cancer and cardiovascular diseases. IVD tests for sphingotec's proprietary biomarkers are made available as sphingotest microtiterplate tests as well as point-of-care tests on the Nexus IB10 immunoassay platform by sphingotec's subsidiary Nexus Dx Inc. (San Diego, CA, USA) alongside a broad menu of IB10 tests for established biomarkers for acute and critical care.

About Nexus Dx Inc. and the IB10 Platform

Nexus Dx Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of sphingotec, headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA, is a global provider of a near patient testing system and advanced diagnostic solution. The company is improving patient care by providing the medical community with rapid and reliable information at the point of care (POC), delivering patient information when and where it is needed most. The company has invested over $160m to develop and market the IB10 analyzer system which, without the need for sample preparation, automatically separates plasma from whole blood with subsequent reliable and quantitative detection of biomarkers in the plasma by means of antibodies. With a hands-on-time of less than 3 minutes the easy-to-use system provides in only 20 minutes test results for biomarkers that are crucial in the management of critical care patients. The portfolio of IB10 assays includes tests for established critical care parameters such as Procalcitonin, Troponin I, CK-MB, Myoglobin, NT-proBNP, and D-Dimer as well as tests for sphingotec's proprietary biomarkers such as DPP3, an assay for Dipeptidyl Peptidase 3, a unique and proprietary biomarker for cardio-renal pathway disruptions leading to acute organ dysfunction. The IB10 assay for bioactive Adrenomedullin (bio-ADM), a unique and proprietary biomarker for endothelial function and the assay for Proenkephalin (penKid), a unique and proprietary biomarker for real-time assessment of kidney function, will be launched later in 2020.

bio-ADM

sphingotest bio-ADM measures blood levels of bioactive adrenomedullin (bio-ADM), a hormone maintaining endothelial function. The endothel contributes to blood pressure and separates blood from the surrounding tissue. Elevated blood levels of bio-ADM predict blood pressure break down and leaky vessels resulting in oedema. Imbalanced endothel function is the major cause of shock ultimately resulting in organ dysfunction and death. Early identification of an imbalance in endothelial function allows guidance of vasopressor and diuretic therapy in critically ill patients to improve outcomes.

About DPP3

IB10 sphingotest DPP3 measures Dipeptidyl peptidase 3 an active enzyme which, when released into the blood, degrades hormones that maintain organ function. Inactivation of such hormones by DPP3 results in organ dysfunction and subsequent death. The DPP3 release is a newly identified pathway explaining most of the deaths in critically ill patients as it is causal for short-term organ dysfunction. Early identification of DPP3 release allows better patient stratification and early interventions to improve outcomes.

About penKid

sphingotest penKid measures proenkephalin (penKid), a stable fragment of the kidney stimulating hormone enkephalin. penKid has been demonstrated to be a real-time surrogate biomarker for glomerular filtration rate, the gold standard to assess renal function. Measuring penKid blood concentrations allows for timely information on kidney function in critically ill patients. Early assessment of worsening and improving of renal function on intensive care units and in emergency departments allows adjustment of nephrotoxic drug administration and the initiation of kidney-protective strategies to prevent acute kidney injury and thereby improve outcomes.
A man has been charged with capital murder after a 10-month-old girl he crammed into a backpack and left in the trunk of his car died.

Marion Jester-Montoya was the daughter of 27-year-old Trevor Marquis Rowes girlfriend. She died on Tuesday in the city of Lubbock in northwest Texas.

Rowes bond has been set at US$2 million and he is being held at the Lubbock County Detention Centre.

According to Lubbock police, Rowe picked up Jester-Montoya from her mothers residence Tuesday morning and brought her to his workplace.

Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings Show all 31 1 /31 Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton Demonstrators chant as they protest the arrival of President Donald Trump outside Miami Valley Hospital after a mass shooting that occurred in the Oregon District AP Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso Trump headed to El Paso, after visiting Dayton, Ohio to offer a message of healing and unity, but he was met by hostility in both places by people who fault his own incendiary words as a contributing cause to the mass shootings AP Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso, University Medical Centre US President Donald Trump greets first responders as he visits El Paso Regional Communications Centre AFP/Getty Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso, University Medical Centre An anti-Trump protestor holds a sign as police are lined up outside University Medical Centre Getty Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso AP Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso AFP/Getty Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton AP Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso Democratic presidential candidate Beto ORourke hugs a woman at a makeshift memorial outside Walmart honoring victims of the mass shooting there which left 22 people dead. Getty Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso AFP/Getty Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso AP Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso, University Medical Centre Reuters Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso, University Medical Centre President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump greet PFC Glendon Oakley (second right), who saved several lives during the mass shooting in Texas AFP/Getty Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton AP Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso, University Medical Centre Reuters/Amanda Voisard Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso Beto ORourke consoles a man at the makeshift memorial outside Walmart Getty Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso, University Medical Centre An anti-Trump demonstrator yells near police outside the University Medical Centre Reuters Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso AFP/Getty Images Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings Dayton President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base AP Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso Makeshift memorial for victims of the shooting that left a total of 22 people dead at the Cielo Vista Mall Walmart AFP/Getty Images Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton AP Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings President Trump greets Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley as he arrives at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base AFP/Getty Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton AP Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings Dayton Damon Smith presents a message to President Donald Trump beside a makeshift memorial in Dayton AP Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton Demonstrators gather in front of an inflatable "Baby Trump" to protest the presidents arrival AP Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton AP Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso A photo of victim Javier Amir Rodriguez, a 15-year-old sophomore Getty Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings Dayton AFP/Getty Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso A message is left for Donald Trump AFP/Getty Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso AFP/Getty Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso People hug at the makeshift memorial AFP/Getty Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings El Paso People pray at the makeshift memorial AFP/Getty

Rowe told police he "crammed" the baby into a backpack and checked on the her periodically.

After his lunch break, police said he moved her to the trunk of his car, where she stayed for several hours.

Rowe said the baby was lightly crying but breathing when he checked on her during his lunch break, reported local newspaper Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

But almost five hours later at 4.50pm, she had turned white and was not breathing.

He then called 911 and drove to the intersection of 130th and Upland Avenue where he started CPR and waited for EMS, said police documents.

First responders rushed Jester-Montoya to a hospital, but she was pronounced dead on arrival.

According to the warrant, Rowe advised he knew that placing a person into a trunk was dangerous to human life.

Trevor Rowe advised that placing someone into a backpack was even more dangerous.

He also told the police the baby had not eaten since 8pm the night before.

The childs father, Emilio Montoya, told news station KCBD that his daughter was only two months away from turning one and was actually learning to walk.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday took out a protest march against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the Register of Citizens (NRC) in Madhyamgram here.

Before taking the protest march Mamata said that Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP), the student wing of TMC will start a sitting agitation at Rani Rashmoni Road in Kolkata from Friday against the CAA and NRC.

Mamata today took out the protest march from Madhyamgram.

The West Bengal chief minister has been a vocal opponent of the CAA and NRC. She has also said that both CAA and NRC will be not implemented in the state.

For quite some time, she has been organizing mega rallies against the CAA and the NRC and has launched attacks on the BJP-led central government over these issues.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
WASHINGTON - As Puerto Rico weathers devastating earthquakes, the island is still waiting on more than $18 billion in federal funding that was designated after hurricanes that struck more than two years ago.

The holdup has continued past a congressionally mandated deadline last fall for more than $8 billion of the aid to be officially announced. As aftershocks continue to shake the U.S. territory after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake Tuesday morning, Democrats are questioning whether the federal government will give Puerto Rico what it needs to recover this time.

"I think it puts a considerable burden on the administration to show good faith," said Rep. David Price, D-N.C., pointing to President Donald Trump's history of criticizing Puerto Rico and moving to slow the disbursement of money. "And in this case, good faith involves not just responding to this latest disaster, but cleaning up from the previous one as well."

An ongoing dispute over Puerto Rico could also become an issue in the presidential election. Residents of Puerto Rico cannot vote in federal elections, even though they are U.S. citizens, but many live and cast ballots in Florida, a critical swing state.

Trump's opposition to sending aid to Puerto Rico stalled a major nationwide disaster relief bill last year and led to disputes with Democrats. The island's governor at the time, Ricardo Rossello, described Trump as a "bully" and threatened to punch him in the mouth.

Rossello resigned in August amid political pressure and sweeping protests.

Trump repeatedly said that he had done more for Puerto Rico than any other U.S. president and that his concerns about sending more money to the island were related to its history of corruption and mismanagement of funds.

In the months since, public feuding between Trump and Democrats on the issue has died down. Wanda Vazquez Garced has served as Puerto Rico's governor since August.

But the federal government still has not released about $18 billion in Housing and Urban Development disaster relief funding allocated for various needs on the island, including restoration projects and repairs to the electrical grid. Puerto Rico was ravaged by back-to-back hurricanes in September 2017, with Hurricane Maria killing about 3,000 people and causing widespread devastation.

HUD officials and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) have defended the administration's response to Puerto Rico. Trump approved an emergency declaration for the island on Tuesday, which will allow for $5 million to be spent on emergency services in response to the earthquake.

Larger amounts could follow if the island's governor requests a major disaster declaration. The extent of the damage from the quakes has yet to be determined, and it is unclear how much money would be required to respond. At least one casualty was reported, and there have been widespread power outages.

"This administration has been working to support recovery efforts in Puerto Rico and will continue to do so. Over $90 billion has been forecast to be spent on Puerto Rico recovery relief, which is unprecedented," said OMB spokesman Chase Jennings. "Under President Trump, Puerto Rico has received more recovery funds than at any time in U.S. history. While we continue to ensure Puerto Rico has what they need, we must also make sure the proper guidelines are in place to make certain the people of Puerto Rico directly benefit, not politicians with their history of corruption."

The $90 billion figure - which Trump has claimed has already been given to the island for hurricane response - actually reflects an estimate of Puerto Rico's needs over about the next two decades.

Congress appropriated $19.9 billion through HUD's Community Development Block Grant disaster relief program for Puerto Rico's hurricane response needs. Of that amount, Puerto Rico to date has access to only $1.5 billion. Democrats have said that HUD missed a Sept. 4 deadline to issue an official notice on the availability of $8.3 billion more in remaining funds.

A group of Democrats, led by Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., sent a letter to HUD Secretary Ben Carson on Tuesday pressing for the release of the additional money.

"Not only does it defy common sense to withhold these overdue funds now, when the Island just suffered an earthquake, but doing so is immoral and illegal," Velazquez said in a statement.

A senior HUD official said in response that the agency was approaching the issue "in a prudent manner with strong financial controls in place to mitigate the risk to federal taxpayers."

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues, also said that of the $1.5 billion Puerto Rico has access to, it has so far spent only $5.8 million.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said in an interview that the federal government "ought to try to release money as fast as they can." He added that he was staying in touch with Puerto Rico's leaders and representatives, as well as federal agencies, to ensure the territory's needs would be met. Scott said he was confident Trump had "committed to do the right thing."
Jess Phillips claims hundreds of men tell her not to stand as Labour leader (PA)

Jess Phillips has claimed hundreds of men have told her she should shut up and not stand to be Labour leader.

Ms Phillips, who is one of six MPs hoping to take over from Jeremy Corbyn, insisted she would not be standing down - and urged supporters to join her campaign.

In a tweet, she wrote: I get hundreds of men on Twitter telling me to shut up and not run. Im not going to be quiet. Join our campaign and annoy these trolls.

I get hundreds of men on Twitter telling me to shut up and not run. Im not going to be quiet. Join our campaign and annoy these trolls here https://t.co/EHAXtzZxu4 pic.twitter.com/GqNYFs7Wpc  Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) January 9, 2020

Fellow leadership candidate, Sir Keir Starmer, has already reached the threshold of 22 MPs to enter the second round.

Ms Phillips currently has 15 backers before Mondays deadline.

Other contenders to declare for the top job are shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, shadow Treasury minister Clive Lewis, backbencher Lisa Nandy and shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey - dubbed the continuity Corbyn candidate.

Read more from Yahoo News UK:

Labour MP says strangers try to 'mansplain' to her over leadership election

Ex-minister warned Brexiteers not to celebrate referendum win

Jeremy Corbyn refuses to describe Qassem Soleimani as a 'terrorist'

Early front-runner Sir Keir will visit union backers on Thursday in a bid to maintain his edge in the competition.

The shadow Brexit secretary is going to Unison headquarters after the country's biggest union endorsed him in the battle to replace Mr Corbyn.

Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner has also confirmed he is "considering" a late bid for the Labour leadership.

(Top, left to right) Lisa Nandy, Jess Phillips, Keir Starmer, (bottom, left to right) Rebecca Long-Bailey, Clive Lewis and Emily Thornbury, the six Labour Party MPs fighting to become leader (PA)

The Brent North MP, who has developed a following on the left of the party for his defence of Mr Corbyn's policies, would be the seventh candidate to declare if he formally enters the race.

Story continues

Asked whether he was intending to stand for Labour leader, Mr Gardiner told the PA news agency he was "considering it at present.

Such a move could damage support for Ms Long-Bailey who has tried to position herself as the standard bearer for the left.

Shadow International Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner is said to be considering standing as Labour leader (PA)

Mr Gardiner held government roles under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, voted for the Iraq War in 2003 and backed David Miliband as Labour leader in 2010.

Would-be candidates have until Monday to secure backing to make it into the second round of the battle which will see the new leader announced on April 4.

Contenders who receive enough nominations will enter phase two of the contest, where they have to secure the backing of 5% of constituency Labour branches or at least three affiliate groups, two of which must be made up of trade unions, to get on the final ballot paper to go to the membership.

Watch more from Yahoo UK
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will launch 'Jagananna Amma Vodi' financial assistance scheme for the school going students at PVKS Degree College ground here on Thursday.

'Jagananna Amma Vodi' scheme will provide financial assistance of Rs 15,000 to nearly 43 lakh mothers or guardians who send their children to school. The financial assistance would be credited directly in the beneficiaries' savings bank accounts in January every year until the child completes Class 12, said a statement from the Andhra Pradesh government.

The Andhra Pradesh government claims that with the announcement of the scheme, student enrolment has increased by 30 per cent in the current academic year. On January 4, the government had issued an order sanctioning Rs 15,000 financial assistance under 'Jagananna Amma Vodi' scheme.

The government has allocated Rs 6455.80 crore budget for the scheme in FY 2019-20. The scheme is applicable from the academic year 2019-20 in all the government, private aided, private unaided schools/junior colleges that include residential schools and colleges as well in the state. The scheme is not applicable to dropouts from schools or colleges. The government employees and taxpayers are also not eligible for the scheme.

The government has included orphans and street children in this scheme who are studying in schools run by voluntary organizations. The financial assistance will be provided to these organizations in coordination with the department concerned.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BURLINGTON, Mass., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Arcadia (www.arcadia.io) announced today that it has been named as a Leader in population health management in the IDC MarketScape: U.S. Population Health Management 2019 Vendor Assessment (Doc# US44263219, October 2019). The IDC MarketScape evaluated Arcadia among other companies in the industry, assessing the functionality and implementation of Arcadia's population health management platform Arcadia Analytics. Arcadia was previously named a Leader in population health analytics in the IDC MarketScape: U.S. Population Health Analytics 2018 Vendor Assessment (Doc# US44375418, Oct 2018).

"Arcadia's positioning in the market and its products and services clearly support value based care," said IDC research director Cynthia Burghard. "This focus and clarity will serve clients and the organization well. Arcadia's wide range of services and/or technologies allows clients to rely on Arcadia wherever they are in the lifecycle toward value-based care."

The IDC MarketScape recognized the combination of Arcadia's technology, training, education and services for delivering customers "a clear perspective of the resources necessary to deploy a full and robust population health management program and how they can navigate their organizations through that journey."

Driving Customer Outcomes with Technology Purpose-Built for Value Based Care

Arcadia is committed to ensuring organizations are economically successful in value-based care models. Arcadia Analytics was purpose-built to support the needs of healthcare organizations taking on clinical and financial responsibilities for patient populations, from delivering sophisticated contract analytics to providing deep insights at the point of care to help providers effectively engage patients and manage risk  all on a foundation of high-quality, trusted data.

"With 10 years of experience working with both payer and provider data, Arcadia has developed significant domain expertise in the harvesting and curation of data from diverse sources," writes Burghard in the report. "This strength is reiterated by its clients and is a key differentiator."

Continued Growth of Value Based Care Requires Strategic Partners

The IDC MarketScape advises that healthcare organizations that are strategically committed to the transition to value-based health and growing the number of patients in their at-risk contracts should consider engaging with Arcadia.

The report noted that "clients give Arcadia high marks for responsiveness and demonstrating a true partnership model," with the IDC MarketScape specifically citing Arcadia's work in co-developing new functionality with its customers. "Clients indicate that the ease of use and intuitive nature of the care management functionality are as a result of the client partnership model," writes Burghard.

"As payers and providers optimize their performance under risk-based contracts, it is critical that they leverage the best-available technology and services to support analytics, care management and patient engagement to drive outcomes," said Arcadia CEO Sean Carroll. "We are proud to once again be included in the IDC MarketScape on population health management and look forward to establishing more partnerships to facilitate healthcare's successful and financially sustainable transition to value-based care."

To download a complimentary excerpt from the IDC MarketScape report, please visit arcadia.io.

About IDC MarketScape:

IDC MarketScape vendor assessment model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of ICT (information and communications technology) suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor's position within a given market. IDC MarketScape provides a clear framework in which the product and service offerings, capabilities and strategies, and current and future market success factors of IT and telecommunications vendors can be meaningfully compared. The framework also provides technology buyers with a 360-degree assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and prospective vendors.

About Arcadia

Arcadia.io (www.arcadia.io) is a population health management company, specializing in data aggregation, analytics, and workflow software for value-based care. Our customers achieve financial success in their risk-sharing contracts through Arcadia's focus on creating the highest quality data asset, pushing expertly derived insights to the point of care, and supporting administrative staff with data when and where they need it with applications including care management and referral management. Arcadia has off-the-shelf integration technology for more than 40 different physical and behavioral health EHR vendors, powered by machine learning that combs through variations in over 35 million longitudinal patient records across clinical, claims and operational data sources. Arcadia software and outsourced ACO services are trusted by some of the largest risk-bearing health systems and health plans in the country to improve the bottom line. Founded in 2002, Arcadia is headquartered outside Boston in Burlington, MA, with offices in Seattle, Pittsburgh, and outside Chicago in Rockford, IL.

Media Contacts:

Alyssa Drew, Director of Strategic Marketing, Arcadia.io

781.202.3775

[email protected]

Nicole Rodriguez, Senior Account Director, Amendola Communications for Arcadia.io

949.520.0057

[email protected]

SOURCE Arcadia.io

Related Links

https://www.arcadia.io/


The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has asked Kerala to pay Rs 205 crore for the rice allotted as flood relief during 2018-19.

The FC, sent a letter to the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) stated that it had distributed 89,000 tonnes of rice in the state when the state was reeling under the flood and asked the agency to settle the bill of Rs 205.81 crore.

"..it was requested to take necessary steps to settle the bill raised by FCI towards the cost of 89,540 tonnes of rice lifted from FCI against the additional allocation made under flood relief during 2018-19 and remit the amount of Rs 205.81 crore to FCI at the earliest," the letter said.

The development came hours after a high-level committee (HLC) chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah approved additional central assistance of Rs 5908.56 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to seven states which had experienced heavy flooding and losses in 2019. While seven flood-hit states Assam (Rs 616.63 crore) Himachal Pradesh (Rs 284.93 crore) Karnataka (Rs 1869.85 crore) Madhya Pradesh (Rs 1749.73 crore) Maharashtra (Rs 956.93 crore) Tripura (Rs 63.32 crore) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 367.17 crore) were provided financial assistance, Kerala which was one of the worst-hit states was left out.

The state had sought a financial aid of Rs 2101 crore from the Center.

"When the centre yesterday allotted Rs 5,908 crore to the seven states for dealing with damage from various natural calamities, the committee headed by Union Minister Amit Shah refused to allot even a single rupee to Kerala. The state was also denied any assistance when an interim aid was given to four states earlier," CPI state chief Kanam Rajendran said in a release.

This is not the first time that left-ruled Kerala has accused the BJP government in Delhi of playing politics over flood relief. In 2018 too the government had sent a bill of Rs 290.74 crore to the state in compensation for operating the aircraft that helped in rescue and relief operations during the flood. The Kerala Government had also accused the Modi government of not allowing the state to receive financial support from foreign countries, including several middle eastern nations that have a sizeable Malayali population.

The Narendra Modi-led government was also accused of denying permission to Kerala minister to go abroad to collect funds for flood relief. In 2018 the Centre had provided initial assistance of Rs 600 crore to Kerala and later another Rs 3,048 crore was allocated to the state ad additional assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
By WestKyStar & McConnell Staff Jan. 09, 2020 | 02:30 PM | WASHINGTON DC



Late last year, Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats sped through a slapdash impeachment of President Trump in 12 weeks. Because, they insisted, the need to undo the 2016 election was urgent. Urgent, they said.





Since then, the same people have spent three weeks dragging their heels and refusing to proceed to a Senate trial.



Supposedly, the explanation for this shameless game-playing is that Speaker Pelosi wanted leverage to reach into the Senate and dictate our trial proceedings to us. Ive made clear from the beginning that no such leverage exists. Its nonexistent. And yesterday we made it clear it will never exist.



A majority of the Senate has decided that the first phase of an impeachment trial should track closely with the unanimous bipartisan precedent that all 100 senators supported for the first phase of the Clinton trial back in 1999.





There will be no haggling with the House over Senate procedure. We will not cede our authority to try this impeachment. The House Democrats turn is over. The Senate has made its decision.





The 1999 precedent does not guarantee witnesses or foreclose witnesses. Let me say that again: it neither guarantees witnesses nor forecloses witnesses. It leaves those determinations until later in the trial where they belong.





I fully expect the parties will raise questions about witnesses at the appropriate time. I would remind my friends on the other side: I strongly suspect that not all the potential witnesses would be people the Democrats are eager to hear from.





So the Senate will address all these questions at the appropriate time. That is for the Senate, and the Senate only, to decide. Period.



Now even fellow Democrats are expressing public concern over the Speakers endless appetite for these cynical games.



Heres what the junior senator from Connecticut told the press yesterday: He said, I think the time has passed. She should send the articles over. And the senior senator from West Virginia said: I think it needs to start, I really do. And the junior senator from Maine said: I think it is time for the Speaker to send the articles over.





My Democratic friends are losing patience -- just like the American people are losing patience. The country knows this absurdity should not go on.





So what are the American people saying? A recent Harvard/Harris poll found that 58 percent of Americans believe Speaker Pelosi should send the articles to the Senate, not continue holding them up. Let me say that again, this is a Harvard poll: found that 58 percent of Americans believe Speaker Pelosi should send the articles to the Senate, not continue holding them up.





And in the same survey, 77 percent believe Democrats need to accept the same structure as the Clinton trial rather than hold out for special new rules.





So were beginning to hear from the American people, how they view this standoff.





We all know that senators have a diversity of opinions about President Trump; about the House inquiry; about the optimal structure for a trial.



But notwithstanding all this, no senator  no senator  should want the House of Representatives to steamroll institutional norms and dictate our business to us.



Havent enough toxic new precedents been set in recent months? Hasnt the House broken enough constitutional china already?

This is not about the current Speaker and the current President. Do my colleagues believe this is what a future Democratic president would deserve? Do they believe it is good for the country?



There is a reason the Constitution reads the way it does. The House has the sole power of impeachment. They have exercised it. But it is the Senate to whom the founders gave the sole power to try all impeachments. End of story.



And yet, even as her fellow Democrats are jumping ship, the Speaker is trying to double down.





Yesterday evening, in the midst of these deadly serious events, Speaker Pelosi put out yet another statement saying she has no intention to end her political game-playing. At the very same time that a global crisis was unfolding in real time, she published yet another Dear Colleague letter saying she intends to keep our commander-in-chief in this limbo indefinitely.



Im glad Democratic Senators are losing patience with this. I would urge my friend the Democratic Leader to listen to his own members.





My distinguished colleague from New York is the Minority Leader in the United States Senate. He is a senior member of an independent branch of our bicameral legislature. The Senate is not a creature of the House. The Democratic Leader does not need to continue to be in thrall to the Speaker. He does not need to keep colluding with outside efforts to supplant the judgment of his own colleagues.



Stand up for the Senate. Stand up for our institutions. Stand up for the country.













U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks Wednesday on the Senate floor regarding impeachment: Now, I do need to say a few words about the other serious matter occupying the Congress.
A police detective who fabricated a fake assault and lied under oath in order to imprison an innocent man has been spared jail time.

Former NYPD officer Michael Bergmann, 34, filed a criminal complaint claiming that a burglary suspect  whose car he had reportedly been pulling over for months in order to find grounds for his arrest  had tried to run him over in such a manner that the offending vehicle left skid marks on the ground.

The defendant locked eyes with me, turned the car into reverse, floored the vehicle into reverse approximately seven feet, Bergmann told the grand jury in a trial over the alleged attack.

As Im still yelling, the defendant put it in drive, turned the vehicle towards me to the point where I was in between his headlights, and if I didnt jump out of the way, I would have been under his vehicle.

Bergmann also claimed he sustained injuries to his elbow while diving out of the way. But surveillance footage unearthed by the defendants lawyers showed none of those stated claims to be true.

The defendant, 44-year-old Pedro Barbosa, is reportedly seeking help with a drug problem that led to him falling behind on child support payments and had sometimes resorted to stealing change from apartment buildings laundry rooms, but had never been accused of violence, according to the Washington Post.

A suspended sentence for drug possession meant Bergmann could pull over Mr Barbosa whenever he saw him driving.

They would follow me wherever I went. Theyd tell me, Were going to get you off the streets, he told The Post. If they found anything in my car, even a screwdriver, theyd arrest me for possessing burglary tools.

As a result of Bergmanns claims, Mr Barbosa was charged with attempted first-degree assault of a police officer and various other offences, and faced a maximum jail sentence of 15 years, and a minimum of three and a half years.

Story continues

But while he was remanded in New Yorks notorious Rikers Island prison, Mr Barbosas public defenders office in Brooklyn discovered footage of the incident.

It clearly shows an unmarked police car stopping alongside Mr Barbosas parked car. Appearing to recognise Bergmann as he steps out of the car, Mr Barbosa hastily drives off, neither reversing nor taking aim at the detective.

The charges were dropped and, in November, Bergmann pleaded guilty to perjury, making a false statement and official misconduct. Prosecutors asked for Bergmann to receive jail time of one year.

The district attorneys office expected Judge Danny Chun to sentence him to six months in prison, according the New York Daily News.

But on Wednesday, Mr Chun ruled that jail time was unnecessary, sentencing Bergmann to one day in prison, which he had already served. He will spend four years on probation.

Considering the crime that the defendant committed, I do find a six month incarceration ... would be unduly harsh, Mr Chun said.

Bergmann has been fired from the NYPD, but is reportedly looking for work as a firearms inspector.

Michael Bergmann did one of the worst things a human being could ever do to another: give false testimony that would put them in jail wrongfully, said Mr Barbosas public defender, Scott Hechinger.He did so brazenly and maliciously. He lied in sworn testimony before a grand jury.

While Mr Hechinger describes the judges decision to undercut the prosecutions recommended sentencing as a rare step, he revealed it is not the first time Mr Chun has spared convicted police officers jail time in favour of probation.

One such case involved two NYPD officers convicted for having sex with a teenager in custody in exchange for her freedom, with the New York Post reporting Mr Chun questioned the victims credibility and said that both sides had been guilty of crimes relating to the bribe.

In another instance, he allowed a former NYPD officer who twice shot a man in the face and then tampered with the evidence to walk free.

Police lie because they know theyll rarely if ever be held to account, Mr Hechinger said. It is a good thing Bergmann was fired and prosecuted. But probation? I just hope that this punishment sends the necessary message of zero tolerance to all on the force. I fear it wont.

Police lying is an epidemic not just in the NYPD, but in police forces around the country.

Read more

Tottenham and police find no evidence of racial abuse of Rudiger

20,000 new officers will not solve UKs crime problems  police chief

Criminal exploitation of children back to Victorian times
Giant sequoias are some of the most massive, oldest living things on earth  and they can only be found here in California's western Sierra Nevada. They are endangered, but fortunately, one conservation group has started off 2020 with an impressive effort to help protect them. Save the Redwoods League raised $15.65 million from donors around the world to purchase Alder Creek, a grove in the Sequoia National Forest that is home to hundreds of the ancient trees.

Among these giant sequoias on the 530-acre Alder Creek property is the Stagg Tree, the fifth-largest tree in the world that is believed to be over 3,000 years old. Now over 98 percent of California's giant sequoia groves are protected by public, tribal or Save the Redwoods League ownership.
Pelosi Indicates Impeachment Articles Might Soon Be Transferred to Senate

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) refused to specify when shed submit two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate, even as a growing number of lawmakers from her own party said she should transmit the articles to the upper chamber.

You all keep asking me the same question, I keep giving you the same answer, Pelosi told reporters during her weekly press briefing on Jan. 9. As I said right from the start: We need to see the arena in which were sending our managers. Is that too much to ask?

Im not holding them indefinitely. Ill send them over when Im ready. And that will probably be soon.

At another point, Pelosi said, We may send them over. Im not responsible to Mitch McConnell or anybody else except for my members.

Pelosi claimed that some Republican senators want to dismiss the case without hearing arguments from the prosecution and defense. It wasnt clear who she was referring to.

We would have hoped, like with the Clinton process, that there would have been a bipartisan resolution determining how to proceed, she said, adding that the impeachment of Trump is not like the impeachment of Clinton, who was ultimately acquitted by the Senate.

At some point, we would hope that we would see from them what the terms of engagement will be. We are ready. We are proud of our defense of the Constitution of the United States.

President Donald Trump speaks about the situation with Iran in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington on Jan. 8, 2020. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Democrats, who control the House, impeached Trump last month in a partisan vote, with no Republicans voting for it and a handful of Democrats breaking with their party to vote against one or both articles; one Democrat voted present on both articles. Republicans have a 5347 majority in the Senate, where a supermajority is required to convict a president and remove him from office. Only a simple majority is required for acquittal.

Pelosi told reporters before the press conference, about the timeline for sending the articles to the Senate, I know exactly when, but I wont be telling you right now. She read from a piece of paper at the press briefing, listing new evidence since Trump was impeached that she said bolstered Democrats impeachment case.

Earlier on Jan. 9, at least two House Democrats publicly called for the articles to be transmitted to the Senate.

I think it was perfectly advisable for the Speaker to try to leverage that to get a better deal. At this point, it doesnt look like thats going to happen, Armed Services Chairman Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said.

It is time to send the impeachment to the Senate and let Mitch McConnell be responsible for the fairness of the trial.

Smith later said he misspoke and supported Pelosi holding onto the articles longer if she thought that was best.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) walks to his office at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 9, 2020. (Tom Brenner/Reuters)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has dismissed notions that Pelosi withholding the articles could influence how the Senate conducts the impeachment trial. He announced this week that Republicans had enough votes to approve rules used in the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton, and told lawmakers Jan. 8 that there wouldnt be any haggling with the House over Senate rules.

We will not cede our authority to try this impeachment, he said. The House Democrats turn is over. The Senate has made its decision.

On the Senate floor on Jan. 9 prior to Pelosis press conference, McConnell read a quote from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), one of multiple Senate Democrats who said this week the articles should be sent to the Senate.

The Speaker of the House has done the impossible, McConnell said. The Senate might not agree on much, but it appears most of us still recognize a threat to our institution when we see one.

McConnell also said that the Senate will move forward next week with the business of our people, or its legislative agenda, if it doesnt get the articles to start a trial.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that Pelosi has done just the right thing, claiming the withholding of the articles has left McConnell frustrated.

If the Speaker had sent the articles of impeachment over to the Senate immediately after they passed, Senate Republicans could have moved to dismiss the articles. There was a lot of talk about that a while ago. There wouldnt have been a fair or even a cursory trial, and they might have even tried to dismiss the whole articles before Christmas, he said.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) (C) speaks to the media after attending a briefing with administration officials about the situation with Iran, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 8, 2020. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Instead of over the past few weeks not only have they been prevented from doing that, there have been several crucial disclosures of evidence that appear to further incriminate the president, each disclosure bolstering the argument we Democrats have made for a trial that features the relevant witnesses and documents. That has been Speaker Pelosis focus from the very beginning. That has been my focus from the very beginning.

Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said that most Republicans in the Senate expect to receive the impeachment articles at some point.

We will give the president a fair opportunity to be heard, something that was lacking in the House of Representatives, he said.

I heard the Democratic Leaders suggestion that the reason the House had to sit on this is if they sent this over to the Senate, that somehow the Senate would dismiss this early, or immediately, or something along those lines. I have no idea where that comes from. Thats never been the intention here from the Republicans in the Senate.

The Republicans in the Senate know full well that we have a job to do under the constitution, in which we hear the case, hear the arguments, ask questions, consider the possibility of additional evidence being presented, and weve said all along that thats how we intend to treat this.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday held comprehensive talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart Dinesh Gunawardena, exploring ways to further deepen bilateral ties in a range of areas including trade and investment. Gunawardena arrived here last night on a three-day visit. Officials said almost all aspects of bilateral relations were discussed in talks between the two ministers.

Delhi: Sri Lanka's Minister of Foreign Relations, Dinesh Gunawardena meets External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at Hyderabad House pic.twitter.com/veNpktEudd  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020
A judge has ordered Google to turn over a year's worth of Jussie Smollett's emails, private messages, photographs and location data to a special prosecutor who is looking into why prosecutors abruptly dismissed criminal charges against the actor.

On Wednesday, the Chicago Tribune reported that it had obtained two search warrants submitted by special prosecutor Dan Webb and signed off by Cook County Judge Michael Toomin last month.

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx's office filed and quickly dropped 16 counts of disorderly conduct against Smollett for allegedly staging a January 2019 attack in downtown Chicago and lying about it to police.

Toomin appointed Webb months later and the warrants offer the first public hints about what he has been investigating.

When the charges were filed, Chicago police alleged the black and openly gay Smollett paid two brothers to stage what appeared to be a racist and homophobic attack.

Jussie Smollett (pictured in a police mug shot) was charged with multiple counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly staging an attack on himself, but prosecutors dropped the charges

Cops claimed the Empire actor was unhappy with his salary and hoping to promote his career.

Nigerian bodybuilders Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo reportedly told police Smollett paid them $3,500 to carry out the attack.

Smollett has maintained his innocence.

Police conducted an exhaustive investigation that included nearly 1,900 hours of overtime as they looked into Smollett's claim that he was beaten by two masked men on a downtown Chicago street in January.

He claimed that the men used racist and homophobic slurs and looped a noose around his neck before fleeing.

Judge Michael Toomin, pictured, has ordered Google to hand over a year's worth of Jussie Smollett's emails

Nigerian bodybuilders Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo reportedly told police Smollett paid them $3,500 to carry out the attack

For days, detectives scoured the neighborhood for witnesses, analyzed dozens of videos from surveillance cameras on the street, on buildings and inside taxi cabs.

They also interviewed store owners in search of who might have sold the suspects the rope.

When Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson announced charges against Smollett, he angrily said that Smollett 'took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career.'

When the charges were filed, Chicago police alleged the black and openly gay Smollett paid two brothers to stage what appeared to be a racist and homophobic attack. Smollett denies the allegations.

But in March, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx's office announced a stunning decision to drop the 16 felony counts related to making a false report.

The announcement angered Johnson and then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and led to a city lawsuit against Smollett.

In the warrants, Webb seeks information from the Google accounts of Smollett and his manager, including unsent draft emails and deleted messages. He also requests files from their Google Drive cloud storage services, Google Voice texts, and web browsing history.

Prosecutor Kim Foxx's office sensationally dropped the charges despite the police department's certainty that Smollett had faked the attack

Webb has not publicly discussed the investigation.

But the fact the warrants seek data between November 2018 and November 2019 suggests investigators could be trying to support the original police allegation that Smollett planned and helped stage a fake attack.

It remains unclear if Google has turned over the information. In approving the warrants, Toomin ordered Google not to disclose the order, saying that doing so 'may jeopardize an ongoing criminal investigation'.

A Google spokesman told the Tribune that he could not comment on requests for records from law enforcement.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed the department is conducting 'follow-ups' of its initial investigation but he declined to comment further.

An attorney who tried to block the appointment of the special prosecutor and another attorney representing Smollett in a federal civil case did not immediately return calls for comment.
New Delhi: A petition filed in Patiala House court on Thursday (January 9) sought a stay on the release of the Deepika Padukone-starrer Chhapaak, by one Aparna Bhatt, who submitted that she fought the case on behalf of the acid attack victim but denied any credit in the film.

Her advocate told the court that Bhatt also extended help in the preparation of the film script, but failed to get any credit. Aparna Bhatt had sought the credit not the money, said the lawyer.

On January 7, Aparna Bhatt came to know that she is not getting any credit in the film, while she was intimated through an email that her name would be mentioned, the advocate informed the court, seeking a stay on the film's release.

Live TV

The court, however, has reserved the order that would be announced in the later part of the day.

The Bombay High Court, however, cleared the decks for the release of Chhapaak on Wednesday, after hearing the petition filed by writer Rakesh Bharti, and said that no person can claim copyright on a story inspired by true events.

Justice SC Gupte heard Bharti's petition claiming that he was the original writer of the story on the life of the acid attack survivor on which the film is based.

Bharti sought a stay on the January 10, 2020 release of the film until such time his name was included in the credits as one of the creative writers.

Notably, Chhapaak is based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal.
/ -- The Government of Odisha continues to propel employment opportunities and boost industrialisation in the state by according its approval to three investment proposals worth Rs 17,833 crore which will create 6539 new jobs.

The High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) meeting held under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik today in the Conference hall in Kharavela Bhawan further strengthened the predominance of the state in the core sectors of steel, aluminum and thermal power by approving a proposal each in those sectors.

Hon'ble Chief Minister took stock of the follow up of investment intents received during MIO 2016 and MIO 2018. Odisha has seen diversified Industrial development in the recent years with grounding of projects in Textile & Apparel, Chemical & Petrochemicals, Tourism and Food processing sectors. Principal Secretary Industries, Shri Hemant Sharma, presented a roadmap for MIO 2020 which included outreach activities, industrial infrastructure development and policy interventions.

The HLCA approved the proposal of Hindalco Industries Ltd. for setting up a 2 Million Ton per annum (MTPA) Alumina Refinery unit at- Kansariguda, District- Rayagada with a total investment of Rs. 8000 crore providing employment to about 4250 people.

It also approved the proposal of NTPC Ltd. for expansion of thermal power plant capacity of Talcher Thermal Power Station, located at: Talcher, Dist: Angul with additional investment of Rs.7698.46 crores.

The proposal of Rungta Mines Limited (RML) to expand its Integrated Steel Plant from 0.27 MTPA to 0.9 MTPA capacity at village- Kamanda, District - Sundargarh with a total investment of Rs. 2135 crore providing additional employment of 2289 people was also approved by HLCA.

About Odisha



Located on the east coast of India, Odisha has a coastline of 480 kms along the Bay of Bengal. The modern State of Odisha was formed on 1 April, 1936 but its history dates to the era of Kalinga mentioned in the Mahabharata. Over the years the state has maintained a unique cultural identity distinct from all of its neighbouring States.

Traditionally, the State has been known for its mineral and mining strength. Since the turn of the millennium, the focus of the State has shifted to manufacturing and services industrial growth. The State Government has also taken several unique initiatives to ensure that a hassle-free and conducive business environment is provided to the investors setting up units in the State. This website is a one-stop location for all such information.

About IPICOL:



Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha (IPICOL) is the single point of contact for all industrial investments in the State. IPICOL is responsible for devising the investment promotion, facilitation and aftercare strategy for The state of Odisha.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Fan Song

Some films are made just to satisfy the cravings of die hard fans and Darbar is one of them. It's aimed at fans who like to see their favourite superstar Rajinikanth enter the frame in his characteristic way, wear his sunglasses in his characteristic style, mouth punch dialogue galore and beat up twenty goons at one go. He's been doing it for more than 30 years now. But the magic of his trademark moves hasn't faded. So even a director of AR Murugadoss' stature has bowed down to the obvious.

Aadhithya Arunachalam (Rajinikanth) is the newly arrived commissioner of police in Mumbai who works with his own set of rules. He wants to end the drug scene in Mumbai and captures the chief drug supplier Ajay Malhotra (Pratiek Babbar) to make that happen. It all seems to be going his way till his daughter gets killed in a road accident and he too gets injured. An enemy is on the prowl and Arunachalam has to utilise both his wits and fists to set things rights.

The film has the longest flashback in the history of filmmaking. It begins right at the beginning of the film and extends 20 minutes into the second half. Director AR Murugadoss could easily have chosen to tell the story in a linear progression. It wouldn't have done any harm to the film. The narration gets unnecessarily complicated because of this indulgence. Murugadoss is known for his twists but here they have little impact. The first twist, that of a proxy being used by the villain doesn't really grip you and the other, that of the identity of the chief villain being hidden from the hero too isn't as effective a ploy it could have been. Somehow instead of an astute director, we feel it's a super fan making a film for his ideal. There are conflicting ideologies at play here. And as a result the film suffers.

Nayanthara is a female superstar in her own right but has been grossly underutilised here. One wants to know what was the need to cast her in the film. Except maybe to give something extra to the fans. She's graceful and charming no doubt but there's nothing substantial for her to do in this film. You get a sense of opportunity being wasted.

And the same is true for Rajinikanth as well. Does he really need another fan vehicle at this stage? Shouldn't he be getting roles that challenge him as an actor because underneath the trademark mannerisms lies one of the most brilliant actors alive today. Why can't directors utilise his talent to push the envelope rather than making him work his swag in every film.

To his credit, he does everything demanded of him and more with characteristic panache. He showcases snatches of grief-ridden madness in between. And the scenes where we see his bond with his daughter Valli (Nivetha Thomas) bring out his softer side. His acting skills certainly haven't dulled with time. Now it's up to his directors to let go of their idol worship...
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A key witness in special counsel Robert Muellers investigation is expected to plead guilty to charges of child sex trafficking and possessing child pornography.

A criminal information was filed Thursday in federal count in Alexandria against George Nader , a Lebanese-American businessman who worked to advance Saudi Arabias agenda to the Trump administration. An information is generally an indication of a looming guilty plea.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for Monday afternoon.

Nader was charged in June with possessing and transporting images of child pornography and bestiality on his cellphone. In July, prosecutors added an allegation that Nader transported a 14-year-old boy from Europe to Washington, D.C., in 2000 and engaged in sex acts with him.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office in Alexandria declined comment. Naders lawyers did not immediately return a phone call and emails seeking comment Thursday afternoon.

Naders name shows up more than 100 times in Muellers report. It details Naders efforts to serve as liaison between a Russian banker close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and members of President Donald Trumps transition team.

Nader also served as an adviser to the United Arab Emirates, a close Saudi ally, and in 2017 wired $2.5 million to a top Trump fundraiser, Elliott Broidy, through a company in Canada, The Associated Press reported in 2018. The goal was to persuade the U.S. to take a hard line against Qatar, a longtime American ally but now an adversary of the UAE.

Nader was previously convicted in the Czech Republic of 10 cases of sexually abusing minors and sentenced to a one-year prison term in 2003.

Nader also pleaded guilty to a charge of transporting child-pornography images in Virginia in 1991.

The current investigation of Nader began in 2018 when images depicting child pornography and bestiality were found on his phone after it was confiscated under a search warrant connected to the Mueller probe.
India: Rehabilitation of fishing community should not harm livelihood says John Kurien

January 09,2020 | Source: The Hindu Business Line

Discussions at the ongoing third international marine symposium on marine ecosystems: challenges and opportunities (MECOS-3) has focused on the rehabilitation of fishermen community to a safe and secure place. John Kurien, visiting Professor at the Azim Premji University, Bengaluru said that the fishers should be given land for housing on the right side of the coastal road, 200 metre from the sea, and the rehabilitation should never be in such a way harming their livelihood.



Many of the coastal villages are increasingly reeling under severe sea erosion thanks to a range of reasons, including climatic phenomenon. The fishermen community deserves a secure dwelling place, but the sea wall has never become an ideal solution, he said. At the same time, the attempts to move the fishing community into faraway places from the coastal belt should be avoided, as this will definitely affect their livelihood, he added.



He was speaking at a session on fisheries and ecosystem sustainability of the MECOS-3 being held at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI). He also pointed out that marine fisheries should be moved into concurrent list of the constitution by ensuring enough room for consultation between the centre and states. This would help uniform regulations in the sector. Cooperative federalism in regulation and management of territorial sea would be ideal.



Touching upon the ecosystem destruction and overfishing, Kurien said that internal waters and territorial sea within 12 nautical miles should be free from trawling, pursue-seining and corporate fishing. These waters are exclusive zone for small-scale fishing, he said. He further said that fishermen should be given the right of the first sale of the fish caught by them. Disconnecting the link between credit and product control would benefit the fishers. In the backdrop of climate change, the traditional knowledge of the coastal people should be utilised for identifying the indications of ecosystem changes due to climatic reasons.

Theme(s): Post Harvest Technology and Trade, Fisheries Development and Aquaculture, Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods, Landing Centres, Coastal Ecosystems and Threats, Communities and Organisations, Freshwater ecosystems and threats, Fisheries Resources, Others.
A panel discussion in The First Belt and Road Sinology and Cultural Development Forum underscored the significant role that intercultural communication is playing in securing sound and sustainable development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The group session, organized by the Beijing Language and Culture University on January 7, in the Chinese capital, covered a variety of topics regarding intercultural connections among countries involved in the BRI.

The subjects were divided into several sub-categories, such as, historical illustration for the evolution of sinology, cultural conservation and intercommunication, distorted or hallucinated State images, that were felt to have resulted particularly from overestimated evaluations towards western society, along with the essential role of translation and interpretation in cross-cultural communication and interconnectivities.

In his 15-minute-long presentation, Wang Yinquan, a professor from the Nanjing Agricultural University, introduced the history of modern Sinology. Unlike the missionary sinology notably promoted by Italian Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) and Polish missionary Michal Boym (1612-1659), during the Great Era of Navigation, modern sinology free of religious influence was founded by Jean-Pierre Abel-Remusa, a French scholar from the College de France, on December 11, 1814.

"His Chinese studies laid a solid foundation for the evolution of sinology as a modern academic discipline," Wang said.

While recalling the parade at the 70th Anniversary of the founding of People's Republic of China on October 1, 2019, when 2,000 young ethnic students from the Minzu University of China (MUC) formed a square, Mark Levine, the American sinologist who taught at MUC and witnessed the whole practice, showed his appreciation of China's ethnic unity.

"The students coming from all across the land, from every Chinese nationality, study with each other and are proud of their own culture," he said while addressing the panel discussion.

He said, some overseas scholars asked him whether conflicts were inevitable in a campus where students from different ethnic groups live and study together. However, to their surprise, Levine's answer was negative. He said, insofar as he had observed, there had been no such conflicts.

"They [the students] represent the future of their country, united. Diversity will make their common future better, showing, although with differences, that all can get along," he said, "Minzu University of China is an example of building a community of a shared future'."

Finnish sinologist Fred Dervin echoed Levine's remarks, saying that the case of the MUC encouraged scholars to think about interculturality from a different perspective.

"So MUC could be an option, and obviously, like all policies, like all intellectual discourses about diversity, it is multi-faceted."

When talking about interculturality, Dervin compared the public opinions between China and Finland, which, according to him, were rather imbalanced.

"When I'm in Finland, I hear lots of criticisms about China, but when I'm in China I don't actually see the point of these criticisms. However, when I'm in China I see a lot of beautiful discourses about Finland. Everybody loves Finland and I don't know why."

To substantiate his point, Dervin told of a conversation between himself and a Chinese school principal who told Dervin that Finland had the best education system in the world.

However, when Dervin asked how many times the principal had visited Finland, he answered: "never", adding that he learned it from a domestic television program. Yet, Dervin said this view was far from true.

During recent years, the promotion of intercultural communication has been accompanied often by exploration of traditions.

In Japanese sinologist Teruyuki Kubo's 10-minute representation, he demonstrated a Japanese customary meal: the porridge with seven herbs. Each year, the Japanese people take it in the hope of living a longer life. However, according to Kubo, the practice was first introduced from China, where there was a story about a Chinese emperor seeking longevity. He abdicated his supreme power and turned to cultivating farmland.

However, the most interesting thing was the recipes the former emperor received from a divine to make the porridge coincided with the ingredients recorded in one of Japan's official publications on Chinese medicine in medieval times, an era marking the mutual communication between the two neighboring Asian countries.
This handout picture released by the US Army shows U.S. Army Paratroopers assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, deploy from Pope Army Airfield, North Carolina on January 1, 2020.

Fake news had a field day amid last week's dramatic escalation in U.S.-Iran tensions, even managing to convince several Americans that the U.S. was reinstating the draft for an impending war with Iran.

"United States Official Army Draft, we tried contacting you through the mail several times and have had no response," the text messages read, which were sent out in the days after the U.S. launched a drone strike in Baghdad that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.

"You've been marked eligible and must come to the nearest recruitment branch in Jacksonville, Florida for immediate departure to Iran."

Tweet1

"We're aware that this number is not disconnected, you'll be fined and sent to jail for minimum 6 years if no reply," the text concluded.

The message was signed off "U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion" and offers a name and location to which the recipient is directed to report.

It's not known how many people received messages, but it was apparently enough that the U.S. Army had to make an official statement after recruiting offices in the U.S. were hit with a barrage of panicked phone calls.

"U.S. Army Recruiting Command has received multiple calls and emails about these fake text messages and wants to ensure Americans understand these texts are false and were not initiated by this command or the U.S. Army," a statement on the Army's website read.

A similar version of the message that was circulated read: "You've been marked eligible and must come to the nearest branch in New Jersey Area for immediate departure to Iran."

The U.S. disbanded the draft in 1973, and the country's military  the third-largest in the world after China and India with just over 1.2 million active personnel  has been an all-volunteer force since.

The demographic of who the messages were sent to appears random  from adults to kids as young as 14, according U.S. Army Recruiting Command media relations chief who spoke to NPR.

The Army statement added, "Registering for the Selective Service does not enlist a person into the military. Army recruiting operations are proceeding as normal."

Heavy online traffic brought down parts of the Selective Services System website on Jan. 3 and it posted a notice on its website that read, "Due to the spread of misinformation, our website is experiencing high volumes of traffic at this time. If you are registering or attempting to verify registration, please check back later today as we are working to resolve this issue."

The Selective Service System (SSS) is an independent U.S. government agency that holds information on Americans eligible for conscription, and all males between the ages of 18 to 26 are required by law to register their information with it. Because the draft is no longer in place, its relevance is minimal, and compliance is patchy.

Fears of greater conflict in the Middle East shook global markets after the Trump administration's Jan. 3 strike on Soleimani, who had headed Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force and led Iranian expansion through proxy forces around the region. "WW3" was trending on Twitter. Trump has since announced that Iran "appears to be standing down" after an Iranian retaliatory strike resulted in no casualties, but Iran's Revolutionary Guards are publicly threatening further revenge.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 23:45:10|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TOKYO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government and prosecutors on Thursday refuted allegations made by former Nissan Motor Co. chief Carlos Ghosn in his first press conference after jumping bail and fleeing from Japan to Lebanon, that Japan's judicial system was unjust.

Ghosn, who is facing charges of financial misconduct and was awaiting trial in Tokyo, fled to Lebanon in late December.

During his first press conference on Wednesday in Beirut beamed live around the world, the ex-auto tycoon maintained his decision to jump bail and take flight from Japan was to clear his name, claiming that all allegations made against him were false.

"I am here to clear my name. These allegations are untrue, and I should have never been arrested in the first place. The allegations are baseless," the 65-year-old said, adding that he would not receive a fair trial in Japan.

"I did not escape justice. I fled injustice and persecution, political persecution." He also stated he was "ready to stand trial anywhere if I can have a fair trial."

But, Japanese Justice Minister Masako Mori said Ghosn's comments were baseless, and refuted his claims that he was subjected to "hostage justice" and a judicial process that infringed on his human rights.

Ghosn's comments were "abstract, unclear or baseless assertions," Mori said.

She added that Ghosn claiming he was subjected to extremely harsh interrogation methods, faced a deliberately lengthy judicial process and was forcibly isolated from his wife, while on bail, did not justify his escape from Japan.

"Those assertions will not justify his flight from Japan in any way. If defendant Ghosn has anything to say on his criminal case, he should make his argument at a Japanese court and present concrete evidence," said Mori.

She went on to say that the justice system in Japan "sets out appropriate procedures and is administered properly, and does not bar a person from seeing an individual unless there is a flight risk or danger of evidence being destroyed or concealed."

Ghosn's claims that his arrest more than a year ago by Tokyo prosecutors was politically motivated and part of a conspiracy against him, were also rejected by Mori, who said in a statement "there is no way that the prosecutors would take part in any kind of conspiracy of any interest groups and investigate a matter that has not reached a threshold."

Japan's top government spokesperson Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga also maintained Japan's judicial system was fair, appropriate and respected basic human rights.

Following Japan requesting an Interpol warrant for Ghosn's alleged financial misconduct, prosecutors in Lebanon imposed a travel ban on the former auto bigwig, although Ghosn said in his press conference he was ready to stay in Lebanon for "a long time" and continue to fight to restore his "tarnished" reputation.

On his choice to flee Japan to Lebanon, one of the prosecutors here involved in the case took aim at his choice of destination.

"If he is innocent and thinks countries other than Japan are fairer, why didn't he go to the United States or France?" the prosecutor quizzed, intimating that he may receive preferential treatment in Lebanon as he is highly regarded in both political and business circles there.

Ghosn, who holds Brazilian, French and Lebanese nationality, is believed to have left from Kansai International Airport in Osaka on a private jet on Dec. 29, traveling to Lebanon via Turkey.

Sources close to the matter have said that immigration here have no record of Ghosn leaving Japan.

It has been reported that he managed to flee Japan with the assistance of a security company and was in possession of a French passport.

Prosecutors and police here remain flummoxed and have been scrambling to try and determine exactly how Ghosn managed to fund and carry out the costly escape while under strict bail conditions limiting his access to phones, computers and mandating he stay in a surveilled residence.

The Tokyo District Court, meanwhile, has since decided it will forfeit the 1.5-billion-yen (14 million U.S. dollar) bail money posted by Ghosn.

Japan has been seeking cooperation from Lebanon in trying to better understand Ghosn's escape from Japan.

Japan and Lebanon have no extradition treaty, meaning Ghosn cannot be handed over to Japan to face trail without Lebanon agreeing.
Avoid taking paracetamol before heartfelt conversations with loved ones because it blocks your ability to feel empathy for them, scientists warn.

The world's most popular painkiller, taken by millions every day, blunts physical pain by reducing the flow of chemicals that make nerve endings sensitive.

But research suggests these chemicals circulate in brain regions that also control empathy and compassion.

Dominik Mischkowski, a psychologist at Ohio University, believes paracetamol, or acetaminophen, warp people's personalities by dulling their emotions.

Avoid taking paracetamol before heartfelt conversations with loved ones because it blocks your ability to feel empathy for them, scientists warn (stock)

He said the public should be more aware of their sinister side-effect so they can use 'common sense' to decide when to take them.

Mr Mischkowski told the BBC: 'Just like we should be aware that you shouldn't get in front of the wheel if you're under the influence of alcohol, you don't want to take paracetamol and then put yourself into a situation that requires you to be emotionally responsive  like having a serious conversation with a partner or co-worker.

'When you give somebody a drug, you don't just give it to a person  you give it to a social system.

Pregnant women who take paracetamol risk giving birth to a child with behavioural problems, study claims Scientists found a link between expectant mothers using the painkiller and their youngsters being hyperactive and having emotional issues. Paracetamol is the only painkiller deemed safe to take during pregnancy. But a growing body of research suggests it could damage the development of children in the womb, with studies linking it with asthma, infertility and autism. In the latest research, carried out by the University of Bristol, scientists examined data from 14,000 children between the ages of six months and 11 years. Using questionnaire and school information from Bristol's 'Children of the 90s' study, the researchers analysed the results of the youngsters' memory, IQ, temperament and behaviour tests. This was compared with data showing how frequently their mothers had taken paracetamol between 18 and 32 weeks of pregnancy. The study found a 'causal link' between taking paracetamol and behavioural issues in children including hyperactivity and attention-deficit disorder. The effects were strongest when the children were three years old, but had subsided when the youngsters finished primary school. Advertisement

'And we really don't understand the effects of these medications in the broader context.

'There is a remarkable gap in the research actually, when it comes to the effects of medication on personality and behaviour... We don't understand how they influence human behaviour.'

MRI scans have shown activity ramps up in certain brain areas when experiencing 'positive empathy'  pleasure on other people's behalf  and when we're in pain.

Mr Mischkowski investigated the behavioral effect of paracetamol earlier this year in a study of 114 students from Ohio University.

Volunteers were split into two groups, with one half receiving a 1,000mg dose of paracetamol  two large tablets  while the other was given a placebo.

After an hour they then read scenarios about uplifting experiences that had happened to other people.

One example was the good fortune of 'Alex', who finally secured a date with his crush after plucking up the courage to ask her out.

Participants rated how much pleasure they themselves were experiencing while reading the scenarios, and how much empathy they had for people in them.

The results revealed that people who took the drug felt significantly less positive empathy.

While the study did not look at negative empathy  when people feel pain for others  Mr Mischkowski said the principles were the same.

He described his research earlier this year as the 'most worrisome that he's ever conducted'.

The researcher admits the drug is not constantly hijacking people's personalities, because the effects only last a few hours.

But he stressed the public should be more aware of its effects on behaviour so they can use it 'with common sense'.
Queen Mathilde proved the perfect hostess as she welcomed EU dignitaries for a New Year's reception at Brussels Royal Palace.

The Belgian Queen, 46, joined her husband King Philippe, 59, in welcoming prominent figures of the European Union to their palace, located in the heart of the capital earlier today.

EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen and the President of the European Parliament David-Maria Sassoli made their way to the palace this morning to be welcomed by the royal couple. The British ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow was also in attendance.

Mathilde looked stunning in a red midi dress with sheer balloon sleeves, which she paired with beige heels.

Queen Mathilde of Belgium, 46, conquered guests at the New Year's reception for the Heads of European Institution at Brussels Royal Palace. Pictured with President of the European Parliament David-Maria Sassoli (second right) and King Philippe (left) with EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen (centre)

Mathilde looked a treat with a bouncy blow dry who highlighted her honey locks and a pair of drop earrings

A small beige clutch bag tucked under her arm, she led Ursuka Von der Leyen and David-Maria Sassoli around the palace.

Sporting a pair of drop earring with diamonds and a silver bracelet, the Belgian monarch was the picture of elegance during the small reception.

Her husband King Philippe looked smart in a thinly striped navy blue suit and a spotted orange tie.

Everyone seemed relaxed at the event which saw several heads of European Institutions together. Left to right: Belgium;s King Philippe, EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, President of the European Parliament David-Maria Sassoli, and Queen Mathilde

The Belgian queen looked relaxed as she entertained guests at her Bruseels Palace earlier today (pictured)

King Philippe of Belgium, 59, sported a smart navy blue striped suit with a crisp white shirt and an orange tie with dots motif today

British Ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow (right) also attended the event, wearing a dark suit with best and a dotted navy blue tie

The UK representative exchanged pleasantries with the Belgian royal and the two exchanged a smile after shaking hands

Mathilde expertly led each of her guests around the palace to the reception room, exchanging a few words with each one

Tim Barrow, the UK's ambassador to the EU exchanged pleasantries with the couple, dressed in a dark blue suit with vest, and a blue tie with red dots.

The atmosphere of the event seemed relaxed and amicable, with Mathilde expertly showing her guests around the room.

With her understated dress, Queen Mathilde proved once again that she has mastered the art of picking the perfect outfit for every occasion.
Our new features will increase professionals productivity and improve their client decision-making.

JETNET LLC, the leading provider of corporate aviation information, will be demonstrating new features at the 2020 HAI HELI-EXPO in Anaheim, California. Subscribers can customize reports for client and internal use with JETNETs popular Market Reports tool, letting them choose which parameters to display under their own logo and branding. JETNET will also be demonstrating their full suite of software products and services, including JETNET for Salesforce, at this years HELI-EXPO. JETNETs exhibit will run January 28th to January 30th in booth #3513.

Our new features will increase professionals productivity and improve their client decision-making, said Mike Foye, JETNET Director of Marketing. Nearly all of our improvements are based on client and industry input, so we are providing tools our users want and need.

The Market Reports feature yields booklet-style customized outputs from JETNETs intelligence software. Inspired by improved research and visual data presentation tools in JETNETs products, the tools were designed with formal presentations in mind, and can be customized to include a clients header and logo, along with selected data sets determined and configured by the user. With dozens of serial-number-specific and make/model fleet overviews, subscribers can customize data sets for a more sophisticated audience.

The Market Report format provides approximately 20 pages of model intelligence, including model specifications, fleet composition, market characteristics and insight, buying habits, and sales trends. The report function was designed with both novice and sophisticated subscribers in mind.

JETNET is actively researching 32,500 in-service helicopters worldwide, and their comprehensive database contains information on transactions for more than 59,200 retail helicopter sales over the last two decades, along with 12 makes and 146 models of both turbine and piston airframes. Subscribers also have access to detailed individual aircraft specifications with owner/operator contact information.

JETNET also recently launched JETNET for Salesforce on Salesforce AppExchange, empowering customers to access and import aircraft, companies and contacts from JETNET, including their simple step sync of chosen datasets. The new app allows JETNET and Salesforce clients to access and import JETNET company, contact, and aircraft data; create, update, and customize company, contacts, and aircraft records with a single click; maintain originalor create newcompany relationships in aircraft records; navigate JETNET program links and records without leaving the Salesforce platform; and easily identify and sync data changes since your last visit.

JETNET employs a full-time staff of approximately 50 research specialists who contact industry professionals around the world each business day. They make real-time updates to the most comprehensive database of its kind.

The company will be offering demonstrations of all their software, including the Market Report feature. JETNET has invited HELI-EXPO attendees to learn more about their products and services in booth #3513.

As the leading provider of aviation market information, JETNET delivers the most comprehensive and reliable business aircraft research to its exclusive clientele of aviation professionals worldwide. JETNET is the ultimate source for information and intelligence on the worldwide business, commercial, and helicopter aircraft fleet and marketplace, comprised of more than 110,000 airframes. Headquartered in its state-of-the-art facility in Utica, NY, JETNET offers comprehensive, user-friendly aircraft data via real-time internet access or regular updates.


NEW YORK, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verizon Media today announced the appointment of Rathi Murthy as the companys Chief Technology Officer. Based in Sunnyvale, CA, Rathi will oversee Verizon Medias global technology strategy, leading the companys continued innovations in 5G, advertising and content, commerce and subscriptions.



Rathi is a stellar technology leader who, for over 20 years, has driven growth for some of the worlds biggest companies, including Gap, American Express and eBay, said Guru Gowrappan, CEO, Verizon Media. As our business continues to evolve in new ways, we are excited to add her wealth of experience and believe it will be invaluable for us in support of our mission of connecting people to their passions.



Widely recognized as a transformative technology executive, Rathi joins Verizon Media from Gap Inc. where she was CTO, leading all technology and operations -- including 2,500 employees -- across the companys portfolio of brands. Prior to that, Rathi held senior leadership roles at American Express, overseeing technology development for prepaid and alternative payments as the company expanded globally. Rathi has also served as a senior engineering lead at eBay and Yahoo.



Verizon Media is in an exciting new phase of growth and is leading in 5G technology. I look forward to amplifying that success with an innovative technology roadmap, said Murthy. I will work together with our world-class product teams and customers to advance our technology and deliver maximum value to our growing business partners.



Under Rathis leadership, Verizon Media will continue to take advantage of the 5G revolution, delivering 5G-powered innovations that transform content and commerce experiences for consumers, partners and advertisers.



A powerful voice for women in technology, Rathi was named one of the countrys Top Women CTOs in 2017, and one of the Most Influential Women in Payments in 2015.

About Verizon Media

Verizon Media, a division of Verizon Communications, Inc., houses a trusted media ecosystem of premium brands like Yahoo, TechCrunch and HuffPost to help people stay informed and entertained, communicate and transact, while creating new ways for advertisers and media partners to connect. From XR experiences to advertising and content technology, Verizon Media is an incubator of innovation and is revolutionizing the next generation of content creation in a 5G world.

VERIZONS ONLINE MEDIA CENTER: News releases, stories, media contacts and other resources are available at www.verizon.com/about/news/. News releases are also available through an RSS feed. To subscribe, visit www.verizon.com/about/rss-feeds/.



Media contact:

Allison Butler

202.669.9887

allison.butler@verizonmedia.com
Iran hits US air base at hour Trump assassinated Gen. Soleimani

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Jan 8, IRNA -- The spokesman for the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday that Iran hit the US Ain Assad Air Base in Iraq at 1:20 a.m. which is exactly the same time American forces assassinated its great commander Lieutenant-General Qasem Soleimani.

Brigadier-General Ramezan Sharif said the Ain Assad Air Base has the capacity for 4,000 soldiers and enjoys the most advanced military equipment.

Iran attacked the US air base in Iraq with Ballistic missiles as a reaction action to the US assassination of the IRGC world famous commander who attained martyrdom along with the acting commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) - known as the Hashd al-Shaabi - Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandis, who were targeted and assassinated in Baghdad airport on Friday upon the instruction of the US President Donald Trump.

US President Donald Trump claimed the responsibility of the terrorist measure on Friday.

General Soleimani had helped Iraq and Syria to get rid of the US-made terrorist group Daesh (ISIS).

After the Iranian general's assassination, millions of Iranians took to the streets throughout the country demanding the military forces to retaliate.

9417**1424

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OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Energy & Environmental Services, Inc. ("EES" or "Company") (OTC: EESE) today announced that the Company has signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire Texas-based Abilene Celex Services, LLC ("Celex").

Subject to a definitive agreement, EES will pay the Celex members $325,000 in cash. Celex will retire all accounts payable, notes and other obligations so that Celex will have no liabilities as of the closing.

The combination of EES and Celex would have generated total unaudited combined revenues of $7.6 million for 2018. Management estimates that pro forma combined revenues for 2019 would be approximately $9.5 million. EES's consolidated revenues for 2018 were $7.2 million and its estimated consolidated revenues for 2019 (excluding Celex) are approximately $8.8 million.

"We are very excited about the location and personnel we are gaining with the acquisition of Celex," said CEO Leon Joyce. "For EES, the acquisition would realize one of management's key initiatives, which is to gain market share through mergers and acquisitions. This is a strategic move and a great opportunity to expand in the Snyder, Texas region where we own property and blend chemicals. As we grow this segment of the company, we will continue to look for opportunities," added Joyce.

"We are excited to join forces with a company like EES. The consolidation of inventories and volume discounts on raw materials will only add to the list of benefits," stated Jeremy Sockwell, a member of Celex.

About EES

Energy and Environmental Services, Inc. (OTC: EESE), based in Edmond, Oklahoma, participates in the oilfield chemical, anti-corrosive coatings and biotech industries. EES was established in 1991 and management has over 50 years of experience blending, manufacturing and packaging custom liquids and solid chemicals for the oil, gas and agricultural industries. Additionally, EES has expanded to develop innovative products and applications for enzyme system technologies and livestock feed supplements.

Company website www.eesokc.com

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause Energy & Environmental Services actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Energy & Environmental Services expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Energy and Environmental Services, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.eesokc.com


Ghosn named Masakazu Toyoda, an independent director at Nissan and a special adviser to the Japanese Cabinet; Nissans ex-auditor Hidetoshi Imazu; and the car companys former executive vice president Hitoshi Kawaguchi as the main architects of his downfall

Beirut: Carlos Ghosn, speaking publicly for the first time since his dramatic escape from Japanese justice, said on Wednesday he had been treated brutally by Tokyo prosecutors and was the victim of an inside job to oust him from the helm of automaker Nissan.

The one-time titan of the car industry said in a two-hour news conference in Beirut that he had no choice but to flee. The alternative was to spend the rest of his life languishing in Japan without a fair trial.

Ghosn, 65, fled Japan last month as he was awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies.

I felt like the hostage of a country I served for 17 years, he told reporters.

In a combative performance, he gave a point-by-point rebuttal of the charges which he said he had been prevented from doing before, and compared the surprise of his arrest with Japans preemptive strike on Pearl Harbour during World War Two.

Ghosn said he had escaped to his childhood home of Lebanon to clear his name and declined to say how he fled, noting there were conflicting stories about his astonishing escape.

Former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn spoke publicly for the first time since his dramatic escape from Japanese justice https://t.co/JdQpeA7uTS pic.twitter.com/N3P4eMNC0h  Reuters (@Reuters) January 9, 2020

The charges against me are baseless, Ghosn said, and he repeated his allegation that Nissan and Japanese authorities colluded to oust him following a downturn in Nissans fortunes and in revenge for French government interference in the carmakers alliance with Renault.

Tokyo prosecutors said his allegations of a conspiracy were false and that he had failed to justify his acts.

Defendant Ghosns allegations completely ignore his own conduct and his one-sided criticism of the Japanese criminal justice system is totally unacceptable, the Tokyo prosecutors office said after Ghosn spoke.

The 14-month saga has shaken the global auto industry, jeopardised the Renault-Nissan alliance of which Ghosn was the mastermind and increased scrutiny of Japans judicial system.

Ghosn said he had no intention of merging Renault with Nissan as some in Japan feared, but wanted to put the firms under a holding company that would have maintained a balance between the French carmakers push for a union and the Japanese companys desire to remain autonomous.

He named Masakazu Toyoda, an independent director at Nissan and a special adviser to the Japanese Cabinet; Nissans ex-auditor Hidetoshi Imazu; and the car companys former executive vice president Hitoshi Kawaguchi as the main architects of his downfall.

Imazu, Kawaguchi and officials at Nissan could not immediately be reached for comment.

First, if he (Ghosn) has anything to say, he should do that openly in court before he leaves Japan illegally. A conspiracy story without any evidence sounds like a joke, one person referred to by Ghosn told Reuters.

Ghosn declined to name Japanese government officials he said took part in the alleged plot because he said he did not want to embarrass the Lebanese government, but added he did not think the top level of the Japanese government was involved.

Lost way

Ghosn covered many subjects, talking about his Marie Antoinette-themed party at the Palace of Versailles in France and describing harsh confinement in Tokyos main jail.

I was brutally taken from my work as I knew it, ripped from my family and my friends...It is impossible to express the depth of that deprivation, he said. I was interrogated for up to eight hours a day without any lawyers present...It will get worse for you if you dont just confess, the prosecutor told me repeatedly.

Ghosn became most animated in describing how he thought the Nissan-Renault alliance had lost its way since his departure, saying it had fallen behind in investment in technology, profitability and market value and failed to seize opportunities such as a potential tie-up with Fiat-Chrysler.

How do you miss that? Its unbelievable, he said.

Nissan has said an internal investigation found that Ghosn had engaged in personal use of company money and had under-reported his income in violation of Japanese law.

Japans Ministry of Justice has said it will try to find a way to bring Ghosn back from Lebanon, even though it has no extradition treaty with Japan.

I didnt escape because I was guilty, I escaped because I had zero chance for a free trial, he said, adding that he was prepared to stand trial in any of his three home countries, Lebanon, France or Brazil, none of which have extradition agreements with Japan.

When asked if he had been given any assurances from Lebanese officials about not being extradited, he said: I am confident that the existing practices and laws will be respected in Lebanon and this is what I heard from all the officials here.

Lebanons state news agency said a public prosecutor had summoned Ghosn for questioning on Thursday.

New warrant against Ghosn

Ghosn said the Japanese authorities were intent on preventing him from having his say.

Why have they spent 14 months trying to break my spirit, barring any contact with my wife? he said.

Tokyo prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Ghosns wife, Carole, on Tuesday for alleged perjury related to the misappropriation charge against her husband.

Turkish and Japanese authorities are investigating how Ghosn was smuggled out to Beirut. Interpol has issued a 'red notice' seeking his arrest.

This (escape) was the most difficult decision of my life but I was facing a system where the conviction rate is 99.4 percent and I believe the number is far higher for foreigners, he said.

When I saw I was free it was as if I was born again.
CARSON CITY, Nev. - Federal marshals have arrested a Salvadoran man in Carson City that they say is in the U.S. illegally and has ties to a terrorist organization in Central America.

U.S immigration and customs officials say Rene Antonio Scrapy Hernandez-Mejia was taken into custody on Wednesday. They say they intend to deport him to El Salvador to face criminal charges in his home country.

ICE said in a statement Wednesday that Interpol issued a notice indicating Hernandez-Mejia was wanted for being part of a terrorist organization.

Iterpol said he was part of the 18 Revolutionary Pandilla, which is a faction of an El Salvadoran gang called Shadow Park Locos, also known as SPL.

Federal officials didnt specify the charges he faces in El Salvador but they say the gang has been involved with crimes including homicide, extortion and terrorism.

No other details have been released. Federal court records in Reno dont list a lawyer for Hernandez-Mejia or indicate if a federal hearing is pending.
Nigerias agricultural sector seems to be taking a turn for the better with the various policies introduced by the current government, some of which were vigorously implemented last year.

The government argues that the activities in the sector last year were channeled at improving the lives of average Nigerians.

PREMIUM TIMES does a review of agricultural activities in 2019 .

Rural Grazing Area (RUGA).

As an immediate solution, the federal government waded into the perennial farmers-herders clash, thus the idea of Ruga was initiated.

It was to make the herdsmen sedentary thus enabling them to practice a settled form of pastoralism, increase productivity and address their conflict with farmers.

Ruga was projected as a fresh idea to create the infrastructure that encourages restricted pastoralism, which many have demanded as an alternative to the highly risky open grazing.

The Ruga was announced by the federal government to enable willing states to contribute large areas of land to the federal government for construction of animal husbandry settlements.

The presidency had said 12 states indicated willingness to be part of the programme.

The Ruga programme was, however, criticised by many Nigerians with many state governors opposing it.

President Muhammadu Buhari on July 3 suspended the controversial Ruga programme.

Cattle used to illustrate the story.

The controversy generated by the Ruga programme exposed a dearth of capacity for policy communication and stakeholders engagement.

National Livestock Transformation Programme (NLTP)

The National Executive Council headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbanjo had also developed the NLTP as a long-term solution to the perennial herdsmen and farmers crisis.

Nigerias Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo. [PHOTO CREDIT: Osinbajos official twitter account]

NLTP is a programme of the federal government designed to run from 2019-2028 in partnership with state governments, to be executed by the National Economic Council.

An initial N92 billion will be targeted at providing grants for the development of the countrys livestock sector by setting up ranches and developing grazing reserves and to be implemented in seven pilot states of, Plateau, Nasarawa, Taraba, Zamfara Adamawa, Benue and Kaduna.

After the Ruga controversy, the vice president, who is the head of the NEC, said he was not part of Ruga and that it was separate from the NLTP.

New Sheriff

Power changed hands at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, when President Buhari appointed new ministers for his administration.

Bags of rice used to illustrate the story.

Mr Buhari appointed Sabo Nanono as the minister of Agriculture on August 21, 2019. He succeeded Audu Ogbeh of Benue State.

Mr Nanono, an indigene of Kano, studied Business Administration and had been involved in agriculture since 1973

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development for Nigeria, Sabo Nanono

Border closure

Another major event was Nigerias decision to partially close its borders in August.

The closure was then confirmed by the Comptroller-General of the Nigerians Customs Service, Hameed Ali, in October.

He said all goods were now banned from being exported or imported through our land borders and that is to ensure we had total control over what comes in.

A major reason why the borders were closed was due to the lack of compliance of Nigerias neighbouring countries to the rules governing cross-border trade.

The closure affected both Niger and Benin Republic economically because of their inability to export into Nigeria hence leading them (the neighbouring countries) to form a tripartite committee.

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The committee, according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was put together to address the inadequacies and lack of implementation of the numerous agreements and memoranda of understanding entered by the three countries to check smuggling and other crimes at their common borders.

Seme Border.

In October, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emiefele, said closing the borders was yielding positive economic results for the country.

Nigeria now seems to be benefiting from it, while neighbouring countries are suffering economically.

President Buhari had said the borders would not be re-opened until at least January 31, 2020.

The border closure is believed to have led to an increase in local production of some food like fish, poultry and rice.

Forex on food and milk importation

President Buhari on August 13 directed the Central Bank of Nigeria not to provide foreign exchange for the importation of some food items, saying his administration has achieved food security.

Dont give a cent to anybody to import food into the country, the president was quoted as saying.

We have achieved food security, and for physical security we are not doing badly, he added.

President noted that some states like Kebbi, Ogun, Lagos, Jigawa, Ebonyi and Kano had already taken advantage of the Federal Governments policy on agriculture with huge returns in rice farming, urging more states to plug into the ongoing revolution to feed the nation.

President Buhari said he was particularly delighted that young Nigerians, including graduates, had started exploring agric-business and entrepreneurship, with many posting testimonies of good returns on their investments.

Also, the CBN also banned FOREX access to milk importers.

The apex bank has now directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in the country to stop the processing of milk and its related products on Bills for Collection basis, which allowed the importer to buy on credit.

In a circular addressed to DMBs, the apex bank also announced that henceforth, the mode of payment with regard to the importation of milk and its related products must be on the basis of Letters of Credit (LC) only.
New Delhi: Popular actress and YouTube queen, Aamrapali Dubey is these days busy shooting for her upcoming venture 'Raj Mahal' in which she will be seen in two different roles. She will reportedly be seen playing a princess and a street smart kind of a character in the same film.

Much like Bollywood film 'Raabta' where Kriti Sanon got to enact two roles at the same time, Aamrapali too will get this opportunity. As a street smart girl, she will win the audience's hearts and at the same time, she will take you to a different era altogether as a princess.

Amrish Singh is playing the lead opposite Aamrapali in 'Raj Mahal'. The movie also features KK Goswami, Umakant, Neelam Singh and Pallavi Kohli in pivotal roles. It is directed by Vishnu Shanker Belu.

Talking about her role, the actress said, "there are many variations to her character in the movie and as an actor, I have enjoyed enacting my part in the movie."

She added, "Amrish Singh is a great and hard-working co-star. This is my first project with him and he has done an extraordinary job in it. I wish the best for him."

Aamrapali revealed that the film will be out soon and urged her fans to definitely watch it in theatres.

'Raj Mahal' is produced by Deepak Parashar, Rohit Rai and Ramesh Kumar. The music is composed by Dhananjay Mishra and DOP is Devendra Tiwari.

Amrish has also done a film titled 'Love Marriage' with Akshara Singh.
While people across northern India are braving the winter chill, Shahid Kapoor didnt flinch when the temperature dropped to uncomfortable levels in Chandigarh, where he has been shooting for his much-awaited film, Jersey.

The cast and crew of Jersey shot non-stop in December till the New Year arrived, in what many called the coldest December ever in Chandigarh. Shahid completed his outdoor scenes in the biting cold without complaining.

Director Gowtham Tinnanuri, who also directed the original Telugu film starring Nani, is full of praise for the actor.

Shahid is a thorough professional. Most the shoot during December till the end was in outdoor or live locations, where we all where in 3-4 layers of clothing. But Shahid gave his best and didnt let the dropping temperature come in his way of giving his 100 per cent, he says.

Producer Aman Gill adds, Everyone could feel the winter getting severely cold, especially in the night, where temperatures dropped to two degrees. But Shahid was focused and didnt let himself or anyone in the unit get affected by the coldest winter ever. As a thorough professional, he knew the importance of finishing the shoot within the allocated time and he did that.

The Haider actor took a small break in between to bring in the New Year, during which he shot for brand endorsements and spent time with his family in Mumbai as well.

Jersey is presented by Allu Aravind and produced by Aman Gill and Dil Raju. The film releases on August 28 this year.
Pigs are seen at a farm outside Hanoi. Photo by Reuters/Kham.

Fifty more pork producers in the U.S., France and Belgium will export to Vietnam where African swine fever has decimated pig herds.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said this is in addition to the more than 1,600 foreign pork exporters who had already been identified.

This follows Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hues call for importing 100,000 tonnes in the first quarter of this year to stabilize pork prices. Imported pork costs VND35,000 ($1.5) per kilogram, a fraction of domestic prices.

In the Mekong Delta, prices have recently fallen by 20 percent to VND80,000 ($3.5), while in northern localities, they are down 10 percent to VND90,000 ($3.9).

African swine fever, which is fatal to pigs but does not affect humans, broke out in February, causing pig numbers to fall by more than 25 percent between January and December last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Pork output fell 14 percent to 3.29 million tonnes, it added. Imports more than doubled in January-November to 110,000 tonnes.
NORTH BRANFORD  A Branford woman was killed in a motor vehicle crash on Forest Road Tuesday afternoon, according to North Branford police.

Officers responded to 217 Forest Road for a one-vehicle crash at approximately 2:43 p.m., Deputy Chief James Lovelace said in a release.

The driver, later identified as Laura Carolla, had suffered life-threatening injuries in the accident, Lovelace said. She was treated at the scene, but was later pronounced dead after being brought to Yale New Haven Hospital.

Lovelace expressed the departments deep sadness in announcing Carollas passing as part of the release.

Police are continuing to investigate the crash, Lovelace said. Officer Robert Stimpson is heading the inquiry.

If anyone witnessed the accident or has information which could benefit the North Branford Police Department (p)lease call 203-484-2703, Lovelace said.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com
Terming the ruling Trinamool Congress as the 'B' team of the BJP, opposition Congress and CPI(M) on Thursday accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of deliberately preventing the passage of an anti-CAA resolution in the assembly.

The demand by two opposition parties for a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was turned down by the ruling party in an "arbitrary manner", Congress leader Abdul Mannan told a press meet after the one-day assembly session.

"If the TMC is serious about opposing the CAA and NRC, what prevented them from passing the resolution? It shows they have become the B team of the BJP," he said.

The leader of the opposition in the Assembly said the Congress and CPI(M) had followed all parliamentary norms to move the resolution against the CAA and held talks with Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay.

"But today they said it cannot be taken up as the CM had already discussed the matter in September last year in the Assembly. Was the CAA passed in September? We had even suggested that the resolution can be moved by the TMC. Never in the past any ruling party had used the Assembly in this way," Mannan said.

Earlier, Banerjee said in the House since the Assembly had adopted a resolution against a pan-India NRC in September last year, which also denounced according Indian citizenship to people on the basis of religion, there was no need for a fresh resolution.

While the TMC supremo was hitting the street to air her protest against the CAA "probably under fear of losing the votes of secular-minded people aghast with the Centre's move, she has entered into a secret understanding with Narendra Modi and Amit Shah not to proceed much on the issue to protect the leaders (of her party) accused in chit fund cases from CBI probes", Mannan said.

Referring to the draft of the resolution, which the opposition had wanted to discuss in the assembly, he said, "Nowhere in the draft we had uttered a single word against the state government. We were even ready for them to change any word of the draft if they wished."



CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said the CM and her party wanted to keep the Centre in good humour to shield those involved in ponzy scams.

"The CM has said she will not attend the anti-CAA meeting of opposition parties in New Delhi on January 13. Even if she doesn't want to participate in a meeting which will be attended by all parties opposed to the BJP's divisive laws, the meeting will take place and only she will be exposed before people," Chakraborty said.

Banerjee said she will boycott a meeting called by Congress's interim president Sonia Gandhi on January 13 over campus violence and the CAA as she did not support the violence that the Left and the Congress unleashed in West Bengal during the trade union strike on Wednesday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
IBM is the latest vendor to provide a blockchain platform for coffee bean growers looking to track their product on its journey to market  and let consumers trace their java back to the farm to discover where and how it was grown.

The Thank My Farmer app is slated to roll out in March and lets users scan a QR code on packages of coffee to trace its journey and send a contribution to support sustainable farming projects in agricultural communities on five continents.

The app represents only the initial use of IBMs distributed ledger technology (DLT) for an entire coffee ecosystem that includes farmers, traders, roasters, manufacturers and distributors who want to revamp a paper-based supply chain system and create digital payment rails for participants.

Were working on building a self-sovereign identity for farmers to actually own and control the data produced by their farm, said Dave Behrends, founder and president of Farmer Connect. By doing that, well be able to digitize a lot of the transaction process that happens today in an analog way.

QR codes should begin showing up on coffee packages in March; scanning the code using a mobile devices, coffee buyers will be able to track the entire journey of the beans from the farm to the store shelf. They can also send money to support sustainability projects near the farmer who grew the beans. Users in the U.S. and Canada will be able to scan QR codes on Folgers 1850 brand premium single-origin coffee and other well-known brands.

This app is a major step in the sustainability of the coffee industry," IBM said in a statement. "By bringing some of the biggest companies in the industry together, it allows consumers to play an active role in supporting coffee farmers and demand more transparency from their favorite brands. It also assures family farmers that their work is valued: more than 12.5 million households rely on growing coffee for their income, supporting a $100 billion industry across the globe.

The coffee industry and blockchain

Farmer Connect is only the latest coffee industry player to test the blockchain waters.

Last year, Starbucks announced it was working with Microsoft to develop a blockchain-based supply chain tracking system and mobile app that would allow customers to track the supply chain journey of the beans they buy and the coffee they drink. The company didnt specify when the app would be live.

Starbucks Starbucks' and Microsoft are creating a mobile "bean to cup" tracking app that may look like this and enable customers to see where their coffee was grown and the journey it took to their cup.

Historically, wholesale coffee prices have been volatile, fluctuating widely over time. In the past two years, prices have dropped from a high of $1.55 per pound to a low of 87 cents. Currently, coffee sells for 99 cents per pound.

That volatility has been hard on small-to-medium sized coffee farms in countries where there are few banking options and where growers often get paid prices that don't reflect the market, according to Luis Macias, CEO of blockchain-based supply chain service GrainChain. The company is based in McAllen, Texas.

"When coffee farmers don't have access to formal financial systems and formal contracts for purchase, they are the ones pushed down in the industry," Macias said. "One of the larger focuses in the overall industry...is to find solutions to not only have more financial inclusion but enhance the ability for coffee producers to have a marketplace."

In September, GrainChain said its blockchain network was being piloted by roughly 10% of Honduras coffee growers, or about 12,000 farmers, with an eye on going into full production in April.

"There are quite a few initiatives involving the tracking of produce in many different countries. Coffee alone has seen at least half a dozen initiatives," said Martha Bennett, a vice president with Forrester Research.

SAP has also launched a blockchain-based service used by companies such as Bumble Bee Foods to track and trace the origin of its tuna. Food suppliers add QR or bar codes to shipping labels that can be scanned and entered into a blockchain database, which becomes a transparent ledger for all participants to see as shipments travel along the supply chain.

Andresr / Getty Images

The blockchain ledger behind the Thank My Farmer app is currently being tested and will be available to the entire supply chain ecosystem later this year, according to Behrends.

Right now, what weve announced in terms of partners are traders or merchants, we have roasters and soon well be adding cooperatives and farmers, Behrends said. Were not trying to change the way the supply chain operates; were just trying to make the supply chain more efficient, inclusive and digitally connected.

Were just starting with coffee to prove the validity of the platform. Then, well expand into cocoa, tea and other markets because a lot of those markets have the same issues coffee is facing, Behrends added.

Founded only a year ago, Farmer Connect is working with the non-profit Sovrin Foundation to create coffee industry players self-sovereign identities, a new form of digital identity that enables users to own the security keys that control how their business and banking account data is shared with industry players; the technology can create a digital wallet that stores the encryption keys used to access banking funds and verify user identities.

Farmer Connect designed the Thank My Farmer app that IBM built and supports on its blockchain-based platform; it is the same technology used for the IBMs Food Trust supply chain ledger. Since its launch in 2017, Food Trust, which is based on the Hyperledger protocol, has attracted a large group of leading food suppliers piloting it as part of a consortium. The group includes Dole, Driscoll's, Golden State Foods, Kroger, McCormick and Company, McLane Company, Nestle, Tyson Foods and Unilever.

Storing supply chain data on a blockchain provides digital identities, certificates and smart contracts to enable the delivery of, and payment for, commodities between unfamiliar parties. It can also automate the flow of data in real time. Verified data reduces the risk of fraud and enables players to share it in real-time with third parties.

With adoption increasing in the supply chain industry, blockchain and IoT sensors are expected to create $31 billion in food fraud savings globally by 2024, according to a recent study by Juniper Research. Substantial savings are expected as early as 2021 and compliance costs will be reduced by 30% by 2024.

The Farmer Connect consortium

Farmer Connect represents a global supply chain consortium that spans five continents and includes players such as Beyers Koffie, The Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC), ITOCHU Corporation, Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE), J.M. Smucker Company, Rabobank, RGC Coffee, Volcafe, Sucafina and Yara International. For small farmers, who represent the lions share of coffee production, the electronic ledger means theyll finally be able to see where their coffee ends up and get feedback on how consumers like it.

For farmers, many times they spend their whole life growing these crops and trying to do everything perfect in order for the consumer to have the best quality coffee possible, but as soon as they sell it, they dont know whats happened to it, Behrends said. The great thing about blockchain is the data can flow both ways. So, we can also empower the brands who are willing to share data with farmers to show them, Hey, your coffee is being served in this cool New York City cafe and its being served in this product in super market shelves in London.

When weve seen this happen, its really made a huge difference to farmers to know their work is appreciated, Behrends added.

The application for farmers to track and trace their beans is expected to be out in a beta version by April, followed by a wider-scale release later this year.

The first step, however, is to connect farmers and the rest of the bean processing and supply chain ecosystem on a common platform that uses common data standards; once thats completed, Farmer Connect will be able to build smart contracts and overlay digital marketplaces that provide more access to traditional coffee markets.

Everyone right now is using their own, individual ERP legacy systems. So, we want Farmer Connect to become that common platform, Behrends said. Once that digital connectivity is there, the opportunities are endless on what we can build on top of that.
International Airlines Group's long-serving chief executive Willie Walsh has revealed plans to retire from the Aer Lingus and British Airways owner after a 15-year career with the group.

Mr Walsh - who orchestrated the creation of International Airlines Group (IAG) through the merger of British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia - will step down from the role and board of IAG on March 26 and retire on June 30.

He will be succeeded by Iberia chief executive Luis Gallego.

Mr Walsh said: "It has been a privilege to have been instrumental in the creation and development of IAG.

"I have had the pleasure of working with many exceptional people over the past 15 years at British Airways and at IAG."

He added: "Luis has been a core member of the team and has shown true leadership over the years and I have no doubt he will be a great CEO of IAG."

Mr Walsh became chief executive of British Airways in 2005 and then led its merger with Iberia in 2011.

IAG chairman Antonio Vazquez said: "Under Willie's leadership IAG has become one of the leading global airline groups.

"Willie has been the main driver of this unique idea that is IAG."

He praised Mr Walsh's "strong leadership and clear vision".

"I am deeply respectful of what he has achieved as CEO of this group, of his sense of fairness, his transparency and his capacity to integrate people regardless of nationalities or backgrounds," added Mr Vazquez.

Mr Gallego also has a long career in the airline industry under his belt, having started with Air Nostrum in 1997 and heading Iberia since 2014.

Mr Vazquez said the Iberia boss had led a "profound transformation" at the airline over his time in charge.

On his upcoming role at IAG, Mr Gallego said: "It is a huge honour to lead this great company.

"It is an exciting time at IAG and I am confident that we can build on the strong foundations created by Willie."
Central Fort Bend Chamber / Central Fort Bend Chamber

The Central Fort Bend Chamber and the community celebrated a Jan. 8 ribbon-cutting ceremony for Fort Bend Habitat for Humanity and ReStore.

Fort Bend Habitat for Humanity and Habitats ReStore just moved in to a new building located 505 Julie Rivers, Suite 150 in Sugar Land. The building houses the Fort Bend Habitat for Humanity offices, as well as the ReStore home resale shop that provides funding for future builds.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have announced they are stepping back as senior members of the royal family.

But the shock move raises many questions about their future, not least of all whether Harry and Meghans attempt to redefine their royal lives is sustainable.

 What did Harry and Meghans statement say?

The couple said in a personal message they intend to step back as senior members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to support the Queen.

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 Where will they live?

They said they now plan to balance their time between the UK and North America.

 What about their home Frogmore Cottage in Windsor?

They will continue to base themselves at Frogmore Cottage when in the UK.

Taxpayers paid 2.4 million to renovate Harry and Meghans official residence, which the couple moved into just nine months ago.

 Where will they live in North America and will they buy a home there?

This is not yet known. The couple have just spent six weeks in Canada so are expected to base themselves there for part of the year.

 How will they become financially independent?

Their new official website Sussexroyal.com said the couple will no longer receive funding through the Sovereign Grant from the taxpayer for their official office expenses  which it said accounted for 5% of their office costs.

The Prince of Wales currently pays for the remaining cost of their public duties and some of their private costs from his Duchy of Cornwall income.

But it is not clear cut. The Sovereign Grant is also used to pay for Harry and Meghans official royal travel, and their website said they proudly carry out official overseas visits in support of the Queen, suggesting they will still continue to do so.

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 Will they be getting paid jobs?

It looks like it in some form. Sussexroyal.com said the couple value the ability to earn a professional income, which in the current structure they are prohibited from doing.

For this reason they have made the choice to become members of the Royal Family with financial independence.

Harry is a former soldier and Meghan is a former actress but the pair are about to launch their new SussexRoyal foundation.

 Will the British taxpayers still pay for their security?

They seem to think so. Sussexroyal.com, referring to armed security by the Metropolitan Police mandated by the Home Office, said: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are classified as internationally protected people which mandates this level of security.

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 But they are no longer senior royals?

Yes this creates a problem. Non-senior royals generally dont have full-time royal protection officers.

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie previously faced criticism over the use of taxpayers funding for police protection, but the Duke of York now pays for their security himself.

The undisclosed cost of guarding the royal family as a whole is estimated to be more than 100 million a year.

 What about the cost to the Canadians?

If Harry and Meghan base themselves in Canada  a realm of which the Queen is monarch, it raises the question of whether the Canadians will have to contribute to their security costs as well, or even pay for an official residence.

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 Will they lose their HRH titles?

Their statement makes no mention of them losing their HRH titles nor of Harry being removed from the line of succession.

The duke and duchess said they have chosen to carve out a progressive new role within this institution.

 Does combining private work with royal duties work?

Having a dual role has proved controversial in the past.

In 2002, the Earl and Countess of Wessex stepped down from their businesses to become full time royals after they were accused of cashing in on their royal status.

Harrys cousin Zara Tindall earns her own income, but does not carry out royal duties nor live in an official residence.

 What about the Queen and the Prince of Wales?

It is understood that the Queen and the Prince of Wales were not aware of the content of Harry and Meghans personal statement before it was issued.

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The announcement was made just seven weeks after the Queens second son Andrew stepped back from royal duties after his disastrous Newsnight interview about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Buckingham Palace has warned that Harry and Meghans decision to step back will be complicated and talks are still at an early stage.

 Why did Harry and Meghan take the decision?

The couple spoke of their struggles dealing with royal life and the intense tabloid interest in a television documentary about their Africa tour.

Meghan said: Its not enough to just survive something, thats not the point of life. You have got to thrive.
When it comes to the opioid crisis in America, Black people are being left out of the conversation.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found 20% of opioid-related overdoses are people of color. However, the number of Black people who overdose is unknown  further illustrating the exclusion of Black people.

Roughly 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose, according to the CDC. Opioids, which include illicit drugs such as heroin and prescribed painkillers such as oxycodone, have led to the deaths of nearly 400,000 people from 1999 to 2017. The epidemic, which started in white, middle class neighborhoods, is largely portrayed with compassion in the media. The same compassion isnt afforded to Black people who use opioids.

Natasha Cheatham is looking to change that.

Cheathams addiction to alcohol and drugs began in 2006, when she was just 15 years old. By that time, she had been the caretaker for her mother, who struggles with both addiction and schizoaffective disorder, for nearly five years. After nearly a decade of substance abuse, Cheatham, 29, worked to get sober. She was often the only Black person in recovery spaces, and typically the youngest person in the room. This experience led her to create the Minority Recovery Collective Inc. (MRCI) in November 2018.

MRCI aims to provide mental health education and recovery support services for minority youth and young adults overcoming addiction, mental illness and trauma, according to its website.

The nonprofit offers several programs, including sober socials, where recovering addicts and individuals looking to get sober can gather, as well as educational programs to talk about addiction as it relates to the Black community.

I wanted to provide the support that I never had, Cheatham said.

In her Jan. 6 presentation, Its Just Pills: Opioids in the Black Community, Cheatham discussed lean, an often-overlooked form of opioid abuse that is popular predominantly among Black youth.

It was an easy choice to focus on lean, Cheatham said in an interview after her presentation. Im a Black, queer woman, so representation is important to me period. While she grew up in Indianapolis, Cheatham was born in Houston and was familiar with lean. I wanted our story to be heard. A lot of people talk about and do lean, but they dont know that lean is directly correlated with opioids.

Lean is a combination of cough syrup  which contains both codeine and promethazine  and soda. Users typically add candy to mask the flavor of the cough syrup, and alcohol to make it more potent.

Codeine has an almost identical chemical compound to heroin, leading lean to be dubbed liquid heroin. Like heroin, lean creates a sense of euphoria in users, and has many similar side effects, including respiratory and central nervous system depression, decreased pulse and blood pressure, and death. Codeine, like other opioids, is highly addictive.

Lean, sometimes referred to as Texas Tea, sizzurp or purple drank was popularized by Houston rapper DJ Screw, born Robert Davis Jr. Davis died of a codeine overdose in 2000 at the age of 29. Rappers such as Future and Lil Wayne often refer to the drug in their songs, leading to what Cheatham believes is a dangerous form of social acceptance.

A lot of times, kids dont even realize theyre using opioids, Cheatham said in her presentation. Some artists and people on social media are perpetuating a lifestyle, and kids and young adults are following the example.

With the high prices of cough syrup containing codeine  the Drug Enforcement Agency reports that an eight-ounce bottle can range from $200 to $300  lean has become an indicator of social status.

Only ballers can afford it, Cheatham said of the mindset surrounding lean. A lot of people associate lean with status, they want clout or want to go viral.

The CDC found that the number of hospital visits for codeine-related illness spiked 286% from 2004 to 2011.

And while teenagers can search #sizzurp on Instragram and yield over 500 results, no treatment specifically for codeine addiction exists, despite the impact the drug is having on communities.

Cheatham believes that people need to have conversations about addiction and mental health to fully understand their experiences, and to begin healing.

We can no longer say Uncle Johnny drinks too much. Uncle Johnnys an alcoholic, and he needs to go to rehab, Cheatham said. Its the same with mental illness. We cant sweep it under the rug.  We have to have honest conversations about it, and understand that the resources available, while they may not be what we want, they are what we have.

Cheatham acknowledges that the lack of representation in addiction recovery services did affect her own recovery journey. After being shuffled around from therapist to therapist, she got discouraged and stopped going.

Its easy for people of color to say, My therapist doesnt look like me, so Im not going to go, and the same goes for doctors, Cheatham said. I absolutely understand the importance of representation and having someone who looks like you in your recovery, but you have to do something until you can get to that.

Contact staff writer Breanna Cooper at 317-762-7848. Follow her on Twitter @BreannaNCooper.
An off-duty Houston police officer shot an armed robber Wednesday at a Walmart in northeast Harris County, marking the third time since Jan. 3 that a Houston police officer fired their weapon at an armed suspect.

In Wednesdays shooting, a man held a customer service clerk at gunpoint near the front of the store in the 9200 block of North Sam Houston Parkway, according to the Harris County Sheriffs Office. The officer, a 17-year veteran, was standing nearby when she intervened and fired at least one round.

Houston Police Assistant Chief Bobby Dobbins said the officer controlled the wounded suspect, who was still armed, immediately after shooting. Once the area was safe, the officer administered first aid, he said

The suspect was transported to Ben Taub Hospital in stable condition. Authorities did not release the names of the suspect or the officer.

Dobbins called the recent spate of officer-involved shootings tragic and said all officers participate in peer-support groups after violent encounters.

Its bad for any department when you have one shooting, he said. When you have multiple, obviously it puts more of a strain on our department and our officers. But it just goes to show  were out here doing our job every day to protect the citizens, and sometimes we have to use the means necessary to protect our public.

The recent Houston police-involved shootings date back to Jan. 3, when officers responded to an assault call at a home in the 11000 block of Spottswood. There, they encountered 34-year-old Paul Robinson in the backyard, holding a semi-automatic weapon to his neck, police said.

He retreated to a shed and made two requests: that the woman he attacked come to the backyard and see him, and that officers kill him, according to police. Five officers opened fire when Robinson aimed his weapon at them, police said. He was shot multiple times and airlifted to Memorial Hermann Hospital. His current condition is unknown.

On Monday, an off-duty Houston police sergeant working an extra job at a Midtown business opened fire at Kenneth Jefferson, who was one of two men pistol whipping and robbing a third man in the 1100 block of Hadley Street.

Jefferson allegedly pointed his gun at the officer before the shooting, police said. Jefferson fled but was later found at a Galveston hospital. He has since been charged with aggravated assault against a public servant.

None of the officers involved in the shootings were injured, police said.

julian.gill@chron.com
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 17:20:23|Editor: huaxia

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NEW YORK, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation has always been mutually beneficial and win-win by nature, Cui Tiankai, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, said here on Wednesday.

"As long as we bear in mind the fundamental interests of the two peoples and respect each other's dignity, sovereignty and core interests, no difficulty is too formidable to surmount," Cui said, addressing the 15th anniversary and Chinese Lunar New Year gala of China General Chamber of Commerce-U.S.A. in New York city.

Commenting on the phase-one economic and trade deal between the two countries, Cui said such a deal will be conducive to China, to the United States and to the whole world, especially in a highly complex and fluid international environment.

He added that facts have proved that for China and the United States, dialogue and consultation on the basis of equality and mutual respect will eventually lead to win-win outcomes.

Looking ahead, Cui said he hopes that China-U.S. relations will move forward in the right direction and in a sound and steady manner.

He pointed out that the two countries need to strengthen their strategic communication and work together for a better future.

Cui also called on the business communities of both sides to stay confident about the prospect for bilateral relations and to live up to the corporate social responsibility of supporting bilateral friendship and cooperation.
The following is a list of community events happening in Lake County:

A public hearing regarding the former Wash King property clean-up will be held at 6 p.m., Jan. 9, at the Pleasant Plains Township Hall, 7333 S. M-37, Baldwin.

The Webber Township Board of Trustees will meet at 6 p.m., Jan. 9, at the Webber Township Hall, 2286 W. Springtime St., Baldwin.

Green Door Baldwin, a new medical marijuana dispensary, will host a grand opening at 11 a.m., Jan. 13, at 9116 S. M-37, Baldwin.

The Webber Township Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on ordinances regarding regulation of recreational marijuana sales and distribution within the township at 6 p.m., Jan. 13, at the Webber Township Hall, 2286 W. Springtime St., Baldwin. The Village of Baldwin village council will meet at 6 p.m., Jan. 13, at the Village of Baldwin Hall, 620 Washington St., Baldwin.

The annual Blessing of the Sleds will be held Jan. 18, with breakfast at 9 a.m. and the blessing at 11 a.m., at Skinner Park in Irons. The Lake County Republicans will meet at 6 p.m., Jan. 16, at Pompeii's, 751 Michigan Ave, Baldwin. There will be a potluck dinner, so please bring a dish to pass.

The Lake County Board of Commissioners will meet at 10 a.m., Jan. 22, Lake County Courthouse, 800 10th St., Baldwin.
Sherman Library will present Water and Sky, an exhibit of oil paintings by Beth Carlson Jan. 10 through Feb. 19.

A reception with the artist will be held Jan. 10 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Sherman Center library.

Carlson is a lifelong resident of Litchfield County and has been drawing and painting since childhood.

A lover of nature and the scenery of the northwest corner of Connecticut, she strives to celebrate the beauty of the local landscape using oils on canvas.

Carlson studied illustration at Paier College of Art in Hamden and attended workshops and classes taught by fine artists at the Washington Art Association in Washington Depot and The Wooster Community Art Center in Danbury.

She also studied graphic design at Northwestern Connecticut Community College in Winsted and made a living in that field at The Litchfield County Times, where she was involved with the production of many award-winning publications.

She is a member of Gallery 25 and Creative Arts Studio in New Milford.

For more information, call the Sherman Center library at 860-354-2455.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they would be stepping back from royal duties on Wednesday evening, revealing they would focus on charity work and work with a select group of media outlets.

And Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan Markle, 38, certainly have the creme de la creme of power players at their disposal to forge their new identity, having formed close relationships with the likes of American CBS news anchor Gayle King and chat show host Ellen Degeneres, and garnered the support of the Obamas and the Clooneys, who have previously spoken out in their defence.

In their Sussex Royal announcement Harry and Meghan revealed they would work with selected journalists going forward, citing their work with publications such as Time Magazine, National Geographic and British Vogue as examples of a 'free, strong and open media industry'.

This would indicate that British Vogue Editor-in-Chief Edward Enninful is one of the fashion industry figureheads they will work with going forward, as well as American chat show giant Oprah, who confirmed last April that she was working on an Apple docu-series about mental health with Harry.

We take a look at the players that could help forge their powerful new path.

Oprah

Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan Markle, 38, certainly have the creme de la creme of power players at their disposal to forge their new identity, having formed close relationships with Oprah. The chat show giant would work perfectly as their US media connection, and could help them work on carefully curated projects, appearances or interviews

Oprah, 65, was a guest at Harry and Meghan's 2018 wedding, and continued to rally around them as their journey continued.

Last April their work together was announced, when Prince Harry revealed that they were collaborating on the multi-part documentary series for Apple's new streaming service last April, signifying their budding relationship.

In the podcast episode, which is due to be released this year, he discussed his own mental health struggles after her mother Princess Diana died.

The American chat show giant is also friends with Meghan Markle's mother Doria Ragland, and has previously taken a yoga class with the teacher on her lawn.

Oprah previously defended Meghan during an appearance on CBS This Morning.

The Queen of Daytime TV said that the American princess 'is not only everything that we perceive of her as being - graceful and dynamic in holding that position - but she just has a wonderful, warm, giving, loving heart.'

Oprah would work perfectly as their US media connection, and could help them work on carefully curated projects, appearances or interviews.

Edward Enninful

British Vogue's editor-in-chief Edward Enninful could be instrumental in helping to promote her work with fashion charities including Smart Works, after her work last year which saw her creating a capsule wardrobe with high street retailers with proceeds going to Smart Works

British Vogue's Edward Enninful worked with Meghan to produce her guest-edited September issue of the publication, highlighting charitable causes.

The editor-in-chief and Meghan, 378 collaborated on a special 'Forces for Change' edition which featured a grid of 15 'incredible' women on the cover with articles commissioned by the royal inside.

At the time Enninful told how he has always had 'profound respect' for the Duchess - before discussing why he thinks she is the ultimate force for change.

Speaking on a personal note, he wrote: 'I can't overstate how much it meant to me to see HRH The Duke of Sussex marry this brilliant, bi-racial, American powerhouse.'

Edward could be instrumental in helping to promote her work with fashion charities including Smart Works, after her work last year which saw her creating a capsule wardrobe with high street retailers with proceeds going to the Smart Works charity.

Jessica Mulroney

Jessica Mulroney is well-connected through her husband, who is a TV anchor, and the son of the former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney. These connections could prove important to Harry and Meghan for both their image, and as they work to bring their charity work to North America

Meghan has been close friends with her former stylist Jessica Mulroney for years, and she is based in the Duchess' former home Toronto - where the royal couple could buy a base for their new transatlantic life.

Their children John, Brian, and Ivy were among the page boys and flower girls at the royal wedding and regard Meghan as an honorary aunt.

Jessica is well-connected through her husband, who is a TV anchor, and the son of the former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney.

These connections could prove important to Harry and Meghan for both their image, and as they work to bring their charity work to North America.

Ellen Degeneres

Ellen is believed to have become good friends with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, having visited the couple and three-month-old Archie Harrison in London in August. As one of Britain's biggest TV stars, Ellen would work perfectly as the couple's US media connection, as she has a plethora of A-list contacts in the industry

Ellen is believed to have become good friends with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, having visited the couple and three-month-old Archie Harrison in London in August.

The 61-year-old said the boy 'looks like Harry' and described Prince Harry and Meghan, who live at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, as 'the cutest couple'.

Speaking on The Ellen Show last month, DeGeneres also told how she talked with the couple about partnering on their conservation work plans.

She said she met the couple with her wife on a trip to England to 'talk about their work on wildlife conservation' and was very impressed.

Meghan's relationship spans back before the royals, and DeGeneres claimed the Duchess adopted her first rescue dog because she told her, several years earlier.

As one of Britain's biggest TV stars, Ellen would work perfectly as the couple's US media connection, as she has a plethora of A-list contacts in the industry.

Michelle Obama

Michelle has spoken out in defence of the Duchess' treatment, and would be the perfect candidate in helping the Sussexes carve out their US image, having previously been the First Lady

Barack and Michelle Obama are friends hold the Sussexes in dear esteem, with Michelle meeting Meghan while she was in the UK to promote her autobiography, Becoming, last year.

Michelle was reportedly 'instrumental' in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's romance  although it's not clear quite what part she played.

The Obamas and Harry were first brought together by the Invictus Games, created by Harry for injured, sick or disabled military personnel and veterans.

At the second Games in Florida in 2016, Michelle took part in numerous events and said of Harry: 'He truly is Prince Charming'. In return, the Prince lent support to her 'Full Effect' education programme for under-privileged teenagers.

Michelle has spoken out in defence of the Duchess' treatment, and would be the perfect candidate in helping the Sussexes carve out their US image, having previously been the First Lady.

Gayle King

CBS news anchor Gayle King is another great US media contact to help Harry and Meghan, and could help ensure reports on them are fair and accurate (seen at Meghan's baby shower last year)

Meghan is also very close to Oprah's best friend and confidante Gayle King, a TV news anchor with CBS. Gayle spent time with the couple at Frogmore as they awaited the birth of Archie.

American CBS news anchor Gayle King was a guest at the Sussex wedding, and Meghan Markle's New York baby shower.

Gayle is another great US media contact to help, who could help ensure reports on them are fair and accurate.

Desmond Tutu

The Archbishop could help them with their international connections, helping them to highlight their charity work and connect them with influential oversees contacts

Meghan and Harry met Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter at their legacy foundation in Cape Town last September.

The Archbishop could help them with their international connections, helping them to highlight their charity work and connect them with influential oversees contacts.

Amal Clooney

Being a human rights lawyer, Amal Clooney shares common values with the couple, and could advise Meghan and Harry on charity causes and legal advice

George and Amal Clooney attended the royal wedding in May 2018, with barrister Amal being introduced to Meghan by mutual friends at the exclusive London private members club, Soho House.

She has since opened her contacts book to Meghan, recommending everyone from hair stylists to interior designers and key staff members.

In August 2018, the pair spent a long weekend with actor George and Amal at the Clooneys holiday home on Lake Como, Italy.

Being a human rights lawyer, Amal shares common values with the couple, and could advise them on charity causes and legal advice.

Beyonce and Jay Z

Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z have been vocal supporters of the Sussexes, even offering the Duke and Duchess parenting advice as they attended the glittering European premiere of The Lion King last July. Having perfected the art of leading a private life despite their staggering level of fame, the power couple are well placed on how to advise the Sussexes to create a carefully crafted image away from the spotlight

Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z have been vocal supporters of the Sussexes, posting a picture of a portrait of Meghan to Beyonce's Instagram, paying tribute to her on her website during Black History Month last year.

The couple even offered the Duke and Duchess parenting advice as they attended the glittering European premiere of The Lion King last July, telling them to 'always make time for themselves'.

Having perfected the art of leading a private life despite their staggering level of fame, the power couple are well placed on how to advise the Sussexes to create a carefully crafted image away from the spotlight.

Markus Anderson

Meghan's best friend, Markus Anderson, who works for the Soho House group, remains a key member of the Duchess's support team and regularly socialises with the royal couple. He could be instrumental in handling the couple's international PR affairs

Potential media figures Meghan and Harry will work with Omid Scobie (royal inside reporter) Michelle Figueroa Micho (of 'Positive News' - only account Sussexes follow) Tom Bradby (conducted couple's ITV interview last October) Podcast host Bryony Gordon (interviewed Harry on mental health) Advertisement

Meghan's best friend, Markus Anderson, who works for the Soho House group, remains a key member of the Duchess's support team and regularly socialises with the royal couple.

It was Anderson who invited her to join Soho House in Toronto four years ago when she was a Suits star based there, and he facilitated Harry and Meghan's early dates at Soho Houses in London and in Oxfordshire.

He also arranged her low-key hen weekend celebrations  at Soho Farmhous and persuaded the pair to attend the boozy launch of the new Soho House in Amsterdam.

He could be instrumental in handling the couple's international PR affairs.


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Venice promises 18 days of Carnevale fun in 2020.

Venice, the Italian queen of carnival cities, will host 18 days of Carnevale this year, with events taking place along the city's canals and across its bridges and squares from 8-25 February 2020.

Artisans in the lagoon city are currently hard at work preparing beautiful masks and floats for the annual Carnevale, one of the world's best-loved carnivals, whose theme is Il Gioco, l'amore e la Follia.

Costumed visitors can look forward to water parades, allegorical floats, masked balls and night parades, with a spectacular water procession from Punta della Dogana to Rio di Cannaregio opening this year's programme of events on 9 February.

Another important event, the Festa delle Marie pageant, will be held on 15 February with a sumptuous parade from Piero di Castello that will reach Piazza S. Marco where the most beautiful of the 12 "Marias" will be crowned on 25 February.

The Carnevale di Venezia dates back to the 14th century, maybe earlier, and over the centuries the event was frequently forbidden under various rulers.

The modern version of the Venice Carnival, as we know it today, has taken place for the last 100 years.

Carnival ends each year the day before Ash Wednesday which signifies the beginning of Lent, traditionally a period of fasting and abstinence leading up to Easter.

For full programme details see Carnevale di Venezia official website.
An Amazon Dot featuring Alexa is a popular product but it's a far cry from a virtual human. Credit:John Davidson The company also expects them to become virtual companions and will start working with businesses on introducing them later this year. Neon's efforts drew scepticism from the tech community, especially when it emerged that the demonstrations of its tech had itself been altered to make the technology appear more impressive than it really was. But advances in computing mean that creating lifelike digital doppelgangers with artificial intelligence - and using them to replace humans - is an increasingly realistic proposal. Social media and technology companies have spent the last year grappling with "deepfakes", videos that have been digitally manipulated to make a subject - such as a high-ranking politician - appear as if they are doing or saying something else. On Monday night, Facebook banned deepfakes, saying they were likely to "mislead" the average viewer. The move comes amid fears that Facebook allowing the videos would lead to allegations of permitting misinformation to spread during this year's US election.

Loading New 'deepfake' challenge But while deepfakes involve taking a video and altering it, often for sinister reasons, synthetic humans represent a new type of challenge, because they are completely artificially generated. In 2018, Chinese state media outlet Xinhua broadcast using what it said was the first AI-generated news anchor. Although few would say it could pass as a human, that could soon change. Oren Aharon, the chief executive of Hour One, a company that generates synthetic avatars for use in advertising and ecommerce, says neither humans nor deepfake detection technology can discern its videos from the real thing.

A subject's likeness is captured in a studio in a process taking 20 minutes and, from there, AI can generate new videos of the person realistically speaking, laughing and making facial expressions, merely by feeding it text and configuring a personality. The company says it eventually wants the process to take two minutes using a consumer smartphone. We think it's already passed the Turing test. Oren Aharon, Hour One chief executive "We think it's already passed the Turing test," says Aharon, referring to the challenge posed by Alan Turing of fooling an observer into thinking a robot was human. Saving time and cost Hour One's service is used to create videos that would be too laborious and time consuming for human subjects. For example, a large second-hand car seller could generate individual promotional videos for thousands of vehicles instantly, simply by feeding text to the video generator.

Alternatively, video adverts could be targeted directly at a viewer, addressing them by name, or a weatherman could deliver a forecast for your street. "We can create 100 million videos for 100 million sets of eyeballs," Aharon says. Eze Vidra, a former Google executive who now runs venture capital firm Reimagine Ventures, says: "You would never bring a human to a studio for something like this because of the cost and the logistics, but synthetic video allows you to do it. It brings the human element to this very cold digital experience." While it currently uses unknown individuals to create its videos, Aharon said the company is now working with social media influencers and celebrities, which could mean them appearing in adverts without having to spend the time it takes to film them. With virtual doppelgangers Robert de Niro could turn back time to how he looked in the 1980 film Raging Bull. And because virtual actors never age, they could stay in work long after they otherwise could. Forget the de-ageing technology used by Martin Scorsese to wind back the clock on Robert De Niro in The Irishman: a synthetic De Niro could be any age, and star in hundreds of films a year.

A virtual doppelganger for everyone In future, synthetic humans may not merely be for celebrity replicas, however. Soon we may all have virtual doppelgangers. Loading Facebook's Reality Lab in Pittsburgh has been working on ultra-accurate virtual reality technology to capture what it calls "Codec Avatars". This uses machine learning to capture, learn and recreate human social interaction. The technology is aimed at eventually building an accurate digital copy of a normal Facebook user, so they might make calls or take meetings in virtual reality. Even now, VR headsets can pick up the minutiae of a person's movement via head-tracking, but the expressions of a digital avatar would be recreated with AI.

This rise of synthetic video has led to questions about whether it could be used to deceive viewers in a way that goes beyond the altered "deepfake" videos that have already been used for political purposes. UBank's new virtual home loan assistant Mia is here to help. Deepfakes currently manipulate source content to create its videos, so determining a fake is often as simple as finding the original. Full virtual humans created using AI could be more flexible and tougher to identify. Hour One says it requires all of its videos to carry an "altered visuals" disclaimer saying that it contains computer-generated footage. The company also says it gives the real people from whom it creates its likenesses the chance to choose what kind of videos their digital replicas appear in and that its licences to use an individual's likeness expire after four years.
Delegates of ADSOM WG, Da Nang, January 9, 2020

The meeting was the first of a series of military and national defense activities to be held during Viet Nams ASEAN Chairmanship 2020.

ADSOM WG is in charge of preparing and finalizing documents for ASEAN defense meetings including ASEAN Defense Senior Officials' Meeting (ADSOM), the 14th ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM-14), and the seventh ASEAN Defense Minister's Meeting Plus (ADMM+).

From January 10-12, in Da Nang, the ADSOM Plus WG meetings will be held with the participation of over 120 delegates from ten ASEAN member states and eight partners including (Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the RoK, the U.S., and Russia).

ADSOM Plus WG is responsible for preparing the agenda for the seventh ADMM+.

The success of the ADSOM WG and ADSOM-Plus WG will lay an important foundation for the ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2020, and affirm the role and position of the Viet Nam Peoples Army in global integration.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 09:19:30|Editor: ZX

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TRIPOLI, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The UN-backed government of Libya on Wednesday welcomed an appeal made by Turkey and Russia for ceasefire.

"The Presidential Council of the Government of National Accord welcomes any serious call to resume the political process and end the war, in accordance with the Libyan political agreement and the (upcoming) UN-sponsored Berlin conference," the UN-backed government said in a statement.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday issued a joint statement on the civil war of Libya, crisis in Iran and developments in Syria after their consecutive meetings in Istanbul.

The two leaders called on all parties in Libya to secure an immediate ceasefire and stop all hostilities.

They said that the ceasefire should be sustainable and "supported by the necessary measures to be taken for stabilizing the situation on the ground and normalizing daily life in Tripoli and other cities."

The Tripoli-based High Council of State, an advisory body, also welcomed the call for ceasefire, stressing keenness to "save lives of the Libyans and stop the war."

On Sunday, Erdogan said that Turkey is "gradually" sending troops to Libya under a deal inked with the UN-backed government.

The eastern-based army has been leading a military campaign in and around Tripoli since early April, trying to take over the city and topple the UN-backed government.

Thousands have been killed and injured in the fighting, and more than 120,000 people have been displaced by the violence.
The Trump administrations killing of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani did not make the US any safer, Nancy Pelosi has claimed.

As the House of Representatives prepares to vote on a war power resolution that would limit the presidents ability to pursue further military action against Iran in the absence of Congressional approval, the speaker said Mr Trumps attitude towards legislators on Capitol Hill had been disdainful.

Typically, when presidents take military action against a foreign power, the White House notifies in advance a small number of senior members of both the House and Senate  the so-called gang of eight  who are sworn to secrecy.

In the case of the killing of last weeks killing Soleimani as he arrived at Iraqs Baghdad airport, the briefing came several days after the event.

It was disdainful in terms of not consulting with Congress, Ms Pelosi, said on Thursday during her weekly press briefly.

Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Show all 24 1 /24 Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions Iranian mourners gather around a vehicle carrying the coffin of top general Qasem Soleimani during the final stage of funeral processions, in his hometown Kerman. Soleimani was killed outside Baghdad airport in a drone strike ordered by US President Donald Trump, ratcheting up tensions with Iran which has vowed "severe revenge" AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranian people carry a coffin of Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani during a funeral procession in Tehran Official Khamenei website via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions The assassination of the 62-year-old heightened international concern about a new war in the volatile, oil-rich Middle East and rattled financial markets AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Mourners packed the streets of Tehran for ceremonies to pay homage to Soleimani, who spearheaded Iran's Middle East operations as commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force and was killed in a US drone strike on January 3 Iranian Supreme Leader's Office/EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranians set a US and an Israeli flag on fire during the funeral procession AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, centre, with Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, second left, and President Hassan Rouhani, third left, standing next to him as he leads a prayer over the caskets of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at Tehran University Khamenei.IR/AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, openly weeps as he leads a prayer over the coffin of Qassem Soleimani AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Mourners holding posters of Qassem Soleimani AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Coffins of Soleimani and others who were killed in Iraq by a US drone strike, are carried on a truck surrounded by mourners during a funeral procession, at the Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) square AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions An Iranian mourner holds a placard AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Downtown Tehran was brought to a standstill as mourners flooded the Iranian capital Khamenei.IR/AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Former Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps chief Mohamad Ali Jafari prays on the coffins of Qasem Soleimani and of other victims during their funeral ceremony EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Official Khamenei website via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Satellite image Maxar Technologies/AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA

She added: Last week, in our view, the president  the administration conducted a provocative, disproportionate airstrike against Iran, which endangered Americans. And did so without consulting Congress.

CNN pointed out that Ms Pelosi said she asked the Trump administration why the plans were not shared  as is usually the case  and she told we held it closely.

And the president said, well, I informed you by reading my tweets. No, thats not the relationship that our founders had in mind in the constitution of the United States, had when they gave power to the president  to the White House to do one thing in terms of our national security, and to the Congress to declare war and to allocate resources and the rest, she said.

In the aftermath of the killing of 62-year-old Soleimani, top US officials, including secretary of state Mike Pompeo and defence secretary Mike Esper, defended the move, suggesting there was an imminent threat to American interests in plans he was overseeing.

 Mike Pence insists Trump has 'compelling evidence' of Iran threat but says he can't share it

Mr Esper said the threat was days away, rather than weeks, when questioned by reporters at the Pentagon this week.

We have no illusions about Iran, no illusions about Soleimani, Ms Pelosi said.

He was a terrible person, did bad things. But its not about how bad they are. Its about how good we are  protecting the people in a way that prevents war, and does not have us producing again and again generations of veterans who are suffering.
[January 09, 2020] Esri Releases Update of Ready-to-Use US Census Bureau Data in ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World

Esri, the global leader in location intelligence, announced today that ArcGIS software users will now have easy access to the newest values for five-year estimates of the most current data on demographic, housing, and workforce characteristics of the US population. Through ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, people can see and use over 1,400 annually refreshed attributes of American Community Survey (ACS (News - Alert)) tables from the US Census Bureau. New layers in this updated data release that are available in Living Atlas include the following: Education by Veteran Status

Population in Limited-English Households

Age Group by Labor Force Participation

School Enrollment

Heating Fuel Type by Tenure

Housing Costs as a Percentage of Income by Age and Tenure Layers also now have improved metadata in the form of long field descriptions for each attribute, bringing US Census documentation closer to the geographic information system (GIS) analyst. These long descriptions provide users with definitions that are helpful when deciding which attributes are most appropriate for their needs. There will also be new "highlight layers" that group attributes from many topics, helping users to answer questions with a single layer. These include attributes like households without a vehicle, households with no internet connection, and other populations vulnerable in an emergency; child well-being; senior living standards; and other well-being patterns. "These new layes and workflow updates are a valuable tool especially for professionals in fields such as emergency management who rely on US Census data," said Lisa Berry, Esri cartographic product engineer. "Being able to access this information in real time as well as added layers of analytics gives government personnel a significant advantage when responding to disasters like wildfires."



Many government organizations are required by law to use ACS data when conducting any kind of spatial analysis involving populations. This integration provides them with a faster way of accessing and analyzing demographic data to make important decisions. ACS data layers in Living Atlas update every December when the US Census Bureau produces new five-year estimates. The most current five-year ACS data is now easily available through Living Atlas, which can be accessed in ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online, Esri's configurable mobile apps and dashboards, and ArcGIS StoryMaps. All maps using these layers will automatically contain the newest ACS figures.

Living Atlas-the foremost collection of global geographic information including maps, apps, and data layers-supports governments, businesses, and universities in performing research, analysis, and decision-making. To learn more about the latest updates and using ACS data layers in ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, visit go.esri.com/living-atlas/acs. About Esri Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, location intelligence, and mapping, offers the most powerful geospatial cloud available, to help customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Founded in 1969, Esri software is deployed in more than 350,000 organizations including 90 of the Fortune 100 companies, all 50 state governments, more than half of all counties (large and small), and 87 of the Forbes Top 100 Colleges in the U.S., as well as all 15 Executive Departments of the U.S. Government and dozens of independent agencies. With its pioneering commitment to geospatial information technology, Esri engineers the most advanced solutions for digital transformation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics. Visit us at esri.com. Copyright  2020 Esri. All rights reserved. Esri, the Esri globe logo, ArcGIS, The Science of Where, esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products or services mentioned herein may be trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of their respective mark owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005602/en/

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The second risk is operational, for the Turkish military. The Turkish contingent will be operating far from home, with no clear solution for its logistical needs, against an enemy with open supply routes from neighboring Egypt. Another major handicap will the lack of air superiority: Turkish-operated unmanned air vehicles will be no match for Haftar's air force, which is complemented by Emirati fighter jets, also based in Egypt.

Aware of these shortcomings, Ankara is keen to maintain a noncombatant role, with Turkish units involved only as military advisors or as operators of strategic assets such as electronic warfare and unmanned air vehicles. The fighting is to be done by of a proxy force of Free Syrian Army militants. The military success of the recent Syrian campaign seems to have convinced Turkish policy makers that these proxy warriors could also be effective in Libya, where most of the warring factions are militias.

Turkey's plans will be severely tested. Other governments supporting the armed opposition-and in particular, Egypt and the UAE-may view the Turkish involvement as an opportunity to hurt Erdogan, who they accuse of supporting Islamists antithetical to their governments.
Pacylex is a Canadian oncology company headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta. It combines new insights from Dr. Luc Berthiaume of the University of Alberta, connecting myristoylation to cancer, with a family of myristoylation inhibitors developed for African sleeping sickness by the University of Dundee in a program funded by Wellcome Trust. PCLX-001 is the lead drug in a new class of NMT inhibitors, exploiting this new clinical target for cancer treatment. Animal dosing for IND-enabling toxicology in 2 species will finish in January 2020. Pre-IND meeting feedback from the FDA in 2019 defines a clear path to IND filing and clinical start later this year. The Phase 1 protocol is complete and principal investigators are in place at three clinical sites in Canada. Pacylex plans to close a Seed Note round of $5M USD early in 2020 and is looking to raise a $25M Series A in late 2020 to fund clinical development through Phase 2.

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Energy Drinks market accounted for $53.01 billion in 2018 and is estimated to reach $86.01 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 7.2% from 2019 to 2026.

Increased demand for energy drinks as it offers various desirable effects such as improved memory, fast recovery and increased prominence among young generation have propelled the growth of the global energy drinks market. However, presence of alternatives including green tea and ginger root tea hinders the market growth. On the contrary, inclination of consumers toward organic energy drinks is expected to create lucrative opportunities in the near future.

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On the basis of end user, the market is divided into kids, teenagers, and adults. The adult segment held the lions share in 2018, accounting for more than two-fifths of the market and is projected to portray the fastest CAGR of 6.7% during the study period, owing to surge in trend among the adult population of corporates and athletes who need energy drinks for an addition dose of energy to improve performance.

The global energy drinks market is segmented on the basis of type, end user, and geography. Based on type, the market is divided into alcoholic and nonalcoholic. The non-alcoholic energy drink segment dominated the market in 2018 and is expected to continue its dominance throughout the market. The segment accounted for more than half of the market, owing to increased popularity among teenagers due to rise in health consciousness. Moreover, the segment is projected to register the fastest CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period.

Top Key Players:



Rockstar Inc.



Monster Energy



Red Bull GmbH



AriZona Beverages USA LLC



PepsiCo Inc.



Dr. Pepper Snapple Group



Big Red



Dabur India Ltd.



National Beverage Corp., and



Coca Cola Company

The global energy drinks market is analyzed across various regions such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA. The market across North America held the largest share in 2018, contributing around one-third of the market. However, the market across the Asia-Pacific region is estimated to register the fastest 7.3% during the forecast period.

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Sacking not a solution: HRD rules out JNU VC's removal, calls for another meeting with him

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Jan 09: The HRD Ministry on Thursday ruled out the removal of JNU Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar amid demands from students and a section of teachers saying sacking him is not the solution and the government's focus is to address the main issues that have cropped up on campus.

Ministry officials, however, asserted that the "formula" decided during consultations with students and administration needs to be implemented. The varsity officials including the Vice Chancellor have been called at the Ministry on Friday over students' claims that the revised fees as decided during HRD intervention are not being implemented.

HRD Secretary Amit Khare met a delegation of representatives from JNU Students Union and Teachers Association where they put forward the demand of VC's removal. "Removing the VC is not the solution.

The basic issue on which the whole problem has arisen needs to be addressed first. Changing X, Y or Z is not as important as resolving the issues that have come up. The basic bone of contention needs to be resolved," Khare said.

On the issue raised by students of their union not being officially notified by the university, he said, "the ministry's focus is on academic issues on campus and not political". The HRD Ministry has called the students again on Friday after the meeting with Vice Chancellor and his team.

"We will talk to the university administration that the fees changes which were decided last month are implemented. We are working on resolving the issues and restoring normalcy. It is a prestigious university and should remain that way," Khare said.

VC Kumar, however, denied claims that the formula arrived at the ministry is being fully implemented and there is no deviation from it. "As far as the fee issue is concerned, there has been no deviation from the formula arrived at the HRD Ministry last month. As decided, students are not being charged any services or utility fees," Kumar told PTI. "We have also written to UGC to release funds for covering the utility and service charges as decided," he added.

The HRD ministry had in November formed a three-member panel to mediate between the agitating students and administration and restore normalcy in the campus.

According to the formula proposed by the ministry, the JNU administration would charge only the increased room rent and the service and utility charges were to be borne by the University Grants Commission.

In return, the students would call off their agitation and engage in dialogue with the university administration. To compensate for the lost academic period, JNU was asked to extend the semester by two weeks. The university was also advised to notify the students union and withdraw police complaints against students.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020 18:37 732 48be62e941b44f04afae568c321935b8 1 National Demak-regency,Central-Java,maghrib-prayer Free

Demak regent H.M. Natsir started the new year by issuing a letter prohibiting social visits during maghrib (sunset prayer) and isya (evening prayer) in the Central Javan regency.

Signed on Jan. 2, the letter was sent to the local offices of the Indonesian Military, the National Police, mass organizations, religious figures, civil servants and state-owned enterprise employees around the regency.

The letter said it was a follow-up to a previous one that had called on residents to turn off their televisions during maghrib (sunset prayer) so that they could focus on their prayers. The latest letter added that visits, weddings, funerals and other activities were now prohibited during the hours.

The changes were met with resistance from other institutions. Demak Legislative Council Deputy Speaker Nur Wahid said that the prohibition would hinder silaturahmi (social bonds) in the community.

Speaking from a religious perspective, such action is not good because Islam tells people to maintain as many silaturahmi as possible, he said as quoted by kompas.com.

Nur said the regional administration should instead create more programs to interact with the public if they wanted to increase peoples awareness of their programs.

It would be better if the administration provided more facilities for religious studies instead of pressuring the public with such a policy, Nur said. (dpk)
The de facto parliament in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia has called on the separatist region's leader, Raul Khajimba, to step down.



In a resolution adopted on January 9, the self-styled lawmakers said the move aimed at avoiding further destabilization in society, which they said could have irreparable consequences.



After the vote, Russias Interfax news agency quoted Khajimba as saying: "I am staying in office and performing my constitutional duties."



Earlier in the day, demonstrators stormed the building housing the de facto presidential administration and demanded the separatist leaders resignation.



An RFE/RL correspondent in the regional capital, Sukhumi, said dozens of protesters broke into the building, breaking almost all of the windows on the first floor while hundreds more outside chanted "Khajimba, Go Away!"



Khajimba was not thought to be in the building during the incident.



The protesters had first gathered in front of the building of the breakaway region's de facto Supreme Court, which was scheduled to hear opposition presidential candidate Alkhas Kvitsinia's appeal against a lower courts decision to recognize the results of a September "presidential election" won by Khajimba.



Minor clashes between pro-Khajimba activists and their opponents took place during the rally but no injuries were reported.

Moscow has recognized Abkhazia and Georgias other separatist region, South Ossetia, as independent states after a five-day Georgia-Russia war in August 2008.



Russian troops are now stationed in the two regions and Georgia and most of the international community consider both regions as occupied territories.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 16:54:20|Editor: xuxin

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By Matt Goss

CANBERRA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from the unfolding bushfires in Australia, which began unusually early in September, has risen to 27 as the fires continue to burn.

As of Wednesday more than 10.7 million hectares of land had been burned across the country. On Thursday morning, the state government of New South Wales (NSW) announced that 1,870 homes have been destroyed in the state.

Both NSW and Victoria have declared a state of emergency and catastrophic bushfire conditions could persist.

Smoke from the fires has blanketed Australia's major cities for days at a time and has spread as far east as to New Zealand and to South America.

According to data compiled by the World Wide Fund for Nature, 1.25 billion animals have perished in the fires, many of whom were iconic Australian species including koalas, kangaroos, wallabies and cockatoos.

In response to the crisis, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack on Monday established the National Bushfire Recovery Agency and announced 2 billion Australian dollars (1.37 billion U.S. dollars) in funding for relief and recovery efforts.

The announcement was made amid one of Morrison's difficult months since he became prime minister in August 2018.

In December, he apologized after he left the country for a family holiday to Hawaii while much of his home state of NSW was ablaze.

Since he cut his holiday short, Morrison has faced significant pressure to pursue more ambitious climate change policies to mitigate future crises.

Australia has committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 26-28 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 under the Paris climate accord, a target that Morrison has said will "protect the environment" while also guaranteeing the long-term viability of "people's jobs and livelihoods."

The mounting pressure on the prime minister to take action to prevent future fires came to a head earlier in January while he was touring the affected NSW town of Cobargo where two people died. Morrison was heckled by local residents.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) on Thursday released its Annual Climate Statement, revealing that 2019 was both Australia's warmest and driest year since records began in 1900.

According to BOM data, Australia's mean temperature in 2019 was 1.52 degrees Celsius hotter than the long-term average.

The national rainfall total was 277.6 millimetres (mm), well below the previous record in 1902 (previous lowest was 314.5 mm).

Andrew Gissing, an emergency management expert from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, recently said that Australia spends "too much on disaster relief and recovery and not enough on mitigation."

"More people are living in high-risk bushfire areas, emergency services are stretched and the climate is rapidly changing," he said in a media release.

"Future crises are inevitable. We must consider the prospect of a monstrous bushfire season, the likes of which we've never seen."

More than a third of the Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia has been burned by fires and approximately 25,000 koalas, half the island's population, are feared dead.

The koalas of Kangaroo Island are considered crucial to the long-term survival of the species because they have been found to be free of the chlamydia that affects almost half of those on the mainland, causing widespread blindness, infertility and death.

Chris Dickman, an ecologist from the University of Sydney, on Wednesday said that 800 million animals have died in NSW alone.

"We're probably looking at what climate change may look like for other parts of the world in the first stages in Australia at the moment," he said in a statement.

"It's a very sad time."
Celeste Barber's global fundraiser for those devastated by the bushfire crisis in Australia has raised over $47million.

Now the comedian and her 'hot husband' Api Robin, want to thank people for the donations and 'personal support' after Api's mother Joy Robin, was caught up in fires at Eden on the South Coast in New South Wales.

'I just want to take this chance to say thank you' Api said in a video uploaded to his Instagram account, before Celeste jumps into the frame, shouting: 'I want to say thank you too!'

Grateful: Celeste Barber and her husband, Api Robin thanked people for their donations and 'personal support' after his mother Joy was caught up in Bushfires in Eden, New South Wales

'Not only for the fundraising, but for the personal support, lovely beautiful messages...' he continues.

Celeste jumps in again to remind everyone of the video of Api's mum Joy speaking to the media at Eden Wharf after residents were told they needed to evacuate the town, near the Victorian border, last week.

'It's hard to see your mum under such distress and being terrified of what was coming their way,' Api adds.

'Maybe it helped to nudge the government to mobilise some support there which is what they all need,' he continued.

It concludes with Celeste saying: 'What we really want to say, or sing is... Power to the people!'

Angry: Celeste previously shared a video of her mother-in-law Joy Robin (pictured) unleashing on the government

The video of her mother-in-law, which Celeste shared through her Instagram, shows Joy unleashing on the government for its response to bushfires ravaging the New South Wales South Coast.

'We pay $6billion in taxpayer money every year... where are they? This is our war,' she said.

The comedian who is known for her parodies on celebrities, took to Facebook on Friday to announce she set up a fundraiser online.

Amazing: The comedian set up her fundraiser on Facebook on Friday which has exceed her expectations and is set to have raised $50million by the end of today

'I'm raising money for The Trustee for NSW Rural Fire Service & Brigades Donations Fund and your contribution will make an impact, whether you donate a lot or a little. Anything helps,' she wrote.

On Sunday she also filmed herself purchasing hundreds of dollars worth of products for those in fire-ravaged areas.

Api, shared the video of his wife 'getting some essentials ready... for those heroic folks fighting the blazes'.

Helping hand: The couple purchased hundreds of dollars worth of products to donate to those in fire-ravaged areas, including water, medial supplies and toiletries on Sunday

The footage showed her struggling with six shopping trolleys filled with water, medical supplies and toiletries at a Coles supermarket.

The fundraiser has far exceeded all expectations and if donations continue it is expected to reach $50million by the end of today.

The catastrophic bushfire season in Australia has so far claimed 25 lives, destroyed 2,000 homes and killed close to a billion animals.
A Co Tyrone engineering company has signed a multi-million pound contract for airport equipment with Delta Air Lines.

Mallaghan Engineering, which is based in Dungannon, is manufacturing maintenance platform lifts (MPL) for use at airports across the United States.

The business employs over 450 people at its manufacturing facilities in Atlanta and Northern Ireland.

The company said that 10 new members of staff have been hired in Atlanta to complete the recent Delta Air Lines order.

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Joe Griffith, commercial manager at Mallaghan, said: "Our latest partnership with Delta Air Lines represents the next stage in our US expansion plan.

"Innovation within the aviation and ground handling industries is at the core of our business and we have worked very closely with Delta throughout the design and manufacturing process."

Parts for the lifts have been manufactured at Mallaghan's site in Dungannon, before being assembled in Atlanta, where it opened a base in 2018.

Mr Griffith explained that the equipment allows workers to move themselves safely next to the aircraft.

"Our Maintenance Platform Lifts ensure that maintenance teams can position themselves safely by the aircraft and are suitable for use across a wide range of aircraft, including wide body jets," he said.

In October, Mallaghan launched the Mallaghan 50W - the largest-capacity airport bus in the world.

Mr Griffith added: "We look forward to continuing to invest in and develop our product offering as well as our people.

"Since the opening of our 50,000 sq ft Atlanta site in 2018 we have demonstrated a clear commitment to the local area, and we hope to carry on driving local economic growth well into the future.

Joe Santos, director of tech-ops maintenance at Delta Air Lines, added: "Delta Air Lines employs over 80,000 people globally with 30,000 in Atlanta alone.

"We are very pleased with our recent contract with Mallaghan as it has allowed Delta to further support our tech-ops Maintenance division and therefore our customers.

"We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with Mallaghan Engineering on future projects."

Mallaghan clients include Aer Lingus, British Airways, China Eastern Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Menzies Aviation, Qantas and Swissport.
- with reporting by Press Association

The much-anticipated meeting between Leo Varadkar and Micheal Martin has concluded without resolution.

The two leaders agreed to consider what was raised and to meet again next week.

However, senior party sources said that neither party was prepared for an immediate withdrawal for fear of undermining progress in the Northern talks.

In a terse joint statement, the parties said: The two leaders had a constructive meeting. They discussed Dail numbers and possible legislative proposals which could be passed in a further Dail session. They agreed to consider matters further and to meet again next week.

Mr Martin was spotted heading back toward his office in Leinster House shortly after 7pm along with his chef de cabinet, Deirdre Gillane, and both appeared to be in upbeat mood.

The two leaders and their chief advisors met in an office just off the ministerial corridor which links Leinster House and Government Buildings.

Earlier in the day, Mr Varadkar declined three opportunities to rule out dissolving the Dail before its scheduled return next Wednesday.

The Taoiseach has summonsed his parliamentary party to a special meeting in Dublin on Friday.

Fianna Fail has been in a confidence and supply arrangement with Fine Gael since they failed to secure a majority in the last general election in 2016.

The confidence and supply agreement was extended in December 2018 amid Brexit uncertainty and to prevent a general election being held before 2020.

With the decisive election in the UK which saw a Conservative government returned, there has been pressure on Fine Gael to call a general election if the revised Brexit deal passes the UK parliament.

Mr Varadkar has previously said his preferred date for holding the next general election is May 2020, but an ongoing housing crisis and a record number of people on hospital trolleys has seen the Government come under sustained pressure.

In December, Fine Gael Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy narrowly survived a motion of no confidence with the support of some independent TDs.

With a motion of no-confidence in the Health Minister Simon Harris set to be tabled by a number of Independent TDs if the Dail returns next week, the motion highlights how precarious support for the Government is.
Survivors of the notorious Brothers Home call for members of the family who ran it to be extradited to face questioning.
Sara Ali Khan has been raising the temperatures with all her amazing bikini pics from her enviable Maldives vacation with brother Ibrahim and mother Amrita Singh. The actor came back to Mumbai some days ago and recently posted a picture that was absolute love. We have to say, no matter where Sara goes, her sartorial choices are always on point.

Taking a break from her slew of bikini pictures Sara took to her Instagram to post a picture of herself wearing, what seems to be her favourite designer of all time, a yellow Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla kurta which is from their Asal collection.

The bright yellow kurta had multi-coloured threadwork and sequins all over it in a traditional, sort of Rajasthani pattern. Sara sported minimal makeup as always, but we absolutely loved her hoops which were embellished with 3D enamel flowers.

ALSO READ: Sara Ali Khan twins with mother Amrita Singh in red Abu-Sandeep number, poses with her loud patakas

Sara has been spotted in Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla on more than one occasion, and were not complaining. We love her twinning with mother Amrita in this red number.

Or her magazine cover shoot with brother Ibrahim where the two wore matching outfits by the ace couturiers.

Or even this applique lehenga choli Sara wore. Absolutely gorgeous!

Sara Ali Khan manages to always be in the news, whether its because of her movies, promotional appearances, ads, magazine cover shoots, adorable videos with brother Ibrahim, her shayari, her equation with her family or her contemporaries, the list can go on and on. Sara has managed to make her way into the hearts of audiences because of her down-to-earth nature and quirky, funny personality and overall intelligence. She is a total millennial icon, her happy, ever-smiling face makes youngsters of all ages love her and look up to princess Pataudi.

On the professional front, Sara will be seen in David Dhawans remake of his own Govinda-starrer Coolie No. 1 with the same name alongside Varun Dhawan. And she will also play the female lead in the sequel of father, Saif Ali Khan-starrer, Love Aaj Kal, along with Kartik Aaryan. Sara has also been taking meetings with director Anand L Rai, and media reports suggest a script is underway starring Sara and South star Dhanush.

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NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) today announced that CIT Northbridge Credit, through its investment advisor CIT Asset Management LLC, served as sole lead arranger on a $75 million senior secured credit facility for MVP Staffing.

Headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, MVP Staffing is a leading technology-enabled provider of back-office solutions for payroll and workers' compensation benefits for small and mid-sized staffing companies throughout the U.S.

"We were impressed by the agility and expertise of the CIT Northbridge team in understanding our financing needs and developing a credit facility that will allow us to grow while continuing to serve our customers," said Danny Barnett, CEO of MVP Staffing.

"We are pleased to have the opportunity to leverage our extensive industry experience to provide MVP Staffing the operating flexibility necessary to execute on its business strategy," said Neal Legan, who leads CIT Northbridge.

CIT Northbridge Credit is a trusted financial partner supporting middle-market companies with a broad range of flexible asset-based debt solutions. A joint venture advised by CIT Asset Management, it provides revolving and term loan commitments from $15 million to $150 million to companies across various industries and business cycles, and serves primarily as sole lender, agent, club participant or co-lender.

About CIT

CIT is a leading national bank focused on empowering businesses and personal savers with the financial agility to navigate their goals. CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) is a financial holding company with over a century of experience and operates a principal bank subsidiary, CIT Bank, N.A. (Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender). The company's commercial banking segment includes commercial financing, community association banking, middle market banking, equipment and vendor financing, factoring, railcar financing, treasury and payments solutions, and capital markets and asset management. CIT's consumer banking segment includes a national direct bank and regional branch network. Discover more at cit.com/about.

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A plan to dramatically jump-start Torontonians use of electric vehicles is gliding into city hall amid concerns over the citys financial commitment and the provincial governments policies.

Torontos proposed electric vehicle (EV) strategy, with 10 broad actions to accelerate the switch from gas-guzzlers to zero-emission vehicles gets its first airing Thursday at an infrastructure and environment meeting.

The report says getting all private vehicles electric by 2050, with ambitious targets en route, is critical to city council delivering on a promise to fight climate change and make Toronto carbon neutral by mid-century.

Vehicles are responsible for about 30 per cent of Torontos greenhouse gas emissions. The plan aims to boost the number of electric vehicles from about 0.6 per cent now to 5 per cent by 2025, to 20 per cent by 2030 and to 80 per cent by 2040.

That will require a co-ordinated effort to address the current barriers and enable necessary charging and electrical capacity infrastructure and upgrades to avoid disruptions in (Toronto Hydro) service, states the city-commissioned report by Dunsky Energy Consulting.

Its proposals include:

a big increase in the number of public charging stations, including on-street residential plug-ins for garage orphans who dont have driveways;

policies to explore partnerships to expand charging infrastructure;

fast-tracking the greening of the citys vehicle fleet;

incentives or requirements to get electric vehicles for hire, including taxi and Uber rides;

supporting electric car-sharing services in targeted neighbourhoods.

Sarah Buchanan, a program manager at Environmental Defence who participated in Dunskys consultations, called the proposed road map to electrification ambitious and solid.

My concern is implementation  how serious city council is about taking all those steps, because some of them have a price tag upfront, said Buchanan, adding Toronto will need help from other governments and Premier Doug Fords government has no plan to boost EV ownership.

Canadian Press reported last month that EV sales in Ontario plummeted after the provinces 2018 cancellation of a $14,000 rebate on most models, but rebounded somewhat in spring 2019 after Ottawa introduced a $5,000 rebate, according to Electric Mobility Canada data.

The Atmospheric Fund, a regional climate agency that invests in low-carbon solutions, wrote to the city strongly supporting the new strategy and urging council to make quicker, bolder moves.

In 2017, Toronto council approved a pilot project to put charging stations on some residential streets with on-street parking, but no such installation has happened, said Bryan Purcell, the funds vice-president of policy and programs.

We need to see a real commitment to the (electric vehicle) plan, to really accelerate these things and get them done with a sense of urgency that befits the climate emergency, declared by Toronto last autumn, Purcell said in an interview.

Councillor Mike Layton, a former co-ordinator for the Green Energy Act Alliance, also expressed frustration with city staff over the delay in implementing on-street charging stations, speculating co-ordination between two city departments and Toronto Hydro could be an issue.

Without city initiatives and money, were relying entirely on the market to make the switch, to EVs, he said. If we're not choosing to put money in, then we're clearly along for the ride and not in the driver's seat.

City staff say the on-street charger pilot project will launch in 2020.

Council colleague Jennifer McKelvie, an environmental geoscientist, acknowledged the plans EV adoption targets are ambitious but said the city has to make moves so as many Torontonians as possible choose electric for their next vehicle, as she plans to do.

Nino Di Cara, a Beach resident, bought a Tesla 3 in October, after sharing use of another electric vehicle, and hasnt looked back. His vehicle wasnt cheap but energy and maintenance costs are lower and the Tesla is quiet and fun to drive, he said.

The real issue is about public education, getting people better informed about EVs which are just a better solution, Di Cara said. People are pitching them as part of a climate solution, and thats fine, but I think more people will get them when they realize its just a better way to get around.

David Rider is the Star's City Hall bureau chief and a reporter covering city hall and municipal politics. Follow him on Twitter: @dmrider
A newly-elected DUP MP has used her maiden speech in the House of Commons to speak out against the "extreme" liberalisation of abortion laws in Northern Ireland.

Abortion here was decriminalised by Westminster in the ongoing absence of a devolved government at Stormont, with those affected in the interim period until March continuing to travel to England for medical terminations.

Northern Ireland had the strictest abortion regime in the UK or Ireland up until October 22, with terminations only permitted if the mother's life was in danger or there was a serious risk to her physical or mental health.

Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart, who became a mother to baby Charlie last May, told MPs that abortion was now being "foisted on people in Northern Ireland". She said: "Abortion was, and should be, a devolved matter, yet this House has imposed on Northern Ireland the most extreme measures of abortion anywhere across Europe."

Ms Lockhart, who replaced MP David Simpson after he stood aside in the wake of an extramarital affair, claimed: "In Northern Ireland, abortion on request for any reason will be legalised to the point at which a baby is 'capable of being born alive'." In July, amid the slow collapse of Prime Minister Theresa May's Government and ongoing Stormont stalemate, Parliament legislated to legalise abortion and same-sex marriage as part of an Executive Formation Act.

Prior to this the legislation here had outlawed abortion in almost all circumstances.

The Northern Ireland Office carried out a consultation last month on the legal framework governing abortion ahead of the introduction of termination services here at the end of March.

It covered a number of issues, including questions on the gestational limit for early terminations of pregnancy.

On Wednesday Northern Ireland minister Robin Walker told MPs that the Government is "working towards the laying of regulations for a new legal framework", which will come into force by March 31.

Opponents of reform believe the Government favours abortion on request to 12/14 weeks, but possibly up to 22/24 weeks in certain circumstances. Most terminations in England, Wales and Scotland are carried out before 24 weeks of pregnancy. Terminations in Britain can be carried out after 24 weeks in certain circumstances, for example if the mother's life is at risk or the child would be born with a severe disability.

The DUP failed in a last-ditch bid at Stormont to thwart reform late last year. But Ms Lockhart told MPs that the party would fight to overturn the new legislation "with immediate effect and allow the Northern Ireland Assembly to debate, discuss and evidence-gather on this emotive issue".

"The DUP is a pro-life party, but this actually crosses traditional boundaries and there is widespread cross-community support across Northern Ireland," she said.

"We have an evolving political landscape, and I say let the people of Northern Ireland have their say on this matter."
J.M. Wilson has added Rebecca Taylor as an accounting assistant in its Portage, Michigan, office.

Taylor is responsible for supporting the accounting team in numerous ways. Her role includes processing and recording financial transactions for both J.M. Wilson and Cedar Finance Company. She will also be assisting agents and carriers with their accounting needs.

Taylor previously worked in a customer service role in the hotel and hospitality industry.

J.M. Wilson is a managing general agency and surplus lines broker providing independent insurance agents access to specialty insurance markets.

2020 will mark its 100 year anniversary, and the company plans to celebrate throughout the year.

J.M. Wilson Corp. was established in 1920, shortly after founder James M. Wilson Sr., returned home from WWI, as a decorated war hero. The firm began as a wholesale bond writer, before becoming a managing general agency in 1948, and expanding its portfolio to excess and surplus lines in 1966.

With expansion into new markets, the size of the company grew as well. Over the past 30 years, J.M. Wilson has opened branch offices in seven states across the country with the ability to underwrite in 40 states.

Source: J.M. Wilson

Topics Michigan
Lisa Marie Presleys young children are reportedly barred from traveling to Memphis, Tennessee, to celebrate their grandfather Elvis Presleys 85th birthday celebration.

According to The Blast, the musicians estranged husband, Michael Lockwood, is not allowing their 11-year-old twin daughters, Harper and Finley, to travel for the celebration. Under Lisa Marie, 51, and Lockwoods current custody agreement, the kids cannot travel outside of California without the consent of both of their parents or approval from the court.

In an effort to overrule Lockwoods decision, Lisa Maries legal team from Brot Gross Fishbein appeared in Los Angeles County Court on Tuesday (the day before the festivities were scheduled to start) to file emergency documents asking a judge to allow the children to travel.

The Blast reports that the judge ultimately denied her ex-parte request in the case, saying that the situation did not rise to the level of an emergency.

Though Lisa Marie and Lockwood, 58, share joint legal custody of the twins, a source tells PEOPLE that Lockwood only has supervised visits with the girls three times a week while Lisa Marie has physical custody. According to the source, Lockwood also blocked the girls from traveling to Memphis in August for Elvis Week, which was a celebration commemorating the 42nd anniversary of Elvis death.

Representatives for Lisa Marie and Lockwood did not immediately respond to PEOPLEs request for comment.

Lisa Marie Presley with her four children | Lisa Marie Presley/Instagram

Elvis birthday celebration is being held over the course of four days at the rock and roll legends famous Graceland mansion starting on Wednesday. The Graceland website says that events this year include the annual Elvis Birthday Proclamation Ceremony, private tours of Graceland with Elvis ex-wife (and Lisa Maries mother) Priscilla Presley and a Birthday Celebration Concert featuring Terry Mike Jeffrey and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.

Story continues

RELATED GALLERY: Elvis Presleys Graceland: 10 Things You Didnt Know About the Birthday Boys Legendary Home



Lisa Marie married Lockwood, her fourth husband, in 2006 and filed for divorce in June 2016. Ever since their separation, the two have been embroiled in an ongoing custody battle. They are set to go to trial over custody, visitation rights and child support amounts on July 20, 2020.

Lisa Marie Presley and estranged husband Michael Lockwood | Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage

Along with Harper and Finley, Lisa Marie also shares daughter Riley, 30, and son Benjamin, 27, with ex-husband Danny Keough.
A company that employs hundreds of people in the Harrisburg area has a new facility.

TransCore has opened a new location at 4415 Lewis Road in Swatara Township. The facility consolidates several offices in the area and provides room for continued growth and expansion to serve customers in Pennsylvania and across the United States, the company said in a press release. Transcore previously had several offices in the area including one on Tecport Drive in Swatara Township.

Transcore provides tolling and transportation solutions for transportation projects across the globe. The company operates tolling customer service centers for departments of transportation throughout the U.S. and internationally.

TransCore has served the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and other customers in the region since the 1930s. TransCore directly employs more than 250 people based in the Harrisburg area and employs an additional 200 people through staffing agencies.

The newly renovated complex includes approximately 50,000 square feet of space in two buildings. The main office building houses primarily office space and an auxiliary building provides additional space for test lane monitoring, lane software testing, and warehousing. The complex also includes full-scale gantries spanning seven lanes for testing a variety of sensors, antennas, and lane configurations.

Most employees moved into the new facility in August. The facility held a grand opening celebration on Oct. 29.

The company is based in Tennessee.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Oct. 29.

--Business Buzz

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Five men have been arrested for their alleged involvement in violence in Nand Nagari area of Delhi during protests against amended Citizenship Act last month, police said on Thursday.

The accused have been identified as Aashqin (38), Sharukh Kureshi (22), Mohammad Tarik (34) -- all residents of Sundar Nagari -- Aasif Khan (32), from Bulandsahar and Sharukh (23) from Ghaziabad, they said.

"The accused were identified through videos which went viral. The all five were arrested from Sundar Nagari on Wednesday," a senior police officer said.

Police claimed that the five accused didn't have any idea about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or the planned National Register of Citizens (NRC). They were sent to judicial custody on Thursday.

Further investigation into the case is on and other videos are being analysed to identify other suspects, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Clarksburg Officials Still Hoping for School Roof Money

CLARKSBURG, Mass.  Town officials are still hoping to get funding to fix the roof at Clarksburg School.

Chairman Ronald Boucher and Select Board member Danielle Luchi voted Wednesday night to send a letter to Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito requesting the visit the school to see the work being accomplished there.

"I think they really need to see it firsthand," said Boucher. "I know Patrick Carnevale (director of the governor's Western Massachusetts office) came out and did his thing, but it's  he's not the person that you need to see this."

The town has been advocating for the governor's office to release an earmark for $500,000 that state Sen. Adam Hinds had placed in a capital spending bill nearly two years ago. The executive office has been reluctant to invest in the school since the town decisively defeated a $19 million addition and renovation project. The Massachusetts School Building Authority and the state Department of Education had determined that the 60-year-old structure does not meet contemporary educational needs.

In the interim, local officials and volunteers have been making repairs and upgrades piecemeal through grants, donations and appropriations. Half a $1 million borrowing approved at the 2019 annual town meeting is set aside specifically for the school.

"I always felt that the governor's office had that impression that this school is crumbling and it's not and that that's why we need him out here to show him that," said Robert Norcross, who has taken the lead in coordinating with the volunteers and tracking priorities.

He and Boucher both acknowledged that while foundation isn't crumbling, the building still needs a lot of work  especially regarding accessibility. So far, a new heating system has been installed, some repairs have been done and there are plans for an accessible bathroom and public address system. Unfortunately, installation of the secure entrance over the holiday break didn't happen because the contractor couldn't pay the bond.

"I do think if there's a big splash enough and we invite the governor's office out, the attorney general, whatever, I think will go a long way," said Norcross. Boucher agreed, adding "the squeaky wheel gets the grease."

In other business, the board confirmed that it will host a joint meeting with the School Committee and library trustees on Feb. 12. The library and school have been at odds over the parking situation at the shared site and trustees were frustrated by recent comments at the School Committee meetings.

Town Administrator Rebecca Stone said she felt horrible that her tossing out the idea of shifting the library to the Community/Senior Center as an example of rethinking things had caused any upset.

"It was nothing that was been talked about, it was just something off the cuff and I think it was taken out of context," she said.

Norcross, however, said he didn't see a problem with her comment.

"I like it that people bring up ideas, because I thought that was an idea that needed to be talked about," he said. "But then again, you know, maybe it's not a good idea. Of course, you stop people from bringing up ideas, you never come up with that one that might work."

Boucher and Luchi hoped that the joint meeting would go a long ways to opening communication and reducing misinformation.

 The board voted to spend $2,373 for a new fire alarm and installation at Town Hall. The old unit is in disrepair and the battery backup doesn't work. It will be moved from the hot furnace room to a location that has a more constant temperature.

 The board also agreed to move to a "single signer" for warrants. Luchi said she had been unsure of the idea but had changed her mind after talking with the town's accountant and treasurer. The chairman was designated the signer and the board will receive a report of the warrants signed.

 Stone reported that she has received all but two departments' budgets so far for the fiscal 2021 budget planning. She said she will not be presenting a capital budget but will be requesting a grant-funded police cruiser replacement.

"I'm not planning on putting together any capital projects for the town because, I think most of you know, we have probably 18 or so projects on that list to get done," she said. "I don't see any reason why I should be putting in capital projects at this time."

One of these is the West Road culvert replacement and she said she had met with Highway Foreman Kyle Hurlbut and the town's engineering firm Foresight Services. "It's a huge project," she said. "We're looking at easily a half million dollars."

Also on tap is an estimated $50,000 sewer engineering study for upgrades to meet the requirements of the Hoosac Water Quality District. The money will come out of the sewer enterprise fund, which is supported by the sewer ratepayers.

The status of projects and grants is on the agenda for Monday's Finance Committee meeting.
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Quick-thinking motorists used their vehicles to trap a man who fled after hitting a 78-year-old Florida school crossing guard who was helping students cross a road Wednesday, police said.

Gregory Olson, 68, is charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving injuries, driving with a suspended license, and failure to obey a traffic control device, Clearwater police said on Twitter.

The incident happened about 4:30 p.m. as student from Oak Grove Middle School were heading home. No students were injured.

Olson got about a block away before several motorists used their cars to block him until authorities arrived.

Crossing guard Ernest Comeau suffered injuries that were not considered life-threatening, police said He was taken to a hospital for treatment. He has been a crossing guard for three years, according to police.

Olson remained in the Pinellas County Jail on Thursday. Court records did not list whether he had a lawyer who could comment on the charges.
Rescue teams work amidst debris after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran, early on the morning of Jan 8, 2020. (Photo: AFP)

"The two black boxes of the Ukranian 737 airplane that crashed this morning have been found," said the authority's spokesman, Reza Jafarzadeh, according to semi-official news agency ISNA.

The Ukrainian jet bound for Kiev slammed into a field before dawn at Khalaj Abad, about 45km north-west of Imam Khomeini International Airport.

None of the 176 people on board survived, Iranian officials said.

The plane belonged to Ukraine International Airlines, which said the Boeing 737 involved in the crash had been built in 2016 and was checked only two days before it went down.

Preliminary statements by Iranian and Ukrainian authorities suggest the plane suffered an engine malfunction, though the airline did not detail any reasons for the accident.

The crash came shortly after Iran said it fired missiles at Iraqi bases in revenge for the killing of one of the Islamic republic's top military commanders in a US drone strike on Friday.

Following the missile strikes, the US Federal Aviation Administration said it was banning US-registered carriers from flying over Iraq, Iran and the Gulf after rocket attacks on US forces in Iraq.

Other international carriers said they were suspending all routes passing through Iraqi or Iranian airspace.
Editor's Note: 2020 is expected to be another year of significant uncertainty and turmoil. But the question is what asset will emerge the victor when the dust settles from the global trade war, Brexit, recession threats, negative bond yields. Its a showdown of global proportions, so dont miss all our exclusive coverage on how these factors could impact your 2020 investment decisions.

(Kitco News) Two different mints on the opposite sides of the globe are reporting very contrasting coin sales results from 2019.

The Perth Mint in Australia saw a surge in gold coin sales towards the end of 2019, while the U.S. Mint reported dwindling sales throughout the year.

The December data from the Perth Mint revealed that it saw a 45% uptick in gold product sales in comparison to the previous month.

There was a total of 78,912 ounces of gold coins and minted bars sold in December, marking the highest monthly increase since October 2016, Perth Mint said on Wednesday. The year-over-year comparison shows that sales were up 170%.

Gold prices reached record high levels in Australian dollar terms last year, topping AUD $2,000 for the first time ever.

"The rally in precious metals is a continuation of a strong upside move which can be dated back to Q4 2018 when a sharp decline in equity markets reignited demand for gold and other safe-haven assets. Since then, gold has rallied by more than 30% in Australian dollar terms," Perth Mint said in its blog post.

The Australian mint said it saw increased demand firsthand last year, highlighting Germany as the critical area where the demand was coming from.



"In troy ounce terms, December 2019 demand for our Australian gold bullion coins and minted bars neared 79,000 ounces  up 45% on the previous month. Driven by strong sales of Kangaroo and Lunar coins, particularly in Germany, the number of ounces sold in December 2019 increased 170% compared to the same period in 2018," Perth Mint said.

The second-best month for gold sales was November with Perth Mint selling 54,261 ounces of gold coins and minted bars.

When it came to silver sales, December's figures were at 1,361,723 ounces sold, up 32.5% month-on-month and up 97% year-on-year.

In comparison to Australia's positive results, the U.S. Mint saw declining sales of its American Eagle gold coin in 2019. Even though sales started strong at 65,500 ounces sold in January, the numbers quickly fell, dropping to just 2,000 ounces sold in December.

Overall, the U.S. Mint sold a total of 152,000 ounces of the gold American Eagle coins in 2019, marking the lowest level on record since the Mint began recording the data in 1986.

Sales of silver American Eagle coins were the worst since 2007, with only 14,863,500 ounces sold in 2019, down from the already weak figure of 15,700,000 reported in 2018.

Analysts pointed to the rallying U.S. stock market as a possible reason why investors chose not to invest in the physical gold coins.

"Much of what has probably been happening is that there were better returns in other markets, equities in particular. S&P 500 is up 30% year-on-year," RBC Wealth Management managing director George Gero told Kitco News last week.

On top of that, the strong U.S. dollar might have been to blame for such low sales.

"Last year has been indicative of the fact that the U.S. dollar has been a lot stronger than anyone would have thought. Because of the trade issue, you had China's currency not perform particularly well  We haven't seen as much physical demand because, in other currency-terms, it seemed expensive," said TD Securities head of global strategy Bart Melek.
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A former Vietnamese policewoman has been sentenced to seven years in prison for helping a woman plant heroin in her boyfriends car in 2016 as part of a conspiracy to have him put behind bars.

The Peoples Court in Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi on Wednesday condemned Nguyen Thi Vung, a previous a senior lieutenant and officer in the anti-trafficking department under the Ministry of Public Security, to six years behind bars for narcotics stockpiling and another year for slander.

Nguyen Thi Van, the second defendant at the trial, was given a five-year jail term for storing drugs and another 1.5 years for slander.

According to court documents, Van, 38, and Nguyen Van Thien, 45, were previously involved in a romantic relationship before a serious conflict broke out between them.

In September 2016, Van contacted Vung, who was still working in the anti-trafficking department at the time, and asked for her help in getting Thien arrested.

Van agreed to pay Vung VND1 billion ($43,000) for her help with supplying the narcotics that the former eventually planted in Thiens car.

As part of their agreement, Van received seven grams of heroin from a contact at an arranged location on October 28 and secretly hid the drugs inside her boyfriends car.

The crime of stockpiling 0.1-5 grams of heroin carries a prison term of up to five years, according to the Criminal Code of Vietnam.

Vung alerted other police officers to search Thiens vehicle later the same day.

Thien was arrested and released one week later, after police found no evidence to suggest he had anything to do with the heroin found in his car.

After his release, Thien spent months collecting proof, including chat messages and recordings of phone conversations between Van and Vung discussing their plot, and submitted it to investigators.

At the trial, Vung denied all wrongdoing, but the jury stated they had sufficient evidence against her.

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Linkedin Soe Tjen Marching (The Jakarta Post) London  Thu, January 9, 2020 15:47 732 48be62e941b44f04afae568c3218c263 3 Opinion reynhard-sinaga,sexual-violence,rape,LGBT-in-Indonesia,LGBTQ,discrimination Free

The mass media and public have been shocked by the recent news about Reynhard Sinaga, an Indonesian, who has been convicted of over 159 offenses against 48 men between January 2015 and June 2017. The 36-year-old is a PhD student at Leeds University in the United Kingdom, and has been named as Britains most prolific rapist. Very quickly the Indonesian mass media focused on the criminals sexual orientation and several even compared his case to that of Ryan from Jombang, East Java. In 2008, Ryan was arrested by the police, who suspected him of murder. Later, Ryan confessed to having killed 11 people. Ryan mutilated many of his victims, some of them reportedly out of jealousy.

Most Indonesian media extensively focused on Ryans sexual orientation, as if the murderers identity as a gay person was the cause of his horrendous crimes. Meanwhile, while most British mass media outlets mention that Reynhards victims are males, they do not discuss his sexual orientation at length. Yet type in Reynhard Sinaga and gay or LGBT on Google, and many reports in Indonesian appear. Indeed, Reynhards sexual orientation is paraded on the titles of several Indonesian reports.

Many comments also condemn his sexual orientation, as if it were not the rape itself that were the problem, but his sexual orientation. In this discourse, being lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) becomes a crime of its own.

Read also: UKs most prolific rapist Reynhard Sinaga shocks, shames Indonesians at home and abroad

I do not justify Reynhards crime at all. But several comments and articles that concentrate on his sexual orientation have overlooked the gravity of his crime and also missed analyzing the backgrounds of such actions. Reynhard earlier lived in Indonesia, where those known as LGBT are stigmatized. Have the newspapers that condemned LGBT people noted there are many LGBT people who are caring, humane and treat their partners very well? Have they actually published any articles about the many LGBT people who have also become great authors, scientists and human rights defenders? I doubt it. It seems the main goal of many of these media (whether consciously or not) is to slander LGBT people, so most of them mainly publish articles about the criminals who coincidentally have LGBT sexual orientations. So in the world of these media, LGBT people are rapists, murderers and/or sexual offenders.

When the perpetrators or criminals are known as heterosexuals, usually no news mentions sexual orientation.

So, let us now compare Reynhards case with other horrendous crimes committed by people considered heterosexuals. Take the late Anwar Congo, who bragged on camera that he had murdered hundreds of people. He even proudly said that he drank some of his victims blood. In the film The Act of Killing, he also acts out a scene where a victim is forced to eat his own liver. How about another member of a paramilitary organization who bragged that he had raped young girls in the same film? Has any mass media mentioned these mens sexual orientations? Or perhaps because they are considered heterosexual then this does not need to be mentioned? Because only LGBT people must be bad?

Let us not forget several mass rapes and mass murders in Indonesia  some involving unimaginable violence. The perpetrators often escape free. And what are their sexual orientations? If people assume the perpetrators are heterosexual, then somehow this does not and should not become an issue.

Thus, clearly there is a strong culture of bullying and stigmatizing against the LGBT communities in Indonesia. Several studies demonstrate that people who have been bullied and stigmatized tend to be disruptive and exhibit antisocial behavior. Such behavior, if left unchecked, can escalate to serious crimes. If the Indonesian media and public continue to condemn Reynhard for his sexual orientation, they have caused more LGBT people to feel insecure, to do self-harm and possibly other disruptive behaviors.

We all have responsibilities toward other people: to treat them respectfully and equally. If we have treated someone without considering this persons well-being, then we really have to question ourselves whether we actually share responsibility, whether directly or indirectly, when this person conducts any action that lacks the slightest consideration for others well-being.

***

Senior lector in Indonesian at the SOAS University of London.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
Christians want Scheduled Caste status to be granted regardless of religious affiliation. Changing religion does not end the discrimination imposed on the Dalit community. For years, the Church has asked for the revision of a 1950 presidential order that excludes converts to Christianity from quotas in public administration.

New Delhi (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Indias Supreme Court has agreed to hear a petition filed by Franklin Caesar Thomas, a lawyer representing the National Council for Dalit Christians (NCDC), seeking inclusion of Dalit Christians in the category of Scheduled Castes

The Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde with Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant will hear the petition and issued a notice to the federal government about the matter.

In India the caste system was formally abolished by the countrys constitution, but it continues to be practised at the expense of the people formerly known as untouchables.

The Scheduled Caste policy is aimed rebalancing the unfairness and improve the lives of poor people.

For years, the Catholic Church has called for an amendment to the 1950 presidential order that includes Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist Dalits in public sector quotas but not those who convert to Christianity.

Indias Christians represent 2.3 per cent of the population, that is 27.8 million out of a total of almost 1.3 billion. Of these, almost two thirds or 18 million are Dalit.

In its petition, the NCDC notes that a change in religion does not end discrimination for the members of the Dalit community.

Hence, it wants Scheduled Caste status be made religion neutral and benefits given to Scheduled Castes extended to Dalit Christians.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has invited President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to visit London to further intensify and deepen bilateral cooperation.

According to the press service of the head of the Ukrainian state, in a telephone conversation with Zelensky on Thursday, Johnson confirmed the strong support of Ukraine and the British partnership in the field of security.

Zelensky thanked for the continued support by the UK for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and informed of the progress in the implementation of the agreements reached during the Normandy summit on December 9, 2019. The president also informed the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of the situation in Donbas.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called Thursday for a "full, credible and transparent" investigation into how a Ukrainian passenger plane crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people on board.

A spokesman said reports about what happened were "very concerning", after a Ukrainian security official said investigators were pursuing several leads, including the possibility of a surface-to-air missile strike.

Johnson spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone call in which he offered his condolences for the loss of life and received an update on Ukraine's efforts to establish the facts, the spokesman said.

"The prime minister said that there needed to be a full, credible and transparent investigation into what happened," the spokesman said.

He added: "The reports we have seen are very concerning and we are urgently looking into them."



The Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) Boeing 737NG went down on Wednesday, shortly after Tehran launched missiles at US forces in Iraq in response to the killing of a top Iranian general in a US drone strike in Baghdad.

Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, told AFP that investigators were looking at a number of leads.

These include a collision with another airborne object, a rocket from Iran's missile defence system, an engine explosion caused by a technical problem, and an explosion on board the aircraft due to an "act of terror", he said on Facebook.

Danilov told AFP that for the moment there was no reason to believe that the airliner had been hit by a missile.

In Kiev, the Ukrainian presidency said Zelensky invited Britain to join the probe, and also called for a "transparent, thorough and objective investigation that can quickly establish the facts of this tragedy".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The legacy of Britains history of empire  a global construct based on a doctrine of white supremacy  its pioneering role in the slave trade and ideologies of racism that enabled it, and policies of recruiting people from the Caribbean and Africa for low-paid work and then discriminating against them in education and housing, is with us today: The scandal surrounding the wrongful deportation of black British people in recent years is still reverberating.

Meghans decision to join the family that is the symbolic heart of the establishment responsible for this troubled history was perplexing to many black British people, as we wondered whether she fully appreciated the institution she had entered.

Both she and Harry appear to have gained crystal clear vision as to their reality. Its no wonder the couple want to leave and  as the coded statement that they want to raise their son, Archie, with the space to focus on the next chapter seems to suggest  protect him from the bile to which theyve been exposed.

The British press, having attacked the couple continuously, now reacts with shock at this move. But the clues have been there for some time for anyone willing to read them.

There was the decision not to give Archie a title from birth  something that is expected among royal children of this rank but which Meghan and Harry appear to have chosen to avoid. Then there were the rumors last spring that they might relocate to a country in southern Africa.

In recent months, the couple have begun bypassing official royal channels and communicating with the press directly  most notably when the duchess said in a television documentary that she found adjusting to royal life hard, and Harry revealed that the tragic experience of the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, made him want to protect his wife and family.

All were signs that the couple would not abide by royal business as usual, to the extent that even announcing this decision to step down from their roles as senior royals appears to have taken Buckingham Palace by surprise.
TORONTO, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) is greatly disappointed that collective bargaining discussions with the government and the Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association have broken down.

Our Association has been able to work with the Catholic school trustees to make progress on a number of important issues, but thus far the government has not played a constructive role, says OECTA President Liz Stuart. The government has been firm that they have no intention of reconsidering their reckless, unpopular cuts. We came to the table ready to work through today and tomorrow, but after only half-a-day, even the Ministry of Labour-appointed conciliator agrees there is not much more we can accomplish for the time being.

With no deal having been reached, OECTA members across the province will be taking administrative job action beginning Monday, January 13. As part of the job action, Catholic teachers will not be completing report cards, participating in EQAO-related activities, and attending or participating in Ministry of Education initiatives, among other things.

Ontarians understand that the governments cuts are completely unacceptable to Catholic teachers, says Stuart. We are already seeing consequences in schools across Ontario. We simply cannot and will not accept an agreement that would result in thousands of teaching positions and tens of thousands of course options being eliminated, classes growing to 40 students or more, and vital services and supports for vulnerable students being lost. At some point, the government needs to acknowledge that the ball is in their court to do the right thing. They keep saying they are being reasonable and working on behalf of Ontarians, but today we have seen yet again that they are content to waste everyones time and resources without engaging in any meaningful way. Until we see some evidence to the contrary, Ontarians can only assume that this government actually has no intention of negotiating an agreement.

- 30 -

OECTA represents the 45,000 passionate and qualified teachers in Ontarios publicly funded English Catholic schools, from Kindergarten to Grade 12.
Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], Jan 9 (ANI): Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said that Election Commission alone cannot prevent the influence of money power in electoral politics for which citizens must take a lead.



"Money power in politics cannot be controlled by Election Commission alone. Political parties, civil society, corporates and organisations working for electoral reforms have a larger role to play in countering this. But most important is that the citizen voters should take lead in preventing the use of money power," Naidu said at the annual conference on 'Money Power In Politics' organized by Indian School of Business here.

"Voter should realize that casting the vote for a few thousand is the highest form of moral compromise and it is against democratic ethics. If a citizen sells his vote then he forfeits the right to take on the government he voted for," he added.

Naidu further said that people should be made aware of the power of their votes.

"Electoral reforms should be brought in to break the vicious cycle of corruption and erosion of the quality of our democratic polity. Effective campaigns need to be undertaken to educate the voters about the virtue and power of their votes and adverse implications of compromising voting," he said.

The Vice President said that people should vote on the basis of four C's - Character, Caliber, Capacity and Conduct of the Candidate.

"If you vote according to that then nobody will need to spend much money. But unfortunately, certain politicians and political systems have developed other four C's to rephrase the original four C's - Caste, Community, Cash and Criminality," he added. (ANI)


Lincoln police say they arrested a 36-year-old man for trespassing Wednesday morning after he walked into a womans home.

Officer Erin Spilker said a 20-year-old Lincoln woman called police shortly after 9 a.m. saying her stalker had just gotten in her home near 31st and C streets. She was able to push the man, whom she had met casually a week earlier, out of her front door. She didnt know his name or where he lived.

Police in the area spotted a man matching the description she gave near 32nd and A streets. When they approached, he ran across traffic along Normal Boulevard, where an officer tackled him, Spilker said. After a short struggle, the man was taken into custody on suspicion of second-degree trespassing, resisting arrest and obstructing a police officer.

He refused to give a name, so he was booked into jail as John Doe. He was later identified as Derrick J. Kunkel, 36, of Springfield, Illinois.

Today's jail mugshots

Reach the writer at 402-473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSpilger

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The Wawa Corporate Headquarters in Media. More than 1,200 former workers shared a $25 million settlement in 2018 to settle accusations that the company cheated them out of company stock they were saving for retirement. A second suit involving more Wawa employees is pending. Read more

Engineer Brad Wall oversaw the modernization of Wawa Inc.'s Delaware County industrial dairies on U.S. 1 near its Red Roof headquarters, and went on to lead the popular convenience chains rapid store expansion from 1999 until 2013 as director of construction and design.

He was one of many proud Wawa employees who hoped one day to retire on Wawa stock grants. But today, as the company expands along the East Coast, Wawa is pretty much dead to me, Wall said in an interview last week. I am one of the ones who lost at least a couple million after the company reversed a promise to let employees who left the company hold on to their shares until retirement age, as their value rose.

Wall is one of more than 1,200 former workers who shared a $25 million settlement in 2018  a fraction of their actual losses, according to Wall and some others  to settle accusations that the company cheated them out of company stock they were saving for retirement.

Today the Delaware County-based company is negotiating a second federal lawsuit settlement with a larger group  who say they, too, were illegally forced to sell shares at a discount, so members of the founding Wood family could regain majority control of the fast-growing convenience-store chain. Consolidating control could make it easier for family leaders to sell the company for billions of dollars at terms favorable to them in the future.

Wawa has not acknowledged wrongdoing when it agreed to pay the $25 million to settle the first suit, called Pfeifer v. Wawa, including $5 million for workers lawyers. Spokesperson Lori Bruce said the company would not comment on settled or ongoing litigation, or on Wood family plans.

Nor would lawyers for the ex-staff, led by R. Joseph Barton of Block & Leviton, now in settlement talks for the second complaint, called Cunningham v. Wawa, on behalf of several thousand ex-Wawa workers who left since the years covered by the first suit.

Among other demands, they have asked the court to appoint independent fiscal overseers and break the companys control over the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) that holds shares in trust for thousands of workers.

The stocks value, as estimated by Wawas advisers, has risen from $2,296 a share in 2009 to $6,940 when it forced them to sell in 2015  and to $10,419 last spring (an increase far greater than the S&P 500 stock index for 2009-18), according to Wawa reports cited in the second lawsuit.

The suit contends the real share value is actually higher  because the actuaries who did the calculations were overconservative in assuming the company cant be sold, and wrongly treated it as if Wawa still pays typical corporate income taxes, which it doesnt. A Wawa source said last week the company has estimated its share value most recently at over $14,000. Spokesperson Bruce declined to comment.

Details of the allegations and the earlier settlement are in federal court records. Both cases have been heard by Judge Paul S. Diamond.

Its not the only time the company has been accused of cutting corners in recent years. The company is fielding class-action complaints from customers who say Wawa failed to protect their personal data after the chain admitted malware left customer names, card numbers, and expiration dates exposed to hackers for nine months last year. In August, Wawa agreed to pay $1.4 million to settle a lawsuit that claimed the company shortchanged more than 300 assistant general managers out of overtime and wages.

With sales of $12 billion last year, Wawa is one of the largest privately owned companies based in the Mid-Atlantic region. It operates more than 850 convenience stores, many with gas pumps, all serving fast-food variations of hoagies and other familiar fare, in the states around Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., and in Florida.

The Wawa dairy was founded by George Wood in 1902, the store chain by his heir Grahame Wood in 1964. Another heir, Richard Dick Wood, has been Wawas board chairman since he stepped down as chief executive in 2004.

Wood, 82, plans to retire this spring in favor of his younger brother George, said sources at Wawa. The company declined to comment on the chairmans plans.

CEO Christopher Gheysens has said the ESOP is a central part of Wawa culture, rewarding loyal workers and giving them pride in their ownership of the company.

The Wawa ESOP held stock worth more than $2 billion at the end of 2018, according to its annual report. Some 20,000 Wawa employees have enrolled in the plan. While some senior and long-serving employees have accumulated $1 million or more worth of shares, many participants are hourly workers who have only begun to accumulate shares, which are rewarded under formulas based on hours worked and length and type of service. Every year thousands of workers leave without qualifying for share awards.

The forced sale" of ex-employees Wawa stock followed soon after Wawas 2014 legal conversion, from a typical American C-corporation, which pays income taxes, into a closely held S-corporation, like a small or family business with a handful of private owners. That move had the effect of ending the companys federal income tax obligations, and boosting its profits, its ability to pay shareholder dividends, and its future value to potential buyers, according to the lawsuit now in settlement talks.

The company made that conversion after President Barack Obama signed the Private Company Flexibility and Growth Act of 2012, which made it easier for large private companies to avoid making detailed financial reports public. The act had been supported by Wawa and by area Congress members including Senate cosponsors Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) and Tom Carper (D., Del.). .

Before the change, Wawa officials had said the company was moving, from ownership by Wood heirs and top executives, toward employee ownership.

Indeed, back in 2004, Wawa and the Wood heirs who controlled its board had relied on veteran employees help, and their share ownership, as their control was threatened.

Thats when the charitable foundation set up to manage part of the drug fortune of Philadelphias McNeil family, which had privately purchased a block of Wawa stock, told Wawa it wanted to sell the stock and pocket profits from the companys recent growth, through a public stock offering.

But a public sale would dilute Wood family control and subject the company to Wall Street and federal regulatory pressure. Wawa needed cash if it was to buy out the McNeils and keep the Woods in control.

The company asked veteran employees who participated in a Wawa profit-sharing plan to trade their savings for ESOP shares. It then borrowed from the enlarged ESOP to buy McNeils Wawa shares and keep the company private. Wawa owed the ESOP a total of $188.7 million and has until 2060 to pay, according to court papers.

Wawa employees who participated in that deal felt like heroes for saving the company as they knew it. Those workers also had been well-rewarded, as their retirement accounts zoomed in value as Wawa sales and profits grew. That lucrative growth continues, for thousands of Wawa employees. Others left and pursued careers elsewhere, confident in Wawas promise that it would never divest you of any entitlement or benefit, according to the Pfeifer complaint.

But in 2015, chairman Wood and Wawa management told ex-employees they would have to sell their shares, even if they werent close to retirement age. According to the Pfeifer lawsuit, Wood and top Wawa officials misled and misrepresented the legality of that change, which cut ex-workers from investment gains from the continued rise in the value of Wawa stock, the dividends paid, and the opportunity for future investment gains  all in violation of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

Under the 2018 settlement of that lawsuit, the company, while admitting no wrongdoing, agreed to make payments averaging $15,000 to 1,264 Wawa ex-employees who had been assured they could hold Wawa stock in their ESOP accounts until they were retirement age, even if they left before retirement and now worked elsewhere.

Wall, the construction director, who worked for Wawa for a total of 20 years, filed a lonely challenge during the settlement negotiations, arguing in 2017 that it was far below the value of his loss, and others. But the court ruled he had acted too late.

The current suit  Cunningham v. Wawa Retirement Plan  contends that the Woods wanted to regain at least 50% control of the company before the end of the 2020s, when the Wood family trust that owns most of the family shares is scheduled to expire and heirs may find it easier to sell their shares individually.

According to that suit, taking back departed employees shares cut the ESOP from 44% to 41% of Wawas total shares  and boosted the Wood family stake to just over 50%, from 47%. (The rest of the shares are held by former executives, and a handful of outsiders.)

Would those changes put Wawa insiders  Wood family members and top executives  in a better position to sell Wawa as an entire company or put it on the public stock markets through an initial public offering?

The company strongly disputed those possibilities.

To be clear, we are committed to remaining privately held and to sharing ownership with our associates through our ESOP, Bruce said. We believe our ownership structure between the founding family and our associates is the foundation of our culture and our ongoing success.
The past months have been significant for Tulu Moye Geothermal (TMGO). Since the Kenyan company KenGen won the drilling contract for the first phase of the Tulu Moye geothermal project in June 2019, the contract has now been signed between the two companies. The signing took place on October 23, 2019 at the Hilton Hotel in Addis Ababa between Darrell Boyd, CEO of TMGO, and Mrs. Rebecca Miano, CEO of KenGen. The contract was signed outlining USD 60 million dollars for the drilling of 12 geothermal wells, each costing USD 5-6 million. More details of this can be found here, and here.

Drilling is expected to begin in January 2020, which will mark the start of the development of a 150 MW geothermal power plant with an anticipated total investment of USD 800 million. By September 2022 TMGO anticipates generating 50 MW from the first phase of the geothermal powerplant, and by 2024, be able to generate 150 MW towards the Ethiopian Electricity Grid. The 150 MW is the first part of an envisioned 520 MW of power generation from geothermal expected by TMGO.

"This agreement, is a sign of mutual trust and commitment to promote geothermal energy, which encourages sustainable development in Ethiopia and Africa in general." - Darrell Boyd, CEO, TMGO.

Established in 2017, TMGO is a shareholding of the French investment firm Meridiam SAS (51%) and the Icelandic geothermal development company Reykjavik Geothermal (49%) with the quest of unlocking the geothermal potential of Ethiopia.

Full article can be found here.
Dallas, TX, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Associa, the industrys largest community management company, has donated $25,000 to the Community Enterprise Foundation to help support Australias bushfire relief efforts through Associas national non-profit organization, Associa Cares.



Bendigo Bank has partnered with The Salvation Army, along with the banks charitable arm, Community Enterprise Foundation, to set up the National Bushfire Disaster Appeal fund where 100% of all donations will be used in a range of locally identified charitable areas to provide relief and recovery in the fire-affected communities.



Associa and Associa Cares remains committed to communities around the world. The destruction of the Australia bushfire is incomprehensible, stated Andrew Fortin, Associa Cares president. The donation to the Community Enterprise Foundation will help provide assistance to those directly affected by the devastating fires. Our thoughts go out to the residents of Australia and the firefighters who are battling every day to keep everyone safe.



The fires in Australia have been catastrophic. The overseas support provided to assist those who have lost their homes with all their belongings is the very embodiment of community, stated Alisha Fisher, chief executive director of Strata Community Association.



Associa Cares funds are distributed to families of Associa-managed and non-Associa managed communities. To donate to Associa Cares or apply for assistance, please visit our website at http://www.associacares.com/.



Associa Cares is a national nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization created to assist families and communities in crisis as a result of natural and man-made disasters. Through donations raised from Associa employees and at fundraising events across the country, Associa Cares is able to provide necessary goods and services to the families affected by these types of tragedies.



With more than 200 branch offices across North America, Associa delivers unsurpassed management and lifestyle services to nearly five million residents worldwide. Our 10,000+ team members lead the industry with unrivaled education, expertise and trailblazing innovation. For more than 40 years, Associa has provided solutions designed to help communities achieve their vision. To learn more, visit www.associaonline.com.



Stay Connected:

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iStock(DALLAS) -- Two African American women executives at McDonald's Corp. have sued the fast-food giant for racial discrimination.



In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Illinois, Vicki Guster-Hines and Domineca Neal, who work for McDonald's in Dallas, are seeking a monetary settlement after facing "retaliation" for "their advocacy against McDonald's discriminatory conduct against African American employees, franchisees and customers," according to the court documents. The lawsuit also alleges that both were demoted to senior directors as part of that retaliation.



Attorneys Carmen Caruso and Linda Chatman, representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement to ABC News that they "will not stand silent as McDonald's tries to peddle its misinformation in the press."



"McDonald's cannot hide behind 'pseudo' diversity that systematically excludes African Americans (and African American women in particular) from opportunities at the Company then labels them as 'Angry Black Women' when they protest," the attorneys wrote.



In a statement, McDonalds said almost half of the companys corporate officers are people of color, along with all of its 10 U.S. field vice presidents.



While we disagree with characterizations in the complaint, we are currently reviewing it and will respond to the complaint accordingly, the statement read.



The lawsuit claims that both women were subject to an allegedly hostile work environment. One complainant alleges that she was called the n-word by a white executive and that five African American women were referred to as "angry Black women" that "always seemed to be mad about something," according to the court documents.



The complainants allege that racial discrimination at McDonald's intensified after new executives joined the company in 2015 which was also the year Steve Easterbrook took over as CEO. Easterbrook was fired in November of last year after engaging in a consensual relationship with an employee. He is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.



According to the suit, Guster-Hines expressed concern with the small number of African American leaders at the company to Chris Kempczinski -- who was named CEO after Easterbrook was ousted -- and Melissa Kersey, a human-relations executive during a meeting last year. Kersey didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, the lawsuit alleges.



Guster-Hines and Neal also allege that they and other black executives have been routinely passed over for promotions, contributing to a lack of minority leaders at the company. The number of African Americans in the top ranks of McDonald's operations fell to seven last year from 42 in 2014, according to the lawsuit.



The plaintiffs' attorneys, Caruso and Chatman, told ABC News via a statement that McDonald's is making a "misleading attempt to dilute the lack of African Americans in the ranks of its Officers in the United States" and went on to break down the racial diversity of those officers.



"Of these: two are African American males -- one who was only promoted after September 23, 2019 when Vicki and Domineca notified McDonald's of the allegations in this Complaint and the other who has worked for McDonald's for over thirty years but was only promoted to Vice President less than three years ago. The rest are Asian and Hispanic men and women; not an African American woman among them."



This lawsuit comes after Kempczinski recently addressed improving the previous party' workplace culture after Easterbrook, 52, was removed as CEO.



Copyright  2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
US president Donald Trump stepped back from the brink last night after a barrage of Iranian missiles struck American bases in Iraq but failed to cause any casualties.

He said Iran appeared to be "standing down" following the attack and that he would impose fresh economic sanctions, but not order any retaliatory strikes.

"The American people should be extremely grateful and happy," he said.

"Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned, and a very good thing for the world."

Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, said the missile strike "concluded" the Iranian retaliation for the death of its top general, Qasem Soleimani, in a US drone attack last week, and said Iran was not seeking further "escalation or war".

However, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, said "such military actions are not enough" to avenge Soleimani, implying Iran would continue covert and political action to drive the US out of the Middle East.

In a televised address, he said: "This was just a slap in the face last night."

Moqtada al-Sadr, the influential Iraqi Shi'ite cleric, said the immediate crisis was over, and called on militia groups there not to carry out attacks.

In London, Dame Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said British anti-terror police were on alert for any fallout.

Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, said Soleimani had "the blood of British troops on his hands" and the US had the right to defend itself.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, accused Mr Johnson of failing to condemn the US drone strike "because he has hitched his wagon to a trade deal with the United States".

Mr Johnson responded by insisting Mr Corbyn was peddling "little green men" conspiracy theories.

Meanwhile, amid the de-escalation of the crisis, Mr Trump criticised countries for continuing to back the "defective" Iran nuclear deal.

He said: "The time has come for the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and China to recognise this reality. They must now break away from the remnants of the Iran deal."

Mr Johnson had told MPs the deal was still the best way to limit Iran's nuclear ambitions.

In its retaliation for the Soleimani killing, Iran launched at least 22 missiles towards the al-Asad airbase in Iraq, which hosts 1,500 American and British troops, and a smaller airbase in Erbil in north-east Iraq, in the early hours of yesterday.

US defence officials suggested Iran may have deliberately tried not to kill US troops to avoid triggering a full-blown war.

Such a strategy would allow the regime to save face with is own population, while also providing the US with a diplomatic "off ramp", officials suggested.

The heat signatures of the missiles were reportedly quickly picked up by a US national security agency facility in Maryland, allowing US forces in Iraq to seek shelter.

It was also reported that Iran informed Iraqi officials of the attack in advance, and the information may have been passed on to the US.

Mr Trump said casualties were avoided "because of the precautions taken, the dispersal of forces, and an early warning system that worked very well".

Dr Sidharth Kaushal, of the UK's Royal United Services Institute defence and security think tank, said Iran chose not to use its most accurate missiles and instead relied on a set of less accurate Fateh-110 weapons.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]
The Coalition of Public Interests Lawyers and Advocates (COPA) says it will mobilise against Mr Ibrahim Magu, Acting Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for violating the fundamental rights of Sen. Shehu Sani, from Kaduna State.

Mr Pelumi Olajengbesi, Convener of the group, said this in a statement issued on Thursday, describing Sen. Sani as another prisoner of conscience after Mr Omoyele Sowore who was recently freed by the Department of State Services (DSS).

According to Olajengbesi, the senators detention is illegal, and that the EFCC boss will be exhibiting unprofessionalism if the commission failed to release him.



For an anti-graft agency with sufficient manpower and investigative tools, it defies logic why the agency simply cant reduce its accusation against Senator Shehu Sani into a coherent charge upon which he ought to be arraigned for the adjudicatory determination of his guilt or innocence.

The allegations against Senator Shehu Sani seemed straightforward enough until the desperation to hang the man by all means took a turn into follyville.

First, he was accused of obtaining a bribe of $10,000 to exert influence on the EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, to protect an associate, Alhaji Sani Dauda, from prosecution on a matter.

When the public pointed out how ill-thought out such an accusation was especially because Senator Shehu Sani enjoys no cordial relationship with the EFCC nor its Chairman to be in a position to exert any form of influence on him, the accuser, egged on by the EFCC no doubt, changed his facts.

It alleged anew that the bribe money was $20,000 and it was collected by Senator Senator Sani to prevail on the Chief Justice, Ibrahim Tanko, to favor the accuser in a matter before the court.

The CJN denied any such transaction, and once again, the narrative was switched as if being fetched from a senile mind bent on achieving a set agenda.

COPA, through its convener, further noted that it would no longer sit and watch the rights of Nigerians abused by EFCC and other law enforcement agencies. Olejengbesi particularly frowned at situation where EFCC go beyond permissible practice in law and practice to carry out its duties.

He said: Much against due process, Senator Shehu Sanis privacy has been severally abused; his house has been ransacked and his phone accessed as the desperation for a crime to hang him is driving the frenzy of the EFCC beyond permissible practice in law and practice.

Of what relevance is searching his home, offices and phone to the allegations that he received bribe? The bribe was allegedly conveyed via a bank cheque and as such his bank account ought to be under forensic examination and not his private and family life.

The unauthorised ransacking of Senator Sanis phones and snooping around his WhatsApp group and personal messages, as well as the illegal raid of his home and offices all point to a script to find reasons to prosecute him.

These searches and raids on his personal life are violations of his Fundamental rights as a citizen of Nigeria and points to a personal vendetta against the man that has no bearing on any provable crime against him.

Senator Sani is a prisoner of conscience and the whole world continues to look on and laugh at us as we grapple as a nation with the arduous task of protecting state institutions from the ineptitude of egoistic power-jobbers.

COPA wondered what allegations of obtaining bribe by Senator Sani got to do with the EFCC demand that he declare his assets in spite doing so as a serving senator.

He urged Magu to release Sen. Sani or prosecute him, noting that the country had come too far as a nation to surrender the sanity of its democratic institutions to the whims of those who dont have the interest of the country at heart.

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BELFAST (Reuters) - The British and Irish governments urged all parties in Northern Ireland to sign up to a draft agreement published on Thursday to restore devolved government for the first time in three years ahead of a deadline to strike a deal.

Sinn Fein, the largest nationalist party, withdrew from the power-sharing government in January 2017 saying it was not being treated equally. Since then Sinn Fein and the largest pro-British party, the Democratic Unionist Party, blamed each other for a number of failed attempts to break the deadlock.

Britain's Northern Ireland Minister Julian Smith said he asked the speaker of the house to recall the regional assembly on Friday and hoped the parties would support the deal. They have until Monday to break the deadlock or risk fresh elections.

(Reporting by Ian Graham, writing by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 14:13:01|Editor: ZX

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VIENTIANE, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- As many as 600 Lao workers will undergo training in China in preparation for operation of the China-Laos railway, which is scheduled to commence service in December 2021, the rail operator has announced.

Personnel selection and training will be carried out in three sessions, with the first job vacancies expected to be announced this month, said a senior official with the China-Laos Railway Company (LCRC), a joint venture to operate the railway.

Selection will include an examination and assessment of the applicants' backgrounds, local daily Vientiane Times on Thursday quoted LCRC General Manager Li Bingxuan as speaking at the company's annual meeting on Monday in Vientiane.

The first group of trainees is expected to go to Kunming in southwestern China's Yunnan province later this year, where they will attend courses for about 15 to 18 months. They will be trained as mechanics, train drivers and related occupations as well as learn to supervise rail system maintenance, according to a Lao official in the company.

The laying of rail track will begin this year with the developer expecting to complete laying track from the Chinese border to Lao province of Luang Prabang by the end of the year, according to LCRC.

The Lao government hopes the railway will help transform Laos from being a landlocked country to a land-linked one, said the Lao daily, adding that local businesses expect that the railway will help significantly lower transport costs and enable them to become more competitive.

The China-Laos Railway is a strategic docking project between the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Laos' strategy to convert itself from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub.

The 414.332-km railway, with 198-km tunnels and 62-km bridges, will run from Boten border gate in northern Laos, bordering China, to Vientiane with an operating speed of 160 km per hour.

The electrified passenger and cargo railway is built with the full application of Chinese management and technical standards.

The project started in December 2016 and is scheduled to be completed and opened to traffic in December 2021.
Sentiments brightened further after China confirmed its vice premier Liu He will visit Washington next week for the signing of the interim trade deal with the US.

Mumbai: Indian equities rose the most in three months, tracking gains in global markets, as the price of crude oil, the nations biggest import, steadied after the US and Iran appeared to be stepping back from a military conflict.

Sentiments brightened further after China confirmed its vice premier Liu He will visit Washington next week for the signing of the interim trade deal with the US.

The Sensex advanced 634.61 points, or 1.55 per cent, to 41,452.35 points in Mumbai, marking its biggest gain since October 9. The Nifty-50 also rose by 190.55 points, or 1.58 per cent, to 12,215.90. Global stocks rallied after US president Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he would impose new sanctions on Iran while offering the country a diplomatic opening.

The monthly factory output data, due on Friday, along with earnings from Infosys, marking the start of quarterly reporting season, may give investors an insight into the corporate state of health at a time when the economy is on track for its slowest growth since 2009.

The easing of tensions between the US and Iran will help India equities at a time when most investors are expecting muted earnings growth, said Chokkalingam G, founder of Equinomics Research & Advisory.

Eighteen of BSEs 19 sectoral indices advanced, led by real estate and auto. ICICI Bank was the top gainer on the Sensex while TCS dropped the most.
U.S. military officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to discuss the sensitive issue, said U.S. troops at al-Asad were sheltering in fortified bunkers by the time the first missiles struck, a little before 1:30 a.m. in Iraq. The missiles fired at Irbil missed the U.S. facility there entirely.
The trolley crisis is unlikely to be alleviated any time soon, the representative body for nurses claims.

However, declaring the crisis as a major incident at the worst-affected hospitals would not work effectively to address the issue, said the head of the HSEs acute hospital division.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said 621 people were on trolleys yesterday morning, 139 fewer than the previous day.

However, that figure is still greater than at any time in January last year.

While the HSE has sought to attribute that to flu season arriving roughly four weeks early, INMO general secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said it is mostly due to sourcing extra capacity in private and voluntary medical facilities.

After HSE officials met the INMO in Dublin to discuss the crisis, Ms Ni Sheaghdha said while the HSE is very aware of how acute the problem is, theres a general acceptance that the problem is still as bad as it was earlier in the week and it doesnt look like, from the information that the HSE has, that things are going to get any better.

The crisis has led to Health Minister Simon Harris being summoned to a special sitting of the Oireachtas health committee next Wednesday.

The union had outlined a five-point plan which it said the HSE could put into action within days.

A key recommendation is the declaration of a major incident at the worst-affected hospitals to de-escalate the situation.

However, Liam Woods, the HSEs national director of acute operations, said such protocols are intended to address the likes of serious incidents with a storm or serious care events like a crash or whatever so theyre not going to work effectively to address this issue.
The royal family was said to be "deeply disappointed" last night after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped back as senior members without consulting the queen, Prince Charles or Prince William.

In an extraordinary statement released last night, the couple announced plans to withdraw from their roles and split their time between Britain and North America.

It left the 93-year-old monarch and royal aides blindsided, as they had only "very recently" been made aware of their intentions. Aides stressed the announcement was "personal" and had not been approved by the palace.

In a statement released almost two hours later, Buckingham Palace said the couple's "desire to take a different approach" created "complicated issues" that would take time to resolve.

The unprecedented announcement was branded "devastating" for Queen Elizabeth, who recently lost the services of Prince Andrew, who withdrew from public duties over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the late paedophile billionaire.

Royal sources said senior members of the family were "hurt and deeply disappointed" at the news.

It follows a turbulent few months for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who had admitted they were struggling to cope with the pressures of royal life.

They are understood to have made the decision during their six-week sabbatical on Vancouver Island in Canada, where they concluded that their current way of life was untenable. Their plans were outlined in detail on their Sussex Royal website, which revealed they had made the choice to "transition to a new working model".

They said that by choosing financial autonomy, with no funding from the sovereign grant, they were allowing themselves to earn a professional income and "work externally" - something they were previously prohibited from doing.

The couple insisted they would continue their royal duties, supporting the queen, the Commonwealth and their patronages. Their official travel, undertaken on behalf of the queen, will be paid for by the sovereign grant.

It was last night confirmed that they would continue to receive money from the Prince of Wales via the Duchy of Cornwall, which has largely funded their activities.

Their decision allows them to retain their royal titles and many of the trappings of royal life, while using their positions to carve out independent working lives. They will continue to use Frogmore Cottage, on the Windsor estate, as their official residence in the UK and their security will continue to be funded by the British taxpayer.

It is likely they will spend a large proportion of their time in Canada, although extended periods of time spent abroad will raise questions about their future within the royal family.

The couple also announced that they will no longer participate in the traditional "royal rota", which allows mainstream media organisations to share access to official engagements. Instead, their "revised media approach" suggests they will prioritise their own hand-picked outlets and individuals and provide access to those of their choice while issuing pictures and information via their social media channels.

Their "personal message" released by Buckingham Palace at 6.30pm yesterday said: "After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution.

"We intend to step back as 'senior' members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support her majesty the queen.

"It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment."

It said they would balance their time between the UK and North America. It continued: "This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our charitable entity. We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course."
U.S. prosecutors said Thursday that surveillance footage taken during Jeffrey Epsteins unsuccessful suicide attempt no longer exists, in their third reversal regarding the existence of the footage in under a month.

The footage contained on the preserved video was for the correct date and time, but captured a different tier than the one where Cell-1 was located because the preserved video did not show corrections officers responding to any of the cells seen on the video, prosecutors explained in a letter filed in Manhattan Federal Court.

They added that the jails compute system listed an incorrect cell for Epsteins cellmate, and that the backup system lost the footage at least August 2019 as a result of technical errors.

Lawyers for accused quadruple murderer and former cop Nick Tartaglione, who shared Epsteins cell at the time of the attempt, had requested the footage as potential evidence of Tartagliones good character soon after Epstein was found nearly unconscious with neck injuries on July 23.

Tartaglione said he saved Epsteins life by alerting guards in what was officially ruled a suicide attempt. But news broke in August that Epstein had accused Tartaglione of inflicting the injuries.

Prosecutors initially told Tartagliones lawyer Bruce Barkey in December that the footage was missing, only to reverse a day later and tell the presiding judge in Tartagliones case that the footage had been preserved by the jails staff.

We are very pleased the video was preserved, as we had asked, Barket said after the news. We look forward to viewing it.

Following Thursdays news, Barket called the third switch stunning.

It is stunning that a video which we asked to be preserved and which the jail should have saved without a request was destroyed. More troubling are the various and inconsistent accounts of what happened to the video. We believe that the video would have strongly corroborated our clients assertion that he acted appropriately that evening and are deeply disturbed it has disappeared, Barket wrote in a text to the New York Daily News.

More from National Review
Sources in Trinamool said that Mamata Banerjee has said that she does not support such violence and she will not participate in something, which is related to the Left and the Congress. (Photo Credit: File Photo)

New Delhi:

Cracks have appeared in the Oppositions unity as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced that she will skip the mega meeting convened by interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The meeting is scheduled to take place on January 13. News Nation has learnt that the West Bengal Chief Minister is upset with both the Left and the Congress because she thinks both the parties vandalised public property in the name of bandh. Sources in Trinamool said that Banerjee has said that she does not support such violence and she will not participate in something, which is related to the Left and the Congress.

The 24-hour nationwide strike by central trade unions in West Bengal on Wednesday was marked by incidents of violence and arson, blocking of railway tracks and roads by protestors trying to enforce the shutdown. Banerjee said "double standards" of the Left Front and Congress will not be tolerated. "I have decided to boycott the meeting convened by Sonia Gandhi on January 13 in New Delhi as I don't support the violence that the Left and Congress unleashed in West Bengal yesterday (Wednesday)," the chief minister said at the state Assembly. Sonia Gandhi has called a meeting of Opposition parties, including the Left, to discuss the situation arising out of violence on various university campuses and protests in the country over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

Also Read: Bharat Bandh: Banking, Transport Services Hit, Life Disrupted In Bengal, Kerala

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday assured the people of the state that she will not allow anyone to snatch their rights. While addressing a public rally in South Bengal, Mamata launched a scathing attack against the Modi government over the Citizenship Act and National Registration Act (NRC) and said that the state government will not allow snatching of people's rights.

Calling herself as Pehredar of people, Mamata Banerjee warned the Centre that they will have to implement the Citizenship Act over her dead body. I am your pehradar (custodian), if anyone comes to take away your rights, they will have to do it over my dead body, Mamata said. We do not live at the mercy of anyone, will not allow snatching of people's rights, she added.

Also Read: Shame On You And Your Might: Mamata Banerjee Attacks Centre Over CAA In A Strong-Worded Poem

In a shocking development, a plea was filed in the Supreme Court on Monday demanding removal of Mamata Banerjee as the Chief Minister of West Bengal. News Nation has learnt that a journalist named Varaaki had filed the petition in the top court on Monday. the petition filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar to remove Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The plea said that Banerjee should be removed from the post for demanding a United Nations-monitored referendum on CAA, NRC. The plea said that such a demand was in violation of her oath of office and showed the Chief Minister ceases to believe in the sovereignty and Integrity of India.

On December 19, at a rally, Banerjee had said that, "If BJP has guts, it should go for a UN-monitored referendum on the amended Citizenship Act and NRC". "If the BJP loses this mass vote, then it should step down from the government," she added. Addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minster Amit Shah, she said, "Let's have a vote. Just because you are majority, you can't do just about anything. You are terrorising all, the pillars of society".

While the petition in the Supreme Court may be new, Banerjees scathing attack against the Centre over the CAA is old. The West Bengal Chief Minister has been one of the most vocal critic of the citizenship law. At a rally on January 3 in Siliguri, Banerjee had asked why PM Modi frequently compares India with Pakistan. India is a big country with a rich culture and heritage. Why does the PM regularly compare our nation with Pakistan? Are you the prime minister of India or the ambassador of Pakistan. Why do you refer to Pakistan in every issue," the Chief Minister asked.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
For the first time, Tesla's (TSLA) stock market value has eclipsed the combined values of General Motors (GM) and Ford (F). The electric car maker's stock jumped nearly 5% on Wednesday, closing at a record $492.14 per share and elevating its market capitalization to almost $89 billion, or $2 billion larger than the sum of GM's and Ford's respective market caps of $50 billion and $37 billion. (Reuters)

Lighting company Acuity Brands (AYI) is among the few companies issuing quarterly earnings this morning, while home builder KB Home (KBH) and lubricant producer WD-40 (WDFC) issue numbers after the closing bell.

On today's economic calendar, the Labor Department is out with its weekly report on initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET. Additionally, Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, New York Fed President John Williams, Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard all have public appearances today. (CNBC)

U.S. stock futures were pointing to more gains on Wall Street after Wednesday's turnaround that saw the S&P 500 and Nasdaq log new intraday highs. The Nasdaq also closed at a new high, and indications this morning point to the Dow joining the record run on an easing of fears about a possible escalation of U.S.-Iran hostilities. The projected gains for the Dow would be enough for it to set a new intraday high at the open. It needs a little less than 128 points. (CNBC)

The House will vote today on a resolution to curb President Donald Trump's power to take military action against Iran. Nancy Pelosi said some members of Congress have "serious, urgent concerns" about Trump's strategy, which the administration did not assuage with a briefing or its "insufficient" notification of the strike to Congress under the War Powers Act. (CNBC)



* Trump pulls back from more military action in Iran crisis, promises new sanctions (Reuters)

* GOP Sen. Mike Lee: Iran briefing from Trump administration was 'insulting and demeaning' (USA Today)



Two rockets reportedly hit the Green Zone in Iraq's capital of Baghdad, a day after Iran launched missiles at bases housing U.S. and other coalition forces in Iraq. The rockets were fired several hours after Trump declared that Iran appeared to be standing down from military conflict with the U.S. (CNBC)

A Ukrainian International Airlines plane that crashed shortly after leaving Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board, was reportedly on fire before impact, according to Iran's civil aviation authority. The plane's trajectory indicated it strayed from its route and was on its way back to a nearby airport at the time of the crash. (CNBC)



* Here are the unanswered questions about the deadly plane crash in Iran (CNBC)

China's Vice Premier Liu He, head of the country's negotiation team in China-U.S. trade talks, will sign a "Phase One" deal in Washington next week. No version of the text has been made public, and Chinese officials have yet to publicly commit to key points such as increasing imports of U.S. goods and services by $200 billion over two years. (Reuters)

A federal appeals court allowed the Trump administration to move forward with plans to use billions of dollars in military construction money to build a long-promised wall along the border with Mexico. (WSJ)

Following a secretive escape last week from Japan to Lebanon, former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn publicly defended himself Wednesday against accusations of financial misconduct and misuse of corporate resources. Ghosn adamantly denied all charges against him and defended his decision to become an international fugitive by fleeing Japan as a necessity to receive a fair trial and "escape injustice." (CNBC)



* Lebanese investigators finish questioning Ghosn, file referred to prosecutor: judicial source (Reuters)

* Ghosn regrets not accepting US offer to lead GM for double his salary (CNBC)

* Fugitive former Nissan exec feared he would 'die in Japan' if he didn't escape (CNBC)

China's popular video sharing app TikTok had "multiple" security vulnerabilities, said cybersecurity firm Check Point. It found flaws that could allow hackers to take control of TikTok accounts and manipulate the content, upload and delete videos and reveal personal information such as a private email address. (CNBC)

Twitter (TWTR) said it will test new features early this year that would allow users to control who can reply to their tweets, as it looks to limit abuse and harassment on the platform. Social media firms are under pressure to address harassment on their services. (Reuters)



* Facebook's final word on political ads: No changes to microtargeting but more control for users (NBC News)

Verizon Communications (VZ) is eliminating traditional cable bundles and the handcuffs that often came with them, making it easier for households to switch video packages in the hopes they won't cut the cord entirely. (WSJ)

Accolade, a start-up that helps workers navigate their health benefits and dealings with insurance companies, has hired banks including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to advise ahead of a possible initial public offering, CNBC reported. The company is expected to file later this year.

Australian authorities urged another mass evacuation across the heavily populated southeast today as a return of hot weather fanned huge bushfires threatening several towns and communities. Thousands have been made homeless and thousands have had to evacuate repeatedly because of the volatility of the fires. (Reuters)

Many Puerto Ricans slept outside and woke up to an island still largely without power after a string of earthquakes rocked their home in recent days. The worst quake, a magnitude 6.4 that struck early Tuesday, killed at least one person, injured at least nine. (USA Today)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 9)  The United States' Senate has passed a measure seeking sanctions for Philippine officials involved in alleged extrajudicial killings and the detention of opposition Senator Leila de Lima.

Senate Resolution No. 142 was "passed/agreed to in Senate" on Thursday, according to the website of the upper chamber.

It calls on President Donald Trump to deny US entry to and block all US-based transactions in property and interests of "members of the security forces and officials of the Government of the Philippines responsible for extrajudicial killings... and responsible for orchestrating the arrest and prolonged detention of Senator De Lima."

READ: Asset freeze for De Lima accusers, jailers sought in US Senate

The move is in line with the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, an American law which allows Washington to punish foreign officials implicated in "significant corruption or gross violations of human rights" in any part of the world. Under the law, the US President shall decide on requests to impose sanctions on human rights violators and corrupt foreigners within 120 days.

The US Senate's new resolution also called on the Philippine government to immediately release De Lima and allow her to fulfill her duties as a lawmaker. The American senators agreed that De Lima is a "prisoner of conscience, detained solely on account of her political views and the legitimate exercise of her freedom of expression."

De Lima has been detained since 2017 on drug charges, which she and human rights groups believe are fabricated cases meant to silence her for being a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte and his bloody war on drugs.

More or less 6,000 people have been killed in the anti-drug campaign, government data show. Local and international advocacy groups say there are thousands more of extrajudicial killings, as a result of Duterte's public pronouncements to finish all drug addicts.

The US Senate condemns "the Government of the Philippines for its role in state-sanctioned extrajudicial killings by police and other armed individuals as part of the 'War on Drugs,'" the resolution read.

It also urged the Philippines to drop all charges against Maria Ressa and online news site Rappler, which are perceived to be part of the Duterte administration's crackdown on its critics.

Malacanang has repeatedly denied that there are state-sanctioned killings, and stressed that the cases of De Lima and Ressa are now being tried by the country's independent courts.

The Philippine government recently got back at US Senator Edward Markey, author of Senate Resolution No. 142, by banning him from the Philippines. American Senators Dick Durbin and Patrick Leahy can no longer set foot in Manila as well, for their proposal to ban De Lima's accusers  an amendment that was passed along with U.S.' 2020 budget.

Duterte's spokesman Salvador Panelo has said the government would require all Americans to secure a visa before entering the Philippines  regardless of the purpose and length of their visit  if the US enforces the ban on Filipino officials. At present, US citizens visiting the Philippines for not more than 30 days do not need a visa.

READ: 'Just tit for tat': Gov't bans 2 US senators, threatens to require visa for all Americans
Some Bharatiya Janata Party workers created ruckus on Wednesday at a college in Bengaluru while seeking support for the amended Citizenship Act by raising slogans like 'Go back to Pakistan' outside the campus on Wednesday, as girl students opposed a pro-CAA banner on the wall of their institution.

A video of the incident went viral on the social media.

A group of BJP workers, supporters of local party leader M M Govindaraj, had put up a poster 'India Supports CAA' on the wall of Jyothi Nivas College near Koramangala.

This was opposed by girl students, who said they would not allow any such poster to be put up on the college property.

The BJP workers then tried to shout down the students.

"You are not concerned about the citizenship, you are concerned about yourself. You should be concerned about India first. You are not an Indian then," a BJP worker is heard screaming at the girls in the video.

They also questioned the students if they had valid reasons to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Act and sought to know whether they wanted an argument or a debate.

The BJP workers purportedly told the girls that they were only the students of the college and not the owner.

"What's your problem madam with the CAA? Are you the owner of the college?" they asked.

Amid the heated argument, the BJP workers resorted to sloganeering like 'We want CAA' and 'Go back to Pakistan', as seen in another video shot by the students.

BTM Layout Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy visited the college on Thursday after learning about the incident and spoke to its management.

Later, he told reporters that the campus should not be allowed for any political activities.

"Any signature campaign whether in favour or against it (CAA) should be done outside the campus," Reddy said.

He cautioned the pro-CAA protesters he will not let any violent incidents like the one at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi happen at the city college.

Reddy's daughter Sowmya Reddy, who is the Jayanagar MLA, tweeted, 'A few videos & photos of outside #JyotiNivascollege are being circulated on social media.'

'MLA Ramalinga Reddy & I have spoken to cops and the Principal about this incident. Spoke to DCP South East Bengaluru and she said that Koramangala cops went there immediately & they are picketing even now,' she added.
Wall Street expects a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when BancFirst (BANF) reports results for the quarter ended December 2019. While this widely-known consensus outlook is important in gauging the company's earnings picture, a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates.

The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

While management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call will mostly determine the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations, it's worth having a handicapping insight into the odds of a positive EPS surprise.

Zacks Consensus Estimate

This Oklahoma financial services holding company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.04 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +6.1%.

Revenues are expected to be $108.60 million, up 7.8% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions Trend

The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 2.65% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

Investors should keep in mind that the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts may not always get reflected in the aggregate change.

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Earnings Whisper

Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. This insight is at the core of our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction).

The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.

Story continues

Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.

A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.

Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for BancFirst?

For BancFirst, the Most Accurate Estimate is the same as the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that there are no recent analyst views which differ from what have been considered to derive the consensus estimate. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of 0%.

On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #3.

So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that BancFirst will beat the consensus EPS estimate.

Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?

Analysts often consider to what extent a company has been able to match consensus estimates in the past while calculating their estimates for its future earnings. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that BancFirst would post earnings of $1 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.07, delivering a surprise of +7%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates four times.

Bottom Line

An earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.

That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

BancFirst doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.



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Rio De Janeiro, Jan 9 : Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro will not attend the upcoming World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland, presidential spokesperson Otavio Rego Barros has said.

"The president and his assistants analysed a series of aspects -- economic, security, political. And those aspects, together, allowed the President to evaluate that he should not participate in this forum at this moment," Rego Barros said on Wednesday, Xinhua reported.

Bolsonaro mentioned the possibility of not attending the summit earlier this week, citing security reasons.

The World Economic Forum, held annually at Davos, is a meeting in which world leaders discuss economic matters. This year's summit will take place on January 21- 24.

Bolsonaro attended the World Economic Forum in 2019.
TORONTO - Hundreds of thousands of Ontarians will soon have to say goodbye for good to their old, red-and-white health cards.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/1/2020 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO - Hundreds of thousands of Ontarians will soon have to say goodbye for good to their old, red-and-white health cards.

The government has set July 1 as the date the cards will no longer be accepted  more than 25 years after the province first announced those cards would be phased out.

There are still about 300,000 red-and-white health cards in circulation, representing about two per cent of all Ontario health cards.

Those cards are more susceptible to fraud than the newer cards, which feature a photo and a signature, said Health Minister Christine Elliott.

"After July 1, the card will not be accepted for services," Elliott said in an interview. "Hospitals, if someone attends with an emergency where they need medical attention right away, of course they won't be denied care, but they will be receiving the hospital bill for those services."

Anyone who has to pay up front for doctor's office or hospital services will be reimbursed once they get a new health card, Elliott said.

People who still have the old health cards will get notices this month, and after that they will get monthly reminders to get a new card.

Photo health cards can be obtained for free at ServiceOntario locations.

The province is also going to ask doctor's offices, hospitals and pharmacists to remind anyone using a red-and-white health card about the imminent need to switch to a new one.

It was late 1994 when the then-NDP government announced that due to fraud and misuse, the cards  which were introduced just four years prior  would be phased out over three years.

When the photo ID cards were first announced in 1995, the government estimated the red-and-white cards were being used for $65 million in fraudulent claims a year. At the time, Ontario's health cards had the least amount of printed information of any province, including only a name and no expiry date, according to a 2006 auditor general report.

There were about 300,000 more health cards in circulation than there were people in Ontario, the auditor said.

In the years before the photo ID cards were introduced, health officials warned that some cards had fallen into the hands of Americans and other non-residents, with fraudulent use the most prevalent in Ontario's border communities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 9, 2020.
Warren Buffett once said We dont have to be smarter than the rest. We have to be more disciplined than the rest.

What worked in 2019 was disciplined investing across themes - be it large, mid or smallcap. Quality of portfolio and stock selection are the two most important things for wealth creation and PMS managers managed to just do that.

As many as 43 PMS schemes outperformed Nifty50 in 2019 delivering as much as 27 percent return, compared to 12 percent return for Nifty50 in the same period, according to data from PMSBazaar, an online portal used for PMS comparison, investment, and analytics.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose more than 14 percent while the S&P BSE Mid-cap, and the Small-cap indices closed the year on a negative note down 3 percent, and 7 percent, respectively.

Indian market hit fresh record highs in 2019 but only a handful of stocks led the rally. The broader markets underperformed Nifty for the second year in a row, and most of the stocks saw a sell-off.

However, quality small and midcaps stocks helped PMS Fund managers beat benchmark indices by a wide margin.

Portfolio Management Schemes (PMSes) cater to wealthy investors with portfolio sizes exceeding Rs 50 lakh. The professional fee charged by them is slightly higher than regular mutual funds (MFs).

PMS schemes run by leading portfolio managers and boutique wealth management firms managing money for the ultra-rich gave as much as 27 percent return in 2019  this is almost double of what Nifty50 generated in the same period.

Data for PMS schemes for the period December 31, 2018, to December 31, 2019, highlighted that Marcellus Consistent Compounders, which is a Multicap theme, gave 27.4 percent in 2019,

Multi-Cap category funds are more diversified and include stocks from various market-cap baskets. A typical multi-cap portfolio comprises of stocks from largecap, midcap, and smallcap space.

Marcellus Consistent Compounders identifies firms with high pricing power that helps sustain a large gap between returns on the cost of equity and capital employed. The main objective of the scheme is to invest in a concentrated portfolio of heavily moated companies that can drive healthy earnings growth over long periods.

There are as many as 14 schemes that delivered returns in excess of 20 percent in the year 2019. IIFL Multicap PMS scheme generated a 27.25 percent return for ultra-rich in 2019, followed by Stallion Assets Core Fund.

In the large-cap space, the Sanctum Wealth scheme Indian Olympics generated 23 percent returns maximum among the schemes in the large-cap space.

The India Olympics scheme is a large-cap-oriented strategy that focuses on investing in high-quality companies with long-term sustainable growth, driven by dominant leadership positions in their respective segments.

Emkay Investment Managers, Emkay Lead PMS which is a large and mid-cap category gave a 21.6 percent return in 2019. Emkays Large & Midcap scheme focus on achieving long term capital appreciation by predominantly investing in large, as well as high growth mid-cap companies with leadership trait in the sector along with strong moat.

The year 2020:

Most experts feel 2020 is likely to see a repeat of 2019, and investors could look forward to double-digit returns.

The theme which could work and hog limelight is quality for the second year in a row. So, large and quality small & mid-caps could remain on buyers radar, say experts.

"We think that 2020 should be a better year for the markets as compared to 2019. Just looking at the Sensex numbers for 2019 is misleading as mid & small cap space has been under tremendous pressure in 2019 despite the Sensex doing well," Jyoti Roy, DVP Equity Strategist, Angel Broking Ltd told Moneycontrol.

"While a 13% kind of return on the Sensex is very much achievable for 2020 we believe that the mid and small cap space is much more attractive at this point of time. So while we expect the Sensex to do well in 2020 we believe that the mid & small cap would outperform the Sensex in 2020," said Roy.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
By Express News Service

Bank credit growth, which has been in a slow lane, is expected to revert to double-digit growth next fiscal, according to SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar. The country's largest lender confirmed that it may miss its credit disbursement target set for the current fiscal, but is hopeful of a revival in FY21.

"We are trying to push it up (credit offtake) this fiscal, but we may find it difficult to reach the target. Hopefully, we will be in double-digits next fiscal, that's what the target will be," Kumar said. For FY20, the bank aimed at a credit growth of 10-12 per cent, but given the slack in demand, particularly from the corporate sector, the bank is likely to exit FY20 with total advances growing in single digits. As per the latest RBI data, bank credit in 2019 stood at 7.1 per cent.

Speaking to TNIE on the sidelines of ThinkEdu Conclave here Thursday, Kumar, however, said working capital needs of enterprises and retail loans, including housing loans, are already seeing an uptick.

According to Kumar, the bank is also actively looking at the infrastructure sector to lend. Stating that the government's recent thrust on infrastructure investments to the tune of Rs 102 lakh crore was essential to drive GDP growth, Kumar said, banks will have to manage credit risks arising out of the sector.

"Infrastructure investments are essential in picking up the GDP growth rate and the quality of infrastructure in India is sub-optimal. I think there's no other way but to invest in infrastructure. May be this year, we'll continue that (lending to infra)," he explained.

Meanwhile, Kumar reiterated that the current quarter will be good in terms of loan recoveries. "The December 2019 quarter was good in terms of recoveries and March 2020 quarter will be even better. Because, we have got monies back as expected and many more will come in the next few months," he added.

As for crisis-ridden NBFCs, Kumar was of the opinion that the situation has subsided and that India's shadow bankers are in a much better position than what they were in. "Things are under control. It's unlikely that the situation will flare up," he said.
Parliament is likely to meet for the budget session on January 31 and the union budget might be presented on February 1.The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) met here under the leadership of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The tentative schedule drawn up during the meeting will be now placed for the cabinets approval.

According to officials, the first half of the budget session may run till February 11 or 12 and the second part might start from March 2 and run till April 3.

This will be the third session of Parliament after Prime Minister Narendra Modi retained power with an increased majority in the Lower House.

The previous two sessions had been very productive both for the government as well as the Opposition. The government has been able to pass key bills such as triple talaq, Citizenship Amendment Act and the legislation to bifurcate J&K into two union territories. Opposition MPs got more chance to speak and Question Hourduring which MPs are allowed to seek answers from ministersalso turned out to be fruitful.

In the upcoming session, the focus would be the general budget that is aimed to give more boosters for the economy. The government will focus on pending legislations, especially on labour reforms and the surrogacy bill, which is under review by a House panel.

According to officials, the presentation of budget is, as of now, has been slated on February 1. As February 1 is a Saturday, the cabinet will take the final call on the date of budget presentation.

In the past, budgets have been presented on a Saturday.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on January 10 the petition by Tata Sons Private Ltd (TSPL) challenging the NCLAT decision restoring Cyrus Mistry as executive chairman of the Tata Group. The matter is listed before a bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant where a battery of top senior advocates are likely to represent both the sides.

Sources said Tatas' have roped in senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, Harish Salve, Mukul Rohatgi and Mohan Parasaran to argue the case.

"We will seek stay of the NCLAT decision in toto," one of the sources said.

TSPL has challenged the December 18 decision of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that gave a big relief to Cyrus Investment Pvt Ltd and Mistry, restoring him as the executive chairman of TSPL.

Cyrus Investments Pvt Ltd, Mistry and other respondents who have filed a caveat that no ex-parte order be passed in the matter will be represented by senior advocates C A Sundaram, Arvind Datar, Shyam Divan and Somasekhar Sundareshan.

The NCLAT also ruled that the appointment of N Chandrasekaran as head of the holding company of the USD 110-billion salt-to-software conglomerate was illegal.

The Tatas submitted the verdict by the NCLAT "undermined corporate democracy" and the "rights" of its board of directors.

While the petition has been pending, Mistry came out with a statement on Sunday saying that he is not interested in returning to the Tata Group and the decision was made in the interest of the Group, whose interests are far more important than the interests of any individual.

"To dispel the misinformation campaign being conducted, I intend to make it clear that despite the NCLAT order in my favour, I will not be pursuing the executive chairmanship of Tata Sons, or directorship of TCS, Tata Teleservices or Tata Industries.

"I will however vigorously pursue all options to protect our rights as a minority shareholder, including that of resuming the thirty-year history of a seat at the Board of Tata Sons and the incorporation of the highest standards of corporate governance and transparency at Tata Sons," he said.

In the last three years, both in conduct and in their statements to the world at large, Tata Group's leadership has shown scant respect for the rights of minority shareholders, Mistry said, adding that it is time the Group's management introspects and reflects on its conduct as it embarks on future actions.

"I am humbled by the NCLAT order, which after review of the enormous material on record, recognized the illegal manner in which I was removed and the oppressive and prejudicial conduct of Mr. Tata and other Trustees," he said.

TSPL, formerly known as Tata Sons Limited, has sought setting aside of the judgment in toto "of NCLAT, alleging it was "completely inconsistent with the annals of corporate law" and reflected "non-appreciation of facts", which was "untenable in law".

NCLAT held the group's chairman emeritus Ratan Tata's actions against Mistry were oppressive and the appointment of a new chairman was illegal.

It, however, stayed operation of its order with respect to Mistry's reinstatement for four weeks to allow TSPL to file an appeal in the top court.

"In other words, far from putting an end to the alleged acts complained of, the judgment (of the NCLAT) has sown the seeds for a never-ending discord and conflict between the shareholders of the appellant (TSPL), creating a recipe for an unmitigated disaster," it said.

The plea raised questions of law and said the order restoring Mistry to his "original position" as the executive chairman of TSPL for the "rest of the tenure" was illegal as his tenure "stood extinguished in March 2017".

The plea termed "illegal" NCLAT's declaration that Chandrasekaran's appointment as the chairman of TSPL was wrong and claimed he was appointed "in accordance with the articles and duly approved by the board and shareholders".

It alleged the NCLAT granted reliefs to Mistry which were not even sought.

"Cyrus Investment Pvt Ltd and Mistry specifically pleaded before the NCLAT that they are not seeking reinstatement of Mistry. The tenure of Mistry as the chairman and director of Tata Sons expired in March 2017 and thus, for good reason, the respondents did not seek such reinstatement," the plea said.

"Mistry was replaced as the chairman of Tata Sons on October 24, 2016, by the majority of its board of directors (all directors voted in favour of the replacement, except one who abstained from voting and the remaining one was Mistry himself) for loss of confidence and the impugned judgment, by restoring Mistry to the position as chairman, has undermined corporate democracy and rights of the board of directors," the plea said.

It said Mistry was removed following the procedure applicable to corporate appointments, as envisaged in law.

The plea alleged it was nobody's case that Mistry's removal had resulted in any serious prejudice being caused to the working of Tata Sons and it "violated law or any contract".

Mistry, scion of the wealthy Shapoorji Pallonji family, had in December 2012 succeeded Ratan Tata as the executive chairman of Tata Sons, a post that also made him the head of all Tata Group-listed firms such as Tata Power and Tata Motors.

The NCLAT directed Tata Sons to not take any action against Mistry, whose family owns some 18 per cent interest in the company. The remaining 81 per cent is held by Tata Trusts and Tata Group companies, along with members of the Tata family.
Donald Trump crowed on Thursday after a federal appeals court remporarily put on hold a lower court ruling that had blocked the administration from using billions of dollats in military construction funds to build his long-sought southern border wall.

He tweeted his victory lap, calling it 'Breaking News.'

'The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals just reversed a lower court decision & gave us the go ahead to build one of the largest sections of the desperately needed Southern Border Wall, Four Billion Dollars. Entire Wall is under construction or getting ready to start!' Trump wrote.

It's unclear how much of the wall has a clear timetable for construction. A large majority of what the Army Corps of Engineers and the Homeland Security Department have constructed is sections of barrier replacing inferior walls that were in place when Trump became president.

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement that the lower court ruling was 'an illegitimate nationwide injunction' that a single judge hoped to enforce on the entire country.

A federal appeals court lifted an injunction on Thursday, giving Donald Trump's administration clearance to move $3.6 billion of federal money to the Defense Department and use it to build a wall on the Mexican border

Most of the wall Trump's administration has erected is in places where inferior barriers already stood when he took office, but billions of dollars will allow him to show more progress before November's election

'This is a victory for the rule of law. We are committed to keeping our borders secure, and we will finish the wall,' Grisham added.

The New Orleans-based 5th Circuit granted a stay of the circuit court ruling, giving the administration's a longer leash but not final approval to transfer $3.6 billion to the Defense Department from other unrelated pots of federal dollars. The lower court jjudge barred the money-shifting on Dec. 10.

In a 2-1 ruling, the appeals court panel noted that the Supreme Court had stayed an injunction in a similar border wall case from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The court also said there was a 'substantial likelihood' that the parties challenging the funding transferthe county of El Paso, Texas, and the Border Network for Human Rights activist grouplacked standing to sue the Trump administration.

Trump has made stemming illegal immigration a major theme of his presidency and re-election campaign. The $3.6 billion amounts to a third of the approximately $10 billion that Trump has obtained for border wall construction during his presidency, a total that comes from congressional appropriations and redirected Defense Department and Treasury Department funds.

Trump contends the wall will stem illegal crossings and narcotics trafficking. Congressional Democrats have portrayed the president's signature project as divisive and a waste of resources.

Congress has approved funding for wall construction in recent years, but at levels below Trump administration requests.

Frustrated by Congress, Trump declared illegal immigration to be a national emergency in February 2019 as part of a plan to access billions of dollars in Pentagon and Treasury funds to build the wall.

Trump administration officials have pledged to build 450 miles of new and replacement barriers along the border by November 2020, when Trump will face re-election. But a number of obstacles, including legal challenges and resistance from private landowners, have threatened that objective.

Acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan said in December that the administration may fall short of the 450-mile mark.

Morgan specifically cited the federal court injunction blocking the $3.6 billion funding transfer as an obstacle to construction.

The Trump administration has erected 96 miles (155 km) of border wall since the president took office in January 2017, according to CBP statistics current to late December. All of those structures replaced existing barriers, but border wall construction in new areas is under way, the agency said.

Trump vowed during his 2016 presidential campaign to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and force Mexico to pay for it. The Mexican government has refused to fund the project.
Cllr Gary Ridley is Leader of the Conservative Group on Coventry City Council. He contested Coventry North West in 2010 and Coventry South in 2015. He works in communications and public affairs for a leading UK transport charity.

From an early age, children in Coventry learn about Lady Godiva. Almost a thousand years ago, she rode naked through the city in protest at unfair taxes. Her husband, Earl Leofric reversed the tax hike and the protest was victorious.

The story is often recited as an example of personal sacrifice in pursuit of a worthy aim. It also shows that successful leaders cant ignore the will of the people forever.

Back here in the 21st Century, Jeremy Corbyn could play the part of Earl Leofric. He took Labours heartlands for granted and ignored their unfashionable views on Brexit. He paid a heavy price for this, as Labours red wall collapsed across the country. Here, it came within a few hundred votes of crumbling, as thousands voted Conservative for the first time.

I took two big lessons from this experience. Firstly, we can win in areas we least expect with the right message. Secondly, we must never take our voters for granted in our own heartlands. The experience has made us determined to translate this near miss into success in May. We must secure the re-election of Andy Street as Mayor of the West Midlands and make gains on the council.

In Coventry, Labour has been in power for a decade. Its a decade which has brought higher taxes and profligate spending. Theyve even nationalised a local hotel at a cost of 9 million. Throughout, the Conservatives have been a convenient scapegoat for tough decisions. Its true that Gordon Browns recession meant less funding from central government. Yet, Labour failed to safeguard local services over vested interests during this period. For instance, why do they continue to fund a Trades Union Facility Time agreement? It costs the taxpayer 1 millon a year. Why did they pay for a delegation of councillors to attend a peace conference in Russia? And why did they spend almost half a million pounds on gagging orders in three years?

Their mismanagement of a local music festival in 2018 was astounding. On a budget of 150,000 they managed to run up an overspend of 450,000. On other bread and butter issues theyve been found wanting. The RAC slammed them for the state of the roads and they have presided over a 44 per cent rise in fly-tipping.

In light of this, its not surprising that people are wondering whether we would do a better job. And theres evidence that the electorate realise Labour would rather blame the Tories than tackle vested interest. For instance, we bucked the trend in last years local elections by holding our position. Despite enormous losses nationally, not seen since 1995, we denied Labour a single gain. Thats despite their boast that they would win every seat!

This time around we are defending four of the 18 seats available under the election by thirds system. In two other wards we already hold representation and missed out on another by just 57 votes last year. So we are confident we can make gains.

Dramatic increases in employment, and tax cuts for many, will have contributed to our performance. So will the record levels of investment by the Government and Andy Street as Mayor. Next year we will play host as the City of Culture 2021 with the transformative benefits that it can bring. Already, it has brought massive investment from the West Midlands Combined Authority and could bring millions of people to the city.

Thanks to this investment by the Conservatives our city is on the rise. Its enabled us to rejuvenate tired public spaces with the chance to regenerate our city centre. Soon well have a new railway station with the possibility of two new local stations. Were also planning for the jobs of tomorrow with significant investment into electric car battery technology and autonomous vehicles.

We know that people are sick and tired of political point scoring, so we have always tried to be a responsible opposition. Our mantra is not to criticise unless we have a viable alternative. So we have set out a detailed five-year plan for the city which has been popular on the doorstep.

It identifies extra resources for services by tackling waste and vested interest. Interests such as the unions and unjustified rises in members allowances. More still could be saved by reducing council debts which cost the city 11m a year in interest payments.

Our vision for the city prioritises the creation of jobs and the regeneration of the city centre. On housing, we have a bold new plan to deliver thousands of new homes on brownfield sites. Well also take steps to prevent existing properties being converted into student accommodation.

As the sun sets on Labours decade of failure, our plan shows that a better way is possible  and within our grasp. And our team stand ready, united, and determined to bring the fight to Labour.

Were aware of how tough this fight will be, but well face it together with determination. In this Labour heartland Godivas spirit is stirring. Theres never been a better time to be a Conservative.
New Plastic Surgeon Joins SVMC

BENNINGTON, Vt.  Southwestern Vermont Medical Center has welcomed plastic surgeon Dr. Gerald "Jerry" A. Drabyn to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Putnam Medical Group and SVMC. He will see patients at SVMC Northshire Campus in Manchester, Vt., and at SVMC General Surgery in Bennington.



Dr. Drabyn is a board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and has more than 35 years of experience. Surgeries provided include those on breasts, including reduction and augmentation; facial fractures; skin, including burns and scar revision; cosmetic procedures, like facelift, rhinoplasty, and mastopexy; and hands, for carpal tunnel.



Drabyn holds a doctor of medicine degree from Indiana University Medical School in Indianapolis. He completed both an internship and his general surgery residency at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and his plastic surgery residency at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.



He is a member of the American Medical Association, the American College of Surgeons and the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons.



Dr. Drabyn joins doctors Gina Melissa Diaz, Simon Drew, Graham Moore and Charles Salem at SVMC General Surgery, located in suite 205 of the Medical Office Building at 140 Hospital Drive in Bennington. For more information or to make an appointment in Bennington or at SVMC Northshire Campus in Manchester, Vt., call 802-447-5060.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday vowed his government will get answers after a Ukrainian passenger jet crashed, killing at least 63 Canadians, just minutes after taking off from Iran's capital.

Speaking in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, Trudeau said 138 passengers on the flight were connecting to Canada.

The flight included many international students who were studying at universities across Canada. Newlyweds and a Canadian family of four were also on the flight.

Trudeau said his government is reaching out to his international counterparts.

Getting answers from Iran might prove difficult as Canada closed its embassy in Iran in 2012 and suspended diplomatic relations.

The crash of the Ukraine International Airlines plane came hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing US soldiers, but Iranian officials said they suspected a mechanical issue brought down the 3-year-old Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

Ukrainian officials initially agreed, but later backed away and declined to offer a cause while the investigation is ongoing.

Marc Garneau, Canadian Minister of Transport, said it was too early to speculate, but that initial data suggests "something very unusual happened."
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020

State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Minister Erick Thohir has announced a plan to merge all pension funds from every state-owned firm in the country under a single state-owned insurance holding company.

The move, he said, was necessary to prevent liquidity issues  such as the one that befell state insurer Asuransi Jiwasraya  from hindering the distribution of state pension funds.

Erick said he also expected the move to help prevent irresponsible individuals from abusing their power to embezzle the funds.

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CMIC Group, a Glastonbury, Conn.-based, member-owned medical professional liability insurance company, has promoted Michelle M. Ursini, previously the director of Business Development & Marketing, to the role of vice president of Business Development & Marketing. Additionally, Garrett P. Cronin, previously the director of Member Services & Underwriting, has been promoted to the role of vice president of Underwriting and Member Services.

Ursini came to the company in 2016 and has more than 15 years of experience in the professional liability insurance industry. She leads the companys Business Development and Marketing efforts, enhancing CMICs market presence and brand recognition throughout the companys footprint.

Cronin has more than 25 years of experience in the insurance industry. Through his role at CMIC, he oversees a variety of initiatives within the Member Services and Underwriting department, including the integration of a new internal data system. He also manages the companys rate reviews and filings, reinsurance contracts and ancillary product development.

CMIC Group includes both CMIC and its member affiliate, CMIC Risk Retention Group. CMIC Group develops insurance programs, services and solutions for physicians, doctors, healthcare providers, hospitals and facilities dating back to the origins of CMIC in 1984.

Source: CMIC Group

Topics Connecticut
WATERFORD  The village is set to host groundbreakings on Jan. 22 for three developments expected to add $4.2 million in value to the village.

The developments include a Dairy Queen Grill & Chill, Allesee Development Inc. Business Park and Deer Trail Condos. All three are located on Highway 36 near South Seventh Street, according to Colleen Schauer, the villages public information officer and utilities clerk.

The groundbreaking ceremonies are open to the public and are set for 1:30 p.m. for Dairy Queen, 2:30 p.m. for the business park and 3:30 p.m. for the condos.

The new Dairy Queen will be owned by brothers Bill and Bob Kulesa, who started a new business four years ago when they opened a Dairy Queen Grill & Chill in Stillwater, Minn. Bill Kulesa had previously worked in training, operations and new restaurant development for American Dairy Queen for 15 years.

Bill Kulesas son Dylan, who is the general manager in Stillwater, plans to relocate to Waterford to hold the same position at the new location.

Dylan is excited about the opportunity to work closely with the community and be part of the smiles and stories of people who come to DQ to celebrate lifes moments with friends, families and neighbors, according to a press release from the Village of Waterford.

Business park

ADI is a family owned and operated real estate and land development company that was incorporated in 1988.

ADIs latest project, the ADI Business Park, is located off of Highway 36 north of The Equitable Bank. It is set to consist of four warehouse buildings made up of 10,000 square feet divided into 2,000 square feet insulated rentals units.

ADIs first land acquisition in 1989 was an 18-acre soybean farm north of River City Marina in Waterford. With two partners, ADI formed a Waterford Land Development, LLC. Along with the partners, ADI built Marina Shore Apartments in 1991.

ADI continued to develop properties there, including Marina Cove Condos in 1994 and Docs on the Fox, Waterfront Bar & Grill in 2012.

ADI purchased the 38-acre Halbach estate in 1995, and developed Fox Mead Crossing, featuring Pick & Save and Pharmacy Station Drugstore alongside residential units.

In 1998, ADI developed Cornerstone Crossing, selling properties to River City Bowling Alley and Aurora Health Care, among others. ADI also created the 14-acre Cornerstone Crossing nature trail in the center of the development.

Condo project

Paul VanAlstine and his wife Dawn, of Waterford, are the developers of Deer Trail Condos, an upscale multi-family development with 16 condos.

Along with Matthew Olson, in 2003 VanAlstine opened Competitive Heating & Air-Conditioning.

VanAlstine has also built 10 two-family homes and seven single family homes, while continuing to operate the heating and cooling business.

VanAlstine attended St. Thomas Aquinas School and graduated from Waterford Union High School.

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An attorney for the family of Nick Sandmann says a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit against CNN.

The lawsuit -- which was filed in March of 2019 -- claimed the news network waged a "vicious attack" against the Kentucky high school student following protest marches in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 18, 2019.

Sandmann's attorney, Todd McMurtry, would not discuss details of the settlement, simply saying a settlement had been reached Tuesday afternoon.

The initial lawsuit sought $275 million in both compensatory and punitive damages. Similar lawsuits were also filed against other national media outlets.

Read the full lawsuit here

Sandmann, 17, is the Covington Catholic High School junior who found himself at the center of a controversy after his face was depicted across social media as he stared at Native American protester Nathan Phillips.

The lawsuits follow a nationwide firestorm of controversy involving Covington Catholic High School students during the January march. The students were attending an annual March for Life trip, which coincided with an Indigenous Peoples March.

Viral videos show students from the all-boys high school involved in the incident with the Native American elder during their trip to the nation's capital. The videos sparked a social media firestorm, with many calling out the boys for their treatment of the elder.

But a lengthier video was released in later days that appeared to show a different story.

An independent, third-party investigation -- commissioned by the Catholic Diocese of Covington -- found the students made no offensive or racist statements toward Phillips or anyone who was with him that day.
Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump stepped up to the podium and, backed by his advisers and the Joint Chiefs, spoke directly to the American people for the first time since he ordered the targeted strike on Iraqi soil against Qassem Soleimani, Iran's terrorism mastermind. During the speech, which took less than ten minutes, Trump spoke in slow, measured terms that demonstrated both leadership and fatigue.

Shortly after Trump concluded his speech, Scott Adams, whose specialty, aside from writing one of the world's most popular cartoon strips, is persuasion, put out a tweet stating that Trump's speech was one of the best presidential speeches ever:

Trump's statement this morning about the Iranian missile attack was the best presidenting I've ever seen in terms of clarity, intention, persuasion, tone, and likely effectiveness. This one goes in the text books in terms of technique, no matter how things turn out.  Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) January 8, 2020

Adams is correct about the power behind Trump's statement to the American people, to Iran, and to the world. In straightforward, lucid terms, Trump hit all the appropriate notes. His very first sentence was one of incredible power:

As long as I am President of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.

From that opening, Trump set out several important facts and principles:

First, the Iranian ballistic missile strike did not kill or injure any Americans.

Second, Iran has been a destabilizing force in the world since 1979.

Third, Soleimani was directly responsible for terrorist attacks against civilians and American troops inside and out of the Middle East, as well as being responsible for the deaths of his own countrymen.

Fourth, ever since 2013, when President Obama foolishly freed up $150 billion in assets and $1.8 billion in cash, Iran has been on a terror spree in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Iraq. American taxpayers funded this terrorism, including Monday night's missile attacks.

Fifth, there can be no peace in the Middle East as long as Iran is not reined in. NATO, Russia, and China need to join with America to make that happen.

Sixth, Iran can proceed as it has, or it can abandon its evil ways and become a thriving nation, one that partners with the West to everyone's benefit.

Trump closed the speech with a reminder that the American military is the most powerful and effective in the world. Trump noted explicitly that the military can partner with Iran to continue to wipe out ISIS and implied obliquely that the military can also be used to destroy Iran.

In sum, Trump said to Iran, play nicely with us, and you will prosper in ways you never imagined; continue as you have been, and our powerful American military will destroy you.

Trump's mien, delivery, and words were those of a statesman. This was not a madman with a military at his disposal. Instead, Trump is a man who desires peace but will make war, if necessary, to defend his nation. For those watching, he presented a strong contrast to Democrats who are so lost in Trump-hatred that they have accepted Iran's interests and narratives as their guiding principles.

You can find a full transcript of the speech here.
U.S. auto sales data for 2019 was released this week, with all major auto companies having reported fourth-quarter and full-year sales numbers. Though auto sales dipped 1.3% year over year, automakers hit the 17-million sales mark for the fifth straight year.

Of the six major American and Japanese automakers, Nissan Motor stood at the bottom of the table, registering a 9.9% decrease in 2019 sales, followed by decline of 3%, 2.3%, 1.8% and 1.4% for Ford, General Motors, Toyota Motors and Fiat Chrysler, respectively. On an encouraging note, Honda Motors saw a modest 0.2% rise in sales. (Read more: U.S. 2019 Auto Sales Hit 17-Million Mark But Decline Y/Y)

Some highlights of the week included Teslas record deliveries in fourth-quarter 2019, General Motors warning for weak auto sales in China for the current year and Daimlers issue of recalls for 744,000 Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

(Read the Last Auto Stock Roundup here).

Recap of the Weeks Most Important Stories

1. Tesla TSLA registered record production and deliveries of 104,891 and 112,000 vehicles, respectively, in fourth-quarter 2019. Notably, the companys Model S/X and Model 3 reported record production and deliveries in the quarter. The Model S/X division recorded production and delivery volume of 17,933 and 19,450 vehicles, respectively. The Model 3 division registered production of 86,958 vehicles, while 92,550 vehicles were delivered. In 2019, Tesla delivered 367,500 vehicles, reflecting an increase of 50% year over year. The figure was almost in line with the companys full-year guidance of 360,000 vehicles. (Read more: Tesla Achieves Record Production of 105k Vehicles in Q4)

Tesla currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

2. General Motors GM vehicle sales in China recorded the biggest-ever decline in 2019 amid a lackluster Chinese economy and U.S.-Sino trade tensions. The company sold 3.09 million vehicles in the country in 2019, reflecting a decline of more than 15% year over year.After witnessing double-digit sales decline in China in 2019, General Motors warned that the China business is likely to face challenges this year as well. (Read more: General Motors' 2019 China Sales Plummet, Headwinds to Stay)

Story continues

3. Daimler AG DDAIF announced the recall of 744,000 Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the United States over faulty sunroofs. The company will recall 2001-11 Mercedes-Benz vehicles, covering C-Class, CLK-Class, CLS-Class and E-Class model lines. The bonding between the glass panels and sliding room frame in the affected models might not meet the requirements and lead to the detachment of sunroofs.Per the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the company did not submit all reports and failed to notify owners about some recalls at the right time. Per the terms of the settlement, Daimler will be liable to pay $13 million and faces another $7 million fine if it does not comply with the agreement. (Read more:Daimler to Recall 744K Mercedes-Benz Wheels Over Sunroof Risks)

4. Toyota TM announced plans to build a prototype city of the future Woven City  in Japan. It will be built on a 175-acre siteat the base of Mt. Fuji, powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Woven City will function as a living laboratory for autonomous cars, smart homes, artificial intelligence and other technologies. Danish architect Bjarke Ingels has been commissioned to design the Woven City, which is expected to break ground in early 2021.The streets or pathways, as the name suggests, will be weaved together into three different types, each for a specific type of user. These will be used for faster vehicles, a mix of lower speed, personal mobility and pedestrians, and a park-like pedestrian walk. To cut climate-changing emissions from vehicles, autonomous Toyota e-Palettes will be used for transportation and deliveries. (Read more: Toyota to Build 175-Acre Prototype City of the Future in Japan)

5. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company GT recently launched AndGo and Goodyear Ventures at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show. While the new capital venture fund  Goodyear Ventures  intends to advance future mobility solutions over the next decade with a targeted investment of $100 million, AndGo is designed to be a seamless vehicle servicing platform that integrates predictive software with a trusted service network. (Read more: Goodyear Launches AndGo & Goodyear Ventures at CES 2020)

6. Tenneco Inc. TEN announced that Co-Chief Executive Officer Brian Kesseler will be taking on the newly consolidated role of CEO. With that, Roger Wood will no longer serve as the Co-CEO and will step down as a board director, effective immediately. Streamlining its leadership structure is part of the companys broader plan of improving cash flows and margins, along with reducing debt. Also, while management has postponed the DRiV split until mid-2020, it believes that the current end-market conditions are still likely to impact the firms ability to complete the planned spinoff within the targeted timeline. Although the company is taking incremental actions to facilitate the planned spinoff of DRiV, volatile industry environment and unfavorable market conditions are acting as deterrents. (Read more: Tenneco Provides Leadership and Restructuring Updates)

Price Performance

Company Last Week Last 6 Months GM -5.3% -9% F -0.5% -8.5% TSLA 17.7% 106% TM 0.5% 10.8% HMC -0.6% 6.6% HOG -1.7% 2.5% AAP -4.3% -0.1% AZO -3.6% -2.1%

The following table shows the price movement of some of the major auto players over the past week and six-month period.

In the past week, General Motors has declined the most, while Tesla has been the maximum gainer. Even over the past six months, Tesla has been the best performer, having rallied a whopping 106%, while General Motors and Ford F has been the worst performing stocks.

Whats Next in the Auto Space?

Next week, CAAM (China Association of Automobile Manufacturers) will announce full-year 2019 auto sales in China, which is the worlds largest automobile market. Watch out for the usual news releases.

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Click to get this free report Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Ford Motor Company (F) : Free Stock Analysis Report General Motors Company (GM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Daimler AG (DDAIF) : Free Stock Analysis Report Toyota Motor Corporation (TM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Tenneco Inc. (TEN) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (GT) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Swift Tactical Systems, a subsidiary of Swift Engineering, won a $17 Million contract to provide Bahamas government agencies and ministries with a comprehensive Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) program. The multi-agency drone program includes the purchase of 55 short and medium-range drones, immediate surveillance capabilities, training and support, and the establishment of a regional drone academy.

The Ministry of National Security Bahamas Unmanned Aerial System (BUAS) held a contract signing with Swift Tactical Systems at HMBS Coral Harbour Base. Eugene Poitier, Ministry of National Security Permanent Secretary and Rick Heise, Swift Tactical Systems President and CEO are pictured signing the contract. Clarence Russell, Director of Immigration; Dr. Geannie Moss, Comptroller of Customs; Eugene Poitier, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of National Security; Charge d'Affaires Stephanie Bowers; Capt. Raymond King, Acting Cmdr Defence Force; The Hon. Marvin Dames, Minister of National Security; Rick Heise, Swift Tactical CEO; Alex Echeverria, Swift VP of Ops; Anthony Ferguson, Commissioner of Police; and Charles Murphy, Commissioner of Dept of Correctional Svcs. (Photo by Marine Michael Turner II)

"This is an exciting partnership utilizing Swift's revolutionary drone technology and operational expertise with the Bahamian's embrace of technology in fighting crime, drug and gun trafficking, human trafficking, illegal immigration, and poaching," says Rick Heise, President & CEO of Swift Tactical Systems.

The contract was awarded to Swift Tactical Systems more than one year after the government released a worldwide request for drone and services proposals. Swift's comprehensive plan beat 25 other companies that were part of the multi-agency selection process. All law enforcement agencies, immigration and customs, corrections facilities, and the military will have access to the drones for various activities.

During a recent press conference, Marvin Dames, Minister of National Security, was cited as saying, "We are confident the drones will change the landscape of law enforcement in the country. From following suspects of a robbery to finding the location of illegal immigrants and having an aerial view of the prison or pinpointing a drug boat, we have made it our mission and commitment to ensure this technology will be multi-agency and shared between all agencies."

Swift is familiar with the Bahamian landscape. Following the Category 5 hurricane that caused extensive damage to parts of the Grand Bahama and Abaco Islands, members of the Swift Tactical Systems team mobilized to support the government's post-hurricane relief efforts. The team utilized its unmanned aerial vehicles to conduct numerous day and night missions to assess the overall situation on the ground and provide real-time data to enhance decision making for areas that were difficult to access.

"Swift Tactical Systems is a force multiplier and will support the Bahamas vision to become the region's center of excellence domestically and abroad. Our deep bench of talented pilots and specialists understand how important it is to help government officials make faster and more informed decisions. The team is poised and ready to support this innovative island nation and bring the unmanned economy to the Bahamas," says Alex Echeverria, Vice President of Swift Tactical Systems.

About Swift Tactical Systems

Swift Tactical Systems provides unmatched capabilities utilizing disruptive unmanned systems technologies and operational expertise for military and government applications. Headquartered in San Clemente, California, the company delivers fully integrated unmanned systems solutions for collecting, processing, and providing real-time intelligence and data, enabling governments and organizations to make informed decisions. Swift Tactical Systems is a subsidiary of Swift Engineering, Inc. Also headquartered in San Clemente, Swift Engineering is an innovation company with a 35-year history of design, engineering and build heritage in intelligent systems and advanced vehicles; including autonomous systems, helicopters, submarines, spacecraft, ground vehicles, robotics, and advanced composites.

Contact:

Samantha McDermott

[email protected]

+1 (760) 671-0071

SOURCE Swift Tactical Systems
The current debate over the Buhari governments request to borrow additional $30bn (a substantial portion of which is likely to come from China), has revived debates not just about debt overhang in the country but also about whether China is using debt as a deliberate strategy to take over several countries in Africa. In 2018 John Bolton former US national security adviser pointedly accused China of making strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing's wishes and demands.

In fact critics of Chinas role in Africa argue that China is basically trying to do what the European powers did at the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 but using a different strategy. It should be recalled that at the Berlin Conference the continent was divided among the major European powers, with the principle of effective occupation, which was used as a major criterion in deciding which country got what, legitimising colonialism and forceful pacification of the native  and achieved mostly through guns and mortars. Critics argue that rather than tanks and mortars, the Chinese found that banks are more effective than tanks as instruments of domination in line with the arguments of the revered ancient Chinese military philosopher Sun Tzu who posited that to defeat your enemy without a fight is the highest demonstration of skill.

Of course any analysis of Chinas role in Africa risks being caught in the web of the rivalry (or jealousy) between China and the continents former colonial masters and traditional allies: if it is too critical of Chinas role in the continent, it is suspected of oozing of Western bias or playing out a Western script. If it is too welcoming of Chinese presence, it is suspected of trying to ingratiate oneself to China or even externalising ones sub-conscious disappointments with the continents traditional allies and former colonial masters.

What is obvious is that the influence of China, (which overtook USA as Africas biggest trading partner in 2009), is growing by leaps and bounds in the continent. While trade between China and Africa reached $300 billion in 2015, China has also embarked on many infrastructural and road development projects in the continent through its colossal Belt and Road Initiative - its gargantuan global infrastructure development projects. For instance, under this initiative it constructed Kenyas 290-mile railway from the capital, Nairobi, to the port city of Mombasa. Under the initiative for instance, landlocked Ethiopia got a 470-mile electric railway from its capital Addis Ababa, to the port in the neighbouring Djibouti. While East Africa has been the main focus of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative on the continent, Chinese infrastructure projects stretch all the way to Angola and Nigeria, with ports planned along the coast from Dakar to Libreville and Lagos. Beijing has also signalled its support for the African Unions proposed pan-African high-speed rail network.

A major concern of many is on the cost to Africans of Chinas increasing involvement in the continent  from accusations of the Chinese taking over local jobs (including in retailing roadside roasted corns) to squeezing the continents SMEs, land grab and predatory lending. For instance a recent study by the China-Africa Research Initiative at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, found that China had lent a total of $143 billion to 56 African countries. The loans were facilitated principally by the Export-Import Bank of China and the China Development Bank. Seven countries  Angola, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Zambia  accounted for two thirds of total cumulative borrowing in 2017 from China, with oil-rich Angola alone representing a 30% share, or $43 billion (35% of Angolan 2017 GDP). According to an April 2018 IMF study, as of the end of 2017, about 40% of low-income Sub-Saharan African countries are now in debt distress or assessed as being at high risk of debt distress including Ethiopia, the Republic of the Congo and Zambia. This should be a real red flag. On September 3 and 4, 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted the seventh Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing where President Xi pledged additional US$60 billion in aid and financing for Africa.

A major concern with these loans is what happens if the borrowing country is unable to pay back. In the 1980s and 1990s when many countries in the continent struggled to repay their loans to the London and Paris Clubs of creditors, one of the consequences was the foisting of crippling IMF/World bank-supported structural adjustment programmes as a condition for the affected countries rescheduling their debts or even opening new letters of credit. Chinas responses to some of its debtors that struggled to repay have raised fears of Africas debt overhang of the 1980s and 1990s. For instance, when Angola, which is heavily indebted to China struggled to repay, it was forced to reach loans-for-oil settlement, with Beijing tying the country's future oil production to shipments to China in order to service the country's burgeoning infrastructure debt. In Kenya, China is set to take over the countrys lucrative Mombassa port if Kenya Railways Corporation defaults on its loan from the Exim Bank of China. Though Kenyas standard gauge railway (also known as the Madaraka Express), which was built and funded by China, was plagued by cost overruns, (with some questioning its viability), critics say China is not worried since if the 80%-China funded project fails, Beijing will take full control of it in what would be a debt-for-sovereignty swap. Again when Sri Lanka had difficulties servicing its $8 billion of infrastructure-related borrowing from China, it led to the country handing over a controlling equity stake and a 99-year operating lease of her second-largest port at Hambantota to a subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned enterprise in December 2017. For Pakistan, another debtor to China which struggled to re-pay, it is estimated that more than 90% of revenues generated at her newly developed Gwadar Port at the mouth of the strategically significant Gulf of Oman are collected by the Chinese operator. In Djibouti, where public debt has risen to roughly 80 percent of the countrys GDP (with the lion share being owed to China), it may not be mere coincidence that Chinas only overseas military base is in the country. A number of African countries - Burundi, Chad, Mozambique, Zambia and Nigeria are either in debt distress or at high risk of it. Some have accused Chinas lending practise of causing this or exacerbating the situation.

However not everyone has a dim view of Chinas role in Africa. Some have in fact argued that total spending in the Chinas colossal Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), could reach $1.3 trillion in the decade to 2023  more than seven times the investment made under the US Marshall Plan to rebuild European economies after World War II. A 2018 Pew Research poll on global perceptions of China also found that more than two-thirds of Tanzanians have a positive view of China.

Essentially therefore, deconstruction of Chinas role in Africa must transcend the capture of single-story narratives. African countries that take loans from China and other sources must also take responsibility because even at the personal level, if you take loans from a bank and default, you lose your collateral.

It may be true that China is swapping its value-added manufactures for low value-added and raw commodities from Africa. No one can blame it for using what it has to get what it does not have. Unfortunately it is this pattern (which also characterises the continents relations with its former colonial masters and traditional allies) that has stoked fears of colonization or Chinas relations with the continent being anti-development. The solution for this may not be in China bashing but in African leaders finding smart ways of benefitting from the relationship with China and also developing ingenious ways to profit from the rivalry between China and her traditional allies. In doing this, African leaders should bear in mind that China, like the continents former colonial masters and others, is in Africa not as Father Christmas but to advance its interest. There is nothing wrong in that so it is up to the continents leaders to develop hard-nosed economic thinking in its relations with China, rather than being swayed by the politeness of Chinese leaders and the easy availability of loans. African governments could match Chinas Africa policy with their own China policy with long term strategies.

Email: [email protected] Twitter: @JideoforAdibe
Senoritas Cantina. | Photo: Sam V./Yelp

Want to hit up the newest restaurant and retail additions to Chicago? From a coffee spot to a Mexican restaurant, read on for a list of the newest businesses to open their doors near you.

Kostali

Photo: Alex J./Yelp

Kostali is a Mediterranean spot, that recently opened at 521 N. Rush St. in the Near North.

The restaurant is located inside The Gwen, a luxury collection hotel. The menu features Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine.

Capital One Cafe

Photo: Emily S./Yelp

Head over to 1465 E. 53rd St. and you'll find the latest cafe to arrive in the neighborhood. Capital One Cafe has added a new location in Hyde Park.

The cafe features free WiFi and community spaces. It serves Peets Coffee, tea and baked pastries. Patrons don't need to be Capital One customers, but Capital One cardholders do get 50 percent off beverages.

Senoritas Cantina

Photo: Henry Y./Yelp

Senoritas Cantina is a cocktail bar, offering tacos and more, that recently opened its doors at 1104 W. 18th St. in Pilsen.

The restaurant specializes in Mexican cuisine. On the menu, look for the enchiladas with chicken, duck, cochinita or barbacoa, the salmon filet with salsa pipian and vegetables or the chorizo with salsa verde.

Rolling Chicago Cafe

Photo: Christine B./Yelp

Rolling Chicago Cafe is a new cafe, offering ice cream and frozen yogurt, juices and more that's located at 3904 W. 47th St.

The Archer Heights cafe serves crepes, paninis, smoothies and more. On the menu, look for the ham and cheese crepe, avocado toast or coconut ice cream.

Mirch

Photo: Mouzam N./Yelp

Mirch is a Pakistani, Indian and halal spot that opened recently at 5664 N. Lincoln Ave. in West Rogers Park.

The restaurant uses spices and recipes from the Indian subcontinent. On the menu, look for the beef samosa, chicken biryani or the sheek kebab.

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.
A one-year-old child was left fighting for life after a car crashed into a pushchair in north-west London.

Brent Police tweeted: 'We're at the scene of an RTC in Church Rd #NW10 between a car and a child in a pushchair.

'The 1yr old child (gender u/known) was taken to hospital, condition assessed as critical. Nobody else was injured. The driver of the car stopped at the scene. There has been no arrest.'

Pictures showed police at the scene, with a pushchair turned on its side next to a black car.

Pictured: Police at the scene in Brent, north-west London, where a child was left fighting for life when a car crashed into a pushchair

Police are pictured at the scene in Brent, north London, where a child was fighting for life after the crash

At least three police cars were posted on the street as officers surrounded the car in question.

The force posted an update on social media as to the child's condition at around midnight.

Brent MPS wrote on Twitter that the youngster's condition is not considered life-threatening.

Officers are investigating in Brent (pictured) after a car hit a pushchair and left a one-year-old in a critical condition
Donald Trump is not a strategy man. He has made clear he doesn't like to think too far down the road; he likes to govern by instinct. In short, he is a tactical leader, a Twitter president. Tactical leaders tend to make mistakes, largely because they cannot see the long-term implications of their decisions. On Iran, however, President Donald Trump has not made a mistake.

His tactical game has worked, at least for the moment. He has called Iran's bluff, taken out one of its most valuable leaders and, so far, made the correct calculation that Tehran will not risk a wider war with the United States.

Decision-making in Tehran is notoriously opaque. For years, U.S. experts have argued about whether there is a moderate or pragmatic faction ranged against the so-called hard-liners who have bedeviled American presidents. Who is the boss? The supreme leader, the president, or the top ranks of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps? Is it worth risking a confrontation when there are "pragmatists" with whom we could do business? Because of these debates about the nature of Iranian politics, and fears about strengthening the worst actors on the Iranian political stage, successive presidents have hedged their bets on confronting Iran.

Trump tossed out that playbook.

Essentially, the real estate and reality TV guy from New York decided to take Iran at face value. Sponsoring Hezbollah? Check. Supporting President Bashar Assad's killing machine in Syria? Check. Supporting Hamas and Hezbollah against Israel? Check. Supporting the Houthis against Saudi Arabia? Check. Attacking global oil supplies and shipping? Check. Targeting U.S. soldiers and civilians in Iraq? Check. Well, we can imagine the president saying, I've had it. Take out the guy who's doing that.

That guy was Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, head of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, charged with managing Iran's proxies abroad. Who was Soleimani? He was, without exaggeration, the mastermind of Iran's regional strategy. He's the one who perfected Iran's Hezbollah model, and built proxy armies from Lebanon to Syria to the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Yemen. He's the one who, through those proxies, gave Tehran the deniability it wanted for every attack the Iranian government ordered.

The list of those orders is long, but consider the most recent attacks on the Saudi oil facility at Abqaiq, the attacks on tankers in the Persian Gulf, or the attacks on U.S. soldiers and contractors in Iraq. In each case, Iran was fingered as ultimately responsible, but questions were raised. Who actually did it? The Houthis? Iraqis? Others? That doubt was a Soleimani specialty.

With one fell swoop, Trump discounted the doubt, and told the world that if Iran ordered it, Iranians would pay no matter who actually carried out the attack. After the Dec. 27 assault on an Iraqi military base by Iranian proxy militia Kataib Hezbollah that left a U.S. military contractor dead and four U.S. service members wounded, and a subsequent attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad by Kataib forces, the president was ready to act. He made the call on Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the leader of the Kataib Hezbollah.

Democratic and some Republican critics, as well as foreign leaders, have suggested that the U.S. strike was an act of war. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has decided to table a resolution barring the commander in chief from any further action against Iran without congressional authorization. On the other side, internationalist supporters have rejoiced that a president who has wavered between Bernie Sanders-esque "endless war" mania and Reaganesque global leadership seems to have mustered the courage to off Public Enemy No. 1 in Tehran.

The question that remains is whether Trump's tactical strategy has worked.

Before the Soleimani killing, Iranian leaders seemed encouraged at Trump's unwillingness to confront what appeared to be Tehran-sourced attacks. They undoubtedly took pleasure in his reticence in the face of a direct assault on Saudi Arabia; the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, went so far as to taunt the president on Twitter after Iranian proxies attacked the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, writing, "You can't do anything." Yes, said Trump via the U.S. military, I can.

Gen. David Petraeus, former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said that Trump's actions "reestablish[ed] deterrence" against the Islamic Republic, which had been running amok in the region since the signing of the Iran deal in 2015. In an ideal world, that would be true. Few disagree that the regime in Iran was gobsmacked by Soleimani's killing. And Iran's retaliatory strike on al Asad air base - an Iraqi installation that also houses U.S. troops - and other targets was weak; Iraq was notified of the impending strike, giving troops time to find cover, and it was apparent that the regime in Tehran was not trying to score U.S. casualties. Because having done so repeatedly over the past 17 years, it clearly has that ability.

Ultimately, however, Iran has other tools at its disposal, and other targets to hit. U.S. allies, partners and assets in the region are in the crosshairs. The new Quds Force commander could order killings that don't directly hit Americans, merely American friends. Iran can keep testing Trump, betting he doesn't want an all-out war before the 2020 U.S. elections.

Then again, Trump's tactical strategy might work. Iran is weaker than it looks - its economy in shambles, a restive population, and a succession crisis in the offing when the current supreme leader dies - and the regime's priority is not influence in the Middle East, calling the shots in Iraq, lifting sanctions or puppeteering its proxies. Khamenei and company's priority is regime survival, and if they worry for the next one to five years that America could strike again, perhaps the Islamic Republic will indeed be deterred.
Trisha Goddard's phone alarm went off during an appearance on Thursday's edition of Good Morning Britain.

The incident occurred while the presenter, 62, discussed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's decision to step back from their senior positions in the Royal Family with Dickie Arbiter and Sally Jones on the show.

Her alarm rang out while she was midway through a sentence about her thoughts on the couple's decision, which prompted some viewers to brand her 'unprofessional'.

Oops: Trisha Goddard's ALARM went off mid-interview as she debated Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's decision to step down from royal duties on Thursday's Good Morning Britain

After quickly picking her phone up and turning off the alarm she joked about the error with co-presenters Ben Shephard and Susanna Reid, who apologised as they paused the debate to talk to Lorraine Kelly about her show.

During the discussion, Trisha admitted she felt 'physically sick' the racist comments Meghan Markle has received since marrying Prince Harry.

'There are undertones, especially on social media,' she explained. 'I had a look at the Sussex's Instagram on the way in.

Amused: After quickly picking her phone up and turning off the alarm she joked about the error with co-presenters Ben Shephard and Susanna Reid

Candid: During the discussion, Trisha admitted she felt 'physically sick' the racist comments Meghan Markle has received since marrying Prince Harry

'I'm a seasoned journalist and I've been on the sharp edge of racism myself.

'They've not had time to clear up some of the comments and it made me feel physically sick and I'm not a wimp, it made me feel physically sick.'

'You might disagree with someone, but there's very thinly veiled misogyny, racism and xenophobia,' she added. 'I'm not saying don't criticise what they do, but the nastiness, the vitriol.'

Upset: Trisha explained, 'They've not had time to clear up some of the comments and it made me feel physically sick and I'm not a wimp, it made me feel physically sick'

Hitting out: 'You might disagree with someone, but there's very thinly veiled misogyny, racism and xenophobia,' Trisha added

Some viewers criticised Trisha for bringing her phone onto the talk show, as they took to Twitter to brand her 'unprofessional'.

One person wrote: 'Not too professional to leave your phone on when on air, up your game Trish.'

While another asked: 'Who takes their phone on a TV news show? Even worse, when it rings has to check the text!'

Some viewers criticised Trisha for bringing her phone onto the talk show, as they took to Twitter to brand her 'unprofessional'

Harry and Meghan 'pressed the nuclear button' on their royal careers by announcing they are quitting their frontline roles on Wednesday night.

Their dramatic decision was taken without the knowledge of the Queen, Prince Charles or Prince William, who learnt about the announcement as it broke on television news channels.

The couple, who plan to split their time between Britain and North America, made the bombshell announcement just days after returning from a six-week break in Canada.

Headlines: Harry and Meghan 'pressed the nuclear button' on their royal careers by announcing they are quitting their frontline roles on Wednesday night

A senior royal source said the Queen and her family were 'deeply disappointed'. Another said the royals were 'shocked, saddened and downright furious' at the couple.

In their extraordinary statement, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said they wanted to 'carve out a progressive new role' and 'step back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family'.

They said they wanted to balance their time between the UK and North America, 'continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages'.

Secret: Harry and Meghan's dramatic decision was taken without the knowledge of the Queen, Prince Charles or Prince William

The Mail understands that the couple raised their desire to seek out a new life a week ago and family members agreed to work with them in making it possible.

But hours after they had visited the Canadian High Commission in London to thank them for their recent hospitality, the pair decided to go public with their decision  pressing the nuclear button, as one source described it.

Negotiations are at such an early stage that the couple still have no idea where they are going to live in North America, although Canada is clearly the favoured option.

Harry and Meghan have, in the words of one aide, 'no clue' as to how they will become financially independent  although for the moment are insisting they will continue to take money from the Prince of Wales to fund their official work.
The decoration for retired Army Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn was denied Dec. 3 by Lt. Gen. Francis M. Beaudette, the commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command, the Army disclosed Thursday. Beaudettes decision is not final, and the service said in a statement that it will next have an administrative panel consider whether it should reinstate the Special Forces tab and a Distinguished Service Cross  the U.S. militarys second-highest valor award  and expunge a letter of reprimand Golsteyn received in connection with his case.
The story of Mourinho and Liverpool

Standard Sport's Liverpool Correspondent, David Lynch, outlines the history between the now Tottenham boss and the Merseyside giants.

And, depending on who you believe, things could have been very, very different...

Just how the story of Jose Mourinho and Liverpool Football Club truly began depends a lot on who you ask.

In the summer of 2004, the Portuguese was not only, as he put it, both a European champion and a Special One, but also one of the hottest properties in world football on the lookout for a first major move.

His availability came at a particularly convenient time for those in charge at Anfield, with Gerard Houlliers six-year reign having reached a disappointing conclusion.

After leading FC Porto to a shock Champions League success at the expense of far wealthier competition, Mourinho was a logical candidate for the vacancy on Merseyside.

The Reds boasted a glorious history, but not quite the money to back up their aim of returning to those halcyon days, and this charismatic upstart from Setubal seemed the perfect fit to help overturn those odds.

Unfortunately, Liverpools ties with its trophy-laden past were more than just teary-eyed nostalgia.

The Merseyside clubs successes had come about thanks to a particular approach, and those at the helm were yet to see the value of diverging from that even in a vastly different era.

And so they decided that, in creating one of modern footballs most iconic moments in sprinting down the Old Trafford touchline months earlier, Mourinho had marked himself out as unworthy of a move to Anfield.

As then-chief executive Rick Parry later recalled: One of our core values was respect.

Seeing Mourinho celebrate like that reinforced my initial belief. Was he really a Liverpool manager? Did he characterise the clubs values?

Inevitably, Mourinhos camp remember things slightly differently.

They instead suggest that their client rejected an offer from the Reds in order to join Chelsea on account of Roman Abramovichs greater enthusiasm for getting a deal done.

Of course, as is so often the case, the truth probably lies somewhere in between.

It is not hard to imagine that Liverpools old-fashioned approach caused them to move too slowly in the chase for Mourinho; equally, it is easy to believe that a slavish adherence to Boot Room values convinced them that the Portuguese wasnt the right man, too.

But, whatever the reasons for the 56-year-olds failure to end up at Anfield, what could have been a love affair has since descended into a bitter feud - a process that began remarkably quickly.

One of Mourinhos first meetings with Liverpool - the 2005 League Cup final - saw him striding the touchline shushing opposition supporters following a late equaliser that teed his team up for victory.

And the antagonistic relationship between the two parties hit new heights later that season when Rafael Benitezs team claimed the most unlikely Champions League semi-final win over a side that went on to finish 37 points ahead of them in the Premier League.

Mourinhos departure from Stamford Bridge in 2007 prompted a suspension of hostilities but, little did either side know, the worst was yet to come.

Seven years later, Chelsea claimed a win at Anfield that not only denied Liverpool a first League title in what would then have been 24 years, but also marked a low point in relations with the man in the opposition dugout.

The players in the away dressing room that day recall their manager manically urging them not to be the clowns at a celebratory circus by lying down and simply taking defeat.

In the end, the visitors claimed a 2-0 victory that ensured Liverpools long wait for the championship is still ongoing 30 years on from their last win.

Meanwhile, Mourinho had shown Liverpool that they were wrong to overlook him, even if, with his legacy as one the greatest managers of all-time already secured, he didnt need to.

Unfortunately for the former Real Madrid and Inter Milan boss, in the five years since a moment that represents the Reds nadir in this long-running rivalry, the tables have turned significantly.

Not only did Jurgen Klopps men ensure Mourinho was sacked from his last job as Manchester United boss with a 3-1 win last term; they arrive to take on his Tottenham side as reigning world and European champions.

Whats more, even should the Portuguese reproduce his 2014 Anfield masterclass this Saturday, it would ultimately have little effect on the Reds hope of finally ending their League title drought.

In fact, a win for the visitors would only increase the pressure on Spurs manager, who faced accusations that his time at the elite level might be up after failure at Old Trafford, and has endured something of a mixed start to life in north London.
A day after Deepika Padukone visited the JNU campus to express solidarity with students who had been attacked, her film 'Chhapaak' made another splash on Wednesday over the name of its antagonist.

New Delhi: A day after Deepika Padukone visited the JNU campus to express solidarity with students who had been attacked, her film "Chhapaak" made another splash on Wednesday over the name of its antagonist. While Deepika was the focus of many a discussion on social media and beyond for showing up at a public meeting in the university, the film, based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal, was also making news for quite another reason.

In what could well be a storm in a 'Twitter cup', "Nadeem Khan" and "Rajesh" began trending on the microblogging site after a magazine article claimed the name of the antagonist had been changed. By 4 pm, 'Nadeem Khan' clocked close to 60,000 tweets and 'Rajesh' close behind with 50,000.

In 2005, Laxmi was disfigured for life when a man called Nadeem Khan and three others allegedly hurled acid at her in Delhi's upscale Khan Market.

In the film based on her life, the narrative remains the same but the names have been changed. So, Laxmi is 'Malti' Agarwal and Nadeem becomes 'Babboo' aka 'Bashir Khan'.

On Wednesday, Swarajya magazine wrote an article headlined, "The Ways Of Bollywood: In Deepika Padukone-Starer Chhapaak, Acid Attacker Naeem Khan Becomes Rajesh'."

"As part of a backlash against Padukone's JNU 'meet and greet', social media users researched the names of the characters involved in the movie Chhapaak and conspicuously found the name of main perpetrator Naeem Khan absent," the article alleged.

But in the Meghna Gulzar directed film, there is no mention of any Nadeem or Naeem Khan. Moreover, Rajesh is the name of Malti's boyfriend.

Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Babul Supriyo jumped into the controversy, saying it was another example of "absolute hypocrisy".

"...When you say all characters are fictitious and don't have any resemblance with living beings and all of that, this is absolute hypocrisy. When you change the name which also changes the religion, it has been done very deliberately," Supriyo told a TV channel when asked to comment on the controversy.

South Delhi BJP MP Ramesh Biduri also called for a boycott of the movie. With Deepika grabbing attention by going to JNU, many appreciated her 'silent solidarity' but others criticised her for "supporting the Leftists" and said it was a promotional stunt ahead of the release.

"#Boycott Chhapaak" was trending on Twitter as was "#ISupportDeepika".
House Will Vote on Bill to End 2002 Iraq War Authorization: Pelosi

The House of Representatives will vote on a bill to end the 2002 resolution that gave the Pentagon authority to wage war in Iraq, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Thursday.

Pelosi said earlier in the week that the House might vote on the bill, introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif), which would repeal the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF).

We will have that resolution coming up soon under the leadership of congresswoman Barbara Lee, Pelosi said on Thursday.

Lee was the only member of Congress to vote against the AUMF.

Pelosis confirmation of a vote soon on the resolution came during a press conference held just before the House began debating passing a non-binding war powers resolution that directed President Donald Trump to stop using U.S. armed forces to fight Iran unless authorized by Congress.

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), was expected to pass the Democrat-controlled House. But the measure is nonbinding, meaning it wont become law and Trump wont have an opportunity to sign or veto it.

Pelosi told reporters she did not want to give Trump the chance to veto Slotkins resolution.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), left, speaks during a press conference in Washington on Nov. 19, 2019. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

The site where top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed along with eight others in a U.S. strike in Baghdad, Iraq, is seen the day after on Jan. 4, 2020. (Ali Choukier/AFP via Getty Images)

Were taking this path because it does not require a signature of the president, she said. This is a statement of the Congress of the United States, and I will not have that statement be diminished by whether the president will veto it or not.

In addition to the resolutions from Slotkin and Lee, the House was considering whether to bring a measure introduced by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) that would mandate the Pentagon not use military funds for actions against Iran without congressional approval.

The 2002 AUMF and a similar authorization passed in 2001 in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks have long been targeted by some lawmakers. A top Trump administration official said the U.S. airstrike that took out Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad last week was done legally under the authorization of military force.

The president exercised Americas clear and inherent right of self-defense to counter this threat. It was a fully authorized action under the 2002 AUMF and was consistent with his constitutional authority as commander-in-chief to defend our nation and our forces against attacks like those that Soleimani has directed in the past and was plotting now, national security adviser Robert OBrien said.

Pelosi said Thursday that the debate surrounding the AUMF is harder than you would think because it involves a number of issues, including timing and who is president.

Its harder than you would think because an AUMFso who is president, democrat or republican, how much power, confidence do you have in that person, regardless of party, to execute an AUMF. And the decisions that have to be made about AUMF, its important to note, are what is the timing of it. This one didnt have a date. It should have a date. Not one that couldnt be renewed, but nonetheless it should have a date. The timing, the geography, she said.

What are we talking about? This was to go into Iraq, it was used then to pursue Al Qaeda, different places, and here we are. And third, what is the scope. Are we talking about boots on the ground? Are we talking about air cover? What are we talking about in terms of scope? So timing, geography, and scope. When you have that debate, its, well, I want to have the president to have as much power or I want the president not to have as much power. So its hard, its harder than you would think. But we have to do it.
LANSING, MI  Buddys Pizza is coming to Lansing.

The self-proclaimed creator of The Original Detroit-Style Pizza announced plans to open a location in Michigans capital city on Wednesday.

Lansing, the wait is over, Buddys Pizza posted to Twitter. The Original #DetroitStylePizza comes to the capital this spring. As always keep a close eye on our social pages for any and all information about new location.

Lansing, the wait is over. The Original #DetroitStylePizza comes to the capital this spring!



As always, keep a close eye on our social pages for any and all information about new locations. https://t.co/t04gtXEU7n  Buddy's Pizza (@buddyspizza) January 8, 2020

No address for the new location was given, but spokesperson Joelle Kruczek told the Lansing State Journal that it would be revealed in the next few weeks and that the company plans to hire between 80 and 100 people to work at the new location.

Take a walk through the new Buddys Pizza in Grand Rapids

The Lansing restaurant will be Buddys Pizzas 17th, joining locations throughout Metro Detroit, in Grand Rapids where a restaurant opened in April 2019 and in Portage where a location will open this year.

In addition to its famous pizza, Buddys also serves soups, antipasto salad, pastas, burgers and sandwiches.
Demonstrators vape during a consumer advocate groups and vape storeowners rally outside of the White House to protest the proposed vaping flavor ban in Washington DC, on November 9, 2019.

The vaping illness outbreak worsened over the last week with 41 people hospitalized and two additional deaths, even as the pace of new illnesses slows, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The total number of cases now stands at 2,602 with 57 fatalities across 27 states, the CDC said Thursday, citing data compiled through Tuesday. Patients have been found in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, according to the CDC.

The CDC calls the illness EVALI, short for e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury. Public health officials say the main culprit is vitamin E acetate, a sticky compound found in some THC vaping products. The CDC said in November it was narrowing in on the substance as a "potential toxin of concern" after it was detected in 29 out of 29 lung tissue samples tested by health officials.

The CDC has recommended that consumers stop vaping, particularly THC and especially anything bought off the street.

The vaping illness comes amid a surge in teen vaping. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration issued a ban on most fruit- and mint-flavored nicotine vaping products in an effort to curb a surge in teen use.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told reporters that the ban had little to do with the vaping lung illness, which he said the administration saw as a "separate issue."
Phoenix, Arizona--(Newsfile Corp. - January 8, 2020) - The Stock Day Podcast welcomed PCT LTD (OTC Pink: PCTL) ("the Company"), a company that focuses its business on acquiring, developing and providing sustainable, environmentally safe disinfecting and tracking technologies products. President of the Company, Gary Grieco, joined Stock Day host Everett Jolly.

Jolly began the interview by noting that the Company recently deployed their Annihilyzer Infection Control Systems in England, and asked what this move means for their future. "We recently shipped our system and got it all up and running," shared Grieco, adding that testing is set to begin January 15th. Grieco then expanded on the incredible potential of the product considering the current healthcare industry in England.

Jolly then asked about the Company's flagship product. "Systems that produce and effectively apply hypochlorous acid are the products that we manufacture," explained Grieco. "Hypochlorous Acid (HOCL) is a non-corrosive, very benign disinfectant," said Grieco, adding that the solution has existed for several years. He then explained that hypochlorous acid has been challenging to distribute in the past due to a short shelf life. "What we've done is we've taken our history of working with the product and developed a system for hospitals where it is generated on site and on demand," said Grieco.

"It is just a long arduous problem getting into the hospitals because of the layers of people that you have to go through," said Grieco. "We have found that from the initial discussion with a hospital, it takes about six months before we get a system in there," he explained. Grieco then shared that the Company has installed multiple systems in New York hospitals and are in discussions with additional New York facilities.

Jolly then noted the spread of disease in hospitals and asked how the Company's flagship product solves this issue. "It kills any tested pathogen, and by that I mean bacteria and viruses," said Grieco, noting that the system is also effective against C DIFF and MRSA.

Story continues

"What's the competition in this space?", asked Jolly. Grieco explained that while hypochlorous acid is available through numerous competitors, the onsite generation of it by the system and application using electrostatic applicators is unique. "It's more than the product," said Grieco. "A room can be terminally disinfected once clean with our system within ten minutes, which would take thirty to forty minutes by hand," explained Grieco.

Jolly inquired about the Company's recent agreements and partnerships with SUNY Downstate Medical Center. Grieco explained that the SUNY facility chose to renew their contract with the Company for an additional five years after utilizing the system for one year. The Company has also been involved in testing gas wells with high levels of hydrogen sulfide, which is an extremely dangerous and corrosive compound. "Our results have been more than gratifying," shared Grieco.

The conversation then turned to the Company's entrance into the cannabis space. Grieco explained that companies in this space currently treat mold with peroxide, which is effective but costly. However, the Company is building a system that would be effective for both indoor and outdoor grow facilities in eliminating mold, E. coli, and salmonella. "Our initial testing has been spot on," said Grieco.

To close the interview, Grieco expressed his excitement in the Company's ability to face its challenges, as well as its incredible potential across numerous industries.

To hear Gary Grieco's entire interview, follow the link to the podcast here: https://audioboom.com/posts/7473420-pct-ltd-discusses-their-international-expansion-and-growth-strategy-with-the-stock-day-podcast

Investors Hangout is a proud sponsor of "Stock Day," and Stock Day Media encourages listeners to visit the company's message board at https://investorshangout.com/

About PCT LTD:

PCT LTD ("PCTL") focuses its business on acquiring, developing and providing sustainable, environmentally safe disinfecting and tracking technologies products. The company acquires and holds rights to innovative products and technologies, which are commercialized through its wholly-owned operating subsidiary, Paradigm Convergence Technologies Corporation (PCT Corp). Currently trading on OTC, "PCTL" aspires to and is actively engaged in preparations for up-listing its common stock to a national securities exchange. The Company established entry into its target markets with commercially viable products in the United States and now continues to gain market share in the U.S. and U.K.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21B of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, goals, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Such statements are based on expectations, estimates and projections at the time the statements are made that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those presently anticipated. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to: any implied or perceived benefits resulting from the continued positive results relating to the installation of PCT''s Annihilyzer systems in hospitals; the results of any manufacturers' representative and/or license agreements, actual sales revenue to be derived from agreements, if any such contract is executed; PCT LTD's and its subsidiary's business prospects; PCT LTD's ability to raise sufficient funds to satisfy its working capital requirements; the ability of PCT LTD to execute its business plan or list its common stock on a national stock exchange; benefits of the Annihilyzer Infection Control Systems, "high-volume" equipment or its suitability for market applications, Hydrolyte generators and fluids; any other effects resulting from the information disclosed above; risks and effects of legal and administrative proceedings and government regulation; future financial and operational results; competition; general economic conditions; and the ability to manage and continue growth. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual outcomes may vary materially from those indicated. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements PCT LTD makes in this press release include market conditions and those set forth in reports or documents it files from time to time with the United States Securities Exchange Commission. PCT LTD undertakes no obligation to revise or update such statements to reflect current events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Contacts

Company:

Gary Grieco, President and Chairman of the Board

(843) 390-7900 Office

(843) 390-2347 Fax

www.para-con.com

www.pcthealth.com

www.survivalyte.com

Brokers and Analysts:

Chesapeake Group

+1-410-825-3930

info@chesapeakegp.com

About The "Stock Day" Podcast

Founded in 2013, Stock Day is the fastest growing media outlet for Nano-Cap and Micro-Cap companies. It educates investors while simultaneously working with penny stock and OTC companies, providing transparency and clarification of under-valued, under-sold Micro-Cap stocks of the market. Stock Day provides companies with customized solutions to their news distribution in both national and international media outlets. The Stock Day Podcast is the number one radio show of its kind in America. Stock Day recently launched its Video Interview Studio located in Phoenix, Arizona.

SOURCE:

Stock Day Media

602-441-3474

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/51263
Agartala, Jan 9 : The Tripura government would soon appoint 1,100 "Gram Sevak" (village volunteers) to make policing pro-active and improve the police-people relations to curb crime, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said here on Thursday.

Addressing the 'Police Week Parade', he said the volunteers would do the police-people coordination. The volunteers-police would jointly deal with the crime, said Deb, who also holds the home portfolio.

He asked the police officers to have frequent interactions with important people of their areas to get feedback and suggestion.

Highlighting the Bharatiya Janata Party-led governemnt's achievements in the past 20 months, he said in line with the plan to make Tripura a drug-free state, the law enforcing agencies had registered 987 drug cases and arrested 4,992 peddlers.

"Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the recent meeting of the North Eastern Council in Guwahati spoke about making the northeast a drug-free region," he said.

Stating that the crime against women has come down by 10 per cent in the 20 months, Deb said swift punishment was helping.

"Within three-five days, the accused of crime against women are being arrested. The police administration is free from political interference. My government wants to make the Tripura Police the best police force in India. Earlier, the police didn't register cases due to political interference," the Chief Minister said.

He also inaugurated a gallery at the Ujjayanta Palace State Museum to showcase the policing in the several centuries of princely rule in Tripura and its transformation, besides sacrifice of the police personnel, during the decades of terrorism.

The Chief Minister also asked policemen to donate bloods voluntarily to help ailing people. On the occasion, 101 cops and Tripura State Rifles troopers donated blood.
09.01.2020 LISTEN

Yirenkyikrom Youth Association has donated assorted items to the Kwahu Yirenkyirom community in the Kwahu South District of the Eastern Region.

The items worth thousands of cedis include new and used clothing, rice, oil and bags.

The youth also organised a clean-up exercise session with the community led by Mr. Samuel Yirenkyi Obeng, the president of the Association in Accra.

In an interview, the president said the gesture was part of the organizations corporate social responsibility to respond to the needs of society in deprived areas.

Mr. Ansong Kesse who is the PRO for the association said, some of the items were solicited from the Member of Parliament for the area, Mr. Seth Kwame Acheampong, friends and philanthropists to support the needy, explaining that the core value is to support education, health among others in the society.

He added that the organization would work assiduously to ensure the sustainability of the project, adding that responding to the needs of the underprivileged, helps to build their confidence and make them feel loved in society.

He appealed to the public and other corporate bodies to support the organization in cash, or items to continue to advance the cause to humanity.

Nana Sasu Kyere II, Odikro of Kwahu Yirenkyikrom community commended the management of the association for the donation adding that the gesture was the first of its kind in the community.

He appealed to the government to come to their aid and build school and CHIPs compound for the community.

Some of the beneficiaries expressed their gratitude to the association.
Sex chat row: SSP Noida Vaibhav Krishna who alleged corruption in police force suspended

India

pti-PTI

Lucknow/Noida, Jan 09: Noida police chief Vaibhav Krishna was suspended by the Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday, days after alleging involvement of senior police officers and journalists in a transfer racket and purportedly figuring in a sleaze video.

The five IPS officers whom he had named in the leaked letter he had sent to state police chief O P Singh for being involved in the alleged racket have been transferred. They are Sudhir Singh (SSP Ghaziabad), Ajay Pal Sharma (SP Rampur), Ganesh Saha (SP Banda), Himanshu Kumar (SP Sultanpur) and Rajeev Narayan Mishra (SSP Special Task Force Lucknow).

The five are among the 14 officers whose transfers were announced on Thursday. Krishna, a 2010 batch-IPS officer, recently attracted adverse media coverage for trying to arrest a newspaper reporter after a sleaze video purportedly showing the officer went viral on social media. While Krishna has been suspended, a three-member high-level committee has been formed to probe the allegations of corruption he made against the five officers and submit a report in 15 days, a government official said.

Singh had on January 3 ordered a probe into the "leaked confidential communication" and sought an explanation from Krishna for allegedly sharing the content of the letter with the media during a press conference on the night of January 1.

Earlier on January 1, three video clips in which he was seen in conversation with an unidentified woman in an objectionable condition had surfaced online and he had called a press conference the same night during which he claimed that the videos were "morphed" and an attempt was made to "malign" his image.

"Vaibhav Krishna had himself made a complaint over the circulation of the clip and the probe in this matter was handed over to the Additional Director General of Police, Meerut Range. The Hapur SP was given the responsibility of the probe and the video clips were sent to a forensic lab in Gujarat for testing," according to an official release.

"Upon testing, the forensic lab report has concluded that the video is not edited or morphed. There is no sign of edit, alteration, morphing observed in the video," the official added. According to the senior government official, the Noida SSP had himself leaked the confidential letter and the report which he had sent to the government during a press conference.

"This was found in violation of the Officer's Conduct Rules and he has been suspended. A departmental inquiry has been ordered in his case and Lucknow ADG S N Saabat will probe the case and submit his report soon," the official said.

A special investigation team (SIT) has also been formed to probe allegations against the five IPS officers. H C Awasthi, Director Vigilance, has been appointed the chairperson of the SIT while Amitabh Yash, Inspector General STF, and Vikas Gothalwal, Managing Director UP Jal Nigam, are its members.

The officers transferred on Thursday included Lucknow SSP Kalanidhi Naithani, who has been shifted to Ghaziabad. Shivhari Meena will be the new Sultanpur SP while Santosh Kumar Mishra has been appointed the SP of Rampur. Siddharth Shankar Meena will be the SP of Banda.
The latest Star Wars film hits theaters Friday and fans all over the world can't wait to see where the storied franchise takes its characters.

The last film, 2015's "The Force Awakens," ended with Rey finding the long lost Luke Skywalker on a remote world. Previews for "The Last Jedi" hints that Rey is developing the Force with Luke, while the Resistance battles the New Order.
A 36-year-old Chinese woman here has been diagnosed with a mysterious strain of viral pneumonia after she recently visited the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the disease is causing a health scare.

The Korea Centers of Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday it has quarantined her at Seoul National University Hospital in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province while also testing a coworker who visited Wuhan on business with her from Dec. 13 to 17, as well as medical staff at the hospital.

Health authorities are on high alert because the Lunar New Year on Jan. 24-27 will bring floods of Chinese visitors. A KCDC spokesman said the patient was also tested for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome but the test came back negative.

There are eight direct flights per week between Wuhan and Incheon International Airport. "We're stepping up screening of all those who entered the country from Wuhan," the spokesman added. The KCDC will share data on arrivals from the Chinese city with hospitals across the country.
MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' Scarborough ridiculed President Donald Trump for flubbing lines during his solemn speech to the nation on the conflict with Iran.

Trump read from a tel-e-prompter during his Wednesday remarks, staged in the Grand Foyer, the main entrance hall in the front of the White House a time of fears of further military escalations.

But the high-tech equipment and a night to prepare following Iran's Tuesday evening missile launches didn't prevent him from botching a few words during delivery.

One flub came during a key line, when Trump tried to warn Iran that: 'Your campaign of terror, murder, mayhem will not be tolerated any longer.' Instead, Trump jumbled words and said the behavior wouldn't be 'tolerized.'

President Trump spoke to the nation Wednesday about the Iran crisis and botched some key words during his delivery

Trump also tried to boast of his 'historic accomplishments,' but instead invented the word 'accompliment.' The official White House transcript acknowledged the error and included the correct word in brackets.

Sacarborough and his wife and co-host MIka Brzezinski opened their morning show with a video clip that spliced in comments from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina lauding the remarks as historic.

'This is on par with Reagan's "Tear down this wall" speech,' Graham told Fox News.

Graham, a fervent Trump loyalist, compared the president's speech to Ronald Reagan's heralded 'tear down this wall' moment at the Berlin Wall at the height of the cold war. The stumbling clips they selected did not match up to the applause Reagan garnered in Berlin.

'Morning Joe' cohosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski mocked Trump for his flubs

Their show spliced in historic quotes from President Ronald Reagan at the Berlin Wall

Trump loyalist Sen. Lindsey Graham lauded Trump's speech and made the Reagan comparison

Ronald Reagan, making his famous challenge to Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall

Sean Murray and Lean Crowley (L-R) sit in a restaurant as President Donald Trump's address to the nation from the White House is seen on a television following Iranian attack on bases in Iraq on January 08, 2020 in Miami, Florida. President Donald Trump said that Iran appears to be standing down and no Americans or Iraqis were harmed in Irans missile strike on two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops

After the clip opened the show, Brzezinski, whose father served as Jimmy Carter's national security advisor, stayed silent during a long pause. 'Good morning,' she said. 'That all spoke for itself.'

Scarborough chimed in with pleadings for Graham, who like Scarborough served as a Republican House member.

'Lindsey, it's just not worth it Lindsey,' he said. 'It's just not worth it. Whatever you're getting, it's just not worth it.'

Brzezinsky added, without explanation: 'What's he got on him?' in reference to an unproven hypothesis that Trump holds leverage over Graham.

Immediately after the speech online users made fun of the president for wheezing and breathing heavily into a microphone.
French Truck Coffee. | Photo: Ann-Marie P./Yelp

Wondering where to find the best cafes near you?

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the best affordable cafes in New Orleans, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of where to venture when cravings strike.

1. French Truck Coffee

Photo: French Truck Coffee/Yelp

Topping the list is an outpost of the chain French Truck Coffee. Located at 4536 Dryades St. in Uptown, the cafe, which offers coffee, tea and more, is the highest-rated inexpensive cafe in New Orleans, boasting 4.5 stars out of 216 reviews on Yelp.

We looked there for an overview of French Truck Coffee.

"Geoffrey originally landed in New Orleans in 1999 to open the W Hotel as a restaurant consultant," per the history section of the business's Yelp profile. "After falling in love with his new home, he got married, had a little girl and worked in several establishments around New Orleans. Geoffrey and his family moved away just before Katrina with the intention of coming back as soon as circumstances would allow."

As to what the business is known for, "Small Batch Coffee and Small Batch food combined in an inviting space" it notes on Yelp in the section highlighting specialties.

2. Backatown Coffee Parlour

PHOTO: Danielle M./YELP

Next up is Iberville's Backatown Coffee Parlour, situated at 301 Basin St., Suite 1. With 4.5 stars out of 159 reviews on Yelp, the cafe, breakfast and brunch spot, serving coffee, tea and more, has proven to be a local favorite for those looking for an affordable option.

The site can tell you a thing or two more about Backatown Coffee Parlour.

"Established in 2017 in the very location of old Storyville, Backatown embodies the aura of such a historic place as part of the reawakening of Basin Street," per the history section of the business's Yelp profile.

As to what the business is known for, "A New Orleans coffee shop that will serve as a public gathering space to foster creativity & meaningful conversation," it notes on Yelp in the section highlighting specialties. "There's Always Something Brewing Backatown!"

Story continues

3. Pagoda Cafe

PHOTO: Gina F./YELP

Seventh Ward's Pagoda Cafe, located at 1430 N. Dorgenois St., is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the low-priced cafe, breakfast and brunch spot 4.5 stars out of 167 reviews.

Yelper Elise B., who reviewed Pagoda Cafe on April 26, wrote, "Loved this off the beaten path breakfast spot! A very casual neighborhood gem, the pagoda is a tiny breakfast shop with all outdoor seating."

And Rachel G. wrote, "Great place and a lot of selection! Weird hours and not always open but when it is we make sure to go"

4. Luca Eats

PHOTO: Genevieve D./YELP

Luca Eats, a cafe, breakfast, brunch and traditional American spot in Audubon, is another much-loved, cheap go-to, with 4.5 stars out of 141 Yelp reviews. Head over to 7329 Cohn St. to see for yourself. [

Yelper J B., who reviewed Luca Eats on Nov. 11, wrote, "Luca is a cool restaurant in the middle of a quiet neighborhood with delicious meals made to order. Luca eats is a pet friendly spot so fur babies are welcome."

Nicole R. added, "Stumbled across this gem for a quick lunch to get outside of the office. It's super cute the inside is nice and quaint full of super cute art. There is also outside seating that's super cute and cozy."

5. Treme Coffeehouse

Photo: Andrea T./Yelp

Finally, over in Treme' Lafitte, check out Treme Coffeehouse, which has earned 4.5 stars out of 123 reviews on Yelp. Dig in at the cafe, which offers coffee, tea, bagels and more, by heading over to 1501 St. Philip St.

We looked there for an overview of Treme Coffeehouse.

"Treme Coffeehouse is a true mom and pop," per the bio section of the business's Yelp profile. "We are an independent owner operated Coffee shop serving locally roasted fair trade beans curtesy of Orleans Coffee Exchange"

Regarding signature items, "Coffee is our calling," it states on Yelp in the section about specialties. "We do offer pastries from a local bakery, delivered fresh daily. We also offer a limited sandwich menu."

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.
Uber has had a busy week at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas. The company shared a stage with Hyundai announcing a partnership to build "air taxis" it hopes to begin operating as soon as 2023. Melbourne is one of the cities Uber is targeting as a launch market. The company also announced new public transport options within the Uber app, and plans to bring Uber Jump  its e-bike sharing service  to Australia early this year.

But while the promise of flying cars generated the most buzz, it was the change in attitude from Uber executives that might have been the biggest surprise.

Uber expects to offer commercial flying taxis in Melbourne by 2023.

Under Travis Kalanick, Uber pioneered the disruptor's playbook of "move into a city and ask permission later", which enabled the company to expand at a phenomenal rate around the world. The company seems to have matured under Dara Khosrowshahi, and its leaders now speak of collaboration, "engaging stakeholders", and following pesky local laws and regulations.

Until this week, I'd considered Uber Elevate little more than a publicity stunt. The company's aggressive 2023 deadline for its flying taxi service still seems unrealistic, but Elevate head Eric Allison makes a convincing pitch. At CES he spoke about the company's close work with regulators around the world, and why Melbourne was chosen as a launch city; the CBD to airport route Uber hopes to launch with Elevate can funnel passengers into one of the busiest airline routes on the planet. Test flights are planned for this year, and Elevate is scheduled to launch in US cities Los Angeles and Dallas as well as Melbourne.
JUNEAU, Alaska - Bill Walker, who was one of the countrys few politically unaffiliated governors, plans to discuss with students bridging the political divide during an upcoming, on-campus residency at Harvard University.

The former Alaska governor is among six people chosen as resident fellows for the spring semester at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School. The fellows will live on the Massachusetts campus for the spring semester, mentor students and lead an eight week, not-for-credit study group, according to the institute.

Walker, who left office in late 2018, said he spoke to students during a visit last year and enjoyed the experience. He expects as part of the program to discuss running and governing as an independent and bridging the political divide.

I think thats really one of the things that theyre sort of looking for, is that kind of dialogue: is there a way of toning down the sort of partisan (rhetoric), he said. He noted as governor he worked with the Obama and Trump administrations and cited as one of his biggest accomplishments a politically mixed Cabinet.

In 2014, Walker changed his party affiliation from Republican and was elected as an independent with Democratic support as part of a so-called unity ticket, with Democrat Byron Mallott as his lieutenant governor. Walker ended his re-election campaign shortly before the 2018 election, after Mallott resigned for what Walker described as an inappropriate overture to a woman.

He declined to discuss his thoughts on his successor, Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, saying Alaska has one governor at a time. Walker said he appreciated that his predecessor, Republican Gov. Sean Parnell, did not weigh in on things he did.

There are enough commenters out there without having a former governor, a predecessor, weighing in, he said. But that doesnt mean I stop looking at how I can continue to help Alaska.

Walker, who joined a law firm after leaving office, said he sees the Harvard program as an opportunity to reflect on his experience and consider what is the next chapter going to look like.

Past fellows include policy experts, political strategists and former diplomats and political leaders, such as former U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona and former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire. Fran Ulmer, the first woman to serve as lieutenant governor in Alaska, is a past program fellow.
South Africa based Ugandan businesswoman Zari Hassan has refuted recurrent claims that she has been buying her followers on Instagram.

The Brooklyn City College CEO addressed the allegations after hitting a milestone of 7 million followers on the photo and video sharing platform. She challenged her naysayers to buy Instagram followers and see how it will work for them.

Zari noted that Instagram has strict regulations against buying followers especially for users like herself who have been verified with the blue badge.

She also thanked her fans for helping her reach the milestone describing them as her MVPs.

Thank you so much for 7million i really do appreciate you my followers. You are my MVPs. To some who think i buy followers you should try it. Instagram has very strict regulations especially with verified pages that if you do, they will delete your account instantly. That said, keep the love flowing. Love you back 10much, she posted.
Actor Ananya Panday was recently at the centre of controversies and heavy trolling when she compared success with appearing on chat show Koffee with Karan and talked about her own struggles. Her father, actor Chunky Pandey has now said he just wants to ask her to stop taking his name.

Talking with Mumbai Mirror in an interview, Chunky said, The two times she really got trolled was when she called me Tony Stark and the second was this episode. I want to tell her to stop taking my name.

At Rajeev Masands newcomers roundtable, Ananya had said, I have always wanted to be an actor. Just because my dad has been an actor, I will never say no to an opportunity to act. My dad has never been in a Dharma film, he never went on Koffee With Karan. So its not as easy as people say. Everyone has their own journey and their own struggle.

Also read: Panga: Kangana Ranaut is willing consider marriage thanks to this man

Sharing how she never taking things lightly, she said, When SOTY 2 got delayed by a year, my dad actually didnt even congratulate me till the film released because thats how fickle the industry is. Thats how dispensable people are. Anything can happen, it can get shelved, it can release after years and he knows that. Mine has been a lot of personal experience, I have seen my dad go through so many things that I dont take anything too seriously. I overcompensate sometimes. I am so scared that people may say that oh you are taking things too lightly so I will come extra early to places. I am so happy that I have this chance.

Gully Boy actor Siddhant Chaturvedi also agreed that everyone has their own struggle and went on to add, The difference is jahaan humare sapne poore hote hain, wahi inka struggle shuru hota hai (their struggle begins where our dreams are fulfilled).

Ananya made her Bollywood debut with Karan Johars Student of The Year 2 in 2019 and went on to bag a major role in Kartik Aaryan-Bhumi Pednekars Pati Patni Aur Woh reboot that hit theatres last year.

During his interaction with the tabloid, Chunky also opened up on handling media outlets talking about his daughters love life. Shes 21, it would be abnormal if she didnt have a boyfriend. I have been through this in my time, so I know how much of it is true. Youre ready for these things as an insider.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Pressed for his personal position on that statute and the one on Monument Avenue, he said: Yes, I do have an opinion. Theyre offensive to a lot of people. And one of the points of what were doing this morning is to make sure that Virginia is equitable and inclusive, but its a discussion that needs to take place with a number of individuals.
Older Americans heading toward retirement can face a conundrum: They'll need income when they leave work, yet they want to delay taking Social Security for as long as possible so they can maximize those benefits. For clients who have other assets available, some advisors recommend that instead of gradually withdrawing from those accounts  i.e., a 401(k), individual retirement account, brokerage, savings  they instead move some of the money to a single-premium immediate annuity to bridge that gap in income. "It's certainly a valid option," said certified financial planner Ronald Myers, a managing member at Fortune 360 Group in Plantation, Florida. "But is it a good option? That's a different question."

Abel Mitja Varela | Vetta | Getty Images

Annuities, which offer varying levels of guaranteed income either for a set time period or for life, come in a variety of packages and can often be tricky to understand and, depending on the type, more expensive than other options. Yet SPIAs, as they're called, generally are more straightforward than their brethren. They make up a fraction of annuities sold yearly  just $9.7 billion of $233.7 billion in 2018, according to the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute. In retirees' quest to ensure their savings stretch through their lifetime, the option can end up being a viable piece of the retirement planning puzzle. However, SPIAs also have limitations. And some advisors say there are better ways to fund a short-term income gap. "A SPIA is a place to secure a payout for a period of time," Myers said. "It's not a place to make money."

Basically, in exchange for guaranteed income over a set period of time (or for your lifetime), you give an insurance company a lump sum, which in turn becomes part of the insurer's pooled investments. There is no setup fee for a SPIA contract, and unlike some annuities, it comes with no annual expenses. However, once you hand over the cash and the short window to change your mind ends, you generally can't get your money back  except in the form of payments that you already agreed to. "All you're left with is an income stream," said David Mendels, a CFP and director of planning at Creative Financial Concepts in New York. "So if you have a medical emergency or something like that, you don't have that money available." Some insurance companies do offer SPIAs that allow for a limited emergency withdrawal or a similar arrangement, although contracts with any extras generally will not pay as much each month.

All you're left with is an income stream. So if you have a medical emergency or something like that, you don't have that money available. David Mendels director of planning at Creative Financial Concepts

You also can get one that allows for a joint owner. Or if you name a beneficiary, the payments would shift to that person if you were to die before the end of the contract. Additionally, it's important to know the annuity's income will be taxed. If you use money from a tax-deferred account  say, an IRA or 401(k)  to fund the SPIA, you'll pay taxes on it as you receive it over the length of the annuity contract. If the funding source was from accounts that are not tax-advantaged, such as a brokerage or savings account, you'll only pay taxes on the portion of SPIA income that wasn't already taxed through what the insurance company calls an exclusion. (Keep in mind, though, that liquidating funds from a brokerage account comes with its own tax implications.) More from Personal Finance:

How to lower your stress level this tax season

Here's the tax bill on the $277 million Powerball jackpot

You can have the item now. But can you really afford it? Your money also won't be earning much. For example, earlier this year, Ronald Palastro, a CFP with Cobblestone Wealth Advisors in Brooklyn, New York, had a client who wanted guaranteed monthly income of $2,750 for five years. This was so he could delay taking Social Security until age 70, at which point his benefits would reach their maximum. To get the monthly income needed, the insurance company required $156,500 upfront. While the math gets a bit tricky, the rate of return cited by the insurer was just over 2.1%. "It's not a great rate, but for the purposes of giving him guaranteed income, it made sense in this situation," said Palastro. Some advisors say that instead of using SPIAs, people looking for income that isn't subject to the whims of the stock market could consider certificates of deposit.
A supporter of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party holds a national flag during local elections in Taipei. Chris Stowers | AFP | Getty Images

Political campaigning in Taiwan has reached fever pitch ahead of Saturday's presidential and legislative elections, as candidates take to social media to bring their messages to voters. Other than online discussion boards, the two dominant social media outlets in Taiwan are Facebook and Alphabet's YouTube  both of which have seen considerable activities in the past year surrounding the three presidential candidates, said Li Jung Chang, founder of Quickseek, an online public opinion database in Taiwan. Out of 19 million eligible voters in self-ruled Taiwan, under 7 million of them are between the ages of 20 and 39, according to data from the Central Election Commission cited by Taiwan's Central News Agency. About 1.2 million young people above 20 years old will be voting for the first time at the January 11 polls.

We can see in this election that the candidates are actively driving coverage and pushing their messages out on social media platforms... Li Jung Chang founder of Quickseek

Taiwan is an aging society and securing youth vote is particularly important as youth turnout have historically been lower than those in the older cohorts, analysts say. Younger voters are more likely to turn to online media for information. "We can see in this election that the candidates are actively driving coverage and pushing their messages out on social media platforms through livestreams, posts and discussions with their followers," Li told CNBC in Mandarin. In contrast, election campaigns in the previous polls in 2016 were more traditional with engagement largely done through the mass media, flyers and websites, Li pointed out. Taiwan's Digital Minister Audrey Tang told CNBC that messages this time round are built around narratives offered by everyday people. Tang said that there is now a lot more focus on how to package a message to make it go viral. In particular, incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen  who is seeking a second term  has ratcheted up her social media presence, including active management of her YouTube channel in the past year after her independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party lost mayoral elections in several cities in late 2018. Tsai was playing catch-up as her main presidential competitor, the Kuomintang's Han Kuo-yu made waves on social media during his mayoral campaign in 2018, and appeared in YouTube videos of online influencers. He also boasted online fan clubs, added Li. Tsai's aides likely advised her to bolster her online presence to help boost her campaign against her rival Han in the upcoming elections, said Li.

Tsai works with YouTube, influencers
Kolkata, Jan 10 : Two police vehicles were torched and four security personnel were beaten up by a mob after several houses were damaged following a loud explosion when a bomb disposal squad of CID was defusing firecrackers on the banks of Ganga in Naihati in North 24 Parganas district on Thursday.

Angry locals beat up three members of the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) and a police constable besides torching two vehicles outside Naihati police station, triggering tension in the area. The residents also put up a road blockade, obstructing traffic.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee confirmed that a number of houses have developed cracks due to the intensity of the explosion and promised to help the dwellers, while Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar called for a thorough probe in view of the incident's 'seriousness, intensity and damage caused'.

"I have received reports that some houses developed cracks due to the intensity of the explosion that took place while bombs were being disposed off in water. I can assure you that if indeed some houses have developed cracks, we will definitely help them after reviewing the situation," said Banerjee.

"I am giving instructions to the District Magistrate in this regard. Don't be worried. If anybody suffers losses during our work, it is our responsibility to take care of that. We will do our duty," she said.

Banerjee also instructed local MLA Partha Bhowmick to go to the affected area.

The Governor said the explosion left nothing to imagination.

"It calls for a thorough probe in view of its seriousness, intensity and damage caused. Only expert investigation can unearth the issues involved. This ominous development should be eye opener for law enforcing and regulatory regime in the state," Dhankhar posted on his twitter handle.

Over the past few days, the police have been raiding illegal firecracker factories and seizing crackers and explosives following the death of four persons at a fireworks manufacturing unit in Naihati last week.

On Thursday, when the Criminal Investigation Department's (CID) bomb squad was deactivating the crackers at Ramghat on the banks of Ganga, there was a loud explosion leading to thick smoke filling the horizon over a large area.

"The entire area shook. The window panes of a number of houses were shattered. Some houses also developed cracks," said an eyewitness.

The locals, who had been asking the police not to deactivate the bombs so close to thickly populated areas, then went berserk and torched the vehicles of the security personnel.

"I would like to ask the police how can they carry out such explosions in an unplanned way when there are so many thickly populated areas around," said a youth.

The impact of the explosion was so severe that it broke a few window panes at Chuchura located on the other bank of the river in Hooghly district.

Barrackpore Police Commissioner Manoj Verma said a probe has been ordered to ascertain how the bombs were being disposed off.

"There was a huge quantity of explosives. But the BDDS team was there. They are the ones who decide how to dispose them off," he said.

The issue led to verbal fisticuffs between the ruling party and the opposition.

Demanding an NIA probe into the matter, state BJP President Dilip Ghosh said the explosion along with the sky-rocketing smoke reminded him of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were devastated by US atom bombs at the fag end of World War II in 1945.

"The scenes seen in Iraq and Kuwait (during the Gulf War in the 1990s) are now getting recreated in Bengal. Does the Chief Minister think she can manage everything by paying compensation," Ghosh asked.

"The sound of the explosion could be heard from a distance of up to 15-20 km. It seems the police personnel and BDDS team members had not seen such explosives in the past. There should be a probe to find out what chemicals were used and whether it was RDX," said Ghosh.

CPI-M politburo member Mohammad Selim said that under instructions from the Chief Minister, the police are making no distinction between firecrackers and bombs.

"The administration will find out who stored the explosives and why. The probe will find out whether there was negligence in defusing them. Ordinary crackers don't cause damage in houses in far off villages," said Trinamool Secretary General and state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee.
KYIV. Jan 9 (Interfax-Ukraine)  Head of Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) LLC Serhiy Makogon has said that he counts that Ukraine and Russia eventually would return to the issue of storing gas by Russia in Ukrainian underground gas storage (UGS) facilities.

"I hope that in connection with the progress in relations with Gazprom, maybe we will return to the issue of cooperation in the field of storing gas in our UGS facilities," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine in Kyiv on Thursday.




By Kim Bo-eun







Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Kim Dong-yeon said Monday he will set up a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating social mobility and innovative growth.







Kim returned to Korea last month after serving as a visiting professor at the University of Michigan. The name of his organization will be "Joyful Rebellion" which was the title of a lecture he gave at the university last November.







"I lived in the world of policies during my longstanding career in the public sector, but I have made an effort to see a different world after I wrapped up my career," Kim posted on his Facebook account, Jan. 6.







"I visited many places in provincial areas and met up with local residents there. And as I did so, I thought more about execution than policies," he wrote.







Kim said through the non-profit organization, he will seek to connect people in need of help to those who can provide help.







"This will be done through a 'talent bank' that can connect the older generation with the younger generation, the haves and the have-nots, conglomerates and small and medium-sized venture businesses," he posted.







Kim is also devising a means to help people climb up the social ladder not based on their backgrounds but based on their efforts.







He said the chairman and all officials of the organization will be working as volunteers.







Kim served as deputy prime minister and the minister of economy and finance from June 2017 to December 2018.


BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

Parliamentary candidates in Azerbaijan should be careful during the collection of signatures, and collect them in accordance with the requirements of the law, head of the Azerbaijani Central Election Commission (CEC) Mazahir Panahov said at the CEC meeting on Jan. 9, Trend reports.

Panahov noted that officials, including members of municipalities, cannot participate in the collection of signatures for the candidate.

Therefore, the parliamentary candidates should be careful in this matter, the chairman said.

Earlier, the candidacy of Gabil Mammadov nominated by the 73rd Lankaran City Electoral District wasnt registered because deputy chairman of the Lankaran municipality participated in the collection of signatures for Mammadov's candidacy.

Early parliamentary elections will be held in Azerbaijan on Feb. 9.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 02:38:27|Editor: yhy

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NICOSIA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Less than half of eligible owners of non-performing loans (NPLs) applied to join "Estia" (home) plan, which is aimed at offering a substantial state subsidy for their repayment and also protection against foreclosure on their mortgaged property, an official with the Finance Ministry said on Thursday.

George Panteli, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry, said a total of 5,234 applications, out of 12,000 originally expected, were received by banks by the end of the deadline on Dec. 31, 2019, and half of them in the last two days.

Applicants represent about 1.4 billion euros of non-performing loans, out of a total of just below 10 billion euros, down from an all-time peak of 27 billion euros at the height of the economic and banking crisis of 2013.

Under Estia plan, banks will cut down the amount of each loan owned by eligible applicants down to the actual value of the property securing the loan, while the state will subsidize the monthly repayment instalment by one-third until the loan is fully repaid.

It is expected that the plan will run for 25 years at a cost which was originally estimated at about 32 million euros per year.

Panteli said that the actual amount to be paid by the government is now estimated, on the basis of applications submitted, to be less than 50 percent of the original budget appropriation.

Finance ministry officials have said they believe that those who did not apply are either people who do not want to reveal their actual income which is over the amount specified by the plan, or people with not a big enough income to be able to pay their monthly installment.

Estia plan is one of five options banks have to reduce the current amount of NPLs down to an acceptable amount of 3 billion euros.

Banking sources quoted by a reliable financial news site said other options lenders have to reduce NPLs are restructuring of loans, foreclosures on mortgages, selling of loans to hedge funds, and writing off bad loans in exchange for properties.
At the General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis calls for prayers for Australia, which is battling massive wildfires.

By Christopher Wells

Pope Francis asked for everyone to pray to the Lord to help the people [of Australia] in this difficult time" as major fires rage across the nation. Addressing Australian speaking pilgrims at the General Audience, the Holy Father said I am close to the Australian people.

Major bushfires have broken out around Australia, with more than 10.3 million hectares (25.5 million acres) of land burned in recent weeks. More than twenty people have lost their lives in the fires.

Authorities warn of revitalized blazes

Australian authorities warned people on Wednesday to prepare for another wave of evacuations as temperatures in the country's southeast began to rise after a days-long cool spell, bringing the danger of revitalised blazes.

Firefighters have used the break from extreme heat and high winds to strengthen containment lines around several major fires, as the military continued efforts to provide supplies to thousands of people who have been left homeless.

Complicating the recovery effort, authorities have forecast another temperature spike as soon as Friday, with little rain, meaning a return to hazardous conditions.

Response of the Church in Australia

Earlier this week, the president of the Australian Bishops Conference, Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, issued a statement about the unprecedented crisis facing the country. Like Pope Francis, he too called for prayer, noting that A genuine Catholic response to a crisis of this magnitude must draw strength from prayer which inspires concrete and compassionate action.



Archbishop Coleridge announced that the Bishops Conference is preparing a national response to the fires, including assistance to those affected by the fires, collaboration with aid agencies, and a special collection to be taken up this weekend.

With broad and deep roots across the nation, the Archbishop said, the Church stands ready to walk alongside people throughout their journey of recovery.
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San Francisco, 9 January 2020: The Report Global IR (Infrared) Camera Market By Material (Germanium, Silicon, Zinc Selenide, Sapphire), By Application (Military & Defense, Industrial, Commercial, Medical Imaging) Expected to Reach USD 5.10 Billion by 2020: Grand View Research, Inc.

The global IR (Infrared) camera market size is expected to reach USD 5.10 billion by 2020, according to a new study by Grand View Research, Inc. IR cameras help identify the site of tissue damage in case of injuries, and are expected to witness surging demand in medical imaging applications. They have been extensively used by airports during the outbreak of epidemics to identify and screen passengers with elevated body temperatures. Microbolometer development has resulted in increased commercialization, which is also expected to be a key market driver.

High demand for IR cameras across several emerging market segments including food service and distribution, healthcare and screening, veterinary science, automotive care, maritime vessel inspections and aircraft inspection offer opportunities for market growth. Incorporating infrared cameras in smartphones at lower costs is expected to present vistas for market growth for companies operating in the market. Declining defense spending may pose a barrier to the global IR camera market over the next six years.

Access Research Report of IR (Infrared) Camera Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/ir-infrared-camera-market

Further key findings from the study suggest:

Germanium accounted for over 35% of the IR camera market in 2013. Sapphire lenses are extremely hard, durable and exhibit good transmission range covering UV to IR range. These lenses are suitable for high-pressure, high power applications, and the segment is expected to witness high growth over the next six years.

Military and defense was the largest application segment in 2013; these applications have challenging requirements for temperature tolerance, ruggedness, and reliability. Reduction in IR camera prices is expected to have a positive bearing on the penetration of technology in security, surveillance, and automotive markets as technology plays an important part in providing night-vision option in automobiles.

North America is expected to be the key regional market over the forecast period owing to presence of major industry participants. Technological advancements along with the presence of key industry players contributed to regional market growth. Furthermore, video surveillance cabling and infrastructure market is expected to drive regional market growth. Increased use in automotive, oil & gas and other commercial applications is expected to play a pivotal role in the penetration of IR cameras in Asia Pacific.

Key companies operating in the market are FLIR Systems, Axis Communications, Samsung Techwin, Fluke Corporation, Testo AG, etc. Major market strategies adopted by industry participants include product development and innovation, as well as mergers and acquisitions.

Browse more reports of this category by Grand View Research at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry/electronic-security-systems-and-devices

Grand View Research has segmented the global IR camera market on the basis of material, application and region:

IR Camera Material Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2020)

Germanium

Silicon

Zinc Selenide

Sapphire

IR Camera Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2020)

Military & Defense

Industrial

Commercial

Medical Imaging

Others

IR Camera Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2020)

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

RoW

Access Press Release of IR (Infrared) Camera Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-ir-infrared-camera-market

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.

For More Information: www.grandviewresearch.com
Retail giant Wesfarmers has been forced to fly in hundreds of thousands of face masks as sales rocket at its hardware chain Bunnings after thick smoke haze blanketed capital cities.

Wesfarmers, which also owns safety wear seller Blackwoods, has said demand for face masks and respirators has been "through the roof".

Donated face masks being loaded on to a Qantas plane at Los Angeles airport. The plane arrived in Melbourne on Wednesday ahead of deteriorating weather conditions forecast for Friday.

Chief executive Rob Scott told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald the company had been forced to fly in additional stock from overseas suppliers from Europe, US and China to keep up with demand from inner-city shoppers and people in bushfire-affected regions.

"Blackwoods had orders for many hundred thousand respirators and there simply arent that many lying around, so weve had to air freight product in from offshore to keep up with demand," Mr Scott said.
Irans initial retaliation for the U.S. killing of Qassem Soleimani seems, for now, limited to a missile attack on two Iraqi bases that housed U.S. forces on Wednesday. The missiles killed no one, but Irans Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proclaimed them a slap in the face for the United States. Irans actions and rhetoric are widely seen as a way for Iran to save face domestically while avoiding actions that would lead to a military spiral. President Donald Trump, for his part, declared that Iran is standing down and signaled that the United States had no desire for further military escalation.

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Lets hope the crisis is over, but theres good reason to fear its not. Iranian leaders may bide their time, seeking to serve their revenge cold and ensure that the ultimate response is more bloody and better serves their interests. Even if Iran currently plans not to escalate, further U.S. action or changes in the region might lead it to target the United State again.

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How might Iran respond the next time?

Although we know little about the specific deliberations occurring in Tehran now, the Islamic Republic has a long record of using terrorism and attacking its enemies. Among many such operations in the regimes 40-year history, Iran has conducted, supported, or attempted attacks on U.S. military facilities in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon, the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and a cultural center there, transportation and other targets in Paris, and the Saudi ambassador to the United States (which would have killed American civilians in the blast zone), as well as numerous attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Israeli soldiers in Lebanon. Some of these attacks were perpetrated by or with Irans closest proxy, the Lebanese Hezbollah.

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None of these past operations is necessarily analogous to today, particularly given Soleimanis considerable stature and the political pressure this has created to respond strongly, but together they give us some sense of Irans calculus. The factors that shape Irans decision-making when it comes to planning attacks tend to include the symbolic value of the destruction, a desire for revenge for an iconic figure close to Irans senior leaders, a degree of personalization, and the practicality of the operations. As the relatively restrained missile attacks on U.S. bases show, Tehran has to balance all this with the risk of escalation. Although Irans ability to use terrorism is formidable, it is militarily and politically weak compared with the United States, and it must worry that a further back-and-forth could lead to the destruction of its military facilities, economic infrastructure, and other targetsindeed, Trump has even threatened to attack Iranian cultural sites.

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For now, the most obvious location of an attack is another strike on a U.S. base or other official facility in Iraq. Here, the Iranians are on their home turf. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has spent years building its networks, creating and strengthening proxies, and deploying its own assets. The relative ease with which Iran was able to strike the two bases earlier this week suggests how extensive Irans presence is. Given that the Soleimani killing happened in Iraq and that the United States is also targeting Irans local proxies there, there is a symmetry to such an attack from Irans point of view, and the risk of escalationwhile quite realis lower than with many alternative targets.

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Iran for years backed special groups in Iraq that attacked U.S. forces, recognizing that while the Bush and then Obama administrations might push back, they would not do so outside the Iraqi arena. The United States, of course, recognizes the risk of such an attack and is now deploying more troops to Iraq as well as to other Middle Eastern countries. In addition, Iraq may be in the process of expelling American troops, a huge win for Iran strategically and one it can claim occurred because of the criminal actions of America and because the United States feared the Iranian response.

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In addition, the U.S. has bases and other facilities throughout the region. This would mean expanding the fight outside Iraq, but Tehran may find it easier to strike in a place with fewer defenses, and keeping the fight focused on military targets reduces concerns about being blamed for killing innocents. Iran has a large presence in Syria, and the U.S. forces there could be a possible target as well as U.S. bases and soldiers in Afghanistan and Bahrain, both of which are close to Tehran and where Iran has networks. Trumps repeatedly stated willingness to withdraw from Syria might be another incentive, as Tehran may believe that an attack might lead the United States to depart once and for all. Hezbollah has repeatedly proved it can attack U.S. targets in Lebanon, but it is on the cusp of brokering the most pro-Hezbollah government in Lebanons history with a hand-picked prime minister. Creating a crisis could jeopardize this win for Irans closest client.

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Because U.S. forces in the region are on high alert, and because Iran may want to send a sharper message, attacks on U.S. facilities or citizens worldwide are also possibilities. Tehran truly has a global terrorist network, and practicality may dictate going after a less-prepared post in Asia, Latin America, or otherwise far afield from the Middle East. In the post-9/11 era, however, U.S. embassies and other facilities are usually well-guarded. Tehran might consider attacking housing or commercial facilities associated with the United States and killing the Americans who live, shop, or enjoy themselves therea less impressive achievement, but one that is far easier. Iran might also sponsor attacks on Americans civilians in Europe or other areas outside of the Middle East, as it did when a Hezbollah suicide bomber struck a bus of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria in 2012, killing five in an apparent retaliation for Israeli assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists. Such an attack, however, would clearly be an escalation and risks an even stronger U.S. response. In addition, it would anger the host country, and Iran would risk its assets there. In Europe, for example, Irans leaders might worry that European leaders would be less likely to defy the United States on sanctions relief.

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Iran might also try to widen the war, with Israel in particular being a possible target given its popularity as an enemy. Israel and Iran have long engaged in a shadow war, and Israel is on high alert after Soleimanis killing. In addition, Iran can draw on the formidable forces of the Lebanese Hezbollah, which has long fought Israel and is looking to restore some of the credibility it lost in the region by backing the Syrian regime in its brutal campaign against the Sunni Muslimdominated opposition in that countrys civil war. Israel, however, is a sideshow, and the symbolic linkage to U.S. attacks and revenge aspects are not clear. Israel would also respond fiercely against Hezbollah, and neither the group nor Iran would be eager to risk the inevitable losses this would entail.

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Attacking Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, or other Gulf allies is another way to widen the war, and Irans 2019 missile strike on Saudi Arabias oil facilities shows just how real this risk is. These targets also lack the revenge quality and would not have the popularity of attacking Israel, but they are relatively easy to hit and a way to grab world attention, and the Gulf states ability to retaliate on their own is limited.

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Iran may also try to assassinate a high-profile U.S. figure, justifying it as a proportionate tit-for-tat response. Irans proxy Hezbollah, for example, sought to kill Israels Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi in retaliation for Israels killing of Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollahs longtime operational commander, in 2008. U.S. military leaders in the region or in other theaters such as Europe or Africa might be targeted as could other U.S. security officials.

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Cyberattacks are another possibility. Iran has demonstrated an ability to attack critical infrastructure as well as industrial systems. Such operations, however, lack the visceral revenge quality that Iran may seek, and Irans demonstrated capabilities are, for now at least, not that sophisticated. Limited cyberattacks may still be part of the overall Iranian response, but they are less likely to be the tip of the spear.

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For some attacks, Iran might also want to use new means such as a drone. In 2013, Iran added a new Reaper-size drone (the Fotros, or Fallen Angel) to its arsenal. Although Iran would need nearby basing and to overcome any air defenses, the unusual nature of such an attack may offer some advantages. In addition, the symbolism is attractive because a drone was used to kill Soleimani.

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Tehran also tends to personalize conflicts, and Iran analyst Suzanne Maloney argues that it might target a Trump property in order to bring the war home to him. Given the presidents many properties that bear his name, the possibilities are quite vast. Here the victims would be pure civilians, however, and the president too tends to personalize things, creating a high risk of escalation.

Finally, Iran could attack the U.S. homeland. Historically, even when relations between Iran and the United States were at their worst, Tehran refrained from attacks on U.S. soil, recognizing the escalatory risk. The Soleimani killing, however, is a tremendous provocation, and the rules of the past do not necessarily apply. The 2011 plot against the Saudi ambassador also suggests Iran could attack in the United States. However, the plot itself was amateurish, suggesting Irans assets in the United States are limited, though it is difficult to make that judgment with any degree of certainty.

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The Trump administration needs to think through how it would respond to the above and other scenarios. The Soleimani killing and its aftermath showed an administration confused, divided, and unprepared, leading to a further loss of confidence among U.S. allies at a critical juncture. Ideally, the United States would make clear to Iran the cost of more bloodshed and get U.S. allies to support the declared U.S. positions. This requires a sustained commitment to allied security, as Tehrans responses may take months or even years to unfold, and it may involve a back-and-forth that involves many countries.

If the United States blithely assumes deterrence will work and does not lay the diplomatic as well as military groundwork for its next steps, Washington may find itself under pressure to lash out blindly after another Iranian strike, further setting back the U.S. position in the Middle East and giving Iran the upper hand.
Hollywood has long been thought of as a boys club. But in actuality, women were the early forces behind the camera from the era of silent films through to the 1950s. It was only after the industry began to consolidate around a few leading production studios that the opportunities for women began to wane. And though there are still challenges (e.g., there were no female directors nominated for a Golden Globe this year), the reels are definitely changing. Enter Olivia Wilde, who while directing her first feature film, Booksmart, brought as many talented women to the table as she could, from screenwriters and producers to casting directors and actors. Among them was one of the films beloved leads, Beanie Feldstein, who in fact did earn her first Golden Globe nomination for her role. Over lunch in downtown NYC, the creative cohorts sit down to discuss the prevailing sisterhood in Hollywood.

VIDEO: How to Be a Badass in Hollywood, Starring Olivia Wilde

BEANIE FELDSTEIN: Liv, do you remember when we met?

OLIVIA WILDE: Yes. It was at a party in New York that Id gone to mainly because I knew youd be there. Id been tracking you. As a new director, I was trying to figure out how to approach an actor in a way that really gets their attention. Basically, I wanted to have a connection with you before I begged you to be a part of Booksmart.

BF: Oh, it was a really hard beg. [laughs] And look how far weve come! Youre on the cover of InStyles Badass Women issue, which is incredibly fitting. I wanted to start by asking you about some of the women whove inspired you most. I know one of them is Mali Finn, the legendary casting director.

OW: Mali was notorious for having incredibly high standards. I worked as her summer intern when I was 16 and then as one of her four assistants, and the proximity to her taught me everything. She was an antidote to the culture of assimilation in Hollywood. She expected everyone who auditioned to have done the work. And then shed say to these young actresses, Why are you wearing that short skirt? Did you think that Id be a man when you came in? She was trying to tell them to own their power and not strip themselves of everything that makes them different.

Story continues

Wilde in a Michael Kors Collection jumpsuit, shirt, turtleneck, belt and heels. David Webb ring (on right hand). Photo by Pamela Hanson/LGA Management.

BF: She was actually treating them with respect.

OW: She was, and thats why she was able to discover great talent. When I started to go on auditions, a casting director once said to me, Olivia, youll be all right because youve got a pie face. And I said, Thank you. Then I thought, Wait, was that even a compliment? Mali helped me reset my standards at a very important time in my career.

BF: Youve been pulled up by so many women who have helped you succeed, and now youre reaching behind you to pull up the next group  something you very aptly call the Daisy Chain, because of your little girl, Daisy.

OW: The Daisy Chain is about wanting to lift each other up. I celebrate it because for a long time women have been told that in order to succeed, we have to push people out of the way. [Producer] Jessica Elbaum was someone who dared me to take myself seriously. There were so many people who said, Oh, you should direct. But there arent many who will actually help you when youve never done it before. Jessica had the confidence in me to put her own reputation on the line by recommending that [production company] Annapurna hear my pitch for Booksmart. And thats real generosity.

BF: Well, Jessica knew you could effing do it!

OW: Thats why daring someone to take themselves seriously is awesome. I pivoted my career from acting to directing at 27, and I directed my first feature at 34. A pivot can happen at any age. There are a handful of people in our movie cast who I know could direct one day, from Katie Silberman, our awesome screenwriter and producer, to Kaitlyn Dever. I want to make sure that happens for them. And then, Beanie, youre someone who doesnt need the dare. You inspire me so much.

RELATED: The Unbelievable Kaitlyn Dever

Wilde in a Miu Miu dress and sweater. Irene Neuwirth earrings. Foundrae bracelets. Photo by Pamela Hanson/LGA Management.

BF: Just watching you on the set of Booksmart was that dare for me.

OW: And thats how [director] Reed Morano was for me on the film Meadowland. She was the first female director I worked with, which is nuts. Honestly, I mourn the years I wasnt working with any women. As Geena Davis says, You cant be what you cant see. And once I saw Reed hoist up that camera and operate the film herself, it just cleared the way for me.

BF: When I watch you direct, youre so confident. Where does that come from?

OW: Steven Spielberg has said that as a director, you must never let an actor see your fear. And I actually think that allows you to manifest confidence. Its like when Im with my kids and theres turbulence on a plane, Im the first one to say, This is great! This is fun! And then I actually feel calmer.

BF: Whats been the best career advice youve received?

OW: Make the things that only you can make. Once its in your hands, it will be different from everyone elses work. Fellini wasnt protective of his scripts. Hed say, Ill send it to you, but you wont make my movie. I love that concept because it leads you to a place of creating something original.

Wilde in a Dior blouse and skirt. Verdura earrings. Max Mara tie. Socks, stylists own. Roger Vivier pumps. Photo by Pamela Hanson/LGA Management.

BF: What was it like growing up with a mom [journalist Leslie Cockburn] who has had such a brilliant career? Just a year ago she decided to take a bold leap and run for Congress.

OW: My mother achieved greatness at such a young age. She was one of the first women admitted to Yale, she became a journalist at a time when women had to work really hard to rise in the ranks, and, at 65, she decided to run for the House of Representatives in the 5th District of Virginia, a position that has never been won by a woman. She gave it everything, and when she lost, she was still so graceful. Shes broken through so many glass ceilings that it was never a question of whether it was possible for me.

BF: And now youre passing the same thing on to your kids, Otis and Daisy. You told me a great story about Otis and his pride when he said, My mom is a director.

OW: I see that it affects them. But for me as a mother, its such a balancing act. Like, you filled me with so much confidence, but you didnt let me become a fucking asshole. When I said I wanted to act at age 3, my mom was like, Great, go to school for it. She always took my dream seriously because shes taken her own dream seriously.

RELATED: Losing a Loved One Changed the Way Actress Beanie Feldstein Sees the World

BF: You went to an intense academic boarding school [Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.], but then you didnt end up going to college. Does that decision linger in you at all?

OW: A lot of people say, Im the first person in my family to go to college, and I always joke that Im the first person in my family not to go. I was eager for life experience. And there was such pressure to start young as an actress.

Wilde in Salvatore Ferragamo shirt. Brunello Cucinelli trousers. Irene Neuwirth earrings. Oscar de la Renta belt. Chloe Gosselin heels. Photo by Pamela Hanson/LGA Management.

BF: Its still the ideology that prevails in Hollywood.

OW: I remember meeting Scarlett Johansson at a party when we were 16. She was already making movies, and I was like, Ugh, Im so behind. So, I leapt into work. By the way, Jason [Sudeikis, Wildes partner] didnt go to college either, so were already prepared for our kids to say they dont want to go. Ill carry my own baggage into that conversation when I encourage them to go.

BF: The feminist journalist Caitlin Moran has said she had to fight to prove that she was not just a brain because, growing up fat, she was never looked at as a body. Youve suffered the opposite problem, which is that the world often looked at you for your body first.

OW: That feeling of being misunderstood starts in adolescence. In high school, people place definitions on you, and then you spend your adult life slowly unraveling them. People always resented that I wouldnt pick a lane. And a lot of the fiery passion in Booksmart was my answer to that.

BF: Youve also said before that Booksmart was the first job you got that was not based off your looks.

OW: Its not that I felt I had never been hired in any way for my brain. It was that as a director I finally felt that I was being listened to because of my ideas. It was the first time my brain had been isolated as the valuable element, which was satisfying.

BF: You have a bunch of new directing projects coming up. What are you most excited about?

OW: My film Dont Worry, Darling is a leap of faith because Im putting myself in the film, which is madness. I took so much pleasure in removing myself from the process, so now Im very curious to see how Ill be able to take care of everything from within.

Wilde in a Max Mara jacket and trousers. Victoria Beckham blouse. Foundrae ring (on right hand). Photo by Pamela Hanson/LGA Management.

BF: How much sleep do you get a night?

OW: About five hours. Its forever a process of trying to find the balance. For me as a mom, time becomes essential, because theres so little of it when you are focused on keeping people alive. Then the time thats left for you becomes very potent, and you can achieve great things with it. I do like the idea of relaxing, but my best ideas dont come from those moments of rest. I get those when Im jumping on the subway and racing to a meeting.

BF: How are you raising your kids to be strong and independent?

OW: With Daisy, I have witnessed how women are born with an incredible amount of strength and that society quickly pushes them to assume the more feminine role. I mean, I love that Elsa is looking pissed off on the Frozen 2 poster, but theres still an awful lot out there thats encouraging young women to make themselves the weaker sex. My role is to be a safe zone of support thatll hopefully counteract what society will inevitably do to them. When Daisy hits a place where she questions her worth, I want to be the one to remind her of the strength she innately has. But its interesting because having a boy and a girl, you really notice gender politics within your own home. Shell clean up his plate for him after dinner, and Im like, Put that back!

Wilde in a Michael Kors Collection dress with belt. Photo by Pamela Hanson/LGA Management.

BF: I also want to ask about your personal style, because I know for a fact that yours has changed a lot. When you moved to L.A., you used to wear yellow turtlenecks to pool parties, and thats why my character, Molly, wears one in the opening of Booksmart.

OW: Thats right! Id wear wool turtlenecks. It didnt matter how hot it was.

BF: So how does style come into play in your life now? You had a different pair of incredible sneakers all 26 days that we shot our film.

OW: My stylist, Karla Welch, is one of my best friends. She knows I love a strong shoulder and anything that makes me feel powerful. That doesnt mean I dont love a flowy frock here and there, but you learn what makes you feel like your best self.

BF: My mom actually texted me this morning to say that you looked amazing at the Gotham Awards.

OW: Your mom is my everything. I was wearing this ridiculously long Miu Miu dress, and I was laughing because Im not good at altering the way I move in the name of fashion. Everyone was like, Olivia, you cant stomp around like Seabiscuit! But tripping over my dress was worth it if your mom loved it.

Wilde in a Prada sweater and skirt. Salvatore Ferragamo flats. Photo by Pamela Hanson/LGA Management.

BF: I have to say the most surprising thing Ive learned about you is that you love a low-rise jean. Its something that I dont quite understand because I want the top of my jeans to touch my bra strap.

OW: Im still pretending to be a teenager from the early aughts. My most comfortable state is when Im wearing low-rise jeans, sneakers, and a sweatshirt. In that, I am unstoppable. And if Im in a high-waist jean, I cant let my gut expand. When I see pictures of people like Paul Feig directing in full-on outfits, Im like, How?

BF: Last question: What does the word badass mean to you?

OW: If you had asked me this a few years ago, I would have said, Oh, Ive been skydiving. I have tattoos. Im ballsy. But hands down, directing a movie is the most badass thing Ive ever done because it is the scariest thing Ive done. It forced me to tap into my inner strength, and you know what? That may be the most badass thing of all.

Photos: Pamela Hanson/LGA Management. Styling: Karla Welch/The Wall Group. Hair: Lona Vigi for Starworks Artists. Makeup: Melanie Inglessis for Forward Artists. Manicure: Ashlie Johnson for The Wall Group. Set design: Daniel Horowitz for Jones Management. Production: Kelsey Stevens Productions.

For more stories like this, pick up the February issue of InStyle, available on newsstands, on Amazon, and for digital download Jan. 17.
In the first such trip by foreign diplomats post August 5, envoys of 15 countries including the United States visited the Kashmir valley on Thursday where they interacted with select political representatives, civil society members as well as military top brass with the government rejecting criticism that it was a "guided tour".

IMAGE: US envoy to India Kenneth Juster and other diplomats from 15 countries on their arrival at the airport in Srinagar. Photograph: PTI Photo

US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster was among the Delhi-based envoys who spent about seven hours in Srinagar.

Last October, some members of European Parliament had visited Srinagar but envoys had so far not been allowed to visit the valley.

Spokesperson of the external affairs ministry, which facilitated the visit, said in New Delhi that the objective was to show first hand efforts made by the Centre to normalise the situation.

"Criticism that this is a guided tour is unfounded," he said.

The envoys flew to Jammu, the winter capital of the newly carved out union territory, in the evening where Lt Goveror G C Murmu hosted a dinner for them.

Earlier, they were flown in a chartered aircraft which landed at the technical airport in Srinagar. They were taken directly to the army cantonment for a briefing by top military brass, officials said.

IMAGE: Cavalcade of ambassadors of 15 countries passes through the TRC in Srinaga. Photograph: S Irfan/PTI Photo

This time there was no hartal call and shops and business establishments were functioning and civilian traffic was seen on the roads unlike the October visit of the delegation of Members of European Parliament, which was organised by a private NGO.

The delegation, accompanied by secretary-west of ministry of external affairs Vikas Swarup, was briefed by a team of top army officers led by Lt Gen K J S Dhillon, who heads the strategically-located XV corps in Kashmir, they said.

During the briefing, the army highlighted the trouble from the Pakistan side and their efforts to destablise the security situation in the Kashmir Valley, the officials said.

The envoys had a meeting with civil society members from the valley during which the US ambassador was seen having a long chat with owner of Real Kashmir Football Club Sandeep Chattoo.

IMAGE: Delegation of 15 foreign envoys meets political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir during their visit. Photograph: ANI Photo

Chattoo conveyed to the US envoy the importance of sports in building a strong youth and also highlighted the achievements of his club.

The three-year old football club has braved heavy odds to make a lasting impression on Indian football, its fascinating narrative attracting youths from the valley and rest of the country.

Later the envoys met political leaders including an eight-member People's Democratic Party delegation led by former minister Altaf Bukhari during which the local leaders apprised them about the possible future course of action after abrogation of Article 370, which gave special status to the erstwhile state.

Bukhari told reporters after the meeting that it was an exchange of ideas in a free and frank manner and added that the delegation comprised leaders cutting across party lines.

IMAGE: The delegation was briefed by Chinar Corps Commander Lieutenant General KJS Dhillon. Photograph: ANI Photo

"You can say that it was a meeting of leaders who are interested in bettering the life of people in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

Minutes later, all the eight PDP members were dismissed from the party.

Bukhari had earlier this week met the Lt Governor and submitted a memorandum seeking domicile for people of the union territory.

The envoys also had a meeting with some of the editors of the local newspapers including Fayaz Kaloo of Greater Kashmir and Bashir Manzar.

IMAGE: Envoys pose for a photograph on the banks of Dal Lake. Photograph: ANI Photo

The visit of envoys has evoked sharp reactions from opposition parties with the Congress accusing the the government of adopting double standards by resorting to "guided tours" for foreign envoys, but not allowing Indian politicians to go there.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in New Delhi that the party demands that the "government allows unfettered access to Jammu and Kashmir to all politicians and not resort to guided tours for envoys".

The National Conference issued a statement saying that it was disappointed with the way the foreign envoys were brought to the Valley to endorse claims of the centre about normalcy.

IMAGE: US envoy to India Kenneth Juster and other diplomats meets with civil society members. Photograph: PTI Photo

"The party wishes to ask these envoys if the situation is normal, why are scores of people including former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah under detention for last 160 days," it said.

The PDP said the visit of envoys of various countries was an attempt by the government to "normalise its clampdown" in the Valley, daring the Centre to allow the dignitaries to meet the detained political leaders.

"Today that @PMOIndia lets a 2nd batch of envoys to "see" the situation in #Kashmir, it only seems like an attempt to normalize the Govts own clampdown. The dare is on @PMOIndia will they ever let these Foreign Envoys meet political detainees who are jailed since 160 days now?" the PDP said on its official Twitter handle.

The envoys, who are in Srinagar as part of the government's diplomatic outreach to rebut Pakistan's propaganda on the Kashmir issue, later attended a reception hosted by Lt Governor G C Murmu.

IMAGE: This is the second visit of a foreign delegation to Jammu and Kashmir since August 5. Photograph: PTI Photo

Besides the US, the delegation includes diplomats from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, Maldives, South Korea, Morocco, and Nigeria. They would return to Delhi on Friday.

Brazil and Uzbekistan's envoys Andre Aranha Correa do Lago and Farhod Arziev were also scheduled to visit Jammu and Kashmir.

However, they backed out.

This is the second visit of a foreign delegation to Jammu and Kashmir since August 5.

Earlier, Delhi-based think tank International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, a Delhi-based think tank took 23 EU MPs on a two-day visit to assess the situation in the union territory.
Footages have appeared that show how missile strike affect the American Al Asad Airbase in western Iraq, RIA Novosti reported.

Judging by the video, the buildings were destroyed as a result of the shelling, in addition, a lot of fragments left from the rocket are scattered around the territory.

The dialogue between the US and Iran has been tense for many years; there are no diplomatic relations between the two countries.

On January 3, the US launched a missile strike at an airport in Baghdad and destroyed the head of the Quds special forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), General Qasem Soleimani.

Irans Supreme Security Council secretary Ali Shamkhani said the country has 13 scenarios for revenge on Washington, even the smallest of which will become Americas nightmare.

On the night of January 8, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the start of a retaliation operation for the assassination of Soleimani. Tehran fired ground-to-ground missiles at the US bases in western Iraq and Erbil, where the US army is located.

By the way, none of the Americans died. The international community calls on the parties to restraint.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:

Products worth $5.7 billion, excluding electricity, have been exported from Iran to Iraq this Iranian year (began on March 21, 2019), Secretary of Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce Hamid Huseyni said.

On average, Iran exported the products worth $750 million a month to Iraq, Huseyni added, Trend reports referring to the Young Journalists Club.

The secretary said that the volume of goods exported by Iran to Iraq increased over the past week.

About 2,000 tons of products, including 442 tons of fruits and vegetables, 775 tons of food and drinks and 759 tons of building materials were exported through Chazzabeh checkpoint in Irans Khuzestan province during nine months (from March 21 through December 21, 2019).

More than 2,100 tons of products, including 125 tons of fruits and vegetables, 1,610 tons of building materials and 449 tons of chemicals were exported through Shalamcha checkpoint of the province.

A total of 2,310 tons of products were exported via Khosravi checkpoint in Irans western Kermanshah province, and 4,850 tons of products were exported through Iran's Mehran checkpoint.
The crash of a Ukrainian jetliner that killed 176 people in Iran touched off mourning Wednesday in both Ukraine and Canada  where many of the victims were from or were headed  and raised a host of questions about what went wrong. But U.S. intelligence officials said there was no immediate evidence it was shot down.
(Natural News) In case you missed it, Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, recently sat down with the producers of the new Vaxxed2: The Peoples Truth vaccine documentary to talk about the epidemic of vaccine injuries thats sweeping our nation. And after watching or listening to what they have to say, you might ask yourself, Whos worse for society, LGBTQP lunatics who want to turn all of our children trans, or vaccine industry propagandists who want to force chemical syringes on our precious little ones essentially at gunpoint?

As the official narrative goes, vaccines are the most awesome public health invention pretty much ever, which somehow means that everyone must be forced by the government to get them because theyre simply wonderful. The science is settled, were all repeatedly told, so theres no room for my body, my choice when it comes to vaccination programs that aim for total societal compliance.

But the truth of the matter is that vaccines are risky, to say the least. Not only that, but they dont actually work, in many cases, and cause more harm than good. Vaccines are also responsible for causing many of the recent outbreaks of measles and whooping cough (pertussis) that weve been hearing about in the news, further demonstrating that vaccines are not the miracle medicine that the pharmaceutical lobby claims them to be.

This is why Vaxxed2 was created, by the way: To tell those with ears to hear the ugly truth about vaccines that health authorities refuse to disclose. Vaccines are not safe and effective, nor are they miraculous at accomplishing anything other than furthering the eugenics agenda of harming and destroying the next generation of youth.

Discover how to prevent and reverse heart disease (and other cardio related events) with this free ebook: Written by popular Natural News writer Vicki Batt, this book includes everything you need to know about preventing heart disease, reversing hypertension, and nurturing your cardiac health without medication. Learn More.

I have never seen so much death, says Polly Tommey, the executive producer of Vaxxed2, about the tragedies shes encountered while touring America as part of the films production.

At every single stop we had at least one dead baby, a Gardasil death, paralysis from the waist downwards, untold damage. Vaccines are killing America, that is what the people of America will tell you that vaccinated themselves or their children, she adds.

When you look into the eyes of parents whose children are brain-damaged like mine, or dead from a vaccine, their soul is broken, its ripped from them, it is the most painful  you can feel it as they come towards you  the pain. But when an unvaccinated family with beautiful, healthy children comes toward you, you see joy and light and love, everything is great in their eyes.

Be sure to watch the interview at Brighteon.com below:

Vaccinating your child is really no different than giving him or her cross-sex hormones to become trans  theyre both a form of irreversible chemical mutilation!

One thing to keep in mind when it comes to vaccination is the fact that vaccines are untested chemical cocktails that, if you read the fine print in vaccine inserts, are really no different than the cross-sex and gender-bender hormone drugs routinely administered to todays LGBTQP-confused youth.

If you look across the whole range, youve got 72 shots given to a child up until the age of 18  youve got multiple shots going in at their well-baby clinic visit, so youve got multiple shots, none of which have had a safety study on this whole group going into a child at the same time, not one single safety study, warns Jonathan Tommey, another of Vaxxed2s creators.

So, this 1986 Act (National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act) that was passed by (Ronald) Reagan in government giving no liability to the manufacturers of vaccines is a criminal offense to the American public, he adds.

To find a local screening of Vaxxed2 in your area, visit Vaxxed2.com.

You can also learn more about the dangers and ineffectiveness of vaccines at Vaccines.news.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com
[January 09, 2020]

How Virtual Reality is Accelerating the Onboarding of Retail Associates

NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Uptale is honored to have been selected for Microsoft Retail Innovation Days in New York on January 13 to present its Enterprise Immersive Learning Platform. Microsoft's goal in organizing this event during NRF2020 is to spark digital transformation in retail.

Uptale will present a case study with NYX Professional Makeup, L'Oreal's cosmetics brand for millennials showing how Virtual Reality divided by three the onboarding time of new recruits.

L'Oreal launched over 100 NYX Professional Makeup stores globally in the past four years. At that speed, how could L'Oreal's Sales Retail Academy coordinator accelerate the onboarding of Beauty Advisors and ensure consistent training for an improved in-store customer experience?

The answer was Uptale. L'Oreal decided to use Uptale's Virtual Reality platform for several reasons:

- Virtual Reality enables immersion of Beauty Advisors ito different sales situations in a few minutes, reducing onboarding time and cost by three.







- Uptale's authoring tool can build immersive experiences in just five days.

- Uptale's analytics enable L'Oreal to provide a consistent in-store customer experience globally.

"Uptale is the missing link to make Virtual Reality a mainstream tool for Enterprise Learning. With us, Virtual Reality becomes cost-effective, easy-to-use and scalable. This is why Uptale has trained over 130,000 people in 140 countries in less than 2 years, and this is just the beginning!" says Dwayne Iserief, Uptale's COO and co-founder.

"VR training is very impactful, but currently it is expensive to design and modify. Uptale changes that. Instructional designers are empowered with a platform to build the next generation of training," says Xavier Wartelle, founding partner at big bang factory , a growth accelerator helping Uptale in the US.

Uptale will be at NRF2020.

For more information contact Marie Buhot-Launay marie.buhotlaunay[at]uptale.io

To see a video of Uptale's immersive experiences in retail, click here .

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/how-virtual-reality-is-accelerating-the-onboarding-of-retail-associates-300984553.html

SOURCE Uptale
(Newser)  A New York state lawmaker arrested after a New Year's Eve car accident and accused of driving while intoxicated tried to pin the blame on his wife, according to the tow truck driver who came to assist. The AAA driver, who the New York Post notes didn't ID Kolb by name, said in his sworn witness statement that when he arrived at the scene of the accident in Ontario County's Victor at around 9:50pm on Dec. 31, he saw Assemblyman Brian Kolb's state-owned GMC Acadia in a ditch. The driver's side door was open and a "white male" was leaning against the SUV, per court papers cited by USA Today and the Post. "The male stood up and put his hands up and said, 'My wife was driving!'" Michael Scoville said. "He then said, 'You know how women drive.'" Scoville added: "I did not see anyone else around the vehicle" and said the man referred to his wife being "up in the house."

story continues below

Scoville says he then called police, as the car had hit a utility pole guy wire. An Ontario County Sheriffs deputy who arrived on the scene said Kolb had "glassy bloodshot eyes, slurred speech [and the] strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his breath," was "unsteady on his feet," and admitted to having driven the car, per court documents. Kolb, 67, who the deputy said also noted he'd had four or five cocktails at a nearby restaurant, is due in court Thursday. Breathalyzer records show he later registered a 0.16% BAC, twice the state's legal limit. Just days earlier, he'd written an op-ed decrying driving while under the influence. On Tuesday, Kolb's GOP colleagues in the state Assembly unanimously chose his successor as minority leader after Kolb resigned from that post, though he will keep his Assembly seat. (Read more driving under the influence stories.)
Realty player Ashwin Sheth Group has invested around Rs 200 crore to set up a commercial project under the brand 'Cnergy' in neighbouring Thane.

The Mumbai-based company will develop over 2 million sq ft of commercial space and expects revenue of nearly Rs 400 crore from the project on being sold out completely.

"This is our third commercial development after one in Prabhadevi in Mumbai and another in Dubai. With Thane emerging as the next destination of growth in the MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region), we are developing our residential and commercial projects here," the company's Director Chintan Sheth told reporters.

He said the company has already invested around Rs 200 crore for this development, which includes cost of land as well as approvals and construction finance.

The development is a part of the 50 acre land parcel the company is developing in a phased manner in Thane, and also houses residential projects like Zuri, Avalon, Vasant Lawns, and a retail mall 'Viviana', among others.

"We will be developing the project and selling the office space to start-ups as well as corporates and multinationals. Starting from 550 sq ft, we can offer an entire floor of 10,000 sq ft at a time. We expect to complete this project in two-and-a-half years and generate around Rs 400 crore revenues when completely sold out," Sheth added.

The company has already sold out 40,000 sq ft of space in this project, he said.

Currently, almost 95 per cent of the company's portfolio is residential and the balance is shared between retail and commercial segments.

"In the future, 70 per cent of the portfolio will be residential and the balance a mix of retail and commercial," Sheth said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The BSE benchmark Sensex soared 635 points on Thursday as global investors heaved a sigh of relief after the US-Iran conflict appeared to cool off

Mumbai: The Sensex vaulted 635 points while the Nifty reclaimed the 12,000-mark on Thursday as global investors heaved a sigh of relief after the US and Iran appeared to be backing off from a wider military conflict.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened on a strong footing and maintained its momentum throughout the session. It finally closed at 41,452.35, up 634.61 points, or 1.55 percent.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty surged 190.55 points, or 1.58 percent, to 12,215.90.

#MarketAtClose | Indian market bounces back after US-Iran tensions appear to ease; Sensex & Nifty gain 1.5% each to post biggest single-day gains in 3 months pic.twitter.com/55tgjkBbMj  CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) January 9, 2020

Global equities soared after President Donald Trump said the US is "ready to embrace peace with all who seek it", a day after Iran fired rockets at American military bases in Iraq in response to the killing of its top general Qassem Soleimani.

Reports said there were no US or Iraqi casualties, amid speculation that Tehran may have deliberately pulled its punches to avoid a wider conflagration.

Risk sentiment received a further leg up after China said its Vice Premier Liu He will visit Washington next week for the signing of the much-awaited interim trade deal with the US.

ICICI Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying 3.80 percent, followed by SBI, M&M, IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints and Reliance Industries.

TCS, HCL Tech, NTPC and Sun Pharma were the only laggards, shedding up to 1.73 percent.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held discussions on the state of the economy with economists, sector experts and entrepreneurs at the Niti Aayog, and promised to take both short-term and long-term measures to revive growth.

"Expectation for initiatives to bring growth in the upcoming Budget and easing tensions in the Middle East seems to cheer investors. Government is poised to bring initiatives and policy measures to support the economic growth to benefit equities for long-term.

"Meanwhile, the short-term market trend will be driven by events like Q3 results which are expected to show some improvement due to low base," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

BSE realty, auto, bankex, industrials, finance and energy indices rallied up to 2.83 percent, while IT ended in the red.

Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices surged up to 1.55 percent.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended up to 2.31 percent higher. European markets too started with significant gains.

Brent crude oil futures rose 0.40 percent to $65.70 per barrel.

The rupee appreciated 26 paise to 71.43 per US dollar (intra-day).
GODFREY  A request to rezone property at Illinois 3 and Boy Scout Lane, from business to residential, fell one vote short Tuesday.

A request by Emmons Land Co. LLC to rezone part of the Riverport Subdivision Godfrey was denied by the Godfrey Village Board, which voted 4-2 in favor of the rezoning. However, because the villages zoning board had recommended a denial of the request, a five-vote supermajority was required.

Voting against the proposal were trustees Jeff Weber and Ben Allen.

The firm wanted the site rezoned from B-4 to R-3. At the Dec. 3 meeting, village board members voted not to agree with the ZBAs recommendation to deny the request, which would allow the plans to be changed and brought back to the full board rather than force the firm to wait 18 months to reapply.

The request voted on Tuesday was identical to the Dec. 3 request. The proposal has been controversial; a petition against it was submitted and three people  two against and a company representative  spoke.

The ZBA originally voted to deny a request to amend zoning for the project. In May 2018, and about five years before that, the owners had made similar requests. But those requests were withdrawn because of neighbors opposition.

The original plans calling for commercial development on that part of the property were approved in 2006.

A second request, to eliminate a requirement to construct a pool in the already-completed section of the development on the other side of the highway, was approved unanimously.

In other business, the village board gave first reading to a Godfrey ordinance establishing Hosting of Short Term Rentals. The regulations would apply to AirBnb-style rentals.

Under the proposed regulations, short-term rentals would be defined as one to 30 days of a whole or partial residence. Short term rentals would have to comply with local homeowners association rules. A permit from the Building and Zoning Department would be required, along with an inspection of the property.

Short-term rental properties would require a permanent resident. Food offerings would be regulated by the Madison County Health Department. No alcohol could be sold or served on the property, but renters could supply their own.

This action comes after discussion on Dec. 3 about Airbnb-style businesses. One of the major issues was that current zoning may not adequately address those types of businesses.

The topic is expected to be considered at the next village board meeting Jan. 23.

Reach reporter Scott Cousins at 618-208-6447.
Iran's missile attack on US bases presents Trump with his biggest crisis: CNN

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 08 January 2020 1:53 PM

Iran's missile attack on US bases in Iraq in retaliation for the assassination of Iranian Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani was in defiance of Trump's threats to Iran not to retaliate and presents him with the biggest crisis of his presidency to date, according to an editorial by CNN.

"In effect, Iran called President Donald Trump's bluff, dismissing his warnings that it should not respond to his own massively provocative move of killing" Soleimani, CNN said in its editorial on Wednesday.

"Iran's attack appeared to shatter the talking points of Trump's political allies that his targeted strike against Qasem Soleimani had reestablished deterrence," the editorial said.

CNN also said the US assassination has brought America to the "brink of its first hot war" with Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

"If it is to be war, it would be one of Trump's own making, and a product of a brash, threatening leadership style carved from an 'America First' disdain for traditional US diplomacy by an emotional President who acts on instinct rather than strategy," the editorial added.

"A war with Iran could further tear the fabric of American political life, amid Trump's impeachment battle, and rebound on the President as he seeks a second term in November's election."

The US military carried out an airstrike on the direction of Trump at Baghdad's international airport early on Friday, assassinating Soleimani and the second-in-command of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, as well as eight other companions.

Early on Wednesday, Iran responded to the assassination of Soleimani, the Middle East's most prominent anti-terror commander, striking the American airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq and another in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

The Washington Post said in an editorial Tuesday that Trump's public response to the assassination has been chaotic and embarrassing, raising questions over the administration's preparation to deal with the crisis.

The Trump administration was embarrassed after the US Defense Department sent a letter to Iraqi officials this week stating the US military would comply with the prime minister's demand to pull US troops out of the country, only to call it a draft copy released by mistake.



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Fullerton Leaders Summit (FLS), a summit focusing on entrepreneurship, leadership and business, will be organised in Viet Nam for the first time.

The Fullerton Leaders Summit (FLS) will be held in HCM City on February 29.  Photo Courtesy FLS

Fullerton Leaders Summit (FLS), a summit focusing on entrepreneurship, leadership and business, will be organised in Viet Nam for the first time.

Organised by Fullerton Markets, the summit will be held in HCM City on February 29, attracting over 400 international participants.

FLS 2020 looks to gather aspiring entrepreneurs and business leaders and provide them with a platform to connect with like-minded peers, build knowledge and strengthen growth strategies.

The one-day summit will also offer insightful presentations from industry luminaries, vibrant discussions with business experts and opportunities to learn directly from seasoned practitioners.

Headlining the upcoming FLS are big names in the industry, such as Mario Singh, Fullerton Markets CEO; Bui Hai An, O2 Financial CEO and Senior Advisor of Digital Platform of 7-Eleven Vietnam; and Hai Ho, CEO of travel tech company Triip. They will be presenting targeted topics, including key strategies to building a business empire; ways to leverage digital technology to disrupt the industry; and secrets to creating a highly effective game plan to help leaders achieve their business goals.

Were excited to bring FLS 2020 to Viet Nam, a country that continues to chart new growth and which is fast becoming a hotbed for innovation and conducive space for start-ups to grow," said Mario Singh.

"Participants can look forward to a meaningful programme that will cover important aspects of business-building and professional growth in the entrepreneurial world. Our line-up of speakers comprises experts who have successfully scaled their businesses and want to help others do the same. Were confident this summit will add massive value to the next generation of business leaders.

The summit will be conducted in English and translated simultaneously into Vietnamese and Thai.  VNS
The Transition Committee Chairman of Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia, Onyekachi Okoro, is dead, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the area has confirmed.

Mr Okoro was said to have slumped at a private residence in Umuahia around 1pm on Thursday and died before he could get medical help.

The PDP Chairman, Anthony Nwankwo, confirmed the incident to journalists at the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, where the deceased was taken to for medical attention.

Mr Nwankwo, who was a close political ally of the deceased, said he slumped after holding a meeting with some officials of the council in Umuahia.

He said: The man had a meeting with the councils Head of Service and Treasurer in Umuahia.

Thereafter, he visited the house of our leader (name withheld). At the place, he went into the restroom.

When he came out of the restroom, he started feeling somehow and eventually slumped, adding that he was quickly rushed to the hospital.

READ ALSO:

He further said the Medical Director of the hospital, Azubuike Onyebuchi, was immediately contacted and that he joined a medical team to carry out palpitation on him to see if he could be resuscitated.

He refuted the report in some social media platforms that the deceased slumped and died in his house in Arochukwu after holding a meeting in his office with some council officials.

A medical doctor at the Accident and Emergency (A and E) Unit of the hospital said Mr Okoro was brought here dead.

The doctor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said efforts made to resuscitate him by a team of medical doctors were unsuccessful.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that his remains were still lying within the precincts of the A and E unit at the time of filing the report.

Okoro was appointed the Chairman of the local government in December.

(NAN)
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A shooting incident left one dead and three others wounded in the Canadian capital Wednesday morning, said local police.

The shooting occurred on a street about 1 km away from the Canadian Parliament Hill, the Ottawa Police Service said, adding that the incident was "not considered an active shooter situation."

In a statement, police said they "were called to the scene after reports of multiple gun shots. Once on scene officers found several people injured."

Three people, including a teenager, were seriously wounded and taken to a hospital.

Police have made no arrests in the case and an investigation is underway.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 14:19:02|Editor: ZX

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KAMPALA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Six workers were killed and three others injured after a building under construction collapsed on Wednesday in the Kansanga suburb of the Ugandan capital of Kampala, local police said.

The bodies have been retrieved from the debris and the injured taken to hospital, Patrick Onyango, Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, told Xinhua by telephone.

A committee has been set up to investigate the cause of the collapse, Onyango said.

In May 2019, five people, including four children, were killed in a residential fence wall collapse following heavy rains in Kampala.

A month later, six street children were killed and two others seriously injured after a school perimeter wall collapsed in the capital.
- Catriona Gray was tapped to serve as a guest host on Its Showtime while Anne Curtis is still on-leave

- During the shows recent episode, Vice Ganda asked the beauty queen to do the Slow-mo turn once again

- After doing the request, the Filipina-Australian model left a hilarious comment about what she did

- Vice and the studio audience laughed out loud after hearing the funny remark of the gorgeous celebrity

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Catriona Gray suddenly aired a hilarious description of the famous Slow-mo turn that she used during the Miss Universe 2018.

KAMI learned that the much-talked-about incident happened during the recent episode of Its Showtime where the beauty queen served as a guest host.

The Filipina-Australian model first showed to the studio audience her prominent turn, as per request of her co-host Vice Ganda.

PAY ATTENTION: Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news!

However, after she did the Slow-mo twirl once again, she left a comment that made many television viewers burst into laughter.

She jokingly revealed on national television that the said technique is inspired by the slow internet connection in the Philippines.

Vice also reacted after hearing the funny statement of Catriona and he said that the well-known beauty queen is really a Filipina.

Inspired by the slow internet, she quipped.

Parang humihinto talaga ang mundo, ano Talagang Miss Philippines ka nga! the comedian commented.

Watch the video below:

In a previous article by , Catriona turned really emotional on the recent episode of ASAP Natin To.

Catriona Gray is the fourth Filipina to win the highly-coveted Miss Universe crown. Many people considered her the best titleholder in the pageants history.

POPULAR: Read more news about Catriona Gray!

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A bad guy, a terrorist with American blood on his hands, was ordered killed by an American President, and the world applauded. This is a fictional scenario, since realistically, American president Donald Trump is jeered instead of cheered. The Democrats and mainstream media would rather see him fail than have America succeed and happily create an atmosphere of fear.

James R. Hannibal flew the A-10 Thunderbolt II, the B-2 Spirit (stealth bomber), and the MQ-1 Predator UAV. During that time, he worked numerous classified assignments and spent time as a mission planning cell chief, intelligence liaison, stealth materials liaison, and weapons and tactics officer. He commented to American Thinker, "Americans need to understand that Qassem Soleimani was evil, a known terrorist, and proudly wore the blood of Americans on his hands. Our intelligence surrounding this individual leaves no doubt about these facts. This is intelligence that the politicians loudly mourning his death have access to, so they should know better. That makes their betrayal all the worse. They would sell out the memory of fallen Americans for their own political gain. I have seen American blood spilt by Soleimani's proxy action with my own eyes. I have wept over that blood on the worst day of my military career. Any politicians pretending this man was anything but a bloodthirsty terrorist deserving of death have betrayed this nation and the people they claim to serve."

Instead of showing a united front, the opponents of President Trump are emboldening Iran. Congressman Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) served over twenty years in the U.S. Army, including the Green Berets, and was a defense policy director for Secretaries Rumsfeld and Gates and was Vice President Dick Cheney's counterterrorism adviser. He told American Thinker, "This is politics at its worst. What I want to ask those who criticize the president: 'How many more American body bags does the Left think we should have before we take decisive action? We already lost 600-plus. How many more  700, 1,000  before we act? I find it appalling that this president is being criticized for killing this terrorist, Soleimani, instead of applauding him for taking decisive bold action to stop the killing of more Americans in the future. At the end of the day, Soleimani was a declared terrorist, operating on a foreign soil, against American assets, and plotting to kill additional Americans."

Those not supporting President Trump have "Trump Derangement Syndrome." Retired SEAL Don Mann believes that "[t]hose that are criticizing our president are causing great harm to the country and embolden Iran and our enemies. The decision to kill Soleimani was not a rash decision. It was based on a defensive and an offensive analysis. We absolutely must defend our interests abroad and in the U.S. Many people on the Left will criticize the president for everything he does and says. The Left has villainized every move he makes. I don't understand why their hatred for our president makes them blinded to the fact that our country is stronger than it has been in decades, possibly in our entire history."

Retired Navy commander Michael Jacobs detests how "the Left is driven by emotion and blind allegiance to party and not country; they hate the president more than they love their country. It is important to have a rich dialogue that asks questions about the strike, but unabashed vitriol is not reasoned debate. The Left will not allow President Trump to enjoy any success, especially in an election year. They will thwart, distort, twist, spin anything that suggests success. Finally, Iran's blatant and bold misadventures for 40-plus years are now being countered by pragmatism."

There is also the argument that neither the Bush nor the Obama administrations went after Soleimani. Why? Former CIA director Mike Morell said, "Yes, it's good that [Soleimani's] gone, but it's come at an extraordinarily high price. And that's why the Bush administration and the Obama administration chose not to do something like this." He must be speaking of how President Obama drew a red line and did nothing or how, after the killing of American ambassador Chris Stevens in Libya, he did not retaliate.

Kirk Lippold was commander of the USS Cole when, in 2000, seventeen sailors were killed after the destroyer was attacked and bombed by al-Qaeda terrorists. (As a side note, it was not President Clinton, Bush, or Obama who took down the terrorist Jamel Ahmed Mohammed Ali Al-Badawi, the al-Qaeda operative who orchestrated the attack. It was President Trump.) Lippold experienced firsthand how government officials "discussed what they should do right up until both the Clinton and Bush administrations did nothing and the nation was left with the aftermath of 9/11. The politicians who are complaining about the strike are typical, pointing fingers and blame. They are acting right out of the enemy's playbook by blaming our own government and its leaders, rather than holding the number-one state sponsor of terrorism in the world accountable for killing Americans. I am thankful that the strike against Soleimani fundamentally changes that dynamic by reinforcing the Trump administration's policy that we will hold terrorists and governments accountable if they harm or kill Americans. I am glad to see the U.S. once again taking proactive and preventive measure to protect American citizens and national security interests. If anything, the U.S. is once again being understood that there are red lines that, if crossed, will result in a reaction."

Waltz reminds Americans, "President Obama was so desperate to have an Iranian deal that he appeased Iran under a number of fronts. Regarding President Bush, he was bogged down in two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan, and wanted to avoid dealing with Iran. I agree with President Trump that this action will actually prevent war, not start one."

Consider what former CIA director Michael Hayden once told American Thinker: "It is the policy of the Iranians, approved by the highest levels of the Iranian government, to facilitate the killing of American and coalition soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. America needs to be more aggressive across the board and stop trying to change the minds of a government that is either irrational or dysfunctional in its decision making. The Iranians think they can get away with this kind of behavior."

He also said how the drone killings by then-president Obama keep the terrorists off balance, where they have no time to plan terrorist attacks as they hide in caves. Waltz agrees: "The more these guys are worried where they will sleep at night, who they will talk with, how they communicate, and are constantly on the run, the less time they have to plot, plan, and attack."

Furthermore, Waltz says, "it is this administration's duty to act on a threat against American assets, diplomats, and soldiers. In fact, it should have been done years ago by the two previous administrations. I was asked what I would say to the families of those soldiers who now have to deploy. That is the wrong question. The question should have been, 'What would I say to the Gold Star families who have had their loved ones killed?' There are also many U.S. men and women who have been maimed and wounded because of the sophisticated IEDs that Soleimani manufactured and provided to militias. I think justice has been served."

Those who claim that President Trump escalated the action that will lead to war with Iran need to look at the recent events: the attack on the American embassy in Iraq by Iran's surrogates, killing an American contractor, and shooting down a U.S. drone. The president did not escalate, but responded to Iran's actions. Waltz agrees that the president's action will quash a war because "Iran will be fearful as to what the U.S. will do next. The Iran regime needs to calculate: is it worth taking action? The last thing they want is a war with the U.S. that would cause their regime to fall."

The fear-mongers are pointing to the consequences from President's Trump action like the Iraqi government voting to expel all international forces. The congressman points out how "this is a symbolic vote because they just resigned because of the anti-Iran protests. There is going to be a new government in Iraq, and a lot of things must happen before US forces withdraw." This includes cutting off the aid to Iraq, and, as the president stated, "We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that's there. It cost billions of dollars to build. ... We're not leaving unless they pay us back for it."

Another consequence is Iran abandoning the nuclear deal. But whom will that hurt, considering that sanctions can be ratcheted up? Waltz thinks this administration needs to "keep up the maximum pressure campaign because the Iranians will come back to the table. They will be in a position of weakness and will face economic ruin."

Finally, there is the threat by President Trump to target 52 Iranian sites, "some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture." Waltz thinks this is a deterrent on the part of the president to let the Iranians know there will be very real consequences for any action, and these will be swift and decisive. Beyond that, the president has possibly calculated that the Iranians will put many resources toward protecting some sites while leaving others ripe for bombing should they take action.

Congressman Waltz likens the Iranians to a schoolyard bully who will continue to push until he is stopped. "When a bully is punched in the mouth, they will back down. The way to achieve peace is by showing strength to a tyrant. We have seen throughout history that appeasement is not an answer."

Everyone interviewed believes that the Democrats, mass media, and all Americans should thank President Trump for his bold and decisive action that was long overdue. General Petraeus, also a former CIA director, said it best: "This is bigger than bin Laden, it's bigger than Baghdadi. Soleimani is the equivalent, in U.S. terms, of the CIA director, CENTCOM commander, JSOC commander, and presidential envoy for the region."

The author writes for American Thinker. She has done book reviews and author interviews and has written a number of national security, political, and foreign policy articles.

Image: Gagee Skidmore via Flickr.
A woman charged with conspiracy for helping set up a planned robbery that led to the shooting death of Joseph Riley, a death in which four Racine men are alleged to be involved, pleaded guilty.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen waves to supporters from a vehicle during a campaign rally ahead of the election in Taoyuan, Taiwan on Jan. 9, 2020. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Dont Read Too Much Into Election Results, Taiwan Tells China Before Vote

TAIPEIBeijing should not see Taiwans elections as representing a win or loss for China, Taiwans foreign minister said on Jan. 9, days ahead of a vote overshadowed by Chinese efforts to get the island to accept its rule.

Taiwan holds presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday. Its elections are always closely watched by China, which claims the island as its territory.

Taiwan says it is an independent country called the Republic of China, its formal name, and the government has warned of Beijings efforts to sway the vote in favor of the opposition.

I just dont think China should read Taiwans election as its own victory or defeat, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told reporters in Taipei.

If China reads too much into our election  there might be a likely scenario that China will engage in military intimidation or diplomatic isolation or using economic measures as punishment against Taiwan.

President Tsai Ing-wen, who is seeking re-election, has repeatedly warned Taiwans people to be wary of Chinese attempts to sway the election through disinformation or military intimidation.

Wu drew attention to Chinas sailing of its new aircraft carrier into the sensitive Taiwan Strait late last year, calling the voyage clear evidence of Beijings attempts to intimidate voters.

This is our own election. This is not Chinas election. It is Taiwanese people who go to the voting booth to make a judgment on which candidate or political party is better for them, Wu said.

Taiwans Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Wu speaks during an interview in Taipei, Taiwan on Nov. 6, 2019. (Fabian Hamacher/Reuters)

If China wants to play with democracies in other countries so much, maybe they can try with their own elections at some point.

The issue of China has taken center stage in the campaign, especially after its leader, Xi Jinping, warned last year it could attack Taiwan, though said hed prefer a peaceful one country, two systems formula to rule the island.

Taiwan-China ties have soured since Tsai took office in 2016, with China cutting off formal dialogue, flying bomber patrols around Taiwan, and whittling away at its diplomatic allies.

China suspects Tsai of pushing for the islands formal independence, a red line for Beijing. Tsai says she will maintain the status quo but will defend Taiwans democracy and way of life.

Every Ballot Has Power

In a front-page election advertisement in the mass circulation Liberty Times on Thursday, Tsai appealed directly for people to cast their vote against China.

In the face of China, every ballot has power, the advertisement read, next to a picture of Tsai wearing a camouflaged military helmet and flak jacket.

Tsais main opponent is Han Kuo-yu of the Kuomintang party, which ruled China until 1949, when it was forced to flee to Taiwan after loosing a civil war with the Communists.

Han says he would reset ties with Beijing to boost Taiwans economy, but not compromise on the islands security or democratic way of life.

In a Facebook post later on Thursday, Tsai wrote that China would be happiest if the Kuomintang got back into power.

The elections should make Taiwans people happy, not the Chinese government, she added.

But Kuomintang Chairman Wu Den-yih said Tsai was the real threat, pointing to an anti-infiltration law she championed and passed late last year to tackle Chinese influence. The Kuomintang says the law seeks to effectively outlaw all contacts with China.

Overshadowing the elections have been allegations in Australian media from a self-professed Chinese spy about Chinas efforts to influence Taiwans politics and support Han, who, along with Beijing, has denounced the accusations as lies.

By Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard
Ajay Devgn had a screening of his film Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior for the distributors and other important members of the trade. Everyone came out of the film praising it so much that they want to back the entire series of films being made under the tagline of unsung warriors or unsung heroes.

It was a closed-door screening, but we enjoyed the film a lot. The film had enough material, keeping in mind a lot of VFX that would come in handy when the film would achieve its final look. Ajay is now looking at making a biopic on Hari Singh Nalwa, the commander-in-chief of the Sikh Khalsa Fauj next, says a trade source.

Additionally, Nalwa is the founder of Haripur, a city which is now in Pakistan. He was also the Diwan of Kashmir earlier. A Nalwa biopic is on the radar, inform sources.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held discussion on the state of economy with economists, sector experts and successful young entrepreneurs at the Niti Aayog, and promised to take both short-term and long-term measures to revive growth.

During a two-and-half hour meeting held ahead of the Budget 2020-21, the experts made hosts of suggestions for reviving economic growth, which is estimated to slip to 11-year low of 5 per cent in 2019-20.

According to sources, the speakers urge the government to focus on credit expansion, exports growth, governance of Public Sector Banks (PSBs), increasing consumption and job creation. As many as 40 experts and economists attended the meeting.

Modi assured them that he would act on suggestions which can be implemented in short-term and also consider long-term suggestions in due course as these require structural reforms.

"Honourable PM @narendramodi had an interactive session with economists & industry experts at @NITIAayog today. Discussed a wide range of issues relating to economic growth, startups & innovation," Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar tweeted.

The high-profile meeting was attended by Home Minister Amit Shah, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal besides Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, CEO Amitabh Kant and other senior officials of the think-tank.

Bibek Debroy, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, too was present at the meeting.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was not present, as she was holding pre-Budget meetings with party workers at BJP headquarters.

The Niti Aayog meeting assumes significance as the government is in the process of formulating Budget proposals for 2020-21. The government's focus will be on accelerating economic growth, which is estimated to slip to an 11-year low of 5 per cent during 2019-20.

The Prime Minister on Monday interacted with top business tycoons to discuss the issues facing the economy and measures needed to boost growth and create jobs.

Among others, meeting was attended NIPFP economist Ila Patnaik, former chief economic advisor Shankar Acharya, IGIDR Professor R Nagraj, KKR India CEO Sanjay Nayar, Ather Energy Co-founder and CEO Tarun Mehta, MakeMyTrip Deep Kalra, Dabur India Mohit Malhotra, Bandhan Bank MD and CEO Chandra Shekhar Ghosh and CRISIL MD and CEO Ashu Suyash among others.

Sitharaman will be presenting her second Union Budget on February 1.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A man has been flown to hospital after getting his arms trapped in a meat slicer.

The man, aged in his 60s, was working at Schultes Meat Tavern in Plainland, west of Brisbane, on Thursday when he got caught in the machinery at at 8.28am.

Critical care paramedics and fire crews rushed to the scene off the Warrego Highway.

The man in his 60s got his arms trapped in a meat slicer (stock image of someone using a meat slicer)

He was freed from the machine within six minutes after being stuck for half an hour, Brisbane Times reported.

Queensland Ambulance Service told Daily Mail Australia the man sustained serious injuries to his hand and arm.

He was airlifted to Princess Alexandra Hospital by the state government's Rescue 500 helicopter and remains in a stable condition.

Schultes Meat Tavern declined to comment.

More to come
- Actress Damilola Adegbite has narrated the story of a side chic who became a landlord

- The actress said she heard the story while she was house hunting

- Adegbite explained that the lady had gotten a house after the wife of the man she was seeing confronted her

- According to the actress, the man decided to buy her a house instead

Actress Damilola Adegbite has narrated a story she heard while she was house hunting. The actress explained that the house her agent had taken her to was fully furnished but the windows were broken.

The actress said the windows looked like stones were thrown into the house. She noted that she asked her agent about what happened to them.

Adegbite said her agent then told her the story of how the lady who was leaving there became her landlord. She said the lady's sugar daddy's wife had come to the house with her friends to confront her.

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According to her, the man's wife and her friends attacked the side chic and when the man found out, he told her to move out and leave everything in the house behind.

She said the man told her to move into a house he bought for her in Ikoyi with police escorts. The actress added that the man chased his wife out.

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The actress stated that the woman's actions upgraded the side chic to a landlord. Adegbite added that nothing good comes out from being violent.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that media personality Toke Makinwa narrated how she handled being cheated on by her ex-husband Maje Ayida. The media personality said she walked away and focused on her dreams. Makinwa shared her journey while reacting to the viral video of a woman confronting her husband's side chic.

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A Qantas flight skidded off the runway and ended up stuck in mud during heavy rain.

Flight QF2650, which flew from Perth in Western Australia to Newman, a mining town in the Pilbara region, overshot the runway by around 50 metres.

The incident, involving the Fokker 100 aircraft, occurred amid Cyclone Blake, which has caused heavy rain and high winds in the Pilbara region in recent days.

All 80 passengers and crew disembarked the plane normally, and there were no injuries.

The airport is currently closed while it removes the plane.

World's safest airlines 2020 Show all 20 1 /20 World's safest airlines 2020 World's safest airlines 2020 Qantas Check up: the Qantas fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft are being examined Qantas World's safest airlines 2020 Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Getty Images World's safest airlines 2020 Eva Air Eva Air Getty Images World's safest airlines 2020 Etihad Etihad Getty Images World's safest airlines 2020 Qatar Airways Qatar Airways Heathrow Airport World's safest airlines 2020 Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines Getty World's safest airlines 2020 Emirates Emirates AFP/Getty World's safest airlines 2020 Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines Getty Images World's safest airlines 2020 Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific Getty World's safest airlines 2020 Virgin Australia Virgin Australia Getty Images World's safest airlines 2020 Hawaiian Airlines Hawaiian Airlines Hawaiian Airlines World's safest airlines 2020 Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic World's safest airlines 2020 TAP Portugal TAP Portugal Getty Images World's safest airlines 2020 SAS SAS AFP/Getty World's safest airlines 2020 Royal Jordanian Royal Jordanian Bjorn Strey/Wikimedia World's safest airlines 2020 SWISS SWISS Getty Images World's safest airlines 2020 Finnair Finnair Getty World's safest airlines 2020 Lufthansa Lufthansa Reuters World's safest airlines 2020 Aer Lingus Aer Lingus AFP/Getty World's safest airlines 2020 KLM KLM Getty

The Shire of East Pilbara has suspended operations at Newman Airport while Qantas works to remove the aircraft from the runway according to their policies and procedures. At this stage we are unable to provide an accurate time when operations will be restored, although it is anticipated that it will be sometime this afternoon, said Shire President Lynne Craigie.

The incident will be investigated by Qantas and the Shire of East Pilbara is not in a position to provide further details on the incident. At this stage the focus is to restore normal operations to Newman Airport for our passengers as quickly as possible, she added.

Recommended Plane skids off runway

A QantasLink spokesperson told The Independent: The aircraft has come to a complete stop in whats called the runway end safety area.

Flights in and out of Newman have been cancelled for the rest of the day, while the aircraft is removed.

We have commenced an internal investigation to determine how this occurred and have reported the incident to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

We apologise to impacted customers and are working to re-accommodate them as quickly as possible.
Stocks with high earnings growth, sustainable business and credible management are the secret sauce for a sturdy wealth-creating portfolio.

To give retail investors a taste of good things, HDFC Securities has come out with a report on 10 large, midcap and smallcap companies that can potentially double their earnings in three years (FY19 to FY22).

These stocks have the right framework in place and have withstood the slowdown well. Their business offers enough scope for growth and market share gains, says the report.

These companies have management that has proven history of creating superior business models that are least impacted by adverse cycles or regulations, it says.

Current valuations of these companies partly reflect the above and the expectations of improved performance. Hence, their stock returns from hereon may not necessarily mirror the earnings performance.

However, these companies give comfort that unless the macros of India remain dented for some more quarters, they have the ability to bounce back vigorously from the short-term adverse situations and deliver superior consistent earnings growth, the report says.

We have given below the ideal entry bands in which lump-sum or staggered buying may be made. Investors can expect 15%-20% compounded returns in these stocks unless the entire buying is done at cycle highs, it says.

Axis Bank

Axis Bank is the third-largest private sector bank in India in terms of advances and deposits. The bank offers the entire spectrum of financial services to customer segments like large and mid-sized corporates, MSMEs, and agriculture and retail businesses.

HDFC Securities strongly feels that asset quality worsening has peaked out for corporate-facing banks. This is evident also in the case of Axis Bank as absolute NPAs have been reducing on QoQ basis since the last five quarters.

Higher corporate delinquencies are expected to be over by the end of this fiscal year. Worst being behind (in terms of asset quality) and strategic growth plans from new management give confidence about Axis Banks future.

ICICI Bank Ltd (IBL) is the second-largest private sector bank in India in terms of assets size and is designated as one of the Domestic Systemically Important Bank (D-SIB) in the country. The balance sheet size on a standalone basis stood at Rs 9,970 billion as of Q2FY20.

The ICICI Group has a unique franchise, with a presence across customer segments, products and geographies, excellent technical capabilities and a diverse talent pool. The banks strong market leadership is complemented by its robust franchise of 5,228 branches and 15,159 ATMs as on September 30, 2019.

SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd

SBI Life is the second-largest private sector life insurance company in the country and has a 6.3% market share in the industry. It has a diversified product mix across individual and group insurance products along with a multi-channel distribution network comprising bank assurance, individual agents, insurance brokers, direct sales, etc.

UltraTech Cement

India is the worlds second-largest cement market. With 24 percent market share in India, Ultratech Cement is the largest manufacturer of grey cement, Ready Mix Concrete (RMC) and white cement in the country.

As the utilisation levels rise for the company, and the costs stabilise, the pricing power will come back. We expect 13% revenue, ~19% EBITDA and ~31% EPS CAGR led by its cost leadership, pricing, improving realisation and strong volumes over FY19-22E.

The stock trades at ~12.4x FY22E EV/EBITDA and ~USD 169 EV/MT. HDFC Securities is of the view that Ultratech, with a pan-India presence and strong sustainable financials, will continue to trade at a premium over mid-sized cement companies.

APL Apollo Tubes

APL Apollo Tubes is the largest producer of electric resistance welded (ERW) steel pipes and sections in India with a capacity to produce 2.5 million tonnes per annum.

The ERW steel tubes market is pegged at Rs 30,000 crore and is estimated to grow at ~10-12% CAGR in the coming years. With the development of technology, steel pipes have found application as hollow structures in other industries such as building materials, automobiles, and daily utility items.

Over the next three years, we estimate revenues/EBITDA/PAT to grow at CAGR of ~16.5%/24%/40% on the back of strong volume growth, cost-efficient measures by the company through adoptions of new technology and reduction of the effective tax rate.

Apollo Hospital Enterprise Ltd (AHEL) is one of Asias leading integrated healthcare service providers. It has a presence in hospital, pharmaceutical, primary care & diagnostic clinics space. It has telemedicine units, health insurance services, global projects consultancy, colleges of nursing and hospital management and a research foundation, epidemiological studies, stem cell & genetic research as well.

As on March 31, 2019, AHEL had 19 direct subsidiaries, 10 step down subsidiaries, four joint ventures, and four associate companies.

Gujarat Gas Limited (GGL) is Indias largest city gas distribution company, with presence across 23 regions in the Gujarat, Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Thane Geographical Area (GA) (barring already authorised area including Maharashtra's Palghar locale).

The company has a 23,200-km pipeline network. It distributes around 9-9.5 million metric standard cubic meters of gas every day to about 13,55,000 households, around 2 lakh CNG vehicles (serving every day) and to more than 3,540 industrial customers.

IFB Industries

IFB Industries is engaged in manufacturing a diversified product portfolio with an established brand presence of front load washing machines, top-load washing machines, dryers, ACs, microwave ovens, dishwashers, modular kitchen, and chimneys (totalling 82% of FY19 sales).

A substantial improvement in product diversification leading to improved revenue generation and localisation plans for input resources, favourable product mix, and control over operating expenditure are likely to result in margins expansion. Expansion in EPS and valuation rerating (based on industry valuation norms) could lead to improved stock price performance.

Sudarshan Chemical Industries Ltd

Sudarshan Chemical (SCL) is the fourth largest pigment manufacturer globally and the largest in India, and now aspiring to become the third largest over the next three years. SCL has continuously gained market share over the past few years.

SCL is well placed to continue rapid growth in the context of the expected exit from pigments business by its two largest global competitors (BASF and Clariant).

The companys low-cost manufacturing advantage, technical capabilities, wide product portfolio and environmental compliance are some of the key positives for the company.

Trent is a Tata group company established in 1998. Trent operates retail stores across four formats: Westside, Zudio, Star and Landmark.

Accelerated store addition in the Westside format, rightsizing of Star Bazaar stores coupled with consistent growth in Zara are further expected to accelerate Trents financial performance.

Focus on profitable growth has been the hallmark so far of Trent. HDFC Securities expect steady SSSG (Same Stores Sales Growth) in Westside to continue despite an increase in store expansion. Given strong store economics, scalability and execution, HDFC Securities has a positive view on the stock.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 21:24:54|Editor: xuxin

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BERLIN, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- German exports in November 2019 decreased by 2.9 percent to a total of 112.9 billion euros (125.5 billion U.S. dollars), according to figures published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Thursday.

At the same time, Germany imported goods worth 94.6 billion euros, 1.6 percent less than that of November 2018, according to Destatis.

Without seasonal and short-term fluctuations, "the broader picture is unchanged", Axel Lindner, deputy head of the Department of Macroeconomics at the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) told Xinhua on Thursday.

Since early 2018, Germany's real merchandise exports had been "basically stagnant", added Lindner. Manufacturing output was even "contracting" and was now about 7 percent lower than at the beginning of 2018.

"The declines in German exports and imports illustrate once again that the trade conflicts and the deteriorating global economy will leave a clear mark on the 2019 balance sheet", said Holger Bingmann, president of the federation of German wholesale, foreign trade and services (BGA) on Thursday.

While German exports to countries of the European Union decreased by 2.4 percent, exports of goods to countries outside the European Union even declined by 3.5 percent, according to Destatis.

"The risks for the global economy intensified again at the beginning of the year", stressed Bingmann and added that the escalation in the Middle East represented a "further factor of uncertainty for companies."

With regard to Germanys foreign trade balance, the surplus of 18.3 billion euros in November 2019 was below the 2018 level of 20.2 billion euros, Destatis noted.

According to Lindner, confidence indicators would suggest that Germany's "industrial downturn should bottom out this winter" but IWH was not expecting merchandize exports to expand strongly in 2020.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

Trend:

Azerbaijan's generating capacities must always be in a condition that would rule out a shortage in the country, President Ilham Aliyev said while receiving Vugar Ahmadov on the occasion of his appointment as chairman of the Azerishig Open Joint Stock Company.

"You are paying AzerEnerji for energy in full and the collection rate is 95 percent. I think this is a good result. Of course, in the future it is necessary to pay great attention especially to the energy sector in remote mountain villages, because as a result of the construction of new substations and transformers, we have resolved the problem in practically all our cities, but there are still old pylons in some villages. When traveling to these villages, I see that there are still wooden supports there. Additional measures must be taken to replace them with modern ones. Distribution lines have now been completely updated. Therefore, in order to maintain energy supply at the current level, we certainly need to be always active. 'AzerIshig', too, should pay attention to this work, because our needs are growing. In 2019, our non-oil industry increased by 14 percent. This means that additional energy capacities are required. I believe that connection to the network is at a high level," the head of state said.

President Ilham Aliyev noted that in some countries, this is turning into a major problem as emerging enterprises cannot connect to a common network.

"We do not have this problem. But our needs are increasing, the population is growing and will continue to grow. Today, our population has reached 10 million. Over the years, it will reach 11 and 12 million. So our network should be ready for this. Therefore, we allocate large funds in order to completely update the generating capacity. We are currently working with a surplus. However, our generating capacities must always be in a condition that would rule out a shortage in Azerbaijan. Of course, in order to maintain the energy infrastructure in good condition, all operating procedures must be completed at a high level," the head of state added.

"The breakdown of 2018 should be a good lesson. Measures taken in the aftermath of the breakdown are giving good results. As a result of a ring connection of substations, we insure ourselves against breakdowns and their consequences. A breakdown can occur in any country. The main thing is how long its consequences are eliminated. We have created a ring system so that energy supply can be arranged in a short time. I wish you success. I am sure that you will justify this high confidence."
A food processing industry park and a skill development complex will be set up in Aurangabad in central Maharashtra, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Thursday.

Three new MIDC areas will also be established in the Marathwada region, it was announced.

Thackeray was speaking after inaugurating seventh Advantage Maharashtra Expo, 2020, organised by the Marathwada Association of Small Scale Industries and Agriculture (MASSIA) here.

"A food processing park will be established in DMIC (Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor at Bidkin) over 500 acres, of which 100 acres will be reserved for women entrepreneurs," the chief minister said.

"To create skilled manpower which will fulfil the need of local companies, a skill development complex will also be set up," he added.

His government wanted industry and agriculture sector to work together, Thackeray said.

"The government will act as a catalyst between these two sectors," he added.

Industry Minister Subhash Desai informed that three Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) areas (industrial colonies) will be established in Marathwada, and 1,018 hectares of land will be acquired for this.

The new MIDC areas will come up in Shendra, Nanded and Osmanabad, he said.

"Sixteen companies have decided to invest Rs 8,360 crore in Marathwada," Desai added.

Sunik Kirdak, convener of the exhibition, said the government should help the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprizes (MSME) sector by cutting red tep.

"We don't want red carpet treatment but don't spread thorns in the path of MSMEs. We request you to provide space for the factories which are currently operating from rented premises," Kirdak said.

President of MASSIA Dyandeo Rajale demanded that the Aurangabad-Pune highway should be expanded.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India's restrictions on imports of refined palm oil will lead to a price war between the world's two biggest suppliers of the commodity, Indonesia and Malaysia, the Palm Oil Refiners Association of Malaysia said on Thursday.

The Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued a notification on Wednesday declaring that the import of refined palm oil "is amended from 'Free' to 'Restricted.'

"This puts Indonesia and Malaysia at loggerheads," Jamil Haron, chairman of Palm Oil Refiners Association of Malaysia, told Reuters. "There will be a price war between Indonesia and Malaysia, and we are at the losing end."
The Northern rail franchise can only continue for 'months', Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced today.

Mr Shapps said he is considering what to do after reviewing the 'most recent available financial information' about Arriva Rail North (ARN).

He said the government was looking at a proposal to give ARN a short-term contract to continue managing the troubled services, or to bring the franchise back under public control.

But he insisted that the issues would not impact on the day-to-day running of the railways.

In a statement to MPs, Mr Shapps said: 'It has now been confirmed to me from the most recent available financial information that the franchise will only be able to continue for a number of months.

'The proposal I requested from ARN is being evaluated. Following completion of this process I will consider whether to award ARN a short-term management contract or whether to ask the Department of Transport's own Operator of Last Resort to step in and deliver passenger services. Longer-term decisions on the franchise.'

Boris Johnson revealed yesterday that his ministers are looking at reforming the nationwide franchise system amid ongoing anger at high ticket prices in return for poor services.

It came as senior managers from Northern, TransPennine Express, Arriva and First Rail, which run services across the north of England, apologised for their recent performance.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced last week that train operator Northern is to have its contract ripped up

Mr Johnson responded to a call from Labour's Makerfield MP to 'commit to stripping them (Northern) of their franchise'.

Speaking during Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons yesterday, she also urged Mr Johnson to 'commit to devolving the power and the money to the regions so that local people have the power over their local transport'.

Mr Johnson said he shared Ms Fovargue's 'outrage', adding that ministers were 'also looking at the whole way the franchising system operates'.

'I must say I share her outrage and I do understand what she is saying and we are developing contingency plans for a replacement for Northern Rail,' he said.

'But what we are also doing and she raises the point, we are also looking at the whole way the franchising system operates and she'll have seen (the) Keith Williams' very, very valuable report on that.'

A Downing Street source said: 'The PM is pretty agitated about rail and the poor service people are getting in some parts of the country, whether it's Northern rail, TransPennine or whoever. We are going to sort it out.'

Mr Shapps announced last week that train operator Northern is to have its contract ripped up.

But Department for Transport officials later clarified that Northern could continue to operate services through a new, short-term contract.

This morning Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has called for a public deadline for train operator TransPennine Express to improve its services, saying: 'It's kind of last-chance saloon'.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has called for a public deadline for train operator TransPennine Express to improve its services

The operator announced this week it would issue refunds to season ticket holders as its recent performance was described as 'completely unacceptable' by the Department for Transport (DfT).

It also announced it has cancelled dozens of services this month, and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he wanted an urgent meeting with the operator to discuss its services.

Appearing at the Rail North Committee (RNC) in Leeds yesterday, Mr Burnham said: 'We are not prepared any longer to put up with, the people of our region are not prepared to put up with, the misery inflicted on their lives.'

Speaking with reporters after a number of RNC members agreed with his proposal, Mr Burnham added: 'The committee has addressed the idea of setting them a public deadline. We are now going to take a week or two to work out what form that takes.

'For TransPennine, it's kind of last-chance saloon.'

Mr Shapps had been listed as attending on the agenda for the meeting, but rail minister Chris Heaton-Harris took his place, with the Transport Secretary instead set to visit Leeds today.

Rail chiefs from TPE, Arriva, First Rail and Northern Rail attended the morning meeting and apologised for their recent performance as RNA members described services as 'shoddy' and a 'shambles'.

Steve Montgomery, managing director at First Rail, said: 'We do apologise for the disruption caused to passengers.'

And Leo Goodwin, managing director at TPE, added that he 'apologised unreservedly'.

Chris Burchell, managing director at Arriva, said: 'I would also like to apologise for the service over the last couple of months.'

Office of Rail and Road figures show just 56 per cent of Northern trains arrived at stations within one minute of the timetable in the 12 months to December 7, compared with the average across Britain of 65 per cent.

TPE's 3 per cent rebate to season ticket holders comes after issues with the introduction of new trains.

During the meeting in Leeds, both Northern and TPE blamed a mixture of factors on the poor performance over the last couple of months, including infrastructure, delays in the delivery of new trains leading to a delay in training drivers, extreme weather and recent unprecedented levels of sickness.

Mr Burchell told the meeting they were involved in negotiations with drivers to implement a new contract regarding Sunday working in an effort to improve Sunday services.
Though Duchess Kate Middleton and Prince William seem to be the picture of domestic bliss, the royal couples road down the aisle wasnt as straight forward as one might assume. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wed in April 2011. However, they had been romantically involved for the better part of a decade.

In fact, the duo had a couple of breakups before officially getting back together and vowing to stay together. Still, the breakups caused a great deal of concerned for members of the British royal family.

When the Cambridges broke up for the second time in 2007, the royals feared Middleton would become the next Camilla Parker Bowles.

This is why Prince William and Kate Middleton broke up in 2007

By the time Prince William and Kate Middleton had made their first public appearance together as a couple in 2006, they had been together for five years  with a short break up in 2003. However, since the prince was in the Army and the duchess was in London they were already experiencing the strain of being long distance. It didnt help when the media latched on to them.

In his book, William and Catherine royal biographer Andrew Morton claims that William treated his then-girlfriend, like a servant. Michael Choong, a university friend of the pair, told Express U.K. that Prince William could be flip and curt. He expected Kate to run after him, and the longer they knew each other, the more he seemed to keep her on a tight leash.

By the spring of 2007, it had all become too much. The prince had pulled out of Christmas plans with the duchess at the last minute that previous holiday season, hed flubbed her 25th birthday that January, and he was photographed partying and flirting with other women. The pair decided to go their separate ways for some time.

Prince William and Kate Middleton dealt with their breakup differently

While Middleton sought the solace of her young sister, Pippa Middleton, the prince celebrated his freedom by partying.

According to royal correspondent Camilla Tominey, Prince William confided to his grandparents that he was not sure if he loved Kate enough. At that point, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip urged their grandson to let Middleton go. Thankfully, the prince came to his senses quickly.

The royal family thought Kate Middleton might be the next Camilla Parker Bowles

Following the Cambridges breakup in 2007, the royal family grew gravely concerned for the future Crowned King. In her 2010 book, William and Harry, Kate Nicholl explained, It was hard not to draw comparisons between William and his father. Had William also met the right woman at the wrong time? Haunted by the specter of the past, there were real fears at the Palace that Kate would become the next Camilla.

As we know, Prince Charles and Parker Bowles had a romance in the 1970s but were separated when the prince was deployed in the Royal Navy in 1973. By the time he returned the duchess was engaged to someone else. By the 1980s the pair were carrying on an illicit affair.

There was a member of the royal family who was sure that Prince William would come to his senses. Prince Philip reached out to Kate Middleton during the couples breakup. According to Nicholl, the Duke of Edinburgh said, William will present a ring when the time is right. It was a well-intended reassurance that Kate valued.
LAWRENCE  Talk about a mass exodus.

Ten township cops have abandoned Lawrence PBA Local 119 this month in favor of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 209 amid an ongoing court fight, according to an anonymous source.

PBA 119 did not deny the development, but a lawyer for the labor union blasted the emailer who had shared that information with The Trentonian under the alias Joe Stench.

Who are these anonymous clowns making these anonymous statements? It seems cowardly to hide behind childish nicknames, attorney Charles J. Sciarra said Wednesday in a statement. Regardless, my six clients have shown courage and conviction. They do not hide their identities. They are standing up for themselves, each other and the law. They are standing up to corruption and retaliation. They are confident they will prevail in their lawsuit because in a court of law, the truth still matters.

Six township cops  Officer Marc Caponi, Officer Andres Mejia, Sgt. Scott Stein, Detective Andrew Lee, Lt. Joseph Amodio and Officer Hector Nieves  filed a lawsuit in Mercer County Superior Court last October alleging Lawrence Township and chief of police Brian Caloiaro authorized and implemented an illegal ticket quota system that extorted unsuspecting motorists to maximize local government revenues. The lawsuit further accuses Chief Caloiaro of retaliating against officers who blew the whistle on alleged misconduct.

PBA 119 was originally listed as a plaintiff in the lawsuit alongside the six cops, but the union voluntarily withdrew from the litigation without prejudice last November, court documents show.

The union withdrew from the litigation because most of the PBA members present at a meeting last fall voted to remove PBA 119 as a plaintiff in the litigation, according to Caponi, president of the labor union.

Anonymous sources like Joe Stench have misclassified the vote as one of no confidence, while an audio recording of the meeting confirms the vote was to determine whether rank-and-file members wanted to keep or remove PBA 119 as a plaintiff in the explosive whistleblower complaint.

The Trentonian obtained a copy of an anti-lawsuit petition signed by 15 members of Lawrence Police Benevolent Association 119 and dated Oct. 17, 2019.

The reason that members of PBA 119 are requesting removal of our entire unit from this litigation, reads the petition letter, is because a vote inclusive of our whole group related to the involvement in this litigation was not conducted.

The township FOP has grown stronger and the PBA has grown weaker since New Years Day as the lawsuit battle continues, according to Joe Stench, who said FOP has reclaimed the rank-and-file bargaining rights for the Lawrence Township Police Department thanks to a formal vote Tuesday certified by the Public Employment Relations Commission.

Also, since January 1, 2020, 10 members of the PBA have defected that union and are now FOP members, the anonymous emailer wrote, giving an all-caps explanation saying township cops are taking a stand against the PBA and their outrageous claim of a toxic work environment and ticket quota.

All six plaintiffs in the whistleblower lawsuit are executives or general members of the PBA. The anonymous opposition refers to them as the selfish six, and Lawrence Township Municipal Manager Kevin Nerwinski previously blasted them on social media, saying: Our Police Chief has more integrity, ethics, morality and honor in his little finger than all of these Plaintiffs combined.

The civil-action lawsuit remains active in Mercer County Superior Court, but attorneys for the township have filed a motion asking the court to dismiss the plaintiffs complaint.

As discussed herein, all of plaintiffs claims are patently frivolous, Michael D. Jones and Ian Oakley say in their motion to dismiss. If not already evident on its face, the true purpose of the complaint is plaintiffs apparent belief that this action will somehow benefit them in the collective bargaining process.

To be clear, the attorneys representing both Lawrence Township and Chief Caloiaro completely deny the existence of an illegal ticket quota system and completely deny taking any adverse employment action against the plaintiffs for their alleged failure to comply with such an alleged system.

A judge in the near future will decide whether the motion to dismiss the complaint is granted or denied.

The whistleblowing cops demand a trial by jury and seek punitive and compensatory damages. The plaintiffs also demand a court order forcing Lawrence Township to cease and desist using summonses as an improper municipal revenue generator.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 02:23:25|Editor: yhy

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Tunisian President Kais Saied (R) meets with visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Tunis, Tunisia, on Jan. 9, 2020. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Thursday said resolving the crisis in Libya is a real priority for France and the Middle East region. (Tunisian Presidency/Handout via Xinhua)

TUNIS, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Thursday said resolving the crisis in Libya is a real priority for France and the Middle East region.

Speaking to reporters after meeting in Tunis with Tunisian President Kais Saied, Le Drian said they discussed the latest developments in Libya, while stressing that France agreed with Tunisia's call for respect for international legitimacy.

"The stability of Libya is real priority for our two countries," said the French top diplomat.

He criticized the recently-signed agreements between Libya's internationally-recognized government and Turkey, noting it could further destabilize the situation in Libya and the region as a whole.

"France, like Tunisia, supports the efforts of the UN Special Envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame to consolidate the international consensus at the Berlin conference soon to find solutions to the Libyan crisis," he added.

Germany has been trying to hold an international conference on Libya, bringing together all countries concerned with the Libyan crisis, in a bid to find a political solution.

No date has been set for the conference, which has been delayed more than once due to the differences among the participating countries.
This announcement contains inside information within the meaning of the EU Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Providence Resources P.l.c.

Appointment of Chief Executive Officer

Dublin and London  January 9, 2020 - Providence Resources P.l.c. (Providence or the Company), the Irish based energy company, today announces that Alan Linn has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Company with immediate effect. He also joins the board as an executive director.

Alan has over 35 years of international oil and gas industry experience with a successful track record of operating and developing businesses in diverse and often challenging environments. He has over ten years leadership experience as an executive director working with listed oil and gas companies, and a proven ability to devise and implement strategic change within established businesses. Having established his career originally in the UK, he subsequently worked internationally with Lasmo, Cairn Energy, Tullow Oil, ROC Oil, and with Afren PLC as part of a restructuring process. He joins Providence from Third Energy Onshore where he was Chief Executive Officer. Alan is a Chemical Engineer and lives in Ireland.

Pat Plunkett, Chairman of Providence, commented:

I am pleased that Alan has agreed to join Providence at this time of significant opportunity within the Company. He has the ideal mix of operational and strategic experience for the position, and will bring valuable insights to the board as we rebuild the business after the challenging past year. Alan recognizes the considerable potential of the Companys assets, in particular Barryroe, and I am sure he will enhance our options in taking this exciting project to the next stage. I look forward to working with him in the coming years

Alan Linn, CEO of Providence, commented

I am delighted to be joining Providence and look forward to working with the team. The opportunity to lead the commercialisation of an oil and gas field with the potential of Barryroe is very compelling. I look forward to working with the board to bring new investment into the project to ensure value creation at the earliest opportunity

Disclosures required pursuant to Schedule 2, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies and Schedule 2, paragraph (g) of the Euronext Growth Rules

Mr Alan Scott Linn aged 62, holds or has held the following directorships and/or partnerships in the previous five years:

Current Directorships Past Directorships UK Onshore Oil & Gas DNO North Sea (ROGB) Limited ROC Oil (Malaysia) Pty Limited* ROC Oil (Europe) Limited Afren PLC Afren Energy International PLC Afren International Limited Afren Finance PLC Afren Assets Limited ROC Oil (GB Holdings) Limited Croft Exploration Limited ROC Oil (Malaysia) Pty Limited** Anzon Energy Pty Limited ROC Oil (Finance) Pty Limited ROC Oil (GB) Limited ROC Oil (Ventures) Pty Limited ROC Oil (VIC) Pty Limited ROC Oil Australia Holdings Pty Ltd ROC Oil Company Pty Limited ROC Oil Chinguetti) B.V. ROC Oil International Holdings Pty Ltd Triangle Energy (Operations) Pty Ltd ROC Oil (Tasman) Pty Limited ROC Oil (Exploration No. 1) Pty Limited ROC Oil (Chinguetti) B.V. BC Petroleum Sdn Bhd ROC Oil (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd ROC Oil Malaysia (Holdings) Sdn Bhd ROC Oil (Falklands) Limited ROC Oil (North Sea) Limited Third Energy Onshore Limited Third Energy Trading Limited Third Energy UK Gas Limited ROC Oil (China) Company ROC Oil (Bohai) Company

* Malaysian company

** Australian company

Mr. Linn was previously a director of Afren PLC, a company formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange. Afren PLC was placed in administration at the time Mr. Linn was a director of the company.

Save for the above, there is no further information required to be disclosed under paragraph (g) of Schedule Two of the AIM Rules for Companies or paragraph (g) of Schedule Two of the Euronext Growth Rules, with respect to the appointment of Alan Linn.

ENQUIRIES Providence Resources P.l.c. Tel: +353 1 219 4074 Pat Plunkett Cenkos Securities plc Tel: +44 131 220 9771 Neil McDonald/Derrick Lee J&E Davy Tel: +353 1 679 6363 Anthony Farrell Mirabaud Securities Limited Tel: + 44 20 3167 7221 Peter Krens MEDIA ENQUIRIES Murray Consultants Tel: +353 1 498 0300 Pauline McAlester

ABOUT PROVIDENCE RESOURCES PLC

Providence Resources is an Irish based Energy Company with a portfolio of appraisal and exploration assets located offshore Ireland. Providences shares are quoted on the AIM in London and the Euronext Growth Market in Dublin. Further information on Providence can be found on www.providenceresources.com
Iran responded for the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani exactly as they said they would, with an overt military strike against a pair of American military targets. While the strike was perfunctory and mostly painless for the United States, we should not assume that Irans retaliation is over. There is a variety of means over time that Iran can employ to extract real vengeance for Soleimanis death. Tehran could inflict real harm on the United States and its interests in the years to come.

Irans meek response did not likely satisfy the desire for revenge felt by so many outraged Iranians, especially those among Tehrans most senior leaders. Further, Soleimanis killing has probably affected Irans internal politics. Iranian hardliners were already ascendant as a result of U.S. President Donald Trumps decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal and impose crippling sanctions on Iran. Soleimanis killing will accelerate their rise.

Soleimanis death has probably changed Irans strategic perspective in significant ways, some of which have already manifested themselves since the killing. Trumps eagerness to take credit for the strike -- which backed Irans leadership into an unnecessary corner and forced them to retaliate overtly --undoubtedly reinforced Tehrans perception that he is naive and reckless, and therefore a dangerous threat to Iran.

The demands of honor (barely) satisfied, we should expect Iran to go back to its preferred, covert modus operandi. In particular, we should expect Iran to pursue at least four courses of action, both to extract far more meaningful revenge for the Soleimani killing and to pursue their interests in the new strategic circumstances created by the American strike.

The months ahead

First, we should be prepared for the Iranians to mount additional terror or cyberattacks against the United States and its allies throughout the region, and possibly elsewhere in the world. Iran has powerful terrorist muscles and a budding cyberwar acumen. These attacks may take considerable time to pull off.

We should not be surprised if more American (or American-allied) targets go boom or go dark in the months ahead. Iran will assume that Washington will figure out the perpetrator of these attacks and the reasons behind them, but it will be much harder for the United States to respond with the same impunity it could reserve for a massive Iranian military attack.

Second, we should expect the Iranians to keep pressing their Iraqi proxies and allies to evict American troops from Iraq. The Iranians have wanted U.S. forces out of the Middle East for 40 years, but before the Soleimani killing there were those in Tehran -- possibly including Soleimani himself -- who were arguing that a residual U.S. troop presence in Iraq served Irans immediate interests. That debate seems over. Tehran is pushing hard to get American troops out of Iraq, having concluded that their presence there could spark additional crises and is just too dangerous for Iran.

Moreover, if U.S. troops are sent packing from Iraq, it will become effectively impossible to maintain an American military presence in Syria. Forcing the U.S. out of Iraq and Syria would be a huge victory for Iran and real revenge for the death of Soleimani.

Third, Iran will almost certainly continue to mount attacks against Americas Gulf Arab allies. Tehran has had tremendous success in attacking Saudi and Emirati oil-export infrastructure. The consistent non-responses from the Trump administration are driving a wedge between the United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council states and are a huge victory for Tehran.

Nuclear fallout?

Last, the Iranians may decide to restart their nuclear program in earnest, having now laid out the diplomatic basis for doing so.

The Soleimani killing, Trumps wild rhetoric around it, and the humiliating reminder that they cannot challenge U.S. armed forces have no doubt reminded Irans leaders of their own military weakness. This is giving ammunition to the many Iranian hardliners who have long wanted a nuclear weapon as the only way to prevent the United States from inflicting such humiliations on Iran.

A critical element in Irans decision to accept the 2015 nuclear deal was their conviction that the United States, then led by Barack Obama, had zero interest in attacking Iran and therefore a nuclear deterrent was not needed. Trumps conduct is likely to have reversed that Iranian perception, leading America into very dangerous times.

Kenneth M. Pollack is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Director for Persian Gulf Affairs at the National Security Council. The views expressed are the author's own.
The Democratic fight over Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markeys seat will now feature at least three debates in 2020, with candidates and a media group announcing Thursday that theyd agreed to take the stage in Springfield and the Boston area before the Sept. 1 primary.

The Springfield and Boston debates are set for March 18 and Aug. 18, respectively. Both debates will feature Spanish-language translation via the Univision stations, the media group said.

Taking the stage will be Markey and U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy; labor attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan ended her campaign on Friday, Jan. 17.

The Springfield debate is presented by a media partnership that includes MassLive and The Republican along with debate series sponsors the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at UMass Boston, WBUR, The Boston Globe and WCVB Channel 5. Other collaborators for the Springfield debate include Western Mass News (WGGB ABC and WSHM CBS), New England Public Media, Univision stations (WUNI Boston and WHTX Springfield) and UMass-Amherst School of Public Policy.

The March debate will be held at the Western Mass News television studio and the Aug. 18 debate, which will be the last before the primary, is planned for either WCVB studios in Needham or the UMass Boston campus.

News of the additional debates comes as a relatively low-key but critical Senate contest has been overshadowed in part by months of headlines swirling around President Donald Trumps impeachment.

Last November at Stonehill College, Markey and Liss-Riordan debated climate change, with much of the discussion featuring Liss-Riordan questioning the environmental stalwart Markey on whether his Green New Deal would prove as effective as its lofty language implied.

The debate arguably drew more attention over the scheduling dustup between Markey and Kennedy, with Markey pressing hard for an early debate on his signature issue and Kennedy choosing not to show, pushing for a series of debates in the new year.

At the John W. McCormack Graduate School, we see one of our fundamental roles as convening public civic discussions that are at the very core of our democracy  elections," Dean David Cash said in a statement. "We hope these debates will help voters make the best possible choices.

The candidates in December also agreed to a Feb. 18 debate hosted by WGBH.

Markey, 73, was a Congressman for three decades before winning his Senate seat in a special election after John Kerry became Secretary of State under President Barack Obama. He has focused his campaign on a track record of advancing progressive causes along with bipartisan legislation on infrastructure, telecommunications and combating the opioid crisis. Hes garnered support from several major Democrats, his commonwealth colleague and presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren and his progressive Green New Deal partner, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

Kennedy, a 39-year-old prosecutor in his fourth term serving the states 4th District, entered the primary in September with a lead in multiple polls and strong fundraising chops. The grandson of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and grand nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, the congressman has pushed against the notion of waiting his turn and campaigned on health care, mental health, climate change, inequality and civil rights. Kennedy, who delivered the Democratic response to Trumps 2018 State of the Union address, has called the fight against the president the fight of my generation.

Liss-Riordan, 50, a longtime labor attorney whose high-profile lawsuits against Uber and Lyft have led to major multi-million dollar settlements, announced her challenge to Markey in May. She says her experience fighting for workers rights is whats needed to bring about tangible change, including a federal minimum wage, axing the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers and drawing clearer lines between who is an employee and whos an independent contractor. She also wants to address issues such as income inequality, racial justice and criminal justice reform.

Businessman and author Steve Pemberton left the race in October, asserting a campaign finance system bolstered by state and federal party bosses" hampered his bid.
A Tribute to a Living Legend: Civil Rights Icon John Lewis

Millions adore Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) for his selfless and lifelong dedication to civil and equal rights.

Some idolize Lewis like a rock star, while most revere him as an icon.

It is why presidents, politicians, members of Congress, and everyday people have taken time this week to pay tribute to the 79-year-old, 17-term congressman, who announced that hes battling Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

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If theres one thing I love about Rep. John Lewis, its his incomparable will to fight, former President Barack Obama wrote on his official Twitter account.

I know hes got a lot more of that left in him. Praying for you, my friend, Obama stated.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and former Tallahassee, Fla., Mayor Andrew Gillum, counted among the masses to send their prayers and heartfelt support to Lewis via social media.

John Lewis is a giant  an icon of the civil rights movement, a leader in Congress and one of the kindest people I know, Rep. Omar tweeted. Im praying for a speedy and full recovery. We need you making good trouble in the halls of Congress, she wrote.

Lewis is an American hero and one of the bravest people I know, Gillum stated. It was the honor of my life to get into good trouble with him on the campaign trail.

Dr. Charles Steele, Jr., the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said the group is praying that Lewis remains strong, vigilant, and relentless in his battle.

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There is no civil rights warrior more dedicated to the cause than John Lewis, Steele stated. I know he will wage this battle head-on.

Members of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the trade association of black-owned newspapers across the country, also offered their support for Lewis.

Rep. John Lewis is a profound leader, humanitarian and civil rights icon who has made his mark on American history and has fought for the rights of all people, especially African Americans in this country, stated NNPA Chair and Houston Forward Times Publisher Karen Carter Richards.

I am extremely confident and prayerful that Rep. Lewis will fight this battle of being diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer in the same way he has fought and been an example of strength for others his entire life. Praying for a speedy recovery, Richards stated.

NNPA President and CEO, Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., called Lewis a fearless voice and advocate for freedom, justice, and equality both in the halls of the U.S. Congress and in the streets of America.

John Lewis epitomizes what it means to be a courageous freedom fighter for more than six decades in America and throughout the world, Chavis stated.

The Black Press of America salutes the tireless sacrifices and triumphant ideals that the Honorable John Lewis represents today as we go into 2020, he added.

The re-enactment of the full Voting Rights Act should be named The John Lewis 2020 Voting Act that he has worked so diligently to see fulfilled for Black Americans and all others who cry out for equality, Chavis concluded.

Lewis said hes not looking to give up his work.

I have decided to do what I know to do and do what I have always done: I am going to fight it and keep fighting for the Beloved Community, Lewis wrote in a statement.

We still have many bridges to cross, he stated.

Born in Troy, Alabama, on February 21, 1940, Lewis and his family were poverty-stricken, but it didnt stop him from rising among the ranks of Americas most prominent leaders.

He became involved in the Civil Rights Movement while still a student at the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tenn., where he joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

Just shy of his 20th birthday in 1960, Lewis was the man behind the successful sit-in movement at segregated lunch counters in Nashville. In 1961, he volunteered to become a member of the Freedom Riders and put his life on the line several times while fighting for equality.

As chairman of the SNCC, a position he served from 1963 to 1965, Lewis earned recognition as one of the Big Six of the Civil Rights Movement along with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., A. Phillip Randolph, Whitney Young, James Farmer, and Roy Wilkins.

The group met with President John F. Kennedy to discuss the planning of the March on Washington.

In 1963, at just 23, Lewis served as a keynote speaker during the march.

In 1964, he helped coordinate and organized the successful Mississippi Freedom Summer.

In 1965, Lewis and fellow activist Hosea Williams led what was planned as a peaceful 54-mile march through Alabama from Selma to Montgomery. The march, a protest of the discriminatory practices and Jim Crow laws that prevented African Americans from voting, would be remembered in history as Bloody Sunday, one of the most dramatic and violent incidents of the American Civil Rights Movement.

The publicity surrounding Bloody Sunday and the subsequent march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, led President Lyndon Johnson to push for the Voting Rights Act, passed by Congress on August 6, 1965, according to Lewis biography on The HistoryMakers.

Lewis was elected to his first governmental office in 1981, serving as an Atlanta City Council member until 1986. He was then elected to represent Georgias 5th Congressional District.

John Lewis has spent his life bravely out front and center, challenging racism, entrenched systems and evil policies that support power and privilege for some as it oppresses others, stated NNPA Treasurer and New Journal & Guide Publisher Brenda Andrews.

He has helped change the laws and heart of the Jim Crow nation into which he was born, making us all a better people. My prayers for his recovery are with him as he confronts this very personal battle, Andrews stated.

Bobby Henry, the publisher of the Westside Gazette Newspaper in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., recalled his first meeting with Lewis, which occurred more than 20 years ago.

I met him with [former Florida Democratic] Congressman Alcee Hastings, and Rep. Lewis presented me with his autographed book, Walking with the Wind,' Henry recalled.

I asked him about his preaching to his chickens, which he wrote about in his book, and he responded with laughter and said, they were the only ones who would sit still and listen to me. I would imagine that Congressman Lewis would approach his illness as he did in a story from his childhood where he and his family were home during a violent windstorm, Henry stated.

The winds were pulling the house up from the ground, and they marched from one corner of the house to the other to hold the house down to keep it from being blown away. With the same courage, Im sure Rep. Lewis will approach his situation.
New York, New York, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ten students from the Photography, Documentary Filmmaking, and Cinematography departments at New York Film Academy (NYFA) had the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to Peru by Mater Iniciativa, the biological and cultural research center behind Central Restaurante, the flagship restaurant of Peruvian chef Virgilio Martinez Veliz, which integrates indigenous Peruvian ingredients into the menu based on actual altitudes in the landscape of the South American nation.



NYFA was invited to Peru to celebrate indigenous cultures of the region and document them through photography and both long and short-form documentaries. The trip lasted 12 days and gave the NYFA students the value of expedition while also placing them in a professional setting to practice and demonstrate their skills in visual storytelling. By working side by side with the indigenous cultures of the region, these students proved themselves as burgeoning thought leaders who could tell the stories of others in compelling, ruminative ways.



The students were joined by NYFA-NY Chair of Photography David Mager, NYFA-NY Chair of Short-term Intensive Programs Jonathan Whittaker, and NYFA-NY Chair of Documentary Filmmaking Andrea Swift. We were very lucky to find people like David, Jonathan, and Andrea to guide us and share in our excitement for the project and rejoice in an immersive experience, said Diogo Miranda, the trip leader in Peru.



The students that attended were Jessica Antania Trisno, Sheetal Prashant Upare, Francisca Andrea Ilabaca Paredes, Estelle Piezzoli, Nivetha Selvakkumar, Maria Elena Trajtenberg, Marco Ricci, Guntae Song, Beth Ribeiro, and Karoline Iversen.



The journey allowed these students the opportunity to learn all the ways the restaurant is collaborating with the community and implementing sustainable farming practices while bringing wares to a much larger, global market. Mater Iniciativa is committed to paying homage to Peruvian and Andean culture while merging the old with the new; revitalizing the Peruvian landscape and incorporating ingredients such as cacao and undiscovered flora and botanicals. NYFA students covered all aspects of the initiative, from clay workshops to salt mines, and visiting cacao farmers and potato farmers.



Mater Iniciativa and their representative, Diogo Miranda, was thrilled to have NYFA students see these cultures up close. We had a complex story to tell, which is why we needed NYFA to come in and tell our story for us in the best way possible as we break boundaries, he stated. Our partnership with NYFA was great and we hope this was just the beginning and that we can collaborate further in the many years to come.



The students were thrilled to participate in such a monumental life opportunity. Exploring Peru with the Mil and Mater team was unbelievable, declared Beth Ribeiro, a 1-Year Cinematography student. There was a great amount of learning in terms of teamwork, delivering to a client, and the style of documentary film in general. Andrea was a brilliant director--I learned so much from her, and David was an incredible producer. I was thrilled to have gone.



Francisca Andrea Ilabaca, a student in the Spring 2019 1-Year Photography program agreed. The trip was an amazing experience. Not only did we get to work with a great team of really passionate people but we also got to visit Peru in a completely different way while making an interesting documentary.



Mater Iniciativa was equally enthusiastic about the student artists. The NYFA students were fantastic, super energetic, added Miranda. Its an adventure and they were adventurous despite the disadvantages. They were respectful and it was wonderful to have them here.



New York Film Academy looks forward to continuing to build a relationship with Mater Iniciativa to help foster and nurture the voices of the next generation of visual storytellers.





About New York Film Academy

New York Film Academy (NYFA) is a leading visual and performing arts school that offers hands-on intensive programs across 15 areas of study in New York City, Los Angeles, South Beach/Miami, Gold Coast (Australia), Florence (Italy), and more. Thousands of aspiring artists come to study at the New York Film Academy each year from over 120 countries. For more information, please visit nyfa.edu.

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The British steel industry has suffered another blow today after Liberty Steel announced that it would cut hundreds of steel jobs in South Yorkshire and Newport, Wales.

More than 280 workers at three Yorkshire steel plants and more than 70 workers in Newport will be made redundant.

The steel giant blames 'challenging market conditions' and poor demand on its decision to reduce up to 355 jobs at the four plants.

A steelworker at Liberty Steel's mill in Newport (above). 72 workers at the firm's Newport plant are set to be dismissed, along with more than 280 other Liberty Steel employees in Yorkshire

Politicians whose constituencies are affected by the statement called on the UK government to ramp up support for the British steel industry, which has been beset by financial worries and job losses in recent years.

John Griffiths AM, who represents Newport in the Welsh Assembly, said: 'This is even more frustrating news for the steel sector in Newport following the mothballing of Orb by Tata.

'It is now more vital than ever that we see decisive action from the UK government to support our steel industry.

'This new Tory Government must act quickly to secure a steel sector deal and I will continue to call for effective action to protect jobs, communities and the British steel industry for years to come.'

Last month, Tata Steel declared that it would mothball its Orb plant and would have otherwise required a 50million investment to make it competitive.

Liberty Steel's parent company GFG Alliance, have written that a new company, GFG Workforce Solutions, will be set up to help workers retain a role within the parent company. Others will be offered voluntary redundancy.

Ms Phillips tweeted: 'More terrible news for the UK steel industry, which the govt has consistently failed to stand up for. My heart goes out to all those who stand to lose their jobs. If we are to stop lurching from one crisis to the next, the govt need to back British steel'

The overwhelming majority of redundancies will take place at the Stockbridge plant, where 250 people are expected to lose their jobs. Its Rotherham plant will see 17 losses, and Brinsworth will cut 15 employees. 72 workers in Newport are also set to be dismissed.

Liberty Steel UK's CEO Cornelius Louwrens said: 'Liberty has taken enormous strides in improving the performance of the steel mills it has acquired over the last six years. We've re-started mothballed plants and demonstrated a commitment to invest in the UK.

'Unfortunately, the steel industry in the UK is facing challenging conditions and we have made the difficult decision that there is a need to reduce the workforce at a handful of locations, in order to make them sustainable for the long-term.

'It has always been our intention, and always will be, to avoid compulsory redundancies.

'Therefore the creation of the GFG Workforce Solutions now offers those impacted the security of ongoing employment as an alternative.'

Consultations are set to take place with trade unions over the proposed job cuts.

The future of the UK steel industry has been repeatedly put in doubt over recent years as there are worries a proposed rescue deal of troubled steelmaker British Steel by Chinese conglomerate Jingye may fall through.

Should the takeover of British Steel by Chinese conglomerate Jingye go ahead, 4,000 employees at its Scunthorpe steel plant (above) could hold onto their jobs

Reports in the last 24 hours though suggest the two companies are close to making an agreement. Two quangos in Hebei province in China have given approval to the acquisition according to reports in the Financial Times.

Should the takeover go ahead, 4,000 employees in Scunthorpe and 20,000 workers in the supply chain could hold onto their jobs.

Labour leadership candidates Rebecca Long-Bailey and Jess Phillips both called on the government to step in and save steel jobs.

Ms Phillips tweeted: 'More terrible news for the UK steel industry, which the govt has consistently failed to stand up for.

'My heart goes out to all those who stand to lose their jobs. If we are to stop lurching from one crisis to the next, the govt need to back British steel.'

Shadow frontbencher Ms Long-Bailey wrote: 'Extremely concerning that Liberty steel is set to axe hundreds of jobs.

'We need Government to urgently step in to save this industry & implement a comprehensive steel strategy. Otherwise it will be families & working class communities that pay the price.'

In 2016, the steel industry employed 32,000 people in the UK, including those involved in steel processing. Its economic output was worth 1.6billion and it employs most of its workers in the Wales and Yorkshire & Humber regions, the two regions which are affected by the Liberty Steel job losses.

Back in early 1970s, the industry employed 371,000 individuals. But cheaper imports from countries like China and higher wage costs caused hundreds of thousands of job losses over the following four decades.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused Kazakhstan of "improperly" prosecuting two ethnic Kazakhs for crossing the border from China as they seek asylum in the former Soviet republic.

In a January 9 statement, HRW also called on the Kazakh authorities not to forcibly return Qaster Musakhanuly and Murager Alimuly, who were fleeing ill-treatment in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang.

"The government should immediately drop charges of illegal border crossing, halt these proceedings, and guarantee that these men will not be sent back to China as long as their refugee claims are pending," said Laura Mills, Europe and Central Asia researcher at HRW.

"Kazakhstan can take this opportunity to demonstrate that, unlike in the past, it is a country that upholds its international legal obligations, respects refugee rights, and won't return people to risk of torture," she added.

Musakhanuly, 30, and Alimuly, 25, crossed the Chinese-Kazakh border in October. They went on trial on January 6 in the remote eastern town of Zaisan, near the Chinese border.

The defendants have told the court that if returned to China, they would be sent to so-called "reeducation camps," where they will most likely face torture.

The judge abruptly adjourned the hearing until January 21 just two hours after its start, although dozens of witnesses and supporters had traveled there to testify on behalf of the two defendants.

In August 2018, the United Nations said an estimated 1 million Uyghurs and members of other mostly Muslim indigenous ethnic groups in Xinjiang were being held in "counterextremism centers."

The UN said millions more had been forced into reeducation camps. China denies that the facilities are internment camps.

In August 2018, a court in the Almaty region refused to extradite Sairagul Sauytbay, an ethnic Kazakh Chinese citizen who was wanted in China on the same charges of illegal border crossing.

Sauytbay fled China in April and testified in a court in Kazakhstan that thousands of ethnic Kazakhs, Uyghurs, and other Muslims in Xinjiang were undergoing "political indoctrination" at a network of camps.

She testified that Chinese authorities had forced her to train "political ideology" instructors for reeducation camps, giving her access to secret documents about what she called a state program to "reeducate" Muslims from indigenous ethnic communities.

Although she was not extradited to China, Kazakh authorities did not allow Sauytbay to stay in Kazakhstan. She later was granted asylum in Sweden.

Kazakhs are the second-largest Turkic-speaking indigenous community in Xinjiang after Uyghurs. The region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui, also known as Dungans. Han, China's largest ethnicity, are the second-largest community in Xinjiang.
WASHINGTON  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she would send the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate "soon."

The Republican-led Senate awaits the articles so it can begin a trial on whether to remove Trump from office. Removal would require a two-thirds vote of the senators.

But Pelosi has delayed sending the articles, which accuse Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, since the House approved them Dec. 18. She said she wants to know more about how the Senate would conduct its trial before naming the lawmakers to serve as managers. Pelosi reiterated this condition Thursday.

No, Im not holding them indefinitely," said Pelosi, D-Calif. "Ill send them over when Im ready. That will probably be soon."

The delay has tested the patience of some Senate Democrats, who began urging Pelosi to send the articles.

I think if were going to do it, we should do it, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

We want to see what theyre willing to do and the manner in which theyll do it," Pelosi said. They dont want documents, the documentation. They dont want witnesses. They may want a dismissal, which is proof that they cannot  cannot  clear the president of wrongdoing."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi presides over Articles of Impeachment in Washington on Dec. 18, 2019.

Part of the impasse has focused on whether the Senate would hear from witnesses who didn't testify in the House inquiry. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday that no decision would be made on witnesses until after opening statements from House managers and White House defense lawyers, and the submission of written questions from senators.

McConnell quoted Feinstein's concerns on the Senate floor Thursday and said Trump deserved a chance to clear his name.

"If it's serious and urgent, send them over," McConnell said, quoting Feinstein. "If it isn't, don't."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., introduced a resolution Thursday urging Pelosi to transmit the articles immediately and calling the delay a gross infringement on the constitutional authority of the Senate to try impeachment.

Story continues

"What the Speaker has been doing is inconsistent with the Constitution and unfair to the president and the American people," Graham said.

While Republicans blasted the delay as a political game, Democrats said it allowed time for former national security adviser John Bolton, who declined an invitation to testify in the House, to announce Monday he would testify in the Senate trial if subpoenaed.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has called for four witnesses, including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

The House accused Trump of abusing the power of his office by asking Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, withholding a White House meeting and $391 million in military aid. The House also accused Trump of obstructing Congress by directing aides and agencies to defy subpoenas for documents and testimony, although some officials did testify.

Trump and congressional Republicans have argued he had the authority to set foreign policy and was justified in fighting corruption in Ukraine. Trump has said he expects to be exonerated in the Senate trial.

Contributing: Christal Hayes

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Articles of impeachment: Pelosi says she'll send them to Senate 'soon'
A Travelex currency exchange at Manchester airport, Britain. Photo: Phil Noble/Reuters

People who buy travel money from Travelex or high street banks have been told to be on alert for scams, as hackers continue to hold Travelex to ransom.

Consumer group Which? said customers should watch out for unusual activity on their banking apps after the hack of currency broker Travelex. The hack has affected at least 14 UK banks that rely on Travelex for travel money services.

Travelex customers are understandably concerned that their data might have been compromised after seeing reports that the hackers behind the attack have stolen their data, Kate Bevan, Which?s computing editor, said in a statement.

Its important that anyone whos used Travelex services  including via other banks  keeps a close eye on their accounts for any signs of suspicious activity.

Travelex insists no personal data has been breached.

To date our investigations show that customer data has not been compromised, the company said in a statement on Twitter on Wednesday.

READ MORE: Banks disrupted as Travelex hit by virus

However, the alleged hackers told the BBC they had accessed 5GB of data, including dates of birth, credit card numbers, and national insurance numbers. The hackers are demanding $6m (4.5m), according to the BBC.

Travelex said on 2 January it had discovered a virus on its computer systems on New Years Eve and immediately took its systems offline in response. Computers have remained down ever since and staff have resorted to using pen and paper in its branches.

The Information Commissions Office (ICO) said on Wednesday it had not been notified of any data breach by Travelex. Companies are required by law to notify the ICO within 72 hours if customer data is compromised.

We are in contact with Travelex and giving advice on potential personal data issues following the recent ransomware attack, the company has not reported a data breach, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Royal Bank of Scotland said Thursday it has been advised there's been no breach of customer data. We are monitoring this closely with them and we will provide an update if this changes.

Story continues

Bevan said customers should still be wary of scammers trying to take advantage of the situation by posing as Travelex or banks.

Consumers should be wary of attempts by opportunistic fraudsters to exploit the breach by using fake Travelex social accounts, websites, emails and text messages offering support to try and trick people into handing over personal information or bank details, she said.

The Metropolitan Police and the National Crime Agency are both investigating the incident.

READ MORE: Police called in as hackers hold Travelex to ransom
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday launched his government's flagship programme 'Amma Vodi' scheme meant to support lakhs of poor and needy mothers to educate their children.

Marking the launch, Reddy pressed a button on a laptop to credit an annual financial assistance to the tune of Rs 15,000 each into the accounts of around 43 lakh mothers for the benefit of 82 lakh children in the state.

Addressing a well-attended gathering in Chittoor, about 70 kms from here, Reddy said Rs 6,318 crore has today been released for the benefit of around 43 lakh mothers, under the scheme, to educate their 82 lakh children in the state this year.

The Amma Vodi scheme is a first of its kind in the country to bring about historical changes in the system of the state of AP, he noted.

He also said his government was determined to revamp infrastructure in the government educational institutions and as part of it with an allocated budget of Rs 14,000 crore, it would take-up modernisation works in 45,000 government schools, 471 Junior colleges, 148 degree colleges and hostels in a phased manner.

He announced that English was going to be medium of instruction from class 1 to class 6 in all government schools from this academic year and accordingly it would be extended annually to take class 10 board in English medium in 4 years.

By spending about Rs 360 crore, the mid day meal scheme being implemented in government's schools was also going to be redecorated with a better menu, enhancing the quality of food with modification daily, he said.

The Chief Minister also declared free reimbursement to all SC, ST, BC, EBC, Kapu, Differently Abled, Minority and economically poor students pursuing degree, post graduation, polytechnic and engineering courses in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Littering is not cool, even toddlers know that. And a little boy gave that lesson to an adult in China.

A one-year-old Chinese boy saw a motorist littering the road with a plastic bottle and the little one picked up the bottle thrown on the pavement by the driver and handed it back to him through the car window.

A video of the incident was made by the toddlers mom, and it's now going viral.

Douyin

However, according to the toddlers mother, there is a possibility that the little one thought that the bottle had fallen out of the hand of the driver by mistake and went to hand it back to him.

Internet users in China are unanimously praising the child and urging adults to learn from the toddler.

The little boys name is Sun Jiarui and he lives in the city of Jining in eastern China's Shandong Province.

Jing Lulu, the toddlers mom reportedly has a habit of filming her son learning to walk, whenever they go out and she filmed this by chance

Talking about the incident Jing told Daily Mail, That day, he probably thought the bottle had fallen from the car by accident. He is a very simple child. If he sees other people drop stuff, he always helps to pick up. He is only one year and three months old and probably doesn't have a strong sense of environmental protection, but his action taught the driver a lesson.

Douyin

One is never too old to learn, never to young to teach.




Mamata Banerjee upset after not being allowed to speak during PMs meet

Missionaries of Charity itself requested SBI to freeze all bank accounts: Govt

Mamata Banerjee on PM Modi's virtual hospital launch: We inaugurated it last year

'Will fight CAA, NRC alone': Mamata Banerjee to skip Opposition meet on Jan 13

India

oi-Deepika S

Kolkata, Jan 09: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to skip the 'Opposition meet' scheduled at Parliament House in New Delhi on January 13.

Mamata Banerjee said she has decided to fight the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) alone, accusing the "CPM and Congress of dirty politics in Bengal".

'Will hear CAA petitions once violence stops', says CJI Bobde

"CPM and Congress are resorting to hooliganism in Bengal. They are indulged in violent activities in Malda and are responsible for torching the vehicles," Mamata Banerjee said while speaking at the Bengal Assembly.

Sonia Gandhi has called a meeting of opposition parties, including the Left, to discuss the situation arising out of violence on various university campuses and protests in the country over the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Weather Alert

SUB-ZERO WIND CHILLS LATE TONIGHT INTO TUESDAY MORNING Wind chills of near 0 to 10 below zero are likely late tonight into Tuesday morning. This will be from temperatures around 5 to 10 degrees across the interior areas combined with northwest winds of around 10 to 15 mph. For coastal areas, this will be from temperatures around 10 degrees combined with northwest winds of around 15 to 20 mph. If you need to be outside, be prepared for the wind and cold, and dress in layers and wear a hat, heavy coat, as well as gloves or mittens. Frostbite can occur in a short amount of time, so dress in layers and make sure all exposed skin is protected.
Chicago Tribune, Wednesday, January 8, 2020 8:43 PM

The city of Chicago has set up cannabis amnesty boxes at O'Hare and Midway airports where travelers can drop weed instead of taking it on a plane. The boxes were installed at each airport just as legal weed sales began in Illinois on Jan. 1. The police arent targeting travelers with cannabis, and its not illegal to have it at the airport, according to the Chicago Tribune. But possessing marijuana is still illegal under federal law, and air space is regulated by the federal government.

Read the whole story at Chicago Tribune 
[January 09, 2020] Matinas BioPharma Announces Proposed Public Offering of Common Stock

BEDMINSTER, N.J., Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Matinas BioPharma Holdings, Inc. (Matinas BioPharma or the Company) -- (NYSE AMER: MTNB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of its common stock. In connection with the offering, Matinas BioPharma intends to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the shares of its common stock offered in the public offering. All of the shares to be sold in the offering are to be sold by Matinas BioPharma.

Piper Sandler & Co. is acting as the sole lead active bookrunner for the offering. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey is also acting as a bookrunner for the offering. Matinas BioPharma anticipates using the net proceeds from the offering for ongoing development activities for its product candidates, primarily MAT9001, and for working capital and other general corporate purposes. A shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-217106) relating to the public offering of the shares of common stock described above was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) on April 12, 2017. The offering will be made only by means of a written prospectus and prospectus supplement that form a part of the registration statement. Before you invest, you should read the prospectus and prospectus supplement for more complete information about Matinas BioPharma and this offering. An electronic copy of the preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying base prospectus relating to the offering, when filed, will be available on the SECs website at www.sec.gov and may also be obtained, when available, by contacting Piper Sandler & Co., 800 Nicollet Mall, J12S03, Minneapolis, MN, 55402, Attention: Prospectus Department, by telephone at (800) 747-3924 or by email at [email protected] This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to by these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction.



About Matinas BioPharma Matinas BioPharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on development of its lead product candidate, MAT9001, for the treatment of cardiovascular and metabolic conditions. MAT9001 is a prescription-only omega-3 fatty acid-based composition, comprised primarily of EPA and DPA, under development for hypertriglyceridemia, that was specifically designed to overcome the shortcomings seen from other agents in the omega-3 class. Company leadership has a deep history and knowledge of cardiovascular drug development and is supported by a world-class team of scientific advisors.

In addition, the Company is developing MAT2203, an oral, encochleated formulation of amphotericin B, to treat serious invasive fungal infections. The drug is based on the Companys proprietary lipid nano-crystal (LNC) platform technology which can help solve complex challenges relating to the safe and effective delivery of potent medicines, potentially making them more targeted, less toxic and orally bioavailable. Forward Looking Statements: This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the completion, timing and size of its public offering and the anticipated use of proceeds. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "could," "believes," "estimates" and similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, our ability to obtain additional capital to meet our liquidity needs on acceptable terms, or at all, including the additional capital which will be necessary to complete the clinical trials of our product candidates; our ability to successfully complete research and further development and commercialization of our product candidates; the uncertainties inherent in clinical testing; the timing, cost and uncertainty of obtaining regulatory approvals; our ability to protect the Company's intellectual property; the loss of any executive officers or key personnel or consultants; competition; changes in the regulatory landscape or the imposition of regulations that affect the Company's products; and the other factors listed under "Risk Factors" in our filings with the SEC, including Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. Except as may be required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to such forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Investor and Media Contact Peter Vozzo

Westwicke

443-213-0505

[email protected] Ian Cooney

Director  Investor Relations & Corporate Development

Matinas Biopharma, Inc.

(415) 722-4563

[email protected] Source: Matinas BioPharma Holdings, Inc.

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U.S. President Donald Trump (C) delivers a statement at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, Jan. 8, 2020. Donald Trump said on Wednesday that no U.S. casualties have resulted from Iran's missiles attack against U.S. forces in Iraq on Tuesday, adding that the United States would impose additional sanctions against Tehran. (Xinhua/Hu Yousong)

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that no U.S. casualties have resulted from Iran's missiles attack against U.S. forces in Iraq on Tuesday, adding that the United States would impose additional sanctions against Tehran.

"No Americans were harmed in last night's attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties," Trump said in a televised White House address after Iran launched ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops in retaliation for the U.S. killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

Trump noted in the remarks that "Iran appears to be standing down," calling it "a good thing" for all parties concerned.

"The United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime. These powerful sanctions will remain until Iran changes its behavior," he added.

The U.S. president also highlighted the military strength of his country, which he suggested as the "best deterrent" and "does not mean we have to use it." He said he would ask NATO to become more involved in the Middle East.

In the meantime, Trump hinted at potential cooperation between Washington and Tehran. "The destruction of ISIS (the Islamic State) is good for Iran, and we should work together on this and other shared priorities," he said at the conclusion of the speech.

The Pentagon on Tuesday confirmed that Iran had launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against at least two military bases housing the U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) had claimed responsibility for the missile attacks, saying that they were meant to retaliate the U.S. killing of Soleimani.
Researchers have found people on the brink of release from a prison sentence have lost any sense of being connected to the outside world and, as a result, become prejudiced towards wider society.

Seeing the outside world as this 'other' makes it more difficult to reintegrate and be rehabilitated, but new research has found a simple, structured conversation in the days leading up to a prisoner being released could dramatically turn their attitude and sense of belonging around.

Evangelos Mitrokostas, Visiting Fellow at the University of Portsmouth said; "For many prisoners, being incarcerated means losing more than physical freedom. It appears to also take a criminal's sense of belonging to wider society, making it doubly difficult for them to join back in or even want to, once released.

Our research looked at the rehabilitation and social behaviour of prisoners and found that inmates who were asked to reflect on their time in prison were significantly more likely to experience positive rehabilitation and social reintegration after their release."

The study was conducted in two prisons, a low and a high security facility in Chania, Greece. Researchers performed a comprehensive analysis of inmate's behaviour by asking them to take part in three tests.

This series of experiments was based on questionnaires and simple games that saw the prisoners split into two groups. Prisoners in one group were then asked to reflect on their time in prison, described by researchers as a priming intervention. The other group was not.

Evangelos explained: "Prisoners in the priming group were asked to contemplate their time spent in jail and how it had affected them. The idea behind this intervention was that inmates were driven to think about rehabilitation - the purpose of imprisonment. They often then expressed a desire or a commitment to become 'better persons' through decisions made in the experimental tests."

The results showed a strong increase in the inmates' trust and reciprocity towards those outside prison as a result of the priming intervention. Although priming had no significant effect on trust towards other inmates, it almost tripled the percentage of prisoners who trusted the outside world.

The experiments also revealed that prisoners exhibited some degree of discrimination in their behaviour. Those inmates who were not asked to reflect on their time in prison were significantly less reciprocal and less cooperative towards people outside the prison.

These findings suggest that a simple low-cost intervention based on encouraging prison inmates to reflect on their incarceration may be an effective tool to promote rehabilitation into society. This intervention could easily be integrated into counselling sessions routinely offered to prisoners by trained psychologists or social workers.

Evangelos is calling on policy makers to look again at how prisoners are rehabilitated. He said: "I believe that our findings can be very useful to policy makers who are in charge of evaluating the impact of incarceration on social behaviour and successful return to society. A simple conversation could significantly strengthen a prisoner's sense of identity and improve their chances of positive cultural reintegration."

###
(Alliance News) - Vaalco Energy Inc on Thursday said it is "very pleased" with the performance of a well offshore Gabon since coming online.

Vaalco said the Etame 11H development well has been completed, finding 860 metres of horizontal section in the Gamba reservoir. It was brought into production earlier January.

Houston-based Vaalco said Etame 11H has produced at an initial rate of 5,200 gross barrels of oil a day, beating expectations, with 1,400 barrels net to Vaalco.

This has increased Vaalco's total production to around 5,900 barrels a day net. In the last quarter of 2019, it averaged 3,664 barrels a day net, with 3,476 barrels a day net over 2019.

The net exit production rate for 2109 was 4,800 barrels a day, which includes the Etame 4H and 9H wells which came online in December but does not include 11H.

"We are very pleased with the successful results of the second development well in our 2019 to 2020 drilling campaign that was drilled and completed on schedule and within budget," commented Chief Executive Cary Bounds.

"The high-quality reservoir we encountered in both the Etame 9H and Etame 11H wells has yielded two significant new producing wells and validated our strategy to undertake this program."

"Our 2019 to 2020 drilling program is certainly delivering on its objectives through the enhancement of production and we continue to be encouraged by the recent strengthening of oil prices which bodes well for us given our predominantly fixed cost base at Etame," Bounds continued.

"As a result, we are optimistic about our outlook for 2020 and remain focused on executing on our strategic plan and delivering continued positive operational results."

Vaalco shares were untraded in London on Thursday, last quoted at 182.50 pence each.

By George Collard; georgecollard@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2019 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Queensland's fire service head has reiterated hazard reduction burning is only one tool in the approach to addressing the growing bushfire risk amid criticism burn targets for the past four years had not been met.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services commissioner Greg Leach said the window for hazard-reduction burns was shortening in Queensland and around the country, making it "more and more difficult" to achieve a targeted number of burns.

A December bushfire at Millmerran, south-west of Toowoomba, was one of a number of blazes which threatened communities in Queensland this fire season. Credit:QFES - Facebook

"Our fire season kicked off in July this year, which is unprecedented, and by August we were into significant fires across Queensland," he said. "The challenge we've got is that our seasons are changing."

Commissioner Leach said it was "highly likely" the next fire season would see even drier conditions and a burning program "significantly impeded" due to weather.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren announced that the state administration has recommended dropping the charges slapped against 3,000 people for taking part in a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Wasseypur area on Tuesday.

"Laws are not made to frighten and silence the people but to instil a feeling of safety in the public. My government will work towards being the voice of the people. We have recommended taking back the cases registered against 3,000 people and also asked for action against the concerned official", Soren said in a tweet.

"Meanwhile, I also urge the people of that it is their state and abiding the law and order is their duty," he added which sharing pictures of the letter asking for action against the official and dropping the case.

The cases against 7 named and 3,000 unnamed accused were registered in Wasseypur, Dhanbad for taking out an anti-CAA protest march on Tuesday night without permission.
Ahead of Republic Day, the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on Thursday arrested three men, who were inspired by global terror organisation ISIS and were planning a terror strike in the National Capital Region (NCR) or Uttar Pradesh, officials said.

The three men were arrested following an exchange of fire in the city's Wazirabad area, they added.

They were identified as Khaja Moideen (52), Abdul Samad (28) and Syed Ali Nawaz (32), all residents of Tamil Nadu, police said.

Two of them were on conditional bail in the sensational murder case of KP Suresh Kumar, a Hindu Munnani leader, they added.

The three men arrived in Delhi from Tamil Nadu via Nepal with a design to carry out a terror strike in the NCR or Uttar Pradesh, the police said, adding that afterwards, they had a plan to flee to Nepal and further to Pakistan.

"We received information that the three men had arrived in Delhi from Nepal, taken a room on rent and also procured arms and ammunition. A trap was laid near the Wazirabad Bridge and they were apprehended from the spot after a brief exchange of fire early Thursday morning," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said.

A preliminary interrogation revealed that Moideen had links with the ISIS. After being released on conditional bail in the murder case of KP Suresh Kumar, he had chalked out a detailed plan to revive the terror outfit's network in India through his associates, he added.

Moideen held several closed-door meetings at his various hideouts to indoctrinate youngsters and make them pledge their allegiance to the ISIS, the officer said, adding that they were being guided by a foreign-based handler.

Moideen, along with his associates Syed Ali Nawaz, Abdul Samad, Abdul Shameem, Thowfiq and Jaffar Ali, had decided to abscond from their respective places simultaneously. Initially, they had divided themselves into two groups of three persons each, the DCP said.

Moideen, Nawaz and Samad went to Kathmandu in Nepal after illegally crossing the border with the help of fake documents. After setting up a base in the neighbouring country, they came to Delhi through the Indo-Nepal border, the police said.

Their hideout and weapons in Delhi were arranged by the foreign-based handler through one of his contacts here, they added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Jerusalem (AFP) - Anti-Semitism is best fought with "fear" of a future tragedy, the head of the European Jewish Congress said ahead of events to commemorate the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.

"When we speak about what was the reason for the war, how to make peace, how to avoid a future war, we have to have in mind one strong instrument: our fear," said Moshe Kantor, founder of the World Holocaust Forum.

"Leaders and populations, Jews and non-Jews, should be very much afraid of tragedy," he told AFP in an interview.

Leaders and dignitaries from 40 countries -- including Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and Britain's Prince Charles -- are set to travel to Jerusalem later this month to mark 75 years since prisoners were freed from the Nazi extermination camp.

The gathering seeks not only to remember the Holocaust and the killing of more than one million Jews at Auschwitz during World War II, but to unite leaders in the fight against anti-Semitism.

"The story should be frightening because mankind shall be frightened," said Kantor, adding that the fact the world now has weapons of mass destruction made it "more dangerous than in the 1930s".

- 'Anti-Semitism crisis ' -

Recalling the horrors of the death camp in then Nazi-occupied Poland is vital to avoid further atrocities, Kantor told AFP on Monday.

"The story should be frightening," said the Russian-Israeli billionaire.

The idea to organise the first in a series of events to remember the Holocaust came to Kantor 16 years ago when, he said, anti-Semitism was latent but still appeared like a "microscopic" problem.

Kantor blamed the 2008 financial crisis for sparking a new "crisis of anti-Semitism", because it hit the middle class hard, widened the wealth gap and gave rise to various types of political extremism.

"The middle class is very much polarised... either very poor or very rich, so they are not delivering the function of social stabiliser," said Kantor.

Story continues

France, home to Europe's biggest Jewish community, in 2018 saw a 74 percent rise in the number of anti-Jewish offences reported to police compared with the previous year.

Kantor said such attacks were one reason for Jews opting to emigrate to Israel or other countries.

Tel Aviv University's Kantor Center said in 2018 there was a 13 percent rise globally in the number of "major violent cases" against Jews.

The Jewish population could "disappear completely as a people in Europe" for the first time in thousands of years, Kantor warned.

- Political problems -

The January 23 commemoration in Jerusalem is set to focus on remembering Holocaust victims and combatting anti-Semitism, but it will not be divorced from current political events.

Foreign leaders will have to decide whether to hold bilateral meetings with Netanyahu, just weeks ahead of Israel's election in which the veteran premier is a candidate.

Confirmed guests include German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, while the United States is yet to announce who will attend the event at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre.

In a significant blow for organisers, Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday pulled out in protest at not being allowed to make a speech at the service.

Poland is in a bitter dispute with Russia, after Putin accused the country of having colluded with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and of having acted in an anti-Semitic way at the dawn of the devastating conflict.

Duda said denying him the opportunity to publicly honour Polish citizens who perished in the Holocaust was tantamount to a "distortion of the historical truth".

For the moment, the key speeches will be delivered by Russia, Israel, France, the United States and the United Kingdom.
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State-owned MTNL on Thursday said that it has received shareholders' approval for raising up to Rs 6,500 crore through issuance of non-convertible debentures as well as for monetisation of land and buildings.

During the extraordinary general meeting of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) which was held on Wednesday, 99.89 votes were cast in favour of the issuance of "guaranteed, unsecured, listed, redeemable non-convertible debentures in the nature of bonds (NCDs), in one or more series/tranches, aggregating up to Rs 6,500 crore on private placement basis," MTNL said in a filing to BSE.

The company further said that majority votes were cast in favour of the monetisation of land and buildings as specified/ identified by its board in line with the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) guidelines and as per revival plan of the company approved by the Union Cabinet recently.

It added that majority votes were polled in favour of monetisation of towers and fiber assets including leasing, after considering the market conditions with an aim to maximise returns as per the revival plan of the company, and non-convertible redeemable non-cumulative preference shares on a private placement basis to the government towards payment of 4G spectrum cost.

The government had earlier approved a Rs 69,000-crore revival package for BSNL and MTNL that included merging the two loss-making firms, monetising their assets and giving voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to employees so that the combined entity turns profitable in two years.

The companies have already announced VRS schemes. As per official estimates, 78,569 employees of BSNL and 14,387 employees of MTNL have opted for VRS.
U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar. Photo: Michael Brochstein/Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

During a press conference on Wednesday, Ilhan Omar had the audacity to suggest that the psychological effects of fleeing war and spending several years living in a refugee camp as a child continued to affect her into adulthood. The Minneapolis Democrat  who inspires a visceral fury in her Republican colleagues matched perhaps only by that toward Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez  greeted news of President Trumps intensifying antagonism toward Iran, highlighted by a Friday drone strike that killed the countrys top military official, Qasem Soleimani, by saying, I feel ill a little bit because of everything that is taking place, and I think every time I hear of conversations around war, I find myself being stricken with PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder is what its name suggests: a psychological affliction stemming from trauma  whether caused by enduring war, sexual violence, or other such instigators of extreme stress and shock  and often characterized by loss of sleep and vivid recall of the traumatic experience. Its not an unexpected reaction to the kind of circumstances that marked Omars early life  which included an exodus from war-torn Somalia at the age of 8 and four years living in a Kenya refugee camp before immigrating to the United States.

So it was with willful disregard for the actual range of PTSD experiences that one of Omars Republican colleagues, Representative Jim Banks of Indiana, derided her remarks on the basis that they were offensive to U.S. military veterans. Rep. Ilhan Omar complained shes stricken with PTSD because of recent events in the Middle East, Banks tweeted on Wednesday. This is a disgrace and offensive to our nations veterans who really do have PTSD after putting their life on the line to keep America safe. Aghast Twitter users flooded the representatives mentions to correct him, but Banks has little genuine interest in whether Omar really has post-traumatic stress from her time as a war refugee. He has only a dogged commitment, shared by his Republican compatriots, to smearing Omar at any given opportunity as un-American and hostile to U.S. national-security interests. This allows him to cast a fairly uncontroversial claim from a person who fled war as compelling evidence that she doesnt respect members of the military and wishes to minimize their pain  a claim equally in keeping with past GOP efforts to characterize Omar as a virulent anti-Semite and terrorist sympathizer.

These broadsides are at least partly attributable to the deep-seated Islamophobia thats been an undercurrent of national politics for years, and informs the Republican Partys specific national-security mandates  in the form of the Trump White Houses efforts to bar Muslim entry to the U.S.  and its antipathy toward Omar and, to a somewhat less strident degree, her lone fellow Muslim woman in Congress, Detroits Rashida Tlaib. But Its also consistent with the GOPs overarching instinct to hoard claims of victimhood. Surveys regularly demonstrate the extent to which white Republicans in particular  who comprise about 83 percent of the partys base  believe discrimination against white Americans is comparable to that facing black people and Latinos. Republican members of Congress have recently co-opted the imagery of civil-rights protest to convey false optics of victimization, staging sit-ins and protests over the impeachment hearings on Capitol Hill to portray themselves as beleaguered guardians of executive integrity faced with a Democratic onslaught. President Trump and his allies routinely claim to be victims of all-out partisan warfare and political witch hunts. All belie that white Americans still constitute the majority of the countrys population and control all of its most powerful political, cultural, and financial institutions, and that Republicans control the White House, the Senate, a majority of state legislatures, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Its no surprise, then, that Bankss notion of who might or might not have PTSD would be limited to people to whom hes broadly sympathetic at the expense of one toward whom hes opportunistically hostile. After all, if too many Americans have legitimate claims to such suffering, then the balance of who is considered worthy of extra political consideration  not to mention a tacit obligation from voters and legislators to deliver them justice  inevitably disfavors white people and Republicans. This is not an uncommon human impulse, but its achieved the status of a governing principle for the GOP. A similar understanding anchors the partys rhetoric around who constitutes the real America or American people  namely white people, and particularly white people who vote Republican and dont live on the coasts. In this light, the veracity of seemingly objective claims to suffering  like that of a war refugee  becomes dependent on the ideological leanings of those calling the shots. Bankss was a hysterical reaction to Omars remarks about Trumps provocations toward Iran. But it reflected, with perfect fidelity, his partys long-running conception of who matters in America, and who does not.
Deluge of meat imports set to surface (illustration photo)

From January 1, tariff barriers on the remaining goods under the agreement (ATIGA) are being relieved. Accordingly, fresh meat, including pork, chicken, and products made from these meats will be traded within the ASEAN region with zero import tax.

Meanwhile, in early December, the United States proposed that Vietnam cut tariffs on some import goods for consumption, including the aforementioned meats. In particular, the US asked to reduce tax on meat and poultry products from 20 per cent to 14.5 per cent in 2020 and zero in 2028, while fresh or chilled pork will be down from 25 to 18.9 per cent in 2020, with plans to scrap the tax altogether in 2027.

In response to the request, the Ministry of Finance intends to reduce import tax rates on chicken meat and its frozen products from 20 to 18 per cent. For pork, the tax rate will be adjusted from 25 per cent to 22 per cent, approaching the rate cut in 2019 under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership of 21.6 per cent, as the most-favoured-nation tariff does not have the rate of 21 per cent.

Expressing worries about the movements impact, economist Dinh Trong Thinh said that right now the Vietnamese products are less competitive than their American counterparts. If Vietnam cuts the tariff, this would put pressure on its livestock industry.

Some farmers could go bankrupt if cheap US products are imported to Vietnam on a large scale, thus affecting economic security, Thinh said.

Thinh also said that the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia, while committing to remove tariff barriers within the frame of the ATIGA, have still applied necessary measures to protect their sugar industry.

They have installed technical barriers like regulations, licences, and fees to control the penetration of sugar imports from the ASEAN into domestic markets, he added.

Meanwhile, Do Hoang Long, development and sales manager of Japfa Comfeed Vietnam told VIR that he is not afraid of competition, but increasing the amount of imported meat will lead to the risk of spreading disease and cause an imbalance between supply and demand, leading to lower prices.

According to Long, the issue is important, particularly when in Vietnam there is no exact market forecast, the role of associations is weak, and farmers and enterprises try to cope with diseases by themselves.

The latest data from the Import and Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) shows that in November, the volume of imported pork reached more than 15,000 tonnes with a turnover of $15.9 million, up 164 per cent in volume and 113 per cent in turnover compared to the same period last year.

Overall, in the first 11 months of 2019, Vietnams pork imports reached more than 111,000 tonnes with a turnover of $124 million, an increase of 108 per cent in volume and 97 per cent in turnover over the same period in 2018.

In the first 11 months, the average import price of this commodity was $1,117 per tonne, equivalent to about VND26,000 (around $1.10) per kg. After adding a number of taxes, including import tax, 5 per cent value added tax, costs, import procedures, cold storage, the meat was eventually priced at about VND35,000 ($1.50) per kg.

However, currently, import prices have tended to increase compared to previous months due to increasing demand. Pork imported from countries to Vietnam is currently subject to the most-favoured-nation tax with frozen meat at 10 per cent, while fresh and chilled meat is 25 per cent. For countries that have free trade agreements with Vietnam such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Russia, and Mexico, import tax stands at about 3 to 21 per cent.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has signed bilateral agreements on animal quarantine and technology with 19 countries, with a total of 1,641 foreign enterprises allowed to export pork and pork products. Meanwhile, Vietnam has about 140 enterprises permitted to import pork from other nations.

According to the MoIT, up to the end of the first quarter in 2020, Vietnam will import 100,000 tonnes of pork to both guarantee supply and stabilise the price.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Chairman Senate observed that Turkmenistan is an important country for Pakistan. He said that Gwadar provides shortest route for trade and economic activities to the landlocked central Asian states especially Turkmenistan

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 09th January, 2020) Chairman Senate observed that Turkmenistan is an important country for Pakistan. He said that Gwadar provides shortest route for trade and economic activities to the landlocked central Asian states especially Turkmenistan.He emphasized the need for boosting cooperation in trade, transport, industry, agriculture and other sectors by activating the relevant platforms and sincere efforts need to be made to strengthen economic cooperation.He proposed that Pakistan Turkmenistan joint governmental commission should be convened to hold meeting as early as possible.

Chairman Senate said that this platform can play a robust role in opening up new avenues for cooperation in diverse sectors.

Chairman Senate also emphasized the need for direct air links between the two countries and said that Turkmenistan can benefit from the aviation policy of Pakistan.

Chairman Senate while highlighting the significance of parliamentary linkages said that institutional cooperation and exchange of delegations at parliamentary level would help in bringing people of the two sides closer and contribute towards strengthening bilateral relations.

During the meeting Chairman Senate also conveyed his well wishes to the President of Parliament of Turkmenistan.
A group of 15 foreign envoys based in New Delhi, including the US ambassador to India, began a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday. This represents only the second high-profile foreign delegation to visit the region since the revocation of Article 370 last August. The Centres aim in inviting them is to let them judge for themselves its claim of normalcy having been restored.

The last visit by a foreign delegation, of members of European Parliament back in October, did not work out well, and this is a chance for New Delhi to make amends. But then, Kashmir has been wracked by terrorism for so long that what constitutes normalcy" there is hard to assess. Perhaps a comparison with the state of affairs before the regions autonomy was withdrawn would help. Information is scarce, but we do know that much of the Valley is under what one would call a cyber curfew", with internet services having been cut off since August. Also, the states top leaders remain in detention. While allowing diplomats in is clearly a positive sign, it would aid Indias cause to let Kashmiris get back online. The world is waiting to hear from them on social media.

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A Belfast man has hit out at mental health provisions in Northern Ireland after waiting 25 hours for an assessment for his brother to get him admitted to a facility.

Ryan Tinsley (24) had to stay by his brother's side throughout the night until a mental health team were available to assess him.

His 27-year-old brother Christopher - who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia - was eventually admitted to the City Hospital mental health facility on Sunday evening.

However, a sofa in the lounge was the only place for him to stay until a bed became available on Wednesday.

Mr Tinsley, who is from the Shankill area of the city, said he has always known Christopher to suffer his condition for almost his entire life.

"In the past four years, he's been admitted [to a mental health facility] six times," he said.

"This is the second time he's admitted himself but the other four times he's had to be arrested to be admitted."

When his brother has an episode, Mr Tinsley said his family go to the hospital where they wait for the call-out crisis team to carry out an assessment on Christopher.

"They tell you to wait there but he can't wait there because of the crowds, he runs out the door. Many times we've been sitting in A&E and he just bolts," he continued.

"He doesn't answer his phone and you don't know where he is or what he's doing. When he's in an episode, he doesn't know who he is and he doesn't know who we are."

Mr Tinsley welcomed new baby girl Harley on Friday and said when his brother had an episode on Saturday, he was forced to go out and look for him.

"The baby was in an incubator. I spent from Saturday morning sitting in the hospital and I come home thinking if he's in an episode, I have to get to him," he said.

"I had to run over and look for him, finally got him on the phone and he told me that there are people trying to get him. I told him, there's no one out to get you. He starts telling me, you're out to get me. It's very hard."

Ryan said the Tinsley family - he, his other two brothers, and mother Kelly - always know when Christopher is about to have an episode.

"If you see my brother walking about, his head never stays still. He's always looking over his shoulder. When he gets to a corner he creeps around it like he's looking for someone.

"It happens two or three days before. That's the start of the episode - people out to get him, everyone's talking about him."

On Saturday, Mr Tinsley said he found his brother in someone else's back garden, after which he called for emergency assistance only to be told he faced a 25-hour wait.

"I told them I was here by myself with my other half in hospital with our newborn. If he wakes up and attacks me, he can overpower me at this point," he said.

"He's attacked family members, he's self-harmed himself during these episodes. It's been going on so long now."

Mr Tinsley said he has nothing but praise for staff who have helped his brother during his previous episodes and for the new secure facilities at Belfast City hospital.

But he said patients should not need a new assessment every time there is a call for help when they've been admitted numerous times in the past.

He said Christopher needs a longer stay in a facility to help him deal with his condition.

"He'll be let out in four weeks and I can guarantee by the end of the year, he'll be back in. I know it sounds bad but I think he should be in a facility for six months or a year," he said.

A Belfast Trust spokesperson said that, while they cannot comment on individual cases, they strive to ensure every patient is treated with "compassion and sensitivity".

"While it can be an anxious time for patients and their relatives, it is necessary to complete a mental health assessment, to ascertain if admission to an acute inpatient facility is the most appropriate plan for the person," the spokesperson added.

"Belfast Trust sympathises with members of the public who experience long delays waiting on a bed becoming available, and we apologise for the delay on this occasion."
SCHENECTADY - Newly sworn-in Councilman John Polimeni popped to his feet to enthusiastically endorse and then cast the fourth and decisive vote for his friend John Mootooveren to become the new Council president earlier this week.

In doing so, he touted Mootooveren - the first person of Guyanese heritage to hold the high-profile post - and the diversity of the seven-member governing body with its four women and two colored - people of color.

Polimeni told the Times Union Wednesday that he said, color, not colored.

Still, there was an audible gasp at his slip, widely considered pejorative, from some in the audience assembled Monday evening at City Hall for the reorganization meeting and Mayor Gary McCarthys State of the City speech.

An online YouTube video of the ceremony captures an incredulous looking Councilwoman Leesa Perazzo in the background glancing in the direction of Councilwoman Marion Porterfield, who is black, and an African-American man standing just inside the door walked out of the room in apparent disgust.

Polimeni, a college professor and sophomore council member, told the Times Union Wednesday that he said color, not colored, and insisted it was a verbal gaffe.

My brain was working faster than my mouth  it happens to me a lot - I was trying to say people of color, he said, adding the issue is being politicized. My goodness, that is not my heart and thats not who I am.

Polimeni said he is not a racist, pointing out that he has students in his class from all walks of life. He said he didnt think anything of the remarks until someone at an afterparty brought it to his attention that he almost made a big mistake.

The term person of color or persons of color is primarily used in the United States to describe any person who is not considered white.

Porterfield, who lost out Monday in her bid to become Council president, said she was offended by what Polimeni said.

It shows the insensitivity of this individual to people of color especially in this day and age, and if youre going to be in politics, at least try to be politically correct,  she said.

Porterfield, a maverick Democrat, said Wednesday she had not spoken with Polimeni about the remark.

Neither McCarthy nor Councilwoman Karen Zalewski Wildzunas returned a call Wednesday seeking comment.

Dick Naylor, former chairman of the Schenectady city Democratic committee, who was at Mondays gathering, said he took a little gulp when he heard Polimeni utter the term "colored people."

I dont think it was purposeful or something in his belief system, he said, adding that Polimeni has helped recruit people of color for the Democrats. I think it was a mistake, I dont think he meant anything by it, and Ive never heard him say that before.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Odo Butler, president of the Schenectady NAACP, who attended the reorganization meeting, said the statement caught him off guard.

He said the issue will be among the topics of conversation at Thursdays group meeting. Polimeni countered that most of the people chiding him for the comment are all tied to Porterfield and the Schenectady chapter of the NAACP.

Perazzo said Thursday that she thinks Polimeni just misspoke.

When you think someone is going to say what I thought he was going to say before he corrected himself, its certainly worthy of a reaction, she said of her reaction.

On Thursday, Mootooveren chalked up Polimenis comment to nothing more than a flub, noting that he corrected himself immediately.

Unfortunately Mr. Polimeni spoke too fast and jumbled a few words, even his vote that evening, he wrote, adding the blunder, might have given some people the wrong impression, but that his words were not intentional.

Angelicia Morris, executive director of the county Human Rights Commission, who was also at the reorganization meeting, said Thursday she was stunned by Polimenis comments.

In this day and age, 'colored people,' thats another terminology for the word that was used back in the late '60s during the civil rights movement, during slavery, added Morris.
by Wayne Friedman , January 9, 2020

LAS VEGAS --- As its wireless competitors have done recently with non-owned premium OTT platforms, AT&T will bundle its forthcoming owned-HBO Max service in packages for its wireless customers.

Speaking at the Citi 2020 Global TMT West Conference on Wednesday during the Consumer Electronics Show, John Stephens, senior executive vp/chief financial officer of AT&T, said:

I kind of look at my competitors on the wireless side and see one of them bundling Netflix [T-Mobile] and you see another one bundling Disney [Verizon] and I get that... I actually smile because it reinforces our thought processes on HBO Max.

Unlike T-Mobile and Verizon, of course, AT&T owns both a premium TV digital service, HBO Max (through its WarnerMedia unit) and broadband/mobile services.

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For some time now, T-Mobile has been offering free Netflix to its broadband/wireless customers who have two or more mobile lines. Verizon recently struck a promotion deal in November in offering a free initial year of Disney+ to its customers. The latter helped Disney+ launch with 10 million-plus subscribers.

Stephens said: We'll have HBO Max coming out, and we'll have tremendous packages for our wireless customers to bundle with those, but did not provide details.

AT&T has said it is making an initial TV/movie content production investment of $1.5 billion to $2 billion for HBO Max.

AT&T has already said it will offer HBO Max to around 10 million existing HBO subscribers on AT&T distribution platforms at no additional charge. HBO Max launches in May 2020 at $14.99 a month.
Boris Johnson

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Boris Johnson's Brexit legislation has been backed by Members of Parliament by 330 votes to 231.

It marks a historic moment in the Brexit process ahead of the UK's scheduled departure from the EU on January 31.

Theresa May failed repeatedly to pass her Withdrawal Agreement with the EU through the House of Commons.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Boris Johnson's Brexit bill has passed through its final stage in the House of Commons, clearing the path for Britain to leave the EU at the end of January.

With a 80-strong majority, Johnson's government raced the Withdrawal Agreement Bill through all three of its stages in the Commons in just three days.

The legislation will now head to the House of Lords next week where it will be scrutinised by peers.

The bill's speedy passage through parliament represents a stark contrast to its fortunes in the last parliament, where it was rejected three times under Theresa May's premiership.

It is ultimately expected to pass through all stages and receive Royal Assent before entering the statute books by 31 January, when the UK is scheduled to leave the EU.

The legislation could face a somewhat more difficult passage through the Lords, where the government has no majority.

In particular, the prime minister could face opposition from Labour and Liberal Democrat peers who want the government to reinstate a guarantee designed to guarantee that child refugees should be allowed to reunite with their families in the UK.

The prime minister's decision to scrap the amendment, introduced by Labour peer Lord Alfred Dubs, was heavily criticised by opposition MPs.

Alf Dubs, the Labour peer who successfully campaigned for the amendment to be added to the EU Withdrawal Bill in 2016, said it was a "very depressing" outcome.

"It is very disappointing that the first real act of the new Boris Johnson government is to kick these children in the teeth. It is a betrayal of Britain's humanitarian tradition and will leave children who are very vulnerable existing in danger in northern France and in the Greek islands," he said.

Downing Street insisted after the vote that it was committed to protecting the rights of child refugees.

Read the original article on Business Insider
High-performance, long-lasting energy storage devices are crucially important for many future-oriented technologies: e.g. for electromobility, for mobile end devices such as tablets and smartphones as well as for the efficient use of energy from renewable sources. Dr. Daniel Mutter from the Fraunhofer IWM was able to clarify what the chemical composition of solid ceramic electrolytes should be in order to ensure good performance in lithium-ion batteries. Such solid electrolytes are more environmentally friendly than traditional liquid electrolytes and could make lithium-ion batteries significantly safer and more efficient.

The idea that solid ceramic electrolytes could be a highly promising alternative to traditional liquid electrolytes in batteries and accumulators is not something new in material science, explains Dr. Daniel Mutter, a scientist from the Materials Modeling group at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials (IWM) in Freiburg. Compared to traditional liquid electrolytes, solid electrolytes are safer during ongoing operation: they pose a much lower risk of explosion and, in the event of damage  e.g. due to a crash  there is no release of acid, which may otherwise cause burns and poisoning.

Suitable chemical compounds for solid electrolytes discovered

In general, the ionic conductivity of ceramic materials is lower than that of liquid electrolytes. However, the class of so-called NZP ceramics promises a high degree of ionic conductivity: their structural organization enables the existence of migration paths along which lithium ions can easily travel. This makes them an interesting candidate for high-performance solid electrolytes in lithium-ion batteries.

However, what remained unclear until now was why certain compounds are more efficient than others and what compounds actually perform particularly well. The requirements for the material properties of battery electrolytes are stringent: their ionic conductivity must be high and the chemical elements used must be both non-toxic and abundantly available in the earths crust.

Dr. Mutter used atomistic simulations to identify several combinations of chemical elements for NZP ceramics that are particularly promising in view of these requirements. This computer-based research enables us to make definitive statements on the properties and stability of various chemical compounds without actually having to synthesize these compounds in a lab, explains the researcher. The benefit: the actual synthesis is expensive and requires resources. He performed the simulations at the mainframe of the Steinbuch Supercomputer Center of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

Shorter charging times and longer Operation

We can potentially combine these particularly promising solid ceramic electrolytes with very efficient lithium-metal anodes  which is not possible with the liquid electrolytes in use today, because these react violently with metallic lithium and damage the battery in the process, explains Dr. Mutter. In the next step, we could conduct practical tests with our partners to verify whether our predicted electrolyte materials increase the ionic conductivity as significantly as expected, and whether batteries using these electrolytes are able to achieve a much higher energy and power density, says the physicist. More specifically, this would mean: shorter charging times combined with longer operation, which would be particularly beneficial for electromobility. In addition, this configuration would also mean reduced battery weight, since lithium-metal anodes are significantly lighter for the same capacity than the previously used graphite anodes.

Lighter batteries made with elements that are abundantly found

The chemical elements that make up the electrolyte materials researched by Dr. Mutter are abundantly available in the earths crust in Europe and, by comparison, readily degradable. This eliminates the need for certain elements like cobalt, which is used in the lithium-ion batteries of smartphones and is often imported from the Congo.

Beyond predicting highly promising material compositions, Dr. Mutters research contributes towards improving our understanding of the atomic processes in NZP ceramics. He was able to establish that the migration energy necessary for lithium ion migration depends on the oxygen environment around the ion migration path in a different way than previously thought. The identified structure-property relationships enable us to make significantly more substantiated predictions about the effects of fundamental element allocations on the structural framework as well as the ionic conductivity of NZP ceramics.
Irfan Nahampun, a journalist working for local online media Lintangnews.com, received a phone call on December 29 from JP, also known as Nando, a suspected drug dealer that he was investigating. In the conversation, the suspect accused Irfan of reporting his crime to the police. By that time, the journalist was conducting a media investigation on drug-trafficking in the area.



During the call, Irfan asked the suspect to calm down and meet to talk about the issue, an offer that was rejected. Not long after, the suspect came to Irfans house and attacked and strangled him. He also repeatedly threatened to end his life.



Irfans mother, who was also at home, was injured during the fight and had to be rushed to a hospital. Police arrested the suspect and began investigations on December 30.



The AJI condemned the assault, emphasising the right of journalists to work freely, a right entrenched in the Indonesian Press Law. The AJI demands the police to guarantee the safety of Irfan and his family and urges Lintangnews.com media to give him assistance.



IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: It is crucial to deliver justice to Irfan and his family. Journalists must work in a safe environment and not fear threats when reporting. We wish Irfan and his family a rapid recovery.
In his annual address to members of the diplomatic corps at the beginning of the new year, Pope Francis says the heightening of tensions between Iran and the United States risks compromising the gradual process of rebuilding in Iraq, as well as setting the groundwork for a vaster conflict.

By Christopher Wells

Latest... (updated at 11:32)

Pope Francis focused on the virtue of hope in his annual greetings to members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. Hope, he said, is an essential virtue for Christians, to inspire our way of approaching the times that lie ahead.



Noting that peace and integral human development are the principal aim of the Holy See in its involvement in the field of diplomacy, the Popes speech focused heavily on calls for dialogue and for concerted international action on various issues facing the world today.

Apostolic Visits an opportunity for dialogue

The Pontiff recalled his numerous Apostolic Visits over the course of the past year, beginning with the journey to Panama for World Youth Day. It is always a joy and a great opportunity to meet young people, he said. They are the future and hope of our societies. He acknowledged the grave crimes committed against young people by adults, including members of the clergy, and noted that, with the Meeting for the Protection of Minors in the Church, the Holy See has renewed its commitment to bring to light abuses already committed and to ensure the protection of minors.

He highlighted the need for adults to assume their proper educational responsibilities, and noted the upcoming event on Reinventing the Global Compact on Religion. The Pope likewise said that the epochal change we are now experiencing calls for the creation of an educational village for forming human relationships, while noting the primary right of families to educate, and of churches and communities to assist them in the task.

Combatting climate change

In the context of being open to dialogue with young people, and listening to their concerns, the Pope raised the issue of climate change, with calls for ecological conversion on the part of all. He lamented the lack of commitment of the international community in addressing the challenges facing our common home. Ecology was an important theme of the Synod on the Amazon, the Pope said, which was primarily an ecclesial event.

Pope Francis also highlighted the proliferation of political crises in countries in the Americas, mentioning Venezuela in particular. Although rooted in diverse causes, these crises, he said, are linked by inequality, injustice, corruption and poverty. It is necessary, he said, to establish a culture of dialogue to respond to those issues.

Mutual understanding and peaceful coexistance

On his second journey in 2019, Pope Francis travelled to the United Arab Emirates, where he signed the Document on Human Fraternity with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, focused on fostering mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence. He emphasized the need to train future generations in interreligious dialogue.

During his visit to Morocco, the Holy Father signed a joint appeal, with King Muhammed VI, on Jerusalem  a holy city for the worlds three great monotheistic religions, which, the Pope said, should be a symbolic place of peaceful coexistence.

International commitment to peace

The Pope called on the international community to be engaged in the peace process, not only in the Holy Land, but throughout the Mediterranean region and the Middle East. He pointed in particular to the war in Syria, and ongoing conflicts in Yemen and Libya. And in view of the heightened tensions between Iran and the United States, he renewed his appeal that all the interested parties avoid an escalation of the conflict and keep alive the flame of dialogue and self-restraint, in full respect of international law.

Updated

He also encouraged the international community to address the plight of migrants seeking asylum, whose legitimate needs must be identified, while noting once again, how the Mediterranean Sea has become a vast cemetery. The Pope called on world leaders to find lasting solutions to the crisis of forced migration, at the same time praising those countries that have generously sought out ways to share the burden of resettling refugees.

The importance of dialogue and the culture of encounter

Pope Francis also recalled his visits to the Eastern European nations of Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Romania, where he experienced the importance of dialogue and the culture of encounter. He highlighted the importance of dialogue and respect for international law in resolving the frozen conflicts that persist in Europe, taking note of situations in the western Balkans and the southern Caucasus, including Georgia; and encouraging ongoing talks for the reunification of Cyprus. He also expressed his appreciation for efforts to resolve the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine. Dialogue, not arms, is the essential way to resolve disputes, he insisted.

The Pope said the Holy See has followed the European project with great interest from its earliest beginnings, and noted the 50th anniversary of its presence as an observer at the Council of Europe. The Holy See, he said, emphasizes and inclusive process of growth inspired by a spirit of participation and solidarity. Calling to mind the fire at Notre Dame, which showed that even what seems so solid can be fragile and easily destroyed, he cautioned Europe against losing that sense of solidarity that for centuries has set it apart. Pope Francis said the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall reminds us how easy it is to erect barriers. But, he continued, rather than walls of hatred, we prefer bridges of reconciliation and solidarity.

Signs of peace and reconciliation in Africa

The Pontiff was also able to visit Africa in the course of the past year, where he was able to see signs of peace and reconciliation, including an agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Mozambique; security replacing instability in Madagascar; and peaceful coexistence between members of different religions in Mauritius.

However, looking at other parts of the continent, the Pope said, it is painful to witness, particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria, continuing episodes of violence against innocent people, including many Christians persecuted and killed for their fidelity to the Gospel. Here, too, he appealed to the international community to work together, calling on it to work not only to eliminate the scourge of terrorism, but also to implement practical strategies for reducing poverty, improving healthcare, favouring development and humanitarian aid, as well as good governance and civil rights.

Pope Francis spoke of the necessity, as well, of encouraging initiatives to foster fraternity among all local cultural, ethnic, and religious groups, particularly in the Horn of Africa, in Cameroon, and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the face of continuing violence.

Hopes for a visit to South Sudan

He noted, too, the need to address the issue of internal displacement, expressing support for the work of the United Nations High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement. In this regard, Pope Francis said his thoughts turn also to Sudan and the Central African Republic, with the hope that both countries can embrace peace. My thoughts also turn to South Sudan, the Pope said, which I hope to be able to visit in the course of this year.

The Popes final journey in 2019 took him to east Asia, where he visited Thailand with its harmony of various ethnic groups with different philosophies, cultures, religion.

No to nuclear weapons

In Japan, the Holy Father experienced the pain and horror that we human beings are capable of inflicting on one another especially in hearing the voices of survivors of the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. True peace, Pope Francis said, cannot be built on the threat of a possible total annihilation of humanity by nuclear weapons. He repeated a world without nuclear weapons is possible and necessary, and encouraged the work of the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, taking place later this year.

As he concluded his review of his journeys throughout the year, the Pope said he is thinking of a nation he had not had the opportunity to visit: Australia, which has been hard hit by serious wildfires throughout the country. I would like to assure the Australian people, especially the victims and all those in the areas devastated by the fires, of my closeness and my prayers, he said.

Founding principles of UN remain valid

Finally, Pope Francis noted that 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. The Pope insisted that the foundational principles of the organization  the desire for peace, the pursuit of justice, respect for the dignity of the human person, and humanitarian cooperation and assistance  remain valid today, and should form the basis for international relations. Referencing the Encyclical Pacem in terris, by St John XXIII, Pope Francis said, We wish to reaffirm the resolve of the entire human family to work for the common good as a criterion for moral action, and a goal inspiring each country to cooperate in guaranteeing the existence and peaceful security of all others. And he affirmed, too, that human rights are intrinsically grounded in human nature itself. In this context, he said, there is a clear need to move once again towards an overall reform of the multilateral system, beginning with the UN system.

Concluding his remarks, the Pope recalled that this year is the 500th anniversary of the death of the great artist Raphael. Greeting the people of Italy, he expressed his prayerful hope that they might recover the spirit of openness that exemplified the Renaissance.

A special word to women

And noting the 70th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven, the Pope said he wanted to address a special word to all women, 25 years after the Beijing conference on women in 1995. It is my hope, he said, that the invaluable role of women in society may be increasingly acknowledged worldwide, and that all forms of injustice, discrimination, and violence against women come to an end.

Finally, the Holy Father said that the Assumption of Mary also invites us to look ahead to the completion of our earthly journey, to that day when justice and peace will be re-established. And reaffirming his own commitment, and that of the Holy See, to that goal, he renewed his cordial best wishes for a new year rich in hope and in every blessing.

Updated at 11:32.
News Nation has learnt that the first call of distress was received by the fire department at 2:48 am. (Photo Credit: ANI/Twitter)

New Delhi:

A man died in a massive fire that broke out in Delhis Patparganj Industrial Area on Thursday morning. The fire department has confirmed the death of a man. Earlier, there were reports that a man was rescued from the fire but was said to be critical. As many as 32 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. News Nation has learnt that the first call of distress was received by the fire department at 2:48 am. The blaze that started from ground floor a building soon reached the third floor. The building houses a printing factory. The industrial area located in the east Delhi has several car showrooms and other corporate offices.

This is the second such incident of fire in Delhi in last 10 days. Earlier on January 2, a blaze had gutted a battery factory in the Peeragarhi area. A fireman had lost his life while 14 others were rescued.

Anaj Mandi Fire Haunts Delhi

Last year, Delhi witnessed a massive fire in Anaj Mandi area that claimed 43 lives. The Filmistan fire was the worst that the National Capital has witnessed since the Uphaar tragedy that killed 59 people. The tragic incident prompted visit from high-profile politicians, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Union ministers Hardeep Puri and Harsh Vardhan, Lok Sabha MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, Delhi Industry Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari and BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa to the LNJP Hospital.

Almost all the deceased were migrant labourers hailing from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Police and fire department officials said many of the fatalities occurred due to suffocation as the people were sleeping when the fire started at around 5 am on the second floor of the building that did not have fire safety clearance and was packed with combustible material like card boards.

It took over 150 firefighters nearly five hours to douse the blaze. As many as 63 people were pulled out from the building. While 43, including one minor, died, 16 were injured. Two fire department personnel were hurt while carrying out rescue work, officials said.
Andhra Pradeshs 'phased prohibition' policy has had a strange hangover. Sales declined when the government took over retail business last October to implement the policy but people have had to wait longer as they queue up at liquor stores.

Customers are confused when they find unfamiliar brands on the shelves and the ones they know missing, said an onlooker. "Undecided at the first instance, people come back again to join the queue to buy a bottle since the stores are filled with labels they hardly recognise," said Suresh Reddy, a resident of Guntur who has experience in liquor business.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy's has said that he would sacrifice liquor revenuesranging from Rs 18,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore annuallyfor the sake of public good, but phased prohibition appears to prove otherwise.

The government's funds crisis is so severe that it has failed to settle nearly Rs 2,000 crore it owes to liquor and beer suppliers for bills pending since mid-August 2019, according to multiple sources.

Phased prohibition, strange effect



Revenue from liquor and beer sales grew by around 6 percent at Rs 18,320 crore up to December 31, 2019 compared to Rs 17,320 crore in the same period previous year, according to official data. This indicates no revenue sacrifice for now.

"Even the dip in sales revenues registered in the months of September and October were not on account of prohibition but because retailers did not lift the stock as their license term was ending in September. Any remainder of stock will have to be surrendered to the government first and (businesses will have to) wait for the refund for months afterwards, which no one would like to do," said a Vijayawada-based industry association leader.

Liquor volumes (quantity in cases sold) declined 20.63 per cent and beer 12 per cent in April-December 2019, matching the government's claim that the phased prohibition is working. The numbers are a paradox though: sale revenues increased as volumes climbed down, thanks to the increase in liquor prices.

Meddling with the market



failed when it was tried out in undivided Andhra and elsewhere in the country, but chief minister Reddy has said his government would succeed with its gradual prohibition approach. His government seeks to curtail the availability of liquor before completely banning the sale in the last year of its term in 2024.

But industry insiders say that many things that have been happening in the name of the phased prohibition are either not helping the cause or have got nothing to do with the stated objective. Alleged meddling with brands is one of those trends that is no way connected to the stated policy and it is seen where ever governments hold absolute control over retail liquor trade.

After taking over the liquor retail trade, the government opened 3,500 stores--about 20 percent fewer since the last excise year lasting October to September. The government will gradually reduce stores each year till none exist by 2024.

People, however, question the logic in reducing liquor stores in big towns and cities but not touching those in rural areas. "Traveling a couple of more miles in the city to buy a bottle of liquor is not a big deal as every household will at least have a bicycle. How would it help reduce the liquor consumption?" said a liquor industry representative said on condition of anonymity.

Leaving that aside, the pricing and repositioning of mass market categories looks largely responsible for the decline in the sales volume. The only evidence the government can produce to prove the success of the 'phased prohibition' would be a decline in sales volumes each year until the day it entirely stops alcohol sales.

The government, before it implemented phased prohibition, increased the price of lower category liquor (90 ml quantity) to Rs 100 from Rs 80, to Rs 120 from Rs 100 for the category a notch above, and to Rs 140 from Rs 120 for mid-level spirits. The pricing protected, if not increased, liquor revenue.

The lower, or base-category liquor, alone had 40 percent share in overall sales volumes of around 3-3.2 million cases per month followed by the Rs 120 price category liquor with around 35 percent share before the 'phased prohibition was introduced. These two categories roughly commanded 75 percent of the total liquor volumes in the state.

After the new policy, the volumes of lower-category liquor (Rs 100-price point) fell by 50 percent while Rs 120-price category sales increased to 40-50 percent of the total volumes, according to the distillery industry sources. The fall in volume growth has significantly come from the lowest category level.

"There seems to be a conscious attempt to push the customers of lower category liquor to the next price point while pulling the consumers of middle and premium segments to the levels down below them. There is a talk in the government that from April onwards only the Rs 120-price point will be made available at the lower end," a senior official, who heads the operations of a popular mass market liquor brand, told Business Standard on condition of anonymity.

Increasing prices gave the government a problem: smuggling. The cheapest liquor in Telangana costs Rs 85, but in Andhra its Rs 100 MRP or Rs 120 if sold illegally at the doorsteps. This 35-rupee price arbitrage has already encouraged many enterprising individuals to bring liquor from Telangana on bikes and other means to sell and make a living in their neighborhoods, according to a businessman who ran liquor stores for decades till the government stopped giving retail licenses in October last year.

Customers are unhappy at the steep rise in liquor prices and the way the unknown brands are pushed, according to Suresh Reddy.

It was thought that liquor companies had stopped supplies when the government withheld payments but subsequent developments revealed the actual fact.

On November 25, a large brewery unit of the UB Group in Srikakulam was shut down. The reason being that the state-owned AP Beverages Corporation did not place fresh orders for the highly popular King Fisher brand owned by the company for unknown reasons.

Brands owned by international companies, including Diageo, Pernod and Record, disappeared from the shelves in Andhra on December 15.

"(The market) system became vulnerable as soon as the state government took over the retail liquor trade. From December 15, things have gone completely awry. All sorts of deals are being alleged but we still have to verify the facts," said Amrit Kiran Singh, executive chairman of International Spirits and Wines Association of India (ISWAI).

Maharashtra, Kerala and UP have been trying to build liquor revenues through consumption of premium brands, but Andhra is going the other way, says Singh.

According to him, ISWAI member companies would like Andhra to follow an indenting system based on average market share of each brand, so that no particular label is unfairly promoted. This system would ensure that brand market shares would continue to be more or less in line with the market shares that existed in Andhra prior to the state government taking over the retail trade.
(Natural News) Following the decision last week by President Donald Trump to take out Irans top enabler of attacks against Americans over nearly two decades, the regime in Tehran decided to respond to the death of Qassem Soleimani by sending a salvo of ballistic missiles hurtling towards U.S.-occupied military bases in neighboring Iraq.

According to after-action reports in the media and from the Pentagon, the missile salvo  about a dozen or so  did not cause any loss of life, according to a U.S. Coalition spokesman.

The barrage did cause some damage to hangars and structures on the Al-Assad airbase, according to commercial satellite photos shared with NPR. And, of course, Iran still possesses an expansive arsenal of ballistic missiles that it could deploy against U.S. and allied forces at some point in the future, should tensions continue to rise between Tehran and Washington, D.C.

That said, it is important to note how the Iranians may have been able to finance the development and mass production of these missiles  and President Trump provided the answer for the American people this week following the attack, much to the chagrin to Democrats: Barack Obama.

In address to the nation, the president said the missiles used in the attack were paid for by the Obama administration.

The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration, Trump said, referencing $1.7 billion the former president sent to the regime in 2016 to pay an old arbitration claim, ostensibly, in exchange for the release of four Americans held hostage by Tehran.

So not only did Obama help a sworn enemy of our country finance its war-making abilities, he violated a longstanding U.S. policy of never paying for hostages.

There were other ways in which the Obama administration helped Iran finance its missiles and its spread of influence throughout the Middle East by supplying several militant proxy organizations. (Related: The escalation begins: Iran warns Israel will be annihilated in half an hour if the U.S. engages in kinetic attacks.)

Obamas actions may even fund the next Mideast war

To wit:

 As reported by Politico in December 2017, Obama sidelined a top-level, aggressive U.S. federal law enforcement campaign against Iranian proxy Hezbollah that was targeting the militant groups drug trafficking, just so he could secure his bogus nuclear deal.

The operation was code-named Project Cassandra and was launched in 2008 after the Drug Enforcement Administration collected evidence that Hezbollah had grown from a regional Middle Eastern terrorist and political organization into a global crime syndicate that some U.S. investigators say led to $1 billion annually in drug and weapons trafficking, money laundering and other criminal activities.

Having a billion-dollar income allowed the militant group to buy a lot of its own missiles and other weapons, which it regularly uses to threaten Israel as well as American interests in the Middle East.

 As The Wall Street Journal reported in December 2016, Obama and other world leaders may actually be responsible for financing the next Middle East war, thanks to the so-called nuclear deal they made with Iran. The latest windfall tally (at the time) in cash and gold that Tehran had received from around the world amounted to at least $10 billion:

The large shipments of gold and cash, from oil funds unfrozen in numerous countries, represent the kind of financial relief that made Irans leaders eager to complete the international nuclear accord. Some of the cash and gold went to Iran while the U.S. and other world powers negotiated with Tehran on a final nuclear deal. More shipments took place after the final deal went into effect last January.

Several American lawmakers, as well as U.S. allies in the region, said at the time that Iran would use some of the money to fund its own proxies including the Assad regime in Syria, the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, and the Houthi political movement in Yemen.

Barack Obama was the biggest financier of Iranian militancy in decades.

Sources include:

WSJ.com

Politico.com

NPR.com
Prairie Mountain Health will be among the first health regions in Manitoba to take part in what is believed to be the worlds first social impact bond to help people quit smoking.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/1/2020 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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CP Manitoba Health Minister Cameron Friesen speaks to the media in Winnipeg on Wednesday regarding a new smoking cessation program. (The Canadian Press)

Prairie Mountain Health will be among the first health regions in Manitoba to take part in what is believed to be the worlds first social impact bond to help people quit smoking.

"We know that approximately 160,000 Manitobans currently smoke, causing adverse health effects for themselves and those around them," Health, Seniors and Active Living Minister Cameron Friesen said in a news release Wednesday.

"This new social impact bond will help more Manitobans quit smoking and live healthier lives, creating savings for the health system that can be re-invested towards further improvements to care."

In the first year, the program will focus on health regions where smoking rates are highest, including Northern (33 per cent), Interlake-Eastern (23 per cent) and PMH (22 per cent), expanding to the Winnipeg and Southern Health regions over years two and three.

The provincewide smoking rate is 14.5 per cent, which is slightly below the Canadian average of 15.1 per cent.

A social impact bond brings together government, the private sector, not-for-profits and other stakeholders to deliver effective and prevention-focused solutions. Private investment is used to fund the programs initially, and then is repaid if social outcomes and cost savings are realized.

In this case, the Manitoba government will partner with Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmacists Manitoba on a smoking cessation social impact bond, beginning in April.

Shoppers Drug Mart will invest $2 million over the next five years to fund activities around smoking cessation including counselling and nicotine replacement therapies. Research shows these forms of treatment can increase the chances of long-term smoking cessation by up to 40 per cent, which in turn reduces hospital, medication and physician costs.

Anyone over the age of 18 is eligible for assistance and can approach participating pharmacies for an initial assessment.

The goal of the bond is to enroll up to 4,500 smokers over a three-year period based on their readiness to quit and to ensure a minimum of 12 per cent quit smoking with the support of one of more than 500 Manitoba pharmacists trained in smoking cessation. Increasing the number of Manitobans who successfully quit smoking could save the province more than $1 million annually in lower health-care costs, Friesen said.

Success metrics will focus on the number of people who participate in an initial assessment with a trained pharmacist, the number of people who have quit smoking for at least 12 months and the number of people who continue to abstain from nicotine after 24 months. If outcomes are met or exceeded, the company will receive up to $2.12 million.

"The health risks associated with smoking are among the costliest and the most preventable. Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacists are trained to support patients through their journey, providing counsel and different approaches based on individual needs," Shoppers Drug Mart president Jeff Leger said in the news release.

"We are confident in this new collaborative program and our ability to work with patients, the Manitoba government and Pharmacists Manitoba to help make our province healthier."

"Pharmacists work tirelessly every single day to make a difference in patients lives and this is another opportunity to demonstrate the positive contribution our members make to improved health care for Manitoba families," Pawandeep Sidhu, board president for Pharmacists Manitoba, also said in the release. "A social impact bond dedicated to helping people quit smoking will positively impact countless Manitobans and we look forward to partnering with the government to implement the new program."

A 2015 report commissioned by Manitoba Health determined direct smoking-related illnesses cost the provinces health-care system approximately $244 million per year.

This is Manitobas second social impact bond. Last year, the Manitoba government partnered with Southern First Nations Network of Care and Wiijiiidiwag Ikwewag, an Indigenous doula service provider, on a two-year pilot project designed to connect at-risk Indigenous mothers with doulas.

 brobertson@brandonsun.com
Mumbai: Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh fired a salvo at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday by announcing that the state government was open to reinvestigating the case of special CBI judge B.H. Loyas death.

Loya, who was hearing the high-profile Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case  in which now Union home minister Amit Shah was an accused  died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, where he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleagues daughter. Alle-gations of foul play were raised in the wake of his demise.

Our government is open to reinvestigating the Loya case. A few people have asked me for time to present new documents. If fresh evidence is provided, reopening of the case might be considered, Mr Deshmukh said on Thursday. He, however, refused to divulge the names of people who have spoken with him regarding new evidence.

BJP MLA Ashish Shelar criticised Mr Deshmukh for his statement. If the Supreme Court has closed the case, what is the reason for the home minister to make such statements? Is he acting as per the law or are there political intentions behind this? he said.

Mr Deshmukhs statement on Justice Loya came a day after he stated that the case against the woman who had held a Free Kashmir banner at a protest rally would be reviewed, irking the opposition BJP.

So person displaying anti-national poster with video proof & having FIR to get special review says state HM & Supreme Court dismissed Loya case to be reopened, says home minister! Is home minister upholding law or twisting law? At whose behest is he acting? (sic) Mr Shelar tweeted.
His character famously did not survive the sinking of the Titanic in James Cameron's blockbuster movie.

But in real life, Leonardo DiCaprio is being hailed for his part in rescuing a man from drowning while on his Caribbean vacation last month.

A source confirmed to DailyMail.com that the Hollywood star, 45, was on board a boat off the island of St. Barts that successfully located the man after he'd spent 11 hours treading water and pulled him to safety.

Leonardo Di Caprio is pictured in St. Barts on New Year's Eve, hours after helping to rescue a Frenchman who had fallen overboard from a cruise ship and been treading water for 11 hours

The actor, 45, was on vacation in the Caribbean with girlfriend Camila Morrone, 22, and he traditionally sees in the new year on St. Barts enjoying the sun, sea, sand and yacht trips

Interesting: He is seen aboard a boat with girlfriend Camila on December 30 which was reportedly the evening of the dramatic rescue

The dramatic rescue occurred on December 30 when the captain of the boat DiCaprio was on board heard that a Frenchman, 24, had fallen from a cruise ship.

The actor immediately agreed the vessel should divert to aid in the search and after looking for hours in rough water, they spotted the man waving his hands.

The crew was able to pull him from the water just before nightfall as a giant rainstorm moved into the area.

DiCaprio's vessel was the only one looking for the missing man who faced certain death in the middle of the ocean.

In fact, the boat's captain described the successful rescue as a 'one in a billion shot'.

A source confirmed to DailyMail.com that the Hollywood star, 45, was on board a boat off the island of St. Barts that successfully located the man after he'd spent 11 hours treading water and pulled him to safety

The actor immediately agreed the vessel should divert to aid in the search and after looking for hours in rough water, they spotted the man waving his hands

The crew was able to pull him from the water just before nightfall as a giant rainstorm moved into the area

DiCaprio's vessel was the only one looking for the missing man who faced certain death in the middle of the ocean

DiCaprio was on board a boat when the captain heard of the man overboard and immediately agreed they should go search for him. The crew searched for hours in rough water before finally spotting the man in the middle of the ocean and pulling him to safety

Like many celebrities, the star of The Revenant and Inception spent the period between Christmas and New Year soaking up the sun in St. Barts.

He was accompanied on his trip by girlfriend Camila Morrone, 22.

Now one of the top stars in Hollywood, DiCaprio was catapulted to global fame as the tragic Jack Dawson opposite Kate Winslet's Rose in 1997's Titanic.

Following the sinking of the doomed transatlantic liner after it hit an iceberg, Jack sacrificed himself in order to save Rose, refusing to clamber on board a makeshift raft on which she was able to escape the freezing ocean water and subsequently perishing.

At Sunday's Golden Globes in LA, DiCaprio's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood co-star Brad Pitt joked about the classic scene from Titanic.

After accepting the award for best supporting actor for the Quentin Tarantino film, Pitt thanked DiCaprio, calling him 'an all-star' and 'a gent' and adding: 'I wouldnt be here without you, man.'

Pitt then quipped: 'I wouldve shared the raft.'

The Titanic star was back in LA to attend the Golden Globes on Sunday where his Once Upon A Time in Hollywood co-star Brad Pitt joked 'I wouldve shared the raft' in reference to the demise of DiCaprio's character Jack Dawson in the James Cameron blockbuster movie

Following the sinking of the doomed transatlantic liner after it hit an iceberg, Jack sacrificed himself in order to save Kate Winslet's Rose, refusing to clamber on board a makeshift raft on which she was able to escape the freezing ocean water and subsequently perishing

St. Barts is DiCaprio's go to place to see in the new year with friends.

He has been spotted at the upscale resort in past years spending time with BFF's Lukas Haas and Tobey Maguire as well as previous girlfriends like Toni Garrn and Nina Agdal.

Before heading to the Caribbean, DiCaprio and Morrone, who's former stepdad is Al Pacino, enjoyed a ski vacation in another celebrity-friendly resort - Aspen, Colorado.

The couple, who've been linked since 2017, spent their days Christmas shopping and hitting the slopes.

DiCaprio was back in good time though for the official kick-off of the Hollywood awards season that started with Sunday's Golden Globes.

While he didn't win a Golden Globe this time around, he has a slew of awards shows to go to after being nominated for best actor for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood by the Screen Actors Guild, the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the UK's BAFTAs.

He's also almost certain to receive an Academy Award nomination when they are announced this coming Monday.

DiCaprio has been nominated five times for an Oscar winning the trophy in 2016 for The Revenant.

Going strong: DiCaprio and Morrone, pictured in Cannes last May, have been linked since 2017 and enjoyed a snowy ski vacation in Aspen, Colorado, before heading to St. Barts
Whether youre into the classic Chinese New Year goodies or looking for unique snacks this Lunar New Year, our list of treats are great for offering guests during house visits or for gifting family, friends and professional associates.





This year, the variety of goodies is vast from traditional bak kwa and pineapple tarts to snacks with local-flavoured twists including abalone, salted egg yolk, and mala. So, celebrate the year of the rat with these yummy Chinese New Year snacks!

Symbolising good fortune and wealth, the delicacy, abalone, comes to you in the form of an irresistible snack this lunar new year. Its time to Huat with Abalone Macadamia Nuts - a perfect local twist to the snack for Chinese New Year. Rich and crunchy macadamia nuts from Australia are roasted, and a naturally buttery and salty abalone seasoning blend is dusted onto the nuts for a flavourful umami twist.

If youre a fan of abalone, youll be snacking on this treat all through the Lunar New Year. The abalone flavour comprises shrimp and codfish seasoning. If youre not a fan of abalone, try their other flavoured nuts such as wasabi, honey and salted. Nibbles also offers freeze dried fruits such as durian, mangosteen and pineapple.

Use the code "nibbles" for 20% off with free shipping for orders above S$100 (valid till 20 January 2020) on the Nibbles e-store or head down to the Chinese New Year 2020 Bazaar @ Chinatown 46 Temple St till 24 Jan from 11am-1pm.

Chinese New Year 2020: Goodies and Snacks to Enjoy This Lunar New Year





Mala, salted egg and chilli crab are just some of the local flavoured snacks offered by Crustys; stock up on these yummy Chinese New Year goodies. Their range of snacks includes potato chips, crispy fish skin and popcorn; even bubble tea flavoured popcorn!

Only top quality ingredients and spices, 100% free from preservatives are used and the snacks are freshly prepared from their local factory in Singapore. You can find these delectable snacks this Lunar New Year at their store in Chinatown, Golden Village cinemas, Cheers, NTUC Fairprice and all major gas stations in Singapore.

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Chinese New Year 2020: Goodies and Snacks to Enjoy This Lunar New Year

BreadTalk Group celebrates the Chinese New Year by offering some delicious snacks to welcome the year of the rat. This Lunar New Year, BreadTalk Group has specially put together some of their best known and must-have Chinese New Year goodies such as BreadTalks newly launch festive buns and cake, a classic box of Chinese New Year cookies from Toast Box, and the all-time favourite Tau Sar Piah from Thye Moh Chan.

Chinese New Year 2020: Goodies and Snacks to Enjoy This Lunar New Year

From the brothers behind Singaporean-flavoured Snacks & Crisps, comes a new gourmet snack perfect for this Lunar New Year - Aroma Truffle chips. Handpicked Black Summer truffles from Spoleto, Italy are flown into Singapore and glazed onto the chips which are then tossed in olive oil. Truffle bits and other secret spices and herbs such as parsley, dill, garlic and sea salt are then grated on to the snack. Two other flavours, Honey Dijon and Parmesan Cheese, are offered as well as a Black Truffle Hot Sauce which can be used to elevate any dish at your Chinese New Year reunions.

Chinese New Year 2020: Goodies and Snacks to Enjoy This Lunar New Year





100% handcrafted Chinese New Year delicacies from Simple Indulgence Patisserie include melt-in-your-mouth Salted Egg Pineapple Tarts made with fresh bits of pineapples. These Lunar New Year goodies are less sweet and even have a gluten-free version. You can also opt for egg-free treats such as Chocolate Almond Cookies, Coffee Walnut Cookies, and Double Cheese Shortbread that pair perfectly well with a cuppa coffee or tea.

Chinese New Year 2020: Goodies and Snacks to Enjoy This Lunar New Year





Feast better with premium meats and gourmet bak kwa from Ryans Grocery this Lunar New Year. Made with hormone- and antibiotics-free Borrowdale Carbon Neutral Free Range Pork, Ryans Spicy Bak Kwa is a delightful Chinese New Year treat seasoned with spices and chilli oil that give a kick; the jerky contains no additives, preservatives and food colouring. The all-natural Ryans Premium Bak Kwa is produced with a brand-new recipe that uses 60% less sugar and salt.

Chinese New Year 2020: Goodies and Snacks to Enjoy This Lunar New Year

King of Melon Seeds has grown to become a household name in Singapore renowned for their premium range of melon seeds, groundnuts and a wide range of Chinese New Year goodies. If you are planning to stock up on a lot of snacks this Lunar New Year, King of Melon Seeds offers affordable tidbits including prawn crackers, tom yum cashew nuts, pandan or coconut kueh bangkit, love letters, dried mango and many more.

Chinese New Year 2020: Goodies and Snacks to Enjoy This Lunar New Year





Usher in a prosperous Lunar New Year with Antoinettes sweet and savoury goodies from the Chinese New Year 2020 collection. The range features cakes and fresh bakes as well as cookies, meringues, biscuits, chips and chocolates. Glamour things up with Antoinettes Chinese New Year hampers and gift boxes such as the Bisou Gift Box which comes in the auspicious colour of rich burgundy red velvet. A few highlights amongst the snacks include Candied Yam Chips, Traditional Pineapple Tarts, Kopi Susu Cookies, and Ondeh Ondeh Cookies.
Australia's raging bushfire crisis, one of the worst in its history, has killed 24 people, burned over six million hectares of land, reduced to ashes hundreds of homes and pushed many species towards extinction, officials said on Thursday.

Authorities on Thursday issued fresh warnings and evacuation orders in the country's southeast as hot and windy conditions threatened to regenerate huge bushfires.

Around 23 fires were still burning in Victoria, according the state's emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp.

Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews on Thursday announced extending state's first-ever state of disaster ahead of "significant fire activity" forecast for the next two days.

"We have forecast conditions of extreme danger, very significant fire activity is likely off the back of a hot day today, a hot day tomorrow and a change not coming through in the east of the state until late afternoon tomorrow and in the northern part of the state not until the evening on Saturday," he said.

"This means that we have every reason to believe there will be significant fire activity over the next 48 hours and that means it is appropriate that we continue the state of disaster," Andrews said.

There will be messages going out to communities in the fire zone on Thursday and those messages will indicate to people that they are in the fire zone and that if they can leave, they should leave, the Premier of Victoria said, adding that "we will not be able to guarantee their safety".

There was a possibility of another round of dry lightning and a wind change which could trigger fires across the state from Friday.

"This is a really significant challenge for us. We don't underestimate it. We don't lightly extend the state of disaster. We have done it because we believe that it will save lives and that, after all, is the most important thing," Andrews said.

Victoria's emergency management commissioner Crisp said that in the state, 244 homes were lost or damaged and another 400 'significant' structures impacted.

"We know those numbers will grow," he said.

Meanwhile in New South Wales, state premier Gladys Berejiklian announced an additional 1 billion Australian dollar over the next two years into bushfire management and recovery for rebuilding and rehabilitating the fire ravaged zones.

This season saw the worst damages across the state with almost 2000 homes damaged so far and 20 deaths.

Berejiklian said the new funding would prioritise infrastructure repair and help stimulate fire-ravaged NSW communities.

"The bushfire season is far from over but we know how important it is for communities to start the recovery process where possible," Berejiklian said in a statement.

She said the funding was on top of 231 million dollar already committed to disaster assistance funding.

In its latest tweet, NSW Rural fire services said: "Over 2,500 firefighters in the field, prepare for worsening conditions Friday. Currently 122 bush & grass fires, half uncontained".

In South Australia's Kangaroo Island, the bushfire threat on Thursday was escalated with 'a watch and act warning' issued for a fire near Parndana which according to the Country Fire Service (CFS) was uncontrolled and was burning in a southeasterly direction threatening the safety of people in the area.

The fire has already destroyed 160,000 hectares including the famous Flinders Chase National Park.

A total fire ban has been declared across the island following the high fire risk due to temperatures and winds rise.

"Currently there is no immediate threat to life or property but with increasing wind, warmer weather and ongoing fires on Kangaroo Island, this situation is likely to change," the CFS said.

Over six million hectares of land has burned in this year's worst bushfire season of Australian history, claiming 24 lives and damaging hundreds of homes and buildings across several parts of southern New South Wales, northern and eastern Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, according to officials.

The raging fire has pushed many species towards extinction, with the number of kangaroos, koalas and others killed in the crisis keeps increasing.

According to some experts, an estimated 1 billion animals have been killed.

The bushfire crisis has taken a very heavy toll with more than 1,500 homes already lost throughout the course of this fire season, which has been running since September, according to the government.

Over 3,000 firefighters are on the frontline, with 31 specialist strike teams in place across NSW.

Australia's military has been assisting with aerial reconnaissance, mapping, search and rescue, logistics and aerial support for months.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who is facing widespread criticism in Australia for his handling of the crisis, on Monday announced an additional 2 billion dollars over two years to a new agency to coordinate a national response to rebuild communities and livelihoods following the deadly bushfire crisis.

The National Bushfire Recovery Agency, headed by former federal police chief Andrew Colvin, will help bushfire affected communities recover.

Australia's deadliest bushfire disaster, known as "Black Saturday", took place in February 2009 when about 180 people died in the country's southeastern state of Victoria.
Kuwait expects its share of the oil production from the Neutral Zone that it shares with Saudi Arabia to be 250,000 bpd by the end of 2020 when production will have resumed after half a decade of hiatus because of a dispute.

At the end of 2019, neighbors Saudi Arabia and Kuwait reached an agreement to resume oil production from the two oilfields they share in the Neutral Zone.

The so-called Partitioned Neutral Zone (PNZ) was established between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in 1922 to settle a territorial dispute between the two countries. As of 2015, the oil production capacity in the neutral zone stood at 600,000 bpd, equally divided between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, according to the EIA. Production from the zone averaged around 500,000 bpd just before the shutdown of the two oil fields, Khafji and Wafra, in 2014-2015.

Operational differences and a worsening in bilateral relations led to the suspension of production back in 2015. The worsening came as Saudi Arabia renewed Chevrons concession for Wafra. According to the Kuwaiti side, Riyadh did that without consulting it.

The two neighbors now have agreed to restart the two oilfields, which could put an additional 500,000 bpd-600,000 bpd on the oil market.

Signing the Memorandum of Understanding means the return of production of 250,000 bpd...before the end of 2020, Reuters quoted Kuwaits Oil Minister Khaled al-Fadhel as telling Parliament on Thursday.

According to the minister, the 250,000-bpd additional production capacity from the shared Neutral Zone will not impact Kuwaits compliance with the ongoing OPEC+ production cuts. OPEC and its Russia-led allies are set to review the current pact in March this year.

Kuwait has been strictly complying with its share of the cuts, while Saudi Arabia has been going the extra mile every month and has cut much more than it had promised to.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
After directing Dhanbad administration to drop sedition charges against 3000 anti-CAA protesters, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has said law is there not to gag voices but to instil a sense of security among the people.

In a significant decision, Soren had on Wednesday given order to withdraw sedition charges slapped against 3000 people in Dhanbad for taking out a procession against the Citizens Amendment Act (CAA).

"Law is not to intimidate the people or gag their voices, instead (it should) instil a sense of security among the people," Soren tweeted hours after issuing the instruction to the Dhanbad administration.

The district administration had lodged sedition cases against seven named accused and other unknown 3000 people for taking out a procession against the Citizens Amendment Act (CAA) in the coal city "without taking prior permission from the concerned authority", a police officer had said on Wednesday.

Those charges have since been dropped, the officials said.

"Mere netritwa mein chal rahi sarkar mein kanun Janata ki awaz ko buland karne ka karya karegi (the government run under my leadership will work to strengthen the voice of people)," Soren said in his tweet.

Asserting in an another tweet that action has been initiated against officials lodging sedition charges, Soren had appealed to the people saying "state is yours (and) it is our responsibility to respect law and order".

Soon after taking over the reins of Jharkhand, the Soren government in its first cabinet decision on December 29 last decided to withdraw all cases registered against tribals involved in Pathalgarhi movement and those who took part in protests after the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act were amended.

Soren is heading the JMM-Congress-RJD coalition ministry which has succeded the BJP-led ministry in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hoang Trung Hieu, 23, is the only student selected as Outstanding Young Citizen with excellent achievements in AI research.

Hieu was one of eight students awarded the Certificate of Merit by the HCM City People's Committee in late December 2019 for his excellent achievements in the field of AI. He became the salutatorian and graduated with distinction from the Information Technology Faculty of the HCM City University of Natural Sciences.

Hoang Trung Hieu





"These awards are the motivation for my upcoming plans, Hieu said.



Born in the sea city of Nha Trang in the central region, Hieu has cherished the passion for technology since his childhood. He liked to assemble car models, remove machine accessories and then reinstall them.



The boy became familiar with computers very soon. When entering secondary school, he was sent by parents to an informatics class near his house and had the first lessons about coding. He believed that nothing could create products so quickly in the least costliest way like a computer.

Hoang Trung Hieu, 23, is the only student selected as Outstanding Young Citizen with excellent achievements in AI research.

Hieu was selected as a member of the team to attend the provinces IT competition for secondary school students, and later passed the exam to enter the IT majoring class of the Le Quy Don High School for the Gifted.



This was a turning point in the boys life. There at the school he met good teachers who inspired him and encouraged him to study computing science. From a shy boy, he became more self-confident.



As a high school student, he won the third and the second prizes at the national computing science competitions, and then the third prize at the national science and technology competition for high school students.



This was an important milestone in my life which made me decide to devote myself to computing science, Hieu said.



At university, Hieu studied AI passionately. The new school was just like an ecosystem with good teachers, friends and talented seniors. They helped him develop ideas and give support in his scientific research.



As a first-year student, Hieu won second prize at the second Vietnam Creator Contest with Intel Galileo, then completed the 'Future Telecommunications Seeds' program organized at Huawei University in China.



Devoting himself to scientific research, Hieu has written seven articles, published in international computing science conferences, of which he was the main author of four articles.



He proposed a new method for classifying intestinal endoscopy images, the system that helps screen and detect common diseases, and anatomy spots in endoscopic images. This system helps doctors work more effectively and increases the number of patients served.



Also in 2019, Hieu attended the Illinois University internship program for a project on digitizing and analyzing neurological diseases from 3D cameras and accelerometer sensors.

Le Huyen

Student streamlining  a must in 4.0 era Career guidance is believed to be important in the new era which aims to create human resources who meet the changing requirements of the labor market.
Dr, Drew Pinsky speaks onstage during the 2019 iHeartRadio Podcast Awards in Burbank, California, on Jan. 18, 2019. (JC Olivera/Getty Images)

Dr. Drew Says He Might Challenge House Intel Chairman Adam Schiff for Congressional Seat

Dr. Drew Pinsky said hes mulling a challenge to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) in the upcoming election.

I wake up every day and drive through this town and I am morally moved where I feel like I have to do something, Pinsky told The Hill. We have people literally dying in our streets.

The recent impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump prompted thoughts of running for Congress, he said.

I was watching all the impeachment proceedings and I was going, Oh my God, our Congress is tied up and were dying out here in California. What are these people doing? Pinsky said. He would run as a Democrat in the heavily-Democratic district.

The 61-year-old said a run, even if unsuccessful, could get Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, to start participating in the governance of this region.

Still, because a political run could change his life, Pinsky said he might not end up running.

Pinsky is described on his official website as doctor of internal medicine/addiction specialist and prolific broadcaster.

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) with Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) during testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 19, 2019. (Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)

The combination of running a thriving medical practice (he still treats patients!), while simultaneously cultivating a successful media career, has resulted in an unprecedented reservoir of expertise, it stated.

Pinsky said last year that the homeless crisis in California stems primarily from addiction and mental health issues.

The ideology isthis is a housing crisis. Period. End of story. Its income inequality. Its not. It is a mental health crisis, he said.

If you dont wake up from that theological fog, more people are going to die. Three people die on the streets every day in Los Angeles county. Three every day, and people who get in the way of treating those people are murderers. They are, and Im sick of it.

Schiff represents Californias 28th Congressional District. The 59-year-old has been in office since 2001; for the first term, he represented the states 27th Congressional District.

Schiff, one of the most powerful Democrats in the House, easily won the 2018 election with over three-quarters of the vote. One Democrat, Sal Genovese, ran for the seat but lost to Schiff and Johnny Nalbandian, a Republican, in the primary.

Genovese, a community leader, is running again in 2020, along with Democrats Chad Anderson, a former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives; Maebe Girl, who is on L.A.s Silver Lake Neighborhood Council; and Ara Khachi Manoogian. Republicans William Bodell and attorney Eric Early are also vying for the seat, along with Independent Jennifer Barbosa.
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, shocked the world on Wednesday night when they announced their plans to step back as senior members of the royal family.

Prince Harry is sixth in line to the throne, behind Prince Charles, Prince William and his three children while Meghan was previously famous for her role in the popular American television legal drama, Suits.

The announcement has sent Twitter into a frenzy with #Meghan and #Megxit topping Twitter trends in Nigeria and worldwide.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced that they will step back as senior royals and work to become financially independent on their official Instagram account on Wednesday night.

In the statement, the royal couple also said they plan to split their time between the UK and North America while continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.

In the statement on their Instagram account, the couple said they plan to work to become financially independent by starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution.

This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.

We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support.  The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

The announcement appeared to have taken the rest of the royal family by surprise, with a spokesperson for Harrys grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, issuing a short statement.

It read, Discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage. We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through.

Harrys announcement has been compared to Edward VIIIs abdication in 1936 in order to marry twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson.

During an ITV documentary last year, Meghan admitted motherhood was a struggle due to intense interest from the media. Also, in October, Harry revealed that he and his older brother William were on different paths and admitted tension in their relationship.

The couple recently launched legal action against British tabloid, The Mail on Sunday, for alleged invasion of privacy over a letter from the duchess to her father.

Here are some Twitter reactions

UK Press: What are Meghan and Harry complaining about? We treat all members of the Royal Family fairly.

Also UK Press: pic.twitter.com/ZZthNJZOBw  Femi (@Femi_Sorry) January 9, 2020

Just perusing through the wonderful new Sussexroyal website and it stated that Meghan's September British Vogue September issue became the fastest selling issue in Vogue's 104 year history, and also the best selling issue of the last decade. All I can say is go Meghan.  David Fuller (@Axeyman) January 9, 2020

Princess Diana: I do things differently, I don't go by the book. This is the same thing Prince Harry is doing.#Megxit Meghan Royal William pic.twitter.com/atNyDtUrrO  WendyM (@Wendy_Mothata) January 9, 2020

Princess Diana  is a happy woman ,Thanks to Meghan and Harry doing the unthinkable. pic.twitter.com/pVYcy3vRtq  KabarakFinest001 (@KabarakFinest01) January 9, 2020

https://twitter.com/Steve_McQueen66/status/1215190254044340224?s=20
A long-time Aon executive is signing on with QBE North America as its new president of Specialty & Commercial.

Tom Fitzgerald is taking on the new position in February 2020 after being with Aon Risk Solutions for more than 28 years, most recently as chief executive officer of Aon Risk Solutions global broking operations.

He succeeds Jeffrey Grange, who left in December to become vice president for U.S. operations at Argo Group International Holdings.

As a member of the executive leadership team, Fitzgerald will report to Todd Jones, QBE North America chief executive officer.

One of the largest businesses within QBE North America, the Specialty & Commercial division consists of commercial property/casualty and specialty products and services. Fitzgerald will be responsible for growing the segment.

Todd Jones, CEO of QBE North America, said that Fitzgerald brings a number of valuable qualities to the job.

Hes an innovator who has made important contributions to the industry and I am confident that he will successfully lead this critical business into the future and have a positive impact on the overall organization, Jones said in prepared remarks.

Fitzgerald has held several leadership positions within Aon Risk Solutions. Prior to being CEO of global broking operations, Fitzgerald served as CEO of the U.S. retail business, where he oversaw the largest business in the Aon Risk Solutions portfolio.

Previously, Fitzgerald served as chief broking officer for Aons U.S. Commercial Risk, where he oversaw the placement of more than $3 billion of insurance annually. He has also served as president of Aon Private Risk Management, which provides risk and insurance services to high net worth individuals and U.S. small commercial businesses. In 2001, Fitzgerald headed the creation of Aon Risk Solutions Technology Practice.

Topics USA Commercial Lines Excess Surplus Aon
The School Committee meets on Monday.

Savoy Considers Sending Middle School Students to Hoosac Valley

CHESHIRE, Mass.  Savoy may extend its tuition agreement with the Hoosac Valley Regional School District to the middle school level.

After reviewing decreasing school choice numbers Monday, Superintendent Aaron Dean said he has been in communication with Savoy about possibly including its middle school-age children. The school already sends most of its high school students to Hoosac Valley High School.

"I have engaged in discussion with Savoy ... and we are working out those pieces and working out the numbers," Dean said.

Savoy offers prekindergarten through Grade 5 at Emma L. Miller Elementary School but typically sends Grades 6,7 and 8 to the larger Gabriel Abbott Memorial School in Florida. Both town schools are part of the Northern Berkshire School Union, which also includes Clarksburg, Monroe and Rowe.

Dean said the addition of Savoy wouldn't massively increase Hoosac Valley's population but would add a few more kids to the student body.

"There is the potential to have 10 to 15 more students tuitioned in ... so I am excited," he said.

In other business, the School Committee approved a letter of engagement from a cybersecurity firm that will review the district's email system and provide a checkup.

"It is about looking at what our practices are, who manages what, and what we need to look at moving forward," Dean said. "We live in a society where information needs to be protected and we need to make sure we are taking the right steps to do that."

The superintendent said the firm will do a forensic review of the district's email system and look for possible weaknesses. It will offer ways to improve the system and steps to respond to a possible breach.

There was an initial hesitancy among the committee with member, Marty Bush afraid to commit without more information.

"I am struggling. I know this is better for the district, there is no question, but I don't feel comfortable with this," Bush said. "I am going on what you are telling me and it is not that I don't trust you I am just having a hard time putting myself out there because I don't have the knowledge behind it."

Dean said he could have the district's legal counsel provide more information at a future meeting but that the district's insurer had recommended going through the process and will fund it. Not utilizing the service would mean the district would not be insured if it came to an email breach.

"I am afraid that if we don't go through with this, we won't have the information we need," Dean said. "We have a good policy in place thanks to the School Committee, but we won't be insured if something happens."

He added that a breach investigation could cost nearly $100,000 and hours of manpower.

Bush came around and along with members Adam Emerson and Michael Mucci approved the letter of engagement.

Member Regina Hill voted no but gave no reason why.

Dean reported that the safety upgrades throughout the district are largely complete.

The district received a $50,000 Safe Schools grant last year that was used to upgrade security throughout the buildings and implement a swipe-card system.

Dean said there is still one door that is not working properly and has to be unlocked manually at the high school but he suspects this is a simple fix for the contractor.

"It should be a fairly easy fix ... right now it is more of an inconvenience," he said. "I am told it is not a big deal and I am pretty confident we are on solid ground with that."

He said he hopes eventually to provide every employee with an identification swipe card.

Before closing, Emerson read a letter from committee member Jennifer Gageant, who has resigned from the committee for family reasons.

"I want to thank everyone over the four years who have guided me through this journey and I have learned so much along the way," she wrote in her letter. "I believe that our district is moving forward and positive changes are coming and I still plan to be an active part of our schools and community.

The School Committee will look to fill her position sooner rather later and will post the opening. Whoever it chooses, will fill out the term until 2022. Gageant represented the town of Adams on the committee.
Ash Barty had insisted the expectation of being a world No.1 on her favourite court in her home town would mean little once she began her Australian summer at the Brisbane International. She was just here to do her best and enjoy the ride, come what may.

Perhaps the weight of favouritism didn't have an impact. Maybe the 26 unforced errors off her racquet were simply down to execution and nothing more, as she would later suggest. Upsets happen all the time in tennis but this was a doozy.

Barty, the French Open champion and the top-ranked player in the women's game, would be undone by American qualifier and world No. 53 Jennifer Brady 6-4 7-6 (7-4) once she finally made it onto Pat Rafter Arena after a four-day wait.

The Queenslander was typically measured upon reflection and rightly praised the fit and aggressive Brady, who didn't offer up a single break point opportunity on her serve and beat Maria Sharapova in the opening round.
Missed out on tickets for Electric Picnic 2020? Fear not, as organisers have announced that signing up for the Tour De Picnic 2020 17km run or 80km cycle is your final chance to nab a ticket to the Laois festival which sold out in under three hours this year.

At the same time fulfil your New Year s resolution of getting fit and healthy.

After a hugely successful #thecompletenatural Tour De Picnic 2019, organisers have decided to launch next years Tour De Picnic a little earlier than usual with a special reduced registration fee of 60. Registration for this over 18s event will go up to 100 when early bird places are sold out, so dont miss out!

Tour De Picnic are proud to say that they take 1,000 cars off the road to Electric Picnic annually, helping massively with both traffic management and the environmental impact of the festival. Charity is of course another fundamental part of this fantastic event. This year, participants are required to raise 450 (including registration) for the Tour De Picnic charities to take part in this exhilarating fundraising and fitness challenge, with their weekend pass to Irelands most popular music festival waiting for them at the finish line. Funds raised by Tour De Picnickers will go towards all three of the following children's charities: LauraLynn  Irelands Childrens Hospice, Ronald McDonald House and ISPCC Childline (with one more worthy cause to be announced soon). Fundraising deadline is June 30th 2020.

Last years funds have already gone a long way before Christmas this year, improving the lives of many children in Ireland. Ronald McDonald House Charity have just laid the astroturf for their new playground which they aim to have finished early in the New Year. This new playground directly funded from Tour De Picnic 2019 fundraising will bring endless joy into the lives of the many children cared for at RMHC. RMHC will also be using Tour De Picnic funds to continue their fantastic service of creating a home away from home for sick children, and now thanks to Tour De Picnic participants, with a cool new playground.

Meanwhile LauraLynn  Irelands Children's Hospice have put Tour De Picnic 2019 funds into enhancing their LauraLynn at Home service, allowing sick children to be cared for in the comfort of their own homes. LauraLynn have stated that Tour De Picnic funds have truly helped keep the doors of their hospice open this year.

ISPCC Childline continue to support the children of Ireland this year with Tour De Picnic funds. Funds raised through Tour De Picnic 2019 are being put towards making sure every child and young person in Ireland always have somewhere to turn. ISPCC Childline is Ireland's only 24-hour service for children and young people and Tour De Picnic's long-term support has contributed greatly to their service.

Tour De Picnic are proud to say that this support will continue for each of these amazing causes in 2020, making a huge impact on the lives of children in their care.

So, what is in store for Tour De Picnickers this year? The stunning 80km cycle through some of Irelands best cycle ways will begin with a breakfast party held at Tallaght Stadium on the morning of September 4th to keep you energised as you push those peddles towards the Picnic.

Departing from Tallaght Stadium, the cyclists will head for the Blessington Greenway to meander through some of Irelands biggest dairy farms and the picturesque village of Brannockstown. Theyll then make their way along the Barrow Blueway before reaching Stradbally. There will be plenty of much-needed sustenance along the way too, stopping at The Avon Blessington and Athy GAA.

As for those lacing up their running shoes, their journey starts at Coursetown B&B and Country House, a dairy farm in Athy, Co Kildare. The 17km run covers farmland and Coillte forests; passing through Oughvale Woods is always a stand-out moment for runners as they take in the beautiful Irish countryside.

Tour de Picnic is proud to say Tour De Picnic 2020 is set to bring the charity run and cycle to new heights with plenty more to be announced in the New Year.
SL indie hip-hop artiste Hustler Bhai opens up on the hip-hop scene in the island republic, what it means to be a rapper in Sri Lanka, and more.

Sri Lankan indie hip-hop artiste Hustler Bhai opens up on the hip-hop scene in the island republic, what it means to be a rapper in Sri Lanka, and more.

In Sri Lanka, the Indie hip-hop scene lacks support from the media, but it is getting more popular, according to Hamdaan Hassan, the Sri Lankan rapper who goes by the name Hustler Bhai.

Hustler believes Sri Lankan artistes are going through the period India was in a few years ago. Thing are now going well for artistes in India. The film industry there has started giving a hand to Indian rap artistes. Here, there is no lack of talent but we need more platforms to thrive, he claims.

Speaking to DC, the rapper was philosophical about insufficient support. After all, rap in every part of the world started off like that. Even in USA it started underground. Ghettos were the breeding grounds for this genre of music. It takes time, he said. In neighbouring India, Indie rappers were struggling to get a grip on the popular music industry just a few years ago, he noted.

Though Sri Lankan artistes were not getting the kind of support that other genres got, the Indie hip-hop scene on the island was relatively large, he said.

While ruing that the media was not giving indie artistes much space, Hustler however said the BBC Asian Network gives us big support. They have already played some of my songs in Ashanti Omkars Radio Programme.

Quizzed about his style, he says I try to blend traditional and international music seasoned with the right instruments. I was never afraid of making new genres like Hip-hop, RnB, Metal Rap, etc.

Talking of artistes who have inspired him, he gives special credit to Harsha Fernando (known as Black Hunter) who brought him into the industry (2015), and Amila Wickramasingha (Jaya Records) who master-minded his first Mix tape recordings (2015).

Pursuing his music dreams Hustler came up with his first single Sallalayo produced by Ayeshmantha (Mouth Beats) and every combination the pair made was a successful record. Hes been associating with overseas artistes, especially from India, Nepal, France, Germany, Syria, UAE, Maldives, Malaysia and Jamaica, and hopes to work with Indian artistes soon.

Hustlers much-celebrated work Rowdy has just crossed one million views on YouTube and he is hoping to repeat the success with his all new songs - Race and Monster-KGF.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle; The Queen with Prince Andrew. (Getty)

Buckingham Palaces response to Prince Harry and Meghan Markles decision to quit as senior royals has come under fire.

On Wednesday night, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex released a bombshell statement saying they plan to step back as senior royals and divide their time between the UK and North America.

In a highly unusual move, it is understood the Sussexes did not consult either the Queen or the Prince of Wales about the contents of the announcement until minutes before they made it.

The response from the Palace was just as unusual. Normally renowned for being bland, the statement betrayed a sense of frustration with the young couple, with a spokesperson saying discussions were at an early stage and that these are complicated issues that will take time to work through.

It is the second major story in recent months that appears to have caught the Palace unprepared for the fallout.

It botched its response to liked it did with Prince Andrew, a former royal editor at the Sun has said.

Duncan Larcombe, who now commentates on the royals and covered them for the Sun for more than a decade, said the royals attitude to communication, combined with poor advice from staff, led to the disastrous communication in the Duke of York scandal last year and the problems appear to have been repeated yesterday.

The Palace put out a brief statement after the Sussexes made their announcement outlining their wish to become financially independent yesterday.

Discussions with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage. We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through, the statement read.

The Suns former royal editor, Duncan Larcombe, has been critical of the way the Royal Family communicates in testing times like this, including the handling of allegations against Prince Andrew last year.

What we saw last night form the palace, their reaction to Harrys bombshell, Id suggest was very much a holding statement to buy them some time, he told Yahoo News UK.

Story continues

What that tells me is they didnt have the foggiest idea it was coming, so thats full on panic mode, what do we do, well say discussions are ongoing, buy ourselves a bit of time, work out what the hell is actually going on.

Buckingham Palace was "blindsided" by the Sussexes' announcement, one commentator said. (PA Images)

They had to say something because one of the star members of the Royal Family had effectively resigned.

Both the Sussexes and the Palace have been criticised for how they communicated the news.

Mr Larcombe, who covered the royals for years, laid the blame at the feet of both the royals and their advisors.

I tend to work on the basis that if they can make a mess of it, they generally do, he said.

For years the Royal Family have employed civil servants with very little understanding of how the media works and people who are often, not always, but often too frightened to speak up and give good considered professional advice for fear of angering one of the royals and losing their job, and thats what happened with Prince Andrew.

The royals always think they know best so it makes it very difficult to advise them.

Prince Andrew has denied the allegations against him and maintains his innocence.

READ MORE ON YAHOO UK

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The Queen 'just as perplexed as everybody else' about Meghan and Harry's new role

Will taxpayers still contribute to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's new life?

Popular culture expert Nick Ede described the Sussexes statement as very cold for not taking the other members of the family, including the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William, into sufficient account.

The statement did include reference to wanting to support the monarchy.

Mr Ede said while the Palaces response to the Prince Andrew allegations was mired in legal issues, which affected how it could communicate, its message about the Sussexes appeared as if there had been no consultation between branches of the family.

When you look at the statement that came from the palace saying this is a very comprehensive issue and we are working on it, its totally different from what the Sussexes say and its baffling that nobody has communicated whatsoever with each other.

The Sussexes' statement was at odds with the palace's, a commentator has said. (Daniel Leal-Olivas/Pool Photo via AP, file)

He added that it was a really calculated move by the two of them and I think thats whats going to cause a big rift within the families.

I think the palace did botch their response because they were totally blindsided, they cant sit there and admit we knew nothing about this.

The palaces approach was panicked, knee-jerked and their statement was misjudged, Mr Ede said, which highlighted the divide between the families.

They didnt handle the Andrew thing well and theyre not handling this well.

I think things like this are really difficult, none of us know the ins and outs... you would hope you would get all the press officers and teams together to discuss this and work out a way of formalising it so you wouldnt get these splashes in the tabloids, and Piers Morgan going off on one, and really manage it in a strong, cohesive way. Thats what my advice would be.

I think it highlights the total lack of communication in the Royal Family.

He praised the Sussexes progressiveness and described them as remarkable but said the Royal Familys protocols had to be adhered to.

Buckingham Palace was contacted for comment.
The People's Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday said the visit of envoys of various countries to was an attempt by the government to "normalise its clampdown" in the Valley, daring the Centre to allow the dignitaries to meet the detained political leaders.

"Today that @PMOIndia lets a 2nd batch of envoys to "see" the situation in #Kashmir, it only seems like an attempt to normalize the Govts own clampdown. The dare is on @PMOIndia will they ever let these Foreign Envoys meet political detainees who are jailed since 160 days now?" the PDP said on its official Twitter handle.

Envoys from 15 countries, including US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster, arrived in Srinagar on Thursday on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the first visit by diplomats since August last year when the state's special status was revoked and it was downsized to a union territory.

The envoys, who are here as part of the government's diplomatic outreach to rebut Pakistan's propaganda on the Kashmir issue, met some political leaders, including former PDP leader Syed Altaf Bukhari, soon after their arrival.

The PDP, commenting on a meeting of breakaway leaders of the party led by Bukhari with Lieutenant Governor G C Murmu earlier this week, said the government "jails those who aided its democracy and strings up puppets who are ready to bargain at the cheapest price".

"The government should understand that those who really love Kashmiri soil are not for sale!" it said.
President Donald Trump arrives to address the nation from the White House on the ballistic missile strike that Iran launched against Iraqi air bases housing U.S. troops, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, in Washington. Read more

The United States and Iran, while appearing Wednesday to step back from the verge of war, offered little indication there was any give in the irreconcilable demands that brought them to the brink in the first place.

On the morning after Tuesday nights Iranian missile attack on U.S. military forces in Iraq  what Iran said was revenge for Fridays U.S. drone strike that killed Quds Force leader Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani  both countries indicated that they would stand down.

In an address to the nation, President Donald Trump said the United States was ready to embrace peace and that the two countries should work together on shared priorities.

But any thought that he would use the occasion to provide an incentive in that direction was quashed when Trump announced "additional punishing sanctions on the Iranian regime," penalties that he said "will remain until Iran changes its behavior."

No details of new sanctions were immediately provided. Escalating U.S. sanctions have progressively crippled the Iranian economy by sharply curtailing oil exports and trade with other nations.

In his own televised address, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said with apparent satisfaction that Iran had delivered a slap to America's face, though the missile strikes caused little damage and no casualties. But there would be no peace, he said, until the United States changed its own behavior, including by completely withdrawing its military forces from the region.

"The U.S. enmity toward Iran is not temporary. It's inherent," Khamenei said, according to Iranian media reports. "It is a gross mistake to think if we took a step back and compromised, the United States would stop."

Those who may have expected that the possibility of an actual shooting war might push U.S.-Iranian hostility toward an off-ramp had reason to be disappointed.

"The good news is that both sides have added that element of 'we don't want war; we want to avoid escalating further,' " said Ariane Tabatabai, an analyst with the Rand Corporation.

But the reality, she said, is "not just that neither side is changing its demands, it's also that neither side is really changing the way it's been behaving."

There is little expectation that Iran will stop its support for proxy groups that have pushed its interests in the region, often with lethal force and terrorism. Soleimanis direction of those groups, in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen  as well as in Iraq, where the Quds Force supplied sophisticated roadside bombs that killed hundreds of U.S. troops during the American occupation of that country  was the U.S. justification for targeting him.

Most recently, the administration has charged, Soleimani directed a late-December attack by Iranian-allied Iraqi militia forces against U.S. personnel in Iraq that left an American contractor dead and orchestrated a subsequent assault on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

"In recent days, he was planning new attacks on American targets," Trump said Wednesday of Soleimani, as senior administration officials traveled to Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers on the intelligence backing up that claim.

Democratic lawmakers, as well as a handful of Republicans, remained skeptical and charged that the briefers provided little beyond vague intimations of threats. Democrats have called for legislative action to rein in the president, worried that Trump may again move toward escalation.

But as the administration contemplates where its Iran policy goes from here, others continued to applaud the Soleimani strike as long-overdue evidence that Trump was willing to back up his threats against Tehran.

"Before last week, the real danger was that American military deterrence vis-a-vis Iran was in free fall," said John Hannah, who served as Vice President Richard B. Cheney's national security adviser and is now a senior counselor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which advocates a tough line against Iran.

"Any red lines" set by Trump "were increasingly in question in the minds of the Iranian leadership," Hannah said.

Trump came to office focused on Iran, with little give in his position even as he moved to establish closer relations with U.S. adversaries such as North Korea, Russia and China. Just weeks into his administration, his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, called a news conference to put Iran "on notice" that the United States would no longer put up with what it saw as the appeasement practiced by Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama.

In particular, Trump railed against the nuclear deal that Obama, along with major European powers, and Russia and China, had negotiated with Iran.

But for his first year in office, to the dismay of hard-liners who saw his instincts stymied by moderates within his Cabinet, the president seemed to be all talk.

One such moment came in May 2017, as Trump was preparing to leave for Saudi Arabia on his first overseas trip as president. When Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh, the president pressed for options from the Pentagon, including striking Iranian missile factories or hitting Iranian speedboats that routinely harassed U.S. naval vessels, and a plan to kill Soleimani, according to two White House officials at that time.

When the Pentagon, under the leadership of then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, demurred, the options were not pursued, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Events leading to the current crisis were not set in motion until May 2018, when Trump finally took action to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal. John Bolton, his new national security adviser and a longtime advocate of a hard line against Iran, announced the deployment of additional air and naval forces to the Persian Gulf "to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force."

The then-new secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, quickly announced 12 demands Iran would have to meet before the United States would relent, including harsh restrictions within a new nuclear deal, the end of all support for proxy groups, and curbing its development of ballistic missiles.

Within months, the administration had begun a campaign of "maximum pressure" against Iran, including tough economic sanctions.

Early last year, when Iran and its proxies began provocative attacks against U.S. interests and allies, the administration again promised a tough response. But those promises appeared toothless when Trump ordered, and then pulled back from, planned U.S. strikes against Iranian targets after the shoot-down of a U.S. surveillance drone in June.

Through the fall, as Iranian taunts continued with attacks on Persian Gulf shipping and Saudi oil facilities, Trump himself was said to be worried that he appeared weak as he headed toward his reelection. Boltons promise of unrelenting force, Hannah recalled, was almost meaningless.

When an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia group attacked U.S. forces last month, killing an American contractor  followed by an assault by demonstrators on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad  Trump was presented with a new opportunity, and Soleimani was targeted.

Each country has now indicated that the ball is in the other's court.

The Washington Posts Greg Jaffe contributed to this report.
15 diplomats to embark on two day visit to J&K starting today

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 09: Fifteen foreign envoys would embark on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir starting today. The two-day visit was organised following requests from Delhi based envoys.

The envoys will be drawn from different regions and there would be diplomats from the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. As of now, 15 diplomats would visit, but the number could increase, sources familiar with the developments tell OneIndia.

The government wants the envoys to see for themselves the ground reality in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Sources say that the government had reached out to 18 diplomats from European, Gulf, Western countries and OIC members. The Valley has been off-limits for foreign diplomats since August 2019.

To get a reality check, Centre invites diplomats to J&K

5 months after J&K special status revoked, foreign panel visits UT | OneIndia News

It may be recalled that in October 2019, the government had facilitated the Madi Group, an NGO, which escorted 23 members of the European Parliament to Kashmir. They met with locals and got some classified security briefings during their visit.

On August 5, 2019, the government abrogated Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. The Article granted special status to J&K and as a result of its abrogation, common laws of the land now apply to the newly formed Union Territory.
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Over a dozen Vietnamese migrant workers in Taichung City in central Taiwan have been slapped with fines totaling NT$1 million (US$33,000) for killing and eating a dog, a serious breach of Taiwans Animal Protection Act, Taiwanese media reported.

The ruling, handed down in late December by a Taiwanese court, was first reported by Taiwan News on Tuesday.

About a year earlier, on October 25, 2018, four Vietnamese men were working for a water treatment plant in Fengyuan District, Taichung City when they decided to slaughter a dog and serve it to 12 other Vietnamese men and women, including Nguyen Van Ban, Trinh Cong Tuong, Hoang Van Dien, and Nguyen Dinh Thi.

Two of the four Vietnamese men, Giap Van Hong, 53, and Nguyen Van Nang, 37, have been ordered to pay NT$200,000 (US$6,654) each in fines and will serve jail sentences of 40 and 30 days, respectively, for violating the Animal Protection Act.

Two others, Nguyen Quang and Vu Van Truyen, have been at large since the incident.

According to Taipei Times, the four men took the dog from an employee dormitory, slaughtered it, and turned it into a stew in the dormitorys kitchen.

Local police and animal protection officials went to the kitchen after receiving a call about a dog being killed and took the men into custody for breaching the island's Animal Protection Act.

Police also seized the raw meat, the dog's head, a kitchen knife, and blowtorches the perpetrators had used to prepare the dog.

Three other dogs kept on a leash in the dormitory were rescued under the assumption that they were being held to be used for food.

Giap Van Hong and Nguyen Van Nang confessed their role in the crime while the other 12 Vietnamese found at the dog meat dinner have been ordered to pay NT$50,000 ($1,664) each, adding up to a total of NT$1 million ($33,000) in fines for the 14 convicted Vietnamese.

According to the Taiwanese investigation into the case, the Vietnamese workers had previously been informed by their labor brokers that the killing and eating of dogs is prohibited in Taiwan.

Taiwans Animal Protection Act was passed in 2017 to explicitly ban the killing and eating of cats and dogs and punishes offenders with heavy penalties.

The consumption of dog meat is popular in several Asian countries including China, South Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Under Taiwans Animal Protection Act, the killing of dogs or cats is punishable by up to two years in prison and a maximum fine of NT$2 million ($64,504) while those caught eating dog or cat meat face fines of up to NT$250,000 ($8,068).

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By Express News Service

Referring to the recent attacks on students at Jawaharlal Nehru University on January 5, where it was alleged that the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad beat them up with lathis, Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut said that these gang wars in colleges are created by "highly volatile people" and so she feels that it is not worthy of becoming a national issue. And the ones creating violence should be taken into police custody and given 'chaar chaar jhappad' (four tight slaps).

"Gang wars in colleges are so common that when we were in college in Chandigarh, next to our campus there was a boys' hostel. The boys used to fight, chase down other boys and sometimes even murder them openly. The situation is still the same. In the JNU violence, both sides have been injured. These gang wars are carried out by highly volatile people, should this be a national issue really? I don't think so. These gundas (hooligans) are found in every classroom, union, every locality, please don't make it a national issue," Kangana said while speaking at the ThinkEdu Conclave 2020 on Thursday. The education conclave is being held at Chennai by The New Indian Express.

She went on to add that students should be made more politically aware. "We are one of the most corrupt nations in the world. And that is not okay. Students who are the fabric of our society should be sent to the Army to serve for at least one to two years and it should be made mandatory. Corruption is running through their veins. This is the need of the hour, we need to clean our system, establish moral values so that we can thrive as a country," she explained.

Commenting on the ongoing student protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, Kangana said, "You have to take a stand, choose between national and personal interests. Decide if the protest is selfish or for everyone?" On being asked if these protesting students are the future of India, she said that the "ones who are taking advantage of the vulnerable situation and creating violence are hopefully not our future. I genuinely feel we are still in the hangover of the pre-independence era  attacking our security forces, trying to shut the country down, causing the government economic losses. It was a cool thing to do with a foreign government when it was not elected by you. But how is that relevant today? We are going to be a part of democracy, we need to understand that. If we attack our own security forces like the police, then where are we heading as a nation?"

Calling the violence during protests 'gunda gardi' (hooliganism), she said, "You cannot be carrying the 'Free Kashmir', 'Babri' placards for the CAA protests randomly. I don't yet see any valid opinion coming from the opposition. If you are showing compassion to a certain section of the society and fighting for inclusiveness, this doesn't make sense, definitely. There are loopholes in the education system and a huge disconnect the youth have with the nation, which is worrying. We have to figure out where we are going wrong, the indifference that we 'don't want to do this, do that'. What do you want to do then? There are people who support the CAA, they might be small in number in the same university but this has spiralled down into gang wars. People who come from economically backward classes have only come to study, get jobs and want nothing to do with the CAA."

Speaking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and what qualities she admires in him, she said, "He's here for his own hard work. People who have acquired a place with their own work and merit, who are we to say that he is not deserving? If he's been chosen by 130 billion people through a democratic process and elected for five years, we should give him a chance. I would not want to disrupt the country with another election. Rather, in these five years, you do what you can then we can decide if you are good for us or not." When asked about her plans of getting into politics, she said it would be easier for her than acting. "Nepotism comes into play if I have to get into it, my great grandfather was an MLA for 15 years, my father gets free tickets. They are ardent followers of the Congress. I, somehow have different ideologies." She said that she has been getting offers from both sides of the table but hasn't thought about it seriously.

Moving on to a lighter note at the end of her talk, Kangana also spoke about her upcoming movie Panga. "There's an art in politics and politics in art," said Kaveree Bamzai, a senior journalist, who was chairing the session, while asking the movie's Director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari about the actor's upcoming movie. "The story needs to be told. 45 per cent of women have an MBA degree now but despite that, they leave their jobs as soon as they become a mother. There's this guilty conscious working and at the same time, there's this difficult decision of who wants to take care of the kid at home. The movie is also about second chances," said the director.

Speaking about her relationship with her sister and manager Rangoli Chandel, Kangana said that Rangoli is quite brave for making herself available to argue with trolls on the net. "A Twitter feed can be compared to a 'dhol' and not a flute. If you sound like a flute, you will be lost in that noise, but Rangoli is still the most polite person you will ever find. That I feel is more of a strategy to get attention," she said with a chuckle, adding that Rangoli generally discusses what they write on Kangana's official account.

Kangana also spoke about her new film based on Jayalalithaa's life. "Getting into the character and I am finding it more interesting and challenging. Amma's emotional struggle and journey are not known to many, it's very exciting for me to explore. Her dynamics with people around her is extremely inspiring. The fact that a woman is at the centre of the volatile political environment of a state but she emerges a revolutionary leader is by far the most emotionally astounding world I have been in," she concluded.
It was announced a while back that Sandalwood superstar Upendra would be collaborating with his I Love You-director R Chandru. The Kannada project titled Kabza has finally gone on the floor last week and is all set to release in seven languages including Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi and Bengali.

The high budget film will capture the life of a powerful underworld don from the 1980s played by Upendra. The film also stars an ensemble of actors from various industries including Jagapathi Babu, Prakash Raj, Jayaprakash Reddy, Pradeep Rawat, Manoj Bajpai, Samuthirakani and Nana Patekar. It is also being reported that the aforementioned names will all be seen in negative roles.

The movie will be shot at different locations in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Madurai, and Mangaluru. Speaking about the film, director Chandru said, I did detailed research on the underworld dons of the 80s, especially on their mannerisms. On being quizzed about the female lead, he went on to add, We are yet to zero in on the heroine, and her name will be announced as soon as we sign the agreement. (sic)

The music for the film will be composed Ravi Basrur and the cinematography will be handled by Arjun Shetty. Ramesh Dembla will design the costumes for Upendra while Rashmi and Babu will be designing for the rest of the cast. The first shoot schedule of the action-entertainer is currently underway at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad.

ALSO READ: Upendra Is All Set To Begin 2020 With Director R Chandrus Next Titled Kabza
A couple have slammed TUI for selling a sub-par luxurious hotel claiming guests are 'snorting coke' from tables.

Karl Lewis-Law, 54, spent 7,100 on his visit to 'hell on earth' to Jamaica to celebrate his 10th wedding anniversary with his wife Caroline, 51, for nearly a month.

The professional caterers from Canterbury, Kent were shocked by what they witnessed at the resort.

Karl Lewis-Law, 54, spent 7,100 on his visit to 'hell on earth' to Jamaica to celebrate his 10th wedding anniversary with his wife Caroline, 51

Karl Lewis-Law and his wife Caroline claim they had a holiday from hell after spending 7,100 on a month-long luxury holiday in Jamaica with TUI staying in a five star platinum resort

Mr Lewis-Law posted several photographs on the TUI Facebook page showing some of the less impressive features of the hotel Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort & Spa in Lucea, near Montego Bay, Jamaica

The couple were staying from November 29 to December 28 at the five star platinum TUI rated hotel Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort & Spa in Lucea near Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Mr Lewis Law wrote on TUI's Facebook page sharing pictures on January 7 saying:

'This hotel is no more than a two star rating and certainly Not 5 star Platinum.'

He said there was evidence of faulty electrics, cockroaches and even inedible food.

The images show raw meat given to the customers for one of the meals, broken chairs and roofs appearing to fall apart with live cables exposed on the grass or from above.

He alleged that some of the electrical connections outside the hotel looked unsafe

Speaking Mr Lewis-Law said: 'With regards to our visit to hell on earth. On arrival to the hotel we suffered daily power cuts that could last anything from two minutes to an hour and they would happen daily at least four or five times a day.

'We endured two and three hour queues for food and restaurants again on a daily basis, when you did get to eat there would be no crockery on the tables, no cutlery on the tables, so you couldn't even eat when you got into a restaurant.

'The food in the restaurants was nothing short of disgraceful.

'We are particularly upset about live and exposed electrics hanging from ceilings or lying in soaking wet grass that could easily either seriously injure someone who may either step on it or even worse a child touches one. It would be all over for them.'

A Tui spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Were sorry to hear of the Lewis-Law partys experience in Jamaica and understand that this would have been extremely disappointing.

'Weve been in touch directly with the customers to express our sincere apologies and offer a refund along with a gesture of goodwill which has unfortunately been declined.

'Our hotels are regularly inspected and reviewed to ensure they meet safety, comfort and hygiene standards.

'We take customer feedback extremely seriously and always take action where appropriate.'

A spokeswoman for the Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort & Spa said: 'We comply to strict hygiene and safety standards, which are reviewed regularly. Were taking these allegations seriously and have launched an internal investigation.

'Were very sorry to hear that Mr and Mrs Lewis-Law did not have a good experience at Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort & Spa, which usually receives excellent reviews and customer satisfaction scores.'

The resort, pictured, was described as a Five Star Platinum resort, but Mr Lewis-Law suggested the level of accommodation on offer was substandard
The Congress' NSUI has swept the students Union poll Sampurnanand Sanskrit University here, defeating the rival ABVP candidates on all four crucial seats.

The candidates of BJP-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad were trounced by candidates of National Students Union of India on all four seats of president, vice-president, general secretary and librarian in the varsity students union poll held on Wednesday.

As per the poll results declared on Wednesday by varsity election officer, Professor Shailesh Kumar Mishra, NSUI's Shivam Mishra won the president's post by securing 709 votes, defeating ABVP Harshit Pandey who polled only 224 votes.

Chandan Kumar bagged the vice-president's seat and secured 553 votes while Avinash Pandey won the post of general secretary and got 487 votes.

Rajnikant Dubey of NSUI won the librarian's post by securing 567 votes.

Anurag Shukla was elected unopposed for the representative post of Sahitya Sanskriti Sankaya of the varsity.

University vice-chancellor Professor Rajaram Shukla administered the oath in Sanskrit to the newly elected office bearers.

Out of a total of 1,950 voters, only 991 caste their votes in which 931 were boys and 60 girl students.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
We interviewed "The Grudge" star Lin Shaye and director Nicolas Pesce during their visit to Kuala Lumpur last month.

We interviewed "The Grudge" star Lin Shaye and director Nicolas Pesce during

their visit to Kuala Lumpur last month.

"The Grudge" star Lin Shaye and director Nicolas Pesce visited Malaysia last month for the movie's Southeast Asia press junket, attended by media from nearby countries such as Cambodia and the Philippines to all the way from Mexico.



The movie, now showing in cinemas, is a fourth entry in the American horror movie series that's based on Japan's "Ju-On" franchise. Different to its predecessors, fans of the original 2004 Japanese movie of the same name will get to see glimpses of it in this English-language version.





Cinema Online had a chance to speak to both Shaye and Pesce, read on for what they have to say about their new movie, "The Grudge":



Nicolas Pesce seen here directing Lin Shaye in one of the scenes in "The Grudge".

Cinema Online: You've had experience adapting a novel by a Japanese author before for your horror movie "Piercing". Did that experience help you when it comes to writing and directing "The Grudge"?



Pesce: Well, I think I definitely have an affinity for the Japanese sensibility when it comes to thrillers, horror movies. I think that, you know, in the sense if "Piercing", there's a sense of humour that a lot of Japanese writers have, even when you're really, really, really dark, there's a playful quality to it.



I think on this one, there's less of that playful quality but I think that I really love how the Japanese culture handles, like, atmosphere and tone when it comes to scary stories. It's a lot about mood. American audiences tend to love like the roller coaster ride and stuff that's in your face, whereas I find that a lot of the Asian storytelling is more about mood and atmosphere and tone and I think that's really fun to play with.



Lin Shaye, you've said before that director Nick welcomes your input during the making of the movie, so what ideas or inputs did you give to him?



Shaye: I don't know if I can be specific. Oh, actually there's this scene 



Pesce: The laughing and the knife.



Shaye: The laughing and also the thing, I love that scene 



Pesce: Oh...yeah, yeah, yeah.



Shaye:  with the nail polish. That scene is not in the movie, which I'm chagrined about, but he says it will be in the director's cut so...



Pesce: The Blu-Ray.



Shaye: Yeah, and it was the first scene we shot, so I just remember thinking it's me having a lucid day, with dementia, that I'm having a good day. Frankie Faison, who plays my husband, and I are sitting on a couch. We never met before, we're immediately, we're a couple, I mean, it was really, Frankie's just the best also, and I thought what about, what if he's putting pink nail polish, like we used to in the old days. 'Cause you get the feeling they had a very traditional marriage, very long time marriage, not a lot of conflict in their life that...it was a very peaceful place, so those kinds of things.



And Nick was, that was sort of my first clue that he was at least, he didn't  like, some directors would go, "No, no!". If you're in television, "No, no time for that!" And just, uhm, I felt very comfortable with you [looks at Pesce] in terms of initiating a thought.



There was also the scene in the kitchen that originally we were supposed to be in the wheelchair 'cause she's in a wheelchair and I felt that was so limiting to the scene. So I asked if I could be  whether I was in the wheelchair all the time or it was sort of a selective thing, within my dementia, sometimes I needed to be in it, sometimes I didn't. So, there was a real team effort in a way and I appreciated it. I'm saying this now [turns to Pesce], I appreciated it so much and it added to my confidence in terms of the character I was creating.

Story continues



Faith Matheson (Lin Shaye) in the kitchen scene with Detective Muldoon (Andrea Riseborough).

Let's say if you were to come back as a ghost, with a lot of grudge, which location would you choose to haunt? Like in this movie, it's a house, so what about for you guys?



Pesce: That's a good question...hmm...



Shaye: Nick's house!



Pesce: I was thinking a school because I would get a kick out of scaring all the kids.



Shaye: Ooh...now we know, now I know the truth.



Pesce: [Laughs].



Shaye: Uhm, I'm not sure. Uhm, maybe my son. Maybe I'd try to scare my son because he doesn't really believe in any of that stuff too much and uhm, but I wouldn't wanna make him sad. Never mind.



Pesce: She's too nice.



Shaye: Well, I don't know. I'm not that nice. I believe, you know, there is definitely energy that we have no real idea of how it manifests itself. I mean, things do seem to fly out of your hands sometimes, and you go, "What just happened? What was that?" I don't know, you have to behave yourself in a certain way, I think. Keep yourself safe from other people's grudges. [Laughs].



Since you guys do a lot of horror movies, when you're on set, was there actually anyone who was scared of ghosts or anything supernatural? How was it like working with them?



Pesce: I mean, I think, more than like scared of ghosts, I think especially in a movie like this where you have like a young girl, like Melinda, six-year-old girl. And uhm, the moment that her and her mom were getting their makeup on together, and they were all good and happy, looking at themselves in the mirror. As soon as they were done and the little girl, Zoe, looked over at the woman playing Fiona, she just burst into tears.



And you realise, like, it's all fun and games but it's still, you are still making something scary and for the adults in the room, we all know that we're playing pretend but for a kid, it's trickier so I think, like, making sure that you're not actually scaring children and even though I just said I wanted to scare the kids in the school. [Laughs]. You know, that's after that.



Shaye: [Laughs]. He's just a contradictory guy.



Pesce: But I think you know, in real life, you know, I'm not in the business of scaring children. Unless they pay for a movie ticket.



"The Grudge" (2020) links back to the original 2004 Japanese movie of the same name.

People tend to have this aversion towards American or English-language remakes of Asian movies, so are you guys afraid or worried of how people are gonna view "The Grudge"?



Pesce: Well, I think, for me, we haven't remade anything. This is a new instalment into a pre-existing franchise, you know, we're expanding the mythology rather than  so, you know, Kayako, the Japanese ghost, is still in this movie. We haven't like taken anything that was Japanese and made it un-Japanese.



Shaye: Make it American.



Pesce: Like, the movie opens in Japan and in the house  at the house  that the Japanese movie started at. The cops are looking into the old Japanese cases, so sort of important to me that we're not like, uh, yeah Americanising something that's Japanese. This exists in the same universe and it's just a new chapter that's dealing with all the Japanese elements. This is just sort of a new chapter.



Shaye: And new characters, I mean, it's totally, I mean one of the things I, which I finally sort of crystallised in my head, about what makes this different. Also, it is more of an adult  it's not just a scary movie with scares and ghosts, it's basically also about three women of three different generations and their problems in this world. My character having, being older, having the dementia; Andrea's character being a detective, a single mom, with no husband and a child; Betty Gilpin plays a young pregnant woman whose child has been diagnosed with having a possible issue and whether she should abort the child or not.



So these are three very big issues that have to do with real life with people and I think that those issues in jeopardy in a story creates a different atmosphere really that the ghosts inhabit. That you see, uhm, people do vulnerability. For me, the way I saw this, their vulnerability as well as the house contributed to they're being available to the infection and so the weaker you become and the angrier you get about your decisions in life, the more you open yourself up to infection which then pulls you all the way down.

"The Grudge", starring Lin Shaye, Andrea Riseborough, John Cho, Demian Bichir and more, is now haunting big screens nationwide.
A doctor has shared the grim warning about what the effects of breathing toxic smoke from Australia's bushfires can really do to your children.

Dr David Caldicott from the emergency department of Canberra's Calvary Hospital - who has five children under the age of ten - said the poor air quality could lead to 'long-term effects on young kids' health'.

'You can roughly equate these hazardous days with the equivalent of exposing your kid to the smoke of between 25 and 30 cigarettes a day,' Dr Caldicott told Mamamia.

'We've seen in other areas where people have had exposure to bushfire smoke, particularly kids, they can become more susceptible to infections, and not just respiratory infections, all sorts of infections.'

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Canberra Doctor David Caldicott said breathing in the hazardous air is an equivalent of exposing your kid to the smoke of between 25 and 30 cigarettes a day (pictured of children playing at a camping ground in the southern New South Wales town of Bega after being evacuated from nearby sites affected by bushfires on December 31, 2019)

How to protect your children from smoke Parents should seek a doctor if they notice their children appearing 'off and unwell'. They may experience breathing difficulties, being reluctant to talk or struggling to eat Keep your children indoors If the air quality reaches 'hazardous' level, close all doors and windows in your home and block off any gaps Keep your home air-conditioned, set on a recirculate mode Or take the family to an air-conditioned public place like a shopping centre or the cinemas Advertisement

Like any parent, Dr Caldicott said he wants his children to play outdoors but right now he's 'not prepared to run the risk of a chronic airways disease'.

'Or worse, things that I might not even have heard of yet - for the purposes of making pretend that life is normal. Life is far from normal at the moment in Canberra,' he said.

He advised other parents to seek a doctor if they start to notice their children appearing 'off and unwell' such as having breathing difficulties, being reluctant to talk or struggling to eat.

Interestingly, Sotiris Vardoulakis, professor of global environmental health at the Australian National University in Canberra, said masks can't protect kids.

He said you're better off keeping your children indoors or taking them to an air-conditioned public place like a shopping centre or the cinemas.

Pictures show the apocalyptic scenes Canberra residents woke to over the weekend, as the city was blanketed in a thick layer of orange smoke (here, a cleaner works on the deserted forecourt of Parliament House on Sunday, January 5 2020)

Earlier this week, Canberra resident Colin Wakefield shared a shocking picture showing a new (left) and barely used air purifier (right) caked in ash and dirt from the bushfires

Their advice comes just days after a Canberra resident shared a shocking picture showing the barely-used filter of his air purifier caked in ash and dirt from blazes burning along Australia's south coast.

A sobering sign of the pollution the area has experienced in recent weeks was captured in a photo by Colin Wakefield, as the Australian capital continues to be shrouded in a thick layer of smoke from fires across the region.

'The smoke is pretty dense again here in Canberra today,' Mr Wakefield posted on Facebook, alongside an image of two purifier filters, one new and one which has been used for less than six months, covered in dark grey soot.

'Usually it is a little darker than the new filter on the left, but as you can see it looks like a filter that's been in the same machine for [more than] 10 years.'

He urged residents of bushfire stricken areas to check air conditioners and purifiers for smoke-induced damage.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 10:09:38|Editor: ZX

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Wednesday that Iran launched 16 short-range ballistic missiles from three locations within Iran in Tuesday's attack.

Esper, with Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley aside, told reporters that, among the 16 missiles, 11 hit the Ayn al-Asad air base and at least one landed at a base near Erbil, adding that the missiles damaged tents, taxiways, parking lots and a helicopter.

Milley said Iran's missiles were aimed at facilities and personnel at the two bases in Iraq.

"I believe, based on what I saw and what I know, that they were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and aircraft, and to kill personnel," he noted, pointing out that defensive techniques of U.S. forces helped to keep the damage at a limited level.

In his address to the nation earlier in the day, U.S. President Donald Trump attributed the absence of casualties to the precaution measures, dispersal of forces, and effective early warning system.

The Pentagon Tuesday confirmed Iran's launching of more than a dozen ballistic missiles against at least two military bases housing the U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps claimed responsibility for the missile attacks, saying that they were meant to retaliate against the U.S. killing of General Qassem Soleimani.
OTTAWA - Two men who were found guilty of terrorism offences in a high-profile case argue there is no need to revisit an appeal court's decision to order a new trial.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/1/2020 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA - Two men who were found guilty of terrorism offences in a high-profile case argue there is no need to revisit an appeal court's decision to order a new trial.

In newly filed legal submissions, Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier urge the Supreme Court of Canada to reject a federal application for a hearing on whether the lower court of appeal was right to overturn their convictions.

Chiheb Esseghaier arrives at Buttonville Airport just north of Toronto on Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Two men found guilty of terrorism offences argue there is no need to revisit an appeal court's decision to order a new trial. In separate legal submissions, Raed Jaser and Esseghaier are urging the Supreme Court of Canada to reject a federal application for a hearing on the matter. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

Jaser and Esseghaier were found guilty in 2015 of terror-related charges arising mainly from an alleged al-Qaida-inspired plot to crash a Via Rail passenger train.

Both men appealed their convictions. Counsel for Jaser and a court-appointed lawyer for Esseghaier argued the jury that convicted them was improperly constituted.

In August last year, the Ontario Court of Appeal ordered a fresh trial for the men.

The appeal court said Jaser was improperly denied his preferred option for jury selection. It also said that if Jaser should have a new trial, Esseghaier was also entitled to one.

Following the decision, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada said it would proceed with a new trial, but noted it had 60 days to decide whether to seek permission to appeal from the Supreme Court.

In a subsequent submission to the top court, federal lawyers noted Jaser and Esseghaier were convicted of the most serious terrorism offences in Canadian law after nearly nine months of pre-trial motions and a three-month jury trial.

"Overturning these convictions on the basis of a technical error that had no appreciable effect on the conduct of the trial is a triumph of form over substance," the submission said.

"Where, as here, there is no actual demonstrable prejudice to the fairness of the trial, the verdict properly reached by the trier of fact after a long and arduous trial should not so easily be set aside."

The Supreme Court is expected to decide in coming weeks whether to hear the case.

Both Esseghaier and Jaser say the court should dismiss the federal application and let their new trial go ahead.

"The Crown has failed to identify any error of law in the decision of the Court of Appeal, much less one that raises an issue of national importance," says Esseghaier's submission.

He takes issue with the suggestion the serious nature of the alleged offences should prompt the Supreme Court to grant leave to appeal.

"The Crown has not advanced any argument as to why only serious cases involving overturned convictions, as opposed to convictions that are upheld on appeal, are sufficient to satisfy its new proposed test for leave," Esseghaier's brief says.

"Profoundly serious cases are, sadly, not an uncommon occurrence in the Canadian criminal justice system."

In his submission to the court, Jaser also rejects the notion that the gravity of the alleged offences would warrant a high court hearing.

"The seriousness of the allegations cannot transform an unimportant legal issue into an important one."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 9, 2020.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as well as the Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur's joint absence from the Prime Minister's pre-Budget meeting with economists didn't go unnoticed as Congress MP Shashi Tharoor took to Twitter questioning why she didn't attend the meet.

In a departure from his eloquent tweets, Tharoor simply posted: "What's going on here? Finance Minister indisposed?"

Same question again: https://t.co/QhZQtBLRwv. Whats going on here? Finance Minister indisposed?  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) January 9, 2020

PM Narendra Modi was accompanied by Home Minister Amit Shah, Commerce and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, and MSME and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari in the meeting with economists held at Niti Aayog on Thursday. Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar and CEO Amitabh Kant, as well as PM-EAC Chairman Bibek Debroy were also in attendance.

PM @narendramodi chaired a productive interaction with economists and experts to discuss topics ranging across economy, social sector and startups in #NITIAayog today. pic.twitter.com/DoT6rf6NQ1  NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) January 9, 2020

Meanwhile, Congress joined Tharoor to take potshots at the government over Sitharaman's absence. The opposition party tweeted: "How many men does it take to do a woman's job? #FindingNirmala"

How many men does it take to do a woman's job? #FindingNirmalahttps://t.co/RbiFmFZVBW  Congress (@INCIndia) January 9, 2020

Replying to a tweet by BJP's official handle, which invited suggestions for the upcoming Budget, Congress posted: "Here's a suggestion, next budget meeting, consider inviting the Finance Minister. #FindingNirmala"

Here's a suggestion, next budget meeting, consider inviting the Finance Minister. #FindingNirmalahttps://t.co/wKV35GTI04  Congress (@INCIndia) January 9, 2020

And Twitterati did what it does best - had a field day over the Finance Minister's absence in the meeting.

Looks like Home Minister is doing finance meeting, while Finance Minister is at home. https://t.co/DcAeYeRXre  Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) January 9, 2020

#FindingNirmala



A simple example how intelligent the modi govt is means they conducted a meeting ahead of budget without finance minister! https://t.co/uWaAfR3J7i   (@4yy6oCIVSFNGxv7) January 9, 2020

First invite the Finance Minister @nsitharaman and take her suggestions.

Modi and Shah insulted her by not inviting in the consultation meeting with "top economists"#FindingNirmala#SaveIndianEconomyhttps://t.co/48lf7qkuLM  Syed Maqbool (@maqbool_sm) January 9, 2020

In a rebuttal, FM Sitharaman clarified that she has already met economists as part of her pre-Budget consultations. In her reply to Tharoor, FM Sitharaman's office tweeted that she "has already met industrialists, experts, and economists during the pre-budget consultations". "Also, she has been meeting and interacting with representatives and stakeholders from various industries for many months now," the tweet added.

Sir, the minister has already met economists on 20th Dec 2019, as a part of the pre-budget consultations. https://t.co/pYMoqBbv35  NSitharamanOffice (@nsitharamanoffc) January 9, 2020

Sir, the minister has already met industrialists, experts, and economists during the pre-budget consultations.

Also, she has been meeting and interacting with representatives and stakeholders from various industries for many months now. https://t.co/0jqzqlaCrTpic.twitter.com/00jYixrVc3  NSitharamanOffice (@nsitharamanoffc) January 9, 2020

The PM's meeting began at 11:15 am and went on till 11:45 am. Meanwhile, FM's interaction with party leaders began at 10.30 am and continued till 2 pm. She was interacting with national office-bearers, spokespersons, Morcha members, departments, publications and think-tanks of BJP at the party's headquarters in Delhi as part of her pre-Budget consultations.

Smt @nsitharaman interacts with the office-bearers, panelists, spokespersons, and members of the morchas and departments of @BJP4India in New Delhi, as a part of the pre-budget discussions. pic.twitter.com/9wkB8fOFFh  NSitharamanOffice (@nsitharamanoffc) January 9, 2020

The agenda for PM's meeting included issues related to agriculture and infrastructure sectors as well as measures to boost economic growth.

This isn't the first time Tharoor was poking the finance minister. In an earlier tweet, Tharoor had also questioned the absence of Finance Minister from a meeting between the Prime Minister and business tycoons of the country on Wednesday.

Where is the Finance Minister? Or has the Duo forgotten they have one? https://t.co/990NEDyQp4  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) January 9, 2020

ALSO READ:Budget 2020: PM Modi meets top economists at Niti Aayog to discuss growth revival

ALSO READ:PM Modi tells India Inc to ignore pessimism, says govt stands with industry

ALSO READ:Cabinet committee recommends Budget 2020 session from Jan 31; Union Budget on Feb 1
BEMIDJI, Minn. -- At dusk on Tuesday, Jan. 7, Beltrami County became the first in the state and second in the nation to not allow refugee resettlements.

The reaction on social media was swift Tuesday night and into Wednesday.

One of the more notable reactions came from Minnesota House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, who posted on Facebook and Twitter.

"I was born and raised in Beltrami County, and I learned to help neighbors in need, not turn our backs on them," Winkler wrote on Facebook. "In 2019, I helped Beltrami County get additional funds from other Minnesota taxpayers to offset expenses the county could not control.

"Tonight three Beltrami County board members voted to withdraw onto their own island by denying a home to refugees," Winkler wrote. "If that is the county's position, it should be prepared to go without the state aid the rest of us provide them."

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Tuesday's decision was reached in a 3-2 vote, with Commissioners Richard Anderson of District 3, Craig Gaasvig of District 1 and Jim Lucachick of District 5 voting in favor of a motion to not accept resettlements. Voting no on the motion were District 2 Commissioner Reed Olson and District 4 Commissioner Tim Sumner.

The commissioners were responding to an executive order from President Trump, which enhanced state and local government involvement in refugee resettlement. Signed in September, the order will go into effect June 1.

However, resettlement affiliates and nonprofits are required to submit their placement strategies to the State Department by Jan. 31. The order by Trump allows counties interested in refugee resettlement to opt-in with official approvals.

For counties opposed to taking refugees, the order also allows local government units to either take no action, which would be interpreted as declining, or hold a formal vote such as the one taken Tuesday.

While there have been more than 100,000 individuals who've come to Minnesota through the United States Refugee Admissions Program since 1980, data shows few refugees, if any, being resettled to Beltrami County. According to the U.S. Department of State's Refugee Processing Center's website, no refugees have been resettled in Bemidji the past five years. Also, when asked Tuesday, County Administrator Kay Mack said there were no current requests for resettling refugees to the area.

On Wednesday, District 2A Rep. Matt Grossell, R-Clearbrook, said he trusted the Beltrami County commissioners to make the best choice for their constituents.

"The citizens of Beltrami County elected their county commissioners to make decisions such as this," Grossell said. "They know their county budget situation better than anyone, and I trust them to make the decision that is best for Beltrami County."

No cut in funding

In a separate comment Tuesday night, Grossell also criticized Winkler's social media posts.

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"President Trump empowered counties to have a voice in the decision making process for the federal refugee resettlement program," Grossell said. "Tonight, Beltrami County exercised that option and Majority Leader Winkler responded by threatening to cut off state funding because Beltrami County didn't vote the way he wanted. This is a disturbing and arrogant reaction from metro Democrats who have no business telling our county commissioners how to vote."

On Wednesday, Winkler expanded on his comments.

"I was obviously very disappointed that the county board would take that unnecessary vote, which I think is just a symbolic effort to create division and fear for no purpose," Winkler said. "We're not going to cut off funding for Beltrami County and hurt the residents based on the misguided action of three board members. But, I think it's important to point out that county boards seek funding from other parts of the state, and simultaneously saying outsiders are not welcome in Beltrami County. I don't think that's the right thing to do."

The financial status of Beltrami County was referenced heavily at Tuesday's meeting.

Beltrami County, which has a population of 46,847, has an unemployment rate of 4% as of November, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. Over the past decade, Beltrami County has regularly had a higher unemployment rate when compared to the state average.

The county also only recently reached a state of financial stability after a period of hardship that officials called a "fiscal cliff" situation. During this time, because of a sharp increase in out-of-home foster care placements, the county was having to tap into its reserves.

In spring 2019, commissioners learned the general fund balance could go negative in either 2022 or 2023 if increases in foster care continued. However, in the months that followed, the county received $3 million in financial relief from the state and an initiative by the Red Lake Nation to work directly with the state and federal governments on foster care, essentially taking the county out of the process, was authorized.

Despite being in a better position, though, commissioners who voted in favor of the motion said Beltrami County is still not resourceful enough financially to support a refugee population.

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"We're hopefully seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, in terms of not going completely bankrupt, but that doesn't mean we can open the door to more expenses," Gaasvig said Wednesday. "The show of hands I called for at the meeting was an overwhelming majority of people who saw that 'We just can't afford this in our community.'"

"It was a difficult decision for all five of us, I think, because it did come so suddenly," Anderson said. "My thought process was 'How can Beltrami County accommodate and take care of a large refugee settlement?' Last year, we were bailed out by the Minnesota Legislature so we could make payroll. My concern was also not on us financially, but the impact on refugees themselves."

Anderson told the Pioneer that because of its financial status, the county couldn't properly accommodate a high volume of refugees.

"I have a heart for immigrants and refugees. There's a great need out there," Anderson said. "They expect to be placed in an area where food, shelter and job training is supposed to be met. If they land here with our great needs already, what disappointment there would be that they'd find here. Not for a lack of warmth or people wanting to help, but because we lack the resources. Immigrants are still welcome in Beltrami County, but at a level they can be supported and nurtured."

While Lucachick cited financial issues as a reason for voting against the measure Tuesday, he listed others in communication with another local official. On Twitter, Bemidji City Council member Michael Meehlhause shared an email he sent to county officials about the upcoming vote before Tuesday's meeting.

In the email, Meehlhause cited an unlikelihood of refugees being resettled to Beltrami County and wrote "As I look at the facts, there is nothing that will change with this vote regardless of outcome. All it seems to be designed to do is to further divide us against one another."

In an emailed response, Lucachick wrote "I will vote no. Not divisive, just weighing the facts. I welcome you to show me a refugee resettlement area that is working well and prospering. I find no examples of that."

Lucachick continued in the email, "They are invasive and want little to do with our country, they want their rules put in place and remove ours. Speaking of being divisive, I see little from the city on being inclusive."

Attempts to reach Lucachick for a response Wednesday were unsuccessful.

More responses

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-MN5, wrote on Twitter after the vote, "this is deeply disheartening. Minnesotans have a history of welcoming refugees with open arms."

Omar is a refugee herself who fled with her family during Somalia's civil war in the 1990s. In 2018, she was elected to represent Minnesota's 5th Congressional District. Two years prior, she was elected to Minnesota's District 60B in the state House of Representatives.

On Twitter, Omar wrote, "Now, Beltrami is giving them a clenched fist. I'm proud that my home county-Hennepin-voted overwhelmingly to continue being a home for those fleeing oppression."

Bemidji Mayor Rita Albrecht said in an email Wednesday that "the county's action last night has created a lot of negative criticism for our community. I have received several calls and messages and City Hall has received calls and messages from people who say they are no longer going to visit or vacation here. There is a lot of misinformation on social media that seems to be fueling this fear. My experience has been that seeking understanding and making room for conversation can help."
Iranians had promised severe revenge for the assassination of their top general Qassem Soleimani, and on Tuesday night they delivered. Missiles were launched from Iranian soil into a large airbase in Iraq where hundreds of American forces are stationed alongside others.

But the high profile attack seemed to have been planned in a way to leave no casualties and rather serve as a warning that although Iran is not able to attack US soil, they have the will and capability to attack US bases in other countries across the region.

The retaliation seemed to be calculated in a way to avoid further escalation and offer an exit ramp for Donald Trump out of this episode. And the American president took it.

Iranians are used to IRGC commanders being killed in battle every year," said Hamzeh Ghalebi, an Iranian political analyst living in France. "But Soleimanis assassination outraged Iranians because of the way it was done, so publicly and with such humiliation, followed by Trumps reaction that basically meant we can do whatever we want and if you respond we will attack you.

Mr Ghalebi told The Independent Iran had to take this step for its survival". "Iranians needed to retaliate militarily because if they didnt, the balance of power in Washington would shift towards those who argue that attacking Iran has no cost. So they had to raise the cost to avoid a war.

Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Show all 24 1 /24 Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions Iranian mourners gather around a vehicle carrying the coffin of top general Qasem Soleimani during the final stage of funeral processions, in his hometown Kerman. Soleimani was killed outside Baghdad airport in a drone strike ordered by US President Donald Trump, ratcheting up tensions with Iran which has vowed "severe revenge" AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranian people carry a coffin of Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani during a funeral procession in Tehran Official Khamenei website via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions The assassination of the 62-year-old heightened international concern about a new war in the volatile, oil-rich Middle East and rattled financial markets AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Mourners packed the streets of Tehran for ceremonies to pay homage to Soleimani, who spearheaded Iran's Middle East operations as commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force and was killed in a US drone strike on January 3 Iranian Supreme Leader's Office/EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranians set a US and an Israeli flag on fire during the funeral procession AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, centre, with Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, second left, and President Hassan Rouhani, third left, standing next to him as he leads a prayer over the caskets of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at Tehran University Khamenei.IR/AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, openly weeps as he leads a prayer over the coffin of Qassem Soleimani AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Mourners holding posters of Qassem Soleimani AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Coffins of Soleimani and others who were killed in Iraq by a US drone strike, are carried on a truck surrounded by mourners during a funeral procession, at the Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) square AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions An Iranian mourner holds a placard AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Downtown Tehran was brought to a standstill as mourners flooded the Iranian capital Khamenei.IR/AFP via Getty Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Former Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps chief Mohamad Ali Jafari prays on the coffins of Qasem Soleimani and of other victims during their funeral ceremony EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Official Khamenei website via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions AFP via Getty Images Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Kerman - Final stage of funeral processions West Asia News Agency via Reuters Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran Satellite image Maxar Technologies/AP Qassem Soleimani: Mourners fill Iran streets for funeral Tehran EPA

In a public address to the American people on Wednesday morning, Mr Trump explained that there have been no casualties from the attack and he is going to respond to Iran with more sanctions and not further military action.

After a long night of fearing an imminent war breaking out between the two countries, many in Iran, Iraq, and across the region will breathe a sigh of relief. But the proxy war between the worlds superpower and the regions power has not ended. And conflict may ensue again soon unless a major shift happens in the long-term policy.

The fundamentals of the trajectory of the conflict between the US and Iran have not changed, said Joel Rubin, former deputy assistant Secretary of State in the Obama administration, adding that: We are still on a tinderbox and the Trump administrations goals are neither clear nor is there a plan for how to achieve them beyond the current maximum pressure campaign.

We need a different path to avoid having this repetitive conversation about whether or not we are going to war. Because right now thats the path we continue to be on. One has to question the real objectives of President Trumps policy because if its about reining in Irans regional behaviour and nuclear ambition, it is not achieving those results, Mr Rubin told The Independent.

 Donald Trump says US continues to look at its options and will impose 'powerful' economic sanctions on Iran

In his statement, Donald Trump called on other parties of the Iran nuclear deal - UK, France, Germany, Russia, and China - to break away and get on board with him trying to negotiate a new deal with Iran. But right now there doesnt seem to be any chance for serious diplomacy between Tehran and Washington, unless a breakthrough happens after the dust settles.
Ukraine's economy to get additional US$6.3 bln from Russian gas transit in five years  Ukrainian GTS operator

15:40, 09.01.20 8622

Earlier, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev said Ukraine would get at least US$7.2 billion from Russian gas transit over the next five years.
Farmers in the Midlands are being asked to support a novel fundraiser for the Midlands Hospice Fund this month.

Tullamore Lions Club is fronting this effort and is asking farmers to rear animals and sell them in aid of the hospice building fund.

The launch of the Hooves 4 Hospice fundraising bid will take place on January 16 in the Greville Arms Hotel in Mullingar.

Tullamore Lions Club wants to recruit a large number of farmers to support the cause. It will see farmers rear animals, purchased by the Lions Club, for 12 to 18 months.

They will then be sold on with any profits going towards the hospice fundraising effort.

The Midlands region of Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath is the only region in the country without a level 3 hospice which is a facility specially designed for end-of-life care.

The HSE has decided that the most suitable location for such a hospice in the Midlands is Tullamore owing to its central location. Services that can be delivered locally will be provided at satellite units in Athlone, Mullingar, Longford and Portlaoise.

The Offaly Hospice Foundation has committed 500,000 towards the project but Tullamore Lions Club is willing to take a leading role in the fundraising the remainder. They have committed 25,000 initially with matching funding of 25,000 secured from the Irish Hospice Foundation.

The launch of Hooves 4 Hospice takes place on January 16 at the Greville Arms Hotel in Mullingar. Find out more HERE.
NEW YORK - Claims by federal prosecutors that theyve acted lawfully in their probe of two associates of Rudy Giuliani charged with illegally funneling foreign money into U.S. political campaigns only helps prove that they used unfair surveillance tactics to build their case, a defence lawyer said Thursday.

Attorney Gerald Lefcourt said in court papers that the U.S. government showed it has acted improperly by failing to refute defence claims that there were warrant-less interceptions of the defendants oral and written communications.

The government has all but admitted it, Lefcourt told U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken.

Two men linked to Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who is also the personal attorney to President Donald Trump, were arrested in October on charges they used foreign money to make illegal campaign contributions.

The men  Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman  have pleaded not guilty.

Lefcourt urged a judge to order the government to conduct a comprehensive agency search to learn about evidence gathered in the case without a warrant so defence lawyers can determine if evidence was derived from illegal searches.

He said extensive dealings by the men overseas make it inconceivable that the U.S. government didnt use tactics in its probe against U.S. citizens that would include gathering information through bulk surveillance programs not subject to judicial and congressional oversight.

Lefcourt said those tactics would enable investigators to see the contents and records of telephone calls, video chats, emails, internet activity and text messages.

He said investigators also might have deployed stingrays to track cellphones and put malware on personal computers or conducted sweeping internet surveillance.

The government refuses to affirm or deny its existence, Lefcourt wrote. Even worse, despite the deafening silence, the government has seemingly filed with this Court a secret submission justifying it.

In court papers last week, the government said Lefcourts request should be denied.

The defendants, prosecutors wrote, have no standing to challenge the lawfulness of any underlying surveillance, particularly because the government has no plans to introduce any evidence obtained as a result of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The act defines how physical and electronic surveillance pertaining to foreign intelligence must be gathered.

Prosecutors said Lefcourts demands were insufficient and improper and they told a judge that the defence lawyer should not be allowed to embark on a fishing expedition through the Governments files.

The Government has complied with its disclosure obligations, and there is no basis to require more, they said.

Prosecutors say Parnas and Fruman made illegal donations while lobbying U.S. politicians to oust the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

Lefcourt represents Andrey Kukushkin, who along with David Correia, were arrested on charges that they worked with Parnas and Fruman in a separate scheme to make illegal campaign donations to politicians in several states to support a new recreational marijuana business. Correia and Kukushkin have also pleaded not guilty.

For the purposes of challenging surveillance, Lefcourt represented them all.

The four defendants are U.S. citizens, but Kukushkin and Parnas were born in Ukraine and Fruman in Belarus. All are free on bail.
Even after the invasion of Iraq turned out to be a clear betrayal of the nations trust, I still felt I had a duty to serve and to repay my debt of gratitude to the nation, which has given us so much, said Mr. Stone, who lives in Dearborn, Mich., a state where veterans helped put Mr. Trump over the line in some districts. Today, with the situation in Iran, I cant help but feel that this is the dark echo of Iraq.

American skepticism about employing military force, once derided by some as unpatriotic, is much more on display, even among veterans who may have directly faced the lethal danger that Iran presents in the Middle East. While certainly as mixed in their views and influenced by partisan politics as other Americans, the veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are a much larger proportion of critics of interventions in the regions they once fought in.

And veterans services organizations, which have struggled to adapt to the younger and more diverse group of those who served in the military over nearly two decades of grinding wars, seem to be returning to their historical focus on veterans health care and housing have new concerns to address and seem less interested in overtly supporting conflicts.

We can already anticipate that those who deployed this week will likely suffer toxic environmental exposure, grievous injury in some cases, mental health conditions, barriers to gainful employment, traumatic brain injuries and a host of other issues related to their military service, said Sherman Gillums Jr., the chief advocacy officer of Amvets.

That rejection is driving bipartisan resistance to another military conflict, opposition that a decade ago would have been for most lawmakers political suicide. House Democrats, who for years joined Republicans in granting the executive branch broad war powers for fear of political reprisals, are pressing for a measure to limit Mr. Trumps ability to wage war on Iran, one of several pieces of legislation Congress has passed over the past two years to increase its power over making war.
Political advertising cuts to the heart of Facebooks outsize role in society, and the company has found itself squeezed between liberal critics, who want it to do a better job of policing its various social media platforms, and conservatives, who say their views are being unfairly muzzled.

The issue has raised important questions regarding how heavy a hand technology companies like Facebook  which also owns Instagram and the messaging app WhatsApp  and Google should exert when deciding what types of political content they will and will not permit.

By maintaining a status quo, Facebook executives are essentially saying they are doing the best they can without government guidance and see little benefit to the company or the public in changing.

In a blog post, a company official echoed Facebooks earlier calls for lawmakers to set firm rules.

In the absence of regulation, Facebook and other companies are left to design their own policies, Rob Leathern, Facebooks director of product management overseeing the advertising integrity division, said in the post. We have based ours on the principle that people should be able to hear from those who wish to lead them, warts and all, and that what they say should be scrutinized and debated in public.

Other social media companies have decided otherwise, and some had hoped Facebook would quietly follow their lead. In late October, Twitters chief executive, Jack Dorsey, banned all political advertising from his network, citing the challenges that novel digital systems present to civic discourse. Google quickly followed suit with limits on political ads across some of its properties, though narrower in scope.
I moved five times in the last year. And every single time I moved, I forgot to sign up to have my mail forwarded to my new address.

Mail forwarding is an important step in any moving process, as it ensures you don't lose any valuable information that's sent to you.

And the same can be said for your website: If you're moving a website from one URL to another, you need to take the necessary steps to ensure your visitors get sent to the right place. In the world of tech, this is called a 301 redirect.

Here, we're going to discuss what a 301 redirect is and when you need to use one, as well as how to redirect a URL in HubSpot or WordPress. Additionally, we'll explore the differences between a 301 and 302 redirect.

What is a 301 (permanent) redirect? 301 is an HTTP status code sent by a web server to a browser. A 301 signals a permanent redirect from one URL to another, meaning all users that request an old URL will be automatically sent to a new URL. A 301 redirect passes all ranking power from the old URL to the new URL, and is most commonly used when a page has been permanently moved or removed from a website.

301 is one of many possible HTTP status codes, some of which you've probably heard of (including 404 - Not Found, 403 - Forbidden and, 500 - Server Error). When you visit a web page and the server sends the page normally, the status code it attaches to that page is 200 - OK.

You can think of a 301 redirect like a mail forwarder. Once you've moved a piece of content away from a specific URL, anyone who tries to visit it will receive a 404 - page not found message.

To improve their user journey, you can ask the server to forward visits from the old URL to a new location  the new home of your piece of content  using a 301 redirect.

Now, when you attempt to visit the old URL, the server will send back the 301 - Permanently Moved status code, and then move you on to the new location.

This happens so quickly that you're usually not aware of it, and will simply find yourself on the piece of content for which you'd searched. You might notice that the URL is different from the one you clicked on or typed in. Or you might have a browser extension such as Ayima Redirect Path which lets you know when you've been redirected.

The other key role that a 301 redirect fulfills is with search engines. Having useful status codes that correctly signal where content has moved to allows search engines such as Google and Bing to keep their index up-to-date.

Essentially, a 301 redirect will let search engines know: "Hey, you know that piece of content that users enjoyed clicking on from the SERPs? Well, it now lives over here, so take all that visibility you associated with this page, and transfer it over to this new URL."

This is why 301 redirects are important for SEO.

Now that we've covered that, let's dive into how you can do a 301 redirect for yourself.

How to Do a 301 Redirect In a CMS

The actual process of implementing a 301 redirect varies from CMS to CMS and platform to platform. While we aren't able to discuss the specifics of every CMS platform, we can take a close look at HubSpot and WordPress. Hopefully, these instructions should help you get started regardless of the CMS you use.

How to Redirect a URL in HubSpot

HubSpot makes it simple to add 301 permanent redirects inside the tool. To set up a redirect in HubSpot:

1. Click Settings (the cog in the top right corner).

2. In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Website > Domains and URLs.

3. Click the URL Redirects tab, then click Add URL redirect in the top right.

This reveals a right-side panel. We'll go over some use cases later, but for now let's look at the options in this panel.

Standard

In most cases, you will want to implement a single page-to-page redirect. In this case, choose Standard.

Next, you'll want to add the Original URL and the Redirect to URL for your old and new URLs, respectively.

Click Add URL Redirect and the redirect will be added to HubSpot.

We also recommend testing your redirect. First, wait a few minutes for the change to apply to the server. Next, try visiting the original URL in an incognito browser window and check that it works as expected.

Flexible

In some cases, creating single page-to-page redirects is very inefficient. For example, if you have just moved an entire folder of content, you may have 15 pages within a subfolder that you now need to redirect. In such cases, it's a better idea to use a Flexible redirect.

You can think of a flexible redirect as a formula or a rule. It will allow you to redirect everything within a certain folder to a different folder while keeping the rest of the URL the same.

When you select Flexible redirect, HubSpot will automatically provide you the link to the flexible URL pattern redirect help page, which will give you specific guidance on how to use the syntax for this feature.

More Options

Under More Options, HubSpot offers various advanced variations on these redirect types.

It will allow you to deliver a 302 Temporary Redirect or a proxy redirect (redirect the content of a live page without changing the URL shown in the visitor's browser) instead, choose the order which HubSpot moves through the redirect rules when resolving a URL (which may change which valid rule is triggered), disable a redirect if content is present at the URL, preserve query strings, force HTTPS, and force trailing slashes on the end of all URLs.

How to Redirect a URL in WordPress

If you aren't a HubSpot customer, then you will need to apply 301 redirects differently. WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world, so it makes sense for us to touch upon how one might go about looking at redirects in a WordPress context next.

However, it's important to note that WordPress itself is very flexible. Installations of WordPress can vary wildly, and so there is no one-size-fits-all guide we can provide as was the case with the HubSpot CMS.

If in doubt, consult your web developer when it comes to adding URL redirects.

Apply a redirect via the server itself.

The best way to apply redirects from a speed and technical point of view is via the web server itself, rather than relying on WordPress. WordPress does not offer a facility to implement 301 redirects out-the-box, although there are plugins available that will give you access to this functionality.

The process of applying 301 redirects via the server itself will vary depending on the software stack your server is using. You might be using Apache, Nginx, IIS, or some other platform, each of which requires a different approach. This may also vary depending on your hosting provider.

If you do not know how to apply a redirect via the server itself, it's not something we'd recommend fiddling with as it may lead to an interruption of service for your website  instead, we'd suggest consulting with your IT team, host, or web development partner.

Redirect a URL using a free WordPress plugin.

Sometimes in marketing, you must compromise that optimal solution for the solution you can actually achieve. This may be one of those cases. If you are not able to implement a redirect via your server, consider using a WordPress plugin. This is not the optimal method  plugins are slower, and you'll have to rely on third-party code, so proceed at your own risk.

Each plugin interface will be different, so consult your chosen plugin's documentation for specific guidance. Here, we'll briefly walk through how to set up 301 redirects with the free Redirection plugin:

1. Install and activate the Redirection plugin.

2. Navigate to Settings > Redirection and follow the setup instructions.

3. At the end of setup, you'll be taken to the plugin Options menu. To add a new redirect, choose Redirects from the top menu.

4. Under Redirects, you can view all of your active 301 redirects and add new ones. To add a new 301 redirect, under Add new redirection insert a Source URL (the old URL) and a Target URL (the new URL).

5. Click Add Redirect. You'll now see the new redirect in your list of active redirects.

When to Use a 301 Redirect

Here are some specific cases where you will want to reach for the 301 redirect as a tool.

1. Changing a URL.

Maybe your original URL was poorly optimized, or you are re-organizing the folder structure of your website URLs.

Moving a piece of content in HubSpot CMS is very simple  just change the URL on the settings tab of the content's edit page, and HubSpot will automatically add a URL redirect for you. Be sure to check that this is working before you move on.

2. Recreating a piece of content.

Sometimes, you might want to completely rebuild your old piece of content on an entirely new page  for instance, if you decide you want to use a different web page template.

In this case, you'll want to make sure that you have implemented a simple 301 redirect from the old URL to your new one. Once this is in place, be sure to unpublish and archive the old page.

If doing a lot of these, we suggest using a flexible rule or, if a flexible rule is not appropriate, using a tool such as Screaming Frog SEO Spider in conjunction with Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel to map your redirects in bulk, and then import them into HubSpot.

You can do this on the URL Redirects page using the Import button:

HubSpot will provide you with a sample file to structure your redirects, and a link to the bulk upload redirects help page.

3. Consolidating several pieces of content.

If you have decided that you have multiple pieces of content that overlap, compete for the same keywords, or all cover the same topic, you might want to consolidate them. However, you will not want to throw away the search engine visibility that these old pages might have achieved.

Once you have created your new, consolidated resource, you should set up a simple 301 redirect from each of the old pages to the single new page.

4. Migrating content from one domain to another.

If you're moving your website from one domain to another, it is vitally important that you implement page-to-page 301 redirects from your old content to your new content.

This is easy if the site is moving a domain, but remaining the same in terms of structure and layout. If the content is changing or being restructured, it is still important that you make sensible redirection choices that honor your users' original intent, in order to pass the visibility of each of your old pages to their new counterparts.

When implementing page-to-page 301 redirects from one domain to another, you have a specific challenge to keep in mind: your redirects must be served from the original URL.

It is useless if, for instance, you've connected HubSpot to your new domain, but not your old domain, for you to then host the 301 redirects for your old domain onto HubSpot. You will need to work with your IT partner, web development partner, and/or HubSpot partner to ensure that serving redirects from your old domain has been accounted for. We recommend that these remain in place indefinitely.

5. Migrating a Website During a Phased Web Launch

You may be moving your website from one domain to another as outlined above, but due to project constraints, you are using a phased launch approach. This means that you're launching the core website pages in phase one, then a second wave of pages in phase two, and so on.

In this case, we recommend creating a phased redirect map. All URLs from your old domain should be accounted for, and a redirect outlined for each phase.

For phase one, you will expect to implement 301 redirects for all the pages that will be accounted for on the new site. You will also add 302 redirects for all other pages, usually to the new website's homepage. This will prevent users trying to visit your old domain from receiving a 404 error, without confusing search engines by having your pages suddenly redirect to seemingly irrelevant content.

As you launch each phase, you should update your redirects, replacing your 302s with 301s as the counterpart content becomes available.

Once again, these redirects must be implemented such that they are served from your old domain.

The Difference Between a 301 Redirect vs. a 302 Redirect 301 redirects are permanent, whereas 302 redirects are temporary. A 301 is used when a page has permanently changed location, and a 302 should be used if you intend to move the page back under the original URL in the future.

In general, you should expect to use 301 redirects on your website. However, there are a few cases when you might want to use a 302, instead, including:

You might be using a phased website launch plan.

You might be redirecting users as part of functionality where SEO does not apply, such as login gateways or e-commerce checkouts.

You might be using a temporary holding page, and do not want to confuse search engines or damage your search engine rankings by signaling that you're permanently redirecting your detailed, rich content to an empty holding page.

301 Redirect Mistakes to Avoid

Now that you understand the importance of the 301 redirect, we'll review common steps in the process to make sure you don't make a mistake that could adversely impact your site's SEO.

1. Setting up a 302 redirect between versions of your domains.

301 redirects point the power of inbound links from one URL to another, and although it might not look like it, http://blog.hubspot.com and blog.hubspot.com are two different URLs. Make sure you set up a 301 redirect from all of the different iterations of your brand's domain to boost your search engine results.

2. Setting up a 301 redirect after creating a new page.

Back in 2010, Toys 'R Us purchased the toys.com domain without setting up a 301 redirect first, and their new site's SEO results plummeted because it was re-crawled by Google as a brand-new domain without inbound links from the original Toys 'R Us domain pointing to it. Be sure to set up the 301 redirect before migrating your website content so your site doesn't lose traffic in the process.

3. Using a 302 redirect during content migration.

Unless you're temporarily migrating your website's content while updating or repairing your website, use a 301 redirect to maintain the inbound links and your search rankings while making changes to your domain.

4. Having redirects link to outdated content.

If you don't set up redirects from the older internal links on your website (such as a link to your company blog on your homepage), you'll create a bad user experience for site visitors who click on these older, not-directed links. The old internal link will eventually kick over to the new domain, but it might take several seconds or show a white screen in the meantime.

5. Redirect a page with a different intent than the destination page.

This will be a breeze with proper organization and record-keeping, but make sure that you're redirecting to the correct pages. To illustrate, you wouldn't want to redirect a user looking for your homepage to your blog page.

Keeping this transition smooth will contribute to SEO being accurate, and will lead to more happy visitors to your site.

Whether you're thinking about overhauling all content in a site migration, or you're just refurbishing some outdated web pages, 301 redirects help. If you're planning out this new stage, think about incorporating them in your project; your SEO won't take a dive and website visitors will continue to find the helpful content they're looking for.

Other Types of Redirects

There are other types of redirect too, including:

1. 302 - Temporarily Moved

This functions almost identically to a 301 redirect. In this instance, however, we are acknowledging that the move is temporary. For a user, this makes no practical difference, but for a search engine the message is clear  don't worry about ranking this new page, as it won't be around for long. Stick to using the old one, it will be back.

2. Meta Refresh, or Javascript Redirects

This is different from the previous two approaches. The page will load normally with a 200 - OK status code. Then, a script runs on the page that moves the user onto another page.

There may be certain edge cases when this is the only practical option, but in general you should avoid this approach. It is not associated with SEO best practices and often can provide a confusing user experience.

Addressing Internal 404 Errors

Your SEO or web team might have identified some broken links on your website. In this case, it's best practice to create a 301 redirect to forward users from the broken URL through to an appropriate resource  one that is fundamentally congruent with the piece of content they were expecting to find.

However, you should also look to update the offending hyperlinks to point to the new URL, as well. Having a website that relies on 301 redirects for internal navigation is not the best practice.

Addressing 404 Errors Reported in Google Search Console

Sometimes, you will see Google Search Console reporting 404 pages that you don't even link to internally. So where do these come from?

Google Search Console populates its "Coverage" section from all kinds of sources. Sometimes the URLs are simply ones that it has seen before on a previous incarnation of your website, or it might have seen an external link on some other website.

Your mindset should be that if Google has seen this URL before, a user might have as well. They might have it saved as a bookmark, or have it written down in an email, or on a third-party website, and they may still click on it. That being the case, you want to make sure that those users receive the optimum user experience, so you should try to create 301 redirects to push these users to an appropriate piece of content that is fundamentally congruent with the piece of content they were expecting to find.

Don't leave your old links hanging  use a 301.

301 redirects are vitally important for maintaining a healthy website. They serve a core function in signaling to both users and search engines when your website content moves and changes, and ensure that as your web presence evolves, your user journey remains clear and logical, and your visibility in search engines is preserved between iterations.

Be sure to familiarize yourself with implementing redirects in your current website environment. Then, test your website's SEO strength  as well as speed, mobile-friendliness, and security  with our free Website Grader.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in December 2010 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., arrives to meet with other House Democrats on the morning following Iranian attacks on bases in Iraq housing US troops, at the Capitol in Washington. AP

Washington: The House will vote Thursday on a measure limiting President Donald Trumps ability to take military action against Iran as Democratic criticism of the US killing of a top Iranian general intensified.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced the planned vote in a one-page statement that said last weeks drone strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani was provocative and disproportionate.

The Democratic war powers resolution seems certain to pass over solid Republican opposition. A similar proposal by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., faces an uphill fight in the GOP-run Senate.

Because of a procedural dispute between the two parties, it was unclear whether Thursdays vote would be a step toward binding Trumps hands on Iran or a symbolic gesture of opposition by Democrats.

Republicans say the proposal  a special type of resolution that does not get the presidents signature  does not have the force of law. Democrats say that under the 1973 War Powers Act, it would be binding if also approved by the Senate. The matter has not been definitively decided by federal courts.

The House vote was scheduled shortly after a briefing on Iran Wednesday by top administration officials that many Democrats criticised as lacking specific justification for the killing. Iran retaliated early Wednesday local time by launching missiles at two military bases in Iraq that house American troops. No casualties were reported.

Members of Congress have serious, urgent concerns about the Administrations decision to engage in hostilities against Iran and about its lack of strategy moving forward, Pelosi said in her statement.

Congress hereby directs the President to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran or any part of its government or military unless Congress declares war on that country or enacts legislation authorizing use of force to prevent an attack on the U.S. and its forces, the five-page resolution says.

I think its extremely important that we as a country, if we are going to  either intentionally or accidentally  slide into war, that we have a debate about it, said freshman Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., the measures sponsor. Slotkin is a former CIA analyst and Pentagon official who served in Iraq.

I want to understand whats your strategy? she said, referring to the Trump administration. How do you know youre succeeding and not just escalating us into something more and more dangerous? We are owed concrete, specific details on strategy.



The showdown between the White House and Capitol Hill was the latest example of Trumps willingness to break the norms in Washington. Trump did not consult with congressional leaders ahead of the attack that killed the Iranian general and afterward sent Congress a notification explaining the rationale, but kept it classified.

Congress has allowed its war powers role to erode since the passage of Authorization for Use of Military Force in 2001 to fight terrorism after the 9/11 attacks, and passage of another AUMF for the invasion of Iraq in 2002.

Fallout from those votes deeply divided Congress and the nation, with many lawmakers, particularly Democrats, now saying they were mistakes. Yet Congress has been paralyzed on the question of whether to repeal or change those authorities.

Trump, facing one of the greatest tests of his presidency, said Wednesday that Iran appeared to be standing down and said the U.S. response would be to put in place new economic sanctions until Iran changes its behavior.

The strikes by Iran had pushed Tehran and Washington perilously close to all-out conflict and put the worlds attention on Trump as he weighed whether to respond with more military force.

Republicans have largely supported Trumps actions, saying the president was well within his power to take out Irans architect of proxy operations against Americans in the Middle East. The US considered Soleimani a terrorist.

How much is enough? How many more Americans did Soleimani need to kill before somebody supports taking him out? asked Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 Republican in the House. The world is a safer place without Soleimani in it, he added.

Democrats were unconvinced that the threat posed by Soleimani was imminent or that other alternatives to the killing were pursued in good faith. By not disclosing many details of the threat, Trump was asking the American public to trust the very intelligence reports he has often disparaged, Democrats said.

Some Republicans also criticized the briefing by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other top officials. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said it was probably the worst briefing Ive seen, at least on a military issue, in the nine years hes served in the Senate.

Lee called it distressing that officials suggested it would only embolden Iran if lawmakers debated the merits of further military action. He walked into the briefing undecided, Lee said, but left it favoring the war powers resolution being offered by Kaine.

It is not acceptable for officials within the executive branch of government ... to come in and tell us that we cant debate and discuss the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran, Lee said. Its un-American, its unconstitutional, and its wrong.

Pelosi said the House may also consider additional legislation to repeal the 2002 Iraq authorisation of force and a separate bill to prohibit funding for military action against Iran not authorised by Congress.
President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the White House on the ballistic missile strike that Iran launched against Iraqi air bases housing U.S. troops, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, in Washington, as Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, and Vice President Mike Pence, and others look on. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Associated Press

President Donald Trump claimed victory over Iran on Wednesday after taking the US to the brink of war by ordering the assassination of Iran's Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Following Trump's speech, several media figures and pundits lauded the president for what they said was a de-escalation of the conflict with Iran.

But they ignored the fact that Trump's own actions prompted US-Iran tensions to go from hot to boiling in a matter of days.

By taking out Soleimani, Trump isolated himself on the world stage, prompted Iran to pull out of a landmark deal to limit its nuclear power, jeopardized the US's relationship with Iraq, and froze efforts to combat ISIS.

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President Donald Trump claimed victory over Iran on Wednesday after taking the US to the brink of war by ordering the assassination of Iran's top military general, Qassem Soleimani.

Flanked by Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Vice President Mike Pence, Trump confirmed that an Iranian missile attack on US forces late Tuesday did not result in any American casualties and said Iran "appears to be standing down."

Iran launched more than 20 missiles at two US-occupied Iraqi bases in response to Soleimani's killing.

"I'm pleased to inform you, the American people should be extremely grateful and happy no Americans were harmed in last night's attack by the Iranian regime," Trump said. He added that there was only minimal damage to the installations.

Following Trump's speech, a host of right-wing media figures and pundits lauded the president for what they said was his de-escalation of the conflict with Iran. A "straight news" anchor on Fox suggested those who've criticized Trump's escalation with Iran are "deranged."

"There's this sense that the president doesn't get credit when something goes right," Fox host Bret Baier said Wednesday. "You wonder whether Trump derangement syndrome factors in to some of the responses you hear here in Washington."

Story continues

But they seemed to ignore the fact that Trump's own actions were what prompted tensions between the US and Iran to go from hot to boiling in a matter of days.

Allies abandon the US over Trump's decision

Trump's decision to order Soleimani's assassination was almost universally condemned after it was publicly announced.

Among the first to react was the United Kingdom, historically the United States' closest ally.

The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, said in a statement on Friday that conflict with Iran "is in none of our interests" and urged "all parties to de-escalate."

Other UK leaders also criticized the US for not consulting it before carrying out the strike.

Tom Tugendhat, Raab's Conservative Party colleague and the chair of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, told the BBC that "the purpose of having allies is that we can surprise our enemies and not each other."

He added that "it's been a pattern, sadly, which has been a bit of a shame, that the US administration of late has not shared with us and that is a matter of concern."

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., arrives to meet with other House Democrats on the morning following Iranian attacks on bases in Iraq housing U.S. troops, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Associated Press

"What is happening is what we feared: Tensions between the United States and Iran are increasing," France's secretary of state for European affairs, Amelie de Montchalin, told RTL, according to Reuters.

She added, according to The Guardian, that "at European level, we have to work in collective multilateral frameworks and prevent the powers, one against the other, from playing their game in an unpredictable manner."

Although Germany blamed Iran for engaging in "military provocations" that resulted in the US's strike on Soleimani, a spokesperson for the German government warned against any further conflict, telling reporters, "We stand before a dangerous escalation," according to Reuters.

Iran pulls out of a landmark nuclear deal

On Sunday, in direct response to Trump's strike, Iran officially withdrew from the landmark 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the Iran nuclear deal.

The deal, which was negotiated by the Obama administration, had been crumbling ever since Trump withdrew the US from it in May 2018. Trump's decision to pull the US from the nuclear deal is widely viewed as the catalyst for a series of escalatory events that raised fears of a potential war.

Iran complied with the JCPOA for roughly a year after Trump pulled the US from it, but began withdrawing from the agreement as Trump carried out a "maximum pressure campaign" that included throttling Iran with harsh economic sanctions.

Soleimani's assassination was the last straw.

Trump, for his part, doesn't appear to be moving toward a more conciliatory stance. In fact, he said on Wednesday that the US will impose tougher economic sanctions on Iran, adding that the days of tolerating Iran's behavior "are over."

A blow to the fight against ISIS

Trump's escalation with Iran is also a blow to the efforts to contain and defeat the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. The strike forced the US-led coalition to freeze its efforts against ISIS and undermined Iran's fight against ISIS, which was led by Soleimani.

The coalition forces, which were working with Iraqi forces to fight back against thousands of ISIS fighters, were forced to pause its operations in order to protect themselves from possible attacks in the wake of US strike.

While coalition forces managed in 2019 to reclaim all of the territory ISIS formerly occupied in Iraq and Syria, the terrorist group still has thousands of fighters in the region. Trump repeated his false claim that ISIS has been "100%" eradicated during his address to the nation on Wednesday.

Some experts fear the already decreased US presence in Iraq and Syria and increasing tensions with Iran could help ISIS resurge.

Undermining the US's relationship with Iraq

Trump's strike, which also killed a powerful Iraqi militia leader, has infuriated the Iraqi government and many of its people. The escalation could threaten the US's relationship with Iraq, where the US currently has almost 5,000 troops fighting ISIS and training the Iraqi military.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi called the strike that killed Soleimani and a top Iraqi militia leader, among others, "an outrageous breach to Iraqi sovereignty" and "a clear breach of the terms of the American forces' presence."

On Sunday, the Iraqi parliament voted to expel the US military from the country as members chanted "Death to America." The resolution, also supported by the outgoing prime minister, was nonbinding, but it illustrates the depth of Iraqi anger at the US amid its escalation.

The vote infuriated Trump, who responded by threatening sanctions "like they've never seen before ever" and said Iraq would have to "pay us back" for the military bases the US constructed in the country.

On Monday, the US Defense Department accidentally sent a letter to the Iraqi government informing it that the US would withdraw its troops from the country.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley said the "draft" letter wasn't meant to be sent and the episode was an "honest mistake"

"There's been no decision made to leave Iraq, period," Esper said after news of the letter broke. "There is no decision to leave, nor did we issue any plans to leave."

Adam Bienkov contributed reporting.

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WASHINGTON  Reigniting a debate over who has the power to declare war, the Democratic-controlled House on Thursday approved a resolution asserting that President Donald Trump must seek approval from Congress before engaging in further military action against Iran.

The war powers resolution is not binding on the president and would not require his signature. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi nonetheless insisted it has real teeth because it is a statement of the Congress of the United States.

The measure will protect American lives and values by limiting Trumps military actions, Pelosi said. The administration must de-escalate and must prevent further violence.

The White House called the resolution ridiculous and completely misguided.

And Trump, at a campaign rally in Toledo, Ohio, claimed he had no obligation to give lawmakers advance warning, saying Democrats like Pelosi want us to tell them so they can leak it to their friends in the corrupt media.

The House passed the measure, 224-194, with just three Republicans voting in support. Eight Democrats opposed the measure.

A similar proposal by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., faces an uphill fight in the GOP-run Senate. Kaines efforts received a boost Thursday as Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, an ex-Marine, said he might support the war powers measure. Two other Republican senators said Wednesday they would back Kaines plan.

We are members of a separate and distinct branch of government. It is our duty not to take anyones word for things as we are dealing with matters of life and death, Young said, adding that he wished Trump administration officials had provided more intelligence information during a briefing Wednesday on a U.S. drone strike that killed a top Iranian general.

Pelosi, in announcing the House vote, called the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani provocative and disproportionate.

Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, denounced the Democratic measure as little more than a press release designed to attack President Trump, while House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California called it a meaningless vote on a measure that will never be sent to the president or limit his constitutional authority to defend the American people.

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said, This House resolution tries to undermine the ability of the U.S. Armed Forces to prevent terrorist activity by Iran and its proxies, and attempts to hinder the Presidents authority to protect America and our interests in the region from the continued threats.

The House vote came a day after the Trump administration briefed lawmakers on its actions in Iran. Democrats and several Republicans called the briefings inadequate, adding that officials did not provide enough details about why the attack was justified.

Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday that Soleimani was traveling the region making plans to bring an attack against American personnel and American forces. He said it was not possible to share full details of the intelligence with lawmakers.

When it comes to intelligence we have to protect sources and methods, theres only certain amount we can share with every member of Congress, Pence said on ABCs Good Morning America. But those of us who have seen all the evidence know that there was a compelling case of imminent threat against American personnel.

Trump said Thursday that he had calls from numerous senators and numerous congressmen and women saying it was the greatest presentation theyve ever had.

Referring to criticism by GOP Sens. Mike Lee and Rand Paul, Trump said: They want information that honestly I think is very hard to get.  It really had to do with sources and information that we had that really should remain at a very high level.

Lee, a conservative from Utah, said the briefing by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other officials was probably the worst briefing Ive seen, at least on a military issue, in the nine years hes served in the Senate.

Paul, of Kentucky, said administration officials justified killing Soleimani based on the 2002 authorization of force in Iraq. That is absurd. Thats an insult, he said.

Pelosi scheduled the House vote after Iran retaliated for the Soleimani killing by launching missiles at two military bases in Iraq that house American troops. No casualties were reported.

Congress hereby directs the President to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran or any part of its government or military unless Congress declares war on that country or enacts legislation authorizing use of force to prevent an attack on the U.S. and its forces, the five-page resolution states.

The resolutions sponsor, freshman Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said it is intended to make clear that if the president wants to take us to war, he must get authorization from Congress.

If loved ones are going to be sent to fight in a protracted war, the president owes the American people a public conversation about why, and for what ends, said Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and Pentagon official who served in Iraq.

Members of Congress have a constitutional responsibility to uphold in authorizing use of military force, Slotkin said, adding, We are owed concrete, specific details on strategy.

Trump did not consult with congressional leaders ahead of the attack that killed the Iranian general and afterward sent Congress a notification explaining the rationale, but kept it classified.

Congress has allowed its war powers role to erode since the passage of Authorization for Use of Military Force in 2001 to fight terrorism after the 9/11 attacks, and passage of another AUMF for the invasion of Iraq in 2002.

Fallout from those votes deeply divided Congress and the nation, with many lawmakers, particularly Democrats, now saying they were mistakes. Yet Congress has been paralyzed on the question of whether to repeal or change those authorities.

The strikes by Iran had pushed Tehran and Washington perilously close to all-out conflict and put the worlds attention on Trump as he weighed whether to respond with more military force.

Republicans have largely supported Trumps actions, saying the president was well within his power to take out Irans architect of proxy operations against Americans in the Middle East. The U.S. considered Soleimani a terrorist.

Democrats were unconvinced that the threat posed by Soleimani was imminent or that other alternatives to the killing were pursued in good faith. By not disclosing many details of the threat, Trump was asking the American public to trust the very intelligence reports he has often disparaged, Democrats said.

Young told reporters Thursday that lawmakers need to ensure that Congress is involved in future decision-making so we end up exactly where the president wants to end up, which is the avoidance of a major ground war in the Middle East.

He called Kaines resolution a mechanism to force us to debate this.

Three Republicans supported the measure: Reps. Matt Gaetz and Francis Rooney of Florida and Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

The eight Democrats who opposed it were Reps. Anthony Brindisi and Max Rose of New York, Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Kendra Horn of Oklahoma, Ben McAdams of Utah and Stephanie Murphy of Florida.

Gaetz, one of Trumps strongest supporters, said killing Soleimani was the right decision, but engaging in another forever war in the Middle East would be the wrong decision.

Rose, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, said the resolution simply restates existing law and sends the message that war is imminent. I refuse to play politics with questions of war and peace and therefore will not support this resolution.

___

Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Kevin Freking and Deb Riechmann contributed to this story.
Senators Rand Paul (Ky.) and Mike Lee (Utah) are Republicans, but both emerged from a closed-door briefing on Iran this Wednesday so angry that they vowed to support the Democrat resolution to rein in President Trump's constitutional military powers. Paul seems to be motivated by libertarianism, while Lee is motivated by pique.

The White House deputized defense secretary Mark Esper, secretary of state Mike Pompeo, CIA director Gina Haspel, and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Mark Milley to give the briefing to House and Senate members. According to Lee, it was the most offensive experience he's had during his entire time in Washington.

What wounded his ego was the White House representatives stating that it would embolden Iran if Congress challenged the president's war powers. From the outside looking in, this seems like a commonsensical observation, considering that the Democrats have sided consistently with Iran since the first moment that Trump refused to allow an Iranian proxy to turn the Baghdad embassy into another Benghazi. They are trying to weaken a president who is, for the first time since 1979, actively working to defend America from Iran's blood-soaked dreams of establishing a worldwide caliphate.

To Lee, though, the statement was a slap in the face. "I find this insulting and demeaning ... to the office that each of the 100 senators in this building happens to hold. I find it insulting and demeaning to the Constitution of the United States." The very thought that the president could act unilaterally in America's defense was, for Lee, "absolutely insane." It sounds as if someone's feelings are hurt.

Rand Paul was more specific, saying he felt that the administration erred when it used the 2002 war authorization against Saddam Hussein to support its strike against Soleimani. "I see no way in the world you could logically argue that an authorization to have war with Saddam Hussein has anything to with having war with people currently in Iraq," Paul told reporters.

Armed with their righteous indignation, the two senators say they plan to join with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who is introducing a resolution, set for a vote next week, that would force Trump to end hostilities against Iran unless he gets congressional authorization. The House is due to vote on a similar resolution today.

Paul, who is an ophthalmologist (not a dentist ed.), and Lee, who is a lawyer and therefore ought to know better, would do well to study both recent American history and constitutional history and law regarding the president's fairly unfettered ability to respond to imminent threats.

First, unlike the situation with Iraq, Iran declared war on America 41 years ago and has been prosecuting that war ever since, right up until the day Soleimani assumed ambient temperature. AIPAC has published a partial list of those acts of war against our nation  and it's obvious that IRGC Quds Force commander General Qassem Soleimani had a hand in many of those actions. There is not any serious person who can argue that Soleimani was not a legitimate target.

Second, there is no "unless it will really make our enemies mad" clause in the Constitution. According to the Supreme Court:

The Constitution confers on the President the whole Executive power [Art. II,  1]. He is bound to take care that the laws be faithfully executed [Art II  3]. He is Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States [Art. II,  2], and of the militia of the several States when called into the actual service of the United States [Art. II,  2][.] ... If a war be made by invasion of a foreign nation, the President is not only authorized but bound to resist force by force. He does not initiate the war, but is bound to accept the challenge without waiting for any special legislative authority. It is not the less a war on that account, for war may exist without a declaration on either side. ... Prize Cases, 67 U.S. 635, 668 (1862)

Indeed, on August 17, 1787, when the Drafters were writing the Constitution, they considered whether to give Congress broad authority over the use of military force by providing, in Art. I 8, that Congress had the power to "make war." James Madison objected because Congress is a slow, unwieldy, intentionally deliberative body, unable to respond instantly to dynamic situations. The Draftrs agreed and changed the language to give Congress the power to "declare war." This was specifically to make it clear that the president has inherent authority to respond to "sudden attack."

What all this means is that when the president determines that the United States has been attacked, he has plenary authority to respond without consulting Congress. As a practical matter, his authority is at its zenith when we have been attacked and he determines that we may be subject to further attack.

Considering how carefully Trump calibrated the response to Iran's escalating attacks, combined with the fact that Soleimani had blatantly landed in Iraq to coordinate more attacks, Lee's and Paul's decision to join the Democrats in their endless, maddened war against President Trump is bewildering at best. At worst...well, we'll leave that unsaid.
The members of Pellagra dont just want to be the heaviest, craziest band in their hometown.

We dont want people to think of us only as a Jersey City band, Rene Rosa said. When people hear us, we want them to think, thats the Jersey City Sound.

The road to world domination begins this Saturday, Jan. 11, with a performance at Jersey Citys Corkscrew Bar.

Guitarist Rosa, a lifelong Jersey City resident, fronts the gonzo power trio that also includes bassist Lisa Toniolo and drummer Michael Grunde.

We want to be a fun band that has a lot of weird, quirky stuff going on, with a lot of pop culture references, Rosa said. Im a total nerd so you can tell from our song titles that everything we do is influenced by the stuff we love. And we want to have a visual aesthetic so that when you see it, you know its us.

The group first got together a little over a year ago.

Ive played in a lot of bands, both in Jersey and New York, and at a certain point, I was looking to start a new project, Rosa said. I didnt even know what I wanted it to sound like, I was just looking for someone to jam with.

Craigslist, which has replaced the classified ad as the musicians best friend, came to the rescue.

Mike responded to the ad, and he had a drum kit in his basement, and we just started jamming, Rosa said.

Right away, Grunde continued, we just hit it off. It just happened instantly. We still use some of the stuff we came up with at that first jam session in some of our songs. And then Lisa came in.

Rene and I had been in a band together before, Toniolo said, and we liked playing with each other. That old band just fell apart, but then he got in touch and asked if I wanted to play with this band, and it turned out our styles melded really well. I picked up all the songs really quickly and it just worked out perfectly. This is completely different from the other band we played in.

This, added Grunde, has become our passion.

Pellagra  the name comes from a disease that causes extremely nasty symptoms  took on its musical identity from an idea Rosa had at the bands inception.

I had this sound running through my mind that just sounded like a monster, like Godzilla going crazy, this mechanical destructive noise, and that really determined the direction of the stuff I was coming up with, he said. And then once I started playing this stuff with Mike and Lisa, it really came together.

Usually, a song takes its title from an idea in the lyrics, but Pellagra started out by composing instrumental jams that had no words.

So a lot of our early songs just took their titles from total nonsense, stuff that was running through our heads, Rosa said. There was one song that we called 2C that we also thought of as To Sea. We wound up using all these references to pirates and monsters because the titles were just coming from the way things sounded.

For example, listen to Pirates Vs. Kaiju, one of the demos that Pellagra has available on its Bandcamp page.

The first part of the song sounds like something that might be playing on a movie soundtrack when theres some monster smashing through Tokyo, but then the chorus sort of sounds like a sea chanty, Rosa said. We didnt even put lyrics to it; it just stayed that way. Its this crazy powerful instrumental thing that we use as an intro at our shows.

And while many of the lyrics seem theyre about crazy monsters, theyre really about things that happened to in real life, Rosa said.

People can either pick them apart for the deeper meanings, or they can take them at face value, jhe said.

At the heart of both Pellagras music and look lies the idea of something bigger than life.

We dont want any restrictions of what we can do or sound like, Grunde said. Each of us bring a lot of different influences to every song.

As an example, Toniolo noted: There was one song where I started to do this really surf-y bassline and Rene completely changed his guitar sound to go along with it, and we wound up with this really cool surf thing.

The bottom line is that were a bunch of goofballs, Rosa chimed in. We joke around continuously and thats one of the things that lets us work so well together. The three of us have all had some terrible things happen to us over the last few years, but as long were laughing together, we can get through it. Thats really been the key. We want to show that we can not take ourselves too seriously, but still be serious about music.

Pellagra has found one roadblock on its path to glory, and thats what Rosa calls an almost institutionalized bias against heavy metal.

I love Jersey City and I love playing here, but Ive been sad about the state of things because it seems like a heavy band has such a hard time getting booked, he said. If theres a distortion pedal involved, it seemed like people didnt want to book us. It was hard finding places to play so I found myself playing everywhere but Jersey City. Why cant I play my own hometown? I get gigs here because I have friends who play around town who get us on bills, but it shouldnt have to be that way. You should be able to play because of how good you are, regardless of genre.

People peg the band as grunge or punk, he said.

"But to us, were just straight up heavy, he said. We like to think that we play the kind of songs that Black Sabbath could play. But because of all of our different influences, we get to play in a different sandbox  not our sandbox, but in everybody elses sandbox.

If you go ...

Pellagra will perform on Saturday, Jan. 11 at the Corkscrew Bar, 61 Congress St., Jersey City. Showtime is 8 p.m.; admission is free.
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Xi Jinping, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, addresses a meeting summarizing a campaign themed "staying true to our founding mission" in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 8, 2020. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Wednesday called for continued efforts to ensure that the whole Party remains true to its original aspiration and keeps its mission firmly in mind.

Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a meeting summarizing a campaign themed "staying true to our founding mission."

To win lasting support from the people, the Party should always remember its original aspiration and mission, said Xi.

"We must resolutely remove whatever weakens the Party's advanced nature and undermines the Party's purity, and rid ourselves of any tumor that erodes the Party's health," said Xi, adding that the Party should resolutely guard against all dangers of running counter to the original aspiration and the mission or shaking the foundation of the Party.

Xi called on the whole Party to take the campaign as a new starting point, further deepen self-reform, and continue to push the Party to remain true to its original aspiration and keep the mission firmly in mind.

Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Zhao Leji and Han Zheng; and Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan attended the meeting.

Wang Huning, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the leading group of the campaign, presided over the meeting.

The campaign, carried out from the top down in two batches starting from the end of May 2019 and having been largely completed, has promoted unity in thought, political orientation and action within the Party, said Xi.

It has served to effectively mobilize thought, political orientation, organization and action to achieve the two centenary goals, according to Xi.

Xi stressed that the campaign, based on the experience of previous intraparty campaigns, carried out explorations and generated new experience in organizing such campaigns within the Party in the new era.

Noting that the CPC is leading the Chinese people to undertake a great struggle with many new historical features, Xi ordered the whole Party to deepen self-reform and stay true to its founding mission.

Xi stressed that staying true to the Party's founding mission should be a permanent theme in strengthening the Party, and a lifelong task for all CPC members and officials.

"All the hard work, struggles and sacrifices the Party has made since its founding are for the happiness of the Chinese people and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," said Xi.

To stay true to the founding mission, Xi also required the CPC to unite its thought, will and action with the latest achievements in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context.

Xi stressed that to stay true to its founding mission, the Party must have the courage to face up to and solve the problems to continuously push forward self-reform.

"Squarely facing problems and courageously righting wrongs is an outstanding feature and strength of our Party," Xi said. "A strong party is forged through self-reform."

He also called for unremitting efforts to improve Party conduct, enforce Party discipline and fight corruption.

Xi pointed out that to remain true to the Party's founding mission, one must have a fighting spirit and a keen sense of responsibility.

He called on all Party members and officials to take the lead in effectively coping with major challenges, withstanding major risks, overcoming major obstacles and addressing major conflicts.

Xi underscored that to stay true to the founding mission, the Party must improve and develop intraparty institutions and put in place long-term mechanisms.

Xi also called on leading Party organs and officials to take the lead in staying true to the founding mission.

While presiding over the meeting, Wang Huning said Xi's speech expressed appreciation for the results achieved in the education campaign.

Xi also outlined overall plans and clear requirements for consolidating and expanding the achievements of the education campaign, as well as for continuously deepening the Party's self-reform and promoting staying true to the founding mission throughout the Party, said Wang Huning.

All Party members should carefully learn Xi's instructions to ensure that the Party's great vitality and strong ability are maintained forever, he said.
Iran has a fake aircraft carrier

Photo courtesy of Planet Labs Inc.

Iran has a fake aircraft carrier that it uses for target practice as it trains to take on the US Navy, which routinely puts flattops and other surface vessels in the Persian Gulf and surrounding waterways.

Iran severely damaged its replica of a US Navy Nimitz-class carrier during drills in 2015, and the ship, a painted barge designed to look like a carrier, sat like that for years.

Recent satellite photos taken by Planet Labs and first reported by Defense One show that Iran has completed or is close to completing repair work, meaning it may be preparing to start bombing the fake ship again.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Iran has a fake aircraft carrier. The vessel sat damaged for years, but it appears to be back in action, meaning it's time for the country's armed forces to start trying to sink it again.

Satellite images provided to Insider by Planet Labs and first reported by Defense One show that Iran appears to have completed or be close to completing repairs on its mock flattop, a painted barge resembling a US Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, after damaging it during target practice in 2015.

Photos show the repair work being done on Iran's mock-up of a US Navy aircraft carrier, complete with mock aircraft

Photo courtesy of Planet Labs Inc.

Iran first started constructing a mock-up of a US aircraft carrier in 2014, CNN reported at the time, citing satellite photos of the work being done at the port of Bandar Abbas. The purpose of the carrier construction project was not immediately clear.

Following the CNN report, Rear Adm. Ali Fadavi, who was then commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval forces, revealed the point of the replica carrier.

"We have been making and sinking replicas of US destroyers, frigates, and warships for long years," he told Iranian media. "We practice the same drills on replica aircraft carriers because sinking and destroying US warships has, is, and will be on our agenda."

In February the following year, Iran announced that it had destroyed a mock aircraft carrier during the Payambar-e Azam 9 (The Great Prophet 9) war games in the Persian Gulf, where US carriers have routinely sailed for years in shows of force.

Story continues

Iranian media said that the ship was destroyed by rockets fired from "tens of IRGC speedboats." The fake flattop was also struck by IRGC cruise and ballistic missiles, the report said.

USS Abraham Lincoln

US Navy video by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Brian M. Wilbur

The mock carrier was not actually destroyed, but it was damaged. It remained in such a state for years until Iran began actively working to repair it last fall amid heightened tensions with the US, which had deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln and thousands of additional troops to the US Central Command area of responsibility to confront Iran.

In October, one month before construction began, Defense One reported Brig. Gen. Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of Iran's IRGC Aerospace Force, threatened US bases and carriers.

"Everybody should know that all American bases and their aircraft carriers in a distance of up to 2,000 kilometers around Iran are within the range of our missiles," he said.

Hajizadeh's forces were recently involved in a missile strike on US and coalition forces in Iraq in the wake of a US drone strike the killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Bryan Clark, a defense expert and former US Navy officer, told Defense One that the mock-up could be used for major exercises in the spring, adding that Iran could use the fake flattop for cruise-missile strikes, small-boat attacks, and drone strikes.

Read the original article on Business Insider
EAM Jaishankar to interact with Indian diaspora today on the occasion of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2020

Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar will be interacting with Indian Diaspora across the globe through a digital video conference at 6 pm India time on the occasion of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.

India's External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar will interact with the Indian diaspora later today. Photo courtesy: Twitter

PBD is celebrated on January 9 every year to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community to the development of India. January 9, 1915 was the day that Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa and eventually led Indias freedom struggle.

Conventions were held every year since 2003 until 2015, when the event was organised in India once every two years, with a different foreign consulate marking the date in the years it is not held in India.

The 15th PBD Convention was held from January 21-23, 2019 in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh with the theme Role of Indian Diaspora in building New India.

Following a massive two-day convention in Singapore in 2018, the Indian consulate in Sao Paulo was chosen as the host for PBD 2020 with a cultural day planned on the occasion.

These conventions provide a platform to the overseas Indian community to engage with the government for mutually beneficial activities and networking opportunities to the Indian community residing in various parts of the world to share their experiences in various fields.

Today, on the occasion of #PravasiBharatiyaDivas, I will be interacting with Indian Diaspora across the globe through a digital video conference at 1800 IST.

Join the conversation. https://t.co/QC8QFHgbq6  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) January 9, 2020

The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA) is conferred on overseas Indians by the President of India as a part of the PBD conventions.
CAIRO, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- China has been and will always be willing to promote peace, stability and development of the Middle East, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday.

Wang made the remarks at a joint press conference with Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo, Egypt.

The Middle East has recently been witnessing more hotspot issues and escalated tensions, which were not only caused by the development of the existing regional conflicts, but also by unilateralism, military intervention and the trampling on International justice and fair play, Wang said.

China calls for respecting the principles of the UN Charter and the rights and wrongs of the issues themselves, sticking to political resolution and multilateralism, so as to create a common, comprehensive, cooperation-based and sustainable regional safety framework, the foreign minister said.

Wang said, as a strategic partner of the Middle East countries, China will continue supporting all countries to safeguard sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and to make concerted efforts to promote regional peace and stability.
Senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig on Thursday accused incarcerated party chief Mehbooba Mufti of being responsible for downgrading of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories by making "provocative" and "threatening" statements over Article 370.

Baig, a former deputy chief minister, met reporters here on a day when envoys from 15 countries were in the newly carved out union territory, and it was the first interaction by any PDP leader with mediapersons since August 5 when the Centre announced nullification of the erstwhile state's special status.

"The statement was made by Mehbooba Mufti in my absence. I was not there when she made it. I have on record said that the statement like it resulted in downgrading of the state (JK) into union territories," Baig, who is one of the founding members of the PDP, told reporters here.

Mufti had in 2017 warned the Centre that if special rights and privileges to the people of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution are tinkered with, then there would be no one in the state to hold the tricolour. She had made similar statements on many occasions after that.

Baig criticized the "provocative" statements of Mufti and said one cannot "threaten" the top leadership in New Delhi to see one's grievances being heard.

"If Jammu and Kashmir has to live together and if we have to bat for our rights, we have to talk with decency and humility.

"We cannot get anything by browbeating and threatening Modi ji, home minister or NSA. As citizens of India, we should put before them our grievances and our problems with humility," the PDP leader said.

He rued that such statements should not have been made.

Mufti has been critical of the Centre over the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370.

In August last year when the Centre announced abrogation of Article 370 provisions and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into union territories -- J and K and Ladakh, Mufti had said India failed Kashmir in keeping its promises, terming the government's decision as "illegal and unconstitutional".

Mufti was detained in the early hours of August 5 and was kept at Hari Nivas, but was later shifted to Chesma Shahi and lodged in a tourist hut located at the foothills of Zaberwan range there.

On November 15, she was shifted to a government accommodation in Srinagar from the tourist hut as the approaching winters and frequent power cuts had made it difficult for her to stay there, according to officials.

A team of 15 envoys including the US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster arrived in Srinagar on Thursday on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the first by diplomats since August last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi, Jan 8 : In a bid to open up the coal mining sector to attract global bidders for auctions, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the promulgation of Mineral Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2020, which would boost FDI in mining and remove end user restrictions.

The Amendment will pave the way for the first phase of coal auction during the current fiscal and will will help private companies do commercial mining of coal other than those in steel and power sectors.

The Ordinance, which will amend the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation ) Act, 1957, and Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, would do away with the requirement of previous approval in cases where allocation of blocks was made by the Centre.

The move is likely to usher in competition and reduce coal imports and may also end the monopoly of state-run Coal India Ltd (CIL).

According to the government, the move would speed up the process of implementation of projects, ease of doing business, simplification of procedure and benefit all the parties in areas where minerals are located. Coal and Mines minister Prahlad Joshi said that this will improve ease of doing business.

Industry players have praised the development, terming the move as a major reform.

Dilip Chenoy, Secretary General of industry body FICCI, said that it would pave way for the first leg commercial coal auctions within the ongoing fiscal.

"This decision will do away with the leeway provided to only steel, power and coal washeries and open the commercial coal mining bidding for all the firms. The Cabinet decision will also do away with end-use restrictions of the mining blocks and pave the way for the first leg commercial coal auctions within this fiscal," he said.

Vikram Kirloskar, President, CII, also said that the opening up of coal mining sector without any end-use restrictions is a welcome move by the government.

Kirloskar was of the view that the opening of the sector will not only lead to import substitution and save on the import bill, but will also create more employment opportunities as mining is a highly employment-intensive sector.

Ajay Kapur, CEO of the aluminium and power business of Vedanta Ltd, said: "The government's decision to do away with end-user restrictions in coal mining is a landmark reform. It shows its intent towards opening of the coal sector for attracting big ticket investments. With this, the government has addressed a key concern of global coal mining companies."
New Delhi, Jan 9 : At least 37 per cent of Swiggys part-time delivery partners are students working to fund their education, a report said on Thursday.

Food delivery major Swiggy recently conducted a poll to discover the various aspirations and motivations of about 16,000 part-time delivery partners who login into the app for about 4-8 hours every day.

According to the report, 29 per cent have another full-time job and moonlight as delivery partners to meet their own and their families' financial goals and 20 per cent have another part-time job on the side.

Ten per cent are entrepreneurs and run their own business while working with Swiggy to relive stress of erratic earnings from their business, and 29 per cent are primary earning members of their household, the survey found.

Talking about their aspirations, 33 per cent delivery partners aim to grow into the role of fleet managers with Swiggy itself, like some of their counterparts have.

The survey also revealed that 28 per cent are saving money with the goal of buying a house or car of their own.

According to the report, 20 per cent delivery partners aim to land a full-time, regular job eventually and 8 per cent are fuelled by wanderlust and want to travel across India.

Another 8 per cent are the young and responsible ones who are selflessly saving money to fund their siblings' wedding, the report added.

The findings from the poll also revealed that a small but significant minority of 12 per cent opened bank accounts for the first time post joining Swiggy, highlighting financial independence for these partners.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has responded to the current tension in the Middle East,saying that peaceful negotiations and active diplomacy have no alternative.

"Any tension may cause huge problems both for security and economy, he said.

Gakharia noted that since the beginning of the tension between the U.S. and Iran, Georgia has been in close contact with international partners and we are closely observing the situation together.

"The Georgian Foreign Ministry is working actively with foreign partners to completely realise the threats the current situation might trigger for Georgia, Agenda.ge cited the PM as saying.
A lawmaker who earned the Bronze Star during combat in Iraq as a Marine officer is denouncing President Donald Trump's foreign policy as "rudderless," and calling on active-duty military officers to question the orders they're getting from the commander in chief and refuse to follow them if they're not lawful.

Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat and former presidential candidate who ended his White House bid in August, made the remarks in a speech at the Atlantic Council on Thursday, a day after Trump triumphantly addressed the nation and announced that Iran seemed to be backing down from hostilities.

On Jan. 3, a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone executed a deadly airstrike on Iranian Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani; Iran retaliated Jan. 7 with a ballistic missile assault on two Iraqi bases that damaged equipment and buildings but did not harm U.S. or Iraqi troops.

Moulton called for Trump to declassify and release the legal notification he sent to Congress regarding what officials have called an "imminent attack" planned by Soleimani that necessitated his assassination.

Related: Iran Fully Planned to Kill US Troops In Missile Attacks, Top General Says

"If there is intelligence that shows this strike prevented a new and imminent threat to Americans, I have yet to see it," Moulton said, according to prepared remarks. " ... I fought in a war a president started because of cooked and false intelligence; we cannot let this Administration repeat that mistake."

The Pentagon has joined the White House in describing the purported attack plan as "imminent;" Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters it was accurate to describe it as days away at the time of Soleimani's death.

Moulton, a longtime outspoken critic of Trump's policies and decisions, has publicly voiced concerns with the decision to kill Soleimani in the days following his death, saying the consequences of the strike were unclear.

"I do not mourn for this man who is directly responsible for some 600 American deaths in Iraq -- a few of whom were my friends," Moulton said in his Atlantic Council Speech. "But it is not that simple. It was telling, that of every fellow veteran who texted me the night he was killed, not one celebrated his death -- though they too, I'm sure, would much rather him dead than alive. They said, 'What the hell is going on here?' And, 'Please tell me there's a plan.' Sadly, I've seen no evidence that there is."

Iran, he added, is unlikely to let a "zero-casualty ballistic missile strike" settle the score between the two countries.

The Trump administration needs to develop a clear policy regarding Iran, and to refocus on the greatest foreign threats to the nation, including China, Moulton said.

"And for those members of our military in the chain of command, here in Washington or overseas -- look very carefully at every order given to you by this president," Moulton said. "It is our duty to make sure everything done in the name of the United States military is lawful; and that burden falls on us. ... We have an opportunity to call on our military officers around the world to bring new scrutiny to their sworn oath to obey lawful orders, and only lawful orders."

The issue of lawful orders came to the fore this month when Trump threatened to destroy Iranian cultural sites if the country escalated the conflict, an act that would fall afoul of international law. The president ultimately backed down from those threats, and Esper said the U.S. military would not commit such an act and did not expect to be ordered to do so.

Moulton, who voted to impeach Trump in December, served in the Marine Corps from 2001 to 2008. He assumed office in January 2015.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.

Read more: 82nd Airborne Paratroopers Just Deployed Without Their Phones. Your Unit Could Be Next
"Our ability to continue our evolution beyond formal gifting to become a daily occasion brand depends on our 5,000 passionate and talented chocolatiers around the world," said Young-Scrivner. "We are delighted that Amy has joined our GODIVA family to engage, develop, and empower our people across all levels of our organization, which will help us drive exponential growth in 2020 and beyond."

Zuckerman brings to GODIVA more than three decades of experience as a human resources executive across the luxury goods and technology industries, joining from Salvatore Ferragamo where, during her nearly 20-year tenure, she built the North American HR infrastructure for one of the world's top luxury lifestyle brands. Zuckerman's experience will be invaluable to GODIVA as it continues to expand its consumer reach as well as attract and retain top talent.

"I am thrilled to join GODIVA, a brand that I've long admired for their ability to make a strong emotional connection with their consumers and create a culture where everyone can bring their best self to work," said Zuckerman. "This is a pivotal time for GODIVA as it continues to develop its talent and capabilities to extend its premium Belgian chocolate into new products and categories. I am looking forward to leveraging my experience to ensure the success of this iconic brand."

Zuckerman received her master's degree in Organizational Psychology from Boston University and her BA in Psychology from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. She will be based in GODIVA's New York City Headquarters.

About GODIVA Chocolatier

GODIVA Chocolatier is the global leader in premium, artisanal chocolate. The company was founded in Brussels in 1926 by Belgian Chocolatier, Pierre Draps. Nearly a century later, every piece of GODIVA chocolate is still bursting with quality, Belgian craftsmanship, and the world's finest ingredients.

GODIVA has distribution in more than 100 countries across the globe. Customers can experience GODIVA at the iconic brand's chocolate boutiques, GODIVA Cafes, GODIVA.com, and at many fine retailers.

GODIVA is committed to innovative and delicious food and beverage products that exceed consumer expectations and create wonderful moments. From its famous truffles and shell-moulded chocolate pieces to its European-style biscuits, individually wrapped chocolates, gourmet coffees, hot cocoa, soft serve and other indulgences, GODIVA is dedicated to bringing the ultimate chocolate experience to the world.

As a socially responsible business, GODIVA has global practices and programs designed to provide meaningful support to cocoa farmers, safeguard our environment, and empower the communities where we live and work. To learn more about these powerful initiatives, visit GODIVA Cares. For more information visit us at www.godiva.com.

Contact:

Tara McTeague

Director, Global Corporate Communications

GODIVA Chocolatier

212-984-6441

[email protected]

SOURCE GODIVA Chocolatier

Related Links

https://www.godiva.com


A new Tory MP today used her first Commons speech to call for breweries in her constituency to make a special edition Brexit beer.

Kate Griffiths, addressing Brexit secretary Steve Barclay, asked if he agreed that to mark us leaving the European Union, our fantastic local breweries in Burton-on-Trent should brew a celebratory Brexit beer.

The question prompted cheers on the Conservative benches, with Mr Barclay saying she struck an extremely positive note in one of her first contributions.

Burton is famed for its beer industry. Yahoo News UK approached some of its independent breweries asking if they have plans to make a Brexit beer.

But one, Tower Brewery, had bad news for Ms Griffiths: Brewing diary full so no space I'm afraid.

Kate Griffiths (Parliamentlive.tv)

It wouldnt be the first time a brewery has produced Brexit-themed beer.

The Posh Boys brewery in the Rayleigh and Wickford constituency of anti-EU hardliner Mark Francois named a beer after him called Special Place in Hell, mocking ex-European Council president Donald Tusks inflammatory tirade against Brexiteers in February last year.

Read more from Yahoo News UK

Scottish Tory leadership hopeful defends saying people on benefits can't have as many children as they like

Watch: SNP MP drowned out by cheering Tories hours after plea for Commons 'respect'

'I dont have a family fortune to fall back on': Ex-Labour MP says she was photographed while visiting local Jobcentre

Ms Griffiths won the Burton constituency with a 14,496 majority in last months general election.

She took over the role from her estranged husband Andrew Griffiths, who stood down after he was found to have sent thousands of sexual messages to two women in the constituency.

---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK---
Most Islah members were concentrated in the northern emirates, especially Ras al Khaimah, just over an hours drive north from Dubai. It is less dense than the wealthier cities to the south, with fewer skyscrapers and malls, and it is a little shabbier. In a sense, Islah was expressing its disapproval of the hypercapitalist culture being spawned in the U.A.E.s biggest cities. Many of its public statements were protests against the bars and prostitution that served the U.A.E.s growing foreign population. Its spokesmen eventually began promoting democracy and human rights, though those may have been at least partly a convenient way to draw Western sympathy to their cause.

Arabists and diplomats in the West have mostly taken the view that Islamists of this kind should be tolerated, and that their views are likely to be softened over time by their integration into electoral politics. The Tunisian Ennahda movement is often held up as an example of what may happen when Islamists are given a chance to evolve in a more progressive direction. Ennahda, which emerged from the Muslim Brotherhood, has shared power with a secular party, and its leader has suggested that it is less an Islamist party than an Arab variant on European parties like the Christian Democrats.

M.B.Z. did engage in a dialogue of sorts with the U.A.E.s Islamists, and he claims the experience proved they could not be trusted. After the Sept. 11 attacks, he began meeting with members of Islah and urging them to return to the fold. Initially, he offered them a deal: Stay away from politics and they could maintain their charitable work. They responded with lists of demands. The attempts at outreach came to an end after a tense meeting in 2003, and M.B.Z.s attitude appears to have hardened. He told a visiting United States delegation in 2004 that we are having a culture war with the Muslim Brotherhood in this country, according to a cable made public by WikiLeaks. One of M.B.Z.s own sons started to fall under the spell of Islamist thinking, he told a group of visiting diplomats in 2009. He responded by employing a tactic his own father had used: sending his son to Ethiopia with the Red Cross to appreciate the moral worthiness of non-Muslims.

Even as he cracked down on the Brotherhood, M.B.Z. was working on a far more ambitious project: building a state that would show up the entire Islamist movement by succeeding where it had failed. Instead of an illiberal democracy  like Turkeys  he would build its opposite, a socially liberal autocracy, much as Lee Kuan Yew did in Singapore in the 1960s and 70s. He began with Abu Dhabis Civil Service, which was afflicted with many of the same ills as those of other Arab countries: bloat and inefficiency, with connections and family reputation playing a bigger role in hiring than merit. These features were partly a legacy of the Egyptian strongman Gamal Abdel Nasser, who built a dysfunctional prototype in the 1950s that was copied everywhere.

M.B.Z. deployed a group of young, talented people and authorized them to smash up the bureaucracy. Over the next few years, they fired tens of thousands of employees and reassigned many others, streamlining the state. Between 2005 and 2008, the Abu Dhabi government went from 64,000 people to just 7,000. At the same time, he began harnessing Abu Dhabis vast capital reserves to build up a non-oil economy. Using a new sovereign wealth fund called Mubadala, he attracted new industries, creating job opportunities that would help train the local population. He honed his progressive image by including women in his cabinet. Mubadala created an aerospace-and-aviation hub in Al Ain where 86 percent of the workers are women.

At times, he seems to want to change Emiratis themselves, to make his people more disciplined, more rational, more self-reliant. Ever shake hands with an Emirati? one former diplomat heard him say. Its a weak hand  they look away. Im trying to teach people to look you in the eye and give you a firm hand. He made jujitsu compulsory in schools. In 2014 he established the military draft, forcing young Emiratis  who are granted free housing, education and health care  to endure a year of boot camp and hard work. M.B.Z. made sure they took it seriously. Soon after the draft started, a few hundred eligible young men failed to register. M.B.Z. had them brought to him and spent an hour excoriating them about what his father did, building the country and so on, I was told by one former diplomat. They all went to jail for 30 days. (An Emirati spokesman disputed this account.)

When I first started visiting the U.A.E., in 2007, I heard a lot of fretting about the social consequences of the countrys sudden vault from poverty to vast wealth: listlessness, depression, isolation and dislocation. On my most recent visit, I heard at least a dozen stories about young couch potatoes who returned from boot camp sober and lean, suddenly willing to do their own laundry and dishes. The draft has also brought together people from different emirates and social classes in a way that rarely happened in the past. The Yemen war has wreaked horrors on that country, but it appears to have had an annealing effect on Emirati society. More than 100 Emiratis have been killed in the fighting, and while that is tiny compared with the appalling toll of Yemeni dead, it is in human terms by far the costliest war the U.A.E. has ever fought. It probably helps that M.B.Z. and most of the rulers of the other six emirates had sons or nephews on the front lines, some of whom were seriously injured. I briefly met Zayed bin Hamdan, M.B.Z.s nephew and son-in-law, who uses a wheelchair after his spine was damaged in a helicopter crash in Yemen in 2017.
By Juan Pablo Guerschman, Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO

Nasa Worldview

In recent days, many worrying bushfire maps have been circulating online, some appearing to suggest all of Australia is burning.

You might have seen this example, decried by some as misleading, prompting this Instagram post by its creator:

As he explained, the image isnt a NASA photo. What a satellite actually sees is quite different.

Ill explain how we use data collected by satellites to estimate how much of an area is burning, or has already been burnt, and what this information should look like once its mapped.





Read more:

A crisis of underinsurance threatens to scar rural Australia permanently





Reflective images

When astronauts look out their window in space, this is what they see:

Its similar to what you might see from an aeroplane window, but higher and covering a wider area.

As you read this, many unmanned satellites are orbiting and photographing Earth. These images are used to monitor fires in real-time. They fall into two categories: reflective and thermal.

Reflective images capture information in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum (in other words, what we can see). But they also capture information in wavelengths we cant see, such as infrared wavelengths.

If we use only the visible wavelengths, we can render the image similar to what we might see with the naked eye from a satellite. We call these true colour images.



https://images.theconversation.com/files/309003/original/file-20200108-1... 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309003/original/file-20200108-1... 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309003/original/file-20200108-1... 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309003/original/file-20200108-1... 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309003/original/file-20200108-1... 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">





NASA Worldview / https://go.nasa.gov/307pDDX





Note that the image doesnt have political boundaries, as these arent physical features. To make satellite imagery useful for navigation, we overlay the map with location points.



https://images.theconversation.com/files/309014/original/file-20200108-1... 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309014/original/file-20200108-1... 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309014/original/file-20200108-1... 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309014/original/file-20200108-1... 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309014/original/file-20200108-1... 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">





NASA Worldview / https://go.nasa.gov/2TafEMH





From this, we can predict where the fires are by looking at the smoke. However, the fires themselves are not directly visible.

False colour images

Shortwave infrared bands are less sensitive to smoke and more sensitive to fire, which means they can tell us where fire is present.

Converting these wavelengths into visible colours produces what we call false colour images. For instance:



https://images.theconversation.com/files/309015/original/file-20200108-1... 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309015/original/file-20200108-1... 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309015/original/file-20200108-1... 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309015/original/file-20200108-1... 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309015/original/file-20200108-1... 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">





NASA Worldview / https://go.nasa.gov/2NhzRfN





In this shortwave infrared image, we start to see under the smoke, and can identify active fires. We can also learn more about the areas that are already burnt.

Thermal and hotspots

As their name suggests, thermal images measure how hot or cold everything in the frame is. Active fires are detected as hotspots and mapped as points on the surface.

While reflective imagery is only useful when obtained by a satellite during daytime, thermal hotspots can be measured at night  doubling our capacity to observe active fires.



https://images.theconversation.com/files/309011/original/file-20200108-1... 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309011/original/file-20200108-1... 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309011/original/file-20200108-1... 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309011/original/file-20200108-1... 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309011/original/file-20200108-1... 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">





NASA Worldview / https://go.nasa.gov/2rZNIj9





This information can be used to create maps showing the aggregation of hotspots over several days, weeks or months.

Geoscience Australias Digital Earth hotspots service shows hotspots across the continent in the last 72 hours. Its worth reading the about section to learn the limitations or potential for error in the map.





Read more:

Spread the word: the value of local information in disaster response





When hotspots, which show hot pixels, are shown as extremely big icons, or are collected over long periods, the results can be deceiving. They can indicate a much larger area to be under fire than what is really burning.

For example, it would be wrong to believe all the areas in red in the map below are burning or have already burnt. Its also unclear over what period of time the hotspots were aggregated.



https://images.theconversation.com/files/309008/original/file-20200108-1... 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309008/original/file-20200108-1... 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309008/original/file-20200108-1... 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309008/original/file-20200108-1... 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309008/original/file-20200108-1... 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">





Environmental Investigation Agency / https://eia-international.org/news/watching-the-world-burn-fires-threaten-the-worlds-tropical-forests-and-millions-of-people/





Get smart

Considering all of the above, there are some key questions you can ask to gauge the authenticity of a bushfire map. These are:

Where does this map come from, and who produced it?

is this a single satellite image, or one using hotspots overlaid on a map?

what are the colours representing?

do I know when this was taken?

if this map depicts hotspots, over what period of time were they collected? A day, a whole year?

is the size of the hotspots representative of the area that is actually burning?

So, the next time you see a bushfire map, think twice before pressing the share button.

Juan Pablo Guerschman receives funding from the Australian Department of Agriculture.

Originally published in The Conversation.
An investigative panel in Imo State has said a former governor, Rochas Okorocha, allegedly diverted over N6 billion from the Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ISOPADEC).

This was contained in a report by the panel which said N6,044,774,341.37 of the agencys funds could not be accounted for, the Nation newspaper reports.

The report comes about seven months after the panel was set up to carry out the investigation.

The current state governor, Emeka Ihedioha, had in June 2019, set up the eight-man panel to probe the activities of Mr Okorochas administration.

He had mandated the committee to, among other things, conduct a forensic audit on the accounts of the state domiciled in several banks.

Mr Ihedioha also asked the panel to ascertain and document the locations of and balances on all bank accounts operated by Imo State Government, its Ministries, Departments, and Agencies as of May 29, 2019.

In the report submitted on Wednesday, the panel alleged that citizens and some managing directors colluded with the immediate-past governor to misappropriate ISOPADEC funds.

Romanus Ezeogu, a retired permanent secretary who led the panel, said the Okorocha-led administration handled the funds of ISOPADEC within his eight-year tenure, from the pit of wickedness.

The shortfall in revenue accrual from the federation accounts unaccounted for stood at N6, 044, 774, 341.37 and the panel found a systematic diversion of the funds, he said.

He asked that Mr Okorocha be held responsible.

Simply put, what happened translates to the fact that after diverting the commissions for whatever purpose, the bare-faced administration of Rochas Okorocha would grab funds from other institutions to make up or cover his misappropriation of funds.

The issue here begs for an explanation on what happened to the original 40 per cent monthly derivation fund allocated to the ISOPADEC. Rochas Okorocha should roundly be held responsible for the entire fund missing.

The law establishing ISOPADEC provides its funding from the 13 per cent derivation from the federation accounts and not from other sources, he said.

Mr Ezeogu said the panel also discovered the arbitrary release of funds close to the incumbents inauguration.

About N422 million was released to a firm for the supply of pre-inauguration vehicles and N200 million was hurriedly released for the purchase of transformers during the campaign, he explained.

On the construction of the failed Marine University, he disclosed that the project gulped N402 million. This, he described as a mirage.

While he appreciated the efforts of the panel, Governor Ihedioha promised to look into the report to pass a white paper on it  even as he assured that it is not a witch-hunt.

Okorocha reacts

On his part, Mr Okorocha, now a senator, said the allegation was false and designed to tarnish his legacy.

His media adviser, Sam Onwuemeodo, who described the report as a hoax, said the lawmaker said it reflects the desperation of the Ihedioha-led administration to obliterate his legacies and incite the state against him, and to blind the people to his ineptitude.

What Mr Okorocha did for the oil-producing communities for eight years, the PDP administration did not do a quarter of it for 12 years, he claimed.

Before now ISOPADEC was operating in a rented apartment but Okorocha built a multi-billion naira office for the Commission. Also during the PDP era, the people from the oil-bearing communities never knew what was happening in the Commission.

It was Owelle Rochas Okorocha that empowered youths from the area and appointed them into key positions in the Commission. It is on record that Okorocha, during his time, ended militancy in the area through the disarmament of militants and the eventual empowerment programme, he was quoted saying.

He further said Mr Ihedioha is running a government of vendetta and is not prepared for governance.

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He is only here to fight Okorocha and family, while other governors have moved on. He has no policy; he is running an internet government, where projects are only executed on Facebook.

He is only labouring to tarnish Okorochas image. It has become obvious that he has no program for the state.

Mr Okorocha is one of the many ex-governors now senators who have been accused of diversion of funds and fraud as well.

Only recently, former Abia State governor, Orji Kalu, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for N7.65 billion fraud.

Other ex-governors like Abdullahi Adamu and Theodore Orji have been arraigned by the anti-graft agency for one fraud allegation or the other.
Cedar Lane, 5700 block, 9:03 p.m. Dec. 27.A man got into an altercation in an emergency room at a hospital. He injured three security guards with a pocketknife during the incident. The 37-year-old Columbia man was arrested and charged with multiple counts of assault. Two of the guards suffered minor cuts, and one was treated for a non-life-threatening stab wound.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

Trend:

With organizational support of Azerbaijan Tourism Board (ATB), 14 Azerbaijani tourist companies participate in the 27th International Travel & Tourism Trade Show (SATTE) 2020, which is being held in New Delhi on January 8-10, Trend reports referring to ATB.

Azerbaijan's opportunities in the tourism sector are demonstrated at a stand of 144 square meters. Within the framework of the exhibition, the companies representing Azerbaijan hold meetings with foreign travel agencies in B2B format and discuss prospects for cooperation.

Over 1,000 participants from more than 50 countries and from 105 cities of India, as well as over 30,000 experts in the field of tourism and travel attend the exhibition.

SATTE is one of the most internationally acclaimed travel and tourism exhibition across India. The event recognized as a leading event in South Asia aims to showcase Indias tourism potential to the world by bringing the global tourism market to the country.
Thousands of troops from Niger, neighboring countries, France and the United Nations have been enlisted in the fight against extremist organizations seeking influence and safe haven in the region. The militants are using remote patches of West Africa to train and plot attacks, U.S. officials have warned.
Attorney General William Barr, alongside officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, announces the launch of Project Guardian, an anti-gun violence initiative, during a news conference, at the Davis-Horton Federal Building in Memphis Tenn., on Nov. 13, 2019. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian via AP)

NYC Bar Association Asks Congress to Investigate AG Barrs Conduct, Alleges Bias

An advocacy legal group in New York has asked Congress to investigate U.S. Attorney General William Barr, alleging that his recent actions and comments threatens public confidence in the fair and impartial administration of justice.

The New York City Bar Association, which has over 24,000 members, said on Thursday that it had sent a letter (pdf) to Congress urging them to to commence formal inquiries into a pattern of conduct by the attorney general that they claim positions the Department of Justice (DOJ) as political partisans willing to use the levers of government to empower certain groups over others.

The group lists public statements Barr made in the latter half of 2019, claiming the comments were troubling and inconsistent with the role of the countrys top law enforcement officer.

They accused Barr of violating the bedrock obligations for government lawyers to avoid even the appearance of partiality and impropriety, and to avoid manifesting bias, prejudice, or partisanship in the exercise of official responsibilities.

Among the examples cited by the group was a speech Barr made in October 2019 at the University of Notre Dame where he raised concerns over the increase in secularism and its impact on society. Barr warned in the speech that the forces of secularism had caused a moral upheaval, was stifling opposing views, and was threatening religion and traditional norms.

In their letter, the group accused the attorney general of launching a partisan attack against so-called progressives for supposedly waging a campaign to destroy the traditional moral order.'

They also took issue with a speech he made in early December 2019 during a Justice Department award ceremony where he said law enforcement officers and deputies deserve more respect and support from Americans for their sacrifice and service. The group, in particular, had issues with one of his comments where he said if communities dont show that support and respect they may find themselves without the police protection they need. He did not identify which communities would lose protection and how they would lose it in his speech.

The group also raised concerns over a television interview conducted on Dec. 10, 2019, where Barr disputed DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitzs findings, released in a report the day before, that the FBI wasnt acting on an improper political motivation when it surveilled Trumps campaign staffer Carter Page for about a year.

During that interview, he said the bureau may have acted in bad faith when it launched the investigation against President Donald Trumps 2016 campaign, saying that there were gross abuses  and inexplicable behavior that is intolerable in the FBI.

Barr has appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to run a separate investigation, which has been upgraded into a criminal probe, into the origins of the Russia investigation.

The association had previously asked Barr to recuse himself from a DOJ review of Ukraine-related matters, which is at the center of the impeachment against the president.

The Justice Department declined our request to comment on the groups claims.

Over the past several months, critics have accused Barr of turning the DOJ into a political weapon and siding with President Donald Trump instead of representing the country.

In an interview with CBS News in May last year, Barr responded to the criticism saying that he thinks the hyper-partisan age that Americans live in has caused people to no longer really pay attention to the substance of what is said but only to who says it and what side theyre on and what its political ramifications are.

The Department of Justice is all about the law, the facts, and the substance and Im going to make the decisions based on the law and the facts. And I realize that is in tension with the political climate we live in because people are more interested in getting their way politically, so I think it just goes with the territory of being the attorney general in a hyper-partisan period of time, he added.
Administrator KPMG is hoping to find a buyer to inject new funds into Bardot

The company said a 'challenging domestic market' was behind the decision

The company said a 'challenging domestic market' was behind the decision

In November, the struggling company went into voluntary administration

All 58 stores are expected to close by March 1, with sales to clear stock

Australian fast-fashion brand Bardot will close 58 of its 72 stores by March 1

Australian fast-fashion brand Bardot will close 58 of its stores by March after going bust last year, leaving hundreds of employees without a job.

Just 14 stores will stay open, as administrator KPMG restructures the popular womenswear chain that went into voluntary administration in November.

KPMG announced on Thursday they were forced to make the the 'very difficult decision' to shut 80 per cent of stores following last year's collapse.

The firm is hoping to find a buyer to put new funds into Bardot, which employs more than 800 workers Australia-wide.

Just 14 of 72 stores will stay open, the popular womenswear chain that went into voluntary administration in November

'While closing stores is a very difficult decision to make, our analysis has determined it is a necessary step in rebuilding the financial performance of the business and maximising the prospects of a successful sale or restructure,' KPMG restructuring services partner Brendan Richards said.

'Subject to ongoing trading performance and discussions with landlords, it is not our intention to close further stores at this point in time.'

The majority of store closures will take place in New South Wales and Victoria, with all closures expected to be completed by March 1.

Stores will launch major sales to clear stock.

Administrators haven't revealed how many of the company's employees would lose their jobs.

The majority of store closures will take place in New South Wales and Victoria, with all closures expected to be completed by March 1. Pictured: Bardot at the Miss Myer Show Fashion Show

'Subject to ongoing trading performance and discussions with landlords, it is not our intention to close further stores at this point in time,' Mr Richards said.

The company, which has 72 stores across the country, said a 'challenging domestic market' was one of the factors behind their decision.

In November, Bardot's chief executive Basil Artemides promised 'open and timely communication' to its 800 staff throughout the process, however it's not yet known what will happen to their jobs in the long run.

The womenswear brand was launched in 1996 by designer Carol Skoufis, who owns 100 per cent of the company.

From just five employees in the 90s, it grew into a successful company and launched its well-received children's line Bardot Junior in 2004.

The company rakes in around $120million in sales annually.

Although Bardot experienced a recent surge in sales after expanding overseas, Mr Artemides said the decision was made to ensure Australia 'is, and will always remain, the heart of the Bardot business'.

'Despite double-digit growth in online sales, and our highly successful expansion into the US and Europe, Bardot's retail stores in Australia are competing in a highly cluttered, and increasingly discount-driven market,' he said on Thursday.

'Operating a national retail network in its current state is no longer sustainable.'

But Mr Richards hopes the business can come back from the brink after the company-wide restructure.

'Although the company has experienced significant growth in overseas markets, it has faced a challenging domestic environment in recent times. We expect strong interest in the sale/recapitalisation process,' he said.

'In the last five years, the business has grown significantly offshore and capitalised on its Australian heritage by distributing through high profile international department stores.'
Everything seemed normal when I woke up in Tehran yesterday morning. There was no noise besides the tooting of car horns in busy morning traffic and the call to prayer in the citys many mosques.

But overnight, the news was desperately serious and fraught with menace. Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had fired ballistic missiles into two bases used by American  and British  troops in northern and western Iraq.

Though there were no casualties, the timing said it all. The missiles were launched at 1.20am. The exact same time when a US drone struck Irans talismanic military leader Qassem Soleimani  along with a senior Iraqi paramilitary leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis  outside Baghdad airport.

These were the first reprisals since General Soleimani was killed last Friday. They are unlikely to be the last.

Symbolic: Peter Oborne alongside a poster of Qassem Soleimani, yesterday. Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched missiles into two bases used by Americanat 1.20am  and British at exact same time when a US drone struck Irans talismanic military leader Qassem Soleimani

This is the biggest and most dangerous military confrontation between America and Iran since the American hostage crisis in 1979 when a group of Iranian students took over the US embassy in Tehran, holding 52 US citizens hostage.

That was an episode which ended disastrously for the United States when a rescue mission despatched by President Jimmy Carter saw eight US serviceman die when their helicopter crashed into the desert. It cost Carter his presidency. The situation today can easily escalate. How badly depends on two questions: Will the United States respond with further attacks? And will the Iranians strike again?

Well-placed sources told me yesterday that Iran is indeed ready to make further  and potentially deadlier  attacks, though they added that this would depend on the US response.

The al-Asad base for American and coalition troops (pictured above in December) was struck by missiles 'clearly launched from Iran', U.S. officials say

Oborne said the crisis in Tehran is the biggest and most dangerous military confrontation between America and Iran since the American hostage crisis in 1979 when a group of Iranian students took over the US embassy in Tehran, holding 52 US citizens hostage (pictured)

There is no question that the world is one tiny misjudgment away from an all-out war which could quickly spread across the Middle East to embrace neighbouring Gulf states and Israel.

A respected Iranian observer, Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Professor of English literature and orientalism at the University of Tehran, warned of such a bloodthirsty outcome over Twitter: Everyone should immediately leave the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and other countries where US bases are seen as a threat to Iran, he said. If the Trump regime makes a foolish move, these regimes will be held responsible, considered hostile entities, attacked with full force and destroyed.

Troublingly, one well-informed figure told me that last nights strikes might not be enough to satisfy public anger against Donald Trump for what is seen in Iran as not merely a political assassination but also an act of war.

Iran has fired 22 ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing American troops in a revenge attack for the U.S. drone strike that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani

Hours before the attack, Major General Hossein Salami, the commander of the IRGC, told mourners who packed the streets in Kerman that he would deliver tough and finishing revenge for Soleimanis assassination last week.

We tell our enemies that we will retaliate but if they take another action we will set ablaze the place that they like and are passionate about, Salami said.

Irans state-controlled television was yesterday claiming that the missile strikes had already inflicted immense American casualties with 80 terrorists killed. These reports are false but may do something to quell public demand for revenge.

The Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq and the Erbil base in Iraqi Kurdistan were both struck by the missiles on Tuesday at about 5.30pm (EST)

Here in Iran, there is no question at the sense of shock and grief that Qassem Soleimani, a genuinely popular national figure, was killed by the United States on an official visit to neighbouring Iraq.

Millions of people flocked to mourn his death in Irans towns and cities on Tuesday morning. In one funeral procession in the south-eastern Iranian city of Kerman, at least 56 people are reported to have been killed in a stampede due to overcrowding.

Talking to dozens of Iranians I concluded that the killing of Soleimani has elevated someone who spent most of his life well away from the public gaze to a folk hero of epic proportions.

While the attack marks a significant escalation in tensions between the US and Iran, it falls far short of direct attacks on US commanders that had been feared

Grief at his passing has transcended normal political divisions, uniting Irans reformers and hardliners, idealistic youth and die-hard clerics, in fury at the United States. Walking through central Tehran, Soleimanis picture is the first thing you see on every street corner, hotel lobby, office and government building.

These pictures do not depict the dark and sinister figure presented in the West. Rather, they show him smiling and often in civilian clothes.

One Iranian, though by no means a hardliner, told me that all Iranians admired Soleimani for his generosity, patriotism and the warmth of his smile.

That image is, of course, the polar opposite of the conspiratorial figure guilty of organising terrible atrocities painted in the West, and across much of the Sunni Arab world.

The Iranians I spoke to  most of whom were moderates by Western standards  simply do not recognise the idea that Soleimani was a terrorist. For them, President Trump made a terrible political blunder by killing Soleimani and deserves to pay a price.

I was, however, unable to detect any sign of hostility towards Britain. There were no angry crowds outside the British embassy yesterday  always an early indicator of potential trouble.

It is, after all, only nine years since our embassy was invaded and partially destroyed by a mob furious that Britain had imposed sanctions in response to Irans nuclear programme.

And at a conference organised by the Iranian foreign ministry in central Tehran last Tuesday, just hours before the strike, while the icy anger felt against the United States was all too apparent, there was no such emotion directed towards British delegates.

Indeed, one Briton was being hailed as a saviour in the capital. Tristram Hunt, the former Labour politician and now director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, was on the front of the Tehran Times for forthright remarks condemning Trumps threat to bomb Iranian cultural sites.

Some Iranians recognised the way that Britain, along with Germany and France, have sought to keep alive the nuclear deal struck by President Obama five years ago only to be abandoned by Donald Trump in May 2018.

And while luxury goods shops are still doing plenty of business here, there is no doubt that punitive American sanctions are causing serious economic difficulties.

But as far as the current crisis goes, the policy of Boris Johnson to stress the need for urgent de-escalation  and declining to stand shoulder to shoulder with Donald Trump as Tony Blair notoriously did with George W. Bush over the Iraq invasion  is paying off.

A man holds shrapnel from a missile launched by Iran on U.S.-led coalition forces on the outskirts of Duhok, in northern Iraq 70 miles from Erbil, following Iranian missile strikes

However, the question is whether Britain can continue to keep its distance from the United States and its out of control Commander-in-Chief over the next few weeks.

British forces serve alongside US troops in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East, and it would be all too easy for them to be dragged into conflict.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed British troops are stationed in both of the bases that were targeted by Iran overnight.

As far as the United States is concerned, its a different story.

The talk among even moderate Iranians is that the US will soon no longer be welcome, not just in Iran but across the wider Middle East.

The United States replaced the British Empire as the dominant power in this region after the Second World War.

As I wandered through Tehran yesterday, I found myself wondering whether future historians will view Donald Trumps assassination of Qassem Soleimani as the moment when US dominance started to fade.

If so, Trump will be seen to have made a terrible mistake.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar was in Chennai today to inauguarate the laying of underwater cables for submarine optical fibre from Chennai to Port Blair, to extend high speed internet connectivity to the entire cluster of islands in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.



He on Thursday also said state-owned BSNL is a strategic asset of the country and it was his mission to make it one of the top of India.

"....It ((BSNL) is a strategic asset of the country.

Standing in Tamil Nadu I need to recall when Chennai was suffering from huge floods... ultimately who came to the rescue.... BSNL," the minister said.

When there was a great earthquake in Nepal and when Indians were stranded there, who gave free service? BSNL, he added.

Prasad was speaking after inaugurating the cable laying work for submarine optical fibre link from Chennai to Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

The total cost of the project is Rs 1,224 crore and it is being executed by BSNL.

Prasad also said that during the (recent) cyclone in Odisha and floods in Kashmir,it was BSNL which came to the rescue and when there is a strategic need for the defence (sector), it is BSNL.

"BSNL is not a mobile company or telephone company simply set up. It is a part of a strategic asset of India," he added.

Prasad also said it was his mission to make BSNL one of the top in Chennai.

"When in 2014 I was minister of communication,my priority was to bring BSNL to operating profit. I brought it.

It is my mission to make BSNL one of the top of India. All of you have to work with me. I am very clear about it."



Stating that he had given a 'very robust' VRS package, Prasad said about 78,000 BSNL employees and 15,000 of MTNL had taken it.

"It is because it is the best ever package given to PSU employees," the Minister said.

Prasad said he expected BSNL to execute this project by May-June or make it before that to show to the world what it was capable of and that "it has finally risen from slumber."



The Minister also said that laying of optical fibre cable between the mainland (Chennai) and Andaman & Nicobar islands was a milestone in the history of India.

The project will play a significant role in achieving the objective of 'Digital India' and 'BharatNet' and for rolling out various e-governance projects of the Central government in the islands.

The Minister also said the Digital Commission had approved submarine fibre cable connectivity between Kochi and Lakshadweep island.

The submarine optical fibre connectivity between Chennai and Andaman Nicobar islands is being undertaken to meet the growing bandwidth demand of the islands.

The project envisages connectivity from Chennai to Port Blair and seven other islands-Havelock, Long Island, Rangat, Hut Bay, Car Nicobar, Kamorta and Campbell Bay.

Andaman & Nicobar Lt Governor Admiral D K Joshi and officials of BSNL were present.
BioAsia 2020 will showcase about 75 promising start-ups with cutting edge solutions to transform healthcare -Over 300 applications already received till date; Last day for application is January 12, 2020

Asias largest Life-sciences and healthcare forum BioAsia, will continue to feature a dedicated platform - Start-up Stage in its 17th edition to be held at Hyderabad between February 17th to 19th February 2020. The Start-up Stage at BioAsia 2020 will provide a unique opportunity to the most promising start-ups across India to interact with global industry leaders. Start-up Stage will enable entrepreneurs to showcase their innovative solutions in the pharma, biotech, life sciences, health-tech, and med-tech sectors.

Start-up Stage is designed to encourage innovative collaborations and partnerships between entrepreneurs and industry leaders / investors. Top 5 start-ups from these 75 shortlisted start-ups will get an opportunity to present their solution to the leaders from over 50 Nations in attendance at BioAsia in addition to the cash prize. The start-ups will also get an unmatched opportunity to request exclusive one-to-one meetings with the participating delegates and be a part of the overall deliberations at the event. These opportunities would help them to get insights and guidance on several emerging healthcare challenges and technologies. They will get access to be a part of all the conferences and sessions at BioAsia 2020.

Interested Start-ups can visit BioAsia 2020 website to apply for Start-up stage at https://forms.gle/PAR95YquLkB5tMHU8. Selected start-ups will get free exhibit space, networking opportunity and visibility in the foremost global conference, among others.

Government of Telangana and BioAsia have partnered with Tech Mahindra as the lead sponsor for the Start-up stage. Commenting on the Start-up Stage, Mr. Jayesh Ranjan IAS, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce and Information Technology, Government of Telangana said, BioAsia has emerged as one of the highly regarded life sciences conventions with participation of Whos who of the life sciences sector. Vision of the Telangana Government has been to promote innovation and in line, we have been encouraging innovative solutions in life sciences and healthcare by start-ups to be showcased as part of this biggest gathering of life sciences. In the last 5 years of the Start-up stage at BioAsia, we have constantly worked to encourage and showcase the promising start-ups and this platform has received an enthusiastic response from the stakeholders, investor community, etc. We are delighted that the start-ups recognized in the last few years at BioAsia have been continuously moving up in the value chain and creating a niche positioning.

In the last 2 editions of BioAsias Start-Up stage, some of the high potential start-ups recognized and awarded have been continuously moving up in the value chain creating a niche positioning. Caredose which was awarded in 2019 edition and offers a proprietary technology aiding chronic patients in medicine adherence by providing pre-packaged medication, reminders to consume medication, ability to reorder, alert a caregiver and relay the adherence data to providers for better diagnosis has successfully raised a total of USD 300,000 in 2019 itself and partnered with Abbott Pharmaceuticals to help them with their patient adherence program. Similarly, Next Big Innovation Lab which developed Indias first customisable 3D Bioprinter (TRIVIMA), was not only successful in raising funds from global major MERCK but has also set-up TRIVIMA within Mercks R&D lab in Darmstadt, Germany for collaborative R&D. It is also invited at World Economic Forum to be part of Expert Network in 3D printing and offer inputs in the area of 3D Bioprinting. Another start-up, Dozee which is a contactless, non-wearable health-monitoring solution provider has been selected by the Government of India to represent Indian start-ups at Estonia its solution achieved accuracy to track heart valve movements, thereby, helping flag cases of heart failure in advance. Docturnal Private Limited which is a point of care screening and diagnostics provider of non-invasive and proactive detection of diseases as also raised funds from Mumbai Angels. Testright which developed high performance and portable Spectrophotometers was also adjudged the National winner at Get in the Ring event and further represented India in Berlin. The start-up also received the Patent for its Holofy technology which is sticker-less hologram technology to protect Pharma and FMCG products from counterfeiting. It is now working with eminent brands to protect them from fake products.

To provide an understanding of the growth drivers and motivating the start-up founders, Mr. Shakthi Nagappan, CEO, BioAsia, said Start-up Stage has become one of the highlight components of BioAsia and the platform helps start-ups get unparalled access to the whos who of the global life sciences and healthcare industry. We are overwhelmed with the response from the Start-up community for the event and more than 300 applications have already been received so far. We are also thrilled with the enthusiastic response from the Life Sciences Industry leaders, Venture capital & Angel investor community and the corporate M&A teams of leading pharma & biotech companies.

Some of the biggest and influential organizations in the have come joined together for the Start-up Stage includes Tech Mahindra, Swissnex India, Department of Biotechnology, BIRAC, Telangana State Innovation Cell, NASSCOM, T-Hub, Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad, Ernst and Young, Endiya Partners, Mumbai Angels, IKP, AIC_CCMB, Light House Canton, Life Sciences and Healthcare Innovation Forum, yourstory, xpomet (Germany), among others.

BioAsia 2020 is set to host eminent global leaders from the life sciences industry including Mr. Vas Narasimhan (CEO, Novartis), Dr. Carl June (University of Pennsylvania & CAR-T Expert), Dr. Peter Piot (Director, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Co-Discoverer of Ebola), Mr. Ajay Piramal (Chairman, Piramal), Mr. Dilip Sanghvi (Chairman, Sun Pharma), Mrs. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (CMD, Biocon), Mr. Satish Reddy (Chairman, Dr. Reddys), among others.
Over 300 Chinese Start-Ups Went Bankrupt in 2019: Report

The latest data from Chinese research firm ITjuzi revealed that 336 start-up companies in the country, that collectively had raised $2.5 billion, ceased operations last year. Among them were several unicorn companies, each valued over $1 billion.

With Chinas slowing economy and investors exercising more caution, tech companies in the country started to feel the chilling effect of a funding shortage, which mostly surfaced during the second half of last year.

E-commerce start-up Taojiji, which came online in August 2018 and targeted shoppers outside Chinas major cities, raised $42 million in Series A funding (the first venture capital funding) within two months of its establishment. The shopping platform drew 136 million customers in one year, and its estimated value reached $242 million. However, since June of last year, Taojiji retailers complained that they didnt get paid on their sales revenue, and by November, employees of the company didnt receive any salary. In December, after failing to raise new funds from venture capitalists, Taojiji announced bankruptcy. Its unpaid debts to the companys merchants and suppliers were as high as $230 million.

In the car-sharing industry, about 500 companies registered as new businesses in 2018, but only more than 100 companies actually started to operate, according to Iyiou, a venture and technology-focused news site. As of now, only a few have survived. Even well-known companies could not hold on. Togo, one of the leading companies in Chinas car-sharing industry which raised more than $2 million in capital, ceased operating in August 2019.

Lejia Apartment, Chinas third-largest rental apartment operator, is one of those unicorn companies on ITJuzis 2019 bankruptcy list. It was founded in May 2016 in Nanjing City of Jiangsu Province. Apartment operators find business opportunities in the super expensive housing market by signing long-term leases with landlords and then subleasing the properties to young people.

Within less than three years, the number of apartments under its management grew to more than 200,000 units across the country, and the company once had a valuation of over $2 billion. When Lejia suddenly declared bankruptcy in August 2019, many homeowners had not received their rental payments, while hundreds of thousands of tenants were evicted even though they had paid leases for a whole year in advance.

Some other unicorn companies have been operating at a loss, such as TikTok owner ByteDance, an internet technology company founded in Beijing in 2012. Its valuation once reached $75 billion in 2018, making it the largest unicorn company in the world. However, the company suffered business losses throughout 2018, and it continued in the first half of 2019, when the newly released apps, such as video chat app Duoshan and messaging app Flipchat, failed to get as many users as expected.

According to London-based research firm Preqin, in 2018, total investment into Chinas tech start-ups reached a record of $112 billion; but in 2019, total investment was estimated to be roughly $50 billion, a more than 50 percent drop year-on-year.

An industry insider told Taiwan Digital Times on Jan. 3 that the cash crunch problem is even more severe for Chinas second-tier brands. Although the Chinese market is huge, small and medium-sized entrepreneurs always have to work hard and work smart to make ends meet, he said.

Epoch Times reporter Zhang Yujie contributed to this report.
European countries rejected Indian invitation to visit occupied Kashmir

Ambassadors from European countries have rejected India's invitation for a two-day visit to occupied Kashmir, seeking instead the "freedom to meet the people unescorted", several Indian media outlets reported on Wednesday.



According to Associated Press, envoys from 15 countries including the United States are visiting occupied Kashmir starting from Thursday (today) for two days, the first by New Delhi-based diplomats since India revoked the special status of the region and imposed a harsh crackdown in August 2019.



The diplomats are expected to meet civil society members and government officials during their visit to Srinagar and Jammu, officials said. Details are not immediately available, but they are expected to receive a briefing on the security situation from various agencies.



The Press Trust of India news agency said diplomats representing Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, the Maldives, South Korea, Morocco and Nigeria will be part of the delegation.



According to NDTV, European diplomats said they didn't want a "guided tour" of the occupied territory and "would visit later and meet the people they want to meet".



Quoting diplomatic sources, The Hindu reported that diplomats from EU had decided not to accept the invitation and asked for "more freedom to travel and meet people unescorted".



Consequently, the Indian government has decided to organise a separate visit for the European envoys at a later date, the report added. The report says Australia, Afghanistan and the Gulf countries were also invited for the visit but declined due to "other commitments".



"While many ambassadors are still on winter vacations and have not returned to Delhi, some are dealing with the fallout of US-Iran tensions on the region," the report said, quoting diplomats.



"When asked, government sources denied any suggestion that EU envoys had pulled out due to restrictions in the programme, saying the government was unable to accommodate all 28 countries on this trip," The Hindu said.
Indias restrictions on imports of refined palm oil will lead to a loss of market share for Malaysia and spark a price war with rival supplier, Indonesia, a Malaysian industry association said on Thursday. India, the worlds biggest edible oil buyer, issued a notification on Wednesday amending imports of refined palm oil to restricted, a move that industry sources said amounted to an effective ban. The move was seen as punishing Malaysia, Indias main supplier of refined palm oil, for criticism of its policies by Mahathir Mohamad, the ...
When Prime Minister Indira Gandhis assassination in New Delhi by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984 triggered anti-Sikh violence, the impact was felt as far away as Karahal in Madhya Pradeshs Sheopur district. Around a dozen Sikh families were uprooted from Karahal in 1984 in the face of the violence. They returned a decade later to pick up the pieces and rebuild their lives. Many of them bought land.

Now, two-and-half decades later, 11 Sikh families in Karahal are back where they started, after authorities demolished their farmhouses and levelled their crops to the ground from December 21 to December 31, 2019, as part of an anti-encroachment drive. The families are accused of buying tribal land on the basis of forged papers and also encroaching upon forest and government land.

Government officials said tribal land in Karahal cannot be transferred to non-tribals according to the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code. Even transfer of land between non-tribals in such areas is disallowed without permission. Officials said no outsider is allowed to buy land there to protect the tribal ecosystem.

The officials said the issue became a bone of contention only in the recent past when the tribals started demanding return of their land taken by Sikhs. During the Congress government came to power in December 2018, it started the process to check validity of the land documents, after which the demolition process started, said district collector Pratibha Pal.

The Sikh residents of Karahal have accused the authorities of bias. The SDM [sub-divisional magistrate Rupesh Upadhya] and tehsildar [PN Parmar] called us rioters and militants and said You [Sikhs] were driven out in 1984 but you returned, said Gurmeet Singh, a local resident.

He said eight to 10 Sikh families left Karahal and returned to their villages in Punjab and Haryana in 1984. They returned a decade later with more Sikh families, who also bought land.

Kehar Singh, 73, another resident, said they were served no notices. They did not give us any time to even remove our belongings.

He said he came to Karahal from Sirsa in Haryana in 1996 and built a farmhouse.

His neighbour, Surendra Singh, said that he, along with his wife and three daughters, were forced to spend a cold night under the open sky when their house was demolished. The administration did not show any mercy to even my little daughters, who pleaded with them to stop the demolition.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a government official said Karahal is a notified scheduled tribe area, where non-tribals from outside are not allowed to own land. They do not have any legal document to prove their rights over the land in their possession. We adopted a legal procedure to take action against encroachment, the official added.

Pal denied allegations that the Sikhs were singled out. Action was taken against 23 persons belonging to several castes. Over 326 acres of government land was freed from encroachers. The possession of the land was returned to 34 people belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. In 12 villages, over 657 acres of land was identified to have been occupied with the help of fake papers.

Harendra Singh Rajawat, a local businessman, said some Sikh families also had revenue, forest and tribal land under their possession. In this, both [Sikhs and tribals] benefited, he said. He added that the Sikhs gave tribals annual rent of up to 6,000 per acre and also employed them in their farms for wages of about 150 daily.

Rajawat said the problem started about a decade ago when the Sikhs made barren land cultivable. On the land on which only maize and barley would grow, they started producing wheat, paddy and mustard. It is then that some local elements provoked tribals to try getting back their land which is as good as gold now.

Karahal sarpanch Nandkishore, a tribal, said the Sikhs say they taught the tribals farming and raised their living standard. But they made fortunes while cultivating our land and we continue to be poor.

Tribal leader Mukesh Malhotra, who was arrested for raising slogans like Sardar bhagao Karahal bachao [throw out Sikhs, save Karahal), accused the Sikhs of occupying tribal land.

Delegations of Sikh organisations including the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) and Shiromani Akali Dal have visited the area and blamed the government for harassing the Sikhs.

DSGMC head Manjinder Singh Sirsa, who is a member of the Delhi assembly, accused the state Congress government of trying to throw Sikhs out of Madhya Pradesh.

The Akal Takhts acting head, Giani Harpreet Singh, on Monday referred to Sikh eviction from Madhya Pradesh and said the community was unsafe in Pakistan as well as India.

Congress leader Narendra Saluja said the state government is committed to ensuring justice to all, including Sikhs.

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One could argue that it has already proved problematic for Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has been one of Medicare for alls top champions in this race, along with Senator Bernie Sanders, who has been touting the idea nationally since his 2016 presidential run. Under pressure to explain how she would pay for her proposal, in November Ms. Warren released a detailed accounting of where the estimated $20.5 trillion that her plan would cost over 10 years would come from.

Her financing plan drew heavy fire as misguided and unrealistic, including from some of her Democratic competitors. Former Vice President Joe Bidens campaign dismissed it as mathematical gymnastics, while Mr. Sanders charged it wasnt progressive enough and would have a very negative impact on creating jobs. Around this time, Ms. Warrens poll numbers and fund-raising took a turn for the worse.

Even among Democrats, Medicare for all polls worse than the less revolutionary alternatives of the sort being offered by Mr. Buttigieg and others, including Mr. Biden and Senator Amy Klobuchar.

And yet, the fight goes on. Many observers have noted that the Democratic debates  especially the first ones, which felt like a rolling seminar on medical insurance policy  have devoted a disproportionate amount of time to the candidates slashing at each other over who has the political courage  or naivete  to go big on health care.

This has produced some fiery clashes, as when, in the October debate, Ms. Klobuchar suggested that Ms. Warren didnt know the difference between a plan and a pipe dream. But more broadly, it is miring the Democrats in an unnecessary fight over a policy proposal that is divisive and that would require a political miracle to achieve without a progressive takeover of the Senate. And even then, it would most likely be difficult  remember how hard it was to pass Obamacare even with Democrats controlling both chambers?

Yes, the Democratic candidates need to talk about health care. Polls show that it is a top  if not the top  policy concern for their voters, and the issue was a pillar of the partys successful platform to win control of the House in 2018. But there are other health care matters that could use more attention, such as surprise medical bills, reproductive rights and the Republicans continuing efforts to dismantle Obamacare  which have gained far more traction than many people predicted, threatening coverage for millions of Americans.

With the Iowa caucuses less than a month away, Democrats need to move beyond the Medicare for all fixation. Enough time has been spent bickering over the particulars of an electorally risky proposal that is unlikely to come to pass, no matter who wins the White House.
The Duchess of Cambridge arrives at Kensington Palace, London, in the wake of the announcement that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will take a step back as "senior members" of the royal family, dividing their time between the UK and North America

Kate Middleton was pictured driving into Buckingham Palace amid the ongoing royal backlash to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

After Britain's Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they would be taking a "step back" from their duties, reportedly without notifying Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles or Prince William about the statement, the last 24-hours have been a lesson in crisis PR management.

The ill-timed statement was released just hours before the Duchess of Cambridge's 38th birthday and she was initially expected to host a private celebration at home in Norfolk, but has been drafted in to assess the aftermath of the Sussexes bombshell announcement.

The mother-of-three is normally impossibly cheery in public, but appeared tense as she drove her Range Rover through the gates of Buckingham Palace on Thursday night.

It's reported that her father-in-law and next in line to the British throne is "incandescent with rage" about Harry's statement, which he learned was being publicised just a few minutes before.

The Evening Standard reports that Queen Elizabeth ordered them not to release the statement while they worked out the complicated logistics required to execute their wishes.

"Courtiers can't believe it. There are so many unanswered questions but they've just up and done it without a thought for anyone else. The plan was there to discuss it and work out a way that works for everyone in the family," a source told The Sun.

Princess Eugenie was also pictured this evening in an occasion which has now been overshadowed by an unheardof departure from two of the most senior members of the royal family.

After the Sussexes announced their intentions on Instagram, accompanied by a throwback picture to their 2017 engagement, the palace released a statement asserting that a formal arrangement was far from being reached.

"Discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage," the statement reads.

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"We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work though."

Earlier today, the Kensington Palace Instagram account released never-before-seen portrait of the duchess taken especially for the occasion. The Sussex Royal account commented underneath, "Wishing a very happy birthday to the Duchess of Cambridge today!"

Press Association reports that Queen Elizabeth has directed all four royal households to find workable solutions for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex within days not weeks, a Buckingham Palace source said.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 20:57:50|Editor: xuxin

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DAMASCUS, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- A car bomb went off in a town near the Turkey-held city of Ras al-Ayn in northeastern Syria on Thursday, killing one civilian and wounding others, the latest in a string of bombings targeting Turkey-held areas.

State news agency SANA said the car went off in the town of al-Mishrafeh in the southern countryside of Ras al-Ayn in the northeastern province of Hasakah.

The official report is yet to name the exact target in the town.

The explosion comes a day after seven Turkish soldiers were killed by a car bomb explosion on the outskirts of Ras al-Ayn.

It is the latest in a series of explosions targeting Turkey-held areas in northern Syria, particularly in the Ras al-Ayn city and its vicinity, which were stormed by Turkey following a wide-scale offensive in October last year.

The Turkish campaign was targeting the Kurdish militia groups, which are deemed by Turkey as terrorists.

The Syrian government has accused the Turkish forces of being forces of occupation, stressing that there will come a time when they are forced to leave Syria.
Samantha Markle has lashed out at her estranged sister Meghan and brother-in-law Prince Harry calling their decision to exit the royal family a 'slap in the face'.

Meghan's half-sister spoke out on Thursday following the couple's bombshell announcement a day earlier that they would be stepping back from their senior royal duties.

'It is a slap in the face,' Samantha told Inside Edition in an interview to air Thursday night.

'I think what is shocking is the lack of consideration for the people involved, the British royal family, the promises that were originally made to honor royal duties and to lead by example.'

Samantha Markle on Thursday lashed out at her estranged sister Meghan and her husband Prince Harry calling their decision to exit the royal family a 'slap in the face'

When asked if the couple could be blamed for wanting privacy and to step out of the spotlight, Samantha claims Meghan would have known what royal life entailed before she married Prince Harry.

'That's ridiculous, they stepped into the spotlight knowing what the duties were, knowing what the media would be like for them,' Samantha said.

'Clearly, she knows she's engaging in attention-getting behaviors.'

Samantha added that if Meghan wanted to be 'so private' she wouldn't have gone to Wimbledon last year to watch her friend Serena Williams play and be pictured with '40 empty seats around her'.

As part of Meghan and Harry's shock announcement, they revealed they planned to split their time between the UK and North America.

Samantha, who lives in Florida, said she has no intention of utilizing the close proximity to mend her relationship with her sister.

Meghan's half-sister spoke out on Thursday following the couple's bombshell announcement a day earlier that they would be stepping back from their senior royal duties

Samantha and Meghan, who share a father, had been estranged for several years. Ever since Meghan and Prince Harry got engaged in 2017, Samantha has relentlessly tweeted about their dysfunctional family

'No, I don't have any plan of that with the way she's treated this family, our family and the royals,' Samantha said.

'I think it's horrendous how we've been treated and I wouldn't want to associate with anyone who could do this to people so easily.'

Ever since Meghan and Prince Harry got engaged in 2017, Samantha has relentlessly tweeted about their dysfunctional family.

She blamed Meghan for freezing out their father Thomas Markle and other members of the family, called her 'inhumane' and 'the Duchess of Nonsense' while branding Prince Harry a 'hamster' and a 'wuss'.

Asked to address the negativity, Samantha on Thursday said it wasn't about her being jealous.

'I was being honest from the beginning in hopes that it would appeal to her heart and her morality,' Samantha said.

Ever since Meghan and Prince Harry got engaged in 2017, Samantha has relentlessly tweeted on her private account about their dysfunctional family. She has blamed Meghan for icing out their father Thomas Markle and other members of the family

'The family has extended olive branches to her to demonstrate that we want to be on amicable terms but she wasn't willing to extend it back.'

Her interview came as the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince Williams had ordered their teams to find a 'workable solution' over the future of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex within the royal family.

A Buckingham Palace source said the senior royals have asked aides to work 'at pace' with governments and The Sussex Household and an outcome was expected to take 'days, not weeks'.

The Queen and other members of the family were said to be left 'hurt' by Harry and Meghan's decision to issue a personal statement, which outlined their future lives as financially independent royals who will divide their time between the UK and North America.

Meghan has returned to Canada, where eight-month-old son Archie is said to have stayed with his nanny when his parents flew back to London this week.
Yves here. A particularly disheartening aspect of this story is the considerable undercounting of omissionsthat companies are allowed to lie and get away with it, or alternatively, that too many of us prefer to kid ourselves.

By Naveena Sadasivam, a staff writer at Grist. Originally published at Grist

Arizonas Navajo Generating Station, a gargantuan coal plant responsible for more than 16 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, shut down in November. Its closing capped a decade in which coal generation in the United States was cut in half  a development recently credited with reducing nationwide greenhouse gas emissions by 2 percent last year.

But thanks in large part to the booming oil and gas industry, that slight decline in emissions is likely just a blip on the radar. Emissions from a single proposed petrochemical complex in Louisianas St. James Parish, for example, would replace the lions share of the greenhouse gas pollution prevented through closing the Navajo Generating Station. Once built, the $9.4 billion Formosa plastics plant is expected to release more than 13.6 million tons of greenhouse gases per year.

The St. James facility is just one of dozens of new polluting plants expected to contribute to ballooning emissions from the U.S. oil and gas industry in the coming years. According to a new report published Wednesday by the Environmental Integrity Project, or EIP, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., the industry is slated to pump an additional 227 million tons of planet-warming gases into the atmosphere in 2025  a 30 percent increase over 2018 emissions  bringing its total emissions close to one billion tons per year. Thats equivalent to the full-time greenhouse gas pollution of well over 200 major coal-fired power plants.

About 60 percent of that rise is from expanding fossil fuel drilling, new liquified natural gas plants, and other additional oil and gas infrastructure. The remaining increases in emissions are expected to come from refineries and chemical plants that process crude oil and natural gas into gasoline, plastics, fertilizers, and other products.

Those emissions would eat up more than half of the reductions that we expect to get out of the power sector, said Eric Schaeffer, executive director of the EIP. We need to get on top of the runaway growth in greenhouse gas emissions from oil, gas, and petrochemicals and get standards in place to restrain that growth before its too late.

The report is based in part on historical emissions data submitted to the EPA by oil and gas producers. To estimate future emissions, the EIP used the industrys permit applications for new facilities as well as the Energy Information Agencys projections for future fossil fuel production.

Scientists have warned that global temperature rise must be limited to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) to avoid catastrophic damage to the planet  a target adopted by the countries signing on to the 2015 Paris climate agreement. For its part, the U.S. agreed to reduce carbon emissions by 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025. As another new report from the research firm the Rhodium Group underscores, the U.S. is nowhere close to meeting that goal. (The Trump administration has also announced that it plans to withdraw from the agreement.)

Unreported and Undercounted

The vast majority of new oil and gas emissions are expected to occur in states that have seen a fracking boom in the last decade, including Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania. The Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico is expected to be a particularly outsized source of emissions. The oilfield has become the most productive in the world, surpassing the Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia and accounting for about half of U.S. oil production.

Schaeffer said that new operations planned for the Gulf Coast  primarily in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi  will account for three-quarters of the oil and gas industrys overall emissions growth. Emissions from liquified natural gas plants are projected to increase tenfold, with 15 of 19 new plants emitting a combined 68 million tons of new greenhouse gases per year planned for those three states.

Schaeffer cautioned that the numbers projected by the EIP are most likely underestimates. For one, the report only tallies emissions from the largest facilities that are required to secure permits under the Clean Air Act. There are thousands of smaller [facilities] that arent picked up in our numbers  compressor stations, tank batteries, big storage terminals, gas processors, and so on, Schaeffer said.

There are also signs that companies are underreporting emissions data. As oil and gas producers run out of pipeline capacity to transport fossil fuels from drilling sites to refineries and markets, theyre increasingly burning it off into the air in a process called flaring. Companies operating in the Permian Basin reported flaring about 1.37 million tons of natural gas in 2017, but independent satellite analyses by environmental groups and research firms indicate the actual number is about double that. Similarly, emissions from accidents  like the massive 2016 Aliso Canyon leak in southern California  and other malfunctions and maintenance activities are either not reported or are undercounted, the report noted.

The report recommends that the EPA and state environmental agencies strengthen pollution limits before granting permits and improve monitoring requirements to hold companies accountable. It also emphasized increasing funding for state environmental agencies so that they are able to hire staff who can enforce environmental laws.

Many states where the oil and gas boom is underway have a long record of lax enforcement. In Texas, for instance, the state environmental agency failed to penalize 97 percent of unauthorized emissions between 2011 and 2016, and Louisianas environmental regulator issued just $1.6 million in fines last year  its lowest level in two decades. That might be a result of dramatic cuts to these agencies budgets. According to a separate analysis published by the EIP in 2019, state environmental agencies in both states had their budgets slashed by 35 percent from 2008 to 2018.

Overall state spending went up over the same period, while the environmental agency spending and staffing continue to fall, Schaeffer said. Those are political choices.
Holly Willoughby struggled to find the right words during Thursday's This Morning, as she was drawn into a debate about how many times she has sex a week.

The presenter, 38, was left red-faced during the discussion between Real Housewives of Cheshire star Dawn Ward and journalist Dawn Neesom, and firmly insisted she wouldn't reveal the number on TV.

Holly's reaction was in line with her presenting partner Phillip Schofield, who also said he 'wouldn't be sharing' how many times he has sex during the debate.

Oh dear! Holly Willoughby struggled to find the right words during Thursday's This Morning, as she was drawn into a debate about how many times she has sex a week

The debate came following the news that a third of women have gone off having sex with their partners.

Real Housewives star Dawn brazenly said she was happy to disclose that she has sex with husband Ashley three times a week, even after 25 years of marriage.

The question was then turned towards Holly by Dawn Neesom, who asked how many times a week she has sex with her husband Dan Baldwin.

Hilarious: The presenter was lost for words during a debate around the news that a third of women have lost interest in having sex

Funny: Awkwardly trying to laugh off the question Holly said: 'I am not part of this. This is not something anyone needs to know'

Awkwardly trying to laugh off the question Holly said: 'I am not part of this. This is not something anyone needs to know.

'I can be honest with my friends but I am not going to talk about this on air.'

Phil seemed to agree, adding: 'I won't be sharing either!'

The discussion eventually took a more comedic turn, as Holly recalled one of her worst ever fashion fails, when the zip on her dress split during a trip to 10 Downing Street.

No! Her presenting partner Phillip Schofield seemed to agree, adding: 'I won't be sharing either!'

Oh dear! The discussion eventually took a more comedic turn, as Holly recalled one of her worst ever fashion fails, when the zip on her dress split during a trip to 10 Downing Street

Oops! The star revealed she was stuck in the toilet with her broken dress and had to wear her coat for the rest of the evening

The mother-of-three was stuck in the toilet with her broken dress and eventually had to wear her coat for the rest of the evening.

She said: 'One of the most embarrassing moments of my life was when I went to 10 Downing Street and when you go in you have to give your phone in for security. I was wearing a dress that had a zip top to bottom at the back.

I went to the loo and as I went to pull my skirt up the zip just went bang and the dress just split in half. There was nothing I could do about it.

'Luckily I was wearing huge knickers but I couldn't ring anyone to come and help me. I had to wait until a lady came in and I had to say can you go and find my husband and ask him to bring my coat?'

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV.
Armenia's State Revenue Committee has entered the offices of Armenian lawyers to inspect their activities, Zhoghovurd newspaper writes.

The newspaper tried to find out details from Chairman of the Chamber of Advocates Ara Zohrabyan.

If the State Revenue Committee carries out a general tax audit process, it is normal. It would not be normal if we record a directed oversight of specific lawyers in relation to their professional activities," he said.

According to the chairman of the Chamber of Advocates, if a lawyer gets money and does not pay taxes, naturally, the tax authority cannot ignore that fact.

We have not received a letter from the SRC to conduct an audit with any lawyer or law firm for 2018-2019. If there have been such cases, then these cases are of great interest to the Chamber of Advocates," News.am cited Zohrabyan as saying.
The Seattle Times recently updated its style guide to specify capitalizing "Black" to describe race, while "white" will remain lower case. Read more

Last month the Seattle Times instituted a style change at the paper to capitalize the adjective Black when it refers to people, culture, or race. The move was aimed at increasing respect for black culture and consistency with many black publications that also capitalize the adjective.

Unfortunately the papers reasoning is internally inconsistent, and likely to create at least as many problems as it solves.

In any publishing world, style guide changes are a big deal. Style guides establish a publications internal consistency, as they tell its writers and editors how to spell certain words that have multiple accepted spellings (Gray or grey? Theater or theatre? Till or til or til?), how to use punctuation (Oxford comma or no? Fight me), what gets capitalized (for the love of everything holy, please dont capitalize President when it doesnt precede a presidents name), and so much more. They dictate how a publication is read.

So we can trust that Seattle didnt approach its decision lightly.

The papers new style entry reads:

Black (adj.): Belonging to people who are part of the African diaspora. Capitalize Black because it is a reflection of shared cultures and experiences (foods, languages, music, religious traditions, etc.). Do not use as a singular or plural noun. When ethnicity is relevant to the story, ask the source which ethnic identifier they use. Black is not necessarily synonymous with African American; some argue the term Black is more inclusive of the collective experiences of the U.S. population, which encompasses recent immigrants.

In a statement, the paper added, It is increasingly clear this is the preferred term among many Black publications and presses, and that increasingly grammarians argue that capitalizing it puts it on par with other identifiers of race, such as Native American and African American.

But this logic falls apart when you read the style guides entry on the always lowercase white, which rightly cautions that capitalizing White is the province of white nationalists and white supremacists, and should therefore be avoided. We definitely dont want to give those groups credence. But if you have a sentence that refers to both Black and white people, the inconsistency makes readers heads spin.

Most style manuals rightly gravitate toward lowercase letters, which are far less distracting than Sentences That Capitalize More. Just because a word is important doesnt mean it gets a capital letter (see again: president).

The Seattle Times says it undertook the change to consider the historical use of various words to describe the people and descendants of the African diaspora. But adopting the capitalized Black as a catch-all homogenizes a very diverse group. While the Times is right to note that there are commonalities to the American black experience, capitalizing black implies a universality thats glib at best, and arguably dangerous.

Finally, as author and professor Eve L. Ewing has argued (as have others), capitalizing Black while lowercasing white only reinforces the idea that white is normal or neutral. Reasonable people could justify capitalizing both Black and White, but reasonable copy editors (who arent always reasonable people) cant. Lowercase just reads better.

Updating style guides to match the times is important, and too often style guides lag frustratingly behind our language (like when it took the New York Times until bloody 2016 to lowercase internet). But changes without respect for consistency smack of linguistic trendiness. And thats not a good style for anyone.

The Angry Grammarian, otherwise known as Jeffrey Barg, looks at how language, grammar, and punctuation shape our world, and appears biweekly. Thats every other week, not twice a week, friends. Send comments, questions and William Strunk to jeff@theangrygrammarian.com.
Despite what acres of cornfields at the height of growing season might have one believe, prairie skies are seemingly endless, a fact not lost on Petersburg artists Rich Ford and Kate Worman-Becker.

The two will be the featured artists this month in the Art Association of Jacksonvilles Winter Color watercolor and pastel exhibit at the David Strawn Art Gallery.

While their work and their approaches to it differ, they agree on the value of the sky.

Being in town or in the woods for long periods of time would drive me crazy, Worman-Becker said. Im definitely a prairie girl. I like the sky.  This time of year, the most interesting thing about the landscape is the sky.

Ford finds freedom in the sky, though not necessarily the same sort of freedom many find.

When you (paint) the landscape, people know thats the sky, he said. So what if its pink? People know thats the sky peeking through the leaves. I have the privilege to do what I want with color.

Within the boundaries of his art supplies, of course.

More Information If you go ... "Winter Color," art by Rich Ford and Kate Worman-Becker, will have an opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Art Association of Jacksonville's David Strawn Art Gallery, with a gallery talk by the artists at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. The exhibit will run through Jan. 26. Gallery hours are from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday and from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. See More Collapse

When I start a painting, I start with three to five different values of the same color, because I know somewhere down the road Im going to be using three or four of them, he said. I let myself just start adding color. You have to constantly shift back and forth between what youve set down and where your imagination is taking you.

Worman-Beckers watercolors allow for relatively easy blending, but Fords soft pastels require base layers and washes to change a particular color, he said.

You can never have enough greens in your drawer, he said. You can go through all of your greens and never have the one you want.

Still, having all those greens doesnt mean hes constantly using them, even in painting a landscape.

I try to look at things differently, he said. Sometimes leaves get better if you throw in versions of red, versions of yellow, versions of purple with your greens. I use purple on trees, sometimes blue. I dont use browns.  I like to think outside the box and come up with completely different color schemes.  Its very freeing to do what you want with a tree.

Both artists also share an appreciation for the feedback they get on their work.

A group of us meet on Monday mornings, Ford said. We back each other up, help each other see things others might not think about.

Worman-Becker agreed.

The feedbacks invaluable, she said. I meet with a little watercolor group. We critique each others work. Its priceless, because we all understand the medium. Its also important to get feedback from a friend or my sister or my husband. They dont know anything about art  they dont have the vocabulary  but everybody has eyes that can see somethings not quite right. Its very educational.

And learning is key to both artists enjoyment of the process, they said.

Ford, a retired music teacher, likes the challenge of experimenting with new techniques.

Its an ongoing process, which I think is fun, he said of creating art. Difficult, but fun. Everything you do has its own problems, but you have to keep moving forward.

Worman-Becker has a fine arts degree from Western Illinois University with a focus on drawing and printmaking, but she largely taught herself about watercolors and now teaches watercolors to students of her own.

Its fun for me to teach it, she said, noting that shes always picking up fresh ideas from her students or finding answers to their questions  questions she maybe hadnt thought to ask on her own. Teaching is always a learning process for me.



If you go 

Winter Color, art by Rich Ford and Kate Worman-Becker, will have an opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Art Association of Jacksonvilles David Strawn Art Gallery, with a gallery talk by the artists at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. The exhibit will run through Jan. 26. Gallery hours are from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday and from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
NEW YORK, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Weyland Tech, Inc. (OTCQX: WEYL), a leading global Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) provider of mCommerce and fintech business enablement solutions, has completed the acquisition of the assets and operations of Push Holdings from ConversionPoint Technologies (CPT) per the definitive asset purchase agreement announced in December.



Weyland acquired Push to support the launch of its CreateApp mCommerce and mobile fintech solutions in North America, as well as additional eCommerce products and services globally. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to earnings in the first full calendar quarter as part of Weyland.

The new revenue streams and synergistic product offerings contributed by Push, along with its support of Weylands CreateApp U.S. market launch, are expected to help drive more than 100% overall top-line growth for the combined companies in 2020.

Weyland reported last fall trailing 12-month recurring revenues of more than $32 million, with Push recently reporting that it has sustained a significant return to growth in the second half of 2019, ending the year at a nearly $12 million annual run-rate, up more than 300% since mid-year.

The acquired assets and operations of Push Holdings are primarily comprised of the eCommerce technology company, Push Interactive, which has 20 full-time employees headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn. The Push Interactive direct-to-consumer eCommerce platform provides an end-to-end solution for SMBs and major brands. It allows these organizations to dramatically increase online revenue while lowering the cost of customer acquisition and order fulfillment.

Push is a transformative acquisition in many ways, which we expect to drive global market expansion and strong revenue growth, said Weyland Tech CEO, Brent Suen. Pushs eCommerce platform is highly synergistic to our mCommerce technologies, particularly with CreateApp and AtozGo. Our respective offerings are both mobile-friendly and provide complementary products and services, which can be seamlessly integrated into a single platform.

The integration of the two platforms is expected to enhance the overall value proposition for existing and prospective customers. Initial cross-selling opportunities include CreateApp and AtozPay supporting U.S.-based projects and campaigns for Pushs current enterprise customers.

Right from the start, we recognized powerful synergies in our respective technologies and corporate missions, said Push Holdings co-founder, CEO and president, Haig Newton. As a combined force, we will be able to better assist businesses and brands reach more customers, increase sales, and promote their products and services in an easier, more affordable and more highly efficient way.

Push has provided Weyland a well-established beachhead in North America, allowing Weyland to attract new users to CreateApp and AtozPay more quickly and cost efficiently. Previously, U.S. customer acquisition costs for CreateApp were estimated at $2-$3 per dollar generated, which made the market entry economically unfeasible. By leveraging Pushs highly effective marketing technology and operational resources, U.S. customer acquisition cost is expected to drop to as little as $0.30 per dollar generated.

CreateApp requires literally no technical understanding or skills in app design for anyone to build a full-featured custom app in less than two hours. CreateApp is a Shopify-like solution for mobile that enables businesses and brands to establish a mCommerce presence in an intuitive, do-it-yourself fashion. Push Interactives chief technology officer, Tom Furukawa, noted: By layering on our Push platform, CreateApp users gain a fully end-to-end mCommerce solution supported by our team of expert digital media marketers. We believe we can enhance visibility, customer traffic and ultimately conversions more easily and cost effectively than other competitive options.

As part of a public company, Weylands new Push subsidiary gains easier access to growth capital and is better able to attract employee talent. Push plans to leverage the cost efficiencies and diverse capabilities of Weylands 200-person technology and software development team in Jaipur, India, while Weyland gains many years of technical and software development expertise from the Push team.

Weyland still plans to launch CreateApp in the U.S. in the current calendar quarter. The North American market is expected to support a higher price point for subscription fees versus the companys current market in Southeast Asia. A comparative revenue model of a U.S. industry peer supports 96,000 users at $300 each per month. This compares to the current CreateApp subscription model for Southeast Asia priced at only $12-$80 per month, depending on optional features implemented.

Added Suen: Our earlier work with Push to introduce CreateApp in the U.S. led to this strategic acquisition. So, we have already made strong progress towards its planned U.S. launch in the coming weeks. eCommerce is becoming increasingly mobile in the U.S., creating a huge new market opportunity for CreateApp and AtozPay.

Additional details about the definitive asset purchase agreement are provided in a Form 8-K, available at www.sec.gov and the investor relations section of Weyland Techs website at weyland-tech.com.

About Push Interactive

The Push platform features comprehensive customer acquisition capabilities, highly productive media and channel strategies, well-tuned product promotion and messaging, and sales funnel development and optimization. Post-sale, Push supports fulfillment, customer relationship management, and further monetization through re-engagement and remarketing toolsets that enhance customer lifetime value (LTV). Push developed these SaaS-based solutions in-house, with more than $10 million invested in platform development and eight years of real-world use. For more information about Push Interactive, visit www.pushint.com.



About Weyland Tech

Weyland Tech is a developer and global provider of mobile business software applications. The company operates its CreateApp platform-as-a-service (PaaS) across three continents and 10 countries, including some of the fastest-growing emerging markets in Southeast Asia. The platform provides a mobile presence for small-and-medium sized businesses (SMBs) that is supported locally by distributor partnerships.

Offered in 14 languages with more than 70 integrated modules, CreateApp enables SMBs to create and deploy native mobile applications for Apple iOS and Google Android without technical knowledge or background. The technology empowers SMBs to increase sales, reach more customers, manage logistics, and promote their products and services in an easy, affordable and highly efficient way.

The companys subsidiary, Weyland Indonesia Perkasa (WIP), operates AtozPay and AtozGo. The AtozPay mobile payments platform serves the burgeoning mCommerce and e-Payment markets in Indonesia, the worlds fourth most populous country. AtozGo is a fast-growing short-distance food delivery service operated in Jakarta, Indonesia.

For more information, visit weyland-tech.com.

Important Cautions Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the business of the Company. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included herein are forward-looking statements including statements regarding: the ability of the Company to successfully integrate Push, the continued growth of the eCommerce segment and the ability of the Company to continue its expansion into that segment; the ability of the Company to attract customers and partners and generate revenues; the ability of the Company to successfully execute its business plan; the business strategy, plans, and objectives of the Company; and any other statements of non-historical information. These forward-looking statements are often identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as believes, expects or similar expressions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, they do involve assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, and these expectations may prove to be incorrect. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. The Companys actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including those discussed in the Companys periodic reports that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on its website (www.sec.gov). All forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these factors. Other than as required under the securities laws, the Company does not assume any duty to update these forward-looking statements.



Company Contact

Brent Suen, CEO

Weyland Tech Inc.

Email contact

Media & Investor Contact

Ronald Both or Grant Stude

CMA

Tel (949) 432-7566

Email Contact
The provincial government is starting the new year with a new program designed to help thousands of Manitobans quit smoking, being funded first on Shoppers Drug Mart's dime.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/1/2020 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The provincial government is starting the new year with a new program designed to help thousands of Manitobans quit smoking, being funded first on Shoppers Drug Mart's dime.

Health Minister Cameron Friesen announced the province's second foray into social impact bonds Wednesday, which will see government partner with Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmacists Manitoba on a $2-million model to help 4,500 Manitobans butt out.

Shoppers will pay the $2-million tab over five years and if 12 per cent of registrants manage to quit smoking for one year or more, the pharmacy chain will be paid back $2.12 million by government.

Asked why the target for success of the program wasn't set higher, Friesen emphasized how difficult it is for smokers to quit and described the 12 per cent target as "ambitious."

Each registrant will get up to $380 in free nicotine replacement products (such as gum and patches) and counselling sessions with pharmacists. More than 500 Manitoba pharmacists are trained in smoking cessation programs and those who don't work at Shoppers Drug Mart can also help registrants of the program, which will begin in April.

The $2-million program has a goal of helping 4,500 Manitobans quit smoking. (Patrick Sison / The Associated Press files)

"Many times, the products in and of themselves are not enough. And we know that when coupled with counselling, the accountability and the information that comes from the pharmacist who's taking the time to do it, that increases the chances of quitting smoking by 40 per cent," Friesen said.

The program will roll out in the Northern, Interlake-Eastern and Prairie Mountain regions of the province this year, areas where smoking rates are higher than the provincial smoking rate of 14.5 per cent (which is slightly below the national rate of 15.1 per cent). According to the province, the smoking rate in the Northern health region is about 33 per cent, while Interlake-Eastern's rate is 23 per cent and Prairie Mountain's rate is 22 per cent.

Friesen said he expects resources to come to the Winnipeg and Southern Health regions in second and third years of the program.

The health minister also hinted a plan to dissuade Manitobans from vaping  a method some are using to help them quit smoking cigarettes  may be in the works.

"We know on the other side we're seeing a rise of vaping and the normalization of that activity among youth concerns us. We see other provinces taking action. In Manitoba, we're contemplating how we can also do that," he said.

Manitoba's first social impact bond program was launched a year ago, almost to the day. On Jan. 7, 2019, the province announced a program to help pregnant, Indigenous women who were at risk of having their children apprehended. The women would be matched with doulas who could help with pre- and post-natal care, thanks to funding from private investors.

Each registrant in Manitoba will get up to $380 in free nicotine replacement products and counselling sessions with pharmacists. (Dreamstime / TNS files)

Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont called the use of social impact bonds a "scam" that benefits the private sector. He noted plenty of local non-profits, such as the Lung Association of Manitoba, could use more funding to develop smoking cessation programs.

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"I think its immoral for people to be profiting off others misery like this," Lamont said. "And I think its a total abdication on the part of the government of their responsibility on issues of public health."

The province boasted its new social impact bond dedicated to help people quit smoking is a global first. A spokesperson for the Canadian Cancer Society said the organization has not seen a program designed like this anywhere else in the country and applauded the effort.

"Reducing tobacco use in Manitoba is an important and challenging task that requires a multi-pronged approach," spokesperson Sarah Hawkins said in a prepared statement.

"We are glad to see it on the governments radar and look forward to hearing more about their complete tobacco reduction strategy."

jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @_jessbu
15th January 2020  Andara Resort & Villas, one of Phukets top resorts known for its stunning Thai modern suites and pool villas,attentive service and international cuisine, welcomes rising star Executive Chef Tino Roberto Staub from The Widder Hotel Zurich to showcase his modern European Asian cuisine for one night only on 15th January 2020. To complement the dinner, famed Ms. Benjawan Wisootsat, FIN Wine (Fabulous as Needed) from Bangkok joins with exciting wine pairings for the evening.

At the Widder Kitchen at SILK night, Chef Tino will introduce his famous bold flavours with his signature focus on key ingredients in Phuket for the first time. Swiss-born Chef Tino is one of Europes most celebrated rising young chefs with 15 points from Gault Millau and a passion for Asian-inspired creations. Its my first time to showcase our take on modern cuisine from The Widder Kitchen and layer awe-inspiring Thai ingredients and culture. To be cooking with award-winning SILKs team is an honour, said Chef Tino.

We are thrilled to host the talented Chef Tino as our first guest chef of 2020, added Andaras General Manager Daniel Meury. Chef Tinos approach on modern cuisine is a fabulous match for our guests and local 2 gastronomic community. We are equally excited to have one of the top connoisseurs of small, boutique wines, FIN Wines Khun Benjawan, to curate the artisanal wine pairing.

The Widder Kitchen at SILK menu highlights include a selection of favourite signature dishes such as salmon with Thai mango, spicy mayo and sesame, risotto Ticino style, roasted beef fillet with green asparagus, and panna cotta mit weisser schokolade.

Chef Tinos innovative four-course tasting menu with FINs artisanal wine pairing is a one night only at the resorts signature modern Thai restaurant, SILK Restaurant and Bar, Complimentary Welcome Drink 7-8pm, Dinner starts at 8pm, 15 January 2020.

Dinner is 2,900Baht++ per person, artisanal wine pairings starting from 1,500Baht++.

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UUP councillor Alan Lewis has reported the page to the PSNI and Facebook

Facebook have confirmed that they are investigating a page which glorified the murder of three UDR men killed by the IRA in 1980.

Police have said that they are conducting enquiries in relation to the page.

Privates Richard Wilson, Roy Smith and James Cochrane, a Catholic, were killed on January 6 by an IRA landmine containing one ton of explosive material at Burrenbridge, near Castlewellan, Co Down.

Two Land Rovers were caught up in the blast, which left four other UDR soldiers injured.

On Monday, the 40th anniversary of the attack, a Facebook page 'South Down Unrepentant Republican' posted a tribute to the IRA men behind the bomb.

It praised those involved and called the killings "a striking blow of resistance against Britain's military presence in Ireland".

Slieve Croob UUP councillor Alan Lewis contacted police and Facebook after seeing the post.

He said that social media sites needed to do more to tackle the spreading of hate speech on their platforms.

"There is free speech and then there is misuse of telecommunications for the purpose of promoting hate, sectarianism and terrorism," the UUP councillor said.

"Im no snowflake, I dont offend easily but most of the posts on this page go beyond public decency and in some cases they openly promote terrorism."

Councillor Lewis said that the page had been temporarily removed by Facebook after reports by members of the public, but it has since returned.

"It is time Facebook and the PSNI took action to ensure this page was permanently deleted," he said.

"Facebook are quick to remove what they call right wing extremist pages and associated posts, fast to act when they believe users are intentionally causing offence, however when it comes to Northern Ireland there seems to be an abdication of responsibility, a blind eye is turned to the promotion and encouraging of terrorist activity."

The UUP councillor called the post "grotesque to the point of disgusting".

"Its 2020, we all have families. I find it unbelievable that there remain some within society who would take pleasure in death, and abhorrent triumphalism," Councillor Lewis said.

He said that every adult who likes, comments and shares posts which glorify acts of violence should be "utterly ashamed of themselves".

Councillor Lewis called on police to identify those behind the page and take action.

"This page must be removed immediately," he said,

A Facebook spokesperson told the Belfast Telegraph that they were "looking into" the page.

"Police have received a report reference comments on a social media post. Enquiries are ongoing," a PSNI spokesperson said.
A raucous event Tuesday in Brooklyn showed how Warrens efforts can pay off. Castro, who endorsed her within days of dropping out of the race, told the crowd what the senator from Massachusetts wanted them to hear: More than any other candidate in this race, more than any other candidate who is going to be on that debate stage in a few days, Elizabeth Warren is a candidate who can unite the entire Democratic Party.
U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' sex offender registry March 28, 2017 and obtained by Reuters July 10, 2019.

Surveillance video footage from outside the jail cell of accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein during his first reported suicide attempt in July has been inadvertently deleted, federal prosecutors revealed Thursday.

Prosecutors, in a filing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, said the video was deleted as the result of a jailhouse computer error about the location of Epstein's cellmate at the time Epstein tried to kill himself.

A lawyer for Epstein's former cellmate said that it was "deeply troubling" to learn that the footage no longer exists. That lawyer, Bruce Barket, has been trying since July to obtain the video.

The disclosure is just the latest in a series of black eyes for federal officials since Epstein's arrest in early July on charges of trafficking dozens of underage girls to satisfy his sexual obsessions at homes in New York City and Palm Beach, Florida, from 2002 through 2005.

The biggest of those black eyes occurred in August when Epstein, a wealthy financier who was a former friend of Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, died in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, where he was being held without bond while awaiting trial.

The New York City Medical Examiner ruled his death a suicide by hanging.

But that finding has been questioned by Epstein's lawyers and by others who believe he may have fallen victim to foul play.

Epstein's death remains under investigation by several federal agencies, including by the Bureau of Prisons, which operates the MCC.
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday held a high-level meeting with National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and top officials in the Ministry of Home Affairs on internal security issues.

The meeting was held in view of the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 and the recent violence in JNU. During the meeting, the inputs received from the security agencies in the wake of rising tensions between the United States and Iran over the killing of a senior Iranian general were also discussed.

MHA sources said that law and order issues across the country, as well as security matters linked to Jammu and Kashmir, were discussed in the meeting, chaired by Home Minister Shah.

The meeting was called a day after a seven-member inter-faith delegation comprising prominent spiritual leaders and social reformers from different faiths and sects, including Jain Acharya Lokesh, meditation guru Swami Deepankar, Mufti Shamoon Qasmi, Sardar Sant Singh, Veer Chakra Awardee Col TP Tyagi, Vineet Kumar and Gautam, met Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy to express solidarity with the government, saying the law "concerns foreigners and no Indian has anything to fear".

Live TV

Over 2,000 people have been arrested and around 5,000 detained while protesting against the CAA since the Parliament passed the law on December 11, 2019.

Hundreds of security personnel have also been injured in anti-CAA protests across India, the strongest dissent against Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came into power in 2014.

The Act provides Indian citizenship to six non-Muslim communities -- Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian -- who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, after facing religious persecution.

The government has clarified that the law has nothing to do with the citizens of India, including Muslims. In the meeting, sources said, intelligence inputs regarding the role of the Popular Front of India (PFI) behind the CAA protests were discussed among other points mentioned.

Meanwhile, the security of American and Israeli diplomats and installations like embassies, offices and other residential areas have been beefed up across the country after inputs were received from security agencies in the wake of rising US-Iran tensions.

According to two communications sent by Intelligence Bureau (IB) on January 4 and 8 to various government agencies, the steps have been taken after the developments pertaining to the attack on US Embassy in Baghdad on December 31, 2019, and the US airstrike which killed senior Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad on January 3.

The intelligence agencies have warned that the threat of retaliation given by the Iranian leadership requires appropriate measures to secure the 'US as well as Israeli diplomatic and trade interests/personnel/installations.'

The IB, keeping Ministry of Home Affairs in the loop, has asked for appropriate measures to secure such locations and installations.

The communication also states that terrorist attacks on the US as well as Israeli installations and personnel as protests, demonstrations and vandalism at such locations cannot be ruled out.

The diplomatic security forces, which are mainly responsible for the safety in Delhi's embassies, have been asked to continue patrolling the region, spread almost eight kilometres.

The local police and extra forces have been deployed at such locations as per the threat perception.

(With Agency Inputs)
George Osborne yesterday made his first positive comments about Brexit, saying ending EU control of UK financial regulation 'would not be a bad thing'.

The former Tory chancellor acknowledged that the City could thrive when free from Brussels.

Remain-supporting Mr Osborne, who was accused of being the architect of 'Project Fear' during the 2016 referendum, said the UK was likely to end up with 'near identical' rules in sectors like cars.

George Osborne yesterday made his first positive comments about Brexit, saying ending EU control of UK financial regulation 'would not be a bad thing' (pictured in Downing Street in March 2016 ahead of the Budget)

But it would be free to innovate in the massive financial services sector. He told Radio 4's Today: 'It will always be a trade-off between sovereignty  your ability to set your own rules  and your ability to sell into your biggest market.

'In certain sectors, we will end up with near-identical rules.

'In other sectors, such as financial services... some freedom to be a globalised financial centre would not be a bad thing.'

His comments came after Remainer Bank of England Governor Mark Carney also highlighted the potential benefit of freeing-up financial regulation.
Until her daughter Clara became a toddler, entrepreneur Josee-Anne Sarazin-Cote and her husband were able to juggle work and parenthood.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/1/2020 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Until her daughter Clara became a toddler, entrepreneur Josee-Anne Sarazin-Cote and her husband were able to juggle work and parenthood.

But at 18 months, Clara was walking and talking and "it was starting to be really difficult to work at the same time," says Sarazin-Cote, an author and workshop organizer focused on wellness.

Josee-Anne Sarazin-Cote, sits with her two-year-old daughter Clara Fleury in this undated handout photo. Until her daughter became a full-blown toddler, Joesee-Anne Sarazin-Cote and her husband were able to balance work and parenthood. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Josee-Anne Sarazin-Cote*MANDATORY CREDIT*

"We rarely have time for the three of us  or as a couple," she said. "At one point we were like, 'we need help.'"

With sky-high daycare costs remaining out of reach for parents in many parts of the country, nannies can offer a more flexible and affordable alternative  albeit one that comes with tax and legal implications.

First the couple  based in France at the time  turned to an au pair, a live-in caregiver with a nominal salary. Sarazin-Cote's work includes frequent, wide-ranging travel in locales ranging from Portugal to Costa Rica. Daycare didn't make sense, and the au pair could travel along with her and Clara.

Upon moving to Quebec's Eastern Townships last year, Sarazin-Cote applied for a subsidized space in the province's famously affordable daycare. But getting a spot proved difficult, so she looked again for hired help.

After flipping through profiles on nanny agency websites, Sarazin-Cote turned instead to her online community for recruitment, posting a "help wanted" ad in a newsletter she runs.

She found someone last week who, for $15 per hour, will work four hours each weekday morning to play with Clara  who turns three in March  and make her lunch, freeing up time for Sarazin-Cote to work.

While subsidized daycare in Quebec costs roughly $8 per day, or $240 per month, parents seeking private spaces in Toronto and Vancouver sometimes shell out upwards of $2,000 per month.

Daycare is "comparable to a mortgage payment," said Jason Heath, a financial planner and income tax professional at Objective Financial Partners.

For families with more than one child, he said, it can make more economical sense to hire a nanny.

The hourly rate for a nanny typically ranges from $15 to $20, but more experienced employees often charge up to $25 per hour, says Jayne Wigfield, founder of boutique agency Nooks and Nannies in Vancouver. That adds up to $52,000 per year, before contributions to the Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance.

Hiring a nanny makes you an employer, which means you must deduct and remit to the Canada Revenue Agency the nanny's contributions to CPP and EI, as well as paying employer contributions. CPP and EI contributions for a full-time nanny making $15 per hour would cost you about $200 per month, on top of premiums to the provincial workers' compensation board.

"If something happens with a knife in the kitchen, if they fall down some stairs  if you don't have that coverage, you could be in big trouble," said Jamie Golombek, managing director of tax and estate planning with CIBC in Toronto. "It's not very expensive, but you still have to pay it."

Peter Guay, a portfolio manager and financial planner with PWL Capital in Montreal, says it's important to begin by setting out clear expectations about what the job will entail  vacation time, work hours and daily tasks, for example.

"Will they be able to drive the kids to school or not, will they cook  can they cook?"

As the father of three children under six, Guay has mulled the nanny option.

"This is somebody you're leaving your children with, this is somebody who is almost a part of the family," he said. "So the more transparent, open, up-front you can be...the better you set the stage for a successful relationship going forward."

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Transparency with the government is also essential, Golombek says.

"You really want to be above board on this. Some people are paying cash to their nannies and they're not reporting it, and that's very dangerous." Under-the-table employment risks penalties and interest on back taxes for both parties and it could also jeopardize your own job if you're found to have defrauded the government, he said.

Nanny agencies and individual accountants can handle payroll and tax services for a fee of roughly $60 per month, Guay said.

Whether you're opting for daycare or a nanny, you can deduct up to $8,000 in childcare costs from the lower income earner in your household for every child age six or younger, and up to $5,000 for children between seven and 16.

In Quebec you can reclaim even more through a refundable tax credit, which gives back between 26 per cent and 75 per cent of childcare spending (depending on income). The higher the household income  $160,000 is the threshold  the lower the percentage.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 9, 2020.
Indonesia traditionally corned around two-third of Indias palm oil imports, but a lower duty on refined palm oil helped Malaysia to overtake Indonesia as Indias biggest supplier in 2019.

The government imposed restrictions on imports of refined palm oil and palmolein on Wednesday, a move sources said was retaliation against top supplier Malaysia after its criticism of Indias actions in Kashmir and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), a new citizenship law.

According to a notification of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), "import policy" is amended from "free to restricted" for refined bleached deodorised palm oil and refined bleached deodorised palmolein, a PTI report said.

On 20 December last year, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad had reportedly said, "I am sorry to see that India, which claims to be a secular state, is now taking action to deprive some Muslims of their citizenship".

"If we do that here, you know what will happen. There will be chaos, there will be instability and everyone will suffer," he had said.

Earlier, Mahathir had said in the UN General Assembly that India had "invaded and occupied" Kashmir, PTI said.

Palmolien in restricted category

Putting the commodity in a restricted category means an importer will require licence or permission for the inbound shipment.

India, the world's largest importer of vegetable oils, buys nearly 15 million tonnes annually. Of this, palm oil comprises 9 million tonnes and the rest 6 million tonnes of soybean and sunflower oil.

Indonesia and Malaysia are the two countries that supply palm oil.

Malaysia produces 19 million tonnes of palm oil in a year, while Indonesia produces 43 million tonnes, the trade data showed.

Four industry sources told Reuters that the memo was an effective ban on imports of refined palm oil, meaning India can now only import crude palm oil. It will hit Malaysia, the main supplier to India of refined palm oil and palmolein, but is likely to help Indonesia, the biggest exporter of crude palm oil.

Palm oil accounts for nearly two-thirds of Indias total edible oil imports. The country buys more than 9 million tonnes of palm oil annually, mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia. Indonesia is the worlds biggest producer of palm oil, followed by Malaysia.

According to an industry source, the government has advised importers not to buy palm oil from Malaysia.

"We import 30 percent of the palm oils from Malaysia, while 70 percent from Indonesia. Our refiners can import from Indonesia which produces much higher than Malaysia," the source told PTI.

There would not be any extra cost on imports from Indonesia as the product and price are the same, the source added.

Palmolein is a liquid form of palm oil used in cooking.

The decision to restrict all imports of refined palm oil is also likely to boost business for Indian refiners of the vegetable oil.

Indian crude palm oil, soy oil soybean and rapeseed prices jumped after the announcement.

Move to punish Malaysia, help local refiners

This move in a way will punish Malaysia and will help local refiners as well, a Mumbai-based refiner, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry did not respond to a request for further information, Reuters said. Malaysias Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok, who is responsible for the palm oil industry, declined to comment.

Malaysia is in a lose-lose situation with this ruling, said Sathia Varqa owner and co-founder of Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics, adding India will ramp up buying of CPO from Indonesia.

Indonesia traditionally corned around two-third of Indias palm oil imports, but a lower duty on refined palm oil helped Malaysia to overtake Indonesia as Indias biggest supplier in 2019.

Palm oil is crucial for the Malaysian economy as it accounts for 2.8 percent of gross domestic product and 4.5 percent of total exports. State-owned and private Malaysian refineries will likely have to scramble to find new buyers for their refined products.

Indian refiners need the boost as refining activity in the country has been hit in the past year by imports of cheaper refined palm oil, said BV Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors Association (SEA), a Mumbai-based trade body.

Indian refiners were struggling for survival ... The ban on refined palm oil imports will help refiners, local farmers and help in creating new jobs, Mehta said.

Commenting on the DGFT's notification, the SEA said the decision will go a long way in supporting the domestic refining industry by value addition within the country.

It will help in improving capacity utilisation of the domestic industry, it said in a statement.
Tougher emissions reduction targets will put pressure on Victoria's brown coal -fired electricity generators. Credit:Paul Jones

Victorias state Labor government will sign off on deep new emission cut targets by the end of Australias horror bushfire summer, with potential reductions of up to 40 per cent likely to put pressure on the states ageing coal-fired power plants.

In a move that will expand the gap between Victorian and federal climate policy aims, the state government has confirmed it will comply with its obligations under its own Climate Change Act and impose emissions cuts targets of no less than 20 per cent by March 31.

The states main advisor on its interim emissions targets, former federal Labor politician Greg Combet, says the severity and the extent of the bushfires has sharpened the national focus on climate change and called on some politicians to stop denying the science.
President Muhammadu Buhari has yet again overruled the Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, over key decisions made in agencies under the ministrys supervision.

On Thursday, the president reversed the suspension of Marilyn Amobi, the embattled Managing Director of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company Limited (NBET).

PREMIUM TIMES understands that the agency has also been moved from the ministry of power to the ministry of finance.

Emmanuel Bello, spokesperson to the power minister, confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES Thursday afternoon.

Background

Last December, PREMIUM TIMES reported how Ms Amobi was suspended.

The Christmas eve suspension order was issued by the Minister of Power, Mr Mamman, who directed Ms Amobi to hand over to the most senior director in the organization.

The minister was quoted as saying that the order for the MD to step down was in continuation of the governments effort to reorganise and sanitise the Federal Ministry of Power and its affiliate agencies.

The reorganization exercise is one of the steps by the minister to remove all factors militating against the smooth operation of the power sector to deliver the objective set by the government.

READ ALSO:

Ms Amobi was the second electricity chief to be suspended within same period.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported the suspension of the Managing Director of Rural Electrification Agency, Damilola Ogunbiyi over perceived infractions in the agency.

Reversals

On Thursday, Mr Buhari ordered the reversal of Ms Amobis suspension, with stakeholders expressing concerns over the decision to move the agency to the finance ministry.

The president had earlier ordered the reversal of the suspension of the immediate past Managing Director of Rural Electrification Agency, Mrs Ogunbiyi.

Mr Buhari ordered the reversal of the suspension on Tuesday, in clear overrule of an earlier directive given by Mr Mamman.

Mrs Ogunbiyi has since joined the United Nations.

Nigerians React

Veteran journalist, Kadaria Ahmed, in her reaction noted that the ministers position has become untenable, calling on him to resign. Surely the position of the Min of @PowerMinNigeria is now untenable and he should resign, she tweeted.

Another user, @Kas_Nwuke, noted that The Power Minister has no more authority or control over the recalled staff member. If the Power Minister has any integrity or sense of self-worth, he will resign his appointment.

Jude Ekwedike, another twitter user, alleged that the minister is not mature to lead the ministry and should be sacked. I have called for him to be sacked, he wrote on Twitter. He goes after Fashola, he goes after everyone. He is not mature to lead a Federal Ministry and must be sacked immediately. He is an embarrassment to the administration.
A spaniel named Josie is helping to save Irelands bacon by sniffing out illegal imports of pigmeat at Dublin Airport.

The dog, which features on Ear to the Ground tonight, is helping the Department of Agriculture guard against the rampant African swine fever, which has killed 200m pigs in China this year.

Rashers, sausages, and pudding are the traditional staples of the full Irish breakfast, but they would be off the shelves if the disease  which has spread to 10 Asian countries and 14 European countries  hits Ireland.

The virus is harmless to humans but is fatal to pigs and could be carried into the country in something as innocuous as a ham sandwich.

RTEs flagship farming series reveals a spaniel called Josie employed by customs officials at Dublin Airport is on the frontline of Irelands biosecurity strategy to sniff out pig meat in passenger luggage.

Our biggest concern would be people bringing back infected meat from abroad, said June Fanning from the National Disease Control Centre at the Department of Agriculture.

We would encourage people not to bring pork or pork products from areas affected with the disease.

[The disease] does survive for a very long time, months and months, in even cured products like salami and sausages and can survive for years in frozen products.

She said it could put thousands of pigs at risk of suffering a very painful death.

Ear to the Ground reveals record prices due to the worldwide bacon shortage mean the countrys farmers are on the pigs back if we manage to keep the highly contagious swine fever at bay.

The cameras show the stringent security measures carried out in McAuliffes pig farm in Castleisland, Co Kerry, which produces 50,000 pigs a year.

Visitors have to take a full shower, change their clothes, and have frequent foot baths to protect from possible germs.

The show reveals the 400 pig farms around the country produce a staggering 3m pigs a year.

Pig farmer Shane McAuliffe said the bio-security measures extend to every part of the business.

We have our own transport company and we look after our manure, our feed delivery, and the transport of our pigs so it means that no other trucks come into our farm.

We know the risk of African swine fever coming into a commercial pig farm in Ireland like this one here is very unlikely, but if it got into the country through a pet pig or backyard pig, it means our entire country is closed down to pig meat exports.

"We would lose our market and we would close down tomorrow morning.

But so far the global pig shortage has resulted in record pork prices with the meat fetching 2 a kilo which is an increase of a third from around 1.50 a kilo at the start of the year.

Farmers who were barely breaking even in recent years can now see a highly profitable future.

Over 500m pigs have been culled in China so there is not enough pork in the world to feed the Chinese demand, said Joe OConnor, commercial director of Truly Irish.

Mr OConnor added: The price cycle will continue for a long time, for at least five years, because there is no vaccine for the disease and it will be a long time until the Chinese re-stock.

Ear to the Ground will be shown on RTE One tonight at 7pm.
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) on Thursday asked the administration of the union territory to let the mainstream political parties and its leaders carry out "usual" activities.

The JKPCC questioned the efforts of the administration to facilitate only the leaders of the ruling party at the centre or a chosen few on a selective basis, to carry out their activities.

"We ask the government to allow the established mainstream parties and their leaders to carry out the usual political activities to have a meaningful and credible political process in Jammu and Kashmir," the JKPCC said in a statement here.

Those from the ruling party are adopting all methods of allurements to influence other valley based mainstream leaders which is a cause of concern, it said.

JKPCC chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said security of the leaders belonging to established political parties must be ensured by the administration.

Mainstream leaders are either detained or their security cover has been withdrawn or downgraded... They are not being allowed to carry out party activities, Sharma alleged.

People are wise enough to see through the intentions and efforts behind the political manoeuvrings with the patronage of the administration. They will not get carried away by any political process unless it is meaningful and credible, the JKPCC said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Repurpose Your Christmas Tree to Grow Food, and More!

With the Christmas season officially over, many of us will be disposing of our living Christmas trees. While most municipalities will repurpose your Christmas tree for you by chipping them into mulch; you may like to consider other options for extending the life of your tree. Wildlife habitat Evergreen trees
The United States believes that Iran mistakenly shot down the Ukrainian airliner in which 176 people were killed, CNN reported on Thursday citing several officials.

President Donald Trump has indicated the plane crash was not due to mechanical issues, adding that "somebody could have made a mistake on the other side."

"Well, I have my suspicions," said Trump when asked what he thought happened to the plane.

"I don't want to say that because other people have their suspicions," Trump said, but added, "Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side ... not our system. It has nothing to do with us."

The Boeing 737 jet operated by Ukraine International Airlines took off early Wednesday from Tehran for Ukrainian capital Kiev. Minutes after taking off it disappeared from radar.

Eighty-two Iranians, 63 Canadians, and 11 Ukrainians died in the crash, which took place between the cities of Parand and Shahriar.

There were also 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three British nationals among the victims.

Early that day, Iran had launched strikes at US targets in Baghdad in retaliation to the killing of Iranian military leader General Qassem Soleimani.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has opened an investigation to find out the cause of the crash. The country's officials said they are looking into multiple causes for the crash including the missile strike or terrorism.

Sweden has also joined the crash investigation on Thursday. Sweden Minister of Foreign Affairs Anne Linde told CNN that nothing was ruled out concerning the causes of the plane crash.

The UK is looking into "very concerning" reports about the Iran plane crash, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, European security officials said they believe that reports suggesting that the Ukrainian airliner was shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile in error are credible.

Ali Abedzadeh, the chief of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, wrote in a preliminary report on the crash that both of the plane's black boxes have been damaged, with physical damage visible.

"Both devices have been damaged by fire and the accident. There is the memory parts in both devices, however, physical damage is visible on them," the report wrote.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
P rime Minister Boris Johnson faces make your mind up time on Heathrows third runway after the airport confirmed it will seek a final go-ahead later this year and is confident of meeting climate change targets in full.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps will begin making a decision later this year on whether to grant a Development Consent Order, the final hurdle in the way of enlarging Europes busiest airport.

The decision-making process will take up to 18 months, the Transport Department said.The Cabinet Minister must be satisfied the scheme meets commitments on air quality, noise mitigation and does not adversely affect UK climate change targets.

If it fails the tests, the project will be stopped in its tracks. In a statement to the Standard, Heathrow said its plans actually went further and will ensure that all growth from an expanded Heathrow is entirely carbon neutral.

Heathrow Airport / PA Wire/PA Images

But Labours shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said the decision was a test of the Governments commitment to green policies.

This is make your mind up time for this Government, he said.

Grant Shapps has to decide if he is serious about tackling climate change or not. Does anyone really think it is the right time to increase emissions into the atmosphere?

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald / PA Archive/PA Images

The Prime Minister, who once pledged to lie down in front of the bulldozers to prevent a third runway, has answered questions on Heathrow by saying the green tests are paramount.

Mr Johnson opposed the project strongly as Mayor of London but flew to Afghanistan when MPs granted outline permission in 2018, avoiding a Commons vote.

No 10 last night doused media speculation that Mr Johnson could axe the scheme as part of a Cabinet review of sacred cows and wasteful spending. A spokesman said Heathrow expansion involved no public spending.

The Department for Transport said Mr Shapps would act in a quasi-judicial capacity.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps / Getty Images

Among the requirements that Mr Shapps will consider are that the runway will not downgrade the Governments ability to meet carbon targets and that Heathrow will meet a commitment to move thousands of passengers and visitors out of the cars and onto trains and buses.

Expansion must not raise noise pollution or worsen air quality.

A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: When submitting their application for development consent, any applicant will have to take account of whatever carbon reduction targets the Government has in place at the time.

Heathrow is already Europes busiest airport, with almost 476,000 flights and more than 80 million passengers last year.

The 14 billion expansion plan would ease delays and boost capacity to 756,000 flights a year and 142 million passengers.

A spokesperson for the airport said: We will be relentless in ensuring it meets those targets, securing more trade and a world-class, sustainable airport for the UK.

The runway opening date was pushed back on Tuesday when the Civil Aviation Authority expressed concern that up-front costs could be passed to passengers.
The NC leader claimed that Mr. Bukhari and others in the group will not succeed in their nefarious design.

Srinagar: National Conference leader Muhammad Akbar Lone has ruled out possibility of its taking part in any election unless and until its statehood and special status it enjoyed under Article 370 of the Constitution prior to August 5 are restored fully. It also reiterated the demand of unconditional release of its leadership and other political detainees. Theres no question of our participating in any election unless and until J&Ks statehood and Article 370 are restored, said senior party leader and former Speaker of the J&K Asse-mbly Muhammad Akbar Lone on Wednesday.

However late Wednesday evening, the NC distanced itself from Mr Lones statement that the party will not participate in the proposed Assembly elections of the UT. An NC spokesman said that the party has yet to take a decision on this issue as its top leadership, including president Farooq Abdullah and vice-president Omar Abdullah, continues to be under detention.

His assertions comes a day after a delegation of eight former legislators met lieutenant-governor Girish Chandra Murmu in Jammu to put forth a long list of demands, including restoration of J&Ks statehood, safeguarding rights over land and jobs and release of political detainees.

The delegation was led by former minister Syed Altaf Bukhari who is known to be very close to the corridors of power in Delhi and has been in the forefront of supplementing the governments covert effort to encourage mainstream politicians, including former ministers and legislators to rally around the proposed front in prelude to breaking the political stalemate which persists in J&K since August 5 when it was stripped of its special status.

But Mr Lone, who is also a sitting member of the LoK Sabha representing Baramulla constituency, termed Mr Bukhari and others as a bunch of people which has sold out to Delhi.

He said, These are the very people who have sold out and the latest in the flock used by India against the people of Jammu and Kashmir and their interests from time to time. This is the use and throw policy pursued by New Delhi right from 1947.

The NC leader claimed that Mr. Bukhari and others in the group will not succeed in their nefarious design. He asked, Do you think these people will be able to establish a useful dispensation? Never! The BJP guys can still go to the people with whatever agenda they have but not these people who have already lost their face and have no standing whatsoever in public. People have rejected them before and will reject them again.

He added that among these people are some of those who were part of the group which had conspired with the Congress to topple Dr. Farooq Abdullahs government in 1984. But the government they formed together did not last for long. They may try to repeat the history but I want to assure you that all of us in the NC are consistent in their political outlook and, by the grace of God, will not betray the interests of the party or the people. No one from among us is going to join them, he said.

Meanwhile, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday once again demanded immediate restoration of the political activities in J&K and said that the vision envisaged by its founder and former chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed will act as a guiding principle for the partys future strategy.

While paying tribute to Mr. Sayeed on his fourth death anniversary, the PDP said that he took a series of confidence-building measures and made strenuous efforts in making peace an inseparable feature of J&K.
Suspected vandals on Thursday burned a wooden statue of US President Donald Trump built last year by a group of villagers to criticise populist politics, local authorities said.

The eight-metre-high (26 feet) statue of Trump complete with his trademark mane, blue suit, white shirt and red tie was built last August. It was named "statue of liberty" by architect Tomaz Schlegl who wanted it to serve as a criticism of populist politics.

Initially installed in the Sela pri Kamniku village, 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of the capital Ljubljana, the statue was moved in December to the nearby town of Moravce after protests by villagers annoyed at the increase of tourists wanting to see it.

But shortly after its arrival to Moravce, vandals damaged the statue by drawing a moustache on its face in a clear reference to Adolf Hitler.

Early Thursday, firefighters rushed to extinguish the blaze that completely destroyed the statue. Police are expected to launch an investigation, according to Moravce mayor Milan Balazic.

"This is an attack against art and tolerance ... against Europe's fundamental values," Balazic told AFP, adding many tourists had come to see the statue since it was installed last month.

Balazic had paid 1,500 euros (USD 1,700) for moving the statue to Moravce, seeing it as an opportunity to promote his small town.

Architect Schlegl said he saw the suspected arson as an act against Trump given recent escalation of tensions after the US ordered a deadly strike against an Iranian general.

"I believe these attacks are understandable bearing in mind what's happening in the world," Schlegl told AFP.

Slovenia, a member of NATO since 2004, announced Wednesday that it was evacuating its six soldiers deployed in Iraq as part of the alliance's training mission following Iran's retaliatory attacks against US troops.

Balazic said he planned to install a new sculpture, calling it the "tolerance statue" though this time it would be made of more durable material -- rather than wood -- and it would not depict the US president.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
It all started with a reaction to the presence of former Prime Minister Fuad Siniora at a Christmas concert at AUB, when he was booed by the public and had to leave the premises. Then it was the turn of former deputy Ahmad Fatfat, who was giving a political lecture in a closed door meeting in Tripoli. He was driven out by demonstrators who arrived and began shouting slogans against the political ruling class. On Sunday evening, Elie Ferzli, Deputy Speaker of the House, paid the price of the unexpected arrival of a group of protesters at a restaurant in Gemmayzeh, where he was having dinner. He also had to leave in the face of loud booing. Amateur videos of the three different incidents went viral on social media, and became hot topics. Have all politicians become persona non grata in the public and social arena since the October 17 uprising? How much are these notorious public figures going to be affected by these repeated demonstrations of public disapproval?

Asked by L'Orient-Le Jour about this incident Mr. Ferzli replied: "Is the aggression limited to politicians? How about the ones that all the citizens are being subjected to, such as road closures, burning of tires, vandalizing banks, etc.?"

The MP said the protestors who booed him in the restaurant in Gemmayzeh did not address me directly. They were shouting Revolution, and chanting the slogan All of them means all of them. What worried me and pushed me to leave -I had finished dinner by then-, was the anger of the other customers. One of them, whom I didnt know, stood up and threatened to throw a plate at the groups leader."

Ferzli says that he fully understands the demands and motivations behind "the early days of the revolution; the one that was expressing the rightful demands that we all agreed on and acknowledged as our own." But for him, "these acts have nothing to do with these demands, and it should not get to the point of insults that undermine dignity". He says he is convinced that "soon these acts will be not be permitted", without revealing how they will be stopped, or punished. He refuses to file a complaint, even though he "knows the identity of those who pushed this group to go to the restaurant", he says.

He does not consider these actions to be a sign of discontent with the political class, which continues to procrastinate by delaying the formation of a government. "Violence is not the proper method to express these grievances. We must stick to the law and suitable argument", he says. We, more than everyone else, want a government. And our political bloc (A Strong Lebanon, of which the Free Patriotic Movement is the main component) has even asked for the revitalization of the caretaker government (for current affairs). But I am scared for the country and for the street protests because of the potential chaos. The revolt has also succeeded in creating a pressure to support all the claims. For my part, I can differentiate between the claims that I fully support, and the actions that can harm the protestors. From now on, will he be worried about showing his face in public? "I have been the target of three assassination attempts in my life, and that did not scare me", he says.





"The revolution was celebrated and admired because of its civilized nature "

MP Eddy Maaluf (FPM, Metn), who was asked by LOLJ to comment on these incidents, said that he "did not feel that this was a general trend". "I personally often go out in public, and I have had no issues with it", he said. If today I am showing some restraint, it is either in order to control expenses that have become problematic with the financial situation, or in order to be respectful of the plight of everyone around me."

Maaluf does not believe that attacking a politician who is dining at a restaurant is justifiable, or even speaking about politics during a round table. "On the one hand, I denounce the concept of generalization", he says. We cannot put all politicians in the same basket and label them as corrupt. But on the other hand, I am worried that such actions will escalate. What will happen if one singled out person decides to react violently?"

Does he recognize that the population is discontent and fed up with the procrastination of the people in power? "This is exactly what we must denounce, and I can understand the exasperation", he said. What I cannot really comprehend however, are the miscalculated actions."

For his part, Fadi Saad, MP of Batrun and member of the Lebanese Forces bloc -a party which resigned from the government as soon as the uprising broke out-, clearly condemns the insulting of politicians in public places. "This revolt was celebrated around the world for its civilized nature", he says. Such actions are not up to par with this uprising, the same way as burning out ATM machines are an assault on private property. Such actions do not serve the cause of the revolutionaries, and I urge them to not endorse them. We fully understand their frustration, but revolutions require endurance", he says.

The MP is not worried about his own safety, he claims. What worries him however, is the scope of such actions. "Why attack an MP who is eating at a restaurant? he says disapprovingly. Do protesters want MPs to resign? We are not for the disintegration of institutions. If the revolutionaries want the reforming of the political class, then it would better to call for early elections."





"Who are they to lecture us on ethics?"

Do the activists believe that insulting and offending politicians in public spaces is legitimate? Camille Mourani, one of the early activists, says that "these actions are purely spontaneous, and that nothing has ever been pre-arranged. The fact remains that these actions are worthwhile and useful," he added. All the politicians who have ruined the country must know that they are no longer welcome, and they need to feel the hatred that people harbor towards them. They still do not understand that were in a whole new phase. Proof of this is the refusal of a number of political figures to take on ministerial posts."

Camille Mourani wonders why insulting politicians is considered unacceptable, while crimes such as stealing public funds go unpunished. "Are any of these politicians in a position to lecture us on ethics? he says. If you look closely at what is happening around the world, you will realize that our revolution has remained very polite and peaceful."

The activist rejects the comparison between the reactions against politicians, and the attacks against banks for example, which he does not endorse, and which have weakened in intensity. "I can understand the rage of these people, but such actions are not useful. On the one hand, because the banks employees have nothing to do with the current situation, and on the other hand, because the banks are looking for any excuse to close down, he said. In my opinion, these actions need to be channeled towards more meaningful targets like protests outside the Association of Banks, for example, or the demand for a capital control law, which will end discretionary decisions against depositors."





(This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour on the 9th of January)




By James Davey

LONDON (Reuters) - Higher food waste and weak sales of menswear and gifts tarnished Marks & Spencer's (M&S) Christmas performance, hammering the British retailer's shares and raising more questions about its latest turnaround attempt.

M&S said on Thursday that while sales volumes in food increased, it also experienced higher waste levels. Menswear sales suffered because it over-bought skinny and slim styles in its contemporary ranges, under-bought more classic fits, and also had too many small sizes and not enough medium and large ones.

The group said its gifting performance was hit by "unprecedented discounting" in the UK clothing market between Black Friday and Christmas.

These "disappointing one-off issues", as M&S described them, overshadowed the group reporting a rise in quarterly underlying sales for its overall UK business for the first time since 2017.

Shares in the 136-year-old company, one of the best known names in UK retail, were down 9% at 1049 GMT, extending losses over the last year to 25%. Last September M&S lost its place in the prestigious FTSE 100 index, symbolising its decline amid competition from fast-fashion and online rivals.

After over a decade of false dawns, M&S set out on its latest transformation plan shortly after retail veteran Archie Norman became chairman in 2017 to work alongside CEO Steve Rowe, who has been with the firm for 30 years and became boss in 2016.

The retailer has been closing weak stores, revamping ranges, investing in technology, and last year struck a 1.5 billion pound ($2 billion) deal with online grocer Ocado to give it a home delivery service for food from this September.

M&S's overall UK like-for-like sales increased 0.2% in the 13 weeks to Dec. 28, its fiscal third quarter.

Like-for-like food sales rose 1.4%, ahead of analysts' average forecast for a 1.1% increase. Clothing and home sales on the same basis fell 1.7%, below the mean forecast for a 0.8% decline, but much better than the previous quarter's 5.7% fall.

"As we drive a faster pace of change, disappointing one-off issues - notably waste and supply chain in the food business, the shape of buy in menswear and performance in our gifting categories - held us back from delivering a stronger result," said Rowe.

Story continues

DIRECT CONTROL

Last July, Rowe took direct control of the clothing business, sacking the division's boss, Jill McDonald, after publicly criticising chronic product availability.

"How many one-off issues can you have?," asked one former M&S director. "Last year it was 'jeansgate', then availability generally, now it's food waste," he added, referring in part to shortage of stock in 2019 for a popular jeans range.

Last month M&S hired Richard Price, the CEO of Tesco's F&F Clothing business, to lead its clothing division but is yet to say when he will start.

Rowe said the firm had delivered an improved performance in the quarter across both main businesses.

He said the food business had continued to outperform the market, while clothing and home had a strong start to the quarter, albeit this was followed by a challenging trading environment in the lead up to Christmas. Underlying sales of womenswear were positive in the quarter.

Separately on Thursday, industry data showed British shoppers cut back on spending in late 2019, rounding off the worst year since at least the mid-1990s.

M&S said its full-year financial expectations were unchanged, although gross margins were expected to be around the lower end of guidance, largely offset by cost reductions.

Prior to the update, analysts were on average forecasting a fiscal 2019-20 pretax profit of 464 million pounds, which would be a fourth straight year of decline. A decade ago, M&S made a profit of 1 billion pounds.

"With limited evidence of major improvement in market share trends, despite potential macro tailwinds ahead, we stay agnostic on the fundamental recovery potential for the business," said analysts at Jefferies.

($1 = 0.7630 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Kate Holton and Mark Potter)
France, Greece, Egypt and Cyprus have condemned deals signed between Turkey and Libyas United Nations-recognised government assigning Ankara rights over a vast area of the eastern Mediterranean.

A statement issued on Wednesday by the foreign ministers of the four countries, after a meeting in Cairo, declared the agreements null and void and said they undermined regional stability.

Their Italian counterpart, who also took part in the meeting in Egypts capital, did not sign the statement.

The two agreements denounced by the four Mediterranean states are a military pact and a maritime deal, signed in late November by the head of Libyas Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez al-Sarraj, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Libya was plunged into chaos after the toppling and killing of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in a 2011 NATO-backed uprising. In recent years the country has had two governments  the GNA, based in the capital, Tripoli, and a rival administration based in the east.

Ankara is a key ally of the GNA in its fight against renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar, whose forces are aligned with the eastern administration and are backed by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Ankara says the maritime deal aims to protect its rights under international law, and that it is open to signing similar deals with other states on the basis of fair sharing of resources.

Erdogan said recently that Turkey and Libya could carry out joint exploration operations in the eastern Mediterranean as per the agreement that awards Turkey exploration rights in a gas-rich area of the Mediterranean, where Greece, Cyprus and Egypt also have interests.

He added that the two sides could work with international companies to search for oil and gas.

But tensions are already running high between the three and Turkey, because of Turkish gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean off the coast of the island of Cyprus, which is divided between an internationally-recognised government in the south and a rival leadership in the north, recognised only by Ankara.

Turkish activities illegal

The maritime agreement infringes upon the sovereign rights of third states, does not comply with the law of the sea and does not have legal enforceability, the French, Egyptian, Greek and Cypriot ministers said in their statement.

The ministers reiterated the necessity of full respect of the sovereignty and the sovereign rights of all states in their maritime zones in the Mediterranean.

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They condemned Turkeys drilling in the exclusive economic zone and territorial waters off Cyprus, calling on Ankara to immediately cease all illegal exploration activities.

Tensions escalated in Libya in April last year when Haftar launched an offensive to capture Tripoli.

Erdogan also said earlier this week that his country began deploying troops in a non-fighting capacity to Libya to back the GNA in line with the military agreement signed between Ankara and al-Sarrajs government.

He said Turkeys objective was not to fight, but to support the legitimate government and avoid a humanitarian tragedy.
I was pretty sure that was Erik Prince  the founder of the infamous private security company Blackwater  sitting next to me in the Dubai airport before my flight to Kabul, Afghanistan in September 2018. Then I saw him take out a copy of his own book, Civilian Warrior.

Mr. Prince, I said. What are you doing in Kabul? Far as I knew, governments in the Middle East had disavowed the man behind the Nisour Square Massacre in Iraq, where his employees killed 17 unarmed Iraqis.

As a bus brought us across the tarmac to the plane, he explained to me his solution to exit the Afghan war, which he would be promoting on local television in Kabul. He wanted to swap out most American troops for private contractors who would be better suited to hand control of Afghanistan back to its people.

SHOW OF FORCE

This is an ongoing series of reports about G4S, the worlds largest private security force, which provides guards for thousands of private businesses and government agencies across the nation. Reporters at USA TODAY and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel spent more than a year gathering records and interviewing current and former employees, as well as those impacted by violence associated with G4S guards.

Eisenhower was right about the military-industrial complex, Prince explained.

I did not tell him I was heading to Afghanistan to report on a private security contractor whose employees were at the center of a catastrophe 10 years earlier.

In August 2008, American special operation forces called in an airstrike on their own security detail in the remote village of Azizabad. Dozens of children died in the rubble. ArmorGroup, a subsidiary of private security giant G4S, played a largely unknown role in the botched raid.

READ THE FULL STORY: Inside the U.S. military's raid against its own security guards that left dozens of Afghan children dead

I had first learned of the disaster after finding G4S mentioned in a footnote of a 2010 Senate inquiry. I convinced my editors we needed to go to Afghanistan to find those involved and collect documents we could never get from the outside.

Story continues

My plan was to spend two weeks in the country: 10 days in the western province of Herat, where the raid took place, and four days in Kabul, where I would interview the big fish, as my fixer, Aleem Agha, called government officials in the capital. I had hired Aleem to help set up interviews, translate, find places to sleep, and keep me from getting into too much trouble.

We traveled light and kept a low profile. In an effort to blend in as much as possible, I grew a beard and wore a scarf and some traditional pants that Aleem gave me.

Brett Murphy, in Afghanistan

I packed 15 notebooks; three thumb drives, two hard drives; a diary; sketchbook; journalism visa; Afghan media credentials; camera; laptop; recorder; burner phone; satellite phone; about $4,000 in American cash (I had wired myself other deposits to pick up as I went); fanny packs to hide the cash; a first aid kit; malaria pills; headache pills; and diarrhea pills. (I was told to prepare for gastronomical disagreements.)

I brought letters from my editor promising any would-be kidnappers or overzealous government bureaucrats I was, in fact, a journalist and not a spy. I also brought my certification from the hostile environment training course Id taken, apparently in case I needed to prove to anyone I knew how to tie a tourniquet.

I carried around dossiers on the people I wanted to interview and the documents I wanted to get from government officials and NGOs who investigated the raid.

Within the first few hours of arriving, I learned that facts are elusive in Afghanistan, especially years later. Afghans are endlessly hospitable. But stories and rumors are often considered fact and then solidified over time.

So the goal was to speak with first-hand witnesses. Then I would look for anything that could substantiate what I learned: diary entries, photographs, police reports, and medical records.

Kabul was particularly tense when I arrived. Parliamentary elections were coming up. The Taliban had assassinated several candidates and blown up campaign offices. Those running for office plaster advertisements  think law firm billboards but without the smiles  on every empty inch of street poles and walls.

In Kabul, the concrete blast walls and barbed wire create a labyrinth around the city. Cafes are in compounds and government buildings are behind fortresses. The Ring of Steel downtown is a traffic circle of checkpoints where Afghan National Army and police officers stop and search cars.

USAT reporter Brett Murphy sketched some of the people and places he encountered in Afghanistan, along with scenes from photos taken after the Azizabad raid. The airstrike ended with a 500-pound bomb dropped on the compound of a warlord on the ArmorGroup payroll. Dozens of children died. Gul Rukh was paralyzed from the waist down and lost her four children and both parents.

The thing is the walls, Aleem told me as we drove. We never used to have these walls.

He seemed to know at least one police officer at every checkpoint who waved us through.

We had tried for days to get a meeting at the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. The director wasnt taking my calls and had stopped responding to emails. So Aleem and I went to the compounds front gate, which was fortified with a spiked barrier so that a car couldnt ram inside. The gates opened after about 30 minutes.

We spent the afternoon talking to different officials and drinking all their tea. Our day ended with a two-hour negotiation in a small office.

Since the air strike, Azizabad has hollowed out. The few families that remain are guarded by local militia. The Taliban controls or contests most of the area.

A researcher was nervous about handing over investigators evidence from 2008: mostly videos and pictures from the village that had been reduced to rubble during the airstrike.

Some of those who work in or near government, I found, are skittish about discussing Americas mistakes with westerners. Now 19 years into the war, Afghanistans economy and, according to some officials, its existential future rely on the West.

I looked over his shoulder as he scrolled through each file and dragged them onto my thumb drive.

Because its the right thing to do, his boss told me before we left.

On the third day, we took a small plane to Herat, one of the worlds oldest Silk Road cities, on the western edge of the country, near the Iranian border.

The city is built around a towering blue mosque and old town trading market, where I bought Afghan rugs and saffron on one of our off days.

Herat smells like gasoline and yeast. Every block, someone is hanging bread for sale. Out of storefronts, garages and repurposed shipping containers, merchants sell everything from protein powder to car side mirrors. The barbershops have pictures of Justin Beiber. There is a KFC (Kabul Fried Chicken).

There are bakeries on almost every block in Herat, which stay open late into the night and sell out of windows.

There are few street lights in Herat. When the sun goes down, the city is lit by the neon and dangling fluorescent bulbs outside bakeries, butchers and open air markets, where fruit vendors announce their prices over megaphones until the morning call to prayer. Their carts are illuminated by a rainbow of lamps on top of garlic, dates, onions, chiles, eggplant, squash, and the best grapes Ive ever had.

During the day, we went to local government offices looking for investigators records from after the airstrike. Some of the buildings were hollowed out with broken glass in the lobby. Then, on the second or third floor, there was a man behind a desk. He would be the local minister of some obscure government agency, who would or wouldnt have what we were looking for.

Two Afghan children play with a kite on the outskirts of Herat, where infrastructure like paved roads become more rare.

At the local hospital, amputees, orphans and widows waited outside the directors office. One woman begged him for a referral in Kabul so she could have her breast cancer treated.

We sat with the director for about 20 minutes but his eyes were fixed on the security screens above the lobby. The hospital had been attacked by improvised explosive devices months earlier. The director, who ran the burn ward back in 2008, told us the hospital records from after the airstrike had been washed away in a flood a few years ago.

Most of our time in Herat was spent in cafes with villagers. Aleem said it would be impossible for us to travel to Azizabad, which was about 90 minutes to the South. So we arranged a local journalist and village elders to transport survivors north into Herat.

Beneath covered tents and over tea, we talked for hours about what they saw, heard and felt the night of the airstrike and the days and years since.

It wasnt until I was sitting with one of the village elders that I realized he was part of the family of warlords at the center of the raid 10 years earlier. He had helped set the narrative in the village. So it often took extra time in my interviews with other villagers to needle deeper into their actual experiences.

Gul Rukh now spends most of her days alone, laying down beneath blankets on the floor of her brothers house. She peels potatoes or strings together bracelets during the daylight hours.

Then there was Gul Rukh. Her parents and four young children died in the rubble. She was one of the only survivors. There are still five pieces of shrapnel embedded in her spine, and she cant feel anything below the waist.

She cant afford a wheelchair so her brothers had to carry her from the parking lot, through security and to the tent in a plastic lawn chair.

Once I told her the camera was recording, Rukhs story spilled out before I could ask a question.

On one of our last days back in Kabul, there was a downpour while we were driving from an interview with then-President Hamid Karzais chief of staff. The sewage backed up onto the streets. Shopkeepers and children tried sweeping the brackish water and trash away from their doors.

When we returned to the hotel, the power had gone out. The hotel seemed like a fortress, popular with visiting diplomats and journalists. But the security manager, a nice Scottish man, once told me that Taliban militia had snuck guns into the restaurant four years earlier and opened fire. Nine civilians died.

Afghans told me the security presence around the country  the soldiers, the police, the walls  is mostly theater, even in a place as seemingly safe as the hotel.

There are few street lights in Herat. The storefronts glow neon and fluorescent lights around the city.

Just before I went to bed, there was a knock on the door to my room.

Room service, someone said on the other side. I looked through the peephole and saw two guys in kitchen aprons. The power was kicking off and on again. They stood on either side of a cart carrying a silver dome platter. I told them I hadnt ordered anything.

I was one of maybe a dozen people staying at the hotel and, as far as I knew, the only person on this floor. The odds of them going to the wrong room were slim. They insisted I had ordered something and that I needed to open the door to let them in.

This situation was not covered in the hostile environment training. I armed myself with a ballpoint pen and cracked the door open, the chain still locked in place.

The two men lifted the silver dome. It was a cake. Happy Birthday Mr. Brett spelled out with frosting. Aleem had told the front desk it was my birthday.

Then the three of us sat on the end of the bed and ate slices of coconut creme cake.

Related Stories

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How we reported the deadly airstrike: A reporter's notebook from Afghanistan
Chinese state media reported today that scientists have identified the virus that is likely to have caused the pneumonia-like illness seen in dozens of people recently in the central city of Wuhan.

Image Credit: Kateryna Kon / Shutterstock.com

After identifying a new form of coronavirus (the family that Sars belongs to), scientists have now sequenced its genome, and fifteen people have tested positive for the virus.

The first cases were reported last week

The first cases of the illness were reported last week in Wuhan, and, on Sunday, neighboring Hong Kong announced more suspected cases as people returning from Wuhan were found to have fever and respiratory symptoms. In Wuhan, where almost 60 people were affected, the virus was linked to a seafood market, where wild animals, including pheasants and snakes, were also sold. The market has since been closed for disinfection.

The outbreak, which prompted authorities to quarantine affected individuals, led to online speculation about a resurgence of the Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus, which killed 349 people in mainland China and 299 in Hong Kong, following an outbreak in 2003.

However, Leo Poon, a virologist and Sars expert at the University of Hong Kong, said that since the unidentified virus had not yet caused any deaths, there was no reason to believe that the outbreak would become more serious.

Medical authorities in Wuhan also ruled out Sars, Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers), and avian influenza as possible causes of the outbreak and the Wuhan health bureau had said there was no evidence so far of human-to-human transmission.

The situation this week

Since these assurances, no deaths have been reported in Wuhan, and eight patients who were no longer showing symptoms of pneumonia were discharged from hospital by Wednesday. The Wuhan health authority also reports there is still no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

Now, a top official at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced to the state news agency Xinhua, that his research group has identified the pathogen as a new form of coronavirus and that fifteen patients in Wuhan have tested positive for the virus. Citing a task force of medical experts, state broadcaster China Central Television, also reported the discovery earlier today.

Xu Jianguo, director of the CDCs National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, says that now the cause of these unexplained cases of viral pneumonia has been identified as a new type of coronavirus, this initial finding needs to be followed up with further research.

A notable achievement

Experts have praised the rapid identification of the new strain of virus, but they agree that more research is needed to understand it.

Chinas World Health Organisation (WHO) representative for China, Gauden Galea, described the initial identification of the new coronavirus in such a short period of time as a notable achievement that would help authorities in other countries to detect and respond to outbreaks.

However, he called for more detailed information to understand what caused the outbreak and how it should be managed in the coming weeks: Further investigations are also required to determine the source, modes of transmission, extent of infection and countermeasures implemented.

About the coronavirus family

Coronaviruses cause varying degrees of illness, ranging from the common cold to the deadly Sars. Four of the six previously known human coronaviruses are common and only cause minor respiratory symptoms, but the other two (Sars and Mers) are more dangerous and have claimed hundreds of lives worldwide.

As well as infecting humans, coronaviruses can infect mammals such as cats, dogs, pigs, cattle, camels, bats, and mice. The WHO says that the Sars virus probably infected humans after jumping from animals.

Whats next?

Galea says the WHO is continuing to monitor the situation closely and will readily provide technical support to China to investigate and respond to the outbreak.

Respiratory medicine expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, David Hui Shu-Cheong, says a number of important details still needed to be established.
HEIDELBERG, Germany, January 09, 2020 / B3C newswire / -- After almost 25 years and more than 70 successful euroPLX Pharma Partnering Conferences which are attended by Business Development Executives from 86 countries worldwide, RauCon is now expanding this unique concept to Asia in order to better serve the companys Asian customers. The first of these events, asiaPLX 1 Singapore will be held on February 1 and 2, 2021, in the Swissotel The Stamford.

Singapore Airlines has agreed to support this premier conference as its Official Carrier, offering discounted airfares for confirmed registrants from most destinations.

Since this will be a limited attendance partnering conference, the first registrations have been coming in already. Registrations are effected online on www.raucon.com.

As a specialist in pharma business development, RauCon is the global pioneer of business-only partnering conferences: no lectures, no presentations, no keynotes, shows, stunts, or performances. Just business. In 1995 euroPLX has been a world first in the global scope as a business-only conference concept and is the worlds most often held pharma and biopharma partnering conference.

Contact

Dr. Norbert Rau

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

+49 6222 4262961

Keywords: Pharma Partnering, Conference, Business Development, Asia

Published by B3C newswire and shared through Newronic


"Paella Lovers United is excited to start our paella cook-off tradition in Port Aransas. After 17 years in Austin, TX, we are looking forward to bringing this Spanish-inspired event to the South of Texas," said Yeraldin Yordi, Paella Lovers United Event Coordinator. "The event began in 2003 as an intimate paella contest in a private backyard with just eight competing teams. Since that time, and with the help of scores of people, the event has grown exponentially to over 30 participating teams and a sell-out crowd of nearly 1,000 guests each year who travel from all over the world to attend. Our wish is to recreate the event in Port Aransas and create a paella lovin' community there!"

The Port Aransas/Mustang Island Tourism Bureau & Chamber of Commerce is delighted to partner with Paella Lovers United to bring this international, eco-friendly competition to the Coastal Bend. "As a national foodie destination, Port Aransas is the ideal location to hold the Paella Lovers festival," said Jeff Hentz, President and CEO of the Port Aransas/Mustang Island Tourism Bureau & Chamber of Commerce. "This event has been a tremendous success, and we're thrilled to be teaming up with this dynamic organization in bringing the event to Mustang Island."

Space is still available for competing teams. For more information and to register a team to compete, visit paellaloversunited.com.

For listings of island accommodations, restaurants, shopping and activities, visit visitportaransas.com.

Discover the original ISLAND LIFE destination  Port Aransas & Mustang Island.

Contact:

Joan Garland, 361-749-5919 ext. 811

SOURCE Port Aransas/Mustang Island Tourism Bureau & Chamber of Commerce

Related Links

http://portaransas.org


Our country is reminded of what history told her about the bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the World War II. On August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively, with the help of the United Kingdom as required by the Quebec Agreement, these two cities were destroyed by the United States, with atomic bombs made of uranium 235. Since then, it has remained the only use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict.

Between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, died from the two bombings in these cities. Moving forward, we will like to caution the government and people of Iran that the war they are in with the United States of America should be negotiated or abolished where necessary.

The world's greatest war is the war to have peace throughout the world and this is a war every nation should fight, not war against humanity, war against another nation, war to have the peace we all claim we're fighting for, war against our diplomatic missions and war against ourselves.

Moreover, we as citizens of Liberia will like to call on the two nations  United States and Iran, to initiate a peace talk or agreement in an effort to abort the rising tension in the Middle East, as war brings no benefit but to exploit the nations involved, damage natural resources, destroy infrastructures, leave citizens homeless, and undermine means of production.

Moving forward, our country and people are concerned about the actions of Iranian citizens in Iran towards our national representation  the Liberian flag, few days ago. The desecration of the Liberian flag by Iranian citizens and any other foreign nations is highly unacceptable today and any other day in our existence.

Taking the Liberian flag for the United States flag is dangerous and it poses very serious national and international catastrophe to the peace and security of Liberia as well as the mutual cooperation between Iran and Liberia.

We urge Iranians to carefully review both the flags of the United States and Liberia, while at the same time we don't encourage the burning of the United States flag neither the Iranian flag. Burning the Liberian flag for the United States flag is a missed calculation and threat of war against our state.

The Iranian nation needs to be reminded of this threatening action of her citizens against our African nation. Though the Liberian and American flags have eleven stripes of which six are red and five are white, and thirteen stripes of which seven are red and six are white respectively, the American flag has fifty stars and the Liberian flag has only one star.

They need to be very careful. Like other peaceful nations in Africa and around the world, Liberia under H.E. George Weah is a very peaceful nation that encourages developments and international relationship or cooperation as it stands in pursuit of one nation, one people, one destiny.

Seeing Iranian citizens falsifying the Liberian flag and burning it in public is a violation of our flag's protocol, a protest against our country's foreign policy, a protest against our national symbol, a symbolic insult to the government and people of Liberia.

Turning our flag upsidedown and lighting fire on it is vandalism and symbolic war against our nation. We condemn this act in the strongest term. We are therefore cautioning the government and people of Iran to put a stop to the desecration of the Liberian flag and abolish the threat of war against our motherland.

However, we are also calling on the International Community to intervene into the growing tension between both countries as it instills fear in their citizens, and encourage both the United States and Iran's Foreign Diplomats to host a peace talk through conflict resolution.

About the author: Alpha G. Gray is a youth and student leader, a civil society activist, a community developer, a social change maker, a writer, an innovator and Pan Africanist whose interest is to improve the living conditions of others through the formulation and implementation of community initiatives, volunteerism, and national service. Alpha G. Gray is a student of the University of Liberia and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion University studying Biology and Chemistry with special emphasis in Medical Science and Criminal Justice with special emphasis in Crimes and Correction respectively. He is very passionate about Education, Volunteerism, Advocacy, Leadership, Publication and Public Speaking. His favorite quotations are: A man that does not see what to die for has no genuine reason to live and We will continue to be followers to those we are capable to lead, if we fail to identify who we really are.
In 2002, then-senator Max Cleland of Georgia, a triple amputee who was wounded in the Vietnam War, was accused by his Republican opponent of breaking his oath to protect and defend the Constitution for a vote that would allow citizens of what an anti-Cleland ad called terrorist nations to be on the United Nations weapons inspection team in Iraq.
The trending travel destinations for Singaporeans in 2020

The sandy beaches of Da Nang, the night life of Sao Paulo, and Korean barbecue from Seoul are all popular choices for people planning vacations this year, according to global hotel search data on Google.

Specific to Singapore, residents of the sunny island are looking at London, Da Nang and Osaka as the top three destinations for a getaway this year.

Photo courtesy: unsplash

In a blog post, the search giant also highlighted new features on Google Travel that will help users plan their trips more effectively.

As avid travellers, Singaporeans are constantly on the lookout for travel deals and new destinations to explore," said Hermione Joye, Head of Travel for Google Asia Pacific. "Search is a great starting point for them to plan their vacation and deciding when to visit as theyll see how the weather, crowds and pricing vary across the year in the new search experience."

Image: Google

On google.com/travel, users can get a glimpse of the best times to visit and typical hotel prices for their dates of travel.

The When to visit tab shows how weather, crowds and pricing vary across the year. Meanwhile, the What youll pay tab shows if prices are low, typical or high for the dates youre considering (grouped by hotels star rating).

Photo courtesy: Google

You can also narrow down by neighborhood by clicking on Where to stay to get a summary of what each area is known for, its location score, and the average cost of hotels in that neighborhood.

Google added a personal touch by providing, along with hotel results, information on whether youve searched for or stayed at a hotel before, or if there are similar options to places youve stayed at in other cities.

You can also easily access your trip information at google.com/travel by adding the Travel shortcut to your phones home screen. Youll be able to see recent searches and things youve saved for destinations youve been researching, so you can continue planning.

"We hope the new features will help simplify the planning process for people in their search for the right accommodation, so they can spend more time enjoying things that truly matter - the adventures and experiences abroad, Joye added.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Thursday opined that Members of Parliament (MPs) should also be allowed to visit Jammu and Kashmir. The AAP leader's statement comes after 16 international delegation's two-day visit to the Union Territory.

"If Members of Parliament (MPs) want to go to Jammu and Kashmir, they should also be allowed. It would enable them to know the situation in the region," Singh said.

READ | MEA Specifies Objective Of Delegation Visit To Jammu And Kashmir

Envoys from 16 nations on J&K visit

The delegation, which includes diplomats from the United States, Maldives, Norway, Argentina, Niger, Togo, Vietnam, Bangladesh, South Korea, Peru, Morocco, among others, is visiting Kashmir to witness the efforts being made by the government in the region.

READ | Envoys Praise Government On Kashmir Security Situation After Visit To The Valley

According to the sources, the envoys have praised the government for handling the situation on the ground after the historic decision of abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A. As they took stock of the current situation, the envoys agreed there were some difficulties faced by the people of J&K but it was necessary to maintain law and order.

The envoys witnessed open shops, traffic, and people on the streets of Srinagar. Locals interacting with the envoys reiterated that they are looking forward to the future without interference from Pakistan. The envoys met several political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, including Ghulam Hasan Mir, Altaf Bukhari, Shoaib Iqbal Lone, Hilal Ahmed Shah, Noor Mohd Sheikh, Abdul Majid Padder, Abdul Rahim Rather, and Rafi Ahmed Mir. The envoys are said to visit Jammu, the winter capital of the newly created Union Territory, for an overnight stay.

READ | BJP Alleges Pressure Of Ministers In 'Free Kashmir' Placard Probe, Demands Inquiry

This is the second visit of a foreign delegation to Jammu and Kashmir since August 5. Earlier, International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, a Delhi-based think tank had taken 23 MPs of the European Union on a two-day visit to assess the situation in the union territory.

(With ANI inputs, Image source - PTI)

READ | Mehbooba's PDP Slams Envoys' Visit To "see J&K", Asks "Will They Meet Political Detainees?
The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) today (1/8) presented Georgia Power with the association's "Emergency Recovery Award" for its power restoration efforts after 14 tornadoes hit Georgia in March 2019.

The Emergency Recovery Award is given to select EEI member companies to recognize their efforts to restore power to customers after service disruptions caused by severe weather conditions or other natural events. The winners are chosen by a panel of judges following an international nomination process. Georgia Power received the award during EEI's Winter Board and Chief Executives Meeting.

"It is an honor to once again receive EEI's Emergency Recovery Award recognizing Georgia Power's dedication to serving our customers following natural disasters like last year's tornado outbreak," said Paul Bowers, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power. "This award recognizes that when storms strike, the men and women from Georgia Power and assisting utilities will work tirelessly to restore power as safely and quickly as possible."

Georgia Power estimates that damage from the March tornado outbreak included:

Approximately 100 broken or damaged power poles

More than 16 miles of downed wire

Approximately 19,000 sustained outages at response peak

The EF4 tornado that struck Georgia's Muscogee, Talbot and Harris counties devastated communities and caused significant damage to Georgia Power's system. More than 600 personnel were mobilized as part of the company's restoration effort, including support from other Southern Company operating companies. Responding personnel dedicated over 20,000 hours to the restoration, and service was safely restored to nearly all impacted customers three days after the storm.

"Georgia Power's work to restore service safely and quickly to customers, often in dangerous conditions, makes them deserving of this award," said EEI President Tom Kuhn. "Their efforts exemplify the high standards our industry seeks to uphold, and I applaud their commitment to their customers."

Georgia Power has earned the Emergency Recovery Award eight times including as recently as 2019.

About Georgia Power

Georgia Power is the largest electric subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), America's premier energy company. Value, Reliability, Customer Service and Stewardship are the cornerstones of the company's promise to 2.6 million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties. Committed to delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy at rates below the national average, Georgia Power maintains a diverse, innovative generation mix that includes nuclear, coal and natural gas, as well as renewables such as solar, hydroelectric and wind. Georgia Power focuses on delivering world-class service to its customers every day and the company is consistently recognized by J.D. Power and Associates as an industry leader in customer satisfaction. For more information, visit www.GeorgiaPower.com and connect with the company on Facebook (Facebook.com/GeorgiaPower), Twitter (Twitter.com/GeorgiaPower) and Instagram (Instagram.com/ga_power).

The Edison Electric Institute (EEI)

EEI is the association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. Our members provide electricity for more than 220 million Americans, and operate in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. As a whole, the electric power industry supports more than 7 million jobs in communities across the United States. In addition to our U.S. members, EEI has more than 65 international electric companies, with operations in more than 90 countries, as International Members, and hundreds of industry suppliers and related organizations as Associate Members.
The latest episode in the long-running saga of Carlos Ghosn, his news conference in Beirut on Wednesday, was a fitting sequel to the drama of his arrest in Japan, his stints in jail and his made-for-TV flight concealed in a large trunk and accompanied by a former Green Beret. Longtime viewers will recall that in earlier seasons, Mr. Ghosn, the son of three continents, had leapfrogged across the globe to save two auto companies from ruin (or was it three?), had staged a fabulous wedding at the Palace of Versailles and had done feats too many to list.

Now, having fled to Lebanon, the home of his ancestors, the 65-year-old fugitive executive tirelessly, at times passionately, held forth in English, French, Arabic and Portuguese before a packed room of reporters, flashing hard-to-read documents on a screen to proclaim that he was innocent of all the charges he faced in Japan, insisting that he had not fled from justice, since none was possible in Japan, but rather in search of justice against a political mugging.

Claiming that Japanese officials had sought to paint him as a cold, greedy dictator, he dramatically insisted that he was the opposite  a man who loved the Japanese, who could have made a lot more money if, for example, he had accepted an offer to take charge of General Motors, and who was never accused of being a tyrant until his arrest in November 2018. And to prove that he deserved whatever compensation he had received, he noted that Renault and Nissan had been doing very badly since his arrest and forced resignations.

The story is fantastic, even by the standards of todays TV dramas. It is also important, a look at the underside of a high-stakes multinational industry, brutal corporate intrigue, extravagant compensation packages and complex international deals, both above and below board. Mr. Ghosn was the master of all these, and his leadership of a rocky alliance of three major auto companies  Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi  will, as he rightly claimed, be long studied among the case histories of business schools. He also lived high, spending big and hopping among grand residences in Brazil, Lebanon and France.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 06:12:15|Editor: huaxia

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CAIRO, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- China has made important contributions to the global fight against terrorism with its deradicalization efforts in Xinjiang, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo, Wang stressed that the issue of Xinjiang is solely China's internal affairs.

He said that what happens in Xinjiang is an issue of fighting separatism and terrorism, rather than an issue of human rights or religion.

For quite a period, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, as one of the five ethnic autonomous regions in China, had suffered from the woes of terrorism and extremism. Violent extremists had perpetrated a number of terror attacks, killing and wounding thousands of innocent civilians, Wang said.

To protect the safety of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang including the Muslims, the Chinese government has firmly cracked down on all forms of terror activities, on one hand, and set up vocational education and training centers, on another hand, the top Chinese diplomat explained.

These centers aimed at saving those who were infected by extremist thoughts through education and professional training to uproot extremism and terrorism at the source, he said.

In its anti-terror campaign in Xinjiang, China has drawn on the experience of many countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, as well as many Western countries such as the United States and France, he said.

The Chinese measures "are totally legal, as they are widely recognized as preventive counter-terrorism steps," Wang said.

He added that China's counter-terrorism efforts in Xinjiang have paid off. "For three years in a row, Xinjiang has been free from violent terrorist incidents," he noted.

Wang said that all the trainees in the training centers have now graduated, and, with the help of the government, they have found stable jobs and are living a peaceful and secure life.

"It has been proved that the efforts made by the government in Xinjiang have not only provided security for local residents, but also protected the rights of religious freedom, thus making important contributions to the global anti-terror cause and providing useful experience for the global deradicalization efforts," Wang said.

The freedom of religious belief, including Islam, is fully ensured in Xinjiang, where there are over 24,000 mosques, or one for every 530 Muslims, which is a higher ratio than many Islamic countries.

Wang slammed the evil intentions of some forces in the West, which attempt to destabilize Xinjiang and undermine the ties between China and the Islamic world through smearing China, with an aim to block China's development.

"We should be clear-eyed about those Western countries accusing China of the Xinjiang issue, as they are in fact the ones which have the least respect for the Islamic civilization and inflicted heavy casualties on a great number of innocent Muslims," Wang said.

He said most Islamic countries, including Egypt, have not been deceived by the lies spread by those Western states. A total of 51 countries, including 28 Islamic nations, signed a joint letter last July sent to the United Nations to express support to China's policies in Xinjiang.

"Facts speak louder than words, and fair-minded people can tell right from wrong," Wang said.

More than 70 foreign delegations from 91 countries and regions, or some 1,000 people, have visited Xinjiang and stated that China's counter-terrorism and deradicalization efforts can provide inspirations for others.

"China welcomes Egyptian friends, including religious groups, to Xinjiang to take a tour and have a look with own eyes. I bet you will see a stable, peaceful and thriving Xinjiang," the top Chinese diplomat said.
A case has been registered against 16 people including an NCP Member of the Legislative Council for an alleged fraud of over Rs 71 crore at the Shivajirao Bhosale Cooperative Bank here, the police said on Thursday.

The case was filed on Wednesday against MLC Anil Shivajirao Bhosale, his wife Reshma Bhosale and other directors of the bank for forgery and cheating, an official of Shivajinagar police station said.

Bhosale is the promoter of the bank. His wife is a BJP corporator.

The complaint was filed by the auditor who had conducted a financial audit of the bank for 2018-19 on the Reserve Bank of India's directions.

The audit allegedly found a shortfall of over Rs 71 crore in cash-on-hand segment, the police official said.

"The accused colluded with each other and cheated the bank by forging records," he added.

The state cooperative department had dismissed the board of directors of the bank in October 2019 and appointed an administrator.

Earlier, a special scrutiny conducted by the RBI in April had revealed several "adverse" features and "serious irregularities" in the functioning of the bank, as per the Commissioner of Cooperation.

The case was registered under Indian Penal Code sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 468 (forgery for cheating).

No arrest has been made yet.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The short answer is that it is rather hard to say, given no one yet knows the exact terms of Megxit, said David Haigh, chief executive of brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance. The company calculated that the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex generated 1 billion for the British economy in 2018 alone, including an additional 300 million in travel and accommodation spent by foreign tourists and 50 million spent on merchandise such as coins, dish cloths and clothing, not to mention those billions of clicks in free media coverage that enhanced the value of the Britain brand.

In the months since the wedding, patronage by the Sussexes has continued to generate hefty revenue for retail and leisure industries in particular, for British household names such as Marks & Spencer and John Lewis and through charitable projects like the duchesss fashion workwear collaboration with Smartworks.

A new half-in, half-out of the firm arrangement would not necessarily put a stop to those earnings and endorsements for Britain and its businesses; if anything, extensive ambassadorial work at home and abroad could even increase them. But it all depends on the nature of the long-term relationship with Buckingham Palace, and what, with the creation of the Sussex Royal brand, the couple plan to control themselves when it comes to their cultural and commercial influence.

Harry and Meghan say they want to be involved in Commonwealth activities, patronages and support the queen  which suggests retaining some form of official royal role and duties, Mr. Haigh said of the Sussexes unveiling of what they termed on their website a new working model.
President Donald Trump announces proposed rollbacks to the National Environmental Policy Act regulations during an event in Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, January 9, 2020.

Neither of the two whistleblowers has been officially identified by name, and neither of the two testified during the House investigation last fall.

The president said he also wanted "the second whistleblower" to testify, referring to a second official who sought legal protections in order to share concerns about Trump's July 25 call with Ukraine's president.

"I'm going to leave it to the Senate, but I'd like to hear from the whistleblower, I'd like to hear from shifty Schiff, I'd like to hear from Hunter Biden and Joe Biden," Trump told reporters at a White House event.

WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump on Thursday said that he would support witnesses testifying in his upcoming Senate impeachment trial, as long as it meant his legal team could summon House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, and the anonymous whistleblower whose 2019 complaint sparked the probe that ended in Trump's impeachment.

But nearly a dozen current and former diplomats and national security officials did testify, describing Trump's central role in a monthslong effort to pressure Ukraine's government into launching investigations into Trump's political opponents.

Most notably, they said Trump wanted an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter, who once served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company. Trump also wanted Ukraine to investigate a debunked conspiracy theory that alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The testimony served as evidence in an investigation that resulted in the House formally voting late last year to approve two separate articles of impeachment against Trump  one on the charge of abusing the powers of the presidency, and another on the charge of obstructing Congress.

Speaking on Thursday, Trump also said he would not object to his former national security advisor, John Bolton, testifying in a Senate trial. But any testimony Bolton gave would be subject to limitations of executive privilege, Trump added.

"I would have no problem [with Bolton testifying] other than we have to protect, we have to be able to protect" executive privilege, Trump said. "People can't go up and say whatever my thoughts are, whatever your thoughts are, about us, countries, views, you don't want that to be out. So we have to protect presidential privilege."

Bolton was present for many of the key moments in U.S.-Ukraine relations over the past year, and if witnesses were to be permitted at a Senate trial, Bolton would likely be at the top of any Democratic witness list.

On Monday, Bolton said publicly that if he were subpoenaed by the Senate, he would be willing to testify in an impeachment trial.

Bolton did not testify in the impeachment investigation last year, after his lawyer threatened to go to court to fight any subpoenas issued by House committees.

As of Thursday, the question of whether to call witnesses in a Senate trial remained a central sticking point between Republicans and Democrats in the runup to Trump's impeachment trial.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has been insisting that new information that has come to light since December necessitates the calling of new fact witnesses to testify about it.
Patna: Congress state president Madan Mohan Jha, at a press conference at party headquarters in Patna on Wednesday, slammed the NDA government in Bihar saying the administration was systematically engaging in crushing the voice of the opponent while allowing criminals to take control of the state.

"The government is turning a blind eye on all the crimes being committed in Bihar. Rape cases have become a regular affair and murder, robberies are touching new heights despite claims of good governance by the administration," Jha said.

Citing the arrest of Congress leader Dr. Ashutosh Sharma a couple of days ago during a protest rally against CAA and NRC, Jha said he was intentionally being denied release from the jail because police has conspired with the government to harass him.

"Ashutosh was called to come to the police station on some false pretext. Once he got there, police arrested him and sent him to jail. Police then went on to file two separate FIRs for the same charges before sending him to the jail. Police have also failed to arrest the killers of former vice president of Youth Congress Rakesh Yadav after 12 days of his brutal murder. This is what is going on in Nitish Raj where no one is safe anymore," the senior Congress leader said.
Items for the weekly Calendar must be submitted in writing to Calendar, Herald & Review, 601 E. William St., Decatur, IL 62523-1142 or by email to ajones@herald-review.com by noon Monday. Phone calls will not be accepted. Please include a contact name and phone number for verification.
Passengers' belongings are pictured at the site where the Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed after take-off from Iran's Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran January 8, 2020. (Photo: Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)

SHAHEDSHAHR, Iran (AP)  A Ukrainian passenger jet carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday, just minutes after taking off from the Iranian capital's main airport, turning farmland on the outskirts of Tehran into fields of flaming debris and killing all on board.

The crash of Ukraine International Airlines came hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. soldiers, but Iranian officials said they suspected a mechanical issue brought down the 3-year-old Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Ukrainian officials initially agreed, but later backed away and declined to offer a cause while the investigation is ongoing.

The plane carried 167 passengers and nine crew members from different nations. Ukraine's foreign minister, Vadym Prystaiko, said that there were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians on board  the Ukrainian nationals included two passengers and the nine crew. There were also 10 Swedish, four Afghan, three German and three British nationals, he said.

A rescue worker searches the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed in Shahedshahr southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Airline officials said most of the passengers were en route to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, transiting through there to other destinations. Staff at the Boryspil airport in Kyiv, told The Associated Press that passengers on this flight are usually Iranian students coming back to Ukraine after winter holidays.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy extended his condolences to the families of the victims. His office said he had cut his visit to Oman short and was returning to Kyiv because of the crash. The country's Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk confirmed the casualty toll.

"Our task is to establish the cause of the crash of the Boeing and provide all necessary help to the families of the victims," said parliament speaker, Dmytro Razumkov, in a Facebook statement.

Read the rest of this story by the Associated Press on Yahoo News >>>

Rescue workers search the scene where an Ukrainian plane crashed in Shahedshahr southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Rescue workers carry the body of a victim of an Ukrainian plane crash in Shahedshahr southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

A rescue worker searchs the scene where an Ukrainian plane crashed in Shahedshahr southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

A forensic investigator works at the scene of a Ukrainian plane crash as bodies of the victims are collected, in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Debris is seen from an Ukrainian plane which crashed as rescue workers search the scene in Shahedshahr southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Rescue workers carry the body of a victim of an Ukrainian plane crash among debris of the plane in Shahedshahr southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Debris is seen from an Ukrainian plane which crashed as authorities work at the scene in Shahedshahr southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020.(Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Rescue team work at the scene where an Ukrainian plane crashed in Shahedshahr southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Rescue workers carry the body of a victim of an Ukrainian plane crash in Shahedshahr southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Debris is seen from an Ukrainian plane which crashed as authorities work at the scene in Shahedshahr southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020.(Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Debris is seen from an Ukrainian plane which crashed as authorities work at the scene in Shahedshahr southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Passengers' belongings are seen as search and rescue works are conducted at site after a Boeing 737 plane belonging to a Ukrainian airline crashed near Imam Khomeini Airport in Iran just after takeoff in Tehran, Iran on January 08, 2020. (Photo: Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Bodies of the victims of the Ukrainian plane crash are collected by a rescue team at the scene of the crash in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

A forensic investigator works at the scene of a Ukrainian plane crash as bodies of the victims are collected, in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020.(Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Debris is seen from an Ukrainian plane which crashed as authorities work at the scene in Shahedshahr southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020.(Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Rescue workers search the scene where an Ukrainian plane crashed in Shahedshahr southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Rescue workers recover the bodies of victims of a Ukrainian plane crash in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020.(Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Security personnel work at the scene where a Ukrainian plane crash in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

The body of a victim of a Ukrainian plane crash lies on the ground in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Rescue workers inspect the scene where a Ukrainian plane crashed in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Search and rescue works are conducted at site after a Boeing 737 plane belonging to a Ukrainian airline crashed near Imam Khomeini Airport in Iran just after takeoff in Tehran, Iran on January 08, 2020. (Photo: Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

People stand near the wreckage after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran on January 8, 2020. (Photo by Rouhollah Vahdati/ISNA/AFP via Getty Images)

People and rescue teams are pictured amid bodies and debris after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning on January 8, 2020, killing everyone on board. (Photo by Rouhollah Vahdati/ISNA/AFP via Getty Images)

Rescue teams work amidst debris after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning on January 8, 2020, killing everyone on board. (Photo: AFP via Getty Images)

Search and rescue works are conducted at site after a Boeing 737 plane belonging to a Ukrainian airline crashed near Imam Khomeini Airport in Iran just after takeoff in Tehran, Iran on January 08, 2020. (Photo: Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Search and rescue works are conducted at site after a Boeing 737 plane belonging to a Ukrainian airline crashed near Imam Khomeini Airport in Iran just after takeoff in Tehran, Iran on January 08, 2020. (Photo: Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Passengers' belongings are seen as search and rescue works are conducted at site after a Boeing 737 plane belonging to a Ukrainian airline crashed near Imam Khomeini Airport in Iran just after takeoff in Tehran, Iran on January 08, 2020. (Photo: Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Rescue workers recover the bodies of victims of the wreckage of a Boeing Co. 737-800 aircraft, operated by Ukraine International Airlines, which crashed shortly after takeoff near Shahedshahr, Iran, on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ali Mohammadi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A page from a magazine lies amongst the wreckage from a Boeing Co. 737-800 aircraft, operated by Ukraine International Airlines, which crashed shortly after takeoff near Shahedshahr, Iran, on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. (Photo: Ali Mohammadi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Rescue workers search the scene, where the Ukrainian plane crashed. A Ukrainian airplane carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff from Tehran airport, killing all onboard. (Photo: Mahmoud Hosseini/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Debris of an aircraft lay at the scene, where a Ukrainian airplane carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff from Tehran airport, killing all onboard. (Photo: Mahmoud Hosseini/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Security look at passengers' belongings at the site where the Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed after take-off from Iran's Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran January 8, 2020. (Photo: Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)

Blood stains are seen on the ground at the site where the Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed after take-off from Iran's Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran January 8, 2020. (Photo: Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)

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Caldera 813 m (2,667 ft.) / Anak Krakatau: 189 mSunda Strait, Indonesia, -6.1S / 105.42E(2 out of 5)1530, 1680-81, 1684, 1883 (Plinian eruption), 1927-30, 1931-32, 1932-34, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938-40, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1946-47, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1958-59, 1959-63, 1965(?), 1969(?), 1972-73, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1988, 1992-93, 1994-95, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2007-8, April 2009-early 2010, Oct 2010 - March 2011, July-Oct 2011, Jan-May + Sep 2012, 2015(?), 2017, 2018 ( 22 Dec eruption & tsunami ), 2019-ongoingExplosive. Construction of a cinder cone island (Anak Krakatau) inside the caldera formed by the 1883 eruption. Frequent strombolian activity.(16-days study and photo tour to Java, Indonesia)(4-week round-the-world trip to Hawaii - Vanuatu - New Zealand - Indonesia)(expedition to study & observe Anak Krakatau volcano and its activity)

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PVMBG reported that gray ash plumes from Anak Krakatau rose as high as 2.2 km above the summit on 31 December and then rose only as high as 500 m through 5 January. The Alert Level remained at 2 (on a scale of 1-4), and the public was warned to remain outside of the 2-km-radius hazard zone from the crater. ...

PVMBG recorded an ash plume that roseabove the summit and...

PVMBG reported that during 6-12 January dense white gas plumes rose 50-200 m above the bottom of Anak Krakatau's crater. An eruptive event on 7 January produced a dense ash plume that rose 200. The Alert Level remained at 2 (on a scale of 1-4), and the public was warned to remain outside of the 2-km-radius hazard zone from the crater. ...

An ash plume from Krakatau volcano captured by satellite on 31 December (image: Sentinel 2)

Armenia, a small country in the South Caucasus, has a long dramatic history and a rich cultural heritage. Despite its compact territory, it has much to offer its guests: fascinating mountain landscapes with snowy volcano peaks, beautiful gorges and cliffs, alpine meadows and subtropical forests, monasteries hidden in valleys, archaeological sites and picturesque villages.

Discover Iceland's fascinating geology and volcanic activity on this relaxed photo and geo tour! Get to see theon the Reykjanes peninsula from close!

We're proud to present our 2020 volcano calendar: 13 different and attractive images of volcanoes, volcanic landscapes and phenomena taken during volcano tours over the past two years.

Visit Java's famous volcanoes: Krakatau, Merapi, Bromo, Semeru, Ijen and others, crossing Java from west to east. This study and photography trip for a small exclusive group is one of our classic and best tours.

How to watch volcanoes? Which volcano to choose? Some guidelines.

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A crater left by a giant meteor that crashed into the Earth 800,000 years ago - spreading rocky debris across the planet - is finally found by scientists.

The meteor impact has been known about for more than a century but the location has been a mystery, the team from Singapore said.

Researchers from Nanyang Technical University in Singapore claim it was buried under volcanic lava on the Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos.

The team created a 'gravity map' of the area and discovered an 'elongated crater' under the rock that was about 300ft thick, 8 miles wide and 11 miles long.

A crater left by a giant meteor that crashed into the Earth 800,000 years ago - spreading rocky debris across the planet - is finally found by scientists

Researchers investigated several volcanic lava fields as part of the study. The one in southern Laos was the best match in terms of age and that is where they found the possible crater

Discovering the location of the crater could help to predict what we might expect if a similarly large asteroid were to hit again, says Kerry Sieh, study author.

The team haven't physically seen the crater - which was likely buried tens of thousands of years ago - but say there is strong evidence that this is the correct location.

Scientists were aware of the impact thanks to millions of tiny glassy blobs of melted rock from the same period that have been found all over the world.

These lumps of rocky debris called 'tektites' have been found from China to eastern Antarctica and from the Indian to Pacific ocean and would have been thrown up by a massive meteor impact somewhere - likely in Indochina.

The research team say experts have known about this crash for more than a century and have been trying to identify the impact site for as long.

Researchers from Nanyang Technical University in Singapore claim it was buried under volcanic lava on the Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos

'The large crater from which these tektites originated has eluded discovery for over a century, although evidence has long pointed to a location somewhere within Indochina', said Sieh.

Most of the largest space rocks to have hit the Earth did so such a long time ago that their craters have almost gone thanks to erosion.

However, Sieh says this impact was unusual as it was huge and recent, meaning the site it hit should be identifiable.

The Singapore study started with the possibility of erosion destroying the crater, but the team soon realised it was likely buried rather than eroded due to its age.

They investigated the possibility that the crater had been buried by volcanic lava that then hardened over it - searching possible sites in Asia.

Scientists were aware of the impact thanks to millions of tiny glassy blobs of melted rock from the same period found all over the world

This theory led the team to the Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos where there is a volcanic lava field that had lava flows from between 51,000 and 780,000 years ago.

They took gravity readings from 400 different locations surrounding the field and used the information to produce a map of the area.

The gravity readings help to detect differences in rock density from one area to another - which could identify a crater.

They found a 'gravitational anomaly' within the area that led them to believe it was the site of the 11 mile long impact site.

The team now plan to focus on the ashy material that surrounds the meteor debris they've discovered.

Sieh said the impact would have 'incinerated all life within 300 miles'.

He wants to know how that kind of settling dust would impact humanity today.

The findings have been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Cases against seven named, 3000 unnamed accused were registered in Wasseypur, Dhanbad for taking out anti-CAA protest march without permission

Dhanbad: Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren announced that the state administration has recommended dropping the sedition charges slapped against 3,000 people for taking part in a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Wasseypur area on Tuesday.

"Laws are not made to frighten and silence the people but to instill a feeling of safety in the public. My government will work towards being the voice of the people. We have recommended taking back the sedition cases registered against 3,000 people and also asked for action against the concerned official", Soren said in a tweet.

"Meanwhile, I also urge the people of Jharkhand that it is their state and abiding the law and order is their duty," he added which sharing pictures of the letter asking for action against the official and dropping the sedition case.

The cases against seven named and 3,000 unnamed accused were registered in Wasseypur, Dhanbad for taking out an anti-CAA protest march on Tuesday night without permission.
Authorities in Tajikistan have been silent about reports of the detention of at least 27 suspected followers of the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement in several different regions of the country in recent days.

Law enforcement agency sources told RFE/RL the suspects were detained in dozens of raids as Tajik authorities uncovered an alleged Muslim Brotherhood cell operating in the capital, Dushanbe, as well as in the Sughd and Khatlon provinces.

Several relatives of the detainees -- which reportedly include university professors, imams, and government officials -- said on January 7 they had had no contact with their loved ones since they were taken away and didn't know whether they have been charged with a crime or provided with access to a lawyer.

The government hasn't commented about any raids or detentions, while officials who were approached by RFE/RL have mostly declined to comment.

Interior Ministry spokesman Nusratullo Mahmadzoda said on January 7 there had not been any recent arrests of suspected Muslim Brotherhood members.

"We don't have any ongoing investigation regarding this matter," he added.

It's not uncommon for officials in the tightly controlled Central Asian country to withhold information from the media.

Police sources within the Interior Ministry, however, have told RFE/RL's Tajik Service that there have been many detentions, including at least one relative of Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda, a prominent religious and political figure. The family wouldn't comment on the matter.

The ministry sources spoke on condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Another suspect detained for his ties to the Muslim Brotherhood was identified as Abdullo Oqilzoda, who had in previous years been active on social media, mostly sharing religious content on Facebook. A religious-school graduate, Oqilzoda hasn't posted on his known social-media accounts in recent years.

There are also several local government officials, university professors, and imams among the suspects, the sources said.

Firdavs Rahimzoda, the newly appointed head of the State Properties Agency in the northern district of Isfara, was detained recently and transferred to Dushanbe with other suspects, the sources told RFE/RL.

Rahimzoda, 35, had previously worked as the head of the Chorkuh village council.

Relatives of some of the detainees claim security officers also conducted searches of the suspects' homes.

"Law enforcement officers came to our home and checked everywhere and took away a few religious books we had," said a man whose son was detained on January 2. "They didn't tell us anything, but searched everywhere, even the barn."

The family told RFE/RL that their son, a graduate of the National University, had worked as a schoolteacher.

Another man said that police did not "provide a search warrant" when entering his home, and that two of his brothers were among the detainees.

The families who spoke to RFE/RL all requested anonymity, fearing possible repercussions from officials.

Religious Crackdown

Tajik opposition groups outside the country claim that many dozens of people have either been detained or investigated by security officials during the series of raids in the country against suspected Muslim Brotherhood members.

Predominantly Muslim Tajikistan banned the Muslim Brotherhood as an extremist group in 2006 and it faces a similar ban in Central Asian neighbors Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. It is not banned in Kyrgyzstan.

It is considered a terrorist organization in Tajikistan, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Russia but not in the United States or other Western countries.

In 2016, about 20 imams were arrested in the northern province of Sughd for allegedly being members of the movement. They were accused of receiving funds from abroad and of spreading Muslim Brotherhood ideology in Tajikistan, ultimately seeking to overthrow the secular government in Dushanbe.

Critics accuse the Tajik authorities of exploiting the state's campaign against extremism and terrorism to clamp down on religious groups and individuals critical of government policies in the authoritarian state.

The Supreme Court declared the opposition Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) a terrorist group in 2015, after several years of pressure on the party and smear campaigns against its officials and members.

The IRPT had previously served in the government and rejects all accusations it is extremist. Many of its leaders have been imprisoned on trumped-up charges while others have fled the country.

Written by Farangis Najibullah based on reporting by Mullorajab Yusufi and Mumin Ahmadi of RFE/RL's Tajik Service
President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian has sent a congratulatory message to first President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan on the occasion of his 75th anniversary.

You have been at the forefront of the Nagorno-Karabakh movement, the declaration of independence of Armenia and Artsakh and the restoration and functioning of Armenian statehood at the end of the 20th century. You have played a major and weighty role in strengthening the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia, helping the Republic of Armenia become a subject of international law and ensuring the security of Armenia and Artsakh. I must mention your prolific academic career and highly valuable works, Armen Sarkissian stated in his message and wished Levon Ter-Petrosyan good health and all the best.
He turned against Americas European allies because he thought NATO saddled the United States with way more than its share of the cost of mutual defense. He overturned trade deals such as NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and then the Iran nuclear pact as well, because he perceived that the United States was giving more than it got in return. He has levied or threatened stiff tariffs on China, the European Union, Turkey and Mexico, arguing that they provide net profits for the United States, even though numerous analyses say they have raised prices for American consumers and cost the country hundreds of thousands of jobs. He argues that North Korea should join the community of nations so it can realize its prime beachfront real estate potential. (Boy, look at that view, he told reporters. Wouldnt that make a great condo?)
YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Head of the International Center for Human Development Tevan Poghosyan considers Armenias neutral approach in regards to the current tension between the US and Iran as absolutely right.

In this case Armenias position is acceptable. We have no problems neither against Iran nor the US. We are ready to work with both sides, and this is appreciated by both sides, he said during a press conference, adding that this approach has not been formed a year ago.

According to him, Armenia has formed a unique situation. Poghosyan brought the example of Russia-Georgia tension, stating that Armenia is an ally with Russia and tries to keep good neighborly relations with Georgia, adding that the same is in case of the US and Iran.

Armenia cannot be with one side, it should be guided by its own interests. At this moment the right approach was the approach that was used, he said.

Tensions around Iran flared up after the US launched a strike on Baghdads airport on January 3 killing General Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards elite Quds Force. On January 8, Iran retaliated by launching missile strikes on two military facilities in Iraq used by the United States. According to the Pentagons spokesperson, Al-Asad Air Base and the airport of Erbil were targeted.

In turn Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that Iran and the United States are friendly countries for Armenia, and in such situation Armenia cannot engage into neither anti-Iranian, nor anti-American actions. The PM urged Iran and the US partners to refrain from actions that will further deteriorate the tense situation in the region and the international relations.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
The Trump administration on Wednesday unveiled its most recent round of guidelines for autonomous vehicle makers that still rely on the industry to police itself despite calls for specific regulations.

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced the proposed guidelines in a speech at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas, saying in prepared remarks that "AV 4.0" will ensure U.S. leadership in developing new technologies.

But the guidelines will likely fall short of expectations of auto safety advocates and the National Transportation Safety Board. In November, the NTSB, which investigates crashes and makes safety recommendations, condemned a lack of state and federal regulation for testing autonomous vehicles.

The NTSB said Chao's department failed to lead in regulating the new technology and put autonomous vehicle advancement ahead of saving lives.

In her remarks, Chao said that AV 4.0, a joint effort between her department and the White House, unifies autonomous vehicle work across 38 federal departments and agencies. It also establishes a list of government principles and says that safety is her department's No. 1 priority.

"It recognizes the value of private sector leadership in AV research, development and integration," she said.

The principles include protecting users and communities, promoting efficient markets by protecting intellectual property and modernizing regulations, and facilitating coordinated standards and policies.

"The goals are simple, clear and consistent," she said. "Improve safety, security and quality of life for all Americans."

Other areas of focus include security and cybersecurity, ensuring privacy and data security and enhancing mobility and accessibility.

But the guidelines offer few specifics on how the government will accomplish the goals or put the principles into force.

While the guidelines say that the U.S. government "will promote voluntary consensus standards," there are few details on what the standards should say.

"Voluntary consensus standards can be validated by testing protocols, are supported by private sector conformity assessment schemes, and offer flexibility and responsiveness to the rapid pace of innovation," the document says.

The government will enforce existing laws to ensure companies don't make deceptive claims about the capabilities or limitations of autonomous vehicle technology, according to the document.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

The guidelines will be published in the Federal Register, followed by a public comment period.

AV 4.0 comes less than two months after the NTSB criticized another federal agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, for failing to regulate autonomous vehicle testing on public roads. The criticism came just before the board found that a distracted human safety driver was the main cause of a fatal 2018 Arizona crash involving an Uber autonomous test vehicle that ran down a pedestrian.

Among the NTSB's recommendations were that NHTSA require car developers to submit safety reports, and that NHTSA review the plans to make sure companies have safeguards in place that require human safety drivers to pay attention to the road.

Currently the reports are voluntary and only 16 of about 80 companies testing self-driving vehicles have filed them, according to the NTSB.

"The manufacturers are not going to be objective in evaluating their own safety assessments," NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said at a Senate hearing in November. "There needs to be a federal look at these assessments to make sure that they are done properly."

NHTSA is the government's road safety agency and part of Chao's department. Its acting administrator, James Owens, told senators that the agency will review the NTSB recommendations.

The agency previously has said it doesn't want to stand in the way of innovation in autonomous vehicles because they have tremendous life-saving potential.
The Tibet autonomous region plans to accelerate the application of 5G networks in the region this year, according to the regional government's work report published on Tuesday at the ongoing regional people's congress.



Qizhala, chairman of the regional government, said at the ongoing third session of the 11th Tibet People's Congress that the region expects all the seats of its cities and prefectures to be covered with 5G networks by the end of this year.

"In 2019, the region enabled more than 98 percent of its villages to be linked with 4G networks, optical fibers and broadband internet services," Qizhala said.

"Together with other provinces, the region has completed the task of telecommunication coverage in its rural areas ahead of the schedule of the country's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) in 2019."

Data show that by the end of November, the region's telecommunication industry saw revenue of more than 4.51 billion yuan ($650 million) generated from various telecommunication sectors. The region's total number of phone subscribers hit 3.96 million, or about 115 phone numbers for every 100 people. There are 3.24 million cellphone users.

During the same period, the region's number of fixed broadband internet users reached 926,000, an increase of 144,000 over the previous year.

Pema Jamyang, Party secretary of Pebar, a village in the region's Dingri county, said 380 out of 530 people in the village own cellphones thanks to overall social development and telecommunication.

"Years ago, without better telecommunication services in the village, life was not as convenient as today. Now we can no longer live without internet networks in our lives," he said.

Pema said his four family members have their own cellphones, and his two children study in high schools.

Located about 120 km from Mount Qomolangma, known in the West as Mount Everest, Dingri is in a remote area.

"In the past, if the villagers' yaks or sheep got lost, they had to travel days to find it. Now, in a few seconds, villagers can call other people to help," Pema said.

"I cannot always spend time with my children or wife," he said. "However, with a call or especially with a video chat, I feel we are very close because I can see them smiling or talking."
This is a moment when Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee has a lot to say. Shes tempted to start with, I told you so.

Just days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Lee was the only member of Congress to vote against the authorization to go to war. She told The Chronicles Its All Political podcast that the one-sentence resolution was so vague, it was so overly broad, that it provided any president the legal basis to justify any military action anywhere in the world forever. This set the stage for endless wars.

Over the next two decades, three presidents  two Republicans and one Democrat  have used it to justify 41 military operations in 19 countries. To Lee, the crisis with Iran is the latest example of why Congress should assert its authority over when to go to war.

The problem for Lee and her allies is that Congress  especially a divided one  cant do much to stop President Trump from taking further military action against Iran. That resistance, Lee said, will have to come from outside Washington.

The Democratic-controlled House will vote Thursday on a resolution that would restrain any U.S. military action against Iran. But the reality is that even if the measure could squeak through the GOP-dominated Senate, there wouldnt be enough votes to override the presidents certain veto.

Besides, Trump said Wednesday that Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.

He defended ordering the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, which triggered Iran to respond Tuesday by launching missile strikes on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops. No U.S. military personnel were injured in the attacks.

Soleimanis hands were drenched in both American and Iranian blood. He should have been terminated long ago, Trump said in a nationally televised address. By removing Soleimani, we have sent a powerful message to terrorists: If you value your own life, you will not threaten the lives of our people.

But Iran may not be done retaliating, said Daniel Benjamin, who was the coordinator for counterterrorism at the State Department under President Barack Obama.

That supposed victory lap was really premature, said Benjamin, director of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth University. The Iranians may have done their official retaliation right now. But they have numerous proxies who could continue to react.

For Democrats such as Lee, that means there is still reason to try to contain Trump from taking further retaliatory action without congressional approval. But, Benjamin said, Democrats dont have a lot of good options.

There are some obvious limits on what the Democrats can do because the president is commander-in-chief, and that gets him some cachet, Benjamin said. Even in a situation like this, there is some kind of rally-around-the-flag reflex.

The key thing for the Democrats is to continue to hammer away at how this is a crisis of Trumps making, Benjamin said.

In 2018, Trump pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal without the support of any of its allies. A series of Iranian provocations followed, culminating in the killing of an American civilian contractor in Iraq and a violent protest at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad last month. Trump then ordered the killing of Soleimani, who the administration says was planning additional attacks against U.S. interests.

Democrats should make the case directly to voters that Trumps actions caused the crisis, rather than focusing on resolutions that wont go far in Congress, said Bruce Jentleson, a former State Department senior adviser under Obama.

Theyre spending too much time on process and international law, said Jentleson, who teaches public policy at Duke University. The argument that might resonate with voters is that this was a very counterproductive, dumb policy move that leaves Americans less safe, he said.

Some members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, including Lee and Fremont Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, tried to do that Wednesday after receiving a classified briefing from administration officials on the intelligence that led Trump to target Soleimani. They found it weak, and they werent the only ones.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said it was probably the worst briefing Ive seen at least on a military issue in the nine years Ive served in the United States Senate. Both he and fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said they would vote for a Senate version of the resolution to restrict Trumps war-making powers in Iraq.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said the House will vote Thursday on a resolution that orders the president to end U.S. military actions against Iran unless Congress declares war or there is an imminent armed attack. The Senate version would order Trump to stop military action within 30 days unless Congress approved it.

Pelosi added that the House may also soon consider Khannas legislation to prohibit funding for military action against Iran not authorized by Congress.

Congress needs to learn our lesson and actually step up and say that we have the power of the purse, Khanna said Wednesday. We have the ability to defund any offensive action against Iran and any of these wars.

Pelosi said the House may also soon take up Lees resolution to repeal the 2002 Iraq Authorization for Use of Military Force, which presidents have used to justify far-flung military action, much like the 2001 authorization that Lee opposed.

Lee has tried for nearly two decades to overturn both laws. She knows it will be tough for Democrats to push either measure through the GOP-led Senate unless they get some help from outside Washington.

Thats going to be up to the American people, Lee told The Chronicle. People do not want a war with Iran. The Senate will only move when the public raises their voices and holds them accountable.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli
Swiss first astronaut Claude Nicollier addressed a letter to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry asking for the removal of his name from the 'List of foreign citizens illegally visited the occupied territories of Azerbaijan', the ministry's press service reported.

In his letter, Nicollier emphasized his respect to the sovereignty of Azerbaijan, as well as underlined that he was unaware about the consequences of the visit.

The appeal was appropriately considered and the decision was made to remove his name from the mentioned list.

The ministry recalled that visiting Nagorno Karabakh and other occupied Azerbaijani territories without agreement with the Azerbaijani side is considered illegal, and the names of the persons who make such visits are included in the "black list" of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
For some good news for the planet, in conjunction with a general plea for sustainability, "Joker" actor Joaquin Phoenix has vowed one thing.

From plant-based dinners to speeches that mentioned the Australian bushfires, an important topic at the Golden Globes was climate change.

After Sunday's ceremony, it was reported that Joaquin Phoenix plans to wear the same tuxedo throughout the 2020 awards season in an attempt to reduce waste.

Phoenix is a long-time vegan and eco-warrior. He continued his activism while wearing something formal on stage. He kicked off his acceptance speech by thanking HFPA for "recognizing and acknowledging the link between animal agriculture and climate change."

"It sends a powerful message," Phoenix said as his peers applauded.

Teaming up with sustainability-minded designer Stella McCartney, Phoenix's tux is a classic red-carpet look go-to, with its well-tailored and timeless look. However, it is not the most memorable outfit on the red carpet.

His tuxedo may look typical, but the entire suit is now laced with a feel-good meaning.

McCartney revealed on Twitter after the awards show that the 45-year-old actor's style is eco-conscious.

#GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/Ymbkl78ecN This man is a winner wearing custom Stella because he chooses to make choices for the future of the planet. He has also chosen to wear this same Tux for the entire award season to reduce waste. I am proud to join forces with you... x Stella #JoaquinPhoenix  Stella McCartney (@StellaMcCartney) January 6, 2020

On McCartney's website, she said: "By taking the stance, we are proving it is possible to create beautiful, luxurious products that are better for everyone - animals, people, and the environment."

The fashion designer is a pioneer of sustainable design since launching her Stella McCartney label in 2001. She is also vegan, and the company never uses leather, skin, fur, or feathers.

The label also uses a tool to measure its impact on the environment from air pollution, waste, greenhouse gas emissions, water use, land use, and water pollution.

Fans are happy about what Phoenix and McCartney have done.

One tweet celebrated Joaquin Phoenix for stopping the madness of celebrities throwing their tuxedo in the ocean.

Another tweet wrote about marking "yesterday" a history because Phoenix chose not to throw an actual tuxedo away like the "wrapper of a slice of cheese."

The one-tuxedo-only trick might not be feasible for the rest of Hollywood's bold-clothes wearers. However, the idea of wearing clothing that is part of the wardrobe is indeed good for the planet and suitable for the style.

Unforytunately, not everyone can believe what McCartney and Phoenix are trying to do.

Former "Today" host Megyn Kelly, on the other hand, thinks that Phoenix's latest attempt at battling climate change is an empty gesture.

"How out of touch are these people? Oh, the sacrifice! Just ONE tuxedo! Spare us!" Kelly exclaimed, showing that she is clearly against and doubtful about the move

Journalist Emily Zanotti replied: "I'm going to re-wear my Stella McCartney jeans (that I got secondhand for $35) today, just to feel like a climate change hero."

A Twitter user mentioned that firemen, police, soldiers, doctors and nurses have been using the same uniform throughout their career so "why does Phoenix have to be celebrated" for something that ordinary workers have been doing?

Sustainable fashion is a new buzzy concept that seems to get harder to define, but part of that uncertainty means that people are coming up with new ideas all the time.
The Shiv Sena on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis, saying they need counselling.

An editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana said that the BJP leaders were eyeing for the fall of Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and the Opposition rejoiced every small or new incident that occurs against the state government.

The Sena, through the editorial, backed Mehek Prabhu, the girl who held Free Kashmir placard during the peaceful protests held at Gateway of India in the aftermath of the violence in JNU in New Delhi, and said she had already clarified her actions and despite that, the BJP attacked her.

The Opposition party needs counselling because daily they think that the government will fall and they will come back. Never in the last 50 years, the Opposition party was so directionless and insulted so much. Since the time Opposition leader Fadnavis has sat on the chair, it has been directionless, it said adding that they are concerned about the Opposition party.

The editorial also said that after the girl herself explained her motive, the BJP leaders criticising her fell flat on their faces. Lastly, taking a jibe at Devendra Fadnavis the editorial stated that the BJP is losing its credibility and their actions are inviting people to insult the party.

After a picture of Prabhu holding the placard was circulated, Fadnavis took to Twitter and said, Protest is for what exactly? Why slogans of Free Kashmir?

How can we tolerate such separatist elements in Mumbai? Free Kashmir slogans by Azadi gang at 2km from CMO? Uddhav ji are you going to tolerate this Free Kashmir Anti India campaign right under your nose???@OfficeofUT.

The editorial said, Mumbaikar Marathi girl lamented the plight of people of Kashmir in a peaceful manner. However, the Opposition is terming it as an act of treason. There can be no worst example by the Opposition parties.

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Scientists fear many billions of animals may have been killed by the bushfires that have swept across Australias south-east.

At least one species is feared extinct as scientists continue to raise their estimates for the animal death toll. Hundreds of billions of insects are also feared dead.

Adelaide wildlife rescuer Simon Adamczyk with a koala near Cape Borda, on Kangaroo Island, on Tuesday. Credit:AAP

The fires have raged through more than 6 million hectares in Victoria and NSW so far, including rainforest normally considered too wet to burn. Ecologists fear that rainforest may never grow back.

The true death toll will not be known for a long time, with scientists yet to re-enter burnt areas.
Two years ago, 36 percent of the seniors at Wagner High School went on to college that fall  including 15 percent who enrolled at one of the Alamo Colleges.

This year, 100 percent of the schools seniors have signed up for the college districts Alamo Promise program, which offers a tuition-free associates degree from one of the five community colleges.

It was a first for any high school in Bexar County, so students and administrators celebrated the distinction Thursday in the Wagner gymnasium.

The new program has resonated on a campus where 72 percent of the students are economically disadvantaged, 85 percent are considered at risk and many will be the first in their families to graduate from high school, let alone college, Principal Mary Duhart-Toppen said.

It takes away the biggest barriers  finding funding to go to school. All they have to do is get there, she said. For a lot of our kids, this degree is going to determine whether they are able to break the cycle of poverty.

On ExpressNews.com: Alamo Promise now has commitments from nearly 6,000 San Antonio high school seniors

Aaliyah Muriel, a senior at Wagner, said her parents dropped out of high school to raise her older sister. This fall, Muriel, now 17, will be the familys first college student and she wants to set an example for her brother, cousins and other younger relatives.

If I can inspire anyone else to go to college, that would be cool, too, she said.

The program, approved last summer with a combination of city, county and private funding, will cover the difference between a students financial aid package and total tuition and fees at one of the Alamo Colleges for two years.

This year, the offer applies to the 25 local high schools with the lowest college-going rates in the countys traditional school districts; next year it will expand to all their high schools.

A year ago, Muriel was considering Seattle Pacific University, a goal that would require a part-time job to save money, and when they told me about Alamo Promise, I said, Whew, I dont have to do that anymore, she said.

Wagner is in the Judson Independent School District. The vast majority of seniors at the districts other eligible school, Judson High, also have signed up for Alamo Promise. Superintendent Jeanette Ball, one of the programs biggest champions since it was launched in the fall, offered a prize to the seniors at whichever school reached a 100 percent sign-up rate first.

Required Reading: Get San Antonio education news sent directly to your inbox

In 2018, the most recent year for which data is available, fewer than 40 percent of Judson ISDs graduating seniors enrolled in college the following fall, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board reported.

This is a life-changing opportunity for students, Ball said. I think about what my life wouldve been like (had I not gone to college). All I had was this spirit that my mother instilled in me.

Alamo Promise also is part of the community college districts plan to increase Bexar Countys college-going rate to 70 percent within five years after the programs launch. Right now, the countys college -going rate is 49 percent, with 20 percent attending one of the Alamo Colleges.

As their prize for meeting the superintendents challenge, Wagners seniors chose to get their caps and gowns for free, an expense that will cost the district around $20,000 to cover, or about $50 per student, Duhart-Toppen said.

It never fails. Every year, we in the administration end up buying it for a student, but now, students can use that money to buy nice graduation invitations, their senior portraits or a class ring, she said.

ashley.mcbride@express-news.net
President Donald Trump opened a small window for diplomacy with Iran on Wednesday but combined his words with bald threats that made it hard to see how the two countries could break out of their cycle of confrontation and revenge

President Donald Trump opened a small window for diplomacy with Iran on Wednesday but combined his words with bald threats that made it hard to see how the two countries could break out of their cycle of confrontation and revenge.

The speech was, in many ways, the sound of muddled policy. It showed that after three years in office, Trump has yet to resolve the two conflicting instincts on national security that emerge from his speeches and his Twitter feed: Bellicosity and disengagement.

And he included all the other requisite elements of a Trump policy speech on Iran: Burning resentment of former president Barack Obama, critiques of his predecessor's nuclear deal, dubious factual claims and campaign-year self-congratulation.

Trump did pull back from the brink of war, at least for now. He made clear that he did not plan to respond to the missile attacks on two bases where US troops operate, which seemed calibrated by the Iranians to make a point without creating more human carnage.

But the president also promised to double down on sanctions against Iran, turning again to the economic tool he remained convinced would eventually force the country to choose between ruin and survival. Beyond saying the United States "is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it", he presented no path forward for the two adversaries of 40 years.

"It certainly sent mixed messages to Iran," said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iranian-American strategist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Sadjadpour called the speech "initially triumphant" as Trump celebrated his order to kill the most famous military leader in Iran, a man responsible for the deaths of hundreds of US troops. "It was then dismissive toward Iran," he said, "and then there was an almost throwaway line at the end about what a bright future the Iranians have if they only reshape themselves as the United States demands."

The risk now is that the uneasy halt after Iran fired 16 missiles early on Wednesday, local time, at US forces in Iraq will prove temporary. History is filled with examples in which missed signals led countries down a path to conflict profoundly not in their interests, notably the cascade of events that led to World War I. Rarer are the examples in which a quiet accommodation of each other's national interests prevailed, as they did when former president John F Kennedy secretly traded Soviet missiles in Cuba for American missiles in Turkey in 1962.

Unlike the Soviets, Iran cannot reach US shores with its arsenal. But the mere fear in the West that Iran could seek revenge by pushing ahead with a nuclear weapon remains its greatest leverage. There was an uneasy sense in the Pentagon on Wednesday that while Iran may not shoot more missiles from its own territory, it will almost certainly return to its specialties of shadow wars and cyberattacks.

Sadjadpour called the speech "strategically incoherent". But that can be said about much of Trump's West Asia policy in the past few months. The president pulled a small, fairly safe American force out of Syria that was primarily engaged in fighting the Islamic State with Syrian Kurdish allies, claiming it was time to halt "endless wars". He decided not to respond when Iran first shot down an unmanned US drone and then executed a precision attack on Saudi oil facilities, leaving the impression inside Iran's Revolutionary Guard that America's West Asian ally was not worth defending.

And then, surprising everyone, including his own military advisors, he ordered the targeted killing of General Qassem Soleimani, Iran's most important commander, saying that Soleimani was planning attacks on American targets, although the administration has offered few details.

Already that decision has led to a host of unintended consequences, including the sending of thousands more US troops to West Asia to defend American assets and interests that Trump only a few months ago suggested are not worth defending.

His answer to that contradiction seems to be to ask NATO to do the job. Presumably he wants allied forces to patrol the Persian Gulf at a time that tanker companies are halting their shipments across the Strait of Hormuz and airlines are avoiding Iraqi and Iranian airspace.

It seems unlikely they will heed his call. NATO's leading members argue that it was Trump who picked this fight with Iran  by dumping the 2015 nuclear deal reached during the Obama administration that, in their mind, was working. And, as Trump himself complains, they do not have the military capability to play the role the United States has played.

"His failure to consult the allies or take their interests into consideration will make it extremely difficult to get their support," said R Nicholas Burns, the former US ambassador to NATO during the early days of the Afghanistan War, when Europe did come to America's aid. "Very few of the allies trust him and will not follow blindly the most anti-NATO president in seven decades."

The Iranians are betting on exactly that. Their strategy has been to peel Europe, China and Russia  the other nations involved in negotiating the accord  away from the United States. For a long while, they succeeded as European powers kept devising complex plans to counteract US sanctions on Iran.

But the Europeans were eventually outmanoeuvered by the US Treasury Department and unable to convince European companies that doing business with Tehran was worth the risk of losing their access to the American banking system. As a result, Iran's effort to make up its lost oil revenue all but collapsed.

The Iranians have now resumed producing nuclear material, effectively abandoning the restrictions they agreed to under Obama. Trump used his speech Wednesday to urge the Europeans to recognise that the Obama-era nuclear accord was over, and to get back on board with the United States.

"The time has come for the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia and China to recognise this reality," he said.

The reality Trump does not want to recognise is that since he dismantled the agreement, Iranian nuclear scientists are months closer to nuclear breakout than they were when they were abiding by the deal's restrictions.

Trump now says the new strategy is the old strategy: On Wednesday, he promised "powerful" new sanctions that would "remain until Iran changes its behaviour". He never explained why the sanctions enacted so far  the most severe in modern history, he often says  have failed to prompt that change over the past 18 months.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a hawk on Iran, had a label for the administration's Iran policy: "Confront and contain". It is a phrase meant to invoke the Cold War, when the United States faced a much larger and more dangerous enemy in the Soviet Union.

But it is not clear that classic containment works in a world where terrorists and cyberweapons easily cross borders, where attacks are deniable and Western allies at odds with each other.

And containment begets resistance. That seemed clear on the Twitter feed of one of Irans leading nuclear negotiators, Saeed Jalili.

Trump had posted an American flag in the minutes after the killing of Soleimani. Jalili waited until the missiles had hit the bases in Iraq with Americans.

Then he posted an Iranian flag.

David E Sanger c.2020 The New York Times Company
Donald Trump swiftly switched his attention back to attacking Democrats for impeaching him on Thursday after making Iran the topic of discussion for a week amid rising tensions in the region.

'Pelosi doesn't want to hand over The Articles of Impeachment, which were fraudulently produced by corrupt politicians like Shifty Schiff in the first place, because after all of these years of investigations and persecution, they show no crimes and are a joke and a scam!' Trump ranted on Twitter Thursday morning.

'PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!' he lamented in a follow-up tweet.

Trump is referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's refusal to turn over two articles of impeachment to the Senate after the House voted in December, almost completely along party lines, to charge the president with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Donald Trump turned his attention back to attacking Democrats on Thursday in lamenting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn't turning over articles of impeachment to the Senate

The criticism of Democrats comes after a week of focusing on U.S.-Iran relations following the president directing a drone strike that took out a top Iranian military leader

Her Senate colleagues, however, have broken with her on holding back the articles from the upper chamber  especially after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced this week that he has enough votes from Republicans to begin Trump's impeachment trial with no witnesses.

'We have the votes, once the impeachment trial has begun, to pass a resolution essentially the same, very similar to the 100-0 vote in the Clinton trial,' McConnell announced after having lunch with the members of his party Tuesday.

Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has pushed for the Senate to call witnesses in its impending trial, suggested that Pelosi finally give in and hand over the articles so the Senate could launch its part of impeachment proceedings.

'The speaker has said all along she wanted to see the arena in which she was playing when it came to a trial so she could appoint impeachment managers. Now it's becoming clear that Mitch McConnell wants to do everything he can to avoid a fair trial so she has some idea of what's happening,' Schumer said.

'By not sending the articles immediately she has already accomplished two things,' he continued. 'One, Mitch McConnell could not do what some thought he might want to do: right before or after Christmas just dismiss. And second in two weeks there's been a cascade of evidence that bolsters the case  strongly bolsters the case  for witnesses and documents. So now we have a greater feel for where we're headed and Speaker Pelosi  I have great confidence in the decision she will make. But she's accomplished a great deal already.'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has still not turned over articles of impeachment to the Senate, where the matter will face trial

But Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer suggested this week it might be time for Pelosi to give in and give the impeachment articles to the Republican-controlled chamber

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he has the Republican votes to start an impeachment trial without witnesses, which Democrats have demanded several times. McConnell says Pelosi doesn't have any 'leverage'

McConnell said Wednesday he wasn't going to allow Pelosi to haggle on impeachment, claiming she has no 'leverage.'

Trump has lamented since the inception of the impeachment proceedings, with slews of in-person and on-Twitter attacks, that it is a partisan 'witch hunt' and 'hoax.'

The past week he took a small break from focusing on impeachment and changed the conversation to U.S.-Iranian relations and rising tension in the region.

There were a series of attacks that culminated in a New Years Eve raid on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq conducted by demonstrators who support Iran-backed Shia militia.

Trump directed a drone attack that took out Soleimani, a top Iranian military leader.

Democrats question the intelligence that led to the strike, even after the House and Senate were briefed on the situation by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other defense and intelligence officials on Wednesday.

Iran retaliated against the U.S following Soleimani's death by firing about two dozen ballistic missiles at bases in Iraq that house American troops  none were injured or killed.

Trump initially threatened he would respond in a 'disproportionate' manner if Iran retaliated.

In an address Wednesday morning from the White House Grand Foyer he insisted Iran would never obtain a nuclear weapon as long as he's president.

He also extended an olive branch, urging European nations to make 'a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place' and allows Iran to explore its 'untapped potential' as a mainstream trading partner.
The European Unions antitrust regulators have resumed their investigation into Boeings deal to buy the commercial arm of Brazils Embraer, according to a filing posted on the EUs website on Thursday, Trend with reference to Reuters reports.

The EUs deadline for a decision is now April 30. The investigation was suspended until January 6.

Last month, the EU regulators looking into the $4.2 billion tie-up had asked for more than 1.5 million pages of information and data on over 20 years of sales campaigns, which Boeing has now provided.
When Iran launches cyberattacks in revenge for the killing of Major Gen. Qasem Soleimani  which it almost certainly will do  the attack vector, as always, will be Windows. And when that happens, your PC and your businesss PCs will be right in the crosshairs. Heres why  and how you can protect your machines and your business.

A long history of U.S.-Iranian cyberwarfare

To understand the coming cyberattacks, its useful to look back. For more than a decade, the U.S. and Iran have engaged in low-level cyberwarfare, with occasional bursts of higher-level attacks. The most destructive of them was Stuxnet, launched in 2009 by the U.S. and Israel against Irans nuclear program. It exploited four zero-day flaws in Windows machines, which controlled the centrifuges Iran used to create nuclear material that can be used in nuclear weapons.

Stuxnet snuck into the machines through the flaws, then took over the Siemens software that operated the centrifuges and ordered thousands of them to spin so fast they self-destructed. The damage was so great that it was believed to have set back Irans nuclear program by years. Many people believe the attack was a motivating factor in Iran signing the 2015 deal to curtail its nuclear program in return for economic sanctions against it being lifted  a deal that is no longer honored by the U.S.

After Stuxnet, Iran went on the offensive, exploiting Windows vulnerabilities over a period of years to attack more than 45 U.S. financial institutions, including the New York Stock Exchange, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. Iran also took over the command-and-control system of a dam outside New York City and hacked the servers of a casino owned by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a prominent Republican donor who recommended that the U.S. launch a nuclear attack on Iran.

The Iranian strikes have continued at a lower level through the years, and in all cases, Windows has been involved. The attack on U.S. financial institutions, for example, was a denial-of-service (DoS) attack using a vast botnet of infected Windows PCs. Iran is also believed to be behind the well-publicized ransomware attack on the city of Atlanta. Spearphishing was used to trick city employees into downloading Windows-based ransomware, which then did its damage.

Iran readies its next wave of attacks

Theres evidence that even before the killing of Soleimani, Iran had been ramping up its cyberattack infrastructure. This came to light in June, as tensions between the countries spiked when Iran seized an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. shot down an Iranian drone in response. Foreign Policy magazine reported then that With relations between the United States and Iran balanced on a knifes edge, Iranian operatives are doing the work necessary to be able to digitally strike at the United States.

Among Irans preparations, according to the security firm Recorded Future, was the registration of more than 1,200 command-and-control domains linked to Iran. More than 700 of those domains were already communicating with machines that had been infected.

Experts expect Iran to use tools like these and Windows malware to strike back at the U.S. in retaliation for the killing of Soleimani. Kiersten Todt, managing director of the Cyber Readiness Institute, told CNN, Iranians will certainly try to retaliate  definitely in the region, and they will also look at options in our homeland. Of the options available to them, cyber is most compelling.

The Department of Homeland Securitys National Terrorism Advisory System agrees, and after the Soleimani assassination put out a bulletin that warned, Iran maintains a robust cyber program and can execute cyber attacks against the United States. Iran is capable, at a minimum, of carrying out attacks with temporary disruptive effects against critical infrastructure in the United States.

But U.S. critical infrastructure is generally well-protected, security experts say. So are government agencies and some big tech companies. Columbia University computer science professor Steven Bellovin told CNN that agencies like the CIA and NSA and tech companies like Google and Amazon are probably impervious to attack. However, he warned, most companies aren't as good as these at protecting themselves.

Last summer, cybersecurity expert Zak Doffman echoed that in Forbes when he wrote, "Iran understands that retaliation against the U.S. military in the cyber domain might be akin to throwing rocks at a tank, but it can hit the vast and under-protected U.S. corporate sector at will.

Given that Iran cant wreak destruction with cyberattacks, it will likely settle for disruption. And that means launching attacks at many different types of businesses and industries, even if theyre not connected to the military or vital infrastructure.

Those attacks will all be Windows-based. And once those Windows attacks are unleashed, they take a life of their own, and spread randomly to individuals as well as businesses. Which means that your machines could well be hit.

Its likely that the attacks will be of the types to which weve become accustomed, spread by phishing and spearphishing, and seeking out machines that have security holes. And thats actually good news. Because it means that if you practice basic computer hygiene, you likely wont be infected. So, first, make sure all of your computers and all of the software on them are updated with the latest security patches. In addition, follow all the usual warnings about not opening attachments that you dont know are headed your way, and not clicking on links unless you know that someone you trust has sent them. Make sure all of your servers and websites have the latest security patches as well.

Do all that, and even if Iran does unleash cyberattacks on the U.S., you and your business will be more likely to remain safe.
Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP

Joe Biden, speaking against a backdrop adorned with the trappings of a presidential address, including American flags and deep-blue drapery, delivered a scorching rebuke of Donald Trumps stewardship of American foreign policy, accusing the president of bringing the country dangerously close to war with Iran.

Bernie Sanders quickly brought forward legislation to block funding for military force against Iran without congressional authorization, part of his argument that the children of working families disproportionately suffer the consequences of war compared with the children of the billionaire class.

Related: Trump backs away from further military confrontation with Iran

And Pete Buttigieg has increasingly emphasized his experience as a naval intelligence officer in Afghanistan to reassure voters that he has the experience to be president, arguing that someone who served in uniform would bring a nuanced and forward-looking view to future conflicts around the world.

Since Trumps authorization of a drone strike killing the top Iranian commander Qassem Suleimani last week  and Irans launch of more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two US military bases in Iraq on Tuesday night  the top contenders for the Democratic nomination have treated the threat of further escalation as a clarifying moment in the final weeks before voting begins.

In a televised address on Wednesday, Trump backed away from the precipice of war with Iran, opting instead to impose new sanctions on Tehran in response to the retaliatory strikes. But his speech did little to soothe the growing political backlash in Washington, ensuring the issue was unlikely to go away any time soon

At a time when Trump is pushing the nation closer to more reckless wars, I think people will start to look much closely at the records of the Democrats running to replace him to see which candidate they would feel safer with, said Waleed Shahid of Justice Democrats, a progressive group.

Story continues

He added: Foreign policy does not always rank as a top priority for voters but its actually an area that falls much more under the presidents control than certain domestic policy issues.

Joe Biden makes a foreign policy statement on 7 January. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA

Indeed, national security and foreign policy have so far played only a limited role in the Democratic primary, which has been dominated by healthcare, the economy and climate change. But the rising international tensions have reoriented the policy debate. Candidates are weaving foreign policy into their closing arguments to early-state voters, bringing into sharp relief long-simmering divisions within the party over matters of war and peace.

The initial response from the partys presidential field was to condemn Trump for what candidates viewed as a reckless action that escalated tensions in the Middle East and could lead to an unintentional war with Iran. In the days that followed, however, the Democrats have amplified their disagreements, setting up what could be the first substantive debate among the candidates about the role of American power.

While it is too soon to gauge how Trumps latest provocations toward Iran will resonate with voters, the occasion has provided both opportunities and risks for candidates.

Biden has billed his long record on foreign affairs and stature on the global stage as assets in a world rattled by Trumps erratic foreign policy. On the campaign trail this week and during his formal speech in New York, Biden reminded voters of that resume, which includes eight years traveling the world as Barack Obamas lieutenant and two years serving as the chair of the Senate foreign relations committee.

I understand better than anyone that the system will not hold unless we find ways to work together to advance our national interests, Biden said in New York this week, waving off critics who say his commitment to bipartisanship is naive or outdated.

But while Biden presents his experience as an asset, his closest rivals have assailed that record, particularly his 2002 vote to authorize the war in Iraq and his role in shaping its aftermath. Sanders, who opposed the war in Iraq, recently suggested that the Bidens foreign policy record could be a political liability against Trump should he be the nominee.

Joe Biden voted and helped lead the effort for the war in Iraq  the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in the modern history of this country, Sanders said on CNN. I just dont think that that kind of record is going to bring forth the energy we need to defeat Trump.

Related: Love is in the Brooklyn air as Elizabeth Warren gives campaign a shot in the arm

Sanders meanwhile has seized on the rapidly unfolding conflict to emphasize his longstanding opposition to foreign wars as well as his efforts to end US military involvement in Yemen and prevent further action in Iran.

I was right about Vietnam. I was right about Iraq. I will do everything in my power to prevent a war with Iran, he tweeted. I apologize to no one.

While that message resonates with antiwar Democrats and independents, Sanders has yet to be seriously challenged on his views.

Elizabeth Warren shares Sanders anti-interventionist sentiments but finds herself on the defensive from critics on the left and the center as she attempts to reclaim her standing in the race. On Tuesday night she opened her rally in Brooklyn by addressing Irans retaliatory attacks.

This is a reminder of why we need to de-escalate tension in the Middle East, she said. The American people do not want a war with Iran.

Elizabeth Warren at a rally in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Photograph: Joel Sheakoski/Barcroft Media

Buttigieg has used the occasion to highlight his military service and allay concerns about his youth and relative inexperience on the world stage. He has also assailed Biden supporting the the worst foreign policy decision made by the United States in my lifetime.

This is an example of why years in Washington is not always the same thing as judgment, Buttigieg said during an appearance on Iowa Press last month.

In the years since, Biden has called the 2002 vote a mistake, though recently he has been criticized for wrongly suggesting that he opposed the Iraq war from the outset in 2003. Even so, Democratic voters continue to say they trust Biden more than any other candidate on foreign policy.

In a CNN poll from November, 48% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters said Biden was best suited to handle matters of foreign policy. By comparison, Sanders ranked a distant second at 14%, while 11% said Warren and only 6% chose Buttigieg.

Whether the issue will continue to be a factor in the Democratic primary depends in part on what comes next. While polls tend to show that foreign policy is a low priority for voters, it has played a significant role in presidential elections since the September 11 terrorist attacks.

In 2004, growing opposition to the Iraq war helped to propel John Kerry to the presidential nomination. Four years later, Barack Obama wielded Hillary Clintons past support for the Iraq war as a cudgel, lifting him to the nomination. During the 2016 presidential election, Sanders and Trump tapped into a weariness over Americas forever wars and both attacked Clinton for her early support for the war.

Michael Carpenter, a former foreign policy adviser to Joe Biden and the senior director of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, said the recent tensions with Iran have afforded the former vice-president an opportunity to demonstrate his command of foreign affairs.

New Yorkers protest against the Trump administrations escalation of military tensions with Iran. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA

As voters contemplate how a confrontation with Iran could spiral out of control, they will contrast the erratic, unpredictable impulsive nature of the Trump presidency with the steady hand that Biden brings to the foreign policy arena, he said.

But the congressman Ro Khanna, a national co-chair of Sanders campaign and a co-sponsor with the senator of the military funding legislation, said voters were tired after nearly two decades of war and hungry for a nominee who offers a very different vision of American foreign policy.

He wont win this debate in the Beltway but hell win it with American voters, Khanna said.

Next week the candidates will meet in Des Moines for the final presidential debate before the Iowa caucuses on 3 February, and many party activists are eager for the Democratic frontrunners to clarify their views on how the US should engage in the world.

Alex McCoy, a Marine Corps veteran and the political director of Common Defense, a progressive veterans group, said the administrations escalation toward Iran has given Democrats a crucial opening to reach out to voters who were drawn to Trumps promise to end forever wars in 2016. And he believes it could make a difference in 2020.

McCoy pointed to research that showed the communities most devastated by casualties of Americas wars in Afghanistan and Iraq voted for Trump. The study found that if three states key to Trumps victory  Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin  had suffered even a modestly lower casualty rate, all three could have flipped from red to blue and sent Hillary Clinton to the White House.

Its common among pundits to say that voters dont care about foreign policy. But that misses the truth, he said. Voters dont care about the minutiae of treaty negotiations but they sure do care about whether the people they know and love are dying in forever wars.
U.S. investor Calvey ordered to stay under house arrest until February 13

 Moskva city news agency, Igor Ivanko

17:47 09/01/2020

MOSCOW, January 9 (RAPSI)  Moscows Basmanny District Court on Thursday extended house arrest of Baring Vostok investment company's founder, U.S. citizen Michael Calvey, who stands charged with the 2.5-billion-ruble (about $40 million) embezzlement, until February 13, RAPSI learnt from the courts press service .

The court also prolonged house arrest of another defendant, Baring Vostok partner for the financial industry sector Philippe Delpal.

In early December, the Moscow City Court denied release of over 7.5 million rubles ($117,000) belonging to Calvey from attachment but overturned seizure of his flat Calvey.

In mid-February 2019, Moscows Basmanny District Court ordered detention of Calvey and five other defendants including Delpal, the companys partners Vagan Abgaryan, Baring Vostok Investment Director Ivan Zyuzin, Maxim Vladimirov and ex- chairman of Vostochny bank board Alexey Kordichev.

On April 11, Moscows Basmanny District Court released Calvey from detention and put him under house arrest. Delpals measure of restrained was changed in October.

According to investigation, Calvey knowing about a 2.5-billion-ruble debt of the First Collector Bureau, a firm under his control, has organized the sale of its shares to Vostochny bank that has led to embezzlement.

The Investigative Committee claims that he committed a crime that could not be classified as business crime because he used a chain of sham companies settling the deal. Moreover, investigators say they have a PricewaterhouseCoopers audit report on the done deal estimating the sold shares at 600,000 rubles, which indicates an instance of fraud.

Calvey denies allegations insisting that the deal was fair as both companies agreed its terms and stood for it, including a person reporting an alleged crime to law enforcement bodies. He noted that a report has been filed with police by a member of Vostochny bank board of directors Sherzod Yusupov. According to Calvey, the real reason of his prosecution is a wide corporate dispute related to the control of the bank by two groups of shareholders: Baring Vostok and stockholders coming from Uniastrum bank, which was reorganized and joined to Vostochny in early 2017.

Baring Vostok company founded by Calvey in 1994 focuses on private equity investments in the CIS and Russia. The company has invested in shares of Yandex, Vkusvill, Tinkoff Bank and other major projects.




Tom Donohue, the longtime CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, will deliver a speech Thursday urging bipartisan support for issues that Democrats hold dear  like climate change and infrastructure investment, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: The Chamber is the largest business organization in the U.S., and some of Donohue's remarks will be a departure for a group that has, under his leadership, "battled environmental regulations, restrictions on cigarette packaging, workplace antidiscrimination rules and minimum-wage requirements," as WSJ put it.

The big picture: The remarks Donohue plans to deliver today  provided first to Axios  will call for the passing of "35 bipartisan bills that can help address climate change through innovation and investment."

"Inaction is not an option," Donohue will argue in the speech, which will be carried live at 10 a.m. Eastern on the Chamber's website. "So lets flip the conventional wisdom that nothing gets done in an election year."

The remarks will stress bipartisan action, and follow a meeting with "a dozen Democratic and Republican lawmakers to talk about all the things we want to do together in 2020."

Donohue also will argue for immigration reform  though the Chamber has long advocated letting more immigrants come to the U.S., to help companies fill jobs.

Between the lines: The speech marks the latest break from the staunch support for Republicans that has been a hallmark of the organization for years, after the Chamber got a cold-shoulder from President Trump, as the WSJ detailed last year.

The backstory: Last April, the Chamber was dubbed by the Washington Post as "the largest and most powerful corporate lobbying group in Washington."

The Post article said it had 499 full-time employees, a 95% renewal rate among its members (though it doesn't publish a list, there are said to be 3 million). It also said that members pay $100,000 or more in annual dues  and that the Chamber pulled in $233 million in revenue (with no debt) in 2018.

Donohue is set to leave the organization in 2022 after relinquishing his role as president last year. His departure came amid a WSJ investigation that found he spent lavishly on corporate jets provided by the Chamber for both professional and personal trips.

The bottom line: In 2019 the Chamber began working to move away from the GOP and embrace more centrist policies, as the lobbying group clashed with Trump on some positions, most notably immigration, trade and climate change.
New Delhi:

Lawyer Aparna Bhat, who had represented acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal in court, moved Patiala court today, seeking to put on hold the release of Deepika Padukone's film Chhapaak received a ruling in favour of her. After the Bombay High Court recently dismissed writer Rakesh Bhartis claim of copyright violation against director Meghna Gulzar, lawyer to Laxmi Agarwal on whom the movie is based has decided to take legal action against the makers for allegedly not giving her due credits in the film.

An update by ANI said, On the plea of lawyer Aparna Bhatt, Court has ordered that the filmmaker should recognize the name of the petitioner in the film release.

What Laxmi Agarwal's Lawyer Claimed In Her Petition On the plea of lawyer aaAparna Bhatt, Court has ordered that the filmmaker should recognize the name of the petitioner in the film release. #Chhapaak https://t.co/JBPKBv6mCU  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

In her petition to the court, Aparna Bhat claimed that despite representing Laxmi Agarwal in court for several years and helping in the making of Chhapaak, she was not given due credit in the film,

In a Facebook account believed to be belonging to Laxmis lawyer Aparna Bhat mentions that she is deeply disturbed after watching Chhapaak that premieres last night for select audience and media as her name has not been mentioned or any credit hasnt been given to her long-standing contribution get Laxmi justice

The lawyer mentioned that she would take legal recourse to protect her identity and preserve her integrity. Have never been the one to demand attention to my work. Deeply disturbed by the turn of events post watching Chhapaak. Compelled to take legal action to protect my identity and preserve my integrity. I represented Lakshmi in her criminal trial in Patiala House Courts... tomorrow someone will represent me in my cause...Ironies of life said her post. In another post, she mentioned that she cannot match the power of producer (Deepika Padukone) but wont keep mum about it as it would further endorse injustice. I have decided to take my cause to the next level. Ready to face the consequences. Her post further said.

What was Aparna Bhat's contribution in Laxmi Agarwal's case

Aparna Bhat was the one who filed the Supreme Court petition seeking the limits on acid sales and compensation for survivors. She also advised Laxmi to lift her veil during the trial of her assailant in 2009 to let the judge know how gruesome the crime was.

Also Read: Chhapaak Trailer Brought Back Memories Of What Happened With My Sister Rangoli: Kangana Ranaut

Other Controversies Chhapaak found itself in

Earlier writer Rakesh Bharti had filed a suit in the HC claiming that he had originally penned a story on the life of an acid attack survivor. Bharti in his suit sought for his name to be included in the credits as one of the creative writers and also sought a stay on January 10, 2020, release of the movie. In reply, Meghna Gulzar filed an affidavit stating that the suit filed by Bharti is 'wholly misconceived, frivolous, legally untenable and unmeritorious.' After hearing brief arguments on the interim relief sought by Bharti, Justice S C Gupte made prima facie observations that copyright cannot be claimed over such stories. The suit will be going for further hearing after six weeks when the movie was released and both the scripts were compared by Bharatis counsels.

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Iranian Army Demands US to Pull Out Its Troops From Middle East - Reports

Sputnik News

08:23 08.01.2020(updated 09:18 08.01.2020)

The reports come on the heels of Wednesday's Iranian missile attacks on two airbases in Iraq housing US troops in response to the killing of Iranian Quds General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad by the US.

The Iranian Army has insisted the US must withdraw its troops from the Middle East, the national broadcaster reported citing an informed source. It added that none of Tehran's missiles aimed at US targets in Iraq were intercepted, but that 80 people had been killed.

"Now that they have understood our power, it is time for the United States to withdraw its troops from the Middle East", Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Mohammad Baqeri said in a statement brought up by state television.

The same TV report went on to specify that 15 missiles were launched, with them "severely damaging" US helicopters and other military equipment. According to state TV, Iran has 100 other targets "in sight" in the event the US pushes forward with retaliatory measures.

The US hasn't yet commented on the media reports.

US President Trump earlier voiced an intention to make a statement on Iran Wednesday morning, saying "all is well" and bragging about "the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far".

The renewed demand for US troops to be withdrawn from the Middle East came shortly after the elite Revolutionary Guards launched missile attacks on American targets in Iraq. The US hasn't retaliated in any way so far.

Last week saw Iranian General Qasem Soleimani killed in a US drone strike ordered by US President Donald Trump at the Baghdad International Airport to prevent US personnel losses after the controversy around the US Embassy raid in Iraq.

POTUS himself reportedly told a confidant that he wanted to deliver a warning to Iran not to mess with American assets, while being eager to project an image of strength and replicate the message he delivered late last year after approving the raid that killed Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: the US is determined to hunt down its enemies in any corner of the world.

Right after Soleimani's demise, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani swore that Tehran would seek vengeance for the death of the general known to be behind spreading Iran's policies well beyond the country's borders.

A Sputnik

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HONG KONG, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited (NetDragon or the Company, Hong Kong Stock Code: 777), a global leader in building internet communities, is pleased to announce that Huayu, NetDragons education subsidiary, and National Center for Educational Technology (NCET) signed a cooperation agreement to jointly bolster the development and promotion of virtual experiment teaching system in primary and secondary schools. According to the agreement, with the support of the National Public Service Platform for Educational Resources, the two sides will integrate their respective advantages and build a Virtual Experiment Teaching Service System, in order to improve the quality of experiment teaching and laboratory construction of certain related subjects in primary and secondary schools.



Huayu and NCET will conduct collaborative research and development around experimental resources, software and service systems in this cooperation. The first is the development of a virtual experiment teaching database for primary and secondary schools, which will comprehensively cover supporting experiments including physics, chemistry, biology of junior and senior high schools and science disciplines of primary schools, including experimental videos, 3D interactive courseware, VR simulation interactive courseware, 3D/VR simulation testing and other forms of experiment teaching resources. The second is the development of a virtual experiment teaching software system for primary and secondary schools, including basic and optional software such as experiment teaching systems and experiment testing systems. The third is the development of a supporting service system for virtual experiment teaching for primary and secondary schools, with functions including backstage management, integrated user management, resource management and data analysis. The system will be introduced progressively, based on the development progress of experimental resources. The system will first select some qualified primary and secondary schools for trial, and after successful trial, this system will then be rolled out to primary and secondary schools all over the country.

In recent years, the construction of the virtual laboratory teaching system has received great attention from education departments and schools. In November 2019, the Ministry of Education issued the "Opinion on Strengthening and Improving Experiment Teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools", which requires junior high schools to include experiment operations in the academic examinations by 2023. Qualified provinces with sufficient resources can include physics and chemistry experiment operations in senior high school academic exams. The opinion also emphasizes innovative experiment teaching methods. For experiments with results that are difficult to observe or control, and dangerous or destructive experiments, they can be presented with the support of AR and VR technologies. The release of this opinion shows that AR and VR technologies are officially adopted in the field of experiment teaching.

Leveraging on its internet DNA and innovative mindset, NetDragon has taken lead in deploying "VR + Education", and has applied VR technologies to the field of education and become a pioneer in the VR industry. Meanwhile, NetDragon also builds core educational technologies through self-development, investment, mergers and acquisitions, as well as integrating high quality global education resources through cooperation with world-renowned educational institutions, publishers and top-notch universities. The Company hopes to integrate its strengths to improve the level of experiment teaching in primary and secondary schools with modern information technology, in response to the countrys policies and initiatives. At present, NetDragons education business footprint extensively covers over 2 million classrooms in more than 190 countries and regions, benefiting over 100 million users.

About NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited

NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited (HKSE: 0777) is a global leader in building internet communities with a long track record of developing and scaling multiple internet and mobile platforms that impact hundreds of millions of users. These include Chinas number one online gaming portal, 17173.com, and Chinas most influential smartphone app store platform, 91 Wireless, which was sold to Baidu for US$1.9 billion in 2013 as the largest Internet M&A transaction in China.

Established in 1999, NetDragon is one of the most reputable and well-known online game developers in China with a history of successful game titles including Eudemons Online, Heroes Evolved and Conquer Online. In recent years, NetDragon has also started to scale its online education business on the back of managements vision to create the largest global online learning community, and to bring the classroom of the future to every school around the world. For more information, please visit www.netdragon.com .

About National Center for Educational Technology (NCET)

NCET operates directly under the Ministry of Education and focuses on basic education and vocational education. Its main responsibilities include development of multi-media teaching materials, establishment of research, communication and service work on those materials, and the development and construction of educational and teaching resources. Furthermore, NCET trains personnel in modern distance-education engineering projects in primary and secondary schools, organises R&D and experiments of education technologies in schools, information technology education theory and application, development, transformation and promotion of related research results, and the development of various educational technology training work etc. It provides an important foundation to the construction of basic education informatisation.
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Global brokerage house HSBC maintained its bullish stance on air-conditioner maker Voltas and PVC water pipes maker Finolex Industries on January 9. Both stocks rallied 3 percent and 6 percent intraday respectively.

While retaining buy call on Voltas, HSBC raised target price to Rs 735 from Rs 720 (implying 13 percent potential upside from current levels) as it feels Room AC industry will post double-digit growth in 2020 with company outperforming the industry.

"Narrative of increasing competitive pressure looks overplayed. We continue to expect margin improvement for room AC segment and expect strong scale-up in projects business & Beko JV," the research house said.

In case of Finolex Industries, the brokerage maintained buy call and raised the target to Rs 710 from Rs 680 per share (implying 31 percent potential upside from current levels) as the decline in EDC feedstock price will help PVC resin earnings.

"PVC remains the most resilient product chain and the regulatory changes are also helpful," HSBC said.

Voltas was quoting at Rs 671.15, up Rs 20.05, or 3.08 percent and Finolex Industries was at Rs 564.95, up Rs 22.70, or 4.19 percent on the BSE at 1250 hours IST.

: The above report is compiled from information available on public platforms. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
McDonalds UK has entered into a three-year partnership with the Princes Countryside Fund, supporting the charitys work in improving the economic resilience of farmers.

The Fund, set up by Princes Charles in 2010, works with farming and rural communities throughout the UK, and to date has provided over 10m in grant and initiative funding.

Since 2016, the Farm Resilience Programme has supported over 900 farming families to improve their business skills with free training and professional advice.

The programme has a track record of success, with evidence of significant behavioural change occurring  91% of participating families improve their communication, and 89% have a better understanding of costs as a result of taking part.

McDonalds works with over 23,000 British and Irish farmers. The new partnership with the Fund seeks to cement the company's commitment to their futures, as well as the future of farming.

Due to this support, the charity is launching the Beef it Up scheme in 2020, a series of group workshops aimed at livestock farms in the Farm Resilience Programme alumni network.

In order to further strengthen these farm businesses, the workshops will address topics including animal health and welfare; farm safety; economic resilience and environmental management.

They aim to help farms improve their practices and sustainability performance, by introducing them to practical steps they can take to immediately make changes to their production systems.

McDonalds currently spearheads its Farm Forward initiative - an agriculture programme with three aims; to develop skills and knowledge in the industry, raise animal welfare standards and encourage environmental improvements.

It is hoped the partnership will create new solutions to the big challenges the industry is facing by promoting innovation that aims to futureproof the sector.

Claire Saunders, Director of the Princes Countryside Fund said: I am thrilled that the Fund will be working again with McDonalds, in order to help us improve the prospects of family farm businesses across the UK at such a critical time.

Nina Prichard, Head of Sustainable and Ethical Sourcing at McDonalds UK added: Our supply chain is absolutely critical to our success  we couldnt serve the food that were famous for without the support and hard work of 23,000 British and Irish farmers.

This partnership is an important move in supporting them and securing their future  farming is part of the fabric of our society, and we are delighted to be working with yhe Princes Countryside Fund on this resilience progamme.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Top BJP leaders, including Union ministers, will address a series of rallies in the state as part of the partys outreach programme to create awareness on the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act. Union Home Minister and BJP national president Amit Shah will address a rally in Hubballi on January 18. Prior to this, Union ministers Pralhad Joshi and Anurag Singh Thakur will address rallies in Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur, Belagavi and Chikkodi, said BJP state general secretary Mahesh Tenginkai. Over one lakh people are expected to attend the Hubbali rally, he said.

Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur will address rallies at Belagavi and Chikkodi while Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi will address rallies at Kalaburgi and Yadgir on January 11. The next day, Joshi will address a rally in Raichur district.

BJP State General Secretary and MLC Ravi Kumar said all the elected members, right from Gram Panchayats to Parliament, have been directed to stay in their respective constituencies and visit 100 houses on January 11 and 12, in a special effort to reach all sections of society.

The party has also planned two-wheeler rallies by the Yuva Morcha workers in taluk headquarters, Bharat Mata Puja by Mahila Morcha workers and meetings with intellectuals in district headquarters. The BJP claimed that said crores of people have written letters to the PM expressing their solidarity with the CAA.

Thousands of party workers have already reached out to 4.65 lakh households spread across 253 mandals and 21,000 booths. The remaining 37,000 booths will be covered in the coming days, Tenginkai added.
Otis Mallet has long said veteran narcotics officer Gerald Goines framed him for drug possession in 2008.

He got a hearing Thursday to make that case. His attorneys subpoenaed the disgraced former Houston Police officer to appear in Harris County District Court  but Goines didnt show. Get him here, Judge Ramona Franklin told his lawyer.

Goines, his nose covered by a bandage from surgery the day before, showed up around 1 p.m. Though he only appeared briefly to plead the Fifth, Mallet did get an apology  from the prosecutor.

Mallets appeal stems from his 2008 arrest, for which he received an eight-year prison sentence. Years after Mallets conviction, Goines has come under scrutiny after leading a drug raid in south Houston nearly a year ago that left two homeowners dead and himself and four other police officers injured. Mallets appeal is significant because it marks the first time authorities have probed a case in which Goines testimony led to a conviction and prison time.

After the raid, authorities said Goines had lied about numerous circumstances leading up to the incident, which sparked investigations by the Houston Police Department, the Harris County District Attorneys Office and the FBI. Goines was charged with murder and other crimes, and accused of a raft of misconduct, including having sex with a confidential informant, keeping loose drugs in his car, and lying about casework. He has pleaded not guilty.

In the midst of the scandal, prosecutors dismissed dozens of active criminal cases and announced a review of more than 14,000 past cases Goines and other members of his squad had worked on.

On Thursday, Goines attorney Nicole DeBorde told reporters her client would assert his Fifth Amendment right not to testify in the Mallet case.

Narcotics Division investigation: Botched Houston drug raid not the first

Any person who is the subject of an ongoing investigation really cannot testify while that investigation is pending, DeBorde said, because they open themselves up to questioning about the pending investigation. So we will not be doing that.

Yi-Chin Lee, Staff / Staff photographer

In court documents related to the Mallet case, Goines said he met up with Mallets brother at a house on Danube Street for an undercover buy. Goines planned to make a crack bust with $200 of police money, which he handed to Mallets brother, Steven, according to court records.

Afterward, he said, he watched Steven Mallet go over to Otis, who plucked something out of a can in his truck and handed it over in exchange for the cash. Goines said that Steven then returned with crack cocaine. Goines was the only witness to the alleged deal. After he drove away, backup officers swooped in to make the arrest, seizing a can containing crack cocaine from behind the house next door. When the case made it to trial, Goines testified that he watched Otis Mallet take the can from his truck and put it by the neighbors house while police officers were arresting his brother.

A neighbor disputed Goines testimony, saying shed been talking to Otis Mallet during the arrest and he didnt move anything. She also reported seeing someone else on the property two times earlier in the day, while another neighbor testified that Otis Mallet did not put the can there.

During the bust, police seized $1,668 in cash, but the $200 in buy money was initially marked down as LOST  then noted the following month as an expense paid to a confidential informant.

Goines never mentioned the informant in his narrative during trial or in offense reports and its not clear if the informant existed.

For subscribers: Key Houston police narcotics officers at center of fatal Harding Street drug raid tallied few arrests, low-level busts

That is the quintessential example of a Brady violation  information defense attorneys needed to have for Mr. Mallets defense, said Josh Reiss, the post-conviction division chief at the district attorneys office.

Jon Shapley, MBO / Associated Press

In court, Reiss read an affidavit from Jamie Michele Burro, the prosecutor who first handled the case against Mallet. In her affidavit, Burro said she recently became aware of Goines sworn expense reports from April and May 2008.

The April report contradicts Goines trial testimony that he used police money in the narcotics transaction, Burros affidavit noted. The May report details a payment to a confidential informant (CI) involved in the case. Had I known about them prior to trial I would have disclosed them to defense counsel. In addition, I would have asked a supervisor to dismiss the cases.

Though Mallets brother pleaded guilty to time served in order to get out of jail, he refused the first plea offer that would have required him to attest to his brothers guilt. Otis Mallet, meanwhile, ended up taking the case to trial, but the state  unaware of the inconsistencies in Goines casework  never told defense attorneys about them in advance. He spent two years in prison and remains on parole.

Mallet attorney Jonathan Landers asked Judge Franklin to rule Mallet was actually innocent, arguing that his clients case had been hampered by Brady violations and false testimony.

I dont know what else we could bring to you, he told Franklin. How do we prove he didnt do something he didnt do?

RELATED: Houston police officer in drug raid had previous allegations against him

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said her office would not contest findings by Mallets attorneys that the case had been tainted by false testimony and Brady violations  in this case Goines confidential informant expense reports.

Its our job to get the right guy, and make sure the evidence we have is authentic and truthful, she said. When evidence like this comes to light  especially after a tragedy like the murders of Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle  its our absolute obligation to get to the bottom of it.

Prosecutors cannot dismiss the case because it has already been adjudicated. Instead, Judge Franklin would need to recommend to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that he receive a new trial. Prosecutors have already said that if he gets one, theyll dismiss charges.

Reiss said the case was noteworthy because it provided a clearer picture of the extent and duration of Goines alleged misconduct.

You now have a concrete marker that there was bad conduct dating back to 2008, he said.

In court, toward the end of the hearing, he asked the judge for a moment to address Mallet, then turned, looked at him, and spoke.

Mr. Mallet, I am sorry, he said. You did not receive the due process you were due.

Minutes later, he asked Franklin for a month to review the claim of actual innocence further.

She gave him two weeks.

st.john.smith@chron.com
The name of one-time Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has been popping up lately in speculation that he is considering a return to head the group or even a run for president of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Meshaal, however, has made no such announcement.

Gal Berger, an expert on Palestinian affairs for Israels Kann News, tweeted Dec. 25 that former Hamas politburo chief Meshaal wants to retake the reins of Hamas in the movement's next internal election, with the support of Qatar and Turkey. This would be bad news for Israel, since the movements decision-making would thus come from outside the Palestinian territories, over which Israel wields significant control. Meshaal resides in Doha, Qatar.

Hassan Asfour, former Palestinian minister of nongovernmental organization affairs in Ramallah, wrote on the Amad news website Dec. 26 that Meshaal's attendance Dec. 18 at the Kuala Lumpur Islamic Summit paved the way for him as possible head of the PA in elections expected this year. This raises concerns among the PA about Hamas potentially starting a Meshaal for President campaign.

Neither Berger nor Asfour revealed their sources while talking about Meshaal's potential future in the Hamas leadership or as a presidential candidate, although his increased political activity is evident. At the Kuala Lumpur Summit, Meshaal met Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Meshaal had also met with Erdogan in November, in June with the Qatari emir and in May with the Malaysian prime minister. During these meetings, officials reviewed developments in the Palestinian cause and the difficult situation in the Gaza Strip, and Meshaal thanked them for their pro-Palestine stances.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told Al-Monitor the Israeli report was designed to undermine Hamas organizational unity. But, he added, "Hamas is a movement of institutions, and it is managed in an agreed-upon manner among its various components within the regulations.

Meshaal led the movements politburo from 1996 to 2017. He made fundamental changes to its 1988 founding charter and issued its new political document in 2017. Meshaal also admitted in 2016 that the movement had made mistakes during its governmental experience in the Gaza Strip since 2007. In May 2017, Ismail Haniyeh won the movements internal elections and thus became its leader.

Ahmed Youssef, a former Haniyeh political adviser who heads the House of Wisdom Institute for Conflict Resolution and Governance in Gaza, told Al-Monitor, Meshaals absence from the Hamas leadership has left a great vacuum behind, despite the current leaderships attempts to fill it. His return to leadership is thus welcomed within the movement so as to restore its international and regional relations, and to renew financial and logistical support. Meshaal is well-appreciated both internally and externally, and Qatar and Turkey, in particular, see him as a flexible and diplomatic leader who goes in line with their leaders.

Meshaals ties are focused on Qatar and Turkey, as he was estranged from Iran because he opposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and led Hamas to leave Syria in 2012. However, Tehrans rapprochement with Doha and Ankara eliminates its opposition to Meshaals return to the Hamas leadership, should he want it.

Abdel Sattar Qassem, a political science professor at An-Najah National University in Nablus in the West Bank, told Al-Monitor, Meshaal is close to decision-making circles in Hamas. Even though he is no longer in charge, he has great influence among its leaders. In the Palestinian arena, [President Mahmoud Abbas] does not have an issue with him. Meshaal's chances of heading Hamas are increasing since he lives abroad, which gives him freedom of movement without having to be under the Israeli siege and the Egyptian restrictions on Gaza.

He added, however, It's true that Meshaal's domestic, regional and international relations are wide, but his problem is still with Syria, and it must be resolved.

Meshaal's relations extend to the West, as he has met with former and current European and US officials. Most recently, Israel TV revealed Dec. 31 that Meshaal met in Doha with Robert Malley, CEO of the International Crisis Group. Malley was former US President Bill Clinton's Middle East adviser. In 2015, Meshaal met with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Doha and in 2012 with former US President Jimmy Carter in Cairo. In these meetings, he focused on publicizing the Palestinian cause and breaking Hamas international isolation.

Meanwhile, Nayef Rajoub, former minister of endowments and religious affairs in Haniyeh's government and a Palestinian Legislative Council member for Hamas, told Al-Monitor, Hamas believes in distributing roles among its leaders, changing them and pumping in new blood, because we do not sanctify leaders like others do. Hamas has been chaired by several leaders since 1987. Meshaal's return to the Hamas leadership, which he is worthy of, is subject to an electoral and consultative process, according to what internal organizational frameworks find fit.

Sari Orabi, a Palestinian expert on Islamist movements, told Al-Monitor, Although Meshaal has stepped down from the Hamas leadership, he has multiplied his political activity, which may indicate the possibility of him returning to lead the movement regardless of internal balances and alliances. Regionally, [his return would] require him to improve the movements other alliances, diversify its resources to reduce total dependence on Iran both financially and militarily, and to address the misunderstanding over the Syrian issue.

Broad consensus around Meshaal and his competence to return to the Hamas leadership is a matter to be reckoned with. However, this scenario depends on many considerations. First, is he really interested in returning? Second, do other members have legitimate aspirations to compete for the Hamas leadership? Third, the movement could decide to hold another round of internal elections that would see Haniyeh remain at the helm for the next four years, in light of the close relations between him and Meshaal.

No specific date has been set yet for Hamas next internal elections, although they are expected in the summer of 2021 since the last elections were held in May 2017.

A senior Hamas leader told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, The increased talk about Meshaal's return to the Hamas leadership seeks to disrupt his movement and incite against him, despite the fact that Hamas is united and cohesive and steers clear from internal disputes and power struggles. In May 2017, Meshaal smoothly handed over the reins to Haniyeh and has remained a supporter of the new leadership since, abiding by its decisions and carrying out the tasks assigned to him. At the end of the day, Hamas is committed to the ballot box and the results of future elections.

Regardless of all the speculation, Meshaal hasn't announced his intentions. He would need to arrange his internal affairs within the movement to improve his chances should he want to take charge once again. Meanwhile, the Gaza Strip will remain the most influential constituency of Hamas, even if the movements leadership is abroad. Gaza will always be the movements main geographical region, the symbol of this large organization, and the center of its military apparatus and financial resources.
We dont have any public consumption spaces, period, Vasquez said. An example I like to cite is Lollapalooza. Lollapalooza will be coming. Im pretty sure most people that have gone know theyre going to be smoking cannabis there. We dont have a place to actually do that legally. So either people will turn a blind eye as that occurs or there will be laws being broken there.
"Iranian proxy forces could disable these systems and mount a surprise attack on installations across the Middle East," said Dunlap. "As long as this security equipment remains in place, American lives are at risk.

ReFirm Labs, the provider of the industrys first proactive IoT and firmware security solutions, announced that one of its senior executives is offering commentary about how Iranian forces and their proxies can take advantage of security vulnerabilities in American installations around the globe.

Former National Security Agency (NSA) top firmware expert and considered the worlds leading expert on firmware vulnerabilities and nation state attacks on IoT, Terry Dunlap is Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder of ReFirm Labs. A former white hat hacker at the NSA, he can detail how installations continue to use video surveillance equipment that has been proven to be insecure.

Congress specifically called out this equipment and demanded its removal in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2019. These video systems can be remotely disabled, leaving installations blind to assaults like the recent attempted takeover of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

These vulnerabilities are public knowledge, and Congress gave a deadline of August 13, 2019 to remove this security equipment from American installations, said Dunlap. Iranian proxy forces could disable these systems and mount a surprise attack on installations across the Middle East. Complicating efforts to replace this equipment is the fact that sometimes American manufacturers simply repackage and relabel the insecure Chinese-made equipment. As long as this security equipment remains in place, American lives are at risk.

Dunlap was the first to point out deliberate back doors built into video equipment made by the Chinese firm Dahua. These cameras are banned by the U.S. government but remain in use, and were recently purchased by the city of Pittsburgh, PA. Dunlap was interviewed by network affiliate WTAE, video available here. To schedule a phone briefing with Dunlap, please contact Matt Langan, L&R Communications, at 202-262-3340.

Dunlap began his career as a penetration tester at Deloitte, then joined the NSA in 2002. As a Global Network Vulnerability Analyst at NSA, Terry used his hacking skills to electronically track down foreign adversaries and locate nefarious backdoors in embedded devices that could threaten national security. For his complete bio, please click here.

About ReFirm Labs

ReFirm Labs provides the industrys first IoT and firmware security solutions that proactively vet, validate and continuously monitor IoT devices from hidden threats. Its flagship product, Centrifuge Platform, detects and reports potential zero-day exploits, hidden crypto keys, backdoor passwords and known vulnerabilities in IoT devices without needing access to source code. ReFirm Labs technology has been proven to provide the insight and intelligence needed for users to proactively defend connected devices and maintain compliance and the integrity of supply chain security. Founded by a team of former NSA offensive cyber operators, ReFirm Labs is trusted by government agencies and Fortune 500 companies that operate in a wide variety of industries, including: telecommunications, cloud infrastructure and data centers, automotive, health care, utilities, and manufacturing. For more information, visit http://www.refirmlabs.com or follow on Twitter @ReFirmLabs.
Iran, alluding to "doubtful scenarios", on Thursday called on Canada to share intelligence Ottawa says suggests the Ukrainian airliner that crashed outside Tehran was mistakenly downed by an Iranian missile.

The Iranian foreign ministry invited the plane's manufacturer Boeing to take part in the official enquiry into the crash, as comments from Wasington and London tallied with the Canadian suggestion of an accidental downing of the plane after Tehran launched ballistic missiles at US military targets in Iraq on Wednesday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Following the US drone strike that killed a top Iranian general, President Donald Trump will ask allies to scrap the Iran nuclear deal, Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday. The agreement has been unravelling since Trump pulled the United States from it.

The president is going to call on our allies, in the days ahead, to join the United States to withdraw from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal and demand that Iran abandon its long history of sowing terrorist violence, abandon its nuclear ambitions and join the family of nations, Pence said in an interview on ''Fox & Friends.''



The Trump administration has been at odds with some leading NATO members, including Britain, Germany and France, over Trump's 2018 decision to pull the US from the nuclear agreement brokered by the Obama administration.

Trump reinstated economic sanctions on Iran after withdrawing from the deal, which he said gave Tehran too many economic benefits without doing enough to prevent Iran from eventually developing a nuclear weapon.

Britain, France, Germany, the European Union, China and Russia have remained in the pact, which limited Iran's uranium enrichment program in exchange for an easing of sanctions.

Iran has gradually rolled back its commitment to the deal and after its top general, Qassem Soleimani, was killed in the drone attack.

Tehran announced over the weekend that it would no longer respect limits set under the nuclear deal on how many centrifuges it can use to enrich uranium.

It's unclear whether the other nations will leave the pact.

Trump said Wednesday that he would ask NATO to step up its involvement in the Middle East, but didn't say what he would ask the alliance members to do.

It was an unexpected request from a president who has criticised NATO countries for not spending more on defense and who has often had cool relations with America's closest allies, especially over the Iran deal.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said this week that the Europeans will talk to Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog and make a coordinated decision.

This could be the first step toward the end of this agreement, which would be a great loss and so we will weigh things up very, very responsibly, Maas told Deutschlandfunk radio.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Madison, Wis., school district had no just cause to discipline a school social worker who used the n-word in a conversation with other teachers, says an independent hearing officer who ruled on a grievance claim filed by the staff member.

Sandra Rivera, who is black and Puerto Rican, said that during a March staff meeting, she repeated a students words during a conversation about how to respond to student use of use racial slurs and other insults. No children or other black staff members were present, she said.

Afterwards, Rivera was issued a disciplinary suspension. Though she didnt lose any pay or time off from work, that is the most severe form of discipline in the district short of suspension. Staff members are not allowed to use the racial slur in any context, she was told.

Riveras situation might have gone unnoticed, if not for a similar event in October that drew nationwide attention . Marlon Anderson, a high school security officer who is black, was fired for telling a disruptive student, also black, not to call Anderson the n-word. Anderson repeated the word in its entiretyand in doing so, ran afoul of the districts zero-tolerance policy for racial slurs.

Should Schools Have an N-Word Policy? Uproar Over Guards Firing Forces Hard Questions

Anderson was reinstated to his position five days later after a massive backlash to the districts handling of the situation, including a student-led walkout at the high school where Anderson works.

In the wake of Andersons case, Rivera came forward to describe her own situation.

I felt like my silence has kind of contributed to this way of responding to situations like this, Rivera said during a press conference. It has contributed to the damage that it continues to do, this zero-tolerance policy.

Dennis P. McGilligan, the independent hearing officer who heard Riveras case, said in his report that contrary to District assertions, there is no evidence or persuasive argument [Riveras] use of the word normalized the word. There is also no evidence or persuasive argument her use of the N-word harmed anyone.

While the district said that Rivera should have known the district had a blanket policy, she and other staff members believed that the district was taking a stance that the racial slur should never be used by staff members toward a student.

In addition, when told that she should have shortened the word in her conversation, Rivera apologized, and a suggestion of concerted action by staff to refuse to do work around black excellence in light of her severe discipline.

McGilligan recommended Riveras record be cleared.

Doug Keillor, the executive director of Madison Teachers Inc., the union representing Rivera in her grievance against the district, said in a statement to the Wisconsin State Journal that it is our hope and expectation that the district will honor this most recent decision and continue to move away from its zero-tolerance practice to one that involves a more restorative approach.

The school district has not released a statement on the hearing officers report.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Are Parents OK With Talking About Race in the Classroom? Teachers Are Unsure

Its Time To Completely Ban the N-Word in Schools (opinion)
Wednesday, January 8, 2020

We dont know about you all, but were saying a very happy goodbye to 2019lets hope for a better 2020 for our planet, our animal friends, and all of YOU too! Thank you for being with us, and for reading our books. We appreciate you.

Our Last Book of 2019 Spilled Over into 2020!

Flock of Friends

Farm Tales Series: Oliver & Friends

Written by Stephanie Itle-Clark

Illustrated by Jessie Miller

Friends come in all shapes and sizes! This flock of friends rhymes their way through a day at the farm, sharing some of the things chickens like to do and asking us to think about our friends big and small.

Get to know Pebbles, Bingo, Ginger, and Roo and take part in their adventures at One EPIC Farm in the second book of the Farm Tales Series. Celebrate making friends of all kinds and learn how our differences make us special. Also included are fun facts about chickens and questions you can answer with your own friends.

The Farm Tales Series is written just for early readers in grades Pre-K-2. The book text incorporates early sight words as well as discussion questions for parents and educators to support growth in critical thinking and empathy for others.

ISBN: 978-1-946044-63-1

Buy in Paperback | Buy on Kindle

About the Author

Stephanie Itle-Clark is a former public-school developmental reading teacher, and the founder and president of the Academy of Prosocial Learning, where she supports prosocial and empathy education and provides resources and professional development for educators. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and their pack of tiny rescue dogs. Stephanie is the author of Tiffany Rolls On, Olivers Big Problem, and Flock of Friends.

About the Illustrator

Jessie Miller runs a nonprofit organization, EPIC Outreach, which focuses on teaching kindness to inspire compassion. Jessie recently acquired a mini farm sanctuary with rescued farm animals that will soon become an outreach center. Jessie lives in Florida, where she spends time at the beach, running, writing, or hanging out with her rescued animals. Please visit www.epicoutreach.org and her other two books, Chance  Wings of Hope and Winne: A Wet and Windy Adventure.

It Went to the Dogs is currently 15% Off in Hardcover

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As the devastation from Australias bushfires widens, the insurance industry is calling for concerted action to mitigate the impact of climate change.

Months of out-of-control fires have burnt an area more than five times the size of Wales and industry-wide claims of A$700 million ($480 million) are expected to mount.

They follow large costs from other recent extreme weather events, including a hailstorm in Sydney in 2018 that led to more than A$1.3 billion in insurance losses and floods in the northern town of Townsville that cost A$1.2 billion.

With scientists predicting climate change will increase the severity and frequency of such disasters, there are concerns insurance premiums may skyrocket beyond the reach of those needing the protection most. The issue is particularly acute in Australia, a land of climatic extremes from the tropical north, to the central desert to the temperate coasts.

If we seriously think we are crossing a new normal, of course insurance premiums are going to have to go up, said Karl Mallon, chief executive officer of climate-adaptation consultancy Climate Risk. His previous modeling has suggested that without action, insurance could be out of reach for up to 1 in 20 Australian homes by the end of the century. The battleground is going to be on affordable insurance going forward.

Key to that debate is what should be done to make communities and infrastructure such as roads and power grids more resilient to events such as heatwaves, floods and fires. Another critical question is where people should live.

Globally, as our cities get bigger, were moving into more hazardous areas. Disaster mitigation is absolutely key, said Andrew Gissing, general manager of resilience at Risk Frontiers, a provider of catastrophe-modeling solutions. We spend too much on disaster relief and recovery and not enough on mitigation.

As it faces escalating claims, Australias insurance industry is becoming increasingly vocal in its demands for long-term action.

No property should be un-insurable, Campbell Fuller, spokesman for the Insurance Council of Australia, told Bloomberg TV on Wednesday. But that requires governments to act now to help reduce the risks to properties for what is already here, let alone what is coming with climate change.

The industry wants to see the government invest in a whole range of permanent measures including better bushfire research, flood prevention and cyclone resilience, he said.

No Quick Fix

There is no quick fix this year, Fuller said. We have urban areas encroaching on traditional bushfire zones. We have many communities where the building codes pre-date modern understanding of bushfires and each of those issues will need to be addressed in a broad sense by all levels of government, with industry input and with academic input.

Claims for this year are expected to rise dramatically, Fuller said, noting that access is still impossible for many areas and commercial claims will take weeks to flow through.

Even if bushfire losses almost double, they would still fall short of the costs of other extreme weather events such as the Sydney hailstorm in 2018. While the fires tend to affect rural areas hardest, events like cyclones and floods have hit at the heart of the nations more heavily populated and wealthy coastal cities.

For the companies themselves, for this year at least reinsurance will help firms like Insurance Australia Group Ltd. and Suncorp Group Ltd. deal with the blow.

The 2019-20 season is likely to be the most destructive and costly in decades, with the economic impact on the country far outweighing insured losses, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Steven Lam said. However net claims for IAG and Suncorp should be limited by reinsurance recoveries.

Sydney-based IAG said last week that it expects net bushfire claims of A$160 million and fiscal first-half net natural-peril claim costs of about A$400 million, A$80 million above its semi-annual allowance. The companys shares have slipped 0.8% this year.

Brisbane-based Suncorp group has received more than 1,500 claims since the fires began in November, but acknowledges the full impact wont be known for several weeks. We continue to see communities hit by floods, bushfires and cyclones, CEO Steve Johnston said. Increasing Australias disaster resilience requires a focus on preparation and mitigation activities, including land-use planning, improving building infrastructure in high-risk areas and vegetation management.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
Meghan's father Thomas Markle says he's 'disappointed' after his daughter and Prince Harry revealed that they were stepping back as senior members of Britain's royal family.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the bombshell announcement on Wednesday and said they planned to now split their time between the United Kingdom and North America.

Meghan's estranged father spoke out just hours later, telling Us Weekly: 'I'll just simply say I'm disappointed.'

Markle, a 74-year-old retiring lighting director, did not elaborate on the cause of his disappointment.

He has not had contact with his daughter since before her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry and hasn't met his eight-month-old grandson Archie.

Meghan's father Thomas Markle says he's 'disappointed' after his daughter and Prince Harry revealed that they were stepping back as senior members of Britain's royal family

Markle has also never met Prince Harry in person but has spoken on the phone to him.

Markle's relationship with his daughter started to sour after it emerged he had secretly collaborated with a British paparazzi photographer to stage a series of photos in the run up to the wedding.

The immediate build-up to the wedding became overshadowed by Markle who abruptly pulled out of walking his daughter down the aisle just days before after undergoing heart surgery.

Since then, Markle has given a handful of interviews and released brief statements to celebrate Meghan's pregnancy and Archie's birth.

In an interview with the Daily Mail newspaper last year, Markle pleaded for reconciliation.

'I would like them to send me a picture of Archie so I can frame it and put it on my wall beside the one of Meghan. Isn't that what any grandfather would want? I'd love to know if he's got the famous Markle nose,' Markle said.

'Sometimes I get the feeling people think I don't love my daughter. I do love her very much. I would love nothing more than to put a picture of Archie in a frame and place it beside the one of Meghan.

'There was never any problem between Meghan and me until recently. I've stayed quiet because Meghan was pregnant with Archie but I'm speaking out now because they and their PR people are continuing to ghost me out of her life.

'Of course I'm disappointed not to see Archie. I had hoped becoming a mother would mellow Meghan and she would reach out.'

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the bombshell announcement on Wednesday and said they planned to now split their time between the United Kingdom and North America

Markle, a 74-year-old retiring lighting director, did not elaborate on the cause of his disappointment. He has not had contact with his daughter since before her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry and hasn't met his eight-month-old grandson Archie

In their announcement on Wednesday, Harry and Meghan said they intend to become financially independent' and to 'balance' their time between the U.K. and North America.

The couple did not reveal where in North America they plan to make a second home, but they cited their baby as a reason why they decided to live part of their time outside Britain.

'This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity,' it read.

Hours later, Buckingham Palace issued a second statement, hinting that the first had caught some in the royal household by surprise. The statement said discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were 'at an early stage.'

'We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through,'' it read.

Harry and his family skipped the queen's traditional Christmas gathering at her Sandringham country estate last month to visit Canada and to see Markle's mother, who lives in California. Meghan grew up in Los Angeles and lived in Toronto while filming 'Suits.'

The message about the couple's plans also appeared on their official Instagram feed, along with a link to a website, sussexroyal.com, where followers could find more information.

The website elaborated on why they are seeking financial independence from the monarchy's funding mechanism, known as the 'Sovereign Grant.' A page on the site states the grant they are forsaking covers just 5% of the costs for the duke and duchess and is used for their official office expenses.

Markle has not had contact with his daughter since before her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry and hasn't met his eight-month-old grandson Archie

In an interview with the Daily Mail newspaper last year, Markle pleaded for reconciliation and said he wanted his daughter to send a photo of Archie (pictured with his father recently in Canada)

Meghan and Harry 'value the ability to earn a professional income, which in the current structure they are prohibited from doing,' the website states. 'Their Royal Highnesses feel this new approach will enable them to continue to carry out their duties for Her Majesty the Queen, while having the future financial autonomy to work externally.

As an actress and a human rights activist, Meghan was accustomed to media attention before her marriage, but she has made no secret that the transition to being a global celebrity and part of Britain's royal family was difficult.

The royal couple particularly took issue with their treatment at the hands of the British tabloids, whose aggressive coverage of all things royal is legendary.

In October, Meghan sued a newspaper for copyright infringement for publishing a letter she wrote to her estranged father. Later that month, Harry brought his own claim against two of the most popular tabloids over alleged hacking of phone voicemail messages.

The prince also lashed out at the British media for its treatment of Meghan, accusing the press of hounding his wife the same way it did his mother. Princess Diana died in a 1997 car crash while trying to elude paparazzi in Paris.

'My deepest fear is history repeating itself. I've seen what happens when someone I love is commoditized to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces,' Harry said.

The royal couple revealed their struggles with the media during an ITV documentary. Both said they had struggled with the spotlight and that much of what was printed about them is untrue.

The duchess told ITV that her British friends warned her not to marry the prince because of the intense media scrutiny that would follow in his country. But the U.S. television star said she 'naively' dismissed the warnings, because as an American she didn't understand how the British press worked.

'I never thought this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair. And that is the part that is hard to reconcile,' Meghan said. 'But (I) just take each day as it comes.'

The duchess said the pressure was aggravated by the fact that she went quickly from being a newlywed to being pregnant and then a new mother.
Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is said to have told ministers and party legislators that they are responsible to ensure that rebels to stay away from the January 22 municipal polls. The rebels will be expelled from the TRS if they do not withdraw from the fray, he said.

Addressing ministers and MLAs at a meeting organised to finalise strategy for the municipal polls, Mr Rao said there could be trouble from rebel candidates as this is the last election for the next four years, all others having been completed.

Mr Rao had already cautioned in his first preparatory meeting that ministers will lose their Cabinet berths if the TRS loses any civic body in their respective districts.

Mr Rao asked the ministers, MLAs and party constituency incharges to assure the aspirants of nominated posts. If they still remain in the fray, they will be expelled.

Mr Rao was certain of the party winning 90 per cent of the 120 municipalities and 10 municipal corporations and asked the leaders to work together for the victory of TRS candidates.

The Chief Minister also pulled up certain ministers and MLAs who came late to the meeting. Among these, sources said, were ministers Etala Raje-ndar, S. Niranjan Reddy and Errabelli Day-akar Rao.

The meeting had started at 10.30 am as per schedule. During the meeting, Mr Rao handed over the B Forms to MLAs and constituency incharges to be handed over to the selected contestants.
Seemingly everyone has a horror story to tell about dealing with the bureaucracy of the U.S. health care system, from mundane matters like medical records to financial fights over surprise medical bills or insurance claims.

Those individual experiences come at a high collective cost, according to a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine: U.S. health insurers and providers spent $812 billion on administration in 2017, representing more than a third of national health expenditures, or double the 17% percent that Canada spends under its single-payer system. The U.S. administrative costs translate to nearly $2,500 per person  or almost five times as high as in Canada.

The gap in health administrative spending between the United States and Canada is large and widening, and it apparently reflects the inefficiencies of the U.S. private insurancebased, multipayer system, the studys authors conclude. The prices that U.S. medical providers charge incorporate a hidden surcharge to cover their costly administrative burden.

The study finds that U.S. could have saved more than $600 billion in 2017 if it were able to cut its administrative costs to match Canadas. The difference between Canada and the U.S. is enough to not only cover all the uninsured but also to eliminate all the copayments and deductibles, and to amp up home care for the elderly and disabled, Dr. David Himmelstein, a professor at the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College and co-author of the study, told Time. And frankly to have money left over.

Why it matters: This isnt the first study to show that the U.S. system has higher administrative costs than other countries, but it is the first major study calculating those system-wide costs in almost two decades. The spending disparity detailed in the study could challenge some assumptions about the relative efficiency of public and private healthcare programs, writes Melissa Healy of the Los Angeles Times. It could also become a hot political talking point on the American campaign trail as presidential candidates debate the pros and cons of government-funded universal health insurance.

Story continues

A steep rise in U.S. costs: Administrative costs have grown in both the U.S. and Canada over the last 20 years, but the increase in the United States has been much higher, mostly as the result of insurance overhead. The study showed that private insurers contributed to most of the increase in administrative costs between 1999 and 2017, Modern Healthcares Rachel Cohrs reports. Of the 3.2 percentage point increase in administrative costs as a share of overall health spending, 2.4 percentage points were due to the expanding role that private insurers have assumed in Medicare and Medicaid.

The insurance industry response: Americas Health Insurance Plans, a group representing private health insurance companies, told the Los Angeles Times that government-run systems arent as efficient as private ones, citing a recent report by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, an independent body that advises Congress, that found that private Medicare Advantage plans deliver benefits at 88% of the cost of traditional Medicare. Study after study continues to demonstrate the value of innovative solutions brought by the free market, AHIP said in its statement. In head-to-head comparisons, the free market continues to be more efficient than government-run systems.

The researchers are single-payer advocates: Himmelstein and one of his co-authors, Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, also of the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College, have long advocated for a single-payer health-care system in the United States. They co-founded the group Physicians for a National Health Program and have been unpaid policy advisors to Sen. Bernie Sanders and have coauthored research manuscripts with Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Both senators are calling for a transition to a single-payer Medicare-for-All system. But the researchers say that their conclusions in the new study are based on the data  and that their estimates of U.S. administrative costs are likely conservative.

"It's actually the data that guided us to the solution, the solution didn't give rise to the data," Himmelstein said, according to Modern Healthcare.

Himmelstein also says that, while it may be possible to reduce administrative costs without switching to a single-payer system, the benefits would be much smaller. We could streamline the bureaucracy to some extent with other approaches, but you cant get nearly the magnitude of savings that we could get with a single payer, he told Time.

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Wulai Rahou, Taiwan  In Wulai Rahou, a small community 90 minutes drive outside Taiwans capital, the campaign for Saturdays election is in full swing and banners advertising half a dozen different candidates dot the hilly road.

Many of the candidates are dressed in the colourful clothing associated with the islands 16 recognised Austronesian-speaking indigenous groups.

But while support for incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progress Party (DPP) is growing  she, herself, is part indigenous  village mayor, Yawi Aban, a member of the Atayal people, says many residents continue to lean towards the Kuomintang (KMT) and her rival in the same party, Han Kuo-yu.

In this area, I believe it will go 50-50 and that means Tsais vote has increased, he told Al Jazeera. Only for Atayal people I think, Han and KMT will get more votes because there are more older people in the community. It will go 60-40 or even 70-30.

Even as Tsai is tipped to win the election, the KMT has deep roots in Wulai Rahou where the party has long been considered synonymous with the government thanks to decades of one-party rule that only ended in the 1990s.

In the past and even now, older people  the majority of them [over 40]  support the KMT because the KMT ruled Taiwan for a long time, Yawi said. In the past, the indigenous community was more like a closed [system]. It didnt really have outside resources so they pretty much listened to what the KMT told them.

Iron vote

Taiwans indigenous people  about 2 percent of the population  have long been considered an iron vote for the KMT and that is expected to continue despite Tsais efforts to improve indigenous peoples lives and atone for past injustices.

Indigenous Taiwanese perform during the National Day celebrations in Taipei, Taiwan October 10, 2018. [File: Tyrone Siu/Reuters]

Shortly after her election in 2016, Tsai became the first president of Taiwan to apologise to indigenous people for crimes committed against them since the island was first colonised 400 years ago.

Tsai also established the Presidential Office Indigenous Historical Justice and Transitional Justice Committee to promote indigenous culture and boost livelihoods, earning her much praise overseas but less so at home.

The KMT, which established itself on the island after the former colonial power Japan was defeated in World War II and the Communists won Chinas civil war, nearly wiped out many indigenous languages and customs during 40 years of martial law, but since Taiwans transition to democracy in the 1990s, the DPP has struggled to make inroads.

That is because as the KMT attempted to modernise Taiwans indigenous groups  a policy that began under the Japanese  the party was able to develop deep roots in many communities that have persisted into the democratic era.

The cornerstone of the partys popularity is hundreds of service centres  known as fuwuzhan  which were started decades ago to provide rice, oil and matches to indigenous people and today remain deeply entrenched in many communities, according to Scott Simon, a professor and co-chair in Taiwan Studies at the University of Ottawas Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

Taiwans indigenous people usually support the KMT, which ran the territory for much of the post-war era, but is now in opposition [Erin Hale/Al Jazeera]

Its always campaign time in indigenous villages and with the fuwuzhan, the local people can go to them when they have a problem to resolve. They are very good at solving problems and showing that they care about that problem, he said.

Past KMT leaders are still fondly remembered in many communities for building bridges and roads  something that is more important for many indigenous than political statements from Taipei, Simon said.

Kulas Umo, an Amis nation student activist based in Hualien on Taiwans east coast, said for young indigenous people and students interested in political issues, particularly in rural areas, the KMT is often the only path forward.

Almost all the political figures in the indigenous communities are KMT, he said.

They take control of resources. If you want to work in the government or study, or get any resources  you have to be a member of the KMT.

DPP battle

KMTs resources are difficult to beat, according to Bawtu Payen, a member of the Atayal people who works for the DPPs campaign in New Taipei City. While the KMT has been a dominating political force in Taiwan since the 1940s, the DPP only became a legal political party in 1987.

Presidential incumbent Tsai, meanwhile, is only the second non-KMT leader in the post-war era.

The DPP is still fighting to maintain their partys power in mainstream society, so for them, the indigenous vote is less of a priority. Its improving but it needs a lot more work, Bawtu told Al Jazeera.

Since 2008, the DPP has begun to establish its own indigenous service stations but they still number only 64 compared with the 383 KMT fuwuzhan across Taiwan, according to government figures.

The election campaign is in full swing in Wuilai Rahou in Taiwan [Erin Hale/Al Jazeera]

Younger indigenous voters, however, are beginning to break the mould.

Taiwans generation of voters born towards the end of or after marital law are natural-born supporters of Taiwanese independence and have a unique identity from China  whose Communist Party claims sovereignty over Taiwan  that is championed by many members of of the DPP, said Bawtu.

That trend extends to young indigenous people who are better educated and have greater access to information than previous generations. With nearly half of indigenous people living in urban areas, many may soon no longer have the need for the fuwuzhan or feel it is important to align with any single party.

But before things can change dramatically for Taiwans indigenous communities, said Jolan Hsieh, Director of the Center for International Indigenous Affairs at National Dong Hwa University and member of the Siraya people, their political representation must first change.

Questions over representation

Since the 1970s, indigenous people have had reserved seats set aside for them in parliament  an arrangement that has continued into the democratic era.

On Saturday, indigenous people will be able to vote for the president and a party list  MPs chosen based on the share of votes their party receives  like everyone else in Taiwan. But unlike the rest of the population, they will not get to vote for their district representatives.

Instead, they will either vote for three mountain representatives or three plains representatives depending on the classification of their indigenous group.

While it looks like a protection, it can also be problematic, especially when more than 50 percent of indigenous (people) live in urban areas, Hsieh said.

Many indigenous people have moved to the cities but there are still large communities living in rural areas like Wulal [Erin Hale/Al Jazeera]

She said the voting system also pigeon-holes many politicians into a role of indigenous representative because they are not allowed to run as a district representative.

The KMT and DPP are each only running one indigenous candidate on their proportional party lists, with the DPPs Omi Wilang, an Atayal Presbyterian pastor, likely to win one of the 34 party list seats.

Kolas Yotaka, a former DPP legislator and the current spokeswoman for the governments executive branch said during her tenure as an MP-at-large she attempted to reform Taiwans voting system to resemble New Zealands, where indigenous Maori can run for reserved Maori seats or regular ones.

While the bill failed, she said Taiwan needs to look to less segregating models to improve indigenous representation.

When the majority or even half the indigenous population are living in the cities they should have the right to run in cities and not only for indigenous seats,: Kolas said. Then we can open more doors for indigenous people all over the island to have someone else to speak for them.
England player Jos Butler has been fined 15 per cent of his match fee for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during the fifth day of the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town.

Buttler breached Article 2.3 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to using of an audible obscenity during an International Match.

The incident took place during South Africa's inning when Buttler used an audible obscenity toward all-rounder Vernon Philander. Also, one demerit point has been added to Buttler's disciplinary record.

Earlier, England defeated the Proteas by 189 runs in the second Test match to level the four Tests series 1-1.

Both teams will lock horns in the third Test on January 16 at Porth Elizabeth.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Responding with disgust to the House scheduling a vote on limiting President Donald Trump's ability to take military action against Iran, Rep. Douglas Collins, R-Ga., accused Democrats of being "in love with terrorists."

Collins' comments Wednesday night reflected what's become a talking point among Trump supporters in the wake of the U.S. drone attack that killed Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, blamed for the deaths of more than 600 coalition soldiers in Iraq.

"They are in love with terrorists," Collins said of Democrats on Fox Business Network's "Lou Dobbs Tonight." "We see that they mourn Soleimani more than they mourn our Gold Star families who are the ones who suffered under Soleimani. That's a problem."

The remark from Collins drew rebukes online from critics who pointed out how a similar line of attack against Democrats skeptical of the president's actions was used by some of Trump's most notable surrogates this week, including former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.

The theme was also deployed Wednesday by Trump booster Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., against Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky after they criticized an administration briefing for members of Congress as "lame" (in Lee's words), adding that they would support a war powers resolution from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., ordering the removal of forces engaged in hostilities against Iran, which could come up for a vote early next week.

"Whether you mean to or not, you're empowering the enemy," Graham said, a comment described by Paul as a "low, gutter type of response."

Detractors seized on Collins' mention of the treatment of Gold Star families, specifically in regard to Trump's criticism and feud with Khizr and Ghazala Khan, a Gold Star family whose Muslim American son, Humayun, died serving as an Army captain in Iraq. By early Thursday, a video of Collins' comments to Dobbs had been viewed about 1.5 million times and made the ranking Republican on House Judiciary Committee a trending topic on Twitter.

Hours after Trump indicated he would not respond militarily to Iran launching more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two U.S. military bases in Iraq, Collins pushed a media strategy that has become repeated in recent days: painting Democrats as sympathetic to Iran. As The Washington Post's Aaron Blake reported this week, this approach has played out despite many Democrats emphasizing that Soleimani won't be missed and questioning the wisdom behind the killing.

Perhaps the most notable of these early punches was from Haley on Monday, who told Fox News host Sean Hannity that Democrats were "mourning" for Soleimani.

"You don't see anyone standing up for Iran. You're not hearing any of the Gulf members. You're not hearing China. You're not hearing Russia," she said. "The only ones that are mourning the loss of Soleimani are our Democrat leadership and our Democrat presidential candidates. No one else in the world."

The claim continued with Conway on Tuesday, who emphasized to Politico the significance of the president taking out "the world's most threatening terrorist" and the response from his political opponents.

"The alarmists and apologists show skepticism about our own intelligence and sympathy for Soleimani," Conway said.

By Wednesday, the third consecutive day a Trump surrogate has portrayed Democrats as Iran sympathizers, people on social media were quick to skewer Collins for trying to do the same. Filmmaker Judd Apatow made an appeal for Georgia residents to register to vote against Collins this year. Preet Bharara, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York who was ousted by Trump in 2017, called the congressman's words "an abomination" and "pathetic," and urged people to contribute to whoever wins the Democratic nomination against Collins in November.

"I happen to be a Democrat and I prosecuted terrorists for living. Sent many to prison for life," Bharara said. "I don't know what Doug Collins has ever done . . . for America except preen and sound stupid."

Collins' line also struck a chord with some conservatives, who described Wednesday's rhetoric as "despicable." Former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh, who is running in the Republican primary against Trump, said that the Georgia congressman's words reflected the president's GOP. "Just sick," he tweeted.

Jim Swift, a senior editor for the Bulwark and former writer for the Weekly Standard, said on Twitter that the message in Collins' exchange could have staying power among Trump voters.

"I think the saddest part is that Doug Collins' talking point here, while wrong, will bloom with the base," Swift noted. "Thanks in no small part to the formerly reasonable Nikki Haley."

The online reaction to Collins mentioning Gold Star families was equally passionate, with many posting photos of the Khan family and wondering if the congressman had a selective memory on the topic.

"The Khan family would like to have a word with Doug Collins," one person tweeted.
Former national security adviser Susan Rice ripped into President Trump on MSNBC Wednesday over his blaming the Obama administration, in which she served, for rising tensions in Iran.

This is another series of despicable lies by President Trump. The fact that ... he remains obsessed with President Obama just shows President Trump's extreme weakness and insecurity."

 Susan Rice on MSNBC

Catch up quick: In an address on Wednesday responding to Iranian missile strikes on Iraq bases where U.S. troops are stationed, Trump argued the Iranian nuclear deal was "foolish" and claimed that the missiles fired were funded by the Obama administration.

Rice responded: "The facts about the Iran nuclear deal are that it effectively halted and rolled back Irans nuclear program. In the years since the signing of the deal in 2015 up until President Trumps unilateral withdrawal, abandoning our allies against the advice of his advisers, there were no proxy attacks by Iranian proxies on U.S. personnel in Iraq."

Go deeper: Signs of respite with Iran despite Trump's red line
Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi claimed that Jammu and Kashmir has a "corruption-free" environment now after the politicians who kept their personal interests above that of the state have been sidelines. Further asserting that the newly turned Union Territory is now moving towards the path of development, which was previously disrupted due to corruption.

"It is good that Jammu and Kashmir are moving towards development. Corruption had hampered development in Kashmir in the past. Jammu and Kashmir have a corruption-free environment now. Politicians who used to keep personal interest over Kashmir's interest are now sidelined," the BJP leader told ANI.

Jammu and Kashmir have been put under a lockdown citing security concerns ever since the abrogation of Article 370 from the state and prominent mainstream leaders, including PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, NC vice president Omar Abdullah, JKPC president Sajad Lone, and others were detained in Jammu and Kashmir since then.

READ| 'Was pointing to Internet shutdown': Mumbai protester who held 'Free Kashmir' placard

A group of around 15 foreign envoys based in New Delhi will be taken to Jammu and Kashmir on January 9-10 to assess the first-hand the efforts taken by the government in the region. The decision was taken after some envoys based in the national capital requested to visit the region. ANI sources said that accordingly, a group of around 15 envoys -- from the United States, Maldives, Norway, Argentina, Niger, Togo, Vietnam, Bangladesh, South Korea, Peru, Morocco, among others -- who are based in Delhi, are being taken to the Union Territory.

They will meet civil society leaders and will be briefed on the security situation by the Army and intelligence services. Last year a delegation comprising members of the European Parliament had visited the Valley after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution which accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Farooq Abdullah detained

Farooq Abdullah's detention has been extended by another three months by the Jammu and Kashmir administration. The National Conference (NC) patron has been detained in his residence since August 05 under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA), after the BJP-led government revoked the special status from the state by scrapping Article 370. The three-term Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and Srinagar MP will be confined in his Srinagar residence, which is now declared as a sub-jail. Under the Public Safety Act, an individual can be detained for up to two years, without a trial. Incidentally, the act was introduced by Farooq Abdullah's father, Sheikh Abdullah in 1978.

The Opposition has been raising the prolonged detention of mainstream Kashmiri politicians in the Parliament. Home Minister Amit Shah in the Parliament claimed that it is the local administration that will decide the release of the detained politicians. In response to Congress leader Adhir Ranjan's query, Amit Shah in Lok Sabha said, "There is no need to keep anyone (leaders) in jail even for a day more than that is required. As and when the local administration feels the time is appropriate, they will be released," Amit Shah said. "There will be no interference from our side." Amit Shah, taking a dig at the Congress, accused the party of confining Farooq Abdullah's father Sheikh Abdullah in jail for 11 years.

READ| Farooq Abdullah's detention extended by J&K admin by 3 months under PSA: Officials

READ| Aaditya Thackeray defends 'Free Kashmir' placard, says 'Intent of poster unclear'
Members of Congress have serious, urgent concerns about the administrations decision to engage in hostilities against Iran and about its lack of strategy moving forward, Ms. Pelosi said in a statement. Our concerns were not addressed by the presidents insufficient War Powers Act notification and by the administrations briefing today.

The day after Iranian missile struck bases in Iraq where American troops are stationed, Republicans and Democrats in Congress split sharply over the presidents approach on Iran and the way forward. Amid back-to-back classified briefings by top administration officials for members of the House and Senate, most Republicans praised Mr. Trump effusively on Wednesday for targeting General Suleimani and for his restraint in responding to Irans action.

Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said the president had shown patience and prudence.

As a superpower, we have the capacity to exercise restraint and to respond at a time and place of our choosing, if need be, he said. I believe the president wants to avoid conflict or needless loss of life. But hes rightly prepared to protect American lives and interests.

But a couple of Republicans joined Democrats in raising grave questions about Mr. Trumps strategy, concerns that only sharpened after the briefings on Capitol Hill by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, and the C.I.A. director, Gina Haspel.
JNU students tried to march towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday protesting the violence on the university campus but were stopped and manhandled by police.



Several posts, pictures and videos on social media showed police personnel dragging and detaining students.

Delhi: Police detain protesters near Ambedkar Bhawan. They were marching towards Rashtrapati Bhavan demanding removal of the Jawaharlal Nehru University's Vice Chancellor following Jan 5 violence in the campus. https://t.co/9T6ruAZnf6 pic.twitter.com/mCMtGwi9Zl  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

Live footage on television news channels showed police personnel manhandling students, dragging, pushing and using force against them. Scores of students were forcefully detained and hoarded into police vans and buses.

Our leader @aishe_ghosh updates us - we will now march to Rashtrapati Bhavan to call on our Visitor, the President of India, to save his university and #VCHatao pic.twitter.com/KxC3iyrtjj  JNUSU (@JNUSUofficial) January 9, 2020

Several hundred students agitating over hostel fee hike took out a march to the HRD Ministry on Thursday. They were planning to march towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan, the residence of President of India, who is also the University's Visitor, when the police began the clampdown and detained several.

Some students have reported that they have been boxed in by police and not allowed to leave. Others have reported seeing some police manhandling women in hijabs. #VCHatao  JNUSU (@JNUSUofficial) January 9, 2020

There was a heavy presence of police personnel in the high-security area that houses several important government offices. The police had earlier blocked the gates of JNU to prevent the students and teachers from carrying out the march.

JNU students attempt to march towards Rashtrapati Bhavan to protest against Sunday's mob attack pic.twitter.com/pMr2tzUd7b  NDTV (@ndtv) January 9, 2020

Even as the police continues to clamp down on the students, their passive action last Sunday while some masked people brutally thrashed students remain fresh in the nations collective imagination. Armed with lathis, rods, stones and more, the masked goons went on a rampage and police have not only been accused of inaction but also providing a safe passage to the goons.

Following a dialogue with MHRD officials, JNU students gave call to march to Rashtrapati Bhavan, to demand dismissal of VC from President. Police says it won't allow them to march. pic.twitter.com/ob6ddjIHsj  Kainat Sarfaraz. (@kainisms) January 9, 2020

Todays clampdown is again expected to anger students and further protests are likely to unfold as the night sets in. The police have refused to comment currently, and there is little clarity over the number of students detained by them so far, or where they are being taken.
Iran had carefully orchestrated its retaliatory response for maximum symbolism and emotional impact: The attack began around 1:20 a.m. Wednesday, correlated to the time that Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani was killed by an American drone strike last week.

The country launched more than 20 missiles, the barrage targeting two large military bases that house thousands of Iraqi and American servicemen and women.

Iranians rejoiced at the retaliation, saying it showed defiance and courage.

Its a proud day to be Iranian, said Amir, 42, of Tehran, in a telephone interview. He, like others, asked to be identified by first name only out of concern of being quoted in a foreign newspaper. Time for everyone to respect our power.

Omid Balaghati, a writer based in Tehran, posted on Twitter: Strong politicians need to have strong military men next to them, and this is the story today.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she is cancer free after successfully undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer in the summer.

At 86, Ginsburg is the oldest justice on the court and her health has long been the subject of speculation due to its potential impact on the courts makeup.

The liberal justice has now beaten cancer for the fourth time.

Im cancer free. Thats good, she told CNN on Wednesday.

The network said Ginsburg was sounding energized and speaking animatedly when she gave the interview.

In November, Ginsburg was released from hospital in Baltimore after being admitted for chills and fever.

Ginsburg had received treatment including antibiotics and fluids, which led to an abatement of her symptoms.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (center) said on Wednesday that she is 'cancer free'. She is seen above standing between former Pennsylvania state senator Constance Williams (left) and NPR journalist Nina Totenberg (right) in Philadelphia last month

Her health is closely watched because a Supreme Court vacancy would give President Donald Trump the opportunity to appoint a third justice to the nine-member court and shift it further to the right.

The court's 5-4 conservative majority includes two justices named by Trump - Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

Ginsburg gave herself a clean bill of health just as the court is expected to rule on major issues in the first half of 2020.

Later this month, the court will hear arguments in Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue.

Last year, Montana's top court struck down a law granting a state tax credit that could help students attend private schools including religious ones.

The justices took up an appeal by three mothers of Christian private school students of a decision by Montanas top court striking down the program because it ran afoul of a state constitutional ban on aid to religious institutions.

Ginsburg's health is closely watched because another Supreme Court vacancy would give President Donald Trump the opportunity to appoint a third justice to the nine-member court and move it further to the right. She is pictured above at the Supreme Court in November 2018

Churches and Christian groups have pushed for expanding access to public dollars for places of worship and religious schools, testing the limits of secularism in the United States.

In early March, the court will also hear a challenge to a Louisiana law that required doctors performing abortions to have 'admitting privileges' at a nearby hospital.

If the law is enacted, it could leave just one functioning abortion clinic in the entire state of Louisiana.

Also in March, the court will hear arguments over whether state and federal investigators could gain access to Trump's financial records.

Decisions are also expected in blockbuster cases involving the future of the Affordable Care Act as well as the DACA program for the children of undocumented migrants.

Ginsburg has had four occurrences of cancer, including two in the past 14 months.

She had lung cancer surgery in December 2018 and received radiation treatment for a tumor on her pancreas in August.

Ginsburg had previously been treated for pancreatic cancer in 2009 and colon cancer in 1999.

The oldest justice on the court, Ginsburg was appointed in 1993 by Democratic President Bill Clinton.

The court is scheduled to hear several blockbuster cases in 2020, including the future of the Affordable Care Act, DACA, and President Trump's tax returns. From left to right, second row: Neil Gorsuch, Sonia Sotomayor; Elena Kagan; and Brett Kavanaugh. From left to right, first row: Stephen Breyer; Clarence Thomas; John Roberts, Ginsburg, and Samuel Alito

Ginsburg spent the early part of her career as a professor at the Rutgers University law school in New Jersey and at Columbia University law school.

She started the American Civil Liberties Union's Women's Rights Project in the 1970s.

Before the high court, she served as a federal appeals court judge in Washington DC for 13 years.

Her most recent diagnosis did little to derail her active public speaking schedule though, as she decided to embark on a multi-state tour.

'This latest has been my fourth cancer battle and I found each time that when I'm active, I'm much better than if I'm just lying about and feeling sorry for myself,' she said in September, in New York, at an event hosted by Moment Magazine.

'It's a necessity to get up and go, it's stimulating, and somehow all these appearances that I've had since the end of August whatever my temporary disability is, it stops and I'm OK for the time of the event.'
The US Army is warning Americans about a wave of 'fraudulent text messages' falsely telling Americans they have been drafted into military service.

The fake texts instruct the recipient to report to the nearest Army recruiting branch 'for immediate departure to Iran,' and warn about multiple attempts to contact recipients, in at least one case warning 'you'll be fined and sent to jail for minimum 6 years if no reply.'

The messages appear to have been sent to individuals nationwide amid mounting military tensions between Washington and Tehran. The Pentagon said last week following the US airstrike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani that it is deploying thousands of additional troops to the Middle East, catching military families off guard.

Screenshots of the texts provided by US Army Recruiting Command to CNN showed spelling and grammatical errors, indicating they were not official correspondence. Some of the fake texts used real names of Army recruiting commanders -- while others used fictitious names -- lending the false appearance of authenticity, said Kelli Bland, a spokeswoman for the US Army Recruiting Command.

It is unclear how many of these fake recruiting texts may have been sent, and Army security officials are still investigating the source, said Bland. So far there have been no reports of Americans showing up to recruiting branches as a result of the texts.

US military conscription was suspended in the 1970s. To resume the draft, Congress would need to enact legislation, according to the Selective Service System, the independent agency that would manage the draft in an emergency.

Last week, the Selective Service website crashed amid heightened searches, which the agency attributed to 'the spread of misinformation' about the potential for a draft following the US strike.

'The Selective Service System is conducting business as usual,' the agency said on its official Facebook page.

The fake messages could become the first test of a new law that aims to cut down on spammy texts and robocalls. Under the Pallone-Thune TRACED Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law last week, government regulators can go after robo-texters and seek fines of up to $10,000 per violation, said an aide to Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey, a key architect of the legislation.

Markey was also one of the original co-authors of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. That law would also potentially cover the fake texts if they were sent using an automatic dialer and without the recipients' consent, according to the Federal Communications Commission in a statement.

If the texts are coming from a spoofed phone number -- meaning the sender is impersonating somebody else -- the texts may violate the Truth in Caller ID Act, the FCC added.

The TRACED Act also newly authorizes telecom carriers to trace back fraudulent texts to their source, and the perpetrators could also be sued under state or federal fraud laws, said a Democratic aide to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which helped craft the bill.
Donald Trump is no fool.

The U.S. president created the Iran crisis to divert attention from his impeachment.

And then he defused it by exercising uncharacteristic restraint.

As a result, he has once again absorbed all the publics attention by managing to redefine the issues of the day in his own terms.

At the heart of the Iran crisis is Trumps decision to renege on the nuclear deal hammered out by his predecessor, Barack Obama.

People can legitimately debate the pros and cons of that deal. But Trumps decision to unilaterally reimpose brutal economic sanctions on Iran set the stage for everything that has happened since.

As both sides upped the pressure, it was only a matter of time until one of them went too far. That line was crossed last week when Trump ordered the assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

It was a reckless decision. But like much of Trumps actions, it was also politically canny.

He instinctively understands what makes Americans tick. This week, he has used this understanding to divert public attention away from impeachment, which threatens his political future, to war, which ironically does not.

Before Trump had Soleimani assassinated last week, debate in Washington centred on the presidents upcoming trial in the Senate.

Would witnesses be called to provide evidence of his alleged high crimes and misdemeanours? Would the trial hurt Trumps chances in Novembers presidential election?

Now, debate focuses on war with Iran. Was Trumps order to kill Soleimani justified? Did the senior Iranian official pose an imminent threat to the U.S. or merely, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put it, an inevitable one?

The president has kept the pot boiling by threatening, out of the blue, to bomb Iranian cultural sites should hostilities escalate. Given that wanton destruction of cultural sites is banned by The Hague Convention of 1954, this has led critics to accuse him of contemplating war crimes. And that, in turn, has allowed Trump to focus on hypothetical issues (if he did bomb cultural sites would that be more criminal than, say, Irans possible use of roadside bombs to kill U.S. soldiers?)

The Iran diversion came to a boil Tuesday night. Would Trump retaliate against Iran for its missile strikes on American bases in Iraq? Or, with a wink and a nudge, would he accept the strikes for what they were  a form of theatre designed to let the Iranian regime save face.

As it turned out, Trump  an old showman himself  chose to take it as theatre.

Some analysts argue that Trumps reckless warmongering is yet another reason to remove the impeached president from office.

Logically, they are correct. There are few crimes worse than risking unnecessary war. But politically, this is a difficult case to make in the U.S.

When war threatens, Americans tend to rally behind their president  at least in the beginning. Thats why Congress has been unable to rein in presidents who use dubious legal justification to make war, including Obama and George W. Bush.

Until the body bags start coming home, Americans approve of tough-guy presidents. Trump knows this. He also knows that fevered attacks from the usual suspects only enhance his stature in middle America.

And so he rants and rages. He vows to destroy 52 sites in Iran should that country dare retaliate for the murder of Soleimani.

But when it does retaliate, he shrugs and says things could have been worse. He is a war monger who, at the crucial moment, declines to pull the trigger. In this, he is the kind of president many Americans want.

Forgotten is the fact that he murdered a senior official of a country with which the U.S. is not at war. Forgotten is the fact that Soleimanis militias were important U.S. allies in the war against ISIS.

And so the world lurches in and out of crisis. Can the reason really be, as would-be Democratic presidential contender Elizabeth Warren suggested this week, that such a crisis suits Trumps political agenda? Could his motives be that crass?

You bet they could be.

Thomas Walkom is a Toronto-based freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Reach him via email: is a Toronto-based freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Reach him via email: walkomtom@gmail.com

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John Griffin purchased a lifetime membership to access Continental Airlines airport lounges in the late 1980s  after the airline emerged from bankruptcy in 1983 and before it entered another bankruptcy in 1990.

Spending a few hundred dollars on the membership, Griffin, now 64, a civil rights lawyer who lives in Victoria, took a chance on the struggling airline in his backyard. Hes since logged nearly 1.8 million miles with Houston-based Continental and later Chicago-based United Airlines, which merged with Continental in 2010.

But a new policy has Griffin questioning how much United appreciates those who supported the airline at its lower points. On Nov. 1, United Club lounges started requiring both a membership (or one-time pass) and a same-day boarding ticket on United or a partner airline. It previously did not require members to be flying United on that day to access its clubs, a change that has some loyal customers feeling spurned and misled.

For those few people who bet on the carrier and who support the carrier, they ought not be denied admittance to the club simply because they couldnt fly their preferred airline to a destination or the flights were full on United and they were forced to fly a different carrier, Griffin said. I dont think theres anything to be gained by kicking sand on the shoes of those lifetime members who have been so supportive of the airline.

On HoustonChronicle.com: United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz to become executive chairman

This new policy has lifetime members wistful  again  for the good ol days of Continental, which is storied for its turnaround, going from worst to first and becoming a point of pride for many Houstonians. Continental loyalists spent years complaining about the combined airlines poor customer service and new headquarters in Chicago. United CEO Oscar Munoz, who will step down as CEO and become executive chairman in May 2020, has been largely successful in improving this relationship with customers.

Thats why this new policy is jarring.

Im sort of surprised because Oscar has been one trying to set United above American and Delta in terms of customer service, Griffin said, especially for long-time flyers and business customers.

Delta Air Lines and American Airlines have enacted similar policies requiring a same-day boarding pass for admittance into clubs they operate, but unlike United, these airlines have exempted lifetime members from the restrictions.

United said the new policy aims to ensure adequate seating for people flying that day on United or its partners within the Star Alliance, a global group of airlines that work together to offer smooth connections around the world. United has about 520 daily departures out of Houston and five United Club locations at Bush Intercontinental Airport.

The decision to make this change was not one that was made easily or taken lightly, said Alexander Dorow, Uniteds managing director of premium services and hospitality. We never want any of our customers, especially our most loyal customers, to feel alienated.

Crowded lounges

Airport lounges started as niche, invitation only areas. Then they were opened to first class travelers and frequent flyers, said Henry Harteveldt, founder of Atmosphere Research Group, a travel industry research company in San Francisco.

But today, these lounges are much easier to access  and often overcrowded. Travelers can enter with certain credit cards, frequent flyer program benefits, partner airlines or by purchasing a membership.

Theres just more demand for the lounges than the airlines can handle, Harteveldt said.

Harteveldt, both an analyst and United lifetime member, sees the situation from both perspectives. Ultimately, he said United is a business and has the right to operate its lounges in a way that encourages travelers to fly United or its partner airlines.

With upgrades made to public spaces in airport terminals, Harteveldt said, lounges arent necessarily the only areas where travelers can find some comfort or do some work. Better food, more comfortable chairs and WiFi are now common near the gates.

At Bush Intercontinental Airport, for instance, United Airlines invested $277 million to build the 265,000-square-foot Terminal C North concourse that opened in 2017. OTG, which oversees the food, beverage and retail operations for United at Bush Intercontinental Airport, separately invested more than $120 million to improve Terminals C, E and B South. These terminals now feature local restaurants, and Terminals C and E have iPads the public can use to order food or play games.

On HoustonChronicle.com: United, IAH show off new Terminal C North

Its no longer an unpleasant experience to sit for your flight in a concourse if you dont have access to a lounge, Harteveldt said. And in some cases, having been to these airport clubs when theyre jammed to the gills, theyre not necessarily always pleasant.

Gary Leff, the author of travel website viewfromthewing.com, said he believes the policy is directed less at easing crowding  as only a small subset of members are in Uniteds lounges but flying different airlines  and more for inspiring loyalty.

They dont want to make it easier for you to fly Delta or Southwest, Leff said. They want you to stick with United.

Frequent users

Lifetime memberships for accessing United Clubs havent been sold since the early 2000s. And while its not an especially large group of travelers (United wouldnt give an exact number), Dorow said lifetime members tend to use airport lounges more than other travelers and often bring guests with them.

When you factor in all of those things, he said, then its actually a much larger impact than somebody might believe.

He said the airline, which notified members of the change a year before it went into effect, is grateful for these travelers loyalty and urged them to consider value added to their membership over the years. Both airlines grew significantly since the memberships were purchased, offering a broader route network and more lounge locations. Members can access more than 1,000 lounges around the world through United Clubs and Star Alliance partnerships.

Dorow said the airline is continuing to examine how it can improve the lounge experience while also accommodating an influx of passengers as United adds more flights and destinations. United is opening new clubs, placing them in better locations within airports and providing new food and beverage options.

When these (lifetime memberships) were purchased it was very minimal, Dorow said. It was truly a private room with chairs, and now (United Clubs) are intended to be more of a destination.

Removed from the hubbub

Walter Conrad, who lives in west Houston, likes how lounges allow him to escape the hubbub of airport terminals. Conrad, 80, purchased a Continental lifetime membership in the 1990s

He was caught off guard in September while flying an airline other than United. He visited a lounge during his layover and was told thatd no longer be permitted starting in November.

This contradicted a brochure Conrad received in 2011 after the airlines merged. The brochure, which he still has, says in bold print: Best of all, your current club membership card will continue to work just as it always has.

Conrad, a retired attorney who practiced law for 40 years in Houston, emailed United seeking more information. Not receiving a response, Conrad called Uniteds customer service and was routed to several different people who said he should contact corporate headquarters. So Conrad sent a letter using Certified Mail to Munoz on Nov. 4. He requested a copy of written documentation from when he purchased this lifetime membership that details Uniteds right to restrict access to lounges.

On HoustonChronicle.com: IAH to break ground on expanded international terminal

He remains optimistic that United will contact him. But if this situation isnt resolved, Conrad said he will consider flying another airline on routes that require a connection.

United has refused to honor what they sold me several decades ago, Conrad said, and I think thats a wrong, unreasonable action.

Griffin, who drives to Houston for his flights or takes a commuter airline from Victoria to Houston and then onward, said he, too, will rethink flying United if his lifetime membership isnt honored. He doesnt understand why United is remaining stubborn on this point. How much longer will there be lifetime members, anyway?

Were not going to live forever, he said. There are going to be fewer and fewer of those lifetimers.

andrea.leinfelder@chron.com

Twitter.com/a_leinfelder
Scientists have developed a new way to understand complex genetic diseases and have identified a gene that modifies the severity of inherited kidney disease, paving the way for personalised treatments.

Experts at Newcastle University, UK, have shown that the rate of kidney disease in people with Joubert syndrome is determined by the genetic makeup of the individual and each patient may respond differently to treatment.

Joubert syndrome is a complex disorder, affecting approximately one in 80,000 newborns, causing varying degrees of physical, mental and sometimes visual impairments. It is often associated with severe kidney disease that requires dialysis and ultimately transplantation.

The study, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first time that an explanation has been given for the difference of disease progression in Joubert syndrome patients.

Significant breakthrough

The Newcastle research has identified a second gene called BSND - a 'modifier gene' - which determines the severity of kidney disease in patients with CEP290 mutations of Joubert syndrome.

It has been assumed that these modifier genes exist, but they have never been found before in rare genetic conditions until now.

Professor John Sayer and Dr Colin Miles, from the Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Newcastle University, led the Medical Research Council-funded research.

Professor Sayer said: "We have shown, using mouse and human DNA samples, that BSND is a modifier gene for the severity of kidney disease in Joubert syndrome.

"This is the first time that a modifier gene for inherited kidney disease has been identified, and this information will improve diagnoses and will be used to develop therapies to reduce the severity of kidney disease in affected patients.

"Our research is a major step forwards and, in the future, we may be able to offer a therapy that switches on the protective modifier gene and reduces the development of genetic kidney disease.

"This work paves the way towards personalised therapies in patients with the inherited kidney disease."

The international study used mouse models and DNA samples from patients with Joubert syndrome to progress the research.

Scientists used mouse models of disease and genetic manipulation to see how the kidney disease responded to modifier gene manipulation, cross-referenced with DNA sequencing data from patients around the world to prove the modifier gene was relevant in humans.

Challenging disease

Professor Sayer, a Consultant Nephrologist at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "The treatment of genetic kidney disease is challenging, as this requires both the correction of the underlying gene defect and the delivery of the treatment.

"We have shown that the kidney disease in a mouse can be dramatically changed by switching on or off a modifier gene.

"This will mean that we can use this information to carry out treatments, including genetic therapies, to lessen the effects of inherited kidney diseases, such as Joubert syndrome.

"We are testing these treatments further in our model systems before we move into patient studies."

Within the next three years, research will start to test treatment of patients with modifier genes in the hope of developing personalised treatment plans.

Patient story

Siblings Emma, 11, and Ben Buckley, eight, have Joubert syndrome and both developed kidney failure before the age of eight.

They were diagnosed with Joubert syndrome from a few months of age and both have required dialysis and a kidney transplant.

They suffer from a range of medical issues due to Joubert syndrome, including visual impairment, communication problems and developmental delay.

The two children, of Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, have been instrumental in helping further the research over the years, allowing the Newcastle scientists to study the mutation in detail.

Parents Leanne and Michael say they welcome the findings of the Newcastle University-led study as it will help to give patients a chance of preventing kidney failure in the future.

Leanne said: "It is very important that research is done into Joubert syndrome and the linked kidney damage, as this will hopefully prevent patients in the future needing a kidney transplant.

"All throughout Ben and Emma's lives, they have lived with the effects of Joubert syndrome and scientists found they had a problem with the CEP290 gene.

"Both Ben and Emma have needed dialysis and kidney transplants because of their kidney problems and I would like to hope this research will help prevent kidney failure for other affected children.

"We were happy for Ben and Emma to provide samples for the study as anything that helps further understanding into the condition is well worth doing, so it's great to see the study's positive results."

###

Reference

Mouse genetics reveals Barttin as a genetic modifier of Joubert syndrome

Simon Ramsbottom et al.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Doi:10.1073/pnas.1912602117/-/DCSupplemental
The Delhi High Court has put on hold the operation of a Delhi Medical Council order that had absolved doctors of Fortis Hospital at Shalimar Bagh here of medical negligence in relation to brain damage suffered by a baby born there.

Justice Navin Chawla also issued notice to the Delhi Medical Council (DMC), Medical Council of India (MCI) and Fortis Hospital seeking their stands on a plea moved on behalf of the two-year old toddler, who became mentally and physically disabled due to the brain haemorrhage suffered during delivery, and his mother, who have challenged the clean chit given to the doctors.

The petition, filed through advocate Sachin Jain, has claimed that DMC presided over the matter as an expert body despite not having the authority and converted it into disciplinary proceedings in which it held there was no medical negligence on the part of the doctors of the hospital.

The plea has alleged that DMC on August 13, 2019 "illegally passed an order to conclude that the records of the hospital show that standard medical protocols had been followed and therefore, there was no negligence on the part of the doctors".

"The DMC in its proceedings failed to make any opinion with respect to the injury caused to the infant, for which the matter was sent over to it for opinion," it said.

The petition has claimed that the hospital had "concealed" the brain haemorrhage suffered by the baby during the caesarean delivery and "the concealment deprived the infant of timely treatment due to which the injury got aggravated to an irreversible extent".

The plea has also contended that the "superficial exoneration" granted to the doctors and the hospital by the DMC has obstructed the investigation into the criminal complaint moved on behalf of the petitioners.

"The fact of brain injury was deceptively concealed by the hospital. Due to concealment of injury, the child remained under immense pain which was not known to the parents.

"Eventually the child developed a rare disease called West Syndrome which could be discovered after more than seven months of incident by way of MRI," Jain told the court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Read an excerpt from The Cases That India Forgot by constitutional expert Chintan Chandrachud which details ten impactful, dramatic legal cases, spanning from the 1950s to the present day, that have become erased from public memory.

In The Cases That India Forgot, constitutional expert Chintan Chandrachud details ten impactful, dramatic legal cases, spanning from the 1950s to the present day, that have become erased from public memory. Dividing the cases across four sections  Politics, Gender, Religion, National Security  he offers overviews of these cases in an easy to follow, lively narrative.

The following is an excerpt from the book's fifth chapter, 'RD Bajaj versus KPS Gill,' which discusses a case of sexual harassment that spanned seventeen years, and outlines the inherent challenge of providing justice through upholding laws fashioned after a Victorian sensibility of modesty.

This excerpt from The Cases That India Forgot, written by Chintan Chandrachud, has been reproduced here with kind permission from the publisher, Juggernaut Books.

***

On Wednesday, 27 July, 2005, senior civil servant Rupan Deol Bajajs quest for justice finally came to a close. The Supreme Court confirmed the conviction of KPS Gill, the supercop who ended the militancy and Khalistan separatist movement in Punjab, for slapping her on the bottom at a party in 1988. This was the culmination of a legal process that was neither swift nor easy. It involved no less than eight judgments over a period of seventeen years; decisions by several senior judges; complaints to bureaucrats, by bureaucrats, against bureaucrats; and claims of government secrecy and privilege. In the time that the case meandered from one court to the next, India had seen eighteen chief justices and nine prime ministers. And yet, the legacy of this case remained highly contested.



On 18 July, 1988, Surrinder Lal Kapur  an IAS officer and a senior bureaucrat in the Punjab government  hosted a dinner party at his home in Sector 16, Chandigarh. Kapur was known for throwing lively parties, with an abundance of alcohol, that were frequented by the citys elites. This one was no different, with a guest list that included twenty-five of the most senior bureaucrats, police officers and lawyers in the city, many of whom were accompanied by their spouses. The joint director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), the inspector general of the Chandigarh Police and the advocate general of Punjab were all present that evening. In the recent past, the government of Punjab had developed a strategy of cultivating the media for better press, in order to secure more favourable coverage of its response to the separatist movement. In step with this strategy, Kapur had also invited a group of journalists (including from the Hindustan Times, the Indian Express, the Press Trust of India and India Today) to the party.

Among the most high-profile attendees that evening was KPS Gill, director general of the Punjab Police. Gill had acquired the reputation of being an uncompromising and ruthless police officer, and was tasked with addressing the widespread violence in the state. As one scholar noted, Gill offered the terrorists a stark choice: they could either die for their idea of God, or live for themselves. There was no third option. He had just come off a resounding success in Operation Black Thunder, in which a large group of terrorists was cleared from the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Rupan Deol Bajaj and her husband BR Bajaj, both senior IAS officers of the Punjab cadre, arrived at the Kapur residence at about 9 pm. The guests were seated in the lawn at the back of the house. As was customary, cane chairs were arranged to form two semicircles facing one another  the men would sit in one of the semicircles and the women in the other. About an hour later, Gill walked over to the womens semicircle, and occupied a vacant chair about five to six seats away from Mrs Bajaj. Many of the women seated around Gill happened to be rising from their seats and entering the house around that time. Gill called out to Bajaj, and asked her to sit on the vacant chair next to him. He pulled the chair closer to his as Bajaj was about to sit down. Bajaj pulled the chair back to its original position, but Gill repeated the gesture. Realizing that something was very wrong, Bajaj returned to her original seat between two women in the semicircle.

A few minutes later, Gill approached and stood directly in front of Bajaj  so close that his legs were about four inches from her knees. Crooking his finger, he demanded that she stand up and come along with him. By this time, the other women in the semicircle were shocked and speechless. Bajaj responded, Mr Gill, how dare you! You are behaving in an obnoxious manner, go away from here. When Gill persisted with his request, Bajaj pulled her chair back, creating enough room to exit between her chair and the chair of one of the women sitting next to her (who was Mrs Bijlani, the wife of the managing director of a company that manufactured machinery). As Bajaj rose from her chair and turned to leave, Gill slapped her on the bottom.

Bajaj was furious and determined not to let this pass. Her initial response was to approach her host Kapur, who was standing on a paved platform adjacent to the lawn. Unrepentant, Gill followed Bajaj on her way to speak to Kapur. She told Kapur that Gill was not fit for decent company, that he had misbehaved with her, and that he had gone to the extent of hitting her. Together with another guest, Kapur then physically escorted Gill away from the lawn and into the house. Bajaj also narrated the incident to GC Pathak, the joint director of the Intelligence Bureau, who was standing by. Pathak promised that he had made a note of this incident and would report it to the relevant authorities within the central government.

Bajaj was congratulated by the other women for her fortitude in dealing with Gills conduct. When she informed her husband about what had happened, his instinct was to pursue Gill at that moment. She restrained him from doing so, particularly since members of the press were present. Bajaj later recounted that as they were leaving, she overheard one of the other guests deplore Gills behaviour from that evening: This man made me feel like vomiting. Even as many of the guests left the party with a bad taste in their mouth, most of them would have expected that what happened at the Kapur residence would stay in the Kapur residence. There was a tacit understanding that these elite gatherings were meant to be closed to the outside world, misbehaviour or not.

Bajaj had other ideas. She was determined on seeing Gill reprimanded for his misconduct. Since they were both members of the civil service, Bajaj thought that disciplinary action against Gill by the government (rather than criminal proceedings) would be the swiftest and most effective response. She approached RP Ojha, chief secretary of Punjab and blue eyed boy to Governor SS Ray. Ojhas response was unsympathetic: Rupan, these things keep happening. You are not diminished. Consider yourself lucky, it could have been worse . . . She then approached Julio Ribeiro, Gills predecessor as director general of the Punjab Police. Ribeiro was now adviser to the governor. He took note as Bajaj recounted the events of that evening. He promised to share a draft of the note with her before sending it to the governor, to enable Bajaj to confirm that it was accurate. As it happens, the report was sent to the governor the next day without the draft being shared with Bajaj.
An undercover Houston police officer on Thursday shot a man who approached an unmarked pickup truck occupied by officers conducting surveillance, police said.

The man reached inside a backpack, saying "I've got something for you."

He was standing outside the pickup truck when one officer shot through the windshield, police said. The man is currently in surgery but is expected to survive.

Police said the officer believed the man was going to pull out a weapon, but no weapon was found on the scene. Police did not go into detail about the surveillance operation, but the wounded man did not appear to be a target for law enforcement.

POLICE SHOOTINGS: This is the third time this week that a Houston police officer has opened fire

The shooting happened in the 8000 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard near Bellfort Street, police said. The officer was working with the Houston Police Department's Crime Reduction Unit at the time of the shooting, according to HPD spokesperson Jodi Silva.

The man is the third person to have been shot by a Houston police officer this week.

On Monday, an off-duty sergeant shot an armed robbery suspect who allegedly pointed a gun at the officer. That man, later identified as 30-year-old Kenneth Jefferson, was later charged with aggravated assault of a public servant.

Then, on Wednesday night an off-duty HPD officer shopping in a Walmart near Humble foiled an armed robbery by shooting a man armed with a gun who was holding up the customer service desk.

Check back for updates as they come in.

Julian.gill@chron.com

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
Photo: The Canadian Press File photo shows former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn and his wife Carole.

Nissan's fugitive ex-boss Carlos Ghosn made his first public appearance since being smuggled out of Japan, saying Wednesday he fled a nightmare that would not end and vowed to defend his name wherever he can get a fair trial.

Ghosn spoke to a room packed with journalists for more than two hours in the Lebanese capital, where he arrived last week after jumping $14 million bail despite supposedly rigorous surveillance  a bold and improbable escape that embarrassed Japanese authorities and has allowed him to evade trial on charges of financial misconduct.

Combative, spirited, and at times rambling, he described conditions of detention in Japan that made him feel dead ... like an animal in a country where he asserted he had zero chance of a fair trial.

For the first time since this nightmare began, I can defend myself, speak freely and answer your questions, Ghosn said. I didn't run from justice, I left Japan because I wanted justice."

Japanese officials, who were quiet in the aftermath of his escape during a long holiday break, spoke out quickly after Ghosn's dramatic news conference. Chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said whether Ghosn would be extradited was Lebanon's decision but that Japan would co-operate closely with international organizations "so that Japans criminal justice system can be operated appropriately.

Justice Minister Masako Mori said Ghosn's comments about Japan's criminal justice system were unfounded and she wanted to prevent his spreading an erroneous understanding abroad. She said most of his criticisms were abstract, unclear of its intention, or baseless" and none of his claims can justify the fact he fled Japan illegally.

And Hiroto Saikawa, Ghosns successor at Nissan, told Japanese media that Ghosn's claim of a plotted coup against him does not make any sense. Saikawa resigned last year after allegations related to dubious income surfaced against him. He has not been charged.

With big gestures and a five-part slide presentation, Ghosn brought his case to the global media in a performance that at times resembled a corporate presentation. His one thought before fleeing, he said: You are going to die in Japan or you are going to get out.

But he made clear the question most on everyone's minds would remain unanswered: An account of the daring escape that saw him spirited from Japan to Turkey and from there to Beirut.

Media reports have said that he slipped out of his Tokyo residence alone, despite being under surveillance. He met two men at a hotel, and then took a bullet train to Osaka before boarding a private jet hidden inside a musical equipment case. He flew to Istanbul and was then transferred onto another plane bound for Beirut, where he arrived Dec. 30.

Ghosn said he knew the escape attempt would be "disastrous" if it didn't work. But there was a little chance I succeed. I played it, and I'm very happy for making that choice, he told French TF1 TV.

He described the decision to escape as the most difficult in his life, even though he said he was used to mission impossible.

He said he made up his mind when aside from denying him evidence, visits from his wife and holding him in solitary confinement for over 130 days the judges kept postponing his trial. His lawyers had hoped it would begin in April, but he was told it would be postponed again.

Ghosn portrayed his arrest in late 2018 as a plot linked to a decline in the financial performance of Nissan Motor Co. as the Japanese automaker resisted losing autonomy to French partner Renault. Ghosn had been in favour of an alliance between Nissan and industry ally Renault, of which he was also chairman. He denied Wednesday he was seeking a full merger.

Ghosn also attacked Japanese prosecutors, saying they were aided and abated by petty, vindictive and lawless individuals in the government, Nissan and its law firm. He said it was them, not him, who are destroying Japans reputation on the global stage.

He went on to dismiss all allegations of financial wrongdoing against him as untrue and baseless.

I should never have been arrested in the first place, he said. Im not above the law and I welcome the opportunity for the truth to come out and have my name cleared.
Australian GP boss Andrew Westacott has played down reports that bushfires could threaten the running of the 2020 season opener in March.

International media reports on Wednesday claimed Formula 1 authorities are "monitoring" the situation in Australia, where unprecedented bushfires are ravaging several states.

It is reported that in the Australian capital Canberra, which is 600 kilometres from Melbourne, the air quality is currently the worst in the entire world.

But Westacott, boss of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, played down the potential impact on Formula 1.

"Melbourne itself isn't impacted by the fires, they're very much to the east, 200 to 300 kilometres away at least," he told the PA Sport news agency.

"It's really centred upon the changing wind conditions that forces a degradation of air quality. But with the timing of our event two months away, we are treating it as business as usual," Westacott added.

(GMM)
At Encore Boston Harbor in Everett, security personnel turn away between 600 and 800 people with fake or invalid IDs each month and the new casino contends with very, very good fake IDs as it tries to keep minors off the gaming floor, company officials told regulators Thursday.

Between the casinos opening in late June and the end of September, more than 2,500 minors were prevented from entering the gaming floor and 128 minors -- about 5 percent -- got through and spent an average of one hour and 12 minutes on the gaming floor, which is restricted to people 21 or older.

We will continue to address the minors on the gaming floor at every level, EBH Vice President Jacqui Krum told commissioners as part of an update to the casinos last quarterly report.

Krum and EBH Executive Director of Security and Investigations Richard Prior said the casino has reduced the number of entrances to the gaming floor and is planning to install hardwired ID/passport scanners at each access point within the next 12 weeks.

In the most extreme case reported to the commission, a person younger than 21 got onto the gaming floor and was able to spend three and a half hours there before being removed. Krum said that was a case of table game dealers assuming patrons had already been ID checked on their way onto the floor and not checking IDs at each table.

Encore officials are expected to give the commission a fourth-quarter update on a whole host of issues within the next month, but Prior said the amount of time minors spend on the gaming floor before being removed has already taken a drastic turn down.

Sometimes what happens, the very short ones are people coming through past our security officers, they get up to the nightclubs where they have the hardwired VeriDoc machines that are better equipped to check and then they are immediately taken off the floor so there is no gaming and no drinking, Prior said. Thats the vast majority of the people that got on. The number of people that were actually gaming is very, very small.

He said that most of the 600 to 800 IDs rejected each month are either fakes -- which Krum said are very, very good fake IDs -- or belong to an of-age family member of the minor trying to use it. Krum said the commissions Gaming Enforcement Unit, which includes State Police, has been very helpful in helping us run down some of these fake IDs, which as Rich said, are very, very good fake IDs. Prior added, As you could imagine, the number of colleges in the area, underage ... we reject at least 600 to 800 IDs a month.

When the casino opened and before it installed stanchions at each gaming floor entrance, some minors were able to get onto the floor by hiding behind other people pushing strollers when passing security agents, Krum said.

When MGM Springfield opened in 2018, that casino dealt with a similar issue, leading MGM to implement a ban on unattended minors and a policy that considers anyone under the age of 16 to be an unattended minor. The casino also put in place a curfew of midnight, at which time only adults 21 or older are to be allowed into the facility.
Zhou Li (not his real name) was glad he escaped Nepal before the big Christmas Eve police raid.

A couple of days before the Nepali cops detained 122 Chinese nationals Dec. 24 for suspected involvement in financial crimes, Zhou fled to China from an online gaming company where he worked for about two weeks in Katmandu, the Nepali capital.

The employer, whose name Zhou declined to disclose out of safety concerns, was not on the list for the raid, but it carries out the same deceptive scheme as those that were hit. These businesses are suspected of using social media to con wealthy single or divorced Chinese women out of money.

In an exclusive interview with Caixin, Zhou, from Yueyang in central Chinas Hunan province, unveiled how an international fraud scheme played out.

Online chatting, air travel reimbursement, monthly salary of at least 10,000 yuan ($1,440) plus bonus. That was the offer that convinced Zhou, 23 and unemployed, and a friend to step on an airplane to Nepal. The friend said his relative worked at Amazon.coms customer call center in Japan. Zhou said he thought the job in Nepal would be similar.

Upon arrival at Kathmandu airport, Zhou and his friend were picked up by a local contact and settled at a hotel tucked away in a secluded alley. According to the location Zhou provided, the hotel is close to Boudhanath Stupa, a popular tourist site on the northeastern outskirts of Kathmandu.

The company recently relocated from the Philippines because of tightened scrutiny by authorities. It leased more than 10 rooms from the hotel to house employees. Three to four employees shared a room, and there were many bugs in the rooms, Zhou said. The company used a vacant street-level retailing space at the hotel as its office.

Zhou was told employees had to be accompanied by designated personnel whenever they went outside the hotel for safety reasons.

On his first day at work, Zhou was given a used laptop computer, a used cell phone and a prepaid phone card. He was also given a training document, which he finished reading in about half an hour. The document taught new recruits how to compile a fake profile, introduce themselves and chat with women on dating websites.

Most often-picked professions include construction labor contractor, business partner, building material wholesaler and restaurant owner, Zhou said. They were instructed to target single or divorced women on Chinese dating websites and then lure them into spending money playing online gambling games designed by the company.

The employees were assigned different roles in the boiler room operation. Some were responsible for recruiting people from their hometowns; some screened potential clients on dating sites; and those who could type fast were assigned five targets a day. New recruits like Zhou were assigned two each day. Anyone who successfully attracted clients to spend money on the gambling games could get a 20% commission.

Zhou started his routine at 4 a.m. every day, including sending morning greetings to his targets. Usually he would tell them he just finished jogging or had a meeting to attend, to create an image of a successful and busy businessman. Around noon, he would text the targets asking them what they had for lunch.

The key strategy was to learn the targets interests and establish a bond with them, Zhou said. Some of his more skilled colleagues could chat with a dozen women online simultaneously. After gaining the targets trust, they would claim they had inside information and could help the targets win money in online gambling. After taking the bait, the players would win the first few games under the gaming companys manipulation to lure them into betting more money.

Zhou heard that a colleague got a client to spend more than 800,000 yuan in two days. Most of the targets were women in their 40s and 50s who usually werent internet-savvy.

Southeast Asia bans drive companies to Nepal

Since the second half of 2019, many such online gambling companies, mostly operated by Chinese citizens, relocated to Nepal from Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia and the Philippines, pushed out by a ban on online gambling by Cambodia and a halt in new licenses for online gaming in the Philippines.

Nepal has a relatively relaxed legal and business environment for casino and online gambling operators. The country also grants 90-day visas on arrival to Chinese citizens to attract foreign tourists, making it convenient for online gambling operators to recruit people from China.

Some local Chinese residents in Nepal told Caixin they noticed that many young Chinese men appeared in Kathmandu since September, claiming they were in e-commerce or internet businesses. They usually rented a big villa as their office and employee dormitory. Some local residents complained that these people drove up rents.

One of the main sites in Decembers raid was an eight-story building on the northwest outskirts of Kathmandu. Local residents told Caixin that through windows they saw people working in front of computers. Not long before the arrest, the tenants spoke with the owner of a house across the street, offering 9,000 yuan a month, or four times the current rent.

The arrests were one of the biggest crackdowns on crime involving foreigners in the Himalayan country last year. But local residents said they think the raids hit only the tip of an iceberg. Nepali police said they are still closely monitoring about 800 suspected Chinese nationals.

We could not catch most of them as they might have run away, said Uttam Raj Subedi, chief of Nepal police in Kathmandu. We are still on high alert.

When Zhou told his boss his intention to quit, the company confiscated his passport and required that he pay back the flight ticket and his expenses in Nepal before returning it so he could leave. Zhou said he stole back his passport while others in the company were holding a party to welcome new recruits. He fled to the airport and took the cheapest flight back home, he said.

Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com)

Matrika Dahal at Kantipur National Daily and freelancer Bhadra Sharma contributed to this story.
WASHINGTON  When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a news conference this week in which he justified President Trumps order to kill Irans most powerful general, he also took the opportunity to criticize China twice: for its mass detentions of Muslims and for its repressive policies in Hong Kong.

China hit back immediately. It must be pointed out that the wars staged by the U.S. in the Middle East over the past years have caused countless Muslim casualties and displacement as well as turmoil in the region, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, said at a news conference in Beijing. As has been proven, it is precisely the U.S. that has infringed upon Muslim human rights.

Its attempts to sow discord between China and Islamic states are futile in the end, he added.

Mr. Trumps military strike on the Iranian general and other aggressive actions against Tehran gave China ammunition to undermine the administrations main line of critique on Beijings human rights record. And they have allowed China, the United States greatest rival for global influence, to raise the specter of the Iraq war, which, by one count, left 200,000 civilians or more dead and is considered by many Americans to be Washingtons greatest foreign policy disaster of the post-Vietnam era.

Beijing also stresses that it was Mr. Trump who destabilized the Middle East by withdrawing in May 2018 from a landmark nuclear deal that Iran had reached with six world powers, including China and the United States, and reimposing sanctions on Tehran. China is Irans biggest buyer of oil.
U.S. President Donald Trump took a tough line in his address to the nation Jan. 8 in response to the Iranian airstrikes on two U.S. bases in Iraq, writes Klaus W. Larres.

Trump announced that he would impose more sanctions on Iran. He said he believed that Iran would not resort to further aggressive action for the time being.

He blamed his predecessor President Barack Obama for having concluded the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and for having dealt too gently with the country.

Trump also extolled U.S. military power, which he claimed had been much improved during his presidency. He said he would not hesitate to make use of this awesome technology, if necessary.

Our missiles are big and powerful and accurate  and lethal, he said.

Trump also announced that the U.S. did not wish to use these powerful weapons if Iran started to behave in a more reasonable way in the region.

But Trumps address wasnt entirely directed at audiences in the United States and Iran.

Allies muted response

Trump was also speaking to Americas European allies.

As an international relations scholar and practitioner of diplomacy, I dont think many of them were pleased to hear Trumps announcement that he would ask NATO  the 29-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization  to get more involved in the Middle East.

In particular, Trump encouraged NATO members the U.K., France and Germany  and also China and Russia  to change their policy and finally give up on the 2015 nuclear agreement negotiated by the Obama administration, but abandoned by Trump.

Reactions in Berlin and London have been muted, though so far none of the NATO allies has dared to openly criticize the presidents speech.

Perhaps that is because Trumps touchiness about any criticism is well-known.

Trumps suggestion that the NATO countries get more involved than they already are in the Middle East flies in the face of his longtime disparagement of the alliance.

German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer joins German troops in Camp Stefan, Erbil, Iraq, in August 2019. Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images.

Fighting the Islamic State

German troops have been in Iraq since late 2015 to train Iraqi security forces in the fight against the Islamic State group. These troops are not meant to fight in the region.

After the killing of top Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani, the Germans withdrew to Kuwait some of their 120 troops stationed in Iraq.

The Germans also announced that they may shift their remaining forces to Jordan or other safer areas.

Germany believes that saving the nuclear deal is still the only realistic way to engage with Iran and prevent Iran from restarting its nuclear weapons program.

Trumps speech was also most likely viewed skeptically in London.

The British have 1,400 troops in Iraq and Syria for both training purposes and for fighting the Islamic State.

They are uneasy about the increased danger to their military personnel since Trumps airstrike on Soleimani which was not coordinated with London or NATO headquarters.

London also believes that the 2015 nuclear deal ought to be given another chance. Re-engagement with Iran rather than pursuing a war path is also the conviction in the U.K..

In fact this continues to be the shared view of diplomats from the U.K., Germany, France, China and Russia.

Despite his calls for U.S. allies to join ranks in the Middle East, President Trump remains the odd one out.

This article was written by Klaus W. Larres of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was originally published on The Conversation.

This article is republished from theconversation.com under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here.
Filipino policemen try to control a crowd of devotees during the Black Nazarene to mark its feast day in Manila, Philippines, 09 January 2020. EPA-EFE/FRANCIS R. MALASIG

MANILA, Philippines  Malacanang on Thursday defended the strict security measures imposed by the Philippine National Police (PNP) for this years Traslacion in Manila.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the stringent measures were enforced to ensure the safety and security of Catholic devotees participating in the annual event.

The PNP has to undertake measures that will provide for the safety of those devotees, it may be strict but the goal is protect them from any harm, he said in a Palace briefing.

Panelo made the statement in reaction to criticisms and frustrations expressed by some devotees and netizens over the increased police deployment during the procession.

During the procession, policemen formed a so-called Andas wall, which consists of hundreds of cops guarding the andas (carriage) from devotees.

Polices move to set up barbed wires of the beams of the Ayala bridge, and the placement of container vans along some parts of the Traslacion route also drew mixed reactions.

The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) earlier explained the installation of barbed wires on the bridges beams is to prevent devotees from scaling its frames.

This years Traslacion took a shorter and slightly different route through the Ayala bridge instead of Jones bridge which has been used for years.

More than 13,000 policemen were deployed to secure the event.  RRD (with details from Correspondent Rosalie Coz)

The post Palace defends PNPs security measures for Traslacion 2020 appeared first on UNTV News.
Australia's energy market operator has likened the impact of this summer's catastrophic bushfire season to New York's Hurricane Sandy in 2012, saying the crisis exposes the frailty of the grid and must be a wake-up call for urgent investment.

Days after rolling blackouts were narrowly avoided when bushfires took out the vital electricity link connecting Victoria and New South Wales and another joining NSW to Queensland, chief executive of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) Audrey Zibelman said this summer was underscoring the need to better integrate the east-coast grid through transmission upgrade projects.

AEMO is warning of 'multiple' risks to transmission lines as bushfires worsen. Credit:Paul Jones

Ms Zibelman said a series of proposed transmission upgrades and interconnectors joining state grids in dispersed locations would strengthen system-wide resilience against "predictable but uncontrollable" threats such as bushfires by ensuring stable electricity supply in the event one link was knocked out of service.

She called on state and federal government leaders to "eliminate the risk of delay" in rolling out the new interstate links, particularly those that have been previously committed to and are considered "actionable".
The Old Weird America programs continue Thursday evenings at the Northside Library, with tonights program on Jack Parsons.

Local historian Cathy Polovina  who started the free series in June of 2018  will share the story of Parsons in a presentation she calls Sex Magic and Rocket Science.

Polovina told the Kenosha News last spring that colorful topics, including tales of moon hoaxes, extreme hoarders and a lonely doll, have proven popular with local participants. With a title including the words sex magic, this program fits the Old Weird America profile.

Parsons, Polovina said, was the genius behind the development of Americas rocket program  who also happened to believe he had conjured the woman of his dreams through an ancient magic spell.

The free program is 6 to 7 this evening (Jan. 9) at the Northside Library, 1500 27th Ave.

Upcoming Old Weird America programs, which look a bit closer at a variety of adventurous, innovative and unusual characters throughout American history, include:

6 to 7 p.m. Feb. 13: Peyton Place: The Scandalous Book that Captivated America.

In 1956, a lurid and gripping tale of murder, incest, hypocrisy and unchecked female desire in a small New England town became the literary sensation of the century. Likewise, its author Grace Metalious, a young mother and housewife, incited an uproar with her unapologetic attitude and unconventional opinions. Come learn why filmmaker John Waters said, When I read Peyton Place at 10 years old, I knew the world around me was a lie.

6 to 7 p.m. March 12: Power, Femininity and the Story of Wonder Woman.

The brainchild of Harvard-education psychologist William Moulton Marston, superheroine Wonder Woman emerged just in time to help defeat the Axis powers in World War II. Marston described his creation as a role model for the kids of women who should rule the world.

6 to 7 p.m. April 9: P.T. Barnum  Americas Premier Purveyor of Humbug.

Showman P.T. Barnum was a master promoter of some of the weirdest oddities to be found in 19th century America. A philanthropist and progressive politician later in life, he built his reputation upon the exploitation of unfortunate human specimens such as the dwarf Tom Thumb and outright hoaxes like the Fiji Mermaid.

6 to 7 p.m. May 14: The Marx Brothers  Kings of Comic Anarchy. One of the greatest comedy teams of all time, the Marx Brothers used rapid-fire wisecracks and antic slapstick. They honed their distinctive characters in vaudeville and Broadway, graduating to radio, film and television as the times changed. At once satirical and surreal, the antics of Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo defy explanation  but that wont stop me from trying, Polovina said.

All these programs are free and open to the public. For more information, call 262-564-6100.

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STAMFORD, Conn. - The estranged husband of a missing Connecticut mother of five who is presumed dead posted $6 million bail Thursday on charges he murdered her.

Fotis Dulos did not speak to reporters as he left court in Stamford, Connecticut. He got into into an SUV to return to his Farmington house, where he will be confined under GPS monitoring.

Dulos, 52, of Farmington, was arrested on murder and kidnapping charges Tuesday in connection with what authorities say was the killing of Jennifer Dulos, of New Canaan, who hasnt been seen since she dropped her children off at school on May 24. He denies any involvement in her disappearance or death.

Fotis Dulos former girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, who was charged with conspiracy to commit murder Tuesday, also was expected to be released Thursday after posting $1.5 million bail. She is also under the same house arrest and GPS monitoring conditions.

A third person, attorney Kent Mawhinney, a friend of Fotis Dulos, also was charged with murder conspiracy and remained detained on $2 million bail.

Troconis and Mawhinney are accused of helping Fotis Dulos cover up the killing, including drawing up bogus alibis.

In Connecticut, criminal defendants can post bail over $5,000 by paying 7% of the bail to a bail bondsman, which would amount to about $420,000 for Fotis Dulos and about $105,000 for Troconis.

State police alleged Fotis Dulos attacked Jennifer Dulos at her New Canaan home after she dropped their five children off at school. The estranged couple were in the middle of a contentious divorce and child custody proceedings at the time.

Hinting at a possible motive, police said Fotis Dulos was $7 million in debt and would have had access to the childrens trust funds if Jennifer Dulos died. Authorities cited circumstantial evidence, including DNA testing and surveillance camera footage, in arrest warrants.

Fotis Dulos and Troconis were previously charged with evidence tampering and hindering prosecution in connection with Jennifer Dulos disappearance and pleaded not guilty.
MBK Partners partner Lee In-kyung, left, Unison Capital partner Shin Sun-wha / Courtesy of each firm



By Park Jae-hyuk



Female executives have emerged as key decision makers in the nation's private equity firms (PEFs), breaking the glass ceiling that has barred them from getting involved in important deals, according to industry officials, Tuesday.



MBK Partners appointed chief financial officer Lee In-kyung, as a new partner Jan. 1, who will participate in important decision making as a member of its investment committee.



Each partner of the country's leading homegrown PEF wields strong influence over the company's decisions, because MBK makes its investments based on unanimous approval.



Lee, a graduate of Seoul National University's Department of Economics, joined MBK in 2006, after working for Deloitte Anjin and Morgan Stanley Properties Korea.



According to MBK, she has served as the head of investor relations and contributed to the company by solidifying its status as a top-class PEF in Asia with a world-best governance structure and ability in risk management.



"Diversity is necessary for the financial sector that needs a multifaceted approach," MBK Partners Chairman Kim Byung-ju said. "The appointment of Lee as a partner is meaningful as it shows the expertise, maturity and openness of the Korean capital market."



Female executives were rarely seen in the nation's PEFs until a few years ago, because the overall investment procedure including deal sourcing, fundraising and exiting is quite tough, and personal networks are essential for deal-making.



Back then, most women in PEFs managed their companies' investment portfolios; and global firms were no exceptions.



According to a Bloomberg article, women filled only 8 percent of senior investment roles globally at the 10 largest firms that use debt to buy companies.



The article said only one or two women were present in top positions on the buyout investment teams of most firms, which are generally made up of dozens of executives.



Diversification of their investment portfolios, however, has raised awareness about the importance of female workers, who have been more focused than men when making investments in media content and consumer goods, such as cosmetics, food and beverages.



Unison Capital partner Shin Sun-wha, for example, led the entire process of her company's investments in the Gong Cha milk tea franchise, enabling her company to earn a 300 billion won ($257 million) profit when it sold the franchise to TA Associates in August.



Shin, who joined Unison in 2014 after working at McKinsey & Company and Goldman Sachs, also made a successful exit from Gourmet F&B Korea in 2017, after doubling its enterprise value within a year.



IMM Private Equity executive director Kim Eu-gene is another example as she led the PEF's investments into Hollys F&B in 2013.



Kim, who joined IMM in 2009 after working at the Boston Consulting Group, serves as the coffeehouse chain's CEO.



The other female dealmakers in the country's PEFs include Baring Private Equity Asia principal Yeon Da-yea, Well to Sea Investment executive director Lee Nam-ryung, Macquarie Korea Opportunities Management managing director Lee Soo-jin and EastBridge Partners managing director Park Eun-joon.


MEDFORD, Ore.  A trio of United Methodist churches in Southern Oregon are declaring their intent to stand with the LGBTQ+ community as the denomination grows ever nearer to an irrevocable schism.

"United Methodists in Southern Oregon had hoped for a future where the church could be united in its acceptance and welcome of LGBTQIA+ people," the three local churches said in a statement. "The United Methodist Churches in Ashland, Grants Pass, and Medford stand united in proclaiming welcome to LGBTQIA+ people in the life, ministry, and leadership of their congregations."

The split has been coming since at least February of 2019, when an international conference of the United Methodist Church met to vote on banning or keeping same-sex weddings and allowing for gay clergy members. The denomination, in all, boasts almost 13 million members across the globe.

While parts of the church  particularly in the U.S.  has been increasingly socially progressive and accepting of the gay community, a majority of the international church voted in support of the bans. The issue immediately became a heartbreaking schism between different chapters of the denomination.

According to three local United Methodist churches, a plan was released on January 4 called the "Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation." The proposal would allow churches that refuse to include LGBTQ+ people to leave, splitting the denomination.

Clergy from Ashland First UMC, Medford First UMC, and Newman UMC in Grants Pass all signed on to Wednesday's statement. The issue at hand has "plagued" the Church for decades, they said.

We are deeply committed to be churches that welcome all people from all walks of life, said Reverend Ryan Scott, who was the first openly gay pastor assigned to Newman United Methodist Church in Grants Pass. LGBTQIA+ people are made in the image of God and ought to be welcomed and affirmed in our congregations. We cannot keep denying their leadership or their love.

In a joint address, clergy from the three churches said the following:

As clergy representing the inclusive United Methodist Churches of Southern Oregon, we stand united in our commitment to serve the LGBTQIA+ community. This includes celebrating same-gender weddings and supporting LGBTQIA+ clergy in our denomination. Our congregations will continue to be places of welcome and hospitality to all people. We will seek to persevere in our ministry with people who are oppressed, marginalized, or otherwise maligned from the church and society. We, wholeheartedly, believe that Christ lives within the hearts of our LGBTQIA+ siblings just the same as anyone else. Furthermore, we reject the idea that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching and celebrate the life, leadership, and love of LGBTQIA+ people everywhere.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 23:30:08|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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CAPE TOWN, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- President Cyril Ramaphosa must take drastic steps to cope with a worsening drought that has gripped large parts of the country, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Thursday.

"Failure to recognize the severity of the drought that has gripped all nine of our provinces -- and any further delays in putting in place measures to mitigate the impact of this threat -- will have catastrophic consequences for our nation," the DA said.

It is estimated that over 37 percent of rural communities in South Africa are affected by the drought. A recent study by farmer association Agri SA shows that at the beginning of last year around 30,000 farm workers had already lost their jobs due to the drought.

This is the stark reality that the government can no longer ignore, DA leader John Steenhuisen said.

Three years of crippling drought brought the Western Cape, and the City of Cape Town in particular, right to the edge of what is called Day Zero, the day when the taps would run dry.

It was only through a massive effort that involved both local and provincial government, as well as business, civil society and, above all, ordinary residents, that this day was avoided.

Currently, the Northern Cape may be the worst hit, but the Eastern Cape, the North West, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces are all facing their own versions of Day Zero, whether in residential areas or in sustaining live stock and crops on farms, according to the DA.

"It is extremely worrying that none of the other provinces affected by this drought seem to share this sense of urgency and concern," Steenhuisen said.

Ramaphosa is currently in the Northern Cape, and he will be addressing a national audience on Saturday.

"I appeal to him to use the opportunity to recognize the urgency of the situation, and to prioritize an adequate response," Steenhuisen said.

The most important action is to direct funds towards drought relief measures. Each province has its own unique challenges brought about by the drought, but common to all is a shortage of funds to implement meaningful mitigation plans, according to Steenhuisen.

He reiterated a call for the government to declare the drought a national disaster.

The national government has a duty to step in where provincial and local governments do not have sufficient capacity or funds to look after citizens in times of hardship," Steenhuisen said.
Justin Trudeau mourns victims of Ukrainian plane crash

Canadian Prime Minister stated that the crash would be thoroughly investigated.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday it was a somber day after a plane leaving from an airport in Iran crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 176 people on board, including 63 Canadians.

"CANADIANS DESERVE ANSWERS"

On video carried live by Canadian news services, Trudeau addressed the tragedy. Canadians across the country were shocked and saddened, he said. They had so much potential, so much life ahead of them.





Answering reporters questions, Trudeau said while it was too early to speculate on the cause of the crash, he could not rule out that the plane had been shot down. Canadians have questions and deserve answers, he said, adding Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne will talk to his Iranian counterpart and stress the need for an extensive investigation.

Of the 176 on board the Boeing 737-800, 138 were flying to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv to make a connecting flight to Canada. The victims included 63 Canadians, 82 Iranians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three British nationals.
Lawmakers in the small New England state of Vermont kicked off their 2020 legislative session by introducing a bill that would decriminalize consensual sex work there, according to a report by the local news site Vermont Digger. The billsponsored by five Democrats, all of them womenwould make Vermont the first state to decriminalize sex work statewide.

In Nevada, prostitution is legal, but only in counties with populations of fewer than 400,000, and local governments are empowered to outlaw sex work in their own jurisdictions. Those restrictions would not apply under the proposed new Vermont bill.

On the other hand, the decriminalization billunlike in Nevadawould not create a new, legal, regulated market for sexual services. Instead, the law would would mean only that no charges could be brought against individuals who perform consensual sex acts in exchange for money, or against their customers.

By driving sex work underground, were creating much more dangerous conditions for sex workers, said Representative Selene Colburn, who introduced the bill, as quoted by Vermont Digger. They should feel like they have the protection of police if they need it.

The bill, H.569, is only four pages in length and would simply repeal the states existing laws against sex work. Existing laws against felony sex trafficking and sexual coercion would remain in place, if the decriminalization law succeeds.

The bill was introduced in tandem with a related piece of legislation that grants immunity to sex workers who witness and report crimes in the course of performing their jobs.

The Vermont bill follows a similar piece of legislation in New York 11 months ago, which consisted of a package of bills that would effectively decriminalize numerous acts connected with sex work in that state. But that bill is still under consideration in the New York legislature.

Photo By Artaxerxes / Wikimedia Commons
The no cell phones allowed rule at courthouses and courtrooms in Michigan will soon be a thing of the past, thanks to amendments adopted by the Michigan Supreme Court.

Effective May 1, the amendment to MCR 8.115 establishes a state-wide policy that permits the public to use a cell phone or other personal electronic device such as a laptop or tablet in a courtroom or courthouse, which also allows for photographing court records.

The new policy is based on a national model adopted in other states.

A recent public hearing about the proposed change drew close to 50 written comments and additional testimony, according to a news release from the Michigan Supreme Court.

The comments we received and testimony we heard that cell phone access was essential to self-represented litigants was compelling, Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack stated in the release. We appreciate the willingness of local courts to implement this reform that will help make sure the doors to our courts are open to all.

The change means the public can retrieve or store information, access the Internet and send/receive text messages but must do so silently. Court documents can be reproduced, though doing so cant leave marks and cant unreasonably interfere with the clerks office operations.

The amended rule also includes courtroom restrictions to maintain security and prevent disruption. In the courtroom, devices must be silenced and cant be used to make or receive calls while court is in session.

Nearly all courts in Macomb County, including the county courthouse in downtown Mount Clemens, allow the public to carry in their cell phone. The possible lone except is 38th District Court in Eastpointe, which forces anyone who brings a phone to court to place it in their vehicle. The 31st District Court in Hamtramck also bans the public from bringing their phone into court.

John Nevin, spokesman for the high court, said the ban could be a major headache for some court-goers. Court officials learned of many instances of people who travel by bus or other means to a court that bans phones and have no place to store their device. It also makes it difficult for those people to arrange for a ride to leave court.

Other restrictions to the public:

* No communication with any courtroom participant, no photographing or recording of jurors or potential jurors

* No recording of court proceedings without judges permission

* No recording or photographing of people in the courthouse without their consent

Also, judges have the authority to terminate activity thats disruptive or distracting, or that is contrary to the administration of justice. Violators can be sanctioned.

Outside the courtroom, judges and court administrators can limit or end activity deemed disruptive to court operations or that compromise court security.

The new rule does not affect the ability of members of the media to record court proceedings if they have a judges permission.

Jameson Cook of The Macomb Daily contributed to this report.
Gardai had to pull a man away from an unconscious woman as he sexually assaulted her on a Dublin street, it has been alleged.

Andrzej Tadel (43) is accused of pulling down the woman's trousers and assaulting her as she lay drunk in a laneway in the city centre.

It is alleged he ignored gardai when they shouted at him to stop.

Mr Tadel was sent forward for trial when he had a book of evidence served on him at Dublin District Court.

Judge Bryan Smyth granted him bail despite garda objections.

Mr Tadel, of no fixed address, is charged with sexually assaulting the woman on a date in July last year.

Objecting to bail, Garda Caroline Purcell cited the strength and nature of the proposed evidence.

The charge carries a maximum possible sentence of five years on conviction, said Gda Purcell.

She told the court the incident happened between 11 and 11.45am. A witness called 999 after she said she observed the accused pulling down the woman's trousers and underwear before touching her.

As two gardai arrived at the scene, they saw the accused and alleged victim lying on the ground, and saw him touching her with her trousers and underwear pulled down, Gda Purcell said.

They shouted at the accused to stop and it was alleged he ignored this and proceeded to touch the woman in full view of the two gardai and "had to be physically pulled off the unconscious female to stop him".

The woman was still unconscious at this point and had to be roused by the officers.

She told them she had not consented to the act and was incapable of doing so as she was highly intoxicated.

She further stated that she "does not know this male", the garda said.

There would be two garda witnesses, as well as an independent witness.

The alleged assault was not captured on CCTV but there was other footage from the vicinity that showed both parties before it, Gda Purcell said.

This was of high quality and both were clearly identified, she added.

Mr Tadel made certain admissions during interview, Gda Purcell said.

She believed he was a flight risk as, while he had lived in Ireland for 13 years, he had no ties here and stated in interview "now I'm thinking of going back to Poland".

Applying for bail, defence solicitor Donal Quigley said Mr Tadel was presumed innocent and could resile from any admissions at any stage. He had attended court while on bail.

There had been alcohol involved in relation to both parties, the court heard.

Judge Smyth granted bail in the accused's own bond of 500 with no cash required.

Under conditions, he must sign on three times weekly at Bridewell garda station, Dublin, remain sober in public and have no contact with the alleged victim.

A book of evidence was then served on the accused and he was sent for trial to the next sittings of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Judge Smyth extended free legal aid to cover both junior and senior counsel after Mr Quigley said it was a charge of "exceptional gravity".
Iranian commander says missile barrage on US targets in Iraq was the start of a series of attacks to expel US forces.

Fears of imminent war between Iran and the United States subsided after the US assassinated a top Iranian commander and Tehran hit bases housing American troops in Iraq with ballistic missiles.

But Iran warned the US against further attacks after it launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles at the Ain al-Assad airbase in Iraqs Anbar province and a military facility in Erbil on Wednesday.

Iran had pledged retaliatory attacks against the US for last weeks killing of Qassem Soleimani, the countrys most powerful and revered military leader, whom Washington accused of plotting imminent attacks against US forces in the region.

Here are all of the latest updates as of Thursday, January 9:

Iran warns Trump of dangerous response if US acts again

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned the United States it risked a dangerous response if the White House tried any further interventions in the region.

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran now appears to be standing down but Rouhani threatened more retaliatory moves if required.

If the US makes another mistake it will receive a very dangerous response, Rouhani was quoted as saying by Irans Tasnim news agency during a call with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The Americans and the White House have no understanding of the region and recognised what a mistake they have made after their terrorist measure and following the uprising of regional nations and the unity that was created.

200109031651935

Missile strikes start a series of attacks: Iranian commander

A senior Iranian commander said Irans missile attacks on US targets in Iraq did not aim to kill American soldiers but sought to damage Washingtons military machine and were the start of a series of attacks across the region, state television reported.

Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force, also said the appropriate revenge for the US killing of Soleimani was to expel US forces from the Middle East, state TV said.

He also said Iran had hundreds of missiles at the ready and when Tehran launched missiles on Wednesday it had used cyber attacks to disable [US] plane and drone navigation systems.

Saudi Arabia denounces Iranian violations of Iraqi sovereignty

Saudi Arabia condemned Irans attacks on Iraqi bases hosting US forces as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, Saudi state TV reported.

The kingdom denounces and condemns the Iranian violations of Iraqi sovereignty, said a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

Saudi Arabia calls on all parties to exercises self-restraint, it added.

The Saudi condemnation was the first by an Arab neighbour of Iraq.

In a letter to the UN following the missile attack, Iran said it fully respects the sovereignty of its neighbour Iraq.

Turkey: Iraq cannot be a battlefield for foreign forces

Turkey does not want Iraq to become a battle zone among foreign forces, said Turkeys foreign minister.

We dont want Iraq to be the battle zone of the foreign forces, Mevlut Cavusoglu told a press conference along with his Iraqi counterpart in Baghdad, Iraqi capital.

Cavusoglus visit was part of Turkeys diplomatic efforts to alleviate the escalated tension in the region, a foreign ministry statement said.

Iraqs top diplomat Mohamed Ali al-Hakim affirmed that talks with his Turkish counterpart focused on the need to respect Iraqs sovereignty from all sides.

Tensions remain high as US, Iran pull back from brink of war

A dramatic escalation between the US and Iran appears to have eased, with both rivals seeming to pull back from the verge of a full-blown conflict, even as tensions remain high and experts warn that the confrontation is far from over.

Read more here.

200104231308260

UK PM Johnson urges end to hostilities in Iran call

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson underlined Britains continued commitment to the Iranian nuclear deal in a call with the countrys president, Hassan Rouhani, Johnsons spokesman said.

The prime minister spoke with President Rouhani of Iran this morning. They discussed the situation in the region following the death of Qassem Soleimani and the prime minister called for an end to hostilities, the spokesman told reporters.

The prime minister underlined the UKs continued commitment to the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or nuclear deal) and to ongoing dialogue to avoid nuclear proliferation and reduce tensions, he said, adding that Britains position was that the JCPOA was the best arrangement available.

EUs Michel urges Rouhani to avoid irreversible acts

European Council President Charles Michel said he had spoken to Irans President Hassan Rouhani and urged Tehran to comply with the 2015 arms control agreement that prevents it developing nuclear weapons.

Iran said that it was stepping back from its commitments under the deal, known as the JCPOA.

Just spoke with @HassanRouhani about recent developments. JCPOA remains crucial for global security. I called Iran not to pose irreversible acts, Michel, who coordinates EU government positions in Brussels, said in a tweet.

Just spoke with @HassanRouhani about recent developments. #JCPOA remains crucial for global security. I called #Iran not to pose irreversible acts. #EU has its own interests and its vision & will enforce its role on an international level. Readout: https://t.co/DoRw3azKZ3 pic.twitter.com/9Wv1qlZSzj  Charles Michel (@eucopresident) January 9, 2020

Pope appeals to US and Iran to pursue dialogue, self-restraint

Pope Francis urged the US and Iran to avoid escalation and pursue dialogue and self-restraint to avert a wider conflict in the Middle East.

The pope made his appeal, his first direct comment on the current crisis, in a yearly speech that has come to be known as his State of the World address to ambassadors accredited to the Vatican.

Particularly troubling are the signals coming from the entire region following the heightening of tensions between Iran and the United States, Francis told the diplomats from more than 180 states.

He said the tensions risked compromising the gradual process of rebuilding in Iraq, as well as setting the groundwork for a vaster conflict that all of us would want to avert.

Japan backs US on Iran but seeks restraint

Japan said it stands with the US on its response to Iranian missile attacks on Iraqi bases hosting US and coalition troops, according to local media.

Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said: Japan has been urging all parties involved to exercise self-restraint so its our stance that we support the restrained response [by the US], Kyodo News reported.

Irans IRGC warns of harsher revenge soon

A commander from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Iran would take harsher revenge soon, Tasnim news agency reported.

The agency was quoting senior commander Abdollah Araghi, speaking after Trump said on Wednesday that Iran appeared to be standing down after launching missile strikes that did not harm any US troops in Iraq.

In a separate report, Tasnim quoted deputy IRGC head, Ali Fadavi, as saying Iranian missile attacks on US targets were a display of Irans military power and said US forces couldnt do a damn thing.

Irans UN envoy dismisses any cooperation amid sanctions

Irans ambassador to the UN dismissed as unbelievable what he said was Trumps call for cooperation, given Washington was imposing sanctions on Tehran, Irans state news agency IRNA reported.

Majid Takht Ravanchi, in what appeared to be Irans first official reaction to Trumps address after an Iranian missile attack on Iraqi bases housing US troops, was quoted as saying Washington had initiated a new series of escalation and animosity with Iran by killing Soleimani.





Soleimani commemoration ceremony in Tehran

A commemoration ceremony to celebrate the life of slain military commander Soleimani, the head of Irans elite Quds Force, was held in Tehran, close to the official residence of Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei.

Al Jazeeras Assed Baig, reporting from Tehran, said: Iran is still in a period of religious mourning and these ceremonies usually take place three days after somebody dies, another one after seven days, then after 40 days.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, heads of the IRGC, and representatives of Lebanons Hezbollah group as well as from Iraqs political factions were in attendance, Baig reported.

Gulf stocks rise on hopes of easing US-Iran tensions

Gulf stocks rose in early trade, led by markets in Dubai and Kuwait, on optimism that tensions between the US and Iran may be easing.

The Dubai index and Kuwait index were trading 1.3 percent higher, while the Abu Dhabi index rose 0.8 percent in early trade.

Iran not interested in war, says UN ambassador

Irans next move will depend on the actions of the US, Irans ambassador to the UN said, while calling for the removal of US forces from the region.

Iran is not interested in war, Iran is not interested in escalation of tension in the region, Majid Takht Ravanchi told Al Jazeera.

Increasing the tensions in the region will not be in the interest of anybody, so Iran definitely would like to have peace established in the neighbourhood and the first ingredient for peace in the region is the removal of the forces, the American forces, from our region.

Asian shares rebound after anxiety eases

Stock markets in Asia rebounded as concerns over a potential war between the US and Iran eased.

Tokyos benchmark gained more than 2 percent, while Shanghai, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia markets also advanced.

Investors anxiety subsided after it emerged that the missile attack had caused no fatalities and Trump said Iran appears to be standing down.

The lack of casualties gave the markets more confidence that the Iranians had instigated little more than the intention to make a public show of force mainly to save face at home, said Stephen Innes of AxiTrader in a report.





US to UN: Well take more action as necessary to protect troops in the Middle East

The US told the United Nations that it is prepared to take additional action as necessary in the Middle East to protect US personnel and interests in the region.

In a letter to the UN Security Council, US Ambassador Kelly Craft said the killing of Soleimani in Baghdad on Friday was justified under Article 51 of the UN Charter.

Under Article 51, countries are required to immediately report to the 15-member Security Council any measures taken in exercising the right of self-defence. The US used Article 51 to justify taking action in Syria against the ISIL (ISIS) armed group in 2014.

US senators denounce lack of evidence to justify killing of Soleimani

Utah Senator Mike Lee, who belongs to Trumps Republican Party, has questioned the administrations classified briefing on the killing of Soleimani, calling it the worst he has ever attended.

In a press conference in Washington, DC, Lee told reporters that he found it really upsetting that Trumps intelligence officials refused to provide information that led to the presidents decision to order Soleimanis killing.

Republican Senator Rand Paul said he did not learn anything from the hearing that he had not seen in news reports, adding that prospects for diplomacy had diminished because of Trumps action.

Meanwhile, in an interview with CNN, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said there was no evidence of an imminent and specific threat from Soleimani to justify the USs action.

That was fairly shocking to us, the lack of evidence. Without that, the president doesnt have the authority to take military action without coming to Congress first.

However, most Republicans, who control the Senate, defended Trumps decision.

PM Morrison says Australia not withdrawing troops from Iraq

Australian troops and personnel will stay in Iraq to continue their mission, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, as tensions eased following an Iranian attack on US forces there.

Speaking to reporters, Morrison added that an Australian naval vessel would travel as planned towards the Strait of Hormuz this week to help protect shipping in the area.

Read earlier updates here.
A man is dead and two others were injured when someone opened fire on the trio shortly after midnight Thursday morning at a west Houston apartment.

The group of four men was conversing in the parking lot of the complex in the 10900 block of Meadowglen Lane around 12:10 a.m. when one of the men started shooting, police said. One of the men was killed while the other two were injured but are expected to survive, police said.
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Shares of Reliance Industries rose more than 2 percent intraday on January 9 after Morgan Stanley said it expects strong growth in retail and telecom businesses.

The stock gave 40 percent return in the last one year due to consistent growth in consumer businesses - telecom and retail. At 11:30 hrs Reliance Industries was quoting at Rs 1,541.80, up Rs 27.85, or 1.84 percent.

While having overweight rating on the stock with a target price at Rs 1,753 per share, Morgan Stanley said company's Q3 earnings should be steady despite headwinds of oversupplied petrochem markets.

"We estimate earnings to be flattish YoY and down 2 percent sequentially," said the brokerage which feels gross refining margin may average $9.40 a barrel (flat QoQ and up 7 percent YoY).

Morgan Stanley expects telecom EBIDTA to rise 13 percent QoQ given the company started recovering interconnect cost.

"We estimate 15 percenet QoQ and 21 percent YoY decline in petrochemical EBIDTA, but we estimate retail revenues to rise 31 percent YoY, largely similar to Q2 growth," the research house said.

Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.

The above report is compiled from information available on public platforms. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Iranian officials praise retaliatory attack against US' Ain al-asad base

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Wed / 8 January 2020 / 11:59

Tehran (ISNA)  Several Iranian officials praised the retaliatory missile attack by Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps against US' Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq.

Following the operation, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri warned US that any other aggression will face a stronger, more crushing, and more massive response from Iran.

"The time has come for the evil rulers of the United States to withdraw their terrorist army forces as quickly as possible from the region," he said.

"The Wednesday operation demonstrates only a fraction of the capability of the Islamic Republic of Iran's armed forces and is a response to the terrorist act of the American regime in martyring the honorable commander General Qassem Soleimani," General Bagheri added.

Deputy Chief of Sarallah unit, Brigadier General Esmaeil Kosari told ISNA about the retaliatory attack, "They thought their bases in the region will be safe forever, but they should know that here is no longer safe for them".

General Rasoul Sanaei-Rad told ISNA regarding the missile attack against Ain al-Asad base, "It was Iran's weakest retaliatory scenario made in line with a national demand to avenge the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani and his companions".

Meanwhile, Hessamoddin Ashena, the advisor to President Hassan Rouhani noted, "Any military aggression by US in the region will face an all-out war".

Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations, Majid Takht Ravanchi in a letter to the secretary-general of the UN, Antonio Guterres wrote, "Iran will take necessary and proportionate measures against any threat or use of force".

The Aerospace Force of IRGC has fired several ballistic missiles at the Ain al-Assad base of the American troops in Iraq in retaliation for the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani.

The missiles have successfully hit their target.

The IRGC later confirmed the attacks, and said in an official statement that in Operation Martyr Soleimani in early hours of Wednesday, tens of ground-to-ground missiles were fired at the US base and successfully pounded the Ain al-Assad Base.

In the statement, IRGC warned the United States that any more aggression or movement will receive more "painful and crushing" response.

End Item

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WASHINGTON  Evidence indicates it is highly likely that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner near Tehran late Tuesday, U.S. and Canadian officials said Thursday. They said the strike, which killed all 176 people on board, could well have been a mistake amid intentional air strikes and high tensions throughout the region.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over the U.S. drone strike that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general. Four U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence, said they had no certain knowledge of Iranian intent and the airliner could have been mistaken for a threat.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose country lost at least 63 citizens in the downing, said in a Thursday press conference in Toronto: We have intelligence from multiple sources including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile.

Earlier Thursday, President Trump suggested he believed Iran was responsible for the shoot down but wouldnt directly blame the Iranians. He dismissed Irans initial claim that it was a mechanical issue.

Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side. Trump said, noting the plane was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood.

The U.S. officials wouldnt say what intelligence they had that pointed to an Iranian missile. But they acknowledged the existence of satellites and other sensors in the region, as well as the likelihood of communication interceptions and other similar intelligence.

Two additional U.S. officials said the intelligence pointing to likely Iranian responsibility became clearer overnight into Thursday.

It was not immediately clear how the U.S. and its allies would react to the downing of the airliner. At least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians were among the dead.

Despite efforts by Washington and Tehran to step back from the brink of possible war, the region remained on edge after the killing of the Iranian general and Irans retaliatory missile strikes. U.S. troops were on high-alert.

A preliminary Iranian investigative report released Thursday said that the airliner pilots never made a radio call for help and that the aircraft was trying to turn back for the airport when the burning plane went down. Ukraine, meanwhile, said it considered a missile strike as one of several possible theories for the crash, despite Irans early denials.

The Iranian report suggests that a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines late Tuesday, when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Kyiv after visiting with family during the winter break.

Lolita C. Baldor and Zeke Miller are Associated Press writers.
DALLAS, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Loopback Analytics, a leading provider of data-driven solutions for hospital and health systems, announced today they are working with UF Health Jacksonville to help advance specialty pharmacy services.

Specialty pharmacy is a rapidly evolving, innovative area and academic medical centers like UF Health Jacksonville play a key role in its ensuring patients get timely access to the medications they need. By effectively monitoring and managing patient data, integrated health systems are uniquely positioned to provide superior levels of safety, adherence and clinical efficacy with complex specialty medications.

Through its collaboration with Loopback Analytics, UF Health Jacksonville seeks to grow its specialty pharmacy business while continuing to improve medication adherence and clinical outcomes. The Loopback Rx Platform seamlessly integrates data sets from across multiple systems to provide pharmacists with easy-to-use and actionable analytics.

"We are excited to work with UF Health Jacksonville and assist them with their specialty pharmacy initiatives," said Neil Smiley, CEO at Loopback Analytics. "Through our collaboration, we seek to improve both access and outcomes for patients."

About Loopback Analytics:

Loopback Analytics enables health systems to proactively identify at-risk populations, match patients to appropriate services and evaluate the impact of interventions on clinical and economic outcomes. The Loopback Rx platform enables health system pharmacies to improve patient outcomes and accelerate growth of their specialty pharmacy business. For more information, visit www.loopbackanalytics.com.

About UF Health Jacksonville:

UF Health Jacksonville is a private, not-for-profit academic health center affiliated with the University of Florida Health Science Center campuses in Jacksonville and Gainesville. In Jacksonville, UF Health includes University of Florida faculty, residents and fellows within the UF College of Medicine  Jacksonville, who team up with outstanding caregivers and other employees to provide state-of-the-art services to residents throughout northeast Florida and southeast Georgia. The center's mission is to heal, to comfort, to educate and to discover in an environment where exemplary medical care is complemented by outstanding service.

Contact:

[email protected]

SOURCE Loopback Analytics

Related Links

http://loopbackanalytics.com/


Verily, the health and life sciences unit of Google parent company Alphabet, has brought on some key hires as it looks to scale the business.

The company has hired a new chief financial officer, Deepak Ahuja, who spent two separate stints working at Tesla and helped take the electric-car maker public after rising up the ranks as a financial executive at Ford Motor Company.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced Ahuja's retirement from the company at the beginning of 2019 in an earnings call to investors. Since then, Ahuja has been an advisor to various sustainable technology ventures. He told CNBC he made the decision to move into health care after meeting Verily CEO Andy Conrad.

"Health care is in a state of crisis," Ahuja said by phone. "Verily has a combination of solutions, which I see as redefining how we approach the sector by lowering costs and improving care. That's near and dear to my heart."

Verily, previously known as Google Life Sciences, has announced a series of partnerships with health-care companies, which typically involve an investment in new technology. More than a dozen efforts are underway, including a new sensor with the medical-device maker Dexcom to track blood sugar for people with type 2 diabetes, and a technology project with ResMed to help diagnose people with a sleep disorder called sleep apnea. There's also a partnership with Novartis, Pfizer and other large drug companies to help modernize their clinical trials with technology.

Another big part of the business, which is run by the company's president, Vivian Lee, involves working with hospitals and health systems to help them embrace new payment models, including paying doctors based on patient health outcomes rather than the volume of procedures conducted.

Verily has signaled previously that it is looking to scale and grow outside of its parent company. A year ago, the unit took $1 billion in new financing led by the private equity firm Silver Lake. At the time, Conrad said the funding would "increase flexibility and optionality." It also announced that Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat would join the board.

Ahuja has experience bringing companies public. He was the chief financial officer for Tesla through its initial public offering in 2010.

In addition to hiring Ahuja, the company also brought on a new head of software in Scott Burke, former chief technology officer at Helix, a consumer DNA company backed by Illumina. It also hired Vindell Washington, a former National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, as its chief clinical officer for its "platforms" business.

Burke, who joined the call with Ahuja, said Verily's focus on partnerships with health-care companies drew him to the business. He said he was also attracted to the opportunity to work on projects involving health data that are much broader in scope than genetics.

Both the new hires noted that Verily is in a position to scale and grow. "When I joined Tesla there were only 350 employees," Ahuja said. Tesla is now an $80 billion company. "But Tesla came into being when there was a window of opportunity. It might not have worked a decade earlier."

Both Ahuja and Burke said they saw the same window of opportunity in health care today. "Think about the convergence of hardware development, the miniaturization of sensor technology, big data and AI," said Ahuja.

Verily's existing CFO, Duncan Welstead, who led it through its various financing rounds, will stay on at the company to oversee financial operations. The company has raised more than $1.8 billion in total financing since it became an independent subsidiary of Alphabet in 2015.

Follow @CNBCtech on Twitter for the latest tech industry news.
Mumbai, Jan 9 : Notorious mafia don Ejaz Lakdawala, who was absconding for over two decades, has been arrested by a Mumbai Police team in Patna, official sources said here on Thursday.

Lakdawala, who was associated alternatively with the gangs of rival mafia dons Dawood Ibrahim and Rajendra Nikhalje, alias Chhota Rajan, had an Interpol red corner notice pending against him.

"Lakdawala was a part of the Dawood gang. He might help us get important information about him," Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Santosh Rastogi told the media after the big catch.

The fugitive gangster has been slapped with over 25 major cases from more than 80 complaints of extortion, attempt to murder, kidnapping, and killings, among others.

"He used to call from international numbers and issue threatening extortion calls to various people. The Crime Branch was tracking him since many days," Rastogi said.

A breakthrough of sorts was achieved recently when the Mumbai Police nabbed Lakdawala's daughter, Shifa Shahid Shaikh, alias Sonia, in a fake passport case on December 28.

She had acquired a passport by submitting fake documents and was planning to flee to Nepal along with her one-year-old daughter, but was arrested from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.

Sonia's interrogation revealed the probable whereabouts of Lakdawala in Nepal and north India. After verifying the information, a Mumbai Police team rushed to nab him from the jurisdiction of Jakkanur Police Station in Patna (Bihar) late on Wednesday.

He was brought to Mumbai and produced before a magistrate at Esplanade Court and has been remanded to custody till January 21.

Originally, belonging to the 'D-Company' in the 1980s, around 1992 Lakdawala parted company with Dawood to align with his arch rival Chhota Rajan and worked with him for over 18 years.

Later, however, owing to some disputes over financial matters, Lakdawala broke off with Chhota Rajan and operated independently from 2001 onwards.

Apparently sensing an opportunity for sweet revenge, Dawood's close aide Chhota Shakeel had ordered a gangland hit on Lakdawala in Bangkok in 2002.

In that attack in a Bangkok market, he sustained seven bullet injuries, but survived, and shifted to Canada where he was arrested in 2004 on an Interpol notice.

Incidentally, the attack on Lakdawala came barely two years after his former boss, Chhota Rajan was also attacked in a hotel in Bangkok, but he too managed to escape and survive. After his extradition from Indonesia to India in November 2015, Rajan is presently in jail and facing trial in various cases.

Lakdawala also hatched a plot to kill Dawood in Karachi but the plan failed as Dawood did not turn up.

After the failed attempt on his life in Bangkok, Lakdawala went on the run and virtually became a globetrotter with operations in Canada (where he was arrested once), UK, US, Malaysia, Cambodia, Nepal and other countries.

He is reported to have amassed huge properties in Malaysia, London and Canada which the Mumbai Police will investigate separately.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
[January 09, 2020] Insight Partners to Acquire Swiss Cloud Data Management Leader Veeam in a Transaction Valued at Approximately US$5 Billion

NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading software investor Insight Partners announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Veeam Software, the leader in Backup solutions that deliver Cloud Data Management. Under the ownership of Insight Partners, Veeam will become a U.S. company, with a U.S.-based leadership team, while continuing its global expansion from offices in 30 countries and with customers in over 160 countries. The acquisition, which is expected to close during the first quarter of 2020, will enable Veeam to accelerate its Act II (Veeam's evolution into Hybrid Cloud), expand into new markets and continue its growth trajectory. As part of the acquisition, William H. Largent has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) - he previously held the role of Executive Vice President (EVP), Operations  and Danny Allan has been promoted to Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Following an investment from Insight Partners at the beginning of 2019, Veeam, the clear market leader with over $1 billion in annual sales and more than 365,000 customers worldwide, worked alongside Insight Partners' business strategy and ScaleUp division, Insight Onsite, to expand its software-defined Veeam Cloud Data Management Platform. The company launched a number of new innovations over the last year, including Veeam Backup for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 v4, Veeam Universal License (VUL) and announcing Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure  growing its share of the U.S. market, as well as cementing its position in the global market. The acquisition and bolstering of U.S. leadership will accelerate Veeam's already impressive growth trajectory and expansion into adjacent markets. "Veeam has enjoyed rapid global growth over the last decade and we see tremendous opportunity for future growth, particularly in the U.S. market. With the acquisition, we are excited that our current U.S. workforce of more than 1,200 will be expanded and strengthened to acquire and support more customers," said William H. Largent, CEO at Veeam. "Veeam has one of the highest caliber global workforces of any technology company, and we believe this acquisition will allow us to scale our team and technology at an unrivaled pace." At the core of Veeam's strategy is delivering simplicity, flexibility and reliability to its global customer base (which includes 81% of the Fortune 500). During the last decade, Veeam's approach has seen it collect more than 170 industry awards, named as a leader in three consecutive backup and data recovery Magic Quadrants by Gartner, boast a consistent leadership position in the Forrester Wave and alsonamed as one of Forbes' Cloud 100 companies for four straight years. According to the latest IDC Software Tracker, Veeam is the #1 market-share leader in EMEA and the #4 worldwide, after DellEMC, Veritas and IBM. Today, Veeam is the clear market leader, delivering Backup solutions that enable Cloud Data Management, and has recently launched exciting new cloud-native solutions that will enable customers to manage, migrate, orchestrate and protect data across AWS and Microsoft Azure environments  core elements of its Act II. In the coming weeks, NEW Veeam Availability Suite v10 will be generally available, providing users with the most powerful software-defined data management solution in the industry.



"In a world where a business's most valuable asset, its data, is constantly on the move and being created at unprecedented rates, data management has never been more critical, and more complex. Legacy solutions cannot keep up. Veeam's software provides holistic coverage for the modern business," Veeam's Danny Allan said. "While Veeam's preeminence in the data management space, currently supporting 81% of the Fortune 500, is undeniable, this commitment from Insight Partners and deeper access to its unmatched business strategy and ScaleUp division, Insight Onsite, will bring Veeam's solutions to more businesses across the globe." "Veeam's strong growth, coupled with high customer retention, unparalleled data management solutions and the opportunities to expand services into new markets, make Veeam one of the most exciting software companies in the world today," Insight Partners Managing Director and Veeam Board member Mike Triplett said. "Veeam's platform is the most advanced and complete data management solution available to businesses requiring a seamless blend of data backup and recovery, data protection, data security and data availability. We are committed to supporting Veeam's next phase of leadership and growth in the United States, continued market-share leadership position in EMEA and continued global expansion."

The Board of Directors will be immediately supplemented with seasoned software, government and business leadership as co-investor Nick Ayers, of Ayers Neugebauer & Company, a member of the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders and former Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States, joins Insight Partners Managing Director Mike Triplett and Veeam CEO, William H. Largent on the Board. Following the acquisition, Co-Founders Andrei Baronov and Ratmir Timashev will step down from the Board. Additionally, Insight Partners Managing Directors Ryan Hinkle and Ross Devor will each serve on the Board once the acquisition has been completed. Goldman Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley served as financial advisors, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP served as legal counsel, to Insight Partners. Ropes & Gray LLP served as legal counsel to Veeam. Financing commitments for the transaction provided by affiliates of J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley, Ares Management, Bank of America, Golub Capital and Antares Capital. 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. Insight's 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 its people and its portfolio, Insight encourages 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 Veeam Software

Veeam is the leader in Backup solutions that deliver Cloud Data Management. Veeam provides a single platform for modernizing backup, accelerating hybrid cloud and securing your data. With 365,000+ customers worldwide, including 81% of the Fortune 500 and 66% of the Global 2,000, Veeam customer-satisfaction scores are the highest in the industry at 3.5x the average. Veeam's global ecosystem includes 70,000+ partners, including HPE, NetApp, Cisco and Lenovo as exclusive resellers. Currently headquartered in Baar, Switzerland, Veeam has offices in more than 30 countries. To learn more, visit https://www.veeam.com or follow Veeam on Twitter @veeam. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/insight-partners-to-acquire-swiss-cloud-data-management-leader-veeam-in-a-transaction-valued-at-approximately-us5-billion-300984017.html SOURCE Insight Partners

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Malala Yousafzai Malalas courage to fight for her beliefs can help young people understand they dont have to succumb to racism, discrimination or bullying. They each have a voice and the power to make a positive difference in the world.

The story of Malala Yousafzais journey will soon be a permanent fixture at the worlds largest childrens museum.

When a member of the Taliban shot Malala Yousafzai in the head on her way home from school, they had no idea what would happen. The 15-year-old Pakistani girl made a miraculous recovery, continued to fight for girls education and became the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Her battle for education and refusal to be stopped will now be featured alongside the stories of Anne Frank (1940schild of the Holocaust), Ruby Bridges (1960sone of the first to integrate schools in the American South) and Ryan White (1980sAIDS activist) at The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis in an exhibit called, The Power of Children. The exhibit highlights stories of courage, perseverance and tolerance. The most amazing part is that these are all accomplishments made by ordinary children who faced extraordinary hatred.

Malala knows all about hatred; it surrounded her from the time she started blogging about living under Taliban rule as a child. Speaking out for girls education made her a target. In October 2012, a masked gunman boarded Malalas school bus and shot her in the head; he also shot two of her schoolmates. Instead of silencing Malala, her voice became louder. She cofounded Malala Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to building a world where every girl can choose her future. When she was 17 years old, she became the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize because of her extraordinary efforts to make education a reality for every child. The Childrens Museum feels that her courage can provide inspiration to visitors young and old.

Our goal is to provide a safe environment for families to have critical conversations about real world issues, said Dr. Jeffrey H. Patchen, president and CEO, The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis. Malalas courage to fight for her beliefs can help young people understand they dont have to succumb to racism, discrimination or bullying. They each have a voice and the power to make a positive difference in the world.

The Power of Children exhibit will feature the story of Malala Yousafzais life, the challenges she faced as she attempted to get an education, and the positive impact she has had around the world. The museum will re-create her home in the Swat Valley and present information about her life, showing how she used the family computer to express her message. Overall, the exhibit will feature her legacy and also showcase other girls who stood up for the right to attend school.

So here I stand . . . one girl among many, said Malala Yousafzai in a speech to the United Nations in 2013. I speak not for myselfbut for all girls and boys. I raise up my voicenot so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard. Those who have fought for their rights: Their right to live in peace. Their right to be treated with dignity. Their right to equality of opportunity. Their right to be educated.

Malala embodies the true spirit and resilience of the valiant people of Pakistan. Her bravery and courage in the face of adversity has inspired millions around the world to stand up for the cause of education, said Dr. Asad Majeed Khan, Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States. Today, Malala is a role model for the worlds youth. While we pay tribute to Malala, I want to share that girls in Pakistan are emerging successfully across all walks of life. The Government of Pakistan remains committed to the social and economic empowerment of girls.

We each play a part every day through the kindness we show others and the actions we take. Please join us to Celebrate The Power of Children: A Year of Action, said Patchen. Jan. 27 is the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz. April 8 is the 30th anniversary of Ryan Whites death. July 12th is Malalas birthday, which the United Nations designated Malala Day in 2014. Nov. 15 is the 60th anniversary of Ruby Bridges integrating William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans.

You can watch video from the press conference and listen to interviews about what will comprise the new exhibit here. You may see more photos of Malala Yousafzai on the Malala Fund media page.

Follow us on social media (Facebook. Twitter @TCMIndy and Instagram - #TakeActionTCM) on Monday of each week to find out ways you can bring waves of change to your community for Celebrating The Power of Children: A Year of Action. The Malala portion of The Power of Children exhibit is slated to open in 2021.

The Power of Children exhibit is made possible by lead gifts from Deborah Simon, Efroymson Family Fund, Chase, National Endowment for the Humanities, Duke Energy Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Jerome P. Martin, U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, The Cummins Foundation, and The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Support for the addition of Malala Yousafzai's story is provided by Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, Inc., and U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services. The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis is proud to partner with Riley Childrens at Indiana University Health, Old National Bank and Ice Miller LLP.

About The Children's Museum of Indianapolis

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is a nonprofit institution committed to creating extraordinary learning experiences across the arts, sciences, and humanities that have the power to transform the lives of children and families. For more information about The Children's Museum, visit http://www.childrensmuseum.org, follow us on Twitter @TCMIndy, Instagram@childrensmuseum, YouTube.com/IndyTCM, and Facebook.
A former Supreme Court Justice Kim Ji-hyung answers questions during a press conference after he accepted Samsung's request to lead the group's independent compliance committee, Thursday. Yonhap



By Kim Yoo-chul



A few weeks after a local judge asked Samsung leader Lee Jae-yong to present the business heavyweight's detailed plans to level up its compliance policy, Samsung named a former liberal judge as the chief of the group's compliance committee.



In a press conference, the new committee chief, former Supreme Court Justice Kim Ji-hyung, told reporters the committee will operate independently and block any attempts from Samsung to intervene in its operation.



"The central point of the committee is independence and autonomy. The committee will closely monitor any possible misconduct by Samsung executives such as insider trading and bribery. If we find anything, we will ask Samsung's board to submit the necessary papers to look into them for better compliance," the committee chief told reporters, Thursday.



The naming of Kim as the committee head is Samsung's "official response" after Samsung head Lee was ordered by a local court to adhere to external rules and meet regulatory demands. Lee, who is facing a tough trial over alleged misconduct under the impeached former President Park Geun-hye's administration, vowed to improve the firm's compliance system.



"The reason why I accepted Samsung's request to lead the committee is because Samsung leader Lee guaranteed the body's authority and autonomy," Kim said. He added he is well aware of some criticism and worries that he himself would be used as a "face" by Samsung to get favorable court decisions for the Samsung leader.



The company already has a compliance program. But the seven-member committee will begin work next month and has secured access to Samsung's confidential business papers to eradicate criminal conduct. Mostly outside legal experts and civic group members are on the committee.



It plans to sign agreements with seven Samsung units including Samsung Electronics, Samsung SDI, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Samsung SDS to specify prerequisites and conditions before the committee's February launches. "We will update our latest activities on a separate homepage from time-to-time and the updates will be based on reports from Samsung employees over any alleged illegal misconduct by senior management."



Despite repeated pledges and gestures by the country's leading top-tier conglomerates to improve management transparency, foreign investors constantly cite weak compliance as one of the reasons for the discount in corporate value. Samsung's Lee was indicted in 2017 over his alleged involvement in bribery allegations regarding the impeached president.



However, in August, last year, the Supreme Court overturned an appeals court ruling that had given the Samsung leader Lee a suspended jail term. That has raised worries of a tougher sentence and potential return to jail.



It remains to be seen whether Thursday's announcement will have any impact on the Samsung leader's upcoming appeal court hearing as President Moon Jae-in and his economic team need Samsung's support to spur strong and inclusive economic growth this year. As Moon's presidency enters the second half of his single term, he has already clarified his economy-focused initiatives by rolling out relevant plans and visiting company sites.



Moon visited Samsung factories twice and congratulated Samsung's development in next-generation memory chips and displays in the wake of the ongoing trade friction between South Korea and Japan after Tokyo's removal of Seoul from its list of trusted business partners in July last year.


Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 17:24:24|Editor: mingmei

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BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese courts have stepped up efforts to punish offenders polluting the environment along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said Thursday.

A large number of cases involving pollution along the Yangtze River Economic Belt had been handled by the end of 2019, including 42,230 criminal cases, 112,265 civil cases, 75,591 administrative cases and 2,945 public interest cases, the SPC said at a press conference.

A total of 488 trial organs dedicated to environmental resource cases have been set up by courts along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, said Jiang Bixin, vice president of the SPC.

The SPC also unveiled 10 typical cases of environmental offenses along the economic belt, in a move to help unify courts' judgemental criteria when they hear cases involving environmental pollution.

The Yangtze River Economic Belt consists of nine provinces and two municipalities that cover roughly one-fifth of China. It has a population of 600 million and generates more than 40 percent of the country's GDP.
China has labeled the United States the 'root cause' of heightened tensions in the Middle East after U.S. President Trump called on China and other nations to abandon the 'defective' Iran nuclear deal.

Beijing's Ministry of Foreign Affairs today accused Washington of ignoring international law and its international duties with the proposal.

Geng Shuang, a spokesperson of the Ministry, condemned the U.S. for pulling out of the agreement one-sidedly. He said America was applying 'extreme pressure' on Iran and 'preventing' other countries from fulfiling their responsibility.

President Trump yesterday called on China and other nations to abandon the 'defective' Iran nuclear deal. He said the 'time has come' for Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China to 'break away' from the accord. He is pictured addressing the nation from the White House

Geng Shuang, a spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, condemned the U.S. for pulling out of the 2015 deal one-sidedly. He accused Washington of ignoring international law

During a daily press briefing, Mr Geng stressed the need to de-escalate tensions in the region after Iran launched missile attacks on two American bases in response to a U.S. strike that killed its top general.

He said the agreement did not come easy and was the important result of multilateral diplomacy and the pillar of peace in the Middle East.

Mr Geng called on international society to uphold the agreement in a bid to ease the situation.

'China will continue to maintain close contact and coordination with all relevant sides, and make unremitting efforts for the cause,' he added.

President Trump yesterday called on other nations to abandon the Iran nuclear deal, calling it ''very defective'.

He said that the 'time has come' for Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China to 'break away' from the accord, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

President Trump announced his decision to walk away from the nuclear deal in May, 2018, calling it 'disastrous' and an 'embarrassment.' Trump is holding a signed document reinstating sanctions against Iran after announcing the U.S. withdrawal from the deal on May 8, 2018

At a White House press conference yesterday afternoon, President Trump said the 'very defective JCPOA expires shortly anyway and gives Iran a clear and quick path to nuclear breakout'.

'Iran must abandon its nuclear ambitions and end its support for terrorism.

'The time has come for the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia and China to recognise this reality.

'They must now break away from the remnants of the Iran deal - or JCPOA - and we must all work together towards making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place.'

The Iran nuclear deal is a detailed, 159-page agreement signed on July 14, 2015.

It was reached by Iran and six nations, including the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States  as well as Germany. It was endorsed by the United Nations.

Under the deal, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear programme and allow in international inspectors in return for the easing of economic sanctions.

Tensions in the Middle East have heightened after Iran launched missile attack on two American bases in response to a U.S. strike that killed its top general Qassem Suleimani. In the picture above, people protest against the death of the general while holding his portrait

Coffins of General Qassem Soleimani and others who were killed by a U.S. drone strike are carried on a truck surrounded by mourners during a funeral procession on January 6 in Tehran

President Trump announced his decision to walk away from the deal in May, 2018, calling it 'disastrous' and an 'embarrassment.'

He said at the time that the U.S. had 'definitive proof' that Iran was lying about its pursuit of nuclear weapons when it entered into the 2015 agreement.

A year later, Iran said it would withdraw partially from the deal. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he wanted to re-negotiate the terms.

Hours before President Trump's remarks yesterday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the deal remained the 'best way of preventing nuclear proliferation in Iran'.

He told MPs during Prime Minister's Questions: 'It is the best way of encouraging the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon - and we think that after this crisis has abated, which of course we sincerely hope it will, that way forward will remain.

'It is a shell that has currently been voided, but it remains a shell into which we can put substance again.'

The European Union also said yesterday that it 'will spare no efforts' in its attempts to keep alive the international deal.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said her foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell would continue to work 'in the midterm' to reach out to all participants in the global deal in the hopes that the 2015 nuclear agreement could still be saved despite a rollback on commitments from Tehran.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 8, 2020) - Destiny Media Technologies Inc. (TSXV: DSY) (OTCQB: DSNY), the makers of Play MPE, a cloud-based SaaS solution for promotional music marketing, today announced that the Company will hold a conference call on January 15, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time) to discuss financial results for its first quarter ended November 30, 2019. The Company plans to release financial results for the first quarter before market open on January 15, 2020.

The conference call will include comments from President, Chief Executive Officer, Fred Vandenberg.

Date: January 15, 2020

Time: 2:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time)

Direct dial in: [1-416-764-8688]

North America toll-free participant dial in: [1-888-390-0546]

Conference ID: 15660597

A replay of the call will be available until January 22, 2020.

Direct replay: [1-416-764-8677]

North America toll-free replay: [1-888-390-0541]

Replay passcode: 660597#

A transcript will also be available on Destiny's corporate site at https://investors.dsny.com

About Destiny Media Technologies Inc.

Destiny Media Technologies Inc. ("Destiny"), provides software as service (SaaS) solutions to businesses in the music industry solving critical problems in distribution and promotion. The core service, Play MPE (www.plaympe.com), provides promotional music marketing to engaged networks of decision makers in radio, film, TV, and beyond. More information can be found at www.dsny.com.

Contacts:

Fred Vandenberg

CEO Destiny Media Technologies, Inc.

604 609 7736 x236

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/51266
WASHINGTON - Following the U.S. drone strike that killed a top Iranian general, President Donald Trump will ask allies to scrap the Iran nuclear deal, Vice-President Mike Pence said Thursday. The agreement has been unraveling since Trump pulled the United States from it.

The president is going to call on our allies, in the days ahead, to join the United States to withdraw from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal and demand that Iran abandon its long history of sowing terrorist violence, abandon its nuclear ambitions and join the family of nations, Pence said in an interview on ``Fox & Friends.

The Trump administration has been at odds with some leading NATO members, including Britain, Germany and France, over Trumps 2018 decision to pull the U.S. from the nuclear agreement brokered by the Obama administration. Trump reinstated economic sanctions on Iran after withdrawing from the deal, which he said gave Tehran too many economic benefits without doing enough to prevent Iran from eventually developing a nuclear weapon.

Britain, France, Germany, the European Union, China and Russia have remained in the pact, which limited Irans uranium enrichment program in exchange for an easing of sanctions.

Iran has gradually rolled back its commitment to the deal and after its top general, Qassem Soleimani, was killed in the drone attack. Tehran announced over the weekend that it would no longer respect limits set under the nuclear deal on how many centrifuges it can use to enrich uranium.

Its unclear whether the other nations will leave the pact. Trump said Wednesday that he would ask NATO to step up its involvement in the Middle East, but didnt say what he would ask the alliance members to do. It was an unexpected request from a president who has criticized NATO countries for not spending more on defence and who has often had cool relations with Americas closest allies, especially over the Iran deal.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said this week that the Europeans will talk to Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog and make a co-ordinated decision.

This could be the first step toward the end of this agreement, which would be a great loss  and so we will weigh things up very, very responsibly, Maas told Deutschlandfunk radio.
Manitoba's chief federal prosecutor says his office is examining its practices in the wake of two recent rulings that call for an independent review of the northern justice system.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/1/2020 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba's chief federal prosecutor says his office is examining its practices in the wake of two recent rulings that call for an independent review of the northern justice system.

"This is something that we do take seriously and we want to be responsive to concerns of the courts, which reflect the concerns of the community, and we're taking steps to do so," said Michael Foote.

The federal office is considering placing a prosecutor on duty after hours to fill what Foote acknowledged is a gap in service after 5 p.m.

For now, his office has asked provincial Crown prosecutors to step in when someone is arrested on federal charges. The Crown can review the case and determine whether that person should be released on bail immediately after arrest, rather than spending days or even weeks in jail waiting for a bail hearing in front of a judge.

"We recognize that we have to be responsive to the needs of the people in these northern communities in particular, and we have to make sure that we're able to address their concerns, and this is how we're doing it. It's not something that we want to leap into without having given it due thought," Foote said.

He spoke to the Free Press after two separate court decisions shed light on problems with the bail-court system in northern Manitoba.

One of the rulings, issued Dec. 18 by The Pas provincial court Judge Malcolm McDonald, criticized the federal Crown's office for not consulting with police after drug-related arrests in northern communities. This led to police automatically jailing a Norway House woman, Amy Crate, who had no criminal record.

She was held for two days without a bail hearing in February 2018, only to be released by consent of the Crown attorney after she was transported about 300 kilometres north to court in Thompson.

"The practice of the federal Crown to not be actively involved in custody remand decisions from outlying communities into Thompson is a practice that should be reviewed," McDonald wrote.

Foote said he believes Crate's case was a one-off, but acknowledged federal prosecutors hadn't been consulting with police about whether individuals arrested in remote communities should be held in custody or released to appear in court at a later date.

The 25 Manitoba Crown attorneys who work for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada are based in Winnipeg.

The federal prosecution service is responsible for prosecuting charges, such as drug possession and trafficking, that fall under federal law  other than the Criminal Code, which is handled by provincial prosecutors. One federal Crown is assigned to each of the northern circuits across the province.

"Because the volume of federal cases is quite low compared to provincial cases, we have traditionally relied on the police to use their good judgment in making those decisions with respect to release," Foote said. "As you saw in the Crate decision, there were some problems with respect to that.

"So we are in the process of examining how we do things, and we're going to be more responsive to some of those issues that the courts had indicated ought to be addressed."

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McDonald's decision in Crate's case came on the heels of a Nov. 14, 2019, landmark ruling from Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Justice Chris Martin. Martin called for an independent review of "dysfunctional" bail courts after ruling two northern Manitobans' rights were violated because they spent 51 days and 23 days, respectively, in custody without a bail hearing.

The province has a plan in the works to set up a weekend bail pilot project in Thompson, the judicial centre of northern Manitoba, staffed by provincial Crown attorneys and private defence lawyers. A plan to run bail court five days a week in Thompson, instead of 2.5 days, came into effect at the beginning of January.

A representative from Manitoba RCMP didn't respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay
Crew of Ukrainian plane wrecked in Tehran never called for help  Iranian report

The crew of a Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) jetliner that crashed in Iran never reported an emergency on board, Associated Press said on Thursday with reference to an initial report released by Iran's Civil Aviation Organization.

According to the report, the crew also did not make a radio call for help and were trying to turn back for the airport when the plane went down.

In turn, Bloomberg reported that Ukrainian investigation team has arrived in Tehran on Thursday.

According to Bloomberg, the UIA aircraft disappeared from radar detection at 2,440 meters.

UIA's Boeing 737-800 crashed shortly after take-off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran on January 8, 2020 in the morning.

Some 167 passengers and nine crew members were on board. All of them died.

The plane, which was carrying out the PS752 flight from Tehran to Kyiv, disappeared off the radars two minutes after takeoff.
In the wake of an Iranian ballistic missile attack on air bases which house US forces in Iraq, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said he would continue his active engagement to de-escalate tensions and avert full-scale war, which the "world cannot afford."

In a statement released by his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Wednesday, Guterres re-iterated the "passionate appeal for peace" he made on Monday, after tensions rose dramatically across the whole Gulf region, following the killing of top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani, in a US drone strike.

Iran said it had carried out pre-dawn ballistic missile attack on Wednesday against two air bases used by the US and other coalition forces in Iraq, in retaliation for the targeted killing on the outskirts of Baghdad airport on Friday.

The bases struck were the large Al Asad base, west of Baghdad, and another in Erbil, the centre of Iraq's Kurdish region. The strikes came just hours after the burial of the influential general, marked by huge crowds, in Iran.

The UN chief repeated his four-point message to world leaders, to: "Stop escalation. Exercise maximum restraint. Re-start dialogue", and "renew international cooperation."

"This appeal remains as important today as it was on Monday. For his part, the Secretary-General will continue his active engagement with relevant actors," the statement said.

Guterres said it is "our common duty to make every effort to avoid a war in the Gulf that the world cannot afford. We must not forget the terrible human suffering caused by war. As always, ordinary people pay the highest price," Guterres said.

The UN Iraq mission also called for 'urgent restraint'. Citing the missile attacks in Erbil and Anbar governorates, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said the offensive served to "only escalate conflict, and again violate Iraqi sovereignty."

The mission said in a tweet, "Senseless violence has predictable effects. We call for urgent restraint and a resumption of dialogue. Iraq should not pay the price for external rivalries.

During his daily press briefing, Dujarric added that "we very much support the unity, the sovereignty of Iraq.

He said the UN chief had spoken by phone on Tuesday with Iraq's President Barham Salih, "to whom he expressed the solidarity of the United Nations and continuing support for the Iraqi people.

"The international community should support the Iraqi people as they seek to create the conditions for political dialogue, he added.

Following a statement made by US President Donald Trump from the White House on Wednesday, Dujarric added: "We welcome any indication that leaders are walking back from major confrontation, and are doing whatever they can, to avoid any further escalation.

Guterres stressed in a tweet that Peace is our most precious value. It is the product of hard work and we must never take it for granted.

He said he is encouraged by signs that the escalating conflict in the Gulf may be subsiding. The world cannot afford another war.
Hong Kong: Govt strongly opposes US report

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today reiterated that foreign governments should not interfere in the citys internal affairs.

The Hong Kong SAR Government issued the statement in response to media enquiries concerning a United States Congressional-Executive Commission on China report.

The statement expressed strong opposition to the enactment of the Hong Kong Human Rights & Democracy Act in the US, noting that it clearly intervenes in Hong Kong's internal affairs.

The act is unwarranted, sends an erroneous signal to violent protesters, and harms the relations and common interests between Hong Kong and the US, it said.

The SAR Government expressed deep regret that the US has disregarded genuine concerns it repeatedly raised about the act.

The statement pointed out that since the return to the Motherland, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has been exercising Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong and a high degree of autonomy in strict accordance with the Basic Law.

The one country, two systems principle has been fully and successfully implemented and the SAR Government will continue to implement the principle in accordance with the Basic Law.

The statement added that the HKSAR attaches great importance to human rights and freedoms and is determined to safeguard them.

The Basic Law stipulates that the city's permanent residents shall have the right to vote and stand for election in accordance with the law.

At the same time, the SAR Government has a duty to implement and uphold the Basic Law and ensure that all elections will be conducted in accordance with the Basic Law and relevant electoral laws. There is no political screening.

The statement also said the Basic Law clearly stipulates that the HKSAR is an inalienable part of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Any suggestion for Hong Kong independence is a blatant violation of the Basic Law and a direct affront to the PRCs national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.

As for constitutional development, universal suffrage of one person, one vote for selecting the Chief Executive and electing all members of the Legislative Council is enshrined as an ultimate aim in the Basic Law.

To achieve this aim, the community needs to engage in dialogue, premised on the legal basis and under a peaceful atmosphere with mutual trust, with a view to narrowing differences and attaining a consensus on all sides.

The SAR Government will assess the situation carefully and take forward constitutional development in accordance with the Basic Law and the National People's Congress Standing Committee's interpretation and decisions.

In respect of the Fugitive Offenders & Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019, the Chief Executive announced on June 15 last year that the bill was suspended and later made it clear that all legislative work had come to a halt.

The Chief Executive further announced on September 4 last year that the SAR Government would formally withdraw the bill and the Secretary for Security withdrew the bill at the council last October.

The statement asserted that it is incorrect for the report to say that the bill would empower the Chief Executive to make decisions on fugitive arrangements on a case-by-case basis.

According to the now-withdrawn bill, the Chief Executive could not bypass the court to surrender a fugitive to any requesting party. The SAR Government regrets the reports inclusion of this inaccurate statement.

From June 2019, there have been over 1,000 public demonstrations, processions and public meetings in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, many ended in violent and illegal confrontations.

All these have seriously endangered personal safety, public order and public safety, it said.

Police have been carrying out enforcement action in strict accordance with the law to protect life and property and restore order to society.

It said Police have stringent guidelines for the use of force and police officers only use appropriate force when necessary.

The SAR Government explained that it is committed to safeguarding the rule of law and judicial independence in Hong Kong.

The Basic Law entrenches the constitutional principle of prosecutorial independence. The conduct of all criminal prosecutions of the Department of Justice is free from any interference.

Decisions to prosecute or not must be based on an objective and professional assessment of the available evidence and the law.

In addition, the SAR Government has been combating Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and proactively enhancing the protection of foreign domestic helpers.

It established in March 2018 a high-level steering committee chaired by the Chief Secretary and enacted an action plan to enhance protection of foreign domestic helpers.

The SAR Government also allocated over $62 million in additional annual funding to create nearly 100 new civil service posts dedicated to fighting against TIP.

This story has been published on: 2020-01-09. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Over a hundred thousand devotees heard the midnight mass at the Quirino Grandstand earlier today before the procession of the image of the Black Nazarene began.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 9, 2020) - Discovery Harbour Resources Corp. (TSXV: DHR) (the "Company" or "Discovery Harbour") is pleased to announce a progress update on its detailed soil sampling and historical work data compilation programs on the Caldera Gold Project in Nevada. This historical data will be integrated with new data, including from a detailed soil sampling program currently underway, to evaluate and prioritize targets for the drill program planned for this year.

Phase 1 results of a two phased detailed soil sampling program will be available to management for review this month. The Company currently has 30 prioritized targets in eight separate areas that are being considered for drilling. These targets have been systematically ranked with the current data in the context of a high grade - low sulphidation epithermal gold model.

Eight Target Areas

The historical data that is being compiled and evaluated is a result of programs by various companies exploring for a shallow bulk tonnage gold deposit. Discovery Harbour's mapping program defined 30 targets for the planned drill program. The current soil sampling program, including multi-element data combined with historical data, will prioritize the initial drill targets for a high grade epithermal gold deposit.

The historical data includes the following:

142 drill holes;

804 rock samples;

1,365 soil samples, some with multi-element data, others with only gold and silver and lacking pathfinder elements such as antimony, arsenic and mercury;

Numerous old workings; and

Magnetic geophysical surveys.

The Company has divided the targets into eight areas throughout the 30 square km Caldera property (See Figure 1). The eight areas are as follows:

Target Area Number of Targets Summary Description Adara 8 Multiple shorter northwest trending structures, with inflections, abundant old workings, multiple historical shallow drill holes with anomalous and some high grade Au intercepts, partial historical soil analyses with strong gold anomalies. Barak 2 Northerly striking, shorter, structures, limited drilling with some anomalous results. Calista 4 Two long linear parallel northwest structures, abundant old workings, notable brecciation, partial historical soil analyses with strong gold anomalies. Darius 4 Multiple parallel longer northwest trending structures, minimal outcrop. Electra 2 Vein outcropping, short strike extent on surface, weaker alteration, Electra and Faustus topographically separated from other areas. Faustus 3 Sheeted stringer veining in minimal outcrop. Gemina 6 Long linear parallel northwest structures, cluster of targets in area with anomalous gold in rocks. Harmonia 1 Different character, strong alteration and partial historical soil samples indicate anomalous pathfinder elements for an epithermal system.

The Company intends to provide specific details of each of the eight target areas over the next few weeks. Below are descriptions of the Adara and Barak target areas.

Adara Target Area

The Adara area contains eight targets and includes the historic Golden King Mine. Historical drilling intersected sporadic high grade shallow intercepts which are interpreted to be associated with west to northwest trending structures. Highlights of the historical drilling include the following:

Drill Hole Gold (g/tonne) Length (feet) Depth (feet) Comments EMC-8 32.88 5 145 to 150 Hole ended in mineralization GW-5 37.92 10 335 to 345 CD07-02 2.75 10 65 to 75 CD07-24 9.03 5 75 to 80

Note: Historical drilling was reverse circulation with five foot sample intervals.

Numerous multi gram gold per tonne rock samples have been taken through this area. Historical soil sampling indicates anomalous gold and silver as well as anomalous mercury. Quartz and chalcedony have been mapped in this area.

Barak Target Area

The Barak area contains two targets based on anomalous historical drilling and brecciation in short structures identified through limited outcrop and drilling. Historical drilling intersected anomalous gold over 5 to 25 feet drill intercepts; however, based on Discovery Harbour's interpretations it appears that some of the historical drilling was oriented sub parallel to the structural strike direction. The brecciated structures are associated with historical anomalous gold and silver results in rock and soil samples.

Current Work

Discovery Harbour initiated a comprehensive soil sampling program in late 2019 which will provide management with a cohesive and uniform data set over much of the Caldera property and in particular the specific targets that have been prioritized as potential drill targets. The soil analyses will be integrated with the historical data including previous shallow drilling, geology, rock samples, the patchwork of previous soil sampling, alteration and structural mapping, and geophysics, all of which will serve to systematically prioritize targets for a 2020 drill program. The difference between the Company's drilling strategy and historic drilling is that the latter only tested to an average depth of 100 metres whereas Discovery Harbour's program involves drill testing to 300 to 500 metres. This is crucial in importance because it means that Discovery Harbour will be the first company to drill test for a deeper high grade epithermal gold deposit on the Caldera property.

Over 700 soil samples were collected in Phase 1 of the detailed soil sampling program. These results will be integrated with the historical data and it is expected that the results will be available later this month. The second phase of the soil sampling program is planned to collect a further 500 samples.

The new soil sampling data will be integrated with the historical data, to evaluate and prioritize targets for the drill program planned for this year. Previous exploration focused on shallow bulk tonnage targets whereas Discovery Harbour will focus on high grade Au-Ag targets associated with a paleo boiling zone that management interprets to lie in the 300 to 500m depth interval.

The 100% Discovery Harbour-optioned Caldera Property was generated by Don Merrick and John Zimmerman of Genesis Gold Corporation, a private Utah company specializing in gold exploration in the Western United States (www.genesisgoldcorp.com), the foundation of which are the claims first staked by Zsolt Rosta.

Please refer to the Discovery Harbour website for further details and results at: www.discoveryharbour.com.

Mark Fields, P.Geo., is the Qualified Person for Discovery Harbour as defined in NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release.

For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.discoveryharbour.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DISCOVERY HARBOUR RESOURCES CORP.

"Mark Fields"

Mark Fields

President and Chief Executive Officer

Discovery Harbour Resources Corp.

Tel: (604) 681-3170

Fax: (604) 681-3552

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information that involves various risks and uncertainties regarding future events. Such forward-looking information can include without limitation statements based on current expectations involving a number of risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance of Discovery Harbour, such as statements that Discovery Harbour intends to pursue the Caldera Project. There are numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and Discovery Harbour's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information, including: (i) adverse market conditions; (ii) exploration results, or (iii) the financial position of the Company. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. These and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking information are based on estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. Except as required by law, Discovery Harbour does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CALDERA PROPERTY

TARGET AREAS

Figure 1





To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1559/51273_6d03805324be3a03_002full.jpg

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/51273
Thaw in US-Iran tensions, softening of crude oil prices and reports of government's intent to use the upcoming Budget to revitalise economic sentiment helped Indian equity benchmarks log strong gains on January 9.

Sensex ended 635 points, or 1.55 percent, higher at 41,452.35, while Nifty50 closed 191 points, or 1.58 percent, up at 12,215.90. The rally was broad-based as the BSE Midcap (up 1.51 percent) and Smallcap (up 1.55 percent) indices rose in sync with the benchmarks.

Nifty formed a bullish candle on the daily chart. After showing a promising upside bounce from the lows in the last session, Nifty formed a long bull candle with a gap up opening and closed near the highs.

"The opening upside gap remains unfilled. Technically, this action indicates a strong comeback of bulls and this pattern seems to have nullified the negative status created by the panic selling of January 6," said Nagaraj Shetti  Technical & Derivative Analyst at HDFC Securities.

The short-term trend of Nifty is positive and there is a possibility of further upside in the next session. Nifty may encounter the upside resistance of 12,290-300 levels in the next 1-2 sessions, said Shetti.

The Indian rupee appreciated by 48 paise to close at 71.21 against the US dollar.

We have collated 15 data points to help you spot profitable trades:

Key support and resistance level for Nifty

According to the pivot charts, the key support level for Nifty is placed at 12,157.6, followed by 12,099.3. If the index continues moving up, key resistance levels to watch out for are 12,249.1 and 12,282.3.

Nifty Bank

Nifty Bank closed 2.29 percent up at 32,092.40. The important pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 31,782.16, followed by 31,471.93. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 32,287.66 and 32,482.93.

Call options data

Maximum call open interest (OI) of 25.19 lakh contracts was seen at the 12,500 strike price. It will act as a crucial resistance level in the January series.

This is followed by 12,300 strike price, which holds 19.55 lakh contracts in open interest, and 12,400, which has accumulated 19 lakh contracts in open interest.

Significant call writing was seen at the 12,600 strike price, which added 1.74 lakh contracts, followed by 12,200 strike price that added 1.24 lakh contracts.

Call unwinding was witnessed at 12,000 strike price, which shed 2.31 lakh contracts, followed by 12,100 which shed 2.26 lakh contracts.

Put options data

Maximum put open interest of 24.06 lakh contracts was seen at 12,000 strike price, which will act as crucial support in the January series.

This is followed by 12,200 strike price, which holds 22.4 lakh contracts in open interest, and 11,800 strike price, which has accumulated 19.70 lakh contracts in open interest.

Put writing was seen at the 12,200 strike price, which added 7 lakh contracts, followed by 12,000 strike, which added 4.6 lakh contracts.

Put unwinding was seen at 11,700 strike price, which shed 1.77 lakh contracts, followed by 11,800 strike which shed 1.44 lakh contracts.

Stocks with a high delivery percentage

A high delivery percentage suggests that investors are showing interest in these stocks.

81 stocks saw long buildup

Based on open interest (OI) future percentage, here are the top 10 stocks in which long buildup was seen.

4 stocks saw long unwinding

13 stocks saw short build-up

An increase in open interest, along with a decrease in price, mostly indicates a build-up of short positions.

48 stocks witnessed short-covering

A decrease in open interest, along with an increase in price, mostly indicates a short-covering. Based on open interest (OI) future percentage, here are the top 10 stocks in which short-covering was seen.

Bulk deals

(For more bulk deals, click here)

Upcoming analyst or board meetings/briefings

Yes Bank: The board of the bank will meet on January 10 to consider and approve the right issue of equity shares, issue of warrants and the preferential issue of shares.

Infosys: The board of the company will meet on January 10 to consider and approve quarterly results.

Uttam Galva Steels: The board of the company will meet on January 10 to consider and approve quarterly results.

Supreme Infrastructure India: The board of the company will meet to consider the scheme of arrangement.

Indian Acrylics: The board of the company will meet on January 10 to consider and approve quarterly results.

Stocks in the news

GTPL Hathway: Q3 profit jumped 98 percent to Rs 39 crore versus Rs 19.7 crore, revenue doubled to Rs 674 crore against Rs 314.5 crore YoY.

Emami Paper Mills: Q3 profit jumped to Rs 18.5 crore versus Rs 5.7 crore, revenue climbed 7.4 percent to Rs 400.1 crore YoY.

Sterlite Technologies: Subsidiary will buy a 12 percent stake in Israel-based company ASOCS.

GMR Infrastructure: Arm GHAL formed JV with Hong Kong's ESR for logistics park.

Delta Corp: Subsidiary in Nepal has been issued a license for operating a casino in Nepal.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 431.11 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares of worth Rs 419.22 crore in the Indian equity market on January 9, provisional data available on the NSE showed.

Fund flow

Stock under F&O ban on NSE

Yes Bank is under the F&O ban for January 10. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.
India Incs chief executives are keeping a close track of developments in the Middle East, where tensions between Iran and the US have kept the global economy on tenterhooks.

While three-fourth of top executives fear that tensions will impact the world economy and India adversely, a majority of them continue to affirm that their businesses will not be impacted, at least not yet.

In a quick opinion poll that Moneycontrol conducted among CEOs and MDs across sectors including auto, financial services, banking, aviation, retail, pharmaceuticals and steel, 68 percent said the crisis could delay a possible recovery in the Indian economy.

If the global uncertainty impacts our markets, it will also impact equity fund inflows, said a senior executive from the financial services industry. Such things do have repercussions on India and so our FY21 outlook will also be revised, he added.

Some concerns were assuaged late on January 8, when both US and Iran seemed to have stepped back, a bit, from their brinkmanship. US President Donald Trump claimed that Irans strike on US bases in the Middle East havent harmed its forces and seemed to back away from a further escalation.

On January 9, the market also breathed a sigh of relief, with the Sensex up 450 points in early trade.

Moneycontrol asked the chief executive officers five questions.

- Will the escalation between the US and Iran impact Indian economy? Three-fourth of them replied yes.

- Will the crisis worsen the economic condition, globally? Again, three-fourth of them answered in the affirmative.

- Will it delay the recovery of Indian economy? This time, the majority percentage dipped to 68 percent, a hint that top officials were more sanguine about the Indian economy.

- Do the worsening ties impact your business? The opinion was pretty much divided. Fifty six percent CEOs said their businesses wont be impacted. Around 32 percent said the crisis will impact their operations. The rest said they needed some time to understand the impact.

- Will the situation impact your outlook for FY21? A majority of them -- 57 percent -- thought so. But again, nearly 40 percent said the situation was not bad yet for them to revise their outlook for FY21. The rest were undecided.

Interestingly, a few of the chief executives were confident about the resilience of the Indian economy. Apart from the impact due to possible fuel price surge (short term maybe), we are quite stable as an economy, said a CEO of an aviation company.

Another said, I feel that these attacks are short term show of one upmanship. It may not last long, but a certain booster to sagging petro dollars in the Gulf.

Yet another chief executive looked back at history to make an interesting note. Sometimes wars jump start world economy. (Remember the cure to largest financial crisis in the world was World War II). Unfortunate, but wars create demand after a temporary blip!

The Middle East crisis couldn't have come at a worse time for India Inc.

Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee recently said the Indian economy could be at a tipping point of a major recession. The governments estimate of 5 percent growth in 2019-20, an 11-year low, has also increased the nervousness.

The next few weeks would be keenly watched. India Inc will begin to report its third quarter earnings, and come February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget.
Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner (pictured) has received 500,000 from a firm with links to Beijing

A left-wing ally of Jeremy Corbyn has received 500,000 from a firm with links to Beijing.

Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner had considered standing to succeed Mr Corbyn as Labour leader and even wanted Unite union baron Len McCluskey to back his bid.

A Daily Mail investigation has revealed he has benefited from more than 500,000 support from an Anglo-Chinese law firm closely associated with China's Communist rulers.

He received another 100,000 to finance a string of Parliamentary 'fact-finding trips', including a week-long stay at a 325-a-night hotel in Mexico.

According to the Commons Register of Interests, since 2015 Mr Gardiner has received 542,000 in staff costs from the UK-based law firm Christine Lee & Co, which has offices in London and Beijing.

The Mail has established that Miss Lee attended a banquet at the Chinese Embassy in London on December 16, where ambassador Liu Xiaoming criticised Western nations including Britain for attacking China over pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

According to the China Daily, an English language newspaper run by Beijing's Communist Party, Miss Lee told guests that 'western [media] coverage' of the bloody clashes between protesters and riot police, including allegations of police brutality, had 'failed to explain the exact true picture'.

Barry Gardiner and Jeremy Corbyn pictured arriving ahead of a statement on the NHS Labour Party General Election Campaigning in November 2019

Jeremy Corbyn with Barry Gardiner at a press conference in London on November 27, 2019

Christine Lee & Co Solicitors office in London. According to the Commons Register of Interests, since 2015 Mr Gardiner has received 542,000 in staff costs from the UK-based law firm Christine Lee & Co, which has offices in London and Beijing

Her law firm's website boasts of its close connections with Beijing, saying it is 'the only British Chinese law firm authorised by the Chinese ministry of justice to practise as a law firm in China'.

According to the Commons register, Mr Gardiner, MP for Brent North, received money from Christine Lee & Co, mainly to pay for two Commons aides.

Mr Gardiner reportedly employed Miss Lee's son in his office. He said he was employed via an open appointment process and given the job on merit.

In 2017 The Times reported that Mr Gardiner, a minister in Tony Blair's government, had 'generally taken a pro-Beijing stance'. It said that in his former role as shadow energy secretary, he supported Chinese involvement in the UK nuclear power industry.

Asked in the past about his financial support from Miss Lee's firm, Mr Gardiner reportedly said he had never been 'improperly requested by, or influenced by' the law firm 'in relation to his conduct as an MP or Labour spokesman'. There is no suggestion of impropriety.

A shadow cabinet meeting at the Lowry Theatre in The Quays in Salford on September 2, 2019

In 2014 Mr Gardiner was carpeted by Labour chiefs after a trip to Cancun, Mexico, during floods in Britain. He was the party's floods spokesman at the time. He was spotted swimming and relaxing by the pool in Hawaiian shirt and Panama hat.

The trip was paid for by a pharmaceuticals firm run by a Labour donor. It was revealed at the time that he had spent a total of 157 days on foreign jaunts at a cost of more than 100,000 since entering the Commons in 1997. In 2018 he came under fire for accepting a 5,000 donation from private water company Castle Water, despite Labour's vow to nationalise the industry.

Neither Mr Gardiner nor Miss Lee responded to requests for a comment. Last night Mr Gardiner announced that he would not contest the Labour leadership after his last-minute bid failed to attract enough nominations from fellow Labour MPs.

Candidates require 22 nominations to have a chance of making the ballot. Frontrunner Sir Keir Starmer already has 63  plus the backing of Unison, Britain's largest trade union.

Rebecca Long Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Jess Phillips have at least 22 nominations but Emily Thornberry has just seven and Clive Lewis four.
A four-month old baby who was diagnosed with Spina Bifida in the womb looks set to be able to walk with the aid of a splint following revolutionary treatment in Belgium.

Father of three Eoin Murphy contacted the Opinion Line on Cork's 96FM to share the story of his daughter Kaelyn who was born in August.

He said that they were informed of Kaelyn's Spina Bifida when his partner Amanda was 20 weeks pregnant.

"It turned out that she was diagnosed with Spina Bifida whilst still in the womb. So at 20 weeks we got a bit of a fright. A bit of a shock. We didn't know what to do," he recalled.

Dr Keelin O'Donoghue of the INFANT centre at Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) sent Eoin and Amanda to meet with experts in the UK. An operation to help lessen the effects of Spina Bifida was arranged in Belgium at no cost to the family.

Eoin said Kaelyn was just the fifth baby in Ireland to avail of a pioneering new operation in Belgium where surgeons operate during the mum's pregnancy.

"We were told we might be eligible for a new treatment that is available at the moment. Within a week we were in London speaking to a consultant from Belgium who is one of the world's leader at this new procedure.

We found out at 20 weeks and the operation had to be down by 26 weeks or it couldn't be done. So we didn't have much time to soak it all in. It was a massive shock.

"We were told there was a 90% chance that if we didn't go ahead with the operation that Kaelyn would never walk. Katelyn is just the fifth baby from Ireland to have this done.

Eoin, who lives in Cork, said he was amazed at the skill level involved in the procedure.

"So what they would do is Caesarean my partner Amanda, open her up, cut a little slit in the sac the baby is in turn the baby around so the opening in the back would be visible. They would sew it up and they would put her back in. And let baby try heal itself whilst in mummy's womb. That is what was done. We feel so fortunate."

The procedure in Belgium involves repairing the spine in order to prevent the loss of spinal fluid that can cause severe physical and cognitive developmental problems.

It can reduce illnesses including bladder, bowel and kidney conditions later in life, and improve walking ability. The treatment is not suitable for every pregnancy.

Eoin says he is very grateful for what was done for his family via the CUMH.

"We paid for own flights and accommodation. But this was all done on the public system. No VHI. No medical card. The hospital stay, the operation, the aftercare it was all covered by the HSE."

Spina Bifida occurs when a babys spine and spinal cord dont develop properly in the womb, causing a gap in the spine.

Meanwhile, the INFANT centre at CUMH is a research unit focused entirely on pregnancy, birth and early childhood.

Their pregnancy research targets improved screening methods and preventative treatments for mothers and babies.
[January 09, 2020] ePayPolicy, a Market-Leading Electronic Payments Solution for the E&S Insurance Market, Announces Investment from Serent Capital

ePayPolicy, a leading integrated electronic payments solutions in the Excess & Surplus ("E&S") insurance market, announced it received a significant investment from Serent Capital, a San Francisco and Austin based private equity firm focused on investing in high-growth technology and services businesses. ePayPolicy will leverage the Serent investment to accelerate the company's growth by making it even easier for agencies, MGAs / wholesale brokers, and premium finance companies to seamlessly accept electronic payments. ePayPolicy provides an easy-to-use, end-to-end solution with integrations into the most widely used agency management systems. ePayPolicy allows agencies, MGAs / wholesale brokers, and premium finance companies to get up and running with electronic payments in days, dramatically reducing the number of paper checks they process while also simplifying their accounting reconciliation with automated data entry. Since its founding in 2014, ePayPolicy has become one of the market-leading E&S-focused solutions, serving over 2,300 customers, processing over $2 billion in payments annually, and leading in customer satisfaction with customer ratings nearly 5x higher than the market average. "This investment from Serent is a game-changer in our ability to take our product to the next level in user experience, product offerings, and service enhancements. We're already the preferred electronic payments solution for 27 state associations and are excited to now bring our product to the rest of the country," said Todd Sorrel, Co-Founder of ePayPolicy. "ePayPolicy's customer references and satisfaction scores are the some of the best we've ever seen. We knew immediately this was a team that knew how to create outstanding products," stated Kevin Frick, Partner at Serent Capital."We're incredibly excited to partner with Todd and Milan to expand ePayPolicy's market reach and continue to drive exceptional value for their customers."



ePayPolicy represents Serent Capital's 9th payments investment and 10th investment in the insurance market. Serent has an active track record in the payments space, having invested in companies such as Diamond Mind, Real Green Systems, KEV Group, and Payliance. Serent has also been active in the insurance market with its platform investments in Intygral, Next Gear Solutions, Senior Dental Care, and Aftermath. Leonis Partners advised ePayPolicy on the investment.

About Serent Capital Serent Capital invests in growing businesses that have developed compelling solutions that address their customers' needs. As those businesses grow and evolve, the opportunities and challenges that they face change with them. Principals at Serent Capital have firsthand experience at capturing those opportunities and navigating these difficulties through their experiences as CEOs, strategic advisors, and board members to successful growing businesses. By bringing its expertise and capital to bear, Serent seeks to help growing businesses thrive. For more information on Serent Capital, visit www.serentcapital.com. About ePayPolicy ePayPolicy provides an easy to use, end-to-end solution with integrations into leading agency management systems allowing agencies, MGAs / wholesale brokers and premium finance companies to get up and running with electronic payments in days, dramatically reduce the number of paper checks they process, while simplifying their accounting reconciliation with automated data entry. Since its founding in 2014, ePayPolicy has become one of the market-leading E&S focused solutions serving over 2,300 customers, processing $2 billion in payments annually, and leading in customer satisfaction with customer ratings nearly 5x higher than the market average. For more information please visit https://epaypolicy.com/. About Leonis Partners Leonis Partners serves as a full-service advisor to entrepreneurs and their businesses. Calling on decades of experience from some of the largest leading global financial institutions, Leonis crafts highly calibrated solutions to achieve our clients' needs as it pertains to M&A, Capital Raising, Fairness & Valuation Opinions, and other Special Situations. Our experience and track-record in each of these core areas continues to provide our clients with superior results. The firm is headquartered in New York. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005033/en/

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New dates from the World Heritage archeological site at Sangiran on the island of Java suggest that that the first appearance of Homo erectus occurred more recently than previously thought, researchers report. The new findings place the arrival of the first hominins in Sangiran between 1.3-1.5 million years ago (Ma), suggesting that early humans migrated from Asia to Southeast Asia and Java nearly 300,000 years later than previously believed. The fossil-rich Sangiran dome in Java contains the oldest human fossils in Southeast Asia and is widely regarded as one of the most important sites in understanding the evolution of our early ancestors and their slow march across the globe. To date, more than 100 specimens from at least three different hominid species have been recovered from Sangrian sediments. However, despite decades of research, the site's chronology remains uncertain and controversial, particularly the timing of H. erectus' first appearance in the region, and the current widely accepted dates are difficult to reconcile with other early sites in Asia. An accurate understanding of the Sangiran chronology is crucial for understanding the earliest human migrations and settlements in Asia. To resolve this debate, Shuji Matsu'ura and colleagues used a combination of fission-track and Uranium/Lead (U/Pb) dating to determine the age of volcanic zircons found above, below and within the hominin-bearing layers of the Sangiran fossil deposit. While previous estimates have estimated hominin arrival as early as 1.7 Ma, Matsu'ura et al.'s findings suggest a much younger date; likely by 1.3 Ma, however no earlier than 1.5 Ma. In a related Perspective, Boris Brasseur discusses the study's findings in more detail.

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Labour dispute puts EQAO testing at risk, Jan. 8

I started my career as a teacher in 2008, when the Toronto District School Board had stopped hiring new teachers due to a glut of teachers in Toronto. So I have been working in private high schools for $25 per hour, without pay for preparation time, public holidays, lunch or overtime. I earn about $20,000 per year working full time and overtime.

This is in comparison to the average TDSB teacher salary of $93,000. These teachers do not work over the summer, during March Break or on public holidays. They also get several hours during the week for preparation time and one paid day off per month.

If you average this out to an hourly rate, teachers make much more than the average Bay Street attorney, who works up to 12 hours per day, five days a week for the entire year. If the public knew that teachers make more than most lawyers in Ontario, they may be better informed about why more is being asked of our teachers in this tough economic time.

For $93,000, I dont think it is unreasonable to take on a bit more work. I pray to have such a job.
Friends in their 70s and 80s, who would not want to be called old men, have been out for days or nights for three months with the tankers. I have seen a man, dying in great pain, still struggle towards the flames to give his wisdom on where the fire might go; I have seen wombats share their holes with snakes, quolls, possums and a nervous swamp wallaby; a fridge on the highway kept constantly stocked with cold drinks for those defending us; six firies leaning against the hospital wall, too exhausted to stagger inside for first aid. The next day they went out again. In better times ... Jackie French has lived in the Araluen Valley for 46 years. Credit:Marina Neil Last term, a local school was asked how many of their students were suffering bushfire trauma. Their answer? All of them. Every child had either watched fire rage and flicker round their house or has a best friend who is still white-faced and silent. The teachers spent the final weeks of the school year creating joy: a school rain dance, a book give-away, an Academy Awards ceremony far more hilarious than any real one. When kids look back in 20 years, I hope they will remember community fun and kindness, not the terror. Bryan and I have been offered rooms, clothes, help with tending the wildlife, cups of tea, smiles. And the smiles meant a lot. Im part of a daily network asking by text and email: are you OK? Do you need help? How is Carol? Have you heard from Harry? Jackie French has established a conservation area to feed and protect wildlife in drought, storm and fire. Credit:Jackie French

Peter Marshall, who lent us the evacuation room where I began this article, has faced the flames every night for the past week, as well as for months before that. He described how the "fire came screaming at us out of Monga Forest like 10,000 B29s on full throttle". Eucalypts exploded in the heat. And then the fire reached his farm, and stopped. For 30 years he slowly created a landscape that stops fire. Yes, it can be done, just as we can  and must  now build homes that are fire, flood and windproof. This is just the beginning. What do we need? National disaster management, with mobile teams that can be sent into disaster regions with portable hospitals, medics, evacuation centres, rescue gear. The expertise exists. But I bet you that non-experts will look at the reports, then shove them in a bottom drawer. A bushfire and emergency response system that does not depend on volunteers. Yes, there will always be magnificent volunteers, but the job of fighting for our nations fires, floods and cyclones should not be on their shoulders. Volunteers must be supported, not just financially, but physically and emotionally, and their families too. The Rural Fire Services should not have to ask for donations. They are a government body and should be funded by government. We need more independence for local fire brigades. That old farmer or the wrinkled woman with her walking stick are the ones who know that the wind will change at 4.50pm exactly and the fire will leap across the ridges. We need containment lines across the country from which fire can be safely fought. We once built a rabbit-proof fence across Australia. We need nationwide fire-resistant planted landscapes, a mosaic of thousands of kilometres of fireproof walls, and burning regimes suited to each ecosystem, not one size fits all. We need building codes that dictate that all houses, roads, rail, bridges, power supplies, communications and essential services must be flood and fireproof, in cities as well as rural areas. We need redundancy. If one phone, water, bridge, road or energy system goes down, there must be others to rely on. As I write my computer is powered by our solar system. Our local grid is down, our phone is out, but because of our solar system I can connect to the world and know where the fires are. We have our own water storage and sewerage too. There must be nowhere in Australia that does not have back-ups like these. Most importantly? DO NOT FORGET. This is most Australians first taste of climate change. But we are the descendants of those who have faced Ice Ages, plagues, wars, famine. Most humans died. Our ancestors did not. When times are hardest, humans are capable of the greatest kindness and innovation. The best way to survive the decades to come is by forging strong community links, because when disaster strikes, those links will stand strong. DO NOT FORGET. Because those who make vast sums of money from businesses that, as a side effect, destroy our planet, put vast sums into PR or political campaigns so that laws are never made to hinder their actions. The politicians who denied climate change, the need for disaster planning and firefighting equipment, and who cut fire budgets by 30-40 per cent this year alone  despite warnings from their own experts that we faced catastrophes this year  will use political spin ... lets just call it lying  to try to make you forget before the next election.

DO NOT FORGET. Because the federal fire aid has only been offered now because of the rage of "quiet Australians". You and I and every Australian who expressed contempt has achieved this. We must keep demanding what is needed. Unless we keep up the rage, the passion and compassion, our children and our childrens children will die in more climatic disasters, from winds to cyclones, floods, tornadoes, bushfires and storm surges: the "new normal' of the Anthropocene. DO NOT FORGET. Because long after these flames are doused, there will be traumatised kids, fireys who collapse when the adrenalin seeps away, businesses destroyed, half a billion wildlife killed, with just as many injured, starving, needing food and water stations if their species is to survive. DO NOT FORGET. How we have worked together, fighting disaster without political leadership, leaders emerging in their own communities, from those who fought the flames to those who offered rooms, diverted traffic amidst red smoke, raised funds or simply offered all the smiles they could find. Do not forget that when we acted together we achieved miracles. This is the comfort we must give our children: in the past weeks, Australia has been a truly great nation. We must remain one. We must not forget.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 20:29:45|Editor: Wang Yamei

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Aerial photo taken on Jan. 10, 2020 shows high speed trains at a maintenance station in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province. The 2020 Spring Festival travel rush started on Jan. 10 and will last till Feb. 18. (Photo by Wang Xi/Xinhua)

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities will take multiple measures to ensure a smooth Spring Festival travel rush, with around 440 million trips to be made via railway.

From Jan. 10 to Feb. 18, the total number of trips is likely to hit 3 billion, slightly up from the travel rush last year, with an 8-percent growth in train trips, 8.4-percent increase in air trips and 9.6-percent hike in waterway trips, Zhao Chenxin, spokesperson for the National Development and Reform Commission, told a news conference Thursday.

Due to the continued expansion in high-speed railway operational length, the number of road trips is expected to decline to 2.43 billion.

The Spring Festival this year falls on Jan. 25, coming earlier than previous years, which brings a bigger challenge to the transport system as the return peak of college students overlaps with the travel rush.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China has promised a stronger transportation capability to deal with the air traffic pressure, with 17,000 flights to be scheduled every day, up 13.3 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, the aviation regulator will make more efforts to eliminate the impact of extreme weather and further optimize the emergency plan for large-scale flight delays to improve on-time airport performance.

To meet the rising travel demands, a total of 5,275 two-way train services will be scheduled daily before the festival, up 7.7 percent year on year, hitting a record high, said Li Wenxin, vice general manager of the China State Railway Group Co. Ltd.

During the peak period, 157.5 pairs of additional high-speed trains will be put into operation each night, adding 52 more pairs than a year before.

A total of 1,020 stations in the country are expected to adopt the e-ticket system, where passengers can board trains using a valid ID card or a QR code, relieving traffic congestion during the travel rush.

About 790,000 buses and 19,000 boats will be offered during the period, according to Wang Yang, chief engineer of the Ministry of Transport.

Wang added that China has completed the removal of 487 expressway toll booths at provincial borders on Jan. 1, making road trips more convenient and efficient.

Related departments across the country will step up security control and infectious disease prevention to guarantee the safety of travelers during the travel rush.
live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

Here are stocks that are in the news today:

Results today: GTPL Hathway

Alembic Pharma: Aleor Dermaceuticals, a 60:40 JV with Orbicular Pharmaceutical Technologies, completed USFDA inspection at its formulation manufacturing facility located at Karakhadi, Gujarat, India; without any observations.

Aster DM Healthcare: Board meeting will be held on January 9 to consider share buyback.

RITES: Stock will trade ex-dividend on January 9.

SBI: Lender Launched 'Residential Builder Finance With Buyer Guarantee (RBBG)', to focus on affordable housing

Sunteck Realty: Rajnish Kumar said SBI signed MoU with company for 3 projects under RBBG

HFCL: Company to buy 15% stake in Nivetti Systems for Rs 15.95 crore

Vedanta: Board approved raising up to Rs 2,000 crore via NCDs.

CSB Bank: Bank appointed BK Divakara as CFO w.e.f. February 5.

JSW Energy: CARE assigned the rating of 'AA-/Credit Watch with Negative implications'' for the company's Rs 300 crore Non-Convertible Debenture (NCD) issue.

KDDL - ICRA reaffirmed rating of company's fund based-cash credit and term loans at [ICRA] BBB+ (Stable)

Central Bank of India - Brickwork Ratings upgraded its ratings on Tier II bonds & Innovative Perpetual Debt Instrument of the bank

Asian Granito - ICRA reaffirmed the long-term rating at [ICRA] A and the short term rating at [ICRA] A1 for Rs 262 crore Lines of Credit

Bharti Airtel QIP launched, fixed a floor price of Rs 452.09 per share

Strides appoints R Ananthanarayanan as CEO, MD - PTI

NCLT warns Jet Airways CoC of contempt proceedings - PTI

Over 87% Gati shareholders vote for sale to Allcargo - PTI

Tata Projects bags Rs 500 cr contract from Hines for housing project - PTI

Bulk deals
What book should nobody read until the age of 40?

I dont know. If I did, I might well avoid it!

Youve talked about how often science fiction writers get the future wrong. Are there any you think get it particularly right, or at least close?

Random Acts of Senseless Violence, by Jack Womack. Published in 1994, its come to mirror our present dystopia in some extraordinary way, I assume by working from fundamentally dysfunctional aspects of our basic primate hardwiring. Written, as it were, not so much with Orwell in mind as Hannah Arendt.

The Alteration, by Kingsley Amis. Alternate history, in my opinion, is a more demanding game than imagining the future (if only because conventional historical fiction, like history, is itself highly speculative). Amis rolls the dice hard here, positing the result of the pope having successfully made Martin Luther an offer that prevents the Reformation. A masterpiece of its kind.

What do you read when youre working on a book? And what kind of reading do you avoid while writing?

When Im writing fiction, reading fiction rules itself out. Anything that isnt wonderful seems less interesting than whatever Im writing, and anything thats wonderful makes whatever Im writing seem hopelessly shabby by comparison, triggering impostor syndrome. (After a certain point in ones career, the worry that theyll finally notice your true absence of talent morphs into worrying that theyll finally notice that youve Lost It.) It increasingly feels to me, as I get older, that reading and writing occupy the same limited territory in my mind, and I deeply envy those for whom this evidently isnt a problem.

None of the above seems, mercifully, to apply to nonfiction.

Do you count any books as guilty pleasures?

Personal Effects, by Hiroshi Fujiwara. A catalog of 100 personal possessions of Fujiwaras, each accompanied by his brief explanation of why he likes it. These range from the specific brand of rubber bands he uses in lieu of a wallet to a Hermes guitar case given him by Eric Clapton. I love this, in part because no culture other than Japan can offer the equivalent of Fujiwara, whos more a cool-hunter than a designer  not that cool-hunter really seems to do him justice. (If hes that, somehow, nobody else really is.) Ive avoided learning whether the 09 on the books cover indicates that there were an annual series of these, else I have to find and buy them all.
(CNN) -- A Japanese billionaire will give away more than $9 million to 1,000 people on Twitter to see if it improves their happiness. All they had to do to get it was retweet him.

Online shopping mogul Yusaku Maezawa will divvy up 1 billion yen (around $9 million) among the Twitter users. Winners will end up with a million yen each (roughly $9,100).

In an announcement on YouTube, the tech tycoon called the contest a "serious social trial" to see what impact a million yen could have on a person's life.

In the video explaining the contest, Maezawa urged contestants to use the money "as they like" and to answer regular questionnaires about how they're using it.

Almost anybody was eligible to receive the small piece of Maezawa's fortune. All they had to do was join Twitter and retweet the announcement tweet before midnight on January 7.

More than 4 million people heeded his call and retweeted. A lottery will determine the winners, and Maezawa will personally notify them in a direct message within two to three days.

Maezawa also said he would contact the lucky winners afterward to ask about the impact, and called for social scientists to help analyze the results of the experiment.

The billionaire pulled the same stunt in January 2019. He promised 100 million yen, roughly $914,000, to be shared among 100 Twitter users. They ended up with a bit more than $9,000 each.

He broke a record in the process: His January 2019 tweet was the most retweeted ever at the time, with 4.68 million retweets.

Maezawa is worth an estimated $2 billion, according to Forbes, and has made a name for himself as an eclectic billionaire -- a rock musician, hopeful moon tourist and high-rolling art collector. He dropped $111 million on a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting in 2017 -- the highest price ever paid at auction for a work by an American artist.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "A billionaire is giving away $9 million to his Twitter followers in an experiment to see if the money makes them happier"
Residents in the path of wildfires razing southeast Australia have been urged to evacuate as hot and windy conditions are forecast to escalate the danger over the next two days.

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) told fire-weary community meetings south of Sydney in the coastal towns of Nowra, Narooma and Batemans Bay that northwesterly winds were likely to once again drive blazes towards the coast.

People on holiday have retreated to beaches and into the ocean in the area in recent weeks as destructive fires and choking smoke encroached on the tourist towns, scorching sand dunes in some places.

In the neighbouring state of Victoria, fire-threatened populations were also urged to act quickly on evacuation warnings.

Over 2,500 firefighters in the field, prepare for worsening conditions Fri. Currently 122 bush & grass fires, half uncontained. Take 5mins to discuss your bush fire survival plan. When will you leave, what will you take, where will you go? #nswrfs #nswfires pic.twitter.com/y2xjWcAlms  NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) January 9, 2020

We cant guarantee your safety and we dont want to be putting emergency services  whether it be volunteers or paid staff  we do not want to put them in harms way because people didnt follow advice that was given, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said.

The unprecedented fire crisis in southeast Australia, which has claimed at least 26 lives, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and shrouded major cities in smoke, has focused many Australians on how the nation adapts to climate change.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has come under withering criticism both at home and abroad for downplaying the need for his government to address climate change, which experts say helps supercharge the blazes.

The countrys Bureau of Meteorologys head of climate monitoring Karl Braganza said while the countrys rainfall was expected to pick up a bit, it would not be enough to snuff out the blazes anytime soon.

So far this season 1,687 homes have destroyed & more than 21,000 buildings saved. Since 1 Jan, 771 homes lost. This figure is likely to increase. It will take time for teams to work through these areas due to limited access on isolated roads and villages. #nswrfs #nswfires pic.twitter.com/ieLh9UxtFT  NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) January 7, 2020

Unfortunately, were not looking at widespread, above-average rainfalls at this stage, he said.

Thats really what we need to put the fires out fairly quickly. It is going to be a campaign, in terms of the fires. We are not looking at a short and sharp end to the event  it looks like something that we will have to persist with for some time.

The New South Wales government responded to the crisis on Thursday by announcing an additional one billion Australian dollars (520 million) to be spent over the next two years on wildfire management and recovery.

Pope Francis has joined world leaders in expressing solidarity with the Australian people.

Id like to ask for you all to pray to the Lord to help the (Australian) people at this difficult moment, with these powerful fires. Im close to the Australian people, Francis said at the end of his general audience on Wednesday, drawing applause from congregants.
A sedition case has been registered against a group of students in connection with alleged display of a Free Kashmir placard during a protest in a campus of the Mysuru university against the attack on JNU students, police said on Thursday.

The case has been registered against Maridevaiah and others under Indian Penal Code sections 124-A (sedition) and 34 (acts done by several persons).

Mysuru Police Commissioner K T Balakrishna said the case had been registered suo motu (on their own) based on video and photographs showing one of the protestors 'holding' the placard which read Free Kashmir at the demonstration staged by some 100 students on Wednesday.

"Investigations are on to find out those who were involved in it," he said.

The students were protesting against the violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi on Sunday.

The protest was held by a Dalit students forum, Mysuru Researchers Association, Bahujan Vidyarthi Sangh, Students Federation of India and other left-Leaning student bodies under the leadership of Maridevaiah at the Manasa Gangotri campus of the university in Mysuru, police said.

The FIR said the organisers had not obtained permission for the protest. The case had been registered against Maridevaiah, who was leading it, and others.

Registrar of the university R Shivappa said the administration has issued notices to the organisations concerned seeking an explanation.

"We have also complained to the police against the organisations. They (protesters) had not taken permission from the university," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
MILTON  It appears the last act of the towns previous administration was to wipe its computer system of nearly all the town files and programs  leaving its incoming Supervisor Benny Zlotnick scrambling to even get an agenda out for his first Town Board meeting.

Zlotnick said he is uncertain who did it, but was told by former secretary to former Supervisor Scott Ostrander that there was confidential information on the computers and that is why nearly everything, including town-owned applications like Word and Excel, were gone.

I dont know whats missing, Zlotnick said hours before his first Town Board meeting as supervisor on Wednesday. We are still trying to get our feet on the ground. I hope things are backed up, but we dont know.

Zlotnick, who is a Republican, but ran as a third party candidate and a Democrat, said he was surprised and disappointed by the move.

I know what it feels like to lose, said Zlotnick, who stopped short of blaming one-term Republican Supervisor Ostrander whom he defeated in November. The campaign was a little contentious, but what was done was disrespectful to the citizens of the town.

Ostrander did not return a Times Union phone call on the matter.

Zlotnick has hired an outside IT specialist who worked on the problem for two days.

Town councilwoman Barbara Kerr, who said the cost is about $95 an hour for the specialist, is concerned that there could be problems in fulfilling future Freedom of Information requests.

Its extremely unprofessional, Kerr said. This is no way for a new administration to come in. Im not even sure how legal it is to do something like that. Its destroying town property. If there was something confidential on the computers, it belonged to the town.

Kristin ONeill, assistant director of the state Committee for Open Government, said without more detail, its unclear whether the records legally could be deleted.

It depends on what he did with the records that he was required to maintain pursuant to the record retention and disposition schedule established by the New York State Archives before he wiped the computer, ONeill said.

She said the archives dictates how long specific records for all levels of government, including towns, should be saved and when they are permitted to be destroyed. She also said that emails, though subject to Freedom of Information requests, do not fall under the archives record retention rules. They can be deleted as soon as they are sent or received.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

She also said that the town clerk is responsible and is the legal custodian for all town records.

My hope would be, prior to the computer being wiped, any records in the supervisor's possession that were subject to the record retention and disposition schedule were provided to the town clerk for proper storage, ONeill said. It may or may not be problematic.

The Times Union attempted to reach state archives late in the day Wednesday, but did not hear back.

The Town Clerk and Deputy Clerk, Bill and Mary Ann Mevec, retired with Ostranders departure. Brenda Howe, the newly elected clerk, said she is trying to remedy the problem by saving all files to the network, not individual computer hard drives. When asked if she was surprised that everything was gone, she only said definitely, definitely, yes.

Kerr said that a forensic IT specialist could possibly get back the files wiped from the hard drive, but that would be costly. She feels the taxpayers should not have to pay to restore the files. The cost, she said, should fall to the person who wiped the computers clean.

Who is responsible? Kerr asked. This is costing the town money. Who should pay that bill? The citizens of the town?
New Zealand had its fourth-warmest year on record in 2019, with above average temperatures across the country.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research's annual climate summary, released on Thursday, says annual temperatures ranged from 0.5C to 1.2C above average in 2019.



But in Bay of Plenty and Hawke's Bay temperatures were "well above average," surpassing the threshold of 1.2C.

The nationwide average temperature for 2019 was 13.37C. 2016 remains New Zealand's hottest year on record at 13.45C. 2018 and 1998 were the second and third hottest years respectively, since records began in 1909.

Niwa forecaster Nava Fedaeff says the start of 2019 brought dry weather and by March "we had reached meteorological drought conditions for the upper South Island".

In Tauranga and Hamilton there were 36 consecutive days with no rain.

On February 5, tinder dry conditions led to a scrub fire in Nelson's Pigeon Valley and the largest aerial fire fight in New Zealand's history, Nava says.

"Fourth-warmest out of 111 years is very significant, so it is quite worrying to see every year these continuous records. But it is what we expect, it is in line with the projections here at Niwa," he added.

Fedaeff warned of potential drought conditions to come this year.

"As we start 2020 we have drier than normal soils, particularly for the upper North Island.

"Currently there are no meteorological drought conditions across the country - having said that there's not a lot of rain and we are approaching some of those thresholds."

It has now been 35 months since New Zealand had a month with below average temperatures, the last time being January 2017.

Niwa says heatwave conditions took hold during January 2019, with several locations experiencing their warmest January day on record.

The warmest temperature of 2019 was recorded on 31 January, when Hanmer Forest in Canterbury reached 38.4C.

A dry and warm January also led to the rapid depletion of soil moisture levels, which continued throughout February, with drier than normal soils across much of the country.

Below normal soil moisture levels continued into autumn for the North Island, while heavy rain during the end of March contributed to soils becoming wetter for western parts of the South Island.

Yearly rainfall was below normal (50-79% of normal) across Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty and parts of Waikato, Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa and Marlborough.

But rainfall was above normal (120-149% of normal) in western Southland and parts of Westland.

The region that received the most sunshine was Nelson, with 2859 hours of sunlight recorded at Richmond.

LOOKING AHEAD

From January to March 2020, temperatures are expected to be near or above average in the North Island, and near or below average for the west of the South Island.

The tropics to the north of New Zealand are forecast to become "more active" during the next several weeks, according to Niwa's seasonal climate outlook.

For the current tropical cyclone season - November 2019 to April 2020 - Niwa indicated the risk for New Zealand was "near normal."

On average, one ex-tropical cyclone passes near the country each year, bringing heavy rainfall and damaging winds.

-Stuff.co.nz/Harrison Christian.
Several farmers who gave land for the 'Bhorer Alo' tourist complex in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district staged demonstration and blocked an arterial road for over an hour, alleging that they are yet to receive compensation.

Under the banner of Land Losers' Committee, the farmers blocked one of the major roads that connect Siliguri to Assam at Mantadari area in Rajganj block around 10 am.

They claimed that though the project, built over an area of around 3,000 hectare, has been completed, farmers are yet to get compensation for their land.

The farmers said they have been protesting for several days but no officials came to meet them and listen to their demands. They then went to the office of the irrigation department in the area but it was shut, provoking them to block the road.

Later, police personnel at Milan Pally outpost met the agitating farmers and assured that their demands will be looked into.

The farmers have warned of intensifying their stir if the demands are not met.

Officals could not be contacted for comments on the issue.

'Bhorer Alo', which was opened to tourists in October 2018, is built at a cost of around Rs 373 crore. It is touted as dream project of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thousands of British travellers have had their travel plans wrecked as the nationwide strike in France intensifies.

For the past five weeks, transport to and within France has been disrupted in coordinated stoppages in protest against proposed pension reforms.

Thursday has been chosen as a day of action, with more workers walking out than usual.

While no Eurostar staff are involved, the cross-Channel train operator has been hit by restrictions on the number of trains able to run on the high-speed network.

The operator has cancelled eight trains between London St Pancras and Paris, and a single round trip to Brussels.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Passengers can be transferred to alternative trains free of charge or receive a full refund.

Travellers booked on the weekend overnight ski trains to the French Alps have been told they will need to leave work early on Friday 10 January and pay for an extra night in a hotel.

The usual Saturday night Eurostar train from Bourg St-Maurice to London has also been switched to a Sunday daytime service.

Thousands of airline passengers have been hit by a walk-out by air-traffic controllers.

British Airways has cancelled 12 flights between Heathrow and France: three round-trips to Toulouse, and return flights to Lyon, Marseilles and Nice.

BA has also axed a return service to Geneva and to Barcelona, because these pass through French airspace.

Toulouse is particularly badly affected, with easyJet grounding a round trip from Gatwick.

Air France plans to run almost all its flights, apart from a 10 per cent reduction in domestic services.

The French airline said: Last-minute delays and cancellations cannot be excluded.

Our teams are fully mobilised and will do their utmost to assist you and minimise the impact of this industrial action on your travel plans.

Passengers who want to switch to later days to avoid the risk of disruption may do so free of charge.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : The Congress, which was reduced to nil in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections, will release its first list of candidates for the 2018 polls on Sunday after the meeting of the party's Chief Election Committee (CEC), sources said on Thursday.

A senior party leader related to the development told IANS that they "will release the first list of candidates on Sunday, comprising about two dozen names" after discussions during the CEC meeting on Saturday.

Asked if there will be repeat of former MLAs of the party, he said that the party this time is focusing on winnability of the candidates.

The Congress is trying to make a comeback in the city which it ruled for 15 years from 1998 to 2013 under the leadership of Sheila Dikshit. The party was reduced to nil in the 2015 assembly polls as the AAP stormed to power by winning 67 out of 70 seats in the city, while the BJP won three seats. Even in 2013 assembly polls, the Congress was reduced to eight seats, while the debutant AAP managed to win 28 seats and the BJP won 31.

Delhi will vote on February 8 to elect a new government while the counting of votes will take place on February 11.
Millie Fuller was a fan favourite on Love Island Australia in 2018, but fans may struggle to recognise her these days.

The 26-year-old model left fans wondering whether she'd undergone cosmetic work on Tuesday, when she looked rather different in an Instagram snap.

In the photo, which was uploaded by Millie's makeup artist, she appeared to sport a much plumper pout than she did on Love Island two years ago.

 Slide me  Millie Fuller's post-Love Island makeover revealed: The reality star, 26, has raised eyebrows after debuting a plump pout and more prominent cheekbones in a recent photo. Slide right to see her on Love Island in 2018, and slide left to see her on Tuesday

Fans noticed that the professional dog walker's cheekbones looked more prominent than they did when she was on television.

The makeup artist's snap is one of several recent Instagram posts showing Millie looking remarkably different.

On Tuesday, the glamazon shared a photo of herself posing in her underwear - once again sporting a suspiciously full set of lips and contoured cheeks.

Changes: Fans have noticed that Millie's cheekbones look more prominent than they did when she was on TV two years ago. Pictured left: in 2018 and right: on Wednesday

New look: On Tuesday, the glamazon shared a photo (right) of herself posing in her underwear - once again sporting a suspiciously full set of lips and contoured cheeks. Left: Millie in 2018

Unlike many of her Love Island Australia co-stars, Millie has chosen not to disclose whether she's had cosmetic work done.

In contrast, Erin Barnett has admitted to undergoing around $35,000 worth of cosmetic procedures, including a new smile, breast implants and lip injections.

'I've never been one to hide or lie about getting cosmetic enhancements, I'm all about doing whatever you want to make yourself happy,' the I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! star said last year.

'I've never been one to hide or lie about getting cosmetic enhancements': Fellow Love Island star Erin Barnett has admitted to having $35,000 worth of cosmetic procedures, including a new smile, breast implants and lip injections. Pictured left: in 2013; and right: in 2019

In 2017, Erin spent $8,000 on a breast enlargement.

The former nursing student told NW magazine a year later that a doctor had initially refused to give her DD-cup implants on medical grounds.

'I wanted to get [my breasts] bigger, but the doctor said I had a too-small chest bone and I was like, 'F**k you!'' Erin said in May 2018.
(l-r) Ron Herzog (FPC National), Shelly Blackman (FPC Bellwood), Jeff Herzog (FPC National) My admiration for FPCs company initiatives, training program, internal network, and values have empowered me to think like an owner, and then become one!

F-O-R-T-U-N-E Personnel Consultants (FPC) a nationwide network of 65 franchised executive recruitment offices, announced the opening of FPC Bellwood. Owned by Shelly Blackman, FPC Bellwood will specialize in Distribution, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Business Development Roles.

Shelly brings eight years of military service in the United States Marine Corps, followed by over 10 years of senior leadership experience from manufacturing and distribution roles. She started her Executive Recruiting career in 2017, and has been a top performer, earning Rookie of the Year and Platinum Elite honors. Shelly will be responsible for projects that include executive search, custom talent acquisition projects, talent pipeline assessment and management, hiring process evaluation, process mapping and succession planning.

Shelly has her Bachelors in Business Administration from American Military University, and her MBA from American InterContinental University. She also has her Six Sigma Green Belt certification.

On why she chose to continue her career in the FPC network Shelly says My admiration for FPCs company initiatives, training program, internal network, and values have empowered me to think like an owner, and then become one! I will continue to build a strong foundation that Jeff Herzog has already established Nationwide. I am excited to be a part of FPCs growth and innovation. I will use my military structure, my Fortune 500 accountability, and my 3PL flexibility to build and maintain partnerships within every organization. At FPC Bellwood, we Place People First!

We are thrilled to have Shelly as a managing partner in the FPC family. She has been a strong advocate for the FPC brand, and our #1 interoffice Exchange partner. Her background along with a continued commitment to the FPC brand, extensive military network, engaging personality, passion, energy and personal drive will be an important asset to companies looking to add talent in the Distribution, Logistics, Supply Chain and Operations Leadership space. Companies will be able to leverage her extensive experience, contacts and knowledge. Her passion for process improvement, efficiency and speed to market will continue to be a perfect complement to the rest of our franchise system. said Jeff Herzog, President of FFC, the franchisor of FPC.

Contact FPC Bellwood at 912-244-0812, via email at shelly@fpcbellwood.com, LinkedIn, or visit http://www.fpcbellwood.com.

About FPC

FPC is a leading national executive search firm comprised of more than 65 franchised offices. FPC offers job seekers access to its nationwide network of professional executive recruiters and job opportunities in many industries and disciplines as well as providing job search information and assistance. The company has been providing win-win recruiting solutions since 1959. Advocates for both clients and candidates, FPC recruiters are committed to bringing together the right individual with the right opportunity. For further information about FPC, call 800-886-7839 or visit us at http://www.fpcnational.com.
Iran's Christian Minority: Officially Sanctioned But in Reality Persecuted

Recent tensions between Iran and the United States have drawn the attention of Catholic leaders, who hope the two nations will avoid an escalation. The Islamic Republic of Iran is a theocratic republic. The majority of its population is Shiite Muslim, but religious minorities, such as Christians, are tolerated. Less than 1% of Iran's population is Christian. According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, Iran has nearly 300,000 Christians, including adherents of apostolic Churches--Latin Catholic, Armenian and Assyrian/Chaldean--and newer Protestant and evangelical churches. The Catholic hierarchy consists of one Latin archdiocese--Ispahan--which has been vacant since the 2015 retirement of Archbishop Ignazio Bedini. There are also several Eastern Church eparchies: four Chaldean and one Armenian.

Five of the parliament's 290 seats are reserved for Christians and other minorities: two for Armenian Christians and one each for Assyrian/Chaldean Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians.

USCIRF said that the Iranian government monitors members of the historical Churches and imposes legal restrictions on constructing and renovating houses of worship.

"Christians have been sentenced to prison terms for holding private Christmas gatherings, organizing and conducting house churches, and traveling abroad to attend Christian seminars," USCIRF said in its 2019 annual report. "Evangelical Christian communities face repression because many conduct services in Persian and proselytize to those outside their community. Pastors of house churches are often charged with national security-related crimes and apostasy."

Converts to Christianity also face persecution, USCIRF said. "Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, a prisoner for whom USCIRF advocates as part of its Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project, is a convert from Islam to Christianity who leads the Evangelical Church of Iran and has been arrested several times. In 2017, Judge [Mashallah] Ahmadzadeh sentenced Nadarkhani to 10 years in prison and two years in internal exile for 'promoting Zionist Christianity.' After several failed appeals, he was rearrested in July 2018 by plainclothes agents, beaten, and taken to a quarantine ward in Evin Prison."

The commission reported that in 2018, Iran "drastically" escalated its arrests of Christians. Whereas 16 Christians were arrested in Iran in 2017, at least 171 were arrested in 2018. "Christians arrested in Iran are often treated and charged as enemies of the state, and lawyers who take on their cases face the threat of detention. In September 2018, for example, Iran revolutionary court judges [Mashallah] Ahmadzadeh and Ahmad Zargar affirmed sentences leveled in 2017 against Saheb Fadaie and Fatemeh Bakhteri on the charge of 'spreading propaganda against the regime.'"

Iran has specifically targeted the family of Assyrian Christian pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz on spurious charges of acting against national security, USCIRF said. In 2017, Bet-Tamraz was sentenced to 10 years in prison and continues to appeal the sentence. In January 2018, Judge Mashallah Ahmadzadeh of Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Bet-Tamraz's wife, Shamiram Isavi, to five years in prison on national security charges. In July 2018, the judge sentenced their son, Ramil, to four months in prison, also for 'acting against national security."

Last year, USCIRF recommended to the U.S. State Department that it designate Iran a "country of particular concern," or CPC, under the International Religious Freedom Act. USCIRF noted that since President Donald J. Trump took office, the U.S. government has "significantly shifted its approach to relations with Iran, adopting a 'maximum pressure' campaign that emphasizes accountability for Iran's nuclear activity and destabilizing activities in the region in addition to its egregious violations of human rights and religious freedom."

In May 2018, the Trump Administration announced a re-imposition of sanctions waived or lifted under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, the so-called Iran nuclear deal) to occur over a 180-day wind-down period. The first of these re-impositions occurred on August 7, 2018, and the second occurred on November 5. By the end of the reporting period, the United States had fully re-imposed the sanctions on Iran that had been lifted or waived under the JCPOA.

At the July 2018 Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom held in Washington, DC, participating delegations from around the world issued a Statement on Iran concerning its mistreatment of religious minorities. Vice President Michael R. Pence also spoke about Iran's restriction on religious freedom and urged Iranians to "press on with courage in the cause of freedom." In August 2018, the Iran Action Group at the State Department issued a report in which it detailed Iran's targeting of religious minorities, noting "Baha'is, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Sunni and Sufi Muslims face widespread persecution, discrimination, and unjust imprisonment."
Apollo Tyres Ltd is quoting at Rs 164.95, up 1.57% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The stock is down 27.41% in last one year as compared to a 12.69% spurt in NIFTY and a 9.22% spurt in the Nifty Auto index.

Apollo Tyres Ltd is up for a third straight session in a row. The stock is quoting at Rs 164.95, up 1.57% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 1.41% on the day, quoting at 12195.4. The Sensex is at 41373.69, up 1.36%. Apollo Tyres Ltd has risen around 1.45% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty Auto index of which Apollo Tyres Ltd is a constituent, has risen around 3.96% in last one month and is currently quoting at 7942.75, up 2.1% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 18.1 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 19.62 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark January futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 165.5, up 1.53% on the day. Apollo Tyres Ltd is down 27.41% in last one year as compared to a 12.69% spurt in NIFTY and a 9.22% spurt in the Nifty Auto index.

The PE of the stock is 15.48 based on TTM earnings ending September 19.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
I think some of the American commentary was too much looking for the pony in the stable, Hill said. Gone was all the talk about going after cultural sites and not as much end zone dancing about Soleimanis death as there could have been, but I think measured against some kind of standard deviation, I think it was a very, very tough-minded speech.
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) New York, United States  Thu, January 9, 2020 16:08 732 48be62e941b44f04afae568c3218dab7 2 People Mario-Batali,chef,united-states,Sexual-assault,trial Free

Prosecutors in New York have said they will investigate celebrity chef Mario Batali after a business associate of his agreed to compensate former employees over sexual harassment allegations.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office's probe of restaurateur Ken Friedman had unearthed information regarding Batali's alleged behavior at a trendy Manhattan gastropub.

Friedman, the majority owner of The Spotted Pig, will pay $240,000 to 11 women and give them a share of his restaurant's profits for ten years under a settlement negotiated by James, announced on Tuesday.

In December 2017, as the #MeToo movement gathered steam, The New York Times published allegations by several ex-restaurant workers accusing Friedman of making sexual advances and engaging in unwanted physical contact.

The owner of several reputable establishments disputed the accounts but nevertheless apologized.

As well as the $240,000 in damages, Friedman will share 20 percent of his profits from The Spotted Pig until 2029.

Friedman has also agreed to no longer manage the restaurant, situated in the West Village.

Batali was an investor in The Spotted Pig and has also been accused of harassment and unwanted touching.

Several employees told The New York Times that Batali had harassed them in full view of Friedman.

"We have received credible information and are separately looking into him, his business partner, his management company and his three restaurants," James said of Batali at a press conference.

He has previously denied the allegations.

Batali, known for his red ponytail and orange Croc shoes, has been charged with sexual assault in a separate case in Boston relating to an alleged groping at a bar in 2017.

He pleaded not guilty in May.
Chinese Company Jobs 2020 in United Arab Emirates UAE

Latest Islamabad Overseas Employment Promoters Labor Posts UAE 2022 A large and well established Chinese Company requires the services of experienced and technical candidates for the positions of Factory Worker, Mechanical Helper, Welder Helper and Electrical Helper in United Arab Emirates UAE 2020.

How to Apply on Islamabad Overseas Employment Promoters Job Advertisement

Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online.

Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If an employer asks to pay money for any purpose, do not pay at all and report us at contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. Govt jobs may not be applied online here. Human typing error is possible. Error & omissions excepted.
MURPHYS, CALIF. -- Karl Karlsens murder trial for the death of his first wife -- the mother of the son he killed in Seneca County -- has started.

Karlsen, 59, is accused of killing Christina Karlsen in a 1991 house fire in Murphys, California. Jury selection started Wednesday in Calaveras County Court, according to The Union Democrat. Karlsen has been awaiting trial since 2016.

Christina Karlsen is the second family member Karl Karlsen has been accused of killing for money.

Karl Karlsen pleaded guilty in 2013 in Seneca County Court to killing his son, Levi Karlsen, 23, by crushing him under a truck. Before he was extradited to California,Karl Karlsen was serving 15 years to life in a New York prison for murdering his son in the family barn in Varick in 2008.

Levi Karlsen is Christina Karlsens son.

Christina Karlsens death was originally deemed an accident. But officials reopened her case after her husband was found to have killed his son. They now say her death was staged, just like her sons.

The Karlsen familys California home, a wooden mining shack, caught fire on New Years Day in 1991. Christina Karlsen died trapped in a bathroom with a window that her husband had boarded up with plywood, authorities said. Karl Karlsen and the couples three children -- including Levi -- escaped the blaze.

Christina Karlsens death came soon after her husband took out a $200,000 life insurance policy on her.

Seventeen years later, Karl Karlsen took out a $700,000 policy on his son.

Less than a month later, Karl Karlsen hoisted a truck on a wobbly jack and convinced Levi Karlsen to work under the truck. He then knocked the truck onto Levis chest and walked away, leaving his son to die.

Karlsens trial for the murder of his first wife has been delayed several times since it was first scheduled in 2016, according to the Calaveras Enterprise.

Jury selection started Wednesday. Opening statements are expected to be delivered next week. The long-awaited trial will be filmed by Dateline and 20/20, reported the Calaveras Enterprise.

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A woman accused of abducting two children in regional Victoria allegedly faked her identity to work as an au pair for another family as well.

Samantha Lyndell Azzopardi, 31, was arrested in Bendigo's Pall Mall in November with two children, then aged four and 10 months, who were unharmed.

Azzopardi faced the Bendigo Magistrates Court by videolink on Thursday, her first appearance since being charged with 53 offences.

Samantha Lyndell Azzopardi was arrested in Bendigo's Pall Mall last year with the children, aged four and 10 months, who were unharmed. Azzopardi appeared by video link in the Bendigo Magistrates

She's accused of fraudulently taking the two children, who have not been identified, and of giving a false name to police when she was arrested on November 1.

She's facing a separate charge of fraudulently taking a child on December 8, 2018.

After her arrest police alleged she forged documents to gain employment as an au pair.

Azzopardi is also accused of retaining a stolen passport and has been charged with possessing identification documents belonging to 19 different people, including a child.

A document belonging to Brighton East woman Jazze Jervis was allegedly among those found in her possession.

Azzopardi allegedly deceived Ms Jervis and her husband Thomas for six months between December 2018 and June 2019.

Court documents allege she purported to be a qualified au pair by the name of Harper Hernandez, to dishonestly obtain $250 a week from the couple.

She's facing 26 deception charges covering that period and is also accused of stealing an iPad from the couple.

Police further claim Azzopardi posed as a nurse named Sakah at Essendon in October 2019 to dishonestly obtain a Lowther Hall Anglican Grammar School uniform, including dress, hat and jumper.

Dressed in bright blue trousers and white t-shirt, Azzopardi didn't say anything to the magistrate during Thursday's brief court hearing.

But she sat slouched in her seat with one hand obscuring her face for much of the appearance, and at times turned to chat with a corrections officer guarding her.

She's due to return to court by video link on March 10.
Malaysias Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah announced today that the government was making preparations to evacuate country nationals in Iraq and Iran should the latest escalation of tension in the region boil over into outright hostilities.

Saiffuddin made the announcement following a meeting between the Foreign Ministry, the National Security Council, the Defense Ministry, the Home Affairs Ministry, the Prime Ministers Department, and other government agencies on the matter.

We are making preparations in case there is a need for evacuation. Currently, there are 58 Malaysians in Iran, half of whom are students, he told reporters at an event held in a Puchong-area school. In Iraq, we have 162, with the majority of them [being] Petronas staff and several lecturers.

Embassies in the two countries have been ordered to be on stand-by for a potential influx of nationals should the situation take a turn for the worse, and Saiffuddin reminded Malaysians there to keep in contact with Wisma Putra. Citizens have also been urged to avoid non-essential travel to the region.

The news comes just a day after Malaysia Airlines announced that they would be avoiding airspace over the two nations following retaliatory attacks by Iran on American targets in Iraq over the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

The powerful figure was taken out in a U.S. drone strike near the Baghdad airport this week, prompting widespread fears of war between the longtime adversaries. Following the rocket strikes, however, Iran announced that it had concluded its operations and would not be hitting other targets, while U.S. President Donald Trump also signaled in a speech on Wednesday that the U.S. would not be seeking further escalation.

This article, Foreign Ministry making contingency plans to evacuate Malaysians in Iran and Iraq, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters!
The Great Green Wall or the Green Wall of the Sahara and the Sahel (Grande Muraille Verte pour le Sahara et le Sahel in French) initiative is one of the most high-stake and urgent movements of our times.

The project led by the African Union aims to combat land degradation and the droughts, and remedy the famine and conflicts that follow. The great hope is to lift the lives of millions of people by restoring land productivity to the sustainable food security level across North Africa.

Here is the story of how from the paper project of the line of trees bordering the vast deserts, the vision of a Great Green Wall has evolved into the ground-level interventions implemented by the people of the Sahel and the Sahara themselves.

The Why Of The Great Green Wall

The Sahel stretches 3,360 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean. It looks like a band of the arid savannah running across the edge of the Sahara. Rainfall is low, edging 4 inches some years, and droughts are getting predictably more and more common with the climate change impact. The region is one of the poorest in entire Africa, yet the Sahel's population is expected to double by 2039, adding urgency to the food and water security concern.

Facing the insurmountable challenge of the continent-scale hunger, poverty, and unrest, scientists and economists turned to the roots, literally - to the trees, unrivaled by any artificial means in reviving the land.

The First Failed Plan

The multibillion-dollar plan to plant a 4,000-mile-long wall of trees was, ultimately, a failure. In the beginning, the project looked like a simple answer to the complex problem of the creeping desertification across Africa. Plant a wall of trees 10 miles wide and 4,350 miles long, across several countries from Senegal to Djibouti.

Why was the initial vision a failure? First and foremost, the problem was misunderstood. It had nothing to do with the desert moving southward: instead, the overuse was ruining the productivity over the entire dryland. Plus, planting trees across the Sahel never had a chance to succeed: there was no science suggesting it would work or sufficient funds to support it. Significant stretches of the planned wall were uninhabited, which meant the saplings would have no one to take care of them.

The Colonial Influences

Farmers in the Sahel were taught by the French colonists to keep clearing up the land for the crops: a technique that could work in the European ecosystem but was not adapted for Africa's one. The colonial and the following laws attempted to preserve the trees by making cutting them for fuel punishable by jail. The impact was the opposite: maintaining trees on their lands became so undesirable that the tree population began to decline severely.

Over dozens of years without the trees to protect the soil and to break up the winds, the top layer of the soil dried up and blew away. The precious rainwater would not soak into the ground and would run off instead, along with the well water level continually falling. Chris Reij, a sustainable land management expert, witnessed the crop yields were 14 times less than in the US.

Farmer African girl walking on a farm field in Chad N'Djamena travel, located in Sahel desert and Sahara.

The Great Green Wall 2.0: The Plan That Might Actually Work

Luckily, as the project evolved, scientists like Reij, Garrity, and others who worked on the ground taught us what the political leaders failed to understand: the change had to start with those who had the most direct connection to, access to, and impact on the exhausted land.

The scientists discovered that the farmers in Burkina Faso and Niger had found a cheap and effective way to restore the green of the Sahel. They were implementing basic water harvesting and retaining techniques, and they were protecting trees that were emerging naturally on their lands. They were replanting local species of shrub and bush.

Innovative farmers in Burkina Faso built "zai," grids of deep planting pits that enhance water infiltration and retention during the dry seasons. They surrounded fields by the stone walls to capture the runoff. In Niger, the farmer-managed natural regeneration became the heart of the Africa-adapted technique, combining the clearing of the land with maintaining a degree of the natural regrowth.

Successful Land Restoration

The regrowth mostly halted at the border with Nigeria, where there is more available water. Undeniable evidence that the success of the land restoration was about farmers changing the way they perceive and manage trees. Hundreds of thousands of farmers were implementing these pragmatic and readily available modifications, seeing the success it had brought their neighbors.

Mohamed Bakarr, the lead environmental expert for Global Environment Facility, shares how the vision of the Great Green Wall evolved from one that was only good at first sight to the practical one. "It is not necessarily a physical wall," - he said, "but rather a mosaic of land-use practices that ultimately meet the expectations of a wall."

This is how the Great Green Wall has changed from an unrealistic vision of planting a forest fence on the edge of a desert into a program centered around indigenous land use techniques developed by the farmers themselves. A program that has a chance at success is about the governments and investors empowering the ground level execution, done by local communities' efforts.

A man working on an irrigation canal in an oasis in the Sahara desert, Morocco.

The Grassroots Efforts And The Value Of Ownership

The incredible work done by farmers in Niger means that they already have their Great Green Wall. More communities now need high-level support and empowerment to scale it up to the level of the entire continent.

The World Bank has committed $1.2 billion to the project, under the general framework of regenerating the bush and forest landscapes using the techniques that fit each country and their communities. Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Mali have advanced their initiatives much more than others. Ghana and Cameroon just began their efforts.

The work is still moving very slowly and the initiative requires a lot of support to push it forward. In order to feed the skyrocketing population, the regreening must be finished within 10 to 15 years.

The Great Green Lessons

It is a humbling story in many ways. We had undermined our own future by short-sightedness: we stripped the land from its natural safeguards that could have kept us safe and fed. Leaving some space for the bushes to coexist with us on the land ended up being the only way for us to benefit from the land ourselves.

This is not the first time, either: the Great Sahara itself is a human-made desert. The long-gone generations used the naive expansive method of exploitation on what undoubtedly seemed like an endless resource. The past can't be changed. But we can use it to make better decisions in the future.
New Decade, New Approach

Press release

The Tanaiste and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland have published the text of a deal to restore devolved government in Northern Ireland.

The deal, entitled New Decade, New Approach has been tabled at talks at Stormont House for the political parties in Northern Ireland to agree. It will transform public services and restore public confidence in devolved government.

Agreement will see the full restoration of the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement including the Executive, the Assembly and the North/South Ministerial Council with the Assembly and Executive meeting and formed. Accepting the deal would also bring about the parties committed measures which will end ongoing industrial action immediately. This includes pay parity, a new action plan on waiting times and delivering much needed reforms on health and social care.

Reforms to the health service, education and justice will be prioritised by a new Executive, as well as important improvements in transparency and accountability, and in how civil servants, ministers and special advisers conduct themselves.

Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney TD, said:

The Governments are today putting a proposed agreement to all the parties. This is based on the extensive discussions and collective work undertaken by the parties since May last year, following the awful murder of Lyra McKee. The Governments believe that it represents a fair and balanced package. There is no need, and no public patience, for more process and more discussions. It is time for political leadership and a collective commitment to making politics work for people

Rt Hon Julian Smith MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland said:

I have written to the Speaker asking him to call the Assembly on Friday to enable the restoration of the Executive. This is a moment of truth for the Good Friday Agreement. It is a fair and balanced deal that will ensure key decisions about peoples lives can be made. It immediately ends the health strike, focuses on reforms to health and social care, ensures more sustainable institutions, better politics and greater transparency and a new framework on culture and language. I urge the parties to come together and get Stormont back up and running. It is entirely within their gift.

Full text of New Decade, New Approach



The key elements of the draft agreement are: Transforming Public Services and Investing in the Economy This deal focuses on delivering what matters to citizens in Northern Ireland: better public services, a stronger economy and a fairer society.

A new Executive will address problems in the health service, reform the education and justice systems, grow the economy, promote opportunity and tackle deprivation. Better Politics and Sustainable Institutions This deal is about making sure Northern Ireland never goes three years without an Executive again.

The deal is also about giving the public and the parties confidence in politics and in the sustainability of the institutions. This deal is not just an Executive for its own sake - it offers real reform.

There are important improvements in how civil servants, special advisers and ministers should conduct themselves to provide more transparent and accountable government in the wake of the RHI issue. This means better use of taxpayers money and better delivery of the services and policies that shape peoples lives.

There will be more time in the event a First or deputy First Minister resigns to appoint a replacement before an election is required. And significantly more time after an election to form an Executive.

Ministers will be able to remain in post, while an Executive is formed, and Assembly committees will continue to be able to scrutinise the work of the Executive. Language and Identity The deal offers a new cultural framework that will include a new Office for Identity and Cultural Expression to promote cultural diversity and inclusion across all identities and cultures alongside a Commissioner to protect and enhance the Irish language and a further Commissioner to develop the language, arts and literature associated with the Ulster Scots / Ulster British tradition in Northern Ireland.

This will be made law through an integrated package of legislation that will establish new parts of the Northern Ireland Act. Petition of Concern There will be meaningful reform of the petition of concern bringing it closer to its original role, as conceived of the Good Friday Agreement and as a means of building consensus. It will not be a veto for any one party.

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The muted reaction of leading Democratic politicians to the elimination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani reinforces my sense of what divides our country and differentiates the two parties.

One part of America still believes that there is good and evil, and one part doesnt.

The American left, whose political home is the Democratic Party, lives in a world where good and evil dont exist. Everything is about politics including redemption itself.

Only someone who does not believe there is good and evil experiences no joy when evil is defeated.

The destruction of Soleimani, whose lifes work was carrying out the will of a despicable regime, is cause for celebration. As commander of the Quds Force, his hands dripped with the blood of hundreds of Americans and hundreds of thousands of others throughout the Middle East, particularly in Syria.

According to authoritative reports, the Iranian ideological imperialism extends to managing terrorist forces in Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. And much of their activity focuses on threatening the existence of Israel.

This network of terror has spread to our own hemisphere in South America.
I t is highly likely an Iranian anti-aircraft missile brought down a Ukrainian passenger plane, two US officials have said.

The officials, citing US intelligence, said they had no certain knowledge of Iranian intent, but said it could very well have been an error and that the airliner was mistaken for a threat.

Canadas prime minister Justin Trudeau, who is calling for a "thorough investigation" into the crash, also told a press conference that evidence indicated an Iranian missile brought down the plane. He said it may have been unintentional.

Downing Street said it was looking into the "very concerning" reports and called for an urgent inquiry.

It comes after Ukraine security council secretary Oleksiy Danilov said his countrys investigators wanted to search for possible Russian-made missile debris after seeing information about it on the internet, as reported by the Evening Standard.

Iran: Tehran Plane Crash - In pictures 1 /13 Iran: Tehran Plane Crash - In pictures via Reuters AP AFP via Getty Images People stand near the wreckage after a Ukrainian plane crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran ISNA/AFP via Getty Images AP AP via Reuters AP Rescuers check the debris following the plane crash via Reuters Part of the wreckage from Ukrainian plane that crashed in Tehran shortly after take-off via Reuters

The Boeing 737-800 plane carrying 176 people crashed moments after it left Imam Khomeini International Airport at 6.10am local time on Wednesday. 

Security expert Professor Anthony Glees, of Buckingham University, earlier told the Standard: Its likely to be a Russian-made missile and that it was the Iranians who downed the plane in error.

My feeling is that this was an accident because the Iranians were so nervous of a US attack.

Speculation was growing that Tehran was now seeking to cover up the cause of the crash after it said it would not hand over black box flight recorders to the planes manufacturer Boeing or the US authorities.

An initial report by the Iranian authorities confirmed that both of the black boxes that contain data and cockpit communications from the Boeing 737 had been recovered but then claimed that they had suffered damage and some parts of their memory was lost.

Boris Johnson used a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday to call for a full, credible and transparent investigation following the plane crash.

The Iranian military had disputed suggestions the airliner was brought down by a missile, with officials in Iran blaming an engine fire.

The victims included engineer Sam Zokaei, from Surrey, Saeed Tahmasebi Khademasadi, from west London, and Mohammad Reza Kadkhoda Zadeh, from near Brighton.

All three were named on the list of 167 passengers on board flight PS752 by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), which crashed moments after it left Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran at 6.10am local time (2.40am GMT) on Wednesday, bound for the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

The Prime Minister pushed for the facts to be established during his conversation with Mr Zelensky on Thursday.

Boris Johnson leaves Downing Street / PA

Mr Zelensky ordered a criminal investigation soon after the details of the tragedy emerged this week.

The airline ruled out human error, and crew were not said to have made an emergency call.

The crash comes amid escalating tension in the Persian Gulf following the killing last week of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani by the US, prompting several airlines to reroute flights away from Tehrans airspace.

Iran fired missiles at army bases in Iraq were both US and UK troops were stationed, although both Number 10 and the White House said there had been no casualties incurred.

AFP via Getty Images

A Downing Street spokesperson said: He offered his condolences to the president for the loss of the Ukraine International Airlines plane and for all those who were on board.

President Zelensky updated the Prime Minister on Ukrainian efforts to establish the facts and the Prime Minister offered UK support.

The Prime Minister said that there needed to be a full, credible and transparent investigation into what happened.
The energy watchdog has opened investigations into two small energy suppliers Utilita and Gnergy as it continues to crack down on bad practices in the industry.

Ofgem has issued Gnergy with a notice of failure to comply with a final order over unpaid fines for failing to meet renewable quotas.

The supplier was told pay more than 670,000 to the Renewables Obligation buy-out fund after it was unable to demonstrate it had sourced enough electricity from renewable sources.

Meanwhile, Ofgem has also begun a probe into Utilita over whether it has overcharged its prepayment meter customers.

Probe: Two small energy suppliers have are being investigated by Ofgem over bad practices

Gnergy, which is managed by ex-Gurkhas, has been warned by Ofgem that it could lose its licence after its renewables failure.

Under a government scheme, suppliers have to demonstrate they have sourced enough electricity from renewable sources to meet their obligation by presenting certificates to Ofgem by 1 September.

If suppliers do not have enough Renewables Obligation Certificates, they must make up the shortfall by paying into a buyout fund administered by Ofgem by 31 August.

However, if payments haven't been made by 31 August, suppliers have a late payment window until 31 October to meet their obligation, inclusive of interest charged during this period.

Gnergy, which has around 10,000 customers, was unable to give Ofgem any assurance it would meet its obligation, failed to make any payments by the deadline and has not paid the outstanding amount since.

The watchdog said it is now taking further action by starting the process that may result in the supplier losing its licence.

Mary Starks, executive director of consumers and markets said: 'The Renewables Obligation schemes provide important support to renewable electricity generators and play an important role in Great Britain's journey to a net zero emission economy by 2050.

'If any supplier undermines the scheme by failing to comply by the late payment deadline, we will take strong enforcement action that could lead to them having their licence revoked.'

Issue: Small suppliers are said to be struggling with meeting their Renewable Obligations

Rik Smith, energy expert at uSwitch, said: 'This doesn't look promising for Gnergy or their customers, and the company could become the second to have their licence revoked for not paying their renewable obligations.

'They were one of four suppliers who were given a final warning last autumn to pay their outstanding renewable energy subsidies. One of those suppliers, Toto, has since gone bust, while another, Robin Hood Energy, has had to borrow money from its owner, Nottingham Council.

'The Renewables Obligation is an important way of supporting green electricity generation in the UK, but suppliers not paying the money they owe is becoming an annual event, and smaller energy companies in particular seem to have trouble with it.'

A spokesman for Gnergy said: 'GnERGY has merged with a company which ensures a very large investment in the Company. A meeting with Ofgem on 19 November 2019 took place at the Ofgem Headquarters to explain GnERGYs new vision for 2020.

'Given the recent holiday season and the funds expected being transferred from abroad we requested Ofgem to allow us some time, on the understanding that we will abide with the instruction as per the warning letter.

'As an assurance our legal team officially confirmed the Companys position, however, despite this fact Ofgem have announced their warning following the final order. Had we been allowed ten days to clear the payment we could have avoided this unnecessary bad publicity.'

Failed supplier Breeze Energy was also charged 486,232.06 in October of last year for not meeting their Renewables Obligation.

Meanwhile, Ofgem has also started an investigation into Utilita, which has 780,000 customers, to see if it charged its customers more than the price cap limit for prepayment meter users.

A spokesman for Utilita said: 'We are aware Ofgem has opened an investigation and will assist the regulator in every way we can.'

The prepayment meter price cap came into effect on 1 April 2017 and currently sits at 1,217.

The cap is temporary and applies to prepayment meter customers on a non-fixed deal and without an 'inter-operable' smart meter. Suppliers can price to the level of the cap or below it, but cannot charge more.

Smith added: 'It's concerning that Ofgem feel the need to open this investigation. It's important that customers are treated fairly by their supplier, in compliance with the rules.'

Numerous small suppliers have gone bust in recent times including Toto Energy, Eversmart, Solarplicity, Brilliant Energy, Extra Energy, Spark Energy, Future Energy, National Gas and Power, Iresa Energy, Gen4U, Usio Energy, One Select, Our Power and Economy Energy.




AM Best has upgraded the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) to "bbb+" from "bbb" and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of B++ (Good) of Solidarity Bahrain B.S.C. (Solidarity Bahrain) (Bahrain). The outlook of the Long-Term ICR has been revised to stable from positive, while the outlook of the FSR remains stable.

The Credit Ratings (ratings) reflect Solidarity Bahrain's balance sheet strength, which AM Best categorises as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management. In addition, the ratings consider, in the form of lift, Solidarity Bahrain's strategic importance to its parent company, Solidarity Group Holding BSC (c) (SGH), a leading provider of Islamic insurance solutions in Bahrain and Jordan. The Long-Term ICR upgrade reflects the improvement in the business profile of SGH, achieved through a stronger competitive position in Bahrain, following the integration of Al Ahlia Insurance Company B.S.C. (AAIC), acquired in 2016.

Solidarity Bahrain's balance sheet strength is underpinned by its risk-adjusted capitalisation at the strongest level, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), its good liquidity, and its financial flexibility, with access to the debt and the equity markets. Offsetting factors are the company's high reinsurance dependence and elevated asset risk due to the concentration of its investments in Bahrain and the Gulf Corporation Council.

AM Best expects Solidarity Bahrain's operating performance to remain adequate over the underwriting cycle, supported by positive technical earnings and moderate investment income. The company reported a healthy return on equity (ROE) of 10% in 2018, supported by corrective actions taken by management to improve the profitability of AAIC's legacy operations. AM Best expects Solidarity Bahrain's ROE to improve moderately in the medium term, driven by a continued focus on technical discipline.

Solidarity Bahrain was formed following the merger between AAIC and Solidarity General Takaful BSC (c) in 2017, which created a leading insurer in Bahrain's insurance market, with BD 30 million of gross written contribution in 2018. Nonetheless, Solidarity Bahrain's business profile is limited by its concentration in Bahrain's insurance market, which is relatively small and highly competitive.

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 Guide to 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 credit rating agency, news publisher and data provider specialising in the insurance industry. The company does business in more than 100 countries. Headquartered in Oldwick, NJ, AM Best has offices in cities around the world, including London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com

Copyright 2020 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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MEA describes interactions as positive, no member from Middle East.

New Delhi: Envoys of 15 countries from a cross-section of regions ranging from the United States to East Asia, South-East Asia, Africa and Latin/South America were taken by the Indian government on a two-day visit beginning Thursday to the newly-created union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, where they met security officials, members of civil society, political leaders and the local media there. The ministry of external affairs (MEA) said the envoys had been taken there to see the efforts being made by the government to bring the situation to normal, adding that normalcy had been res-tored to a large extent. The MEA also described the interactions there as positive. Envoys belonging to the United States, South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Fiji, Maldives, Norway, Philippines, Morocco, Argentina, Peru, Niger, Nigeria, Guyana and Togo comprised the group. Norway - which is not part of the European Union (EU) - was the only European country represented. But there was no envoy from either the EU countries or the Middle East. Another prominent absentee was Russia. The MEA indicated that more such visits could be planned and that EU-member nations ambassadors may be taken separately as a single group to J&K later. The presence of the United States was significant, given the close ties between New Delhi and Washington in recent years. Bangladesh and the Maldives, two Muslim-majority countries in Indias immediate neighbourhood, were also significantly represented. Vietnam, Indias closest friend in South-East Asian regional bloc Asean, was also represented. On the visit, New Delhi said it was making a beginning, after five months by taking this group to J&K.

Government sources late on Thursday evening said a military briefing given to the visiting 15 foreign envoys in Srin-agar focused on cross-border terrorism with videos of infiltration. Sources said questions about revoking of Article 370 (that had granted special status to J&K) figured during discussions later in the day between political leaders in Kashmir and the 15 foreign envoys. Sources also said that in a meeting between the local media and the foreign envoys, the demand for lifting of continuing Internet restrictions imposed by the Indian Government was also raised by the local media.

Sources pointed out the envoys also had a informal chat with nearly 100 youth from across Jam-mu and Kashmir in small private groups, adding that the foreign envoys "drove through the city of Srinagar, (and) could get the feel of traffic, and open shops.

More interactions, more free interactions could be organised with visiting ambassadors from Delhi, New Delhi said.

On the absence of the EU ambassadors, the MEA on Thursday said, We need to correct a perception. There are reports that EU ambassadors did not go because they thought this was a guided tour. Our understanding is very different. We wanted this group to be broad-based. And there were restrictions in numbers. You cant take too large a number, when you are moving and organising meetings. So we wanted this group to be a manageable size. We wanted this group to represent different geographical regions... Subsequently, we will try to organise similar visits to J&K. On EU, when we approached them, they welcomed that decision because many of their ambassadors had requested for a visit to J&K...

Our understanding is that they wanted to visit in a group. On many issues, they take a group position. The invitation was not sent to all the members of the group because it would have clearly made the group too big. We were also told by some of the members that this was organised at a short notice. At no stage did we tell them that a certain meeting cannot be organised. We are looking at the possibility of organising a visit by the EU Ambassadors. Lets see how it works out.
Ukraine achieved the creation of the new corridor on the basis of BurgasAlexandroupoli pipeline for gas supplies to Ukraine from Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece

AA Photo

The reduction of gas transit through Ukraine would make 15 billion cubic meters this year due to the launch of the Turkish Stream from Russia to Turkey. Executive Director of Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine Serhiy Makohon reported this on Facebook.

Unfortunately, we could not stop it. We have already experienced its influence. The transit of gas through Ukraine in the Balkan direction since January 1, 2020, takes place only for the needs of Romania and Moldova. Bulgaria, Turkey and other countries in this region do not receive gas through Ukraine, he wrote.

According to Makohon, Ukraine achieved the creation of the new corridor on the basis of BurgasAlexandroupoli pipeline for gas supplies to Ukraine from Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece in the volume up to 15,8 million cubic meters per day.

We look for new possibilities for the use of the existing infrastructure (BurgasAlexandroupoli pipeline) and achieved the creation of the new corridor on its bases for the supplies of gas to Ukraine from Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece in the volume up to 15,8 million cubic meters per day. We expect the test supplies in January, he noted.

On January 8, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan officially opened the TurkStream gas pipeline.

The TurkStream gas pipeline has a total capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters. Its first line will provide Turkish consumers with a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters of Russian gas.

The second line will supply another 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe through Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary.

As we reported earlier, Ministers of Energy of Cyprus, Greece and Israel have signed the intergovernmental deal on the construction of the EastMed pipeline.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 9)  Over four hundred people were reported injured during the procession marking the feast of the Black Nazarene, authorities said Thursday.

Manila disaster management officials tallied a total of 487 people hurt since the beginning of the procession, called Traslacion. They said all were minor injuries and that there were no fatalities. The procession began at 4:10 a.m. at the Quirino Grandstand and ended at 8:45 a.m. at Quiapo Church, lasting 16 hours and 35 minutes, according to the Manila Public Information Office.

Just hours into the Traslacion, or at 9:27 a.m., Manilas Risk Reduction and Management Organization recorded 144 injuries. As of 9:04 pm, authorities estimated at least three million devotees joined the festivities.

The Philippine National Police, which deployed more than 14,000 personnel to secure the Traslacion, said among the wounded were a police officer whose leg was injured and a soldier who suffered an arm injury.

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) said that their volunteers attended to 1,051 individuals, including 679 who had their blood pressure checked. About 291 patients who suffered from dizziness, shortness of breath, elevated blood pressure, abrasion, laceration and sprains also received first aid.

The PRC added 26 patients with minor medical cases were treated on-site and 14 were brought to the Ospital ng Maynila and Jose Reyes medical center due to hypertension, dislocation, fractures, fainting and loss of consciousness. There were also 41 devotees given psychological first aid, it said.

During the procession, some devotees said the security officers sprayed them with what appeared to be water mixed with chili. However, PRC Chairman and Senator Richard Gordon said the volunteers did not report of any patients having suffered injuries from such a spray.

"Wala kaming napulot na ganoon. Ang complaint mainly is sumikip daw dahil nagakaroon ng barricade ng mga pulis at military which is really for the protection of the people," Gorodn told CNN Philippines' Newsroom.

[Translation: We did not receive that kind of information. The complaint is mainly tight spaces due to the barricade of the police and military which is really for the protection of the people.]

He said he was glad that there were no fatalities and severe injuries recorded from the major event.

Some changes have been introduced this year, such as a new route to quicken the Black Nazarene procession, which draws millions of devotees every year.

READ: Traslacion 2020: Millions of Black Nazarene devotees seek miracles, healing

Traslacion is the old Catholic tradition of transferring the black Jesus Christ figure in a carriage from Rizal Park to its home in Quiapo Church in Manila. Last year, the procession, which was participated by 2.5 million devotees, took 21 hours.

READ: Everything you need to know about Traslacion 2020
Burkina Faso: Islamic radicals kill 250 civilians; human rights group details attacks on Christians

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Islamic extremist groups in Burkina Faso killed at least 250 civilians since last April, according to a new report released by a human rights watchdog group that also sheds more details surrounding attacks against churches and worshiping Christians.

On Monday, the nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch released a new report highlighting the escalation of extremism in the West African country in which one of the fastest-growing displacement crises on the continent is developing as hundreds of thousands fled for their lives last year.

The report is based on interviews with dozens of victims and witnesses of abuses that took place between April and December of last year. The report documents at least 256 civilians murdered in 20 attacks since April 2019.

The al-Qaeda-aligned groups responsible for such attacks, HRW reports, formed in neighboring Mali and have since spread to Burkina Faso. Those groups include Ansaroul Islam and the Islamic State in Greater Sahara.

The report detailed one attack on a Catholic Church that took place on May 12 in the town of Dablo located in the Centre-Nord region. Six people were said to have been killed, including the parish priest, Father Simeon Yampa.

One witness told HRW that the attack began about 15 minutes after the beginning of the 8:30 a.m. Sunday service.

[W]e heard the motorcycles  then saw them through the windows, the witness said. The church was so full that dozens of worshipers had to celebrate outside. One group of jihadists surrounded those outside then another entered the church, creating panic.

Witnesses said the jihadis blocked the doors so no one could escape.

Father Yampa fled outside through his dressing chamber, another witness was quoted as saying. He ran about three meters, but a jihadist pointed his gun at him saying, You will not escape. The priest turned around, raised his hands, clutching the Bible, and sunk to his knees. And the jihadist shot him in the chest, saying, Allahu Akbar.

Inside the church, dozens of worshipers were trapped, witnesses said. The churchgoers were ordered to exit the church one-by-one and hand the extremists their identification cards and cellphones.

Another witness said the extremists ordered churchgoers to abandon Christianity. After the executions, another witness said the extremists burned robes, church documents, Bibles, musical instruments and two cars.

They ordered about 20 men to lie down outside, a few meters from the church, all face down in a row, a witness was quoted as saying. Then they started killing. I couldnt look.  I just prayed. ... Then one of them received a phone call and the killing stopped.

While Burkina Faso was formerly known as a somewhat peaceful country, attacks carried out by Islamic extremist groups have increased since 2016. Attacks on civilians and summary executions increased exponentially in 2019 as violence in the country has become one of the most disturbing global trends of the past year.

Although attacks had been largely concentrated in Burkina Fasos northern region, violence spread to other regions in 2019 since extremist groups are concentrating recruitment efforts on the nomadic Fulani herding communities, according to HRW.

Meanwhile, victims of attacks have largely been farming communities.

Witnesses told HRW that assailants tried to justify the killings by associating the victims with the government, the West or Christianity. Witnesses said the victims were gunned down in marketplaces, in villages, at churches and mosques, and while on the way to displacement camps.

Despite being blamed for the atrocities, HRW notes that Islamic extremist groups have rarely claimed responsibility for attacks.

Armed Islamist groups in Burkina Faso have attacked civilians with unmitigated cruelty and utter disregard for human life, HRW West Africa director Corinne Dufka said in a statement. Deliberately targeting farmers, worshipers, mine workers, displaced people and traders are war crimes.

On May 13, 2019, extremists killed four Catholics as they participated in a Marian procession in the Bam province and burned their statue of Mary.

We were around 70 people accompanying the virgin from village to village when suddenly, I saw seven motorcycles with two heavily armed men on each come racing towards us, a victim of the attack told HRW.

The virgin was in a motorized tricycle with about 10 people and the rest of us were walking. All who could, including me, scattered, but those in the tricycle didnt have time. Some minutes later, I heard gunfire. Around 4 p.m., we returned and found the bodies of our four brothers, face down, about 40 meters from the path.

The HRW report also documents another church attack that took place in Silgadji village after service on April 28. A pastor and five congregants of an Assemblies of God congregation were killed in the attack.

As the service ended, I saw around 20 armed men surrounding the church as the women prepared lunch, a witness told HRW. Twenty others blocked the paths out of the village. One jihadist took out a list of people they said were working with the Kogloweago [a local defense group], calling out the names, which included the elderly Pastor Pierre Ouedraogo and his son.

They ordered them to lie face down, then a jihadist shot them ... two times each in the head, the witnessed continued. People were horrified. ... The victims were all [ethnic] Mossi. Then they took the food that had been prepared, put it in the tricycle belonging to one of the men executed, and left.

Suspected Islamic extremists attacked a Protestant church in the Est region on Dec. 1, 2019. A total of 14 were killed, including pastor Woba Noe and a 12-year-old boy.

The women wailed in grief, one witness told HRW. My cousin was among the dead. The jihadists took the mens [identity cards] and, from my cousin, they also took his Bible.

The HRW report also documented the killing of 35 civilians in Arbinda in December as well as an attack on Dolmane mine workers in November.

Last September, 19 civilians were killed during an attack on a convoy of motorized tricycles bringing humanitarian aid from Dablo to Kelbo.

Last October, 23 were killed in an attack on an artisanal goldmine in the Sahel region. In the same month, 13 were killed in Pobe Mengao village after being accused of collaborating with government forces.

On Oct. 11, at least 14 men were executed as they left a village mosque in the Salmossi village.

In July, 22 people were reportedly killed in an attack on Dibilou village, HRW reports.

The Islamist armed groups need to immediately end their attacks on civilians, Dufka said in a statement. At the same time, the Burkina Faso government should take stronger steps to protect vulnerable communities from harm and impartially investigate and appropriately prosecute those implicated in war crimes.



Kristen Knutson, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, believes that the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso will likely increase in 2020.



The situation is really unprecedented for Burkina Faso, she told The New Humanitarian. The impact on the affected population has been quite severe, and the number of people in need of assistance has grown rapidly over the course of the year."
By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Azerbaijan is on the list of countries with the greatest potential for the development of adventure tourism in 2020, according to the report of Lonely Planet.

The top 10 countries that will be interesting to adventure lovers in 2020 include Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia and Ethiopia, Lonely Planet reports.

Each year, adventure tourism promotion experts from the British Backpackers Society select countries each year that may be most interesting to travel to. Backpackers are independent tourists who are willing to travel with minimal comfort for little money.

The edition named Algeria as the best country for adventure tourism development, while Pakistan headed the list a year before.

Note that the number of tourists visiting Azerbaijan from 192 countries increased by 11 percent year-on-year in the period of January-November, reaching 2.9 million.

The creation of diversified tourism infrastructure in Azerbaijan, the successful holding of international events aroused the interest of foreign tourists to the country.

Besides, simplification of the visa regime played vital role in the development of tourism in Azerbaijan.

The beautiful nature of Azerbaijan, hospitality of its people, the country's capital with its super modern and ancient buildings draws the attention of all tourists visiting this South Caucasian country.

---

Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are set to earn millions in endorsements despite walking away from the Royal Familys wealth.

By withdrawing from the sovereign grant, the Sussexes have paved the way to bank a fortune.

No longer bound by royal work, Harry and Meghan are free for commercial deals that could include lucrative sponsorships.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex sensationally quit royal life last night  without even telling the Queen in advance about their bombshell announcement.



US public relations guru Ronn Torossian said the couple could now get any endorsement deals in the world they may want.

The CEO of New York-based PR firm 5WPR told the Mirror: This news, while surprising to many, should not come as such a shock given that the clues were there for months.

Many will see this as Harry abandoning the family, with increased irritation by taxpayers with royal spending and, of course, Prince Andrews ongoing scandal.

The Royal Family is scarred right now, but not out for the count. Their legacy is much larger than just Meghan and Harry.

That said, I think Meghan Markle will remain a huge superstar.

Whether this will give Meghan and Harry the lower profile they seem to crave remains to be seen.

They will have to be vigilant in maintaining their privacy, as well as ensure that their new charitable focus is well-received by the public.

While this is a blow to the reputation of the Royal Family, their legacy is intact and will outlast Meghan and Harry.

A well-placed royal source said: Harry and Meghan have clearly set their sights on becoming one of the most famous and influential couples in the world.

They clearly value their global appeal more than the institution of the Royal Family and have no doubt been advised they can turn their royal connections into a private enterprise.

The jury is out to see how this will fare with public opinion in the United Kingdom, which is probably why they are choosing to divide their time between Harrys home and America.

Ever since walking down the aisle at Windsor Castle in May 2018, the pair have struggled intensely with being the worlds most photographed couple.

As they navigated public life, both became embroiled in a never-ending stream of negative stories, including a much-publicised rift between Harry and his brother William. Swapping Hollywood for royal life has been particularly tough on Meghan.

The former actress, 38, first sparked rumours they could be about to step out of the spotlight when she revealed she struggled to cope with pregnancy and the early stages of motherhood.

In an emotional confession to ITVs Tom Bradby last October on her and Prince Harry s ten-day tour of Africa, she said the glare of the spotlight had made things more difficult at a time when she was really vulnerable.

Meghan told Bradby it was a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes and, asked whether it had really been a struggle, replied: Yes.

The tour, which ran from the end of September to early October, was unusual for a statement by Prince Harry, 35, in which he accused parts of the media of carrying out a ruthless campaign against his wife.

The Duke of Sussexs public statement was issued on the couples website on October 1 as it was announced Meghan was suing a Sunday newspaper for publishing a private letter she had written to her father.

Although the move to spend part of the year in North America takes the couple out of daily contact with the royals, it brings Meghan closer to her California-based mother Doria Ragland.

The couples arrival across the Atlantic could also pave the way for a reconciliation with her father, Thomas Markle, 75, who the Duchess has not spoken to since she wed.

Follow Us on Facebook  @LadunLiadi; Instagram  @LadunLiadi; Twitter  @LadunLiadi; Youtube  @LadunLiadiTV for updates
A study of more than 250,000 women found that those who used talc or other personal-hygiene powders werent significantly more likely to develop ovarian cancer, news that will impact thousands of legal claims against drugmaker Johnson & Johnson over the products.

The U.S.-government-sponsored study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Tuesday, is one of the biggest to date to examine whether women who used the powder products on their genitals are at increased risk of developing the deadly cancer years later.

While the study has some limitations and couldnt rule out the powders as a cause, the findings suggests that if a risk exists its quite small.

Overall, women can be very reassured by this, said Dana Gossett, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California, San Francisco, who co-authored an editorial accompanying the new research. The use of genital powders is unlikely to cause a significant increase in ovarian cancer risk.

Johnson & Johnson shares, which gained briefly following the release of the report, were down 8 cents to $144.02 at 11:05 a.m. in New York.

Health products giant Johnson & Johnson is facing nearly 17,000 lawsuits contending that asbestos-tainted, talc-based personal hygiene products caused womens ovarian cancers and other malignancies. While the research wont eliminate the companys legal exposure, it may help bolster J&Js argument that the link between talc and ovarian cancer found in some previous studies isnt beyond dispute.

Another study has found there is no statistically significant association between use of talc for feminine hygiene and ovarian cancer, Kimberly Montagnino, a J&J spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement.

The lawsuits have hurt J&J shares as investors weighed the billions of dollars in potential legal risk to the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company.

The new research pooled raw data from four epidemiology studies that followed more than 250,000 women for over a decade. Eventually, 2,168 of the women developed ovarian cancer.

Women in the analysis who reported ever using powder on their genitals had an 8% higher risk of developing ovarian cancer years later compared to women in the studies who said they never used powder on their genitals. This small difference was not considered statistically significant, meaning that under scientific standards theres a reasonable possibility the result could have been caused by chance.

When researchers looked at women who had used genital powder for long periods of time, or more frequently  questions that were asked in some but not all the component studies  there was also no evidence of a strong ovarian cancer risk.

We found a small positive, but not statistically significant association, said lead author Katie OBrien, an epidemiologist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in North Carolina. Its pretty ambiguous.

Thousands of Cases

A federal judge is weighing whether the science backing up thousands of ovarian claims tied to baby powder is legitimate, a decision with broad ramifications for how the cases will proceed.

U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson in Trenton, New Jersey, is overseeing a consolidation of more than 12,000 baby powder cases filed in federal courts across the U.S. Wolfson must decide whether experts hired by the women suing J&J used reliable methods to conclude the companys talc-based products contained asbestos, and that exposure could have caused their ovarian cancers.

According to court filings by J&Js lawyers, the idea that talc  even untainted by asbestos  can cause ovarian cancer isnt supported by science. J&J has maintained its talc-based products dont cause cancer.

The companys lawyers have sought to persuade juries that womens cancers were caused by other factors including genetics and lifestyle issues. J&J has been on a roll at trial recently, winning eight defense verdicts in talc cases last year while losing five.

Scientists and lawyers on both sides have pointed at multiple different potential causes of womens cancers. Some studies have suggested that the use of the powder products on the genitals can cause malignancies, while others have pointed to accidental inhalation of the powder as a cause of the cancer mesothelioma.

Study Limits

One limitation of some previous studies that had found a link between talc and ovarian cancer is that women were asked about what products they used only after they became sick. That raised the possibility that patients were more likely to remember using genital powder than healthy women in the control groups, whats known as recall bias.

The JAMA research eliminates that problem by following cohorts of women over a period of years, asking them before they got cancer about powder use, said Gossett. Gossett has no financial ties to either J&J or the plaintiff lawyers suing the company.

But the new analysis has its own significant limitations. Because the four cohort studies werent originally focused on studying talc and ovarian cancer, researchers didnt collect detailed information on what types or brands of powder products women used.

That makes it impossible to tell how many of the women have used non-talc products such as cornstarch-based powder, potentially muddying any talc-ovarian cancer link. Nor does the research shed light on whether any of the talc products were contaminated with asbestos, which plaintiff lawyers blame for causing ovarian cancer.

They dont know if they used powder with talc or if they used cornstarch, said David Egilman, a clinical professor of family medicine at Brown University, and a paid expert for plaintiff lawyers suing talcum powder makers. In addition, he said, talc use may cause ovarian cancer through inhalation through the lungs, a type of exposure that wasnt addressed by this study.

Overall, it is not great data, conceded OBrien, the study author. But given how hard it is to study rarer tumors like ovarian cancer, it may be the most detailed data researchers get anytime soon. It is the biggest study and probably will be for a very long time, she said.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics USA
Farmers say retailers contribution to todays meeting of the Beef Taskforce only raised further questions around the 30-month age limit on cattle.

Tonight the ICSA president Edmond Phelan said the major retailers attending the Beef Taskforce gave no coherent indication that the 30-month rule is as important a requirement in the Irish market as processors would have us believe.

While all the retailers agree that Quality Assurance was of paramount importance, retailers are not as rigid on the issue of 30-months as we had been led to believe. There were also varying and diverging views on other in-spec requirements including the four movement rule and the 60-day residency requirement on the last farm, he said.

This tallies with the results of a poll commissioned by ICSA and conducted through RED C which found that just over 12% of respondents  or less than one in eight  indicated a preference for beef from animals of under-30 months of age, while country of origin and quality assurance was a consideration for 89% and over 90% of respondents respectively.

Mr Phelan said the retailers were told that current prices paid to beef producers fall way short of what is required.

It has been made crystal clear that beef farmers cannot continue to produce at below the cost of production. To this end, we are pleased that the retailers have agreed to co-operate further with the price composition study.

Aldi was one of the retailers represented at the talks, and the companys Group Buying Director John Curtin said it is fully committed to making a constructive contribution towards the work of the Beef Taskforce and the future of the Irish beef market".

The retail sector only accounts for 6% of the beef produced in Ireland and does not determine the market price of Irish beef. Aldi is committed to ensuring we will always offer our customers the very best in Irish beef, he said.

Ahead of the talks, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed described some of the beef industry lobbying groups as "flying columns".

Holding one or two meetings at a central location nationally, does not a national organisation constitute. We have established farm bodies, we have relatively new established farm bodies, as well, but we also have these 'flying columns' so to speak, he told Newstalks Pat Kenny show.

He said that the agricultural lobby has been widely recognised over many years as being a predominant lobbying group and an effective one.

The real danger is with fracturing of that strength in terms of its lobbying capacity, the advent of the pop up farmer organisation, which was the hallmark of 2019, a series of strikes by independent, previously unheard of organisations," he said.
Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan will step back as senior members of the royal family and spend more time in North America, the couple said in a shock announcement on Wednesday. The surprise news follows a turbulent year for the monarchy, with signs that the couple have increasingly struggled with the pressures of royal life and family rifts. "We intend to step back as 'senior' members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen," they said in a statement released by Buckingham Palace. "After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution," they added. "We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America." What constitutes a senior royal is not officially defined, although it is generally considered to be one who is close to the throne and continually carries out duties on behalf of the crown. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent Christmas in Canada after speaking of the pressure of being in the spotlight following their fairytale wedding at Windsor Castle in 2018 and son Archie's birth in May. They had previously announced they would miss Christmas with Queen Elizabeth and the rest of the royal family, choosing to spend it instead with the duchess' mother, Doria Ragland. Harry, who is sixth in line to the throne, said in October that he and his brother Prince William were on "different paths" and admitted tension in their relationship. "We don't see each other as much as we used to because we are so busy but I love him dearly," he said in an ITV television interview. - Media war - Meghan also admitted that it had been a "struggle" becoming a mother while living under an intense media spotlight. There are rumours of a feud with William's wife Kate, and she said her British friends had warned her not to marry Harry. "The British tabloids will destroy your life," she said they told her. Asked in the ITV interview if she was "not really OK" and life had "really been a struggle", she replied simply: "Yes.". The couple recently launched legal action against British tabloid The Mail on Sunday for alleged invasion of privacy over a letter from the duchess to her father. It came with a stinging statement from Harry about general tabloid coverage. Harry is also suing two newspaper groups over alleged voice mail interception, or phone hacking. Asked if Meghan was facing the same media pressures as Diana, Harry replied: "I have a family to protect. "I will not be bullied into playing a game that killed my mum." The royals had hoped to turn over a new page in 2020 following a year of trials and tribulations that Queen Elizabeth called "quite bumpy" in her Christmas Day message. Last year began with the monarch's husband Prince Philip overturning his Land Rover after crashing it into an oncoming car. It ended with the 98-year-old walking gingerly out of a London hospital after four nights of treatment for what Buckingham Palace described as a "pre-existing condition". Meanwhile, Prince Andrew -- often referred to as the queen's "favourite son" -- was dogged throughout the year by allegations that he had sex with one of the victims of US paedophile Jeffrey Epstein when she was a teenager. He denies the allegations.
Lets start out with two concepts. Thousands of years ago, there were about 1,000 people on earth. If this is the case, lets think that all of us are related and cousins.

This will give us the mentality of wanting to help our family members. Lets think that there is no such thing as a self-made man or woman. Many of the wealthiest people in the world have obtained their wealth only by employing the men and women who go to college and become engineers, doctors, space programmers, teachers of our children and so forth.

The college-educated people are the minds of America now and for future generations. Our philosophy now is: go to college, get a degree, find a job and end up for years paying off the school tuition debt.

Think of it  it should be the complete opposite. They should go to college, become these educated graduates and go into the workplace continuing to make our country the greatest now and into the future. We owe them for their skills and knowledge that they learned in college to help make all of our lives and progress for all Americans to continue to enjoy the prosperity and freedoms we possess.

The American debt trap limits options for the young Just finance it! This has been the advice that the U.S. has given to young people for decades now. We borrow money to go to college, to buy 

Look at all the industriesan evolution of this knowledge that these college grads have made by invention and creativity. The idea that they have to pay America for years to come to give us the greatness that we are is simply ridiculous. It should be the reversewhereas the student gets a degree from college without being saddled down by debt for years after they have completed their degree and have begun contributing to continue making our country the greatest.

For the long term on education funding, I would like us to eventually have a plan by which the tuition cost to these students would be completely free to them.

Income tax relief

My plan, to start with, will have a student graduate from college with a degree. They would start paying off their student loan the year after graduation for 10 years.

For example: if a student received $60,000 in student loans, then they would pay back $6,000 a year for 10 years with no interest after they graduate. For each year the student is paying $6,000, they would be entitled to deduct $6,000 off their income tax until the loan is paid in full.

If they graduated after five years or six years or seven years, they would start their loan payment after the fifth, sixth or seventh year, upon graduation if the IRS will allow this plan.

My idea would be: All companies or individuals that hire a college educated student should pay $10,000 a year to a superfund for each college student they hire. These students make these companies and businesses great with their ideas and innovations that they learned in college where their mind was expanded and are now benefiting this business or companyhelping grow and thrive.

Without these students and their new ideas, their company would be stagnant. They bring knowledge and strategy and innovation to the table, which all help create a flourishing business. This plan would start with companies hiring a college-educated employee. That company would pay a $10,000 per college student annual fee that would go into a super fund.

This would be very little annually for the company acquiring these highly skilled and educated student minds. This is not a far-fetched plan as these companies would continue to pick and hire the best minds colleges have to offer.

I believe that people like myself  and thousands of other Americans  could donate a million dollars to this plan towards the betterment of our students to partially alleviate our nations student debt.

Government funding

The American College Tuition Superfund will receive 10% of the government spending that is allocated to college and university education, to put towards student debt that is currently outstanding for all students. Any school receiving government funding will be obligated to put that 10% into the superfund now and into the future or the government funds will be suspended.

If government funding for the year (which includes federal, state, and local governments) for higher education totals about $170 billion that would obligate approximately $17 billion of that total to be put into the American College Superfund annually. Student debt interest that is currently outstanding will be paid down first. Thereafter, the 10% contribution to the superfund would begin to pay down past principal (owed), current principal (owed), and future principal (owed) on all student loans.

American College Endowment Funds

Another part for the American College Tuition Plan may not seem popular for universities or the country by first reading of what I am proposing. Most universities would say NIMBY or not in my backyard that they do not want to share their wealth. However, I hope after they read the text in totality they will see with their great minds that this will be a win-win for all.

Each university that presently has an endowment program would give 25% of their endowment money on hand to the graduated students of that college to help pay past, present and future students outstanding interest on their loans. After the student loan interest is paid, the remainder of that dedicated fund would go toward paying past, present, and future principal owed.

Any university with an endowment fund will be obligated to put the 25% of the money in their present endowment, into the student debt fund now and into the future, or all government funds should be suspended until that university becomes part of the above.

Alumni contribution to College Student Fund & American College Tuition Superfund

For this part of the program, the money stays with the benefited university to maintain their past, present, and future student debt of their graduated students body of that school.

Each university, with the money from this alumni endowment, would pay for the interest first on every outstanding loan that currently exists among their graduates. Thereafter, the Alumni Contribution Fund will go towards helping to pay off their student bodys principal debt.

Each university upon commencement of this program would have a major campaign call on all existing alumni of that university. That package sent out to each alumni would state that the university is having a major fund raising program for 180 days. It should start on Oct. 1 and end on March 31 of the next year. This way, I hope the alumni donation can be deducted over a two-year period.

The money generated from this campaign could be broken down as followed:

 40% into that universitys endowment fund;

 40% into that universitys Alumni Contribution Student Fund to pay off some of the students outstanding interest and then if any is left over to go towards their principal balance owed;

 20% into the American College Tuition Super Fund.

This campaign would help enrich the schools endowment fund, help eliminate that schools student debt obligations, and help the superfund by paying for all students across America.

Conclusion

This plan gives to all students with college debt and for all future students assuming college debt. The money would be paid back to a fund that is set up to pay these debts off as the money comes in from the students and the above funds.

I am hopeful that all the money being put into these funds would help lower the amount owed by each graduating student to help alleviate this unfair practice to our system.

It is time for a change. Remember there is no such thing as a self-made person.

As I said, this plan may sound socialistic, but it is not. We would all be undoing a great injustice to students who inevitably make our country prosper. As a capitalistic person, I know that we need them more than they need us I just want to right a wrong in education.

I have hope someday that all of our college graduates will have no student debt upon graduation. Lets do this.

After reading this plan, I would respect any ideas that anyone would come up with to change or make this plan a better blueprint as I realize I am 88 years old and not infallible.

For all those like myself who did not go to college, America should be grateful that through our ambitions, trades, and hard work we are the backbone which makes America what it is  the greatest.

George Altamura is a business owner in Napa, California.
Adam Karns, Executive Vice President, and Dana Esposito, Vice President of Creative Services, will lead an insightful presentation designed to educate audiences about effective and strategic implementation of media. The 45-minute session, " Integrate Media That Works for You (And Your Audience) ," calls upon Elevation3D's media expertise and record of success implementing new and emerging media in their work over the last decade.

"We are excited to be chosen to lead this session," says Karns. "Successful media integration has allowed us to take our clients' brands to a new level, delivering incredible results."

In 2018 Elevation3D announced the launch of its own media department, offering an array of services to enhance experiential marketing experiences. From video production and live streaming, to cutting edge technology such as AR/VR experiences, projection mapping, and holograms, the Elevation3D Media team delivers custom solutions tailored to all budgets and use cases.

"Since launching our internal media department we have expanded our service offering and taken our strategic and creative knowledge to new heights," commented Esposito. "Engaging and memorable media applications have earned numerous accolades for our clients, including several Best of Show awards."

Elevation3D has proven themselves to be an expert on creating engaging media at the ExhibitorLIVE event in years past. At ExhibitorLIVE 2019, Elevation3D was named Best of Show (Small Booth). Judges commented on their "creative and engaging digital experience," commenting that "the technology makes you want to engage."

Elevation3D will also design and produce a custom trade show booth in the exhibit hall this year in booth #613.

ABOUT ELEVATION3D

Elevation3D is a full-service design, production, and face-to-face marketing firm specializing in trade show exhibits, corporate installations, retail environments, and events across North America and abroad. Elevation3D creates, builds, and delivers innovative, captivating brand experiences for global clients from two fully operational locations conveniently located in Boston and Las Vegas. Visit elevation3D.com for more information.

Elevation3D is a registered trademark of Elevation3D LLC.

Media contact:

Elevation3D

Pamela Tangney

[email protected]

SOURCE Elevation3D

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Exceeded primary endpoint target with 45.5% overall response rate, including 20% complete response rate, in 145-patient trial



On track for Biologics License Application (BLA) submission in 3Q 2020

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ADC Therapeutics SA, a clinical-stage oncology-focused biotechnology company pioneering the development and commercialization of highly potent antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) for patients suffering from hematological malignancies and solid tumors, today announced positive results from the pivotal 145-patient Phase 2 clinical trial of loncastuximab tesirine (ADCT-402) for the treatment of relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

To date, loncastuximab tesirine has achieved an overall response rate (ORR) of 45.5% (66/145 patients), including 20% complete responses and 25.5% partial responses, across a broad population of relapsed or refractory DLBCL patients, even those who are difficult to treat. Comparably, the ORR in the 183-patient Phase 1 clinical trial of loncastuximab tesirine at the initial dose used in Phase 2 was 41.4% (29/70 patients), including 21.4% complete responses and 20% partial responses. Loncastuximab tesirine has demonstrated manageable toxicity in patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL. The most common grade 3 treatment-emergent adverse events in the Phase 2 clinical trial were neutropenia, thrombocytopenia and increased gamma-glutamyltransferase.

Jay Feingold, MD, PhD, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at ADC Therapeutics, said, These data exceeded our primary endpoint target and reinforce the significant single-agent anti-tumor activity and manageable toxicity profile of loncastuximab tesirine in patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL who have failed established therapies. Loncastuximab tesirine has demonstrated its potential to fill a critical unmet need for a new therapy and become a key part of the treatment paradigm for all heavily pretreated patients with DLBCL. We plan to present final data from the pivotal Phase 2 clinical trial at a future scientific meeting.

Chris Martin, Chief Executive Officer of ADC Therapeutics, said, We look forward to submitting a BLA to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for accelerated approval of loncastuximab tesirine for the treatment of relapsed or refractory DLBCL patients who have failed two or more treatment regimens later this year and we are building our commercial organization in anticipation of a launch in the second quarter of 2021.

The single-arm, multi-center, open-label Phase 2 clinical trial evaluated the safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of loncastuximab tesirine as a monotherapy in patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL. Patients received 30-minute intravenous infusions of loncastuximab tesirine once every three weeks at a dose of 150 g/kg for the first two cycles, followed by 75 g/kg for subsequent cycles for up to one year or until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, or other discontinuation criteria, whichever occurred first.

About Loncastuximab Tesirine

Loncastuximab tesirine (formerly ADCT-402) is an antibody drug conjugate (ADC) composed of a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against human CD19 and conjugated through a linker to a pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) dimer cytotoxin. Once bound to a CD19-expressing cell, loncastuximab tesirine is designed to be internalized by the cell, following which the warhead is released. The warhead is designed to bind irreversibly to DNA to create highly potent interstrand cross-links that block DNA strand separation, thus disrupting essential DNA metabolic processes such as replication and ultimately resulting in cell death. CD19 is a clinically validated target for the treatment of B-cell malignancies. Loncastuximab tesirine is being evaluated in a pivotal Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) ( NCT03589469 ), a Phase 1b trial in combination with ibrutinib in patients with R/R DLBCL or mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) ( NCT03684694 ) and a Phase 1b trial in combination with durvalumab in patients with R/R DLBCL, MCL or follicular lymphoma ( NCT03685344 ). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted orphan drug designation to loncastuximab tesirine for the treatment of R/R DLBCL and MCL.

About ADC Therapeutics

ADC Therapeutics SA is a clinical-stage oncology-focused biotechnology company pioneering the development and commercialization of highly potent and targeted antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) for patients suffering from hematological malignancies and solid tumors. The Company develops ADCs by applying its decades of experience in this field and using next-generation pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) technology to which ADC Therapeutics has proprietary rights for its targets. Strategic target selection for PBD-based ADCs and substantial investment in early clinical development have enabled ADC Therapeutics to build a deep clinical and research pipeline of therapies for the treatment of hematological and solid tumor cancers with significant unmet need. The Company has multiple PBD-based ADCs in ongoing clinical trials, ranging from first in human to pivotal Phase 2 clinical trials, in the USA and Europe, and numerous preclinical ADCs in development. Loncastuximab tesirine (formerly ADCT-402), the Companys lead product candidate, has demonstrated significant single-agent clinical activity across a broad population of patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma and follicular lymphoma, including difficult-to-treat patients. ADCT-301 (camidanlumab tesirine), the Companys second lead product candidate, has demonstrated clinical activity in heavily pretreated patients with Hodgkin lymphoma and, based on its mechanism targeting CD25 / regulatory T cells, also has potential for the treatment of solid tumors. ADC Therapeutics is based in Lausanne (Biopole), Switzerland and has operations in London, the San Francisco Bay Area and New Jersey. For more information, please visit https://adctherapeutics.com/ .
New Delhi, Jan 9 : Michelin star chef Vikas Khanna, who entered the Bigg Boss 13 house on Thursday for a cook-off challenge, said that he thoroughly enjoyed it and had some fun moments giving instructions to the contestants.

The housemates were divided into two teams to undertake the 'Quaker Oats Fuel For The Real Fit' task, which required them to whip up delicious dishes that win the taste test by the celebrity chef, who also instructed them as to how to prepare them.

"I'm so trained in giving instructions to chefs that it was the first time that I was instructing someone in the kitchen and they were talking among themselves. Then I had to remind myself that they're not professional chefs! "At the end of the task, Siddharth Shukla said that it seems like we're graduates in cooking, and I said you have just entered the nursery class," Khanna told IANS after he came out of the House.

The winning team included Rashami, Sidharth, Shehnaz, Mahira and Asim.

"Rashami's team was all over the place, they were talking, they were disorganised, whereas Paras' team was so focussed, but they the first team eventually won," Khanna said.

The dishes prepared by the contestants included paalak parantha, upma, tomato rice and carrot kheer.

Khanna, who is the face of Quaker Oats, a key partner brand of Bigg Boss, said that it was nice to see the housemates cook.

"It was also important to see how well they used oats in making a simple dish. For instance, using a handful of oats in carrot kheer can increase the nutrition quotient of the dish," he said.

Khanna also prepared a lavish spread of delicacies for the winning team. Using oats in most dishes, he prepared aarnchini balls, paneer roulade, baked vegetables, tarts and black forest cake made with chocolate oat sponge, fresh cream and cherries.

However, for the top chef, "food can't divide" and he allowed all contestants to feast on the set.

On other front, Khanna's feature film 'The Last Colour' featuring Neena Gupta has recently entered the Oscar race.

Latest updates on Bigg Boss Season 13
"BX3 is a new kind of investment banker for start-ups ," says Mike Minihan , BX3's managing partner. "We seek not only to coach founders and help them raise capital. We also want to build the business itself, filling in any gaps in legal, accounting, tax, operations, or marketingthe critical functions needed for any successful business venture. Our clients thus have the opportunity to utilize the integrated services of BX3 Capital, BX3 Consulting, or BX3 Lawor all three!"

BX3 Capital is led by Harry Friedberg , who brings more than three decades of experience and knowledge in finance as he spearheads the team's fundraising efforts. He has worked across the gamut of financial products including derivatives, foreign exchange, distressed debt, and structured products. Harry has sold a wide array of investment banking deals and introduced new equity-linked products to his client base. His varied background has translated into strong and lasting relationships with a variety of institutional investors such as family offices, pension funds, venture capital firms, business development companies, and hedge fund firms.

Stonecrest Partners , a partner firm of BX3 Capital, is a boutique independent financial services provider. Built on a legacy of personalized service and trust and founded by institutional traders, the firm focuses on achieving superior results for retail and institutional clients. Securities are offered through Stonecrest Capital Markets, Inc., a member of FINRA and SIPC. Investment products include fixed-income, equities/options, alternative investments, private placements, 1031 Delaware statutory trusts (DSTs), mutual funds, and various insurance products.

BX3 Consulting , led by Jay Arcata , offers a team of highly experienced professionals across a wide swath of business verticals spanning tax, accounting, marketing and public relations, graphic design, and outsourced C-suite services . Arcata joined BX3 in 2018 to begin the latest chapter in a career focused on assisting companies with nascent technologies and products. Most recently prior to BX3, Arcata was a partner with Hartford-based law firm Halloran & Sage, where he was head of the technology practice.

BX3 Law is headed by Kawa Foad , who also serves as BX3's general counsel. In addition, he advises BX3's clientele with respect to all securities-related and corporate governance matters. This includes advising on a transaction's appropriate offering type and creating investment offering documents and regulatory filings. Foad can also provide guidance on drafting and revising new and/or existing bylaws, and articles of incorporation; as well as other corporate documents such as board minutes and written consents and providing ongoing legal advice.

"Start-ups trying to break out from this highly competitive field today will need better ways to prove their investment value," says Friedberg. "One way is for founders and entrepreneurs to find high-quality partners who can introduce them to the right investors, as well as provide proven business "best practices" into all areas of their enterprise. This is why firms such as BX3 are an invaluable asset to early-stage companies."

About BX3

We are passionate professionals with decades of combined experience in finance, investment banking, marketing, accounting, tax, and law. At BX3, we use our expertise to raise funds and provide the necessary tools and framework to turn ideas into successful businesses across a variety of sectors. We work exclusively with clients and partners who reflect our core principles of collaboration, ethics, and transparency. BX3 is headquartered in New York.

Media Contact:

Carol Lin Vieira, VP Corporate Marketing and Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE BX3

Related Links

http://www.bx3.io/


To The Eagle:

During the early 1930's the U.S.A. had just passed the jingoistic anti Japanese Act in Congress, shutting down Japanese immigration to America and institutionalizing anti-Asian bigotry in this country.

At the time, Japan was a parliamentary democracy. Its right wing political party was dominated by the military and its leader General Hideki Tojo. He pushed for the policy beginning to dominate the Japanese empire that Asia should be ruled by Asians. This was the period when Surinam, French Indochina, Hong Kong, India, the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies were all colonial possessions of Western Nations. They were conquered and colonized so that France, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain and the United states could extract their considerable natural resources, particularly the worlds largest oil fields in the Dutch East Indies. The vast oil reserves of the Arabian peninsula had yet to be discovered.

By the late thirties Tojos military cabal, latter day neocons, pushed the Empire into an invasion of China. The U.S. was appalled at the reported brutality of that invasion and immediately instituted stringent sanctions against Japan.

Eighty percent of the steel and oil used by the Empire came from America. With these resources embargoed, Tojo pressured the Japanese government to expand the scope of its Asian conquest in a drive to possess the iron ore mines of China and the vast oil reserves of the Dutch colonies.

Japans Prime Minister resigned in protest. General Tojo assumed the seat of power. Japanese Democracy died. The Empire became a military dictatorship. To circumvent American intervention against his planned conquests, General Tojo initiated planning for the destruction of the American fleet at Pearl Harbor. The rest is history.

Its a history we may be in danger of repeating today, rife with all its elements of Western intervention in East Asia, the brutality of nationalist fanatics, stereotypical racial bigotry, increasingly severe sanctions and embargoes of resources, and oil. Always oil.

Faced with the loss of power and a convenient enemy to loath and attack, Trump would not be the first would-be-dictator to start a war to increase the scope of his power and stay in office. Voters are loathe to change horses in midstream during a national armed conflict.

The master of distraction and his compliant party seems about to make that fatal reach and were going to take the plunge with him.

JB Bouchard

Puget Island
WASHINGTON - The House voted Thursday to prevent President Donald Trump from taking additional military action against Iran, an opening move in a Democratic-led campaign to reassert congressional authority over the use of force abroad.

The 224-to-194 vote, which came a day after the administration's senior national security officials briefed lawmakers about the strike that killed a top Iranian commander, fell largely along party lines, with three Republicans and a Republican-turned-independent endorsing the resolution. Eight Democrats opposed the measure, which instructs Trump "to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran or any part of its government or military" unless Congress declares war or there is "an imminent armed attack upon the United States."

The administration, with the help of most Republicans, has argued forcefully against the effort, asserting that Trump, as commander in chief, had undisputed legal justification to kill Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad without Congress' prior approval. But Democrats and a handful of Republicans were so frustrated by the administration's resistance to fully involving Congress that the belated effort to engage Capitol Hill largely backfired - fueling momentum for Thursday's vote.

In the House, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a close Trump ally who has publicly defended last week's strike on Soleimani, worked with Democrats after Wednesday's briefings to fine-tune the resolution, ultimately crossing the aisle on Thursday to support it.

"I support the president. Killing Soleimani was the right decision. But engaging in another forever war in the Middle East would be the wrong decision," Gaetz said, announcing his yes vote.

But the critical forum is the Senate, where Democrats are in the minority and will need the help of at least four Republicans to pass a similar war powers resolution. Put forward by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., the measure could come up for a vote as early as next week.

Photo by Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post

Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky have committed to supporting Kaine's resolution, fuming to reporters Wednesday that administration officials had failed to specify when, if ever, they might seek Congress' approval for military strikes.

Lee complained that officials had instead communicated that lawmakers "need to be good little boys and girls and run along and not debate this in public." He has called that position "absolutely insane" and "unacceptable."

Kaine said Thursday that he is discussing his resolution with Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Todd Young, R-Ind., in addition to Lee and Paul, and selectively changing the text - such as removing language that specifically addresses Trump by name - in hopes that doing so will build enough support to secure Senate approval.

Procedurally, it is likely that the House will have to take up the Senate's resolution, should it pass in that chamber, in order to send Trump a war powers resolution that has the weight of potential law. It is also extremely likely that, should they succeed, the president will veto it - and that Congress will not be able to muster enough votes to override that veto.

But Kaine sounded undeterred Thursday, arguing that Congress could still influence Trump's thinking even if supporters cannot override his veto. As evidence, he pointed to when Congress threatened to invoke its war powers to curtail U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen.

"He stopped doing what we were complaining about. It had an impact," Kaine said, noting that the administration stopped refueling Saudi jets. "President Trump may not care about Congress, but he does care about the American public . . . and if he sees a strong vote on this, and it goes to him, it's an expression not just of what we think but of what our constituents think."

At this point, however, Republicans and Democrats remain bitterly divided over whether Trump's strike was prudent and justified, or illegal and reckless, with the dispute coming down to whether Soleimani posed such an imminent threat to warrant going after him without the consent of Congress.

The administration insists it had a right to target Soleimani under the Congress's 2002 authorization for use of military force (AUMF) in Iraq and the president's constitutional right to self-defense of troops directly and imminently in harm's way. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday that the House would vote to repeal the 2002 AUMF "soon."

The war powers resolutions going through Congress recognize an exception for an imminent threat, but Democrats do not buy the Trump administration's argument that one existed - and they are upset with the administration for withholding intelligence from lawmakers that could inform their determination.

"We deserve the respect from the administration, and the Congress deserves by dint of the Constitution, the requirement of the Constitution, to consult Congress," Pelosi said, arguing that the administration's justification for the strike should be redacted and made available to the public, as there was "no reason for it to be classified."

Republicans, meanwhile, have endorsed the administration's approach, arguing that "this Congress leaks like the Titanic," as Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) put it, and thus lawmakers could not always be trusted with the most sensitive information.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., argued Thursday that the administration's briefers had provided lawmakers all the information they needed to support the strike.

"In terms of where there is an imminent threat, General Milley was compelling and chilling about what was going to happen and what had happened," Graham said, referring to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley, who briefed lawmakers Wednesday, along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and CIA director Gina Haspel.

"I think a third-grader could have believed there was an imminent threat coming from the man that we killed," Graham said.

Republicans are warning their colleagues against voting for the war powers resolutions, arguing they are "only intended to try to undermine the president in the middle of a conflict with the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism," as House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., said Thursday.

"How can you sit here and try to apologize for the things that he did by saying taking him out was wrong?" Scalise continued. "This world is a safer place with Soleimani gone."

House Democrats have been taking pains to condemn Soleimani as they complain that the administration's moves were illegal for having cut out Congress.

"Qasem Soleimani was a malign force responsible for the death of many Americans," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said, adding that he nonetheless has "no confidence that there is some broad strategy at work, or the policies of the president are doing anything but increasing the dangers to the American people."

He called the House's vote the first step "of a broader reassertion of Congress's war powers. . . . It is past time for Congress to do our job and not simply write the executive a blank check."
The Crime Branch of Mumbai Police have arrested two more persons in connection with a firing on a Shiv Sena leader in the city, an official said on Thursday.

The arrest of Laxman Pawar alias Mahakal (45), a labour contractor, and his aide Vijay Waghmare (37) took the number of accused arrested in the case to six, he said.

Chandrashekhar Jadhav, a local Sena leader, was allegedly shot by members of the Prasad Pujari gang in Tagore Nagar in suburban Vikhroli on December 19. Jadhav was injured but survived the attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Charges against two men accused in a shooting at a crowded Kansas bar that left four people dead and five injured have been upgraded to capital murder, giving prosecutors the option of seeking the death penalty.

The amended charges filed Wednesday against Hugo Villanueva-Morales and Javier Alatorre in the Oct. 6 shooting at Tequila KC Bar in Kansas City also include: one count of attempted murder; six counts of aggravated battery; one count of aggravated assault; and one count of criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree said he has not yet decided whether to pursue the death penalty.

Police have said the shooting stemmed from an earlier dispute at the bar, after which the men returned with guns and opened fire. Officers had responded to reports of a disturbance at the bar two hours before the shooting.

Alatorre was arrested shortly after the shooting but Villanueva-Morales fled and was arrested in Mexico Dec. 12.

Villanueva-Morales could face more charges in reference to his flight but Dupree said he wanted to concentrate on the more serious crimes for now.
President Donald Trump, responding during a White House address on Wednesday to the missile strikes by Iran, assailed the nuclear agreement reached by his predecessor and praised American military might. The 10-minute address contained numerous inaccuracies and claims that lacked evidence

President Donald Trump, responding during a White House address on Wednesday to the missile strikes by Iran, assailed the nuclear agreement reached by his predecessor and praised American military might. The 10-minute address contained numerous inaccuracies and claims that lacked evidence. Here's a fact check.

What Trump Said

Irans hostilities substantially increased after the foolish Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2013, and they were given $150 billion, not to mention $1.8 billion in cash.

This is misleading. The agreement reached by Iran, the United States and a number of other nations to constrain Tehrans nuclear program did not directly provide American money to Iran, but it did release about $100 billion in previously frozen Iranian assets. Much of the amount was tied up by debt obligations, for example, $20 billion to China for financing projects in Iran. Estimates for the actual amount available to Iran range from $35 billion to $65 billion.

A separate $1.7 billion transfer of cash to Iran was to settle a decades-long dispute and was agreed to in negotiations that happened parallel to the nuclear deal. Before the 1979 revolution, Irans shah had paid $400 million for American military goods but, after he was overthrown, the equipment was never delivered. The clerics who seized control demanded the money back, but the United States refused. The additional $1.3 billion is interest accumulated over 35 years.

Iran and other parties to the nuclear accord signed an interim agreement in 2013, but the formal agreement was not reached until 2015. The White House did not respond when asked for evidence of increased Iranian hostilities.

It is worth noting that before Trump withdrew the United States from the nuclear agreement in 2018, his administration repeatedly certified that Iran was in compliance.

Afterward, as his so-called maximum-pressure campaign on Iran continued, tensions between the United States and Iran escalated significantly, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report. Trumps claim blaming the nuclear accord for Iranian aggression rather than his withdrawal from it is almost an inverted reality, said Jim Walsh, a research associate at MITs Security Studies Program and an expert on nuclear issues and West Asia.

He said that attacks by the four groups supported by Iran and designated by some governments as terrorist organisations  Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command  actually declined after the nuclear deal.

Attacks carried out by these groups decreased from more than 80 in 2014 to six in 2017, before increasing to more than 40 in 2018, according to the Global Terrorism Database maintained by the University of Marylands National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. And while Iran has been a violent and destabilising force across the region, Trumps assertion that Tehran had created hell lacked context in some cases.

Iranian aid to President Bashar al Assad of Syria in that countrys civil war and Tehrans backing of Houthi rebels in Yemen both predate the signing of the nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Theres nothing that Iran was doing after JCPoA that it wasnt doing before, said Vali Nasr, a professor of West Asian studies at Johns Hopkins University and a State Department official in the Obama administration.

Calling Irans backing of the Houthi rebels against the Saudi Arabia-aligned government in Yemen terrorism is devaluing the word to the point where its meaningless, said Anthony Cordesman, an expert on military affairs and West Asia at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

As for Irans activities in Afghanistan and Iraq, Cordesman said, they were more aggressive there because they were working to attack the Islamic State  as we were.

What Trump Said

The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration.

This lacks evidence. The White House did not respond when asked to substantiate this claim, and experts noted there was no proof that Iranian assets unfrozen by the deal paid for the missiles.

Theres a certain fungibility here, Walsh said. If the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, took a dollar on the street, did that fund the missile attack? he added. Thats not very useful from an analytical perspective. Nor is the case that giving them money caused them to attack the US.

We have no indication, Cordesman said, whether these missiles are funded by the money from the JCPoA.

The director of national intelligences annual report on worldwide threats in 2019 did note that Iran continued to develop and improve military capabilities including ballistic missiles, but it did not tie those efforts to the nuclear deal. Furthermore, the annual reports warned of the same efforts in 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and before.

Critics of the Iran deal, including Trump, have long argued that it was inadequate because it did not address Irans ability to develop ballistic missiles. Those restrictions have instead been established by the United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The diplomatic accord was an arms deal with a very narrow aim of curbing Irans nuclear ambitions, not a nonaggression pact, not a form of a friendship treaty, Nasr of Johns Hopkins said. Whether there could have been more in the deal, of course. But piling in expectations is disingenuous.

What Trump Said

The very defective JCPoA expires shortly anyway and gives Iran a clear and quick path to nuclear breakout.

This is exaggerated. The major provisions limiting Irans nuclear capabilities last a decade or longer. And the agreement increased the breakout period  the time it would take Iran to produce enough fuel for one weapon  to at least a year from an estimated two to three months. If the deal had been left in place and fully adhered to, Iran would not have been able to achieve nuclear breakout until 2030.

The agreement also prohibits Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons permanently. Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons, the first paragraph of the deal reads.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a vocal critic of the deal, said it largely expires after only 15 years.

Under the deals terms, Iran agreed not to use more than 5,060 centrifuges to enrich uranium  and not to pursue research and development on centrifuges  for 10 years. Limits on enrichment levels, facilities and stockpiles last for 15 years, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.

Under the terms of the accord, Iran also agreed to convert a deep underground enrichment facility into a technology centre that cannot contain nuclear material and where the number of centrifuges is limited for 15 years. Several provisions on plutonium, including forbidding the construction of new heavy water reactors, last for 15 years.

Inspectors are to monitor centrifuges and related infrastructure for 15 years, verify inventory for 20 years and monitor uranium mines for 25 years.

What Trump Said

We are now the No 1 producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world. We are independent, and we do not need West Asian oil.

This is misleading. The United States has been the largest producer of oil and gas in the world since 2013, a trend that began under the Barack Obama administration thanks in large part to advances in shale drilling techniques.

The Energy Information Administration projected in January 2019 that the United States will produce more energy than it imports this year, the first time since 1950. But that is not the same thing as not importing oil from West Asia at all. In 2018, the United States imported more than 1.5 million barrels a day from the Persian Gulf.

What Trump Said

The American military has been completely rebuilt under my administration at a cost of $2.5 trillion.

This is exaggerated. The $2.5 trillion figure refers to the total defense budgets of the past four fiscal years: $606 billion the 2017 fiscal year (which began before Trump took office), $671 billion in 2018, $685 billion in 2019 and $718 billion in 2020. But the amount spent on procurement  buying and upgrading equipment  was about $562 billion over that period.

Trumps use of the phrase completely rebuilt is somewhat subjective. Though the Trump administration has invested in operational readiness over the past few years, there are signs that the military continues to face substantial challenges in addressing an array of threats from around the world.

For example, the military earned a middling grade of marginal from the conservative Heritage Foundations annual index of strength, based on factors like shortages in personnel and aging equipment. The think tank noted that American forces are probably capable of meeting the demands of a single major regional conflict but would be very hard-pressed to do more and certainly would be ill-equipped to handle two nearly simultaneous major regional contingencies.

What Trump Said

Three months ago, after destroying 100 percent of the Islamic State and its territorial caliphate, we killed the savage leader of IS, [Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi, who was responsible for so much death.

This is exaggerated. The Islamic State group, also known as IS, lost its final territories in March 2019, ending the physical caliphate, but the terrorist group has not been destroyed. The recent confrontation with Iran has halted the United States campaign against the Islamic State.

Just this week, Defence Secretary Mark Esper and General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the fight against the group was continuing.

Trump alluded to the organisations endurance in his speech when he said: IS is a natural enemy of Iran. The destruction of IS is good for Iran. And we should work together on this and other shared priorities.

Linda Qiu c.2020 The New York Times Company
Belinda Calderon, a debut author living in Venus, Texas, and who works at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport, has completed her first book Spiritual Blooming: the gripping story of a girl named Haven, whose life is turned upside down after learning her true identityand what that means for her home.

Spiritual Blooming is about a young girl named Haven, who finds out later that she is the Sachi, also known as the blessed one, Belinda Calderon explained of her novel. She must find the truth and seek out help. As she comes to terms with the truth, she also finds out that her family is cursed and she must choose between saving humanity or love. The world letting a little girl choose their future is hard on her. What will she choose?

Published by Page Publishing, Belinda Calderons novel follows Haven who grows up surrounded by odd coincidences, until she realizes that she has far more power than she ever imagined. From her mood altering the weather, to her ability to charm nearly all who interact with her, Haven, also known as Sachi, is placed in a position where she can either deny her role and attempt to live a normal life, or she must forsake all that she wants to ensure that she accomplishes all that she must for all in her universe.

Readers who wish to experience this thrilling work can purchase Spiritual Blooming at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create, not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.
The Prince William 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.
The Baker and the Beauty star Nathalie Kelley got emotional on Wednesday while speaking about the wildfires currently devastating her home country of Australia.

This is an international that we cant avoid, Kelley said at the Television Critics Association press tour. We have to start speaking up about the real causes behind these devastating fires, which is the undeniable fact that the planet is warming combined with a whole host of other things that I wont get into on this panel. But this should be a really big wake-up call for the world. Things are shifting, the tide is turning and we need to stop and take action now.

Fueled by extreme heat and dehydration, the wildfires in Australia have burned more than 30,000 square miles since September. Thousands of homes have been destroyed in the fire and 24 people have been killed. Experts have estimated that as many as one billion animals will be dead by the time the fires are put out.

Also Read: 'Thor' Star Chris Hemsworth Pledges $1 Million to Fight Australian Bushfires

This is global, Kelley said. This is climate change in action, right at my doorstep.

Kelley, whose credits include Dynasty, The Vampire Diaries and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, was born in Peru but relocated with her family to Australia when she was two. Kelley said Wednesday that her family still resides in the country and she spent the holidays witnessing the effects of the fire first-hand.

I couldnt see the sun or the Harbour Bridge through the smoke. And they said those were good days, Kelley told reporters. I dont know if youve heard, but the glaciers in New Zealand have turned yellow and brown from the smoke. A billion animals dead from these fires. But if thats what it takes for us to wake up and see that this is not a joke, then so be it. But lets wake up, please.

Kelley is far from the only Hollywood star who has called for action in response to the wildfires. Thor headliner Chris Hemsworth, who is also an Australian native, pledged $1 million on Tuesday to organizations battling the fires.

Read original story The Baker and the Beauty Star Nathalie Kelley Gets Emotional Talking About Australian Wildfires: Lets Wake Up, Please At TheWrap
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 20:20:43|Editor: xuxin

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MOGADISHU, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The African Union on Thursday appealed to the international community to increase its assistance and support to Somalia to help Mogadishu fight global terrorism and extremism amid increased terror attacks.

Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission also condemned a car bomb attack at Sayidka Junction checkpoint in Mogadishu on Wednesday in which at least five people were killed and 11 others injured.

"The perpetrators of yesterday's (Wednesday) murderous act shall be pursued until justice is done," Mahamat said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.

Security officials said al-Shabab suicide bomber was trying to pass through the checkpoint but detonated the explosive device when he was unable to do so.

The military group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it targeted the heavily guarded checkpoint at the entrance of the presidential palace where senior government officials intending to enter the presidential palace were being searched at the checkpoint.

Mahamat said the terrorists have shown no respect for life by indiscriminately targeting innocent Somalis, noting that their interest is to spread carnage, fear and destruction among the civilian population.

"The African Union will maintain its resolve and commitment to supporting the people and government of Somalia in their ambition to live in freedom, peace and security," he said.

Mahamat reiterated the pan African body's full support to the people and Somali government at this challenging period.

He expressed confidence in the capacity of the Somali national security institutions to effectively overcome the security challenges.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is slated to hold her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill on Thursday morning, as some Democratic colleagues urge her to move articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate so the trial can begin.

Trump was impeached by the House on Dec. 18.

Pelosi has yet to deliver the impeachment articles to the Senate in an effort to force Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to ensure what she has called a fair process.

But McConnell and other Republican leaders have indicated they will set the impeachment rules despite Democrats' objections.

The impeachment inquiry was triggered by Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Trump pressed his newly elected counterpart to announce an investigation into Democrat Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

Pelosi's remarks also come amid tensions between the United States and Iran, following the Trump administration's decision to assassinate Iran's top commander, Gen. Qasem Soleimani, in an airstrike in Baghdad. That led to a retaliatory strike from Iran on U.S. targets in Iraq.

Soleimani led an elite branch of Iran's armed forces, the Quds Force, and has been blamed for the deaths of many Americans across the Middle East.

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There is no appetite to build high rise apartment blocks in Laois, according to Laois County Council.

Senior Planner Angela McEvoy says there is no market demand.

The viability still isnt there outside Dublin. You can take your pick of four or five storey apartments. But after that I dont think the market is going to respond, she said at the December council meeting.

The Cathaoirleach Cllr Willie Aird claimed that developers all now want to build apartments.

I see a huge change in attitude of developers. It seems to me that planners are pushing for high rise. I certainly will not see a repeat in Portlaoise of what happened in Fairgreen. Pallets between houses, that was the policy, now they have to be replaced with walls. It is important we give people the opportunity to tell us. There are the people who are going to live in these high rise apartments. This is a change in direction for us. We are walking into the unknown, he said.

He asked what was the green space ratio for apartments. Ms McEvoy said that the county development plan, now up for public consultation, will include such updated guidelines.

10% of the overall area has to be open space, she said.
Attending the forum held by the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR), Hoe said: If Vietnam can catch up with the revolution in time, the digital economy can help the country close the gap with other nations around the world. However, he was concerned about policies to help boost digital transformation, saying: Vietnam still applies outdated policies in a new economic context.

Photo for illustration (Photo: VNA)

Economist Nguyen Tri Hieu told the forum: Since 2016, the country has talked a lot about the advantages from the fourth industrial revolution but, after four years, I dont see where it is in such a revolution.

Responding to both comments, Ho Tu Bao from the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, said: Vietnam is in the initial stages of the revolution, adding that each revolution takes between 50 to hundreds of years.

Bao said the fourth industrial revolution is one of digital transformation, which helps close the gaps in social relationships, ease the burden on labour and remove the role of intermediaries to develop the economy.

He is working with the Ministry of Health on a plan to connect the medical records of more than 50 million people with their health insurance details and another plan with the Ministry of Transport to connect transport records of 1.2 million vehicles.

Some ministries go fast and some go slower in digital transformation, however, the awareness of many leaders has been improved. Digital transformation is a long term project, and should take at least 10 years, Bao said.

Hosting the forum, VEPR director Nguyen Duc Thanh agreed that the economy is changing.

Recognising the Governments efforts, the VERPs director said Vietnam is spending on building an e-Government but the process is slow. Half of the countrys ministries are not yet digitalised.

Thanh told the forum: The transformation will take time as the people (who make decisions) are still the same. There is no other way than to wait for them to change their minds.

According to the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), the implementation of the fourth industrial revolution can help boost economic growth by 28.5 - 62.1 billion USD, equivalent to 7-16 percent of GDP over the next ten years./.
Shes like anybody, I think, under those circumstances, Cornyn said. When youre in a bad spot, you kind of look for, How am I going to get a break here  because of a tweet or something else that I hadnt anticipated that gives me cover for getting out of this spot? She said it will be soon, and hopefully it will be soon. The speculation at lunch was that it will be this week, come over at the end of this week, like tomorrow. But were speculating.
On January 5, masked goons armed with sticks, rods and bottles of acid, barged into the Jawaharlal Nehru Universitys premises in the evening, thrashing students and vandalising varsitys property. Several students were severely injured. JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh sustained injuries in the head after she was attacked with rods.

The attack went on for hours with Delhi police evidently doing nothing to stop the miscreants from entering the campus and beating students up. It was, in fact, quite complicit in the entire attack that unfolded on the fateful day.

Many students were seen leaving the premises with their bags packed, advising press and people to not enter the university for their own safety. Students locked themselves up in hostel rooms while miscreants roamed freely attacking anyone in sight.

Faking to be member of ABVP, reading a book on nationalism

A JNU student on Wednesday claimed that he escaped the attack by "faking" that he belonged to the ABVP.

The ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) is a student group affiliated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, currently led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rajesh Kumar Arya, a student of School of International Studies, told this to a four-member fact-finding committee of the Congress, which was recording statements of those injured and eyewitnesses to the violence on Sunday.

Arya told the panel that a mob of around 20 men carrying sticks, iron rods and hammer stormed the Sabarmati hostel around 6.45 pm. "My room is on the second floor of the hostel. When I looked down, I saw men moving from room to room, beating up students. Most of them had their faces covered," he recalled.

When the masked mob saw him one of them pointed towards him and yelled: "Look, there are people above too". The student switched off the lights of his room and bolted the door from inside.

Indiatimes

The men banged on the door and broke the ventilators glass. He said he surrendered before them. "I folded my hands. They surrounded me and pushed me into a corner. Some of the men stood on my bed. They asked my name and enquired about my political affiliation," he told the panel.

A few members of the charged-up mob shouted to lay him on the floor and beat him up.

I said folks, I am also from the ABVP," he said. "They asked me who all I knew in the organisation. I blurted out some names, but could not convince them."

"They then asked for proof. I showed them the book I was reading ''Hindu Nationalism: A Reader'', Arya claimed.

He claimed the men took the book, read the title and left.

Hiding behind bus station

Many from the press and those who had gathered outside the main entrance of JNU were also threatened to be beaten up by the mob who was chanting desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaron saalo ko, bharat mata ki jai. At that time, the streets were turned off and the entire stretch was sunk into darkness, making it impossible to recognise the attackers.

The mob chased the protesters, including women, away with lathis.

Many got beaten up. Most women protesters and press members hid behind the Munirka bus stop close to the universitys main entrance. Even there, the police chased them away asking to leave the place instead of hiding themselves.

Students returning from the campus were visibly shaken. The attacked marked a new low in the law and order situation for the country. Also, a new low for political system and justice machinery.
The National Hospital Abuja on Thursday discharged the conjoined twin girls who were successfully separated after several surgeries.

The Chief Medical Director of the Hospital, Jaf Mommoh, said in Abuja that the twins were conjoined at the chest and abdomen.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conjoined twins were referred from Federal Medical Centre, Keffi, Nasarawa State, to the hospital on August 13, 2018.

Mr Mommoh said the twins had been on admission at the hospital for more than 16 months for care and several diagnostic procedures for a detailed diagnosis in preparation for the surgery.

He said the programme was meant to celebrate the team that carried out the surgery for their hard work.

Mr Mommoh said the programme was also an avenue to raise fund for the parents to enable the twins to have a better life with healthy living.

He said the separation was more successful than the previous six the hospital carried out.

He said the hospital management decided to fund the care and the entire processes leading to the major surgical procedure for the separation as our corporate social responsibility.

The Board Chairman of the hospital, Patricia Etteh, said the hospital would continue to monitor the twins to ensure that they lived a healthy life.

Mrs Etteh said the hospital would give the parents N200,000 for the upkeep of the babies and also called on well-meaning Nigerians to assist the parents to properly cater for the twins.

The Head of the Medical team and Chief Consultant Paediatric Surgeon, Emmanuel Ameh, a professor, said the twins stayed for nine months and were properly monitored which enabled the hospital to carry out the surgery.

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Mr Ameh said conjoined twins were very few in the world and that not every surgeon had enough experience.

He said the operation lasted for more than 12 hours and involved 78 medical personnel.

Mr Ameh said the twins growth and development would continue to be monitored by the hospital.

The father of the twins, Michael Edeh, appreciated the government and management of the hospital for work well done and promised to take care of the babies.

Ernest Elaigwu who came on behalf of Akpa District, Otukpo Local Government Areas, Benue, appreciated the government and staff of the hospital for a successful operation.

Mr Elaigwu said the Akpa people were very happy for the assistance given to the children and their parents.

(NAN)
Jacqueline Jossa has revealed she has more pictures of Caitlyn Jenner up on the wall of her study than husband Dan Osborne.

The I'm A Celeb star has put up two pictures of her 'best friend' Caitlyn Jenner, 70, in her study after they bonded in the jungle, compared to just one of husband Dan.

The actress, 27, gave her 2.5million Instagram followers a glimpse inside the recently decorated room as she showed off her new gallery wall.

Favourite snaps: Jacqueline Jossa, 27, has revealed that she's put up more pictures of her pal Caitlyn Jenner, 70, in her study than her husband Dan Osborne, 28

Talking throughout the video, Jacqueline said she's put up the snaps in her office with Caitlyn making the gallery wall twice as they're 'best friends'.

As she explained the other snaps the mother-of-two pointed to pictures with each of her daughters, Ella and Mia, as well as one with her parents.

Another image showed Jacqueline with some of I'm A Celeb's producers and her co-star Andy Whyment.

Jacqueline finished talking through her pictures with a final snap with the American star, saying 'and me and Caitlyn again, of course'.

'Best friends': The I'm A Celeb winner and Caitlyn became close after spending lots of time together in the jungle

She added: 'Also I've got three more downstairs... from when I found out I won and stuff like that.'

Jacqueline and Caitlyn became close in the jungle with the winner even receiving a congratulatory video message from Kylie Jenner after she was crowned queen.

Speaking on Lorraine, Jacqueline said: 'I got a video message. She was like, "Oh my god, Jacqueline".

'She said my name. And then she was like, "You've done so well. We're so proud of you'. I screamed.'

Family: Jacqueline talked her fans through the wall as she pointed to snaps. (l-r) is the star with Caitlyn, Dan, the I'm A Celeb producers and Andy Whyment, her family and another with Caitlyn

Pals: Caitlyn and Jacqueline became close during the show and the American star's daughter Kylie even sent the British actress a video message after her win

While in the jungle Jacqueline's marriage was hit by scandal after Dan was accused of cheating last year, something he vehemently denies.

The mother-of-two has continued to ignore claims that Dan had a threesome with his CBB co-star Natalie last year.

And over Christmas claims were made that Dan made a furious phone call to Natalie Nunn, after she explosively confirmed Chloe Ayling's original claim that they had a threesome.

A source told The Sun: 'Dan called Natalie and started sending her nasty messages saying she had ruined his day by speaking about the romp.

Together: While in the jungle Jacqueline's marriage to Dan was hit by scandal after he was accused of cheating, something which he denies

'Dan had told Jacqueline hed done nothing wrong, so to see this totally blindsided everyone around her.'

He had previously denied having a threesome with Natalie and Chloe following their time on reality series Celebrity Big Brother.

According to Natalie, she and Chloe made their way back to her hotel suite following an alcohol-fuelled dinner to celebrate the conclusion of Celebrity Big Brother, won that year by soap star Ryan Thomas.

The Californian beauty claims that she and Chloe were joined in the hotel suite by two men, one of whom was Dan, who allegedly had sex with Natalie and performed a sex act on Chloe.
A man who shot himself on New Year's Eve after allegedly killing his daughter and her husband has been charged with murder.

Lindita Musai had been trying to start a new life away from her father when she was cut down in a hail of bullets alongside her new husband Veton on New Year's Eve.

Osman Shaptafaj, 55, was charged with two counts of murder by homicide squad detectives in Melbourne on Thursday.

The alleged killer remains critically ill in The Alfred hospital under police guard.

He was charged at his hospital bed after his condition was uplifted to stable.

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Osman Shaptafaj in a post from Facebook. He is said to have been estranged from his family when he is accused of gunning down his own daughter

The Albanian Australian Islamic Society mosque in Carlton North on Saturday. Thousands lined the street to pay their respects to the deceased couple

The couple married about a year ago but were dating for at least five years

He has been remanded in custody to appear in court in May.

Ms Musais father lived just 5km from the couple but was estranged from her and her mother amid accusations of turmoil within the family.

He was found soon after the attack a block away with gunshot wounds to his head.

Daily Mail Australia has been told all was not well in the Shaptafaj household.

A family member, who wished to remain anonymous, said Mrs Musai had endured a 'difficult' upbringing.

Osman Shaptafaj has been accused killing his daughter and her husband before turning the gun on himself

Veton Musai, 29, succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday, a day after his wife Lindita

Osman Shaptafaj in another Facebook rant. He remains in hospital in a critical, but stable condition after shooting himself twice in the head

He claimed Mrs Masai's mother had separated from Shaptafaj about eight years ago after spending time in hospital.

'I'll just say it was nothing to do with his backgound or his beliefs, as he has no beliefs,' the man said of the attack.

He claimed the alleged killer's daughter had bravely turned him away to begin a peaceful life with her new husband, who succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday.

'It's really making me sick ... to be honest with you. Lindita and Veton were perfect, absolutely perfect,' he said.

The relative said Lindita's mother had done her best to live in the unhappy household, but found the courage to leave after a stint in hospital.

'She was trying to keep the peace, to the point of leaving him, the house, the car and money not to put (him) on edge,' he said.

The pair were allegedly attacked in their home in Yarraville, western Melbourne about 10.30am on Tuesday last week.

Osman Shaptafaj remains in a critical condition in hospital after allegedly turning a gun on himself. He is accused of shooting dead his own daughter and son-in-law in a shocking New Year's Eve attack

The couple were found on the front porch of their house with gunshot wounds to their upper bodies

Hundreds of mourners gathered to farewell the couple at the Albanian Australian Islamic Society mosque in Carlton North on Saturday.

They packed the mosque to pray and to listen to short eulogies given during the hour-long service.

About three thousand more stood outside the mosque on the street to pay their respects.

Mrs Musai became the 266th Australian to be killed in 2019 - the last in Victoria - and the 72nd woman lost to violence last year.

Mr Musai's brother Drilon paid tribute to the couple on Facebook on Sunday, expressing anger at their tragic deaths.

'Finally, hate killed beauty, a devil killed love! The Angels were shot smiling, That the monster didn't sleep!' he wrote.

'Veton, I am broken without you, The family is broken without you, but the memories we have of you will hold us together forever and help soothe these wounds.

'To everyone out there. Please remember Veton and Lindita for who they were, their love, their passion and their otherworldly presence, because to remember them for what happened is an injustice to love itself.'

Victoria Police are investigating a family dispute as the motive behind the chilling attack ahead of the New Year.

The couple reportedly had other guests at their home when the incident took place.

They were found on the front porch of their house with gunshot wounds to their upper bodies.

A gun was found at the end of the street on public land. Investigators are now trying to piece together what drove the man to allegedly open fire.

The couple had wed earlier this year and were allegedly shot on the front porch of their house on Tuesday morning

Lindita Musai, 25, (pictured) was allegedly shot dead and her husband Veto Musai, 29, critically injured on Tuesday morning in a hail of bullets at their western Melbourne home

A 55-year-old man was rushed to hospital after allegedly shooting himself twice (pictured)

A witness told Channel 7 in Melbourne he had seen a man come out of a bush and shoot himself in the head, fall to the ground, then get up again and shoot himself again.

Mr Musai's cousin shared his grief on Facebook after the 29-year-old died in hospital 30 houra after he was shot.

'I don't know how to put the words together.. Allah knows best why things happen the way they do,' he started, before adding he 'can't even begin to explain' how he's feeling.

'The only thing keeping us strong is belief in God.

'May Allah bring the two gorgeous souls together again in Jannah.'

The young couple had only been married a year, but had been a couple for at least five. Friends described their wedding as one of the 'best they'd ever been to'.

'Such a lovely couple, such a lovely family... One of the best weddings I've been to in Australia,' a friend of the family wrote on Facebook.

Mrs Musai was employed as a receptionist for real estate firm Colliers International in Melbourne's CBD while her husband worked at a nearby bank.
Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images

An Iranian missile commander has claimed this weeks strikes aimed US troops at military bases in Iraq were just the start of big operations across the region.

Related: Johnson backs missile theory in Iran plane crash as UK death toll rises

The remarks by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) aerospace commander Brig Gen Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who is in charge of missile forces, marked a much more aggressive tone that the official line pursued by Irans foreign ministry.

The countrys diplomats have insisted that the missile strikes on two bases concluded the Iranian response to the US drone strike killing of top IRGC general, Qassem Suleimani. Hajizadeh suggested they were just the start.

The missile strikes on one of the United States most important bases within the framework of Martyr Suleimani operation were the start of big operations which will continue in the entire region, the general told reporters in Tehran on Thursday.

Hajizadeh gave the press conference in front of the flags of Iran-aligned militia groups including those of Lebanons Hezbollah, Iraqs Popular Mobilisation Forces and Yemens Houthis, an unusual piece of symbolism of Irans reach through regional networks  networks that Suleimani had established as the head of the Quds force, the elite external wing of the IRGC.

Hajizadeh claimed the ballistic missile strikes on the al-Asad and Erbil bases, both Iraqi facilities hosting a US presence, were aimed at damaging the American military machine and not inflicting US casualties, though he repeated apparently false Iranian claims that some Americans had been killed.

If we were looking to kill, we could have designed the operation in a way such that 500 [Americans] would be killed in the first step, and if they had responded, a further 4,000 to 5,000 would be killed in the next steps within 48 hours, he claimed.

According to Jeffrey Lewis, at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, which published satellite images of the missile damage, it was a carefully calibrated attack.

Story continues

Related: Dialled down: Iran's phoned-in attack just enough to ease tensions

It was meant to be a proportional legalistic response aimed at a military target, Lewis said. I dont think they were trying to avoid casualties. They saw it as a legitimate target, without worrying whether they killed American service personnel.

He added that the Iranians used ballistic missiles, rather than cruise missiles, because they wanted it to be clear where the missiles came from.

In Washington, the House of Representatives passed a war powers resolution, demanding that the administration halt any further US military action against Iran, beyond self-defence, without congressional approval. However, the resolution is non-binding and it looked unlikely that Democrats had won over enough Republicans to win a similar vote in the Senate.

Efforts by senior officials to justify the killing of Suleimani in a closed-door congressional briefing on Wednesday backfired when members of Congress complained that the administration was not providing sufficient details about its claim that the drone strike prevented an imminent attack.

The Republican senator Mike Lee called it the probably the worst briefing I have seen, at least on a military issue, in the nine years Ive served in the United States Senate.

Lee said the officials would not even answer a hypothetical question on whether the administration would need congressional authority to carry out an assassination of Irans supreme leader.

The fact that there was nothing but a refusal to answer that question was perhaps the most deeply upsetting thing to me in that meeting, Lee told National Public Radio.

In seeking to justify the Suleimani killing, Donald Trump made a new claim on Thursday about the Iranian generals plans to attack Americans in Iraq.

We caught a total monster, and we took him out, the president said. They were looking to blow up our embassy. Asked for more details, Trump said I think it was obvious, adding that Suleimani had more than that particular embassy in mind.

Trump expanded on his suggestion made in his televised address the previous day that Nato could play an expanded role in the Middle East, in place of US troops.

On Thursday, he even suggested a name for such a force: Natome.

If you add the two words Middle East at the end of it, Trump said, doesnt that work beautifully? Its Nato plus me.

We can come home, or largely come home and use Nato. This is an international problem, Trump said.

The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said he was open to the suggestion.

What President Trump called for yesterday was more Nato involvement and we are looking into what more we can do, he said. I will not speculate about the outcome but I will say that I think Nato has the potential to do more.
Their lifeline appears as an investment offer from a huge cosmetics conglomerate run by Claire Luna (Hayek, decked out with peculiar teeth and low-cut outfits that say everything must GO!). Screenwriters Sam Pitman and Adam Cole-Kelly leave no surprises lying around for the audiences benefit. We know Claire is a conniving shark, out for blood and total control of the business. We know Mel and Mia will become temporary enemies before re-cementing their relationship. Haddish plays the impulsive, creative one; Byrnes character, emotionally guarded and a chronic pleaser, has the head for business, were told, although she cant work up the nerve to let her best friend know theyre going under.
The standard of living in Latin America is quite expensive, but there are ways to cut expenses and live in any country in the region with less than a grand a month.

Latin America is the world's most urbanized region. People living in cities in the region grew from 30 percent to 85 percent between 1950 and 2010. It is expected that by 2050, 90 percent of Latin Americans will live in cities. At present, there are more than 55 cities with a population of more than one million and that includes some of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. Moreover, there are also roughly 2,000 cities that are driving Latin America's economy. And no part of the world has been urbanized more rapidly compared to Latin America.

It is not surprising that the standard of living in the region is quite costly. In a report from the World Economic Forum in 2018, cities in Latin America have struggled to absorb new arrivals from the countryside. More than 160 million people or an estimated 25 percent of the region's urban population live in slums and most urban poor lack access to basic services including housing.

But is it possible to live in Latin America on a budget not more than $1000 a month? The answer is "Yes!"

Here are the ways to have a less expensive cost of living in Latin America according to My Latin Life:

1. Get a roommate

Getting a roommate will help you lessen your expenses. An example of this is getting a room that costs around $80 to $100 a month, logically if you have one roommate you will only pay $50 a month. Another big thing also is in buying your groceries. You can split your expenses in grocery and taxi fare.

2. Choose a longterm apartment rental

If you plan to stay for more than six months in Latin America, you better visit websites that offer six month rentals. This will help you to save more money compared to staying in a house accredited by Airbnb. However, if you want to know more about the neighborhood before renting an apartment, you can choose to book an Airbnb for a month. It is also recommended that you live in middle-class cities in Latin America because they are safer and more accessible to buses and taxi.

3. Use public transportation

Taking public transportation is still the best way to save money. Though there are transportation services like UBER and taxi that are not expensive they are only best for short rides. If you want to save money just in transportation alone, you have to look for an apartment where a subway is steps away from your home. Consider also that the location of your apartment id near the place where you work, restaurants, and best places for nightlife. Through this, it will not be hard for you took for transportation services.

4. Shop at local markets

Food is a basic necessity. There is always a need to spend money on this. There are markets in Latin America that offer cheaper prices compared to a chain supermarket. An example of this is in Mexico where a kilo of red peppers in the supermarket worth $3 but this is only offered at $2 in the neighborhood. This is the same also with potatoes, it cost $1.20 in the chain supermarket but this only costs $0.80 in the local market. However, if you don't love cooking, you can look for the nearest university that has plenty of affordable eateries.

5. Choose your city wisely

There are cities in Latin America that are quite expensive, but there are also some places where you can spend less than $1000 a month. The smaller the city, the cheaper the lifestyle is. Here are some cities where you can live without spending more than $1000 a month:

Panama City, Panama

San Jose, Costa Rica

Sao Paulo, Rio

Montevideo, Uruguay

Santiago, Chile

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

But these are the best countries in Latin America for budget-conscious travelers in 2020

Argentina

Colombia

Mexico

Always remember that the best way to saving money is to lessen your expenses by looking for alternatives.
Having John join us in our Dallas office adds additional strength to our growing U.S. corporate platform, said Alan I. Annex, co-chair of the firms global Corporate Practice.

Continuing to build on its growing global Corporate Practice, Greenberg Traurig, LLP welcomes corporate attorney John Holland as a shareholder in its Dallas office. Holland joins the firm from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

Meeting the needs of clients who need the multidisciplinary experience and capabilities of our Corporate Practice continues to be an area of focus for Greenberg Traurig. The team in Texas, where the firm has a strong presence in key areas of practice, has seen nine attorneys join since 2018, said Joseph. F Coniglio, managing shareholder of Greenberg Traurigs Dallas office. I could not be more pleased to welcome John to our Greenberg Traurig family.

Greenberg Traurig has an unequalled geographic reach and depth of capability and expertise and, deservedly, a well-regarded reputation for the work it does on behalf of clients in a wide range of areas, Holland said. Its this known quality of service and experience that excites me about joining the team, and I look forward to actively contributing in the firms continued success.

Having John join us in our Dallas office adds additional strength to our growing U.S. corporate platform, said Alan I. Annex, co-chair of the firms global Corporate Practice.

Holland focuses his practice on corporate and securities law, including domestic and multinational mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, combinations, and joint ventures and strategic alliances, both for strategic and financial investors and for publicly traded and privately held companies. His practice also focuses on corporate governance, special committee representation, complex commercial transactions, public offerings and private placements, and in-court and out-of-court restructurings. Holland advises companies across a wide variety of industries, including the energy, aviation, insurance, healthcare, and financial services industries. He received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 2009, and a B.A. from the Dickinson College in 2005. Holland is licensed in both Texas and New York.

About Greenberg Traurigs Corporate Practice: Greenberg Traurigs Corporate Practice comprises more than 450 lawyers in the United States, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, who regularly advise public and privately held companies, entrepreneurs, and investment funds on global mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, private equity and venture capital, underwritten and syndicated offerings, commercial finance and syndicated lending, cross-border transactions, and general corporate matters. The groups industry experience includes transactions in a wide range of fields, from the pharmaceutical, medical devices, and life sciences fields, to representations involving clients in the aviation, banking, consumer products, energy, food and beverage, health care, manufacturing, media, technology, and telecommunications sectors.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP  Texas: Texas is important to Greenberg Traurig and part of its history. With more than 130 Texas lawyers in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, Greenberg Traurig has deep roots in the Texas business, legal, and governmental communities. Greenberg Traurig Texas works with clients to address their interdisciplinary legal needs across the state utilizing the firms global platform. The Texas attorneys are experienced in industries key to the states future, including: aviation, chemicals, construction, education, energy and natural resources, financial institutions, health care, hedge funds, hospitality, infrastructure, insurance, media, medical devices, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, real estate, retail, sports, technology and software, telecommunications, transportation, and video games and esports.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has approximately 2,100 attorneys in 41 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 04:13:33|Editor: yhy

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Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic (R) shakes hands with European Council President Charles Michel during their meeting in Zagreb, Croatia, on Jan. 9, 2020. The European Union (EU) needs to send a clear message to the Western Balkan countries and remain close to EU-aspiring countries, European Council President Charles Michel said here on Thursday. (Patrik Macek/Pixsell via Xinhua)

ZAGREB, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) needs to send a clear message to the Western Balkan countries and remain close to EU-aspiring countries, European Council President Charles Michel said here on Thursday.

Michel is in Croatia to mark the official beginning of the country's six-month rotating EU presidency. During a joint press conference with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Michel said that Western Balkan countries should have a European perspective, as this will also demonstrate the EU's external influence.

Members of the European Commission, led by President Ursula von der Leyen, also came to Zagreb where they attended the gala concert at the Croatian National Theater and a dinner hosted by outgoing Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic on Thursday night.

Michel and Plenkovic stressed that by May, when a summit dedicated to the perspectives of the Western Balkan countries for EU membership is held in Zagreb, they will work to create a positive climate in all EU member states to take up further enlargement.

They also discussed a new European budget, and Prime Minister Plenkovic stressed that Croatia will strive to reach an agreement acceptable to all EU member states in the next six months.

Croatia is also ready to complete legal procedures related to Brexit, and the negotiation on the framework of future relations with the UK will start as early as next week, Plenkovic said.
Western officials are increasingly confident that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile shot down Ukrainian International Airlines flight 752 as it was leaving Tehran airport for Kiev.

Boris Johnson, the prime minister, said there was a body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile and this may well have been unintentional.

We are working closely with Canada and our international partners and there now needs to be a full, transparent investigation, Mr Johnson added. He also confirmed that four Britons had died in the disaster, an increase from earlier reports of three British deaths.

His statement came after US officials and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said evidence pointed to an Iranian missile downing the jet.

Amid strident denials of responsibility from Tehran, US officials quoted by multiple media outlets said American intelligence detected radar being turned on and several infrared blips on satellite imaging.

These, the sources asserted, equated to missiles being launched and an explosion on impact. The same sources said they believed the Iranians shot the plane by accident.

Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Show all 18 1 /18 Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran People stand near the wreckage after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran People and rescue teams are pictured amid bodies and debris All 176 people on board a Ukrainian passenger plane were killed when it crashed shortly after taking off, Iranian state media reported ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran One of the engines State news agency IRNA said 167 passengers and nine crew members were on board the aircraft operated by Ukraine International Airlines Iran Press via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Rescue teams work at the scene AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Passengers' belongings West Asia News Agency via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Members of the International Red Crescent collect bodies of victims EPA Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Rescue teams work amidst debris AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran A relative of a victim reacts at Boryspil International Airport, outside Kiev Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran ISNA/AFP via Getty Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Part of the wreckage Iran Press via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran West Asia News Agency via Reuters Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran Officials inspect the wreckage EPA Iran plane crash: Ukraine Boeing 737 comes down near Tehran AP

Mr Trudeau later echoed that, saying in a sombre press conference: Intelligence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. This may well have been unintentional.

Dominic Raab, the UK foreign secretary, said following a meeting with his Canadian counterpart that the British government "agree with the Canadian assessment".

He added: The Iranian regime must open up to the international community, including access to the crash site, so we can get to the truth as quickly as possible to give the families of the victims an understanding of what happened to their loved ones.

The families of the victims deserve to know the truth, and we say that whether they're Canadian families, British families, Ukrainian families, Swedish, German, Afghan."

Images purported to be from the crash site show what appeared to be the remnants of a Russian-made Tor missile. Tehran took 29 of the units from Moscow in 2007 as part of a major arms deal.

Irans head of civil aviation, Ali Abedzadeh, was quoted by ISNA News Agency as saying it was impossible that a missile hit the Ukrainian plane. How can a plane be hit by rocket or missile [and then the pilot] try to turn back to the airport? he said.

Recommended Video shows the moment missile strikes plane in Iran

But footage purported to show a missile being fired at the Ukrainian airliner has surfaced.

A video obtained by Iranian activist Nariman Gharib appeared to show a projectile scuttling upwards, before a flash, which lights up what appears to be the underside of a jet, followed by the sound of an explosion approximately 10 seconds later. This would suggest the plane was approximately 3500m away from the camera at the time of impact.

Digital investigators Bellingcat say they have preliminarily matched the video to a district of western Parand, near Tehran  a location which would have a clear view of the trajectory of the doomed flight 752.

Donald Trump said on Thursday that the deadly crash could have been a mistake and he did not believe it was a mechanical issue.

I have my suspicions. I dont want to say that, he told reporters at the White House.

Its a tragic thing when I see that. Someone could have made a mistake on the other side... Not our system. It has nothing to do with us.

He said the plane was flying in a rough neighbourhood, and that something very terrible happened.

 Mike Pence insists Trump has 'compelling evidence' of Iran threat but says he can't share it

Earlier, Ukraines top security official said a missile strike was considered to be one of the main working theories for the crash. All 176 people on board the plane, including nine crew, were killed.

Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraines Security Council, said officials were in Iran with a brief to look for any possible missile debris or evidence of a rocket strike.

A rocket strike, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main working theories, since there is information on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash, he said.

Philip Ingram, a former British military intelligence officer, explained the possible delay in the US releasing its conclusions by saying that announcing a working confirmation could be a way of releasing very classified info without giving your capability away.

If the missile was of a certain size, then the US has a satellite network that will pick up any launch, he said.
Trump: US Energy Self-Reliance Is Key Buffer Against Geopolitical Shocks

President Donald Trump told a press conference on Jan. 8 that the United States increased petroleum production has left the country better poised to withstand oil supply disruption from geopolitical shocks such as Irans missile strike against two Iraqi military bases housing U.S. forces.

Brent crude oil futures, a proxy for supplies from the Middle East, first spiked to over $70 per barrel on news of Irans missile strike, before plummeting in just hours of trading to $65 per barrel, levels not seen since before a U.S. drone killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week.

Iran launched more than a dozen missiles at two bases housing U.S. and coalition forces, the Pentagon said late on Jan. 7. The strike caused a spike in oil prices, which was short-lived.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump noted Americas energy independence, suggesting that because of increased petroleum production in recent years, the country is less susceptible to oil supply shocks.

Our economy is stronger than ever before, and Americas achieved energy independence, Trump said. We are now the number one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world. We are independent, and we do not need Middle East oil.

October 2019 was the second month in a row that the United States was a net exporter of crude oil and petroleum products, exporting 389,000 barrels per day (bpd) more than it imports, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Former Trump senior economic adviser Stephen Moore told The Epoch Times exclusively that energy independence is a national security priority.

Theres no question that as America becomes more energy-independent, these countries like Iran and Iraq and Saudi Arabia and Russia no longer have a blade at our neck, and we can act in Americas own economic and national security interests without worrying about our energy supply, Moore said.

While the United States is a net exporter of petroleum products, it still imports a substantial volume of crude oil.

Net imports of crude oil from the Persian Gulf for October 2019, the most recent month for which data is available, amount to 645,000 bpd, according to EIA figures (pdf). EIA defines Persian Gulf states as Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.

According to the EIA, the high point for U.S. oil imports from Persian Gulf countries was 2.8 million bpd in 2001.

Trade policy expert and author Alan Tonelson said the move toward energy independence has given American foreign policy more freedom and flexibility.

My main point has been that the fracking/fossil fuel revolution underway in the U.S. for some time now has created for the U.S. a degree of energy independence that has largely liberated it from relying on Middle East oiland therefore eliminated a major reason for continued deep involvement (military or otherwise) in the region, Tonelson told The Epoch Times.

Tonelson, who also writes the blog RealityChek, said decreased volatility in crude oil prices, as reflected in short-lasting price spikes amid turbulent events such as the Iran strike, is proof that the U.S. energy policy under Trump is on the right path.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices, a U.S.-based measure, saw a similar dynamic in trading on Jan. 8.

Similarly reduced oil price volatility was also seen in 2019 when Saudi facilities were hit by a drone attack.

On Sept. 14, 2019, the state-owned Aramco oil processing plant in eastern Saudi Arabia was targeted by a drone strike.

What should be noted, both then and now, is the impact on the spread between Brent and West Texas, macro analyst Roger Hirst said, explaining the price dynamic. In September, the spread of Brent over West Texas jumped as soon as the futures markets were reopened, on fears of a supply disruption, but within a few hours only, this move had given up all of those gains.

I think this reflected a new dynamic, he said, which is that the U.S. is now a net exporter of oil, so the disruption in the Saudi sphere, with those facilities being impacted, is seen as being far less serious than a disruption would have been a decade ago.

Investment adviser Morris Armstrong told The Epoch Times that investors buy on the sound of cannons and sell as signs of stability settle the market.

People buy on the uncertainty and worse-case scenarios, the former currency and bond trader said. As facts unfold, you adjust your positions. The facts seem to indicate that there will be no heightening of tensions between the two countries. Oil production will continue.

Monthly data on the origins of crude oil imports in October 2019 show that the top five sources of U.S. imports for the month were Canada (3.8 million bpd), Mexico (491,000 bpd), Saudi Arabia (419,000 bpd), Iraq (252,000 bpd), and Ecuador (240,000 bpd), according to the EIA.

Total crude oil imports averaged 6.2 million bpd in October, which was a decrease of 235,000 bpd from crude oil imports in September 2019.

No Americans Were Harmed

Trump said no American or Iraqi lives were lost from missiles fired by Iran on Jan. 7.

Im pleased to inform you: The American people should be extremely grateful and happy no Americans were harmed in last nights attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties, all of our soldiers are safe, and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases.

While our great American forces are prepared for anything, Trump said. Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.

A man holds shrapnel from a missile launched by Iran on U.S.-led coalition forces on the outskirts of Duhok, Iraq, on Jan. 8, 2020. (Ari Jalal/Reuters)

Residents look at a crater caused by a missile launched by Iran on U.S.-led coalition forces on the outskirts of Duhok, Iraq, on Jan. 8, 2020. (Ari Jalal/Reuters)

Iranian leaders said the attacks were a proportionate response to the recent killing of Soleimani, who was taken out by a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad on Jan. 2.

A man celebrates after Iran launched missiles at U.S.-led forces in Iraq, in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 8, 2020. (Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)

Iran took [and] concluded proportionate measures in self-defense, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said late Jan. 7.

In other remarks at the press conference, Trump indicated he wouldnt escalate the military conflict with Iran. He instead called for additional economic sanctions and called on NATO allies to get more involved in the region.

The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it, the president said.
- John Dumelo has donated books to hundreds of kids in Accra

- The items he donated included school bags, exercise books, crayons and other stationery

-Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in

The National Democratic Congress ( NDC) parliamentary candidate for the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency, John Dumelos foundation has made donations to some kids in Accra.

The actor-politician shared hundreds of school bags, over 2000 exercise books and crayons and other stationery to children in his community at Roman Ridge, a suburb in Accra.

READ ALSO: Meet the Ghanaian who made internet faster in the U.S.A

John Dumelo told the media during the presentation that the charity is to help the school kids to learn better.

He also said this is the 11th year of the John Dumelo Foundation.

This year marks the John Dumelo Foundations 11th year of active service of giving back to the community. We shared over 2000 exercise books, school bags and stationery to kids in the Roman Ridge area. We rise by lifting others!

ATTENTION: Read the best news on Ghana #1 news app. Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Ghana

Mr. Dumelo is a known philanthropist but does not like making noise about some of the things he does.

The actor has been involved in lots of projects across the country, through his foundation.

READ ALSO: Man goes naked in front of courier service company for stealing his goods (Video)

YEN.com.gh earlier reported that Victor B. Lawrence is a Ghanaian who improved the transmission for the modern internet to ensure that you and I have access to fast internet.

Victor was born to Ghanaian parents in Ghana in 1945. He attended Achimota College also in Ghana and continued to the Imperial College of Science and Technology at the University of London where he received his B.Sc. degree in 1968.

Enjoy reading our stories? Download YEN's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Ghana news! Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Source: YEN.com.gh
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose health has become a preoccupation of the American public as the Supreme Court hews rightward under President Trump, announced this week that she was cancer-free.

Justice Ginsburg, 86, one of four liberal justices on the nine-member court, told CNN in a wide-ranging interview on Tuesday that treatment for a malignant tumor on her pancreas had been successful.

Her doctors discovered the tumor in July after a routine blood test, and a biopsy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City confirmed a localized malignant tumor.

Im cancer-free, Justice Ginsburg said in the interview, adding that she had resumed an active schedule. Thats good.
HELENA, Mont. (AP)  The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed a $35 million judgment against the Jehovah's Witnesses for not reporting a girl's sexual abuse to authorities.

Montana law requires officials, including clergy, to report child abuse to state authorities when there is reasonable cause for suspicion. However, the state's high court said in its 7-0 decision that the Jehovah's Witnesses fall under an exemption to that law in this case.

Clergy are not required to report known or suspected child abuse if the knowledge results from a congregation member's confidential communication or confession and if the person making the statement does not consent to disclosure, Justice Beth Baker wrote in the opinion.

The ruling overturns a 2018 verdict awarding compensatory and punitive damages to the woman who was abused as a child in the mid-2000s by a member of the Thompson Falls Jehovah's Witness congregation. The woman had accused the church's national organization of ordering Montana clergy members not to report her abuse to authorities.

The Montana case is one of dozens that have been filed nationwide over the past decade saying Jehovah's Witnesses mismanaged or covered up the sexual abuse of children.

The attorney for the Jehovahs Witnesses, Joel Taylor, said in a statement that there are no winners in a case involving child abuse.

No child should ever be subjected to such a debased crime, Taylor said. Tragically, it happens, and when it does Jehovahs Witnesses follow the law. This is what the Montana Supreme Court has established. 

The woman's attorney, Jim Molloy, read a prepared statement: This is an extremely disappointing decision, particularly at this time in our society when religious and other institutions are covering up the sexual abuse of children.

The Montana woman's abuse came after the congregation's elders disciplined the man over allegations of abusing two other family members in the 1990s and early 2000s, the woman's lawsuit said.

Story continues

The elders handled the matter internally, expelling the abuser from the congregation in 2004 and then reinstating him the next year, when the abuse of the younger victim continued, according to the lawsuit.

The woman said in her lawsuit that the church shouldn't qualify for the exemption to the state reporting law because Jehovah's Witness officials testified that an elder can choose to report a child abuser to authorities under church practice.

Church attorneys said in their appeal that elders handled the allegations internally in accordance with church practices.

The Supreme Court declined to look into whether the Jehovah's Witnesses tenets and doctrines are valid, or whether church officials adhered to their own standards in this case, saying in the opinion that it's not within the court's power to do so regarding a religious institution.

The Associated Press generally does not identify victims of sexual abuse.
PARIS - French rail workers, teachers, doctors, lawyers and others joined a fourth day of nationwide protests and strikes Thursday to denounce President Emmanuel Macron's plans to overhaul the pension system.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 9/1/2020 (732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Commuters get out of a train at the Montparnasse train station in Paris, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. Gen. France's government and unions appear still far apart after talks over fiercely contested pensions reforms, and the government was hoping to soften union opposition after record-setting strikes that have hobbled the country's train network. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

PARIS - French rail workers, teachers, doctors, lawyers and others joined a fourth day of nationwide protests and strikes Thursday to denounce President Emmanuel Macron's plans to overhaul the pension system.

Street protests were staged in Paris and other French cities as the government and labour unions pushed on with negotiations aimed at ending railway strikes over the proposed changes that started on Dec. 5.

The Paris march started from the Republique square in the city centre and was accompanied by a large police presence. The Elysee presidential palace was barricaded as protesters were due to head toward the area.

Unions said the protest in the capital attracted 370,000 demonstrators, while French consulting firm Occurrence estimated a crowd of 44,000.

By the time the demonstration winded down, 20 demonstrators and 16 police officers had been injured, according to the Paris police department. Officers made two dozens arrests amid occasional flares of violence, Paris police said.

Striking workers march during a demonstration Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020 in Paris. Rail workers, teachers, doctors, lawyers and others joined a nationwide day of protests and strikes Thursday to denounce French President Emmanuel Macron's plans to overhaul the pension system. Banner reads: Striking until withdrawal. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

The Eiffel Tower was closed to visitors as employees joined the protest. Paris Metro traffic was severely disrupted, except for one automated line running normally.

The national rail company, SNCF, said about one-third of its workers were on strike Thursday, the 36th day of the strike by railway workers. Three high-speed trains out of five were in operation. Regional trains were also affected. and many schools were closed.

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Unions have also called on workers to block road access to major ports, including in the southern city of Marseille.

A striking rail worker attends a demonstration Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020 in Paris. Rail workers, teachers, doctors, lawyers and others joined a nationwide day of protests and strikes Thursday to denounce French President Emmanuel Macron's plans to overhaul the pension system. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Philippe Martinez, head of hard-left CGT union, said "there are many people on strike yet the government doesn't appear willing to discuss and take into account the opinion of unions.

Talks between the government and labour unions resumed Tuesday but no compromise has been found. A new round of negotiations focusing on the financing of the new pension system is scheduled for Friday. Macron has asked his government to find a quick compromise with reform-minded unions.

So far, the government is sticking to its plan to raise the full retirement age from 62 to 64, the most criticized part of the proposals.

The changes aim to unify Frances 42 different pension schemes into a single one. Under specific pension schemes, some people, like railway worker, are allowed to take early retirement. Others, like lawyers and doctors, pay less tax.

Unions fear people will have to work longer for lower pensions, and polls suggest at least half of French people still support the strikes.
NEW YORK (AP)  Heres a point to ponder: To what extent is Fox News Channels Tucker Carlson responsible for President Donald Trump stepping away from a potential war with Iran?

From his prime-time perch on the top-rated cable network, Carlson has advocated restraint in dealing with Iran, and resisted cheerleading the Trump-ordered drone killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

Shortly after the story of Iran's counter-attack broke on Tuesday, Carlson hosted a show that mixed coverage of the story as details became known, emphasizing early reports of a lack of American casualties, and interviews with experts on the Middle East. Some of those guests pointed out the dangers of spiraling escalation.

I continue to believe the president doesn't want a full-blown war, Carlson said. Some around him might, but I think most sober people don't want that.

Trump, who announced his decision not to retaliate against Iran's missile strikes in a nationally televised address 14 hours later, told some close to him that he watched Carlson's show, according to BuzzFeed News. He told confidants in recent days that Carlson's strong advocacy not to escalate the situation in Iran played a role in his decision-making, two White House officials and Republicans close to the West Wing told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Trump keeps a close eye on how his base responds to policy decisions, feeling their beliefs are often reflected and influenced by Fox News hosts. His Twitter feed reflects how he keeps close tabs on Fox, and he tweeted a link to a Carlson piece on Monday night.

The president often consults with Fox News hosts off-air, including Carlson. Carlson was seen among the president's entourage this past summer when he visited the demilitarized zone between North Korea and South Korea. He conducted an interview with Trump that was later shown on Fox.

Following Trump's announcement on Wednesday, Carlson said that we're back from the brink. He played a clip of the president's speech where he said that a pause in hostilities between Iran and the United States was a very good thing for the world.

That's a big claim but in this case it is not an overstatement, Carlson said.

His show moved on to a new cause, in this case encouraging the U.S. to leave neighboring Iraq.

He was calm on Tuesday's show, at a time there was breathless coverage elsewhere of the missile attack. A succession of guests threw cold water on the idea of further retaliation. Gil Barndollar of Defense Priorities suggested Americans were kidding themselves if they expected to incite a regime-change movement in Iran. With Kelley Vlahos, executive editor of The American Conservative magazine, they speculated on the role of Democrats and Trump staffers who didn't have the president's best interests in mind in advocating war with Iran. Trump was reminded that he was elected on a pledge to get Americans out of foreign entanglements.

A frequent Carlson guest, retired Army Col. Douglas MacGregor, said a war without public support could not succeed. He said further destabilization in the Middle East would have disastrous effects.

If you destroy Iran, you will get ISIS times one hundred, he said.

Fox News anchor Bret Baier came on Carlson's show to suggest that the moment was Trump's biggest test as a leader.

Carlson's show contrasted with a more bellicose approach by the Fox personality who followed him on the air, Sean Hannity. Hannity, a more loyal Trump supporter, backed the attack that killed Soleimani. While Hannity didn't advocate all-out war with Iran, he suggested that nation was about to be hit with the full force of the American military. You don't get to do what they did tonight," Hannity said on Tuesday's show.

A.J. Bauer, a New York University professor who is an expert on conservative media, said he could not judge what kind of impact Carlson's program had on Trump's decision. He noted that it was consistent with other times where Trump had resisted more extensive foreign entanglements.

Instead, Bauer found the different opinions expressed by Hannity and Carlson to exemplify how Fox must step carefully with an audience that reflects conflicting strains within the conservative movement, between a hawkish military approach and an America first attitude that resists overseas adventurism.
Obama used Bin Ladens death as a talking point throughout the 2012 presidential race.

Here we stand with another evil terrorist dead, taken out before more harm was inflicted on American soldiers and allies. Rather than applaud Trump as they did Obama, the left has largely sided themselves with the repugnant regime sitting in Teheran. Social media was abuzz with sympathy for Iran.

A Jan. 3 Washington Examiner story covered reaction of presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, stating Warren thought she was striking a careful balance by acknowledging that he was a murderer while also attacking the decision to kill him as reckless. But even acknowledging that the man responsible for hundreds of American deaths and for orchestrating the Iranian strategy in the Middle East was a bad guy was too much for the Left to handle. Liberals quickly jumped on Warrens comments, attacking her for employing the language used by hawks to justify war.

I dont believe fears of another protracted conflict are warranted. Trump has shown no interest in regime changes, and actions in Syria lead many to believe hed rather reduce the number of troops in the region and seek remedies in other ways.

The main reason for the criticism of Trump is simply because he is Trump. Even if Soleimanis death signaled the end of worldwide terrorism, which it wont, Trump would still be vilified by the left. Hatred for Trump is so strong it pervades even the elimination of a known vile terrorist. We should instead be thanking the president for swift and decisive action needed.

Scott Frostman lives in Baraboo and has roots throughout Wisconsin. He believes anyone can make a difference and can be reached at scfrostman@gmail.com.
Madurai (Tamil Nadu) [India], Jan 9 (ANI): Union Minister Smriti Irani on Thursday hit out at Congress and DMK for spreading false information regarding Citizenship Amendment Act.



Addressing a public meeting here in support of the new citizenship law, the union minister said, "Today there are those in the Congress party and DMK who say that CAA is an act to protect the interest of Hindus only. Today I have come here to dispel this myth."

"I can proudly say that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi we have ensured the respect of citizenship to be given to those who are persecuted in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan," she added.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 grants citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist, and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who came to India on or before December 31, 2014. (ANI)


A telecommunications company is looking to bring better wireless connectivity to the oil and gas industry, expanding its network to offer wireless data in the Permian Basin and three other oil and gas regions.

Infrastructure Networks (INET), in a partnership with Nokia announced the expansion of its network, adding capacity to existing area and doubling its geographic coverage.

The network will be 5G-ready and will cover 130,000 square miles in the Permian of southeast New Mexico and West Texas, along with the Eagle Ford in southern Texas, the Scoop/Stack oil play in Oklahoma and the Bakken region in North Dakota.

The project will use Nokias Airscale radio access network (RAN) to improve communications in the oilfield, as domestic oil production began booming in recent years.

Mark Slaughter, INET chief executive officer said the move was to capitalize on increased digital communications at the oil and gas facilities and better meet the demands for data.

With data generation growing rapidly at the well pad, INET provides the vital link to deliver actionable information and insights to decision-makers in the office, he said. Further, INET partners with advanced analytics providers, allowing them to scale innovative technologies quickly across INETs installed customer base and to deliver upon the promise of the industrial internet in oil and gas operations.

He said the needs of the oil and gas industry for reliable internet access grew with the emergence of more automated technologies used in extraction operations.

Operators, drillers and oilfield service companies can now embrace automation, artificial intelligence analytics and machine learning, only made accessible with next generation, high-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity, Slaughter said.

The robustness, reliability and sophistication of our LTE platform brings accessibility at scale to industrial internet applications, helping oil and gas operators embrace the digital revolution in the oilfield.

Scott Cohen, senior vice president of major account sales at Nokia said better wireless service could strengthen operational analytics and improve safety for oilfield workers.

From industrial internet, video analytics and automation to sensors making workers safer, the power of low-latency and mission critical services to the oil and gas industry is undeniable, he said.

Slaughter said INET intended to continue growing its wireless offerings in the oilfield, as operations continue to grow.

With 24/7 monitoring, field support, guaranteed uptime and quality of service, INET is uniquely situated to serve the demanding nature of oil and gas, he said. We expect to grow our network coverage more broadly into additional North American energy basins as market activity warrants.

A 2019 study found that oil and gas companies could save up to $100 billion from automation technologies over the next decade, read a report from Rystad, an energy research and data firm, in exploration and upstream production budgets.

Audun Martinsen, head of oilfield services research at Rystad said the availability of data will be crucial for companies to sustain themselves in the future.

Many key industry players are setting optimistic goals, but the realization of these initiatives largely depends on how freely data is shared among companies and how commercial strategies are deployed to drive this development, he said. Because of this, it could be years before we see full adoption.

McEntyre said better technology could not only help operators be more efficient in monitoring and data collecting, but also in where they choose to drill.

Robert McEntyre, spokesman for the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association said the Permian is already seeing increases in digitization at oil and gas operations, and such efforts were crucial to the industrys future.

Companies are investing in more efficient technologies, he said. These kinds of strategies are being deployed across the basin. A lot of the majors are partnering with Silicon Valley and the technology companies to ensure theyre taking advantage of the best technology.

Were not just looking for geologists and petroleum engineers anymore. Were looking for computer engineers, computer scientists and coders.

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.



2020 the Carlsbad Current-Argus (Carlsbad, N.M.)

Visit the Carlsbad Current-Argus (Carlsbad, N.M.) at www.currentargus.com

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A woman who was arrested for dealing cocaine while she was heavily pregnant has faced court with her newborn baby before screaming at journalists.

Tehlea Jane McAlister and her partner Hafiez Ayad were among 80 people charged during a Christmas crackdown on cocaine dealing in Sydney on November 30.

She faced Sutherland Local Court alongside her co-accused partner, both 25, on Thursday, St George Shire Standard reported.

Tehlea Jane McAlister and her partner Hafiez Ayad (pictured together) were among 80 people charged during a Christmas crackdown on cocaine dealing in Sydney on November 30

Ms McAlister was heavily pregnant (pictured) when she was arrested in November

McAlister and Ayad were pulled over on Elouera Road at Cronulla, where police allege they found $2,970 cash, four mobile phones and more than 13 grams of cocaine hidden in a can of Red Bull.

The couple were both charged with two counts of prohibited drug supply and one count of possessing property in the proceeds of crime.

In addition, Ayad was charged with a count of prohibited drug supply pertaining to another alleged drug deal on the same day.

Police bail documents state they have a 'strong prosecution state' with supporting police statements, electronic evidence taken from mobile phones and possible CCTV.

'There is a good chance of a custodial sentence being handed down [to Ayad]' the documents read.

The young couple did not enter a plea during the appearance on Thursday but are due to face court again on January 30.

Once the appearance ended, McAlister made a complaint to police about the media attention she received.

She then shouted 'suck a d**k, motherf**ker' at a reporter and photographer waiting outside the building.

The couple currently live in Kensington and have been banned from going to the Sutherland Shire and must not leave the country as part of their bail conditions.

McAlister and Ayad were pulled over on Elouera Road at Cronulla, where police found $2,970 cash, four mobile phones and more than 13g of cocaine hidden in a can of red bull

She faced Sutherland Local Court alongside her co-accused partner, both 25, on Thursday

Bail conditions also stipulate a curfew of 8pm to 4am and have to report to Mascot police on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The crackdown was part of Operation Strike Force Northrop which ran from September 2017 to December 2019 across Sydney's CBD, the Eastern Suburbs and the Sutherland shire areas.

The most recent crackdown netted more than 350g of the drug cocaine, and more than $69,500 of cash over six nights in November and December.

Police also charged 46 people with drug supply, and 38 with possession in the most recent stage of the investigation.

At the time Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Bell said New South Wales police were astounded by how brazen the drug transactions had become.

The couple were both charged with two counts of prohibited drug supply and one count of possessing property in the proceeds of crime

The young couple did not enter a plea during the appearance on Thursday but are due to face court again on January 30

'(They're) often taking place in highly visible and crowded locations in Sydney's CBD and surrounding suburbs,' he said in a statement on Monday.

'This operation once again shows that cocaine supply and possession is not limited to one specific group of people, with several individuals from well-regarded professions in the community among those now before the courts.

'Unfortunately, some of these people will now spend Christmas behind bars or are likely to start 2020 with a criminal record.'

Since its inception in 2017, Strike Force Northrop investigators have charged 251 people with drug-related offences, including 160 for supply.
HGS releases annual list of top BPO industry trends with expertise from renowned industry thought leaders and analysts

CHICAGO, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Each year, HGS publishes a list of top customer experience (CX) trendsan on-the-ground forecast of what consumers are demanding in terms of their customer service experiences, and what brands have to deliver in order to stay competitive in the new year. HGS is honored to build this list in partnership with an elite group of industry thought leaders for this year's predictions. The participating brands, analysts, and consultants who contributed their insights and experiences to this year's panel include: Ember Group, DXL Big+Tall Men's Apparel, NelsonHall, Ryan Advisory, Execs in the Know, Frost & Sullivan, HFS Research, and Funai Corporation.

After the final list was compiled, the key learning was clear; as the CX industry undergoes transformation driven by technology, innovation and consumer demand, to succeed brands must find the balance between enabling great CX and directing capital, time and attention to competing priorities.

The HGS 2020 CX trend ebook highlights the top ten trends, covering topics related to contact center operations, challenges and strategic priorities for the coming year.

Here's a quick look at three of the biggest trends in customer experience, according to the expert opinions shared in the 2020 HGS CX trends report:

Trend 1: CX Economic Maturity - The Focus is Shifting from "Why CX?" to "How Much?"

The economics of good (versus bad) service are becoming clearer, quantifiable and irrefutable.

Mike Havard , Director, Ember Group

Trend 2: Customer Data Platforms & Journey Analytics for a 360-Degree View

In 2020, winning brands will invest in a technology stack based on a strategy that optimizes personalization, and it starts with understanding the customer.

Laura Cicchelli , Vice President, CRM & Analytics, DXL Big+Tall Men's Apparel

Trend 3: AI & Automation That Enhance Live Advisor SupportWithout Comprising CX

AI and machine learning technology can enhance live advisor support and help overcome the industry-wide problem of costly, high labor attrition due to mundane, repetitive tasks.

Ivan Kotzev , Lead Analyst, Customer Experience (CX) Services, NelsonHall

To see all 10 trends and learn more about the forces shaping customer experience management, download the HGS Top 10 Customer Experience Trends of 2020 Ebook HERE.

HGS will be presenting these trends in partnership with industry experts, Execs in the Know, Ember Consulting, & NelsonHall on a webinar on Jan 23, 2020, 11am ET. Click HERE to register.

About Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS):

A global leader in business process management (BPM) and optimizing the customer experience lifecycle, HGS is helping make its clients more competitive every day. HGS combines technology-powered services in automation, analytics and digital with domain expertise focusing on back office processing, contact centers and HRO solutions to deliver transformational impact to clients. Part of the multi-billion dollar conglomerate Hinduja Group, HGS takes a true "globally local" approach, with over 44,218 employees across 71 delivery centres (as on 30th Sept 2019) in seven countries making a difference to some of the world's leading brands across nine key verticals. For the year ended 31st March 2019, HGS had revenues of US$ 689 million.

Visit www.teamhgs.com to learn how HGS can help make your business more competitive.

HGS Media Contacts:

Andrew Kokes

+1 888 747 7911

[email protected]

Emilee Markin

+ 1 312 720 5759

[email protected]

SOURCE Hinduja Global Solutions Limited (HGS)

Related Links

http://www.teamhgs.com


Kildare County Councils decision to refuse planning permission for a sand and gravel extraction project has been appealed to An Bord Pleanala.

KCC refused permission for the development on a 32 hectare site for a period of a dozen years which Kilsaran will now appeal.

Kilsaran Concrete (trading as Kilsaran Build) had the application turned own less than two months ago and an appeal will now be decided in the first week of May.

Members of the Ballyshannon Action Group (BAG), which represents some of those objecting to the plan say they are disappointed but not surprised at the decision to appeal what was a very thorough refusal by Kildare County Council of their plans for a new quarry at Racefield, Ballyshannon.

BAG added: The residents of Ballyshannon and surrounding areas have roundly objected to the development and these objections, of which there were 229 submitted, were taken on board by Kildare County Council in its decision to refuse planning on a variety of grounds. Members of the Ballyshannon Action Group and our supporters, will continue to voice these concerns and hope that An Bord Pleanala agrees with Kildare County Council's decision in refusing this completely inappropriate and dangerous development in our area."

The application attracted numerous submissions, including from the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association, Old Kilcullen Area Community Association, BAG, the Narraghmore Development association and teachers and parents associated with the primary school in Ballyshannon as well as individual objections and representations from politicians.

Former champion jockey Ruby Walsh, who lives near Kilcullen, also objected to the plan citing health and traffic concerns as well as a potential risk to an equestrian business he is involved in.
Voters cast their ballots at a polling station during the 2016 Presidential Elections in Los Angeles, California, United States on November 8, 2016.

For decades, the companies that dominated the U.S. voting machine industry operated in relative anonymity. Now, lawmakers want answers and transparency.

The CEOs of the three companies that make more than 80 percent of the country's voting machines testified before Congress Thursday for the first time, marking a new and bipartisan effort to ensure the security of the 2020 election.

The three companies, Election Systems & Software (ES&S), Dominion Voting Systems and Hart InterCivic, are almost entirely unregulated. But in recent years, policymakers and election advocates have begun to question who owns the companies, how they make their machines and whether they could be susceptible to remote hacking.

Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., chair of the congressional subcommittee that oversees federal elections, said in her opening remarks that they need more information from the companies.

"Despite their outsized role in the mechanics of our democracy, some have accused these companies with obfuscating, and in some cases misleading election administrators and the American public," she said. "There is much work to do, and much for Congress to learn about this industry."

The hearing touched on a wide range of issues from the security of the machines and the prospect of independent review to lobbying and voter registration databases. While there are certification standards for voting machines, the companies themselves are lightly regulated and must disclose little information.

Because voting machines aren't connected to the internet, they're thought to be secure from remote hacking that could change election outcomes. But the recent revelation that the machines do have the ability to connect to the internet was a subject of concern for Lofgren.

All the vendors confirmed that some of its machines have wireless modems in order to send unofficial results.

"That's something we may want to look into further," Lofgren said.

Security measures for protecting the 2020 presidential vote are top of mind for policymakers after Russian interference in the 2016 election prompted the federal designation of election systems as "critical infrastructure."

The vendors agreed to support future legislation that would require additional disclosures around their supply chain, cybersecurity practices, cyber incident reports, employee background checks and screening, and corporate ownership.

The federal government's control over national elections is relatively limited because states are tasked with collecting votes. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., ranking member of the subcommittee, said the House still has a key oversight role.

"Instead of getting into a winded debate today between paper versus electronic or state versus federal, let's instead focus our efforts on areas within our federal reach that need improvement, areas where we may come to a bipartisan agreement," Davis said.

Despite the interference warnings from the intelligence community, President Donald Trump has rejected any scrutiny of the administration of the 2016 election  except for his own unproven allegations of voter fraud  as an attempt to invalidate the results.

But after a contentious year in which no proposed election security improvement bills were passed, the hearing Thursday provided evidence of bipartisan interest in the importance of election security procedures.

A key question posed to voting machine makers has been how it makes its machines and where its parts come from. Lofgren cited a recent report by a supply chain analysis firm, Interos, that an unnamed "widely used" voting system vendor had been found to use parts from China-based companies and suppliers with locations in China or Russia.

"Do you have components in the supply chain that come from Russia or China?" Lofgren said.

ES&S CEO Tom Burt said one of its "programmable logic devices" is from an American company that uses a factory in China. Later, he noted that Texas Instruments makes one of its chips and that ES&S's business is too small to get the supplier to change its global supply chain.

Dominion CEO John Poulos said that all of his company's machines were manufactured in the U.S. and that his company was not the subject of the Interos report. Hart's CEO said their company contained components from China but not from Russia.

Though no evidence has shown that a single vote was tampered with in the 2016 election, the scanning and probing of different elements of the voting process by groups connected to Russia showed that security measures need to be scrutinized in an industry where most machines on the market follow 15-year-old federal security standards.

The all privately held ES&S, Dominion and Hart InterCivic voiced their commitment to customizing solutions for individual jurisdictions, improving security, working with federal agencies and vetted outside partners, and providing as much transparency as possible.

Eddie Perez, global director of technology development for the Open Source Election Technology Institute, a nonprofit research organization, said that there is still a shroud of secrecy around voting machine companies. (The institute is a partner of NBC News.)

"The private companies that support election technology in the industry are not regulated, not as companies," Perez said. "They are private, with much information about their business and operational practices kept totally private."

The vendors praised Congress for its recent appropriation of $425 million in additional funding to the federal Election Assistance Commission to be distributed to states to improve election security, which could include buying new equipment.

The companies stressed the heightened levels of cooperation and communication with the Department of Homeland Security and other government partners. The vendors noted they sent their latest machines to the Idaho National Labs to be tested by "hackers" looking for exploits to fix. And they've worked to establish a new industry group that would evaluate vulnerabilities and coordinated on publicly disclosing them.

"We urge you to continuing work with election officials to help remove additional barriers that exist for modernizing their infrastructure," Poulous said.
SAN DIEGO - The number of people arrested or stopped entering the United States on the Mexico border fell for a seventh straight month in December, with Mexicans outpacing Central Americans among the detainees, authorities said Thursday.

The tally helps explain why the U.S. has turned more attention to Mexican asylum-seekers as President Donald Trump seeks to highlight his dramatic reshaping of immigration policy in his campaign for a second term.

The Department of Homeland Security plans to send Mexicans to Guatemala with an opportunity to seek protection there, a highly unusual move among developing nations trying to curb asylum claims. Mondays announcement drew criticism from the Mexican government, which has so far worked closely with the U.S. to address an unprecedented surge of asylum-seekers, many of them Central American families.

The Trump administration has begun other enforcement measures affecting Mexicans, including a test in El Paso, Texas, to quickly determine asylum claims and flights to deport them to Guadalajara to discourage repeat attempts.

U.S. authorities made 40,620 arrests of people who crossed illegally or who presented themselves at official crossings in December, down 5% from 42,651 in November and down 72% from a 13-year high of 144,116 in May.

Mexicans accounted for half of arrests and people stopped at official crossings, more than three times more than any other nationality and a major shift from much of last year, when Guatemala and Honduras were the primary countries of origin.

The U.S. has used a carrot-and-stick approach in bilateral agreements struck since July with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to deny people an opportunity to apply for asylum in the U.S. They are instead to be sent to Central America with an opportunity to ask for protection there.

However, only Guatemala has begun accepting U.S.-funded flights of asylum-seekers from other countries. As of Wednesday, the U.S. had sent 94 asylum-seekers to Guatemala, only six of whom chose to seek asylum there. The rest returned to their countries.

Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales, who leaves office next week, said Wednesday that his government has not agreed to take Mexican asylum-seekers  only those from El Salvador and Honduras. He said a decision rests with his successor, Alejandro Giammattei.

Chad Wolf, acting U.S. Homeland Security secretary, did not address plans or take questions during a news conference Thursday in Honduras after meeting President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

As you continue to do more to secure your borders, dismantle gangs and cartels and implement our asylum agreement, the United States government will continue to invest in and support the economic growth in Honduras, Wolf said.

David FitzGerald, a sociology professor at University of California, San Diego, and author of Refugee Beyond Reach: How Rich Democracies Repel Asylum Seekers, said he knew only one other instance of a government sending asylum-seekers to a country they didnt travel through. In 2001, Australia began sending asylum-seekers to the island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

Mexican asylum-seekers interviewed Wednesday while waiting in Tijuana, Mexico, for their names to be called to claim asylum at a San Diego border crossing said being sent to Guatemala was out of the question.

I prefer to die in my hometown, said Marilu Leyva, 36, who fled gang violence and a physically abusive husband in the Mexican state of Michoacan with her two children, ages 12 and 5. She said she got by working on her brothers guava farm but gangs were extorting more money from her brother.

Mexican asylum-seekers waiting in Tijuana come largely from the states of Michoacan and Guerrero, where towns have been terrorized by drug-fueled violence for more than a decade. Gangs threaten children and young adults to join or face retaliation.

Fernando Cruz, 35, joined his sister Elizabeth, also 35, who fled her home in Guerrero state with her 13-year-old son after the boy was ordered to join a gang. Cruz compared conditions there to Guatemala.

The people of Guatemala are looking for a way out and thats why they come to the United States, he said. Guatemala is poor and dangerous.

Mexicans accounted for nearly three-fourths of people who turned themselves in to seek help at official U.S.-Mexico crossing in December  as opposed to those who crossed the border illegally. They were about evenly split between single adults and people who came with families.

The growing profile of Mexican asylum-seekers is due at least in part to them being exempt from a policy to make them wait in Mexico for immigration court hearings in the U.S. They are also free to travel across Mexico, unlike Central Americans who are increasingly bottled up in southern Mexico due to heightened border enforcement there.

Many of Trumps sweeping changes to immigration policies are being challenged in U.S. court.

On Wednesday, a decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans, allowed the administration to divert $3.6 billion in military funding to border wall construction.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco heard arguments Thursday on two cases, one on a policy to deny visas to people who dont have or cant afford health insurance and another that seeks to narrow the scope of the policy to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in the U.S.

___

Associated Press writers Marlon Gonzalez in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and Sonny Figueroa in Guatemala City contributed to this report.
Coillte opened the first phase of its mountain bike trail centre (MTB) in the Slieve Blooms over the Christmas period and given the mild and dry weather over the break, saw very significant numbers of riders travel to the area.

The trail network covers both the Laois and Offaly side of the Slieve Bloom Mountains and in this phase, just over 20kms are now open to the public. The construction works will continue over the next 2-3 years to fully develop 100kms of mountain bike trails and these will range from entry-level Blue grade trails to Red and Black grade trails, aimed at the abilities of more accomplished riders.

A full range of visitor facilities at two trailheads in Kinnitty in Co. Offaly and Baunreagh in Co. Laois will also be developed with services such as; public toilets, showers, cafe, bike hire, servicing and retail areas.

Coilltes Head of Recreation, Daithi de Forge said; The development of the MTB trail centre in the Slieve Blooms is one of five national-scale centres currently under design and construction. Our aim is to set Ireland as a destination for overseas riders, coming here to experience the very best-in-class trails accompanied with the visitor services and facilities synonymous with the worlds best MTB destinations.

"We began this journey 10 years ago in the Ballyhoura Mountains in Limerick and Cork, when we built Irelands first MTB trail centre. Now, looking ahead to what is expected by international riders from these destinations, our trail designs will reflect growing and future demands. We are competing for international business; our offer has to match that of the best destinations in Wales, USA and New Zealand.

"Failte Ireland have an ambition to develop Ireland as an international tourist destination for mountain-biking and are resourcing the project. The Department of Rural and Community Development, through the Rural Regeneration Development Fund, seeks to grow local and rural economic activity by developing outdoor recreation facilities which are platforms for business and drive visitor spending in those areas. The five trail centres cover seven counties, so the local authorities are fully engaged and are supporting the development of these centres.

"However, while these centres have international ambitions, their local health and well-being and quality-of-life benefits are substantial. There are 20 towns and villages close to these centres that will have a wonderful new trail system right beside them to use and enjoy.

Mr de Forge, added: Kinnitty village was testament to that local buzz and lots of visitor activity over the recent holiday break  this is just a glimpse of what these trail centres will bring to local towns and villages.

All the information on the trails, where to go and where to start in the Slieve Blooms is on Coilltes website.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were today accused of deleting criticism on their Instagram page about their decision to step down as senior royals.

Social media users told Prince Harry and Meghan to 'grow up', while others said their team removing unsupportive views was a 'sign of what's coming'.

It comes after the couple issued a bombshell statement that they plan to 'step back' as senior royals and divide their time between the UK and North America.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex issued a bombshell statement on Instagram saying they plan to 'step back' as senior royals and divide their time between the UK and North America

The Duke and Duchess did not consult the Queen or the Prince of Wales about the contents of the statement before issuing it on Instagram last night.

They have attracted widespread criticism on social media, but some Instagram users claimed their negative comments had been deleted from the page.

One, vjudge007, said: 'Why have my comments been deleted? I wasn't rude or offensive. You decided to use social media to make this announcement and then decide you'll only listen to what you want to hear - grow up.'

Another, ellebee123123, added: 'Mine too... but most of comments are negative so they mustn't be able to keep up the deleting.'

A third, hcryland, said: 'No need to delete my comment or others. If you choose this forum to place this announcement in this manner, criticism and praise is to be expected. Grow up.'

Prince Harry and Meghan are pictured during a visit to Canada House in London on Tuesday

But others came to the royal couple's defence, with cryan_ryan78 telling a critic: 'Would you keep negative posts random strangers wrote on your post?'

Positive posts included some saying 'wishing you all the best', 'good luck to the both of you' and 'you are both loved and many prayers for your new journey in life'.

In March 2019 it was announced Harry and Meghan would split their household from Kensington Palace, setting up their own at Buckingham Palace with a separate head of communications and a new Instagram presence, SussexRoyal.

The message about their future plans was posted on the couple's official Instagram page and referred readers to a website, sussexroyal.com, for information.

It is not clear if someone is manually deleting the negative messages on Instagram, or whether this is down to an algorithm over which the account has no control.

Positive posts under the message included some saying 'wishing you all the best', 'good luck to the both of you' and 'you are both loved and many prayers for your new journey in life'

Prince Harry and Meghan's security detail head to Frogmore House in Windsor today

To delete a comment on an Instagram post, users can tap the comment button, then swipe left on the comment - before hitting the rubbish bin sign to remove it.

Instagram has offered a comment filter since September 2016 which removed comments featuring words and phrases it specifically identified as offensive.

It then upgraded this function in June 2017 by using AI machine learning to identify comments that seem offensive, meaning it can take into account the reply's context.

A spokesman for the Duke and Duchess was contacted for comment by MailOnline.
Nestle has given the iconic KitKat a sweet makeover with a brand new flavour option.

Australian eagle-eyed shoppers have spotted the new 'mandarin orange' flavoured bars in the aisle at Woolworths, available in an eight-pack for $5.

The distinct fruity flavour, which is made in Malaysia, has divided customers, with many saying they are unsure of how to react.

Australian eagle-eyed shoppers have spotted the new 'mandarin orange' flavoured bars in the aisle at Woolworths, available in an eight-pack for $5

'Ew, mandarin, seriously that sounds like the worst possible flavour they could have imagined,' one said.

Another said: 'I love orange chocolate but seriously no one likes mandarins, they are the poor cousin of the mandarin.

While one said: 'Seriously delicious, I love ALL KitKats, I am a happy man today.

And another said: 'Get in my belly.'

Others said they were interested to try the new flavour, while others suggested the chocolates are being sold in the lead up to Chinese New Year.

'You know Lunar New Year is getting closer when your local supermarket sells Mandarin Orange flavoured Kit Kat,' one said.

Nestle has given the iconic KitKat a sweet makeover with a brand new flavour option
Climate change sceptics can deny things all they want, but there are some implications that are too real to be ignored.

Take the world-famous ice hotel which is erected every year on the shores of Balea Lake in Romania's Sibiu County, for instance. This year it's not going to be built because we have literally run out of ice thanks to climate change that has wreaked havoc across the globe.

Instagram

According to local media, the hotel, which is normally constructed at an altitude of 2,000 metres (6,561ft) cant be built this year because there isnt enough ice in the Balea lake, despite an already advance booking by customers for a Frozen experience.

The hotel has been popular for more than 16 years and this news has shocked tourists and also given many a reality check on the effects of climate change.

This year we wont be able to build the ice hotel because of the lack of ice. On Tuesday, January 7, temperatures of -17C were registered and the thickness of the snow was 166 cm (5.44 feet) so it seems that even if we built the ice hotel it still wouldnt be as cost-effective as the last couple of years," hotel representative Alexander Uncheshel was quoted by Unilad.







During the construction process, workers cut large blocks of ice from the Balea lake with chainsaws. But this year, the blocks of ice were nowhere to be seen, all because of an unusually warm winter.



Instagram

According to the Met Office, 2020 will likely be 1.11C warmer than the average between 1850-1900, "The forecast for 2020 would place next year amongst the six warmest years on record, which would all have occurred since 2015," said Dr Doug Smith, a Met Office research fellow.



The tourists who have booked apartments in the hotel will now have to wait until next winter and hope that the ice won't completely disappear.






Construction begins along the U.S. border with Mexico where the new border wall will replace old fencing on August 23, 2019 in Calexico, CA.

President Donald Trump can use up to $3.6 billion earmarked for military construction projects while his administration challenges a lower federal court's injunction against tapping those funds for that purpose, a federal appeals court has ruled.

In a 2-1 ruling Wednesday, judges on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said plaintiffs in the case  El Paso County, Texas, and the Border Network for Human Rights  likely will be found to lack legal standing to challenge the use of the fund by the Trump administration.

The stay of the lower-court's ruling came six months after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of a similar injunction from a California federal court judge, who had barred the Trump administration from building the wall with another $2.5 billion set aside for military use.

The 5th Circuit ruling Wednesday said the administration is "entitled to the same relief" granted by the Supreme Court in the case pending before the three-judge appeals panel.

The panel in its same ruling denied requests by the plaintiffs to expedite the administration's pending appeal of the lower-court ruling case and to hold oral arguments no later than March.

Final rulings on the legality of the use of the military funds for the planned border wall with Mexico will come later.

The president last February had declared a national emergency in order to tap defense funds for the border wall.

While the Senate had voted to block such use of those funds, the upper chamber of Congress lacked a veto-proof majority.

Trump applauded the latest court ruling on Twitter.

Trump Tweet

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement that the appeals panel "has lifted an illegitimate nationwide injunction entered by a lower court, and in doing so has allowed vital border wall construction to move forward using military construction funds."

"This is a victory for the rule of law. We are committed to keeping our borders secure, and we will finish the wall," Grisham said.

Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, criticized the decision.

"A federal judge found that the use of military funds was an illegal act ... and it's very disappointing that the 5th Circuit would allow this illegality to continue," Garcia said.

He said the Trump administration had violated the Constitution by using funds for purposes that had not been approved by Congress.

"President Trump is not a king. He doesn't have the power of the purse," Garcia said.

"The other aspect of this decison is that it ignores the damage that [the wall project] has caused to the border community," he said. "It's created a lot of fear and anxiety in the people that live near the border."

Kristy Parker of Project Democracy, the group that had represented plaintiffs in the case, said, "It's unfortunate that the people of El Paso will continue to suffer harm while the government appeals, but we're confident that we'll prevail again in this next stage of litigation."

In a dissent to the ruling, Judge Stephen Higginson said he agreed with the panel's two other judges "that this matter presents 'a substantial case on the merits' and involves a 'serious legal question.'"

But, Higginson added, "I am unable to agree, without focused panel deliberation and discussion  possibly aided by dialogue with counsel  that the government presently has shown either a likelihood of success on the merits or irreparable harm in the absence of a stay."
A drug designed to tackle diabetes could also be repurposed as the first treatment to prevent miscarriage by targeting the lining of the womb itself, according to a clinical trial led by the University of Warwick

An existing drug can be used to improve the womb for pregnancy, study led by University of Warwick finds

Sitagliptin is first drug of its kind shown to increase stem cells in the lining of the womb

Stem cells have been shown to improve renewal of the womb lining and to reduce inflammation in early pregnancy

Researchers are now looking to test the treatment in a large scale clinical trial

A drug designed to tackle diabetes could also be repurposed as the first treatment to prevent miscarriage by targeting the lining of the womb itself, according to a clinical trial led by the University of Warwick.

The treatment works by increasing the amount of stem cells in the lining of the womb, improving conditions in the womb to support pregnancy.

The research by Warwick Medical School is reported today (9 January) in the journal EBioMedicine from research conducted with University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire and supported by the NIHR Coventry and Warwickshire Clinical Research Facility. The research was funded by and took place at Tommy's National Miscarriage Research Centre.

Recurrent miscarriage is defined as the loss of two or more consecutive pregnancies, with additional miscarriages decreasing the likelihood of a successful pregnancy. Previous research by the Warwick team revealed that a lack of stem cells in the womb lining is causing thousands of women to suffer from recurrent miscarriages. The team also demonstrated that stem cells protect specialised cells, called decidual cells, from excessive stress and inflammation. Decidual cells surround the implanting embryo and excessive stress can cause breakdown of the womb lining in pregnancy.

A new class of diabetes drugs called gliptins targets an enzyme involved in the recruitment of circulating stem cells to the womb. The researchers investigated whether inhibiting this enzyme, called DPP4, using a particular drug, sitagliptin, would improve conditions in the womb for pregnancy.

In a pilot clinical trial, thirty-eight women aged 18 to 42 who had experienced a large number of recurrent miscarriages (average five) were given either an oral course of sitagliptin or a placebo for three menstrual cycles. Biopsies of the womb were taken at the start of the course of treatment and afterwards to determine the number of stem cells present before and after the course.

They found an average increase in stem cell count of 68% in those women who took the full course of sitagliptin. This compares to no significant increase in those in the control group receiving an identical placebo pill. They also saw a 50% decrease in the number of 'stressed' cells present in the lining of the womb. There were minimal side effects for the participants.

The researchers now hope to take the treatment to clinical trial and, if successful, it would be the first targeted specifically at the lining of the womb to prevent miscarriage.

Professor Jan Brosens, of Warwick Medical School and Consultant in Reproductive Health at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, said: "There are currently very few effective treatments for miscarriage and this is the first that aims at normalising the womb before pregnancy. Although miscarriages can be caused by genetic errors in the embryo, an abnormal womb lining causes the loss of chromosomal normal pregnancies. We hope that this new treatment will prevent such losses and reduce both the physical and psychological burden of recurrent miscarriage."

Professor Siobhan Quenby from Warwick Clinical Trials Unit and an Honorary Consultant at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, said: "We have improved the environment that an embryo develops in and in doing so we hope to improve the chances of a successful pregnancy. Although this research was specifically designed to test whether we could increase the presence of stem cells in the womb, follow-up of participants found that there were no further losses of normal pregnancies in those who took sitagliptin. These are very early results and the treatment now needs to be further tested in a large-scale clinical trial."

Jane Brewin, Chief Executive at Tommy's said: "For far too long it has often been said by many health professionals that miscarriage is not preventable, and parents have been left with little hope given the paucity of treatment options available. This situation prompted Tommy's to invest in the Tommy's National Centre for Miscarriage Research and this breakthrough research by the world leading team at Warwick shows great promise for an effective treatment which will reduce miscarriage and possibly later pregnancy loss too. A large-scale trial is needed to verify the findings and we hope that this will get underway quickly."

Stem cells play a key role in creating the decidual cells in the womb lining which support the placenta throughout pregnancy. Insufficient stem cells in the womb lining leads to an excess of stressed and inflammatory decidual cells, which in turn may cause placental bleeding and miscarriage. Sitagliptin was effective not only in increasing stem cells in the womb lining but also decreasing the abundance of stressed decidual cells.

###

* 'Impact of sitagliptin on endometrial mesenchymal stem-like progenitor cells: A randomised, double-blind placebo-controlled feasibility trial' is published in EBioMedicine, DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.102597

Notes to editors:

For interviews or a copy of the paper contact:

Peter Thorley

Media Relations Manager (Warwick Medical School and Department of Physics) | Press & Media Relations | University of Warwick

Email: peter.thorley@warwick.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0)24 761 50868

About Tommy's

1 in 4 women will lose a baby during pregnancy or birth. Tommy's believes that every baby lost is one too many.

Tommy's is a national charity that works tirelessly to reduce the UK's unacceptable rates of miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth. Tommy's funds pioneering medical research to discover the causes of baby loss and helps women at every stage of their pregnancy journeys, supporting them and their partners with expert information and care. Tommy's wants to pregnancy safer for all and ensure that excellent maternity care is available for every woman, every baby, everywhere. http://www.tommys.org

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is the nation's largest funder of health and care research. The NIHR:

Funds, supports and delivers high quality research that benefits the NHS, public health and social care

Engages and involves patients, carers and the public in order to improve the reach, quality and impact of research

Attracts, trains and supports the best researchers to tackle the complex health and care challenges of the future

Invests in world-class infrastructure and a skilled delivery workforce to translate discoveries into improved treatments and services

Partners with other public funders, charities and industry to maximise the value of research to patients and the economy

The NIHR was established in 2006 to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research, and is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. In addition to its national role, the NIHR supports applied health research for the direct and primary benefit of people in low- and middle-income countries, using UK aid from the UK government.
Israel has unveiled a 'laser sword' defence system that can stop rockets and drones as tensions in the region continue to simmer.

The technological breakthrough, announced by the country's Ministry of Defence, means lasers can hit targets with a greater degree of accuracy, over longer distances, and through clouds and dust storms.

It is expected to be tested this year and deployed in the coming years, to help support the Iron Dome missile defence system.

The announcement comes after Iran launched a missile strike on US forces in Iraq and Tehran threatened to target Israel if it was attacked by their American allies.

Israel has unveiled a new laser defence system that can hit targets with a greater degree of accuracy, over longer distances and through clouds and dust storms (pictured graphic)

It is designed to target drones, small aircraft, rockets and missiles (pictured graphic)

Israel has been working on the system to supplement its Iron Dome defences

The technological breakthrough was achieved after several smaller beams were combined to form a larger beam.

It will be 'demonstrated in the field' during 2020, after being developed by the Armed Forces and Technology Infrastructure Administration the announcement said.

The department's head of research and development, Brigadier General Yaniv Rotem, heralded the technology as placing Israel among the 'leading countries' in the field and said it makes them ready for a new era of 'energy warfare'.

The futuristic system will not, however, be operational in the near future, reports The Times of Israel.

The system has an advantage over missile developments as each fire will cost a dollar on average, compared to the Iron Dome which costs tens of thousands of dollars each time. However, it also needs to be able to see a target.

It is expected to be tested this year and deployed in the coming years as Tel Aviv faces multiple threats from the region. Pictured is an Iranian missile being test-fired. Iran has struck US bases in Iraq using missiles this week

Welcoming the achievement, Defence Minister Naftali Bennett said last night: 'The enemies of Israel better not test our resolve or our abilities.'

It is part of a three-tier laser defence system being developed by Israel, which will include a ground-based system to complement Iron Dome, a manouverable platform-mounted laser system to defend troops, and a laser demo system positioned on air platforms to target threats above cloud cover.

It has been developed after Israel's police force unveiled a new laser system, called 'light blade', to target incendiary balloons and kites moving out of the Gaza area.

The Lebanese Hezbollah are said to have an arsenal containing 130,000 rockets, while Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza are believed to possess tens of thousands of missiles.

The technology is expected to supplement the Iron Dome defence system. (Pictured: Short-range missile launched at Ashdod to intercept a rocket from the Gaza strip)

An arrow-3 hypersonic anti-ballistic missile is launched in Alaska during a joint test between Israel and the United States

Iranian officials had accused the US of a declaration of war earlier this week after President Donald Trump gave the order to assassinate General Qassem Soleimani while he was leaving Baghdad airport on 3 January 2020.

They fired 16 short-range ballistic missiles at two Iraqi airbases housing US troops overnight on Wednesday, which Supreme Leaader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei branded a 'slap on the face' for the Americans.

No deaths or injuries were reported following the attacks and President Trump said afterwards that Iran appeared to be 'standing down' and that the US did not necessarily have to hit back.
A bench, headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant, said: "The country going through difficult times. Endeavour should be for peace. Such petitions don't help. As it is, there is lot of trouble."

New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed concern on the violence, which has erupted in the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The court's observation came on the mentioning of a petition filed by advocate Vineet Dhanda seeking the listing of his plea to declare CAA constitutional.

Dhanda moved the apex court to defend the constitutionality of CAA, and also sought action against activists, students, and media houses spreading "false rumours". He also sought a direction from the court against the rioters.

The court said that they will hear this petition after violence stops. "Let violence end," it said.

Putting a query to the lawyer, the court said: "Who wants CAA to be declared 'constitutional', and how can this court declare that an Act passed by the Parliament is constitutional?"

Observing that there is always "a presumption of constitutionality, and being a student of law, you should know", it said that it was unusual to hear somebody seeking a declaration from the court that an Act is constitutional.

The bench said that the job of the court is to determine validity of a law and it is not its job to declare it constitutional as it refused to grant urgent hearing in the matter.

The plea sought direction to declare Citizenship Amendment Act constitutional and also to the Election Commission to identify and take stern action against political parties spreading rumours and violence in the country.

A total of 59 petitions have been filed in the top court challenging this law. The top court will begin hearing the petitions from January 22.

On December 18, the bench of Chief Justice Bobde and Justices Gavai and Surya Kant refused to grant a stay on the operation of the law and listed the matter for further hearing in January. The court issued also notice to the Centre.

Dhanda, in the plea, said: "That the Petitioner is filing the present Public Interest Litigation as a concerned citizen over the loss of precious lives and damage to public property across the country especially in the cities of Delhi, Ahmedabad and states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Assam and other parts of our country."

He sought a direction to the Centre and state governments to publicise the law saying "it is not against the spirit of the Constitution of India and in no sense against any citizen of India".

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CCEA approves Rs5,559-cr capital grant for North East gas grid

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a Rs5,559-crore capital grant as viability gap funding to Indradhanush Gas Grid Limited for setting up the North East Natural Gas Pipeline Grid.

The viability gap funding will meet 60 per cent of the estimated cost of Rs9,265 crore (Including interest during construction) of the project. The quantum of VGF would be capped at 60 per cent of estimated project cost and would not be linked with upward capital cost variation, says a CCEA release.

Ministry of petroleum and natural gas will identify milestones for major activities for this project and link the same for releases of capital grant of the project.

For effective monitoring of the project implementation, a committee comprising of officials from ministry of petroleum and natural gas, Department of Expenditure, ministry of development of north east region, ministry of environment, forest and climate change, and department of fertilizers, may be formed. The committee would periodically review the progress in implementation of the project and take steps to smoothen out any issues in execution.

The gas pipeline will have a total length of 1,656 km spanning the eight states of the North-Eastern region, ie, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.

The capital grant will provide natural gas supplies to various types of consumers, viz, industrial, PNG (domestic), CNG (transport) etc and would immensely help in substituting liquid fuels. The pipeline grid would ensure reliability and uninterrupted natural gas supplies to the consumers which otherwise gets severely affected due to various reasons in this part of the country.

Availability of natural gas across the region is expected to boost industrial growth without impacting the environment and would offer better quality of life to the people in general due to use of cleaner and green fuel.

Besides, the gas grid will have socio-economic and environmental benefits like:

Development of industrial climate in the eight states of the north-eastern region;

Reduction in the usage of kerosene, wood etc due to increased usage of environment friendly fuel thereby improving the environment in the region; and

Improvement in the standard of living of peoples living in the region.

Besides, the gas grid will boost exploration and production activities and connect regional gas sources with pipeline network for early monetisation of natural resources in the region.

It will also open up possibility of installing bottling plants for LPG, besides the supply of LPG and other value added products in the region, which will bring energy security to the people in the area.

Indradhanush Gas Grid Ltd (IGGL) is a joint venture company of five central public sector enterprises, namely IndianOil, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, GAIL, Oil India and Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. The joint venture was incorporated in August 2018 to develop and operate a natural gas pipeline grid in the North East.

The Capital Grant will provide natural gas supplies to various types of consumers, including Industrial, PNG (Domestic), and CNG (Transport), among others, and would help in substituting liquid fuels. The pipeline grid would ensure reliable and uninterrupted natural gas supplies to consumers who are otherwise severely affected due to various reasons in this part of the country, the release stated.

The possibility of installing bottling plants for LPG can be explored to reduce transportation costs. Uninterrupted supply of LPG and other value-added products can be ensured in the region, which will bring energy security to the people in the area, the release added.
Newsfrom Japan

Narita, Chiba Pref., Jan. 9 (Jiji Press)--All Nippon Airways said Thursday that all flights on its route between Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, and Honolulu will be served by sea turtle-themed Airbus A380 aircraft from July 1.

Currently, two A380 planes with special designs of the animal and a Boeing 777 jet link Narita and Honolulu. The major Japanese airline is set to receive the third sea turtle-themed A380 in the second half of April.

The three A380s will be used for the 14 weekly round-trip flights on the route. Sea turtles are known as sacred animals in Hawaii.

The two A380s currently in service are painted blue representing Hawaii's sky and emerald green for its ocean, respectively. The third aircraft will be painted orange, showing the Hawaiian sunset.

The introduction of the third A380 is also intended to better meet robust demand for flight services on ANA's route connecting Tokyo International Airport at Haneda and Honolulu.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
The state Supreme Court has upheld a state agencys denial of a sublease to Millennium Bulk Terminals, dealing yet another potentially fatal blow to the proposed Longview coal export dock.

Millennium had asked for a sublease on state aquatic lands at the old Reynolds Metals Co./ Northwest Alloys dock on the Columbia River. The state Department of Natural Resources refusal to grant the sublease in 2017 has been subject to court battles since then.

The decision to not allow this coal terminal on our public lands was the right decision for Washington, and I applaud the Supreme Court for recognizing that, state Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz said in a prepared statement Wednesday.

I work every day to make sure Washingtons public lands make our state stronger and healthier, now and for future generations. Allowing a company to use our waters without a full, transparent accounting of the environmental and fiscal impacts would jeopardize that mission, Franz said.

Representatives for Millennium could not immediately be reached for comment.

The state high court denied a petition from Northwest Alloys to review a Court of Appeals opinion upholding the DNRs decision to deny the sublease.

DNR requested details about the structure of the agreement between Millennium and Northwest Alloys, the primary leaseholder of the state aquatic property. DNR also requested information about the firms financial integrity and the viability of international coal exports, but that information was not provided, DNR asserted.

Millennium issued a statement in response to the decision.

We are disappointed that the Supreme Court will not hear our appeal regarding DNRs decision to deny Millennium a sublease. DNRs denial of the sublease was both legally wrong and unfair. Millennium has spent millions of dollars cleaning-up this brownfield site for productive re-use, secured permits to operate, is in compliance with all laws and regulations, and is an important member of the local community. We are looking at all of our options.:

Millennium is continuing to fight another court battle over the state Department of Ecologys denial of a shorelines permit for the plant. The case is in federal court.

Millennium already operates on a state aquatic lands lease for its existing bulk materials dock in the Columbia River. The company has said the lease should be sufficient to develop the coal dock. However, DNR says the company would need additional approval to expand its terminal because the scope of the expansion is so large.

The 30-year lease expires in 2038. The current lease allows for up to three 220 foot docks. Millennium currently has one dock and proposes to add two new docks, two new ship loaders and an access trestle.

Millennium and its parent company, Lighthouse Resources Inc., want to build the largest coal export dock on the U.S. West Coast to ship coal to Asia. But the $680 million project has been fought by environmentalists and some members of the medical community at every turn. The state Department of Ecology withheld a key shorelines permit, and the project is tied up in other court battles, with the company mostly on the losing end so far.

Much of Ecologys objection is over diesel emissions caused by locomotive exhaust in the Highlands neighborhood, which adjoins the Reynolds Lead rail line that would serve the terminal. The terminal would require 16 mile-long train passages a day  eight bearing coal, the other eight exiting empties  to transit the rail corridor from the Longview Wye to the Millennium site.

Millennium estimates construction would require 1,300 workers and about 130 permanent workers to operate at full build-out. It also would generate millions of dollars annually in taxes.

The state appeals court justice had reversed a previous decision by Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Stephen Warning that DNR acted arbitrarily and capriciously in denying Millennium sublease for aquatic lands leased by Northwest Alloys Inc.

But the state appeals court said DNRs consideration of Millenniums financial condition and business reputation was expressly authorized under the lease with Northwest Alloys, according to court documents.

And the additional information DNR sought from Millennium, which Millennium failed to provide, was relevant to DNRs inquiry. Accordingly, we conclude that DNRs denial of consent to sublease was not arbitrary and capricious, the judges wrote.

The Supreme Courts decision not to review that finding means the appeals court decision stands.

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In this Saturday Jan. 4, 2020 file photo, protesters demonstrate over the U.S. airstrike in Iraq that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Tehran, Iran. Read more

WASHINGTON  The Iranian missile strike on American locations in Iraq on Tuesday was a calibrated event intended to cause minimal casualties, give the Iranians a face-saving measure and provide an opportunity for both sides to step back from the brink of war, according to senior U.S. officials in Washington and the Middle East.

White House officials were bracing as early as Tuesday morning for Iran to respond to the U.S. killing last week of Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force.

U.S. officials said they knew by Tuesday afternoon that Iran intended to strike at American targets in Iraq, although it was not immediately clear exactly which they would choose.

The early warning came from intelligence sources as well as from communications from Iraq that conveyed Iran's intentions to launch the strike, officials said.

"We knew, and the Iraqis told us, that this was coming many hours in advance," said a senior administration official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence and diplomatic communications.

"We had intelligence reports several hours in advance that the Iranians were seeking to strike the bases," the official said.

At the Pentagon, the most senior levels of U.S. military leadership gathered in a room and waited for the Iranian missiles to head toward their targets.

"It was literally like right before" the Iranians launched their missiles, one senior defense official said. Defense Secretary Mark Esper had convened the meeting with Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with senior civilian leaders of the Defense Department. Esper was pulled out of the meeting when military officials received notification that strikes were underway.

"There was a lot of concern," the senior defense official said. "It was anxious, wanting to get updates." Early reports did not mention any U.S. casualties, "so there was some optimism after the initial rounds."

The advance warning gave military commanders time to get U.S. troops into safe, fortified positions at the bases. According to military officials, troops at bases in Iraq were ordered into bunkers, donned protective gear and were told to "shelter in place."

The troops remained in their protected positions for hours, including after the strike. One official said at least some left al-Asad air base in western Iraq before the attack. That base was targeted, along with a facility in Irbil, in northern Iraq.

"It's not luck that no one got killed," a second senior defense official said. "Luck always plays a role. But military commanders on the ground made good judgment and had good response."

In an address from the White House on Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump credited an "early warning system" for helping prevent loss of life. A defense official later said the president was referring to the radar network the military has searching for potential enemy missiles.

At least two sources of intelligence gave the U.S. time to prepare.

First, there were indications before the launch that Iran was preparing to strike at targets in Iraq, officials said. It was not clear whether that information came from a person or some technical means, such as intercepted communications. A defense official said the U.S. military had "clear indications" of a strike prior to launch from information "internal to [the] U.S. government." Military officials had assessed that Iran would attempt some kind of retaliation at the end of the official mourning period for Soleimani.

The Pentagon "fully expected a retaliation from Iran," the senior defense official said. "What that was was the issue," the official said. "But we fully expected some sort of reaction."

A second source of warning came from what one official described as technical means. The U.S. military has satellites that can detect a missile shortly after it is launched. U.S. officials alerted allies to the launches shortly after they occurred, according to one Western official.

Iran launched 16 ballistic missiles, including 11 that landed at al-Asad air base and one in Irbil, Esper told reporters at the Pentagon. The missile in Irbil landed in an empty area between the facility and the U.S. Consulate, according to residents who live nearby. It was not clear what happened to the other four missiles.

As a precaution after the strike that killed Soleimani, U.S. military officials deployed a brigade of about 4,500 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., to the Middle East and also shuffled some forces within the region.

Commanders on the ground, overseen by Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, head of the U.S. Central Command, also moved some service members off small bases in the region and scattered equipment and people on installations to make them harder to hit.

Lets get people out of less defensible areas and put them in more easily defended or better-defended areas, the senior defense official said, describing the thinking after the Soleimani strike. But at the same time, lets not overly mass our personnel as a single target.

U.S. officials began alerting reporters to the possibility of Iranian strikes beginning at 4 p.m. Tuesday, an hour before they occurred. Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to conduct a television interview that evening but canceled earlier in the day.

In Iran, the regime had positioned itself for a public messaging campaign. Late Tuesday afternoon, Iran transmitted a letter to the U.N. Security Council with a legal basis for military retaliation, but it was not made public, said a diplomat familiar with the document.

Military officials were not sure, once the missiles were launched, which locations Iran had targeted.

It was hard to tell at the Pentagon which bases were under attack "until actual impact on two specific bases," a senior U.S. military official said. "The attack spread out for more than an hour. . . . It was more than an hour from the first attack to the last attack."

"This was not a 'boom' and all of this hit at once," the senior defense official said. "This was launch, launch, launch."

Once the bases were taking incoming fire, there was constant communication among the White House, Central Command and two other combatant commands: Northern Command and Strategic Command, the second senior defense official said. They were called in because of their expertise in monitoring and tracking ballistic missile threats.

After the missiles hit, U.S. military officials began to assess the damage.

Pentagon officials called several partner nations and allies right after the Iranian attack, part of a concerted effort to communicate with them in the wake of the Soleimani strike. While some of them questioned what the U.S. strategy is with Iran after Soleimani was killed, they were supportive and grateful for information Tuesday night, the senior defense official said.

By 7:30 p.m. Washington time Tuesday, officials at the White House had briefed Trump and were "able to pretty clearly say we don't think any Americans are going to be killed," the senior administration official said. "We knew that no Americans were hurt, either."

But U.S. officials were not certain there were no fatalities until Wednesday, after service members assessed the wreckage and roll calls were taken. Esper said the missiles hit tents and a helicopter but did not cause major damage.

The lack of casualties gave administration officials more confidence that the Iranians had intended to make a public show of force largely to save face at home, the senior administration official said. The official added that a consensus is building that Iran could have done more damage.

But not all military officials were certain of Iran's intentions. Milley, the Joint Chiefs chairman, told reporters that he assessed Iran had intended to cause material destruction and kill Americans but that an intelligence estimate had not been completed.

"I believe based on what I saw and what I know is that they were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft and to kill personnel," Milley said. "That's my own personal assessment."

Asked what he made of Iran's intentions, the second senior military official said, "You'd have to ask Iran."

Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived at the White House around 7 p.m. Tuesday to be with the president. About an hour later, Trump began calling lawmakers, including allies such as Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and James Inhofe, R-Okla. Trump told them that no Americans had been killed in the missile attacks and that a path to negotiations with Iran had now opened, the senior administration official said.

"The president doesn't want a war, but he doesn't want to tolerate provocation against American interests," Graham said in an interview with The Washington Post.

Graham said he hoped that Iran's attack was "a show of force for domestic purposes."

"They want a show of force," he said, "but they want this to end, because they are scared of the president. I hope that is true."

Matt Pottinger, the deputy national security adviser, told aides in a Roosevelt Room meeting Tuesday afternoon that it would take at least two months to understand whether the U.S. strategy was working.

"Our initial reaction has been, this was a domestic effort from the Iranians to save face, not to go to war, so we have proceeded in that vein," said another senior administration official with knowledge of the analysis.

Esper and Milley returned to the Pentagon about 9 p.m.

Trump had told senior military officials Tuesday evening that he did not want to start a war with Iran and wanted a path to ease tensions, which had been escalating at a frantic pace since the strike on Soleimani, the senior administration official said. When Trump's military advisers told him there was reason to believe the missile strikes were not designed to kill Americans, a way out appeared, the official said.

Even with the advance notice, U.S. military officials were still scrambling after the attack to assess the damage and determine Iran's intentions. U.S. forces in the region remained on high alert after the strikes, but no significant troop movements have been made in Syria or elsewhere, according to military officials.

The second senior defense official acknowledged that officials on Tuesday night intended to limit information released to the public until the extent of the damage and how Trump might respond became clearer.

"We all understood that if the Iranians were to respond next, we owned the shot clock after," the official said. "So, you need to be very thoughtful, very deliberate."

The Pentagon and State Department sent staffers to the White House early Wednesday to write Trumps speech. He made some last-minute additions, including the decision to start his remarks by declaring, As long as I am president of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.

"Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world," Trump said.

A third senior administration official said there was a sigh of relief when Trump agreed to read from prepared remarks and not take questions. Some aides were concerned that Trump might deviate from the precise remarks and misspeak if he made extemporaneous remarks to reporters, the official said.

Some officials acknowledged that Iran was likely to continue attacks via proxies and other means. But there was a growing sense among administration officials that killing Soleimani had sobered Iran up to Trumps willingness to act. We actually believe this will be de-escalation, the senior administration official said. Were obviously going to be on alert for proxies with one-off attacks. But we think this worked.

The Washington Posts John Hudson and Karen DeYoung in Washington and Liz Sly in Beirut contributed to this report.
The world of alternative facts is fast becoming an alternative reality. How else to explain the coverage of the bushfires emergency by broadsheet newspaper The Australian  one of the only major international titles that finds itself unable to link the devastation unfolding across the country with the breakdown in the climate that the burning of fossils fuels is ushering in.

Since November last year, these fires have destroyed more than 6 million hectares of bush, forest and parks and taken the lives of 24 people and countless animals. It is feared that more than 20,000 koalas recently perished on Kangaroo Island.

How has The Australian responded to such events? On 18December, it celebrated booming Australian coal exports to China  the same day that the Australian Bureau of Meteorology announced that the country was experiencing its hottest day on record. The Australian government continues to believe that the nations future remains within the rich coal deposits that lie under Australian soil, and is not being challenged on that position.

The impact that fossil fuels are having on the countrys climate are plain: they are contributing to prolonged heatwaves, droughts and wildfires that have destroyed Australian ecosystems and communities. Echoing the governments position, however, the countrys national paper argued in its own editorial column that those attributing the countrys bushfires to climate change were suffering from an attention-clamour disorder and creating a faux climate emergency.

States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia Show all 15 1 /15 States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia A firefighter works on a bushfire believed to have been sparked by a lightning strike that has ravaged an area of over 2,000 hectares in northern New South Wales state AFP via Getty Images States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia A dehydrated and injured Koala receives treatment at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital AFP via Getty Images States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia A water tanker airplane drops fire retardant on a bushfire in Harrington, New South Wales EPA States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia Firefighters tackle a bushfire to save a home in Taree, 350km north of Sydney AFP via Getty Images States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia A kangaroo is seen by the burnt remains of a vintage car in Torrington Getty Images States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia Photo taken on November 9, 2019 shows bushfires taken from a plane in over north eastern New South Wales AFP via Getty Images States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia Andrew Mackenzie surveys the damage around his home in Torrington Getty Images States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia Fire and Rescue NSW firefighters conduct property protection as a bushfire burns close to homes on Railway Parade in Woodford NSW AP States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (L) comforts 85-year-old resident Owen Whalan at an evacauation centre in Taree 350km north of Sydney AFP via Getty Images States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia Fire burns at Bolivia Hill in Glen Innes Getty Images States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia A resident puts out small fires as he rides his motorcycle in Old Bar, New South Wales EPA States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia A fire rages in Bobin, 350km north of Sydney on November 9, 2019, as firefighters try to contain dozens of out-of-control blazes AFP via Getty Images States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia Construction workers speak as smoke haze drifts over Sydney, Australia EPA States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia A vintage Jaguar car sits in ruins after a bushfire destroyed a property in Old Bar, 350km north of Sydney AFP via Getty Images States of emergency declared as bushfires rage across Australia A fire rages in Bobin, 350km north of Sydney AFP via Getty Images

In this alternative reality, there are no reasons to slow down the mining, export and burning of coal because lethal heatwaves and raging fires are explicable by seasonal variability. And even if these events have been made likelier by humans impact on the climate, the only way forward is more fossil-fuelled growth, burning more coal to build bigger economies which can insulate themselves against further climate meltdown.

But the actual reality, out in the Australian bush and its oceans, stubbornly refuses to adhere to this narrative.

Sydney is facing a public health emergency as its residents choke bushfire smoke. Large sections of the Great Barrier Reef have been destroyed by rising sea temperatures. Climate change is threatening what Australians cherish most.

Many Australians have become accustomed to multi-year droughts and summer bushfires. Recent polling by the Lowry Institute found that 64 per cent of Australians now see climate change as a critical threat, beating cyberattacks from other countries and international terrorism. Most also want to decarbonise the country.

Australia is the second largest exporter of thermal coal in the world. In 2018, it mined 208m tonnes of the stuff, bringing in $26bn for the Australian economy. Attempting to resolve the tension between climate action and climate-wrecking coal mining has arguably led to the downfall of a string of Australian prime ministers. Most recently, Scott Morrison replaced Malcolm Turnbull by successfully framing the Turnbulls carbon reduction plans as a threat to jobs and prosperity.

Back in 2017, Morrison held up a lump of coal in the Australian parliament and proclaimed, This is coal. Dont be afraid. Dont be scared. He then reminded MPs on the other side of the house that it was dug up by the men and women who vote for them.

Its no secret that Rupert Murdochs News Corp, the publisher of The Australian, has been a staunch supporter of Scott Morrison. Given that the organisation owns 140 newspapers across Australia, that support can be translated into sustained media pressure. Back in May this year, Australias opposition leader Bill Shorten argued that parts of News Corp should declare themselves as political parties given the degree to which they were campaigning for Morrisons party ahead of the general election. That campaigning includes newspapers continuing to highlight a risk to the economy from climate-friendly policies, while downplaying the risks to the planet of a rapidly-changing climate.

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And so, despite the climate crisis unfolding literally outside its Sydney offices, The Australian celebrates coal and continues to frame the bushfires as a natural disaster.

It will be impossible for this position to be maintained forever; sooner or later, increasingly extreme weather will make it untenable.

The risk, of course, is that when reality does bite, it may be too late to act.
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 Creightons Plc (LON:CRL), by way of a worked example.

Over the last twelve months Creightons has recorded a ROE of 23%. One way to conceptualize this, is that for each 1 of shareholders' equity it has, the company made 0.23 in profit.

Check out our latest analysis for Creightons

How Do I Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for return on equity is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations)  Shareholders' Equity

Or for Creightons:

23% = UK3.2m  UK14m (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2019.)

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. Shareholders' equity can be calculated by subtracting the total liabilities of the company from the total assets of the company.

What Does ROE Signify?

Return on Equity measures a company's profitability against the profit it has kept for the business (plus any capital injections). The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. The higher the ROE, the more profit the company is making. So, all else being equal, a high ROE is better than a low one. Clearly, then, one can use ROE to compare different companies.

Does Creightons Have A Good Return On Equity?

Arguably the easiest way to assess company's ROE is to compare it with the average in its industry. However, this method is only useful as a rough check, because companies do differ quite a bit within the same industry classification. As is clear from the image below, Creightons has a better ROE than the average (11%) in the Personal Products industry.

LSE:CRL Past Revenue and Net Income, January 9th 2020

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

Why You Should Consider Debt When Looking At 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 case of the first and second options, the ROE will reflect this use of cash, for growth. 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.

Creightons's Debt And Its 23% ROE

Although Creightons does use a little debt, its debt to equity ratio of just 0.048 is very low. Its ROE is very impressive, and given only modest debt, this suggests the business is high quality. Judicious use of debt to improve returns can certainly be a good thing, although it does elevate risk slightly and reduce future optionality.

The Bottom Line On ROE

Return on equity is a useful indicator of the ability of a business to generate profits and return them to shareholders. Companies that can achieve high returns on equity without too much debt are generally of good quality. If two companies have around the same level of debt to equity, and one has a higher ROE, I'd generally prefer the one with higher ROE.

But when a business is high quality, the market often bids it up to a price that reflects this. The rate at which profits are likely to grow, relative to the expectations of profit growth reflected in the current price, must be considered, too. You can see how the company has grow in the past by looking at this FREE detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss thisfree list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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.



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. Thank you for reading.
2020 will mark the 12 years of economic expansion  an unprecedented run for the US economy. While investors are enjoying the good times, they are starting to wonder  will it end? And when? Cautious investors are also starting to fortify their portfolios, setting up income streams that can survive a downturn. Better to do this now, while there is time to research the market and do it right.

Finding the right investments to protect your income stream will naturally draw you to dividend stocks. Dividends are income-sharing payments, used by companies to return profits to stakeholders. The markets true dividend champs are the companies that make reliable payments, regularly raise those payments, and offer a yield (the payment as a percentage of the share price) that far exceeds bond returns.

TipRanks, an investing platform that collects and collates the data on Wall Streets top analysts, along with more than 6,400 publicly traded equities, offers the tools to find the best dividend stocks. The Stock Screener tool has a set of filters that can fine-tune your market search to bring up just the investments that fit the profile you want.

Setting those filters to show stocks with a Buy rating consensus from the analysts, along with a dividend yield over 7%, brings up three stocks that may be of interest.

Rattler Midstream LP (RTLR)

Well start in the oil industry, where high dividends are particularly common. Rattler was formed in July 2018 as a limited partnership with Diamondback Energy. In effect, Diamondback spun off its midstream operations to a new company, in the interest of efficiency. Rattler now owns, develops, operates, and acquires midstream assets in the Midland and Delaware formations of Texas Permian Basin. Midstream assets are the supporting infrastructure of the oil and gas industry; Rattler provides these services under contract to the parent company.

While it formed in the summer of 2018, Rattler did not go public until May of 2019. In its IPO, Rattler offered 33.3 million shares at $17.50; the offering sold 38 million shares, and saw the price rise to $18.80 in one day. In all, the company raised $665 million through the public offering. In its two reported quarters so far, RTLR has missed the EPS forecast both time  but has also seen earnings rise from 11 cents per share to 26 cents.

Story continues

Of more interest here is the dividend. In November, RTLR started paying back to investors. The initial dividend payment was 34 cents per share, which annualizes to $1.34. The yield, however, is a more impressive 7.7%. Among S&P listed companies, the average yield is only 2%; Rattler made its dividend debut paying out well over triple that.

Reviewing RTLR shares for Northland Securities, analyst Jeff Grampp wrote, With the stock now yielding [7.7%] and set to grow Adjusted EBITDA near 50% in 2020 with 15% lower y-o-y organic CapEx, we think the company presents an attractive investment proposition. The analyst added, "We note the 2020 guide implies near 50% y-o-y Adjusted EBITDA growth at the midpoint while organic CapEx decreases ~15% y-o-y. We believe this should support robust dividend growth in 2020 and beyond."

Along with his Buy rating on the stock Grampp set a $24 price target, indicating room for 39% upside growth in the coming year. (To watch Grampps track record, click here)

Rattler Midstream currently holds a Moderate Buy from the analyst consensus rating, based 8 recent ratings, including 5 Buys and 3 Holds. Shares sell for $17.08, giving the stock a moderate cost of entry, and the average price target of $20.75 suggests a robust upside potential of 21%. (See Rattler stock analysis at TipRanks)

Capital Southwest Corporation (CSWC)

Turning from energy to finance we find Capital Southwest, an investment company. CSWC focuses on high-appreciation opportunities, mainly through management, buyouts, recaps, early stage financings, and consolidations. The company operates in the United States.

In November, CSWC reported fiscal Q2 2020 earnings, and the results were somewhat disappointing. EPS, at 38 cents, missed the 43-cent forecast. Share values dropped 7% after the release. On second thoughts, however, investors noted that the company also released several positive notes: the same EPS that missed the estimates was up significantly year-over-year, and revenues, at $15.22 million, were up 21% from the year before. By the end of November, the share price had regained most of its losses.

A sweetener for investors, that helps keep them interested in CSWC, is the companys high-yield dividend. The regular quarterly payment is 40 cents, and the company has been steadily increasing that since 2013. Even better, CSWC also pays out occasional special dividends, with the most recent one, of 75 cents, having gone out this past December. Using the regular payment, the annual dividend is $1.60, and the yield is 7.7%.

Two 4-star analysts have reviewed CSWC recently. Writing for Jefferies, Kyle Joseph said, F3Q seems to be off to a strong start as the company disclosed $33M of new commitments subsequent to the quarter end - above levels seen in F2Q. We remind investors that $184M of incremental capacity on the company's credit facility remains and CSWC continues to pay out a supplemental dividend. Josephs Buy rating on CSWC is backed up by a $24 price target, implying a 16% upside. (To watch Josephs track record, click here)

Bryce Rowe, from National Securities, is also bullish on the stock, citing the companys ability to offer strong returns, particularly from dividends: Over the next year, we project CSWC should deliver a total return of 19% with 60%+ of that projected return coming from regular, supplemental, and special dividends. Rowes $23 price target supports his Buy ratings, and shows his confidence in 11% upside potential for the stock. (To watch Rowes track record, click here)

Overall, Capital Southwest has a Strong Buy consensus rating, based on 4 Buys and just 1 Hold. Shares sell for $20.65, and the average price target of $23.20 indicates that the stock has room for a 12% upside. (See Capital Southwest stock analysis at TipRanks)

TPG Specialty Lending (TSLX)

For the last stock on our list, well stick with the finance sector. TPG is a lending company, providing financing for middle market companies across a range of industries. Most of TPGs customers have limited access to other sources of capital.

However it chooses customers, TPG has found a winning formula. The stock rose 27% last year, and in Q3 2019, the most recent reported, it beat both the estimates and the year-ago values. On the top line, revenues came in at $70.05 million, 8% over the forecast and up 11% year-over-year. EPS was 55 cents, 14% better than expected and 10% up yoy. In short, TSLX is a stock on the way up.

The 39-cent regular dividend, reliably paid out for the last three years, adds a bit of luster to the shares. Annualized at $1.56, the yield is a robust 7.16%. Two other factors make the dividend even more attractive  first, TSLX pays out special dividends periodically; and second, the payout ratio, a measure of the dividend compared to earnings, is 71%, indicating that the company returns a large part of profits to shareholders, but can easily afford the payments.

Kenneth Lee, 4-star analyst from RBC Capital, was impressed enough with this stock to initiate coverage with a Buy rating in his recent review. He wrote, We think TSLX's ability to leverage platform resources of TSSP is a potential competitive advantage and note TSLX has above-peer-average ROE generation potential.

Lees rating is supported by a $23 price target, implying an upside of 5.5%. (To watch Lees track record, click here)

Weighing in from SunTrust Robinson, 5-star analyst Mark Hughes, agrees that TSLX is a stock to Buy. He specifically sees potential in the companys portfolio yield, writing, We believe the yield forecast in particular has the potential for upside, due to the embedded call protection that is packaged in almost every loan (85% of debt investments), and its not fully reflected in our estimates due to their unpredictable timing.

Like Lee, Hughes backs his Buy rating with a $23 price target. (To watch Hughes track record, click here)

The Strong Buy consensus rating on TSLX is unanimous; 4 analysts have given a thumbs-up to the stock recently. Shares a moderately priced, at $21.80, and the average price target, $22.63, shows a modest upside of 3.8%. This is a stock whose dividend and overall appreciation outweigh the current growth potential. (See TPG Specialty Lendings stock analysis at TipRanks)
Listening to artist Deirdre Murphy explain her fascination with the patterns made by lights in nighttime cities, Tabb Sullivan experienced a thrill of recognition. Sullivan is a senior scientist at Integral Molecular, a biotech company in Philadelphia that discovers antibodies to fight disease. For three years, the company has invited artists to spend several months in its labs to create--through observation of and interaction with technical employees--a body of work reflecting some aspect of microbiology. The science inspires the artists. The proximity to artists is meant to make the scientists more creative.

Murphy, a Philadelphia-based artist who, among other things, creates paintings based on avian migration patterns, kicked off her residency in July 2018 with a talk to Integral's staff about her work. The light patterns she described in her remarks reminded Sullivan of viruses spreading cell-to-cell under a microscope--a visually compelling diffusion he thought Murphy would find intriguing. He wanted to show her. But there was a problem. "We don't work with live viruses," Sullivan says. "So ours can infect a cell once. But then they can't go anywhere."

So Sullivan needed to spread a virus without using viruses that spread. The solution: He took the part of a virus that makes new viruses and added it to a cell in a petri dish. He then infected the cell with the original virus, which was now unable to replicate itself. The cell put the two pieces together to make a new virus--but one that cannot spread infection. Murphy studied the resulting patterns under a microscope and incorporated them in a sculpture of a sky dome spattered with stars. As for Sullivan, the technique "gave me a new tool I may be able to use in future research," he says.

The juxtaposition of disparate people, disciplines, and cultures is a popular strategy for creativity, practiced by everyone from chefs to CEOs. Involvement with art, in particular, correlates with success among Nobel Prize winners in the sciences and other left-brain exemplars, according to research from Michigan State University. In Silicon Valley, several large tech companies--including Facebook, Google, and AutoDesk--have introduced artist-in-residence programs over the past few years as a way to stretch employees' thinking and come up with imaginative applications for products. The practice dates back to the 1960s and corporations like IBM and Hewlett-Packard.

Ben Doranz, CEO and founder of 62-employee Integral Molecular, which is based in Philadelphia's uCity Square innovation district, believes smaller, entrepreneurial firms also can benefit. Scientists and artists have a lot in common, says Doranz, a molecular biologist, MBA, and sculptor. At Integral, he says, "people ask provocative questions that don't always get answered. Artists do the same thing."

Integral's program is a collaboration with the University City Science Center, the country's oldest urban research park. Another resident of the Science Center is the Esther Klein Gallery, the curator of which works with Doranz to identify artists who explore science-related themes and invite them to submit applications. The gallery also hosts exhibitions of work created during the residencies.

The program, Doranz explains, is largely externally focused, aimed at showing a public with little understanding of what goes on in a biotech company the process by which ideas become treatments for things like breast cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, two diseases Integral has addressed. Processed through the interpretive lens of art, the science becomes more accessible, understood not as technical abstraction but rather via the senses and emotions. Art, Doranz says, is a better ambassador for his business to the wider world than charts and graphs.

Doranz believes greater understanding of how scientists transform questions and ideas into treatments for disease may also encourage people to approach their own medical decisions--for example, whether to vaccinate their children--more thoughtfully. (Several organizations with similar goals, including the Knight Foundation, share funding for the program.)

Inside the business, "the artists make us see the world from a different perspective," Doranz says. "The creative dialog sparks ideas in both."

How much are you worth?

Genefer Baxter and Marco Locatelli have traveled 4,000 miles to watch their genetic material get whipped around in a centrifuge. Dressed in white lab coats and safety glasses, they peer over the shoulder of Integral senior scientist Joe Stafford as he measures, dilutes, spins, and ultimately extracts the artists' RNA from cells harvested after their immunization for tetanus. The scientist performs a concentration reading to make sure the samples contain RNA before sending them out for sequencing, which will reveal the antibodies they've developed.

"We want to tell a story about ourselves through our immune response," Loctelli says. "To show our similarities and differences."

Baxter and Locatelli--part of a Berlin-based group called IMRSV Arts--are finishing up their three-month residency at Integral, the company's fifth. Their specialty is interactive art, using things like heartbeats and brainwaves to generate patterns of lights and sounds. They will deploy the results of their sequencing--two Excel files full of letters--along with other data, ideas, and processes they've collected during their residency in an immersive exhibit here later this year.

"The theme of our project is valuing the human body," Baxter says. "We will show through the sequencing that the body's value can be quantified--but what exactly is that value?" The subject, she points out, raises sensitive questions about everything from privacy to this country's history of slavery.

As for the artists' effect on the business, Baxter says during the residency she and Locatelli asked lots of questions about why the scientists work the way they do and what was and was not possible. The scientists explained every step they performed and the broader purpose of each process, "some of which had become routine and standard to them," Baxter says. "Revisiting certain procedures seemed to reinvigorate them."

Stafford would agree with that assessment. "Normally we are focused on antibody discovery, not on human genomes," he says. The Berlin artists' work "got us thinking about 'Where is that line between genetics and profitability?'" More concretely Stafford, who has worked with four artists including Murphy, is now investigating dyes that are compatible with chicken cells to incorporate into his experiments. "Talking and looking at some of the paintings Deirdre was doing inspired me to make my cells different colors so I could look at the data in two dimensions instead of one," he says.

The transcendence of tedium

The artists often use laboratory tools in their work, and training them can also be revealing for the scientists. Senior scientist Tom Charpentier instructed multimedia artist Laura Splan in Pymol, a molecular visualization program he uses all the time. After playing around with it, Splan discovered a function called "sculpting" that allows users to quickly make changes to models of proteins and their interactions. Charpentier didn't know it was there. "I had never thought about sculpting my models," he says. "Now I can do things much quicker and visualize things more easily."

Splan has continued working with lab tools in her Brooklyn studio, where she now conducts rudimentary experiments. (For example, she is trying to get bacteria to express a green fluorescent protein she can use as a dye.) But her residency last year focused less on science than on the work of scientists. "I was fascinated with the tedium and repetition involved in the laboratory protocols" compared with the public's perception of scientific work as a series of eureka moments, says Splan, leading a tour on the opening night of her exhibition at the Esther Klein Gallery. (The gallery--also part of the Science Center--hosts showings for all of Integral's artists-in-residence.)

A screen on one wall displays a continuous video loop in which a white-coated arm extracts from a test tube cells suspended in fluid. A round, latch-hooked rug in shades of brown is made from the hair of llamas and alpacas that are used--with no harm to the animals--in the search for antibodies for human drugs. (Doranz solicited other labs and gathered 200 pounds of the fiber for Splan's project--far more than the artist had any idea what to do with.) "The llamas and alpacas themselves are a form of invisible labor in the lab," Splan says.

In another room--past more hanging llama hair and an inscription from the book Microbiology for Dummies--an animation of a protein produced with Charpentier's software twists eerily on a screen in response to recorded disruptions to its molecular structure. On the wall beside it are four words in neon: "Sit around and wait."
As expected At 1:30 AM in Iraq on January 8, a series of missile launch reports appeared on radar screens as Iran launched a promised retaliatory strike against U.S. bases in Iraq codenamed Operation Martyr Soleimani. The attack was precisely ordered by Tehran at the same hour Iranian general Qassem Soleimani was killed by a U.S. drone strike on January 3, 2020, and following the generals burial on January 7.



Iranian missiles hit two U.S. bases in Iraq at 1:30 AM in Iraq on January 8, 2020 (Map source: Army Recognition)

Iran claims it launched ten Fateh-110 as well as Quiam short-range ballistic missilesthe Pentagon reported over a dozenat U.S. forces in Iraq in at least two locations: Ain-al-Asad airbase and Erbil, in central and northern Iraq respectively. One struck a base in Erbil in Iraqs semiautonomous Kurdish region. Longer-range, liquid-fuel Qiam ballistic missiles may have been used in the attack on strike Ain-al-Asad as well. Four missiles failed to hit their targets. None of both bases hit were protected by Patriot or other adequate air defense systems, which the Iranians knew as they couldn't afford a political failure in their operation.



The Qiam is a short-range ballistic missile designed and built by Iran. It was developed from the Iranian Shahab-2, a licensed copy of the North Korean Hwasong-6, all of which are versions of the Soviet Scud-C missile. The Qiam 1 entered service in 2010, with a range of 750 km (470 mi) and 500 m (1,600 ft) (CEP) accuracy.



The Fateh A-110 is a short-range, road-mobile, solid-propellant ballistic missile based on the Russian made missile R-65 FROG, but other sources said it is a copy of the Chinese DF-11. It is most likely a modified version of the unguided Zelzal-2 ground-to-ground missile, with the addition of control and guidance systems. The Fateh-110 is a single-stage, solid-propellant, surface-to-surface missile. Produced in Iran, it has a range of at least 200 km. Some sources on the Internet indicate that the missile is 8.86 m long, 0.61 m in diameter, and weighs 3,450 kg. It uses a single-stage solid-propellant engine and has a range of 210 km (130 miles), although it is possible that Iran will add extra boosters in order to increase its range to 400 km (249 miles).

Ain al-Asad airbase, one of the targeted bases by Iran, is a large hub for U.S. forces in Iraq. The base, a sprawling complex about 110 miles northwest of Baghdad located in the western Anbar desert, houses about 1,500 members of the U.S. military and the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS. In addition to the 1,500 U.S. and coalition forces, about 70 Norwegian troops were at Ain al-Asad at the time of the attack.

The Pentagon is assessing the damages before taking attitude, Iran claiming 80 killed U.S. servicemen in a fierce communication/media battle between both enemies. All is well, so far so good as tweeted by President Trump might be disputed. The Federal Aviation Administration is barring U.S. pilots and carriers from flying in areas of Iraqi, Iranian and some Persian Gulf airspace. Such restrictions are often precautionary in nature to prevent civilian aircraft from being confused for ones engaged in armed conflict. Other airlines are following the move. And oil prices are already sharply increasing. Iranian cyberattacks are naturally expected.

Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces warned the US that any new evil act will draw Irans stronger, more crushing, and broader response, hours after the IRGC stormed two US military bases in Iraq in retaliation for the assassination of Lt. General Qassem Soleimani. He said the attacks on the American forces in Iraq revealed only a tiny part of the capabilities of the Iranian Armed Forces and was carried out in response to the US terrorist move to assassinate General Soleimani. From now on, any new evil act by the US will face a stronger and more crushing response with a broader range, the senior Iranian general added.

As a useful reference for the harsh relation between the U.S. and Iran, Army Recognition uses hereunder a document issued in 2017 with Iranian FARS News Agency and SIPRI data among others. This adds to the fight waged by the US to counter the Iranian growing influence in the region, a policy of expansion that deeply irritates the U.S. allies.



Iranian-made Fateh-110D short-range ballistic missile (Source Iranian Press Agency)

Iran goes on with its missile programme

The matter often comes in the media: Irans ballistic missile programme has long been a source of tension. For the Islamic Republic, these missiles are an important element of military doctrine, a means of deterrence, and a tool of statecraft.

The link between the missile programme and the countrys nuclear programme is perceived as a primary threat by the international community, which addresses the matter as such and consequently imposes supply-side restrictions.

The international community failed in attempting to include ballistic missiles in the long-negotiated agreement over Irans nuclear programme, since Iran strongly refused the connection. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) took a compromise approach, relegating the matter to a new United Nations Security Council resolution (Resolution 2231) and imposing an eight-year conditional ban.

Nuclear agreement and ballistic missile programme: a sensitive connexion

The implementation of the nuclear agreement is closely linked to Irans ballistic missile programme: the international community wants to be reassured that Iran does not develop a nuclear warhead to mount on a missile. Therefore, controlling Irans access to sensitive goods is important. However, the limits to what export controls alone can achieve have become obvious. So, other approaches must be envisaged.

Iran, like any other country, acts according to its circumstances, and the manufacture and development of its missiles are not related to foreigners, Velayati told reporters after a meeting with European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman David McAllister in Tehran on 14 February.

Born in 1945, Ali Akbar Velayati is an Iranian physician and conservative politician. He is a distinguished professor at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, senior adviser to the Supreme Leader in international affairs and head of the board of founders and the board of trustees of the Islamic Azad University. Needless to say how influential he is when defense matters are evoked.

Emphasizing that each country chooses its own defense system in proportion to its needs, he said missiles are "defensive means" in Irans doctrine. To defend our country, we embark on developing missiles in line with our national interests, and this is no business of foreigners and we do not allow others to interfere (in this issue), he said.

Velayati added that during his meetings with the EU official, they discussed Irans policies in the Middle East and North Africa. He said that the Islamic Republic sought cooperation with all the regional countries to help establish stability, security and peace. Tehran is opposed to any foreign meddling in the region, he added.

Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami reiterated Iran's firm opposition to talks with the foreign states on its defense and missile power: "Missile is no issue for our negotiations with any power. The nuclear deal is not related to the missile power at all; missiles are rather a part of our defense power and we will never hold talks about it," General Salami told reporters in Tehran. The Europeans should know that the nuclear deal is not related to the development of missile power, and our determination to develop our defense power is more independent than any other power," he added.



Quiam short-range ballistic missile (Picture source Twitter Tal Inbar)

Missile programme: the early years

As recalled by the EU Non-Proliferation Consortium, Iran began developing ballistic missile capabilities during the 198088 war with Iraq, when the country proved unable to retaliate to Iraqs superiority gained with Western support. To compensate for its inferiority, Iran turned to Libya. In 1984, following clandestine negotiations with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Iran received its first delivery of 20 Scud-B missiles that were deployed against Baghdad and other major Iraqi cities. Iran obtained additional Scud-B missiles from Syria and North Korea, and Scud-C missiles from North Korea (renamed Shahab-1 and Shahab-2, respectively). In addition to deterring Iraq, Iran was now able to hold its Arab neighbours in the Gulf at risk and complicate US intentions in the region.

Iran needed to at least double the range of Shahab-2, which at the time was limited to 500 km. Unable to achieve this goal by its own means, Iran yet again turned to North Korea. Tested between 1998 and 2003, the Shahab-3 missile (based on the North Korean Nodong) was extensively modified to improve its range and performance. It became designated as Ghadr-1. This new missile is believed to have a range of 1,600 km with a payload of 700750 kilograms.

In the late 1990s Iran is began developing the solid-propellant short-range Fateh-110, which it first successfully tested in 2001. The first modified variant, Fateh-110A, has a range of 200225 km. Four subsequent variants of the missile were developed over a decade, which Iran claimed to be increasingly accurate.

In November 2008, Iran tested its new, indigenously designed and produced medium-range missile known as the Sajjil. Its range is claimed to reach 2000 km. However, despite a series of tests of the Sajjils successor, the Sajjil-2, no further tests have been reported since 2011 and Iran has not yet declared the missile operational.

In 2010, Iran tested an indigenous liquid-propellant missile, the Qiam, which had a reported range of 700 km. It supposedly could overcome the ballistic missile defenses of Irans regional rivals.

In August 2015 Iran exhibited the Fateh-313, which appears to be a modified version of Fateh-110. Although Iran claims a range of 500 km, which is likely overstated.

It is commonly estimated that Iran has an inventory of approximately 200300 Shahab-1 and Shahab-2 missiles (the figure corresponding to the number of missiles provided by North Korea). Iran has not demonstrated an ability to produce the Shahab engines itself. Estimates regarding Shahab-3/Ghadr are significantly more varied, fluctuating between 50 and 100 missiles, while other figures reach as high as 300 missiles. The lower estimate is based on the number of missiles and engines probably supplied by North Korea, and the higher one on Israeli sources that assume indigenous production by Iran. Given the difficulties involved in domestic production, this latter estimate is likely to be somewhat inflated. Irans holdings of Fateh-110 are difficult to approximate because they are produced domestically. Neither the Fateh-313 nor the Sajjil-2 appears to have been deployed yet.

Irans ballistic missiles: able to deliver a nuclear charge?

Once again, as commented by Paulina Izewicz, from the EU Non-Proliferation Forum, Irans capability to field an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which is traditionally defined as having a range of 5,500 km or more, has long been a source of concern. An ICBM could serve as a delivery vehicle for a nuclear warhead capable of directly threatening the USA and Western Europe. Although Iran has denied interest in developing an ICBM capability, its ambitious space programme has received significant scrutiny because of the technological overlap between ICBMs and space launch vehicles (SLVs).

In 2009 Iran used the Safir SLV to launch its first satellite, the Omid, into orbit. Although the rocket is designed to carry only a light payload into low-earth orbit, the US State Department expressed its concern with the launch, stating that Irans development of a space launch vehicle (SLV) capable of putting a satellite into orbit establishes the technical basis from which Iran could develop long-range ballistic missile systems.

Indeed, the Simorgh SLV is deemed to be an ICBM-class booster by the US intelligence community, albeit with the qualification that there is no evidence to suggest Iran has developed a re-entry vehicle or warhead for it, both of which would be crucial components. The Simorgh was reportedly launched in April 2016, but there appears to be no consensus on whether the launch was a success. In any case, it would be exceedingly difficult for Iran to simply transform it into an operational ICBM. Instead, as experts suggest, the knowledge gleaned in the development process could rather serve as the basis for developing a completely new missile.

Beginning in 1999, the US intelligence community estimated that Iran could flight-test an ICBM by 2015. This did not happen. In a congressional hearing in March 2015, the Commander of the US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, Admiral William Gortney, moved the goalposts saying that Iran was unlikely to deploy an ICBM until later this decade at the earliest

Irans ballistic missile programme plays an important role in national discourse and as a means of bolstering the credibility and legitimacy of the regime. Much like the nuclear programme, it is a source of pride in Irans technological capabilities, which are meant to insulate Iran from foreign dominance. It is also a powerful expression of Irans military might, around which the nation can rally. Attempts at de-emphasising the role of Iranian missiles are not met favourably. A tweet on 23 March 2016 from the Twitter account of former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani that proclaimed the world of tomorrow is a world of discourse, not missiles drew sharp domestic criticism. Irans Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, went as far as to call such comments treasonous.

The EU, a more peaceful and efficient negotiator than the Trump administration

The nuclear agreement eliminated a major source of tension between Iran and the West: if faithfully implemented, it verifiably constrains Irans nuclear programme in its most sensitive aspects for well over a decade. However, it is clear that the Trump Administration is not showing the same patience employed by the Obama Administration in its relationship with Iran.

Fortunately, Irans relations with the EU are much less complex. Furthermore, verifiable constraints on the nuclear programme eliminated the most significant source of tension. Unlike the USA, the EU maintained its ties to Iran after the Islamic Revolution and trade flourished. It was only during the controversial presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the nuclear crisis erupted, and relations took a turn for the worse.

A multilateral dialogue must take place on Irans ballistic missile programme. But lets keep in sight what we reported earlier in this overview: Iran, like any other country, acts according to its circumstances, and the manufacture and development of its missiles are not related to foreigners, Velayati told reporters after a meeting with European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman David McAllister in Tehran on 14 February 2018. Nevertheless, although ambitious and mired in significant challenges, such a multilateral dialogue should not be dismissed out of hand.

While it is true that Iran refused to include its ballistic missile programme as part of the JCPOA negotiations, there are reasons to believe it might be willing to engage on some aspects of the programme under the right circumstances. For instance, Iranian officials have repeatedly stated that the current range of Iranian missiles is sufficient for its purposes. This range, of course, allows it to hold at risk a wide array of targets but it could nonetheless serve as a starting point for further discussions; it would also constitute an important confidence-building measure. Initial exploration of such an idea could take place, allowing all relevant actors to informally take the temperature, as pertinently said by Paulina Izewicz, and possibly set parameters for further discussion. Here, too, the EU could ultimately play an important role as a facilitator thanks to its better relationship with Iran the US one.
Four black students and their families are planning to sue a New York school district for $12 million after a teacher played a slideshow featuring an image of them captioned 'monkey do' to a class.

The photograph of the Longwood High School students - which was taken during a field trip to the Bronx Zoo in November - shows the four teenagers standing in a line with their arms resting on the back of the person ahead of them.

The image was then featured in a 'grossly racist' slideshow played during a zoology class on December 20, with the phrase 'monkey do' typed above the image, the New York Post reported.

Lawyer John Ray, who is representing three of the students, said teachers had 'created and manipulated' the photograph and placed it between a picture of monkeys captioned 'monkey see' and a photo of a gorilla in the presentation.

The photograph of the Longwood High School students - which was taken during a field trip to the Bronx Zoo in November - shows four teenagers standing in a line captioned 'monkey do'

He added this was 'thereby misusing the pidgin expression, "Monkey See, Monkey Do" for racially discriminatory and offensive purposes'.

In a notice of the $12 million claim, Ray claimed the students were 'deliberately persuaded, tricked and cajoled' into posing for the photograph which was taken next to the gorilla exhibit.

Students Jahkeem Moye, Khevin Beaubrun, Gykye Murray and Desmond Dent Jr alleged two teachers told them to pose in the unusual way while on the field trip, ABC News reported.

'Us four, we all felt uncomfortable with this,' Beaubrun said. 'We all thought it was weird'.

Moye added: 'I didn't know, like that they were going to put it in that perspective and show us, compare us to monkeys'.

The slideshow exposed 'claimant students ... to ridicule, embarrassment and shame, anxiety, fear and emotional harm', the document claims.

The four students and their families now intend to sue the school district for $12 million for emotional distress and violation of their civil rights.

Michael Lonergan, superintendent of the Longwood Central School District, has dubbed the slideshow 'culturally insensitive' and an 'unfortunate lapse of judgment'.

The four teenagers claim two teachers told them to pose in the unusual way while outside the gorilla exhibit at the Bronx Zoo (pictured)

The slideshow exposed 'claimant students ... to ridicule, embarrassment and shame, anxiety, fear and emotional harm', a notice of the claim states (Pictured: Longwood High School)

In a statement seen by NBC News, he said: 'The photo was an unfortunate lapse of judgement. Without the intent of doing so, the photo was taken without fully understanding the sensitivity or the hurt it may have caused and reminds us that we must be more aware of the feelings of our multi-cultural population.'

He added that the school district will continue to provide sensitivity training to staff, though it was reported the teachers involved are still employed at the school.

'We are proud of the diversity at Longwood Schools, and we will continue to provide sensitivity training to our students and staff to raise awareness of our cultural differences', the school district added.

'Longwood is committed to providing an educational environment that is nurturing, supportive, safe, and conducive to learning.'
Stalking victims can attest that a single incident of non-violent stalking never tells the whole story of the terror that such a person can inflict. An arrest can send a stalker into such a rage that, upon release, he might immediately seek out his target to exact revenge.

Last April, hours after The Bail Project, an anti-bail group, intervened to win Samuel Lee Scotts release from detention in St. Louis, prosecutors said he targeted his domestic assault victim  his wife  and attacked her, inflicting fatal wounds. Scott was exactly the kind of dangerous person who needed to remain behind bars until trial. His inability to post bail was what kept him under detention. The Bail Project, whose website heralds New Yorks reforms, handed Scott the freedom to carry out his deadly revenge attack.

Under New Yorks law, someone like Scott might qualify for immediate release pending trial if his previous assault  hitting his wife in the face days earlier  did not result in serious injury.
SINGAPORE / ACCESSWIRE / January 9, 2020 / I guess we've all encountered the name of Marco Polo at a certain stage of our life. For me, I learned about MarcoPolo from my grade school teacher and I was told he was one of the greatest explorers in history, who bridged the sheer ignorance of another culture between the eastern world and Europe. He did not discover another New World like Christopher Columbus did but built unprecedented connections across continents. I gathered that might be the reason MarcoPolo Protocol named itself.





MarcoPolo Project was initiated at the end of the year 2018 with a group of brilliant researchers, engineers, and developers from renowned universities and other blockchain projects. It defines itself as a new type of peer-to-peer electronic cash system and aims at building an infrastructure that provides interoperability and scalability for all public chains. Therefore, in such a case, the importance of an exceedingly high TPS cannot be exaggerated more. In order to make the cryptocurrencies largely free themselves from centralized mechanisms for monetary exchanges and operations in the future, a TPS above million is the minimum requirement. As the global economy continually grows, the efficiency of e-cash systems will face more and more challenges.

The first generation public chain, which represented by bitcoin, was a great innovation that brought the first cryptocurrency into the historical stage. The decentralized financial system of bitcoin is fairly safe because its consensus algorithm -proof of work- protects the blockchain network against different attacks. However, even though the mining requires expensive computer hardware that consumes a large amount of power, the transaction per second can only achieve as low as 10. The appearance of Ethereum, a new blockchain-based distributed computing platform, marked the rise of the second-generation public chain with scripting functionality called a smart contract. The use of smart contracts can remove the need for intermediaries, reducing operational costs significantly. Since developers could create and publish applications (DApps) on Ethereum blockchain, Ethereum greatly contributes to the scalability of the blockchain network. Nevertheless, in terms of transaction speed, it only improves TPS to 30. The number still not meets the expectation.

MarcoPolo Protocol intends to solve the problem and increase the TPS immensely in order to realize the use of cryptocurrencies in real-life scenarios. It is a multi-chain architecture that natively supports multiple assets. It consists of one standard chain, a set of synerchains, and a set of interactchains. The standard chain is responsible for achieving cross-chain consensus and transaction distribution to synerchains. Synerchain, an independent blockchain with its own consensus protocol and State Transition Function (STF), interacts with the standard chain through Message Transport Protocol (MTP). Interactchain enables MarcoPolo to interoperate with other public chains through Blockchain Remote Procedure Call (BRPC) to achieve resource sharing.









MarcoPolo's inter-chain interactions comply with MTP and BRPC protocols to transfer information and assets from one chain to another. It utilizes multi-chain resource sharing technology to distribute transactions to target chains. The target chains, composed of all third-party public chains, are connected to the MarcoPolo network by corresponding interactive chains to process transactions simultaneously. Therefore, such an operation can significantly improve the TPS of the MarcoPolo main network.

The more I get to know MarcoPolo Protocol, the more I find its name intriguing. Among the new generation of public chains and inspired by its great predecessors and companions, MarcoPolo Protocol wishes to build the infrastructure that serves the entire blockchain world and to connect one public chain with another, just like the Italian explorer had achieved. Furthermore, as we all know "Book of the Marvels of the World" cannot be written by just one person by imagination. The ups and downs of the story were based on the experience and interactions with other people and culture along the way. MarcoPolo Protocol, like most of the other extraordinary blockchain projects, is open source. The community has attracted researchers, developers and technical promoters in different fields such as computer science, cryptography, cybersecurity and etc. In addition, the project is generously invested by SoftBank, one of the world's most famous investment banks. In order to motivate brilliant and talented people to get involved in this open-source project through different levels, MarcoPolo has set up a pool of 9% of the total MAP as incentives for the technical community.

MarcoPolo primarily targets three application scenarios of Dpayment, DEX, and DeFi to build the e-cash system infrastructure serving the whole blockchain ecosystem. Currently, DEX and DeFi are structured and operated on one single chain. DAPPs built on MarcoPolo Protocol are able to share DEX and DeFi achievements from any other ecosystem. Moreover, MarcoPolo can be frequently encountered in various application scenarios in daily life. It will soon realize offline payments in Southeast Asia by its own token (called MAP) and other digital currencies as well. The market demand for MAP will be increased continuously in the near future. MarcoPolo Protocol (MAP) is already listed on the Coinmarketcap, Coingecko, CryptoCompare, mytoken, and even feixiaohao which is China's biggest Inclusion website. Recently they even received a lumpsum amount of strategic investment from the Singapore Softbank Investment Co., Ltd, while the first-ever funds for investment were received on October 28, 2019. The Singapore Softbank Investment Co., Ltd. is a completely owned subsidiary of the Softbank Investment Co., Ltd., which is basically engaged in a strategic investment in the various emerging industries like blockchain.

With its grand vision, MarcoPolo Protocol welcomes every single of you with certain specialization to join the community in order to write its "Book of the Marvels of the World" collectively and will definitely enjoy your company along the way to explore the cryptoworld together.

Media Contact

Name- Marcopolo Network Foundation

Email- cooperation@MarcoPolo.link

Website- https://marcopolo.link/

Country- Singapore

SOURCE: Marcopolo Network Foundation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/572569/Why-to-JOIN-the-MarcoPolo-Protocol
Two years ago, Sydney arts graduate Anika Craney moved to the small town of Cobargo in search of a more sustainable life on the land.

She found it in a two- by three-metre cabin, one of several dwellings perched on a property on the South Coast she shared with two friends, focusing on living with a lower carbon footprint.

Anika Craney in the burnt-out remains of her home. Credit:Kiran Ridley

"We were growing our own food, making our own soap and milk, killing our own meat; we had 30-year-old fruit trees," Ms Craney, who works locally as a disability support worker and is a Rural Fire Service volunteer, said.

"We wanted to be farm people, hippies. We met at art school and wanted to live on the land, sustainable - sustainability is our passion, doing what we can to have a lower carbon footprint."
'Gangasagar Mela is at par with the Kumbh Mela. The Centre provides funds for Kumbh Mela but does not extend financial assistance for Gangasagar', said West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the central government does not provide funds for the annual 'Gangasagar Mela' held in the state, though it extends financial assistance to the 'Kumbh Mela'.

Listing out various projects initiated by the state government in view of the Mela, held on the occasion of 'Makar Sankranti', Banerjee said the administration has been making consistent efforts to develop the Sagar Island, where it is held.

"Gangasagar Mela is at par with the Kumbh Mela. The Centre provides funds for Kumbh Mela but does not extend financial assistance for Gangasagar," Banerjee said at Outram Ghat. The Kumbh Mela is held in Haridwar, Allahabad, Nashik, and Ujjain.

The West Bengal government had recently rolled back the pilgrim tax. "We had been demanding the withdrawal of pilgrim tax when we were in the opposition but to no avail. But, once we came to power, we decided to scrap it with immediate effect," she said.

Asking devotees not to hurry to board vessels during their trip to the confluence, Banerjee said Rs 5 lakh as insurance would be given to the next of kin of a pilgrim in case of death.

Banerjee said apart from making available 10 lakh water pouches and 4,000 buses, air ambulances will be deployed to help the pilgrims travelling from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and other states.

Lakhs of pilgrims from across the country gather every year at Sagar Island, situated at the confluence of the Ganga and Bay of Bengal, for the holy dip.
WOOD RIVER  At the Wood River City Council Meeting on Jan. 6, the Wood River Fire Department promoted former Captain Wade Stahlhut to Fire Chief following the retirement of Brendan McKee a month prior.

Stahlhut started his career as a firefighter at age 17 with his father for the Holiday Shores Fire Protection District.

Passion kind of took over from there, he said. The fire was lit after taking a few classes and an EMT class.

From there, he returned to his home town of Wood River as a paid on-call firefighter. In 2000, he was hired full time for the Roxana Fire Department, where he worked up his way to Fire Chief before moving back to Wood River in 2005.

Stahlhut says the best quality of this department is the strength of its personnel.

We have enormous strengths individually and as a group, he said. Its a huge asset to this city that is going to be beneficial in the future.

Stahlhut says the department will continue to improve in record keeping, training and maintenance but believes the department has things headed in the right direction.

We were fortunate enough that Chief McKee, before he retired, had some great projects going and were going to continue those projects and expand upon them, he said.

These projects include putting storage connections and all steamer fitting on the fire hydrants throughout the city, working with BP Pipelines on a submersible fire pump and the acquisition of a used 2005 70 aerial apparatus that was purchased from a department in Fort Myers Beach in Florida.

The leadership that weve had in this department has been phenomenal over the years, he said. Im looking forward to fitting into those shoes to some degree and continuing to move this department forward.

Along with Chief Stahlhut, former Engineer Nate Kamp was promoted to Captain.
Amazon's Ring said it fired four employees for watching customer video feeds beyond what they were allowed to.

The smart doorbell maker acknowledged the move on Monday, in a letter it wrote to Democratic senators. In November, Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Chris Coons of Delaware and Gary Peters of Michigan sent a letter to Ring, asking for more information about how the company retains and secures customers' data and videos.

Brian Huseman, Amazon's vice president of public policy, said in the company's response to the lawmakers that there had been four complaints over the last four years about its employees' access to Ring video data.

"Although each of the individuals involved in these incidents was authorized to view video data, the attempted access to that data exceeded what was necessary for their job functions," Huseman wrote in the letter, which was obtained by CNBC. "In each instance, once Ring was made aware of the alleged conduct, Ring promptly investigated the incident, and after determining that the individual violated company policy, terminated the individual."

Huseman added that Ring now limits "such data access to a smaller number of team members" and will continue to review the access to those privileges, to determine whether "they have a continuing need for access to customer information."

Ring told CNBC in a statement that it doesn't comment on personnel matters. Amazon acquired Ring in February 2018 and the company now operates as a subsidiary of Amazon.

In the letter to Amazon, the senators' pointed to reports from The Intercept and The Information that found Ring employees in Ukraine were given unrestricted access to videos from Ring cameras around the world. Huseman said in Amazon's response that teams in Ukraine can only access publicly available videos and videos from Ring employees, contractors and friends, only after receiving their "express consent."

The senators also questioned Ring's security practices, highlighting a number of incidents where hackers broke into Ring users' accounts and then harassed users through their devices.

Ring pledged to heighten its security measures following those incidents. It announced Monday a new control center that will soon let Ring users set which devices have access to their video feeds and opt out of receiving requests for data from law enforcement.

The company also announced it will require users to enable two-factor authentication on their accounts. However, Sen. Wyden pointed out that it only applies to new products, meaning it doesn't apply to existing users. Two-factor authentication requires users to enter in a code sent to their phone that helps confirm they're the owner of the account.

"Requiring two-factor for new accounts is a step in the right direction, but there are millions of consumers who already have a Ring camera in their homes who remain needlessly vulnerable to hackers," Wyden said in a statement. "Amazon needs to go further  by protecting all Ring devices with two-factor authentication."

Ring said it chose not to require all users to setup two-factor authentication because doing so risks potentially locking customers out of their cameras. The company added it will work to inform users about the dangers of opting out of two-factor authentication.
China will open its arms for foreign oil and gas companies, and for local private E&Ps, the countrys Ministry for Natural Resources told media as quoted by the China Global Television Network.

The move will stimulate market vitality the media quoted the official as saying.

Reuters added that there will be certain limits on who will gain access to Chinas oil and gas deposits. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, these will be companies with net assets worth no less than $43 million.

China has been actively looking for ways to boost domestic oil and natural gas production to alleviate its dependence on imports. However, this has proved difficult to do relying only on the state-owned energy giants.

The change, effective May 1 this year, has been eagerly awaited by the industry because although China is home to some 25.7 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, a lot of it is locked in geologically challenging formations. Whats more, natural depletion at many of its developed oil fields is taking its toll, driving an overall decline in domestic oil production.

China is accelerating the sector reform due to growing energy security concerns, an IHS Markit analyst told Reuters. Vitalising the industry by diversifying the participants, including foreign and private investors, is the focus of that reform.

China currently imports about 70 percent of the crude oil it processes. Thats too high a level for comfort, especially right now, with tensions running high in the Middle East, which is one of Chinas largest suppliers of crude. Developing domestic resources seems quite urgent.

The change effected by Beijing will allow foreign companies to explore and develop oil and gas fields in China without setting up a joint venture with a Chinese company  a rule until now. This, according to Reuters, means the state oil giants will have practically have to cede some of the oil and gas assets they control by virtue of being state companies to private companies.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae leaves after a meeting of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee, Thursday. Yonhap



By Jung Da-min



Opposition parties have strongly condemned Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae's replacement of senior prosecutors, which they say is aimed at keeping the prosecution in check under Cheong Wa Dae.



The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), however, has expressed full support for the reassignment.



Their responses came on Thursday, a day after the ministry under the newly appointed Choo announced the reassignment of 32 senior prosecutors. Included are those who were leading investigations into major corruption scandals involving President Moon Jae-in's aides. Their replacement is widely expected to disrupt investigations.






Chris Parker (pictured) had been sleeping rough near the arena that night and stole a mobile phone and a purse

A homeless man who was jailed for stealing from dying victims of the Manchester Arena bombing is being hunted by police after breaching his licence conditions.

Chris Parker, 35, was hailed a hero after the atrocity after he claimed he ran inside the venue to help the wounded immediately after the bomb blast.

Strangers donated more than 50,000 to get him off the streets - but CCTV recovered by police revealed the grim reality: that Parker was a heartless thief who stole from the stricken and desperate.

He wandered around the foyer area of the Arena amid the dying and injured and looked through their bags.

In January 2018 he admitted stealing a purse belonging to Pauline Healey, whose 14-year-old granddaughter Sorrell Leczkowski was killed in the atrocity.

He also stole an iPhone from a teenager - who cannot be named for legal reasons - and took photos of the wounded.

Prosecutors said that Parker did provide 'some limited assistance' to the injured, but Manchester Crown Court heard he 'equally' took the opportunity to steal from people.

As well as admitting two counts of theft, he also pleaded guilty to one count of fraud, after using Mrs Healey's stolen bank card in a McDonald's in Manchester between May 23 and May 26 - days after the attack that claimed the lives of 22 people.

Strangers donated more than 50,000 to get him off the streets - but CCTV recovered by police revealed the grim reality: that Parker was a heartless thief who stole from the stricken and desperate

More than 50,000 was raised after a GoFundMe page was set up for Parker following the attack

Following his appearance in court, the GoFundMe page was shut down and the thousands of people who donated were able to request a refund.

Parker was sentenced later that month to four years and three months behind bars.

It is not clear exactly when he was released from prison, however GMP has confirmed the now 35-year-old is wanted by police.

A spokesman for the force said: 'We can confirm Parker breached his licence conditions and is wanted on recall to prison.'

Anyone who sees Parker or knows of his whereabouts is asked to contact police on 101.

Parker was reunited with his mother Jessica (pictured) after his story went around the world following the attack

The attack in May 2017 (pictured) killed 22 innocent people and left more than 400 injured

Chris Parker (pictured) spoke just days after the attack and said that was just a 'regular guy'
Harry and Meghan made the shock announcement they are standing down as senior royals on Wednesday to split their time between the UK and North America.

The news made front pages around the world, with headlines wondering what comes next after 'Megxit'.

Perhaps the most striking effort came from the New York Post, which mocked up a photo of the royal couple living in a trailer after trading their royal connections for the 'commoner' life.

The New York Post produced the most striking front page from the news of Harry and Meghan's departure as senior royals, imagining them living the 'commoner' life

Germany's Bild newspaper reported on a 'royal ruckus' and the fury of the Queen after the pair announced their sudden departure

Italy's Repubblica said they had 'divorced' from the Royal Family, while saying the Queen was 'annoyed' at the decision

In Portugal, popular news site PN announced that the pair had 'abdicated' as senior royals and will be spending time in North America.

Denmark's Ekstra Bladet reported on Harry and Meghan's plans to become financially independent, while noting that they will still take some taxpayer money.

In Germany, tabloid Bild reported a 'Royal ruckus' and said the Queen was left 'furious' after being left in the dark about the decision.

Harry and Meghan's announcement was reported as a 'divorce' from the Royal Family by Italy's Repubblica, which also noted the Queen's distress at the news.

Spain's El Mundo lead with the Queen's 'disgust' at the decision, while French newspaper Le Figaro said they had 'distanced themselves' from the Royal Family.

Reception was muted in Canada, which is likely to be seeing a lot more of the couple because of Meghan's connections to the country.

Portugal's JN newspaper blasted the pair for 'abdicating', while reporting that they made the announcement on Instagram

In Spain, daily newspaper El Mundo reported on the Royal Family's 'disgust' at the way the announcement was made

France's Le Fiagro also headlined on the 'fury of the crown' after Harry and Meghan's split

Canada's national broadcaster CBC said there will be 'a lot of questions' following the announcement, and that the royals' future is 'anything but clear'.

The Toronto Sun asked whether the pair will be moving to Canada, while Global News pondered whether they might make British Columbia their part-time home.

In Britain, newspapers accused the couple of stabbing the rest of the royal family int the back by announcing the decision without consulting the Queen, Prince Charles, or Prince William.

The New York Daily News ran the news on their front page, with the headline 'Brit hits the fan'

Denmark's Ekstra Bladet tried to imagine the couple's life after Megxit, saying they still plan to take taxpayer money while making their own

Sweden's Expressen newspaper said it was a 'knife in the back' of the Queen

One exasperated aide said: 'People had bent over backwards for them. They were given the wedding they wanted, the house they wanted, the office they wanted, the money they wanted, the staff they wanted, the tours they wanted and had the backing of their family. What more did they want?'

In a terse statement, Buckingham Palace said: 'Discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage.

'We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work though.'

As part of their announcement, Harry and Meghan said they want to be 'financially independent' and plan to earn their own income.

They will give up their right to money from the sovereign grant, but could still take money from Prince Charles.

They will also keep their police protection  funded by the taxpayer  and have offered to carry out a vastly reduced number of royal duties in Britain and elsewhere in the Commonwealth.

They will also retain their home at Frogmore Cottage, which was outfitted at the taxpayer's expense, in Windsor as a UK base.

But the reaction was far more positive in Canada, where newspapers were rife with speculation that the couple could move there
BESSEMER, MI  A small, Upper Peninsula city smells like pot and some community leaders are taking steps to try and fix it.

The city of Bessemer stinks, council member Linda Nelson said, according to the Ironwood Daily Globe. "You can smell marijuana everywhere. Weve got people who cant sit in their backyard because the smell from their neighbor is so bad.

To combat the unwanted skunk smell, the Associated Press reports that council voted 4-1 on Monday to purchase a $3,400 device called the Nasal Ranger that will measure and quantify odor strength in the ambient air.

This could potentially be used to check complaints of bad-air and unwanted odors, and, combined with an odor ordinance that would need to be adopted by the city, help bring legal action against violators.

City Attorney Ray ODea is looking into the feasibility and legality of that plan, the Daily Globe reported.

Medical marijuana has been around since 2008. But Michigan residents voted to legalize recreational marijuana in 2018.

In the compact, Western U.P. community of 1,905 people near the Wisconsin border, the smell is apparently an issue. Bessemer City Manager Charly Loper told the Associated Press the smell is especially bad during the 6-to-8-week blooming period in the warmer months.

11 things to know about Michigans new recreational marijuana rules

In addition to residents smoking, the Michigan law has also attracted people from Wisconsin and Minnesota to move to the community and buy houses to grow in, according to the Associated Press.

Were treading very softly in this area, she said. People have a right to grow marijuana in their house, but everyone needs to be considerate of their neighbors, so the odor isnt affecting their enjoyment of the outdoors.

You can read the full Daily Globe report here.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  With tearful hugs and kisses, Julius Jones bade good-bye to several loved ones Wednesday in the back of a St. George courtroom.

He wont be seeing them for a while.

The 35-year-defendant, who prosecutors said helped run a drug ring when the head man was arrested, was sentenced to three years in prison under a plea agreement.

Jones was among 14 defendants busted in November 2018 in a major drug sweep which the district attorney said stuck a critical blow to the boroughs illegal narcotics trade.

In addition to Jones, the defendants included Damien (Drama) Rice, the alleged supplier of four narcotics-trafficking rings whose drugs were tied to at least 21 overdoses, including eight deaths, said officials.

Jones was connected to a heroin and cocaine ring allegedly led by Tyrone Ford, a co-defendant, authorities said.

After Ford was arrested in January 2018, Jones and another co-defendant, Quran Neischer, of Mariners Harbor, continued to operate the ring, said officials.

Rice, 47, suppled the organization with drugs, authorities said.

Jones was arrested a month later in February 2018, online state court records show.

Afterward, he was indicted on multiple drug counts.

In July, he pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance to resolve his case. It was the top count against him.

Besides prison time, Jones was sentenced to two years post-release supervision.

A stocky man garbed in a black hoodie, the defendant apologized to the court before the sentence was imposed.

Im sorry,'' Jones said. "I made some bad decisions and learned from this situation.

Justice Mario F. Mattei said the sentence was appropriate.

Outside court, defense lawyer Mark J. Fonte said the defendant is moving forward.

This young man comes from a wonderful family, said Fonte. He readily admits that he made poor decisions, and these are the consequences. I am glad he turned his life around and will be ready to begin a normal life upon his release.

Meanwhile, in August, Neischer, 33, was sentenced as a second felony offender to six years behind bars and 18 months post-release supervision.

He, too, had pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance.

Neischer also received a concurrent sentence of two years behind bars and five years post-release supervision for a gun conviction.

Rice, the kingpin, was sentenced last month to 16 years in prison and five years post-release supervision.

He had pleaded guilty to operating as a major narcotics trafficker.
Seeking clarification from Bihar government that the Darbhanga Medical College Hospital is not a heritage building, the Union Health Ministry is all set to commission a second All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the state by replacing Darbhanga Medical College Hospital.

"In the latest communication with the State government, we have been told that the building of Darbhanga Medical College Hospital is not a heritage building," a government source said. The existing infrastructure of DMC hospital which falls within 200 acres of land would the upgraded to build up new AIIMS.

According to the health ministry official, the proposal will be sent to the cabinet and by the end of the year, the process for developing the second AIIMS would being.

Recently, the union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan cleared the proposal for establishing a new AIIMS.

The upcoming AIIMS would be a medical college too wherein aspiring medical students can get an education in MBBS, PG, and super speciality courses.

The Bihar government has also communicated: "For connecting the medical campus with NH-57 and requirement of 75 acres of land will be provided by the State government within six months' time. In regard to the 25 acres of land where a railway track passes within the campus, hence, to connect the other side of the land with the main campus, the state government would construct the overbridge for smooth connectivity," said the official.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
(Newser)  The announcement by Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, that they plan to at least partially withdraw from royal duties surprised manyincluding, apparently, the queen. Harry didn't discuss the matter with Queen Elizabeth or any other member of Britain's royal family first, the BBC reports. That's left Harry's relatives disappointed and hurt. And it sounds like the issue isn't definitively decided after all. "Discussions with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage," according to a royal statement. "We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through." A Buckingham Palace spokesman said, "Nothing is being ruled or ruled out," per Fox News.

story continues below

Palace officials used the word "disappointed," which a royal correspondent called a strong rebuke, possibly more about the way the matter was handled than about the decision itself. It seems to confirm a "major rift" between the couple and the rest of the family, the BBC reporter said. If the decision to "step back" stands, Harry and Meghan could remain involved in the parts of royal life they enjoy, such as family events and those helpful to the queen, while removing themselves from other aspects, per CNN. First, though, Harry might have to patch things up with his sovereign and disappointed grandmother. (Read more Prince Harry stories.)
T he crew of the Ukrainian passenger aircraft that crashed near Tehran did not radio for help and was trying to turn back to the airport when the plane went down, Iran investigators say.

The Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800, flying to Kiev, crashed shortly after taking off on Wednesday from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport.

The plane was on fire immediately before it crashed southwest of Tehran, killing all 176 on board.

The three-year-old jet, which had its last scheduled maintenance on Monday, encountered a technical problem shortly after take-off and started to head towards a nearby airport before it crashed, the report said.

Crash victim Sam Zokaei's death has been described as 'deeply tragic'

The technical problem was not specified in the report, which also said that there was no radio communication from the pilot and that the aircraft disappeared from radar at 8,000 feet.

In Kiev, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the government was considering several possible causes of the plane crash.

In a television statement, Zelenskiy asked people to refrain from speculation, conspiracy theories and hasty evaluations regarding the crash. He also declared Jan. 9 a day of national mourning.

He said that he would speak by telephone with the Iranian president to step up cooperation into the reason for the crash.

Stewardess Valeriia Ovcharuk was killed onboard the Ukraine plane / Instagram/O_valeriia

The Ukrainian airliner took off from the Tehran airport at 6:12 a.m. local time and was given permission to climb to 26,000 feet, the report said. It crashed six minutes later near the town of Sabashahr.

Human remains recovered from the site of the crash have been taken to the coroner's office for identification, the report said.

Smouldering debris, including shoes and clothes, were strewn across a field where the plane crashed on Wednesday, where rescue workers in face masks laid out scores of body bags.

Ukrainian authorities have said those on board included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, and three Britons.
Federal prosecutors said Jackson was employed by Brinks until 2016, when it fired him for failing to show up to work.

Jackson said at his guilty plea that he and two men drove in a brown 2002 Cadillac from his apartment in Chicagos Bronzeville section April 28, 2018, to a hotel parking lot overlooking the bank.

He said once the Brinks truck driver arrived and got out to service an automatic teller machine, he confronted the driver with a realistic-looking toy gun.

He said one of his partners also had a fake gun, but the third man, who he only knew by his nickname Lurch, was armed with a real firearm in case everything didnt go down right.

Jackson said the driver immediately fell to the ground and said, Dont kill me, take the money.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Chang said in September the evidence showed Jackson commandeered the Brinks drivers key and firearm, and then grabbed the cash from the front of the armored truck.

Jackson said a second car appeared at the scene and together all fled, abandoning the Cadillac in a field near State Line Road near 136th Avenue and setting it ablaze.
Bharti Airtel said the company will launch a qualified institutional placement worth $2 billion at an indicative issue floor price of Rs 452.09 per share and a separate fund raising exercise through issue of foreign currency convertible bonds of up to $1 billion. The opening date for both the issue is 8 January 2020.

State Bank of India (SBI) announced Residential Builder Finance with Buyer Guarantee (RBBG) to safeguard home buyers financially by issuing guarantee for completion of projects to customers availing SBI Home Loans. Now, customers will be able to secure their investment in the ongoing home projects financed by the bank itself. RBBG will focus on affordable housing segment with home price of upto Rs 2.50 crores in seven Indian geographies initially.

Sunteck Realty and State Bank of India (SBI) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding towards boosting the residential housing sector under the Bank's Sapna Aapka - Bharosa SBI Ka scheme with Bank Guarantee to Home Buyers under the Builder Finance scheme.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals has informed that Aleor Dermaceuticals (Aleor), a 60:40 Joint Venture between Alembic Pharmaceuticals (Alembic) and Orbicular Pharmaceutical Technologies (Orbicular), has completed United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) inspection at its formulation manufacturing facility located at Karakhadi, Gujarat, India; without any observations. The inspection was carried out from 6 January, 2020 to 8 January, 2020.

Vedanta informed that the company approved offering for subscription, on a private placement basis, up to 20,000 nos. Secured, Rated, Non-Cumulative, Redeemable, Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) of face value Rs 10,00,000/- each aggregating up to Rs 2000 crore in one or more tranches.

JSW Energy said CARE Ratings has assigned the rating of 'CARE AA-/Credit Watch with Negative implications' for the company's Rs.300 crore non-convertible debenture (NCD) issue. Further, the ratings on the outstanding NCDs are re-affirmed at CARE AA-/Credit Watch with Negative implications.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Lisa Smith who appeared in court yesterday for the first time since she was released from custody

Islamic State suspect Lisa Smith has asked prosecutors to review the evidence against her and "discontinue" the charge.

A lawyer for the former Defence Forces member (37) made the request as she appeared in court yesterday for the first time since her release from custody.

Judge John Hughes said this was a matter for the DPP and granted prosecutors more time to prepare their case. He remanded her on continuing bail, to appear in Dublin District Court again in March. Ms Smith is charged with membership of a terrorist group outside the State between October 28, 2015 and December 1, last year.

Hijab

The mother-of-one, wearing a long grey overcoat over a hijab, with her face uncovered, sat in the public gallery before her case was called yesterday.

A State solicitor said the case was before the court for the service of a book of evidence but this was not ready.

She said that, although only 35 days of the 42-day limit had expired, she sought an extension of time for the preparation of the book, which is required before the accused can be sent for trial to a higher court.

The reason for the requested extension was that it was a "complicated, substantial case".

Information and statements were recently received from outside the State, she said.

It was expected that the investigation file would be received by the DPP in the coming weeks and further charges were contemplated, she said. It was anticipated the book would be ready on March 4, she added.

Defence solicitor Peter Corrigan said there was consent to the adjournment, but asked the DPP to "consider the evidential threshold" in relation to the present charge.

It was the defence's view that it "does not amount to evidence that gives a realistic prospect of a conviction".

Mr Corrigan said he was present during garda interviews when the evidence was presented and "it was our opinion that it didn't reach that threshold".

He asked for this to be "actively reviewed" and the charge discontinued in the interim.

There were issues as to how the evidence was obtained and the defence would say there was not a single piece of evidence amounting to a charge that the defendant was a member of IS.

Judge Hughes adjourned the case to March 4, saying it was in the interests of justice to extend the time for the service of the book of evidence.

Ms Smith, who is denying the charge against her, remained silent during the hearing.

Married

The charge alleges that she "did commit an act which if committed in the State would constitute an offence under Section 21 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939, as amended by Section 5 of the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005".

Ms Smith who left Ireland and married after converting to Islam, was returned from Turkey last month after spending time in a Syrian refugee camp.

She was refused bail on December 4 but was granted bail at the High Court two weeks later. Ms Smith remained detained at Limerick Prison over Christmas because of issues surrounding her bail surety but was released on December 31.
Washington, DC  Alarmed by US President Donald Trumps escalation with Iran, Democrats in the House of Representatives on Thursday are expected to approve a resolution aimed at limiting the presidents ability to attack Iran in the future without congressional approval.

Members of Congress have serious, urgent concerns about the administrations decision to engage in hostilities against Iran and about its lack of strategy moving forward. Our concerns were not addressed by the presidents insufficient War Powers Act notification and by the administrations briefing today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday when announcing the vote.

The House War Powers resolution would direct Trump to terminate military operations against Iran. A similar version is expected to be debated in the Senate.

Thursdays expected House vote follows days of frustration by Democrats over Trumps order to kill Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani in Iraq. Congress was not consulted prior to the assassination. Iran responded with attacks against Iraqi bases housing US troops. Trump said on Wednesday there were no US or Iraqi casualties.

In its justification for the killing, the Trump administration said Soleimani, who led Irans elite Quds Force, was planning an imminent attack on US forces in Iraq. Democrats are angry they were not consulted before the attack on Soleimani.

Trump speaks about the situation with Iran [Saul Loeb/AFP]

Under the US Constitution, the authority to direct military action is divided between Congress and the president. Congress has the power to declare war while the president, as commander-in-chief, has the power to use the military to defend the US.

Trump on Wednesday took to Twitter to urge Republicans to vote against the Houses resolution.

House Democrats who were briefed on Wednesday by Trump administration officials on Soleimanis killing, slammed the president, calling the briefing sophomoric and utterly unconvincing.

I believe this administration is, after the fact, trying to piece together a rationale for its action that was impulsive, reckless and put this countrys national security at risk, Democratic Representative Gerry Connolly told reporters.

But Republicans in the House offered a different version of how the briefing went.

Not only did the president make the right call but this was a clear and present danger for American interests and American individuals, said Representative Mark Meadows, one of Trumps top Republican allies in the House of Representatives.

The War Powers resolution is expected to pass in the House. The Senate will debate a similar measure with at least two Republicans signalling they will join Democrats in rebuking the president on Iran.

Uphill battle in Senate

Senators left a separate briefing on Wednesday, with Democrats complaining it ended without all questions be asked.

Most Republican senators defended the president, but Senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee railed against Trump and his team.

It was probably the worst briefing Ive seen on a military issue in the nine years Ive been in the United States Senate, Lee told reporters.

Senators Mike Lee and Rand Paul depart via the Senate Subway following a classified national security briefing of the US Senate on developments with Iran [Tom Brenner/Reuters]

Lee and Paul signalled they will join Democrats to vote to limit Trumps authority to order additional military action against Iran.

But the effect of the congressional votes on any War Powers resolution will be largely symbolic and political, said Lawrence Korb, a national security analyst at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC. So long as Trump retains the support of most of the 53 Republicans in the Senate, Trump can veto the measure.

Without a whole defection of Republicans in support of limiting the presidents war powers, decisions to escalate against Iran will rest with the president and his advisers, Korb told Al Jazeera.

In Senate remarks on Tuesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, recounted a litany of hostilities between the United States and Iran going back to 1979 and the beginnings of the Islamic revolution.

We should all remember that the history of Iranian aggression began long, long ago, McConnell said.

The question is whether we would prefer the administration standby as Iran kills Americans or whether were prepared to work with the president to stand up to Irans terrorism and shadow wars, he said.

Really up to Trump

Trump has said he does not want a war with Iran and despite his blustering rhetoric and tweets, the president has shown an aversion to engaging in military conflict.

Following the attacks on US forces, Trump said it appeared Iran was standing down.

With the United States and Iran retreating  for now  from the precipice of war, the next steps are really up to Trump, Korb said.

A Trump veto would mean supporters of the resolution would need to muster two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate to prevail. That appears unlikely for now.

Protesters gather in Iran during a demonstration against the killing of Soleimani [Lefteris Pitarakis/AP Photo]

Nevertheless, Democratic concern about Trumps seemingly erratic handling of Iran runs deep and is likely to be reflected in the upcoming votes.

Further, Republican senators are privately very concerned about this presidents behaviour, but that has not translated into public concern and it probably wont over the course of this crisis with Iran, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told Al Jazeera.

The congressional resolutions are being brought forward under the War Powers Act of 1973 and would mark the second time in Trumps presidency Congress has voted against deepening US military engagement in the Middle East.

Last year, Congress rebuked Trumps authorisation of US military support for Saudi-UAE campaign in Yemen, including aerial refuelling of combat aircraft and supplies of precision munitions that were used to kill civilians.

In April 2019, the House approved a War Powers resolution on a 247-175 vote that would have blocked US military engagement in Yemen. The Senate voted 54-46 to approve the measure.

It was the first time in 47 years that Congress had invoked its constitutional authority to try to stop US involvement in a foreign conflict.

Trump vetoed the Yemen bill and Congress did not rally two-thirds majorities needed to override the president.
She's due to welcome her second child with fiance Dane Goodson in the next few days.

And Casey Batchelor decided to spend some quality time with her daughter Florence, 20 months, ahead of giving birth.

The Celebrity Big Brother star, 35, took to Instagram to share a sweet photo of herself cuddling Florence as she displayed her growing baby bump in a crop top and open blue cardigan.

Sweet: Casey Batchelor decided to spend some quality time with her 20-month-old daughter Florence ahead of giving birth

Sitting on their sofa surrounded by teddies, both Casey, who is 38 weeks pregnant, and Florence stared into the distance.

The yoga fanatic penned a heartfelt caption next to the snap as she revealed that she was cherishing the last few days 'just them' before she welcomes her second daughter later this month.

Casey said: 'We wont have many more of these hugs with you on my big round belly and your sister inside. Soon your little sister will be here with us and we can all hug together [heart emojis].

'Cherishing these last days just us #notlongnow #babyonbaby #pregnantbellybump #38weeks #twoprincesses.'

Precious time: The Celebrity Big Brother star, 35, penned a heartfelt caption next to the snap as she revealed that she was cherishing the last few days 'just them' before she welcomes her second daughter later this month

Radiant: The former glamour model is currently 38 weeks pregnant with her second child, and is due to give birth later this month

Casey also took to her Instagram stories to reveal that she has been suffering with pregnancy insomnia and credited a mug of Ovaltine for helping her 'sleep like a baby'.



The former glamour model is currently 38 weeks pregnant with her second child, and is due to give birth later this month.

Casey, who is also mother to daughter Florence with fiance Dane Goodson, recently confessed that she is expecting to give birth early.

Taking to Instagram last month, she penned: '35+ weeks pregnant. So many people are having their babies early, I wonder if this little Princess will come early.

'So excited to see what she's going to look like. Florence is the double of Dane, so be nice if this Princess is a mini me.'

She confessed she is hoping her newborn will 'sleep through the night straight away' as she admits she knows every baby is 'completely different'.

She added: 'As much as I'm more prepared this time coming, I'm sure it will still be a completely different new journey. Fingers crossed she'll sleep through the night straight away. We can only dream.'

Casey and Dane won't be stopping there when they welcome their baby girl in 2020, and plan to carry on trying until they have a son.

The couple have been together for almost three years and announced their engagement in February 2018.
Pune, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global Intraocular Lens (IOL) Market size is projected to reach USD 5,318.8 million by 2026, thereby exhibiting a CAGR of 6.8% during the forecast period. However, the market was worth USD 3,159.3 million in 2018. This information is published in a recent report by Fortune Business Insights, titled, Intraocular Lens (IOL) Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type [Monofocal Intraocular Lens and Premium Intraocular Lens (Multifocal Intraocular Lens, Toric Intraocular Lens, and Others)], By Material [Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and Foldable (Hydrophobic Acrylic, Hydrophilic Acrylic, and Silicone & Collamer)], By End User (Hospitals & Ambulatory Surgery Centers, Specialty Clinics, and Academic & Research Institutes) and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026. The report further states that the market is set to gain impetus from the rising number of NGOs offering free cataract surgeries and eye examinations.

Highlights of the Report:

In-depth information about the Intraocular Lens Market trends, growth drivers, hindrances, opportunities, and challenges.

Segmentation of the market in terms of type, material, end user, and geography.

Extensive analysis of the competitive landscape, such as new product launches, contracts, agreements, joint ventures, mergers, and acquisitions.



For more information in the analysis of this report, visit: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/intraocular-lens-market-101220





Rising Government Initiatives to Eliminate Cataract Will Boost Growth

The incidence of cataracts is rising at a rapid rate nowadays. It is, in turn, causing huge health as well as an economic burden in several countries. Therefore, the governments of these countries are launching various initiatives to eliminate cataracts. One such global initiative is called Vision 2020. It was put forward by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) to remove the major causes of avoidable blindness from the world. Additionally, the governments are conducting eye checkup camps and launching favorable reimbursement policies to achieve their target of Vision 2020. It is expected to augment the Intraocular Lens Market growth during the forecast period.

Monofocal IOL Segment to Lead Stoked by Favorable Government Reimbursement Policies

By type, the market is grouped into premium intraocular lens and monofocal intraocular lens. Amongst these, the monofocal intraocular lens is expected to lead by gaining the maximum IOL market share in the coming years. This growth is attributable to the rising number of favorable government reimbursement policies as well as cost-effective nature.

The premium intraocular lens segment, on the other hand, consists of sub-segments, namely, toric intraocular lens, multifocal intraocular lens, and others. This segment has less penetration as compared to monofocal IOLs. This mainly occurs as multiple government-aided insurance policies do not cover the cost of premium intraocular lens. Thus, the patient has to pay for the same from their expenses. However, this segment is anticipated to showcase growth during the forecast period owing to the rising preference for toric lenses and their possession of numerous benefits.



Request a Sample Copy of the Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/intraocular-lens-market-101220





North America to Dominate: Increasing Technological Advancements Will Favor Growth

The market is geographically segregated into Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, North America, and Latin America. Out of these, North America had generated USD 892.9 million IOL market value in 2018. It is set to retain its dominant position throughout the forecast period. It is likely to occur because of the increasing number of new product launches as well as the ongoing technological advancements, such as the Extended Depth of Focus (EDoF) and custom cataract lens.

Europe is expected to expand at a fast pace owing to the growing preference for toric lenses, rising adoption of femtosecond lasers for cataract surgery, and an increasing number of cataract surgery. Besides, various industry giants are present in this region. It would also contribute to the market growth.

Lastly, Asia Pacific is projected to experience high growth backed by strong government support and a rising number of cataract surgery. Apart from that, increasing prevalence of cataract and diabetes would propel the market in this region. The National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment (NPCB&VI) declared that from the period of 2016 to 2017, over 6.4 million surgeries were performed in India. In emerging countries, such as Japan, China, and India, the occurrence of a high volume of cataract operations would fuel Intraocular Lens Market growth.

Johnson & Johnson Vision Launches Tecnis Toric II

December 2019: Johnson & Johnson Vision announced the launch of its one-piece intraocular lens (IOL) named Tecnis Toric II after bagging FDA approval. It will be used to treat astigmatism in patients affected by cataracts. It is the companys first approved product in the Tecnis Toric II platform. It also provides more friction and surface texture on IOL haptics. It is specially designed to offer visual improvement for various lifestyles and visual conditions.

List of the most renowned organizations operating in the Intraocular Lens Market are:

Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc.

Bausch & Lomb Incorporated

HOYA Corporation

STAAR SURGICAL

Rayner Intraocular Lenses Limited

Oculentis

Hanita Lenses

SIFI S.p.A

Biotech

Other key market players



Have Any Query? Ask Our Experts: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/speak-to-analyst/intraocular-lens-market-101220





Detailed Table of Content:

Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities

Key Insights Prevalence of Cataract - For Key Countries/Regions Number of Cataract Surgery - For Key Countries/Regions Overview of Government Cataract Initiatives Regulatory Scenario - For Key Countries/Regions Reimbursement Scenario - For Key Countries/Regions New Product Launches Key industry Developments - Mergers, Acquisitions and Partnerships

Global Intraocular Lens (IOL) Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2015-2026 Key Findings / Summary Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Type Monofocal Intraocular Lens Premium Intraocular Lens Multifocal Intraocular Lens Toric Intraocular Lens Others Stimulation Devices Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Material Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) Foldable Hydrophobic Acrylic Hydrophilic Acrylic Silicone & Collamer Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By End User Hospitals & Ambulatory Surgery Centers Specialty Clinics Academic & Research Institutes Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Region North America Europe Asia Pacific Latin America Middle East & Africa



TOC Continued.!





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Have a Look at Related Reports:

Ophthalmic Disease Therapeutics Market Size, Share and Industry Analysis By Disease Indication (Glaucoma, Retinal Diseases, Dry Eye Disease, Allergy & Infections), By Drug Class (Anti-inflammatory, Anti-infectives, Anti-VEGF, Anti-glaucoma), By Dosage Form (Solid, Liquid, Semi-solid), By Distribution Channel (Hospital Pharmacy, Retail Pharmacy, Online Pharmacy), and Regional Forecast 2019-2026

Ophthalmic Lasers Market Size, Share and Industry Analysis By Type (Excimer Lasers, Femtosecond Lasers, Nd Yag Lasers, Diode Lasers), Technology (Photodisruption, Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty, Photocoagulation), Application (Cataract Treatment, Glaucoma Treatment, Refractive Errors Treatment), End-User (Ophthalmic Laser Centers,Hospitals ) & Regional Forecast, 2019 - 2026

Vision Care Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Product Type (Eyewear, Intraocular Lens, and Ocular Health), By Distribution Channel (Retail Store, Online Store, Hospital & Clinics), and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026

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About Us:

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Our reports contain a unique mix of tangible insights and qualitative analysis to help companies achieve sustainable growth. Our team of experienced analysts and consultants use industry-leading research tools and techniques to compile comprehensive market studies, interspersed with relevant data.

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Construction Repaint Market- Synopsis

Market Research Future (MRFR) speculates that the global Construction Repaint Market Scope is estimated to garner USD 90 billion, grabbing a CAGR of 6% during the forecast period (2016-2022). The development of smart cities is offering a major boost to the market. Construction repaint can be defined as the paints which are used in commercial, homes, and institutional applications for repair, maintenance, and renovation purposes. They include emulsions, varnishes, and enamels and helps to prevent the surface from rusting and weather besides increasing the resistance of multiple surfaces.

Market Potential and Pitfalls

The use of bio-based materials in paints has been considered a major factor triggering the demand for construction repaint across the globe. The paints and coatings sector has been under tremendous pressure from the regulatory authorities in order to limit the environmental impact of their products. The use of renewable raw materials in paints can limit the impact on the environment. The use of bio-based raw materials in paints have reduced the impact on the environment to a large extent. Resins, natural oils, gums, waxes, and polysaccharides are some of the important components of coating formulations currently available in the market. Better carbon and enhanced life-cycle performance coupled with improved water solubility, greater purity, and low toxicity are triggering the demand for bio-based ingredients in paints. Such factors are further estimated to foster the construction repaint market in the long run.

The surging need for accommodation development and increased disposable income has encouraged the construction repaint market during the appraisal period. With rapid urbanization across the globe coupled with the increased demand for housing, the construction repair market is gaining impetus. Initiatives undertaken by the government such as the development of smart cities are further contributing to the growth of the market.

Companies operating in this market are into innovation and development of new products through R&D accomplishments. For instance, PPG Industries unveiled two innovative water-based aerosol ceiling textures under the HOMAX brand. These products are ideal for knockdown repair and orange-peel projects and can reduce the repair time of ceilings. The launch of such innovative products is predicted to help the company gain strong traction in the global Construction Repaint Market Scope.

On the contrary, glass buildings are becoming popular across the globe which is predicted to vitiate the market growth in the coming years. Moreover, the fluctuating prices of raw materials, rising policies to minimize the emissions of volatile organic compounds are estimated to dampen the market growth in the long run.

Global Construction Repaint Market - Competitive Analysis

Characterized by the presence of several well-established along with medium and small players, the global market of construction repaint appears to be highly competitive and fragmented. International players who are increasingly expanding their footprint in the developing economy, making it difficult for regional vendors to compete with them, especially in terms of features such as product differentiation, product portfolios, quality, and pricing. The market is witnessing intensified competition which is expected to get more intensified further during the forecast period.

The prominent players operating in the construction repaint market comprises Joint Ventures, New Product Launches, RPM International Inc., PPG Industries Inc., The Valspar Corporation, The Sherwin-Williams Company, Akzonobel NV, Nippon Paint Holdings Co. Ltd., Axalta Coating Systems LLC, Asian Paints Ltd., and Jotun A / S, Kansai Paint Co. Ltd.

Industry Updates

February 20, 2018: With climate change impacting the quality of construction buildings and materials, AkzoNobel has recently researched and developed innovative paint solutions in order to meet the construction demands of the customers. The company has developed an extremely water-repellent coating with low surface energy and multi-scale surface topography.

Global Construction Repaint Market: Segmental Analysis

The global construction repaint market has been segmented on the basis of resin type and application.

By Mode of Resin Type

Acrylic

Epoxy

polyester

Others

By Mode of Application

Residential

Non-residential

Regional Insights

Geographically, the Construction Repaint Market Scope span across regions namely, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Rest-of-the-World (RoW).

Considering the global scenario, the Asia Pacific region is considered to command the largest market share, in terms of value. The region is predicted to occupy the highest rate owing to the surging demand for construction repaint from nations like India and China. China is estimated to occupy the largest share in this region owing to the rising demand from the residential and non-residential sectors. The market is likely to expand in India owing to the increased demand from aging buildings, rising use of waterborne coatings in paints, and growth in infrastructure repairs.
Senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig on Thursday said former chief minister and party president Mehbooba Mufti's "provocative" statement over Article 370 resulted in downgrading of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.

Mufti had in 2017 warned the Centre that if special rights and privileges to the people of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution are tinkered with, then there would be no one in the state to hold the tricolour.

"The statement was made by Mehbooba Mufti in my absence. I was not there when she made it. I have on record said that the statement like it resulted in downgrading of the state (JK) into union territories," Baig, who is one of the founding members of the PDP and former deputy chief minister, told reporters here.

He added the "threatening statement" to New Delhi should not have been made.

"If Jammu and Kashmir has to live together and if we have to bat for our rights, we have to talk with decency and humility," the PDP leader said.

Baig criticized the "provocative" statement of Mufti and said one cannot "threaten" the top leadership in New Delhi to see one's grievances being heard.

"We cannot get anything by browbeating and threatening Modi ji, home minister or NSA. As citizens of India, we should put before them our grievances and our problems with humility," he added.

"We believe in that approach. It was a provocative statement and it should not have been made," Baig said.

Mufti has been critical of the Centre over the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370.

In August last year when the Centre announced abrogation of Article 370 provisions and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into union territories -- J and K and Ladakh, Mufti had said India failed Kashmir in keeping its promises.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Appetizer and snacking innovation delights prestigious judging panel

Portsmouth, New Hampshire--(Newsfile Corp. - January 9, 2020) - For those not in the know, there's a new wing on the menu. And it's wild.

High Liner Foods Incorporated (TSX: HLF) ("High Liner Food" or "the Company"), a leading supplier of value-added frozen seafood in North America, was awarded First Place in Foodservice at the 27th Annual Alaska Symphony of Seafood for their new Alaska Wild Wings.

High Liner Foodservice logo

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Hailed as wildly innovative, the southern-style Alaska Wild Wings were "like nothing the judges expected," said Craig Murray, Senior Vice President Marketing & Innovation at High Liner Foods. "We knew this was a strong innovation in the seafood category, and the judges would be impressed, and it's great to get recognized in this way."

Made from 100% wild-caught Alaska Pollock and a blend of southern-style herbs and spices, the tasty, boneless, bite-sized wings were judged on presentation, price, their high potential for success and overall eating experience. They were prepared from frozen and served to the judges who immediately fell in love with the quick and easy-to-prepare snack. The Alaska Wild Wings were paired with a variety of sauces, making them even more delicious.

With appetizers and snacking on the rise, Alaska Wild Wings are perfectly suited to help expand seafood offerings and drive incremental sales for commercial and non-commercial operators. "It's great that one of our first appetizers and snacking innovations is getting noticed, but at the end of the day, it's really about elevating our offering for operators," added Murray. "The appetizers and snacks our team is developing, the innovations they're creating, are really adding value. They are landing on menus across North America and we're seeing really positive feedback from operators."

The 27th annual competition kicked off in Seattle on November 20 with a private judging session, with the winners announced after 48 hours of tasting and celebrating seafood. The judge's panel, consisting of a number of Alaska's most influential seafood experts, from chefs to fishermen, sampled a bevy of foods from 13 entrants before awarding High Liner Foods Alaska Wild Wings first place.

High Liner Foods is already taking advantage of their win by looking ahead. With the support the Alaska Wild Wings are receiving, the Company will be taking this innovation to Seafood Expo North America's Seafood Excellence Competition for new products in March 2020. Hopes are high it will receive even more accolades.

"The wild wing innovation is also being launched at retail across North America," concluded Murray. "And again, we're seeing really strong support for the product from retailers and interest from consumers, so we're expecting our new Alaska Wild Wings to fly off the shelves!"

About High Liner Foods

https://www.highlinerfoods.com

High Liner Foods Incorporated is a leading North American processor and marketer of value-added frozen seafood. High Liner Foods' retail branded products are sold throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico under the High Liner, Fisher Boy, Mirabel and Sea Cuisine labels and are available in most grocery and club stores. The Company also sells branded products to restaurants and institutions under the High Liner Foodservice, Icelandic Seafood and FPI labels and is a major supplier of private-label value-added seafood products to North American food retailers and foodservice distributors. High Liner Foods is a publicly traded Canadian company, trading under the symbol HLF on the Toronto Stock Exchange. https://www.highlinerfoods.com

For more information, interview requests and any other details, please contact:

Milestone Integrated Marketing - PR@milestoneintegrated.com

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The most recent trading figures indicate that Irish fresh and frozen beef exports to China during October reached 860 tonnes, the highest monthly figure on record.

The figures point to a significant jump from the monthly exports up to September in 2019, which averaged about 570 tonnes, according to Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures given in the Dail by Agriculture Minister Michael Creed, in December.
Absconding Maharashtra DIG Nishikant More, who has been accused of molesting a minor girl, was suspended by the state government on Thursday.

This information was given by Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

The action against More, who was serving as Deputy Inspector General (Motor Vehicles), comes two weeks after a case of molestation was registered against him by the Taloja police in adjoining Navi Mumbai.

Deshmukh said the decision has been taken based on the report submitted by the state DGP recommending disciplinary action against the senior IPS officer, who is now absconding.

According to the Navi Mumbai police police, the alleged molestation took place at the birthday party of the 17-year-old girl at her home in Taloja in June 2019.

However, the case against the IPS officer was registered only on December 26.

According to the complaint registered by the girl's family, the police officer and the victim's fathers were friends.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a press conference Thursday that intelligence from multiple sources indicates that an Iranian surface-to-air missile caused the crash of a Ukraine Airlines Boeing 737-800 near Tehran earlier this week.

Why it matters: The crash, which occurred the same night that Iran launched missile attacks against Iraqi military bases that house U.S. troops, resulted in the death of all 176 people on board, including at least 63 Canadians. Trudeau says the downing of the airliner may have been "unintentional."

When a reporter asked Thursday if the U.S. is partly responsible for the crash due to the escalation of tensions with Iran, Trudeau stressed the need for a full investigation and said, "I think that's one of the many questions that people will be thinking about and trying to find answers to."

Iran has said they are currently holding onto the plane's black boxes, but they will likely grant Ukrainian investigators access  potentially providing crucial information on the circumstances surrounding the crash.

the plane's black boxes, but they will likely grant Ukrainian investigators access  potentially providing crucial information on the circumstances surrounding the crash. Trudeau said Canada confirmed the new intelligence over the course of Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

The backdrop: Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said Thursday that Ukrainian investigators were looking into unconfirmed reports that a Russian-made Tor surface-to-air missile had been found near the site of the plane crash.

He stressed that officials are still investigating the cause and are still examining the possibility that the crash could have been caused by a terror attack, a collision with a drone or an engine explosion.

President Trump told reporters Thursday that he has his "suspicions" about the crash, implying that "a mistake" could have been made by Iran regarding its downing.

Go deeper: Ukrainian airline says "error probability is minimal" in Tehran crash
Following the killing of Qassem Soleimani, questions are now being asked about what it means for Iran in Syria reports Asharq al-Awsat.

The assassination of Irans Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani will leave an impact in Syria, where four armies are involved in the countrys nine-year conflict. Syria has a special personal and geopolitical interest for Iran where Soleimani personally oversaw the expansion of Tehrans influence over the past two decades, most significantly with the eruption of its conflict in 2011.

Iran views Syria as the land link between Iraq and Lebanon. It also represents a second front against Israel after Lebanon. It also borders Jordan and Turkey and provides vital access to the Mediterranean under Russian cover.

Iran exerts its influence in Syria through its various organizations and militias. Four other militaries are present there: The American forces leading the anti-ISIS coalition. They are mainly deployed east of the Euphrates River near Arab groups recruited by Tehran and deployed at the Alboukamal base in the Deir Ezzour countryside. The other military is the Turkish one positioned in northern Syria. Israels shadow looms over Syria through its various strikes against Damascus and perceived Iranian and Hezbollah threats.

The most significant military presence is Russias. It has set up three long-term military bases in Latakia, Tartus and al-Qamishli and deployed various advanced missile systems.

Revenge

Iran has been mulling avenging Soleimani since his assassination in a US air strike near Baghdad on Friday. It has vowed revenge against American interests and Syria may be the arena where this plays out. However, it must take into consideration military factors and various players on the ground:

 East of the Euphrates: This seems like the ideal location because of the American troop deployment near Iranian groups. Both sides have since taken precautions in anticipation of any attack. Alboukamal may be another option. It is where Soleimani sought to open a land route that starts in Tehran, passes through Baghdad and Damascus and ends in Beirut. This route was severed when the Americans took over the al-Tanf base and cut the main highway between the Iraqi and Syrian capitals. Alboukamal seems more vulnerable to Irans revenge now that the architect of the alternate route has been taken out of the picture.

 Aleppo: Soleimani had visited the neighborhoods of eastern Aleppo several times after the regime recaptured the area in December. He also visited western Aleppo leading to Idlib. Pro-Iran groups did not get involved in recent battles in southeastern Idlib, vast areas of which were seized by Damascus. There is a belief that Damascus may seek to speed up efforts to capture the entire province as the world continues to reel from the fallout of Soleimanis killing.

This move, however, depends on Wednesdays summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The two leaders will discuss a possible truce in Idlib. Tehran may hesitate in pursuing its revenge in Idlib because it may affect understandings it had reached with Russia and Turkey during their Astana talks.

 Golan Heights: Southern Syria came into focus after Iran and Hezbollah became involved in the Syrian conflict in 2013 where they worked to set up cells and groupings. This presence came under pressure after Russia entered the fray in 2015. Israel began to carry out strikes against Iranian and Hezbollah targets with implicit Russian coordination. Moscow had also sponsored an agreement that called for the withdrawal of all non-Syrian forces, meaning Iranian ones, from the south and Golan in exchange for the return of regime forces to that area.

Soleimani is believed to have encouraged these groups to use to the Golan Heights to target Israel. The last such attack took place in November when Tel Aviv assassinated prominent Islamic Jihad officials in Gaza and Damascus. Tehran also tested drones that flew from central Syria to its south. The Israeli retaliation targeted Iranian and Syrian positions near Damascus and beyond.

Shadow state

In mid-2015, Soleimani visited Moscow where played a significant role in persuading Putin in directly intervening militarily in Syria to support regime forces, who at the time were only in control of ten percent of the country. Russia and Iran then entered into an uneasy marriage of interests where Russia deploys its air power and Iran its non-Iranian militias, overseen by its Revolutionary Guards Corps, to fight for the regime.

This balance met Putins demand to avoid a second Afghanistan in Syria and led to victories at a minimal human and material cost. It also met Irans ambitions in saving its strategic ally in Damascus and allowed it to infiltrate Syrias social fabric. Russia and Iran reaped from the regime significant agreements and economic interests. Moscow signed 49-year deals to set up military bases. It also reaped oil, gas and phosphate contracts. Tehran and Damascus also signed economic, trade and military deals.

The difference between Russia and Iran was vast, however. Moscow focused on state institutions, such as the military and government. Iran, meanwhile, focused on setting up a shadow state through social and charitable organizations. Russia was present in the light and cities, while Iran spread in the shadows and countryside.

Soleimani was the architect of this shadow state in Syria and his absence will be felt. His assassination will bring Irans role in Syria into the spotlight related to whether it can seek its revenge there or highlight its presence in the war-torn country. Soleimanis absence liberates decision-makers in Damascus from the past ten years. The same applies to Putin should he wish to limit Tehrans role. The assassination weakens the role of Irans cells and provides an opportunity to boost state institutions.

Soleimanis elimination may pave the way for Russia to restore Syrian-Iranian relations to the way they were away from the personal aspects. It may also pave the way for allowing Arab and western countries to rebuild Syria, support the return of refugees and push non-state forces and militias to withdraw.

The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
DFC Inc., a producer of synthetic resins for coatings, said it will advance into the Russian market.

DFC produces alkyd resins, acrylic resins, polyester resins, amino resins, curing agents and self-healing resins, among synthetic resins for coatings.

Synthetic resins for coatings are used in construction, automobiles, ships, pre-coated metals, plastic, and wood. By the type of resin, they are classified into alkyd resins, acrylic resins, and polyester resins.

In 2018, the size of the Asian Pacific coatings market was $68.4 billion, about 45 percent of the global coatings market, according to Coatings World. A report released in Korea found that the acrylic market accounted for as high as about 33 percent of the total coatings market in 2016. Russia grew the fastest in 2018 (131.23%) from a year earlier among countries that imported HS Code 3906 products including acrylic resin from Korea.

"We will try for a successful advance into Russia, a rapidly emerging market for synthetic resins for coatings," a DFC official said.

Established in 2003, DFC filed patents through its R&D center for scratch-free, photo-curable self-healing coating and scratch-resistant and self-restorable self-healing resin. It has been developing new products under agreements with national R&D institutes and developing highly functional eco-friendly coating materials in cooperation with technical colleges.

Details on DFC Inc. are available at www.dfc2003.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200109005301/en/

Contacts:

DFC

Namgi Cha

Manager

TEL: +82 55 366 1895~7

FAX: +82 55 366 1898

cnk@dfc2003.com
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 20:40:47|Editor: xuxin

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BEIRUT, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese judiciary system imposed on Thursday a travel ban on former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn after his interrogation, local news agency Lebanon 24 reported.

Ghosn's file was referred to public prosecutor Ghassan Ouiedat for a decision.

Ghosn was questioned following an Interpol Red Notice alert issued by Japan seeking to arrest him over financial misconduct.

Nissan accused Ghosn last year of understating his salary while he was the chief executive, and transferring 5 million U.S. dollars of Nissan funds to an account in which he had an interest.

Ghosn held a press conference on Wednesday in Beirut denying all accusations issued by Nissan against him while vowing to fight to prove his innocence until the end.

Ghosn arrived in Beirut from Japan by the end of last month to escape what he called "an unfair justice system."
The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz Announces Investigation on Behalf of Armstrong Flooring, Inc. Investors (AFI)

The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz announces an investigation on behalf of Armstrong Flooring, Inc. ("Armstrong Flooring" or the "Company") (NYSE: AFI) 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.







On November 5, 2019, Armstrong Flooring reported $165.6 million net sales for third quarter 2019, a nearly 21% decline year-over-year, and a net loss of $31.4 million. The Company also cut its full year 2019 guidance for adjusted EBITDA to a range of $20 million to $25 million, from prior guidance range of $46 million to $54 million.

On this news, the Company's stock price fell $2.90 per share, or nearly 44%, to close at $3.70 per share on November 5, 2019, thereby injuring investors.

Follow us for updates on Twitter (News - Alert): twitter.com/FRC_LAW.

If you purchased Armstrong 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 Frank R. Cruz, of The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz, 1999 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1100, Los Angeles, California 90067 at 310-914-5007, by email to [email protected], or visit our website at www.frankcruzlaw.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/20200108005922/en/
Over the last 20 years, three families have been unknowingly linked to one another by an unknown illness. Researchers at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and other organizations have now identified the cause of the illness, a new disease called CRIA syndrome. The results of their work were published in the journal Nature.

Discovering a new disease

NHGRI scientific director Daniel Kastner, M.D., Ph.D., a pioneer in the field of auto-inflammatory diseases, and his team, had never seen a condition like this one. Symptoms include fevers, swollen lymph nodes, severe abdominal pain, gastrointestinal problems, headaches and, in some cases, abnormally enlarged spleen and liver.

The disorder has characteristics typical of an auto-inflammatory disease, where the immune system appears to be activated without any apparent trigger. Although the condition is not life-threatening, patients have persistent fever and swollen lymph nodes from childhood to old age, as well as other symptoms that can lead to lifelong pain and disability.

When confronted by patients' symptoms, who were first seen at the NIH Clinical Center, researchers looked for infections and cancer as the cause. After those were ruled out, they sought answers in the genome, a person's complete set of DNA. Kastner and his team sequenced gene regions across the genome and discovered only one gene -- RIPK1 -- to be consistently different in all patients.

Researchers identified a specific type of variation in the patients: a single DNA letter at a specific location incorrectly changed. This change can alter the amino acid added to the encoded protein. These are called "missense" mutations.

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Remarkably, each of the three families had its own unique missense mutation affecting the very same DNA letter in the RIPK1 gene. Each affected person had one mutant and one normal copy of the gene, while the unaffected family members had two normal copies of the gene.

The researchers also looked at 554 people with sporadic unexplained fever, swollen glands and other symptoms or diseases, and then at over a quarter million people from public sequence databases to see if they encountered the same RIPK1 mutations. When they did not find such mutations elsewhere, it was clear that they were onto something new.

"It was as if lightning had struck three times in the same place," said Kastner, who led the NHGRI team. "This discovery underscores the tremendous power of combining astute clinical observation, state-of-the-art DNA sequencing, and the sharing of sequence data in large publicly-accessible databases. We live in a very special time."

Cause and effect

The RIPK1 gene encodes for the RIPK1 protein, which is involved in the body's response to inflammation and programmed cell death. To make sure that RIPK1 action does not initiate inflammation and cell death in all cells, another protein "cuts" the RIPK1 protein at a specific location in the protein sequence. The research team noticed that all the mutations in CRIA patients occur at the location where RIPK1 usually gets cut, resulting in an uncuttable, seemingly indestructible RIPK1 protein.

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This suggests that cutting RIPK1, thereby disarming it, is crucial to controlling cell death and inflammation. Recognizing this cause-effect relationship, Kastner's team named the resulting disease cleavage-resistant RIPK1-induced autoinflammatory (CRIA) syndrome.

Although the researchers made the connection between CRIA syndrome and RIPK1 mutations, they still needed to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the disease. To do this, Kastner and his team collaborated with Najoua Laloui, Ph.D., and John Silke, Ph.D., at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Australia, who made specialized mouse models with similar RIPK1 mutations as seen in CRIA patients.

The Australian team discovered that mouse embryos with two mutant copies of RIPK1 (and no normal copy) died in the uterus due to excessive cell death signals, which further confirmed the importance of cutting RIPK1 to limit its function in normal cells. However, mice bearing one mutant copy of RIPK1 and one normal copy, as is the case for CRIA patients, were mostly normal but had heightened responses to a variety of inflammatory stimuli, which the researchers think may suggest a possible mechanism for how the human disease occurs.

Finding answers

Kastner and his team worked to find a treatment for CRIA syndrome. Seven patients with the condition were given therapies that are known to reduce inflammation. While drugs such as etanercept and anakinra, which are routinely used to treat autoinflammatory and chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, had little effect on the patients, one biological drug did.

Tocilizumab, a drug that suppresses the immune system, reduced the severity and frequency of CRIA syndrome symptoms in five out of seven patients in some cases with life-changing effects.

Hirotsugu Oda, M.D., Ph.D., a post-doctoral researcher in Kastner's laboratory and co-first author of the paper, said: "As a physician-scientist, the most thrilling experience to me was to hear the mother of a CRIA patient say that her son was a completely different, healthy child after the tocilizumab treatment. Through the genetic diagnosis, we were able to contribute to the treatment of a few patients. This is, after all, the ultimate goal."

Surprised by this serendipitous result, researchers are now trying to understand the detailed molecular mechanism that enables tocilizumab to treat CRIA. Specific inhibitors of RIPK1, which are under development, may also hold promise in both CRIA and other seemingly intractable inflammatory conditions.
A Ukrainian commission, which has arrived in Iran to investigate into the crash of a Boeing-737 jetliner of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) in Tehran, is agreeing with the Iranian authorities on permission to examine the crash scene in order search for fragments of a Russian Tor missile system, as long as one of the main theories on the cause of the crash is an attack with such system, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov has said.

"Our commission is agreeing with the Iranian authorities on admission to the crash scene and is planning to search for fragments of a Russian Tor missile system in order to check into the information that was made public in the Internet. We are using all practices of the investigation into the attack on Boeing MH17 in order to find the truth also in the case on the crash of the Ukrainian aircraft in Tehran," the Censor.net e-zine quoted Danilov as saying.

According to the NSDC secretary, the Ukrainian state commission, which arrived in Iran last night, includes experts who participated in the international investigation into the attack of Russian servicemen on Malaysian Airlines flight 17 on July 17, 2014 in the Ukrainian air space as well as in the expertise of the fragments of a missile launched with a Russian Buk air defense system, which brought down the aircraft.

"Currently they are meeting with representatives of Iranian competent agencies, including the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). They are considering various versions of the sudden plane crash. The main versions are the following: an attack from a missile system, including the Tor missile system, as information about discovery of fragments of a Russian missile near the crash scene has appeared in the Internet; collision with a drone or another flying object; engine failure or explosion for technical reasons; explosion inside the aircraft as a result of a terror act," Danilov said.

He added that the Ukrainian side was holding diplomatic talks with Iran and "there is every reason to hope for cooperation on all issues, including participation of our commission in the transcription of the black box from our plane."

Danilov posted the link to the interview with Censor.net on Facebook.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan says he believes the US-Iran tensions are heading for de-escalation.

We hope there will be a general calm in the coming days, he told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

Of course, we are always ready for the worst, overall I can say that we have implemented massive work during both the Syrian and Iranian crises. We can say that our institutional capabilities have increased, we have been able to develop both an evacuation plan and a crisis reaction plan, which I believe is a very important progress for our administration system. To some extent, our institutional capacities have become stronger from these two crises, and we better know what we are going to do, he said.

We are ready for any option to help for the conflict to be maximally mitigated.

He reiterated that the country is ready for all scenarios and he also dismissed economic security concerns.

He said they want the conflict to be settled as soon as possible.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
A Gold Coast man linked to an investigation into the disappearance of three girls near Newcastle has been charged with sexually assaulting three women in the area over an 18-year period dating back to 1979.

Warren John McCorriston, 58, was arrested on Wednesday in Surfers Paradise and extradited from Queensland to Tweed Heads on Thursday.

He was formally charged with 22 offences including the rape and sexual assault of the three women between 1979 and 1997.

The charges include six counts of sexual assault, maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm, attempting to choke or strangle and indecently assaulting a female under 16.

He appeared by video link in Tweed court and was remanded in custody to face a Newcastle court on March 4.
When a former colleague and friend asked Pravin Tatavarti, Managing Director at talent management firm Allegis India, to employ his autistic son, he agreed. There wasn't any reason to say no. Venkat had a masters in commerce and was applying for a data entry role. What he didn't know was what this would entail. "I didn't know anyone with disability and had no experience of dealing with them." Venkat's performance was decent but his social skills were poor. He didn't greet anyone, would get jittery, and once even pulled a colleague's hair. It was when he entered the ladies room that the human resources manager wanted him to leave. For Tatavarti, it was a litmus test considering that as the leader of a service organisation, his job was to help customers get the best out of people.

"Venkat did what he was wired to do, and to leverage his talent, we had to learn to make him a part of our life," he says. He did a town hall asking employees to be sensitive and, instead of making a fuss, politely tell him to stop. That was in 2014. The company has come a long way since then. It now has 41 people (out of 5,000) with disability and an employment centre, 'Garv Se', which helps them find the right job.

Organisations across the world are waking up to the potential of hiring the differently abled. In India, the trend caught steam around five years ago, and several companies started it as a pilot by hiring visually and speech and hearing impaired. Today, 20-30 per cent of their employees with disability are in managerial roles. The two big drivers of the trend have been The Rights of Persons With Disabilities Act 2016 that makes it mandatory for private companies to be an equal opportunity employer and research about the economic benefits of following inclusive policies. For example, a report by Accenture and not-for profit Disability: IN, "Getting to Equal: The Disability Inclusion Advantage," says inclusive companies outperformed others over four years and reported 28 per cent higher revenue, double the net income and 30 per cent higher profit margins.

The companies Business Today spoke to have seen huge benefits, both tangible and intangible, of hiring disabled people. RBS India said this made the company more innovative. Future Group got a new consumer base. Tata Steel's ability to attract talent went up. Allegis India's empathy quotient improved. Lemon Tree says the differently abled it has hired are 15 per cent more productive.

Start from Top

"I was scared of people with disability in the beginning, I am sure others were too. But as I learnt, I had to speak up and share the value I saw in inclusion," says Tatavarti of Allegis. He then started sensitising managers and mandated that they hire at least one person with disability in each department.

Venkataraman S.V., Managing Director, ANZ Bengaluru Service Centre, is responsible for driving the agenda at his company. "As a group, we were always big on inclusion. We started with financial inclusion and realised that our company, which has almost 7,000 people in Bengaluru, should be a reflection of the society it serves." While the focus on hiring employees with disability started in 2010, it ramped up the initiative in 2014. Now, it has 110 differently-abled employees.

Experts say the need of the hour is to make this a board agenda so that it impacts the company's overall practices. Shanti Raghavan, the founder of EnAble India, explains the importance of influencing CEOs. "The managers' impact is limited to their teams. If it becomes the focus of CEOs, it influences budgets, hiring policies, workplace culture and reduces barriers to inclusion." EnAble India has worked with 725 companies in 29 sectors to help them hire people with disability.

Creating the Ecosystem

Hiring is not enough. One has to ensure that the message permeates all business processes and management practices. The first step is to map roles that can be given to the disabled. Tata Steel has identified 900 such roles out of 7,000 work profiles. For instance, visually impaired can join as recruiters or in sales and marketing. People with hearing impairment or mobility issues can be given paperwork- or data-related roles.

The next critical step is infrastructure. Atrayee S. Sanyal, Chief of Group HR and Chief Diversity Officer of Tata Steel, says it is important to go beyond the 'ramp mentality'. Companies, he says, have to look at the way lights are designed, ensure that the doors and corridors are wide enough for wheelchairs, and that toilets and guest houses are easily accessible. "Without the right infrastructure, retaining them will be difficult," she adds.

Venkataraman S.V. of ANZ says even a small investment in the right solutions can yield huge productivity benefits. He shares how, in the initial years, it took them a while to be convinced about buying motorised wheelchairs, but once they did, it had a multiplier effect on performance of people with limited mobility. Now, he says, they have bigger cabs that can accommodate wheelchairs and have hired people to help disabled employees get in and out of cars or during lunch hours. They also have a sign language interpreter during town halls and have created a dictionary of banking words in sign language so that the hearing and speech impaired staff can communicate well.

Building infrastructure is easy. The more difficult part is getting acceptance from employees. The easy answer is training but Allegis used volunteering to give the workforce purpose and help them connect. "We started measuring the time we were spending in volunteering activities," says Tatavarti. It could be to help people with disablity build their resume, or teach them job skills, or assist them in conferences. He spends half an hour every week assessing the initiatives of the employee volunteering programme.

The journey doesn't end here. Once they are onboarded, companies have to give them time to catch up with others. Shashaank Awasthi, the co-founder of impact enterprise v-shesh, says people with disability face a lot of barriers at the beginning of their lives as neither our education system nor our city transport is inclusive. "They miss out on a lot of learning and communication skills. Companies have to give them more time, especially at the entry level, to come to speed, as the social system robbed them of that opportunity," he says. Allegis gives them additional six months to pick up job skills. ANZ depends on NGOs such as Enable India and v-shesh to bring them on a par with others. They all agree that once on the floor, no compromise is made on performance standards and work targets. This ensures that everybody feels valued as an equal partner.

While earlier, companies used to give employees with disability back-end and non-critical roles, this is changing now. Close to 20 per cent people with disability are in managerial roles at Tata Steel and ANZ. Lemon Tree has selected 15 people from its team of 600 people with disability to train them for a department head role.

What is key is to ensure that this is part of the main budget. The aim is to make everybody understand that this is not charity or CSR but part of the overall strategy.

The Benefits

The additional infrastructure and training are an additional cost. However, the benefits outweigh costs in the long run. "It is a successful business model for us," says R. Hari, General Manager, Human Resources, Lemon Tree Hotels, adding that in an industry where attrition is as high as 45 per cent, people with disability stay much longer (attrition is around 30 per cent). He adds their productivity is also 15 per cent higher. For instance, a carpenter is usually affected by noise pollution, but if the job is done by a hearing impaired person, it can be done much more efficiently.

Gopal Singaraju, COO, RBS India, says it is mutually beneficial as overall productivity of the company improves. He shares an instance of how they made the filing process paperless to help a woman who couldn't bend to sift through the files in cabinets. This helped the entire department, he says.

Hiring people with disability raises the bar for the entire company, says Devika Nair, Diversity and Inclusion & CSR Lead at Allegis India. "When you see a colleague who has one less faculty working with the same rigour, you start seeing challenges in a different way, and aspire to be better and not get bogged down by life or work." "My customers see me as a responsible firm that is making a difference to society and trust me more. This has increased customer traction." Tata Steel, says Sarkar, has found that inclusive practices help it during campus placements. "Young people are conscious about the values of the firm they join and we are getting a lot of pull from young talent during our campus recruitment drives," she says.

For Future Retail, people with disability opened up a new market segment. Sadashiv Nayak, Chief Executive Officer, Future Retail, says, "The reason for our existence is creation of a shopping environment and driving consumption. If we don't serve that 2 per cent of India that has some disability, our agenda cannot be complete." To serve that segment, Future Retail had to start with its employees. It has 250 employees with disability at its stores.

"Over 50 per cent of our stores have at least one person with disability. There is no target but the idea is to have one (disabled) employee per store. It is not a mandate but we have realised it makes sense," says Nayak of Future Retail. As a result, 150 Big Bazaar and FBB stores have seen 1,00,000 first-time disabled shoppers till date. One suggestion from employees with disability was to include people with neural disabilities such as down syndrome and autism who may have a heightened sense of touch, light and sound and observe a Quiet Hour once a week when the store would dim the lights, switch off the music and ensure less noise so that they can shop. At present, 38 stores are observing a quiet hour on Tuesday mornings. This has got the company 15,000 first-time shoppers within six months.

But in the times of cut-throat competition when everyone is rushing to chase targets, doesn't this slow down the pace? Tatavarti doesn't think so. It is a mindset issue, he says. "Our problem is that we focus too much on the difference," he says.

@sonalkhetarpal7
DUBAI (Reuters) - The United States and some other Western powers deploy weaponry and other military equipment in the Gulf to provide security to its allies in the oil-producing region. For years there have been between 60,000 and 80,000 troops deployed to the U.S

DUBAI (Reuters) - The United States and some other Western powers deploy weaponry and other military equipment in the Gulf to provide security to its allies in the oil-producing region.

For years there have been between 60,000 and 80,000 troops deployed to the U.S. military's Central Command area of operations, a vast area stretching from Egypt to Afghanistan.

As U.S.-Iranian conflict has brewed in recent weeks - Iranian missiles hit bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq in the latest incident - the Pentagon has been moving thousands of additional forces into the Middle East.

Below is a list of sites where the United States has a significant military presence, according to research institutions and U.S. military websites. The estimated personnel figures were drawn from research institutions including Britain's International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

BAHRAIN

U.S. personnel: 5,000

The U.S. base, known as Naval Support Activity Bahrain, houses the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet and U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (USNAVCENT), which reports to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).

The Fifth Fleet is responsible for the Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, Gulf of Aden, Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

The region includes three critical chokepoints for shipping - the Strait of Hormuz at the southern end of the Gulf, and the Suez Canal and the Strait of Bab al Mandeb at the northern and southern ends of the Red Sea respectively.

In 2018, Britain opened the UK Naval Support Facility (NSF) at Mina Salman in Bahrain, an island nation in the Gulf.

QATAR

U.S. personnel: 10,000

Qatar is home to the Al Udeid Air Base, which includes the forward headquarters of U.S. Air Forces Central Command (AFCENT) as well as the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, which supports operations throughout the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility and supports the Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.

SAUDI ARABIA

U.S. personnel: 2,500

In October 2019, the U.S. deployed about 3,000 troops to Saudi Arabia, including fighter squadrons, an air expeditionary wing and air defence personnel, at a time of heightened tensions with Iran. The main base is Prince Sultan Air Base, south of Riyadh. U.S. troops also use other Saudi bases.

Before the U.S.-Iranian confrontation worsened, U.S. Central Command had 500 people in the kingdom, according to the IISS.

KUWAIT

U.S. personnel: 14,500

Kuwait, which borders Iraq and lies near Iran at the north end of the Gulf, has a large U.S. military presence. The United States uses bases in Kuwait as staging hubs, training ranges and logistical support for regional operations. Bases used by the United States include Camp Arifjan, Camp Buehring, Ali Al Salem Air Field and the naval base Camp Patriot.

IRAQ

U.S. personnel: 6,000

As part of the U.S.-led coalition, Operation Inherent Resolve, against Islamic State militants, the United States had around 5,000 personnel and Britain around 400 in 2019.

OMAN

U.S. personnel: a few hundred

The United States clinched a strategic port deal with Oman in March 2019 that would allow the U.S. military better access the Gulf region without having to send ships through the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime choke point off Iran that Tehran has threatened to mine.

Oman has close defence and security ties with both Britain and the United States. A joint training base with Britain was established there in 2018.

Under a 2010 security pact, the United States was allowed to retain a small military presence. It also granted U.S. forces access, with advanced notice and for specialised purposes, to military facilities in Masirah, Muscat and Thumrait, as well as allowing the United States to pre-stage munitions there.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

U.S. personnel: 5,500

More U.S. Navy ships visit the port at Jebel Ali, which can handle vessels up to the size of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, than any other port outside the United States. Al Dhafra Air Base hosts several U.S. fighter, attack and reconnaissance aircraft of the U.S. 380th Air Expeditionary Wing.

Sources: International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Military Balance 2019; Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington; Gulf Military Balance; official U.S. military websites.

(Additional reporting by Phil Stewart in Washington; Writing by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Edmund Blair and Mark Heinrich)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday held a telephonic conversation with US Secretary of Defence Mark T Esper during which they discussed the evolving security situation in the Gulf region.

Officials said Singh conveyed to Esper India's stakes and interests in the Gulf region and how concerned New Delhi is over the escalating tension there.

"We expressed firm resolve to strengthen the bilateral defence cooperation. He (Esper) also briefed me about the recent developments in the Gulf Region. I shared India's concerns and interests in the region," Singh tweeted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
On December 31, DoT asked telecom operators to submit their proposal for conducting 5G trials and gave a deadline of 10 days (till January 10). The top 3 telcos havent submitted their proposals yet. It is likely that 5G trials in India will be delayed

Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea are reportedly seeking a deadline extension from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for submissions of their proposals for conducting 5G field trials. For reference, the deadline to submit the proposal was January 10, but the telcos havent come up with their proposals. This could lead to a delay in 5G trials in India.

On December 31, DoT asked telecom operators to submit their proposal for conducting 5G trials and gave a deadline of 10 days (till January 10). Since the deadline is almost here and the telcos havent submitted their proposals, it is likely that 5G trials in India will be delayed. The top 3 telecom operators in the country are looking to seek deadline extension from DoT.

The information comes from an unidentified senior official who told ET that a lot of documentation and many details are yet to be ascertained, which is not possible by January 10. As a result, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) will write a formal letter to DoT this week seeking a deadline extension. However, the telcos and COAI have not yet fixed the deadline they are seeing from the DoT.

Leading up to the announcement of the deadline, there was a debate if Chinese telecom gear makers like Huawei and ZTE should be allowed to participate in the 5G trials, but the government has now cleared Huawei and ZTE to take part in Indias 5G trials. That said, Vodafone is likely to pick Ericsson and Huawei as its partners to conduct 5G trials. On the other hand, Airtel is said to pick Nokia, Huawei and Ericsson to conduct the same. Further, Reliance Jio is expected to carry forward its major partnership with Samsung to test 5G network in India.

5G trials in India are expected to take place in the first half of 2020.
A section of border wall is constructed on the U.S. side of the border in Tijuana, Mexico, on Jan. 28, 2019. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Trump Can Use $3.6 Billion in Military Funds for Border Wall, Court Rules

An appeals court panel said President Donald Trump can use $3.6 billion in military funds for the southern border wall.

The Jan. 8 ruling came less than a month after U.S. District Judge David Briones, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, issued a permanent nationwide injunction against using the funds.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay of the Texas judges injunction as the case continues.

Judge Edith Jones, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, and Trump appointee Judge Andrew Oldham ruled to block the lower courts ruling, while Judge Stephen Higginson, a President Barack Obama appointee, dissented.

The judges who granted the Trump administrations request noted that the Supreme Court recently blocked a similar injunction. The panel also said there was a substantial likelihood that the parties challenging the transfer, the county of El Paso, Texas, and the Border Network for Human Rights, didnt have standing to sue the Trump administration.

The Supreme Court recently stayed a similar injunction from our sister circuit, the judges wrote (pdf). The Government is entitled to the same relief here for, among other reasons, the substantial likelihood that Appellees lack Article III standing.

Higginson, meanwhile, wrote in his dissent: I am unable to agree, without focused panel deliberation and discussionpossibly aided by dialogue with counselthat the government presently has shown either a likelihood of success on the merits or irreparable harm in the absence of a stay. He called to expedite merits assessment by the court, noting that rulings surrounding the border wall involve weighty issues.

Trump hailed the decision.

Breaking News: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals just reversed a lower court decision & gave us the go ahead to build one of the largest sections of the desperately needed Southern Border Wall, Four Billion Dollars. Entire Wall is under construction or getting ready to start! he said early on Jan. 9 on Twitter.

Breaking News: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals just reversed a lower court decision & gave us the go ahead to build one of the largest sections of the desperately needed Southern Border Wall, Four Billion Dollars. Entire Wall is under construction or getting ready to start!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2020

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has lifted an illegitimate nationwide injunction entered by a lower court, and in doing so has allowed vital border wall construction to move forward using military construction funds, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham added in a statement.

This is a victory for the rule of law. We are committed to keeping our borders secure, and we will finish the wall.

Trump declared a national emergency along the southern border in February 2019. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper authorized moving the $3.6 billion in military funds to construction projects along the border in September 2019. Customs and Border Patrol said the money will be used to build up to 175 miles of border wall.

Kristy Parker, counsel for Protect Democracy, a nonprofit that represented the plaintiffs in the case against using the funds for the wall, said in a statement that a court has already determined that the government cant lawfully use military construction funds to build Trumps border wall.

Its unfortunate that the people of El Paso will continue to suffer harm while the government appeals, but were confident that well prevail again in this next stage of litigation.
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL / ACCESSWIRE / January 9, 2020 / Kelly Hyman, nationally recognized attorney and political analyst, has officially launched her personal law firm: The Hyman Law Firm, P.A. Previously an attorney with Franklin Azar & Associates, where she focused on class actions and mass tort litigation, lawyer Kelly Hyman is excited to embark on this new leg of her professional journey. In her new venture, she will continue to represent those who have been harmed.

Over the years, Kelly Hyman has established a name for herself in the legal community for her exemplary work on many significant cases. She has represented hundreds of claimants in claims and individual actions filed in state and federal courts over the years. She has handled several major issues including tobacco, water contamination, and transvaginal mesh and bladder slings. She has also participated in federal court multi-district litigation discovery committee common benefit work for various mass torts projects.

Kelly Hyman has received an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell.

A graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in Communications, Kelly Hyman received her Juris Doctor degree cum laude from the University of Florida, Levin College of Law. She served as a Federal Law Clerk for Judge Sandoval, who is now the former Governor of Nevada.

She is also a Democratic commentator, television legal analyst, and author of the recently-released book, "Top Ten Reasons to Dump Trump in 2020." She regularly appears on television and radio shows. These include Law & Crime, The Ingraham Angle, and Fox and Friends. She has also appeared on the Ethan Bearman show, "Issues and Ideas" with Chris DeBellow, "The Whistleblower" with Mychal Wilson, and the "Jiggy Jaguar" radio show, based out of Kansas.

She is a member of the Florida Bar, the Washington D.C. Bar, the New York Bar, and the American Association for Justice and the former President of the Federal Bar, Palm Beach Chapter.

Kelly Hyman is also an expert on and has given lectures about topics such as mindfulness, improv for attorneys, and drug and medical device litigation.

With the launch of her new firm, Kelly Hyman attorney looks forward to helping more people and groups achieve justice and compensation for wrongdoings by individuals, companies, and governments.

To contact Kelly Hyman, please visit https://thehymanlawfirm.com/.

CONTACT:

Caroline Hunter

Web Presence, LLC

+1 7865519491

SOURCE: Web Presence, LLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/572642/Kelly-Hyman-Launches-Personal-Law-Firm-The-Hyman-Law-Firm-PA
The Queen's former chef has joined the long list of commentators jumping on the bandwagon to slam the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's move to 'step back' from royal duties.

Darren McGrady, who spent 15 years in the royal kitchen, cooking for a host of royals, from the Queen to the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Diana and Princes William and Harry, took to Twitter to share his opinion on the announcement.

The author, 58, launched a scathing attack on the couple, dragging the late Princess Diana into his reasoning, claiming that Diana previously said Prince Harry, now 35, was 'an airhead like her'.

Although it is not clear whether he has met Meghan Markle, 38, he continued his rant by piling the blame on her and claiming that the Duchess 'only wanted to be famous', though he did not explain how stepping back from the limelight would back this theory up.

The Queen's former chef has joined the long list of commentators jumping on the bandwagon to slam the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's move to 'step back' from royal duties. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are seen visiting London's Canada House yesterday to thank them

Taking to Twitter, the irate chef wrote: 'Meghan wanted to be famous. Meghan is famous! It's all about Meghan!'

'People saying Princess Diana would be proud don't know Princess Diana. She would have been furious that Harry had been so manipulated.

'I remember Princess Diana in the kitchen at Kensington Palace talking about 'her boys' ... 'William is deep like his father. Harry is an airhead like me'.

'I guess she nailed it.

'Even in her darkest hour Princess Diana respected The Queen. She would have been so mad with Harry right now.'

Darren McGrady, who spent 15 years in the royal kitchen, cooking for a host of royals, from the Queen to the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Diana and Princes William and Harry, took to Twitter to share his opinion on the announcement

Although it is not clear whether he has met Meghan Markle, 38, the chef continued his rant by piling the blame on her and claiming that the Duchess 'only wanted to be famous', though he did not explain how stepping back from the limelight would back this theory up

On Wednesday evening the Sussexes took to the Sussex Royal Instagram account to announce the decision that they would be stepping back from royal duties and focus on low-key charity work.

Sharing a picture of their engagement annoucement in November 2017, their statement reads: 'After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution.

'We intend to step back as senior members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.'

It continues: 'It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment. We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.

'This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.

The author, 58, launched a scathing attack on the couple, dragging the late Princess Diana into his reasoning, which claimed that Diana had said Prince Harry, now 35, was 'an airhead like her'

On Wednesday evening the Sussexes took to the Sussex Royal Instagram account to announce the decision that they would be stepping back from royal duties and focus on low-key charity work

Buckingham Palace later released a statement confirming that discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were at an 'early stage'

'We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support. - The Duke and Duchess of Sussex'.

The announcement racked up 1.4 million likes, and 80,000 comments, with some reacting with disappointment, and others with understanding.

Reacting to the news, mental health writer Matt Haig defended the couple, writing: 'Meghan and Harry [are told that if they] dont like the attention they should take a back seat. [Then] Meghan and Harry: *take a back seat* [and are told] How dare they take a back seat!'.

Elsewhere another follower wrote: 'Best decision you can make for your family Harry, good on you'.

'Good for them', another said. 'If Princess Diana had done the same thing she'd still be alive. Harry has always been the black sheep of that family, and has always wanted to leave. Well done!'.

Buckingham Palace later released a statement confirming that discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were at an 'early stage'.
Two men who walked out on to the cone of Old Faithful Geyser at Yellowstone National Park were each sentenced to ten days in jail after pleading guilty to trespassing.

Eric Schefflin, 20, of Lakewood, Colorado, and Ryan Goetz, 25, of Woodstock, New York, were sentenced by a federal magistrate judge in Wyoming on Thursday, who also slapped them each with a $540 fine, probation and banned them from returning to the national park for five years.

Both men were charged with 'thermal trespassing' after they were seen walking on the geyser's cone by witnesses on September 10, the national park service told DailyMail.com.

Images taken of the two show them shooting pictures of the cone, which the park service described as a thin and fragile 'hydropthermal' area concealing scalding water.

Two men who walked out on to the cone of Old Faithful Geyser (pictured) at Yellowstone National Park were each sentenced to ten days in jail after pleading guilty to trespassing

Both men were charged with 'thermal trespassing' after they were seen walking on the geyser's cone by witnesses on September 10, the national park service told DailyMail.com. Images taken of the two show them shooting pictures of the cone

Visitors are warned to remain on boardwalks and exercise extreme caution around 'thermal features' the park service said in a news release about the sentencing.

A tourist, also in September, was severely burned after he told park officials he too had gone walking through the geyser area and fell into its boiling waters.

Cade E. Siemers, 48, told Yellowstone rangers he had taken his walk through the park's geyser field without a flashlight. He said he tripped and fell into a hot spring near Old Faithful's cone.

Human flesh burns at 109 degrees Fahrenheit. The thermal waters inside Old Faithful's hot springs can reach temperatures as high as 204 degrees, according to the National Park Service.

Cade E. Siemers, 48, suffered severe burns after he said he tripped and fell into a hot spring near Old Faithful's cone, also in September

Visitors are warned to remain on boardwalks (pictured) and exercise extreme caution around 'thermal features' the park service said in a news release about the sentencing

'Visitors must realize that walking on thermal features is dangerous, damages the resource, and illegal, Chief Ranger Sarah Davis said in the news release.

'Law enforcement officers take this violation seriously,' Davis added.

Davis also said that the national park service appreciated the court's harsh sentence, 'for recognizing the impact thermal trespass can have on these amazing features.'
Michal Naisteter approached a city planner at Reading Terminal Market and bantered with a pediatrician at the Bok Bar rooftop. At a Franklin Institute Science After Hours event, she was intrigued by a young entrepreneur, and she chatted up a Delaware politician at a local coffee shop.

No matter where she meets people, her introduction remains the same.

Hey, Im Michal. Im a married matchmaker," she says. Are you by any chance single, cause I think youre really cute.

All those people ended up saying yes to Naisteter, 35, who for two years has worked as a matchmaker for the national company Three Day Rule.

They are soon added to her companys pool of more than 4,500 Philadelphia singles, most of whom are not paying members but are open to being set up. After a meeting where they have a heart to heart" with Naisteter, she considers matching them with a client.

While many people may start humming along to the song from Fiddler on the Roof when they hear the word matchmaker, Naisteters company emphasizes a modern approach to what may seem like a quaint method for finding love.

There has been demand for matchmaking services as the proliferation of apps has chipped away at the stigma associated with seeking outside help for dating, an IBISWorld report on the growing $3 billion industry shows. Even with free options like Tinder at the fingertips of singles, some people turn to matchmakers for a more personalized, albeit pricey, experience.

People in Philly seem particularly disgruntled with the citys dating pool, Naisteter said. Though loyal to the city, they say living here is like a small town where they already know everyone. Thats simply not true in the sixth largest city in the United States, she says.

For those who want to work with Naisteter, there is a $5,500 premium membership fee for three months, with higher priced options for six and 12 months. With this payment comes an in-depth meeting about anything from family history and past relationships to the attributes of a potential partner, as well as a professional photo shoot.

Then, Naisteter will search LinkedIn, Instagram, and networking events, or while living her daily life, like grocery shopping, to find people to match with her clients, with a goal of at least one match a month.

Other matchmakers range from national companies like the paid-service Its Just Lunch to Danielle Selber, who is called the in-house matchmaker at the Philadelphia nonprofit Tribe 12, which encourages people to make a $36 donation if they are satisfied with the experience.

The way Naisteter views it, a matchmaker saves her clients time by searching on their behalf and then screening people before a first date to make sure they are representing themselves accurately and are a good fit. Her objective, she says, is getting people on fewer but better dates.

Three Day Rule launched in Philadelphia in May 2016, three years after its founding in Los Angeles. In that time, the company says, it has matched about 550 people in Philly and sat down with more than 1,500 singles. Naisteter has worked with more than 50 paying clients and of her current clients, the youngest is 26 and oldest is 67.

While Naisteter said there is not one metric for success, since not everyone is looking to be married right away if at all, the company said that in the last couple years, 70 percent of its clients overall were still dating one of their matches when their contract ended.

Even if the people Naisteter meets dont fit well with a paying client, she helps them improve their dating profiles or offers general advice.

Im like a cheerleader and a sex therapist and your girlfriend all rolled up into one, she said.

Modern matchmaking

Three Day Rule CEO Talia Goldstein started listing her colleagues recent successes on one of their recent weekly conference calls with matchmakers in 10 cities, including Los Angeles and New York.

For matching shoutouts, Melissa has two second dates and a third date. Samantha has a third date. Julia has a second date, and a client who went on hold to date her match...."

But when it was Naisteters turn, she didnt highlight a traditional success like a wedding. She told a story about rejection.

He is in his 30s with a healthy career, but no relationship. Any time she sent him a match, he would ask: What do I say to her? What do I text her? Where should we go?

Naisteter has worked on empowering him to make his own decisions. If you want to meet someone amazing, you have to be amazing yourself, she would tell him.

So he gave it a try. He took a date to a ping pong bar in Philly and thought it was fantastic. But when Naisteter debriefed the woman after, she said he didnt talk about things he did outside of work, and she didnt feel as if he would be interested in what she does for fun, like salsa dancing. Naisteter relayed this to him and told him the woman wasnt interested in a second date.

So the next day, he wrote to me, You know what, I think Im still going to write to her, like I would be down to go as friends. I want to go salsa dancing, or I would come to one of the events that you organized, Naisteter told colleagues.

Naisteter considers her job more than just getting people dates. Along the way, she wants them to learn more about themselves and how that reflects what they are looking for in a partner.

In a way, shed been readying herself to be a matchmaker long before she even knew a job like this existed.

After taking a human sexuality course as an undergrad at Pennsylvania State University, she went on to earn a masters in that topic at Widener University.

She lived in Tel Aviv for a year, teaching English to children of migrant workers. She also worked in Boston and did HIV counseling on needle exchange vans. After working in public health, she decided she wanted to do more on the education side and learn Spanish.

So she went to South America with a backpack and suitcase and ended up in Medellin, Colombia, for four years. Back in Philly, she wanted a career change that blended her education, experience, personality and life history, and found this job while searching online with a friend one night.

While in Medellin, a friend set her up with her now-husband. The two have an 8-month-old daughter, Hanna Rodriguez.

With clients, Naisteter will tell them about her husband, Manuel Rodriguez. At 31, he is younger than her and from a different religion. If we were on an app, I couldve potentially swiped the wrong way.

But instead of focusing on physical attributes or what was written down, the friend simply said: Youre a good person, and hes a good person."

They call that friend our cupid, or our matchmaker.

Dating app fatigue

It isnt likely that matchmaking services like Three Day Rule will overtake the online and mobile dating market, said John Madigan, an industry research analyst at IBIS.

Tinder, PlentyOfFish, and OkCupid are all brands from Match Group Inc., which IBISWorld reports has about 42.3 percent of the industrys market share. Match Groups stock has more than quadrupled to about $61 Monday from $15.20 in November 2015.

Dating sites like Match.com, eHarmony, and Chemistry.com comprise half of the market. Mobile dating, which can be found free with apps like Hinge and Bumble, is 31 percent. Matchmaking is just 12 percent. Match Group was an early investor in Three Day Rule in 2014.

But Madigan has noticed that dating app fatigue is driving demand for matchmakers.

People are getting tired of swiping right, swiping left, Do I find this person attractive? Its a very superficial-based connection, he said. While other matchmaking firms do this work, Madigan singled out Three Day Rule in his report because it has been growing quite quickly, doubling in revenue in 2018.

After spending years swiping through five different dating apps, Ed Cahan, 37, an engineer who works in real estate, was losing hope. His friends were married and having their second children, and he felt his time was ticking away.

He got coffee with Naisteter and asked how the premium membership worked.

I thought about it for a couple days, and then I was like, You know what, I tried all the apps, I tried all these things, Why not? Ill say yes and Ill see what happens.

So they met up again. Naisteter optimized his dating profile by helping him get new photos and linking his Instagram account to show off his woodworking hobby. She told him his usual date suggestion of coffee around 6 p.m. was just plain bad. Since he doesnt drink, she suggested going to a nice restaurant at 8 p.m. for dessert and a better ambiance.

Cahan, who lives in Northern Liberties, told her how he was looking for someone who was Jewish like him, adventurous, entrepreneurial, and outdoorsy.

When she sent over his first match, he told her the next day that she nailed it. You listened to me and you found exactly what I was looking for, he recalled.

The two went on a dessert date last month at Parc. Even though he said it was a good date, the two havent gone on a second.

Now he is waiting for more matches.
The House voted Thursday to prevent President Donald Trump from taking additional military action against Iran, an opening move in a Democratic-led campaign to reassert congressional authority over the use of force abroad.

The 224-to-194 vote, which came a day after the administration's senior national security officials briefed lawmakers about the strike that killed a top Iranian commander, fell largely along party lines, with three Republicans and a Republican-turned-independent endorsing the resolution. Eight Democrats opposed the measure, which instructs Trump "to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran or any part of its government or military" unless Congress declares war or there is "an imminent armed attack upon the United States."

The administration, with the help of most Republicans, has argued forcefully against the effort, asserting that Trump, as commander in chief, had undisputed legal justification to kill Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad without Congress prior approval. But Democrats and a handful of Republicans were so frustrated by the administrations resistance to fully involving Congress that the belated effort to engage Capitol Hill largely backfired -- fueling momentum for Thursdays vote.

In the House, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.), a close Trump ally who has publicly defended last weeks strike on Soleimani, worked with Democrats after Wednesdays briefings to fine-tune the resolution, ultimately crossing the aisle on Thursday to support it.

"I support the president. Killing Soleimani was the right decision. But engaging in another forever war in the Middle East would be the wrong decision," Gaetz said, announcing his yes vote.

But the critical forum is the Senate, where Democrats are in the minority and will need the help of at least four Republicans to pass a similar war powers resolution. Put forward by Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.), the measure could come up for a vote as early as next week.

Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky have committed to supporting Kaine's resolution, fuming to reporters Wednesday that administration officials had failed to specify when, if ever, they might seek Congress' approval for military strikes.

Lee complained that officials had instead communicated that lawmakers "need to be good little boys and girls and run along and not debate this in public." He has called that position "absolutely insane" and "unacceptable."

Kaine said Thursday that he is discussing his resolution with Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Todd Young, R-Ind., in addition to Lee and Paul, and selectively changing the text -- such as removing language that specifically addresses Trump by name -- in hopes that doing so will build enough support to secure Senate approval.

Procedurally, it is likely that the House will have to take up the Senates resolution, should it pass in that chamber, in order to send Trump a war powers resolution that has the weight of potential law. It is also extremely likely that, should they succeed, the president will veto it -- and that Congress will not be able to muster enough votes to override that veto.

But Kaine sounded undeterred Thursday, arguing that Congress could still influence Trump's thinking even if supporters cannot override his veto. As evidence, he pointed to when Congress threatened to invoke its war powers to curtail U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen.

He stopped doing what we were complaining about. It had an impact, Kaine said, noting that the administration stopped refueling Saudi jets. President Trump may not care about Congress, but he does care about the American public ... and if he sees a strong vote on this, and it goes to him, its an expression not just of what we think but of what our constituents think.

At this point, however, Republicans and Democrats remain bitterly divided over whether Trump's strike was prudent and justified, or illegal and reckless, with the dispute coming down to whether Soleimani posed such an imminent threat to warrant going after him without the consent of Congress.

The administration insists it had a right to target Soleimani under the Congresss 2002 authorization for use of military force (AUMF) in Iraq and the presidents constitutional right to self-defense of troops directly and imminently in harms way. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said Thursday that the House would vote to repeal the 2002 AUMF soon.

The war powers resolutions going through Congress recognize an exception for an imminent threat, but Democrats do not buy the Trump administrations argument that one existed -- and they are upset with the administration for withholding intelligence from lawmakers that could inform their determination.

"We deserve the respect from the administration, and the Congress deserves by dint of the Constitution, the requirement of the Constitution, to consult Congress," Pelosi said, arguing that the administration's justification for the strike should be redacted and made available to the public, as there was "no reason for it to be classified."

Republicans, meanwhile, have endorsed the administrations approach, arguing that this Congress leaks like the Titanic, as Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R., La.) put it, and thus lawmakers could not always be trusted with the most sensitive information.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) argued Thursday that the administrations briefers had provided lawmakers all the information they needed to support the strike.

"In terms of where there is an imminent threat, General Milley was compelling and chilling about what was going to happen and what had happened," Graham said, referring to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley, who briefed lawmakers Wednesday, along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and CIA director Gina Haspel.

"I think a third-grader could have believed there was an imminent threat coming from the man that we killed," Graham said.

Republicans are warning their colleagues against voting for the war powers resolutions, arguing they are only intended to try to undermine the president in the middle of a conflict with the worlds largest state sponsor of terrorism, as House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R., La.) said Thursday.

"How can you sit here and try to apologize for the things that he did by saying taking him out was wrong?" Scalise continued. "This world is a safer place with Soleimani gone."

House Democrats have been taking pains to condemn Soleimani as they complain that the administration's moves were illegal for having cut out Congress.

Qasem Soleimani was a malign force responsible for the death of many Americans, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) said, adding that he nonetheless has no confidence that there is some broad strategy at work, or the policies of the president are doing anything but increasing the dangers to the American people.

He called the Houses vote the first step of a broader reassertion of Congresss war powers. ... It is past time for Congress to do our job and not simply write the executive a blank check."
What the papers say  January 9 (PA)

The crisis in the Persian Gulf has been well and truly knocked off the front pages by the crisis in the royal family, in the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs decision to step back from being senior royals.

The Sun captures the moment with a catchy headline, calling the couples decision Megxit.

Tomorrow's front page: Queen deeply upset at Harry and Meghans Royal exit sparking civil war  with Charles and Wills incadescent with rage https://t.co/xo6t5qdpsO pic.twitter.com/ZYEfjlEmwN  The Sun (@TheSun) January 8, 2020

The i, by contrast, has a front page headline saying only Prince quits, and barely mentions Meghan.

Thursday's front page: Prince quits - Harry and Meghan resign from royal duties in search for privacy #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/74rp6vBDRJ  i newspaper (@theipaper) January 8, 2020

The Daily Express calls it a Royal family bombshell, while The Daily Telegraph reports that Harry and Meghan quit the firm.

EXPRESS: Queens dismay as Harry and Meghan step back from Royal Life #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/1z5YiY7NG4  Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) January 8, 2020

The decision is another sign of a split in the royal family, according to The Times.

TIMES: Harry and Meghan quit roles amid Palace split #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/e3W4P3KSBS  Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) January 8, 2020

The Daily Mail focuses on the Queens fury over Harry and Meghan saying We quit.

Metro and the Daily Mirror say the couple did not tell the Queen of their decision.

And The Guardian also leads on the royal couple, giving some prominence to their complaints of media bullying and smears.

Guardian front page, Thursday 9 January 2020: Harry and Meghan to step back as senior royals pic.twitter.com/y66ceidhDY  Guardian news (@guardiannews) January 8, 2020

The Financial Times reports Harry and Meghan on their front page, but gives greater prominent to Donald Trumps measured reaction to Irans missile strikes.

Just published: front page of the Financial Times, UK edition, Thursday 9 January https://t.co/aM4Y8Cf7lO pic.twitter.com/Tqvn38Gl2o  Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) January 8, 2020

And the Daily Star leads with a story on scientists saying people should eat pond scum.
- Beyonce's daughter turned 8 years old on 7 January and her proud granddad shared a rare snap of her

- Blue looks all grown up in the photo and it's clear to see that she has her mother's beauty

- Fans couldn't believe how lovely the little princess is growing up to be

Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in

On 7 January, Beyonce and Jay-Z's eldest daughter, Blue Ivy, turned 8 years old and she's growing up fast.

Beyonce's dad is a very proud grandfather and to celebrate Blue Ivy's birthday, he shared a snap of her that few fans have seen before.

In the photo, it is obvious that the girl inherited her mother's beauty, she looks just lovely, not to mention she looks surprisingly grown-up as well.

READ ALSO: Jason Momoa leaves women drooling after wearing tank top at Golden Globe Awards

The caption that Mathew Knowles used was simple and made it clear that he is fond of his oldest granddaughter.

"Happy Birthday to my beautiful and oldest granddaughter Blue Ivy. Love, Papa G."

READ ALSO: Medikal brags about having 2 houses; says he will build 3rd house this year

Queen Bey's fans were amazed at how quickly Blue Ivy is growing up.

They couldn't help but gush over how she looks:

rey_islandgyal

"Wow shes so beautiful"

4dione

"Omg shes gorgeous Happy Birthday"

4everkee

"She an absolute doll"

qu33n_____b

"Happy birthday beautiful! Wow she has grown up so fast"

zimkitamaneli

"She is so beautiful"

jonestarshadenean

"Beautiful from head to toe, and the color is awesome Blue!!!"

YEN.com.gh earlier reported that Kenyan Hollywood star, Lupita Nyongo, had been spotted in Ghana eating a bowl of Fufu with groundnut and Guniea fowl for the first time in her life and she loved it.

READ ALSO: Jackie Appiah shares powerful photo with Popcaan; fans react

Lupita Nyongo came to Ghana during the Christmas holidays to embark on a private tour as part of the on-going 'Year of Return' campaign.

Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Enjoyed reading our story? Download YEN's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Ghana news!

Source: YEN.com.gh
Pedestrians make their way across the complicated, five-way intersection of Frankford Avenue, Trenton Avenue and York Street after school let out in the East Kensington section of Philadelphia. The city plans to install a traffic circle at the location. Read more

For many neighborhoods, signal lights and stop signs are considered the tools of choice for controlling unruly traffic situations. If you force drivers to stop and look, the thinking goes, youll make the streets safer for everyone.

Philadelphias Streets Department also cares about reducing the risks for people moving around the city, but its taking a different approach. To manage a dangerous intersection in Kensington, its scrapping the traffic lights entirely.

If this sounds shocking, just idle in neutral for a moment. Yes, this summer the Streets Department will rip out the signals that regulate the intersection where Frankford Avenue, Trenton Avenue, and York Street meet in an enormous, crash-prone field of asphalt. But the city will replace that time-honored  and flawed  system of traffic control with a Dutch-style roundabout. Instead of blinking electric lights, the new design will use concrete medians and visual cues to guide people safely through the space.

Believe it or not, this passive approach can work. In the year since Palm Beach, Fla., installed its first Dutch-style roundabout, average car speeds have dropped from 38 to 25 m.p.h., and there hasnt been a single crash, the city traffic engineer, Uyen Dang, told me. Gustave Scheerbaum, the Streets Department engineer overseeing Philadelphias new roundabout, believes the Kensington project could produce similar results.

Philadelphia already has plenty of traffic circles, with the ones at Logan Square and Eakins Oval being the most notorious. Its an understatement to say they are not universally loved.

Whats different here is the design. Scheerbaum says the Kensington roundabout is the first time the city has embraced modern Dutch techniques for managing the intricate ballet of motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians across a complex intersection.

The department chose the Kensington location for the trial run because of its immense scale and the large number of reported crashes: 10 during a five-year study period. The intersection is also unusually complicated. Three neighborhoods (East Kensington, Olde Richmond, and Fishtown) and three streets meet in the middle. So much is going on that it is not unusual for confused motorists to sail through without noticing the traffic lights.

With new housing and restaurants popping up on nearly every block, pedestrian counts have increased noticeably, making dangerous conflicts more likely. Twice a day, children must cross the 120-foot-long expanse to reach Hackett Elementary School. Residents want a walkable neighborhood where you can cross the street with a stroller and not fear an unseen car barreling through an unmarked driving lane, Tori Engelstad, the president of the East Kensington Neighbors Association, wrote in an email.

Roundabouts have long been popular in Europe, where pedestrians have traditionally been given priority over cars. But many American cities remain skeptical. Maybe thats because the word roundabout still evokes visions of car-choked traffic circles, the kind that South Jersey was once famous for, where motorists jockeyed for position as they inched toward an outlet. Sidewalks and crosswalks, if they existed at all, were an afterthought, since pedestrians rarely figured into the equation.

The new Kensington roundabout will be nothing like a Jersey traffic circle, Scheerbaum promises. The old-style traffic circle was invented so cars could flow through intersections without stopping. Because those circles usually linked up several multilane roads, they tended to be much bigger than roundabouts.

But that was also their weakness. Drivers would freeze when they entered the giant ring, unsure which way to go. As traffic circles became notorious for their bottlenecks, many places began dumbing down the engineering by adding traffic lights or turning them into jughandles.

The Kensington roundabout, which is expected to cost in the mid six figures, will be much smaller and less chaotic, Scheerbaum says. Instead of promoting flow, it encourages everyone to go slow. Several sections of the design, including the eye of central circle, are being planted with grass, to help soften the mood.

As cars approach, they will be stopped by an island, called a splitter. The angle of that barrier will force drivers to yield before entering the circle. That pause, Scheerbaum says, is designed to give motorists a good view of people in the crosswalks. Yield signs will make it clear they must wait for pedestrians and cyclists.

Will they? Roundabouts have been successful in Europe partly because motorists there are trained to be deferential to pedestrians. What happens when the design is introduced into city where motorists are not, shall we say, so courteous?

The roundabout is said to have flourished in Britain because it requires the British virtues of compromise and cooperation, journalist Stephen Beard observed in an article in BBC America, titled What Americans dont understand about the Roundabout.

Philadelphias rate of fatal crashes is already higher than many of its peer cities, according to a 2019 Bicycle Coalition report. Nationally, a quarter of all road deaths occur at intersections.

Scheerbaum believes enough splitters and pedestrian islands are built into the Kensington design to compensate for the aggressive habits of Philly drivers. Dutch roundabouts work by providing designated safe zones for cars, buses, bicycles, and pedestrians. They act as a referee, keeping everyone in their place.

One big difference between the Kensington roundabout and the typical Dutch version is that it lacks a dedicated bike lane. Cyclists will have to roll with the cars. Even the Palm Beach roundabout, which is surrounded by gated communities where people have multicar garages, has a cycle track, separated by a curb from the car lane. That project cost $1.5 million and includes a sculpture in the eye of the circle, oriented vertically to help grab drivers attention.

Randy LoBasso, policy manager for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, isnt worried about the absence of a lane for cyclists. Hes optimistic that the improvement can come later.

We already know that traffic lights are not a perfect solution to the conditions at the Kensington intersection. A change in the scenery can only help everyone watch where theyre going.
Enviro Power, a Hartford-based energy-tech company, today announced it has secured investment from Burnham Holdings and Connecticut Innovations, closing out its series A funding round. The new round will be used to reach serial production of the SmartWatt Boiler technology  a competitively priced heating system designed to generate close-to-zero cost electricity and provide backup power with the potential to significantly reduce utility bills for millions of building owners while lowering its carbon footprint and enhancing grid resiliency.

The addition of Burnham Holdings as a strategic investor gives us a unique advantage given that the SmartWatt Boiler, which is essentially a high-efficiency heating system with a power plant inside, is similar to products produced by various Burnham Holdings subsidiaries, said Dan Nadav, CEO, Enviro Power. Burnham Holdings investment allows us to leverage Burnhams decades of HVAC manufacturing experience and combine with Enviro Powers cutting-edge heat and power technology in order to bring to market a truly unique, economical, environmentally friendly, combined heat and power solution for todays climate-conscious consumers.

Burnham Holdings is pleased to join with Connecticut Innovations and the team at Enviro Power to invest in and support the development of the SmartWatt next-generation combined heat and power boiler, said Chris Drew, President and Chief Operating Officer, Burnham Holdings. The core features of the SmartWatt design align extremely well with our core strengths in product engineering, manufacturing capabilities and extensive market access through one of the largest networks of HVAC wholesalers and independent reps in the country. Helping bring the SmartWatt to market fits with our long-term commitment to developing clean, highly efficient, low-emission heating appliances that serve a broad array of residential and commercial applications.

In addition to the new funding, Enviro Power also announced the addition of Morgan OBrien, CEO of Peoples Gas, to the newly reformed board of directors.

We are excited to have Morgan OBrien join the Enviro Power board of directors, Nadav continued. Morgan possesses deep knowledge of the gas utility market  an important element in Enviro Power overall strategy  and we are pleased to welcome him to Enviro Power, added Nadav.

About Enviro Power:

Enviro Power develops and provides cutting-edge combined heat and power technologies. The company, founded by Michael Cocuzza, brings to market a revolutionary heating system. The SmartWatt Boiler technology platform is an enabler in integrating buildings into the power grid and a cornerstone in grid modernization. A heating system with a power plant inside, the SmartWatt Boiler allows millions of building owners to generate inexpensive electricity, enjoy backup and participate in demand response programs. For more information, please visit http://www.enviropowertec.com

About Connecticut Innovations:

Connecticut Innovations (CI) is Connecticuts strategic venture capital arm and the leading source of financing and ongoing support for Connecticuts innovative, growing companies. CI provides venture capital and strategic support for early-stage technology companies, financial support for innovation and collaboration, and connections to its well-established network of partners and professionals. For more information, please visit https://www.ctinnovations.com.

About Burnham Holdings:

Burnham Holdings Inc. is the parent company of multiple subsidiaries that are leading domestic manufacturers of boilers and related HVAC products and accessories (including furnaces, radiators and air conditioning systems), for residential, commercial and industrial applications. The key to our performance is a clear vision for meeting current and future customer needs through innovative technology, including more energy-efficient products, green products with lower emissions, and smarter controls.


Winter housing of stock began on the Conway farm in mid-October when the lightest batch of contract-reared dairy heifers were housed, followed two weeks later by the heavier batch of heifers.

The first batch of ewes were housed on December 14 and all sheep will be housed by mid-January when scanning will take place.

This year the breeding season went relatively well except for a batch of 30 ewes that were mated with a Suffolk ram that turned out to be infertile. The benefit of using a raddled harness on the ram was invaluable, according to Sean, as he noticed a lot of repeats early in the second cycle after a change of harness colour.

He quickly took action and changed the ram. Rams were left with this batch for 35 days from the start of breeding - one week longer than the normal practice on the Conway farm.

Sean is hopeful that most of the ewes were picked up in the second cycle. He will find out for definite at scanning time.

Silage analysis

The heifers are currently being fed a grass silage that was cut on May 2 - the analysis shows that it has 42.8pc dry matter, 15.1pc crude protein, 74.7 pc dry matter digestibility and a UFL of 0.84.

This silage should sustain an average daily live weight gain above 0.5kgs. With all but four heifers currently on target, Sean plans to get the heifers - especially the lighter ones - to grass in February without feeding any concentrates over the winter period.

The housed ewes are being fed a 63.9pc DM, 15.1 CP, 75.9 DMD grass silage with a UFL of 0.86pc which was cut on May 14.

Ewes will not be fed concentrates until four weeks prior to lambing. Sean is a firm believer in the benefits, both financially and in stock performance, of making top quality silage. He aims to have the bulk of his baled silage at or above 75 DMD.

Lameness

Lameness in an ongoing problem on all sheep farms.

In early December Sean noticed that a lot of the ewes were lame, probably due to the very wet ground conditions that prevailed over the previous weeks.

The cause of the lameness appeared to be scald. Sean has a roofed batch footbath where he uses a solution made up of 10pc zinc sulphate. The ewes were footbathed for five minutes standing time in the bath, followed by an hour standing time on a concrete yard on two occasions four days apart.

An alamycin spray was then applied to the lame ewes' hooves. This has solved the lameness problem for now.

Sean has not paired a ewe's hoof in the last 10 years. "I always try to get the lameness under control prior to housing," he says, "it seems to spread quicker when lame ewes are housed".

E-Profit Monitor results

"The profit monitor results give me an indication of how the farm enterprises are performing from one year to the next and also allows me to compare my performance to others in my discussion group.

"Over the years it has highlighted areas where improvements could be made and areas were the farm is performing well," says Sean.

A summary of the 2014 and 2019 E-Profit Monitor results for the sheep enterprise on the Conway farm are outlined in the table opposite.

I first started to feature Sean in Sheep Tech articles in 2014, so it was interesting to track how the flock performance changed in the last six years.

Ewe numbers have reduced from 190 to 105 which was mainly due to the change of enterprise from drystock to contract rearing and the resulting increase in overall cattle numbers. Ewes per ha has remained relatively unchanged at 5.74 in 2014 versus 5.95 in 2019.

The most dramatic change has come in lambs weaned per ewe put to the ram - 1.50 in 2014 versus 2.00 in 2019. Sean says this is mainly due to ewe genetics and having the ewes in the correct body condition score at mating.

"124 ewes now will leave the same flock gross margin as the initial 190 did in 2014," says Sean. A 50pc increase in kgs of output per ewe and per ha has resulted in a 54pc increase in gross margin per ewe 71 versus 109. Average lamb price has remained relatively unchanged at 95.76 in 2014 and 97.36 in 2019 for all lambs sold including stores; however variable costs have increased from 67 to 85 per ewe. The most obvious way to increase overall farm profit would be to increase stocking rate while maintaining a similar level of performance.

Sean, however, is happy with the overall farm stocking rate of 1.40LUs per ha which is typical of farms with similar land type in the north-west. The main thing for Sean is that the both enterprises on the farm are returning a net profit in their own right excluding premia. I hope your sheep enterprise will achieve similar results in 2020 and that you all have a happy, prosperous and safe farming New Year.

Tom Coll is a Teagasc advisor based in Mohill, Co Leitrim

Farm facts

Sean Conway farms at Coondrihara, Lavagh, Ballymote at the foot of Knocknashee in Co Sligo.

The farm is of heavy soil type by nature and this was one of the reasons why Sean changed his farming enterprise 16 years ago from dairying to contract rearing and sheep.

Getting the simple management practices right on the farm has allowed Sean to maximise flock output and minimise variable costs. What are the simple practices adopted on the Conway farm this autumn?

They all revolve around a single common denominator which is grass.

An adequate supply of quality leafy grass in August and September ensures that replacement ewe lambs are at least 48kgs and ewes are in good body condition score 3.5 and above going to the ram in mid-October.

Having all lambs sold by the end of October makes sure that there is enough grass to match ewe requirements prior to housing in late December.

Closing paddocks in rotation as they are grazed from early October almost always guarantees an adequate supply of grass for lambing in mid-March.
The extraordinary general meeting in Scanship Holding ASA has today resolved to change the companys name to Vow ASA (Vow). Please see the attached minutes of meeting.

The new company name is expected to be registered in the Norwegian register of business enterprises (Foretaksregisteret) on 10 January 2020, which is expected to be the last day of trading on Oslo Brs under the ticker "SSHIP". From and inclusive 13 January 2020, the companys shares are expected to trade on Oslo Brs under the new ticker "VOW".

"The new company name can be interpreted in many ways, such as valorisation of waste, which is a common denominator for what we do. Personally, I also like to think of the name as a reminder of our promise - our vow to our customers, to our investors and to the world. It underlines our passion for preventing pollution," Vow CEO Henrik Badin says.

The Scanship and ETIA names, as well as the brands within Scanship and ETIA product families will be continued, either as names of subsidiaries or product lines, or both. Customers will continue to meet the same faces and the same products as before the name change.

For further queries, please visit our new web site https://www.vowasa.com / or contact:





Henrik Badin  CEO



Vow ASA

Tel: +47 90 78 98 25

Email: henrik.badin@vowasa.com





About Vow ASA

In Vow and our subsidiaries Scanship and Etia we are passionate about preventing pollution. Our world leading solutions convert biomass and waste into valuable resources and generate clean energy for a wide range of industries.

Cruise ships on every ocean have Vow technology inside which processes waste and purifies wastewater. Fish farmers are adopting similar solutions, and public utilities and industries use our solutions for sludge processing, waste management and biogas production on land.

Our ambitions go further than this. With our advanced technologies and solutions, we turn waste into biogenetic fuels to help decarbonize industry and convert plastic waste into fuel, clean energy and high-value pyro carbon.

Our solutions are scalable, standardized, patented and thoroughly documented, and our capability to deliver is well proven. They are key to end waste and stop pollution.

Located in Oslo, the parent company Vow ASA is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ticker SSHIP, VOW from 13 January 2020). In 2018 the Vow group had annual revenues of NOK 430 million and 120 employees in Norway, France, Poland and the US.





This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.









Attachment
The Justice Department said five people are killed every year by a former or current partner or family member in Northern Ireland (PA)

Five people are killed every year by a former or current partner or family member in Northern Ireland.

The Department of Justice revealed the statistic as it said it wants to recruit for a review of domestic homicides.

Officials hope to establish what lessons can be learned about how local professionals and organisations worked to safeguard victims.

It will also consider any contact or work with the alleged perpetrator or perpetrators.

Peter May, the departments permanent secretary, said: Since 2010, on average five people are killed every year in Northern Ireland by a current or former partner or close family member.

Expand Close Each review will aim to establish what lessons can be learned from each case (PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Each review will aim to establish what lessons can be learned from each case (PA)

Each homicide is a tragedy and it is essential that we do all that we can to learn lessons, ultimately with a view to preventing domestic violence and abuse and domestic homicide happening in the future.

The department wants to establish a pool of three individuals to independently chair and undertake reviews locally, with the assistance of an expert panel.

Each review will be allocated to an independent chair.

The establishment of a pool of independent chairs is a key stage in the introduction of a Domestic Homicide Review (DHR) model to Northern Ireland.

This was a commitment of the previous justice minister.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has provided insight into why a candidate who scored 302 in the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) was not admitted for Medicine at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Goodness Shekwobyalo Thomas from Niger State was not admitted despite her high UTME score sparking nationwide uproar and negative reports against ABU and JAMB in the traditional and social media.

But speaking in Abuja Thursday at a meeting convened to review the matter, JAMB Registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, said the candidate caused the confusion that led ABU not to admit her for medicine.

The evidence before us is that the candidate changed her course from Medicine to Anatomy, Mr Oloyede, a professor, said. We can see that clearly in the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS). She did that on her own and she was therefore not in consideration for medicine at all.

If she had not changed her course, she would have been number 36 (of 80)on the merit list of ABU for medicine.

After she changed, she became number one in Anatomy and she was offered admission for that course. When we asked her why she changed, she said someone in ABU called her on phone to change her course. We asked her for evidence, there was none. ABU said they never advised her to do so.

But despite that, ABU still went ahead to reverse the change she made and offered her admission in Medicine even though that was not cleared with CAPS. I asked her why she is not telling the world that ABU offered her admission in Medicine eventually. She had no answer.

Ms Thomas has an aggregate score of 288 after scoring 302 in UTME and 274 in ABU post-UTME screening, JAMB records show.

Her average score placed her in third position among candidates from Niger who applied to ABU to study medicine. Isa Mujahid and Hassan Rukayat Nda-Isah scored 299 and 292 respectively to place first and second in the tally.

At the meeting held at JAMB headquarters in Bwari were Bello Attahiru, Niger States director of schools and educational services, who represented the states commissioner of education; Haruna Ali Mohammed, ABU admission officerand relevant JAMB officials.

The candidate and her parents failed to show up despite assuring JAMB officials they would attend.

It was resolved at the meeting that ABU and JAMB would work together to see that Ms Goodness was approved for her initial preferred course  Medicine.

READ ALSO:

JAMB also promised to assist her if she preferred to move to another university to study medicine.

If they want her to be in another University, we can facilitate her movement, Mr Oloyede said. Having created that kind of controversy and sensation, she may no longer be comfortable studying in ABU. But for her to change university, the right processes must be followed. No Nigerian university can admit her without the right processes because she already has an admission in ABU.

Mr Oloyede advised Nigerians against sensationalising issues or reading ethnic and religious meanings into them when do not have all the facts.

Also speaking, Mr Attahiru, the Niger State official, said with the evidence he saw, he could say confidently that the candidate changed her course and caused the confusion that arose.

All the doubts I had have been cleared, Mr Attahiru said. They just wanted to sensationalise the issue. If her (the candidate) and her parents were here, they would have been shown the evidence of what happened.
Despite all the financial funds raised during this seasons Giving Fund, some local families are still in need of help to get through the rest of winter.

The Connecticut Post partners yearly with LifeBridge in Bridgeport to give readers a chance to help out community members in need of a bit of help through the Giving Fund project.

The total amount requested for the six weeks from this years project was $24,512.60. All donors have raised $17,370.23  leaving $7,142.37 left to fulfill to completely cover all the costs from this seasons cases.

Online donations are accepted through LifeBridges website. In the comment box, readers should write Giving Fund and the case number they want their donation to go toward.

As with every other week, the names of the individuals in these cases have been changed to protect their privacy. The cases are true and all money donated goes directly to the individuals in need.

Elliot  Case 001

Elliot is a father living in Bridgeport, working through chronic pain. One of his kids has a rare disease, which forced his wife to juggle a job and being a full-time caregiver. A gift of $200 would help cover the familys car repairs.

Case 002 has been fully funded.

Elsa  Case 003

Elsa is a self-employed mother of five undergoing cancer treatments. Her husband is also self-employed and has to provide health insurance for their family. A gift of $385 would help Elsas family get through the winter.

Nancy  Case 004

Nancy is a grandmother living in Bridgeport who is a survivor of domestic violence and homelessness. Three of her grandkids are staying with her and shes struggling financially. A gift of $350 would help her get through the winter.

Cindy  Case 005

Cindy is a single mother living in Bridgeport with three kids. They were briefly homeless but recently moved into an apartment. A gift of $300 would cover the remaining cost of basic household items for their apartment.

Leslie  Case 006

Leslie is a divorced mother with three young children. Her and her kids recently moved from a shelter to a new apartment. A gift of $325 would help her cover the remaining cost of beds for her children.

Sue  Case 007

Sue is a married woman with six kids. She has been out of work since giving birth in June while her husband continues to work. A gift of $450 would help Sue and her family keep up on their bills.

Jenn  Case 008

Jenn is a widowed mother of two living with her mother after her husbands sudden death. She works part-time and cares for her mother. A gift of $300 would help her stay on top of expenses.

Leon  Case 009

Leon is a lifelong Bridgeport resident who has saved up for a security deposit for an apartment with his girlfriend and their baby. A gift of $450 would help Leon cover the remaining cost of furniture for the apartment.

Ariel  Case 010

Ariel is a single mother living in Bridgeport with a son who recently had surgery, forcing her to take some time off work. A gift of $425 would help Ariel deal with finances while she is out of work.

Tina  Case 011

Tina is a single mother living in Bridgeport. Her daughter needs a new mattress but Tina recently lost her job. A gift of $450 would cover the remaining cost of her daughters new mattress.

Patty  Case 012

Patty is a 61-year-old single woman who has recently had to have a tumor removed. She has to be connected to a drainage tube for at least one year. A gift of $115 would cover the remaining cost of basic need items.

Case 013 has been fully funded.

Irene  Case 014

Irene is a single mother living in Bridgeport with seven children. She is seeking employment but her familys bills are piling up. A gift of $375 would help her get through the winter as she continues to look for a job.

Lucy  Case 015

Lucy is a single mother with two children and one grandchild, living in Bridgeport. Health problems led her to lose her job recently. A gift of $350 would help her push through the next few months.

Case 016 has been fully funded.

Lisa  Case 017

Lisa is a single mother of two who has been unable to work, and is now in fear of possible eviction. A gift of $275 would help Lisa get through the winter.

Adam  Case 018

Adam is living in West Haven with his wife, who is battling cancer. He has dedicated himself to finding the best care for his wife. A gift of $125 would help Adam cover some medical expenses.

Laura  Case 019

Laura is living in Bridgeport and has a history of homelessness. She is working to secure affordable housing through her SSI benefits since she is disabled and unable to work. A gift of $325 would help Laura save up for rent payments.

Case 020 has been fully funded.

Maxie  Case 021

Maxie is a current SCSU student, being supported by a single mother with three other siblings. She commutes from Bridgeport to New Haven for classes. A gift of $150 would help cover some college expenses.

Kay  Case 022

Kay is a single mother living in Shelton, enrolled in a certificate program to help her get future employment. She works part-time. A gift of $425 would help cover child care costs until she gets approved for a program.

Dan  Case 023

Dan is a Bridgeport resident whose disability benefits have been withheld for months. He was the victim of a robbery where his wallet was stolen. A gift of $375 would help him get through the winter as he gets things under control.

Erik  Case 024

Erik is a single father living in Bridgeport. He hit a pothole while driving recently, damaging his car. A gift of $500 would help cover the cost of his vehicles repairs.

Grace  Case 025

Grace is single mother living in Bridgeport with two of her three children. She recently started a patient care technician course but is struggling financially. A gift of $300 would help her get back on her feet.

Case 026 has been fully funded.

Mandy  Case 027

Mandy lives in Bridgeport with her parents and sister. She struggles with confidence until she was inspired by the music from a Broadway show. A gift of $475 would cover ticket costs for her and her family to see the production.

Sara  Case 028

Sara is a Bridgeport teen living with her disabled mother and five siblings. She is in school and works two part-time jobs to help with bills. A gift of $400 would help Sara and her family get through the winter a bit easier.

Cindy  Case 029

Cindy is a single mother living in Bridgeport with twins. They have been in and out of homeless shelters as she recovers from surgery, leaving her out of work. A gift of $100 would help her buy winter clothes for her kids.

Case 030 has been fully funded.

Case 031 has been fully funded.

Case 032 has been fully funded.

Case 033  Mike

Mike is a married father living in Bridgeport with one child. He and his wife are unemployed but continue to look for work. A gift of $475 would help the family push through the winter until Mike can get another job.

Case 034  Helen

Helen is living in Bridgeport with her fiance and three sons. Her youngest son was recently diagnosed with cancer and she has become a full-time caregiver for him. A gift of $475 would help cover some medical expenses.

Case 035  Sandy

Sandy is living in Bridgeport with her teenage son and struggling to find resources to support herself and her child. She works full-time but has fallen behind on some bills. A gift of $500 would help her through the next few months.

Case 036 has been fully funded.

Case 037  Carrie

Carrie is a single mother living with two kids while working 20-hour weeks. She is struggling financially and her familys rent is past due. A gift of $375 would help her stabilize her living situation.

Case 038  Anna

Anna in a Bridgeport teen, struggling with mental health issues since her father died from cancer. She attends therapy and has found physical activity helps her get a handle on her issues. A gift of $400 would cover a gym membership.

Case 039  Ellen

Ellen is a single mother living in Bridgeport with her teen daughter. She struggled with physical conditions that prevent her from working for long periods of time. A gift of $500 would help her push through the winter.

Case 040  Susan

Susan is a domestic violence survivor who is currently homeless but staying with a friend. She is struggling to find a job. A gift of $75 would help cover her remaining winter bills as she continues to seek employment.

Case 041  Sonia

Sonia is a mother of three young kids, recently widowed when her husband died by suicide after attacking her. She was granted unpaid leave from work to recover. A gift of $450 would help cover bills through this time.

Case 042  Pam

Pam is living in Bridgeport with two sons. She is working to find a safe new home for her family but is struggling financially. A gift of $500 would help her get through the winter.

Case 043  Eileen

Eileen is a recently separated mother who lives in Bridgeport with two kids. She left a 16-year abusive relationship and has been working part-time, but struggling financially. A gift of $500 would help her cover some bills.

Case 044  Diana

Diana is a grandmother living in Bridgeport, caring for her granddaughters for years. She recently started to experience chronic pain. She lives on a fixed income. A gift of $120 would help her get through the winter.

Case 045  Linda

Linda is a grandmother living in Bridgeport, caring fro her kids and grandkids while dealing with chronic pain and mobility issues. A gift of $270 would provide some financial relief through the winter.

Case 046 has been fully funded.

Case 047  Sam

Sam has been homeless for years but was recently approved for Social Security income. He found an income-driven apartment but is lacking basic things like a bed. A gift of $400 would help him buy a bed and some other items.\

Case 048  Vicky

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A firefighter who has been battling blazes for 30 years will speak at a climate change rally because he believes global warming is progressively making fire seasons worse and he fears for his children's future.

Darin Sullivan, a Shellharbour firefighter, will join protesters at Wollongong's Arts Precinct on Saturday in a rally for climate change action as Australia continues to burn.

Mr Sullivan is one of the key speakers of the event and will demand action from government officials after noticing dangerous changes with fire cells compared to earlier in his career.

'I've been fighting fires for 30 years, in most bushfire campaigns around the state, and now we're seeing things we've never seen before with the heat of the fires and them creating their own weather patterns,' Mr Sullivan told The Illawarra Mercury.

Darin Sullivan (pictured right) will speak at the climate rally in Wollongong on Saturday, saying he wants a safe place for his kids to grow up

Revellers in The Domain in Sydney chanting in protest of the government's inaction on climate change

School children protesting at a climate rally on a global mass day of protests in September

'Our workplace is becoming more dangerous, and we've been calling on the government to take stronger action. But here we are: we've had firefighter deaths, we've had an absolute disaster, and part of the reason we're in this situation is because our inaction on climate change over the last 10 to 20 years.'

In recent weeks, Mr Sullivan has tended to a number of blazes on the New South Wales south coast including the destructive Currowan fire, leaving him suffering from smoke inhalation.

Mr Sullivan thanked all those who have donated to bushfire relief funds, and hoped that a big crowd will show on Saturday to voice their support for the cause.

'People are donating, we're getting boots on the ground to help, and the protest is another way to do more. My family will be there, because my kids want to grow up in a world that is safer than it looks like it's going to be, and this is a way to call for action,' he said.

Mr Sullivan isn't the only firefighter to speak up over the bushfire disaster, with Drew Strnk calling out 'false science' and 'outright lies' being 'peddled on social media as news or facts'.

Australian firefighter Drew Strnk (pictured) shut down 'false science and outright lies being peddled on social media as news or facts' surrounding the bushfire crisis across the country

A climate change protester wearing a mask reading 'Australia is on fire' at a rally in Sydney in December

What is controlled burning? Controlled burning is a type of hazard reduction used to prepare for bushfires The low-intensity fires aim to reduce the fuel load (vegetation) on the forest floor This minimises the potential impacts of bushfire on life, property and the environment Advertisement

Mr Strnk rubbished rumours about hazard-reduction burns and slammed the politicisation of the crisis, angrily saying there 'absolutely' needs to be more done.

He said climate change was not the cause of the fires, but rather lightning strikes, people and negligence.

But he did say climate change was contributing to 'increasing temperatures and increasing drought severity which is creating worsening fire conditions'.

'Yes, climate change is contributing to a longer fire season,' he wrote.

'Yes, we should have acted on climate change long ago. All of us. The whole world. Everyone.'

A firefighter before a wall of flames in a backburning operation along Putty Road in Sydney in November

'No, no one knows exactly how much climate change has contributed to exacerbating the conditions for this year's catastrophic fire season however the best science available and scientific consensus is that there is an undeniable link.'

The firefighter called on everyone to look outside social media and news consumption as 'these fires have been politicised'.

'No, a video on FB of a guy in the bush screaming at the greens is not facts about what caused these fires,' he wrote.

'No, a video of someone shouting at ScoMo for not funding the NSW Rural Fire Service is not facts about what caused these fires.'
The battle for the state Senate is on as veteran Democrat Steve Cassano, of Manchester, has signaled he will retire this year, leaving open a seat that Democrats narrowly defended in 2016 and Republicans hope to pick up in 2020.

Cassanos likely retirement and 11 Senate seats held by first-term Democrats leave the Democrats with just 10 multi-term incumbents as Republicans begin to mount their campaigns. Democrats hold a 22-14 majority in the upper chamber.

MD Masudur Rahman, a Democrat from Manchester, has filed paperwork to run for Cassanos seat representing about 90,000 residents of the 4th Senate District, which includes Glastonbury, Andover and Bolton.

Rahman, who immigrated to Connecticut from Bangladesh over 20 years ago, said he met with Cassano for more than two hours to discuss his run for the senate, and said Cassano confirmed to him that he does not plan to seek re-election.

He is advising me greatly, Rahman said. He said, MD, you have a story to tell.

Cassano, who was first elected to the Senate in 2011, did not return a request for comment on his retirement or Rahmans candidacy Wednesday, but other sources familiar with the race said Cassano will not seek re-election in November.

Others are expected to join the 4th district race including, Dennis Schain a former spokesman for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and for former Gov. M. Jodi Rell. Schain briefly campaigned for the Senate nomination two years ago, but withdrew when Cassano announced for re-election.

Its certainly something Im considering, said Schain, who is currently a member of Manchesters nine-member governing body called the Board of Directors.

No Republicans have yet filed to run in the 4th Senate District, but party chairman J.R. Romano noted that Matt Corey, who ran for U.S. Senate in 2018, lives in the 4th District, as does former state Rep. Prasad Srinivasan, who left the state legislature to run for governor in 2018.

I think weve had some really good candidates up that way, and I think Republicans have a good opportunity to pick up seats across the state, Romano said. The Glastonbury and Manchester seat is a prime opportunity for us to pick up.

Cassano, a former Manchester mayor, narrowly defeated his Republican challenger in 2016, winning with just 50.5 percent of the vote that year. In 2018, a big year for Democrats across the board, he won by almost 10 points.

Democrats made huge gains in the 2018 election, taking back a majority in the state Senate by sending 11 freshman legislators to the statehouse in the past year. A handful have already filed paperwork, and all of them are expected to seek re-election, along with the 10 veteran legislators in the caucus besides Cassano, who has yet to officially confirm or announce his retirement.

Two years ago I said it would be my last term, Cassano said Tuesday in a brief interview in the Capitol after emerging from a closed-door caucus of the Democratic Senate majority. Its the last thing on my mind right now. Im here to do the job. Nothings changed.

Rahman, 45, lives in Manchester with his wife and three children. He runs a home health care agency, and is involved in several local nonprofits and boards.

Im an immigrant. I came here with nothing except an American dream and a dream to have a good life and be a business and civic leader, he said. I started working multiple jobs, started saving money and opened a business ... Then I was thinking, this is the dream I am living, now its time to give my community and America something. So I started to get more involved.

Ken Dixon contributed to this report.

kkrasselt@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2563; @kaitlynkrasselt
ALBANY - Gov. Andrew M. Cuomos office on Thursday offered few details on what he meant when he referred to the state absorbing the rising costs of Medicaid from local governments during his State of the State address.

Six years ago, we froze the cost of Medicaid to local governments to help them meet their property tax cap, Cuomo said Wednesday. For six years, we have been paying all the increased costs on local Medicaid spending. This year alone well spend more than $4 billion in covering the costs.

New York is facing a $6.1 billion budget gap largely due to a more than $4 billion tab for Medicaid, but lawmakers have yet to offer firm plans on how to address it. Part of the growing Medicaid debt is due to the state delaying payments into the next fiscal year.

Cuomos remarks Wednesday left some state fiscal experts wondering whether the executive is considering pushing some of the costs of Medicaid back to localities.

Its really hard to say, especially since theyve kind of denied that thats what theyre up to, said Bill Hammond, director of health policy for the Empire Center.

Since Medicaid was instituted in the 1960s, New York and its localities have split the costs. In the 1980s, the state took over the bulk of the costs, leaving counties with a 10 percent share.

While counties in 26 states across the country contribute to Medicaid costs, only 18 of them are mandated to do so and New Yorks localities share is by far the highest  topping $7 billion annually. New York City comprises the largest portion of the local share at about $5 billion with the remaining counties paying about $2 billion collectively. The costs to localities have remained flat since 2015, and the state has borne those increases.

Hammond said that in 2016 Cuomo had proposed unfreezing the local share for New York City, but it didnt gain traction.

Its more money for the state and it wouldnt take the form of a direct tax hike on anybody. Its a way of getting money without taking the blame for raising taxes, he said. They sometimes point to the New York City economy being stronger than the rest of the state.

New York State Association of Counties Executive Director Stephen J. Acquario heard Cuomos remarks as a call to action for localities. He said the federal program is extremely important and has been successful, noting that over six million New Yorkers are on Medicaid.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

I think we need to look at what the counties are best at doing in the Medicaid program, what the state is best at doing and how can we combine the talents together to develop the most efficient program, Acquario said.

Some of that work could be tackling fraud and abuse within the system, he said.

Acquario said they look forward to working with the administration on the issue as Cuomo reconvenes a team to tackle the Medicaid issue.

Cuomos office declined to answer specific questions about the issue, and directed a Times Union reporter to a previous statement issued Wednesday by Melissa DeRosa, the governor's secretary.

What we've seen in the last several months and which you'll be hearing more about in the budget in a couple of weeks is that when the state took over the growth in Medicaid costs and held the local governments' harness but allowed the local governments to continue administering the Medicaid program, there was a loss of control in terms of how the money was being spent, when it was being spent, why it was being spent, and that has created structural issues that now have to be addressed, DeRosa said during a NY1 interview. We are not going to do this in a vacuum. We have a very successful Medicaid redesign team that we put into place nine years ago. We're going to replicate that model this year. We're going to get all the stakeholders around the table. No one wants to do anything to undermine the great progress we've made in healthcare.

A Cuomo spokesman said details would be included in the governor's proposed budget when it is released later this month.
An Iranian surface-to-air missile brought down a passenger plane bound for Kyiv, Ukraine, shortly after takeoff from Tehran this week, killing all 176 people on board, officials from the U.S., Canada and the U.K. said Thursday, citing new intelligence. "This may well have been unintentional," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference, urging the Iranian government to ensure a "thorough investigation" of the crash. Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashed Wednesday morning, after Iran had launched missile attacks on bases in Iraq that house U.S. and coalition forces, prompting the theory that it was struck by a stray missile, a theory that U.S. and Canadian government officials on Thursday said was likely, based on new information. Sixty-three Canadians were among the victims in the crash of the flight, which lost contact with air traffic controllers five minutes after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday morning, officials said. "The news will undoubtedly come as a shock to the families who are already grieving in the face of this unspeakable tragedy," Trudeau said. "We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies' and our own intelligence" that indicates the plane was shot down by an Iranian missile. The reports came after President Donald Trump said he did not believe mechanical failure caused the crash. "It was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood," Trump said. "Someone could have made a mistake." Spy satellite imagery suggested the Ukraine-bound Boeing passenger airliner was shot down by an Iranian missile NBC News reported earlier Thursday. Iran's head of civil aviation agency dismissed the missile reports as "illogical rumors." Iranian officials had originally suggested that the Boeing 737-800 crashed because of a technical problem.

'Need for a thorough investigation'

Iran's civil aviation authority, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment from CNBC, said earlier Thursday that the plane departed Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport at 6:13 a.m. local time on Wednesday and lost communication with air traffic controllers five minutes later. Under international law, the country in which the crash occurs controls the investigation, and because the plane was U.S.-made, federal investigators and Boeing, the plane's manufacturer, would normally be involved. Fraught relations between the U.S. and Iran could also complicate the U.S. government's willingness to send personnel to the country. The National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday evening said it appointed a designee for the process, but it wasn't immediately clear when the person or team would be able to travel. Some airlines in Europe called off flights to Iran in the wake of the crash. tweet An Iranian official told local news media on Wednesday that Iran did not plan to share the black boxes with the U.S but Iran's aviation agency said it was conducting its investigation under international law and that it has "provided all relevant countries with the necessary information since the accident." Iran may send the recovered black boxes, which contain flight data and cockpit voice recordings, abroad for analysis. Iranian aviation officials said the boxes that were recovered from the crash site were damaged by fire. Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran's aviation authority, said that Iran and Ukraine can download the data from the black boxes but that it was open to sharing the information with specialists in other nations. "This new information reinforces the need for a thorough investigation of this matter," Trudeau said.

"I have a feeling that  it's just some very terrible, something very terrible happened, very devastating," Trump added. Most of the passengers on the flight were from Iran and Canada. Other passengers came from countries including Sweden and Ukraine. Newsweek noted that images that began circulating on Wednesday show what looked to be fragments of a Tor M-1 missile that were said to be found in a Tehran suburb. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., said, "It sounds pretty convincing that the plane that was shot down ... by Iranians." Asked what the U.S. response should be if true, Inhofe paused and then said, "I don't want to interfere with the decisions that are now being made by the president." "I'm quite sure I'll be talking to him because we talk on a regular basis about things like that."

Aircraft parts from the wreckage of a Boeing Co. 737-800 aircraft, operated by Ukraine International Airlines, which crashed shortly after takeoff lie on the ground near Shahedshahr, Iran, on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. Ali Mohammadi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said that if Iranian missiles had shot down the plane "it would be an outrage." "What I would do if I were the president would be to reach out to the Canadian people and the prime minister and try to rally the world around the idea that we shouldn't accept 40 more years of state-sponsored terrorism," Graham said. Abedzadeh said in a statement that eyewitnesses had reported that the Kyiv-bound plane was on fire immediately before the crash. Aviation safety experts, including former government crash investigators, told CNBC that the sudden loss of communication and lack of a distress signal were highly suspicious signs. The crash occurred hours after Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes on U.S. positions in Iraq for the killing of Gen. Qasem Soleimani. The timing prompted speculation that a stray Iranian missile may have downed the passenger plane. Determining the cause of plane crashes can take more than a year.

Rescue workers recover bodies from the wreckage of a Boeing Co. 737-800 aircraft, operated by Ukraine International Airlines, which crashed shortly after takeoff near Shahedshahr, Iran, on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. Ali Mohammadi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
PrideStaff Logo To better serve our clients and candidates, especially those in the East Valley, we are moving to a location that is easier to access and more centrally located within our expanding market.

PrideStaff, a national, franchised staffing organization, is pleased to announce that their Tempe office is relocating effective January 9, 2020. The office will continue to offer a full range of staffing and employment services in a variety of administrative, customer service, call center, medical office and light industrial disciplines, as well as accounting roles through their PrideStaff Financial division.

Located in the heart of the revitalized Fiesta District, PrideStaff Tempe is moving to the Mesa Tower at 1201 South Alma School Road, Suite 12200, Mesa, Arizona 85210; phone and fax numbers will stay the same. The new location is clearly visible and easily accessible from U.S. Highway 60.

"PrideStaff Tempe is growing rapidly, and we are also preparing to open a second location," said Ann Gilbert, Co-Owner/Strategic-Partner of PrideStaff Tempe. "To better serve our clients and candidates, especially those in the East Valley, we are moving to a location that is easier to access and more centrally located within our expanding market.

"Our offices in the Mesa Tower are beautiful, and we invite our candidates, clients and prospective customers to visit us at our new location after January 9," continued Gilbert. "We are excited about our future growth, and we are thankful for each employer and job seeker we serve."

As a national staffing services organization, PrideStaff provides outstanding service and results by removing the guesswork from staffing. The Tempe office uses this approach to recruit superior light industrial, administrative, professional and accounting and finance candidates for employers in their market.

The success of PrideStaff's approach is evident, as they consistently rank among the highest 1% of staffing firms in the industry. According to ClearlyRated, a business intelligence firm specializing in the staffing industry, PrideStaff earned a client Net Promoter Score (NPS) as high as or higher than other well-known brands such as Southwest Airlines and Netflix. NPS is computed by subtracting a firms detractors from its promoters.

Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.

About PrideStaff

PrideStaff was founded in the 1970s as 100% company-owned units and began staffing franchising in 1995. They operate over 80 offices in North America to serve over 5,000 clients and are headquartered in Fresno, CA. With over 40 years in the staffing business, PrideStaff offers the resources and expertise of a national firm with the spirit, dedication and personal service of smaller, entrepreneurial firms. PrideStaff is the only nationwide, commercial staffing firm in the U.S. and Canada with over $100 million in annual revenue to earn ClearlyRateds prestigious Best of Staffing Diamond Award six years in a row highlighting exceptional client and talent service quality.

For more information on our services or for staffing franchise information, visit http://www.pridestaff.com.
CORNING, N.Y., Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Corning Natural Gas Holding Corporation (OTC: CNIG) announced the signing of a term sheet to purchase Mirabito Regulated Industries 50% ownership interest in Leatherstocking Gas Company and Leatherstocking Pipeline Company. When this purchase is completed, subject to Pennsylvania regulatory approval, Corning Natural Gas will own 100% of Leatherstockings Pennsylvania assets. A new joint venture owned equally by Corning Natural Gas Holding Corporation and Mirabito Regulated Industries will own Leatherstockings New York State assets.



CEO Mike German stated, The company believes this purchase will enhance our subsidiary holdings and allow for further system growth in our Pennsylvania franchise territories. It will also reduce administrative overhead and streamline management of our utility subsidiaries.

Corning Natural Gas Holding Corporation provides natural gas and electric service to customers in New York and Pennsylvania through its operating subsidiaries Corning Natural Gas, Pike County Light & Power, and Leatherstocking Gas Company, a 50% JV with Mirabito Regulated Industries.

From time-to-time, Corning Natural Gas Holding Corporation may produce forward-looking statements relating to such matters as anticipated financial performance, business prospects, technological developments, new products, and similar matters. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor for forward-looking statements. In order to comply with the terms of the safe harbor, Corning Natural Gas Holding Corporation notes that a variety of factors could cause actual results and experiences to differ materially from anticipated results or other expectations expressed in any forward-looking statements. The companys acquisition of Leatherstocking Gas and Leatherstocking Pipeline is subject to regulatory approval and additional matters, and Corning Natural Gas Holding Corporation cannot guarantee when or if the acquisition will be completed. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
U.S. President Trump delivers statement about Iran at the White House in Washington

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump to restructure the United States's top trade relationships have cost American companies $46 billion since February 2018, and U.S. exports of goods hit by retaliatory tariffs have fallen sharply, according to an analysis of Commerce Department data.

The lion's share of the higher tariff costs, some $37.3 billion, stemmed from duties on imports from China, said Washington-based consultancy Trade Partnership Worldwide, which calculated cumulative tariff costs through November 2019, the latest data available.

Exports of U.S. goods hit by retaliatory tariffs from China and other countries fell by 23% in the 12 months ended November, compared with 2017, before the tariffs began, the analysis showed. Even when retaliatory tariffs have ended, those exports haven't bounced back, said Trade Partnership Vice President Dan Anthony.

Seasonally adjusted U.S. Commerce data released on Tuesday showed the overall U.S. trade deficit narrowed to a more than three-year low in November.

The Trade Partnership uses raw, not seasonally adjusted, data, which is specific enough to match tariff codes to categories of goods, and then break it down by state. It conducted the analysis for Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, which includes a coalition of more than 150 business associations and the Farmers for Free Trade coalition.

Two states that hold early primaries in the 2020 presidential election, Nevada and New Hampshire, saw their exports of goods facing retaliatory tariffs drop by nearly twice the national average, Anthony said. Nevada exports integrated circuits and New Hampshire produces computer and electronics products.

Trump's trade policies have not been a key issue to date for Democrats seeking their party's nomination.

China's Vice Premier Liu He is slated to sign a Phase 1 trade deal at the White House on Jan. 15 at the White House, China's commerce ministry said on Thursday.

Story continues

As part of that deal, the United States will halve 15% tariffs imposed in September 2019 on $120 billion in Chinese goods, but 25% tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods applied earlier will remain in place.

U.S. exports of goods subject to retaliatory tariffs in China were 26% lower in the 12 months ending November than in 2017, while exports of items not facing such tariffs were 10% higher than 2017 levels, Anthony said.

Total U.S. exports were higher than in 2017, but retaliatory tariffs slowed growth in 2018 and exports have declined in 2019, he said.

Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in February of 2018. U.S. exports to countries that retaliated with tariffs of their own were 15% below their 2017 levels in the 12 months ending November 2019, he said.

After Washington rolled back these tariffs for Mexico and Canada, the two countries eliminated retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods in May, but U.S. exports of affected products have not rebounded.

"The expectation was that trade would start growing again, but that hasn't happened in the last six months," Anthony said. "It raises questions about all other exports that have declined. There's no guarantee that those sales will rebound if or when those retaliatory tariffs go away."

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; editing by Heather Timmons, Jonathan Oatis and Sonya Hepinstall)
New Delhi:

The four death-row convicts in the Nirbhaya case are likely to be shifted to Jail No. 3 in Tihar on Friday, where their execution will take place on January 22, a senior jail official said on Thursday. Currently, three convicts are lodged in Jail No. 2 and one in Jail No. 4. The Tihar Jail authorities have written to the Uttar Pradesh prison authorities, seeking the services of two hangmen from the state to execute the four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape-and-murder case.

According to a court order issued on Tuesday, the four convicts are to be hanged at 7 am on January 22.

"We have written to the prison authorities of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday seeking the services of two hangmen, depending on availability," a senior Tihar Jail official said. He added that of the two hangmen, one was very old. The other - Pawan Jallad from Meerut - has already expressed his willingness to hang the four. All the four convicts are likely to hanged simultaneously.

The jail authorities were also holding conversations with the convicts on a daily basis to ensure that they were in a good mental state, the official said.

Last month, before the death warrants were issued, the Tihar authorities had written to the Uttar Pradesh prison authorities, seeking the services of a hangman from Meerut, the official added.

A Delhi court pronounced the death warrants against the four convicts - Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Thakur (31) - on Tuesday.
GLEN CARBON  A coordinated area police effort led to the arrest of one man allegedly involved in the attempted burglary of an armored truck late last week.

Michael R. Turney, 28, of Nashville, Tennessee, faces burglary charges and is currently being held at the Madison County Jail. Bond is posted at $40,000.
Spain's Supreme Court on Thursday refused to recognise jailed Catalan separatist Oriol Junqueras as a European MP because of his October conviction over a failed 2017 independence bid.

In a long-awaited ruling, the court said it would not authorise his temporary release from prison to collect his European parliamentary credentials, thereby rejecting a December ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

"The court found that Junqueras should not be freed (to collect his MEP credentials) following his October conviction, which implies the suspension of his status as a European parliamentarian," it said.

Junqueras won a seat in the European Parliament in May elections, despite being in pre-trial detention in Spain on charges linked to his role in a banned Catalan referendum and a short-lived declaration of independence.

But he was prevented from leaving prison in June to attend a Spanish swearing-in ceremony, and thus from travelling to Brussels to take up his post, prompting him to file an appeal.

Last month, the ECJ ruled that Spain should have let him out to receive his credentials after the May elections, saying that even jailed MEPs benefitted from parliamentary immunity.

Catalan separatists hailed the ruling as a victory.

But in its response to the ECJ, the Supreme Court decided against allowing him out to collect his accreditation.

It said that the travelling privileges recognised by the ECJ were "not a protective shield against the sentence" and rejected any grounds for the invalidation of the Catalan separatists' trial, which finished a day before Junqueras was declared an MEP-elect, nor of the resulting sentence.

The court said it had communicated its decision to the European Parliament as well as to Spain's Central Election Committee.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Defense Secretary Esper privately warned lawmakers against debating war powers originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

On the eve of a House vote Thursday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper urged Congress not to debate limits to President Donald Trumps power to strike Iran because doing so might embolden Tehran and hurt U.S. troops, multiple sources tell ABC News.

The suggestion by Esper, in a classified briefing for lawmakers on Wednesday, enraged some members, including Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, who swiftly marched to the television cameras following the 75-minute briefing to declare it insulting. Lee said the briefing felt like being told to be good little boys and girls and run along and not debate this in public.

PHOTO: Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley arrive to brief lawmakers on U.S. engagements with Iran in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 8, 2020. (Shawn Thew/EPA via Shutterstock)

I find that absolutely insane, he said.

PHOTO: Senators' Mike Lee and Rand Paul depart via the Senate Subway following a classified national security briefing of the Senate on developments with Iran at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 8, 2020. (Tom Brenner/Reuters)

Jonathan Hoffman, chief Pentagon spokesman, said Esper was responding to a direct question on the matter when he expressed concern about unintentional messages to the force if Congress attempted to repeal an existing authorization for military force in Iraq at the same time that American troops are in harms way.

In follow up questioning, the Secretary made it clear that he was not questioning the appropriateness of Congressional debate on military force, but rather he stated a concern about how such a debate would be interpreted by the force, Hoffman said in a statement provided to ABC News.

That Esper  a Cabinet member and former senior staffer on Capitol Hill  suggested lawmakers would be wise to stand down on the matter of providing a constitutional check to the executive branch is likely to become a flash point in Congress and unify Democrats with libertarian-leaning conservatives like Sens. Lee and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

MORE: Iran fired more than 20 missiles at US targets in Iraq: What we know about the attack

Under the Constitution, Congress has the power to declare war and can decide whether to pay for military operations. Several lawmakers have expressed a desire to try to find a way to curb Trumps war powers, and the House was expected to vote Thursday on a resolution.

Story continues

The president, though, is the nations commander in chief charged with protecting the nation. Even with the 1973 War Powers Act, Democrats struggled during the Bush administration to try to curb operations in Iraq and bring troops home. One concern was that voting to end spending for military operations could hurt American service members.

The debate on presidential war powers resurfaced this week after Tehran fired more than 20 ballistic missiles into Iraq, targeting two military facilities that house American troops. The Iranian government took credit for the strikes and said they were in retaliation for a recent U.S. drone strike that killed one of its top generals, who the U.S. accuses of plotting an attack on American service members and diplomats.

Upon being briefed on the matter, Republicans mostly emerged with praise for Trumps handling of the crisis.

Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, called it one of the best briefings Ive ever had and said the intelligence supporting the U.S. drone strike was crystal clear.

But Democrats bristled at the brevity of the meeting on such a weighty topic and said they still werent convinced Trump needed to kill the Iranian military general to protect U.S. assets. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that only 15 of the 97 senators attending were able to ask questions before it ended abruptly.

The questions began to get tough, and they walked out, Schumer said.

MORE: McConnell lauds Iranian general's killing as Schumer decries lack of consultation with Congress

Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, said in an interview with MSNBC that the briefers suggested a congressional debate on military operations against Iran would result in disrespecting our troops.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, CIA Director Gina Haspel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley joined Esper in briefing the lawmakers.

The idea that Congress is not here to have any role in the issues of war and peace is exactly contrary to the Constitution  a Constitution that this president doesnt respect, Merkley said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that the upcoming resolution would call for an end to military hostilities against Iran in 30 days, absent any additional congressional action.

Pelosi said she also wants the House to take up legislation that would repeal the 2002 authorization of military force in Iraq. Trumps national security adviser, Robert OBrien, cited that resolution as legal justification for the drone strike that killed Gen.Qassem Soleimani. The 2002 resolution authorized the president to use force to defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq.

Pelosi says Trumps powers must be kept in check.

America and the world cannot afford war, she said.

ABC News' Elizabeth McLaughlin contributed to this report.
A bushfire victim whose uninsured family home was destroyed has become a millionaire after using his wifes lucky numbers in the Australian lottery.

The man, from Mount Cotton in Queensland, said the timing of the win was impeccable after recently losing his family home in the fires that continue to ravage New South Wales.

The Redlands resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said all that was left of his familys home was a few charred teacups.

Did I win one million dollars? Am I seeing things? Is this real?

He said: We didnt know if we would ever be able to rebuild but now we definitely can!

This is amazing. I cant get over it.

He was informed of his win, worth about 525,000, after being contacted by a lottery official. Oblivious to his good fortune, he was already at work.

He told the official: Did I win one million dollars?

Expand Close A firefighter manages a controlled burn near Tomerong, Australia, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, set in an effort to contain a larger fire nearby. (Rick Rycroft/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp A firefighter manages a controlled burn near Tomerong, Australia, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, set in an effort to contain a larger fire nearby. (Rick Rycroft/AP)

Am I seeing things? Is this real?

I cant wait to go home and give my wife a big kiss and a cuddle!

He had used his wifes special numbers on the ticket: Theyve delivered in a big way.

The winner purchased his winning entry online at thelott.com  Australias official lotteries.

Across Australia, at least 25 people have been killed and 2,000 homes destroyed by the blazes with the fires expected to rage for another three to four months.

It is estimated that half a billion animals have also died in the wildfires.
- Nigerian soldiers attacked the hideouts and camps of bandits in Katsina state

- Capt Kayode Owolabi, the spokesman of the 17th Army Brigade based in Katsina, said many of the bandits have been neutralised

- Owolabi said the two soldiers who were injured during the attack have been taken to the hospital for medical attention

A report by Daily Trust states that Nigerian soldiers attacked the hideouts and camps of bandits located around Jibia forests in Katsina state.

The newspaper adds that heavy gunshots were heard as vehicles and planes conveying the soldiers were seen moving into the forests.

Legit.ng gathers that the soldiers invaded the forests after Jibia town was attacked in the early hours of Wednesday, January 8.

Capt Kayode Owolabi, the spokesman of the 17th Army Brigade based in Katsina has reportedly confirmed the gun duel.

Owolabi said many bandits have been neutralised while two soldiers were injured in the attack.

At the time of filing this report, the Army spokesman said the soldiers were still after the bandits.

Owolabi, however, denied the claim by some residents that some soldiers were killed in the attack. He said the two injured soldiers have been taken to Katsina for medical attention.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read the best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that no fewer than 40 passengers were kidnapped in Katsina state when gunmen ambushed two Peugeot J5 buses on the night of Sunday, January 5.

The buses were said to be returning from a weekly market at neighbouring Jibia town on their way to Batsari town.

They were attacked around Ruma village. While locals alleged that about 40 persons were kidnapped, the police command in the state said only seven persons were abducted.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

Can Nigerian Soldiers really not deal with Boko Haram fighters?| - on Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
The prosecution in the case involving an alleged plot to topple the Akufo-Addo government has told a district court in Accra that the police have completed their investigations into the matter.

The prosecutor, ASP Sylvester Asare, disclosed that the case docket has been forwarded to the Attorney General's office for advice.

With this new development, it is expected that barring any last-minute hitches, the Attorney General will soon present the bill of indictment to the court for committal processes to begin.

Ten persons including three civilians, six military personnel and a senior police officer are facing charges of treason felony and conspiracy to commit treason felony.

According to the case by the state, the accused persons had plotted to destabilize the state and topple the government.

The accused persons have however been remanded in police custody and are expected to appear on January 23, 2020.

One of the suspects, ACP Dr. Benjamin Agordzo, has, on several occasions been denied bail over his alleged role in the case.

Superintendent Peter Toobu Lanchene Supt. Toobu, who is the NDC parliamentary candidate for Wa West Constituency in the Upper West Region and also worked in the office of former IGP, David Asante-Apeatu was also reportedly questioned.

COP Nathan Kofi Boakye, was interrogated in connection with the development .

Also, Dr. Frederick Yao Mac-Palm, who's believed to be the lead mastermind, has been charged with treason felony
Lebanon banned former auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn from travel Thursday and asked Japan to hand over his file on financial misconduct charges, as Tokyo urged the fugitive businessman to return. The 65-year-old businessman -- for years venerated in Japan for turning around once-ailing Nissan -- fled while awaiting trial on charges including allegedly under-reporting his compensation to the tune of $85 million. His shock arrival in his native Lebanon last month was the latest twist in a story worthy of a Hollywood plot and prompted outrage from the Japanese government as well as from Nissan. A day after Ghosn made an impassioned defence in front world media of his decision to jump bail and flee Japan, Ghosn on Thursday morning gave testimony to Lebanese prosecutors over an Interpol "red notice" urging his arrest. "The state prosecution issued a travel ban for Ghosn, and asked for his file from the Japanese authorities," a judicial source told AFP. A second judicial source said Ghosn had been asked to hand over his French passport and had been banned from travelling abroad until his judicial file arrived from Japan. "According to what is inside the file, if it appears that the crimes he is accused of in Japan require being pursued in Lebanon, he will be tried," the source added. "But if it doesn't require being pursued under Lebanese law, then he will be free." - 'Ridiculous' - On Thursday afternoon, Ghosn told Lebanese media the travel ban was just a "routine" measure and he had not planned to travel anyway. He slammed as "ridiculous" a call by Japan's justice minister for him to return to Japan to defend himself against charges of financial misconduct. The Japanese "judicial system is completely backwards," he said in an interview with Lebanon's LBCI television channel. "I will fully cooperate with the Lebanese judiciary, and I'm much more comfortable with it than with the Japanese judiciary." Japan's Justice Minister Masako Mori earlier Thursday urged Carlos Ghosn to return and make his case in court in Japan. "If defendant Ghosn has anything to say on his criminal case, he should make his argument in a Japanese court and present concrete evidence," she said. "If he claims innocence, he should face a trial under the justice system in Japan, where he was doing business," Mori said. Lebanon's judiciary received a "red notice" from Interpol last week urging Ghosn's arrest. A "red notice" is a request to police across the world to provisionally detain a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action. It is not an arrest warrant. But Japan and Lebanon don't have an extradition agreement. Also on Thursday, Ghosn made a statement to prosecutors on a report submitted by Lebanese lawyers that he had travelled to neighbouring Israel as head of Renault-Nissan. Lebanon is technically still at war with Israel, and forbids Lebanese from visiting or having contacts with the Jewish state. At a press conference in Beirut on Wednesday, Ghosn apologised to the Lebanese people for having visited the country in 2008 to sign a deal to produce electric vehicles. "I went as a Frenchman because of a contract between Renault and an Israeli company," said Ghosn, who holds French, Lebanese and Brazilian nationalities. "I always come back to Lebanon and nothing has ever happened before," he said. - 'Collusion' - At his first public appearance since his escape to Lebanon, he said Wednesday he had been forced to flee Japan because he would not get a fair trial. He faces four charges of financial misconduct in Tokyo, which he alleges were cooked up by disgruntled executives at Nissan in collusion with Japanese prosecutors. Japan's justice minister said the claims were "baseless". Ghosn spent more than 100 days in detention in Japan after his sudden November 2018 arrest, but was out on bail in Tokyo when he launched his audacious escape plan. He said he decided to flee when his lawyers told him it could take five years for a verdict, and because of strict restrictions on contacting his wife. Prosecutors in Tokyo this week obtained an arrest warrant for his wife Carole, who is also in Lebanon, alleging she lied to a Japanese court. Ghosn has refused to shed any light on how he managed to slip past authorities and flee Japan at the end of December -- an astonishing feat given his high-profile status and the restrictions he faced. Under his bail terms, his passports were confiscated, his home monitored and his internet access limited to a computer at his lawyer's office. burs/strs-lar/ah/dwo Former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn mops his brow as he addresses journalists on his reasons for dodging trial in Japan Japan?s Justice Minister Masako Mori called for Ghosn to return to face justice and prove his innocence in court Japan?s Justice Minister Masako Mori called for Ghosn to return to face justice and prove his innocence in court A police car enters Lebanon's prosecutor's office in Beirut where fugitive former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn was summoned to appear for questioning
Tommy Robinson complained to Ross Kemp about life in solitary confinement while serving nine weeks at HMP Belmarsh for breaking court rules.

The far-Right activist from Luton, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also cried as he told the presenter how he was looking forward to returning home to his children.

And Robinson revealed he had seen Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, a fellow inmate, through a window at the prison in Thamesmead, South East London.

He spoke to Kemp for a new ITV documentary on last night while being held in the Contingency Suite, designed to keep prisoners separate for their own safety.

Cameras showed how he had a stash of food to keep him going, including Jaffa cakes, apple juice, chocolate eclairs, tuna chunks, Coco Pops and Ready Brek.

Kemp said he was 'reluctant' to speak to Robinson, but wanted to ask him why he had put out a call on social media for people to demonstrate outside the prison.

Robinson replied: 'Essentially, I wanted to make sure that I have my rights. I know what ten weeks of solitary confinement does - it's not good for you.'

But Kemp said: 'It's not solitary confinement as in terms of the 'cooler' - it's not a box with nothing in it.

Ross Kemp met Tommy Robinson at HMP Belmarsh while he sat in solitary confinement

'You've got a TV, you've got a kettle, but also do you not think by calling a demonstration that could possibly end in violence, that's helping your cause?'

Robinson insisted: 'It sends a message to the establishment that this doesn't work.'

However, Kemp replied: 'What do you think the other inmates are going to feel about you if they can hear people screaming for you to be let out or freed?

'Do you not think that's going to provoke some of the inmates? That's the concern the prison has. Staff that would have been off on the weekend are now working.'

But Robinson hit back, saying: 'What they usually hear is Muslims shouting about Islam.'

Kemp said he was 'reluctant' to speak to Robinson, but wanted to ask him why he had put out a call on social media for people to demonstrate outside the prison

Robinson also said he doubted the demonstration would make his prison experience more dangerous.

He added: 'Unless I tell them to play a cartoon of Muhammad outside - which I may do if things get worse.'

Kemp then visited Robinson again at the end of his time at the prison, asking him: 'So how have you enjoyed Belmarsh?'

Robinson  by this time sporting a beard  told him: 'This has been as best as could possibly be being locked on my own for months.

Cameras showed how Robinson had a stash of food to keep him going, including Jaffa cakes, apple juice, chocolate eclairs, tuna chunks, Coco Pops and Ready Brek

'I haven't been in Belmarsh, I haven't looked around, I haven't seen another prisoner. I've seen Julian Assange through the window.

'I just walked round there and Julian Assange's window is at the top. Jesus man, I'm trying to get my head round through what he's going through. You can't, can you?'

Kemp then asked him: 'How are you feeling right now? You seem very emotional.'

Robinson, who started crying, replied: 'I'd say that my thing is because I know I'm going home to my kids and you just want to be normal.'

Robinson said he knows 'what ten weeks of solitary confinement does - it's not good for you'

Looking lost for words, he moved towards the corner of his cell and said: 'Yeah, that's embarrassing.'

Last July, after he was jailed, a mob of Robinson's supporters marched on Parliament, setting off smoke bombs and attacking police.

The shocking scenes of violence erupted after Robinson was handed nine months in prison for breaking court rules.

The English Defence League founder winked at supporters at the Old Bailey as he was sentenced.

Kemp then visited Robinson again at the end of his time at the prison, asking him: 'So how have you enjoyed Belmarsh?'

Robinson, 36, jeopardised a child sex grooming trial in May 2018 by flouting a reporting ban to broadcast footage of defendants entering Leeds Crown Court.

On July 11 last year, he was locked up for 'reckless disobedience of an important court order' and encouraging 'vigilante action'.

But he only had to be behind bars for nine-and-a-half weeks because of the time he has already served.

A large crowd reacted angrily to the sentence, pelting police with drinks bottles and cans as they chanted: 'We want Tommy out.'

Robinson, who started crying, said: 'I'd say that my thing is because I know I'm going home to my kids and you just want to be normal'

Protesters then marched to Parliament, setting off smoke bombs and burning European Union flags.

Robinson further stoked the violence, using instant messaging service Telegram shortly before his sentencing, to call for a demonstration outside the prison where he was being taken.

He said: 'Hopefully by this Saturday, I'm laying there in my cell and I can just hear all your voices outside whichever s******* HMP I'm in.'

To the fury of judges, Robinson spent so long addressing his supporters outside court that he was ten minutes late for the sentencing.

Looking lost for words, Robinson told Kemp of his emotion: 'Yeah, that's embarrassing'

High Court judge Dame Victoria Sharp, sitting with Mr Justice Warby, branded Robinson a liar and said he should be sent to prison for 'punishment and deterrence'.

During the offending 90-minute video live streamed on Facebook, Robinson approached defendants accused of the sexual exploitation of young girls in Huddersfield and encouraged followers to harass them - in defiance of a court reporting ban to protect future linked trials.

Robinson appeared nonplussed as he was sentenced. After the hearing, supporters shouted 'We love you, Tommy!' as his prison van left the building.

He was found in contempt after an extraordinary two-day hearing the previous week when supporters were given permission to turn the Old Bailey into a stage, erecting a video screen the length of a double decker bus in the street outside the court.

Robinson supporters outside the Old Bailey last July after he was jailed for contempt of court

To the outrage of lawyers, courtgoers and local businesses, the City of London Corporation granted permission for the giant platform, complete with a podium for Robinson to spout his views in front of a 150-strong crowd on the hearing's first day.

During the case, violence frequently erupted outside court and police arrested eight protestors aged 28 to 61 for affray and public order offences.

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox QC who brought fresh proceedings after Robinson successfully appealed against an earlier contempt ruling, said: 'The sentencing of Yaxley-Lennon serves to illustrate how seriously the courts will take matters of contempt.

'Posting material online that breaches reporting restrictions or risks prejudicing legal proceedings has consequences.'

Robinson supporters outside the Houses of Parliament in London after he was jailed last July

Nick Lowles, of campaign group Hope Not Hate, said Robinson 'put at risk the trial of men accused of horrendous crimes. He doesn't care about the victims of grooming.'

Ian Murray of the Society of Editors said it was a 'farce' that Robinson wore a T-shirt saying 'convicted of journalism' as he entered court.

He said: 'I am not aware that Robinson has any formal training as a journalist.

'Sadly there are people who wish to see the UK media emasculated and these sorts of claims are so obviously unfounded they provide ammunition to attack us with.'

Welcome to HMP Belmarsh with Ross Kemp continues on ITV on January 16 at 9pm
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 9) The tradition lives on.

For yet another year, millions of Filipinos flocked to the streets of Manila on Thursday to join the Traslacionan annual Catholic practice of transferring the venerated image of the Black Nazarene from the Quirino Grandstand to Quiapo Church.

This years procession may have introduced some changes from new routes to stricter safety measures but these didnt stop over two million devotees from participating in the centuries-old spectacle.

READ: Everything you need to know about Traslacion 2020

So why do Filipinos continue to gather for this religious practice? What sets the tradition apart from other devotions?

Mirroring daily life and struggles

For Church historian Fr. Emil Quilatan, the feast of the Black Nazarene stands out from other practices as it mirrors citizens daily lives and struggles. Catholics, upon the encounter, would be able to identify themselves with the representation of Jesus Christ.

Sapagkat nakikita nila ang hirap ni Kristo sa paghihirap nila sa buhay ngayon. They could identify 'yung kanilang pagpapakasakit kay Kristo, Quilatan from the Recoletos School of Theology told CNN Philippines. This particular devotion is more meaningful.

[Translation: They see the struggles of Christ in the own struggles in life. They could identify with them.]

Quilatan added the tradition gives Catholics a sense of togethernessas they join the Christ throughout the hours-long procession.

Sa pagpapasan ng krus natin, tayo ay nakikibahagi sa hirap ni Kristo. Sa pagpapasan, andiyan lagi si Kristo, di tayo nag-iisa. Kaya mayroong identification, he explained.

[Translation: When we carry our cross, we join the Christ in his sufferings. And through it all, He is there, we are not alone. Thats why there is identification.]

Devotion or fanaticism?

Going barefoot amid the city heat, the devotees jostled their way to the carriage to touch the image of the Nazarene, which is believed to bring healing and answer prayers.

Some people may have labeled the practices as too much but Quilatan believes there is a fine line between faith and fanaticism.

Devotion is what we call a faith expression through prayer and piety. Fanaticism goes beyond that The reason why fanaticism is dangerous is because it uses violence, the priest said in an interview with The Source.

Hours into this years Traslacion, over 100 people were reported hurt, the Manilas Risk Reduction and Management Organization said. Authorities said some participants experienced dizziness and difficulties in breathing, while others were meanwhile brought to the hospital for hypertension.

Despite reports of injuries every year, Quilatan said the procession practice can still be categorized as devotion.

I would not call it fanaticism. They got hurt, they did not hurt others. That's by accident, because they wanted to touch the image. For devotees, it's more on faith experience.

Quilatan likewise believes the religious tradition will live on especially with the practice being passed on to the younger generation of Filipinos.

Hindi yan mapuputol ang tradisyon na yan, pasa yan from the parents sa kanilang mga anak kahit babae o lalaki, he said.

[Translation: The tradition will not end. It will be passed on from the parents to their childrenwhether boys or girls.]
MIAMI, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (Norwegian) (NYSE: NCLH), a leading global cruise company which operates the Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands, today commits $250,000 AUD to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund to support emergency relief efforts for communities affected by the unprecedented bushfires in the region.



"We are saddened by the devastation caused by the ongoing bushfires in Australia," said Frank Del Rio, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. "Our $250,000 AUD donation to the Australian Red Cross will go directly to relief and recovery efforts for those affected by these historic fires."

Since July 2019, Australian Red Cross teams have responded to 30 bushfire related emergencies and supported over 18,600 people, through the efforts of more than 1,590 volunteers and staff. The organization has provided support to displaced people in more than 69 evacuation and recovery centers and is also providing emergency grants to help people who have lost homes in the fires cover immediate needs.

While these bushfires are devastating and unprecedented, the support from people and organizations around the world to help Australia is truly heartening, said Felicity Calvert, Head of Partnerships at Australia Red Cross.

To support the relief efforts of the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund, please visit https://www.redcross.org.au/campaigns/disaster-relief-and-recovery-donate

About Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NCLH) is a leading global cruise company which operates the Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands. With a combined fleet of 27 ships with approximately 58,400 berths, these brands offer itineraries to more than 450 destinations worldwide. The Company will introduce ten additional ships through 2027.
Less than a fortnight before they are hanged, one of the convicts in the Delhi gangrape case has filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court. The petition has been filed by one of the convicts Vinay Sharma.

In his petition, Sharma contended that the court overlooked mitigating factors while sentencing a person to death. Young age of the convict, who was around 19 years at the time of commission of offence was an important mitigating factor which was brushed aside by the court.

The petitioner also submitted the impact his death sentence could have on his family.

Also Watch | Death warrant in Delhi 2012 gangrape case: Rapists to be hanged on Jan 22

The petitioners parents are old and extremely poor. If the petitioner is executed, his entire family will be destroyed, Sharma said in hie petition filed through his lawyer AP Singh.

The petition also referred to various studies across the world and data by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to argue that death penalty will not have any deterrent effect on the society, one of the grounds on which he was sentenced to death.

Interestingly, the petition placed reliance on a 2016 study by Delhi-based National Law University which said that death penalty as a punishment has been disproportionately visited upon convicts from poor and marginalised sections of the society, and that it points to a systemic bias in our criminal justice system against poor and marginalised.

A Delhi Court had on January 7 issued a death warrant against four convicts in the 2012 case - Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Singh - and they are scheduled to be executed on January 22 at 7 am in the Tihar Jail premises.

After issuing the black warrant, the court gave the convicts two weeks time to file both the curative and mercy petition.

A curative petition is the last judicial resort available for redressal of grievances. It is a remedy established by the Supreme Court through its judgment in Rupa Asok Hurra v Ashok Hurra and is decided by the judges in-chamber. The mercy petition, on the other hand, is filed before the President who has the power to commute it to life imprisonment.

The convicts lawyer had said after the January 7 order that they will file curative petition in Supreme Court soon. We will file curative petition in SC within a day or two. Five senior most judges of SC will hear it. There has been pressure of media, public and political pressure in this case since beginning. Unbiased probe could not take place in this case, he had said.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 05:01:37|Editor: yhy

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LONDON, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Britain was on course Thursday to finally end its membership of the European Union (EU) in just three weeks time.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's fast-track race to "get Brexit done" cleared its final hurdle in the House of Commons when his European Union Withdrawal Bill cleared its final hurdle by a vote of 330 to 231.

The bill will now be debated in the House of Lords next week, but given its clear run in the Commons, it is not expected to face any tough opposition, and is almost certain to win Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth within days.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said he had no doubt politicians in the Lords "will have heard the resounding message from the British people on Dec. 12 (general election day)" and will have seen the clear will of the House of Commons.

Not joining in the celebrations was Ian Blackford, the Scottish National Party's leader at Westminster, who warned Brexit would cause a constitutional crisis for the United Kingdom.

"Today will go down as the final nail in the coffin for this broken union -- as Scotland faces being dragged out of the EU against our will by an extreme Tory government with no mandate here," he told MPs after the voting concluded Thursday.

Blackford said Scotland would at some point have an independence referendum and would remain as an independent European country.

Johnson on Wednesday ruled out a Scottish referendum, saying people of Scotland voted in a "once in a generation" vote in 2014 to remain part of the UK.

The bill paves the way for Britain to end, more than 3.5 years after the referendum, its EU membership on Jan. 31 and strike a new trade deal with Brussels by the end of the year. Until then Britain will continue to follow all EU rules and regulations.
HOUSTON, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- RERC, a wholly owned subsidiary of SitusAMC, announced today that it has hired E. Tye Neilson, MAI, SRA, MRICS, Esq., as Managing Director to lead RERC's Bank & Lending Valuation Management Division. In his role, Mr. Neilson will focus on expanding the firm's innovative and independent valuation management, valuation review, analytics, regulatory, and workflow technology solutions. Mr. Neilson will report to Brian Velky, Managing Director and Global Head of Valuation Advisory for RERC.

"RERC is the clear market leader and innovator in the valuation and valuation management industry, offering customized solutions that meet a variety of regulatory reporting requirements, and support client internal requirements for data capture, third-party independent validations and balance sheet valuations. I am excited to be joining this world-class firm and look forward to working with the team and the broader SitusAMC family as we expand our services and technologies across our global client base and deliver truly superior client outcomes."

- Tye Neilson, Managing Director, RERC

Mr. Neilson joins RERC from Wells Fargo Bank N.A., where he most recently served as Chief Appraiser. During his 28-year career at Wells Fargo, Mr. Neilson was responsible for overseeing a staff of approximately 150 valuation experts. Prior to Wells Fargo, Mr. Neilson worked in the valuation departments at First City Bank in Houston and at two other private investment firms.

"Our Bank & Lending Valuation Management Division has expanded at a significant pace in both the U.S. and Europe over the past three years," said Ken Riggs, President of RERC. "Tye joins an already accomplished team, which includes former Chief Appraiser of Deutsche Bank, James Molloy, who joined the firm in 2018 to lead the Regulatory Practice group.

Brian Velky, added, "Tye will be an excellent addition to the leadership team where he will leverage his institutional banking experience to support the firm's global expansion, delivering market-based solutions that meet the scale requirements of our client base."

In addition to his MAI, SRA and MRICS professional designations, Mr. Neilson is an attorney and counselor of law.

Mr. Neilson assumed his role on January 6th.

About RERC

Founded in 1931, RERC, a SitusAMC company, is the leading provider of independent, valuation services and applied research in the U.S. and Europe. RERC's services include daily valuations, debt valuations, appraisals, appraisal review and management, portfolio administration, and data analytics. In 2019, the firm provided valuation services on over $1.2 trillion of asset value and completed 12,000 reviews for some of the largest public pension funds and insurers in the industry.

About SitusAMC

SitusAMC (www.situsamc.com) is the leading independent provider of Commercial & Residential Real Estate strategic advisory, outsourcing, talent and technology Solutions, supporting the entire life cycle of real estate debt and equity. The organization has more the 3,200 employees across the U.S., Europe and APAC. SitusAMC offers consulting and advisory services, underwriting and due diligence, servicing and asset management, claims management, valuation management, appraisal reviews, daily valuation, loan valuation, appraisals, MSR and whole loan brokerage, talent solutions, and technology solutions including warehouse management, conduit management, collateral management, document management, OCR, indexing, data extraction, portfolio management and remittance reconciliation among others.

Contact

For more information, please visit www.situsamc.com or contact Andy Garrett (Managing Director, Global Head of Marketing) at [email protected].

SOURCE SitusAMC
Lady Kitty Spencer, Princess Diana's niece, could be giving royal fans an almost-royal wedding. It's about time, since the last royal wedding, Princess Eugenie's, was way back in 2018, and her sister's upcoming nuptials are still up in the air thanks to Prince Andrew's association with the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. According to the Daily Mail, Spencer got engaged to her beau, Michael Lewis, over the Christmas holiday, though she hasn't confirmed the news herself.

Tatler notes that Spencer was seen with what could have been an engagement ring at London's Cash & Rocket Masquerade Ball.

"Michael proposed to Kitty before Christmas. She's been in Cape Town for the holidays and told her mother and the rest of the family," a source told the Daily Mail. "Michael is loved by all of them. Despite his wealth, he's very humble and low key."

David M. Benett/Getty Images

RELATED: Princess Charlotte Looks Identical to Her Cousin Lady Kitty Spencer as a Kid

Lewis is South Africa and is 61 years old. According to Vogue Australia, he's also the chairperson of Foschini, a fashion brand, and is worth more than $150 million. He has three adult children and is divorced. Spencer and Michael made their public debut last May when they were seen together in New York City and they were later seen kissing in Saint-Tropez.

Spencer's father, Charles, is the 9th Earl Spencer a.k.a. the Viscount Althorp, and works as a journalist and broadcaster in addition to being uncle to Princes Harry and William. As for Kitty, she's a model and the brand ambassador for Italian jeweler Bvlgari. After her parents' divorce in 1997, she split her time between London and South Africa. Tatler adds that if there is a royal wedding in the works, Viscountess Weymouth and Sabrina Elba are expected to attend along with Kitty's cousins William and Harry.
For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL  January 9, 2020  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: Occidental Petroleum OXY, Chevron CVX, BP plc BP, Callon Petroleum Co. CPE and WPX Energy WPX.

Here are highlights from Wednesdays Analyst Blog:

Heres Why Energy M&A Is Expected to Remain Healthy in 2020

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity among upstream energy companies surged to a five-year high of $96 billion in 2019, thanks to mega deals such as Occidental Petroleums buyout of Anadarko Petroleum.

While a number of companies struck deals to increase scale and stay competitive, some transactions were driven by the need of diversification across geographical coverage.

Here is an overview of the four major proposed exploration and production energy deals from 2019:

1. Occidental-Anadarko

In early August, Occidental completed a $57 billion (including debt) mega-merger deal with Texas-based upstream company Anadarko Petroleum after it prevailed in a bidding war with supermajor Chevron. At stake was Anadarkos 250,000 net acres in the fastest growing oil producing region in the world - the Permian basin spread over west Texas and New Mexico. Occidentals motive was to become the largest crude producer in the Permian Basin, where it owned maximum acreage (around 2.5 million acres) followed by Chevron (2.2 million acres).

Per Occidental, the combined company boasts a production capacity of 1.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day and is expected to be accretive to free cash flow within a year of the acquisition. It is also on track to generate $3.5 billion of free cash flow through $2 billion of annual cost synergies and $1.5 billion of annual capital reductions.

2. BP-Hilcorp Energy

Story continues

In August, BP plc announced that it has signed an accord with privately held Hilcorp Energy Co. to divest all its assets in Alaska for $5.6 billion. With the deal's anticipated closure this year, subject to approvals from the state and federal bodies, the British energy giant will exit Alaskan operations after 60 long years.

Precisely, the assets to be divested entails BPs entire upstream and midstream operations in Alaska. This includes the British energy giants stake in the Prudhoe Bay  the largest oil field in North America  and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System  spreading over 800 miles and transporting oil to the Port of Valdez.

3. Callon Petroleum-Carrizo Oil & Gas

The deal frenzy continued to sweep the U.S. oil industry, bringing about a wave of consolidation in the prolific shale plays. Another energy company to join the bandwagon was Callon Petroleum Co., which, in July, announced the acquisition of Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. in a $3.2-billion deal (including debt), in a bid to bolster its Permian presence.

After months of opposition from some large shareholders, the transaction was eventually completed late last year on a revised buyout price and conditions.

The combined company is expected to have around 200,000 net acres in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford shale. While the addition of Eagle Ford acreages to Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) Callon Petroleums portfolio meant that it lost the pure-play Permian status, the move will likely trigger economies of scale and lead to significant cost reduction.

You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

4. WPX Energy-Felix Energy

Mergers in the upstream space continued throughout the year when WPX Energy announced in December that it intends to acquire Delaware Basin-based Felix Energy for $2.5 billion. The purchase consideration comprises $900 million in cash and $1.6 billion in WPX Energy shares. This acquisition is in sync with the companys intention to further increase oil production.

Felix Energy has nearly 1,500 gross undeveloped locations in the eastern portion of the basin, with expected production of around 60 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day. Out of the total production, 70% will be oil. The parties anticipate closing the transaction early in second-quarter 2020.

Expect More Oil Patch M&A in 2020

Upstream companies are currently under pressure from investors, who are no longer supporting drilling programs and expansions in the absence of strong cash flows. Investors want these companies to reduce costs, improve internal efficiencies, raise share repurchases and increase returns.

One of the ways to tide over the low returns and weak cash flows is consolidation. In fact, mergers are viewed as a means to build scale and minimize overhead costs, thereby creating a stronger company with improving efficiencies and financial performance.

As it is, a prolonged period of low oil prices has led to survival of the fittest. Larger companies  especially those with cash to spend  are set to take advantage of this opportunity and buy quality assets at cheap valuations. The most vulnerable companies are the ones with increasing levels of debt and distresses assets.

Finally, with WTI crude, the domestic benchmark, bouncing back above $60 per barrel on multiple tailwinds, the investor hunger for M&A deals is likely to remain strong. The flurry of such activities in recent times suggest that stronger companies are lining up to buy the weaker ones.

The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All

Last year, it generated $24 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $77.6 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.

See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >>

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 21:02:50|Editor: mingmei

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ZHENGZHOU, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- A total of 6.51 million people in central China's Henan Province have shaken off poverty, the provincial anti-poverty authority said.

Guo Kuili, deputy head of the provincial poverty relief office, said future anti-poverty work will focus on the elderly, the severely disabled and the severely ill.

The province still has 350,000 people living in poverty, according to official sources.

Guo said more jobs will be created and support measures introduced to help rural people get rich instead of returning to poverty.
Ex-deputy CEO of Transaero airline was illegally paid $150k  Russian Supreme Court

 RIA Novosti, Maxim Blinov

10:55 09/01/2020

MOSCOW, January 9 (RAPSI)  The Supreme Court of Russia has upheld lower courts rulings to recover 9.5 million rubles (about $150,000) from ex-deputy CEO of Transaero Maria Akchurina in favor of the air carrier, according to court records.

The court has held that the applicants arguments do not have sufficient grounds for consideration of her appeal by the Judicial Chamber on Economic Disputes.

In July 2019, a court invalidated an additional agreement to a labor contract between the airlines insolvency practitioner Alexey Belokopyt, the air carrier and Akchurina as well as orders on monthly extra payments. In October 2019, the Commercial Court of North-Western District upheld it.

Transaero found itself unable to pay its debts valued at 250 billion rubles (about $4 billion) in 2015. The government-approved plan of transferring 75% of companys shares to Aeroflot failed. Its problems resulted in mass flight cancels and delays.

In October 2015, Sberbank and Alfa Bank filed bankruptcy petitions against the troubled airline. The Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region initiated bankruptcy procedure against Transaero on December 16.

The Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region declared Transaero air carrier bankrupt in September 2017.
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If you've tuned in to one of the newest series on Netflix, "Messiah," you may have noticed some things that are "very San Antonio" included in the show.

In one scene, a television news crew is shown representing KENS 5. If you look closely, you will see an old KENS 5 Eyewitness News logo on the microphone flag, the badge of the reporter and the photographer's camera.

But KENS 5 wasn't the only San Antonio station spotted in the show.



READ ALSO: San Antonio celebs, landmarks and hidden gems in first season of 'Texicanas'



There is also a scene in which you can spot News 4 San Antonio and KSAT-12 microphone flags. Other scenes included a man wearing a San Antonio Spurs hat and an H-E-B delivery truck.

"Messiah," which is about a man who appears in the Middle East claiming to be the return of Jesus, debuted on Netflix on Jan. 1 and is partially set in Dilley, about 72 miles southwest of San Antonio.



San Antonio is no stranger to being featured on television or film.

In 2000, one of the most popular scenes of "Miss Congeniality" was filmed on the River Walk, where Miss Rhode Island played by Heather Burns is asked to describe her perfect date and responds with "I'd have to say April 25th. Because it's not too hot, not too cold. All you need is a light jacket."



KSAT-12 was also featured in the movie. The station's live truck and microphone flag were seen in the film during a fictional live shot.

While no actual KSAT reporters were used in "Miss Congeniality," many San Antonio anchors have made their way into Hollywood films, including KENS 5 anchor Phil Anaya, who played a news reporter in the comedy "Hot Pursuit," starring Reese Witherspoon and Sophia Vergara.



Former KABB FOX-29 anchor Ted Garcia starred as a TV reporter in several films, including "Crank: High Voltage" and "Bruce Almighty," according to IMBD.



According to the Texas Film Commission's website, the 1972 film "The Getaway" was shot on the River Walk. And who can forget the 1997 "Selena" movie? The River Walk is spotted when Chris and Selena celebrate their marriage during a romantic walk.

In the 1985 movie "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure," Pee-Wee Herman's search for his bike led him to San Antonio because he believed his bike was in the fictional basement of the Alamo.



Not all movies featuring San Antonio were shot downtown. The 1988 movie "Johnny Be Good," starring Anthony Michael Hall and Robert Downey Jr., was shot partly at both Thomas Jefferson and Alamo Heights high schools. One scene with Downey and Uma Thurman is shot at the University of the Incarnate Word.

Pay close attention when watching your next movie, because you never know what hidden gem or what person might pop up.



Candice.Garcia@express-news.net | Twitter @_candicegarcia










William Pitt-Julia B. Fee Sothebys International Realty today announced Ashley Breunich as the firms new Director of Marketing. A seasoned real estate marketing professional, Breunich brings eight years of prior experience with the Sothebys International Realty brand with expertise in all facets of marketing including digital and social media, as well as branding, graphic design, and web design and development.

Breunich most recently served in the roles of Digital Marketing Manager and Web Designer with Realogics Sotheby's International Realty in Seattle, Wash., where she was responsible for conceptualizing and building the companys digital marketing team. She and her team executed broker social media marketing, e-newsletter campaigns, blogging, website updates and online paid advertising, as well as unique agent branding and personal broker websites. She also played an instrumental role in launching a new website for the company, working alongside the luxury real estate web design firm Neutrino, which has served as William Pitt-Julia B. Fee Sothebys International Realtys own web design partner since 2015.

During her tenure, she earned a certificate in Full-Stack JavaScript Software Development from Code Fellows, an immersive coding boot camp based in Seattle.

Prior, Breunich was Marketing Manager with the San Francisco Bay Area Sothebys International Realty brand affiliate now known as Golden Gate Sothebys International Realty. There, she coordinated all company marketing, supervised advertising, and trained agents and staff on technology and the brand.

We are thrilled to welcome Ashley as our new head of marketing, said Vin Socci, Chief Operating Officer of William Pitt-Julia B. Fee Sothebys International Realty. She brings to us a powerful skill set along with an incredible passion and devotion to hard work, as evidenced by her rapid rise in the ranks at Realogics Sothebys International Realty. I look forward to working with her in her new role.

In addition to her extensive background in real estate marketing, Breunich has also worked with a wide variety of clients in different industries on a freelance basis, designing branding, websites, print collateral, packaging and signage. She graduated in 2012 from Fordham University with a B.A. in Visual Arts, concentrating in Graphic Design.

Ashley Breunich may be contacted at abreunich@williampitt.com or (203) 644-1478.

###

About William Pitt-Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty

Founded in 1949, William Pitt-Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty manages a $4 billion portfolio with more than 1,000 sales associates in 27 brokerages spanning Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Westchester County, New York. William Pitt-Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty is one of the largest Sotheby's International Realty(R) affiliates globally and the 37th-largest real estate company by sales volume in the United States. For more information, visit the website at williampitt.com.

Sotheby's International Realty's worldwide network includes nearly 1,000 offices throughout 71 countries and territories on six continents.
The killing of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani by order of President Donald Trump last week sent shockwaves around the world and prompted retaliation from Iran, an Islamic republic cited by some Christian groups as having one of the highest conversion rates in the world.

Lazarus Yeghnazar, whose research suggests as many as 1 million Christians now live in Iran, has been expecting something like this for years. He believes that, if war comes, it will create a humanitarian crisis but also an open door for evangelisma tsunami of disaster and a tsunami of opportunity. And the 70-year-old Iranian Christian is in a position to know.

Yeghnazar and his wife, Maggie, married in Tehran shortly before the Islamic revolution in 1979. Love for their country and the Iranian church, as well as a successful engineering business, led them to stay in their home during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war.

Shortly after the war ended, the couple emigrated to the United Kingdom, where they began sending money to friends and church leaders in Iran. That effort eventually became 222 Ministries International, a church-planting and training networkstill run out of Lazaruss converted garagethat includes satellite television broadcasts and more than 50 underground churches in Iran. His brother, Sam, founded Elam Ministries, and his nephew, David, now leads that outreach to Iran.

In an interview last year, Yeghnazar predicted that Iran would open up soon and explained how Christians should prepare. In a follow-up this week, he explained how Suleimanis death affects Iranian Christians.

How are Iranian Christians reacting to Soleimanis death?

Now, with the drumbeats of war increasing, there is complete uncertainty and anxiety. What will happen in case of an escalation of hostilities and engagement in a war? Still, the very bitter memories of the eight-year war with Iraq remain. Iranian Christians will suffer more than any segment of society.

Christians have been suffering for the last four decades in Iran. Almost all rights and citizens privileges have been taken away from them. Freedom of worship, freedom of meeting together, are nonexistent. On many occasions, properties have been taken by the government, and many [people] were expelled from work, losing pensions, as soon as someone learns that they are Christian believers. So, in general, Christians have been pushed to a corner.

How might Iranian Christians be affected by Soleimanis death? In other words, might this be the beginning of the tsunami of opportunity and disaster you predicted?

In case of a war, thousands of Christian families will become internally displaced as well as thousands will flee the country. It will be a humanitarian crisis. Meanwhile, I believe that tens of thousands of ordinary Iranians will flee the country as well, arriving in Armenia, Turkey, Azerbaijan [etc.], thus creating the largest-ever evangelism opportunity. This harvest is huge and will need great collaborative work. We need to connect, pray, plan, and prepare.

Why do you think Iran will open soon?

We are carefully watching [key] elements within Iran.  Iran is like a bus going down a hairpin-turned mountain road with no brakes. Anybody watching can see that they are going to die. Everybody wonders, When will the driver jump out? So, the question is: When will the Ayatollahs jump?

One day, Iran will open. The way we behave as Christians when that happens will determine the future of the Church in Iran.

I have been watching this situation very carefully, and already some of the Ayatollahs are abandoning the bus. Where are they going? Some are going to Russia, where their friend, [Russian president Vladimir] Putin, will accept them. But they do not have many other places to go. No Sunni country, like Saudi Arabia, will accept them. Iraq? Maybe, but probably not. Malaysia maybe?

Iran is imploding due to things happening inside. I pray for peace. But the DNA of the Revolutionary Guards is agitation and confrontation. They cannot live in peace. From day one, they have been at war with the world. For example: When the roadside bombs started blowing up in Iraq, I said, This is from Iran. Now, its the war in Yemen, the war in Syria. Those wars would be over if Iran werent present, feeding them. Everyone is worried about Iran getting a nuclear bomb. I wont go into whether I think it is Irans right as a country to have one, like many other countries. But I do ask, What do you think a regime like that, with that kind of DNA, would do with one?

The regime in Iran is going to provoke the West to attack. Who knows how long that will take? But when it comes, it will create a tsunami of disaster and a tsunami of opportunities. And the church is ill-prepared to meet those opportunities. Thats why we are so committed to leadership development for Iran.

How did Islam become so dominant?

People lose sight of what happened in the past. Why, in the seventh century, was Islam able to walk in and people surrendered? The church had been there for hundreds of years. But every time Christians became rich and powerful, they subjugated others and dismissed them. The Christian church became landowners and levied taxes on the people. We forget about that reality.

When we lose sight of what God has called us to be, light and salt, we lose our influence. I believe the church, down to this day, has not figured out how to do godly governance inside a nation. Every time we mingle with politics and governance, we become corrupt. Like Elishas servant, Gehazi, we seek wealth, and we become lepers. When Islam came to Iran, it was not as if the church had not had the opportunity. The church had missed the opportunity.

If Iranian Christians get involved in governance, how will they protect themselves from the corruption so endemic to it?

When people ask, Is it right for Christians to be in politics? the answer is yesif they can bring godly governance to the table. What will happen I dont know. But I hope that we will have some Daniels and Esthers and Mordecais and Josephs who will be wise and provide for food in times of famine  so that people will say, These Christians truly honor Jesus. Because we do very well at serving the poor, but we are not very capable at serving the rich.

One day, Iran will open. The way we behave as Christians when that happens will determine the future of the Church in Iran. If we mess it up, it will be an unforgivable act.

How should the church be preparing leaders for a future role in Iran?

Daniels and Esthers are not produced en masse. It must be done as individuals. I think with all the excitement about mission opportunities in Iran that we are missing the point. Part of the problem is the model that the donors want to fund.

If I say to you, Here is $5 million. You have two choices on how to spend it for the kingdom: You can lead 5,000 people to Christ, or you can develop 10 Apostle Pauls. What would you do? I would not even blink. I would spend it on Pauls every time.

My concern is that God is going to open Iran, and we are not ready for the opportunity. All we can think of is going there and taking back some of our church buildings, doing some painting and remodeling, buying some new pews, and picking up where we left off. That will not transform the future generation.

We need some arrogant businessmen in the church, some blingy leaders. We need some aggressive thieves like Zacchaeus and killers like Paul, and we need to take them and polish them. The church cannot keep all these people in her womb and miscarry all this potential leadership by mislabeling them as proud. They are proud, and they are arrogant. They are extremely intelligent and assertive. But we need to give them time to mature. It takes patience to deal with this kind of person. It takes one-to-one mentoring. For the time we have remaining in ministry, I would like for 95 percent of mine and Maggies time be spent training and preparing these rugged, ghastly, arrogant individuals who love God. But their character needs transformation and reformation.

If I have any message for Western Christians, it is that. Dont go after numbers. How deep is the growing church? How committed is the growing church? Because that tsunami will come, and if the seeds have not gone deep in the hearts of the believers, it will wash away. Then we will sit down and lament, Oh, there was no revival after all! No, that is not it. We will have lost the opportunity that was before us.

Dane Skelton is a Virginia-based pastor and author who blogs at daneskelton.com.
V Magazine kicked off a new year - and new decade - with a racy calendar featuring the likes of Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber and more.

Gigi, who is also the calendar cover girl, showcased her toned form while topless for the month of January.

Her younger sister Bella covered up her naked body with a denim jacket as Miss February while Hailey Bieber showcased her derriere in an eye-catching look.

Wow: V Magazine kicked off a new year - and new decade - with a racy calendar featuring the likes of Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber and more; Gigi, who is also the calendar cover girl, showcased her toned form while topless for the month of January

Gigi, 24, wowed on the cover of V Magazine's 2020 calendar; The blonde beauty was snapped with her arms covering her chest; she had 2020 on her shoulder.

The stunning model donned a black hat with silver hardware with her long hair loose beneath; she sported minimal makeup, highlighting her gorgeous natural beauty.

For her January image, she was snapped posing with her back facing the camera, showcasing her sculpted back and a hint of side boob.

Gigi rocked a pair of Guess jeans in the racy image.

Mesmerizing: Her younger sister Bella covered up her naked body with a denim jacket as Miss February

Wow: Hailey Bieber showcased her derriere in an eye-catching look as Miss November

Wow: Gigi kicked off the new decade as the cover of the V Magazine cover as well as Miss January

Bella posed with one hand on her naked hip as she covered up with a denim jacket, adding a star spangled headband.

The 23-year-old wore her short brunette tresses loose and center parted as she gazed directly at the camera.

Meanwhile Hailey, 23, highlighted her pert derriere in black underwear while going braless in a white T-shirt.

The wife of Justin Bieber was snapped turning toward the camera as she lifted her shirt up to showcase her back.

Lily Aldridge, 34, covered up her breasts with a cropped denim jacket she wore slightly off her shoulders.

The brunette beauty and mom of two struck a pose for September.

Karlie Kloss, 27, donned denim bottoms that she had slightly open, with a white T-shirt she pulled up to show a hint of side boob for the month of July.

Dazzling: Lily Aldridge wore a cropped denim jacket off her shoulders for her racy image; she served as Miss September

Another one: Karlie Kloss donned denim bottoms that she had slightly open, with a white T-shirt she pulled up to show a hint of side boob for the month of July

Alek Wek was snapped in a Guess vest for the month of April; the 42-year-old stunner paired the top with jeans for the sultry image.

Hannah Ferguson, 27, posed with Guess denim shorts and a bandanna on her head, covering up her chest with one hand for the month of May.

Grace Elizabeth closed out the year as Miss December while wearing overalls half on, and half off; the 22-year-old model covered up her chest with her hands.

Gorgeous: Alek Wek was snapped in a Guess vest for the month of April

Denim: Hannah Ferguson posed with Guess denim shorts and a bandanna on her head, covering up her chest with one hand for the month of May

Racy: Grace Elizabeth closed out the year as Miss December while wearing overalls half on and half off; she covered up her chest with her hands

Gigi is currently in Bangkok, Thailand on a work trip for cosmetics company Maybelline.

She arrived to Bangkok on Wednesday; she shared a picture of the stunning location to her Instagram stories with the caption: 'breakfast views,' adding a prayer emoji.

She also shared a video of herself doing quick yoga moves while seated next to the window of her hotel room.

The cover girl rocked a white and red dress with her locks pulled back into a bun for her yoga session.

Miss October: Yasmin Wijnaldum, 21, wore mesh underwear beneath her jeans with a matching denim jacket

Miss August: Ruth Bell slipped on dark denim with a studded belt, adding a black T-shirt

Miss March: Carolyn Murphy, 45, showed off her flat midriff and a hint of underboob as she wore a knotted up top and matching white shorts

Miss June: Meghan Roche, 19, sported mesh nylons with black shorts and a bandeau top, adding combat boots and a bandanna

What a view: The runway star is currently in Bangkok, Thailand on a work trip for cosmetics company Maybelline

Focused: She also shared a video of herself doing quick yoga moves while seated next to the window of her hotel room

Gigi wrote: 'When I travel for work, (and very often at home!) a quick full body stretch helps so much after long flights, & before or after work! Helps me feel balanced, light, energized, & relieves pain! My favorite 20 min yoga/stretch video is @sarahbethyoga 's !'

She also reposted a clip from makeup artist Erin Parsons, who shared a lighthearted snap of her rocking shoes in the shape of fish while on set.

She sported damp tresses with red lipstick in the snap; the beauty donned a peach colored button up top with cropped jeans featuring a geometric pattern.

Peaceful: The older sister of Bella Hadid rocked a white and red dress with her locks pulled back into a bun for her yoga session

Gigi donned the unique shoes in the clip, playfully showing them off for Erin in her stories.

The stunner also posed with hairstylist Kenna in another snap, with Erin adding: 'FootFlex.'

Gigi added a snap of him to her social media, adding that it's her 'first job of 2020 with my Maybelline fam,' adding a smiley face.

On set: She also reposted a clip from makeup artist Erin Parsons, who shared a lighthearted snap of her rocking shoes in the shape of fish

Suave: Gigi donned the unique shoes in the clip, playfully showing them off for Erin in her stories

Details: Gigi perched her foot on a stool to show off her interesting slippers

Beaming: The stunner also posed with hairstylist Kenna in another snap, with Erin adding: 'FootFlex'
New Delhi:

Noting loopholes in the police investigation, a Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to 15 suspects who were arrested for their alleged role in the Daryaganj violence on December 20 during anti-CAA and NRC protests.

The court noted that despite repeated requests made to the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (central), Daryaganj, for providing CCTV footage of the incident, no such footage had been provided to date.

Judge Kamini Lau released the suspects on a bail of Rs 25,000 with a surety of the like amount. During the bail period, the suspects will not try to contact or influence, directly or indirectly, any of the witnesses of the case, the judge said. She said all of them would have to appear before the station house officer (SHO), Daryaganj, every Saturday till four weeks from the date of release.

Pointing out the reasons for granting bail, the court said the CCTV footage which the investigating agency had relied on is of poor quality. The judge said no assessment of the damage caused to the private car has been done.

The judge expressed displeasure over the failure of the investigating officer (IO) to produce the medico legal case files of the accused despite repeated adjournments.

I am not satisfied in the manner in which the Investigating officer (IO) has tried to skirt the issue and his failure to place on record the opinion on the MLCs cannot be a ploy to further curtail the liberties of the applicants/accused, who are in judicial custody for the last more than 20 days, the judge said in a 13-page order, adding all sections invoked in the FIR are bailable and triable by magistrate.

The judge admonished the protestors, saying prima facie the protest does not appear to be peaceful, particularly in light of the damage caused to the vehicle and injuries caused not only to police personnel on duty but also to media persons covering the protest.

We, the people of India, have given to ourselves the Constitution and agreed to disagree. In our democratic set-up, we have a fundamental right to peaceful protest guaranteed by the Constitution, which right cannot be curtailed by the state. However, at the same time, our Constitution strikes a fine balance between the rights and duties.

While exercising our right of peaceful protest, it is our duty to ensure no corresponding right of another is violated. Violence or destruction of property is totally unacceptable. There has to be zero tolerance for any kind of violence or damage to property whether private or public. Lawlessness cannot be encouraged, the judge said.

The 15 accused had moved court against the magistrate order rejecting their bail. They were arrested in connection with the violence in which a car was burnt outside the DCP office during anti-CAA and NRC protests.

The police had alleged the protestors were incited after a speech of Bhim Army chief ChandraShekhar Azad. They told the court that the agitators turned violent and started pelting stone outside the DCP office in Daryaganj.

Opposing these allegations, senior Rebecca John, who appeared for the suspects, had said her clients are being falsely implicated and there is nothing on record to show that any public property was damaged.
Putin and Erdogan officially opened the pipeline that transports Russian gas to southern Europe, via Turkey. A 930 km project, with a single 813 mm pipe at 2.2 km depth. When fully operational, it will be able to transport 31 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Moscow and Ankara revive dialogue and de-escalation in Libya and on the US-Iran front.

Istanbul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Turkey and Moscow is strengthening their strategic partnership in the energy field as well as on the main dossiers in the Middle East and North African region, in particular the conflict in Libya and the escalation between the United States and Iran in Iraqi territory.

Yesterday in Ankara, in fact, the two countries formally launched the TurkStream pipeline that will transport Russian natural gas to southern Europe, passing through Turkey. The move fits into the context of the initiatives launched by the Kremlin to reduce transit across Ukraine.

The project, which runs for 930 km along the Black Sea, further strengthens the already strong ties between Russia and Turkey, which blossomed last year with the signing of a contract for the supply of a defensive missile system that infuriated the United States.

There is also collaboration, despite being on opposite fronts (Vladimir Putin close to Assad, Recep Tayyip Erdogan godfather of the pro-extremist Islamic opposition), in the Syrian conflict and, in particular, in the north-east where Ankara launched a military offensive in recent months.

Yesterday Putin and his host Erdogan inaugurated the TurkStream project in the context of a solemn ceremony in Istanbul, which was also attended by the leaders of Serbia and Bulgaria. The pipeline, stressed the head of the Kremlin, is a sign of "interaction and cooperation for the benefit of our people and the peoples of all Europe, of the whole world".

On 5 January, Bulgartransgaz confirmed that the network is already operational and carrying gas to the Old Continent. It can also boast a technological peculiarity: for the first time, an 813 mm diameter pipe was laid at a depth of 2.2 km.

The pipeline terminal is located near the Turkish village of Kiyikoy, about 20 km away from the Bulgarian border. At the same time, Moscow is doubling the capacity of the Nord Stream, which crosses the Baltic Sea to Germany, a project also created with the aim of bypassing Kiev, which is currently the main transit hub for Europe.

Through TurkStream, the Russian energy giant Gazprom will channel approximately 31 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per year to Bulgaria, replacing the previous section that passed through Ukraine and Romania. The pipeline will consist of two main routes, each with an annual capacity of 15.75 bcm: the first to Turkey and the second to Bulgaria and Serbia, also passing through Hungary.

The leaders of Russia and Turkey took advantage of yesterday's appointment to discuss the main international concerns: on the escalation of tension between Iran and the United States, which risks leading to open conflict, Putin and Erdogan recall that priority must be given to diplomacy and appease the minds of both sides. New attacks, say the two heads of state in the joint appeal, can lead to a spiral of violence and profound instability in the region.

Finally, Libya, for which Turkey and Russia invite the warring parties to declare a ceasefire for January 12th. Ankara supports the government of Fayez al-Serraj in Tripoli, recognized by the international community, while Moscow is close to General Khalifa Haftar, who controls Cyrenaica in the eastern sector of the country. Again Putin and Erdogan have called for an end to hostilities, a normalization of the situation in Tripli and other cities, along with peace talks under the auspices of the United Nations.
An aerial shot of Philadelphia City Hall on Oct.1, 2019. In a bid to enforce the city's newly minted progressive labor laws, officials are naming and shaming businesses that are not in compliance. Read more

Philadelphias labor enforcement office, which enforces the citys growing slate of labor laws, released a report on Wednesday detailing its work in 2019 as well as the names of three employers it defined as bad actors.

The report  and the public shaming of employers  marked a big shift from the offices relative obscurity and inaction in previous years and a result of increased attention on the office. Advocates lobbied City Hall last year for more funding for the office, pointing to the offices lack of resources despite the Kenney administrations and City Councils increased emphasis on worker protection laws. The result, advocates said, was that the city was passing some of the most progressive worker laws in the country but lacked the ability to enforce them or educate workers about them  essentially rendering the laws toothless.

Enforcement is run out of the Mayors Office of Labor, which means the office is in a more precarious position than a city department such as Licenses & Inspections or Revenue: If a new mayor comes in and doesnt prioritize labor laws, the office could be dissolved. But that could change this year. On the urging of the advocates, the city is making moves to make the office permanent.

By the end of January, the office will have doubled in size since 2018, from three to six staffers.

Heres what stands out from the report.

Recovered more than $21,000 in lost wages

Thats up from the nearly $4,000 in wages the city recovered for workers in 2018.

After investigating complaints, the city issued 15 violations in 2019. Most of the $21,000 came from wage theft investigations but workers were also paid out in back wages from paid sick leave violations. The single biggest wage theft award was $5,800, labor office spokesperson Candace Chewning said.

The total recovery is low compared with that in Seattle, a smaller city than Philadelphia that has a similar office that has been held up as a gold standard for this kind of work. In 2018, Seattles Office of Labor Standards was able to get nearly $1.3 million paid back to workers in wage theft investigations alone.

The office recovered an additional $82,000 through the labor standards division. That arm of the office enforces such laws as prevailing wage for construction workers on city public works projects. Its easier for the city to enforce prevailing wage because it can withhold city contracts if contractors dont comply.

Complaints more than quadrupled

In 2018, the city received 18 complaints, most of which were alleging wage theft. In 2019, it received 89  57 wage theft complaints, 31 paid sick leave complaints, and 1 for wrongful discharge of a parking lot worker. It received more than 300 inquiries.

Again, these numbers are low: Seattle resolved 136 paid sick leave and wage theft investigations in 2018 and received more than 600 inquiries concerning paid sick leave and wage theft.

But its a sign that awareness of city labor laws is growing.

Chewning says theres a ripple effect: When workers get awarded a significant amount, such as more than $1,000, theyll likely talk about it. The city also announces these awards on the Mayors Office of Labor Facebook page, in hopes of raising awareness about the office and labor laws, and will soon have PSAs airing on radio stations.

Awareness has also been growing as certain workers, such as baristas, have been getting educated about their rights to such benefits as paid sick leave.

 READ MORE: Phillys next labor union might be at this Fishtown cake shop that counts Beyonce as a customer

The city called out bad actors

Call it enforcement by shaming.

The citys labor officials have previously said that it can be difficult to complete an investigation because employers sometimes refuse to provide documents or stop responding altogether. The city has the power to take aggressive action such as revoking a business license but has said it doesnt want to take that route. The list of bad actors is a potential solution, Chewning said.

Bad actors, as defined by the city, are employers who have broken city labor law by not cooperating with the citys investigation, those who have violated city law and have failed to resolve the violation, and employers who have repeatedly broken the law.

In other words, a bad actor is not an employer who has broken city labor law and remedied the situation, such as paying back wages to an employee. An employer will be removed from the list once it remedies the situation.

The city, Chewning said, doesnt want to punish an employer for not knowing the law. There are a lot of misconceptions about these laws, she said, which is why the city has been hosting training for both employers and workers.

But it does want to send a message that if an employer doesnt cooperate, there will be consequences. Employers are told that their names will be published in a bad actor list if they dont remedy the situation, Chewning said. These employers did not cooperate with the citys investigation, she said.

Its a powerful tool, and one that has been proven to work: A 2018 Duke University report found that when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published news releases about employers found to have violated the law, there were fewer violations at similar employers in a five-kilometer radius.

The Philly list already resulted in one employer coming into compliance, Chewning said. After being contacted by a reporter about the list, an employer came in the next day to pay her violation.

The list in the report is short. It mentions three employers: Plenty Cafe, Pavescapers, and Frank Flemings General Contractors. Plenty Cafe, which shut down last fall, did not respond to a request for comment. Pavescapers declined to comment. Efforts to reach Frank Flemings General Contractors were unsuccessful.

The bad actor list is another example of the city experimenting with new techniques for enforcement. In December, for example, Mayor Kenney acquired the power to withhold a water bill discount for nonprofits if the nonprofits didnt comply with the citys prevailing wage law.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has a beard and a lot of people want you to know that they dont care. They dont care about our leaders seeming attempt to rebrand from blackface guy to bearded guy because, they say, there are more important things happening in the world.

This week Adam Scotti, the prime ministers official photographer, posted a photo of Trudeau to Instagram in which the PM appears deep in thought, holding his interlaced hands up to his mouth; a mouth newly framed by a salt-and-pepper beard.

Media was quick to pick up on Scottis photo. Global News posed the question: What do you think of Trudeaus new beard? Reuters ran the headline: Canadas Trudeau makes waves online with new beard. And Sarah Berman at Vice published an entertaining, comprehensive piece about why Trudeau might have chosen to grow out his facial hair. Is it because hes just returned from a vacation in Costa Rica where he may have opted out of a few morning shaves? Or, Berman wonders, is it the sign of a possibly changed man, a PM longing to be taken seriously?

We dont know. What we do know is that some people are really peeved that journalists are asking these questions in the first place.

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner expressed her displeasure on Twitter this week, calling out Global News and mainstream media more generally for pushing the beard narrative, when serious events are unfolding overseas.

Sen. Denise Batters of Saskatchewan was no less vexed. After a 17 day holiday, it is telling that the only news coming out of Prime Minister Trudeaus first day of work is a beard, she tweeted Monday. Even Ed the Sock, not usually on the same page as Conservatives, chimed in to chide the media.

Trudeau grew a beard, he tweeted on Tuesday. This dominates headlines. Dear newsmedia: THERE ARE REAL STORIES OUT THERE THAT AFFECT PEOPLES LIVES  FIND ONE AND WRITE ABOUT IT! *THATS* YOUR RESPONSIBILITY, NOT REPORTING ON FACIAL HAIR!

Its strange: youd think if anyone understood the value of adding a bit of levity to the news cycle, it would be a broadcaster who works as a sock puppet. But these are strange times. And this is Canada: a country thats always been square when it comes to injecting politics with a dose of superficial fun. Remember when Justin Trudeau posed for Vogue in 2015? Youd think he had stolen an election Canadians were so outraged.

Americans, on the other hand, have no issue discussing their leaders hairdos, whether those dos belong to Republicans or Democrats. Long before he took office, U.S. President Donalds Trumps unruly coif had a mind and a news cycle of its own.

So did Barack Obamas. During his presidency, Obamas greying hair was a frequent topic in the press. In 2009, The New York Times ran a piece called Stress already taking toll on Obama  just ask his barber.

Reporter Helene Cooper writes: Well, that didnt take long. Just 44 days into the job, and President Barack Obama is going grey.

Were barely ten days into 2020 and Canadians are going grey trying to prove theyre too proud to read about the PMs facial hair. But if critics like Rempel Garner and Batters were genuinely focused on important issues, theyd talk and tweet solely about important issues.

However, rather than highlight the overwhelming majority of Canadian news that deals with such issues they chose to boost and bemoan a few stories about the PMs beard.

Its simple: if youre only about the big stuff, dont share the small stuff. But if you spend your time on social media telling everyone how little you care about Justin Trudeaus new beard then I have some news for you: you probably care about Justin Trudeaus new beard.

And thats OK. Just because most news is heavy doesnt mean none of it can be lighthearted, or that youre not a serious person for reading a story about something really dumb. There is enough space in the public discourse for the harrowing and the hair. And thank God for that.

Read more about:
Each appeal to the Azerbaijani Central Election Commission (CEC) must be considered within the legislation and an appropriate decision must be made, Chairman of the Azerbaijani Central Election Commission (CEC) Mazahir Panahov said at the CEC meeting on Jan. 8, Trend reports.

If the CEC receives any appeal, it should be considered in accordance with the requirements of the law, head of the CEC added. The CEC will take all necessary steps to eliminate shortcomings.

No election commission is entitled to violate the procedural rules, Panahov added. Each appeal must be considered within the legislation. Members of the district election commissions must consider the issues related to their own constituencies. If there is any difficulty in any issue, it is necessary to appeal to the Central Election Commission. In turn, CEC will take all necessary steps to address the issue."
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Market Research Future Published a Research Study on Barium Fluoride Market Research Report, Size, Share and Industry Analysis - Forecast to 2023

Competitive Analysis

Some of the well-known players operating in the Global Barium Fluoride Market are Solvay (Belgium), GFS Chemicals, Inc. (U.S.), International Crystal Laboratories (U.S.), All-Chemie, Ltd. (U.S.), Barium & Chemicals, Inc.(U.S.), Wego Chemical & Mineral Corp (U.S.), Alfa Chemical Corp (U.S.), Super Conductor Materials Inc.(U.S.), Jay Intermediates and Chemicals(India), and Triveni Interchem Private Limited (Group Of Triveni Chemicals) (India) among others.

Barium fluoride is used in a wide variety of applications, due to their capability of offering extended IR transmittance, low refractive index, low dispersion, radiation resistance to the final product. Thus, it is used in various applications such as aluminum metallurgy, optical material, oil refining, spectroscopic components, pharmaceuticals, food, and others. The global barium fluoride market is spanned across five regions of the world namely Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Among these, Asia Pacific holds a major share of the global market and is projected to continue leading, owing to the increasing consumption of an organic compound in ammonium fluoride, hydrogen fluoride, and calcium fluoride. It is estimated that the hydrogen fluoride segment is set to observe the highest CAGR in the market due to its growing consumption in pharmaceutical intermediates and fluoropolymers. Moreover, increasing demand for the product in aluminum metallurgy, optical material, and others are likely to witness a rapid growth during the forecast period. These factors have led China, India, and Japan to be the major players of this region.

The North American market is expected to grow at a higher CAGR due to extensive consumption of barium fluoride in aluminum metallurgy, optical material, oil refining, and others. The U.S., Canada, and Mexico have achieved a significant place in the market due to the growing investments in end-use industries. Therefore, the growing demand for the product from end-use industries is estimated to drive the market during the forecast period.

A moderate development is achieved in Europe due to the growing demand for the product in pharmaceutical chemical, oil & gas industries, and others. Rapid urbanization coupled with technology have propelled the market to witness a better growth. Thus, countries such as Germany, the U.K, and Italy are the major contributors to Barium Fluoride Market.

A considerable development is predicted in the Latin American region such as in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina due to the growing consumption of an organic compound in the production of welding agents, enamel, and others. Moreover, a rapid development is estimated in the Middle East & African region such as Qatar, the UAE, and others due to increasing demand for solvents and intermediates in end-use industries.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Executive Summary

2 Scope of the Report

3 Market Research Methodology

4 Market Landscape

5 Industry Overview of Global Barium Fluoride Market

6 Market Trends

7 Global Barium Fluoride Market by Application

To Be Continue  ..,

Browse Key Industry insights spread across 138 pages with 36 market data tables & 11 figures & charts from the Report, "Barium Fluoride Market Information - By Application (Ammonium Fluoride, Hydrogen Fluoride, Calcium Fluoride), By End-Use (Aluminum Metallurgy, Optical Material, Oil Refining) - Forecast Till 2023 " in detail along with the table of contents @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/barium-fluoride-market-1636

Segmentation

The global barium fluoride market is segmented into the application, and end-use. On the basis of the application, the market is segregated into ammonium fluoride, hydrogen fluoride, calcium fluoride, sodium fluoride, and sulfur hexafluoride segments. The market by the end-use is bifurcated into aluminum metallurgy, optical material, oil refining, spectroscopic components, pharmaceuticals, food, and others.
Former MLB All-Star Greg Vaughn is taking another swing at selling his equestrian property in Elk Grove, CA. Hes relisted the 72-acre estate for $8,395,000.

The sprawling offering, built from the ground up by its owners, includes a covered arena with seating for 500, a commercial kitchen, 80 stalls, six outdoor arenas, barns, fenced paddocks, and offices. There's also a 3,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-bathroom home on the premises, along with a pool.

While the huge parcel could be converted for agricultural use, an exotic animal rescue sanctuary, or even a zoo, it's ready to gallop away with a horse lovers heart.

It can be repurposed, says listing agent George Popescu, But if horses are your mode of choice, the property has everything to offer.

He notes that the owners are in no rush to sell, although they have reduced the price since they placed it on the market originally in 2015, for $12 million.

According to its website, the facility hosts competitions and is run by Greg's wife, Michele Vaughn, and daughter Genay, who offer training, boarding, horse retirement, and rehabilitation. The property can hold up to 100 horses, and the various structures on the property offer over 70,000 square feet of space.

The Vaughns purchased the land in 1998 for $400,000 and transformed it into what the listing description describes as possibly the best professionally set-up equestrian property on the market.

Agricultural options abound with the infrastructure already in place. And, with only a portion of the acreage currently in use, there are also development possibilities to consider. In addition, the location is minutes to downtown Sacramento, many airports, and a short drive to Lake Tahoe and most Sierra Nevada ski resorts.

Popescu notes that the owners are ready to hand over the reins to the next owner, after running the large facility for almost 20 years.

A Sacramento native, Vaughn, who is 54, made his MLB debut in 1989 with the Milwaukee Brewers. The slugger's career included stints with the San Diego Padres, the Cincinnati Reds, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and Colorado Rockies. The four-time All-Star swatted 355 home runs over the course of his 15-year career in the big leagues.

The post Former MLB All-Star Greg Vaughn Selling $8.4M Equestrian Property in Elk Grove appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 18:41:32|Editor: xuxin

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WINDHOEK, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Namibia has to date exported about 3,000 tonnes of beef to China, where demand continues to grow, official of Meatco, Namibia's leading meat exporter said Thursday.

Meatco's Vice Chairperson Ronald Kubas told Xinhua that China remains a very important market for Namibian beef, he said.

"We have so far sent over 130 containers of meat to China and this market is far much more lucrative to us as the demand continues to increase. We are continuing with the export of beef to China in the future as we sustain our European market," he said.

Kubas added that Namibia is considering importing cattle from Botswana for restocking to avert drought effects and improve their beef quality for export to both Asia and Europe.

"Drought is a recurrent nature of our country and we have put in measures to deal with this in future," he said.
The man, who was believed to be 53, was pronounced dead at 3:54 p.m. Wednesday after being found on CTA property at OHare, according to the Cook County medical examiners office. The autopsy on the man, originally was found about 2:20 p.m., was pending further studies, according to the medical examiners office.
The 77th annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California was quite a fashionable affair, and celebrities looked their glamorous best as they walked the red carpet. The Globes are touted to be one of the award seasons biggest nights for fashion.

And we couldnt help but stare as Priyanka Chopra Jonas walked down the red carpet hand in hand with husband and musician Nick Jonas. Priyankas beautiful off-shouldered Cristina Ottaviano Spring 2020 light pink hand draped bustier gown is what Hollywood dreams are made of. Is it any wonder that she is one half of the People Choice Best dressed couple (2019) for a reason.

via GIPHY

Priyankas look oozed vintage glamour, she completed her look with a dark marsala lip colour, gelled vintage waves that cascaded down one side of her face and a Bvlgari necklace featuring more than 56 carats worth of diamonds. She also carried a nude coloured embellished clutch by Jimmy Choo.

The pink of Priyankas gown, the old Hollywood hairstyle and of course, the diamonds, instantly reminded us of Marilyn Monroes 1953 performance of Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Now we arent saying that Priyanka took inspiration from Marilyn, but she looked like the perfect desi version of the iconic sex symbol.

Surprisingly, Marilyns look from the iconic video has been recreated several times by many celebrities including Madonna, Blake Lively, Ariana Grande, Kylie Jenner, Camilla Cabello, among others.

Most recently, Camila Cabello paid tribute to Marilyn Monroe by recreating the same Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend video as she sand her own song, Havana, at the iHeartRadio awards last year. Reports suggest it was also a tribute to Madonna.

Kylie Jenners Halloween costumes are always the talk of the town, but last year she went all out for the spooky celebration when she recreated Monroes iconic look, and oozed old Hollywood glamour with her amazingly impeccable costume.

In 2016, Ariana Grande, the queen of impressions also recreated Monroes look as she performed at the MTV Movie Awards in April. Later that year, Grande also performed the song at the Tiffany & Co. party in Beverly Hills.

In 2012, for the 100th Episode of Gossip Girl, Blake Lively also did a performance to the Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend for a dream sequence, and the blonde bombshell looked like an exact replica of Marilyn.

Blake has also famously said that she pretends that she is Marilyn Monroe when she walks down the red carpet. She said, I have insecurities like any girl. I used to be really shy and unconfident. I hated being tall. Walking the red carpet is scary, so I pretend to be Marilyn Monroe - someone who owned their sexuality and projected this incredible aura of self-confidence.

Kylie Minogue also performed a Marilyn Monroe tribute show at the celebration of the Fox Studios Australia, Grand Opening in 1999.

Madonna is the queen of channelling Marilyn Monroe and has very often paid homage to the sex symbol. However, her most famous style recreation was in the 1984 Material Girl video, where she donned on a pink gown channelling her best Marilyn Monroe impression of Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend.

Whose version do you like best?

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Unfazed by projections of GDP growth slowing to an 11-year low in the current fiscal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong and it has the capacity to bounce back.

New Delhi: Unfazed by projections of GDP growth slowing to an 11-year low in the current fiscal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong and it has the capacity to bounce back.

Modi, who seems to have taken charge of the efforts to revive the economy, has over the past few days held as many as 12 brainstorming meetings with different stakeholders over various issues affecting the economy and to thrash out appropriate policy interventions in the upcoming Budget.

The prime minister met economists, private equity, and venture capitalists, business leaders and agri experts on Thursday at NITI Aayog, and called for focussed efforts from all stakeholders to achieve the target of nearly doubling the size of the Indian economy to $5 trillion by 2024.

After the meeting, Modi tweeted: "Unwavering in our commitment to become a five trillion dollar economy!"

"Today, had in-depth consultations with economists, business leaders and policy experts from various fields on diverse range of subjects. Such synergy augurs well for national progress," he said in the tweet.

Unwavering in our commitment to become a five trillion dollar economy! Today, had in-depth consultations with economists, business leaders and policy experts from various fields on diverse range of subjects. Such synergy augurs well for national progress. https://t.co/KItYkgLxeO  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 9, 2020

He has been devoting a considerable amount of time in personally overseeing the policy matrix aimed at engineering a quick turnaround of the Indian economy, which is estimated to grow at 5 percent in 2019-20, significantly lower than 6.8 percent growth rate last fiscal and the lowest pace of GDP growth for a full financial year since the global financial crisis in 2008-09.

"We must all work together and start to think like a nation," an official press statement quoted him as saying at the meeting.

At the pre-Budget meeting at NITI Aayog, Modi called for a focussed effort from all stakeholders in order to achieve the target of $5 trillion economy, the statement said.

The prime minister said he was happy that the two-hour open discussion has brought to the forefront the experience of people on the ground and those working in their respective fields. This, he said, would enhance the synergy between policymakers and various stakeholders.

The idea of $5 trillion economy is not a sudden development and is based on a deep understanding of the strengths of the country.

Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets top economists of the country, at Niti Aayog, ahead of the Union Budget. Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Nitin Gadkari also present pic.twitter.com/fFqqTRqmtQ  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

"The strong absorbent capacity of the Indian economy shows the strength of basic fundamentals of the Indian economy and its capacity to bounce back," he said adding sectors like tourism, urban development, infrastructure, and agri-based industry have a great potential to taking forward the economy and for employment generation.

He said open discussions and brainstorming in such forums lead to a healthy debate and understanding of the issues. This would also foster a positive mood and "can do" spirit in the society, he said.

According to sources, the participants urged the government to focus on credit expansion, exports growth, governance of Public Sector Banks (PSBs), increasing consumption and job creation. As many as 40 experts and economists attended the meeting.

Modi assured them that he would act on suggestions that can be implemented in the short-term and also consider long-term suggestions in due course as these require structural reforms.

In a tweet, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said the meeting "discussed a wide range of issues relating to economic growth, startups and innovation."

The high-profile meeting was attended by Home Minister Amit Shah, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal besides NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, CEO Amitabh Kant and other senior officials of the think-tank.

Bibek Debroy, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, too was present at the meeting.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was not present, as she was holding pre-Budget meetings with party workers at BJP headquarters.

The NITI Aayog meeting assumes significance as the government is in the process of formulating Budget proposals for 2020-21. The government's focus will be on accelerating economic growth, which is estimated to slip to an 11-year low of 5 percent during 2019-20.

The prime minister on Monday interacted with top business tycoons to discuss the issues facing the economy and measures needed to boost growth and create jobs.

Among others, the NITI Aayog meeting was attended by NIPFP economist Ila Patnaik, former chief economic advisor Shankar Acharya, IGIDR Professor R Nagraj, KKR India CEO Sanjay Nayar, Ather Energy Co-founder and CEO Tarun Mehta, MakeMyTrip CEO Deep Kalra, Dabur India chief Mohit Malhotra, Bandhan Bank MD and CEO Chandra Shekhar Ghosh and CRISIL MD and CEO Ashu Suyash.

Sitharaman will be presenting her second Union Budget on 1 February.

A key factor driving the sharp slowdown in Indian economy is the manufacturing sector slump.

In response to the slowdown, the Reserve Bank has eased policy rates significantly during 2019, with a series of rate cuts since February 2019, while the government announced a large reduction in corporate tax rates in September in order to help boost new investment spending.

The 1 February Budget is widely expected to unveil more measures to boost growth.
A pair of young female animal activists were arrested while allegedly raiding a turkey farm in a town ravaged by bushfires.

Charlize Reynierse, 23, and Isabel Sleiman, 22, were allegedly caught by security guards with balaclavas and a camera at the farm in Bargo, south-west of Sydney.

Their arrests came three weeks after bushfires tore through the area on December 19, destroying 20 properties.

According to court documents seen by The Daily Telegraph, police allege the women planned to 'disrupt the core business' of the farm.

Charlize Reynierse (pictured), 23, and Isabel Sleiman, 22, were allegedly caught by security guards with balaclavas and a camera at the turkey farm in Bargo, south-west of Sydney

The pair were arrested just three weeks after bushfires tore through Bargo (pictured)on December 19, destroying 20 properties

The farm is responsible for supplying turkeys to Ingham's Poultry.

Reynierse, who was born in South Africa but is currently studying honours at the University of Sydney, appeared in Campbelltown Court on Thursday.

She admitted to taking part in the 'intelligence gathering mission' and the court heard she was found with balaclavas, a digital camera and photography light.

The 23-year-old was also found with SD cards that had 54 hours of footage inside the poultry farm.

Reynierse was warned by magistrate Shane McAnulty she was going down the wrong path.

'Regardless of your beliefs, if you keep going back to these places you will get caught which would see a young lady like you be in jail for a long period of time,' he said.

Reynierse has been previously convicted of two similar offences, the court heard.

She suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder that is triggered when exposed to animal cruelty, the court was told.

Firemen prepare as a bushfire approaches homes on the outskirts of the town of Bargo on December 21

The 23-year-old pleaded guilty to three charges, including unlawfully entering enclosed agricultural lands to interfere with business, possessing means of disguising her face with the intent to commit indictable offences.

She was granted bail and is due to be sentenced on February 17, but is banned from going near the poultry farm.

Meanwhile, Sleiman was charged with entering enclosed agricultural lands to interfere with a business and possessing a means of disguising her face with an intent to commit an indictable offence.

She is due to face Picton Court over the charges on January 28 and told the publication: 'I'm an animal activist  my comment is no comment.'
A Nigerian politician, Ned Nwoko, has taken a malaria eradication campaign to Antarctica.

Mr Nwoko, who is believed to be the second Nigerian to visit the region, mounted the Nigerian Flag at the South Pole on Wednesday afternoon.

Arthur Nwabufo, a navigator and cadet at the Far Eastern State Technical Fisheries University, Russia was the first Nigerian to reach Antarctica.

Mr Nwoko, a former member of House of Representatives travelled from Abuja en route to Cape Town, South Africa on Sunday for the expedition. He was accompanied on the voyage by a team of scientists from Russia, India, China, U.S., and UK.

Nosike Ogbuenyi, the strategic communication advisor of Ned Nwoko Foundation, told PREMIUM TIMES that his principal is championing malaria eradication in Africa through his foundation.

He indicated that preparatory to takeoff from the southernmost tip of Africa for the expedition, Mr Nwoko underwent safety briefing.

After the briefing, he was spotted with the renowned aviator, Hamish Harding, and a teenager, Giles Harding, who makes history as the youngest human ever to visit Antarctica.

Mr Nwoko, 59, intends to use the global attention this expedition will attract to create Awareness on Malaria Eradication in Africa.

Mr. Ogbuenyi said the long-term plan in delivering this project is investing in the development of an anti-malaria vaccine. The foundation also plans to establish an Academic Research Grant for Malaria Vaccine.

His two-pronged approach to end the scourge are the fumigation of Africa and funding research endowments for a malaria vaccine in five universities across Africa to the tune of $750,000. Each university will receive a research grant of $150,000, Mr Ogbuenyi said.

This grant shall be available to be accessed by postgraduate science students in Africa. The research will take place at some leading universities in Africa. There shall be a proper selection process and body of judges for the most qualified students to access the grants.

He is not looking for co-financiers for the research because Mr. Nwoko is solely funding the research.

Mr Nwoko is expected to return on January 14, to continue the Nigerian leg of the Malaria eradication campaign with his wife, actress, Regina Daniels.
She's the former Geordie Shore star who traded stiletto heels for steel-toed boots on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! Australia.

But Charlotte Crosby revealed on Thursday that she would have actually preferred to go on the popular British version of the show instead.

Speaking to OK! magazine, the 29-year-old explained that some of her previous TV credits meant she was blacklisted from the UK series.

Revealed: Why Charlotte Crosby was NEVER asked to appear on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! UK. Pictured on the Australian version of the show earlier this week

'For years and years they told me, "No way will we take anyone who is from Geordie Shore. It's not a family show,"' she said.

'So I did Celebrity Big Brother instead, which I won.'

I'm a Celebrity producers later had a change of heart and cast her co-star Vicky Pattison, who was crowned Queen of the Jungle in 2015.

'But then they still wouldn't take me because I'd done Big Brother!' Charlotte added.

Blacklisted: Charlotte explained I'm a Celebrity UK producers refused to cast her because she had previously starred in Celebrity Big Brother. Pictured on July 3, 2012 in London

'It's something I've always wanted to do': Charlotte revealed in a video uploaded to YouTube on Sunday that she was desperate to be on any version of I'm a Celebrity

Charlotte revealed in a video uploaded to YouTube on Sunday that she was desperate to be on any version of I'm a Celebrity.

'It's something I've always wanted to do. The amount of times I've Photoshopped my head on the lineup of the English version!' she said.

'But it's my time to shine in the Australian version.'

Charlotte had a rocky start on Sunday, when she became the first cast member to throw in the towel after refusing to bungee jump from a helicopter.

In her most recent ordeal, she was made to eat a raw bull's testicle during the Bushtucker Trial on Wednesday's episode.

I'm a Celebrity continues Thursday at 7:30pm on Channel 10

Oh, dear! Charlotte had a rocky start on Sunday, when she became the first cast member to throw in the towel after refusing to bungee jump from a helicopter
[January 08, 2020] Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP Announces Investigation on Behalf of Provident Financial Services, Inc. Investors

Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP ("GPM") announces an investigation on behalf of Provident Financial Services, Inc. ("Provident" or the "Company") (NYSE: PFS) 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. On April 27, 2018, Provident disclosed "deterioration in selected commercial credits, including a $15.4 million credit to a commercial borrower" that had filed for bankruptcy in March 2018. The Company established a $2.5 million specific reserve for this impaired loan. On uly 5, 2018, Provident revealed that it expected an additional reserve for the remainder of the $15.4 million credit and that its net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2018 would be reduced by up to $9.3 million.



Then, on July 27, 2018, pre-market, Provident reported a net charge-off of $4 million for two additional loans from another commercial borrower that became impaired during second quarter 2018. The Company's Chief Executive Officer Christopher Martin stated that the losses "were primarily driven by two commercial relationships which we believe involved borrower fraud in each instance." On this news, Provident's stock price fell $1.46 per share, or over 5%, to close at $26.23 per share on July 27, 2018, thereby injuring investors.

Later, in December 2019, certain Provident emails, which became public during the course of certain litigation, indicated that the Company was aware of the fraudulent nature of and/or risks posed by at least one of its failed loans. Specifically, Provident executives and top-level management, including CEO Martin, seemingly ignored multiple red flags and extended a $17 million loan to Lotus Exim International. If you purchased Provident 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 Charles H. Linehan, of GPM, 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100, Los Angeles, CA (News - Alert) 90067 at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200108005873/en/

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BUCKS COUNTY >> Police in Northampton, Lower Southampton and Upper Makefield townships report the following incidents and arrests: Lower Southampton THEFT >> In the early morning hours on Monday, Jan. 10 two individuals made off with the entire change machine from the Feasterville Laundromat along Bustleton Pike. The male appears to be "cracking himself up" while he hatches his scheme...
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

By Tamilla Mammadova  Trend:

Georgian government is looking for a new investor for the construction of the deep sea port of Anaklia, Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure Maya Tskitishvili said, Trend reports citing Georgian media.

On Jan. 9, 2020, the Georgian government has decided to terminate the investment agreement with the Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC).

We have said many times that our country needs Anaklia port for economic security and for full realization of material and technical potential. The Anaklia port project belongs to the state, not to a private investor. The state initiated the implementation of this project; the state expressed interest in implementing this project back in 2014," the minister said.

According to her, a financially strong investor is needed to implement the project.

Georgia needs this port, so we will look for a new partner who can quickly implement this project, said Tskitishvili.

We are confident that the process of finding a new investor will be transparent, said Natia Turnava, minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia.

Meanwhile, ADC is going to appeal to the International Court of Justice in response to the Georgian governments cancellation of the investment agreement with the consortium to build the Anaklia Deep Sea Port, the report said.

More than two years ago, ADC committed to build a deep-sea port in western Georgia but failed to fulfill the obligations. Thus, the Georgian government plans to announce a new tender for the development of the Anaklia port project.

In December 2019, ADC for the seventh time was unable to fulfill its obligations and provide the government with documentation of loan agreements with banks

Anaklia Port Development Consortium was founded by TBC Holding and joined by American companies Conti International LLC and SSA Marine, British Wondernet Express and G-Star Ltd. (Bulgaria). However, in August 2019, Conti International LLC announced its intention to leave the consortium, and ADC was left without the main investor.

The construction of the new port began in December 2017, and in July 2018, work commenced on deepening the bottom to 16 meters. However, at this stage the work was suspended.

The total project cost is $2.5 billion.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Mila61979356
A Michigan man accused of murdering and eating his Christmas Eve Grindr date chased a man dressed only in a kilt down the street a month earlier, according to a police report.

Mark Latunski, 50, who is accused of butchering 25-year-old Kevin Bacon and eating his testicles, was stopped outside his remote Michigan home on November 25, chasing a 29-year-old man down the road.

The younger man told officers that he was 'terrified' and had fled the scene, fearing that the 50-year-old was going to keep him chained up in his basement.

Mark Latunski (left), 50, admitted to killing Kevin Bacon (right), 25, by stabbing him in the back and slitting his throat late Christmas Eve or early Christmas morning in Bennington township. He later cut off his testicles and ate them

He added that he had already been down there for some time but managed to escape.

Latunski insisted that he was simply trying to retrieve his $300 leather kilt.

'He said he became frightened or spooked and thats why he ran from the house,' Lt. David Kaiser told The Flint Journal-MLive.

Neither men wished to press charges so police decided that it had been consensual, helped the man dress, and he left the Bennington township.

The body of 25-year-old Kevin Bacon was found inside Latunski's Bennington Township home on December 28, four days after he was last seen alive.

Latunski admitted to suspending Bacon from a ceiling by his ankles and stabbing him twice in the back, before slitting his throat and cutting off his testicles to eat them.

Bacon's roommate, Michelle Myer, told police she last saw him alive on the evening of December 24 as he was leaving their home to meet up with a man he'd met on the mobile dating app, Grindr, before completely vanishing.

Bacon was found dead hanging upside from the ceiling naked, where he had been suspended with rope tied around his ankles for nearly four days

Bacon's roommate, Michelle Myer, told police she last saw him alive on the evening of December 24 as he was leaving their home to meet up with a man he'd met on the mobile dating app, Grindr, before completely vanishing. The man he was venturing off to meet, it would later be revealed, was Latunksi

The man he was venturing off to meet, it would later be revealed, was Latunksi - and new court documents obtained by Michigan Live reveal the horrifying fate awaiting the 25-year-old hairstylist when he stepped inside the suspect's home.

Michigan State Police received a call for assistance from Clayton Township Police Department to conduct a welfare check for Bacon inside Latunksi's home on December 28, after receiving a tip he may be inside.

Officers then conducted an interview with the 50-year-old, who agreed to let them carry out a search of the home after reportedly admitting to killing Bacon by stabbing him in the back and slitting his throat late Christmas Eve or early Christmas morning.

Bacon was found dead hanging upside down from the ceiling naked, where he had been suspended with rope tied around his ankles for nearly four days.

Latunski then reportedly admitted to officers he has also used the murder weapon to to cut off Bacon's testicals and later ate them, police testimony shows.

Latunski has been charged with one count of open murder and one count of mutilation of a human body. He's been in custody ever since police found Bacon's body at his home.

Divorce, custody and criminal records also reveal an extensive history of complaints about Latunski's health.

He was known to have stopped taking the medication prescribed to treat his various mental health illnesses, according to records from the 66th District and 35th Circuit courts.

A motion filed by his ex-wife Emily Latunski to suspend visitation rights to his children on August 22 says the suspect had previously been diagnosed with major depression, paranoid schizophrenia and traits of a personality disorder in 2010 and 2012.

'[Mark Latunski] has a history of mental illness and has been hospitalized in the Owosso Mental Stress unit ... [and] has a history of going off his medication,' the motion states.

A motion filed by his ex-wife Emily Latunski to suspend visitation rights to his children on August 22 says Latunski had previously been diagnosed with major depression, paranoid schizophrenia and traits of a personality disorder in 2010 and 2012

Latunski's husband of three years, Jamie Arnold, told M-Live he wasn't aware of his ex-partner's mental illnesses until July, when he was arrested for failing to pay child support.

'To my knowledge, I couldn't force him to see a therapist or take medication,' Arnold said. 'Never in a million years did I think he'd be capable of doing such a horrendous crime.'

Arnold said he left Latunski in September and no longer lived at the home where Bacon was discovered.

'In hindsight, it's easy to sit back and speculate but at the time you're going through it there are emotions and feelings involved. You don't want to think that the person you fell in love with is some crazy homicidal maniac,' Arnold said.

'I pray that God is there for Kevin Bacon's family in their time of need and that He helps us all get through this, one day at a time.'

Bacon, a student at University of Michigan-Flint and a hairstylist, was described as a 'compassionate, caring and loving' individual by roomate and friend of nearly two decades Michelle Meyers.

Bacon, a student at University of Michigan-Flint and a hairstylist, was described as a 'compassionate, caring and loving' individual by roomate and friend of nearly two decades Michelle Meyers

'Kevin was a colorful, vibrant being both inside and out. He did what he wanted to, when he wanted to, and let very little hold him back,' she said. 'I really could not have asked for a better friend. I was incredibly lucky to call him my friend.'

Bacon was reported missing by his dad Karl on December 25 after he missing the family's annual Christmas breakfast.

Police soon found Kevin Bacon's car at a Family Dollar in Clayton Township, later discovering his phone, wallet and some clothes inside the vehicle.

Medical examiners have not yet confirmed his specific time of death. His funeral was held on Friday at Sharp Funeral Homes, Miller Road Chapel at 8138 Miller Road in Swartz Creek, followed by a candlelight vigil.

Actor Kevin Bacon has paid a touching tribute to the Michigan man of the same name on Instagram earlier this week.

'For obvious reasons I'm thinking this morning about the friends and Family of this young person Kevin Bacon,' the actor wrote.

'His life was taken from him much too soon. His love was hairdressing. I bet he would have done a great job on this mess on my head. RIP KB.'

Footloose actor Kevin Bacon wrote Monday: 'For obvious reasons I'm thinking this morning about the friends and Family of this young person Kevin Bacon'

The victim's father Karl Bacon said Saturday of naming his son Kevin: 'I wanted the same initials, but I didn't want Karl Jr. so that made sense.

'The other Kevin Bacon wasn't quite as famous as he is now.'

Actor Bacon's post has been liked more than 15,000 times on Instagram.

Latunski appeared last Monday via video in 66th District Court in Corunna on murder and mutilation of a body charges.

He was being held without bond and was appointed an attorney. His preliminary examination is scheduled on January 8, followed by a January 14 pretrial hearing.
Nationwide stir confined to select states and pockets

The nationwide strike by scores of trade unions had little impact on daily lives in most parts of the country, rather confining the show to select pockets like Kerala where the Left government is in power.

In Maharashtra, life was as usual with shops and offices remaining open and transport as usual. Banking services too were near normal.

The strike called by all major trade unions except the BMS against the governments anti-worker policies and the recently enacted Citizenship Amendment Act also turned out to be largely peaceful except in parts of Kerala.

By noon, workers in states like Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana took to the streets in protest.

The main demand, however, is that the government drop proposed labour reforms. The labour code that was approved in November 2018 derecognises labour unions.

There is also a demand for equal wages for equal work of contract workers and regular workers. They are also demanding measures that will boost employment and generate more job opportunities. They also want a minimum wage that is not less than Rs 18,000 a month.

Bank unions joined the stir demanding that the government halt merger of public sector banks that the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in 2019. Workers in PSUs want disinvestment of central and state PSUs to be stopped as well. Workers are also opposing FDI in insurance, railways and defence.

They also want universal social security cover. The labour code on social security does not include 93 per cent of the workforce in the unorganised sector.

Other demands also include repealing the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).

In Kerala, several shops in many cities have remained shut due to the bandh. Transport services too have been affected. Public transport services were suspended while private buses did not operate fearing vandalism

Though largely peaceful, there have been reports of sporadic violence in some places such as Madikeri town in Kodagu district of Karnataka where stones were pelted at a KSRTC bus.

A similar incident also took place in West Bengal where a bus was vandalised. Even though West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did not support the strike, there were some instances of violence, like the Rail Roko protest in North 24 Parganas district where crude oil bombs were found. There have also been reports of bombs being hurled towards police in Malda, where the police too reportedly fired rubber bullets and teargas shells.

Apart from that, protesters were detained in some parts of the country.

In Andhra Pradesh, police arrested leaders of the Left parties and trade unions as they tried to stop state-owned buses and staged road blockade on Wednesday as part of the nation-wide shutdown.

Protesters were arrested in Vijayawada, Guntur, Ongole, Visakhapatnam, Kadapa and other towns when they tried to stop buses of the Road Transport Corporation (RTC) from coming out of the depots.

In Chennai too, some protesters who trying to block roads were detained.
After Republicans attacked her for saying she felt the effects of PTSD following military attacks between the US and Iran, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has hit back, reminding critics that she is a survivor of war, having entered the US as a child refugee during a brutal civil war in Somalia.

On Wednesday, she joined progressive Democrats to call for peace, saying that the escalating tensions and attacks between the US and Iran makes her feel "ill a little bit".

She said: "And I think every time I hear about  I hear of conversations around war, I find myself being stricken with PTSD. And I find peace knowing that I serve with great advocates for peace and people who have shown courage against war."

On Twitter, Indiana Republican Jim Banks called the Minnesota Democrat's claim "a disgrace" and "offensive to our nation's veterans who really do have PTSD after putting their life on the line" to defend the US.

Ms Omar responded, saying that she survived war as a child and continues to deal with PTSD "much like many who have served or lived through war. It's shameful that you as a member of Congress would erase the PTSD of survivors."

US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Show all 35 1 /35 US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures This photo released by the Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office shows a burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, early Friday 3 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures The wreckage of the car in which general Soleimani was travelling when a targeted US airstrike struck outside Baghdad International Airport on 3 January Ahmad Al Mukhtar via Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Demonstrators burn the US and British flags during a protest in Tehran after general Soleimani was killed in a targeted airstrike by American forces Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike. The Pentagon said Thursday that the US military has killed general Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, at the direction of Donald Trump AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn Israeli and US flags as thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of general Soleimani at the hands of America EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of Donald Trump pray at an 'Evangelicals for Trump' campaign event held on the day following the killing of general Soleimani. At the event, the president praised the "flawless strike that eliminated the terrorist ringleader" AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A huge procession of mourners gather in Baghdad for the funeral of general Soleimani on 4 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of Soleimani during an anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iraqis perform a mourning prayer for slain major general Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards at the Great Mosque of Kufa AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A billboard reading 'Death to America and Israel', installed by Iran-backed shiite armed groups at a street in Jadriyah district in Baghdad, Iraq EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him visiting the family of Soleiman KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US flag as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Jalal Feiruznia, looks to a portrait of Soleimani, as he receives condolences at the Iranian embassy, in Beirut, Lebanon AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures People make their way on the street while a screen on the wall of a cinema shows a portrait Soleimani in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Aziz Asmar, one of two Syrian painters who completed a mural following the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani poses next to his creation in the rebel-held Syrian town of Dana in the northwestern province of Idlib AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A demonstration in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures An anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Mujtaba al-Husseini, the representative of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivers a speech in the holy shrine city of Najaf AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US and Israeli flags as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters demonstrate in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shi'ite Muslims hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, in Peshawar, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters, holding a photograph of the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran Massoud Rajavi, outside Downing Street in London PA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn a US flag in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A Syrian man offers sweets to children to mark the killing AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers attend a mourning prayer for Soleimani in Iran's capital Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shout anti American and anti Israel slogans during a protest AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshipers chant slogans during Friday prayers Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A protest against the USA, in Islamabad, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranians burn a US flag in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin, Germany Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol a road in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel. Following morning's killing of Major General Qasem Soleimani, Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement called for the missile strike by Israel's closest ally, to be avenged AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian women take to the streets in Tehran EPA

Mr Banks doubled down on his comments, however, and shared a video of Ms Omar smiling while chatting with Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib during the press conference, which he says "reveal your feelings [towards] our soldiers serving abroad and the video speaks for itself".

The footage was also shared by Georgia Republican Jody Hice, who called it "absolutely shameful".

He said: "Our brave men and women in uniform deserve our utmost respect and applause for their service and sacrifice  not mockery and laughter."

But veterans group Common Defense voiced its support for Ms Omar and called Mr Banks's comments "tremendously ignorant".

The group said: "Veterans like us know that people wearing uniforms aren't the only ones impacted by war. [Ms Omar] is a refugee. We stand with her against hawkish elites like you."

Born in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1981, Ms Omar fled the country at 10 years old as the civil war began in 1991. She lived in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the US in 1995. She was elected to Congress in 2018, joining Ms Tlaib as the first Muslim women elected to the House.

Right-wing Fox host Laura Ingraham mocked Ms Omar's comments, saying: "Call the medic!"

Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley responded, saying, "8 yrs old. That's how old [Ms Omar] was when she fled for her life as her home was decimated by war. I know you think war's a for profit video game ... but you'd be wise to take a seat and take your cues from folks like Ilhan who actually know what they're talking about."

Ms Omar denounced Donald Trump's plans for additional sanctions against Iran following the country's airstrike on two US bases in Iraq as "economic warfare" that "make no sense" and will continue to drive medical shortages in the country.

She said on Twitter: "You cannot claim to want deescalation and then announce new sanctions with no clear goal. This is not a measured response!"

Ms Omar joined House Democrats to support a resolution that aims to end the mounting war between the president and Iran. She co-sponsored a resolution with California Democrat Barbara Lee to withdraw troops from the region by invoking the War Powers Act.

In a statement, Ms Omar said: "We in Congress must exercise our Constitutional duty and do everything in our power to stop another disastrous war ... Following the assassination [of General Qassem Soleimani on 3 January ], thousands of additional troops were sent to the Middle East in one of the largest rapid deployments seen in decades. This follows years of saber-rattling and threats of war against Iran by President Trump and his accomplices."
Ukrainian Plane Crashes In Iran, Killing All 176 People Aboard

By RFE/RL January 08, 2020

A Ukrainian commercial airliner crashed on January 8 soon after taking off from Iran's capital, Tehran, killing all 176 people on board, mostly Iranian nationals, but also Western and Ukrainian citizens.

Debris and smoldering parts from the Boeing 737-800NG belonging to Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) were strewn across a field southwest of the Iranian capital's Imam Khomeini International Airport as rescue teams with face masks retrieved bodies.

The crash came just hours after Iran launched a ballistic-missile attack targeting two bases in Iraq housing U.S. forces in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Qasem Soleimani.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. The 3-year-old aircraft was en route to Kyiv.

Ukrainian authorities said the victims included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians including all nine crew, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Britons, and three Germans.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a statement that he had instructed the country's prosecutor-general to open criminal proceedings over the crash.

Ukraine will send a team of experts to Iran later in the day to investigate the circumstances of the crash, the president said on Facebook.

"Our priority is to establish the truth and those responsible for this terrible catastrophe," Zelenskiy wrote.

Iran and Ukraine agreed "to coordinate further actions of our investigation groups closely to determine the cause of the terrible plane crash," according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystayko.

In a statement, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government will "work closely with its international partners to ensure that this crash is thoroughly investigated, and that Canadians' questions are answered."

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States was prepared to offer Ukraine "all possible assistance...with any investigation into the cause of the crash."

Ukraine's embassy in Tehran initially blamed engine failure but later removed the statement.

An embassy official said Iranian authorities had asked it to rescind an earlier statement from Iran based on preliminary information.

Iranian TV said the crash was due to unspecified technical problems, and Iranian media quoted a local aviation official as saying the pilot did not declare an emergency.

State media reported that the plane caught fire after crashing, but a video aired by the state broadcaster appeared to show the plane already on fire as it fell from the night sky.

Zelenskiy said the airworthiness of Ukraine's entire civilian fleet will be tested.

"My sincere condolences to the relatives and friends of all passengers and crew," Zelenskiy said, announcing that he was breaking off his visit to Oman to return to Kyiv.

In a separate comment on Facebook, Zelenskiy also warned against speculation about the crash.

"I ask everyone to keep from speculating and putting forth unconfirmed theories about the crash," he wrote.

UIA said the plane underwent its last technical maintenance on January 6. It also said all flights to Tehran have been suspended indefinitely. The company said in a statement that most passengers were in transit and due to connect to other flights on arrival in Ukraine.

The plane's two black boxes had been retrieved and are being investigated by Iranian aviation experts, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.

The public prosecutor's office in Tehran said the remains of all passengers had been brought to forensics experts.

Airline manufacturers usually assist in crash investigations, but such an effort could be affected in this case by U.S. sanctions reinstated after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in May 2018.

Iran's semiofficial news agency Mehr quoted the head of the country's civil aviation authority as saying Iran would not give the black boxes to Boeing.

The Boeing 737-800 is a common single-aisle, twin-engine jetliner used for short- to medium-range flights.

Thousands of the planes are used by airlines around the world.

Introduced in the late 1990s, it is an older model than the Boeing 737 MAX, which has been grounded for nearly 10 months following two deadly crashes.

A number of 737-800 aircraft have been involved in deadly crashes recently.

A FlyDubai 737-800 from Dubai crashed in 2016 while trying to land at Rostov-on-Don airport in Russia, killing 62 on board.

Another 737-800 flight from Dubai, operated by Air India Express, crashed in 2010 while attempting to land in Mangalore, India, killing more than 150 on board.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, Fars, dpa, and IRNA

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/reports-ukrainian- plane-with-at-least-170-aboard-crashes-near- tehran-in-iran/30365544.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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After the tumult of late 2019, when some of Portlands best restaurants, bars and bakeries closed for good, this year opens with a brighter outlook. Local food fans have more sushi, more ramen and a shocking amount of fried chicken to look forward to in 2020. Here are 10 pieces of Portland restaurant news for January, 2020:

We are in the midst of a new fried chicken craze

Remember the fried-chicken sandwich wars of 2016? Our waistlines dont. Now it seems were in the midst of another fried chicken escalation, only this one without bread. Last year saw the arrival of Micah Camdens surprisingly tasty Baes in Old Town, Sunday fried chicken suppers downtown at Bullard, the Cully neighborhoods fried chicken-focused Yonder and a second location of southern Thai sensation Hat Yai in close-in Southeast, among others. Southeast Portland food cart Jojo technically opened in 2018, but their sandwich is the first real challenger to Basilisks local hegemony. And we already have a few more crunchy birds to look forward to in 2020, including Bullard chef Doug Adams and Jen Quists Sellwood spin-off Holler, mega Korean chicken-wing chain Bonchon and the first Oregon location of Oprahs personal favorite, Ezells. All that, and East Burnside chicken and waffle destination Screen Door is set to open a second location in the Pearl District this year.

One of Portlands best ramen shops is headed for the 'burbs

Last month, the Portland Food & Drink blog broke the news that Afuri, a well-regarded Japanese ramen import that claimed to have picked Portland as the site of its first American location for the quality of our Bull Run water, will open a second location in Beaverton. The water must be pretty good in Beaverton, too. Eater PDX filled in a few more details this week, including that the new location will offer a similar menu to the Southeast Portland original -- as opposed to the streamlined Old Town location -- with ramen, gyoza, sushi, robata skewers and a bar. Expect the 85-seat restaurant to open this spring at 12577 S.W. First St., adding to the citys already solid ramen options, including the standby Yuzu and the newer (and now underrated?) Shizuki.

Your new (old) home for sustainable seafood ... and meat

Heres an interesting tidbit from the Good Stuff NW blog: Providore Fine Foods, the upscale grocer at 2340 N.E. Sandy Blvd., is bringing in a pair of new tenants to replace Flying Fish Company. First up, Two X Sea, a San Francisco-based sustainable seafood company that sells its products to a number of top Portland restaurants. Plans call for an oyster bar with food from Erizo chef Jacob Harth. But thats not all. Revel, the local meat company from former Old Salt Marketplace owner Ben Meyer and James Serlin, is bringing its local product to the deli case as well. Meanwhile, over the holidays, I popped into Providore for a round of oysters and pink bubbles -- the wine now sold, annoyingly, on the opposite side of the store -- and learned that Flying Fish Company is now shooting for an early February opening for their restaurant and market, with a few pop-up-type things sprinkled in the week or two before.

Portlands latest sushi counter to feature more Oregon seafood

Sam Saltos, the former sushi chef at downtowns Departure and co-owner of Northeast Alberta Streets Zilla, will wield the sharp knives at Hinoki, a new 12-seat sushi counter in Southeast Portland, according to a press release. The restaurant, named for the famed Japanese cypress, will take up the space at 4529 S.E. Division St. sandwiched between chef John Gorhams Tasty N Daughters and the original Stumptown cafe and is backed by Gorhams Toro Bravo restaurant group. Saltos, an Oregon native, plans to supplement the Japanese fish used at Zilla and other top Portland sushi restaurants with seafood from the Oregon coast, a product that can be difficult to source consistently. The Oregon coast is only sixty miles away," Saltos said, "but we might as well be on the moon. The restaurant, which will feature a sushi bar and other design elements made from local Port Orford cedar, is the 10th project backed by the Toro Bravo group (or 11th, if Israeli spot Yalla can open in the Multnomah Villages former Gastro Mania spot first).

Pearl District adds pair of new-ish Mexican restaurants

Eater PDX had the scoop on two new (or new-ish) Mexican restaurants in Portlands Pearl District. First off, at Papi Chulos, which opened last month at 611 N.W. 13th Ave., chef Antonio Javier Palma Caceres serves nachos, burritos, beef birria served with consome, tortillas made from Three Sisters masa and pre-batched margaritas, including a strawberry-lime number that sounds just right to perk up this cold winter weather. Meanwhile, Casa Tolteca, which opened last fall, then closed for a recalibration, will reopen Jan. 13 in the former Park Kitchen space, 422 N.W. Eighth Ave., with breakfast and lunch service including huevos rancheros, pozole and Caesar salads, with dinner to resume shortly thereafter from co-chefs Alex Fernandez and co-chef Celestina Guarcas.

Your new summer drinking destination is already here

Right at the start of the year, Portland restaurant industry vets Jessica Baesler and Graham Files opened their dream bar, Someday, in a tucked-away space at 3634 S.E. Division St. Found down an alley on the same block as the old Victory Bar (R.I.P.), Someday features a walnut bar, black walnut banquettes and a menu of both classic and original cocktails alongside simple bites such as Brillat Savarin cheese with local honey, chicken liver mousse with balsamic onions and Ottos old fashioned wieners. The back-alley courtyard is also home to a trio of food carts: Ash Woodfired (pizza), Lets Roll (sushi) and Alley Mezza (Mediterranean).

180 Xurros is making a comeback (hurray!)

When The Oregonian broke the news late last year that chef Jose Chesa was opening a new restaurant, Masia, we asked the chef for an update on 180 Xurros and Xocalata, the beloved Barcelona-style xurro joint on Northeast Broadway that closed in 2018. We are working on it," he said at the time, "but nothing is confirmed. Turns out, a scaled-back 180 will indeed make a comeback -- right alongside Masia in the lobby of the Hyatt Centric hotel at Southwest Alder Street and 11th Avenue. As Portland Monthly reports, the reborn shop will also feature grab-and-go Spanish sandwiches, espresso drinks from Never Coffee and more. Tentative opening date: February.

Grassas third location (and first on the East Side) is open now

Biking up Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard last week, I noticed customers already inside the new Grassa, the handmade pasta restaurant from Lardo chef-owner Rick Gencarelli at 1475 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd. The new location -- Grassas third -- has a similar menu and decor to the two westside restaurants, but this was the first one that Gencarelli and his team got to build from the ground up. You might want to head there soon: Tipsters report that Gencarelli himself has been in the kitchen making pasta.

Some of Americas best chefs are headed for the Oregon hills

This year, The Suttle Lodge has rolled out an extra impressive lineup for its fourth annual chef series. From January to June, the lodge will bring some of Americas hottest chefs to Central Oregon for one-of-a-kind dinners in a cozy forest setting." This years lineup, which was curated by former Bon Appetit restaurant editor Andrew Knowlton, includes Jeremy Charles of Newfoundlands Raymond (Jan. 25), Tom Cunanan of Washington, D.C.'s, Bad Saint, Nite Yun of Oaklands Nyum Bai and Mason Hereford of New Orleans Turkey and the Wolf. Dinners cost $95 per person and are served family-style. More information at TheSuttleLodge.com/Happenings.

Are these Portlands restaurants of the decade?

Last but not least (and ICYMI, we took a crack at narrowing down the 10 restaurants that defined the 2010s.

-- Michael Russell, mrussell@oregonian.com, @tdmrussell

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
UN chief Antonio Guterres four-point message to world leaders, 'Stop escalation, exercise maximum restraint, re-start dialogue, renew international cooperation'

United Nations: In the wake of an Iranian ballistic missile attack on airbases which house US forces in Iraq, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said he would continue his active engagement to de-escalate tensions and avert full-scale war, which the "world cannot afford."

In a statement released by his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Wednesday, Guterres re-iterated the "passionate appeal for peace" he made on Monday, after tensions rose dramatically across the whole Gulf region, following the killing of the top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani, in a US drone strike.

Iran said it had carried out pre-dawn ballistic missile attack on Wednesday against two airbases used by the US and other coalition forces in Iraq, in retaliation for the targeted killing on the outskirts of Baghdad airport on Friday.

The bases struck were the large Al Asad base, west of Baghdad, and another in Erbil, the centre of Iraq's Kurdish region. The strikes came just hours after the burial of the influential general, marked by huge crowds, in Iran.

The UN chief repeated his four-point message to world leaders, too, "Stop escalation. Exercise maximum restraint. Re-start dialogue", and "renew international cooperation." "This appeal remains as important today as it was on Monday. For his part, the Secretary-General will continue his active engagement with relevant actors," the statement said.

Guterres said it is "our common duty to make every effort to avoid a war in the Gulf that the world cannot afford. We must not forget the terrible human suffering caused by war. As always, ordinary people pay the highest price," Guterres said.

The UN Iraq mission also called for 'urgent restraint'. Citing the missile attacks in Erbil and Anbar governorates, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said the offensive served to "only escalate the conflict, and again violate Iraqi sovereignty."

The mission said in a tweet, "Senseless violence has predictable effects. We call for urgent restraint and a resumption of dialogue. Iraq should not pay the price for external rivalries. During his daily press briefing, Dujarric added that "we very much support the unity, the sovereignty of Iraq.

He said the UN chief had spoken by phone on Tuesday with Iraq's president Barham Salih, "to whom he expressed the solidarity of the United Nations and continuing support for the Iraqi people. "The international community should support the Iraqi people as they seek to create the conditions for political dialogue, he added.

Following a statement made by US president Donald Trump from the White House on Wednesday, Dujarric added, "We welcome any indication that leaders are walking back from major confrontation, and are doing whatever they can, to avoid any further escalation".

Guterres stressed in a tweet that Peace is our most precious value. It is the product of hard work and we must never take it for granted. He said he is encouraged by signs that the escalating conflict in the Gulf may be subsiding. The world cannot afford another war.
As Yemens civil war nears its sixth year in March, Oman continues to provide humanitarian assistance to Yemenis to alleviate their suffering, maintain stability along its border and enhance historical cross-border ties.

Omanis look at Yemenis as human beings without trying to be superior, said Ahmed Yahya Ahmed, who traveled in 2018 from Yemen to Sultan Qaboos Hospital in Salalah, Oman, to seek medical treatment for his sick father.

An Omani community-based initiative known as White Hands covered his day-to-day expenses and the cost of the treatment, about $3,900. In 2019 alone, more than 70 Yemenis hospitalized in Salalah benefited from the groups assistance.

Like Ahmed, 80% of Yemenis are in dire need of assistance and thus see the Sultanate of Oman as the only gate to the outside world. Yemens only other land border is with Saudi Arabia  which is leading a military intervention against Yemens Houthi rebels. The war has taken more than 100,000 lives since 2015.

We would like to thank Sultan Qaboos, a man of peace, Ahmed said.

Indeed, Oman keeps its border open to thousands of Yemenis, provides those in need with medical treatment, food, financial support, power generators and gas cylinders. It also builds houses, water wells, infrastructure and medical centers in the war-torn country.

In 2018, Martin Griffiths, special envoy of the UN secretary-general to Yemen, declared that Oman is playing a pivotal role in helping Yemenis, the Times of Oman reported.

In parallel, the Omani government allows international organizations to operate from its territory. In 2019, we sent 136 trucks of aid to Yemen, said Jamila Hammami, mission head in Oman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

We operate under the aegis of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so we dont export anything unless it is approved and validated by local authorities, as per ICRC requirements, she said.

Since the beginning of the war in Yemen, Oman has kept a prudently low profile over this brotherly assistance.

I would like to know how many Yemeni refugees live in Oman, but our interlocutors do not share the figure, Hammami said. She believes such discretion aims to preserve neutrality.

Omani academic Abdullah Baabood notes the sultanate is cautious not to be portrayed as interventionist.

Beyond its humanitarian commitment, Oman also plays a strategic and predominant role in Yemen, notably via diplomatic efforts. We always facilitate any attempt for parties to talk to each other, Omani Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah told Al-Monitor.

An Omani source familiar with the matter told Al-Monitor by phone that the country always makes sure this aid doesnt influence any ongoing political process.

For instance, if we try to facilitate talks between Houthis and the internationally recognized government, we wont provide any announced aid to one side and not to the other, he said.

For Giorgio Cafiero, CEO of Washington-based geopolitical risk consultancy Gulf State Analytics, This aid needs to be understood within the context of bilateral affairs. The analyst believes Oman prioritizes its own national interests when interacting with its neighbor, since the war in Yemen stands as Omans No. 1 security threat, he told Al-Monitor in a December phone interview.

Oman considers its border area with eastern Yemen a strategically important extension of its direct sphere of influence, and aims to nurture the sultanates historical, tribal, cultural, economic and political ties with Yemen beyond the conflict.

Yet Oman drew a red line by rejecting a request for tanks it received from Yemens al-Mahrah opposition leader, Ali Salem al-Huraizi.

Huraizi told Al-Monitor during a recent interview in Omans capital, Muscat, Our Omani interlocutors said, We are not part of this war.

According to Baabood, the sultanate indeed focuses on quietly alleviating the humanitarian crisis without causing any undue criticism or raising any suspicion.

Yet Oman maintains close ties with Iran, and angered Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates by being the only Gulf state that refused to join the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis. Iran is suspected of smuggling weapons to the Houthis in Yemen, including some weapons that perhaps travel through Oman  a claim Omani officials vigorously denied.

As part of this regional balancing act, Omani authorities do not allow private initiatives such as the White Hands to treat or assist any war-wounded Yemenis. Instead, the government provides official, organized and free-of-charge medical support in such politically sensitive cases, often with the consent of the United Nations and other actors.

In 2016, Al Jazeera reported that a group of 113 patients injured by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes received medical care in Oman, followed by 130 others. Two years later, a UN-chartered plane landed in Muscat carrying some 50 Houthi rebels wounded in fighting, provided that Houthi representatives would attend UN-led peace talks in Sweden.

Some of those war-wounded Yemenis had been transferred to the ICRC Weapon Traumatology Training Center in Tripoli, Lebanon, to get complex medical treatments, surgeries and physical therapy. Hammami said that their monthslong stay was supported by the ICRC, Omani authorities and the Lebanese Embassy to Oman.

Other GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] states have been grateful to Oman for treating injured Yemenis.  Oman is trying to help out Yemen without any sort of sectarian bias or political agenda, Cafiero said.

Besides government-led initiatives, 200 Omani surgeons and health professionals have been trained by the ICRC since 2017 in war surgery, to treat patients injured by bullets, bombs and mines. Our role is to develop this expertise in Oman. It is capacity-building, but it responds to the immediate needs of Yemenis, Hammami said.

Behind most of these public and private initiatives dedicated to easing the suffering of Yemenis is the state-funded Oman Charitable Organization, which Hammami refers to as a key partner in supporting a logistics hub run by ICRC in Salalah.

In fact, the Omani source familiar with the matter indicated that any aid shipped from Oman to Yemen has to be approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Council of Ministers.

At the time of publication, neither the ministry nor the Oman Charitable Organization responded to Al-Monitors requests for an interview regarding Omans humanitarian assistance to Yemen.

Abdullah al-Badi, Omans ambassador to Yemen until 2013, ensures that the sultanate safeguards a strong influence over al-Mahrah province while nurturing good relations with all parties, in part thanks to the aid it distributes to alleviate Yemeni suffering.

They trust us since we do not play against one faction or another, he told Al-Monitor. The former ambassador calls for the immediate cessation of fighting.

In Salalah, far from politics, Omani White Hands aid workers launched in 2019 a free guest house for Yemeni patients, next to Sultan Qaboos Hospital. In the corridors, men pray for the future of Yemen.

They wait for peace to return home. If God wills, the conflict will end soon, White Hands founder Salem Mohammed told Al-Monitor.

Yemenis are tired. Everything is destroyed. Why are we at war? he asked bitterly.

Quentin Muller contributed to this story.
Myanmars armed forces on Thursday said a decision by money transfer company Western Union to cut ties to a military-owned bank over army atrocities against the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority violates the rights of military families.

U.S.-based Western Union terminated its agent contract with Myawaddy Bank, becoming the latest foreign firm to sever connections to a military-operated company following calls by human rights groups to do so over alleged genocide and war crimes committed against Myanmar civilians.

A Western Union spokesperson said that in Myanmar and other countries where it provides services, the company uses local agents remunerated by a commission payment, and "conducts agent due diligence and oversight through periodic reviews to determine whether these agents satisfy relevant regulatory requirements and Western Union policies.

"As a result of such a review, Western Union has ended its contract with Myawaddy Bank, effective immediately," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Myawaddy Bank was founded in 1993 and has 65 branches in cities across Myanmar, including its head office. Profits from Myawaddy Bank benefit the military, rights groups say.

Western Union was one of about 80 companies worldwide on the British rights group Burma Campaign UK's Dirty List of firms doing business with Myanmars military. The list also includes international firms working on projects involving human rights violations or environmental destruction.

Myanmar defense forces spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told RFA Thursday that Myawaddy Bank  a subsidiary of the military-owned conglomerate Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings (UMEHL)  was founded to serve the well-being of military families and veterans.

This violates the rights of military families and deters their prosperity, he said.

Regardless, Western Union is only one international money transaction service, he said. If it is not available, we will work with someone who is available to us.

Zaw Min Tun played down the effect that the decision would have on Myanmar, whose citizens abroad use the service to send remittances to family members at home. The service is also used by humanitarian aid groups to transfer funds to their local operations.

Western Union uses local agents, who receive commissions on money transfers, to provide services in Myanmar.

There will be no big impact on the country, he said. These [military] banks have been operating before they started working with [Western Union].

Zaw Min Tun said he didnt know the current number of active armed forces members, but he put number of military veterans at between 250,000 and 300,000.

RFA could not reach officials at Myawaddy Bank or Bo Bo Ngae, vice chairman of Myanmars Central Bank, for comment.

No big changes

Western Union is still working with other Myanmar financial institutions, including Kanbawza Bank (KBZ), Ayeyarwady Bank, CB Bank, First Private Bank, Yoma Bank, MAB Bank, and UAB Bank.

Zaw Lin Htut, chief executive officer of Myanmar Payment Union, a union of private banks providing financial services in Myanmar, said Western Unions withdrawal from Myawaddy Bank would not have an impact on the institution or its customers.

The way Western Union works is that a customer can withdraw money in any bank via its service after receiving a code number from the sender, he said. There will not be any changes for customers or for Myawaddy Bank itself because it does not rely on profits from Western Unions services.

The banks primary operations are loans and other business, so the decision will not affect it very much, he said.

The international community has condemned the government military for human rights violations against ethnic minorities in Kachin and northern Shan states, where it engages in periodic clashes with rebel ethnic armies, and against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state, where it conducted a brutal targeted crackdown in 2017.

Burma Campaign UK and 32 other organizations issued a joint statement in October 2018 calling on Western Union to stop doing business with Myawaddy Bank.

Western Union is doing business with a military responsible for the rape of thousands of women, and the killing of thousands more, Western Unions statement said.

There are plenty of alternative nonmilitary companies in Burma that Western Union can use in Burma, it said. There is no justification for putting money into the pockets of Burmas brutal military.

A U.N.-appointed Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar that probed military abuses has also encouraged international businesses not to sign contracts with companies owned by the armed forces or with those owned by relatives of military leaders.

Rights activist Nickey Diamond from East Asia-based Fortify Rights said he welcomed Western Unions decision.

We welcome such a decision, as human rights activists and as Fortify Rights, he told RFA. This is a very praiseworthy action, but still not enough.

Serving the well-being of the military members and their family members should not be an excuse for committing human rights violations, he said. If the military keeps committing these acts, there will be more sanctions and companies cutting ties with its businesses.

More actions will follow soon, Diamond predicted.

Reported by Nay Myo Htun for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
What did Iran want to accomplish with its attack against bases in Iraq where American troops are stationed, and how will the U.S. respond? Those were arguably the most pressing questions Wednesday after the overnight missile strikes.

Retired admiral Sandy Winnefeld, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and CBS News military and homeland security analyst, told "CBS This Morning" Iran was playing to four different audiences with its strikes, the first of those being the United States.

He said Iran wanted to say, "'Hey we can hit you guys, and by the way, we didn't hurt anybody so please don't start a war with us that we would lose.'"

The second target audience, according to Winnefeld, was the Iranian people, "and they can say anything they want to to that audience," because the regime so closely controls media and the flow of information inside the Islamic Republic.

Iranian state television has reported the missile strikes killed dozens of American personnel, but there have been no credible reports of American casualties. Winnefeld said the Iranian claims were just posturing  an internal message to show Iran had taken "hard revenge."

The third audience, in Winnefeld's eyes, is the international community. On that front he said Iran wants to show that it carried out the attack legally, in self-defense and they don't want to attract animosity from the rest of the world.

"And the fourth audience, of course, is the regional audience," Winnefeld said.

"'Please don't help the Americans retaliate for this. And by the way why don't you kick them out of the region,'" is what he believes Iran was trying to convey to regional players.

Winnefeld said the attack was "carefully calibrated," with Iran using increasingly accurate ballistic missiles which "probably hit pretty close to what their targets were."

Story continues

"This is a big sprawling airbase. Mostly desert," Winnefeld said. "They could have targeted these missiles into remote areas to avoid any possibility that an American could be killed. Or they might have done what we would've done, and that is perhaps target aircraft on the ramp, but not barracks or places where there would be a lot of people."

Winnefeld said the U.S. had three basic options as to how it would respond.

"One would be a disproportionate response, which the president alluded to in previous days, but didn't sign up for necessarily. And I don't think that's what he will do. Certainly not what I would advise," Winnefeld said, referring to Mr. Trump's weekend threat to target 52 sites inside Iran, including "cultural sites."

A proportional response could include the U.S. targeting Iranian missile sites, storage and handling facilities or command and control centers, he said.

"But there are a lot of problems associated with that option as well," Winnefeld said.

"The third is essentially to let this go," Winnefeld said. "And underneath you sort of have a tacit agreement with Iran that says 'We got our's, you got your's, by the way we think we might've got the better end of this thing.' And above the line you can tell the international community, 'Hey look how restrained we were and look how much of a menace this Iranian country is. And why don't you climb on board with sanctions and the like?'"

At the same time, Winnefeld said the U.S. could send a strong message to Iran that its proxy war is over.

"That's how this whole thing started," Winnefeld said, alluding to the steady string of small-scale attacks by Iranian-backed groups in Iraq targeting U.S. installations, which culminated with the attack on a base in Kirkuk at the end of December that killed a U.S. contractor.

Winnefeld said the circumstances on Wednesday morning were an opportunity for the U.S. to say, "'we're not going to let you have your proxies hit us anymore and we'll go after them if you do and we'll also go after you.'"

Winnefeld noted that while he believes Iran's direct military response to the U.S. is over, there could still be further covert retaliation.

"I do think that the (Iranian) proxies in Iraq do want a piece of this action. So it's not a good time to be complacent about self-defense for our troops. But that's the real question mark," Winnefeld said. "Where do we go with the nuclear program and where do we go with covert action from Iran?"

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(Natural News) As it turns out, regularly brushing and flossing your teeth protects more than just your smile.

In a new study published in the United European Gastrenterology Journal, researchers from Queens University Belfast said poor oral health may be linked to an increased risk for a specific type of liver cancer.

According to Haydee WT Jordao, a researcher at the Centre of Public Health at Queens University Belfast and lead author of the study, the research team analyzed a large cohort of over 469,000 people in the UK in order to investigate the association between poor oral health conditions and the risk for a number of gastrointestinal cancers  including those of the liver, colon, rectum and pancreas  as there is inconsistent evidence on the association between the two.

Poor oral hygiene has been previously linked to higher risk for chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

In their study, Jordao, noted that while they did not find any significant associations between poor oral health and the risk for gastrointestinal cancers, they were able to find enough evidence linking it to a 75 percent increase in the risk for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)  the most common form of liver malignancy and a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide.

According to the researchers, liver cancer is currently the sixth bigger cancer killer in the European Union, with the disease claiming the lives of almost 60,000 people per year.

This type of cancer, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS), has two growth patterns: the first is a single tumor that grows larger and expands to other parts of the liver as it matures, while the second pattern starts from small malignant nodules that develop throughout the liver. The latter is seen in people with cirrhosis and is the most common type of HCC in the US. (Related: Milk thistle shows promise in treating liver cancer.)

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According to a statement by leading dental health charity Oral Health Foundation, the research should serve as a reminder to the public that the benefits of looking after your oral health go beyond a healthy mouth.

Taking a relatively small amount of time each day to keep a clean and healthy mouth can make you far less likely to encounter some serious conditions in the future, Nigel Carter OBE, Chief Executive of the Oral Health Foundation, said.

Tips on how to prevent liver cancer

Despite the negative information uncovered by the new study, medical experts say liver cancer is still preventable, as its risk factors such as obesity, tobacco use, consumption of alcohol and now, poor oral health, can be easily addressed by making healthy lifestyle choices, such as:

Limiting your consumption and use of alcohol and tobacco  According to the ACS, these substances increase ones risk for liver cirrhosis, which can lead to the development of liver cancer.

According to the ACS, these substances increase ones risk for liver cirrhosis, which can lead to the development of liver cancer. Maintaining good oral health  Make it a habit to brush and floss your teeth after every meal.

Make it a habit to brush and floss your teeth after every meal. Maintaining a healthy weight  Numerous studies have shown that people with obesity are more likely to develop fatty liver disease or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and Type 2 diabetes, both of which are linked to liver cancer.

Numerous studies have shown that people with obesity are more likely to develop fatty liver disease or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and Type 2 diabetes, both of which are linked to liver cancer. Avoiding anabolic steroids  Often used by bodybuilders and professional athletes to increase their muscle mass, these synthetic hormones have been linked to a slight increase in the risk for hepatocellular cancer, as well as a host of other serious health complications.

Find out more about the importance of taking care of your teeth for overall health at OralHealth.news.

Sources include:

ScienceDaily.com

Journals.SagePub.com

Cancer.org

DentalHealth.org
Srinagar/New Delhi: A delegation of 16 New Delhi-based envoys and other senior diplomats on Thursday began a two-day visit to Srinagar and Jammu for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation in Kashmir in the backdrop of New Delhi stripping the erstwhile state of its special status and splitting it up into two Union territories.

The delegation, which includes US ambassador to India Kenneth Juster, is touring J&K at the invitation of the external affairs ministry, which said they wanted to see firsthand the efforts by the government to normalise the situation in the UT. The other envoys and senior diplomats who are part of the delegation are from South Korea, Brazil, Bangladesh, Peru, Argentina, Niger, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Morocco, Vietnam, the Philippines, Norway and the Maldives.

During their day-long stay in Srinagar, the envoys met security officials, political leaders, civil society groups, arti-stes and the media, officials said. In the evening, they flew into Jammu, where they met lieutenant-governor Girish Chander Murmu, his advisers and senior officials over dinner. On the second leg of their trip, the team will meet leaders and representatives of various political parties, social organisations, civil society groups and media persons.

Opposition calls envoys visit a guide tour

They will also visit the Jagti migrant camp of displaced Kashmiri Pandits before flying back to New Delhi.

Soon after their arrival in Srinagar in a chartered plane, the delegation was briefed by the Armys Chinar Corps commander, Lt. Gen. Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, at the Badami Bagh cantonment on the overall security situation in the hinterland and along the Line of Control, cross-border terrorism and frequent ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops.

The MEA said the envoys visit was organised given the prevailing situation in J&K. A report from Delhi said European Union ambassadors were not a part of the group due to certain restrictions. But officials said this was unfounded and mischievous.

The MEA said the EU envoys wanted to visit Kashmir in a group but we did not extend an invite to all.

It said the envoys visit to J&K was not over, adding similar visits to Kashmir can be organised in future, including by EU envoys.

It is more than five months after the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcating J&K that the government invited the first group of New Delhi-based diplomats to travel to Srinagar and Jammu.

The visit, however, evoked criticism by the Congress, National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, CPI(M) and some other mainstream parties, terming it a guided tour aimed at misleading the world about the ground realities in J&K. The Congress also questioned the governments wisdom and probity in inviting foreign diplomats to visit J&K when the countrys political leaders, including Members of Parliament, were being denied access to the erstwhile state.

State CPI(M) leader Muhammad Tarigami said: I fail to understand why the government is conducting such tours of foreign diplomats to J&K, whose political leaders remain incarcerated for more than five months, no political activity is allowed, the Internet remains shut and no interaction is taking place with the average citizen. He added: Also, the government should know the issues confronting J&K can be resolved only by taking its people onboard and not hosting lunches and dinners for foreign envoys.

The absence of EU ambassadors from the delegation has raised eyebrows. In response to media reports that the EU envoys did not want to be part of a guided tour, the MEA said this was factually incorrect. It said the EU envoys wanted to visit J&K as a group, but the MEA wanted the group visiting on Thursday to include envoys from several regions in the world.

The MEA said: We need to correct a perception. There are reports EU ambassadors did not go as they thought this was a guided tour. Our understanding is very different. We wanted this group to be broad-based. And there were restrictions in numbers. You cant take too large a number, when you are moving and organising meetings. So we wanted this group to be a manageable size. We wanted this group to represent different geographical regions.

Subsequently, we will try to organise similar visits to J&K.

On EU, when we approached them, they welcomed the decision as many of their ambassadors had requested a visit to J&K. Our understanding is that they wanted to visit in a group. On many issues, they take a group position. The invitation was not sent to all members of the group as it would have clearly made the group too big. We were also told by some of the members that this was organised at short notice. At no stage did we tell them a certain meeting cannot be organised... We are looking at the possibility of organising a visit by EU ambassadors. Lets see how it works out.
Prince Harry and wife Meghan say they want to spend more time in North America.

Prince Harry, Queen Elizabeths grandson, said on Wednesday that he and his wife Meghan planned to step back from their roles as senior members of the United Kingdoms royal family and spend more time in North America.

Harry, sixth in line to the British throne, and Meghan, an American former actress, said they hoped to become financially independent and set up a charity while continuing some royal duties.

We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages, the couple said in a statement on Instagram.

Buckingham Palace issued a statement saying discussions with Harry and Meghan over their future role were at an early stage.

We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through, the palace said. Discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage.

The couple married in May 2018 in a lavish ceremony in Windsor Castle, west of London, and last year Meghan gave birth to their first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, who did not receive a royal title.

Splitting time between the UK and North America will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, Harry and Meghan said.

Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, have struggled to deal with the intense attention from parts of the British and international media, and the couple recently took a six-week break from their official duties.

In 2016, before they were married, Harry issued a statement criticising the media for intruding into Meghans private life, saying the press had subjected her to a wave of abuse and harassment.

Last October, Meghan started legal proceedings against the Mail on Sunday newspaper over the publication of a private letter.

Harry described the treatment of his wife as bullying, likening it to that his mother Princess Diana suffered before her death in a Paris car accident in 1997 when her limousine crashed as it sped away from chasing paparazzi.

Critical articles have picked out their use of private jets while promoting environmental causes, and the 2.4- million-pound (three million dollars) taxpayer-funded renovation of their new home.

Harry also admitted in October to disagreements with his brother, Prince William, who is second in line to the throne.

We are certainly on different paths at the moment, but I will always be there for him as I know he will always be there for me, Harry said at the time. As brothers, you have good days, you have bad days.

Harry and William received more than five million pounds from their father, Prince Charles, last year.

It was not immediately clear how Harry and Meghan would achieve financial independence. However, last year it was reported that Harry would be executive producer of a documentary on mental health with Oprah Winfrey, for Apples video streaming service.
HONG KONG, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) recorded more crimes in the first 11 months of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018, John Lee, secretary for Security of the HKSAR government said here Wednesday.

Lee said in the Legislative Council of the HKSAR that crime figures in the first half of 2019 showed a downward trend, but the numerous processions and demonstrations and rioters' violent acts since June had led to a deterioration in the region's law and order situation.

From January to November last year, 52,250 crimes were recorded, representing an increase of 4.2 percent over 50,122 crimes recorded during the same period in 2018.

The overall crime detection rate in the first 11 months of 2019 was 36.1 percent, lower than the rate of 42.9 percent during the same period in the preceding year.

Lee said the police devoted considerable manpower to handle more than 1,200 public order events and rioters' violent acts in the past six months. Routine policing work such as crime prevention and patrols was affected as a result.

From June 9 last year to Jan. 2 this year, the police had arrested a total of 6,943 persons in major public order events. Various offences were involved, including "taking part in a riot," "unlawful assembly," "arson," "wounding," "assault occasioning actual bodily harm," "criminal damage," "assaulting police officer," "obstructing a police officer in the execution of the officer's duty" and "in possession of offensive weapons."

Among the 6,943 arrestees, 1,082 persons already entered into or were in the course of legal proceedings, 338 persons had been released unconditionally, and the cases of 5,523 persons were still under investigation.

Maintaining good public order relies on police officers' efforts and citizens abiding by the law, Lee said.

"If members of the public turn a blind eye to violent acts of rioters and refuse to co-operate or even obstruct police's law enforcement operations, or condone even further assaulting against police officers, deterioration in public order is the price we have to pay," he said.

The Security Bureau of the HKSAR government has been coordinating the work among disciplined services to stop violence and curb disorder, he added.
Four students were injured after their school bus overturned near Rajpur town in Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, a police official said.

The bus was carrying nearly 25 students of a private school when the mishap occurred, the official said.

"The bus turned turtle near Jalgaun Fate as the driver lost over the vehicle, which was being driven at a high speed," Rajpur police station in-charge, Anil Bamania said.

Four children suffered injuries in the mishap and they were admitted to a hospital in Rajpur, he added.

Enraged over the incident, some unidentified persons ransacked the private school. However, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control, he said.

A case was registered in connection with the bus mishap and investigation is on, the official added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Living your Basque life at Ernestos. Photo: Melissa Hom

This week, the Lower East Side welcomed a new restaurant to the neighborhood: Ernestos, an ambitious operation specializing  mostly, anyways  in Basque cuisine. Located in the corner of the area thats home to Mission Chinese Food and Kikis, its a 55-seat space with a menu that doesnt read like a rehash of the same old Spanish restaurants.

I wanted to do something distinct and special to New York, but you could still see it if in San Sebastian or Paris or Madrid or London, Ernestos chef, Ryan Bartlow, says. But I dont think there are that many other places in town that I would connect this to. A native of Chicago who worked at his hometowns fanciest restaurant, Alinea, Bartlow spent some of his formative years in San Sebastian at the progressive Basque restaurant Akelarre while living above a tavern in a village, before moving to New York, where he has worked at Frankies Sputino, Quality Eats, and Frenchette.

To open the restaurant, Bartlow tapped Frenchettes former head bartender Sarah Morrissey and Pierre Darrien, who had been the sommelier at Sota Atsumis famous Clown Bar in Paris.

Given the teams experience, the breadth of the menu, and Bartlows history working at boundary-pushing restaurants, Grub Street asked the chef to talk us through his entire exciting, extensive menu. He gladly obliged.

Cocktails

Other than the gin-and-tonic, hard liquor isnt always a classic accompaniment to this style of food and restaurant, Bartlow says. Ernestos has beer, wine, cider, vermouth, and other lower-proof drinks, while Morrisseys cocktails are fun and uncomplicated: a 5 Finger Martini (with Palo Cortado sherry and two types of vermouth, sans gin or vodka) and a section of redemption cocktails, slightly spruced-up versions of lowbrow drinks like the Kalimotxo, here with lime and Mexican Coke.

Two of the cocktails. Photos: Melissa Hom. Two of the cocktails. Photos: Melissa Hom.

Para Picar

These are the snacks, all $10, if you just want something to nibble on: shrimp toast; the pepper, olive, and anchovy skewers called gildas, served with canned tuna belly; croquetas de gallina, for which chicken gets poached in milk that is then used to make the bechamel; and albondigas en salsa, made from beef trimmings. Its kind of this hodgepodge between a broth and a puree, Bartlow says of the meatballs Espagnole sauce. Its like a gravy  very traditional.

Photos: Melissa Hom. Photos: Melissa Hom.

Paleta Iberico Con Chips

Iberico ham may be standard issue at New Yorks Spanish restaurants, but how many places serve it in a mesmerizing, towering mound with equally thin, nearly translucent potato chips? This is vertical food for the 21st century. As for the ham, the Ernestos kitchen alternates between Covap and Cinco Jotas, depending on whats available. Its still better than anything domestic, the chef says.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Brotxetas de Pulpo

Skewered octopus is common in pintxos and tapas bars, Bartlow says of serving the seafood this way. It comes with pear and salsa bravas, a potent, tangy tomato-based sauce you likely know best from your potatoes.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Blowfish Frito y Rabas

I do blowfish tail, as it has a light, natural flavor and is suited well for batter frying, Bartlow says. We take the bone out and leave the flesh together at the tail, creating less work for the diner.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Porrusalda

Porrusalda is simply a humble potato-and-leek soup, the chef explains. I ate a lot of it in wintertime when I worked in Spain. I still eat it a lot. Vegan and nourishing.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Orejas y Sepia

Its a classic combination, particularly in Catalunya  surf and turf, Bartlow explains of this dish of sepia (cuttlefish) with Mulefoot pigs ear. A lot of times, youll see these ingredients with lentils and/or fried egg, so we decided to put it all together.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Callos de Joan

Yes, there is tripe. Its not for everybody, Bartlow says, but I wanted to have it on the menu because I love it. People who are into it really dig it. People who arent into tripe really love it. Called callos de joan, or Madrid-style tripe, the dish requires an elaborate cooking process that involves boiling the tripe alone; cooking it for several hours with calfs and pigs hooves, a ham bone or ham hock, and a bunch of other stuff; making a sofrito and a roux; and cooking it for a couple more hours with paleta iberico, dried chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage), hot and sweet paprikas, and tomato.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Piquillos Rellenos

Served warm, two to an order, green and red piquillo peppers are stuffed with braised lamb neck from the Hudson Valleys Kinderhook Farm and then served with a jus and topped with fried minced garlic. Its an homage to one of my favorite restaurants, which was pretty close to where I lived in San Sebastian: Rekondo, Bartlow says. (Other meat dishes use less-popular cuts, like the pork cut called secreto, which gets grilled and paired with chickpeas.)

From left: Photo: Melissa Hom Photo: Melissa Hom From left: Photo: Melissa Hom Photo: Melissa Hom

Foie Caliente

Unsurprisingly, the most exciting part of the restaurants foie gras dish isnt the fattened liver. Its the corn cake. Its made from taking popcorn and pulverizing it to a powder, then folding in egg whites and piping it into a ring mold and cooking it on the griddle, Bartlow says, explaining that the result resembles a dacquoise more than it does the traditional Basque talo. That dish is an homage to Pedro, Felix, and Borja, from Akelarre, and pretty much out of their 2004 menu playbook.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Ensalada Ernesto

A house salad in the style of places like the tavern Bartlow lived above in Spain. Its just a green-leaf lettuce with an acidic vinaigrette, shaved raw onion, sliced hard-boiled egg, and white asparagus. I wanted to keep it vegetarian  a lot of times, youll see canned tuna or anchovies, he says.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Calamares en su Tinta

You could make a nice meal out of just the calamari at Ernestos; its the main ingredient in the first of six dishes in the Pescados y Mariscos section of the menu. Stewed in an ink sauce that Bartlow describes as a cleverly fish-flavored tomato sauce, it comes with pan frito made from the restaurants house brioche. Someone said it reminded them of mozzarella sticks, the chef says. A perfectly fried, golden-brown piece of bread with a tomatoey thing.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Bacalao a la Vizcaina

Of course, theres salt cod, in the form of a Basque-style codfish stew  a dish thats now served in various regions of the former Spanish empire including Mexico and Puerto Rico. The sauce comes from choricero peppers that we rehydrate in hot water then puree into a sauce, Bartlow explains.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Rape a la Plantxa

You can have your monkfish with your shellfish, too: Its served with clams and salsa verde. Its simply garlic, parsley, fish stock, and a little cooking liquid from the clams, the chef says of the sauce.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Rodaballo a la Parilla

Grilled turbot gets matched with patatas panaderas (bakers potatoes), sliced potatoes seasoned with garlic and onion and baked in white wine and olive oil. We make a quick pil pil from the piece of grilled turbot and sauce it over the fish and potatoes to finish, the chef says.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Carillera de Buey

Its a very classic staple, Bartlow says of the braised beef cheek served with potato puree. The meat is cooked in wine, aromatics, and beef broth, which he then turns into the sauce. Its a perfectly vicious and yet unctuous sauce, the chef explains. (If you prefer poultry, theres a confit de pato, or duck confit, with alubias de Tolosa, black beans stewed with chorizo and blood sausage.)

Photo: Melissa Hom

Cordero Chilindron

This is something you see a lot in northern Spain, especially Navarre, Rioja. Id have it every weekend when Id hang out at my friends house in Rioja, Bartlow says. Its lamb two ways: a grilled chop served next to a shoulder that was cut into cubes, dredged in flour, and browned, then cooked in a sauce with tomato, choricero pepper, white wine, potatoes, and more.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Bistec con Salsa Oporto and Txuleta de Vaca Vieja

We worked out a program where were getting whole cows or half-cows at a time and aging the strip loins and rib eyes to have our proper chuleta, a large-format steak for two on the grill, the chef explains. Thats the txuleta de vaca vieja, a beef chop from an older cow that, for good measure, is made even a little older by dry aging it for 60 days. Meant for two, it comes with a green salad (eat your vegetables, kids) and a piquillo gratin, the peppers broiled with olive oil and garlic until theyre a bit charred. But theres also a more affordable, tavern-style option: For the bistec con salsa oporto, the cut will rotate depending on what the restaurant has available. Its served with a comparably luxurious port and foie sauce  high-low!  and fried potatoes.

The two steaks. Melissa Hom. The two steaks. Melissa Hom.

Salsifi a la Parilla

Finally, there is a trio of vegetable dishes. Theres grilled salsify with migas (bread crumbs) and a fondue made of Idiazabal, a hard sheeps-milk cheese. Its a riff on a dish you might see in the springtime, Bartlow explains.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Cardos Estofados

Youll also find cardoons in almond sauce, which Bartlow calls a very traditional dish.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Hongos con Huevo Juan Mari

Mushrooms with egg are seen all over pintxo bars in San Sebastian. This is our version, the chef says. The egg is cooked in the classic Arzak style as another homage to one of the other legends of Basque cuisine.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Torrijas

Come dessert time, you can keep it simple and order the three cheeses Ernestos is serving right now: bonde du Poitou from France, Jasper Hills Farms Calderwood from Vermont, and Twig Farms goat tomme, also from Vermont. Or maybe youre a breakfast-for-dinner type  in which case, you should order the torrijas, often called Spanish-style French toast. Its made from the restaurants house brioche and served with helado de leche  keep it simple, stupid  also made in-house.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Canutillos

Canutillos are essentially Basque cannoli. A hybrid of puff pastry and tuile batter is wrapped around a cone mold and deep-fried, Bartlow explains. That then gets filled with pastry cream and served with cinnamon ice cream.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Gateaux Basque

The filling for the gateaux Basque is Armagnac-soaked prunes, chocolate, and a touch of pastry cream, Bartlow says of his version of the famously flaky tart.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Tocino del Cielo

Its a sweeter, richer, denser flan than normal, Bartlow says. It is made from primarily egg yolks and simple syrup. Its garnished with a little meringue for texture and some Chantilly cream.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Pastel de Chocolate

The chocolate cake is a traditional chocolate bizcoco, a cake that gets pureed roasted beets folded into the batter for richness and lightness, Bartlow says. Topped with chocolate meringue, its served with a coulis of sweetened reduced beet juice and olive-oil ice cream.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Sorbetes

In the event those desserts are a bit heavy after a big meal, you can just opt for a sorbet that the chef says will change seasonally. Right now, theres lemon or blood orange.

Photo: Melissa Hom

Ernestos, 259 E. Broadway, at Montgomery St.; 646-692-8300
Zarif: "Iran targets the base from which Soleimani was assassinated"

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Wed / 8 January 2020 / 15:09

Tehran (ISNA)  Iran's Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif told Iranian and foreign reporters that Iran targeted the air base from which US attacked Major General Qassem Soleimani and Iran sent its message to US, once the attack against Ain al-asad base took place.

"Ignorance and arrogance have a dangerous result if combined. US President Donald Trump is surrounded by such people and the result is recent problematic actions," Zarif said.

"Iran targeted the base from which US attacked General Soleimani. We took a legitimate action. The only revenge is US' withdrawal from the region," he told reporters.

Answering a question about US casualties following IRGC attack against Ain al-Asad air base, Zarif said, "I still have no record. Military officials will certainly announce the number".

"Iran attacked a legitimate target, according to international law. Our operation was in line with our legitimate right of defence against a terrorist military act," he continued.

Speaking about whether Iran and US exchanged any message during previous hours, he said, "We delivered our message to Washington through envoys representing US interests in Tehran".

The top diplomat praised the IRGC operation and said, "Regional countries are strongly concerned about US' dangerous adventures".

Stressing that US' presence in the region has come to an end, Zarif said, "Given the amount of public hatred against US in the region, it is spending its final days in the region and certainly, it won't have any future here".

End Item

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Since the Duchess of Cambridge was catapulted into public consciousness a decade ago, her stylish ensembles have rarely failed to disappoint her loyal legion of fans.

And as the future Queen celebrates her 38th birthday today, it seems as though her style prowess shows no signs of slowing.

But it's not just luxury fashion houses which the Duchess leans towards: the mother-of-three is also a fan of the high-street.

Meeting the Obama's at Buckingham Palace wearing Reiss 175 Shola dress. / AFP via Getty Images

Some of her favoured brands are Topshop, Reiss and her beloved L.K. Bennett (she's a particular fan of their heels.)

In fact, such is the Duchess's influence on sales that she was largely credited with the surge in sales Reiss experienced in the early 2010's.

The Duchess opted to wear the brand's Nanette dress for her official engagement photo in 2010, but it was the nude Shola dress which she wore to meet the Obama's in 2011 which caused a real ruckus: the dress sold out within hours and caused Reiss' website to crash in fans' frenzy.

And when compared the Duchess of Sussex, the Duchess of Cambridge's sartorial choices even work out cheaper too.

In a tally between similar events the two attended, the Duchess of Cambridge's wardrobe costed approximately 3,548 while Meghan's arrived at around 14,417.

The Duchess of Cambridge has, over the years, also shown an affiliation to high-street giant Zara.

Wearing a Zara blouse and jeans (Getty Images ) / Getty Images

Similarly, the Duchess also has a penchant for skinny jeans, which she favours from either Spanish brand Zara or American J. Brand (also a favourite brand of the Duchess of Sussex.)

During her three pregnancies, the Duchess has never let her style waver, and has maintained her chic looks throughout.

Visiting Brookhill Children's Centre wearing a 35 ASOS Maternity dress. (Getty Images ) / Getty Images

On her last official appearance before she went on maternity leave and gave birth to Princess Charlotte in March 2015, the Duchess wore a 35 ASOS Maternity dress which, you guessed it, sold out within hours.

From Whistles to Reiss, Zara to Topshop, ASOS to Hobbs - this is one seriously demure Duchess, no matter the designer.
Are you looking for a digital job in 2020? nijobfinder lists a range of digital jobs across Northern Ireland with roles at Kilwaughter, Linen Hall Library and more!

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The Software Engineer will be responsible for the delivery of project components according to Functional Requirements Specifications. The successful applicant will be comfortable working to technical designs and performing unit testing, integration testing and supporting system testing. Applicants must have three years experience and be proficient in C#, ASP.NET MVC, and Entity Framework.

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Community Engagement Officer - Linen Hall Library

As part of the Making the Future project, Linen Hall Library has joined leading cultural organisations in Northern Ireland such as National Museums NI and Nerve Centre to deliver a regional cultural heritage programme. This involves cross-community programmes, exhibitions, events, digital creativity and resource development.

The Community Engagement Officer will join the team at Linen Hall Library based in Belfast. If you are a dynamic individual looking for a new opportunity in 2020, then this may be for you.

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Customer Care Representative - Independent News & Media

Irelands largest media company, INM is seeking a Customer Care Representative to join its team in Belfast to support customers before, during and after subscription.

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CRESCO  Crescos trailer-making Featherlite company has been sold, along with two other trailer companies.

The Exiss, Featherlite and Sooner brands have been acquired from Universal Trailer Corp. by a newly formed corporation, owned by Tim Masud and Howard Palmer.

Masud will serve as CEO. He has more than three decades of experience in the trailer industry.

The agreement for the purchase was executed Dec. 31.

The UTC manufacturing plants in Oklahoma and Iowa also are being acquired as a part of the transaction. Exiss, Featherlite and Sooner trailers will continue to be produced in those plants and sold through the established independent network of dealerships currently in place.

The Featherlite brand has an amazing history as the first aluminum horse and livestock trailer brand, and has been a driving force in multiple trailer segments for more than 40 years, said Masud.

The Featherlite brand was founded in 1973. In 1992 Featherlite built its first semi race car transporter for RCR team owner Richard Childress and NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt.

Featherlite manufactures thousands of trailers annually at its operations in Cresco, with a workforce of more than 400 in facilities of 310,000 square feet. Featherlites customized transporters and trailers are sold from Featherlites specialty trailer sales office at its headquarters in Cresco. Before the recession hit in 2008, the company employed about 900 in Cresco. Featherlite has been gradually rebuilding its workforce as demand for its trailers improved since the recession.

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New Delhi, Jan 9 : Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's absence from the Prime Minister-led industry meeting on budget suggestions, here on Thursday, created ripples on Twitter as well as in general.

According to sources, the Finance Minister was busy with some party-assigned work and could not attend the meeting.

But the explanation failed to wash with the members of Twitterati. They started chirping about the budget being round the corner and the Finance Minister missing the Prime Minister's meeting called, presumably, to garner budget suggestions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a two-hour meeting with 40 industry heads, experts, bankers, entrepreneurs and representative of private equity firms, to gather their views on steps to revive economy.

The meeting also discussed investment climate, credit growth and structural reforms.

Modi addressed the economists on the $5 trillion economy target.

According to sources, the Prime Minister received suggestions on boosting consumption and generating demand in the economy.

Home Minister Amit Shah, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Rural Development Minister Narendra Tomar and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari were present. The five Finance Ministry Secretaries also attended the meeting.

The uploading of the meeting's photographs on the Twitter handle of the PIB, set Twitterati's tongues wagging.

"Where is Nirmala Sitharaman," asked a member of Twitterati.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor asked, "Where is the Finance Minister? Or has the Duo forgotten they have one?" "Meeting with top economists, but Finance Minister missing" remarked a netizen. "They say top economist and Subramanian Swamy are not in picture. Why?" Very soon a spate of tweets appeared on the micro-blogging site. While most netizens were wondering about Sitaharaman's absence, some were responding to others.

-IANS ana/pcj
Last month, a federal district court judge issued an injunction against using $3.6 billion dollars of Pentagon funds to construct more border wall. Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in a very brief opinion, reversed that decision and lifted the injunction.

No one should be surprised to learn that the district court judge who blocked the use of the funds, David Briones, was appointed by President Clinton. Nor should anyone be surprised to learn that the Fifth Circuits 2-1 decision was along party lines.

The two Republican appointed judges  the great Edith Jones (appointed by President Reagan) and Andrew Oldham (appointed by President Trump)  formed the majority. Stephen Higginson, an Obama appointee, dissented.

The Fifth Circuits ruling doesnt end the litigation. It just means that the administration can use the funds in question for wall construction while the litigation proceeds on the merits.

However, a key element in deciding whether an injunction should be (or properly was) issued is the likelihood that the party seeking it will succeed on the merits. In this case, the Fifth Circuit found, among other unspecified reasons for its ruling, a substantial likelihood that the parties seeking to block the funding lack Article III standing. Without standing, these parties lose the case.

President Trump promptly declared victory. This morning, he tweeted:

Breaking News: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals just reversed a lower court decision & gave us the go ahead to build one of the largest sections of the desperately needed Southern Border Wall, Four Billion Dollars. Entire Wall is under construction or getting ready to start!

Candidate Trump promised a border wall that Mexico would pay for. The second part of this promise was so unrealistic that it resembled a joke. But at least President Trump is a step closer to fulfilling the first part of his promise.

Lets hope he gets it done and that it helps curb illegal immigration.
Professor Dianne Jolley, the dean of science at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), was arrested in November for allegedly sending fake threats to herself

A Sydney university dean will remain behind bars for almost two weeks after having her bail revoked over an alleged campaign of fake harassment in which she sent threatening letters to herself.

Professor Dianne Jolley, the dean of science at the University of Technology Sydney, was arrested in November for allegedly sending fake threats to herself after the university planned to cancel a Chinese medicine course.

NSW Police on Wednesday arrested Jolley at a Woolooware home and laid new charges after she allegedly sent an additional nine letters since her arrest.

Jolley did not enter a plea to the new charges when the matter was heard in Sutherland Local Court on Thursday, and her bail was revoked.

Police said two of those new letters were received by UTS on November 27, the same day Jolley first appeared at Downing Centre Local Court.

The matter is scheduled to next be heard on January 21.

Jolley allegedly told police she had been receiving threatening letters, while police say she was sending them to herself

Jolley, 49, was in November charged with causing financial disadvantage by deception, giving false information about a person or property in danger and making a false representation resulting in a police investigation.

She pleaded not guilty at the time.

The new charges are for giving false information about a person or property in danger and for breach of bail.

Court documents show UTS spent $157,000 on Jolley's security between late July and mid-November.

The university has said it would help police with investigations.

'UTS is aware that charges have been laid against Professor Dianne Jolley,' it said in a statement in November.

Jolley - who specialises in environmental chemistry and toxicology - joined UTS in late 2018.

UTS has been contacted for comment.
A New MTV Series True Life: Crime Will Investigate the Mysterious Death of Kenneka Jenkins Robyn Mowatt Robyn Mowatt is a staff writer at Okayplayer where she

The 19-year-old was found dead at the Crown Plaza Chicago OHare Hotel in September 2017.

The premiere episode of a new MTV docuseries True Life: Crime will investigate the death of Kenneka Jenkins who was 19 years old.

Jenkins mysteriously passed at the Crown Plaza Chicago OHare Hotel back in 2017 in Rosemont, Illionois. Since then her family has questioned her passing after she was found dead in a walk-in freezer. The episode titled Tragic Accident or Calculated Murder features former WGN-AM 720 news anchor Dometi Pongo who will be leading the investigation throughout the episode.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Cook Countys medical examiner declared Jenkins died of hypothermia. Additionally, alcohol intoxication and a drug used to test epilepsy and migraines were significant contributing factors. Pongo will reportedly be speaking with people close to Kenneka who doubted that she stumbled into a freezer the evening of her death.

Before she was discovered her family had begun an intense 24 hour search once she went missing at a friends birthday party at the Illinois hotel. As the case heightened the Rosemont Police Department released a troubling surveillance video showing Jenkins wandering the halls of the hotel. Last year Jenkins family filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against the hotel.

A description for the episode reads:

Hours after going on Facebook live, 19-year-old Kenneka Jenkins vanished from a birthday party at a hotel in Chicago. The next day, her body was finally found in a hotel freezer. The investigation incited a firestorm as young people all over the country scoured social media for answers. What happened to Kenneka Jenkins?

The True Life Crime episode, will air at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, January 8 on MTV.
Saudi Aramco recently hosted the Second International Nonmetallics Symposium in Lyon, France, which was attended by a number of industry specialists alongside Plastipolis, a competitive cluster of plastics engineering.



Attended by more than 260 participants, the symposium was opened by Ahmad A Al Saadi, senior vice president of Technical Services with Saudi Aramco, who emphasized the sheer scale of opportunity to attendees.



Nonmetallics represent an opportunity to address operational challenges, in terms of our operational sustainability, while also allowing us to grow in what is a key downstream sector, said Al Saadi. For Saudi Aramco, the growth, development, and application of nonmetallic materials will be transformational. We see the huge shift in technology that has shaped material science, providing new material and solutions to our industry.



Joining Al Saadi was Plastipolis president Emmanuelle Bouvier, who was confident in Saudi Aramcos ability to transition from its predominantly upstream business into new areas, such as plastics.



The relationship between Saudi Aramco and Plastipolis in nonmetallics is strategic  especially among the plastics and composites industry  because we need to think about the future of this industry and find the right trends, she said. Historically, Saudi Aramco is upstream, but it is increasingly expanding in downstream sectors, and with that we believe it will be very much fruitful to collaborate.



Pursuing not only sustainability but also advancements in technology and processes, two memorandums of understanding were signed by Aramco with Plastipolis and the leading French specialty chemicals manufacturer Arkema in an effort to establish a centre of excellence to foster nonmetallic industries in Saudi Arabia and France and to promote local investment opportunities in nonmetallic in all sectors.



The event included a panel discussion titled Challenges and Opportunities for Nonmetallic Materials in the Circular Economy in which Al Saadi said that to better position nonmetallic materials, we must first look at the current challenges and limitations of conventional materials, and then introduce new engineered polymers and advanced plastics.



Research and development initiatives and collaboration with centres of excellence across the world will be a key enabler. These challenges could be in materials properties, cost of production, and pace of product development.



The panel also included other key experts in the field of nonmetallics, including Jean-Paul Moulin, the material science director at Arkema, and Nieves Gonzalez Raman, the innovation manager at The European Chemical Industry Council.



Furthermore, several technical sessions were hosted covering a wide range of topics, such as carbon fiber manufacturing, automotive, building and construction, packaging, renewables, and a circular economy. These sessions were delivered by experts in nonmetallics from entities such as Axens, Plastic Europe, ITA RWTH, Fraunhofer IPT, Arlanxeo, Sabic, Roland Berger, IHS, DNV-GL, and others.



Abdallah Al-Thaaly, manager of Saudi Aramcos Industrial Development and Strategic Supply Department, shared an overview of the Saudi Aramco journey to localize its supply chain. Al-Thaaly highlighted the significant progress made so far in localizing nonmetallic materials, with 160 expressions of interest received from investors and 12 investments already realized in the Kingdom.



The event, jointly organized by Saudi Aramco and Aramco Overseas Company, was attended by leading European companies, research centres, key players in nonmetallic sectors, and hosted speaking guests from SAGIA, Modon, NEOM, and Sabic.  TradeArabia News Service
Some members of Madigans caucus expressed anger over what theyve read in McClains email. If any of them called for new leadership of their caucus or of the Illinois Democratic Party, we missed that. On Wednesday his office issued this statement in Madigans name: These are extremely serious and troubling allegations. I had no knowledge of the incident referenced in the story and only learned of this today. I encourage those with any information to come forward.
US tourists outside Britain's royal residences on Thursday were quick to welcome Prince Harry and his American wife Meghan's decision to withdraw from royal front-line duties -- but locals were less impressed. "I think it is going to turn a lot of people off them and upsetting the family -- it seems a bit unnecessary," British operations manager Paul Brown told AFP outside a gloomy Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II's London home. "For the sake of a week or two and a few conversations, preparing the ground, a lot of this might have been avoided," he added. "If they want to leave the royal duties then fine, that's up to them. But they can't have their cake and eat it." Roger Sainsbury, who works in the British military, said the couple "knew what they were getting into" and that "they need to meet that challenge". "There is a lot of privilege that comes with that position but it's also a very busy job," he said outside the palace. The couple, who now want to divide their time between Britain and North America, received more sympathy from Meghan's compatriots as they took in the sights of Windsor, some 26 miles (42 kilometres) west of central London. The town's castle hosted the couple's fairytale wedding in 2018, and they now live in its grounds. Tourists took advantage of the sunshine and mild weather to take photos of the royal residence, fully aware of the sensational news. US visitor Andrew Steernket said it was "a decision we definitely support. "Being Texan, we appreciate and like that because we are all for being independent," the 41-year-old consultant told AFP, while visiting with his wife. The decision broke tradition and protocol, but Steernket believes it is a sign of the British royalty becoming more modern. "It's showing that they are becoming more progressive, which I think is a key thing. "It's a positive move for the family," he added. - 'Wise choice' - A few steps from the castle, Tina Juilliert, who arrived from North Carolina on Thursday, supported the couple's decision, but was "surprised" by how it had been handled. "I believe in choices in life," she said, stood outside a souvenir shop. "I would think it would have been coordinated more closely with the rest of the family and communicated more gracefully," added the 50-year-old. She expects former television actress Meghan to be cast as the "villain" of the piece. "People say she is dividing the family, but what do they know? Nobody knows what's really happening," she added. The couple's decision to give up their role in the monarchy and work towards "financial independence" was also welcomed by tourists from other countries. "It's tricky because they are huge public figures and they have duties associated with the royal family, but at the same time they only have one life and they have to live it like they want," said 49-year-old Russian tourist Larissa Lyonas, camera in hand. "They've got all the spotlights on them and the media weren't very nice to Meghan," added Carla Xavier, a Brazilian translator. "He chose his family over the crown. Stepping aside was a wise choice," she added. Outside Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II's London home, tourists were fully aware of the sensational news Harry and Meghan rocked the monarchy on Wednesday with an announcement made without consulting any senior royals from the sovereign downwards
[January 09, 2020] Blue Nile Shines Bright with Oracle Cloud Applications REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Nile, a leading online diamond jeweler, has chosen Oracle Cloud Applications to support its commitment to providing customers with more choices, straightforward information, and legendary service. With Oracle, Blue Nile has been able to streamline financial operations and delight customers by providing an experience as personal as the diamond they're purchasing. Founded in 1999 with the idea that the diamond and engagement ring business was ready for innovation, Blue Nile is now the #1 online diamond jeweler in the world for engagement and wedding rings, boasting an inventory of over 200,000 diamonds. To maintain its tradition of innovation and constantly provide new ways for customers to create the perfect pieces for every occasion, Blue Nile needed an integrated suite of applications that would help it personalize customer experiences at scale and improve operational efficiency. After careful evaluation, Blue Nile selected Oracle. "At Blue Nile, everything we do is dictated by our customer-first philosophy and that includes the technology we select to run our business," said Andre Woolery, senior director of brand marketing, Blue Nile. "To preserve our focus on exceptional customer service as our business continues to grow, we needed to be able to seamlessly connect all parts of our organization. Oracle Cloud Applications is not only helping us bring all our teams together, but just as importantly, it is helping us really use data to our advantage. This will make a huge difference to both the experience we offer customers and the efficiency of our core business processes." With Oracle Customer Experience (CX) and Oracle Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Cloud, Blue Nile is now nimbler and more precise with its marketing tactics, and is able to drive accurate and agile financial and operational planning across the entire organization. Oracle Responsys, part of Oracle CX, has helped Blue Nile hone its marketing program to be more personalized and timelier for each customer interaction across online and traditional channels including its website, call center, and showroom. In addition, Oracle EPM Cloud has helped Blue Nile make its planning and budgeting process more efficient by seamlessly integrating data and processes with Blue Nile's core ERP and operational systems. "Just like diamonds, every customer is unique and this means brands need to take a data-first approach to managing each customer interaction in order to truly personalize the experience," said Rob Tarkoff, executive vice president, Oracle CX and Oracle Data Cloud. "Blue Nile is a perfect example of a retail brand that has taken advantage of technology to rethink a traditional industry, and the results it has achieved speak for themselves. We look forward to working closely with the Blue Nile team to help them continue to put the customer first." Oracle CX empowers organizations to take a smarter approach to customer experience management and business transformation initiatives. By providing a trusted business platform that connects data, experiences, and outcomes, Oracle CX helps customers reduce IT complexity, deliver innovative customer experiences, and achieve predictable and tangible business results. Oracle EPM Cloud is the only complete and connected cloud EPM solution that gives customers the agility needed to outperform in today's constantly evolving business landscape. Be sure to visit Oracle's booth #4837 at the NRF Big Show, January 12-14, 2020. About Oracle

The Oracle Cloud offers a complete suite of integrated applications for Sales, Service, Marketing, Human Resources, Finance, Supply Chain, and Manufacturing, plus Highly-Automated and Secure Generation 2 Infrastructure featuring the Oracle Autonomous Database. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at oracle.com . Visit Oracle CX on SmarterCX, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Trademarks

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blue-nile-shines-bright-with-oracle-cloud-applications-300983851.html SOURCE Oracle

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[January 09, 2020] Cardinal Analytx Rebrands as Prealize to Reflect Power of Solution to Deliver Proactive Care by Turning Insights into Action

PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardinal Analytx Solutions, an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled health insights company, today announced that it has rebranded as Prealize. The name change reflects the transformation into a company that can support delivery of proactive healthcare by connecting predictions of potential risk across entire populations to actions that enable payers, providers and patients to prevent or mitigate those health risks. Acknowledging the evolution of its AI-based solution and the potential it holds for the future, Chilmark Research recently named Prealize a "Vendor to Watch" in its "Current Tools and Solutions for Healthcare Payers" market trends report. The report examines analytics technologies that payers and providers have begun to adopt in support of the transition from fee-for-service to value-based care that enable them to share a common understanding of cost, quality and utilization performance described in value-based care contracts. "When our company was founded, we were focused on providing insights into the 6% of today's population who were expected to account for 34% of new high costs in the coming year. However, working with early customers, we realized that our value could extend well beyond simply identifying new rising risk," said Prealize CEO Linda T. Hand. "Our new name recognizes the broader capabilities we have developed by leveraging our machine learning engine to identify not only the rising risk members, but the timing and key drivers of that risk, as well as the ability to engage members and impact their health. Prealize AI predicts rising risk drivers as well as, or better than, clinicians and therefore make that critical connection between accurate predictions and meaningful actions, which enables our customers to realize better outcomes, lower costs and deliver an improved member experience." Prealize's evolution was fueled by a $22 million Series B round, which closed in May 2019 and was led by John Doerr, with GuideWell Mutual Holding Corporation, Blue Shield California and Premera Blue Cross as strategic investors. With this funding, Prealize was able to extend its lead in using innovative machine learning to help drive the healthcare industry from reactive to proactive care to support the growing demand for a value-based approach.



"In our early work with Prealize, we've identified ways to use their clinical and population insights to equip both Blue Shield leaders and our provider partners in 2020," said Jeff Semenchuk, chief innovation officer at Blue Shield California. "These insights will help us take the best actions with our shared members and patients, and this directly supports our human-centered innovation, or design thinking, approach to care." Also during 2019, Prealize entered into pivotal partnerships with Optima Health and Premera Blue Cross, in which the health plans deployed the company's predictive analytics and machine learning solutions to identify and engage potential high-risk members.

Rebranding Kick-off at J.P. Morgan Conference

Prealize will celebrate its rebranding at an event co-hosted by Premera Blue Cross, Blue Shield California and GuideWell Florida Blue on January 14, 2020, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the J.P. Morgan 38th Annual Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. For additional details, please contact Tiffany Arnal at [email protected]. About Prealize

Prealize marries state-of-the-art AI-enabled data science with "next-best action" health insights. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., the company was founded by two industry thought leaders from Stanford. Committed to transforming the healthcare system from reactive to proactive, reducing healthcare costs and enabling more people to live healthier lives, Prealize partners with health plans, employers and providers across the nation to positively influence the health trajectory of millions of people. For more information, visit www.prealizehealth.com or email [email protected]. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cardinal-analytx-rebrands-as-prealize-to-reflect-power-of-solution-to-deliver-proactive-care-by-turning-insights-into-action-300984526.html SOURCE Prealize

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Responding to a petition demanding strict action from the Election Commission of India (ECI) against political parties spreading misinformation about the Citizenship Amendment Act on Thursday, the Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, Justice BR Gavai and Justice Surya Kant stated that it was necessary to bring peace as the country was going through a critical phase. The CJI noted that such petitions did not help matters at this juncture and could lead to more agitations. The bench promised that the matter would be heard as soon as the violence stopped.

Read: 'Will KCR Give Citizenship To Those Behind Blasts?': BJP MP Questions TRS, Owaisi Over CAA

Contentions in the petition

The petition filed by Puneet Kaur Dhanda demands the apex court to declare the CAA as "constitutional". Moreover, it seeks a direction to use electronic and print media to extensively give information about the CAA.

Additionally, the plea called for the state governments to aggressively implement this law. Since the passage of this legislation in December, there have been extensive protests across the country.

Read: Sharad Pawar Flags Off 3000 Km Anti-CAA, NRC & NPR March Led By Yashwant Sinha

What is the CAA?

The CAA seeks to provide citizenship to the minority communities namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. This will be applicable to the members of these communities having arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014. Moreover, they will not be considered as illegal migrants. Additionally, the mandatory residence period for naturalised citizenship for these communities would be reduced to 5 years.

Read: Protesters Hold Candlelit Marches Against CAA-NRC At Jama Masjid, LalKuan In Delhi

Several parties in the North East such as the All Assam Students Union (AASU) have been vehemently opposed to this legislation. To ameliorate their concerns, the Centre has exempted a major part of the North East from the ambit of the CAA. The opposition contends that the Bill discriminates on the basis of religion, which might go against Article 14, which guarantees the right to equality.

Read: 'BJP Will Have To Pay Heavy Price For Stubbornness On CAA': Punjab CM Captain Amarinder
State-owned MTNL on Thursday said that it has received shareholders' approval for raising up to Rs 6,500 crore through issuance of non-convertible debentures as well as for monetisation of land and buildings.

During the extraordinary general meeting of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) which was held on Wednesday, 99.89 votes were cast in favour of the issuance of "guaranteed, unsecured, listed, redeemable non-convertible debentures in the nature of bonds (NCDs), in one or more series/tranches, aggregating up to Rs 6,500 crore on private placement basis," MTNL said in a filing to BSE.

The company further said that majority votes were cast in favour of the monetisation of land and buildings as specified/ identified by its board in line with the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) guidelines and as per revival plan of the company approved by the Union Cabinet recently.

It added that majority votes were polled in favour of monetisation of towers and fiber assets including leasing, after considering the market conditions with an aim to maximise returns as per the revival plan of the company, and non-convertible redeemable non-cumulative preference shares on a private placement basis to the government towards payment of 4G spectrum cost.

The government had earlier approved a Rs 69,000-crore revival package for BSNL and MTNL that included merging the two loss-making firms, monetising their assets and giving voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to employees so that the combined entity turns profitable in two years.

The companies have already announced VRS schemes. As per official estimates, 78,569 employees of BSNL and 14,387 employees of MTNL have opted for VRS.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A drug dealer has made an impassioned plea for customers to help out with the Australian bushfires by buying cocaine.

In a text message, which has been circulating online, the dealer claimed they would give 10 per cent of all purchases this weekend to those affected by the blazes.

'As a lot of my family have been affected...not a joke. Actually legit,' the text message read.

In a text message, which has been circulating online, the dealer claimed they would give 10 per cent of all purchases this weekend to those affected by the blazes

The dealer said he wanted to help out with the crisis as his family had been affected. (pictured: fire crews fighting a blaze on the Princes Highway between Bateman's Bay and Ulladulla south of Sydney)

The generous dealer also urged his customers to donate to various charities supporting those affected by the devastating blazes as it 'would mean a lot'.

However, just hours earlier the dealer sent a text message bragging about his latest batch.

'Cracka pearl batch. New Amazing pearl batch. The smell of heaven is back...get in quick to try the best going around.'

The word pearl is sometimes used as slang to mean cocaine.

The screenshot of the messages between a dealer and a customer have been shared on multiple social media platforms.

Many people were amused by the kind-hearted dealer's fundraising efforts.

'Good to see small business supporting Aussies in need,' one person wrote.

'Feels good donating,' another joked.

Others asked for the unblurred mobile number.

So far the devastating bushfire season has taken the lives of 26 people and destroyed almost 2,000 homes (pictured: Firefighters tackle a bushfire in Batemans Bay)

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is seen visiting a fire damaged property on Stokes Bay on Kangaroo Island, southwest of Adelaide, Wednesday

So far the devastating bushfire season has taken the lives of 26 people and destroyed almost 2,000 homes.

The cost of the disaster is still not clear, but the Insurance Council of Australia said claims worth$700m had already been filed and the figure was expected to climb significantly.

The government has earmarked an initial $2billion for a national recovery fund to help devastated communities.
One in five Irish PCs face significant security worries from next Tuesday when Microsoft withdraws security support from computers running Windows 7.

The security shut-off means that if a Wannacry-style virus is released in the coming weeks or months, Windows 7 desktops and laptops will have reduced defences, leading to a potentially large loss of data.

That is because Microsoft will release security patches for Windows 10 computers, but not for Windows 7 machines.

Although the company has been warning about the January 14 date for over a year, 19.3pc of Irish Windows PCs still use Windows 7, according to Statcounter.

The figures also show that almost 1.5pc of PCs still use Windows XP, while 0.4pc use Windows Vista, both of which are already unprotected.

About 1pc of computers use Windows 8, which will face a similar security deadline in January 2023.

Two years ago, Ireland faced a ransomware epidemic partially due to out-of-date Windows software on PCs.

The malware, including Wannacry, shut down HSE services and caused a number of small businesses to pay criminals hundreds or thousands of euro in cash to unlock their PCs.

In seven days' time, hundreds of thousands of Irish PCs face potentially similar vulnerabilities, except for those who pay a new premium for security 'extended support'. Microsoft Ireland is still declining to say how much the premium support will cost, adding that it is likely to depend on a case-by-case basis between businesses and their suppliers.

Reports last year suggested that Microsoft was briefing enterprise customers on the likely cost.

For Windows 7 Pro, the cost was reportedly almost 50 per device for the first 12 months, double that for the next 12 months, and then double again (almost 200) for the remaining 12 months.

So an organisation with 1,000 PCs using Windows 7 Pro could face an upfront security fee of 50,000 in 2020, rising to almost 200,000 in 2022, if they do not sort out upgrades in time.

"If an organisation waits and purchases extended security updates for the first time in year two or year three, they will have to pay for preceding years as well, since all security updates are cumulative, starting January 2020," says Microsoft's official guidance document. "After support has ended in January 2020, organisations will no longer receive regular bug fixes and patches, and the help desk will not be able to provide support."

However, experts warn that companies which have not yet started to switch away from Windows 7 will be stuck paying Microsoft premium protection fees for the foreseeable future.

"In our experience, migrations from previous versions of Windows involving Irish organisations with more than 200 users took 12 months to complete on average," said a report on the issue from the Irish consultancy Auxilion last year.

"Of course, there are instances where the process can be completed in a much shorter time, but in almost every case, the migration time was much longer than initially anticipated by the client."

The overall cost to Irish business, Auxilion's report said, could be as much as 200m, based on the number of corporate devices in the market. And there could be a squeeze on resources to help the process.

"Companies in that situation have no guarantee that a quick solution will be available in 2020, as demand for migration support services is likely to remain strong for quite some time," added the Auxilion report.

"Ireland has been quite slow to migrate to Windows 10 and there will likely be extreme resource constraints for projects starting in the latter part of 2019 and in 2020. The fact is that the IT industry simply doesn't have the capacity to meet a surge in demand from late migration projects."

Comparisons are being drawn with the chaotic end-of-support problems that occurred when Windows XP was cut off from security support five years ago.

Millions of company PCs worldwide were still using the operating system, and a wave of viruses and malware caused havoc among private enterprises and state organisations.

Public sector organisations, including hospitals and schools, were hit by malware and had to pay emergency fees for remedial action.

The HSE had 1,500 systems using Windows XP when the Wannacry malware epidemic struck. A similar problem was faced by companies running devices such as ticketing machines, CCTVs, ATMs and public signage.

For big organisations, the cost to update all of this was calculated in the millions rather than the thousands.

The problem became so bad that Microsoft agreed to waive its end-of-support rule and provide patches for machines with XP.

"Microsoft's extended support means that some IT departments have taken their foot off the gas on the issue, which is disappointing," said Conor Flynn, managing director of ISAS and one of the country's most senior IT security specialists.

"It's allowed people to be sloppy and lazy. The danger is going to be that some will afford it and get their patches but there will be a sense of complacency among other people who hear that there's support and think that they're protected, when in fact they're not.

"The communication hasn't been clear that you will only get these if you get into a contract with Microsoft."

He said that some companies put off their upgrades because they were late replacing Windows XP.

"There are quite a significant amount of businesses here still using Windows 7," he said. "In many cases, a lot of effort and pain went into upgrading XP to Windows. They left that upgrade for so long that it seems quite recent to them."

One of the features of Windows 10 is that it no longer requires wholesale replacement for Microsoft's next upgrade.

The firm is trying to encourage companies that have held off upgrading into adopting the current system.

Microsoft said that the cost of Windows 10 is 260 for a small business or 145 for a home version.

"The best way to experience Windows 10 is on a new PC," the company said. "While it is possible to install Windows 10 on your older device, it is not recommended."

As for what small companies can do now, Microsoft said they should go to a third-party vendor.
- Lawyer Nelson Havi slammed the State for frustrating colleague Miguna Miguna

- The LSK presidential candidate called on members of the legal fraternity to rise up for their learned friend

- The self-styled general made two unsuccessful attempts to fly into Kenya

- The court made at least three orders compelling government to facilitate his travel to no avail

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) presidential candidate Nelson Havi has suggested that members of the legal fraternity should stand up against colleague Miguna Miguna's frustrations.

Havi who represented Miguna at the start of his two-year mistreatment in the government's hand, said it was unfortunate the State which bundled him into a plane has refused him entry.

READ ALSO: Moses Kuria asks Nyanza residents to rise up against Miguna's troubles

Miguna stranded at the French airport after being evicted. Photo: Miguna Miguna.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Picha ya wanafunzi wa Pembroke House wakiripoti shuleni wakitumia ndege yazua gumzo

He further faulted the government for embarrassing the country particularly the fracas that visited the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) during the lawyer's deportation in 2018.

"Miguna Miguna was not unruly in March, 2018 as misrepresented by Oguna. The government created an embarrassing domestic and international spectacle by deploying 1,000 heavily armed policemen to disrupt the calm at JKIA. Lawyers will don the yellow ribbon until this matter is settled," he said.

Nelson Havi slammed the government for embarrassing the country by frustrating Miguna. Photo: Nelson Haji.

Source: Facebook

At least three court orders have been pronounced in favour of the self-declared general compelling the State to facilitate his return.

The facilitation include purchase of air ticket and other expenses.

However, he has unsuccessfully tried to connect flights to Nairobi from both France and Germany, with each attempt met with travel advisories.

Government spokesperson Cyrus Oguna said Miguna's unruly behaviour was a threat to the JKIA Category 1 status. Photo: The Standard.

Source: UGC

According to Air France and Lufthansa, the Kenyan authorities issued a red alert on Miguna.

The confusion surrounding the politician's travel has seen the government issue conflicting information or feigning ignorance on the matter which is now taking a political angle.

In his own words, spokesperson Cyrus Oguna said Miguna's unruly behaviour was a threat to the JKIA Category One status.

"The Category One status certifies that we have put in place all the necessary safety and security measures and this is an accomplishment we are committed to jealously protect,"he claimed.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

The Blind Tailor, I don't want people to pity me. I want them to be encouraged by my story | Tuko TV.

Source: TUKO.co.ke
The ultra-low-fare airline's 10 aircraft allows for flights between Hamilton and St. John's, Moncton and Charlottetown

CALGARY, Jan. 9, 2020 /CNW/ - As part of it's 2020 summer schedule, Swoop, Canada's ultra-low-fare airline and subsidiary of WestJet Airlines Ltd., announced its East Coast network expansion, with flights between Hamilton, Ontario and St. John's, NL; Moncton, NB; and Charlottetown, PEI. The new service will begin in June as Swoop receives its tenth aircraft.

"The growth of our fleet means more opportunities for Canadians as we continue our mission of making air travel simple, affordable and accessible for every traveller," said Steven Greenway, President, Swoop. "Our growth in Eastern Canada is an exciting milestone for Swoop, proving our ability to develop our network domestically, while also adding to our U.S. and international destinations,"

The tenth aircraft means greater opportunities for Canadians to travel throughout North America, increasing the airline's weekly frequencies to popular domestic, U.S. and international destinations.

The new service between John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport and St. John's, Moncton and Charlottetown will run from June through October 2020, serving those travellers looking to experience Canada's exceptional East Coast.

"This announcement by Swoop is very exciting as these new routes into the Maritimes will allow customers from Hamilton to explore even more destinations from coast to coast within Canada," said Cathie Puckering, President & CEO, John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport. "These new services will offer a wonderful opportunity to experience the beauty of Atlantic Canada and are a fantastic complement to the current Swoop schedule in Hamilton which includes destinations in Canada, the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean."

Details of Swoop's new service to Atlantic Canada:

Service Between Service Offered Weekly Frequency Service Run-time Hamilton, ON to St. John's, NL Daily 7 x per week June 22, 2020  October 23, 2020 Hamilton, ON to Moncton, NB Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday 4 x per week June 24, 2020  October 23, 2020 Hamilton, ON to Charlottetown, PEI Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 3 x per week June 27, 2020  October 22, 2020

The ultra-low-cost carrier's Summer 2020 network serves 12 domestic, five transborder and three international destinations, offering the unbundled model to travellers across North America. Ensuring fares remain low, Swoop's model offers a base fare that starts with just a seat, giving travellers the power to add the things they want, and nothing they don't, fulfilling a need in the Canadian marketplace.

"We're delighted to welcome Swoop as our newest airline partner, providing service to our community at competitive fares," said Peter Avery, CEO at St. John's International Airport. "This new link to Hamilton will increase accessibility to Ontario, our largest market, and will facilitate the already strong connections between Newfoundland and the Hamilton region."

"We are thrilled to welcome Swoop to Charlottetown," said Doug Newson, CEO for Charlottetown Airport. "With Swoop's non-stop flight between Charlottetown and Hamilton, Swoop is making it easier for visitors to travel to our beautiful Island in the summer months while also providing Islanders with a direct, low-cost travel option to Ontario."

"We are absolutely delighted to have Swoop serve our market and that they have selected the Greater Moncton Romeo LeBlanc International Airport as their New Brunswick destination partner," said Bernard LeBlanc, President and CEO of Greater Moncton International Airport Authority. "A low-cost carrier like Swoop will offer new travel opportunities for our community and this will ultimately benefit not only this region, but the Province of New Brunswick as a whole."

Flights are now available for booking through October 2020. To learn more about Swoop's destinations, schedule and ultra-low-cost model visit FlySwoop.com or connect with Swoop on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

About Swoop

Established in 2018, Swoop is Canada's leading ultra-low-cost airline, independently operated as part of the WestJet Group of companies, offering point-to-point scheduled service to 23 seasonal and year-round destinations in Canada, the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean. Swoop offers completely unbundled products and services, creating the unique opportunity for travellers to control their costs and customize their experience by purchasing only the extras they desire.

Swoop operates a modern fleet of nine Boeing 737-800 aircraft, equipped with in-seat power and Wi-Fi connectivity. Swoop's mobile app allows travellers to quickly and easily book flights, manage bookings, check-in, view boarding passes, track flights and access Wi-Fi service in-flight. For more details on Swoop, visit FlySwoop.com.

SOURCE Swoop

For further information: For Swoop media relations, please contact: Shauna MacDonald, 403-585-4570; 403-538-5645, [email protected]
WASHINGTON and LOS ANGELES, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, representatives of the Teamsters Union protested outside of the Embassy of France in Washington, D.C., and the Consulate General of France in Los Angeles.

The demonstrations were a show of solidarity with striking workers in France, many of whom are transportation workers and members of CGT, the transportation union whose record-breaking strike entered its 36th day today. Additionally, the Teamsters called on the French corporation Air Liquide, which owns the U.S.-based company Airgas, to respect workers' rights to organize and to provide a dignified retirement to employees.

At the demonstrations, Teamsters carried signs which read, "Air Liquide: All Workers Deserve Secure Retirement."

"Teamster members have much in common with French workers, including that both are fighting for a secure retirement," said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. "We stand with Airgas workers in the U.S. and workers in France who deserve a secure retirement."

"We stand here at the Los Angeles Consulate General in solidarity with our brothers and sisters on strike in France to protect their pensions," said Eric Tate Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 848 in California. "There is an international war on workers. Pensions are under attack in France, our government has yet to address the pension issue here in the United States, and multinational corporations like Air Liquide are allowing their American companies to refuse to give its workers a secure retirement and to illegally harass and intimidate union workers."

After the demonstrations, letters of support for the French workers were delivered by the Teamsters to the Embassy and the Consulate General.

The letters read in part; "The 1.4 million members of the Teamsters Union stand in solidarity with workers in France during their struggle to maintain a pension that allows them to retire with dignity and respect after years of hard work."

Keith Gleason, Teamsters Tankhaul Division Director, stressed that the union will always stand up to fight for workers.

"American workers, Canadian workers, French workers, all workers around the world deserve to enjoy their golden years. Multinational corporations like Air Liquide make billions in profits and need to respect its workers and ensure there is a secure retirement for them," Gleason said. "We are asking Air Liquide to take a closer look at how its workers are treated in the United States and ensure that Airgas ends its unlawful behavior."

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.

Contact:

Kara Deniz, (202) 624-6911

[email protected]

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Related Links

http://www.teamster.org


The state Department of Developmental Services has ended its contract with the Center for Human Development to run two group homes for developmentally disabled adults where a house manager was accused of wrongdoing.

The Springfield-based nonprofit will also be prohibited from accepting any new business from the state agency, will undergo a corrective action plan for the 20 homes still under its supervision and be required to conduct an external audit of client funds management.

After conducting a comprehensive review, including on-site visits to ensure the health and safety of our individuals, the Department of Developmental Services terminated the contract for two Center for Human Development operated group homes, said Chris Klaskin, a spokesman for the Department of Developmental Services.

Klaskin said the corrective action plan will ensure ongoing operations at CHD homes maintain a high level of quality that meets regulatory and contractual requirements.

Klaskin added, DDS continues its ongoing work to strengthen its program oversight protocols to ensure that contracted agencies provide accurate information and have the appropriate internal controls in place to keep clients safe.

In August, The Republican/MassLive reported that a house manager at group homes in East Longmeadow and Wilbraham allegedly falsified records for several years stating that clients had been taken to medical appointments. In fact, up to eight residents missed dozens of primary care visits, specialty care visits, and eye and dental exams.

The house manager, Kathy Walker, was terminated and her supervisor resigned.

The Department of Developmental Services said at the time that it was investigating the missed medical appointments and allegations of financial improprieties related to clients benefits and personal funds.

The Center for Human Development was told Sept. 25 that those two homes, with a total of eight residents, would be removed from its contract with the Department of Developmental Services.

The contract was moved to the Mental Health Association, which runs around 30 residential homes, primarily for individuals with intellectual disabilities, in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties.

The Mental Health Association took over the Wilbraham home in November. The four men living there were able to stay in the house and will not have to move.

The East Longmeadow home, which houses three men and one woman, was taken over by the Mental Health Association in December. The organization is leasing the house from the Center for Human Development until it can find alternative housing for those residents.

Center for Human Development spokesman Ben Craft said his organization worked with the Mental Health Association to ensure a smooth transition. Throughout this process, CHD program and leadership staff have maintained regular communication with family members and guardians about medical care, and CHD has done everything possible to ensure that all individuals health needs are met as quickly as possible, Craft said.

Linda Kloss, vice president of integration and community living for the Mental Health Association, said the organization handled the transfer like any new referral, with nurses conducting assessments and determining what appointments were needed. Kloss said the agency offered staff at the homes the opportunity to interview for jobs with the Mental Health Association, so they could continue to work with the clients, and tried to keep daily life as similar as possible for residents.

We attempted to not make too many critical changes, Kloss said. We didnt want to disrupt their lives.

State officials say families and guardians have been regularly updated on the transition.

The removal was first reported publicly this week on the blog of COFAR  the Massachusetts Coalition of Families and Advocates, an advocacy group for families of people with developmental disabilities.

The decision to terminate the contract for the homes came after the Department of Developmental Services conducted two separate reviews of the problems involving Walker. According to the department, the reviews looked at healthcare management, funds management, staff supervision and training, and prescription medication administration. The state agency also made unannounced visits to the two homes, and other homes run by the Center for Human Development.

Families and guardians of clients were briefed on the results of those reviews, and talking points for those briefings were contained in a document generated by the Department of Developmental Services in September, which was obtained by The Republican/MassLive.

According to that document, the reviews found that the Center for Human Development needs to improve its service delivery with a focus on staff training and supervision, healthcare coordination, and management of individuals benefits and personal spending money. While the organization made some policy improvements in January 2019, when it first learned of the problems, the review found it has not fully implemented those new policies, including things like quality assurance audits and data tracking. The review found that some individuals health care needs still were not being met.

Regarding allegations of financial improprieties  which centered on a resident not getting benefits he was owed  the review found no evidence of theft or fraud, but did find a lack of oversight of financial benefits. The review found the house manager made errors, and no records were kept of financial transactions. The review said the lack of supervision, oversight and control procedures point to systemic problems at the Center for Human Development, and faulted the agency for missing and erroneous records.

The review said the organization must conduct an external audit of all client fund records, provide restitution for any personal client funds it cannot account for, and conduct a complete independent audit of all group homes funded by the Department of Developmental Services for a two-year period.

Craft said in a statement, CHD is fully engaged in comprehensive changes in policy and operations to return and sustain the quality of our DDS services to the high standards that we have upheld across our organization for nearly fifty years. Substantial implementation of these improvements has already occurred, and that work continues.

Craft said Center for Human Development staff have maintained regular communication with family members about medical care and have done everything possible to ensure all individuals health needs are met as quickly as possible.

Craft said the organization is continuing to work with the Department of Developmental Services and other state agencies to improve its service delivery and policies. He said the agency has put major additional improvements in place since the states report came out in September, and improvement is the organizations top focus. In particularly, Craft said CHD selected an external auditor and is implementing new auditing.

Dave Kassel, a spokesman for COFAR, which has worked with the guardian of one of the clients who exposed the problems, said terminating the contract is a welcome move. But he said it raises the question of why the Department of Developmental Services did not identify the problems earlier through its licensing process.

Why did it get to the point that they had to terminate the contract? Kassel said.
Federal authorities in Michigan have apprehended a man accused of killing a Bismarck man found slain when authorities responded to a house fire last week.

Earl Howard, 41, was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers without incident early Thursday on the Blue Water Bridge connecting Port Huron, Michigan, with Ontario, Canada, the agency reported. Local authorities say Howard has dual U.S. and Canadian citizenship.

Hes charged in the death of Chad Entzel, 42, as is Entzels wife, Nikki Entzel, 38. The nature of the relationship between Howard and Nikki Entzel isn't clear.

"That's one of the areas that's under consideration, is the extent of the relationship and also what type of relationship it was," Burleigh County Sheriff Kelly Leben said.

Authorities also are still working to determine a motive. There is no indication drugs played a role in the incident, according to Leben.

Nikki Entzel allegedly told police she was at the home when Howard shot her husband to death, three days before the fire was reported, according to court documents. Chad Entzels body was in the early stages of decomposition when an autopsy was performed, according to an affidavit filed by Burleigh County Sheriff's Deputy Brian Thompson.

Nikki Entzel was charged Wednesday with three felonies including conspiracy to commit murder in connection with his death.

Formal charges were filed against Howard and an arrest warrant was issued for him late Wednesday. He is charged with murder, arson, murder conspiracy, arson conspiracy and conspiracy to tamper with evidence. Customs and Border Patrol turned him over to the Port Huron Police Department. Officers seized the vehicle he was driving and will turn it over to law enforcement officials from North Dakota.

Howard, who authorities said was living in Belwood, Ontario, is in custody in the St. Clair County Jail in Port Huron, Mich., according to Leben. A hearing was scheduled Friday on extradition proceedings. Howard can waive extradition, or he can fight a return to North Dakota to face charges.

Nikki Entzel allegedly told authorities her husband and Howard argued in the bedroom of her 43rd Avenue Northeast home on Dec. 30 before Howard left the room, told her Chad Entzel was dead, and that they had to leave. Howard told her a propane heater near the bed should start a fire, according to the affidavit.

Thompson said it appeared there were two fires in the home -- the one in the bedroom and one that started in the furnace room. The blaze did not severely damage the home, which Leben said was rented by the Entzels.

Police said they found a double-barrel shotgun with one spent shell in the chamber and a box of ammunition with two shells missing in the bedroom. State Medical Examiner William Massello concluded Chad Entzel had at least two gunshot wounds and died from them, according to the affidavit.

Nikki Entzel on Jan. 2 reported the structure fire to authorities. She also is charged with conspiracy to commit arson and conspiracy to tamper with evidence. Authorities say the homes security system was logged into several times and eventually deactivated. A search of her cellphone showed it was used to log into the security system at times that coincided with administrative logs from the security company, police say.

Entzel told authorities she moved out of the home on Dec. 30 and was living in a motel room. The room was registered to and rented by Howard, according to authorities.

Nikki Entzel is being held in the Burleigh Morton Detention Center in lieu of the $500,000 cash bail set Wednesday by South Central District Judge Gail Hagerty. She has prior convictions in two other states and was on probation when she came to North Dakota in 2016 after marrying Chad Entzel, Burleigh County States Attorney Julie Lawyer said.

Nikki Entzels record includes a fraudulent insurance act in South Dakota in 2012. She was arrested as a fugitive from South Dakota justice in Minnesota in 2014. She also has a nonsufficient fund check conviction in South Dakota from 2014 and a 2015 conviction in Minnesota for a financial transaction fraud.

Authorities have said Howard's prior criminal record is minimal and "very clean."

Court documents do not list an attorney for either Howard or Entzel.

Leben said authorities "don't have any other identified persons of interest," but that the investigation is continuing.

"Obviously we have had a very intense investigation that has unfolded very rapidly," he said.

Reach Travis Svihovec at 701-250-8260 or Travis.Svihovec@bismarcktribune.com

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Public relations companies long have been known for reshaping perceptions to favor their clients. Taking that practice to an extreme, some now engage in black PR  that is, the calculated spread of disinformation and misinformation online, according to a Buzzfeed report published Monday.

For example, Taiwan-based entrepreneur Peng Kuan Chins Content Farm Automatic Collection System harvests online articles and posts written in Chinese, reshapes them, and posts them on websites under its control.

Thousands of fake social media accounts owned by his company, Bravo-Idea, then spread this manipulated content across the Internet.

We see a lot of these black PR firms, remarked Ray Wang, principal analyst at Constellation Research.

A lot of them work today in local politics with big developers, lobbyists fighting individual activists and so on, he told the E-Commerce Times.

The Evil That Black PR Does

Nearly 70 percent of 6,100-plus Americans who participated in a Pew Research Center poll last year said that fake news greatly affected their confidence in government institutions. Fifty-four percent said it hurt their confidence in other people.

About 60 percent blamed political figures and their staff, and 53 percent blamed activists. Seventy-nine percent believed steps should be taken to restrict fake news.

Black PR is manipulation at scale for money without any concerns for the damage to the planet, country, or even individual safety, observed Rob Enderle, principal at the Enderle Group.

The danger is not only the damage this does, but given people dont like to be made fools of, the repercussions when they find out they were played, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Recall what happened with Gawker and Peter Thiel, Enderle said.

Where Black PR Is Going

Black PR per se is not new. For example, Hill & Knowlton famously orchestrated fake testimony about Iraqi troop atrocities in Kuwait that helped push the U.S. to launch the Gulf War.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

The Internet has made it easier, and much cheaper, to publish and disseminate misinformation and disinformation, however.

Last year, 19 online information operations were attributed partially or wholly to PR or marketing firms, according to a Buzzfeed review . Since 2011, there have been 27 such operations.

The black PR market is growing, and likely will expand through the 2020 U.S. election year, said Mike Jude, research director at IDC.

Fighting Black PR

Closing down accounts of people or organizations disseminating misinformation isnt enough, because they just pivot to a new account, Enderle said. Eventually, well use artificial intelligence for this, but the corrective tools are lagging at the moment.

Tech companies are fighting back. Twitter last month announced the removal of more than 5,000 accounts involved in a state-backed information operation.

Facebook has taken a series of actions:

Last month, it took down hundreds of accounts, pages and groups in two unconnected networks conducting operations on Facebook and Instagram;

Last spring, it banned Israeli black PR firm Archimedes Group for creating hundreds of fake social media accounts to influence elections in various countries; and

Early last year, it banned Philippine digital marketing company Twinmark Media Enterprises and its subsidiaries from its platform for coordinated inauthentic behavior.

Facebook, Google and Twitter last year teamed up with the BBC and publishers to fight fake news.

The Dangers Black PR Poses

No market expands forever, IDCs Jude told the E-Commerce Times. To the extent that black PR begins to do serious damage to individuals, expect governments to step in.

Germany, Malaysia, France, Russia, Singapore and China have made it a crime to create and distribute misinformation.

The EU in 2018 introduced a voluntary code of practice to battle online disinformation. Facebook and other tech companies have signed on.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Australia has pressured tech companies to fight fake news.

Actively censoring the news feeds to protect people from their own ignorance seems a bit extreme, Jude suggested. Turn the trial lawyers loose on this space and establish a few landmark cases, and I think the problem will be greatly diminished.

The Possibility of Self-Policing

Meanwhile, the PR industry is trying to police itself.

ICCO, the International Communications Consultancy Organization  an umbrella group representing PR trade groups around the world  has established the Helsinki Declaration, 10 principles it urges member groups to support.

ICCO also has a page on ethics in digital communication on its website.

In 2017, the UKs Public Relations and Communications Association expelled London-based PR firm Bell Pottinger for stoking racial tensions in South Africa for a billionaire client.

The answer isnt more centralization, Constellations Wang said. Its more decentralization that allows individuals to report fakes to others who will also apply techniques and algorithms to be vigilant.
Muldrew then looted the cash register and pretended to be the stores clerk for other customers as Kadir lay bleeding on the floor. Kadir begged for his life, told Muldrew about his wife and two children and said he could take everything he wanted, including a 9 mm pistol behind the counter. Muldrew did so and shot Kadir twice in the head, killing him.

Muldrew then walked back to his apartment a couple of blocks south on Louisiana Avenue and hid the guns, cash and lottery tickets. Police arrested him a short time later when he returned to the shooting scene.

Muldrew initially denied involvement but later confessed, telling police, He was going to die anyway. I wanted to make sure he was dead. He said he had two kids but I didnt care.

Evidence at trial included the cigarette butt Muldrew left in the store, which had his DNA on it, the two pistols and lottery tickets seized at his apartment, and Muldrews clothing and shoes with Kadirs blood on it.
(Alliance News) - British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group SA on Thursday announced Chief Executive Willie Walsh will be departing in March.

Walsh will leave the role on March 26, before fully retiring from the board at the end of June. Luis Gallego, who is currently head of IAG's Iberia airline, will succeed him as the head of IAG.

Gallego's replacement will be announced in due course, the company said.

Walsh initially joined Aer Lingus, another of IAG's airlines, as a cadet pilot in 1979. Since then, his roles have included leading Aer Lingus between 2001 and 2005, and heading British Airways between 2005 and 2011.

He became CEO of IAG at the start of 2011. As well as British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia, IAG owns Vueling, Level, and cargo operations.

IAG currently owns nearly 600 aircraft, flying to 268 destinations worldwide, carrying around 113 million passengers every year. It was created by the merger between British Airways and Spain's Iberia in 2011.

IAG Chair Antonio Vazquez commented: "Willie has led the merger and successful integration of British Airways and Iberia to form IAG. Under Willie's leadership IAG has become one of the leading global airline groups.

"Willie has established a strong management team and I am delighted Luis will be promoted from this team to succeed Willie as CEO. Luis started his career in the airline industry in 1997 with Air Nostrum and, since 2014, he has been CEO of Iberia where he has led a profound transformation of this airline."

"The board is confident Luis is the right person to lead IAG in the next stage of its development and we look forward to working closely with Luis in his new role," Vazquez continued.

FTSE 100 IAG was trading 1.1% higher in London early on Thursday at a price of 624.95 pence per share.

By George Collard; georgecollard@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2019 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Twitter is to fundamentally alter the way replies work on the service  including giving people the ability to ban them entirely.

The major change is intended to make the platform less abusive and allow for more productive conversations, it said during a presentation at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas.

The company will give people new powers to restrict who can reply to their posts, or to ban people from doing so entirely. Users will be able to choose when posting who will be able to respond to their tweets.

The change is aimed at helping avoid abusive pile-ons and harmful replies, though it could also make it more difficult to hold people to account for their posts.

It comes as social media firms including Twitter face sustained criticism over the abuse that is present on their sites. On Twitter, unsolicited replies particularly target women and minorities, and often serve as a space for harassment or other harmful behaviour.

Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty

Twitter has in recent years promised to do its best to increase the "health" of the conversations that happen there.

Recommended Lizzo takes a break from Twitter because of trolls

Late last year, it introduced the ability to hide certain replies on a tweet, meaning that they will be removed for everyone. That was intended as a way to clean up abusive content though has led to some people hiding replies that point out misleading information that is being shared.

The new tools will give people four different choices when they post a new tweet. A "Global" setting works as it is now, with anyone able to respond to posts; "Group" means that people can reply if they are followed or mentioned by the person posting; "Panel" lets only people mentioned in the post reply to it; and there will also be the option to stop replies altogether.
Many Americans have turned inward and stopped worrying about the heavy load carried by fellow citizens. Our national motto used to be E pluribus unum (out of many, one). Now it has become: Its not my problem.

But desperate times call for a collective response. We need to speak with one voice, and say loud and clear: Enough!

This year, Americans all need to join together and make the same resolution: to be more empathetic to those who are targeted, picked on or even killed not because of what they do but simply because of who they are.

Think about that. Were taught by our parents  if were lucky  that our decisions and actions have consequences. You want to avoid pain, loss and suffering, and have relatively smooth sailing through life? Make better choices, were told. Youll be fine.

But what if youre not fine? What if youre singled out and preyed upon because of the color of your skin, who you love or how you worship?

Racism. Anti-Semitism. Islamophobia. Nativism. Homophobia. These cancers are all around us, afflicting one group after another.

And the worst part isnt the attack. Its the apathy. When many Americans hear about a hate crime, we look to see who was hurt and who is alleged to have done it. If neither of those have anything to do with us, or our community, we go on with our lives. We have to stop that. We have to understand that when someone is targeted because of who they are, its an attack on all of us.

Recently, Jews have been targeted in New York City and surrounding areas in a rash of attacks. In one of the more horrific examples, five people were stabbed last month in the Jewish enclave of Monsey, N.Y., while attending a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbis home. The assailant allegedly entered the home, closed the door behind him, whipped out a machete and started slashing away. He fled after the assault, but a suspect was later arrested in Harlem.

Of course, African Americans know all too well what it feels like to be targeted by hate. In a recent illustration of a shameful legacy of violence against that community that goes back centuries, nine African Americans were killed and three wounded in June 2015 when a white gunman entered the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., during a Bible study and started shooting.

A year later, it was the LGBTQ community that was targeted in one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. Forty-nine people were killed and 53 others were wounded inside Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., when a man went into the club with semiautomatic weaponry and opened fire.

When my gay brother heard the news, he was shaken to his core. Honestly, while I was shocked by the shooting, it didnt affect me the same way. But, as a Mexican American, my time would come.

This past August, 22 people were killed and 24 others were injured  most of them Mexican or Mexican American  when a white gunman drove 10 hours to the U.S.-Mexico border and the heavily Latino city of El Paso, entered a Walmart and opened fire with the singular objective of killing, he reportedly told police, as many Mexicans as possible.

What in the world is going on? We make a terrible mistake when, after one of these tragedies, we shift the conversation to gun control, or mental health, or video games. These horrible occurrences are all about the same thing, something we dont like to talk about: hate. We should call it by name. How else can we expect to fight it?

My Mexican-born wife has Jewish cousins through her mothers second marriage. So that means I have Jewish cousins. A few days after the attack at the rabbis home in Monsey, my cousin Amy posted a meme on Facebook, a photo of her and her husband above the words: I Stand Against Anti-Semitism. I posted back: These are my cousins. I stand with them. She posted back. Thank you. We stand with you, too.

Now was that so hard?

ruben@rubennavarrette.com
LAKELAND, Fla. - A Florida motorcycle officer was killed in a crash while driving his police-issued Harley-Davidson to work Thursday morning, authorities said.

Officer Paul Dunn, 50, died shortly before 6 a.m., according to a post on the with the Lakeland Police Departments Facebook page.

The motorcycle struck and drove over a raised concrete median and Dunn lost control of the bike, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told reporters at a news conference on Thursday. He said investigators are trying to determine whether another vehicle was involved.

Passing motorists saw the motorcycle and stopped to help Dunn, Judd said. The motorists found a faint pulse and began CPR.

Dunn was taken to a hospital, where he died a short time later.

Dunn had been with Lakeland police since 2013, and had worked for the sheriffs office for 12 years before that. He was a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and has two sons currently serving in the military. He was married and also has a daughter, the Facebook posting said.

We have suffered a tragic loss out here this morning, Garcia said during the news conference. Its a tragic loss for the agency and the community as well. This is a loss of a family member. This was a fine officer who worked for this community every day.
The Centre's ban on pro-Khalistan group 'Sikhs for Justice' has been upheld by a tribunal constituted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act saying its activities were "disruptive" and threatened the "sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of India".

The tribunal, headed by Delhi High Court Chief Justice D N Patel, said the evidence also proved that SFJ was "working in collusion with anti-India entities and forces".

The central government had sufficient cause to take action under the UAPA for declaring SFJ as an unlawful association, it said.

"The notification dated July 10, 2019 issued by the Union of India under the Act declaring Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) to be an unlawful association is hereby confirmed. The reference is answered in the affirmative," the tribunal said.

The Centre in July 10, 2019 notification had declared SFJ as an unlawful association and had banned it for five years, saying the group's primary objective was to establish an "independent and sovereign country" in Punjab and it openly espouses the cause of Khalistan, challenging the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India.

Thereafter, in August a tribunal was set up for adjudicating whether there was sufficient cause to declare SFJ as an unlawful association.

The tribunal, in its order of January 6, has noted that the US-based SFJ, which is run by some Sikhs of foreign nationality in the US, Canada, the UK and so on, was behind the campaign called Referendum 2020 which seeks ceding of the state of Punjab from the Union of India.

"The call for a referendum to cede a part of the territory of India in itself is a crime. The association (SFJ) has been proved to be indulging by its speeches and social media expressions and communications, in acts which are detrimental to the unity, integrity and sovereignty of India.

"Referendum 2020 being propagated by the respondent Association is itself restricted and is an unlawful activity under the Act and does not have any sanction under any law," it said.

The tribunal refused to accept SFJ's contentions that utterances, acts and social media posts by its members were innocent in character and have had no repercussions in India.

"It was with great difficulty and at a huge cost that the state of Punjab was rid of terrorist activity and any attempt at this stage to revive or foment any activity which threatens the unity and territorial integrity and sovereignty of India must be nipped in the bud at the threshold itself," the tribunal said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
WASHINGTON  As Congress learns the details of each strike and counter strike between the U.S. and Iran over the past week, lawmakers are increasingly supporting measures to curb the ability of President Donald Trump  and future commanders-in-chief  to make military advances without significant congressional input.

On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on a resolution that would mandate that if no further congressional action is taken, the administrations military hostilities toward Iran stop within 30 days, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Wednesday. Connecticut House Democrats are expected to support the measure with their party.

But more broadly, many legislators worry that Trump, as well as former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush., have stretched the executive branchs war powers too far with ongoing wars in the Middle East and many unilateral strikes. Meanwhile, Congress has abdicated its consitutional duty to dictates the bounds of American warfare, they say.

They fear the U.S. is inching toward another endless war, even as Trump spoke of de-escalation on Wednesday.

Year after year, some would say decade after decade, Congress has surrendered its constitutional responsibility over military confrontation, said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. The challenge now is to re-assert congressional responsibility when it comes to war and peace. What weve seen is a kind of mission creep in every one of these military situations where the president in effect goes into war with American casaulties and other costs that Congress never approved.

In addition to the House resolution, two Democratic senators have submitted resolutions to limit presidential war powers. One mirrors the House measure targeted at Iran, while another would broadly constrict all future presidents ability to conduct war without presenting a detailed plan to Congress in advance.

Like impeachment, the war powers debate represents another battle between presidential and congressional power. But unlike impeachment, there is some bipartisan support for reforming war powers.

Although most House Republicans are expected to vote against the House War Powers Resolution Thursday, at least one House Republican backed revising the measure indicated he would support the resolution if it was not just a repudiation of the killing of an Iranian general, but was a more forward looking measure. He tried to whip Democrats to support his amendment.

Additionally, two Republican senators said they would support the Senate version of the war powers resolution, after leaving a briefing on Iran Wednesday afternoon livid about the skimpy intelligence information and lack of strategy described by White House officials.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., left the briefing concluding that the administrations decision to kill Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani last week was a strike of choice and one that likely would have required congressional authorization beforehand.

I was deeply surprised by the lack of information presented by the administration regarding a specific imminent threat, Murphy said. I think it is likely because it doesnt exist.

Blumenthal decried the Senate briefing as an insult to lawmakers intelligence. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5, called the Iran briefing given to House members inadequate.

Nothing in the briefing, nothing about what [Trump] said, convinces me that hes operating in a place thats the best interest, Hayes said. Nothing was specific. Nothing was imminent... We should have something a lot more substantive than that.

On Wednesday, Trump announced the U.S. would impose further economic sanctions on Iran, instead of pursuing military action against the nation that bombed targets around Iraqi bases where U.S. troops were stationed on Tuesday.

I think the administration got enormously lucky in that we were very, very close to a shooting war and both sides, I think, stared into the abyss and decided to take a deep breath and step back, said U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4. I give credit to the Iranian regime for not attacking Israel or attacking the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain or killing 100 Americans. And I dont usually do this but Ill give credit to Donald Trump for taking a deep breath and not escalating.

Trumps announcement threw earlier Democratic plans to curb war powers a curveball, but following the White House briefings on Iran for the House and Senate Wednesday afternoon, Pelosi reaffirmed plans to vote to limit war powers.

Hayes is a co-sponsor of the House resolution. Himes also confirmed he will vote in favor of the measure.

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Md., has introduced a similar measure in the Senate that requires any hostilities with Iran be approved by a declaration of war or a specific authorization of military action by Congress. The measure could get a vote at the earliest next week, Kaine said, but may see delays if an impeachment trial starts.

Murphy and Blumenthal have backed this resolution.

Im hopeful that the resolution that we have on the floor, which I have joined, will provide a path for Congress to impact the administrations policy and drive it toward a strategy that reduces tension and de-escalates, Blumenthal said.

Also, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., introduced a broad resolution in November that would require presidents to present more information to Congress before winning approval for war and limit war authorizations to a maximimum of two years without an additional congressional okay.

She has discussed with House leadership adding this measure to the House War Powers Resolution, Gillibrand and a House aide confirmed Tuesday. Gillibrands provision did not make the final House Resolution, but numerous Democrats have indicated their support for forcing Congress to take a more active role in military decisions.

I see Congress as failing to stand up for a clear mandate placed on us by the Constitution, Himes said. There is no argument about our duty here. The language is plain: Congress shall have power to declare war.

Hayes said Congresss war powers should have been reaffirmed a long time ago.

Pelosi said Wednesday the House may also soon vote on legislation to repeal the 2002 Iraq Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), a measure that for decades has been used to justify military action in the Middle East. White House officials in the briefing said this AUMF and the presidents constitutional role as commander-in-chief allowed Trump to kill Soleimani without notifying Congress, Himes recounted.

No, the 2002 AUMF does not authorize military force against Iran, Himes said. The notion that he has authority to do more of us under the 2002 AUMF, the resolution says No you dont; Congress needs to be involved, and thats really important.

The House may also consider legislation to prohibit funding for military action against Iran not authorized by Congress, Pelosi said. Both bills represent further efforts to rein in presidential war powers.

emilie.munson@hearstdc.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson
YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. A government staffer has thrown a cigarette butt in the street after having a smoke outside the government building, moreover Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan personally saw it from the window. I know what I am going to do, the PM said at the Cabinet meeting.

But when a passerby sees it, what are they going to do? They too must have levers, because the prime minister shouldnt look from the window to see who has come and who did what, this was coincidental, the PM, who has actively campaigned for clean environment and anti-littering, said at the meeting.

Pashinyan told Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan that legislative changes must be implemented.

Pardon me, I understand it is uncommon to speak about such things at Cabinet meetings, but for example in Singapore changes began after they started fighting against spitting, they imposed big fines for spitting in the streets and it worked, he said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
Weber named provost and executive vice president for academic affairs

The appointment of A. Scott Weber, above, as the university's second-ranking officer is effective immediately. Credit: Douglas Levere, University at Buffalo.

Scott Weber is a consummate university citizen who has brought exceptional energy, ideas and perspectives to every role he has held at UB  from professor and department chair to vice president for student life and interim provost. 

BUFFALO, N.Y.  A. Scott Weber has been named provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University at Buffalo following an international search launched in September.

The announcement was made today by President Satish K. Tripathi, who cited Webers significant leadership skills, outstanding academic credentials and clear vision for advancing UB as key factors in his elevation to the universitys second-ranking officer.

The appointment of Weber, professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering who has served as interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs since Sept. 16, and as vice president for student life since 2017, is effective immediately. Christina Hernandez will serve as UBs interim vice president for student life.

Scott Weber is a consummate university citizen who has brought exceptional energy, ideas and perspectives to every role he has held at UB  from professor and department chair to vice president for student life and interim provost, Tripathi said. Consequently, he has a depth of expertise and leadership that positions him exceedingly well to help us excel in our mission-driven priorities and deepen our impact on the many communities we serve.

Scotts keen academic vision, combined with his collaborative approach, his ability to continuously innovate, his kind and focused manner, and his steady hand elevated his candidacy among a group of truly stellar candidates for UB provost and will greatly benefit our university community as we continue to advance our national and global reputation.

As provost, Weber will work closely with Tripathi to help UB achieve its ambition of becoming one of the nations top 25 public research universities by increasing the impact of its research, academic and engagement mission.

Under Tripathis leadership, Weber will be responsible for setting a course for unparalleled excellence across the universitys academic enterprise and enhancing UBs culture of equity and inclusion, all with the goal of creating greater societal impact through its mission-based priorities.

I am honored, excited and humbled to be selected as the universitys next provost, Weber said. As a young faculty member joining the university many years ago, I could not have imagined having the opportunity to impact the university so deeply. Together with President Tripathi, I look forward to continuing to work with senior leadership, faculty, staff and students to further advance UBs position as one of the worlds great public research universities.

The search committee, which included UB senior leadership, faculty, staff, students and external constituents, was chaired by David A. Milling, senior associate dean of student and academic affairs in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, and Catherine Norgren, professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance in the College of Arts and Sciences.

As UBs vice president for student life, Weber led more than 20 units at the university, each dedicated to providing UBs more than 30,000 students with the support and resources they need to thrive at the university and beyond.

Under his leadership, Student Life reorganized its student engagement programs; it now regularly conducts surveys to prioritize better programming during the first-year experience. Weber also reset the priorities of UBs career services to have a greater emphasis on employer engagement and improved tracking of post-graduation success of UBs undergraduates. He initiated career development for students employed on campus, pushed for greater collaboration between academic advising and career development, and moved to upgrade facilities critical to the student experience, including next-generation libraries and a planned wellness center.

Prior to Student Life, Weber spent six years in two positions: senior vice provost for academic affairs, and vice provost and dean of undergraduate education.

In these positions, he led successful innovations designed to enhance the academic experiences of students, such as Finish in 4, the universitys nationally acclaimed program to help students earn their degrees in four years, as well as UB Curriculum, the universitys revision of its general education curriculum.

He developed comprehensive, centralized enrollment planning and functions that have led to increased enrollment overall, greater diversity in the undergraduate student body, an elevated student academic profile, and better coordination and efficiencies in academic support units.

He also elevated Cora P. Maloney College to a center designation to increase its stature and cohesiveness while significantly upgrading the facilities for UBs Equal Opportunity Program. He pushed for programs that help make UB more distinctive, including establishing the Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars, expanding the undergraduate academies, establishing the Center for Excellence in Writing, growing the University Honors College and establishing an Office of Fellowships and Scholarships.

Weber joined the UB faculty in 1983 and has been named professor of the year twice by the UB student chapter of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society. His teaching has focused on environmental engineering, with a specialization in process analysis and design for soil and water bioremediation.

His research efforts are directed toward biodegradation of chemicals in water and soil, particularly pharmaceuticals, and the reclamation of environmentally impacted sites known as brownfields.

As chair of the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering from 2005-10, Weber guided the establishment of UBs transportation engineering program and the departments rise in the U.S. News & World Report rankings.

Weber is a former member of the Water Environment Research Foundations board of directors and is past chair of the foundations research council and its literature review committee. He has served as a consultant to industries and government agencies on environmental issues.

Weber received a BS in civil engineering in 1977, and an MS in sanitary engineering in 1978, both from Virginia Tech. In 1983, he earned a PhD in civil engineering from the University of California, Davis.
ALLIANCE  An Alliance public defender finds himself at the defense table  this time as a defendant.

The Nebraska State Patrol released Wednesday that investigators with the Western Nebraska Intelligence and Narcotics Group (WING) arrested Jon Worthman, of Scottsbluff, Tuesday afternoon.

The investigation revealed that Jon Worthman, an attorney based in Alliance, was trading legal fees for cocaine, according to the Nebraska State Patrol. Worthman, 52, of Scottsbluff, was arrested Tuesday and lodged in the Scotts Bluff County Detention Center for possession of cocaine with intent to deliver.

Worthman has served as a public defender in Box Butte County, re-elected to his post in 2018. Worthman had served as a public defender for the county from 2003 to 2009, when he resigned his position, and returned to the post after the previous public defender, Dave Eubanks, was appointed to serve as the Scotts Bluff County Attorney.
The activists who helped organize the third annual Chattanooga Womens March, and were subsequently arrested during the peaceful protest, said they "are up in arms over the current state of this years March turned Rally."

Rev. Alaina Cobb, an organizer for the previous two years, made an impassioned plea early Wednesday morning on Social Media stating, Last year some of us stepped up. Some of us came out to stand in solidarity with each other even in the miserable cold and rain, and raised our voices for women's liberation.

I appreciate all of you who came and who marched. But. That's not what's happening this year. I'm sickened. I'm angry. I'm ashamed.

She said the decision that drew such ire "was the rallys inclusion of local politicians who have voted against a persons right to choose, LGBTQ+ rights, healthcare expansion, immigrant rights, and other issues that directly affect women in Tennessee - namely State House Reps. Patsy Hazelwood and Robin Smith.

Holly Selvwv said, Organizers of the 2020 Chattanooga Women's March, an event initially conceived as a reaction to Trump's consistently volatile commentary on women, have included Republican speakers well known for their attacks on the rights of marginalized groups and support of Trump. Despite public outcry, organizers have defended their stances in the name of civility and bipartisanship; both are still scheduled to attend and speak at this event.

Joel Willis, the only man to be arrested during the March last year, stated, The amount of disappointment we feel is only matched by our moral contempt for those who have taken a powerful movement which engaged millions of women in politics for the first time and turned it into a platform for anti-choice extremists, capitalist overlords, and advocates for gentrification. We are ashamed of a city that exposes women to cops who are sexual predators while refusing to accommodate women marching against sexual violence. We are ashamed of a city that boasts about technological innovation while the average income of black Chattanoogans remains barely above the poverty line. We are ashamed.

Others joining in the protest include Ginger Moss, former event organizer, speaker and arrestee, and Maddie Boyd-Nix, arrestee.
President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the White House on the ballistic missile strike that Iran launched against Iraqi air bases - AP

Donald Trump backed away from ordering fresh military strikes on Iran on Wednesday after a barrage of missiles fired by the Revolutionary Guard struck American bases in Iraq but failed to cause any casualties.

Mr Trump said Iran appears to be standing down following the missile attack and as a result he would impose fresh sanctions on the Iranian economy but would not order any immediate retaliatory strikes.

The American people should extremely grateful and happy: no Americans were harmed in last nights attack by the Iranian regime, Mr Trump said. Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.

Javad Zarif, Irans foreign minister, said the missile strike concluded the Iranian retaliation for the death of Qassim Soleimani, the Quds force commander, and said Iran was not seeking further escalation or war.

However, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, struck a more aggressive tone and such military actions are not enough to avenge Soleimani, implying Iran would continue covert and political action to drive the US out of the Middle East.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a speech during a gathering in Tehran

Mr Trump also criticised the UK and other states still adhering to the Iran nuclear deal, saying Iran maintained ambitions to develop a nuclear weapon and should be sanctioned further. The time has come for the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and China to recognise this reality, he said.

At least 22 missiles were fired from Iran towards the al-Asad airbase, which hosts 1,500 American and British troops, and a smaller airbase in Erbil in the northeast of Iraq in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Iraqs military said.

Satellite imagery showed several of the missiles stuck buildings at al-Asad, the second largest airbase in Iraq. Mr Trump said casualties were avoided because of the precautions taken, the dispersal of forces, and an early warning system that worked very well.

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US defence officials also suggested that Iran may have deliberately tried not to kill US troops to avoid triggering American retaliation and potentially a full-blown war.

Iran fires missiles on US military bases in Iraq Credit: IRIB HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX

On Wednesday night three Katyusha rockets hit Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, one landing 100 metres from the US embassy. There were no casualties and no immediate claim of responsibility.

Dr Sidharth Kaushal, an expert at the RUSI think tank, noted that Iran chose not to use the most accurate missiles in their arsenal and instead relied on a set of less accurate Fateh-110 weapons. Its not inconceivable that they limited the scale and sophistication of the attack to send a message but also minimise casualties, he said.

The Iranian strike, dubbed Operation Martyr Soleimani by the Revolutionary Guard, was hailed as a success inside Iran and state television triumphantly but falsely proclaimed that US troops were killed.

Such military actions are not sufficient. What is important is ending the corrupting presence of America in the region, Ayatollah Khamenei told a crowd in Tehran several hours after the attack.

Western officials believe that while Iran may concluded overt military action against the US in response to Soleimanis death, they are likely to apply continue applying political pressure on Iraq to expel US forces and carry on with attacks through proxies or covert means.

Qais al-Khazali, an Iraqi Shia militia leader, said that while Iran had now avenged Soleimani Iraqis must now carry out an attack of their own in response to the death of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a militia figure killed at his side.

Their response will be no less than the size of the Iranian response and this is a promise, Mr Khazali said in a post on Twitter. While the Iraqi militias do not have Irans sophisticated missile capabilities they are capable of attacking Western bases with rockets throughout Iraq.

Iranian people celebrate in the street after Iran launched missiles at U.S.-led forces in Iraq, in Tehran Credit: Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA

Iraqs government said Iran had warned them moments before the missile attacks and said it was working hard to avoid a comprehensive, devastating war between the US and Iran inside its territory.

In a statement addressing the strikes, a spokesman for Iraqs Shia prime minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, complained in general terms of violation of its sovereignty but avoided criticising Iran directly. The countrys Kurdish president and Sunni parliamentary speaker were more direct and condemned the Iranian attack on Iraqi bases.

Iraqs parliament voted last week to expel US forces from the country, meaning that while the US has weathered the Iranian military response it must still navigate the complicated politics of maintaining its position in Iraq while being seen to respect Iraqi sovereignty.
Renderings by a little-known interior designer, Frank Botello, imagine sinuous pathways that hug the building facades and appear to run the entire length of the canyon, from Wacker Drive on the north to Jackson Street on the south. Pedestrians would climb stairs at the LaSalle-Wacker intersection to an over-the-street platform that leads to the walkway. In some spots, the walkway would cover the street, shutting off views of the iconic Chicago Board of Trade Building from street level.
The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) will organise seminars in Uttar Pradesh and other parts of the country to address the "misunderstanding and fear" of the Muslim community over the Citizenship Amendment Act, the panel's chief said Thursday.

NCM chief Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi said the seminars will be held in six cities of Uttar Pradesh from Friday. It will also be held in West Bengal and the cities of Hyderabad and Mangaluru.

Mainly intellectuals, imams, and prominent people from the Muslim society will participate in the seminars and there will be a dialogue on CAA with everyone, he said.

"The National Minorities Commission is going to organize seminars in six places in Uttar Pradesh in support of the CAA," Rizvi said.

The first seminar will be held in Lucknow on January 10, the second in Kanpur on January 12, the third in Jaunpur on January 12, the fourth in Gorakhpur on January 13, the fifth in Meerut on January 14 and the sixth in Mathura on January 15, he said.

"Efforts will be made to convince the Muslims that the CAA does not take citizenship of anyone, but gives citizenship," he said.

Confusion is prevailing among Muslims over the citizenship law and there is also fear, Rizvi said.

"Our effort is to remove misunderstanding and fear," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Iran had to respond militarily in line with the over-wrought emotional outburst in the country.

An image grab from footage obtained from the state-run Iran Press news agency on Wednesday allegedly shows rockets launched from the Islamic Republic against the US military base in Ein-al Asad in Iraq the prevous night. (Photo: Irna/Twitter)

If US President Donald Trump had recklessly ordered the targeted assassination of an iconic Iranian general on Sunday, causing anxiety across the world about a possible outbreak of a region-wide military conflict, Tehran showed good sense in giving an example of proportionate retaliation when it shot off cruise missiles on Tuesday against US military targets in next-door Iraq that did not cause much damage.

Fortunately, open conflict has been averted. Global oil prices, which looked like climbing precipitously after the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in anticipation of the impact of this unforeseen event on petroleum supplies from the region, are back in the normal range. India's economy, already tottering due to misguided domestic policies, has been spared a further blow.

Iran had to respond militarily in line with the over-wrought emotional outburst in the country. This was a dire necessity to maintain national unity. But its leadership was careful not to be cause a wider conflagration. Right after the ballistic missiles against American targets were despatched, Tehran officially declared it had concluded its proportionate response in line with international law.

More, shortly before firing the missiles, the Iranians tipped off Iraq what was coming. The Americans were thus alerted. The US and Iran also kept the diplomatic channels open through Switzerlands good offices. It is the go-between country since the US does not have a diplomatic mission in Iran.

It is clear Iran and the US have both stood down. But the recent mini-crisis brought two new elements into play. Speaking after the Iranian response was over, President Trump announced tighter sanctions against Iran. Perhaps the US leader believes this could force Iran to the negotiating table to redo the 2015 Obama-era nuclear deal from which Mr Trump walked away.

Especially in an election year in America, this is an unrealistic expectation. After the killing of the Iranian commander, Tehran announced it would now be free to enrich more uranium, and to the degree it wanted, while continuing to allow intrusive IAEA inspections. That leaves America worse off than before over its objective of rolling back Irans nuclear programme.

Recent events involving Iran have also bolstered that countrys regional standing. The people have once again wholly united against America, no matter what their own criticisms against their government. Two, Tehran demonstrated to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iraq and others that it is capable of striking targets anywhere in the Gulf region and beyond. Three, Tehran's allies  Syria, Lebanon and Yemen  will be boosted across the Shia-Sunni regional divide, and that means they may be less prone to counsel the US in support of aggressive intent against Iran. Four, the Trump administration plans to apply maximum pressure against Tehran seems to be coming unstuck.

It appears Mr Trump's recent show of aggression was not backed by professional military and diplomatic expertise, of which there is no shortage in America. Perhaps the US leader just wanted to make a splash to impress his support base. But he has ill served Americas overall interests.
PITTSBURGH, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The United Steelworkers (USW) today announced that it filed a lawsuit challenging the federal government's decision to gut a regulation intended to prevent chemical disasters and save lives.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) capitulated to industry demands by rescinding crucial provisions of the Chemical Disaster Rule that bolstered EPA's Risk Management Program regulations, including requirements that companies take commonsense actions to prevent foreseeable catastrophic incidents.

"Eliminating these requirements will allow a profit-hungry industry to police itself while putting workers, first responders and the public at risk," said USW International President Tom Conway. "The USW spent years advocating for the Chemical Disaster Rule. Thousands of our members signed petitions imploring the EPA not to gut it. Now, we're going to court to protect our members and our communities."

The USW's lawsuit asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to implement the Chemical Disaster Rule as the EPA originally wrote it, before the current administration took office.

The USW and other safety advocates called for stronger regulation following a string of deadly incidents, including the 2005 fire and explosions at BP's Texas City, Texas, oil refinery that killed 15 contractors, and the 2010 fire and blast at Tesoro's Anacortes, Wash., refinery that killed a supervisor and six workers represented by the USW.

Recent incidents at USW facilities subject to Risk Management Program requirements demonstrate that U.S. workers and their communities still urgently need the full protections of the Chemical Disaster Rule. In June, USW members' quick thinking prevented a catastrophic amount of highly toxic hydrofluoric acid from escaping into the community during a fire and explosions at Philadelphia Energy Solutions. In November, explosions at a TPC chemical plant in Port Neches, Texas, forced tens of thousands of residents to flee their homes and threatened the livelihoods of USW members at the facility.

The USW represents 850,000 men and women employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in public sector and service occupations.

Contact: Joe Smydo, [email protected], 412-562-2281

SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)

Related Links

http://www.usw.org


MPs will take the equivalent of four weeks extra holiday this year compared to 2019 under a timetable unveiled today.

Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg set out plans for 63 working days of parliamentary recess time over the next 12 months, including seven working weeks in the summer, nine days longer than last year.

Parliamentary recess in 2019 amounted to just 46 days, not including the time taken up in November and December by the election campaign.

It means MPs are getting an extra 17 days this year, which amounts to more than four of the standard four-day parliamentary weeks, which usually run Monday to Thursday.

MPs will also rise for three-and-a-half weeks in the autumn for the party conferences - and the dates for their Christmas break has yet to be agreed.

Although the Brexit deal is almost certain to be passed to allow the UK to leave the EU on January 31, there is unlikely to be a shortage of work to deal with the aftermath.

With a majority of 80 Boris Johnson's Government is also expect to put forward a vast swathe of legislation on a host of domestic issues that have been held up by parliamentary paralysis.

But many MPs argue they work for large periods of the recess on constituency business and it is not simply holiday for them.

The average UK holiday entitlement is 33.5 days.

Jacob Rees-Mogg set out plans for 64 working days of parliamentary recess time over the next 12 months, including seven working weeks in the summer

Mr Johnson came under pressure today to cut short his post-election break in the Caribbean to deal with any fallout from the assassination of Iranian general general Qassem Soleimani

The summer holiday runs for 35 working days, the longest since 2009. MPs and peers will also get an extra nine days at Easter compared to last year.

The two houses of Parliament will also take a break next month, a regular break that was waived last year to allow MPs to wrestle with Theresa May's Brexit deal.

Last year, then-Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom announced that Parliament would effectively cancel the ten-day break to help push through Brexit-related legislation.

But the move sparked an extraordinary outcry from MPs, who often use the break to hit the slopes or soak up some winter sun.

Parliaments expenses watchdog was understood to have faced questions from politicians about whether they could claim refunds from the taxpayer for cancelled holidays. Labour asked for compensation for childcare costs.

Today Mr Rees-Mogg also announced the debate on the Queen's Speech will continue next week.

The State Opening of Parliament took place on December 19 and the debate on the Government's legislative agenda outlined in the Queen's Speech usually follows.

However, due to the Christmas recess and the debate on the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill, the Queen's Speech debate was delayed.
Harpreet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: BJP starlet Nauksham Chaudhary has taken the onus of clearing the air on the Centres vexed Citizenship (Amendment) Act in the Muslim-dominated Mewat region of Haryana.The 28-year-old, who fought and lost the battle for the Punhana Assembly seat in the recent state polls, has been going door-to-door across villages in the region to dispel fears around the law.

Speaking to this correspondent, Chaudhary, who graduated from Delhis Miranda House College and also holds a Masters degree in fashion, business and brand management from a Milan institute, said, I launched the Jan Jagran Abhiyan from Pema Khera, my ancestral village in Punhana, on January 5. My party had assigned me the task of spearheading the campaign to dispel doubts around the CAA in the Mewat region, which is home to a sizeable Muslim population. I have been going door-to-door, trying to erase doubts from peoples minds on the CAA, Chaudhary said.

The 28-year-old addresses gatherings of 50-60 people, in addition to visiting 5-6 villages every day. The question that I am commonly asked s is why havent the Muslims been included in the list of beneficiaries of the CAA and why only Sikhs, Hindus and members of other non-Muslim communities are to be given Indian citizenship under this law. They broadly agree with me when I say that the reason why the Muslims dont figure among the persecuted who are to be given citizenship is because they are a majority in the three Islamic states  Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, she said.

BJP will have to pay: Capt

Countering his former Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj Singh Chouhans remark that the states would have to implement the CAA at any cost, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said the BJP would have to pay a big price for such stubborn-ness. The CM said that a government, which refuses to heed peoples voice, is bound to collapse
The DUP has signalled support for a deal to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland tabled by the UK and Irish governments.

Party leader Arlene Foster said it represented a basis to re-establish the devolved institutions in a fair and balanced way.

Sinn Fein, the other party whose buy-in is a must, has called a meeting of its ruling council on Friday to deliberate on the proposals to resolve long running wrangles on issues such as the Irish language.

It is understood the Ard Chomhairle (ruling council) will meet in Belfast around lunchtime.

Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald said: We are studying the text and will give it careful consideration.

"The only way forward is one which is fair and balanced" Full Statement by DUP Leader Arlene Foster MLAhttps://t.co/rtfTCfkDCN pic.twitter.com/5oVHOUj1g8  DUP (@duponline) January 9, 2020

In a bold move, Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith has asked for the Assembly to be recalled on Friday in the hope the parties will turn up and sign up to the deal.

Friday is due to see a strike by healthcare workers in the region.

Mr Smith said there was a major financial package on offer from the Government, which would mean strike action would not need to go ahead if the parties restored the institutions.

He said he had received reassurances from trade unions leaders, who he met earlier on Thursday, that they would call off the action if Stormont returned on Friday.

That is why tomorrow politicians in Northern Ireland should return, he said.

If Friday goes as the governments intend it, Northern Ireland could finally have a new government, three years after the last DUP/Sinn Fein-led coalition collapsed.

Story continues

Now is decision time, said Mr Smith.

We have had three years of talks, finally there is good deal on the table that all parties can support and on that basis I have tonight written to the speaker of this Assembly and asked him to recall it tomorrow to enable the restoration of the executive before the weekend.

I urge all parties to come here tomorrow and serve the people of Northern Ireland.

Statement from @MaryLouMcDonald  Sinn Fein Ard Chomhairle to meet  pic.twitter.com/KeoOwJOmge  Sinn Fein (@sinnfeinireland) January 9, 2020

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said the deal was filled with compromises.

Mr Coveney said the people needed to tell their politicians to take the opportunity and seal the deal.

Its now time their politicians stepped up and fully represented their constituents, he said.

Its time to show leadership and get back to powersharing in Stormont.

The deal represents the governments joint assessment of how long-standing wrangles on issues such as the Irish language can be resolved.

The document includes:

 A new office for identity and cultural expression will promote diversity and inclusion.

 Commissioners will protect the Irish and Ulster Scots languages which are cherished by Sinn Fein and the DUP.

 The petition of concern, which was originally designed to protect minority rights in Assembly votes, will be reformed into a means of building consensus and will not be used as a veto by any one party.

 Improvements in how civil servants, special advisers and ministers conduct themselves following a botched green energy scheme which led to the Assembly collapse.

 More time to appoint a replacement if a Stormont First or deputy First Minister resigns, as Sinn Feins Martin McGuinness did three years ago, bringing down the institutions.

Reacting to the publication, Ms Foster said: This is a Government paper. Our Party Officers, Assembly and Parliamentary representatives considered the paper on Thursday.

On balance we believe there is a basis upon which the Assembly and Executive can (be) re-established in a fair and balanced way.

Tonight the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Tanaiste have published the text of a deal to restore devolved government, exactly three years after the Assembly collapsed. #NewDealNewApproach Read the deal here https://t.co/NuRpOFBeJQ pic.twitter.com/kJH03znWjc  Northern Ireland Office (@NIOgov) January 9, 2020

She added: This is not a perfect deal and there are elements within it which we recognise are the product of long negotiations and represent compromise outcomes.

There will always need to be give and take.

Mr Smith said the parties realised they had reached a critical juncture.

We have got one chance to get this right and I am under no doubt that everyone realises that this chance is now, he said.

Irish & UK Govts have tonight published deal that can be basis for re-establishment of a NI Assembly. I appeal to political leaders in NI to take this opportunity and get #Stomont working again. https://t.co/2lhrfkzkqZ  Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) January 9, 2020

Mr Coveney said political leaders had a choice  whether to meet the proposals with generosity or negativity.

There is no such thing as a perfect deal and that is why parties have to make choices as to how they respond, he said.

This is the opportunity for people to take  the alternatives are not good.

The impasse has focused on proposals for Irish language legislation; reform of a contentious Assembly voting mechanism; and plans to make the institutions less susceptible to collapse in the future.

Irish Foreign Affairs minister Simon Coveney (right) and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Julian Smith, issue a statement (Niall Carson/PA)

The parties had been working to a Monday deadline to restore the institutions.

On Monday, legislation to give civil servants extra powers to run the regions troubled public services expires and the UK Government assumes a legal duty to call a fresh Assembly election.
This will be the second visit of a foreign delegation to Jammu and Kashmir since the Centre's move to revoke the state's special status and bifurcated it into two Union territories, Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.

New Delhi: US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster will be among envoys of 16 countries who will undertake a two-day trip to Jammu and Kashmir starting Thursday, officials said.

The Delhi-based envoys will fly to Srinagar on Thursday morning before going to Jammu, the winter capital of the newly created Union Territory, for an overnight stay. They will meet Lt Governor GC Murmu as well as civil society members, they said.

Besides the United States, the delegation will include diplomats from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, Maldives, South Korea, Morocco and Nigeria, among others.

Brazil's envoy Andre Aranha Correa do Lago was also scheduled to visit Jammu and Kashmir. However, he backed out because of his preoccupation in Delhi, the officials said on Wednesday.

The European Union (EU) countries are understood to have conveyed that they would visit the Union Territory on a different date and are also believed to have stressed on meeting three former chief ministers  Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti  who are under detention.

According to the officials, the envoys travelling on Thursday will meet civil society members and receive a briefing on the security situation from various agencies.

"On the same day, they will be taken to Jammu where they would meet Lt Governor Murmu and other officials before returning to the National Capital on Friday," they added.

The officials said the envoys of a number of countries had requested the government for a visit to Kashmir to get a first-hand account of the situation prevailing in the Valley following the abrogation of certain provisions of Article 370.

The move is a part of India's diplomatic outreach to rebut Pakistan's propaganda against it on the Kashmir issue.

This will be the second visit of a foreign delegation to Jammu and Kashmir since the Centre's move to revoke the state's special status and bifurcated it into two Union territories  Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier, a delegation of 23 EU MPs was taken on a two-day visit to assess the situation in the Union Territory by the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, a Delhi-based think tank.

However, the government had distanced itself from the visit of the delegation. Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy had informed Parliament that the European parliamentarians were on a "private visit".
Before Elizabeth Jaime and her partner, Chaz Capobianco, opened the almost psychedelically colorful flower pop-up shop Calma in Miamis Design District several weeks ago, the city had two choices when it came to floral arrangements, says Jaime: uptight, traditional roses in a plain vase or rustic California wedding. A prop stylist and former senior photo editor for Bon Appetit, Jaime immediately saw the need for something fresher when she moved back to Florida in December 2018, after nine years in New York. She favors medleys of tropical, traditional and playful flora, mixing anthuriums, for example, with tulips and pastel spray-painted monstera and livistona leaves. The resulting arrangements are somehow both statuesque and delicate. At Calma, shoppers can purchase premade bouquets or pick and choose from the stem bar in the back of the space, which Capobianco designed and built by hand, and also browse a selection of items for the kitchen and home, including Hay vases, Areaware planters and Beau Rush ceramics. The pop-up will be open through the end of March, but if its successful, Ill consider staying open longer, Jaime says. If the enthusiastic shoppers whove visited so far are anything to go by, Calma is here to stay. calma-miami.com.

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New Year, New Products for Puffy Eyes
Tet (Lunar New Year) is a time for families to get together and celebrate up and down Vietnam, but not for medical workers.

Pham Thanh Hai examines a pregnant woman in the hospital. Photo tienphong.vn

Pham Diem Kieu, a midwife of Obstetrics Department, HCM Citybased Tu Du Hospital has worked on the eve of Tet eight times.

Kieu, who has worked for the hospital for 30 years, said the Lunar New Years Eve shift always brought unforgettable emotions.

It changes from the emotion of a little bit of sadness because of not being with my nearest and dearest for Lunar New Years Eve to the boundless happiness of welcoming babies born when the Lunar New Years fireworks burst into the sky, she said.

Kieu said her family had not all been together for Lunar New Years Eve for the past 30 years. Her police officer works the Lunar New Years Eve when she's off, while Kieu works when he has the night off so someone is always home with their children.

This made her a little bit sad, she said, but seeing a baby come into the world dispelled all sadness, she added.

Kieu said she could not remember how many babies she had delivered over the past 30 years, Tien Phong (Vanguard) online newspaper reported.

It might be a large number, she added.

There are many doctors and nurses who work hard to take care of others on each Lunar New Years Eve.

Nguyen Mai Hang, another midwife, said the most memorable memory was delivering a baby for a pregnant woman who almost gave birth on the back of her husband's motorbike on the way to the hospital.

When I asked her why she came to the hospital late, the pregnant woman said she didn't want to give birth before Lunar New Years Eve, so she tried to wait until the eve passed but she failed. She felt too painful and the baby very nearly came out. She had to go to the hospital, she said.

Hang also shared that she burst into tears the first time she had to work on Lunar New Years Eve. The three-day shift lasted from the last day of the old year to the second day of the new year in the lunar calendar.

I cried because I miss my family so much that time, she said.

Pham Thanh Hai, a doctor of the hospitals Obstetrics Department, said he began working at the hospital in 2004. That was also the first year he was assigned to work on Lunar New Years Eve.

That was the first time I worked the Lunar New Years Eve shift, I was very eager, he recalled.

Hai said he was very happy when he saw healthy mothers delivered healthy babies during his shift.

The cry of new-born babies and the sound of fireworks made the Lunar New Years Eve more meaningful, he said.

Ready to serve patients during Tet

Nearly 3,000 doctors, nurses and medical staff in hospitals in Hanoi will work during Tet following the direction of the Ministry of Health.

Luong Ngoc Khue, director general of the ministrys Medical Examination and Treatment Department, said the ministry had directed hospitals, especially central-level hospitals, to assign doctors and nurses to work 24 hours to promptly deal with emergencies during Tet.

Le Ngoc Thanh, director of E Hospital in Cau Giay District, said the hospital had arranged teams of doctors to deal with patients with diabetes, high blood pressure and heart-related diseases, who might suffer complications because they forget to take their pills during Tet.

Tran Binh Giang, head of the Viet Nam  Germany Friendship Hospital, said the hospital received many victims of tragic accidents during Tet every year, therefore, the hospitals emergency system and operation rooms were ready 24 hours a day.

There would be a team of doctors on duty at all times to consult doctors of hospitals at province and district levels for difficult surgeries, he said.

Doctors and nurses of the National Hospital of Paediatrics are also ready to serve children during Tet. The hospital will operate examination services to serve the demand of patients, said Tran Minh Dien, deputy director of the hospital.

Director of the citys Health Department Nguyen Khac Hien said the department would randomly check emergency teams on duty during Tet at local hospitals.

If people find a doctor or a nurse who is on duty but is not working or is causing trouble for patients, people could contact the health department hotline: 02439985765. Based on the complaints, the doctor or nurse could receive discipline, he said.  VNS

HCM Citys hospital successes in separating twins with attached liver Doctors at the Ho Chi Minh City-based Children's Hospital 1 have successfully separated 1.5-month twin girls who were conjoined in the liver.
Andhra Pradesh police on Thursday arrested a 24-year-old software engineer from Hyderabad for posting a video on TikTok, a short mobile video application, allegedly making abusive comments against YSR Congress party lawmaker Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy.

According to Telugu Desam Party social media wing coordinator, K Naga Sravan, the police from Macherla in Guntur district picked up Avinash Chowdary Dhulipalla, working for a multinational company, from his residence at Kukatpally in Hyderabad in the early hours.

They didnt even inform his parents as to who they were and where they were taking him to. Later, we came to know that the Macherla police arrested him following a complaint from the MLAs followers, Sravan told Hindustan Times.

Reddys car was vandalised by agitated farmers of Amaravati at Chinna Kakani village on Tuesday as part of their national highway blockade against the proposed shifting of the capital to Visakhapatam.

Reddy, who represents Macherla assembly constituency, later held a press conference and accused TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu of masterminding the attack on his car.

On Wednesday, Dhulipalla, supposed to be a TDP sympathiser, posted the video on TikTok, attacking the MLA in abusive language for making derogatory comments against Naidu. He said the MLA had no stature to criticise the TDP president.

Following a complaint from the YSRC party unit in Macherla, the police swooped down on Dhulipallas residence in Hyderabad and took him to the police station. He was taken from Macherla to Veldurthy, the native place of the YSRC MLA, where he was beaten indiscriminately by the police and the MLAs followers, Sravan said.

Following the intervention of the lawyers engaged by the TDP, the police brought Dhulipalla back to Macherla, where he was released on bail and dropped at Nagarjunasagar on the borders of Telangana, Sravan said.

When contacted, Macherla town inspector G Rajeshwar Rao admitted that the man was arrested following a complaint from the party leaders in the town. We booked a case against him under Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and Section 506 (criminal intimidation), besides various sections under the Information Technology Act, the inspector said.

He, however, denied of subjecting Dhulipalla to torture. We only questioned him and released him on bail, as it is a bailable offence, he said.

TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh strongly condemned the arrest of Dhulipalla. He said the arrest was an infringement on the freedom of expression of social media activists and warned that the police would have to pay penalty for slapping false cases on TDP sympathisers.

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WASHINGTON/BAGHDAD/DUBAI: Two rockets fell in Baghdad`s heavily fortified Green Zone, causing no casualties, the Iraqi military said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility of the incident that took place on Wednesday. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday tempered days of angry rhetoric and suggested Iran was "standing down" after it fired missiles at US forces in Iraq, as both sides looked to defuse a crisis over the US killing of an Iranian general.

Trump said the United States did not necessarily have to hit back after Iran`s attack on military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq, itself an act of retaliation for the Jan. 3 U.S. strike that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani. Trump said no Americans were hurt in the overnight attacks. The Pentagon said Iran had launched 16 short-range ballistic missiles, at least 11 of which hit Iraq`s al-Asad airbase and one that hit a facility in Erbil but caused no major damage.

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"The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it. American strength, both military and economic, is the best deterrent," Trump said. "Our great American forces are prepared for anything. Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world," he said.

Trump said the United States "will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime" in response to what he called "Iranian aggression." He offered no specifics.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, addressing a gathering of Iranians chanting "Death to America," said the missile attacks were a "slap on the face" of the United States and said U.S. troops should leave the region. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had said the strikes "concluded" Tehran`s response to the killing of Soleimani, who built up Iran`s network of proxy armies across the Middle East. He was buried in his hometown, Kerman, after days of national mourning.

"We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression," Zarif wrote on Twitter. Influential Iraqi Shi`ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who casts himself as a nationalist rejecting both U.S. and Iranian interference in Iraq, also said the crisis Iraq was experiencing was over and he urged militia groups not to carry out attacks. "I call on the Iraqi factions to be deliberate, patient, and not to start military actions,," said Sadr, whom Washington has long regarded as an Iranian ally.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told CBS News in an interview the United States was receiving "encouraging intelligence that Iran is sending messages" to its allied militias not to attack U.S. targets. But Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he and others in the military "fully expect" Shi`ite militia groups in Iraq, backed by Iran, to carry out attacks against U.S.-led forces in Iraq and Syria.

In a letter to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft said the killing of Soleimani was self-defense and vowed to take additional action "as necessary" in the Middle East to protect U.S. personnel and interests. The United States also stood "ready to engage without preconditions in serious negotiations with Iran," to maintain peace and security, she said.

U.S. Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans said administration officials had not provided evidence in classified briefings to back up Trump`s assertion that Soleimani had posed an "imminent" threat to the United States. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Democratic-led chamber would vote on a resolution intended to limit his military actions against Iran.

NUCLEAR DEAL

Trump`s address contrasted with his recent harsh rhetoric. The Republican, who was impeached in December and faces an election in November, had vowed to respond "disproportionately" if Iran retaliated strongly against Soleimani`s killing. On Wednesday, Trump again vowed he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and urged world powers to quit a 2015 nuclear accord with Iran that Washington abandoned in 2018 and work for a new deal, an issue at the heart of rising tensions between Washington and Tehran. Iran has rejected new talks.

There was no immediate reaction from Iranian officials to Trump`s comments. The semi-official Fars news agency described the U.S. president`s remarks as a "big retreat from threats." Soon after Wednesday`s attacks, Trump had said on Twitter that "All is well!" and Washington was assessing damage.

That tweet and the comment by Iran`s foreign minister eased some concerns about a wider war and calmed jittery financial markets. U.S. stock prices hit record highs before paring their gains, while world oil prices, after an early spike, fell about 4%. U.S. and European government sources said they believed Iran had deliberately sought to avoid U.S. military casualties in its missile strikes to prevent an escalation.

But an Iranian army spokesman denied "foreign media reports" suggesting there was some kind of coordination between Iran and the United States before the attack to evacuate bases.

Iranian television reported an official in the supreme leader`s office as saying the attacks were the "weakest" of several retaliation scenarios. It quoted another source saying Iran had lined up 100 other potential targets. After the Iranian missile attack, state television showed footage of the Soleimani burial, with hundreds of people chanting: "God is greatest" when the strikes were announced over loudspeakers. "His revenge was taken and now he can rest in peace," Iranian television said.

Hours after the Iranian missile strike, a Ukrainian airliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board. A Canadian security source said Western intelligence agencies` initial assessment was that the plane was not brought down by a missile.
By Jun Ji-hye



Incheon International Airport achieved a record-breaking performance in 2019 with the number of international passengers using the airport exceeding 70 million for the first time, despite unfavorable conditions such as strained Korea-Japan relations and public protests in Hong Kong, the operator of the airport said Thursday.





Koo Bon-hwan, president & CEO of Incheon International Airport Corp.
The People's Democratic Party on Thursday expelled eight party leaders for going "against the will of the people" by engaging in parleys with the government.

IMAGE: Delegation of 15 foreign envoys meets political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir in Srinagar. Photograph: ANI

"The PDP expels leaders for going against the will of the people," the party said in a press release posted on its official Twitter handle.

The leaders who have been expelled are Dilawar Mir, Rafi Ahmad Mir, Zaffar Iqbal, Abdul Majeed Padroo, Raja Manzoor Khan, Javaid Hussain Baig, Qamar Hussain and Abdul Rahim Rather -- all former MLAs.

"In view of the development post August 5 and the unilateral move of the government of India which has violated the will and hurt the sentiments of people, it has come to attention of the party that certain party leaders have been part of the parleys which go against the interests of the state, official position and core beliefs of the party," the release said.

It said the party disciplinary committee has recommended the expulsion of all these leaders from the basic membership of the party.

The expelled leaders have thrown their weight behind former PDP leader Syed Altaf Bukhari and were part of the delegation that met Lieutenant Governor G C Murmu On Tuesday.

They also met the visiting envoys from 15 countries, who arrived in Srinagar on Thursday on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir. This is the first visit by diplomats since August last year when Jammu and Kashmir's special status was revoked and it was downsized to a union territory.
Lawmakers in Washington are voting today on a concurrent resolution to curtail President Trumps executive powers under the War Powers Act of 1973. Although its unlikely to pass in the Senate, the bi-partisan legislation, if approved by both houses of Congress, wouldnt require the presidents signature. Trump, who has been arguing he doesnt have to seek Congressional approval for airstrikes on Iran, is clearly unhappy about the vote: in a press conference this morning, he repeated that we have to protect presidential privilege for the supposed good of America.

In a separate press conference earlier, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lamented that the presidents choice not to inform Congress of his plans to engage in the airstrikes that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani last week, adding that the presidents decision wasn't making America safer, and that America and the world cannot afford war. She also noted that her intentions were to avoid an escalation with Iran, and, in turn, avoid producing generations more of "veterans who are suffering".

Its important to bear in mind some context on the laws were talking about here.

Since 1812 and for 100 years after that, American presidents turned to Congress for their declarations of war in the manner that the framers intended for our democracy to work. But Harry Truman broke with that tradition when he sent troops to Korea during the Cold War without Congressional support.

John F Kennedy followed suit by sending troops to South Vietnam, and while Congress never officially declared war, a Congressional resolution allowed Lyndon B Johnson to send troops to fight the North Vietnamese. As a response to the fierce opposition to Americas presence in Vietnam back home, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution (or Act), which limited the power of the executive office to send forces into hostilities without Congresss approval.

In 1973, Congress voted to override Nixons veto against the War Powers Act, limiting the power of the executive office to send military forces abroad without prior approval from Congress. Nixon had argued that the Act limited his authority as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

The War Powers Act, which Congress is voting on amending today, allowed for the president to introduce US armed forces into hostilities without a Congressional declaration of war under specific circumstances, limited in duration and scope, and in accordance with specific rules.

First, the president is required to inform, in writing, the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate the reasons, authority, scope and duration of the introduction of armed forces into hostilities. President Trump argues he did this with a tweet.

Under the existing terms of the Act, the president can deploy troops without Congressional authorization, but it must end after 60 days unless Congress votes to approve it during those 60 days. Congress, however, has the power to order the president to end the deployment of troops or other forces before the 60 days is up.

Legal questions about the scope of the Act didnt end with Nixon or start with Trump. Over 120 reports have been submitted to Congress by past presidents in disagreement with the Act, including Presidents Ford, Raegan, George H W Bush, Clinton, and George W Bush.

US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Show all 35 1 /35 US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures This photo released by the Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office shows a burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, early Friday 3 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures The wreckage of the car in which general Soleimani was travelling when a targeted US airstrike struck outside Baghdad International Airport on 3 January Ahmad Al Mukhtar via Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Demonstrators burn the US and British flags during a protest in Tehran after general Soleimani was killed in a targeted airstrike by American forces Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike. The Pentagon said Thursday that the US military has killed general Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, at the direction of Donald Trump AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn Israeli and US flags as thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of general Soleimani at the hands of America EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of Donald Trump pray at an 'Evangelicals for Trump' campaign event held on the day following the killing of general Soleimani. At the event, the president praised the "flawless strike that eliminated the terrorist ringleader" AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A huge procession of mourners gather in Baghdad for the funeral of general Soleimani on 4 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of Soleimani during an anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iraqis perform a mourning prayer for slain major general Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards at the Great Mosque of Kufa AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A billboard reading 'Death to America and Israel', installed by Iran-backed shiite armed groups at a street in Jadriyah district in Baghdad, Iraq EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him visiting the family of Soleiman KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US flag as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Jalal Feiruznia, looks to a portrait of Soleimani, as he receives condolences at the Iranian embassy, in Beirut, Lebanon AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures People make their way on the street while a screen on the wall of a cinema shows a portrait Soleimani in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Aziz Asmar, one of two Syrian painters who completed a mural following the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani poses next to his creation in the rebel-held Syrian town of Dana in the northwestern province of Idlib AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A demonstration in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures An anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Mujtaba al-Husseini, the representative of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivers a speech in the holy shrine city of Najaf AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US and Israeli flags as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters demonstrate in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shi'ite Muslims hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, in Peshawar, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters, holding a photograph of the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran Massoud Rajavi, outside Downing Street in London PA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn a US flag in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A Syrian man offers sweets to children to mark the killing AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers attend a mourning prayer for Soleimani in Iran's capital Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shout anti American and anti Israel slogans during a protest AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshipers chant slogans during Friday prayers Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A protest against the USA, in Islamabad, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranians burn a US flag in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin, Germany Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol a road in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel. Following morning's killing of Major General Qasem Soleimani, Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement called for the missile strike by Israel's closest ally, to be avenged AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian women take to the streets in Tehran EPA

Most recently, during the Arab Revolutions of 2011, the Obama administration attempted to eke out an exception to the rule that that US forces could continue to participate in the NATO air raids in Libya for more than 60 days.

Courts have traditionally avoided intervening in political disputes over matters of war and the separation of powers in the other two branches of the federal government. In 1999, a US District Court judge threw out a case against then-president Clinton for violations of the War Powers Act after he ordered US participation in airstrikes in the former Yugoslavia.

But with a conservative-leaning Supreme Court and sycophantic Trump supporters like Brett Kavanaugh on the bench, its entirely possible the Supreme Court would end up taking a case brought to it by the Justice Department on behalf of President Trump. If that were the case, Trumps claims to nearly unlimited powers under the guise of executive privilege could be the start of a total disintegration of our democratic political system.

Congress has two unique opportunities before them to curb Trumps complete disregard for his duties and responsibilities under the Constitution and the War Powers Act: todays vote and the impending impeachment trial in the Senate. Republican Senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee saying theyre furious with the Presidents briefing on the intelligence behind the Iran airstrikes indicates a growing frustration in the Republican party with the ineptitude of this administration. Unfortunately, its still unlikely to be enough for Congress to pass the amendments to the War Powers Act.

Will it take a war with Iran to convince other Republican Senators that Trump doesnt have America's best interests in mind? For the good of the American people, I hope not.
In this article:

The oldest living Olympic champion has turned 99 years old.

Agnes Keleti won 10 Olympic medals as a gymnast at the 1952 Helsinki Games and the 1956 Melbourne Games and is also a Holocaust survivor.

She was aged 31 and 35 during her two Olympics and won five gold medals.

Agnes Keleti demonstrates her flexibility with her son Rafael at her apartment in Budapest (Laszlo Balogh/AP)

Keletis father and uncles were killed in the Nazis Auschwitz death camp.

She trails only American swimmers Mark Spitz and Dara Torres among Jewish athletes in having the most Olympic medals.

Keleti lived for decades in Israel teaching gymnastics before returning a few years ago to Budapest, Hungary.

Agnes Keleti with her medals (Laszlo Balogh/AP)

She said the most important thing children should learn is the joy of life.
Housing Reg Dispute Cont'd

KC Housing Authority to withhold more payments from TEH Realty The Kansas City Housing Authority is making plans to withhold another $41,000 in taxpayer-subsidized housing contracts to landlords with TEH Realty, who are currently under federal investigation.The developments come after the Housing Authority's planned reinspection of 81 units at the Nob Hill Apartments in south Kansas City.

Meth Town T. J. Hooker Sighted

Man caught on camera clinging to hood of car driving on Independence street, highway INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- A man clinging to the hood of a moving SUV: It's not something you see every day. It happened over the weekend in Independence, but police and witnesses have provided FOX4 with more details about the wild ride. Eyewitnesses said the man jumped onto the hood of the vehicle.

Golden Ghetto All Clear

DA: No charges against Lenexa officer who fired at suspect KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Charges will not be brought against a Lenexa police officer who fired at a suspect, hitting him in the arm, after the Johnson County District Attorney's Office found the shooting to be justified. District Attorney Steve Howe said Wednesday that his office completed its review of the Nov.

Drunk Spy Tech Emerges

New Kansas regulation requires a camera with all ignition interlock device installations OLATHE, Kan. -- A new regulation went into effect in Kansas on Wedesday, making it harder for previous offenders to drive drunk again. It's a relief for a local family that has been pushing for tighter laws around drinking and driving for years after losing a loved one.

KCTV5 Wanted Report

Wanted: Raul Villalva KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- Raul Villalva is wanted on a Clay County warrant for sexual assault of a child. The original offense happened in 2018 in Clay County and involved the sexual assault of a child less than 12 years of age.

Double Shootout Charges After Sleaze Scummit Gunfire

2 charged after shots fired into homes in Blue Springs, Lee's Summit Two people have been charged in a multiple drive-by shootings into homes in Lee's Summit and Blue Springs.

Making Way: Independence, MO Tribute To Police

Independence says farewell to fallen police officer Before his funeral services and burial, Det. Sgt. Jason Young had one last, solemn visit to the office. The funeral procession for Young, a 24-year member of the Independence Police Department who was killed last in an off-duty collision in Gladstone, stopped for several minutes in front of police headquarters on Memorial Drive.

Lots of great news links on court cases, police action and all manner ofmisdeeds . . .Developing . . .
Jane Seymour lived up to her iconic Bond girl status as she attended the Blow and Darkness screening in Madrid on Wednesday.

The actress, 68, looked the picture of elegance in a lavender peplum pencil dress, which showcased her slender figure.

Jane amped up the glamour with nude Christian Louboutin spiked heels and posed for photos at the event, held at the five star hotel VP Plaza Espana.

Stunning: Jane Seymour lived up to her iconic Bond girl status as she attended the Blow and Darkness screening in Madrid on Wednesday

Jane looked far younger than her 68 years as she showcased her incredible physique in the form-fitting dress, which had peplum detailing at the waist.

She wore her brunette hair in a sleek straight look and accentuated her youthful visage with a radiant make-up look.

The Hollywood starlet appeared in high spirits as she posed for photos with Denise Richards and director Jose Luis Moreno.

Stylish: The actress, 68, looked the picture of elegance in a lavender peplum pencil dress, which showcased her slender figure

Gorgeous: Jane looked far younger than her 68 years as she showcased her incredible physique in the form-fitting dress, which had peplum detailing at the waist

Chic: She wore her brunette hair in a sleek straight look and accentuated her youthful visage with a radiant make-up look

The series is set in the Middle Ages and revolves around the life of San Francisco de Asis.

It also focuses on historical figures such as Ricardo Corazon de Leon or Leonor de Aquitaine, played by Jane. Denise will play Maria de Champana.

It comes after Jane spoke about her red carpet appearances and how some designers refuse to dress for people her age.

The actress revealed from her experience women in Hollywood struggle to find designers willing to style them one they reach a certain age.

'I was never paid by a designer to wear anything, although nowadays not every designer will dress someone my age,' the Dancing With The Stars vet told The Guardian.

The former Bond girl - who played Solitaire in Live And Let Die alongside the late Roger Moore as 007 - also revealed that she 'doesn't care' if it's not fashionable to re-wear clothes and she will always wear something again if she likes it.

Bond girls: The series is set in the Middle Ages and revolves around the life of San Francisco de Asis and Jane and Denise Richards star in it

All in the details: Jane complemented the look with diamond earrings

'I don't care whether re-wearing clothes is acceptable or not  if I'm feeling the dress and the occasion, and if it fits, then I'll wear it again.'

Seymour also revealed that she used to share clothes with Donatella Versace - the chief executive of Italian fashion label Versace - as they were 'the same size', and she revealed she couldn't believe she wore one of her see-through Escada all-in-one.

'In the 80s, Escada loaned me a lot of gowns  I was the unofficial muse of Brian Rennie, the designer,' said the Dr Quinn Medicine Woman vet.
border patrol agent wesley farris

YouTube/Frontline PBS | Official

A Border Patrol agent says separating migrant families in the spring of 2018 was "the most horrible thing I've ever done."

The officer, Wesley Farris, told PBS's "Frontline" that he had to separate a devastated two-year-old boy from his family, and that he refused to do it again afterwards.

"The world was upside down to that kid," Farris said. "I said at that one, 'I'm not doing this anymore.'"

Thousands of families were separated under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy criminally punishing migrants for crossing the US-Mexico border illegally.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A Border Patrol agent says he regrets his work separating migrant families, telling PBS's "Frontline" it was "the most horrible thing I've ever done."

The Trump administration's family separations occurred mainly in the spring of 2018 under its "zero tolerance" policy to prosecute migrants who illegally crossed the US-Mexico border. Ultimately, thousands of families were separated under the policy, and children were taken to shelters across the country while their parents were detained or deported without them.

Though many of the families were eventually reunited weeks or months later, it's unclear exactly how many children were stripped from their parents, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

migrant child family reunited

Associated Press/Eric Gay

Wesley Farris, identified by "Frontline" as a high-ranking officer with El Paso's Border Patrol union, said his fellow agents similarly disliked the orders to separate the families. He said he didn't raise his concerns with the policy up the chain of command, but that he wanted to.

"I had to separate children from their parents  You can't help but see your own kids," he said. "None of us were happy about it. But everyone around me was just doing exactly what we all were told to do this."

Story continues

Farris said the breaking point for him came when he separated a two-year-old boy from his family. He said he refused to do it again after seeing the child's devastation.

"The world was upside down to that kid. So when the contractor tried to take him away, he reached for me. He climbed up on me again and he was holding onto me. So that one got me a little bit. That was tough," Farris said.

He continued: "I said at that one, 'I'm not doing this anymore. I won't do it.' I went back to my supervisor and I told him, 'Don't assign me to do that anymore.'"

The clip of Farris' comments was published Tuesday as part of the documentary "Targeting El Paso."

The Customs and Border Protection agency did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Watch a clip of his interview with "Frontline" below:

Read the original article on Insider
About 30 years before the Wetsuweten First Nation faced the possibility of a natural gas pipeline through its territory, members fought a different battle in court.

Lawyer Peter Grant, who represented the Wetsuweten and neighbouring Gitxsan First Nation, reportedly called an elder as a witness and asked her to sing a death song.

The 1991 Delgamuukw case considered the existence of Aboriginal title and Grant told the B.C. Supreme Court that the song was part of an oral history that explained the First Nations relationship to the territory.

In an exchange widely quoted in legal journals, he was interrupted by Justice Allan McEachern, who said it wouldnt do any good to sing the song because he had a tin ear.

The tin ear analogy was front of mind for legal expert Doug White as he read a decision issued last week by the B.C. Supreme Court granting an injunction to Coastal GasLink against pipeline opponents in the territory.

The company plans to build a 670-kilometre pipeline from northeastern British Columbia to LNG Canadas $40-billion export terminal on the coast in Kitimat.

It posted an injunction order Tuesday giving opponents 72 hours to clear the path to its work site, although the company said its focus remains on reaching a peaceful resolution. The notice comes a year after the RCMP enforced a similar injunction and arrested 14 people at the site.

At the core of the dispute is the fact that although the company has signed agreements with all 20 elected First Nations along the pipelines path, the Wetsuweten hereditary clan chiefs say the project has no authority without their consent.

Weve got to be able to start to grapple with the reality of Indigenous legal tradition in this country, said White, who is the director of Vancouver Island Universitys Centre for Pre-Confederation Treaties and Reconciliation.

Its long been a challenge for the Canadian legal system to hear and incorporate Indigenous law and legal traditions in its decisions, and the latest decision reflects the status quo, he said.

But recent developments, like the B.C. governments adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, suggest the time is right to figure it out.

We have to urgently start to find solutions that work, because the longer we delay finding those solutions or building those solutions together, creating common understanding and pathways, the more were going to end up in this kind of conflict, White said.

The Dec. 31 decision says the courts need to be flexible in how it approaches proof of Indigenous law, while suggesting the questions raised in the injunction hearing would be better addressed through a constitutional challenge.

The reconciliation of the common law with Indigenous legal perspectives is still in its infancy, Justice Marguerite Church wrote.

At the same time, she says that while Wetsuweten customary laws clearly exist on their own independent footing, they are not recognized as being an effectual part of Canadian law because the Wetsuweten Aboriginal title claims have not been resolved through litigation or negotiation.

The defendants are seeking to exclude the application of British Columbia law within Wetsuweten territory, which is something that Canadian law will not entertain, Church writes.

From Whites perspective, Canadas entire legal model is based on a blend of legal traditions, so it shouldnt be a stretch to incorporate other models too.

In the family law realm, the Canadian legal system has taken Indigenous customary law into account. As early as 1889, Canada recognized Indigenous models of marriage and there were several adoption cases in the 1940s recognizing Indigenous family models, White said.

Theres also a comprehensive body of law dealing with Indigenous issues beyond families, especially since the 1960s, but the courts have struggled to deal with one particular area, he said.

Theres one major omission, theres one big huge smoking hole in the middle of all of this. And that is the issue of Aboriginal self-governance or self-determination, White said.

The Tsilhqotin decision in the Supreme Court of Canada, which recognized the Tsilhqotins claim to Aboriginal title to their land, was a significant move in that direction.

But even on that issue, White points out that an earlier judge suggested the court isnt the best venue to pursue reconciliation.

There have been significant strides in recent years towards the recognition of Indigenous law in Canadian legal culture.

Indigenous law classes and programs are increasingly common in universities across the country.

The University of Victoria announced a new program in 2018 that it declared the first of its kind for combining the intensive study of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous law, promising it would enable students to work fluently across the two realms. Canadas largest law school, York Universitys Osgoode Hall, also added an Indigenous and Aboriginal law requirement to its juris doctor program that year.

But until the courts learn to better listen to what Indigenous Peoples are saying, or what their legal traditions and authorities are, many like those opposed to the Coastal GasLink pipeline wont feel heard, White side.

For whatever reason, the Canadian imagination has not had room for dealing with that reality, its not been part of the official narrative.

Read more about:
Women using their noses, simple tools to find missing loved ones, discouraged by what they say is official indifference.

Mexico says more than 61,000 people have gone missing as rising violence grips the country, a figure 50 percent higher than the governments previous estimate.

Faced with what they say is official indifference, a group of women has banded together to use every rudimentary tool at their disposal to find the bodies of their missing loved ones.

Al Jazeeras John Holman spent a day with the Warrior Hounds in Sinaloa, northern Mexico.
Demand for legal marijuana in Illinois was so strong that many vendors quickly ran out of supplies, as customers spent nearly $11 million in just five days since the drug was legalized in the state on January 1, vendors and officials said. The sales figure, released by Illinois officials, is more than double the first week of sales in Colorado -- the first US state to legalize recreational marijuana in 2014 -- which raked in $5 million, according to Colorado government figures. The midwestern state of Illinois became the 11th US state to legalize recreational marijuana at the start of 2020. There are 37 licensed dispensaries in the state, including 10 in Chicago. On New Year's Day most dispensaries opened at 6 am to discovered customers that had lined up in the cold for hours. At some locations the line was eight blocks long, with wait times reaching 12 hours. More than $3.1 million in sales on 77,000 transactions took place on opening day, according to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Strong demand caused many pot shops to run out supplies, and by Tuesday, only a few shops remained opened. Others decided to serve only medical patients until supply could be replenished. "Shortages were expected to occur as they have occurred in every other state that has legalized cannabis," Paul Isaac, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, told AFP. Under the new law Illinois residents aged 21 and older are able to carry 30 grams of marijuana flower, five grams of cannabis concentrate like hash oil, and up to a half-gram of THC  the chemical compound that gets users high  within cannabis-infused products like edibles. Visitors to the state however can possess only half those amounts. Medical marijuana dispensaries are currently the only place where legal marijuana can be purchased for recreational use in Illinois. Beginning in mid-2020 Illinois will grant additional licenses to dozens of new stores, processors, cultivators and transporters, according to Isaac. Marijuana Business Daily projects that the Illinois recreational program could generate up to $2.5 billion a year.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's decision to retire will mean a huge increase in their carbon footprint.

Harry and Meghan's bombshell statement yesterday that they are 'stepping down as senior royals' revealed they plan to split their time between the UK and North America.

The couple appear to want to set down roots in Canada after their six-week Christmas break proved a roaring success.

But if Harry, Meghan and Archie took three first class trips a year between London and Toronto, they would clock up an annual carbon footprint of 20.31 tonnes each a year  nearly triple the 8.34 tonnes of the average British person.

And if they based themselves in faraway Vancouver and took three return flights annually, online calculators show their footprint would rise to an even more damaging 27.3 tonnes per head  more than three times the annual average.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's decision to retire will mean a huge increase in their carbon footprint. They are pictured disembarking from their plane on their arrival in Suva, on day one of the royal couple's visit to Fiji

Meghan cradles her son Archie as they get off a private jet at Nice Airport in France in August last year

A map shows the total number of tonnes of carbon dioxide the Sussexes would be responsible for if they flew between London and Canada

It's even worse news if they want to save the planet.

Scientists recommend everyone should only be responsible for producing 1.97 tonnes of carbon per year if we want to reverse climate change by 2050.

The royal couple faced widespread criticism after using four private jets in the space of just 11 days last summer.

The journeys came soon after Harry told Meghan's edition of British Vogue that they only want to have two children as a way of reducing their carbon footprint.

When he appeared at an event in Amsterdam soon after the private jet debacle, he refused to apologise for his private flights to Italy, France and Spain, saying: 'I spend 99 per cent of my life travelling the world by commercial.'

Pictured: The interior of the plane used by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to visit Elton John's mansion in the south of France

He claimed his decision to use non-commercial planes was to 'keep his family safe'.

The Duke also insisted he 'offsets 99 per cent' of his carbon footprint.

Accounts reveal that the royal family's carbon footprint from official travel nearly doubled in 2018, to 3,344 tonnes of CO2.

In the aftermath of Meghan and Harry's private jet furore, the Queen advertised for a new director of royal travel to ensure 'efficient' and 'effective' flights.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their three children unwittingly added fuel to the fire when they took a FlyBe commercial plane soon after Harry and Meghan's jet-setting around Europe.
A young rider bitten when she and her champion equestrian horse were attacked by a savage dog at a beach is still too scared to get back on the saddle a week after the frightening ordeal.

Chelsea Sutton, 11, was riding her horse in shallow waters along Cabarita Beach South while on holidays in Tweed Heads in northern New South Wales when a Staffordshire Bull Terrier Boxer broke free from its owners and ran 600 metres up the beach to attack them.

Her horse Dash is still recovering from horrific injuries and suffered permanent nerve damage with grave fears his long competition career is now over.

The Sunshine Coast youngster was bitten by the dog when Chelsea was knocked from the horse and was later taken to hospital, where X-rays revealed puncture wounds to her upper inner thigh.

Chelsea Sutton and her horse Dash came second at a competition just days before the attack

Her furious parents say the champion rider hasn't been back on a horse since the January 2 attack while staying at the nearby Cabarita Beach Pony Club campsite.

'Chelsea is finding it very tough at the moment,' her father Scott told Daily Mail Australia

'The attack happened on our second day there and she wouldn't go back down to the beach for the rest of the time we were there. She still won't go back on a horse.

'She's had massive aspirations since she was six-year-old to get a scholarship in the US to become a professional rider, so we'll be doing everything we can to help get her back on track.'

Dash's long and distinguished competitive career may be over as his ongoing vet treatment continues.

Chelsea and her brother riding along Cabarita Beach South moments before disaster struck

Mr Sutton used to competitively train and ride Dash before handing the reigns to his daughter to compete in barrel racing competitions.

Chelsea and Dash came second in a national competition just three days before the horrific attack.

The pair also won a national Pee Wee title together in 2017.

Mr Sutton believes his daughter would have been more badly injured if it wasn't for her 18-year-old horse.

'Speaking as a professional horse trainer, Dash prevented Chelsea from being injured more extensively,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'The relationship he and Chelsea have is very special. He has enjoyed an extensive show career as a western performance horse and was a champion in multiple disciplines.'

'He's done a lot of great things and is very well known in the western performance circles.'

Dash's career may be over after he suffered horrific injuries and permanent nerve damage

Chelsea (pictured with Dash) is still too scared to get back on a horse following the dog attack

Police were called to the incident but no further action was taken, while council investigations continue.

Mr Sutton is angry the dog was returned to its owners afterwards and remains with them.

The dog also later attacked a horse ridden by Chelsea's little brother on the beach prior the mauling.

'The dog attacked two horses and a child and all the owners were worried about was getting their dog back,' Mr Sutton said.

'The fact the dog wasn't seized after the attack was devastating and has been difficult to fathom.'

Photos of Dash afterwards showed his gruesome injuries where it was repeatedly attacked in its face belly and legs, which bolted off into nearby scrub with the dog in pursuit.

'It was a ferocious attack, there are no other words to describe it,' Scott Sutton said

He was later captured and calmed by campers four kilometres at Hastings Point.

Mr Sutton hasn't ruled out possible compensation.

'It was a ferocious attack, there are no other words to describe it,' he said.

'My concerns were for 100 per cent for my kids at the time but seeing Dash afterwards and not knowing whether he'd survive was very emotional.'

'We've just received a $1,000 vet bill for treatment on the day of the attack and that's just the start of it.'

Many other families were also holidaying at the Cabarita Beach Pony Club campsite at the time.

Dash prevented Chelsea from being injured more extensively, according to Mr Sutton

While off-leash dogs are allowed at one end of South Cabarita Beach 200 meters south of Norries Headland, they must be on a leash along the section where the attack occurred.

'We're a small community so it's been an emotional and distressing time for everyone involved,' pony club campsite caretaker Issabel Star said.

'Horse riders know there's a risk and have been chased along the beach before but nothing to this severity.'

'It has affected the community here but hasn't stopped riders from using the beach.'

Ms Star hopes it will prompt horse riders and dog owners to work together so a similar attack never happens again.

Scott Sutton trained and rode Dash competitively before handing the reigning to his daughter

'I want to see common courtesy prevail so all of us can enjoy the beach,' Ms Star said.

'If dog owners on beach see a horse approaching, they should keep them restrained, while riders should slow down until the dogs walk past.'

Mr Sutton says his family would return to the campsite in the future, despite the ordeal.

Daily Mail Australia has made repeated attempts to contact Tweed Shire Council for comment but is yet to receive a response.

The council website states all dogs must be on a lead when in a public place unless in a designated off-leash area.

'A dog that is in a public place must be under the effective control of a competent person by means of an adequate chain, cord or leash that is attached to the dog and that is being held by (or secured to) a person,' it states.

'An infringement notice will be issued for non compliance.'

Dash (right) has enjoyed an extensive show career as a western performance horse
Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --



NOVA Chemicals Corporation, 1000 Seventh Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 5L5

www.novachemicals.com | 403.750.3600 tel | 403.269.7410 fax

Vienna, Austria / Calgary, Alberta (January 9, 2020) - Borealis AG ("Borealis") and NOVA Chemicals Corporation ("NOVA Chemicals") today announced they have reached an agreement for Borealis to buy NOVA Chemicals' 50% ownership interest in Novealis Holdings LLC ("Novealis").

Formed in 2018, Novealis is the joint venture between affiliates of Borealis and NOVA Chemicals, which subsequently formed a 50/50 joint venture with an affiliate of Total S.A. to launch Bayport Polymers LLC ("Baystar") in Houston, Texas, US.

Closing of the acquisition is subject to customary regulatory approvals and other conditions but is not subject to any financing condition. The parties expect the transaction to close in the first half of 2020.

Download image (http://www.novachem.com/PublishingImages/baystar-aerial.jpg)

# # #

About Borealis

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With its head office in Vienna, Austria, the company currently has more than 6,800 employees and operates in over 120 countries. Borealis generated EUR 8.3 billion in sales revenue and a net profit of EUR 906 million in 2018. Mubadala, through its holding company, owns 64% of the company, with the remaining 36% belonging to Austria-based OMV, an integrated, international oil and gas company. Borealis provides services and products to customers globally, in collaboration with Borouge, a joint venture with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and with Baystar, a joint venture with Total and NOVA Chemicals in Texas, USA. www.borealisgroup.com

About NOVA Chemicals Corporation

NOVA Chemicals develops and manufactures chemicals and plastic resins that make everyday life healthier, easier and safer. Our employees work to ensure health, safety, security and environmental stewardship through our commitment to sustainability and Responsible Care. NOVA Chemicals, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is wholly-owned ultimately by Mubadala Investment Company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Visit NOVA Chemicals on the Internet at www.novachemicals.com (http://www.novachemicals.com).

# # #

For further information, please contact:

Borealis

Virginia Mesicek

Senior Manager a.i., External Communications

Tel.: +43 1 22 400 772 (Vienna, Austria)

E-mail: virginia.mesicek@borealisgroup.com (mailto:virginia.mesicek@borealisgroup.com)

NOVA Chemicals

Media Relations

Jennifer Nanz

Director, Corporate Communications

E-mail: Jennifer.Nanz@novachem.com

Investor Relations

Patty Masry

Financial Reporting & Investor Relations Manager

Patty.Masry@novachem.com

NOVA Chemicals' logo is a registered trademark of NOVA Brands Ltd.; authorized use.

Responsible Care is a registered trademark of the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada.
The actor allegedly staged a hate crime and was accused of hiring two men to pretend to assault him while using racist and homophobic slurs and shouting that he was in MAGA country  a reference to President Donald Trumps campaign slogan. Smollett was charged with faking the crime, but Foxx later dropped all 16 counts filed against the actor, who is best known for his role on the Fox series Empire.
PRINT | EMAIL | PERMALINK Weekly Specials Usually I try and fill this first bit with a witty intro, but I must admit I'm at a loss today for what to say. This was a particularly fast holiday season, and now that we're in The Roaring 20s 2: Electric Boogaloo, it's time to get back to the usual pace. I present these three events for your viewing pleasure, and hope at least one of them fills your need to get out and explore.

Baked Curry in a Hurry On Thursday, Jan. 9, The Creative Contessa (1142 Narcisco St. NE) will be hosting Sip & Bake - Indian style from 6pm to 9pm. Through this class, the secrets for making good Indian food will finally be yours. In this case that food is a delicious baked curry, featuring khatte, fish, chicken or veggies. You get to take home your meal as well as the pocketful of knowledge on how to replicate it again should the mood strike. Tickets are $35 a person, but if you bring a friend, you'll get $5 off. That means, you just need to get 7 friends to come with you to get in free! Now, if those 7 friends invite 7 friends of their own, they get in free, too! Am I saying this is the approach you should take? I'm not not saying that. For more information, visit The Creative Contessa on Facebook.

Pairing and Sharing There's nothing quite like a good wine, especially when it is paired with the perfect something. Whether that something is food or music or in this case both, it's a treat for the mind and the body. That's why on Saturday, Jan. 11 from 6:30pm to 9:30pm, Lazy Lizard Grill (12480 North Hwy. 14) will be hosting the January Wine Pairing Dinner with music by Lynn Taylor. This four-course dinner is only $50, which covers your food, your drinks, your tip and guarantees you a seat at the big kids table. With the main course being pan-seared duck breast with maple bourbon beurre blanc served alongside a purple sticky rice and sauteed Swiss chard, you know you're in for the right meal to kick off the year with. For more information, contact Lazy Lizard Grill at 505-281-9122 to reserve your seat now. View in Alibi calendar
Georgia Fowler has lashed out a critic on Instagram, who slammed her decision to share bikini-clad photos to promote bushfire charities.

The model, 27, was critiqued by one follower who said her flesh-flashing snaps 'weren't the best way to advocate for awareness', as she asked fans to donate to causes helping those hurt by the devastation.

Responding to the negativity, Victoria's Secret beauty Georgia said she 'is not perfect' before justifying her choice of imagery.

Hitting back: Georgia Fowler (pictured) has lashed out a critic who slammed her decision to share a bikini-clad photos to promote a bushfire charity. Above: Georgia's chosen snaps

'I have hosted an event, had T-shirts made & sold, have posted and uploaded many stories with swipe to donate links as well as articles and support for fellow businesses and charities who are helping,' she replied.

'Here I am showing jewelry of a brand whose kindly donating their profits to multiple charities this week, so this is an effort to get their efforts noticed and encourage others to do the same.

'I am not perfect, but we are all here doing our best.'

'Here I am showing jewelry of a brand whose kindly donating their profits to multiple charities this week' the model said

Biting back: Georgia released a lengthy statement saying she is 'doing her best' to help the bushfire victims

Georgia looked nothing short of sensational in the shots, wearing a pretty white two-piece as she posed on a boat - with smoke engulfed Sydney prominent in the background.

Her critic had negatively responded: 'I dont think this is the best way to advocate for awareness for the fires. Perhaps post a photo from the actual wildfires so itll help us draw more attention to those?

'That and post donation links please so that others may be encouraged to help as well.'

Less than impressed: One reader (pictured) critiqued her choice of pictures in the comments section, causing Georgia to react

While she received some critique for her snaps, masses of followers stuck up for the starlet online.

One wrote: 'Any help, financially or through spreading awareness is so greatly appreciated.

'And while there is definitely no right or wrong way to do that, its disheartening as well to see people passive aggressively tell public figures or anyone in general that they dont know what they should be doing.'

A second added: 'Fantastic role model. Bravo. Hearts out to you & Australia.'
This photo provided by Mizan News Agency, shows Iranian rescue personnel and security work at the site of a Boeing 707 cargo plane crash, at Fath Airport about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Tehran, Iran, Monday, Jan. 14, 2019. An Iranian emergency management official has told state TV that 16 people were on board a Boeing 707 cargo plane that crashed west of Tehran and that there is only one known survivor (Hasan Shirvani/Mizan News Agency via AP)

Downing Street said it was looking into very concerning reports about the Tehran airliner crash as the US claimed the jet was shot down by a missile.

Two US officials said it was highly likely an Iranian anti-aircraft missile brought down the passenger plane.

Canadas prime minister Justin Trudeau told a press conference that evidence indicated the aircraft might have been unintentionally shot down.

He said the news was likely to come as a shock to grieving families.

At least a third of the 176 people on board who were killed had Canadian passports, while three were Britons.

Expand Close Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said evidence pointed to Iran involvement in the plane crash (Sean Kilpatrick/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said evidence pointed to Iran involvement in the plane crash (Sean Kilpatrick/AP)

Mr Trudeau said: We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence.

The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. This may well have been unintentional.

Boris Johnson used a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to call for a full, credible and transparent investigation into what happened.

Ukraines Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, posted on Facebook that a missile attack was one of the possible causes of the fire that caused Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) PS752 aircraft to break-up as it gained height after taking off from Tehran airport on Wednesday.

Asked whether there were any concerns about the cause of the disaster, a Number 10 spokesman said: Im not going to speculate on this but the reports we have seen are very concerning and we are urgently looking into them.

The Iranian military had disputed suggestions the airliner was brought down by a missile, with officials in Iran blaming an engine fire.

But Mr Danilov said information about the detection of the shards of a Russian missile  understood to be a Russian Tor M1 missile  meant an attack on the plane could not be ruled out.

In his social media post, he said any investigation would have to also probe whether the plane had been subject to a terrorist attack by someone on-board the flight, or whether it collided with another object or an engine fire occurred for technical reasons.

The British victims included engineer Sam Zokaei, from Surrey, Saeed Tahmasebi Khademasadi, from west London, and Mohammad Reza Kadkhoda Zadeh, from near Brighton.

Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook

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All three were named on the list of 176 passengers on board flight PS752 by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), which crashed moments after it left Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran at 6.10am local time (2.40am GMT) on Wednesday, bound for the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

The Prime Minister pushed for the facts to be established during his conversation with Mr Zelenskyy on Thursday.

Mr Zelenskyy ordered a criminal investigation soon after the details of the tragedy emerged this week.

He has invited United Kingdom aviation experts to join the investigation into the crash.

A spokesman for the President said: The President invited the United Kingdom to join the investigation.

Boris Johnson supported this idea and stressed that the best British experts should be involved in clarifying all the circumstances of the tragedy.

The airline ruled out human error in the aftermath of the incident, and crew were not said to have made an emergency call.

Expand Close Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called for an investigation (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called for an investigation (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The crash comes amid escalating tension in the Persian Gulf following the killing last week of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani by the US, prompting several airlines to reroute flights away from Tehrans airspace.

Iran fired missiles at army bases in Iraq were both US and UK troops were stationed, although both Number 10 and the White House said there had been no casualties incurred.

A Downing Street spokesman said: He offered his condolences to the president for the loss of the Ukraine International Airlines plane and for all those who were on board.

President Zelenskyy updated the Prime Minister on Ukrainian efforts to establish the facts and the Prime Minister offered UK support.

The Prime Minister said that there needed to be a full, credible and transparent investigation into what happened.

During his conversation Mr Johnson also underlined the UKs continued commitment to Ukrainian sovereignty with tension over territory continuing to bristle between the eastern European country and Russia.
A growing number of states are requiring that their students learn media literacythe skills needed to critically analyze and interpret media messages, according to a new report from the advocacy organization Media Literacy Now.

In a review of state policies, the group found that 14 states have addressed media literacy education in law, either by requiring instruction in the subject, making resources available to teachers, developing a media literacy committee, or allowing media literacy courses to count toward certain requirements. Of these states, six passed this legislation within the past three years.

Erin McNeill, the president of Media Literacy Now, said that recent high-profile national news eventsfor example, revelations about how Facebook targets political advertising have created a new sense of urgency around the subject.

Theres also a greater public understanding that intentional disinformation online is shaping political and civic discourse, said McNeill. People are becoming more aware of whats at stake, she said.

Still, McNeill said, its hard to know exactly where the field stands. What I hear anecdotally is that were still not seeing comprehensive media literacy education in those states and others.

Research shows that students dont do very well when theyre asked to determine whether online sources are trustworthy and accurate. In a study last year from Stanford University , high school students completed six media literacy exercises, including distinguishing between news and ads, analyzing a tweet from an advocacy group, and evaluating political messages. Across the board, students performed poorlyin each task, at least two-thirds of students were rated as the lowest skill level.

In Media Literacy Nows report, the organization highlights two statesFlorida and Ohioas advanced leaders in the field. Both mandate media literacy education be taught across the curriculum and in all grade levels, and have had these requirements in place for over a decade.

But even in these two states, McNeill said shes heard from students and teachers who said it wasnt covered in classes. And even when media literacy instruction is a priority in the classroom, its hard to know exactly what students are learning. Most of the state laws dont get into specifics, and media literacy is a broad topic.

In a study last year, the RAND Corporation found that the goals of existing media literacy education resources vary some ask students to vet the quality of information, for example, while others teach them to investigate the financial motivations of certain messages or understand how media shapes civic life.

In the future, McNeill said, Media Literacy Now hopes to do follow-up research on implementation, and what standards look like across the country.

Training teachers and surveying instruction is complicated in part because the media landscape itself is shifting so quickly, said McNeill. Thats why its so hard, she said. The curriculum would have to constantly change to keep up.

Image: Getty
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald's proposal that celebrating the Twelfth across the whole island of Ireland should be on the table in any discussions on an Irish unity poll seems like an enticing carrot at first glance.

But it is one which is unlikely to have Orangemen burnishing their badges in anticipation of a parade in Cork anytime soon. While it would be wrong to dismiss the proposal out of hand, many in the unionist community would need convincing evidence of Sinn Fein's bona fides.

They will remember the Sinn Fein leader marching behind an 'England get out of Ireland' banner in the US last year or her applauding the party's former outreach officer Martina Anderson chanting 'Tiocfaidh ar la' and the British Government's days in Ireland are numbered' during an IRA commemoration event in Strabane last August.

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For people whose identity as British is crucial to them, these words were regarded as Sinn Fein saying that they, as unionists, would not be welcome in an united Ireland.

Mrs McDonald's proposal infers that granting permission for Orange parades in the Republic is in her party's gift while of course it is not. It certainly would be a tremendous transformation to see parades in all parts of this island as the Twelfth is one of the biggest religious/cultural events to be held on the island. It should be noted that the annual Orange demonstration to Rossnowlagh in Co Donegal is an event which passes off without rancour and with little security.

However, it should also be noted that, just like Northern Ireland, old passions run deep in the Republic as evidenced by the row which led to the postponement and probable cancelling of a government-sponsored commemoration of the Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Metropolitan Police. There were widespread objections across the Republic and not only from Sinn Fein, and those previously dormant attitudes may well be resurrected again when the Republic comes to commemorate the Irish civil war which ran from 1922-23.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was astounded at the depth of feeling which still exists from a century ago and had to agree that the Republic is no more mature in dealing with the past than is Northern Ireland.

To continually press for an Irish unity poll when we cannot even agree to share power in the province reeks of opportunism rather then a genuine conversation on the way forward.
The Conroe Lake Conroe Chamber of Commerce will honor its outgoing chairman at a new location this year as La Torretta becomes the first Margaritaville Resort in Texas.

Due to the renovations, Conroe/Lake Conroe Chamber of Commerce Director of Special Events Courtney Galle said the Chamber chose to move this years annual Chairmans Awards Gala to the Lone Star Convention Center. This year, the event will also be held on a Thursday. The event will run from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Jan. 23. at the center, which is located at 9055 Airport Rd.

It just happened that there were not any weekends open in the month of January or February, Galle said. So, we are changing it up a bit to do a weeknight event. The Chamber is going to see how our attendance is and if our guests prefer a weeknight and if they do, we might be changing it in the future. It depends on how this one goes.

The 2020 gala will kick off with a cocktail hour at 5 p.m. followed by a dinner program at 6:30 p.m. and an awards program at 7 p.m. Starting at 8 p.m., guests will have a chance to enjoy casino games, dancing and music. This years theme is Oh, the Places You Will Go/Travel. Dress is business attire.

The event will honor outgoing 2019 chairman Brent Wunderlich with McKesson and introduce the incoming 2020 chairman. The chamber will also once again be awarding the small and large business of the year, diplomat of the year and the chairmans key person and horizon winners.

This is event is our event to say thank you to our chairman of the board and brag on their accomplishments throughout the year, Galle said. We dont have any other events that honor them nor honor our small and large business, diplomat and the chairmans key person and horizon winners of the year.

Other recognitions may also be revealed this year.

We might have some surprise awards as well, Galle said. Stay tuned or attend the event to find out. As well we will be announcing our inductees to our Wall of Honor. We will be honoring the inductees for the Wall at a separate event on March 31 at the Chamber.

Tickets are still available at $100 and tables of 10 for $800. Sponsorships are also still available. For tickets or sponsorship information, contact Courtney Galle at courtneyg@conroe.org or 936-538-7111.

mellsworth@hcnonline.com
My father died of bowel cancer, leaving behind my mother and five children. He didnt see most of us finish our schooling, saw none of us married, and never met a grandchild.

He was just on the wrong side of 50.

Fourteen Redland Hospital patients have been diagnosed with bowel cancer after concerns a doctor might have missed early signs of disease. Credit:Google Maps

There were many more like him; about 7000 Australians were diagnosed with colorectal cancer each year in the mid-1980s. That number is now double.

The good news is that the chances of survival are much higher; indeed, surviving beyond five years has jumped from just over 50 per cent then, to more than 70 per cent now.
2020 has been an unforgettable year for everyone. It has been especially unique for every business throughout the United States. At Interpreters Unlimited (IU), 2020 has been a year of adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic, making sure to continue to provide interpretation and translation services uninterrupted. This year also marks a great milestone for IU, it is their 50th anniversary as a Languages Service Provider. Since 1970, IU has been one 
Aviation regulator DGCA has suspended GoAir pilots who landed the Nagpur-Bengaluru flight on November 11 even as they lost the "visual reference" 50 feet before touch down, an official said on Thursday.

The crew considered wrong visual reference as the centre line of the runway and consequently, manoeuvred the aircraft to the left of the runway at Bengaluru airport, he said, terming it a "serious" incident.

Therefore, after issuing a show cause notice to the captain as well as the co-pilot, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended them for a period of six months and three months, respectively, from the date of the incident.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
What if you curate rather strong artwork by a handful of accomplished artists and ... install it in the neighborhood library? Well, first it will remind you to visit the library, in this case the Pine Hills Branch of the Albany Public Library. So "check it out." You'll need to hunt a bit on both floors to find it all and absorb the rich theme of "Rear View," about artwork relating to memory. It's a substantial effort that was curated in partnership with the Opalka Gallery, with nine artists and some 55 works in all.

One piece is certainly not hard to find, if you look upward in the wide, bright stairwell. This site-specific installation by Kenneth Ragsdale is a visual and spiritual anchor for the show, because Ragsdale's work is rigorously dependent on memory. These large white paper objects  a chair, a piece of an excavator, some ambiguous column shapes  are suspended like giant popcorn kernels on horizontal strings. They are fragments of mental imagery lifted from the artist's rural childhood, filtered over time to make them fanciful, incomplete, and exquisite.

The subtle poetry of Leona Christie's work is based on the memories made by her brother Gavin Christie, who types routine facts into a vintage word processing machine. Their collaboration resulted in totally white works, words embossed on plain paper in repeated rows. For "All of the Dick Clark Specials That I Have Watched," identical lines of text become a pattern that implies the repetition of Gavin's experience.

Some works, like the pairs of photographs by Daesha Devon-Harris, are clearly about the passage of time and the implication of remembering the visible changes in all of us. Large color portraits give us flattering, compassionate views of the subjects, and smaller black and white transparencies are glimpses into a disappearing past. These African-American men and women all hail from Saratoga Springs, the photographer's hometown.

The layers and ambiguity of memory, of past and present, give the entire show substance. The beautifully wan paintings by Paul Miyamoto of scenes recalling the experience of Japanese-Americans in internment camps are loaded not just with documentary fact but with shared remorse. These WWII incarcerations are still with us, and Miyamoto's veiled reminders insist that we are all still accountable.

And then there are the works by David Austin, dreamy, slightly dystopian views of ordinary middle class upstate New York existence. They have always seemed to be photographic at their core, but in this show there is the implication that the scenes, which are reasonably realistic, come from memory. Photography, of course, is a kind of memory, or a crutch for it, so these are both imaginative images and eidetic views. They penetrate, without pretense or particular judgement, to a feeling of our here and now.

There is still more: Steve Rein's transcriptions of old photographs and Meighan Gale's photographs with hand stitching applied, and additional works by Ragsdale and others. Not everything here is fully resolved or exquisite, but the wonderfully sloppy insistence on telling and retelling, mostly through pictures, makes the show resilient and quite fun.

Since we are, remember, in a busy library with incidental lighting, and with chairs, tables, and stacks of books hither and thither, you might worry the show would be far more convincing in a polished gallery setting. That's why galleries exist.

But maybe not. I mean, here it is. It's available. It's well presented and professionally supported. And the audience will be many times larger than seen at any typical gallery.

William Jaeger is a frequent contributor to the Times Union.
Southern Gas Corridor, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, will increase competition in Europes gas market, Bert Schoofs, ambassador of Belgium to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkmenistan, told Trend.

"Energy is the main strategic element of Belgian-Azerbaijani economic cooperation. In this regard, I think 2020 is an important year, when the Southern Gas Corridor, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, will be fully commissioned. Belgian company Fluxys holds 19 percent in the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which is the European leg of the Southern Gas Corridor. Fluxys is not a gas producer or consumer, it mainly owns gas infrastructure. In that sense, Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR and Fluxys work well together, as they are complementary in their activities," he said.

Schoofs said the major achievement of the Southern Gas Corridor is that it can transport gas from Azerbaijan and eventually other countries in the region to Europe.

"This is important, because it gives European countries an alternative to other gas corridors. The Southern Gas Corridor will increase competition in Europes gas market. Azerbaijan exports its gas and its territory can be used for transit of gas from other countries as well," the ambassador added.

Noting that some Belgian companies are subcontractors in Azerbaijans energy sector, Schoofs highlighted the bilateral cooperation in renewable energy sphere as well.

"The biggest solar power plant in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Azerbaijan, operating since 2016, has been equipped with technology of Belgian Soltech company. This company is aiming to become active in other parts of Azerbaijan, so the cooperation is already there. This company and other Belgian companies are very interested to have projects in renewable energy sphere in Azerbaijan," he added.

The Southern Gas Corridor project aims to increase and diversify European energy supply by bringing gas resources from the Caspian Sea to markets in Europe.

The Southern Gas Corridor comprises the following four projects: (i) operation of Shah Deniz natural gas-condensate field ("SD1" project) and its full-field development ("SD2'" project), (ii) the operation of the South Caucasus Pipeline ("SCP" project) and its expansion ("SCPX" project), (iii) the construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline ("TANAP" project) and (iv) the construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline ("TAP" project) (SD2, SCPX, TANAP and TAP collectively, the "Projects").

The Projects have an estimated investment cost of approximately $40 billion. Upon completion, the SD2 project will add a further 16 bcm of natural gas per annum to 10.9 bcma (maximum production capacity) already produced under SD1 project.

Total length of the newly constructed SCPX, TANAP and TAP pipelines will be more than 3,200 kilometres.




New Delhi, Jan 9 : Shapoorji Pallonji Group, the promoters of Sterling and Wilson Solar, have violated various sections of Companies Act, and SEBI Act by not utilising the IPO proceeds for the purposes that they were raised for, according to corporate governance advisory firm, Ingovern.

"The amounts raised in the IPO have been put to use by the promoters elsewhere. Hence their explanation for inability to repay loans doesn't hold any ground and contrary to the objects of the offer," Ingovern said, slamming the group.

The minority shareholders must be allowed an exit option, the report said. "In this case, where shareholders have suffered significant erosion in value of their holdings solely due to the non-utilisation of funds as per the objects of offer of the IPO, SEBI must force the promoters to provide an exit offer to shareholders at a price as per SEBI (ICDR) Regulations," the report said.

SEBI (ICDR) Regulations, 2018 allow for the dissenting shareholders to be provided an exit offer by the promoters, in cases where there is a change in objects of the issue/ offer in the IPO prospectus.

"It is evident that the promoter - Shapoorji Pallonji Group - has violated various sections of Companies Act, SEBI Act and provisions of SEBI PFUTP and ICDR Regulations by not utilising the IPO proceeds for the purposes that they were raised for. This has resulted in a significant loss of trust of the promoters as well as a significant erosion of wealth of minority public shareholders", the report said.

Shriram Subramanian, founder and MD of InGovern said: "Overall, a huge loss of reputation for the promoters of the SWSOLAR, the SP group. With substantial - over Rs 1,700 crore - erosion of wealth of public minority shareholders, and loss of investor trust for a group that seemed to have a stellar reputation. In order to redeem this reputation, the SP group should provide an exit option for public minority shareholders. This is a demand from minority shareholders and SEBI should force the promoters to provide and exit option for minority shareholders." The company was listed through an offer for sale of shares by the promoters, belonging to the Shapoorji Pallonji Group. The offer for sale of shares resulted in promoters raising Rs 2,850 crore through the IPO. While the objects of the IPO were to enable the promoters to repay loans amounting to Rs 2,563 crore to SWSOLAR within 90 days of listing, the Company has received only Rs 1,000 crore on December 31, 2019, i.e., 133 days after listing.

This non-fulfilment of obligations by the promoters as per the objects of the offer has resulted in a loss of over 60 per cent in investment value for IPO investors as stock price has fallen from the issue price of Rs 780 to Rs 310 as on January 6, 2020, resulting in a loss of Rs 1,700 crore (approx $250 million) for public minority shareholders.

Ingovern has said that shareholders can also file a class-action suit against the Company and its promoters. A class action suit can be filed by shareholders if they of the opinion that the management or conduct of the affairs of the company are being conducted in a manner prejudicial to the interests of the company or its members. Section 245 of the Companies Act, 2013 empowers shareholders to file class action suits with the NCLT.

To file a class-action suit, shareholders have to fulfil either of the two eligibility conditions. Any 100 or more members of the company, or members equal to or exceeding 10 per cent of the total number of its members, whichever is less, or any member or members singly or jointly holding atleast 10 per cent of the issued share capital of the company.

Pointing the accountability of the board of directors, the report said that a board meeting of SWSOLAR was held on November 14, 2019 where the Board considered and approved the request of the promoters to consider a revised repayment schedule for the balance outstanding amount and authorised the Audit Committee to work with the promoters to draw up a plan by December 31, 2019 for repayment of the loan.

The Audit Committee of the Board comprises of Rukhshana Mistry as Chairperson, and Khurshed Daruvala and Keki Elavia as members.

"It is beyond understanding as to how the Audit Committee and the Board accepted this absurd explanation of the promoters when the latter already had received funds from the IPO proceeds and did not have the need to access the credit markets to arrange funds to repay loans owed to SWSOLAR," Ingovern said.

"Hence, the Board and the Audit Committee should also be held liable for their actions in failure to protect SWSOLAR's as well as its public minority shareholders' interests by approving the revised repayment schedule proposal of the promoters," it added.

Ingovern has noted several lapses by the promoters. It said the promoters have not fulfilled their obligations to repay loan amounts within 90 days of listing.

In addition, they changed the objects of the offer, after the IPO, without seeking approval from all shareholders.

The promoters also made misstatements in the prospectus about the objects of the offer. This is evident through the explanation provided by the promoters regarding inability of repayment of loans in the agreed timeframe, it added.

"Siphoned off funds raised from IPO and used it elsewhere than that stated in the objects of the offer; and wilfully violated various sections and provisions of Companies Act and SEBI Guidelines by doing all of the above," Ingovern said.

"It looks like the debt situation of SWPL had deteriorated to the extent its debt obligations were taken over by the promoters. And even at the time of the IPO, the promoters knew the overall debt scenario and knowingly went in for the IPO," it said.
BEIJING - A preliminary investigation into viral pneumonia illnesses sickening dozens of people in and around China has identified the possible cause as a new type of coronavirus, state media said Thursday.

Chinese health authorities did not immediately confirm the report from state broadcaster CCTV.

Coronaviruses are spread through coughing or sneezing or by touching an infected person. Some cause the common cold and others can lead to more severe respiratory diseases, such as SARS and MERS. Such viruses are common in people but more exotic versions from bats, camels and other animals have caused severe illness.

The novel coronavirus is different from those that have previously been identified, CCTV said. Health authorities ruled out SARS and MERS as possible causes over the weekend.

As of Sunday, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said 59 people in the central Chinese city were being treated for the respiratory illness. Seven were in critical condition, while the rest were stable.

Eight patients were discharged Wednesday, Xinhua state news agency reported. They had not exhibited any pneumonia symptoms for several days.

Chinese researchers used a sample from one patient to conduct gene sequencing of the virus, said Gauden Galea, a World Health Organization representative to China.

Preliminary identification of a novel virus in a short period of time is a notable achievement, Galea said in a statement, adding that it demonstrates Chinas increased capacity to manage new outbreaks.

Possible cases of the same illness have been reported in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan involving recent travellers to Wuhan.

Since the end of 2019, Hong Kong public hospitals have reported 38 patients who presented with fever, respiratory infection or pneumonia symptoms after recent visits to Wuhan. Twenty-one of those patients have since been discharged, Hong Kongs Hospital Authority said Wednesday.

No serious cases have been found to be related to those in Wuhan, said Hong Kong health chief Sophia Chan.

None of the Hong Kong patients had visited the seafood market in Wuhan where some of the mainland Chinese patients worked. The South China Seafood City food market will be suspended and investigated, Wuhans health commission said.

A Chinese woman who works for a South Korean company was diagnosed Tuesday with pneumonia, according to the Korea Centers of Disease Control and Prevention said. Meanwhile, Taiwan authorities said Wednesday that they were quarantining a patient who fell ill with flu symptoms on Jan. 6, more than two weeks after the individual returned from a trip to Wuhan.

The new illnesses had raised fears of a recurrence of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. The disease first infected people in southern China in late 2002, and spread to more than two dozen countries. More than 8,000 people were sickened and nearly 800 died, but no cases have been reported since 2004.

Another coronavirus causes MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome, which started in Jordan and Saudi Arabia in 2012 and spread into about two dozen other countries. About 2,500 lab-confirmed cases have been reported, including more than 800 deaths, with cases continuing to be seen in recent years.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out a health alert advising physicians who treat patients with pneumonia-like illness to consider a possible link to the Chinese outbreak and to wear masks and take other precautions in treating patients who recently travelled to Wuhan.

The CDC this week also advised U.S. travellers going to Wuhan to avoid animals and sick people and wash their hands often.

___

Stobbe reported from New York.
KIGALI/OSLO (Reuters) - Norway this year will take in 600 people evacuated to Rwanda from Libyan detention centres, the Nordic country said on Wednesday as it sought to discourage the smuggling of refugees across the Mediterranean Sea. Rwanda, from where more than 2 million people were displaced amid genocide in 1994, signed a deal with the United Nations in September meant to help resettle people detained in Libya while trying to reach Europe

KIGALI/OSLO (Reuters) - Norway this year will take in 600 people evacuated to Rwanda from Libyan detention centres, the Nordic country said on Wednesday as it sought to discourage the smuggling of refugees across the Mediterranean Sea.

Rwanda, from where more than 2 million people were displaced amid genocide in 1994, signed a deal with the United Nations in September meant to help resettle people detained in Libya while trying to reach Europe.

The migrants evacuated to Rwanda have been given asylum-seeker status there while the U.N refugee agency determines whether they are refugees.

Norway accepted to receive close to 500 people and Sweden took in seven last month. Others are still waiting, Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta told a news conference in the capital, Kigali.

In a statement to Reuters, Norwegian Justice Minister Joeran Kallmyr said the number for 2020 would in fact be 600, but added that would not lead to an increase in the overall number of refugees the government previously committed to.

As part of a compromise last year among Norway's four-party government coalition, Kallmyr's anti-immigration Progress Party has agreed to accept a total of 3,000 refugees from U.N. camps in 2020.

"It's important to me to show that we don't support cynical people smugglers, and instead bring in people who need protection in an organised manner. A transit camp like the one in Rwanda will contribute to that effort," Kallmyr said.

European authorities have been trying to close the route across the Mediterranean that has seen thousands of people die at sea while trying to reach Europe in recent years.

Last year, before the deal was signed, the United Nations estimated that about 4,700 people seeking refuge were estimated to be in Libyan detention centres, some of them run by militias and under siege amid civil war.

People smugglers have exploited the turmoil in Libya since 2011 to send hundreds of thousands of migrants on dangerous journeys across the central Mediterranean, although the number of crossings dropped sharply from 2017 amid an EU-backed push to block departures.

(Reporting by Philbert Girinema in Kigali and Gwladys Fouche and Terje Solsvik in Oslo; Editing by Nick Macfie and Peter Cooney)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The Syrian army responded on Thursday to a rebel attack in areas the army has recently advanced to in Idlib province, northwestern Syria, state news agency SANA reported, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

The army units in Maarat al-Numan city in the southeastern countryside of Idlib were attacked by rebel groups, said SANA, adding that the rebels took advantage of the fog and bad weather to launch the attack.

Intense battles ensued, which led to the destroying of rebel military gears and the killing and wounding of many militiamen, said SANA.

The Syrian army also carried out intensive strikes by missiles and artillery on the rebel positions and supply routes in the countryside of Idlib.

The report said that the Syrian army has succeeded in retaking over 320 sq km of areas in southern Idlib over the past month.
Two men arrested in connection with the hijacking of a minibus from Dublin Airport on Wednesday have arrived at court.

The pair, aged in their 30s, were escorted by gardai into Cavan District Court.

On Monday, gardai chased the minibus which was tracked crossing the Irish border before it crashed into a PSNI vehicle in Crossmaglen, Co Armagh and was later abandoned in Co Monaghan.

The alarm was raised shortly before 1am on Wednesday when Garda say two men boarded the bus and drove in the direction of the M1.

Three passengers on board when it was taken were able to leave the bus on the motorway close to Julianstown.

No-one was harmed.

The minibus then continued north to Drogheda where it was followed by Garda to the border with Northern Ireland at Dundalk.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the minibus collided with one of its vehicles in Crossmaglen before making off across the border.

A PSNI spokeswoman said no officers were injured.

Garda picked up the trail again when the vehicle re-entered the Irish Republic in Co Monaghan.

The minibus was later abandoned.

A Garda spokesman said the two occupants of the minibus fled on foot before taking possession of a parked car, which was intercepted by officers close to Castleblayney a short time later.

The two men were later arrested in connection to the offence.
Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders on Thursday ripped the Democratic effort to pass a resolution to limit President Trumps ability to respond with military force to Iranian aggression, saying that such decisions are safer in the hands of the president.

I cant think of anything dumber than allowing Congress to take over our foreign policy. They cant seem to manage to get much of anything done, Sanders told Fox News. The last thing we want to do is push powers into Congresss hands and take them away from the president.

Democratic lawmakers, along with some Republicans including Senators Mike Lee and Rand Paul, said they will support a war powers resolution, which would require Trump to seek congressional approval for the use of U.S. forces against Iran except against an imminent attack.

The similar proposals from both the House and the Senate limiting Trumps war powers were a response to the administrations order to assassinate top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, the head of Irans elite Quds Force, who was killed Friday in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad. The U.S. airstrike was retaliation for the attacks by Iran-backed militiamen on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad last week, which Soleimani signed off on.

Any Democrat that doesnt understand that America is safer now that one of the most dangerous terrorists in the word is rotting in hell is completely naive and completely misses what we need to have in a foreign policy, Sanders continued. I dont think anything could be worse for America than that.

A day earlier, Sanders criticized the Obama administrations Iran policy, saying that unlike his predecessor, Trump will not tolerate or give cash to the Iranians while they kill Americans.

Lawmakers emerged frustrated from a closed-door briefing with administration officials Wednesday on Iran, during which officials argued that Soleimani was killed to prevent an imminent threat to American assets.

Many Republicans remained supportive of the administrations move to rid Iran of Soleimani.

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The way to deal with threats like that is not through weakness, but through strength, and we saw that in taking out Soleimani this past week, Senator Ted Cruz said.

More from National Review
Nadhim Zahawi, MP for Stratford-on-Avon, left, and Jeremy Wright, MP for Kenilworth and Southam.

Stratford MP Nadhim Zahawi has faced criticism on social media after voting against an amendment to the Governments European Withdrawal Agreement Bill giving protections to child refugees.

Mr Zahawi and Kenilworth and Southam MP Jeremy Wright were among the 348 MPs to vote against the Dubs agreement, which was rejected by a majority of 96.

Named after Lord Dubs, the Labour peer who put it forward, the amendment committed the Government to reuniting refugee children with family members in the UK.

The amendment had been accepted as part of the withdrawal agreement negotiated by Theresa May, has now been stripped from Mr Johnsons withdrawal agreement, currently being negotiated in Parliament.

Commenting on the vote Jeremy Wright said: "This country should do whatever it can to help vulnerable children around the world, but the content of legislation should reflect its objectives.

"The EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill is not the right place to pursue our efforts to help those children.

"Specific arrangements currently made under EU Law will be the subject of negotiation with the EU over the coming months and continued family reunification of vulnerable children remains a Government priority."

The Herald has approached Mr Zahawi for comment.
The Ensign Group, Inc. ENSG has acquired the real estate and operations of The Healthcare Center at Patriot Heights, a healthcare campus with 59 skilled nursing beds and 158 independent living units located in San Antonio, Texas. The acquisition was effective Jan 1, 2020. These operations are running at an occupancy rate of approximately 80%.

This acquisition will enhance the companys operations in Texas and solidify its existing business in the San Antonio market. The Healthcare Center, which offers skilled nursing and independent living services, is an excellent geographic fit with sister operations in the area.

This acquisition brings Ensign's growing portfolio to 214 skilled nursing operations, 23 of which also include assisted living operations, across thirteen states. Ensign owns the real estate at 90 healthcare operations.

This acquisition is in line with the companys strategy to acquire real estate and to lease both well-performing and struggling skilled nursing, assisted living and other healthcare related businesses throughout the United States.

Ensign Group has been on an acquisition spree for skilled nursing facilities. This is in line with the comments by the company on its most recent earnings call about its capacity to keep growing on the back of multiple successful projects.

Ensign Group has a tradition of acquiring distressed healthcare operations that require significant clinical, financial and cultural turnaround. The company has a track record of turning around most of its 260 acquisitions over the period of 20 years.

In 2019, the company made successful buyouts. However, it expects some acquisitions in the pipeline to be completed in the first quarter of 2020.

Ensign Group is also adding value to its real estate portfolio by improving the operating results in its owned operations and by acquiring additional real estate assets. Since spinning out 94 of its real estate assets to CareTrust REIT in 2014, the company has added 198 operations and acquired 81 real estate assets.

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The stock has gained 11.5% compared with its industrys growth of 1.5% in the past year.

It also fared better than other companies in the space such as Genesis Healthcare, Inc. GEN, which gained 5.9%, and Brookdale Senior Living Inc. BKD and Capital Senior Living Corp. CSU, which lost 1.5% and 58.5%, respectively, in the past year.

Ensign Group carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Heather Barbera is sentenced for the July slaying of her mother and grandmother in their Ventnor condo, in Atlantic County Superior Court, in Mays Landing, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020. VERNON OGRODNEK / For The Inquirer Read more

MAYS LANDING, N.J.  Heather Barbera was sentenced to 42 years in prison Thursday for bludgeoning her mother and grandmother to death with a nightstick in their Ventnor boardwalk condominium in July 2018, then fleeing to New York with stolen cash and credit cards.

Barbera, 43, apologized in a soft, muffled voice before Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury handed down the sentence. He said that she had been exceedingly violent and that her depravity was palpable.

Word of her fate came three months after Barbera tearfully pleaded guilty to murder in the death of her grandmother, Elaine Rosen, and aggravated manslaughter in the death of her mother, Michelle Gordon.

Barbera, an unemployed mother of two, had been living with the two women in their eighth-floor condominium in the Vassar Square seaside high-rise when an argument turned physical and she attacked them.

The sentence, part of a negotiated plea agreement between the county prosecutors office and defense attorney James J. Leonard Jr., was roundly rejected by Richard Rosen, the brother and son of the victims, and Barberas uncle.

Its horrible, Rosen, 52, of Brooklyn, said after leaving the courthouse. How can you get 42 years for two murders? It should have been life. I dont understand the judicial system.

In court, prosecutor Allison Eiselen described in chilling detail how Barbera ended the lives of her relatives.

This defendant bludgeoned the two victims to death in their own home, then cleaned herself off. She stole their money and jewelry, and as they were gasping their final breaths, she just walked away, she said. There is no more heinous, cruel, or depraved crime than killing ones own mother and grandmother.

Leonard told the judge Barbera was the victim of a dysfunctional family scarred by drug abuse and mental illness. I think this was a very, very toxic and unhealthy family dynamic, he said.

There were a lot of very, very unfortunate things that took place in Ms. Barberas life, particularly with her mother, Leonard added, without providing details. There were a lot of competing issues that created a very volatile situation that exploded very unfortunately on that day.

Judge DeLury, reading from a prepared statement, acknowledged that the sentence might not be acceptable to all. This is a place of imperfect justice. Nothing this court does can restore the deceased to their loved ones, he said. The only thing this court can do is address the facts and circumstances and follow the law.

He said Barbera received the mandatory minimum 30-year sentence for murder in the slaying of her grandmother and a 12-year sentence for aggravated manslaughter in the death of her mother as part of her plea agreement. The sentences will be served consecutively, he said, meaning she must serve 40 years before she can be considered for parole.

Barbera told police she struck her mother with a flashlight, then grabbed a nightstick that had belonged to her deceased father, a former New York City police officer, and repeatedly beat her over the head. When her grandmother tried to intervene, Barbera beat her to death.

After stealing cash and credit cards from her mother, she fled to New York City. Purchases made on the credit cards led police to track Barbera to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan, where she was arrested three days later.

The womens bloodied bodies were discovered by Barberas uncle, Rosen, who drove from New York to the Shore when he could not reach his sister by telephone.

Rosen told police Barbera was emotionally troubled and addicted to drugs. He said he had warned his sister not to let his niece move in with her, but he said his sister was determined to help her daughter set her life on a better path.

The elder Rosen, 87, was a Philadelphia native who moved to New York in the 1950s and married a wedding musician. Barberas mother, Gordon, 67, was a patient-care technician.

Barberas husband, Jimmy Scott Thompson, 48, who drove 1,200 miles from his home in Brandon, Miss., to attend the hearing, stood stoically outside the courtroom with an armful of legal documents. He said he was displeased with the sentence and planned to get a new lawyer for his wife to file an appeal.

Thompson said he believed the killings were committed in the heat of passion, and thus, he said, Barbera should have been convicted of two counts of manslaughter and sentenced to no more than 20 years. Shes wrong for what happened, but the charges need to be correct, said Thompson, an Army veteran who retired as a police officer after 23 years.

He said his wifes mental health started to deteriorate after her brother died of a drug overdose in April 2018. Two months later, after a disagreement, he said, she left the couples home in Mississippi and moved to New Jersey to live with her mother and grandmother. He added that Barberas legal name is Thompson and brought their marriage license to confirm that.

I dont know what Im going to do, but Im going to fight for her, he said. Im her husband.
Vancouver, British Columbia, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Draganfly Inc. (CSE: DFLY) (OTCQB: DFLYF) (FSE: 3U8) (Draganfly or the Company), an award-winning, industry-leading manufacturer within the commercial Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and Unmanned Vehicle Systems (UVS) space, is pleased to announce that its common shares are now trading on the OTCQB Venture Market ("OTCQB Venture") under the stock symbol DFLYF.



The OTCQB Venture Market is the premiere marketplace for early stage and developing U.S. and international companies. Participating companies must be current in their reporting and undergo an annual verification and management certification process. Investors can find real-time quote and market information at https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/DFLYF/overview.

Draganfly is also pleased to announce that it has secured DTC eligibility by The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") for electronic settlement and transfer of its common shares in the United States.

Draganflys common shares will continue to trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) under the symbol DFLY as well as the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol 3U8.

About OTC Markets Group Inc.

OTC Markets Group Inc. operates the OTCQX Best Market, the OTCQB Venture Market, and the Pink Open Market for 10,000 U.S. and global securities. Through OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN, the OTC Markets Group connects a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services. OTC Markets Group enables investors to easily trade through the broker of their choice and empowers companies to improve the quality of information available for investors.

About The Depository Trust Company

DTC is a subsidiary of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation and manages the electronic clearing and settlement of publicly traded companies. Securities that are eligible to be electronically cleared and settled through the DTC are considered "DTC eligible." This reduces costs and accelerates the settlement process for investors and brokers, allowing the stock to be traded over a much wider selection of brokerage firms by coming into compliance with their requirements.

About Draganfly

Draganfly (CSE: DFLY; OTCQB: DFLYF; FSE: 3U8) is the creator of quality, cutting-edge, unmanned vehicle systems and software that revolutionizes the way people do business. Recognized as being at the forefront of technology for over 21 years, Draganfly is an award-winning, industry-leading manufacturer within the commercial UAV and UVS space, serving the public safety, agriculture, industrial inspections and mapping and surveying markets. Draganfly is a company driven by passion, ingenuity and the need to provide efficient solutions and first-class services to its customers around the world with the goal of saving time, money and lives.

For more information on Draganfly, please visit us at: www.draganfly.com. For additional investor information, visit www.thecse.com searching DFLY or visit https://www.boerse-frankfurt.de/ searching 3U8.

Media Contact

Arian Hopkins

email: arian@businessinstincts.com

Company Contact

Paul Sun, CFO

Email: paul.sun@draganfly.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains certain forward looking statements and certain forward-looking information as defined under applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as may, will, expect, intend, estimate, anticipate, believe, continue, plans or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements and information are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions that, while believed by management to be reasonable, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Forward-looking statements and information are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the ability of the Company to control or predict, that may cause the Companys actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied thereby, and are developed based on assumptions about such risks, uncertainties and other factors set out here in, including but not limited to: the inherent risks involved in the general securities markets; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future; the inherent uncertainty of cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, currency fluctuations; regulatory restrictions, liability, competition, loss of key employees and other related risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information except as required by applicable law. Such forward-looking information represents managements best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not in any way passed upon the merits of the listing of the common shares of Draganfly and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 9, 2020) - Riverside Resources Inc. (TSXV: RRI) (OTCQB: RVSDF) (FSE: R99) ("Riverside" or the "Company") provides a brief outlook with corresponding goals for 2020. Riverside enters the year with a number of high-quality gold, silver and copper exploration assets in Mexico and a newly developed gold portfolio in Ontario, Canada. The Company had a busy and productive 2019 with a new strategic partnership agreement and new project acquisitions in both Canada and Mexico. The Company still maintains a tight share structure (less than 63M shares outstanding); no debt and cash in the bank. The bulleted list below outlines some of the key catalysts and opportunities the Company is currently forwarding into 2020:

Advancing its strategic funding agreement with BHP for generative copper exploration in northeastern Sonora, Mexico; including acquiring properties and progressing toward drilling

for generative copper exploration in northeastern Sonora, Mexico; including acquiring properties and progressing toward drilling Additional exploration programs expected at the recently acquired Los Cuarentas Gold Project in Sonora, Mexico

expected at the recently acquired Los Cuarentas Gold Project in Sonora, Mexico Plans in place to spin-out the Penoles Gold-Silver Project into a new resource Company, benefitting current Riverside shareholders through a Plan of Arrangement

into a new resource Company, benefitting current Riverside shareholders through a Plan of Arrangement The Company is targeting new Canadian joint-venture partnerships in 2020

in 2020 New project acquisitions expected to continue expanding its portfolios in Canada and Mexico

expected to continue expanding its portfolios in Canada and Mexico Riverside holds marketable securities worth over $1,500,000 CDN and has retained NSR's on previously partnered projects

Riverside's President and CEO, John-Mark Staude, stated: "Riverside is pleased with the accomplishments achieved in 2019 and is looking forward to accelerated growth in 2020 as we are bullish on the prospect of a very strong year in the gold space. The Company has been strategically positioning itself with high-quality projects and partnerships and is geared up for a productive year ahead."

Listen to Riverside's CEO, John-Mark Staude and VP Exploration, Freeman Smith speak with the Korelin Economics Report on the Company's 2019 milestones and the plans looking ahead in 2020.

Riverside Resources Inc. (TSXV: RRI) will be exhibiting at the AEMA Round Up Project Generators Hub on Monday & Tuesday (Jan 20/21). Make sure to stop by for a detailed update on the Company's plans for the year ahead.

AME Roundup | Vancouver B.C, January 20 - 23, (Vancouver Convention Centre East)

https://roundup.amebc.ca

About Riverside Resources Inc.:

Riverside is a well-funded exploration company driven by value generation and discovery. The Company has no debt and fewer than 63M shares outstanding with a strong portfolio of gold-silver and copper assets in North America. Riverside has extensive experience and knowledge operating in Canada and Mexico and leverages its large database to generate a portfolio of prospective mineral properties. In addition to Riverside's own exploration spending, the Company also strives to diversify risk by securing joint-venture and spin-out partnerships to advance multiple assets simultaneously and create more chances for discovery. Riverside has additional properties available for option, with more information available on the Company's website at www.rivres.com.

ON BEHALF OF RIVERSIDE RESOURCES INC.

"John-Mark Staude"



Dr. John-Mark Staude, President & CEO

For additional information contact:

John-Mark Staude

President, CEO

Riverside Resources Inc.

info@rivres.com

Phone: (778) 327-6671

Fax: (778) 327-6675

Web: www.rivres.com

Raffi Elmajian

Corporate Communications

Riverside Resources Inc.

relmajian@rivres.com

Phone: (778) 327-6671

TF: (877) RIV-RES1

Web: www.rivres.com

Certain statements in this press release may be considered forward-looking information. These statements can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology (e.g., "expect"," estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "plans"). Such information involves known and unknown risks -- including the availability of funds, the results of financing and exploration activities, the interpretation of exploration results and other geological data, or unanticipated costs and expenses and other risks identified by Riverside in its public securities filings that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.

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.

Capitan Mining Plan of arrangement - spin out of shares to shareholders

Mexico

Los Cuarentas Project - see drilling at the project

Milestones Canada

Expand the portfolio in new Canadian jurisdictions

JV Partners on existing projects

Acquisition of new projects

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/51277
The Congress on Thursday took a swipe at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over her absence at a pre-budget meeting with economists and experts at the Niti Aayog here which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Here's a suggestion, next budget meeting, consider inviting the Finance Minister," the Congress said on its official Twitter handle, using the hashtag "FindingNirmala".

"How many men does it take to do a woman's job," the opposition party said in another tweet, using the same hashtag.

Incidently, while Nirmala Sitharaman was absent, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar were present at the PM's pre-budget meeting.

The Congress tagged a tweet of the BJP that said the finance ministry has invited suggestions for the Union Budget 2020-21.

"Citizens from all walks of life are welcome to be a part of this exercise," the tweet on the BJP twitter handle said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was not present as the Prime Minister met economists, private equity and venture capitalists, business leaders and agri experts at Niti Aayog and called for focussed efforts from all stakeholders to achieve the target of nearly doubling the size of the Indian economy to USD 5 trillion by 2024.

BJP sources said Sitharaman was holding pre-budget meetings with party workers at the BJP headquarters at that time.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tighter pollution control on trucks is an anomalous move for a government known for weakening environmental policies but one that would preempt tougher state rules.

Andrew Wheeler is the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). On Monday, the legal and regulatory process for curbing highway truck emissions of nitrogen dioxide began. This happened after the said emission of nitrogen oxide was linked to asthma and heart and lung diseases.

However, this tightening of existing standards is an uncharacteristic move from an administration that has prided itself on a series of regulatory rollbacks.

They will launch the Cleaner Trucks Initiative, which would update an outdated rule aimed at cutting nitrogen dioxide pollution from U.S. highways. This initiative aims to curb highway emissions of nitrogen oxide and other pollutants from heavy-duty engines.

The trucking industry had tried to persuade the administration to impose a national standard as states like California moved forward with stricter rules of their own.

While this can be a nominal feat for the Trump administration, public health experts say the truck regulations are not as out of line with administration policy as they would appear. It may still fall far short of what is necessary to significantly prevent respiratory illness and even premature deaths.

According to some environmental advocates, they fear that EPA's proposal could preempt even more stringent rules being considered in California.

Health and environmental groups are skeptical of the new rules including Margo Oge, director of the EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality from 1994 to 2012, who said, "I am very suspicious about what is going on here."

Last year, EPA Administrator Pruitt signed a proposal to revoke the emission standards and other requirements for heavy-duty glider vehicles, glider engines, and glider kits.

Meanwhile, in August 2011, in response to a Presidential Memorandum issued in May 2010, EPA in coordination with NHSTA issued greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy standards for trucks produced in model years 2014-2018.

EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are taking measured steps to enable the production of a new generation of clean vehicles.

According to Wheeler, EPA's acting administrator, "The Cleaner Trucks Initiative will help modernize heavy-duty truck engines, improving their efficiency and providing cleaner air for all Americans."

It has been nearly 20 years since EPA updated standards on NOx emissions.

The Trump administration appears to be complying with the wishes of the trucking industry, which has called for a new national nitrogen dioxide regulation to override states that could otherwise implement their own, tighter rules. Meanwhile, the EPA rule is likely to open a new battle in Trump's ongoing war with California over environmental regulations and states' rights.

Nitrogen oxides, or NOx, have been deemed as a cause of several respiratory problems.

Last November 2018, EPA intended to update the standards for heavy-duty trucks, which were last revised in 2001.

According to EPA, the USA's NOx emissions dropped more than 40 percent between 2007 and 2017 due to decreasing emissions from various sources.

RELATED ARTICLE: Emissions From Vehicle Models Reaches All-time Low: EPA Report
(ANSA) - Rome, January 9 - Premier Giuseppe Conte and Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio met in Rome on Thursday for talks about the Libya crisis and the tension between the US and Iran linked to Iraq, sources said. Defence Minister Lorenzo Guerini also took part, over the phone.

The interior minister in the UN-recognised Libyan government of Premier Faeyez al-Sarraj, Fathi Bashagha, arrived in Rome from Tripoli Thursday to reportedly meet the US Ambassador to Tunisia, Donald Blome.

Sarraj himself was expected to come to Rome from Brussels Wednesday evening but instead flew straight back to Tripoli, reportedly irked after eastern Libyan strongman General Khalkifa Haftar had talks in the Italian capital with Conte. Haftar's forces have been engaged in an offensive on the Sarraj government in Tripoli since April.

Tripoli on Thursday agreed to a ceasefire for Saturday proposed by Turkey and Russia.

Haftar is yet to give his official response to the peace mediation bid by presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin.

Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said during a visit to Algiers on Thursday that "there is interference by foreign States" in conflict-hit Libya.

He added that "we must find a solution with the EU for the adoption of an arms embargo". "It us a national security problem that we are addressing with all our strength," he said. "We'll push for a date to be identified as soon as possible for the Berlin conference (on Libya). "We have to put all the parties around a table and find a solution".

Defence Minister Guerini said in a phone call on the Iran-Iraq-US situation with German counterpart Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer Thursday that "we must face the ongoing crisis with the necessary balance, in order to obtain a reopening of dialogue to lower tension. In greater merit, we'll have to weigh together the possibility of the reconfiguration of our commitment, also examining in depth the possibility of boosting the role of NATO and the European countries".


By Rasana Gasimova

The construction of the highway between Iranian and Azerbaijani Astara regions has started, Iranian Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development Khayrullah Khademi, told local media.

The length of the road is about 1,300 meters.

Khademi said that "the transit of products and the transportation of citizens between Iran and Azerbaijan is one of the main tasks."

"In this regard, a new border terminal has been built outside the city,"

He also clarified the situation with the Rasht-Astara railway: Since the railway passes through cultivated areas in some places, these territories must be acquired from farmers, he said.

He noted that according to initial estimates, 60-70 trillion rials (about $1.42-1.66 billion dollars) have been provided for this. As it is impossible to provide these funds in one to two years, in addition to the annual budget, other funding sources are provided to accelerate the pace of construction.

Iran sees Azerbaijan as a hub to reach larger regional markets. The transport cooperation between the two countries is crucial in the realization of the International North-South Transport Corridor project.

Earlier this month, Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami said that an agreement on connecting the main roads between Iran and Azerbaijan has already been reached.

He praised the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Iran in the transport sector and said that the increase in transit and trade has positively affected relations between the two countries.

He noted that an agreement was reached with Azerbaijan on the construction of the Baku-Astara-Rasht highway and connection of the two countries highways.

The Rasht-Astara railroad project is jointly carried out by Iran and Azerbaijan, each providing 50 percent of the required funding. Azerbaijan funded $500 million and Iran invested the same amount in the project.

To complete the railway links of the transportation corridor, Iran had earlier agreed to construct inland railroad segments in northern parts of the country in order to extend its railways to the border area with the neighboring Azerbaijan through the two Astara cities on both sides. The initial plan included the Qazvin-Rasht and Rasht-Astara railroad segments.

The main goal of strategic cooperation between the railways of Iran and Azerbaijan is activating the International North-South Transportation Corridor which will eventually link Russia and Azerbaijan to High-Seas through the Islamic Republic.

The INSTC, a 7,200 kilometer-long freight route connecting India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia via ship, rail and road, is meant to connect Northern Europe with Southeast Asia. The main objective of the INSTC is to provide an alternative to the traditional routes carried out by sea through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Turnover spurts in derivatives segment due to expiry of weekly index options.

The Nifty January 2020 were at 12,271, a premium of 55.1 points compared with the Nifty's closing of 12,215.90 in the cash market.

In the cash market, the Nifty 50 index jumped 190.55 points or 1.58% to 12,215.90.

Turnover on the National Stock Exchange's & options (F&O) segment was Rs 32.89 lakh crore compared with Rs 17.85 lakh crore reported in the previous session.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, tumbled 10.16% to 14.05 as geo-political tension ebbed.

On the options front, the Nifty option chain for 30 January 2020 expiry showed maximum call open interest (OI) of 25.13 lakh contracts at the 12,500 strike price. Maximum put OI of 44.17 lakh contracts was seen at 12,000 strike price.

The option chain indicates that Nifty will hover between 12,000 and 12,500 in the January 2020 series.

Yes Bank (up 2.93%) was banned from trading in NSE's F&O segment after the security crossed 95% of market wide position limit.

State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank and Max Financial Services were the top traded individual stock contracts in F&O segment of NSE for January expiry.

SBI January 2020 futures were at 330.90, compared with spot closing price of 330.10. ICICI Bank January 2020 futures were at 547, compared with spot closing price of 545.60. Max Financial Services January 2020 futures were at 509.20, compared with spot closing price of 507.50.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Having expressed concern over the loss of oxygen produced by the trees that were cut or proposed to be cut, CJI Bobde set up a four-member committee that would explore the alternatives to the construction of five ROB in Kolkata city which would involve the cutting of over 400 tress, including 80 heritage tress about 70 to 80 years old.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed concern over the cutting of trees, at times of heritage trees, to pave way for the construction of infrastructure projects resulting in the loss of oxygen released by the trees.

When you cut a heritage tree, imagine the value of the oxygen the tree produced all these years. Compare it to how much you would have to pay for the equivalent amount of oxygen tree produced if you have to buy it from somewhere else, said CJI S.A. Bobde heading a three-judge bench also comprising Justice B.R.Gavai and Justice Surya Kant.

Having expressed concern over the loss of oxygen produced by the trees that were cut or proposed to be cut, CJI Bobde set up a four-member committee that would explore the alternatives to the construction of five ROB in Kolkata city which would involve the cutting of over 400 tress, including 80 heritage tress about 70 to 80 years old.

The court has given the committee four weeks time to submit its report.

CJI Bobde said that the population explosion has led to need for more and more infrastructure at the cost of green cover in the country and pointed to tree-falling in Aarey forest area in Mumbai for the construction of shed for Mumbai Metro.

Describing as fraud that the project proponents would plant five times of the trees that would be cut, CJI Bobde said, Our experience is that at the end three survives and sometimes it is a fraud of planting trees.

CJI Bobde took dim view of the survival record of the trees planted by project agencies to compensate for the trees that are cut in the execution of projects as senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the West Bengal government, said that they would plant five times of the three that would be cut.

Mr Singhvi said that the proposed road over bridge and the expansion of highways was necessitated because of the loss of nearly 700 human lives in road accidents in these areas.

He assured the court that project proponents  a state government agency would try to minimise the loss of tree on account of the project.

As Mr Singhvi said that ministry of environment and forest which is the custodian of the trees too was with them, CJI Bobde in a loaded observation said that we know the kind of permission MoEF gives and referred to the permission to cut over 4000 trees for the construction of Nagpur-Jabalpur Highway.
Kolkata: A massive blast rocked North 24 Parganas districts Naihati town on Thursday amidst an attempt by local police to detonate seized firecrackers.

Officials of Barrackpore Police Commissionerate reached Naihati town to detonate the seized firecrackers but the impact was so massive that two police vehicles were damaged and houses on the other side of the river  Chuchura in Hooghly district too felt the impact.

Rooftops of houses situated a few kilometres away were damaged and glass window panes were shattered due to the impact. Infuriated locals gheraoed Chandannagore Police Commissioner Humayun Kabir who went to assess the situation.

While locals near the site of the blast were left wondering what led to the massive blast.

Live TV

On reaching the spot, Barrackpore Police Commissioner Manoj Verma said, We are investigating the matter. We have been detonating firecrackers and explosives for the last three days. We did not face any trouble in the last two days. We will investigate what went wrong, it is difficult to comment now.

Meanwhile, BJP leaders including state president Dilip Ghosh demanded NIA enquiry into the incident.

This apart, the West Bengal Governor, Jagdeep Dhankhar took to Twitter and demanded a serious probe. The explosion leaves nothing to the imagination. It calls for a thorough probe in view of its seriousness, intensity and damage caused. Only expert investigation can unearth issues involved. This ominous development should be an eye-opener for law enforcing and regulatory regime in State, he wrote on Twitter.
This involves both re-placement appointments due to fluctuation and, in some cases, job increases. The focus of the recruitment planned in the DACH countries is on the ground with around 2,500 positions. Almost 1,300 new flight attendants are to be hired across the Lufthansa Group.

Around 1,000 new employees are slated to be hired at the core brand Lufthansa in 2020. 450 prospective flight attendants alone will begin their training at the Munich location. In addition, 40 flying colleagues will be joining Lufthansa CityLine at the Bavarian hub. The Lufthansa subsidiary in Munich plans to employ approximately as many administrative staff. Furthermore, around 100 recruitments in administration are planned at Lufthansa, along with around 300 in ground operations. The crane airline is also looking for candidates in the area of IT and for other expert positions this year.

The focus on IT that was set last year continues across almost the entire Lufthansa Group, especially with the in-house IT service providers. For example, Lufthansa Industry Solutions is looking to hire around 350 new employees to meet the increasing need for IT services inside and outside the Lufthansa Group  technology specialists as well as specialists with industry-specific knowledge. Lufthansa Systems is also looking for IT specialists of all kinds at its international locations, with plans to hire around 200 people worldwide.

Lufthansa Group regularly among the top 3 employers

Lufthansa Group continues to be one of the most popular employers in Germany and has repetitively been ranked as one the top three best employers by the well-known market research institute YouGov. This popularity is also reflected in the number of applicants as in 2019 alone, more than 190,000 external applications were received through the career platform lufthansagroup.careers.

Our most important competitive advantage lies in our employees, who give their best for our customers and our company every day with their dedication and skills. This year we will again be looking for dedicated talent in the job market. Our diverse range of career opportunities speaks for itself, says Michael Niggemann, who was appointed to the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG effective 1 January 2020 as Head of HR and Legal.

There are over 500 different job profiles at the Lufthansa Group, with its more than 550 subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide. The aviation group currently offers 28 classic apprenticeships at 16 different locations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. There are also 13 dual-study programs and 4 trainee programs. In total, around 500 new hires for junior positions are planned for this year, including around 50 trainees. When it comes to young talent, Lufthansa Technik Group, based in Hamburg, is well ahead of the field: This year, there is a capacity of roughly 270 positions in apprenticeships or dual-study programs in the areas of aircraft technology, industry or logistics. Overall, Lufthansa Technik Group is planning a total of around 1,200 new hires in its home markets.

SWISS creates more than 300 jobs with the fleet integration of the B777

SWISS plans to hire more than 1,000 new employees this year, in which around 500 prospective flight attendants will be beginning their training. With the commissioning of two new Boeing 777 long-haul aircraft, the Swiss airline is creating more than 300 jobs in cabin, cockpit and technical areas across the calendar year. A long-haul aircraft is thus equivalent to a small and medium-sized enterprise, generating jobs for an average of 25 pilots, 10 technicians and 120 cabin employees.

Due to internal restructuring and cost-saving measures, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and Lufthansa Cargo are currently imposing a hiring freeze; with some exceptions. Austrian Airlines will reduce its headcount due to competitive redimensioning. Nevertheless, the airline still plans to offer around 200 new jobs at the Vienna location in 2020. This is the case, for example, in the area of IT, since a new Lufthansa Group center of excellence is being established in Vienna. Austrian Airlines is also hiring young talent: 20 apprentices and a total of 13 students for the dual-study program AirCelerate.

Text & Image:  Lufthansa Group
It will be a no-show for No Tolls CT at Gov. Ned Lamonts public forum on tolls Sunday, despite demands by the grassroots group that the governor hold town halls on his latest plan.

No Tolls CT said Thursday it will boycott the event, scheduled for at 4 p.m. Sunday at Bedford Middle School in Westport.

No Tolls CT is shifting strategy in light of Tuesdays caucus meetings regarding Gov. Ned Lamonts latest toll plan, the group said in a release and on social media. Instead, the No Tolls CT organization will focus its efforts on the upcoming special elections.

General Assembly Democrats in the Senate and the House met Tuesday. Leaders of both chambers said they have votes to pass tolling for large trucks only, under strict conditions, with a very close count in the Senate. Many lawmakers, facing election this year, insist the tolling bill specifically exclude cars and smaller trucks.

The boycott strikes some people as odd, considering No Tolls CT and its leader, Patrick Sasser, demanded forums from Lamont, who agreed late last year to hold them.

The governor is holding just one, one-hour town hall meeting before trying to pass his transportation plan in January. Weve been waiting months for the governor to follow through on holding town hall meetings. The whole thing is a farce, Sasser said in the release.

The issue took on a circus atmosphere this past weekend in a flap over a tentatively scheduled tolls forum in Westport. Sen. Will Haskell, D-Westport, had tried to organize the event and informed a pro-tolls group, ReSisters, about it. A leader of that group then sent out an email to members marked Top Secret, urging people to attend but not spread the word to opponents.

Theres no evidence that Haskell or Lamont coordinated that call for secrecy and they both denied knowing about the email in advance. But Sasser; House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby; a blogger for the Yankee Institute; and Kevin Rennie, a blogger who separately works as a freelance columnist for the Hartford Courant, all accused Lamont and Haskell of a conspiracy to pack the forum in order to make tolls appear more popular.

The Tuesday forum didnt happen because of scheduling issues, Haskell and Lamonts office said. Lamont has since appeared on two radio shows, the latest Thursday morning on WTIC-AM, answering questions about the latest plan.

Gov. Ned Lamont has had a conversation with Connecticut residents going back a year on how to fund Connecticuts transportation system, and grow Connecticuts economy and he looks forward to continuing that on Sunday, Lamont spokesman Max Reiss said Thursday, declining to comment on the boycott by No Tolls CT.

Democrats are moving toward a special session as soon as next week to vote on a tolls bill, though an actual bill has yet to be produced. Many details remain unanswered, including whether the bill will name precise locations for the tolls, the likely toll amounts and the total dollars collected. After expenses, the tolls are expected to yield about $170 million a year.

Some lawmakers, notably Sen. Alex Bergstein, D-Greenwich, argue that truck tolling is inadequate. Tolling cars is necessary and the fairest and most efficient way to raise money for transportation, since it charges people using the highways and brings in hundreds of millions of dollars from out-of-state drivers.

Sasser, in the release, said it appears that lawmakers may not be interested in hearing from the public.

Hosts of the Sunday forum are Haskell and Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport. Lamonts office said he will attend.

While we encourage anyone who has an interest in the toll debate to attend the governor's meeting, we, as an organization, are going to concentrate our efforts where it really counts: getting candidates who oppose tolls elected, Sasser said in the release.

Special elections are scheduled for this coming Tuesday for House seats in Fairfield, to replace Republican Brenda Kupchick, who won election as first selectman; and in Colchester, Windham and nearby towns to replace Democrat Linda Orange, who died late last year from pancreatic cancer. A special election is set for Jan. 21 in Greenwich to replace Republican Fred Camillo, who won election as first selectman.

dhaar@hearstmediact.com
Seditious American presence in the region must end: Iran's Supreme Leader

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Wed / 8 January 2020 / 16:13

Tehran (ISNA) - Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says Iran's early Wednesday missile attack on US bases in Iraq following the American assassination of a top general was just "a slap".

"The talk of revenge and such debates are a different issue. For now, a slap was delivered on their face last night," Ayatollah Khamenei said in remarks broadcast live on national television Wednesday.

"What is important about confrontation is that the military action as such is not sufficient. What is important is that the seditious American presence in the region must end," he said to chants of "Death to America" by an audience in Tehran.

The remarks came hours after Iran responded to the US assassination of the Middle East's most prominent anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis with a barrage of missiles that hit two US bases in Iraq.

Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran is quite equipped in the face of the global bullying powers. "It is a very blatant mistake that some people think if they take a step back, the Americans will stop their hostility."

"Some people say and even write in newspapers that we should act so that America does not get angry; this is absolutely wrong. This is contrary to the Qur'an commandment," the Leader added.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the overriding responsibility of the masses is to discern their enemies, and "I am firmly saying that the enemy is America, the Zionist regime and the arrogant apparatus of corporations and institutions."

They have brought war, sedition and destruction to the region and "wherever they have put their foot on," the Leader said.

"This must end. This region does not accept the American presence. Governments emanating from their people do not accept this," he added.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the Americans "are now adamant about dealing the same corruption and destruction against the dear Iran and the Islamic Republic."

"They keep insisting on negotiation, but these things are a prelude to intervention," he said.

The Leader hailed the Iraqi parliament's decision ordering US troops to leave the country as well as the Iranian parliament's blacklisting of American forces as terrorists.

"This measure by the Majlis was a very good blow. The Iraqi parliament's act for the expulsion of America from Iraq was also very good. May God help them continue this path."

"The Americans want Iraq to be like the former idolatrous regime in Iran or Saudi Arabia today - a region full of oil to be under their control so they can do whatever they want - a milking cow in the words of that individual," Ayatollah Khamenei said in reference to US President Donald Trump.

"But the faithful elements and the Iraqi youth and their Marja'iya (religious authorities) stood up to these scenarios and Haj Qassem assisted this vast front in the capacity of an active adviser and an honorable supporter," the Leader added.

The US, Ayatollah Khamenei said, has similar plans for Lebanon. "The Americans want to clear Lebanon of the most important factor of independence which is the resistance so that it cannot resist."

However, "thank God, Hezbollah has become stronger day by day and today, both Lebanon's hands and eyes are Hezbollah and the role of our martyr [Gen. Soleimani] is paramount and outstanding," the Leader added.

Ayatollah Khamenei said some of the "hated regimes in the region which say things from time to time against us are not our enemy as long as they do not act against the Islamic Republic" in collaboration with Iran's enemies.

The Leader also said the US assassination of Gen. Soleimani served the Islamic Revolution. "His martyrdom showed to the world the Revolution is alive, just when some were trying to insinuate that the Revolution has died in the country."

"You saw what happened in Tehran and other cities," Ayatollah Khamenei said, referring to several million people who came out to pay homage to Gen. Soleimani in the Iranian capital, Ahvaz, Mashhad, Qom and Kerman.

"Enemies felt humiliated in the face of this glory even though they may try to conceal it," he said. "The liar Americans who are not worthy of being valued tried to portray this brave man as a terrorist but the Iranian nation punched them in the mouth."

General Soleimani, the Leader said, thwarted American plans in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, according to Press TV.

"The Americans' plan for Palestine was to confine the Palestinian cause to oblivion and for the Palestinians not dare to speak of their struggle. This man had the Palestinians' hands filled and did something in Gaza where a small region stood up against them," he added.

End Item

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Russian law enforcement authorities have dramatically escalated the nationwide persecution of Jehovahs Witnesses over the past year.



The numbers of house raids and people under criminal investigation have more than doubled, and 32 Jehovahs Witnesses worshipers are behind bars for peacefully practicing their faith, the New York-based watchdog said in a statement on January 9.

The statement said that at least 313 people are facing charges, are on trial, or have been convicted of criminal extremism for engaging in Jehovahs Witnesses activities, or are suspects in such cases.



About two-thirds of them found out about their status as suspect or accused in 2019, it said.



HRW said authorities have carried out at least 780 house raids since 2017 in dozens of Russian cities -- more than half of them last year.



Eighteen people were convicted in 2019, nine of whom received prison sentences ranging from 2 to 6 years, for such activities as participating in prayer meetings.



Russia banned the religious group in April 2017 and deemed it an "extremist organization."



HRW said the authorities should reverse the ban and remove the extremist designation, which it said blatantly violates Russias obligations to respect and protect religious freedom and freedom of association.



They should allow Jehovahs Witnesses to freely practice their faith, release those detained immediately, drop any outstanding charges, expunge all related criminal records, the watchdog said.
The Chicago food scene is one of the best in the world, and we are excited to partner with the Lombardo family and Gibsons group, especially in this great new destination in the heart of the city, Andres said in a statement provided to the Tribune by the towers developers.
The Army is working hard in Kangaroo Island to help farmers deal with dead livestock, clear roads and recover injured wildlife.

There are 120 soldiers on the island and that figure is set to grow to 600 over the next few days.

The ADF has released a video showing Army vets and reservists helping injured koalas to recover from savage burns and feed rescued kangaroos.

The Army is working hard in Kangaroo Island to help farmers deal with dead livestock, clear roads and recover injured wildlife. Pictured: A soldier nurses a kangaroo

Soldiers have also been helping fire crews prepare for another dangerous fire day by bringing in heavy machinery to bolster containment lines.

A big focus so far has been restoring water supplies with a portable treatment plant flown in to do the work of infrastructure damaged in Friday's blaze.

Islanders have been asked to restrict water use to essential needs after the plant near Parndana was knocked out of action.

'I'm building up what will be a 600-person group here on the island over the next two days,' Brigadier Damien Cantwell said.

There are 120 soldiers on the island and that figure is set to grow to 600 over the next few days. Pictured: A soldier nurses a koala

The ADF has released a video (above) showing Army vets and reservists helping injured koalas to recover from savage burns and feed rescued kangaroos

'They will be made up of both high readiness units across the defence force but also a contingent of reservists behind them so we can sustain the ADF effort.'

Brig Cantwell said as local commander he had the full support of the ADF leadership to deploy any resources required to aid in the recovery efforts.

Defence force personnel have set a totally self-sufficient staging ground just outside Kingscote, the island's main town.

Those deployed are being urged to also use their downtime to support local businesses which might be doing it tough, including cafes and restaurants.

They arrived on the island on Monday after travelling in convoy from Adelaide.
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China deploys drones, patrol boats as unprecedented 10-year fishing ban comes into effect

by Mark Godfrey

January 09,2020 | Source: Seafood Source

Surveillance drones and patrol boats are being deployed in greater numbers than ever before as Chinas unprecedented 10-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River kicks off this week. According to Yu Kangzhen, Chinas vice minister for agriculture, who also has responsibility over the countrys fisheries, the ban is part of the Chinese governments flagship strategy to rehabilitate its inland fisheries. Yu is emphasizing a just transition for fishing communities as they enter the 10-year timeframe of the ban. In a statement outlining the move, Yu explained how 10 government ministries  including the ministries of finance and labor  have been involved in implementing the ban, which aims to protect depleted species like the Yangtze alligator, dolphin, and sturgeon, which have all but disappeared from the river, which is the longest in China and the third-longest in the world. The fishing catch shrunk from 430,000 metric tons (MT) in 1954 to 100,000 MT in 2018, according to the statement.



Chinas efforts with the Yangtze will be watched globally, given the extent of the problem and the apparent success of some measures already taken. The ban comes as China prepares to host a major United Nations biodiversity conference later this year in Kunming. Since the 1950s, numerous dams and irrigation channels have disrupted the rivers natural flow, hurting fish stocks and cutting more than a hundred lakes off from the river. Lakes that remain connected, like Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake, are major brand names in Chinese seafood markets.



Most conservationists agree the baiji dolphin, which has near-mythical status in Chinese culture, is extinct, though this is disputed in Chinese documents. Several lakes were reconnected to the Yangtze in the past two decades and protected habitat areas have been established to protect wetland landscapes. Nevertheless, the Yangtze is the biggest source of plastic waste entering the seas globally, according to several international environmental NGOs.

Theme(s): Freshwater ecosystems and threats, Communities and Organisations, Fisheries Development and Aquaculture, Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods, Post Harvest Technology and Trade, Fisheries Resources, Coastal Ecosystems and Threats, Landing Centres, Others.
Two female students were detained at the Mandir Marg police station after 6pm on Thursday as JNU students tried to march towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan protesting the violence on the university campus earlier this week. They were stopped and later detained by the Delhi Police, members of the JNUSU said.

Most of the students were detained in a bus and some of them were beaten as well. In an attempt to stop the students, the police also resorted to baton charge to control the mob who tried to block traffic at Janpath. With the help of loud speakers, the police appealed to the crowd to maintain peace.

Watch | JNU students demand VCs ouster; protest march to Rashtrapati Bhavan halted



#WATCH Delhi Police remove women protesters while they were marching towards Rashtrapati Bhavan. Students are demanding removal of the Jawaharlal Nehru University's Vice Chancellor following Jan 5 violence in the campus. pic.twitter.com/HzT2AjkZF5  ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

Just before the students tried to march towards Rashtrapati Bhavan, a delegation of JNU Students Union and JNU Teachers Association met Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry officials and demanded the removal of Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar from his post.

The Delhi Police appealed to students to maintain peace and call off their protest.

The two students detained were later released. After their release, a large number of students have now gathered in the heart of Central Delhi at the popular Connaught Place.

JNU Vice Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar has been facing nationwide criticism, particularly after masked goons entered the university campus under his watch on Sunday evening and thrashed students. He has been targeted for allegedly doing little to stop the goons and not calling the police which waited at the gates of the university.

Kumar has also been widely criticised for not reaching out to his students who were beaten with sticks, rods and hammers.
Ireland West Airport had a record year in 2019 as passenger numbers rose 5pc to 807,000. It marked the fourth consecutive year of passenger growth at the airport near Knock in Co Mayo.

Ryanair accounted for the bulk of the airport's passengers, flying 622,000 people in and out of the gateway last year. That was also a record for the carrier at the airport.

But the airport, which now serves 23 destinations, is also served by carriers including Aer Lingus and Flybe. From March, Ryanair subsidiary Lauda, which is based in Vienna, will operate a new service from Ireland West to Palma Majorca in Spain.

New services from Ryanair last year helped to lift passenger numbers between Ireland West and continental Europe by 20pc. The carrier launched a service to Cologne last year, while boosting capacity on a route to Barcelona.

Passenger numbers to and from the UK at the airport edged 2pc higher in 2019.

Ireland West chairman Arthur French said the growth in passenger numbers last year was "good news" for tourism and job creation.

"As we look ahead to 2020, the year will present many challenges due to ongoing uncertainty in the aviation industry and in particular due to Brexit and the continued grounding of the 737 Max aircraft," he said.

"We will continue to work with our stakeholders and airline partners over the next 18 months as we strive to develop new and existing access and continue our airport transformation programme."

Last year, Ireland West completed the rehabilitation of its 2,400-metre runway - the first time in its 34-year history that the runway had a full overlay completed. That project is one of a number of infrastructural works at the airport, and cost 11.2m. It was 75pc-funded by the State.

In December, it was announced by the government that Ireland West Airport had been awarded a 1.7m grant.

That funding was part of a 3.7m grant package awarded to airports including Ireland West, Kerry and Donegal under the Regional Airports Programme. The scheme supports safety and security investments at the airports.
Bangkok on high alert as PM2.5 levels forecast to rise

THAILAND: Bangkok yesterday (Jan 8) recorded the world's third worst air quality on Air Visual, a popular app monitoring pollution, while City Hall is on high alert for a predicted rise in PM2.5 levels until the end of this week.

environmenthealthpollution

By Bangkok Post

Thursday 9 January 2020, 10:18AM

Bangkok recorded the worlds third worst air quality yesterday (Jan 8) and the city is on high alert for the rest of the week. Photo: AFP

The level of PM2.5 at 9:30am on Wednesday rose to over 119 microgrammes per cubic metre (g/m), placing the Thai capital third behind only Australia's Canberra and India's New Delhi in terms of air pollution.

However, by 6pm the level of PM2.5 had dropped to 33.9g/m, placing the city 32nd on the app's real-time ranking of the world's air quality.

In a related development, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has put its health officials on high alert following a rise of PM2.5 - hazardous ultra-fine dust - in 38 of 50 areas in the capital and adjacent provinces.

According to the Pollution Control Department (PCD), the levels of fine particulate matter in the 38 areas ranged from 40 to 71g/m.

Muang district of Samut Prakan was the worst polluted with 71, followed by Krathum Baen district in Samut Sakhon and Bung Kum district in the capital with 70. Other unhealthy areas were Bang Khunthian, Bang Na, Pathumwan, Thon Buri and Wang Thonglang districts.

Muang district of Nakhon Pathom, Pakkret district of Nonthaburi, Khlong Luang district in Pathum Thani, Phra Pradaeng district of Samut Prakan were also among the worst areas.

The PM2.5 levels have worsened since Monday. The government considers readings of 51 or more unsafe for health. Elsewhere in the world the safe level is usually much lower.

Chawin Sirinak, director of the BMA's Health Department, said the Communicable Diseases Control Division is closely following guidelines drawn up to help authorities effectively respond to air pollution concerns.

He said officials at mobile units led by 68 health offices were instructed to step up an awareness campaign among city residents, with a focus on vulnerable groups such as the elderly, children, pregnant women and people with heart and respiratory complaints.

The health mobile units are instructed to step up monitoring of vulnerable groups if PM2.5 levels register between 76-100g/m for three consecutive days.

The PCD sets the so-called safe threshold of PM2.5 at 50g/m. The fine dust can cause severe respiratory disorders, especially among vulnerable groups. People with underlying health problems were advised to wear face mask and avoid non-essential outdoor activities.

To help relieve the situation, Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda has ordered the police to strictly monitor emissions from vehicles and factories and enforce the ban on open-air burning.
Syrain activists have been quick to cast derision on the Syrian Defense Minister, Ali Abdullah Ayoub, and the small chair he was given writes Arabi 21.

Syrian activists took to social media to engage in widespread mockery of the Syrian Defense Minister, Ali Abdullah Ayoub, and the regime president, Bashar al-Assad.

On Tuesday, Assad met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the headquarters of the Russian forces in Damascus, along with a single Syrian official, which was the minister of defense, as well as other Russian officers and officials.

According to SANA, the two presidents listened to a military presentation by the commander of the Russian forces operating in Syria.

According to the Russian TASS agency, the spokesman for the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov, said that in the talks with Assad, Putin said: that it could be confidently declared that a lot of ground had been covered towards the reconstruction of the Syrian state and the unity of its territory.

This visit is Putins second to Syria after he visited the Russian Hemeimeem airbase in Lattakia at the end of 2017.

Images published by the Syrian Arab Presidency account on Facebook showed Ayoub on Assads left on a shorter chair, compared to his Russian counterparts, making him look much shorter than the others.

The images sparked widespread mockery among activists who asked why the minister was shown in that way and whether he had been intentionally given a chair with a lower back or if it was an accident.

Activists also asked that if the Syrian defense minister had been positioned in this way and dwarfed by the other attendees, then what is his status behind the scenes?

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, on Thursday, warned the U.S. that it risked a dangerous response if the White House tried any further interventions in the region.

The assassination of Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq recently, led to Iran firing missiles at U.S. forces in Iraq.

The U.S. had designated Mr Soleimani a terrorist.

U.S. President Donald Trump had said on Wednesday that Iran now appears to be standing down.

Mr Rouhani has, however, threatened that there would more retaliatory moves if needed.

If the U.S. makes another mistake, it will receive a very dangerous response.

The Americans and the White House have no understanding of the region.

Although they have recognised what a mistake they have made after their terrorist measure and following the uprising of regional nations and the unity that was created, Mr Rouhani said during a call with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Mr Johnson told Mr Rouhani that Britain still backed an Iran nuclear deal that the U.S. had withdrawn from; and also denounced British comments against Mr Soleimani.

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson had also on Wednesday said the general had the blood of British troops on his hands.

Undoubtedly, without martyr Soleimanis efforts, you would not have had calm in London today, Mr Rouhani said, appearing to give credit to Soleimanis supposed efforts at combating the Islamic State terrorist group.

Pope Francis said tensions risked triggering a vaster conflict that all of us would want to avert while Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported the U.S. had moved aircraft to Cyprus for possible evacuation of U.S. citizens from the Middle East.

(dpa/NAN)
Rajya Sabha member Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati on Thursday announced a "token fast" in Pune on January 11 to protest the Maharashtra government's apathetic attitude towards the 'Sarathi' organisation.

The new Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government seemed to be planning to close it down, he alleged here.

"Saarathi organisation was meant for helping the Maratha community and I was the chief guest at its inauguration.

"But the new government in Maharashtra seems to be planning to close it down. So I have decided to sit on a token fast on January 11. I and my associates will sit in front of Sarathi's office itself," he said.

During his meeting with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray a few weeks ago, the latter had promised to find a way out, he said.

"It seems some government officials want to end Sarathi's autonomy," he alleged.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The best way to lose the global tech war is by stifling immigration, and the biggest beneficiaries of the Trump administrations crackdown on foreigners is Canada, followed by Australia, Germany and a handful of Asian nations. Last year U.S.-based tech companies warned that tightening immigration policies could result in hundreds of employees losing their ability to work in the United States.

At the same time, the U.S. administration is making it increasingly difficult for foreign students to obtain visas.

But the worst-case scenario is this: America is training the rest of the worlds workforce. Those students who receive their highly prized artificial intelligence or other top-notch scientific educations in the United States, are now finding themselves cut off from green cards.

How is the tech industry pre-empting this threat? By moving to Canada.

Several Silicon Valley companies have now opened offices in Canada to tap tech talent, including Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon.

Canada has been working for years to grow its technology hubs. In 2017, the country launched the Global Skills Strategy program, which offers work permits similar to Americas H-1B visa.

Also, Germany and Asian countries all have become more popular destinations for tech savvy since the 2016 US presidential elections.

At the same time, in the last three years, Australia experienced a nearly 50% increase in new foreign students.

Back in the U.S., the number of new international students enrolling at U.S. colleges is declining precipitously.

In 2017, there was a 17% drop in international students in the U.S., with a 28% drop in Indian students and a 24% drop in Chinese students receiving visas. The results from the most recent data available, a 201718 survey, show that it fell againthis time by close to 7%



Data also shows that in 2018 immigration officials denied nearly one out of every four requests for new visas for skilled foreign workers. Thats the highest denial rate for new H-1B visa applications in nearly 10 years.

In February, the U.S. government extended the time it takes to process applications assigned for extended security checks to six months which previously took two months.



The Trump Administration has likewise proposed revoking an Obama-era rule that allowed the spouses of people with H-1B visas to work. This was originally scheduled to be revoked starting in June 2017, but has been delayed several times, with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently saying that it will be enforced this spring.

The Trump administration is also targeting another rule that has allowed international students to work while applying for visas. In large part, these changes target student visas for Chinese citizens.

Its all happening at a time when the U.S. is enjoying stellar employment.

Job openings in 2019 outnumbered the unemployed by the widest gap ever, so immigrants are not, it would seem, preventing Americans from getting jobs.

Some 1.1 million foreign students contributed $36.9 billion and supported more than 450,000 jobs during the 2016-2017 school year in the U.S., according to the Association of International Educators (NAFSA).

Chinese students contributed $11 billion to the U.S. economy, while students from India contributed another $5 billion just over 2017.

U.S. tech companies are concerned at the potential loss of talent from China and India, which make up nearly half of Americas international student body.

Related: Gold Major Looks To Hike Dividends By 79%

According to a 2016 study by the National Foundation for American Policy, immigrants have been the catalyst for more than half (44 of 87) of Americas startup companies valued at $1 billion or more. Together, that means immigrants have been behind highly innovative companies that are worth $168 billion in total.

Despite data to the contrary, a recent survey showed that some 45% of Americans believe that H-1B visa holders are eating into jobs meant for local workers. While that sentiment is less prevalent in Californias Silicon Valley where only 20% view jobs in jeopardy by foreigners, its still the driving notion behind Trumps anti-immigration policies.

Immigration numbers declined to 595,348 immigrants in 2019, both legal and illegal, according to NPR.

It could have significant implications for the U.S. economy, according to Brookings Institution senior fellow and expert demographer, William Frey. In part, thats because baby boomers are aging out of the workforce at the same time as fertility rates are dropping.

In the meantime, America risks losing the global artificial intelligence race.

According to Foreign Policy magazine, China is outspending the U.S. on AI research and development, and its also getting to the deployment finish line faster, while at the same time enticing its AI expats to come back home.

The AI race demands a lot of STEM-educated people, and America is lacking. Without an easy path to the U.S. education system and jobs afterwards, Americas tech sector will have a hard time competing on local soil.

By Michael Scott for Safehaven.com

More Top Reads From Safehaven.com:
The big question is whether the regulators will have the courage to prosecute the bigwigs in the cities.

M J Antony reports.

Photograph: Reuters

There is hardly any city in the country which has a satisfactory water supply or sewage system.

Civic authorities are generally insensitive to people's complaints and are not easily spurred into action.

Even the pollution control boards avoid their responsibility to enforce environment laws because local heavyweights are involved and the outcome of legal action is uncertain.

But the Supreme Court has now ruled that the municipal councillor and chief officers of the municipal council could be criminally prosecuted.

The ruling came in a 14-year-old legal battle between the Karnataka pollution control board and seven commissioners of Bangaluru and other municipal councils who had held the position at different times (Karnataka Pollution Control Board vs B Heera Naik).

The judgment is also significant because it interpreted the term 'company', widening its scope to include statutory bodies.

The court asserted that a municipality is not a department of the government, as argued, but a corporate entity.

The Water Pollution Act gives an expanded meaning, as 'company'; means 'any body corporate'.

Thus, all body corporates are included within the definition of company according to Section 47.

The wide net includes municipal councils.

The criminal liability falls upon 'every person who at the time the offence was in charge of, and was responsible to the company for the conduct of the business of the company'.

In order to escape punishment that person has to prove that theoffence was committed without her/his knowledge or that s/he had done due diligence.

Therefore the burden on those who hold the reins is heavy.

In the case of municipal councillors, the responsibility is now more than that of directors under the Companies Act and the Negotiable Instruments Act.

The high court had quashed the prosecution of these executives, maintaining that they were heads of department and not executives as in a company.

Therefore, government sanction to prosecute was also necessary.

The Supreme Court held that the high court was wrong.

They can be proceeded against without sanction from the government.

The board had accorded consent to the accused commissioners to discharge sewage effluent after treatment which had expired in 2006.

It has not been renewed since.

However, they have been continuously discharging untreated sewage into water bodies like ponds, lakes and natural valleys.

This decision allows pollution control boards to prosecute the authorities in charge of protecting water and air.

The law elaborately lists the offences.

Briefly, no person shall knowingly cause or permit any poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter into any stream or well or sewer or on land.

Whoever contravenes these provisions shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year and six months but which may extend to six years and with fine.

The court has been passing stringent orders in cases of violations of environmental laws recently.

In a recent judgment, it ordered Noida authorities, near Delhi, to 'restore, maintain and protect the water bodies in the village'.

In this case, Jitendra Singh vs Ministry of Environment, the traditional water bodies were being filled up for the benefit of industries, flouting environmental laws.

Citizens have moved public interest petitions on civic woes earlier.

The earliest was the celebrated Ratlam municipality judgment in 1980.

The Supreme Court ordered the Ratlam municipality in Madhya Pradesh to clean a locality, holding that budgetary constraints did not justify a municipality neglecting its statutory obligation to provide sanitation.

Though the judgment is good reading, a visit to the city recently showed that there was little impact on the ground.

Then came the M C Mehta cases in which the court is still passing orders.

In 1996, Almitra Patel, the first woman engineer to graduate from MIT, moved the court on the issue of solid waste.

Despite court orders over the years, the problem has only worsened.

Recently, the government submitted a 850-page affidavit on the subject.

The judges remarked that the paper bundle itself was 'solid waste'.

So far the main drive against polluters was civil action and compensatory.

The Karnataka judgment hands down power to the pollution boards to prosecute civic authorities.

Criminal action could be more effective than pious judgments in PILs.

However, the big question is whether the regulators will have the courage to prosecute the bigwigs in the cities.
Signs of Chinese yuan and U.S. dollar are seen at a currency exchange store in Shanghai

By Shriya Ramakrishnan

(Reuters) - Bullish bets on the Chinese yuan scaled a near 10-month high with investors strengthening long positions on most Asian currencies, a Reuters poll showed, as prospects of an imminent Sino-U.S. trade pact encouraged switches into riskier assets.

U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that the 'phase one' deal with China, which will reduce U.S. tariffs in exchange for a boost in Chinese purchases of certain American goods, would be signed on Jan. 15.

Though doubts persist on the details, the deal is seen as a breakthrough in relations between the world's two largest economies after months of tit-for-tat tariffs and fractious negotiations.

Long positions on the Chinese yuan were at their highest since March last year, a poll of 16 respondents showed.

The lift in risk-on sentiment taken from prospects of an end to the U.S.-China trade war outweighed the negative impact of tensions in the Middle East. There had been fears that a U.S. drone attack that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad last week could lead to a wider conflict, but those fears have begun to subside.

"Given that the Chinese yuan is holding below the 7.0 level against the U.S. dollar, that is offering some measure of support for regional currencies," Han Tan, a market analyst at FXTM said.

Market participants switched to bullish positions on the Malaysian ringgit for the first time in over 5 months and increased long positions on the Singapore dollar.

Sentiment towards the South Korean won also reversed, with positions now turning bullish. The won, Asia's worst performing currency last year, has recently benefited from an improvement in the outlook for prices of memory chips - the country's top export item.

Lingering concerns over an economic slowdown bogged down the Indian rupee, with investors maintaining bearish bets on the currency since mid-August.

India is expected to post its slowest pace of growth in 11 years for the current financial year ending in March, which will likely prompt the government to opt for extra stimulus measures during the annual budget presentation next month.

Story continues

The country has also been rocked by a wave of demonstrations against a new citizenship law, which at times have turned violent, posing the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he took office in 2014.

"Should protests escalate, there could be concerns that the government would be too pre-occupied to tackle the slowdown and investor climate in the economy. INR can be hurt eventually," Fiona Lim, Senior FX Strategist at Maybank, Global Markets Singapore said.

Investors trimmed long positions on the Thai baht. Authorities remain concerned about the strength of the baht after it breached a key level at year-end, driven by hefty current account surpluses and foreign fund inflows.

The Asian currency positioning poll is focused on what analysts and fund managers believe are the current market positions in nine Asian emerging market currencies: the Chinese yuan, South Korean won, Singapore dollar, Indonesian rupiah, Taiwan dollar, Indian rupee, Philippine peso, Malaysian ringgit and the Thai baht.

The poll uses estimates of net long or short positions on a scale of minus 3 to plus 3. A score of plus 3 indicates the market is significantly long U.S. dollars.

The figures include positions held through non-deliverable forwards (NDFs).

(Reporting by Shriya Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
A court here on Thursday convicted and sentenced a 21-year-old man to 10-years rigorous imprisonment (RI) for raping a minor girl in 2016 after promising to marry her.

First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Suneetha Kunchala, found the man, a private employee working with the city's civic body, guilty under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and IPC and sentenced him to 10-years RI.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000.

According to prosecution, in June 2016, the 17-year-old girl, who is a relative of the accused had gone to his house to visit his sister, when he first raped her after expressing his interest to marry her.

Later, the accused raped her four more times on the pretext of marriage and subsequently started avoiding her and informed her not to come to his house.

The girl's mother filed a complaint with police in April 2017 after which the accused was arrested.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Five police officers in Vietnams Mekong Delta have been treated for exposure to HIV after arresting a robber last month.

The police unit in My Tho City, Tien Giang Province, confirmed on Thursday they had captured Nguyen Hong Tai, 31, for robbing a local house in mid-December.

Local authorities have initiated legal proceedings against Tai and taken him into custody for two months to assist their investigation.

According to officers, Tai broke into the home of 51-year-old Nguyen Thi Tram at around 7:30 am on December 10.

The robber sneaked into the bedroom and stole three mobile phones and a bag containing women's underwear.

Tram caught him red-handed as he exited the house, but she eventually had to let him go after being threatened at knifepoint.

Exhibits related to a robbery in Tien Giang Province, Vietnam on December 10, 2019. Photo: H. T./ Tuoi Tre

Tai headed to a nearby plantation to change to a new outfit, before stealing a motorbike and running away.

Following a probe, officers were able to locate Tai on December 14.

The suspect hurt his head as he tried to flee, before making the wound worse on purpose to make him bleed even more.

Tai then told the officers he was HIV positive to scare them away.

He was eventually apprehended, but the five officers taking part in the arrest suffered minor scratches on their arms and legs.

As Tai was later confirmed to be HIV positive, the officers has had to receive treatment for exposure to the virus.

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HARTFORD  A former Clinton man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for trying to hire someone to kill his ex-wife, federal authorities said Thursday.

James Erik Godiksen, 57, was convicted of one count murder for hire in July 2018, the United States Attorneys office for the state of Connecticut said.

While he was incarcerated in New Haven in 2016, Godiksen reached out to other inmates seeking a person who would be willing to kill his ex-wife, authorities said.

In September of that year, Godiksen spoke with an undercover agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, authorities said, and gave the agent a description of his wife, along with her phone number and address.

He offered the agent $5,000 for the hit, authorities said.

The former Clinton resident reportedly told the agent if you go to the (ex-wifes) house, do not touch the dog, the Connecticut Post reported after his trial. He also told the agent I want her killed, if thats possible . . . Head cut off would be nice.

Godiksen was arrested Sept. 14, 2016, after giving the agent $80 as a down payment for the killing. Authorities said he also offered additional money if the agent were to kill his former wifes boyfriend.

He also faces a $10,000 fine, and three years supervised release after his sentence is complete, authorities said.
Trump's Options Limited in Slapping Iran With New 'Punishing' Sanctions

By Masood Farivar January 08, 2020

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the United States would immediately impose "punishing" additional sanctions on Iran, a day after Iran fired missiles on two Iraqi bases with American personnel in retaliation for the U.S. killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

"These sanctions will remain until Iran changes its behavior," Trump said during a televised speech from the White House.

But with Iran already under a crippling sanctions regime that costs it billions of dollars a year, the question is, what additional penalties can the administration impose on Tehran?

"Well, that's a very good question because every sector of the Iranian economy is very thoroughly sanctioned right now," said Kenneth Katzman, the lead Iran analyst at the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. "So I think experts including myself are wondering what more can be done, because really there is not a lot of ground to plow beyond what's already been done."

Iranian natural gas exports, currently exempt from sanctions, could potentially be targeted, but that would hurt buyers such as U.S. ally Turkey, Katzman said. Another option is to tighten existing sanctions, though that effort, too, may face resistance from companies eager to do business with Iran.

Longtime proponents of sanctions on Iran remain bullish on additional penalties.

"There are additional levers the U.S. has, particularly as it relates to assets of the Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] and of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," said Annie Fixler, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a conservative think tank that has long advocated for punishing sanctions on the Iranian regime. "Targeting those assets in particular would put the regime under additional pressure while sparing the Iranian people."

The White House did not provide any details on the president's announcement. A Treasury Department spokesperson said she had no information on whether any additional sanctions were under consideration.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, U.S. administrations have turned to a broad array of sanctions to try to drive change in Iranian behavior. These restrictions have included "primary sanctions" such as a ban on direct trade between the U.S. and Iran and "secondary sanctions" such as restrictions on foreign companies doing business with Iran. In recent years, sanctions on Iran have sometimes been referred to as "nuclear-related sanctions" and "non-nuclear sanctions."

Non-nuclear sanctions

These sanctions date back to the early days of the Islamic Republic and were imposed well before the emergence of an Iranian nuclear threat in 2010. They include a ban on U.S. trade with Iran as well as penalties related to Iran's support for terrorism and efforts to acquire advanced missile technologies. These remain in place. The restrictions also include a ban on foreign companies conducting business with Iran in U.S. dollars.

Nuclear sanctions

These sanctions were imposed during the 2006-15 period amid Western concern that Iran was developing a nuclear weapons program. The sanctions helped reduce Iranian oil exports by half, impeded Iranian banks from doing business with the outside world, and cut off Iran's access to between $100 billion and $150 billion of assets held abroad. Supporters say the sanctions helped bring Iran to the negotiating table.

2015 nuclear deal and sanctions relief

In 2015, Iran agreed to halt its nuclear program in exchange for broad international sanctions relief. As part of the agreement, the U.S. lifted sanctions on Iranian individuals as well as the oil, banking and shipping sectors. It also lifted nearly all restrictions on Iran's access to the international financial system, allowing the $100 billion to $150 billion in assets to flow back into Iranian coffers. Trump denounced that provision of the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration, saying the money was used to promote Iran's terrorist activities. However, sanctions related to Iran's ballistic missile sector and a weapons export and import ban remained in place.

Reimposition of sanctions

In November 2018, six months after withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, the Trump administration announced what it called the largest sanctions action against Iran, reimposing penalties that had been lifted or waived as part of the 2015 nuclear agreement as well as imposing additional restrictions. More than 700 individuals, entities, aircraft and vessels were targeted. The action was part of the administration's "maximum pressure" policy intended to force Iran into renegotiating the nuclear deal.

According to the Congressional Research Service, reimposition of the sanctions has pushed the Iranian economy into recession, sparking unrest around the country. In addition, while direct European sanctions on Iran remain lifted, the threat of U.S. sanctions has reduced the volume of business between Iran and Europe.

Yet the sanctions have failed to change Iran's behavior, Katzman said, noting that the Iranian regime continues to support proxies and allies in the Middle East.

"Iran has shown an ability to continue to conduct high levels of these activities even in the face of very stiff sanctions," Katzman said. "So I don't think any additional sanctions would change that in any material way."

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The brigadier general who leads Iran's aerospace program says its forces launched 13 missiles at bases in Iraq used by US troops early Wednesday "but we were ready to launch hundreds".

Gen Amir Ali Hajizadeh also told Iranian state television his forces simultaneously carried out a cyberattack on a US military monitoring service in Iraq.

He asserted that dozens of US forces were killed and wounded "but we were not after killing anyone in this operation". He said, "We were after hitting the enemy's military machine."



The US, however, has said no Americans were killed in the missile strike.

Meanwhile, a top European Union official is urging Iran's president to avoid "irreversible acts" potentially fatal to the Iran nuclear deal that is aimed at preventing the country from developing nuclear weapons.

European Council president Charles Michel spoke with President Hassan Rouhani ahead of a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers on Friday to assess the rising tensions between the US and Iran.

According to a European Council statement on Thursday, Rouhani told Michel his country wants to continue a "close cooperation" with the EU.

Iran struck the nuclear deal in 2015 with the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China but President Donald Trump decided to unilaterally abandon the agreement in 2018, triggering sanctions that have badly hurt Iran's economy.

After the US killed Iran's top general last week, Tehran announced it would no longer respect limits on how many centrifuges it can use to enrich uranium.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Today, South-west states, namely Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti, will launch a security formation to tackle the problem of insecurity within the region.

This collaboration, tagged Operation Amotekun, is expected to complement the efforts of the regular police force in the area of combating kidnapping, armed robbery, as well as herdsmen and farmers contentions.

It is an attestation of the failure of the current security system at bringing about the needed safety of lives and property in line with the fundamental objectives and principles of state policy as captured in Chapter II, Section 14(2b) of the Nigerian Constitution.

The section states that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government

There is a consensus that the security challenges Nigerians face have become overwhelming to the government. From the clashes between herdsmen and farmers to the heartless ritual murders arising from the wanton cravings for filthy lucre, there is no restraint whatsoever.

Armed robbery and kidnapping have become inseparable twins on the nations highways which have now been left only to the poor and hapless.

Armed police operatives take their positions every 200 metres and the army and other security outfits interlock the highways in a bid to stem the tide.

The approach is still porous. The people are yet to know safety in the midst of armed security men whose sight has become frightening to motorists parting with money at every checkpoint.

Scary scenario

In South-west Nigeria, the situation took a frightening turn since 2015 with the kidnap of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olu Falae, by herdsmen right on his farm in Akure.

The news of his ordeal was well received by the president who ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to rescue him unhurt. In spite of the involvement of the top echelon of the police hierarchy, the old man still parted with N5 million to regain his freedom. The criminals have been arrested and now standing trial.

After Mr Falae, many more have been kidnapped, terrorised and killed either on the highway, in the forest or even in their residences.

They count themselves lucky if they ever have the opportunity to pay ransom, but are left to return to their families alive. The victims are from every class of the social strata  from the academia, medical, businessmen and women and even the judiciary.

Nigerians would recall the sad tales of kidnapping and wanton killings which engulfed the AkureIbadan expressway, the Ore-Benin expressway and the Owo-Akoko axis. Ekiti State also witnessed gruesome incidences of kidnapping, armed robberies and ritual murders.

The Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, at the time also told his rather interesting story of his encounter with the armed men, who attempted to halt his convoy and attack him, but he managed to escape.

In addition, the painful murder of the daughter of the Afenifere, Reuben Fasoranti, by suspected herdsmen along Ore road shocked all.

Olufunke Olakurin, was shot while on her way to Lagos by masked hoodlums after a visit to her father in Akure on June 23, 2019. Her killers are yet to be found while the investigations into the incident by the police had been adjudged as far from thorough.

Intervention

The decision by the governors of the South-west states to create Operation Amotekun was reached in Ibadan in June 2019, at the regional security summit in Ibadan. The summit was a reaction to the worsening security situation in the region.

In reaching the decision to put together a security outfit not completely independent of the existing security structure, the regional governments claimed they had secured a green light from President Muhammadu Buhari with inputs from the IGP to go ahead with the plan.

When operational, the governors believe the regional security force would complement the efforts of the police and ensure safety in all the states of the regions, particularly in crannies where the Nigeria Police Force were not hitherto effective.

In spite of its laudable aspirations, Amotekun appears to be on a collision course with the status quo. The question is, how will the security outfit be operated and what would be its operational guidelines and its command structure. Who gives the orders and to whom would they be answerable to?

Besides the pending posers, is Amotekun a subtle realisation of state or regional police being vehemently advocated by leaders of the region?

Some apologists of Operation Amotekun have been quick to point to the activities of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) which has been constituted to help tackle Boko Haram in the North-east.

The CJTF, a group of youth formed in Borno State to help curtail the activities of the deadly Boko Haram, has been sustained in the fight against the insurgents. The CJTF is also armed with basic weapons and had been noted to have attained successes in the arrest of many members of the insurgents. The backers of Amotekun believe that the regional force is even more justifiable given the state of security in the region.

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However, sections 214 and 215 of the Constitution only recognise the Nigeria Police Force as the agency responsible for the provision of security in the states of the federation. Section 214(1) says There shall be a police force for Nigeria, which shall be called the Nigeria Police Force and, subject to the provisions of this section no other police force shall be established for the federation or any part thereof.

Reactions

However, some lawyers have expressed their opinions on the matter, stating that Amotekun is not in direct conflict with the provisions of the Constitution.

A lawyer based in Akure, Femi Emodamori, said the Amotekun is not in conflict with Section 214 and 215 of the Constitution. According to him, Section 14 of the same Constitution stipulates that the security of lives and property of the citizens shall be the primary responsibility of every government.

Launching a security outfit is not necessarily operating a state police, particularly when the essence is to complement the efforts of the police, Mr Emodamori said.

He argued that by virtue of Section 20 of the Administration of Justice Act, every private citizen has the statutory power to arrest a criminal, and thereafter hand the suspect over to the police. According to him, the citizens have the duty to assist the police in the enforcement of law.

If the individual citizen has the right to do so, then they could also do so by forming a group, the lawyer further argued. Dont forget that the Civilian Joint Task Force is joining the Nigerian military, another security agency to fight Boko Haram in a full blown war in a section of the country. That is a form of security to assist the security agencies.

He, however, cautioned that Amotekun should be supervised by the police and not be used to abuse citizens.

A former Attorney General of Ondo State, Remi Olatumbora, told PREMIUM TIMES that Amotekun offers another opportunity for the citizens to express their readiness to support the security agencies in the fight against crime.

Every Nigerian has a right to self defence and these individuals can come together to jointly exercise their right to self defence, he said. Each of these state governments represents their citizens in their own states. The right that each of these citizens in the states can exercise against invaders to their homes can be combined and exercised corporately.

Mr Olatumbora said such corporate expression of the right to self defence epitomised in Amotekun has no conflict with the powers of the police.

Meanwhile, allaying fears and other misgivings, the Commissioner for Information in Ekiti State, Muyiwa Olumilua, clarified that the Amotekun would not conflict with the constitutional roles of the police.

According to him, it is not going to be a regional or state police, but a structuring of the existing security outfits for the specific purpose of dealing with the indentified security challenges in the region.

He said it would be a holistic security outfit that would be involved in trans-border, intra and inter-state security and would be composed of the regular police, the NSCDC, the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and the local vigilante groups.

We are not going to operate outside the Constitution and we are not creating a regional or state police, but it will be a more structured and effective force that would be result oriented, Mr Olumilua said.

Funding, other concerns

Mr Olumilua said the state governments would effectively fund Amotekun to ensure that the complaints of lack of funds usually cited by the current police force for non-performance do not arise.

Despite the assurances, an indigenous civil society group, Ajoro Ekiti, raised concerns over the prospects of Amotekun.

Its convener, Dare Atoye, said the proposed security outfit might be crippled by the lack of adequate deployment of technology in its operations.

He said unless the six governments of the South-west states key into the use of drones and other modern technologies to survey the borders and bushes in the region, there would be nothing new in the new outfit.

Operation Amotekun may not achieve much if there is no technological back up, he said. In todays world, drones are deployed for surveillance and if these gadgets or other security information generating platforms are not deployed to survey our bushes to actually complement the polices efforts, operation Amotekun may record a low achievement.

Also, the responsibilities of the security outfit must be well spelt out. It must not be abused or misused like the Odua Peoples Congress to settle scores.

It must be a security outfit keeping vigil on our borders and it should not involve in private matter or politics.

Strangely, other regions appear to have acquiesced to the aspirations of the South-west governments, as there had been little or no dissenting voices coming from them as it is usual in such cases.

As the stage is prepared to launch the outfit, poor funding, abuses and rivalry appear to be the possible pitfalls of the project.

It was also observed that many citizens of the affected states are upbeat on Amotekun. The dire need to put an end to the tales of woes arising from violent crimes in the region is dominant.

All other criticisms appear to be on hold. The wisdom of collaboration is at play and provided the laws are obeyed and all players are in concordance, the vessel is no doubt set for sail.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Donald Trump discussed the situation in Iraq and the crash of Boeing 737-800 of Ukraines International Airlines near Tehran, the Canadian Prime Ministers office said in a statement.

The statement noted that the leaders of the two countries exchanged views on the situation in Iraq and further steps regarding Iran. The Canadian PM and the American president discussed the need for a thorough investigation to establish the causes of the crash in Iran.

Trudeau and Trump have agreed to stay in touch and continue to work together with other members of the international community to ensure security and stability in the Middle East.

The Boeing 737-800 Ukraine International Airlines flying to Kyiv crashed shortly after leaving Tehran's airport early Wednesday morning. According to official figures, all 176 people died: 167 passengers from Iran, Ukraine, Canada, Germany, Sweden and Afghanistan and nine crew members.

On Wednesday night, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliation operation for the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani. Land-to-ground missiles were fired from Iran at the Ain Assad Air Base in western Iraq and the base in Erbil, where the US military contingent is located. According to Washington, none of the US citizens was injured in the blow, only material damage was done.
A man and his six-year-old son en route to a hospital for a blood transfusion for the child were killed on Thursday when their motorcycle collided with a truck near Biriyakhedi village on the Kanwada-Bhawanimandi link road, police said.

The deceased were identified as Laturlal Kanjar (40), a resident of Nandikhedi village of Jhalawar district, and his son Prakesh, they said.

The minor boy was suffering from thalassemia, a blood disorder involving lower than normal amounts of an oxygen-carrying protein, and required regular blood transfusions.

The motorcycle collided with the truck coming from the opposite direction around 11.30 am in the Jhalawar Sadar police station area, SHO Sanjay Kumar Meena said.

The man was killed on the spot, while the six-year-old succumbed to injuries during treatment at a hospital, he added.

The truck driver fled the spot after the accident leaving the vehicle behind, Meena said.

The bodies were handed over to family members after post-mortem examinations, the SHO said, adding that a case was lodged and an investigation was underway, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
RIO DE JANEIRO - Netflix said Thursday that it had filed a complaint in Brazils Federal Supreme Court, a day after a judge ordered the withdrawal from the platform of a satirical film depicting Jesus as a gay man.

We strongly support artistic expression and well be fighting to defend this important principle, which goes to the heart of great storytelling, Netflix said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the film remains available on the platform.

On Wednesday, Rio de Janeiro judge Benedicto Abicair ruled against the film following a petition by a Brazilian Catholic organization that argued the honour of millions of Catholics was hurt by the airing of The First Temptation of Christ. The special was produced by the Rio-based comedy group Porta dos Fundos, whose headquarters was targeted in a gasoline bomb attack on Christmas Eve.

The ruling came at a time when some civil society groups say Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is cutting funding for arts projects that challenge Christian values and inveighing against flamboyant carnival celebrations.

Porta Dos Fundos said in a statement that it is against any act of censorship, violence, illegality, authoritarianism and all the things we no longer expected to have to repudiate in 2020. Our job is to make humour.

In the Christmas Eve attack, several men threw gasoline bombs at the entrance of the headquarters of Porta dos Fundos. No one was injured.

One suspect, Eduardo Fauzi, celebrated the judges decision in a video shared by Brazilian newspaper O Globo. Congratulations to the Brazilian judiciary system, congratulations to the Brazilian people, Fauzi said from Russia, where he fled to after the attack.
Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh, the chief of the Indian Armys Northern Command on Thursday reached the northwestern frontier province of Xinjiang that borders Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) during his ongoing China tour, a rare visit for a top Indian army general.

Beijing usually refers to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regions (XUAR) border with PoK as a border with Pakistan-administered Kashmir; it is the only so-called border it has with Pakistan.

China strictly controls access to Xinjiang and it is rare for visiting foreign military officials to be taken to the region.

Most of Aksai Chin, controlled by China but claimed by India, also lies in XUAR in the provinces Hotan prefecture.

Official sources told Hindustan Times, Singh reached Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on Thursday and was expected to meet Chinas Peoples Liberation Armys (PLA) top commander of the region and possibly, also visit a military facility tomorrow.

The remote province, which is also Chinas largest, shares borders with eight countries including Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and India.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship corridor under President Xi Jinpings intercontinental connectivity project Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), starts from the southwest part of Xinjiang.

India has stayed away from the BRI as projects under the CPEC are being built in the PoK region.

Details of Singhs itinerary in Xinjiang were not immediately available.

Singh has already met the Commander of the PLA ground forces, General Han Weiguo.

The two Generals discussed issues having strategic ramifications to include regional security environment, joint training, and measures to enhance peace and tranquility along the borders, a statement issued by the Indian army said.

The statement added that the visit will serve as a milestone by cementing the mutual ties between the two countries.

This will achieve the twin aims of high-level military cooperation and stabilising the sensitive borders of both the countries, the army said.

The Indian general has also visited the headquarters of PLAs western command in Chengdu and met its commander, General Zhao Zongqi.

Chinas western theatre command (WTC) is the countrys largest theatre and its varied terrain includes desert and high mountains, long borders, and plateaus.

The command is responsible for both XUAR and the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

Singhs visit, according to the statement, comes close on the heels of the joint military exercise Hand-in-Hand 2019 held recently between the two countries in eastern theatre in Meghalaya.

There has been a marked increase in mutual coordination between armies of both the countries and a will to foster friendly relations between them, the statement said.

The visit also coincided with the PLAs first major military exercise in the high-altitude border areas of Tibet in 2020.

The PLA deployed latest weapons including a new lightweight tank and anti-aircraft missiles to check combat readiness of its troops and the efficiency of its weaponry during the drill, state media reported.

The PLAs Tibet military command has deployed helicopters, armored vehicles, heavy artillery and anti-aircraft missiles across the region from Lhasa, capital of Tibet, with an elevation of 3,700 metres to border defense frontlines with elevations of more than 4,000 metres.
Propaganda Alert

US officials 'confident' plane shot down by Iranian missile By Sky News



January 09, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - (Unnamed) US officials have said they are now "confident" the passenger plane that came down in Tehran was shot down by an Iranian missile.



One US official said US satellites had detected the launch of two missiles shortly before the plane crashed, followed by evidence of an explosion.



Two other (Anonymous) officials said Washington believed the downing of the Ukraine International Airlines plane, in which all 176 people including three British nationals were killed, was accidental. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Their comments were preceded by Donald Trump saying "somebody could have made a mistake" by shooting down a passenger plane in Iran amid concerns the jet may have been hit by a missile.



His comments came almost immediately after Downing Street said it is looking into "very concerning" reports the Ukrainian plane that had just taken off from Tehran's main airport on Wednesday had been shot down by a missile. This article was originally published by " Sky News " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here
Treasury yields fell on Thursday as fears of a military confrontation between the U.S. and Iran eased.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to price, dipped to 1.86%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was lower at 2.33%.

Both Washington and Tehran on Wednesday dialed back their combative rhetoric following retaliatory Iranian strikes on U.S. military targets in Iraq, in response to the killing last week of top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.

Yields' decline came after data from the Labor Department showed jobless claims fell more than expected last week. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 214,000 for the week ended Jan. 4, marking the fourth straight weekly decline.
Health Minister Simon Harris has been summoned to an emergency meeting of the Oireachtas health committee next week to discuss the ongoing trolley crisis in hospitals.

The meeting, which was agreed to after a suggestion by Sinn Fein health spokeswoman Louise OReilly, has been called amid record numbers of patients lying on trolleys on wards and in emergency departments across the country.

It has been clear that the planning of the minister for health and HSE officials has failed, and the consequences are drastic, Ms OReilly said in welcoming the summons for Mr Harris.

The public health system is currently crippled by a lack of capacity and staff, and hundreds of patients are struggling to access our hospitals daily. The situation is putting the health and wellbeing of patients and staff at risk.

HSE chief executive Paul Reid said the crisis demonstrates there is an issue in terms of strategic investment and capacity which is recognised in Government.

He told RTE radio there is an immediate need for 2,500 beds in the system. On the current trolley crisis, he said he welcomed the fact the numbers had eased over the past 48 hours, but accepted there is a lot more to do.

Yesterdays figure of 621 people on trolleys, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), was a reduction from the all-time record high of 760 seen the previous day.

Much of that decrease was attributable to sourcing of additional capacity at private and voluntary facilities, the union said.

If we keep doing what were currently doing, well get the same response every year, said Mr Reid.

We do need to look at the role of all our hospitals across the country for best effect. How do we organise our hospitals so we can manage daily surges and winter surges and elective procedures.

He said the HSEs 2020 service plan will put in place 1,000 extra staff for community healthcare to ease pressure on the acute system.

INMO general secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said that in order to source additional bed capacity, the HSE was making use of funding from the National Treatment Purchase Fund.

Asked what that funding amounted to, Liam Woods, the HSEs national director for acute operations, said the amount available is 100m this year and I think were working on an initial tranche of between 5m and 7m and we are not facing any constriction on that.

Meanwhile, hospital consultants called on Mr Harris to reverse a decision that would see 40% fewer beds delivered to the system by 2021 than was initially committed to.

In 2018, the National Development Plan called for 780 additional hospital beds by the end of next year, a figure reduced to 480 in last years Capital Plan.

Huge swathes of our acute public hospital services are effectively now shut down, said Dr Donal OHanlon, president of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association. More beds and medical specialists are central to solving the capacity problems in our public hospitals.
The deaths of three people in a Kentucky home explosion are the fault of a utility company that failed to respond adequately to concerns about the smell of gas, relatives of the explosion victims say in a lawsuit.

The Nov. 23 explosion instantly killed Phillip Vanderpool, 52, and his wife Sueann Vanderpool, 48. The owner of the home, Albert Vanderpool, 80, died days later. He was Phillip Vanderpools father, news media reported.

In a wrongful death lawsuit against Troublesome Creek Gas Corp., Phillip Vanderpools children say leaking gas ignited and exploded, killing their parents, WLEX-TV reported.

The lawsuit says family members had called Troublesome Creek at least four times in the five days leading up to the explosion, complaining of a gas smell.

The first call happened on Nov. 19, requesting that the utility investigate a leak. A technician came according to the lawsuit but didnt perform an adequate inspection and failed to conduct any gas readings. The technician also left the gas on.

The lawsuit says the family called the next day and the same technician came without fixing anything. The family called two more times but the company didnt send anyone to investigate, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit says technicians came to the house the day of the explosion and told the family the residence was safe and that they would be back.

Approximately 30 minutes after the technicians left, the home exploded.

Wolfe County Emergency Management Director Marcus Stephens told WLEX-TV that the agency was aware of the familys concern on the day of the explosion. Dispatch received a call about the smell of gas and knew technicians went to the home. Stephens said the family called again and dispatchers sent two fire departments to the home. They were on their way when the home exploded.

The lawsuit says Troublesome Creek was negligent and caused the deaths of Phillip and Sueann Vanderpool.

Troublesome Creek told WLEX they have no comment on the lawsuit.

The explosion is still under investigation.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Kentucky
January is a time for reading resolutions - and declarations that reading good books will make us better people. At the end of 2019, for instance, New York Public Library President Anthony Marx challenged city residents to resolve to read for at least 20 minutes a day, arguing that "reading helps generate empathy, something our world needs more than ever before."

Marx's statement is backed up by studies that correlate reading and aspirational qualities like compassion and emotional generosity. One suggests that nurses who work with dementia patients would do well to read more literary novels. Another argues that a capacity to intuit others' feelings falls like sunlight upon those who read novels "by the likes of Salman Rushdie, Harper Lee and Toni Morrison," (though not so much upon those who read genre fiction.) Another report implies that Sen. Elizabeth Warren's affection for audiobooks may increase her emotional intelligence. And a study of a host of such studies concludes that reading fiction produces a "small, statistically significant improvement in social-cognitive performance."

Ugh.

I value openheartedness and goodwill as virtues, of course. And I don't question the scientific rigor of these studies, or their conclusions. Or, at least, I don't have the intellectual chops to question them. In part I'm irked by how readily news of these studies go viral, the way that they're so often taken as opportunities to run a victory lap for one's own good habits. These studies always seem to unleash approving noises of self-congratulatory self-regard - ironically betraying a narcissism that seems to counter the argument all these studies are making.

But I also think that these studies miss a bigger point by implying that reading fiction is, at its best, a tidy cause-and-effect process. Enter intellectually weak and benighted, exit emotionally toned and trim, as if a novel were the psychological equivalent of kettlebells or a Peloton bike. Fiction's strength, though, is that it delivers not order and clear direction, but mess and evocations of our unsteady state of being. I'm uncertain what wisdom I can take from the March family, Anna Karenina or Karl Ove Knausgaard that I can apply to my daily life. Nor do I wish to read so programmatically.

For me, fiction is a kind of Schrodinger's box - a way of simultaneously being in the world and not being in the world. Some books deliver that uncanny feeling better than others, but in the right context any book can do that, not just the "literary" ones that studies typically advocate.

Here's how I came to that conclusion: About 15 years ago, I had a breakdown. Not the kind that puts you in a facility, but serious enough - one that made me decide to quit the job I started after a month because I was vibrating with anxiety, terrified of conversation for fear of veering into a panic attack. It was, I think, the culmination of years of an A-student's low-boil anxiety over desperately needing not to fail at something, and then failing at a number of things professionally, in quick succession. I was inconsolable for reasons I couldn't articulate, and I'd become the sort of person that friends and colleagues made concerned phone calls about.

One of the clearest measures of my adrift-ness during that period, which made me wonder whether I was truly going to be OK, was simple yet troubling: I could not read. I could not pick up a book, look at the words inside them, and process them for meaning. At my worst, the idea of consuming a paragraph felt unthinkable. How could you read an entire paragraph? How could somebody write one, and then another, and then a whole book full of paragraphs? It was all I could do to process the headlines in the morning newspaper. If I was going to get better, the effects of interventions by friends and clinicians would provide one measure of it. But being able to read a book would provide another.

If only I could say that Philip Roth or Yukio Mishima or Alice Munro delivered me from emotionally paralytic state. The fact is, the book that helped get me where I needed to be, eventually, was a paperback that somebody left in the lobby of my apartment building: Sidney Sheldon's 2000 thriller "The Sky Is Falling." Sure, it's entirely nutrient-free. Indeed, I don't think I've read a work of fiction more bereft of insight into the human condition. I recall there were sophisticated jet-setting journalists hunting central-casting Russian bad guys. Gunplay and skulduggery abound; at one point a person gets decapitated by a helicopter rotor. How was that going to replenish my stockpile of empathy?

And yet, what better place to be at that moment, I felt, than inside that dumb, overheated plot? Things were happening! To people! In a world where things happened to people! It was reassuring in a way, to be in such a world. What I valued was the simple happening-ness of life. The book reknitted my conception of reading, demonstrated that it wasn't a stoic march to edification but a way to be open to experience.

If you feel that reading fiction has made you a more empathetic person, that's to your credit. But I wonder whether the emphasis on achievement that comes with all these studies and reading prescriptions is more off-putting than encouraging. In 2013 Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin, two self-declared "bibliotherapists," published a well-intentioned book called "The Novel Cure," which proffered "fictional plasters and poultices" for a host of ailments. For anxiety, they suggest "Portrait of a Lady"; for depression, "Herzog," "The Bluest Eye" and "Revolutionary Road." I love all of those novels, but I doubt any of them would have done me a lick of good during my months in the wilderness. I didn't need a book that mirrored my own emotional world so much as a window into a different one.

A couple of months ago I finally caught up with Larry McMurtry's 1985 western, "Lonesome Dove," and that old feeling welled up again - the sense of being seduced by a plot that presented a world not my own yet that still rang true. I suspect that fine book, as lavishly plot-driven and simply delivered as it is, might have been as much a comfort to me at my low point as that trashy Sheldon novel was. (I confess: I resent my neighbor a little for not leaving better books in the lobby.) When it comes to literature, not all books are created equal. But when it comes to healing, sometimes just about any book will do.

---

Athitakis is a critic in Phoenix and author of "The New Midwest."
PRISTINA -- A court in Kosovo has ordered a woman accused of inciting terrorism on social media be remanded in custody for one month after she praised a top Iranian general killed in a U.S. air strike.

The Basic Court in Pristina issued the order on January 9 following a prosecution request, saying there was reasonable suspicion against Ikballe Huduti-Berisha, a leader of a small Shi'ite community in Kosovo's southwest.

The court also considered that the suspect may try to escape prosecution if she is released from detention.

Huduti-Berisha was detained on January 7 after she posted a series of posts on her Facebook account in which she criticized the United States over the killing of Major General Qasem Soleimani, whom she described as a "great man."

According to local media reports, she wrote, "By killing the master of the house you have killed all members of the family, then revenge is obligatory but it has no border."

She later deleted her messages and said her words were taken out of context by the media.

The Islamic Community of Kosovo, an independent institution that oversees Islamic affairs in the country through an appointed mufti, said Huduti-Berisha's comments had "nothing in common" with their stance.

The January 3 assassination of Soleimani, the commander of Iran's elite Quds Force, has raised fears of a conflict between the United States and Iran.

Kosovar leaders expressed immediate support for the U.S. move.

With reporting by Reuters and AP
Our rooting interest is Meghans well-being. Last year, when the couple sounded fed up with the royal fish bowl and announced plans to take time off abroad, we suggested they consider decamping to Chicago. This city has been short on royalty since Michael Jordan and Oprah Winfrey left town, we wrote: Come experience Midwestern hospitality. Maybe shop for a condo. Sure, Chicago has a vigorous media, but were too focused on Illinois financial mess and the collapse of the Bears to obsess over one more young family moving to Logan Square or the West Loop.
By IANS

NEW DELHI: The Centre has withdrawn the VIP security of Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O. Paneerselvam and Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam (DMK) leader M. K. Stalin, officials said on Thursday.

Paneerselvam had "Y+" category security cover while Stalin had a "Z+" protection being provided by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) -- a paramilitary force mandated to provide VIP security as well as internal security across the country along with hyper sensitive areas such as Maoist-affected states and Jammu and Kashmir.

The government took the decision to remove the security cover of the two politicians following the threat assessment review based on Central security agencies report and approved by the Union Home Ministry, said the officials.

ALSO READ: Congress, DMK stage walkout from Lok Sabha over Gandhis SPG cover

The CRPF were providing security to the two leaders of Tamil Nadu and it is learnt that the paramilitary forces' cover of the two leaders were withdrawn after the state police took over the charge of providing protection to them.

In November last year, the Special Protection Group (SPG) cover given to Gandhis was withdrawn and they were given 'Z plus' security provided by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

The SPG security was withdrawn from the New Delhi residences of Sonia, her son Rahul and daughter Priyanka.

The Gandhi family had been enjoying the SPG cover since the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991.

The decision to withdraw SPG security, the country's highest grade of protection, was taken after a review involving the Cabinet Secretariat and the Ministry of Home Affairs with inputs from various intelligence agencies.
A Playboy covergirl is selling naked photos of herself online to raise money for the bushfire relief effort - and her boyfriend says he 'supports it'.

Gold Coast Model Jaylene Cook is donating all money she earns from her campaign to support Australian bushfire victims amid the unprecedented crisis.

The 28-year-old was the Playboy Mexico Playmate of the year in 2018 and since being on the cover has launched a Patreon.

Patreon allows people to sign up to a membership where they pay to view Ms Cook's content.

Gold Coast Model Jaylene Cook is donating all money she earns on her Patreon to support bushfire victims

Her boyfriend Joshua Shaw (pictured together) is the brains behind the fundraising idea

On Tuesday, the model announced she will donate all proceeds earned from her nude photos from the month of January to the relief effort.

'As bushfires continue to devastate communities all over Australia, I couldn't shake the feeling of my heavy heart and like so many others, I wanted to help - I just didn't know how,' she wrote on Instagram.

'I have decided that 100 per cent of proceeds from my Patreon account this month will be donated to benefit those directly affected including the firefighters on the front line, the people who have lost everything and the animals who will continue to suffer from this tragedy.'

But the idea actually came from her boyfriend of three years, Joshua Shaw, 29, who photographed her Playboy cover in 2018.

Ms Cook told the Gold Coast Bulletin they wanted to do something 'out of the box' to raise funds.

'Some people may donate $5 but might donate $20 if they are getting something in return,' she said.

The Playboy model is offering members two levels of payment - $15 for access to nine nude photos, or $100 to see all her content.

The 28-year-old was the Playboy Mexico Playmate of the year in 2018 and since being on the cover has launched a Patreon

On Tuesday, the model announced she is donating all proceeds earned from the month of January

More than 80 people have donated to the Patreon.

'I am blown away (to say the least) by the amount of support we have received for the Australian bushfire crisis!' Ms Cook wrote on Instagram on Wednesday.

The 28-year-old is introducing her followers to friends who are also getting involved and launched a campaign called 'Boobs for bushfires'.

'One hundred per cent of the proceeds are going directly to the charities that are supporting the crisis,' she wrote.

The Playboy model is offering members two levels of payment - $15 for access to nine nude photos, or $100 to see all her content

But the idea actually came from her boyfriend of three years, Joshua Shaw, 29, who photographed her Playboy cover in 2018

Ms Cook said her boyfriend takes all her photos and loves working with her on the project.

He described it as being 'Its not like we are creating 'soft core porn' our images are tasteful', and does not mind sharing nude images of his girlfriend with strangers.

'I'm a photographer and I was shooting this type of stuff and she was doing this type of modelling before we got together,' he said.

'It's created a really strong bond between us.'
President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration will give more attention to improving personnel and infrastructure of universities to produce quality graduates.

He assured that education will, henceforth, be a top priority in development goals of the country.

Mr Buhari stated this when he received leadership of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) led by Biodun Ogunyemi at the State House, Abuja, on Thursday.

He expressed the hope that effective and efficient operations of universities would go a long way in improving the economy, especially with a focus on science and technology.

The president urged members of ASUU to assist the federal government in realising the target of improved education and credible certificates by complying with ongoing verification and validation of human resources in the universities, which will guarantee optimum output.

The future of the country depends on quality education and our certificates must be credible to inspire confidence, he said.

Mr Buhari said constitutional provisions should be carefully studied and adhered to for more harmonious relationships, and standards that would promote efficiency.

He directed the Ministry of Education to put in more effort in ensuring that Nigerian universities are properly funded, with adequate infrastructure and staffing.

In her remarks at the meeting, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said out of the 137,016 academic and non-academic staff members of the universities, 96,090 have been enrolled in the Integrated Payment and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

READ ALSO:

She, therefore, urged ASUU to encourage the remaining 40,926 members to comply with the process.

She said a desk has been opened in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation for registration of university staff, assuring that peculiarities of the tertiary institutions will be accommodated.

The minister pointed out that many anomalies were discovered in the university structures that had contributed to the increased cost burden in the universities.

These, she said, include staff working and earning pay in more than one university, contract staff on payroll of the government, tax reductions on PAYEE and multiple employments.

Mrs Ahmed said some universities had rushed to recruit more staff before the IPPIS registration commenced, which was then detected.

While it is clear that ASUU has peculiarities, it should be recognised and rightly accommodated, and allowances will be made, and not leaving the university out of IPPIS because of the peculiarities, she added.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, urged ASUU to comply with IPPIS in national interest as his office was already in the process of streamlining all issues of human resources in government.

In his remarks, Mr Ogunyemi said the education sector needed more federal government attention, noting that implementation of agreements over the years would go a long way in improving the quality of education in the universities.

He said: Nigerian universities can make meaningful contributions to addressing the challenges of the country (economy, security and corruption) if given the opportunity.

Appropriate funding level, competitive conditions of service, university autonomy and academic freedom are critical to creating such an atmosphere.

With adequate and effective education, particularly university education, Nigerians will be less susceptible to manipulation, our economy will grow and problems of insecurity and corruption will be drastically reduced, he said.

The ASUU president said Nigeria could learn from countries like China, Malaysia and Singapore that had encouraged universities to drive their educational development through tripartite linkages of government, industries and universities called Triple Helix Principle.

On IPPIS and university operations, Mr Ogunyemi said the federal governments Visitor initiative to the universities, at least once in five years, was the best guarantee for monitoring accountability processes that include internal and external audit processes.

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The ASUU president said the IPPIS would be a disruptive intrusion, adding: IPPIS violates the laws of the federation, violates university statutes, and violates agreements between the federal government and ASUU.

The government should welcome ASUUs ongoing innovation of a robust system of human resource management and compensation, called the University Transparency and Accountability Solution, which will address peculiarities of universities and end inappropriate recruitments.

The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu and Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, assured that the federal government was committed to improving the educational sector, promising to work closely with ASUU.

(NAN)
It must be tough being Nancy Pelosi these days.

First, she spent all of the year warning that a partisan impeachment (one-party vote) would divide the country further and not really work.

Second, she was persuaded to rush the articles of impeachment before Christmas, only to delay sending article of impeachment to the U.S. Senate.

Now some Senate Democrats are asking for her to send the articles to the U.S. Senate.

This is from NBC:

A growing number of Democratic senators are saying it's time for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to submit the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate. "We are reaching a point where the articles of impeachment should be sent," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told reporters Wednesday. In an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday, Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with the Democrats, said he believes "it is time for the speaker to send" the articles.

On top of that, I wonder how many of those Trump district Democrats are crazy about the delay, too. These Democrats were told last fall that the impeachment vote was crucial to protect our Constitution.

Speaker Pelosi has just proven to be an ineffective leader and manager. Maybe she was trying to save her job by caving in to impeachment. No matter what, she looks awfully foolish before a public weary of so much time spent impeaching rather than solving real problems, like health care,

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr.
Pakistan: Poisonous chemical leaves thousands of fish dead in Sukkur Barrage canals

January 09,2020 | Source: Pakistan Today

Thousands of fish were witnessed deadly in the off-taking Canals of Sukkur Barrage after allegedly poisonous chemicals poured into the water on Wednesday. According to reports, after the Sukkur Barrage closed for maintenance and repairs, the gates at the head of the canals were opened and water allowed to flow downstream into the river. The water collected in small ponds at various sites of the canals found that greedy fishing businessmen poured poisonous chemicals in these ponds to kill mostly the juvenile fish at massive scale.



The dead fish then collected in bags and taken to markets for sale. These fish also sold to the poultry industry for use as poultry feed. The practice is a public health hazard, as fish died by poison pose threat to the health of consumers. The district administration and concerned department, have failed to take any action against the perpetrators.



The hazardous practice is not new as it is repeated every year in the days of annual closure of Sukkur Barrage for maintenance and repair. In previous years, reports about a large number of dead fish found in the Rice and Nara canals, which were believed to have died as a result of the poisonous chemicals. The substance was said to be so hazardous that it had allegedly caused the deaths of a number of rare blind Indus dolphins over the past few years. According to locals, the fishermen pour the chemicals into the water late at night and then send their children to collect the dead fish in the morning. The dead fish is either sold to fish farmers to be used as a feed or to the poultry industry.
He recently hit back at critics of his controversial Golden Globes monologue with a scathing tweet.

And Ricky Gervais was putting the recent furor that followed his fifth turn as host of the awards show behind him as he stepped out in London on Thursday.

The comedian, 58, cut a casual figure for the day out in the capital, sporting a grey jacket with a black t-shirt and matching trousers.

Low-key: Ricky Gervais, 58, was putting the recent furor that followed his fifth turn as host of the Golden Globes behind him as he stepped out in London on Thursday

Sporting a pair of sunglasses, the Afterlife star completed his look with a pair of black trainers.

Ricky's outing comes shortly after he took to Twitter to clarify the aim of his Golden Globes monologue, saying he roasted the stars for 'wearing their liberalism like a medal'.

He wrote: 'I didn't roast Hollywood for being a bunch of liberals. I myself am a liberal. Nothing wrong with that. I roasted them for wearing their liberalism like a medal.

'I'm such a snowflake, liberal, I can't even really hate them for it. But my job is to take the p**s. I did that.'

Laid back: The comedian cut a casual figure for the day out in the capital, sporting a grey jacket with a black t-shirt

He had earlier insisted that just because some viewers were offended by his eight-minute speech 'doesn't mean they're right' and also claimed they weren't 'winning the argument' by pointing out 'someone is left or right wing.'

Ricky also vowed that he would never host the Golden Globes again following his expletive-laden monologue at Sunday's awards, which saw him skewer the 'woke' Hollywood culture.

In his tweet, Ricky listed four points which appeared to respond to various criticisms from fans surrounding his monologue.

Casual: Sporting a pair of sunglasses, the Afterlife star completed his look with black trousers and a pair of trainers

Host: Ricky was the talk of social media after his Golden Globes monologue skewered Hollywood 'woke' culture

Speaking out: Ricky's outing comes shortly after he took to Twitter to clarify the aim of his Golden Globes monologue, saying he did not 'roast' the stars for being 'a bunch of liberals'

He also wrote: 'I'm such a snowflake, liberal, I can't even really hate them for it. But my job is to take the p**s. I did that'

He wrote: '1. Simply pointing out whether someone is left or right wing isn't winning the argument. 2. If a joke is good enough, it can be enjoyed by anyone.

'3. It's not all about you. 4. Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.'

It came after Ricky took to social media on Monday to respond to an article which featured fans demanding he return as the host next year.

Keeping his response to the point he simply wrote: 'Never gonna happen.'

The Office star finally arrived back in the UK from Los Angeles on Tuesday after hosting the awards show.

Drama: The outspoken actor posted that just because viewers were offended by his eight-minute speech 'doesn't mean they're right'

Nope! It came after Ricky took to social media on Monday to respond to an article which featured fans demanding he return as the host next year

Explosive: The After Life star divided viewers with his expletive-laden monologue at this year's awards

Swell: Ricky had shared a few words of thanks on Monday following his hosting duties at the annual awards show over the weekend

Hours earlier he had also taken to social media to thank fans for their reaction to his hosting gig, but implied he was glad the night was over despite saying he 'had a blast' on the night.

He wrote: 'Thanks for all your amazing comments about my Golden Globes monologue. Best reaction ever and that means a lot to me.'

'I had a blast but thank f*** it's over, so I can get back to my real job of editing #AfterLife2 and touring #SuperNature. Make Jokes, Not War.'

On Sunday, Ricky sparked gasps from the A-List guests in attendance for the Golden Globes as he slammed the 'woke' Hollywood culture in his opening monologue.

Daring: During his eight minute speech, Ricky rallied against the new brand of corporate giants dominating Hollywood

During the eight minute speech - alongside pointing out it was his fifth and final time hosting the awards - Ricky railed against the new brand of corporate giants dominating Tinsel Town.

Ricky Gervais' most controversial Golden Globes jokes - You say you're woke but the companies you work for in China  unbelievable. Apple, Amazon, Disney. If ISIS started a streaming service you'd call your agent, wouldn't you? - Once Upon a Time In Hollywood  nearly three hours long. Leonardo DiCaprio attended the premiere and by the end his date was too old for him. Even Prince Andrew is like 'come on Leo, mate' - I came in a limo tonight and the license plate was made by Felicity Huffman - [Afterlife] is a show about a man who wants to kill himself because his wife died of cancer and it's still more fun than this. Spoiler alert, season two is on the way so he didn't kill himself...just like Jeffrey Epstein. I know he's your friend, I don't care - [Birdbox is] a movie where people survive by acting like they don't see a thing. Sort of like working for Harvey Weinstein - It was a big year for paedophile movies. Surviving R Kelly, Leaving Neverland, Two Popes - The world got to see James Corden as a fat p****. He was also in the movie Cats, but nobody saw that - Dame Judi Dench defended [Cats] saying it was the role she was born to play because she loves nothing better than plunking herself down on the carpet, lifting her leg and licking her [expletive] - You're in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg Advertisement

'Apple roared into the TV game with The Morning Show,' he said, 'a superb drama about the importance of dignity and doing the right thing. made by a company that runs sweat shops in China.'

Ironically, Apple boss Tim Cook looked like a sweat shop himself as all eyes - and video cameras - turned to him in the audience.

Ricky also advised those receiving awards to avoid making political speeches because 'you're in no position to the public about anything.'

He added: 'If you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent, and your God and f*** off.'

In one moment which shocked the stars in the crowd, Gervais made a pointed remark about the death of paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.

He said: '[Netflix series Afterlife] is a show about a man who wants to kill himself .... Spoiler alert, season two is on the way so he didn't kill himself...just like Jeffrey Epstein.'

As the audience gasped, he doubled down on the remarks, saying: 'Shut up. I know he's your friend, but I don't care.'

Ricky also took a swipe at the #MeToo era, as he hosted the awards for the first time since the movement came to prominence.

He said there was a wide variety of stars in the room, and they all have one thing in common: 'They're all afraid of Ronan Farrow,' Ricky said.

New Yorker writer Farrow played a key role in outing sexual misconduct in Hollywood and exposing disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein.

Later in the show, Ricky introduced a clip for the film Birdbox, describing it as 'a movie where people survive by acting like they don't see a thing. Sort of like working for Harvey Weinstein.'

The comedian also mocked what he described as 'paedophile movies.'

'Taking of all you perverts, it was a big year for paedophile movies. Surviving R Kelly, Leaving Neverland, Two Popes,' he said before breaking down at his own joke.

'Shut up,' he told the stunned crowd, 'I don't care.'

Savage: Ricky also advised those receiving awards to avoid making political speeches because 'you're in no position to the public about anything'

His behaviour earned a divided response from viewers, with many quick to flood social media with hilarious memes poking fun at the stars' reactions.

'This mans got more of a range and damage yield to him than a f**king intercontinental ballistic missile,' wrote one Twitter user, approvingly.

Another added: 'Man of the people,' one Twitter user wrote. 'Thank you for saying what needed to be said.'

'Thank you @rickygervais!!!!! Suck it Hollywood,' another tweeter wrote.

'I don't watch award shows and not into the celebrity scene,' one tweeter admitted, 'but boy did #RickyGervais skewer everyone. Wow.' He then added a meme reading 'shots fired.'

Twitter users were quick to express approval and surprise at the way Ricky Gervais roasted Hollywood during his opening monologue on Sunday's Golden Globes

Ricky's Hollywood roasting was not universally beloved on social media, with many outraged viewers taking to Twitter to express their anger.

'Can't believe Ricky Gervais has managed to convince the general public that he isn't part of the elite he's criticising,' one tweeter wrote. 'A guy who makes racist, homophobic jokes and mocks the disabled and the poor is suddenly a working class hero?'

'The #GoldenGlobes mood was already sober thanks to an impeachment, threat of war with Iran and Australian bush fires. The last thing anyone needed was Ricky Gervais there, telling them they sucked,' Los Angeles Times TV critic Lorraine Ali wrote.

'Ricky Gervais telling people not to make political statements at the #GoldenGlobes is in itself a political statement,' one Twitter user pointed out. 'Passive acceptance of the status quo is political, silence in the face of oppression is a political statement.'

Outrageous: Ricky's Hollywood roasting was not universally beloved on social media, with many outraged viewers taking to Twitter to express their anger

Ricky previously fronting the Golden Globes from 2010 to 2012 and once again in 2016.

When discussing the difficult balancing act of hosting an awards show, he admitted that no one was safe from his witty words.

'I don't think this time [any] individuals are [in the firing line],' he told The Hollywood Reporter last week.
A fellow journalist friend recently posted photos of Julian Castro from last summer, showing the former presidential candidate in the wee hours of the morning after a long day on the campaign trail in Michigan.

There Castro was: still crisp in his suit, sitting ever-so-properly while chowing on a famed Coney Dog.

Oh Julian  he never stood a chance. Hes the super polite, clean-cut, high-achieving guy youd be proud to bring home to your Mexican mom and dad. But, ultimately, he was the kind of guy undervalued by an electorate looking for a strong change agent.

Castros brainy preparedness and youthful enthusiasm were overlooked on debate stages where many others were also whip-smart and on the young side.

Being Hispanic  potentially the first Latino president  and an effective spokesperson for the border when that region is in such turmoil never gained traction.

How could it? The media was too busy writing long-form love poems to Pete Buttigieg. The former mayor of South Bend, Ind., was depicted as a triple threat (young, gay, war veteran), and he never had to battle the baseline believability test of being presidential enough to win (read as: white and male).

Worse, while Castro initially sought to relate to wider national audiences as being just like everyone else, Hispanic voters started getting antsy that he wasnt effectively emphasizing his identity as the son of an activist Latina mom.

Even as the media took turns elevating the different candidates (the dude who was born to be president, the professor, the sassy black prosecutor, the young tech guy, etc., etc.), Castro never really put the glimmer in many assignment editors eyes.

Until he dared question Joe Biden, that is. During a debate in mid-September, Castro pressed the former vice president about whether he was backpedaling on his Medicare stance. There was a semantic difference between whether Biden would require those who wanted Medicare coverage to have to opt in to a plan or if they would be automatically enrolled and have to opt out.

In an instant, Castro went from a boring good boy to an attacker who disrespects the elderly. About a minute later, he was all but forgotten.

I knew his candidacy would never be taken seriously because  despite Donald Trumps efforts to demonize and deport Latinos  America doesnt hate us for the most part. It merely overlooks us, indifferent to our contributions to this countrys military legacy, pop music and food culture.

Despite Mexicans having a history in the United States that actually predates the country as a sovereign nation, Hispanics dont fit neatly within the white-black binary that the sin of slavery set as a foundation for white-nonwhite dynamics.

Not that ethnicity was Castros biggest flaw as a candidate.

Americans love bad boys and, to a lesser extent, nasty women who will snark, fight and defy convention, generating tabloid-style headlines and fun memes to share.

The days of so-called boring leaders in the White House  like bookish, humble Harry Truman  are long gone. You can say whatever you want about Trump, but he has delivered a level of excitement that, it seems, the American people are gobbling up.

Which brings us to a potential Elizabeth Warren-Julian Castro ticket, now that Castro endorsed her for president.

(Long exhale )

Right now, this country needs strong, steady leaders with the wisdom to walk a fine line between reshaping institutions that need systemic change and reinvigorating the ones that serve the common good but require investment and guidance.

Even if you made the case for Warren and Castro being such leaders, my bet is on an electorate that actually likes swinging from extreme to extreme, studiously avoiding the middle.

But were Trump to give the smart May-December ticket a snappy, hateful nickname and position them as actual rivals  that might be another story.

Trump taught us that simplistic, direct messages that are repeated over and over win the day. The Democrats need to run a ticket that can plainly and quickly explain what the candidates stand for, not against.

Considering that the Democratic Party is having a difficult time figuring out how far to the left it will shift to win younger voters while simultaneously capturing moderate swing votes, its going to take a lot more than Mrs. and Mr. Nice Guy to beat Trump.

estherjcepeda@washpost.com
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020 11:04 733 48be62e941b44f04afae568c3217f56d 1 News Amsterdam,tourist-tax,travel,Netherlands,Tourist Free

Travelers who wish to visit the city of Amsterdam this year may need to prepare a bigger budget.

Starting from January, the city is implementing an additional charge on top of the existing 7 percent tourist tax. The charge also applies to hotels, apartments, campsites and rented private accommodations such as Airbnb.

Hotels will charge 3 euros (US$3.34) per night, per person, while those who want to stay in camping sites have to pay an extra 1 euro per person, per night.

Additionally, the tax rate for rented private accommodations has increased by 10 percent.

Read also: Amsterdam removes iconic I Amsterdam sign due to overcrowding

The same regulation is applied to sea and river cruise operators, as well. They will be charged 8 euro for each passenger who only stops over and isnt a resident of the city.

Though Amsterdam has been threatened by overcrowding, a representative from the Amsterdam city council told CNN.com the reasons behind the tax hike and scaring off tourists was not one of them.

Visitors will contribute more to the high costs of keeping the city safe and clean, and of keeping the public place like pavements, quays, bridges and streets in a good state, said the representative.

According to lonelyplanet.com, Amsterdam is the latest addition to a list of cities that have implemented a tourist tax, such as Paris and Rome. Another city to follow suit this summer is Venice, Italy. (wir/wng)
The cabinet committee on parliamentary affairs has recommended holding the Budget session in two phases from January 31 to April 3, with the Union Budget to be presented on February 1. They said the first phase of the session will be from January 31 to February 11 and the second will be from March 2 to April 3.

There is usually a month-long break between the two phases of the Budget session to allow parliamentary committees to examine budgetary allocations made to various ministries.

The President convenes both Houses of Parliament on the recommendation made by the Union Cabinet.

Also read: Big tax cuts may be coming for middle class in next Budget; here's why

In this year's Budget, the Finance Ministry is expected to announce a slew of measures to boost consumption and revive economic growth. Uniform tax rate without exemption, new slabs for those in higher-income groups, pruning personal income tax are some of the measures that are likely to be announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Responding to a question at an event in Delhi recently, the FM said that the government is looking at myriad suggestions and the relaxation of personal income tax was one of the measures for the Union Budget 2020.

Also read: Budget 2020: Modi govt may cut income tax rate, introduce new slabs to boost consumption

Meanwhile, the Finance Minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also sought suggestions and ideas from netizens on the Budget 2020. The FM has also been holding consultations with various stakeholders. Recently, PM Modi also met the who's who of India Inc.

Once the pre-Budget meetings are over, a final decision on the measures would be taken by the Finance Minister after which the proposals would be discussed with the Prime Minister.

(With PTI inputs)

Budget 2020: Niti Aayog shocker; Poverty, hunger and income inequality up in 22 to 25 States and UTs

Budget 2020: How declining GDP growth may result in lower income tax for middle class
Ever since a group of Latino professors and administrators delivered an indictment against the University of Texas at San Antonio late last fall calling out its failures as a Hispanic-serving institution, several meetings between them and university leadership have occurred.

Except for a short, initial statement, however, UTSA leaders have remained mum on the criticism.

This week, I finally got an opportunity to hear from two UTSA officials about those initial interactions with its Latino faculty and staff and how the university is responding to their grievances.

From the start, La Raza Faculty and Administrators Association has made its concerns clear and public. In a petition on change.org, it said, UTSA has yet to reach the type of milestones that would qualify it as Hispanic serving, let alone Hispanic thriving, the latter an intentional dig at a slogan the university touts.

The petition found failure in the recruitment, hiring and retention of Latino faculty and administrators and described a university that hasnt embraced its identity as Hispanic-serving.

The faculty group pointed to a longstanding complaint in San Antonio: that the public university began walking away from its founding mission to serve working-class Mexican American neighborhoods and students as soon as it set up shop in the citys northern-most reaches.

As a result, the Latino faculty and staff argued, UTSA may be considered Hispanic-serving by virtue of its demographic data but not for its services to those students. The university has yet to address the groups litany of complaints point by point.

The petition also makes clear that becoming a leading Hispanic-serving institution is not an exclusionary endeavor.

Universities arent excluding other students by better serving their majority Latino student population. On the contrary, it will improve the educational opportunities for all other students.

Myron Anderson, UTSA vice president of inclusive excellence, and Mary Larson Diaz, vice president of university relations, said the facultys criticism has been heard and received.

They were optimistic, acknowledging that the administration has done a poor job of communicating the programs and projects that are on the horizon to address some of their concerns.

A new, accelerated hiring process, for example, is designed to address the low number of Latino faculty and administrators. A new staff training program will help develop cultural intelligence on campus, which in turn should encourage civil discourse.

Larson Diaz said the dialogue with Latino faculty and administrators has been a wake-up call on better communicating the universitys plans, and that the administration has much more listening to do.

She noted the frustration Latino faculty members and administrators must have when they hear the right things, but dont always see words in action. She acknowledged that the proof will be in the pudding.

The need for better communication aside, the issues raised by Latino faculty and administrators are begging for an official written response, an address by its president and a public airing of university history.

Acknowledging the latter may be the most important step UTSA can take to pave the way toward embracing its Hispanic-serving foundational mission.

Universities and other institutions around the country  many with much older histories than UTSA  have acknowledged their own sins, especially those of engaging and profiting from African American slavery. Theyve been important gestures of amends.

UTSAs response thus far has been nonexistent for a public university that was so publicly criticized by its own staff with such cutting accuracy.

Anderson said a website is in development that will explore the universitys history, though Larson Diaz also noted that, people dont agree on that history.

Lets hope UTSA doesnt disagree with its own history, especially given the obvious: That it took a lawsuit by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund to get UTSA to build a downtown campus in the late 1990s to serve its intended mission.

Much will be expected, too, from UTSAs Westside Community Partnerships Initiative thats studying the impact of the UTSA Downtown Campus expansion.

Heres something else to consider: Last year, for the first time, UTSA applied for the Seal of Excelencia. The national certification recognizes institutions of higher learning that are successfully serving their Hispanic students.

UTSA failed to win that seal. The school has a faculty member on staff who has done national research on Hispanic-serving institutions. She was not consulted to help prepare the application.

Elaine Ayala is a columnist covering San Antonio and Bexar County. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | eayala@express-news.net | Twitter: @ElaineAyala
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said that the Indian government will soon take measures to facilitate ease of NRI investment in the country.

"This is very much on the radar of the government. We hope to take measure soon to facilitate ease by non-residential Indians (NRIs) and Persons of Indian Origins (PIOs). You should expect to see some more news in this regard in a very short while," Jaishankar said on the issue of simple and single window clearance for NRI investment.

"We as a country and as a government would definitely like to see the NRIs invest metaphorically and literally in India in a bigger way," he added.

The diplomat also said that when the NRI portfolio investment scheme was merged with the foreign portfolio investment scheme, last year, the purpose was actually to help the Diaspora, as part of Ease of Doing Business.

"They say the investment is the ultimate act of faith and we know that you have faith in India. We're very confident that will reflect in greater investment and we'll work out channels that are convenient for you," he stressed.

Meanwhile, the minister further assured the Diaspora that the Indian government is currently working on measures to find a solution regarding their participation in Indian polls

"We'll try to find a solution that works for everybody. We do recognise that participation in Indian polls is something that Indians in Indian and abroad value very much," Jaishankar said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Paul Evans (1931-1987) is one of the famous midcentury designers in America. He made unique furniture that fit into the buildings and houses being introduced after World War II. His studio was in New Hope, Pa., and in the 1960s he was making furniture from steel and other metals. He had to learn to weld, torch-cut and create a patina to make his boxy chests and tables. Unexpected woods and metals were used in the furniture he made at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He was successful as a sculptor and as a designer and maker for the company Directional Furniture. After his death, his work was forgotten for a few years, but soon it was realized that Evans designs were important, and prices have been going up. His Cityscape pieces seem to be the most popular, but Argenta chairs and tables are wanted for dining rooms in modern houses with large windows and plain walls. Each piece is handmade, all are heavy, difficult to move, unusual and sure to be noticed. A pair of armchairs made in the 1960s of steel paired with flowered upholstery sold at a Rago Modern Design auction in the fall. The chairs estimated at $9,000 to $14,000 sold for $20,000  well over the estimate. Each chair is 26 x 25 x 20 inches.
Seems the new year and the new decade (unless youre among those insisting decades start with 01) are off to a shaky, even a depressing start.

We have a boiling cauldron of stuff to keep us divided and on edge, all but guaranteeing we push into 2020 no better off and maybe worse off than we ended 2019.

Theres the pending impeachment trial of the president, a sure-fire political wedge, not that we need another one.
NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- American Jewish Committee (AJC) is urging New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to reconsider, together with legislators, recent changes to the state's criminal law that in effect favor perpetrators over victims of antisemitic hate crimes.

"One cannot read the new discovery rules without the feeling that the interests of victims do not rank high on the legislative agenda. A fair system of criminal justice would take into account the fears of victims, not just the interests of defendants," AJC CEO David Harris and AJC New York Region Director Michael Schmidt wrote in a letter to Governor Cuomo.

Meetings with the Jewish communities most directly affected by the recent wave of antisemitic attacks have "reinforced our belief that antisemitic hate crimes targeting Orthodox Jews are generally underreported," states the AJC letter. "The lack of transparency as to outcomes of hate crimes prosecutionsexcept for those cases attracting significant public attentionreinforces the skepticism and the reluctance of victims to undertake the burden, and risks, of initiating a complaint."

Amendments to New York's Criminal Procedure Law mandate that persons charged with less than class D felonies may not be detained and may not even be subject to a bail requirement at all. Nearly all the antisemitic attacks in Brooklyn are in this category.

The harmful changes also dictate that:

Defendants must be released unless there is reason to believe they may not appear in court;

Even if defendants fail to appear in court, they must be offered a second chance to appear before a bench warrant is issued for their arrest;

A judge is forbidden to even consider that a defendant is likely to reoffend, threaten complainants, or otherwise pose a danger to the community;

There are no sentence enhancements for people who commit crimes while on release.

In addition, the new discovery rules, which AJC acknowledges are generally important improvements in criminal justice, mandate early disclosure of the names and contact information of complainants, and the substance of their reporting. "The fear of intimidation is enhanced by the fact that it is virtually certain that the offender will be on the streets, given the bail law amendments," states the AJC letter.

In essence, "victims of hate crimes see the victimizers walk out of court with what appears to be impunity, often to return to the neighborhoods they share with the victims," wrote Harris and Schmidt.

Hate crimes should be included in the lists of offenses for which a judge may order bail, and in such cases, judges should be allowed to consider the likelihood that the defendant will reoffend while on bail, Harris and Schmidt assert. Left unchanged, "the rules will inevitably make it less likely that victims will come forward or pursue criminal charges."

Noting that there are no simple answers to the challenges of improving the fairness of the criminal justice system while encouraging victims of hate crimes to come forward, Harris and Schmidt offer two recommendations. First, develop an educational campaign that would help as many of victims of the current wave of attacks to become familiar with the criminal justice system. And, second, launch a vigorous program of protection, and substantial sentences for persons who intimidate witnesses while on release.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

Related Links

http://www.ajc.org


The Iranian missile attack on American bases in Iraq two days ago backfired in a big way. The two targets, at al Asad and Irbil, suffered little damage and no Americans were killed. For Iranian leaders seeking vengeance, the missile attack not only failed but failed in such a way that made Iran, and its leaders, even weaker than before.

Twelve missiles were aimed at the al Asad airbase, which is on the Euphrates River some 200 kilometers west of Baghdad in Anbar province. Al Asad airbase is where over a thousand American and NATO troops have been stationed since 2015. The other target was a base outside Irbil, the capital of autonomous Kurdish northern Iraq. Four of the sixteen missiles failed and the ones that did land near their targets did not kill anyone. There were two reasons for this. First, the Iranian missiles were not very reliable or accurate. This is not surprising because the Iranian weapons development efforts over the last few decades have emphasized propaganda over performance. This has long been standard for Iranian developed weapons and there are numerous examples of how the more high-tech their weapons are the less reliable they are. This is easy to hide when it comes to ballistic missiles since Iran rarely test-fires these missiles in a way that their accuracy can be verified. The few times their ballistic missiles have been used in combat they have not performed well.

Slower moving UAVs, using GPS flight control are another matter because that is reliable commercial tech. There is no such commercial tech for ballistic missile guidance systems and the Iranians show no evidence of having found a solution for this. The 16 missiles fired did appear to be aimed to kill. The two bases targeted were in isolated areas. If you missed the base you were likely to hit an uninhabited area.

Iran did not want to kill any Iraqis, especially not any Shia Iraqis. That was unlikely because al Asad is in a Sunni Arab majority area and Irbil is a largely Kurdish area. While no one was killed, there were some Iraqis wounded.

For the Iranians this was disappointing. Iranian leaders had vowed to get blood for blood over the death of Quds Force commander Soleimani, their most effective terrorism expert. Instead, they got embarrassed. The Iranian state-controlled media insisted there were dead Americans but Iranians know that the Americans cannot hide troop deaths and eventually the truth will spread in Iran via the Internet and cell phone.

The next question Iranians will ask is how this could happen. Their leaders had preached for decades that the Iranian missile program, into which so much money had gone, was a deterrent to anyone who threatened Iran. But now there were indications that this was all a lie. There was another reason for the missiles not killing anyone and that was the amount of warning the Americans had of the attack. Not just the kind of warning possible using a high-tech early warning system that issues an alert as the missiles are leaving the ground and not yet indicating where they are headed. In this case, the Americans appeared to receive their warning before the missiles were launched. All the personnel on those two bases were in their bomb shelters before the missiles hit. Some of the missiles did hit a few base facilities, like part of a runway and a few buildings. Looking at the pattern of the missiles strikes, it is obvious the bases were the target but that the missiles were not accurate enough to hit much. Even with that inaccuracy, one or two missiles fired at al Asad should have killed some Americans, unless they were already in their fortified bomb shelters. This is more embarrassment for Iranian leaders, who must now deal with the possibility that Americans had an agent in Iran with access to details of the retaliation plans. Or maybe it was a hack, or a leak in Iraq, where Iran apparently advised their Iraqi Shia allies to keep their people away from al Asad and Irbil.

The missile strike did not reassure Iranian leaders angry over the death of Soleimani but caused them more embarrassment and stress. This came at a bad time, as the attacks were supposed to coincide with the burial of Soleimani. That was delayed a day because of poor crowd control at the funeral, where dozens of mourners died when there was a stampede. This was embarrassing because most of the people who turned out to commemorate the death of Soleimani were coerced. Soleimani was not popular with most Iranians because he had long been the guy Iranian leaders called on to suppress widespread protests. This brutally used to be called on once or twice a decade. But now the demonstrations have been constant since late 2017 have had to be repressed, with great brutality, several times. A side effect of these protests is even more resistance to the several days a year when mandatory Death To America and Destroy Israel rallies are held to remind foreigners what Iran is all about. Soleimani was a general in the IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) whose main job was to keep the religious dictatorship in power. Thus while Soleimani spent most of his time causing mayhem in other countries (as commander of Quds Force), he was called in when unruly Iranians had to be pacified. In Iran, it is no secret that Soleimani was a hardliner when it comes to domestic unrest. The coercion to round up large crowds to mourn Soleimani made a lot of Iranians even angrier because they were happy that he was dead.

Iranians and Iraqis are now questioning just how effective the Iranian military is. The Iranians have historically used a lot of subterfuge and illusion in support of their military operations, but now it appears subterfuge and illusion is a larger component of Iranian military power than anyone previously understood.

The Cause Of It All

On January 2nd the United States killed Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian most responsible for years of attacks on the Americans and the deaths of hundreds of American troops. While the current unrest in Iraq is mainly about corruption, there is also an anti-Iran undertone. The Iranians have taken advantage of the many corrupt government officials in Iraq and are often not very discreet about it. This is possible because of pro-Iran militias that Soleimani created after the 2003 Anglo-American invasion which ousted the Saddam Hussein government. Most Iraqis feared and hated Iran but because of a common religion (Shia Islam), there were a small percentage of Iraqis who supported Iran.

Those post-2003 militias were suppressed in 2008 by the new elected Iraqi government, a setback Soleimani never forgot. In 2014 Soleimani had another opportunity to rebuild those pro-Iran militias in order to halt the ISIL offensive that had quickly taken control of over a third of Iraq. Those militias were soon attacking those in Iraq who did not agree with Iran becoming a powerful political and military force inside Iraq. That meant the Shia militias Soleimani created also attacked Iraqi Sunni Arabs, Kurds and Shia that openly opposed Iranian control. Foreigners were also targets, especially Americans. When the Iranian religious dictatorship established itself in the 1980s it needed a formidable, but distant, threat to blame all of Irans problems on. America was the ideal official enemy. They were a true global superpower but they were far away. Unlike historical Iranian enemies like Romans, Turks, Byzantines and Mongols, the Americans were unlikely to invade and devastate Iran.

At the time it was popular in the Middle East to hate America, mainly because the U.S. supported Israel, the most successful democracy in the region. Since the 1980s official Iranian policy is to hate America and each year there are several days on which it is mandatory to get out in the streets shouting Death To America. Soon Israel was added. Most of the time this Death to America was mainly political theater. It was more than that because from the 1980s on there were a growing number of covert Iranian attacks that killed Americans. These attacks were rarely carried out by Iranians but rather by other Moslems, usually Arabs, who were recruited, trained and equipped to make these attacks by Iranians of the IRGC, which Soleimani joined soon after it was formed in 1979.

Soon after Soleimani joined the IRGC, Iraq unexpectedly attacked in an effort to seize some Iranian oil fields while Iran was distracted by the chaos of the recent revolution against the monarchy. For a guy in his 20s, Soleimani played an important role in the war, rapidly promoted because he got things done. Soon Soleimani was a division commander while still in his 20s. The Iran-Iraq war ended in 1988 with a stalemate. Iran considered this a defeat and veterans of the war like Soleimani never lost their dismay over that defeat and hatred of the Iraqi Arabs who inflicted it.

The Quds Force was also created during the 1980s as a special operations and intelligence collecting unit within the IRGC. By the 1990s Soleimani was spending more of his time with Quds and, in the late 1990s, he became its commander. This meant he reported directly to the senior clerics who ruled Iran. Soleimani proved very effective at organizing non-Iranian groups to attack American or Israeli targets overseas. Eventually Quds operatives identified as behind these attacks and soon Soleimanis name became well known to Israeli and Western intelligence agencies. Soleimani tried to stay out of the news, as heads of covert operations agencies tend to do, but he was increasingly identified by the foreign press as the chief of the Iranian dirty tricks department and in 2017 the Iranian government decided to run with that and openly declared Soleimani a national hero. Soleimani let that go to his head and was soon boasting that he was untouchable as far as foreign enemies were concerned. At the same time, Soleimani was increasingly hated in Iran and Iraq. Soleimani was in charge of dealing with internal dissent in both countries and was soon recognized as responsible for killing thousands of Iranian and Iraqi opponents of the Iranian government. There was some public rejoicing after Soleimanis death in Iraq but not in Iran, where such celebrations had to be held covertly. Soleimani may be dead but the homicidal enforcers he commanded are still around and they are angry about the American blowing their boss to pieces.

Meanwhile Iranian Quds advisors rely on corrupt Iraqi officials to survive and thrive. For this reason, one thing the Iraqi protestors and the government could agree on was how important it was to retain American troops in Iraq. This would discourage Iran from trying to take over the government by force. Iran already has a lot of influence in the Iraqi government. For example, at the end of October 2019, Soleimani flew to Baghdad and presided over a meeting of senior Iraqi officials on how to deal with the growing anti-government violence. Soleimani was there to show Iraqi officials how Iran had suppressed similar mass protests back home.

Soleimani did not reveal any details to the media. That would have been interesting because the situation in Iran is quite different. For example, Iraq is a democracy while Iran is a religious dictatorship pretending to be a democracy. Moreover, Iran has a royal guard force in the IRGC, which Quds is a part of. While Quds specializes in disrupting or controlling foreign governments, most of the IRGC personnel exist to prevent the Iranian armed forces or the Iranian people from overthrowing the religious dictatorship. Iraq is a democracy and there is nothing similar to the IRGC. If there were such a force, it would be very unpopular because it would remind many Iraqi Shia of the Saddam Hussein era Republican Guard. This was a carefully recruited and well-paid force of Sunni Arab troops whose primary job was to keep the majority 80 percent who are not Sunni Arab from taking control. Quds has been trying to create an Iraqi IRGC in the form of pro-Iran PMF (Popular Mobilization Force) militias. That has backfired as many Iraqis in the Iran-backed PMF brigades have changed their minds about supporting Iran. A growing number of Iraqis are convinced that most of the protestors killed were murdered by Iranians or pro-Iranian PMF members. Time and again the killings are carried out either by snipers (which Quds is a big fan of) or groups of uniformed masked gunmen firing on protestors. PMF members wear military uniforms while the masks and killing demonstrators are a Quds thing.

Soleimani tended to offer the same advice in both Lebanon and Iraq; if persuasion or threats dont work, anonymously open fire and keep shooting, especially at known or suspected leaders, until the unrest subsides. That often works in a police state, which Iran is, but not so much in democracies, which Iraq and Lebanon are. You can see why Iran opposes true democracy. Technically Iran is a democracy but there is a group of senior clerics who can veto anything the Iranian parliament tries to do and even blocks unsuitable Iranians seeking to run for office.

In late 2017 Soleimani was proclaimed (via Iranian TV) the best Iranian armed forces commander during 2017. Soleimani has been repeatedly praised as responsible for victories in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Soleimani was portrayed as some sort of master of mayhem and an ideal Iranian hero. The United States and many other nations consider Soleimani an international terrorist. To that end, the head of the CIA recently (before the missile attack) warned that Soleimani and his Quds Force associates would be held personally responsible if Iran backed forces in Iraq or Syria attacked American troops. Soleimani had recently said that would happen if American troops did not leave Iraq and Syria. Most Iraqis want the Americans to stay until the Iranian threat is diminished.

Soleimani has also been active in foreign relations. In late 2015 Soleimani made a second visit to Moscow. This came after Iran and Russia insisting that a July visit by Soleimani to Moscow did not happen. During the July trip, Soleimani was said to have met with Russian defense officials and left after two days. Since 2007 Soleimani has been under numerous sanctions, including ones that are not being lifted by the July 14th Iranian peace deal. Soleimani was not supposed to be able to travel to Russia and Russia knows it. But Russia and Iran simply deny the visits actually happened, the same way Iran denies that Soleimani has spent time in Iraq supervising the creation and use of pro-Iran Shia militias.

Iranian leaders already miss Soleimani, who was their most effective covert warrior against all enemies foreign and domestic. The fact that Soleimani played a major rule in crushing (for the moment) the recent public demonstrations against the Iranian government has not been forgotten. The protestors are still around and are now encouraged to hit the streets again, earlier than they normally would. Iranian leaders are threatening reprisals against America but they also know that Soleimani was their most effective commander for carrying out such missions. Soleimanit deft touch is especially needed now that the IRGC and Quds are widely considered as international terrorist organizations and first on the list of the usual suspects. The Iranians now realize that the Americans are as deadly as the Israelis in paying these blood debts. The Americans have already openly declared that any Iranian attacks against Americans would get a quick and deadly response. No one is off-limits. With Soleimani gone the senior clerics who rule (or misrule) in Iran have to consider that further violence could get very personal for them. The Americans are relentless and patient. They got bin Laden, al Baghdadi, Soleimani and dozens of less senior terrorist leaders. Soleimani was considered a key component of the IRGC effort to protect their bosses from attack. The loss of Soleimani puts the Iranian leadership in a very bad position and most people in the Middle East are enjoying that.

Israel

Israel believes Iran is moving short-range (under 1,000 kilometers) ballistic missiles into Iraq and concealing them in areas where pro-Iran militias are dominant. These would be used in the event of a war with Israel, along with rockets and missiles already in Lebanon and Gaza. This could cause problems with Iraq, especially since a retired IRGC general casually admitted, in a recent media interview, that Iran controlled the many rockets and missiles stored in southern Lebanon for potential use against Israel. An official denial was issued because Iran has always denied having direct control over Hezbollah, the Shia militia that has controlled southern Lebanon for decades. It is no secret that Iran controls Hezbollah but officially that is not the case.

Iranbacked Shia rebels in Yemen recently threatened to use their Iranian ballistic and cruise missiles against Israel. These rebels took credit for the September 14 attack on Saudi oil facilities. Iran supported this claim but the physical evidence clearly showed that the attack came from Iran and, inside Iran, it is taken for granted that this was an Iranian, not a Yemeni rebel attack. The Yemeni rebels are not enthusiastic about getting credit for any direct attack on Israel because of the Israeli reputation for retribution.

The Leak

In mid-November a massive number of leaked Iranian intelligence files from 2014-15 detailed how much Iran had infiltrated the Iraqi government and Security forces. Names were named, both Iraqi and Iranian. Many of the names, especially the Iranian IRGC commanders and religious leaders, are still around and still actively interfering inside Iraq. This was inflammatory material in Iran and Iraq, as both countries are undergoing nationwide protests against corruption and the misbehavior of the IRGC and Irans religious dictatorship. For a lot of Iraqis and Iranians, the leaked documents just confirmed what was already suspected, but that both Iranian and Iraqi governments denied.

The Iranian documents consisted of 700 pages of Iranian intelligence reports detailing Iranian efforts in 2014 and 2015 to gain control over senior Iraqi officials and obtain information on American operations to defeat ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) in Iraq. The leaked reports named names and detailed how the Iranian approach was to recruit Shia, as well as Sunni and Kurdish, officials to either have the Iraqi government assist Iranian operations in Syria or simply keep Iraq subordinate to Iranian interests. To make this happen Iran recruited some Iraqis who worked for the American CIA. Iran used appeals to protect Iraqi Shia, bribes and threats. Not a lot of money was spent, if only because the most vulnerable Iraqi officials were often the most corrupt and were already getting rich by plundering the Iraqi government budget as well as state-owned or controlled industries. Kurdish and Sunni officials were recruited with offers to help protect Kurdish and Sunni Iraqis, as well as other favors for the officials involved. A lot of this was no secret and it was widely known which Iraqi Shia, Kurdish and Sunni officials seemed to be on good terms with Iran. It was assumed that this was done in return for some Iranian favors and the leaked messages detailed what those relationships entailed. The Iranian documents appeared after Iraqi had been suffering from over two months of anti-corruption protests, mainly by Iraqi Shia who were the most vulnerable and abused victims. Iranian intelligence efforts in Iraq showed little concern for most Iraqi Shia who had already figured this out. Now they had evidence of who agreed to work for the Iranians, usually at the expense of most Iraqi Shia. This caused the protests to turn even more anti-Iran than they already were.That played a role in the senior Iraqi Shia clergy openly turning against Iran. Now Iran has a more difficult time obtaining cooperation from the Iraqi government and Iraqis in general.

While these leaked documents concentrated in Iran, other neighbors of Iran could sympathize with Iraq because all had felt similar pressure from Iraq to bend the knee to the ancient local superpower.

The anti-corruption demonstrations have, since October 1st, left nearly 500 dead and nearly 20,000 injured. The protest is not just about corruption but also Iranian efforts to control Iraq and exploit the corruption to do so. Protestors consider the current government crippled by politicians who are pro-Iran or have been bribed to do what Iran wants. Both the Iraqi and Iranian governments were caught by surprise at the size, ferocity and persistence of the protests. The death of Soleimani was welcomed by many of these protestors because they hold Soleimani responsible for the shoot-to-kill policy the Iraqi government, and pro-Iran PMF militias have adopted against the protestors.

January 8, 2020: Iran launched 16 short-range ballistic missiles, from three locations in Iran, at two bases used by American troops in Iraq. The attack took place before dawn. Later in the day, actually, after midnight, two more small rockets were fired into the Green Zone, the well-protected area where foreign embassies and key government offices are located. One rocket landed about a hundred meters from the American embassy and the embassy was apparently the target. These rockets are unguided and there is lots of open space in the Green Zone. This 10 square kilometer (four square mile) sanctuary in downtown Iraq was long a sanctuary for Americans and senior Iraqis. Most Baghdad residents wanted the Green Zone and the way it disrupted major traffic patterns, eliminated after the Americans left. But rich and powerful Iraqis wanted to live in the Green Zone, as protection from criminals and terrorists, both of whom murder, kidnap and rob the rich. So the Green Zone lives on, under Iraqi management. Since 2010 there have been occasional rockets or mortar shells fired into the Green Zone. It is a large target, with a lot of open space, so there are rarely casualties. This rocket was fired from areas controlled by an Iran-backed militia. Iran officially condemned the rocket attack although it was later announced that fragments of the rocket had been collected and it was Iranian made and commonly used by groups Iran supports throughout the region. Thats a proxy war. Thus the Kataeb Hezbollah and other pro-Iran PMF militias have not finished with their efforts to kill Americans to avenge their patron Soleimani.

January 5, 2020: The U.S. announced that its forces in Iraq would temporarily shift from supporting the fight against ISIL remnants active in Iraq to reinforce the security of bases where American troops live. This will continue until the current Iran threat is over. Iraqi anti-ISIL operations continued with the next one taking place in the north on the 9th. The Iraqi efforts will be less frequent and effective without American participation, especially air support.

In Baghdad, pro-Iran members of parliament have held a meeting to see if they could pass a law ordering American troops out of Iraq. Kurdish and Sunni Arab MPs refused to attend as did many Shia Arab MPs. Parliament did pass a nonbinding resolution calling on the government to expel all foreign troops from Iraq. The resolution was not only non-binding, but the temporary (until a permanent one can be agreed on) prime minister does not have the authority to approve such a expel foreign troops law. Moreover, the resolution had no timetable for the expulsion of much in the way of details at all. All this resolution did was let Iran know that some of its Iraqi allies were still active.

January 4, 2020: The United States and other NATO nations suspended their training activities with Iraqi security forces. This is to reduce the exposure of Western troops and civilian contractors to Iranian attacks. The U.S. has also increased security around bases where Americans are stationed. There were two rockets fired at bases in Baghdad and Balad that contained American troops. Both rockets missed. These attacks are nothing new as there have been 13 of them since November. Pro-Iran Iraqi militias are believed responsible for most or all of these attacks.

January 2, 2020: American UAVs used missiles to kill Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, the long-time commander of the IRGC Quds Force. Also killed were nine Iraqi and Iranian associates of Soleimani. This included the head of the Iraqi Kataeb Hezbollah which is trying to emulate the older Lebanese Hezbollah. It was later revealed that American intelligence believed Soleimani had ordered preparations for major attacks on American targets.

January 1, 2020: Iran and Kataeb Hezbollah warned Americans in Iraqi that they were not welcome and not safe as long as they remained in Iraq.

In the north, near the Turkish border, two Turkish troops were killed during a clash with PKK Kurdish separatists. Turkey was conducting a multiday air and ground operation in northern Iraq to find and destroy PKK facilities in the area.

December 31, 2019: In Baghdad, pro-Iranian demonstrators bullied their way past Iraqi security and into the normally very safe Green Zone and smashed their way through the gates of the American embassy compound. The Americans complained to the Iraqis about the lack of security provided by Iraqi troops and police protecting the Green Zone. Iraqi government officials admitted the obvious, the demonstrators were unarmed Pro-Iran Kataeb Hezbollah PMF militiamen. With no assurance of help from the Iraqi government the U.S. quickly flew in a hundred more marines and ordered them to open fire if the PMF men attempted to take the embassy itself. There would be more reinforcements as needed and air support. The Iraqi government was told about this as well and warned to back off unless they were willing to defend the embassy. At that point, the PMF men inside the compound were ordered to withdraw.

December 29, 2019: The U.S. carried out five airstrikes against Iraqi Kataeb Hezbollah bases in Iraq and Syria, leaving at least 25 dead.

December 28, 2019: In the north (Kirkuk province), a rocket attack on the K1 base killed an American contractor and wounded American and Iraqi troops. At least 30 rockets were fired and pro-Iran Kataeb Hezbollah militia was believed responsible.

December 10, 2019: Commercial satellite photos clearly show Iran building tunnels in eastern Syria (Deir Ezzor province) near the Al Bukamal crossing into Iraq. This border crossing is vital for the Iran-to-Mediterranean land route. This road is essential to supporting any Iranian military expansion in Syria and Lebanon. The new tunnels are apparently large enough for trucks to drive into, for refuge from airstrikes as well as for getting across the border unseen. Israel has bombed this area many times and continues doing so. Because of that Iran is constructing the tunnels to better conceal the cargo trucked in from Iran and moved into Syria via this crossing. The tunnels are near the new military base Iran is building on the Syrian side of the border. The base is nearly complete despite several Israeli airstrikes. Once the base is completed the Israeli airstrikes will intensify in an effort to obliterate the base. Probably the same for the tunnels. Israel has had to deal with cross-border tunnels before, on its Lebanon and Gaza borders.

December 7, 2019: In eastern Syria (Deir Ezzor province), there was another Israeli airstrike against Iranian weapons being stored near the Al Bukamal crossing into Iraq. There were four or five deaths, all of them pro-Iran militiamen.

December 4, 2019: In eastern Syria (Deir Ezzor province), there was another Israeli airstrike against Iranian weapons being stored near the Al Bukamal crossing into Iraq.

December 3, 2019: Iraq remains firmly entrenched in the three nations of the 2019 GTI (Global Terrorism Index), which counts all forms of terrorism, The top ten consists of Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Syria, Pakistan, Somalia, India, Yemen, Philippines, and Congo. India, Philippines, Yemen and Congo all have Islamic terrorism accounting for a minority of the deaths. In the last year worldwide terrorism deaths declined 15 percent to 15,952. This decline is, so far, a four year trend and Iraq is one of the areas where there have been fewer deaths in the last few years.

November 30, 2019: Iranian general Soleimani flew to Iraq and presided over a meeting of senior Iraqi officials on how to deal with the growing violence and the recent resignation of the pro-Iran prime minister. Soleimani had been in Iraq a month ago to advise but that did not seem to have the desired impact.
Hitting back at Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress leader Kamal Nath for his swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP on Thursday said its was based on hard work and talent while the opposition party survived on "dynasty".

Union minister and senior leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Prakash Javadekar hit out at Nath over his reported remarks that Modi's father and grandfather did not fight for the country's freedom.

"Kamal Nath has made a crass remark by asking whether Narendra Modi's father and grandfather fought in the freedom struggle. It is reflective of the Congress's petty mindset. It is still unable to digest Modi, who came from a poor family and whose father sold tea, becoming the prime minister," Javadekar told reporters.

Modi had reached this position due to his talent, honesty, sincerity and the confidence of people in him, he said, asserting that the BJP's was not based on dynasty, unlike that of the Congress.

The of the Congress was confined to the Nehru-Gandhi family and had omitted the likes of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Javadekar said, adding that Modi had emerged as the country's prime minister by breaking this "politics of dynasty".

The Union minister also hit back at the Congress for taking a dig at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over her absence from a pre-budget meeting chaired by the prime minister, accusing the opposition party of making the "worst kind of sexist remarks".

Earlier in the day, the Congress had tweeted: "How many men does it take to do a woman's job", taking a potshot at Sitharaman.

Asserting that the comment was absolutely unnecessary in a civilised society, Javadekar sought an apology from the opposition party.

Pointing out that the Congress was headed by a woman (Sonia Gandhi), he wondered whether she agreed with her party's view on Sitharaman.

For a party headed by a woman, the Congress had fallen to a "new low", Javadekar said.

The Modi government was engaging in the "widest consultation" before presenting its budget, he said, adding that Sitharaman was running the finance ministry "competently" and the Congress should apologise for its remarks on her.

Modi met economists, private equity and venture capitalists, business leaders and agri experts at Niti Aayog on Thursday and called for focussed efforts from all the stakeholders to achieve the target of nearly doubling the size of the Indian economy to USD 5 trillion by 2024.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Around 500 judges and 50 trained mediation lawyers from 11 districts of Maharshtra's Vidarbha region will take part in a regional conference here on January 11, a release here stated on Thursday.

The conference on capacity building and evaluation of mediation activities is being organised by the Maharashtra Legal Services Authority, Chief Mediation Centre and District Legal Services Authority.

According to principal district and sessions judge Urmila S Joshi-Phalke and District Legal Services Authority secretary A G Santanui, the conference has been organised with a view to take forward the idea that "compromise is better than quarrel".

The meet will be inaugurated by Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court Pradeep Nandrajog.

While Justice S C Dharmadhikari, Justice Ranjit More, Justice R K Deshpande, Justice S B Shukre and Justice Z A Haque will be the chief guests on the occasion.

The conference will be held in four sessions guided by senior justices.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9

Trend:

Switzerland's first astronaut Claude Nicollier addressed a letter to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking for the removal of his name from the 'List of foreign citizens illegally visited the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan', Trend reports with reference to the ministry.

In his letter, Nicollier emphasized his respect to the sovereignty of the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as underlined that he was unaware about the consequences of the visit.

Appeal by Nicollier was appropriately considered and the decision was made to remove his name from the mentioned list.

Visiting Nagorno Karabakh and other occupied Azerbaijani territories without agreement with the Azerbaijani side is considered illegal, and the names of the persons who make such visits are included in the "black list" of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

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, 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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
The mood in Tehran was tense Wednesday morning when Ukraine International Flight 752 took off, bound for Kyiv. Just hours earlier, Iran had fired missiles at two bases in Iraq that house U.S. troops, and Iranian forces were on alert for an American counterstrike.

Nothing was unusual about the plane's takeoff and ascent, according to preliminary satellite data. But minutes into the flight, the Boeing 737 was engulfed in flames as it plunged to the ground, killing at least 176 people on board.

Resolving what happened over the skies of Tehran may prove complicated given the tensions between Iran, where the plane went down, and the United States, where it was built by Boeing, a company in the midst of crisis after two earlier deadly crashes.

The immediate aftermath of the crash brought confusing and contradictory statements from Ukraine and Iran. Ukraine's embassy in Iran initially issued a statement ruling out terrorism or a rocket attack. But the statement was later removed from the embassy's website and replaced with one saying it was too early to draw any conclusions.

The crash's timing raised immediate suspicions. Iran fired at U.S. forces early Wednesday in retaliation for an airstrike Friday that killed a top Iranian general and the leader of Iran-backed Iraqi militias.

Investigators should put consideration of an attack "at the top of their agenda," said Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board.

On Tuesday, hours before the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration barred American airliners from flying over Iran, citing a risk that commercial planes would be mistaken for military aircraft. Several non-American carriers rerouted flights Wednesday to avoid Iraq and Iran, according to Flightradar24.

A spokesman for Iran's armed forces, Abolfazl Shekarchi, said the crash was not a result of any military action.

Typically, the country where a crash occurs leads an investigation, and includes officials from the country where the plane was produced, as well as countries where the victims were from. With the United States and Iran engaged in an escalating, violent conflict, it was immediately apparent that cooperation could be fraught.

The flight data recorders, or black boxes, were recovered from the crash site, and are usually sent to the plane's maker for analysis. However, the head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, Ali Abedzadeh, told the semiofficial Mehr News Agency that Iran would not send the recorders from the Ukraine International Airlines flight to Boeing.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

However, the airline promised a full investigation, involving officials from Ukraine, Iran and Boeing.

The 737 left Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran at 6:12 a.m. Wednesday. There were 176 people aboard, including nine crew members, according to the airline, which released the names of the dead.

The plane had reached an altitude of almost 8,000 feet and a speed of more than 300 mph, according to Flightradar24, which tracks aircraft by their radio signals. Two to three minutes after takeoff, it abruptly ceased the automatic transmission of flight data, though it remained in the air for a few minutes longer. Abedzadeh said the airliner had not contacted the control tower about an emergency.

The Iranian Students News Agency, a state-run media organization, shared a video it said showed the predawn crash, with an aircraft apparently in flames descending in the distance before a bright burst filled the sky upon impact.

The plane appears to have banked northwest and flown for several miles after its transponder stopped working.
ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Bloomberg Law today announced the availability of a series of new resources to help legal professionals navigate the complex world of litigation finance. These resources include two enhancements to the Bloomberg Law platform as well as a free online hub for litigation finance resources and information. For more information and to request a demo, please visit https://pro.bloomberglaw.com/request-demo-legal-research/?trackingcode=BLAW204617.

The newly released Practical Guidance for litigation finance covers funding terms and structures, legal ethics, client types, and more. Bloomberg Law's Litigation Finance Practical Guidance resources include overviews, checklists, comparison tables, and a glossary that walk attorneys through the varied aspects of the litigation finance industry and the financing process.

Along with Practical Guidance for litigation finance, a new In Focus: Litigation Finance page is now available. In Focus pages provide a timely, closer look at specific issues driving change in legal and business markets. In Focus: Litigation Finance provides litigation, transactional, and broker-dealer resources, and also highlights the results from Bloomberg Law's 2019 Commercial Litigation Finance Survey, which examines the scope, process, and expectations around financing litigations.

Bloomberg Law also launched a free online hub for its resources and information about litigation finance. The site allows users to gain a quick understanding of this developing topic, including finding out how law firms, clients, and corporate counsel are utilizing third-party funders to share the risks and rewards of litigation. Bloomberg Law's market survey executive summary, including data about the litigation finance market, key practice areas affected, and common negotiated terms, is available for download from this site. Visit the hub here: https://pro.bloomberglaw.com/litigation-finance/.

"Litigation finance is a complex industry that is growing in scope and demand," said Joe Breda, President, Bloomberg Law. "The newest expansions to Bloomberg Law's Practical Guidance and the new In Focus page significantly increase our resources on this topic in order to assist our clients in meeting their litigation finance needs."

As with all enhancements to the Bloomberg Law platform, the expanded Practical Guidance collection and In Focus page are available to current subscribers at no additional cost.

About Bloomberg Law

Bloomberg Law helps legal professionals provide world-class counsel with access to actionable legal intelligence in a business context. Bloomberg Law delivers a unique combination of comprehensive primary and secondary source material, real-time news, expert analysis, time-saving practice tools including Practical Guidance, market data, and business intelligence. For more information, visit pro.bloomberglaw.com.

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Why did Irans Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei launch a propaganda show as Suleimans funeral? Khamenei was surprised at the latest events which he did not expect. In a nutshell, he was checkmated and tried to give his frustrated forces an injection of morale by launching this disgusting circus.

Supporting Bashar al-Assad under the pretext in defending the holy shrine

For Khamenei, Qasem Suleimani was an irreplaceable, right-hand man in advancing the strategy of exporting terrorism and extending the strategic depth of Irans regime to Aleppo, Damascus and the Mediterranean. It was Qasem Suleimani who supported Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, sent thousands of Iranian, Iraqi, Afghan, Hezbollah and Basij militia troops to Damascus and created a bloodbath in Hama, Homs and Aleppo, and elsewhere, and prevented the fall of al-Assad.

Occupation of Iraq

Suleimani never gave the Iraqi people the opportunity to bring a democratic government by the peoples request and vote. He used mercenary elements such as Hakim, Nuri al-Maliki, Hadi Ameri, and Faleh Fayyad, during the 18 years after the toppling of Iraqs former leader by the United States.

Many of them were trained in Iran during the Iran-Iraq by the IRGC. They prevented the spread of democracy in Iraq and held key positions. They launched a sectarian war, terrorized Iraqi intellectuals and liberals, and turned the country into Irans backyard. A country that Irans regime had failed to occupy even a small town during the 8-year Iran-Iraq war was gifted in a silver platter to it by the US.

Lebanon, the fracture of a nation

Another achievement of Qasem Suleimani was turning Lebanon into a politically shaky country; he managed to turn the Lebanese government into a hostage, with the help of a number of political parties in the country and the material support of the Shiite party as a political and military arm.

No one could occupy the post of prime minister in Lebanon without the support of Hezbollah, and anyone who wanted to prevent the domination of Hezbollah, the Iranian regimes proxy in Lebanon, suffered the fate of Rafiq Hariri. Lebanon makes a part of the Shiite crescent that Khamenei aspires to capture in the region. Although the youth of Lebanon are now revolting against the current situation, with the disappearance of Suleimani, they received their greatest help to create a new democracy in the country.

Yemen, proxy war of attrition

The coup in Yemen and the continuation of the war that could have ended many years ago is nothing more than a futile fire to extort from the Saudis and the Arab nations. If the Houthis coup succeeded, many parameters would now be different in Yemen. The years of war, which, according to independent military experts, would have no side that would be the winner, nothing but destruction and death for that country. Perhaps the death of Suleimani can open the way for the Yemeni people to get out of the crisis of a civil war.

The fate of the latest example of an international criminal

For many years, Suleimani and the Quds Force created constant tension and wars in the region, and with the massive blood that was poured, he was able to continuously draw attention away from the regimes interference in other places, giving the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and his regime the opportunity to carry on their nuclear and missile projects.

The appeasement policy towards Irans regime which was prevalent by the international community, along with the leverage of terrorism, removed all possible obstacles, and for many years it was only the organized Iranian Resistance that stood against the regime and was awakening the conscience of the international community to condemn the regimes interventions and crimes in the region.

History repeats itself

The history of criminals who have committed atrocious killings and crimes against humanity is abundant, and of course there are many such criminals in the mullahs regime, Ali Sayyad Shirazi, the Iranian Kurdish peoples killer, Asadollah Lajevardi the butcher of Evin, and Ebrahim Raisi, one of the main perpetrators of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners.

Virtually all the IRGCs leaders are among those who have committed mass killings, whether in Iranian Kurdistan or Khuzestan. Suleimani was one of those criminals who was constantly plotting and expanding the dictatorship of the Velayat-e Faqih regime (mullahs regime), and committing crimes were the only means of achieving the goal that lay ahead.

His special feature was his absolute loyalty to Irans supreme leader Ali Khamenei. And he confessed that he was a simple soldier for the Supreme Leader. Khamenei had the most confidence in him in the regime, while other regime officials failed to secure such a position by Khamenei.

A very good example of this in history was in Hitlers era: during the rise of Nazism and its spread throughout Europe, there was a criminal named Heidrich who deeply believed in Nazi ideology, always thinking and planning to trap and destroy as many Jews and communists and liberals as possible, and when he was killed by anti-fascist partisans, Hitler arranged one of the largest and most unprecedented funeral ceremonies for him to reduce his fury over this extreme loss.

The greatness that collapsed

No one, like Khamenei, can have a real understanding of Suleimanis absence at the top of the terrorist apparatus, and no one else knows how much he lost his authority in the Arab world and in the region, and especially in Iraq and Lebanon.

Khamenei understands that the awe of his regime is decreased and the structure that Suleimani built during the last 20 years in the Middle East has cracked and is near to a total collapse. He knows that the liberation movements in the region are now moving faster than ever before in the absence of Suleimani, and they will dare to reject his hegemony in the region.

Khamenei also knows well that no other IRGC officer can lead the terrorism structure that Suleimani has built. However, he is forced to fill the gap with another criminal, the deputy of Suleimani, Esmail Qaani.

That is why Khamenei tried to express his anger at Suleimanis absence by conducting a large funeral and at the same time making a political maneuver.

All the departments of the regime have tried to warm up the show by threatening and luring students with better scores, or promising soldiers and the military with extended leave, closing offices and forcing the poor people from the south of Kerman to participate in the ceremony.

According to the state-run website, Khabarban, during the last 24 hours, some 94450 public transporters brought the people from other provinces to the Kerman province (Khabarban  8 January 2020).

Of course, everybody knows that the regime has been very skilled in ruthless mobilization over the past 40 years, but the most important lesson of the events in the past days is nothing more than the fact that Khamenei is the main loser of recent events and the Iranian people and the resistance are the biggest winners.

Khamenei, in fact, by attacking the US bases in Iraq with missiles, shot himself in the foot with a series of losses in this gamble and ended up with another loss for his regime.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday searched the Abuja home of Shehu Sani, a former senator.

Operatives of the EFCC were said to have arrived at the residence located in Wuse 2, Abuja, around 3;30pm, theCable reports.

Sani, who represented Kaduna Central at the senate from 2015 to 2019, is currently being investigated by the anti-graft agency on allegation bodering on extortion.

Read Also: Bribery Scandal: I Have Never Met Shehu Sani  CJN Tanko

The former lawmaker was arrested arrested by the EFCC before the new year and got a 14-day court order to further detain him for further probe.

Shehu Sani, who has always been very vocal on Twitter, has remained mute ever since his ordeal with the anti-corruption agency.
BJP vice-president Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday said his party colleague Kailash Vijayvargiya's reported "setting Indore on fire" remark has been misconstrued and what the latter actually meant was he will "set off a fire of protests" against the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh.

Vijayvargiya, a former Madhya Pradesh minister who hails from the city, has been booked by the police for his reported remark that he would have "set Indore on fire", made during a BJP-organised protest here last week.

Coming out in defence of the BJP general secretary in- charge of West Bengal, Chouhan said there is no question of engaging in arson.

There is no question of setting on fire (Indore). It was regarding protest. He (Vijayvargiya) had talked about protests.

"I am also saying that we will launch a fire of agitations, the former chief minister told reporters here.

Chouhan was responding to scribes' queries seeking his reaction to Vijayvargiyas controversial remark.

In a democracy, protest is a source of strength. Our leaders and activists will pour onto the streets if the Congress government does not heed to concerns of public, he warned.

Asked about his party colleague's possible arrest, Chouhan said, Vijayvargiya is holding a big office of general secretary. In case, the state government tries to muzzle the voice of a BJP activist, we will spill onto the streets."



Vijayvargiya was among nearly 350 BJP workers who have been booked by the city police after a video purportedly showing him 'threatening' government officials went viral on social media over the last weekend.

The video, apparently shot during a protest organised by the BJP in the Residency area on Friday last, purportedly showed Vijayvargiya saying, "Our Sangh (RSS) leaders are (here), otherwise (we) would have set Indore on fire today."



At the time of the protest, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat and its other senior leaders were in the city for an informal conclave of the organisation.

The BJP had organised the protest alleging that city officials were biased and taking "politically motivated" action against party workers.

Vijayvargiya, 63, had led the protest alleging the Congress government was targeting BJP cadres in the state.

The BJP had invited top civic and police officials for discussing this issue at the protest venue, but they did not turn up.

Later, when some junior-level officials reached the spot, Vijayvargiya appeared peeved.

In the video, the BJP leader was heard saying, "Have they (top officers) become so big? Officers should understand that they are public servants."



Opposing the FIR against Vijayvargiya, Chouhan said, The registration of police case is gross injustice and oppression."



The former chief minister sought to know why can't bureaucrats spare time to listen to pre-people issues raised by a senior leader like Vijayvargiya.

Vijayvargiya has been booked by the police under IPC sections related to unlawful assembly, provocation with intent to cause riot and criminal intimidation, among others.

On the state government's crack down on the land mafia under which illegal buildings are being razed, Chouhan said If the chief minister wants to act against mafia, he should take cudgels against sand, liquor, transport and transfer mafias.

We (BJP) wont tolerate suppression of common people in the name of anti-mafia operations, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Right before the New Year, a Chinese court sentenced Early Rain Church Pastor Wang Yi to nine years in prison for inciting subversion of state power and illegal business activities. In addition to prison, Wang is deprived of his political rights for three years and his personal property (approximately $7200 worth) will be confiscated.

Thirteen years ago, Wang was in the White House discussing the state of religious freedom in China with then-president George W. Bush. Today he is a symbol of just how perilous it is for religious minorities in China.

In fact, given the new regulations to be imposed on religious communities beginning February 1, 2020, Wangs imprisonment is only a prelude to what lies ahead for Chinese Christians and other religious minorities.

As summarized by the Catholic website Asia News, Religious organizations must spread the principles and policies of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as national laws, regulations, rules to religious personnel and religious citizens, educating religious personnel and religious citizens to support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, supporting the socialist system, adhering to and following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics . . .

If that sounds like China will now force religious organizations to be organs of the Communist Party, thats because China is forcing religious organization to be organs of the Communist Party. As a Catholic priest told Asia News, In practice, your religion no longer matters, if you are Buddhist, or Taoist, or Muslim or Christian: the only religion allowed is faith in the Chinese Communist Party.

Asia News summed up the new regulations this way: Every aspect of the life of religious communities  from formation, gatherings to annual and daily projects  is subject to approval by the governments religious affairs department.

Back in November, I argued on BreakPoint that what drives the repression of religious minorities and democracy activists in China is the Communist Partys insecurity about its own weakness. For example, contrast the way Beijing is treating Christians with how they treat technology giant Huawei. Setting aside the inherent contradiction of billionaires in a socialist system, companies like Huawei enjoy freedoms that churches can only dream about.

In its battle with the United States, Huawei has publicly distanced itself from the Communist Party and insisted that its equipment has never been used, and will never be used, to spy for Beijing. The point is not whether you believe Huawei  which, for the record, you shouldntits that Beijing does not require Huawei to toe many of the same ideological lines as religious organizations.

Why? Because firms like Huawei and other Chinese e-commerce giants like Alibaba do not threaten the legitimacy of the Communist Party rule, but pastor Wang Yi does. Socialism with Chinese characteristics, apparently, can handle a man who makes billions of dollars, but not a man who claims Jesus is Lord.

As Time Magazine said bluntly, China feels threatened by the spread of Christianity. As they should. There are significantly more Christians in China than Communist Party members, even though the latter comes with material benefits and security, while the former comes with increasing persecution.

As Willy Law of the Chinese University of Hong Kong told Time, [The Chinese government] is afraid that more people . . . are turning to the church for their spiritual needs and not to official nationalism and patriotism.

In other words, Beijings attempt to co-opt churches for its own ends is a tacit admission of its own weakness. Unfortunately, this weakness makes them more dangerous, not less.

Since 2020 promises to be such a hard year for our Chinese brethren, they should be at the top our concerns and certainly our prayer lists, starting with Wang Yi.

Given the increasingly dire situation for Christians in China, its particularly fitting (and I am honored to announce) that the 2020 William Wilberforce Award will be given to Pastor Bob Fu, Founder and President of China Aid. The ceremony will take place at this years Wilberforce Weekend, May 14-17. Come hear from and honor this courageous Chinese Christian leader, and learn from other leading Christian thinkers, like Os Guinness, Lee Strobel, Obianuju Ekeosha, and Andy Crouch. Register here.

Publication date: January 9, 2020

Photo courtesy: Pixabay

BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931  2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.

John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing 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.
HOLYOKE  In the latest twist on the attempt to find a use for the Lynch School property, the developer who is under contract to purchase the old school said he has filed suit to reverse the Planning Boards rejection of his plan.

Frank Colaccino, CEO and founder of The Colvest Group, said he has filed a lawsuit in Springfield Superior Court against the citys Planning Board.

"We believe the planning board acted arbitrarily, Colaccino said. The company filed paperwork on Wednesday with the court and with the Holyoke City Clerk.

Colvest Group was selected in March 2018 as the preferred developer for the 3-acre parcel located on 1575 Northampton St., after city officials requested companies submit proposals for the property. Three others also turned in plans.

Colaccino wants to knock down the about 70-year-old Lynch School  which has been unused since 2008  and build an about 17,000 square-foot retail space with six to eight storefronts and a separate bank branch at a cost of $7 million to $8 million.

The Planning Board on Dec. 10 rejected the project in a 3-2 vote during a site plan review after members and residents aired concerns about safety and traffic. Several also said they were disappointed about the generic architecture and location of the parking lot at the street with the building in back.

Colaccino said the vote was especially surprising because the Planning Board granted a zone change for the property in June, changing it from residential to highway-business and allowing it to progress. Although it wasnt required, Colaccino said he described the project in detail for the zoning change and it apparently met with the citys approval at that point.

In May 2018 the City Council voted 12-0 to approve the sale of Lynch School to the Colvest Group for $250,000.

The company is still under agreement to buy the school, but the purchase will not be finalized until needed permits are granted. Currently the city still owns the building.

This is the second project considered for the sight, which has been touted by city councilors as an attractive location because of its proximity to Interstate-91 and at a busy intersection. An agreement with Frontier Development of Florida ended in June 2017 because of its lack of progress and after city councilors and others showed little support for the plan that included a CVS pharmacy.
An artist's impression of a quasar. New measurements of the universe's expansion have relied on the gravitational lensing of light from six quasars.

HONOLULU  A crisis in physics may have just gotten deeper. By looking at how the light from distant bright objects is bent, researchers have increased the discrepancy between different methods for calculating the expansion rate of the universe.

"The measurements are consistent with indicating a crisis in cosmology," Geoff Chih-Fan Chen, a cosmologist at the University of California, Davis, said here during a news briefing on Wednesday (Jan. 8) at the 235th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu.

At issue is a number known as the Hubble constant . It was first calculated by American astronomer Edwin Hubble nearly a century ago, after he realized that every galaxy in the universe was zipping away from Earth at a rate proportional to that galaxy's distance from our planet.

Related: From Big Bang to Present: Snapshots of Our Universe Through Time

This does not mean that Earth is at the center of the cosmos. Instead, the finding told scientists that the universe is expanding and that there is a direct relationship between how far apart two objects are and how fast they are receding from one another. The Hubble constant has a value that incorporates this speed-distance connection.

The problem is that, in recent years, different teams have disagreed over what exactly this constant's value is . Measurements made using the cosmic microwave background (CMB), a remnant from the Big Bang that provides a snapshot of the infant universe, suggest that the Hubble constant is 46,200 mph per million light-years (or, using cosmologists' units, 67.4 kilometers/second per megaparsec).

But by looking at pulsating stars known as Cepheid variables, a different group of astronomers has calculated the Hubble constant to be 50,400 mph per million light-years (73.4 km/s/Mpc).

The discrepancy seems small, but there is no overlap between the independent values and neither side has been willing to concede major mistakes in its methodology.

The new measurement, made by the H0 Lenses in COSMOGRAIL's Wellspring (H0LICOW) collaboration, was an attempt to calculate the Hubble constant in a completely novel way. (COSMOGRAIL is the acronym for Cosmological Monitoring of Gravitational Lenses.)

This measure uses the fact that massive objects in the universe will warp the fabric of space-time, meaning that light will bend as it travels past them. Superluminous, black-hole-powered entities called quasars are sometimes found behind large foreground galaxies, and their light gets warped by this bending process, which is known as gravitational lensing .

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, the H0LiCOW team studied the light from six quasars between 3 billion and 6.5 billion light-years away from Earth. As the quasars' black holes gobbled material, their light would flicker.

The intervening gravitationally lensing galaxy bent each quasar's light, and so the quasar's flickering arrived at Earth at different times depending on what path it took around the foreground galaxy, Chen said. The length of the time delay provided a way to probe the expansion rate of the universe, he added.

H0LiCOW was able to derive a value of the Hubble constant of 50,331 mph per million light-years (73.3 km/s/Mpc), extremely close to that provided by Cepheid variables but quite far from the CMB measurement.

"The consequence is the tension is very well likely real," Chen said and probably not the result of errors in the methods of each approach.

It's worth noting that last year another independent measurement of the Hubble constant, made using giant red stars, came squarely between the two sides, calculating a value of 47,300 mph per million light-years (69.8 km/s/Mpc).

Nevertheless, Chen said, the different numbers are far enough apart that it's possible there is something wrong in our models of the universe. A growing number of physicists are acknowledging this, he added, because the independent measurements continue to disagree. Researchers might have to come up with new physics to explain what's going on.
A record number of personnel left the Defence Forces last year  and there are fears the retention crisis could get worse as the pace of the exodus increases in 2020.

Figures obtained by the Irish Examiner show around 850 personnel were discharged from the Army, Naval Service, and Air Corps in 2019.

This compares to 473 in 2013, 481 in 2014, 571 in 2015, 679 in 2016, 742 in 2017, and 731 in 2018.

Both representative associations  Raco for the officers and PDForra for enlisted personnel  consistently say the Defence Forces are not capable of recruiting their way out of the crisis.

This is borne out by the latest figures which show that 605 personnel were recruited last year, leaving a net loss of 245 people.

More than 10% of the recruits inducted in 2019 also left before finalising training. They are included in the overall discharge figure of 850.

PDForra president Mark Keane said 2020 could be even worse as a large percentage of his membership will reach either 21 or 31 years service this year, at which time they will be eligible for pensions.

The Defence Forces are at present trying to recruit their way out of the ongoing crisis, something which has yielded no meaningful results, said Mr Keane.

He said the Department of Defence had only made piecemeal attempts to address the ongoing crisis.

This was a reference to the increase in some allowances for military personnel, but no attempt to increase their core pay, which is the lowest of any public servants.

This has resulted in our members voting with their feet and leaving the Defence Forces in unprecedented numbers. Many have purchased their discharge and they are taking up employment in the private sector where their skillset and experience is highly sought after, he said.

Some officers are paying up to 67,000 to buy their way out of their military careers, it emerged this week.

Theres a skills deficit in many areas now, said Mr Keane. Were losing corporate knowledge by the day which you simply cant replace overnight.

He said the Government promised last October to publish findings on a review of pay for some experienced technicians.

It still has not been published, even though it was supposed to stem the tide of highly skilled people leaving from an already depleted pool of the skill sets the Defence Forces need to function properly, said the PDForra president.

Raco general secretary Cmdt Conor King said most who have the vast majority whod left are highly trained and experienced.

This replacement of experience with novices has serious implications for risk and governance, he said.

Last May, Raco reported to the Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs, trade, and defence that 2018 had seen a reduction in Defence Forces strength of 120 personnel.

The fact this strength reduction has doubled in 2019 proves that the Department of Defences prioritisation of recruitment over any positive retention policies is failing the Defence Forces and failing the State, said Cmdt King.

Raco is calling on the Government to introduce retention measures before the crisis becomes unfixable.

Figures released to the Irish Examiner show that t more than 120 people working for the Defence Forces have to rely on benefits to make ends meet.

According to the Department of Social Protection, 124 people working in the Defence Forces receive the Working Family Payment.

Of these, 54 are public servants employed by the Defence Forces and the balance, 70, are described as army, navy or air corps personnel.

Up to June this year, there were just over 52,000 low- income families with at least one child in receipt of the WFP. They received an average tax-free payment of around 135 a week.

Members of the Defence Forces who receive it are also eligible for other benefits.
We are eager to see the impact that Yash will have working for our clients, said Michael Owens, CEO, DB&A. His energy and knowledge will bring significant contributions to both our clients and our organization as a whole.

DeWolff, Boberg & Associates (DB&A), a global management consulting firm based in Dallas, Texas, is excited to welcome Yash Parekh, Project Manager, Managed Services.

We are eager to see the impact that Yash will have working for our clients, said Michael Owens, CEO, DB&A. His energy and knowledge will bring significant contributions to both our clients and our organization as a whole.

Parekh has significant experience in various industries including Healthcare, Aviation, Travel and Hospitality. He began his career in the travel industry as a software engineer, later progressed to Business Systems Analyst and ultimately earned his way up to the position of Senior Project Manager of Data and Analytics.

I have been in the Data and Analytics side of IT pretty much my whole career which includes sourcing data from various source systems, analyzing the data, and representing the data in ways that enable CEOs and Upper/Mid-level managers to make decisions based on actual data, but most importantly ask the right questions to get to the right solutions Parekh said. I feel like DB&A provides the opportunity for me to explore different industries and identify areas of opportunity using Data as a source of truth and Analytics as a tool, which will enable our clients to overcome challenges.

Parekh is excited about the opportunity to apply his technical and management skills in a dynamic way. He is looking forward to the challenge to think outside the box and develop into a great leader.

DB&A values the contribution of employees and invests in their leadership development throughout their career, said Tisha Langford, Chief Human Resources Executive. We see a lot of potential in the many ways Parekh will contribute to our organization and to our clients. His skills and knowledge are such a great fit with our corporate values.

Parekh switched to a software development and management information systems major after initially pursuing his education in aerospace engineering. The recession and declining job market had him reconsider` his career path.

In addition to his formal education, Parekh also gained unique experience from his familys business that acquired struggling hotels, analyzed business problems and ultimately developed solutions to correct the issues. Once these hotels reached a certain level of profitability, they were sold.

About DeWolff, Boberg & Associates

DeWolff, Boberg & Associates (DB&A), founded in 1987 by Lou DeWolff and Tim Boberg, is a global management consulting firm specializing in helping companies of every description achieve objectives through improved performance and resource utilization. Working with every level of management, DB&A focuses on organizational and cultural issues, with a special emphasis on developing accountability and leadership at the employee and front-line supervisory levels. Celebrating its 26th year in business, DB&A provides consulting services to a variety of clients worldwide.

Contact Information

DB&A

http://www.dbaresults.com

+1 (800) 800-6030
Nearly a year after voters rejected a bond issue proposed by the East China School District, officials are going out for another bond at the polls March 10.

The school district kicked off its 2020 bond campaign Jan. 6. The new bond issue will ask for 25% less than the last proposal. The total cost is $112.9 million as opposed to $148 million. In the first year, the millage rate would increase by 1.5 mills.

We are the lowest tax levy district in the surrounding areas, Superintendent Suzanne Cybulla said.

She said school districts typically go out for a bond to secure funds for buildings and upgrades.

But were trying to solve a variety of problems with one bond, she added.

With the bond, the district will try to consolidate in order to accommodate its declining enrollment, upgrade its facilities and technology and enhance student safety.

The new bond would allow St. Clair High School and Marine City High School to stay in their current locations.

The purpose for that is we did our surveys and spoke to groups after the last bond vote that didnt pass and they expressed that they wanted the traditions of the Marine City Mariners and the St. Clair Saints to stay in place, Cybulla said. They like their small community schools, so we honored that and we built a program around that sentiment.

While the schools will stay in their same locations, there will be changes. St. Clair High School would house grades six to 12, like Marine City High School already does.

Thats where the consolidation comes in and thats where the savings comes in that were looking for, Cybulla said. Instead of consolidating in the middle, well consolidate differently on each end, making them 6-12 buildings.

The bond will also ask to build eight classrooms called flexible learning environments at the central office in East China Township.

Thats just a fancy way of saying that the rooms could be used for anything, Cybulla said.

She said there has been an expressed need in the world for increasing students skilled trade skills and giving them specific opportunities in high school so they can look at different careers.

Theyre interested in having school districts, East China in particular, introducing students to specific skills that they can learn while in high school to help them move forward, whether or not theyre going to college or they want to go into the skill trade industry, she said. Theres a high demand for that.

The flexible learning environments could be used for a number of classes, such as engineering, journeyman or lineman classes, or classes that would not be able to run at either high school, such as something like a Spanish 4 or Spanish 5 class.

We cant get enough students at either end of the district to take that class, but if we offered it here in the middle, then we could offer that class, Cybulla said. So what were trying to honor with this bond program is those small communities that  our voters want, but also consider to offer big opportunities; cutting-edge, 21st-century learning opportunities for our students.

At the elementary level, the new bond will be similar to last years bond. The district would close Gearing Elementary School, as it is expensive to operate being all electric. Students would go to what is now St. Clair Middle School, which would be called St. Clair Elementary School, as the middle school students will have shifted over to the high school.

Pine River, Belle River and Palms elementary schools would remain the in the same locations.

The facilities also need upgrades, Cybulla said.

Even if we werent declining in enrollment, we would need to be improving our facilities, she said. The average age (of our buildings) is 50-plus years, and they need improvements: HVAC and electrical and windows and all of those things need to be looked at.

She also noted that the districts technology needs upgrades, as it is operating on Windows 7 and has not purchased any recent technology. It uses eBay to find parts for outdated equipment.

So were trying to solve our technology piece, our infrastructure piece and our declining enrollment piece with one bond, Cybulla said. Its a lot to ask of this one bond, but we really are trying to get a lot of things done.

She is hoping that the community can find the excitement and energy to support the schools.

And Im hoping that people can be excited about and be proud of their schools and proud of what were doing like we all are, she added. We just want our buildings and our students to have the same advantages that everyone else does. And as the superintendent, of course, Im looking to balance the books.

The district has been planning the bond since the failure of the 2019 bond.

That was a pretty big hit for us when that didnt pass, Cybulla said. So then we kind of collected ourselves, got our committee back together.

She said the district put out a survey right away to figure out why the bond did not pass and where it should go from there.

If the bond does not pass, administrators will likely not give up. Building infrastructure will only worsen as time goes on, and construction costs have been recently rising, so delaying improvements may result in higher construction costs in the future.

We will look at the vote results, see if it was close, see what areas of our school district didnt support it and maybe get some more education back out, Cybulla said. If it ends up being a close vote, we would most likely  I dont want to speak for the committee  we would probably want to try it again.

Last time it wasnt even close, so going back out didnt make a whole lot of sense. But if its close, we would probably look to ask for our voters again to reconsider it. We graduate 100 more students in the next six years than we have coming in, so each year, we have to look at cuts until we get ourselves stabilized here.

Bond proposal presentations are scheduled for 6 p.m. Jan. 22 at St. Clair High School, 6 p.m. Jan. 30 at Marine City High School and 6 p.m. Feb. 5 at the administration building.

The East China School Districts website has a plethora of information available, as well, including an 89-page frequently asked questions document and a property tax calculator. For more information, visit eastchinaschools.org.

Emily Pauling is a staff writer for The Voice. She can be contacted at 586-273-6200 or epauling@medianewsgroup.com.
The national death toll of Australia's 2019/2020 bushfire season was 33 as of Monday, March 2, with 25 confirmed deaths in New South Wales, three in South Australia and five in Victoria.

OCTOBER

New South Wales:

Robert Lindsey, 77, and Gwen Hyde, 68, were found in their burned out Coongbar home near Casino on October 9th.

NOVEMBER

New South Wales:

The body of 85-year-old George Nole was found in a burnt out car near his home in Wytaliba, near Glen Innes.

Vivian Chaplain, a 69-year-old woman from Wytaliba, succumbed to her injuries in hospital after attempting in vain to save her home and animals from the blaze.

The body of 63-year-old Julie Fletcher was pulled from a scorched building in Johns River, north of Taree.

Barry Parsons, 58, was found in a shed at Willawarrin, near Kempsey.

Chris Savva, 64, died after his 4WD overturned near burnt-out South Arm bridge, near Nambucca Heads.

A 59-year-old man was founded sheltered in a Yarrowitch water tank on November 7. He died of injuries on December 29.

Victoria:

David Moresi, 69, died after being involved in a traffic incident while working at the at the Gelantipy fire in East Gippsland on November 30.

DECEMBER

New South Wales:

Firefighters Andrew O'Dwyer, 36, and Geoffrey Keaton, 32, died on December 19 after a tree fell on their truck while they were travelling through Buxton, south of Sydney.

Samuel McPaul, 28, was battling a blaze in Jingellic, in Green Valley, about 70km east of Albury on the border of NSW and Victoria, on December 30 when a 'fire tornado' caused his 10-tonne firetruck to roll.

South Australia:

The body of 69-year-old Ron Selth was found in his Charleston home, which was destroyed by the Cudlee Creek blaze on December 21.

NEW YEAR'S EVE FIRES

New South Wales:

Dairy farmer Patrick Salway, 29, and his father Robert, 63, died trying to save their property in Cobargo, near Bega, on December 31.

A 70-year-old man, named by local media as Laurie Andrew, was found dead outside a home at Yatte Yattah, west of Lake Conjola.

The body of a 70-year-old man was found in a burnt vehicle on a road off the Princes Highway at Yatte Yattah on the morning of New Year's Day.

The body of a 62-year-old man was found in a vehicle on Wandra Road at Sussex Inlet about 11.30am on New Year's Day.

A body, believed to be a 56-year-old man, found outside a home at Coolagolite, east of Cobargo on New Year's Day.

An off-duty RFS firefighter, believed to be 72-year-old Colin Burns, was found near a car in Belowra after the New Year's Eve fires swept through.

Victoria:

Beloved great-grandfather Mick Roberts, 67, from Buchan, in East Gippsland, was found dead at his home on the morning of New Year's Day.

Fred Becker, 75, was the second person to die in Victoria. He suffered a heart attack while trying to defend his Maramingo Creek home.

JANUARY

New South Wales:

David Harrison, a 47-year-old man from Canberra, suffered a heart attack defending his friend's home near Batlow on Saturday, January 4.

A 71-year-old man was found on January 6. Police have been told the man was last sighted on December 31, 2019 and was moving equipment on his property in Nerrigundah.

An 84-year-old man who stayed to defend his home in Cobargo, NSW, dies in hospital three weeks after fire hit. His pet dog Bella, who stayed by his side as fires raged, was also killed in the disaster.

Three American firefighters are killed when Coulson Aviation C-130 Hercules water bomber Zeus crashed while fighting fires near Cooma on Thursday January 23. They have been named as Capt. Ian H. McBeth, 44, First Officer Paul Clyde Hudson and Flight Engineer Rick A. DeMorgan Jr, 43.

On January 24, Michael Clark, 59, was found in a Bodalla home destroyed by bushfires near the NSW South Coast town of Moruya.

Victoria:

Forest Fire Management firefighter Mat Kavanagh, 43, was killed Friday January 3 when he was involved in a two-car crash on the Goulburn Valley Highway.

Bill Slade, a 60-year-old father of two from Wonthaggi was fighting fires with Parks Victoria at Omeo when he died on January 11. He has been remembered as one of the longest serving, most experienced and fittest firefighters.

South Australia:

Well-known outback pilot Dick Lang, 78, and his 43-year-old son, Adelaide surgeon Clayton Lang, died in the Kangaroo Island bushfire after their car was trapped by flames.
Maharashtra BJP leader Ashish Shelar on Wednesday took potshots at actor Deepika Padukone, who visited Delhi's JNU post violence, saying she should not try to act like warrior Mastani, because "she does not have a real-life director behind her".

Padukone had expressed solidarity with Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students attacked by masked goons inside the campus in Delhi on Sunday night. She also visited the university campus on Tuesday. She was trolled on social media for her gesture.

Speaking in the premises of Vidhan Bhavan here, former school education minister Shelar said, It is easy to portray the character of warrior Mastani, when you have a direct like Sanjay Leela Bhansali behind you.

"But in real-life when she does not have a director behind her, (then) she should not try to portray herself as a warrior or Mastani because it is now clear that she is unable to live that kind of life in reality, Shelar said.

Padukone had featured in Hindi film 'Bajirao Mastani', a 2015 historical romance film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Mastani was a warrior during the Peshwa rule.

He called the actor's act of meeting some JNU attack victims as "insensitive and inappropriate".

The BJP leader said, She has shown insensitivity by meeting just one side of the people in the JNU violence. The incident is being probed by the police. So, meeting just one side of the people is inappropriate, obviously she is in trouble."



We condemn and reject her step. We find it (her act) insensitive, said the BJP leader.

Padukones visit to the JNU brought her under attack on social media, while activists and some politicians applauded her gesture.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, President Donald Trump asserted on Thursday and said Tehran was getting "hurt very badly" by US sanctions.

"Iran right now is a mess. They can straighten out the economics of their country very, very quickly. Let us see whether or not they negotiate," he told reporters at a White House event.

New sanctions were imposed on Iran following missile strikes by it on bases housing US troops in Iraq.

Iranian state TV had said the attacks were in revenge for the killing of the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, General Qasem Soleimani, in a US drone strike, which was ordered by Trump.

The president reiterated that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

"Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. They understand that. We have told them very strongly. Iran now is not wealthy like it was when President (Barack) Obama handed USD 150 billion. There are much different country, he said.

On January 8, Trump had said as long as he is president of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.

We'll see whether or not they want to negotiate. Maybe they want to wait until after the election and negotiate with a weak Democrat, somebody like a (Joe) Biden or a Pocahontas or (Pete) Buttigieg or one of these characters, he said.

In November last year, Trump had dubbed Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren "Pocahontas".

Iran, he said, is getting "hurt very badly" by the sanctions. It all can end very quickly. But as to whether or not they want, that's up to them. Not up to me, it's totally up to them, the president said.

The Iranian nuclear deal, Trump said, has not worked. I always call it the Iran Nuclear Deal that didn't work. The Iran Deal. It was just something that it is no good for our country. It expires in a short time," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Home ASAP, the leading provider of real estate applications on Facebook, announces the addition of 10 new multiple listing service (MLS) approvals to their agent-centric IDX Home Search solution. This brings the total to 203 MLS approved markets nationwide. Home ASAP now reaches over 1.3 million agents serving up over 1.7 million unique and active listings. Home ASAP's coverage includes 94% of the nation's active homes available for sale.

Home ASAP's IDX Home Search

Notables among the 10 newest markets introduced to Home ASAP's IDX Home Search include: Georgia's First MLS, Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), YES MLS (Northeastern Ohio), West Penn Multi-List, and Columbus Board of Realtors in Ohio.

Home ASAP's IDX solution provides agents with a consumer-friendly display of active listings in their local market, launchable from the agent's Facebook business page or accessed on the agent's homeasap.com provided website. The service includes automatic posts to the agent's Facebook business page to assist with promoting the search to consumers, an easy ad-launching tool, and effective lead capture that instantly notifies the agent. Agents who are members of Home ASAP's Real Estate Agent Directory and have added the IDX service will have active listings automatically fed from their MLS and updated as quickly as every 5 minutes. IDX Home Search is exclusively branded to the agent.

Home ASAP also recently launched the ability to display IDX data in more than one MLS. This feature is especially helpful in areas where several MLS's overlap geographic areas. Agents who do business across these areas and are members of more than one MLS can now seamlessly display all available homes for sale in those markets.

"Homebuyers and sellers are increasingly turning to social media to search for homes, connect with agents and start the real estate conversation," said John Marshall, President and CEO of Home ASAP. "As a pioneer in this space, our goal is to provide 100% MLS coverage for consumers. While we currently serve the vast majority of the nation's largest markets, we continue to strive to add more and continue to work to add more MLS feeds."

Learn more about IDX Home Search at https://about.homeasap.com

About Home ASAP

Home ASAP operates the premier social media platform on Facebook that connects home buyers, sellers with real estate professionals. Home ASAP's flagship service, the Real Estate Agent Directory has grown to 600,000 agents located in all 50 US States and Puerto Rico. In addition to the Directory, the company provides technology-enabled social media services for networking, advertising, marketing, content management, referrals, lead generation and brand building.

Media Contact:

James Sparkman

Director of Marketing

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At least 35 people, including JNU Students Union president Aishe Ghosh, were injured in the violence.

New Delhi: The human resources development ministry has urged JNU vice-chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar, who is under fire and whose resignation has been demanded by angry students and faculty members after Sundays attacks, to restore normality in the campus at the earliest, and also become more communicative with the students, take the faculty into confidence and facilitate the semester registration process.

Senior minister officials told him that normality should be restored at the earliest. Mr Kumar, who has been facing huge criticism from students and faculty members for not doing enough when they were brutally attacked by a masked mob on the campus on Sunday evening, told the ministry officials that efforts were being made to facilitate the semester registration process for willing students.

Higher education secretary Amit Khare and G.C. Hosur had a meeting with JNU V-C at the ministry today about the efforts being made to restore normalcy on campus. He informed the officials about efforts being made for facilitating semester registration for willing students and a conducive environment for their academic pursuits, a source said.

Meanwhile, with some BJP leaders asking people to boycott Deepika Padukones new movie Chhapaak after her visit to the campus on Tuesday to express solidarity with the students, information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javdekar said on Wednesday that not just artistes, even a common man can go anywhere to express their opinion in a democracy like India. This is being seen as part of the BJPs damage-control effort.

The JNU vice-chancellor has, meanwhile, said that the university has not made any suggestions to temporarily shut JNU and efforts are being made to restore normality. Ministry officials also said no such proposal has been received and denied the reports appearing in a section of the media on such a move. We have not made any such suggestion, Mr Kumar said, following reports that the JNU administration suggested to the ministry that the campus could be shut temporarily following the mob violence on Sunday. There is no move to do so. Efforts are on to facilitate a conducive environment for students, he added.

At least 35 people, including JNU Students Union president Aishe Ghosh, were injured in the violence. The Left-controlled JNUSU and the ABVP have blamed each other for the violence that continued for two hours.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  A 21-year-old Cleveland man is charged in the 2017 killing of an Egyptian immigrant during a robbery.

Michael Butleris charged with aggravated murder in the death of Hesham Kamel, 52, of Willoughby Hills. Butler was arrested Thursday, shortly after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Butler and a group of three other men, who police have not identified, conspired to rob Kamel on Aug. 3, 2017, according to court records.

The group set up a meeting through the phone app OfferUp to buy a 2016 Suzuki Aerio from Kamel on Macomb Avenue near Turney Road in the citys Broadway-Slavic Village neighborhood.

Witnesses told police they saw four men standing around before Kamel arrived at the meeting spot. An argument broke out in the middle of the street. One of the men pulled out a gun and Kamel grabbed it in an attempt to push the gun away, according to police.

Someone shot Kamel twice and stole the car Kamel was trying to sell. Another stole Kamels wallet and ran, according to police. The group drove away in Kamels car. Investigators found Kamels car later that day about a mile away.

Kamel moved his family to Willoughby Hills in 2012 to flee upheaval in Egypt during the Arab Spring, his daughter Elaria Kamel previously told cleveland.com.

To comment on this story, visit Thursdays crime and courts comments page.

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Grocery wholesaler and retailer Supervalu plans to begin long-anticipated layoffs at a Clackamas County warehouse in March, eliminating 280 jobs by July 4, according to a letter the company sent to state employment officials Thursday.

The layoffs have been planned for nearly a year. The Oregonian/OregonLive reported last February that Supervalu would close the former United Grocers warehouse near Milwaukie and two others in the Puget Sound area.

Its replacing them with two huge warehouses in Washington state, one in Ridgefield and another in Centralia.

Supervalu didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. Gene Blackburn, secretary-treasurer for Teamsters Local Union No. 162, said the union warehouse jobs paid $25 to $27 hourly  though Supervalu had been paying more in recent months to retain employees.

Some longtime employees at the Clackamas County facility will retire or take new jobs in Fred Meyer, Safeway and Albertsons warehouses, Blackburn said. He said younger workers may retrain, but he was optimistic they will find new jobs.

These skilled employees that are reliable, talented people are probably in very high demand, Blackburn said.

Oregons jobless rate is at the lowest point on record, 3.9%. This is Oregons first major layoff of 2020, following cuts last year at McAfee, Nestle, Insitu, Union Pacific and Harrys Fresh Foods.

Continued growth in Oregons labor market, though, has more than offset the sporadic cuts. Jobless claims fell last fall to their lowest point on record for that time of year.

-- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699
Blaming the Congress for misleading the country by creating misconceptions about the CAA, the BJP on Thursday took out a mega rally in support of the contentious act here.

Led by the party's Jammu MP Jugal Kishore Sharma and the general secretary of the state unit Yudhvir Sethi, the rally traversed through the busy streets from Indira Chowk to Pandit Prem Nath Dogra Chowk in the city.

Sharma said following the country's partition in 1947, all great leaders including Mahatma Gandhi had promised the non-Muslim population of neighbouring Islamic nations entry into India if they faced persecution due to their religion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fulfilled the promise made to the members of non-Muslim communities who chose to live in their respective native places in the established Islamic nation of undivided Pakistan, he said at the rally.

"They can move to India and the dispensation will assure them of their dignified life in the Indian territory so this act is the fulfilment of that promise," he said.

Sethi said the Congress was deliberately misleading the nation by creating misconceptions about the act and trying to "rip apart" the country's social fabric.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Questions are being asked about what role, if any, the Syrian intelligence agency played in the assassination of Soleimani reports Zaman Al Wasl.

The death of Irans top General in a US airstrike on Friday has sparked speculation among Syrians about the role of the Syrian intelligence, as the last stop of Maj. Gen Qaseem Soleimani was in Damascus before landing in Baghdad.

Mondays visit of Ali Mamlouk, the head of the National Security Bureau, to convey Bashar al-Assads deepest condolences to Irans Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has recalled an Arabic proverb about the man who kills and then attends his victims funeral.

The plane in which the head of Quds Force arrived in Baghdad belongs to Cham Wings Airlines, owned by Assads cousin Rami Makhlouf. A lot of people are wondering about how the US knew of his arrival in Baghdad from Damascus, and more specifically whether the regime had any role in leaking the information.

According to security sources, Mamlouk was able to build a strong network of relations with all global intelligence agencies, including with Israel, the US, France, Britain, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and others. In fact, despite the tense political relations between the two countries, Mamlouk, unsurprisingly, did not cut his contact with the Turkish intelligence agency during recent years.

The sources said that, He was and is still working with the CIA, since the US invasion of Iraq. He had sent dozens of Mujahideen from Syria and other Arab and Muslim countries to Iraq through Syria, but he then informed the CIA of their movements.

Whether it is assassination, killing or the arrest of a prominent leader in the Arab world, Assads regime is always in the middle of the fray, working as a double agent for the benefit of the parties with the most international weight, even if the target is one of its supporters. This is a list of names that the regime is suspected of being behind their assassination or arrest:

Abdullah Ocalan: the leader of the PKK, who was been sheltered by Hafez al-Assad for many years, and caused a great tension with Turkey that almost led to a war, forcing Assad, with Egyptian mediation, to sign the Adana Agreement. Ocalan was deported in 1999, and that was when Turkish intelligence and Mossad caught him, in Kenina, and transported him to Ankara.

Imad Mughniyah: was an important Hezbollah figure. Israel used to call him the untraceable ghost. He was assassinated in a car bombing, in February 2008, in Damascus, following an elaborately planned CIA/Mossad operation.

Jihad Imad Mughniyah: entered military action with Hezbollah after the assassination of his father. He has a strong relationship with Hassan Nasrallah and Qasem Soleimani. In January 2015, Israel eliminated him by targeting a car carrying him and six other leaders in south Damascus.

Mostafa Badr Eddin: was assigned as Imad Mughniyahs deputy and his successor. He was killed in May 2016 in mysterious circumstances at Damascus International Airport. Some accuse Qasem Soleimani of killing him.

Fawzi Ayoub: a famous Hezbollah figure, was detained in Israel after trying to enter with a forged American passport. He was freed two years later in a prisoner exchange deal with Hezbollah. After entering Syria he was assassinated near Aleppo, in May 2014.

Sameer al-Kuntar: spent 30 years in captivity in Israel, and was freed in an exchange deal with Hezbollah. He was assassinated by Israel in December 2015, by several drone missiles fired at his house on the outskirts of Jaramana east of Damascus.

Tunisian Engineer Mohamed Al-Zawary: one of the prominent engineers of Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade was assassinated in 2016 by Mossad in Tunisia. He was adopted by the Syrian intelligence service and started working to manufacture drones at the Syrian Scientific Research Center.

This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
(Philadelphia, PA) - Like security screening to make sure nothing harmful makes its way into a crowded area, cells in the human body use checkpoints to control their growth and prevent harmful mutations from making their way into new cell populations and causing trouble. Every cell that divides and replicates its DNA must clear at least three checkpoints - all of which call on specialized genes known as tumor suppressors.

Tumor suppressor genes encode proteins that work with other molecules in cells to put the brakes on cell division when DNA damage or other defects are detected. This process prevents mutations that harm cells or that lead to uncontrolled cell growth and cancer from being passed along to new cells. Fortunately, tumor suppressors are fairly robust. Under normal circumstances, they stop working only when mutations affect both of the tumor suppressor gene's alleles, which are the different forms of a gene inherited from each parent.

But in the case of prostate cancer, researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM) and Fox Chase Cancer Center recently discovered an important exception to this two mutation rule. Working in human cells and animal models, they found that a mutation leading to the loss of just one allele of a tumor suppressor gene known as PPP2R2A is enough to make a tumor caused by other mutations worse.

In a study published in the journal Oncogenesis, the team, led by Xavier Grana, PhD, Professor of Medical Genetics and Molecular Biochemistry, and in the Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology at LKSOM, found that patients whose prostate tumors carry only one copy of PPP2R2A do not survive as long as those whose tumors have two copies of the gene. They also showed that in cells deficient in PPP2R2A, reconstitution of the PP2A protein encoded by the gene ultimately kills prostate cancer cells.

The study is the first to show that reactivating PP2A in affected cells can slow or stop the advance of prostate cancer in an animal model.

"The majority of prostate tumors have only one functional copy of the PPP2R2A gene," Dr. Grana explained. "Because this alteration occurs so frequently, many patients could benefit from treatments that restore the gene's activity."

Dr. Grana's team mapped out specifically what happens when cells lose a copy of PPP2R2A, and what happens when PP2A is reconstituted. When lost, they found that cells were more likely to divide and replicate, thereby generating more cells - a process that fuels cancer progression. This occurred because cells just breezed through the so-called mitotic checkpoint, which normally ensures that a cell's chromosomes are organized properly for cell division. PP2A reactivation, on the other hand, resulted in sustained activation of the mitotic checkpoint - to the point that the cellular machinery responsible for separating replicated chromosomes for division collapsed, killing the cells.

"Restoring PP2A to normal levels in these cancer cells caused a weakening of their centrosome, which is the organizer of the cell machinery in charge of faithfully separating chromosomes," Dr. Grana explained. "The combination of a sustained checkpoint and a weakened centrosome results in collapse of the mitotic apparatus, with chromosomes not knowing where they have to go."

"Our findings indicate that prostate tumors often kick off a copy of the PPP2R2A gene to facilitate their growth and that bringing PP2A levels back to normal results in abnormal chromosome sorting and cell death."

Small molecules that activate PP2A and that have the potential to be developed into drugs have already been identified. Whether they specifically activate PP2A in prostate cancer remains unclear, however.

"More work is needed to find a specific drug for this complex, but we have a promising start," Dr. Grana added.

###

Other researchers who contributed to the new study include Ziran Zhao, Alison Kurimchak, Felicity Feiser, Jason S. Wasserman, Holly Fowle, Tinsa Varughese, and Megan Connors, Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology, LKSOM; Anna S. Nikonova, Katherine Johnson, Petr Makhov, Vladimir M. Kolenko, Erica A. Golemis, and James S. Duncan, Fox Chase Cancer Center; and Cecilia Lindskog, Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Sweden.

The research was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grants R01 GM117437 and R03 CA216134-01.

About Temple Health

Temple University Health System (TUHS) is a $2.2 billion academic health system dedicated to providing access to quality patient care and supporting excellence in medical education and research. The Health System consists of Temple University Hospital (TUH); TUH-Episcopal Campus; TUH-Northeastern Campus; The Hospital of Fox Chase Cancer Center and Affiliates, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center; Jeanes Hospital, a community-based hospital offering medical, surgical and emergency services; Temple Transport Team, a ground and air-ambulance company; Temple Physicians, Inc., a network of community-based specialty and primary-care physician practices; and Temple Faculty Practice Plan, Inc., TUHS's physician practice plan comprised of more than 500 full-time and part-time academic physicians in 20 clinical departments. TUHS is affiliated with the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.

Temple Health refers to the health, education and research activities carried out by the affiliates of Temple University Health System (TUHS) and by the Katz School of Medicine. TUHS neither provides nor controls the provision of health care. All health care is provided by its member organizations or independent health care providers affiliated with TUHS member organizations. Each TUHS member organization is owned and operated pursuant to its governing documents.

It is the policy of Temple University Health System that there shall be no exclusion from, or participation in, and no one denied the benefits of, the delivery of quality medical care on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, disability, age, ancestry, color, national origin, physical ability, level of education, or source of payment.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) is topping the list of public violence perpetrators in the southern African nation closely followed by the ruling Zanu PF party, according to the latest report of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP).

In the report released Wednesday, ZPP said intimidation and harassment were the most noted human rights violations in December last year despite a sharp decrease in such cases.

As has been the trend in the past, intimidation and harassment formed the majority of the violations at 60. The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) dominated the list of perpetrators, followed by Zanu PF. The dominance by the police reveals a state where there is use of the security apparatus to stifle dissent. This trend is a shift from the former government of the late Robert Mugabe where Zanu PF almost always dominated the list of perpetrators.

Mashonaland and Harare provinces recorded the highest number of violations with Mashonaland Central recording 22 violations, Harare with 21 violations and Mashonaland East 19 violations. Matabeleland provinces recorded the lowest violations as usual.

ZPP recorded a total of 119 human rights violations in the month of December. This is a sharp decrease from the 209 recorded in November 2019. December has always recorded lower numbers of human rights violations probably because focus will be on the farming season and tending to fields.

Police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi was unavailable for comment as he was not responding to calls on his mobile phone.

ZPP said, Police brutality and harassment is disturbing as it presents a scenario where the supposed citizens protectors become a threat to the same citizens.

It cited several cases of alleged police brutality, including an incident that happened on December 12, 2019, in which anti- riot police officers assaulted and apprehended vendors and members of the public in Harare central business district at Market Square.

In the midst of street battles with vendors, police assaulted labour rights activist, Nation Mudzitirwa whom they spotted disembarking from renowned human rights lawyer, Douglas Coltarts vehicle. Mudzitirwa sustained serious injuries on the face, back and knees. Among the victims who were apprehended were six males and seven females.

The police also forced Mudzitirwa into their vehicle and later released him without any charge, before getting to Harare Central Police Station.

In another case, ZPP said, on 24 December 2019, Abel Karowangoro, a Zimbabwe Media Commission-accredited journalist working for the Zimbabwe Morning Post, was arrested in Harares central business district.

Karowangoro was apprehended by five anti-riot police officers while filming queues of pensioners battling to withdraw their money from banks. The police details took him to Harare Central Police Station where they interrogated and detained him before his release.

In a related incident, Blessing Chidakwa, a journalist with the Herald and accredited with the ZMC was detained by police officers on 25 December 2019 and was forced to delete footage he had recorded of police officers smashing windscreens of commuter omnibuses. Chidakwa was manhandled by three police officers at Roadport bus terminus on Christmas Day. The officers dragged him to where their vehicle was parked and forced him to delete all the pictures he had taken. He did not resist for fear of being assaulted with baton sticks that the police were wielding. He was only released after he threatened to notify the National police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi of the incident.

ZPP said politicians were not spared from police harassment as anti-riot police officers harassed Movement for Democratic Change Ward 43 councillor, Norman Makondo, at Budiriro 5 Shopping Centre on 29 December 2019.

The officers who were raiding vendors harassed Makondo for confronting them at the shopping centre. They took Makondo to Budiriro police station charging him with inciting public violence, by condemning their operation. Makondo was detained and interrogated for hours before being released.

Several other incidents of alleged police harassment were cited, including a case in which police are said to have demanded a bribe after they found MDC youth having a party in Harare.

They were accused of holding an illegal gathering
The cold winter months have made life even more difficult for the tens of thousands of Libyans displaced by the Libyan National Armys (LNA) offensive on the Tripoli government. Nearly 146,000 people have been forced to leave their homes since the offensive began.



Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the self-proclaimed head of the Benghazi-based LNA, led the military action to conquer Tripoli, which is the seat of Libya's internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), led by Fayez al-Sarraj.



The fighting south of Tripoli worsened after the GNA signed an agreement with Turkey on November 27 that promised additional Turkish military support for the GNAs troops. On January 2, the Turkish Parliament approved a military deployment to Libya. All of this will likely cause more people to be displaced.



As the war drags on, high demand has caused the price of rent to skyrocket, making many homes unaffordable for displaced families. Some have squeezed in with relatives, but many more are sleeping rough.



People have used social media to call for help for displaced families needing somewhere to live.





This photo, posted on Facebook, shows a family sleeping on the street in the centre of Tripoli.



"Some people are forced to sleep in their cars

Wided Ben Aoun, 35, was displaced from her home in the town of Ain Zara south of Tripoli. She is now an activist with the Libyan Economic Organisation for the Rights of Displaced People (in French, lOrganisation economique libyenne pour les droits des deplaces). She lives in Tripoli. She says local authorities have shown little interest in what happens to the affected families.

I left my home with my family in early April. My activism has allowed me to see up close how much displaced families are suffering. We have been abandoned. Most of the families, like mine, dont have the money to rent an apartment at 1,300 Libyan dinars (equivalent to 830 euros) a month. Other people cant find a place to rent because all the places have all already been taken and they are forced to sleep in their cars, in the hallways of hospitals or even in the street. Its shameful that children, women, the elderly, people with disabilities and illnesses have spent nine months in these conditions.



Story continues

This Facebook post asks people to help the displaced families sleeping in a bus station in the Triq Elmatar neighbourhood in Tripoli.

Activists posted dozens of photos of displaced families in an attempt to rally Tripoli residents to help.

This tweet describes the terrible living conditions endured by displaced people in Tripoli.

"Water is leaking through the roof"

Najiah, a 58-year-old widow and the mother of seven children, fled her home in Essedra, located to the south of the Libyan capital, when the fighting started nine months ago. She left everything behind and moved into a studio with a leaky roof in Tajoura, which is located to the west of Tripoli.

Thank god, we were at least able to save ourselves. I wasnt able to save anything from my home. We live in extremely difficult conditions. Some of my children have asthma and they suffer in the damp conditions. The roof leaks. We live far from Tripoli [18 kilometres] and we dont have a car to get around.



Photo by our Observer.

"I sleep scared that the roof will cave in

Amani, 43, and her 15-year-old son fled their home in Ain Zara (a suburb south of the Libyan capital) in April. They were able to rent a home thanks to the support of a charity. However, she says the home is in such poor condition that shes afraid that the roof will cave in.

I left my home two days after the war started. We stayed with friends for a few weeks but, soon, there were 20 of us crammed into one apartment. A charity helped my son and I rent a house. However, one night, a piece of the roof fell on us. Ive seen cracks in the ceiling and I sleep every night with the fear that the roof will cave in.





Photo provided by our Observer.

Tripoli authorities fear that there will be another wave of displaced people who arrive in the coming days as fighting has intensified to the south of the city. Mohamed Fadhel Jobrane, president of the city-run Committee for the Return of Displaced People (in French, le Comite de retour des deplaces), told the FRANCE 24 Observers that they are out of resources.

The 120 million Libyan dinars [equivalent to 76.6 million euros] that the government allocated to help displaced people was already spent on food aid and shelter. We have no more resources to help displaced people. In the last few weeks alone, the number of displaced families rose from 24,000 to 28,000.



When the budget was drawn up, we thought the conflict would last two or three months but we have now entered the ninth month of the siege. The fighting has now reached the Machrou Hadhba and Wadi Rabie neighbourhoods and families from those areas are now streaming into the city. There are hundreds of families sleeping in their cars.

In December 2019, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced that 900,000 people in Libya were in need of humanitarian assistance. The Libyan Red Cross has worked to provide food and medical aid to the displaced people since the start of the war. Red Cross volunteers have handed out 6,000 bags of clothing and 6,820 food rations.





Volunteers for the Libyan Red Cross hand out aid to displaced people living in a school in Tripoli.

The fighting has spread to the overcrowded neighbourhoods of Abou Salim, Al-Hadhba and Salahedinne (all located to the south of Tripoli). There are more than 180,000 people living in these communities. The country is on the brink of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Some people from these areas have already started leaving their homes to join the tens of thousands of displaced people in the Libyan capital.

Article by Omar Tiss.
Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif is expected to visit New Delhi next week to participate in the Raisina Dialogue conference in the capital.

New Delhi: Following the recent eruption of tensions between Iran and the United States, India on Thursday said it has interests in the middle-east and Persian Gulf region, that it wants the situation to de-escalate at the earliest, and that it appreciates the understanding shown by the United States in exempting the Chabahar port from sanctions.

India has been worried over any possible fallout on its strategic port development project at Chabahar in Iran which provides sea-land connectivity to Afghanistan and Central Asia bypassing Pakistan.

In the past, the United States has shown understanding on the importance of Chabahar to us and connectivity to Afghanistan. ... We appreciate the understanding shown by the United States in exempting Chabahar port from sanctions, the MEA said. It added that peace, security and stability are of utmost importance to India which would like the situation to de-escalate at the earliest.

Significantly, Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif is expected to visit New Delhi next week to participate in the Raisina Dialogue conference in the capital. External affairs minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar had in December visited Iranian capital Tehran for the 19th Session of the India-Iran Joint Commission there on December 22. The two sides had then expressed satisfaction at the progress achieved in operationalisation of the Shahid Beheshti Port at Chabahar, and had recognised that it has a potential to act as a gateway between the Indian subcontinent, Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia and Europe. Both nations had also welcomed the utilisation of the port for exports from Afghanistan and discussed ways to promote it. Ties between the US and Iran had plummeted to dangerous levels after the US assassinated Maj.Gen. Qasem Soleimani.
A Cypriot court yesterday handed a British teenager a four-month suspended prison sentence after convicting her of falsely accusing a dozen Israeli tourists of gang rape. The 19-year-old, who could have faced up to a year in jail, smiled and hugged family at the end of a trial that sparked protests in Britain and calls for tourists to boycott the island.

Lawyers for the woman say the case was littered with investigatory and legal mistakes and issues, including repeated refusals by the judge to consider whether she was raped. The sentencing took place to loud shouts from protesters outside the court room, including dozens of Israelis -- mainly women, but some men -- who travelled to Cyprus to offer moral support to the teenager.

As the judge delivered his sentencing, shouts of Cyprus justice, shame on you were audible in the court, despite police ordering journalists to close windows and blinds. Other shouts from outside included Judge, shame on you, dont you have a daughter too? and Blaming the victim is a second rape!

Lawyers for the woman, name withheld, say she was raped in the seaside resort of Ayia Napa by 12 Israeli teenagers in their hotel room on July 17. She fled in distress to her own hotel and was examined by an in-house doctor, who called the police.

A group of Israeli teenagers were arrested and appeared in court, but 10 days after making a complaint of rape she was interviewed again by police and signed a retraction. The Israelis, aged 15 to 18, were released without charge, allowed to return home and not called as witnesses.

Gaping chasm

Britains Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said he has firmly and categorically registered concerns with Cypriot officials about the case. Judge Michalis Papathanasiou had told the young woman statements you have given were false, as he convicted her on December 30 of public mischief. He said during the trial that her account was beset by contradictions, confusion, lack of logic and exaggeration.

Lewis Power, a British lawyer who is part of the womans legal team, said she would leave Cyprus by the end of the day. An appeal to the Supreme Court will begin in the next few days, but it is not clear when any case will be heard, because the wheels of justice move very slowly in Cyprus, he said.

The case has highlighted a gaping chasm in the treatment of victims of sexual assault in Cyprus relative to other jurisdictions, Power added. The convicted British womans mother and legal team say she has been suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The teenagers legal team say she was questioned by police in the absence of a translator or lawyer acting on her behalf and there was no transcript or video recording of the process.

More than 50 Israelis flew to Cyprus to stand by the woman at the sentencing, partly out of disgust that the boys were welcomed home as heroes, they said. I am happy that she is going home, but her conviction still stands, said Namaa Morell, a 20-year old mother.

I see it as a success for today, but it doesnt change the conviction and thats the main problem, especially since at least one of the boys is seeking to sue the British woman, she added.
CENTRAL POINT, Ore.  Crews are still working to remove heaps of garbage, including large numbers of used needles, following a sweep of the Bear Creek Greenway this week.

The Jackson County Sheriff's Office says that multiple agencies and community partners worked together to clean up the Greenway between Biddle Road and the Square Dance Hall on Table Rock Road  an area roughly 25 acres in size.

The sweep began around 7:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, and the Sheriff's Office said that it was preceded by several weeks worth of notices delivered in-person to people camped along the Greenway to warn them of the coming operation.

"This included handing out information about support services available," the agency said. On Thursday, the sweep included help from the Medford Police Department's Livability Team, which has helped homeless people get back on their feet.

The Sheriff's Office said that most camps had already been vacated, and a few stragglers left the area when asked by law enforcement on Thursday. One person was arrested for an outstanding warrant, the agency said, but there were no other confrontations.

"Removing this amount of refuse along the greenway can be challenging due to terrain and access," the Sheriff's Office said. "As such, the Jackson County Parks Department worked closely in the planning of the event to protect the riparian zone in the area to prevent damage to natural resources."

Crews started out with four 40-yard dumpsters in order to remove all of the trash piled along the Greenway. The Sheriff's Office estimates that there will be more than 200 yards of garbage removed over the course of two days.

"Crews had to take precautions due to the proliferation of used needles and a great deal of waste," the agency said.

The Sheriff's Office said that in addition to cleaning up the area, removing waste will help allow access for firefighters and other emergency services.

The sweep and cleanup will continue through Friday. The operation includes help from Medford Police, Central Point Police, Oregon State Police, Emergency Communications of Southern Oregon, Jackson County Animal Services, Jackson County Mental Health, Jackson County Parks Department, Jackson County Community Justice, Jackson County Roads Department, City of Medford Parks Department and ODOT.

Community partners Knife River, Art of Plumbing, Central Equipment and the Rogue Valley Square Dance Center also contributed to the sweep and clean-up.
The boyfriend of Heidi Broussard's alleged kidnapper has left the home where the Austin mom's body was found and moved in with his mother, DailyMailTV can disclose.

Businessman Christopher Green, 33, ended a two-year relationship with Magen Fieramusca in March 2019 but continued to share a property with her in Jersey Village, just outside Houston.

He initially thought Heidi's month-old baby Margot was his child, after Fieramusca faked a pregnancy and told him she had given birth while he was away on a business trip.

But after law enforcement cornered him buying baby formula at a nearby Target and showed him a photo of Margot and Heidi, he identified her as the child at his home  telling cops: 'That's the baby at my house'.

Green has not been seen since Fieramusca was arrested but DailyMailTV was able to track him to his mother Christine's home in a Houston suburb.

Christopher Green, 33, (left) ended a two-year relationship with Magen Fieramusca (right) in March 2019 but continued to share a property with her outside of Houston. DailyMailTV spotted him outside his mother's home after he moved out of their shared property

Green initially thought Heidi's month-old baby Margot was his child, after Fieramusca faked a pregnancy and told him she gave birth while he was away (pictured together)

Heidi Broussard, 33, was found strangled to death in the trunk of a car outside a home in Houston, Texas on December 20, and her best friend Fieramusca is believed to have killed her to steal her baby

The 33-year-old, pictured for the first time since Fieramusca's arrest in exclusive DailyMailTV photos, has been living there since December 19 when cops swooped on his $149,000 property.

He is still driving the same battered black Nissan Armada SUV he was in when he was stopped by the Texas Rangers at Target.

Fieramusca, Broussard's friend of more than 20 years, is charged with stealing the child and tampering with Heidi's corpse. They are pictured together

This week, his mother Christine, 54, confirmed to DailyMailTV that he is living with her but said he won't discuss the case until all the legal proceedings are complete.

She said: 'Yeah, he's back here. He's not speaking to any media right now. He's got an attorney and he's got a lot of things going on.'

Although she declined to pass a message to Heidi's grieving family, Christine said of her son: 'He's doing just fine. He's doing well. But he's got a lot to deal with right now.

'He's doing the best he can. He's not going to talk about it right now but he might in the future.'

According to an arrest affidavit released by Austin PD on Monday, Green's information proved key to solving the mystery of what happened to Broussard.

The Austin mother-of-two, 33, was last seen on the morning of December 12 when she dropped her six-year-old son Silas off at Cowan Elementary School close to her home.

She was reported missing that evening after her fiance Shawn Carey, also 33, returned home to find her gone along with Margot, one month, and her cellphone.

He told police that she had left everything else behind, including Margot's clothes, diapers and food.

Two days later, Carey made a televised plea for information  begging 'whoever took Heidi' to bring her and Margot home.

Tragically, the missing mom, who worked as a waitress at a local Cracker Barrel, was found dead eight days later.

Police said she appeared to have been strangled and her body was stuffed into a duffel bag hidden in the trunk of Fieramusca's gray 2015 Nissan car.

Baby Margot was found alive inside the home and Fieramusca, who had known Heidi since they were teenagers, was arrested and charged with two counts of kidnapping and one of tampering with a corpse.

Green identified Margot after police cornered him while buying baby formula at a nearby Target and showed him a photo of Margot and Heidi

Green moved out of the home that he and Fieramusa shared near Houston (pictured) and where Heidi Broussard's body was found

Broussard's body was found in the trunk of this car at the Houston home. The car belonged to Fieramusca

The baby was found unharmed inside the home where Fieramusca (pictured in her mugshot) was living at the time with her ex-boyfriend

Green, who owns the suburban home where Heidi was found, told police that he had believed Fieramusca to be pregnant and  despite splitting from her in March  believed himself to be the father.

He told cops that he had touched Fieramusca's stomach during the pregnancy, saying it felt 'hard', but also said he had not seen her naked belly because of the split.

When shown a photo of Heidi and baby Margot by investigators, according to the affidavit, he replied: 'That's the baby at my house'.

Armed with his information, the FBI then swooped on Green's four-bedroom property where they found Fieramusca inside with Margot.

The 33-year-old initially claimed the child was hers, telling officers that she had given birth to the baby on December 12  the day Heidi vanished.

She claimed to have given birth at a birthing center  but was unable to remember the name  while on a visit to the beach with a cousin.

Broussard's fiance Shane Carey was initially suspected to be involved in her disappearance after she accused him of physically assaulting her, her friend disclosed

Baby Margot was reunited with her father Shane Carey in Austin after she was found inside the Houston home on December 20

On December 13, she presented the baby to Green  saying 'Don't be mad, don't be mad', as she explained why she had given birth without his knowledge.

But she could not explain to police why her cellphone had pinged close to Heidi's Austin home on the day she vanished or the names of the birthing center employees who helped her through labor.

During a search of the property, Heidi's decomposing body was found and Fieramusca was arrested and charged.

Baby Margot was taken in by Child Protective Services and returned to her father Shane three days later.

Fieramusca was transferred to the custody of Austin PD a day after her arrest and remains in jail in the city.

She is due to return to court on February 3.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 9)  A retired police official was killed in an ambush in Pangasinan Thursday afternoon.

A report from the Calasiao town police said former PBGen Marlou Chan was on board his orange Ford Ranger with his driver, Juanito Lozada Jr., when gunmen fired on the vehicle near the San Miguel-Nalsian intersection.

Chan was hit in the neck, chest, and other body parts. Lozada was safe.

The report said the four gunmen were on board two motorcycles and fled to the direction of Barangay Banaoang.

Lozada and Edwin Ferrer, a bystander, brought Chan to the Dagupan Doctors Villaflor Memorial Hospital, but the former police official died at 3:46 p.m.

Scene of the Crime Operatives recovered five caliber .45 cartridge casings.

Police also got hold of security camera footage from nearby establishments.

An investigation is underway.
The United States is imposing a new tariff of up to 301.64% on steel products from China.

The U.S. Department of Commerce gave preliminary approval for anti-dumping duties on imports of collated steel staples from China, which are intended to offset imports priced below the cost of production or the going prices in the exporting foreign company's home market. The United States imported an estimated $88.8 million in collated steel staples from China in 2018.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is now collecting cash deposits on imports of the collated steel staples from China, which were determined to be dumped at less than fair market value in the United States. The U.S. Department of Commerce will make a final ruling on the case on or around May 19 and the U.S. International Trade Commission will then issue a final injury determination on or about July 2 to declare whether U.S. manufacturers were adversely impacted and the tariff is warranted.
The list of questions is endless but here are a few ways Meghan's life may improve for the better, or revert to her pre-Firm days, once the paperwork is complete.

Would they keep their titles? How, exactly, would they become financially independent? (Would Meghan return to television, and Harry fly B787s for British Airways?) Who would pay for their security detail, assuming they will still require protection from the paparazzi everywhere they go?

No sooner did Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex announce their "divorce" from the Royal Family than speculation began around the semi-royal couple's new life.

If Meghan and Harry are indeed to step back entirely from official duties, the Duchess will no longer have a need for $10,000 coats and all those Philip Treacy hats. Perhaps she will hold a market stall to clear out the excess and donate the funds to her and Harry's new foundation.

Will Meghan's ripped jeans make a comeback? Credit:The Canadian Press

Prior to royal life, Meghan had a particular penchant for man-style shirts and ripped jeans, which she hopefully packed away safely in a storage unit in Toronto in the event this day would come.

As the news broke on Thursday, Australian time, Meghan watchers, including style-stalking account Meghan's Mirror, which catalogues the Duchess' every outfit, were bereft. "We look forward to continued coverage of Meghan's fashion and supporting their charitable endeavours in the future," its founders Amanda Dishaw and Christine Ross tweeted following the announcement.

If you ask me, the big winner out of all of this will be Outland Denim, the hyper-ethical Australian jeans brand Meghan wore during the royal tour of Australia in 2018 which has gone on to become one of her wardrobe staples. Now she can buy up all the styles that have rips, too.
Joshua Roberts/Reuters

As the Senate gears up for Donald Trumps impeachment trial later this year, the president has settled on at least two of his top legal defenders for the proceedingsand hes still courting Alan Dershowitz.

Pat Cipollone is leading the efforts as White House counsel; Ill be one of the lawyers participating in the defense as the presidents private counsel, Jay Sekulow, one of Trumps personal attorneys, told The Daily Beast in a brief statement Wednesday afternoon, confirming what hed told Time magazine earlier in the day.

It is still unclear who, exactly, will make up the rest of Trumps team of White House and outside counsel handling the trial.

According to a source familiar with the situation, matters are still fluid and the team has not been completely formed as of this time, though White House attorneys such as Michael Purpura and Patrick Philbin have been helping with preparations for Trumps legal defense.

Two sources say that conversations between the presidents team and Alan Dershowitz, a famous, outspoken attorney and longtime Hillary Clinton supporter, are still ongoing, and no final decision has been made yet about Dershowitz officially joining, as well. Dershowitz has done numerous TV hits defending Trump during the presidents last few years of legal woes and investigations, and has informally advised Trump and senior staff on subjects such as the Middle East peace process. One of these knowledgeable sources said that Dershowitz has had multiple conversations with Trump and his team in recent weeks about the possible position.

Reached by phone on Wednesday, Dershowitz simply replied, I cant comment on any possible conversations about any possible legal work.

According to these sources, one name that is not on the roster of Trumps legal defense for the Senate impeachment trial is Rudy Giuliani, the Trump attorney at the center of the Ukraine saga that triggered the presidents impeachment in the House. Giuliani, however, remains one of President Trumps personal lawyers and close outside advisers.

Story continues

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Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: The voices against the reported remarks of Meerut SP (City) Akhilesh Narayan Singh allegedly asking a group of people in a locality to go to Pakistan while manning the violent protests against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) have not died down yet as a formal complaint has been filed against the cop in Meerut recently.

As per the local sources, the complaint against the police officer was filed by one Yousuf Saifi in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate under sections 166 (public servant disobeying law, with intent to cause injury to any person), 298 (uttering words with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation and conspiracy) of the IPC.

ALSO READ: Mayawati slams UP policeman's 'go to Pakistan' remark, demands probe

Notably, a number of videos had been doing rounds on social media in the recent past wherein the Meerut SP (city) was seen making controversial remarks. As per the complaint, a group of Muslims were protesting against the CAA and NRC at Lisari Gate area of the district on December 20 by tying black ribbons on their arms, when the SP (City) had allegedly asked them to go to Pakistan.

As per the advocate Ajay Chad representing the complainant, the court has directed the recording of his statement in the case before it on January 28.

However, UP DGP OP Singh had reprimanded Singh after he had courted the controversy by his remarks. The DGP had sought an explanation from the officer as soon as the video came out. He had advised the officer concerned to choose better words in the situation since nothing should be said which hurt the sentiments of anyone or sparks off a controversy.

The UP DGPs response had come a day after Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had expressed his chagrin over the reported remark of the police officer. Taking affront to the statement, the minister had said that the job of the police was to maintain peace and not provoke people.

Condemning the SP, Naqvi said it was important for everyone to remember that "Indian Muslims chose the country out of commitment, not compulsion and it was not right to suspect their nationality."

On the other hand, advocate Renu Singh Rana who was on a hunger strike against the Pakistan remark by SP the (City) was somehow convinced by the administration to end her strike on Tuesday evening. Rana was sitting on a hunger strike and demanded strict action against Singh. The hunger strike by Rana was called off only after Additional City Magistrate, Civil Lines, Chandresh Singh came and was handed over a memorandum from Rana.
AFL legend Billy Brownless would one day like to have a beer with his former friend Garry Lyon - and doesn't believe rumours he had an affair with his wife are true.

Lyon blindsided Brownless in 2016 by starting a relationship with his wife of 18 years just 12 months after they separated.

The 52-year-old former Geelong forward discussed his failed marriage with Nicky during a chat with entertainer Rhonda Burchmore in the I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! jungle.

Brownless told his fellow contestant Nicky simply 'fell out of love' with him. The pair separated in 2015.

'About a year later she shacked up with one of my mates,' he said.

Brownless told Burchmore he 'doesn't think' anything went on behind his back while they were married.

Billy Brownless and Nikki Brownless arrive at a Ellen DeGeneres Welcome Party on March 26, 2013 in Melbourne, Australia

He also said he'd one day like to catch up with Lyon now that some time has helped to heal his pain over the separation - which caught him totally off guard.

'We're not best mates, there was no Christmas cards or anything,' he said.

'One day, we'll I suppose sit down and have a beer. One day. Time heals.'

The end of their relationship played out in front of the cameras, and shocked the nation.

'It was public, very public. Front pages and all that,' he said.

He continued: 'I didn't expect it. You think she'll come back and all that, but she didn't. So that was a good kick in the guts.'

The 52-year-old former Geelong forward discussed his failed marriage during a chat with entertainer Rhonda Burchmore (pictured together) in the I'm A Celebrity jungle

Billy Brownless (centre) with his daughters Lucy Brownless (right) and Ruby Brownless at the Emirates Marquee in the Birdcage during Stakes Day at Flemington Racecourse in 2017

Brownless said the public interest didn't surprise him due to the unique situation.

'We're all in the media and we're mates so it was always gonna blow up,' he said.

Brownless said he was slowly getting over the breakdown of his marriage - but admitted he was out of sorts for two years after finding out about his wife's new relationship.

'But it's been four years now so you get through it, you know?

'I reckon it takes you two years when you split, when you bounce back and to be yourself,' he said.

Lyon and Brownless had been friends for 15 years and worked together on the popular AFL Footy Show between 2009 and 2015.

In February 2016 news broke that Lyon, who had separated from wife Melissa in 2014, had been having an affair with Nicky.

In March that year, father-of-four Brownless opened up about the toll the affair had on his family, saying 'a good mate wouldn't do that'.

In February 2016 news broke that Lyon (second right), who had separated from wife Melissa (right) in 2014, had been having an affair with Nicky (second left with Billy in 2012)

He said he believed the secret relationship could have been going on for up to four years.

'I couldn't believe it. I found out three or four months ago. I asked Garry and Nicky earlier on what is going on and they said they were just good friends. That's what hurts the most,' Brownless told the Footy Show.

'By law it's legal. Morally it's wrong. We all know our rights and wrong. You don't touch a man's wallet, you don't touch his wife.'

In a radio interview in January 2017, father-of-three Lyon said he had texted Brownless to say sorry but did not get a reply.

He said: 'I know I've caused a lot of pain for the people I've been close to, in particular my ex-wife Melissa.

'If people think I haven't recognised that, they would be wrong.'

Set against the backdrop of the South African jungle, Brownless is competing against Geordie Shore's Charlotte Crosby, Married at First Sight alumni Ryan Gallagher and several other contestants to be crowned king of the jungle.
In a bid to encourage medical research, parents of a two-year-old girl who died of a rare disease, have set an example by donating her body to a medical college here, an official said on Thursday.

This is possibly the first time that body of such a young child has been donated for research in Madhya Pradesh, he claimed.

Asees Kaur Chabra, who suffered from Sandhoff disease, died at her home on Wednesday, the official said.

Sandhoff disease is a lipid storage disorder characterised by a progressive deterioration of the central nervous system.

Many organs, including the deceased child's brain, had stopped functioning because of the disease, he added.

While the toddler's body was handed over to a private medical college for research, her eyes were donated to an eye bank, the official said.

The child's father Satnam Singh Chabra, a businessman, said, "We donated our daughter's organs hoping that it will help in the study and research required to save lives of other children like her."



He said his daughter had been suffering from the disease since birth, because of which she developed deformities.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Vote in special election

Its 2020 and Election Time! No, not in November. On Tuesday, Jan. 14, registered voters in the 132nd District will go to the polls to elect a state representative in the seat vacated by Brenda Kupchick when she won the race for first selectman. The League of Women Voters encourages all in the 132nd to embrace a winter election, learn about the candidates and vote.

Whos in the 132nd? Those in RTM Districts 3 (except a tiny portion), 8, 9, 10. Most voters who vote at Sherman School, Fairfield Woods School, Fairfield Ludlowe High School, and Mill Hill School are eligible to participate in this election. Unsure? Call the registrars office (203-256-3115).

For you snowbirds, the town clerks office is ready with applications and ballots. Before taking off for warmer climes, take a quick trip to Old Town Hall. In one visit you can apply for an absentee ballot, receive it and vote.

Turned 18 since Nov. 5? Yes, you can vote if you are registered. Same thing if you are new to town. Be aware: there is no Election Day registration for this election. Not registered? You can go directly to the Registrars Office at Old Town Hall, 611 Old Post Road, and register there by close of business (4:30 p.m.) on Jan. 13. It only takes about five minutes, but remember that the office will be getting ready to hold an election. Earlier is much better than later.

Want to know more about the candidates? The Fairfield LWVs 2019 Special Election Voters Guide is up on our website (www.lwvfairfield.org/special-election-jan-14).

Remember: democracy is not a spectator sport. Decisions are made by those who show up.

Margaret Mary Fitzgerald

Bryce Perry

Co-Presidents, League of Women Voters of Fairfield

Choose Leeper

Your vote is so important in this special election. The choice is clear that Jennifer Leeper a dedicated leader who has served as an educational advocate for Fairfield. She has worked at our state Department of Education in Connecticut. She is no stranger to Hartford and the General Assembly. Jennifer is goal-oriented and has an excellent resume. She does her homework and gets results.

We have the opportunity to have the 132nd District be in the majority. As we know, Fairfield needs a fighter like Jennifer Leeper to be sure we get our fair share of funding. She is trained in analyzing data. Lets give the 132nd District the person that will best serve us.

As a former State Representative in the 132nd District, I realize that Jennifer Leeper has the skills needed to make a difference in Hartford. Please join me in giving her your support and vote on Jan. 14. We need Jennifer Leeper as our next state representative for the 132nd District.

Susan P. Barrett

Former State Representative, 132nd District

Fairfield

Farnen best choice

On Jan. 14, voters in the 132nd legislative district in Fairfield will have an opportunity to elect a new state representative following the vacancy of First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick. We believe Brian Farnen is unequivocally qualified and ready to serve this important role and he will be an effective, pro-active and bipartisan leader that we sorely need in Hartford.

Brian has long been committed to public service, first getting involved in politics as a citizen volunteer when he was in college. Professionally, Brian is the general counsel of the Connecticut Green Bank, the nations first green bank which aims to achieve cleaner, less expensive and more reliable sources of energy while supporting local economic development. In this role, Brian has been a champion of green energy and works with many groups to address climate change and to help energize the green economy. As a member of the Fairfield Representative Town Meeting, Brian has always approached town government in a bipartisan way, striving to put our community and sound policy first.

With Connecticut in a fiscal crisis, Fairfield voters in the 132nd district have a distinctive choice between two candidates: Jennifer Leeper supports increased taxation and big government to solve problems, and believes the Democratic majority is on the right track. As a Republican, Brian will utilize his intelligence and incredible work ethic to create institutional changes and help to rein in spending as well as help provide a problem solving legislative atmosphere in Hartford. We hope our fellow Fairfield voters will come to the polls on Jan. 14 to help elect Brain Farnen the next state representative.

Jack & Suzanne Testani

Fairfield
Europe is a popular tourist destination with tourists usually flocking out to France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece to spend their vacations. Paris is one such trendy location where one might easily spot many high profile celebrities. Take a look at these celeb hotspots in Paris.

ALSO READ| Dine Like A Star In These Lavish Celebrity-owned Restaurants In The USA

Celeb hotspots in Paris

Hotel Costes

Hotel Costes is one of the top spots for locating high profile celebrities in Paris. The USP of this hotel is its romantic and mysterious yet cosy interiors. Many A-list celebs like Kim Kardashian are usually seen here raving about the cheesecake here. The hotel is jam-packed during the Paris fashion week where you can spot even more celebs.

ALSO READ| Famous Places In Madhya Pradesh Where Popular Bollywood Movies Have Been Shot

Hotel De Sers

Hotel De Sers is the official host hotel of the French Open which also caters the Paris Fashion Week crowds as well. Hotel De Sers has been famously known for been visited by famous celebrities like Justin Bieber, Enrique Iglesias, Lady Gaga, and Kelly Rowland. The hotel offers brilliant food options in modern french cuisine and offers the perfect abode to the high profile celebs.

ALSO READ| Famous Places In Uttar Pradesh That Have Served As A Great Setting For Bollywood Films

Golden Triangle

Golden Triangle is located between three of Paris's most famous locales: the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, Avenue George V and the Avenue Montaigne. The location makes it a shopper's paradise as the area is fashion heaven encompassing Avenue Montaigne, Ave George V, and Rue Francois 1er, and the high-end designer shops like Gucci, Chanel, Celine, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Ferragamo, Christian Lacroix, Dior and many others. Celebrities like Beyonce, Jay Z, Mariah Carey, David & Victoria Beckham, Halle Berry, Madonna are often located at this location.

ALSO READ| Journalist Accuses Hollywood Of Being 'vegan Extremists', Gets Trolled On Twitter

Le Fouquets

Le Fouquets restaurant is also located at the prominent tourist visiting spot right at the corner of Avenue George V and Champs Elysees. The restaurant is a part of the Hotel Barriere and according to history, the Le Fouquets restaurant started since the 1930s at the time when the cinema industry saw a boom. If you are lucky enough you will find legendary actors like Bruce Willis to Liza Minnelli enjoying their time at the Le Fouquets often.

Ferdi

Ferdi bar and restaurant was a popular hub in Paris even before it was frequented by the socialites like Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. The interior reminds you of an intimate decor decorated with photos, toys etc. The menu here is not high end as it also caters the general public with their fast food options, but even those who want to enjoy the Brazilian & Venezuelan Cuisine can visit the restaurant without any qualms.

ALSO READ| 'Jobs' To 'Mission Impossible': 4 Times Hollywood Took To The Streets Of India To Shoot
"Perhaps nothing so accurately characterizes dysfunctional families as denial. The denial forces members to keep believing the myths and vital lies in spite of the facts, or to keep expecting that the same behaviors will have different outcomes."

John Bradshaw

As everyone knows, there are thousands of books, memoirs, and fiction, about dysfunctional families. To paraphrase Tolstoy, happy families are generally the same, but unhappy families are each unhappy in their own way. But to peruse the plethora of such books, it might be truer that unhappy families are unhappy in much the same ways, their differences a matter of degrees. Young children know only what they know, how their own family functions. Memoirs like Educated and The Glass Castle, for example, are shocking to those fortunate enough to have had loving, peaceful, and essentially normal childhoods if there is such a thing. While dysfunctional homes can produce and have produced successful children who, as gradually exposed to the homes of other families and the outside world, saved themselves by sheer will and talent. But most children of dysfunctional families are forever damaged, condemned to a life of misery and distorted reality. They remain resistant to the facts of life that govern the world around them. They are perpetually angry and unhappy.

The Democrat party as currently constituted, at least its leadership, seems to be blighted by the latter sort; Democrats are convinced that only their chosen "facts" can be true. Thus their stubborn conviction that President Trump colluded with Russia and that he has committed a host of other crimes, none of which has been shown to be true. In fact, the Russian collusion/Mueller investigation has been revealed to be a colossal hoax perpetrated by a faction of treasonous high-level bureaucrats drunk with the power they chose to abuse. This group of traitors believed themselves to be more qualified to select the president than voters, so they set about creating an insurance policy: the Steele dossier and the grand international plan than came with it.

The House Dems' articles of impeachment are pathetic, without any legitimate substantiation, which must be why Pelosi has refused to submit them to the Senate. Adam Schiff has been thoroughly discredited by his anti-Trump mania and litany of egregious lies. Like damaged children, they are all in denial. Pelosi apparently believes that by holding her breath and sticking her fingers in her ears, her narrative of collusion and subsequent impeachment will prevail, and the president will be removed from office or, at the very least, his re-election prevented. Why her colleagues in the House have not moved to remove her is a sad testament to their cowardice. They surely know she has declined mentally and is destroying their brand.

So demented by their party's dysfunctional "family values," each and every Democrat running for the presidency along with every other Democrat in office denounced the president for the targeted killing of the most genocidal terrorist of nearly three decades. The list of Soleimani's atrocities is stunning; why was this man not taken out years ago? Obama designated him a terrorist but just gave Iran billions of dollars to fund further terrorism.

Now, rendered senseless by Trump's many successes, the Dems have pledged their support for open borders, sanctuary cities, gun confiscation, no cash bail, no criminal charges for quality of life malfeasance, and no killing of genocidal terrorists! They have revealed themselves to be pro-Iran and anti-American. They support anything and everything that even hints at traditional American or constitutional values and/or anything Trump supports, like a secure southern border.

San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York are no longer cities anyone wants to inhabit. Those who can are leaving. These cities have been ruined by homelessness and crimes that go unprosecuted. In New York, members of the Black Hebrew Israelites can assault Jews with impunity, with the blessing of Mayor de Blasio. The Democrat party, once joined at the hip with black Americans for the advancement of civil rights, is now the party of brazen anti-Semitism. The Democrat party has bowed to, or been cowed, by the vicious anti-Semitism of Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar. This fact, more than all the others, is the most obvious symptom of the Democrats' dysfunction. They have made common cause with those who hate Jews and Israel; they pander to radical Muslims. Even the Democrat Jewish members of Congress have joined the pro-Islam, anti-Israel camp. Is not anti-Semitism, like racism, a form of mental illness born of dysfunctional families who inculcate these diseases in their children?

"The more dysfunctional, the more some family members seek to control the behavior of others" (David W. Earle). This bit of truth further proves the left's dysfunction since it is the Democrat party that seeks to control nearly every aspect of our lives and how we live them: the size of sodas, our use of straws, the cars we drive, the food we eat, etc. They mean to strip us of our Second Amendment rights, restrict our land and water use. They have inflicted the crimes of the homeless and illegal migrants upon us and continue to refuse to hold those people responsible for their illegal acts. That by itself is a sign of malicious dysfunction, the purposeful destruction of once-great cities. Because of the mounting damage it incurs, the Democrat party has effectively become an enemy of the American people. "Families living in dysfunction seldom have healthy boundaries. They have trouble knowing where they stop and others begin" (David W. Earle). The Democrats are systematically destroying the quality of life for millions of Americans, which is why President Trump was elected  to stop them.

At the moment, Iran is "retaliating" for the Soleimani strike by lobbing missiles at a couple of air bases in Iraq, some of which have failed. There have been no casualties so far, which suggests that this is face-saving bluster. Their foreign minister, Javad Zarif, has tweeted, "That's it." They likely believe President Trump now when he warns against killing Americans.

The Democrats are excited. They think Trump's action will lead to an unwanted war and destroy his presidency. That is what they want: dead Americans! That is how truly mentally disturbed they are; that is how much they hate the most successful president since Reagan. They are beyond dysfunctional. They are well and truly unhinged. The country needs protection from them, for they mean us all great harm.

Image: Lorie Shaull via Flickr.
Forty three years ago, a series of terrorist attacks were carried out in Moscow that shocked the entire Soviet Union, resulting in the death of 7 people and injury to 37.

The number of volumes in the case increased to 60 during a year of the investigation. The criminals were found. They were three members of Armenia's National United Party - Stepan Zatikyan, Zaven Bagdasaryan and Hakop Stepanyan, who were convinced that the killing of innocent people is a necessary measure in the struggle for Armenia's independence from Russia.

On January 8, 1977 three explosive devices detonated in Moscow - the first bomb went off on a train between the Izmailovskaya and Pervomaiskaya stations of the Moscow Metro and two other bombs on the 25th of October Street.

The organizers were detained only 10 months later after an unsuccessful attempt to detonate an explosive device at the Kursky Rail Terminal. They were Armenians - Zatikyan, Stepanyan and Bagdasaryan - members of the Armenian nationalist group. They staged these explosions in Moscow to revenge the Russians for oppressing, as they thought, the Armenian people.

The terrorists planned to carry out the next explosion during the Olympics. These and other extremists were taken under control. In total there were 415 such people on the territory of the Union.

Zatikyan and his accomplices were sentenced to an exceptional penalty - the death penalty. The death sentence was commuted.
Giving back to our local community and offering assistance to our fellow Long Islanders has been a long-standing practice of our organization.

NutraScience Labs, an award-winning provider of vitamin and supplement contract manufacturing services, announced that its staff collected 7,948 pounds of goods and non-perishable items for Long Island families in need during the holiday season.

The donated items, ranging from bottled water, canned food, and baby products, were picked up by Island Harvest, Long Islands largest hunger-relief organization, and distributed across its vast network of 570 food pantries, soup kitchens, and other community outreach centers just before Christmas. This was the sixth consecutive year that NutraScience Labs had partnered with Island Harvest. Since 2014, NutraScience Labs employees have donated an estimated 13,000 pounds of items.

Founded in 1992 by Linda Breitstone, the mission of Island Harvest is to end hunger and reduce food waste on Long Island. According to its website, Island Harvest has served over 300,000 people and delivered 130 million pounds of food, supplementing 108 million meals.

Giving back to our local community and offering assistance to our fellow Long Islanders has been a long-standing practice of our organization, said company Vice President of Contract Manufacturing, Vincent Tricarico. While more needs to be done at the local and national level to raise awareness about hunger, Im proud of the difference our team made in the lives of so many people this holiday season.

In addition to Island Harvest, NutraScience Labs has donated countless amounts of time and money over the years to other charitable organizations, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Suffolk County, Wounded Warrior Project, and Vitamin Angels.

For further information, contact Vice President of Digital Marketing, Andrew M. Goldman at (855) 492-7388 or agoldman@nutrasciencelabs.com.

About NutraScience Labs, Inc.

NutraScience Labs, Inc., a subsidiary of Twinlab Consolidated Holdings, Inc., is an award-winning supplier of nutraceutical contract manufacturing services. Headquartered in Farmingdale, New York, the firm boasts more than 50 years of experience and has provided over 1,200 brands with best-in-class contract manufacturing, packaging, labeling, and fulfillment services. It has a long-standing reputation of excellence due to its ability to consistently deliver dedicated account management services, competitive price quotes, and rapid product lead times. For more information, visit NutraScienceLabs.com or call (855) 492-7388 to speak with a company representative.
By JENNIFER M. BROWN

For the last several years, Democrats and advocates of liberal policies have endorsed allowing states and local communities to ignore laws that do not align with their political agendas. These groups cheered when communities designated themselves as sanctuary cities and refused to enforce federal immigration laws. But now that local communities are refusing to enforce sweeping proposed gun control legislation, the Democrats have done a 180 and are suddenly arguing for the sanctity of law.

Virginias Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam and other Democratic state legislators are hoping to pass new gun control legislation, despite numerous flaws in their proposed bills. Democrats say that their new gun control measures are intended to make Virginia a safer place. Thats a great goal, but their proposed laws will not make Virginia safer and in fact will have the opposite effect. It will force law-abiding citizens to either abandon their constitutional right to protect themselves and their families or become criminals. Democrats argue that if gun owning citizens dont relinquish their guns then they will have law enforcement come to their homes, seize their firearms and arrest them.

In response to these threats, 75 percent of Virginia counties have enacted measures to declare themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, meaning they will not enforce the proposed gun control measures against its citizens. But Northam and other Democrats cry foul to this and demand that the law is the law and it must be enforced. Obviously, the Democrats only mean that the laws they like should be enforced, such as confiscating guns from law-abiding citizens. But laws to control the abuse of illicit drugs or to detain people who have violated other laws should continue to be ignored. This hypocrisy is amazing and it begs the question, are Democratic politicians so dim witted that they dont see the hypocrisy of this double standard, or do they think the rest of us are so dim witted that we dont see it?

Democrat lawmakers want their laws to be enforced and consequences be damned! But consequences there are indeed. One such consequence is that numerous sheriffs departments have stated that they recognize the Constitution as the highest law of the land and they refuse to enforce the proposed gun control laws. But the Democrats have a response to this as well. If law officers wont force themselves into the homes of Virginia citizens and forcibly seize firearms, then Democrats like U.S. Rep. Donald McEachin have the solution: Send in the National Guard. Let that sink in for a moment, Virginia Democrats want to use the military to storm into residences to seize firearms that were legally purchased all in the name of making Virginia safer. No reasonable person can think that using soldiers to raid our homes is going to make the commonwealth a safer place.

The desire to end gun violence is one shared by all law-abiding members of our society. Its not a partisan issue. The truth is that there are already laws against using guns to commit violent acts. Its already illegal to use a gun to kill a single person, let alone multiple people, and yet such incidents still occur. So what effect will passing new legislation have on preventing future acts of violence? Absolutely none. Thats because law-abiding citizens dont commit acts of violence. The gun violence that has occurred in the United States has been committed by terrorists, criminals or people suffering from severe mental illness who wish to cause harm to others. It does not take a genius to recognize that this new legislation will not affect these individuals whose intent is to cause harm.

I never envisioned the day would come when American lawmakers would use the armed forces to subdue law abiding citizens to further a partisan agenda. However, the same is not true of the Framers of the Constitution. Fortunately, the Founding Fathers knew all too well that such an event might occur and thats why they wrote the Second Amendment. Its purpose is to allow American citizens to defend themselves from such tyranny. It is a very sad paradox that the more the Democrats demand that law abiding citizens be disarmed, the more they prove why shall not be infringed was specifically added.

Hopefully some of the wisdom of our Founding Fathers will work its way into the minds of Virginia lawmakers before they enact measures that are certain to cause tragic results. If Democrats really want to make Virginia safer, instead of threatening the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens, they should explore ways to stop terrorists, criminals and individuals from committing acts of violence.

Brown is chairwoman of the Sixth Congressional District Republican Committee in Virginia. An attorney who resides in Rockingham County, she is also the president of Second Amendment Alliance. She wrote this column for The News & Advance.
The Shiv Sena on Thursday hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for targeting Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over the 'Free Kashmir' placard displayed by a woman at a protest in Mumbai against the Jawaharlal Nehru University violence.

When Mehek Prabhu, a Marathi woman from Mumbai stood up for the pain of Kashmiris by holding the placard, the opposition termed it as 'sedition, the Shiv Sena said, adding that there cannot be a 'dirtier example of irresponsibility'.

In remarks laced with sarcasm, an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana said the placard 'shocked the opposition leaders and awakened the nationalist sentiment in them'.

'They attacked Chief Minister Thackeray and asked how this anti-national activity can happen right under his nose. The allegation was so frivolous that the opposition leaders made a mockery of themselves,' it said.

'This is not good for the state...we are worried for the opposition,' the Shiv Sena tauntingly said.

After the placard with 'Free Kashmir' message was seen at the protest at Gateway of India in Mumbai against the JNU violence, Fadnavis had asked what exactly was the protest for and if Chief Minister Thackeray will tolerate this 'anti-India campaign' right under his nose.

The Sena said Mehek Prabhu, a Maharashtrian, came out before TV channels after her placard kicked up a row and gave her side of the story, saying her intention was about freeing Kashmir from communication restrictions faced by people there.

'A Mumbaikar Marathi woman could understand the pain of Kashmiris. The opposition feels this is sedition. There can't be a dirtier example of irresponsibility,' it said.

'If the opposition and its supporters feel expressing yourself fearlessly is sedition, it is not good for them (opposition) and the country. The opposition has fallen flat

on its face after Mehek Prabhu's clarification,' the Marathi publication said.

It also asked former chief minister Fadnavis to exercise caution and restrain, and respect his current post as leader of opposition (LoP) in the assembly.

'We understand his pain. He should apply balm on his wounds and stay quiet for sometime,' it quipped.

The Sena said the opposition BJP 'needs counselling' as it has become 'directionless' since Fadnavis became Leader of Opposition.

Everyday, the Fadnavis-led opposition feels the state government will collapse and they would return to power, the Shiv Sena said.

'The opposition raises flimsy issues in an attempt to corner the Uddhav Thackeray-led government. But nothing of this sort will happen. In fact, the three parties (Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress -- allies in the state government) will come closer and become stronger,' it asserted.

The Shiv Sena asked the BJP to organise a counselling workshop on 'duties and responsibilities of opposition' at Rambhau Mhalgi Prabhodini, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated research institute located in niehgbouring Thane district.

It also took a dim view of BJP leader Chandrasekhar Bawankule asking Congress' Vijay Wadettiwar to join the saffron party, amid speculations that the latter was upset with the portfolio allocated to him in the Thackeray-led state government.

'This is too much. Did Bawankule quit the BJP and join the Congress after he was denied ticket in the assembly polls (held in October last year)?' the Sena asked.

Maharashtra cannot afford loss of face and trust of the opposition parties, it added.
When Daniel received an email a few months later saying there would be a course in the fall introducing students to the business applications of blockchain, she immediately signed up. "I was very interested in learning more," she said.

A single, end-of-the-semester email from Rutgers Business School Senior Associate Dean Martin Markowitz resulted in 70 undergraduate students like Daniel signing up for the blockchain class within two days. The class started in September and offered students one credit for attending a half dozen, three-hour sessions.

Grant DiGrazio, a junior studying business analytics and information technology, said he signed up for the class because he felt it would give him a foundation of understanding in how blockchain is being used by industries. "I know blockchain has some really practical business applications," he said.

Over a series of five Wednesday evenings, Ph.D. student Jamie Freiman tailored the classes to satisfy the curiosity of the students. He explained how the technology works, but he also provided the class with a sense of how it is being used by industry, from accounting and finance to healthcare and retail.

Freiman, who has a background in economics and accounting, assisted Rutgers Ph.D. student Jun Dai in some of the first academic research about blockchain's use in the accounting field. In 2016, Rutgers Business School's Continuous Auditing & Reporting Lab was one of the first with a core of knowledge about blockchain's potential applications. "That was the beginning, the beginning of the revolution," Freiman said.

Back in the days when Freiman was doing that research, there was still a high level of skepticism about whether blockchain would have a lasting use in business.

"Some people thought of it as a fad," he said. "I think blockchain, in some capacity, is here to stay. To compare it to the Internet is a big of a stretch. But do I think it's going to be a part of business? I do. I think it will change business dramatically."

In his class, Freiman stood at the front of the lecture hall in a tweed jacket and khakis, describing the processes like mining and hashing. He spoke about wallets and keys and encryption. He described blockchain in relation to bitcoin and other cyber-currencies.

During another class, his lecture on the technology turned practical to the room of undergraduates when he mentioned the need for blockchain coders. "There's a huge demand for people who can code blockchain," he told the students. "Learn it and you'll be marketable."

After three weeks of Freiman's lectures, Brian DiNicola, a junior studying finance and business analytics, said he was glad he had signed up for the class. "I'm pretty interested in blockchain," he said. "I've read about in relation to bitcoin, but I feel like a lot of the information out there is superficial."

"I feel like this class has given me a good base line knowledge," he said. "I know enough that I can talk about blockchain technology and some of its uses."

That's what Rutgers Business School Dean Lei Lei and Markowitz hoped would be accomplished with the pilot class. "I think blockchain is the future of business. I'm hoping this class will be a catalyst for other courses," Markowitz said.

In fact, Rutgers Business School administrators quickly got to work to create a curriculum on blockchain and other emerging technologies. A new, three-credit class will be offered to students on both campuses in the spring of 2020. Graduate-level courses on blockchain and artificial intelligence are also expected to be offered.

"Technologies like blockchain and artificial intelligence are being put into use by industry and are changing business processes as well as the skills recruiters require from job candidates," Lei said. "With innovative curriculum like our blockchain classes, we can prepare our students and ensure that they succeed as the business world continues to be transformed."

A surge of student interest in blockchain led to the first pilot course in blockchain.

In the spring of 2019, Christian Buren, who is now a junior, started the Block Chain Hub with a handful of other students. Buren organized a series of lectures and workshops with the support of Dean Lei Lei and Dean Markowitz and the help of Professor Miklos and several Ph.D. students like Freiman.

Students crowded into classrooms to hear the evening lectures, which earned them no credit.

The Block Chain Hub continued its efforts during the fall semester to augment Freiman's classes. The group has also organized trips to Boston and Philadelphia for conferences and competitions.

"Students are coming to these on their own," Buren said. "They want to be prepared to work with these new technologies."

SOURCE Rutgers Business School

Related Links

http://www.business.rutgers.edu


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Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook will receive an award in Dublin on Jan. 20 in recognition of the iPhone makers 40 years of investment in Ireland.

Irelands Prime Minister Leo Varadkar will present Cook with the accolade, according to IDA Ireland, the countrys investment agency.

Irelands decision to present Apple with an award may raise some eyebrows. Although its one of the countrys biggest employers, with 6,000 workers in Cork, its still reeling from being hit with a record 13 billion-euro ($14.4 billion) tax bill from the European Commission in one of the biggest state aid cases on record. More recently, Apple shelved a plan to build $1 billion data center in the west of Ireland, citing difficulties with the planning system.

Focus on the visit may be heightened with Varadkar set to face a general election within months. One of the countrys largest opposition parties, Sinn Fein, has criticized the government for fighting the tax case, saying the money should be accepted as a windfall to build homes and hospitals.

The Irish government and Apple both vehemently deny they have done anything wrong.

Economic Model

Cook will receive the award in recognition of Apples commitment to investing in Ireland, the IDA said. In part, the Irish economic model is based on attracting overseas companies.

We should never take foreign direct investment for granted, Martin Shanahan, chief executive of the agency, said in a statement.

Separately on Jan 20., Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai will make a rare public appearance in Brussels, where hes scheduled to speak at the Bruegel think-tank about the development of responsible artificial intelligence. Microsoft Corp.s Brad Smith will also be in Brussels that day to promote his new book, Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age.

The visits by the tech chiefs to Europe come as regulators in the region continue to take a tough line on U.S. digital giants over issues ranging from their collection of user data and whether they preference their own services on their platforms over those of rivals. Google and Apple in particular are still entangled in long drawn-out legal battles with the EU over competition and tax issues, respectively.

Story continues

Pichais and Smiths talks will take place several weeks before the European Commission, the EUs executive body, is set to unveil its plan to support the ethical development of artificial intelligence in the bloc.

(Adds IDA comments from sixth paragraph)

To contact the reporters on this story: Dara Doyle in Dublin at ddoyle1@bloomberg.net;Natalia Drozdiak in Brussels at ndrozdiak1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Nate Lanxon

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

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More than 540 beds are blocked by patients who are well but stuck in hospital in a week when the trolley crisis has reached a record high.

The patients, who are medically fit and ready for discharge, cannot leave until proper step- down care is available.

At the same time, there is a backlog of patients on trolleys and chairs who cannot be moved to a ward due to a shortage of beds.

The hospital trolley crisis slightly eased yesterday, but 621 patients were still waiting for a bed.

The decrease provided some small respite for hospitals after two days of record numbers when 760 patients languished on trolleys.

However, figures show that as many as 71 beds are occupied by patients known as delayed discharges in St James's Hospital, Dublin, where 22 were on trolleys.

In Cork University Hospital, which had to cancel operations for waiting list patients to free up space, 30 beds were being used by delayed discharges while 43 were on trolleys.

Nationally, 545 of these pat-ients who were ready for discharge but could not leave were occupying beds last week.

A spokeswoman for the HSE said if a patient needs support to move from an acute hospital setting to alternative care such as a nursing home, their own home or specialist centre, there can be a "practical time lag".

However, Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) said yesterday that 2,000 beds are available in private and voluntary nursing homes across the country to facilitate timely discharge of patients from acute hospitals.

NHI chief executive Tadhg Daly said feedback from homes in the discharge process within hospitals "is disorganised, inconsistent and supports are not available to enable staff to facilitate the timely discharge of patients".

Overcrowded

He said on Saturday that NHI was asked by the HSE at local level about nursing home beds to facilitate discharges from two very overcrowded hospitals.

"Over 20 beds from 10 nursing homes surrounding the hospitals were identified within a matter of hours, but only one bed has since been utilised," Mr Daly said.

"These hospitals remain severely overcrowded. We're seeing a delay in Fair Deal funding approval.

"There are also delays in transitional care funding for people in hospital requiring nursing home care.

"Engagement with nursing homes the past number of days has informed of huge levels of frustration with regard to the discharge process within our acute hospitals.

"We have nursing homes informing us they are aware of patients requiring discharge to nursing home care, but many of these patients are being deterred due to delays in accessing funding support or bureaucracy within the hospital.

"We've hundreds of beds available to provide specialised care for people in our hospitals who need step-down care, but these are not being utilised."

The HSE spokeswoman said its winter plan has implemented a range of measures such as keeping the processing time for Fair Deal applications down to four weeks, increasing the availability of home support packages and transitional care as well as convalescence care in private nursing homes.
Growing crowds of tourists and investors have fuelled a construction boom that officials valued at $6.4bn in 2017.

After six children died when a building site collapsed, the Cambodian workers union on Wednesday called for a halt to a construction boom that has killed more than 60 people in seven months, while the government vowed to tackle child labour.

The disaster  in which 36 workers and their families died on Friday at an unfinished guest house in coastal Kep Province  has shone a spotlight on the problem of children living and working on building sites, a common practice in Cambodia.

Do we want this to become known as normal in Cambodia? said Sou Chhlonh, vice president of the Building and Wood Workers Trade Union Federation of Cambodia, after the buildings owners were charged with unintentional homicide.

Cambodian people are dying, said Chhlonh. Cambodia has laws to protect them, but the laws need to be enforced.

The union wants all construction projects frozen until they are inspected and compliant with legal and safety regulations, as growing crowds of Chinese tourists and investors have fuelled a boom that officials valued at $6.4bn in 2017.

At least two of the children were infants, and it was unclear whether any of the other children who died were employed on the site.

Campaigners say the industry is rife with child labour, as are the hundreds of kilns that provide what have been dubbed blood bricks for Cambodias building boom.

You only have to go for a walk to see child labour in the construction industry, said Khun Tharo, a programme coordinator at the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, a charity.

After the first disaster in June, when 28 people died as a building site caved in while they slept, the minister for construction and urban planning said workers and their children could no longer live on site, according to local media reports.

But the labourers  many of whom migrate from the countryside with young families, are paid day rates without contracts, and earn as little as $6 a day  have no choice, campaigners say.

On Wednesday evening, the Thomson Reuters Foundation witnessed families cooking and relaxing in their makeshift living spaces on building sites in the capital, Phnom Penh.

That issue is still being addressed; it takes time to implement, said government spokesman Phay Siphan, adding that Cambodia is committed to wiping out child labour.

If you see child labour, Siphan said, report it and authorities will close them down.
Before Chesa Boudin was sworn in by Mayor London Breed as San Franciscos new district attorney on Wednesday evening, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor delivered a special message.

The surprise video from the justice was played on the large screen inside the Herbst Theater, prompting gasps from the audience of hundreds of eager supporters and city officials who gathered to observed the event.

The following is a transcript of Sotomayors message to Boudin:

Chesa, my court sessions resume next week so I am unable to join your inauguration ceremony. I sent you this message to tell you how much I admire you, and to wish you well in your new endeavors.

A little over ten years ago, I was visiting the public housing project where I grew up in the Bronx. A film crew was following me around. As I left the building in which I had lived, I stood next to a young child, about 10 years old, whose mother was looking down from one of the apartments above us.

The child asked me why all the people surrounding us were making such a fuss about me. And I paused to think and finally said, I grew up in this building where you live now and there are many people who think that kids like us can never become something important in life. They think because we may be poor in money, we are poor in spirit too. Youre not and Im not that way. We can make something of ourselves. And my becoming the first Latina justice of the United States Supreme Court is proof that people like us have a chance in life.

Well Chesa, you too are an example that gives hope to so many. It is uncommon for a former public defender to become a district attorney of a major city like San Francisco. Especially a district attorney who spent his childhood visiting parents incarcerated for committing serious felonies.

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.

As you described it to me, the difficulties you faced as a child, including that you did not read until age nine, are common among children of prisoners. You have lived the stigma of anger, shame and guilt that so many such children in the criminal justice system experience. By your own admission, you were fortunate that friends of your parents had the means to help you get back on track. But your parents friends could not supply you with the strength of character and moral composure that ultimately led you to graduate from Yale college with high honors, become a Rhodes scholar, clerk for two respected federal judges, be awarded a Liman fellowship and publish scholarly and important social justice pieces.

Your personal strength and commitment to reforming and improving the criminal justice system is a testament to the person you are and the role model you will continue to be for so many.

Chesa, you have undertaken a remarkable challenge today. I hope you reflect as a great beacon to many, and the road to accomplishing what you have set out to do will be daunting. Nevertheless, the city of San Francisco will be so very well served by a man whose life creed is believing, as you told me We are all safer when we uplift victims, hold everyone accountable for their actions, and do so with empathy and compassion.

I wish you much success in all you will do.
The Dayton Power and Light Company (DP&L), a subsidiary of The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES), was presented today (1/8) with the Edison Electric Institute's (EEI's) "Emergency Recovery Award" for its outstanding power restoration efforts after a series of tornados hit Ohio in May.

The Emergency Recovery Award is given to select EEI member companies to recognize their extraordinary efforts to restore power to customers after service disruptions caused by severe weather conditions or other natural events. The winners are chosen by a panel of judges following an international nomination process. DP&L received the award during EEI's Winter Board and Chief Executives Meeting in Tucson, Arizona.

Beginning late in the evening on Memorial Day, a series of 15 confirmed tornados hit DP&L's service territory resulting in 101,748 outages. Due to their tireless work, crews restored service to 100 percent of customers within 10 days after the storm, dedicating 80,000 man-hours to the recovery efforts.

"On behalf of all of our DP&L people, we are extremely honored to be recognized with EEI's Emergency Recovery Award for our restoration efforts following the Memorial Day Tornados, which ranks as one of the top three storms for DP&L in recent history," said Lisa Krueger, AES US SBU President. "We take great pride in serving our customers and thank the crews for their extraordinary dedication during an unprecedented weather event that people will remember for years to come. The extensive damage from the tornados presented challenging conditions with crews working round the clock to safely restore electric service to our customers and neighbors."

"DP&L's work to restore service safely and quickly to customers, often in dangerous conditions, makes them deserving of this award," said EEI President Tom Kuhn. "Their efforts exemplify the high standards our industry seeks to uphold, and I applaud their commitment to their customers."

About The Dayton Power and Light Company, and The AES Corporation

The Dayton Power and Light Company is the principal subsidiary of DPL Inc. (DPL), a regional energy provider and an AES company. DPL's primary subsidiaries include The Dayton Power and Light Company, AES Ohio Generation, LLC (AES Ohio Gen), and Miami Valley Insurance Company (MVIC).The Dayton Power and Light Company, a regulated electric utility, provides service to over 525,000 customers in West Central Ohio; AES Ohio Gen co-owns a merchant generation facility; and MVIC, a captive insurance company, provides insurance services to DPL and its subsidiaries. For more information about the company, please visit www.dplinc.com. Connect with DP&L at www.twitter.com/dpltoday, www.linkedin.com/company/dayton-power-and-light, and at www.facebook.com/DPLToday.

The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES) is a Fortune 200 global power company. We provide affordable, sustainable energy to 14 countries through our diverse portfolio of distribution businesses as well as thermal and renewable generation facilities. Our workforce is committed to operational excellence and meeting the world's changing power needs. Our 2018 revenues were $11 billion and we own and manage $33 billion in total assets. To learn more, please visit www.aes.com. Follow AES on Twitter @TheAESCorp.

About EEI

EEI is the association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. Our members provide electricity for more than 220 million Americans, and operate in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. As a whole, the electric power industry supports more than 7 million jobs in communities across the United States. In addition to our U.S. members, EEI has more than 65 international electric companies, with operations in more than 90 countries, as International Members, and hundreds of industry suppliers and related organizations as Associate Members.
Since the lockdown rules have lifted significantly, Im sure a lot of you are itching to go out on a road trip. If youre in the market looking for something that will help ferry the entire family, heres a list we think could make that choice easier.

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Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) has got in-principle nod from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for sale of Delhi-Agra toll road to Cube Highways and Infrastructure for Rs 3,600 crore, an RInfra official said on January 9. RInfra will utilise the proceeds to reduce debt.

"Reliance Infrastructure has received the in-principle approval for Harmonious Substitution in the Delhi-Agra (DA) toll road project on January 7 from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)... Reliance Infrastructure will receive an enterprise value of Rs 3,600 crore including equity of up to Rs 1,700 crore," the RInfra official said.

This approval paves the way to close the sale of the 180-km 6-lane Delhi-Agra toll road to Cube Highways and Infrastructure III Pte Ltd, which is owned by a Singapore-based Global Infrastructure Fund, I Squared Capital, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the official said.

The entire proceeds will be used by Reliance Infrastructure to pay lenders and reduce the debt of the company, the official said.

This is in line with the commitment made by Reliance Infrastructure to its 16 lenders on July 6, 2019, when lenders signed an inter-creditor agreement for resolution of debt and granted moratorium to the company on the interest and principal payments.

Reliance Infrastructure, which has a total debt of Rs 6,000 crore, is on track to reduce leverage even further as it focuses to be an asset- and capital-light entity, the company had said in September last year.

Addressing the shareholders at the company's annual general meeting, its Chairman Anil Ambani had said, "Our intent is to reduce the debt further. At present, we have around Rs 6,000 crore of debt but with a large networth," adding that the company will focus on the domestic market and take up more complex infrastructure and transportation projects.
REXFORD  A state Attorney Generals office investigation that uncovered financial improprieties by executives of a Rexford senior home and prompted a multiyear legal battle is nearing its end.

According to a proposed settlement agreement obtained by the Times Union, The Lutheran Care Network (TLCN) and its current and former executives will agree to various penalties and amends, including operating the network with increased transparency, in exchange for the state dropping its lawsuit against the Scarsdale-based nonprofit.

The settlement effectively bars former CEO Frank Tripodi from ever serving on a New York nonprofit or charity again, and requires current CEO Laraine Fellegara to act in good faith and full compliance in order to retain her position.

Most notably, however, it grants greater voice and independence to residents of Coburg Village, the senior home in Rexford where the saga first began, and freezes their rent for five years to make up for improperly assessed management fees the village was forced to pay from 2014 to 2016.

Doug Flynn, president of the villages resident association, said he couldnt speak freely about the settlement because it has yet to be signed by all parties. But he said several of its stipulations, such as one requiring at least one Coburg resident to serve on the Coburg board of directors, are likely to be welcomed by residents.

It would be an advantage to have somebody on the board, he said. We proposed that a long time ago because people on the outside, as well-intentioned as they might be, dont always know whats going on here.

Flynn said other stipulations, such as reinstating a local board of directors for the village, have already occurred.

The states case

The Attorney Generals office, which did not respond to questions for this story, filed its lawsuit against TLCN and its executives in 2016 after an investigation revealed their actions at Coburg Village several years earlier had violated New York nonprofit law.

Coburg  a 287-unit, private-pay apartment complex for seniors in Saratoga County  was among a handful of TLCN affiliates providing housing or nursing services to the elderly in eastern New York. While they benefited from shared administration under the network, they operated as distinct corporate entities with their own boards of directors.

That independence was threatened in late 2013, however, when Coburgs board rejected a TLCN-proposed budget that would have increased their rents and management fees while cutting services. In response, TLCNs board overrode the decision and adopted the budget anyway. Several months later, it disbanded all affiliate boards.

Things escalated from there.

Residents sent a petition to the TLCN board protesting the rent increases and service cuts, and voiced their concerns at a contentious July 2014 town hall meeting attended by Tripodi.

Nineteen days later, the network fired Coburg Executive Director Kathy Welden-Pinney, who it accused of stoking dissatisfaction among residents, and attempted to evict then-president of the resident association, Art Casey, who had publicly questioned the networks motives and contacted the Attorney General about the situation.

A chief concern among residents was that their fee and rent increases were being used to subsidize less-profitable affiliates and, ultimately, line the pockets of highly paid executives.

The settlement notes, for example, that roughly 40 percent of TLCNs yearly operating budget, which is funded primarily through management fees paid by affiliates, was spent on salaries and fringe benefits for Tripodi and Fellegara. According to tax records, the then-CEO and CFO were paid a respective $470,745 and $337,776 in 2014.

The AGs lawsuit had argued that the assessment of management fees by TLCN on an affiliate constituted a related party transaction, or a transaction that occurs between two parties that share a common interest or connection.

State nonprofit law carefully governs these transactions, due to the high potential for conflicts of interest. An executive with interests in related parties, for example, could make one party pay another at prices that ultimately advantage themselves if restrictions are not imposed.

The AG argued this is what happened in TLCNs case, and said its failure to discuss, document or disclose potential conflicts of interest violated the law.

While the lawsuit was initially dismissed in 2017, it was upheld in 2018 on appeal.

Tripodi ... had a financial interest in multiple inter-company transactions, including the management fee agreements, the proposed settlement states. Tripodi could benefit financially from decisions he made as executive management, which posed a risk that his decisions would be based on his best interests rather than the interests of the organization he was serving.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

TLCN has taken several actions in recent years to come into compliance with the law.

In 2017, it reinstated independent boards for its affiliates and developed agreements that dictate the services it will provide affiliates in exchange for management fees. It also modified its practices with respect to related party transactions, though exactly how remains unclear.

Fellegara, who became CEO after Tripodi resigned in 2018, seemed to suggest in recent bankruptcy filings for two other local TLCN affiliates that the network is no longer making such transactions. The AGs complaint prompted the network to change its practices, she said in the bankruptcy declaration.

Without such related party loans, the debtors have been suffering from a severe liquidity crisis, which ultimately resulted in their bankruptcy filings, she wrote.

Those debtors are Bethlehem Commons and Kenwood Manor, a nursing home and assisted living facility in Delmar known collectively as Good Samaritan Village.

Stipulations

In addition to the five-year rent freeze for Coburg Village residents, the proposed settlement grants the attorney general greater power over the selection and appointment of all TLCN and Coburg board members.

It mandates that Coburg assets be used primarily for Coburg operations and improvements, and allows affiliate boards to approve all related-party transactions, including management fees. Any transaction involving Coburg must be reported to the AGs office 30 days beforehand.

Residents would also gain greater insight into the networks financial status under the proposed settlement, which mandates they be provided with proposed budgets, salary information, board minutes and year-end financial statements.

Finally, Tripodi must pay $100,000 and Fellegara must pay $25,000 to Coburg Village within 30 days of the settlements execution.

Fellegara did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Tripodi said in an email that he was unable to comment.

I am restricted to speaking about this, as much as I would like to, he said.

Reached for comment Wednesday, Welden Pinney, the former Coburg director who the AG contends was fired without cause, said: I am delighted that the residents of Coburg Village, whom I care about so much to this day, will finally have closure.
Danielle Celermajer at the ABC (Australia):

As the full extent of the devastation of the Holocaust became apparent, a Polish Jew whose entire family had been killed, Raphael Lemkin, came to realise that there was no word for the distinctive crime that had been committed: the murder of a people. His life work became finding a word to name the crime and then convincing the world to use it and condemn it: genocide. Today, not only has genocide become a dreadful part of our lexicon. We recognise it as perhaps the gravest of all crimes.

During these first days of the third decade of the twenty-first century, as we watch humans, animals, trees, insects, fungi, ecosystems, forests, rivers (and on and on) being killed, we find ourselves without a word to name what is happening. True, in recent years, environmentalists have coined the term ecocide, the killing of ecosystems  but this is something more. This is the killing of everything. Omnicide.

Some will object, no doubt, that this does not count as a cide  a murder or killing  but is rather a natural phenomenon, albeit an unspeakably regrettable one. Where is the murderous intent? Difficult to locate, admittedly, but a new crime also requires a new understanding of culpability.

More here.
International crises often lead, at least initially, to surging support for a country's leadership. And that's clearly happening now. Just weeks ago, a prominent world leader faced public discontent so intense that his grip on power seemed at risk. Then the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani transformed the situation, generating a wave of patriotism that has greatly bolstered the people in charge.

Mourners gather during a funeral procession for Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Basra, Iraq. Credit:AP

Unfortunately, this patriotic rallying around the flag is happening not in America, where many are (with good reason) deeply suspicious of Donald Trump's motives, but in Iran. In other words, Trump's latest attempt to bully another country has backfired  just like all his previous attempts.

From his first days in office, Trump has acted on the apparent belief that he could easily intimidate foreign governments  that they would quickly fold and allow themselves to be humiliated. But this strategy keeps failing; the regimes he threatens are strengthened rather than weakened, and Trump is the one who ends up making humiliating concessions.

Remember, for example, when Trump promised "fire and fury" unless North Korea halted its nuclear weapons program? He claimed triumph after a 2018 summit meeting with Kim Jong-un, North Korea's leader. But Kim made no real concessions, and North Korea recently announced that it might resume tests of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.
"If GST council is not able to come with a solution regarding dispute settlement than states together should move to the Supreme Court over the issue. I am putting this proposal before other Finance Ministers,' said Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac.The next ministerial-level council meet is scheduled to be held on January 18 in Delhi.When asked if he would gain support from other Finance ministers of different states on the issue, Isaac said, "In next council meeting I will be discussing with like-minded finance ministers about the possibility of approaching Supreme Court to protect state rights, something which has been guaranteed by the Constitution and are very clearly laid down on the law passed by the Parliament. Most of the non-BJP finance ministers are in support of this".He also proposed the GST council to be allowed to borrow to meet the GST compensation arrears."The GST compensation arrears to Kerala are about Rs 40,000 crore if not more" he stated.Thomas Isaac said that GST compensation and Central share of the taxes have been drastically reduced for the last quarter."As far as our budgeted figures, Kerala should have received something like Rs 10000 crores public borrowing in the last quarter, instead we got Rs 1900 crore. The reason cited is that Kerala had over-borrowed in 2016-17. It will be difficult for the state government. Even if the centre wants to do this, do it over time. Don't do it in the height of the slowdown. All state governments are forced to reduce their expenditure as centre transfers are getting reduced", he said.He also voiced concerns over the state coffers and said that Kerala has been pushed to a very serious financial crisis due to these reductions."'Regarding centrally sponsored schemes the centre owes arrears of Rs 1200 crores for employee guarantee programme. Now for paddy procurement centre government owes to Kerala more than Rs 1000 crores. This kind of system never existed before. There was always been some consideration for the plights of the state. Now there is very little dialogue. This is totally new phase in central state relation we are witnessing", Isaac said.He also blamed centre for the exclusion of Kerala from 2019 flood relief and said that the move was 'political as well as ideological'."For the first time the centre is ruled by a party that does not believe in diversity. So there is a lack of appreciation for the aspiration of the regions", he said. (ANI)
(TNS)  The Lockport school board has once again amended its policy governing the districts facial recognition system.The major policy changes, approved by the board during a meeting on Wednesday, include a scope section at the beginning of the policy clarifying that no students would be put in the database. The new policy also designates the president of the board of education as an individual who would receive notifications through the system. In addition, law enforcement agencies were added to the database.The policy changes were recommended by the state education department. The system was activated by the district last week.During Wednesdays meeting, no trustees spoke before the amendments were approved. Superintendent Michelle Bradley gave brief remarks, saying the district feels it has satisfied the state education departments privacy concerns with the revisions to the privacy policy. She specifically pointed to the portion of the policy that says in no event shall a district student be placed in the Aegis database.In the districts view, there was no need to further delay the implementation of the Aegis system and its corresponding enhancement of district security pending the few policy amendments that were approved tonight, Bradley said.In an interview after the meeting, Bradley said the system has been performing as expected.Another development on Wednesday was the return of lawmakers to the state legislature.Last year, Assembly Member Monica Wallace, D-Lancaster, introduced a bill into the legislature that would implement a moratorium on facial recognition in schools until the state education department studies the issue further. The bill overwhelmingly passed the assembly but the companion bill was not voted on in the senate. Wallace told the Union-Sun & Journal she is going to prioritize the passage in the senate this year.When asked about the bills, Bradley said the district will continue to monitor the legislature.Like we did with the state education department, we would be very open to working interactively and having dialogue with Assembly Member Wallace, Bradley said.Bradley said she found the process last year valuable.Weve taken concerns seriously. We didnt ignore anything, Bradley said.Board President John Linderman said at the time the board of education will respect the state education departments concerns of not having students in the system, but could not promise that will always be the policy.I think you always go back and you review it. Can I say well never add student photos to the system? I cant say that. At this time, there is no intention to do that. Were going to respect the request of the state, Linderman said in an interview following the meeting.The districts policy only requires consultation with the state in advance of any future policy changes.The district will not expand the categories to be entered into the database, as specified above, except upon notification to and consultation with the Chief Privacy Officer of the New York State Education Department, and in accordance with all applicable law, the policy reads.The districts use of the Aegis facial recognition system was stalled for months after the state education department told the district to hold off until its privacy concerns were addressed. Last spring, Bradley announced a goal launch date of Sept. 1, but that changed after the state education department warned the district in statements to the media that its concerns had not been adequately addressed.The changes were implemented at the request of Temitope Akinyemi, the New York State Education Department chief privacy officer, who wrote a letter to Bradley in November, saying that if the changes are made, then the state education department will allow the district to use the system.The district spent $1.4 million of the $4.2 million allocated to it through New Yorks Smart Schools Bond Act to acquire and install one of the systems, one of the first of its kind in an American school. The system relies on the Aegis software suite created by Canadian-based SN Technologies.The facial recognition software works by using a database of flagged individuals and sending an alert to district personnel when a flagged person is detected on school property. The object recognition feature would reportedly detect 10 types of guns and alert certain district personnel, as well as law enforcement, if a weapon is detected.
Dharamsala, Jan 9 : Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has expressed sadness over the devastations caused by bushfires in Australia.

In a message to Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the Dalai Lama said that he would like to express his sympathies to the people of Australia for the widespread damages caused by bushfires.

He wrote: "It is simply heart-wrenching to learn about these ferocious infernos and yet so inspiring to learn about the personal bravery of so many volunteers who have come together as firefighters.

"May I offer my condolences to the families whose members have lost their lives as a result of the bushfires and to those many people who have become homeless after the fires caused unprecedented damage to property." The spiritual leader concluded his message by saying, "As you may know, I have been able to visit Australia quite regularly over the years and I have been deeply touched by the love and affection that the people there have shown me, as well as the interest they have taken in my efforts to promote human values and peace of mind."
India is closely following the growing tension between Iran and the United States of America. The two countries are almost on the verge of getting sucked into a deadly war after the US killed Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, in a drone attack which was followed by Tehran launching a barrage of missiles on two American military bases in Iraq.

A war between the two countries will have a massive impact on the world economy and will hit Indian interests too. Some economic impact of the ongoing skirmish between the two countries is already visible with crude oil and gold prices rising. An all-out war will result in crude oil prices skyrocketing, impacting every sphere of life in India.

Indian stock markets, too, are feeling the heat and have seen most of the shares on a downward slide in the last few days. An Iran-US war will also lead to a negative fallout on diplomatic relations with several countries.

India imports almost 84% of its crude oil from the Gulf countries and the route is through Iran's Hormuz strait. In case of a war breaking out, the area will bear the brunt resulting in imports being hit.

"Our third largest import is crude oil. If its prices increase, it will certainly impact the Indian currency and there is s possibility of depression in Rupee. The twin developments will result in a rise in the prices of all the commodities," averred Ajay Sahai, Director General & CEO of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations.

Tackling slowdown in the Indian economy will become very difficult if petrol and diesel prices move up due to a war between Iran and the US. The war will also hit the export of Indian basmati rice and tea to Iran.

India had in 2018-19 exported basmati rice worth Rs 32,800 crore out of which Rs 10,800 crore was to Iran alone. If Iran stops importing basmati rice and tea from India, it will impact their domestic prices, too, leading to their crash and hit the business hard.

Even evacuating lakhs of Indian nationals working in the Gulf countries will become a herculean task. There are 25,000 Indians in Iraq where the two US air bases in Irbil and Al Asad were targeted by Iranian missiles.

While Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the missile attacks on the two bases in Iraq a "slap on the face" to the US, the latter's President Donald Trump a few hours after the strike claimed that no Americans were harmed in the retaliation by Tehran.
Hon. Daniel Kwesi Ashiamah

09.01.2020 LISTEN

Hon. Daniel Kwesi Ashiamah, Member of Parliament for Buem constituency has defended Director of Elections, Elvis Afriyie- Ankrah, for comments he made in a leaked audio supposedly inciting a section of Ghanaians against the compilation of a new Voters Register.

According to the law-maker, the leaked audiotape was publicly recorded and so sees nothing wrong with it. I support comments made by Elvis Afriyie- Ankrah I see nothing wrong with his words.

'His words were on point and I commend him for that, Hon. Daniel Kwesi Ashiamah exclusively told Kwame Tutu on Anopa Nkomo on Accra-based Kingdom FM 107.7.

Rather, he said those circulating the audio, especially members of the ruling New Patriotic Party are being diabolic and mischievous.

Rather, he said those circulating the audio, especially members of the ruling New Patriotic Party are being diabolic and mischievous.

Background

The NDCs Director of Elections in the tape said the party could invest about GH?200,000, GH?500,000 and GH?1 million Ghana cedis and fight this register, bring Accra to a standstill for once, occupy the EC head office. And we can do it. We have done it before, these are things weve been doing even as ordinary students; we brought the Ministry of Finance to a standstill.

The Director of Elections of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, still stands by comments he made in a leaked audiotape bordering on the proposed new voters register.
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Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday said the government will enforce all laws for strict implementation of the ILP to ensure that outsiders are not granted citizenship in the state, which is out of the purview of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Khandu, who was responding to a question in the House by two Congress members, said the Chin Hills Regulations, 1896, is also in place in the state and will keep away outsiders.

The Chin Hills Regulation (Regulation IV) authorises deputy commissioners to order any outsider whose presence is "injurious to the peace or good administration" of the area to leave it and to tax residents, permanent or temporary, clans and villages.

We will enforce all available laws for strict implementation of the Inner Line Permit so that except the states indigenous tribal communities, no outsiders are granted citizenship, Khandu said in reply to the question by Congress legislators Ninong Ering and Lombo Tayeng.

The chief minister said the state government and the people have already cleared their stand on the CAA.

We had proposed to the union home ministry to incorporate constitutional protection for the state in the CAA, before its enactment, after month-long deliberation with all stakeholders. For this Arunachal Pradesh has been exempted from the Act, he said.

He said that the statement of objects and reasons of the CAA seeks to protect the constitutional guarantee given to the indigenous population of the north eastern state covered under sixth schedule of and the statutory protection given to areas covered under the ILP regime.

Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur are under the ILP regime.

Both the Congress leaders expressed apprehension that the Chakma and Hajong refugees residing in Arunachal Pradesh will demand citizenship after enactment of the CAA and sought to know from the state government whether full proof protection was given to the indigenous population of the state.

There is no change of status in regard to citizenship for any Chakma and Hajong residing in the state after enactment and coming into force of the CAA, Khandu said and added that not only the refugees but other Indians who want to enter the state should obtain ILP.

Khandu had told the assembly on Wednesday that the state government will approach the apex court so that the 73,000-odd Chakma and Hajong refugees, who came from from erstwhile East Pakistan, do not get citizenship with the help of the CAA.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 08:41:32|Editor: Xiaoxia

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Students attend a celebration activity at the Potala Palace square in Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Oct. 1, 2019. A total of 27.2 billion yuan (about 3.9 billion U.S. dollars) was put into education in Tibet in 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Rufeng)
The commerce and industry ministry on Thursday held a meeting with special economic zone (SEZ) players and discussed ways to further promote growth of the sector, an official said.

The meeting took up certain suggestions from Bharat Forge Chairman Baba Kalyani-led committee on SEZ that are not yet implemented, the official said.

One of the members of this committee, Srikanth Badiga, said issues related to further improving ease of doing business for these zones were also discussed.

The industry demand to extend the direct tax incentives to SEZ units beyond March 31 also figured in the meeting.

In the Budget 2016-17, the government had stated that income tax benefits to new SEZ units would be available to only those units that commence activity before March 31, 2020.

Units in SEZs enjoy 100 per cent income tax exemption on export income for the first five years, 50 per cent for the next five years thereafter and 50 per cent of the ploughed-back export profit for another five years.

SEZs, which emerged as major export hubs in the country, started losing their sheen after the imposition of Minimum Alternate Tax and introduction of sunset clause, according to the industry.

Exports from these zones stood at over Rs 7 lakh crore in 2018-19.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The PlayStation 5's most innovative features are yet to be revealed, according to the man behind the new console.

Sony has revealed what seems to be a great deal of information about the new console, ahead of its release date later this year.

But that does not include the features that most differentiate it from previous consoles, which are yet to have been revealed, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has said in an interview.

The new comments were published soon after Sony's presentation at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas. During that presentation, the upcoming PS5 was mentioned  but only to show off a new logo, which looks almost identical to the PS4's.

Mr Ryan did not give away much detail on what would be coming in the new console, beyond what has already been announced. He ran through previously discussed new features such as a much faster SSD that will allow games to load far more quickly, 3D audio and more detailed haptic feedback in the controller.

Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty

But he then said that there are still further innovations to be revealed about the console.

After discussing those new features, he said that the "bigger differences" from previous consoles were yet to be announced.

Recommended PlayStation working on new kind of controller

Sony has said that the new PS5 will be ready for the "holiday" season towards the end of this year. Mr Ryan declined to give further indications of when it might come and how it will be rolled out across the world, but the company will presumably discuss both the new features and the release date later this year.

Both PlayStation and Xbox have revealed plenty of details about their new consoles, with both targeting a launch towards the end of the year.

You can find all the latest on the PlayStation 5 here.
A s outlined in last nights shock statement, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are moving away from their Royal duties and are planning to spend their time between North America and the UK.

Whilst they plan on keeping Windsors Frogmore Cottage as their UK residence, we dont know where theyre planning on being based in the vast continent of North America.

However, the Royal couple have a few favourite hotspots in which they might be looking to settle  both within the Commonwealths Canada and stateside.

Vancouver Island

Prince Harry cuddles baby Archie during the family's Christmas break (PA) / SussexRoyal

Harry and Meghan took to the island just off the West Coast of Canada to spend this years six-week Christmas break. Before they embarked on their holiday, the palace confirmed in a statement that the decision to base themselves in Canada reflects the importance of this Commonwealth country to them both. The palace also noted the personal ties of the country to Meghan herself, stating it was home to The Duchess for seven years before she became a member of the Royal Family.

After sharing this snap of Harry and Archie on the SussexRoyal Instagram from Vancouver Island, fans of the royal couple have been speculating for a while that they may relocate there. Not only does it offer stunning natural landscapes and a slower pace of life, but the Island is also close to Vancouver itself, giving the Royal couple a chance to experience metropolitan life as well.

In the statement released yesterday, the Royal pair were keen to emphasise the importance of raising Archie in multiple countries - a significant break from the usual Royal tradition of English schooling and upbringing, 'This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter', the statement read.

Toronto

PA

(PA)

Staying within the Commonwealth, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex might be looking at the largest city in Canada for their North American base. Meghan was based in the city for years whilst filming Suits, and was still calling it home when her and Harry began their relationship. The couple also had their first public appearance in Toronto in 2017, at the Invictus Games.

Harry and Meghan have also publicly supported a Toronto homelessness organisation as one of their 12 charities they were supporting over Christmas  the only Canadian charity to make it on to their list.

As well as the statement outlining their intentions, the couple have launched a new website - designed by a Toronto-based digital agency that was also behind Meghan's now-archived lifestyle blog, The Tig. The new website name was registered 10 months ago - meaning that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have had it in the pipeline since March 2019.

LA

Getty Images

(Getty Images)

Los Angeles was where Meghan was born and raised, so a move back there is an obvious choice. Meghans mother, Doria Ragland, also works and lives in LA. After last years rumours that she was moving to London to be closer to her daughter failed to materialise, perhaps Meghan will instead move to be closer to her in sunny California.

As well as family ties, the Duchess of Sussex could be looking at LA for its film industry. After announcing in their statement that they were seeking financial independence, speculation that Meghan will be returning to the acting industry is growing  and Los Angeles would be the ideal location for that return.

Etiquette expert Edmund Fry, who gave the Duchess lessons when she started dating Prince Harry, told the Express last year that 'Meghan is a Los Angeles girl, born and raised here with many links to Hollywood and friends here... it is possible to live stress-free and out of the glare of publicity here.'

California is also the home of a number of the couple's celebrity friends - Oprah Winfrey and Ellen Degeneres being among the many. Powerful media contacts will prove invaluable when they make the move away from the Royal family and from the UK - not only for business connections, but as confidantes in the world of celebrity.

New York

Getty Images

Despite Meghans familial ties to LA, the former actress and blogger has been vocal about her love for the Big Apple. In 2014, she wrote of the city on The Tig that its the food, the mother f-ing fantastic, crave-worthy food, that keeps me wrapped around its little finger.

Not only did Meghan spend extended periods there filming Suits, but she also chose to host her two day baby shower there before the arrival of Archie  reportedly at NYCs Most Boldly Lavish 5-Star Hotel, The Mark.
The UL Hospitals Group has launched an investigation following the death of a patient after he was found with a broken neck on the ground next to his trolley.

The investigation will focus on the circumstances surrounding the fall at the Emergency Department at University Hospital Limerick (UL).

It is not clear at this stage if the man sustained the broken neck as a result of the fall from the trolley or if it was a previous injury.

The middle-aged patient was discovered by a ED nurse in a collapsed state on the floor beside his trolley earlier last month.

Despite valiant efforts by staff to revive the patient, he was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly afterwards.

Hospital sources confirmed the incident was being investigated as part of normal protocols following the death of a patient in a hospital setting.

A statement released by the UL Hospital Group read: For reasons of patient confidentiality, we cannot comment on individual cases. All serious incidents are managed through the HSE Integrated Risk Management Policy.

A later statement released by the hospital group read: Insofar that there is an inquest into the death of a patient, the cause of death will be determined by the coroner. UL Hospital Group will as always fully comply with the coroner if and when required.

UHL management is expected to meet with the deceased patients family in the coming days.

All circumstances surrounding the mans death are being investigated.

A hospital source said the patient was discovered sometime between 3am and 4am on the morning in question, by a nurse who was carrying out a routine patient checks.

It is being investigated and staff have given statements, the source said.
"Somewhere Lies the Moon," a 1999 novel by the romance writer Kathryn Lynn Davis, is an intergenerational saga of love and loss set amid the misty moors of the Scottish Highlands.

It's also the unlikely catalyst to a rapidly spiraling controversy within the world of romance publishing, a billion-dollar industry that has been shaken by accusations of racism and retaliation in recent weeks, leading to the cancellation of the genre's most prestigious awards program

Romance Writers of America, a trade group with more than 9,000 members that administers the annual RITA Awards, announced Monday that so many writers and judges had pulled out of its 2020 competition that it had no choice but to cancel the contest entirely. Many of those who dropped out had "lost faith" that the competition would be administered fairly, the group said in a statement, and their refusal to participate meant that the contest would no longer "reflect the breadth and diversity" of writing published in the past year.

The lack of diversity within the romance writing community - and the tendency for booksellers to shoehorn novels featuring black characters into a separate "African American" category - has been a contentious topic for years, as the Guardian and Publishers Weekly have reported. Romance Writers of America was founded in 1980 by a black woman, Vivian Stephens, who wanted to create a supportive environment for authors who weren't taken seriously by the larger writing community. But in 2018 the group acknowledged that no black author had ever won a RITA prize, the industry equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize or Academy Award.

Though two black women received RITA Awards in 2019, and Romance Writers of America promised to hire a diversity consultant, debate over the broader systemic issues continued. Then, in August, Courtney Milan, a prominent romance writer and outspoken advocate for diversity in the publishing community, posted tweets about "Somewhere Lies the Moon" that set off the current uproar.

Calling the novel a "racist mess," Milan, who is Chinese American, highlighted a plot line featuring Asian characters with "slightly yellow" skin and "slanted almond eyes," and noted that the book depicted 19th-century Chinese women as demure, quiet and compliant. "The notion of the submissive Chinese woman is a racist stereotype which fuels higher rates of violence against Asian women," she wrote. "It is hard not to be upset about something that has done me and my loved ones real harm."

Davis, the book's author, responded to the criticism by filing an ethics complaint with Romance Writers of America. "These attacks on me have resulted in my losing a three-book contract with a publisher whom I cannot name because they fear having their own name linked with Ms. Milan's," she wrote, claiming that the tweets amounted to "cyber-bullying."

At the time, Milan served as the chair of Romance Writers of America's ethics committee. Suzan Tisdale, a romance writer and publisher who works with Davis, questioned the appropriateness of allowing Milan to hold that position in a complaint of her own. "This is akin to putting a neo-Nazi in charge of a UN human rights committee," she wrote, arguing that Davis had been unfairly smeared as a racist after she "immersed herself in the Chinese culture for six years."

The twin complaints lodged by Davis and Tisdale, who are both white, became public knowledge in December, when Romance Writers of America decided that Milan had violated the group's core mission of creating a "safe and respectful environment." Just days before Christmas, Milan was informed of the sanctions that she would face: a one-year suspension from the group, and a lifetime ban from any leadership positions.

When another author, Alyssa Cole, broke the news on Twitter, an immediate outcry erupted. Using the hashtag #IStandWithCourtney, romance writers expressed outrage at the idea that raising concerns about racism could be considered an ethics violation. Romance Writers of America witnessed a mass exodus as its president and eight of its board members handed in their resignations.

Among the high-profile authors weighing in was Nora Roberts, who wrote in a blog post that the debacle "brought to light a long-standing and systemic marginalization of authors of color, of LGBTQ authors, by the organization." No longer a member of Romance Writers of America, the best-selling writer said that she became disillusioned in 2005, when top leaders drafted a statement defining romance as between a man and a woman.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

"I would not be a part of this kind of discrimination against the LGBTQ community," Roberts wrote. "Jesus, it's fine to have a character fall in love with a freaking vampire, but not someone of the same sex?"

Facing a cataclysm of criticism, Romance Writers of America announced on Dec. 30 that it was reversing its decision to censure Milan, and said that the group did not intend to suggest that members were barred from talking openly about racism. "We have lost the trust of our membership and the romance community and we must find a way to rebuild that," a letter to members said. "It's going to be a hard road, maybe one of the most difficult we've traveled since our inception."

But writers continued to revolt, even as the organization continued to reiterate that it was committed to diversity and inclusion. The new president, Damon Suede, was hit with a recall petition, and more than three dozen representatives from regional offshoots of Romance Writers of America demanded that the group's top national leaders resign, calling their handling of the controversy "shameful." Meanwhile, numerous authors publicly announced that they would be withdrawing their work from consideration in the upcoming RITA Awards.

Even the writers who had complained about Milan's tweets expressed some level of regret. Tisdale told the Guardian she had only wanted an apology and thought the punishment was too harsh, while Davis walked back her initial claims that she had "lost" a book deal, telling the outlet that the discussion about her contract had only been postponed. She claimed that Romance Writers of America's leadership had encouraged her to file a complaint and that she felt they had "used" her.

Amid the tumult, Romance Writers of America's choice to call off its annual contest was one decision that was well-received.

"Letting go of the 2019 RITAs was a hard decision, but the right one," Milan tweeted on Monday night. "But it was the easiest of the hard decisions. Now go make some more."
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Jan 9 (ANI): Categorically denying any alliance between Bharatiya Janata Party and Maharashtra Navniman Sena, former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said that there was no talk of an alliance with Raj Thackeray's MNS. The BJP leader cited vast difference in ideologies.



"There are no talks of alliance with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Our ideologies are very different. Till the time there are differences in ideologies, we will not come together, but is there is a change then we can consider," Fadnavis said on Thursday.

"We will consider if their stand changes in the future," he added.

Concerned over the less number of seats in Vidarbha in the assembly elections last year, Fadnavis said, "The Maharashtra BJP unit held a meet of its newly-elected MLAs to strengthen the organization. Our seats in Nagpur Palghar districts were reduced in the elections that were held last year and yet the Bharatiya Janata Party is a big party," Fadnavis said.

In the assembly elections held last year, the BJP managed to win only 29 of the 62 seats. Compared to the 2014 Assembly elections, it was down by 15 seats.

"Our seats have been reduced by six places in Nagpur, but our defeat is not a big loss anywhere," he added. (ANI)
Note: This is an abbreviated version of the full Taste Test review, with a star rating based on multiple visits. See the complete version on our subscriber site ExpressNews.com.

Julias Bistro & Bar in Beacon Hill speaks French with a Mexican accent for fusion cooking thats sometimes charming and sometimes lost in translation. Either way, its an ambitious approach.

Julias  inspired in part by pioneering chef and Francophile Julia Child  combines the French penchant for sauces and braising with the bold spicing and bright flavor spikes of Mexican food. A chile relleno spoke with authority from south of the border, with a poblano pepper fried crispy and finished with chimichurri and goat cheese. Then the French angle kicked in with an aromatic interior of braised lamb.

Some of the best food at Julias flew the French flag without apology. Escargot toast gave snails a rich platform of mushroom puree, brie and butter on toasted baguette. Mussels bloomed with garlic in a white wine sauce. A braised lamb shank needed only a fork under an elegant amber-gold sauce.

Miss a review? Catch up with all our recent San Antonio restaurant reviews on ExpressNews.com

The atmosphere at Julias isnt as strong as the food, but it comes back to this: Id rather watch Julias grow as a bold hybrid experiment than go to any place with a Six Flags menu that tries to please everyone but pleases no one. France and Mexico under one flag? Ill salute that.

Julias Bistro & Bar ** 1725 Blanco Road, 210-476-5404, juiasonblanco.com Quick bite: French-style neighborhood restaurant with Mexican influences Hit: Lamb shank, escargot toast, fried apple dumpling Miss: Rabbit, seafood crepe, shrimp and grits Hours: 4-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 4-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday Price range: Appetizers, $8-$15; soups and salads, $8-$11; entrees, $15-$24; desserts, $7 Alcohol: Wine, beer and cocktails **** Superior. Can compete nationally. *** Excellent. One of the best restaurants in the city. ** Very good. A standout restaurant of its kind. * Good. A restaurant that we recommend. (no stars) We cannot recommend this restaurant at this time. Express-News dining critics pay for all meals. See More Collapse

To read the full Taste review, please visit our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com.

Mike Sutter is a food and drink reporter and restaurant critic in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | msutter@express-news.net | Twitter: @fedmanwalking
UAE sees no immediate risk to oil flow through Strait of Hormuz FILE PHOTO: Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz

By Rania El Gamal and Dahlia Nehme

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates' energy minister said on Wednesday he saw no immediate risk to oil passing through the vital gateway of the Strait of Hormuz after Iran attacked bases housing U.S. forces in Iraq.

Iranian officials have said the missile strikes were a response to Friday's killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.

The situation is not a war, and what is happening now should not be exaggerated, Suhail al-Mazrouei said on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, an OPEC producer.

"We will not see a war," he added. "This is definitely an escalation between the United States, which is an ally, and Iran, which is a neighbour, and the last thing we want is more tension in the Middle East."

Oil prices were about 1% higher on Wednesday, but well below highs hit in a frenetic start to the trading day after the missile attacks raised the spectre of a spiralling conflict and disruption to crude flows.

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh was quoted by the semi-official ISNA news agency as saying on Wednesday that Tehran was benefiting from rising oil prices, and also called on the United States to quit the region.

"The trend of oil prices is up and this benefits Iran ... Americans should stop disturbing the region and let the people of the region live," Zanganeh said.

OPEC's Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo told the conference in Abu Dhabi that oil facilities in Iraq, the second biggest producer in OPEC, were secured and output was continuing.

He said global spare oil capacity stood at around 3-3.5 million barrels per day (bpd), with the majority held by Saudi Arabia, the top producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

NO SUPPLY SHORTAGE SEEN

The UAE's Mazrouei said OPEC would respond to any possible oil shortages if needed, within its "limitations". But he saw no sign of a supply shortage, with healthy demand and global oil inventories hovering around the 5-year average.

Story continues

"We are not forecasting any shortage of supply unless there is a catastrophic escalation, which we don't see," he said.

Barkindo said he was confident that leaders in the Middle East were doing everything possible to restore normal conditions.

The region was shaken last year by attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz and an assault on Saudi energy plants that initially halved the kingdom's crude output.

Washington and Riyadh blamed their common foe Iran, also an OPEC member, for those strikes, a charge Tehran denied.

Barkindo said the forecast for global demand growth was around 1 million bpd, adding this was "not robust and not alarming".

Asked what message he would send to U.S. President Donald Trump, Barkindo told the gathering that the United States' emergence as a leading oil and gas producer should carry shared responsibility for energy market stability.

"The continued task of the OPEC+ to maintain stable oil markets on a sustainable basis is a shared responsibility of all producers including the U.S.," Barkindo said.

"OPEC alone can't shoulder that responsibility. We invite the United States to join us in this noble objective," he added.

OPEC and its allies, a grouping known as OPEC+, has been capping production since 2017 to avert oversupply and support prices. The U.S. is not part of this oil supply management agreement.

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal and Dahlia Nehme; Writing by Maha El Dahan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Gareth Jones)
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani attends a meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Revolutionary Guard commanders in Tehran, Iran, on Sept. 18, 2016. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

Pence Says Sharing Soleimani Details With Congress Could Compromise Sources

Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday morning said that the Trump administration cannot reveal more information about the airstrike that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani last week or any intelligence leading up to the event.

Some of that has to do with whats called sources and methods, Pence told NBC News on Thursday. Some of the most compelling evidence that Qassem Soleimani was preparing an imminent attack against American forces and American personnel also represents some of the most sensitive intelligence that we haveit could compromise those sources and methods.

To protect sources and methods, were simply not able to share with every member of the House and Senate the intelligence that supported the presidents decision to take out Qassem Soleimani. I can assure your viewers that there was a threat of an imminent attack, said Pence on Fox & Friends Thursday.

Several lawmakers have called on the White House to provide more information about the reasons for the airstrike that killed Soleimani, which triggered a reprisal from the Islamic regime against U.S. forces on Tuesday night.

Vice President Mike Pence at the White House in Washington on July 23, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Hours after a nationally televised address by President Donald Trump on Wednesday confirming that no Americans died in the Iranian missile strike, a briefing was held with congressional leaders.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who attended the briefing, said the Trump administration provided too few details about the strike. It is not acceptable for officials within the executive branch of governmentI dont care whether they are with the CIA, with the Department of Defense, or otherwiseto come in and tell us that we cant debate and discuss the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran, he said.

During the Fox interview, Pence responded to Lees criticism, saying both he and Trump have immense respect for Senator Mike Lee. He is a great conservative and a great leader. But weve had differences on U.S. policy in the region.

Elaborating on what was said during the briefing, Pence said U.S. officials received information that Soleimani was traveling in the region to prepare for a larger attack on American forces and American personnel after U.S. forces launched strikes on Iran-backed Iraqi Shia militia forces. Soleimani, who headed the Quds Force, was killed in a drone strike near the Baghdad airport.

It was real-time information that was developed. The leadership in Congress and the House and Senate has seen this intelligence. And, frankly, the most compelling intelligence to support the fact that there was an imminent attack being developed by Qassem Soleimani is, frankly, too sensitive to share broadly. It would compromise sources and methods, Pence remarked.

Soleimanis death came days after the U.S. Embassy and Green Zone in Baghdad were stormed by mobs of supporters of Iran-backed militiasa response to the U.S. bombing of those militias sites.

The U.S. Department of Defense also said Soleimani was preparing imminent attacks.

We knew his history, and importantly, we knew his future, Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a statement. We would have been culpably negligent to the American people had we not made the decision we made, he added.
By Trend

The Azerbaijani State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People disclosed statistical data as of January 1, 2020, related to hostages and those missing and taken prisoners as a result of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including those released, Trend reports on Jan. 8 referring to the State Commission.

So far, the State Commission has registered 3,889 missing people, 3,622 of them are men and 267 - women. Some 3,170 servicemen, 719 civilians (71 children, 326 old people, 267 women) are among those missing.

The number of people taken prisoners and hostages reached 871 people (773 of them are men, 98 - women), including 604 servicemen and 267 civilians (29 children, 98 women, 112 old people). Some 1,480 prisoners of war and hostages were released including 1,123 men and 357 women.

Some 378 servicemen and 1,102 civilians (224 children, 357 women, 225 old people) are among the released people.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
New Delhi :

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Uma Bharti on Thursday launched a scathing attack against Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, accusing them of instilling fear among Muslims over Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Jinnah is no more but Rahul Jinnah & Priyanka Jinnah are there who are disturbing environment & instilling fear among Muslims on CAA, Uma Bharti said.

He further claimed that the father of Congress interim president was a soldier in Mussolini's army. Did anyone of us say that Sonia Gandhi's father was a soldier in Mussolini's army in Italy? she added.

While addressing a meeting Uma Bharti said, Since she (Sonia Gandhi) is our daughter-in-law and married in our country, we respect her from the bottom of our hearts.

Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also accused senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of misleading minorities on the amended Citizenship Act, saying they were lying on the issue.

Addressing a gathering here, Shah held Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal responsible for riots and breach of peace in the national capital over the amended citizenship law.

Also Read: Country Going Through Difficult Times, Must Promote Peace: CJI SA Bobde On CAA Pleas

The country is witnessing Rahul Gandhi support rioters, he said, adding the Congress leader is identifying himself with them.

Shah, who is also the BJP president, said that Delhi bore the brunt of riots for four days during the recent violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). He added that the AAP government and the Congress were responsible for it.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought in the new legislation to give citizenship to minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who have sought refuge in India, but Congress and AAP, especially Rahul and Priyanka, are misleading minorities in the entire country.

They are telling them you will lose your citizenship due to CAA. There is no provision in the amended law that takes away citizenship of people. Why are you lying? Shah said.

He said that the Congress and the AAP misled the youth and people of Delhi and committed the sin of burning the national capital in the fire of riots.

Unashamed, they are still saying they will give legal aid to those behind the riots, go to their houses and take care of them, he added.

Violence at JNU 'reflection of fear' that 'fascists in control of our nation' have: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi expressed shock over the violence at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Sunday night and claimed that it was a reflection of fear that fascists in control of our nation have of the students. The brutal attack on JNU students and teachers by masked thugs, that has left many seriously injured, is shocking. The fascists in control of our nation, are afraid of the voices of our brave students. Todays violence in JNU is a reflection of that fear, he said in a tweet.

Violence broke out at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Sunday night after masked men armed with sticks attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus, prompting the administration to call in police.

At least 18 people were injured and admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). JNU Students Union president Aishe Ghosh suffered a head injury. The Left-controlled JNUSU and the ABVP blamed each other for the violence that continued for nearly two hours.

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Two rockets landed in Baghdads "Green Zone" Wednesday night, likely fired by Iran-backed militia groups.

The rockets exploded in the perimeter of the U.S. Embassy but did not strike the compound. No casualties have been reported, according to Fox News Trey Yingst.

Just before midnight local time, two explosions and warning sirens could be heard throughout Baghdad.

The attacks come amid hostilities between Washington and Tehran, which have left Iraq caught in the crossfire. On Friday, President Trump ordered a drone strike that killed Iranian military Gen. Qassem Soleimani at an airport in Baghdad. The U.S. said Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops and was planning future attacks.

Related: Iran Fully Planned to Kill US Troops In Missile Attacks, Top General Says

"It's important to differentiate for our viewers, though, the difference between the rockets that we saw tonight and the rockets that we saw last night," Yingst said. "There were ballistic missiles fired from Iran, 15 of them, into Iraqi territory."

"The rockets that we saw tonight, they're not missiles, they're fired by militia groups," he noted. "It's a much smaller type of attack, but still an attack none the less that could threaten U.S. forces."

Iran launched 15 ballistic missiles into Iraq early Wednesday local time, aimed at military bases housing U.S. troops. No U.S. casualties resulted from the attack. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the attacks were "proportionate measures in self-defense."

"We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression," Zarif tweeted.

Wednesday's attacks were not directly linked to the Iranian government, but the militia receives direction and funding from the Iranian regime.

"Sometimes you'll see Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, or you'll hear the president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, say that they can or can't control the actions of these militias operating in Iran and Iraq, but the reality on the ground is that most of what happens here is somehow linked to Iran," Yingst said.
A terror suspect who was cleared of a sword attack on police outside Buckingham Palace smiled as he told an undercover officer about his plans to attack a Gay Pride parade with a van, a jury has heard.

Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, 28, allegedly revealed his plans in a conversation with an undercover officer, nicknamed Mikael, in April 2019.

Chowdhury is now standing trial at Woolwich Crown Court, London, for engaging in the preparation of acts of terrorism after his plan was thwarted by three officers who had posed as like-minded extremists to gain his trust.

Mohiussunnath Chowdhury (left, in a court sketch) is accused of preparing acts of terrorism and his sister Sneha Chowdhury (right, outside Woolwich Crown Court on Monday) is accused of failing to disclose information

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC said that the alleged jihadi had told one of the officers that he wanted to carry out an attack against non-Muslim members of the public.

Mr Atkinson said: 'The defendant then told Mikael that he was thinking it was about time they did something and not sit around.

'He told Mikael that the Quran talked about the killing of the disbelievers and that this was what he believed in.'

On one occasion he asked one of the officers to delete a conversation on an app called Telegram where they had spoken about the uses of vans in terror attacks.

Chowdhury had gone into great detail about an ISIS publication discussing the best type of van to use in a terrorist attack and expressed to Mikael his desire to get one, the court heard.

Chowdhury had also allegedly sketched a picture of a man shooting at 10 Downing Street

He was previously said to have expressed a desire to carry out a van attack on either Remembrance Day or, due to the lower security, on the Gay Pride parade.

Mr Atkinson said: 'Mikael asked if he would use [the van] for something like the 'gay thing' they discussed.

'The defendant stated that they would have to research this as much as possible to look at when routes, start and finish times and so on.

'When the defendant spoke about the van attack, there was a level of excitement from him again.

'This was in a raised happier voice, animated and smiling.'

Chowdhury repeatedly spoke to the officers about getting his hands on an AK-47 rifle.

Mikael suggested this was too risky and that they would end up in prison before suggesting they get a BB gun instead.

But Chowdhury allegedly dismissed this.

Mr Atkinson said: 'The defendant disagreed as he stated that he thought about this but he wasn't interested in just dying.

'He wanted to kill as many people before he was killed.

'This comment sent chills down Mikael's spine when he said it seriously.'

A police image of the sword used during the incident outside Buckingham Palace in London

Another photograph of the sword allegedly used in the incident at Buckingham Palace

A recording of the meeting showed how Chowdhury had also used excerpts from the Koran to justify his violent plans.

Chowdhury said: ''Strike their necks until when you have inflicted slaughter upon them and then secure their bonds', meaning take them captive, yeah?

'If you read it further it says 'and if Allah had willed he could have taken vengeance upon them himself but he ordered armed struggle to test some of your by means of others'.

'Do you see that?'

But despite his rhetoric, the court heard that Chowdhury remained 'guarded' around the agents after stating he did not want want to go back to prison.

Jurors heard how he had spoken about how his family had asked him not to put them through this again after his last stint in jail but that he believed God had taken him out of prison for a reason.

Chowdhury said: 'Allah wants us to risk everything.

'At the end of the day everything was given to us from Allah, yeah?'

'When I came back my sister was upset, 'oh brother don't ever do this ever again you put us through this you put us through so much so don't ever did it again'.

'But if I did what was right Allah was pleased with what I did regardless of all the suffering, this is the place for suffering isn't it.'

He repeatedly told officers of his belief that being a 'martyr' meant that he could bring 70 family members with him to paradise, the court heard.

Mr Atkinson said: 'The defendant explained that if he had children, he would bring them up to be martyrs and train them in weapons and combat training.

'He stated that he would teach them the number one thing which would be 'Bara' which means hatred for the disbelievers.'

Chowdhury is said to have taken a firearms training course in preparation for the attack.

It is thought that he later encouraged one of the officers to enroll in the same course.

The hilt of the sword allegedly used outside Buckingham Palace is pictured above

The prosecutor added: 'They talked about the firearms course again and the defendant explained to Mikael, what would stop them from committing the attack at the firearms training course and then going on from there.

'The defendant explained that they could arm themselves at the location.

'Mikael asked Musa if his intentions would be to commit the attack at the firearms training camp so that Mikael could himself get ready if that was the plan and the defendant stated that they would use it to train and to prepare themselves for the future.'

The court was told that Chowdhury had also trained physically including sword training with his sister, Sneha Chowdhury, 25.

She is accused of two charges of failing to notify the authorities of a potential terror attack.

Mr Atkinson added: 'She said her brother had never discussed stabbing anyone with her.

'She had never heard him express any anti-gay sentiments.

'She said her brother was not violent. She said he was 'childish but sweet...''

Chowdhury was also said to have been targeting Gay Pride in London (pictured last July)

The siblings' family home in Luton, Bedfordshire, had been bugged and a series of secret recordings appeared to show Chowdhury telling his sister how to stab someone.

Chowdhury said: 'Grab them yeah. Actually grabbed it at the side... Just do one man look just so you get the motion right, come on.'

Cut marks were later found on a canvas wardrobe in Chowdhury's room which were 'consistent with just such knife training,' according to Mr Atkinson.

A knife and wooden training swords were also later found in a search of his bedroom.

In another recording, Chowdhury told his sister that he was going to quit his job at a chicken shop before adding: 'I'm doing another attack bruv... No I'm serious bro it's about time now.'

Mr Atkinson said: 'Their conversation made all too clear both that he was planning a terrorist attack and that the time of that attack was drawing very close.

'Any ambiguity in Sneha Chowdhury's mind would have been removed by what her brother told her on this occasion, and yet still she failed to act to stop that which she now knew he intended.'

Mr Atkinson went on to suggest that earlier that month Chowdhury had got 'something of a fright' when the police came to the family home in relation to an alleged incident between his parents.

In a recording Chowdhury spoke to his sister and said: 'I was shook man, I thought they came for me.

'I was getting knife out for that bro straight over.'

The court heard that Chowdhury did not recall the police showing up at his home.

Chowdhury was cleared of launching a Samurai sword attack on police outside Buckingham Palace in London (file image)

On August 25 2017, Chowdhury had driven his van into traffic cones outside Buckingham Palace before proceeding to attack officers with a sword.

Two unarmed officers suffered cuts to their hands as they fought to disarm him near the Queen's London residence as the defendant repeatedly shouted 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest).

He was cleared of preparing to commit an act of terrorism by an Old Bailey jury in December 2018 after arguing that his actions were a suicide attempt.

Chowdhury had claimed that he only wanted to get himself killed by brandishing the blade to police officers because he felt lonely and depressed.

But Mr Atkinson said his ease in talking about his extremist interests showed that the 2017 incident had been a 'deliberate and determined terrorist attempt' and it was still his 'guiding force' in 2019.

Both Chowdhury and his sister were arrested in July 2019 while driving.

The court heard a transcript of Chowdhury's messages in the lead up to the Buckingham Palace attack in 2017.

In WhatsApp exchange with a friend, Chowdhury praised the Westminster attacker, saying he 'died for Islam'.

In August he changed his profile pic to what the prosecution say was an ISIS flag.

'It is a flag that will unite this ummah,' he wrote.

Chowdhury proceeded to send videos about ISIS to several people, with a focus on the group's practice of taking sex slaves.

'Why did you send me that,' wrote one friend.

'And what's with your obsession about ISIS and sex slaves.'

Chowdhury replied: 'I don't know why I send you these things man'.

When his friend expressed concerned about him being radicalised, he responded: 'I'm already radicalised bro'.

During a discussion about the US sending troops to Afghanistan, Chowdhury said he 'felt a great war coming'.

When asked by his friend whether he planned to join any Muslim groups in Luton, he replied: 'No, I am not going to join.

'Too many spies and people talk.'

Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, of Kirkwood Road, Luton, denies engaging in the preparation of acts of terrorism, collecting information contrary to section 58 of the Terrorism Act.

Sneha Chowdhury, of the same address, denies two charges of failing to disclose information about terrorism between January 24 and July 3 last year.

It is alleged she had information which she knew or believed might be of material assistance in preventing the commission of an act of terrorism and failed to disclose the information as soon as reasonably practicable to a police officer.

She claims that she does not support violence in the name of Islam and she told the police that the conversations with her brother were light-hearted.

The trial continues.
Indian citizens told to avoid travel to Iraq; Navy on standby for evacuation if needed.

Iranian ambassador to India Ali Chegeni said Iran would welcome any initiative by India aimed at de-escalating tensions between his country and the US. (Representational image)

New Delhi: Hours after Iran attacked bases in Iraq where American troops are stationed, India on Wednesday asked all its nationals to avoid all non-essential travel to Iraq until further notification, even as Iranian ambassador to India Ali Chegeni said Iran would welcome any initiative by India aimed at de-escalating tensions between his country and the United States.

Aviation regulator DGCA on Wednesday asked Indian carriers to remain vigilant and take all precautions in the airspace over Iran, Iraq, Gulf of Oman and the waters of the Persian Gulf. Soon after this, Air India said it was temporarily rerouting its flights and that of its subsidiary Air India Express which use Iranian airspace, a move that may lead to an increase in flying time from 20 to 40 minutes.

In another development, defence sources said the Indian Navy was ready for any emergency pullout of Indians from Iran. The Indian Navy already has one warship in the Gulf of Oman to come to the aid of any Indian merchant ship in the area.

There could be two ways in which Indians can be evacuated. The first is that Indians will be asked to reach an Iranian port and from there, they will be taken to some nearby Gulf country. From that country, Indians can be flown to India or they can go to any other place of their choosing. However, if the Gulf countries refuse to be part of the plan, then the option will be to bring them directly to India, a source adde. The voyage by ship from Iran to India can take one and a half to two days.

Ties between the US and Iran plummeted to dangerous levels after the US assassinated Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, in Baghdad last week, reportedly in a missile strike by an American drone. The

Americans had accused Maj.Gen. Soleimani of plotting terror attacks against them worldwide. A furious Iran had on Sunday vowed to take appropriate retaliatory action against the United States at a suitable time and place.

India usually plays very good role in (maintaining) peace. At the same time India belongs to this region. We welcome all initiatives from all countries, especially India as a good friend for us, to not allow escalation (of tensions), Iranian ambassador to India Ali Chegeni was quoted by news agencies as saying on Wednesday. We are not for war, we are looking for peace and prosperity for everybody in this region. We welcome any Indian initiative or any project that can help peace and prosperity in this world, he added.

In its advisory, New Delhi said: In view of the prevailing situation in Iraq, Indian nationals are advised to avoid all non-essential travel to Iraq until further notification. Indian nationals residing in Iraq are advised to be alert and may avoid travel within Iraq. Our embassy in Baghdad and consulate in Erbil will continue to function normally to provide all services to Indians residing in Iraq.

The DGCA on Wednesday asked all Indian carriers to be vigilant and take all precautions in the airspace over Iran, Iraq, Gulf of Oman and waters of Persian Gulf, hours after a Ukrainian aircraft with 176 people crashed near Tehran. A meeting was called and the airlines were sensitised, a senior DGCA official said.
LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia  This is a burglar with a very relaxed approach.

Gwinnett County Police say a man broke into a Taco Bell early on the morning of Christmas Day and took the time to make himself some food, then caught a nap before leaving the restaurant. Police released a video of the suspect and his actions on Twitter.

On Christmas morning, a man broke into a local fast food restaurant, prepared some food, and eventually took a nap. This occurred at the Taco Bell, 4880 Sugarloaf Parkway, Lawrenceville.



Do you know him? @StopCrimeATL 404-577-8477



Details: https://t.co/MObs5TUmeV pic.twitter.com/CD6YC8Jz0a  Gwinnett County Police (@GwinnettPd) January 8, 2020

The video shows the man, who was wearing headphones, managing to gain entry through the drive-thru window. He apparently knew how to use a fryer and put packages of food inside. Later on he curled up on the floor for a nearly three-hour snooze, according to police.

The suspect did steal a laptop and tablet, police say. He remains at-large.

To comment on this story, visit Wednesdays crime and courts comments page.

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The ruling is a blow for the Illinois Pinnacle, which has grown rapidly since its inaugural Super Bowl appearance. Its exposure in the big game has helped add new clients across the U.S. and increase annual billings from $85 million to more than $200 million last year, said Michael Magnusson, founder and CEO of Pinnacle in Illinois. The company will unveil its seventh consecutive Super Bowl ad campaign in February, again creating a 30-second commercial for WeatherTech.
The Justice Department seal is seen on the lectern during a Hate Crimes Subcommittee summit in Washington, on June 29, 2017. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Deadline for Ratifying Equal Rights Amendment Has Expired: DOJs Office of Legal Counsel

The Justice Department (DOJ) issued a legal opinion this week arguing that the deadline to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution had already expired despite recent efforts to revive the proposed amendment.

We conclude that Congress had the constitutional authority to impose a deadline on the ratification of the ERA and, because that deadline has expired, the ERA Resolution is no longer pending before the States, a memo (pdf) dated Jan. 6 from the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) stated.

The ERA seeks to ban discrimination on the basis of sex, with supporters seeing it as a critical provision to protect womens rights under the Constitution. The amendment was first proposed in Congress in 1923 and was passed in 1972, where it then went to the states for ratification, according to the Alice Paul Institute. Congress gave the states a seven-year deadline, which was then extended until 1982, but only 35 states had ratified the amendment falling short of the necessary 38 state ratifications, or three-quarters of the 50 states, as required by the Constitution.

A new push by advocates to pass the proposal in recent years prompted Nevada and Illinois to ratify the amendment in 2017 and 2018, respectively. The House Judiciary Committee tried to revive the movement, voting last year to remove the deadline for the ERA.

Meanwhile, five statesNebraska, Tennessee, Idaho, Kentucky, and South Dakotavoted to either rescind or withdraw their ratification of the ERA. But it is unclear whether states can legally rescind their ratification as the Constitution is silent on the issue.

The Commonwealth of Virginia is poised to become the 38th state to ratify the proposal. The states Democratic Governor, Ralph Northam, said at a news conference on Tuesday that passing the ERA is one of their priorities.

We will support womens rights by passing the Equal Rights Amendment, and we will overturn laws that restrict womens rights to decide their own healthcare, he said.

However, the DOJ suggested that any attempt to adopt the ERA may be too late, saying that the initial deadline was enforceable and that Congress may not revive it after the deadline has expired.

The OLC added that if Americans wish to adopt the amendment into the Constitution, Congress should restart the process as stipulated under Article V of the Constitution.

Accordingly, should Congress now deem [the ERA] necessary, U.S. Const. art. V, the only constitutional path for amendment would be for two-thirds of both Houses (or a convention sought by two-thirds of the state legislatures) to propose the amendment once more and restart the ratification process among the States, consistent with Article V of the Constitution, the OLC opinion stated.

The text of the ERA reads:

Section 1: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

Section 2: The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3: This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
The City of Helena suspended its culling of urban deer this fall and winter due to budget cuts, but officials say it will need to resume in the future.

On Monday the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission advanced for public comment the citys biannual authorization to cull deer within the city limits. While the city captures and removes the deer, it does so under the authority of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and the commission. The commission sets a quota range of up to 250 designed to maintain the population at desired levels, and the city determines the exact number to cull each year within that range.

The city began culling deer in 2008 by trapping them in pens, dispatching and then providing the venison to Helena Food Share. This is the first fall and winter the city has not culled since then.

At Mondays meeting officials with FWP recommended the city be allowed to continue culling deer, but also noted that the city had cut the program this fall and winter due to budget cuts.

Helena Police Chief Steve Hagen said in an interview that the decision to cut the program was made by former Chief Troy McGee when the department was ordered to make more than $470,000 in cuts. He was quick to note that the city plans to survey the deer population this fall, which is required by FWP in order to cull, to determine if it will resume the program.

Before we started this there were lots of deer getting hit  and that has been significantly reduced so it has been a very successful program, Hagen said. The plan is to do a deer count this fall and evaluate whether its a good use of city resources. It will definitely have to continue in the future at some point.

The Helena Police Department responds to urban wildlife complaints but has not budgeted for deer removal for the next biennium, Hagen said. The program typically costs the city about $30,000 annually.

Culling Helenas urban deer was highly controversial when first proposed and adopted, but both officials with the city and the state believe it has been successful in reducing conflicts. Before the cull began in 2008, a burgeoning deer population caused an uptick in complaints of damage to landscaping and calls for collisions with vehicles. The city also saw some complaints of aggressive deer with little natural fear of people or dogs, particularly during the late-fall rut or spring when fawns were born.

I have to use the word success, Quentin Kujala, wildlife management section chief, told the commission. The city to its credit sat down and built the plan, and it is a plan not of extirpation but to tolerable densities.

As deer-related incidents increased in the mid-2000s, city officials, members of the public and wildlife specialists convened a task force and wrote the urban deer management plan. The plan called for reducing densities from 33 to 25 deer per square mile. Without culling the estimated population of 700 deer in 2008 would exceed 1,800 by 2010.

The city has typically culled about 100 deer per year, Hagen said, and populations have remained relatively steady. Last fall and winter was a down year for the cull with only about 50 deer removed.

Its extremely weather dependent, he said. When you have a warm December and January they dont need to feed as much and theyre not lacking for food when the weather is good. You need some cold and snow.

Both Hagen and Kujala said they have not seen a noticeable uptick in deer-related complaints this year. Kujala believes that because populations were reduced close to desired levels there will be a period when deer will likely not be seen as a nuisance. He agreed with Hagen that conflicts will likely rise again with populations if not kept in check.

If culling does resume, FWP would like to see some sort of testing program for Chronic Wasting Disease. Testing is not mandated within the proposal released for public comment by the commission Monday, but Kujala feels it will be necessary going forward.

Some testing to be done makes sense, especially when animals are harvested at this concentration and we have staff in this proximity to collect samples, Kujala said. Weve got to have those conversations and make those adjustments, to the urban deer plan.

Reporter Tom Kuglin can be reached at 447-4076 @IR_TomKuglin

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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin does not want the Secret Service to reveal how much money has been spent protecting President Trump and his adult children on their travels until after the November election, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.

When the Department of Homeland Security was created in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Secret Service was transferred over from the Treasury Department. Mnuchin wants the agency returned to his department, and legislation is being drafted to make this happen. Democrats want the bill to include a requirement that the Secret Service publicly disclose how much is spent on protecting the Trumps while traveling, with the information released within 120 days of its passage.

Mnuchin has agreed to everything except the time line, the Post reports, writing last month in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he doesn't think the information should be released until this December at the earliest. While it's unknown just how much taxpayer money has been spent on the Trumps while traveling, they routinely visit his resorts in Florida and New Jersey. The Government Accountability Office estimated that Trump's four visits to his Mar-a-Lago club in February and March 2017 cost taxpayers $13.6 million. Read more at The Washington Post.

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A Lebanese prosecutor imposed a travel ban on former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn on January 9, a judicial source said, after he was summoned over an Interpol warrant issued by Japan seeking his arrest on financial misconduct charges.

Ghosn, 65, fled Japan to Lebanon, his childhood home, last month as he was awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies.

The decision issued by the prosecutor, Judge Ghassan Ouiedat, also requires Ghosn to keep the authorities informed of his place of residence, the source said. Ghosn's questioning took place at Beirut's Justice Palace, the headquarters of the judiciary.

There was no immediate comment from the prosecutor's office and Ghosn's lawyer in Lebanon could not immediately be reached.

The Brazilian-born Ghosn said during a news conference in Beirut on Wednesday he had escaped to Lebanon to clear his name and was ready to stand trial anywhere he could get a fair hearing.

Ghosn said he was ready to stay for a long time in Lebanon, which does not allow the extradition of its nationals, and a source close to the 65-year-old has said his legal team is pushing for him to be tried in the country.

In addition to the Interpol warrant, Ghosn is being questioned over a formal legal complaint filed against him by a group of Lebanese lawyers who accuse him of "normalisation" with Israel over a visit he made there in 2008.

Ghosn said on Wednesday he had made the trip as a French citizen and an executive of Renault to sign a contract with a state-backed Israeli firm to sell electric vehicles, and had been obliged to go because the board had requested it.

He said apologised for the trip and said he had not meant to hurt the people of Lebanon, which deems Israel an enemy state.

During the visit, Ghosn met Israel's former prime minister Ehud Olmert, who was premier at the time of the 2006 war between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Nearly 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, died in the 2006 war and 158 people died in Israel, mostly soldiers.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy lays flowers at a memorial for the flight crew members of the Ukrainian 737-800 plane that crashed on the outskirts of Tehran, at Borispil international airport outside in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP

Tehran: The crew of a Ukrainian jetliner that crashed in Iran, killing 176 people, never made a radio call for help and were trying to turn back to the airport when their burning plane went down, an initial Iranian report said Thursday. Ukraine, meanwhile, said it considered a missile strike or terrorism as possible theories for the crash, despite Irans denials.

The Iranian report suggests a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines early Wednesday morning, when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

Investigators from Irans Civil Aviation Organization offered no immediate explanation for the disaster, however. Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, something initially backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldnt speculate amid an ongoing investigation. The aircraft had been subjected to scheduled maintenance just three days earlier.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over it killing an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general in a drone strike last week.

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6:12 a.m. Wednesday, after nearly an hours delay at Tehrans Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travelers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.

Then something went wrong, though no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations, the report said. In emergencies, pilots typically immediately contact air-traffic controllers.

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above it, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing at 6:18 a.m., the report said.

The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

The report also confirmed that both of the so-called black boxes that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost. It also said that investigators have initially ruled out laser or electromagnetic interference as causing the crash.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraines Security Council, told Ukrainian media that officials had several working theories regarding the crash, including a missile strike.

A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash, Danilov said. He did not elaborate on where he saw the information on the internet.

Ukrainian investigators that arrived in Iran earlier on Thursday currently await permission from Iranian authorities to examine the crash site and look for missile fragments, Danilov said.

The Tor is a Russian-made missile system. Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1s to Iran in 2007 as part of a $700 million contract signed in December 2005. Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades as well.

Iran did not immediately respond to the Ukrainian comments. However, Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, denied a missile hit the airplane in a comments reported Wednesday by the semiofficial Fars news agency. He dismissed the allegation as psychological warfare by foreign-based Iranian opposition groups.

Danilov also said other possible causes under consideration included a drone or another flying object crashing into the plane, a terrorist attack or an engine malfunction causing an explosion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he planned to call Iranian president Hassan Rouhani about the crash and the investigation.

The crash ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. Ukrainian officials, for their part, initially agreed with Iranian suspicions that the 3-year-old plane was brought down by mechanical trouble but later backed away from that and declined to offer a cause while the investigation is going on.
The establishment of critical habitat areas running from western Alaska to southern California is a prime example of federal agency overkill and overreach.

We don't see a logical pathway whereby NOAA's proposed rule will bring numbers of the three distinct population segments (DPS) of humpbacks back to historic levels.

Unanswered by NOAA officials is an explanation of why the Hawaiian population is thriving as seen by population counts in both Alaska and Hawaii, and the three segments of the population they seek to help, are not?

On Monday night, NOAA openly stated they don't think the prob...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Two people sought in a Kodiak assault inside a home have been arrested in Anchorage, Alaska State Troopers announced.

Anchorage police on Wednesday afternoon arrested Benjamin Bodi, 37, and Summer Suydam, 39, of Kodiak

A judge issued warrants for the arrests of Bodi and Suydam after an assault inside a Kodiak mans home by two masked intruders.

The victim and another person arrived at the mans home shortly before 4 p.m. Dec. 31 and saw that the door had been pried open, troopers said. The man entered and was struck with the butt of a rifle by one of the intruders.

A struggle over the rifle ensued. The rifle fired and the two people in masks fled, troopers said.

Trooper investigators identified Bodi and Suydam as the suspects and learned they had left Kodiak by ferry Jan. 1.

Bodi is charged with attempted murder, robbery, assault and burglary. Suydam is charged with robbery, assault, burglary and violating conditions of released.

Bodi and Suydam are jailed in Anchorage. Online court documents do not list their attorneys.
Debris of a plane belonging to Ukraine International Airlines, that crashed after taking off from Iran's Imam Khomeini airport, is seen on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran January 8, 2020.

Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

US officials believe that Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was likely shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, according to multiple reports on Thursday.

US officials told The Associated Press that it was "highly likely" that Iran was responsible.

Defense officials told Newsweek and others that the plane was probably shot down by accident, as Iran's surface-to-air missile systems were likely active at the time of the crash early Wednesday.

The plane went down shortly after Iran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at US and coalition forces in Iraq in response to a US drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

US officials believe Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was hit by fire from a Soviet-built surface-to-air missile system operated by Iranian forces, according to multiple reports.

The plane crashed outside the Iranian capital of Tehran early Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board, shortly after Iranian forces launched a barrage of missiles at US and coalition forces in Iraq in response to a US drone strike that killed a top Iranian general  Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, former head of the IRGC Quds Force.

US officials told Newsweek, Reuters, and other outlets that the incident was likely an accident, as anti-aircraft systems were likely active at the time of the crash.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the reports.

CBS News reported that US officials were confident that Iran shot down Flight 752.

Sources told the outlet that US intelligence detected anti-aircraft radars turning on before the crash and that satellites detected two infrared blips, thought to be SA-15 missiles, that were quickly followed by another blip, the suspected aircraft explosion.

CNN confirmed CBS and Newsweek's reporting, and US officials told The Associated Press that it was "highly likely" that the aircraft was downed by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile.

Story continues

The downed aircraft was made by Boeing, which saw its stock surge as much as 3% on Thursday on the news that it might have been struck by an Iranian missile. There had previously been speculation that a technical issue caused the crash.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he did not believe that the passenger jet went down as a result of a mechanical error, according to CNBC.

"It was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood," the president said. "Someone could have made a mistake." Trump added: "I have a feeling that  it's just some very terrible, something very terrible happened, very devastating."

Citing a US official, ABC News reported that US intelligence was confident that Iran "painted the Ukrainian airliner with radar and fired two surface-to-air missiles that brought down the aircraft."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday afternoon that Canada also had intelligence and evidence from multiple sources indicating "that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile."

He added that "this may well have been unintentional" and expressed a desire for a full investigation.

Oleksiy Danylov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, wrote on Facebook earlier Thursday that Ukrainian investigators were considering several possibilities, including the plane being shot down, an engine explosion due to a technical malfunction, a terrorist attack on the flight, or even a collision with an unmanned aerial vehicle.

Images appearing to show Tor missile fragments, said to have been found outside Tehran, have been circulating on social media. A video making the rounds appears to show the moment a missile struck the Ukrainian aircraft.

Iran has denied responsibility, with Iranian media, citing state officials, arguing that the missile theory is "scientifically impossible" and "illogical" because several domestic and foreign flights were in Iran at the same altitude of 8,000 feet.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The retirement of Dubliner Willie Walsh from the IAG airline conglomerate he created will likely have little effect on the growth plans at Aer Lingus any time soon.

Mr Walsh said he will retire this summer from running the group of airlines, which includes British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Vueling.

He will be succeeded by the current boss at Iberia, Spaniard Luis Gallego.

A former pilot, Mr Walsh went on to run Aer Lingus before leaving to become chief executive at British Airways. He subsequently engineered the merger of the British flag carrier with Spains national champion Iberia, under the IAG banner.

The coming together of national carriers was not a new idea: The French and Dutch governments had allowed the once unlikely combination of Air France and KLM to go ahead but Mr Walshs IAG still met with much scepticism at the time.

Allowing BA, Iberia and then the Vueling brands to maintain their identities and giving the airlines some level of independence nonetheless became a remarkably successful strategy under Mr Walsh.

The perceived success of the BA and Iberia pairing helped bolster Mr Walshs case when he wooed the Government and then transport minister Paschal Donohoe to let IAG buy out Aer Lingus almost five years ago

There were many concerns that the Walsh-led IAG had its eyes set on grabbing the 24 or so paired slots that Aer Lingus owned from Dublin, Belfast, Cork, and Shannon into crowded Heathrow.

The trade unions were also among some of the fiercest critics, initially arguing that Cork and Shannon airports would lose out as IAG developed its international services out of its Dublin hub, at the expense of the other Irish airports. Academic experts also questioned whether the takeover was in the long-term interests of business and tourism across Ireland.

Mr Walsh won the argument. He succeeded in persuading the Government not to use its 25% stake in Aer Lingus to block IAG, which valued the stockmarket-listed Irish airline at almost 1.4bn. The sale also freed the Government of the over 29% shareholding Michael OLearys Ryanair had built up in Aer Lingus.

Mark Simpson, a senior analyst at Goodbody, said the takeover allowed Aer Lingus to plan new aircraft purchases and develop new transatlantic routes.

Under Mr Gallego, there were no concerns that the growth strategy set down by Mr Walsh for Aer Lingus will change, Mr Simpson said. Creating IAG and improving the financial performance of the constituent airlines will be Mr Walshs legacy, the analyst said.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is endorsing Joe Biden for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, giving the former vice-president another high-profile supporter as he tries to demonstrate a wide base of support across the party.

Garcettis decision comes Iess than a month before voting begins with the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses and less than two months before the California primary. The Biden campaign confirmed Garcettis decision, which was first reported by The New York Times.

The mayor could be an important surrogate for Biden in California. That state has more than 400 delegates at stake on March 3. Thats about 20% of the 2,000 or so that will be necessary to win the nomination. Garcetti also has previously travelled the country in his own right, proving a popular speaker and fundraiser for state and local Democratic organizations.

With his decision to back Biden, Garcetti spurns two former mayors in the field, Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, and Michael Bloomberg of New York City. Garcetti has called Buttigieg one of his close friends. Buttigieg has raised considerable sums from California donors, including some in Garcettis political network.

The timing is a blow for Buttigieg, who heads to Los Angeles on Friday. Instead of enjoying the citys ample media spotlight on his own terms, hell arrive as a popular mayor opts to back the 77-year-old former vice-president whom Buttigieg wants to displace as the choice for more moderate, establishment Democrats.

Garcettis endorsement of Biden, who has spent four decades in national politics, demonstrates his style as an able establishment player. It is, however, somewhat at odds with the arguments he made in late 2017 when he was openly flirting with his own national campaign. In interviews and speeches, he often framed Washington as hopelessly partisan and mired in gridlock and instead pointed to the nations cities and their mayors as models for solving problems and helping voters.

Garcetti and Bidens relationship goes back years. Garcetti was an early supporter of the presidential bid of Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as vice-president.

In 2014, Biden praised a Garcetti proposal for boosting the citys minimum wage and attended a roundtable with him in the city. At a 2018 event sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, Biden called Garcetti a great guy who has real character and understands what the future looks like.

Theyve also eaten together, munching tacos near downtown Los Angeles last year.

Garcettis political website features a photo of him shaking hands with Biden above the caption Thank you, Joe Biden, along with a letter thanking him for his service as vice-president.

___

Barrow reported from Atlanta.

___

Catch up on the 2020 election campaign with AP experts on our weekly politics podcast, Ground Game.
OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Albanias Prime Minister and Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Edi Rama, will make his first visit to Ukraine in the coming weeks.

"The SMM and Ukraine will be the destination of my first visit, in the coming weeks, as OSCE Chairperson-in-Office," he said, while presenting Albanias 2020 priorities to the OSCE Permanent Council on Thursday.

Edi Rama stressed that "the crisis in and around Ukraine remains the most pressing security challenge in Europe."

According to him, the role of the OSCE SMM in achieving peace, stability and security in Donbas is essential, and the road to long-standing peace remains long.

"The Albanian Chairmanship will do its part to encourage respect for the OSCE principles and commitments and the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements, supporting the efforts of the Trilateral Contact Group and the process of the Normandy Format," the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office said.

ish
She's made no secret of her plastic surgeries, and on Thursday's episode of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! Charlotte Crosby said she is 'so happy' with the results.

The 29-year-old former Geordie Shore star opened up about her multiple procedures during a candid conversation with co-star Rhonda Burchmore.

'You shouldn't get anything stupid done to yourself when you don't need it, but if you have got something that makes you lack in confidence massively, go and bloody change it!' Charlotte told the 59-year-old entertainer.

Loving her look: She's made no secret of her plastic surgeries, and on Thursday's episode of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! Charlotte Crosby said she is 'so happy' with the results

She added: 'You have got one life, don't live it in misery and unhappiness.'

The English reality star said she was born with a rare medical condition known as congenital symmastia, which refers to when breasts grow together.

'I didn't have a cleavage and I wanted to wear the [low-cut] tops and there was a correction on the middle of the boob, so I went to a consultation,' she explained.

Real talk: The 29-year-old former Geordie Shore star opened up about her multiple procedures during a candid conversation with co-star Rhonda Burchmore (far left)

Revealing all: The outrageous reality star said she was born with a rare medical condition known as congenital symmastia, which refers to when breasts grow together

Charlotte said she had given 'no thought to implants' before her consultation, but her surgeon suggested it and she simply went along with it.

She revealed she had since had her implants removed, before then opening up about her nose job.

'My nose had a bump, a big hump in it,' she began, confessing she considered waiting for a few years, before getting it done.

Busting out: Charlotte said she had given 'no thought to implants' before her consultation, but her surgeon suggested it and she simply went along with it

'After five years I thought, no, I got to go for it, and it was the best thing I did. So glad,' she said of her nose job. Pictured in London in July 2011

'After five years I thought, no, I got to go for it, and it was the best thing I did. So glad,' she added.

She told Rhonda she was now 'happy, so happy', after undergoing a variety of procedures, including Botox and lip fillers.

And her candour clearly impressed Rhonda, who branded her 'sensational', after confessing she didn't know who Charlotte was before meeting her on the show.
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - A man has been granted bail by a magistrate's court in the Eastern Kenya town of Kangundo after denying a charge of having sex with his pet dog and strangling the animal to death, the Standard newspaper reported on Thursday
White evangelicals disagree with most Americans on religions influence on gov't policies: poll

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White evangelical Protestants hold views that are different from most other Americans when it comes to how much influence religion should have on government policies, according to a new poll that also shows white evangelicals are more supportive of the Trump administration's policies than other Christians and non-Christian groups.

The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago released a survey this month that found white evangelical Protestants believe religion should have more influence on government policies than it currently does, while most other Americans believe religion should have less influence on public policy than it already has.

The survey includes responses from 1,053 adults polled between Dec. 5 and Dec. 9, 2019. The data carries a margin of error of 4.0 percentage points.

Eighty percent of white evangelicals surveyed said religion should have a lot or some influence when it comes to policies on abortion.

However, only 41 percent of all other Americans who took part in the survey agreed that religion should have at least some influence on abortion policy.

When asked whether religion has "a lot" or "some" influence on abortion policy in the U.S., non-evangelical Americans were more likely than white evangelicals (79 percent to 67 percent) to agree that religion already has an influence on abortion policies.

When it comes to LGBT policies, 62 percent of white evangelicals said religion should have a lot or some influence. Meanwhile, only 30 percent of other Americans said religion should have an influence on LGBT issues.

White evangelical Protestants, who make up 14 percent of the population, are less likely than other groups to think religion has much influence on some government policies, particularly abortion and LGBT issues, an issue brief reads. However, they say that religion should have a greater influence over government policies than it currently does. In contrast, other Americans think religion should have less sway over many government policies.

Although conservative white evangelicals are often criticized by the mainstream media for their views on abortion, same-sex marriage, sexuality, and the trans movement, the survey shows that white evangelicals also believe religion should carry a lot or some influence on other areas of public policy as well.

As for policies related to poverty, 76 percent of white evangelicals said religion should have a lot or some influence while only 48 percent of other Americans agreed. Sixty percent of white evangelicals said religion should have a lot or some influence on immigration policies. Thirty-two percent of other Americans said the same.

Sixty-nine percent of white evangelicals said religion should have a lot or some influence in education policy. Only 37 percent of other Americans agreed.

The only two categories where less than half of white evangelicals said religion should have a lot or some influence were gun policy and climate change.

Catholics and non-evangelical Protestants are also more likely than other Americans to believe that religion should have more influence on government policies. However, the survey shows that white evangelical Protestants hold more conservative views.

Sixty-seven percent of white evangelicals surveyed said they support making abortion illegal except for in the cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the woman. Only 37 percent of other Americans, 36 percent of other Protestants, and 45 percent of Catholics said the same.

Thirty-three percent of white evangelicals said they favor a policy to prohibit discrimination against the LGBT community. By comparison, 60 percent of other Protestants and 58 percent of Catholics favored such a policy.

White evangelicals were less likely than other Americans to say they favor regulating carbon dioxide emissions, increasing taxes on wealthy Americans, reducing U.S. military intervention overseas and increasing assistance for poor Americans. White evangelicals were also less likely to support a policy banning semi-automatic weapons.

White evangelicals (29 percent) were more likely than other Americans (17 percent) to favor separating children from their parents at the border. Fifty-four percent of white evangelicals said they oppose separating families at the border and 69 percent of other Americans said the same.

Heading into the 2020 election year, 79 percent of white evangelicals surveyed said they approve of the presidents job performance, indicating the religious demographic will continue to support Trump in heavy numbers.

Conservative Christians have favored the Trump administrations actions on domestic and international issues relating to abortion, religious freedom and criminal justice reform as well as his appointment of conservative federal judges and two Supreme Court justices.

White evangelical Protestants are President Trumps strongest supporters, the issue brief states.

Only 20 percent of white evangelicals said they disapprove of Trumps job performance. Some evangelicals have voiced concern with Trump's behavior and his administration's policies on refugees and immigration.

Trump touted his administration's record on abortion and religious freedom at a Miami megachurch last Friday  a launch event for the "Evangelicals for Trump" coalition.

I dont think evangelicals are united on every position the president takes or says, but they do recognize he is the most pro-life-friendly president in modern history, evangelical leader Franklin Graham told The Associated Press. He has appointed conservative judges that will affect my children and grandchildrens lives, long after hes gone.

About 34 percent of other Protestants and 45 percent of Catholics said they approved of Trumps job performance and 66 percent of other Protestants and 55 percent of Catholics said they disapproved.

Additionally, 35 percent of respondents of other religions said they approved of Trumps job performance and 65 percent said they disapproved.

Three-quarters of people with no religion said they disapproved of Trumps job performance.
London: Britain's royal family has been hit by its biggest rupture since the abdication earthquake of 1936 but the fault lines have been in full public view for months.

The bombshell decision by Prince Harry and Meghan to walk away from the House of Windsor is hugely damaging for the monarchy and carries big risks for the reputations of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

The Duchess of Sussex risks becoming an unpopular figure among the British public. Credit:PA

The split has been a long time coming - Harry was even dropping hints in Africa last year when he used a tell-all television interview to vow to "always protect my family, now I have a family to protect".

It wasn't just a threat - it was a promise the sixth in line to the throne has just delivered on. While the couple's statement spoke of "stepping back" from duties, the reality is they have had enough of their family and the press and have called it quits to move to Canada.
Brad Pitt is off to an impressive start this award show season, but the actor used his latest acceptance speech to thank friend and fellow Brad, actor Bradley Cooper.

The 56-year-old actor was in New York City on Wednesday night, where he added the National Board of Reviews award for Best Supporting Actor to his weekend win at the Golden Globes (also for his role as Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood).

Presenting Pitt with his award was Cooper, who Pitt shared had just arrived after putting his daughter to sleep (the 45-year-old shares two-year-old daughter Lea de Seine with model Irina Shayk).

Getty Images

After thanking Cooper, who rushed over to do this, Pitt revealed that he also had the Oscar-nominated actor to thank for helping him get sober.

I got sober because of this guy, and every day has been happier ever since, Pitt said of Cooper, adding, I love you, and I thank you.

In 2019, Pitt told The New York Times that he spent a year and a half attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings following his 2016 divorce from actress Angelina Jolie. I had taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privileges, he said of his decision.

Cooper has opened up about his own journey to sobriety in the past, sharing that he stopped drinking in his late twenties during a 2015 interview for ABC News. I would never be sitting here with you, he told host Barbara Walters.

I wouldnt have been able to have access to myself or other people - or even been able to take in other people - if I hadnt changed my life. I never would have been able to have relationships that I do, he explained.

Getty Images

After his more serious start, Pitt was back to his usual humor, earning laughter from the audience when he joked about BFF George Clooney and needing to Google the National Board of Review.
Iran said on Wednesday it respects Iraqas territorial integrity, after firing missiles at Iraqi bases housing US troops. (Photo Credit: File Photo)

New Delhi:

Iran said on Wednesday it respects Iraqs territorial integrity, after firing missiles at Iraqi bases housing US troops. In a letter to the United Nations Security Council and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Irans ambassador to the UN, Majid Takht Ravanchi, said his country has full respect for the independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the Republic of Iraq. There were no American or Iraqi military casualties in the strikes.

The operation was precise and targeted military objectives thus leaving no collateral damage to civilians and civilian assets in the area, the diplomat said in a letter released by the Iranian mission.

Iran recalls its dedication to the maintenance of international peace and security and stresses that it does not seek escalation or war, he said.

Tehran launched ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing American and other coalition forces in retaliation for the US killing top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.

Qasem Soleimani, the popular head of the Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations arm, was killed in a US drone strike outside Baghdad airport on Friday, ratcheting up tensions between the arch-foes.

On Wednesday, President Trump offering to embrace peace with the Iranian leadership, in a significant move to de-escalate spiralling tensions in the Middle East.

In a direct message to the Iranian leaders and the people, Trump said the United States was ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.

To the people and leaders of Iran, we want you to have a future and a great future, one that you deserve, the president said.

Trump said Iran appeared to be standing down, which was a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.

For far too long, all the way back to 1979 to be exact, nations have tolerated Irans destructive and destabilising behaviour in the Middle East and beyond. Those days are over, he said, adding that peace and stability cannot prevail in the Middle East as long as Iran continues to foment terrorism.

Trump also asked NATO to become much more involved in the Middle East process.

He vowed that he will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

As long as Im President of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, Trump said.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
The Maharashtra government would consider an investigation into the alleged suspicious death of special CBI judge BH Loya in 2014 if it gets any complaint with substantial evidence, a minister said on Wednesday

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government would consider an investigation into the alleged suspicious death of special CBI judge BH Loya in 2014 if it gets any complaint with substantial evidence, a minister said on Wednesday.

Loya, who was hearing the high-profile Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case of Gujarat, had died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on 1 December 1, 2014, when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague's daughter. NCP spokesperson and state minister Nawab Malik spoke about the Loya death case which had reached the Supreme Court after a party meeting.

Speaking to reporters after the NCP held a three-hour-long meeting of its ministers in the Shiv Sena-led government, Malik said, The government will consider

reopening of judge BH Loyas suspicious case if any complaint is received with substantial evidence."

The meeting was presided over by NCP chief Sharad Pawar. If the complaint contains some substance, then only investigation will be done. There will be no inquiry in the

matter without any reason, he said.

After the Sena-Congress-NCP government was formed in Maharashtra last year, Pawar was asked whether there will be any probe into the alleged suspicious death of Loya, Malik said.

Pawar had made it very clear that investigation into the case of judge Loya was possible. The state home minister (Anil Deshmukh) had also indicated so, he said.

The Supreme Court had held that Loya had died of "natural causes" on December 1, 2014, and had rejected PILs seeking an SIT probe into the death, questioning their motive. The apex court had held that petitions were moved by political rivals to settle scores which was a serious attempt to scandalise the judiciary and obstruct the course of justice through a "frontal attack" on its independence.
This article is for investors who would like to improve their understanding of price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). To keep it practical, we'll show how Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank Co., Ltd.'s (HKG:3618) P/E ratio could help you assess the value on offer. Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank has a P/E ratio of 3.55, based on the last twelve months. That corresponds to an earnings yield of approximately 28.2%.

View our latest analysis for Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank

How Do You Calculate Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank's P/E Ratio?

The formula for P/E is:

Price to Earnings Ratio = Price per Share (in the reporting currency)  Earnings per Share (EPS)

Or for Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank:

P/E of 3.55 = HK$3.54 (Note: this is the share price in the reporting currency, namely, CNY )  HK$1.00 (Based on the year to June 2019.)

Is A High Price-to-Earnings Ratio Good?

A higher P/E ratio implies that investors pay a higher price for the earning power of the business. That isn't necessarily good or bad, but a high P/E implies relatively high expectations of what a company can achieve in the future.

How Does Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank's P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?

We can get an indication of market expectations by looking at the P/E ratio. The image below shows that Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank has a lower P/E than the average (6.0) P/E for companies in the banks industry.

SEHK:3618 Price Estimation Relative to Market, January 9th 2020

Its relatively low P/E ratio indicates that Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank shareholders think it will struggle to do as well as other companies in its industry classification. Many investors like to buy stocks when the market is pessimistic about their prospects. You should delve deeper. I like to check if company insiders have been buying or selling.

How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios

P/E ratios primarily reflect market expectations around earnings growth rates. Earnings growth means that in the future the 'E' will be higher. Therefore, even if you pay a high multiple of earnings now, that multiple will become lower in the future. A lower P/E should indicate the stock is cheap relative to others -- and that may attract buyers.

Story continues

Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank saw earnings per share improve by -7.0% last year. And its annual EPS growth rate over 5 years is 7.8%.

Remember: P/E Ratios Don't Consider The Balance Sheet

It's important to note that the P/E ratio considers the market capitalization, not the enterprise value. So it won't reflect the advantage of cash, or disadvantage of debt. Hypothetically, a company could reduce its future P/E ratio by spending its cash (or taking on debt) to achieve higher earnings.

Spending on growth might be good or bad a few years later, but the point is that the P/E ratio does not account for the option (or lack thereof).

How Does Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank's Debt Impact Its P/E Ratio?

Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank has net debt worth just 4.4% of its market capitalization. It would probably trade on a higher P/E ratio if it had a lot of cash, but I doubt it is having a big impact.

The Verdict On Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank's P/E Ratio

Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank's P/E is 3.5 which is below average (10.5) in the HK market. EPS grew over the last twelve months, and debt levels are quite reasonable. If growth is sustainable over the long term, then the current P/E ratio may be a sign of good value.

Investors should be looking to buy stocks that the market is wrong about. If the reality for a company is not as bad as the P/E ratio indicates, then the share price should increase as the market realizes this. So this free visual report on analyst forecasts could hold the key to an excellent investment decision.

But note: Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a P/E ratio below 20).

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.



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. Thank you for reading.
Facebook says it will continue to run political adverts and has no plans to fact check their content - despite Google and Twitter already banning them.

The social networking giant will instead 'improve transparency' by making it easier for users to chose to see 'fewer' political and social adverts on its platform.

Ahead of the UK general election in 2019, Twitter and TikTok banned political ads, while Google banned advertisers from targeting voters based on their politics.

Rob Leathern, Facebook's director of product management, said the firm was 'not deaf' to the criticism but felt banning or restricting ads wasn't the solution.

Facebook does not fact-check political ads and says it has no plans to do so. The company says it will give users the ability to control how many political ads they see

He said they had considered a similar approach to Google but decided to continue to allow advertisers to target political affiliations.

'We think people should be able to see what politicians have to say,' Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in defending the policy.

'I don't think it's right for tech companies to censor politicians in a democracy.'

The company met with a range of organisations to discuss options, including non-profits, government organisations and political groups including parties.

'In the absence of regulation, Facebook and other companies are left to design their own policies,' Mr Leathern said.

'We have based ours on the principle that people should be able to hear from those who wish to lead them, warts and all, and that what they say should be scrutinised and debated in public.'

Expanded transparency features will be available from the first quarter of 2020 in countries where 'paid for by' disclaimers are placed on political ads.

Meanwhile, political ad controls will be rolled out from early summer in the US, before eventually expanding to more locations, Facebook confirmed.

'We think people should be able to see what politicians have to say,' Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in defending the policy

Facebook has been criticised over its content policies by politicians from the right, left and centre.

Democrats have blasted the company for refusing to fact-check political advertisements, while Republicans have accused it of discriminating against conservative views - a charge that it has denied.

The company has also been heavily criticised and fined for the part it played in the 2016 US presidential election and the harvesting of user data from the network by Cambridge Analytica.

Facebook agreed to pay a fine of 500,000 following an investigation into its misuse of personal data in political campaigns in October 2018.

While the company isn't banning political adverts, it says it is taking measures to attempt to reduce fake content.

Facebook says it is cracking down on deepfake videos in the lead-up to the 2020 US presidential election, in an attempt to curb the spread of misinformation.

Videos will also be banned if they are made by AI or machine learning that 'merges, replaces or superimposes content on to a video, making it appear to be authentic'.
LONDON, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- AMO Pharma Limited ("AMO Pharma"), a privately held biopharmaceutical company focusing on rare, childhood-onset neurogenetic disorders with limited or no treatment options, today announced the initiation of patient enrollment in the company's planned pivotal clinical trial for AMO-02 in the treatment of congenital myotonic dystrophy. This follows completion of discussions on the design and outcomes measures of the trial with regulators and AMO Pharma's successful execution of a $35m financing with new investors.

AMO Pharma's Chair, Ibraheem Mahmood said, "We are delighted to announce our new investment round brings $35m of new money in to the business. We can also confirm that shares previously managed by Woodford Investment Management have now moved to new fund managers with further details to follow."

"Based on this financing, AMO Pharma has the resources necessary to complete the AMO-02 clinical programme. We are working with our outstanding team of clinical investigators to advance this development program as rapidly as possible," said Dr Mike Snape, chief executive officer at AMO Pharma. "Congenital myotonic dystrophy is a devastating condition that represents a significant area of unmet need in global health with few and only inadequate and unapproved treatment options available. AMO-02 accesses brain, muscle and other tissues and reduces the DMPK expansion repeat mRNA that is the pathological basis for congenital myotonic dystrophy."

The AMO-02 clinical trial is a double-blind placebo controlled randomized study in children and adolescents with congenital onset myotonic dystrophy intended to support a future submission for marketing authorization in congenital myotonic dystrophy. The trial is being conducted at ten treatment centers across Canada, the US and the UK and plans to enroll a total of 56 patients. Patients will be assessed on a range of measures of CNS features and muscle function associated with congenital myotonic dystrophy.

About AMO Pharma

AMO Pharma is a biopharmaceutical company working to identify and advance promising therapies for the treatment of serious and debilitating diseases in patient populations with significant areas of unmet need, including rare, debilitating childhood onset neurogenetic disorders with limited or no treatment options. As well as developing AMO-02 for congenital myotonic dystrophy, the company is progressing AMO-01 as a clinical stage treatment for Phelan McDermid Syndrome and AMO-04 as a clinic ready potential medicine for Rett Syndrome and related disorders. AMO-02, AMO-01 and AMO-04 are investigational medicines that have not yet been approved for the treatment of patients anywhere in the world. For more information, please visit the AMO Pharma website at http://www.amo-pharma.com/ .

Contacts

Media:

Bill Berry

Berry & Company Public Relations

212.253.8881

[email protected]

SOURCE AMO Pharma Limited

Related Links

http://www.amo-pharma.com


WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, under increasing pressure from her own party to transmit articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, promised Thursday to deliver the charges to the Senate "soon," while moving to keep splintering Democrats in line.

At her weekly news conference, Pelosi, D-Calif., refused to detail her timeline for picking impeachment trial managers and delivering charges alleging that Trump abused his power and obstructed Congress. According to senior Democratic lawmakers and aides, she has kept even her closest allies in the dark on her thinking, causing concern to spread inside her ranks. The lawmakers and aides spoke on the condition of anonymity to be frank.

But Pelosi stood her ground, bristling at the repeated questions about when she plans to relent and arguing that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has yet to provide sufficient detail on the trial process - leaving unaddressed the criticism that has emerged among Democrats.

"You keep asking me the same question, I keep giving you the same answer: We need to see the arena to which we are sending our managers. Is that too much to ask?" she said, referring to the House "managers" who will prosecute the case in the Senate.

"I'm not holding them indefinitely," she added. "I'll send them over when I'm ready. And that will probably be soon."

Pelosi spoke as Congress enters the fourth week of an impeachment stalemate that began Dec. 18, when Democrats impeached Trump. Under the Constitution, the Senate is now charged with holding a trial on his removal, but Pelosi has not taken the separate step of naming managers and sending the articles across the Capitol.

Many senators expected Trump's trial to begin shortly. McConnell predicted during a private lunch Thursday that Pelosi could send the articles of impeachment as soon as Friday - and told his colleagues to be ready for a trial to begin as soon as next week.

But Democratic aides said Pelosi will follow her own gut on the decision, and while some Democrats began questioning her strategy this week - such as moderate Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah, who said Thursday the time had come to send the articles - there are also clear signs that she largely remained in control.

In one remarkable turnabout, a senior House Democrat - Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith of Washington state - called on Pelosi to transmit the articles in a televised interview Thursday morning, only to reverse course within hours.

"I think it was perfectly advisable for the speaker to try to leverage that to try to get a better deal," Smith said on CNN. "At this point it doesn't look like that's going to happen."

Shortly before Pelosi addressed reporters, Smith walked his comments back in a tweet, saying he "misspoke."

"I completely support the speaker's effort," he told reporters later in the day. "She knows a heck of a lot more than I do."

Other prominent members of the Democratic caucus who earlier in the week had suggested it was time for the trial to get underway appeared to defend Pelosi on Thursday. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said in a brief interview that he understood what Pelosi is doing in fighting for witnesses. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said that her earlier comments had been misunderstood and that she supported Pelosi's strategy.

"She's going to send it over when she's ready to send it over," Feinstein said.

Republicans, meanwhile, appeared to revel in Pelosi's predicament, repeatedly quoting those Democrats who had broken with her. McConnell derided Pelosi's "irresponsible games" in a floor speech Thursday and showed no sign of bowing to her wish for a detailed blueprint of the trial.

"Should future House majorities feel empowered to waste our time with junior varsity political hostage situations?" McConnell asked. "They get to start it if they choose, but they do not get to declare that it can never be finished. They do not get to trap our entire country into an unending Groundhog Day of impeachment without resolution."

Republican aides said divisions in the Democratic ranks have emboldened McConnell, who has vowed to start the trial without any deal to hear from witnesses or obtain new documents that the Trump administration repeatedly has refused to provide.

McConnell has also declined to release the resolution that the Senate will vote on detailing the procedures for the trial, as Pelosi has demanded.

"The wall has crumbled beneath her," taunted the No. 3 Senate Republican, John Barrasso, R-Wyo. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Pelosi "has zero leverage" and "is trying to make the most out of a very bad situation of her own creation."

Democrats on both sides of the Capitol privately expressed concern about Pelosi's delay and the repercussions for swing-district lawmakers such as McAdams as Republicans blanket TV networks and radio talk shows accusing Democrats of playing politics with impeachment. Pelosi, meanwhile, appeared to remain in sync with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Speaking hours before the senators left Washington for the week without a resolution to the standoff, Schumer repeated a mantra of "witnesses and documents" as he pressed for concessions from Republicans.

"That has been Speaker Pelosi's focus from the very beginning; that has been my focus from the very beginning: getting a fair trial that considers the facts and only the facts," he said.

But some Democrats have started openly questioning whether impeachment was still the focus of the country, especially in light of this week's military exchange with Iran that included the targeted killing of Iran's most powerful military commander, Qasem Soleimani.

"After Soleimani, you don't hear impeachment anymore. So that is not an issue that is on the forefront right now," said Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, a former ranking Democrat of the House Intelligence Committee.

Pelosi's defenders praised her move to hold the articles, arguing that new revelations unearthed during the holiday break vindicated the tactic. Among the recent developments: Former national security adviser John Bolton suddenly agreed Monday to testify if subpoenaed by the Senate after refusing to cooperate with the House investigation.

"The drip, drip, drip of information is fascinating," said Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who led a push for the hold-the-articles strategy last month. "I think being deliberate, not rushing it, is absolutely the right thing to do. And I think each day verifies the wisdom."

Trump on Thursday appeared to dash some Democrats' hopes that Bolton could soon appear at a Senate trial, saying he would object to any effort to allow him to testify about his presidential conversations.

"We have to protect presidential privilege," he said. "When we start allowing national security advisers to just go up and say whatever they want to say, we can't do that."

Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., a moderate Democrat, said that his colleagues trusted Pelosi but that their patience would not be infinite.

"There's just a whole lot of reasons why it has to be sooner than later," he said. "You've got the Senate Democrats who obviously understand their own timeline and their circumstances that we have to be mindful of - the fact that you've got the presidential elections that are moving forward . . . I just think there's a shelf life to this."

A trial would keep in Washington the Democratic senators running for the presidential nomination, limiting any campaigning in Iowa ahead of the Feb. 3 caucuses.
Annual kangaroo culls are set to continue in one part of Australia despite warnings the worst bushfires on record could push even common marsupials to the brink of extinction.

Every year, for the past decade, the Australian Capital Territory government has shot dead kangaroos in a bid to protect grasslands from overgrazing.

ACT Parks and Conservation last year killed a record 4,035 kangaroos at nine nature reserves and grasslands in Canberra.

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Annual kangaroo culls are set to continue in one part of Australia despite warnings the worst bushfires on record could push even common marsupials to the brink of extinction (pictured is a still from an ACT government video)

Even as bushfires began destroying large areas of New South Wales, the ACT's Department of Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development released a video in October defending the controversial practice.

Parks and Conservation director Daniel Iglesias did a piece-to-camera explaining there were too many eastern grey kangaroos.

'It loves the grassy landscapes,' he said.

ACT government ecologist Dr Stephanie Pulsford also appeared in the video, explaining kangaroos were a threat to grasslands.

'When there's too many of them here, they overgraze the grasslands and as a result, all of the other animals don't have a home,' she said.

Since September, bushfires have destroyed more than 10million hectares of bushland across Australia.

University of Sydney professor of ecology Chris Dickman calculated one billion animals have been destroyed in the blazes, which also threatened to push even common marsupials to the brink of extinction (pictured is a kangaroo killed at Sarsfield in Victoria's East Gippland region)

University of Sydney professor of ecology Chris Dickman suggested the ACT government reconsider its annual kangaroo cull in light of the bushfires - even if the marsupials were causing damage to habitat from overpopulation.

'But, and it's a big but, it won't look good to shoot a lot of kangaroos now when there is so much concern everywhere about the huge numbers of animals being killed in the fires,' Professor Dickman told Daily Mail Australia.

'Think I'd be putting off a cull just now.'

He calculated more than one billion animals had been destroyed in the blazes, which also threatened to push even common marsupials to the brink of extinction.

Professor Dickman feared the bushfires would cause a long-term decrease in marsupial populations (pictured is a glider late last year burnt to death at Cathedral Rock National Park east of Armidale in northern NSW)

'With repeated fires it's likely there will be long-term decreases in their populations, to the point where even currently common species begin to come under real threat for their existence,' he told the ABC's 7.30 program.

'It is quite possible there will be some species that face imminent extinction as a consequence of these fires.

'I guess we'll only be able to find out what the effects of the fires have been when we get the chance to get back in and look at whether there are survivors.'

A spokesman for the ACT government declined to rule out further kangaroo culls next year in light of the bushfires.

'Unmanaged kangaroo populations can destroy the habitats of threatened native species,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday.

'The ACT government will assess if there is a need to undertake kangaroo management in due course.'

Kangaroos in the ACT are regarded as a threat to the striped legless lizard, grassland earless dragon and the hooded robin.
To download the letter and send it to your government representative (outside the United States) click here

To download the letter and send it to your Senator or Representative in the United States, click here

On October 1, 2019, state security and police officers from the Cuban regime assaulted and raided Ferrer's home. In the act, he was violently detained along with three other activists: Jose Pupo Chaveco, Fernando Gonzalez VaiIlant and Roilan Zarraga Ferrer. The four have been subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment and remain in prison with the threat of prosecution for fabricated crimes.

Jose Daniel Ferrer is the national coordinator of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and one of the main promoters of the Cuba Decide citizen initiative on the Island.

Activists, artists, senators, MEPs, youth from several countries of the Americas, and citizens in general have joined the 100 days 100 voices campaign . All people, from anywhere in the world can show solidarity by publishing their photo on social networks using the #FreeFerrer tag.

In this context, the platform today renews its call to all people of good will in the world to join the call for the immediate release of Jose Daniel Ferrer and the other 3 activists detained with him . The platform further requests that representatives in the national parliaments of each country show their solidarity by approving resolutions demanding their immediate release.

Through the 100 days 100 voices campaign , the promoters of Cuba Decide around the world denounce the arbitrary imprisonment of Jose Daniel Ferrer by publishing 100 photographs of citizens who, in Cuba and around the world, demand the liberation of the Cuban opposition leader after 100 days of unjust imprisonment.

About Cuba Decide

Cuba Decide is a citizen initiative to change the political and economic system in Cuba provoking a peaceful transition process towards democracy.

THE STRATEGY

Generate the pressure necessary to force the regime to submit to the will of the people through coordinated non-violent action of the citizens and the international community.

Convert thousands of Cubans into agents of change through a platform that informs, involves, and mobilizes citizens on the Island.



THE TOOL

Cubans must be free to decide their future.

To make the change, Cuba Decide proposes that the will of Cubans be expressed and complied with through a binding plebiscite in Cuba a direct vote of the people to answer the following question:



Are you in agreement with the convening of free, fair and plural elections exercising freedom of expression and of the press, and organizing freely in political parties and social organizations with total plurality?



Yes or No?



JOIN US

A tremendous mobilization effort is under way!

Learn more and join our movement at cubadecide.org.

Be part of our conversations on Facebook.com/CubaDecide and on Twitter and Instagram by following the user @CubaDecide and using the #CubaDecide tag



FDP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which promotes the Cuba Decide platform alongside thousands of Cubans.

CONTACT:

Leandra Solano

[email protected]

305.209.5649

SOURCE Cuba Decide
'Transition': Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wish to raise son Archie in both the UK and North America. Photo: Reuters

Queen Elizabeth II with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during a group photo at the Queen's Young Leaders Awards Ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London

Harry and Meghan did not consult the Queen or the Prince of Wales about the contents of their bombshell statement to "step back" as senior royals and divide their time between the UK and North America, it has emerged.

It is understood Harry and Meghan had just begun talks with the Queen and Charles about their future roles when they made their decision to go public.

Expand Close Harry and Meghan had been expected to help support Charless transition to the throne. Photo: PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp Harry and Meghan had been expected to help support Charless transition to the throne. Photo: PA

The head of state and her son were only recently informed of the Sussexes intention to explore their public positions as members of the monarchy, and were not aware the statement was due to be issued.

The mood at Buckingham Palace is understood to be one of disappointment while the BBC has reported that senior royals have been "hurt" by the announcement.

The sequence of events is likely to lead commentators to speculate whether a rift has developed at the heart of the monarchy.

Harry and Meghan said in their ground-breaking personal statement they will work to become "financially independent", while continuing to "fully support" the Queen.

But Buckingham Palace warned the couple their decision to "step back" from the royal family will be "complicated".

A Palace spokeswoman said: "Discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage.

"We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through."

The Sussex's financial aims have been outlined on their official website which states the couple "...value the ability to earn a professional income, which in the current structure they are prohibited from doing. For this reason they have made the choice to become members of the royal family with financial independence."

Expand Close Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House on January 07, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House on January 07, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

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Any future role which the couple take on for financial gain will have to be scrutinised to ensure they are not seen as profiteering from their position as members of the monarchy.

Royal commentators are likely to interpret the couple's decision - and the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal that has engulfed the Duke of York - as a full-blown crisis for the monarchy.

Harry - one of the most popular members of the royal family with the public - and Andrew will now have a far lower public profile at a time of potentially great change for the country as Britain leaves the EU.

The couple's move follows weeks of speculation about their future after they took an extended break from royal duties over the festive period.

In an ITV documentary they spoke about the pressures they have been facing and family rifts, and in a separate move Harry issued a damning statement against the media accusing sections of the press of bullying his wife.

The couple said in their statement: "After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution.

"We intend to step back as 'senior' members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty the Queen.

"It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.

"We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.

"This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity."

Graham Smith from the organisation Republic, which campaigns for an elected head of state, said about Harry and Meghan's decision: "This really is wanting to have your cake and eat it. They have said they will dip in and out of royal duties as it suits them but won't stop taking public money until they find other sources of income.

"To suggest that they're not already financially independent is incredibly crass and belies a sense of self entitlement and a lack of self-awareness that is common among royals."

"What should be more concerning is that the royal family's star couple have effectively bowed out of their leading role, and that raises questions about the monarchy's future."

Harry and Meghan have only recently returned from their six-week break spent in the Canadian province of British Columbia with their eight-month-old son Archie.

Their first royal engagement of the new decade was to visit Canada's High Commission in central London to thank Canadians in person for the warmth of the welcome they received.

It is likely they will be spending their time in the Commonwealth country when not in the UK and may travel to America, Meghan's homeland and where her mother lives.

Any move to Canada, even for a period of the year, would throw up important questions about Meghan and Harry's long-term future within the royal family.

Meghan, a former actress, lived and worked in Toronto during her time starring in the popular US drama Suits, and the couple were famously pictured together when Meghan joined her then-boyfriend Harry at the 2017 Invictus Games in the city.

The cost of security for the couple would also be an issue, and as Canada is a realm, a country where the Queen is head of state, it may have to pay for keeping the couple and their son Archie safe.

The couple's aim to be "financially independent" may point towards them seeking a job, or a paid role with an organisation whose aims complement their own beliefs.

Other members of the monarchy who have salaried jobs include the Queen's grandchildren Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and Peter Phillips, who all work ends
Meghan certainly brought a splash of Hollywood glitz to her engagement photos in November, 2017

Putting on the glitz

In a see-through couture dress worth 56,000, Meghan certainly brought a splash of Hollywood glitz to her engagement photos in November, 2017.

Its not known whether the gown was on loan or bought for the occasion, but while the lavish Ralph & Russo number  yards of silk organza, tulle ruffles and intricate beading  looked stunning, it raised eyebrows as it cost nearly twice as much as the average UK salary.

A shrouded arrival

Little Archie was born on May 6 last year, but what he looked like remained a mystery for weeks.

First he was tucked up in a cashmere blanket, next it was photos of his feet and then a pair of soulful little eyes peeking out over Daddys hand.

The first decent view the public got of the babes adorable little face was following his (private) christening in the carefully-chosen photographs released after the ceremony in July.

As for the godparents? In a break with protocol, the names were not made public.

First he was tucked up in a cashmere blanket, next it was photos of his feet and then a pair of soulful little eyes peeking out over Daddys hand

An awkward delivery

Messing with royal tradition is a surefire way to rock the boat.

And sure enough there was widespread consternation among royal fans (and also dismay from the Royal Family) when our progressive pair announced there would be no bulletins on when or where their baby would be born, even declining to say who was in charge of delivery.

Harry was a delight telling the cameras he had become a dad, but a statement saying Meghan had gone into labour after baby Archie had actually been born was bizarre.

Stealing Eugenies thunder

Timing just when to tell your nearest and dearest you are expecting is never easy.

There was doubtless a good reason why Harry and Meghan delivered the news that she was pregnant with their first child to senior royals while attending his cousin Princess Eugenies wedding to Jack Brooksbank in October, 2018.

Nevertheless, its hardly surprising that some observers remarked it appeared a little bit like thunder-stealing.

Harry and Meghan delivered the news that she was pregnant with their first child to senior royals while attending his cousin Princess Eugenies wedding to Jack Brooksbank. Princess Eugenie is pictured above

All over for the fab four

In March 2019 it was announced the fab four of William, Kate, Harry and Meghan were going their separate ways.

Sussex Royal was to have a new head of communications, Sara Latham, who had worked for President Obama.

Then came Insta-pendence as the couple went solo on Instagram before, in June, it emerged they were to split from the Royal Foundation run with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and set up their own charity.

Sussex Royal was to have a new head of communications, Sara Latham, who had worked for President Obama. Then came Insta-pendence as the couple went solo on Instagram

Missing Markles

Notably absent from the couples May 2018 wedding were not only Meghans father Thomas  supposed to walk his daughter down the aisle before he got caught up in an embarrassing saga over staged photographs and pulled out after heart surgery  but almost all her relatives.

Her mother Doria Ragland was the only member of her family to attend. Instead, Meghans side featured a host of celeb pals.

Opposite the Queen in St Georges Chapel were Oprah Winfrey, Serena Williams, and George and Amal Clooney.

Her mother Doria Ragland was the only member of her family to attend. Instead, Meghans side featured a host of celeb pals

Frogmore...and more

The announcement of their move, in November 2018, from their Kensington Palace lily pad  and neighbours William and Kate  to Frogmore Cottage, Windsor, stoked the fires of a growing froideur between the brothers.

Then it emerged 2.4million of taxpayer cash was funding structural renovations.

But, as they remind us on their glossy new website, expenses related to fixtures, furnishings and fittings were funded privately.

The announcement of their move to Frogmore Cottage, Windsor stoked the fires of a growing froideur between the brothers

'Nobody asked about me'

A clear indicator all was not well came last October on their Africa tour when, in an interview with Harrys ITV pal Tom Bradby, Meghan said shed felt vulnerable during her pregnancy.

Not many people have asked if Im OK, she said. And Harry failed to dampen speculation about brotherly affections when he said: As brothers, you have good days, you have bad days.

Their issues contrasted uncomfortably with the causes they were championing  landmine victims and survivors of rape and abuse.

In an interview with Harrys ITV pal Tom Bradby, Meghan said shed felt vulnerable during her pregnancy

Flying into controversy

Flying by private jet while promoting environmentally-friendly tourism is a little unfortunate.

Harry and Meghan both used private jets last summer, to Ibiza (for her birthday) and France (courtesy of Sir Elton John).

One area on which they appear committed to going commercial is in registering their Sussex Royal brand as a trademark  on more than 100 everyday items.

Flying by private jet while promoting environmentally-friendly tourism is a little unfortunate

Dodging the festive fun

The happy couple were notable absentees from The Firms Christmas festivities at Sandringham, choosing instead to continue their six-week sojourn in Canada.

Not even the ill health of ageing Prince Philip could bring them back. The Palace stressed the couples decision to miss the traditional celebrations was in no way a snub.

But it came after they turned down an invitation to join the Queen at Balmoral last summer.

The happy couple were notable absentees from The Firms Christmas festivities at Sandringham

Prince Harry and leading primatologist Dr Jane Goodall are pictured together above

An 'unintentional' dig at big brother

Your big brother  and second in line to the throne  has three children, so what do you do?

Thats right, you tell leading primatologist Dr Jane Goodall  who you are interviewing for your wifes guest editing slot on Septembers Vogue magazine  that youll probably have just two children to help save the planet.

It was doubtless an unintended dig at his sibling, not to mention his grandmother, who had four children.

But still...ouch.

And finally, the deepest cut of them all...

Just two weeks into the New Year and newly-arrived home from a six-week overseas holiday, comes the most seismic punch of all: Meghan and Harry dramatically announce they are stepping down as senior royals, apparently without telling his grandmother (the Queen), father (Prince Charles) or brother (Prince William).

They even conspired to create a new website independent of the Royal Family, apparently without the knowledge of their UK-based Press team.

Meghan and Harry dramatically announce they are stepping down as senior royals, apparently without telling his grandmother (the Queen), father (Prince Charles) or brother (Prince William)

...and FIVE things they got right A boost for Grenfell Meghans first solo project as a royal was the launch of a cookbook in support of victims of the Grenfell fire. She quietly met survivors and families of victims and wrote the books foreword. By last summer it had raised 557,638. Back to work boost Returning to official duties just four months after going on maternity leave, Meghan launched a capsule clothing collection designed to help get women back into work. The project was a collaboration with the charity Smart Works, of which she is patron, which provides vulnerable, unemployed women with outfits and job mentoring. A real tour de force The first official trip abroad as a young family, in Africa, was widely acclaimed as a success. Whether together, or separately, they gave the Royal Family a boost and highlighted the very important causes they encountered on their travels. Meghans first solo project as a royal was the launch of a cookbook in support of victims of the Grenfell fire. She quietly met survivors and families of victims and wrote the books foreword Social conscience With her blog background (The Tig), they are possibly the most social media-savvy of the royals and deployed those skills to positive effect, using their Instagram account to shine a light on the work of charities and organisations doing worthy work. They put a spotlight on nine charities relating to a different issue each month. Their first post, in May, reflected Mental Health Awareness Month in the U.S. and Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK. Charity, not gifts For their wedding, the couple asked that rather than sending gifts and cards, the public donate to seven charities. Many were little-known organisations, including a childrens HIV charity with just four part-time employees and a charity for bereaved Armed Forces children. Advertisement

Picture research: Claire Cisotti
ROME - Pope Francis on Thursday greeted the Vatican's diplomatic corps, spoke generally about the hope that comes with any new year, and then got straight to the daunting point.

"The new year," Francis said, "does not seem to be marked by encouraging signs."

While saying that maintaining hope is essential, the pope spent the next 45 minutes talking about wars and could-be wars, exploitation, sexual abuse, Internet hate speech, international indifference to humanitarian crises, and the depressing state of the world's fight against climate change.

He called heightened tensions between the United States and Iran "particularly troubling," but his remarks amounted to a laundry list of flash points, both major and obscure, from Burkina Faso to Venezuela to Australia.

"Certainly, hope has to be realistic," Francis said. "It demands acknowledging the many troubling issues confronting our world and the challenges lurking on the horizon. It requires that problems be called by their name and the courage be found to resolve them."

Francis's annual speech, delivered in a frescoed Vatican hall, tends to serve as a guidebook for the pope's worldview, making clear what issues he thinks are most important. In his seventh year as leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Francis' own reputation has been bruised by the institution's struggles to combat sexual abuse.

In the meantime, he has sometimes felt like a lonely voice among world leaders, making a case about the responsibility to care for migrants and about the urgent dangers that global warming poses.

Speaking about U.S.-Iran tensions, the pontiff urged dialogue and worried about how recent developments might "compromising the gradual process of rebuilding in Iraq."

He said the tensions, which have diminished slightly this week after both countries stepped back from escalation, could set off a "vaster conflict that all of us would want to avert."

Francis talked about the church's abuse crisis, pledging that the Vatican is committed to reforms, while calling abuse a crime that damages victims physically and psychologically.

But Francis spoke about youth in general at much greater length than he spoke about abuse, describing how young people look to adults for an example but also "have much to offer" themselves. He then lauded the increasingly forceful role of young people in bringing attention to climate change - and protesting politicians' inaction.

"The protection of the home given to us by the Creator cannot be neglected or reduced to an elitist concern," Francis said. "Young people are telling us that this cannot be the case."

The pope called last month's United Nations climate conference, which ended with finger-pointing and no meaningful breakthroughs, a dispiriting sign about the willingness of leaders to take significant steps.

"The response to the problems raised by global issues such as climate change remains very weak and a source of grave concern," he said.

Francis said that a more robust international response is "most urgent" in the Middle East and in the Mediterranean, the deadliest area in the world for migrants. He said that the humanitarian crisis in Yemen is being met by "general indifference," and that a "pall of silence" risks falling over Syria, where war has been waged for years. The pope also highlighted the "intensification of violence" in Libya, and the way in which the country had become a fertile terrain for the extortion of migrants, who are commonly subjected to sexual violence and torture.

Francis said that "many thousands of people in our world present legitimate requests for asylum, and have verifiable humanitarian needs and a need for protection that are not adequately identified."

"Many are risking their lives in perilous journeys by land and, above all, by sea," the pope said. "It is painful to acknowledge that the Mediterranean Sea continues to be a vast cemetery. Consequently, it is increasingly urgent that all states accept responsibility for finding lasting solutions."
A United States of America Officer of the Army of Latino desent felt "betrayed" by the U.S. for deporting his mother back to Mexico this Thursday.

The fifty-year-old mother of the army officer was directed to self-deport. She left the country last week. Her self-deportation request by the US government was made after failing to attain protection from the government from deportation that would allow her to live in the US for longer periods as a family member of the military personnel of the United States.

The United States of America employs a "Patrol in Place" campaign wherein the parents, wives, widowers, and offspring of military members of the United States who are on active duty to apply a discretionary deferred action not exceeding 2 years. However, upon the application of the mother, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE did not approve the application due to record of a previous order of removal.

Her son, 2nd Lieutenant Gibram Cruz, shared that he feels betrayed by the nation that he is proudly serving. He explained that the laws being implemented in the country to maintain security for his family had let him down.

The thirty-year-old officer described the deportation of his mother as "inhumane." As an active military member, he has no time to go to Mexico to see his mother. Active military members are required to strictly follow military travel rules. In United States laws, being an intelligence officer in the country requires complicated procedures to be approved of leaving the country.

Rebollar Gomez will be restricted to reenter the United States of America for ten years since her order of deportation.

His mother lived in San Diego for more than three decades. She operated a business upon her arrival in the United States in the year 1988. After 7 years, while seven months-long in her pregnancy, she was arrested through an immigration bust operation and was deported to her country. She illegally crossed the border again to reunite with her two children. She was deported and went back to the US again twice after that event.

Rebollar Gomez's daughter named Karla Cruz admitted that her mother had a deportation record, but said with pride that all of those efforts that their mother did was made so that she can be reunited with her children.

Their family is requesting Senator Kamala Harris to help them with their case.

Xitlay Cruz Rebollar, the youngest of all the mother's children, said that their family is hoping for a change in the law that would make their mother's deportation cases null or forgiven.

Currently, Rebollar Gomez is living in Acapulco, Mexico. It is a city near the sea that had been dominated by violence by multiple cartels in the past years.

The Lt. Cruz was recently ordered by higher-ranking authorities to report on Friday at Fort Hood in Texas. He will be dedicating a minimum of three more years to the military of the United States.
Donahoe said police found Xanax, a medicine used to treat anxiety and depression, along with liquor and crack cocaine in the hotel room where Kucharski had been staying. He told police he had been taking the drug to help him sleep, and he did not have a prescription for it. In the four days before the crash, Kucharski told police, he had only slept about 10 hours, Donahoe said.
The Star is compiling live updates to this story as they come available here.

What we know

Hours after Iran launched ballistic missiles against an Iraqi military base housing U.S. troops, a jetliner operated by Ukrainian International Airlines crashed shortly after taking off from Tehrans airport. There were no survivors.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday intelligence suggests the airliner was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. The intelligence has come from multiple sources, including Canadas own intelligence agencies and intelligence from Canadas allies.

Trudeau said it is too early to rule out any possibilities about what happened. The prime minister is calling for a full, credible investigation into the events that led to the planes crash before we can draw any conclusions. Irans civil aviation authority says it has invited Canadian investigators from the Transportation Safety Board to join the probe.

Passengers aboard the plane include 63 Canadian citizens, though Trudeau told media Wednesday that 138 people aboard the plane were transiting through Kyiv to Canada.

The victims include 82 Iranian citizens and 11 Ukrainians, as well as 10 Swedish, four Afghan, three German and three British nationals. The Star is maintaining a separate list of passengers with links to Canada.

Flight 752 took off at 6:12 a.m local time from Imam Khomeini International Airport, en route to Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The plane, a three-year-old Boeing 737-800, had been delayed from taking off from Tehran by almost an hour. It never made it higher than 2,400 metres, data from the flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 indicates.

The flight through Kyiv is a popular route, as there are no direct flights between Canada and Iran.

For its part, UIA president Yevhen Dykhne strongly rejected the possibility the crew error or failure of the jet were to blame for the crash, saying the aircraft was one of the best planes we had, with an amazing, reliable crew.

In a statement, the airline went further, saying: Given the crews experience, error probability is minimal. We do not even consider such a chance.

The tragedy comes on the heels of rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

NATO has suspended a Canadian-led training mission in Iraq, citing security risks. However, NATO has said they are willing to restart the mission if tensions between the two countries improve.

Global Affairs Canada warned against any non-essential travel to Iran due to the volatile security situation, the regional threat of terrorism and the risk of arbitrary detention.

The agency said Canadians, particularly those holding dual Canadian-Iranian citizenship, were at risk of being arbitrarily questioned, arrested and detained.

Air Canada said Wednesday it is rerouting flights to Dubai amid the uncertainty in the Middle East.

The airline hasnt used Iranian airspace since the middle of last year, but now will also avoid Iraq  affecting its service to Dubai, a major commercial hub.

A relative of a passenger grieves at the site of the Ukraine International Airlines crash on the outskirts of Tehran on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. NYT/Arash Khamooshi

Air Canada does not service locations in Iran or Iraq.

Transport Canada said earlier that Air Canada would comply with U.S.-led restrictions on commercial airlines operating in the Persian Gulf region.

What we dont know

The Star is still working to confirm the identities of many victims.

It is unclear how this will impact international relationships between Canada, the U.S. and Iran. The prime minister Thursday refused to draw any links between tensions between Iran and the U.S. and the downed plane.

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced he would ask NATO to become much more involved in the Middle East process.

The Stars Alex Ballingall reported Wednesday that Canada now faces significant questions about its role as one of the alliances 29 member-states. Its unclear what the request of further involvement by the U.S. would look like at this stage. However, experts say its unlikely Canada will be sucked into a war in the region.

This report was last updated Jan. 9 at 3:50 p.m.

With files from Bruce Campion-Smith, Alex Boutilier, Star Staff and Star wire services

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A Georgia man has been released from prison after spending more than a third of his life incarcerated for a rape.

Kerry Robinson, 44, walked out of a South Georgia prison Wednesday after 17 years behind bars and hugged his relatives, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

He was convicted of breaking into a womans home in 1993 and sexually assaulting her, according to his attorneys at the Atlanta-based Georgia Innocence Project.

He was accused of being one of three perpetrators, armed with a long-barreled gun.

Kerry Robinson, 44, walked out of a Georgia prison Wednesday after 17 years behind bars

Robinson hugged his sister as he was freed after a rape conviction that was overturned

The rape victim, a 42-year-old woman, quickly identified two of the perpetrators from photos in a junior high school yearbook, naming Tyrone White and his friend.

White admitted to his involvement, but the friend was never charged after White claimed that Robinson was actually one of the rapists.

Robinson argues that White falsely named him to authorities because he had reported him to police in another case.

White received a lesser sentence for cooperating, according to the Georgia Innocence Project.

Robinson filed a motion for a new trial in September 2019 and was exonerated by Southern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Brad Shealy.

Robinson poses with representatives from the Georgia Innocence Project who helped his case

Robinson argues that one of the rapists involved falsely named him to authorities because he had reported him to police in another case

DNA evidence retested using modern technology proved the original state Bureau of Investigation analysis that was presented at trial was misleading.

A GBI analyst suggested during the 2002 trial that a mixture of DNA in the victim's rape kit likely matched Robinson, though tests weren't conclusive.

But Robinson and supporters maintained his innocence.

Robinsons son, sister and other relatives were there waiting as he was freed from Coffee Correctional Facility outside of Douglas.
TUV leader Jim Allister has warned there is a perception within the unionist community that Queen's University Belfast is a "cold house" for them.

Mr Allister was speaking following a meeting with the university's Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Greer to discuss the issue and how it can be addressed.

The North Antrim MLA said he made it clear to Professor Greer that while he respects academic freedom, he believes it was unwise to not have stricter guidelines around the use of the Queen's logo.

"This was a particular issue raised with me by a number of members of the public following the publication of a report on Irish unity which prominently carried the logo of QUB," he said.

"While I accept that the work was carried out as consultancy, the use of the logo prominently on the cover led people to draw the reasonable conclusion that it carried the imprimatur of the university."

Mr Allister added: "While the university is rightly keen to promote academic freedom I did highlight the fact that academics were silent when there was an attempt, through an online petition, to silence the voice of the pro-life society at Queen's and that some academics had actually signed the petition.

"I also conveyed to the Vice-Chancellor a number of concerns which have been raised with me about the feeling of alienation some students feel within a union which they see an increasingly hostile to their beliefs and culture.

"I was pleased that the university was able to provide me with examples of what it is doing which should go some way to allaying unionist concerns, such as the relationship which Queen's is building with schools in the loyalist community of south Belfast, as well as engagement with unionist students," he said.

Queen's was approached for comment but had not responded at the time of going to press.
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(Alliance News) - Berenberg reiterated Buy rating for Breedon Group PLC and increased its price target to 105 pence from 87p, following the company's acquisition of CEMEX's UK assets on Wednesday.

Shares in Breedon were up 3.5% at 89.90p each on Thursday afternoon in London.

Breedon entered into agreement with Mexican building materials company CEMEX SAB de CV to acquire 100 active operations spread across the UK for GBP155 million in cash together with the assumption of GBP23 million of lease liabilities.

This will add around 170 million tonnes of mineral reserves and resources to the group, Berenberg noted.

The German bank assumes that the deal will be consolidated at the start of the second half of 2020, although this is partially offset by an forex headwind from the EUR to GBP. Putting this together, Berenberg thinks earnings before interest and taxes in 2021 will increase by 9%.

"Moreover, we understand that this deal will increase Breedon's market share by 3% - 4% in aggregates, asphalt and RMX," Berenberg analysts said.

In Berenberg's view, the assets acquired by Breedon are complementary to the group's current footprint, increasing exposure to the north -east, Scotland, Wales, Norfolk, the East Midlands and Yorkshire.

The company's target of return of invested capital covering weighted average cost of capital by 2022 implies GBP16 million of earning before interest & tax in 2022, from the current GBP11 million, the bank noted.

"Even if we assume no top-line growth, if the group can increase margins in the line with its UK division, we think earning before interest & tax for this acquisition could rise to GBP19 million, 19% above current forecasts," Berenberg said.

By Loreta Juodagalvyte; loretajuodagalvyte@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
THE Cebu City Government and the Filinvest consortium came to a resolution regarding the controversial sale of a 19.2-hectare property at the South Road Properties (SRP) on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, with the full payment and the signing of the Deed of Absolute Sale.

The City received P6.75 billion issued in check as full payment for the 19.2-hectare parcel of land purchased on Aug. 7, 2015.

Lawyer Jerone Castillo of the City Treasurers Office said the P6.75 billion payment includes P450,915,468, the accumulated interest for the unpaid installments since 2017.

Full payment

The consortiumcomposed of Filinvest firms Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI), Filinvest Alabang Inc. and Cyberzone Properties Inc., and Sytengco-owned firms including Anesy Holding Corp., Betterfield Phils. Corp. and Igold Holdings Corp.fully paid for the property on Dec. 19, 2019, and received a certificate of full payment from the City on the same date.

In 2015, Filinvest paid an initial P4.5 billion for the 19.2-hectare parcel of land at the SRP.

In 2017, Filinvest rescinded the sale contract of the 19.2-hectare Lot 1 on the basis that the City Government failed to fulfill its obligations under the sale contract.

Then Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmena, who had planned to revoke the sale, did not object.

When Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella assumed office in mid-2019, Filinvest sent a check to pay off its remaining balance for the purchase of the property, but this was not received by City Administrator Floro Casas as directed by the mayor.

Voiding sale contract

The Labella administration wanted to void the 2015 sale contract after Filinvest rescinded the deal in 2017.

City Legal Officer Rey Gealon explained that the reason the City refused to accept the payment of FLI in August last year was that the amount did not include the interest or penalty.

Considering that full payment has been made, the sale of a portion of SRP land to Filinvest is now consummated. The City of Cebu and Filinvest came to terms on how to go about the transaction. They decided to push through with it for mutual benefit and interest, Gealon said.

Story continues

Gealon said Filinvest can now proceed with the development of the property with the infrastructures stipulated in the terms of reference earlier agreed.

There is no stopping the SRPs development, which would certainly boost the economic profile of the city, and provide millions of jobs and other opportunities to Cebuanos and everyone else, he said.

Increased funds

Castillo said that with the full payment from Filinvest, the Citys funds increased to P19 billion.

FLIs disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Wednesday, quoted Labella as saying: We welcome the new developments and opportunities that Filinvest consortium will bring to the SRP and to the City. The purchase payment will help the City to finally retire the SRP loan and provide basic services to its constituents. Our city strives to maintain the business-friendly environment that has made us one of the top investment havens in the Philippines.

The mayor wants to settle the P1.75 billion loan balance for the development of the SRP with the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Development

In the disclosure, Filinvest said it is looking to create a mixed-use development with residential, office, commercial and retail components.

We now have a total developable land size of around 70 hectares, which is the biggest share owned by any developer in the SRP. We are excited about what we can develop given the large size of land we have and influence the trend and development directions in SRP to maximize its growth potentials, said L. Josephine Gotianun Yap, Filinvest Development Corp. president and chief executive officer. (PAC, MVG)
INDIANAPOLIS and BERLIN and BAD NAUHEIM, Germany, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- FAST BioMedical announced the completion of the EMPAKT-CHF clinical trial at Charite  Universitatsmedizin Berlin and Kerckhoff Klinik in Bad Nauheim. The trial evaluated the impact of FAST BioMedical's Blood Volume and Kidney Function measurement technology in patients with acute congestive heart failure and cardiorenal syndrome. This observational study was designed to demonstrate how repeated measurements of blood volume and kidney function could change clinical decision making and ultimately improve the management of heart failure patients.

It is estimated that there are 26 million people with heart failure worldwide, and for patients with acute congestive heart failure, abnormal blood volume levels have been directly linked to kidney failure, worsening outcomes, and increased mortality.

As the first technology capable of directly measuring blood volume, changes in blood volume and kidney function, FAST BioMedical's metrics could be a significant advancement for managing volume and volume-related kidney injury in patients with acute congestive heart failure.

"The EMPAKT CHF study explored the need for better technology to assess the complex relationships between blood volume, kidney function, and diuretic therapy in patients with acute congestive heart failure. Clinical assessment is the Achille's heel in managing this patient population, and we believe this study will help establish that quantitative assessments of blood volume and kidney function would better inform physician decision making" said Peter McCullough, MD, MPH, who served as head of the independent data adjudication committee for the EMPAKT CHF Study.

About FAST BioMedical

FAST BioMedical is a privately held, late clinical-stage medical technology company based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company's globally-patented, first-in-class technology directly measures blood volume and kidney function in a clinically-actionable way. This has the potential for profound impact on the care of heart failure, cardio-renal, major surgery, sepsis, critical care, and kidney disease patients. The FDA has determined the company's technology met the requirements for an Expedited Review. These products are investigational and not yet approved for human use.

For more information please visit www.FASTBioMedical.com or contact [email protected] .

SOURCE FAST BioMedical

Related Links

http://www.FASTBioMedical.com


LONDON  Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, failed to get clearance from Queen Elizabeth II before announcing their unorthodox plan to become part-time, financially independent royals and divide their time between Britain and North America.

But the couple had been planning the move for months before it popped up, out of the blue, on their Instagram account on Wednesday evening, electrifying social media, interrupting the BBCs coverage of Brexit and elbowing aside news about the risk of war between the United States and Iran.

Soon after the couple issued a statement saying they planned to step back from their royal duties, they elaborated their thinking on a new, slickly produced website. The site was quietly designed by a firm in Canada with no input from Buckingham Palace, according to people with ties to the royal family.

It has swiftly come to symbolize what palace officials regard as a rogue operation by Prince Harry and Meghan, one that now threatens the unity of the House of Windsor and the future of two of its most popular members.
They will also be involved in the identification of the crash victims.

A Ukrainian plane carrying representatives of agencies that will be involved in the investigation into the crash of Ukrainian flight PS752 outside Tehran on January 8 has left for Iran.

"Among them are members of the State Emergency Service, the Defense Ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the SBU Security Service of Ukraine, the National Security and Defense Council, the State Aviation Administration, the National Bureau of Air Accidents Investigation of Ukraine and UIA [Ukraine International Airlines]," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's Press Secretary Yulia Mendel said on Facebook late on January 8.

Read alsoUIA publishes full passenger list for flight PS752 crashed in Iran

Mendel said the Ukrainian side would also be involved in the identification and repatriation of the bodies of the Ukrainians killed in the air accident.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Kyiv-bound UIA flight PS752 crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport in the early hours of Wednesday, January 8. It was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members on board. Two passengers and the crew members were Ukrainians. There were also 82 citizens of Iran, 63 citizens of Canada, 10 citizens of Sweden, four citizens of Afghanistan, three citizens of Germany and the United Kingdom each. There were no survivors.
Marquise Bells armed robbery of a cell phone store was going according to plan until he hit the clerk with his pistol.

Thats when his gun broke.

It wasnt a real firearm, just a toy plastic gun.

Yet it had real legal consequences for Bell.

After he pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges for the holdup, a U.S. judge hit him with a longer prison term  7 years  because Bell had used a dangerous weapon during the robbery.

Despite Bells claims to the contrary, that judge made the right call, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit has ruled.

In the courts majority opinion, Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. noted that Bells crime involved the robbery of a Metro PCS store in Philadelphia on Sept. 15, 2015.

Investigators said Bell rammed his toy gun into the neck of the store clerk and threw the clerk to the ground. The clerk nevertheless fought back. Bell hit him with his fake pistol.

Thats when I knew it was fake, Greenaway wrote, quoting the clerks account of the robbery. It was plastic. It broke and part of it fell over here, behind the registerI got up again to fight him, but he grabbed the money from the register and ran out the door.

Bell grabbed about $1,000. He also dropped his hat, on which the police found his DNA. Bell was arrested a year later when the cops found him hiding on the roof outside his bedroom window.

On appeal to Greenaways court, Bell insisted he didnt deserve the dangerous weapon enhancement of his prison sentence because he didnt use the toy gun but only brandished it.

And anyway, he argued, it was fake.

Greenaway didnt bite.

The law doesnt say the gun has to be real when youre committing a robbery, the judge noted. He found the dangerous weapon enhancement applies even when a criminal uses something that closely resembles a deadly weapon or uses the object in a manner that created the impression that the object was such an instrument.

Bell carried a toy gun, which he pointed at the victims neck, Greenaway wrote. The victim did not realize that the firearm was fake until after he was struck with it.

The circuit court did give Bell one break, however. It found the sentencing judge was wrong to impose another enhancement to Bells penalty on a finding that Bell had physically restrained the clerk.

The fact that the clerk fought back shows he wasnt restrained, at least not in the legal sense, Greenaway concluded.

Circuit Judge Michael A. Chagares, agreed with the ruling on the dangerous weapons enhancement, but disagreed with the finding that Bell didnt restrain the clerk.

Bells use of force against the employeeboth served as an attempt to keep the employee confined to the floor and signaled his intention to impede the employees interference with the crime, Chagares wrote in his dissenting opinion.

The courts overall ruling sends Bells case back to U.S. Eastern District Court for resentencing without the physical restraint enhancement.
(Newser)  One of the world's largest fish is no more. A new study in the Science of the Total Environment has declared the Chinese paddlefish to be extinct. As National Geographic notes, the freshwater fish had been swimming in the Yangtze River for about 200 million years, but it could not survive the modern surge of China's human population. Overfishing in the 1970s took a toll, but the real damage came with the construction of the Gezhouba Dam on the Yangtze in 1981. It effectively "split the Chinese paddlefish population in two," per Live Science, making it impossible for fish downstream of the dam to return to their spawning grounds. The last sighting came in 2003, though researchers say the fish had been "functionally extinct," or unable to reproduce in meaningful numbers, a decade prior.

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Its very sad, fish biologist Zeb Hogan of the University of Nevada tells National Geographic. Its the definitive loss of a very unique and extraordinary animal, with no hope of recovery. Hogan was not involved with the study. The fish averaged 10 feet in length, but some specimens clocked in at twice that size, notes Phys.org. The extinction means that only one paddlefish species remains in existencethe American paddlefish, which is found in the Mississippi River Basin and is considered to be vulnerable. Study leader Qiwei Wei of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Science calls the development a "reprehensible and an irreparable loss." The study, while leaving open the slim possibility that a stray fish or two exists, calculates that the extinction took place in 2010. (Read more extinction stories.)
DUBLIN-based aircraft lessor CDB Aviation, part of China Development Bank, has named Patrick Hannigan as its new chief executive.

Mr Hannigan, who was the chief commercial officer at the firm, was also a founding shareholder of Domhnal Slattery's Avolon.

CDB Aviation has a portfolio of about 423 aircraft. That includes 227 owned and managed jets, and 196 orders. Its fleet includes narrow and widebody aircraft such as Boeing 737s, Airbus A320neo jets, Embraer E190s, and Boeing 777s.

As of last year, it also had 101 orders for Boeing's troubled 737 Max aircraft. Those orders included 91 for the Max 8, and 10 for the Max 10 variant.

Mr Hannigan succeeds Peter Chang, who is retiring after leading CDB Aviation for the past three years.

As chief commercial officer at the firm since 2017, Mr Hannigan helped the company to expand its scale, geographic and customer reach.

He said that he and his team will continue to focus on building "mutually beneficial relationships" with airline customers, financial partners and aircraft makers.

The executive was also previously the senior vice president of marketing with RBS Aviation Capital, a business that had been started by Domhnal Slattery as International Aviation Management. He sold that business to RBS in 2001. RBS sold it on in 2012 to Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group for $7.3bn, and it was renamed SMBC Aviation Capital. It remains headquartered in Dublin.

Mr Hannigan has also worked as a marketing vice president with GECAS.
Three police officers and one protester killed after demonstrators attacked authorities near Hanoi.

At least four people, including three police officers, were killed in Vietnam on Thursday when protesters attacked authorities trying to build a wall near a military airport, the Ministry of Public Security said.

The protesters attacked the authorities with hand grenades, petrol bombs and knives in Dong Tam village, near the capital, Hanoi, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

Three policemen and one of the protesters were killed, while another protester was injured, the ministry said.

It did not elaborate on the protesters objections.

The authorities have launched an investigation into the case and have arrested the lawbreakers, the ministry said.

Disputes over land do occur in Vietnam. However, it was the first time in years when policemen were killed in such a dispute.
San Francisco Creates Master Housing Data Set

Code for Americas Marijuana Conviction Clearance Work Expands

A New Map Visualizes Census Hiring Needs

Virginia has now codified its data operations with an executive order from Gov. Ralph Northam that creates a state data commission, an executive data board and a data governance council.As Executive Order 48 notes , the creation of all of that has essentially grown out of a 2018 decision by lawmakers to establish a chief data officer position for the state as well as a related advisory committee. Upon creation, those entities were charged with developing a permanent data sharing and analytics governance structure for Virginia, which is what the governor signed into being after a report recommended that he do so.The trio of new creations also comes with a set of priorities as identified by the executive order. Some of the more prominent among them include promoting the sharing or use of data assets, maximizing the value of state data assets, and promoting an increase in data collaboration between the state and other public agencies at the county and city levels.Codification of data work like this has become a topic of increasing import for state governments. As data work has matured and become entrenched in governance structures, it has quickly become readily apparent that commissions, boards and councils need to be laid out for it as they are for other public focuses.In Virginias case, the creation of the commission is perhaps the move with the most potential to yield tangible results, given that the membership of the group is to be made up of more than a dozen executive-level leaders from other public agencies. This sort of group will be inherently useful when it comes to fostering agency-wide buy-in for the data work, a challenge often discussed among those in the field.San Francisco, one of the cities that has been hardest hit by California's ongoing housing crisis, has created a master data set with a monthly count of new construction and total occupiable units within the jurisdiction.The work was done by the offices of the San Francisco Controller, the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection and DataSF, which is that citys open data office. As the controllers office noted in a tweet announcing the creation, the aim of the project was to address the citys challenging lack of access to consistent, accurate data on housing construction.To augment the creation of the data set, the city also published methodology and other info, all of which interested parties can peruse here Within the data set, which is to be updated monthly, users can also view the change in the number of new units associated with building permit applications, the units that were approved for occupancy, the type of document approving the units, and the location of the units. This is all preliminary data meant to be a monthly gauge before the citys planning department publishes its annual Housing Inventory Report, which developers of the new data set describe as a more complete account of new residential units, noting they may vary slightly.The idea is, of course, to give the city, residents and activists a clearer picture of the new housing ecosystem in San Francisco, which can then be used in support of their work.Code for America, which helped a number of jurisdictions across the country clear newly eligible marijuana convictions, has expanded the work to Contra Costa County, Calif., which is near where this project started in San Francisco.Indeed, Contra Costa is located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco metro area, and it is home to more than 1 million residents. With the help of Code for America, the district attorney there was able to recently announce that officials had cleared 3,264 convictions.The technology used to do this work is called Clear My Record, and it started after California passed Proposition 64, which enabled a massive number of previous convictions to be  fittingly  cleared off records. The tech is automatic, which means that the residents involved dont have to do anything and also that there is no valuable time lost for public servants who have to handle or process the paperwork.Contra Costa joins a list of some of the largest counties in California that have benefited from this work, including Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Joaquin. Officials estimate that to date the work has helped reduce or dismiss roughly 75,000 eligible convictions under Proposition 64.Developers have created a new map that visualizes 2020 U.S. Census goals by county in all 50 states.This coming Census, as anyone who has been reading my coverage knows , is the nations first count that will be primarily digital, which creates new advantages as well as some lofty new challenges. One of those challenges is hiring, which is difficult this time around because ideal candidates will have to posses or be trained in digital skills.What the new map shows is which counties still have the furthest to go in hiring staff to help with the count. Counties that have made the most progress toward their hiring goals are colored blue, while the ones that have not are coded in a burnt orange color.Interested parties can check out the map here
ST. LOUIS  A total of 25 small dogs and one cat have been rescued from a home in Hickory County, Missouri, northwest of Lebanon.

Officials with the Humane Society of Missouri on Wednesday reported that its Animal Cruelty Task Force had been summoned to rescue the animals from a long-term hoarding situation in which the owner had been deceased for more than a week.
KENT COUNTY, MI  A Kent County sheriffs deputy was justified in fatally shooting an armed man, Prosecutor Chris Becker said Thursday, Jan. 9.

Deputy James Davis shot and killed Steven Saucier, 34, on Nov. 24 at Sauciers home at 4600 100th Street SE in Caledonia.

Becker determined that Deputy Elizabeth Donovans life was in danger when Saucier  intoxicated, threatening and belligerent  pushed her to the ground. He held a .45-caliber revolver in the low-ready position, but it was pointed at the deputy.

One of the more powerful pieces of evidence which leads to the conclusion that this shooting is justified can be found in the statement of Deputy Donovan just after the incident happened, Becker wrote in a report.

She told Deputy Davis, You saved my life. Seriously.

The statement was captured on in-car police video.

Becker said that the incident was senseless, with intoxication playing a big role. Sheriffs deputies were responding around 4 a.m. to multiple 911 calls, including those from Saucier who repeatedly told a dispatcher to hurry up and get police to his home.

Police were told that Saucier had assaulted three people and is now threatening to shoot someone.

After police arrive, Sauciers wife, Megan, can be heard telling her husband that police are outside. She then screams, Oh my God, when her husband is shot by the deputy who was armed with a shotgun.

Saucier had been at two bars earlier in the night, and appeared to be drinking at home, before he was shot. He had a blood-alcohol level of 0.22 percent. A motorist is presumed intoxicated at 0.08 percent.

Sauciers wife provided police with video taken inside their home.

Becker said the deputies acted appropriately responding to a situation that should never have happened. He said that witnesses told police that Sauciers actions were out of character.

His wife said shes never seen him like this, Becker said.
Ministro de Defensa expreso su total disposicion y servicio para coordinar con las autoridades de Cajamarca: He venido aqui con los representantes de @indeciperu, @CENEPRED y la @A_Espacial_peru, instituciones que gestionan en riesgo de desastres. pic.twitter.com/xe0zUUuyka
An aerial view of the Girard Point refinery, one of two facilities located in the 1,300-acre Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery complex. PES is undergoing bankruptcy, and its assets are up for sale. Read more

The next seven days could determine the fate of the bankrupt Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) refinery complex, which shut down following a catastrophic June 21 fire and explosion.

Final bids from potential buyers of the refinerys assets are due at noon on Friday. The bids will trigger a rapid series of events that could conclude a week later, on Jan. 17, with an auction conducted at a law office in New York.

The 1,300-acre property, which is larger than all of Center City, could be sold to one buyer, or broken up into pieces and sold to several buyers. The site has been used for petroleum refining for more than 150 years. But the refinerys shutdown, and its continued struggles with financial viability as a conventional oil processing plant, have also raised hopes among urban planners, environmentalists, and the refinerys neighbors that a new, cleaner use can be found for a large property at the citys southern gateway.

Thinking long-term, its an extraordinary opportunity, said Harris M. Steinberg, executive director of the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation at Drexel University. He said the site could be used for just about anything, though much depends upon remediation of more than a century of soil contamination.

Still, because of the propertys installed infrastructure  one of two refineries in the complex was undamaged by the fire  and its transportation links to rail, road, water, and pipelines, many observers believe that the logical buyer would continue to use some of the land for energy production or fuel storage.

Even if a new owner continues refining oil on the site, advocates for a clean-energy future view the bankruptcy process as part of a longer, inevitable transition as the nation shifts from fossil fuels.

Frankly, I will say it, there are plans where it could make a lot of sense, for all concerned, to restore some of the refining activities at some portion of the site, said Mark Alan Hughes, founding faculty director of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. But its also got to do a bunch of other stuff where we all realize where that site has to be 20 years from now.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Kevin Gross in Wilmington in November approved bidding procedures for the PES property, which declared bankruptcy in July. The procedures are designed to promote participation and active bidding and ensure that the highest or otherwise best value is generated for the interests or the assets, PES said in a court filing.

Recognizing the public stake in the courts outcome, Gross has granted the citys request to be consulted during the bidding and auction process.

Fifteen potential bidders last year submitted written indications of interest in PES, the East Coasts largest refinery. But fewer parties are expected to actually submit formal bids. The parties may be interested in only the refinerys real estate and equipment. They may also bid on other assets, including tax refunds or the rights to collect proceeds from the refinerys $1.25 billion in insurance policies.

PES could simply accept one proposal and call off the auction. If there are several qualified bidders, it could designate a preferred bidder as a stalking horse, which would require competitors to submit higher bids at the auction.

If the refinerys lenders decide that the bids are unsatisfactory, they can acquire the assets themselves by bidding up to the $755 million in debt they hold, a strategy known as credit bidding.

Under confidentiality agreements, PES is required to provide any qualified bids by Sunday to other parties, such as the city representative. If it designates a stalking horse bidder, it is required to disclose that publicly no later than Monday.

The court has set a series of deadlines for parties to file objections to the plan and for creditors to vote on it, concluding with a confirmation hearing on Feb. 6.

Two potential bidders have publicly declared an interest in the property for energy production. A group led by former chief executive officer Philip Rinaldi is the only known bidder that proposes to restart the refinery, adding renewable natural gas production to the mix.

SG Preston, a Philadelphia biofuels marketer, also wants to convert the refinery into a producer of renewable diesel and jet fuel.

Randy Delbert LeTang, the companys chief executive, declined to comment on the PES bidding process. But the company last week issued a statement that said it seeks to usher in a new industrial revolution of sustainability by converting old industrial sites, including oil refineries, in partnership with leading environmental sustainability investment initiatives.

At least three real estate developers that specialize in repurposing old industrial sites into cleaner uses, such as warehouse distribution centers, are rumored to be interested in the property, said Tom Kloza, the global head of energy analysis for the Oil Price Information Service.

If the site remains in energy production, much will depend upon whether a buyer can line up investors who believe there is still money to be made in oil refining.

The refinery was able to process 335,000 barrels per day  30% of the refining capacity on the East Coast  but its closure has had a barely noticeable effect on retail markets for gasoline, diesel, or heating oil. Producers quickly shipped in fuel from other refineries in the region, overseas, or by pipeline from the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Some analysts expected the Jan. 1 imposition of new rules requiring low-sulfur fuel for ships could create a shortage of the type of low-sulfur diesel that PES used to produce, affecting home heating-oil markets. The maritime industry seems to have coped with the changes without disruptions, though profit margins for low-sulfur ship fuels have improved, said Kloza, the oil analyst.

Longer-term, the market for refined petroleum products is expected to decline as more motorists trade in fossil-fueled cars for electric vehicles, putting more pressure on financially challenged refiners like PES, stated a report from IHS Markit to Mayor Jim Kenneys Refinery Group.

And as for the refinerys 1,100 workers, some have found other work, including new positions at refineries in other states. But others are still unemployed and say that prospective employers are reluctant to hire them because they fear the workers will soon return to the refinery and its good-paying jobs when it reopens.

Were just waiting, said Ryan OCallaghan, a spokesman for United Steelworkers Local 10-1, one of the workers who is still jobless and is expecting the bankruptcy proceeding to arrive at some kind of closure.
It looks like a quid pro quo, Conway told me at his office. A politically connected person  Burke  got a deal from the (Foxx) administration. Just like you had the situation with Smollett, where a politically connected person got a better deal than someone else. And Foxx doesnt seem to be dealing with the obvious conflicts of interest. We need to remove the influence of politics, stuff like Smollett and Burke and politically connected deals out of that office.
WASHINGTON - The World Bank says the global economy should see a modest rebound in growth this year.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 8/1/2020 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASHINGTON - The World Bank says the global economy should see a modest rebound in growth this year.

But the 189-nation lending institution is cautioning that a number risks could upend its forecast, including the possibility of renewed trade hostilities between the world's two biggest economies, the United States and China.

In an updated economic outlook released Wednesday, the World Bank forecast the global economy will grow 2.5% this year, up only slightly from 2.4% growth in 2019. That had been the weakest performance since the 2008 financial crisis and a significant slowdown from growth rates above 3% in 2017 and 2018.

The bank's revised outlook represents a downgrade from its last forecast in June when it had expected growth to be 0.2 percentage-points higher this year. The forecast also trimmed its expectation for global growth by 0.2 percentage points over the next two years to moderate rates of 2.6% in 2021 and 2.7% in 2022.

Downside risks persist. The recovery is fragile, said World Bank Vice-President Ceyla Pazarbasioglu. Uncertainty has weighed on confidence, trade and investment which are all critical for growth.'

For the United States, the World Bank sees gross domestic product growth slowing from 2.3% in 2019 to 1.8% in 2020 and then slowing further to 1.7% in both 2021 and 2022.

Those growth rates are significantly below the 3%-plus growth President Donald Trump has promised to deliver with his economic program of tax cuts and deregulation.

For Europe, the World Bank has an even gloomier outlook. Last years minuscule 1.1% growth is expected to be followed by further scant gains of 1% this year and 1.3% in both 2021 and 2022.

The new forecast projects China, the worlds second largest economy, will grow at steadily slower rates of 5.9% this year, 5.8% next year and 5.7% in 2022. That would mark the slowest growth period for China since the early 1990s.

Economic growth in both China and the United States has been impacted by the uncertainty generated by the punitive tariffs both countries have imposed on each others goods.

Growth for all advanced economies is expected to slip to 1.4% this year, down from 1.8% last year, reflecting continued softness in manufacturing in many parts of the world that has caused businesses to pull back on their plans to expand and modernize production facilities.

Growth in emerging economies is expected to accelerate to 4.1% this year, but the acceleration will not be broad based. A rebound is forecast for a group of larger economies  including Argentina, Brazil and India  which are expected to recover this year after a period of substantial weakness.

But the forecast expects growth in about one-third of emerging market economies to slow this year due to weaker-than-expected exports and investment.

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Trumps get-tough trade policies aimed at lowering Americas huge trade deficits as a way to boost U.S. manufacturing jobs have resulted in an increase in protectionist barriers in the United States and many other nations.

The World Bank estimated that global trade growth slowed from 4% in 2018 to just 1.4% last year, the weakest gain since the 2008 financial crisis.

The World Bank, however, noted the lowering of trade tensions between the United States and China after a so-called Phase One agreement was reached between the two nations. It forecast that trade should resume growth this year, although the projected trade growth of 1.9% would still be far below the 5% average gains in recent years.

Among other threats to growth, the World Bank cited weak productivity gains in many countries and a sharp rise in global debt burdens.

___

This story has been updated to read that the World Bank's forecast for global growth in 2021 is 2.6%, not 2.8%.
Burma Giant Myanmar Irrawaddy Dolphin Died of Old Age: Environmentalists

A male dolphin that was found dead on Jan. 7. / WCS

MANDALAY  An Irrawaddy dolphin was found dead on Tuesday in Madaya Township, Mandalay Region, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

The male dolphin died of old age and was 220cm long and 132cm in circumference, the NGO said.

U Hkyaw Hla Thein, who is responsible for dolphin conservation at the WCS, said it was about 6cm longer than the next biggest dolphin they had found.

Its teeth show it was quite old and, to confirm it, we examined its stomach and found it was empty. We do not know how long it had been since it ate. So we concluded it died of old age, he added.

The Fisheries Department and WCS said it was the biggest dolphin ever found dead between Mandalay and Bhamo.

Some residents and civil society organizations suggested the dolphin died because of electrofishing.

Fish are abundant where the dolphin was found dead, which attracts electrofishers. And there are also fishing lakes in the area. Those working at the fishing lakes downstream said the dolphin died due to electrofishing, said U Maung Maung Oo, leader of the Sein Yaung So environmental group.

Fisherman U Maung Lay of Sin Kyun Village also suggested that the dolphin died of electrofishing.

The deaths of Irrawaddy dolphins are mainly attributable to fishing using electricity, mines, poison and restricted fishing nets, according to U Maung Maung Oo. He also called on the authorities to take harsher action against illegal fishing in the protected area.

The deaths can be reduced either by enacting a separate law on dolphins or by the Parliament enforcing the existing protected area for dolphins, he said.

The dolphin will be stuffed and displayed in a museum.

As the Irrawaddy dolphin is classified as an endangered species, the Kachin, Sagaing and Mandalay governments and the Fisheries Department, WCS and civil society organizations are working to conserve them.

The Ayeyarwady River along with the Irrawaddy dolphin were included in the Unesco World Heritage tentative list in 2014 because the unique culture of cooperative fishing between humans and dolphins is regarded as of outstanding universal value.

As part of conservation efforts, the authorities and civil society organizations educate residents about the damage caused by illegal fishing while the police say they patrol the protected areas.

Although the law threatens up to three years in prison for fishing using electricity, mines, poison and restricted fishing nets, violators are only given one to three months in prison, according to the WCS.

The protected area was established in 2005 and spanned 72 kilometers of the Ayeyarwady River from Mingun near Mandalay, north to Kyaukmyaung in Sagaing Region. In 2018, the area was expanded from Katha to Shwegu, stretching 119 kilometers. It was expanded again to cover Kachin State and Sagaing Region.

The Fisheries Department and WCS have conducted annual dolphin population surveys in the protected area. A total of 76 were spotted in 2018 and 74 in 2019. The next survey is due in February.

According to the Mandalay Region Fisheries Department, three Irrawaddy dolphins died in 2017, six in 2018 and three in 2019. In December, two baby dolphins were found between Mandalay and Kyaukmyaung.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko

You may also like these stories:

Myanmar Rights Commission to Probe Fishery Slave Claims

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Two New Jersey men have been sentenced to federal prison for conspiring to file false tax returns from their Upper Darby tax preparation business.

Omar Faruq, 37, and Omar Ali, 36, both of Pennsauken, were sentenced to 24 months and 18 months in prison, respectively, by U.S. District Court Judge Nitza I. Quinones Wednesday. Faruq was also ordered to pay $688,362 and Ali was ordered to pay $573,322 in restitution to the United States Department of Treasury. Both also received three years of supervised release.

Faruq and Ali pleaded guilty in June 2019 to filing false tax returns on behalf of their clients at Omar Consultancy Inc., which had offices in Upper Darby and New Jersey.

According to the plea memorandum, the defendants artificially increased refunds on their clients returns without their knowledge between 2013 and 2015 by falsifying and inflating deductions and credits to which the clients were not entitled, then pocketed a portion of the fraudulent refunds for themselves.

Faruq and Ali also both pleaded guilty to filing a false income tax return for themselves and their respective spouses for the 2014 tax year. Faruq and Ali omitted gross receipts from their tax preparation business on the 2014 returns and failed to report diverted funds from their clients as income on their personal returns.

These defendants  professional tax preparers  committed fraud and stole from the United States government while duping their clients, said U.S. Attorney William McSwain in a release. The defendants also stole from the pockets of all taxpayers who do the right thing every April and pay their fair share of taxes. With tax season approaching, these sentencings serve as a warning for anyone considering this type of fraud.
HCM City is hopeful of mitigating its manpower shortage, especially in sectors related to Industry 4.0, over the next few years since many local universities plan to launch majors in artificial intelligence and such streams starting in 2020-21.

Students have practical lessons at Hong Bang International University in HCM City. Photo courtesy of the university

The University of Economics and Law under the Vietnam National University-HCM City (VNUHCM) plans to offer a degree in digital business and artificial intelligence.

The VNUHCMs other members such as the University of Science, University of Technology and University of Information Technology plan to launch degrees in data science, applied

mathematics, computer science focused on artificial intelligence, computer engineering focused on embedded systems and the internet of things, and robotics engineering.

The Banking University plans to launch training programmes in data science in business.

Candidates can apply for degrees in Internet of Thing (IoT) and embedded systems at the HCM City University of Technology and Education for the 2020-21 academic year.

Phung Quan, head of information and communication at the University of Science, said: The data science major is essential to train the workforce for Industry 4.0 because it will be applied in every sphere.

The universitys new training programme in applied mathematics would find application in data science and other sectors like finance and banking, he added.

Hong Bang International University will launch several new majors, including AI.

Dr Nguyen Thanh Trung, head of its Information and Technology faculty, said: AI is one of nine new areas with breakthrough technologies.

The Ministry of Science and Technology regards AI as the first sector that needs to be developed followed by IoT and blockchain.

Trung said the university has the faculty required for teaching AI and would recruit more lecturers specialising in AI.

Assoc Prof Dr Ho Thanh Phong, the universitys rector, said further investment would be made in facilities and infrastructure for teaching AI.

Fifty candidates would be enrolled for the course. The city is seeking to become a smart city and requires many AI applications and workers. That is why the university is launching the AI degree.

The Hanoi University of Technology, FPT University and the HCM City University of Technology and Education have already offered programmes in data science, AI and robotics.

A Ministry of Information and Communications report shows that 149 out of the countrys 237 universities offered tech majors such as IT, electronics and telecommunications, and information security in 2019.

A 2018 report by Australias Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation said Vietnam would need more than one million IT engineers by 2020.

The ministry targets having 1.3 million IT workers by 2025, most of them highly skilled.  VNS

Gia Loc

Trade unions, better workforce needed for Industry 4.0 era The quality of Vietnams workforce and the role of trade unions in protecting workers must be improved to meet the demands of the 4.0 industry era, experts said during a conference on work quality in foreign-direct invested companies.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 9)  American Senator Richard "Dick" Durbin once again urged the Philippine government to release detained Senator Leila de Lima, saying this is the "easy and honorable way forward."

"The Duterte regime should stop threatening the travel of Americans and so many others who travel between our nations and instead ensure a quick and credible trial for Senator de Lima or simply do the right thing and release her," Durbin said as he took to the US Senate floor on Wednesday.

President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman Salvador Panelo has said the government would require all Americans to secure a visa before entering the Philippines  regardless of the purpose and length of their visit  if the US enforces the ban on Filipino officials involved in De Lima's imprisonment.

At present, US citizens visiting the Philippines for not more than 30 days do not need a visa.

Refusing US entry to De Lima's accusers was an amendment Durbin and colleague Patrick Leahy introduced in America's budget law, which was passed in December 2019.

In apparent retaliation, Duterte also banned Durbin and Leahy from entering the Philippines. He also prohibited the entry of Edward Markey, another US senator, for filing a resolution calling for De Lima's release.

READ: 'Just tit for tat': Gov't bans 2 US senators, threatens to require visa for all Americans

He also prohibited the entry of Edward Markey, another US senator, for filing a resolution calling for De Lima's release.

READ: Banned US Senator: Duterte's strongman tactics can't silence American solons

De Lima has been jailed on drug charges since 2017, just as she was criticizing alleged extrajudicial killings in Duterte's drug war, Durbin pointed out.

He called on his colleagues to pass Markey's resolution, which also sought an end to the harassment of journalists in the Philippines, including Maria Ressa, the head of online news site Rappler. Ressa and Rappler are facing a string of cases perceived to be part of the Duterte administration's crackdown on its critics.

"In the end, these will be important tests of whether cherished democratic norms we share with our long-standing Filipino allies will be respected by President Duterte," Durbin said.

The Duterte administration has repeatedly denied politically persecuting De Lima and Ressa, saying their cases are being tried by the country's independent courts.
New Delhi, Jan 9 : The US-Iran tensions have escalated after Tehran fired over a dozen missiles targeting American air bases in Iraq on Wednesday.

After the strike, an Iranian official mocked US President Donald Trump by tweeting an image of Iran's flag. The reaction came as a retaliation to Trump tweeting an image of the American flag soon after the assassination of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani on January 3.

Responding to the US President's post, Iranian conservative politician and diplomat Saeed Jalili mocked Trump by posting an image of the Iranian flag.

Jalili is a former nuclear negotiator for Iran and has served as the country's Foreign Minister.

However, Twitter has temporarily restricted Jalili's account.

Tensions between the US and Iran have escalated after Soleimani, the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) elite Quds Force, was killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad.
President Trump told the nation yesterday that no Americans were hurt by Irans missile attack in response to the death of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. He stated that Iran appears to be standing down and indicated that American forces would not respond further.

Unsurprisingly, reaction in America to Soleimanis death has fallen largely along partisan lines. For example, a Fox News commentator stated that Soleimani was an unparalleled organizer and a pitiless murderer. His death was richly earned. A CNN commentator, by contrast, called his killing a reckless gamble.

This partisan divide is sadly familiar, of course. But I recently read an explanation for it that was both insightful and relevant to more than our politics.

Four ways to do foreign policy

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat views American foreign policy through a prism developed by scholar Walter Russell Mead, who created this famous typology named for four American statesmen:

Hamiltonian: protection of commerce

Wilsonian: moral principle

Jeffersonian: maintenance of a democratic system

Jacksonian: populist values and military strength.

Douthat describes the Hamiltonians as business-minded internationalists, cold-eyed and stability-oriented and wary of wars that seem idealistic rather than self-interested. He describes the Wilsonians as idealists, whether neoconservative or liberal-humanitarian, who regard the United States military as a force for spreading democracy and protecting human rights. He claims that most foreign policy leaders in Washington belong to one of these two groups.

According to Douthat, however, far more American voters are either Jacksonians or Jeffersonians. He describes Jeffersonians as more common on the left than on the right, an impulse that regards global hegemony as a corrupting folly and Americas wars as mostly unwise and unjust. Their defining attitude is No blood for oil.

Douthat locates the Jacksonian tendency as more common on the right than on the left and describes it a pugilistic nationalism thats wary of all international entanglements but ready for war whenever threats arise. Its essential credo is More rubble, less trouble.

According to Douthat, President Trump is a Jacksonian working within the Hamiltonian-Wilsonian strategic framework that dominates Washingtons political leadership. As with much of the presidents agenda and actions, the killing of Maj. Gen. Soleimani doesnt fit within their ideology, which helps explain the polarization and rancor of our political discourse.

Whether you agree or disagree, its important to note the formative power of a leaders worldview in shaping foreign policy in practical ways. How we see the world goes a long way toward determining how we experience it.

Seeing Iran through spiritual eyes

The same is true for us spiritually. For example, a church worker in Iran told CBN News that, forty years after Irans Islamic revolution, theres another spiritual revolution underway in his country.

He states, More people have come to faith [in Christ] in Iran in the last forty years than in the previous 1,400 years. Believers there say that persecution in Iran is not hindering the church. In fact, it is growing it.

One missional leader explains: When the persecution stops, the growth stops. What we want is the Gospel to spread far and wide and deep in Iran.

Seeing our souls through spiritual eyes

Henri Nouwen made an extended observation that seems especially relevant to this point in history:

When we lose a family member or friend through death, when we become jobless, when we fail an examination, when we live through a separation or a divorce, when war breaks out, when an earthquake destroys our home or touches us, the question Why? spontaneously emerges. Why me? Why now? Why here? It is so arduous to live without an answer to this Why? that we are easily seduced into connecting the events over which we have no control with our conscious or unconscious evaluation.

When we have cursed ourselves or allowed others to curse us, it is very tempting to explain all the brokenness we experience as an expression or confirmation of this curse. Before we fully realize it, we have already said to ourselves, You see, I always thought I was no good. . . . Now I know for sure. The facts of life prove it.

The great spiritual call of the Beloved Children of God is to pull their brokenness away from the shadow of the curse and put it under the light of the blessing. This is not as easy as it sounds. The power of the darkness around us is strong, and our world finds it easier to manipulate self-rejecting people than self-accepting people.

But when we keep listening attentively to the voice calling us the Beloved, it becomes possible to live our brokenness, not as a confirmation of our fear that we are worthless, but as an opportunity to purify and deepen the blessing that rests upon us. Physical, mental, or emotional pain lived under the blessing is experienced in ways radically different from physical, mental, or emotional pain lived under the curse.

How King David approached conflict

King David was no stranger to war with his enemies and with himself. In a time of intense conflict, he made this simple but profound declaration: Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord (Psalm 4:5).

As we work, God works. As we face conflict in our nation and in our souls, the key is to do what only we can do and trust God to do what only he can do.

What sacrifice will you offer him today?

What challenge will you trust to him today?

Publication date: January 9, 2020

Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Alex Wroblewski/Stringer

For more from the Denison Forum, please visit www.denisonforum.org.

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L eonardo DiCaprio has helped rescue a man who had fallen from a cruise ship in the Caribbean, according to reports.

The Hollywood actor, 45, was on his boat with friends when they picked up a Mayday call, The Sun reported.

They discovered that a French crewman, 24, from a Club Med yacht had fallen into the water near St Martin while drunk, sources told the paper.

DiCaprio, who rose to international stardom with 1997 blockbuster Titanic, is then said to have immediately launched a search for the missing man.

DiCaprio rose to fame for his role in disaster blockbuster Titanic alongside Kate Winslet

He and his friends were the only party brave enough to go looking for the man as a storm set in during the rescue on December 30, a source said.

The Club Med cruise worker had fallen overboard after too much alcohol and a long night, they told the paper.

"The captain put the man's chances of survival at one in a billion. Like winning the lottery twice.

Leonardo DiCaprio's filmography - In pictures 1 /34 Leonardo DiCaprio's filmography - In pictures Oscar denied Leo as fraudster Jordan Belfort in 2013's The Wolf of Wall Street The big time Starring with Kate Winslet in Titanic (1997) Flying high Catch Me If You Can (2002) What Gatsby As Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (2013) Young and adorable What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) Watershed moment Leo stars in The Basketball Diaries (1995) Star-crossed lover A young Leo in Romeo + Juliet (1996) Check out those curtains... Leo stars with Meryl Streep in Marvin's Room (1996) Leonardo DiCaprio in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) imdb Dangerous liason The Beach (2000) Martin Scorsese film 'Gangs Of New York' (2002) starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Oscar potential DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes in The Aviator (2005) Growing up Leo stars in The Departed with Jack Nicholson (2006) Another Oscar nomination... Leo takes the title role in Blood Diamond (2006) Together again... Leo and Kate Winslet are reunited as leads in Revolutionary Road (2008) Film Body of Lies'. (2008) (L-R) Leonardo DiCaprio as Roger Ferris and Russell Crowe as Ed Hoffman Fran ois Duhamel Playing detective Mark Ruffalo and DiCaprio star in Shutter Island (2010) Dreaming big With Cillian Murphy in Christopher Nolan's Inception (2010) Political role Clint Eastwood directs Leo and Armie Hammer (left) in J. Edgar (2011) Awards buzz Leo plays evil slave owner Calvin Candie in Django Unchained (2012) Film: The Revenant. (2015) Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio. Film: 'The Revenant' (2015), starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass. Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in The Audition (2015) imdb Film: Before the Flood (2016), starring Leonardo DiCaprio with President Barack Obama. Leonardo DiCaprio stars in Columbia Pictures' "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" 2019 Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt star in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 2019

The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star and his friends reportedly eventually spotted the man, named only as Victor, near the tiny island of Saba.

He allegedly sobbed as he was hauled aboard, saying I should have died. He was then given food, drink and clothes before being passed over to coastguards.

Leonardo played a blinding role in his own real-life Hollywood movie, the unnamed source told the Sun.
McClain also has been under fire this week for a July 2012 email in which he advocated for state worker Forrest Ashby in a disciplinary matter. In the email to then-Gov. Pat Quinns aides, McClain said Ashby kept his mouth shut about Jones ghost workers, the rape in Champaign and other items. He is loyal to the administration. The email, first reported by WBEZ, did not include any other details.
Following in the Footsteps of Martin Luther King, Jr.

South Los Angeles non-profit gears up for an ambitious first quarter

On a sweltering August day in 1963, hundreds of thousands gathered between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial to hear Martin Luther King, Jr. give his historic I Have a Dream speech. King set forth a vision of prosperity and equality.

More than five decades after the March on Washington and Kings prophetic words, Community Build, Inc. President and CEO Robert Sausedo transported his entire staff of 60 employees to the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial atop the Kenneth Hahn State Recreational Park to reaffirm their commitment to Kings vision.

Leimert Park-based Community Build, Inc. (CBI) was created in the wake of the 1992 civil unrest. CBIs mission is economic development and community revitalization through investment in human capital  specifically youth and young adults.

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With a view of the vibrant downtown Los Angeles skyline in the background, Sausedo reminded his staff of Kings legacy and the agencys role in revitalizing South Los Angeles.

Our goal is to follow in the footsteps of Dr. King and continue to be a vehicle for hope and opportunity. We are all peacemakers that make a difference in our community, said Sausedo.

With a focus on economic development and creating employment and job training opportunities, Sausedo outlined an ambitious timeline for the first quarter of the year.

After being out of commission in 2019, the Greater Leimert Park Village Crenshaw Corridor Business Improvement District, or BID, will once again be managed by CBI beginning in January 2020. The first quarter will also see CBI launch its first social enterprise, CBI Landscaping and Maintenance. The landscaping company will initially service the area within the BIDs boundaries before expanding to other properties.

CBI will also take possession of one of the properties it owns in Leimert Park Village, launching its second social enterprise, a full-service restaurant. The restaurant will provide an opportunity for employment, training and skill development for local youth and adults.

Sausedo also announced that the L.A. South Chamber of Commerce will relocate to CBIs headquarters on Degnan Boulevard. He welcomed the addition of the chamber and said the chamber is solidly aligned with CBIs economic development strategies for small businesses.

Following the meeting, Sausedo along with all 60 employees, walked through Leimert Park Village and along Crenshaw Boulevard to reach out to property owners, businesses and the community to share information about the organizations services and programs.

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For CBI Vice President of Intervention Services Leon Gullette, who developed and implemented many of the agencys outreach programs, Sausedos words served to reinforced his mission. An outreach and gang intervention specialist for over two decades, Gullette has seen the effect that hopelessness and anger can have on a community.

Gullettes first program, Project Save, was designed with the assistance of Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson. Project Save was developed to assist at-risk youth ages 18 to 30 to develop skills to create a productive life.

We help them walk through the steps of life, even the missteps , cleaning it up and going forward. It gives folks hope. said Gullette. Just because you messed up, doesnt mean life is over.

Project Save has been so successful, L.A. City Councilmember Curren Price (CD-9) and Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson (CD-8) have also incorporated the program in their districts.

Gullette also operates the South Los Angeles area Gang Reduction and Youth Development, or GYRD, program. Originally developed by the mayors office in 2007, the GYRD program provides counseling and case management to young people 14 to 25 years old who are in a gang or gang-affiliated. In certain areas of South Los Angeles, thats pretty much everyone, Gullette said.

Part of South Los Angeless GYRD Program is street response. Gullette and his team respond to gang incidents in the street. The biggest part of the job is to intervene between two gangs and try to keep the peace. That program has become such a vital resource that CBI receives the same community requests and notifications for gang intervention that go to the police department. Gullette said this is in the hope that CBIs staff will be the first responders to volatile situations. There has been a measurable response to their gang intervention tactics. According to Gullette, in the areas where CBI operates the GYRD program, gang-associated crimes are the lowest since the programs inception.

Of all the programs CBI provides for the community, Gullette said the food distribution is the one that has the most visible community response. Each week, CBI distributes bags of food in four different locations. In 2019, the program, sponsored by the Sam Simon Foundation, distributed over 41,000 bags of free groceries weighing 50 pounds each loaded with non-GMO fresh vegetables, fruits and other household staples.

For more information on Community Build, Inc.s programs and services, visit communitybuildinc.org.
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While many automakers are in a rush to nix traditional driving in favor of fully autonomous vehicles, Honda is holding on tight to the steering wheel in a new 'augmented' experience that blends the best of both worlds.

When the car is in its autonomous state a passenger can swipe their hand left or right over the top of the steering wheel to make it change lanes, which will no doubt appeal to todays swipe-obsessed generation.

Its steering wheel can also fire up the car with a double-tap on the top. The controls can also be moved from one side of the vehicle to another, meaning a person sitting anywhere in the car - left, middle, or right - could drive.

Although the car can be driven n the traditional way, the computer system will also be on constant standby, watching drivers eyes for signs of distraction. Honda says if a drivers gaze is averted then the autonomous system will intervene and take control.

The so-called Augmented Driving Concept is on display at CES in Las Vegas and showcases the Japanese firm's ability to seamlessly switch between manual and autonomous modes.

The moveable steering wheel also doubles as a brake and accelerator and MailOnline got a hands-on demo of the tech. The vehicle is controlled by either pulling (braking) or pushing (accelerating) the wheel away from one's body.

Scroll down for video.

Honda's augmented driving concept was showcased at CES in Las Vegas and includes several technologies that hope to blend autonomous and manual driving

In a virtual demonstration, MailOnline tested out aspects of Honda's high-tech steering wheel that also doubles as an accelerator and brake

It's also equipped with sensor around the outer ring that can feel a driver's touch.

When the car is in its autonomous state a passenger can swipe their hand left or right over the top of the steering wheel to make it change lanes.

The steering wheel can also turn on the car by double-tapping the top and can by moved from one side to another, meaning a person sitting anywhere in the car - left, middle, or right - could drive.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Honda's augmented driving concept was the inclusion of eye-reading technology that helped to discern whether a driver was looking at the road or out the window at a scenic view.

This aspect of the Honda's concept allows the car to intelligently switch between autonomous and manual modes without ever having to press a button.

In a hands-on demonstration, MailOnline tested the technology in a virtual simulation.

This aspect of the Honda's concept allows the car to intelligently switch between autonomous and manual modes without ever having to press a button. In order for its system to truly work, autonomous vehicles will have to reach level 5 - fully autonomy - which could be a ways down the road

While augmented driving could help to bridge the divide between manual and autonomous vehicles, Honda's concept is still just that - an idea

A Honda representative instructed us to shift our gaze as we drove through the simulation, turning from the road to a separate side-panel where several digital windmills resided.

Without skipping a beat, the car, which was eye-tracking through a sensor embedded in the dashboard, switched from its manual state into an autonomous one.

As an added safety feature, the car's steering wheel also deactivates until sensors judge that a driver's gaze has returned to the road -a feature that is meant to mitigate the possibility of accidentally jostling the steering wheel.

Though it may seem strange for Honda to go to such lengths to preserve manual driving while most automakers have dumped their resources into getting humans away from the driver's seat, a Honda representative told MailOnline that part of the company's mission is to preserve the 'thrill.'

The car's steering wheel also deactivates until sensors judge that a driver's gaze has returned to the road, - a feature that is meant to mitigate the possibility of accidentally jostling the steering wheel. And as you can see, the interior appears to also be very comfortable

'In an autonomous future this lets you still get that sensation of driving,' said Jaymie Robinson.

'Some people still really enjoy driving and don't want to fully give up that task.'

While augmented driving could help to bridge the divide between manual and autonomous vehicles, Honda's concept is still just that - an idea.

In order for its system to truly work, autonomous vehicles will have to reach level 5 - fully autonomy - which could be a ways down the road.
Lawyers delivered opening statements as the sentencing trial for an 82-year-old Katy man who recently plead guilty to shooting his wife in the head and murdering her lover in November 2015 began in Fort Bend County District Court on Wednesday, Jan 8. Dennis Patrick Gibson appeared before Fort Bend County District Judge Frank J. Fraley in a green jail jumpsuit, his hands and feet in shackles as lawyers brought forward their opening remarks.

There are no angels in this case, said Fort Bend County prosecutor Chad Bridges, who went on to describe the love-triangle situation that led to the shooting death of 66-year-old Vernon Burger, a long-time friend of the couple who Gibson had discovered several weeks earlier was having an affair with his wife. Gibson also shot his wife of 23 years, Jacqueline, twice, including once in the back of the head. She survived her injuries.

Gibsons wife was called to testify and she recounted the day of the shooting that started with an argument with her husband over her ongoing affair, the truth of which Gibson discovered after his wife went to her high school reunion in Pennsylvania with Berger. At the time, Gibsons wife claimed Berger was just her driver and insisted no hanky-panky was involved to a disapproving former classmate. When Gibson grew suspicious and began making calls to find out if his wife was with another man at the reunion, former classmates shared the details and vented their negative opinion of Jacqueline to Gibson and confirming his suspicions, according to a witness.

When Jacqueline returned home, she testified that she and Gibson argued, but had agreed to continue living together for the sake of Jacquelines two grandchildren, a 4-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, living in the home that had been adopted by the couple. At first, Gibson seemed able to handle the situation, his wife testified. But on the day of the shooting, his simmering anger erupted, and violence ensued when Berger showed up at the house to pick Jacqueline up for a weekend trip to a Louisiana casino to celebrate his birthday. After walking the elderly lovers to Bergers truck, Gibson took out a gun and shot his wife in the back of the head at point-blank range and then again in the arm. He then turned the gun on Berger, shooting him twice.

The couples next-door neighbor intervened, demanding Gibson give her the gun and go back to his home.

You dont want to do this, Dennis, Shelly Rosso testified, and then reminded Gibson of the couples two young grandchildren who were at home at the time.

During the hearing, prosecutors played a video of Gibson sitting in the back of a Fort Bend County Sheriff Deputys patrol car shortly after the shooting.

In the video, Gibson appeared to be without remorse, alternatively screaming obscenities out the window of the patrol car, calling Berger a slimy snake in the grass and yelling to his grandchildren that he loved them.

The hearing is scheduled to continue Thursday, Jan. 9.
BOSTON  A Florida man will serve 27 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing the identities of residents, applying for credit cards in their names and using the U.S. Postal Services notification system to intercept the cards at the victims homes.

Kevens Louis, 26, of Plantation, Florida, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns. He will serve one year of supervised release after he is released from prison, said Christina DiLorio-Sterling, spokeswoman for Attorney General Andrew Lelling.

Louis pled guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, she said.

He and three co-conspirators were charged in the scam in April. The four accessed victims names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and addresses on the dark web and applied for and received credit cards. They then used the U.S. Postal Service Informed Delivery to track the credit cards so they could intercept them when they were delivered to the addresses of the victims, DiLorio-Sterling said.

The men traveled across the East Coast committing the fraud in a variety of states including Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. They used the credit cards to withdraw money at ATMs and to purchase gift cards and other items for resale at stores, she said.

Other defendants Lucson Appolon and Peter Belony previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and were sentenced to two years in prison. Fred Alcius is a fugitive, she said.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service with the assistance of the U.S. Attorneys Office in the Southern District of Florida, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations and police departments in Harvard; Norfolk; Sherborn; Weston; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Kittery, Maine and Plantation Florida, she said.
THE GIMMICKS, by Chris McCormick. (Harper, $27.99.) McCormicks novel begins in the early 1970s, nearly 60 years after the Armenian genocide conducted by the Ottoman Empire. The story follows two cousins in Soviet Armenia who consider themselves brothers: Ruben Petrosian, a promising backgammon player obsessed with politics, and Avo Gregoryan, a large, sweet teenager who eventually becomes a professional wrestler in the United States. A thumbnail sketch inevitably makes this novel sound overcrowded and jumbled, our reviewer John Williams writes, but McCormick keeps things admirably nimble, moving the stories forward while shuttling back and forth through time and across perspectives.

THE HEAP, by Sean Adams. (Morrow/HarperCollins, $26.99.) The Heap is about a pile of trash that used to be a tower. There is easy symbolism to be had in that contrast, but Adams is thankfully less interested in allegory than in cutting satire. What hes really after, in this darkly comic narrative about the search for the collapses lone survivor, is an exploration of communal life. The novels concern is not the instinct to form groups, but what people do within them, Wil Medearis writes in his review. The suggestion is of a lingering quality to human nature. Whether clustered in a vertical utopia or scavenging its collapse, people, for better or for worse  and in The Heap it is frequently the latter  will always act like people.

TRUMP AND HIS GENERALS: The Cost of Chaos, by Peter Bergen. (Penguin Press, $30.) As Bergen, the author of several books on national security, shows, Donald Trumps relationship to the American military is fraught because he has no understanding of the martial virtues and seems to assume that soldiering is simply a matter of violence, even uncaged brutality. It took a level-headed observer of no particular insight or special knowledge to understand that Donald Trumps deficiencies of character, outlook and experience made him unfit for office, Eliot A. Cohen writes in his review. But Trump and His Generals raises  important questions about the outlandish and sordid tale.

10 MINUTES 38 SECONDS IN THIS STRANGE WORLD, by Elif Shafak. (Bloomsbury, $27.) At the opening of this atmospheric novel by Shafak, a prolific British-Turkish writer, the narrator, a prostitute, has been murdered and left in an Istanbul rubbish bin. In the minutes before her brain ceases to function, she recalls her eventful life in vivid, sensuous detail. Who was she? Whos killed her? Who will remember her after shes gone? What will be the consequences of this brutality? our reviewer, Julia Phillips, writes. These are the questions the book takes up, with plenty of room for grief, humor and love in between.

A DREAM COME TRUE: The Collected Stories of Juan Carlos Onetti. Translated by Katherine Silver. (Archipelago, paper, $26.) Admired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa, Onetti, a Uruguayan who fled his countrys repressive regime in the 1970s, ushered Spanish-language fiction into the modern era. His surreal stories capture the anguish and thwarted dreams of people under dictatorship. Listlessness is his great theme, Ratik Asokan writes, reviewing the book, and it gives his stories their unusual shape. Rather than dramatize events, Onetti shows people recalling and reflecting on the nonevents of their lives, or, more usually, the lives of others, trying to give them meaning and glamour.
The Wednesday crash of a passenger jet near Tehran, which killed all 176 people on board, carries echoes of a 1988 tragedy in which 290 people died after a plane that had originated in the Iranian capital was shot down.

But while that catastrophe has fueled antipathy among many Iranians toward the United States for 31 years, the latest incident raises a different set of questions for the Iranian state - which may be both victim and perpetrator in the tragedy, if early reports are accurate.

The Kyiv-bound passenger plane had just left Tehran's international airport on Wednesday when it suddenly plummeted into a field after losing contact with ground control. A preliminary investigation by Iran found that the Ukraine International Airlines jet was on fire before it went down; the report cited witness statements that the plane had tried to turn around.

However, Ukrainian investigators have been considering the possibility that an antiaircraft missile brought down the jet. A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, told The Washington Post that it was likely that Iranian forces accidentally shot down the plane.

President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday that he had "suspicions" about what had happened to the plane. "Someone could have made a mistake on the other side," Trump said. "It has nothing to do with us."

The Ukraine International Airlines jet was destroyed in the midst of heightened tensions between the United States and Iran. A U.S. drone strike killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad on Friday; roughly four hours before the Wednesday plane crash, Iran launched more than a dozen missiles targeting U.S. personnel in Iraq.

The allegations of a shoot-down would mirror an incident that has hung over relations between the United States and Iran for more than three decades, fueling grievances and suspicion between the two nations.

On July 3, 1988, Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down by the U.S. military. The flight, a passenger jet that had originated in Tehran and had already stopped in Bandar Abbas, Iran, was flying over the Strait of Hormuz toward its destination, Dubai, when it was hit by two surface-to-air missiles.

Though Pentagon officials at first denied any knowledge of the incident, it soon emerged that the plane had been targeted by the cruiser USS Vincennes, which had been involved in a skirmish with Iranian boats in the Persian Gulf and had mistaken the passenger jet for an Iranian warplane.

President Ronald Reagan expressed sympathy for the "terrible human tragedy" but suggested that the plane had "failed to heed repeated warnings." However, an investigation by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency, found that U.S. military ships in the region did not have the equipment necessary to monitor civilian air traffic control frequencies.

Iran reached a settlement with the United States in 1996 after it sued the country in the International Court of Justice. The U.S. government refused to accept liability but agreed to pay $61.8 million to the families of victims.

The memory of the incident lingers in Iran, where it is frequently marked publicly.

At the time, many suspected that the United States struck down the plane deliberately in a bid to aid Iraq in the brutal war it was fighting with Iran. Iranian hard-liners have long suggested that the downing of Flight 655 shows that the United States could not be trusted.

"Those who refer to the number 52 should also remember the number 290," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani wrote on Twitter after Trump threatened earlier this week to target 52 Iranian sites, a reference to the number of Americans who were held hostage in Iran from 1979 to 1981.

Rouhani, who has previously supported dialogue with the United States, was referring to the number of people killed aboard the 1988 flight. "Never threaten the Iranian nation," he said.

A U.S. official told The Washington Post that authorities believe that the Ukraine International Airlines plane was probably hit by a SA-15 surface-to-air missile, a Russian-made system that is also known as a Tor air-defense system. Ukrainian officials have said they want to search the site for evidence of Russian missiles.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, wrote on Facebook that a Ukrainian investigative team that has been sent to Iran includes specialists who helped probe the July 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in Ukraine.

That disaster killed all 298 people on board; investigators later concluded that a Russian military missile had shot down the plane.
COLUMBIA, S.C. - A suspended South Carolina sheriff already facing federal charges was indicted Thursday on state charges that he took money meant to pay overtime for his deputies and had officers convert his barn into a flashy man cave while they were on the clock, prosecutors said.

Chester County Sheriff Alex Underwood and his chief deputy also altered travel and expense receipts for a conference they attended with their wives in Reno, Nevada, then inflated their county reimbursement by lying and saying two other officers joined them on the trip, prosecutors said.

In all, Underwood was indicted Thursday on 10 counts in state court and faces up to 62 years in prison if convicted of all the new charges.

Underwood was indicted last spring on federal charges including civil rights violations. Prosecutors in that case said Underwood created a false police report to justify jailing a man who refused to stop videotaping following a police chase. They said Underwood then lied to the FBI when they started investigating.

As with the federal charges, Underwood was released on his own recognizance. Federal prosecutors said his trial in their jurisdiction should begin this spring.

Former Chester County Chief Deputy Robert Sprouse and former sheriffs Lt. Johnny Neal Jr. are also charged along with Underwood in both state and federal court. Authorities said they conspired with each other in the cases.

In 2017, Underwood had his command staff supervise deputies as they converted an old barn on his property into a man cave, Waters said.

Instead of doing the business of the people of Chester County, he had them building a rather opulent party barn for the sheriff, Waters said.

Underwood also assigned his deputies in uniform to provide security for private events, paid them through a jail account so taxes would not be withheld, then pocketed the overtime for himself and other supervisors, Waters said.

The final state charges allege that Underwood and Sprouse took their wives to a conference in Reno, Nevada, but falsified receipts to claim that two other officers went so they could get money back for their wives travel, Waters said.

Attorneys for all three men said they have co-operated with the investigations and are waiting to answer the charges at the proper time.

We knew that something was coming. Im not surprised by it. Whats scary is that the government stands up and wants everyone to believe this is true. No one has talked to Mr. Underwood about it, defence attorney Stanley Myers said.

Underwood is charged with three counts of misconduct in office, two counts of criminal conspiracy, two counts of using his official post for financial gain, two counts of embezzlement and one count of forgery.

Sprouse was indicted on six additional charges. Prosecutors said deputies also started building a barn for him while on the job but stopped after reporters and state agents started investigating.

Neal is indicted on three additional state counts.

Underwood is one of 12 South Carolina sheriffs to face criminal charges in the past decade for breaking the law during their official duties.

On Wednesday, former Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone pleaded guilty to misconduct in office and embezzlement, admitting he used county funds and drug seizure money to buy groceries, window tinting and other personal items. He was sentenced to probation.

___

Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP
Donations to Australian Red Cross, World Wildlife Fund and Community Firefighters Are the Best Way to Help Bushfire Relief

Here's How You Can Help Australia as Fires Continue to Destroy Wildlife

As bushfires rage across Australia, its easy to feel helpless after watching the widespread destruction of communities, natural habitats and the devastating loss of life. However, there are ways that you can help alleviate the effects of this natural disaster.

Fires have been burning throughout Australia since September, only growing stronger during the country's hottest and driest year on record. The number of fires seemed to explode as the new year approached, with as many as 70 roaring fires still burning bright. With warmer weather looming over the region for the foreseeable future, it's expected that fires will continue to burn for the next few months.

RELATED: Chris Hemsworth Donates $1 Million to Australian Bushfire Relief

So how can you, a human on the other side of the planet, possibly help? The most helpful answer is to follow in the footsteps of local celebrities who have donated the most in-demand resource (money) to the cause. You may not be able to give millions like they have, but any little bit helps, and there are plenty of reputable organizations where you can donate.

The Australian Red Cross, for example, is assisting tens of thousands of displaced people in evacuation centers and recovery hubs across the country. Donations support emergency assistance in the most devastated areas, aid victims with relief supplies and help communities prepare for the future with training, equipment and coordination of volunteers.

If you're hoping to funnel your monetary contributions to the hardest-hit areas of Australia, Victoria and New South Wales along the southeast coast are definitely it. To help the tireless firefighters who are actively working to save their communities from further destruction, donations can be made directly to the fire departments in these states  many of which are volunteer based  through their official government websites: Victoria County Fire Authority (CFA) and NSW Rural Fire Service.

To help support the families of firefighters who have been killed while fighting these fires, the NSW Rural Fire Service has also set up a separate donation area. Similarly, the Victorian government has established the Victorian Bushfire Appeal, a partnership with Bendigo Bank and The Salvation Army that will pass along 100 percent of donated funds to its communities in need of relief.

The Australian bushfires have not only taken the lives of dozens of people so far, but have also destroyed over 15 million acres and caused the loss of a staggering amount of wildlife, now estimated to be over one billion. The Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service Inc. (WIRES) is helping to rescue (and ultimately rehabilitate) the affected animals that remain.

"With the fires destroying unprecedented amounts of habitat, food shortages have increased and lack of suitable habitat will be a significant long-term challenge for surviving wildlife, WIRES states on their website.

To help Australian wildlife now and well into the future, WIRES has made it incredibly easy to donate through several avenues, including PayPal.

The World Wildlife Fund has also made an appeal to save the koalas, already headed toward extinction before these fires. To help WWF care for injured Australian wildlife and plant 10,000 native trees in critical koala habitats once the fires die down, donate directly to their restorative efforts here. However, if you prefer to donate through Humane Society International, they've teamed up with HSI/Australia to raise funds for both the immediate and future needs of affected wildlife, including food, water and safe habit construction.

Whether you're local to Australia or have the means to travel there, you may be tempted to offer your time rather than your money. Before you jump in and join the fight against these powerful blazes (like these American heroes), know that most emergency response organizations require a designated amount of training before you can volunteer, so it's best to do a little research before you take that leap.

No matter how you decide to contribute, just remember that every little bit of help that you can offer makes an impact to alleviate the suffering in the land down under.

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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar fears the controversy over the botched plan to commemorate the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) is a "setback" to a united Ireland.

His remarks came as Culture Minister Josepha Madigan faced criticism amid claims that the Government is failing to make preparations for state commemorations as the Decade of Centenaries enters the sensitive years of the War of Independence and Civil War.

Members of a cross- party group criticised the minster for holding only four meetings of the body since she assumed the role in 2017.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan postponed the ceremony to commemorate the RIC and the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) after a fierce backlash.

He was forced to deny the event would commemorate the notorious Black and Tans sent by the British government to back up the police.

Mr Varadkar said it was the right decision to defer the gathering, but also hit out at opposition politicians for misrepresenting plans for the commemoration in Dublin Castle.

Appropriate

He admitted there were "lessons to learn" and expressed hope the event would take place at a later date "in a way that's more appropriate and allows us to consult with the opposition and with others".

He said he firmly believes in a united Ireland and that it is possible in his lifetime, but fears it has been delayed as a result of the row.

He said there must be a recognition of the unionist tradition in Ireland.

Mr Varadkar said there were victims as well as perpetrators on both sides, and this shared history had to be embraced and understood if there was to be a united Ireland.

He said it was his "deep regret" that "moving towards a united Ireland feels to me to be a little bit further away than before".

Fianna Fail's Eamon O Cuiv said: "The anniversaries have come up very fast and there hasn't been adequate discussion as to how we're going to deal with them in a balanced and respectful way."

Earlier this week, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said the planned RIC/DMP commemoration was an "error in judgment".

He said the Government caused "unnecessary controversy" by abandoning the approach of seeking public consultation and seeking advice from the head of commemorations.

He said both police forces should be remembered, but said the controversial event was "not the appropriate vehicle".
Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari on Thursday said he will ask Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ten questions on the failures of the AAP government and expects him to give timely replies.

Speaking at a press conference here, he claimed that Kejriwal has no more achievements to talk about and so is escaping people's questions on dirty water supply, potholed roads, pollution and poor condition of public transport.

Tiwari asked the Chief Minister why, in the past five years, his government did not release funds amounting to Rs 20,000 crore due to the municipal corporations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least one person was killed when a fire broke out in Patparganj Industrial Area of the national capital early on Thursday morning, said the Delhi Police. The fire broke out at a paper printing press in East Delhi. A total of 32 fire tenders are present at the spot.

Continuous efforts are going on to douse the fire in the two-storeyed building. The fire department received the call of a fire at 2.38 am. The body was recovered and taken to the hospital where it was declared brought dead.

Live TV

The fire is of "medium" category, according to news agency ANI. "We have declared it as the fire of medium category," ANI reported quoting a fire official. The cooling operation was then completed.
Adams joins the GS1 US team one year after the launch of the GS1 US Blockchain Discussion Group, a cross-industry collaboration focused on identifying challenges with blockchain implementation and investigating opportunities to leverage GS1 Standards with blockchain.

"As a transformative technology that could potentially improve trading partner relationships and business processes, blockchain has become top-of-mind for GS1 US members," said Siobhan O'Bara, senior vice president, community engagement, GS1 US. "After collaborating with Kraig for many years over the course of his tenure with Coca-Cola, we have confidence that he is the right leader to help industry understand the complexities of blockchain implementation and achieve alignment on GS1 Standards for improved interoperability."

Adams has extensive manufacturing, supply chain, sales and customer development expertise, having spent more than 25 years with Coca-Cola North America. He was most recently the beverage company's vice president of national foodservice distribution, overseeing a robust foodservice distribution and operations network. In prior roles at Coca-Cola, including vice president of customer solutions and director of collaborative customer capabilities, Adams engaged with business teams focused on improving efficiencies through data synchronization, product identification and barcode technology.

Adams served on the Executive Leadership Committee for the Foodservice GS1 US Standards Initiative in 2018 and 2019. He has also been a member of several industry groups, including the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA), where he participated in numerous supply chain optimization workgroups; the International Foodservice Distributors Association (IFDA); the National Restaurant Association (NRA) as contributor to the Supply Chain Management Executive Study Group; and with Conexxus (formerly the Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards) as Board Secretary for two years. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Computer Information Sciences from Georgia State University.

For more information about how GS1 Standards support blockchain success, please visit www.gs1us.org/blockchain.

About GS1 US

GS1 US, a member of GS1 global, is a not-for-profit information standards organization that facilitates industry collaboration to help improve supply chain visibility and efficiency through the use of GS1 Standards, the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world. Nearly 300,000 businesses in 25 industries rely on GS1 US for trading partner collaboration that optimizes their supply chains, drives cost performance and revenue growth, while also enabling regulatory compliance. They achieve these benefits through solutions based on GS1 global unique numbering and identification systems, barcodes, Electronic Product Code (EPC)-based RFID, data synchronization and electronic information exchange. GS1 US also manages the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC).www.gs1us.org

SOURCE GS1 US

Related Links

http://www.gs1us.org


Community groups and charities across County Derry are being invited to apply for funding through the new Tesco Bags of Help scheme in Northern Ireland.



Applications are officially open, with more than 100,000 to be shared across the country throughout 2020.

Anyone can nominate groups and charities benefiting communities in Northern Ireland. Three groups will be awarded grant amounts of 2,000, 1,000 or 500 every three months in a total of 12 funding areas.



The grants will see money raised from the sale of reusable Bags for Life in Tesco stores used to fund the winning local projects, in partnership with Groundwork.



And customers will decide where the money goes, casting their votes for shortlisted charities using blue tokens handed out in stores when voting launches in April.



The announcement follows the success of the supermarkets Tesco Centenary Fund, which saw grants of up to 50,000 awarded in Northern Ireland in honour of Tescos 100th birthday.



Jason Tarry, UK & ROI CEO at Tesco, said: Through the Tesco Centenary Fund, we saw the difference we could help make to community groups and charities across Northern Ireland. Thats why in 2020 we are delighted to be rolling out a permanent Bags of Help grant to deliver more little helps for the people who make a difference in our communities, including here in Derry.



From projects to improve community spaces to groups looking for support with community events, purchasing new equipment and funding coaches, we encourage you to nominate and apply, and get involved in this fantastic new scheme.



The scheme runs in partnership with community charity Groundwork. Graham Duxbury, CEO of Groundwork UK, said: Its great that we are launching Bags of Help in Northern Ireland to enable more local communities to improve the local spaces and places that matter to them. We are pleased to be able to be a part of the journey and provide support and encouragement to help local communities thrive.

Find out more at: www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky had a phone conversation with President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani on Thursday, according to the presidents press service.

Zelensky expressed condolences over the death of Afghan citizens as a result of the crash of a Ukraine International Airlines plane in Iran. Ukraine sincerely shares the grief of the families of the victims. Truth is the most important thing for us, Zelensky said.

For his part, the president of Afghanistan expressed his condolences to the Ukrainian people, recalling the death of nine crew members and two Ukrainian passengers.

Zelensky stressed the readiness of the Ukrainian side to fully join the investigation to determine the cause of the crash. "We will definitely provide all information about the results of the investigation to the Afghan authorities," the head of state said.

As reported, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree declaring January 9 the day of mourning due to the Ukrainian plane crash in Iran.

A Ukraine International Airlines plane (Flight PS752) heading from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after taking off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport at about 06:00 Tehran time (04:30 Kyiv time) on Wednesday, January 8.

There were 176 people on board the aircraft - 167 passengers (including two Ukrainians) and nine crew (all Ukrainians). Most of the victims of the Ukrainian plane crash in Tehran are citizens of Iran (82) and Canada (63). Those killed in the crash also include ten Swedes, four citizens of Afghanistan, three Germans, and three Britons.

ish
Taika Waititi's critically-acclaimed film "Jojo Rabbit" is set to release in India on January 31, the makers have announced.

An anti-hate satire, "Jojo Rabbit" is a film about a young German boy (Roman Davis Griffin), who finds out that his mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl in their home.

Waititi plays the boy's imaginary friend, Hitler.

The Fox Searchlight film had its world premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People's Choice Award.

It is currently nominated for six awards at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards, including best adapted screenplay for Waititi and best supporting actress for Johannson.

"Jojo Rabbit" also features Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson, Thomasin Mckenzie, Alfie Allen and Stephen Merchant.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Posted on January 8, 2020

We are collaborating with FactCheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, in an effort to identify misinformation and to ensure news consumers get the facts.

In an address to the nation a day after an Iranian attack on military bases housing U.S. soldiers in Iraq, President Donald Trump made some dubious, misleading and inaccurate claims:

Trump distorted the facts when he claimed the Iran nuclear deal that he withdrew from expires shortly anyway. The deal, which was implemented in 2016, limits enriched uranium for 15 years, and requires monitoring of Iranian facilities in some cases for as long as 25 years.

The president continued to mischaracterize and inflate the amount of money made available to Iran as part of the Iran nuclear agreement  money which Trump then dubiously said was used to pay for missiles fired at U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Trump claimed that many hypersonic missiles are under construction. American efforts on hypersonic weapons have moved past just the research phase, but the U.S. is still in the development stage.

Trump said the U.S. is now the number-one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world, when it became the leader in production of petroleum in 2013 and natural gas in 2009. He also said we do not need Middle East oil, when Persian Gulf countries accounted for 19% of U.S. oil imports in 2018.

Trump addressed the nation on Jan. 8  a day after Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at two military bases in Iraq in retaliation for the U.S. killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. The military bases house U.S. and coalition military forces, but the president said no Americans were killed.

During the remarks, the president criticized the Iran nuclear agreement that was negotiated by the Obama administration and supported by the international community.

Irans Nuclear Deal

The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council  China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States  and Germany reached an agreement with Iran in July 2015 on a plan designed to ensure that Irans nuclear program would be used only for peaceful purposes. In exchange, the U.S., European Union and United Nations agreed to lift sanctions on Iran.

That plan  the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action  was implemented Jan. 16, 2016.

But the deal has been in jeopardy since 2018, when Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement and began imposing sanctions on Iran. Since then, Iran has breached JCPOA limits on uranium enrichment, research and development on advanced centrifuges, and stockpile size, as explained by the nonpartisan Arms Control Association.

In response to the U.S. drone attack on Jan. 2 that killed Iranians top military commander, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Iran went even further, announcing it would not comply with the JCPOAs limits on uranium enrichment.

In his Jan. 8 remarks on Iran, Trump downplayed the significance of the JCPOA.

Trump, Jan. 8: The very defective JCPOA expires shortly anyway, and gives Iran a clear and quick path to nuclear breakout.

Trump distorts the facts. The nuclear agreement, which took effect four years ago, imposes restrictions on enriched uranium for 15 years, and requires monitoring and inspections of Iranian facilities for at least 15 years.

No single element blocks Irans pathway to nuclear weapons, but taken together, the nuclear restrictions and monitoring form a comprehensive system that will put nuclear weapons out of Irans reach for at least 15 years, the nonpartisan Arms Control Association said in an August 2015 analysis of the agreement. Many of the JCPOA provisions also extend beyond 15 years. Monitoring of centrifuge production facilities continues for 20 years, and monitoring of uranium mines and mills continues for 25 years. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors will have enhanced access indefinitely.

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said something similar in a 2018 report.

CRS, July 20, 2018: For 15 years, the IAEA will monitor the stored Iranian centrifuges and related infrastructure. During this time, Iran will also permit the IAEA daily access to relevant buildings at the Natanz facilities. For 20 years, Tehran will allow the agency to verify Irans inventory of certain centrifuge components and the manufacturing facilities for such components. Additionally, Iran is to allow the IAEA to monitor the countrys uranium mills for 25 years and to monitor Irans plant for producing heavy water.

The nuclear deal also lengthened the breakout time  which is how long it would take Iran to produce enough highly enriched uranium for one nuclear weapon  from roughly two or three months to at least one year for at least 10 years, according to the CRS report. A lengthier breakout time gives the U.S. and international community more time to react, if IAEA inspectors detect Iranian efforts to produce nuclear weapons.

In addition to the restrictions on activities related to fissile material production, the JCPOA indefinitely prohibits Iranian activities which could contribute to the design and development of a nuclear explosive device, including research and diagnostic activities, the CRS report said.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, said Trump is simply wrong.

The JCPOA created important uranium and uranium enrichment-related barriers that prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons for more than 15 years, and some other limitations last longer and some indefinitely, Kimball told us in an email. But with the impulsive decision to by Trump to withdraw from the agreement and violate U.S. commitments under the deal, he has prompted Iran to remove these barriers far sooner.

Iranian Assets

Trump continued to mischaracterize and inflate the amount of money Iran was able to access when sanctions were lifted as part of the Iran nuclear agreement  money which Trump dubiously said was used to pay for missiles fired at U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Trump, Jan. 8: Irans hostilities substantially increased after the foolish Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2013, and they were given $150 billion, not to mention $1.8 billion in cash. Instead of saying thank you to the United States, they chanted death to America. Then, Iran went on a terror spree, funded by the money from the deal, and created hell in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration.

There are several things wrong with Trumps statement. For starters, the international agreement to curb Irans nuclear weapons program, as we mentioned earlier, was signed in 2015  not 2013. And, despite Trumps numerous claims to the contrary, Iran also was not given $150 billion in the deal.

As we explained once again last year, the deal did unfreeze some of Irans assets that were held largely in foreign, not U.S., banks.

That was Irans money held in escrow, Elizabeth Rosenberg, a senior fellow at the Center for New American Security, told us via email. Iran was not so much given money but allowed access to its own money that had been held, according to sanctions, in escrow in countries to which Iran had been selling oil during the period of intensive sanctions from 2012-2015.

Also, $150 billion is a high-end estimate of the total that was freed up after some sanctions were lifted.

U.S. Treasury Department estimates put the figure at about $50 billion in usable liquid assets, according to 2015 testimony from Adam Szubin, acting under secretary of treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence. Another $50 billion to $70 billion in assets would be inaccessible to Iran because they are either obligated in illiquid projects (such as over 50 projects with China) that cannot be monetized quickly, if at all, or are composed of outstanding loans to Iranian entities that cannot repay them, Szubin said.

The $1.8 billion in cash Trump referred to is unrelated to the JCPOA. It was a settlement reached by the Obama administration to resolve a dispute that dates to 1979, when Iran paid the U.S. $400 million for military equipment it never received. The U.S. refused to provide the equipment after the Shah of Iran was overthrown during the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

The agreement reached in 2016 ended a claim that Iran had filed against the U.S. in an international tribunal in The Hague. Together with interest, the U.S. agreed to pay a total of $1.7 billion to Iran. An initial installment of $400 million was paid in cash on the same day in January 2016, that Iran released U.S. prisoners. That led to charges that Obama had paid a ransom, though the Obama administration insisted it was not.

As for Trumps claim that, The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration, experts told us thats impossible to say.

The Iranian missiles used in the retaliatory attack on U.S. forces based in Iraq were indigenously produced missiles, probably Fateh-110s and Fateh-313s, and it is impossible to determine whether those missiles were or were not produced before 2015 , but Iran did possess a large number of these missiles before 2015, Kimball, of the Arms Control Association, told us via email.

In his testimony back in 2015, Szubin said the Obama administration was mindful that at least some of the funds Iran receives from relief could find their way to malign purposes, but he said the vast majority will be used to tackle a mountain of debts and domestic needs that at over a half trillion dollars are more than ten times as large as the funds it can freely use.

The JCPOA also does not specifically contain ballistic missile restraints, as CRS stated in an Oct. 8, 2019 report. In remarks at the United Nations in December, 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said it is clear that the Iranian regimes ballistic missile activity has grown since the nuclear deal.

Whether the money Iran freed up as a result of the JCPOA could have been used for the missiles, as Trump alleged, is difficult to say because money is fungible, said Fabian Hinz, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

However, we can clearly state that the project to develop precision guidance was started way before the JCPOA and the missiles we saw were initially developed before the JCPOA, Hinz told us via email. Also, this was a project that was given the highest priority by the Supreme Leader and missiles are the core pillar of Iranian national defense. Hinz said he had strong doubts as such it is affected too much by budget fluctuations.

Hypersonic Missiles

In touting the strength of the American military, Trump name-checked one of the buzziest weapons of late: hypersonic missiles.

Under construction are many hypersonic missiles, the president said, adding, The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it.

Its not entirely clear what Trump means by under construction, which could refer to prototype creation or to full-blown production of deployable weapons. The White House did not respond to our request for clarification.

Iain Boyd, a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder with expertise in hypersonics, said the Department of Defense has several ongoing programs to build hypersonic weapons.

Its certainly way beyond just doing research on those systems, he said of American progress. But its not like theres a factory where there is a production line, and theyre just rolling off.

A Congressional Research Service report updated in September 2019 also stated that the U.S. is unlikely to field an operational hypersonic weapons system before 2022. A table summarizing U.S. hypersonic programs indicates the projects are still in design review, flight or launch testing phases  and will be at least through 2020.

Hypersonic missiles are a kind of weapons holy grail for several nations because they promise to be incredibly fast  and with current anti-missile defense systems, potentially impossible to defend against.

The word hypersonic refers to speeds above Mach 5, or five times faster than the speed of sound. Intercontinental ballistic missiles, which pop up into space and then fall back down along an arched, parabolic path, reach hypersonic speeds upon atmospheric re-entry. But because they follow known arcs, they are predictable. The term hypersonic weapon, then, is usually reserved for hypersonic-speed weapons that can still maneuver at high speed, making them difficult to stop with existing anti-missile technology.

Boyd said there are two basic types of hypersonic weapon designs. One involves launching a glider on a rocket, and having the glider come back down. The second, which would likely be what Trump had in mind when he said hypersonic missile, Boyd said, would be more akin to a cruise missile, with an engine to push it along at a constant speed and altitude for a while. Boyd said the glider design is further along. Whichever country gets there first, he said, it will likely be with a glider, adding that the U.S. is working on both designs.

Indeed, despite news reports and claims from Russia and China about their hypersonic successes, Boyd said its not necessarily clear who is winning the hypersonic weapons arms race. Nobody has, I dont think, what we would call a fielded capability, where theres something sitting in a bunker somewhere and you can press a button and fire one of these things, he said. And until somebody does have that, then its not really clear whos ahead.

Russian and Chinese efforts on hypersonic weapons, however, have spurred more intense American interest in the technology, as well as in developing hypersonic weapon defense.

U.S. Energy Boasts

Trump again credited himself for energy accomplishments that were previously predicted, or that began during the previous administration.

Trump, Jan. 8: Over the last three years, under my leadership, our economy is stronger than ever before and America has achieved energy independence. These historic accomplishments changed our strategic priorities. These are accomplishments that nobody thought were possible. And options in the Middle East became available. We are now the number-one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world. We are independent, and we do not need Middle East oil.

We dont know how Trump is measuring energy independence, but the Energy Information Administrations most recent monthly review from December shows that, as of the first nine months of 2019, the U.S. exported slightly more energy than it imported, and it produced a tad more energy than it consumed.

However, its not true that no one thought that was possible. Prior to Trump taking office in January 2017, the EIA projected that U.S. total energy exports would exceed imports by at least 2026, and the agency projected that U.S. total energy production would exceed consumption by the same year. So the EIA did expect it would happen.

Trumps claim that the U.S. is the number-one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world isnt exactly new information, either. The EIA said the U.S. became the worldwide leader in crude oil production in 2018, but, as we have written before, it also said that U.S. became the international leader in production of petroleum products, including crude oil, in 2013, and the global leader in natural gas production in 2009.

As for Trumps claim that we do not need Middle East oil, the U.S. is importing less oil from Persian Gulf countries (Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) than in previous years. But in 2018, the most recent annual EIA data available, the U.S. still relied on those countries for about 19% of its crude oil imports and nearly 16% of all its petroleum imports.

 By Eugene Kiely, Robert Farley, DAngelo Gore and Jessica McDonald
THERE has been a generally positive reaction by Limerick politicians to the news that commemoration for the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) is to be postponed.

The commemoration, which was due to be held in Dublin later this month was postponed by Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan following both a public and political backlash.

Read also: Mayor among Limerick politicians that will not attend ceremony to commemorate the Royal Irish Constabulary

Former Mayor of Limerick, Cllr James Collins, has called on Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to honour our Defence Forces with a new pay deal, instead of wasting money on deferred commemorations for the much-despised Royal Irish Constabulary.

The Defence Forces are the Cinderella of Irish public services, totally underpaid for the services they provide, and treated unequally when it comes to their sister groups in the public service. Its time that the State showed our current Defence Forces the same respect as their fellow frontline public servants, Cllr Collins said.

I have met with members of the Defence Forces in Limerick and heard how they are struggling to survive on allowances that are a fraction of those paid to other public servants. During US president Donald Trumps visit to Ireland last year, soldiers earned 20 after tax for a 24-hour shift. Instead of our tone-deaf Taoiseach Leo Varadkar belatedly deferring commemoration plans for the RIC and the Black and Tans, he should pay due respect to our Defence Forces, many of whom live barely above the poverty line in the service of the State, he added.

Maurice Quinlivan TD was one of many politicians across the country who voiced their disdain for the commemoration.

"These forces were part of the British apparatus of occupation and acted to suppress the democratic demand for independence as expressed overwhelming by the people in the 1918 General Election, said Mr Quinlivan.

"For any Irish government to advocate commemorating these organisations is shameful and has rightly drawn much criticism, he added.

Deferral of this planned commemoration is a step in the right direction, but it's not enough. This event needs to be cancelled. This fiasco also shows how completely out of touch this Fine Gael government are with the general public. Fine Gael have no one to blame but themselves for this mess, he added.

Cllr Emmett O'Brien called on the Government to stick to the advice of the Expert Advisory Group, but also brought to light the complex nature of Irish history.

The RIC were a 32 County Irish police force made up of predominately working class and cottier class Catholic men who had the same motivation for joining the police force as any young man or woman does today for joining the Gardai, said Cllr O'Brien.

How the RIC was conflated with the psychopathic Black and Tans and Auxiliaries is beyond me considering the Black and Tans had to be recruited to Ireland because of the mass resignation of RIC men in sympathy with the new Irish Republic and the War of Independence, one of whom was my grandfather, he added.

Fine Gael TD Tom Neville also welcomed the decision to defer the commemoration ceremonies to allow for more consultation with the expert advisory group.

The reaction to what was originally planned was divisive and these types of events are meant to be inclusive and to take place in an atmosphere of inclusivity, Mr Neville said.

My own reaction, given how it was portrayed, it was something I was bothered about. We live in a Republic and any event I would like to see should be inclusive, he said, adding that he had received texts and calls from constituents on the matter, he added.
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) invites media practitioners from its Member States to submit entries for the 2020 COMESA Media Awards.

The Award scheme is conducted every year to recognise and reward journalists who have contributed to regional integration by publishing and producing broadcast stories on the subject. The Awards are open for published and broadcasted works in the fields of Print Journalism, Radio Journalism, Television Journalism, and online/new media.

The objective of the Awards is to promote reporting of COMESA regional integration projects hence raising public awareness, understanding and participation and ownership. Relevant topics for entry include: development projects involving more than one COMESA Member state or a national project which have a regional dimension. Such projects cover trade, infrastructure (energy, transport, ICT), investments, gender etc. If an article is not about a COMESA programme, at least it should mention a similar or related COMESA programme to demonstrate that the author/producers understanding of COMESAs programmes.

Rules of the Competition

1. The entries shall be works which have been published/broadcasted in national/regional mainstream print and electronic media channels between 01 January 2019 and

31 December 2019 by a recognised media institution in any of the 21 COMESA Member States;

2. The entries submitted for the competition should be directly related to issues and activities pertaining to development and regional integration in the COMESA region. These include COMESA programme/ project in Member States, trade, infrastructure, investments, etc. projects covering or have impact in more than one COMESA Member State. Information on COMESA programmes can be obtained from:

 Website: http://www.comesa.int/

 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/

 Twitter: https://twitter.com/comesa_lusaka

3. Only journalists who are COMESA nationals are eligible for the competition;

4. The competition is open to individual journalist and not media institutions or organisations; and

5. All works entered for the competition shall be in one of the COMESA official languages, namely Arabic, English and French, and submitted as published/broadcasted.

6. Entries shall consist of the following categories:

(a) Print Journalism: Features/articles of a minimum of 700 (seven hundred) and a maximum of 1,500 (one thousand and five hundred) words published in newspapers,

magazines/ journals and newsletters.

(b) Radio Journalism: Documentary or discussion programmes of a minimum

of 10 (ten) minutes and a maximum of 20 (twenty) minutes duration.

(c) Television Journalism: Documentary or discussion programmes of a minimum

of 10 (ten) minutes and a maximum of 20 (twenty) minutes duration.

(d) Online/new media: Features/articles of a minimum of 700 (seven hundred) and a maximum of 1,500 (one thousand and five hundred) words published in online newspapers, magazines/ journals and newsletters.

7. Radio and TV entries should be accompanied by a brief written summary of what the documentary is about.

8. All Entries shall be accompanied by the following personal details:

Full contact details of the entrant; physical address; e-mail address; telephone number and

fax number of the entrant.

9. Entries submitted shall be authenticated through signature and official stamp by the Editor or Head of the media organisation which published/broadcasted the works.

10. Entries should be submitted on the following link: http://www.comesa.int/comesa-media-awards-2020/

All works submitted must be original and in conformity with copyright requirements.

11. Selection of the best works will be decided upon by an adjudication panel identified by COMESA Secretariat from Member States.

12. The adjudication of the Panel shall be final and only the winners will be notified.

13. The winners will get sponsorship to the COMESA Heads of State Summit, a monetary award, a trophy and a certificate.

14. The prize will be paid directly to the winner. In case of a winner being unable to be present at the ceremony, COMESA will make arrangements to send the prize to his/her country.

16. The deadline for submitting entries for the 2020 COMESA MEDIA AWARDS to the COMESA Secretariat is 31 January 2020.

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A newlywed couple returning from their wedding, a family of three, including a 1-year-old toddler, a doctoral student, and a mother and her 8-year-old daughter are among the victims of a Ukrainian plane crash in Iran that killed all 176 people on board.



The tragedy led to an outpouring of grief for the victims, including many dual Iranian-Canadian nationals who were on their way back to Canada.



Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, and 11 Ukrainians were aboard the plane. There were also 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans, and three Britons, he said.



At least 27 of the Canadian victims were from Edmonton, the capital of Canadas Alberta Province.



Reza Akbari, the president of the Iranian Heritage Society of Edmonton, was quoted by Canadian media as saying that The majority of them are students of the University of Alberta, faculty members, members of our community.



Another dramatic story is the fact that a couple just got married, he added.

One of my wonderful PhD students, Ghanimat Azdahri, was on the plane that crashed in Tehran this morning, Faisal Mola, an associate professor in geography at the University of Guelph in Canada, tweeted.



He added that Azdahri was on her way back after visiting her family in her native country, Iran.



The students and I are in so much pain, he added.

The number of young, brilliant, hopeful Iranians who were returning to their studies in Canada represent an unfathomable loss to Canadian higher education, arts, science & the world. And as a faculty member in Canada & Iranian American I am honestly just destroyed, said Neda Maghbouleh, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Toronto.

Iranian media reported that 14 of the victims were graduates of Irans elite Sharif University.



"Its very painful to read that Iranian elite who were on their way to start a new life lost their lives," Kousha Jamshidi said on Twitter.

My heart is with all the families of those lost, said Mahsa Alimardani, a doctoral student at the University of Oxford's Internet Institute.



"I've had family take the Tehran to Toronto route via Kiev in the past year. Its been a new affordable route for many Iranian-Canadians who dont have direct flights from Canada," Alimardani added.

Ahmad Halabisaz, an Iranian photojournalist who had taken photos of the aftermath of the crash, said on Instagram that the crash scene was different from anything he had seen before.



I have covered four or five air crashes in Iran so far. Yesterday was different, he said, adding that I cannot easily forget those scenes.



Others complained that Iranian authorities had failed to announce an official day of mourning for the tragic deaths.



We had...three days of mourning for a single person, [but] nothing for more than hundred killed in a plane crash, a man in Tehran wrote on Instagram, referring to three days of state mourning for Irans top military commander, Qasem Soleimani.



Many reposted the last tweet of one passenger, a doctoral student at the University of Toronto: "I predicted that a war would start right before my flight," he wrote with a smiley in what appeared to have been a reference to the rising tensions between Tehran and Washington following the assassination of Soleimani and Irans retaliatory missile attack on U.S. bases in Iraq.



Forgive me for my good and bad deeds, he added.
Trudeau said 138 of the 176 people on board the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 from Tehran to Kyiv had onward connections to Canada.

Canada expects to play a big role in Iran's probe of an airliner crash that killed 63 Canadians even though the two nations do not have diplomatic ties, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday.

Trudeau said 138 of the 176 people on board the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 from Tehran to Kyiv had onward connections to Canada. All aboard died when the plane crashed shortly after takeoff, as reported by Reuters.

Canada broke off diplomatic relations with Iran in 2012. Trudeau said Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne would call his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif later on Wednesday to underline the need for a proper probe of the crash.

"Canada is one of a handful of countries with a high degree of expertise when it comes to these sorts of accidents and therefore we have much to contribute," Trudeau said.

Read alsoReuters: Canada plane crash victims in Iran include lecturers, students

"I am confident that in our engagement both through our allies and directly, we are going to make sure that we are a substantive contributor to this investigation," he told a news conference in Ottawa.

Italy normally acts as a proxy for communication between Canada and Iran, and the Ukrainian ambassador told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp that his government was willing to help.

The disaster marked one of the greatest losses of Canadian life in a single day in recent years. Trudeau would not comment on possible causes for the tragedy.

"Obviously we are very, very early days on the investigation. It's dangerous to speculate on possible causes," he said.
There are some questions in science that can only be answered by strapping a pair of 3D glasses to an unsuspecting cuttlefish and setting it loose in an underwater movie theatre.

That, at least, was the thinking of a team of researchers who set themselves the task of working out how the marine molluscs know how far away prey is before launching their explosive, tentacled attacks.

The puzzle has occupied an admittedly select group of scientists because of the cuttlefishs unusual ability to scope out a 360-degree field of vision by moving its eyes independently.

Dr Trevor Wardill, who led the work at the University of Minnesota, said that given the complexities of cuttlefish vision, it was considered unlikely that the animals judged distance in the same way as humans. That process, known as stereopsis, computes distance by comparing how each eye sees objects in slightly different positions.

Wardill and his colleague, Rachael Feord at Cambridge University, realised they could test whether cuttlefish use stereopsis by getting them to wear 3D glasses and playing them some juicy 3D shrimp movies. A lot of people said it wasnt going to work, Wardill said. They said theyd rip the glasses off. They said thered be ink in the tank.

But Wardill and his co-workers found a way. In experiments at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, the researchers found that careful treatment, distractions, and a copious supply of shrimp were rewarded with cooperation. Youve got to get in the mind of the cuttlefish and make them happy, Wardill explained.

Not that every step went smoothly. Attempts to glue the glasses directly on to the molluscs left some at jaunty angles and risked skin damage when the cuttlefish reached up with their arms  of which they have eight  to pull them off. That was solved with a superglued velcro strip that the glasses then attached to.

The glasses posed another hurdle, however. The first ones that wrapped around caught too much water, so if the cuttlefish swam backwards, the glasses would fly off, Wardill said.

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But with tenacity, the scientists overcame the problems. The cuttlefish  whose names included Supersandy, Long Arms, Inky and Sylvester Stallone  were ready to be trained and tested.

In training sessions, the cuttlefish familiarised themselves with their new home: a tank with an underwater movie screen on which the scientists played moving images of shrimp, the molluscs favourite snack. Once the animals were used to the tank and stopped playing with their glasses, the researchers set a high-speed video camera recording and the experiments began.

The scientists arranged the equipment so that the cuttlefish saw shrimp moving along in slightly different positions with each eye. The same technique gives 3D movies their depth of field: the brain combines the images into one and uses triangulation to work out how close objects are.

When the researchers varied the spacing between the shrimp images  making them seem nearer or further away to a human wearing 3D glasses  the cuttlefish adjusted their striking distance before lunging at the virtual prey.

If you have the images a long way apart, the cuttlefish think the shrimp is really close and they back up and try to shoot their tentacles right in front of them. But if you flip the images around and make the shrimp look like its behind the screen, theyll swim right into it, said Wardill. The study, published in Science Advances, concludes that cuttlefish use stereopsis after all, though further tests showed the animals must use different neural circuitry to do so.

As neuroscientists, were looking to understand the principles underlying brains, said Feord. The process of stereopsis has cropped up multiple times throughout evolution, but each time the neural circuitry and its capabilities are a little different.

Prof Jenny Read, a professor of vision science at Newcastle University, who last year discovered evidence for stereopsis in praying mantises, said the work proved there are different ways of achieving stereopsis: Creatures like cuttlefish or mantises may seem outlandish, but understanding them will help us come up with varieties of machine vision which are most appropriate for different situations, say for a flying drone versus a robot vacuum cleaner versus a security camera. They are amazing examples of evolved engineering, and we have so much to learn from them.
Iredell County commissioners discussed a resolution supporting the Second Amendment and gun rights at the boards meeting Tuesday.

Commissioner Gene Houpe submitted a copy of the resolution that Surry Countys commissioners passed Monday.

Five counties in North Carolina including Surry County have joined a nationwide movement declaring counties Second Amendment sanctuaries.

Surry Countys resolution avoids the sanctuary language but sticks to the intent of the movement to not enforce any new restrictions on the right to bear arms. The countys terminology is Constitutional Rights Protection County.

Commissioner Ken Robertson said he supported getting a resolution prepared for the future. However, he said he would prefer to pass such a resolution at a more strategic time.

If the North Carolina state legislature ever attempt to increase gun control, passing the resolution at that time would have more impact.
LONDON  Queen Elizabeth is reportedly disappointed with the sudden announcement from Prince Harry and Meghan that they are stepping back from their position as senior royals, and palace watchers are questioning how much financial autonomy the couple will have in the future.

The BBC reported Thursday that the royal family was "hurt" by the decision. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not consult any senior royal before making the statement, the BBC reported without naming sources. Failing to consult the queen ahead of their shock announcement, in which the couple also said they will "work to become financially independent," is understood to have "disappointed" the monarch, Sky News reported.

Sky's royal correspondent Rhiannon Mills also said she was "told that the statement was solely written by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex  no senior members of the Royal Family were consulted before it was released." Reuters reported that the family was hurt and disappointed, citing an unnamed royal source.

Harry and Meghan said Wednesday they would balance their time between the U.K. and North America, "continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages."

The "geographic balance" would enable them to raise their son Archie "with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity," they said without revealing further details.

Buckingham Palace responded by stating that "discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage. We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through."
Facebook is standing by its policies that allow politicians to lie to voters, while targeting their ads at narrow subsets of the public  decisions with vast implications for the more than $1 billion in online campaign messaging expected in this years elections.

The online giant announced Thursday morning that it is not changing the most controversial elements of its approach to campaign ads, after months of a debate that has divided Silicon Valley and brought Facebook a barrage of criticism from Democrats. The critics have been most incensed by Facebooks refusal to fact-check politicians claims, accusing the company of knowingly profiting from deception.

Facebook has defended the policy on free-speech grounds, saying voters should be the ones scrutinizing politicians' messages.

The companys separate decision not to limit microtargeting is probably welcome news to candidates of both parties, who value the ability to tailor messages based on data such as a voters age, gender, neighborhood, job or sports fandom. President Donald Trumps campaign has pushed Facebook not to limit ad-targeting, a step Google took in November, and accused Twitter of trying to silence conservatives when it banned political ads altogether in October.

Facebook also said it is taking steps to give users more control over and insight into the ads they see, as well as improving its publicly available database of its political advertisements  allowing for more precise searches and filtering of ads and offering size estimates for their target audience. And the company announced it will soon allow users to control the volume of political and social issue ads they see.

Theres no change to the policy regarding fact-checking politicians in advertising, Facebook spokesperson Tom Reynolds said in an interview before the announcement. We made a decision, and this is a different set of issues that were tackling here regarding transparency and users controls when it comes to seeing political ads.

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Asked whether the companys position on that might change, he added: As of right now, this is what the policy is going to be.

Spending on political ads could reach as much as $6 billion in the 2020 election cycle, including $1.6 billion that will be spent on digital video, according to companies that analyze the advertising market. Facebook and Google are by far the biggest platforms for online political advertising.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg made two visits to D.C. last fall to defend Facebooks refusal to fact-check candidates claims, including a speech at Georgetown University where he argued that voters should be able to see for themselves what politicians are saying.

Facebooks director of product management, Rob Leathern, offered a similar defense in a blog post published Thursday morning, saying the company is following the principle that people should be able to hear from those who wish to lead them, warts and all, and that what they say should be scrutinized and debated in public.

This does not mean that politicians can say whatever they like in advertisements on Facebook, Leathern added, saying candidates must still adhere to community guidelines banning content such as hate speech or messages aimed at intimidating voters. We regularly disallow ads from politicians that break our rules.

Leathern also took a shot at Facebooks rivals, writing that while Twitter has chosen to block political ads and Google has chosen to limit the targeting of political ads, we are choosing to expand transparency and give more controls to people when it comes to political ads.

Civil rights advocates have been some of the harshest critics of Facebooks policies, pointing to a long history of false messages being used to deter minorities from voting.

The backlash to Facebooks ads policy  prompted largely by a talk in September by the companys vice president of global affairs and communications, Nick Clegg  has reverberated from Congress to the 2020 campaign trail.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) accused Facebook of becoming a disinformation-for-profit machine. And the campaign of Joe Biden, the focus of a baseless Trump campaign ad last fall that implicated the former vice president and his family in corruption in Ukraine, hammered the platform for amplifying and profiting from debunked falsehoods.

Donald Trumps campaign can (and will) still lie in political ads. Facebook can (and will) still profit off it, the campaign's deputy communications director, Bill Russo, said Thursday in response to the policy update. Todays announcement is more window dressing around their decision to allow paid misinformation.

Democratic candidate Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) also blasted Facebook. "It is wrong to take money from political campaigns in exchange for disseminating blatant lies to the American people. It is also wrong that Facebook is immune from any liability for the reckless political ads they sell," she said in a statement.

Clegg told POLITICO in a November interview that the company was considering limiting candidates microtargeting as part of a broader reassessment of its policies around campaign messaging.

Ultimately, it decided not to.

In contrast, Google announced in late November that it would limit audience targeting on election ads to only three general categories: age, gender and location (down to a postal code level).

Googles move, while cheered by privacy activists, drew sharp criticism from most of the political digital ad industry. Critics of the policy charged that Googles decision at the time could deeply hurt insurgent or less-well-funded candidates, while inadvertently benefiting cash-rich incumbents who had the resources to spend money on digital ads that were ultimately less effective.

Twitter, which was only a minor player in the political ad space, went a step further than Google, banning political ads altogether.

If Facebook did decide to limit political microtargeting, it could have hurt the ability of candidates to raise money and collect the contact information of would-be supporters.

The social network has been a hotbed of political advertising in 2019. Trumps reelection operation spent at least $19.4 million on the platform, making him the top-spending politician for the year. Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer spent at least $16.9 million.

Make no mistake, this has nothing to do with transparency and choice, House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (D-R.I.), who is leading a probe of Silicon Valley giants, tweeted about the policy on Thursday. This is about money.

Unlike Google, Facebook has "chosen not to limit targeting of these ads, the Facebook executive Leathern said. We considered doing so, but through extensive outreach and consultations we heard about the importance of these tools for reaching key audiences from a wide range of NGOs, non-profits, political groups and campaigns, including both Republican and Democrat committees in the U.S.

Leathern said the company didnt believe that decisions about political ads should be made by individual private companies, instead arguing for regulation that would apply across the industry. He highlighted Facebooks support for the Honest Ads Acts  much of which was included in H.R. 1 (116), House Democrats sweeping electoral reform bill that passed the lower chamber in March  saying that policy makers need to make uniform regulations for the industry. The bill, otherwise known as the For The People Act, stalled out in the Republican-controlled Senate, as has a standalone version of the Honest Ads Act.

Frankly, we believe the sooner Facebook and other companies are subject to democratically accountable rules on this the better, Leathern wrote.

Yet Alex Stamos, Facebook's former chief security security officer, called on the company to take matters into its own hands, tweeting that "targeting limits and a minimal standard on claims about opponents would represent a defensible, non-partisan and helpful position."


Today's edition of Paris Live opens with a closer look into the Carlos Ghosn saga in the wake of his international press conference in Beirut. The former Renault-Nissan boss skipped bail while awaiting trial in Japan for financial misconduct, but what will happen to him now?

Paris Live also updates the latest elements in the French anti-pension reform strike and looks at a book written by two French men whose children died in the 2015 Bataclan terror attacks in Paris - one the father of a victim, the other, the father of a killer.

We also hear from South Africa where a new law could affect the lives of political exiles, and what is behind a new regional council with Saudi Arabia at the helm.

Our roving reporter Arnab Beranger takes us to meet an award-winning pastry chef, winner of a prize for the Ephiphany cake known as "galette des rois", or king's cake.

Then there's an interview with special guest Francesca de Valence, Australian songwriter and artist who visits Paris regularly for inspiration. She talks about her growing online songwriting platform and plays a tune live in the studio.
Raising the minimum wage may save lives. A study released this week suggests a correlation between an increase in the minimum wage and declining suicide rates among adults ages 18 to 64.

The paper, published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, found that state-level increases of $1 (U.S.) in minimum wage corresponded with a 3.4 per cent to 5.9 per cent decrease in the suicide rates of people with a high school diploma or less in that age group. Emory University researchers analyzed monthly data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia between 1990 and 2015.

Our findings are consistent with the notion that policies designed to improve the livelihoods of individuals with less education, who are more likely to work at lower wages and at higher risk for adverse mental health outcomes, can reduce the suicide risk, the researchers wrote.

Suicide is one of a handful of deaths of despair that some researchers have connected to other social and economic issues. Despite the economys robust growth in recent years, preventable deaths such as those linked to alcoholism, suicide and drug overdoses have risen, and thats one of the main reasons that U.S. life expectancy has declined for three years in a row.

Mortality from deaths of despair far surpasses anything seen in America since the dawn of the 20th century, said a recent report from the Senates Joint Economic Committee, which is headed by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

Suicide is at its highest rate since 1938, according to the committee.

The Emory research is part of a growing body of work that examines the relationship between economic conditions and public health.

Last year, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley released a report that found that a 10 per cent increase in the minimum wage reduced suicides by 3.6 per cent among adults who have a high school education or less. Other reports have found that minimum wage increases go hand-in-hand with less smoking, higher birth weights and fewer work absences for health reasons.

Weve known for a long time that economic distress affects peoples well-being, said John Kaufman, a doctoral student in epidemiology at Emory and the lead author of the report. So in our study, were just trying to estimate whats the strength of minimum wage increase.

Kaufman said the results raised the question of what other significant mental-health outcomes could result from increased minimum wage.

Suicides are an indicator of the most extreme end of the despair spectrum, so to speak, he said. Wed expect to see more effects on more common problems like depressions, attempted suicide, and drug use as well.

Twenty-nine states and the District have set higher minimum wage standards than the federal rate of $7.25 an hour. And about 20 of those set their minimum wages even higher over the past two weeks.

A worker earning the federal minimum wage would make $15,080 a year  an amount that many have pointed out is below the federal poverty level of $16,020 for a family of two.

A spokesman for Lee, the senator, argued that there was a lack of correspondence between economic and social indicators and deaths of despair, and urged policymakers to focus on the overdose epidemic rather than on economic origins.

Our reading is the paper found that a higher a [sic] state minimum wage over the federal minimum wage is correlated with less suicide, spokesman Conn Carroll wrote in an email. By this logic, if we raised the federal minimum wage while keeping state minimum wages constant, suicide would go up! Or, we could really reduce suicide by eliminating the federal minimum wage entirely thus creating a huge gap between state minimum wages and the federal one. These seem non-sensical.
(This January 7 story corrects paragraph 11 to show CAE is based in Montreal, not Toronto)

By David Shepardson and Tracy Rucinski

(Reuters) - Boeing Co <BA.N> said on Tuesday it was recommending that airline pilots undergo simulator training before they resume flying the 737 MAX, a shift from its previous position that pilots only needed computer-based training.

If U.S. and international regulators ultimately back Boeing's proposal, it could take airlines longer to prepare their crews to fly the 737 MAX jets that have been grounded since March after two crashes that killed 346 people.

Boeing has been working on revised pilot training and software updates for the 737 MAX to win regulatory approval for the jets to fly commercially again.

After repeated setbacks, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is not expected to give the greenlight until at least February, perhaps March or later.

Last year, the planemaker said it would propose that MAX pilots did not need to train on costly simulators, a position it originally used to market the latest version of its 737 narrowbody workhorse against competition from European rival Airbus SE <AIR.PA>.

Airlines that bought the MAX have had to cancel flights while the global fleet remains grounded.

If only computer-based training were required for renewed 737 MAX commercial flying, Boeing's largest customer Southwest Airlines Co <LUV.N> had said it would take one to two months to prepare its more than 9,500 pilots on the updates.

Southwest had not been part of Boeing's recent discussions on pilot training recommendations and could not provide additional cost or timing estimates before there was specific guidance, spokeswoman Brandy King said.

Southwest has three MAX simulators in various stages of FAA certification and expects three more later this year.

American Airlines Group Inc <AAL.O> and United Airlines <UAL.O> each have one MAX simulator.

Not many MAX simulators exist and it was unclear if training could be performed on the 737 NG simulator that 737 pilots have used until now. As of December, Montreal-based CAE Inc <CAE.TO> had delivered 23 MAX full-flight simulators, a spokeswoman said.

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The FAA said on Tuesday it will consider Boeing's recommendations during training evaluations of U.S. and international flight crew alongside regulators from Canada, Europe and Brazil.

Canada's Transport Minister Marc Garneau, who has leaned toward mandatory simulator training for Canadian 737 MAX operators, said in a statement that Boeing's signaling the importance of such training was "encouraging."

U.S. and European aviation safety regulators are meeting with Boeing this week in an effort to complete a 737 MAX software documentation audit - an important step toward the eventual return to service.

Boeing shares closed 1% higher on Tuesday following unconfirmed reports that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway <BRKa.N> is buying the company's stock. The stock fell sharply last month on the 737 MAX production halt.

Southwest and American are currently scheduling 737 MAX flights in April and United in June.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Las Vegas and Tracy Rucinski in Chicago; Additional reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Bill Berkrot, David Gregorio and Himani Sarkar)
Ilhan Omar has been slammed for offending veterans with her claims that she has been 'stricken by PTSD' at talk of war after US military action against Iran last week.

'I feel ill a little bit because of everything that is taking place and I think every time I hear conversations around war, I find myself being stricken with PTSD.' Omar told a press conference Wednesday.

The Minnesota Democrat was also filmed snickering with Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the background while Sheila Jackson Lee made somber comments about the loss of US lives during the Iraq War.

During Omar's speech she had turned back to look at those far-left 'Squad' members, saying: 'I find peace knowing that I serve with great advocates for peace and people who have shown courage against war.'

Republican Indiana Representative Jim Banks, an Afghan war veteran, responded furiously, accusing Omar of using PTSD as a political tool and saying her actions had revealed her true feelings on the US military.

'This is a disgrace,' Banks tweeted, 'and offensive to our nation's veterans who really do have PTSD after putting their life on the line to keep America safe.'

Ilhan Omar, backed by fellow 'Squad' members Rashida Tlaib (left) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (right) claiming she suffers from PTSD on Wednesday

Omar - a Somalian refugee - doubled down on her claims, replying to Banks: 'I survived war as a child and deal with post-traumatic stress disorder - much like many who have served or lived through war.

'It's shameful that you as a member of Congress would erase the PTSD of survivors.'

But Banks was not prepared to back down and shared a clip of Omar standing on the stage chuckling behind Lee, who was attempting to make the case that the US should not repeat the mistakes it did with Iraq.

'Your words and actions at todays press conference reveal your feelings toward our soldiers serving abroad and the video speaks for itself.' Banks said.

The footage was also shared by Republican Jody Hice who said it was 'absolutely shameful.'

'Our brave men and women in uniform deserve our utmost respect and applause for their service and sacrifice - not mockery and laughter.' The Georgia Representative tweeted.

Absolutely shameful.



WATCH @IlhanMN and other @HouseDemocrats make light of American lives lost overseas.



Our brave men and women in uniform deserve our utmost respect and applause for their service and sacrifice  not mockery and laughter.pic.twitter.com/Lee0tmfGDa  Rep. Jody Hice (@CongressmanHice) January 8, 2020

Omar is among Democrats who have tabled a House resolution under the War Powers Act which condemns 'saber-rattling' by President Donald Trump 'and his accomplices.'

The House will vote Thursday on a measure limiting Trump's ability to take military action against Iran.

The Democrats have been highly critical of the decision to kill Iran's highest ranking general in a drone strike last week.

Ilhan Omar raged over US action against Iran on Wednesday, claiming that US sanctions amounted to 'economic warfare', that the power to declare war should reside with Congress and replying furiously to Republican Indiana Representative Jim Banks after he alleged her claims of PTSD were not genuine

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced the planned vote in a one-page statement that said the killing of Qassem Soleimani was 'provocative and disproportionate.'

The Democratic war powers resolution seems certain to pass over solid Republican opposition. A similar proposal by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., faces an uphill fight in the GOP-run Senate.

Because of a procedural dispute between the two parties, it was unclear whether Thursday's vote would be a step toward binding Trump's hands on Iran or a symbolic gesture of opposition by Democrats.

Trump on Wednesday tempered days of angry rhetoric and suggested Iran was 'standing down' - as both sides looked to defuse a crisis over the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general

Republicans say the proposal - a special type of resolution that does not get the president's signature - does not have the force of law.

Democrats say that under the 1973 War Powers Act, it would be binding if also approved by the Senate. The matter has not been definitively decided by federal courts.

Iran retaliated early Wednesday local time for last week's strike by launching missiles at two military bases in Iraq that house American troops. No casualties were reported.
ZAGREB, Croatia - After years of setbacks and disappointment, two Balkan countries hopes for launching European Union membership talks could be realized in coming weeks, according to the prime minister of Croatia, which took over the EUs rotating presidency on Jan. 1.

Albania and North Macedonia were meant to start formal accession talks with the EU last year. French President Emmanuel Macron blocked the undertaking in October and said he would continue to do so until the process for admitting countries to the 28-nation bloc was reformed.

Macron opposed opening the talks despite warnings that further delays to North Macedonia and Albanias membership quests could undermine stability in the volatile Balkans region. In response to the October delay, North Macedonias leader stepped down and called snap parliamentary elections, which are set for April 12.

But Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and senior Croatian officials appear confident that they can meet Macrons demands and possibly finalize by late March a date for Albania and North Macedonia to start accession negotiations, which can take several years.

The EUs executive arm, the European Commission, had recommended starting the process last year.

France had certain reservations that were more of a conceptual nature, Plenkovic told reporters in Zagreb on Thursday. Is the methodology for the accession process good or not?

He said the EU commission is working on a paper containing suggestions for ways to improve the methodology for joining the EU, plus a few concrete steps that the countries might quickly be able to take. No details were provided.

Countries must negotiate 35 so-called chapters, or policy areas, to join the EU, including financial, agriculture, transport, energy, social and justice policy. The process can be drawn out.

For example, Croatia, which joined the EU in 2013, started its negotiations at the same time as Turkey but Ankara is still struggling to become a member and thats unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Speaking to reporters with Plenkovic, European Council President Charles Michel said steps should be taken to modernize the enlargement process. He noted the principle of reversibility, which essentially means that the countries could be obliged to re-open chapters theyve already completed.

However, this is already the case, as the negotiations are conducted on a nothing is closed unless all is closed basis.

Whatever compromise is found, Macron said this week that he wants an EU-Balkans summit scheduled for May to be a moment of unity for Europe and a success. Croatian officials read his remarks as a sign that a solution will be found, possibly by the time EU leaders meet in Brussels in March.

Ironically, Albania and North Macedonia are struggling to join the EU as Britain struggles to become the first country to leave. The blocs expansion over the years has complicated decision-making in the worlds biggest trade bloc, and a kind of enlargement fatigue set in after 10 countries joined in 2004.

But EU membership has been a powerful driving force for democratic, political and economic reform in the Balkans, and supporters of working with Albania and North Macedonia fear any more delays by the EU could play into the hands of anti-European political forces in North Macedonias April elections.

___

AP Writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.
Daniel Hutchinson

From The Hutch

I always chuckle a little bit when I remember the fuss that was made over the beginning of the new millennium - January 1, 2000.

I was living in Rarangi at the time, on the East Coast at the top of the South Island.

The locals were adamant that our giant mountain  Tapuae-O-Uenuku would catch the first rays of sunlight in the new Millenium. Its 2885 metre peak would be bathed in light as a beacon to the rest of the world.

Of course the people of Gisborne had other ideas. Everyone knows the East Cape gets the sun first.

The whole thing took a crazy twist when Tonga changed its time zone and then Kiribati moved the international dateline to be the first to see the new Millennium.

But that didnt stop the folk of Marlborough from positioning a large rock near the beach at Rarangi with two holes measured and precisely drilled through the rock to line up with the rising sun and the peak of Tapuae-O-Uenuku.

When dawn broke on the special day, it was cloudy and drizzly and the sun was nowhere to be seen.

The computers were still humming and the world continued spinning. Im not sure who saw the sun first that day, but it wasnt me.

Warning light

However, I was one of the first to see the sun setting on 2019 and that was far more dramatic and ominous than anything the new millennium threw at us.

When the sun set for the last time in 2019 it was a bright red orb behind thin, crazy wisps of colourful cloud.

Bush fire sunsets and barbecues on the deck will be my enduring memories of the summer that marked the turn of the decade.

Now, traditionally Ive always been a bit of a sceptic about most things and not in the least bit superstitious or prone to worrying about things I cant control.

But 2020 feels different. It feels like a time of action and its very name suggests perfect vision and seeing things clearly.

Whether human industry has contributed to the Australian bush fires or not is a moot point really. At the very least it is a glimpse at what happens when the temperatures rise and the rain stays away and we should expect and plan for more events like this, perhaps even closer to home.

Facing the facts

Climate change and global warming is a proven fact now. All of the peer reviewed research agrees on this. Those still harbouring doubts should probably head back to school, or at least Google.

It really is something that everyone should at least have a basic understanding of.

Half the problem is that it just sounds an impossible thing to fix and trying to convince all the big industrial nations to change their ways is impossible. The mighty dollar rules, we are all pretty comfortable with our lot and any threat to that way of life is met with scepticism and resistance

Also, most people havent really considered the implications of a changing climate. If you think reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a bit of a pain, then youre in for a surprise.

Being a little country setting a big example is, frankly, a bit of a red herring.

Other countries dont give a rats derriere what we do.

Planting lots of trees is all well and good too but if things are going to get hotter and drier, then that is not a fool proof plan. Plantation forests are actually quite flammable and notoriously difficult to extinguish.

Super heated solution

Climate change actually presents a massive opportunity for a country of innovators and the oil wont last for ever anyway, so why not push fast forward on the change.

Even now, most of our energy comes from renewable energy sources, mainly hydro and geothermal.

We have limited oil and gas supplies but our access to free energy makes us the Saudi Arabia of the South Pacific when it comes to post-oil energy sources.

If you are a cup-half-full kind of person you might say we are tremendously lucky to be sitting on a thin crust of earth that separates us from boiling, super-heated liquids.

In the nearby Taupo Volcanic Zone - that stretches from just south of Lake Taupo to Kawerau  projects are underway to explore ways to harness supercritical geothermal water. Thats water heated by the earth to hundreds of degrees above boiling point. The energy potential there is enough to power the world, if only we could get it out.

Projects are also underway in this zone to use standard geothermal energy to create hydrogen  a ready alternative to oil-based fuels but one that requires a large amount of energy to achieve.

So its not all doom and gloom on the climate front and as long as the warring oil-dependent and oil supplying nations dont spoil it all first, Im still hopeful of a solution to all of this.

Otherwise that big rock on the coast is going to be an island and a monument to looking in the wrong direction.

daniel@thesun.co.nz
A caravan of thousands of migrants from Central America, en route to the United States, makes its way to San Pedro Tapanatepec from Arriaga, Mexico, on Oct. 27, 2018. (Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

Migrant Caravan Ad Circulating in Honduras Calls for Jan. 15 Departure

An advertisement being circulated on social media in Honduras is encouraging a new caravan of migrants to depart San Pedro Sula, on Jan. 15.

The ad calls for people to convene at the main bus terminal in the city at 5 a.m. to head north.

Some local media in Honduras are posting the ad, which had been used in 2019, on their Facebook pages.

Intervision, a television channel with around 62,000 followers on Facebook, posted the ad on Dec. 11, 2019, and it has garnered 282 comments as of Jan. 8.

We are going to the USA, commented David Rivera Villanueva.

15 DE ENERO 2020 SALE LA PROXIMA CARAVANA CON DESTINO A EEUU DESDE LA TERMINAL METROPOLITANA DE SAN PEDRO SULA. SEGUN SE INFORMA EL FLYER VIRAL LA HORA DE SALIDA SERIA A PARTIR DE LAS 5:00 AM. Posted by Intervision on Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Some reactions to the ad warn potential migrants that things have changed since last year, and its not so easy to travel to, or be released into, the United States.

During the first six months of 2019, Mexico had essentially no security on either its southern or northern border.

But after President Donald Trump threatened to hit Mexico with tariffs, the government formed a National Guard tasked with securing its own borders and stopping the unfettered flow of migrants from Central America.

The National Guard will be waiting for you here! wrote Facebook user Mayte Estrada.

In Chiapas you wont be able to cross as last year, so dont waste your time, commented Adan Perez, referring to a popular crossing location from Guatemala into the southwest state of Chiapas, Mexico.

Hedman Eduardo Zamora Torres wrote, First youll have to apply for asylum in Guatemala.

New regional agreements and a safe third country rule mean the United States can deny asylum to those who enter the country without first applying for asylum in another country on their way north.

Other commenters said they would join the caravan.

We are leaving, God above everything, everything will be alright, lets go with faith in God that well arrive, wrote Edwin Jimenes.

Patti Zelayita said, Yes, Ill join you, we are leaving, there are no jobs here in San Pedro Sula, if you set up any business, you never prosper, the gangs kill you.

Another user, Edgar Gomez, said: Well, we are leaving. Here in Honduras theres a lot of unemployment.

However, several commenters said jobs do exist, including Alexandre Byrne, who said, There are a lot of construction jobs here!

Most migrants from Central America are looking for jobs and economic prosperity, which doesnt make them eligible for asylum. To meet the criteria, asylum-seekers must prove that they are, or will be, persecuted by their own government based on one of several factors, including race, religion, and political opinion.

The number of Central American families entering the United States illegally has plummeted since hitting a peak in May 2019, when more than 84,000 were apprehended by Border Patrol.

By November 2019, that number had dropped to 9,000.

The major deterrent has been the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the Remain in Mexico program.

The program slowly ramped up during 2019, and more than 55,000 illegal aliens have now been sent back to Mexico to await their immigration court cases. Previously, almost all families had been released quickly into the United States and had subsequently not turned up for their court hearings.

Mexico Secretary of the Interior Olga Sanchez Cordero said she had heard about the new caravan.

She said at a Dec. 30 press conference that the Mexican government is very open, very interested in being a hospitable country, in being a refuge country, in being an asylum country, as it has always been.

But she warned against those who want to transit Mexico to get to the United States or Canada.

Those who only want Mexico to be a safe-conduct or a transit country, we dont accept that, Cordero said.

Correction: The article originally erroneously stated that San Pedro Sula is the capital of Honduras. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
The states plans to take away Houstons water rights have run into a little snag called the Texas Constitution.

Late last month, a Travis County district court found that HB 2846, which would have forced the city to sell its ownership stake in the Allens Creek reservoir project to the Brazos River Authority, was illegal.

Judge Karin Crump of the 250th District Court ruled that the law violates several provisions of the state constitution, including Article I, Section 16 which prohibits retroactive laws; Article XI, Sections 5 and 9, which prohibit forced sales of municipal property held for public use; and Article III, Section 56, which bars the Legislature from enacting so-called local and special laws.

Water is an invaluable resource and its only going to be more precious in the future. The courts decision helps protect Houstons resilience and sustainability in the face of drought and continued growth, making it a valuable win in what may be a harbinger of legal battles to come as water in the region becomes scarcer.

This a very important victory for Houston and all Texas cities and towns, Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a statement. No city would have been safe had the bill been allowed to withstand constitutional scrutiny.

But even as city officials bask in the glow of their courthouse success, they should consider Houstons role in precipitating the Legislatures interference.

The permit for the Allens Creek Reservoir was issued in 1974 to supply cooling water for a nuclear power plant to be built about 30 miles west of Sugar Land. Those plans fizzled and the permit lay dormant until it was revived by the Legislature in 1999. In 2002, Houston and the Brazos River Authority bought the 9,500-acre reservoir site and entered into a joint agreement, dividing the water rights and the costs  estimated at around $350 million  in a 70-30 split.

The deal stipulated that the project would begin construction no later than Sept. 1, 2018, but in 2011, the city pushed a bill that delayed the start to 2025 and set a completion date by 2030. Over the last decade, the BRA had attempted to negotiate an earlier start date, offering to buy out Houston and guarantee water for the city to purchase, but city officials put off any action.

From the citys perspective, this was understandable. Houstons water rights in the Trinity and San Jacinto river basins, along with conservation efforts, left it with no urgent need to develop the reservoir, nor be in any rush to put up its share of the multimillion-dollar project.

Just as understandable was the position of the BRA and officials in Austin County, where the projected 100,000-acre-foot lake would sit. The river authority faced a pressing need to serve communities and petrochemical plants downstream in the Lake Jackson area. For Austin County, rather than untaxed idle land, development would bring recreation and economic opportunities for local communities.

Spurred on by petrochemical interests, the BRA took its case to the Legislature, where lawmakers were perfectly happy to set a troubling precedent.

Hoping to forestall the legislation, Mayor Turner committed in writing to speed up development of the water project. The BRA, seeing blood in the water, refused to budge.

The judges ruling puts the issue back in the control of the projects partners, and out of the Legislatures hands. Thats good. Houston and the BRA should embrace this opportunity to work together on a timeline that works for everyone.
Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said a similar visit to Kashmir can be organised in future including by EU envoys.

New Delhi: The External Affairs Ministry on Thursday said the objective of the visit by foreign envoys to Jammu and Kashmir was for them to see first hand efforts to normalise the situation there and termed the criticism that it was a guided tour unfounded.

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said a similar visit to Kashmir can be organised in future including by EU envoys.

The team of 15 envoys which included the US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster arrived in Srinagar on Thursday on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the first visit by diplomats since August when the state's special status was revoked and it was downsized to a Union Territory.

Kumar said that the visit was facilitated by the government and the envoys met security officials, political leaders, civil society groups and media.

The objective of the visit is to see first hand efforts to normalise the situation in Kashmir, he said.

The visit to Jammu and Kashmir was organised considering prevailing situation, he said.

Asked about political leaders who met the group, Kumar said the visit by the envoys to Kashmir is not yet over.

The EU envoys wanted to visit Kashmir in a group and the government did not extend invite to all, he said.

The criticism that this is a guided tour is unfounded, he said.

The Congress earlier on Thursday accused the government of "adopting double standards" by organising "guided tours" to Jammu and Kashmir for foreign envoys, but not allowing Indian politicians to visit there.

"The government is adopting double standards by allowing foreign envoys to visit Jammu and Kashmir, but not Indian politicians," senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said at a press conference.

He, however, clarified that the Congress party was not opposed to such a visit, but Indian politicians should also be allowed to visit there.

Ramesh said this was the second such attempt by the government, after the one planned for delegates of EU Parliamentarians on 29 October.

At that time after facing criticism, the government had to say that it was an informal visit and not an official one, the Congress leader said.

"We do not oppose this visit of foreign envoys. But when our own politicians are not allowed to go to Jammu and Kashmir to meet people there, what is the purpose of taking foreign envoys there?" he posed.

Ramesh said three former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir were still under house arrest and one ex-CM, who was also the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha  Ghulam Nabi Azad  had to seek the permission from the Supreme Court to visit the Union territory.

When a Parliamentary delegation, opposition leaders, former Congress president and CPI(M) general secretary, could not go to Jammu and Kashmir, then what was the purpose of taking foreign envoys there, Ramesh asked.

"We demand that the government allows unfettered access to Jammu and Kashmir to all politicians and not resort to guided tours for envoys," he said.

Ramesh said the Congress wants that meaningful political activities start in Jammu and Kashmir immediately and "political tourism" for foreign envoys stops. "It is important to stop such guided tours."

"In the past five months, no meaningful political activity has taken place in Jammu and Kashmir. The Congress party wants that meaningful political activities start in Jammu and Kashmir immediately. Political tourism of taking envoys to Jammu and Kashmir should stop," Ramesh said.
By Trend

The parliamentary candidates must submit signatory lists to the district election commissions on time to participate in the early parliamentary elections scheduled for February 9 in Azerbaijan, head of the Azerbaijani Central Election Commission (CEC) Mazahir Panahov said at the CEC meeting on Jan. 8, Trend reports.

The deadline for submitting documents to the district election commissions for registration of candidates is expiring, Panahov said.

We want all candidates to return their signatory lists to the district election commissions on time, the CEC chairman added. Two days are left before the deadline. The process will be completed at 18:00 (GMT+4) on January 10. The documents will be further considered and appropriate decisions on the registration of candidates will be made.

As many as 2,381 people have applied for participation in the early parliamentary election, and 2,149 of them have received the signatory lists, 1,041 returned those lists and 617 have been registered.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Assets of the NCP were seized under a law that was passed in November and that ordered the partys dissolution.

Sudan has seized the assets of ousted president Omar al-Bashirs now-dissolved party, a senior member of the countrys ruling sovereign council said.

Assets of the National Congress Party (NCP) were seized under a law that was passed in November and that ordered the partys dissolution.

The laws implementation is widely seen as a test of how far Sudans transitional authorities are willing or able to go to dismantle the system built up by Bashir, who was ousted in April after nearly three decades in power.

More:

The assets of four private television channels and newspapers have been frozen, but they have the right to appeal, said Mohamed al-Faki, a sovereign council member who is also deputy head of a legal committee assessing the NCPs assets.

These institutions were financed by state funds and we want to return the money to the Sudanese people, he told a news conference late on Tuesday.

Diaeldin Belal, the editor of Al-Sudani newspaper, one of the media outlets that had its assets frozen, denied the accusations.

190823182515842

We didnt receive funds from anybody. They are targeting the newspaper and press freedom, Belal said.

The ministry of finance has also taken over the al-Quran al-Kareem Society, a religious charity organisation that Taha Othman, a member of the sovereign council legal committee, said had links to Bashirs former government.

Othman said the ministry of religious affairs would now manage the organisation. The al-Quran al-Kareem Society was not immediately available for comment.
Members of the Black and Tans, an armed auxiliary force of the Royal Irish Constabulary. Photo: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

THE Wolfe Tones have promised to donate all proceeds to charity after their rebel song shot to the top of the charts in recent days.

'Come out Ye Black and Tans' rose to the top of both the Irish and UK iTunes charts yesterday after plans for a controversial commemoration of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) were cancelled by the Government.

Harpist Brian Warfield tweeted on the band's twitter account that all proceeds will be donated to the Peter McVerry Trust.

"The Wolfe Tones thank you for your support of the campaign to stop the RIC/Black n Tans [sic] commemoration," he wrote.

"We will be donating the proceeds of the success you made by downloading Come out ye Black and Tans to the Peter McVerry Trust who do great work to aid the homeless, Brian W."

Earlier in the week, a number of Independent ministers said they would not be attending the event, while Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said the event was an "error in judgement" by the Government.

Despite denying it amounted to a celebration of the infamous Black and Tans, Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan capitulated to calls for the commemoration to be called off.

Taking to Twitter this morning, the official The Wolfe Tones account wrote; "Come Out Ye Black n Tans No. 1 in Ireland... Fine Gael got their answer"

The song rose to the number one spot in the Irish iTunes chart before hitting the top spot in the UK, according to the band.

The rebel band had supported calls for the event to be cancelled and shared a link to a petition against the commemoration on Twitter.

Video of the Day

'Come out Ye Black and Tans' was apparently written by musician Dominic Behan as a tribute to his father Stephen, and was released by the band in 1972.

The lyrics include references to Irish nationalism and refers to the Black and Tans of the War of Independence era. It links the Irish experience with other peoples' struggles against the British Empire.

The song also featured as an edited version in a Brady's ham advertisement last year.
Royal experts have slammed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's 'impetuous' decision to quit as senior royals, calling it a 'violation of the way the family operates'.

Harry and Meghan last night 'pressed the nuclear button' on their royal careers by announcing they are quitting their frontline roles.

The decision was taken without the knowledge of the Queen, Prince Charles or Prince William, who learnt about the announcement from TV news channels.

The couple, who plan to split their time between Britain and North America, made the bombshell announcement days after returning from a six-week break in Canada.

Royal watcher Penny Junor said the move had not been properly thought through by the couple, describing the decision to not consult the Queen as 'beyond bizarre'.

She said the bombshell revelation had reminded her of Harry's mother, Princess Diana, and her sudden announcement that she was separating from Prince Charles.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during their engagement announcement at Kensington Palace in November 2017

Princess Diana is pictured with her two sons Prince William And Prince Harry at Kensington Palace in 1985

'It has echoes of Diana when she suddenly announced after her separation that she was stepping back from 50 of her charities without consulting anybody,' she said.

'All those charities were absolutely devastated. It's the same kind of impetuous behaviour.

'The problem is they're not working for themselves, they are working for a family firm and to be making announcements of this sort without consulting is beyond bizarre.'

American royal watcher Sally Bedell Smith said Harry should 'know that you can't just go off and make decisions without taking advice'.

She told USA Today: 'For them to have cooked this up all by themselves - I think is a real violation of the way the royal family is supposed to operate.

'Are they going to get jobs and if so, what kind? Will the former Meghan Markle go back to acting? Will they spend all their time raising money for charity?

'This creates an awful lot of problems because they seem to be setting up a situation of one foot in the royal family and one foot in some undescribed private enterprise they're setting up through a non-profit, which will require them to raise a lot of money.

'But the cachet for that comes from being senior members of the royal family...the logic of all this seems muddy.'

Penny Junor (pictured) said the move had not been properly thought through by the couple, describing the decision to not consult the Queen as 'beyond bizarre'

Meanwhile Dickie Arbiter, a former press secretary to the Queen, revealed that the Sussexes ignored advice given them to Harry's father Prince Charles.

He told Good Morning Britain: 'They had a brief chat with Charles and he cautioned them to get everything in place before announcing. They didn't listen to him.

'The Queen will be very angry, even more so that Andrew's car crash interview last year.'

Former royal BBC correspondent Jenny Bond told ITV's Lorraine that she had sympathy for the Queen.

'I feel for the Queen, in recent years I thought her ship was sailing in much calmer waters,' she said. 'She is still his grandmother who she loves very much.

'They want it to be a new working model, and earn money, they have made that clear. They want to modernise in a way that is very radical.

'They can control their own publicity on Instagram. They can put out what they want and control it in a way that wasn't possible in Diana's day.'

Royal author Penny Junor added: 'I can't quite see how it's going to work. I don't think it's been properly thought through.'

Ms Junor said there was some logic in spending time in Canada but the prospect of the couple being financially independent was difficult to envisage, if they were still working to support the Queen.

She said their future roles will be made more difficult by the financial implications of the taxpayer continuing to fund Harry and Meghan's protection officers and official royal travel.

'The taxpayer is not going to be happy,' she said. 'The taxpayer grumbles enough about paying anything for the royal family. This will just be a running sore.'

She added: 'I think it's extraordinary but also I think it's rather sad. They may not feel they are particularly loved but actually they are very much loved.

'It's sad for them but it's also sad for us because they did very good work.'

Republic, which campaigns for an elected head of state, said Harry and Meghan's statement showed the monarchy was not sustainable in the modern era.

Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex visit to Canada House on Tuesday before their announcement that they would be 'stepping back'

Graham Smith, speaking for the group, called the personal message crass and self-serving after the royal couple said they would work towards being financially independent.

Mr Smith said: 'This really is wanting to have your cake and eat it. They have said they will dip in and out of royal duties as it suits them but won't stop taking public money until they find other sources of income.

'To suggest that they're not already financially independent is incredibly crass and belies a sense of self-entitlement and a lack of self-awareness that is common among royals.

'What should be more concerning is that the royal family's star couple have effectively bowed out of their leading role, and that raises questions about the monarchy's future.'

He added: 'In the meantime taxpayers will rightly ask who will be funding their overseas lifestyle, their extra security and trips back and forth.

'The royal family is in trouble and with the next succession on the horizon their problems are only going to get worse.'

The couple faced criticism for not consulting the Queen and the Prince of Wales.

Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty Magazine, tweeted: 'It is now clear that Prince Harry issued his personal statement without consulting the Queen or his father, the Prince of Wales first. Incredible. And unforgivable.'

Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan wrote on Twitter: 'People say I'm too critical of Meghan Markle - but she ditched her family, ditched her dad, ditched most of her old friends, split Harry from William and has now split him from the Royal Family. I rest my case.'
Love Island's Molly-Mae Hague is the latest in a string of celebs who have been forced to delete an Instagram post following an upheld complaint.

The reality star, 21, has been accused of not clearly identifying a promotional social media snap by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), reports the BBC.

The now-deleted photo posted on September 26 showed Molly-Mae wearing a coat alongside the caption: 'A/W, I'm ready [brown leaf emoji]'.

Reports: Love Island's Molly-Mae Hague is the latest in a string of celebs who have been forced to delete an Instagram post following an upheld complaint (pictured: not the image involved in the complaint)

In the disputed image, Molly-Mae posed wearing clothes from online retailer PrettyLittleThing (PLT), a brand for which she is an ambassador for.

Both PLT and Molly-Mae claimed that the post showed her genuine support for the brand and wasn't apart of her contractual agreement.

Although the fashion favourite argued the post had been shared 'organically', the ASA have ruled that the post should not appear in its current form again.

Claims: The reality star, 21, had been accused of not clearly identifying a promotional social media snap by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), reports the BBC

According to the website, Molly-Mae's contract with the brand states that her posts have to be clearly identifiable as PLT promotion to her millions of followers.

Although Molly-Mae had clearly tagged PrettyLittleThing in the post, the ASA insisted she must use words such as '#ad' in the future to make it more transparent.

A representative for Molly Mae declined to comment when approached by MailOnline.

MailOnline have contacted the ASA for comment.

Banned! This Instagram post about eye shadow by former Love Island star Olivia Buckland was banned after she failed to mark it as an advertisement

Last summer Love Island contestants were warned over using Instagram to plug paid-for ads and given a stringent set of guidelines to follow.

The advertising watchdog and ITV launched a 'survival kit' to ensure Love Island contestants follow rules when posting ads to their social media followers.

This came after reality stars including Louise Thompson, Millie Mackintosh, Olivia Buckland and Marnie Simpson were rapped and subject to ASA action after failing to make it clear they were being paid to plug products.

Hashtag ad! Callum Macleod, who was the first to be kicked out the Love Island villa this year, also plugged an advert for the same car air freshener just days after returning home

Big bucks! A Love Island celebrity who has more than one million followers on Instagram can legitimately earn between 4,000 and 6,000 from a brand for a single sponsored post. Pictured, former contestants Olivia Buckland and Alex Bowen plugging Uber Eats

The ASA partnered with ITV to help the contestants navigate the rules surrounding social media which apply to all influencers and celebrities.

Its guidance came in the form of an at-a-glance checklist to enable them to be 'upfront and clear' with their followers if and when their social media posts are ads.

A Love Island celebrity who has more than one million followers on Instagram can legitimately earn between 4,000 and 6,000 from a brand for a single sponsored post.

Both the ASA and the Competition and Markets Authority recommend upfront disclosures such as ad for posts that have been paid for by a company.

Rules have always required ads to be 'obviously identifiable', and the watchdogs have said that consumers should not have to 'play detective' to work out if a message is commercial.

The ASA said it would also contact the talent agencies that represent contestants to make them fully aware of the advertising rules and their responsibilities in helping their clients stick to them.

Made In Chelseas Millie Mackintosh was previously rapped after uploading a video advertising a Britvic drink.

Influences must now make it clear when they are being paid to plug advertisements for brands

Louise Thompson was rapped after she plugged a Daniel Wellington designer watch without making it clear it was a paid-for ad

And another star of the show, Louise Thompson, plugged a Daniel Wellington designer watch without making it clear it was a paid-for ad.

The ASA also criticised a post by Marnie Simpson, from Geordie Shore, for tooth polish-maker Diamond Whites and Celebrity Big Brother star Stephanie Davis for plugging vitamins.

It ruled against a tweet by TV presenter AJ Odudu that featured a photo of an Alpro dessert describing it as one of her favourite snacks without acknowledging she was being paid to promote it.

ASA chief executive Guy Parker said: 'Our checklist is a quick and effective way of helping Love Islanders ensure their social media posts stick to the rules and avoid misleading their followers.

'Our message is simple: make sure you're upfront and clear when you're being paid to post.'
In the backdrop of a foreign envoys' visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Thursday said Indian MPs, who wished to visit the region, should also be allowed to go there.

The envoys of 15 countries, including United States Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster, arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, the first by diplomats since August last year, when the erstwhile state's special status was revoked and it was split into two Union territories.

Singh said Indian MPs, who wished to visit Kashmir, should also be allowed to go there.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Japan's justice minister on Thursday urged Carlos Ghosn to return and make his case in court, after the fugitive former auto tycoon gave an impassioned defence of his decision to jump bail and flee to Lebanon.

Ghosn made his first public appearance since his audacious December escape at a combative press conference in Beirut on Wednesday, where he slammed Japan and said he had been forced to flee because he would not get a fair trial.

The ex-chairman of Nissan-Renault faced four charges of financial misconduct in Japan, which he alleges were cooked up by disgruntled executives at Nissan in collusion with Japanese prosecutors.

On Thursday, Japanese Justice Minister Masako Mori called those claims "baseless" and insisted Ghosn's "assertions will not justify his flight from Japan in any way." "If defendant Ghosn has anything to say on his criminal case, he should make his argument in a Japanese court and present concrete evidence," she added.

"If he claims innocence, he should face a trial under the justice system in Japan, where he was doing business, and he should submit evidence to prove his claims," Mori said.

The former car magnate spent much of his two-hour press conference insisting that justice was impossible for him in Japan.

He argued that the charges against him, including allegedly under-reporting his pay and skimming Nissan funds for his own personal use, were a bid to bring him down for political reasons.

"There was no way I was going to be treated fairly... this was not about justice," he told reporters, responding to questions in English, Arabic, French and Portuguese.

Ghosn said he was "presumed guilty before the eyes of the world and subject to a system whose only objective is to coerce confessions, secure guilty pleas." Ghosn has argued since his shock November 2018 arrest that the case against him was a bid to block his plans to more closely integrate Nissan with its French partner Renault.

On Wednesday, he alleged extensive collusion between the Japanese automaker and prosecutors and said he was the victim of character assassination.

The Tokyo prosecutor's office hit back late Wednesday, saying "Ghosn's allegations completely ignore his own conduct." "His one-sided criticism of the Japanese justice system is totally unacceptable," the prosecutor's office said.

Former Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa, a one-time Ghosn protege who was forced to resign in the wake of the scandal, also hit out on Thursday.

Ghosn "fled because he was afraid of being found guilty," Saikawa told reporters.

The 65-year-old businessman was out on bail in Tokyo when he launched his audacious escape plan, and said he decided to flee after his lawyers told him he could wait five years for a verdict.

He also accused prosecutors of imposing strict conditions on his contact with his wife Carole in a bid to "break" him. Prosecutors in Tokyo this week obtained an arrest warrant for Carole, who is also in Lebanon, alleging she lied to a Japanese court.

Ghosn refused to shed any further light on how he managed to slip past authorities and flee Japan at the end of December -- an astonishing feat given his high-profile status and the restrictions he faced.

Under his bail terms, his passports were confiscated, his home monitored and his internet access limited to a computer at his lawyer's office.

Despite that, he appears to have formulated an elaborate plan with security experts who smuggled him onto a private jet at an airport near Osaka, packed into an audio equipment case.

The plane whisked him to Istanbul, where he boarded a second private jet and continued to Lebanon, which does not have an extradition treaty with Japan.

Interpol has issued a "red notice" at Japan's request, but it remains unclear how Tokyo can bring Ghosn back to the country to face trial.

He said Wednesday he plans to take measures, including possibly challenging the Interpol notice, in a bid to clear his name, but would not be drawn on whether he planned to travel outside Lebanon.
Buddy Taylor Middle School teacher Jeffrey Paffumi, 47, has now been charged with battery after police were given video footage of the altercation, which took place on Tuesday, by one of the victim's classmates

A Florida teacher has been arrested after he was captured on video violently grabbing a 14-year-old student, putting him in a 'chokehold' and shoving him out of his classroom.

Buddy Taylor Middle School teacher Jeffrey Paffumi, 47, has now been charged with battery after police were given video footage of the altercation, which took place on Tuesday, by one of the victim's classmates.

The footage shows an incensed Paffumi thrusting on his arms across the throat of the child from behind, placing the other underneath their armpit, before lifting them up out of their seat and marching them towards the door.

'Show me how tough you are,' Paffumi goads the boy, appearing to tighten his grip. 'You want to call me a cracker?' he continued, referencing an earlier incident.

The footage shows an incensed Paffumi thrusting on his arms across the throat of the child from behind and the other underneath their armpit, before lifting them up out of their seat and marching them towards the door, with the student's legs flailing in the air

The Flagler County Sheriff's Office began investigating the incident after the boy told his parents and contacted the school.

The student would later go on to tell deputies that he had been playing music on his computer in class on January 7, when Paffumi muted his computer.

When the student unmuted the sound, the 47-year-old grabbed the computer and held it over the student's head, arrest documents show.

The student then said he told the teacher to 'put his s**t down, cracker.'

Another verbal exchange ensued between the pair, and it was at that point that the 243-pound teacher grabbed the boy, turned him around and placed him 'in a chokehold', the report states.

After carrying the student to the door, Paffumi swings it open with one hand and violently shoves the boy in the back, pushing him out in into the hallway.

The video footage released by the sheriff's office doesn't document what happened leading up to the physical altercation.

Police say the student wasn't injured in the incident.

'Show me how tough you are,' Paffumi taunts the student. 'You want to call me a cracker?' he continued, referencing an earlier incident

After carrying the student to the door, he swings it open with one hand and violently shoves the boy in the back, pushing him out in the hallway

Paffumi has been employed with Flagler Schools since August 2005 and has held his current position at Buddy Taylor Middle School since August 2018

Paffumi, meanwhile, has been charged with simple battery. Flagler County Superintendent James Tager said he's been placed on leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

'The actions of this teacher are not consistent with how we expect our educators to act and behave and it will not be tolerated. We immediately removed Mr. Paffumi from the classroom following the incident and placed him on leave pending an investigation,' a statement issued by Tager read.

'I have stressed to my executive team the importance of handling this investigation with the utmost seriousness it deserves.

'I also understand a video shows only a portion of a particular incident, so this investigation will encompass the incident in totality and not just what was captured on a camera.'

According to WKMG, Paffumi was previously arrested for a separate case of battery in 2012. Later that same year, he was also charged with criminal mischief.

Paffumi has been employed with Flagler Schools since August 2005 and has held his current position at Buddy Taylor Middle School since August 2018.
Remarks by President Trump on Iran

January 8, 2020

Grand Foyer

11:28 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: As long as I am President of the

United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.

Good morning. I'm pleased to inform you: The American people should be extremely grateful and happy no Americans were harmed in last night's attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties, all of our soldiers are safe, and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases.

Our great American forces are prepared for anything. Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.

No American or Iraqi lives were lost because of the precautions taken, the dispersal of forces, and an early warning system that worked very well. I salute the incredible skill and courage of America's men and women in uniform.

For far too long  all the way back to 1979, to be exact  nations have tolerated Iran's destructive and destabilizing behavior in the Middle East and beyond. Those days are over. Iran has been the leading sponsor of terrorism, and their pursuit of nuclear weapons threatens the civilized world. We will never let that happen.

Last week, we took decisive action to stop a ruthless terrorist from threatening American lives. At my direction, the United States military eliminated the world's top terrorist, Qasem Soleimani. As the head of the Quds Force, Soleimani was personally responsible for some of the absolutely worst atrocities.

He trained terrorist armies, including Hezbollah, launching terrorist strikes against civilian targets. He fueled bloody civil wars all across the region. He viciously wounded and murdered thousands of U.S. troops, including the planting of roadside bombs that maim and dismember their victims.

Soleimani directed the recent attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq that badly wounded four service members and killed one American, and he orchestrated the violent assault on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. In recent days, he was planning new attacks on American targets, but we stopped him.

Soleimani's hands were drenched in both American and Iranian blood. He should have been terminated long ago. By removing Soleimani, we have sent a powerful message to terrorists: If you value your own life, you will not threaten the lives of our people.

As we continue to evaluate options in response to Iranian aggression, the United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime. These powerful sanctions will remain until Iran changes its behavior.

In recent months alone, Iran has seized ships in international waters, fired an unprovoked strike on Saudi Arabia, and shot down two U.S. drones.

Iran's hostilities substantially increased after the foolish Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2013, and they were given $150 billion, not to mention $1.8 billion in cash. Instead of saying "thank you" to the United States, they chanted "death to America." In fact, they chanted "death to America" the day the agreement was signed.

Then, Iran went on a terror spree, funded by the money from the deal, and created hell in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration. The regime also greatly tightened the reins on their own country, even recently killing 1,500 people at the many protests that are taking place all throughout Iran.

The very defective JCPOA expires shortly anyway, and gives Iran a clear and quick path to nuclear breakout. Iran must abandon its nuclear ambitions and end its support for terrorism. The time has come for the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and China to recognize this reality.

They must now break away from the remnants of the Iran deal - or JCPOA - and we must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place. We must also make a deal that allows Iran to thrive and prosper, and take advantage of its enormous untapped potential. Iran can be a great country.

Peace and stability cannot prevail in the Middle East as long as Iran continues to foment violence, unrest, hatred, and war. The civilized world must send a clear and unified message to the Iranian regime: Your campaign of terror, murder, mayhem will not be tolerated any longer. It will not be allowed to go forward.

Today, I am going to ask NATO to become much more involved in the Middle East process. Over the last three years, under my leadership, our economy is stronger than ever before and America has achieved energy independence. These historic accompliments [accomplishments] changed our strategic priorities. These are accomplishments that nobody thought were possible. And options in the Middle East became available. We are now the number-one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world. We are independent, and we do not need Middle East oil.

The American military has been completely rebuilt under my administration, at a cost of $2.5 trillion. U.S. Armed Forces are stronger than ever before. Our missiles are big, powerful, accurate, lethal, and fast. Under construction are many hypersonic missiles.

The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it. American strength, both military and economic, is the best deterrent.

Three months ago, after destroying 100 percent of ISIS and its territorial caliphate, we killed the savage leader of ISIS, al-Baghdadi, who was responsible for so much death, including the mass beheadings of Christians, Muslims, and all who stood in his way. He was a monster. Al-Baghdadi was trying again to rebuild the ISIS caliphate, and failed.

Tens of thousands of ISIS fighters have been killed or captured during my administration. ISIS is a natural enemy of Iran. The destruction of ISIS is good for Iran, and we should work together on this and other shared priorities.

Finally, to the people and leaders of Iran: We want you to have a future and a great future  one that you deserve, one of prosperity at home, and harmony with the nations of the world. The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.

I want to thank you, and God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

END

11:37 A.M. EST

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By Express News Service

JAGATSINGHPUR: The lure of jobs has proved costly for unemployed youths from several villages in the district.

The case of Debendra Behera of Peteipur panchayat in Jagatsinghpur block highlighted the racket involved in duping youths from the district on the pretext of providing them jobs.

Debendra said one Surya Narayan Das of Khumbakula within Balikuda police limits, had promised him a job in a private company at Bargarh and sought Rs 50,000 for the interview.

Das had promised Debendra a salary of Rs 22,000 per month along with travelling allowance, dearness allowance, insurance and other benefits.

Impressed by the offer, Debendra paid Rs 50,000 to Das and was lodged along with three others at Ganesh Bhawan in Bargarh town.

A few people, posing as employees of Glaze Network, where Debendra was promised the job, took his photograph, cell phone and signature on some documents.

Later, they kept him hostage for 14 days. His pleaded with the miscreants to let him go but the latter told him unless they get three more youths to join along with him, he cannot be freed.

Debendra again urged them to let him go stating that his wife is critical. At last, the miscreants released him.

But they kept all his certificates and other documents and took his signature on plain paper. Debendra said he was made to sign the paper at gunpoint.

Later, Debendra lodged an FIR in this regard with Jagatsinghpur police station. Jagatsinghpur IIC Rajanikant Samal said a case has been registered and it will transferred to Bargarh police for investigation.

Another such case was reported from Nimakana village within Tirtol police limits where one Somyakant Das alleged he was duped of Rs 22,000. He too levelled allegations of torture against those who duped him.
The country is witnessing troubled times and petitions in the Supreme Court should not exacerbate the situation, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde observed on Thursday in response to a plea asking the apex court to uphold the constitutional validity of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and to issue a direction to the Centre and the states to implement the law aggressively.

The CAAs passage last month to fast-track citizenship for non-Muslims, who have entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh before 2015, triggered protests across the country. The protests first erupted in the Northeast, where people fear it could result in a fresh influx of outsiders. At least 21 people died in the violence during anti-CAA protests in Uttar Pradesh on December 20 and 21.

You know that there is a presumption of constitutionality [of laws]. We do not mean to be offensive but we have never heard of petitions like this asking that an Act should be declared constitutional, the CJI noted.

The CJI advised caution in filing pleas that may impact attempts to restore peace. The country is going through difficult times. The object should be to bring about peace. Such petitions do not help. As it is, there is a lot of trouble, the CJI said.

In her plea, Puneet Kaur Dhanda, a lawyer whose petition was mentioned for urgent listing on Thursday, has pleaded the Supreme Court to declare the law as valid and constitutional. Dhanda has blamed politicians across India for spreading rumors over the CAA and thereby creating terror and concerns in the minds of the Muslims.

There is a presumption in favour of the constitutionality of all statutes, and unless they are struck down by any constitutional court, they are legal, valid and apply with full force. Hence, such prayers seeking such a declaration goes against constitutional jurisprudence, said advocate Masoom Shah.

Opponents of the law insist it is discriminatory and unconstitutional as it leaves out the Muslims and links faith to citizenship in a secular country. They say it could result in the expulsion or detentions of the Muslims unable to provide the documentation if the law is seen in the context of a proposed pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC). An exercise to identify undocumented immigrants in Assam led to the exclusion of over 1.9 million people from the NRC last year. To be sure, the Centre has clarified that there is no plan for a nationwide NRC yet.

The Kerala assembly on December 31 passed a resolution demanding the scrapping of the CAA.

The political persons with a vendetta against the government and its progressive approach have created an environment of hatred, fear, violence in various parts of the country for their vested political interest as a result of which around 50 precious lives have been lost in various parts of the country and public property worth hundreds of crores has been destroyed, Dhanda has said in her petition .

The petitioner has sought action against political parties and media houses spreading false information and rumours about the CAA.

The Supreme Court will on Friday hear the Centres plea seeking transfer of all petitions filed in high courts against the CAA to the apex court.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Wednesday told the apex court that a multiplicity of proceedings would lead to different conclusions regarding the validity of the CAA. It would, therefore, be in the fitness of things for the Supreme Court to transfer all cases in various high courts to itself, he argued.

At least 60 petitions against the law are pending before the Supreme Court alone. They will be taken up for hearing in the Supreme Court next on January 22. The Karnataka high court agreed to hear one such petition on Tuesday, saying it will do so since the Supreme Court has not passed any order barring high courts from taking up the matter.

The Indian Union Muslim League, a Kerala-based party was among the first to move the Supreme Court last month against the CAA, saying religious segregation in the law without any reasonable differentiation, not only violates Article 14 [of the Constitution that provides for equality before the law] but is also blatantly opposed to the very basic structure of the Constitution and to the very idea of India as a country which treats people of all faiths equally.
Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Damascus on Tuesday to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. According to the Kremlin, Putin declared "with confidence that a huge distance has been traveled toward restoring Syrian statehood and the country's territorial integrity."

It's been almost nine years since civil war broke out in Syria. Putin and Assad are allies, and in 2015, when Assad's troops were struggling to fight opposition forces, Moscow intervened, sending military advisers and launching airstrikes. This was a major turning point, and the Syrian government has since been able to recapture most of the territory it lost.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told several Russian news agencies that Putin "noted that on the streets of Damascus, the signs of how peace has been restored can be seen with the naked eye."

Putin's visit occurred before Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops. The attacks were in response to an airstrike authorized by President Trump that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Iran, Syria, and Russia are all allies.

More stories from theweek.com

Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah puzzle over Trump's odd Iran 'victory' address

America is guilty of everything we accuse Iran of doing

Joe Biden's free ride is over


Indonesia is standing up to China, and asserting its sovereignty over an island in waters disputed by Beijing.

When President Widodo made a special visit to the Natuna Besar island, he told reporters there: "There are no more debates. De facto, de jure, Natuna is Indonesia".

It's developing into one of the biggest stand-offs in the South China Sea in years between two countries on generally friendly terms.

China is Indonesia's biggest trading partner, and a major investor in the Southeast Asian nation.

But the issue of Natuna risks souring relations.

It all started in mid-December.

A Chinese coast guard vessel and fishing boats entered waters off the coast of the northern Natuna islands.

A testy exchange ensued:

(SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED INDONESIAN COAST GUARD SAYING:

"As information sir you are in Indonesian waters."

(SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED CHINESE COAST GUARD SAYING:

"[] China has an indisputable warranty of over islands in South China Sea, under uncharted waters, enjoys the sovereign rights of the jurisdiction in the relevant water as well as the seabed in the southern shore."

(SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED INDONESIAN COAST GUARD SAYING:

"I order you sir to leave this territory, I order you to leave this territory."

That standoff pushed Indonesia to summon China's ambassador.

And now, its deploying more ships and fighter jets to patrol the surrounding waters.

China has never actually claimed the Natuna Islands themselves.

But it does claim to have fishing rights nearby - within a self-proclaimed area that includes most of the South China Sea.

It's a global trade route with rich fishing grounds and energy reserves.

The U.S. and much of the rest of the world say China's hold on the area has no legal basis, and it's been at the center of territorial disputes for years.

China says its opened diplomatic channels with Indonesia to resolve this latest stand-off.

And an Indonesian politician told Reuters, quote: "What's the point of war? Nothing. Wars are the last step to a failing diplomatic process."
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump backed away Wednesday from potential war with Iran, indicating that he would not respond militarily to the launch of more than a dozen ballistic missiles at bases housing American troops, as the United States and Iran blamed each other for provoking the most direct conflict between the two adversaries since Iran seized American diplomats in 1979.

The war-like stance that took hold last week after Trump approved the targeted killing of a senior Iranian military commander he accused of plotting to kill Americans appeared to ease by mutual agreement, following days of chest-thumping in both Washington and Tehran and what Iran called its rightful response.

No one was killed in Iran's attack on two military bases in Iraq, according to the administration, and Trump dismissed the damage to U.S. facilities as "minimal." Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the attack a "slap in the face" of the United States and insufficient to end the U.S. presence in the region but did not threaten any specific further military action.

"Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world," Trump said at the White House on Wednesday morning. "No American or Iraqi lives were lost because of the precautions taken, the dispersal of forces and an early-warning system that worked very well."

Despite the apparent easing of tensions, there is continuing uncertainty over Trump's policy toward Tehran going forward and how he would respond to any future military provocations.

The president wrapped an ultimatum against Iran developing a nuclear bomb in an offer for new negotiations, but it's unclear what would bring Iran back to the table after Trump scrapped the deal it struck with the Obama administration and other world powers in 2015. He said the new sanctions would be imposed, but the Iranian economy has already been hit hard by the United States. And Trump issued only a general warning against Iranian action that would trigger a U.S. military response after previously threatening severe consequences.

"To the people and leaders of Iran: We want you to have a future and a great future - one that you deserve, one of prosperity at home, and harmony with the nations of the world," Trump said. "The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it."

U.S. officials said Wednesday they knew Iranian missiles were coming hours in advance, after warnings from intelligence sources and communications from Iraq. Iraq's acting prime minister has said he was informed of the attack ahead of time. "We knew, and the Iraqis told us, that this was coming many hours in advance," said a senior U.S. administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the communications.

Iraqi leaders said they remain concerned about the possibility of more conflict on their soil with President Barham Salih describing the intensifying U.S.-Iranian showdown as a "dangerous" development.

In a statement early Wednesday, Salih condemned Iran's overnight rocket attacks "against Iraqi military locations" and said he rejects attempts to turn Iraq into a proxy battlefield. Iraq alone will decide whether to expel U.S. forces after a 17-year military presence in the country, Salih said.

Despite acknowledging that it notified the Iraqi government that it was "repositioning" troops, the Pentagon says it has no immediate plans to close out its mission countering Islamic State militants. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said earlier this week that a letter notifying the Iraqis incorrectly implied withdrawal and "was a draft, it was a mistake, it was unsigned, it should not have been released."

Iran sought to continue to sound an aggressive tone Wednesday while signaling it did not want the military back and forth to continue.

"Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter shortly after the attacks, which came in the early hours of Wednesday in Iraq. "We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression."

The often voluble diplomat remained mum on Twitter the rest of the day, adding to the sense that the immediate tit for tat was over.

Republicans and Democrats in Congress remained divided along partisan lines over Trump's actions.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced hours after the president's remarks that the House will vote Thursday to limit his war options on Iran.

"Members of Congress have serious, urgent concerns about the Administration's decision to engage in hostilities against Iran and about its lack of strategy moving forward," Pelosi said in a statement.

Congressional Republicans quickly praised the speech and Trump's actions as commander in chief, with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., calling it "a home run."

In mostly measured tones, the president whose focus on Iran has been a constant from the start of his political career issued an invitation for new international diplomacy over Iran's nuclear program and an apparent reassurance to Iran's leaders that the United States does not seek their overthrow.

In criticizing the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated under President Barack Obama, Trump also asserted without evidence that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons and that "the missiles fired last night were paid for by the funds made available by the last administration" under the accord that eased economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for Iran curtailing what it claimed was a peaceful nuclear energy program.

Trump said Maj. Gen Qasem Soleimani was "responsible for some of the absolute worst atrocities" in the Middle East and should have been "terminated" long ago. He repeated his charge that Soleimani was planning new attacks on Americans but did not provide evidence.

Lawmakers left a closed-door briefing Wednesday with some of the Trump administration's most senior national security officials deeply divided over whether the administration was authorized to carry out the strike on Soleimani in Baghdad last week.

Democrats said the briefing did not make a convincing case that any looming threat against the United States was averted when Soleimani was killed.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said that he did not leave the briefing persuaded of an "imminent threat" and that his committee would invite Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for hearings next week.

Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, said she wasn't certain officials who came to Capitol Hill even understood why Soleimani was killed. "I don't know that they know the rationale," she said. "Certainly they didn't tell me what it was."

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said officials walked lawmakers through the history of Soleimani's threats against the United States and its allies, and said "the fact that he was plotting further attacks to kill Americans made it clear that it was time to take him out."

"And obviously, you can't go into full detail about the intelligence of those future attacks," Scalise said. "But how much is enough?"

But one Republican senator, Mike Lee of Utah, called the administration's classified national security briefing "probably the worst briefing I've seen at least on a military issue in the nine years I've served in the United States Senate."

Lee said the message from the administration officials was that lawmakers need to be "good little boys and girls and run along and not debate this in public" - an instruction he described as "insane."

"Drive-by notification or after-the-fact, lame briefings like the one we just received aren't adequate," Lee said.

Trump on Tuesday evening announced the unusually formal White House address in his preferred informal way: on Twitter. "All is well!" he wrote, adding that assessments of damage and casualties were then ongoing. "So far, so good!"

Trump was flanked by top national security aides and senior military leaders in a show of unity. Among them was Pompeo, the administration's leading hawk on Iran.

But the next steps Trump listed - sanctions and diplomacy - represent a stay-the-course strategy. He also urged broader NATO participation in the Middle East, though it was not clear what he meant.

The approach may reassure allies alarmed that a superpower and an oil-rich regional power were headed for war.

Trump spoke Wednesday with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had pointedly refused to endorse the killing of Soleimani, and with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Trump also spoke Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House announced. Netanyahu considers Iran an existential threat and his fierce opposition to the Iran nuclear deal helped forge a close bond with Trump. But Netanyahu was also alarmed that Iran could target Israel after Soleimani's killing.

"As we continue to evaluate options in response to Iranian aggression, the United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime," Trump said. "These powerful sanctions will remain until Iran changes its behavior."

The Trump administration reimposed tough sanctions on Iran after Trump pulled out of the international nuclear accord. Trump urged Britain and the other four signatories to the 2015 deal to declare the accord dead and work with him to forge a new one.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country shares borders with Iran and Iraq, said Wednesday that "no one has the right to throw the whole region, especially Iraq, into a new ring of fire for the sake of their own interests."

The killing of Soleimani, a charismatic warrior who held cultlike appeal for many in Iran, marked the single greatest military provocation between the United States and Iran in decades. Iran's response in turn represented the largest direct show of military force against the United States since the inauguration of the anti-American government in 1979.

The United States blames Soleimani for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. forces in Iraq, including those killed by unique projectiles made in Iran and dispensed to pro-Iran militias in Iraq under Soleimani's direction.

The United States and allies also blamed him for sowing terror across the Middle East. But his targeted killing brought allegations that Trump had violated international law and Iraqi sovereignty.

Iran's promised response was both larger than some had predicted and apparently calibrated to be more symbolic than deadly. Iran used sophisticated ballistic missiles instead of crude rockets or indirect attacks, but the weapons mostly missed important targets.

Tensions had built last year, with Iran's downing of a U.S. drone, and attacks on oil tankers and a Saudi oil facility that the United States blames on Tehran.

At the same time, Trump issued an open invitation to Iranian leaders to talk, but they spurned the offer and the issue appears moot at least until after the November presidential election in the United States.
Multiple sources have confirmed a Pentagon statement saying that its almost certain that Iran shot down a Ukrainian plane on Wednesday near Tehran, killing all 176 people on board.

Initially, Iran had insisted that the plane crashed because of mechanical failures. However, those who observed the plane noted that it had started burning while still in the air, which is consistent with an incendiary device, not a mechanical failure.

Because the crash happened within four hours of the Iranian missile attack on Iraqi military bases housing American and other coalition troops, many immediately suspected that the crash was not an accident. The top guess was that someone in Irans air defense saw the passenger plane and, in light of the assault on U.S. forces, panicked that the plane was an American response and fired. The fact that the Iranians refused (and continue to refuse) to turn over the airplane black box only fed those suspicions.

On Thursday, the Pentagon went public with its analysis, which confirmed what most had suspected:

Officials said U.S. intelligence increasingly points at the airliner being accidentally struck by a Russian-made missile, killing all 176 people on board the flight, just hours after Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles targeting two military bases housing American and coalition troops. "An absolute tragedy," one U.S. official told Fox News. "They just screwed up and it is tragic." [snip] The U.S. official told Fox News that a Russian-made SA15 missile, which is part of the Tor surface-to-air missile system, was the kind that brought down the aircraft. Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1 systems to Iran in 2007 as part of a $700 million contract signed in December 2005. Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades as well.

The Iranians, however, continue to deny that they were responsible for downing the plane:

Iran's head of civil aviation was quoted by the ISNA News Agency as saying Thursday that "scientifically, it is impossible that a missile hit the Ukrainian plane, and such rumors are illogical," according to Reuters. Iranian officials have blamed a technical malfunction for the aircrafts doom.

Because at least 63 of the planes passengers were Canadians, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave an official statement:
Delhi Police Special Cell busts ISIS terror module in Delhi: The Special Cell of the Delhi Police on Thursday busted an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror module and arrested three alleged terrorists from Delhis Wazirabad area, DCP PS Kushwaha said. The terror suspects have been identified as Abdul Samad, Syed Ali Nawaz, 25, and C Khwaja Moinuddin, 47. Large quantities of arms and ammunition are said to be seized from their possession.

The Delhi Police said the arrested terror suspects were hatching a conspiracy to carry out terror attacks in Delhi-NCR and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. Two of the three terror suspects are said to be involved in the brutal murder of Hindu Maunnani leader KPS Suresh Kumar on June 18, 2014, the Special Cell told reporters. Suresh Kumar was the president of the Hindu Munnani for Thiruvallur East district in Tamil Nadu. The arrest of the three persons could help the Tamil Nadu Police, which failed to make any headway in the Suresh Kumar murder case, gather enough evidence against the accused.

Reports said Syed Nawaz from Kanyakumari, and C Khwaja Moinuddin from Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu along with their friend Abdul Shamim, 25, had skipped trial in December 2019 while Haneef Khan, 29, Imran Khan, 32, and Mohamed Zaid, 24, not only provided shelter to the three accused but also helped them get fake documents to flee the country.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) congratulated the Delhi Police for busting the terror module. The party said it is grateful to the police.

Following the arrest of the three suspects, security has been tightened at important places and government installations in Delhi. Alert Delhi Police jawans are keeping a tight vigil on the movement of suspicious vehicles and persons in the capital city. Earlier, in the day the Delhi Police has made elaborate security arrangements keeping in view the presence of EU delegates in the country.

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The violent attack on Jawaharlal Nehru University students by a masked mob has shook the entire nation. Outrage over the incident and growing violence over clash of ideologies has been expressed not only by the citizenry, but also by the Hindi film fraternity. Sonali Bendre has broken her silence on the JNU attacks, and penned a heartfelt note of concern and fear for the future of the country.

Sonali took to Instagram to share the note, in which she expressed her disturbance over the repeated attacks on educational institutions, admitting that she fears for her son, Ranveer Behl.

She wrote, "As a parent as I look out at the world today and I am uncertain of what the future holds for my child. Yes, I am very disturbed - the world is on fire quite literally."

She continued, "What should have been a chance for an open dialogue turned into a violent push of certain ideologies. The repeated attacks on educational institutions has shaken me and young India. The rage that is building, does not bode well for all of us and I find myself unable to dismiss my fears. Myriad questions crowd my thinking, with no clear answers, Are there any?"

"As we unfurl our tricolour on our 70th Republic Day, let's pledge to stem the violence and learn to choose peace," concluded Sonali.

On January 6, 2020, many celebs from the industry such as Zoya Akhtar, Taapsee Pannu, Anubhav Sinha, Saurabh Shukla and others joined protests in Mumbai to condemn the attacks on JNU. Deepika Padukone even visited the JNU campus, when she was in Delhi for Chhapaak promotions, and stood in solidarity with the students. Many hailed her as the 'real hero'.

ALSO READ: Taapsee Pannu, Swara Bhaskar, Zoya Akhtar & Others Protest Against JNU Violence

ALSO READ: Anil Kapoor On JNU Violence: 'Couldn't Sleep All Night'; Kriti Sanon, Dia Mirza Condemn Attacks


Chevron is expanding in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, raising its production guidance to 900,000 barrels of oil and gas a day by 2023. Not to be outdone, Exxon says it plans to boost its Permian output to 1 million barrels of oil and gas a day as early as 2024.
The police in Bengals Malda district on Thursday arrested seven people for their alleged involvement in the violence at Sujapur during the 24-hour nation-wide general strike called by Congress and Left trade unions against the amended citizenship law.

On Wednesday afternoon, tension gripped Sujapur in the Kaliachak police station area when some strike supporters blocked NH-34 and started pelting stones at the police who tried to remove the blockade. Crude bombs were also alleged thrown. Seven policemen were injured and several vehicles were damaged. Police fired rubber bullets and lobbed tear gas shells after baton charge failed to bring the situation under control. The mob comprised a few hundred people.

Incidentally, a controversy occured when some video clips surfaced on social media on Wednesday. The videos showed some men in police uniform and carrying a rifle damaging private vehicles. At the same spot a number of cars, including two police vehicles, were also set on fire.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Congress leaders alleged that the men in the videos were police personnel and said the arson was staged by the government to corner the opposition. Some local people also alleged before the media that they saw a civic police volunteer vandalizing the cars.

Congress legislator from Sujapur, Isha Khan Chowdhury, called the media and showed the video shortly after the arson. No Congress activist damaged the vehicles, police personnel committed the crime and blamed us, Khan Chowdhury said on Wednesday.

On Thursday, an official of Kaliachak police station said on condition of anonymity that no action was taken against any police personnel. We nabbed more than 23 people in connection with the violence and released 12 of them after verifying their whereabouts, he said.

Malda Superintendent of Police Alok Rajoria said, Seven people have been arrested for damaging government property and spreading violence. We have identified the arrested people on the basis of photos and video footage.

Rajoria said, We have seen the video footage where some men in uniform were seen damaging vehicles. We are verifying the veracity of the clippings. Stern action will be taken if any police personnel is found to be associated with the vandalism.

Khan Chowdhury said, I have requested the local police and the SP not to arrest any innocent person. The SP has assured me that arrests will be made only after proper verification.

There are at least two videos in the public domain where police personnel can be seen damaging public and private property. However, until Thursday afternoon, no action has been taken against them, said Khan Chowdhury.

The arrested men were identified as Amanul Haque(35), Abu Sufiyan (21), Imran Ali (38), Ashraful Sheikh (26), Md Sanaullah Haque (22), Md. Mokim Sheikh (30) and Mustafijur Rahaman (32).
Britian's Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle have stunned the nation by announcing plans to step back as senior royals to divide time between the UK and US, a move being viewed as a split within the UK's royal household.

In an extraordinary statement released on Wednesday night, the couple announced plans to step back from their current roles and split their time between the UK and North America with their eight-month-old son, Archie.

Buckingham Palace described the process as "complicated" as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed their intention after months of "reflection" to become financially independent and set up their own charitable entity as they carve out a new role for themselves in the New Year.

"We intend to step back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen," their statement notes.

It adds: "We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth and our patronages.

"This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.

As the couple unveiled their exciting next step, it seemed that the other royals, including Harry's 93-year-old grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, were taken by surprise. Their announcement, branded online as 'Megxit', has been described as "personal" and had not been approved by the palace.

"Discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage. We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through, a Buckingham Palace statement noted in response.

According to the BBC, the palace was blindsided by the announcement as the couple did not consult any senior royal before issuing the unprecedented statement.

Harry, 35, is sixth in line to the British throne, a position he will retain within the line of succession.

He married 38-year-old former American actress Meghan Markle in May 2018 and the couple had son Archie in May last year. They had a particularly difficult year in 2019 when they spoke out about the media glare on their role in a television documentary and decided to take legal action against British tabloids over breach of privacy.

Also, Duke and Duchess of Sussexes' absence from Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton's last two birthdays has stoked rumours of a royal rift between Prince William and Harry, the Daily Express reported.

The latest move was finalised during a six-week sabbatical by the royal couple on Vancouver Island in Canada over Christmas. Their future plans are roughly outlined on their Sussex Royal website, where it says they will be making a transition to a new working model and not be dependent on the Sovereign Grant of UK taxpayer funding to the royal family.

Harry has some personal wealth through the money left to him by his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, but he is supported by money from his father Prince Charles as well as the public funding.

Under current rules, the pair are "prohibited from earning income in any form", but in their new stepped back roles they would be free to follow other title-holding royals in having full-time jobs.

The costs of their official overseas visits will continue to be funded by the Sovereign Grant and contributions from the host country as appropriate.

Harry and Meghan are classified as "internationally protected people", which means they must have armed security provided by Scotland Yard and they have indicated plans to hold on to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor as their family home in the UK.

The couple are expected to continue their charitable work through the launch of their new Sussex Royal Foundation, which was set up after they separated from Prince William and wife Kate Middleton's foundation last year.

The new charity is expected to be global, linked to Africa and the US, rather than with a UK focus and will have a commitment to female empowerment in line with Meghan's work before marriage.

"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex take great pride in their work and are committed to continuing their charitable endeavours as well as establishing new ones, notes a statement on the official Duke and Duchess of Sussex website.

The site also highlighted the couple's disdain for the British mainstream media, which has been tracking Meghan's strained relationship with her estranged father Thomas Markle, as their statement indicated plans to favour grassroots media organisations and their own social media accounts.

The couple are formally withdrawing from the royal rota, or the palace system that allows papers to share joint coverage of royal events, blaming frequent misreporting and say their new strategy would enable them to share more with the public directly.

But royal historian Prof Kate Williams said it will be "difficult" for Harry and Meghan to lead "normal" lives, as media interest in them will increase after their "unprecedented" move.

"Harry and Meghan are global celebrities. Meghan was already famous (due to her former acting career)" as was Harry, who will become even "more significant" when his father - and later his brother - becomes king," William told the BBC.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hundreds of demonstrators contesting a local election in Georgias breakaway region of Abkhazia have broken into the de facto leaders office demanding his resignation, according to Russian state media.

The crowd on Thursday gathered outside the building in the city of Sukhumi, the Russia-backed separatist regions capital, before breaking down the door and smashing windows to get inside, pictures and footage circulated by Russian state media showed.

The protesters claim there were widespread irregularities in the re-election of Raul Khadzhimba for a second five-year term as Abkhazias president in September.

Thursdays unrest came as the authorities were set to review a call by opposition leader Alkhas Kvitsinia to void the results of his runoff against Khadzhimba.

Khadzhimbas office denounced the protest as a coup attempt. The Russian embassy in Abkhazia said it was following the situation.

Later on Thursday, Khadzhimba said in a statement that he did not rule out the possibility that a state of emergency may be declared.

All state government bodies are operating in the routine mode. The law enforcement agencies have been placed on a heightened state of alert. In case of a need, I will take measures to impose a state of emergency in the country, he said.

We have already discussed such development of the events with the security council, Khadzhimba said.

Sham process

Salome Zourabichvili, the president of Georgia, has called the elections in Abkhazia illegitimate and a sham process that violates the countrys sovereignty.

Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed. Moscow has tightened its control over the Black Sea province and a second breakaway Georgian region, South Ossetia, after a brief war with Georgia in 2008.

Most countries consider Abkhazia and South Ossetia a part of Georgia, but Russia recognises both as independent nations and deploys its military there despite international condemnation.
Although hunting has been a part of human civilization for time immemorial, poaching wildlife for commercial use is not and it has been a major threat in the world's biodiversity for decades. An international group of scientists led by Dr. Francisco M. P. Goncalves of the University of Hamburg in Germany traveled around Angola to assess the state of the wildlife trade in the region.

Through this expedition, the scientists were able to discover that even though there exists legislation on poaching and illegal wildlife (for bushmeat) trade, it barely makes it impact -- there is no effective enforcement of the law to deal with the situation.

Angola is one of the most biodiverse countries in the African continent and according to the study done by Dr. Goncalves and his team, is home to an estimated 6,850 species of plants, that are native and 226 are non-native. Angola is also home to 940 bird species -- endemic and non-endemic -- and 117 and 278 species of amphibians and reptiles, respectively. The country is also home to 358 species of freshwater fishes and 275 species of mammals.

The scientists state that the long-lasting civil war in the country contributes greatly to the wildlife loss and near extinction of many species. Travel along the roads of the country and there will be a variety of bushmeat being sold either fresh, smoked, or dried. Live animals are also being sold to urban dwellers who are traveling the main cities of Angola.

It seems the outbreak of diseases and the possibility of contacting of said diseases from bushmeat did not affect the trade at all. The animals are still directly supplied by hunters and are slaughtered without following a strict sanitation policy.

READ: New Study Shows the Extent of Global Illegal Wildlife Trade

THE MAJOR TRADE ROUTES ARE THE HOTBED FOR BUSHMEAT TRADE

Angola's major trade routes run between the provinces of Bengo and Uige and here a wide animal variety is being sold. For instance, travel these roads and various species of antelopes, monkeys, snakes, and the critically endangered pangolin will greet visitors as trade goods. Different species of birds are sold in pet shops and the streets, at town fairs, and even in the entry points of cities. However, there is no evidence of cross-border trade but there are speculations that bushmeat trade happens in informal markets located at the principal border posts as, the scientists' note, commercial activities between countries are not regulated.

The notoriety of Chinese customers in the pangolin trade is also observed here. Since it is believed in the Chinese traditional medicine that pangolin scales have medicinal properties, it greatly contributed to the near-extinction of one of the world's most mysterious animals. According to the researchers, they were even able to witness a Chinese customer looking for pangolins when they stopped by one of the villages.

The Angolan government has tried to find solutions to end this illegal trade including setting out a list of species that are to be untouched for hunting and trade which, unfortunately, is not effective since the researchers were still able to find species that were on the list in the markets across the city. The government also banned hunting of certain species outside the hunting season and introduced compensation fees. However, the police force is not taking the necessary actions to halt the operations of the bushmeat trade. One of the reasons that can explain this lack of spine from the authorities is the lack of clear definition and responsibility arrangements in terms of prosecuting those who violate the laws of illegal trade and hunting.

The scientists encouraged the re-assessment of Angola's wildlife for the local government to produce the appropriate legislation and be able to enforce it efficiently. The results of this expedition are published in Nature Conservation.
Representative image

US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster along with envoys from 15 other countries arrived here on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, the first visit by diplomats since the abrogation of the erstwhile state's special status in August last year.

The Delhi-based envoys arrived here by a special chartered flight at Srinagar's technical airport where top officials from the newly carved out union territory received them, officials said.

Later in the day, they would be going to Jammu, the winter capital of the newly created Union Territory, for an overnight stay. They will meet Lt Governor G C Murmu as well as civil society members, they said.

Besides the US, the delegation will include diplomats from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, Maldives, South Korea, Morocco, and Nigeria, among others.
Those who come to Christ all come differently but receive the same salvation and the same call to action. Love the Lord your God, love thy neighbor, go and tell the world. Throughout the New Testament, more guidance is given on how to succeed at these ordinances, clearing up misconceptions, giving wisdom and encouragement.

One of these further clarifications and explanations comes in 1 Peter, where the Apostle Peter charges believers, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). This challenge to be prepared to make a defense is, simply put, being able to explain your faith and answer questions.

Those who have refined this ability to make a defense practice apologetics. To be engaged in apologetics, the individual must be making a reasoned argument about religious doctrine. This argument can be scientific, philosophical, and moral.

Origins of Christian Apologetics

The exercise of apologetics began early in the Christian faith. The first known example of Christian apologetics is actually in the Bible. In Acts 2, after the Holy Spirit falls upon the church at Pentecost, Peter gives a sermon to the Jewish audience in Jerusalem for Holy Days at that time. After explaining how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, Peter declares, Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified (Acts 2:36).

This sermon was an act of apologetics. Also in the Book of Acts, Paul gives a famous argument in Acts 17 at the Areopagus. In the speech, Paul points to the altar to the unknown god, using the belief system of the Greek civilization to show them how Jesus Christ fills the gap in their faith, and is the better way. Paul explains to the gentiles, The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything (Acts 17:24).

The arguments made by Peter address a Jewish audience, and Paul a Greek, but they both serve the same function.

After the age of the apostles, the second-century apologists were defending Christianity as a new faith against political oppression. Justin Martyr was a key figure in this movement. He wrote two texts called Apologies, addressed to the emperor, and written in Rome. This phase of apologetics was defined, in part, regionally. They sought to justify Christians rights, and cease political attempts to get rid of them. They also challenged the classical world-view of the Greco-Roman based cultures.

It culminated in Augustine of Hippo, one of the most famous defenders of the Christian faith, even today. After his conversion to Christianity, Augustine wrote texts that sought to answer some of the questions being born out of the rapidly expanding faith including essays on Answers to Skeptics and Divine Providence and the Problem of Evil.

Many movements in apologetics through the centuries came as a response to different movements arising from within and around the faith. For example during the Middle Ages, political conflicts in Jerusalem - which led to the Crusades - also led to works like The Epistle of Abdallah ibn Ismail al-Hashimi to Abd al-Masih ibn Ishaq al-Kindi in which he invites him to convert to Islam and the letter of al-Kindi to al-Hashimi in which he refutes him and invites him to convert to Christianity, which illustrated the way Muslims and Christians could dialogue about their beliefs.

The Reformation brought about apologetics from both the Reformers and the established Catholic Church. Martin Luther and John Calvin defended their reformation while thinkers like Thomas More and Robert Bellarmine articulately argued for the Roman church. The history and strength of apologetics were built on the response to the culture within the church, as much as responding to outsiders questions and skeptical inquiries.

Are There Different Types of Apologetics?

Because challenges to - and questions about - the Christian faith can come from different people with different backgrounds and different preconceived notions about Christianity, there are different answers and arguments that arise in response. Certain individuals have mastered different styles of argument and different arguments.

One type of apologetics is Biblical and historical apologetics. This style seeks to validate the reliability of the Bible, its canon, and the claims therein through textual and historical evidence. This style looks at archaeological sites, the age and authenticity of primary documents, and sometimes examines apparent contradictions in the Bible to provide clarity as well as evidence for the Bible's historical accuracy.

Within this larger category, apologists examine:

Jesus miracles

Jesus fulfilling Old Testament Prophecies

Historical evidence for contested events in the Old Testament

The reliability of first-hand accounts of the life of Christ

Another broad set of categories for apologetics include moral arguments and philosophical arguments. Moral arguments look at the ethical reasons for why God exists. They examine the question as to whether or not man is inherently good or evil, and how the Bible is the answer to moral dilemmas. Philosophical arguments look at the larger questions of whether or not God exists, and if He does, what kind of God is He.

Philosophical apologetics can be:

Cosmological - The existence of the universe suggests God exists

Teleological - The world around us appears to be designed with purpose.

Ontological - The fact that man has a concept of God suggests there is an actual God.

Moral - Morality is objective, therefore there is a moral God.

Transcendental - Mankind thinks, therefore God is.

Presuppositional - Basic beliefs of humanity require God to exist

The other large type of apologetics is scientific apologetics. This type usually addresses the scientific questions the Bible presents. Is the Creation story accurate? Is there scientific evidence of a global flood? Are there any scientific questions the Bible answers? Some of these questions are currently, actively being researched by Christian scientists. Another line of argument is highlighting the problems of evolution, Darwinism, and the inherent assumptions in the scientific and academic communities that God has no place in science.

While there are some smaller sub-categories of apologetic reasoning, these are the largest, and most commonly utilized types.

Who Were Some Famous Apologists?

After 2,000 years of Christianity and apologists, some of them came to the forefront and became cornerstones of Christian doctrine. These individuals wrote books and essays and gave articulate speeches that cohesively articulated the Christian faith.

Some of these individuals include:

Augustine of Hippo: St. Augustine was a Roman citizen who lived in northern Africa from 354AD - 430AD. After experimenting with other philosophies and ways of life, Augustine gave his life to Christ, and wrote some of the foundational texts of the faith. His best-known works include De doctrina christiana and The City of God.

C.S. Lewis: Lewis was a prolific British writer who converted to Christianity after years of atheism. While not all of his works fall under the field of apologetics, several did. Mere Christianity and The Problem of Pain are important works from Lewis.

Lee Stroebel: A former journalist and atheist, Stroebel came to Christ by investigating the veracity of the resurrection. He wrote an autobiography about his journey to salvation, and incorporated the evidence that convinced him to surrender his life to Christ. Now a minister, he writes books that make apologetics accessible to a broader audience including The Case for Christ and The Case for a Creator.

Can Anyone Study Apologetics?

While not everybody may become a full-time professional apologist, it is easier than ever to become well-versed in apologetics. There are many books, resources, and even whole Sunday School curriculum that outline the basics of apologetics in different fields. Some of them teach the basics of academic arguments. Others outline the history and the evidence for the Christian faith and addresses counter-claims.

If scientific or historical apologetics is more interesting, there are also magazines and newsletters which provide the newest pieces of evidence, research, and information that can bolster your knowledge. In the information age, more Christians can be well-armed with the right knowledge combined with their faith to make a sound defense of that faith to those with doubts and questions.

Significance of Apologetics

People have various reasons for studying apologetics. For many, they wish to explain their faith better. Some find themselves in professional situations where they need to be able to give academic arguments for why or how they can believe what they believe and still pursue their chosen field. Many seek to become better witnesses to others and want to be able to answer questions better.

These are all good reasons to learn apologetics. It is important to always be ready to give a defense of your faith. It is good for strengthening your own faith as well, and using it as a tool for the church to become better evangelists can make a difference in your community. Being empowered, whether in professional ministry or not, can lead to more people feeling confident to share the Gospel and witness to others.

Learning apologetics does not mean that anyone can have all the answers to every question. There are many questions that can be asked, but it is not for man to have all the answers. Faith steps in where man cannot have answers. God challenged Job, Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding (Job 38:4). Because man was not there when God made everything, we cannot know His mind and will not be able to know all things.

Apologetics is a great way of strengthening ones own knowledge and faith while being able to explain the Bible better to those with questions or a skeptical nature. Becoming more adept at them is a great Bible study and evangelical tool. Start with some research into the kind of apologetics that interests you, and learn more about God and His creation

Sources

Brown, Devin. A Life Observed: A Spiritual Biography of C.S. Lewis. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2013.

Chadwick, Henry. Augustine of Hippo: A Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Dulles, Avery. A History of Apologetics. San Fransisco: Ignatius Press, 2018.

Sproul, R.C.. Defending Your Faith: An Introduction to Apologetics. Wheaton: Good News Publishers, 2003.

Stroebel, Lee. The Case for Christ. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008.

Photo credit: Unsplash/Ben White

Bethany Verrett is a freelance writer and editor. She maintains a faith and lifestyle blog graceandgrowing.com, where she muses about the Lord, life, culture, and ministry.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-10 06:17:45|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TEGUCIGALPA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Honduran authorities have detained seven undocumented migrants, including four Iranians, who were attempting to reach the United States, the National Immigration Institute said Thursday.

Along with the Iranian citizens, two Yemeni nationals and a Somalian were stopped by immigration officials in southern Choluteca department and taken to a migrant detention center in the capital Tegucigalpa, said Julian Hernandez, the director of border police.

Honduran authorities have contacted the U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa and the Transnational Criminal Investigation Unit, a department of the Police Investigation Bureau, to look into the matter, said Hernandez.

Honduras lies on the migrant path toward the United States used by many undocumented migrants from other Central American countries, as well as Cuba and South America.

Tensions between the United States and Iran were running high this week, after Washington's drone attack killed a top Iranian general.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Virginia Darden School of Business announced today that Vivian Riefberg will join Darden's academic faculty as a professor of practice starting in August 2020. In this role, she will hold a David C. Walentas Jefferson Scholars Foundation Professorship chair.

A global thought leader in the areas of health care and women's leadership and senior partner at McKinsey & Co., from which she will retire in spring 2020, Riefberg will bring to the UVA and Darden communities over three decades of experience and in-depth applied knowledge. A speaker, writer and convener in the health care field  notably in health care services and the interplay between business and government  she is also a leader in work on the economic benefits of gender parity in business and society.

Riefberg is the first to hold a David C. Walentas Jefferson Scholars Foundation Professorship at Darden; the chair became fully endowed in 2018. In October 2019, the Jefferson Scholars Foundation announced additional support of $38 million at Darden for another professorship chair, scholarships and fellowships as part of a new $100 million gift to UVA from David Walentas  a visionary New York real estate developer, 1961 alumnus of UVA and 1964 graduate of Darden  and his wife, Jane.

"The Jefferson Scholars Foundation is delighted that Vivian Riefberg will join the Darden School faculty as the David C. Walentas Jefferson Scholars Foundation Professor," said Jimmy Wright, President of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation. "We look forward to her active involvement and participation in the Jefferson Scholars Foundation and Darden School communities."

"Vivian brings to Darden a successful track record of advancing ideas on health care and women's leadership on the global stage," said Darden Dean Scott C. Beardsley. "Darden learners will benefit from her insights in the classroom, and she will continue to advance the practice of management in these areas through speaking, writing and convening. Vivian will certainly add to the richness of academic life at both Darden and UVA."

Riefberg will teach at Darden in the degree formats, including the full-time MBA and Executive MBA, and will conceive programming and teach in Darden Executive Education  working out of both UVA Darden's DC Metro location and the School's Charlottesville Grounds. Teaching at Darden is not new to Riefberg, as she recently co-taught a health care leadership course in Darden's Executive MBA program.

"It is an incredible honor to hold a David C. Walentas Jefferson Scholars Foundation Professorship at Darden. I am grateful to the Walentas family, the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, the University of Virginia, and the Darden School," said Riefberg. "I genuinely look forward to making an impact by developing leaders with health care knowledge and by further shaping efforts around diversity and gender parity. I am thrilled to be part of this community that delivers transformational educational experiences to prepare leaders for the future of work."

Riefberg earned an A.B. in History, magna cum laude, from Harvard-Radcliffe College and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.

She originally joined McKinsey & Co. in 1987 in Washington, D.C. After serving as an associate in the firm, she left for two years for an entrepreneurial venture in real estate. She returned to McKinsey in 1989 and was elected senior partner in 2004. During her time there, she helped build two practice areas  health care services and public sector  from their early days to fully scaled operations. She served on McKinsey's board of directors from 2015 to 2018.

Riefberg also has a history of civic leadership and has worked with multiple nonprofits, serving on advisory boards at organizations including the National Institutes of Health. She is a founding board member at the Partnership for a Healthier America, a nonpartisan program and outgrowth of former first lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign that aims to solve the child obesity challenge. Currently, Riefberg serves as general director of the board of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

A frequent author, speaker and media commentator, Riefberg has presented at the World Economic Forum at Davos and has lectured at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.

"We are delighted that the Walentas Professorship has enabled us to attract such top talent to UVA and Darden," said Beardsley.

About the University of Virginia Darden School of Business

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business delivers the world's best business education experience to prepare entrepreneurial, global and responsible leaders through its MBA, Ph.D., MSBA and Executive Education programs. Darden's top-ranked faculty is renowned for teaching excellence and advances practical business knowledge through research. Darden was established in 1955 at the University of Virginia, a top public university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

SOURCE University of Virginia Darden School of Business

Related Links

http://www.darden.virginia.edu


Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 16:56:20|Editor: mingmei

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BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- China and Laos have signed an agreement on bilateral monetary cooperation to enhance the use of local currencies in trade and investment, the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, announced Thursday.

The agreement, signed between the PBOC and the Bank of Lao PDR, will allow direct settlement of the two countries' own currencies in transactions under all open current and capital accounts, the PBOC said in a statement.

The agreement will strengthen monetary and financial cooperation between the two countries, boost the use of local currencies and facilitate trade and investment, the central bank said.
By PTI

KARACHI: In a bizarre incident, a 50-year-old woman pronounced dead by a hospital in Pakistan "came back to life" at her funeral bath, according to a media report on Thursday.

Rasheeda Bibi was admitted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital in Karachi where the doctors pronounced her dead and also issued a death certificate, the Express Tribune reported.

The woman "miraculously came back to life while being given her funeral bath on Wednesday", it said.

"Her body had been shifted to the morgue and we had started giving her a funeral bath when a woman present in the room noticed her limbs moving. We then hurriedly checked her pulse to find out that she was still breathing," Rasheeda's daughter-in-law Shabana was quoted as saying by the report.

The woman is now undergoing treatment at the same public hospital.
Set to become a new cultural beacon, the future museum will offer a brand-new way of experiencing art, history, culture, and technology altogether. "Vasil Bojkov Museum" will be something with no equivalent worldwide. The project envisions complete renovation of the great-listed Telephone Palace in Sofia to host expositions of rare archaeological findings, contemporary exhibitions of paintings, and other cultural and art displays. The previous owner of the building  the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company  is said to have used it for administrative tasks, with some of its premises converted into some sort of entertainment venues and restaurants.

Transformed into a museum, though, the Telephone Palace is said to become "The Bulgarian Louvre." Visitors will be able to enjoy lectures on various topics. They will see history through holograms and will look at artifacts projected in 3D formats, thus, getting a more comprehensive understanding of Bulgaria, its antique treasures, and historical events. In addition to this, the renovated building will have one additional floor on top and more underground parking lots. What is also quite interesting is that several specialized labs will also be part of the biggest private museum in Europe. Similar laboratories have never been available at the territory of Bulgaria. Thanks to the ultra-modern technologies and equipment, experts will be able to work on the restoration of artifacts with high precision.

But the realization of the project seems to have been quite challenging. Even though the building permit was issued back in July, it still took some time before the license came into force, and the actual work on the reconstruction could finally begin. For what is known, the Telephone Palace encompasses 13 400 square meters and additional 3,000 square meters dedicated to the underground area. This space will be extended, with another 4.5 meters underground.

Why is this project so unique?

The main idea of the NGO "Thrace Foundation" owner of the future museum is to put on display one of the most intriguing private archaeological collection of Thracian treasures and much more. This will be the first Museum in Bulgaria with ultramodern, interactive, digital sets to make learning about history a really interesting and pleasant experience for anyone. The collection is owned by the Bulgarian entrepreneur Vasil Bojkov. In Bulgaria, he is known as one of the most renowned patrons of art and an antique collector. His assemblage includes over 3000 Thracian gold vessels and various ancient monuments, dating from 4000 BC. to the VI century. Numerous rare relics from Vasil Bojkov Collection have been exhibited in some of the greatest museums in European capital cities. Mr. Bojkov has also established the Thrace Foundation, whose purpose is to retain and preserve the cultural and historical heritage of Bulgaria.

As it seems, if there is one thing Europe is famous for, it is its historical, cultural, and artistic centers. People from all over the world travel to famous places such as Italy, France, Austria, Greece to get the most exquisite experience of ancient cities, ancient civilizations, and the legacies they left behind. It is not surprising that there are so many galleries and museums on the continent. But while many decide to wander around those popular destinations, they forget that countries such as Bulgaria have a lot to reveal. With the construction of the biggest private museum in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, undoubtedly, this small Eastern European country will turn into a top destination for anyone interested in art, history, and culture.

Press Contact

Georgi Spasov

0886328912

[email protected]

SOURCE Hebros News
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global transcatheter devices market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 12% during the forecast period 2019 to 2026 and reach the market value of around US$ 19.4 Bn by 2026.



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North America dominated the global transcatheter devices market in the year 2018. The region has experienced the potential growth owing to the presence of higher adoption of technological advance devices and surgical procedures, availability of skilled healthcare professionals and higher disposable income. Also, high prevalence of cardiovascular disease and cancer patients and increasing need for better treatment option boosts the growth of North America transcatheter market throughout the forecast period. Europe is expected to account for the second largest share in the global transcatheter devices market owing to the favorable reimbursement policies, presence of large patient pool and high awareness regarding minimally invasive surgeries such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) or transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Shifting preference towards transcatheter replacement procedures over conventional surgeries is one of the prime factors responsible for the market growth during the forecast period. However, Asia Pacific is forecasted to have the highest growth rate in the global market during the forecast period and further expected to plan an important role in the development of the market in the region in future owing to increase in awareness for minimally invasive surgeries in the region.

In 2018, transcatheter replacement device shave dominated the product type segment and is projected to maintain its dominance over the forecast period from 2019 to 2026. The growth of this segment is attributed to the availability of wide range of products and high commercialization rate. Within this segment, the transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) devices and transcatheter mitral valve replacement accounts for the highest share in the market owing to the increasing demand for TAVR surgeries in developed economies and growing research and development activities by conducted by few of the key players in the market. For instance, Abbott received a FDA approval for fourth-generation MitraClip device - MitraClip G4 in 2018, which offers a wide range of clip sizes, and facilitates real time assessment of procedure, which enable doctors to treat mitral valve disease efficiently.

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Cardiovascular application segment dominated the transcatheter devices market on the basis of application in the year 2018. The factors responsible for the growth of this segment includes, growing geriatric population with high risk for cardiac disease and increasing need for advance surgical option for the patients with cardiac disease which offers minimal risk and shorter recovery time. Oncology application segment held second largest share in the global transcatheter market owing to the large patient pool, increasing adoption of embolization technique for cancer such as kidney, pancreatic, breast and liver cancer.

Some of the leading competitors are Abbott, CryoLife, Inc., Boston Scientific Corporation, Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, JenaValve Technology, Inc., Meril Lifesciences Pvt. Ltd., Neovasc Inc., and Terumo Corporation. Key strategies followed by the top companies are product launch and marketing authorization. In 2019, companies such as Meril Lifescience, BioVentrix and Edwards Lifesciences received CE approval for their products.

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Some of the key observations regarding transcatheter devices industry include:

November 2019, MyVal-1 transcatheter heart valve (THV) manufactured by Indian medtech company Merils has demonstrated a high procedural success rate in a one-month clinical trial. Myval THV is expected to be the a next-generation TAVR system which is would be minimizing physicians learning curve and most of unmet needs

In November 2019, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Device Designation status for BioVentrix's Revivent TC Transcatheter Ventricular Enhancement System for heart failure. The goal of the Breakthrough Devices Program is to provide patients and health care providers with timely access to these medical devices by speeding up their development, assessment.

In November 2019, Edwards Life-sciences received CE Mark approval for expanded use of its Sapien 3 transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) system.

In August 2019, U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the expansion of the indication for several transcatheter heart valves to patients at low risk for death or major complications associated with open-heart surgery. This new approval would significantly expand the number of patients which can be treated with this minimally invasive procedure for aortic valve replacement

In June 2019, an India based company Meril Life Sciencess Myval Transcatheter Heart Valve receives CE approval. The CE certification would enable MyvalTM -THV to reach over 60 countries in Europe

In July 2019, Shanghai MicroPort CardioFlow Medtech Co., Ltd. received the registration certificate for the VitaFlow Transcatheter Aortic Valve and Delivery System (VitaFlow) from National Medical Products Administration of China (NMPA).

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A tour guide that was critically injured in the White Island volcano disaster has regained consciousness for the first time.

Kelsey Waghorn sustained burns to 45 per cent of her body when a volcano on the New Zealand island suddenly erupted.

The horrific event on December 9 killed 19 people and left many others critically injured.

Tour guide Kelsey Waghorn (pictured) has awoken for the first time after retaining serious burns in the White Island volcano disaster on December 9

Ms Waghorn's mother, Shelley, told the NZ Herald her daughter has regained consciousness and has an inspiring attitude.

'She's not giving up. Every time she is asked to do something she does it, it doesn't matter how hard it is or how much it hurts, she's just digging deep and doing it.'

The mother said Ms Waghorn spent five days in an induced coma after the accident but is now speaking as well as working with a physio.

She undergoes up to three surgeries a day to replace skin grafts.

The horrific event in New Zealand resulted in the loss of 19 lives and many critically injured

The tour guide still has a long way to recover from her extensive injuries but a Give A Little page set up on her behalf is helping to ease the burden.

Her mother Shelley said her daughter initially spent five days in an induced coma but is now speaking and working with the physio to restore her functionality

Her family was blown away that the page raised $103,641, with Ms Waghorn said to have broken down in tears after seeing it had surpassed $57,000.

It comes after the parents of another injured tour guide, Jake Milbank, revealed he had regained consciousness last week, according to the Whakatane Beacon.

The 19-year-old is currently recovering in Middlemore Hospital with burns across 80 per cent of his body.

His father, Steve, said because Jake has such little skin the recovery process is going to be long and slow.

'It is early stages; it is going to be a long road. We are taking it one day at a time. He is not out of the woods, he is still in ICU, so we are still plugging away day-by-day,' Mr Milbank said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday spoke to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to call for an end to hostilities between the US and Iran in the wake of mounting tensions in the region since America's killing of a top Iranian commander.

Johnson also reiterated the UK's continued commitment to the nuclear deal with Iran despite pressure from US President Donald Trump for Britain to abandon the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) agreed back in 2015.

"They discussed the situation in the region following the death of Qasem Soleimani and the Prime Minister called for an end to hostilities, a Downing Street spokesperson said in reference to the 20-minute telephone conversation between the two leaders.

The Prime Minister (Johnson) underlined the UK's continued commitment to the JCPoA and to ongoing dialogue to avoid nuclear proliferation and reduce tensions, the spokesperson said.

Johnson also called on Iran to release British dual nationals in detention in the country, including charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

The call came after Iran fired missiles at air bases in Iraq where US and UK troops are stationed in retaliation to the killing of Soleimani.

UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab earlier said he recognised the threat Iran poses in the Middle East and a US "right to self-defence", after talks with his counterpart Mike Pompeo in Washington.

Raab reiterated his support for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis during his meeting with the US Secretary of State during his US visit.

"We want to see the tensions de-escalated," he said.

Raab also stressed the UK's commitment to the JCPOA on restricting Iran's nuclear programme, in which the country agreed to limit sensitive nuclear activities in return for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions.

The US withdrew from the deal in 2018, but the other parties the UK, France, Germany, China and Russia have said they were still dedicated to it.

The British foreign minister said that while the UK has been committed to the deal, "we've reached a point where non-compliance has been so acute in the most recent steps taken by Iran".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
John Lewis flagship store on Oxford Street in London. Photo: AP Photo/Alastair Grant

John Lewis Partnership on Thursday warned that full-year profits would be significantly lower than the previous 12 months, and said it was considering axing its staff bonus for the first time since 1953.

The company also said that Paula Nikolds, who serves as managing director of the John Lewis & Partners division, would unexpectedly step down in February before the merger of the John Lewis and Waitrose executive teams.

Nikolds had been expected to take over as executive director of the combined brands.

Gross sales at John Lewis stores fell by 2.3% to 1.1bn in the seven weeks to 4 January, while those at Waitrose stores fell by 1.3%.

The company said it was encouraging, however, that online orders at Waitrose, which have been an area of focus for the company, climbed 23.4% in the week before Christmas.

In a trading statement, chairman Charlie Mayfield said: After some reflection on the responsibilities of her proposed new role, we have decided together that the implementation of the future partnership structure in February is the right time for her to move on.

Nikolds has been managing director of John Lewis & Partners since 2017, and joined the company as a graduate trainee in 1994.

Mayfield is also stepping down as chairman. Underlying profits in the full year to 4 January would be significantly lower, the partnership said, even after profit crashed by 45% in the previous year.

The partnerships board will meet in February to decide whether it is prudent to pay a bonus to employees, who are all partners in the company.

The decision, the company said, will be influenced by profitability, planned investment, and the strength of its balance sheet.

A spokesperson for John Lewis Partnership said on Thursday that there have been 17 years in total since the company was founded in 1919 that a bonus was not paid to partners.

Many of those years fell during the second world war, but the last time the company axed the bonus was in 1953.

Story continues

The company had warned last year, however, that it might also have to suspend its bonus. But it instead paid the lowest bonus in more than 50 years to partners.

John Lewis in October announced a major cost-cutting plan, and said that it would shed about a third of management roles in an attempt to reduce outlays by 100m.

It also said that it would ask some of its landlords for discounts.
Scott Shenk | The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va.

An early-morning crash on northbound Interstate 95 near Quantico resulted in one mans death and hours of snarled traffic during the Wednesday morning commute.

The crash happened at 1:15 a.m. a mile north of the Quantico exit in Prince William County, according to Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller.

Chad D. Shifflett, 42, of Harrisburg, Pa., was killed in the crash, according to Geller.

That crash involved a truck contracted by the Virginia Department of Transportation to treat the roads after Tuesdays snow. A Dodge Ram pickup hauling a fifth-wheel trailer rear-ended the truck, which was not treating the interstate at the time of the crash.

The trailers lights were knocked out by the crash, and soon after the first crash, a Subaru reached the scene and was unable to avoid hitting the trailer, Geller said. The Subaru caught fire after the impact. State Police Trooper K.J. Page arrived on the scene and pulled the driver free.

The driver of the Dodge, Kenneth R. Shiley, 43, of New Cumberland, Pa., was taken to Fairfax Inova Hospital for treatment of serious injuries. The passenger, Shifflett, died at the scene. Neither man was wearing a seat belt, Geller said.

The Subaru driver, Cindy N. Scheett, 60, of Newport News, was taken to Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center for treatment of serious injuries, Geller said. She was wearing a seat belt.

The driver of the VDOT contract truck, Anduamlak Donduela, 37, of Washington, D.C., was taken to Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center to be treated for minor injuries. He was wearing a seat belt.

The original crash is still being investigated, Geller said. She said weather does not appear to have been a direct factor in the crash.
Most people have been told that sharing their passwords with someone else is a bad idea. While this is technically true in many situations. There are exceptions. Sometimes, giving your password to someone who may get involved with your personal or professional life during an emergency is important. Otherwise, they wont have access to critical information that you arent able to provide.

Which Passwords Should Someone Close to You Have?

Deciding which passwords should be shared can be challenging. First, your personal or professional situation may involve passwords that others dont have to worry about. Second, if there are trust issues, the idea of handing over any password might be hard to stomach.

However, its a good idea to make sure that certain passwords are accessible to someone else. That way, if you are incapacitated or die unexpectedly. Someone has the ability to access critical accounts.

If you arent sure which passwords need to be given to another person. Here are seven you might want to include on that list.

1. Bank Accounts

Someone else having the ability to access your bank account information could be critical during an emergency. This is especially true if you have dependents who rely on your income for survival. Especially if they dont have a way to access your money if you become incapacitated or pass away.

In some cases, youll need to make specific arrangements with your bank if you want someone else to be able to withdrawal money. For example, you might be able to designate a survivor who becomes the accounts owner if you die. However, by at least providing your password. Someone can keep an eye on your account if you arent able to do so on your own.

2. Email and Social Media

Your email and social media accounts can be critical parts of your life. They may serve as your main way of communicating with a range of people. They may also play an important role in your job. Plus, they may be used to verify you are the user of another account. Particularly if you choose your email address for two-factor authentication on other sites.

Ideally, you want to make sure that someone has access to your email and social media account credentials. That way, they can inform your network or other people in your life if an emergency occurs or handle your account if you die unexpectedly.

However, if you dont want to hand over your Facebook login details, there is also an alternative. You can designate someone your Legacy Contact. Then, if you pass away, they can update specific aspects of your account or request its deletion.

3. Electronic Devices

Most people password-protect their computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. During an emergency, there could be critical information on these devices that someone else needs, such as contact information for friends, family members, employers, or your company. As a result, you need to make sure someone can get to those details if the need arises.

You may also want to provide details for accounts associated with your devices. This could include your Google account, Apple ID, or similar device-oriented service logins.

4. Medical Website Passwords

If you have online medical records accounts with your doctors, sharing the passwords can be a good idea. Then, someone you trust can make sure that, if you are incapacitated, critical information is shared with the organization that is now providing your care.

5. Insurance Sites

Since there is a chance that insurance will play a role in covering costs if you become incapacitated, giving someone your passwords can be a good idea. While your medical insurance account may need to be the priority, making sure a trusted person can access your home and auto policies might be smart as well. That way, if your injuries are associated with a potential claim, they can at least provide relevant details to those who need them.

6. Mortgage and Auto Loan Accounts

If you are the sole person on a mortgage or auto loan and have dependents, making sure they can log into your mortgage and car loan accounts isnt a bad idea. That way, they can make arrangements with the lender to ensure timely payments are made or access benefits that may be available, such as clauses that eliminate the debt if you pass away.

7. ATM PIN

A PIN is technically a type of password. If you want someone to be able to withdraw money from your bank account during an emergency, providing them with your PIN can be one way to do that. Then, they could head to an ATM and remove cash, up to your banks daily limit.

For most PIN-based transactions in stores, the fact that the person using the card isnt actually the cardholder usually goes unnoticed. However, if a merchant does determine that the person with the card isnt the cardholder, it could cause some trouble for the person with your card. The store might confiscate it, or the cops could be called, mainly because there is no way for a merchant to know for sure that permission was given.

The Cardholder Agreement

It might not be illegal for someone else to use your ATM or debit card with permission, but it does go against the cardholder agreement. Plus, it does put the person you gave permission to in a tricky position as, if you decided later that you wanted to claim they stole your card, theres little they could do to fight it. Then, they might get stuck facing criminal charges.

If you do decide to give someone your PIN, provide them with a signed note. That offers them a degree of protection. You could also give that person a durable power of attorney that only kicks in if you are incapacitated, giving them additional protections.

Can you think of other passwords someone close to you needs to have in case of an emergency? Tell us which ones and why in the comments below.

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BIDDEFORD, Maine, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SaVida Health, a leader in outpatient, medication-assisted treatment for opioid and alcohol addiction, opened a new treatment center in Biddeford, ME in December 2019.

SaVida Health's holistic and customized approach to care sets it apart from other programs by providing comprehensive, evidenced based services designed to meet a person's unique needs. In addition to prescribing FDA-approved medications like Suboxone and Vivitrol during either weekly, biweekly or monthly visits, SaVida's licensed professionals also provide medical care, counseling, case management and long-term support. Through its case management services, SaVida helps connect its patients who might be experiencing food insecurity, homelessness, or unemployment to area resources. This comprehensive and integrated approach to recovery is widely accepted as the most effective form of outpatient treatment for opioid and alcohol addiction today.

"We are so pleased to bring another option for patients seeking recovery from opiate and alcohol use. Our goal is to help people reclaim their lives with effective treatment and we prescribe buprenorphine-based medicines (e.g. Suboxone) and Vivitrol, which have many benefits. Our patients meet with our licensed providers at conveniently scheduled appointments. We work with our patients to reach their goals, whether that is achieving sobriety or maintaining sobrietywith or without medication," said Dr. Sue Cary, Medical Director at SaVida Health.

"I am very pleased to bring our services to this community," said Sharon Shepard, Chief Operating Officer at SaVida Health. "Addiction is a chronic disease that has touched most people's lives. Unfortunately, patients and families often lack information about effective treatment options. We help educate patients and their families and offer treatment programs that are tailored to the needs of each patient. We have a very high success rate in helping our patients achieve and maintain sobriety."

In addition to individual MAT services, SaVida Health Biddeford is also providing Opioid Health Home Services (OHHS) for individuals on MaineCare or who are uninsured. SaVida accepts most insurance plans including MaineCare and Medicare. SaVida Biddeford is located at 409 Alfred Street, Unit 4, Biddeford, ME 04005. Appointments can be made for the Biddeford location by calling (207) 517-5222 or for any of SaVida's locations by calling (833) 356-4080 or by visiting www.SaVidaHealth.com .

About SaVida Health

SaVida Health is a leader in addiction medicine offering outpatient, medication-assisted treatment for opioid and alcohol use disorders. Founded in 2010 in response to the country's growing opioid epidemic, SaVida offers evidence-based, integrated treatment including counseling, case management and medical care. SaVida is an innovator in addressing social and economic factors that directly impact a person's ability to reclaim their lives and recover. Driven by the recognition that addiction is a disease, not a personal failure, SaVida Health delivers respectful, compassionate and confidential care. Today SaVida Health operates 20 outpatient treatment centers in Vermont, Massachusetts, Ohio, Virginia, Delaware and Maine. Visit us at www.SaVidaHealth.com .

Press Contact:

Helene Murphy

508-523-1393

SOURCE SaVida Health

Related Links

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An injured Swiss tourist has been rescued from a gorge in Western Australia's north after she activated her emergency beacon.

Police found the 47-year-old woman at 6pm on Wednesday about 600m down Kalamina Gorge in the Karijini National Park, lying on the edge of a pool with a broken leg and possible wrist injuries.

Local rangers assisted police and the woman was taken to Tom Price Hospital for treatment.

Police found the 47-year-old woman at 6pm on Wednesday about 600m down Kalamina Gorge (pictured) in the Karijini National Park, lying on the edge of a pool with a broken leg and possible wrist injuries

A WA Police Force spokesman said the quick emergency response was only possible due to the woman activating her personal locator beacon.

'The injured woman was able to immediately alert authorities to the fact she was in distress, and the PLB provided police with her location,' he said in a statement on Thursday.

'Had the woman not had the PLB with her she may have remained injured and unable to move for an extended period of time.

'PLBs and EPIRBs are critical pieces of equipment when hiking, especially in remote or rocky places,' the spokesman said.
For nearly a century, people flocked to Martin's Beach, a picturesque stretch of sand just south of Half Moon Bay in the San Francisco Bay Area, to swim, surf and dig their toes into the sand.

Then in 2008, Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla, through two limited liability companies, bought two large pieces of land next to the popular beach, which happened to contain the only viable public path to the shore.

For more than a decade, Khosla has fought numerous legal battles to keep the public off the beach -- and has shown no signs of giving in.

Now the state of California is the latest player to take on the venture capitalist, in a challenge that could set a precedent for whether the public is entitled to have access to the state's coastline.

The California State Lands Commission and the California Coastal Commission announced Monday the state has filed a lawsuit to restore full public access to Martin's Beach.

"This case goes to the heart of California's public access mandate," California Coastal Commission Chair Steve Padilla said in a statement. "We cannot allow this to be chipped away each time someone purchases beachfront property -- it's a dangerous precedent for the future of public access in California."

State argues beaches belong to the public

California argues in the lawsuit that because the public has used Martin's Beach since at least the early 1900s, they have the right to access it under a doctrine called implied dedication.

The state's constitution mandates that the public be allowed to access all coastal beaches below the mean high tide line. The California Coastal Act of 1976 builds on this, requiring that the state "maximize public access" to coastal areas while staying consistent with the "constitutionally protected rights of private property owners."

The lawsuit alleges that Khosla closed the gate to Martin's Beach and has largely blocked public access to it, arguing that unless ordered otherwise by a court, he will "continue to deny, impair and obstruct the public's right to use" the beach.

Dori Yob Kilmer, an attorney for Khosla, said in a statement to CNN that the property is private and the state's claims "have been extensively litigated and repeatedly rejected by the courts" in a previous lawsuit.

"Since the property was purchased by our client, the state, and small activist groups, have endeavored to seize our client's private property without compensation," Kilmer wrote.

"While such tactics are commonplace in communist systems, they have never been tolerated in the American system where the US Constitution precludes the government from simply taking private property and giving it to the public."

Other groups have fought for public access

Khosla, who co-founded the technology company Sun Microsystems, bought the property encompassing Martin's Beach from a local family who had owned it since the early 1900s. The previous owners charged a fee to park at the beach, but the public was otherwise able to access the coastline for free.

Khosla sued San Mateo County in 2009 through his LLC companies after it warned that they would need to continue providing public access to the beach, but a judge ultimately ruled in favor of the county.

Since Khosla's property managers eventually closed the gate and cut off access to the beach, a number of organizations have filed lawsuits challenging the move.

In 2018, the US Supreme Court declined to take up Khosla's appeal to keep Martin's Beach to himself. Khosla had contested a ruling by a California appeals court, which had sided with the non-profit group Surfrider Foundation in arguing that he needed a permit from the California Coastal Commission to restrict public access to the beach.

But just two months ago, an appeals court in San Mateo County sided with Khosla on a legal challenge brought on by a group called Friends of Martins Beach, ruling that there was not enough evidence to show that the property's previous owners had dedicated the beach for the public's use.
Finding lost bags, phones, and wallets doesnt need to be a time-consuming chore. Bluetooth trackers from the likes of Tile, TrackR, and Honey help pinpoint items in seconds flat. Slovenia-based Chipolo is another tracker manufacturer, and a top-selling one to boot, according to Amazon. Like clockwork, ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, it has unveiled a new product  dubbed Chipolo One.

The coin-shaped One  which comes in six colors  features a button that doubles as a camera shutter and notifications that alert owners when the tracker leaves a geofenced area. (Existing Chipolo Card owners will get the out-of-range feature via a software update, the company says.) The Ones speaker reaches up to 120 decibels, and its replaceable battery lasts a quoted two years. Via the Chipolo app, a registered unit can be shared with as many friends and family members as desired and its locations recorded.

Other notable feature updates include:

Longest Battery Life: Up to two-years replaceable battery

Louder Sound: A very loud 120dB ring

Free Out-of-Range Alerts: Notifications remind you to take your belongings

Free Unlimited Sharing: Unlimited sharing of your device with anyone, registered via the app  useful if you share items like car keys with the family

Last Known Location: Track your item to where you last had it via the Chipolo app

Community Search: Mark your item as lost to activate the Lost & Found Network and receive a location update when another Chipolo user comes near your item

Voice-Controlled: Chipolo is one of two trackers officially supported by Google Assistant. You can also ring Chipolo using your voice, which also works with Amazon Alexa and Siri

Selfie Button: Double click the Chipolo to take the perfect picture

Value for money: All for just $25 USD

We are building products to give each item the power to be found, making peoples lives easier and supporting them in an affordable, collaborative manner. We know from our community that the most misplaced items are extremely valuable wallets, keys and phones; this is why we have updated our product line to enhance the features we offer our customers, explains Primoz Zelensek, CEO and co-founder of Chipolo.

The ring tone is louder, which is especially useful if your item is buried under other things, in another room or in a noisy place, and the free out-of-range feature is to show how committed we are in providing value-add services without premium subscription fees. We are the only Bluetooth tracking company to offer this on top of all our other services. Furthermore, we have partnered with several lost and found communities, like Milwaukee, 4iii, Noodle, and Wistiki to advance our Lost & Found Network.

Availability

Chipolo ONE is available on 7th January 2020 and is to replace existing products Chipolo CLASSIC and Chipolo PLUS. Customers with the Chipolo CARD will also benefit from the new out-of-range feature. Chipolo products come with a one-year warranty and a 30-day-back guarantee.

Chipolo will be showcasing the Chipolo ONE along with their existing products at the Sands Expo (Tech West), Level 2, Hall A-D, Booth number: 44352.
Ivanka Trump and Donald Jr. knew they were lying when they were trying to sell off condos at their family's SoHo building back in the late 2000s, dramatically increasing sale figures in a bid to lure in more buyers, a new book claims.

The siblings effectively tripled the percentage of units that had been sold, with Ivanka saying 60 percent and Don Jr. claiming 55 percent were gone. In reality, only 15 percent had been sold by the end of 2009, according to various reports.

They both were nearly charged with felony fraud for the misleading statements, but the criminal case was dropped after the prosecutor was visited by the Trump family attorney.

Now, new book American Oligarchs: The Kushners, The Trumps And The Marriage Of Money And Power by Andrea Bernstein, which was first obtained by the Guardian, revisits the scandal and describes emails that offer even more alleged proof of the Trumps' willful deception.

Bernstein writes the emails 'showed a coordinated, deliberate and knowing effort to deceive buyers.'

Ivanka Trump and Donald Jr. knew they were lying when they were trying to sell off condos at their family's SoHo building back in the late 2000s, dramatically increasing sale figures in a bid to lure in more buyers, a new book claims. Pictured: Trump, Eric, Ivanka and Don Jr. at the ribbon cutting for Trump SoHo in April 2010

The siblings effectively doubled the percentage of units that had been sold, with Ivanka saying 60 percent and Don Jr. claiming 55 percent were gone. In reality, only 15 percent had been sold by the end of 2009

She continues in the book: 'In one email, the Trumps discussed how to coordinate false information they had given to prospective buyers. Because the sales levels had been overstated at the beginning of the sales process, any statement showing a lower level could reveal the untruths.

'In another email, according to a person who read them, the Trumps worried that a reporter might be on to them. In yet another email chain that included Don Jr. and Ivanka, the younger generation of Trumps issued the email equivalent of a knowing chuckle, saying that nobody would ever find them out, because only people on the email chain or in the Trump Organization knew about the deception.

New book American Oligarchs: The Kushners, The Trumps And The Marriage Of Money And Power by Andrea Bernstein, revisits the scandal and describes emails that offer even more alleged proof that the Trumps knew they were lying in order to increase sales

'There was ''no doubt'' that the Trump children ''approved, knew of, agreed to, and intentionally inflated the numbers to make more sales,'' one person who saw the emails said. ''They knew it was wrong.'' ''It couldn't have been more clear they lied about the sales and knew they were lying,'' another person said.

'Yet another said, ''I was shocked by the words Ivanka used.'' Was there any doubt the Trumps knew they were lying and that it was wrong? ''Ten thousand percent no.'''

The project was already in trouble even before the Trump children got involved.

Trump announced the project on his reality show The Apprentice in 2006, boasting about the 46-story skyscraper.

However by the next year, work had stopped when it was revealed Felix Sater, who worked for the Bayrock Development group, was one of Trump's partners in the project.

Sater, who lived in Brooklyn and was born in Russia, was a contentious partner because he previously served jail time for stabbing a man with a margarita glass in the 1990s. He also avoided prison for a stock scam by becoming a government witness.

According to financial records, Bayrock received millions for the Trump SoHo deal from an Icelandic Bank that many Russian elites use to get their money out of the country. Additionally, companies linked to Kazakh oligarchs Viktor Krapunov and Mukhtar Ablyazov bought apartments worth more than $3 million in the building.

But the real mess began when it came time to sell the units.

Publicly, the young Trumps continuously raved about how well the units were selling, saying in April 2008 that 31 percent had been sold.

Ivanka said at a press conference in June 2008 that 60 percent had been sold. But the next year, Don Jr. gave a conflicting number to the Real Deal magazine when he said 55 percent were gone in April 2008.

The project was already in trouble even before the Trump children got involved. Trump announced the project on his reality show The Apprentice in 2006, boasting about the 46-story skyscraper. However by the next year, work had stopped when it was revealed Felix Sater, who worked for the Bayrock Development group, was one of Trump's partners in the project

The Trump SoHo never fully recovered and in November 2017 and the Trump Organization cut all ties with the hotel due to low demand. In December it was renamed The Dominick Hotel. Pictured: The Trump SoHo $50 Million Presidential Penthouse

'Were in a very fortunate position,' Ivanka had said, 'where we have enough sales and now we are strategically targeting certain buyers.'

However, only barely 16 percent ever sold, meaning all of their boastful claims of great sales were lies.

The Trump SoHo opened in 2010 and it didn't take long for the lies to unravel.

Prospective buyers sued the Trumps in civil court over misrepresenting the percentage of units sold, prompting the criminal investigation.

The buyers claimed the Trump children showed 'a consistent and concerted pattern of outright lies.'

In emails, which reporters didn't see firsthand but were told about, the Trumps discussed how to coordinate divulging the false figures and how to hide their tracks.

One person familiar with the emails said there was 'no doubt' the Trump children 'approved, knew of, agreed to and intentionally inflated the numbers to make more sales.'

'They knew it was wrong,' the source added.

The Trump SoHo never fully recovered and in November 2017 and the Trump Organization cut all ties with the hotel due to low demand.

In December it was renamed The Dominick Hotel.
Gunfire broke a window of a home near 56th Street and Old Cheney Road on Wednesday evening.

Officer Erin Spilker said at about 8 p.m., police got a call that a few shots had been fired in the 6600 block of South 57th Street. A black Dodge Charger had been seen speeding away.

A 31-year-old man who lives in the area said he had been home with his family when he heard what he thought were fireworks, then found the broken window.

Spilker said the man was not believed to be the target.

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Icelandic rescuers braved hazardous weather conditions to save 39 tourists, including a group of Australians, stranded for nine hours in a blizzard.

Some tourists, who had been there on a snowmobile tour, said the wait between raising the alarm and their rescue made them fear for their lives at the Langjokull glacier, located in the Icelandic highlands.

They had already been stranded for more than four hours when they were told rescue was on its way.

Icelandic rescuers braved hazardous weather conditions to save 39 tourists, including a group of Australians, stranded for nine hours in a blizzard

Pictured: Rescue teams at the Langjokull glacier on Tuesday

Langjokull is the second largest ice cap in Iceland, after Vatnajokull and is situated in the west of the Icelandic interior or Highlands of Iceland and can be seen clearly from Haukadalur

Blizzard conditions with heavy Snowfall near #Reykjavik, Iceland this morning 8th January! Thanks to Bjorgvinp via instagram; #severeweather #extremeweather pic.twitter.com/XniUKLhnHg  WEATHER/ METEO WORLD (@StormchaserUKEU) January 8, 2020

Nicole Smith, a tourist from the US, said: 'We didn't know what was happening and someone said "rescue's coming to get us we can't be out here[...]"

'We were told it was going to be quick and then it ended up being five and a half hours, hiding behind the snowmobile[...]

'We did all think we were going to die out there, which wasn't super fun.'

Antonio Galvani, 14, who was visiting Iceland from Brazil, told the BBC: 'Everybody was scared and cold, we didn't have food and water or anything[...]'

'But I'm okay. Everyone's okay,' he added.

The group dug snow shelters to protect themselves from the blizzard, Icelandreview reported.

#Blizzard conditions near #Reykjavik, Iceland this morning 4th January! Icelandic met office advising people to stay indoors today! Video by Monika Dubaj #severeweather #snow pic.twitter.com/7492fGTjUt  WEATHER/ METEO WORLD (@StormchaserUKEU) January 4, 2020

A 2018 file photo shows an image of the snow-capped peaks of Iceland's second largest glacier, Langjokull Glacier from the Pingvellir National Park in Iceland

Kari Rafn Thorbjornsson, a member of the rescue team, said they were unable to see the skis gliding over the snow en route to the glacier, which was why it took so long to save the group.

'We drove it totally blind,' he said.

The 300-man strong search and rescue team took the group back to a cafe, where they were provided food, drink and crisis counselling.

None of the rescued tourists were injured and are now safe.
Airlines re-route or cancel flights around Iraq, Iran after missile strike on U.S. troops FILE PHOTO: A Lufthansa Airbus A320 takes off at the aircraft builder's headquarters in Colomiers near Toulouse

By David Shepardson and Allison Lampert

WASHINGTON/MONTREAL (Reuters) - Major airlines cancelled Iran and Iraq flights on Wednesday and re-routed others away from both countries' airspace following an Iranian missile strike on U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

Germany's Lufthansa, Dubai-based Emirates and low-cost flydubai were among airlines that cancelled flights, as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration barred American carriers from the area. But several other carriers continued operations over the affected airspace.

Iran early on Wednesday fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles from its territory targeting at least two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S.-led coalition personnel, the U.S. military said.

Within hours, the FAA barred U.S. carriers from airspace over Iran, the Gulf of Oman and the waters between Iran and Saudi Arabia, citing "heightened military activities and increased political tensions in the Middle East, which present an inadvertent risk to U.S. civil aviation operations".

The flight ban came shortly before a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 burst into flames shortly after take-off from Tehran, killing all 176 people aboard in a crash blamed by Ukrainian authorities on an engine failure.

Non-U.S. operators are not bound by the FAA decision, but they and other regulators consider its advice carefully when determining where to fly. Later on Wednesday, the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) recommended to national authorities that European carriers avoid Iraqi airspace.

Airlines have taken more steps to avoid flying over conflict zones since 2014, when Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was downed by a missile launched from Ukraine, killing 298 people. But re-routing increases flight times and burns extra fuel.

Australia's Qantas Airways said on Wednesday it would add 50 minutes to its Perth-London flight time and cut passenger numbers to carry more fuel as it re-routes around Iran and Iraq.

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The FAA had already prohibited U.S. carriers from Iranian airspace and from flying below 26,000 feet over Iraq, after Iran shot down a high-altitude U.S. drone last June.

Graphic - Iran fires missiles at U.S bases in Iraq: https://graphics.reuters.com/IRQ-SECURITY/0100B4VF2PF/IRAQ-SECURITY.jpg

Lufthansa dropped its next scheduled flights to Erbil in northern Iraq and to Tehran but said services to the Iranian capital would resume on Thursday, although overflights will continue to be re-routed to avoid both countries' airspace.

Air France-KLM, which axed its Tehran service in 2018, said it was also suspending Air France flights through Iranian and Iraqi airspace "as a precautionary measure".

British Airways said a small number of its flights would be affected by re-routing, without elaborating. Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines Ltd, Malaysia Airlines, Air Canada and Taiwan's China Airlines were also among carriers that re-routed flights.

"As a result, flight times to and from Mumbai may be slightly longer than expected," a Virgin spokeswoman said.

Other major airlines maintained flights over Iraq and Iran but said they were actively monitoring the situation.

As of 0830 GMT, airlines still flying over either country included Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Turkish Airlines, flydubai, Air Arabia and low-cost long-haul carrier Norwegian Air, according to FlightRadar24 data.

Norwegian, whose Dubai flights routinely cross Iran, nonetheless said it was "looking at alternative routes" for flights departing Scandinavia later in the day. "The safety and security for our passengers and crew is always our number one priority," it added.

While Emirates and flydubai each cancelled a return flight to Baghdad, Qatar Airways said its flights to Iraq were operating normally.

The use of Iranian and Iraqi airspace is particularly critical for the Qatari carrier, banned from flying over Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain since mid-2017 as the result of a damaging political dispute with its neighbours.

OPSGROUP, which advises airlines on security, said the new U.S. flight bans were "significant", particularly given that the entire over-water airspace in the region is now unavailable.

"Flights headed to and from the main airports in the region such as Dubai will now need to route through Saudi Arabia's airspace," it said on its website.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and David Shepardson in Washington; Additional reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago, Heekyong Yang in Seoul, Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore, Chayut Setboonsarng in Bangkok, Aditi Shah in New Delhi, Liz Lee in Kuala Lumpur, Yimou Lee in Taipei, Alexander Cornwell in Dubai and Ilona Wissenbach in Frankfurt, Sarah Young in London and Terje Solsvik in Oslo; Writing by Jamie Freed and Laurence Frost; Editing by David Gregorio, Gerry Doyle and Hugh Lawson/Mark Heinrich)
Danielle Staub announced she was leaving The Real Housewives Of New Jersey for good on Watch What Happens Live on Wednesday and vowed to never return.

The 57-year-old reality star was WWHL's first-ever guest back in July 2009, said host Andy Cohen, 51, so it seemed fitting that she would make the announcement there.

'I have, over the past 12 years and 10 seasons, been a part of this whole franchise, and I have been very happy to rally and stand on the platform, and be here with all of you,' affirmed Danielle, who is currently appearing on RHONJ season 10 as a 'friend' of the cast.

Major announcement: Danielle Staub announced she was leaving The Real Housewives Of New Jersey for good on Watch What Happens Live on Wednesday and vowed to never return

'But it is time for me to leave and do something that I want to do that makes my heart happy every day, and so I will be never returning as a Housewife again,' she declared.

'Never!' Andy replied, looking shocked. 'Wow, she's saying the word ''never.'' I didn't know you were going to say the word ''never''.'

'Never returning as a Housewife again with the Jersey girls,' Danielle clarified, though she left the door open as to whether or not she might join another city's show.

In the interim, Danielle said she planned to start her own cooking channel: 'Cooking is therapy to me, so I'm basically calling it cooking therapy. I find my peace in the kitchen.'

Never again: The 57-year-old reality star said she would 'never' return as a Housewife again

Danielle often cooked for up to 30 people at her house, feeding her daughter Jillian, 21, and her friends at all hours of the night, and sticking to gluten- and-dairy-free dishes.

She's had a hard time on the show's current season, as nearly all of the cast turned against her and shaded her for potentially taking advantage of her ex, Marty Caffrey, 67.

Danielle had once accused Marty of abuse in the press, yet the two were still living together, and she was in the process of buying their old house from him.

The host: Andy Cohen welcomed Danielle and Stephanie Hollman of The Real Housewives Of Dallas to the Bravo clubhouse

She declined to say whether they were romantically involved, avoiding something that had been a bone of contention among her castmates on the show.

'We're friends, and he's been very supportive of me,' Danielle offered. 'I think [the cast] pushed us back together again in a way that we would have never been had this never happened. I am proud to say he is one of my dearest friends, and I treasure that.'

Danielle was then asked about a recent incident in which she pulled RHONJ cast member Margaret Joseph's hair so hard, she nearly knocked the woman to her knees.

Dear friend: Marty Caffrey was in the audience supporting Danielle

Her former RHONJ castmate Jaqueline Laurita, 49, had been speaking out on social media about the attack, as Danielle once prosecuted her daughter Ashlee Holmes Malleo, 28, for allegedly pulling her hair out during season two of the show.

'The apple does not fall far from that tree,' Danielle said of the mother-daughter duo. 'Hi, Jacqueline. Hi, sweetheart. Hi, honey. Yeah, you're getting your moment again. Fifteen more. Fifteen more. You, too, Ashley, come along with Mama.'

'Here's what I have to say about that,' Danielle went on. 'I did not provoke any of this. I have not provoked Margaret either. Margaret's been coming for me for two-and-a-half years. At certain points, something's going to blow. Someone's gonna break.'

Ponytail pull: Danielle also addressed yanking Margaret Josephs by her ponytail

'I don't know. I might have split in half. There's something called ''split personalities.'' I'm not sure I have one of those, but I'm gonna blame it on that,' Danielle said.

She called the two hair-pulling incidents in which she'd been involved 'completely different,' but said that both times her opponents had been trying to keep her from speaking, something that had been a real issue for her.

When Andy said the franchise didn't condone violence, Danielle agreed that she didn't also, explaining: 'I would never throw the first punch. I'll throw the last.'

Non violent: Andy told Danielle the franchise does not condone violence

She noted that she had been amazed by how much her castmate Teresa Giudice, 47, defended her after her skirmish with Margaret.

'That's Teresa,' Danielle affirmed. 'When she believes in something, she goes hard.'

Teresa's recent split from her husband Joe, 47, had put her under pressure, and Danielle confessed that she saw their separation coming from afar, but said that Teresa had always remained hopeful that the relationship would work.

Relationship talk: Danielle also commented on Teresa Giudice and her relationship with husband Joe

'She wanted it to work, she worked hard for it to work for her children,' Danielle insisted. 'When people are away from each other, I can say from my own experience, it happens. ...She's handling it the best way she can.'

Danielle and Teresa are no longer friends, but Danielle told a caller they'd be keeping their side of it private: 'I think we both have regrets, and its ours to discover and ours to end or begin whatever we want to. The rest is still unwritten, honey.'

Stephanie Hollman, 37, from The Real Housewives Of Dallas, also visited the show.

Dallas star: Stephanie, 37, from The Real Housewives Of Dallas, also visited the show

She was asked what she thought about her castmate LeeAnne Locken's claim that she was ignorant of some of the racist things she'd recently said on RHOD.

'I do not buy that she is ignorant to not know what she was doing was wrong,' Stephanie considered. 'I think if you do something one time it's forgivable, but when I watched it, it was so often and with so much hate, I just don't think that you do it on accident and you're that ignorant.'

Stephanie said LeeAnne, 52, had been nervous about her comments airing, and she admitted she'd been surprised they had, feeling that in the past the show protected LeeAnne from some of her more 'horrible' behavior, because she contributed so much.

Racist remarks: The RHOD star was asked about LeeAnne Locken claiming ignorance after making racist remarks

'I do not think any of us thought that it would make the light of day because it was so dark, and it was so crazy and she's been protected so much,' Stephanie revealed, wishing that LeeAnne had just come out and admitted she had been wrong,

Andy brought up a video from castmate Brandi Redmond's recent past that saw her doing an Asian accent and talking about her 'squinty' eyes in reference to people of Asian heritage, which LeeAnne's wedding planner posted on Instagram last week.

Stephanie was asked if she thought what her best friend, Brandi, 41, said was racist.

So dark: Stephanie admitted that none of them thought LeeAnne's racist remarks would appear on the show

'Absolutely not,' she said. 'I think she made a horrible mistake. She apologized then, she's apologized again, she's learning, she's growing. I think it was just really poor judgment and a horrible decision.'

'I've been on the phone with her a lot, and she's struggling with the shame of doing that, and I think she realizes it was not okay,' Stephanie continued, adding that Brandi 'always does impressions, she always does voices.'

'I don't think it was done mean-spirited, but watching it, I see how it could be offensive and people could be offended by it,' she admitted.

Poor judgment: Andy brought up a video from castmate Brandi Redmond's recent past that saw her doing an Asian accent and Stephanie stood up for her saying she wasn't a racist

LeeAnne's commentary had more 'hate' behind it, Stephanie posited, noting that 'Brandi's was not hate-driven.' Danielle, also a friend of Brandi's, called the redheaded RHOD co-star 'one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life.'

A caller also asked Stephanie if she'd 'heard anything from Dallas society about the ordeal.'

'Dallas society is my least favorite thing in the world,' Stephanie shared, sidestepping the question. 'I feel like whenever you have money and you're blessed, and God blesses you like that, don't use it against each other. Help each other and love each other, because it's such a blessing most people don't have. So it bothers me when people use their power and money against other people.'

As the show came to a close, Stephanie said she was still blocked by castmate Kameron Westcott, 36, on social media, and reiterated that she'd never asked the woman to help her get into a country club, as Kameron alleged on the show's reunion.

Watch What Happens Live will return Thursday on Bravo with Tiffany Haddish, 40, and Salma Hayek, 53, as guests.
Update:

Heres the latest on storm timing from the National Weather Service as of Friday morning:

Central Alabama

The storms will enter the western/central part of the state from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. before moving into the central portion  including Birmingham  from noon to 6 p.m. The storms will push through to the eastern part of the state from 2-8 p.m.

The entire central Alabama region is under an enhanced threat for severe weather.

South Alabama

South Alabama is also under an enhanced risk of severe storms. The storms will move into from the west from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. in places like Mobile before pushing towards the east from noon -6 p.m.

North Alabama

North Alabama is under a slight risk for severe storms on Saturday with the main threat coming from damaging winds.

The period for storms will be from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

An intense line of thunderstorms will likely bring widespread damaging straight-line winds with embedded tornadoes. This... Posted by Alabama Emergency Management Agency on Friday, January 10, 2020

Earlier:

Alabama is bracing for another round of severe weather on Saturday.

A large portion of the state is under an enhanced risk with the chance of strong winds up to 70 mph, heavy rain and flooding. There is also the potential for tornadoes.

Since the storms are still days away, the exact timing isnt set. The National Weather Service has issued guidelines, however, for the earliest times the storms could arrive and when they could exit the state.

You can see an overall timeline of the storms below.

Models show that this could unfold to become a significant weather event. Severe weather could occur anywhere across the... Posted by Alabama Emergency Management Agency on Thursday, January 9, 2020

Central Alabama

Central Alabama is under an enhanced risk for severe storms. The general timing of the storms will be 10 a.m.- 8 p.m. The current forecast has the storms entering the central/western part of the stage around 10 a.m. before exiting at 4 p.m. The period for concern in central Alabama, including Birmingham, is noon  6 p.m. The storms will leave the central/eastern part of the state from 2-8 p.m.

Update on severe Saturday: Timing is now 10 am to 8 pm, with damaging winds up to 70 mph and tornadoes as the main threats. Ahead of the main line of storms, winds will be gusty, as high as 40 mph. Plan NOW for safety, & check on family and friends that they have a plan as well! pic.twitter.com/VXXUh29CU4  NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham) January 9, 2020

South Alabama

South Alabama, including Mobile and Baldwin counties, are under an enhanced risk for severe storms Saturday. The potential exists for damaging winds and tornadoes.

Storms could start as early as Friday night, moving into Saturday morning and early afternoon.

The rip current risk for the Gulf Coast from Dauphin Island to Destin is high with life-threatening conditions likely.

An Enhanced Risk for severe weather is forecast for Sat. Damaging winds and some tornadoes likely. Stay tuned on this developing severe weather pattern through Sat. pic.twitter.com/iH0UT8cjoI  NWS Mobile (@NWSMobile) January 9, 2020

North Alabama

Much of North Alabama is under a marginal risk of storms, according to the National Weather Service in Huntsville. The storms will arrive in the western part of the state at 10 a.m. before moving east before leaving at 6 p.m.

The main threats in North Alabama are damaging winds and heavy rainfall that could lead to flooding and rising waters in area creeks, streams and rivers.
By PTI

WASHINGTON: The bills giving three years extension to General Qamar Bajwa as army chief was "rushed" through parliament without debate, a group of dissident Pakistanis said.

The bills to extend the retirement age from 60 to 64 years for the chiefs of army, navy and air force, and the chairman of the joint chief of staff committee sailed through the Senate or the upper house despite protests from minor parties, Geo News said.

ALSO READ: Pakistan's National Assembly passes bills to extend General Bajwa's tenure as Army Chief

Under the banner of the South Asians Against Terrorism and For Human Rights (SAATH) Forum, the group on Wednesday voiced concern at the manner in which the Pakistan government and main opposition parties rushed through parliament amendments to the Army Act.

The bills were passed without debate as to the desirability or necessity of such legislation, and without due consideration to the implications of such an action on the future of democracy in Pakistan, the group that includes former journalists and envoys said in a statement.

Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani adjourned the session as soon as the bills were passed.

The Senate session lasted only 20 minutes and no other agenda other than the laying of a few reports was taken up, the Dawn said.

The bills were already approved by the Standing Committee on Defence.

It is a fact of history that the desire to perpetuate personal power, army chiefs of Pakistan have time and again disrupted the democratic project in Pakistan.

"While in the past the military has carried out coups, and its chiefs have extended their tenures themselves by force, and while one example also exists where the president of Pakistan extended the tenure of an army chief under duress, there is no example of parliament undertaking such an adventure, it said.

SAATH condemned the unprecedented surrender of the political class and the sacred House that represents the will of the people and attributed it to political expediency and personal short- term gains of Pakistan's political leaders.

Such actions should have no place in a genuinely democratic dispensation, it said.
Buck Henry, the acclaimed screenwriter behind The Graduate and Get Smart, has died, aged 89.

Henry died of a heart attack at Los Angeles Cedars-Sinai Health Centre, his family members have confirmed.

He is best known for co-writing The Graduate, the 1967 Oscar-nominated film starring Dustin Hoffman, and co-creating the Emmy award-winning satirical spy sitcom Get Smart with Mel Brooks.

The writer also received a Best Director Academy Award nomination for the comedy Heaven Can Wait alongside Warren Beatty.

Culture stars we lost in 2020 Show all 93 1 /93 Culture stars we lost in 2020 Culture stars we lost in 2020 Derek Acorah TV medium presenter Derek Acorah died aged 69 on 3 January, 2020 after suffering "a very brief illness". He was best known for presenting Most Haunted. Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Christopher Beeny 'Upstairs Downstairs' actor Christopher Beeny died aged 78 on 3 January, 2020. He also starred in 'In Loving Memory' and 'Last of the Summer Wine' alongside Thora Hird. Rex Features Culture stars we lost in 2020 Elizabeth Wurtzel American writer and journalist Elizabeth Wurtzel died aged 52 on 7 January, 2020. The author of Prozac Nation, who sparked a boom in confessional writing, had been suffering from cancer. Rex Features Culture stars we lost in 2020 Buck Henry The acclaimed screenwriter behind The Graduate and Get Smart died of a heart attack on 8 January, aged 89. He received critical acclaim for co-writing the 1967 Oscar-nominated film The Graduate, and also received a Best Director Academy Award nomination for the comedy Heaven Can Wait, alongside Warren Beatty. Getty Culture stars we lost in 2020 Harry Hains Actor Harry Hains starred in shows including The OA and American Horror Story, as well as working as a model and musician. He died aged 27, his mother confirmed on Instagram, after struggles with mental health and addiction. The cause of his death was not disclosed. Harry Hains / Instagram Culture stars we lost in 2020 Alexis Eddy Alexis Eddy was a contestant on season six of MTV's 'Are You the One?' She died after suffering a cardiac arrest on 9 January, aged 23. Instagram Culture stars we lost in 2020 Edd Byrnes Edd Byrnes played smooth-talking dance contest host Vince Fontaine in 1978 musical 'Grease'. He died suddenly on 8 January. Culture stars we lost in 2020 Stan Kirsch Stan Kirsch, who starred in the Highlander TV series and in an episode of Friends, died on 11 January at his Los Angeles home. He played Richie Ryan in Highlander: The Series and Monica's underage love interest Ethan in the season one Friends episode 'The One With the Ick Factor'. YouTube Culture stars we lost in 2020 Derek Fowlds Derek Fowlds died on 17 January, aged 82. The British star was best known for playing Bernard Wooley in Yes Minister and its spin-off Yes Prime Minister, as well as Sgt Oscar Blaketon in Heartbeat. Rex Culture stars we lost in 2020 Jim Lehrer Jim Lehrer, the famed host of PBS NewsHour, died at the age of 85 "peacefully in his sleep", according to the network. Lehrer was also a frequent debate moderator during elections. David McNew/Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Tyler Gwozdz Tyler Gwozdz died of a suspected drug overdose aged 29 on 13 January 2020. He appeared on US reality series 'The Bachelorette' in 2019 ABC Culture stars we lost in 2020 Terry Jones Monty Python co-creator, writer, actor and director of 'Life of Brian' Terry Jones died aged 77 on 21 January 2020. Culture stars we lost in 2020 Nicholas Parsons Broadcaster Nicholas Parsons died aged of 96 on 28 January after a short illness. He presented BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute and popular ITV game show Sale of the Century. Getty Culture stars we lost in 2020 Kirk Douglas Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas died aged 103 on 5 February. United Artists Culture stars we lost in 2020 Raphael Coleman Raphael Coleman, who starred in Nanny McPhee, died at the age of 25 on 6 February. Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Orson Bean Veteran actor Orson Bean, who appeared in more than 100 TV shows and films over a career that spanned over six decades, died aged 91 after being struck by two cars in Venice, California. Rex Culture stars we lost in 2020 Joseph Shabalala Shabalala, the founder of the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, died in February aged 78. He is known around the world for leading one of the most recognised acts from South Africa. AP Photo/Joseph Kaczmarek Culture stars we lost in 2020 Caroline Flack Caroline Flack died on 15 February, aged 40. The presenter was best known for presenting Love Island. Getty Culture stars we lost in 2020 Nikita Pearl Galigwa Child star Nikita Pearl Waligwa, who appeared in Disney film Queen of Katwe, died aged 15 on 16 February. Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Culture stars we lost in 2020 Jason Davis Former child star Jason Davis, who voiced Recess character Mikey Blumberg, died aged 35 on 16 February. Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Andrew Weatherall The DJ and musician Andrew Weatherall died 17 February at the age of 56. A pioneer in the genres of acid house and electronica, Weatherall produced albums, remixed musicians and worked as a DJ, artist and journalist. He died "swiftly and peacefully" in a London hospital, his management confirmed, after experiencing a pulmonary embolism. John Barrett Culture stars we lost in 2020 Esther Scott The actor Esther Scott died on 18 February aged 66 after suffering a heart attack. She's remembered for her roles in Boyz n the Hood, Hart of Dixie, and many other programmes including Beverly Hills, 90210, Full House, Melrose Place, The King of Queens, Sister, Sister, 7th Heaven, and ER. Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images for Sundance Film Festival Culture stars we lost in 2020 Pop Smoke Rapper Pop Smoke was "shot and killed" in a suspected armed burglary on 19 February when he was just 20. Getty Culture stars we lost in 2020 James Lipton James Lipton, host of Inside the Actors Studio, died on 2 March from bladder cancer. He was 93. Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Max von Sydow Oscar-nominated actor Max von Sydow, best known for roles in The Seventh Seal, The Exorcist, Flash Gordon and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, died on 8 March aged 90. He also played the Three-Eyed Raven in Game of Thrones. Getty Culture stars we lost in 2020 Roy Hudd Actor, comedian and entertainer Roy Hudd died 16 March at the age of 83. Hudds death was confirmed by his agent. We are sad to announce the passing of the much-loved and amazingly talented Roy Hudd OBE, his agents statement read. After a short illness, Roy passed away peacefully on Sunday 15 March, with his wife Debbie at his side. Hudd found fame as a comedian, before transitioning into radio and screen acting. He hosted the BBC Radio 2 satire The News Huddlines from 1975 until 2001, and voiced Max Quordlepleen in the original radio production of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. On television he starred in Dennis Potters acclaimed mini-series Lipstick on Your Collar, and made appearances on Coronation Street, Ashes to Ashes and Call the Midwife. Stuart C Wilson/Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Lyle Waggoner Lyle Waggoner died on 17 March after battling an illness at the age of 84. He was best known for his roles on The Carol Burnett Show and Wonder Woman. Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Mark Blum The actor, who starred in 'Desperately Seeking Susan' and recently appeared in 'YOU' as bookstore owner Mr Mooney, died of coronavirus complications in March. He was 69 years old. Alli Harvey/Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Andrew Jack A dialect coach for many actors who himself starred in two Star Wars films, Andrew Jack died in March of coronavirus complications. He worked on many high-profile films, leaving a mark on franchises such as Lord of the Rings and Avengers. Disney + / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Culture stars we lost in 2020 Bill Withers US singer-songwriter Bill Withers, whose hits included Lean On Me, Lovely Day and Aint No Sunshine, died aged 81 on 30 March. Mike Coppola/Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Adam Schlesinger Adam Schlesinger, the Fountains of Wayne bass player and co-songwriter, died of coronavirus on 1 April aged 52. His song credits included "Stacy's Mom" and the Oscar-nominated title song from Tom Hanks film That Thing You Do (1996). Rex Features Culture stars we lost in 2020 Eddie Large Eddie Large died on 2 April aged 78 after contracting coronavirus in hospital, his agent confirmed. He had been suffering from heart failure. Rex Culture stars we lost in 2020 Honor Blackman Honor Blackman, best known for her iconic roles as Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger and Cathy Gale in The Avengers, died 6 April at the age of 94. In a statement, her family confirmed she died of natural causes in Lewes, Sussex. Outside of her two star-making roles, Blackmans credits included Jason and the Argonauts, Bridget Joness Diary and the Nineties sitcom The Upper Hand. Danjaq/Eon/Ua/Kobal/Shutterstock Culture stars we lost in 2020 Tim Brooke-Taylor Comedian and actor Tim Brooke-Taylor, best known as a member of the Goodies, died on 12 April at the age of 79 after contracting coronavirus. Getty Culture stars we lost in 2020 Shirley Knight The actor, whose work in 'The Dark at the Top of the Stairs' and 'Sweet Bird of Youth' earned her two Oscar nominations, died in April aged 83. In recent years, she starred as Bree Van de Kamp's mother-in-law Phyllis Van de Kamp in 'Desperate Housewives'. Larry Busacca/Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Fred the Godson The prominent New York rapper, who collaborated with the likes of Diddy, Pusha T and Jay Pharoah, died in April aged 35. He had previously said on social media he was being treated for Covid-19. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Lynn Faulds Wood Lynn Faulds Wood, best known for presenting Watchdog, died on 24 April after suffering a stroke. Wood helped to create the worlds first evidence-based guide to symptoms of bowel cancer, and the guide was officially adopted by the Department of Health in Britain in 2000. Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Irrfan Khan The actor and Bollywood icon Irrfan Khan died on 29 April at the age of 53. Khan was hospitalised in Mumbai after suffering a kidney infection. He had been fighting infeneuroendocrine cancer since 2018. In a statement, a spokesperson said: Its saddening that this day, we have to bring forward the news of him passing away. Irrfan was a strong soul, someone who fought till the very end and always inspired everyone who came close to him." Khan appeared in films including The Warrior (2001), Life of Pi (2012), Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for DIFF Culture stars we lost in 2020 Cady Groves The US singer/songwriter Cady Groves died on 2 April at the age of 30. Groves' death was confirmed by her brother as being a result of natural causes, following the spreading of "twisted misinformation" about her death. The medical examiner has completed [an] autopsy and there was no indication of foul play or self harm. Simply put, Cady Groves died of natural causes. She had some medical problems last fall and our best guess at this point until further testing is complete is that they had resurfaced. Please respect her name and family before sharing information that did not come directly from here. Groves was best known for her singles "This Little Girl" and "Oil and Water". Vel Records Culture stars we lost in 2020 John Mahon The actor, who played a language laboratory director in The Exorcist and also starred in LA Confidential, died aged 82 on 3 May. Amazon Prime / Warner Bros Pictures Culture stars we lost in 2020 Florian Schneider The death of Florian Schneider, the co-founder of Kraftwerk, was reported on 6 May. He formed the acclaimed German electronic band with Ralf Hutter in 1970 and, over four decades, released 10 studio albums, including the seminal five-track record Autobahn (1974). A friend of Schneider's said he had been diagnosed with cancer. Rex Culture stars we lost in 2020 Brian Howe Brian Howe, the lead singer of Bad Company, died on 6 May at the age of 66. The musician, who was the British supergroups main vocalist, is said by a family member to have died from cardiac arrest on his way to hospital. Culture stars we lost in 2020 Ty The rapper died in May aged 47 after contracting Covid-19. Born Ben Chijioke in London to Nigerian parents, Ty was a beloved member of the British hip hop scene. PA Culture stars we lost in 2020 Little Richard The legendary pioneer of rock'n'roll died aged 87 from bone cancer on Saturday 9 May. Born in Georgia, US, Little Richard enjoyed a string of hits in the Fifties including 'Tutti Frutti' and 'Long Tall Sally', and inspired a generation of artists including The Beatles, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, and Prince. AFP/Getty Culture stars we lost in 2020 Corey La Barrie YouTube star Corey La Barrie was killed in a car crash in Los Angeles on his 25th birthday, on Sunday 10 May. Instagram/Corey La Barrie Culture stars we lost in 2020 Michel Piccoli The French actor, who made history in films such as Jean-Luc Godards 'Le Mepris', died on 12 May aged 94. VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Ken Osmond The 'Leave It to Beaver' star, who portrayed the iconic Eddie Haskell, died on 18 May at the age of 76. Kevin Winter/Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Richard Herd The actor, who played Mr Wilhelm on 'Seinfeld', died on 26 May aged 87. Sony Pictures Television Culture stars we lost in 2020 Bonnie Pointer The singer, a founding member of the Pointer Sisters, died aged 69 on 8 June. Leon Bennett/Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Dame Vera Lynn Dame Vera Lynn, the British singer whose songs were hugely popular during the Second World War, died aged 103 on 18 June. Culture stars we lost in 2020 Ian Holm Veteran English actor Ian Holm died on 19 June at the age of 88. The theatre-trained actor, who appeared as Ash in Alien and Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings, was Oscar-nominated for his role in 1981 film Chariots of Fire. Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Carl Reiner The comedy pioneer, who created 'The Dick Van Dyke Show', died aged 98 on 29 June. Charley Gallay/Getty Images for TCM Culture stars we lost in 2020 Louis Mahoney The actor and anti-racism campaigner, who starred in 'Doctor Who' and 'Fawlty Towers', died in June aged 81. Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Nick Cordero Broadway actor Nick Cordero died on 6 July from coronavirus at the age of 41, after battling the illness for 95 days. Corderos wife Amanda Kloots, who had been chronicling her husbands condition on social media, confirmed the news. God has another angel in heaven now, Kloots posted on her Instagram. My darling husband passed away this morning. He was surrounded in love by his family, singing and praying as he gently left this earth. Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Naya Rivera Glee star Naya Rivera drowned in Lake Piru by accident on 8 July, aged 33. (2020 Getty Images) Culture stars we lost in 2020 Ennio Morricone Italian film composer Ennio Morricone died on 6 July at the age of 91. His credits include Sergio Leone films A fistful of Dollars and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as well as The Thing, The Untouchables and The Hateful Eight. AFP via Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Kelly Preston Kelly Preston, best known for her roles in Twins and Jerry Maguire, died after a two-year battle with breast cancer on 12 July, aged 57. She was the wife of John Travolta. Culture stars we lost in 2020 Grant Imahara Grant Imahara, the host of MythBusters and Netflix series White Rabbit Project, died on 13 July, aged 49. The electrical engineer and robotocist died suddenly from a brain aneurysm. Rex Features Culture stars we lost in 2020 Galyn Gorg Twin Peaks and Fresh Prince of Bel Air actor Galyn Gorg died on 14 July, aged 55 Instagram Culture stars we lost in 2020 Haruma Miura Haruma Mirua, the Japanese actor known for playing Eren Jaegar in the adventure film Attack on Titan, died on 18 July, aged 30. Rex Culture stars we lost in 2020 Michael Brooks Michael Brooks, the host of political web series The Michael Books Show and The Majority Report, died of "a sudden medical condition" on 20 July, aged 37. YouTube Culture stars we lost in 2020 Demitra Roche Bad Girls Club star Demitra Mimi Roche, nicknamed the Miami Maverick, died on 20 July, aged 34 Twitter Culture stars we lost in 2020 Tim Smith Cardiacs frontman Tim Smith died from a heart attack on 21 July, aged 58 Cardiacs Culture stars we lost in 2020 Olivia de Havilland Gone with the Wind star Olivia de Havilland died on. 26July, aged 104. Getty Culture stars we lost in 2020 Chris Needs BBC Radio Wales presenter Chris Needs died from a heart condition on 26 July, aged 66. BBC Culture stars we lost in 2020 Malik B Malik B, a longtime member of The Roots, died on 29 July, aged 47. @mpozitolbertphotography / Courtesy of The Roots Culture stars we lost in 2020 Sir Alan Parker Sir Alan Parker, the director films including Bugsy Malone and Evita, died on 31 July, aged 76. Stuart Wilson/Getty Culture stars we lost in 2020 Wilford Brimley Cocoon star Wilford Brimley died on 1 August, aged 85. He had been ill with a kidney condition for two months. Rex Culture stars we lost in 2020 Tony Morris Acclaimed broadcaster Tony Morris hosted the regional ITV news series for 17 years. He died on 1 August, aged 57. Culture stars we lost in 2020 Daisy Coleman Netflix star Daisy Coleman, the subject of documentary Audrie & Daisy, died by suicide on 4 August, aged 23. Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Sundance Film Festival Culture stars we lost in 2020 Linda Manz Linda Manz, who appeared in Terrence Malick's 1978 film Days of Heaven, died from lung cancer on 14 August, aged 58. Rex Features Culture stars we lost in 2020 Ben Cross Ben Cross at an event on 25 February 2011 in West Hollywood, California. David Livingston/Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Chi Chi DeVayne Chi Chi DeVayne onstage during the finale party for RuPaul's Drag Race season eight in 2016 Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Justin Townes Earle Justin Townes Earle performs onstage in Indio, California in 2013 Culture stars we lost in 2020 Joe Ruby Ruby launched the beloved cartoon with co-creator Ken Spears in 1969 Culture stars we lost in 2020 Chadwick Boseman Boseman died aged 43 in August 2020 Getty Culture stars we lost in 2020 Bruce Williamson AFP via Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Dame Diana Rigg La estrella de James Bond Diana Rigg, que murio a la edad de 82 anos, en el Festival de Cine de Cannes en 2019 AFP via Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Toots Hibbert Toots Hibbert has died just weeks after releasing his final album Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Helen Reddy Obit Helen Reddy Culture stars we lost in 2020 Frank Windsor Frank Windsor was best known for his role in the hit BBC series 'Z-Cars' Rex Features Culture stars we lost in 2020 presidency-numbers-4.jpg Thomas Jefferson is said to be the cleverest of all US presidents Public domain Culture stars we lost in 2020 Clark Middleton 'The Blacklist' actor Clark Middleton has died of West Nile Virus AFP via Getty Images Culture stars we lost in 2020 Margaret Nolan Sean Connery with Margaret Nolan in Goldfinger Rex Culture stars we lost in 2020 Johnny Nash Johnny Nash YouTube Culture stars we lost in 2020 Paul Matters Steve Cowley, Peter De Jong, Paul Matters Armageddon Culture stars we lost in 2020 Spencer Davis Britain Obit Spencer Davis 1966 AP Culture stars we lost in 2020 Frank Bough Frank Bough y Selina Scott, los presentadores de BBC Breakfast Time. PA Culture stars we lost in 2020 Sir Sean Connery Sean Connery in The Untouchables' Rex Features Culture stars we lost in 2020 Bobby Ball.jpg Bobby Ball as Frank in Not Going Out' BBC Culture stars we lost in 2020 Archie Lyndhurst Archie Lyndhurst, the son of 'Only Fools and Horses' actor Nicholas Lyndhurst, has died Instagram Culture stars we lost in 2020 Ben Watkins Fox Entertainment Group Culture stars we lost in 2020 Thomas Jefferson Byrd (left) Thomas Jefferson Byrd and Spike Lee Getty

Henry was a prolific screenwriter. He became a beloved and frequent host of Saturday Night Live and is perhaps best remembered for playing opposite John Belushi in the shows Samurai skits.

The celebrated comedian went on to make appearances in sitcoms such as 30 Rock, Will & Grace and Murphy Brown.

Hollywood stars have paid tribute to the late comedian on social media. Producer Judd Apatow remembers Henry as hilarious and brilliant, calling him one of the greats in a post on Instagram.

The celebrated writer, director and actor is also known for his work on films including Catch 22, The Owl and the Pussycat, Whats Up, Doc? and To Die For.
The sentencing followed a September guilty plea by Fetehi Mohammed, who admitted to ingratiating himself with elderly customers and persuading them to sign blank withdrawal slips, according to court filings. He then lied to bank tellers, telling them he was obtaining cashiers checks for the account holders, the filings state.
She's been enjoying a relaxing break with her beau Sam Mucklow over the Christmas period.

And Shelby Tribble, 27, looked fantastic as she shared a sizzling snap of herself wearing a low-cut red bikini while on a beach in Mauritius on Thursday.

Apparently feeling the need for some sun as well, the beauty's co-star Chloe Ross also posted a throwback picture of her on a stunning beach in the country.

Wow: Shelby Tribble, 27, looked fantastic as she shared sizzling Instagram snap of herself wearing a low-cut red bikini while holding a drink on a beach in Mauritius on Thursday

Shelby posed up a storm as she placed one toned and tanned leg in front of the other for the picture.

The reality TV star donned a red bikini which tied in the middle and emphasised her ample cleavage.

To complete her picture, Shelby held onto a drink complete with several colourful umbrellas as she smiled at the camera.

Chloe also posted to Instagram on Thursday, tagging the snap as being taken in Mauritius, showing off her tan.

Time for another holiday? Chloe Ross also posted a throwback snap of her in a green and black bikini while holding a coconut drink which she tagged as also being in Mauritius on Thursday

The beauty cut a stylish figure in a green and black bikini which tied at the sides and features a gold clasp in the middle of the top.

It is not known when the star went to Mauritius, but she had enjoyed sun-soaked breaks to Marbella, Portugal and Turkey in 2019.

Chloe was enjoying some relaxation time at Glass House Retreat in Essex when she posted the snap on Thursday, where she indulged in some spa treatments.

Meanwhile, Shelby has been enjoying her new year's break and has shared several updates of the trip with her 348K followers.

Loved-up: Shelby and her beau Sam Mucklow have made the most of their time together during their romantic getaway over the festive period

In one sweet snap, she and beau Sam shared a kiss in front of a waterfall as Shelby penned: 'Theres no time to be bored in a world as beautiful as this'.

Sam then took to his Stories to share a series of posts of his partner looking phenomenal in a plunging black and white swimsuit.

The couple rang in the New Year on the island after they also spent Christmas Day together, spending the festive day drinking champagne in the hotel pool.

Swim-suits you! Sam also took to his Stories to share a series of posts of his other half looking phenomenal in a plunging black and white swimsuit that showed off her incredible figure

Shelby and Sam will have plenty more free time to spend together in the new year after they announced their plans to leave TOWIE.

In October, Sam made the announcement in a Instagram post as he explained he was planning to focus on his 'fairytale' relationship with Shelby and move on from the 'pressure and anxiety' on the show.

He revealed: 'Me and @shelbytribble have never been happier and we are continuing our little fairytale away from the pressure and anxiety from the show...

'I really feel I have made the right decision to focus on the things that are truly important to me!

'...Im walking away with a smile on my face and a beautiful girl on my arm Thank you everyone at @towie @limepicturestv & @itvbe'.

Prior to his post, it was revealed by MailOnline that Sam had quit the reality show midway through the series and stopped filming after returning home from Marbella.

Shelby also left TOWIE  with mutual pals of the pair saying Sam 'put pressure on her to leave with him.'
Nearly one month after a Dollar General was robbed at gunpoint, Pennsylvania State Police at York are still asking for help to find the suspect.

Police on Thursday again released photos of a white man leaving 18 Rich Lynn Drive in Delta in Peach Bottom Township in York County. The robbery happened around 4:44 p.m. on Dec. 15, 2019.

According to state police troopers, he entered the store, took some items to the register and then displayed a handgun. He was able to get away with $416 in cash from the register.

The man is believed to be 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall, and between 150 to 200 pounds. At the time of the robbery, he was wearing multiple layers, yellow-colored clothes, gloves and a scarf wrapped around his face, state police reported.

He was last seen fleeing by foot toward the Maryland line.

Anyone with information about this person or this persons whereabouts is asked to contact Pennsylvania State Police York Station at 717-428-1011. Or, contact the Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-4PA-TIPS(8477).

All callers remain anonymous and could be eligible for a cash reward.
Bob Sterne and his wife have been checking their mail box in the southern Interior village of Coalmont, B.C., for more that two weeks anticipating the arrival of legal documents from Ontario, but day after day it remains empty.

The Sternes, who run a motel in the tiny Similkameen Valley town, haven't had mail delivered since before Christmas because of what Canada Post calls 'recent unexpected staffing challenges.'

"It's pretty frustrating," Sterne said. "There's an awful lot of people that are pretty upset."

After a few days of not getting mail deliveries, the Sternes contacted the nearest Canada Post office in Princeton, 20 kilometres to the east, and found out their regular mail carrier was away with no replacement provided.

'Mail has just been piling up at the post office'

"We understand that the [mail carrier] went on holiday, which is perfectly acceptable, but they just didn't bother, or couldn't, replace her, so the mail has just been piling up at the post office," Sterne said.

According to Sterne, there have been delays in the past when their regular mail carrier went on holiday, but usually no longer than a week.

"We've actually had a substitute mailman that stayed with us in our motel while he was substituting for our normal mail person, but this time they either just didn't bother or couldn't find anybody and apparently didn't worry about that," he said.

The Sternes eventually went to the Princeton post office with hopes of retrieving the package containing the legal documents and, according to Bob, staff were able to find some of their parcels and Christmas cards, but not the package they were seeking.

They have since contacted Canada Post's Ombudsman office which is aware of the situation, Sterne said. But a response isn't expected for 15 business days.

Mail deliveries expected on weekend

In an email, Canada Post spokesperson Hayley Magermans told CBC News the delivery delays affecting Coalmont and Tulameen are because of recent staffing challenges.

Story continues

"Additional resources have been called to help sort and deliver all remaining mail for these areas, and we are doing our best to ensure that mail is delivered to these customers," Magermans said.

"We are preparing for a good delivery day to these areas on Saturday."

That's of little consolation to the Sternes who said that's the same thing the postal agency told them last week.
If you're a tea drinker then there's some good news coming your way!

If you drink tea at least three times a week, then you have been linked with living a longer and healthier life.

New research conducted by scientists and reported in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology has revealed that habitual consumption of the beloved beverage is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and improved health.

For the research, scientists examined over 100,000 Chinese adults. The subjects had no history of heart attack, stroke, or cancer.

Information on tea consumption was collected through standardised questionnaires.

Participants were categorised into two groups  regular tea drinkers, those drinking three or more times a week, and never or non-habitual tea drinkers  those drinking less than three times a week.

The participants were followed up for an average of 7.3 years. Compared to the people who never or rarely drank tea, habitual tea drinkers had a 20% lower risk of heart disease and stroke.

Compared with non-habitual tea drinkers or people who never drink tea, the hazard ratio and 95 percent confidence interval among habitual tea drinkers was 0.80 (0.750.87), 0.78 (0.690.88), and 0.85 (0.790.90) for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease incidence.

Habitual tea drinkers had 1.41 years longer of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease-free years and 1.26 years longer of life expectancy at the index age of 50 years.

So maybe it's a good idea to stick the kettle on!
It is not surprising then that the top demand of the unions for going on a national strike is the repeal of the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA. At a time when they have failed to perform their primary function of providing job security to their members (as evidenced by decline in the number of permanent employees and replacing them with temporary hands) ...

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Danielle Staub, the woman who inspired the most iconic moment in Real Housewives of New Jersey history  the table flip  says shes leaving the show and never returning.

Staub, 57, was one of the cast members on RHONJ when the show debuted in 2009. The only other cast member still on the show from the original lineup is Teresa Giudice, who was responsible for turning over a restaurant table in anger and calling Staub a prostitution whore during the first season after Staub was confronted about various details of her past, including her many engagements.

Staub, who in recent years has appeared in a friend of the housewives role on the show, made the announcement of her departure from the series Wednesday night on Bravos Watch What Happens Live.

Caution: clip contains profanity

I have, over the past 12 years and 10 seasons, been a part of this whole franchise and Ive been very happy to rally and stand on the platform and be here with all of you, the Wayne native told host Andy Cohen, an executive producer of RHONJ.

But its time for me to leave and do something that I wanna do that makes my heart happy every day. And so I will be never be returning as a housewife again.

Never? Cohen said, casting a doubtful look at Staub. Wow! Shes saying the word never. OK, now I didnt know you were going to say the word never.

Never returning as a housewife again with the Jersey girls, Staub said, immediately opening the possibility to appearances on other Housewives series.

Oh, OK, so youre open to New York or something like that, Cohen said.

Staub said the thing that would make her heart happy every day would be to start her own gluten- and dairy-free cooking channel on Instagram.

Cooking is therapy to me, so Im basically calling it Cooking Therapy,'" she said.

This isnt the first time Staub has left RHONJ. She exited the show in 2010 and returned in 2017 in the friend role.

While Staub reconciled with Giudice following her return from prison in 2015, she is reportedly on the outs with her once again. In the current season of the show, Staub has scrapped with cast member Margaret Josephs, pulling her hair by the ponytail during an argument after Josephs poured water on her head.

Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.

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As we begin this decade, Americans need to become aware of a major threat from China. It is not a military threat, but it is bad news.

We have had bad news before, but we responded appropriately. For example, on Oct. 4, 1957, the United States was clobbered by a psychological Pearl Harbor. Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite, was orbited by the Soviet Union.

Sputnik was deeply shocking. We assumed that we were the most advanced country. When the U.S.S.R. got atomic bombs, we rationalized that their spies stole our plans. It was harder to believe they stole our hydrogen bomb, since theirs was tested only six months after ours, but our brief lead helped us avoid panicking.

Sputnik was launched before we orbited anything, so the Soviets couldn't have stolen this ability. They also beat us by putting the first person into orbit.

Panic ensued, but America rose to the occasion. We upgraded high school science classes. National Defense Education Act fellowships for future college teachers financed graduate studies, including my own Ph.D. work at Johns Hopkins. More Americans, including yours truly, studied Russian.

And President John F. Kennedy prioritized going to the moon. The dramatic news about Sputnik propelled us into an expensive but productive space race. On July 20, 1969, we won this race. In doing so we produced many beneficial new technologies.

Entering this new decade, American technological supremacy is again threatened. This time it is by China. But, unlike Sputnik, this bad news crept up on us gradually. We now resemble the frog whose pot is heated so slowly that it doesn't realize it is about to be boiled to death.

The current threat is revealed by statistics about the solar panels which convert sunlight into electricity. These panels have become cheap enough to threaten conventional power industries  coal, oil, natural gas.

Thanks to concerns about global warming and to their low cost, photovoltaic panels will probably dominate future energy technology. The country leading in producing and installing them will be the world's technology leader. Current trends suggest it won't be the United States.

As of 2018, China was way ahead. Its total installed panels had a generating capacity of 176,100 megawatts. The United States came in a dismal second with only 62,600 MW installed. We fared even worse in PV generating capacity added in 2018 (10,600 MW), and were beaten by India (10,800 MW added) and China (45,000 MW added). The Chinese added more than four times as much PV generating capacity as we did.

In production of panels the differences between the U.S. and China were even scarier.

In this race for the future, the dominant country will be China  unless we do something. To prevent this, we need to pursue solar energy on a much larger scale than the moon race. We need to enter, and win, the solar power race.

We need legislation encouraging solar energy and government funding for massive research into its generation, distribution and storage. We do not need a government which delays progress by trying to prop up doomed industries like coal and oil.

Recent reports that Warren Buffett is backing a humongous new solar energy project in Nevada are encouraging. Buffett is a shrewd investor who knows which way the wind is blowing.

But will there be an American politician like JFK to lead us into a race to regain technological supremacy? The 2020s will answer this question.

American leadership in the race for green energy will also help save the world from the climate disasters that Australians are now previewing. But even if there were no climate threat, we would still need to win this race to avoid becoming an industrial backwater.

Paul F. deLespinasse of Corvallis is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Computer Science at Adrian College. His most recent book is "Beyond Capitalism: A Classless Society With (Mostly) Free Markets." His columns have appeared in newspapers in Michigan, Oregon, and a number of other states. This column originally appeared in NewsMax.

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By Jung Min-ho







A Chinese woman who recently visited the Chinese city of Wuhan has been isolated in Korea as a suspected case of a mysterious viral pneumonia that has infected dozens of people in central China and put the rest of the world on alert.





According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) Wednesday, the woman, 36, who visited Wuhan between Dec. 13 and 17, has been isolated at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital in Seongnam after showing symptoms of the illness.





The woman entered Korea on Dec. 17 and has been here since, except for four days for a business trip to Xiamen in China (Dec. 26-30).





So far, 59 cases have been reported in Wuhan. On Sunday, the city's health commission said all patients have been treated in isolation and seven are in critical condition.





The cause has not yet been identified.

(WHO), which is closely monitoring the situation, said the main symptoms of pneumonia are fever, with some patients having difficulty breathing, and invasive lesions of both lungs, shown through chest X-rays.





According to the KCDC, the woman has symptoms of coughing, fever, sore throat and inflammation of both lungs. The KCDC said she started showing symptoms on Dec. 31.





Given that some of the patients were employees of a seafood market in Wuhan  which has been closed since Jan. 1  the WHO said it could indicate that the pathogen may be linked to animals.





But the woman said she did not visit the market during her stay there.





After testing, the KCDC ruled out nine respiratory diseases, including Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and parainfluenza.





The assessment comes after Chinese health authorities excluded the possibility of bird flu, MERS and SARS, an acute viral respiratory disease that killed 774 people in 37 countries after first being reported in southern China in 2002.





The KCDC said it decided not to isolate health workers that had contact with the woman based on the WHO's assessment that the mysterious pneumonia does not seem to be transmissible between humans.





The KCDC said it has tightened monitoring of people entering Korea, especially those who come directly from Wuhan. Travelers from the city are required to go through temperature screening and fill out health information forms.





There are eight direct flights between Wuhan and Incheon a week.


Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-08 21:09:17|Editor: xuxin

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KABUL, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- A chopper of the National Army made emergency landing in the eastern Paktia province on Wednesday, the Defense Ministry has confirmed.

"An Afghan Army MI17 Helicopter made emergency landing minutes after taking off from 203 Military Corps' airport in Gardiz city of Paktia province around 01:00 p.m. local time today," the ministry said in a statement.

"Everyone onboard and on land remained safe, no casualties reported," said the statement.

This is the second army chopper accident in the insurgency-battered Afghanistan in a single day on Wednesday.

Two pilots were killed in a helicopter crash which happened due to technical problem in the western Farah province before noon, according to the Defense Ministry.
The recent mandate letter from the prime minister to the attorney-general requires him to develop legal remedies for victims of hate speech and to combat online hate and harassment. Hallelujah!

Vicious online spewing of misogynistic, racist and religious hatred has infested social media. The level of misogyny expressed by online trolls is a blight on our public discourse. The sexist slurs and threats against women politicians are flagrant and disgraceful. It is time we dealt with all of it.

Here are some possible ways to change our laws to give the police and courts and individuals the tools to deal with online hatred and harassment.

Stalking: The existing stalking laws (also known as criminal harassment) are intended to prevent in-person following, watching, communicating with and otherwise engaging in threatening and fear-inducing conduct. A jail sentence of up to 10 years is possible.

Lets amend the federal Criminal Code to specifically add online stalking conduct as a criminal offence, just as Manitoba did in 2016 for provincial offences when it became the only jurisdiction in Canada to include using the internet or other electronic means to harass or threaten the other person. While it is a Criminal Code offence to repeatedly communicate either directly or indirectly, the word indirectly in itself is not sufficient to enable the current law to be used to prevent online stalking.

Hate Crimes: Since 1970, Canada has prohibited hatred on the basis of "colour, race, religion or ethnic origin." By 2017, the definition of identifiable group was expanded to include sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression as well as age and mental or physical disability.

And incitement of hatred was added as an aggravating factor for sentencing purposes if there was evidence that the offence was motivated by bias, prejudice or hate based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression, or on any other similar factor.

The welcome 2017 changes included for the first time misogyny (a dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women).

The language currently used in the Criminal Code does not clearly prohibit online hate crimes. While the public incitement of hatred includes communicating statements in any public place, the actual definition of communicating is too vague  communicating by telephone, broadcasting or other audible or visible means. And statements include electronic recordings but do not specifically include transmission by email and internet.

We need clear and unambiguous language in the Criminal Code to allow individuals to complain to the police and give the police the right to lay charges.

Defamation: The vitriol expressed online may also be defamatory and affect the victims reputation, but that would not now be considered a crime. One could sue in a civil court, where defamation cases are tried by a jury. The remedy is monetary damages, which have to be proven and then collected. While there have been a few cases where such abusers have been ordered to pay substantial damages, it is a costly remedy.

However, there is a crime called defamatory libel. It applies mostly to defamation published in newspapers, and is defined as a matter published that is likely to injure the reputation of any person by exposing him to hatred, contempt or ridicule, and it exposes the perpetrators to two to five years in jail.

I think the law of defamatory libel could be expanded to include online defamation of individuals. It could be expanded even further by defining online digital platforms like Facebook, Twitter and others as publishers, just as newspapers are, and give them the same responsibility to avoid publishing libelous content knowingly.

Anonymity: In order to make these changes more effective and deal with the trolls, we should ban anonymity on the internet. It is time to insist that people use their real names online, so that they can be located and made to be legally responsible for their online expression of virulent hatred and harassment.

It is time the federal government enacted legislation to protect its citizens from the negative aspects of our cyber universe, and improve and strengthen the law to deal firmly with online stalking, hate crimes and defamation.
Now, here we are with a shoot from the hip president putting more on the line that could result in an all-out war in the Middle East. That makes me worry about my grandson in the Marines who will be deployed soon after just six months of infantry training since his graduation from high school. Some of this nations leaders need to bring some rational thinking to the table on the next step before Iran makes a serious retaliation. It took two years of the 40-year conflict with Iran to resolve the hostage crisis. We have much less time now unless better minds prevail.
It has been all too easy for the media coverage to ignore Iraqs ongoing protest movement. The assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Quds Force of Irans Islamic Republican Guard Corps (IRCG), has placed Iraq at the centre of an international geopolitical crisis that could see the country turn into the front lines in a war it neither wants nor is able to prevent.

One of the early casualties of the recent escalation in US-Iranian tensions has been the protest movement. Events leading up to Soleimanis assassination had already bumped the protesters off the news cycle and, more importantly, had given their opponents what they had been searching for in vain since October: a counter-cause to rally around and push back with.

Self-preservation and talk of foreign conspiracies failed to create a counter-narrative that could meaningfully blunt the power and appeal of the protests or take attention away from the political classes unpopularity and their appalling security response. All of this changed over the last two weeks beginning with the attack on the K-1 airbase in Kirkuk, which led to the death of one US contractor and the injuries of several US troops, the subsequent US air raids on pro-Iran militias and the breach of the United Statess embassy compound that followed.

Indeed the demonstration that led to the attack on the embassy was the first instance of a successful counter-protest by Iran-leaning factions who had tried and failed to do so on a number of occasions since October.

Not only has the recent crisis enabled a shift in the narrative away from the protest movement, but the Iraqi political classes have now been presented with a more immediate set of issues that will likely see them prioritising the placation of Iran over the placation of the protesters. For example, the populist messaging of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who leads one of the largest political blocs in parliament, has clearly shifted away from its previous focus on the protests and the need for reform towards anti-American sentiment following the assassination of Soleimani.

The incident is having an increasingly divisive effect on Iraqi political discourse. Long-standing tensions risk being exacerbated: between centre and periphery, between pro-Iranian and anti-Iranian, between the political elite and the forces of change, and within the political elite itself. Iraqi social media is increasingly littered with accusations of treason between anti-American and anti-Iranian voices.

Lost in the din is the unambiguous message that has consistently been heard in Tahrir Square and other protest sites: no to foreign interference of any kind. That Iran took the lions share of opprobrium in protest messaging is a reflection of the greater role that Iran has had in Iraq rather than of pro-American sentiment among the protesters.

However, today a binary of anti-Americanism and anti-Iranianism is being instrumentalised and imposed on the Iraqi public discourse in an attempt to prioritise Iran-US rivalries, rally pro-Iranian forces and outflank the protest movement.

The discussions that followed Soleimanis assassination have often centred on the morality of the act and whether or not the Iranian general deserved to die. However, the questions of whether or not it was necessary and what strategic gains were made are far more important.

In itself, Soleimanis death will neither change Irans regional policy nor will it weaken its network of hybrid forces. The most immediate consequence of the assassination thus far has been to strengthen Irans hand in Iraq. Combined with the seeming absence of strategic thinking on the issue in Washington, this may well prove to be an irreversible shift.

If this turns out to be the case, then a political response in Iraq would have been more effective than anything Iran could have militarily thrown at the US.

Irans Iraqi assets and allies have been mobilised. A parliamentary resolution (of doubtful legality) was issued demanding the withdrawal of US troops and there are now concerns regarding the emergence of an Iran-aligned, Shia-centric, majoritarian government in Baghdad. Trumps threat to impose sanctions on Iraq hardly alleviates the anti-Americanism that is on display in Iraqi political circles. In other words, the very people who were so wrongfooted by the protest movement have been given a second wind by US policy.

It is disheartening to see an assassination so thoroughly overshadowing the protests particularly given the cost suffered by the protesters  hundreds dead and thousands injured since October. The bigger tragedy is that Iraqis are set to pay the price, yet again, for US and Iranian policies and the perpetual rivalry between the two.

However, it is too early to start writing the obituary of Iraqs protest movement. Iraq is in the midst of a prolonged government formation process mired in constitutional and legal ambiguity following the resignation of Adil Abdul-Mahdis government in December. The momentum built by the protesters had effectively turned the street into a participant in those negotiations.

The current crisis has not fundamentally changed that fact and the protest movement is as adamant on the necessity of systemic change as ever before. They may have lost the limelight and political priority but the movement remains relevant to the government formation process and an important variable in Iraqi politics. This is as relevant to the Iraqi political classes as it is to Irans future plans in Iraq.

Bina, one of the largest parliamentary coalitions and the one closest to Iran, have repeatedly had their nominees for the premiership blocked by public pressure. Though their base has been galvanised by recent events, it is unlikely that Bina, or the political classes more generally, will find it easy to simply have their way today in the continued persistence of public pressure.

The reverberations of the assassination have imperilled the protest movement but they have not killed it. If war and/or sanctions can be avoided, public anger may yet again top the Iraqi political agenda when the dust from the current crisis settles.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
CANAJOHARIE A public statement hearing will be held beginning at 5 p.m. Wednesday Jan. 15 at the Canajoharie Library on a proposed 529-acre solar generating facility in the Montogomery County towns of Canajoharie and Minden.

The hearing is presented by the state Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment to hear comments on the Mohawk Solar proposal for a 90.5-megawatt photovoltaic facility. It would consist of up to 529 acres of panels connected by underground collection lines that would generate electricity supplied to the bulk electric transmission system owned by National Grid and connect with the existing St. Johnsville-Marshville 115-kilo volt transmission line.

The informational forum is from 5 to 5:45 p.m. The public statement hearing is from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

At the informational forum, examiners will provide an overview of the Siting Board's certification process and Mohawk Solar will present a summary of the proposed project. Maps of the proposed project area will be available for viewing. Members of the public will then have an opportunity to pose questions about the process and the certificate application pending before the Siting Board.

At the Public Statement Hearing, any person wishing to provide a public statement will be asked to complete a request card, and the examiners will use the request cards to call people to provide a statement on the record. Reasonable time limits may be set for each speaker as necessary to afford all attendees an opportunity to be heard. Lengthy comments are encouraged to be submitted in writing and summarized for oral presentation. A verbatim transcript of the hearing will be made for inclusion in the record of this case.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Persons with disabilities requiring special accommodations should call the Department of Public Services Human Resources Management Office at (518) 474-2520 as soon as possible. TDD users may request a sign language interpreter by placing a call through the New York Relay Service at 711. Individuals with difficulty understanding or reading English are encouraged to call the department at 1-800-342-3377 for free language assistance services regarding this notice.

The application may be reviewed online at the Siting Board web page http://www.dps.ny.gov/SitingBoard, by following the link to Projects Under Review, on the left side of the page.




Kathmandu [Nepal], Jan 10 (ANI): Nepal on Thursday expressed concern over recent development in the middle eastern region which hosts about a million of its citizens.

Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has released a statement expressing concern over the recent development in the West Asia after Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was killed in an US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport.



Killing of the Iranian General on Friday in the drone strike last week in Iraq escalated tensions between Iran and the United States.

Iran had launched strikes against Iraqi bases where US troops are stationed on Wednesday. Kathmandu has asked parties in the region to exercise restraints from taking measures and actions that contribute to the further escalation of tensions.

"The Government of Nepal is following with serious concern the recent developments in the West Asian region. The region hosts a large number of Nepali migrant workers and therefore security and safety of our people in the region become a matter of utmost priority for Nepal," the release from Foreign Ministry states.

"We call upon all sides to exercise restraints from taking measures and actions that contribute to the escalation of tension and endanger peace and stability in the region. It has been a principled position of Nepal that all disputes and differences must be resolved through peaceful means," the release further adds.

The MoFA on Thursday also held a separate meeting with stakeholders and officials from various concerning ministry and discussed measures to be adopted if the condition worsens.

It has decided to form an Inbound Coordination Committee to watch on the condition there and take actions as needed for the security of the Nepali migrant workers. (ANI)
Ethan Johnson

Recently, a friend came into town from New York and when discussing breakfast places, I ran down my excessively long list of favorites and what to find at each. By the time I wrapped up, he looked unenthused. Whos got the best bagels though? Earnestly, Id never thought of it. Call me a bit of a schmuck, but anytime I wanted a bagel, I just swung by Einstein Bros. (of which there are eight in the city!) and never gave it much more thought. This prompted a bit of research, pulling up the fact that despite our estimated population of over 14,000 Jews currently living in Albuquerque, were a bit hard up for Jewish-centric eateries, a sore spot for those who know the high-quality food we miss out on because of it. Thankfully for me (my friend has already returned home, but next time), the Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque is holding their third annual ABQ NoshFest on Sunday, Jan. 12 from noon to 4pm at Sandia Resort & Casino (30 Rainbow Rd. NE).

Ill get this out of the way now: Yes, Weekly Alibi is a sponsor of the event, no, this isnt a paid advertisement or a favor, I just genuinely love latkas, challah and rugelach. Ive yet to come around to gefilte fish though. So what is NoshFest and why should you go? Besides the fact that your very soul yearns for some of the best Jewish cuisine you can find in Albuquerque, the event itself is a fundraiser for the JCC, helping support their nonprofit mission of providing a center open to all who need it, as well as a large range of equipment and activities to help enrich the lives of the community.

For the food side, expect to see food from Savoy Bar and Grill, California Pastrami, Ruthies Bagels, Il Vicino, La Fonda del Bosque, Gourmet to Go, Poki Poki Cevicheria, Congregations Albert, Bnai Israel, Casa Sefarad and others. A mix of local and Jewish cuisine will come together all in one convenient space to help get you the nosh you need. You say you want to go but you dont want to eat? Dont be meshuggenah, youll be missing out on the best part, but ok, I hear you.

Could I interest you in a raffle where you could win a 3-day trip to New York? What about live Klezmer and Israeli music by the Rebbes Orkestra with Rikud Dance Troupe teaching and leading dances? What about a break from your children, who will stop kvetching at you while they hang out at the Kids Zone, a place supervised by adults thatll have games and crafts for kids under 12? A few minutes of peace alone is worth admission. Dont forget the vendors, wholl have both Judaica and cuisine-related items up for you to buy and take home. Theres even gonna be a kugel-baking contest, which may or may not have a certain writer as a guest judge this year. You can finally disagree with my opinion in person if you attend!

Presale tickets are available online now at abqnoshfest.com for $6.50 but will be $8 at the door. Kids under 10 get in for free, and food tickets will be going for $1 a piece. The bottom line is this: We dont get cool cultural festivals all the time. Were lucky to see one in a month, more often than not. This is one worth checking out because Jewish food is good, and it's something I wish we had a better scene for here. Plus you get to support a nonprofit? Its a total win-win.
TOPEKA, Kan., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Students will encounter American government in action at a Civics Day at the Kansas State Capitol this National School Choice Week. A diverse group of students from eight private schools will participate in the event, which will take place 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

Students will have the opportunity to observe Senate and House proceedings, meet their school's elected officials, and enjoy lunch with legislators. Students will also receive a tour of the historic Kansas Capitol.

The event is planned to coincide with the history-making celebration of National School Choice Week 2020, which will feature more than 50,000 school choice events across all 50 states.

"The event allows students to share why school choice matters to them and how their school and community are impacted by it," said Katrina Yoshida, policy engagement manager at ACE Scholarships. "At the same time, lawmakers get to see school choice in action, meet the kids that are personally benefiting from school choice, and see how private schoolslike all good schools increase opportunities for children."

The event is coordinated by ACE Scholarships, which provides children of low-income families with scholarships to private schools in grades K-12.

As a nonpartisan, nonpolitical public awareness effort, National School Choice Week shines a positive spotlight on effective education options for students, families, and communities around the country. From January 26 through February 1, 2020, more than 50,000 independently-planned events will be held in celebration of the Week. For more information, visit www.schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week

Related Links

http://www.schoolchoiceweek.com


The University of Education, Winneba (UEW) has said former President John Rawlings calls for Reverend Professor Afful-Broni to be made to step aside as hardworking Vice-Chancellor of the University to allow for some unspecified investigations are completely misplaced.

In a statement, the school said Mr. Rawlings, who made this call when he addressed a durbar to climax the 38th anniversary of the 31st December revolution, had become the latest advocate of an unworthy cause that is laden with mischief and fraud.

The school noted that Prof. Afful-Broni is not the subject of any investigation after Mr. Rawlings said he was indicted for financial mismanagement in an Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) probe.

The University, again, wishes to state clearly to the general public and, in particular, ex-President Jerry John Rawlings that, the Vice-Chancellor, Rev. Fr. Anthony Afful-Broni is not under any form of investigation; no prima facie case of wrongdoing or misconduct has been established against him; and, no disciplinary action has been initiated against him by the Governing Council to warrant his stepping aside.

It added that the claim that the Vice-Chancellor should be made to step aside is completely misplaced and remains the figment of the imagination of those who quickly desire to initiate social injustice into an institution where none exists.

The school also said Mr. Rawlings suggestions that over 20 staff of the school had been dismissed was incorrect and an attempt to make the Management of the University look bad in the eyes of the unsuspecting members of the public.

It must be put on record that the figure 20 representing the number of persons claimed by ex-President, J. J. Rawlings as having been dismissed by the University totally betrays his ignorance and the mischief of those who fed him with such lies.

Mr. Rawlings primary concerns were with the dismissal of the former Vice-Chancellor of the school, Prof. Mawutor Avoke, Dr. Theophilus Ackorlie, Ing. Daniel Tetteh, Mr. Frank Boateng, and Ms. Mary Dzimey.

The statement, however, reminded the general public that the dismissals had nothing to do with any Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) Report or any other report by a state agency.

Read the full statement here

The EOCO report actually exonerated former Vice-Chancellor of UEW, Professor Mawutor Avoke and the other principal officers of procurement and management breaches.

The Report indicted the Chief Technical Officer for the Ghana Revenue Authority, Winneba Office, Lawrence Lamptey, for willfully causing financial loss to the state.

The Efutu Member of Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin in May 2017 petitioned EOCO through the Education Minister, Mathew Opoku Prempeh, with 13 allegations against some principal officers of the University.

The investigations concluded that the University complied with the provisions of the Public Procurement Authority Act as amended in its award of contracts to Sparkx Ghana Limited for five distinct projects.

Background

Prof. Avoke's troubles date back to 2017 where a Winneba High Court ordered him to step aside until a malfeasance case brought against him and the University's Governing Council was determined.

The case brought before the court by one Supi Kofi Kwayera, who insisted that the Vice-Chancellor and the Finance Officer, were operating under the institution's defunct governing council.

The plaintiff argued that the University's Council's mandate had expired in November 2013, but the Education Ministry failed to constitute a new Governing Council for the university and rather allowed the defunct Governing Council which had no mandate whatsoever to continue in the functions of a properly constituted Governing Council.

Supi Kofi Kwayera also alleged financial and procurement irregularities on the part of the Prof Avoke.

Following the Court's ruling in December 2017, Prof Avoke, together with some other Principal Officers of the University, was removed by the school's Governing Council.

This was described by some lecturers as politically motivated.

Later the Supreme Court overturned the High Court decision which led to the removal.

The management of the school, however, insisted Prof. Avoke will not be reinstated because his dismissal was determined by the institution's Governing Council.

---citinewsroom
PARADISE, Calif. - The 2019 numbers are in. As of December 31st, 2019, the Town of Paradise received 700 rebuild applications.

After the fire, the Town did some research and projected they would receive around 200 applications in the first year after the fire. As you can see, the town has far exceeded that number.

Statistics Update

1,102 water advisories lifted

710 building permit applications received

31 homes rebuilt (certificate of occupancy issued)

471 building permits issued

There are about 450 standing homes left to test, PID said they expect to complete testing to all standing homes by March 2020.

Other Updates

January Community Information Meeting: The Meeting was focused on the Homeowners Rebuild Checklist. In this workshop, Susan Hartman, Community Development Director for the Town of Paradise covered the Homeowners Rebuilding Checklist in detail. Attendees also heard from a representative from the Contractors State Licensing Board on best practices to find the best contractor for your needs. After the meeting, attendees got the opportunity to meet and greet over 2 dozen contractors in the gymnasium. If you were unable to attend, the meeting is available via the Town of Paradise Facebook page. The video will be uploaded to the website as well.

Rebuild Advocates: Available to residents of the town of Paradise and Butte County to help navigate the process of rebuilding. The advocates can help people apply for loans and connect with contractors. You may call 530-872-6291 ext. 130 to schedule an appointment.

Work Renew survey: Work Renew will be conducting a survey with survivors in the Camp Fire burn scar area between 1/13/2020 and 1/24/2020. Their survey will ask questions to ascertain their current unmet needs. The results of the survey will be given to the LTRG. The LTRG plans on using this data to compile data to support future asks for unmet needs from both government and non-profit organizations.

Medspire to offer Free Clinic Day: The clinic will offer free urgent care, primary care, case management, and mental health services. There is no I.D. required and the event is free and available to all. For more information, Medspire can be contacted at 833-633-7747. The event will take place on January 11th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Magalia Pines Baptist Church, 14098 Skyway.

New services: The Butte County departments of Behavioral Health and Employment and Social Services have jointly brought back supportive services to the Paradise ridge located at 7200 Skyway. A one-time grant of $100,000 by the North Valley Community Foundation will assist in funding the operations throughout 2020, and the Butte County Community Services Center opened on Monday, Jan. 6. The countys departments of Behavioral Health, Employment and Social Services, and Public Health will all share the space; along with community partners such as North Valley Catholic Social Service and Catalyst Domestic Violence Services.

Roadmap to Recovery: Solving Reconstruction Pricing Disputes Special Event is coming to Chico Saturday, January 25, 2020, 10:30 am-2 pm at St. John the Evangelist, 2341 Floral Ave, Chico. This hands-on workshop will help you overcome roadblocks to rebuilding. We'll contact you once you're registered to let you know what documents you'll need to bring. Who should attend? Homeowners whose insured homes were damaged or destroyed in the Camp Fire. This Roadmap to Recovery workshop is presented by United Policyholders, a non-profit consumer organization helping disaster survivors for over 27 years. For more information and updates, visit our online help library, CLICK HERE. RSVP required for this event. Please send an email to info@uphelp.org if youd like to attend.

Tree Removal: The Paradise Town Council and the Butte County Board of Supervisors passed ordinances requiring the removal of hazard trees damaged by the Camp Fire from private property that may fall into public roadways. Property owners may enter the Government Tree Program to have the trees removed by the State at no out-of-pocket cost. Enrollment in the Government Tree Program requires a Right-of Entry form.

Property owners may also identify and remove hazard trees themselves but must submit an inspection form so an inspector may verify the removal of the hazard trees from the property. Property owners may also call the Tree ROE Center directly at (530) 552-3030 or submit Tree ROEs by email at TreeROE@buttecounty.net. The Tree ROE is available for download online at www.ButteCountyRecovers.org/treeremoval. ROE forms may also be picked up at the Tree ROE Centers when they open. Community meetings will be held at various locations throughout the county in an effort to provide information about tree removal programs. Meeting dates and times, CLICK HERE.

Community Employment Center: 78 Table Mountain Boulevard, Oroville Hours: Mon. - Fri. 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Butte County Library, Paradise Branch Community Room: 5922 Clark Road, Paradise Hours: Mon.- Fri. 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Butte County Library, Paradise Branch Community Room: 5922 Clark Road, Paradise Hours: Mon.- Fri. 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Butte County Library, Chico Branch: 1108 Sherman Avenue, Chico Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 10 a.m.- 6 p.m., Friday-Saturday 10 am - 5 p.m.

Construction reminder: There is a lot of construction happening in the roads, by PID, PG&E, the Town, and private contractors. Remember, any resident who wants or needs to do construction in a public right of way needs to check in with the Town of Paradise on requirements for doing so.

Paradise on Ice: The Paradise Ice Rink is an outdoor seasonal ice rink that will be open daily (weather permitting). Public Skate, Adult Skate, Lessons, Private Rentals, and Party rooms are all offered. The ice rink will be open through Jan. 20.

Regular Hours:

Sunday - Thursday: Noon to 8 p.m.

Friday - Noon to 8 p.m. with teen skate night at 9 - 11 p.m. (additional charge)

Saturday - Noon to 10 p.m. with skate lessons from 11 a.m. to noon. (additional charge)

New business's opening: Travel Connection and Woodworth's Jewelry will have a ribbon-cutting and open house on Jan. 147, 4 to 7 p.m., at 6265 Skyway.

For a list of all open businesses, CLICK HERE.

Upcoming Meetings & Events

PRPD 71st Year Anniversary Celebration

When: Sat. Jan. 11th 7 to 9 p.m. Where: 6626 Skyway Paradise



Medspire Free Clinic Day When: Sat. Jan. 11th 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Where: Magalia Pines Baptist Church, 14098 Skyway

Roadmap to Recovery Special Event

When: Sat. Jan. 25th 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Where: St. John the Evangelist Church, 2341 Floral Ave, Chico


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Linkedin Made Anthony Iswara (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 9, 2020

Strict regulations and inefficient bureaucracy continue to impede investment into the tourism sector even as Indonesia looks to the sector as a new engine of economic growth through the development of special economic zones and super priority destinations.

Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) head Bahlil Lahadalia reiterated President Joko Jokowi Widodos do not disturb investors! message during a recent trip to Banyuwangi, East Java.

Many investors are attracted to the tourism sector but become entangled in strange regulations, Bahlil said last week in Banyuwangi, as quoted in a press release from the agency.

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Music may yet still have a place within the proposed residential redevelopment plans for the site housing Little Italys historical Matador ballroom, which once played host to the likes of Joni Mitchell, Stompin Tom Connors and Blue Rodeo.

Ali Saneinejad, a development manager and partner with 466 DCR Urban Properties Inc., which bought the 103-year-old ballroom at 466 Dovercourt Rd. last May, said in addition to seeking out music-related entities for the commercial space planned for the site, his group also intends to preserve some remnants of the existing building including the exterior marquee and a wood-panelled wall plastered with the signatures of famous musicians such as Leonard Cohen and Janis Joplin.

Saneinejad said the developers are mindful of the Matadors historical significance within the city and the music industry.

This was a very prominent after-hours music venue and it hosted a lot of significant artists over the years, Saneinejad said of the property, which has been dormant for almost 13 years. We wanted to have a commemorative strategy to honour the history of the Matador.

Last month, the developers filed a rezoning application, seeking city approval to demolish the one-time Dovercourt Assembly Hall and First World War-era dance hall and erect a new structure, increasing the height of the building to six storeys from its current two to make room for 30 residential units and 12,196 square feet of commercial space.

Saneinejad said the building at College Street and Dovercourt Road was sold to his group for $4.4 million by its previous owner Paul McCaughey, who gave up on his bid to transform the site into a restaurant and wine bar, after nearly a decade of failed revamps and attempts to get city permits.

At this point, Im just relieved I finally get to close this chapter of my life, McCaughey told the Star in May. Theres no doubt in my mind that if we had not had the difficulties in the process of our many applications to the city, the Matador would be open today.

It took six years for McCaughey to get a liquor licence for the property, which he finally got in February of 2016. It then took another two-and-a-half years to win a zoning certificate, in September of 2018, permitting him to operate the Matador as a place of assembly with a small eating establishment open onto Dovercourt at the front, and a custom workshop that he hoped might be used as a recording studio or screening room downstairs toward the back. He had given up on the live-venue dream.

The process took far too long, he said.

Saneinejad said they did look at saving the building but its an extremely old building and its not in the greatest state.

A heritage architect has been brought in to lead the preservation of some of the historical features, which will be made accessible to the public at the site where Johnny Cash once drank the night away and Cohen shot the video for Closing Time.

Weve discussed that (commemorating the heritage value) with the city and the heritage department, he said.

Saneinejad said though the property would be opening a new chapter, the hope is to recreate some of spatial features of the Matadors interior space.

He said its premature to say who would occupy the commercial space, but were very actively looking for music-related uses for the space.

Saneinejad said the developer is currently in talks with venue operators, music hub-type entities and recording studios.

The mixture of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units would be priced according to market rates in that neighbourhood, he said.

Saneinejad and his partners are now awaiting a response from the city and was unable to provide timelines for when that response might come. He hopes the city clears the requested height and density variances.

These small developments are extremely challenging and theyre not generally pursued by developers, Saneinejad said. Its extremely sensitive and any kind of bumps along the way could totally derail the project.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's plans to divide their time between the UK and North America has sparked speculation over where they will live - and how they will pay for it.

The Duke and Duchess revealed they will spend a significant amount of time away from Britain as they step back from their 'senior' royal duties and look to become 'financially independent.'

They have pledged to continue using their taxpayer funded Frogmore Cottage in Windsor for their base in England so that they 'continue to support the monarchy' and 'always have a place to call home.'

There plans will also see them setting up a base in North America, whether that be in the US or Canada, where the couple recently enjoyed a six week break from royal duties.

It will mean they will also have to face issues over residency rights and rules on tax, as they will not automatically be granted citizenship.

They have pledged to continue using their taxpayer funded Frogmore Cottage (pictured) in Windsor for their base in England

The couple said they will seek permission for continued use of Frogmore cottage, which they moved in to nine months ago and which underwent a taxpayer funded 2.4million refurbishment from the Queen, through the Sovereign Grant.

But after announcing they would not be receiving the Sovereign Grant, it has been suggested that they could be forced to pay rent to keep hold of the cottage.

In a statement on their new website sussexroyal.com, they say: Frogmore Cottage will continue to be the property of Her Majesty the Queen.

'The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will continue to use Frogmore Cottage  with the permission of Her Majesty The Queen  as their official residence as they continue to support the Monarchy, and so that their family will always have a place to call home in the United Kingdom.'

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's bombshell announcement that they've stepped back from royal duties and will split their time between the United Kingdom and North America has been met with widespread speculation over where the couple will live in the west

Graham Smith, chief executive of the campaign group Republic, said: 'It's not just Frogmore Cottage - they're going to be relying on the Metropolitan Police to provide security.

'I certainly think they owe the taxpayer a refund. They have spent 2.4m on refurbishing their house on the taxpayer.

'It was going to be their home and now they've decided to live elsewhere so we need that money back. They need to abandon their claim to that house.'

And former Lib Dem minister Norman Baker, one of hundreds of privy counsellors who advise the Queen, said the pair should repay the money.

Mr Baker - who lost his seat in 2015 - told The Mirror: 'The taxpayer has spent millions on Frogmore Cottage for the couple on the understanding that Harry and Meghan intended to be working royals.

'Now they have changed their minds, Harry should repay the money spent on the house to the taxpayer.

It is possible that the Sussexes will put down roots in Southern California so they can raise baby Archie near his maternal grandmother, Doria Ragland (pictured with Meghan)

Harry and Meghan would naturally be drawn to Toronto, the city where they enjoyed a secret courtship of five months before their relationship was revealed to the world in October 2016

'As he is worth at least 20million and probably much more, and Meghan is a millionaire in her own right, they can easily afford to do so.

'In general the royal family is far too large and expensive so it needs to be slimmed down.

'In that sense Harry and Meghan's decision to give up senior royal status is welcome.

'We need others in the royal family to follow suit and reduce the massive cost to the taxpayer.'

They could decide to settle in California, and Los Angeles in particular, where Meghan's mother Doria Ragland lives.

Meghan's former home in Toronto's Annex neighbourhood is pictured

Meghan is said to consider LA home, she was born in Hollywood, and many of her friends are still based there.

Back in August, insiders claimed that the couple were house-hunting in the celebrity enclave of Malibu.

Doria is also not thought to want to relocate to the UK, so moving to the US to be closer to her could be an option.

Meghan has previously spoken of her love for LA, saying: 'It's a city of transients  people coming from all over the world, searching out the Hollywood dream.

'Life in my LA is all about taking care of your mind and spirit just as much as your body.'

Meghan, who was born and raised in California, considered Toronto (pictured) her home town after filming seven seasons of Suits there

Back in August, insiders claimed that the couple were house-hunting in the celebrity enclave of Malibu (pictured)

A source also told the New York Post: 'Meghan is, at heart, an LA girl, she cares about money, power and prestige.

'Meghan really wants to live in California, it's where she is from and where her mother lives,' another source close to the couple said.

'She likes the lifestyle and the privacy there. She has been getting advice on the move from close friends, including Oprah and the Clooneys, and they have encouraged her that she and Harry can step away from the royal family and follow their own path.'

The average three-bedroom house price on the California coastline can cost up to $7million.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle spent their first Christmas with baby Archie in a 10million waterfront mansion on Vancouver Island in Canada

The couple have recently returned from a six week break in Canada in a 10million waterfront mansion on Vancouver Island, sparking speculation they could live there.

Meghan lived in Toronto for six years while filming Suits and it is the city where they enjoyed a secret five-month courtship before their relationship was revealed to the world in October 2016.

The pair were set up on a blind date by a female friend, believed to be fashion designer Mischa Nonoo, and 'met for a drink' in a Toronto bar.

Meghan lived in a two-story home in Toronto's Annex neighborhood. Her old pad is no longer available, however, having been sold to an anonymous buyer for $1.6million in January 2018.

Meghan's best friend and bridesmaid Jessica Mulroney - who was rumored to have introduced her to Harry - lives in Toronto with her husband Ben and their three children.

There is also a chance they could choose New York City, where Meghan also has many friends.

She traveled to Manhattan last February for her baby shower and has previously mentioned her affection for Brooklyn, describing it as a great place to eat and drink.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 11:01:11|Editor: ZD

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Media reporters work at Luohuaying Village in Zhangbei County of Zhangjiakou City, north China's Hebei Province, on Jan. 7, 2020. Media workers started a nationwide reporting campaign on Tuesday that aims to produce in-depth coverage of China's poverty reduction practice and achievement. China is poised to tackle the hardest phase in securing a full victory in the anti-poverty battle in 2020 as it enters the homestretch in achieving the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. (Xinhua/Li He)
Karabakh conflict resolution will be high on Chairmanships agenda , said OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Edi Rama presenting Albanias 2020 priorities to Permanent Council.

The OSCE has proven time and again that it can deploy to conflict and post-conflict settings, often where and when no one else can. As the crisis in and around Ukraine remains the most pressing security challenge in Europe, the unique contribution of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to reducing tensions and fostering peace, stability and security is essential. While there have been some encouraging signals with regard to the crisis that we applaud, the road to long-standing peace remains long. The Albanian Chairmanship will do its part to encourage respect for the OSCE principles and commitments and the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements, supporting the efforts of the Trilateral Contact Group and the process of the Normandy Format. The SMM and Ukraine will also be the destination of my first visit, in the coming weeks, as OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, he said in a statement adding that conflict resolution efforts such as those of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Geneva International Discussions and related mechanisms, and the Transdniestrian Settlement Process will also be high on the Chairmanships agenda, he said in a statement.

Edi Rama added that the main motto of the Albanian presidency this year will be "Implementing our commitments together.
Eight people were killed in Rajasthan's Churu when a van was hit by a bus while overtaking the vehicle in the early hours of Thursday, police said.

According to Churu Police, the van was hit by the bus while the driver was overtaking it.

The deceased were residents of Bikaner. Police have informed their families about the accident.

Police further held the bus driver responsible for the accident and said that a case will be filed against him and the owner of the bus.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, Cheetah Mobile obtained the ISO/IEC 27001: 2013 information security management certification issued by the internationally renowned certification body, BSI. It is the most authoritative information security management system certification in the industry. After long-term internal security construction and external review, this successful certification once again reflects Cheetah Mobile's firm commitment to protect user data security. Fulfilling our information security managment responsibilities.

The ISO 27001 certification standard is recognized worldwide as the most authoritative, widely accepted, and most applied system certification standard in the field of information security. Mainly for the information security field, in addition to privacy, confidentiality, and information technology, it also includes many other aspects including legal & regulatory compliance, personnel management, assets management, etc., and puts forward very specific requirements and standards for each.

Based on the ISO 27001 information security system, Cheetah Mobile has upgraded its user privacy and information security procedures, and regulatory policies, as well as established a complete set of information security systems in line with international standards for many important areas, including auditing systems, data security, asset management, personnel training, and workflows. Our design, development, and operation and maintenance services of Cheetah Mobile's PC-client and mobile-client apps, gaming software, live stream software, and intelligent-terminal embedded software (including robots and other products) all passed the review and achieved certification.

Han Jianqi, Vice President of Cheetah Mobile's brand marketing, and Lin Peng, Director of our security platform, attended the ISO 27001 security management system certification ceremony.

Lin Peng stated in his address that "Cheetah Mobile has always attached great importance to information security and privacy protection. Now that we have successfully achieved this certification, we can better meet the needs and expectations of users, customers, partners, and regulatory agencies. Next, we hope to cooperate with organizations such as BSI to build a greener and healthier industrial ecology, bring the benefits of technology to society, and accelerate the process of more safely digitalizing the industry and implementing smart technologies."

Edward Sun, Senior Vice President of Cheetah Mobile's brand marketing, stated that "Cheetah Mobile, as the leader among China's overseas internet companies, has created a deep foundation for security with our popular mobile application tools Cheetah Cleanup Master and Cheetah Security Master. We have also both made fruitful explorations and gained experience in terms of information security and user privacy. Cheetah Mobile is making strategic upgrades from the mobile internet to the AI-driven industrial Internet. Better information security and develop standards will also be maintained for our AI business to introduce a greener and healthier Industry ecology. Protecting data security and user privacy is the responsibility of Cheetah Mobile, as well as our obligation and commitment. We will work hard to implement the content regulated by ISO 27001, continuously improve and enhance the company's security management level and technical capabilities, further improve our core competitiveness, and achieve better results. So getting certification today is not an end, but a very good start."



Quan Zhenjun, BSI's Director of Strategic Development in China, also delivered a speech: "Cheetah Mobile successfully passed the ISO 27001 internationally recognized certification, indicating that Cheetah Mobile's information security management capabilities meet the standard requirements. During the six-month collaboration, we observed Cheetah's positive attitude toward this work, as well as the emphasis and huge investment placed on information security. I hope that in the future, high-quality companies such as Cheetah Mobile will share their experience and knowledge in information security management around the world, lead the industry standard, and jointly create universal information security standards for the whole world. I believe that this review's excellent results can also drive the entire industry's process for information security protection and privacy protection compliance. This collaboration will only be a starting point. In the future, BSI is willing to cooperate with Cheetah Mobile in working toward standardization."

Part of China's first round of overseas mobile internet companies, Cheetah Mobile has a flawless information security management system, and continues to invest in security. Through the implementation of various security technologies and management and control processes, the work of information security protection has been advanced to a first priority.

The company established an independent first-level department for information security and privacy protection, set up a fitting information security management system, and implemented security controls based on infrastructure security, application security, data security, and personal privacy security to achieve enhanced security, identify security risks, improve defense capabilities, and achieve safe and controllable policy goals.

In addition to the internal annual audit mechanisms, Cheetah Mobile is also engaged with an internationally recognized third-party auditing authority to review company operations within the framework of standards for international service organizations in order to constantly improve the company's measures in the field of information security.

Cheetah Mobile's Security Platform Director Lin Peng also said, "Besides strictly adhering to information security standards, Cheetah Mobile continues to explore strengthening the user experience. More advanced features were recently introduced for our apps, such as Clean Master and Security Master, and we are committed to creating a conscientious product, in order to provide users with more convenient, easier to use, and more professional products and services."

Cheetah Mobile's commitment to information security and data privacy is a long-standing precept. In the future, Cheetah Mobile will continue to cooperate with BSI and other relevant organizations to improve the information security and user privacy management standards of the internet and AI industries, and continue to guarantee Cheetah Mobile's diversified businesses worldwide growth.

SOURCE Cheetah Mobile Inc
In the first court decision on AB5s validity, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that the new California gig-work law does not apply to truck drivers because it is preempted by federal law.

Judge William Highberger wrote that owner-operator truck drivers should not be reclassified as employees under AB5 and the California Supreme Court decision on which it is based. That decision involves delivery company Dynamex, which the court ruled had improperly classified its drivers as independent contractors. AB5 and the Dynamex ruling establish a test that makes it harder for companies to claim that workers are independent contractors.

Many big-rig owners have protested the idea of becoming employees, saying they invested $150,000 or more on their trucks and operate independent businesses. But others, including hundreds of port drivers who have filed labor complaints in California, say they are being exploited when they work as independent contractors  they are saddled with truck payments that are so high that they make almost no money, and they are forced to work long hours for fear of being suspended.

Wednesdays 18-page decision said that neither AB5 nor Dynamex should apply to truck drivers because of a 1994 federal law regulating interstate commerce that endorses using independent-contractor owner-operators to increase competition and reduce the cost of trucking services. Under the Supremacy and Commerce clauses of the U.S. Constitution, uniform rules should apply in all 50 states, Highberger wrote.

He cited a New Years Eve temporary restraining order granted by a federal judge restricting California from applying AB5 to the trucking industry. That order was granted in a lawsuit filed by the California Trucking Association against the state. As a temporary order, it does not have the force of Highbergers ruling. A Jan. 13 hearing in that case will consider whether to grant a preliminary injunction while the case proceeds.

Veena Dubal, a law professor at UC Hastings who advocates employee status for gig workers, said the decision seems like an outlier and predicted it would be overturned on appeal. She contrasted it with other cases that found that requiring minimum wage for truck drivers, or using the AB5/Dynamex test, is not preempted by federal law because it has little effect on prices, routes or services.

Holding that providing basic employment protections to truckers interferes with trucking prices not only flies in the face of established Ninth Circuit precedent, but also, as a social and economic matter, it has untoward moral implications for the regulation of work more broadly, she wrote in an email.

Wednesdays order responds to a lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles city attorney against NFI Industries and its subsidiaries CMI Transportation, K&R Transportation California and Cal Cartage Transportation. The case alleges that the companies had exploited drivers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach by classifying them as independent contractors when they should be employees.

The drivers sometimes earned literally pennies a week and were heavily controlled by the companies, City Attorney Mike Feuer said in a news release when the case was filed in 2018.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti had supported the case.

The Port of Los Angeles is one of Americas most powerful economic engines, and the workers who keep it running every day deserve better than to be deprived of basic employment protections, he said in a statement two years ago.

Feuer said Thursday that he plans to appeal.

As the Court itself stated, there are substantial grounds for difference of opinion, he said in a statement.

Filed a few months before the Dynamex decision, the case originally referred to a previous, less-stringent test for employee misclassification known as Borello. Highbergers findings about AB5 and Dynamex do not spell the end for the case. Instead, it can proceed under the Borello standard, he wrote.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

In contrast to Highbergers ruling, in January 2019, the California Labor Commissioner ruled that Cal Cartage had misclassified port truck drivers.

And, despite his order, Highberger wrote that the legal landscape would benefit from an appeals court weighing in on the pertinence of AB5 and the Dynamex decision to the trucking industry.

The question of whether federal laws preempt the employment test established by Dynamex and AB5 is a controlling question of law as to which there are substantial grounds for difference of opinion, appellate resolution of which may materially advance the conclusion of the litigation, he wrote.

The trucking companies attorneys hailed Highbergers order.

Independent owner-operator truck drivers have been a vital part of the trucking industry, and a path to achieving the American dream, for many decades, said Joshua Lipshutz of Gibson Dunn in a statement. Judge Highbergers decision confirms that California cannot simply eliminate that business model and force truck drivers to be employees. This is a win for trucking companies and independent truckers nationwide.

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, author of the AB5 law, was not available for comment. But previously she has said that the trucking industry is riddled with misclassification.

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid
Boris Johnson says UK 'ready' to start trade talks as EU chief brands deadline 'impossible'

The Prime Minister used talks with Ursula von der Leyen at Downing Street to double down on his vow not to extend the existing Brexit transition period

Boris Johnson has told the president of the European Commission that Britain is "ready" to kick off talks on a post-Brexit trade deal despite her warning his timeframe for an agreement is "impossible".

The Prime Minister used talks with Ursula von der Leyen at Downing Street to double down on his vow not to extend the existing Brexit transition period, in which the UK will stay aligned to EU rules, beyond 31 December this year.

His message came after Von der Leyen, who recently took over from Jean Claude-Juncker as the Commission's top official, cast fresh doubt on Britain's deadline for a deal.

In a speech at the London School of Economics, the EU Commission chief said: "Without an extension of the transition period beyond 2020, you cannot expect to agree on every single aspect of our new partnership.

"We will have to prioritise."

Von der Leyen warned that leaving the EU would involve the renegotiation of "600 international agreements" as well as a new free-trade pact.

She said: "It is basically impossible to negotiate all [of the areas]."

And she warned the UK not to diverge too strongly from EU rules to avoid losing preferential access to its markets.

"Our partnership cannot and will not be the same as before," she said.

"It will not be as close as before because with every choice comes a consequence. With every decision, comes a trade-off.

"Without the free movement of people, you cannot have the free movement of capital, goods and services.

"Without a level playing field on environment, labour and state aid, you cannot have the highest quality access to the world's largest single market.

"The more divergence there is, the more distant the partnership will be."

Downing Street described the meeting between the two leaders - who attended the same school in Belgium - as "positive".

In a statement released following the talks, Number 10 said: "On Brexit, the PM stressed that his immediate priority was to implement the Withdrawal Agreement by January 31. They discussed the progress of ratification in the UK and in the European Parliament.

"He said the UK wanted a positive new UK and EU partnership, based on friendly co-operation, our shared history, interests and values.

"The PM reiterated that we wanted a broad free trade agreement covering goods and services, and co-operation in other areas."

But a spokesperson added: "The PM was clear that the UK would not extend the Implementation Period beyond 31 December 2020; and that any future partnership must not involve any kind of alignment or ECJ jurisdiction. He said the UK would also maintain control of UK fishing waters and our immigration system.

"The PM made clear that we would continue to ensure high standards in the UK in areas like workers' rights, animal welfare, agriculture and the environment.

"The PM said the UK was ready to start negotiations on the future partnership and Canada-style FTA as soon as possible after January 31."

The talks came as MPs continued their scrutiny of the Prime Minister's Withdrawal Agreement bill, which sets the UK up to leave the European Union on 31 January.

Meanwhile, Holyrood voted to reject the withdrawal bill, with all parties except the Scottish Conservatives backing a motion saying the Scottish Parliament "does not consent" to the implementation of the Brexit deal.
The Minister of State, in charge of Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah, has asked the alumni of the Commonwealth Hall and management University of Ghana (UG) authorities, to as a matter of urgency settle their differences on the proposed additional hostel facility for the Hall.

The Old Vandals Association (OVA) in November last year came to an agreement with the management of the University of Ghana to construct a 4,000-bed capacity extension for the Commonwealth Hall.

Earlier this week, about 25 lecturers petitioned the Vice-Chancellor of the University after they raised concerns about the construction of the additional hostel facility for the Commonwealth hall which is expected to be close to the existing hall.

Among other things, the lecturers questioned, the location and the environmental impact assessments conducted prior to the sod-turning event for the construction of the facility.

It had to do with the past students of commonwealth expressing readines to construct a huge capacity residential facility for commonwealth, which is a wonderful idea, but I think there are issues with the location and I dont think this should have been much an issue or a tussle. This is a very huge expansion space for the University of Ghana and getting a suitable space for that shouldnt have been a problem and I hope they resolve this as soon as possible to make that available to add to the pool of residences available, the Minister said.

The Minister who described the decision by the alumni of the hall as a wonderful idea opined that getting a suitable space to construct the proposed hall facility should not be an issue or a tussle.

The Minister in an interview with Citi News also called on the management of the University of Ghana to reconsider its existing approach towards offering fresh students an accommodation on campus to prevent instances where students are left stranded on campus at the beginning of the academic year.

I said the University of Ghana should reconsider the formula for giving residential accommodation, whether they want to stick to the out out systemYou dont hear more about the Cape Coast and Winneba Universities because most of them ensure that the first year students, because of the uncertainties involved in this, are prioritized,

Old vandals to expand Commonwealth Hall with 4,000 bed capacity annex

As far back as 2003, alumni of the Commonwealth hall initiated plans to expand the hall which currently houses less than 2000 students to cater for the increasing numbers.

In an interview with Citi News, national president of the Old Vandals Association, Isaac Sarpong, said after 16 years of talks with university management, the Association is set to make this a reality.

The expansion which is expected to be built around the existing structure of the hall prompted some 25 lecturers to petition the Vice-chancellor.

---citinewsroom
Aihik Sur By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: It was around 3 am when Dakshana Murthy and other Indians residing in Iraqs Erbil were jolted from their sleep by the sound of a massive explosion on Wednesday. It took another three hours for them to realise that a US military base, situated just 20 km from where they were living, was hit by ballistic missiles fired by Iran.

For Murthy, who is the president of Telugu Gulf Employees Welfare Association (TGWEA), and 8,000 others hailing from Telangana life has become a constant game of cat and mouse with death following Irans action, which was in response to the killing of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani.

Speaking to Express from Erbil, Murthy said, "The situation is very tense over here. Iran just fired on a military base. We are fortunate that no one was caught in the explosion and that it happened in the dead of the night."

ALSO READ| Two rockets hit Iraqi capital's Green Zone: Security sources

Following the blast, there is tight security in the area. He said that there are also severe restrictions on peoples movements. "We are trying to stay indoors as much as possible. But, whatever happens we have to keep working," Murthy, who is a resident of Nirmal, added.

Most of the 8,000 odd migrant workers from Telangana are employed in the construction sector and many others are working as domestic helps in one of the most populated cities in the Kurdistan region of the country.

While most of these workers hail from districts like Adilabad, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Nirmal and Mancherial, there are around 40,000 more migrant workers from the State making a living in others parts of Iraq.

ALSO READ| Iran supreme leader Khamenei says missile strikes delivered US 'slap in the face'

Appeal to government

TGWEA vice-president Ramachandra Rayalwar appealed the Central government to rescue them from the area. The Philippines government has already started the evacuation process. Even though it does not have an embassy in Iraq, Nepal too struck an agreement and started evacuating their citizens, Rayalwar said.

What will we do with a mere alert he wondered, referring to a travel advisory issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, urging the citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Iraq. It also asked the Indians residing in Iraq to be alert. What do we do by being alert? It is very hard to keep track of others, he said.

Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas on

Despite the tense situation, the TGWEA is set to go ahead with their plans to celebrate the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas on Thursday, with the participation of around 500 people from the two Telugu States. Now, the event will serve as a platform to share their experiences and assess the situation

In touch with government

The TGWEA has shared its concerns with the State governments NRI Department. E Chitti Babu, NRI official in General Affairs Department, said that the Centre has to take a decision and the State govt may write a letter to the Centre on the issue
The government is readying a set of bold initiatives that will likely be announced in the Budget for 2020-21 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi devoting a considerable amount of time in personally overseeing the policy matrix aimed at engineering a quick turnaround in the Indian economy.

Top sources in the government said that over the last few days the Prime Minister has been brainstorming over a range of issues affecting the economy and thrash out appropriate policy interventions.

He has held as many as 12 meetings so far with groups of industrialists and experts. Each group has had between 10-12 people each and each meeting has been for three hours and more, in what probably is the most extensive ever consultations that Modi has held on matters related to the Union Budget and the economy in the past five years.

Sources said that these consultations have become more intense and focussed over the last six to seven days, with many of these meetings with ministries running into 10-11 hours  starting at 9 am and most days go on till 10 pmdemonstrating the governments intent to walk the talk on nurse the economy back into sound health.

Each ministry has been asked to prepare a five-year vision and the Prime Minister is personally reviewing each plan, going through detailed presentations, sources said.

Sources said that this is partly the reason he has not been visible much publicly in the last few days, preferring to keep his focus on the budget that could be a reset moment of sorts for the economy.

He has been working 12-13 hours at a stretch on these Council of Ministers meetings, from 9 am to 10 pm with barely a short break for lunch. This includes working full days on weekends, sources said.

The Prime Minister has been working with every ministry on a five year planwith the concerned minister and all secretaries in attendance.

This is the most involved he has been in all these years in the budget exercise.

The Prime Minister has met more than 120 people so far, and sources said that he has largely been in listening mode during these meetings. The picture released earlier this week with top industrialists was from one such meeting.

The PM has held many meetings with the industry and has listened to them for hours on end. You can expect a very balanced Budget with a slew of announcements.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget for 2020-21 on February 1 amid heightened expectations that she will announce a slew of steps for the economy that is estimated to grow at 5 percent in 2019-20, the slowest in 11 years.
(TNS)  Alabama economic development leaders rolled out a plan Tuesday to keep the state competitive in a new global manufacturing revolution.The manufacturing world is changing rapidly and we in Alabama, all of our workforce resources, have to answer the bell on that topic, Deputy Secretary of Commerce Ed Castile said in Decatur. For us to not only stay competitive, but to help our customers (Alabama industries) remain competitive in the world they work in.Castile and other state leaders came to the Alabama Robotics Technology Park near Decatur, where employees are trained now to work in modern production systems featuring robots and other advance technology. They unveiled RTP 2, a new plan to focus future training at the park on automation, robotics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, data analytics and 3D printing.Some new technologies  3D printing, for example  are as relevant to auto plants as aerospace plants, Castile said. The vehicles are going to have the technology in them, he said, and building them will have technology in the processes. He gave new advanced joining technologies as an example. Cars today  welds are certainly there  but many of them are being glued together, frankly, and some of the technology that surrounds that is phenomenal.The plan includes new equipment for the Robotics Technology Park, including laser welding tools, and training in such skill areas as producing Automated Guided Vehicles and combining technologies with materials.Responding to the challenge starts with making sure graduates of Alabama training programs understand basic manufacturing, the leaders said. New technologies and processes will keep coming, but workers first need a general foundation in how plants operate.State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) praised the states commitment. Too many times in state government, we start something and then allow it to drift, get stagnant, get stale, become less and less effective and the world around it changes, Orr said. We do not want that to happen here at the robotics park.Brooks Kracke, president and CEO of the North Alabama Industrial Development Association, said the robotics training center helps us immensely in recruiting new industry to the state.In 2020, there will be 2 million robot systems sold worldwide, Kracke said. Some of those will be handled here at the Robotics Technology Park.
Fight against terrorist organisations that seized Tripoli will continue until the end, vows military spokesman.

Eastern Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar late on Thursday rejected calls for a ceasefire by Turkey and Russia and announced a continuation of his military operations.

In a statement read by his spokesman Ahmad al-Mesmari, Haftar claimed a revival of the political process and the countrys stability could only be assured by the eradication of terrorist groups and the dissolution of the militia controlling the capital, Tripoli.

Haftars forces in April launched an offensive against the capital, seat of the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).

We welcome [Russian President Vladimir] Putins call for a ceasefire. However, our fight against terrorist organizations that seized Tripoli and received support of some countries will continue until the end, al-Mesmari said on a video posted to social media.

On Wednesday, the Turkish and Russian presidents urged a ceasefire in Libya by January 12 following a meeting in Istanbul. The UN-recognised GNA welcomed the ceasefire call.

According to the UN, more than 1,000 people have been killed since the start of Haftars military operation and at least 5,000 others wounded.

Since the deposing of late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: one in eastern Libya supported mainly by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates and the other in Tripoli, which enjoys the UN and international recognition.
(Bloomberg) -- Barry Dillers IAC/InterActive Corp. plans to sell CH Media, the parent of CollegeHumor and other digital brands, to the units chief creative officer, in a move that will cause most employees to lose their jobs.

Terms of the sale to longtime CH Media executive Sam Reich were not disclosed in a statement Wednesday. IAC will keep a minority stake in the business, according to a person familiar with the matter.

As part of the deal, the unit will restructure and lay off 100 employees in New York and Los Angeles, leaving the business with around five to 10 people, said the person, who asked to not be identified because the information is private.

IAC, our parent company, has made the difficult decision to no longer finance us, Reich said in a statement provided to fans and Bloomberg. While we were on the way to becoming profitable, we were nonetheless losing money -- and I myself have no money to be able to lose.

The once high-flying comedy brand, best known for its edgy sketches and satire, is the latest victim of a fast-changing digital media landscape. Sites that rely on video have struggled to get enough advertising revenue, and streaming services such as Netflix Inc. have pushed deeper into comedy in recent years.

Sam was the best choice to acquire CH Media and define its next chapter, IAC said in a statement. The decision places CH Media with an owner who is beloved by fans, passionate about the business and sees a future we believe in.

IAC has owned CollegeHumor since 2006, when it acquired a controlling stake in its parent company. Founded in 1999, CollegeHumor targets people aged 18 to 49 and has more than 15 million unique monthly visitors, according to its website. IAC acquired a controlling stake in its parent company in 2006.

IAC had been looking to sell the unit since October, Bloomberg previously reported.

CH Media owns Dropout, an ad-free streaming service for comedy videos featuring talent from CollegeHumor.

Story continues

IAC has been shifting its portfolio to focus on growth areas. It is pursuing a spinoff of one of its biggest moneymakers: Match Group Inc., which owns dating app Tinder. It agreed to buy caregiver marketplace Care.com last month for $500 million, including debt.

IAC owns more than 150 brands and products, including the video-sharing platform Vimeo and the Daily Beast news website. Diller, a billionaire media mogul, is IACs chairman.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ed Hammond in New York at ehammond12@bloomberg.net;Nabila Ahmed in New York at nahmed54@bloomberg.net;Liana Baker in New York at lbaker75@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Liana Baker at lbaker75@bloomberg.net, Matthew Monks, Nick Turner

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

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The Great Lakes have 35,000 islands. Of these, 30,000 are in Lake Huron. The majority are sprinkled in Canadas Georgian Bay. Perhaps the most famous island  not only in Huron, but in all of the Great Lakes  is Mackinac Island, the site of sacred grounds for Native Americans and a historically significant battleground from the War of 1812. Manitoulin Island is the largest freshwater island in the world and home to six First Nation tribes.
DECATUR  Community leaders and state lawmakers on Wednesday got a first look at the Decatur Transitional Housing Complex, a facility they said could help veterans, homeless people and those recently released from prison.

The facility at 2175 E. Pershing Road would house 50 people and offer programs to take place over a 90-day period, job training, culinary education and training, preparation for independent living, fitness, finance and money management classes and other programs meant to help them adjust to everyday life. It has not yet opened.

"As the state moves forward with a robust criminal justice reform plan, facilities like this are an absolute necessary piece of that plan," said state Sen. Andy Manar, a Bunker Hill Democrat who toured the site Wednesday.

The facility is awaiting a state license and will open after it is awarded, according to its owner, the Rev. Jessie R. Bates. More details about how to become a resident are expected at a later date.

Others present Wednesday included state Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur; Anthony Corey Walker, president of the Black Chamber of Commerce of Illinois; Macon County Sheriff Tony Brown; and Decatur Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe.

The Rev. Jessie R. Bates said he privately funds the housing complex and owns several other properties in Decatur. He asked the officials to take a tour in part so they could see the services he planned to offer, but also to ask for their help in gaining state funding.

Bates said the mission behind the transitional housing is to help those in need become productive members of society.

We felt the need to develop a facility that people could parole out to or come from organizations like the Illinois Department of Human Services, he said. We really felt there was a need for that in Decatur.

There are about 30 individual residential rooms with their own bathrooms and dorm rooms that can accommodate multiple people. Residents will have access to a full-service kitchen, dining and meeting center, fitness room, laundry room, common lounging areas and other spaces. Some living spaces are equipped with computers that have high-speed internet where residents will be taught how to write resumes and apply for jobs.

The building once operated as the Decatur Correctional Center and was a housing unit facility and work release center for Illinois Department of Corrections parolees. Jessie R. Bates Properties, LLC, purchased the property in March 2017.

"The building has passed all necessary inspections to operate," Bates said. "We are just waiting on approval from the Illinois Department of Human Services so that we can offer support for substance abuse."

Scherer said she plans to help the facility find resources. She and several others said it could be a key to lowering the rate of recidivism, when people released from prison commit offenses that send them back into custody.

"My next step is to make calls and send letters to help get the facility the support it needs," she said. "This facility is only one of two in the state and we need this to help break recidivism." Scherer said the other facility is located in Aurora, a suburb west of Chicago.

By the numbers 38,477 people were convicted of felonies in Illinois in 2016

33,074 were convicted of misdemeanors

11% of the 71,551 total convictions were of individuals with no prior arrests

96% of the people admitted to prison eventually return to the community

Over the past decade there has been a divestment from facilities like this, and I think that contributes to the cycle of recidivism, Manar said. Recidivism to the No. 1 cost driver. It costs Illinois taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Facilities like this are a critical piece to breaking recidivism.

The Illinois Sentencing Policy and Advisory Council in a 2018 study found that 43% of those released from prison each year reoffend within three years of release and 17% would do so within one year of release. The agency also found that the average cost associated with one recidivism event is $151,662. Illinois could lose over $13 billion over the next five years if the current rate of recidivism continues, it concluded.

Brown said the programs offered by facility staff would be particularly beneficial for those recently coming out of incarceration.

You have a whole industry that thrives on the failures of individuals, Brown said. I think we need to do better as far as trying to help individuals succeed.

Moore Wolfe also pledged that the city would offer help in any way it could.

"This could help cut recidivism down. It could help save lives," she said.

14 photos from the Herald & Review archives

Contact Analisa Trofimuk at (217) 421-7985. Follow her on Twitter: @AnalisaTro

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With sandwiches piled on a sideboard in the room, the group that advised the president there at different times throughout the day included a handful of seasoned national security officials, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, an Army veteran of nearly 40 years; Keith Kellogg, a retired Army lieutenant general who serves as national security adviser to Mr. Pence; and Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence.

It also included Mr. Pompeo, who has become a driving force in the Trump administrations Iran policy and an advocate of what he often calls restoring deterrence against Tehrans aggression in the Middle East. As a forceful proponent of the Jan. 3 strike that killed General Suleimani, Mr. Pompeo had played an instrumental role in bringing Mr. Trump to the crisis point.

But others around the long, rectangular table in the Situation Room had only modest foreign policy experience  including Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff and a former congressman from South Carolina, and Mr. OBrien, who was a Los Angeles lawyer before spending two and a half years as Mr. Trumps chief hostage negotiator and assumed the post of national security adviser in September.

Appearing on a video screen was Gina Haspel, the C.I.A. director, who was monitoring the crisis from the agencys headquarters in Northern Virginia. In the days before General Suleimanis death, Ms. Haspel had advised Mr. Trump that the threat the Iranian general presented was greater than the threat of Irans response if he was killed, according to current and former American officials. Indeed, Ms. Haspel had predicted the most likely response would be a missile strike from Iran to bases where American troops were deployed, the very situation that appeared to be playing out on Tuesday afternoon.

Though Ms. Haspel took no formal position about whether to kill General Suleimani, officials who listened to her analysis came away with the clear view that the C.I.A. believed that killing him would improve  not weaken  security in the Middle East.

But at that moment days after General Suleimanis death, the president and his aides were confronting a flurry of conflicting information. Around 4 p.m., reports came in that a training camp north of Baghdad might have been hit. Officials at the White House and the State Department waited anxiously for the Pentagon to provide damage reports about the camp, Taji air base, where American troops are stationed. It was a false alarm, though American officials said on Wednesday that they believed that several missiles fired in the barrage a day earlier were intended for the base.

As the reports about Taji came in, loudspeakers at the American Embassy in Baghdad announced that an attack could be imminent. As they had in the previous days, American and Iraqi personnel inside the compound raced toward bomb shelters.
By John Davison and Susan Heavey

BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington on Friday spurned an Iraqi request to prepare to pull out its troops, amid heightened U.S.-Iranian tensions after the U.S. killing of an Iranian commander in Baghdad, and said it was exploring a possible expansion of NATO's presence there.

Seeking to tighten pressure on its foe, the United States meanwhile imposed more sanctions on Iran, responding to an attack on U.S. troops in Iraq launched by Tehran in retaliation for the death of General Qassem Soleimani.

Iraq could bear the brunt of any further violence between its neighbor Iran and the United States, its leaders caught in a bind as Washington and Tehran are also the Iraqi government's main allies and vie for influence there.

President Donald Trump said Iran had probably planned to attack the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and was aiming to strike four U.S. embassies when Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike.

"We will tell you probably it was going to be the embassy in Baghdad," Trump said in a clip of an interview with Fox News. "I can reveal that I believe it would have been four embassies."

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi made his request for preparations for a U.S. troop withdrawal in a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday in line with a vote in Iraq's parliament last week, his office said.

Abdul Mahdi asked Pompeo to "send delegates to put in place the tools to carry out the parliament's decision," his office said in a statement, adding that the forces used in the killing had entered Iraq or used its airspace without permission.

The State Department said any U.S. delegation would not discuss the withdrawal of U.S. troops as their presence in Iraq was "appropriate."

"There does, however, need to be a conversation between the U.S. and Iraqi governments not just regarding security, but about our financial, economic, and diplomatic partnership," spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

Story continues

Trump said in the Fox News interview that if Iraq wanted the United States to leave, he would tell them: "You have to pay us for the money we put in."

He said the United States has $35 billion of Iraq's money "sitting in an account."

"I think they'll agree to pay. Otherwise we'll stay there," Trump said.

Pompeo told reporters a NATO delegation was in Washington on Friday to discuss the future of the Iraq mission and a plan to "get burden-sharing right in the region".

Separately, the State Department said Pompeo had discussed Iran with Canadian Foreign Minister FrancoisPhilippe Champagne as well as "the opportunity for an expanded NATO force in Iraq and appropriate burden sharing".

The latest flare-up in the long covert war between Iran and the United States began with the U.S. killing of Soleimani, Iran's top general, in a drone strike on Jan. 3. Iran responded on Wednesday by firing missiles at U.S. forces in Iraq.

In the aftermath, both sides backed off from intensifying the conflict but the region remains tense.

Iraq's top Shi'ite Muslim cleric condemned the U.S.-Iranian struggle happening on Iraqi soil, saying it risked plunging his country and the wider Middle East into deeper conflict.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said it was Iraqis who stood to suffer most from the U.S.-Iranian conflict. In a message delivered through a representative at Friday prayers in the holy city of Kerbala, Sistani said no foreign powers should be allowed to decide Iraq's fate.

CALLS TO LEAVE

"The latest dangerous aggressive acts, which are repeated violations of Iraqi sovereignty, are a part of the deteriorating situation" in the region, Sistani said. "Iraq must govern itself and there must be no role for outsiders in its decision-making."

Iraq has suffered decades of war, sanctions and sectarian conflict, including the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.

At Friday prayers in Tehran, mid-ranking Iranian cleric Mohammad Javad Haj Aliakbari said U.S. interests across the world were now exposed to threats.

Since Soleimani's killing, Tehran has stepped up its calls for U.S. forces to leave Iraq, which like Iran is a mainly Shi'ite Muslim nation. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said the retaliatory strikes were not enough and that ending the U.S. military presence in the region was Tehran's main goal.

Critics have called Soleimani's killing a reckless action.

But Pompeo said on Friday Washington had specific information about an imminent Iranian threat including to U.S. embassies, adding: "American lives were at risk."

As part of his most recent activities in Iraq, Soleimani had encouraged pro-Iranian Iraqi militias to quash months of protests by Iraqis opposed to the influence in their country of foreign powers such as Iran and the United States.

In Iraqi cities, demonstrators took to the streets again on Friday, determined to keep up the momentum of their protests despite attention turning to the threat of a U.S.-Iran conflict.

Gunmen killed two local journalists covering protests in the southern city of Basra, security sources and state media said. Ahmed Abdulsamad, Basra correspondent of Dijla TV station  owned by senior Sunni politician Mohammed al-Karbouli  was killed immediately while his camera operator succumbed to his wounds in hospital, a medical source told Reuters.

"Politicians and clerics...are either with Iran, the U.S. or other countries. Our allegiance is to Iraq only, not to factions and politicians," said Essam Faraj, 54, a demonstrator in Baghdad.

(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein, John Davison, Ahmed Rasheed and Aziz El Yaakoubi in Baghdad, Babak Dehghanpisheh and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai and Susan Heavey, Nandita Bose and Doina Chiacu, Makini Brice and Eric Beech in Washington; Writing by Edmund Blair and William Maclean; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Alistair Bell and Jacqueline Wong)
BARCELONA, Spain and SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Almirall, S.A. (ALM), a leading global pharmaceutical company focused on medical dermatology, and 23andMe, the leading consumer genetics and research company, have signed an agreement allowing Almirall to in-license 23andMe's bispecific monoclonal antibody designed to block all three members of the IL-36 cytokine subfamily. IL-36 is a part of the IL-1 cytokine family, which is associated with multiple inflammatory diseases, including various dermatological conditions. Almirall will secure the rights to develop and commercialize the antibody for worldwide use. This agreement will strengthen Almirall's early-stage research portfolio.

23andMe's Therapeutics team was established in 2015 with the goal of leveraging human genetic information to improve the way drug discovery is currently conducted. With more than 10 million kits sold, and 80% of customers consenting to research, 23andMe has the world's largest set of genotypic information paired with billions of phenotypic data points contributed by engaged customers. 23andMe's dedicated Therapeutics group identifies novel targets using the 23andMe database, generates lead compounds to these targets and performs preclinical research to support future clinical development. Currently, 23andMe has a portfolio of research programs across multiple disease areas.

Based upon strong genetic evidence, 23andMe's team generated a bispecific antibody that blocks the IL-36 cytokine family. 23andMe has out-licensed its bispecific monoclonal antibody to Almirall in order to leverage Almirall's expertise in medical dermatology and accelerate the development of this preclinical program. Almirall will further progress the antibody with the goal of taking it through clinical trials in humans and onto the market.

Bhushan Hardas, MD, MBA, Chief Scientific Officer Almirall, says, "The partnership with 23andMe, a leader in genetics and biotechnology, gives us a unique opportunity to address the unmet medical needs in Immuno-dermatology."

Kenneth Hillan, M.B., Ch.B., Head of Therapeutics at 23andMe stated, "Working with Almirall, we're pleased to be furthering 23andMe's mission of helping people benefit from genetic insights. As a leader in medical dermatology, we felt Almirall was the best company to take this program forward and ultimately develop an effective therapy for patients."

About Almirall

Almirall is a leading skin-health focused global pharmaceutical company that partners with healthcare professionals, applying science to provide medical solutions to patients and future generations. Our efforts are focused on fighting skin health diseases and helping people feel better. We support healthcare professionals in their continuous improvements, providing our innovative solutions where they are needed.

The company was founded almost 75 years ago and has its headquarters in Barcelona. It is listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange (ticker: ALM). Almirall has become a key source of value creation for society thanks to its commitment to its principal shareholders and its decision to help others by understanding their challenges and using science to provide solutions for real life. Total revenues in 2018 were 811 million euros. Almirall has more than 1,800 employees dedicated to research.

For more information see www.almirall.es.

About 23andMe

23andMe, Inc. is the leading consumer genetics and research company. Founded in 2006, the mission of the company is to help people access, understand and benefit from the human genome. The company was named by TIME as a "Genius Company" in 2018, and featured as Fast Company's #2 Most Innovative Health Company in 2018. 23andMe has millions of customers worldwide, with more than 80 percent of customers consented to participate in research. 23andMe, Inc. is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. More information is available at www.23andMe.com.

Media contact:

LLYC

Carmen de la Llave

[email protected]

Phone: (+34) 93 217 22 17

23andMe Press contact:

[email protected]

Corporate Communications contact:

Almirall

Noel Ortiz

[email protected]

Phone: (+34) 93 291 30 00

Investors Relations contact:

Almirall

Pablo Divasson del Fraile

[email protected]

Phone: (+34) 93 291 3087

Disclaimer

This document includes only summary information and does not intend to be comprehensive. Facts, figures and opinions contained herein, other than historical, are "forward-looking statements". These statements are based on currently available information and on best estimates and assumptions believed to be reasonable by the Company. These statements involve risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control. Therefore, actual results may differ materially from those stated by such forward-looking statements. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to review or update any forward-looking statements, targets or estimates contained in this document to reflect any change in the assumptions, events or circumstances on which such forward-looking statements are based unless so required by applicable law.

SOURCE Almirall

Related Links

http://www.almirall.com


VANCOUVER, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Oroco Resource Corp. (TSX-V: OCO) ("Oroco" or "the Company") is very pleased to announce the registration, in the Mexican Public Registry of Mining, of the transfer of all seven core concessions of the Santo Tomas copper porphyry project to Xochipala Gold, S.A. de C.V. ("XG"). XG is now the registered holder of a 100% interest in each of the seven concessions. XG is a subsidiary of Altamura Copper Corp. ("Altamura"), a B.C. company whose shares are subject to an irrevocable share purchase option held by Oroco.

Mr. Craig Dalziel, President of Oroco, stated, "This registration completes an arduous and complicated 10 year private and public acquisition process that will deliver tremendous value to the shareholders of Oroco. The Company is now in position to undertake the second major phase of its corporate development plans with the immediate acceleration of its exploration activities at Santo Tomas and its ultimate objective of positioning the project as a world-class acquisition target."

ABOUT OROCO:

The Company holds an irrevocable option to acquire, via the ownership of Altamura Copper Corp., a net 56.7% interest in the collective 1,172.9 ha seven core concessions of the Santo Tomas Project in NW Mexico, and may increase that majority interest up to a net 81.0% interest with project investment of up to CAD$30 million. The exercise of the Altamura share purchase option by Oroco is subject to TSX-V approval. The Company also holds a 77.5% interest in 7,807.9 ha of mineral concessions surrounding and adjacent to the core concessions (a total project size of 22,192 acres). The Project is situated within the Santo Tomas District, which extends from Santo Tomas to the Jinchuan Group's Bahuerachi project, approximately 14 km to the north-east. Santo Tomas hosts a significant copper porphyry deposit defined by prior exploration spanning the period from 1968 to 1994. During that time, the property was tested by over 100 diamond drill and reverse circulation drill holes, totaling approximately 30,000 meters. Based on data generated by these drill programs, a resource estimate for the project was calculated by Mintec, Inc., and metallurgical test work was conducted by Mountain States Research and Development, Inc. In 1994, a Prefeasibility Study was completed by Bateman Engineering Inc.

The Santo Tomas Project is located within 160km of the Pacific deep-water port at Topolobampo, Mexico, and is serviced via highway and proximal rail (and parallel corridors of trunk grid power lines and natural gas) from Topolobampo through the city of Los Mochis to the northern city of Choix. The Santo Tomas property is reached from Choix by way of a 32 km access road originally built to service the El Sauzal Mine of Goldcorp in Chihuahua State. The reader is directed to the Company's recent August, 2019 Technical Report filed on SEDAR.

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.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Information

This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included herein, including without limitation, statements relating to future events or achievements of the Company, are forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated or implied in such statements. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release concerning these matters. Oroco does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements should they change, except as required by law. Readers are also cautioned that this news release includes reference to certain historical reports and studies that are cited in the Report.

SOURCE Oroco Resource Corp.

Related Links

www.orocoresourcecorp.com


Twenty people were wounded on Thursday in northern Mali, including 18 UN peacekeepers, in a rocket attack on a military base for UN, French and Malian forces, a UN spokesman said.

Six peacekeepers were seriously wounded in the attack on the base in the town of Tessalit in the Kidal region, spokesman Olivier Salgado told Reuters.
Hitting out at Shashi Tharoor for his 'students' dissent gives me hope' remark, BJP leader GVL Narasimha Rao on Thursday said that the Congress leader should be ashamed for supporting violence at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

"People like Tharoor should be ashamed for supporting damage to public property in the form of anti-citizenship law protest and JNU violence. If parliamentarians do not speak in the public interest then they are seen as a part of tukde-tukde gang," Rao told ANI.

The BJP leader's response comes a day after Tharoor spoke about the anti-CAA protests and violence at JNU at an event where he said that "students' dissent gives me hope".

"The statement of Tharoor is indeed very curious. From where is he drawing hope from? Is he drawing inspiration from slogans of Break India? Is he getting inspiration from the kind of violence that has been carried out in the form of CAA protest? Is he getting inspired by setting buses and public property ablaze?" Rao asked.

He alleged that those, who "want to divide and break India", have taken shelter in the JNU campus.

"The kind of forces which "Divide India, Break India" have taken route in the campuses like JNU. The tukde-tukde gang draw their support and sustenance from parties like Congress and the Communists," he said.

Rao attacked Congress leader Digvijaya Singh for saying that those criticising actor Deepika Padukone over her visit to JNU campus during the protest against violence, are "anti-democratic in nature".

"Digvijay should blame Rahul Gandhi for standing with tukde-tukde gang. It is the communists and their 'goondas' (goons) who are unleashing violence in colleges' campuses only to fulfill their political agenda and to create anarchy," he said.

"The urban Naxals have actually spread into colleges' campuses. The Congress and communists are backing them," the BJP leader added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Annie: My husband and I are in our mid-60s and have been married for 45 years. We had our children early in our marriage and made many sacrifices to make sure our daughter and son had all the benefits of a well-rounded childhood. Because this took up most of our discretionary income, rarely did my husband and I eat out, and we took very inexpensive vacations, if we went anywhere. During our early marriage, we pursued higher education and worked our way into well-paying jobs.

About 25 years ago, we received the first of what's ended up being numerous inheritances. We have continued to be generous to our children, who are now in their late 30s. We paid for their college and gave them a substantial amount of money for down payments on their first homes. We have four grandchildren and have invested enough money in our state's college savings plan that they will have very little, if any, college debt.

When my father died eight years ago, we gave each of our children a Christmas present that was enough to pay off their mortgages. That may have been a mistake. I feel that every Christmas since has been a disappointment. We're very practical, so we give checks. The checks seem insignificant in comparison to the "big one," and I'm sure our gifts are a huge disappointment. The biggest problem of all is that my husband and I feel guilty spending money on traveling, a hobby we love. I suspect that my daughter, in particular, feels that I'm wasting her money.

How much do parents owe adult children? What about our grandchildren? Their parents arent saving money, and I dont see much chance that theyre going to get the kind of benefits that our children have received. Should we cut back on our spending so we can give them down payments for homes when they get to that stage in their lives? -- To Give or Not to Give

Dear TGONTG: Please, step away from the checkbook. Your adult children dont need another cent. What they do need, sorely, is some sense. To continue giving them cash is to rob them of valuable experience and life lessons.

You've already given your grandchildren immense advantages, as well. If and when the time comes that they want to buy houses, they can work hard (using those great college educations for which you paid) and set aside the money for a down payment, just like millions of other Americans.

Enjoy your retirement. Take as many trips you want, and don't take any guilt-tripping from your kids. If you get the itch to be generous with your wallet, donate to folks who need it. Charity Navigator (https://www.charitynavigator.org/) is a great resource.

Dear Annie: Frequently, I read letters in your column from older people complaining that their children, grandchildren and others do not acknowledge gifts or send thank-you notes. I have another take on this. If someone doesnt thank another for a favor done or a gift given, maybe it is because he or she doesnt feel the emotion of gratitude. How sad. It is a wonderful feeling to know that you are important enough to another person for them to give you a gift or a special service. If they dont feel this, they are the ones who are the poorer for it. I have come to realize that the inability to feel gratitude is terribly impoverishing. Maybe gratitude is the modern secular equivalent of the Christian idea of grace. The gift-giver loves me despite my faults, just as Christians believe that God loves and forgives them despite their faults. -- Secular Grace

Dear Secular Grace: In response to your lovely letter, a quote: I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. -- G.K. Chesterton

(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.)

COPYRIGHT 2020 CREATORS.COM
By Sam Richards

Bay City News

CONCORD (BCN)

The master developer and the labor consortium poised to build a new 2,300-acre residential and commercial community on the former Concord Naval Weapons Station land were directed by the Concord City Council Wednesday night to resume meeting and redouble their efforts to break an impasse over labor agreements stalling the project.

This move headed off, at least for a while, the possibility of the huge project suffering a major time setback - or perhaps canceling it altogether.

Wednesday night's vote 4

1 vote - Councilwoman Carlyn Obringer abstained - came in response to an impasse between the Contra Costa County Building and Construction Trades Council, a consortium of area labor unions, and Lennar Concord, LLC, the lead developer of the weapons station remake, formally known as the Concord Community Reuse Project.

The crux of the impasse is whether Lennar can afford to use as many labor union workers as county labor leaders propose. Lennar officials have said that the difference between Lennar's overall labor offer and the Building Trades Council's overall request is about $546 million.

Since June 2018, the developer and the union consortium have met nine times, and reached an impasse in October.

Councilman Edi Birsan offered a motion Wednesday that directed Lennar and the Building Trades County to "refocus" back at the bargaining table and arrive at an agreement they both support. Recommended goals include 40 percent of labor hires being from Concord; an approved apprenticeship program; priority for veterans in hiring and training; and paying at least a "prevailing wage" to hired labor.

These were all recommendations only, as such changes to the long-established "term sheet" of listed requirements of the developer needed to be on the council meeting agenda for changes to be made.

Kofi Bonner, co-COO of FivePoint-Lennar and of the reuse project, told the council he was confused over the new recommendations, and wasn't sure they present a significant way around the impasse. But beyond that, officials from both Lennar and the Building Trades Council on-hand agreed to meet soon, at a date to be determined.

The reuse plan for the 5,000-acre weapons station site - one of the biggest such projects in Northern California - calls for building 13,000 residences, commercial and office space, a college campus and other amenities on 2,300 acres. Most of the development would be near the North Concord-Martinez BART station, just south of state Highway 4 on Concord's northeast edge.

The City Council was choosing Wednesday from among three basic paths forward. The council could have deemed Lennar's efforts to secure labor agreements insufficient; in that event, Lennar faced relinquishing its role as master developer for Phase 1 of the reuse project. The council could have deemed Lennar's labor agreement sufficient, allowing the project could move forward with Lennar at the helm.

The council chose a version of the third option, to postpone a decision and have the developer and labor leaders keep working to find common ground.

Lennar is charged by the city with securing those project labor agreements.

Wednesday night's session was actually a continuation of a meeting that started Tuesday night and continued for 6-1/2 hours of staff reports, discussion with Lennar and Building Trades Council officials and public testimony from more than 80 speakers. The council had, by a 3-2 vote, adjourned just before 1 a.m. Wednesday.

Tuesday night, hundreds of area union members and their supporters crowded not only the council chambers and an overflow room and the courtyard at City Hall. Soon before adjourning their meeting early Wednesday morning, Concord council members said they wish they had had a bigger venue for the meeting, and that it was too late to reserve a bigger space for Wednesday night's continued meeting.

Bonner said Tuesday that his company would walk away from the Naval Weapons Station reuse project if it isn't satisfied with labor agreements. While Bonner and others acknowledged Lennar used all union labor at its recent project at Hunters Point in San Francisco, several people Tuesday night also said San Francisco's housing market makes the extra cost of union labor to developers less affordable in Contra Costa County.

The U.S. Navy is awaiting a resolution of the Concord project labor agreement issue, and progress on a draft specific plan on the former weapons station land, to resume negotiations with the city of Concord for formal sale and transfer of the land to the city.

The northernmost part of the old weapons station, north of Highway 4, continues in operation as the Military Ocean Terminal Concord.

Copyright  2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
The world's largest brewer, AB InBev, has signed a deal with renewable energy developer BayWa r.e that will see the drinks giant purchase 100% renewable electricity for its brewing operations in Europe.

Under the 10-year virtual power purchase agreement, announced on Thursday, the brewer will be supplied with power from two solar facilities that have a "combined power output" of nearly 200 megawatts (MW). Breaking the deal down, AB InBev will get more than 130 MW of these sites' output.

The agreement will cover 14 breweries: five in Belgium, four in Germany, two in the Netherlands, two in the Canary Islands, and one in Luxembourg. The U.K. and Russia have previously signed agreements for renewable electricity.

Under the new deal, BayWa r.e. is to both fund and develop the two solar plants in Spain. One of these schemes will be dubbed the "Budweiser Solar Farm," with the new sites set to be up and running by March 2022.

AB InBev said the solar plants would provide its breweries with 250 gigawatt hours of renewable electricity annually. Over the course of the power purchase agreement, this equates to enough electricity to power nearly 670,000 homes in Europe, according to the company.

AB InBev is one of many major firms attempting to power its operations with renewable sources.

Last October, Amazon announced three renewable energy projects, including its first in Scotland. The tech giant said the facilities would provide energy to its Amazon Web Services data centers.

In March 2019, Microsoft signed a 15-year power purchase agreement for the energy produced by a 74-megawatt solar power facility in North Carolina.
The former Earth Animal Sanctuary board member said she grew concerned when she learned months later about a fire that killed dozens of animals - a blaze that officials say was started by arson.

Then Melissa Pena visited the Illinois property that was once home to hundreds of rescued creatures, finding strangely empty pastures inhabited by just a couple of feral cats - and a ditch with bags containing hundreds of animal remains, some decomposing and others just bones. An hour into tearing through plastic, she said, she couldn't take it anymore.

"I know that I have never thrown any of the animals I have ever loved in a ditch like they were trash," Pena wrote on Facebook in June over a picture of skulls strewn on the grass.

The discovery provoked a revolt against Earth Animal Sanctuary's founder this past summer, as advocates who once worked alongside Corinne DiLorenzo launched a petition calling for her arrest and turned the rescue site's Facebook page into a campaign demanding answers for the deaths. They estimate 700 animals are still missing.

Now DiLorenzo faces a felony charge of aggravated animal cruelty that carries up to three years in prison. Prosecutors say she "intentionally caused the death" of "companion" critters including dogs, turtles and raccoons.

The Washington Post was unable to reach DiLorenzo, who has yet to enter a plea, and court records do not name an attorney. She told the Ford County Record last year that the allegations of cruelty were slanderous.

Her sanctuary in the tiny village of Thawville was founded in 2014 and took in all sorts of animals from shelters, Pena said. Some were strays, while others were unwanted. Many were probably abused before they arrived.

"They came to the sanctuary with the promise that they could live there for their entire natural lives and be cared for," Pena told The Post, "but in the end that's not what they got."

DiLorenzo built a reputation as a dedicated advocate and vegan, say the former board members and activists now organizing against her. A 2015 video of her singing to a blind piglet to comfort him in the hospital garnered almost 24 million views. DiLorenzo said she visited the piglet every day to "reassure him that he is loved."

So Pena was shocked, she said, to see one of the freshest bodies in the ditch at Earth Animal Sanctuary - a pig that DiLorenzo called her "heart animal."

The horror deepened, Pena and other advocates say, as their analysis of the remains revealed many of the animals to be young. Goats often live a decade or longer. But the vast majority in the ditch appear to have been less than 2 years old, Pena said.

The charge filed against DiLorenzo in November and just recently publicized is based on months of investigation that began last January, prosecutors said.

That's when authorities got a call about "deplorable conditions" at DiLorenzo's home in Thawville, according to a sheriff's report. Investigators arrived to find a door falling off its hinges and wood floors strewn with animal feces, hair and "unknown other excrements." Rabbit droppings covered an upstairs bedroom. Feces also filled the dirty cages of dogs, cats, mice, birds and a chinchilla.

DiLorenzo told investigators that the two pigs outside were fed daily, but officials found them "thin" and noted that one drank quickly when the ice on its water bowl was broken.

Alarmed by the house's condition and bare electrical wiring, they told DiLorenzo she could not stay, and she responded that she would leave that night, the sheriff's report says. She also said she would give some of her animals away - a few to a sanctuary out of state, a few to a no-kill shelter, the report says.

Then the investigators noticed a carcass under a tarp, the report states. It was a third pig, reportedly four weeks dead, that DiLorenzo said she'd been unable to bury in frozen ground.

"It was clear that other animals had been feeding on the carcass," the sheriff's report states.

Concerns about DiLorenzo's treatment of her animals mounted last summer with discoveries on the site by Pena and others. Activists have also wondered whether DiLorenzo could be culpable in a 2018 fire at the sanctuary that destroyed two buildings and left pigs, ducks, geese and chickens dead. But no one has been arrested in the apparent arson and DiLorenzo's animal cruelty charge is not based on that incident, said Iroquois County State's Attorney James Devine.

The accusations against DiLorenzo have outraged the animal rescue community that once "put their full trust and support" in her, a petition now signed by nearly 10,000 people says. Her mug shot now adorns Earth Animal Sanctuary's cover photo on Facebook, where an event page invites people to show up to her first court date on Jan. 23.

DiLorenzo was released after posting her $10,000 bond, according to county records.

Her critics are planning a vigil after the court appearance for the dead and missing animals. Jodie Wiederkehr, executive director of the Chicago Alliance for Animals, told the Ford County Record that she wants jail time imposed.

"She should get the book thrown at her," she said.
By Brian Niemietz | New York Daily News

Iran so far away  but thats no excuse.

Despite the U.S being on the brink or war with Iran, fewer than a quarter of American voters can find the 81-million person nation on a world map.

According to a poll by Morning Consult/Politico, that number leaps only slightly when voters were asked to find Iran on a map showing just the Middle East.

Only 23% of the 1,995 registered voters surveyed properly placed the Islamic republic between Iraq and Afghanistan. That number jumped to 28% when the studys participants were given a map focusing specifically on the part of the world where Iran is located.

Nevertheless, more participants in the study support the controversial air strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad last week than oppose it.

According to the Morning Consult/Politico study, 47% of registered voters were for the targeted killing and 40% were against it. The strike was backed by 85% of Republicans polled and 70% of Democrats.

Iran responded to Soleimanis killing by firing a dozen missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq Tuesday. The Morning Consult/Politico study was concluded prior to that offensive. There were no reported casualties.

Men correctly identified Irans borders at twice the rate of women, the research found. Just under half of total respondents reported hearing a lot about the killing of Soleimani.

Support from President Donald Trump has not been impacted by the U.S.s Jan. 3 strike, according to a separate Morning Consult finding.
In a bid to achieve its carbon neutrality goal as soon as possible, Bosch, in partnership with NEFIN, the bespoke solar developer, announced the completion of its first solar photovoltaic project at its Nanjing plant of Bosch Automotive Aftermarket (China) Co., Ltd. Government representatives including Mr. Tao Lei, Deputy Director of the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, Mr. Liu Hongwen, Member of the Nanjing Bureau of Commerce Party Committee and Deputy Director General of the Nanjing Investment Promotion Bureau, Mr. Shen Yinlong, Deputy Director of Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone, Mr. Tao Xiaojun, General Manager of State Grid Nanjing Power Supply Company, also management of Bosch Group including Dr. Frank Scheidemantel, Regional President APAC of Bosch Global Business Services and Member of the Board of Bosch China, other VIP guests and media participated in the event that took place on 8 January 2020.

The Nanjing project is, by-far, the largest solar project by Bosch globally. The project is divided into two phases. With completion of the first phase, 17,422 solar modules, would be installed on available carparks and ground surface, approximately the size of 100,000 square meters in total. The first phase is expertly engineered to produce an estimated 7,700,000 kWh clean solar energy per annum and reduce carbon emission by 8,000 tones. Leveraging on the robust mounting structure, the ground mounted solar panels can easily be redeployed to the rooftops of buildings in Bosch in the future. With construction started by 1st August 2019, the first phase was completed within five months, which is exceptionally short compared to industry standard. With the full system up and running, it will be able to generate an installed capacity of over 10,680,000 kWh, worth over a million-dollar saving for the company.

Climate change has created much challenges for the world in recent years. In view of this, all nations are aggressively seeking ways to embrace cleaner and greener sustainable solutions for the long run. China has also launched a series of carbon neutrality measures to combat with the challenges. According to Mr. Frank Meyer, Senior Vice President (AA/MFG-AP) and PM of Bosch Automotive Aftermarket (China) Co., Ltd. Nanjing Plant, "Bosch aims to be carbon-neutral by 2020. It will be the one of the first batch of multinational companies to achieve this ambitious goal. This Nanjing solar photovoltaic project is one of the most important steps taken towards this goal." This Nanjing solar project, in collaboration with NEFIN, will be a showcase for other Bosch plants around the world. NEFIN is a world-renowned solar energy developer with bespoke experience in solar system deployment. NEFIN has developed over 180MW solar projects worldwide. This collaboration showcased best practices in the united effort towards carbon neutrality. At the same time, it helps Bosch save huge energy costs in the future and helps cultivate towards the vision of embracing more green energy on a global scale.

"It is our largest C&I solar project in China. With this first successful collaboration between NEFIN and Bosch, I believe this paves the way forward towards carbon neutrality in China and opens doors to opportunities globally." said Mr. Glenn Lim, CEO of NEFIN.

In the near future, Bosch will further explore possibility to adopt solar energy around plants in Asia and worldwide. As partner of Bosch in this matter, NEFIN will continue to contribute its expertise and professional solutions along the way. The Bosch Nanjing solar panel system is already contributing power to the plant.

About NEFIN Group

Founded by core management team of DuPont Solar Business, legal expert and investment bankers, NEFIN has collectively delivered over 180MW of utility-scale, commercial and industrial rooftop solar systems all over the world. The group's total solutions not only offer comprehensive portfolio of high-performance products, feasibility study, system design, engineering and asset management, but also provide flexible financing solutions to partners who opt for ZERO investment. Please refer to NEFIN's website www.nefinco.com for more information.

About Bosch Group

Bosch Group is a global supplier of automotive technology and services. In 1902, Bosch designed and manufactured the world's first spark plug, a major milestone at its automotive development history. Bosch Automotive Aftermarket (China) Co., Ltd. (AACN) is a wholly owned company by Bosch Group. The company was previously known as Nanjing Huade Spark Plug Co., Ltd (NHSP), a joint venture by Bosch Group and Nanjing Electric in 2 April 1996. Bosch Group obtained full ownership of the company by February 2010. Since then AACN has become a solely owned subsidiary of Bosch Group. Share capital was further expanded by March 2011. New plant was built in East Zone of Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone and reopened on 20 March 2013, occupying about 31 Million square feet. The company develops and produces spark plugs, brake components and diagnostic equipment. It is the Bosch's largest spark plugs manufacturing base, with advanced R&D hub and testing facility for both the independent aftermarket and original equipment services.

About the Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone

After 27 years of robust development, the Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone has become an important state-developed area within the eastern Yangtse Delta region. It is also key zone for industrial development, technological innovations and opening to the outside world for Nanjing as a whole. Working alongside the "4+4+1" industrial development roadmap for Nanjing city in recent years, the Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone has vigorously developed into industrial landmarks for the three key traditional industries of top-notch display, high-end equipment and biomedical industries. At the same time, it has further developed into new areas of new-energy automobiles, artificial intelligence and other new industries, especially into electro-optical industry, with an aim to become the province's No. 1, China's top 3 and one of the world-renowned industry landmarks. With the recent establishments by flagship enterprises including LG New Energy Motor Batteries, Byton Motors and NIO Motors, new energy brands are gaining more attention and will soon form a unique landmark of its own inside the Development Zone. While promoting economic growth, the Development Zone also aggressively explores possible green development models, scientific formulas and solutions, resources centralization and waste recycle or segmentation management. All these efforts have resulted in continual advancement in operational quality, energy conservation and carbon reduction. The Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone has received many recognitions in these years, including but not limited to, being the State Sustainable Economy Pilot Zone ( ), the State Industrial Ecosystem Demo Zone ( ) and the Best Showcase of State Economic and Technological Development Zone in Green Development ( ).
Madhya Pradesh continued to hold on to the dubious distinction of having the highest number of rape cases registered in the country for the third consecutive year in 2018.

As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report released on Wednesday, the state accounted for a little over 16 per cent of the country's total 33,356 rape cases registered in 2018.

According to the report, as many as 5,433 rape cases, including 54 involving victims below six years of age, were reported in Madhya Pradesh in 2018.

In 2016 and 2017 also, the state had topped the chart in terms of the number of rape cases.

But the number of rape cases registered in 2018 is smaller as compared to 2017, when 5,562 cases were reported in the state, the report by the NCRB, a government agency responsible for collecting and analysing crime data, has revealed.

However, the number of rape cases in the state has gone up in 2018 as compared to 2016, when 4,882 cases were reported, it said.

Besides, 2,841 cases of rape involving victims below 18 years of age were reported in 2018 in the state. Of these, in 54 cases, the victims were below six years of age, while 142 victims were in the age group of 6 to 12 years.

The data also said that in 1,143 cases in the state in 2018, the victims were in the age group of 12 to 16, while in 1,502 cases they were between 16 and 18 years of age.

In 2016, in 2,479 rape cases the victims below 18 years of age in Madhya Pradesh. They included 39 girls below six years of age.

As many as 3,082 cases of rape with girls below 18 years, including 50 below six years of age were reported in 2017.

In 2018, Madhya Pradesh was followed by Rajasthan (4,335), Uttar Pradesh (3,946), Maharashtra (2,142) and Chhattisgarh (2,091) in the number of rape cases registered, the report said.

As per the data provided by the Madhya Pradesh Prosecution Department, the courts in the state had awarded capital punishment to the convicts in 18 cases of rapes against minors in 2018.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A former Midland ISD teacher was found not guilty on two counts of child abandonment Thursday afternoon in the 142nd District Court at the Midland County Courthouse  15 months after her own employer, MISD, pressed charges on her.

Megan McMurry said she has an active grievance against the school district and now plans to file suit for a civil case against it.

In October 2018, McMurry flew to Kuwait for five days to talk to a school about a job opportunity. Her husband, who is a soldier, was previously stationed there but had just been moved to Syria.

During her trip, she left her two children -- a 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son -- to be cared for by her friends, who lived in the same apartment complex, though the children and caregivers agreed they would stay at their own apartment each night. Her daughter had just begun homeschooling and would remain there during the day, as well.

McMurry said the MISD police department went to the residence and took the daughter to Abell Junior High, which was McMurrys place of work, for questioning. She said her daughter was denied the right to speak to her parents, for four hours, while she was being interrogated by the MISD police department.

They took her from her own home, put her in a cop car and treated her like a criminal, McMurry said. Then, they paraded her through the front of the school, where I was employed, and where she wasnt even a student.

She said her daughter has attended counseling ever since, because of the stress this experience has caused her.

Child Protective Services also met with the daughter at the junior high that day and released her to the neighbors, McMurry said. MISDs police department continued to press criminal charges on McMurry, and in December 2018, McMurry turned herself in to the county jail, because there was a warrant out for her arrest. She said she spent 19 hours in the jail.

She and her lawyers said CPS determined in its investigation that there was no probable cause to determine she is guilty of child abandonment.

McMurry was an employee of MISD at the time but was placed on administrative leave pending investigation. She said she had resigned prior to the investigation, because she was considering the position in Kuwait, but the human resources department allowed her to continue her employment until she decided that she was going to take the job.

The jury unanimously approved on both counts that McMurry was not guilty of child abandonment. McMurry thanked the jury.

I get to have my life back now, she said with tears in her eyes.
Deepika Padukone visits JNU campus as students protest against violence by masked miscreants which had left many injured. (Image: ANI)

Superstar Deepika Padukone's film, Chhapaak, has been declared tax-free in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, news agency ANI has reported.

This assumes significance in the background of the actor visiting the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on January 7 and showing solidarity with students protesting against the violence on university campus on January 5.

Padukone was seen sharing the stage with JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, who was seriously injured in the violence, as well as former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, who was seen raising slogans in a video that went viral. According to news agency PTI, she left without addressing the crowd.

Soon after her visit, calls to boycott her film were made on social media site Twitter and "#Boycott Chhapaak" started trending. Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Singh Bagga had called for a boycott of the actor but several others had supported and lauded the actor for standing up for the students.

Both Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are Congress-ruled states.

The film deals with an acid attack survivor, and a furore was also created over the name of the attacker in the film being changed.
Lois Estes Paulson of Illinois turned 105 in September and still lives an active life, even successfully renewing her driver's license.

MONMOUTH, Ill.  When Lois Estes Paulson turned 90 years old in 2004, her daughter Betty Goff threw her a party.

I was sure glad she did that, because I wasnt sure I would be here at 100, Paulson said.

But in 2014, when she turned 100, there was another celebration.

This has got to be it, Paulson remembers thinking at the time. But here I am.

Paulson turned 105 in September and still lives in her own home with plenty of help from neighbors, church friends and Goff, who lives in Cambridge and visits often.

Im being well taken care of, Paulson said.

She successfully renewed her drivers license in the fall, making her the fourth-oldest licensed driver in Illinois, according to the secretary of states office. Drivers over the age of 87 must take vision and driving exams every year to keep their license, and Paulson passed easily this year.

She first learned to drive on a farm and drove area kids to their schoolhouse in her early teen years, before she ever needed a license to do so.

Though she hasnt been driving in recent months due to some medical issues, she keeps active with church activities and her quilting group, and still has the good vision and dexterity to complete detailed cross-stitch pieces in her spare time.

Sometimes she will ask people how old they think she is, and the response is usually 75 or 80 years old.

That makes me feel pretty good, Paulson said.

From her early years on the farm to raising a family and starting a career in her 40s, Paulson has always been on the go.

I made up my mind I wasnt going to sit around, Paulson said. Ive fought all my life to go and do things.

Paulson was born in Fairfield, Iowa, in 1914. Her mother died when Paulson was 3, and she and her older sister, Ruth, went to live with an aunt and uncle who farmed in Smithshire.

She graduated from Kirkwood High School in 1933 and married Ernest Estes in 1936 at Ponema. They raised two daughters and farmed in rural Warren County until moving to Monmouth in the 1960s.

Story continues

They bought a home in Monmouth for $10,000 in 1962, and nearly 58 years later, Paulson still lives there.

Like many women of Paulsons generation, career options were limited. She dreamed of being a nurse  calling it her hearts desire  but she was always needed on the farm. When her eldest daughter graduated from high school and wanted to go to college, Paulson started looking for a job to help pay for it. She was around 40 years old at the time.

I had never worked a job in public before, Paulson said.

Paulson went to work as a nurses aide at the Monmouth hospital for about five years, then went to work for doctors in Monmouth for 30 years. She continued filling in at the doctors office for several years after that.

She then started working for the Monmouth Hospital Auxiliary, and was still showing up for shifts after she turned 100. Her last pin from the Auxiliary was for 5,000 hours of service.

She vividly recalls downtown Monmouth as a bustling place where there were iron posts around the square to tie up horses, and farmers gathered to socialize on the weekends, where you could buy just about anything you needed without leaving town.

A couple of weeks ago, she wore a purple blazer to church and received several compliments about it. She told them she purchased the jacket at Spurgeons, a downtown store that closed in 1993.

Its still good, she said with a smile.

Paulsons life has not been without heartache.

In addition to losing her mother at a young age, her eldest daughter, Patricia LeGrand, died of cancer at age 57 in 1994. A grandson, Mark Goff, died in a motorcycle crash in 2008 when he was 37. After 42 years of marriage to the love of her life, Ernest Estes died in 1979. She later remarried, and lost her second husband in 1992.

Ive had a lot of sadness in my life, Paulson said. Ive relied on God a lot, and he has brought me through all of it.

At 105, shes the last of her generation still here. Her sister, her cousins and her classmates are all gone. Her daughter turned 80 this year.

Paulson said the highlights of her life are the birth of her two daughters, her 42-year marriage and the chance to serve the public through her jobs in the medical field.

Ive had a good life, she said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Illinois woman renews drivers license at age 105, won't 'sit around'
Growing a business up to the level where it is on the lips of almost everyone is not an easy task. Starbow Airline is reckoned as one of the best airlines in Ghana for its customer-friendliness. Comfort and affordability have been their watchwords since they started operations. Starbow Ghana is, without doubt, associated with excellence as it was voted the Domestic Airline of the year for 2013 and 2014 consecutively.

Image: twitter.com, @starbowghana

Source: UGC

The Ghanaian-owned Starbow Airlines started operations in 2011, and since then, it has set a record of having some of the best aircraft in the country. The company also covers more distances and destinations than most airlines in Ghana.

Before it was suspended from operations because of an accident that took place in November 2017 involving one of its ATR 72-500s, it had the plan of making provision for direct flights from Accra, Ghana, to other cities in West Africa.

Background information

The flight company stands out as one of the largest passenger airlines in Ghana owned by a Ghanaian. Its headquarters is in Ghana, and it has successfully made trips to Kumasi, Accra, Takoradi, Tamale, and beyond Ghana to Monrovia from its Kotoka base.

Registered under the company name, Aero Surveys Limited, it was formally incorporated in 1995 and began operations in the year 2011. Ever since its first flight in September 2011, the airline has witnessed unprecedented growth in all ramifications of operation, with an average of 46 departure flights every week. The company has the Bae 146-200, ATR 72-500, and Bae 146-300 in the list of its fleet of airplanes.

READ ALSO: Premium Bank Ghana branches, contacts and services

Starbow Airlines Ghana contact

If you have any inquiries, you can dial Starbow contact number on +233245000000 to speak to any of their customer care representatives.

Image: twitter.com, @starbowghana

Source: Twitter

Star log in portal

As at the time of operation, Starbow book a flight online provision was made to ease the travel experience of customers. Interestingly, depending on individuals, there were the economy, business, or first class options available based on the customer's budget.

With your Starbow login details, when you are booking for a flight, the company made 20kg of free luggage space for economy and 30kg for business class. More so, a 5kg space is allowed for carrying bags for all customers.

Starbow Airlines recruitment

The flight company had one of the best recruitment processes, but since it stopped operations in November 2017, that had been placed on hold. However, it is worth noting that applying to the company followed the same process as other corporate organisations. Usually, information about Starbow job vacancies, among other channels, was placed on the Starbow Airlines website.

Once a prospective candidate met the requirements based on the advertised positions and applied, they would be invited to an interview, which, if passed, may guarantee them the job.

Many passengers who have used Starbow Airlines in the past are not happy with the current situation of things with the company. They cannot wait to see them bounce back on their feet. It was reckoned as the best when it was in operation. The company will go down in history as the airline that transformed the outlook of the aviation industry in Ghana.

READ ALSO: Passion Air Ghana contact, booking, office location, owner

Source: YEN.com.gh
This is the Impeachment Briefing, The Timess newsletter about the impeachment investigation. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every weeknight.

What happened today

Senator Mitch McConnell said that he had no intention of negotiating with Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the terms of the Senates impeachment trial of President Trump, and he urged Ms. Pelosi to transmit the two articles of impeachment that were approved last month. The Houses turn is over, Mr. McConnell, the majority leader, said. The Senate has made its decision.

Ms. Pelosi has been withholding the articles in a bid to help Democrats press their case for new witnesses and documents. On Tuesday night she demanded that Mr. McConnell make public his proposed rules for a trial before she delivered the articles, so Democrats could see the arena in which we will be participating.

That approach has been increasingly controversial with members of her party, who seem to be losing patience with the delay. Its pretty clear there is not going to be any agreement, said Senator Doug Jones, whose Alabama seat is especially vulnerable. So lets just go ahead.

The Mitch McConnell we already knew

The transfer of impeachment power to the Senate means that Mr. McConnell is again the power broker of Washingtons central drama. And he is again in position to discard the work of Democrats, who have long seen him as a villain with the cynicism and permanence to wreak havoc in ways that even a president cant: blocking legislation, Supreme Court nominations and debate on the Senate floor.

Mr. McConnell has made it clear that a fast and slender trial is his idea of the appropriate prelude to an acquittal, an outcome he has predicted, and he has freely acknowledged coordinating his plans with the White House. As my colleague Carl Hulse wrote last month, Mr. McConnell wants any proceeding to be bare-bones, so the senator can, as he has said himself, put this right.

Why is Mr. McConnell approaching the trial the way he is? To better understand, I talked to Charles Homans, the politics editor of The Times Magazine, who wrote a profile of Mr. McConnell last year.

Charlie, I liked this description in your story of Mr. McConnell as a fact of life. Hes always just there. Hes again found himself at the center of a seismic political-cultural moment. How?
Running into thousands of square metres, duty-free areas in airports have become attractive retail hubs sporting the who's who of luxury. In terms of sheer size and range offered, the duty-free retail areas at Dubai International Airport, London's Heathrow, Singapore's Changi, Incheon International Airport in South Korea, or even at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, are nothing less than high-end malls.

The first duty-free store was established in 1947 at Shannon airport in Ireland. Since then, the global duty-free market has grown to $76 billion (as of 2018). What's more, it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.5 per cent and reach $112.5 billion by 2025, according to Pune-based Adroit Market Research. India's duty-free market is estimated at $200 million. Harsha Razdan, Partner and Head - Life Sciences and Consumer Markets, KPMG, says it is expected to quadruple to $800 million by 2025 with sustained CAGR of 20 per cent till that year. "A large part of this growth will be driven by the propensity of Indian consumers to shop for alcohol (80 per cent of all airport shopping) at airports, along with growing and increasingly affluent middle class, greater tourist arrivals and expansion in number and size of Indian airports."

Changing Preferences

Apart from the variety, it's the promotional and other offers that attract people - two bottles of Johnny Walker Black Label for Rs 3,990 at the Delhi Duty Free or Stella McCartney Pop Eau de Parfum 100ml for 237 AED at the Dubai Duty Free. Rupali Dean, a food and travel writer, prefers buying MAC cosmetics at Delhi Duty Free as "they are 20 per cent cheaper".

While liquor remains high on the to-buy list, sales of fragrances and cosmetics have left it behind. The story goes that the best seller at the first duty-free shop was Irish whiskey. For long, liquor was a hot favourite among buyers all over the world. But in the recent past, the scales have tilted towards perfumes and cosmetics. The category grew 23.5 per cent in 2018 to $31.5 billion, while wines and spirits grew 7.2 per cent to $12.2 billion. This was followed by fashion and accessories growing 7.7 per cent to $10.8 billion, according to Generation Research.

At Dubai Duty Free, one of the biggest in the world, sales of perfumes crossed $196 million in 2019, contributing 15 per cent to total sales. "Cosmetics recorded an increase of 9 per cent in sales at $143 million, accounting for 11 per cent of total sales," says Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice-Chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free. Perfumes, liquor and tobacco are its top three bestselling categories. In India, too, a similar trend can be seen. Mumbai Duty Free, which is operated by Flemingo Travel Retail, has seen growth in fashion and luxury as well as watches segments over the past two years. "Tumi, Michael Kors, Mont Blanc, Hugo Boss, Bally and Swarovski, we offer some of the most popular brands across categories," says P.K. Thimmayya, CEO, Flemingo Travel Retail. "We also have an exclusive store for watches. TAG Heuer, Tissot, Ulysse Nardin and Omega are some of the biggest names available," he adds.

At the core of what buyers are looking for are range and offers. At the same time, the shopping experience is important too, something that the duty-free stores in India need to work on, especially with luxury products. Delhi Duty Free has made an effort to change this perception; it recently invested $10 million in renovating stores at the airport. The new walk-through shops are spread over 1,190 square metres at the arrival terminal and more than double of that (2,778 square metres) at the departure terminal. "It's not just about pricing but also the shopping environment. Our pricing is indeed competitive but we have been focusing on having beautiful shops and trained staff with in-depth knowledge of products," says Philip Eckles, India CEO, Delhi Duty Free.

Dubai Duty Free, while being among the top names, is making sure it retains its position. "We invest significantly in retail operations to improve offerings and overall customer experience," says McLoughlin. The plan includes special concept stores, concierge shopping services, refurbished Food Plus shops and a new gold shop. Dubai Duty Free now has 38,000 square metres retail space at Dubai International Airport and 4,000 square metres at Al Maktoum International Airport.

But with 52,000 square metres of retail space, London's Heathrow claims the top spot in size. Other European airports such as at Copenhagen and Zurich are also popular with luxury shoppers and offer a culturally rich and aesthetic environment.

At the backend of these changes is collection of real-time data, which is analysed to understand trends and demands so that personalised choices can be delivered at various touch points to improve customer experience and increase monetisation opportunities for concessionaires, explains Harsha Razdan, Partner and Head-Life Sciences and Consumer Markets, KPMG.

For example, Mumbai Duty Free trains its front staff at arrival and departure terminals to take feedback from customers on a list of questions to collect data and accordingly devise marketing strategies. "Each shift has to take about 10 samples in a day. On an average, we collect 600 samples in a month, which we analyse to figure as to which campaigns are working. For example, we did one such research after we started showcasing prices in INR or after the launch of our flagship campaign Mumbai Duty Free For Free," says Thimmayya of Flemingo.

Best On Offer

The quiet hum and soft glow of duty-free stores hide the fierce competition that goes on in the $76 billion global market. Operators across airports do their best to woo customers with not just the biggest names but also discount offers, launches, gifts with purchases, celebrity visits and VIP memberships. Limited edition products are a common way to deliver value.

Categories such as liquor, perfumes, confectionery and electronics respond well to promotional offers, says McLoughlin of Dubai Duty Free. An 8 per cent discount on all XO (extra old) Cognac varieties, including Bisquit, Remy Martin and Louis Royer, in June-July 2019, led to all 1,339 bottles valued at a total of $344,000 being sold, mostly to Chinese customers, the biggest buyers at Dubai Duty Free. Theme promotions are also run around festivals such as Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival, Diwali and Onam, apart from Dubai Summer Surprises, UAE National Day and others. Then there are category-specific promos such as on perfumes, watches and liquor which are popular among frequent travellers.

Membership offers are a powerful pull too. South Korea's Lotte Duty Free, the second-largest duty-free operator in the world, has a VIP membership that includes a 5-20 per cent discount based on online and offline purchases over two years in a tiered format. Another major South Korean operator, Shilla Duty Free, which started operations in 1986, offers membership benefits of 5-20 per cent discount and has expanded it to its Singapore and Hong Kong international airport stores. It gives new members $200 mileage to pay for any duty-free products it offers.

In India, 'Mumbai Duty Free is Now Free' is an annual shopping festival held between May and June every year. "With gift cards, discounts and cashbacks, the product you buy could effectively be free," explains Thimmayya of Flemingo. Delhi Duty Free's 'Shop and Collect' plan offers an extra 10 per cent discount to those who pre-book orders at the airport on the outbound journey and pick up on return. Cashback programmes are fast gaining popularity. For instance, Citibank India, in association with duty-free stores in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata, offers customers up to 15 per cent cashback.

Rise of Online

Online channels have added a layer of not only convenience and ease but also a wider range of promotions and offers. "The growth in online duty-free sales has been boosted by online exclusive product ranges and high congestion in physical stores at airports," says Razdan of KPMG.

At Dubai Duty Free, for example, pre-order items are increasing, and the average pre-order value is $508. Their year-to-date online sales have reached $12.86 million. Lotte Duty Free has seen higher growth in average online sales for the last three years versus offline sales.

India, however, lacks in the online experience, mostly due to the fact that advertising and promoting liquor is prohibited even though 80 per cent of the duty-free purchases are in alcohol. Delhi Duty Free allows you to look at the latest products and prices on its website, but you cannot place an order. At Mumbai Duty Free, one can pre-order products and pick them up at the arrival terminal. "The online and in-store duty-free sales are two distinct models with different pricing and discounting strategies. The online platform also provides data that is useful in understanding buying behaviour," says Thimmayya of Flemingo.

In his book Non-Places, French anthropologist Marc Auge calls airports as spaces lacking a sense of history or culture. But the duty-free shops at airports are fast turning into a destination themselves.

@apri_sharma
NataliaCatalina/iStock(LONDON) -- Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, delivered a huge surprise Wednesday when they announced their plans to "step back as senior members" of Britain's royal family.



The announcement left royal watchers -- and reportedly even members of Britain's royal family -- stunned and wondering what could be ahead for both the royal family and Harry and Meghan.



The couple, along with their 7-month-old son Archie, had recently returned to the U.K. from an extended holiday break in Canada when they announced their plans to, in part, become financially independent and split their time between the U.K. and North America.



Harry and Meghan's Instagram post and subsequent launch of their new SussexRoyal.com website sparked many questions about their family's future.



Here are all the details of Harry and Meghan's massive 2020 announcement.



1. Did Harry and Meghan get approval from Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth before announcing?



ABC News understands that none of the other members of the royal family were made aware of the contents of Harry and Meghan's statement before it was released.



Shortly after Harry and Meghan's announcement was posted, Buckingham Palace issued a statement of its own.



"Discussions with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage," the statement read. "We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through."



2. Has this ever happened before with the British royal family?



In short, not exactly.



"This is an unprecedented situation we are in," said ABC News royal contributor Victoria Murphy. "We've not seen anything like this before and their statement raises so many questions about how this new model will work."



3. Will Harry and Meghan retain their titles?



Yes, Prince Harry and Meghan will still be known as Their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.



4. Will Harry and Meghan keep their Frogmore Cottage home?



Yes, Harry and Meghan plan to keep Frogmore Cottage, located in Windsor, as their official U.K. residence, with the permission of Queen Elizabeth, who will continue to own the property, according to SussexRoyal.com.



5. Why is this change happening?



Only Harry and Meghan can answer definitively why they chose to move forward with new roles after marrying nearly two years ago.



The couple was very honest at the end of 2019 about their struggles under the spotlight of the royal family.



"It's hard," Meghan told ITV News at Ten anchor Tom Bradby for the documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey. "I don't think anybody could understand that."



"And I think the grass is always greener," Meghan said later in the interview. "You have no idea. It's really hard to understand what it's like. I know what it seems like it should be. It's a very different thing. That's OK. The good thing is, I've got my baby and I've got my husband, and they're the best."



Prince Harry spoke honestly about the grief he still feels over the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in a 1996 car crash in Paris, describing it as a "wound that festers" and one that motivates his actions today.



The youngest son of Prince Charles and Diana also did not deny rumors of a rift between him and his only sibling, Prince William.



"We're certainly on different paths at the moment, but I will always be there for him and as I know he'll always be there for me," Harry said. "We don't see each other as much as we used to because we're so busy, but I love him dearly."



Harry and Meghan, a former actress who was active in charitable work before meeting Harry, may have also seen this model as a way to accomplish bigger charitable and activism goals.



"These are two workaholics who want to be able to contribute in the way that they want," said ABC News royal contributor Omid Scobie. "They have grand plans to change the world and to see the world outside of the parameters of the royal family."



6. How long have Harry and Meghan been discussing a change?



The couple has been discussing their future roles since the end of last summer, according to Scobie.



"This solution that they've announced today is the best they could find," he said. "It allows them to perform their duties on behalf of the queen, but also to focus on their work in a way that a senior member of the royal family hasn't before."



7. Have Prince William and Kate commented on Harry and Meghan's move?



No, Kensington Palace has not yet issued a statement on behalf of William and Kate in response to Harry and Meghan's new roles moving forward.



8. Where will Harry, Meghan and Archie live abroad?



Harry and Meghan have so far said only that they plan to "balance" their time between the U.K. and North America.



Meghan was born and raised in Los Angeles, but spent several years living in Toronto, where she filmed the TV drama Suits. Harry and Meghan returned to Canada last month for their extended holiday break.



9. What does it mean for Harry and Meghan to be 'financially independent'?



Harry and Meghan confirmed on SussexRoyal.com that they will no longer accept a percentage of the Sovereign Grant, which is paid annually from the U.K. government to the monarchy to fund official duties.



According to the couple, the contribution they received from the grant covered 5 percent of their official office expenses, with the rest being paid through income from Prince Charles' Duchy of Cornwall estate.



10. What will be the focus of their new charity?



Harry and Meghan plan to roll out their Sussex Royal Foundation this year.



"Essentially they are now free to work in exactly the style they want," said Scobie of the new model. "When they launch the Sussex Royal Foundation they can fundraise in any way they want. It lessens the pressures of being a member of the royal family.



They shared on their new website that they plan to focus on "community action" and "progressive change" with their charitable work.



"Through local and global community action, progressive change can be achieved far quicker than ever before," they wrote. "In 2020, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex plan to shape their charitable entity to respond to these pressing needs."



"After carefully considering a number of foundation models, and having researched the incredible work of many well known and lesser known foundations, The Duke and Duchess are actively working to create something different -- a charitable entity that will not only help complement these efforts, but also advance the solutions the world needs most. They look forward to sharing more with you in due course."



11. Will they continue to work on their patronages?



Yes, Harry and Meghan will remain as royal patrons for a number of U.K.-based charities.



Harry's patronages focus on issues important to him, including the environment, mental health and supporting veterans.



Meghan's patronages are described on SussexRoyal.com as focusing on "advancing gender equity, empowering women and girls, and working within the community on a grassroots level to encourage women to recognize their inherent value."



12. Will they stay on social media?



Yes, the couple says they plan to become even more active on social media.



Harry and Meghan say they will no longer participate in the Royal Rota system, which gives U.K. print and broadcast outlets exclusive access to the royal family's official engagements. Instead, they will focus on more direct engagement with their fans.



"They look forward to continuing their use of social media and believe that their updated media approach will enable them to share more, with you, directly," reads a statement on SussexRoyal.com.



13. Will Harry and Meghan still attend royal family events?



Yes, the expectation is that the couple will continue to participate in official royal family engagements and family events.



14. Could Meghan ever go back into acting? Politics?



Stepping back from duties as a "senior member" of the royal family does give more freedom to Meghan, but it seems likely the duchess will remain focused on her charitable work with Harry.



15. Will this new model give Meghan more time with her mom?



Meghan, an only child, is known to be very close with her mom, Doria Ragland.



Ragland, who lives in Los Angeles, stayed with the couple after Archie's birth and, more recently, spent Christmas with them.



Spending more time in North America would put Meghan closer to her mom.



16. What is the biggest takeaway from Harry and Meghan's decision?



"We knew that the couple weren't happy but this decision makes it abundantly clear just how unhappy they have been," said Murphy. "This is a huge decision but they obviously felt a big change was needed."

Copyright  2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
The country was even more riveted, and outraged, by the deaths of Dean Yaakov Shoshani and Stav Harari during the first of the flooding over the weekend. The pair had entered an elevator in their Tel Aviv apartment building during the deluge, only to have it become stuck at a lower parking level, possibly because of a power outage. As water rose in the garage, passersby who eventually heard the pair banging on the elevator and calling for help phoned fire and rescue services. The pair were eventually pulled from the flooded shaft with help from divers, according to the Haaretz newspaper. One was pronounced dead at the scene and the other after being transported to a hospital.
Foreign Ministers of Iran and Canada discussed the actions plan on the accident in Teheran

PS 752 plane crash in Tehran Reuters

The work on the identification of deceased in the PS752 crash in Teheran has started in Iran, as ISNA news agency reports.

According to Head of Red Crescent Society of Iran Ibrahim Tajik, about 40 rescue teams sent to the site. All bodies from the site were transferred.

In cooperation with Najaf international police, we assume steps to get the genetic samples from the relatives of deceased for DNA comparison and identification of victims, the head of the identification center of police stated.

The procedure is necessary to find out all victims and identify everyone. It has started as all bodies were gathered.

According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, on January 9, Foreign Minister of Iran Mohammad-Javad Zarif and his Canadian counterpart Francois-Philippe Champagne held the phone talk on the crash.

On January 8, Boeing 737 of Ukraine's International Airlines, flight PS752 with 180 passengers aboard crashed in Tehran, not far from Imam Khomeini airport.

11 citizens of Ukraine died in the crash of Boeing 737 of Ukraine's International Airlines (PS 752 flight). President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky reported that the passenger plane crash in the Iranian capital left no survivors.

Preliminary, there were 167 passengers and nine crew members. The International Airlines of Ukraine published the names of the crew members deceased in the result of the crash. Later the air company published the list of passengers of PS752.

Besides, Ukraine stopped flights of Ukrainian airlines in the airspace of Iran from midnight on January 9, 2020.
Molina Healthcare, Inc. MOH has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase all the capital stocks of NextLevel Health Partners, Inc., a Medicaid managed care organization. This all-cash deal value of around $50 million is subject to closing conditions. The transaction is expected to be completed in early 2020.



Molina Healthcare will now cater to nearly 50,000 Medicaid and Managed Long-Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) members in Illinois Cook County. Notably, NextLevel Health declared that its estimated premium revenues for 2019 would come to almost $270 million.



With further penetration in Illinois, Molina Healthcare expects to provide even better services to people along with enhancing its business scale and gaining an operating cost leverage. The company would benefit from NextLevels community-based approach providing Medicaid members with quality care.



The strategic move is in line with the companys tactic to boost its Medicaid business. Last October, the company also bought the Medicaid business of New York-based YourCare Health Plan in a $40-million deal settlement. By dint of this pact, the company will be serving approximately 46,000 Medicaid members across seven counties in Western New York and the Finger Lakes region.



Molina Healthcare is focused on government-sponsored health care programs for families and individuals. Its recent Kentucky Medicaid contract win will be a positive for its 2020 earnings and offers a relief to the company, especially after losing Texas Medicaid Star+Plus Program in October 2019 and Florida Medicaid contract earlier during the year.



Rationale Behind the Deal



Molina Healthcares deal is in line with its strategy to expand its presence in the Medicaid market, which attracted other players too. Centene Corporation CNC plans to acquire WellCare Health Plans, Inc. WCG, which is expected to close by the first half of 2020 and boost its Medicaid and Medicare business.



Industry players are busy grabbing a pie of the increasingly consolidating government subsidized health coverage market.



These combined businesses focusing on government-sponsored managed care will not only benefit members with value-based care but also incentivize its stakeholders.



Shares of this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company have gained 8.1% in a year's time, underperforming its industry's growth of 21.6%. The stock price performance looks muted in comparison to peers like Anthem, Inc. ANTM, which have returned 22.3% in the same time frame. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Story continues





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(Alliance News) - International Consolidated Airlines Group SA on Thursday reported more than 5% growth in passenger numbers in December, with Latin America doing particularly well.

The latest passenger figures came as IAG announced that Willie Walsh, will step down as chief executive and from the board in March. It also marked the last time IAG will be reporting monthly figures. It will move to quarterly figures from 2020.

IAG owns British Airways, Spain's Iberia, Ireland's Aer Lingus, as well as vueling, Level, and cargo operations.

Passenger numbers in December were 5.5% higher year-on-year at 8.7 million, with 2019 passenger numbers climbing 4.7% to 118.3 million.

IAG's passenger growth was particularly strong in Latin America & Caribbean in 2019, rising 18%. Europe grew 2.9%, North America 4.3%, Asia Pacific 8.3%, and Africa, Middle East & South Asia 2.9%.

Traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, was 6.4% higher in December at 22.4 million. For the year, the figure increased by 5.6% to 285.7 million, with performance strongest in Latin America & Caribbean once again.

IAG's capacity, which is measured in available seat kilometres, was 2.0% higher in December at 26.7 million, with the 2019 figure 4.0% higher at 337.8 million.

Load factor for December was 83.9%, up from 80.4% a year prior, with the 2019 figure 84.6% compared to 83.3% in 2018.

Cargo tonnages fell 7.8% in December to 458 million tonnes, with the 2019 figure declining by 2.4% to 5.6 million tonnes.

Looking per airline, British Airways passenger numbers were up 5.1% in December, with Iberia growing 7.5%, Aer Lingus by 1.4%, Level by 58%, and vueling by 3.2%.

For 2019, British Airways numbers were 1.6% higher, Iberia up 7.2%, Aer Lingus up 2.4%, Level more than doubled, and vueling up 5.6%.

Walsh will step down as CEO, and from IAG's board, on March 26, before fully retiring from the company at the end of June. Luis Gallego, who is currently head of Iberia, will succeed him as the head of IAG.

Gallego's replacement will be announced in due course, the company said.

Walsh initially joined Aer Lingus as a cadet pilot in 1979. Since then, his roles have included leading Aer Lingus between 2001 and 2005, and heading British Airways between 2005 and 2011.

He became CEO of IAG when British Airways and Iberia merged in 2011, a deal he masterminded.

Shares were 1.3% higher on Thursday afternoon in London at 626.20 pence each.

By George Collard; georgecollard@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2019 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Immigration judge Mark Davies, who previously posed as 'Mr July' for a charity calendar was cleared of assault

An immigration judge accused of attacking two hunt saboteurs wept in court after describing the men he was accused of assaulting as 'anarchists' and 'class warriors' out to 'intimidate good decent people'.

Mark Davies, who is a first tier immigration tribunal judge and the chairman of the historic Barlow Hunt, tussled with two masked animal rights campaigners when they clashed in a field during a New Year's Day hunt last year in the Peak District, a court heard.

Austin Jordan and William Robinson said they were confronted by Mr Davies and his wife who told them they were trespassing before they were assaulted.

It was claimed Mr Davies, who had previously been 'Mr July' in a calendar shoot, came at them 'snarling with gritted teeth' before grabbing one by the throat and tackling another into a bramble bush.

But following a two day trial Mr Davies was cleared of assaulting both men after a district judge accepted his claims he had acted in self-defence to protect himself and his wife.

After the verdicts Mr Davies slammed both Derbyshire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service for the 'deplorable' way he had been treated during the last year.

The 67 year-old and his wife Joan Williams, who is Joint Master of the Hunt and a former South Yorkshire Police Superintendent, crossed paths with members of the Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs' Group.

The couple were observing the annual event while anti-hunt campaigners were monitoring the area to ensure no foxes were harmed.

An earlier hearing at Chesterfield magistrates' court was told both men gave differing accounts of what happened in the field at Highlightley Farm in the Derbyshire village of Millthorpe when they came face to face with Mr Davies and his wife.

Mr Davies claimed he reacted after being attacked by Mr Jordan, suffering a bloody nose. The other man said he was grabbed by the throat before his attacker fell to the floor.

Members of the Barlow Hunt during the New Year's Day event where Mr Davies was accused of assault

Mr Davies then 'tackled' Mr Robinson and they grappled with each other in a bramble bush, but he claimed he reacted fearing a further attack.

Earlier the animal rights campaigners had driven to the Gate Inn at the nearby village of Cutthorpe, where the hunt was meeting. Mr Davies initially blocked them in with a vehicle then followed them when they drove off.

The court was shown footage from two of the anti-hunt campaigners' cameras and from Joan Williams's camera which captured parts of the fracas.

In it Mr Davies'wife, who had a dislocated shoulder and was wearing a sling at the time, could be heard screaming four-letter obscenities at the protestors.

The two alleged victims are said to be members of the Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs (pictured)

Later she was left on the floor after confronting Mr Jordan who warned her that if she carried on he would 'floor her'.

Mr Robinson said: 'He got up off the ground snarling with gritted teeth and made a lunge for me.'

Defence solicitor Stephen Welford said the group of saboteurs were armed with canisters of citronella spray and a horn to distract the hounds and put them off the scent.

The court heard the Barlow Hunt, which dates back to 1878, was allowed permission to use the private land at Highlightley Farm by the owner.

What are the rules for hunting with dogs in the UK? How fox hunters try to avoid run-ins with the law Hunting with dogs was banned in England & Wales in 2004 (Scotland in 2002) because of the profound suffering it causes to foxes and other hunted animals, such as stags and hare. The law was not intended to stop foxes being killed, but to stop them being cruelly killed. Exemptions were included in the law which permit dogs to be used in certain specific circumstances... Stalking and flushing to guns: Two dogs may be used to flush a fox from cover so it can be shot for the purpose of protecting livestock, game birds or biodiversity. The dogs must be kept under close control and the fox must be shot as soon as it breaks from cover  no further chasing is allowed. Rescue of an injured mammal: Two dogs may be used to capture a fox if the hunt believes it is injured and the hunting is undertaken to relieve its suffering. Research and observation: Two dogs are allowed to be used for the purpose of or in connection with the observation or study of a wild mammal. Flushing to a bird of prey: An unlimited number of dogs can be used to flush a fox from cover to a bird of prey which will catch and kill it. Recapture of escaped wild mammal: An unlimited number of dogs can be used to capture a fox that has escaped from captivity. Use of a dog below ground (known as terrier work): One terrier may be used below ground to flush out a fox to be shot for the purpose of protecting game birds being reared for shooting. The terrier men must carry written permission from the landowner. Fox hunters have long tried to find ways to avoid the law. When the Hunting Act was introduced many hunts quickly took raptors out with them so they could claim to be using the bird of prey exemption. However, few hunts claim to be using this exemption today. Equally, some hunts went out with just two hounds and claimed to be flushing to guns, but this too quickly stopped. Today, most fox hunts say they have switched to trail hunting, where the dogs follow a pre-laid scent trail made using fox urine and does not involve a fox being chased or killed. Source: www.save-me.org.uk Advertisement

Mr Davies of Bradfield, Sheffield, South Yorks, denied assaulting both men by beating. The trial attracted interest from animal rights campaigners with more than 40 protestors standing outside the courthouse.

He became a part-time immigration adjudicator in 1990, and turned full-time in 2002, and has been an immigration judge since 2005.

In December 2018 he was disciplined for 'prejudicial remarks' he made about Iranians. A decade earlier he made headlines after his appearance as 'Mr July' in a naked calendar to raise money for the Pennine Hunt, alongside his wife.

He plays and collects concertinas and has toured the country playing and singing folk music. He appeared in the racy calendar naked with only his instrument protecting his modesty under the caption read: 'Would you like a squeeze?'

His 67-year-old wife also posed in her birthday suit as Miss February using a Shetland pony to protect her modesty alongside the caption: 'She was feeling a little horse.'

Giving evidence Mr Davies said on the day of the incident his wife had called the police once they knew hunt saboteurs were in the area.

Mr Davies, who is due to retire shortly, said he had been involved with the Barlow Hunt since 1994 and became chairman in October 2018, but he no longer rode out with them.

The court heard they had been targeted by hunt saboteurs over several years because they believed it was involved in illegal fox hunting, but he said they only ever followed 'false trails' laid down for them.

Mr Davies said over the years protestors had targeted their hunts and vandalised their kennels and vehicles belonging to the organisation.

He said as well as having permission from the owner to ride across his fields the hunt also had permission to remove potential trespassers.

Mr Davies said he and his wife had parked their cars and both gone to the top of the field to take down an electric fence to allow the huntsmen and their dog over the land.

He said he first became aware of four masked people dressed in black and combat gear when he heard his wife telling them to get off the land.

'I felt intimidated. I did not know them or had any dealings with them before,' he added.

'They were walking towards the fence, towards me. I told them they had no right to be there. As they walked forward I stepped forward and held my arms out to prevent them trespassing further.

'The next thing I recollect is being struck in the face by someone and falling to the ground. I now know that person was Austin Jordan.

Mr Davies denied grabbing Mr Jordan, but claimed that as he got up and came to his senses he was 'surrounded by two...three four people' who were shouting at him.

He said when he realised he wasn't going to be kicked he 'jumped up in a state of shock' and took the man down with 'a rugby type tackle

'I decided to tackle the nearest person to me, I believe that person was William Robinson. I was fearful I would be assaulted again or that my wife would be assaulted,' he added.

He said he and Mr Robinson were in a bramble bush with him slightly on top of the other man. Asked if he was 'snarling' at him as had been claimed he replied 'No!'

Asked by Mr Welford if he had called Mr Robinson as 'bastard' and threatened to 'kill him he answered: 'I certainly did not say that!'

Mr Davies said after the protestors then made their way off down the field and he and his wife were later spoken to by police.

The court was shown a picture taken after the confrontation showing him with a bloody nose and cut and swollen lip. He believed police had also taken a picture of his injuries as part of an investigation into an alleged assault against him.

But the court was told the CPS say no such photo exists and Mr Davies has lodged a formal complaint against the officer involved.

Cross examined by Ian Shaw, prosecuting, Mr Davies said: 'We were conducting lawful trail hunting activities. These people were threatening and intimidating.

'I made it clear they were disrupting a legal activity and were, in my opinion, committing aggravated trespass. I wished to stop them trespassing further.

'They are violent people, they are there to intimidate. That's why they wear masks and hoods, they intimidate good decent people.

'They have no interest in animals whatsoever, they are anarchists, class warriors, who simply don't like people who go hunting.

'I have no reason to dislike them apart from their extreme views.'

Mr Shaw said: 'Your actions were driven simply by the fact you thought these people we anarchists and problem causers, weren't they?

'You wanted to get them off the land using any means to do so?'

Fighting back tears Mr Davies replied: 'I'm 67 years of age, I'm not violent, I don't go around doing that. I'm a person of good character. These people have caused both me and my wife considerable distress.'

Asked why he had not given them an opportunity to leave the field peacefully he said: 'It was quite clear they had no intention of doing so.'

Giving his not guilty verdicts District Judge Andrew Davison said: 'I take into account the defendant's good character and I have concluded that he did honestly believe he and his wife were at harm of assault from one or more of the anti hunt monitors,' he added.

Speaking after the verdict Mr Davies said: 'The Derbyshire Constabulary and the CPS should hold their heads down in shame, considering the evidence seen during the course of this trial which clearly showed I was brutally assaulted.

'It's deplorable they chose not to arrest the person who had assaulted me. Despite all the evidence five months later I was told I would be prosecuted.'

He said he was issuing formal complaints to the Chief Constable and the CPS in the East Midlands.

'As a victim I have a right to review, but the CPS made it perfectly obvious that was not going to be the case,' added Mr Davies.

'I'm pleased to say I am due to retire shortly and I will do so with my good character intact.

'The mob outside this court anarchists and thugs who have no interest in animals whatsoever.'
This article originally appeared on Task & Purpose, a digital news and culture publication dedicated to military and veterans issues.

The Air Force relieved the commander of a pilot training school earlier last week over "a loss of confidence in his ability to command," the service told Task & Purpose on Wednesday.

Col. Derek Stuart, the commander of 14th Operations Group at Columbus Air Force Base, Miss., was relieved on Jan. 2 by 19th Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Craig Wills, according to Jennifer Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Air Education and Training Command. Gonzalez didn't specify the reason for Stuart's firing other than "loss of trust."

Stuart had been at Columbus AFB since the fall of 2018, Gonzalez said. As home to the 52-week specialized undergraduate pilot training mission, the 14th OG trains more than 400 American and foreign pilots each year on a range of training craft and flight simulators, according to Stuart's biography.

Stuart was in charge of eight squadrons with over 1,300 officers, civilians, enlisted and contract personnel. For Stuart, the 14th OG was the latest post in a long and decorated Air Force career.

The colonel entered the branch in 1996, the biography said, and had done everything from serve as a Congressional liaison to flying combat missions over Iraq. Along the way he picked up 3,200 flight hours, a Command Pilot rating, a Defense Meritorious Service Medal and a Meritorious Service Medal with five oak leaf clusters.

Lt. Col. William McElhinney has assumed command in Stuart's place, Gonzalez said.

More articles from Task & Purpose:
Envoys from several countries, including the US are scheduled to visit Jammu and Kashmir today. The delegation will undertake a two-day visit to the Union Territories beginning on Thursday. The delegation will be taken to the UTs to demonstrate the measures taken by the government to bring the situation to normalcy after the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Foreign envoys from 17 countries including USA, Vietnam, South Korea, Brazil, Niger, Uzbekistan, Nigeria, Morocco, Guyana, Argentina, Philippines, Norway, Maldives, Fiji, Togo, Bangladesh and Peru are part of the delegation. India was in touch with the European Union but they refused to be part of this tour. It is possible that another delegation of EU envoys could later visit the region.

Diplomats from Australia and several Gulf nations were expected to join the delegation but eventually dropped out. Some cited scheduling constraints.

The envoys travelling on Thursday will meet civil society members and receive a briefing on the security situation from various agencies, the officials said. The envoys are likely to be taken to Srinagar first and then to Jammu to meet the UT's Lieutenant Governor GC Murmu and other officials.

Sources said envoys of a number of countries had requested the government for a visit to Kashmir to get a first-hand account of the situation prevailing in the valley. The move will be part of India's diplomatic outreach to rebut Pakistan's propaganda against it on the Kashmir issue.

In October last year, a group of 23 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were taken to Kashmir by the International Institute for Nonaligned Studies, a Delhi-based think tank. However, the government had distanced itself from the visit of the delegation and Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy informed Parliament that the European parliamentarians were on a "private visit".

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Silence: A complete lack of noise or sound. (Oxford Dictionary)

Silence: A situation in which somebody refuses to talk about something or to answer questions (Oxford Dictionary)



The world had barely tipped toes in the New Year when on the fateful night of 5th January 2020, more than 40 masked goons ravaged young minds and teachers inside Indias esteemed Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus. With iron rods and broken bottles, those hooligans beat the life out of the freedom of expression and choked voice of the worlds largest democracy.



Irrespective of ones stand towards CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) and NRC (National Registry of Citizens) this heinous act needed to be condemned, rebuked and investigated. However, it received silences of two kinds. One was from an A-list Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone and the other was from the Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi. Interestingly both these silences spoke a million different words.

Donning black clothes, Deepika arrived at the JNU campus and surprised everyone. With her eyes facing the ground, her face remained emotionless. The actress refused to address the crowd and stood along with the students in silence. Her act is considered monumental as she represented the much-needed support from the largest film industry in the world. She embodied the strength and rebellion against the government, destroying elitist ideals of indifference. As a woman, she empowers her colleagues from the industry such as Swara Bhaskar who has tirelessly been a part of the movement. While Deepika and Swara have taken a stance, the most powerful men of the industry, the formidable Khans, choose to be silent.

AFP

The actor has been through fire for her previous film, Padmaavat, to the extent that a BJP politician even put a bounty of $10 million to anyone who beheads her. It, therefore, takes an indomitable spirit to attend another anti-government protest. As expected, in an ignorant response to her dedication, BJPs Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga tweeted to boycott her upcoming movie, Chapaak which addresses the grave issue of acid attacks in the country.

What followed next will send chills down the spine. National Spokesperson of BJP, Nupur Sharma tweeted,

@deepikapadukone I usually avoid tweeting to Bollywood but if this is your bid to sell a movie on a womans fight by sharing stage with somebody penalised for sexual misconduct (he flashed himself to a woman student at JNU in 2015) then it defeats the very purpose!

Now, there is a lot to unpack here. Firstly, the most eye-piercing element of this tweet is the fact that despite being a London School of Economics graduate she is taking misogyny to a new low by shaming a woman for deeds of a man standing beside her. Swara Bhaskar and Deepika Padukones Twitter feeds are mirrors of how fast hate comments turn into sexual slurs for women. It is even more heart-wrenching that a qualified person like Nupur Sharma takes it to another level by shaming Deepika for sexual crimes by a man.

BCCL

Secondly, even if she was there for the promotion of her movie, how is it wrong? Since when did we start shaming artists in a democracy for having their own political beliefs and expression of ideas? Why should the act of promoting a film that addresses a bane in society be demonised? Talking about the flaws in the government does not weaken but empowers the spirit democracy. Furthermore, the tweet was taken up by a prime-time news journalist to assassinate the image and spirit of this fearless lady further.

Amidst the deafening wails of democracy around the country, the silence that is heard the loudest is the one by the Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi.

A few days back, in an interview, Smriti Irani, a prominent leader of BJP, said that her respect for Mr Narendra Modi grew manifolds when she was protesting against him as a young student and he sat down with her to ask for suggestions to make the policy better. One wonders what stops PM Modi to do the same with the students across the nation today?

For a person who spared no opportunity to criticize his predecessor, Manmohan Singh by calling him a Silent PM or Maun-mohan Singh, it seems quite amusing how he runs away from addressing contentious issues. Be it the dwindling state of Indian economy, nosediving rupee, or brash and unplanned implementation of policies, his silence sends tremors throughout the nation for they have to face consequences of his actions.

Transparency is a two-way street which involves a robust feed-back mechanism. While there is no harm in bragging about achievements, the pitfalls should be addressed with the same level of seriousness and not defensiveness.

After the ruthless savagery at the university in the national capital, an absence of a response from him deepens the void of mistrust and hate across the nation. With no new strategies to convict the perpetrators of the act, the nation has turned into a playground for political extremists to commit immoral acts with no fear of consequences.

Like speech, silence also has unbound power. Not just the power to propel a nation to progress and freedom but also the power to throw it into chasms of anarchy and extremism. While one silence is shattering stereotypes, challenging gendered norms and breeding revolution, the other is fostering brutality, exclusion and oligarchy. Like your words, pick your silence wisely.

The author is a Masters of Arts in Law & Diplomacy candidate at the Fletcher School, Tufts University (MA, USA). Views expressed are author's own.
Iran shows calm in attacks

Global Times

By Yang Sheng and Liu Xuanzun Source:Global Times Published: 2020/1/9 0:13:40

Tehran's purpose is 'to force US troops to leave Iraq'

Iran's missile strikes, which targeted US military bases in Iraq to retaliate against the US assassination of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, could have led to further instability, but war was never the purpose of the two sides, and Tehran's goal was to force US troops to leave Iraq, Chinese experts said.

Although the military actions drew attention worldwide and led to fears of war, Chinese experts said the strikes showed Iran's calm and caution, and they argued a war between the US and Iran won't bring another "period of strategic opportunity" to China as it could affect the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and the energy import from the region.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) targeted the US airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq on Wednesday in response to the US assassination of Soleimani, Iranian official news agency Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.

Iranian state television claimed that at least 80 "American terrorists" were killed in attacks involving 15 Fateh 313 missiles on US targets in Iraq, adding that none of the missiles were intercepted.

State TV, citing a senior Revolutionary Guards source, also said Iran had 100 other targets in the region in its sights if Washington takes any retaliatory measures. It also said US helicopters and military equipment were "severely damaged."

US President Donald Trump said at a press conference at 11:30 am Wednesday local time in Washington that "No Americans were harmed" in the missile attacks by Iran.

Of the 15 missiles Iran fired into Iraq, 10 hit the Ain al-Asad Air Base, one hit a military base in Erbil and four failed to hit their targets, according to a US military spokesman for Central Command, responsible for US forces in the Middle East, Fox News reported on Wednesday.

The US made no effort to intercept the missiles, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing a US defense official who was not authorized to speak on record, while the US-based Military Times reported that a source with direct knowledge of events on the ground says that three incoming missiles were knocked down by Patriot batteries.

Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times that the US has limited antiballistic missile capability in Iraq, as only tactical, short-range antiballistic missile weapons are deployed since the US has relatively less military equipment there.

The US' air defense capability is questionable in the first place, Song said, remembering Saudi Arabia's failure to protect its oil installations using US air defense systems from drone attacks in September 2019.

During the Gulf War, the US claimed that the Patriot had a 90 percent interception rate on Soviet-made Scud ballistic missiles, but the actual success rate was no more than 10 percent, Song said.

Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency reported that the missiles were probably of the Fateh 313 type and were launched from Iran's western Kermanshah province.

Fateh 313 missiles are road-mobile, single-stage, solid-fueled surface-to-surface missiles with a range of 500 kilometers, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Xu Guangyu, a senior adviser to the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, told the Global Times on Wednesday that Iran was very restrained in the attacks.

Iran has no intention to launch an all-out war with the US over the death of Soleimani, and the international community is also asking both sides to remain restrained, Xu said, noting that Iran probably believes the Trump administration does not want a major war either, so it crafted these restrained attacks.

Hua Liming, a former Chinese ambassador to Iran, told the Global Times that "Iran must respond because of fury among its own people, and the missile strike was the most visible and high-profile measure, and more importantly, the IRGC can control the scale of strikes to prevent overreaction."

If the IRGC doesn't do anything, the Iran-controlled or pro-Iran militia groups in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria might launch their own actions, such as lone wolf attacks and assassinations, and this could be dangerous and might force the US to deploy more troops in the region, and even attack Iran, Hua said.

Iranian Ambassador to China Mohammad Keshavarzzadeh also told the Global Times that lone wolf attacks are not an option as the "military actions are powerful enough."

"So the strikes showed Iran was calm and cautious. It's trying to find a way to retaliate to satisfy its people, and something the US can tolerate," Hua said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Twitter on Wednesday that "Iran took proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter targeting a base from which a cowardly armed attack against our citizens and senior officials was launched. We do not seek an escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression."

China and Russia

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at Wednesday's routine press conference that China is concerned about the current sensitive and complicated situation and urged relevant parties to stay restrained.

On Chinese social media, some web users believe that a war between Iran and the US could ease US pressure against China and could bring another period of strategic opportunity to China, just like 9/11 in 2001 that made the US spend a lot in the Middle East and allowed years for China to develop.

Jin Canrong, associate dean of Renmin University of China's School of International Studies in Beijing, said that this kind of thinking was not mature, because if the Middle East falls into chaos and even war, the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and energy imports from the region would be affected, despite a reduction in US military pressure on China in East Asia.

The US elites want to shift their focus from the Middle East to China and Russia, but its allies in the region like Israel and Saudi Arabia want the US to stay to help them contain Iran, Jin noted.

Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in Damascus on Tuesday for a surprise visit to Syria, amid regional concerns over a possible war between the US and Iran, Russia Today reported. This is the first visit by Putin to the Syrian capital since the war broke out in 2011. His motorcade drove to the Russian expeditionary force's command center, where he met Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Chinese experts noted the appearance of Putin in Syria at this juncture showed that Russia wants to tell the countries in this region Russia's presence and its ally's security have not been affected while the US is in trouble, and Russia could play a more important role while the region suffers from chaos.

Following his visit to Damascus, Putin traveled to Turkey, where he is scheduled to attend the opening ceremony of the 'Turk Stream' gas pipeline with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He is also scheduled to discuss with Erdogan the security situation in Syria and Libya, where Turkey has just sent troops, Russia Today reported.

All-out war

In terms of military strength, the US has an overwhelming advantage over Iran in terms of both strategic and tactical weapons, as well as aerial, land and naval power, Xu said.

However, Iran possesses a large number of missiles deployed near its borders, giving the country the capability to control key sea lanes in the Hormuz Strait and Persian Gulf, as it can even hit Israel, Xu said.

Iran operates the largest missile arsenal in the Middle East, with thousands of short- and medium-range ballistic and cruise missiles capable of striking as far as Israel and southeast Europe, according to US think tank Center for Strategic & International Studies.

If an all-out war breaks out, Iran will not gain much, but the US will also suffer heavy losses, Xu said.

Xu pointed out that both Iran and the US have, to date, only attacked outside of their countries, so should Trump decide to take further military action, they are more likely to aim at Iran's forces overseas.

The current situation is a significant test for both Iranian and US leaders, Hua said. "If the US launches another strike to hit Iran and causes serious damages, then Iran is unable to keep cautious and restraint and the possibility of an all-out war cannot be ruled out."

Using the moral high ground, the sympathy worldwide and its influence in Iraq to force US troops to leave Iraq is much more important than killing US personnel and seeking revenge through military actions, Hua said.

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said from Tehran on Wednesday that the corruptive presence of the US in the region must end, the IRNA reported on Wednesday. Referring to the attack, Khamenei said, "Last night's action was merely a slap, but the US must leave the region."

Hua said it is unrealistic to expect the US to leave the Middle East because the region is highly significant for the country's global hegemony, but forcing the US to leave Iraq is possible as the Iraqi parliament also called foreign military forces to leave the country, so Iran will have legitimacy.

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Students from several city colleges, including some government-run organisations, joined the protest staged by the National Students Union of India (NSUI), condemning the recent violence in Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Following Wednesdays protest staged at college and university campuses, the NSUI had declared plans to hold a mega students rally after January 12. NSUI Karnataka president Manjunath Gowda said: Weve right now covered 15 districts. Due to the ongoing examinations in some universities, we have decided to hold it in a big way after January 12.

On Wednesday, the protesting students demanded action against the attackers of students at JNU. We are not here to commit crime. We are here condemning the (attack) in an educational institution.
Jack Smyth (24) farms cattle near Newtownstewart with his parents Stephen and Susan and his girlfriend Emma (23), who works in a bridal shop.

He's renowned in the farming world for producing great commercial cattle and spent time in Scotland training with some of the best producers.

"I've farmed since I was knee-high - I'm still farming and working part-time as a freelance stockman," Jack says.

"I would do a day or two a week working with other men, working with cattle and sheep, and the rest of the time working on our home farm."

The family owns a beef and sheep farm, producing both commercial and pedigree beef.

Expand Close Jack with girlfriend Emma / Facebook

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Whatsapp Jack with girlfriend Emma

"My grandfather was a dealer and he would always have brought on commercial cattle, but it was my father who first started to breed the odd one and I've taken that to the next stage," Jack says.

"I have a few purebred Charolais and Aberdeen Angus and some are kept for breeding bulls to sell to farmers.

"We finish around 200 commercial cattle a year and we have 30 or 40 pedigree cattle. Our farm is around 100 acres between owned and rented ground."

Jack met his girlfriend Emma at school and she helps out on the farm on her days off.

"Her grandparents were farmers," Jack says. "When she is off, we meet up and get a bit more done. She would do mainly sheep work.

"The two of us have started a pedigree Suffolk flock together - it was Emma who wanted the Suffolks.

"I had them when I was 10 or 11 but it didn't work out - maybe I was too young at the time. But it was her sheep of choice and I said 'I will give them a go' and it's gone quite well. She helps out too whenever we go to agricultural shows.

"The biggest challenge on the pedigree side is trying to produce prize-winners the whole time and trying to get the most for the stock as possible. It's almost trying to breed cattle without a fault.

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Whatsapp New career: Valentine now has over 100 hives

"On the beef side, things are getting trickier and the margins are getting smaller, so it's trying to make that work, especially at the current time when beef prices are slipping. Getting everything to add up to leave something at the end is getting difficult.

"But I can't see myself doing anything else. When you know nothing else, it's maybe hard enough."

Valentine Hodges (60) is a former human resources and recruitment executive who took up beekeeping after reading an article in a magazine at an airport. She and her husband Chris now keep more than 100 hives across the Ards Peninsula and train Northern Irelands Young Beekeeping Team which competes internationally.

Ive lived on the Ards Peninsula all my life, Valentine says. I love it here  its Gods own country.

Ive done many jobs in my time but I never ever thought I would become a beekeeper.

Valentine says she loved her job as a director in a recruitment agency, working with branches across the UK and Ireland, but after 15 years was finding the amount of travel wearying.

I was getting up on Monday morning and travelling on the red eye and not returning until Friday  it really got to me. One week I took six flights and two of them were delayed, she says.

I was sitting in Gatwick airport on a Friday night and I thought there must be something better than this, and I picked up a magazine and read an article about the demise of the honeybee. It was a big thing at the time about colony collapse disorder.

She and Chris embarked on a beginners course together, acquired a couple of hives and really enjoyed it. But she became increasingly aware of the threats from imported bees and the spread of the varroa mite, and then began reading up on the native black bee, which had almost gone extinct in Ireland 10 years ago.

The pair decided to set up Loughshore Apiary in 2004 with the aim of helping to develop a haven for the black bee, which is better able to withstand the harsh winters here.

We got in touch with the National Trust and Mount Stewart helped us  they were very supportive of what we are trying to do, Valentine say.

We have hives at Mouth Stewart and a breeding programme there as well.

We have hives at Rosemount in Greyabbey and also at Ballywalter Estate  Lord Dunleath is very supportive.

Our dream is to have a conservation area on the Ards Peninsula because were surrounded by water. Bees dont like to fly over large bodies of water, so it would be ideal for a conservation area.

Expand Close Pig farmer Robbie Neil / Facebook

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Whatsapp Pig farmer Robbie Neil

From starting with a couple of hives, the couple now care for more than 100.

We teach beginner beekeeping and intermediate beekeeping and we also have bees in Hydebank, in the prison. Were also helping with the international young beekeepers, Valentine says.

We have a stall in St Georges Market and we sell online and theres a lovely shop in Newtownards, Cafollas, who have been very supportive in putting our products out  theyre natural skin products made from beeswax and honey.

Ironically, Valentine is allergic to bee stings and has to carry two Epipens at all times.

I have to go to the Royal once a month for bee venom therapy, she says.

Rare Breeds takes the viewer through the beekeeping year, from treating the hives in January to extracting honey, making the products and selling them at the Christmas market.

We tend to take our holidays in the wintertime when the bees arent as active, Valentine says.

I just think they are fantastic little creatures  so humble, yet they always have a back-up, they always have a plan B. I reckon every farmer should have one or two hives on their land. There is a lot we can learn from bees.

The business, Vees Bees, is also offering experience days to supplement the income.

Theyre for people who want to experience what its like in the world of beekeeping for a day, Valentine says.

We offer half days for people who want to find out if it is something they could do. We take them out and show them the biology  and they get to meet the queen!

Black bees remain under threat due to the lack of forage and the spread of varroa mites, Valentine says. We used to have hayfields with flowers in them, but there are no wildflowers in todays silage crops. We need to really think about this for the future  we need our insects whether we like it or not.

Robbie Neill (38) is a firefighter and smallholder who raises pedigree pigs outside Crossgar. He is married to Louise and they have three children, Angus (4), Connie (20 months) and James (8 months).

Ive grown up on the family farm along with my two brothers and my parents. My father passed away about four years ago and my younger brother and myself took up the mantle, Robbie says.

My brother and myself are now farming in partnership  hes on the cattle side of things and I have a smallholding which is rare breed pigs and a small flock of pedigree sheep and chickens as well.

Robbie estimates that he now keeps around 60 Oxford Sandy and Black pigs.

I started off when I got one sow as a novelty for a bit of crack, and its kind of really snowballed from that, he says. I feed them on brewers grain from a brewery called Farmageddon Brewery, whey from Mikes Fancy Cheese and raw vegetables from the local vegetable farmers, as well as some mineral meal. All of a sudden it kind of transformed into an artisan way of farming  it was rare breed pork and it was slow grown and the pigs live outdoors  and a few people started to take notice.

The farm now supplies Ispini Charcuterie, Indie Fude in Comber and No 14 At The Georgian House Restaurant in Comber.

We also own a wee mini farm shop at home where we sell our own lamb and all the different pork cuts as well, he says.

Well be selling our own beef in the New Year, he adds.

In his day job, Robbie is a Belfast-based firefighter who is part of the Specialist Rescue Team, dealing with everything from water rescues, to collapsing buildings and farm-related incidents.

Its usually things that are that wee bit different  usually something that is out of the box and backing up local crews, he explains. We just have different equipment on a different machine and rather than staying in the city, we are province-wide.

I love my job. I do an eight-day shift pattern  two days and two nights before having four days off. It gives me a bit of extra time with my family and it means Im not on the farm 24/7  I can get away from it and get a bit of adult conversation.

Robbie says the pedigree pig herd is a bit different from what his farming friends are doing.

The guys I run about with are all traditional beef and sheep guys and this is a bit different as well, he explains.

Between my brother and me, we didnt have the ground to be running a serious beef herd so it was something I could do to get into a niche market and keep the numbers small, he says.

A lot of my mates thought I was a buck eejit in the early days but theyre starting to take note now!

The documentary follows day-to-day life with the pigs, their feeding regime and putting them out to pasture.

Its the day-to-day routine of my feeding and keeping the pigs and following them right through their year and going off to the butchers, Robbie says.

Because of their ages, the only one of the children who would be really involved is Angus. Hes down at the farm right and often  hed always be pushing his way through the younger piglets.

Im not sure whether he gets the whole thing of pigs being reared and going right through to slaughter.

But he does see them from day one and sees them vacuum packed and going out for delivery. Its educating him  its about how the whole thing works as well.

The eighth season of Rare Breed  A Farming Year begins on Thursday night on UTV at 8.30pm, following 10 Northern Ireland families who are steeped in farming and industry
09.01.2020 LISTEN

The General Secretary of All People's Congress (APC) Mordecai Thiombiano leads a party delegation to the Northern Regional Capital Tamale ahead of a demonstration of an inter-party coalition on Saturday 11th January, 2020.

The demo is set to protest the Electoral Commission's decision to mismanage and embezzle funds through a needless compilation of a New Biometric Voter's Register.

He said the party is actively participating in all activities of the inter-party coalition to resist the compilation of the New Biometric Voter's Register.

He further added that Ghana does not belong to Nana Addo nor the ruling New Patriotic Party (NDC) therefore as citizens of Ghana and not spectators "we need to resist every oppressing decision by the ruling Government, particularly when it has to do with mismanagement and embezzlement of limited taxpayers money."

Mordecai Thiombiano continued, "Indeed it is outrageous to say the least, when one considers that an amount of Eight hundred and thirty-three million Ghana cedis (833,000,000) is going to be wasted for a needless replacement of an already credible biometric voters register."

Dr Hassan Ayariga the Founder/Leader of the party is expected to arrive in Tamale on Friday 10th January, 2019.
(ANSA) - Vatican City, January 9 - Pope Francis commented on the heightened tensions between Iran and the United States in his annual address to members of the diplomatic corps on Thursday and called on both nations to seek to de-escalate the situation. The pope said the situation "risks... compromising the gradual process of rebuilding in Iraq, as well as setting the groundwork for a vaster conflict".

He also renewed his appeal "that all the interested parties avoid an escalation of the conflict and 'keep alive the flame of dialogue and self-restraint', in full respect of international law".


Iran Air Space

Screenshot/FlightRadar24

Global airlines are avoiding airspace in and around Iran and Iraq, as news emerges that a Ukrainian plane that crashed near Tehran early Wednesday was accidentally shot down by Iran.

The FAA created a no-fly zone for US civil aircraft following an Iranian missile attack on US forces in Iraq on Wednesday. The Ukraine International Airlines flight, PS752, crashed shortly after the missile launch.

Other airlines are following the FAA's guidance, but much of the airspace, including over the waters of the Persian Gulf, is virtually unavoidable for Middle Eastern airlines like Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar, which fly passengers globally via Middle Eastern hubs.

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Global airlines are continuing to reroute flights in the Middle East on reports that a passenger plane that crashed in Iran on Tuesday was shot down by a missile, killing all 176 people on board.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) on Tuesday establishing a no-fly zone for US aviators over Iran and Iraq, after Iran fired missiles at an Iraqi base housing US military personnel. The attack was in retaliation for a US airstrike in Iraq that killed Iran's top general Qassem Soleimani.

The NOTAM, which also prohibited US civil aircraft from flying above "the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman," was issued due to the "potential for miscalculation or misidentification" for civilian planes, the FAA said.

When it was issued, the NOTAM was based only on the possibility of a civilian plane being misidentified as a military target. Shortly after Iran's missile strike on the Iraqi base, a Ukraine International Airlines flight from Tehran to Kyiv crashed within minutes of taking off.

Iranian officials initially said that there was a mechanical issue and implied the timing was a coincidence. However, on Thursday, US intelligence officials said that it was "highly likely" that the plane had been shot down accidentally by Iran.

Story continues

Although the ban only applies to US airlines and cargo carriers, few of which typically fly over the affected airspace, numerous global airlines have chosen to follow the guidance anyway.

Air France, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, and Taiwan's EVA Air said they would avoid the airspace, while Singapore Airlines said it would not fly over Iran, according to CNN.

Australian airline Qantas said that it was considering adding a refueling stop to its 17-hour flight from Perth to London in order to avoid the affected airspace, or unloading 90 passengers per flight in order to reduce weight.

A complication is that the airspace over the region, which is a major transit route for flights into and out of the United Arab Emirates, tends to be heavily trafficked. Airlines like Emirates and Etihad, which are based in the UAE, frequently fly over the Persian Gulf connecting passengers between the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. For Qatar Airways, airspace is even more restricted due to blockades from other Middle Eastern states.

Data from flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed air traffic continuing over the region, but primarily from regional airlines or UAE and Qatari airlines.

Several airlines cancelled flights due to the restrictions and escalating tensions. Lufthansa said it would not fly to Tehran or the Iraqi city of Erbil, while Emirates cancelled flights between Dubai and Baghdad, CNN reported.

Read the original article on Business Insider
When I was a grad student in Germany, I remember visiting the city of Ulm. Two particular, commingled sights come to mind: first, pausing at the marker for Albert Einsteins birth in 1879 (before his family moved to Munich six weeks later); and second, ascending the dizzying heights of the 530-foot cathedral tower. The combination strikes me as instructive: Most of us see in Einstein a mind that seemed to unlock the deepest mysteries of the universe. He sought a theory of everything. And many have sought to ascend with him into higher realms of insight, through many tiring steps.

Can Einstein bring us closer to Gods view of the world? Oxford Universitys Alister McGrath takes up this question in his book, A Theory of Everything (That Matters): A Brief Guide to Einstein, Relativity, and His Surprising Thoughts on God. McGrathwho holds advanced degrees in theology, intellectual history, and molecular biophysicsis a leading light in the dialogue of faith and science.

McGrath does a remarkable job of explaining Einsteins rigorous and intricate theories. I was particularly struck by his elaboration of the four papers Einstein wrote as a Swiss patent clerk during the miracle year of 1905, including papers setting out the theory of special relativity and describing the photoelectric effect, which led both to the development of quantum theorythat light is both a wave and a particle, or, in Einsteins words, packets of waves and a 1921 Nobel Prize. McGrath, by the way, expertly explains the politics behind the Nobel committees decisions, shedding light on why Einstein didnt receive a prize for his greatest intellectual achievementthe theory of general relativity.

Einsteins theory puzzled many contemporary scientists, and it wasnt until May 1919 that observations of an eclipse by the great English scientist Sir Arthur Eddington (and others) offered confirmation. As I write, the 100th anniversary of this event has received a tremendous amount of attention. Even then, as McGrath explains, many declared it a new scientific revolution that had overthrown [Isaac] Newton. Despite the media sensation, however, Einsteins discoveries were more a natural completion of Newtons theories than a decisive scientific break, as Einstein later noted and McGrath is careful to highlight.

The Path of Intuition

What are the theological implications of the theory of general relativity? As the science writer Timothy Ferris wrote of George Lemaitre, the Belgian Catholic priest and scientist who confirmed the theory mathematically, the universe might have begun as an infinitely small pinpointa singularity, in mathematical termsat time zero, a day when space was infinitely curved and all matter and all energy was concentrated into a single quantum of energy. This expanding cone of the universe would have a starting point, commonly known as the Big Bang.

But how does this match up with the Christian belief that God created the world ex nihilo (or out of nothing)? As both Lemaitre and McGrath (in other places) have advised the faithful, it doesnt make for a precise fit. Believers need to avoid making extravagant theological claims about the Big Bang, even if there are some parallels between Einsteins physics and the doctrine of creation.

I found myself drawn to how Einstein brought it all together in his 1934 book Mein Weltbild, translated into English as The World as I See It. Arguing that the supreme task of the physicist is to search for general elementary laws that can be woven together to give a comprehensive picture of the world (Weltbild), Einstein notes that there is no logical path to those laws. Rather, they arise through the intuition, testing on a sympathetic understanding of experience.

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And this concept isnt incidental to Einsteins work. He often knew intuitively and imaginatively before he could offer proof. McGrath suggests this is most likely the situation with his theory of special relativity.

In the second part of the book, McGrath turns from describing Einsteins theories to portraying the scientist as a big picture thinker who made distinctive use of religion, which for him entailed a sense of deep mystery in the worldbut no personal God involved in human affairs. In a 1954 letter, Einstein commented that the Bible is a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.

Einstein pondered the God of beautiful mathematical equations. McGrath expertly describes this way of thinking, in which the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility, as Einstein wrote in his 1954 book Ideas and Opinions. As McGrath makes clear, when Einstein declared that science without religion is blind, and religion without science is lame, it certainly wasnt a veiled admission of atheism, as Richard Dawkins has opined. Nor, however, was it an endorsement of Christian belief.

Information and Elevation

Toward the end of his book, McGrath addresses the relationship between objects and subjects, pointing out that physics, among the sciences, is focused most predominantly on describing the objective world of nature rather than our subjective experience of it. But as human beings, of course, we long for more than abstract knowledge about the workings of nature, which cant come close to satisfying our need for meaning.

Which leads to the central question: Will todays readers judge it worth the effort to follow along with insights into the laws of physics that Einstein presented over a century agoand that scientists are still trying to grasp more fully? It bears mentioning that McGrath uses well over half of his 184 pages just to summarize Einsteins scientific discoveries. In the end, the book seemed to offer more information than elevation. How much does it really matter whether I know the ins and outs of why light bends because of gravity, or that time dilates? Will that change my life as a follower of Jesus?

As C. S. Lewis once remarked (in a sentence that McGrath quotes elsewhere), I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. We see all of life more beautifully and meaningfully through our faith in Jesus and his gospel. What, then, can Einstein add?

Ultimately, McGrath believes that Christianity has a bigger picture of the world than Einstein can offer, which allows him to set Christian faith in conversation with the natural sciences more generally. McGrath draws in Sir Thomas Brownes two books analogy, the Belgic Confession, and John Calvin, concluding that Christians can set Einsteins reading of the book of Nature alongside [their] own reading of the book of Scripture.

In the final paragraph of the book, he sums things up like this: I do not suggest that Christianity alone provides a way of seeing things that allows us to hold together these objective and subjective worlds: that would be arrogant and inaccurate. Yet I cannot overlook the fact that it does hold them together and allows them to be seen as a part of a greater whole, rather than disconnected realms of thought.

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As I worked my way through A Theory of Everything (That Matters), ascending the steps of the intellectual tower erected by Einstein and his many pathbreaking discoveries, I was stunned by the breadth of knowledge on display. McGraths command of the facts is truly encyclopedic, and his grasp of Einsteins theories is firm. Yet Im doubtful that one can climb Einsteins tower all the way to the celestial realm. Getting there requires other sources of illumination.

Greg Cootsona is a lecturer in comparative religion and humanities at Chico State University, a co-director of the Science for the Church ministry, and the author of Negotiating Science and Religion in America: Past, Present, and Future (Routledge).
Whilst it may not be a huge deal, we thought it was good to see that the EFT Solutions Holdings Limited (HKG:8062) Chairman & CEO, Chun Kit Lo, recently bought HK$65k worth of stock, for HK$0.14 per share. However, we do note that it only increased their holding by 0.1%, and it wasn't a huge purchase by absolute value, either.

See our latest analysis for EFT Solutions Holdings

EFT Solutions Holdings Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent purchase by Chun Kit Lo is the biggest insider purchase of EFT Solutions Holdings shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that even when the share price was higher than HK$0.14 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares is very important. It is encouraging to see an insider paid above the current price for shares, as it suggests they saw value, even at higher levels. Chun Kit Lo was the only individual insider to buy over the year.

Chun Kit Lo bought a total of 630.00k shares over the year at an average price of HK$0.15. 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:8062 Recent Insider Trading, January 9th 2020

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.

Does EFT Solutions Holdings Boast High Insider Ownership?

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It's great to see that EFT Solutions Holdings insiders own 72% of the company, worth about HK$47m. I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders.

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What Might The Insider Transactions At EFT Solutions Holdings Tell Us?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. But on the other hand, the company made a loss last year, which makes us a little cautious. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest EFT Solutions Holdings insiders are well aligned, and quite possibly think the share price is too low. Looks promising! Along with insider transactions, I recommend checking if EFT Solutions Holdings is growing revenue. This free chart of historic revenue and earnings should make that easy.

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.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

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.



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. Thank you for reading.
Does using powder in the genital area increase the risk of ovarian cancer? A new data analysis of over 250,000 women found no link, but the authors urge caution as the study may not be large enough. Share on Pinterest Is there a link between powder and ovarian cancer? Some people use powder on their genitals to reduce moisture, friction, or odor. Most powder products, which some people call talcum powder or baby powder, contain talc. Whether there is a link between the use of powder and ovarian cancer is a controversial topic. Several thousand women have filed lawsuits against a baby powder manufacturer after concerns that they developed ovarian cancer in response to using the product. In the most extensive study to date, Katie OBrien from the Chronic Disease Epidemiology Group at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the United States National Institute of Health, and her co-authors try to address this issue. Ovarian cancer is a rare but deadly disease, and it is important to study possible risk factors for the disease if we want to learn how to prevent it, OBrien told Medical News Today. Previous studies had reported a possible positive association between genital powder use and ovarian cancer, but my co-authors and I saw an opportunity to do a very large study that also addressed some of the potential limitations of the previous ones, she continued. The study features in the journal JAMA .

For their study, OBrien and her colleagues made use of four prospective cohort studies: the Nurses Health Study, Nurses Health Study II, Sister Study, and the Womens Health Initiative Observational Study. To our knowledge, these are the only cohorts that collected data on genital powder use, OBrien explained to MNT on the choice of study population. The team combined the data from all four cohorts to look for associations between powder use and an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer. The total number of women included in the study was 257,044. Across this data set, 39% of women reported having used powder in their genital area, of which 10% said they use such products long-term. After excluding women who had missing data, there were 250,577 women in the study without ovarian cancer and 2,168 women who developed ovarian cancer during the follow-up period. OBrien calculated the estimated risk of developing ovarian cancer by the age of 70 and compared the group who used power to the group who didnt use powder. In this pooled analysis of four large U.S. cohorts, there was no statistically significant association between self-reported use of powder in the genital area and risk of ovarian cancer, the authors write in the paper. The team did find a small effect when they analyzed a subgroup of women with intact reproductive tracts, but this did not reach statistical significance. In the paper, the authors write that this finding should be considered only exploratory and hypothesis generating. They explain that in women with intact reproductive tracts, powder can directly travel to the affected areas and cause irritation or inflammation. In women who have had their womb removed or their fallopian tubes blocked, powder doesnt have physical access to the ovaries.
A pill used to treat diabetes could be repurposed to prevent recurrent miscarriage, doctors revealed today.

Trials found women who had suffered multiple lost pregnancies benefited from being given sitagliptin, a daily tablet for people with type-2 diabetes.

The drug increases the number of stem cells in the lining of the womb, thereby improving its ability to support pregnancy.

Researchers now want to hold larger trials to assess whether the drug is able to improve the overall chances of having a baby.

Miscarriage occurs in up to one in four pregnancies and is most commonly caused by genetic defects in the embryo.

But in women who suffer multiple miscarriages, the womb is more likely to be the cause. Having a miscarriage harms the womb, meaning that each occurrence increases the risk of a subsequent miscarriage.

Women given sitagliptin increased the stem cells count in the womb by an average of 68 per cent and decreased the number of stressed cells by half.

Of the 16 participants given the drug, eight went on to give birth and three suffered miscarriage.

Of the 17 women given a placebo, there were seven births and six miscarriages. The participants had suffered an average of five previous miscarriages.

Professor Jan Brosens, of University of Warwick medical school, told the Standard: The big surprise was it worked. Those who received treatment did better than those on a placebo.

The research, in the journal EBioMedicine, was funded by Tommys National Miscarriage Research Centre.

Professor Brosens, a consultant at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, said: There are currently very few effective treatments for miscarriage and this is the first that aims at normalising the womb before pregnancy.

Although miscarriages can be caused by genetic errors in the embryo, an abnormal womb lining causes the loss of chromosomal normal pregnancies.

"We hope this treatment will prevent such losses and reduce the physical and psychological burden of recurrent miscarriage.

Jane Brewin, chief executive of Tommys, said: For too long it has often been said that miscarriage is not preventable and parents have been left with little hope given the paucity of treatment options available.

"This research shows great promise for an effective treatment which will reduce miscarriage.

Professor Siobhan Quenby, from Warwick clinical trials unit, said: We have improved the environment that an embryo develops in and in doing so we hope to improve the chances of a successful pregnancy.
The Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce will host the twelfth annual State of the City Sugar Land Address on Friday, January 24. The gathering is scheduled from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. and will feature guest speakers Mayor Joe Zimmerman and retiring City Manager Allen Bogard, who will take the stage for his final State of the City Address as he plans to retire in late January. Bogards departure in the coming weeks commemorates the conclusion of his 44-year career in public service, which was recently crowned by a prestigious career excellence award from International City/County Management Association.

Related: Sugar Land city manager Allen Bogard to retire

As the City of Sugar Land celebrates 60 years since its incorporation, the presentation will include reflections on the citys past, information about current events and comments by Mayor Zimmerman as to whats on the horizon for Sugar Land. the citys new city manager, Mike Goodrum, will also be recognized during the presentation.

The State of the City presentation will highlight plans related to the recent $90.76 million voter-approved bond program and associated projects including drainage improvements, facilities projects, street repairs and upgrades and a new animal shelter.

City leaders are also expected to discuss the citys mobility master plan as well as forward-thinking strategies for maintaining and building upon past successes and Sugar Lands position as a financial and economic leader in Fort Bend County and the greater Houston area, officials said.

Businesses and individual sponsors of the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce event to be recognized include Presenting Sponsors: Fluor Corporation, Huitt-Zollars, Inc., Johnson Development Corporation, Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital, and Paradigm Consultants, Inc. Underwriting sponsors for the event to be recognized include: Costello, Inc., Dannenbaum Engineering Corporation, Freese and Nichols, Inc., Geotest Engineering, Inc., LandPark Commercial, Halff Associates, Inc., MD Anderson Cancer Center, Republic Service, S & B Infrastructure, Ltd., Smart Financial Credit Union.

Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce officials say event sponsorships are still available. Presenting sponsorships can be purchased for $2,500 and include a table for ten, business logos on all event marketing materials and recognition during the event. Underwriter sponsorships are available for $1,000 and include a table for eight, printed business name on event marketing materials and recognition during the event. A corporate table seating eight guests is available for $650. Individual reservations to the event for members are $45 with non-member reservations available for $50.

For more information or to make a reservation, visit www.FortBendChamber.com or contact Paige Talbott at 281-566-2152 or via email at Paige@fortbendcc.org.

The Houston Marriott Sugar Land is located at 16090 City Walk at the corner of U.S. Highway 59 and State Highway 6.
A potentially big advance for neuroprostheses

Scientists discover neural activity patterns for limb movements remain stable over time

Like listening to 'cocktail party conversations' in the brain

Ultimate goal: a neuroprosthesis that translates brain signals (the activity of tens to hundreds of neurons) into a variety of movements

CHICAGO --- Once you learn a skill like tying your sneakers, you can perform it consistently over the years. This suggests the neural activity in the brain associated with the skill remains stable over time.

Thus far, though, it has been impossible to find this stable neural signal, because the electrodes necessary to monitor the brain activity see an ever-changing set of neurons.

New Northwestern Medicine findings provide an immediate way of compensating for this change in recorded neurons. Hidden in the activity patterns, scientists discovered a small set of neural "conversations" underlying the individual neurons' activity that described movements in a remarkably stable way over many months or years.

Northwestern scientists were able to record, decode and reconstruct preserved activity patterns for common movement skills from these ever-changing neurons in both motor and sensory areas of the cerebral cortex.

The findings have immediate implications for neuroprostheses, devices that bypass neurological injuries by inferring intended motor actions from a patient's brain, then using this decoded information to provide the patient voluntary control of a computer cursor, a robot limb or even their own reanimated limb.

"The study is significant because it is the first to extract or 'decode' a stable pattern of information from many neurons across the different brain areas that work together to create a movement," said lead author Lee Miller, professor of physiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "Previous studies focused on the individual neurons, whose activity cannot typically be recorded for more than a few hours, and reported somewhat contradictory findings."

The challenge the scientists solved is a bit like attending a cocktail party where many people are talking to each other about politics, religion and the weather. The combined voices are impossible to follow, and listening to a single person only works until they wander away. However, by monitoring a few representative people and extracting the information related to these three different topics, one could come away from the evening with a very good running commentary of current events.

Such is the case in the cerebral cortex: one can sample several hundred neurons out of many million to find the dominant neural "conversations." By combining the simultaneous recordings from many neurons, it is possible to extract stable patterns of activity distributed across the whole population, potentially allowing for consistent control of a neuroprosthesis over long periods of time.

The study was published Jan. 6 in Nature Neuroscience.

Although there have been pre-clinical demonstrations of neuroprostheses that try to address multiple movement commands, they all have the same limitation, Miller said. The individual neurons driving the neuroprostheses change across days. This instability in the signals being recorded makes it difficult to interpret movement commands, and requires the patient and the neuroprosthesis to relearn how to move almost every day.

Other groups have developed methods to accelerate this process, but the Northwestern results suggest that it may not be necessary if one focuses on the neural conversations rather than on the individual neurons.

"Our study supports a recent model of how the brain works: by using highly distributed patterns of activity across neurons to generate behavior, rather than by carefully adjusting the activity of each individual neuron," said first author Juan Gallego, a former postdoc in Miller's lab who is now an assistant professor at Imperial College London.

Miller's final goal is to have a neuroprosthesis that translates brain signals (the activity of tens to hundreds of neurons) into a variety of movements over a long period of time. Current neuroprostheses only function particularly well for the tasks on which they have been trained.

"By accurately predicting how the subject wants to activate their many individual muscles, this future neuroprosthesis should, in principle, allow the user to perform any movement she wants," Miller said.

But challenges remain to achieve this. Scientists can currently build a mathematical model that predicts muscle activity during a given task (and Miller's team has done it for several tasks), or even during a slightly different task.

"Yet, these mathematical models fail when you test them on a very different task," Miller said. "In other words, with current methods a 'hammering nails' model may not work well when the subject is 'applying lipstick.'"

Miller's lab team is working to overcome this challenge. In preclinical studies, they are performing wireless recordings of brain signals, muscle activity and movement data. They are exploring methods from artificial intelligence to build a model that works for a much broader variety of movements than has previously been possible.

"If successful, this research will open new exciting avenues for bringing neuroprostheses from the lab to the patients' homes," Miller said.

###

Coauthors on the paper were Matt Perich at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Raeed Chowdhury at University of Pittsburgh.

The work was supported in part by grants F31-NS092356 and NS053603 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorder and Stroke and grant T32-HD07418 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, all of the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 08, 2020 | 10:07 PM | MAYFIELD

A stabbing in Mayfield Wednesday left one person injured and another facing an assault charge.

According to the Mayfield Police Department, officers were called to the Plaza Apartments on Barton Drive where officers say 39-year-old Jessica Coble of Mayfield allegedly stabbed a male victim in the chest.

The victim was transported by ambulance to Jackson Purchase Medical Center and is expected to recover from a non-life threatening injury.

Police found Coble at her apartment. Police say Coble was arrested after evidence showed that she followed the victim into the roadway after he left her apartment. A knife was recovered at Coble's apartment.

Coble was charged with 2nd degree assault domestic violence and lodged in the Graves County Jail.
The United States has imposed financial sanctions on one of the vice presidents of South Sudan for his involvement in human rights abuses.

A statement from the US treasury says Taban Deng Gai arranged the disappearance and deaths of the human rights lawyer, Samuel Dong Luak, and an opposition politician, Aggrey Idry.

It said he did this in order to strengthen his position within the opposition party, the SPLM-IO.

In 2018 President Salva Kiir and the rebel leader Riek Machar signed a peace deal aimed at ending a civil war that displaced almost four million people.

There is however growing international concern that the deal could still unravel as a unity government has still not been formed.

Follow Us on Facebook  @LadunLiadi; Instagram  @LadunLiadi; Twitter  @LadunLiadi; Youtube  @LadunLiadiTV for updates
August March

When Weekly Alibi found out that Red Nation, a local indigenous activist group, had planned a gathering to protest the assassination Iranian General Qasem Soleimani by the Trump administrationand the war that such an awful act portendedthey sent ace reporter August March to cover the protest rally that happened on Saturday, Jan. 4 on the edge of downtown Albuquerque.

It was a bright sunny day. After the cold but un-snowy December holidays, the weather had yielded a bit to a slightly warmer clime. So the center of town was busy, even a few blocks away from the protest. The City of of Albuquerque requires paid parking at many public-adjacent areas Downtown, so after swiping and setting the alarm, our one-man reporting team trooped toward the corner of First Street and Central Avenue.

There was a small and respectfully distant contingent of Albuquerque Police Department officers hanging out and talking at the southern edge of the Alvarado Transportation Complex, where the Amtrak trains are. They projected an aura of youth and education and strength and waved back with seriously earnest smiles.

Closer to the rally, the shadows of the big new buildings on the block took over, rendering an otherwise relatively warm day as somewhat shaded and cold. Despite the challenging environment, about 100 people were present, holding signs denouncing Trump and American foreign policy, chanting and speaking amongst themselves about what was bound to happen next.

A youngish, no older than 25, ginger-haired man was addressing the crowd. Interestingly he was wearing a hoodie that prominently displayed the symbol of the Juggalos, a running man with a hatchet. He told the crowd, It doesnt matter how you are different, everyone is different. But Trump is a hypocrite. They are preaching hate, preaching to make America great again, but they are taking steps, huge steps backwards. We all need to get together for the right reasons to get this guy the hell out of office and we need to vote against Armageddon. After a brief discourse on economics right?! the local juggalo yielded the megaphone to the next speaker. When asked why he was at a war protest rally, he told our reporter, You have to choose a side now. There are things in this world that are wrong.

Hope Alvarado, an organizer at the local chapter of Red Nation told Weekly Alibi that her organization put on the event to specifically address some of the violence thats happening out of the country, internationally. Specifically, the US occupation and war with countries that have been historicallynot only marginalizedbut targeted for their resources.

Jennifer Marley, another Red Nation organizer who spoke extensively at the event and also led the crowd in enthusiastic anti-war chants, added that she thought that the assassination of the Iranian general was an act of war. Its something we condemn. We condemn US imperialism as a whole. This is something thats going to cause a lot of strife.

Walking through the crowd, it was clear that a wide swath of the local community was represented. Different groups of multi-generational subcultures, some an entire familys worth, were listening and clapping and finding solidarity in the words of the speakers who passed the megaphone from one to another on that crisp yet shadowy day.

Among the crowd, the faces of several longtime Albuquerque community leaders and peace advocates seemed to be beaming beatific vibes to the rest of the restless audience. Enrique Cardiel, a longtime advocate for community health concerns, Chicano rights and global peace in our time told Weekly Alibi that he was at the protest rally because war, in general, is a stupid direction to go. We should honor people, we should work together. We jump into wars all of the time and at the end of the day, its rich people sending working-class kids to shoot each other. We need to disengage from that, move beyond it. We can start by doing that here. By building community here, we have a stronger voice.

Barbara Grothus, present and carrying a sign reflecting her disdain for the Trump administrationwhose recent curation of an anti-nuclear art show at Sanitary Tortilla Factory speaks to her lengthy involvement in the statewide anti-war movementalso had some choice words for readers, telling our reporter, It is so overwhelming. How can people live after weve finished with them? This has been going on and on and on. We all have to be here. We all have to be present now to stay stop it now. But we have so many battles. We cant even find places for people to sleep out of the cold in our own city. Its maddening. These people arent doing anything to us. Weve been doing this since the 90s. Ive been listening to this my whole life. I am sick of it.

The reporter wandered clumsily through the crowd for about another half an hour. During that time at least one protester kept asking him why he was so interested in interviewing the Juggalowhile reminding him who the organizers of the event were, should he care for an introduction.

March was polite, declined the invite because he had already talked to the organizers. As he left, he mumbled that the whole Juggalo angle was so ironic that he had to include it. After all, if everyone from Red Nation to youthful gay hippie families to aging hipsters to community stalwarts and even a college-educated cop or two were hep to what was going on, having a Juggalo on the bandwagon just cemented the whole deal in his mind.

Our reporter left the protest then, passing a packed Central Avenue restaurant as he did. The joint was filled with families, out on the slightly warm weekend to enjoy the city that they loved. He wondered how many of them were wondering about war as they feasted on the fresh produce of Western civilization on that midwinter day.
Head of Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) LLC Serhiy Makogon counts on the start of test gas supplies to Ukraine via the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline in January.

"We are looking for new opportunities of using the existing infrastructure (of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline) and have achieved the creation of a new corridor for gas supplies to Ukraine from Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece in the amount of up to 15.8 million cubic meters per day on its basis. We are counting on test deliveries already in January," he wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday evening, commenting on the official launch of Turkish Stream on January 8.

"We have already felt its influence. From January 1, 2020 gas is transited through Ukraine in the Balkan direction only for the needs of Romania and Moldova. Bulgaria, Turkey and other countries in this region no longer receive gas through Ukraine. As a result, a decrease in transit through Ukraine this year will be about 15 billion cubic meters," Makogon said.
LUCKNOW: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has prepared a master plan for turning the ancient holy city of Ayodhya into a ''Smart City.'' It may be recalled that in November 2019, the UP government had agreed to develop seven municipal corporations, including Ayodhya and Gorakhpur, as ''smart cities.''

It was also agreed that each municipal corporation under the Smart City Project will be given Rs 50 crore. Apart from Ayodhya and Gorakhpur, the other five corporations included in the list were Meerut, Ghaziabad, Firozbad, Mahura-Vrindavan and Shahjahanpur. As part of the project, the master plan being readied by the UP government will focus on key development projects earmarked for completion in Ayodhya till 2031.

After the Supreme Court's favourable verdict in the politically-sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case, the Uttar Pradesh government has made elaborate plans to construct a resplendent destination in the temple town. There is a proposal to install a 151-metre-tall statue of Lord Ram on the banks of the Saryu river in Ayodhya - his birthplace.

The Mayor of Ayodhya, Rishikesh Upadhyay, has disclosed that the ancient holy city will be developed as a ''major pilgrimage centre'' under the Smart City Project.

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The Ayodhya Mayor said that an Ayodhya Pilgrimage Development Council will also be set up which will be tasked with developing the city with the state-of-the-art modern infrastructure to promote tourism and connectivity.

Upadhyay said that as per the directions of the Supreme Court, the top district and Uttar Pradesh government officials in coordination with the Central government had met and prepared a detailed roadmap for transformation of Ayodhya into a smart city.

he said that the state government aims to build Ayodhya as the biggest religious destination in North India with plans to constitute an Ayodhya Tirtha Development Board to take this task further.

For the transformation of Ayodhya, the government will soon make air connectivity better in Ayodhya with an international airport with all modern state-of-the-art facilities. The Narendra Modi government at the Centre has already sanctioned 100 crore rupees for revamping the Ayodhya railway station. Moreover, a bus terminus with a capacity of 3,000 to 4,000 buses have also been proposed and is awaiting the Chief Ministers approval.

Ayodhya was a town in Faizabad district before the Adityanath government renamed the entire district after it in 2018.

Sources in the Culture and Tourism Department had suggested that a 13-kilometre long corridor on the life of Lord Ram is also on the cards. A cruise on the Saryu river is also proposed, which will provide a scenic view to tourists and devotees who come to Ayodhya. Meanwhile, five-star hotels and resorts are also expected to come up in the temple town.

A proposal to include 42 nearby villages into Ayodhya has also been sent to the government by the Ayodhya Municipal Corporation. Earlier the proposal was to include only 22 villages. If sources are to be believed then the state government is likely to rope in a force of more than 2,000 labourers for the completion of construction of the Ram temple.

The Ayodhya district administration has also made an animation film showcasing how the holy city will be turned into a smart city in the times to come. This animation film will be shown to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for his final approval.

A crucial meeting to discuss the Ayodhya Master Plan was held on Wednesday which was attended by District Magistrate Anuja Jha, Commissioner MP Agarwal and other state government officials.
The United States is set to vote on Thursday on a measure limiting President Donald Trump's ability to take military action against Iran, as the backlash following his decision to kill a top Iranian general continues to intensify.

In a one-page statement, speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi said last week's drone strike of General Qassem Soleimani was provocative and disproportionate.

In response, Vice-President Mike Pense said on Thursday during an aerly morning television interview that Soleimani was travelling the region making plans to bring an attack against American personnel and American forces.

But, again, would not disclose full details of this intelligence.

When it comes to intelligence we have to protect sources and methods, there's only certain amount we can share with every member of Congress, added Pence.

Trump took to his twitter account to speak-up against Pelosi's War Power Resolution.

Voting on the resolution comes as tensions between Tehran and Washington appear to be easing, after Iran's President Hassan Rouhani warned on Thursday of a very dangerous response if the US makes another mistake.

Missile strike

In the early hours of Wednesday, Iran launched a series of ballistic missiles at two military bases housing American troops in Iraq.

The attack was in retaliation for the US strike that killed Soleimani.

Rouhani added that the missile strike was a legitimate act of self-defense under the U.N. Charter.

Shortly after the strike, Trump spoke from the White House stating there were no American.

But according to the semi-official Iranian Tasnim news agency, General Ali Fadavi, the acting commander of the Revolutionary Guard said 13 missiles were fired killing 80 Americans.

RFI and other non-Iranian media have not been able to verify this claim.

He did stress the goal of the operation was not kill anyone but to strike the enemy's military machine.

Trump did signal that he would not retaliate militarily for the strike, adding the United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.

Nuclear deal

In addition to launching strikes, Iran abandoned its remaining commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal; the very same one Trump walked away from in May 2018.

Rouhani added however, Iran would continue to cooperate with UN inspectors.

Pence announced on Thursday that Trump will ask its allies to ditch the current Iran nuclear deal and to join the US in withdrawing from the deal and demand that Iran abandon its long history of sowing terrorist violence, abandon its nuclear ambitions and join the family of nations.

Ukranian Airlines crash

The missile attacks were followed by news that a Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines had crashed early Wednesday morning, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

No official cause for the crash has been made, but Ukraine outlined on Thursday four potential scenarios, including a missile strike.

Kiev says it wants to search the site of Wednesday's crash southwest of Tehran for possible debris of a Russian-made missile used by Iran's military.

The US has since stated it believes an Iranian missile brought down the aircraft.

Iranian investigators say the plane was experiencing an unspecified technical programme that killed all 176 people on board.
This is Chinas first confirmation that it will sign the first phase of the trade deal in Washington, DC.

Chinas Vice Premier Liu He, the head of the countrys negotiating team in trade talks with the United States, will sign a phase one deal in Washington, DC, next week, the commerce ministry said on Thursday.

Liu will visit the US capital from January 13 to 15, said Gao Feng, a spokesman at the commerce ministry.

Negotiating teams from both sides remain in close communication on the particular arrangements of the signing, Gao told reporters at a regular briefing.

This is the first Chinese confirmation that the deal would be signed after US President Donald Trump said on December 31 that the phase one deal with China would be signed on January 15 at the White House.

Liu will travel with the titles of Politburo member, vice premier and top trade negotiator, according to Gao. There was no mention of whether he will be designated a special envoy for President Xi Jinping, a title he held on some previous trips to Washington, DC.

Trump had said he would sign the deal with high-level representatives of China, and that he would later travel to Beijing to begin talks on the next phase.

The phase one deal reached last month is expected to cut tariffs and boost Chinese purchases of US farm, energy and manufactured goods while addressing some disputes over intellectual property.

But no version of the text has been made public, and Chinese officials have yet to publicly commit to key points such as increasing imports of US goods and services by $200bn over two years.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has said he expects the 86-page document of the deal will be publicly released after it is signed.

The US launched a trade war against Beijing a year and a half ago over allegations of unfair trade practices, such as theft of US intellectual property and subsidies that unfairly benefit Chinese state-owned companies.

When asked if China would have to reduce grain imports from other countries to meet its US commitments, Gao said China will continue to improve the administration of tariff quotas for wheat, corn and soybeans in accordance with World Trade Organization commitments, and will make full use of quotas according to market conditions.

This is not inconsistent with expanding agricultural imports from the US, said Gao.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a decision according to which Sargis Hayotsyan has been appointed chairman of the Science Committee of the ministry of education, science, culture and sport.

The PMs respective decision is posted on e-gov.am.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
The Assam Government will provide one-time Special Grant to school and college-going children of employees of the non-operational Hindustan Paper Mills at Jagiroad and Panchgram, state Finance Minister Himanata Biswa Sarma said on Thursday.

Special grants would be given to children of regular, serving employees of Hindustan Paper Corporation to help to enable them to pursue their studies, Sarma told a press conference here.

Students pursuing various courses within Assam or outside the state would be eligible for grant of Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh under the scheme to pursue education, he said.

To a question if the children of those employees who committed suicide due to alleged financial problem, the minister said those children could also apply for the Special Grant.

He said students have to apply in an online portal, created exclusively for this purpose, on the lines of the Abhinandan Scheme ( Loan Subsidy scheme).

The district deputy commissioners will verify the eligibility of the applications and approve them for the funds to be transferred to the beneficiaries' bank account.

The minister also said that for Divyang employees of the state government, an interest subsidy scheme has been introduced for purchasing two-wheelers and cars with bank loans as costs of Divyang friendly conveyance is higher due to modifications necessary to make the vehicles user friendly for them.

The state government will provide interest subsidy of 4 per cent to the Differently Abled employees, he added.

Assam government has also introduced a Rs 5 lakh medical reimbursement to the contractual employees and their dependents under the National Health Mission (NHM), Assam, the minister said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Eric Williams Photography

In November 2018, the blue wave flowed over the state of New Mexico, bringing with it change and hope. You can attribute that sea change, at least here in The Land of Enchantment, to the Democratic Party.

Machinelike in its majesty yet still ultra-responsive to the basic need to provide progressive governance in this state, the New Mexico Democratic Party went to bat for the citizens of this state. In that base-rounding process, voters made sure there was a compassionate and professional donkey running the Roundhouse as well as creating a Congressional delegation that is all Democrat all the timeeven in the South where conservative, pro-fossil fuel voices persist, the election of Xochitl Torres Small demonstrated not only the power of the party but the will of the people.

One of the reasons the Dems were able to handily grasp the reigns of the future away from incompetent usurpers like Susana Martinez has to do with the Democrat demographics.

That partydespite whatever controversies and internecine fighting grip it currentlyhas always been the party of youth. The idealism of Kennedy still flows through the collective anatomy of a political brand that is growing, even as a truculent and dangerous Republican administration continues to do its damage as it calls for America to ignore the future and cling steadfastly to a past where things like civil rights and a clean environment werent givens.

To find out more about the direction the Democratic Party in New Mexico is taking as the year 2020 quickly carries us toward a very important November election, Weekly Alibi chatted with Miranda van Dijk, the new Communications Director for Democratic operations here in The Land of Enchantment.

A graduate in History and Creative Writing from the University of Pennsylvania, the former press assistant to Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York), and Senator Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada), van Dijk came to live in New Mexico this past summer to help prepare for what can only be termed the political battle of a lifetime.

Shes already made headway, assisting New Mexico Dem Chair Marg Elliston with the huge task of engendering and preparing for the nextand hopefully Republican- swamping big blue wave. Heres what she had to tell Weekly Alibi about being a young woman in the Democratic Party in the year 2020.

Weekly Alibi: Miranda, could you please tell our readers about who you are and what you do?

Miranda van Dijk: Ive been the Communications Director for the Democratic Party of New Mexico since July. I moved to DC right after graduation. I got through with college and knew that I wanted to get involved with politics. I started off interning in Senator Schumers office; Im originally from New York. Eventually I became his press assistant. Then, I got the chance to move out to Nevada in 2018 to work for Jacky Rosens election campaign. I fell in love with campaign politics and decided that this is something I really want to do with my life. I also fell in love with the Southwest and wanted to spend more time out here.

Is that a stressful career path? Only a relatively few number of young Americans take the political plunge, these days it seems.

I think that it attracts the kind of people that love the work that they do. Its good for people that are comfortable with a hectic schedule, with a 24/7 schedule. For me, that was a perfect fit.

What do you do as the Communications Director at DPNM?

What I do is try to make sure that the essential message of the Democratic Party of New Mexico gets across to people. For us, that can mean an issue that were really focused on, which varies from week to week. It can also mean communicating about how to get involved and how to make sure were building the Democratic infrastructure in the State. A lot of people have a lot of interest in getting involved but sometimes they hit roadblocks. They may want to know how to volunteer, how to find an event they want to participate in. We work together to facilitate that. The Democratic Party is doing things year round, we have events in all parts of the state. We give citizens an opportunity to learn about those events. I also work to promote the work of our elected officials. We want citizens to know how their state legislature and their governor have been passing laws that impact everyday New Mexicans in a positive way. We also work with the congressional delegation on issues that they are focused on, to make sure they continue to fight for New Mexicans.

Here we are at the beginning of 2020. What issues are important to you right now?

For uswhat weve always been focused onwere trying to build a New Mexico for all and that means focusing on issues that affect everyday New Mexicans. That could be the economy, health care, immigration. A lot of our constituents have a family member who emigrated here. Lately weve been having much discussion about policies at the federal level and how they contrast with policies at the state level. Republicans in the Senateand President Donald Trumphave passed laws that give tax breaks to corporations and billionaires, while we see, in our state legislature, Governor Lujan Grisham really working to counter those by doing things like expanding the working families tax credit. We want to give more economic opportunity to New Mexicans and we think that the kind of leadership we are seeing at the state levelthe kind of leadership we also see in our Congressional delegationis what we need in the White House.

We can change all that if we all come out to vote. Besides that basic remedy, how else can we get citizensespecially young peopleinvolved with politics?

The first thing to do is register to vote. Make sure your registration information is updated. And then after that, make sure you are getting this information. The best channels for that are social media. Were on Twitter and Facebook at @NMDEMS and on Instagram its @NMDemocrats. You can also sign up for our email list and get our newsletter. After that, find an event near you and plan to attend. In terms of local activism, get in touch with your local or county branch of the Democractic Party. We have several large scale projects going on, from knocking on doors to participating in [telephone] fundraisers.

Anything coming up that you want to bring attention to?

What were working on right now is really apprising all the things that worked in 2018, to help set us up for this presidential election year. Were moving forward at full speed. Our plan has three pillars. Number One is engaging Democrats across the state to help keep the enthusiasm and momentum going as we approach November. Our Chair, Marg Elliston, promised she would visit all 33 counties in New Mexico to reach out to voters in each county. Weve already accomplished that goal. Weve been going to a lot of community discussions to find out whats important to New Mexicans, even in the rural parts of the state. We went to Roy, N.M., for instance to hear from the Eastern part of the state. It was a great meeting. We got to hear from citizens whose issues dont necessarily overlap with the issues citizens have in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Access to healthcare and water issues are very important in that part of the state. We want Democrats to know that we are really passionate about those issues.

So, let me get this straight. You want your values to be inclusive, to reflect not only urban progressive culture but also rural traditionalists?

Yes, totally. We want people to understand we have a big tent party and that we want to bring people together. Another thing weve been emphasizing is unity. We know there are a lot of candidates in the presidential primary race right now. And so we are looking at commonalities. The day after the convention ends, we want to all come together and make sure we are fully supporting the nominee chosen.

Right now there are centrist candidates in the Democratic camp and there are progressive candidates. Theres some conflict about the direction the party will take to defeat Donald Trump. How is your party working on bringing those separate forces together?

Theres a lot of debate. Primaries are healthy because they allow us to discuss the particulars of the people we choose within the party. But we all have more in common than we have issues that separate us. No matter who you talk to in the Democratic Party, we all agree that climate change is a crisis we need to address now. We all believe the Dreamers should not be living in limbo and facing deportation. We all agree that our tax system should benefit hard-working families and not the richest, the most powerful, the corporations. And we all understand that health care is a human right. We all know that a Democrat in the White House is going to be our best option for the year 2020.
by Steve Ellwanger , January 8, 2020

When Panera Bread pulled French Onion Soup from its menu last September -- eliciting much disappointment -- the company indicated it was a temporary move and that the soup would return this month. This week, the company launched a new campaign and said the soups return is the result of social listening at its finest.

On Sept. 6, Paneras Customer Care Center posted this website notice: The Bistro French Onion Soup removal is only temporary -- it will return in January!

Earlier this week, Panera reached out with this news: In an exercise of social listening at its finest, Panera is bringing back French Onion Soup to its menu No mention was made of the temporary nature of the menu change.

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Asked about the seeming discrepancy, a Panera rep tells Marketing Daily, French Onion Soup was removed from the Panera menu in September 2019 and Panera received more than 1,000 messages lamenting its departure. We decided to respond to these fans in a fun way to celebrate its return to the menu today, Wednesday, January 8, 2020.

The new campaign features actress Phyllis Smith, who played the fictional character Phyllis Vance in the hit series The Office. Seated within the companys St. Louis headquarters, Smith reads caustic tweets said to have been posted by Panera patrons who were upset by the loss of French Onion Soup.

@PaneraBread bring back French Onion Soup, you cowards. You should be ashamed of yourselves are among the less-antagonistic tweets related by Smith in this video.

Its not unusual for Panera patrons to express their food feelings on social media. A year ago, the chain had done a limited test of Double Bread Bowls -- sourdough loafs with two holes to accommodate different soups --before deciding to make them available nationwide.

Since the test launch, weve seen an overwhelming response on social media from fans asking, When will Double Bread Bowls come to my city? Were excited to answer that demand and spread the bread to guests nationwide, a Panera executive said at the time.
Last minutes before a hanging: What Nirbhayas killers will face

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 09: Nirbhaya's killers have been ordered to hang on January 22 at 7 am. If the curative petition is rejected by the Supreme Court then the killers go to the gallows.

There is a process that is involved before the convicts are hanged. Let us take a look at the last moments of a convict before he is hanged.

Once the state government fixes the date of execution, the jail superintendent would then inform the relatives of the same. The prisoner would then be allowed to prepare a will. After this mandatory procedure the hangman steps in and has the following preparations to undertake:

Nirbhaya convict files curative plea in SC against death sentence

On the day of the execution the superintendent, deputy superintendent, assistant superintendent in charge and medical officer shall be present at the gallows.

An executive magistrate deputed by the district magistrate shall attend the execution and countersign the warrant.

If the prisoner so desires, a priest of his faith may be allowed, at the discretion of the superintendent, to be present at the place of execution, subject to the requirements of security and prison discipline. The relatives of the prisoner and other prisoners shall not be allowed to witness the execution.

The superintendent may, however, permit social scientists, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. who are conducting research to be present.

At the time of the execution prisoners of all categories shall be kept locked up until the execution is over.

The night before the execution the prisoner shall be provided with the food of his choice. The next day two hours before the execution he shall be woken up and ordered to take a bath. A fresh set of clothes are then provided to him and the moment is he is out of the cell, his face shall be hooded and hands bound

The prisoner shall be allowed to see the gallows. The prisoner will be made to walk through the passageway which is around 20 metres and is covered in less than a minute.

Once the execution is carried out, the body shall remain suspended for half an hour and will be taken down only once the medical officer has certified the prisoner as dead. The body will be disposed off according to religious requirements.

In case the family members of the family make a request in writing, the superintendent may hand over the body on the condition that no public display is made when the cremation or the burial takes place.

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Story first published: Thursday, January 9, 2020, 15:01 [IST]
They're the NRL power couple who recently got engaged on New Year's Eve after dating for three years.

And on Thursday, model Tahlia Giumelli, 26, revealed that her footy star fiance Tom Burgess 'slid into her DMs' when they first met in 2016.

'Sliding in DMs' is the act of directly messaging someone on Instagram, often with romantic intentions.

Smooth operator! Tahlia Giumelli revealed her fiance Tom Burgess 'slid into her DMs' when they first met and says they want to marry in Byron Bay in 2021. Pictured: Tom and Tahlia

Taking to Instagram Stories, Tahlia and Tom broke down how their relationship began after a fan asked how they first met.

'You brushed me a few times. We were going to meet but you brushed me. So, I had to persist, slide into the DMs,' Tom said in one of the clips.

Tahlia explained in the caption: 'We could have met in 2015 at a dinner with friends in LA but I didn't go. End of 2016 he finally slid into my DMs. Modern love.'

Persistence is key! Tom said Tahlia 'brushed him' off, which prompted him to directly message her on Instagram

Awkward! Tom slid into Tahlia's DMs after she followed him back on Instagram. However, he didn't immediately reply to Tahlia, prompting her to send a follow-up message

The blonde beauty then shared a screenshot of their first conversation on Instagram from September 24, 2016.

Initiating the conversation, Tom wrote: 'Hey lass. Finally got a follow back.'

'Yes you should feel privileged!! Haha,' Tahlia replied.

Awkwardly, Tom didn't reply, prompting Tahlia to send a follow up message the next day: 'And you finally message me haha.'

Swapping places! Tom and Tahlia almost met in London but unfortunately Tahlia was flying back to Sydney on the same day her future fiance was heading to his home country

'So at this point I was living in London and Tom was coming to London in two weeks time. This is back in 2016. So yeah, look at the next slide,' Tahlia said in another clip.

The next clip showed another part of the conversation where Tom said he was flying to England, his home country, on October 12, 2016.

However, Tahlia was coincidentally flying back to Sydney on the same date, meaning they could not meet up in London.

Keen to convert the virtual chat into a face-to-face meeting, Tom said he would 'keep an eye out' for the blonde beauty in the future.

And the rest is history! 'When he came back (from England), we started hanging out as friends and now we live together, are engaged and have a baby,' Tahlia said

In the next clip, Tahlia said she 'never really thought anything' of the conversation and didn't hear from Tom for two months until he returned Down Under.

'When he came back, we started hanging out as friends and now we live together, are engaged and have a baby,' she said.

Tahlia gave birth to their baby girl Sophie last August. When a fan asked how the baby impacted their relationship, Tahlia said that 'relationships are hard in general'.

'Lots of communication and appreciation for what the other person is doing is always key! Work as a team!' she wrote.

Adorable! Tahlia gave birth to their baby girl Sophie last August. When a fan asked how the baby impacted their relationship, Tahlia said that 'relationships are hard in general'

Tahlia also revealed she is in the early stages of planning their wedding but is struggling to make decisions.

'I can't even decide on a ring design let alone wedding plans. I don't know where to start. A date would be nice and a venue. Bloody hard is all I can tell you,' she said.

The model said Byron Bay is 'top of the list for venues' for their special day, which will be 'sometime in 2021'.
ANN ARBOR, MI  Washtenaw County officials affirmed their intent to remain welcoming to refugees in a letter to the U.S. Secretary of State approved in a unanimous vote Wednesday.

The County Board of Commissioners resolution comes in response to a presidential executive order from September 2019, which required state and local governments to give written consent to the State Department before refugees are resettled in that area.

Wednesdays resolution states the county has welcomed refugees facing religious, ethnic and political persecution for several hundred years, and community groups, such as businesses and churches have supported the arrival and integration of refugee families for years.

Both the state and local government must consent for a community to receive refugees, according to the executive order. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer sent a consent letter to the federal government on Dec. 10, 2019. Ann Arbor consented the following week.

We have a moral duty to welcome those in need and this is simply the right thing to do, said Board Chair Jason Morgan, D-Ann Arbor, in a statement. Washtenaw County has a proud history of being a welcoming county and refugees contribute to our economy and the rich culture of our community.

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ALTON  Organizers are seeking to create a 222-mile sprawling port district on the Mississippi River on the Iowa-Illinois border.

Bob Sinkler, a retired U.S. Army colonel who worked 30 years for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said organizers are working to create governing boards in all 15 Iowa and Illinois counties that share Mississippi River access from the Iowa cities of Keokuk to Dubuque, creating what would be designated as a port statistical area about 150 miles north of Alton.

The St. Louis port has the northernmost ice-free and lock-free access on the Mississippi River to and from the Gulf of Mexico.

According to the St. Louis Regional Freightway, the Corps of Engineers has reaffirmed the St. Louis regions port system is the most efficient inland port in the nation. In 2018, it became the second largest inland port system, handling more than 37.4 million tons of commodities  just 1.1 million tons shy of the No. 1 slot.

Organizers hope to submit an application to the Corps of Engineers for a 222-mile-long port area organizers say would rank 68th in tonnage in the country. The Iowa-Illinois plan envisions a port area with many terminals along the shared length of the river, similar to a long Ohio River port area that stretches between Ohio and Kentucky.

The Iowa-Illinois plan does not specifically call for any new construction. It merely designates on paper a federally recognized port where shippers are already doing business and then tracks the shipping volume.

Organizers say designation as a Top 100 port would help the area compete for federal funds for infrastructure projects. Sinkler said Corps of Engineers funding sought for the Rock Island District is often sent to other districts aligned with major ports.

Sinkler said its hoped the group can apply for the port designation by the end of January so federal recognition could come by September.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
SAN DIEGO, Calif.You have to wonder, what is it with some people? Nationwide gentlemen's club chain Deja Vu Showgirls is trying to do its part to help the homeless keep warm as the nights, even in San Diego, get colder. But apparently, some yahoo with nothing better to do complains that there's something wrong with the effort just because the chain has imprinted its logo on the two hundred (200!!!) tents it has donated.

So does CBS 8 TV in San Diego laud the club for its charity? Of course not; the story's headline on its website reads, "San Diego strip club charity sparks controversy over homeless tents."

Not unlike a similar story out of Las Vegas, where Deja Vu got another ration of shit from some mother who didn't like the logos because she feared she'd have to explain to her kid what a strip club was, yet another nameless individual told CBS 8, "It's not like we're afraid of it, but at the same time, I just dont think it's the right way to do things."

Yeah; if a charitable act can't be anonymous, it shouldn't be done, right?

Fortunately, Deja Vu isn't as coldone might say, "un-Christian"as the complainers appear to be, with the club's manager, in keeping with corporate policy, trying to fill a need that the city itself apparently can't (or doesn't want to) address.

"This time of year, it's really cold," noted club manager Chris Ragsdale. "There are a lot of people here that I didn't realize were homeless until we gave them a leg up ... Somebody's got to do something about it."

That "somebody" isn't the city of San Diego itself. According to the CBS 8 story, a city spokeswoman "suggested the club might be better off investing in nonprofits 'to get people off the streets and into permanent housing.'"

That would be the permanent housing the city somehow hasn't found the wherewithall to build on its own.

But for Ragsdale, the city's statement was a sort of wake-up call.

"It has brought light to the situation," he said. "Whether a marketing tool or not, you have brought light to a situation that has been exacerbated by the state that doesn't have a handle on what's going on."

To be fair, the city did send a seven-page letter to CBS 8 titled "Homeless Initiatives," but it only served to show how little the city, which has known about this problem for more than two years, has accomplishedthough of course, it's done plenty of "studies." The results so far? Well, it's established a parking lot where homeless who live in their cars can park safely, and it's put together a 136-space "Transitional Camping Area" where some of the city's 3,200 unsheltered homeless can set up tentseven Deja Vu tentsand it's arranged for a place where they can store their sometimes voluminous belongings. And while the city says it has plans to build affordable housing, to which it's put $25 million in reserve, "Proposals are currently being reviewed by Civic San Diego and should be concluded by later this fall." The city's letter is undated, but apparently "this fall" means the fall of 2017.

Bottom line: It appears that one strip club has done nearly as much to help the homeless find shelter than has the entire city of San Diego.

UPDATE: Sure enough, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that "Katie," yet another anonymous mom, has gotten her panties in a twist because "she was taken aback when her two middle-school-age children asked her what Deja Vu was after seeing the name on some tents around her home in the Midway District." She also called the club "depraved" for putting its logo on the tents.

"These tents with their logos on them are all over my neighborhood now!" she wrote to the Union-Tribune. "I called their corporate company the Deja Vu Services and got nowhere with them. They kept saying it was just community service."
Introducing Leilia, the Soulful Nightingale



The setting imagined around the music from Leilia produces the night sky illuminated by the fullness of the moon, the brisk evening air carrying her voice, and almost in a trance one would follow the sultry sound to her cooing ever so softly in front of an intimate crowd at a tea-lit speakeasy.

Conversing with the artist about her latest album, Curate puts words to the internal struggle of self-identification. Leilia unveils her creative strategy and speaks of her origins that lead her to the present harmonious journey.

The passion originates from Leilia always being around art and music. The love was nurtured by the roots planted by her grandmother being an artist. Music was always playing in the household and the passion for sound intertwined with Leilias DNA.

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The purpose of the album is to find peace the songstress explained. She was looking to transport clarity of the mind. Her inspiration behind the latest album was through personal enlightenment; when trying to answer the question of her true desires. Leilia challenged her ego; she reflected on the hunger to be somebody and within that discovered internally she is more than enough. As a result the purpose of being became clear and the compilation of songs poured out of her.

The producer behind the modern jazz twist is Marcus the artist. The sound carries the message to the listener on a frequency of freedom from self doubt and rebellion towards unbelief. The beats alongside the verses have the undertones of motivation and sets the mood to be the best version of oneself. In one of the songs curate the citizen, a part of the chorus is , Its not up to me to show you.

I asked the talent who she was referring to and the reply was simple,  myself and the listener, for connection.

Music from Leilia journeys far deeper than the heart, its destination is to resonate in the mind. The words evolve into a personal testimony for the listener. Through passion of her artistry and historical relationship with soulful sounds, the album Curate has become a timeless lesson for every walk of life to become a march to their true destiny. Enjoy the evolution thats now available on Spotify.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex after their visit to Canada House, central London (Yui Mok/PA)

As palace staff have been told to work at pace and with governments to help secure a workable future role for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, where could the couple choose as their home?

Harry and Meghan have said that, as they step back from their senior royal roles, they plan to split their time between the UK and North America.

They say they will base themselves at their Frogmore Cottage home on the Windsor Estate when in the UK.

Here are some of the locations across the Pond they could choose for their time abroad.

British Columbia

The duke and duchess recently returned from a six-week stay in Canada over the Christmas break.

The couple stayed in British Columbia, and at one point were spotted hiking on Vancouver Island.

They publicly thanked the Commonwealth country for their unbelievable visit, and Meghan said on a visit to the Canadian High Commission on Tuesday: I want to say happy new year and thank you, and as my husband said, my goodness it was just such an incredible time we were able to have there, and with our son too.

And just to be able to take in the warmth that we experienced from the people, but also just to walk around and just see the beauty of Canada.

To see Archie go ahhh when you walk by, and just see how stunning it is  so it meant a lot to us.

The tot was pictured in his fathers arms in front of some beautiful scenery.

Their trip meant that they missed the Queens annual Christmas gathering at Sandringham.

Toronto

The duchess called the Canadian city home before she moved to London full-time.

Meghan, a former actress, lived and worked in Toronto during her time starring in the popular US drama Suits, and the couple were famously pictured together when Meghan joined her then-boyfriend Harry at the 2017 Invictus Games in the city.

One of the benefits of moving to Canada for Harry and Meghan is that the country is a realm of which the Queen is monarch.

Los Angeles

The duchess was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and the west coast city could also be an option.

Meghan is also known to be close to her mother, Doria Ragland, who still lives in the area.

If she were to make a return to acting  although there are no suggestions that way  the city is also known for its television and film-making industry.

Mexico

The couple also have Mexico, where Meghans father, Thomas, is known to live. But any reunion is unlikely, as the pair have not spoken since before her marriage to Harry in May 2018.
It makes sense to lower the required credit load so we can help more students afford college and complete their degrees.

Salt Lake Community College is making college more affordable by expanding its SLCC Promise program starting in fall 2020.

Launched in 2016, SLCC Promise is the Colleges financial assistance initiative designed to cover tuition and fees when federal grants for eligible students fall short. Initially, students receiving Promise funds needed to take 12 credit hours each semester, but beginning in fall 2020 qualifying students will only need to be enrolled in 9 credits per semester to meet program eligibility requirements.

Changes to SLCC Promise have been made in recognition of students many responsibilities outside of their studies. Eighty percent of our student body works while attending school, said Ryan Farley, SLCC vice president for Student Enrollment. It makes sense to lower the required credit load so we can help more students afford college and complete their degrees.

SLCC estimates that as many as 14,000 Utah residents may eventually benefit from its expanded Promise program, and the school will assist any interested student through the application process. Since its debut four years ago, SLCC Promise has helped 2,200 students with more than $2.7 million in tuition assistance.

Salt Lake Community College is Utahs largest two-year higher education institution. The college is Utahs leading provider of workforce development programs and the largest supplier of transfer students to the states four-year institutions. SLCC is also a top 10 college nationally for total associates degrees awarded and the leading provider of applied technology courses in Salt Lake County.


"We are closely monitoring the situation (in the region) which is developing rapidly. As we have articulated in the past, peace, security and stability in the region is of utmost importance to us. We have important interests in the region. We would like the situation to de-escalate as quickly as possible," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said at a weekly briefing here.Early on Wednesday, Iran launched more than a dozen missiles on US targets in Iraq -- first at the Ain Al-Asad airbase in Anbar province and another one at Erbil, which falls in the Kurdistan region.The strikes came hours after the funeral of senior Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, whose killing in a US air raid last week in Baghdad intensified tensions in the Gulf region.Countries including the UK have condemned Iran's strikes and urged Tehran to pursue urgent de-escalation.Meanwhile, Kumar confirmed that Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif will be coming to India for the next week's Raisina Dialogue and said that there is no change in the programme amid the prevailing situation in the Gulf region."We are talking to several stakeholders. The External Affairs Minister has spoken to players in the region. He has spoken to the foreign ministers of Iran, the UAE, Oman, Qatar and Jordan. He also held discussions with his counterpart from the US and exchanged perspectives on the situation," he said.Asked whether Indians living in the region would be evacuated, the MEA spokesperson said that the process would be carried out if such a situation arises."If we see there is a necessity that will be done. We are committed to the safety and security of the Indian diaspora living all over the world and in the region. If the situation demand, an appropriate advisory will be issued and appropriate action will be taken. We have issued an advisory for Iraq following the developments there," Kumar remarked.He said that India appreciates the stand by the US in exempting Chabahar Port from its sanctions imposed on Iran's economy."In the past, the US has shown an understanding of the importance of Chabahar project to us and for continued connectivity to Afghanistan. It is very much important in terms of providing economic assistance to Afghanistan. The two-way traffic between India and Chabahar Port has picked up in the last several months. We appreciate the stand shown by the US in exempting Chabahar Port from sanctions," he said.The US has provided a "narrow exemption" to India from sanctions on Chabahar project in Iran as it plays a vital role in transporting India's humanitarian supplies to war-torn Afghanistan.In 2018, Iran and India had signed an agreement worth USD 85 million to develop the Chabahar Port in south-eastern Iran. The lease agreement gives operational control to India of Shahid Beheshti Port (phase one of the Chabahar Port) and was signed in the presence of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.The Chabahar Port which provides an alternative route for trade between India and Afghanistan is located in Southeastern Iran, on the Gulf of Oman. In 2017, India sent its first shipment of wheat to Afghanistan through the strategic Iranian port. (ANI)
Canadas Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his country will be part of investigation after 63 of 176 killed in crash were Canadian citizens.

Ukraine has declared a national day of mourning after a Ukrainian commercial jet crashed in Iran, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board.

The Boeing 737 went down shortly after takeoff from Tehran, just hours after Iran fired missiles at American forces in Iraq.

Canadas Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his country will be part of the investigation. Sixty-three of those killed were Canadian citizens.

Al Jazeeras Laura Burdon-Manley reports.
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the White House on the ballistic missile strike that Iran launched against Iraqi air bases housing U.S. troops, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, in Washington, accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and others. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)



The U.S. and Iran stepped back from the brink of possible war on Wednesday as President Donald Trump signaled he would not retaliate militarily for Iran's missile strikes on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops. No one was harmed in the strikes, but U.S. forces in the region remained on high alert.



Speaking from the White House, Trump seemed intent on deescalating the crisis, which spiraled after he authorized the targeted killing last week of Iran's top general, Qassem Soleimani. Iran responded overnight with its most direct assault on America since the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, firing more than a dozen missiles at two installations in Iraq. The Pentagon said Wednesday that it believed Iran fired with the intent to kill.



Even so, Trump's takeaway was that ''Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.''



Despite such conciliatory talk, the region remained on edge, and American troops including a quick-reaction force dispatched over the weekend, were on high alert. Last week Iranian-backed militia besieged the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and Tehran's proxies in the region remain able to carry out attacks such as the one on Dec. 27 that killed a U.S. contractor and set off the most recent round of hostilities.





A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency on January 8, 2020 shows Iranian president Hassan Rouhani speaking during a cabinet meeting in the capital Tehran. - Rouhani said the Islamic republic's response today to a US strike that killed one of its generals shows "we don't retreat in the face of America". The remarks came hours after Iran fired a wave of missiles at Iraqi bases housing US troops in retaliation for the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. (Photo by HO / Iranian Presidency / AFP)



Hours after Trump spoke, an 'incoming' siren went off in Baghdad's Green Zone after what seemed to be small rockets ''impacted'' the diplomatic area, a Western official said. There were no reports of casualties



There is no obvious path to diplomatic engagement, as Trump pledged to add to his ''maximum pressure'' campaign of economic sanctions. He said the new, unspecified sanctions would remain in place ''until Iran changes its behavior.''



Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the overnight strike was not necessarily the totality of Iran's response.



''Last night they received a slap,'' Khamenei said. ''These military actions are not sufficient (for revenge). What is important is that the corrupt presence of America in this region comes to an end.''



Trump, facing perhaps the biggest test of his presidency, credited the minimized damage to an early warning system ''that worked very well'' and said Americans should be ''extremely grateful and happy'' with the outcome.



The strikes had pushed Tehran and Washington perilously close to all-out conflict and left the world waiting to see whether the American president would respond with more military force. Trump, in his nine-minute, televised address, spoke of a robust U.S. military with missiles that are ''big, powerful, accurate, lethal and fast.'' But then he added: ''We do not want to use it.''



Iran for days had been promising to respond forcefully to Soleimani's killing, but its limited strike on two bases _ one in the northern Iraqi city in Irbil and the other at Ain al-Asad in western Iraq _ appeared to signal that it, too, was uninterested in a wider clash with the U.S. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that the country had ''concluded proportionate measures in self-defense.''



Trump, who is facing reelection in November, campaigned for president on a promise to extract the United States from ''endless wars.''



On Wednesday, he said the United States was ''ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.'' That marked a sharp change in tone from his warning a day earlier that ''if Iran does anything that they shouldn't be doing, they're going to be suffering the consequences, and very strongly.''






Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-09 22:13:40|Editor: mingmei

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Villagers play on the swing in Shangyanghua Village of Zhouzhi County, Xi'an City of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Jan. 9, 2020. Villagers in Shangyanghua Village on Thursday started their annual swing play tradition to greet the upcoming Spring Festival. The tradition is said to be over 700 years old in the village. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)
In order to promote her movie The Invisible Man, two-time Golden Globe winner Elisabeth Moss got glam for an innovative 'disappearing' fashion spread using mirrors.

The 37-year-old LA native flaunted cleavage and her shapely legs while clad in Versace, Gucci, and Saint Laurent looks selected by Harper's Bazaar fashion editor Miguel Enamorado.

Hairstylist Maranda coiffed Elisabeth's side-parted blonde waves and make-up artist Rachel Goodwin applied her vampy red pout.

Reflection: In order to promote her movie The Invisible Man, two-time Golden Globe winner Elisabeth Moss got glam for an innovative 'disappearing' fashion spread using mirrors

It was a clever way to sell Moss' role as a seemingly crazy heiress called Cecilia Kass in Leigh Whannell's horror flick, which hits US/UK theaters February 28.

In it, Cecilia's abusive ex-boyfriend - scientist Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) - terrorizes her after faking his own death and making himself invisible in a lab.

In real life, the Mad Men alum is very good at 'turning it off' and 'compartmentalizing' her life when on and offscreen.

'I'm really good at turning it off, going home and texting my friends, having a glass of wine, and putting it aside,' Elisabeth said in the February edition (hitting newsstands January 21).

Glam: The 37-year-old LA native flaunted cleavage and her shapely legs while clad in Versace, Gucci, and Saint Laurent looks selected by Harper's Bazaar fashion editor Miguel Enamorado

Smoke and mirrors: Hairstylist Maranda coiffed Elisabeth's side-parted blonde waves and make-up artist Rachel Goodwin applied her vampy red pout

'It's not unconscious. I need to be able to do that to treat my work with joy and enthusiasm.'

Moss aspires to be like her peers Holly Hunter, Julia Roberts, and Meryl Streep - who remain guarded and private off camera despite giving it their all each take.

'I don't think it has to do with your level of stardom but in how you conduct your life,' the homeschooled Scientologist explained.

'You have to be careful. Once the information is out there, you can't take it back.'

Hitting US/UK theaters February 28! It was a clever way to sell Moss' role as a seemingly crazy heiress called Cecilia Kass in Leigh Whannell's horror flick

H.G. Wells inspired! In it, Cecilia's abusive ex-boyfriend - scientist Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) - terrorizes her after faking his own death and making himself invisible in a lab

'I need to be able to do that to treat my work with joy and enthusiasm': In real life, the Mad Men alum is very good at 'turning it off' and 'compartmentalizing' her life when on and offscreen (pictured with co-star Oliver Jackson-Cohen on August 30)

The two-time Emmy winner continued: 'I totally understand why people want to know that stuff. I see a story about Olivia Colman, who I love, and I want to devour it.

'I dissect it like, "Where does she live? What does her kitchen look like?" I want to see Olivia's kitchen. But I never want to get to the point where someone's watching something I'm doing and thinking about what my kitchen looks like.'

Elisabeth 'very vividly' remembers her breakout role, at age 16, as self-disfigured teenager Polly 'Torch' Clark in Girl, Interrupted back in 1998.

'There I was with Winona [Ryder], who was already a legend in her 20s. She was so nice to me,' Moss recalled.

'It's about how you conduct your life': Moss aspires to be like her peers (from L-R) Holly Hunter, Julia Roberts, and Meryl Streep - who remain guarded and private off camera despite giving it their all each take

'You have to be careful': The homeschooled Scientologist understands why the public is curious since she wants to know what Olivia Colman's (pictured Sunday) kitchen looks like

'Angelina wasn't necessarily the Angelina Jolie we know now, but everyone knew who she was. She was still this force. I didn't talk to her really, but it was more of a character thing. We're friendly now.

'Clea DuVall was in it, and now she's on [The Handmaid's Tale]. We were shooting in this mental hospital in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and it was so cold. It was this really fun, amazing experience.'

As June Osborne/Offred in the dystopian Hulu drama, the producer-star is up for best actress in a drama series trophy at the 26th SAG Awards, which air January 19 on TNT/TBS.

Elisabeth faces heavy competition against The Crown duo Olivia Colman and Helena Bonham Carter, as well as The Morning Show's Jennifer Aniston and Killing Eve's Jodie Comer.

'It was this really fun, amazing experience': The two-time Emmy winner 'very vividly' remembers her breakout role, at age 16, as self-disfigured teenager Polly 'Torch' Clark in Girl, Interrupted back in 1998

Elisabeth recalled: '[Winona [Ryder] was so nice to me. Angelina wasn't necessarily the Angelina Jolie we know now, but everyone knew who she was. She was still this force. I didn't talk to her really, but it was more of a character thing. We're friendly now'

'I've had to remind people who love June about all who have died either directly because of her or because she's let them die,' Moss noted.

'June can be s****y. She can be selfish. She makes the wrong decision all the time. She cheats on her husband. She's not the best heroine a lot of the time.

'Then again she is so human, and so us, and tough and strong, and she does have this love for her daughter. People have many different facets. All the good stories are very murky. Big gray areas are more interesting.'

'June can be s****y...but she is so human': As June Osborne/Offred in the dystopian Hulu drama, Moss is nominated for best actress in a drama series trophy at the 26th SAG Awards, which air January 19 on TNT/TBS
New Delhi, Jan 9 : The trailer of Vidhu Vinod Chopra's upcoming film "Shikara" is winning over hearts not only in India but also on the other side of the border.

Noted Pakistani film critic Fawad Ahmed broke down after watching the trailer of the film. In a Twitter post by @AdityaRaj Kaul, Ahmed gave thumbs up to the trailer and also broke down.

The reaction of Indian Twitterati to Ahmed's emotions was, however, mixed.

"Don't take him seriously because he always (and many other pakistani YouTubers) makes videos saying goody-goody about India at least on face, as they know Indians will watch which in turn will increase their viewership... Although this ain't a comment on movie trailer which is good," wrote a user named @SanjivS96780107.

"No drama Mr Fawad.... reality was much brutal and inhuman starting 1947.... only difference here is that the Pandits became and are refugees in their own country... till date... hopefully it will all change in coming years.... the hyenas have been identified...," wrote @satyanbeshi.

Others backed Ahmed. "I do follow him in YouTube and watch his every video; he is unbiased and good critics on every subjects to be discussed," wrote @RajoyNunisa.

"Shikara" tells the story of the Kashmiri Pandit exodus of 1990 from Kashmir owing to Islamic terror.

The film marks Chopra's return to direction after 13 years. He last made "Eklavya: The Royal Guard" in 2007.
Abuja, Nigeria (PANA)  The Nigerian federal government has ordered its National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to regulate the web and online TV/Radio stations and also to sanction all hate speech promoters on airwaves
Lillian Pitt hasnt always been connected to her Native American culture. In fact, as a child, she knew very little about her ancestors. It wasnt until she took a clay sculpture class in her mid-30s that she felt a calling to honor her history through art.

It was very magical to me and I had never felt so strongly about something else besides what it was I was doing, and that was clay, said Pitt, a Native American artist based in Portland. I loved everything about it.

Today, Pitt is a renowned sculptor and mixed media artist in the Pacific Northwest and beyond, known for using the shapes, symbols and culture of her ancestors to tell their story through her art.

Her most recent work is on display at the Missoula Art Museums Frost Gallery in a solo exhibition titled Honoring My Ancestors. The exhibit includes several different mediums and features prints, masks, sculptures, blown glass and more, all donning traditional shapes and symbols used by her ancestors who lived 10,000 years ago in the Columbia River Gorge.

***

Pitt was born and raised on the Warm Springs Reservation in north-central Oregon at a time when there was a detachment from cultural heritage within the Wasco and Paiute tribes.

Her parents attended boarding schools set up on the reservation that were meant to assimilate Native people and strip their traditions and cultures, so she spent her childhood trying to blend in, something her parents encouraged as a way to protect her.

Boarding school was really hard on them so Mom and Dad wanted us to be as generic as we possibly could so as not to draw attention to ourselves, she said, which meant acting more white and less Native American. Stories and traditions of her family history were mostly absent.

She enjoyed school and did well in her classes, which she said was not expected of her in her community.

It was a smaller town and there was prejudice against the Native Americans and none of us were expected to do well at anything, so I had to fight that.

After graduation, Pitts career path wove between working as a hairdresser and beauty school instructor, to attending community college for dental hygiene, all while battling a back injury that saw her turned down by employers along the way. She eventually landed a job working in mental health and human services and loved it.

Soon after she signed up for and took the clay class that ended up solidifying her future.

She continued taking sculpture classes and creating art. Eventually her work caught the eye of R.C. Gorman, a well known Navajo artist, at the height of his prominence in the early '80s. Gorman purchased two of her pieces and started helping Pitt show her art in galleries, jump-starting her career as an artist.

And while Pitt was making art featuring Indigenous styles and themes, she still missed the connection to her own Native American heritage and ancestry. She slowly started to dig into her past and the history of her people, even visiting several sites in the Columbia River Gorge. She couldnt stop thinking about the one thing she had seen of her ancestors there: a petroglyph on a rock face.

It just kept haunting me, she said. I kept working in clay and kept thinking, Huh, I think I should go talk to my elders. And she did.

They told me all about who I was and who my family was and where we came from. And I thought we were always from Warm Springs, Oregon, and my dad was from Yakima, Washington. Little did I know that in the mid-1800s, they moved us from the gorge and sent us to these reservations, she said, actions that effectively split the tribe. And I thought, Oh, my gosh, those ancestors have been there for over 10,000 years and and we all seem to have forgotten about them.

That meeting with her elders was the beginning of a deep investment into her tribal history and a career creating art that gives a voice to her Columbia River Gorge ancestry, a connection that is now obvious in all of her work, including the pieces at the MAM.

***

Brandon Reintjes, senior curator at the MAM, said Pitts exhibit was both exciting and daunting to set up based on the sheer number of pieces and the variety of mediums.

The gallerys walls hold Pitts prints and some masks, both clay and glass, and several pedestals throughout the space feature her clay and glass sculptures.

Youre trying to think about how the exhibition is going to lay out and how its going to make sense when somebody enters the space and starts experiencing this, he said. You want to create a cohesive story of the whole exhibit.

During the setup process, Reintjes asked Pitt what was going to tie it all together.

Her response: Well, its always my ancestors.

Pitts work uses materials found in nature, such as clay, glass and wood, which she says is another way to connect to her roots. Pitt doesnt have a favorite medium, but pointed to differences in working with each.

(The materials) have been around forever and of course the clay is just like my friend. It does what I want it to do sometimes and if it doesnt, then I just shove it around and make it do what I want, she said. Glass is less forgiving, so I have to think ahead and know what it is Im going to do, because I dont have a second chance.

The blown glass pieces are new for the artist, who said shes only been making them since 2018 with the help of Seattle-based Native American glass artist Dan Friday.

I think glass is really seductive with the color, Reintjes said, adding that gallery visitors seem to be drawn to her glass-blown works. He pointed to the repetition of the petroglyphs that Pitt uses in almost all of her art.

Shes always making new work and its surprising that she has this narrow focus that shes able to keep mining for so many years and with all the different mediums, Reintjes said. Some visitors have mistaken the exhibit for a group show.

They kind of see the different mediums and theyre surprised that one person can be so prolific and engage so many different mediums so competently, so its been interesting to gauge everybodys response, he said.

***

The Frost Gallery is a dedicated area at the MAM to show contemporary Native American art and Reintjes said they wanted to create a space for conversation to happen.

In November, Pitt was at the exhibition for a talk as part of the MAMs Indian Country Conversation series and Reintjes said it was the best attended Saturday morning talk at the MAM.

Pitt told her story about how she came to know her ancestry late in life because of efforts to water down her peoples history and culture that lingered through her childhood and still today.

We have some goals with this gallery and increasing our Native audience, especially for programming like that and really trying to break down racism and stereotypes, Reintjes said. So its nice when you get to see it in action and people are really responding and using it as a way to approach it from different perspectives.

Pitt hopes people visiting her exhibit find what she found years ago in her mid-30s.

I hope they take away a sense of the importance of our own identity, their own identity of where their ancestors came from and, as the world turns, were going to have to live in harmony and Im just hoping that it might make them look at the importance of where they came from.

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With the days getting brighter, and the hustle and bustle of seasonal entertaining almost behind us, it's a time for fresh starts, and what I've been noticing is a gentle influx of 'Brexiting' chefs arriving to our shores from the UK, which may help relieve the pressure and shortage here in the hospitality industry.

I was in Killarney a few weeks ago, en route to Dingle, and stayed at the Aghadoe Heights Hotel, which, with its amazing views over the Lakes of Killarney, its calm, elegant, relaxed ethos of hospitality, glorious bedrooms, and wonderful staff, is one of the nicest places in the world to visit.

We had an excellent dinner on that visit, but there was an air of excitement because a new chef, with an interesting pedigree, was coming from London the following week - I'd timed it well - to take up the role of executive chef. Needless to say, I was on the road to Aghadoe again the weekend after he took the helm, hardly giving the chap time to unpack his bags.

Before arriving on our shores, Jacob Jurusik, originally from Poland, had worked in top-notch kitchens in London for a decade or so, spending five years in the five-star Corinthia Hotel - where Tom Kerridge now has an eponymous Bar & Grill - before moving to Berry Brothers & Rudd, where he was a sous chef under a three-star Michelin chef.

He then moved to the famous French restaurant, Le Pont de la Tour, but was soon headhunted by the Gordon Ramsay Group, where he worked first at Petrus, before becoming head chef at Ramsay's Maze Grill.

Happily ensconced once again at a window table in the appropriately named Lake Room, we were brought an amuse bouche of truffle eclairs, gorgeous pop-in-the-mouth, cream-filled balls of choux pastry delight; along with mini bread loaves - truffle and onion; brown soda; and tomato and cheese.

Starters (8.50-14.50) included Jerusalem artichoke veloute with artichoke crisps and truffle oil; and crab with tomato and pickled brioche. Brendan kicked off with deliciously light, soft goat's cheese and 'textures of beetroots', served with blobs of watercress mousse and chunky caramelized walnut (14.50).

I had game pithivier (14.50), which was excellent, with lightly browned pastry and a fine filling of venison and duck. Sitting on a little bed of spinach in a rich game jus, it was topped with little slices of braised celery and fresh celery leaves. This was followed by a mild gin and tonic sorbet with cucumber and elderflower.

Mains (28-34) included beef rump with caramelized onion and crispy rocket; while corn-fed chicken was paired with celeriac, and oyster mushrooms.

A vegetarian dish of potato gnocchi was served with seasonal wild mushrooms and cep puree; while Skeaghanore duck breast was accompanied by butternut squash and blackberries.

I had a chic, fresh presentation of grilled scallops, served with cauliflower textures, and chicken nuggets (34). The crispy little chicken bites added texture and contrasting taste to the silkiness of the divine molluscs, which melded well with the mini cauliflower florets, Jerusalem artichoke wafers, and blobs of creamy veloute, offset by spring green shoots and leaves. Brendan went with a lighter option from the starter selection, a circular bed of crab and tomato (14.50), which he absolutely loved. It was topped with wafers and rolled ribbons of radish, carrot, and cucumber, with a mini pickled brioche adding 'soakage' to the dish.

Lush, round Brests

Desserts (12.50) were a real temptation, and included Paris-Brest, a lush, round choux pastry in the form of a wheel, filled with a praline cream, created in 1910 to commemorate a famous bicycle race. This version had peanut, banana and caramel. However, we decided instead to share a lovely dome of pistachio semifreddo (12.50) surrounded by sections of candied fig and white chocolate cream. There's an extensive selection of wines, with plenty that won't frighten the horses. We had a bottle of Jean-Remy Haeffelin Pinot Blanc 2016 (39) from the Alsace, a favourite region of mine, which brought our bill, with service, to 142, which, considering the five-star surrounds, service, and food, was jolly good value. One to watch.

The Lake Room

Aghadoe Heights Hotel,

Killarney, Co Kerry

Tel: (064) 663-1766

aghadoeheights.com

lucindaosullivan.com
The Trump administration on Wednesday unveiled its most recent round of guidelines for autonomous vehicle makers that still rely on the industry to police itself despite calls for specific regulations.

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced the proposed guidelines in a speech at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas, saying in prepared remarks that the AV 4.0 rules will ensure U.S. leadership in developing new technology.

But the guidelines likely will fall short of expectations of auto safety advocates and the National Transportation Safety Board. In November, the board, which investigates crashes and makes safety recommendations, condemned a lack of state and federal regulation for testing autonomous vehicles.

The safety board said Chaos department failed to lead in regulating the new technology and put autonomous vehicle advancement ahead of saving lives.

In her remarks, Chao said that AV 4.0, a joint effort between her department and the White House, unifies autonomous vehicle work across 38 federal departments and agencies. It also establishes a list of government principles and says that safety is her departments No. 1 priority.

It recognizes the value of private sector leadership in the research, development and integration of autonomous vehicles, she said.

The principles include protecting users and communities, promoting efficient markets by protecting intellectual property and modernizing regulations, and facilitating coordinated standards and policies.

The goals are simple, clear and consistent, she said. Improve safety, security and quality of life for all Americans.

Other areas of focus include security and cybersecurity, ensuring privacy and data security and enhancing mobility and accessibility.

But the guidelines offer few specifics on how the government will accomplish the goals or put the principles into force.

While the guidelines say that the U.S. government will promote voluntary consensus standards, there are few details on what the standards should say.

Voluntary consensus standards can be validated by testing protocols, are supported by private sector conformity assessment schemes, and offer flexibility and responsiveness to the rapid pace of innovation, the document says.

The government will enforce existing laws to ensure companies dont make deceptive claims about the capabilities or limitations of autonomous vehicle technology, according to the document.

The guidelines will be published in the Federal Register, followed by a public comment period.

Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a Washington nonprofit group, called the outline of new rules a regurgitation of voluntary standards that have not held the industry accountable.

I would say its high on promises and light on detail, she said Wednesday. This is a science experiment playing out in real time on our roadways without any safeguards or assurances.

The Trump administration, she said, seems to think that innovation and regulation cant exist at the same time. Her group wants to see the government set minimum standards, like it did with the requirement for seat belts, and let the industry go beyond them.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

Regulations should inspire innovation, Chase said.

The rules come less than two months after the National Transportation Safety Board criticized another federal agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, for failing regulate autonomous vehicle testing on public roads. The criticism came just before the board found that a distracted human safety driver was the main cause of a fatal 2018 Arizona crash involving an Uber autonomous test vehicle that ran down a pedestrian.

Among the boards recommendations were that the highway safety agency require car developers to submit safety reports, and that the agency review the plans to make sure companies have safeguards in place that require human safety drivers to pay attention to the road.

Currently, those reports are voluntary and only 16 of about 80 companies testing self-driving vehicles have filed them, according to the board.

The manufacturers are not going to be objective in evaluating their own safety assessments, board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said at a Senate hearing in November. There needs to be a federal look at these assessments to make sure that they are done properly.

The highway traffic safety agency is part of Chaos department. Its acting administrator, James Owens, told senators that the agency will review the safety boards recommendations.

The agency previously has said it doesnt want to stand in the way of innovation in autonomous vehicles because they have tremendous life-saving potential.

Tom Krisher is an Associated Press writer.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has her task cut for the Indian banking sector in the upcoming Budget. There are quite a few long-pending issues that need to be fixed to put Asias third largest economy back on track.

State-run banks will require substantial capital infusion to resume lending to productive sectors once demand picks up, analysts said. Over the last five years, these banks had to set aside over Rs 4 lakh crore in provisions towards bad loans. In comparison, private sector banks provisions for bad loans during this period totalled Rs 88,000 crore.

There is not enough credit demand at the moment. But that may not be the case next year when growth begins to pick up. Banks need to be funded well to resume lending to industries, said a banking analyst.

Since coming to power in 2014, the Narendra Modi-government has pumped in around Rs 2.8 lakh crore in state-run banks. In FY20 so far, the government has infused close to Rs 70,000 crore as capital. But that was inadequate considering the fact that banks required a substantial chunk of money to clean up their bad loans besides meeting their Basel-III requirements.

Recently, PTI reported that the government is unlikely to announce capital infusion for the PSBs in the upcoming Budget. Instead, the government wants banks to expedite recovery of bad loans and raise funds from the market. The government also wants state-run banks to sell their non-core assets and generate money.

In a normal scenario, these suggestions make sense. But, at this point, the state of the sector is far from normal. There wont be too many takers for state-run banks in the market, except for the likes of SBI.

The gross non-performing assets (NPA) levels of banks have slightly eased from peak levels but still constitute about 9.3 percent of total loans. An RBI report recently stated that gross NPA levels could touch 9.9 percent by September. In simple words, this means that banks will require additional capital this year to make provisions. The Budget needs to address this issue.

The government has been averse to the idea of privatising state-run banks. Instead, it has only resorted to merging smaller, weaker banks with bigger ones. But experts, including former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, have argued that merger of weak banks will not solve the problem of governance issues and lack of autonomy. Besides merging a weak bank with a strong bank could even impact the health of the big bank.

The only major bank acquisition that happened in the recent past is the LIC-IDBI Bank deal. But this cannot be termed as a case of privatisation since LIC is a government-owned entity. In a highly competitive market, a fiscally constrained government cannot continue with the ownership of state-run banks. It will have to look at options to gradually cede ownership control in some state-run banks. Sitharaman could use her Budget speech to lay out a roadmap for privatisation of public sector banks (PSBs).

The government should also look at the loopholes in the risk-management systems in PSBs. State-run banks continue to have weak risk management tools and remain vulnerable to frauds. According to RBI data, there have been over 5,000 incidents of frauds, totaling close to Rs 96,000 crore, in public sector banks during H1 FY20.

The RBI has initiated steps to ring-fence the banking system from fraudsters such as revising the rules for co-operative banks. But the government will have to bring in legislation to overhaul the governance structure of the co-operative banking sector more effectively.

The regulator should also take steps to significantly increase the limit of deposit insurance scheme, which is just Rs 1 lakh per depositor at present. In the event of a bank failure, this will prove to be severely inadequate. The insurance cover needs to be upped to give protection to all depositors.
Millennials demand boundaries and flexibility at work, and that apparently includes the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

On Wednesday, the couple announced plans to step back from the British Royal Family to "carve out a progressive new role" while working "to become financially independent," as they posted in a statement on social media.

"What it seems to me what they're planning to do is give themselves more freedom, more flexibility, outside of what is certainly known as 'the firm' within royal circles," says British royals commentator Eloise Parker, referring to the Royal Family. "They're saying, 'OK, we're not quitting, but we want to do our own thing too.'"

What that will actually look like is "really anyone's guess at the moment," says Parker. "I am not even sure that they've figured out exactly how this new role is going to play out."

On Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's website, the two lay out their "new working model," which includes continuing to carry out duties for the Queen, while also having the "future financial autonomy to work externally." The two were prohibited from earning a professional income as senior members of the Royal Family and want to do so.

The couple will no longer accept the Sovereign Grant  money paid by taxpayers to support senior royals' official duties  according to their website statement. Prince Harry and Markle received 5% of the Grant, which was specifically used for their "official office expense."

Despite stepping away from their senior roles, the couple hopes to keep their residence, Frogmore Cottage, with the permission of the Queen. This way, their family will "always have a place to call home in the United Kingdom," they say on their website.

These changes will also mean "increased royal duties" for William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Charles and Camilla, says royal historian and commentator Carolyn Harris.

As for money, "Harry and Meghan have some money of their own," says Harris.

Prince Harry served in the British Army for 10 years, and as a helicopter pilot for the Army Air Corps, he received around $50,000 a year, according to Forbes. He also received an inheritance of $10 million after taxes from his mother, Princess Diana, after her tragic death.

Meghan Markle worked as an actress before becoming a duchess, being most famous for her role on the USA show "Suits."

Still, "the couple's financial decisions going forward will be complicated, as there has been criticism of junior members of the royal family who were seen as cashing in on their connections to the royal family," she says. Prince Harry and Meghan could potentially be viewed this way too.

"The most famous example is the Duchess of York [Sarah Ferguson], who was criticized for receiving income for endorsements, such as her work with Weight Watchers." A year after her divorce from Prince Andrew in 1996, Ferguson was named the new spokesperson for Weight Watchers.

"There are other examples, however, in Harry's generation of the royal family," says Harris. Harry's cousin Peter Phillips (son of Princess Anne) sold his wedding photos to Hello! magazine and gave an interview when he married Autumn Kelly. There was some controversy surrounding this decision, as it is a break from tradition and can be viewed as selling out for commercial gain.

"It is possible that Harry might return to his past work as a helicopter pilot and Meghan might assume some kind of media role related to her past career," says historian Harris.

Though most literary agents declined to comment on what the couple could make in terms of book deals and speaking engagements, American "royalty" like Barack and Michelle Obama reportedly sold the rights to their joint memoir for over $60 million, according to the Financial Times.

Though the move is big news, Markle bucked tradition from the moment she came on the scene in 2016.

At the announcement of Prince Harry and Markle's royal engagement in 2017, the future duchess was not wearing tights or pantyhose, and "royal ladies should wear tights," Grant Harrold, the former royal butler to Prince Charles, William and Harry, told CNBC Make It in 2018.

As a Duchess, she has had a penchant for hugging fans (which Harry has done too) and is known to wear black clothes and dark manicures, all of which are against royal protocol. (Royal women are usually expected to wear natural makeup and nails. "[Wearing dark colors] tends to be something they wear only when a member of the royal family or someone close to them has passed," according to Harrold.)

The couple had their baby at the Portland Hospital in London, as opposed to the traditional choice of the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital. They also spent Christmas with Markle's mother, Doria Ragland, in Canada, instead of with the Queen.

And "on the monarchy website there's actually a quote and it's actually [the Duchess] saying she's a feminist," Garrold told CNBC Make It in 2018. "Now that's a huge thing for a member of the royal family to say that. But it shows that it's the modern, royal family."

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Don't miss: Prince William and Kate had to list their jobs on Prince Louis' birth certificate  here's what they wrote
New Delhi, Jan 9 : Hearing a plea here by the former auditors of IL&FS Financial Services (IFIN) -- Deloitte Haskins and Sells LLP, and BSR and Associates -- the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Thursday asked the Corporate Affairs Ministry to clarify whether civil proceedings, as sought by the Ministry against the audit firms, can be carried out on the basis of a criminal report .

The ministry has cited the interim report of the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) alleging collusion by the auditors with the IFIN management in concealing information, among other charges. The ministry had sought freezing of the assets of the audit firms based on the report.

The bench will next hear the matter on Friday.

NCLAT Chairman Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya said that interim relief can be passed, as Parliament has said, under the Company's Act in the interest of the company, but whether an interim order can be passed in the interest of the people remains a matter of interpretation, adding there needs to be clarity before such orders can be passed.

Counsels of the both the audit firms said that the firms cannot be prosecuted as they are no more the statutory auditors of IFIN and are not in the management.

The Mumbai-branch of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had impleaded both the firms saying that the tribunal has the jurisdiction to hear a plea on banning the firms.

The Centre had filed a plea with the NCLT to ban the audit majors for five-years.
For so long, Munster never had to worry about their No 10 jersey. Since Ronan O'Gara retired, it's been a very different story.

Ian Keatley had some great moments, but never seemed to quite convince the fan-base, while JJ Hanrahan has had to wait until his 28th year for an extended run in the jersey.

Tyler Bleyendaal was identified as a solution, but his neck problems have denied him any real chance of taking ownership of the shirt, while Joey Carbery looked destined to be the man when he moved from Leinster but has been hit by injury setback after injury setback.

When Carbery arrived at the start of last season, Munster appeared to be overburdened with out-halves so Keatley was allowed to leave for Benetton via London Irish and Bill Johnston made his way to Ulster.

Both of them will be involved in the Champions Cup this weekend, while their old team are dealing with an out-half crisis.

Regular

Hanrahan is rated as 50/50 for Sunday's crunch visit to Paris and will be given until tomorrow to prove his fitness. If he doesn't make it, then last year's Ireland U-20 out-half Ben Healy will vie with inside centre Rory Scannell for the start.

Healy (20) is highly rated, but he has only started one senior game. Centre Scannell's last start at No 10 came against the Dragons in 2015.

He's covered there in games and was a regular out-half in his school and club days, but that's a way off facing Racing away and Johann van Graan may feel his experienced presence at inside centre alongside Healy would a better fit.

Hanrahan, Van Graan confirmed, will start if he is fit but he needs to be 100 per cent right.

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The Kerryman is enjoying his longest run in the Munster No 10 shirt and his form has been good, but rushing him back from the hamstring injury he suffered against Leinster would be counter-productive.

If he's not right, then Healy appears the likely option. The youngster, who came through at Nenagh Ormond and captained Glenstal Abbey to their first Munster Schools Senior Cup, made his first senior start in the defeat to Edinburgh in November.

He's been involved in Munster's match-day warm-ups as the travelling reserve, but Van Graan's selection of a six forwards/two backs split on the bench has limited his involvement.

"Both are different types of players. I don't want to speculate on it too much, hopefully we'll have JJ," he said of the decision between Scannell and Healy.

"Ben's strong point is his kicking game and his game-management. We play indoors in a totally different environment (in Racing) than we've got currently out here (in Limerick). The ball does travel a bit further, the ball is drier so that brings it into it.

"Rory is a left-footer and also he's played No 10 before, he knows the squad very well and he's been in and around this team for a very long time.

"Two totally different players and we'll make our decisions, if we have to, based on what's the best for the team on Sunday.

"JJ is in good form, he was out on the pitch for a while today, did a bit of team training. He's not at 100 per cent yet, (but he) is an experienced No 10 and an important member of our squad. He has been the in-form 10.

"We will put him through a fitness test on Friday and if he comes through that, we'll put him into training and if he comes through training, we'll select him. If he doesn't come through that, then we're going to go with Ben and Rory. We'll make our decision then.

"We've been in this position before and it's next man in. We will back JJ to be ready, (but) I'm definitely not going to risk him. We're really hopeful that he will be ready and if not, (I'm) really excited to see Ben and Rory."

Starting against Racing would be a big ask, but the South African was effusive in his praise of the 20-year-old yesterday as he weighed up his big decision.

"That's what sport is about. If he gets that opportunity, that's just the way sport works," he said. "It's an opportunity for somebody to do something great. He has grown within the squad, he's been with the European squad for the last number of weeks.

"We took him the Ospreys game to get the feel and he was in every game the warm-up, (played) against Edinburgh. He was in the Connacht 23 but JJ just played so well and it was tight in the back end so we didn't put him on. So he has been part of the squad and if he does get selected he will hopefully perform on Sunday."

The absence of Carbery is, Van Graan admitted, hugely frustrating.

Recruited at the end of the 2017/'18 season, the Athy native has made 17 appearances out of a possible 45 and just seven since the end of 2018.

"He had a bit of a knock in the first half against Ulster and nothing seemed serious. He struggled a bit with his grip but didn't feel a lot of pain," Van Graan said of his latest setback. "We sent him for a scan on Monday and it came back that there was some damage to the hand.

"It was a bit of a surprise for all of us, really. He was gutted when he came in on Monday and I said to him that it's unfortunate, that's rugby and that's life. He is certainly a very strong character and he's come back from a few setbacks. I'm sure he'll come back from this one as well.

"The quality is so big with Joey and with the nature of the injury, at least there are some other things in the initial part of his rehab that we can do to improve him even more.

"That's why I got him to Munster, he's such a big part of where we want to take this team. We've had him for 80 minutes this season and unfortunately that's just the way rugby goes. Joey will be back stronger.

"Hopefully we'll have him back in the coming months and then, longer-term, hopefully we will have him in pre-season and into the new year, we can build around him. He'll definitely be better."

That's next season. Right now this campaign is on the line and Van Graan is looking at the injury doubt, the rookie and the centre as his options. It's not ideal, but he's putting a brave face on it.
By Express News Service

BELAGAVI (KARNATAKA): In a shocking incident, a 55-year-old woman who was believed to be dead came to life all of a sudden while her family members were engaged in preparations of her last rites, at Muchandi village in Belagavi taluk on Wednesday night.

The woman has been identified as Malu Yallappa Chougule, a resident of Muchandi. According to one of her relatives, doctors had declared her dead following which they brought her home and had informed everyone else in the family.

However, to everyone's shock, Malu woke up all of a sudden and started talking to everyone.

Sources informed that Mallu was frequently suffering from fever due to which she was admitted to a private hospital. On Wednesday afternoon, the doctors allegedly informed Malu's relatives that her heart has stopped and she has passed away.

Due to the same, the family members not only informed all their relatives and well-wishers but also started preparing for her last rites.

After hearing the news of her death, a group of relatives that was on a holy visit was forced to return and attend her funeral.

Interestingly, as soon as Malu woke up, she walked towards the cattle shed and started working there without knowing what had happened.

When inquired with the private hospital, it denied the allegation and came forward to offer a clarification. According to the doctors, the relatives of the patient had told them that they wish to take her to a super specialty hospital. The hospital had categorically said that no note under the prescribed laws was issued by the hospital and the woman was not declared dead by the hospital. Hence, negligence of the hospital does not arise, the doctors said.

The hospital said that the patient was discharged as per the request of the relatives for higher treatment. The woman was not dead while she was in the hospital, it clarified.
Kai Beckmann, third from right, CEO Performance Materials at Merck, speaks during a stage talk event at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Thursday (KST). / Courtesy of Merck Korea



By Baek Byung-yeul



LAS VEGAS  Kai Beckmann, CEO Performance Materials of Germany-based company Merck, promoted its cutting-edge high-tech materials used for emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), fifth-generation (5G) network, internet of things (IoT) as well as smart cities at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.



At the world's largest tech fair, Merck set up its promotional booth and the chief executive invited attendees to the talk he gave to share his vision about how high-tech materials are helping emerging technologies step up.



"At CES 2020, we share how our high-tech solutions contribute to bring technologies such as AI, 5G, IoT as well as autonomous driving and smart cities to the next level. This is where the digital future lies, and here we play a relevant role," Beckmann told The Korea Times during an interview, Thursday (KST).



Beckmann decided to join the CES because the tech show is "the place to be for innovations in the electronics industry."



"Here you can see innovations in the display industry but also experience what the future of mobility looks like. At the CES, you can sense and feel innovations and new ideas," the chief executive said.



Merck is best known for providing highly sophisticated materials for displays such as LCD and OLED and its materials are also used for every major step in the semiconductor wafer manufacturing process.



To solidify its leadership in the high-tech materials business, Merck acquired two leading firms in the sector in 2019  Versum Materials, a U.S.-based electronic materials firm providing chemicals and gases used for semiconductors; and another U.S.-based company Intermolecular which produces materials for semiconductors, consumer electronics, cars and the aerospace industry.



By acquiring these firms, Beckmann said Merck is able to further accelerate innovations in the electronic materials industry.



"With the acquisitions of Versum and Intermolecular in 2019 and Ormet in 2015 we aim to create a leading electronic materials player focused on the semiconductor and display industries and to significantly strengthen the Performance Materials business sector. We are more than a manufacturer of innovative materials: We are the company behind the companies, advancing digital living," he said.





Kai Beckmann, fifth from right, CEO Performance Materials at Merck, poses with members of the Korean Information Display Society at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Thursday (KST). / Courtesy of Merck Korea
The fatal bushfires in Australia have taken a toll on wildlife and human life in the continent as everyone is trying to struggle to survive at a time when the planet Earth demands our utmost attention.

While many organisations and volunteers are doing everything they can to help the victims, one such story of unusual warmth is that of a Sikh woman named Sukhwinder Kaur, who cancelled her first trip to India in 10 years and decided to stay back just so she could cook meals and help serve the affected people in Australia.

She was supposed to fly back home to see her sister who is in a comatose state after suffering a stroke.

Sukhwinder Kaur helps the kitchen community at East Gippsland where her day begins early in the morning and she prepares over a 1000 meals in a day till 11 pm every day. In an interview with SBS Punjabi, she explained why she decided to stay back. I realised my first duty is towards the community here where I have lived for so long. If I had left the people here during such a difficult time, I don't think I could call myself a good human being.

 sikh volunteers Australia

People around her are in awe of her warmth and the love that she has extended towards the community. This is a beautiful example of how one necessarily need not be rich or successful when help calls. One simply needs to have a heart full of love.
A former New Jersey banker admitted lying to federal authorities on loan applications to get government-backed guarantees on loans to a small business, authorities announced.

James Bortolotti, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said in a statement Wednesday.

Bortolotti worked as a chief loan officer for a bank which Carpenito did not name but other federal documents identified as the former First Choice Bank in Lawrence.

The bank in 2012 hired a consulting firm to help apply for loan guarantees from the Small Business Administration, a federal agency that helps banks. The agency, or SBA as its known in the banking world, would guarantee 75 percent, or about $3.75 million, of about $5 million in loans to a Robbinsville small business.

The consultant provided false information showing that the Robbinsville business was creditworthy, which Bortolotti knew was false, Carpenito said.

Bortolotti signed his name to the document anyway.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued a ruling in the matter, in 2018, ordering Bortolotti to step down. The agency had determined he extended maturity dates on some loans where recipients could not pay, preventing the banks board from discovering accounts that were past due.

First Choice opened in 2007 with a promotion that could see customers win a Trenton Thunder suite or a year of groceries at Wegmans, the newspaper U.S. 1 wrote. The bank merged with a New England area bank in 2016.

-This post has been updated to clarify the source of the 2007 article.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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